Mobile Phones - The Teenage Obsession.

Teenagers are obsessed with mobile phones and carry them to schools, tution centres and other public places, a study released here Sunday said.

The study, conducted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), attributed this to socio-economic factors such as excess pampering by parents, easy access to pocket money, absence of parental monitoring and urbanisation.

The survey "Toy to Tool" found that 88 percent of adolescents aged between 15 and 18 years possess mobile phones. Over 66 percent of them between 16 and 18 years want to carry mobile phones to schools, it said.

The survey, conducted in Mumbai, Goa, Cochin, Chennai, Hyderabad, Indore, Patna, Pune, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Chandigarh and Dehradun, interviewed 2,000 parents and 2,500 students. It observed that many children were using their phones not only for talking but also for sending SMSes and MMSes and chatting.

Assocham secretary general D.S. Rawat said that despite school structures and policies, the ground reality is that more than two-third of teens confessed that they use cell phones inside the school premises when they should not.

The survey states that if the tendency of increased dependence on mobile phones prevails among teenagers, it could develop into their habitual addiction.

Mobile phone handsets are taking centre stage in the lives of metropolitan teenagers, who often send or receive dozens of emails a day while eating, attending school or even taking a bath, highlighted the survey.

The survey said the teenagers who excessively use cell phones are more prone to abnormalities like disrupted sleep, restlessness, stress and fatigue.

The study found that 71 percent of teens want their handsets to be equipped with MP3 gadgets to play music, while 70 percent want camera phones. They use their phones to send emails to their friends, to read books, listen to music and surf the internet.

Over 90 percent of the parents said they bought mobile phones for their children so that their kids indulge in their own world and not disturb them.

"In fact, they are also concerned that their children should not mix with bad company but play with mobile handsets," the survey said.

Parents also find it convenient to contact their kids any time through the mobile phones. However, some of them are not fully aware of the evils of a cell phone and they feel that their children be allowed to use a handset with them.

However, 56 percent of the parents felt that students should not be allowed to carry mobile phones, especially during classroom sessions.

According to the survey, even the telecom operators have launched low priced vouchers starting from Rs.10 as their marketing strategy to attract children who only send and receive messages.

The survey said that around 20 messages were sent by each student per day while 56 percent of teenage girls almost text 50 messages every day.

Longest and darkest total lunar eclipse of century!

The longest and darkest total lunar eclipse of the century will occur tomorrow, giving sky enthusiasts all over the country an opportunity to witness the event.

An unusually long lunar eclipse with the Moon immersed deeply inside the umbral (darker) shadow of the Earth will occur tomorrow, Nehru Planetarium Director N Rathnasree said.

"The total phase of this lunar eclipse will last 100 minutes. The last eclipse to exceed this duration was in July 2000," she said.

The next such eclipse will only take place in 2141.

The total lunar eclipse will begin at 00:52:30 IST and end at 02:32:42 IST. While the partial eclipse will begin at 23:52:56 IST and end at 03:32:15 IST.

The eclipse will be visible completely in Africa and Central Asia. It will be visible rising over South America, Western Africa and Europe, and seen setting over Eastern Asia, and Australia, C B Devgun from Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE) said.

The magnitude of the one of the relatively rare total lunar eclipse will be 1.70 magnitude, N Sri Raghunandan Kumar of Planetary Society of India said.

The next lunar eclipse to be viewed in India will be in December this year.

Also, a star named 51 Ophiuchi will be occulted during the eclipse.

Sky enthusiasts can witness the whole sequence of the occultation in the zodiacal constellation of Ophiuchus.

At 11:29 PM tomorrow, the Moon will occult (hide) behind the star 51 Ophiuchi. The star will reappear after 90 minutes at 01:01 AM of June 16.

Dunbar's no, the new yardstick on Facebook, Orkut

You may boast of having an impressive list of friends on social networking sites likeFacebook and Orkut, but a new study suggests that your brain can't handle more than 150 friends.

Researchers, led by Prof Robin Dunbar of atOxford University, have carried out the study and concluded human beings cannot develop close bonds with more than 150 people, the 'Daily Mail' reported.

Indeed, so intense has been Prof Dunbar's research of the magic number that it has earned him a measure of fame. It is now referred to as "Dunbar's Number", a term ironically coined on Facebook among fans of his work.

"There was a discussion by people saying, 'I've got too many friends -- I don't know who half these people are'. Somebody apparently said, 'Look, there's this guy in England who says you can't have more than 150'," Prof Dunbar said.

He has researched societies and businesses around the world and has found that 150 is the optimum group for social cohesion and interaction.

From African and Native American tribes to successful companies, a typical community is about 150 people. The reason 150 is the optimal number for a community comes from our primate ancestors, according to Prof Dunbar.

Dunbar's Number, of course, does face certain modern day complications.

He said: "You grow up somewhere, you go to school on the other side of the country, you get a job, you go to Europe for a bit -- it's much harder for us to keep those relationships working and good when they're that distributed."

As for the workplace, the study has shown that in companies smaller than 500 people "there's a very strong tendency for colleagues also to be your friends".

I love my dog.

