For Your Intellectual Stimulation

The Washington Post's Mensa Invitational once again invited readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.

(This has nothing to do with the Washington Post)

Here are the winners:

1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the
subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

2. Ignoranus : A person who's both stupid and an asshole.

3. Intaxicaton : Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until
you realize it was your money to start with.

4. Reintarnation : Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

5. Bozone ( n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops
bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows
little sign of breaking down in the near future.

6. Foreploy : Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of
getting laid.

7. Giraffiti : Vandalism spray-painted very, very high

8. Sarchasm : The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the
person who doesn't get it.

9. Inoculatte : To take coffee intravenously when you are running
late.

10. Osteopornosis : A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

11. Karmageddon : It's like, when everybody is sending off all these
really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's
like, a serious bummer.

12. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day
consuming only things that are good for you.

13. Glibido : All talk and no action.

14. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when
they come at you rapidly.

15. Arachnoleptic Fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after
you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

16. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into
your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

17. Caterpallor ( n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in
the fruit you're eating.

The Washington Post has also published the winning submissions to its
yearly contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate
meanings for common words.

And the winners are:

1. Coffee, n. The person upon whom one coughs.

2. Flabbergasted, adj. Appalled by discovering how much weight one has
gained.

3.. Abdicate, v. To give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

4 esplanade, v. To attempt an explanation while drunk.

5. Willy-nilly, adj. Impotent.

6. Negligent, adj. Absentmindedly answering the door when wearing only
a nightgown.

7. Lymph, v. To walk with a lisp.

8. Gargoyle, n. Olive-flavored mouthwash.

9. Flatulence, n. Emergency vehicle that picks up someone who has been
run over by a steamroller.

10. Balderdash, n. A rapidly receding hairline.

11. Testicle, n. A humorous question on an exam.

12. Rectitude, n. The formal, dignified bearing adopted by
proctologists.

13. Pokemon, n. A Rastafarian proctologist.

14. Oyster, n. A person who sprinkles his conversation with
Yiddishisms.

15. Frisbeetarianism, n. The belief that, after death, the soul flies
up onto the roof and gets stuck there.

16. Circumvent, n. An opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by
Jewish men.

More Bru Families Return to Mizoram

Aizawl, Nov 7 : Altogether 15 families today returned on the second day today of the repatriation of Bru refugees from six relief camps in North Tripura, a senior home department official said.

With this, 51 families have returned so far from Tripura and would be resettled in Mamit district on the border with Tripura, he said.

Bru Coordination Committee general secretary Elvis Chorkhy told PTI from Tripura that the second phase of the repatriation would be taken up soon despite opposition from anti-repatriation hardliners.

“At least 70 per cent of the refugees are willing to return to Mizoram,” Chorkhy said.

The Tripura Government provided transport for the refugees and security due to opposition from the newly-elected Mizoram Bru Displaced People’s Forum (MBDPF) and Bru Displaced Welfare Organisation (BDWO) who tried to forcibly prevent the refugees from returning to Mizoram.

The MBDPF and the BDWO have demanded that talks should be held first between the representatives of the refugees, the Centre and Tripura and Mizoram government before repatriation.

Thousands of Brus fled Mizoram in the later part of 1997 in the wake of the murder of a forest guard inside the Dampa Tiger Reserve by Bru militants which triggered communal tension and another wave of exodus occurred after a 17-year old Mizo boy was gunned down by Bru militrants on November 13, 2009, three days before the commencement of the repatriation.

Diesel Shortage Hits Mobile Services in Manipur

By Sobhapati Samom

Imphal, Nov 7 : The seizure of diesel by the police in their anti-blackmarketing drive in Manipur has seriously affected the mobile services since the last five days.

The cellular service networks of most of the major service providers as a result have virtually collapsed. Aircel, Vodafone, Reliance and Idea mobile phone network users of the State’s 10 lakh mobile users are the most severely affected, according to sources here.

