Kate Gosselin’s ‘Kate Plus 8’ Cancelled

Posted on August 16, 2011 by allan

Kate Plus 8 cancelled

TLC on Monday announced the cancellation of the show ‘Kate Plus 8’. The show chronicled the life of Kate Gosselin and her children. Kate is a single mother and the show revolved around her, and the upbringing of her 8 children- twins and sextuplets.

The show will end on 12th September. However, this does not mean that we would not get to see her again on TLC. The officials of the channel said

“By the end of this season ‘Kate Plus 8′ will have hit the 150-episode mark (including ‘Jon & Kate Plus 8′); an exceptional milestone. TLC hopes to check in with Kate and the family periodically, with specials in the future.”

TLC started airing this show in 2009, since the couple was blessed with sextuplets. Kate and Jon were very young then, and struggled to raise 8 children. Being a middle class family, they faced many troubles and the audiences related with them. As the show moved on, Kate underwent many changes and looked more like a high-class socialite than a middle class couple. When Kate Gosselin competed in the show ‘Dancing with the Stars’ in 2010, she reached to a huge number of audience. She did not win the show, but was titled as the ‘best worst dancer’, ever in this shows history.

Kate and Jon started arguing and quarreling and decided that they would not continue with their relation.

In 2009, the show was doing well. It was at the peak when Kate and Jon announced their separation on 22nd June 2009. At that time, the rating for the show was approximately 11mn. Jon and Kate got divorced in December 2009. Jon Gosselin was in every magazine and every celebrity news program.

After their divorce, Jon filed a case, which prevented TLC from featuring his kids on television. This led to the end of ‘Jon and Kate Plus Eight’. However, TLC later managed to get an approval, and on 6th June 2010, they started the show ‘Kate Plus 8’. At the time of debut, the show had around 3.4mn viewers, and later in September 2010, it dropped to 1.6mn.

The ratings for the show ‘Kate Plus 8’ started declining and in the last episode that aired on August 8th, the rating was approximately 1mn.

Many attempts were made to get back the popularity of the show, but all in vain. Kate appeared in talk shows; many controversies and rumors were built up, but nothing saved the show. Kate and TLC finally gave up. Kate tweeted,

“TLC cancelled it. I’m sorry. We’ve had a great run! Six years of whirlwind fun-filled adventures. While it is very sad for me and the kids (there were many tears at the breakfast table this morning!), we are looking forward with great anticipation to our bright future.”

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Powerball Jackpot Winning Number

Posted on August 11, 2011 by allan

Powerball - lottery

The Powerball’s largest prize amount winning numbers were announced last night. The huge $228.9mn prize is one of the largest amounts won at Powerball ever. The list of winning numbers is as follows:

46-41-36-18-11-38. If you have these numbers, you have hit a jackpot.

It all started with the lucky draw at the Powerball lottery at 10.59 pm. The prize amount reached to 220mn dollars. It had the power to change the life or lives of some lucky Americans.

This jackpot amount is the tenth largest ever in the history of lottery jackpots. However, it is still less by 39.9mn dollars won by Solomon Jackson of Columbia in 2009. The lottery result has raised a positive hope in many other lottery retailers. Naomi Hutson, a worker at one such lottery store said,

“It does pick up, you know. When [the jackpot] gets up, everybody starts wanting one.”

Naomi said that later in the afternoon the sales will pick up. Many people while returning from office would buy at least a single $1 ticket of Powerball.

Yesterday night before the announcement of the lottery winning numbers, people were allowed to buy lottery tickets until 9.59 pm. That means even an hour before the announcement of lottery ticket numbers people were buying tickets. Later at 10.59 pm, the winning numbers were revealed on CBS television. Many people bought these tickets at the last moment, and then were waiting for an hour for the results to be announced. Of course, people resort to their own superstitions, which made them feel that they would win.

Before the results, Paula Harper, the executive director of the S.C Education Lottery said that she hopes the winner is from Carolina. She said

“I know I will be watching Wednesday night’s drawing with my fingers crossed hoping a South Carolinian will be holding that winning ticket. Obviously the winner benefits, but so does the state when a jackpot-winning ticket is sold here”

The wait was over when finally the winning ticket numbers were announced. These are just numbers but for some people these numbers changed their lives. The estimated cash value of this $220 million jackpot is around $118mn. Whenever a lottery winner chooses to take in cash, 31% of the prize amount goes to federal taxes and state. The winner of this jackpot is yet to be announced.

Prior to this, when Powerball was in Georgia last year, Georgia had two winners. The 116mn dollar jackpot was won by Gerald Render from Mableton. The other winning ticket of 77mn dollar prize money was also from Georgia, which has to be claimed yet.

