How to win a tennis match without touching the ball

Fabio Fognini had a meltdown for the ages in Cincinnati.

By Chris Chase

Radek Stepanek faced off against Fabio Fognini in a first-round match at the Western & Southern Open and won the final game of the match without having to touch the ball, thanks to his fiery Italian opponent’s inability to land a serve, hit a serve without stepping over the line or react to his inability to hit a serve by angrily hitting a ball high into the stands.

Watch as Fognini hits two double faults, gets a code violation for ball abuse, which brought upon a point penalty since it was his second of the match, engages in an argument with the chair umpire for said point penalty and, in his grand finale, commits two consecutive foot faults on triple match point. The only thing he didn’t do was threaten to stuff a ball down the throat of the linesperson who called the foot fault.

Games like this often occur (well, not like this — but similar style meltdowns), but usually when the match is out of hand. Fognini had dropped the first set, yes, but he was on serve in the second and could have easily taken that set to force a decisive third. But, hey, sometimes you just have to hit a ball into an empty upper deck to make your point.

Local Burmese Chin Refugees Launch Clothing Line

The Chin Collection

The Chin Collection is a new fair trade children’s clothing line handmade by Burmese refugees in Midland.

By Ragini Venkatasubban


Flared pants, colorful skirts and tiny onesies hung on racks Sunday evening at the First Presbyterian Church as shoppers milled around, contemplating their purchases. It looked like a regular launch party for a new children's clothing line -- with one big difference.

The clothes were all part of the Chin Collection, a custom children's clothing line handcrafted by Burmese refugee women living in Midland. The four seamstresses who produced the collection escaped from their native Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, in the face of religious and ethnic persecution and came to the U.S. as refugees, moving to Midland because of the abundance of jobs.
But once they settled in Midland, depression and isolation often set in, said Carrie McKean, founder of Scarlet Threads, the organization that houses the Chin Collection. The refugees received little or no support to help them process their painful memories of Myanmar and assimilate to the U.S. They worked long hours in stores such as H-E-B and Wal-Mart, thrust into a new country where many didn't even know the language.

The women needed a supplemental income and marketable skills, but most of all, they needed a way to belong to the community, McKean said. Thus launched the Chin Collection, a custom children's clothing line designed by Midlander Mellie Jordan and handmade by Du, Aye, Tum and Dawt -- four women belonging to the Chin ethnic group of Myanmar.

The four seamstresses produced the entire collection in the past three months, McKean said. Two of them had been seamstresses in Myanmar, but on old, foot-powered sewing machines, because of the lack of electricity in their villages. Midlander Lori Blong taught them how to use electric sewing machines -- and taught the other two to sew for the first time.

Dawt, who came to the U.S. in 2011, said she didn't know how to sew, but Blong made it easy to learn.

"When I start, I feel very hard," she said. "But after one day, I feel very easy."

Blong said communication was rough at first, but the sewing gave the women a break between their jobs at H-E-B and Wal-Mart, helping them build relationships with Midlanders and assimilate to the community.

The collection includes clothes for newborns to size 6, ranging from $20-$30 per piece. Jordan said they hope to employ more Burmese seamstresses and release a new collection every season.

More than making clothes, however, McKean said Scarlet Threads' purpose is to help the Burmese adjust to life in Midland. The Chin ethnic group is predominantly Christian and faced religious persecution from the Buddhist government in addition to the ongoing political turmoil in Myanmar.

Though the situation in Myanmar has now improved, there are plenty of refugees in Midland who still need help, McKean said.

When Dawt first came to Midland, she said she felt it was "boring," but after becoming involved with the Chin Collection, she said she feels "very happy."

Those interested in the Chin Collection or helping the Burmese refugees can email chincollection@scarletthreads.org.

Source: mywesttexas.com

With Two Tweets Carl Icahn Added About $17 Billion To Apple’s Value

Put another way, Icahn’s tweets were worth more to Apple than the entire value of the companies below.

