How To Start A New And Positive Lifestyle – Starting With Standing Up For Yourself

Standing up for yourself can be really challenging if you’re used to letting others have their way or you’re a people pleaser. When you trim yourself down to suit everyone else, it’s all too easy to whittle yourself away; learning to stand up for yourself is a way of ensuring other people respect you and don’t try to push you around or manipulate you. Unlearning the old habits of self-effacement and gaining the confidence to stand up for yourself won’t happen overnight, but the journey to improvement starts with the first step.

Method 1 of 3: Believing In Yourself

1. Have confidence. Developing a strong sense of self-confidence is the first step towards standing up for yourself. If you don’t have any confidence or belief in yourself, how can you expect other people to?It’s easy for others to spot when someone is down on their luck and lacking in self-confidence — which makes them an easy target. If you’re confident, people will be less likely to tease you or identify you as weak.

   Confidence has to come from within, so do whatever it takes to make you feel better about yourself. Learn a new skill, lose some weight, repeat positive affirmations daily — nothing will change overnight, but your confidence will grow in time.

    

   
   Set goals for yourself. Goals give you a sense of purpose and control over your own destiny, and they help you realize what you truly want. This is an essential part of standing up for yourself and preventing others from walking all over you.Motivate yourself by setting an ambitious but achievable goal over the next few weeks, months or years of your life. It could be anything — a promotion at work, a top grade in your next college paper, or running a half-marathon — as long as it’s something that gives you a sense of self-worth.

   When you finally achieve your goals, remember to take a moment to look back on how far you’ve come and appreciate how much you have achieved. Make a vow that you will never let yourself regress into the unfulfilled person you once were.

    

   
   Develop a good attitude.Your attitude is everything — it impacts how other people perceive you and even how you see yourself. Your attitude sets the tone of your voice, the quality of your thoughts, and is reflected in your facial expressions and body language.^[1]Remember that attitude is infectious. If you’re bubbly, happy, and bright about things, you’ll encourage those around you to feel good about themselves and the world around them. If you’re morose, pessimistic, and down about everything, you’ll soon infect others with the same negativity.

   We naturally prefer to be hanging around the person who makes us feel good about ourselves, and we’re more inclined to listen and respond positively to someone who has a good attitude.

   By the same token, we’re more likely to dismiss a person who tries to play the shrinking violet, the victim, or the permanently oppressed. Make the choice to feel and have a positive attitude and you’re on your way to standing up for yourself.

    

   
   4
   Stop viewing yourself as a victim. When you behave as a victim, you do the very opposite of standing up for yourself. Instead, you tend to shrink away from the responsibility of a situation and blame your problems on someone else.For many people, an inability to stand up for oneself is rooted in the fear of being rejected or laughed at, as a result of similar negative experiences in the past. By choosing to take these negative experiences personally and retreating into your shell, you stop standing up for yourself and start playing the victim.

   If you’ve had negative experiences in the past, the best thing to do is to try to talk through these experiences with someone you trust. This will help you to figure out the root cause behind your victim mentality and allow you to work past it, rather than hiding behind it.

    

   
   5 Feel good about yourself physically. While you don’t need to look like iron man or iron woman, your appearance does matter and looking fit, strong and healthy will give you greater confidence and help you to stand up for yourself.Choose an activity that you enjoy doing — whether it’s weight training, running, dancing or rock climbing — and throw yourself into it. Not only will you look and feel better physically, you’ll also have lots of fun and become a more interesting, fulfilled person in the process!

   You should also consider starting a martial arts or self-defense class. The inner discipline taught will improve your confidence a great deal and the moves you’ll learn to defend yourself will double your confidence and allow you to stand up for yourself should you ever find yourself in a physical fight.

   Method 2 of 3: Learning To Be Assertive

    

   

   Be assertive. Assertiveness is the key to standing up for yourself. It isn’t just a cliché, it’s a bona fide means for improving your chances of getting what you want and for being heard properly.

   Being assertive enables you to express your wants, needs, and preferences in a way that shows you’re prepared to stand up for yourself while still respecting the other person. It involves being open and honest about your thoughts and feelings, while trying to work towards a mutually satisfying solution.