Wonder who will win the jackpot next.

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Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Only in India for now

Posted on August 10, 2011 by allan

Apple iPad and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

Samsung has finally launched its much awaited Samsung Galaxy tab 10.1. This new Samsung product is said to be the biggest competitor to Apple’s iPad. By the end of August, this phone will be available throughout India. It will be sold as ‘Samsung Galaxy 750’ in India.

Samsung Galaxy 750 has a 10.1 inch screen, and is based on Android 3.1. The price is approximately 36,200 (INR). The news is not the launch, but an order released by the German court. A court in Germany released an order that prohibited the sales of this 10.1- inch screen tablet, in entire Europe, barring Netherlands. This was due to a plea filed by Apple, which filed a case of patent violation against Samsung. The sales are prohibited in Australia as well. Apple has accused Samsung of copying its designs. Samsung, a Korean company, denies these allegations.

Samsung is not satisfied by this ruling given by the German court. The company representatives say that the case was not handled properly. They say that this order was passed without any hearing from the defense. Samsung was not given a chance to put forth their point, and thus are not happy with this ruling. Kim Titus, the spokesman of Samsung said

“We will take all necessary measures to ensure Samsung’s innovative mobile communications devices are available to customers in Europe and around the world.”

Apple said that the Korean company has violated intellectual property right by trying to imitate the designs of Apple. Apple had started taking legal actions against Samsung since April. In the California court as well, Apple accused Samsung of ‘slavishly’ copying the formers designs. The battle between this Korean company and Cupertino Company has now spread all over the globe. The two are fighting it against each other in many European and Asian courts. In spite of all this, Samsung has decided to finally launch the product in India. There is no clue as to whether the product will be launched in EU and Australia. Will Samsung fight back, or get a stay order is not clear as of now. However, the Indian customers can definitely gear up to buy this new tab.

The Samsung Galaxy tab has some very good features. Besides a 10.1-inch screen, the tab is also light weighted. It is the slimmest of the tablets available in the market. It is only 8.6 inches, which is approximately 0.2 inches thinner than the Apple tablet.

Not only this, Samsung is swift in its actions. They also announced the launch of another tablet named Galaxy 730 or Galaxy 8.9. This has a screen of 8.9 inches. The operating system is however same as that of galaxy 10.1. This would be priced somewhere around 33,990(INR).

Get ready to buy Galaxy 750 (Galaxy 10.1) by this month end and Galaxy 730 (Galaxy 8.9) in mid-September. The European and Australian clients will have to wait until the case is sorted, or the ban is lifted.

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Cargill Ground Turkey Recall

Posted on August 4, 2011 by allan

Cargill ground turkey recalled

Retail stores in California have started recalling turkey meat owing to the salmonella poisoning which killed one and sickened a huge number of Americans. Around 36mn pounds of Cargill ground turkey meat was recalled.

As per the reports released by ‘The Centers for Disease Control’, since March 2011, in 26 states of America, 77 people have been suffering from food poisoning due to Salmonella. Now, the USDA has announced a recall. The California health officials said that some particular types of Salmonella are dangerous for human being consumption.

Mike Sicilla from the California Health Department said

“So what we found in common with these cases here in Sacramento is that they share the exact same strain of Salmonella which is called Salmonella Heidelberg. There are many strains of Salmonella and this one is very dangerous because it’s resistant to antibiotics.”

Cargill Meat Solutions said that the meat, which has been recalled, was produced in the Arkanasas facility at Springdale between February 2011- 2nd August, 2011. The President of the company, on this entire recall said,

“Public health and the safety of consumers cannot be compromised. It is regrettable that people may have become ill from eating one of our ground turkey products, and for anyone who did, we are truly sorry.”

Although the Cargill turkey has been recalled from many stores, the California Disease Control Department is not in favor of completely giving up turkey. They said that besides Cargill turkey, people can consume other turkey, but with some precautionary measures. The precautionary measures given by the health officials are as follows:

• Before consuming turkey, the internal temperature should be around 165 degrees
• Within two hours refrigerate poultry and any other raw meat you purchase
• After cooking the meat, it should be consumed immediately or refrigerated within 2 hours
• After handling poultry or raw meat, wash your hands for minimum 20 seconds

Acting responsible enough, Cargill recalled all its products produced at the Arkansas facility between February and August 2. The retailers affected by this recall include ‘Foods Co., Food 4 Less and WinCo’. Food 4 less has many stores all over California. Food Co. has 3 in Central Valley and WinCo has around 30 stores in the inlands.

