35,000-year-old flute oldest instrument ever found

June 29th, 2009 3 comments »

Stone Age humans may have ripped raw meat from the bone with their teeth but they also played music, according to a study reporting the discovery of a 35,000-year-old flute, the oldest instrument known.

Found in the Ach Valley of southern Germany, the nearly intact five-hole flute was meticulously carved with stone tools from the hollow wing-bone of a giant vulture, says the study, published Thursday in the British journal Nature.

Fragments from three ivory flutes unearthed at the same site, along with nearby instruments not quite as old, suggest that humans who had then only recently migrated to the Upper Danube enjoyed a rich musical culture.

And a stunning female figurine from the same period found only a couple paces from the bone flute, reported last month, points to a broader artistic flowering.

Indeed, the area within the cave that yielded the flutes reveals a veritable artist’s atelier.

There is debris from the flint tools used to chip the instruments; traces of worked bone and ivory from mammoth, horse, reindeer and bear; and burnt bone, one of the ingredients — along with minerals, charcoal, blood and animal fats — used by Stone Age humans for cave painting.

“We can now conclude that music played an important role in Aurignacian life in the Ach and Lone valleys,” commented Nicholas Conard, a professor at the University of Tubingen and lead author of the study.

Aurignacian culture flourished in western Europe during what is known as the Upper Palaeolithic period, from about 40,000 to 10,000 years ago.

The bone flute, part of a treasure trove of artifacts uncovered at the Hohle Fels Cave, was found in 12 pieces scattered over an oval area the size of a large plate. It is in superb condition and reveals many details about its manufacture.

Nearly 22 centimetres (8.7 inches) long and 2.2 centimetres (one inch) in diameter, the instrument has precisely carved markings next to four of the finger holes, probably to indicate where they should be cut.

There are two deep, V-shaped notches carved into the end into which the musician blew.

Conard reports that a playable replica of the flute has not yet been made, but says it is likely to produce a range of notes comparable to many modern types of flute.

The technique for making the ivory flutes — of which only a few fragments remain — is far more complicated, according to the study.

First the craftsman would have hewn the rough shape of the instrument from a solid, naturally curved piece of tusk. Then the piece of ivory was split lengthwise, the halves hollowed out, and the holes carved.

Finally the two halves of the flute were rejoined with some kind of glue to form an air-tight seal.

Using radiocarbon dating techniques, Conard calculated that the newly discovered bone and ivory flutes were made at least 35,000 years ago, pushing back the age of the oldest known instrument by some 5,000 years.

Conard speculates that late Stone Age music did not contribute directly to the evolutionary success of the first modern humans.

But it may have given them a slight edge over neighbouring Neanderthals, who died out even as Homo sapienssapiens flourished.

“Upper Palaeolithic music could have contributed to the maintenance of large social networks, and thereby have helped facilitate the demographic and territorial expansion of modern humans” compared to the more “culturally conservative” and isolated Neanderthals, he said.

Scientists have long speculated that Neanderthals played music too, but no evidence of their musicality has been found so far.

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A online dating service

June 25th, 2009 3 comments »

Online dating or Internet dating is a dating system which allows individuals, couples and groups to make contact and communicate with each other over the Internet, usually with the objective of developing a personal romantic or sexual relationship. Online dating services usually provide unmoderated matchmaking over the Internet, through the use of personal computers or cell phones.

Online dating services generally require a prospective member to provide personal information, before they can search the service provider’s database for other individuals using criteria they set, such as age range, gender and location. Most sites allow members to upload photos of themselves and browse the photos of others. Sites may offer additional services, such as webcasts, online chat, telephone chat (VOIP), and message boards. Some sites provide free registration, but may offer services which require a monthly fee. Other sites depend on advertising for their revenue.

Many sites are broad-based, with members coming from a variety of backgrounds looking for different types of relationships. Other sites are more specific, based on the type of members, interests, location, or relationship desired.

Trends

United States residents spent $469.5 million (citation needed) on online dating and personals in 2004, and over $500 million in 2005, the largest segment of “paid content” on the web other than pornography, according to a study conducted by the Online Publishers Association (OPA) andcomScore Networks.

