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History of Mumbai

2007-05-04T10:51:00.000-07:00

History of Mumbai
Ancient yet modern, fabulously rich yet achingly poor.
The city of Bombay originally consisted of seven islands, namely Colaba, Mazagaon, Old Woman's Island , Wadala, Mahim, Parel, and Matunga-Sion. This group of islands, which have since been joined together by a series of reclamations, formed part of the kingdom of Ashoka , the famous Emperor of India.
After his death, these islands passed into the hands of various Hindu rulers until 1343. In that year, the Mohammedans of Gujerat took possession and the Kings of that province of India ruled for the next two centuries. The only vestige (mark) of their dominion over these islands that remains today is the mosque at Mahim.
In 1534 the Portuguese, who already possessed many important trading centers on the western coast, such as Panjim, Daman, and Diu, took Bombay by force of arms from the Mohammedans. This led to the establishment of numerous churches which were constructed in areas where the majority of people were Roman Catholics. There used to be two areas in Bombay called " Portuguese Church ". However, only one church with Portuguese-style facade still remains; it is the St. Andrew's church at Bandra. The Portuguese also fortified their possession by building forts at Sion, Mahim, Bandra, and Bassien which, although in disrepair, can still be seen. They named their new possession as "Bom Baia" which in Portuguese means " Good Bay ".
A hundred and twenty-eight years later the islands were given to the English King Charles II in dowry on his marriage to Portuguese Princess Catherine of Braganza in 1662. In the year 1668 the islands were acquired by the English East India Company on lease from the crown for an annual sum of 10 pounds in gold; so little did the British value these islands at that time. The Company, which was operating from Surat , was in search for another deeper water port so that larger vessels could dock, and found the islands of Bombay suitable for development. The shifting of the East India Company's headquarters to Bombay in 1687 led to the eclipse of Surat as a principal trading center. The British corrupted the Portuguese name "Bom Baia" to " Bombay ". The Kolis used to call the islands "Mumba" after Mumbadevi, the Hindu deity to whom a temple is dedicated at Babulnath near Chowpatty's sandy beaches.
The first Parsi to arrive in Bombay was Dorabji Nanabhoy Patel in 1640. The Parsis, originally from Iran , migrated to India about 900 years ago. This they did to save their religion, Zoroastrianism, from invading Arabs who proselytized Islam. However, in 1689-90, when a severe plague had struck down most of the Europeans, the Siddi Chief of Janjira made several attempts to re-possess the islands by force, but the son of the former, a trader named Rustomji Dorabji Patel (1667-1763), successfully warded off the attacks on behalf of the British with the help of the 'Kolis', the original fisher-folk inhabitants of these islands. The remnants of the Koli settlements can still be seen at Backbay reclamation, Mahim, Bandra, Khar, Bassien and Madh island.
Sir George Oxenden became the first British Governor of the islands, and was succeeded later by Mr. Gerald Aungier who made Bombay more populous by attracting Gujerati traders, Parsi ship-builders, and Muslim and Hindu manufacturers from the mainland. He fortified defenses by constructing the Bombay Castle (the Fort, since then vanished except for a small portion of the wall) and provided stability by constituting courts of law.
Between 1822 and 1838, cattle from the congested fort area used to graze freely at the Camp Maidan (now called Azad Maidan), an open ground opposite the Victoria Terminus. In 1838, the British rulers introduced a 'grazing fee' which several cattle-owners could not afford. Therefore, Sir Jamshedji Jeejeebhoy spent Rs. 20,000 from his own purse for purchasing some grasslands near the seafront at Thakurdwar and saw that the starving cattle grazed without a fee in that area. In time the area became to be known as "Charni" meaning grazing. When a railway station on the BB&CI railway was constructed there it was called Charni Road .
The Zoroastrian Towers of Silence on Malabar hill were built by Seth Modi Hirji Vachha in 1672. The Zoroastrians believe in venerating the earth, fire, and water and hence they prefer to expose their dead to the elements and flesh-eating birds within the confines of the Towers of Silence. The first fire-temple was also built in the same year by Seth Vachha opposite his residence at Modikhana within the British fort. Both of the these structures can still be seen today although they have been expanded and strengthened.
The inroads of the sea at Worli, Mahim, and Mahalaxmi turned the ground between the islands into swamps making Bombay an extremely unhealthy place at that time. Many commuters going to the Fort by boat between islands lost their lives when there was a storm during the monsoons (July to September). During the next 40 years much was done to improve matters. Reclamation work to stop the breeches at Mahalaxmi and Worli were undertaken. The Hornby Vellard was completed in 1784, during the Governorship of Mr. Hornby. In 1803 Bombay was connected with Salsette by a causeway at Sion. The island of Colaba was joined to Bombay in 1838 by a causeway now called Colaba Causeway and the Causeway connecting Mahim and Bandra was completed in 1845 at the total cost of Rs.1,57,000 donated entirely by Lady Avabai Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, wife of the first baronet Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy with a stipulation that no toll would be charged to citizens for its use by the government. Initially the cost was estimated at Rs.100,000 but as the work commenced in 1842 the cost escalated. When the initial sum was exhausted and work about to stop Lady Jeejeebhoy once again dipped in to her personal purse with a second donation to the treasury of Rs.57,000.
Sir Robert Grant (1779-1838) governed Bombay from 1835 to 1838 and was responsible for the construction of a number of roads between Bombay and the hinterland. The Thana and Colaba Causeways were built during his tenure as well as the Grant Medical College attached to the Sir Jamshedji Jeejeebhoy ( J.J.) Group of hospitals.
On Saturday 16th of April, 1853 a 21-mile long railway line, the first in India , between Bombay 's Victoria Terminus and Thana was opened. The Great Indian Peninsular (GIP) and the Bombay Baroda and Central India (BB&CI) Railway were started in 1860 and a regular service of steamers on the west coast was commenced in 1869. Also during this period Bombay enjoyed great economic wealth. Raw cotton from Gujerat was shipped to Lancashire in England through Bombay port, and after being spun and woven into cloth, returned to be sold in the Indian market. The outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 increased the demand for cotton in the West and several personal fortunes were made during this period from the resulting trade. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 brought the West closer to Bombay , and as the city became more prosperous, many schemes were launched for reclaiming additional land and building more roads and wharves. Bombay began to attract fortune hunters by the hundreds and the population had swelled from 13,726 in 1780 to 644,405 in 1872, in a little less than a hundred years. By 1906 the population of Bombay was to become 977,822.
In 1858, following the First War of Independence (the British called it the "Sepoy Mutiny") of 1857 in which the Rani of Jhansi and her infant son strapped on her back were killed, the East India Company was accused of mismanagement and the islands reverted to the British Crown. In 1862 Sir Baartle Frere was appointed Governor, an office which he held until 1867. By 1862 the town had spread over the lands reclaimed through constructions of causeways and it is from this date we have the rise of the modern city of Bombay . In 1864 a fountain was to be erected in his honour at the Victoria Gardens by the Agri-Horticultural Society of Western India. Somehow, the plans were changed at the last moment and the fountain, named after the Greek goddess Flora, was placed in the centre of the city on what used be known as Hornby Road . Unfortunately, no plaque was placed on the fountain to commemorate the name of Governor in whose memory it was supposed to have been erected.
Around 1860 the piped water supply from Tulsi and Vehar lakes (and later Tansa) was inaugurated. One reform which met with much superstitious opposition, before it was implemented, was the sealing and banning the use of water from open wells and tanks that bred mosquitoes. A good drainage system was also constructed at the same time. However, several decades later, the same wells were to serve Bombay by providing non-potable water to supplement the same from the lakes. This was true especially during those years when the monsoons failed to provide sufficient water in the catchment areas of the lakes. However, well water is now used all over the city to supplement the water received from the lakes.
The later half of the 19th century was also to see a feverish construction of buildings in Bombay, many of which such as, the Victoria Terminus, the General Post Office, Municipal Corporation, the Prince of Wales Museum, Rajabai Tower and Bombay University, Elphinstone College and the Cawasji Jehangir Hall, the Crawford Market, the Old Secretariat (Old Customs House) and the Public Works Department (PWD) Building, still stand today as major landmarks. The Gateway of India was built to commemorate the visit of king George V and Queen Mary for the Darbar at Delhi in 1911.
The docks at Bombay are a monument of the industry, enterprise and integrity of the Wadia family which moved in from Surat at the instigation of the British. In 1870 the Bombay Port Trust was formed. In 1872, Jamshedji Wadia, a master ship-builder constructed the "Cornwalis", a frigate of 50 guns, for the East India Company, a success which led to several orders from the British Navy. In all the Wadias, between 1735-1863 built 170 war vessels for the Company, 34 man-of-war for the British Navy, 87 merchant vessels for private firms, and three vessels for the Queen of Muscat at Bombay docks.
The Princess Dock was built in the year 1885 and the Victoria Dock and the Mereweather Dry Docks in 1891. Alexandra Dock was completed in 1914. The closing years of the 19th Century were tragic for Bombay as the bubonic plague caused great destruction of human life once more. One significant result of the plague was the creation of the City Improvement Trust which in later years encouraged the development of the suburbs for residential purposes to remove the congestion in the city.
As Bombay 's superintendent of police in 1885, Charles Forjett was a favourite of the Indian people. Many wept openly when he returned to England . He sacked British constables who unduly harassed the locals and cracked down on the Parsi mafia which was involved in the liquor business in the Falkland Road area, which included the famous "Play House" which the locals corrupted to "pillhouse". The "Pillhouse" area would acquire notoriety in later years as the infamous "cages" area housing Bombay 's infamous red-light district.
Lord Sandhurst governed Bombay between 1895 and 1900 and it was during his tenure that the Act was passed which constituted the City Improvement Trust which, among other things, built the Sandhurst Road in 1910 and handed it over to the municipality. The Sandhurst Road railway station (upper level) was built in 1921.
As a result of a mysterious fire which started in one of its holds, on a very hot summer's day on Friday April 14, 1944, the ship " Fort Stikine " (7420 tons) blew up in the Bombay docks. At the time the ship was about to unload a lethal combination of cargo of dried fish and cotton bales (loaded from Karachi), timber, gun powder, ammunition, and gold bars from London (the latter to stabilize the Indian Rupee, which was sagging due to the Second World War and fear of invasion from Japan). The gold bullion was valued at approx. two million Pounds Sterling at that time. Nobody is certain as to how the fire started but the two explosions which followed were so loud that windows rattled and/or shattered as far away as Dadar, a distance of 8 miles. The destruction in the docks and surrounding area was immense and several hundred dock workers were killed instantly. A majority of brave men of the Bombay Fire Brigade, who answered the call to duty immediately after the first blast, lost their lives in the second explosion (a monument has been erected in the docks in their honour). The population of the city was panic stricken as rumours spread rapidly that the explosions signaled the commencement of hostilities by the Japanese on the same style as the surprise attack on Pearl Harbour in the Hawaiian islands in December 1941. The Japanese were in fact nowhere near Bombay since they were engaged in fighting a losing battle with the British army in Burma at that time. Nevertheless, the Bombay Central (BB&CI) and Victoria Terminus (GIP) stations were packed to capacity with terrorized people fleeing the city in whichever train they could board for their villages with all belongings they could carry. At the time of the explosion, one of the gold bars crashed through the roof of the third floor apartment of a Parsi named D.C. Motivala more than a mile from the docks. He promptly returned the gold bar to the authorities. Almost all of the other gold bars were subsequently recovered from different parts of the city; the last ones to be found were hauled up from the bottom of the sea in the docks. However, during normal dredging operations carried out periodically to maintain the depth of the docking bays one or two gold bars were found intact sporadically as late as the 1970s and returned to the British government. The government took full responsibility for the disaster and monetary compensation was paid to citizens who made a claim for loss or damage to property.
The Port Trust Railway from Ballard Pier to Wadala was opened in 1915. Along this railway were built grain and fuel oil depots. The kerosene oil installations were developed at Sewri and for petrol at Wadala. In the same year the first overhead transmission lines of the Tata Power Company were erected, and in 1927 the first electric locomotives manufactured by Metropolitan Vickers of England were put into service for passenger trains up to Poona and Igatpuri on the GIP railway and later electric multiple unit (EMUs) commuter trains ran up to Virar on the BB&CI railway and up to Karjat and Kasara of the GIP railway. During the Second World War these EMUs were joined together to form long trains which carried troops and small arms and ammunition to and from Bombay to the hinterland.
The Fort (downtown) area in Bombay derives its name from the fact that the area fell within the former walled city, of which only a small fragment survives as part of the eastern boundary wall of the St. George's Hospital . In 1813 there were 10,801 persons living in the fort, 5,464, or nearly 50%, of them Parsis. With the growth of the city more people came from the Fort to such suburbs as Byculla, Parel, Malabar Hill, and Mazagaon. European sports clubs for cricket and other games came in to existence early in the 19th Century. The Bombay Gymkhana was formed in 1875 exclusively for Europeans. Other communities followed this example, and various Parsi, Muslim, and Hindu gymkhanas were started nearby with fierce sports competitions among them being organized on a communal basis. This was opposed by several secular minded persons, such as the late A.F.S. Talyarkhan, and sports teams based on community, especially cricket teams, came to an end gradually after independence from British rule in 1947.
The historic session of the All India Congress Committee began on the 7th of August 1942. Its venue was the Gowalia Tank Maidan, where the congress was born in 1885. It was at this session that the "Quit India" call was given by Mahatma Gandhi and other Indian National Congress leaders. The Indian leaders were arrested by the British soon afterwards but the momentum of the Quit India movement could not be stopped and led to the final withdrawal of the British on 15 August 1947. The last British troops on Indian soil left for England through the archway of the Gateway of India on that day. They bade farewell from where they had entered 282 years before. The people of Bombay , in a gesture of generosity wished them bon voyage, forgetting the bitter memories of the fight for independence. Today the maidan from where the call to "Quit India" was given is called the "August Kranti Maidan".
After independence the Congress party led by Jawaharlal Nehru at the Center was swept to power in most of the Indian States, which were constituted on the basis of language spoken by the majority of its people. The Bombay State included the city as its seat of government. In 1960 the state of Bombay was split into Maharashtra and Gujarat states again on linguistic basis, the former retaining Bombay city as its capital. The Congress party continued to administer Maharashtra until 1994 when it was replaced by the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition.
With the success of the back-bay reclamation scheme in the late 1960s and early 1970s Nariman Point became the hub of the business activity. Several offices shifted from the Ballard Estate to Nariman Point which ultimately became one of the most expensive real estate in the world as high demand pushed prices to astronomical limits. Nariman Point is named after K.F. Nariman, president of the Bombay Provincial Congress Committee and former mayor of Bombay . Churchgate Street was also renamed as Veer Nariman Road after independence.
The Stock Exchange at Bombay was established in 1875 as "The Native Share and Stockbrokers Association" which has evolved over the decades in to its present status as the premier Stock Exchange in India . It is one of the oldest in Asia having preceded even the Tokyo Stock Exchange which was founded in 1878. In the early days the business was conducted under the shade of a banyan tree in front of the town hall. The tree can still be seen in the Horniman Circle Park . In 1850 the Companies Act was passed and that heralded the commencement of the joint stock companies in India . The American Civil War of 1860 helped Indians to establish brokerage houses in Bombay . The leading broker at the time, Premchand Roychand, assisted in framing conventions, ground rules and procedures for trading which are respected even now. He was the first Indian broker who could speak and write in fluent English. The exchange was established with 318 members with a fee of Re. 1/-. This fee has gradually increased over the years and today it is a over a crore.
In January 1899, the Brokers' Hall was inaugurated by James M. MaClean, M.P. After the First World War the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) was housed in an old building near the Town Hall. In 1928, the present plot of land was acquired surrounded by Dalal Street , Bombay Samachar Marg, and Hammam Street . A building was constructed in 1930 and occupied in December of that year.
In 1995 the operations and dealings of the BSE were fully computerized and thus the famous out-cry system of share trading was replaced by screen based trading as in other modern stock exchanges around the world. Today Bombay is the financial and business capital of India . The BSE is housed in the 28-storied Phiroze Jeejeebhoy Towers in the same place where the old building once stood. Sir Phiroze Jamshedji Jeejeebhoy was the Chairman of the Exchange from 1966 till his death in 1980. The building has been named after him since its construction commenced during his Chairmanship and was completed just as he passed away.

