Journalism Ethics, Maya Bazin, Smita Thapa, and Kantipur

Posted on July 7, 2010November 13, 2014 by Anand Nepal

UPDATE: One of the admins of the site hosting Maya’s video has replied to our question about the background of Maya Bazin. Here is what they have to say:

She’s a |**rn girl. That’s why she’s lying. Most girls don’t want to give away their real background so she made something up. ….

I hope the editors in Saptahik have learned the lesson.

Last time, when the infamous sex tape of Namrata Shrestha was covered in various media, BBC Nepali initiated a discussion on the Journalist ethics and responsibility. At that time many media houses, including Kantipur publication, choose to ignore the issue and acted as if the scandal didn’t happen.

The time has changed. It seems, Kantipur is regretting the noble decision it made at that time.

When Kantipur published an interview of an intoxicated and sexually aggressive model/actress, Smita Thapa, we questioned its real purpose. A latest front-page article about a sex film actress, Maya Bazin, has made the interview of Smita Thapa insignificant to talk about.

As far as I know, it is illegal to make or sell sex films in Nepal. Such act is punishable by law. Does that make it illegal to create undue interest on such films in general public? I hope, the law pundits will answer the question in comment.

Sherlyn Chopra banned in Twitter

Posted on June 26, 2010October 1, 2015 by Anand Nepal

The bold Bollywood actress/model, Sherlyn Chopra, is usually surrounded by controversies. In a recent news, Sherlyn was banned from the micro blogging site Twitter. It is told that Sherlyn Chopra has been banned from posting her images on Twitter.

It was in May that Sherlyn made news when she posted black-and-white photos of hers, sans clothes, in Twitter (@SherlynChopra). The media portrayed her as the first Bollywood babe to bare it all in front of camera,Â and the first to make it public too.

The photo was taken by her friend Vishal Saxena in which Sherlyn wrote the description: â€œMy best friend shot this pic last week. Itz a raw file. I personally feel it needs no air-brushing.â€

$90 Laptop on sale in Nepal

Posted on June 23, 2010 by Anand Nepal

An unbranded, so called laptop, costing Rs. 6,500 (less than US $88 in today’s conversion rate) is going to be on sale, starting July 1, 2010, in an information technology fair to be held in Kathmandu.

Information Communication & Technology Association of Nepal (ICT) is going to organize the 2010 edition of the Info Trade Fair at Exhibition Hall, Bhrikuti Mandap, Kathmandu on July 1. The third mega event of information, communication and technology will run till July 5.

The notebook will be powered by ARM VT8505 processor, 128 MB RAM, 2 GB storage capacity. It uses card readers and pen drives for additional storage needs. The laptop will feature Windows CE operating system, WiFi for internet browsing. The battery however can only run for a maximum of two hours â€“ not enough for the load shedding we have in Nepal.

The event will have 12 pavilions and 110 stalls to display various products and services on information and communication technology. The gadgets on display in the event include desktops, laptops, mobile phones, iPods, DVDs, Pen Drives, printers, and many other electronic gadgets.

The event will feature many international brands including Acer, Akkord, Altec Lansing, Aoc LCD Monitor, Anid, Asus, Aztech, Belkin, Benq, Brother, Creative, Dynamic, Edifier, Edimax, Epson, Foxcom, Genius, HCL, HP, Hyundai, Intel, Kaspersky, Lenovo, Lexmark, M-Audio, Microsoft, Mitsubishi, Motorola, MSI, Nokia, Philips, Pinnacle, Powercom, Quickheal, Richo, Samsung, Silion-Power, Sony Ericsson, Storium, Sukam, Techcom, Toshiba, TP Link, and Verbatim.

Tenzing Hillary Everest Marathon – Bhuwan KC participated and Phurba Tamang won

Posted on June 1, 2010June 3, 2014 by Anand Nepal

Phurba Tamang won this year’s Tenzing Hillary Everest Marathon, the toughest and highest marathon in the world. The Tenzing Hillary Everest Marathon is held on May every year. This year renounced actor Bhuwan KC also was there to participate in the marathon.

Melting Everest – being monitored by time-lapse camera

Posted on June 1, 2010 by Anand Nepal

An American organization has installed five special time-lapse video cameras to observe the melting of ice on the top of the world, Mt. Everest. This is the fist time such camera is installed in the Everest region to monitor the melting of glaciers.

