Pink Lake In Senegal..

Lake Retba or Lac Rose lies north of the Cap Vert peninsula of Senegal, north east of Dakar. It is so named for its pink waters, caused by Dunaliella salina in the water. The color is particularly visible during the dry season. The lake is also known for its high salt content, which, like that of the Dead Sea, allows people to float easily. The lake also has a small salt collecting industry and is often the finishing point of the Dakar Rally. Many salt collectors work 6–7 hours a day in the lake, which has a salt content close to 40%. In order to protect their skin, they rub their skin with "Beurre de Karité" (shea butter, produced from shea nuts obtained from the Shea nut tree), which is an emollient used to avoid tissue damage. This lake was used on a task of the Amazing Race 6 in which teams had to collect salt in a basket from the bottom of the lake floor. This pink colored lake located in Senegal, Africa its called Lake Retba or Lac Rose. It is so named for its pink waters, caused by cyanobacteria in the water. The color is particularly visible during the dry season.
The lake is also known for its high salt content, which, like that of the Dead Sea, allows people to float easily. The lake also has a small salt collecting industry and is often the finishing point of the Dakar Rally.

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Women in Senegal spend up to 14 hours a day on the banks of this lake to harvest salt. Each liter of water has about 380 grams of salt.
This man spends 6-7 hours a day in water with a salt content close to 40%. In order to protect his skin he rubs himself with "Beurre de Karité" (shea butter, produced from shea nuts obtained from the Shea nut tree), which is an emollient to avoid the skin to burn.
The picture is taken in Lac Rose, a pink lake very close to the Atlantic Ocean in Senegal not far away from Dakar. Six days a week he manages to harvest about a ton of salt per day, which is loaded in a small wooden boat.
When the boat is fully loaded with salt he returns to the shore and the boat is discharged by his wife and other family members. The salt is sold locally and for exports to other West African countries.

Cities With the Best Credit Scores 2012

If you live in the Midwest, then you live in the U.S. region where residents are the most responsible with their money. So says Experian, an agency that collects financial information about people, businesses, cars and insurance. They’ve analyzed the credit and debt habits of the American people and determined which cities have the people with the highest credit scores.
The findings come from its second-annual “State of Credit” report. Those results are based on the average VantageScore by designated market area from January through June 2011.
The VantageScore has a range of 501 to 900, from worst to best. Among other things, the analysis revealed that the average credit score in the U.S. is 749, the average debt is $24,542 and the average percentage of available credit in American households is 71.17 percent.
Using data from Experian, CNBC.com presents 2012 edition of the cities with the best credit scores.

1. Wausau, Wis. 
City averages: 
Credit Score: 789
Debt: $22,439
Number of Late Payments: 0.27 %
Credit Available: 77.52
Number of Open Credit Cards: 1.71

The highest-ranking city is Wausau, Wis., a remarkable development considering that in the previous year, it didn’t even make the list. Interestingly, of all 10 cities on this list, four including Wausau, are in Wisconsin. When it comes to managing personal credit and debt, the people of Wisconsin must be doing something right.

2. Minneapolis, Minn. 
City averages: 
Credit Score: 787
Debt: $24,994
Number of Late Payments: 0.26 %
Credit Available: 73.45
Number of Open Credit Cards: 2.08

In the previous year, Minneapolis, Minn., proudly topped the “State of Credit” list. However, times change, and during the most recent survey period, it fell one spot. Still, its average credit score of 787 is impressive, and the city owes it in part to a low unemployment rate of 6.9 percent, and a median family income of $82,700. On the negative side, it had 786 foreclosures.

3. Madison, Wis. 
City averages: 
Credit Score: 785
Debt: $23,533
Number of Late Payments: 0.27 %
Credit Available: 75.90
Number of Open Credit Cards: 1.79

Madison, Wis., has fallen one spot to number 3, but like Cedar Rapids, the city is still in good standing despite the slippage. It has a lower-than-average unemployment rate at 6 percent, a higher-than-average median family income of $81,800 and a high percentage of available credit.

