Organick?

Four things U.S airlines don't want you to know

Planning a cross-country vacation? With today's soaring airfares and sneaky baggage fees, you may be wondering whether it's still possible to get a good, drama-free deal. To help you get the best bang for your travel buck, we did some detective work and found four inside tips to keep in mind before you pack your bags.

1. Frustrated by a flight cancellation? Remember rule 240. Airline can't get you where you need to go on time? Ask about Rule 240. Prior to airline de-regulation, this old-school rule stated that a person's chosen airline had to get them to their destinations at their stated time or put them on a competitor's flight if that would get them there faster. Fast forward to today and this rule is now off the "official" books. However, experts say it has now been integrated into many airlines "contracts of carriage" (a formal statement of rules and services airlines have to abide by in different circumstances). Unfortunately, airlines rarely share this info with consumers (for obvious reasons), so many folks are often left in the lurch in the event of cancellations and delays.The bottom line: Throwing out the phrase shows customer services reps that you are seriously informed about your rights as a passenger--and many experts say it can quickly turn things around. (One exception to this rule: If the flight's delay is beyond the airline's control, like in the case of bad weather, you're out of luck.)

2. Fantasizing about first-class? Ask about "Y-ups".  Y-ups, also known as Q-ups and Z-ups, is airline code for  "discounted First Class airline tickets." While not much is known about how Y-ups came to be (some experts say they were likely intended to allow the airline's best and most frequent travelers to skirt corporate travel policies in order to reward them by allowing them to book seats that usually went empty), they do exist and are currently offered by all major airlines. "I think most travelers do not realize that these fares are out there, and they can result in some big bargains," says Matthew Bennett of FirstClassFlyer.com.

3. Not happy with your flight experience? Speak up. Annoyed by lost baggage or a rude flight attendant? Say so in a calm, clear way right when the unsatisfying experience occurs, say experts. The truth is, most airlines are quick to try to soothe grouchy passengers with frequent-flier miles, free seat upgrades or cocktails, so it's not worth it to fume silently, says Terrance Zepke, author of the Encyclopedia of Cheap Travel. Too upset to express yourself clearly? Write a letterto the airline stating your specific complaints when you get back home.

4. Remember, 21 is key.  Wondering when the best time is to buy airline tickets? "Airlines can differ, but generally, once you hit 15 days before a flight, the price begins to go up, then it goes up again at the seven-day mark. So if you want a retail ticket, buy it at least 21 days out for the best price," suggests Brian Ek, travel resource expert at Priceline.com.

For more savvy travel advice, check out our recent reports on the best luggage, travel sites and travel pillows.

Counting bodies.....

http://www.bodycounters.com/abc.aspx

Smokin'

I think one of the main reasons it’s so hard to quit smoking is because all the benefits of quitting and all the dangers of continuing seem very far away. Well, here’s a little timeline about some of the more immediate effects of quitting smoking and how that will affect your body RIGHT NOW.

* In 20 minutes your blood pressure will drop back down to normal.
* In 8 hours the carbon monoxide (a toxic gas) levels in your blood stream will drop by half, and oxygen levels will return to normal.
* In 48 hours your chance of having a heart attack will have decreased. All nicotine will have left your body. Your sense of taste and smell will return to a normal level.
* In 72 hours your bronchial tubes will relax, and your energy levels will increase.
* In 2 weeks your circulation will increase, and it will continue to improve for the next 10 weeks.
* In three to nine months coughs, wheezing and breathing problems will dissipate as your lung capacity improves by 10%.
* In 1 year your risk of having a heart attack will have dropped by half.
* In 5 years your risk of having a stroke returns to that of a non-smoker.
* In 10 years your risk of lung cancer will have returned to that of a non-smoker.
* In 15 years your risk of heart attack will have returned to that of a non-smoker.

So, you have more immediate things to look forward to if you quit now besides just freaking out about not being able to smoke. Quit now!

Cowards ........

An Indonesian man claims he was seduced by a cow after he was caught having sex with it on the resort island of Bali. 

Cow: Come hither my little boy toy

Busti Ngurah Alit was caught by a neighbor in the rice paddy fields of the village of Yeh Embang in Jembrana   wooing the cow, CNewsreports. 

The village chief Embang Ida Bagus Legawa said the 18-year-old man was standing naked while holding the back of the cow. Alit claims he didn’t see an animal but a beautiful woman. 

 ”She called my name and seduced me, so I had sex with her,” said Alit.

The young man was then forced to marry the cow in a cleansing ritual for his unholy acts. He fainted during the ceremony that also required his clothes be thrown into the sea. 

