Veuze: First double-decker AC train

Veuze: First double-decker AC train

First double-decker AC train

                       India’s first AC double-decker train

The first air-conditioned double-decker train has been rolled out by the Rail Coach Factory (RCF) Kapurthala. This train will run between Howrah and Dhanbad. Addressing the media on the launch of the train, the General Manager of Rail Coach Factory Kapurthala, Pradeep Kumar said, “It is India’s first AC double-decker train and it will ply on Howrah and Dhanbad route.” He further informed that the height of the coaches has been developed keeping in mind the over-head structures like bridge, electric traction etc

The double decker train the latest design, which is made of stainless steel and the coaches can comfortably bear speed upto 180 km/per hour. All kinds of safety considerations were kept in mind while developing this train and its design will have minimum imapct in case of any emergency. According to the General Manager, “The train has been developed keeping low cost travelling in mind and each coach of the train can accommodate 128 passengers while Shatabdi carries only 78 passengers in every coach

 

 

Starting with Howrah and Dhanbad, this double decker train will gradually be introduced on stretches which are not more than 500 km long as it offers only seating facility. The train will run at a general speed of 160 km/per hour. Power cars attached at both sides of the train will supply power to the train. The new train will be having eight coaches and will be completely double decked. It is India’s first double decker train and if it turns out to be a success, then it will be helping the railways in a very strong manner in the future. 

The overall height of double decker coach has been increased marginally by 116 mm (four and a half inches) keeping in view the constraints like overhead structures, bridges, electric traction equipment, platforms etc. so that these coaches can be used without modifying any of the fixed structures except for clearing some minor infringements. Space for the two decks has been generated by optimally using the well space between the two bogies.

The new air-conditioned double decker coaches have many superior technical features like aesthetically pleasing stainless steel body, high speed Y-Frame bogies with air springs suspension for superior ride quality and many other safety related features. The chairs have been provided in face to face format, so that passengers can enjoy traveling with their families. For better safety, fire retardant upholstery has been used in chairs. These coaches are clear illustration of Indian Railways’ capabilities in design and manufacturing of new types of rolling stock .  

Local Student creates Robot

                  'It can distinguish between different humans' 

The 'iTalk' Robo can distinguish between different humans with an accuracy of 97.68 per cent as it is enabled with a stereoscopic vision and face recognition software. "The speech analysis software put inside it enables it to differentiate between different pitches and voice samples," Arjun, who displayed his creation during his school's 75th founders day celebrations recently, said.

Local Student creates Robot

                           'An intelligent module'

 "Technically, his functional construct also emulates the basic blueprint of the human body. By interpreting data in the same manner we do, he is able to emulate human behavioural tendencies," Arjun, a class-12th student at the Doon School, said. "He is an intelligent module, able to take decisions on his own, learning from past experiences," he added. Once developed to an advanced stage, the Robo can be used for interface with children and humans for counselling and other purposes, he said.

Local Student creates Robot

                                  17-year-old's creation

This robot is created by a 17-year-old Doon School student possesses emotional intelligence and can even dish out answers for unexpected questions with the help of the Internet. The 3-D Robo 'iTalk', an award winning working model, talks in English, lisps like a human and understands human moods of happiness and anger with the help of unique programmed algorithms and a 'software development kit' offered by the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Sex tales from China

                             No Awareness

Influenced by easy availability of porno literature, college students in China are resorting to premarital sex without having strong awareness about safe sex, a survey in Beijing has said. About 48 per cent of students polled in the survey accepted premarital sex, the survey conducted by the Guangdong provincial population and family planning commission and Guangdong provincial sexology association said. The survey consulted 1,000 students at 10 universities in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province.

Miniskirt ban to take effect in Italian town

Miniskirt ban: The mayor of the southern seaside town of Castellammare di Stabia wants to ban football games in public parks and squares, blasphemy out loud, and 'very skimpy clothes.'

Demonstrators hold banners reading " Miniskirt with burka and suspenders", top left, and "Stop feminicide", bottom right, as they protest in front of Catellammare di Stabia's town hall, Italy, on Oct. 25. The mayor of the southern seaside town of Castellamare di Stabia wants to ban football games in public parks and squares, blasphemy out loud, and institute a miniskirt ban.

