Burying of the dead was invented as far back as 3000 BCE, in the stone age. It was said to be first used in Europe and became the most common method of disposing dead bodies by 800 BCE in Greece and 600 BCE in Rome. Other societies followed other methods: in ancient Israel, tombs were used for burial and cremation was shunned, even the early Christian church rejected cremations, bodies were embalmed in Egypt, they were buried in China. Later on when Christianity become the official religion of the Roman Empire, burial was the only method followed throughout Europe.

With so much significance attached to the disposal of bodies, the new way of bidding goodbye to the dead can prove to be shocking to most people - dissolving their bodies in lye and flushing the brown syrupy residue down the drain.

This process of flushing down dead bodies is called alkaline hydrolysis and was first started in the United States 16 years ago, when it was used to dispose off, animal corpses in big steel cylinders that were like steam cookers.

These new inventions are not used by any funeral homes in the US or anywhere else in the world. In fact, they are used by only two medical centers in the US to dispose human bodies, and that too on cadavers that are used for research.

The funeral industry feels that this method of disposal of human bodies has several environmental advantages and someday in the future, this may very well be used more than even cremation or burial.

According to the newsletter Funeral Service insider, “it’s not often that a truly game-changing technology comes along in the funeral service. We might have gotten hold of one.” (more…)

She may be voted the dumbest person with no grey cells, but these polls have no effect on the magnetic power she holds and proof lies in the 85000 people who would do anything to be her best friend.

We are talking about the MTV reality show named, “Paris Hilton’s My New BFF,” (best friend forever,) which has received a lot of publicity, as is everything else about this ‘Simple Life” star. This celebrity is said to be seeking a potential friend from this show. Could this be because Nicole Richie, her best friend is enveloped in marital bliss and has no time for her dear friend?

This show, for which voting has officially ended, will select 20 finalists from among the thousands of clamoring contestants. The idea behind the show is to find a friend for Paris Hilton, who says she is fed up of all the haters and wants to have someone she can trust.

The website, ParisBFF.com has seen thousands of visitors and more than six million page views from the time it went live five weeks ago, casting their votes to win a place in the top 20.

Over the last few weeks, several wannabes filled out their profiles with blogs, videos, pictures that explain why they deserve to walk the red carpets of the world’s most popular hotspots with Paris Hilton. (more…)

Competitive eating is where people eat large amounts of food in a given time, usually within 15 minutes, and the participant that eats the most receives a prize.

Although, the type of food varies, it is usually either fast food or dessert. Many items are used for these competitions, such as pies, hot dogs etc. These people do not participate for fun, because as we know, for most of us, the enjoyment ends after the second hotdog and there cannot be fun involved with stuffing ourselves.

Competitive eating is famous in the USA and these eaters are also known as “gurgitators.”

These contests are nothing new and could very possibly date back to our ancestors living in caves. The first picture of competitive eating can be visualized as - 20 hungry Neanderthals in a cave fighting over a single rabbit.

These eating competitions were extremely popular in Japan in the 1990’s but things changed when a few people were choked to death during these competitions and then they were actually looked down upon for a long time, only to slowly emerge again.

The most famous and televised competition of the recent days is, Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, which has been conducted every year on July 4, ever since 1916, and has become almost a tradition at Coney Island. This contest was won by Takeru Kobayasi and IFOCE eater, right from 2001 to 2006, and he was beaten by Joey Chestnut in 2007.

Looking at the professional competitions on competitive eating, there is the IFOCE (International Federation of Competitive Eating) and AICE (Association of Independent Competitive Eaters.) (more…)

Once upon a time, when India was yet to start shining, the evening entertainment was taken care of: watching Maradona or Platini on TV. Then India reached out and a new phenomenon unraveled in India: cricket. From a mere sport, it was becoming a passion, or even a religion as some cricket lovers would say.

Today, with the unfolding of the DLF Indian Premier League, the way cricket is looked at will never be the same again. The World’s best players match their wits, skills and energies and the game’s popularity is all set to reach its crescendo.

The Indian Premier League is a Twenty20 cricket (a short match where only 20 overs are played) competition created by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI.) The first season of IPL commenced on a high note, amidst a lot of glitter on April 18, 2008, with some high voltage action.

The DLF Indian Premier league will feature eight teams/franchises and will run for 44 days. During the season, each team will play a home match and a match away from home against every other team. There will be two semi-finals where the top four teams will contest and a final match. (more…)

Maria Carey, the name that rings a million bells in the hearts of her fans, as much for her beauty as her talent, who is described as a “diva” by many, is all set to take the world by storm again with her physics savvy E=MC2.

I am sure this formula needs no explanation, what with her status of superstardom. E=MC2 is her latest album, that was released recently on April 15.

Maria Carey is known to embrace extremes and this album, which is her tenth studio album, is no different. The songs start in a club and end in a church.

With the release of E=MC2, Maria climbed one more step up the ladder of fame, by getting closer to the Beatles, who hold the No. 1 title for the most Hot 100 singles with 20, whereas Maria is at No. 2 currently with 18, with her new chart-topper “Touch My Body.” Prior to this release, she was at 17 and tied with Elvis Presley.

In spite of having whisked past Elvis Presley, Maria has a great deal of love and respect, which she expressed as, “I really can never put myself in the category of people who have not only revolutionized music but also changed the world,” Carey told The Associated Press on Tuesday via phone from London. “That’s a completely different era and time … I’m just feeling really happy and grateful.”

“For me, in my mind the accomplishment is just that much sweeter,” she said. “In terms of my ethnicity, always feeling like an outsider, always feeling different … for me it’s about saying, ‘Thank you Lord, for giving me the faith to believe in myself when other people had written me off.’” (more…)

For those that believe in the stars of the astrological variety, the often relentless optimism of the Sagittarius that Brittney nurtures has been in many ways her downfall and led to behavior that even culminated with a suicide attempt a few years ago.

For the numerous fans that wished Britney would pull her act together and get back on her own feet, and begin to understand the world, which she is as an individual and what she really wants and feels, it does not seem to be happening.

In the past year, Britney was shown on camera to be indulging in bizarre behavior, such as shaving her head, wearing skirts without underwear and leaving her car on a busy road after getting a flat tire. All these things combined with her hospitalizations contributed to her losing custody of her two sons, Sean Preston and Jayden James.

Currently, ex-husband Kevin Federline is the sole custodian of her two little boys. Britney was allowed short visits beginning in late February after having not seen them for nearly two months. This happened because Spears and Federline modified the court order to give spears her visitation rights.

Recently, a court order from a Los Angeles Court, ordered Britney to foot the bill and pay nearly $400,000 to all the lawyers that were involved in her affairs during the past three months.
The fees also include her custody battle with ex-husband Kevin
Federline and the conservatorship issues. (more…)