The cow didn’t fair as well. Chief Embang gave the owner of the cow approximately $562 before having the animal drowned in the sea to rid the village of bad luck. 

Cowards.

Says it all....

What?

Have a look at that!

Laughing heart

Bourke - NSW

Bourke is a town and Local Government Area in the north of New South Wales, Australia. The town is located approximately 800 kilometres north-west of Sydney, on the south bank of the Darling River. At the 2006 census, Bourke had a population of 2,145, of whom 815 or 33% identified as Indigenous Australians.

The site of Bourke was first reached by British settlers in the 1820s and the town originally called Prattenville, was later named after Governor Richard Bourke of New South Wales in the 1830s.

Bourke was a port, where goods and passengers travelled by paddlesteamer along the Murray-Darling river system. However, the use of river transport declined when the railway reached Bourke in 1885. The railway closed in 1990 after flooding caused significant damage to the line. The railway station is now used as a tourist information centre.

Bourke Court House

In 1895 a heatwave killed 47 people in Bourke over a 13 day period. In that time the daily maximum temperature averaged 47°C (116.6°F).

Bourke can be reached by the Mitchell Highway, with additional sealed roads from town to the north (Cunnamulla), east (towards Brewarrina, Moree and Goondiwindi) and south (Cobar). The town is also served by Bourke Airport and has Countrylink bus service to other regional centres, like Dubbo. It was also formerly the largest inland port in the world for exporting wool on the Darling River. The countryside around Bourke is used mainly for sheep farming with some irrigated fruit and cotton crops near the river.

Bourke is the original end of the Main Western railway line, before the last section from Dubbo was closed to passengers.

Bourke is considered to represent the edge of the settled agricultural districts and the gateway to the Outback which lies north and west of Bourke. This is reflected in a traditional east coast Australian expression "back o' Bourke", referring to the Outback.

Bourke was mentioned in the trial of Bradley John Murdoch on November 24, 2005, as the place where murder victim Peter Falconio was allegedly seen, 8 days after his disappearance from near Barrow Creek, Northern Territory.

Fred Hollows, the famous eye surgeon, was buried in Bourke after his death in 1993. Fred Hollows had worked in Bourke in the early 1970s and had asked to be buried there.

The Telegraph Hotel, established in 1888 beside the Darling River, has been restored and now operates as the Riverside Motel

In 2008, persisent high levels of crime in Bourke led to bans on the sale of alcohol.

Hunter Valley - NSW

The scenic Hunter Valley, also known as the "Wine Country", is one of Australia's premier wine making regions.

What once was a satellite penal colony where all the worst convicts were sent to do hard labour in the mines and timber camps, the area we now know as Hunter Valley was transformed by free settlers who arrived with grapes in the early 1820s.

The grapes flourished in this fertile region bounded by the hills of the Brokenback Range and by the 1840s, there were already more than 500 acres of registered vineyards through the region. Within less than two hours drive from Sydney, the region is a wine lover's heaven and the home to more than 80 wineries ranging from large, internationally-renowned labels such as Wyndham and Rothbury Estates to smaller multi-award winning wine growers.

Besides the lovely wine on offer, Hunter Valley also offers plenty of gourmet produce and fine dining from chocolate to cheese as well as old villages to explore and other outdoor activities such as canoeing, golfing, horse riding and hot air ballooning and more.

The region offers a plethora of accommodation to choose from such as resorts, self-contained cottages and boutique guesthouses.

Popular vineyards to visit: Bimbadgen Estate, Pepper Tree Wines, Scarborough Wines, Margan Family Winegrowers, Rothbury Estate and Wyndham Estate.

Lismore - NSW

Lismore is a sub-tropical city in the Northern Rivers on the Far North Coast of New South Wales, just shy of the Queensland border from where it gets its climate from.

The city of 27,069 residents is located 764 km away, or 9 hours drive, from the state capital of Sydney with easy access by both road or air. The climate is sub-tropical with mild to warm temperatures throughout the year. The average max. temperature for summer and winter is 28.9 and 23 degrees Celsius respectively with generous rainfall of about 1,300 mm.

One of the reasons why Lismore is such a popular tourist attraction is because there's lots to see and do: from walking the trails in World Heritage rainforests to visiting country villages, browsing colourful art and craft markets and even retail therapy, you will find something for everyone here.

Firstly, the walking trails. Lismore is blessed in this department - it's on the doorstep of some of Australia's most significant World Heritage-listed reserves, spectacular National Parks and State Forests. A network of bushwalking trails throughout the parks - Mt Warning National Park, Nightcap National Parks, etc. - offer everything from gentle ten minute strolls to two-day hiking adventures.

