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

Beijing: A father tied his 10-year-old daughter's hands and feet and watched her swim in a chilly southern China river for three hours in a task he said Thursday would help the girl achieve her dream of swimming across the English Channel . Huang Li swam more than a mile in the Xiang River on Tuesday, traveling with the current, her father said. The girl swam by moving like a dolphin and would sometimes paddle with her bound hands. "Her swimming skills are perfect and she insisted on doing this," Huang Daosheng said in a telephone interview. T he girl, who lives in the city of Zhangjiajie in Hunan province , got the idea after seeing something similar on a local television program, he said. "It's not dangerous because, first, her swimming skills are really good and second, I was swimming with her, staying close to her," the father said. "I had her when I was 35, so she is my heart. I would never play around with her life." The girl started t...

Already drawing the crowds in the South American resort of San Alfonso del Mar in Chile, this artificial lagoon and swimming pool is eight hectares in size and contains an incredible 250,000 cubic meters of water. Acknowledged by Guinness World Records as being the world’s largest swimming pool , the lagoon trounces all other record holders in the category, including the Orthlieb pool in Casablanca, Morocco, itself a huge 150 meters by 100 meters – the San Alfonso pool is 1km in length. The revolutionary clear water artificial lagoons, transparent to a depth of 35 meters and unprecedented in design and construction methods, are the brainchild of Crystal Lagoons founder, biochemist and Chilean businessman Fernando Fischmann. Equivalent in size to an incredible 6,000 standard domestic pools, details of its technology are to be unveiled for the first time at Cityscape Dubai later this month. More Pictures: Source: Nubricks & Crystal-Lagoons

Cellphones double as electronic wallets It's Thursday, so 18-year-old Dennis Tiangco is off to a bank to collect his weekly allowance, zapped by his mother - who's working in Hong Kong - to his electronic wallet: his cell phone. Sauntering into a branch of GM Bank in the town of San Miguel, Tiangco fills out a form, sends a text message via his phone to a bank line dedicated to the service. In a matter of seconds, the transaction is approved and the teller gives him $54, minus one per cent fee. He doesn't need a bank account to retrieve the money. More than 5.5 million Filipinos now use cellphones as virtual wallets, making Philippines a leader in providing financial transactions over mobile networks. Mobile banking services, which are also catching on in Kenya and South Africa, enable people who don't have bank accounts to transfer money easily, quickly and safely. It's spreading in the developing world because mobile phones are much more co...

You may never set foot on the moon yourself, but now, with the International Lunar Observatory Association's endorsement programme , you might just get your name written on the moon. That too, for free. All you have to do is log onto www.iloa.org , click on ‘ endorse the ILOA ' and fill in your name and details. This is open to all individuals in exchange for supporting the ILOA, which is launching the name plaque along with the 2009 lunar mission to set up an observatory on the moon. "A year back, we read about an NRI who purchased land on the moon. I believe it will one day be possible for us to go there, so I definitely support the mission,".

Jakarta: The catchy song in Malaysia's Truly Asia overseas tourism promotion campaign has hit the wrong note with neighbour Indonesia. The Indonesians have accused the Malaysians of stealing the song - Rasa Sayang, or Feeling of Love - from them and are now considering suing. Indonesian tourism and cultural minister Jero Wacik said on Wednesday he was investigating whether Indonesia could claim copyright and had scheduled a meeting with legislators, one of whom has called for legal action against Kuala Lumpur. "Our two nations come from the same stock, so our songs are sung in Malaysia and the other way around, but for commercial use, ethically there should be a legal notice," Wacik told reporters. "In this case there was none because they (the Malaysians) said they have sung it for ages." The two countries share Islam as their main religion and have close cultural links with similar national languages. Indonesian House of Representatives member...

Dear Tech Support Team: Last year I upgraded from Girlfriend 5.0 to Wife 1.0. I soon noticed that the new program, Wife 1.0 installed itself into all other programs and now monitors all other system activities. Applications such as BachelorNights 10.3, Cricket 5.0, BeerWithBuddies 7.5, and Outings 3.6 no longer runs, crashing the system whenever selected. I can't seem to keep Wife 1.0 in the background while attempting to run my favorite applications. I'm thinking about going back to Girlfriend 5.0 , but the 'uninstall' doesn't work on Wife 1.0. Please help! Thanks, "A Troubled User" REPLY: Dear Troubled User: This is a very common problem that people complain about. Many people upgrade from Girlfriend 5.0 to Wife 1.0 , thinking that it is just a Utilities and Entertainment program. Wife 1.0 is an OPERATING SYSTEM and is designed by its Creator to run EVERYTHING!!! It is also impossible to delete Wife 1.0 and to return to Girlfriend 5.0. It is impossible t...

To get high marks might be a challenge for most of the students but if one follows the right path, they will realize that it is after all not a difficult job. Following are some ways to achieve high scores in various exams: ¦ Scientific aspects of study atmosphere The first step towards taking an effort to do well in studies is to create a suitable study atmosphere. The important aspects in it include proper ventilation, lighting arrangement, study place, sitting posture, and direction of sitting. ¦ Set your goal Living without a goal is like traveling without any destination. Many students study for the sake of their parents. Most of the problems of students will disappear if the goal is clear. Students must have a common goal to be an outstanding student. ¦ Programming the mind One has to have positive programming, which can overcome negative traits easily. They must indulge in self encouragement such as "I can do it" or "I can achieve it". ¦ Concentra...