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Sunday, July 8, 2007

Palminstry In Brief

Palmistry is a method of interpreting the shape of the hand and the lines of the palm, to project the character and possible life experiences of an individual. The science is divided into two broad areas: the study of hand structure, or cheirology, and the study of the lines of the palm, or cheiromancy.

The modern theory is that the lines of the hand represent a graphic shorthand of the circuits of the brain. The nerve group that controls the hands is exactly in the centre of the brain, and all the electrical energies of our thinking pass through it. Palmists feel that the lines on the hand are formed in some relation to thought patterns, nerve linkages, or even chromosomal structures.

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How to read the hand


Hand Type

Elementary Hand Spatulate Hand Psychic Hand
The Elementary Hand The Spatulate Hand The Psychic Hand
Conical Hand Square Hand Intellectual
The Conical Hand The Square Hand The Intellectual Hand





Types of Hands:
The essence of palmistry lies in identifying the hand type, which can be attributed to individual characteristics:

The Elementary Hand: This is characterised by stiff, heavy, short fingers and a short thumb. Other traits are a thick, hard, square palm, shapeless fingertips, and rough and leathery skin. The person with the elementary hand displays a lack of enthusiasm and imagination. They show a general indifference to life, and are concerned only with daily existence. This person is largely intolerant of a nasty situation, and can get violent when provoked.
Profession: This hand is characteristic of labourers and those involved in violent sports, like boxing.


The Spatulate Hand: As the name suggests, the fingers of this hand are flattened like a spatula. The most characteristic feature is the large thumb. It is extremely broad near the base and tapers towards the fingers. This hand belongs to the imaginative. These people have a love for invention and discovery. They have a quest for knowledge, and a restless and excitable nature. They are energetic and dexterous, and thrive on taking risks.
Profession: People with this hand are mainly artisans, inventors, explorers, navigators, astronauts, and engineers.


The Psychic Hand: This is a small and slender hand, characterised by smooth fingers. The palm is medium in size, and the nailed phalanges are long and tapering. The thumb is small and elegant. People with this hand have a visionary and dreamy nature. They are interested in occult sciences. Persons with this hand shape lead a chaotic life, characterised by a lack of discipline.
Profession: This hand usually belongs to those with a deep interest in the occult, such as magicians and clairvoyants.


The Conical Hand: This hand has smooth fingers, the nails of which are shaped like cones, giving the hand its name. The palm is broad, thick and large, and the thumb is also unusually huge.People with this hand are usually connoisseurs of the arts with superb communication skills, and a love for the arc lights. He lives life on a purely sensual level. On the flip side, this person is impulsive and has a short temper.
Profession: This hand is characteristic of those in the creative field, like painters, sculptors, musician and poets.


The Square Hand: The square hand has a square palm, a square wrist, and the fingertips are also square. While the fingers are largely knotty, this hand is characterised by a large thumb and a square finger base. People with square hands are blessed with perseverance. They are downright conventional and love general order. They are honest and reliable, and like to lead disciplined lives, with little imagination. Profession: This hand usually belongs to businessmen, executives, lawyers, doctors, scientists and engineers.


The Intellectual Hand: This is a long and angular hand, with bony fingers and knotty joints. The palm is large and bony, and the nailed phalanges are part conical and part square. The philosophic hand belongs to those who spare a thought for the less fortunate. They are blessed with the ability to understand the metaphysical aspect of life. They are gifted with analytical powers and are adept at keeping secrets. Profession: This hand usually belongs to teachers, thinkers and world leaders.



Finger Type

Conical
Conical
Finger
Square
Square
Finger
Spatulate
Spatulate
Finger
Straight
Straight
Finger
Knotty
Knotty
Finger




The Shape of Fingers


Pointed fingers: People with pointed fingers are cautious, intelligent and flexible in different situations. They are gifted conversationalist, and would choose a career that would allow them to interact with people. As intellectual visionaries, they lean towards spiritualism. They also have a deep interest in the aesthetic, and a yen for innovation. This could cause a battle between creative pursuits and practical reasoning.


Conical Fingers: These people are sensitive to beauty. They takes great care to dress well, and like to live in pleasant surroundings. They are intellectual and talented idealists. They are blessed with the power of thinking on their feet, they assess situations quickly. They have firm convictions and are even gifted with psychic powers in some instances. However, they must be careful and not let their emotions get the better of them.


Square Fingers: These people are blessed with sound business acumen, and like to put all problems through a wringer. They are practical and down-to-earth. They are also conventional, and like to adhere to social norms. They are methodical and systematic.


Spatulate Fingers: These people are pragmatic, and have a realistic approach to life. They have a taste for travel and outdoor life. As go-getters, they will always looks for the bigger piece of the pie. They also value work as top priority. They are creative, active and energetic.