The city is also littered with postcard-perfect villages - each with its own unique character - featuring antique and curio shops, galleries, tea houses and cafes.

For those into their art and culture, visit the historical society and check out the history of Lismore, plus a fascinating collection of aboriginal artefacts and pioneer relics including clothing, tools, furniture and handiwork. 

Yellow Rosella

Yellow Rosella, Platycercus elegans flaveolus. Also known as the Murray smoker or Murrmbidgee lowry. Found in the floodplain forests along the mid-Murray especially the Edward Wakool system, along the lower Murrumbidgee, Lachlan and Darling rivers.
Images created by artist Marjorie Crosby-Fairall.

"reservations fell off a cliff"

BP's open wallet

Lost rental property income

One of Paradise Beach Homes' 140 rental properties in Pensacola, Fla.

With tourists canceling their beach holidays and vacationing fishermen forced to scrap their charter tours, rental property owners are facing a wipeout. In Florida alone, 478 claims were filed by the end of last week for lost rental income, and BP had already paid out $86,439.89.
Kevin Hayes, business manager of Paradise Beach Homes, a property management company that manages about 140 homes, says that "reservations fell off a cliff" a couple weeks after spill. Families looking to rent summer homes have been scared off by images of tar balls and oil-soaked animals in other Gulf areas, but cancellations at Paradise Beach began coming in when the crisis hit close to home.
"On Friday, the first tar balls hit Pensacola. That's when it became real," Hayes said.
Although Hayes has only just begun the claims process, he expects it to be onerous and ongoing. His homes go for $1,000 to $8,000 a week. Multiple that by 140 homes, and the potential loss totals as much as $4 million a month.
The oil spill could prove dismal for property managers, like Hayes, who expected a strong year. "It really is scary. The first four months and advance reservations were great," he said. "We were really on an upswing this year, but now, with this, we just don't." 

India got it wrong again.........

Why Bollywood's film about Hitler is profoundly misguided

Indian directors have as much right to make movies about Hitler as anyone else, but a forthcoming film about the Nazi dictator's 'love' for the country displays a shocking ignorance of history

No dear friend of India ... Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. Photograph: Bob Thomas/Popperfoto/Getty

A first-time Indian director, Rakesh Ranjan Kumar, has announced that he will make a movie about Adolf Hitler. Dear Friend Hitler stars Indian actors Anupam Kher and Neha Dhupia as Hitler and Eva Braun, and will focus on what the director claims was "Hitler's love for India and how he indirectly contributed to Indian independence".

Western productions have occasionally attempted to make fun of Hitler, ranging from successes like The Producers to fiascos like Heil Honey, I'm Home. But Dear Friend Hitler is not a traditional Bollywood musical, and makes no claim to comedy. "It aims to capture the personality of Adolf Hitler and his insecurities, his charisma and his paranoia during the last few days of his life," Kumar says. In other words, this is Downfall – but with a positive spin.

For many westerners, Hitler remains history's ultimate evil. In India, awareness of the Holocaust is limited. Characters in Bollywood films jokingly refer to bossy family members as "Hitler" – provoking a sharp intake of breath from many western viewers, who associate Hitler with crimes significantly worse than telling you to do your chores. In 2006, a Nazi-themed cafe opened in Mumbai with the name Hitler's Cross. Bollywood actor Murli Sharma attended the launch party. Asked whether he found the name troublesome, he said: "I am not really agitated as I have not read much about the man. However, from what I know about Hitler, I find this name rather amusing."

Dear Friend Hitler has not yet been made, and it is too early to say whether it will be any good or not. What can be said is that the reported comments of Kumar and one of his producers display a shocking ignorance of historical fact. Kumar's assertion that Hitler had a "love for India", and his producer's statement that "if we should thank anybody for Indian freedom, it should be Hitler", are not merely misguided – they are completely wrong.

The idea that Hitler should be thanked for Indian independence proceeds from the view that, by weakening Britain, Germany forced it to abandon its empire. If so, it would be more logical to thank America, on which Britain was forced to depend for loans after the war, and whose government put pressure on the British to grant Indian independence. Hitler never supported Indian self-rule. He advised British politicians to shoot Gandhi and hundreds of other leaders of the freedom struggle. Repeatedly, he expressed support for British imperialism. He only regretted that it was not harsh enough. "If we took India," he once threatened, the Indian people would soon long for "the good old days of English rule".

