rottenDAWN.COM | National | Poor buy rotten fruits & vegetables, if at all

By A.B.Arisar
Sunday, 04 Oct, 2009 | 04:19 AM PST UMERKOT, Oct 3: The ever-increasing prices of daily use items are forcing the people to ignore the health and well-being of themselves and their families by compromising on rotten fruits and vegetables for these are handy at cheaper rates.

Vendors deal with majority of customers either seeking essential items at cheaper rates or avoiding it altogether for their budgets don’t allow to avail such luxuries – a decent living is now a bygone thought.

A fruit vendor disclosed to Dawn that the poverty was now at the lowest ebb as people opt for low-cost fruits and vegetables. He shot back when encountered that the stuff he was selling was rotten by arguing that it wasn’t rotten but of low quality.

A school teacher, Mohammad Ali working under the NHCD and drawing Rs2,000 per month wailed that how a person with such a meagre salary can run a household which includes dry and green grocery, health care, clothing and other necessities – what to say of fruit which now was just a catchword for people like him who were in majority.

A Thari shopkeeper confessed of adulterating the commodities as according to him the poor people were unable to buy pure stuff which was a bit expensive while adulteration provides a means of survival to both customers and shopkeepers.

A medical practitioner, Dr Allahdad Rathore said that the cases of food poisoning, gastroenteritis, diarrhoea, worms infestation, typhoid, mouth ulcers and other diseases were steadily increasing because of the consumption of unhygienic food items for these are affordable for the poor section of the society in such hard times.

A worker of HANDS, an NGO, Bansi Malhi working in the health sector said that a baseline survey conducted in 2008 revealed 56 per cent of the Umerkot population was living below the poverty line which by now must have gone down further and in such a scenario these people prefer to die of disease than of starvation.

I decided to make my latest Thought Bubble, “A Lollipop With My Shot?” simultaneously posted on the FunOrb Official Forums (It wasn’t solely because people who read this page are less likely to comment on here or on the forums, but it was a major factor behind the decision). I was glad to see that the respondents have so far taken my article in context, owing that my message was geared more towards the timing of the price increase, rather than the actual price itself, or the lack of content.

Here are some small snippets of the forum comments currently, after the break. I’ll be updating this as more people reply. If you have any thoughts on the recent price hike, feel free to drop a line on this page, the forums, or in the FunOrb official forum thread: 15-16-741-40650

It was a great idea to raise the price. By raising the price, we may get more content? It gives them more money to do the things they want to make this website even better!
-Bluesoccer 1

That’s pretty much my view on the price increase too. I have no issues with the price itself, but I do question whether Jagex made the right move in implementing it now. I feel that the price increase would be much easier to swallow for players if it can right after a major update, or more concrete promises of major updates.
-Cursed Pride

FunOrb is recovering from the stress of updating the servers and dealing with lag, as it is trying to justify this price increase as well as bring stability and increase security. I can see the developers pour their heart into their projects. Hopefully the extra income will be an added incentive to fight the burnout and strive to persevere.

Pirate Empires hasn’t been released yet, which I am sure will be our lollipop as well as Bachelor Fridge. There is still work to be done on Hostile Spawn and AoG. I’m excited about this, but if I were a new member, I’d be very hesitant to put in a subscription right now.
-Zozoken

But if you were new, would you necessarily consider this a “dry spell”? You wouldn’t have yet played every game over and over as the old members have. And you wouldn’t remember when we had an update every two weeks, because you weren’t playing then. The people who will notice the dry spell most are the old members, who won’t pay the new price.
-Zizoz

My personal belief is that I would not pay £3.20 a month for what we are currently getting, and as I have let my membership lapse for almost 14 days, I can safely say that it needs to be something big to entice me back to pay £3.20 a month.
-X Levante X

I don’t mind the new price changes. More money means new people to work on this area which means new ideas for games and maybe more new games.
-Fr Fox