Straight Fingers: These people are frank and forthright. They face the danger of being taken for a ride, due to their honest nature. They are diligent, energetic and impulsive. They also have a clear thought process, and know how to articulate their feelings. These people are invariably great achievers.


Knotty Fingers: These people are extremely practical, and plan every move they make. They are calculative, and the idea of taking a risk does not appeal to them. This takes away much of the spontaneity from their life. Since they plan so much in advance, they do not learn the art of living life day-to-day. Their constant planning and worrying can make them nervous and jittery.



Thumb Type

ThumbThe Thumb: The Mount of Venus at the base of the thumb is very indicative of a person's passions. A high, well-proportioned Mount means that the individual is full of energy, is outgoing, has a great deal of interest in life, and can be very vital and enthusiastic. Those whose Mount of Venus is flat, like a plateau, are very energetic. They like brainy pursuits, their friends are characters who resist the active mainstream of life, and their sense of discipline works best with specific mental activities, like the pursuits of writers, sculptors, lawyers, community organisers, and rock climbers.

The shape of the thumb's tip is a strong indicator of the inner power. A pointed or conical thumb shows an impulsive nature and a person being perceptive, while a square thumb is a sign of common sense. A bulbous tip indicates a violent temper, and a tip that bends far back shows a far-out personality, usually artistic or involved in an exotic mental pursuit. A person with a flat-tipped thumb is impatient and full of nervous energy.

Life Line

Life Line The Life Line: The life line starts between the thumb and the index finger. It then touches the wrist, curving widely around the thumb. This line indicates longevity, vitality, and the quality of life. An absent life line shows a sluggish and high-strung person, with a tremendous nervous energy. A long and regular line indicates an excellent equilibrium and a healthy constitution. A faint line indicates a lack of endurance, or a dull and uneventful life. If the line is forked at its begining, it shows the person as just, truthful, loyal and dependable. On the other hand, if the line ends in a fork, the person suffers from frail health and experiences a lack of energy. A forked line leading to the Mount of Jupiter is a sign of success, recognition and glory. If the line forks to the Mount of Moon, travel to distant places is indicated. A faint line indicates a life of misery, while a clear line suggests a smooth life. A double line is typical of the security offered by a loved one of the opposite sex. It also indicates a healthy sexual life. Branches in the life line make a strong statement about the fortunes of the individual. While upward branches show achievement, glory and success, drooping branches indicate financial, social and emotional loss. A long and deep line shows an abundance of energy, and single-minded determination to reach goals.

Head Line

Head Line The Head Line: The head line runs horizontally from the middle of the palm to the heart line. It governs memory, intelligence and reasoning. If the line is short, the person is intelligent and intuitive. A straight line represents a person who lives life on a totally materialistic level. If the line is absent, it indicates lethargy and in extreme cases insanity. A long and straight line shows an ambitious person with an excellent memory. If the line splits the palm in half, the person is sadistic, abusive and brutal. A double line reveals a talented person with a flair for business. If the line is short and faint, it shows limited intelligence and poor memory. A short line distinguishes a person as short sighted, morose, and lacking in concentration. The head line can also be interpreted with relation to other lines. If this line is widely separated from the life line, it suggests a person who is independent, impulsive and rash. We can also read the branches of a line. Rising branches from the line show high aspirations without focus. Drooping branches indicate incessant grief and a string of disappointments. A hooked line is indicative of a self-indulgent person, who could also be a traitor. If it is set low in the palm, the person could be greedy and frugal.

Heart Line

Heart Line The Heart line: The heart line runs horizontally across the upper palm, surrounding the mounts of Mercury, Apollo and Saturn. The length of the line has a general impact on a person's health. It rules a person's emotions and relationships. An absent line is indicative of a person high on logic and reason, who could even be ruthless in order to reach the top. The length of the line plays an important role in determining a person's attitude to relationships. While a short line indicates a highly self-centred person, a long line belongs to a person who has a highly idealistic vision of love. A very long line, touching both sides of the palm, shows a person highly dependent on relationships. This could even lead to promiscuity. A deep and straight line indicates jealousy and criminal tendencies. On the flip side, if the line is clear and deep, the person is sincere, respectful and considerate. A deep line indicates a highly stressful life. Branches arising from the line suggest a strong interest in the opposite sex. If the line has drooping branches, it shows a poor relationship. The heart line can also be read in relation to other lines. If the heart line touches the head line and the life line, the person is likely to experience a betrayal of love. A slight curve towards the head line shows a person with an intellectual bend of mind.

