We should learn from Japan.

Buffalo Plane Crash, House Destroyed (VIDEO)

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A commuter plane crashed into a suburban Buffalo home and erupted in flames late Thursday, killing all 48 people aboard and one person on the ground, authorities said.

Flames silhouetted the shattered home after Continental Connection Flight 3407 plummeted into it around 10:20 p.m.

"The whole sky was lit up orange," said Bob Dworak, who lives less than a mile from the crash site. "All the sudden, there was a big bang, and the house shook."

The 74-seat Q400 Bombardier aircraft, operated by Colgan Air, was flying from Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey to Buffalo Niagara International Airport in light snow, fog and 17 mph winds.

Dworak said while residents of his neighborhood about 10 miles from the Buffalo airport were used to planes rumbling overhead, this one sounded louder than usual, sputtered and made some odd noises. After hearing the crash, he drove over to take a look, and "all we were seeing was 50 to 100 foot flames and a pile of rubble on the ground. It looked like the house just got destroyed the instant it got hit."

Witness Tony Tatro said he saw the plane flying low and knew it was in trouble.

"It was not spiraling at all. The left wing was a little low," he told WGRZ-TV.

It was the first fatal crash of a commercial airliner in the United States since Aug. 27, 2006, when 49 people were killed after a Comair jetliner took off from a Lexington, Ky., runway that was too short.

Prior to the crash, the voice of a female pilot on Continental Flight 3407 could be heard communicating with air traffic controllers, according to a recording of the Buffalo air traffic control's radio messages shortly before the crash captured by the Web site http://www.liveatc.net. Neither the controller nor the pilot exchange showed any concerns that anything is out of the ordinary as the airplane is asked to fly at 2,300 feet.

A minute later, the controller tries to contact the plane but hears no response. After a pause, he tries to contact the plane again.

Then the controller asks the pilot of a nearby Delta Air Lines plane to see if he can see the Continental flight.

"Delta 1998, look off your right side about 5 miles for a Dash 8 about 2,300 (feet). You see anything there?" he asks.

"Uh, negative," the Delta pilot says.

Houston-based Continental Airlines issued a statement saying that preliminary information showed the plane carried 44 passengers and a crew of four.

"At this time, the full resources of Colgan Air's accident response team are being mobilized and will be devoted to cooperating with all authorities responding to the accident and to contacting family members and providing assistance to them," the statement said.

Chris Kausner, believing his sister was on the plane, rushed to a hastily established command center after calling his vacationing mother in Florida to break the news.

"To tell you the truth, I heard my mother make a noise on the phone that I've never heard before. So not good, not good," he told reporters.

Clarence emergency control director Dave Bissonette said the crash killed one person on the ground.

Manassas, Va.-based Colgan did not immediately return telephone calls.

Federal Aviation Administration investigators will join a team led by the National Transportation Safety Boardthat will be on the scene at first daylight, FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said from Washington.

Twelve homes were evacuated near the crash site, about 10 miles from the airport. The tail or part of a wing was visible through flames and thick smoke that engulfed the scene.

Two women believed to be residents of the neighborhood were being treated at Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital for what were described as non-life threatening injuries, hospital spokesman Michael Hughes said. They were transported by ambulance approximately 11:35 p.m

The crash came less than a month after a US Airways pilot guided his crippled plane to a landing in theHudson River off Manhattan, saving the lives of all 155 people aboard. Birds had apparently disabled both its engines.

On Dec. 20, a Continental Airlines plane veered off a runway and slid into a snowy field at the Denver airport, injuring 38 people.

Continental's release said relatives and friends of those on Flight 3407 who wanted to give or receive information about those on board could telephone a special family assistance number, 1-800-621-3263.

Clarence Center Plane Crash

Plane Crash In Buffalo New York: 50 Lives Feared Lost

A Continental Airlines plane crash in Buffalo, New York, killed 49 people, the Buffalo News said, citing unconfirmed reports from Buffalo Niagra International Airport.

The dead included 44 passengers, four crew members and a person on the ground, the newspaper said.

As many has 50 people may have been aboard the aircraft, the newspaper said, citing County Executive Chris Collins. Crew members reported mechanical problems as the plane approached the airport, the newspaper added.

India to launch cow urine as soft drink (no, we're not taking the p***)

Does your Pepsi lack pep? Is your Coke not the real thing? India's Hindu nationalist movement apparently has the answer: a new soft drink made from cow urine.

The bovine brew is in the final stages of development by the Cow Protection Department of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), India's biggest and oldest Hindu nationalist group, according to the man who makes it.

