Clowning it is not

The websites in cyberdom are endless, and offer a plethora of content comprising information, interactive activities and more. But there is another kind which, from the look of it, makes one wonder at the reason behind their creation, and the fact that they are running so successfully now.

I Hate Clowns is one such website that seems quite pointless, but can actually be a morale booster for many, particularly those who dislike clowns, whatever their reasons may be. Pretty novel idea one would say, but perhaps it will make some one wonder if hating ‘something’ deserves an entire website. But no matter what your answer is, this website certainly deserves to be explored.

The first thing which will strike you the minute you log on is the fact that there is actually a very real fear of clowns among people. And these people have coined a new term to be added on the list of phobias: Caulrophobia. You will also find out why it is that certain people fear clowns as much as others fear heights or closed spaces.

There is quite interesting stuff to read here. For starters, there is an entire story written by the webmaster explaining his run-in with the clowns, detailing how he first came across them, what made him dislike them for eternity, and why he was inspired to create this website. Check to see how many things you agree with. Also, you can read up on the different stages that this website has gone through, to evolve into its present, sophisticated look.

Then, there are the stories posted by many visitors to this website who have their own, scary encounters with clowns, whether in real life or through television, which have made them swear off clowns for good. One characteristic feature of all the stories is that writers always thought themselves to be weird or strange to actually dislike someone who is supposed to be entertaining. But a visit here made them realise they are just as normal as the rest, and are only suffering from a phobia.

For those of you who have a website or a blog, there is some free stuff here too. You can, for instance, download free stickers from the relevant section and put them up on your blog or website. There are also a couple of screensavers if you want your PC to proclaim your phobia (if indeed you think you have one). There is actually an online store with loads of anti-clown merchandise but really, you would rather spend that money on something worthwhile. And besides, a sticker does a pretty good job of revealing your phobia on your blog.

As with every website, this one too has forums where anti-clown community can share stories and discuss their phobia with others. If you are simply here to find out what the brouhaha is all about, you can put across your queries to the anti-clown community and get some answers. And if you have some extra time to while away, there is an assortment of anti-clown games to play as well.

In short, this website is actually quite serious and not, as it would appear at first glance, clowning away with its visitors. The stories do seem pretty serious and so, it would not hurt if you drop a line of sympathy to these self-proclaimed caulrophobics.

---

To find out more about caulrophobia, log on to http://www.ihateclowns.com/

Call of the code

Going abroad for good, for official visit or spending vacations have become very common and it is not unusual to come across a family which is spread over not less then in two continents. You will probably find examples in your own family. Hence being in touch with a relative or a friend on frequent basis has now become more important than ever.

Fortunately, there are now numerous options to keep in touch under confined budget, without having to sacrifice good old telephonic conversations. Calling cards is a great example, since you end up keeping a certain budget and yet are able to talk to your family and friends. the other, more techie way is to call via internet.

But whether you use internet telephony or ‘offline’ calling cards, one thing which is a must to know is the code of the country where you wish to call. This is a very busy life and people have hectic routine, and more-often-than-not at the time you have to make an overseas call, the memory goes blank and you end up in opening your telephone diary. But technology offers you a far easier opyion, and here comes the Country Calling Codes. This is the website which will definitely make things easy for you.

As the name suggests, this website is all about the calling codes of various countries. Once you log onto it, the website will simply ask which country you are calling from as well as the country you wish to call to. It then gives you the required calling code.

But those who are not searching for a particular country, and instead like to browse for the sake of getting to know countries and their calling codes, then this website will be a great asset. All you need to do is to access the appropriate option and the list of alphabets opens in front of you. Choose any letter; the website will display an entire list of names of the countries beginning with that particular alphabet along with their respective codes.

This will be particularly valuable to people who host their own website or maintain a blog. They can put this little handy tool on their blog or website so that their visitors can avail this service and find out the calling code for any country if they want to. Country Calling Codes has an entire section dedicated to webmasters. You can access the appropriate HTML code to insert in your template so that the calling code box shows up on your blog/website. There are different styles of boxes to choose from as well.

So basically even though this website is very simple, it is rather convenient, especially when it comes to calling up people in foreign countries.