4. Cedar Rapids, Iowa
City averages:
Credit Score: 781
Debt: $23,628
Number of Late Payments: 0.32 %
Credit Available: 76.57
Number of Open Credit Cards: 1.82

Like most of the cities on this list, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has fallen one spot since the previous year. Still, number 4 isn’t a bad place to be. Its high placement is due in part to a high percentage of available credit and a low unemployment rate of 6 percent.
5. San Francisco 
City averages: 
Credit Score: 781
Debt: $23,973
Number of Late Payments: 0.30 %
Credit Available: 72.83
Number of Open Credit Cards: 2.02 At number 5, San Francisco is the only city on this list to retain its ranking from the previous year. Its residents have a relatively high number of open credit cards and a relatively low percentage of available credit. At the time of the survey, the city had a 10 percent unemployment rate, higher than the national average of 9.2 percent. But at $101,600, San Francisco is the only city on this list with a six-figure median family income, which helps it to retain its foothold.

Do you really need heavier oil for summer?

With an oil like a 10W40 (the W stands for winter), the oil flows similar to a 10-weight in freezing temperatures to minus 30 C and protects like a 40-weight at 100 C. With this innovation in oil performance, changing weights for the season is no longer necessary and may be detrimental. Modern oils are very effective across all temperature ranges, and new engines are designed and tested to work specifically with only the type of oil listed in your owner's manual. Older cars can use modern oils too, just base the first viscosity on your climate, e.g., 0W for northern Canada, 10W for Florida, and use the original oil spec for the operating weight. Most older cars work fine with 10W30.
While we're on the topic of oil, it's worth taking a moment to demystify synthetic oil. Synthetics are really just natural oil refined to a much higher degree, with more complex additive packages for improving performance in both everyday and extreme conditions.

Some gearheads swear by using a heavier-weight oil in cars during the summer and lighter-weight oil during the winter. We let you now whether it truly matters.

Many sports cars come filled with synthetic to offer the best possible protection. Ron Sullivan, Pennzoil's technology manager, broke things down for us. "For most applications, stick with the manufacturer's recommended oil. But if you want to better protect your engine over the long term, especially against extreme abuse like towing or constant stop-and-go traffic, synthetic might be for you." According to Sullivan, a high-quality synthetic flows better at all temperatures, which makes cranking easier in the cold and gets lubrication to critical components faster. It also resists high heat much better, something very critical in the latest turbocharged engines. "When you stop these engines, the oil has to resist being baked by the heat in the turbo's oil bearing," Sullivan says, "And synthetics are better at that." These are bold claims and may be worth considering when choosing oil, but we can't remember the last time an engine failed on conventional oil, so going synthetic when you don't have to may be a waste of money. If you abuse your engine, consider synthetics; otherwise follow the manufacturer's suggestion.

Internet shutdown looms for some as US fix expires

Tens of thousands of computer users around the world infected with malware last year may lose their Internet access on Monday with the expiration of a fix by US authorities, security experts say.
The problem stems from malware known as DNS Changer, which was created by cybercriminals to redirect Internet traffic by hijacking the domain name systems of Web browsers.
The ring behind the DNS Changer virus, discovered in 2007, was shut down last year by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Estonian police and other law enforcement agencies.

Because the virus controlled so much Web traffic, authorities obtained a court order to allow the FBI to operate replacement servers which allow traffic to flow normally, even from infected computers. But that order expires Monday, when experts say infected computers will face an "Internet doomsday."

The FBI, Facebook, Google, Internet service providers and security firms have been scrambling to warn users about the problem and direct them to fixes. According to a working group set up by experts, more than 300,000 computers remained infected as of June 11.
The largest number were in the United States (69,000), but more than a dozen countries -- including Italy, Germany, India, Britain, Canada, France and Australia -- are also believed to have infected computers.
Security experts say it's not clear how many of those computers are active. "Reaching victims is a very hard problem, and something we have had issues with for years," said Johannes Ullrich, a researcher with the SANS Security Institute. But he said he expected the impact to be "minimal" because many of these systems are no longer used or maintained.
Users who think they are infected may perform a test at the DNS Changer Working Group's website http://www.dcwg.org/ or others operated by various security firms. The security firm Internet Identity said last week that at least 58 of all Fortune 500 companies and two out of 55 major government entities had at least one computer or router that was infected with DNS Changer.
That's an improvement over January, when half of Fortune 500 companies and US federal agencies were infected.
"DNS Changer is an insidious form of malware affecting everyone from the everyday consumer to a large chunk of the Fortune 500," said IID chief executive Lars Harvey. IID said that the malware also compromises computers by preventing antivirus software updates.
"This enables criminals to view any data, messages exchanged and more on a victim's computer, depending on what the victims' machines are infected with," the company said.
The security firm McAfee, which also offers a diagnostic tool at http://www.mcafee.com/dnscheck, said users must act before Monday to clean their computers.
"If users' computers have the wrong DNS settings for the servers, they will not be able to access websites, send e-mail or use Internet services," a McAfee statement said Thursday.
Google said in May it was seeking to notify 500,000 users of likely infections who were using the FBI servers. Google spokesman Jay Nancarrow said Thursday it was not clear how many remain infected.
"We've notified many people and have seen some clean-up as a result, but we expect others with affected devices will likely encounter problems after the deadline passes," he told AFP.
For computers affected, the blackout will be total, experts say. "Connectivity will be lost to the Internet PERIOD," said a blog posting from the security firm Symantec. "If your computer is still using DNS entries that are pointing to the FBI servers on July 9, you will lose TOTAL access to the Internet. No connecting to the office from home, no updating Facebook, nothing until the DNS settings are fixed."
Six Estonians and a Russian were charged last November with infecting computers, including NASA machines, with the malware as part of an online advertising scam that reaped at least $14 million.
The Internet fraud, which took place between 2007 and October 2011, involved redirecting users searching for websites such as iTunes, Netflix and even the US tax collection agency.
At least four million computers located in over 100 countries may have been infected.

