News I have been reading lately

Few news which got my attention in recent days and I also liked giving them a thought. After reading them, you may ask, why Times Of India and why not The Hindu and I will answer because Times Of India provides free ePaper as compared to The Hindu which charges even for its online content…and a geek like me prefers to read it online than going paper-wise.

 

DATING, AN OFFICE PERK?

 

Kanpur’s Tripti Nigam is suing Wipro’s Azim Premji for “leading her husband astray” by supposedly giving him a dating allowance.

 

Kanpur-based Tripti Nigam filed a lawsuit saying her married life has been shattered because her husband Gaurav was given dating allowance by his employer.

 

Ground reality

While Tripti is sure that it is all Wipro’s fault, the company is saying that no such perk is being provided. Says HR vice-president, Joseph John, “It is a figment of imagination. We have nothing like a dating allowance. We, as a company, don’t like to interfere with the personal lives of our workforce.” But Tripti’s lawyer Nandlal Jaiswal maintains the company is just trying to save itself, “The company is providing an allowance, which is not legal in India. It is a western concept, and has no locus standi here. I have enough evidence to prove my case.”

Legitimising it

But there are other companies that accept that they are giving dating allowance to their employees. Says an employee of NIIT, where this allowance has been a norm since early 90’s, “The reasons for legitimising the allowance are both professional and emotional. Professional, as it helps retain talent within the organisation for people generally get married finally.

A contrasting perspective

The HR pros are visibly upset to learn about this concept. Says HR manager, Carlfon, Anjul, “A dating allowance should be discouraged. Office is the last place to romance or date, with it work culture will go for a six.” But can dating allowance be given in the form of a recreational or honeymoon allowance? Says another HR pro Neha Mishra, “Imagine drawing up datasheets to keep a tab on who is dating whom? Then striking off a name because somebody has decided to walk out. I don’t see this working in India where people are still conservative.”

 

 

It’s official: Women talk three times as much as men, says study

 

It is something one half of the population has long suspected – and the other half always vocally denied. Women really do talk more than men.

In fact, women talk almost three times as much as men, with the average woman chalking up 20,000 words in a day – 13,000 more than the average man.

 

Women also speak more quickly, devote more brainpower to chit-chat – and actually get a buzz out of hearing their own voices, a new book suggests.

The book – written by a female psychiatrist – says that inherent differences between the male and female brain explain why women are naturally more talkative than men.

In The Female Mind, Dr Luan Brizendine says women devote more brain cells to talking than men.

And, if that wasn’t enough, the simple act of talking triggers a flood of brain chemicals which give women a rush similar to that felt by heroin addicts when they get a high.

 

 

Now when they say – It is something one half of the population has long suspected, I find myself unable to control my laugh…he he he.

 

Future smokers may be programmed in womb

 

Now when they use programmed instead of planned, you can easily see the IT effect!

 

 

Jedi kid beats Paris Hilton sex tape on the net

 

A two-minute video clip of a teenager pretending to be a Star Wars Jedi as he wields a makeshift lightsaber is internet ’s most-seen viral video. Canadian Ghyslain Raza, then 15, 900million times. ‘Numa Numa’, features a New Jersey teenager, Gary Brolsma, 19, – 700 million times. Paris Hilton, 400 million.

 

 

Researchers seek routes to happier life

 

As a motivational speaker and executive coach, Caroline Adams Miller knows a few things about using mental exercises to achieve goals. But last year, one exercise she was asked to try took her by surprise.

Every night, she was to think of three good things that happened that day and analyse why they occurred. That was supposed to increase her overall happiness. “I thought it was too simple to be effective,” said Miller, of Bethesda, Maryland. “I went to Harvard. I’m used to things being complicated.”

But she benefited from it. “The quality of my dreams has changed, I never have trouble falling asleep and I do feel happier,” she said.

Results may vary, as they say in the weight-loss ads. But that exercise is one of several that have shown preliminary promise in recent research into how people can make themselves happier — not just for a day or two, but long-term.

There’s no shortage of advice in how to become a happier person, as a visit to any bookstore will demonstrate. In fact. The problem is, most of the books on store shelves aren’t backed up by rigorous research, says Sonja Lyubomirsky, a psychologist at the University of California, Riverside, who’s conducting such studies now. In fact, she says, there has been very little research in how people become happier.

For decades, a widely accepted view has been that people are stuck with a basic setting on their happiness thermostat. It says the effects of good or bad life events like marriage, a raise, divorce, or disability will simply fade with time. As two researchers put it in 1996, “It may be that trying to be happier is as futile as trying to be taller.” But recent long-term studies have revealed that the happiness thermostat is more malleable than the popular theory maintained, at least in its extreme form. “Set-point is not destiny,” says psychologist Ed Diener of the University of Illinois.

 

Dalit violence flares in Maharashtra

 

Three persons were killed and over 60 injured during protests across Maharashtra following the alleged desecration of B R Ambedkar’s statue in Kanpur, DGP P S Pasricha said.

Violence has also spread to Gujarat. Surat’s Pandesara area shops were shut down and one bus was stoned.

 

Curfew was imposed in many parts including Nanded and Pimpri area in Pune, which witnessed violent protests following the desecration of the statue on Wednesday.

 

In Nanded town of Marathwada region, authorities imposed curfew from 5 am today as a “precautionary” measure in view of yesterday’s violent protests in the town.

 

This makes my belief stronger that only educated citizens can rise a nation and for that everyone should be provided enough opportunities.

 

Things we didn’t know about entertainment

 

 

 

Few solutions, problems galore

 

 

 

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