100 YEARS AGO

2007-02-23T02:38:00.000-08:00

"Technical Skill is the mastery of complexity, while Creativity is the master of simplicity.....!"

Hair colour invented

The fashion world is a-flutter today, after the news that French pharmacist Eugène Schuller has devised a formula to create permanent hair dyes, using chemical ingredients.

The first range comprises dark, golden and red shades and is expected to revolutionise the hair industry. Schuller has named his company L'Oréal.

Telephone take-up

Telecommunications is taking off at great pace in America, following the news that the San Angelo Telephone company has upgraded its phones to common battery use.

Company owner John Y Rust revealed the latest boom in phone communication. "Our business has increased tenfold," he boasted proudly. "We now have between 750 and 800 subscribers."

Suddenly a need to contact people instantly has arisen, when no one previously realised it was necessary. The San Angelo Telephone company currently charges $1.50 to all domestic customers for their line.

International Color Awards

2007-02-19T23:09:00.000-08:00

Rule Maker (Dinesh Vora)

2006-12-25T11:48:00.000-08:00

Dinesh Vora

Thirty Million dollars Bikini made from diamands

2006-12-22T21:18:00.000-08:00

Japan Police Traffic

2006-12-13T04:16:00.000-08:00

They'll do it in SA in next 20 years, not long time ! ! ! ! !

See Magic Of JAVA Script

2006-11-15T05:16:00.000-08:00

Hi friends

To See Magic
Plz do the following steps...

Open Internet Explorer(IE) .
Open any page with full of images:
1. Go to Google
2. Click images
3. Type "jamnagar" or any other word.
4. You will get a page which is having full of images
5. Then delete the item from the address bar and paste the below script and then hit enter.

No-support with mozilla firefox Use Internet Explorer

java-script: R=0;x1=.1; y1=.05;x2=.25; y2=.24;x3= 1.6; y3=.24;x4=300; y4=200;x5= 300;y5=200; DI=document. images;DIL= DI.length; function A(){for(i=0; i

Girl Found Inside Car's Dashboard

2006-10-29T04:51:00.000-08:00

A 10-year-old Mexican girl was found hidden inside a car's dashboard while it was undergoing an inspection Wednesday at the San Ysidro, California border crossing.

Officials said the girl was tightly trapped under the dashboard and the front passenger seat of a 1988 white Toyota Camry. She was removed after officers worked for 30 minutes to partially remove the seat. She appeared to be in good condition.

Topmodel Audition

2006-10-23T08:52:00.000-07:00

It is not that easy to be a top model.
You have to be able to walk with high heels.

Dove Evolution - Campaign

2006-10-22T10:30:00.000-07:00

A little reminder that even Supermodels don't look like Supermodels. Airbrushing, recoloring, even Feature Reassignment. Part of Dove's Campaign For Real Beauty.