“Functioning of around 30 per cent of the towers have been disturbed as there is no diesel supply,” sources in the Manipur Telecom Diesel Filler Committee (MTFC) which had been providing 30 litres of diesel per day to each of the 700 towers for the six cellular services such as BSNL, Airtel, Aircel,Vodafone,Tata Indicom and Reliance, said.

With the approaching festive season, the situation has become depressing, affecting lakhs of mobile users across the State. “Except BSNL, there is no mobile phone network here”, Etomba, a resident of Ukhrul said.

Manipur had been facing acute shortage of fuel even after the United Naga Council Manipur sponsored 69 day economic blockade on the National Highways was concluded months ago. The situation still remains the same even as it recovers from the economic blockades.

MTFC had reportedly stored around 4,000 litres of diesel for their emergency use in view of the ongoing situation. But police has seized it as part of its anti-blackmarketing drive recently.

Meanwhile, talks are on with the State officials for the restoration of the mobile towers’ functioning. With the arrival of the representatives of the concerned mobile service providers in the State, fuel supply to the mobiles towers has resumed, according to MTFC sources.

Manipur Gets Bumper Mustard Crop With New Technique

By Sobhapati Samom

Imphal, Nov 7 : After successful cultivation of oil seeds such as mustard under zero tillage cultivation formula, Manipur has started to apply the same principle on pea for the first time.

The new method of cultivation without any form of fertiliser has been initiated under State Agriculture department’s Integrated Pest Management (IPM) method of cultivation with the additional technical inputs from Central Agriculture University (CAU), Imphal.

According to Pheiroijam Rajendro,Deputy Director (Soil Chemist) of the Agriculture department, the State authority under guidance of the Centre is planning to take up zero tillage pea cultivation for the first time. This could be perhaps the first time in the entire Northeastern States.

“As of now we are initiating it in just 30 hectares of recently harvested rice fields”, Rajendro said. Longjam Sarat, 45, a cultivator of Nongpok Lourembam village in Imphal East district has started to cultivate pea under zero tillage formula at his recently harvested rice field.

“I have taken up this new method of cultivation on a trial basis after attending an awareness programme at a mobile plant health clinic”, Sarat said in an interaction with The Assam Tribune at his field. “We are planning to expand the cultivation area once the entire harvest is over”.

Sarat used to get not less than 100 bags (each bag weighing 50 kilogram) of rice from his family’s five hectares of land at Nongpok Lourembam Loukon measuring around 30 hectares. He had cultivated mustard sometime ago, but it did not get him much profit.

His elder brother Modhuchandra said, “Cultivating pea under the new method will certainly help the rural economy in the State as Manipuris love to eat various parts or forms of pea particularly it’s fresh leaves and bud, etc.

A rice field measuring one fourth of a hectare requires around 20 to 25 kilograms of well treated pea seeds. However, Dr Kh Ibohal, an Entomologist from CAU Imphal want the farmers to carry out proper seed treatment to avoid crop diseases.

“We need to use authenticated fungicide (carbendazim 12 per cent plus Mancozeb and insecticide Imidacloprid for the seed treatment to protect the plants from any disease”, the Entomologist said. “Chances of attack by any worm is very negligible if we do so”.

It may be worth mentioning here that IPM method of cultivation has a success story in the mustard seed production in the recent past in this land locked State which is, however, blessed with suitable agro-climatic conditions.

Farmers of Maklang village in Manipur’s Imphal West district got a bumper harvest in the last season, producing an average of 1,300 kg of mustard seed per hectare which is much higher than that of national yield of 1,070 kg per hectare. They cultivated mustard in an area of 1,500 hectares last season.

A Journey Through The Mist of Uncertainty: Displaced Brus in Tripura

By Manas Paul

Agartala, Nov 4 : As the rising sun slowly dispelled the cool mist hanging over the mountains along North Tripura and Mizoram border, they began their journey to home. It was a dream that came true, but still the uncertainty that their eyes reflected could not be missed.

