Choosing your puppy

Different breeds will have certain characteristics for which they were bred. Ask breeders at dog shows and look them up in breed books for further information. You must consider several things before deciding on a dog:

How much time can you spend with it? Dogs are social creatures. They will not be happy left out in the back yard alone. You must be committed to spending several hours a day with it.

What space can you provide for it? If you live in a small apartment, you must take this into consideration: many dogs will not do well unless you spend a good deal of effort in meeting their needs. Don't be fooled by size into thinking a dog will be OK in a small apartment --ÊAÊ terrier for example requires a lot of exercise. Conversely, many Mastiffs are content to just lie on the floor and do nothing at all while you are gone.

How much money can you set aside for it? Even if you get a dog from the shelter or otherwise inexpensively, you will have to buy food, pay for veterinary checkups, vaccinations and routine medical care over the lifetime of the dog. Not to mention replacing anything the dog may damage or destroy, or money for medical emergencies. Do you have the financial resources for this?

How much exercise can you give it? If your time is limited, you should look for smaller or less active dogs that can obtain enough exercise in your home or from short walks. Note that not all small dogs are less active, or larger dogs more active.

How much training can you do? Regardless of the dog you get, training will make your dog much more compatible with you and what you want to do. A trained dog can go to more places with you without disruption, and can be more easily a part of your life.

How much grooming can you do? How much hair are you prepared to have in your home? You should give serious consideration to these factors: some dogs shed little and require no grooming (clipping, stripping, etc); others shed little but require more grooming; others shed but do not require grooming; and still others both shed and require grooming. Do note that just about all dogs will require some nail clipping regardless of conditions. If you get a dog that requires regular grooming, are you prepared to pay for its grooming or learn to do it yourself and to do either regularly?
Which sex do you want, male or female? There are pros and cons to either sex, all of which are generalities and may or may not apply to a specific dog. By all means, if you have a preference, get the sex you want. If you are not sure, it really doesn't matter.

What characteristics do you want in a dog? Different breeds have been bred with specific purposes in mind. Dogs bred for scent, for racing, for retrieving, etc, will exhibit these traits. Consider which characteristics you would like and which will annoy you. Reading up on dogs in breed books and talking to breeders will give you some idea of these kinds of characteristics. This also may be a reason to choose a purebred: characteristics in purebreds appear more reliably because of their consistent breeding. Do recognize, however, that dogs show individual personalities, and variety exists within each breed. Breeds are only a general indicator of what to expect.

Keeping the above facts in my will help one to choose the right breed!

By Shihab Ally

Corruption in every cell of an organism is worse than cancer.

Unfortunately, being a proud citizen of Bangladesh, corruption is where we have excelled more than at other aspects over the last few years. We were seen as stars in a way that dismayed and ashamed us. For us to evaluate corruption at the highest level would be extremely difficult. But we have tried to highlight on a very small molehill after all, mountains come from molehills. Of all types of corruption the one that is most detrimental to growth is the bureaucratic corruption. Bangladesh is already infamous for its weird bureaucratic bottlenecks. One plausible explanation for this widespread bureaucratic corruption is excessive government intervention or the size of the government itself.

The three factors that are responsible for high levels of corruption -- monopoly power, discretionary power and lack of accountability.

Police officials top the Corruption Database 2001 with massive bribery, abuse of power and intimidation. The report says bureaucrats are among the most corrupt and the levels of abuse of power are high among class (higher) officials of the government.

If you consider lack of accountability and somehow implement accountability and chronological evaluation of wealth, we will see that unlike other professional workers, in the department of police, the wealth increases in terms of geometric progression proportional to the post.

I am extremely hurt at the expense of Tk 50 which I almost had to pay, more hurt at the harassment that I had to undergo, having been charged for smoking in public by the check post just outside Baridhara DOHS gate. They demanded that I throw my cigarette but I did not do so because I asked for justification. I told them that if they could give me plausible rationale for stopping me while I was traveling by rickshaw with a fag between my fingers, I was willing to pay a fine and go through any process that they asked me to. But they did not have proper knowledge of the law that prevents smoking in public. Two of the officials in that specific post had contrasting opinions about the law.

I have the right to learn the law from the law enforcers and I believe, also to receive facts and not opinions when I ask. If I am not mistaken, one policeman told me that he was not too sure of this law, while the other one repeatedly told me to drop the cigarette. When they asked for a fine, I demanded a receipt, to ensure that this money would not go to the pockets of that policeman. At this, he replied that it was unwise of me to try teaching a policeman rules of the law.

I was astounded. And I must say that I was speaking in proper understandable Bangla, no dialects, no different language. Later I called the sergeant. I told him I was from the press, not elaborating on my status within the press hierarchy. The policeman, having heard of the media, I was allowed to go.

I wonder why the RAB don't go and search for honesty and evaluate police by ways in which the police excise law. I believe that if the corrupt police are charged and given proper punishment, it wills catalyze the movement of anti corruption.

After all, we want a nation where we can firmly rely on the police force of the country, be their brothers, do them favors if need be, and ask for a helping hand at our dire need, and all these based on trust and ethics not by material welfare driven by addictive smell of currency.