At the end of November 2004, there were 844 lifestyle and dating sites, a 38 percent increase since the start of the year, according to Hitwise Inc. However, market share was increasingly being dominated by several large commercial services, including Yahoo! Personals, Match.com, and eHarmony. By 2007, many prominent studies show that Baby Boomer interest in online dating had soared.

In 2002, a Wired magazine article forecast that, “Twenty years from now, the idea that someone looking for love without looking for it online will be silly, akin to skipping the card catalog to instead wander the stacks because ‘the right books are found only by accident.’ Serendipity is the hallmark of inefficient markets, and the marketplace of love, like it or not, is becoming more efficient”.

Most recently, it has become common for online dating websites to provide webcam chats between members. In addition, as the online dating population becomes larger, sites with specific demographics are becoming more popular as a way to narrow the pool of potential matches. According to online personals expert  JAI RATHORE from dating.paxtonbuildcare.com, online dating sites are adding features including handwriting analysis to match like-minded mates.

The most successful niche sites pair people by race, sexual orientation or religion. The 20 most popular dating sites this year as ranked by Hitwise include JDate (for Jewish singles), Christian Mingle,Christian Cafe and JCMATCH, Manhunt (for gay men), Love From India, Black Christian People Meet, Amigos (for Latino singles), Asian People Meet, and Shaadi (for Indian singles).  In March 2008, the top 5 overall sites held 7% less market share than they did one year ago while the top sites from the top five major niche dating categories made considerable gains.

One of the “hottest trends in online dating” is the babyboomers on the top dating sites. Around 30% of America’s 80 million babyboomers are single.

Since 2003, several free dating sites, operating on ad based-revenue rather than monthly subscriptions, have appeared and become increasingly popular.

Especially popular in Eastern Europe, some sites offer full access to messaging and profiles, but provide additional services for pay, such as bumping profiles up to the top of the list, removing advertisements, making paying users’ profiles appear several times in different places in the search results, and giving paying users a more advanced search engine to work with (in one real example, free users may only search for persons of specified age, gender, orientation, and city, while subscribers may search for any and all parameters listed in profiles, such as height, weight, interests, etc.). Also, this model generally allows users to switch between free and paying status at will and without having to do anything, simply providing advanced features for a set period of time whenever the according payment is received. Ease of payment is also generally higher, with such sites accepting a variety of online currencies, letting users charge the payment to their cellular phones, etc. Such sites earn revenue from a mix of advertising and sale of additional options.

Virtual dating

Virtual dating combines online dating with online gaming. It is distinguished from online dating by the absence of an intention of the people to personally meet. Virtual dating involves the use of avatars for people to interact in a virtual venue that resembles a real life dating environment. For example, individuals can meet and chat in a romantic virtual cafe in Paris or on a Caribbean resort.

According to Scientific American, virtual dating is “the next step in online dating” (Feb/March 2007, p.35) .

A Time Magazine article entitled “Internet Dating 2.0″ was published on January 19, 2007 citing current and upcoming technologies and explains how people can now connect in a virtual dating environment. Time describes how websites are allowing people to meet for an avatar based, graphically enabled virtual date without leaving their homes.

Researchers at MIT and Harvard have found that “people who had had a chance to interact with each other (by computer only) on a virtual tour of a museum subsequently had more successful face-to-face meetings than people who had viewed only profiles.”


Social networking

The role of social networking services in online dating has been explored in a book dedicated to the subject. The findings of the study reveal that the online dating services driven by subscriptions offer the least amount of social networking opportunities, as they often only utilize the personal homepage genre of online community, which only makes them effective for the bonding and encoding stage of the relationship. The dating services modeled on the free-at-the-point-of-use model scored much higher as many of them utilized the Circle of Friends social networking method and a wider number of online community genres. The highest scoring dating service was Facebook, which uses the personal homepage genre, the message board genre, the weblog and directory genre, as well as utilizing the Circle of Friends. The second highest scoring, Second Life utilizes virtual worlds, message boards, chat groups and profile pages to allow people to contact in a three-dimensional environment.