Through a Rapist's Eyes

2006-10-12T04:05:00.000-07:00

Through a Rapist's Eyes (No Joke)
A group of rapists and date rapists in prison were interviewed on what they look for in a potential victim and here are some interesting facts:
1) The first thing men look for in a potential victim is hairstyle. They are most likely to go after a woman with a ponytail or other hairstyle that can easily be grabbed. They are also likely to go after a woman with long hair.Women with short hair are not common targets.
2) The second thing men look for is clothing. They will look for women who's clothing is easy to remove quickly. Many of them carry scissors around to cut clothing.
3) They also look for women on their mobile phone, searching through their purse or doing other activities while walking, because they are off guard and can be easily overpowered.
4) The time of day men are most likely to attack and rape woman is in the early morning, between 5 and 8:30 a.m.
5) The thing about these men is that they are looking to grab a woman and quickly move her to a second location, where they don't have to worry about getting caught
6) Only 2% said they carried weapons because rape carries a 3 - 5 year sentence but rape with a weapon is 15 - 20 years.
7) If you put up any kind of a fight at all, they get discouraged because it only takes a minute or two for them to realize that going after you isn't worth it because it will be time-consuming.
8) These men said they would not pick on women who have umbrellas, or other similar objects that can be used from a distance, in their hands. Keys are not a deterrent because you have to get really close to the attacker to use them as a weapon. So, the idea is to convince these guys you're not worth it.
9) Several defense mechanisms he taught us are: If someone is following behind you on a street or in a garage or with you in a lift or stairwell, look them in the face and ask them a question, like what time is it, or make general small talk, "I can't believe it is so old out here, we're in for a bad winter". Now you've seen their face and could identify them in a line-up, you lose appeal as a target.
10) If someone is coming toward you, hold out your hands in front of you and yell "Stop" or "Stay back!" Most of the rapists talked to said they'd leave a woman alone if she yelled or showed that she would not be afraid to fight back. Again, they are looking for an EASY target.

LIQUID CONDOM

2006-10-08T01:05:00.000-07:00

China's first liquid condom went on sale today after the country's health and drugs administration formally gave the hi-tech prophylactic the thumbs-up, the China Daily reports.

This is too interesting to pass up. In this picture is supposedly a bottle of Iiquid condom . Nanometer-silver Cryptomorphic Condom (NCC), it's designed for female rather than male usage. The condom-in-a-can is essentially an antiseptic foam spray that the manufacturer claims forms a physical membrane inside the vagina, protecting it from infection, acting as a barrier to pregnancy and providing a lubricating effect.What the heck is that? designed for ladies’ use. On the bottle, it says.

This world’s first liquid condom went on sales this week in China, after China’s health and drugs administration formally gave the manufacturer the green light.

The manufacturer claims that it forms a physical membrane inside the vagina, protecting it from infection, acting as a barrier to pregnancy and providing a lubricating effect.

Well, if it really is that good, it might just put Durex out of business. But most often, if things appear too good to be true, it most likely is! Give some feedback?

Remember Rings - Never Forget an Anniversary

2006-10-02T18:13:00.000-07:00

The Remember Ring utilizes patent pending Hot Spot technology to deliver a reminder that it's "That time of the year again!"

24 hours before your special day, the Hot Spot on the interior surface of your Remember Ring will warm to 120ºF for approximately 10 seconds, and continue to warm up every hour, on the hour, all day long!

Hot enough to cause discomfort but not hot enough to burn - the Remember Ring is impossible to ignore!

Remember Rings have a lifetime warranty.

This is a concept product.

BISCUIT CITY(u can never c before,amazing)

2006-10-01T23:12:00.000-07:00

Created by Chinese artist Song Dong in the basement of London Selfridges.
72,000 biscuits were used in total to construct the ‘Biscuit city’ including Chocolate Digestives, Rich Tea, HobNobs and Fruit Shortcakes.
The ‘biscuit city’ is being offered to shoppers accompanied with a cup of tea for dunking!

Read more

IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad Exploded!

2006-10-01T14:29:00.000-07:00

22nd September 2006. This used to be Alan's laptop, an IBM Thinkpad 600 with third-party batteries we bought separately: ie possibly not IBM's. Last night it exploded.

Alan was on the other side of the room from the laptop. I was elsewhere. He yelled out, I ambled towards the room in my own good time, and then I heard Fire! Real fire! Call the fire brigade, now! and I speeded up a bit.

From Alan subsequently, I gather there was an explosion and flying pieces of laptop, and a fireball, and a couple of fires started where (presumably) boiling battery landed, and one fragment smashed an LCD monitor. And then there was smoke and smell (there is still smell) and smoke alarm wailing and firemen and sirens and paramedics (happily unneeded) and police and a man with a notebook asking questions for the fire report.

And now there is black dust everywhere in the room and a stench in the house but remarkably little damage. To my disgust, even Alan's model railway is intact, although the platforms look like they have been covered in coal (hah). Because the fragments went everywhere, we have an entertaining session of "check all the wires" ahead of us now.

One more thing. Smoke alarms are a really good idea. Ours went off within minutes. I don't know whether this is true for all of the UK, but in Wales the fire service will come round and check your house and and give you smoke alarms for free and tell you useful things you might need to know. I am very glad they did.

To answer the collective inquiries and observations of IRC and phonecalls: no, it does not look likely that the data is recoverable; yes, there was a backup; I don't know how much work was lost; we are fine (Alan has some very minor burns from flying laptop shrapnel and has lost a bit of hair, but no more than you would get from playing with a soldering iron); no, as I am not a geek, it never occurred to me to stop and take photos of the exploding laptop -- I left the house like the nice 999 person told me to -- but the pictures on the exploding laptop website give you a very good idea of what happened; Conrad, I'm sorry I didn't ring back last night: I meant to, but as you see, I was distracted!

And contrary to all expectations (diolch, Gareth..), it wasn't mine, I was nowhere near it, and this one was absolutely nothing to do with me.

Quick update from Alan: Insurance people are being good, although the first question asked was a slightly incredulous 'Did anyone else see this'. Ebay from where I bought the battery haven't replied to the information I sent them. Kudos to IBM - having phoned them to report it they are actively investigating even though we are not yet sure if the battery is genuine IBM. The remaining bits of the label I dug out of the remains seem to indicate it may be. I also took the other two unexploded battery cells out of it and put them outside.

Korean Archery - Challenge The Impossible

2006-09-30T05:42:00.000-07:00

Remember in the classic scene of ‘Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves‘ where Kevin Costner spilt an arrow into two?

Here is an amzing Korean showing archery skill who could possibly perform the impossible trick, piercing an egg and apple from a distance of 70 meters, and an an Arrow in 30 meters!

Tulipan Condoms

2006-09-29T13:56:00.000-07:00

Funny commercial for Tulipan Condoms. You must see it !

A Great Ashtray.............Have U ever Seen This

2006-09-25T04:40:00.000-07:00

A great ashtray

for people trying to stop smoking!

Who's Claudio Paulo Pinto?

2006-09-24T12:05:00.000-07:00

Well he's the new eye popper record holder.

Crazy Class Picture

2006-09-21T12:33:00.000-07:00

I'm sure their parents will love hanging this on the wall.

How to Avoid a Ticket

2006-09-21T12:18:00.000-07:00

Notice her husband is in the passenger seat.

Quote of the Day

2006-09-15T12:51:00.000-07:00

i may not be perfect but parts of me are
pretty awesome

Men's Penis For Lunch? Here are our Dish Specialty

2006-09-10T05:49:00.000-07:00

WHY THE ICE-CREAM MAN WAS FIRED

2006-09-07T13:12:00.000-07:00

THIS IS WHY, THE ICECREAM
MAN GOT FIRED.

The Crocodile Hunter passes away

2006-09-04T10:17:00.000-07:00

Steve Irwin , the popular television presenter better known as the 'Crocodile Hunter', has passed away following a marine accident.

The 44-year old was filming an underwater documentary on Monday morning, and police sources in Cairns, north Australia, say he was killed by a stingray barb.

Only the second known Australian fatality from a stingray attack, Irwin seemed to have been stung either through his heart or the left side of his chest, following which he immediately suffered a cardiac arrest. He is survived by wife Terri and their two children, Bindi Sue, 8, and Robert, 3.

An exuberant and fearless showman, he popularised Australian phrases around the world, and will be remembered for his use of the word 'Crikey!'

Also aiding his global following were his pro-conservation, environmentalist approach and his encyclopaedic knowledge and love of crocodiles.

link unit

2006-09-02T18:02:00.000-07:00

entensity.net
neatorama.com
fark.com
digg.com
leenks.com
glassgiant.com
i-am-bored.com
reddit.com
dorks.com
zipped.org
humor.is
boredtown.com
linksdaily.com
collegehumour.com
69.is
linkswarm.com
linkings.com
zyped.com

BISCUIT CITY(u can never c before,amazing)

2006-09-01T22:59:00.000-07:00

MIND BLOWING FACTS

2006-08-26T13:40:00.000-07:00

1. Turtles have no teeth.

2. Prehistoric turtles may have weighed as much as 5,000 pounds.

3. Only one out of a thousand baby sea turtles survives after hatching.

4. Sea turtles absorb a lot of salt from the sea water in which they live. They excrete excess salt from their eyes, so it often looks as though they're crying.

5. Helium is a colourless, odourless, tasteless inert gas at room temperature and makes up about 0.0005% of the air we breathe.

6. Helium Balloon Gas makes balloons float. Helium is lighter than air and just as the heaviest things will tend to fall to the bottom, the lightest things will rise to the top.

7. Helium Balloon Gas makes balloons float. Helium is lighter than air and just as the heaviest things will tend to fall to the bottom, the lightest things will rise to the top.

8. Camels can spit.

9. An ostrich can run 43 miles per hour (70 kilometers per hour).

10. Pigs are the fourth most intelligent animal in the world.

11. Dinosaurs didn't eat grass? There was no grass in the days of the dinosaurs.

12. Dolphins can swim 37 miles per hour (60 kilometers per hour).

13. A crocodile's tongue is attached to the roof of its mouth? It cannot move. It cannot chew but its Digestive juices are so strong that it can digest a steel nail, Glass pieces, etc

14. Sharks are immune to disease i.e they do not suffer from any Disease.

15. Animals are either right- or left-handed? Polar bears are always left-handed, and so is Kermit the Frog.

16. Paris, France has more dogs than people.

17. New Zealand is home to 70 million sheep and only 40 million people.

18. Male polar bears weigh 1400 pounds and females only weight 550 pounds, on average.

19. Bison are excellent swimmers? Their head, hump and tail never go below the surface of the water.

20. There are 6 to 14 frogs species in the world that have no tongues. One of these is the African dwarf frog.

21. A frog named Santjie, who was in a frog derby in South Africa jumped 33 feet 5.5 inches.

22. The longest life span of a frog was 40 years

23. The eyes of a frog flatten down when it swallows its prey

24. The name `India' is derived from the River Indus

25. The Persian invaders converted it into Hindu. The name `Hindustan' combines Sindhu and Hindu and thus refers to the land of the Hindus.

