On this Day in Past- Aug 17, 1859: U.S. Airmail Carried by Balloon

1859: Mail is carried by air for the first time in the United States.

On a hot summer day as the temperature soared toward 91 degrees, John Wise stood at the town square in Lafayette, Indiana, waiting next to a balloon named Jupiter. Even for a balloon enthusiast and a well-known aeronaut, it was a big moment.

Wise was set to carry what would be the first U.S. airmail. A postmaster had handed him a bag with 123 letters. Destination of the balloonist and his precious cargo: New York City.

Delivering letters by air had been attempted before. There had always been carrier pigeons. And in 1785, a balloon flight from Dover, England, to Calais, France, had carried mail.

Wise’s attempt was to be the big event for the United States. Wise, who was 51, was also hoping to set a record for the longest balloon flight. He took off at 2 p.m.

But the weather wasn’t on his side. He found that the wind was blowing southwest, not east. Still, he went up to 14,000 feet. But five hours — and just 30 miles later — Wise gave up and landed in Crawfordsville, Indiana.

Fuji Introduces Compact 3-D Camera for Consumers

Playing James Cameron at home is set to get cheaper and easier as Fuji introduces a point-and-shoot 3-D digital camera that can click high-resolution 3-D photos and high-definition 3-D movies — all at a price where regular compact cameras were about four years ago.

“We are launching a camera that will bring 3-D from the niche market to mainstream consumers,” says Jim Calverley, senior product manager at Fujifilm.

Fuji’s new 3-D camera has two 10-megapixel CCD sensors and two lenses capable of 3x optical zoom spaced 2.9 inches (75 millimeters) apart to create images with the added perception of depth. It has a 3.5-inch 3-D capable display that lets users watch photos and movies without requiring special glasses. The sleek gadget measures 0.8 inches at its thinnest and weighs 8.5 ounces with battery and memory card.

Idea Contest- Win New DVD Player and Talktime worth Rs.100 Daily

Idea has come up with its new contest namely Paanch Se Jeeto Challenge for its Assam & NESA customers by which they can win New DVD player and daily talktime worth Rs.100.
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Cricket- SL deny Sehwag a deserved century

Dambulla: India are back in the tri-series with a comfortable win over Sri Lanka on Monday, led by a brilliant innings by Virender Sehwag. But despite his smart innings in a tricky run chase, the questions were raised whether Sri Lanka deliberately denied the Indian batsman a well-deserved century?

Sehwag steered India to the 171-run victory target in 34.3 overs. But there was a sore point when Sehwag batting at 99 and India needing just one run for victory struck Suraj Randiv for a huge six over long-off and raised his bat in celebration, only to realise a moment later that it was a big no-ball from the off-spinner and his runs would not be counted.

As per the rule, the match finished when Randiv over-stepped, which gave India the required one run to win, making Sehwag's six inconsequential.

But the way Randiv denied Indian vice-captain his 13th one-day hundred has raised many eyebrows as the off-spinner didn't bowl a single no-ball in the Test series. So the logical question is why did he bowl a no-ball now and that too by a huge margin?

The dashing Indian batsman raised questions on Sri Lankan team's tactics to deny him scoring a hundred and said it's not the first time they did this to an Indian batsman.

"He hasn't bowled even a single no-ball in the Test series, so why now? The question is logical, because it was a no-ball by a huge margin. I am sure their captain and senior team members were aware of what happened. This is not the first time Sri Lanka have done this. They had done a similar thing against Sachin Tendulkar in Cuttack as well," said Sehwag after the match.

But Shewag, who is never shy of reaching milestones or finishing off matches with his customary sixes, also said things like this happens in the game of cricket.

"It often happens in cricket. When a batsman is on 99 and the scores are level, bowlers try to bowl no-balls and wide balls. The opposing team do not want you to score 100. They tried their best. Fair enough," Sehwag said after the match.

Though, at the presentation ceremony followed, the Sri Lankan skipper chose not to concede that this was a team decision claiming he had no indication that Randiv would in fact overstep the mark by so much margin intentionally.

"It was not deliberate. That's not the way I would like to play cricket. It was not intentional. Viru deserved a hundred. Randiv isn't the kind of person to do anything like that deliberately. If there has been some coaxing before the delivery was bowled, I will have to address that in the dressing room," Sangakkara said.

The controversy took the attention away from yet another special Sehwag performance, picking India up from a tricky situation, and guiding the run chase with an unusually restrained innings. He may have been denied a ton but his claim to being the world's most feared batsman remains strong as ever.

Financial News Buzz- Loans to get costlier

Aug 16: Home and auto loans are set to get costlier as the country's largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI), has hiked the benchmark leading rateby 50 basis points.



The state-run lender has hiked the rate to 12.25 per cent besides increasing fixed deposit rates by up to 150 basis points across various maturities.



“The bank has revised the benchmark prime lending rate upwards by 50 basis points from 11.75 per cent p.a. to 12.25 per cent per annum effective from August 17,” SBI said a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).


However, for new borrowers the base rate, which became effective on Jul 1, 2010, stands at 7.5 per cent.


Accounting for the highest increase done by the bank among various maturity term deposits, SBI increased interest rate by 1.5 per cent to 4 per cent per annum for the term deposit with maturity between 15 to 45 days.



The new interest rate for fixed deposit between 181 days to less than 1 year will be 6 per cent against existing 5.25 per cent.



The 555 days fixed deposit rate will now attract interest rate of 7.25 per cent an increase of 1.25 per cent.


Starting from Aug 17, the term deposit rates between 3 years to 5 years will go up by 75 bps to 7.25 per cent. The bank has increased 5 years to 8 years maturity slab by 25 bps to 7.50 per cent.

FREE Sick of Spending T-Shirt (Only US)

SOS is offering a  Free Sick of Spending T-Shirt and a free copy of Mark Levin & Americans for Prosperity’s "November is Coming Citizen Action Handbook"

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Free Birds Matter Sticker

Audubon California has a bunch of these limited edition Birds Matter stickers available free of charge. All you have to do is fill in your information, and they will send one out to you. Just one sticker per person.

The stickers, which feature California's own Yellow-billed Magpie, feature art by artist Lisa Sindorf. The Yellow-billed Magpie, Audubon California's 2009 Bird of the Year, lives only in California.

Stickers are made entirely from plants and are 100% biodegradable. If exposed to the elements (for example, on your car or bicycle), they'll last about six months.

They will send you an email to confirm your order. Look in your email inbox for a message from them containing a link to confirm your order.

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