   When asserting your feelings and opinions, it’s recommended that you use “I” statements, rather than “you” statements, as this is less accusatory and will prevent the other person from going on the defensive. For example, instead of saying “you never ask for my opinion”, say something like “I feel ignored when you make decisions without me”. ^[2]

   Assertiveness is, for the main part, a learned skill, so don’t feel bad if it doesn’t come naturally.There are many excellent books and courses on assertiveness training available. You might like to start by reading the classic When I Say No, I Feel Guilty, by Manuel J Smith, and Your perfect right: A Guide to Assertive Living, by Robert E. Alberti. See also How to be assertive and Communicate in an Assertive Manner.

    

   2 Learn how to say no. Learning how to say no is one of the hardest but most important ways of standing up for yourself. If you tend to be a “yes” person who never wants to let anyone down, you risk becoming a door-mat who everyone walks all over and takes advantage of.For example, if your boss keeps asking you to work late when your co-worker has no problem skipping out the door at 6pm, it can be very difficult to say no. But if this extra workload is putting your personal life and relationships under pressure, you need to put your foot down. Don’t put someone else’s needs above your own — learn to say no when necessary.

   Learning to say no will help you to stand up for yourself with friends as well as people who intimidate you. Think about that friend who keeps borrowing money but never pays it back; assertiveness will enable you to ask for that money back and to say no next time, all while maintaining your friendship.

   People may be taken aback at first, but they will learn to accept your new-found determination and may even come to respect it.

    

    

   Use body language. The manner in which you stand, walk, and sit makes a big impression on people. Positive body language can be used to garner respect, agreement, and trust, while negative body language (slouching, trying to shrink away) is practically an invitation to being pushed about.Using open body language shows people that you are self-assured, confident and not to be messed with. Open body language includes leaning forward, making eye contact, standing with your hands on your hips and feet apart, using slow and deliberate gestures, facing your heart to people when you meet them and uncrossing your arms or legs.

   Closed body language, on the other hand, sends negative signals and could leave you open to attack. Closed body language includes crossing your arms, clenching your hands, using fast and evasive gestures, fidgeting, avoiding eye contact eye contact, and turning your body sideways.^[3]

    

   4 Practice standing up for yourself. For many shy people, standing up for themselves is not something that comes naturally, but that’s okay. All you need to do is practice — soon you’ll become more confident and more assertive about making your voice heard.Sometimes you may fail to stand up for yourself simply because you cannot articulate what needs to be said at the right moment. Take the time to write out good responses to difficult situations and practice them with a friend using a timer.

   Have your friend pretend to be a difficult or intimidating person who showers you with put-downs. Put on the timer for about 2 minutes and respond away! Keep doing this until you get the hang of it.

   You can also practice standing up for yourself in small, everyday situations. For example, rather than quietly accepting the wrong coffee when the barista gets your order wrong, learn to say “excuse me, I asked for non-fat milk. Could you please make me another?” Soon you’ll have the confidence to tackle bigger, more important issues!

    

    

   Stay away from negative people. Another aspect of standing up for yourself is trusting your instincts about other people and learning to act on them. For example:

   If another person is bringing you down with their negativity, don’t hang around them; start to politely but firmly distance yourself. You don’t owe difficult people any explanation as to why you’re spending less time around them.

   Avoid bullies, negative Nellies, and sarcastic Sams. You don’t gain anything from being in their presence and you’re not doing them any favors by putting up with their nonsense or rewarding them for bad behavior.

   Remember — keeping away from sources of discomfort and trouble is not running away; it is an important part of learning to stand up for yourself, because it demonstrates that you won’t let nonsense and nastiness impact your life.

   Method 3 of 3: Resolving Conflicts

    

   

   1

   Defend yourself in a calm and reasonable manner. Defend yourself verbally when attacked, provoked, or sidelined and take care of yourself when someone tries to put you down, box you in, or even hurt you physically.Don’t just stand there smoldering; it’s far better to speak your mind. Even if the end result doesn’t change, you’ve demonstrated to yourself and others that you won’t stand for disrespect.

   More often than not, a polite but firm clarification of the disrespectful comment or behavior will be enough to draw attention to the need for it to change, especially where there is an audience. For example: “Excuse me but I was next in line and I’m in just as much of a hurry as the person who pushed in.”