26. Chess was invented in India.

27. The' place value system' and the 'decimal system' were developed in 100 BC in India.

28. The game of snakes & ladders was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. It was originally called 'Mokshapat.' The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices.

29. India has the most post offices in the world

30. 'Navigation' is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH

31. The word navy is also derived from the Sanskrit word 'Nou'.

32. Until 1896, India was the only source for diamonds to the world

33. The' place value system' and the 'decimal system' were developed in 100 BC in India.

34. A snail can sleep for 3 years.

35. The names of the continents all end with the same letter with which they start

36. Twenty-Four-Karat Gold is not pure gold since there is a small amount of copper in it. Absolutely pure gold is so soft that it can be molded with the hands.

37. Electricity doesn't move through a wire but through a field around the wire.

38. The first bicycle that was made in 1817 by Baron von Drais didn't have any pedals? People walked it along

39. The first steam powered train was invented by Robert Stephenson. It was called the Rocket.

40. A cheetah does not roar like a lion - it purrs like a cat (meow).

41. The original name for the butterfly was 'flutterby'

42. An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

43. Ants don't sleep.

44. Dolphins usually live up to about twenty years, but have been known to live for about forty.

45. Dolphins sleep in a semi-alert state by resting one side of their brain at a time

46. A dolphin can hold its breath for 5 to 8 minutes at a time

47. Bats can detect warmth of an animal from about 16 cm away using its "nose-leaf".

48. Bats can also find food up to 18 ft. away and get information about the type of insect using their sense of echolocation.

49. The eyes of the chameleon can move independently & can see in two different directions at the same time.

50. Cockroach: Can detect movement as small as 2,000 times the diameter of a hydrogen atom.

51. Dragonfly: Eye contains 30,000 lenses.

52. Pig's Tongue contains 15,000 taste buds. For comparison, the human tongue has 9,000 taste buds.

53. The number system was invented by India. Aryabhatta was the scientist who invented the digit zero.

54. Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their
hair.

55. Earth weighs 5,972,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons

56. Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.

57. A duck's quack doesn't echo anywhere

58. Man is the only animal who'll eat with an enemy

59. The average woman uses about her height in lipstick
every five years.

60. The first Christmas was celebrated on December 25,

61. AD 336 in Rome.

62. A Cockroach will live nine days without its
head, before it starves to death.

63. A chimpanzee can learn to recognize itself in a mirror, but monkeys can't

64. A rat can last longer without water than a camel can
65. About 10% of the world's population is left-handed

66. Dolphins sleep with one eye open

67. Snakes have no external ears. Therefore, they do not hear the music of a "snake charmer". Instead, they are probably responding to the movements of the snake charmer and the flute. However, sound waves may travel through bones in their heads to the middle ear.

68. Many spiders have eight eyes.

69. The tongue of snakes has no taste buds. Instead, the tongue is used to bring smells and tastes into the mouth. Smells and tastes are then detected in two pits, called "Jacobson's organs", on the roof of their mouths. Receptors in the pits then transmit smell and taste information to the brain.

70. Birds don't sweat

71. The highest kangaroo leap recorded is 10 ft and the longest is 42 ft

72. Flamingo tongues were eaten common at Roman feasts

73. The smallest bird in the world is the Hummingbird. It weighs 1oz

74. The bird that can fly the fastest is called a White it can fly up to 95 miles per hour.

75. The oldest living thing on earth is 12,000 years old. It is the flowering shrubs called creosote bushes in the Mojave Desert

76. Tea is said to have been discovered in 2737 BC by a Chinese emperor when some tea leaves accidentally blew into a pot of boiling water.

77. A person can live without food for about a month, but only about a week without water.
If the amount of water in your body is reduced by just 1%, you'll feel thirsty.
If it's reduced by 10%, you'll die.

78. Along with its length neck, the giraffe has a very long tongue -- more than a foot and a half long. A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue

79. Ostriches can kick with tremendous force, but only forward. Don't Mess with them

80. An elephant can smell water three miles away

81. If you were to remove your skin, it would weigh as much as 5 pounds

82. A hippopotamus can run faster than a man

83. India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history

84. The world's known tallest man is Robert Pershing Wadlow. The giraffe is 5.49m (18 ft.), the man is 2.55m (8ft. 11.1 in.).

85. The world's tallest woman is Sandy Allen. She is 2.35m (7 ft. 7 in.).

86. The only 2 animals that can see behind itself without turning its head are the rabbit and the parrot.

87. The blue whale is the largest animal on earth. The heart of a blue whale is as big as a car, and its tongue is as long as an elephant.

88. The largest bird egg in the world today is that of the ostrich. Ostrich eggs are from 6 to 8 inches long. Because of their size and the thickness of their shells, they take 40 minutes to hard-boil. The average adult male ostrich, the world's largest living bird, weighs up to 345 pounds.

89. Every dolphin has its own signature whistle to distinguish it from other dolphins, much like a human fingerprint

90. The world's largest mammal, the blue whale, weighs 50 tons i.e. 50000 Kg at birth. Fully grown, it weighs as much as 150 tons i.e. 150000 Kg.

91. 90 % of all the ice in the world in on Antarctica

92. Antarctica is DRIEST continent. Antarctica is a desert

93. Antarctica is COLDEST continent, averaging minus 76 degrees in the winter

94. Mercury is the closest planet to the sun and it doesn't have a moon. Its atmosphere is so thin that during the day the temperature reaches 750 degrees, but at night it gets down to -300 degrees.

95. Jupiter is the largest planet. If Jupiter were hollow, you could fit 1000 earths inside! It is made up of gas and is not solid. The most famous feature on Jupiter is its Red Spot, which is actually an enormous hurricane that has been raging on Jupiter for hundreds of years! Sixteen moons orbit Jupiter.

96. Saturn is a very windy place! Winds can reach up to 1,100 miles per hour. Saturn is also made of gas. If you could find an ocean large enough, it would float. This planet is famous for its beautiful rings, and has at least 18 moons.

97. Uranus is the third largest planet, and is also made of gas. It's tilted on its side and spins north-south rather than east-west. Uranus has 15 moons.

98. Neptune takes 165 Earth years to get around the sun. It appears blue because it is made of methane gas. Neptune also has a big Spot like Jupiter. Winds on Neptune get up to 1,200 mile per hour! Neptune has 8 moons.

99. Pluto is the farthest planet from the sun... usually. It has such an unusual orbit that it is occasionally closer to the sun than Neptune. Pluto is made of rock and ice.

100. Just about everyone listens to the radio! 99% of homes in the United States have a least one radio. Most families have several radios.

101. Sound is sent from the radio station through the air to your radio by means of electromagnetic waves. News, music, Bible teaching, baseball games, plays, advertisements- these sounds are all converted into electromagnetic waves (radio waves) before they reach your radio and your ears.

102. At the radio station, the announcer speaks into a microphone. The microphone changes the sound of his voice into an electrical signal. This signal is weak and can't travel very far, so it's sent to a transmitter. The transmitter mixes the signal with some strong radio signals called carrier waves. These waves are then sent out through a special antenna at the speed of light! They reach the antenna of your radio. Your antenna "catches" the signal, and the radio's amplifier strengthens the signal and sends it to the speakers. The speakers vibrate, and your ears pick up the vibrations and your brain translates them into the voice of the radio announcer back at the station. When you consider all the places the announcer's voice travels

103. Every radio station has its own frequency. When you turn the tuning knob on your radio, you are choosing which frequency you want your antenna to "catch."

104. Mountain lions are known by more than 100 names, including panther, catamount, cougar, painter and puma. It's scientific name is Felis concolor, which means "cat of one color." At one time, mountain lions were very common!

105. The large cats of the world are divided into two groups- those that roar, like tigers and African lions, and those that purr. Mountain lions purr, hiss, scream, and snarl, but they cannot roar.

106. They can jump a distance of 30 feet, and jump as high as 15 feet. It would take quite a fence to keep a mountain lion out!

107. Their favorite food is deer, but they'll eat other critters as well. They hunt alone, not in packs like wolves. They sneak up on their prey just like a house cat sneaks up on a bird or toy- one slow step at a time. A lion can eat ten pounds of meat at one time! That's equivalent to 40 quarter-pounder hamburgers!

108. Queen ants can live to be 30 years old

109. Dragonflies can flap their wings 28 times per second and they can fly up to 60 miles per hour

110. As fast as dragonflies can flap their wings, bees are even faster... they can flap their wings 435 times per second

111. Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.

112. You can't kill yourself by holding your breath

113. Your heart beats over 100,000 times a day

114. Right handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people

115. The elephant is the only mammal that can't jump!

116. Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails!

117. Women blink nearly twice as much as men

118. Honey is the only food that does not spoil. Honey found in the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs has been tasted by archaeologists and found edible

119. Coca-Cola would be green if colouring weren't added to it.

120. More people are allergic to cow's milk than any other food.

121. Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand

122. Earth is the only planet not named after a god.

123. It's against the law to burp, or sneeze in a church in Nebraska, USA.

124. Some worms will eat themselves if they can't find any food!

125. It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open

126. Queen Elizabeth I regarded herself as a paragon of cleanliness. She declared that she bathed once every three months, whether she needed it or not

127. Slugs have 4 noses.

128. Owls are the only birds who can see the colour blue.

129. Your tongue is the only muscle in your body that is attached at only one end

130. More than 1,000 different languages are spoken on the continent of Africa.

131. There was once an undersea post office in the Bahamas.

132. Abraham Lincoln's mother died when she drank the milk of a cow that grazed on poisonous snakeroot

133. After the death of Albert Einstein his brain was removed by a pathologist and put in a jar for future study.

134. Penguins are not found in the North Pole

135. A dentist invented the Electric Chair.

136. A whip makes a cracking sound because its tip moves faster than the speed of sound

137. Alexander Graham Bell's wife and mother were both deaf

138. Cockroaches break wind every 15 minutes.

139. Fish scales are an ingredient in most lipsticks

140. Canada" is an Indian word meaning "Big Village".

141. 259200 people die every day.