Om Prakash, the head of the department, said the drink – called "gau jal", or "cow water" – in Sanskrit was undergoing laboratory tests and would be launched "very soon, maybe by the end of this year".

"Don't worry, it won't smell like urine and will be tasty too," he told The Times from his headquarters in Hardwar, one of four holy cities on the River Ganges. "Its USP will be that it's going to be very healthy. It won't be like carbonated drinks and would be devoid of any toxins."

The drink is the latest attempt by the RSS – which was founded in 1925 and now claims eight million members – to cleanse India of foreign influence and promote its ideology of Hindutva, or Hindu-ness.

Hindus revere cows and slaughtering them is illegal in most of India. Cow dung is traditionally used as a fuel and disinfectant in villages, while cow urine and dung are often consumed in rituals to "purify" those on the bottom rungs of the Hindu caste system.

In 2001, the RSS and its offshoots – which include the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party – began promoting cow urine as a cure for ailments ranging from liver disease to obesity and even cancer.

The movement has often been accused of using more violent methods, such as killing 67 Christians in the eastern state of Orissa last year, and assaulting women in a pub in Mangalore last month. It also has a history of targeting foreign business in India, as in 1994, when it organised a nationwide boycott of multinational consumer goods, including Pepsi and Coca Cola.

The cola brands are popular in India, now one of their biggest markets, but have struggled in recent years to shake off allegations, which they deny, that they contain dangerous levels of pesticide.

Mr Prakash said his drink, by contrast, was made mainly of cow urine, mixed with a few medicinal and ayurvedic herbs. He said it would be "cheap", but declined to give further details about its price or ingredients until it was officially launched.

He insisted, however, that it would be able to compete with the American cola brands, even with their enormous advertising budgets. "We're going to give them good competition as our drink is good for mankind," he said. "We may also think of exporting it."

News Source: Times

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Slumdog Millionaire Child Actors Underpaid, still in slums

This is one of the most hyped movies in years. It struck me as truly sad to learn that two of its child stars were dramatically underpaid for their roles, are still living in horrific slum conditions, and have even been told that they will not get any more money until they are 18 and stay in school the whole time! A bit colonial, no, Danny Boyle?

read more | digg story

AR RAHMAN THE MUSIC MAESTRO

Although most Americans had heard of neither A.R. Rahman nor his music until recently, the 43-year-old composer is a giant in his native India. Rahman is now a Golden Globe® winner for "Best Original Soundtrack" for SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE and has been nominated for three Oscars® for the film, for best original score and two best original songs.

Educate yourself about this world-renowned musician below! And don't miss the two videos at the bottom of the post - of his acceptance of the Golden Globe®  on January 11th and an interview he participated in with South Asia's Desi You!

His Achievements: 

"Allah Rakkha Rahman is a Academy Award®-nominated and National Film Award- and Golden Globe®-winning Indian film composer, record producer and musician. His work has garnered considerable acclaim and a large global fanbase since his film scoring career began in the early 1990s."

"Working in several of India's various film industries, international cinema and theatre, by 2003, Rahman, in a career spanning over a decade, has sold more than 100 million records of his film scores and soundtracks worldwide, and sold over 200 million cassettes making him one of the world's all-time top selling recording artists. His acclaimed music compositions have led TIME Magazine to declare him the 'Mozart of Madras'..." 

On His Music: The Associated Press (Jan. 25th):

"Rahman has composed music for more than 130 Indian films, incorporating jazz, rock, Indian pop and Western classical music. 'He changed the entire concept of Indian film music,' said Subir Malik, another well-known Indian musician who described Rahman as 'a very, very experimental guy.' The two Oscar-nominated songs follow his tradition of mixing globe-spanning styles. 'Jai Ho' blends classic Indian pop with electronica and Brazilian-inspired drums. 'O Saya' features eclectic British sensation M.I.A., who co-wrote the song with Rahman."

"Only two Indians have won at the Oscars® so far — costume designer Bhanu Athaiya won for GANDHI in 1982 and noted filmmaker Satyajit Ray was honored with a lifetime achievement award in 1992."

'We have been waiting for this for nearly 80 years, haven't we? I am so elated,' A.R. Rahman told The Hindu on Thursday, soon after the Academy Award nominations were declared."

On A.R., the Man: India's Economic Times (Jan. 23rd):

"His father, a music composer himself, died when he was nine and his family had to rent out musical equipment to make ends meet. But, his mother... ensured that financial strife did not come in the way of her son's aspirations."