Problems with Online Dating Services

There can be a variety of problems when utilizing online dating sites.

  • Some sites expect members to subscribe “blind,” meaning that users have had little or no ability to search or preview the profiles they will get to see. eHarmony is one example of this kind of site.
  • A majority of dating sites keep profiles online for months or even years since the last time the person has logged in, thereby making it seem as though there are more available members than there actually are.
  • For paying members, it is often unclear whether a potential contact has a full subscription and whether he or she will be able to reply. Some sites prevent a potential contact from even reading a paying member’s messages unless the contact also subscribes. There are still, however, a few established free dating sites that allow users to reply to messages.
  • Some sites require that both the sender and recipient of messages be subscribers before any off-site communication or contact can be arranged, and will filter messages to remove email addresses, telephone numbers, web addresses and surnames. Subscribers who attempt to circumvent this restriction may lose their membership and be removed from the site.
  • Some profiles may not represent actual daters, but are “bait profiles” that have been placed there by the site owners to attract new paying members. Both Yahoo Personals and Match.com have received several complaints about this tactic. Some users spam sites with “fake” profiles that are in reality advertisements to other services, such as prostitution, multi-level marketing, or other personals websites.
  • Even when members’ profiles are “real”, there is still an inherent lack of trust with other members. Many members misrepresent themselves by telling flattering ‘white lies’ about their height, weight, age, or by using old and misleading photos. Members can, of course, ask for an up-to-date photograph before meeting others. Matrimonials Sites are a variant of online dating sites, and these are geared towards meeting people for the purpose of getting married. Gross misrepresentation is less likely on these sites than on ‘casual dating’ sites. Casual dating sites are often geared more towards short term (potentially sexual) relationships.
  • Online predators find online dating sites especially attractive, because such sites give them an unending supply of new targets of opportunity for Internet fraud. A recent study, led by Dr. Paige Padgett from the University of Texas Health Science Center, found that there was a false degree of safety assumed by women looking for love on the internet, exposing them to stalking, fraud, and sexual violence. Some online dating sites conduct background checks on their members in an attempt to avoid problems of this nature.
  • Most members are enticed to join dating websites with free or low-priced “trial” memberships advertised on many other websites. On sites which require credit card information to join at all, these trial memberships may automatically become full memberships at the end of the trial period and charge the full monthly fee, without any additional action from the member, regardless of whether the member has actually used the services or not.
  • Some members have expressed complaints about the billing practices of certain dating sites. In some cases, trial memberships that were canceled within the trial period were automatically re-billed even after canceling. To avoid these potential problems, some users have advised using a virtual credit card number which is offered by several credit card companies.
  • On any given dating site, the sex ratio is commonly unbalanced. For example, eHarmony’s membership is about 58% female and 42% male, whereas the ratio at Match.com is about the reverse of that. When you get into the specialty niche websites where the primary demographic is male, you typically get a very unbalanced ratio of male to female or female to male. Niche sites cater to people with special interests, such as sports fans, racing and automotive fans, medical or other professionals, people with political or religious preferences (e.g. Jewish), people with medical conditions (e.g. HIV+, obese), or those living in rural farm communities.
  • Disreputable sites such as Quechup may harvest users’ personal information and contacts for use in e-mail spam.
  • Consolidation within the online dating industry has led to different newspapers and magazines now advertising the same website data base under different names. In the UK, for example, Time Out (’London Dating’), The Times (’Encounters’), The Daily Telegraph (’Kindred Spirits’), all offer differently named portals to the same service — meaning that a person who subscribes through more than one publication has unwittingly paid more than once for access to just one site.

Discrimination

Gay rights groups have complained that certain websites that restrict their dating services to heterosexual couples are discriminating against homosexuals. This has taken place mostly among Christian dating sites, but major dating sites are generally heterosexual oriented. In addition, many sites require members to specify what sex they are looking for without having the option “both”, which complicates things for bisexuals.

e Harmony was sued in 2007 by a lesbian claiming that, “Such outright discrimination is hurtful and disappointing for a business open to the public in this day and age,”

Many sites require members specify themselves as “male” or “female”, complicating matters for transgender individuals.