Fate Line

Fate LineThe Fate Line: This line rises from the base of the palm, and touches the Mount of Saturn, dividing the palm into halves. An absent fate line shows a person who is self-made and diligent. These people plan their entire life with meticulous detail, and leaves very little to chance. One fork to the Mount of Venus is indicative of a person with strong musical and literary pursuits. These people will almost always achieve celebrity status. The line ending in a fork on the Mount of Saturn shows a prudent, discreet and mysterious person. If the line forks towards the Mount of Mercury, the person is an achiever, with a gift for persuasion. A fork towards the Mount of Jupiter shows a person with a pleasant humanitarian approach. These people are also natural leaders. A fork in the beginning shows a traumatic childhood. This will lead to conflict, but the person will choose the right path later in life. A double line implies insecurity.

The branches of the fate line indicate the rise and fall of fortunes. A rising fate line indicates a successful career with great opportunities for prosperity. Dropping lines mean heavy losses, failure, and disappointments. A wavering line shows an indecisive and lethargic person who lives life on a totally materialistic level. An unusually deep line reveals an inheritance, and success that is handed down.


The Mounts

Jupiter Saturn Apollo Mercury
The Mount of
Jupiter
The Mount of
Saturn
The Mount of
Apollo
The Mount of
Mercury
Moon Venus Mars
The Mount of
Moon
The Mount of
Venus
The Mount of
Mars

The Mount of Jupiter: This is situated at the base of the index finger. A well-developed mount is indicative of the person's leadership qualities. This person is also just, honest, optimistic and sociable. If the mount is flat, the person lacks confidence and a good personality. If the mount is over developed, the person is arrogant, proud, idle and egoistic. A small line between the Heart and Head lines on this mount indicates acquisition of wealth.


The Mount of Saturn: This mount is situated at the base of the middle finger. If it is well developed, the person possesses a good sense of responsibility and is concerned with seeking wisdom. If overdeveloped, with long fingers, the person is cold, distant and an introvert. If the mount is flat, the person is outgoing and optimistic.


The Mount of Apollo: This mount is set at the base of the ring finger. If the mount is well developed, the person is warm and optimistic, radiating enthusiasm. If it is flat, the person is cold and cynical, lacking appreciation of the finer things in life. If it is overdeveloped, this person is brash, insensitive, and loves to hear the sound of his/her own voice.


The Mount of Mercury: This mount is situated at the base of the little finger. A well-developed mount is indicative of a person who loves to travel a lot, and is a go-getter. If it is overdeveloped, the person is a glib talker and a consummate liar. This person is also the regular Casanova. If it is flat, the person is shy, diffident or just plain dull.


The Mount of Moon: This is situated at the base of the palm, opposite the thumb. A well-developed mount shows a person who is compassionate, caring, creative and blessed with an incredible zest for life. If it is flat, it shows imagination and a sense of empathy.


The Mount of Venus: This is set under the thumb. If the mount is well developed, the person is warm and generous. This person leads an active social life, and is an interesting companion. If over developed, it shows an extremely greedy person, who eagerly grabs worldly pleasures with both hands. If it is flat, it shows a lack of vitality and passion, and the person is cold and selfish.


The Mount of Mars: The upper Mars mount lies between the head line and beginning of the heart line. The lower Mars mount is near the thumb, at the beginning of the heart line. The middle Mars mount, is in the centre of the palm. A very soft plane of Mars shows a highly self-centered person. A thick, well-developed, and firm Mars plane shows abounding energy and an outgoing nature.


PALMISTRY : Reading our hands

Analyse ur future
well 1st let us know

What is palmistry?
Palmistry is a method of counselling that originated in India over 3,000 years ago. It is a part of a vast field of study, referred to as Samudrik Shastra, which literally means the ocean of knowledge. Palmistry is a sub-section of Samudrik Shastra and deals specifically with the study of the hand.

well some questions

Is palmistry fortune-telling?
In a word: no. The original intent of palmistry was for personality assessment and counselling. One's emotional tendencies, social attitudes, conscious awareness and subconscious fears, blockages and strengths

Can you make predictions through palmistry?
You cannot make predictions with palmistry. However, since there is a definate mind-body connection, we know that negative or positive thinking affects our well-being. As well, due to our habitual way of thinking, we often repeat the same behaviour in the future as we exhibit in the present. If we can understand the pattern of our habits and thinking, then we can begin to isolate the negative cycles of behaviour and can replace them with positive new ones. Palmistry can help you see these patterns. With this information, you can shape own destiny.

The Top from the new 7 Wonders ! TAJ MAHAL

Taj is selected as the new top Wonder from the 7 Wonders ..

India Among the new 7 Wonders !

The Taj Mahal in Agra was included in the new Seven Wonders of the World announced at a star-studded ceremony held here, bringing joy to millions of Indians who had voted for the 17th Century monument of love.

Brazil's Statue of Christ Redeemer, Peru's Machu Picchu, the Great Wall of China, Mexico's Chichen Itza pyramid, Jordan's Petra and the Colosseum in Rome were also chosen as the modern-day wonders, according to a global vote by about 100 million Internet and telephone voters.

