“For all the book lovers out there, there is a great little book shop in Lane D. It is on the right side of the road, above a doctor’s clinic and opposite the stationery shop. Sophia has a good range of new and pre-loved books (both English and German). She will generally buy back any of her books, and if you have any other books you no longer want, she will also try to sell them for you on a consignment basis. She is a lovely lady and very helpful.” - Everything Expats Community Forum
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Reggae Rajas in Pune, India on 24 Nov 2010. Bad recording, but… Reggae in Pune! :)
Susan Orlean tries the latest fitness craze: Zumba
By the way, while you were sleeping, Zumba took over the world. This is not just my idle observation; according to Zumba.com, the fitness program’s official Web site, in the mere three years since Zumba launched internationally, it has spread to 110 countries, offering classes in 90,000 locations. About 89,999 of the locations seem to be within walking distance of my house. In fact, in these dreary economic times, the one growth industry in upstate New York seems to be Zumba. There hardly seems to be a gym, a community center, a town hall, or an empty warehouse that doesn’t offer a Zumba class a few days a week. What is it? Basically, even though the press material describes it as a “revolutionary new fitness concept” and “the single most influential movement in the industry of fitness,” Zumba is really just an hour-long dance party to Latin music. Nothing wrong with that, of course—dancing for an hour is great aerobic exercise, plus it has the additional virtue of not seeming like exercise, which is what drives all great workout crazes (see, to wit, Jazzercise, Cardio Salsa, et al.).
Check this! ;)
Attack of the pigeons this morning… Got up, did the dishes, and they took over the bedroom! Vermin!
Times of India 24 Oct 2010: winning entry submission for “Signs of the Times”
Dismantled
DAYTON, OHIO: Jeremy was on his bedroom floor, the pieces of the dismantled Playstation surrounding him. He would fix it if it took him a year, he would sign in; other players relied on him, and they were waiting, he thought.
Ganapati (Ganesha) time in Pune
I love duct tape… I’ve fixed so many things with it. Here is an amusing take on it by Paul Michael on www.wisebread.com, with videos and all. Click through to see the videos!
by Paul Michael on 27 July 2010
I once opened a tool box at a friend’s house and inside was a roll of duct tape and a box cutter. He said that it was all he needed. It was clearly tongue-in-cheek, but I always have a roll or two of duct tape in my garage. It’s versatile, it’s cheap, it comes in a variety of colors and it’s as tough as old boots.
As some of you may already know, there are several sites and books devoted to this miracle of modern science. One in particular that I like is called The Duct Tape Guys. If there’s a creative way to use Duct Tape, these guys have done it. Another great site is Duct Tape Fashion, which is also worth checking out.
So, after these various inspirations I thought I’d put together a top ten videos list of my favorite uses for this marvelous invention. Some are easy, others require a little more dexterity, but at the end of the day it’s just a few rolls of cheap Duct Tape that you’re experimenting with. Have fun! And if you have a great, weird and wonderful use for DT, let us know in the comments.
Corner roof jungle jungli maharaj!
NYT: Strange Signs From Abroad. A recent slide show, “A Sampling of Chinglish,” which accompanied a story by Andrew Jacobs, showed signs in Chinese paired with unusual and often funny English translations. We asked readers to share photos of amusingly translated or otherwise quirky signs that they’ve found during their travels. Click an image to enlarge it, and scroll to browse through the collection.
Hunt on for lady killer tusker
Ananthakrishnan G , TNN, Apr 28, 2010, 07.28am IST
From Times of India
“THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In the sticky summer heat of the Periyar Reserve Forest,a team of wardens is hunting for a serial lady killer a 25- year-old tusker with an insatiable sexual appetite,who stands accused of killing at least 12 female elephants.
Between February 25 and June 16,2009,eight female elephants were found dead in Periyar.Postmortem reports and other evidence suggested that these were caused by the same tusker, Keralas chief wildlife warden KK Srivastava told TOI.Two more females were found dead on March 12 and March 21,2010.The nature of injuries point to the same culprit, he added.Two other elephant deaths are also attributed to the rogue tusker,named Alpha by the forest department.
Alpha has been on the run for three years and gored the females to death as they resisted his sexual advances.Experts attribute the behaviour to musth (a state of heightened testosterone-fuelled aggression in bull elephants).The department was first alerted to Alphas misdemeanours in March 2009 when six elephants (five females and a male) were reported dead from the Periyar Tiger Reserve in a span of just two months.
Trackers on rail lines to save elephants
In an effort to save elephants from speeding trains,the Union ministry of environment and forests plans to post trackers on vulnerable railway tracks to alert train crews about the movement of herds.Trains have killed 29 elephants in the last three years in India.On the Coimbatore- Palakkad railway line alone,four elephants were mauled in train accidents last year.”
Our mango tree was harvested the other day by a neighbor and two young men — one climbed 3-4 stories high in the tree, the other received the mangoes as the climber threw them, quite adeptly, like oblong baseballs pitched over the roof-top-deck wall. Only a few were dropped, falling to the ground like rocks narrowly missing the car parked below. We were given as many as we wanted, and we proceeded to pass many of them on as gifts to friends and neighbors. These are ordinary mangos (sāḍe āṃbe), not the coveted Hāpūs/Alfonso, but they are really quite tasty when ripened. Traditionally these mangos are pickled or juiced.
Ripening mangos is a rather mysterious art, one which traditionally involves straw/grass/hay and crates kept at high temperatures (above 47 deg F, we hear). We went to our local market, and after buying our produce, asked if they had any empty mango boxes with straw, which they did, and we thus created our own little ripening system. The first round took 6-7 days to ripen, but the second round will be much shorter as the remaining mangos ripened in the bag we were keeping the mother-load of them in. Less than a dozen remain, most have been given away, a few we lost to mold.
Nail Gun Artist, creating the Mona Lisa. Probably fake, very dubious, but funny!
Mumbai. More Photos from our quick trip here.
