It's a dog's life...

The next time you hear dogs making a panting, excited noise, they may be laughing at you!

Recent results by Patricia Simonet, an animal behaviourist...

An animal behaviourist says she has figured out what dogs are doing when they make that excited panting noise while playing or anticipating a much desired walk. They're laughing.

Patricia Simonet, development and programme coordinator for Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service, found that the sound of dog laughter comforts other dogs. When she played a recording of "play panting" through the speaker system at a shelter in Spokane Valley, all the barking dogs quieted within a minute. "I wanted to see if I could reduce the dogs' stress by playing the sound in the shelter," Simonet said. "I was surprised when they were calm and quiet."

And here's the best part...

Eventually, Simonet wants to market the dog sound commercially.

Corrugated steel not "made" in India!

Pakistan accepts Indian offer for corrugated sheets in earthquake hit PoK, but, here's the catch...

they don't want a "made in India" stamp on it.

Hmmm...saving face ?

Marriage contract !

Rohit, a software engineer, wanted a new contract, which would be that he have a trial run for one month and then decide about staying in the contract for the longer run. Well, nothing out of the ordinary, eh ? People always look for trial periods for new products and can return them if dissatisfied. But read on...

The guests had started coming in when young Rohini, dressed in her bridal finery, got the call from the man with whom she was about to start a new life.

Only, Rohit Nagpal didn’t see it that way. He wanted a one-month contract to “determine” his would-be partner’s “compatibility”.

If they hit it off, fine; if not, too bad.

A stunned Rohini, who first thought Rohit was joking, ran to her parents. “She was decked up and looking very pretty. She rushed out of the room with tears in her eyes and asked her mother to request the guests to leave as the wedding had been called off,” a relative said over phone from Gurgaon.

Informed of the development, police rushed to Rohit’s Sector 14 house with Rohini’s parents and relatives. But the software engineer remained adamant. If he and Rohini, a master in computer applications whom he had met in Pune, got along well, they could remain man and wife. If not, they would divorce.

Hmmm...what will they think of next ?

Sachin's drill.

An interesting report in the Telegraph...

The Melbourne Grand Hyatt’s managerial staff didn’t identify the guest, but did let it be known (to a limited circle) that she’d actually complained about somebody attempting to “drill a hole” from above her 25th floor room.

That, too, around “1.00 am” on a December night two years ago.

The complaint was serious, but the managers were relieved that the guest directly above the lady’s room was none other than Sachin Tendulkar.

Hmmm...Sachin Tendulkar trying to drill a hole in the floor of his hotel room ? Outrageous eh ? Well, he was on a drill - a batting drill. Apparently he was practicing some batting drills which Greg Chappell had told him about earlier in the day! From the above report, in Chappell's words...

“Earlier that day, Sachin had a one-on-one with me… He hadn’t got many runs in that Test series till then and was very keen to score in the remaining innings (at the MCG and at the SCG)…

“I suggested a few things technically and also that he shouldn’t look for cheap runs… That he ought to build his innings… Given his dedication, Sachin began trying out small adjustments and psyching himself up that night itself… It was incredible,”

Well, he is dedicated...we have all known that for a long time.

35 !

The little master has done it !

Well, to everyone who had written of Sachin...what a great way to shut them up !

Also, comments by Rahul Dravid, about Sachin. Great read.

More children...

Now Praveen Togadia is also getting into it...

The RSS and now the VHP...hmmm...seems like a common agenda now to really hit hard at the demographics.

Previous posts on the demographics series: 1, 2, 3, 4.

Wild Kallu.

Kalyan has recently been awarded the wildlife photographer of the year award for this picture which made it to the cover of the Sanctuary magazine !

Well, "Kallu mama", as we used to call him back in our undergrad days at PESIT, a bunch of others (including yours truly) worked up a reputation for being able to finish a pepsi in 8 seconds flat ! ;)

Also known as the whiz-kid that basically kept our college network up and about in the face of overbearing characters, who were always trying to bring it down with their inane stupidity and arrogance.

Well...last I heard about him, he had gone natural, and was in the jungles, and whizzing around starting a consulting company and what not...

Cheers to you dude..keep up the good work !

"Red Cherry" for 55Friday.

This was my entry for Sepia Mutiny's 55Friday concept...this time the theme was red.

I have titled it "Red Cherry"...

Sweat pouring down his face as his tired body turned around
for what seemed like the final time, staring down his nemesis whom
he steamed towards. The sun was merciless as expected in an
Indian summer. At the height of his exertion, with a
tired grunt, he released the red cherry...

"OUT! Knocked down his stumps!"

A new order...

The latest column by Harsha Bhogle.

The following statements really struck a chord...

A final word though on what happened in Kolkata. I have rarely been as disheartened for a city with a reputation let itself down badly. I fear this trend of agitating for a particular player, of creating an us-and-them situation, is extremely dangerous. Where was reason, where was caution, where was class?

Rahul Dravid’s dignified but strong comments must hurt, but I am not sure they will. Sadly, as a result of this paranoia, Sourav Ganguly will walk out to bat at Chennai with a lot of people hoping he fails. That is the sad, but inevitable, situation that Kolkata brings upon itself and the man they try to promote but actually endanger.