The new Seven Wonders of the World were announced Saturday night at a glitzy event at the Benfica Stadium here, featuring musical performances and was attended by several world dignitaries. Actors Ben Kingsley, Hilary Swank and Bollywood star Bipasha Basu hosted the ceremonies.

The grand monument in Agra was built in the 17th century by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal.

The global poll was carried out by a private body called the New7Wonders Foundation.

--- IANS

Want High-speed Internet !

By Eric Benderoff
Tribune staff reporter
Published July 6, 2007

Adoption of high-speed Internet at home has almost tripled over the last two years among African-American users, a "phenomenal" increase that puts black usage much closer to the rate seen by whites and English-speaking Hispanics, according to a new study.

The "Home Broadband Adoption 2007" study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that high-speed Internet usage among African-American adults soared from 14 percent in 2005 to 40 percent this year. By comparison, home broadband usage among whites rose from 31 percent in 2005 to 48 percent this year.

The survey's authors note that high-speed Internet penetration among African-Americans is roughly equivalent to that seen for whites in 2006.

English-speaking Hispanics track very closely to white Americans in terms of home broadband usage, said Aaron Smith, one of the authors of the study, which was released this week.

The increase at home by African-Americans corresponds with "very aggressive marketing campaigns from cable and phone companies," Smith said. "Prices have dropped to $14.99 for DSL service."

The increased home usage does not surprise L.A. Seals, the district program coordinator for Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), but he does call it "good news."

"New technologies provide new opportunities," Seals said, "and most of the job information is available online today."

But he noted Internet usage among African-Americans is also increasing thanks to mobile devices.

"It's still access, but many people are going online with their Sidekicks, not a computer," Seals said, pointing out T-Mobile's popular gadget used for sending e-mail and surfing the Web.

Nonetheless, aggressive marketing and promotion from companies like AT&T Inc., which provides high-speed Internet access for $15 a month, has clearly helped.

According to the most recent figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, African-American households had the lowest median income in 2005 ($30,858) among racial groups. The median income for non-Hispanic white households was $50,784.

The higher adoption among African-Americans "is not surprising to us," said Laura Hernandez, the phone company's executive director of multicultural marketing. "A key barrier to entry was cost. If we could make [digital subscriber line Internet service] more affordable, we expected more customers would sign up."

AT&T offers a tiered pricing structure for high-speed Internet access, with "basic" service starting at $15 a month and "elite" access, which offers significantly faster speeds, priced at $35 a month.

They are using the "Internet to get ahead," Hernandez said of African-Americans. "They are e-mailing and surfing and probably using social networks like everyone else, but it's with a real intent."

She called that intent "how I can better myself," a tone reflected in AT&T's marketing.

That is a very real concern, said one African-American community leader.

"There is a lot of interest in our community to get more people online," said Rev. Robin Hood, a pastor at Redeemed Outreach Ministries in Chicago's West Englewood neighborhood. "It's a necessity for doing just about anything.

"Even if you want to pay bills, you need to get online," he said. "I went to Walgreens a few months ago for some medicine and I gave them my e-mail address." Now he gets coupons and special promotions, a benefit he wouldn't otherwise receive if he wasn't online, Hood said.

"There's such a high demand to keep up," Hood said of African-Americans, so "no, the jump in usage doesn't surprise me at all. More still needs to be done."

Seals echoed that thought.

"People always talk about the digital divide, but as customers, we [African-Americans] are closing that," he said. "But we are not doing enough elsewhere, such as developing software for the Internet. There's a lot of room for growth."

Smith, of Pew, said affordable pricing for high-speed Web access is critical, but so is exposure to the Internet.

"As people get exposure to the technology, they tend to want it," he said.

The survey noted that rural Americans lag the rest of the nation when it comes to home broadband usage, with only 31 percent adoption this year.

"Rural residents are less likely to use broadband at work," Smith said. "That exposure at work is a key driver to get people to use broadband at home."

According to Pew data, 71 percent of adults use the Internet at least occasionally from some location. Of those adults, 94 percent surf the Web from home. The vast majority of those home users, 70 percent, use a high-speed connection while 23 percent still use a slower dial-up connection.

News : DNA shows Greenland was once green











Trees are not an abundant feature of modern day Greenland [EPA]
Ancient DNA has shown that the bleak, ice-covered landscapes of Greenland were covered with verdant forests around half a million years ago.

The climate would have been much like modern day eastern Canada or Sweden according to an international team of scientists who analysed DNA recovered from from the bottom of an ice core that indicates the presence of pine, yew and alder trees as well as insects.

The researchers, led by Eske Willerslev of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, say the findings are the first direct proof that there was forest in southern Greenland.

Their findings were published in the journal Science on Friday and include genetic traces of butterflies, moths, flies and beetles.l

The material was recovered from cores drilled through ice two kilometres thick at a site called Dye 3 in south central Greenland.