The 174 Reang tribesmen, popularly known as Brus, were repatriated from their shanty refugee camps in North Tripura district, their home for the last 13 years, to Mamit district of Mizoram on Wednesday.

This was part of the Aizawl government's long awaited initiatives to break ice that gathered over displaced Brus' repatriation to their home.

Thirteen years ago in mid October, 1997 following a fierce ethnic violence between the Brus and Lushai (Mizo) tribesmen in Mamit district of Mizoram thousands of Bru villagers fled to adjoining Tripura. Since then they were sheltered in six refugee camps in Kanchanpur subdivision. The ethnic violence had erupted following Brus' demand for autonomy and recognition of their language which were vehemently opposed by various Mizo organizations.

As for the last 13 years sporadic communal skirmishes between the two ethnic groups in Mizoram in various forms took place and simmering tension ran strong beneath the apparent calm, displacement of the Brus to North Tripura also continued. At a point of time there were about 44,000 displaced Brus -considered the highest congregation of the refugees in Kanchanpur subdivision. Soon the Central government intervened and began to supply ration and relief to the camp inmates through Tripura government.

The immediate need for relief and ration were, of course, met but the moot question for their repatriation could not be addressed to. Reeling under the extra burden of thousands of displaced Brus, Manik Sarkar government moved New Delhi to prevail upon Aizawl to take back their subjects. Central government also held several tripartite meetings with Tripura and Mizoram governments to solve the issue but no lasting solution to the refugee problem could be reached at and also no effective repatriation could took place.

For the last 13 years the standoff continued as Aizawl contested the Tripura government's figure of displaced Brus-saying it would be much less, about only 16,000- and the refugees themselves raising the question of security in their original villages. Many suspected that a group of Bru leaders who were involved in centre funded relief and ration distribution were opposed to repatriation due to vested interest.

In late 1990s a militant organization also sprang up from the Bru refugee camps –Bru National Liberation Front (BNLF) – to press for their demands. But ultimately after committing some stray violence inside Mizoram when they were forced to surrender in early 2000, many Bru families went back to their villages. Some of them got settled but, again, some returned to the camps citing security reasons.

Last year the problem aggravated following murder of a Mizo youth and communal flare up that forced more than 600 Bru families- all from new areas- to flee to Kanchanpur. They also took shelter in makeshift camps. It was suspected that the murder and subsequent ethnic tension in Mizoram along Tripura frontier was planned to sabotage the proposed repatriation.

"Now we have more than 29,000 displaced Brus belonging to 5000 plus families in the six camps. Recently, Mizoram government took steps to repatriate 53 families who had come in 1997 October. On Wednesday 35 families from Ashapara and Naisinghpara camps went to their villages in Kolaliang under Kortha subdivision. If everything goes as planned then 18 more families would leave the camp on Thursday or Friday", said D Darlong, Additional District Magistrate of North Tripura to TOI.

The Mizo officials, SDO, SDPO and BDO from Kortha subdivision had come to Kanchanpur to take the Brus along while Subdivisional Magistrate of Kanchapur Dilip Chakma saw them off.
Darlong said, centre had recently given Rs 2.44 crore for repatriation and rehabilitation of the Brus sheltered in Kanchanpur camps.

"The Mizoram officials assured that after repatriation the Brus would be given Rs 8000 in cash per family, a plot of land, one year's ration and adequate security", Darlong added.

However, many of them are still uncertain about their security once they are repatriated.

"We had been earlier also assured of security by Aizawl but while we got settled in Mizoram, there were no adequate security. Besides, since we were rehabilitated in groups –like cluster hamlets with Lushai villages all around, we became more vulnerable for ethnic persecution", said a Bru refugee leader who did not want to be identified.

"But, despite all odds we want to go back to our village and home. Who wants to live in refugee camps on government relief and ration? It cannot go on for infinity. But security is a must if Mizoram government indeed wants us to go back", he added.