"[A.R.] plans to open a music school that will train people in orchestral music. 'Today the idea of music is composing for films, which is exciting and good for the film industry but not good for art,' he had told ET. 'So, my music school will be to start an orchestra and raise awareness about orchestral music. And in India, every state is different so I thought we'd have one orchestra that says it all. It is also a bridge for our culture, to export our culture,' said modern India's best known ambassador. " 

On What His Success Means to Indians: India's Business Standard (Jan. 28th):

"He's enabled Indian music to move onto the international stage... A.R. Rahman winning the Golden Globe® for his music for SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is probably the most significant thing to have happened to the music industry in India in a long time... There is no other Indian composer more deserving of recognition than Rahman. Many people have been looking at Rahman’s winning the award as something of a national achievement and in terms of Indian music and its artistes being put on the world map."

 Mr. Rahman, who felt on 'top of the world,' said he was getting offers from Hollywood producers to provide the musical score for their films, ever since his musical score for SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE won the Golden Globe award. Asked whether the Indian film industry would lose him to Hollywood, Mr. Rahman quipped, 'I will do a balancing act.'"  - India's The Hindu

On His Spirituality: The Times Of India (Jan. 24th):

"[A.R.] said, 'Religious sounds rather vulgar these days, I am more of a spiritual person... For me and my music, spirituality is the most important element and I don't think I can create the kind of music I do, if I don't practice spirituality.'  A source close to the musician revealed, 'Even when Rahman has a tedious schedule, he makes it a point to offer Namaaz five times a day, especially so after the awards.'"

Will A.R.Rahman get Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire??

My congratulations to A.R.Rahman for the 3 Oscar Nominations.

Slumdog Millionaire received 10 Oscar Nominations. Out of that 3 for Rahman for the original score and two songs O Saya and Jai Ho. This film is now in the Top 10 chart of north america and Top 1 in the British.

Rehman making indians proud.

"I love this film. The nominations have given me a great feeling. My inspiration to compose the music was the movie itself, its thought and the message in the film," Rahman told a TV channel after the nominations were disclosed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles, US.

Let us wish him all the best, rahman bring us Oscar.

Composer A.R. Rahman on the Sounds of ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and Being M.I.A.’s Idol

We've already raved about "Slumdog Millionaire" and covered one of the year's best films extensively, but thus far very little information has been made available about the film's soundtrack. Acclaimed Indian Composer A.R Rahman recently sat down with NY Magazine to shed some more light on the vibrant, unique sounds of "Slumdog".

Rahman, considering his enormous popularity in South Asia, is still a largely unknown commodity in the States. He's reportedly sold over 100 million records in India and is just now breaking in to Hollywood with "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" and now "Slumdog". With Rahman booked on an absurd amount of Bollywood films (check his IMDB), Danny Boyle reached out with the idea and was able to sell him on "Millionaire".

Slumdog Trailer

http://meetglad.blogspot.com/2009/01/slumdog-millionaire-trailer.html

"I literally had to leave another film to do this. When Danny met me, he said, “I’ve heard a lot of your stuff’ and he talked about it. That’s about the first time I’ve heard a compliment from a Western director, apart from Andrew Webber. He’s a good human being."

Like most of Boyle's work, the film relies heavily on music to compliment the narrative and bring the story to life in another way. Aerial shots of dilapidated neighborhoods and jarring, handheld chase sequences are accented by resonant music that makes authentic India come alive in a way Wes Anderson was never able to achieve. Rahman brings his distinctly original style to the film, drawing inspiration from multiple places.

http://meetglad.blogspot.com/2009/01/slumdog-millionare-imdb-user-rating.html

"I had to do stuff from modern India, eighties Hindi film soundtracks, mixing modern India and the old India. He wanted something very pulse-y. He said he hated sentiment, hated cello. No cellos! He said, “Never put a cello in my film” — he was funny. I worked fast, like him. It took two months of planning, two weeks of completing. Usually it takes six months with the musical films I’m doing in India.

Another selling point for American audiences is the involvement of M.I.A, who blew up here about a year late. She worked with Rahman on an original song for the film called "O… Saya".

"We met before but never worked before. M.I.A., she’s a real powerhouse. Somebody played me her CD and I thought, Who’s this girl? She came here and knew all my work, had followed my work for ages. I said "Cut the crap," this "my idol" crap. You have to teach me. We started working in India, then we e-mailed the track back and forth. She did the vocals in England. I did the rest in India."

More on Slumdog

http://meetglad.blogspot.com/2009/01/slumdog-millionaire-interview-w-danny.html


http://meetglad.blogspot.com/2009/01/plot-summary-for-slumdog-millionaire.html

$10 laptop display on Feb 3 , Rs500 laptop display on Feb 3

A $10 laptop (Rs 500) prototype, with 2 GB RAM capacity, would be on display in Tirupati on February 3 when the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Techology is launched.

