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The count of Monte Cristo, Edmund Dante is back. He has returned to investigate the murder of his beloved, Mercedes. He is on a quest to find the killers of Mercedes and bring them to justice. The game story is based on the characters from Alexander Dumas’ book “The Count of Monte Cristo”.

The Return of Monte Cristo is a hidden object game and is published by Lazy Turtle Games

Rating:

• Pros: Great graphics, No learning curve
• Cons: Short game, Lacks story line

The game has a single untimed mode. It consists of seven chapters with each chapter consisting of three to six locations. You require a key to access each location. On unlocking each location, you are presented with a mini game. These mini games are based on variety of puzzles and are easy to complete. However, the mini games can be skipped to continue to the location. The area on the scene becomes a little dusty when you can navigate to the other location. The hidden objects are made relevant to the game but the size and the color of the objects may vary.

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Constellation is NASA’s new program for human space exploration. As part of the Constellation program, NASA plans to develop space vehicles and booster systems which will eventually replace the Space Shuttle. The main goals of the Constellation program are human travel beyond low Earth orbit, to return to the Moon and to expand human presence to Mars.

As of early 2009, missions for the Constellation Program are planned to begin on March 2014 and to continue through 2020. The first stop for the constellation program is at 220 miles above the Earth surface to the International Space Station at the Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The astronauts will then travel 200,000 miles to the Moon. The stay on the Moon will last for a week and will be much more complex than the Apollo missions. The aim of this week long rendezvous on Moon is to explore the possibilities of living and staying on the moon and preparing for a human flight to Mars. Ultimately, the constellation program will have human expedition to the red planet. The mission to Mars will be two and a half year long, with six months of journey each from and to the Station and one and half year of stay for exploration.

The constellation program consist of launch vehicle (Ares I and Ares V boosters), manned space craft (Orion) and lunar lander (Altair).

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“Cash for Clunkers” is a colloquial term for U.S. Government for Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS).  It was a unusual government program to provide incentives to U.S. residents to purchase new and more fuel efficient cars while trading in the eligible cars and to provide a stimulus the to auto industry.While the program sounds great and it seems that this initiative would benefit all, the tough conditions imposed by the government to participate in this program resulted in no long term gains for the people or the automakers.  Lets take a look at these conditions.[1]

• Vehicle must be less than 25 years old on the trade-in date.
• Only the purchase or 5 year minimum lease of new vehicles qualify.
• Generally, trade-in vehicles must get a weighted combined average rating of 18 or fewer MPG (some very large pickup trucks and cargo vans have different requirements).
• Trade-in vehicles must be registered and insured continuously for the full year preceding the trade-in.
• Trade-in vehicles must be in driveable condition.
• The program runs from July 1, 2009 until August 24, 2009
• The program requires the scrapping of the eligible trade-in vehicle and that the dealer disclose to the customer an estimate of the scrap value of the trade-in. The scrap value, however minimal, will be in addition to the rebate, and not in place of the rebate.
• The new car bought under the plan must have a suggested retail price of no more than $45,000, and for passenger automobiles, the new vehicle must have a combined fuel economy value of at least 22 mpg.

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President Barack Obama is a good leader, but by awarding the Nobel Peach prize to him, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has disregarded the basic rules on which the Nobel peace prize is defined. The Nobel prizes should be based on concrete achievements, but it appears that the Nobel Peace prize for 2009 were intended to support initiatives that are yet to materialize like reduction in nuclear arms, reducing conflicts within nations, and fighting global climate change.

According to Will of Alfred Nobel, the Nobel peace prize should be awarded to the person who:
“during the preceding year [...] shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses”.[1]

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Globalization is a process model by which the regional economies and societies have become integrated with each other to create a globe spanning network of exchange. Globalization can refer to manufacturing as well as service industries. Globalization is not a new phenomenon but has its root since the middle ages when Indian and Chinese goods like silk and spices were sold in the European markets.

Globalization as we know it now, began with the start of the Industrial age. Industries started producing in mass quantity and with no regional market for their products, they started to export goods to other regions. As the transportation became more efficient and more affordable, companies wanted to move their production location at places with affordable labor.

Hence, they can produce at less cost and selling in a demanding market. This results in more money getting generated in the economy. With Free Trade Agreement, the industries were free to move between different countries, thus bringing prosperity and wealth to all.

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Rating:

I, Robot is a first book in the series of Robot novels written by Asimov. It is a collection of short stories depicting the changes in human life with the incoming of robots. We have always wondered how the robots will change our life and this book very well describes it. This book marks the beginning for the robot science fiction from Asimov and lays the foundation for the the robot series and the foundation series. The robotics laws set in this book is followed throughout all the science fiction books written by him. Though the stories seem independent of each other they are chronologically related with the development of robot technology and how the robots influenced the humanity and human development. It begins when the robots as just mechanical devices that could not speak and did programmed tasks and ends when the robots that can make decisions for the making human life better and stand between mankind and their destruction.

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President Barack Obama recently cracked down a whip against the companies moving their jobs outside America. Such companies will no longer enjoy any tax breaks. According to President Obama, ““We will restore a sense of fairness and balance to our tax code.” The largest group of people that will be affected by this law would be the Indian and the Chinese communities. What lawmakers in US fail to understand are the consequences that America will face if India and China start to think on similar lines of “fairness”.

According to WTO, India and China are the fastest growing economies. Due to the money that is brought into these countries by the American companies, the economies of these countries have grown manifold. The buying power has increased which has resulted in the people of India and China to buy more American products, subsequently increasing the US economy and the job market. Secondly Indian wages where the US jobs are being outsourced has increased to such a point where the Indian companies have started outsourcing some of their jobs to countries like Mexico and Uruguay. In turn the consumer market will increase in these economies resulting in more demand for American products. Moreover as the people of a country get more involved in economic prosperity, they have less time to think for creating chaos and get involved in terrorist activities. Therefore outsourcing develops the society and can bring it out from the chaos and anarchy.

If the US lawmakers decide to stop outsourcing all together, the Indian and the Chinese lawmakers will also prevent any US investment into their economies. There will be no market for the US products. Moreover as the jobs that getting outsourced have stopped, India and China will no longer have any jobs that they can outsource to Mexico or Indonesia. This will create civil unrest in these countries, and Mexico being a neighbor of US will start threatening US security. This will result in the world getting dragged back to dark ages.

The views of US lawmaker on outsourcing, though look a right step in improving the already battered US economy, may prove to be a disaster in long term. I hope that the Obama administration do not take any such action that will destroy the US and the world.

When the movie “Slumdog Millionaire” was released most of the Indians did not accept the movie due to various reasons. Some people claimed that poverty in India is not what is shown in the movie. Some of them commented that though poverty in India is as shown, they should have also shown the good things about India. There are still who agree that movies on poverty brings out the plight and living conditions of the poor people, but such kind of movies shouldn’t have came from a foreign director and foreign production. It is time we come out of this denial and know that “Achieving India” has a long way to go.

After “Slumdog Millionaire” got 8 academy awards, the Maharastra Housing Area Development Authority (MHADA) has realized that the people living in slums require a house to live. The chairman of MHADA has made a special request to the vice-president to provide flats to the two kids who acted in the movie. Though I agree that providing house to these kids is a good move that really does not say that the government is acting to solve the problem. How does the government plan to provide the needs to millions of other needy people? Do they have a plan of action to achieve this?

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