Switching to LPG or CNG damage your car's engine?

Last month, the Centre raised petrol prices while leaving diesel and compressed natural gas (CNG) untouched. After the hike, a litre of petrol in New Delhi cost Rs73.18, which was finally brought down to Rs70.24 after the state government and oil marketers reduced the value added tax (VAT) on petrol.
If you are a petrol car owner, the hike has definitely turned your monthly fuel budget topsy-turvy. But while you cannot reduce fuel prices, you can bring down your monthly fuel expenses. Here we list the various options at your disposal.
You can either convert your existing car to run on CNG or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), or opt to buy a diesel car. But exercising either option will entail substantial funding. So you need to calculate the expenses of installation and registration (in case you switch over to CNG or LPG) or the additional fund required to buy a diesel car over a petrol version.

CONVERTING TO CNG OR LPG
While several theories suggest that they damage the car’s engine, none of these have been proven. But what has been established is that running a car on CNG or LPG results in a drop in power output by 10-15 per cent. But do ensure that you instal an LPG or a CNG kit at an authorised outlet, preferably one owned or authorised by the car manufacturer. Badly installed sub-standard kits could lead to an explosion or a fire. Otherwise, you can even buy a car with a factory-fitted CNG kit. But keep in mind that the number of CNG or LPG stations are far fewer than petrol pumps, so do consider the waiting time you have to spend each time you decide to tank up.


CALCULATION
Fill up the tank, note the odometer reading and drive for around 200 km. If you have you have to fill up the tank with say, 15 litres of petrol, then the fuel efficiency of your car is 13.33 kmpl. Now petrol costs Rs70.24 per litre, so your per kilometer travel will cost Rs70.24/13.33 or Rs 5 . 2 7 Find out the average running cost of LPG or CNG from other users or company claims. Add another 10-15 per cent to the information claimed. Suppose the running cost is Rs2 per km. So, your saving will be Rs3.27 per km.
Suppose if installation and registration cost of the converted car comes to Rs30,000, then you need to run the car for 30,000/3.27 or 9,174 km to offset the cost. Beyond that you will gain in terms of running cost every kilometer. So, if you plan to change before logging that many kilometers, it makes sense not to go for a retrofit.
For LPG kit also, do the same calculation

DIESEL VS PETROL CARS
A few car owners Outlook Money spoke to said they had stopped using their petrol cars and were thinking of buying a diesel car.
“I have a diesel Indica and a petrol SX4. I don’t use the SX4 anymore. If I need two cars, I will sell off the SX4 and buy a diesel car,” says Saugat Mahapatra, who lives in New Delhi.
“I have a petrol car, but I don’t use it regularly, so I don’t see any need to convert it to CNG. If I need a car for regular use, I will have to buy a diesel car,” says Sandeep Singh, an owner of a Zen Estilo.
However, not only do diesel cars cost more, even their maintenance is costly, so unless you drive it regularly, it could as well become your white elephant.