142. 11% of the world is left-handed

143. 1.7 litres of saliva is produced each day

144. The worlds oldest piece of chewing gum is 9000 years old!

145. The largest beetle in the Americas is the Hercules beetle, which can be 4 to 6 inches in length. That's bigger than your hand!

146. A full-grown male mountain lion may be 9 feet long, including his tail!

147. There are two kinds of radio stations: AM and FM. That's why there are two dials on your radio. AM is used mostly for stations that specialize in talking, such as Christian stations that have Bible stories and sermons; sports stations that broadcast live baseball and football games; and stations that specialize in news programs and "talk shows," where listeners call the station and discuss various topics. FM is used mostly for stations that specialize in music.

148. The average lead pencil can draw a line that is almost 35 miles long or you can write almost 50,000 words in English with just one pencil

149. The Wright Brothers invented one of the first airplanes. It was called the Kitty Hawk.

150. The worst industrial disaster in India, occurred in 1984 in Bhopal the capital of Madhya Pradesh. A deadly chemical, methly isocyanate leaked out of the Union Carbide factory killing more than 2500 and leaving thousands sick. In fact the effects of this gas tragedy is being felt even today.

151. Mars is nicknamed the "Red Planet," because it looks reddish in the night sky. Mars has 2 moons.

152. Venus is nicknamed the "Jewel of the Sky." Because of the greenhouse effect, it is hotter than Mercury, even though it's not as close to the sun. Venus does not have a moon but it does have clouds of sulfuric acid! If you're gonna visit Venus, pack your gas mask!

153. Tens of thousands of participants come from all over the world, fight in a harmless battle where more than one hundred metric tons of over-ripe tomatoes are thrown in the streets.

Secrets for Flawless Makeup

2006-08-11T02:10:00.000-07:00

Foundations, Primers, and More
For the prettiest, most presentable makeup look, skip the trends and follow these tips. You're guaranteed to look polished and perfect!

Buy the proper foundation. An off-color base will make every other cosmetic you apply look not quite right. Splurge on foundation at the department store, where you can ask for help in finding the right shade.

Prime your lids. Most women's eyelids are translucent, thereby looking darker or more blue than the rest of the face. This discoloration can change the color of the eye products you wear. Before you apply shadow or liner, prime lids with a special base for lids, or with a light swipe of foundation followed by powder. Not only will this even the tone of your eyelids, it will also make your shadows go on more smoothly and last longer.

Avoid contouring with blush. Sweeping on cheek color in stripes in an effort to create cheekbones only succeeds in making you look dated and like you're trying too hard. For a more classic, attractive look, apply blush to the apples of your cheeks in a circular motion, and avoid swiping the blush out toward your hairline.

Set makeup with loose powder. Loose powder is easier to control and more versatile than its pressed cousin. What's more, it sets every type of cosmetic, from foundation to eye shadow to even lipstick. Pick a loose powder with a yellow undertone to ensure it works with your skin tone, and apply with a fluffy powder brush:

Pluck meticulously. Even if you wear no other makeup, keeping your brows groomed perfectly gives you an instantly polished appearance. So pluck whenever you see a stray hair come in (they appear sneakily). That could mean every day, depending on how quickly your eyebrow hairs grow

More Makeup Tips
Use great brushes. Your makeup application is only as good as the brushes you use, because high-quality brushes allow you to apply and blend better than anything else. At minimum, you need a fluffy powder brush, a flat eye shadow brush, a tapered blush brush, and an eyeliner brush.

Line lips right. Lip liner can enhance a polished makeup look, but it must be imperceptible when you're wearing it. That means you should go for a liner shade that matches your lipstick exactly, or one that is so neutral, it blends into any color you wear. What not to do: Wear a lip liner that's several shades darker than your lipstick. That look is over:

Pick cream lipstick. The most wearable and polished formula for lipstick is a cream: It's long-wearing and gives full color, but has a soft shine and moisturizing properties, too. Avoid heavy matte lipstick and too-shiny glosses.

Find your perfect neutral shadow. The most versatile eye shadow? A neutral color -- with a hint of shimmer if you like that makes your eyes pop. Darker shadows tend to age the eyes and look costumey, not elegant. Some shades that fit: bone, taupe, light heather, and caramel.

Choose colors that work together. Your whole look will appear more subtle and polished if the makeup shades you wear all fall within the same color family. So if you love a cool white shadow, choose a blush and lipstick with a cool, pink undertone. Similarly, if your favorite blush is a warm peach, go for shadow and lipstick with a warm undertone, too

Your Fashion Style is Important

2006-08-03T10:28:00.000-07:00

Fashion style is important. You clothes make your fashion statement, and how you're perceived. Stand straight and carry yourself with grace. You will radiate self confidence.
Here are some fashion tips and advice to look and feel good. Don't forget your jewelry accessories are like the icing on the cake. They are the finishing touch. Dress to Impress and Make Your Fashion Statement!
Fashion TipsMake sure your wardrobe has plenty of neutrals on hand - they are perfect for mixing and matching. They can be dressed up or down with the right jewelry additions.
# Not a one of us woman has the perfect figure. We all have flaws. Accept your flaws and work with them
# Know your body and what looks good. You are logically attracted to clothes, styles and colors that flatter your figure. Experiment a bit, and try something a bit off your normal habits
# Tailored outfits are flattering to most all figures
# Buy styles that flatter your figure and don't forget that finishing touch with your jewelry
# To make a short neck look longer wear a sccop neck or open collar shirt, complete the look with a long necklace
# Large breasted women and women with wide hips can optain balance by using shoulder pads
# Make sure your panty hose fits properly
# Don't bare all - leave something for the imagination. Entice with your a glittery necklace or choker, and don't forget the earrings

Pamela Falls FrOm BOat

2006-07-31T00:32:00.000-07:00

click here for more photo

360 degree view from Mt Everest !

2006-07-21T08:47:00.000-07:00

This is a 360 degree view from atop Mt. Everest! Fantastic!
Most of us would never have seen this save for the computer!

What would it be like to stand atop the tallest mountain on Earth?

Visible are snow peaked mountains near and far, tremendous cliffs, distant plateaus, the tops of clouds, and a dark blue sky.

Fire Rainbow

2006-07-17T05:43:00.000-07:00

A rare Fire Rainbow seen recently on Idaho -Washington border in USA for about an hour.
Clouds are cirrus, some twenty thousand feet up in the air,
formed right amount of ice crystals and
the Sun hitting at exactly fifty eight degrees.

What will you say about this expression?

2006-07-10T09:27:00.000-07:00

This crowd make those guys more Exited
What’s going on between them ?

The Top 10 Languages Spoken In The World

2006-07-08T01:48:00.000-07:00

10. French

Number Of Speakers: 129 Million

Often called the most romantic language in the world, French is spoken in tons of countries, including Belgium, Canada, Rwanda, Cameroon, and Haiti. Oh, and France too. We're actually very lucky that French is so popular, because without it, we might have been stuck with Dutch Toast, Dutch Fries, and Dutch kissing (ew!).

To say "hello" in French, say "Bonjour" (bone-JOOR).

9. Malay-Indonesian

Number Of Speakers: 159 Million

Malay-Indonesian is spoken - surprise - in Malaysia and Indonesia. Actually, we kinda fudged the numbers on this one because there are many dialects of Malay, the most popular of which is Indonesian. But they're all pretty much based on the same root language, which makes it the ninth most-spoken in the world.

Indonesia is a fascinating place; a nation made up of over 13,000 islands it is the sixth most populated country in the world. Malaysia borders on two of the larger parts of Indonesia (including the island of Borneo), and is mostly known for its capital city of Kuala Lumpur.

To say "hello" in Indonesian, say "Selamat pagi" (se-LA-maht PA-gee).

8. Portuguese

Number Of Speakers: 191 Million

Think of Portuguese as the little language that could. In the 12th Century, Portugal won its independence from Spain and expanded all over the world with the help of its famous explorers like Vasco da Gama and Prince Henry the Navigator. (Good thing Henry became a navigator . . . could you imagine if a guy named "Prince Henry the Navigator" became a florist?) Because Portugal got in so early on the exploring game, the language established itself all over the world, especially in Brazil (where it's the national language), Macau, Angola, Venezuela, and Mozambique.

To say "hello" in Portuguese, say "Bom dia" (bohn DEE-ah).

7. Bengali

Number Of Speakers: 211 Million

In Bangladesh, a country of 120+ million people, just about everybody speaks Bengali. And because Bangladesh is virtually surrounded by India (where the population is growing so fast, just breathing the air can get you pregnant), the number of Bengali speakers in the world is much higher than most people would expect.

To say "hello" in Bengali, say "Ei Je" (EYE-jay).

6. Arabic

Number Of Speakers: 246 Million

Arabic, one of the world's oldest languages, is spoken in the Middle East, with speakers found in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt. Furthermore, because Arabic is the language of the Koran, millions of Moslems in other countries speak Arabic as well. So many people have a working knowledge of Arabic, in fact, that in 1974 it was made the sixth official language of the United Nations.

To say "hello" in Arabic, say "Al salaam a'alaykum" (Ahl sah-LAHM ah ah-LAY-koom).

5. Russian

Number Of Speakers: 277 Million

Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin, and Yakov Smirnoff are among the millions of Russian speakers out there. Sure, we used to think of them as our Commie enemies. Now we think of them as our Commie friends. One of the six languages in the UN, Russian is spoken not only in the Mother Country, but also in Belarus, Kazakhstan, and the U.S. (to name just a few places).

To say "hello" in Russian, say "Zdravstvuite" (ZDRAST-vet-yah).

4. Spanish

Number Of Speakers: 392 Million

Aside from all of those kids who take it in high school, Spanish is spoken in just about every South American and Central American country, not to mention Spain, Cuba, and the U.S. There is a particular interest in Spanish in the U.S., as many English words are borrowed from the language, including: tornado, bonanza, patio, quesadilla, enchilada, and taco grande supreme.

