World’s Cheapest Car by Tata

India’s Tata Motors on Thursday unveiled its much anticipated $2,500 car, an ultra-cheap price tag that brings car ownership into the reach of tens of millions of people. But critics worry the car could overwhelm the country’s roads and create an environmental nightmare.

Company Chairman Ratan Tata, introducing the Nano during India’s main auto show, drove onto a stage in a white version of the tiny four-door subcompact, his head nearly touching the roof.With a snub nose and a sloping roof, the world’s cheapest car can fit five people – if they squeeze. And the basic version is really basic: there’s no radio, no passenger-side mirror and only one windshield wiper. If you want air conditioning to cope with India’s brutal summers, you need to get the deluxe version.

While the price has created a buzz, critics say the Nano could lead to possibly millions more automobiles hitting already clogged Indian roads, adding to mounting air and noise pollution problems. Others have said Tata will have to sacrifice quality and safety standards to meet the target price.

The chairman, though, insists the car will meet safety standards and pollute even less than motorcycles, passing domestic and European emission standards and averaging about 50 miles per gallon (20 kilometers per liter).

The basic model will sell for for 100,000 rupees ($2,500) but analysts estimate that customers could pay 20-30 percent more than that to cover taxes, delivery and other charges.

Tata has long promised that he’d create a 100,000-rupee car, a vow that was much-derided in the global industry but created a frenzy of attention in India. On Thursday, nearly every news station covered the unveiling live. (source)

Oldest living person changed after the Indiana woman dies at 115

Edna Parker, who became the world’s oldest person more than a year ago, has died at the age of 115 years and 220 days. She died on 26 November at a nursing home in Shelbyville.

She outlived two sons and had 5 grandchildren who gave her 13 great-grandchildren and 13 more great-great-grandchildren. She used to tell that the secret behind her longevity was “more education”. It is also told that she has never drank alcohol and didn’t try tobacco.(Yahoo)

Now, Maria de Jesus of Portugal, born on Sept. 10, 1893, is the world’s oldest living person.

Guinness Record – Longest Marathon Reading – Deepak Bajagain

Deepak Sharma Bajgain, 23, has been included in the Guinness Book of World Record for reading continuously for 121 hours. He made the new world record during The Longest Marathon Reading, a program organized in Kathmandu by The Readers Club from Sept. 19 to 24, as reported in Kantipur daily.

Bajgain continuously read different books in the presence of distinguished personalities from different sectors for 121 hours in Khula Manch in the heart of Kathmandu. Eighty judges were present in three- hour shifts to observe Bajgain. Destination Overseas Consultant Pvt. Ltd., Chaudhary Group and Everest Insurance sponsored the program. Health workers from Bir Hospital, Nepal Medical Association, and Nepal Nursing Association were also present throughout the recital to monitor the condition of Bajgain.

Adrian Hilton of England had set the previous world record in 1987 by reading a Shakespearean masterpiece continuously for 110 hours and 46 minutes.

2-years old ‘exceptional child’

I never took my IQ test and I am not planning to take one anytime soon. But, I am sure I won’t be able to beat a 2 year old toddler who recently became the youngest member of Mensa in Britain, the high-intelligence society. Yes, most of us won’t be able to beat the ‘exceptional child’ of Edmonton, north London.

Elise Tan Roberts, 2 years and 4 months, took Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale test which showed she was in the top 0.2% in her age group in the UK. She has an IQ of 156 and can recite the English alphabet, count to 10 in English and Spanish and name types of triangle.

Unbelievable? Watch the BBC’s Daniel Boettcher testing Elise’s knowledge of capital cities. She is exceptional … don’t try testing unsuspecting poor little kids around you.

Before Elise the youngest member in the society was Ben Woods, who became a Mensa member in the 1990s at the age of two years and nine months (1,035 days old). In 2007 a little girl, Georgia Brown, from Aldershot, Hampshire, became the youngest female member with an IQ of 152, but she was still six days older (1,041 days old) than Ben Woods.  Elise managed to beat them with a wide margin – she was just 845 days old when she joined Mensa.

It is to be noted that the two-year-old’s IQ is just 4 points short of Einstein, the father of relativity, who had an IQ of 160. (Photos of Elise with her parents by Photo Agency and Georgia by dailymail)

Priyanka Chopra aiming for Guinness Book of World Records

Priyanka Chopra, Miss World 2000, is set to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for playing 12 roles in Ashutosh Gowariker’s forthcoming movie “What’s Your Rashee?”. The movie is based on US based Gujarati writer Madhu Rye’s novel Kimball Ravenswood.

Anjali, Vishakha, Kajal, Hansa, Mallika, Pooja, Rajni, Nandini, Bhavna, Jhankhana, Sanjna, and Chandrika are the 12 different characters depicting 12 zodiac signs in the Ashutosh Gowariker directed movie. It is told that the producers have already sent her name the Guinness board.

But she is not the first actor to have achieved them maximum roles for a single actor. Lupino Lane, a British actor, played 24 different roles in a 1929 silent movie ‘Only Me’. The funny movie was only 15 minutes long.

In India, Kamal Haasan was the first actor who played 10 roles in a movie named ‘Dashavatharam’. Another actor Sanjeev Kumar played nine roles in ‘Naya Din Nayi Raat’. That makes Priyanka the first Indian actor to play 12 roles.

I guess, Priyanka will be the first female to act in 12 different roles for the record.