   Avoid whispering, mumbling, or speaking too quickly. The tone of your voice and the speed of your delivery are an important part of clarifying what you want and how confident you’re feeling.

   Naturally, the manner in which you defend yourself will depend on the situation and if someone is volatile, always put your safety first.

    

    

   2Don’t be aggressive. You should never resort to outright aggression in the process of standing up for yourself. Being aggressive, or even violent, is counter-productive and will not win you any friends.Acting aggressively — verbally or otherwise — is like acting out your pain in full technicolor. It’s not a constructive way to get what you want and will simply turn people against you.

   You are far more likely to achieve a positive result if you approach any issues as calmly and objectively as possible. You can still stand your ground and be firm and assertive without having to raise your voice or get angry. ^[4]

    

   

   3

   Avoid being passive aggressive. Be wary of taking passive aggressive responses toward people and situations.Passive aggressive responses are ones in which you begrudgingly do things against your will and end up filled with resentment and anger, hating people who “make” you feel this way, feeling depressed and helpless.

   This negatively affects your relationships and can take a huge toll on your physical and emotional health. Most of all, a passive aggressive approach to life will never enable you to stand up for yourself.

    

   4

   Try to turn negatives into positives. Another way of standing up for yourself is to take the negatives thrown at you and transform them into good things. In the process of turning attacks inside out to find the good, you’ll often find that feelings of jealousy or insecurity are at the root of the attack. For example:If someone claims you’re bossy, rather than letting it cause you to shrink some more, take this as evidence that you’re a natural leader, able to manage people and projects well, and a proactive change agent.

   If someone claims you’re shy, take it as a compliment that means you’re not ready to jump on the latest bandwagon but like to reflect over the consequences first and then make up your mind.

   If someone says you’re too sensitive or emotional, let this be a sign that you’ve got a big heart and aren’t afraid to let everyone see it.

   Or maybe someone suggested you’re not career-minded enough – for you, that confirms you’re living a stress-free life that will help you to live longer.

    

    

   5

   Don’t give up. No matter how hard you try to increase your confidence, there will be days when you feel that you’re backsliding.Rather than seeing this as a defeat in your attempt to learn to stand up for yourself, see it for what it is – a day or so where things went temporarily off-track before you feel better and bounce back. Some tricks to help the bounce-back process include:

   Fake it till you make it. Even if you don’t feel confident, act as if you do.

   Be consistent in your approach. People will grow to expect that the person you are now is a person who stands up for himself.

   Expect some people to find your more assertive stance challenging. It can take time to reshape the patterns you’ve formerly established with people who used to walk all over you. In some cases, you’ll find you no longer want to be a part of their lives; take it as it comes.

Scientists say philae’s comet may host alien life

The icy surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, home to the famous Philae lander, may also host alien life, according to astrobiologists.

Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, director of the U.K.’s Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology, and Max Wallis of the University of Cardiff say that the comet could be home to living microbes. The scientists presented their research at the Royal Astronomical Society’s National Astronomy Meeting in Llandudno, Wales on Monday.

“The case we’re building includes what’s being discovered about comet CG’s [Churyumov-Gerasimenko’s] surface layers — mineral and carbonaceous dust forming a protective crust over a mix of complex carbon compounds and H2O,” explained Wallis, in an email to FoxNews.com. “[This] makes a positive habitat for micro-biology as the comet warms on nearing the sun.”

Wallis also cites the emission of gases from the comet last September before its “subcrust” had warmed as evidence of stored bio-gases being released.

Philae made headlines in November 2014 when it became the first probe to landon a comet, the culmination of an audacious 10-year mission. But when the lander settled into the shadow of a cliff three days later its solar panels were deprived of sunlight and it entered into “idle mode.” Last month, however, the European Space Agency lander began “waking up,” intermittently sending data to the Rosetta spacecraft orbiting the comet.

 “Rosetta has already shown that the comet is not to be seen as a deep-frozen inactive body, but supports geological processes and could be more hospitable to micro-life than our Arctic and Antarctic regions,” said Wallis, in a statement released by the Royal Astronomical Society.  The experts cite further evidence of life in Philae’s detection of complex organic molecules on the comet’s surface and in infrared images taken by Rosetta.