Everest region got a renewed attention when a key document of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – a scientific body to look into climate change issues inaccurately predicted the the disappearance of all the glaciers in the Himalayas by 2035. IPCC recently admitted the data mistake in its report published in 2007.

Website analysis – xnepali compared with sajha and mysansar (Part 1)

Posted on May 30, 2010 by Anand Nepal

Owners of xnepali.com asked me to do a comparative analysis of xnepali.com and its competitive position in Nepali website market. It was not an easy task to do the analysis as there are numerous variables to do the analysis of. I asked for the usage statistics of the site and found out that it wasn’t properly kept and it was even more work to extract useful data from the raw data. Even if I get all those data for xnepali I won’t be able to compare with other sites. So, I decided to a bit simpler analysis, that anybody can do.

I decided to compare three sites: xnepali.com, sajha.com, and mysansar.com. Sajha is one of the popular forum, that was in existence for quite some time and mysansar can be considered one of the most popular single handed Nepali website.

1. Domain Age

Age is also a factor to determine the site’s relevancy in search and in people’s perception. Xnepali.com was the youngest (3 and half years old) with sajha.com the oldest site (more than 8 years old). Mysansar was nearly twice the age of xnepali.com.

Top 10 Nepali movies in 2066

Posted on April 14, 2010June 3, 2014 by Anand Nepal

Measure of success of a movie can be different for different people. Some gauge the success on the revenue it brings to the producer and others measure it on the satisfaction it can give to the viewers. It is much easier to quantify the profit than the quality of movie.

Top movies released in 2066, according to the profit they have made are:

Kaha Bhetiyala
Dhoom
Mero Euta Saathi Chha
Nishana
Eku
Batuli
Kaha Chau Kaha
Afno Manche Afnai Hunchha
Dosti *
Hifajat *

In the above list, movies marked with * are recently released and actual statistics can’t be estimated.

â€˜Kaha Bhetiyala’, first movie of Shri Krishna Shrestha as a producer is considered best movie of the year 2066. Made in Rs. 8 million, the movie has already grossed Rs. 19 million and is expected to do more than a million business in coming days.

Girija Prasad Koirala : End of Koirala Era

Posted on March 20, 2010June 11, 2017 by Anand Nepal

Nepali Congress President and former prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala (1925-1010) passed away at his daughter’s home in Mandikhatar, Kathmandu at 12:10 p.m. on Saturday, March 20, 2010.

May peace be bestowed upon him!

Girija Prasad Koirala, one of the greatest democratic leaders in Nepal, has long suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and he had fallen unconscious since early morning on Saturday.

Koirala has headed the country from the top post in the country five times since 1991.

Prime Minister – 1991 to 1994
Prime Minister – 1998 to 1999
Prime Minister – 2000 to 2001
Prime Minister – 2006 to 2008
Acting Head of State from January 2007 to July 2008

Dancing on Michael Jackson steps – Promise Tamang

Posted on March 20, 2010April 18, 2016 by Anand Nepal

A Nepali girl, Promise Tamang, is a Makeup artist and Michael Jackson fan. In the video below she dances on Michael Jackson song “Beat it”. She sure has some talent.

Promise is a makeup artist and she enjoys sharing her talents. She shares her videos in YouTube through her channel Dope2111

Some more of her videos are:

Avatar Make-up tutorial:

and

Here is Alice in Wonderland Mad Hatter makeup:

Kumari of Patan taking SLC this year

Posted on March 14, 2010 by Anand Nepal

School Leaving Certificate (SLC) exam starts on March 25, 2010. This year, about 450,000 students are taking the exam and among them is Kumari, a girl worshipped as a Goddess in Nepali society.

The Kumari of Patan, Chanira Bajracharya, is only allowed to leave her room 19 times a year on certain festivals. That was the reason why the teachers from the local Vashara School have been visiting her to teach in her room for the last ten years. The SLC exam is also arranged such that she doesn’t need to go out of her house for the exam. The SLC exam controllers will go to her house to conduct exam of the single student.

Wanna Bid for Puskar Shah's stuffs?

Posted on March 13, 2010 by Anand Nepal

Puskar travelled 150 countries on a bicycle and now the bicycle is on sale along with other stuffs like flags, soil, coins, post stamps, and beer caps. The auction of the stuffs he collected from different countries he visited will take place in United World Trade Centre, Tripureshwar.

