Archive for November 2013

Microsoft launches Internet Explorer 11 for Windows 7

According to Microsoft, the new browser loads about 9% faster than IE10 and 30% faster than rival browsers

Microsoft has announced global availability Internet Explorer 11 for Windows 7 users. The company will begin begun automatically updating Windows 7 customers to IE11 in the weeks ahead, starting with customers running the IE11 Developer and Release Previews. Windows 7 Users, however, can manually download the upgrade as well.

Noor Inayat Khan wartime heroine

A beautiful Indian princess, she sacrificed her life for Britain as a wartime secret agent.

With astonishing courage, Noor Inayat Khan evaded the Gestapo before being betrayed, tortured and, after refusing to reveal any information, executed at Dachau concentration camp, Her last word as the firing squad raised their weapons on September 13, 1944, was 'liberté'.

The bronze bust commemorating Britain’s only female Muslim war heroine is the first stand-alone memorial to an Asian woman in the UK.

It stands in Gordon Square near the house where Noor lived and from where she left on her last mission, unable to tell her mother she might never return.

Noor was part of an elite band of women in the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the first woman radio operator to be flown into occupied France to aid the Resistance.

Born in Moscow to an Indian father and an American mother, Noor was a descendant of Tipu Sultan, the 18th century ruler of Mysore. The family lived in London, moving to Paris when Noor was six.

Source: www.pippaettore.com

CV Raman's 125th birthday

On 7 November 1888 was born the great physicist in tiruchirApallI in a traditional family. Remembering that great mind who went on to become the first non-white to be awarded a Nobel for Sciences, we reproduce here one old newspaper clipping:

(The Hindu, December 1, 1941)

Never ignore someone

who cares for you because

someday you'll realize

you've lost a diamond

while you were busy

collecting stones.

Life

Kannur becomes India's first ‘landless-free district’

NEW DELHI: Kannur in Kerala has become the first district in the country where every family owns a piece of land.

"It is an historic step. Every family of landless poor in the district is going to get three cents of land for building a house," rural development minister Jairam Ramesh said while declaring Kannur as India's first landless-free district.

He urged all states to emulate the example of Kerala in distribution of land, saying it requires "political will and hard decisions". Ramesh said the beneficiaries have already been identified under the programme and the Centre will extend all support to the state government to enable them construct houses under Indira Awaas Yojana.

He said Kerala will also become the first big state in the country to become an open defecation free state.

- Times Of India

Lay’s Manages to Make Potato Chips Even Worse For You by Smothering Them in Chocolate

‘Tis the season to be gluttonous, so Frito-Lay is rolling out milk chocolate-covered “wavy” potato chips.

The limited-edition $3.49 5-ounce bags will be shipped to Target stores starting today and will be on sale throughout the holiday season, a Frito-Lay spokesperson tells TIME. If consumers like them, the company will evaluate whether to make them permanent.

While chocolate-covered pretzels are a familiar sight, USA Today also cites the trend of sweet and salty potato chip flavors that have been on the market like Kettle’s maple-bacon or sweet ‘n’ salty Bugles flavors, like caramel and chocolate peanut butter.

Not to mention Lay’s also seems to be attempting to go mainstream with a type of snack more commonly found at high-end places like Neiman Marcus, boutique chocolate shops like Dylan’s Candy Bar (run by Ralph Lauren’s daughter) and Nunu Chocolates, or even something state fair goers have probably eaten as a side with their bacon-wrapped hot dogs.

That said, it looks like DIY types have been publishing YouTube tutorials on how to melt chocolate over Lay’s Wavy Potato Chips long before Lay’s figured out how to market the product. Can’t a YouTuber get a h/t around here?

Source : http://newsfeed.time.com/

FAA OKs Air Passengers Using Gadgets on Planes

Government safety rules are changing to let airline passengers use most electronic devices from gate-to-gate.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Government safety rules are changing to let airline passengers use most electronic devices from gate-to-gate.

The change will let passengers read, work, play games, watch movies and listen to music – but not make cellphone calls.

The Federal Aviation Administration says airlines can allow passengers to use the devices during takeoffs and landings on planes that meet certain criteria for protecting aircraft systems from electronic interference.

Most new airliners are expected to meet the criteria, but changes won’t happen immediately. Timing will depend upon the airline.

Connections to the Internet to surf, exchange emails, text or download data will still be prohibited below 10,000 feet. Heavier devices like laptops will have to be stowed. Passengers will be told to switch their smartphones, tablets and other devices to airplane mode.

Cellphone calls will still be prohibited.

A travel industry group welcomed the changes, calling them common-sense accommodations for a traveling public now bristling with technology. “We’re pleased the FAA recognizes that an enjoyable passenger experience is not incompatible with safety and security,” said Roger Dow, CEO of the U.S. Travel Association.

Bhali Geeks