According to the scientists’ research, the comet’s micro-organisms probably require liquid water bodies to colonize the comet and could inhabit cracks in its ice and “snow.”

The comet, which is travelling at more than 73,000 mph, is currently about 176.7 million miles from Earth, according to Sky News

World’s most extensive face transplant turns out a success. Man with face transplant meets sister of his donor

A man who had a face transplant three years ago has met the sister of his donor for the first time.

Rebekah Aversano’s brother, Joshua, died in a car accident in 2012 and the family agreed to donate his face to Richard Lee Norris for what was the world’s most extensive face transplant at the time.

This is the moment that a woman sees – and touches – the face of her dead brother on another person for the first time following a groundbreaking transplant.

It’s a union that she finds overwhelmingly emotional.

The transplant took place thanks to the family of Joshua Aversano, 21, who was tragically killed in a car accident. The incredible meeting between his sister Rebekah and recipient, Richard Norris, has been filmed for 60 Minutes on Nine.

39-year-old Richard Norris (right) suffered horrific injuries in the 1997 shotgun accident. Rebekah Aversano (left) and her family made the decision in 2012 to donate her dead 21-year-old brother’s face for transplant. Their meeting is catalogued by the 60 Minutes Australia crew this Sunday night

Joshua Aversano (left) was killed when hit by a van in 2012. His family donated his face for transplant to shooting victim Richard Norris (after the transplant, right)

Rebekah Aversano looks on in amazement after meeting Richard Norris for the first time. ‘This is the face I grew up with’ she tells him

The family gave doctors permission to give his face to Norris, who was horribly disfigured almost 18 years ago when he accidentally blew off most of his face with a shotgun.

It was an operation which transformed his life.

The get-together was set up partly so that he could thank the Aversano family for ‘saving my life’.

As they meet for the first time at his home, Rebekah asks Richard: ‘Do you mind if I touch it?’

He responds: ‘No, not at all.’

She does and then steps back in amazement: ‘Wow, this is the face I grew up with.’

Norris underwent more than 30 operations to try and correct the damage and restore his features. The long and painful process resulted in little sign of improvement, leaving him depressed and at times suicidal.

When Rebekah and her family were first approached by doctors about the possibility of using her dead brother’s face for transplant, they were shocked

Incredible moment: Rebekah Aversano meeting Richard Norris for the first time since his transplant using the face of her late brother Joshua

Rebekah asks Richard: ‘Do you mind if I touch it?’ She does and then steps back in amazement, saying ‘wow, this is the face I grew up with’

Emotional: Richard Norris and Rebekah Aversano embrace, the reunion proving overwhelming

But three years ago, the tragedy in the Aversano family offered him a glimmer of hope. 

Norris, 39, underwent one of the most complex and expensive face transplants in history, receiving teeth, a jaw and even a tongue from his donor.

His mother, Gwen Aversano, told Canada’s CTV News network they knew it was ‘the right thing to do’.

‘We can definitely see our son in him. Some of the facial features would definitely be our son, so we could see similarities, very much so.’

‘We are just so pleased we have been able to help him, even though we had such a tragic loss, we were able to give someone else the benefit of our son.’

And the chances of finding a perfect match were very low.

Disfigured: When Richard Norris shot himself he lost his nose, lips and most movement in his mouth. The surgery took more than 36 hours

Life saving: Norris, 39, has had multiple life-saving, reconstructive surgeries but none as successful as this by Dr Rodriguez and his 150-strong team

Joshua’s family was approached soon after his death with a request to donate his face for transplanting onto Richard Norris. They had already donated his organs

Norris said he is humbled by the gift he received from her late brother after Joshua was killed, struck by a minivan while crossing the street. He speaks to the Maryland family regularly and keeps them updated on his life and health.

‘I asked him if it really was worth the risk, he said “absolutely”, even though there was a 50 per cent chance it would fail,’ she added.

Part of the health battles, included a severe rejection episode when he was sunburnt.  He sent pictures of his face to the team of doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center, who told him to board a plane without delay.