There are sites that have been created due to this discrimination and to accommodate these types of individuals. International and non-American dating sites are often much more liberal, openly catering to all orientations, including transgendered and cross-dressing individuals.


Government regulation

US government regulation of dating services began with the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act (IMBRA)  which took effect in March 2007 after a federal judge in Georgia upheld a challenge from the dating site European Connections. The law requires internationally oriented dating services to conduct, among other procedures, sex offender checks on US customers before communication can occur with a foreigner.

Only 4 percent of Singaporeans having ever used an online dating service, Internet dating is not that popular despite the country’s high rate of internet penetration. This could be attributed to the government’s traditional role of matching up singles in the past decades.

New Jersey became the first state to enact a law requiring the sites to disclose whether they perform background checks.


Online Introduction Services

As of 2008 a new variant of the online dating model has emerged in the form of introduction sites, attracting a large number of users and significant investor interest . As opposed to the traditional online dating model where members have to search and contact other members, introduction sites introduce members to other members whom they deem compatible, thus claiming to eliminate much of the mayhem of traditional online dating. Although the two introduction services operate vastly different from each other and offer different features, both claim to be more effective than traditional online personals.

Most free dating websites such as plentyoffish, zoosk (charges after email response) and okcupid are dependent on advertising revenue, using tools such as Google Adsense, affiliate marketing. Since advertising revenues are modest compared to membership fees, free dating sites require a large number of page views to achieve profitability.

From a marketing standpoint, free dating sites have a lower advertising budget, and therefore rely almost entirely on word of mouth. This is something not easily attained since members of dating sites in general consider it their private matter, thus hindering free dating sites from becoming viral as compared to social networking sites.

There are some online dating services that claim to offer free registrations and search, but which are not truly free online dating service if they charge users to communicate. Paxton Dating my first date also offer free communication and generate revenue solely from advertising and premium services.

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Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions.

June 14th, 2009 14 comments »

It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music and literature. The meaning of art is explored in a branch of philosophy known as aesthetics.

The definition and evaluation of art has become especially problematic since the early 20th century. Richard Wollheim distinguishes three approaches: the Realist, whereby aesthetic quality is an absolute value independent of any human view; the Objectivist, whereby it is also an absolute value, but is dependent on general human experience; and the Relativist position, whereby it is not an absolute value, but depends on, and varies with, the human experience of different humans.[1] An object may be characterized by the intentions, or lack thereof, of its creator, regardless of its apparent purpose. A cup, which ostensibly can be used as a container, may be considered art if intended solely as an ornament, while a painting may be deemed craft if mass-produced.

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Dating is any social activity

June 20th, 2009 7 comments »

Dating is any social activity undertaken by, typically, two people with the aim of each assessing the other’s suitability as their partner in an intimate relationship or as a spouse. The word refers to the act ofmeeting and engaging in some mutually agreed upon social activity. Traditional dating activities include entertainment or a meal.

In many cultural traditions, a date may be arranged by a third party, who may be a family member, acquaintance, or professional matchmaker. Recently internet dating has become popular.

Although dating etiquette in Western culture has become more relaxed during the twentieth century, there are considerable differences between social and personal values. For example, when an activity costs money (for example, a meal), traditionally the man was expected to pay; but in recent times the practice of “going Dutch” (splitting the expenses) has become more common and more acceptable.

