Watching with rapt attention

 

Good(?) Business Name

 Name(s) I wouldn't give to a Dental clinic: Ekadantam (One tusktooth 😄)

Kamala, our daughter

 

That _one_ person without a mask

 

Service with a smile

Say Cheese

Buying on Amazon

Recently, when researching about electric bikes in India, I searched for a bike brand on Google Search, trying to find reviews. And, this shows up - an Amazon ad.

  

Immediate reaction: "Seems like Amazon has sponsored links for all products. Who would sell bikes on Amazon?". 

Nevertheless , I clicked the sponsored link, just to see what shows up, and  I sure was surprised! It was actually possible to buy the bike on Amazon, take the receipt to the dealer, and drive home a brand new electric bike.

ஜாகுவார்

Paste

Wanted: A new feature for video chat

How to speak

I'm on the way...

Freedom from timezones

Of Pavlov and Hindu dieties

Central Government proposes SI unit to measure intolerance

The Central government today announced a significant move concerning the "rising intolerance" in India. It had earlier this month, instructed the Humanities department in the Indian Institute of Science to  identify a metric of intolerance which could then be taken to Système International d'Unités (SI) I for ratification. After discussions with science departments in the Institute, the department has proposed the "intoleron" as the new name for this unit -  1 intoleron being once instance of intolerance not exceeding 10 words of verbal/written expression of intolerance.

The unit has already been submitted to SI which will take into consideration recent events in Europe (such as the refugee crisis) and Americas to decide if the base definition should be modified. The 'intoleron' will be a quantized unit, and the SI will issue a reference scale mapping other acts of intolerance (such as tripping up refugees) to intolerons. In order to prevent incorrect measurement due to differences in languages, each intoleron must have a language qualifier without which, it is a meaningless quantity.

For example, schadenfreude would be 1 German intoleron and also equivalent to 1 English intoleron because the meaning can be expressed in only 8 words. Schadenfreude is the "pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune."

A spokesperson for the Government said that the unit was necessary because news channels had started  to provide highly conflicting scales of intolerance in the country causing significant confusion due to which the Government was unable to decide the scale of action to initiate. Having a standard unit will allow the Government to gauge the exact magnitude of the issue and act accordingly.

-Bureau reports

IRCTC to use whatsapp for services

IRCTC announced today that they intend to use popular instant messaging tool Whatsapp for various services.  They intend to provide value added services on Whatsapp & use plain old vanilla SMS for customers who explicitly mention that they do not use whatsapp.

Users can add 1800-00- IRCTC to their contacts to interact with a bot that provides multiple services including ticket reservation, cancellation, PNR enquiry,  purchase on IRCTC shopping etc.  Customers have to use specific mnemonics to avail of each service.

Modi expands cabinet, starts Ministry of General Knowledge

Almost immediately after his swearing in as the 15th Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi decided to expand his cabinet. The cabinet unanimously agreed to open up a new Ministry of General Knowledge, a first in the 67 years of independent India. Sonam Kapoor and Alia Bhat have been asked to take oath as the joint Ministers of State to handle the ministry.

Both women expressed surprise at the creation of such a ministry, however they also felt that it was not surprising that they were chosen to be ministers. They were quite confident that after the answers that they gave in the poular TV show Koffee with Karan, they were obvious choices to head the ministry.

Alia said that she is consulting her family and close friends on identifying a good day for the swearing in ceremony. Sonam Kapoor has said that she will take oath anytime after returning from Cannes. She said that she would have liked to be Cabinet Minister, but was elated nevertheless at the honour and opportunity she had been presented with.

Varun Dhawan was reported to be extremely disappointed at not being made part of the Cabinet.

Prabhu Deva to choreograph Miley Cyrus' next

Indian dancer Prabhu Deva will choreograph Miley Cyrus' next video and stage performance. The popular dancer, who has been called the Michael Jackson of India, has choreographed multiple movies and has also tried his hand at direction.

Miley Cyrus has been in the news lately after her performance in the MTV VMA and her latest video. Contact Music reported that Miley was impressed by some of the performances by Prabhu Deva and wanted to work with him, and had contacted him for her next performance.

The ever humble Prabhu Deva said that he was elated that he could work with a world famous star, and promised to help her deliver a twerktastic performance.

Tejpal, Ganguly blame VithU app of 'abetting sex crimes'

VithU, the SOS app for smartphones changed their advertising to add 'Court Complexes' to the list of potentially threatening locations. Their current ads, featuring female actors Kareena Kapoor and Kiya separately list elevators, hotels, deserted streets as locations where women could be at risk.

While the existing list already covers elevators - where Tarun Tejpal is accused of sexually assaulting a female employee, Court complexes are not mentioned. Recently, an intern accused Justice Ganguly of sexual misconduct.


In an interesting turn of events, both Tejpal and Ganguly have separately filed a suit against the VithU app, stating that the ads spread misinformation and consequently, abet crimes against women.

Not VithU!

Tejpal said that "The VithU app claims that even within elevators it works, but we all know that we don't get mobile signal inside elevators. That is why I was brave enough to do what I did. It is not my fault". Justice A.K. Ganguly, on the other hand, said that the ads did not say that the app worked in court complexes, implying a woman could not ask for help, which gave him the courage to misbehave. He claimed that the app was "not with you". Both Tejpal and Ganguly have separately filed suits against the app, and pleaded innocence in a way bordering the Nuremberg defense.

Channel V has not yet issued a statement.

Royal baby's first diaper to be auctioned

The royal couple has decided to auction the royal baby's first used diaper. The proceedings will partly go to charity and partly used to setup a trust in the name of the yet-unnamed baby. A palace source said that at present, the baby's first cloth diaper has been already taken and preserved.
 
The source also said that various diaper manufacturing companies such as Kimberly-Clark, Johnson & Johnson, etc are trying to reach the royal couple to sell their respective brands of diapers. Closed door negotiations are ongoing between palace authorities and the manufacturers to the rights to use 'Makers of the royal diaper' advertisement tagline. The same brand will be used by Will & Kate for their baby.


There was palpable excitement on this announcement. One of the gathered public said "It is brilliant what the baby has done. It has already pooped and made a name for itself. I mean, what an achievement."