It's Blue Monday aka most depressing day of year

 New York, Jan. 06:

Feeling the Monday blues a bit more today?

You're not alone.

With millions of people around the world coming back to work on Jan. 6, various web analytics and social media statistics showed that Jan. 6 is the most depressing day of 2014. Further analysis showed it is mainly because it is the first Monday of getting back to work.

Researchers have named this Monday as the most depressing day of the year.
Researchers for protein drink Upbeat analyzed two million tweets that were posted in the last three January's, and found that it was a day when people break their new year's resolutions, the New York Daily News reported.

The study also found that people, who are unhappy with their love lives, look for a new partner and those unhappy at their work place consider switching.

The first Monday of the month also sees record posts about feeling guilty, being tired, eating too much, being broke or wanting to quit the UK for warmer climate.

According to relationship experts, the strains of festive family get-togethers coupled with alcohol could lead to marriages crumbling.

IllicitEncounters.com also sees a 25 per cent increase in activity after the festive break.

Feeling Glum?

 Reasons: Why People Are Depressed on Jan. 6, 2014

The most recent report revealed that most feel low because of lack of sleep and the struggle to keep up with their New Year's resolutions. Guilty-ridden tweets are also five times higher as people go back to work and get to arrive in a lot of realizations. The report also showed that the female population seem to stay more positive throughout the entire first month of the year.

Out of a total score of 100, most women got an average of 67. Susan Hignett, brand manager of a high energy protein drink called Upbeat, said it is normal for people to find some days very tough to stay positive.

However, there are also the leading times of the year when almost everyone feels great, upbeat, motivated and positive. Those top six dates of 2013 include Dec. 24 and 25, Jan. 1, Feb. 14, April 20 and July 7.

Jan. 6 can truly be a depressing day. But there are ways that an individual can do to keep him on top of his moods and stay happy.

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India To Have World's Largest Facebook Population By 2016: Study

Indians are increasingly logging into their Facebook and Twitter accounts, with the country recording the highest social networking growth of 37.4 per cent this year, according to a new study.

India To Have World's Largest Facebook Population By 2016

India will also have the world’s largest Facebook population by 2016, according to research firm eMarketer.


India, with the highest growth this year, will increase the user numbers by 37.4 per cent, while Indonesia’s numbers will climb 28.7 per cent and Mexico will grow its social network user base by 21.1 per cent.


All the three countries are also high-growth areas for Facebook, the world’s largest social network, which eMarketer estimates will reach a worldwide monthly user base of 1.026 billion this year.


The US remains the single country with the largest number of Facebook users, at 146.8 million this year, and India comes in a distant second.


But with India’s large population and high expected growth rate, eMarketer believes the country will develop the largest Facebook population of any country in the world by 2016.

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Microsoft buys Nokia mobile unit to fight Apple, Google

Microsoft buys Nokia mobile unit to fight Apple, Google

HELSINKI — Mobile phone pioneer Nokia on Tuesday announced the sale of its sinking handset business to software giant Microsoft, which is fighting to catch up with rivals Apple and Google in the fierce smartphone market.

Nokia, the world's leading mobile phone maker until last year, will now focus on network infrastructure and mapping services, which it called "the best path forward for Nokia and its shareholders."

The sale for 5.44 billion euros ($7.17 billion) was cheered by Nokia investors, pushing the Finnish company's share up more than 40 percent in late afternoon deals, but Microsoft shares fell 4.5 percent in early trading to $31.90.

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said the Nokia acquisition -- the second-biggest in its history after Skype -- was a "signature event in our transformation" and one that "will accelerate our success in smartphones."

Nokia pioneered the mobile phone and dominated the market for 14 years, until it was overtaken by Samsung in 2012 as the top-selling brand.

The company, long the pride of Finland, was blindsided by the shift to smartphones and struggled to fight off increasing competition from Apple's iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy and rumours of a sale have swirled for months.

Microsoft and Nokia have been partnered since 2011, co-creating Nokia's Lumia line of smartphones using Microsoft's Windows Phone software.