Systems for organizing dates

  • Online dating: Instead of using a traditional matchmaker, online dating uses specifically targeted websites to meet new people.
  • Speed dating: Where a group of people get together for several hours in public; you are given a set amount of time to sit and talk to each person before you move on to the next person.
  • Mobile dating/cell phone dating: Where text messages to and from a mobile/cell phone carrier are used to show interest in others on the system. Can be web-based or online dating as well depending on the company.
  • Virtual dating: A combination of video game playing and dating, where users create avatars and spend time in virtual worlds in an attempt to meet other avatars with the purpose of meeting for potential dates.
  • Singles events: Where a group of singles are brought together to take part in various events for the purposes of meeting new people. Events can include such things as parties, workshops and games.
  • Group dating a modern pattern for dating where a group of single men and a group of single women organise a night out, with the hope of forming romantic partnerships. It is most popular in Japan where it is called “compa” or “gōkon.” It has become popular because many Japanese find it difficult to find a partner. Group dating can also be found in many other countries, however, compa is very ritualized and unique. Generally, a single guy and girl who know each other organize the compa in advance, each agreeing to bring 3 or 4 eligible friends. The venue is usually a restaurant, izakaya, or anywhere people can eat, drink and make a bit of noise.

In other cultures, group dating is becoming more popular as a safe alternative to single dating (especially blind dating), also helping to ease tension, since both parties will feel more comfortable having the company of their friends.

Japan

In Japan, a gōkon (合コン) is a group blind date, typically used to form at least some friendships between two groups that are each of a single sex.

The expression “compa” comes from the English “companions”, and “gōkon” is simply a combination of “goudo” (“group”) with compa. Both terms are commonly used and their meaning is basically the same.

Generally speaking, compa isn’t for finding one night stands (at least not openly – that’s more associated with nanpa), but for making friends and possibly forming long-term relationships. However, there is still a stigma attached to attending a “dating party”, and someone going to a compa might tell coworkers or other friends they are going to a regular drinking party.

Typically groups of men and women will sit opposite each other and hold whispered discussions with their peers about which potential partners they find attractive. Later they will mingle.

Kon comes from konpa a party formed within a single group (for example people within a certain university class). Gō means combination. Thegōkon may thus be a combined party; for example, a preexisting group within a girls’ university may meet up with a preexisting male group from a mixed university.

Recently writing a text message on a mobile phone and showing it to others has become popular as an alternative to whispering.

USA

According to an article in USA today:

“Group online dating, its creators and practitioners say, is safer than traditional Internet dating: With friends in tow, there’s little fear that a date will spike your drink during a trip to the bathroom. It’s more natural, akin to happy-hour mixing. Going out in groups improves your odds, at least in theory. And if the opposing social circle doesn’t live up to its virtual profile, well, it’s a night out with your gang.”

According to a San Diego Union-Tribune article:

“[The Concept] is part of a growing trend in the lucrative online dating market – harnessing the power of friends. Several sites are tapping into the idea that most real-world relationships begin, like it or not, with the help and influence of friends and family.”

UK

Gokon style events have also developed independently at Oxford and Cambridge universities, where they are known as a Crewdate and Formal swap, respectively.

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Antiques and collectible

June 25th, 2009 2 comments »

An antique (Latin: antiquus; old) is an old collectible item. It is collected or desirable because of its age, rarity, condition, utility, or other unique features. It is an object that represents a previous era in human society.

Antiques are usually objects which show some degree of craftsmanship, or a certain attention to design such as a desk or the early automobile. They are bought at antique shops, or passed down as an estate. Some valuable antiques can be bought from antique dealers and auction services or purchased online through websites and online auctions. Antique dealers are often members of national trade associations, many of which themselves belong to CINOA, a confederation of art and antique associations across 21 countries, representing 5000 dealers.

Purpose

In history

Any historical museum makes a considerable use of antiques in order to illustrate historical events and give them a practical context. Just about any object can become an antique if it survives long enough, but value of an antique in the market place is determined by its appeal and social acceptance. For example museums exist of Ephemera, that is of objects and items that would normally be thrown away, such as packaging and advertising flyers and posters.

As heirloom

The term “antique” is pejorative in some instances to describe something passed down from generation to generation.

Definition

The definition of antique varies from source to source, product to product, and year to year. However, some time-tested definitions of antique deserve consideration, such as the following:

  1. “An item which is at least 50 to 100 years old and is collected or desirable due to rarity, condition, utility, or some other unique feature. Motor vehicles, power tools and other items subject to vigorous use in contrast, may be considered antiques in the U.S. if older than 25 years, and some electronic gadgets of more recent vintage may be considered antiques.”
  2. “Any piece of furniture or decorative object or the like produced in a former period and valuable because of its beauty or rarity.”

