Tête-à-tête

Tête-à-tête
Thought of the week:
"Don't say goodbye. Just say so long"
-- One of those oddly-dressed characters from the
He-man movie

This is it, I guess. My last tete-a-tete. I know thismay seem sudden to my regular readers, if I may be sobold as to presume I have any, but it's been in theworks for a while. I'm not sure if I'm permanentlycrying off Tete-a-tete, but for now, this is goodbye.

I want to thank all those people who have been apatient and thoughtful audience, helping me growthrough their gentle criticism and thoughtfulsuggestions, and even those rare but nevertheless verywelcome words of praise. Especially those who mailedin regularly with e-cards and special messages for special occasions.

I had a lot of fun listening in on your discussions.
>From those simplistic polls of 2001 to the more full-blown debates over the last year or so, this little column has come that much closer to keeping a finger on the pulse of what the RS readers are thinking. From patriotism to religion, we've talked about a lot of things together, these past four years, and brought subtle changes to the magazine.

Our long discussion on music sparked off the band reviews we had for a short while, something I hope, we'll see again soon in RS. Then we had a long discussion on anime, which led to the birth of RS Anime, our very own online anime forum, which has swelled to some eighteen members the last time I checked, and still growing. All in all, it's been a very rewarding experience, getting your letters, corresponding directly with some of you, exchanging feedback on a variety of topics, and even introducin new columns into the magazine. I thank everyone who joined me on this wonderful ride. It wouldn't have been as much fun without any of you.

I'd like you to know that my mailboxes at [email protected] and [email protected] are still open to anyone who has queries and comments for the Rising stars. You can always ping me for invites into the RS Anime forum, or knock on my (virtual) door with ideas you want to share. In addition to that, you're welcome to check out my MSN Space, which is at

http://spaces.msn.com/members/tgndRS.
Right, that pretty much sums up what I want to say. So
long, everyone.take care, and be happy. Adios!

By The Girl Next Door

Oddly Enough…

England spooks foreign cricket teams by making them stay in haunted hotel, a tactic that seems to be working
Australia's world champion cricketers have been spooked by the legend of 700-year-old ghosts at their ancient Durham hotel, with all-rounder Shane Watson so rattled he slept on the floor of Brett Lee's room.

Ricky Ponting's team are staying at the historic Lumley Castle hotel in Chester-le-Street where the West Indies touring team in 2000 were so scared that three of them checked out. Local folklore says the hotel is haunted by the ghost of a 14th century aristocrat who was murdered by Catholic priests.

Australia players and management reported seeing or hearing unusual things during the night. "Several of the players were uneasy although a lot of them in the morning said they were fine ... but maybe they were just trying to be brave," Australia media officer Belinda Dennett told the Sun.

"I saw ghosts. I swear I'm telling the truth. I closed the blind in my room before I went to bed. But when I was woken at 4am by my phone, the blind was up again," she added. "I looked out of the window and saw a procession of white people walking past. It was amazing, very scary. Then I returned to bed and the blind went up again - and there was someone looking in through the window. I know I wasn't dreaming because I wrote down the message from my phone and the time. Certainly, when I started to tell my story, a lot of them didn't want to know the details."

The hotel, which overlooks the cricket ground, is where lady of the manor Lily Lumley was reputedly thrown down a well by a pair of priests when she rejected the Catholic Church. The hotel is full of dark corridors and the medieval atmosphere is enhanced by the staff dressing in period costume. abc.net.au

Tree-huggers upset that trees are being cut down to rebuild homes for hundreds of thousands left homeless by tsunami
Unauthorised logging has increased dramatically since the December 26 tsunami disaster as demand for the wood to be used in reconstruction phase has soared, said Frank Momberg of Fauna and Flora International. "To prevent a bigger disaster in Aceh, illegal logging must be stopped," Momberg told AFP on the sidelines of an environmental conference in the provincial capital Banda Aceh.

He said 1,000 hectares of forests in Aceh had been destroyed by illegal logging and only a small amount of legal wood was being used in Aceh's reconstruction. "After the tsunami, illegal logging is rampant. If this practice continues, there will be more problems. Illegal logging can cause landslides and floods," he said.

The tsunami killed more than 128,000 people in Aceh left another half-a-million homeless. Rehousing them involves a massive construction project requiring thousands of tonnes of wood and other raw materials. news.yahoo.com

Husband, not allowed to eat crackers in bed, gets stabbed by wife when he tries to
A woman pleaded guilty to stabbing her husband after he refused to eat dinner in the kitchen.