To say "hello" in Spanish, say "Hola" (OH-la).

3. Hindustani

Number Of Speakers: 497 Million

Hindustani is the primary language of India's crowded population, and it encompasses a huge number of dialects (of which the most commonly spoken is Hindi). While many predict that the population of India will soon surpass that of China, the prominence of English in India prevents Hindustani from surpassing the most popular language in the world. If you're interested in learning a little Hindi, there's a very easy way: rent an Indian movie. The film industry in India is the most prolific in the world, making thousands of action/romance/musicals every year.

To say "hello" in Hindustani, say "Namaste" (Nah-MAH-stay).

2. English

Number Of Speakers: 508 Million

While English doesn't have the most speakers, it is the official language of more countries than any other language. Its speakers hail from all around the world, including the U.S., Australia, England, Zimbabwe, the Caribbean, Hong Kong, South Africa, and Canada. We'd tell you more about English, but you probably feel pretty comfortable with the language already. Let's just move on to the most popular language in the world.

To say "hello" in English, say "What's up, freak?" (watz-UP-freek).

1. Mandarin [Chinese]

Number Of Speakers: 1 Billion+

Surprise, surprise, the most widely spoken language on the planet is based in the most populated country on the planet, China. Beating second-place English by a 2 to 1 ratio, but don't let that lull you into thinking that Mandarin is easy to learn. Speaking Mandarin can be really tough, because each word can be pronounced in four ways (or "tones"), and a beginner will invariably have trouble distinguishing one tone from another. But if over a billion people could do it, so could you. Try saying hello!

To say "hello" in Mandarin, say "Ni hao" (Nee HaOW). ("Hao" is pronounced as one syllable, but the tone requires that you let your voice drop midway, and then raise it again at the end.

Coca-Cola Trade Secrets 'Stolen'

2006-07-06T11:39:00.000-07:00

Coca-Cola trade secrets 'stolen'
US prosecutors have charged three people with stealing secrets from soft drinks company Coca-Cola and trying to sell them to its main rival PepsiCo.

According to the claims, administration worker Joya Williams went through files and stuffed a new Coca-Cola product and documents into her personal bag.

Also accused of stealing trade secrets are Ibrahim Dimson and Edmund Duhaney.

PepsiCo said it cooperated with the FBI and Coca-Cola after being contacted by someone looking to sell information.

Coca-Cola said the secret formula of its main drink - sold in the distinctive red and white cans - had not been compromised.

Its chief executive, Neville Isdell, said that "information is the lifeblood of the company".

Mr Isdell said that Coca-Cola would be reviewing its security procedures.

Dave DeCecco, a PepsiCo spokesman, said that the company was happy to have helped out its rival.

"Competition can sometimes be fierce, but also must be fair and legal," he said.

'Valuable secrets'

According to investigators a letter was sent to PepsiCo in May from someone calling themselves "Dirk" and claiming to be a high-level employee at Coca-Cola with information to trade.

An undercover FBI agent claims to have met with Mr Dimson, who was said to be posing as "Dirk", at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta in June.

During that meeting, Mr Dimson is alleged to have handed over an envelope containing documents and a glass bottle containing a liquid sample.

The undercover officer claims to have paid "Dirk" $30,000 (£16,000) and promised to pay another $45,000 at a later date.

On 27 June, another agent offered to buy the remaining trade secrets for $1.5m, and it is alleged that two of the suspects opened a bank account in order to receive the funds.

The three suspects were arrested on 27 June.

Investigators say they have footage showing Ms Williams going through files and "holding a liquid container with a white label, which resembled the description of a new Coca-Cola product sample, before placing it into her personal bag".

Ms Williams, Mr Dimson and Mr Duhaney are due to appear before magistrates in Atlanta, Georgia on Thursday.

"We are committed to protecting the intellectual property that is so critical for our corporate citizens to remain successful in the 21st century economy," said US Attorney David Nahmias said.

"Theft of valuable trade secrets will not be tolerated, not by the Justice Department and not even by competitors, as this case shows," he added.

‘Naomi Needs Help’

2006-07-03T06:42:00.000-07:00

Naomi Campbell may proclaim that love has sobered her famous temper, but the maid who allegedly suffered the fiery models fury, has spoken for the first time about her ordeal. Battered housekeeper Ana Scolavino believes Campbell’s violent rages could kill. “she is so crazy you never know when she will hit out. Anything can send her into a frenzy. There is not a single nice bone in Naomi’s body. She is a psychotic monster. On the catwalk she might look beautiful but apart from her face in person she is the ugliest person I have met,” she was quoted by the news of world, as saying. “she need serious psychological help before she hurts or even kills someone. I should know I am lucky to be alive. Every day she was like a wild, caged animal ready to pounce on any victim, screaming and swearing at everyone.”

Mike Metzger

2006-06-21T06:57:00.000-07:00

Mike Metzger put his name in the Guinness Book of World Records by becoming the first to backflip over the fountains of Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. Metzger also became the second person to ever (successfully) jump the fountains of Caesar's Palace?over 100 feet?, Robbie Knievel being the first in 1989. Sweet huh?

PREGNANT BRITNEY EYES NAMIBIA

2006-06-17T10:49:00.000-07:00

Pregnant pop dive Britney spears may follow in the steps of Hollywood couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and have her baby in Namibia. “Deputy Tourism Minister Leon Jooste confirmed that he received a telephonic enquiry form spears’ office to have her second baby born in Namibia,” the Namibian broadcasting corporation (NBC) said on Friday. A tourism ministry official said, “Our office received an enquiry from the staff of Britney spears,” but did elaborate. The star is six months pregnant with her second child with husband Kevin Federline, although entertainment tabloids have hawking reports of an imminent split. The baby is due in September

Lee Ryan's Sexcapades!

2006-06-12T10:25:00.000-07:00

lee Ryan has slept with over 500 women. the former blue singer, who previously dated atomic kitten singer liz mclarnon, is convinced he has been with a number of ladies but admits he stepped keeping score a long time ago. he confessed, " don't know how many girls I’ve seduced. i was in a boy band at a young age and I had the rabbit hormone. 500? i don't know, man." lee also confessed to using his mum to help him get rid of girl he dated. the army of lovers singer revealed he was with at that time. he said, "with this one girl, something just wasn't right. I couldn't go any further. So I rang my mum and said,” Mum pretend you're upset. She started screaming down the phone and i put her on loudspeaker. I said 'I've got to go and see her'."

Reporter Chronicles Her Life and Love in New York

2006-06-10T02:54:00.000-07:00

New York: what if Bridget Jones,
fictional chronicler of the trials and
tribulation of 30-something singletons,
had left London to become a tabloid reporter in new your?
A what if, as well as chasing news stories, she had a Carrie Bradshaw-link column, detailing her troubled love-life and bad dates?
A book not unlike tabloid love by Bridget Harrison, published this month, might well have been the result. But unlike Candace Bushnell’s sex and the city and Helen fielding’s Bridget join’s diary, Harrison’s book is a memoir.
In a crowded chick lit field, it is to Harrison’s credit she has opted not to fictionalize her experience. “Most people tend to do these thinly veiled portrayals. I thought I’d quite like to put my money where my mouth is and write the real thing,” Harrison, 35, says. “Everything in my book is 100 percent true.”

Bridget quits a comfortable job as assistant features editor with the times of London to plunge in at the deep as a general assignment reporter at the New York post. She break up with the boyfriend she left behind in England, has many bad dates, yearns
After and wins ‘Jack’ a senior editor at the Post, only to lose him, partly because he is tired of details of their relationship appearing in her column. She has a fabulous time running around town with her girl friends and more bad dates.

Her assignments often include tracking down distraught relationship of crime victims- examples include a decapitated owner of an Upper East Side restaurant and a 4-years-old
Stabbed to death by his playmates with a ball point pen.

Harrison’s other job at the paper was a column about dating in New York and much of the book is also taken up with horror stories about the men she met, including one who popped a mint in her mouth at the start of a date. She wasn’t worried about revealing embarrassing details of her personal life although she was anxious about the reaction of her ex-boyfriends and changed the names of some of them.

Harrison is now living and working in London and dating someone there in a “very New York way.” She says, “if you’re single, New York is definitely the best place to live in. But I do joke I’ve got to go back to London to find a husband.” And as for sequal ,she adds: “ I think I really would think twice about writing about love again because you do risk a lot doing it.”

Soccer fever

2006-06-09T11:22:00.000-07:00

The hardest hit, A Goal by beckham even won't be so fun and entertaining to watch.
He must be in great pain when the bal hit him.

A VERY VERY COOL GUY.DO YOU KNOW HIM?

2006-05-28T06:27:00.000-07:00

HE IS THE PRESIDENT OF
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN.

VERTU - the most expensive mobile phones in the world

2006-05-27T08:38:00.000-07:00

VERTU Ascent
Ascent
Inspired by the design of classic sport cars, the Vertu Ascent is as tough as it is elegant.
Specification
Colours: Yellow, Blue, rsd, Black, Brown, Tan
Volume: 78 cm3
Length: 108mm
Width: 44mm
Depth: 22mm
Weight: 173g
Performance
High performance 20mm handsfree loudspeaker
Advanced yamaha polyphonic hardware
From 2.5 to 4 hours talk time
Up to 270 hours standbt time
GSM Tri-band coverage in over 175 countries worlwide
Display and key pad
High resolution dynamic display with Crystal fine technology
Precision engineered stainless steel keys with jewelled bearings
Connectivity
Bluetooth
Modem support
PC synchronisation
User interface
Text messaging (SMS)
Multi-media messaging (MMS) and Email
Multi-language predictive text input
Alarm clok
Advanced Agenda
Calculator
Large user memory: 1000 names in phonebook, 220 calendar notes, 100 SMS
Languages support
English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Tradotional Chinese, simplified Chinese
* Data cable is sold separately
**Some features are network and/or service depemdent.
Specigications are subject to change without notice. the availability of particular products and services may vary by region.

iPod Love

2006-05-26T04:07:00.000-07:00

iPod Love. Penn Campus, West Philadelphia

The world's greatest hacky sack player

2006-05-26T04:04:00.000-07:00

The world's greatest hacky sack player. No joke. Rittenhouse Square Park, Philadelphia

Avril Bringing Some Class To Cannes

2006-05-24T10:28:00.000-07:00

I am not a fan of Avril Lavigne's. She totally picks my ass.
Maybe if she wouldn't make some lame finger salute in every damn picture taken...
No, she'd still be annoying.