In the United States, the 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act defined an antique as “works of art (except rugs and carpets made after the year 1700), collections in illustration of the progress of the arts, works in bronze, marble, terra cotta, parian, pottery or porcelain, artistic antiquities and objects of ornamental character or educational value which shall have been produced prior to the year 1830.” 1830 was roughly the beginning of mass production in the U.S.

These definitions allow people to make a distinction between genuine antique pieces, vintage items, and collectible objects.

The alternative term antiquities commonly refers to the remains of ancient art and everyday items from antiquity, which themselves are often archaeological artifacts.

The term antiquarian refers to a person interested in antiquities, or things of the past.

Antiquing

“Antiquing” is the act of shopping, identifying, negotiating, or bargaining for antiques. Items can be bought for personal use, gifts, and in the case of brokers and dealers, profit. Antiquing is performed at garage sales, estate sales, resort towns, antiques districts, collectives, and international auction houses.

Note that the word “antiquing” may also refer to the art of making an object appear antique through distressing or applying an antique looking paint application.

Antique furniture

The collecting of antique furniture is a particularly popular area of antiques due to the practical characteristics of these antiques. Antique furniture includes dining tables, chairs, bureaus, chests etc. The most common woods are mahogany, oak, pine,walnut and rosewood. In Chinese antique furniture the most common wood is elm a wood common to most regions able to sustain trees. Each wood has its own distinctive grain and colour. Many modern pieces of furniture often use laminate or wood veneer to cheaply achieve the same effect. There are a number of different styles of antique furniture depending on when and where it was made. The most common include Arts & Crafts, Georgian, Regency and Victorian.

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1616 Libb0

June 25th, 2009 2 comments »

Anybody Have 1616 original LIBBO coin. with all function. can discuss and contact on or via this Blog.

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Rice Puller

June 25th, 2009 2 comments »

Rice Puller. posts are invited

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antiques coins

June 25th, 2009 1 comment »

all kind of antiques coins discuss invited

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R.P. buyer and seller

June 25th, 2009 No comments »

R.P. buyer and seller discuss invited.

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C D DeshMukh 5 RS. note

June 25th, 2009 No comments »

5 Rs. CD deshmukh’s signed note with

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Jackson tickets via internet draw

July 3rd, 2009 No comments »

Fan outside Staples Center 3.7.09

The Staples Center was where Michael Jackson’s rehearsals were held

Tickets for a public memorial service for Michael Jackson in Los Angeles on Tuesday will be available via the internet, organisers have revealed.

Details were announced by AEG Live, the star’s promoter, which owns the Staples Center where the service will be held.

Eleven thousand free tickets are to be issued for the service.

Fans wishing to attend must register at staplescenter.com for their tickets and names will later be chosen at random, it was announced.

Another 6,500 tickets will be issued for a simulcast of the service at a nearby theatre. It means a total of 17,500 fans will be able to see the events free.

Officials appealed to other fans to watch the memorial service from their own homes, amid fears that thousands of people without tickets could flood the area.

The star had been rehearsing for his London concerts at the Staples Center, in central Los Angeles.

In a press conference, family representative Ken Sunshine said they wanted to accommodate as many fans as possible.

“It is all about the fans,” he said.

City officials have expressed concern at marshalling the event, expected to draw tens of thousands of spectators.

Speaking at the press conference, acting Los Angeles mayor Jan Perry urged fans to watch the memorial service from home.

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2009-10 Railway Budget Highlights: Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee presented the 15th railway budget in the Parliament.

July 3rd, 2009 No comments »

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday presented the 15th railway budget in the Parliament. The highlights of the Railway budget 2008-09 are as follows:

Mamata banerjee
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee presented the 15th railway budget in the Parliament.