CALCULATION
Calculate the number of years you intend to retain the car, say 5 years, and the total kilometres the car will clock in a year, say 20,000 km. So, in five years the car will run 100,000 kms.
Suppose your chosen diesel car gives a city mileage of 16 kmpl, so the total fuel consumption in five years will be 6,250 litres. The fuel cost in five year will come to 6,250 x Rs41 or Rs2,56,250 and for a petrol car, it will be Rs 4,39, 000
So, the price difference between running a diesel and a petrol car comes to Rs1,82,750.
Diesel cars usually cost Rs1 lakh more and servicing and maintenance is expensive by 25 per cent (say Rs20,000 more) So the effective gain will be Rs62,750.
Also consider the resale value of your car. Typically, in five years, a Rs5-lakh petrol car will sell for Rs2.5 lakh and a Rs6-lakh diesel for Rs3 lakh.
But diesel cars are now fetching a premium in the used car market and petrols are going for a discount (Say this is 5 per cent). So the monetary gain after factoring them in will be Rs3,15,000-Rs2,37,500. So, the total monetary benefit of a diesel over
5 years will be Rs62,750 + Rs77,500 or Rs1,40,250.
There are other non-monetary factors too like driving ease (e.g., fewer number of gear shifts while driving in slow traffic) and efficiency of air-conditioner). Largely, diesel scores on both counts.
With the price differential between petrol and diesel at around Rs30 per litre, financially, you would be better off with a diesel if you plan to run the car more than 35,000 km or so if you are talking about A, B or C segment cars.

WHAT’S ON OFFER
Petrols are off buyers’ radar, so Sutirtha Sanyal went discount-hunting for them at dealerships
MARUTI SUZUKI
Alto, Wagon R Rs30,000
 SX4 Rs40,000

VOLKSWAGEN
Polo Free Insurance + (2-year Maintenance Package (Rs25,000)
Vento (Free stereo + exchange offer) or Free insurance + maintenance for topmost model

TATA MOTORS
Indica Rs10,000-25,000 Indica Vista, Indigo Rs40,000 Indigo Manza Rs15,000-35,000
HYUNDAI Santro Insurance + Rs6,000 + Rs2,950 (Petrol discount)
i10 Insurance + Rs10,000 + Rs2,650
i20 Rs2,850
Accent Rs10,000 + Rs3,200
Verna Rs3,100

CHEVROLET
Spark, Beat, Aveo Free Insurance + 3-year maintenance
SKODA
Fabia Rs15,000

NISSAN
Micra
Rs15,000

FORD
Figo Insurance discount
The list is not exhaustive; discounts on offer at some dealerships at the time of going to press.

Pietersen had unexpectedly announced his retirement from the one-day International

England batsman Kevin Pietersen has said Twenty20 is the future of cricket, and a tournament like the Indian Premier League is here to stay, while branding one-day cricket as dull and boring.

Pietersen had unexpectedly announced his retirement from the one-day format for England last month.
However, he had expressed his desire to continue playing T20s for England, but the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) didn't allow him to play the shortest version of the game due to their policy that a player would only be allowed to play T20 for England when he makes him available for the one-day games as well.
Pietersen questioned the sheer volume of international cricket that places extreme demands on players' bodies and their family lives, and added the one-day format must simply give way if players are not to be burnt out prematurely.
"The 50-over game is the format most under threat," The Daily Mail quoted Pietersen, as saying.
"Twenty20 and the IPL are here to stay. Test matches will always be key to how you want to be rated and remembered as a player, but the entertainment package is Twenty20 cricket," he added.
"The middle overs of a one-day international can be dull. Do other players feel that way? It's difficult for me to answer but I think some have commented on it," he said. England insist that if they had given special dispensation to Pietersen and allowed him to just play Twenty20 limited-overs cricket then other players would have followed suit, undermining their attempt to win their first global 50-over trophy.
"Would they? I've seen speculation that five or six of our players would do the same thing as me if I was allowed to play 20 over cricket, but ask them. You go and find out. I'm sure you will find out the answers. People can speculate as much as they like, but ask them," Pietersen added.

