Do politicians have a sense of humour ?

This is something that happened quite sometime ago, but worth reading

It is about an enterprising prankster, who wrote to American Senators asking them for their favourite joke. The responses are amusing, illuminating and, in some cases, really rather charming.

Posing as a 10 year old boy doing a "government project" at school, the prankster sent a scrawled note to 100 American Senators. Right off the bat, he discovered that getting a response from a top elected official is not an easy task, even for a ten-year-old boy. Weeks passed, with no response.

The reason for the delay, apparently was due to the fact that all 100 joke letters were screened for traces of chemical residue as per regulations. Federal marshals wearing protective suits held the prank messages up to ultraviolet lights, with long tweezers. Trained dogs sniffed hungrily over the letters, their keen noses able to detect anything except the scent of a practical joke.

Finally, the letters went through, and it pestered the nation's Senators until, finally, the responses started coming in. Senators actually took time from their busy schedules to write a joke, and send it to a lying ten-year-old kid. The results are sure to both amuse and amaze you. You can discover which of the Senators are funny and which are not, you will be moved to such a degree that you might even be tempted to vote [if they are participating during the next election ]

There are letters from such luminaries as John McCain and John Kerry. The jokes they chose reveal much about their personalities. And, against all odds, some of them manage to be quite funny too.

The senators who fell for it are listed at The Senator Prank

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Please note that Insanitary Media Behavior is only a blog, and it is in no way responsible for the content of any external website.

N-Viro International Corporation's Green Technology

N-Viro International Corporation builds and licenses its technology to private companies and municipalities, where the companies’ patented processes uses lime and / or mineral rich, combustible by-products to pasteurize, treat and convert wastewater sludge and other bio-organic waste into bio-mineral agricultural and soil-enrichment products, which has real market value.

N-viro international affirms a renewable energy future by utilizing patented n-viro fuel. Products from N-Viro can also change the useless material into fuel, and can also overcome the residue depletion of opportunity fuels, except material generated from clean coal.

Today’s climate change has nations scrambling for solutions to minimize this worsening condition. Some companies all over the world have already been practicing ways to transform waste into beneficial reusable products. The production of alternative energy has contributed to alleviate environmental issues such as global warming.

By doing this, products from N-Viro are turning waste products, composed of both organic and inorganic material, into renewable alternative fuel in synergy with the coal combustion industry. N-Viro International Corporation makes clean coal as opportunity fuels. Planet Earth would definitely be proud of this company!

The company has generated sales in excess of $40 million dollars, since its initial public offering in October of 1993.

The company and management expect to develop the N-Viro Fuel technology with other power facilities within the United States and anticipates international acceptance for the N-Viro Fuel technology.

Visit http://www.nviro.com for more details.

Hema Malinis bunglow burgled - Security Guards suspected

Hindi cinema's original dream girl Hema Malinis bunglow in Mumbai suburb of Dindoshi was burgled last weekend. Money and jewellery worth Rs.80 lakh is reported missing. Police claim that they have enough leads to believe that the two on-duty security guards at the bungalow were behind the crime. One of them is detained by the police for questioning while a team of police is dispatched to find the other who allegedly escaped to his village in Uttar Pradesh together with the stollen goods.

The crime was discovered on Saturday morning by Hema's cousin, who is the caretaker for the posh 2,500 sqft bungalow situated at Yashodhara Hilltop Society in Dindoshi, Goregaon (E) when the actress is away. He noticed a broken window and things kept in the safe in the bedroom missing. Hema Malini who apparently was in Nagpur during the incident, returned immediately upon being informed. They then went to the Dindoshi Police Sation together and reported the incident. "I was away for a dance show when this robbery occurred. No papers were lost, only jewellery and money are gone," said Hema Malini in speaking about the incident. She also claimed to have no suspects in this matter, hoped the police would nab the culprits soon.

