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"Don't talk while he drives"
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So what is the magic behind Easy-Email?
What makes it all tick?
This was originally going to be a long and detailed article.
But it is actually surprisingly simple:
The fact that your computers synchronize with Gmail instead of downloading the email means that all of your computers have the same emails. And anything you do on one computer will be synchronized with Gmail... and then with any other computer or mobile device you use.
So if you send an email from your home computer you can see the sent email on your netbook or laptop. If you are using Gmail in an internet cafe and you move an email from your inbox to another folder the email will be moved on all your computers. If you read an email on one computer it will show as read on all your computers.
And the best thing is: It all happens automatically!
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Police crack down on wraparound attire for men
Sharjah: Sharjah Police are cracking down on men wearing the lungi, a wraparound dress worn across some South Asian countries, in public.
An Asian man was arrested and interrogated by police patrols in Sharjah a few days ago for wearing a lungi in public.
The man said police told him lungis cannot be worn in public.
He told Gulf News he had recently been stopped by CID officers who sought to know why he was going out in public wearing a lungi. "A few days ago I had an issue with police for leaving my home wearing a lungi," he said.
The man said he had gone out wearing a lungi that had its two ends stitched together when he was stopped at a petrol station's convenience store.
"I was caught by a police at the petrol station mart. Police asked me why I had ventured out wearing a lungi and a T-shirt," he said. He said he was warned not to go out dressed in that manner since there was a law that prohibited the attire.
"My lungi covered me right up to the toe. It was fully stitched and decent and clean," said the man.
The Indian man said the lungi is considered a traditional dress in his home country and is very commonly worn.
"I want to know if there is any law of this kind," he said.
Ambiguity in rules
"Why is it that people are not allowed to wear clothes they are used to if they are not revealing," he said.
"My lungi fully covered my legs. Why did the police have to arrest me while you see so many people wearing revealing dresses in public whom no one stops," he said, adding that it called for clarifying the decency law.
"Can anyone state the law for the public so that we can avoid being stopped by the police," he said.
Sharjah Police maintain that indecent and revealing clothes are not allowed in public. "The decency law was implemented in Sharjah ten years ago," an officer said.
He said people were expected to wear decent clothes in public, but did not explain if there was a ban on wearing the lungi in public.Yours Sincerely,
Ron Edward, Officer in charge.
DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL FRAUD
SURVEILLANCE AND CONTROL
United Nations System of Organizations
| By Soutik Biswas BBC News, Kerala |
 Tourism is one of the major drivers of growth in Kerala Photos: Haris Kuttipuram |
Why is India's most socially developed state - and one of the developing world's most advanced regions - an economic laggard?
This question about Kerala, known all over the world for its lush landscapes, sun-drenched beaches and idyllic backwaters, has been a subject of intense debate among economists and social scientists.
Kerala defies all stereotypes of a "socially backward" Indian state - swathes of people living in abject poverty, men outnumbering women because of female foeticide, internecine caste politics.
Many of its social indicators are on par with the developed world and it has the highest human development index in India.
 |  Kerala needs a new contract between the state and its people to move ahead and build upon its enviable gains  |
It also has the highest literacy rate (more than 90%) and life expectancy in India, lowest infant mortality, lowest school drop-out rate, and a fairly prosperous countryside.
That's not all.
In contrast to India's more prosperous states, like Punjab and Haryana, Kerala can boast a very healthy gender ratio - women outnumber men here.
Life expectancy for women is also higher than for men, as in most developed countries. Thanks to a matrilineal society, women, by and large, are more empowered than in most places in India.
Low population
When it comes to low population growth, Kerala competes with Europe and the US. And all but two districts of the state have a lower fertility rate than that needed to maintain current population levels.
 Women outnumber men in Kerala |
All this happened because of the region's early trading connections with the West - the Portuguese arrived here in the 15th Century, followed by the Dutch and then the British - and a long history of social reforms initiated by the missionaries and the kings of two princely states that were later integrated to create Kerala.
And thanks to pioneering land reforms initiated by a Communist government in the late 1950s, the levels of rural poverty here are the lowest in India. Decent state-funded health care and education even made it the best welfare state in India.
Yet, today, Kerala is a straggler economy almost entirely dependent on tourism and remittances sent back by two million of its people who live and work abroad, mostly in the Gulf.
