Get degree, get married, get a grip, and eat healthy if you want to live longer.
The November issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association published the result of a research that started back in 1965. In the article nine factors were identified as good predictors of which 50-plus men would live healthily into their 80s and beyond. The research included nearly 6,000 Japanese-American men living in Hawaii.
Well, getting married and having a degrees might be a bit odd in the list but all other seven indicators are well predictable for living longer.
Men who meet the following criteria are more likely to live longer, according to the study:
– Are married – Are not overweight – Have low blood pressure – Possess a strong grip (indicating overall strength and fitness) – Have attained a high level of education – Have low blood sugar – Avoid heavy drinking – Do not smoke – Have a low level of bad cholesterol.
Do you remember the birdman Gautam Sapkota from my previous post who could mimic 151 different types of birds? The videos were convincing and the guy sure has some talent.
The 25-year old now claims that he can call 175 different birds to jam the Kathmandu International Airport. The reason – the government has created hindrance in his quest for the Guinness World Records.
There are so many problems in Nepal that the Nepalese Government can’t hear a plea until somebody chooses a disruptive mean – be it a traffic jam or city closure (popularly called ‘Banda’) to attract its attention. Gautam claims to have repeatedly asked the ministries of foreign affairs, finance and forest. But nobody cared for his plea. Now, according to a National newspaper, he has given a three months ultimatum to the government to write letters to the Guinness World Records officials. With the three month’s preparation he is planning to call unspecified number of crows to jam the air traffic on the only international airport in Nepal.
One of the reason the solar energy has become unaffordable in underdeveloped countries is the cost involved in the purchase of solar panels. Two teens in Nepal, Milan Karki and Harihar Adhikari, have developed a low cost solar panel from human hair. Silicon dioxide, cupreous oxide, copper wire, glass, plywood and black hair is all they required to prepare the solar panel. The 17 year olds doing their 12th, produced 8 volt 18 watts electricity from an assembly of 1/2 kg of hair.
They sure made news in National papers in Nepal (Gorkhapatra, Nepal, Weekly news) but it is not clear how practical the electricity is in terms of durability and how they compare with photovoltaic panel. To me it seems too simplistic a method to be overlooked until now. If the invention can add value to the energy sector, the government should fund the research and help it develop as a commercial product.
Watch the video to know more about the “invention” (video is removed).
Nepali people don’t celebrate April Fool’s day traditionally. We have a fun filled day to celebrate which is an equivalent of April Fool day and is called Gaijatra. But due to the influence of the Western world people play pranks in this day. Many websites have post hoax news on this day and some of the ones I could gather are listed below (there are not many and they are NOT sorted according their wit or excellence).
Gaijatra - Nepali version of April Fool's Day
The Himalayan Times, published a news about a blockbuster Indian movie “Ghajini” to be made in Nepali and will be renamed “Gajendra”. Geetha Arts, the same production house that made Ghajini, will be producing Gajendra, but it will be directed by Narayan Puri, a noted Nepalese film director. That was news! until, the newspaper told later that they forgot to tell the readers that it was one of their April fool pranks.
Mysansar blog published a post showing fake screenshots of chat with Paras Shah (former Nepali prince).
Hamroblog had its definition of April Fool’s day in Nepalese context and a story about it.
Congratulation Anish Giri for being the World’s youngest grandmaster!
Anish, a 14 year old Nepalese boy living in Holland has been successful in being the World’s youngest grandmaster. Anish completed his final GM norm on Saturday by beating GM Eduardo Iturrizaga of Venezuela.
Victory smile just after the game. (Photo courtesy: chessbase.com, by John Nunn.)
Anish’s father, Sanjay Giri, is of Nepalese origin. His mother is a Russian. Anish himself was born in St. Petersburg. He started playing chess at the age of 7, sparring with his mom and later improved by reading Chess books and playing on the internet.
Anish’s first achievement was a win in the U-9 section in Hokkaido (Japan), where his father was posted for a few years. He won the U-12 Russian title and tied for the 3rd place in the same age group at the European level. Continue reading
Artists have created zero-dollar bills for artistic purposes and to get publicity. But in the East it is used for some noble cause. A local NGO, Pro Public, released a zero-rupees note in notes as a symbolic fight against corruption in Nepal. The move looks like a copy of similar act in India against corruption.