According to the Dindoshi Police team who visited the spot, the crime took place on Friday night. The robbers entered the house through a window in the back of the bungalow and forced open the bedroom door to get to the safe where the cash and valuables were kept. Two to three people must have been involved, who were and familiar with the plan of the house in order to carry out the break in without anybody noticing, all the more points towards an inside job, the police said.

Grinding Teeth at Night Can Be Related to Stress

If you know somebody who is given to grinding teeth during sleep, it can be a telltale sign that the person is suffering from some kind of stress. Well that’s what results of a recent study conducted on persons who grind their teeth at night by Heinrich-Heine-University, Dusseldorf, Germany show. This habit of teeth grinding, called as ‘sleep bruxism’ is quite a common phenomenon but so far no reason could be established as to what caused it.

In this study 69 adults were examined of whom 48 were already known to have bruxism. For this purpose thin plates were attached to the teeth of the subjects overnight to assess the extent of grinding. The same individuals were also made to answer questionnaires to take stock of what’s going on in their life and how much stress they are under in their personal or professional front.

Dr.Maria Giraki who headed the team which conducted the tests says in her report that while factors like age, sex or education didn’t seem to affect bruxing, there was a striking connection with those who claimed to be under stress in day to day life or work. The ones who suffered the most were those who didn’t know how to deal with the stress effectively, she said.

The journal, Head & Face Medicine will carry the details of the study.

Bruxism in the long run can lead to excessive wear and tear to teeth, looseness and sensitivity. It can also cause growth and pain in the muscles responsible for chewing. Now with this study establishing stress as a reason for this habit, maybe a solution is also on the way.

For nore info, visit : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruxism.

Written by Priya Shankar

PayPal Resumes India Bank Withdrawals - Good News For Freelancers

PayPal is widely known to be an easy way to collect money from affiliate and advertising programs and payment for freelance services. The money collected in PayPal account then can be transferred online, to the users' bank account.

Sometime during early February, PayPal had officially announced that the RBI (Reserve Bank Of India) had intimated them that they required specific approvals to allow personal inward remittances to India, which PayPal did not have. So till the time PayPal obtained these approvals; all personal payments into India remained suspended. However, if the PayPal user from India was an exporter, they would be still be able to use PayPal for payments of goods and services, but PayPal will not provide users with the IEC (Importer Exporter Code) to withdraw payments to their banks accounts. Instead, the users will have to apply for it themselves and the process in itself might take several weeks as getting the IEC is not an easy task.

Now, it appears that PayPal is resuming their services, but with some new features.

According to the new rules specified by RBI (Reserve Bank of India), the PayPal management has included a new field called the “Purpose Code”. Basically, this code allows the banks to identify the nature of the cross border bank transaction. It is also to be noted that this is clearly different from IEC (Importer Exporter Code). The new withdrawals will require users to use a Purpose Code while withdrawing money to their bank accounts. So, if you received payments for your website or blog, you need to use Freelance Journalism as your purpose code.


Besides, you don't have to make any real efforts to get a Purpose Code. PayPal has provided a table in their post to confirm your Purpose Code. You can either choose your code according to your business category or confirm your code from PayPal’s customer support team.

After logging into your PayPal Account and selecting the ‘Withdraw Funds’ option, you would be then asked to fill out a new field titled the Purpose Code. Select the code most appropriate for your nature of business and proceed. More details on purpose codes can be found by clicking here.

Further info on same can also e found here.

Users are advised to choose their purpose code accordingly, so that you do not get into any trouble later. There will also be a limit on the amount that the user can withdraw before which they will be required to produce receipts or invoices and their PAN card. PayPal has also not explicitly stated how much the upper limit would be before the Indian user would require additional documents. However, it is believed that this would more likely be not more than Indian Rupees 50,000, as bank deposits above this limit require users to produce their PAN cards.

Another Godman lands in a Sex Scam

The whole cult of ‘Godmen’ suffered yet another jolt today with one more from them losing credibility and prestige in the public eye.