He spent three weeks recovering from the episode in hospital.

The 36-hour hour operation was considered extremely controversial, as it was elective surgery, and Norris only had a 50 per cent chance of survival.

The result, however, was not only a new life for him, but a groundbreaking study for doctors learning to treat soldiers and other victims of severe facial injuries.

Norris was only 22 when his face ‘exploded’.

The story goes that he had arrived home after drinking and was arguing with his mother when he took a shotgun from his gun cabinet and told his mom he was going to shoot himself.

But when he went to place the gun down, it went off

Each day became a living nightmare for Norris as he faced cruelty from strangers whenever he ventured outdoors, fought addiction and contemplated suicide.

Dr Rodriguez led a 150-strong team in a 36 hour operation to transplant the new face on Richard Norris

An MRI image of Richard Lee Norris re-constructed face transplant after being shot in the face (left) and the image following the reconstruction and transplant (at right)

The accident left Norris with no teeth, no nose and only part of his tongue. He was still able to taste but could not smell.

‘Those 10 years of hell I lived through, it has given me such a wealth of knowledge,’ Norris told Associated Press.

‘I’ve heard all kinds of remarks. A lot of them were really horrible.

‘It’s unreal. It has put some of the best people in my life.’

The doctor who performed the operation at the Maryland Medical Centre, Dr Eduardo Rodriguez, said when Norris opted to undergo the face-transplant intense procedure, he was agreeing to take on an enormous responsibility.

He said, the face isn’t an organ like a liver or a heart, which are regularly transplanted.

The face is more like a hand or foot, and Richard Norris’ body will always regard his new face as a foreign object, causing his immune system to constantly attack it.

He will take a cocktail of anti-rejection drugs for the rest of his life, lowering his immune system and leaving him vulnerable to many health problems.

He is also not allowed to drink, smoke, get sunburned or risk injury, all of which will only worsen the rejection.

A serious rejection results in death.

‘He never really thought about himself in all of this,’ Dr Rodriguez told GQ magazine.

Grateful: Richard Norris sits in the office of Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez, who led the surgical team that performed the face transplant. He undergoes regular checks because of the fear of his body rejecting the new face

Dr Eduardo Rodriguez inspects Norris’ skin. In the years since a shotgun accident blew half of Norris’ face off, he faced cruelty from strangers, fought addiction and contemplated suicide

When Norris saw his new face in a mirror for the first time, he wrote: ‘The only thing I could do was hug Dr. Rodriguez’

‘He’s always thought about helping the wounded warriors and the other people, and providing hope.

‘He’s a remarkable man.’

Before, whenever he ventured out in public, usually at night, he hid behind a hat and mask.

Norris had dozens of previous surgeries to try and repair his face, but eventually reached the limits of what conventional surgery could do for him, said Dr Rodriguez.

And it was that just weeks after Norris was told by another doctor that there was little else that could be done for him, Dr Rodriguez presented him with another option: a transplant.

The doctor, who is the chair of the plastic surgery department at NYU Langone Medical Centre, had been following advancements in the face transplant field for years.

A Naval Research grant, for the purpose of helping wounded warriors made it possible for him and his team to attempt their first face transplant, an operation that previously had been performed only twice in the US.

The world’s first partial face transplant was performed in France in 2005 on a woman who was mauled by her dog.

Of 27 other transplants that followed, four recipients have died.

Norris has had two serious episodes since the 2012 operation, and spent weeks in hospital on intravenous medication.

For the first time in many years, Richard recognises himself when he looks in the mirror and this Sunday night meets the woman who made the decision to allow him the face transplant

The rejection was the major danger in the first place. However, once Dr Rodriguez and his team began, there was no turning back.

If the transplant didn’t take, there would have been nothing left of his face and he would have died.

Norris’ mother, Sandra, remembers Dr Rodriguez saying there was a 50-50 chance her son would survive the surgery.

‘We looked at Richard and we told him we loved him the way he was and it didn’t matter to us, but it was his life,’ she said. ‘That was what he wanted to do and we supported him.’

Dr Rodriguez said if all goes well, a transplanted face could last 20 to 30 years.