Greenland was discovered by Vikings sailing from Iceland about 1,000 years ago. While it had an ice cap then, the climate was relatively mild and they were able to establish colonies in coastal areas.

Those colonies later vanished as the climate cooled.

"These findings allow us to make a more accurate environmental reconstruction of the time period from which these samples were taken, and what we've learned is that this part of the world was significantly warmer than most people thought," Martin Sharp, a glaciologist at the University of Alberta, Canada, and a co-author of the paper, said in a statement.

The DNA, dated to between 450,000 and 800,000 years ago, may be the oldest yet recovered, according to the team.

DNA found previously in the Siberian permafrost has been dated to 300,000 to 400,000 years ago.

News : Dawn asteroid probe won't launch until September

The scientist leading NASA's Dawn spacecraft on a three-billion-mile reconnaissance mission to explore a massive asteroid and a "dwarf planet" believed to harbor water has been designing the project for more than a decade. Liftoff was supposed to happen this weekend, yet troubles interfered. And officials Saturday ordered another launch delay -- all the way to September.

Chris Russell, professor of geophysics and space physics at the UCLA, first proposed the mission in 1994. He's been waiting a long time to see the robotic probe, powered by exotic ion thrusters, travel into the asteroid belt where it will orbit the rocky body Vesta, then venture out further to the small world called Ceres and also orbit that tantilizing object.

But getting the spacecraft built and launched has been beleaguered by setbacks.

"The spacecraft will spend much less time in space than we put in preparing for the mission," Russell said recently. "I want to get this spacecraft up in space, where it belongs. I'm really confident about the spacecraft. We've been testing and retesting."

Russell's team hoped to see the instrument-laden space probe leave Earth in the coming days. Now, everyone must wait a bit longer.

A 12-story United Launch Alliance Delta 2-Heavy rocket with Dawn nestled inside the vehicle's nose cone was supposed to blast off from Cape Canaveral's pad 17B on Saturday afternoon. But stormy weather prevented the rocket's second stage from being fueled on Thursday, forcing the liftoff to be delayed from Saturday to Sunday.

NASA decided early Friday morning to slip the launch another 24 hours - to Monday - because of troubles with a telemetry-relay aircraft downrange. Then a decision was made late Friday to retarget the launch for no earlier than Sunday, July 15.

Problems with the tracking plane and delays getting a substitute ship into the Atlantic Ocean region has been a source of headaches for the launch officials. Either the aircraft or the instrumented ship is required to receive telemetry from the rocket during the second and third stage firings off the west-central coast of Africa. Without a mobile tracking asset in place, engineers would have no insight or data while those critical events of the launch occur.

NASA has been racing against the calendar because Dawn's current launch opportunity closes July 19, giving just a few days left to get the spacecraft on the required trajectory to fly past Mars for a sling-shot maneuver and then into the asteroid belt for its rendezvous with Vesta and Ceres over the next eight years.

Missing this launch period forces a wait until the next window, which opens in September and extends through late October.

With the dwindling dates left to fly and the looming August 3 launch of the Mars lander Phoenix aboard another Delta 2 rocket from the neighboring Cape Canaveral pad, NASA management on Saturday opted to call an end to Dawn's liftoff chances in July.

"The decision was made Saturday to move the launch to September after careful review by NASA's Science Mission Directorate officials, working with Dawn mission managers, the Dawn principal investigator, and with the concurrence of the NASA Administrator," an agency spokesman said.

"Primary reasons for the move were a combination of highly limited launch opportunities for Dawn in July and the potential impact to launch preparations for the upcoming Phoenix Mars Lander mission, set for early August."

The alignment of the planets dictates a tight August 3 to August 24 window for the Phoenix liftoff to happen. If the craft doesn't launch within those three weeks, the next shot at Mars won't come until 2009.

"A September launch for Dawn maintains all of the science mission goals a July launch would have provided," the NASA spokesman said.

An additional complicating factor for Dawn is its launcher's second stage. A propellant blend of nitrogen tetroxide and hydrazine fuel must be loaded into the Delta vehicle two days prior to liftoff. But the corrosive nature of the rocket fuel limits the amount of time the stage remains suitable for flight -- roughly 40 days -- after the propellant is pumped aboard. Proceeding with the fueling for a launch next weekend and then possibly experiencing weather or technical delays that pushed the flight past the July 19 window cutoff date would have added further problems and cost to the Dawn mission.

The start of Dawn's adventure to examine Vesta and Ceres has experienced a number of hurdles, including outright cancellation of the project in March 2006. After a heated controversy, NASA restarted the mission less than a month later.

"It has been quite an emotional roller coaster," said Russell.

"There were some days I didn't think we were going to make it. But we never kept trying."