By Taskin Rahman

Do it yourself

Tango basics-1

There must have been zillions of times when almost everyone has felt that going to a school party was not a good idea after actually going to it(!) The reason being because no one really bothered to follow El Cachafaz's steps in the career line and many understand the after shock effects of watching a Michael Jackson swirl done by a 15 year old show off.

So, instead of trying to move your hip in three directions in the same time perhaps a dancing course would be a good idea. Then again how many daddies are generous enough to cut off their wallets so that child being is able to impress some high school super star?

The following is just a basic in the tango genre! Give it a try. First you can try it with the pillow (*wink) before hitting it off with a real person!

Men's steps
(The woman is in standard dance position in front of the man. Just in case you didn't know. For the man, left hand holds her right hand and your right hand should be placed slightly above her waist. Remember, it's always the men leading the women in any dance)
1 - 2. Step forward with LF (S)
3 - 4. Step forward with RF (S)
5. Step forward with LF (Q)
6. Step side right with RF (Q)
7 - 8. Slide the LF to the RF slowly and touch the LF next to the RF with the left heel slightly up (S)

Women's steps
(The man is in standard dance position in front of the woman)
1 - 2. Step back with RF (S)
3 - 4. Step back with LF (S)
5. Step back with RF (Q)
6. Step side left with LF (Q)
7 - 8. Slide the RF to the LF slowly and touch the RF next to the LF with right heel up (S)

Abbreviations:
RF Right Foot
LF Left Foot
(S) Slow Step, 2 beats of music
(Q) Quick Step, 1 beat of music
Each number represents a beat of music

Music for practice:
Blue Tango
La Comparsita
Hernandos HideawayÊ

Hope your foot tapping days finally gets to be a success. If you feel in control of your moves after trying these basic tango moves than you will love the complex steps that will be given out next week! Till then keep those toes focused!

By Shayera Moula

He who made it big

John Jacob Astor (1763-1848) $85 billion- the 4th of the lot

After a long break, for reasons unknown to mankind, HE WHO MADE IT BIG, is back again.

Adjusted for time, Astor, "the Self-Made Money-Making Machine's" fortune would rank at roughly $85 billion in 2001. Despite never setting a trap himself, the German-born Astor became synonymous with the American Fur Trade. Along many others, Astor symbolizes the American Dream, as he rose from obscurity to financial success

Most folks say it was John Jacob Astor (1763-1848), who grew up the poor son of a butcher in Germany. The fur and real estate magnate is considered the fourth-richest American ever, behind John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie and Cornelius Vanderbilt. (Bill Gates is fifth.) Astor's accumulated wealth, adjusted to today's dollars, is put at $85 billion.

In 1844, the average New Yorker earned $1 a week. That year, Astor gave his granddaughter a wedding gift of $250,000, conservatively worth $50 million today. Man, that would buy one heck of a toaster

Astor died owning $1 out of every $15 of personal wealth in America.

He didn't get that rich by being a nice guy, biographers say. He was a war profiteer and an opium merchant. When he got into the Manhattan real-estate market he virtually invented the term "slumlord

He and his family have left an indelible mark on the world. When he died he bequeathed $400,000 to found a public library, eventually consolidated with others as the New York Public Library. (Love the lions out front!)

Descendant William Waldorf Astor (1848-1919), built the forerunner of the world-famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on New York's Park Avenue.

And descendant John Jacob Astor IV went down with the Titanic. His wife, more than a quarter-century younger than him and five months pregnant, was allowed on a lifeboat. Astor was not. Several days later his body was found floating in the Atlantic with $2,500 in a pocket.

About 150 years earlier, his great-grandfather crossed the Atlantic to make his fortune with $25 in his pocket.

By Taskin Rahman

Totally bats
Two bats are going for their midnight feed.
After an hour or so, one bat gets tired of looking and goes home with no blood. The other bat comes home with blood dripping from its mouth. The first bat says enviously, "Where did you get all that blood from?" The second bat replies, "Follow me. I`ll show you." After awhile the second bat leads them to a cave. He says, "You see that wall over there?" The hungry bat excitedly says, "Yes!" Other bat says, "I didn't."

Strange criminals
In September 1992, robbers in Las Vegas held up a van thought to contain gambling chips, only to find that it was carrying potato chips instead.
In 1998, a guard was caught smuggling a wad of money in his
underpants out of a bank in Atlanta when a tiny dye capsule exploded, blowing a hole in his trousers.
In 1998, a would be Texas grocery store robber tried to dis-
guise his face with a balaclava, however, he failed to remove a laminated badge which bore his name, place of employment and position from his breast pocket.
Police had no difficulty catching a man who stole a barge
on the River Thames in 1972. There was a dock strike on that
day and his was the only craft moving.
The defense attorney for Tyrone Jerrols of Houston, Texas,
who was facing charges of murder, filed a motion to prevent
the use of Jerrol's nickname, claiming it would prejudice
the jury. Jerrol's nickname is "Hitman."

Compiled by Spooky Crook