The $10 laptop project, first reported in TOI three years ago, has come as an answer to the $100 laptop of MIT's Nicholas Negroponte that he was trying to hardsell to India. The $10 laptop has come out of the drawing board stage due to work put in by students of Vellore Institute of Technology, scientists in Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, IIT-Madras and involvement of PSUs like Semiconductor Complex. “At this stage, the price is working out to be $20 but with mass production it is bound to come down,” R P Agarwal, secretary, higher education said.

Apart from questioning the technology of $100 laptops, the main reason for HRD ministry's resistance to Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project was the high and the hidden cost that worked out to be $200.

The mission launch would also see demonstration of e-classroom, virtual laboratory and a better 'Sakshat' portal that was launched more than two years ago. Sources also said that the ministry has entered into an agreement with four publishers — Macmillan, Tata McGraw Hill, Prentice-Hall and Vikas Publishing — to upload their textbooks on 'Sakshat'. Five per cent of these books can be accessed free.

The mission, with an 11th plan outlay of Rs 4,612 crore, is aimed at making a serious intervention in enhancing the Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education. The mission has two major components. One, content generation through its portal 'Sakshat', and two, building connectivity along with providing access devices for institutions and learners.

In this context, government would give Rs 2.5 lakh per institution for 10 Kbps connection and subsidise 25% of costs for private and state government colleges.

The mission would seek to extend computer infrastructure and connectivity to over 18,000 colleges in the country, including each department of nearly 400 universities and institutions of national importance. The mission would focus on appropriate e-learning procedures, providing facility of performing experiments through virtual laboratories, online testing and certification, online availability of teachers to guide and mentor learners, and utilization of EduSat and DTH.

10 dollar laptop rs500 laptop at tirupati 10$ laptop 10$ laptop at tirupati

Slumdog Millionaire Interview w/ Danny Boyle and Dev Patel

Slumdog Millionare IMDB User Rating

IMDB: 8.7/10 To know the current rating visit http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1010048/

Rotten Tomattoes: 8.3/10 To know the current rating visit http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/slumdog_millionaire/

Plot summary for Slumdog Millionaire - 2008

The story of Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India's "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" But when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating; how could a street kid know so much? Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum where he and his brother grew up, of their adventures together on the road, of vicious encounters with local gangs, and of Latika, the girl he loved and lost.

Each chapter of his story reveals the key to the answer to one of the game show's questions. Each chapter of Jamal's increasingly layered story reveals where he learned the answers to the show's seemingly impossible quizzes. But one question remains a mystery: what is this young man with no apparent desire for riches really doing on the game show? When the new day dawns and Jamal returns to answer the final question, the Inspector and sixty million viewers are about to find out. At the heart of its storytelling lies the question of how anyone comes to know the things they know about life and love. Written by Fox Searchlight Pictures

Eighteen year old Jamal Malik is having an amazing answering streak on the Indian version of the television game show, "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire". He's only one correct question away from the big prize. However, some, including those associated with the game show, question how someone like Jamal, a self confessed non-genius who grew up in the slums of Mumbai, can be doing so well on the show when others who are brighter, more educated and wealthier than him have failed. Is Jamal cheating? Is it purely luck that they have asked him the questions to which he knows the answers? Seeing Jamal's life journey to this point ultimately answers these questions. His life journey includes being orphaned at an early age; growing up with an older brother, Salim, who was both his guardian/protector and antagonist; and having a relationship since childhood with another orphaned child, a girl named Latika. His motivation for being on the show also may provide some answers to his success. Perhaps it was all just meant to be. Written by Huggo

In Mumbai, the eighteen year-old orphan from the slums Jamal Malik is tortured by the policemen in a precinct accused of cheating a game show. Jamal, who has no education and works in a call center serving tea, is close to wining twenty million rupees in the show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" hosted by Prem Kumar, giving precise answers to the questions and raising suspicion of fraud. The police inspector shows the videotape and after each question, Jamal tells parts of his childhood with his brother Salim, his crush for Latika and their fight to survive on the streets to justify each correct answer, guided by his common sense and past experience, and prove his innocence. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Slumdog Millionaire - Trailer

Video showing the plight of the poor in Mumbai - Related to Slumdog Millionare

Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British drama film directed by Danny Boyle, co-directed by Loveleen Tandan, and written by Simon Beaufoy. It is an adaptation of the Boeke Prize winning and Commonwealth Writers' Prize nominated novel Q and A by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup. Tandan, who began as the film's casting director (India), was later appointed the co-director by Boyle because of her significant contributions to the film's production.