Norris, who makes daily visual checks, gains more feeling in his new face as each day passes but the risk of rejection is never far from his mind.

‘Every day I wake up with that fear: Is this the day? The day I’m going to go into a state of rejection that is going to be so bad that the doctors can’t change it?’

Before the transplant, Norris rarely left his home. In addition to wearing a surgical mask and baseball cap on his infrequent trips out in public, he did his shopping at night so he wouldn’t have to face the stares of as many people.

‘I am now able to walk past people and no one even gives me a second look.’

China Builds Skyscraper Building In 19 Days (19 DAYS)

The Chinese firm used a modular method to build three floors at a time

China’s Broad Sustainable Building Co. claims it’s capable of constructing buildings faster than any other company in the world. The firm is behind the recently erected Mini Sky City in Hunan Province — a 57-story skyscraper built in just 19 days, AP reports.

The company uses a modular method of construction, which allows workers to build three stories in a single day. “With the traditional method, they have to build a skyscraper brick by brick, but with our method, we just need to assemble the blocks,” company engineer Chen Xiangqian told AP.

THE TIMEFRAME DOESN’T ACCOUNT FOR DESIGN AND PLANNING

Those 19 days don’t account for concept design and planning, of course. The company spent four and a half months constructing the skyscraper’s 2,736 modules before beginning the process of actually putting the pieces together. Construction of the building began last year, but bad weather stalled the project. The 19-day total is the sum of all the days spent on construction, not a single timeframe.

While such speed is impressive and the building does meet the city’s safety standards, critics of modular construction — which has also been used by firms in the US and UK — say the process doesn’t allow for architectural variation. Instead, boxy units are stacked together like amateur building blocks and skylines begin to look very homogenous.

The Broad Sustainable Building Co. is waiting for approval to build a 220-floor skyscraper in only three months, AP reports.

Source

The Verge

Woman who hit President Of Venezuela with mango , rewarded with new home

Caracas: A woman who bashed President Nicolas Maduro on the head with a mango has been promised a new house for her troubles in a surreal tropical tale that has gone viral in Venezuela.

The 52-year-old president was driving a bus through a crowd last weekend in the central state of Aragua when someone in the crowd tossed the fruit at him.

“It says: ‘If you can, call me’,” the former bus driver said later during the week, as he displayed the fruit with a name and phone number scrawled on it on television.

“Marleny Olivo had a problem with her house. (Officials) called her. She was scared. She couldn’t believe it was true. … I’ve approved an apartment for you, Marleny, as part of the ‘Grand Venezuelan Housing Mission’,” he added, vowing to eat the mango.

Venezuela’s ever ebullient cybersphere did not miss a beat, with the president’s populist gesture drawing admiration and derision, plus plenty of jokes.

“If for a mango they give you apartments, then you know what to do: throw him a pineapple!” quipped Dolar Today, a website that quotes the black market for dollars and is hated by Maduro.

Like his predecessor Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013, Maduro collects heaps of petitions during trips, although most are scribbled on paper rather than hurled at him on fruit.

In a habit that delights many poor supporters but irritates critics, Maduro – like Chavez – often personally gives away homes, appliances or pensions to low-income Venezuelans.

However, lacking Chavez’s charm and good fortune with high oil prices, Maduro’s popularity has plummeted since he took office.

Roughly 28.2 percent of Venezuelans approved of his management of the country in April, according to pollster Datanalisis. That was up from March’s 24.7 percent, likely due to his campaign against U.S. sanctions on seven government officials, but still nearly half the level when he became president.

The survey also said 45.8 percent plan to vote for opposition candidates in this year’s parliamentary election, while only 25 percent support the ruling Socialists.

Shortages of food and medicine caused by strict currency controls have taken a heavy toll, particularly the poor, who traditionally have supported “Chavismo.”

“A mango shortage is coming, let’s line up to throw them at Maduro and get a new house!” one Twitter user joked.

Woman who hit Venezuela leader with mango rewarded with new home

-Source-

deccanchronicle.com

If Normal Skating Bores You, Then This is your thing (Time To Try Freeline Skating)

Because Normal Skating Is Too Mainstream, It’s Time To Try Freeline Skating

Freeline Skating.