Recent plans called for the launch to happen June 20, but that date was scrapped because more time was needed to prepare the Delta rocket before on-pad assembly could start. Then a targeted June 30 launch day was doomed when the pad's crane developed a problem last month, causing a hiatus in attaching the solid-fuel boosters.

Those slips in the launch schedule coupled with this week's weather and tracking aircraft problems left Dawn with little of its window left prior to the high priority Mars lander liftoff.

Dawn's ion thrusters, derived from the engine successfully demonstrated on NASA's Deep Space 1 technology pathfinder craft, will propel the spacecraft during its eight-year, three-billion-mile mission, reaching Vesta in 2011 and Ceres in 2015. The spacecraft will orbit at increasingly lower altitudes above the objects to determine the composition, internal structure and evolutionary history of the bodies.

"I think of Dawn as two journeys," Russell said. "One is a journey into space. This is analogous to what ancient explorers did, who knew there was unexplored territory and wanted to discover what was there. We're going to explore a region for the first time to find out what the conditions are today.

"Dawn is also a journey back in time. Ceres and Vesta have been altered much less than other bodies. The Earth is changing all the time; the Earth hides its history, but we believe that Ceres and Vesta, formed more than 4.6 billion years ago, have preserved their early record. They're revealing information that was frozen into their ancient surfaces. By looking at the surface and how it was modified by the bombardment of meteoroids, we will get an idea of what the early conditions of Ceres and Vesta were and how they changed. So Dawn is a history trip too. We're going back in time to the early solar system."

Scientists suspect that Vesta is solid rock. The oval-shaped object has an average diameter of approximately 320 miles. On the other hand, Ceres could have water or ice beneath its rocky crust. This "baby planet" has an average diameter of about 600 miles.

"Why do we explore the solar system? Why did Lewis and Clark go across the U.S. at the start of the 19th century? We're not going to expand the human race off this planet for a long time, but discovering our origins and how the solar system evolved is valuable in itself. Mankind has always expanded horizons. Exploration is a human imperative."

Exactly when Dawn will blast off to begin its expedition wasn't immediately clear Saturday. NASA officials did not announce a target launch date for September.
STS-118 patch
This is the official astronaut patch of space shuttle Endeavour's STS-118 mission to the International Space Station. The crew features Barbara Morgan, the former Idaho teacher and now NASA's first Educator Mission Specialist.
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X-15 DVD set

The X-15 rocket plane pushed the boundaries of aerospace with trips out to mach 6.7 and altitudes of over 350,000 feet. This 3 DVD collection contains over 10 hours of material, the largest ever assembled and will allow you to experience the proud legacy of the X-15.
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User presentations, software demos, and technology experts, all at the 2007 AGI User Exchange this Aug. 28-29 in Washington, D.C.. Register today at www.agi.com/ux!

Telescopes.com
Largest selection and the best prices anywhere in the world. Free shipping on select items. Telescopes.com is the largest dealer of both Meade and Celestron Telescopes. Visit Telescopes.com or call toll free 1-800-303-5873.
STS-117 patch
The official crew patch for the June space shuttle mission. The Atlantis crew installed new solar wings on the space station.
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Ares patch
The Ares Project will develop two new rockets to launch astronauts back to the Moon under NASA's Vision for Exploration. The Ares 1 will employ a single space shuttle solid rocket booster to loft the Orion crew capsule. The gigantic Ares 5 will haul the equipment and cargo needed for such lunar voyages. This is the Ares emblem.
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Fallen Heroes special patch
This special 12-inch embroidered patch commemorates the U.S. astronauts who made the ultimate sacrifice, honoring the crews of Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia.

What women talk about

Shoes
There are some topics men do not dwell on

Researchers in the US have laid waste to the long-held belief that women talk more than men.

But the survey did find that female subjects get through an average of 16,215 words a day, compared with their male counterparts' 15,669, a difference of 546.

So what might those words be? The Magazine has consulted a handful of females, and come up with a few suggestions of words - 46 to be precise (listed below). But what might the others be? Use the form at the bottom of this page to help flesh out some of the remaining 500. We'll present the best ones on Monday.