Billionaire hedge funder Carl Icahn disclosed a large stake in Apple today and said he was encouraging the company to increase the buyback program — on Twitter, of all places.

Those two tweets alone, however, sent Apple shares up about 5% and added about $17 billion to Apple’s market cap. The jump in price comes at a time when Apple is facing an issue with its public image — and whether the creator of the iPhone can still innovate.

Now, how much is your tweet worth?

Mizoram Wokers Union Sams Mizoram Foresters

By Linda Chhakchhuak

Aizawl, Aug 13 : The Mizoram Hnathawktu Pawl (workers’ union) has demanded compensation from the state forest department for the tribals whose bamboo shoots had been destroyed in a market in Serchhip district recently.

The union said this utter disregard for the law by the so-called law-keepers is an affront to the peaceful people going about their normal lives.

“The Forest Rights Act is something the forest department should know about and also make the people about. Instead, these officials are acting as if they know nothing about it (the act). Action should be taken against them,” Raphael Lalrinmawia, the president of the union, said during a news conference here today.

He demanded translation of the act into local languages and its distribution among people in the state so that they could learn about the rights they enjoyed with regard to the forest produce in their state.

Lalrinmawia also lambasted the various construction companies working in the state for failing to adhere to labour rights and mistreating their workers, who mostly happen to be migrants.

He said these companies, especially two firms engaging in construction of the Mizoram University complex and the Assam Rifles complex at Zokhawsang, had failed to make payments to their workers despite getting regular payments against bills.

Many workers from these companies had complained about this to the union, he said.

He warned the companies to respect the construction workers’ rights in future and pay them regularly.

At the same time, the union urged the state government to settle the Chiahpuam (fake deposit scam) case, as more than a thousand families had been impoverished by depositing their lifesavings in the firm operated by some fraudsters.
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India's First Cyber Forensic Lab set up in Tripura

Agartala, Aug 13 : India's first Cyber Forensic Laboratory (CFL) has been set up in Tripura, an official said Monday.

The lab, established at the Tripura High Court will provide court case related information.

"From the CFL, automatic SMS alert would go to both lawyers and the litigant about the fate of the court case. If any lawyer or the petitioner remains absent on the day of trial, the SMS alert would go to all concerned," a law department official told IANS.

Supreme Court judge Justice Madan B. Lokur, who was earlier the chief justice of the Gauhati High Court, inaugurated the CFL on Sunday.

"We want decentralisation of legal services across the country. It is difficult to control everything from Delhi. High courts in the states would look after the lower courts to dispose the pending cases in the quickest possible time," Lokur said.

"A National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) is being developed under the Supreme Court's supervision. All information about legal services, court cases and judicial actions would be available from the NJDG," Lokur said.

The NJDG would be fully operational by January 2014.

"So far, 13,000 judicial officers, including judges, have been trained about the e-court system and to equip them with the ongoing modernisation of legal services. Several thousand judicial officers would be given training about this new system," Lokur said.

To conduct an online trial, video conferencing systems are being expanded across the country, he said.

"Under this system, any judge or lawyer sitting in the court can talk to the accused lodged in jails".

Lokur first introduced the e-court programme in India when he was a judge in the Delhi High Court. He was a pioneer in introducing video conferencing systems between the Delhi High Court and Tihar jail in 2007.

Of the 620 district courts in India, 140 have created their own websites to provide case related information, he said.

"All e-court schemes would help judges take appropriate action for quick disposal of pending cases in various courts," he said.

"With this new system of trial and administrative works, the litigants will be immensely benefited. It will save both time and money to get quick justice and prompt disposal of cases," Lokur added.

Tripura High Court Chief Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Subhashish Talapatra also spoke about the lab.

Separate high courts were set up in Tripura, Meghalaya and Manipur in March.

The seven northeastern states - Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh - were earlier under the Gauhati High Court with benches in the state capitals. Sikkim had a separate high court.