Listen to the mod ^, jagex arnt doing well with funorb right now
Pelea8

Source : http://www.gallup.com.pk/index.php Almost Two Thirds (64%) Prefer Popular Music Over Other Genres of Music Although more than half of all Pakistanis (59%) are fond of listening to music, a significant 39% do not listen to music. Amongst various genres of music, popular music has more listener ship (64%) followed by Ghazals (18%), Qawalis (6%) and others (5%). Ghazals and Qawalis are mostly heard by older people as compared to people under 30 years of age who are fond of popular music. Recent findings show that English music (considered mostly as western music) has less appeal in Pakistan as compared to other genres. Popular music is music belonging to any of a number of musical styles that are accessible to the general public and are disseminated by one or more of the mass media.

Majority (72%) Prefers Using Tooth Paste to Clean Their TeethMore than two thirds of all Pakistanis (72%) use toothpaste for dental care followed by Miswak and Manjan Powder each used by 18% and 9% respectively. Amongst those who do not use tooth paste, majority (27%) claimed toothpaste is an expensive product, 25% said there is no specific reason for them to not use tooth paste, 17% believe tooth paste does not clean teeth properly, 22% claimed they use Miswak instead, because it is cheaper and 6% said that their method of cleaning their teeth (i.e Miswak) is a Sunnat (practiced and promoted by the Prophet sws).

Majority (82%) Claim Their Eating Habits Have Changed Due to Increase in the Prices of Food ItemsMore  than two thirds of all Pakistanis (82%) claim that an increase in the price of food items has affected their eating habits to a great or at least to some extent. Ten percent (10%) of the respondents stated that inflation in food items has had a very little affect on their eating habits where as for 7% there has been no change. Rise in the prices of eatables has made people from all income groups to change their eating habits.

Majority Believes (41%) that Parents Should Allow Their Children to Marry Someone of Their Own ChoiceHigher number of Pakistanis (41%) believe that parents should allow their children to marry someone of their own choice, while 31% said they should not be allowed. Twenty eight percent (28%) claimed that it all depends on the situation. The data reveals that boys tend to get more support for love marriage as compared to their female counter parts. It must however be noted that concepts like ‘marriage by choice’ are strongly influenced by customs and traditions and ‘love marriage’ may not necessarily be the term that captures the meaning of our respondents. It is our approximation, open for debate. According to analysts at Gallup Pakistan, opposition to ‘marriage by choice’ may not be so stark as it seems and may connote an opposition to choice which is disapproved by the family. Similarly support for choice may also not be so open-ended as to endorse defiance of views of other family members. The findings of the survey should be read in that context.

41% Claim to Have Access to a Motorcycle; Majority does not have any Personal TransportationMajority of all Pakistanis do not own any means of personal transportation, 8% have claimed to own a car and 41% of the respondents said they have access to motorcycles. Motorcycles may or may not be owned by them and might belong to a close relative or work place. A higher percentage of urbanites compared to the ruralites, have access to cars or motorcycles.

More Than 50% Men and Women in Pakistan Claim to Assist Each Other in Running the HouseholdMen (56%) and women (55%) in Pakistan claim that they assist each other in running the household. There are some chores inside the house with which men claim to help and women are also believed to partake in running errands outside the house. However there is still a significantly high percentage of men (43%) and women (44%) who do not take each others responsibilities, instead they play the role customs and socialization has described for them.

One Fourth of Pakistanis Claim Their Family Member Suffered Due to Heat IntensityOne fourth of all Pakistanis (29%) claimed someone from their family member fell sick because of the heat intensity this year, where as 68% said the heat did not affect anyone’s health in their family.

Very Few Mosques Are Believed to Provide a Separate Praying Area for WomenMajority of all Pakistanis (85%) said that mosques situated in their local areas do not have any sort of reserved place for women to take part in the congregational prayers, while 12% claimed their local mosques do. The survey shows that Punjab is believed to have maximum number of mosques with female praying areas.