Darlong said, the old Bru families who had come in late nineties were provided ration as per the fixed categories. The fund is provided by the centre.

"But for the new migrants, who came here in 2009, the expenditure is borne by Tripura government. Their ration is only rice and salt. Nothing else. They are indeed in a pathetic condition", he said.

The impasse over Bru repatriation had a tell-tale toll on thousands of camp inmates. While death stalks the six camps in the form of gastro enteritis, hepatitis, measles etc especially when the dry spell sets in, Bru children- disease stricken and suffering chronic malnutrition- was a pathetic sight. Worst, an entire new generation among these camp inmates were coming up bereft of any education. A child who was born in 1997 would now be 13 years old and he did not have any proper education.

"He does not have any state, and certainly he does not have any hope in his heart. Watch them carefully, they would pose a new threat to this region already beleaguered by militancy and ethnic conflicts of various shades and colours", said a Professor Asesh Gupta of Tripura University.

via Times of India

Bhupen Hazarika's Ad Shoot Kicks Off a Row in Assam

Guwahati, Nov 4 : Music maestro Bhupen Hazarika and his companion Kalpana Lajmi are mired in a blazing controversy in Assam after images of the 85-year-old ailing singer being taken in a chair to the banks of the Brahmaputra river for a commercial shoot were carried in the local media.

'Bhupen Hazarika has been reduced to a commercial commodity and we are extremely saddened to see the images on TV and in newspapers of our elder brother being lifted by six people with bamboo poles placed on the side of the chair,' Bhupen Hazarika's younger brother Nripen told IANS.

The legendary singer and Dadasaheb Phalke award winner Monday acted in a commercial for a local cement brand. The frail Hazarika, who underwent a cardiac bypass surgery last year, was seen in the visuals veing carried in a chair. The entire shoot lasted for about three hours on the river bank near Chandrapur in Guwahati.

'As ardent fans and well-wishers we went to the shooting site to seek his blessings, but were rebuked and literally pushed by Kalpana Lajmi and other crew members of the shooting unit,' said Dwijen Kalita, a community leader in the Chandrapur area.

Kalita and about 300 locals gathered at the shooting site on hearing about Hazarika's arrival.

'We were shocked to hear Kalpana Lajmi swearing at us, saying to us to get lost and using words like stupid people. She (Kalpana Lajmi), in fact, twice said she was his (Bhupen Hazarika) wife,' an angry Kalita said.

Hazarika and Lajmi has been living together for the past nearly four decades, although there is no formal confirmation about the couple having got married.

'Only from newspapers and TV did we hear that Kalpana Lajmi is my brother's wife. Although I am his younger brother, I don't have any information about the two getting married formally,' Nripen said.

'We have no problems with Kalpana Lajmi and Bhupen Hazarika sharing a relationship, whether married or not, but the fact of the matter is he is our pride, and we as people of Assam have every right to see that our pride is not used as a commodity for serving someone else's business interests,' said Prasanta Phukan, a Bhupen Hazarika fan and a lawmaker from the Bharatiya Janata Party.

There was no immediate reaction from either Hazarika or Lajmi over the controversy - an issue that has hogged headlines in the local media.

Singer, lyricist, filmmaker, and one of India's best-known balladeers, Hazarika and Lajmi generally stay in Mumbai.

'Bhupso (Kalpana endearingly addresses Hazarika as Bhupso) did offer to marry me two years ago, but I said no,' Lajmi, born in 1954, told IANS in an interview in February 2009.

'Maybe he wanted to give me the status of wife, but I was not interested. For me, the relationship, the trust and the respect that we share with each other are more important than marriage.'

Lajmi, best known for her woman-oriented films like 'Rudaali', 'Daman', 'Ek Pal', 'Chingaari' and 'Darmiyaan', says she met Hazarika through her uncle.

