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We knew it was only a matter of time before the stray dogs of the world rose up against their mistreatment at the hands of humans, and it appears that the revolution has begun, At least, it has in India, where a stray dog reportedly stole a bag containing over 400,000 Indian rupees -- almost $7,500 U.S. dollars -- from a man when he stepped outside for just a moment to wash his face.

The dentist's drill has to be one of the most dreaded sounds in the history of time, a shrill and instantly identifiable shriek with a reputation as a precursor to nightmarish pain is perhaps only matched by the sound of a televangelist talking. A dental surgeon in India has developed a dental drill that plays its own music while drilling, drowning out the distinctive noise of the drill. Now if only he could do something about the fact that the thing is a drill inside of your head, which, really, has always been our primary complaint, rather than the noise.

The Indian government has approved a plan to invest $4.1 billion dollars -- or an even more impressive 230 billion rupees -- in helping to develop technologies that will make electric cars a viable choice for more Indian consumers. Their roads are getting more and more crowded with vehicles every year, thanks to a growing and vehicle hungry middle class. But that surge in vehicles on the road has contributed to making India's air the most polluted in the world, according to a study published earlier this year. The government is hoping to stop, or at least slow that pollution by putting 6 million electric vehicles on Indian roads by 2020, and is putting its money where its mouth is to spur innovation and investment in next generation batteries and fuel cells to power those vehicles.

India wants some of that space exploration pie for themselves. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced that the nation is planning to send an unmanned spacecraft to orbit Mars. Ever since NASA's Curiosity rover touched down, there's been something of a furor over space and all it encompasses. India, perhaps, is a bit optimistic in their projections. A launch of this magnitude happening a year after being announced seemsa bit too optimistic.

A number of sources have reported to The Times of India that Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, is planning to provide mobile handsets to the nation's over 6 million families living below the poverty line. The plan involves not only distributing mobile phones completely free of charge, but also providing 200 minutes of free local calls. Although the Office of the Prime Minister has yet to make an official statement regarding the "Har Hath Mein Phone" plan, it is expected to be announced to the public next week, on August 15. This could very well be the first chance for many Indian children to whine and beg for mom's phone to play the preinstalled trial version of Snake.

As of writing, 20 of India's 28 states have seen widespread power outages in the past two days, leaving as many as 700 million people without electricity. Even the nation's capital of New Delhi was affected. Indian officials have yet to determine a cause for the blackout, but assure the nation that engineers are working around the clock to rectify the problem.

For our India-based readers and fans of Indian television, it's a great day as YouTube has announced that they've reached 19,000 episodes from over 300 Indian TV shows. The shows, which cover six different languages, have been organized into a localized page for viewers in India but can be found here by anyone curious about taking a look. With hundreds of shows to choose from, you should have no trouble finding something to watch.

When you think of amphibians, you probably think of frogs or salamanders, you know, something that at least has the potential to be remotely cute, or at least not terrifying. Well, allow me to introduce you to some newly discovered amphibious worms which are, I think, ugly. Seven new species of limbless amphibians (which fall under the order "Gymnophiona") have been found hiding in the dirt in India, constituting an entire new family in and of themselves.

According to a recent report from Internet security firm Kaspersky, India is currently the number one country in the world when it comes to generating spam email. According to Kasperksy, in the third quarter of last year, spam accounted for about 79.8% of email traffic, and the top three countries responsible for generating it were India at 14.8%, Indonesia at 10.6%, and Brazil at 9.7%. This is a little bit up from a reported low point this summer, and India might be to blame.

When Indian snake charmer Hakkul found that a plot of land he was promised was being held from him unless he bribed certain officials, he protested by leaving a writhing mass of snakes in a tax office in Uttar Pradesh, as one does. Hakkul needed the land to care for his writhing mass of snakes and apparently would have gotten it if not for corrupt officials. Among his writhing mass were several venomous cobras. Reportedly, no one was hurt during the protest.

Just today, the Aakash tablet launched in India. It's a relatively small tablet, but it works and as part of a pilot program, 100,000 Indian students are getting them for free. After that, they'll only be $35 for students and $60 for anyone else interested. Pretty cheap for a tablet that's not a tablet of paper. Granted, the free and $35 tablets are being subsidized by the governement, but the tablets are being purchased at only $50 a pop from the British company assembling the devices on-sight in India. Still an order of magnitude less than your average tablet.

Of course, being an order of magnitude cheaper also comes with extremely stripped down functionality and usability, stripped down so far as to be a relatively serious concern. The tablet has two USB ports, a resistive LCD screen, a two to three hour battery life, wireless broadband capability (of course), and can even play video for two whole hours at the sweltering temperature of 118 degrees, but the tablet's responsiveness and processing times are rumored to be atrocious.

After a rogue elephant killed seventeen people in India, it had to be put down. Afterward, DNA tests on its stomach's contents showed the elephant ate human flesh, which is pretty odd, considering elephants are herbivores. In the story on Dave Salmoni's new show on Animal Planet, he claims the elephant went rogue and ate people in an act of revenge after its calf was killed. Futurama made the joke a long time ago, so luckily, no one has to--in bad taste--this time around. Head on past the break to see the clip from Salmoni's show.

Spotted in Mumbai. (TechGoss via pluggd.in)

Even though most scientists discredit astrology as nothing more than fluff, in India, it is ruled as an actual science. On Thursday, the Bombay High Court shot down a Public Interest Litigation, filed by non-governmental organization Janhit Manch, that challenged a previous official ruling that made astrology an official science.

The judges also took on record...that astrology is 4000 years old 'trusted science'

The PIL filed by Janhit Manch called the validity of astrology into question, citing numerous examples of when astrology has "failed."

The PIL had urged the authorities to ban articles, advertisements, episodes and practices promoting astrology and its related subjects like vastu, reiki, feng shui, tarot, palmistry, zodiac signs and rashifal.

(The Times of India via Slashdot)

Jairam Ramesh, Indian Environment Minister, feels the degrading wild owl population in India is because of Harry Potter fans who attempt to capture the birds as pets in order to be more like the wizardly hero. Yep.