To find out the country code for anywhere across the globe, log onto http://www.countrycallingcodes.com/

Play your TV non-stop

It was said that checking e-mail and chatting were two of the most common activities for people in cyberspace. Of course, they still are the most popular activities, but a third, more recent addition is video uploading, sharing and viewing. The phenomena of sharing videos has come about amid faster connection options, along with easy availability of recording options, which enable even the novices to capture just about anything on video and upload it on the internet for a worldwide audience. And one factor which catalysed this process of sharing online videos is no other than YouTube.

Given the popularity of the website, it should not come as a surprise then, that a local version of YouTube is now available, complete with local content to satiate the appetite of all those who cannot get enough from their televisions. ChaltaTV is the new kid on the block – a place where you can view and share your own videos just as easily as you would do so at YouTube.

The philosophy behind this website, considering recent political events and curbs on the mass media, is simply ‘freedom of expression.’ You can upload whatever you think the world needs to know – there are no bars. ChaltaTV’s philosophy is just that: TV chalta rahay.

If you are here to watch some interesting videos, then there are plenty of channels to choose from. You can watch videos related to sports, entertainment, politics, comedy, travel and religion among many others. Advertisements seem to be the most popular category here with a total of 199 videos, while entertainment is a close second with no less than166 videos. If you think other categories should be added, there is an option for you to convey your thoughts on the matter to the webmaster.

ChaltaTV also facilitates those who have videos to share with a large audience. It does not matter if you have videos stored on your cell phone or digital camera, you can easily use the upload option to post them to this website. Moreover, there are options that you can use to specify whether the video is private or public. If you want the video to be displayed only to your family and friends, then mark it as private. Videos that are free for all to view are of course, marked as public.

The privacy policy of this website is short and simple. They pledge to keep your information private, not sell your information to third parties and not spam you. One can only hope that they keep their word.

Considering that the website contains videos only, it is surprisingly fast to load on dial-up. However, you have to have Adobe Flash Player installed for the videos to play properly.

Overall, the website is still in the beta stage. But there is no doubt that once the Pakistani community starts to make full and efficient use of it, there will be a wider selection of videos as well as diversity of content to choose from.

No more sharing

OK, so who has my book? ‘Do you mind telling me where my copy of Rebecca is?’ I demanded of my sister late one night.

‘I think someone has borrowed it,’ was the reply.
‘And hopefully that someone has a name?’ I shot back.

My sister sighed. ‘Look, I have no idea who has it. That someone has never bothered to return it. All we can do is think of all the people who borrow books from us and ask them if they have it. How come you suddenly remembered Rebecca at this unearthly hour anyway?’ It was my turn to sigh. Book borrowing is something all book lovers thrive on and relate to. In a city like ours, where there is a persistent dearth of public libraries and where prices of cell phones go down faster than that of reading material, borrowing books is the only decent way to get your hands on or devour a wide variety of books. And come to think of it, it happens to be a lot of fun too. There is something entirely satisfying about going into a friend’s house empty-handed and coming out with an armful of books.

The same notion extends to shopping for books. Whenever a fellow book lover and I shop together, we never buy the same books. ‘Hey, I have that book already. Don’t buy it. You can borrow it from me when I’m done reading it,’ is a much heard-of statement at book fairs and stores. And so the process goes on. The so far undefined rules of book borrowing are akin to stating the obvious. It goes without saying that when you borrow a book, you read it and return it at the earliest opportunity—simple, right? Wrong!

As simple and obvious as the given rules may be, they are regarded in much the same league as the timings on wedding invites. Hence there are only a very few people who actually honour the fact that the book they are reading is borrowed, and that one fine day they should or will have to return it.

This leads me to classify book borrowers into three very distinct categories. Let’s start with the most positive category: the ‘dutiful borrowers’. These borrowers, as the name suggests, follow the rules meticulously. They keep a very good track of which book they have borrowed from whom. They also take very good care of the books they borrow. And they make it their top most priority to read the book at their earliest and return it. And yes, they expect the same consideration from the people to whom they have lent their books. It goes without saying that these poor souls are often disappointed.

