ABRACADABRA
Brits waste 9 million hours a year talking about holidays
London: Britons waste up to nine million hours a year telling workmates about their holiday experiences once they get back to work after a break, a study has found, PTI reports.
Interestingly, 17 per cent of people lie to make the stories more interesting, according to the study across nine countries by travel website 'lastminute.com'.
The Irish were the worst culprits when it came to holiday blarney, the report said.
They spent an average of 26 minutes re-living their holiday adventures and 29 percent admitted that they exaggerated their stories.London: Britons waste up to nine million hours a year telling workmates about their holiday experiences once they get back to work after a break, a study has found, PTI reports.
Interestingly, 17 per cent of people lie to make the stories more interesting, according to the study across nine countries by travel website 'lastminute.com'.
The Irish were the worst culprits when it came to holiday blarney, the report said.
They were followed by the Germans who gave their colleagues the holiday lowdown for 25 minutes, and the Swedish who went on and on for 23 minutes, the study found.
Mark Maddock, managing director of ‘lastminute.com', was quoted by the ‘Daily Mail’ as saying, “Describing our summer holidays is a great way to re-live the experience and best the post-holiday blues. Sometimes you just can’t resist telling that story by the water cooler.”
11-yr-old girl commits suicide over cake
Rajkot: An 11-year-old girl committed suicide after her mother did not immediately entertain her demand for a cake and asked her to wait till her father returned home, the police said.
Dhruvi sampat, a class V student, hung herself from a ceiling fan using a thin bedsheet in Morbi town of Rajkot district. After the maid found her, her parents took her to the hospital where she died.
“Dhruvi was taken to a private hospital in a serious condition, where she died. Post-mortem report revealed suffocation as cause of the death,” the police said.
Preliminary investigation revealed that Dhruvi participated in the Teachers’ Day celebration in school, where she won a prize in the dance competition. The police said after she returned home, Dhruvi wanted a treat.
“Her mother did not say no to her wish. She only asked her to wait till her father comes home, Dhruvi reportedly went upstairs to her room and hanged herself.”
In another such incident in the region in August, 10-year-old Vijay Rathod from Rajkot had committed suicide by consuming pesticide tablets, apparently after his father turned down his wish for a new school uniform on the day he wanted it.
Outsourcing break-ups
Beijing: In a bid to avoid the pain of ending a relationship, some Chinese have now reportedly resorted to a unique way of breaking-up, outsourcing the responsibility to a middleman, PTI reports.
At least 40 such “break-up agents” now advertise their skills in gently splitting couples on Taobao, China’s answer to Ebay. ‘The Daily Telegraph’ online reported.
“Get rid of a difficult partner!” advertises one agent.
“Keep damage to a minimum,” assures another.
For roughly 300 Yuan, the equivalent of around 30 pounds, the relationship killers offer everything from a soft let-down by phone or an email to an active attempt to drive a wedge between lovers.
And, for those customers who opt for a “platinum” service, an agent will show up in person, perhaps with a small gift to ease the pain.
One agent, based in Zhejiang province, said he had helped around 10 couples end their romance. “We have a 100 per cent success rate or your money back,” he said.
In some cases, he added that he had managed to “apply some small techniques to create misunderstanding, or conflict between a couple and just let that seed grow slowly and naturally until there was a voluntary break-up on both sides.”
The agent said this was a 20-day package. “We create the conflict in 10 days, propose a break-up in 15 and complete the deal in 20. Some people say I have no morals but I don’t think this is a moral issue. I am not using any dirty tactics and this is just business.”
For the broken-hearted, there is consolation elsewhere on the Chinese internet, in the shape of websites such as Kaixin Fenshou Wang, or Happy Break-up, which offer forums for up to 1,000 users at any one time to share their misery the report said.