Sri Paramahamsa Nithyananda Swamiji of Nithyananda Dhyana Peetha near Bidadi, close to Bangalore, was hit by a sting operation carried out by a Tamil Channel and Magazine. The Swamiji was ‘caught in a compromising position’ in a video aired by the popular Tamil Channel Sun TV on Monday. The video shows him with a female allegedly an actress from Tamil movies. The hidden camera shots taken over two days make it amply clear that the person filmed is indeed the Swamiji.

The channel hasn’t revealed the whereabouts of where the video was shot or the identity of the actresses involved. Rumor says there are two of them, identified as Ragasudha and Rajitha, two popular actresses from Kolliwood. Ragasudha who starred in films like Dhinamum Ennai Gavani, Iyer IPS, Mullil Roja, has been involved in a sex scandal before this as well.

The news created ripples all over Tamil Nadu and there were sporadic protests and violence. At Coimbatore, angry followers vandalized property, while at Thiruvannamalai the Ashram run by the Swami faced a march in protest by a few locals. Subsequently the Ashram was provided police protection and the situation remains calm.

A spokesperson of the Nithyananda, Sachidanandaswamy claimed that it was nothing but a combination of rumors, conspiracy and graphics and wished to reassure the thousands of devotees whose minds were hurt by the rumors. They were contemplating taking legal action, he said.

Written by Priya Shankar

First Trial Over for Indian Made H1N1 Vaccine

Ahmedabad: Zydus Cadila announced completion of the first phase of the H1N1 vaccine trial on Thursday. The Ahmedabad-based drug maker will now commence the phase II and phase III clinical trials in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Jaipur and Pune.

An Indian made H1N1 vaccine is on the way. The Ahmedabad based drug company Zydus Cedilla who is making the vaccine in India and has announced the completion of the first phase trial on Thursday. The vaccine has to go through the second and third trial in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Jaipur and Pune now which will take six more months.

The company’s press release said “Multi-centric trials extending for a period of six weeks are currently underway. On successful completion of the trials, the group will submit the results to the Drug Controller General of India (DGCI) for marketing approval.” The vaccine has been developed by a team of experts using conventional technology at the company’s Vaccine Technology Centre here, the statement said.

The Indian made vaccine will be available in market by April 2010. The company is proposing to produce six million doses initially. The H1N1 vaccine is in huge demand in India to the extent of 50 to 60 million dosages initially.

At the same time the vaccinations against H1N1 in India will begin from next week itself, using the 1.5 million doses of vaccine imported from the French drug manufacturer, Sanofi Pasteur that has passed the safety test. The clinical bridge study results conducted on 100 adult subjects in Delhi and Pune were submitted to the Drug Controller General of India on Wednesday by the company. The trials were completed on February 21. The results were then checked thoroughly in Lyon before being submitted to DCGI.

DCGI Dr Surinder Singh told TOI, "The trials of the vaccine have proven its safety profile. By Friday, we will vet the results and give its clearance for use on humans in India. By next week, the vaccination should begin."

Sheryl Sandberg ideals are driving a dizzying expansion of facebook

Sheryl Sandberg turns 40 this summer and has more reason than most to feel conscious of the milestone. Her colleagues at Facebook, where she is chief operating officer, are all bright young techies, and her boss, Mark Zuckerberg, is only 25.

"I remember before the internet…," Sandberg says on a visit to the firm's modest London office in Soho Square. "When you say that in our headquarters, everyone kinda looks at you like, 'Did they have cars?'"

Not that Sandberg has lost any of the fire of youth: bright and vivacious, the former Google executive bubbles with the kind of evangelical enthusiasm you might expect from someone running what has become the world's leading social networking site, pulling away from rivals such as MySpace, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, and the AOL-owned Bebo.

And while she plays down any suggestions of triumphalism, she does not hold back when it comes to the Californian company's global ambitions. "I think we think we're trying to change the world and having some success with that," she says. "We have really big aspirations around making the world a more open and transparent place. We define our aspirations more in terms of that mission than in terms of the company aspirations."

The way Facebook is doing that may not be apparent to its British devotees, who generally use the site to upload photos and share news and banter with their friends and acquaintances.