21% of all Pakistanis said they have a recreational park near their house, whereas the majority (79%) claimed to have no such facility. Amongst those who do have a park near their residence, majority (42%) claimed to be regular visitors.

Views on Methods of Social ChangePublic attitude is divided on how best to change and improve society. A third of Pakistanis subscribe to revolutionary views, another third support gradual reform and the remaining third want the status quo to remain. Interestingly, men showed a proportionately higher preference for revolutionary change while women claimed to equally support both revolution and gradual reformation for bringing change in society

Very Few Pakistanis Can Afford Recreational ActivitiesOnly a minority of all Pakistanis participate in outdoor activities such as Eating out (31%), Domestic travel for fun (27%), Domestic travel for work (16%), and Foreign travel for fun and work (1% each) within a span of one year. Majority are unable to do any of these activities possibly due to lack of finances and opportunity. Interestingly there is a flip side to it. As opportunities for financially affordable individual and nuclear-family focused activities are few, most Pakistanis seek entertainment in extended-family based congregations and communal gatherings.

One Third of Pakistanis View Globalization Favorably, the Rest Are Divided; Half of Them Believe Foreign Investment Has a Positive ImpactWhile the majority of Pakistanis (35%) have favorable views about globalization, a sizeable percentage think it is neither good nor bad (28%) or simply have not formed a view yet (24%). Despite this ambiguity, more than half (52%) deem foreign investment to be valuable for their country’s economic progress.

Only 5% Claimed to Have Traveled Abroad; UAE Tops The Most-Visited ListMajority of all Pakistanis (95%) have never had a chance to travel outside Pakistan, only 5% said they have gone abroad. Amongst those, who have traveled overseas, majority (52%) have visited UAE. The remaining respondents have claimed to visit Asian countries (24%), Europe (13%), and Africa/USA (10%). The survey shows that majority (44%) of these people went abroad for employment or business ventures and one third (34%) traveled to perform Haj or Umra (The Holy Pilgrimage to Mekkah). Some of the other reasons cited were recreation (8%), visiting relatives (8%), and education or others (6%).

While Majority (47%) Claim to Earn Enough For Living, 42% Said Their Income is Not EnoughOnly a hand full of Pakistanis (11%) earn such that they can have savings, where as most of the respondents either earn enough for their living (47%) or below average (42%). Regarding their current economic condition, 38% claimed it is the same as in the previous year and 31% said it is a little better. Forty three percent (43%) said that their personal economic conditions would remain the same in the future and 41% are hopeful that their financial situation would either be a lot better (12%) or at least a little better (29%) after one year. It must be noted that these are perceptions and may or may not match the material situation experienced by the respondents.

31% Use Emergency Lights During Load SheddingMajority (42%) of all Pakistanis require electricity to a great or some extent to do their work. Just as many (42%) are either forced to terminate their work during the day or discontinue working during load shedding. Only 11% have the luxury of using generators or UPS.

1) New mobo, ram and PSU tester came in for my sisters PC. I did a quick test of the PSU and at first, I thought it was toast, but I needed to plug the other 4pin adapter in that goes into the motherboard for the extra juice the CPU needs. When I did that, the tester indicated the PSU is still good.

2) Just learned t-mobile is finally going to push out the update for the G1 known as Android 1.5 with “Cupcake” which is suppost to add some new features to the HTC G1. I was ready to give up seeing this update. Hope this fixes a few issues I have been having with my phone, maybe the damn thing will stop dropping off from the network

3) Looks like, dispite the rebates for canon lenses, prices just jumped up some. I got to say, I am a bit ticked at this. This means more saving up and a longer wait to get a new lens and with how hard some lenses are to get, this means I may end up missing out once again on the rebates.

4) Got my first DAS meeting this Friday, I can’t wait. After the meeting we should be able to go and look through the giant scope, of course it will be a nearly full moon (I think 100% full?) so if its clear, we have that to deal with.