It was said that this new type of sport had combined the way of skating the Snowboard, Skateboard, Ski, Inline Skate, and much more.This new sport is said to have started since 2006 and is now progressing steadily. You can  see lots of Freeline Skate videos on Youtube trying new things and demonstrating their skills. Most of these gamers are from US, Japan and Korea.

what is so fun about this new sport?

It is very small and compact and easy to port around. Compared to the skateboard, the size of t’s pad is about the size of the computer mouse. So it would be extremely easy for you to carry it around and skate it whenever you like.

The device enables one to pump the speed as they desire. Unlike the skateboard, which you have to put your leg down and accelerate yourself, you can just turning your leg around and you can move on forward without doing some uncool pushing works.

 

New Chinese One Persona Transportation Scooter

Chinese transportation robotics firm  Ninebot  has acquired U.S. rival Segway Inc, the company behind the self-balancing scooter that became a technological marvel when it was launched in the early 2000s but whose hype then faded.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed, but Ninebot Chief Executive Gao Lufeng said at a press briefing in Beijing that Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Inc and venture capital firm Sequoia Capital China, among others, had invested $80 million into Ninebot to help finance the acquisition.

New backers of Ninebot, which began producing scooters two years ago as a crowdfunded project, also include Xiaomi Chief Executive Lei Jun’s personal private equity fund Shunwei, Gao said.

The acquisition comes about half a year after Segway named Ninebot in a patent infringement complaint in September 2014.

Gao did not address the dispute on Wednesday but told reporters the combined company would hold a significant lead in market share as well as a vast portfolio of over 400 critical patents. The companies would operate as separate brands, he said.

Ninebot, which has several self-balancing scooter models including one without handles, known as the “One”, will now have “the most comprehensive lineup of products in the industry”, Gao said.

Ninebot’s high-profile backers, Sequoia Capital China partner Neil Shen and Xiaomi CEO Lei, both struck a nationalistic note in remarks toasting the deal.

“I have long thought Chinese companies should have more courage,” said Shen, one of China’s most prominent tech investors. “This acquisition is a display of Chinese self-confidence.”

The acquisition caps a 14-year independent run for Bedford, New Hampshire-based Segway, which never lived up to the initial hype in 2001, when inventor Dean Kamen unveiled to the American public a scooter that could be driven simply by shifting one’s weight and turned it into a pop culture icon.

Kamen vowed on television the Segway would revolutionize transportation much like the automobile, but it became widely regarded as a mainstream sales failure despite some law enforcement and industrial uses.

Lei, one of China’s richest men, showed off riding a Ninebot for photographers on Wednesday and explained that he invested in the company because he always found self-balancing vehicles the best “toys for adults”.

When prompted by an event MC, Lei added that Xiaomi’s investment in Ninebot made sense for the smartphone company because Xiaomi’s strategy was to support smart hardware companies everywhere and build a device ecosystem around its smartphones.

 

Source – huffingtonpost

Four Prehistoric Harappan Era Skeletons Found In Haryana – India

Four human skeletons, believed to be 5,000 years old, have been found by archaeologists from the site of Harappan civilization at Rakhi Garhi village.

Archaeologists of Haryana Archaeology Department in collaboration with Seoul National University, South Korea and Deccan College, Pune recently found four human skeletons at the site.

Prof. Nilesh Yadav, co-director of the project, said this is the first time that skeletons have been recovered during the excavation in the village, which is 60 km from here in Hisar district. The excavation in the village started in 2012.

These skeletons are of two men, one woman and a child.

The height of the skeletons of the men is five feet and six inches and both were aged about 50 years while the height of the skeleton of the woman is five feet and four inches and was aged around 30 years.

The child’s age was believed to be around 10 years. These skeletons will be sent to laboratory for DNA test, Yadav said.

Besides pottery with grains of food, bangles, toys, mini wheels and sling balls of different sizes have also been recovered from the excavation site.

Archaeologists also recovered a seal which has some tiger-like figure inscribed on it. They believe that it was used in trade or for some other purposes. Tools which could have been used for fishing and hunting purposes have also been recovered.

The excavation work was spread over an area of 50 acres and the archaeologists are still working on three mounds numbering 4, 6 and 7