Joblessness is rife due to the lack of a robust manufacturing base - more than 15% in urban areas, three times the national average. More than 30 million people live in the densely populated state, a third of which is covered by forests
More people here are taking their lives than anywhere else in India. Alcoholism is a dire social problem - the state has India's highest per capita alcohol consumption. People migrate because there are no jobs at home.
Money shortage
Economists find this paradoxical given the fact that Kerala has met most of the UN's millennium development goals.
"Unlike many East Asian states, social development has not become an instrument in triggering economic development in Kerala," says economist Joseph Tharamangalam.
So the state has little money to fund health care and education leading to an explosion of expensive, private hospitals, schools and colleges, which the poor cannot afford.
Road networks are extensive, but the state has few highways. Electricity has reached nearly every village but the quality of service is poor.
Many believe that the skewed nature of the economy - it has been called the "money order economy" - is to blame.
Kerala lives off remittances and it lacks a manufacturing base. Economists draw parallels with the Philippines and Sri Lanka, which face similar problems.
 The urban-rural gap is the lowest in Kerala |
And Kerala has not benefited directly from the rise of its biggest service industry, tourism. Service tax is a federal tax which first goes to Delhi, and is then distributed among different states.
Kerala's biggest advantage - high literacy - has become a strange liability: the vast majority of educated unemployed have to go elsewhere for work.
Economists like KK George, who have spent a lifetime studying the "Kerala conundrum", say the state is facing a "second generation problem" of growth.
"Having fulfilled all millennium development goals, the state has no money left for higher investments. The central government is busy tackling poverty and illiteracy in most states, so doesn't have time or money for Kerala. And successive governments in Kerala have not been able to take it forward," says Dr George.
Economists say it is ironic that a region which benefited early from informal international trade - with the Dutch and the English - and its proximity to West Asia has failed to reap the benefits of economic liberalisation at home.
Over-politicised
Some commentators say the problem stems from the fact that Kerala is an over-politicised and "over-extended state". The argument goes that radical unions, bolstered by successive communist governments, have acted as "pressure groups advancing particular vested interests".
 Kerala has a modestly prosperous countryside |
In the process, the general prosperity of the state has been neglected.
Also, analysts say, decades of militant trade unionism led by the Communists has led to a poor work ethic and an "estrangement" from private investments - a condition similar to India's other Communist-run state, West Bengal.
Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen says Kerala has to "learn from the world". Its famed model of development, which is still touted as the most inclusive one, appears to have hit the buffers.
"The Kerala model is grinding to a halt because the social and political groups having fulfilled their original agenda now have no new agendas. Society has lost its capacity to set collective goals. There are no more big dreams," says Dr George.
"The old change agents like the Christian church and their missionary organisations, social reform movements in various caste groups, trade unions and political parties are acting merely as pressure groups either to defend the status quo or to extract the maximum possible share of a cake that is not increasing in size."
Clearly, Kerala needs a new contract between the state and its people to move ahead and build upon its enviable gains.
Kochi: Montblanc International GmbH, Germany, gave an undertaking before a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Tuesday that its "Mahatma Gandhi Limited Edition 241" and "Mahatma Gandhi Limited Edition 3000" luxury pens would not be sold in the country until further orders from the court.
The Bench of Acting Chief Justice P.R. Raman and Justice C.N. Ramachandran Nair asked counsel for the company and its Rajkot-based distributor to give the undertaking in an affidavit within three days.
Counsel for the company gave the undertaking when a petition seeking a ban on the marketing and sale of the pens in the country came up for hearing. The petition was filed by Dijo Kappen, managing trustee, Centre for Consumer Education, Kottayam,
In an affidavit, the pen company and the distributor said they tendered an unconditional apology if the sentiments of any of the citizens were hurt. It said that they had no intention to exploit the name of Mahatma Gandhi or to bring any disrepute to the Father of the Nation. They "never believed for a moment that they would hurt the susceptibilities of certain segments of the public and regret the present controversy."
The affidavit said the company had great regard for Mahatma Gandhi as the Father of the Nation and the writing instruments were "intended to pay homage to Gandhi and to his vision and legacy."
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http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/12/the_decade_in_news_photographs.html