Well I am not sure if my fellow iTunes users have noticed but the upcoming tracks have been converted to “iTunes + {Plus}” and the price has been increased from $0.99 to $1.29 a track!. Now I quite do not get the philosophy of why iTunes would do that. IN some sense I would see iTunes or Apple (what ever you prefer) taking advantage of there 80% market share. But it seems that its a risk that iTunes should have NOT taken.

In recent reports it shows that Amazon mp3 has taken away 25%+ away from iTunes within 2 years. Which Napster, Rhapsody still hasent in there longer existence. If you didn’t know, Sony attempted to take a Pie from the market but failed miserably…Shall I say Wasted Investment…

I saw this quote on a LA-Times Article and thought I’d do a pop-out for it…

“This will be a PR nightmare,” predicted former EMI Music executive Ted Cohen, who is managing partner of digital media consulting firm TAG Strategic. “It is for the music industry what the AIG bonuses are for the insurance industry.”

In 2008, Digital Music Downloads reached a industry hgh of $1 Billion. I personally believe that the record amount of people who have stopped downloading music on pirate networks will start up again. Its basically the Bully @ lunch time trying to take more cash out of you. ..

Apple Claims the new price hikes gives Record labels a way to create bigger discount packages for there consumers. But according to the LA-Times, about 30% of record labels are against this price hike.

But in the general sense its a “variable” pricing. Tracks will be prices in 3 different categories.

- $0.66
-$0.99
- $1.29

Obviously the most demanded and new tracks are $1.29 and the least are $0.66.

Well its something to see what happens, but I think this stunt is going to give AmazonMP3 more market share because of there $0.89 per track.

The colleges all over the TamilNadu remains closed and the opening date was not announced yet. What is happening here ? Why this decision of closing the educational institutions ? Won’t it affect the academic process ? Is this a solution for the so called issues ?

Who is gonna answer these questions ? What the hell is happening over here. This is really a pathetic situation in Tamilnadu and the worst display of the TN governments administration ability. Does it looks like a experienced party ruling the state with the well expertise and experienced chief as a head and CM ? Sure it doesn’t look like. Simply displays the inability of the CM to handle critical situations and the great escapism from these situations.

My humble request to CM is please step down from the honorable posting and please leave space to some able person or atleast leave the space to the so called 55 years old young leader M.K.S., Sure they can do better. I do respect your Age and experience and your commitment/contribution to Tamil language and TamilNadu.Please take rest for rest of your life and now its time to work offline. You have bunch of other works like Kalingar TV, Sun TV-Kalingar TV clash drama screenplay,words play with opposing parties,heading poetry competitions,solving family inter politics issues etc., So please concentrate more on these works and leave the way to others.

Now the Family rules CM

The historical power crisis , the uncontrollable price hikes on the daily usable, wasting of money in free color TV scheme,instability in the most important political statements, hide and seek game in Tamil Elam issue, diplomatic way of increasing bus fares, non qualified ministers for Electricity and IT,play game on Ramar-Sethu bridge, dominance of M.K.A (Big B)  in madurai, etc., etc., for all these things I can say…simply politics is becoming B…S..t.

Wish the CALLBACK facility to be included and enabled in India. Still more then two years to go along with these core stupid politicians.

ps:- I do not belong to any political party . Just thrown my views on some of the issues I could not tolerate .

I really can’t believe this bit of news.  Apparently the price of the 2009 motorcycle test is to go up AGAIN!

Not content with a £20 increase in September 2008 to cover the increased costs of the new test, it is to go yet up again by another £10.50!

If you are booking your motorbike test and intend taking it after March 30th 2009 it will now cost you a staggering £90.50!

That’s a 50% increase in fees in less than a year!

Considering the last increase in fees was supposed to pay for the increased costs for the new test, I’m absolutely appalled that they are yet again increasing the fees while many of the new test centres still need to be built!

How the heck can they justify yet another increase when some learner riders will still have to travel too many miles to get to one of the new centres? 