Indian States/ Union Territories that grew the fastest in 7 years

India’s average GDP growth stood at 8.28% between 2004-05 and 2011-12. Here’s a look at the top 15 states/ Union Territories that saw the fastest real growth in the last 7 years. (Data source: Planning Commission of India)

Sikkim 
12.62% Average Real Growth between 2004-05 and 2011-12
Delhi
11.43% Average Real Growth between 2004-05 and 2011-12
Uttarakhand
12.37% Average Real Growth between 2004-05 and 2011-12
Bihar
11.42% Average Real Growth between 2004-05 and 2011-12
Chandigarh
10.78% Average Real Growth between 2004-05 and 2011-12
Maharashtra
11.42% Average Real Growth between 2004-05 and 2011-12
Tamil Nadu
10.27% Average Real Growth between 2004-05 and 2011-12
Gujarat
10.08% Average Real Growth between 2004-05 and 2011-12
Haryana
9.30% Average Real Growth between 2004-05 and 2011-12
Goa
9.11% Average Real Growth between 2004-05 and 2011-12
Orissa
9.04% Average Real Growth between 2004-05 and 2011-12
Arunachal Pradesh
8.95 % Average Real Growth between 2004-05 and 2011-12
Andhra Pradesh
8.82% Average Real Growth between 2004-05 and 2011-12
Karnataka
8.82% Average Real Growth between 2004-05 and 2011-12
Chhattisgarh
8.69% Average Real Growth between 2004-05 and 2011-12

World's best-performing stock markets this year

A study of the world's 97 best-performing stock market indices reveals that two Indian markets ranked among the top 30 in the world. With a rise of 7.96% since the beginning of the year, the BSE Sensex index stood at No. 30, while the S&P CNX Nifty gained 9.28% to become the world's 19th best-performing stock index this year.

But here's where Pakistan has done better this year. The country's oldest stock exchange, the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) gained 15.30% since the beginning of the year, to become the world's 9th best-performing stock index. Click on next to see who rose among the top 10 stock market indices and how they've performance since the beginning of the year.

Here is a list of 10 of the world's biggest stock market indices and how they've performance since the beginning half of the year, till June 30. 

Rank 1. Venezuela IBC index (115.18% gain)
Rank 2.  Egypt EGX 30 index (29.99% gain)
Rank 3.  Philippines PSE Index (25.27% gain)
Rank 4.  Turkey ISE Index (22.00% gain)
Rank 5.  Vietnam Ho Chi Minh Stock Index (20.15% gain)
Rank 6.  Estonia OMX Tallinn Index (17.34% gain)
Rank 7.  Panama General Index (15.85% gain)
Rank 8.  Kenya NSE Index (15.57% gain)
Rank 10. Colombia IGBC Index (14.43% gain)

Venezuela had the biggest percentage gain while Cyprus had the biggest loss.
Unsurprisingly, European nations clutter the bottom the list.

Virus could black out nearly 250,000 PCs on Monday

About a quarter-million computer users around the world are at risk of losing Internet access on Monday because of malicious software at the heart of a hacking scam that U.S. authorities shut down last November.
Some blogs and news reports hyped the risk of an outage, warning of a potential "blackout" and describing the Alureon malware as the "Internet Doomsday" virus.

Yet experts said only a tiny fraction of computer users were at risk, and Internet providers would be on call to quickly restore service. They said they considered the threat to be small compared with more-prevalent viruses such as Zeus and SpyEye, which infect millions of PCs and are used to commit financial fraud.ncial fraud. As of this week, about 245,000 computers worldwide were still infected by Alureon and its brethren, according to security firm Deteque. That included 45,355 computers in the United States.
The viruses were designed to redirect Internet traffic through rogue DNS servers controlled by criminals, according to the FBI. DNS servers are computer switchboards that direct Web traffic.
When authorities took down the rogue servers, a federal judge in New York ordered that temporary servers be kept in place while the victims' machines were repaired. The temporary servers will shut down at 12:01 a.m. EDT (0401 GMT) on Monday, which means the infected PCs that have not been fixed will no longer be able to connect to the Internet.
Some U.S. Internet providers, including AT&T Inc (NYS:T) and Time Warner Cable (NYS:TWC - News), have made temporary arrangements so that their customers will be able to access the Internet using the address of the rogue DNS servers.
Information on how to identify and clean up infections can be found on a website that a group of security firms and other experts set up: http://www.dcwg.org.
"It's a very easy one to fix," said Gunter Ollmann, vice president of research for security company Damballa. "There are plenty of tools available."
Many of the machines that remain infected are probably not in active use since most victims were notified of the problem, said security expert Johannes Ullrich, who runs the Internet Storm Center, which monitors Web threats.
The United States has charged seven people for orchestrating the worldwide Internet fraud. Six were arrested in Estonia, while the seventh, who was living in Russia, is still at large. Tallinn has so far extradited two of the men to New York where they appeared in Manhattan federal court.
The case is USA v. Tsastsin et al, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 11-cr-878.