Pat Kenelly, the food safety chief of the state urged the people, retailers and turkey suppliers to check their refrigerators and get rid off tainted turkey. She urged not to throw the tainted turkey anywhere, but to properly put it in a garbage bag and tied tightly. After throwing wash your hands thoroughly.

If you have bought ground turkey, please check if it is tainted, and do not take a risk. Cargill ground turkey consumption is not advised.

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Barack Obama’s Debt Crisis Strategy

Posted on August 2, 2011 by allan

Barack Obama

President Barack Obama proved his capability once again. A deal between the Republican and Democrats will probably save Obama’s presidential career. When American economy suffers from a crisis, it affects many countries all over the world. Barack Obama’s this action bought a sigh of relief to many countries.

United States had just two more days to get rid of the forthcoming debt problem. Within two days, the United States of America would fall short of cash. However, the deal between the two has led to a cut of about $2.4 trillion in the expenses. Obama, addressing this to the media and the country said,

“I want to announce that the leaders of both parties in both chambers have reached an agreement that will reduce the deficit and avoid default, a default that would have had a devastating effect on our economy. This process has been messy; it’s taken far too long. Nevertheless, ultimately the leaders of both parties have found their way towards compromise.”

However, the deal still has to be approved by the Congress. The Democrats and republicans both need to support this deal, or else it would be impossible to move ahead with this deal.

Obama said that this deal would help the country to raise the debt ceiling by 2.1 to 2.4 trillion dollars (Presently this debt ceiling is around 14.3 trillion dollars).

However, Obama’s idea of a cut in the expenses and raising a debt ceiling needs a green signal from the Congress. The idea of raising taxes on corporate and the rich would be completely ruled out. The only possible way of getting rid of this problem is a cut in the benefits assigned to the poor, and a hike in taxes for all.

Another point argued is that the plan of a cut of $3 trillion in the coming 10 years was not acceptable. Alternatively, they would get a consensus only on reducing $.3 trillion in the next 10 years. The rest will be discussed later. Also, the Congress would only make a small hike in the debt ceiling, and for the rest, Obama will have to come back later after the 2012 GOP.

If the deal is approved by Tuesday, only then American economy could be saved from this crisis. If not, Barack Obama’s presidency would be in danger, and so will be the economy of United States of America. As we all know that any fluctuation in the American economy affects the share markets of many countries in the world, we hope that this deal will be worked out at its earliest.

Will President Barack Obama be successful in bringing back the economy back on track or will the entire world suffer from this debt crisis?

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Ford Planning To Setup $1bn Plant in India

Posted on July 28, 2011 by allan

Ford planning to set up a plant in Gujarat

US carmaker, Ford Motors, on Thursday announced that it is planning to make a huge investment in India. It is planning to set up a plant in Gujarat with an investment of about $ 1bn. This will be double the company’s current investment in India.

They are planning this investment in India, with an aim to increase their market share here. At present, India stands at second position in the booming auto market all over the world.

Other automakers like Toyota, Volkswagen, Nisan and General Motors, are coming up with new designs and models with the aim to boost exports and investments.

Ford’s plant in Gujarat is expected to be ready by 2014. It would create employment opportunities for almost 5000 people. The initial capacity of the plant is expected to be approximately 240,000.

Michael Boneham, the President & MD, Ford India said,

“We are aggressively expanding in markets around the world that have the most growth potential in order to offer more of the fuel-efficient, high-quality vehicles from our global portfolio that customers in markets like India want and value.”

Besides India, Ford is setting up four plants in Thailand and China. Michael Boheman further said

“These new state-of-the-art facilities will help us reach the goal of increasing worldwide sales by nearly 50 percent by mid-decade, to about 8 million vehicles per year.”

The ‘Ford Figo’ and ‘Ford Fiesta’ have huge demand. The ‘Figo’ model exports began in August, 2010. Since then approximately 60,000 units have been sold. It would also invest an additional $72mn, in the engine assembly plat at Chennai in India to respond to the growing demand of ‘Ford Fiesta’ sedan.

The fiscal year end in April 2011 saw a growth of around 30% for cars in India. However, now the growth rate is projected somewhere around 10-12 percent only for this fiscal year. This is due to rising price of fuel and interest rates.

The foreign carmakers are still expecting a rise owing to the demand for foreign cars. Many of the foreign carmakers are new to Indian market. Some of these foreign carmakers have seen a good growth owing to some particular car models being very popular in India. Toyota experienced a growth of almost 94 percent in June owing to its new ‘Toyota Etios’

In spite of a fall in the percentage of sales, India remains an attractive option for many foreign carmakers, which have always relied on India, China and other such emerging economies to cope up with poor car sales in their home countries.