Forty-six words women might say, men probably wouldn't:

  • Book club: A female dominated affair, perhaps because women read more fiction, or perhaps because men aren't very good at talking about it
  • Accessorize: If men were ever to use this word it would only be in the context of cars
  • Body image
  • Empowering: Men never use this word, perhaps because for the 200,000 years humans have been on the planet, men have had all the power
  • Burlesque:
  • Something involving strip-tease that can apparently involve the above

  • Size zero
  • Home birth
  • Pilates: Men in the UK, particularly, seem to have no interest in building up their core strength
  • Pomegranate: Men seem ill-equipped to understand the significance and full range of superfoods
  • A couple shouting at each other at very close range
    Differing vocabularies can be a source of disagreement
  • Cellulite
  • Absolutely beautiful: The words women often use to describe friends who are not
  • Conventionally attractive: Preceded by "well I suppose she is...", a phrase women often use to describe those who actually are
  • Jesse Metcalfe: A walking Athena poster, see above
  • Footless tights: Strange idea, strangely popular
  • Breastfeeding
  • Emotional intelligence: Something that men usually do not possess, instead preferring the kind of intelligence that involves dates of battles
  • Kitten heels: Or indeed heels of any other kind
  • What are you thinking?: The classic female condition check
  • Feminism: If even veteran feminists can't agree on what this means then it's probably best avoided by men
  • Afghanistan:
  • A place where the debate is rather starker

  • Agony aunt:
  • When men seek answers to life-changing problems in magazines, it tends to be under the headline "plasma or LCD?"

  • Airbrushing:
  • The process by which magazine picture editors oppress women in an underhand way

  • Flexible working
  • Handbagging:
  • As in new Commons leader Harriet Harman's request to Theresa May not to savage her every Thursday

  • Beefeater: The first female one made her debut this year
  • Babies
  • Superwoman
  • Ms:
  • Extraordinarily, the battle continues for women to be allowed to avoid definition by their marital status

  • Middleton: As in Kate. Style icon or harassed paparazzo target?
  • Concealer
  • Why: As in "why do you never call?"
BBC NEWS

News : Sony has no plans to cut PS3 price

Sony isn't planning to cut the price of its PlayStation 3 to pep up demand or counter surging sales of Nintendo rival Wii, Sony's president said Friday.

Sony President Ryoji Chubachi also said in an interview that operating profit margin at its mainstay electronics unit, which makes hot-selling Bravia LCD televisions and Cyber-shot digital cameras, is likely to exceed its 4 percent target for the current fiscal year that ends in March 2008.

"At present, we have no plans," Chubachi told Reuters when asked whether Sony had any plans to cut the PS3 price.

Sony has packed cutting-edge technology such as a Blu-ray high-definition optical disc player into the PS3, driving up production costs and making its retail price more than twice as expensive as the Wii.

The higher price tag and lack of attractive software titles have been cited as main reasons the PS3 has been trailing the Wii in sales, and analysts have been widely expecting Sony to soon slash the price to spur demand.

In a Reuters survey of four game analysts this week, three expect Sony to cut PS3 prices by $100 by the end of the year, while one analyst said a cut of $150 is more likely.

The PS3, with a 60GB hard drive, carries a price tag of $599 in the United States, while the Wii sells for about $250.

"If you take a look at how PlayStation and PlayStation 2 have taken off, this is not such an unusual start," Chubachi said.

When the PS2 made its debut in 2000, Sony was initially criticized for lack of strong titles, and some software publishers said the machine was too complex to develop for.

Sony eventually overcame those difficulties and has sold more than 120 million PS2 units, making it the top-selling video game console ever.

In a sign of lack of confidence on the side of investors, however, Sony, which has sales eight times as big as Nintendo, was overtaken by the Kyoto-based company last week in market capitalization and bumped off the list of Japan's 10 most valuable companies.

China's Great Wall Officially a World Wonder

Click to enlarge the photo
The Great Wall of China is the biggest man-made construction with its length of 6,400 kilometres and was long considered the unofficial "eighth wonder of the world". Photo by wikipedia.org
The Great Wall of China, long considered on par with the seven wonders of the ancient world, was officially recognised as such after a vote in which 100 million picked their favourites to replaced the monuments of antiquity, most of them long gone.

Peru's lost city of Machu Picchu, the Chichen Itza ruins of the Maya in Mexico, India's Taj Mahal, the Colosseum in Rome, the Jordanian city of Petra and the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro round up the list.

The campaign, started by Swiss Bernard Weber, polled close to 100 people over several years, and started with 200 man-made monumental structures.

The winners were announced late on Saturday in Lisbon, with England's Stonehenge and the Eiffel Tower in Paris failing to make the final cut.

Of the ancient seven wonders only the great Pyramid of Giza remains standing, which was not included in the voting, winning its position along the new wonders by default.

The new list replaces the hanging gardens of Babylon, the Colossus of Rhodes, the lighthouse of Alexandria, the mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the statue of Zeu at Olympia and the temple of Artemis in Ephesus - all long gone.

But the initiative failed to win the backing of Unesco, the UN organisation in charge of preserving cultural monuments, who branded the campaign "neither democratic nor scientific".

News : Lal Masjid: 300 religious students dies in overnight operation

Lal Masjid claimed Sunday that around 300 religious students were killed in the overnight operation, but Pakistani TV channels said the death toll stood at 40.

Lal Masjid also said that two rooms of seminary in the mosque complex collapsed in the operation and fresh troops arrived at the mosque on Sunday morning.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Saturday said that the remaining militants in the mosque should lay down their weapons and surrender or they would be killed.

