Best of Web: Trapped in air for 7 hours

Trapped in air for 7 hours

BEIJING: Six tourists, who were trapped in the air for seven hours while being on a recreational ride in southwest China's Guizhou province, were rescued Tuesday.
 
The six people were trapped on a ride called "Kuanghu" at the People's Park in Honghuagang district, Zunyi City, around 5 p.m. Monday. They were individually brought down by rescuers early Tuesday morning, Xinhua reported.

The ride stopped while 32 meters above the ground and the wind was reported as quite strong, which posed great difficulties to the rescue operation.

To make matters worse, a light snow began to fall at 9 p.m., said Liu Naihui, deputy chief of the district's Landscape Bureau.

Though the park remains open, all recreational facilities are closed during an on-going safety check. The cause of the accident is still under investigation, Liu added.
 

Twitter blooper: Bhagat Singh hanged on V-Day

(FILE)

BANGALORE: Did Bhagat Singh really give up his life to be associated with a rather notorious date?

If thousands of tweets across the country are anything to go by, it sure seemed so. In a classic example of how Wikipedia and other powerful websites can be used to spread misinformation, Valentine's Day started with 'Bhagat Singh' trending at number one position on Twitter in India.

The tweets and re-tweets on February 14 said Indian freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were hanged on this day.

However, the actual date is March 23, 1931.

Information of the same was altered on Wikipedia and posted on a political party's Facebook page and on Twitter pages of celebrities such as actor R Madhavan, which only helped spread this piece of misinformation like wildfire.
 
Dating online? Beware of spelling and grammar errors!

QUEENSLAND: Dating may have become hi-tech, but romantic rituals remain much the same, says a new study. Like in traditional dating, online love birds are influenced by non-verbal cues like spelling errors, the number of exclamation marks and the use of grammar.

Zoe Hazelwood, psychologist at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), who led the study, has found that traditional and online dating are, in fact, very similar.

For example, she found non-verbal communication was also just as important in online dating as it was in traditional dating, according to a QUT statement.

"Although online traditional non-verbal cues are not present, in our research we found people do judge potential partners on things aside from what they are saying," she said.

"People form impressions online based on things like spelling errors, use of acronyms, amount of exclamation marks, use of grammar - things like that.

"They may not pursue a relationship with someone if they do not like their writing style, or feel they have poor spelling."

Another habit that is present in traditional and online dating was the tendency to present ourselves as - just slightly - more interesting and interested than we actually are at the start of a relationship.

Online dating has also allowed an avenue for people young and old to reach out and find connections, said Hazelwood.

Couple claims $1m lottery prize day before it expires

US: Erin and Raleigh Hill of North Carolina kept their $1 million lottery prize to themselves for almost six months, hiding the ticket in an envelope, a Bible, a shoebox and, finally, a work locker until they were ready to cash in.

Midafternoon Tuesday, the nervous couple knew they had to face "the hoopla."

They drove to Raleigh to claim the Mega Million prize that was set to expire at 5 p.m. Wednesday, officials said.

That brought an end of recent frantic searches by others through glove compartments, cupboards and wallets - just in case they had the winning ticket.

The Hills each received a lump sum of $340,000 after taxes, the North Carolina Education Lottery said in a statement.

The couple purchased the winning Mega Millions ticket at the Market Express in Stallings, near Matthews, in August 2010. Raleigh Hill said he wasn't ready just then to collect the cash and hid the ticket, the lottery said.

Winners have 180 days to come forward.

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