But outside the narcissistic west, Facebook claims to be a 21st-century torchbearer for democratic values. Like its upstart rival Twitter, it played a role in giving vent to political dissent in Iran after June's disputed elections, and has faced intermittent jamming as a result.

Sandberg also points to examples closer to home of Facebook's power to connect people. She herself was contacted through the site by a long-lost college "little sister", who had no idea her former mentor was its chief operating officer. "Finding my 'little sister' to me was profound. That's the stuff we are really ambitious about."

Rise of Twitter

But Facebook is a business, not a philanthropic exercise, and it has been growing with dizzying speed since Zuckerberg launched it from his Harvard dorm room in 2004.

The site hit 200 million registered users in April, of whom 18 million are in Britain. When Sandberg arrived from Google in March 2008, it was half that and still behind MySpace. The latter has been faltering of late and has had to cut jobs as a result, while Bebo is struggling too, and Friends Reunited – sold by ITV this month for £25m – is practically moribund.

It all looks very encouraging for Facebook, and Sandberg is keen to point out that half of users come back to the site every day. "On consumer internet I have never seen or heard of anything like it."

But the world of social networking is still in its infancy and users can be fickle. The rise of Twitter, the sector's phenomenon of the moment, has posed a challenge. Rumour has it that Facebook tried to buy the upstart for $500m; whether or not that was the case, it last week succeeded in snapping up another potential rival when it paid $50m (£30m) for FriendFeed, a tiny Silicon Valley start-up. And who knows what might come along next year?

"We understand that we are not going to be the only property doing these things, and to the extent that there are properties like Twitter who are showing the world how important this is, we are happy to see that," Sandberg says. "What Twitter is doing is a very specific thing, which is short updates in real time, and so that's obviously very important, much as our status updates are very important to us."

Sandberg is unconvinced by the idea that social networking will conform to the "winner takes all" pattern that has seen Google, Amazon, YouTube and Wikipedia end up as dominant players in their respective areas.

"We think our growth is based on the fact that we provide the best product," she explains. "What you'll see from us is a real commitment to being a technology-led company.

"[We're] trying to put out the very best technology in the world, which enables people to share with all the privacy controls they want – I think we are by far the leader in that area worldwide – and as efficiently as possible. That doesn't mean there isn't room for other players and we won't see others, but we're happy that we think we have executed pretty well and we want to continue to do better."

She dismisses the idea that Facebook might be undercut by a similar product run, Wikipedia-style, on a not-for-profit basis. "Wikipedia is very inexpensive for two reasons. One, the technology's not doing the algorithmic stuff; you do a search and it's given you that search. And the second is that it's edited for free by the world ... The technology underlying Facebook is very expensive and more similar to Google-like technology than it is to Wikipedia."

Which brings the conversation to the thorny question of whether Facebook is able to convert its undeniably huge reach into sustainable profitability. Sandberg says the company has been profitable for six quarters before interest and tax, and is close to being cashflow profitable in 2010. Zuckerberg has also said that revenues will grow 70% this year – but no one outside the company knows the numbers. Some suggest revenues of $500m this year.

The recent investment of $200m by the Russian company Digital Sky Technologies – giving it a 2% stake and implying a total valuation of $10bn – should not be taken as a sign that Facebook needed any cash, Sandberg says. "You raise money when you can, not when you need it," she says, invoking a mantra she learned at Harvard Business School. "This just gives us a little bit more flexibility." Nor are there plans to go public "any time soon".

Microsoft also owns a 1.6% stake, for which it paid $240m in October 2007, but Facebook has resisted all moves to buy it out.

The company's business model is straightforward, says Sandberg: it's advertising. Although it is working on other revenue streams, such as allowing transactions involving the third-party applications on the site, advertising is sufficient to build revenues, she says. And to work, the ads have to be subtle. "This is not a property where we let advertisers walk up to users. This is a property where we invite advertisers to invite users to interact with them."


Article Courtesy : http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/aug/20/facebook-ceo-sheryl-sandberg-interview