Srinivas Padma: Personal Musings on Life, Growth, and Connections

Lasith Malinga takes a hat-trick, then Ntini for a 'Golden Duck' to make it four wickets in four balls vs South Africa in the Super 8's.

THE GADGET YOU MUST KNOW OF The web cam has emerged as a key peripheral in the age of the Internet, helping people see each others’ image as they chat or make calls. Logitech’s QuickCam gives better image quality When you think Switzerland, what comes to mind? Chocolates, watches, secretive banks, right? Also, buxom Hindi film heroines prancing around with their toupee- wearing leading men, wearing white outfits. But high, cut- ting-edge technology? Now, that is not an area that readily comes to mind when you think of a country that hasn’t gone to war in over 500 years, is it? Logitech would beg to differ. The $2 billion Swiss company is one of the largest manufacturers of web cams, wireless keyboards and mouses. And recently, it launched the L o g i t e c h QuickCam Ultra Vision . In plain English, a Web camera. The web cam has emerged as a key peripheral in the age of the Internet, helping people see each others’ image as they chat or make phone calls online. In earlier years, PC ma...

China will build the world’s highest airport in Tibet as part of a 13-billion-dollar investment splurge in the Himalayan region, state media reported on Tuesday. China will spend more than $12.9 billion over the next three years on 180 projects in Tibet, including the airport in northern Ngari prefecture, Xinhua news agency said, citing the regional government. The airport will be the fourth in Tibet and another important plank in China’s plan to link the remote Himalayan region with the rest of China. A third airport began operating in Nyingchi, southeast Tibet, in September 2006, two months after China launched a railway line from Beijing to the regional capital of Lhasa . The Ngari airport will be located at about 4,300 metres above sea level, making it the highest airport in the world, according to reports in the state press. The first reports of plans for an airport at Ngari emerged in 2005. Xinhua said the 180 projects by 2010 would focus on other forms of infrastructure such as...

IN A bid to curb young women married against their wn from being brought into the country, Britain intends to raise the minimum age at which foreign nationals can receive marriage visas from 18 to 21, The Times of London reported on Sunday The government had earlier raised the minimum age from 16 years to 18, but now intends to go further: It is estimated that once the law is passed, around 3,000 people a year - mostly women from the Indian subcontinent - will be prevented from entering. Their husbands will also have to be at least 21 for them to be allowed in. British Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected to announce this step as part of a 10-year plan on crime, security and justice which will be unveiled later this week. The government will also introduce confidential interviews - before the visa is granted - of those it suspects might have been forced into marriage. The step follows a prolonged campaign by Ann Cryer, Labour MP from Keighley A Downing Street source said the new propo...

Colombian singer Shakira Mebarek performs during her concert at the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai on Sunday. The Latina sensation is on her global Oral Fixation tour, and recently performed in Dubai. This was her first performance in India.

The German carmaker BMW has unveiled a “talking car” to help the driver communicate more effectively with his vehicle so as to avoid traffic jams. The carmaker displayed at the German computer fair Cebit in Hanover recently a BMW 3-Series convertible fitted with the auto dialogue system TALK. The onboard computer system is fed with traffic information selected from 10,000 detectors monitoring around the clock the traffic situation along German motorways. TALK picks the information required for a specific route from a central computer, offering the driver an alternative route if necessary. According to BMW, German motorists spend on average 70 hours per year in traffic jams, with a rising tendency because of growing traffic density. Radio traffic information is only of limited help because it often reaches the motorist too late. The TALK system, which is also a Europe-wide research project, is much faster as it can also be transmitted over the car cellphone, according to BMW. Since Marc...

Questions, Replied with witty answers! Customer : Waiter, there's a dead beetle in my soup. Waiter : Yes sir, they are not very good swimmers. Customer : Waiter, there's a fly in my soup. Waiter : That's all right sir, he won't drink much. Customer : Waiter, there's a fly swimming in my soup. Waiter : So what do you expect me to do, call a lifeguard? Customer : Waiter, what's the meaning of this fly in my tea up? Waiter : I wouldn't know sir, I'm a waiter, not a fortune teller. Customer : Waiter, this soup tastes funny. Waiter : Funny? But then why aren't you laughing?