Information

Your credit cards will stop working online after August 1, 2009

credit card working online after August 1, 2009

From August 1, you need not think twice before letting your credit card out of sight at a restaurant, petrol pump or any other merchant establishment. The details printed on your card including the card number, expiry date and three-digit card security code (popularly known as the CVV) will not be enough to make fraudulent online transactions.

A RBI directive has ensured that from August, credit and debit card-issuing banks must provide for additional authentication of information over and above what is visible on the physical card. In other words, the cardholder must key in an extra security code or some other data to complete a online transaction.

Tata Motors to introduce Air Car

Tata Motors to introduce Air Car

Tata Motors is taking giant strides and making history for itself. First the Landrover-Jaguar deal, then the world's cheapest car and now it is also set to introduce the car that runs on air, compressed air to be specific.

With fuel prices touching nearly $150 per barrel, it is about time we heard some breakthrough!
India's largest automaker Tata Motors is set to start producing the world's first commercial air-powered vehicle. The Air Car, developed by ex-Formula One engineer Guy Nègre for Luxembourg-based MDI, uses compressed air, as opposed to the gas-and-oxygen explosions of internal-combustion models, to push its engine's pistons. Some 6000 zero-emissions Air Cars are scheduled to hit Indian streets by August of 2009.

Extraordinary PEOPLE......

1. Kim Ung-Yong: Attended University at age 4, Ph.D at age 15; world's highest IQ

This Korean super-genius was born in 1962 and might just be the smartest guy alive today (he's recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as having the highest IQ of anyone on the planet). By the age of four he was already able to read in Japanese, Korean, German, and English. At his fifth birthday, he solved complicated differential and integral calculus problems. Later, on Japanese television, he demonstrated his proficiency in Chinese, Spanish, Vietnamese, Tagalog, German, English, Japanese, and Korean. Kim was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records under "Highest IQ"; the book estimated the boy's score at over 210.

Kim was a guest student of physics at Hanyang University from the age of 3 until he was 6. At the age of 7 he was invited to America by NASA. He finished his university studies, eventually getting a Ph.D. in physics at Colorado State University before he was 15. In 1974, during his university studies, he began his research work at NASA and continued this work until his return to Korea in 1978 where he decided to switch from physics to civil engineering and eventually received a doctorate in that field. Kim was offered the chance to study at the most prestigious universities in Korea, but instead chose to attend a provincial university. As of 2007 he also serves as adjunct faculty at Chungbuk National University.

‘Eclipse Flight’ on 22nd July 2009

I wanted to inform you of one of the Major Development in the field of Indian Space Sciences and Astronomy as well Aviation history!!

‘Eclipse Flight’ on 22nd July 2009.

Under the technical guidance of Eclipse Chasers Athenaeum (ECa), the eclipse sphere of SPACE, Space Technology & Education in partnership with Cox and Kings is flying a passenger eclipse flight.

The 'Eclipse Flight' is a dedicated, non-stop, round eclipse flight, from Delhi to Delhi. This is the first time in India that a passenger flight will be undertaken to see the eclipse.

Top 7 World´s Most Expensive Bottles of Alcohol

Top 7 World´s Most Expensive Bottles of Alcohol

$1,060,000 - Diva Vodka
This bottle of vodka hails from Scotland and its price is the result of how much "bling" you want your bottle to have. The bottle can be encrusted with precious gems: diamonds, rubies, sapphires, etc. Blackwood Distillers makes this triple distilled vodka that is ice-filtered through Nordic birch charcoal and then for some reason is passed through a sand of crushed diamonds and other gems. Absolutely ridiculous, so let´s move on to the next item, which is almost just as
ridiculous, but then after that it´s smooth sailing.

The 7 Most Impressive Libraries From Throughout History

The 7 Most Impressive Libraries From Throughout History

The library has played a key role in the dissemination of information and knowledge throughout history. Access to collections such as those housed in Alexander's Great Library and the lesser Chetham's Library was a catalyst for change and the technological advance of mankind long before the digital age when knowledge was truly democratised for the masses.

We tend to take for granted the notion that the people of the world can or should be taught to read. The ability to read is even used as an indicator of poverty and development. In 1998, the UN defined 80% of the world population as literate, defined as the ability to read and write a simple sentence in a language.

A 'time bomb' for world wheat crop

A 'time bomb' for world wheat crop

Katharine Kimball / For The Times

Oregon State scientist Mary Verhoeven is among those working to develop wheat varieties resistant to a strain of "stem rust" that a colleague calls "a time bomb."
The Ug99 fungus, called stem rust, could wipe out more than 80% of the world's wheat as it spreads from Africa, scientists fear. The race is on to breed resistant plants before it reaches the U.S.

The spores arrived from Kenya on dried, infected leaves ensconced in layers of envelopes.

Working inside a bio-secure greenhouse outfitted with motion detectors and surveillance cameras, government scientists at the Cereal Disease Laboratory in St. Paul, Minn., suspended the fungal spores in a light mineral oil and sprayed them onto thousands of healthy wheat plants. After two weeks, the stalks were covered with deadly reddish blisters characteristic of the scourge known as Ug99.

97 YEARS OLD DOCTOR & THIS IS WHAT HE HAS TO SAY...

97 YEARS OLD DOCTOR & THIS IS WHAT HE HAS TO SAY...

At the age of 97 years and 4 months, Shigeaki Hinohara is one of the world's longest-serving physicians and educators. Hinohara's magic touch is legendary: Since 1941 he has been healing patients at St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo and teaching at St. Luke's College of Nursing.
After World War II, he envisioned a world-class hospital and college springing from the ruins of Tokyo; thanks to his pioneering spirit and business savvy, the doctor turned these institutions into the nation's top medical facility and nursing school.

10 Notable Diamonds

10 Notable Diamonds

These days, it's a big deal when celebs like Jennifer Lopez and Katie Holmes get six and five-carat diamonds in their engagement rings (respectively). But compared to these 10 gems, those trinkets are nothing. Here are the stories behind some of the largest and rarest diamonds ever found.

1. The Eugénie Blue
This Titanic-esque vivid blue diamond is 30.82 carats. It's called the Eugénie Blue because of an old legend that the sparkly stunner originally belonged to Empress Eugénie de Montijo, the wife of Napoleon III. There is no evidence to support this tale, though, so many people prefer to simply call it "The Blue Heart" instead.

Luxury yachts offer pirate hunting cruises

Luxury ocean liners in Russia are offering pirate hunting cruises aboard armed private yachts off the Somali coast.

Wealthy punters pay £3,500 per day to patrol the most dangerous waters in the world hoping to be attacked by raiders.

When attacked, they retaliate with grenade launchers, machine guns and rocket launchers, reports Austrian business paper Wirtschaftsblatt.