And if I hear one more person say her name and the word punk in the same sentence, let's just say it won't be pretty.

Ph0to courtesy of Egostatic

I'm in a book!

2006-05-24T10:24:00.000-07:00

I had completely forgotten about the interview I had last summer by a lady who was writing a book titled Weekend Entrepreneur. It is a book listing different ways you can make money and I was referred to this lady as someone in the mystery shopping industry whose story could be used in the book.

This morning, I received an email from a PR lady who, I'm guessing, was emailing the different people whose stories were told in the book. The PR lady asked if I would be interested in promoting my business as well as the book. Heck yeah! I emailed her back on what I do now (no longer a mystery shopper, but have moved up to Director of Marketing).

The promoting will begin next week and PR lady is going to be contacting our local/regional media and hopefully I will be having some public relations interviews set up soon. My fingers are crossed!

Go to Books-A-Million now and you can buy the book "Weekend Entrepreneur". If you live by me, I'll sign the book for ya! hee hee

Bigger Faster Better

2006-01-13T10:38:00.000-08:00

Bigger, Faster, Better

India's top tycoon hopes to kick the country's nascent boom into hyperdrive by remaking its stores, farms and even its biggest cities.

By Ron Moreau and Sudip Mazumdar

Newsweek International

July 17, 2006 issue - Mukesh Ambani has been India's Mr. Big for a long time. By all accounts, he is the country's most influential private citizen, and the businessman who thinks bigger than the rest in this rising economic superpower. He was all that even before a bitter internal feud led to a split in his family conglomerate. The breakup, finalized in January, left Mukesh in control of the larger (and largely petrochemical) share, Reliance Industries, and that behemoth has seen its fortunes soar ever since. It is now India's largest private-sector enterprise by any measure: revenue ($20 billion in 2005), profit ($2 billion), or share of Indian GDP (3.5 percent). Last week its stock closed up 15 percent since January, making Reliance India's biggest company by market cap (about $35 billion). Mukesh, who was already the world's 38th richest person before the split, according to Forbes, is now considerably richer. He says that while most family empires destroy wealth when they divide, the parting of the Ambanis was a "win-win" proposition.

Now, Mr. Big's ambitions are bigger than ever. Since the breakup, Ambani, 49, has finalized plans to invest more than $11 billion over the next decade to build two new satellite cities outside creaking, overcrowded Mumbai and Delhi. He foresees these metropolises emerging within just four years, each with a population of 5 million people making $5,000 a year, on average (or seven times India's norm), and hosting top multinational companies. And that is all pretty simple—a development on steroids—compared with the idea that really gets Ambani going.

Ambani's favorite scheme aims to revolutionize in one swoop two of India's largest but most backward sectors: farming and retail. Despite boom times, India is still a nation where 100 million mostly small farmers work with ox and plow, where 96 percent of retail stores are mom-and-pop shops and most of the roads between farm and store are mud tracks. Ambani plans to invest $5 billion by 2011 to put both the farms and the stores on the road to modernity, connect them through a distribution system guided by the latest logistics technology, and create enough of a surplus to generate $20 billion in agricultural exports annually.

In China, these plans would be hatched by the Communist Party. In India, the government is neither visionary nor efficient enough. But Mukesh Ambani is both. "This new business model excites me the most," said Ambani, wearing a white polyester-blend, safari-style shirt and dark blue slacks, in an exclusive interview in his Mumbai office recently.

Ambani is in many ways the enthusiastic extreme in a booming India, which has seen an explosion of entrepreneurial energy every time it opens a new industry to competition. The Reliance conglomerate got its start as a family textile business in 1966, and has grown in spurts, often triggered when the government released its grip on one sector or another. Mukesh Ambani's new cities were born, for example, from a recent reversal in the attitude of both state and federal governments, which are now willing to give private businessmen control over huge projects. "Can you imagine the change in mind-set?" he says. "The government is ceding its powers."

Reliance has always had a complex relationship with the government. In a sea of family monopolies, it was a genuine start-up. Yet it quickly acquired deep and sometimes murky connections with politicians, who have often helped Reliance along the way. Mukesh retains the extraordinary clout of his late father, Dhirubhai, the company's founder. But many who have dealt with him say he has also created a company that succeeds based on merit, not political good will. In that sense India's complex and controlled reform process has been perfect for market-savvy insiders like Ambani.

Ambani is not the only major Indian entrepreneur who sees India's farmers as an army of opportunity, either. Others are investing heavily in fruit and vegetable exports to Europe, information services for farmers, and consumer credit in the countryside. What unites them is both pursuit of profit, and a perhaps uniquely Indian mission to spread the wealth, which is arguably becoming a business necessity in a democracy whose growing income gap could prove explosive, particularly for the superrich. What distinguishes Ambani is the sweep of his plans, and a track record for making big projects happen. "His genius, his strength, is that he's enormously good at executing large projects," says Nandan Nilekani, the CEO of Infosys, India's huge IT company. "He is able to assemble large numbers of people, the project-management skills, the capital and then execute."

Ambani wants to build a chain of both small and supersize stores across India, creating 1 million jobs and reaching $25 billion in annual sales, all by 2011. If his plan succeeds, he says, consumers will get fresher food at lower prices, rural incomes will soar, farmers will become active consumers, and Reliance will become "a WalMart in India." The agricultural export boom will bring India's farmers into the global economy, as IT has done for its college grads. "We are rebalancing the world," says Ambani. "We are in fact lucky to be at the right place at the right time, contributing to our self-confidence as Indians. That's what energizes me." It's a vision in which everyone wins, which helps explain the silence of any doubters.

They were not so silent earlier. Mukesh Ambani got his start implementing his father's dreams. In 1980 Dhirubhai summoned Mukesh back from his M.B.A. studies at Stanford to begin a risky attempt at "backward integration" of its textile mills. The plan was to move from sewing clothes to creating the fabric, and eventually refining and pumping the oil from which synthetic fabrics are made.

At almost every step, naysayers would dismiss Ambani's plans as too grand for the Indian market. Mukesh first took charge of building a polyester plant at Patalganga, with an annual capacity of 10,000 tons at a time when India's demand was only 6,000 tons, and got it done in just 18 months. After Dhirubhai was hobbled by a stroke in 1986, Mukesh became a more nearly equal partner and was once again manager-in-chief when Reliance built a petrochemical plant to feed the Patalganga complex. "The son learned at his father's feet how to think big," says Vallabh Bhanshali, a Mumbai investment banker.

By 1996, the Ambanis were launching the next step in their grand plan: an oil refinery. Mukesh lived in a shipping container at the arid site in Jamnagar, 850 kilometers northwest of Mumbai on the Gulf of Kutch, while managing a work force of 80,000 and shuttling back to Mumbai in a small plane to consult with his invalid father and answer the critics, who kept asking: "What does Reliance know about refining?"

The Jamnagar project would set the pattern of sharp attention to detail, executed at breakneck speed, for which Ambani is now famous. He and his experts looked at 2,400 configurations for the refinery, sweated over every detail, yet finished in just three years. Jamnagar is now the world's third-largest refinery, and can turn crude into gas for cars or aviation fuel for $2 or $3 less per barrel than its closest Asian rival, a plant in Singapore. "We wanted and got an elephant that could dance to the tune of any market," says Hital Meswani, a long-time family friend who heads the refining operation.

Soon after the plant came online in 2000, India not only stopped importing refined oil products, it started exporting enough to more than pay for its crude-oil imports, becoming a net energy exporter for the first time. While other nations like Angola and Turkmenistan have achieved a similar turnaround, they did it by simply exploiting existing oil reserves—not by creating an industry from nothing, as Ambani did for India.

Soon, Ambani plans to break ground on a $6 billion expansion that will make Jamnagar the world's largest refinery, capable of processing more than 60 million tons of crude oil annually. Meanwhile, he has completed the "backward integration" of Reliance through an oil and gas exploration company that has hit a potentially huge natural gas reserve off the east coast of India, and is now spending $1 billion annually to pursue sites too remote for major oil companies, including three in Iraqi Kurdistan. "Mukesh wants to take risks," says P.M.S. Prasad, president of the search company, Reliance Petroleum.

Dhirubhai did not live to see this moment. He died in 2002, setting off a power struggle between Mukesh and his younger, more flamboyant brother, Anil, 47, that became a tabloid sensation and prompted speculation that Reliance itself might not survive. Mukesh pushed ahead during this period, taking advantage of the deregulation of the telecom sector to launch Reliance Infocomm in 2003, which quickly became the third-largest telecom in India. Mukesh felt a special attachment to Infocomm because it realized another dream of his father's—cutting the price of a phone call down to a penny a minute in India.

A year ago, with Reliance stock faltering, the matriarch of the Ambani clan stepped in to resolve the feud by dividing the conglomerate in two: the majority share ended up in Mukesh's hands, but Anil got Reliance Infocomm as well as Reliance Energy (electric power) and Reliance Capital (finance). "We are not crying about the three sectors we lost," says Anand Jain, Ambani's friend from their grammar-school days and head of Reliance's new cities project. Jain points out that within one month of the settlement Mukesh was rolling out three new projects, including the new cities, the farm-to-retail plan, and a related plan to foment "a second green revolution" in biofuels.

The Indian market is smiling on all of Mukesh's schemes. The three companies under his control have more than $22 billion in annual revenue, but 90 percent of that comes from Reliance Industries, which is entirely in petrochemicals. No doubt high oil prices have helped push up Reliance's stock price in recent months, says Ambarish Baliga, a vice president at Karvy Stock Broking in Mumbai. "But Reliance's strength is Mukesh" and the consensus view is that Reliance Industries will thrive even if oil prices fall because retail is "the main story going forward."

