Tête-à-tête

"Why Study For Exams.... Are they not about what you know, not about how much you can cram into your head the night before?"
-- Keep (this quote) out of reach of Maliha Bassam

Ah, pardonnez moi… I realise that I made a mistake last week, telling you about Durdana’s piece, which was supposed to have been there…I hadn’t counted on someone removing it the last minute. * Glares at the Mood Dude *
Gamer Boy Niloy’s back in full steam. He claims he’s got some wicked cool projects up his sleeve, articles so awesome that he could use them as his weapons for world domination. We’ll just have to see, won’t we? Hammad Ali’s on cover this week, as he talks about people you find outside an exam center. He missed out on a few characters though. Take a look:
The street urchins/beggars who invade your personal space and literally paw you as they try and wheedle some money out of you. The annoying people with leaflets who hand you a flyer about GED right after you stepped out from an A level exam. Hello! Wouldn’t it be better if I knew about this other option before I applied for several months of nightmarish cramming? The street vendors (in some venues), making brisk business out of jhalmuri, chanachur, ice cream and what not. You gotta hand it to this enterprising lot.
The applications for the staff writers are poring in, as are letters asking for further clarification. This is for the candidates applying from Chittagong and other places outside Dhaka: it’s okay for you guys to send in your CV’s and sample write-ups through e-mail. Dhakaites, we want your apps through snail mail or hand delivery!
Finally, please, please try and stick to the word limit! This time we’re giving preference to applicants who can work creatively within a tight word limit. You’ll find out why soon enough.
I’m keeping it short this week. Till our next tete-a-tete, take care!

Send your polls, love letters, hate mails, and opinions to thegirlnextdoor1@hotmail.com, or mail me at my yahoo address at teteatete_tgnd@yahoo.com

By The Girl Next Door

Oddly Enough…

Incorrect spelling will not be penalized in English tests. Education surrenders.
SKOOL xams definitly aint what they used to be, LOL!!!11 Concern about the nation's spelling abilities may have spawned a best-selling book and a television series, but for today's pupils, ignorance of "i before e except after c" is no barrier to success.

Examiners marking an English test taken by 600,000 14-year-olds have been told not to deduct marks for incorrect spelling on the main writing paper, worth nearly a third of the overall marks. The rule, issued by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, means that pupils could spell every word wrongly in the most significant piece of writing that they are required to do and yet still receive full marks. Ministers are particularly concerned about exam results this year, having failed to achieve their 2004 target of 75 per cent of 14-year-olds reaching the level expected in English. telegraph.co.uk

The Chernobyl nuclear disaster has spawned a generation of 'mutant' super-brainy children. Welcome our radioactive superlords.
THE Chernobyl nuclear disaster has spawned a generation of 'mutant' super-brainy children. Kids growing up in areas damaged by radiation from the plant have a higher IQ and faster reaction times, say Russian doctors. They are also growing faster and have stronger immune systems.

Radiation from the Ukrainian Chernobyl plant swept the globe and affected more than seven million people. Professor Vladimir Mikhalev from Bryansk State University, has tracked the health of youngsters growing up in areas hit by the fallout since the 1986 accident. He compared their mental agility and health to those in unaffected areas and found they came out top in tests. The kids had been exposed to radiation in the atmosphere and their food supply. thesun.co.uk

Cambodia's royal cows predict good harvest.
CAMBODIA'S sacred oxen forecast an abundant rice harvest for the coming year on Thursday, although farmers who have just endured one of the worst droughts in living memory remained sceptical.

The ancient ploughing ceremony, overseen by King Norodom Sihamoni, marks the end of the dry season and is meant to indicate a promising start to rice-planting in the war-scarred Southeast Asian nation, where over 80 percent of people depend on farming. In a centuries-old ritual, a pair of oxen ploughed a symbolic furrow outside Phnom Penh's gilded Royal Palace and was then offered a choice of seven dishes -- rice, corn, beans, sesame, water, wine and grass. Royal astrologer proclaimed the oxen consumed 90 percent of the rice, and 95 percent of the corn and beans, and steered cleared of the water, signifying a plentiful harvest.

But some farmers who had travelled to the capital to witness the ceremony had their doubts."I saw the oxen drinking the water. That means maybe there will be a lack of rain," said farmer Ly Sophat from the northwest province of Pursat. "I only believe about half of what they are predicting." news.yahoo.com

Have you been looking to buy a submarine or two? The Canadian Navy would like to talk to you.
FOUR mothballed submarines, acquired from the British navy nearly 40 years ago, are being put up for sale, the Canadian defence department has announced. "We are anxious to get rid of them," said the department's disposal co-ordinator. "We have been for some time."

