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Nepal's Hydro-power

Energy is the scarcest commodity of modern times- both at home where load-shedding hours have been increasing. Nepal is one of the most potential hydro-power countries in the planet that, according to recent studies, is capable of generating over 100000 MW of clean and cheap energy, something in far excess of her requirements. Hundreds of rivers criss-crossing the land, mansoon-swollen,snow-fed, mountainous geography and slopping elevation power projects-mega as well as micro.
On the other hand, with rapid economic development India's power requirements have shot up, especially in her less developed north and north eastern states which fortunately lie within transmittable distance from Nepal; therefore, the demand-supply equilibrium seems perfect. Nevertheles, because of the protracted political instability and excessive politicization of the subject we have been losing the opportunity, even to Bhutan.
As water resources related joint-ventures between Nepal and India in the past proved more beneficial to the latter, mainly becaude of our poor technical and negotiation abilities during those days, now any hydro-power joint-venture deal will be more than enough to overthrow the decision maker with labels of taitor and Indian puppet; accusations of selling out to India will shower from all directiona-ultra-left and ultra-right 'nationalists' energy sector middle-men, transnational' environmentalists' INGO and NGOs, so-called civil society leaders, a section of the Press and so on.

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Nepal; Comparative Advantage Discussions


Exports and imports of goods and services between nations take place according to the rules of comparative advantage (CA)-which, in other words, is the different in their manufacturing costs. The advantage may be natural or acquired in term of type and fixed or variable in terms of costs.
Recently government of Nepal made public a study report titled Nepal Trade Integration Strategy 2010 which identifies 19 products as having export potetiall (EP). The export of different products has identified 12 commodities and 7 services namely tourism, labor services, hydro-electricity, education, health, engineering and IT/BOP as having EP of the 12 commodities 7 are agro-food products.
It is true that agricultural products identified in the report like big cardamom, ginger,honey,lentils,tea,dairy product,sugar and medicinal berbs have EP. Nonetheless, farm supplies are mostly too little in quantity to lure or capture reliable export markets besides being too law in value-added. As such, the whole agriculture sector needs to be restructured and its capacity enhanced with an integrated approach on raising production and productivity,promoting value addition and balancing domestic demands and exports.
'Iron and steel' has been identified on the basis of recent export surge of iron rods. But first, we cannot rely on single market as it may collapse anytime depending on the destination country's tarrif and more importantly, a commodity whose every raw material is imported and whose power requirement is very high cannot be defined as having CA, especially in a power- deficit power high cost country; and EPs without CAs do not make sense.

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Accessorizing your bike

Most people rush to workshop or service stations to add accessories the moment they purchase their bike. These accessories are used for safe and comfortable riding by almost everyone owning a bike. But we need to know that even a 'carrier box' is against the rules but many a bike have such accessories. It's obvious that there are loopholes in implementing the law.
Accessories like seat cover and disc locks make bikes comfortable and keep them from getting stolen.
A disc lock is a bike having an instrument which can be installed on to a bike having a disc brake. It uses the holes in a bikes disc brake. A locking pin passes through the hole in the disc brake preventing the tires from moving. And for bikes without a disc brake, wheel locks are often used. This is a rod like instrument which passes through the front wheel. Apart from the accessories mentioned above stickers can be considered as a common trend in the bike gadgets. People paste stickers on their bikes to make them colorful and attractive. But adding attractiveness is not the only thing a sticker will do. Pasting stickers prevents genuine parts from getting scratched in case of accidents. In most cases, the tank of the bike gets scratched quite fast and a sticker does a good job. There is also the options of a tank guard. Tank guard are covers that can be placed on top of a bikes tank. Such tank guards are mostly made up of leather but they also come in jeans and plastic material.
Along with stickers neon lights can also be installed to decorate the bike and make it attractive.

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Nepal's first 'water class '


Nepal's first model 'water class ' has been set up at Yashosdhara Boudha Secondary School with a view to providing school children with knowledge of water, sanitation, and helth.
The class was set up with the support of the Government of nepal, Education Ministry, UN HABITAT and Government Protection Society so as to provide an opportunity to children to learn about water and sanitation.
There is also arrangement for a water conservation game so as to provide conservation education to the students through entertainment.
Through the water class, the atudents will be tought on natural, scientific, the students can also learn facts about water and other health issues from the library of the school. The water class has also been decorated with creative pictures and posters related to watr and other aspects of water so as much as possible knowlede on the issue.
Likewise, a bio- sand filter to water purification has also been installed at the school. A rainwater harvesting and management system and ground water recharge system has also been installed in the school.'

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Chicken and egg condrum solved


British scientists claim to have solved one of the great mysterious of life, the universe and everything in it. They say the chicken come before the egg and they are not mincing words.
According to a report in the Metro, "It had long been suspected that the egg came first, but now we have the scientific proof that shows that in fact the chicken came first." Sheffield University's Colin Freeman.
Researchers from Scotland and England used a supercomputer called HECTOR to look in such detail at a chicken eggshell that they were able to determine the vital role of protein used to kickstart the egg's formation.
Freeman said the protein had been identified earlier by scientists and was known to be linked to egg formation,"but by examining it closely we have been able to see how it controls the process." he added.
Proffessor John Harding," Understanding how chickens male shells in fascinating in itself, but can also give clues towards designing new materials."
Which is good, because in spite of HECTOR's hard work and the "scientific proof" it yielded, the study offered no explanation as to how the chicken got there in the first place.
If not from an egg, perhaps it just come from across the road.

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Museums

The Louvre Museum, with its spectacular glass pyramid, is an icon of Paris and one of the world's most-visited cultural sites. Its vast and rich collections encompass all ages: from antiquity and the Renaissance to 19th-century French masterpiece.The museum was originally the main Royal Palace in Paris and was built on the site of an earlier royal fortress, whose remains can be seen on the ground flour. Napoleon who preferred the Palace of Fontainbleau, turned the Louvre into a repository for all the artworks he looted from throughout Europe.Museums
Much of the Uffizi's collection was once owned by the Medici family, a member of which originally comilssioned the building in 1560. The Uffizi house a stunning collection of Renaissance and medieval painting and sculpture, including priceless works from other periods and provides a wounderful overview of Italy's artistic heritage-the thousands of works of art encompass Greek and Roman paintings, including iconic works such as Botticell's Birth of Venus and Titian's Venus of Urbino.

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