The question that some Indian businessmen ask, in private, is whether Ambani can really translate the model he used to build refineries so successfully to all his new projects. While Reliance touts its new business teams as top-flight, many old family friends remain in the upper ranks.

They are, however, as meticulous as ever. The farm-to-retail team is researching every step of the plan, from vegetable growing to hypermarket versus mom-and-pop retailing. The good news is that the backwardness of Indian farming conceals competitive advantages—for example, India has more arable land than any other country, and spans climate zones ranging from alpine to tropical that can grow any cash crop. The bad news, says Ambani, is that "the whole supply chain is totally disorganized." Because of a lack of storage, refrigeration and transportation, some 40 percent of India's fruit and vegetables spoils before reaching market.

To transform Indian farmers into quality suppliers for his new retail chain, Ambani plans to create 1,600 farm-supply hubs across India, providing technical know-how and credit, selling seeds, fertilizer and fuel, and buying produce. He also plans to build some 85 logistics centers to move food to retail outlets and to ports and airports for export. Reliance is gearing up to train tens of thousands of new employees in the next six to eight months to do everything from erecting prefab warehouses to transporting fresh produce. Even Reliance's admirers note that with little experience in farming or retail, Ambani is taking his biggest risks yet. "There will be mistakes," Ambani admits. "But we are not scared. We will correct our mistakes fast and move on."

In a sense, Ambani's basic bet is on the future of the Indian market and its 1 billion consumers. This is virgin territory, in which the 96 percent share held by 12 million family-run shops is high even compared with China (80 percent) or Thailand (60 percent). That makes it a relatively easy market to conquer. In the past two years Reliance has built 1,250 modern service stations, and already has 15 percent of the retail gas market, with plans to double the number of Reliance stations by December. Mukesh predicts consumer sales will surpass refining as Reliance Industries' main source of revenue within seven years.

Ambani thinks he can beat the likes of Wal-Mart on his home turf based in part on local knowledge: for example, Reliance executives understand that small retailers are a powerful lobby, particularly on the local level, and could easily trip up a giant. So Ambani is moving first to incorporate small stores into his chain, starting with a trial partnership with the Sahakari Bhandar chain of 19 supermarkets in Mumbai. In just two months, Reliance has renovated, computerized and stocked these stores, with dramatic results: average store revenue and customer traffic have tripled. In a second stage, Ambani plans to build new superstores, starting on the outskirts of the 784 Indian towns with populations greater than 50,000 before expanding into the ten largest cities, where property prices and congestion make superstores problematic.

Ambani's farm, retail and energy visions merge at his Life Sciences Center in Mumbai, which is pursuing his "second green revolution." Founded in 2002, its research includes experiments in growing biofuels from the jatropha plant and cellulose on a commercial scale. "If you can crack the cellulose code just like the Da Vinci code, cellulose and jatropha could give us two agro-routes to a world without gasoline," he says. About half of Indian homes have no electricity, and Ambani says big companies have no workable plan to bring it to them (an indirect slap at Anil's Reliance Energy). His answer is to go "wireless." He now has teams setting up experimental biomass generators in remote villages, and envisions a day when thousands of villages have these generators—sold and serviced by Reliance's rural retail network.

It could happen, as many obstacles seem to be melting in Ambani's path. Last year Parliament passed a law creating Special Economic Zones, which grant developers authority to plan new projects with more freedom than even China allows in its own bustling SEZs, on which Ambani's new cities are modeled. Reliance has all but secured 150 square kilometers of largely farm land east of Mumbai, at prices Jain estimates at 1/1000th those in downtown Mumbai. The government holds some equity in the projects, but as a largely "silent" partner, and has already approved Reliance's detailed plans for both new cities, says Ambani. "If you would have asked me five years ago if a project like this was possible I would have said no."

Reliance's first move will be to set up roads, rapid transit, power and water supply, telecom and rail links. In cooperation with the government it plans to build a 20-kilometer bridge across the bay linking old and new Mumbai, and a new seaport. Another private firm is building a new airport nearby. There will be a one-stop licensing agency, jointly run by Reliance and the government, to cut through India's infamous red tape. "Every serious investor in the world is approaching us to get in," boasts Jain, and Reliance has already secured $2 billion. Ambani expects that the cities will each pump $25 billion into the national economy every year. With groundbreaking due to begin later this year, Reliance aims to finish New Mumbai and Delhi by 2010 or sooner. "If anyone can do it Reliance can," says Sanjay Nayar, the CEO of Citigroup in India. After all, the bigger and faster, the better.

Toyota Way Way Off-Road

2005-07-31T00:20:00.000-07:00

The automotive giant has moved into consulting, prefab houses, advertising, health-care support, even sweet potatoes

Looking for the biggest Toyota on the market? You'd do well to skip the Tundra pickups and Sequoia SUVs down at your local dealer. Instead, take a trip to the Toyota factory in Kasugai, a city of 300,000 about three hours west of Tokyo. There, the models on the assembly line don't amount to much in terms of acceleration or horsepower, but boy, are they ever roomy -- as in multiple bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, bath, and patio.

The Kasugai plant is one of three Toyota factories in Japan that make prefabricated houses. Just like Toyota's cars, these come with fancy, foreign-sounding names and plenty of options, such as solar roof panels and keyless entry. For those with a Corolla-size budget, the top-selling, 1,300-sq.-ft. Smart Stage runs about $175,000, excluding land. For the Camry set, there's the 1,800-square-foot Espacio Mezzo, with three bedrooms and a garage, selling for about $225,000, though add-ons can take buyers into Lexus territory: At least one big spender laid out $860,000 for a super-size version.

Even as Detroit's carmakers have shed virtually all of their noncore assets, the world's most successful car company is heading in the opposite direction. Toyota controls dozens of businesses that have virtually nothing to do with automaking, ranging in size from resort developer Nagasaki Sunset Marina (77% owned by Toyota), with just five employees, to Toyota Financial Services Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary with 8,000 workers and $1.7 billion in operating profits in fiscal 2005. All told, revenues for Toyota's nonauto businesses jumped 15.5%, to $10.3 billion, in the year through March, and are up 50% since 2003. While last year's total still represented less than 6% of Toyota's overall sales of $180 billion, if broken out the company's sideline businesses would rank No. 192 among companies in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index.

ODORLESS MANURE. Houses are just the beginning. The automaker owns 100% of Delphys Inc., an advertiser with revenues of $660 million. There's Toyota Amenity, a wholly owned subsidiary with 69 employees that provides consulting services for hotels, wedding halls, and restaurants. To profit from the graying of Japan, there's Good Life Design, a 51%-owned company that offers support services to medical institutions. And should its employees go hungry, Toyota could turn to Toyota Bio Indonesia, a grower and processor of sweet potatoes. Established in 2001, the subsidiary is 90% owned by Toyota and aimed for sales of $860,000 in 2005.

Then there's Tokyo-based Toyota Roof Garden. As its name suggests, the subsidiary -- 70% owned by Toyota -- designs and sells greenery for rooftops, using peat from China to create lush spaces high above the streets. Toyota expects the business to grow as governments across Japan promote planting on roofs to combat rising temperatures in cities. And on July 1 the unit began selling a new composting ingredient developed with contact lens maker Menicon Co. that, among other things, removes offensive odors from manure.

What's the point? One clue can be found in Toyota's history. The company started out making power looms for Japan's textile industry. But Toyota founder Kiichiro Toyoda, after dismantling and rebuilding engines on Chevrolets imported to Japan, quickly recognized the potential for autos. In 1935 he built his first car, the A1. Two years later, Toyota Motor Corp. was spun off. Following that tradition of corporate exploration, since 1986 Toyota has had a New Business Project Committee to look into concepts in five areas, including factory automation, electronics, and biotechnology.

Image is another factor. Just as Toyota has used its Prius hybrid to build an eco-friendly profile -- while churning out ever more big trucks and SUVs -- investing relatively small sums in new technologies can go a long way in the PR stakes. While few of its nonauto businesses are huge profit drivers, Toyota says the aim of such sidelines is to use its technology and intellectual assets to ``enrich society.''

Not all the investments are totally unrelated to autos. Some of those Indonesian sweet potatoes, for example, are used to make biodegradable plastics that have found their way into Toyota cars. Panasonic EV Energy, 60% Toyota-owned, develops batteries for hybrids. And like many other automakers, Toyota rakes in big bucks from financing its vehicles.

Still, Toyota says it can find synergies in many activities that have nothing to do with cars. At Kasugai, Toyota's houses are 85% completed at the plant before being transported by road and built in just six hours. To improve efficiency, the company borrows knowhow from its fabled Toyota Production System with its principles of just-in-time delivery and kaizen, or continuous improvement. Anticorrosive paint is applied evenly to houses' steel frames using methods adopted from car production. And just as in all Toyota's Japan auto factories, a banner proclaiming ``good thinking, good products'' hangs from the roof. ``We follow the Toyota way in housing,'' says Senta Morioka, a managing officer at Toyota.

Where possible, Toyota also uses components developed for cars in its houses. One example is the keyless entry system which uses a radio sensor to lock or unlock the doors automatically. And to help keep out burglars, the windows are made of the shatter-resistant glass that Toyota uses in its windshields.

Yet for all that, many wonder what a car company like Toyota is doing in housing, roof gardens, and advertising. For the most part, analysts and investors turn a blind eye. One reason, of course, is that it's difficult to quibble with a company that posted earnings of $12.5 billion last year, enjoys operating margins near the top of the auto industry, and is poised to sweep past General Motors Corp. as the world's biggest carmaker in the next year or so. ``There's a certain amount of complaining about this kind of stuff [from investors], but it's a rounding error when compared with their total spending,'' says Christopher Richter, an analyst at brokerage CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets in Tokyo.

Kurt Sanger, an analyst at Macquarie Securities, adds that Toyota's wide-ranging interests also mean it will have ample padding if the company's plans for global domination in autos fall short. ``If things got really bad one day,'' he says, ``they've got lots of things they could sell.'' Anyone want a used roof garden?