These were the last of the subs to be taken out of service in 2000. MacDonald estimated they may be able to get $50,000 to $60,000 each as scrap metal. He said it would take a lot of resources to make the vessels seaworthy. Very little maintenance has been done on the submarines since they were taken out of service. The navy would have liked to use the subs as museums but they've deteriorated too much even for that. cbc.ca/story/

Compiled by Ahmed Ashiful Haque

Shout out

Hey people!
Finally the exams are over! Thanks to everyone who mailed in their concerns about the absence of the column; you made our day. Thanks to TGND for doing the zodiac bit, I'm sure the Taureans's wouldn't like to be forgotten. We missed out an important event in May: Mothers Day, but you can use one of the following issues of Shout to wish your mum. Reminder: you don't need a separate day to tell a mum how special and extraordinary she is. A special shout, on any day of the year, makes all the difference. So write up a message for your boss, I mean your mum, right now and send it in as quickly as you can! Send in your shouts, comments and queries to shout13@gmail.com.

Now with that cleared out, let's talk about this month's zodiac sign. Your star sign is Gemini if you were born some time between May 22 and June 21. Gemini, the sign of the Twins, is dual-natured, elusive, complex and contradictory making most Gemini difficult to understand. Gemini have a keen, intuitive, sometimes brilliant intelligence and they love cerebral challenges. They are versatile, witty, youthful and lively. If things go against them, they sulk like children. They demand attention, admiration, and the spending on them of time, energy and money, throwing tantrums if they don't get what they want. Their good qualities (affectionate, courteous, kind, generous, and thoughtful) are attractive and come easily to them.

Dear Apu
Happy Birthday and many happy returns of the day.
Love,
Bivu

Hey Shrishty
Belated happy Birthday…just would like you to know that we all love you very very much.
From all your ducklings.

Raya,
Congratulations….your wish has come true!!! You are finally going to UWC…best of luck…and lots of love from everyone of us.

Dear Moniak
Belated Happy Birthday!!!
Well, you can at last have all the fun that you missed because of the exams. Remember you still owe me a treat!
Shoaib

Dear Bhaiya!
Wish you a Very Happy Birthday and wish that the coming year brings you
happiness and lots of prosperity!!! Many Many Happy Returns Of The Day!!
Zara

To: Peu's dad
Jaan, HAPPY BIRTHDAY (27th may); feel free for Nocilla and lichis (ONLY from me!) ; My life, I love you...
From: Peu's mom

Hey Rakhi,Shamir,Mithu,Rumpa,Ria,Rilapu,Nipapu & all my cousins I just want to say that I love you-all (I'm so sweet na?).Take care.Bye. Sayem

By the Hitch-hiker
[ ATTENTION: This column is NOT responsible for any negative (or otherwise) outcome of the messages printed in it. Please do NOT abuse the column by using it to play pranks etc. Also, all personal information including email addresses and telephone numbers will be printed at the sender's expense and we do NOT take ANY responsibility for any inconvenience to anyone. ]

'Friends' to reunite for movie?
Monday, May 23 2005, 14:42 BST
Although Friends has ended on the small screen, there is talk that the cast may reunite for a silver screen outing. The Sunday Express claims that David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston have both expressed in the project which would make each of the six lead cast members £10 million richer.

The newspaper quotes an insider as saying: "Although the cast have gone their different ways, none of them has quite repeated the success they had with Friends. "And while Friends may be over as a television entity there are many who have believed for some time that people had not quite had enough of them just yet. "David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston are the first to make positive noises regarding the film and it is thought once they are on board the others will follow suit.

By Daniel Saney

Staff writers wanted

Its that time of the year again when our staff writers spread their wings and fly off. If you are interested in writing please drop off your CV as well as a short sample article before the 9th of June. The article should be not more than 500 words and the topic should be on a current news event that is creating waves among the general public, or you can write a short essay about an event that made an impact on your life.
If you think you can regularly meet deadlines and submit an article every week to the boss then this job is yours. That's the difficult part. The rest of the tasks are easy such as listening to bosses scream, growing a fondness for drinking gallons of tea and generally looking busy sitting in front of a computer.
No previous experience is required other than the fact that you should be able to write correctly and creatively.
All mails should be sent to this address: RS Editor, The Daily Star, 19 Kawran Bazar, Dhaka or email to risingstars@thedailystar.net

Did you know?

TOPGUN isn't just an old movie that became really famous. It's the name of an actual squadron. It uses hand-me-down aircraft whose airframes have exceeded the number of hours allowed for cable-arrested landings on a carrier.
When the movie was made, TOPGUN was part of the Navy Fighter Weapons School based at Miramar in California.
Pilots touching down on a carrier deck go from 170 mph to 0 in 240 feet and 1.5 seconds.
An F-18 consumes between 4000 and 6000 pounds of fuel an hour at cruise. At full power with afterburners that can rise to 13,000 pounds (1650 U.S. gallons) in about 10 minutes

By Gokhra