Tears drop from my eyes,
Nobody can hear me crying.
Standing still, I watched him go.
He was with me, just a while ago.
Now, I am alone,
Where have you gone?
Memories.
Those beautiful moments have passed away,
when we played together, through out the day.
Once, I had you and you had me;
Now, I have tears and please, let it be.
I Remember,
Your angelic feathers,
Silent talks,
And,
those, so memorable walks.
How?
Those days quickly went by?
Why?
Dark grey clouds have invaded the sky?
How could you leave me?
I don't know.
I plead, Please don't go!
Since whole night, I am crying.
left with no other signs.
Life played so many games,
And you always made them framed.
Now, I am wondering, where is that?
You were my brother, my child..., my friend.
And you know?
I thought and thought,
with my mind, I fought.
I searched everywhere,
it has to be somewhere;
A reason to stop you,
a chance to be with you.
Dear, you are my nearest,
then why did you act like a guest?
Do you know?
I am still standing there, baby;
I am waiting for you here.
Because,
When tears drop from my eyes,
No one else can hear me crying.

My German shepherd. <3

Love

You are peaceful, positive, colorful.
You are my sky & you are the land below.
Need no shadow, they tells the body around.
Wide white silence.
Darkness? Does it exist?
I heard rumors,
Are they true?
Are they really killing?
Serve them mercy.
Do I need to tell,
You are me,
and I am you?

This world may be round,
but for me, it's shape is you.
I don't bind up,
when its the show time.
STOP.
I'm performing,
Where the only art I wholly know,
is to find you in the audience.
Still, do I need to tell,
You are me,
and I am you?

Do I want to feel?
Yes, I want to feel.
Feel, like a bubble,
light and short lived;
Filled entirely with,
only peace & you.
And then lost in love.
Mixed in the river.
And,
hold grip in the mud of a new birth.
To be lost again in you my love.
Still, do I need to tell,
you are me,
and I am you?


No, I don't need to tell you my feelings, I believe you know it all. :)

Daughters rock! Give birth to girls, cut crime

We revere our ‘mothers’, worship
Goddesses Lakshmi, Saraswati,
Parvati, Durga, Kali, claim they
represent wealth, intelligence,
strength and power and then offer
prayers for a boy child, or worse still,
want to abort a girl child!
Absolutely hypocritical and
shocking! The female to male ratio
has just dipped to 914 women to a
1000 men. We are a country that has
had a woman prime minister, a
woman president, we have
witnessed Kalpana Chawla going
into space... and closer to home,
seen women working shoulder to
shoulder with men, excelling in their
fields and being on par as earning
members. Why then, this ridiculous
bias against a girl child being born?
If you give them equal opportunity
and education, they are just a
capable of earning, being strong, self
sufficient, resilient and the bread
winners for the family. Every time I
read about rape, sexual abuse and
molestation it angers me because
men are perpetrators of such crimes,
not women. But gender disparity
ratios anger me doubly because it
denotes a woman ’s consent in
aiding the death of girls.
When you read about deranged,
sexually frustrated men raping and
molesting girls that are just two
years old to women in their 70 ’s it’s
because given dwindling numbers,
that many of these men are unable
to find their own women. If you
want to keep your mothers, wives
and children in a safer world... it lies
with you to keep our society gender
balanced, and to give birth to more
girls.

Messi to play in Kolkata in September

Want to scream "Messi, Messi!" like the rest of the world when his magic unfolds before your eyes? This September, you can do it in Kolkata -- and all for just Rs 1,000. 

Lionel Messi and mates in the colours of Argentina will clash with fellow South Americans Venezuela at the Salt Lake Stadium on September 2 in a FIFA-sanctioned friendly, and the Rs 1000 is the lowest denomination ticket for an event that is sure to cause a stampede in the football-mad city. 

That Messi and Argentina - and yes, Venezuela too -- will indeed be playing in the city was confirmed here on Monday by Celebrity Management Group (CMG), the exclusive licensee of the match. Ending doubts over Messi's Kolkata trip, CMG insisted that according to their contract with the Argentina Football Association, Manchester City star Carlos Tevez will also be accompanying the side, which is likely to be led by Messi's Barcelona teammate Javier Mascherano. 

Following the Kolkata match, the Argentine contingent will fly over to Dhaka to play a friendly against Nigeria on Sept 6. Incidentally, the Nigeria-Argentina game played on June 1 in Abuja has come under FIFA's scanner for alleged fixing. Nigeria won 4-1. 

The ticket prices which range from Rs 1,000 to around Rs 5,000, could come as a culture shock for Kolkata's football fans who have, for years paid not more than Rs 40 to 50 for games between the top clubs Mohun Bagan and East Bengal. Ironically, just across the city at the Eden Gardens, the sports fan has not been averse to paying anything between Rs 400 to Rs 9,000 to watch Kolkata Knight Riders in the T20 IPL. 

Outlining their programme, CMG revealed that they were also planning to sell tickets for Argentina's practice session. 

"We plan to do this at a much cheaper price so that those who can't afford tickets for the match get another chance for a dream date with the Argentina footballers," Bhaswar Goswami of CMG said. 

As things stand now, the Argentina squad is scheduled to arrive in the city on August 30. The match apart, the squad members will be involved in a number of other events, including a clinic with kids and a charity programme, during their four-day sojourn. 

A group of CMG officials will be in Argentina from June 26 to July 7 to chalk out with the AFA the logistics and itinerary for the squad. 

The hurdles over bringing Messi and the rest having been cleared, the organizers are bracing up for another challenge: Doing up the venue worthy of an international match. State sports minister Madan Mitra stressed that work is being done on war footing to make the Salt Lake Stadium worthy of the world's best footballer. 

"Our cause for concern is: Who is coming and where is he coming? It's regrettable to say that Messi will be playing in a stadium which is in a mess. That's how the Salt Lake Stadium is now. Hopefully we will be able to set the house in order, provide basic amenities to the spectators as well as clean up toilets, dressing rooms and other essential areas of the stadium. It's after all a matter of prestige for all of us," Mitra maintained.