The cause of their disappointment is sometimes people who fall in the next category of borrowers who can be aptly termed ‘lethargic borrowers.’ These borrowers are ones who have impossibly hectic schedules, but are still keen on reading good books. Hence, they borrow books extensively but, owing to a very hectic lifestyle, they can only manage to read a page or two everyday. Now, don’t get me wrong. I realise that today’s life is fast paced; everyone already has a lot on their schedules, and it’s not that easy to make time to read books in a short span of time. It’s understandable that most people can only manage a couple of pages daily. The point is that if you lend your book to a lethargic borrower, there is some hope that the book will come back to you one day even if it takes up to six months for it to finish.

At least in the above two cases your books are returned to you. The third category of the ‘lost borrowers’ comprises of people to whom if you lend your books; they have an excellent chance of getting lost. Yep, these lost borrowers borrow books with extreme enthusiasm and line up the borrowed books on their shelves and forget all about them. Sometimes, the book borrowers even forget who they had borrowed the book from.

If you are a dutiful borrower and keep track of these lost ones, try asking some of them to return your books — they will give you their most woebegone expressions and tell you very sadly that they have not ‘yet’ had time to read the books they borrowed. They will then ask to keep those books for another year probably, and even at the end of that year they will be no close to actually opening the said book. Yes, it is actually a lost cause.

An extension of the lost borrowers are the soulless borrowers. They will enthusiastically lend out your books to their friends or relatives, without keeping track of which book they gave to whom. You will only find that out when you ask for the books. At such times you can only hope that the people who now have your books belong to the dutiful category, otherwise you can just forget about seeing those books ever again.

So there you have it — a neat categorisation of those who borrow books in order to fulfill their thirst for reading. These categories are by no means exhaustive. One can actually write a whole book on them. However, these are the categories I have made after experiencing all three types of borrowers and having agonised over lost books, some of them being the books received as prizes from my school days.

Now I must go figure out who has my copy of Rebecca and Maps for Lost Lovers.

Heart of the matter

It is quite a sorry state that the while the world today is becoming technologically advanced in terms of medicine, it has given rise to new physical ailments. For example, diseases related to heart have become quite common. In fact, latest research says that younger people, particularly women, are now more prone to heart diseases that can prove to be fatal.

The causes, obviously, are directly related current lifestyles. Earlier, people ate healthy, unadulterated food and practiced vigorous physical exercises, which kept them fit. On the contrary, the present generation is growing up on ready-made, fast food and avoid any kind of physical labour. Unfortunately, these practices translate into health problems like erratic blood pressure, obesity, cholesterol, diabetes, ulcer and of course, heart diseases.

For those who are concerned about their health, the ‘Heart Health’ is a website that must be checked out. It discusses a plethora of information on everything related to a healthy heart, and obviously everything which can be a threat. Whether you are looking for information on a specific heart disease, or just visiting to assure yourself that you are not at any risk, Heart Health will definitely help you out. The best thing is that all the information here has been verified by cardiovascular experts.

The website is divided into four main sections which is a huge help especially if you are searching for discussion on a specific problem. If you are just browsing, then it is advisable to check each of these four sections in detail.

The first section called ‘Conditions and Diseases’ delves into all the diseases related to the heart and their major symptoms. A list of symptoms is already present for the convenience of the surfer, and all you will need to do is to select the ones which concern you.

This section also has a range of quizzes which you can take to analyse where your heart stands now. There are news items as well, which focus on the impact of an unhealthy lifestyle on the heart. Also, there are featured guides on topics like heart attack, stroke, blood clots and a range of other diseases.

There is another section on ‘Procedures and Tests’ that give information about the different surgeries and treatments which patients with heart diseases have to go through. If you are suffering from any heart disease, this section will help you immensely in understanding the exact treatment and its outcome. It also helps in getting to know about the functioning of devices like electro cardiogram, etc.

‘Drugs and Medication’ is an extension of the section that discusses treatment. Here, you will find ample information on different drugs that are used for the treatment of the heart diseases, and how they work. And although, it gets bit technical, it does give out a lot of information regarding various drugs.

The last section ‘Prevention Centre’ discusses preventive measures. Here, you can find everything ranging from how to follow a healthy diet and how stress increases the risk of heart disease.

---

To pave your way towards a healthy heart, log onto http://heart.health.ivillage.com