I couldn't agree more...having watched the match live, I couldn't but be dismayed at the sight of an Indian audience booing our national team and applauding the fall of wickets (especially that of the captain of the national team) -- and for all the wrong reasons ! No man is bigger than the team, and if it is the case that a player must be dropped to make place for the future, then that hard decision must be taken, no matter who the player or his reputation. Sentiment can only go so far.

Also, I am less concerned about the Calcuttans expressing their dismay, than about the way they went about doing it...

• Booing the Indian team & captain.
• Applauding fall of wickets.
• Showing highlights of Ganguly's innings on the big screen while the match was going on !
• Even the curator of the pitch seems to have gotten into it - he prepared a South African-friendly pitch by the looks of it...it caught everyone by surprise...most of all the visiting South African team !

And for a city that has been rapped on the knuckles on more than one occassion by the ICC (for unruly crowd behaviour, throwing objects on the field, disrupting games, etc.) this was not the way to go...I sincerely hope that Calcutta is derived of cricket matches in the future, in the interest of the game and the Indian cricket team.

Sigh ! What a waste of a lovely stadium...

Iraq strategy for dummies...

...by "Evil genius" Karl Rove ! Check out the fictional book cover below...

Original link here.

Who did you get in your jury ?

People might be lining up to commit crimes to get famous jurors ! Or you may up your street cred in jails, because the next hot topic of discussion would go like...

Prisoner 1: "yeah, you know who was on MY jury...John Kerry! Yeah..."
Prisoner 2: "Oh yeah ! Well, MY jury had George Bush, the President! Beat that..."

Hard to imagine ? Well...apparently GW got his jury duty call up !

This was the response from the White House...

"We have since called the court to inform them that the president has other commitments on Monday, and that he would like to reschedule his jury duty"

Apparently President Bush is busy until 2009...wonder why ?

The above article also discusses how John Kerry was the foreman on a civil case.

Of course, the following sound bite also appeared on the statement issues by the white house...

"One serious note: jury duty is an important civic responsibility. And it's important that people do serve"

Two new parties.

Dustbury links to a post about two new political parties in the US.

Here's a snippet...

I'm beginning to think perhaps we need to get rid of the label Democrat and Republican. Those terms seem to mean less and less as time moves forward.

In a sort-of "truth in advertising" policy, we would have two political parties: The "Mama-Knows-Best" party and the "Just-Cut-Your-Damn-Hair-And-Get-A-Job" party.

The MKB would wrap each voter in a loving cocoon of security and safety. Well, it must be safe and secure cause you can't see outside the cocoon to see what is going on. In the MKB-led country, you would never need to worry about having to make those painful decisions about finance and religion. Of course, it is a very expensive cocoon, but you really shouldn't worry your little plebeian head about that.

The JCYDHAGAJ party wouldn't pay for much and wants you out of the house pretty quick. Cause they're tired of your lazy ass hanging around all day while they're out working their fingers to the bone. Life can be brutal and tough in the JCYDHAGAJ-led country, but, strangely enough, the country as a whole seems to get more done than the MKB-led country.

Incidentally, these descriptions don't necessarily correspond to our existing party alignments:

The Christian Right? MKB. Most leftists and statists? MKB.

Libertarians and small government Republicans? JCYDHAGAJ. Old School Democrats (Zell Miller)? JCYDHAGAJ.

I surmise some elements of the Christian right will object to putting Mama in charge — after all, that's Dad's job, isn't it? — but there's plenty of time to fine-tune the titles before the bumper stickers get printed.

Hilarious to say the least...but also scary - considering that most parties/ideologies that exist today seem to fall into one of the two categories !

Netaji ?

Varnam is running an excellent series about the truth behind Subash Chandra Bose's death.

Read the truth behind the scam that was the fake aircrash in which he was supposed to have died. Seems like the Nehru family had some hidden agenda in perpetuating the myth. Wonder why....

Gov. Schwarzenegger names top aide !

Well...part three of the times they are a changin' series that I have up and running.

An excerpt from a news report by Reuters...

California's Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger named a Democrat in a same-sex marriage as his chief of staff on Wednesday in an apparent political shift on the heels of a major electoral defeat.

Well, well...a republican governor names a democrat as his top aide ! And that too one who is part of a same-sex marriage ! Wow, times are changing faster than I can keep up !

Previous posts on "the times they are a changin" series : 1, 2.

Various blogging styles.

According to Mister Snitch, there exist at least seven styles of successful bloggers.

Here is a short version of the list...

• Meme-du-jour bloggers comment on the high-profile ideas of the moment. This type of blogger is usually focused on political issues.
• Caterers determine what an audience segment wants to hear, and pursue that theme aggressively.
• Nichebloggers, aka localbloggers. The subject is usually something the writer is passionate about, or has special expertise in.
• Internet guides, such as Instapundit, create little original material. Their strength is that they are trusted link finders/filters.
• The celebrity-blogger is someone whose site traffic comes from fame achieved outside of blogging.
• The service blogger performs a service, often to the 'Meme' blogger (see 1).
• The long-tail blogger is the rarest of successful breeds. This style requires consistent blogging over a long period of time (hence the rarity in a fairly new medium).

Original link from Instapundit.

Anti-foreign bias...

...as put forth by Bryan Caplan in Econlog.

Here is his paper which discusses it in more detail.

Revamped...

Well, I got my fingers dirty and dug into html/css code and revamped Context Switch ! If anyone has been visiting it over the last couple of days, you would have noticed all sorts of wierd images, boundaries, fonts, etc. ! But it's all over now...yenjoy !