Dianne Gallagher was charged with aggravated assault, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person. She asked the Judge to delay sentencing so she could present letters and other documentation showing she isn't a threat to society and doesn't deserve jail time. She stabbed her husband and the wound could have been fatal, police said. Doctors said the knife pierced the pericardial sac that surrounds the heart. Her husband, Joseph Gallagher, told investigators his wife wanted him to eat in the kitchen, while he insisted on eating in the bedroom, police said. Joseph Gallagher arrived at the hospital three hours after getting stabbed. He told police that she had wanted him to go to the hospital but that he'd resisted, believing the wounds weren't serious. phillyburbs.com

All this news and more at Fark.com

Compiled by Ahmed Ashiful Haque

Humorous guidelines for living

Men are always hearing "the rules" from the female side. Now, here are some rules from the male perspective.
*Sometimes we are not thinking about you. Live with it.
*Don't cut your hair. Ever. Long hair is always more attractive than short hair. One of the big reasons guys fear getting married is that married women always cut their hair, and by then you're stuck with her.
*Shopping is NOT a sport. And we are never going to think of it that way.
*Crying is blackmail.
*Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this: Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say it!
*Most guys own three pairs of shoes - tops. What makes you think we'd be any good at choosing which pair, out of thirty, would look good with your dress?
*Men believe that yes and no are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.
*If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don't ask us and force us to lie for reasons of self protection.
*If something we said can be interpreted two ways, and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one.
*Let us ogle. We are going to look anyway; it's genetic. (It doesn't mean we don't love you anymore. We're hard-wired to ogle.)
*The relationship is never going to be like it was the first two months we were going out. Get over it.
*ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.
*We are not mind readers and never will be. Our lack of mind-reading ability is not proof of how little we care about you.
*If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," we will act like nothing's wrong. We know you are lying, but figure you really want to punish us with your inscrutability.
*I am in shape. ROUND is a shape.
(Thank you for reading this; Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight, but did you know we really don't mind that; it's like camping.)

Shout out

Hey people!!!
Leaving school was harder for me than I thought it would be and I'm sure it was the same for many of you. So if you want to send a shout to a favorite teacher or an old friend you'll miss, you know what to do! This week the focus is on the star sign Cancer (June 22 to July 22) represented by the hard, scary crab. Cancerians are emotional, loving, imaginative, protective and sympathetic. On the dark side they are moody and unable to let go of things. Princess Diana, Tom Cruise, Sylvester Stallone, Georgio Armani, Cat Stevens are all Cancerians and there are plenty of famous faces to be found in every field, who share this sign. Here's wishing all those who share this sign a Happy Birthday. Send in your shouts, comments and queries to [email protected]

Hey MAA, just to let u know that..........
Mother's day is not the only day to express our love for you, but every
single moment of our life which we spend with you expresses how much we love
you. You mean a lot to us, your presence in our lives make us what we are today. Maa..., The way you take care of us when we get ill,
The way you scold us, when we do something wrong,
Proves how much you love us and care about us.
A mother like you in our lives will ensure us a successful future.
We are thankful to god who gave us a mother like you,
WHO is not only UNCOMPARABLE but is also UNDERSTANDING!
Maa the four of us love you like anything.
love:Rajesh, Trisha, Razi, Esha.

Dear Ammu,
You're the best Ammu in the world.
Happy Mother's Day!
To celebrate the day, could we have new story books please?
Just kidding.
Love,
Tabassum and Razin

Opu,
By the time you see this it'll be a little bit late. But better late than never. Happy anniversary! thanks for making June 11 such a special day.
Durby

Hey vincent,
I just want you to know I love you very much and you
will always find me supporting you like a true friend
throughout your life.love you a L-O-T

Hi Farhana,
What's up, dear friend? I hope you are doing great. Missing you a lot. Anyways, be cool, stay safe and be cheerful. Remember, I'm beside with you no matter what happens and I hope you'll always be happy.
From Banna (Tommy)

Hey Tazrian!
Happy Birthday! I'm really sorry I couldn't be here for your birthday but I promise I'll bring you back lots of stuff! Anyway, best wishes,
from Maisha.

Hey Fatha,
I went to EWU this past month with a view to getting you but you were nowhere to be found. I need to talk to Nusrat immediately and only you can help me meet her. I even don't have your cell no. please; mail me your the no. soon.
How is Shajone and others?
take care.
Saad.

By the Hitch-hiker
[ATTENTION: This column is NOT responsible for negative (or otherwise) outcome of the messages printed in it. Please do NOT abuse the column by using it to play pranks etc. Also, all personal information including email addresses and telephone numbers will be printed at the sender's expense and we do NOT take ANY responsibility for any inconvenience to anyone]