[Source]

Indians discover most heat-resistant fungi

 I swear I read that as lungi and thought to myself High time!

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“In the last 10,000 years there have been roughly 10,000 religions and 1,000 different gods; what are the chances that one group of people discovered the One True God while everyone else believed in 9,999 false gods?”

Assuming that One True God — whose job description is to poke his nose into our everyday affairs — exists and assuming that humans have discovered his true identity, the probability that a religion is correct is 1/10000 which is 0.0001 — which for practical purposes is zero.

via Sam Harris.

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There are countless ways to pick on organized religion both intelligently and humourously that I almost feel guilty posting every such quote. And to be clear, I’m saying the possibility that there exists a One True God is way way way higher than your god being him.

For a man of Arun Shourie’s intellect, I always wondered what he was doing in the present day BJP. Evidently nothing.

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This reading comprehension test goes well with this post.

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Targeted violence against females, dismal healthcare and desperate poverty make Afghanistan the world’s most dangerous country in which to be born a woman, with Congo a close second due to horrific levels of rape. Pakistan, India and Somalia ranked third, fourth and fifth, respectively, in the global survey of perceptions of threats ranging from domestic abuse and economic discrimination to female foeticide (the destruction of a fetus in the uterus), genital mutilation and acid attack.

We just beat Pakistan. Let’s thank those two women who stayed at home after sunset.

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The Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court on Thursday issued notices to Aamir Khan Productions, Department of Information and Broadcasting and Censor Board of Film Certification challenging the public exhibition certificate issued to ‘Delhi Belly’.

The notices were issued by the bench of Justice Uma Nath Singh and Justice Anil Kumar on a writ petition seeking direction to quash the certificate for public exhibition issued to the film released on July 1.

The petitioners alleged that film had indecent, immoral, abusive language and the same trend is being permitted to continue.

Fucking idiots.

I suppose all that outrage wasn’t a waste.

Buddhists: 1; Rest of the religions: 0.

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I’d love to one day compare the deaths caused by each religion but to be fair, Hindus were totally screwed over by  Asoka who was responsible for over 200,000 deaths like a day before he converted to Buddhism.

China executes three times as many people as the rest of the world COMBINED… and uses mobile execution vans for efficiency.

 

And then, there’s this quote:

“Makers of the death vans say the vehicles and injections are a civilized alternative to the firing squad, ending the life of the condemned more quickly, clinically and safely. The switch from gunshots to injections is a sign that China “promotes human rights now,” says Kang Zhongwen, who designed the Jinguan Automobile death van.

 

Wonderful wonderful video:

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I’d add travelling to that list, at the top. You *will* discover facets of yourself you could never imagine existed. Trust me. And if that doesn’t happen, I’ll reimburse your trip. I’m not kidding.

via Zainab.

My friend sends this in:

my nephew going through my phone pics & videos.. when he hit ur flute videos… n then..

M – this is nice, mamu!.. who is he ?!

A – he is my friend, Deepak… there are 2 more videos..

M – nice…

M – Does he want money ?!

Will Gadd is one of the most skilled paragliders in the world today. If you get a chance, check out his DVD Three Flights.

One of the three flights is over Grand Canyon. It is tricky because Grand Canyon is a National Park with airspace rules that one cannot fly lower than 14,500 ft. And once you start, the only stop is across the canyon and beyond the national park boundary. There is no spot in between to land. Further, a paraglider loses approx. 200 ft. per minute.

Paragliders use pockets of hot air called thermals and fly in circles inside thermals to gain altitude. Once they have gained enough altitude, they start cruising hoping that they either make it to the end or find another thermal.

Here’s a small clip:

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Will also broke the world record in 2002 for longest flight in a day: 263 miles. This was near the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas. The geographical location for long flights is even more important than skills.