Child left alone inschool bus, dies
Beijing: A three year-old girl died of heat stroke in China as the driver and teacher didn’t notice she was still on the school bus and locked it up. The driver and a teacher were detained in Anqing city after the girl, Zhu Yan, died after being locked in the school bus for eight hours. The girl didn’t get off the school bus after the bus reached the kindergarten. The teacher and driver didn’t notice her and locked the vehicle unintentionally, reported ‘Shanghai Daily’ citing ‘Oriental Morning Post’. Zhu had passed out by the time she was found at the end of school hours.
Americans wasted 101,000 years of time on Facebook in May 2011
Washington: A newly released report has revealed that Americans spend more time than ever on Facebook. According to Nielsen, the media research and rating company, Americans spend a lot of time pursuing social networks and blogs. “Americans spend more time on Facebook than any other site,” Live Science quoted the report as saying.
According to the statistics for the month of May, the most recent month for which data had been collected, Americans spent 53.5 billion total minutes on Facebook – roughly 101,720 years and there were 140 million unique visitors to the site that month, with the average user spent 382 minutes, or 6.4 hours, browsing Facebook in May. Based on the profile of the type of Internet user who is most likely to use Facebook by the Nielsen report, the person in an Asian-American female between the age of 18 and 34, lives in New England, makes less than 50,000 dollars per year, and has at least a bachelor’s degree.
Beijing: In a bid to avoid the pain of ending a relationship, some Chinese have now reportedly resorted to a unique way of breaking-up, outsourcing the responsibility to a middleman, PTI reports.
At least 40 such “break-up agents” now advertise their skills in gently splitting couples on Taobao, China’s answer to Ebay. ‘The Daily Telegraph’ online reported.
“Get rid of a difficult partner!” advertises one agent.
“Keep damage to a minimum,” assures another.
For roughly 300 Yuan, the equivalent of around 30 pounds, the relationship killers offer everything from a soft let-down by phone or an email to an active attempt to drive a wedge between lovers.
And, for those customers who opt for a “platinum” service, an agent will show up in person, perhaps with a small gift to ease the pain.
One agent, based in Zhejiang province, said he had helped around 10 couples end their romance. “We have a 100 per cent success rate or your money back,” he said.
In some cases, he added that he had managed to “apply some small techniques to create misunderstanding, or conflict between a couple and just let that seed grow slowly and naturally until there was a voluntary break-up on both sides.”
The agent said this was a 20-day package. “We create the conflict in 10 days, propose a break-up in 15 and complete the deal in 20. Some people say I have no morals but I don’t think this is a moral issue. I am not using any dirty tactics and this is just business.”
For the broken-hearted, there is consolation elsewhere on the Chinese internet, in the shape of websites such as Kaixin Fenshou Wang, or Happy Break-up, which offer forums for up to 1,000 users at any one time to share their misery the report said.
Child left alone inschool bus, dies
Beijing: A three year-old girl died of heat stroke in China as the driver and teacher didn’t notice she was still on the school bus and locked it up. The driver and a teacher were detained in Anqing city after the girl, Zhu Yan, died after being locked in the school bus for eight hours. The girl didn’t get off the school bus after the bus reached the kindergarten. The teacher and driver didn’t notice her and locked the vehicle unintentionally, reported ‘Shanghai Daily’ citing ‘Oriental Morning Post’. Zhu had passed out by the time she was found at the end of school hours.
Americans wasted 101,000 years of time on Facebook in May 2011
Washington: A newly released report has revealed that Americans spend more time than ever on Facebook. According to Nielsen, the media research and rating company, Americans spend a lot of time pursuing social networks and blogs. “Americans spend more time on Facebook than any other site,” Live Science quoted the report as saying.
According to the statistics for the month of May, the most recent month for which data had been collected, Americans spent 53.5 billion total minutes on Facebook – roughly 101,720 years and there were 140 million unique visitors to the site that month, with the average user spent 382 minutes, or 6.4 hours, browsing Facebook in May. Based on the profile of the type of Internet user who is most likely to use Facebook by the Nielsen report, the person in an Asian-American female between the age of 18 and 34, lives in New England, makes less than 50,000 dollars per year, and has at least a bachelor’s degree.
Comments