Hitler's support of the Indian National Army, a fascist-allied fighting force led by Subhas Chandra Bose in the 1940s, has apparently persuaded the makers of Dear Friend Hitler that the dictator loved India. In fact, the Nazi regime's disgust when Bose became romantically involved with a German woman revealed its true feelings. Hitler was happy to let Bose's recruits die fighting the British. But he never stopped believing that Indian people were racially inferior to white Europeans, and that any attempt at Indian independence would inevitably lead to reconquest by a "superior" race.

Indian directors have as much right to make movies about Hitler as anyone else. There is certainly no shortage of Hollywood movies that display an abject disregard for historical accuracy. But it would be worthwhile for the makers of Dear Friend Hitler to research what Hitler really thought of India, and what he did in Europe. Then, like the many Indian independence leaders who strongly rejected fascism, they might come to a better informed conclusion.

"Hitler and Japan must go to hell," said independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru, later India's first prime minister. "I shall fight them to the end." If Kumar and his producers believe they are honouring the cause of Indian freedom by associating it with Hitler, they are profoundly mistaken.

Had enough....

Pace Yourself

A common difficulty in cutting down your drinking is slowing down your speed of drinking. Use these tips when you are out drinking.

Know how much you have drunk

This is a reminder about self-monitoring. Try to record every drink in your Drinking Diary. If you are at a party, measure out your drinks. Don't fill your glass until it is empty - otherwise you'll lose track of what you have drunk. And fill in your Drinking Diary every day.

Don't mix your drinks

Why? Because you take in alcohol much faster this way.

Make them singles

The longer the drink the slower the rate of alcohol intake. So top them up with non-alcoholic mixers, making sure you add more mixer than you have spirits.

Start later

If you have not already made a rule for yourself about when to drink, think about starting drinking later than usual. Instead of going to the pub at eight, go at nine o'clock. If you usually have a drink before your evening meal, miss it out – at least sometimes.

Try a 'spacer’ instead of a 'chaser’

A 'spacer' is a non-alcoholic drink which you take in-between alcoholic ones: you space them out. That way you slow down your drinking. You will be surprised how good and refreshing a spacer can be in between alcoholic ones. On occasions a low-alcohol beer might do.
Or, just refuse drinks every so often and accept that you may pay out more than you will drink, if people are buying rounds. If you get drunk, you won't appreciate the extra drink anyway.

Take smaller sips

As well as planning how long each drink should take, slow down the rate at which you sip your drink. Sip less often and take smaller sips.

Put your glass down between sips

Don't hold your drink. Put it down on a table or shelf after each sip. If it's in your hand. you'll drink it more often.

Distract Yourself

Do you feel you need to drink to enjoy yourself? If so, why? Is it because you are tense, anxious, depressed, shy, bored, lonely or lacking in confidence? If so, then alcohol is not the answer. Many people believe that they cannot easily talk to strangers or mix at social gatherings unless they have a drink. Because they believe this, they always take a drink when meeting others. But they never find out that they can mix without alcohol because they never try it out.

Nazi food....

Recently in Moscow supermarkets there have appeared swastika stickers on Lithuanian products. The day before the youth movement "Nashi" ("Ours") called to declare a boycotte to the Lithuanian goods because the Klaipeda court had announced swastika to be a historic heritage of Lithuania.

Stalinmobile

The first armored car of upper class for the Soviet party-governmental elite was made in the end of 1940s at the automobile plant n.a. Stalin, later renamed after Likhachov.

The armored car ZIS-115 was produced in 1946-47. All in all there were manufactured about 32 copies of such limousines. The main person this car was made for was Joseph Stalin.

In fact ZIS-115 does not differ much from its prototype ZIS-110, but it has a central fog lamp, two special alarm lights, larger tires without white sides, a big cut of a rear wing from outer side for big wheelsmounting and “cloud” window glasses.

Thickness of the glasses in ZIS-115 reaches 7,5cm. 6 meters -long limo weighing 4280 kg could make 120 km/h, however fuel consumption was crazy: 27,5 l per 100 km.

Jack smokin..?

Demise of dinosaurs

This is weird....

26 Amazingly Funny Dog Yoga Pictures

Ancient Hindu gymnosophists involuntarily discovered that animals had special ways for self-healing, relaxing, sleeping, keeping awareness. Then the gymnosophists began to view, imitate and experience the postures of animal. That is where yoga comes from. Today, as yoga becomes a popular way for shaping body and building up health, the practice has come full circle and the dogs start imitating us!

Here we have collected some amazing pictures about yoga dogs from yogadogz.com. You can see the absolute delight they take in their yoga and can feel their profound concentration as well. Enjoy it.