-- Microsoft attempting 'to stem the decline in global product sales' --

And with Tuesday's deal, Microsoft is following in the footsteps of rival Google, which created the Android smartphone operating system and then branched into hardware when it bought phone-maker Motorola.

"The trigger behind this is without a doubt the current restructuring of business at Microsoft in which the tech giant attempts to stem the decline in global product sales," ETX Capital analyst Ishaq Siddiqi said in a comment.

Microsoft "is still behind Apple and Android based handset devices in the global mobile phones market share but under this deal, Microsoft can start to take control of the operation and turn Nokia's declining handset business into a formidable competitor in a competitive market," he said.

Stephen Elop, the Nokia chief executive who was hired from Microsoft in 2010, will transfer back to his original employer, becoming a rumoured replacement for Ballmer whose retirement was announced this summer.

Risto Siilasmaa, Nokia's chairman of the board, will be Elop's interim replacement.

In 2011, Elop spearheaded dramatic change at Nokia as he warned the company was "standing on a burning platform" and needed to shift course.

The shake-up involved rubbishing Nokia's Symbian platform in favour of the partnership with Microsoft, and the launch of the Lumia smartphones.

-- Sale provides 'solid basis' for Nokia's future --

But Tuesday's announcement marks the end of Nokia's days as a phone manufacturer.

"Nokia alone does not have the resources to fund the required acceleration ... especially as we have great opportunities in our other businesses as well," Siilasmaa told reporters.

Some 32,000 Nokia employees are expected to transfer to Microsoft, including some 4,700 people in Finland, the company said.

The phone operations affected by the transfer generated approximately 14.9 billion euros in 2012, or almost 50 percent of Nokia's net sales.

Nokia will book a gain on the sale of some 3.2 billion euros, which will "clearly strengthen our financial position and it will provide a solid basis for future investment in Nokia's continuing businesses," Siilasmaa said.

Last month, Nokia finalised the purchase of German engineering giant Siemens' 50-percent stake in Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) for 1.7 billion euros.

NSN, which is specialised in high-speed mobile broadband, had posted stronger earnings than Nokia's mobile phone business, booking a net profit of 8.0 million euros in the second quarter of this year, compared to Nokia's net loss of 227 million euros.

Going forward, Nokia's main rivals will be Sweden's Ericsson and Huawei of China, according to Danske Bank Markets analyst Ilkka Rauvola.

"Huawei's market share is growing and Ericsson's is stagnating. That's Nokia's real challenge," Rauvola told Finnish broadcaster YLE.

Tuesday's announcement is likely to spark speculation about the future of another big yet struggling phone maker, BlackBerry of Canada.

And the deal comes a day after US telecoms giant Verizon and Vodafone of Britain agreed that the British company would sell its 45-percent stake in their joint venture Verizon Wireless for $130 billion.

Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Richard Hunter said US groups were eager to snap up assets.

"The European stage is seen as one with growth potential for the big US companies," he said.

"It is often forgotten that, as a whole, the eurozone is the world's second-largest economy.

Microsoft's acquisition is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2014.

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Teenage Behavior Influenced By Images Of Friends Drinking, Smoking Online

