- Latest Popular Stories, Instablogs Community by Asmita

Happy I-Day, America!

Asmita — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:41:42 +0000

Speaking about the importance of the 4th of July celebrations, American humorist Erma Bombeck once noted, “You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness.” And you know what the spirit of America couldn’t have been depicted better.

These days the nation and its citizens are receiving a lot of flak internationally for its leaders flexing their superpower muscles to basically get what they want, but when I think of some of the great things America has given the world this public perception doesn’t make any sense.

For the nation that inspired industriousness, corporate culture and excellence and professionalism in all fields, it’s almost unfair to judge them for the mistakes a few Americans made.

I grew up watching American television, I grew up savoring my Big Macs and my Dominos specials and Cokes and Levis, and in some ways, their notion of what it means to be free, has shaped my own thought process.

I have a lot of friends who went to the States to study or work and they tell me that the mothers of their American friends are just as loving as the mothers back home.

So while I’m in no way in favor or the arm-twisting tactics the American government employs, I’m more than happy to wish the average American citizen a very happy independence day because, the spirit of liberty preached by the forefathers of that nation, helped the founders of my own country to fight off imperialism 60 years ago!

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White Dress for a Girl

Asmita — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:17:21 +0000

Summer is the perfect time to shop for a white dress. I found lots of pretty options. Some are splurges. Some are over the top expensive. And some are quite...

$5 Million Commercials - Gisele and Stallone for VW

Asmita — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:14:55 +0000

Brazilian beauty Gisele BÃ¼ndchen stars along Sylvester Stallonein in a new Volkswagen commercial. The action packed commercial reportedly cost a cool $5 million! The commercial promotes the Volkswagen Gol G5. It was directed by Brazilian Andrucha...

Rent-Free Living Around The World

Asmita — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:13:45 +0000

How would you like to live in an exotic location completely rent-free? Caretaker.org makes it possible by offering online listings of property caretaking and house sitting jobs around the world.

Thanks to the internet, it is now more feasible than ever to lead a mobile lifestyle, and increasingly, people are ready to make it happen for them. Companies like Care Taker make it easy for people to enjoy the luxury of travel without the bank-breaking price tag thanks to the mutually beneficial relationship the site fosters.

Alice Wang's Sleep Inventions

Asmita — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:12:45 +0000

We’ve had some good debates on this site. Alice Wang was responsible for a good one over her concept audio sticks. Just to be extra clear this time around: Alice is an idea fountain. Her products are concepts that hopefully will one day become reality, but at present, are just concepts. That said, she has invented a couple new projects that deserve some attention.

Perfect Sleep: a reverse alarm clock to be programmed for how long you want to sleep instead of when you want to wake up. Keeping with her ideas on sleeping and waking, Wang has come up with a Tyrant alarm clock, which steals your mobile phone and makes random calls every three minutes until you get up. Really bad news if you keep ex-girlfriend’s numbers in you mobile phone. Head over to Alice’s site to see some more sleep related and non-sleep related concept inventions.

Image Digesting Robotic Duck

Asmita — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:11:33 +0000

If documenting trips to faraway lands is beginning to take time away from actually enjoying them, then a robotic picture-taking duck may be just what you need. In an effort to “to liberate cameras from human operation,” South Korean artist Taeyoon Choi created a traveling companion, “Camerautomata Charlie: Image Digesting Robotic Duck,” that snaps photographs in response to other camera flashes and can print them on the spot or upload them to your favorite website using WiFi. The piece is being presented as part of a larger exhibit, “Tourists and Travelers,” currently on display at Eyebeam Studios

Safety First: Bulletproof Looks for D.C.

Asmita — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:10:33 +0000

Don’t know if you heard the news, but the gool ol’ Supreme Court of the United States has legalized handgun sales and possession in the District of Columbia. Given the already high crime rate and D.C.’s long history of violence, this is what we call in the fashion industry a “bad idea.” But who are we to second guess the judgment of the Justices? Given that we have little to no political sway (yet), we’ve decided bend to the dictates of law and do what we can for the people of the Districtâ€”compile a round up of the best in bulletproof fashion.

Who is killing the Vidarbha farmers??

Asmita — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:21:14 +0000

I read this rather interesting article by Kishor on the Insta network who highlighted the plight of the Vidarbha farmers. What I found most interesting about the article and the discussions below it was that everyone and their mother seemed so quick on blaming the central government for not taking any action on the matter and favoring the nuclear deal over other domestic issues. My question here is- why is everyone looking towards the prime minister and Sonia Gandhi to deliver them from their misery and blaming them for being whatever they are rather them asking the Maharashtra government themselves why are they floating plans to have a huge statue of Shivaji built in the middle of the sea off Marine Drive when the same money could be used to help those farmers?? Is Maratha pride more important than the lives of the actual modern day Marathis struggling to hang onto dear life?? Will someone come out and ask Bala Sahib why are his troops so busy in getting Mumbai rid of UP-Biharis when they could well volunteer to help the farmers?? Itâ€™s very easy to blame the top leaders in the country but the fact is that grassroots problems can only be solved by grassroots governments!

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Can rising inflation help the “green” push?

Asmita — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 04:55:20 +0000

So the rate of inflation hit 11.05% yesterday reaching the monstrous peak after 13 years and dare I say it did not surprise me a darn bit. And judging by our dependence on crude oil, Iâ€™m afraid itâ€™s only going to get worse. But I would really like to point out a silver lining to this oil-darkened cloud. With oil prices dictating our financial health so overwhelmingly, isnâ€™t it time we gave alternative fuels, green energy sources and non-petroleum transportation a second look? I saw my familyâ€™s electricity bill soar to almost double this winter and it really made me wonder if it wouldnâ€™t be worth it to invest in wind and solar power instead of hoping to find more oil sources? Five odd years ago we didnâ€™t have any electricity in our village and one of my uncles got a solar panel to light the lamps and get the music system working for when us kids had to visit, and that really helped us a lot. And then there was the buffalo cart and the bicycles which could be taken for a ride anytime without having to worry about having petrol in the tank. All of this really makes me wonder if its time to go back to it all again?

Danish Do-It-Yourself

Asmita — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 04:03:23 +0000

For those of you not aware, kit cars are cars that you purchase and assemble yourself, and are usually based on discontinued cars of the past. Unlike the original cars they are inspired by, kit cars take the frame and mechanics from whatever current automobiles have close-enough specifications. So you may find a Ferrari kit car riding on Corvette frame and engine. Got it? Well, Danes are not particularly known for their auto making skills but this kit car design called SONDERGARD (yuk), is based on a Pontiac Solstice (Opel GT in Europe) and is one hell of a sweet ride. Designed by BMW alum Jesper Hermann, this future-retro racer will zip you from 0-100 kmph in about 4 seconds. Set for production in â€˜09, thats just enough time to borrow all the tools you will need to build your very own.

Designer: Jesper Hermann [ Via: Below The Clouds ]