Ford’s new plant in Gujarat will open up many employment opportunities. It might thus increase the buying power of the Indian customer to some extent.

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Amy Winehouse’s Death Cause Unknown

Posted on July 27, 2011 by allan

The autopsy reports failed to reveal the reason of her death

The singer Amy Winehouse’s death will probably remain a mystery for some more time. Probably, we might not even be able to analyze the cause of her death. As per the autopsy reports, there was no paraphernalia or drugs found in her body. The reason for her death is a big question now.

On Saturday, when her dead body was found in her apartment, there were many speculations about the cause of her death. It was sudden and shocking for everyone. She was absolutely fine, when her doctor examined her on Friday. She also met her mother, and was in good health. After meeting her mother, she returned to her apartment, and there the security guard found her dead at around 4.30 pm.

Since it was a sudden death while she was alone in her apartment, there were speculations that she might have died of drugs and alcohol consumption. However, the autopsy reports rules out this speculation, as there are no traces of drugs or alcohol found in her body.

The ‘UK Mirror’ still claims that Amy died of drugs and booze. As per a report in the Mirror, one of Amy’s friend said

“[Amy] has spent the last seven days on a massive bender, and people were saying she’s going to drink herself to death.”

However, if we believe Amy’s mother’s statement saying that Amy’s doctor gave her a clean chit on Friday, then the statement in Mirror is contradictory.

Not only ‘Mirror’, but as per the report in ‘The People’, Amy Winehouse was seen buying heroin, ecstasy, cocaine and ketamine from a drug peddler on Friday. All these speculations stand ruled out because the autopsy reports deny drugs or alcohol as the cause of her death. The police officials have also conducted a toxicology test on her dead body. The reports of this test will be out within 2-4 weeks. The police is however not very suspicious about her death. They feel it is a natural death. Further more can be understood after the toxicology reports are out.

Amy’s funeral was held yesterday. Her family and close friends were present at her funeral. Mitch Winehouse, her father thanked Amy’s friends and fans for expressing their love and sorrow for the late Amy Winehouse. He said

“It means so much to me and my family.”

Amy Winehouse had recently been in a rehab to overcome her alcohol and drug addiction. Her death, when everything looked normal is thus a shock. Raj Kohli, the Superintendent of Police said

“It would be inappropriate to speculate on the cause of death.”

Amy Winehouse’s death is mourned by many. Her fans, colleagues in Hollywood, and even many from the Indian film industry tweeted on Twitter to express their grief on her death.

The toxicology reports might answer the query of her death. Until then, it is a mystery, and she was buried with the reason of her death still unknown.

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Amy Winehouse Dead at 27

Posted on July 25, 2011 by allan

Amy found dead in her apartment on Saturday

Amy Winehouse, the Grammy winning singer’s sudden death was a shock to everyone. On Saturday, she was found dead in her apartment at Camedon in North London. The forensic experts said that she was lying there dead for a couple of hours before people found her body.

The police officials investigating her case said that there were no traces of drugs found anywhere in her apartment. Just the previous day, she got her routine check-up done, and her doctor told her, she was absolutely fine. A source said

“The doctor was happy with her condition. When he left on Friday night, he had no concerns.”

At 4pm, Andrew Morris, the security guard, first reported of her being dead.

On Sunday, there were rumors that at around 10.30 pm on the day of her death, Winehouse was seen buying cocaine, ketamine and ecstasy. However, her family members ruled out all these rumors.

Today a post–mortem will be done to find out the exact cause of her death. Amy’s mother said that she met her just 24 hours before, and the sudden death was a shock to her as well. She said

“She seemed out of it. But her passing so suddenly still hasn’t hit me.”

Her mother said that on Friday, Amy left for her home after spending some time together. She said that Amy kissed her and told her

“I love you, Mum.”

She said that she would treasure these words and remember it always.

Her friends and colleagues mourned on her death. They tweeted on Twitter to express their grief for the star. Rihanna tweeted

“I am genuinely heartbroken about this. DearAmy U made a MAJAH impression on this industry and through out the world, in such a short space of time…too short! ICONS never DIE.”

Not only Hollywood celebs like Rihanna, Demi Moore, Ryan Seacrest, etc. expressed their grief, but some Bollywood (Indian Film Industry) celebs also mourned on her death. Pooja Bhatt, an actress tweeted

“Amy Winehouse found dead… Tragic… 27 is no age to die…”

Shekhar Kapur, renowned filmmaker tweeted

“RIP #Amy Winehouse passes away. She really did say #No.”