Source: Xinhua

Game Downloads From Xbox LIVE Marketplace

Xbox LIVE® Marketplace offers tons of all-new content for your existing Xbox 360 and Xbox games. Whether it's new multiplayer maps for your favorite shooter, extra cars for a race game, or new quests for that role-playing game, you'll find it on Marketplace. Some content packs are free, while others may set you back a few Microsoft Points. Check out the latest extra for your favorite games and play them in a whole new way.

GRAW 2 Throwback Pack

Name: GRAW 2 Throwback Pack
Price: 800 MS Points

Seven maps from previous Ghost Recon games have been adapted for use in GRAW 2.

Battlestations Midway

Name: Battlestations Midway Extras
Price: 400 MS Points

It’s all-out war with these new maps, missions, ships, planes, and submarines.

Movies and TV on Your Xbox ?

Xbox 360™ is the first and only gaming console to provide HD and standard-definition TV shows and movies straight to your console's hard drive. Xbox LIVE® Marketplace is where you download your favorite movies and television shows, and remember to check back here at Xbox.com to see what's new!

Goto XBox

Get a free PC safety scan from Microsoft

Windows Live OneCare safety scanner is a free service designed to help ensure the health of your PC.

  • Check for and remove viruses
  • Get rid of junk on your hard disk
  • Improve your PC's performance
New: Windows Vista users, try the beta edition of the scanner, just for Windows Vista.

Fix specific PC issues

Use the full service scan to check everything. To help fix particular problems on your PC, turn to the individual scanners below.

Starting a new business?

Have a look at this latest offer from microsoft for Accounting Purpose ..

watch out this offer from microsoft ....


Office Accounting Express

Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2007
Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2007
Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2007

Full featured accounting application provides a single place to manage your company's business finances with the familiar look and feel of Microsoft Office system programs.

Standard features:
  • Get started quickly with familiar Office look and feel
  • Create invoices, track sales and pay vendors
  • Sell online with eBay and PayPal sales tools
  • Bank online with thousands of financial institutions
  • Access integrated services for payroll, credit card processing and more

Learn more about Office Accounting Express
Download the product guide now.

Here is some simple tips to promote your blog and make it profitable and successfully.

Make some post to your blog by using keyword rich content.

- I’m sure that you know about My Yahoo and Google Reader, submit your blog there

- Every time you make a post, don’t forget to ping it. Use some services such as pingomatic, Pingtheempire and Coreblog to ping multiple sites at once.

- Don’t forget to submit your blog to some old search engines and directories like MSN and DMOZ, or small or middle directory such as Women Directory.

- Use forums to put your signature to, such Bloggerforum and Women Forum, it will help your website to get some traffic from.

- Submit your website to as many RSS Directories as possible.

- Leave your thoughts and comments on other blogs with your blog url listed in the signature. But make sure that your comments are relevant to the topic and the topics are relevant to your blog.

- Tag your blog by using sites such as Del.icio.us- and Technorati

- Trade links with other sites that are relevant to your website or add a link directory for this purpose. Programs such as Zeus and Axandra might help you.


Postie .. Yulia

3D Map of Google Earth

Google added new layers and updated layers to Google Earth, they look really cool in 3d Map of Google Earth. In particular, the new layers under “Featured Content->Global Awareness” each get their own write-up at the Official Google Blog.

Adding Video to Blogger

There are some video host provider around the internet such as Youtube, Google Video, Vsocial, Dailymotion, etc.

First of all you have to pick video of your choice from Google Video. On clicking the name you would be redirected to your video’s page. On the right sidebar click on blue button “Email - Blog - Post to MySpace”. In the drop down box click on “Blogger” link in “Post to” section.
Upload Google Video image
Click the “Blogger” link to open a new windows. Enter your Username and password in it and click “Sign in” button. Remember that this is your blog*spot username and password and not of Google account.
On logging in select the blog(if you have more then one blog in your account) from the drop-down menu where you wish to post this Google Video to and click “Proceed” button.

Then enter the title for your post (default is same as the title of the video), pick a player size (default is Big) and check the “Autoplay video” if you want the video to play as soon as the page uploads.
Finally enter the text for the body of the post in “Description” box and click on “Post to my blog” to publish this post. If all goes well you would get a “successfully posted” message. Close the window and refresh your blog to check your latest Google video.

SEO Meta Tag For Blogger

In the new version actually there is not much messing to add a meta tag u can directly add ur meta tags below head tag . Well if u see the view source of your website then u will notice that there are also meta tags of blogger which are already mentioned including ur meta tags . But u can override the meta tags of blogger by adding ur meta tag just below the head in templates>Edit html>

So u r done with ur meta tags in new blogger version ! if u have any suggestion plz comment here ..