Teenage Behavior Influenced By Images Of Friends Drinking, Smoking Online

Teenage Behavior Influenced By Images Of Friends Drinking, Smoking Online

A study from the University of Southern California (USC) claims teens are so impressionable that they can be influenced by what they see their friends doing online. Specifically, those teens who see their friends drinking and smoking in Facebook and Myspace pictures were more likely to do the same thing themselves.
The study was carried out between 2010 and 2011, accounting for the inclusion of Myspace. According to their numbers, 30 percent of the teens they surveyed had smoked while nearly 50 percent had tried alcohol. Most of these teens — four out of five — used social networks to communicate with their friends. The USC researchers have their results published in the online edition of the Journal of Adolescent Health.
“Our study shows that adolescents can be influenced by their friends’ online pictures to smoke or drink alcohol,” explained Thomas W. Valente, PhD, professor of preventative medicine and the Keck School of Medicine at USC. “To our knowledge, this is the first study to apply social network analysis methods to examine how teenagers’ activities on online social networking sites influence their smoking and alcohol use.”
Dr. Valente and Grace C. Huang, PhD, MPH, a graduate of the Keck School of Medicine of USC’s Health Behavior Research program, surveyed a group of 1,563 tenth grade teens from the El Monte Union High School in California from October 2010 to April 2011. Though Myspace popularity was already waning at this time (only 13 percent of the teens interviewed said they checked it regularly) it was still listed as a frequent online spot for students.
After asking the teenagers how they spent their time online and what they liked to do after school, the USC researchers concluded that the size of a teen’s network of friends online wasn’t directly associated with use of alcohol and smoking. Rather, it was how many of these friends bragged about their risky behavior which most influenced the teens to do the same.
According to Dr. Huang, this is an important distinction given how many teens spend their time on social networks like Facebook.
“The evidence suggests that friends’ online behaviors are a viable source of peer influence,” said Dr. Huang in a statement. “This is important to know, given that 95 percent of 12 to 17 year olds in the United States access the Internet every day, and 80 percent of those youth use online social networking sites to communicate.”
At the time the students were being interviewed, nearly a third said they had tried smoking. Another third of the teenage respondents said they had friends who drank and or smoked. The USC report claims almost half of the students they interviewed were on Facebook or Myspace. The most popular option was Facebook, scoring 75 percent of the teens who reported being a frequent visitor to social networking sites. Fewer teens said they used Myspace, accounting for only 13 percent of online teens.
Though the study categorizes how many teens are involved in risky behaviors and how many are online, this study fails to draw a direct association between seeing a picture online and having a drink or smoking. Instead the study claims many teens are on social networks, twenty percent of them say they have friends who post party pictures online, and thirty to fifty percent of them have engaged in one or both of these illegal activities.
As a counterpoint, a 2012 study by the American Academy of Pediatrics found social networks could actually be helpful to teens, giving them an opportunity to expand their social connections and academic opportunities. This study did point out two potential pitfalls for teens who use social networks; an increase in cyber bullying and sex-ting.
Nonetheless, Dr. Huang believes these basic stats should act as a warning to teachers and parents.
“Our study suggests that it may be beneficial to teach teens about the harmful effects of posting risky behaviors online and how those displays can hurt their friends,” said Dr. Huang.

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SC gives govt deadline on blocking of porn sites

Government has to take steps to block porn sites: Supreme Court

 

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday made it clear that the government will have to take steps to block porn sites particularly those showing child pornography and granted four weeks time to chart out plan of action.

"Nothing, you have to do it," a bench headed by Justice B S Chauhan said when Additional Solicitor General K V Viswanathan sought time to file response on a plea for blocking such sites in the country.

On July 12, the apex court had granted four weeks time to the Centre to devise a mechanism to block such sites.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Indore-based advocate Kamlesh Vaswani who pleaded that although watching obscene videos is not an offence, pornographic sites should be banned as they are one of the major causes for crime against women.

Advocate Vijay Panjwani, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that the Centre has failed to devise mechanism to block the Internet sites and absence of Internet laws encourage people to watch porn videos and as it is not an offence.

The petition alleged that over 20 crore porn videos or clippings are freely available in the market, which are directly been downloaded through Internet or other video CDs.

"The sexual content that kids are accessing today is far more graphic, violent, brutal, deviant and destructive and has put entire society in danger so also safety threats to public order in India.

"The petitioner most respectfully submits that most of the offences committed against women/girls/children are fuelled by pornography. The worrying issue is the severity and gravity of the images are increasing. It is a matter of serious concern that prepubescent children are being raped," it said.

"At best, the IPC only recognises the offences of obscenity, kidnapping, abduction, and other related offences which are not sufficient to tackle the issue of pornography, and such videos," it said, adding that watching and sharing obscene videos should be made non-bailable and cognisable offence.

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Saraswati Puja 2013 @P.G-2 Hostel,Kalyani University

Saraswati Puja 2013 @P.G-2 Hostel(Vivekananda Bhawan),Kalyani University 

(Theme Designed by Koushik)

Watch the complete album you'll have an new experience and you'll get a new idea. Hope you like it.