Talk about being ripped off!!

It’s enough to make my blood boil!

Please check out the other entries in the 2009 Motorcycle Test Updates Category

After the recent announcements of Linden Labs concerning the price hike of the Open Space sims, there is a totally new concept introduced in the scene of virtual reality environments: “Virtual refugees”. And though they are refugees in a virtual world, existing only of pixels and dots, they are on the run for real, hoping to find a better place to virtually live.

The effect of the price raise is probably only just started, but already having an impact; several landlords are already trembling on their legs… and the real estate market seems to be rapidly coming in a new phase. On all levels of the real estate pyramid, there are people descending to a lower level.

People renting an open space sim for their home or club, are looking towards a 70% increase of the rent they pay. Where they used to rent an open space sim for about USD 75, the new prices will turn that into a 3-figure sum of USD 125 affective in July 2009. Not to mention the psychological border of USD 100 which is crossed by this price raise, for many people this is just becoming too expensive as a hobby, even if they’re the big spenders in Second Life.

The same thing happens at all levels… on every level prices will increase by roughly 70%. This causes all people renting an open space sim to think again about the prims they use… They’re making the sum of prims again, and looking for a smaller parcel with just enough prims for the same price they now pay for their mansion on their private isles.

More and more open space sims are going up for sale, or are abandoned by landlords rather dumping them than trying to get a penny for them on an over filled real estate market. If you were looking for an open space sim, not afraid of paying a tier of USD 125 each month, but willing to make a good purchase deal; then this really is your moment to do business… though; if you’re a patient one; around New Year it will probably be even more interesting.

Personally I do rent out homes on open space sims in Second Life, but because I’m not at the top of the pyramid, (not renting out full sims, but just little places “to call home”), I’m not that nervous… I’ve already informed my renters about the price hike, and I saw most of them leave… but I already see a bunch of new ones coming in… people that used to rent a full or half an open sim and now are satisfied with a smaller parcel and home.

What makes me more nervous is what content creators and merchants are going to do. I know most of them not only rent shops to sell their goods, but also have a workshop, mostly on an open space sim so that they can develop their products in all privacy… This means their costs will increase…

What will the result be? Anyone has an idea or opinion about that? Will there be some that dare to raise prices at a really competitive market? Will lots of small shops close? Will they centralize, close all their small shops and just have one personal mall? Not sure about any answer on the questions stated above, but I do think the price raise will probably not only affect the real estate market.

          The inflation which our country suffering now finally slammed the matchbox industry with no big surprise as a result after 15 years there’s a rise in the price of the matchbox from 50 paise to Rs. 1. We usually get the matchbox for the loose change which we get from the shops but now its an exempler to shore up the effects of inflation. The input cost growth has made a hit to 100% so there’s absolutely no option other than the price hike, said S. Sriram Ashok, president of the All India Chamber of Match Industries-Sivakasi.

All these fifteen years these matchbox industries tried not to cross the border of  50 paise per box by downsizing the labour as it mechanized. It’s believed that the price hike wont affect the market except the threat of matchboxes from Pakistan. All these mounting effects of inflation is slowly but surely disturbed and created a havoc.

Many foreign tourists have cancelled their tours of Vietnam as these tours cost 20-30 percent more than earlier this year.

VietNamNet Bridge –Over the past nine months, Hanoi received 960,512 international arrivals, a rise of 5 percent over the same period last year, accounting for one third of the country’s total international tourists, according to the municipal department of Culture, Information and Tourism.

However, the Department says the number of tourists to the capital city is likely to decrease this year due to negative impacts of price rises. Many foreign tourists have cancelled their tours of Vietnam as these tours cost 20-30 percent more than earlier this year.

The impact of the price hike on the city’s tourist industry is similar to what happened in 2003 when Hanoi was suffering from the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) epidemic, says Mai Tien Dung, deputy head of the department. However, Hanoi’s authorities have been well-prepared for this unexpected.

(Source: VNA)