Saturday, November 10, 2007

New Yorkers rally to help online Romeo...

A tale of online love inspired usually cynical New Yorkers this last week to help a young man find the girl of his dreams after he spotted her on a crowded subway train.

For Web designer Patrick Moberg, 21, from Brooklyn, it was love at first sight when he locked eyes with a rosy-cheeked woman while riding in Manhattan on last Sunday night. She was writing her journal. The train was so full that he lost her in the crowd when they both got off, so he set up a website dedicated to finding the mystery woman.

He drew a picture of the girl, who was wearing blue shorts, blue tights, and a red flower in her hair, and posted his cell phone number, e-mail address and an appeal for help finding her. It worked. Within hours Moberg's inbox was overflowing with e-mails and his phone ringing non-stop. He told the New York Post that he even received e-mails offering him love. "Some people said I'm not the girl but you're so adorable, pick me instead."

On Tuesday night a friend of the woman contacted him and sent him a picture so he could confirm her identity. "Found Her! Seriously!" a notice on his website said. "We've been put in touch with one another and we'll see what happens." The mysterious subway brunette was named on Thursday as Camille Hayton, an intern at magazine BlackBook from Melbourne, Australia, who also lives in Brooklyn. "This is crazy. I can't believe it's happening," Hayton, 22, told the New York Post. But Moberg said he is now pulling the shutters on his love life, scribbling out the cell phone number on his Web site and leaving a message on his phone saying he will do no more interviews. "In our best interest, there will be no more updates to this website," he wrote. "Unlike all the romantic comedies and bad pop songs, you'll have to make up your own ending for this."

Some New Yorkers may already, wondering if Moberg had made it sound too easy to find a needle in a haystack in this city of eight million people.

Friday, November 9, 2007

Best wishes on the occasion of Diwali - the Festival of Lights...

Today, India celebrates Diwali - the Festival of Lights...



On this auspicious day, may you be blessed with peace and prosperity...



Wednesday, November 7, 2007

45 minutes in a bathtub with 87 snakes!


Jackie Bibby from Texas has spent 45 minutes in a bathtub with 87 rattlesnakes to create a new Guiness World Record.

Nearly 3,500 Chinese named 'Olympics'

The upcoming Beijing Olympics is more than just a point of pride for China - it's such an important part of the national consciousness that nearly 3,500 children have been named for the event, a newspaper has reported.

Most of the 3,491 people with the name "Aoyun," meaning Olympics, were born around the year 2000, as Beijing was bidding to host the 2008 Summer Games, the Beijing Daily newspaper has reported, citing information from China's national identity card database.

The vast majority of people named Aoyun are male, the newspaper said. Only six live in Beijing. The report didn't say where the others live.

Names related to the Olympics don't just stop with "Olympics." More than 4,000 Chinese share their names with the Beijing Games mascots, the "Five Friendlies."

The names are Bei Bei (880 people), Jing Jing (1,240), Huan Huan (1,063), Ying Ying (624) and Ni Ni (642). When put together, the phrase translates to "Beijing welcomes you!"

Chinese have increasingly turned to unique names as a way to express a child's individuality.

In a country with a population of 1.3 billion, 87 percent share the same 129 family names. That's why 5,598 people have the same name as basketball player Yao Ming and 18,462 share a moniker with star hurdler Liu Xiang, according to the Beijing Daily report.

Parents have turned to unusual combinations of letters, numbers and symbols when choosing their child's name, Li Yuming, deputy director of the National Language Commission, told the Xinhua News Agency in an August interview.

At least one couple wanted to call their child "1A," he said, while others use the e-mail address symbol (at), which in Chinese is pronounced "Aita," meaning "love him".

Couple from 'Hell' wins lottery...

Life in Hell (Michigan) just got a little easier for John and Sue Wilson. The couple, who live in the small town of Hell, 45 miles west of Detroit, were blessed with a $115,001 windfall from the Michigan Lottery.

They won the big prize in the Fantasy 5 drawing held on Wednesday, October 31st - that is, Halloween.

"How cool is that?" said Sue Wilson, 43, a teacher's aide. Her husband is an electrician.

The couple said they plan to use their winnings to pay off bills, make some home improvements, buy a video game system for their 13-year-old son and possibly visit relatives in Georgia.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Parking Mishap...


Picture of a car that pulled a bit too far into its parking space on the third level of a garage.