Bandh Cripples Normal life in Manipur

Imphal, Aug 13 : The 48-hour bandh called by the hill-based United Naga Council in the Naga dominated areas of Manipur has badly affected the normal life in the state. Due to bandh, vehicles have also stopped playing on the National Highway, thus doubling the problem.

The bandh, which began from midnight on Sunday to press for a ‘separate administrative set up’ for the Nagas, hit normal life as all passenger buses and trucks, carrying essential commodities remained stranded on National Highway 39 and Imphal-Jiribam-Silchar National Highway 53.
   
Markets, shops and business establishments in Senapati, Ukhrul, Chandel and Tamenglong district areas remained closed, while transport services between the state capital and headquarters of hill districts Churachandpur were cancelled, official sources said.
   
UNC sources said that the decision to call bandh was taken on August 5 during a meeting of their leaders and added that the council was also likely to boycott Independence Day celebrations if a meeting was not called by the authorities to discuss their demands.
   
It also added that the council would also prevent implementation of national projects, which are being taken up in Naga areas if their demands are not considered.
   
In another development, the Kuki State Demand Committee (KSDC) announced a separate 48-hour bandh at Kuki settled areas of Manipur hills to press its demand for creation of a 'Kukiland' to be carved out of Manipur.
   
The bandh would begin from midnight of August 13 - when UNC-sponsored bandh will end. Sources said, efforts would be made to provide security to vehicles moving along the highways but it would depend on the availability of forces.

Guy Does To Bank What Banks Usually Do To Other People

Unhappy with the terms of an unsolicited credit card offer he received from online bank Tinkoff Credit Systems, Dmitry Agarkov scanned the document, wrote in his own terms and sent it through.

The bank approved the contract without reading the amended fine print, unwittingly agreeing to a 0 percent interest rate, unlimited credit and no fees, as well as a stipulation that the bank pay steep fines for changing or canceling the contract.

Agarkov used the card for two years, but the bank ultimately canceled it and sued Agarkov for $1,363 in charges, interest and late-payment fees.

A court ruled that, because of Agarkov’s no-fee, no-interest stipulation, he owed only his unpaid $575 balance. Now Agarkov is suing the bank for $727,000 for not honoring the contract’s terms, and the bank is hollering fraud.

“They signed the documents without looking. They said what usually their borrowers say in court: ‘We have not read it,’” Agarkov’s lawyer said.

via MSN

Mizoram Starts To Implement Food Scheme

Aizawl, Aug 12 : The Mizoram government has started the process of implementing the Food Security Scheme ahead of the assembly polls in December.

State food, civil supplies and consumer affairs department officials said the Centre has been apprised of the possible problems to be faced by Mizoram if the scheme is implemented.

Secretary for food, civil supplies and consumer affairs R Lalvena said the department was making all out efforts to implement the scheme even when the Centre’s response to their intimations on the problems is yet to be received.

Earlier, the target population of beneficiaries under the scheme was 6,33,000. But the Centre increased the number to 7,06,000 recently, an official said.

According to the latest instruction, about 70 per cent of the population of the state would receive 5 kg of rice at the rate of Rs 3 a kg every month under the scheme.

Under the present public distribution system (PDS), all people in the state received 8 kg of rice a month and the state required 1,33,000 quintals of rice a month purchased at the cost of Rs 18.19 crore, the official added.

“If the Centre discontinues the current public distribution system, the Mizoram government, in order to cover all the people, would have to pay an additional Rs 7.82 crore a month and if the PDS is continued, the additional expenses would be Rs 2 crore,” he said.

Chief minister Lal Thanhawla, after attending the meeting of Congress chief ministers on Food Security Scheme at the residence of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi in Delhi, told newsmen in Aizawl that the state would not implement the scheme due to fiscal crunch.

Lal Thanhawla and food, civil supplies and consumer affairs minister H Rohluna on July 24 informed the assembly that the state government was making efforts to implement the scheme before the expiry of the deadline.

However, while addressing an official function later, the chief minister had said the implementation of the scheme would bring more miseries to the poor people.