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Women Uses More Text Messages

Women uses more text messages than men: Survey Study

Women are twice as likely as men to use emoticons in text messages, according to a study by a US university.

The emoticons, which began as happy and sad faces, have developed into dozens of other expressions, and have become hugely popular in text messages and email.

The study by Rice University used Smart phone data from men and women over six months and analyzed 124,000 text messages, the Daily Mail reported.

Texting has become one of the most popular forms of communication. In 2012 alone, it is estimated that eight trillion text messages will be sent out across the world.

In the Rice University study, all of the participants used emoticons, but they did not use them very often. Only four percent sent all of their text messages containing one or more emoticons.

The study confirmed previous research that women are more emotionally expressive in non-verbal communication.

The authors also found that while women may use emoticons more than men, the men used a larger variety of emoticons to express themselves.Participants in the Rice study texted a wide variety of emoticons, the Daily Mail said.

A total of 74 different emoticons were used, but the top three emoticons - happy, sad and very happy - made up 70 percent of the total emoticons sent by the participants.

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10 Reasons Why It is Awesome to have a Bong Boyfriend

Bengalis aka Bongs are prominent for many things, so much that we sometimes wonder what would we be without them, especially the men. While, most of my Bong female friends aren’t much interested in a Bengali boyfriend/groom for themselves, here I’ll tell you why it is just awesome to have a bong boyfriend -

1. He’s got your back in his own unique ways

He isn’t muscular like the Punjabi munda next door nor canny like the others but packed with all the righteousness in between, you will always feel safe in his company. No wonder, he’s always got your back in his own distinctive style making you go “Awww..” each time.

2. He’s liberal, modern and worldly wise

Plan your trip to an unknown location and he might actually tell you the culture, tradition, and history of the place. Oh yea, he is that cosmopolitan – familiar with at least one foreign language.

3. He has a doting mom which comes as a double bonus

You will never feel the guilt of neglecting your beau once in a while as he has the best mom who dotes her kid so much.

4. He will sing for you

He will sing for you and that too in a perfect tune – Whether it is “All Shook Up” of Elvis Presley, or “Tum Ho….” from the Ranbir starrer Rockstar. But, chances are when he sings a Hindi song he might forget the lyrics.

Myth Debunked - Even if he is a die-hard fan of Hollywood movies he secretly likes Bollywood films and music too. Also don’t be surprise to see  instruments such as guitar, tanpura, tabla, violin at his home which he played back in school days.

5. He’s opinionated and there starts the fun

Since he has an opinion on almost everything, you will love having a healthy debate with him on anything and everything.

6. He’s lazy which actually makes your life easy

Being lazy himself, he will never be behind your back to complete or finish any work that he had given to you – no matter how big or small it was. So, life is at ease in his company.

7. He’s a Foodie and always up for food

Oh that doesn’t mean you’ll have to stay glued to the kitchen while he watches his football match but it does mean indulging in a gourmet affair or haute cuisine every now and then. Don’t be surprise if he takes you on a holiday to Darjeeling only to indulge in those authentic Momos and Thupkas.

8. The “Dada” factor

Even the hottest girl of his college/office calls him “dada” – doesn’t that make you lucky when compared to other girls who waste half of their time in dealing with their archetypal girlfriend insecurities.

9. He is delightful and entertaining

There is a general misconception that Bong guys are all about books, theatre and football only. Perhaps, they have never seen him after he gets drunk. While many others might be a menace after getting heavily drunk, he is only funny and entertaining.  Besides, he might be terrible while dancing with you at a disc or in a party, but nothing can beat his bisorjon or dhunuchi dance. He simply rocks there.

10. He loves non-violence

Your Bong Boyfriend will never beat up your brother, but will logically explain you how and why he is right. Gentle and inoffensive, he will stand by you always in the matters of love – just make sure you pronounce the right name of that veteran German novelists name.

Lastly, he is as sweet as mishti doi just like his daaknaam, fiery as a chilly (just try telling him that Tamilians/UPite are clever than Bengalis) but mostly easy going and fun loving smart guy who knows how to bring a big smile on your face with those random surprises .

© Deepti Verma(indiaopines.com)

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