MP's wife accused of kitten theft

The wife of an MP appeared in court charged with breaking into the house of her husband's lover and stealing a tabby kitten worth 20 pounds. Christine Hemming, wife of Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming is accused of burgling the home of Emily Cox, a researcher with whom the MP fathered a child in 2005. On his blog on Thursday, John Hemming published a picture of the missing kitten, Beauty, and asked for anyone who had seen her to contact him at the House of Commons

Can Sleep help to burn fat?

   Cutting on sleep may halve fat loss

                                     

Are you dieting to shed those extra kilos? Be sure that you don't skip a full night's sleep as it may halve your fat loss, scientists say.

Researchers at the Chicago University found that dieters who cut back on their sleep failed to shed the amount of fat they should otherwise would have lost by adopting a strict eating practice.
According to the researchers, skipping on sleep boosts the production of a hormone called ghrelin that suppresses physical activity and fat-burning processes in the body while increasing hunger.
Professor Plamen Penev of Chicago University, who led the study, said: "If your goal is to lose fat, skipping sleep is like poking sticks in your bicycle wheels."
"Cutting back on sleep, a behaviour that is ubiquitous in modern society, appears to compromise efforts to lose fat through dieting. In our study it reduced fat loss by 55 per cent," Professor Penev was quoted as saying by the Telegraph.
For their study, Penev and colleagues recruited 10 overweight but healthy volunteers for four weeks. For the first fortnight they were allowed to sleep for up to 8.5 hours, and for the second two weeks for up to 5.5 hours.
In the event they slept on average for seven hours 24 minutes in the first part and five hours and 14 minutes in the second.
They found that while both groups lost about 6.5 pounds (3kg) over the course of the experiment, the well-rested group lost more weight from fat than the sleep deprived group.
Detailing their findings in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, the researchers said that higher levels of ghrelin have been shown to "reduce energy expenditure, stimulate hunger and food intake, promote retention of fat, and increase hepatic glucose production to support the availability of fuel to glucose dependent tissues".
"In our experiment, sleep retention was accompanied by a similar pattern of increased hunger and... reduced oxidation of fat," they wrote.
During the study, the volunteers were placed on a strict diet of about 1,450 calories a day, or about 90 per cent of the amount needed to maintain a steady weight.
The academics predicted that had the dieters had access to extra food in the study - and so been able to act on their sharper hunger pangs during the sleep-restricted period - the differences in fat loss would have been even greater.

Professor Penev concluded that people "should not ignore the way they sleep when going on a diet".

Earn Money

                                               The Easiest Way Earn Money




Saving and investing wisely is not an easy achievement. How much do you need to save for retirement? Where should you put your money? There are thousands of financial advisors who offer differing opinions on these matters. But if there is one utterly clear maxim of saving for retirement it's this: contribute at least enough money to your 401(k) to maximize your employer's contribution.

Much to my shock and dismay, 39% of 401(k) participants don't follow this totally noncontroversial advice, according to a new study by Financial Engines, via the NY Times Bucks blog. That's crazy. Here's why maxing out your 401(k) is the biggest financial no-brainer you'll ever encounter.

When your company promises to match some contribution to a 401(k), it's like giving you a raise. Refusing the match is like telling your company that you don't want extra money. Imagine an example where you make $1,000 per paycheck. Now imagine if your company agrees to match 50 cents per dollar up to 6% of your 401(k) contribution per paycheck. That means you can put up to $60 per paycheck into your 401(k) and your company will also contribute $30.

Did you see what just happened? You got a 3% raise. Sure, you had to contribute $60 of your gross income as well, but this money just becomes savings -- something you will surely need some day anyway. Unless you are one of the few people who believe Social Security alone will be sufficient to allow for a pleasant, comfortable retirement at a reasonable age.