'We have been living together for the past 38 years now, although my mother never accepted the relationship, nor did Bhupso's family members, barring Manisha (Bhupen's younger brother Jayanta's wife).

'Just about a couple of months back my mother asked me to get married to Bhupso. This is completely Indian mentality, you know,' Lajmi said during the 2009 interview.

Get Ready to Ride a Low-Cost Harley-Davidson Bike

After setting up shop, American cult bike maker Harley-Davidson is planning a low-cost model for India.

"We give inputs on the basis of market insights and consumer preferences to our global product development team to make our future product line-up relevant to our growing customer base here. Going ahead, we may look at developing a low-cost product for Indian consumers," said Anoop Prakash, managing director, Harley-Davidson India.

Harley-Davidson, which reported a two per cent drop in global revenues from motorcycles at $1.09 billion for the September quarter, is betting big on India and China. Chief Financial Officer John Olin has been reported saying, "We believe the long-term prospect (in China and India) is extra-ordinary."
The company expects to sell 200-250 bikes by the end of 2010, within six months of its launch in India. "Last year, as many as 1,000 superbikes were sold in India. The market is growing at over 20 per cent every year and strong double-digit growth rate is expected to sustain at least for the next 8-10 years," said Prakash.

To strengthen its foothold in India, the company has set up an assembly facility at Bawal in Haryana. The move would help Harley to save on import tariff and re-work pricing of its products for the Indian market. It is the company's second assembly unit outside its homebase, US, after Brazil.

Import duty and local taxes on completely built-up units amount to as much as 100 per cent of US prices of models offered by the company. Once the proposed assembly unit becomes operational in the first half of 2011, the impact of import tariff will be reduced to nearly 40 per cent. "We will announce the revised prices of our models in January. The intention is to make our bikes more accessible to people here. The potential is good and I expect India to become our largest market in Asia in the coming decade."

Worldwide retail sales fell by 7.7 per cent to 58,849 units during July-September, compared to 63,729 units in the year-ago period, on weak consumer spending in the US. The company expects 40 per cent of its revenues from motorcycle sales to come from international markets by 2014, compared to 27 per cent at present.

Harley-Davidson sells 12 models belonging to five families -- Sporster, Dyna, Softail, V-Rod, Touring -- priced between Rs 6.95 lakh and Rs 34.95 lakh, in India. The bike maker has four authorised dealerships in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai.

Source: Indian Express

The Five Styles of Flirting

An assistant professor of communication studies at the University of Kansas, Jeffrey Hall, has identified five styles of flirting.

Hall, who recently completed study into styles of flirting among dating adults, surveyed more than 5,100 people regarding their methods of communicating romantic interest.

Five styles of flirting identified are: physical, traditional, polite, sincere and playful.

Physical

Physical flirting involves the expression of sexual interest in a potential partner. People who scored high in this form of flirting often develop relationships quickly, have more sexual chemistry and have a greater emotional connection to their partners.

Traditional

Traditional flirts think men should make the first move and women should not pursue men. Because they adopt a more passive role in dating, women with this style are likely to report trouble getting men's attention and are less likely to flirt or be flattered by flirting. Traditional men often know a potential partner for a longer time before approaching them. Both genders tend to be introverted and prefer a more intimate dating scene.

Polite

The polite style of flirting focuses on proper manners and nonsexual communication. Although they are less likely to approach a potential partner and do not find flirting flattering, they do tend to have meaningful relationships.

Sincere

Sincere flirting is based on creating emotional connections and communicating sincere interest. Although women tend to score higher in this style, it is advocated by both genders. Relationships involve strong emotional connections and sexual chemistry and are typically meaningful.

Playful
People with playful flirting styles often flirt with little interest in a long-term romance. However, they find flirting fun and enhancing to their self-esteem. They are less likely to have important and meaningful relationships.

Hall said that for the most part, there was little difference between genders within each flirting style.

Source: ANI