Set and filmed in India, Slumdog Millionaire tells the story of a young uneducated man from the Dharavi slums of Mumbai who appears on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Kaun Banega Crorepati, mentioned in the Hindi version) and exceeds people's expectations, arousing the suspicions of the game show host and of law enforcement officials.

After screenings at the Telluride Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival, Slumdog Millionaire initially had a limited North American release on 12 November 2008 to critical acclaim and awards success, and later had a nationwide release in the United States on 26 December 2008 and in the United Kingdom on 9 January 2009. It premiered in Mumbai on 22 January 2009.

Slumdog Millionaire won five of the six awards it was nominated for at the Critics' Choice Awards and all four of the awards it was nominated for at the Golden Globes, including Best Drama Film. It has also been nominated for eleven BAFTA Awards and ten Academy Awards.

Source: Wikipedia

Is this Nasa talking about Doomsday 2012

Apocalypse 2012

Just as "Y2K" and its batch of predictions about the year 2000 have become a distant memory, here comes "Twenty-twelve."

Fueled by a crop of books, Web sites with countdown clocks, and claims about ancient timekeepers, interest is growing in what some see as the dawn of a new era, and others as an expiration date for Earth: December 21, 2012.

The date marks the end of a 5,126-year cycle on the Long Count calendar developed by the Maya, the ancient civilization known for its advanced understanding of astronomy and for the great cities it left behind in Mexico and Central America.

(Some scholars believe the cycle ends a bit later -- on December 23, 2012.)

Speculation in some circles about whether the Maya chose this particular time because they thought something ominous would happen has sparked a number of doomsday theories.

8 babies born at the same time - Octuplets

A woman in California delivered what may be the nation's second live-born set of octuplets on Monday morning, surprising doctors who expected seven babies.

The six boys and two girls -- ranging in weight from 1 pound 8 ounces to 3 pounds 4 ounces -- were generally doing well in incubators following their Caesarean-section delivery at Kaiser Permanente hospital in Bellflower, California, doctors said.



Three of the babies need breathing assistance, but otherwise the eight don't appear to have serious problems, doctors said at a news conference Monday evening.

"It was a truly amazing delivery," said Dr. Karen Maples, chief of the hospital's obstetrics and gynecology department.



Doctors initially believed the mother -- whom they did not identify -- was pregnant with seven fetuses. The woman was 23 weeks pregnant when she was hospitalized seven weeks ago and ordered to bed rest.

Over a seven-week period, a team of 46 physicians, nurses and other staff prepared for the births. When they started the delivery Monday -- more than nine weeks before the babies would be full term -- they were in for a surprise.

"After we got to Baby G, we were surprised by the discovery of a Baby H," Maples said.

Bush gave his final speech in Texas

After the swearing-in of Barack Obama, George Bush was a little at a loss. He couldn't go home to the White House, and he couldn't stick around and steal any of Obama's thunder. So his people bundled him off in the helicopter and sent him to Andrews Air Force Base, where he met up with a big gang of his friends and flew home on a posh jet. The gang, according to Mark McKinnon at the Daily Beast, included:

Jenna and Barbara, Karl Rove, Karen Hughes, Dan Bartlett, Josh Bolten, Joel Kaplan, Jared Weinstein, Mike Meece, Andy Card, Don and Susie Evans, Blake Gottesman, Clay and Ann Johnson, Ed Gillespie, Barry Jackson, Joe Hagin, Israel Hernandez, Jeanne Johnson Phillips, Margaret Spellings, Alberto Gonzales, Brad Freeman, Jim and Debbie Francis, and Roland and Lois Betts.

A pretty friendly group! And accordingly, Bush was in a great mood. "While I expected the president’s mood to be defiant, bitter, defensive, or vengeful toward his critics, he was anything but," McKinnon wrote. "As he toured the cabin of the airplane throughout the flight, visiting with old friends, family, and staffers, he was filled with equanimity, grace, and a generosity of spirit."

Bush also left with a "a genuine warmth" for Obama, apparently. The former president admires the new president's personality, character, and family loyalty — and what's more, he thinks he has what it takes to be a successful leader.

Then everybody played cards, Karl Rove won, and they all landed in Texas. Bush was greeted by a cheering crowd of 25,000, and gave a little address. "The presidency was a joyous experience, but as great as it was, nothing compares with Texas at sunset," he said. "Tonight I have the privilege of saying six words that I have been waiting to say for a while: It is good to be home."