• 50 Railway stations, including CST Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Howrah, Sealdah, Varanasi, New Delhi, Lucknow, Jaipur, Kanpur, Chennai Central, Thiruvananthapuram Central, Secunderabad, Bangalore, Byappanahalli, Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Habibganj, Agra Central, Chandigarh, Kolkata, New Jalpaiguri, Puri and Kochi, will be developed to have world-class facilities.

• Railways to develop multi-functional complexes with shopping malls, food stalls, medicines and variety stores in different parts of the country.

• Railways to introduce 67 new trains across the nation.

• Infotainment services to be provided in major long-distance trains.

• One doctor to be posted on long distance trains.

• 309 stations out of 375 across the nation have been identified for development and special facilities will be provided.

• Unreserved ticketing terminals to be expanded from 5000 to 8000. Automatic ticket vending machines to be increased. Arrangement with Department of Posts for issuance of tickets.

• SMS updates will be made available for passengers to check train status and reservation status.

• Auto-vending machines to be installed in large and medium stations.

• E-ticket cancellation system to be simplified.

• High-capacity air-conditioned double-decker trains to be introduced on select inter-city routes.

• An Integrated Security System is being developed for 130 vulnerable stations to provide security to passengers.

• Seven nursing colleges to be set up on railway land in places including Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai.

• Railway medical colleges to be developed along with rail hospitals on public-private partnership.

• ATMs on 200 mid and small sized stations

• New factory in West Bengal for making 500 state-of-the-art coaches annually

• Railways to develop cold storages for farmers to store vegetables and fruits.

• Scheme named Izzat for low-income monthly travel till 100 kilometres.

• Superfast parcel express trains to be started on a pilot basis between Delhi and Chennai and Delhi and Mumbai.

• Priority areas to be railway catering, punctuality, food and sanity of rail bogeys.

• Railways to extend helping hand to physically challenged and elderly people by providing ramps, specially designed bogeys.

• Committed for the downtrodden and development of the country Infotainment services to be provided in major long-distance trains.

• Expert committee to be established to look into economic viability of socially important projects.

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A night in at the movies: The 56-inch cinema TV that costs £4,500

July 2nd, 2009 No comments »

There are plenty of widescreen TVs on the market… and then there’s this 56-inch monster.

The super-wide set promises to deliver a true home cinema experience, showing blockbuster films ‘just as the director intended’.

The Philips TV has a ratio of 21:9, in contrast to the more usual widescreen ratio of 16:9, and the traditional 4:3.

This means it is significantly wider in relation to its height, which Philips claims is key to the home cinema experience.

Phillips super widescreen televisionThe screen is significantly wider in relation to its height, which Philips claims is key to the home cinema experience

Among the benefits of the new design is that viewers are not met with ugly black bars at the top and bottom of the screen if they want to watch a film.

Existing sets can remove these by stretching or magnifying part of the screen, although technology aficionados complain that this distorts the image.

However, while the Philips Cinema 21:9 does not need to stretch films, it does need to manipulate everything else to fit the screen.

The company claims its ’smart pixel’ technology means this can be achieved without distortion.

tvThe Phillips TV has some 8.3 million pixels – more than any other

However, to enjoy the full cinema experience, customers will need to shell out for expensive Blu-ray DVD versions of their movies, which can deliver them in 21:9 format and in high resolution.

And if that were not enough to punish the wallet of gadget-lovers, the set itself costs an eye-watering £4,500.

The TechRadar website said: ‘Four and a half grand is a lot of money, but then this is, in every sense, a lot of telly.

‘If you are serious about video quality and have a substantial budget, then this set should be at the very top of your list.’

The review added that the picture quality is ‘remarkable’.

Michael Brook, the editor of gadget magazine T3, said: ‘This is an absolutely cracking TV, and goes to show just how close to the cinema experience you can get.

‘However, it does come with a huge price tag, and ordinary TV is still a problem, as very few programmes are filmed in the cinema format.’

Des Power, of Philips TV Division, said: ‘With our unique Cinema 21:9 we have developed a television which takes you as close to the experience at the cinema as you can get without buying a ticket.’

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