Moreover, that $60 you contribute doesn't reduce your take home pay by 6%, because it's taken pre-tax. For example, let's say after all taxes are taken, your income would normally have been 30% lower. If you didn't contribute to your 401(k), your after-tax income would be $700. If you contribute $60 pre-tax, however, your after-tax income is $658 -- only $42 less, instead of $60. This is the second reason why it's so great to contribute to a 401(k): you can delay taxes on that money, so you won't feel like you're saving as much as you actually are.

Let's reflect on this scenario where you contribute to your 401(k) as described above. Your after-tax income declines by $42, but you save $90. This is one of the best deals you'll ever get, and it's virtually impossible to beat.

Look out poor reasons not to contribute enough to receive your full employer match:

I Can't Afford to Contribute That Much

Saving isn't a financial constraint: it's a choice. Unless you're living very near the poverty line, then it's possible to find ways to cut expenses. And slicing 4% off your take home pay won't require most people to dramatically change their lifestyle. Go out to dinner less often or wait until a movie comes out on video to see it. Move a few miles further out of town to get a cheaper rent. Remember, you aren't actually lowering your income by contributing to a 401(k); you just don't spend as much of your money immediately. In fact, you're actually implicitly increasing your income by maximizing your employer's match.

I Worry About Losing Money in the Market

Investing is hard, so this is a fair point. But you would have to do incredibly poorly to lose more than you gain from your 401(k) match. For that $90 savings to decline below your $42 contribution, it would have to decline by more than 53%. Even from the Dow's peak prior to the financial crisis to the bottom it hit in early 2009, the market lost less than 50% -- and that's about as bad as it gets. Moreover, you can generally diversify your 401(k) holdings to include stocks, bonds, and cash.

I Want More Freedom Investing

Maybe you don't like your employer's 401(k) plan. You hate mutual funds. You think you can do better on Scottrade. Good luck with that. In the example above, imagine if you decided to shun your 401(k) and invest $42 (the difference in after-tax income) from each paycheck yourself instead. You would need an investment that would more than double your money -- even if you saved your 401(k) as pure cash. The return would have to be 114% to get $90.

I Don't Want My Savings Tied Up

If you need to get at your 401(k) money for some reason before you retire, you will get hit with a penalty and be forced to pay taxes on it immediately. That means the money is essentially tied up. But this isn't a good reason to fail to contribute up to your full employer match.



First, some 401(k) plans allow leeway for when a true emergency hits, where the penalty won't apply. Second, even if a penalty does apply, will it really be greater than your employer match? In the example above, a 10% penalty tax would apply beyond the usual income tax that you would have paid anyway on the income that you contributed. For the example, that penalty would be $9, and you would also need to pay something like $9 in taxes on the employer's contribution. But your employer contributed $30. So again, even if you try to get at your money early, you're still $12 ahead by maximizing your employer contribution.

If you don't already contribute enough to your 401(k) to maximize your employer match, then you should. It's easily the smartest, easiest financial decision you'll ever make. You may want to ultimately save more than that through other methods, but this is the bare minimum saving that you should do.

Whats is so special about Laxman

                                               Another Laxman classic

Just when you thought India versus Australia in Test cricket couldn't get any better, it did. Just when you thought VVS Laxman couldn't better past match-winning efforts against his favourite foes, he played another knock that became an instant classic. Years of nail biting contests, great personal rivalries, gut-wrenching disappointments and euphoric victories were all reprised on a single day at the PCA Stadium on Tuesday as India fashioned its closest Test victory. Ever. Every time when Players are not performing versus any Australian match he is one key player who snatches the food from Australian mouth. He stands like mountain who is not going to die sooner or later.

Common Wealth Village

                           Spread over an area of 63.5 hectares

The Village is spread in an area of 63.5 hectares and has all basic facilities like postal services, bank, ATMs, discotheque, bar, cafeterias, handicraft shops, gym and shops selling wooden sculptures among others. Currently over 6,000 athletes from 71 countries are staying in the Village. For the first time in the history of the Commonwealth Games, a training area for the athletes has been set up within the Village premises. Athletes are able to train in four sports - athletics, aquatics, weightlifting, para sport and wrestling.

Whatever anybody say about Indians that we have not developed facilities for sports like Common Wealth we have still made it.