Others who tweeted to express their grief were Vishal Dadlani (music composer), Sonam Kapoor (actress), Celina Jaitly (actress), etc.

Amy Winehouse had been a drug addict. It had affected her life and her career, but she had tried to overcome it and was successful to a great extent. As mentioned above, her doctor had also said that she is absolutely fine. Her death is thus a big mystery until we get any clues from the autopsy reports.

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Paranormal Activity 3: Teaser Trailer

Posted on July 22, 2011 by allan

PA 3 in theaters on 21st October

Paramount Pictures is back with the third sequel of its horror movie ‘Paranormal Activity’. Just like the first two parts of the movie, the third sequel is also a low budget movie. Yesterday, the teaser trailer of Paranormal Activity 3 was released.

The first two parts of the movie were made in a total budget of $4 million. However, the earnings from the movies on release were far more than the cost incurred. The two movies earned up to 370 million dollars ( worldwide release). The huge profit from the movie, inspired the producers to go ahead for the third sequel. This year the fans of this horror flick series, will get to see ‘Paranormal Activity 3’.

The official trailer of the movie released yesterday answered the questions of the fans of what they could expect from the movie. The fans have had a wonderful experience with the first two parts of the movie and unlike some movies this horror flick has lived up to the expectations of the audience. However, from what the audiences got to see in the first two movies, has raised the expectations from the third movie.

Just like in ‘Paranormal Activity’, we could see many of the scenes that were a prequel to the first two parts of the movie; ‘Paranormal Activity 3’ will also be a dive in the past. However, past here does not mean just the last two parts of the movie, but back in 1980’s. The time when Kristi and Katie were kids and camcorders were the most famous gadgets.

Christopher Landon, the writer of ‘Paranormal Activity 2’, has scripted the scenes for ‘Paranormal Activity 3’ as well. The direction team of the movie said that they would use some bits of video footage taken at home, and spice it up imitating the special effects of the first two movies. This means a little change from just using one camera to shoot the scenes of the movie. They would relate the different home video footage shot for the movie in a way that artistically presents the story of the movie. Rather than going ahead with where ‘Paranormal Activity 2’ ended, the third part will focus more on showing what happened actually in that story and expand that story.

‘Paranormal Activity 3’ will be in theaters this winter on 21st October. If you are a fan of this horror flick series, get ready for this one.

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Yosemite National Park: Three More Dead

Posted on July 21, 2011 by allan

3 dead by drowning in Vernall Waterfall

The Yosemite national Parks’ Vernall Fall is crowded with tourists. The waterfall presents a beautiful scenic beauty, and visitors come here to enjoy this beauty and the sound of falling water. The cleat snowmelt water looks amazing, but this is also equally dangerous. Visitors fail to understand this, and every year many lose their lives because of this mistake.

Yesterday three people who came here to enjoy the beauty of this waterfall will never see the sunlight again, because they were swept away by the water while trying to have fun and click pictures. The three people were later identified as Homiz David 22, from Modesto, Ramina Badal, 21 from Mateca, and Ninoa Yacoub, 27 from Turlock. They were a part of a big group.

Jake Bibee, a local resident who has grown up in this area and gets tourists to this point, was the eye witness of this accident. Bibee was at the Vernall fall with Amanda Lee, who had come from Missouri. Bibee had taken Amanda to the Vernall Fall. Just while Bibee and Amanda were standing near the barricade and enjoying the scene, Bibee saw a young boy and girl crossing the barricade. He screamed at them and they came back safely. Some time later Bibee saw three other people crossing the barricade and taking pictures. Just when he was about to shout, a woman with them slipped in the water. Bibee describing the incident said

“Then the older gentleman at that point falls in. I’m watching the two of them being swept away. I’m starting to jet for the edge. It’s just instinct. But Amanda says, ‘No, no, don’t go! ‘Then there was another guy I hadn’t seen. I didn’t see him fall in. But he looks back, just as he’s being swept over the edge. I knew then they were not going to make it. They’re going over the waterfall.”

A 12 member group from Central valley had come here for a picnic. There were warning signs placed everywhere. These three people ignored these signs and climbed on the barricades. They were trying to get into the Merced River.

When one person fell in the water, and other tried to rescue her, the second also fell in water, and the third person trying to rescue them was also swept away with the water. The eye witnesses there called the rangers immediately for their rescue. However, the rangers also could not save them.

With this accident the number of dead has gone up to 6 in this year. On 13th of May, two other hikers drowned in ‘Hetch Hetchy Reservoir’ and another hiker slipped in the Mist Trail.

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