A similar release in india was carried out by Fifth Pillar India, an NGO set up to fight corruption. It had printed over 200,000 zero-denomination notes that resemble Indian currency and had distributed them around the country in the start of 2008. It was asking people to give the notes to anyone demanding a bribe (source). Continue reading
The alarming number of overweight folks are affixed either to their work, or TV, or computer with not much time for physical activities.
Canadian video game developer from Toronto has an idea to cash on these unhealthy habits of the video gamers. Well, it is a game for hand held device; but don’t expect to loose weight in the bus/train on your way to work even though the game is made for the Nintendo DS personal hand held gaming system. It is only a motivating device to make you eat healthy and be more active to loose weight.
It is told that “My Weight Loss Coach,†the new game, deals with healthy weight loss and provides users a way to track eating and exercise. It allows its users to design and chart a course toward healthier habits and eating lifestyles, including weight, age and objectives that are set up for people of their age and sex. The single user game allows the user to enter personal information and to design their own personal profile that will assist them in weight loss and healthy eating. (source)
Found this encouraging story: copied it from yahoo to paste here! :)
Despite a devastating 10-year civil war, Nepal has scripted the best child welfare story in the world, slashing child mortality by over 65 percent and magically improving child healthcare.
‘Nepal is one of the seven countries in the world that has been successful in cutting child mortality by two-thirds,’ said Gillian Mellsop, Unicef’s Nepal representative, releasing the report ‘State of the world’s children’ in Kathmandu Thursday.
‘What is commendable for Nepal is that we were able to make this progress despite the conflict the country has experienced in the last decade.’
In 2001 in Nepal – one of the world’s poorest countries where remote villages lack healthcare, safe drinking water, electricity and sanitation – 91 children under the age of five died in every 1,000 children, according to the health ministry.
After the Vulture Restaurant, conservation effort in Nepal continues by opening its first vulture breeding centre to try to save the birds from extinction.
Of the eight species of vultures found in Nepal, the white-rumped and slender-billed vultures are categorized as critically endangered.
The numbers of both species have plunged in Nepal and India and scientists say the decline is largely due to farmers dosing their cattle with diclofenac, a drug used to treat inflammation, poisoning the scavenging birds.
The plan is to capture at least 10 breeding pairs of vultures for each of the critically endangered species and keep them initially in two aviaries at Kasara in Chitwan National Park, said Dev Ghimire, an official with Bird Conservation Nepal.
“This is just a beginning and more pairs will be subsequently trapped and released,” Ghimire said. “It is a very important project and needs long-term commitment.” (Reuters)
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 –Â 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’Â. 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.
Believe it or not “restaurants” are being set-up for vultures in Nepal. These restaurants are targeted to preserve the wild vultures that have seen a huge decrease in their population owing to inappropriate meal. The vulture population in Nepal is estimated to have fallen to a mere 500 nesting pairs from at least 50,000 pairs in 1990.
In 2004 researchers working in Pakistan discovered that diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory drug used in livestock, was poisoning and killing vultures (29 July 2006, BBC). Nepal started producing a new cattle drug meloxicam, which is considered a safe alternative for anti-inflammatory diclofenac, and it is intended to halt a big decline in endangered vultures. (August 04 2006, iol). Although the use of diclofenac is prohibited in Nepal and neighbouring India, but the ban is widely ignored. Continue reading
5,000 beer cans and skilled hands made a recycled replica of Ford Mustang 1965.
Like all good students Jack Kirby collected his beers cans. Unlike most good students the art and design student actually found a use for them.
When he realised Budweiser was giving away his dream car, a 1965 Ford Mustang, he spent a month crafting this recycled replica. Kirby said: “I love Mustangs, and when I heard that Budweiser was putting one up for auction I didn’t want to miss out. I’ve got everything crossed that I win but if I don’t I have the next best thing – an exact replica built from Budweiser cans!”