Sept., 2009 file photo

Puskar had promised to carry flags of all the countries he visited to the top of the World â€“ for which he needs cash. He needs about Rs. 4 million to climb the highest peak, Mount Everest, towards the royalty and other costs.

UN Panel regrets estimates on melting of Himalayan glaciers

Posted on January 20, 2010February 7, 2013 by Anand Nepal

An international scientific panel overseen by the United Nations had estimated the glaciers in the Himalayas to disappear by 2035. The estimate was included in a 2007 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The group has now expressed “regret” (IPPC statement in PDF) for publishing an unsupported estimate of the speed at which Himalayan glaciers were melting.

It is surprising that none of the 2,500 scientists who contributed to its 2007 report spotted the error that appeared in a sentence on page 493.

Burj Dubai (Burj Khalifa) and records

Posted on January 7, 2010July 18, 2013 by Anand Nepal

The Burj Dubai (Burj Khalifa) tower officially opened its doors on January 4, 2010, six years after the commencement of construction in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The tower previously known as Burj Dubai was renamed Burj Khalifa in honor of the current President of the UAE and ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khalifa.

Some of the records made by the $4.1 billion, half-mile-high skyscraper are:

Tallest skyscraper to top of spire: 828 m (2,717 ft) (previous record: Taipei 101 â€“ 509.2 m (1,671 ft))
Tallest structure ever built: 828 m (2,717 ft) (previous record: Warsaw radio mast â€“ 646.38 m (2,121 ft))
Tallest extant structure: 828 m (2,717 ft) (previous record: KVLY-TV mast â€“ 628.8 m (2,063 ft))
Tallest freestanding structure: 828 m (2,717 ft) (previous record: CN Tower â€“ 553.3 m (1,815 ft))
Building with most floors: 160 (previous record: both 1 and 2 World Trade Center â€“ 110)
World’s highest elevator installation
World’s fastest elevators at speed of 64 km/h (40 mph) or 18 m/s (59 ft/s) (previous record: Taipei 101 â€“ 16.83 m/s)
Highest vertical concrete pumping (for a building): 606 m (1,988 ft) (previous record: Taipei 101 â€“ 449.2 m (1,474 ft))
Highest vertical concrete pumping (for any construction): 606 m (1,988 ft) (previous record: Riva del Garda Hydroelectric Power Plant â€“ 532 m (1,745 ft))
The first world’s tallest structure in history to include residential space
Highest outdoor observation deck in the world
World’s highest mosque (located on the 158th floor)
Elevator with the longest travel distance in the world
Tallest service elevator in the world
World’s highest installation of an aluminum and glass faÃ§ade, at a height of 512 m (1,680 ft)

Flashback – Nepali Movies in 2009

Posted on January 3, 2010June 3, 2014 by Anand Nepal

In summary, the year 2009 wasn’t so good for Nepali film industry. Many of the movies screened in 2009 couldn’t profit due to lack of opportunity to get theater in time and low turn-up of viewers. In total 32 movies were released in 2009. It is told that only a couple out of the 32 movies could earn profit.

Most of the film halls all over the country are now equipped with digital technology and are hence capable of showing new Hindi movies. As Hindi movies are more profitable than Nepali movies for the film halls, Nepali movies had to wait in long queue for screening them in cinema halls of their choice.

Most profitable movies of 2009 were â€˜Kaha Bhetiyala’ by produced by actor Shri Krishna Shrestha and â€˜Silsila’ by CP Poudel.

Top 10 countries to travel in 2010 – Nepal

Posted on November 12, 2009October 31, 2011 by Anand Nepal

If you ask me, I would always say Nepal is the best place in earth. :) Well, I am a Nepali but I am not alone Ã¢â‚¬â€œ there are many who think so.

Lonely Planet, the largest travel guide-book and digital media publisher in the world, has prepared a list of top 10 countries to travel in 2010. It is good to know that Nepal is one of them.

It is not clear what ranking Nepal is in in the list but it sure is good to know people think Nepal one of the best places in the world. Some news sites like Nepalnews said Nepal was 6th in the ranking Ã¢â‚¬â€œ which is not true. The countries are listed alphabetically and hence Nepal is sixth in the publication. That doesnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t mean Nepal is sixth in ranking. It can be first or can also be tenth.

Marriages in 2014	Friday Release