When you are extraordinary and you still do the simplest things with great care.

Dec 31, 2005

Welcome 2006!!!!

By 6:31 AM 3 comments
Assamees -- Rongaali Bihur xubhessaa lobo
Bengali -- Shuvo Nabo Barsho
Farsi -- Sal-e no mubarak
Gujarati -- Natal ni shub kaamnao & Saal Mubarak
Hindi -- Naye Varsha Ki Shubhkamanyen
Kannada -- Hosa Varushadha Shubhashayagalu
Marathi -- Nveen Varshachy Shubhechcha
Malayalam -- Puthuvatsara Aashamsakal
Oriya -- Sukhamaya christmass ebang khusibhara naba barsa
Punjabi -- Nave sal di mubarak
Sindhi -- Nayou Saal Mubbarak Hoje
Tamil -- Eniya Puthandu Nalvazhthukkal
Telugu -- Noothana samvatsara shubhakankshalu
Thai -- Sawadee Pee Mai
Turkish -- Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun
Urdu -- Naya Saal Mubbarak Ho

Dec 30, 2005

quote

By 7:30 PM 1 comment
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
-- from movie "Coach Carter" [The passage quoted from Marianne Williamson]

Dec 28, 2005

Exploring FireFox

By 9:21 PM 1 comment
I never really got hooked to firefox...

But today I have done some exploring and liked these few listed here

Wizz RSS
IE Tab

Let me see maybe I will switch to Fire Fox(I have done this before and end up going back to Opera)

Dec 27, 2005

A positive move...

By 10:50 PM 1 comment
Stigma bogs down pre-marital HIV screening from The Hindu

But what about other states????
Most brides-to-be still shy away from seeking a pre-marital health screening of their suitors for HIV/AIDS, despite growing evidence about women being infected by their spouses.

A strong undercurrent of stigma and little power to decide about their life are preventing young women from insisting on a health report of the prospective groom before agreeing for marriage.

...

There are already 275 such centres across Tamil Nadu where anyone can get their blood tested for Rs. 10 besides free counselling.

Quantum Theory

By 8:40 PM 1 comment
Quantum Trickery: Testing Einstein's Strangest Theory from NYTimes

I just can't sum up this article. Full article is must read.

Nary a week goes by that does not bring news of another feat of quantum trickery once only dreamed of in thought experiments: particles (or at least all their properties) being teleported across the room in a microscopic version of Star Trek beaming; electrical "cat" currents that circle a loop in opposite directions at the same time; more and more particles farther and farther apart bound together in Einstein's spooky embrace now known as "entanglement." At the University of California, Santa Barbara, researchers are planning an experiment in which a small mirror will be in two places at once.

Niels Bohr, the Danish philosopher king of quantum theory, dismissed any attempts to lift the quantum veil as meaningless, saying that science was about the results of
experiments, not ultimate reality. But now that quantum weirdness is not confined to thought experiments, physicists have begun arguing again about what this weirdness means, whether the theory needs changing, and whether in fact there is any problem.

...

The Silly Theory

From the day 100 years ago that he breathed life into quantum theory by deducing that light behaved like a particle as well as like a wave, Einstein never stopped warning that it was dangerous to the age-old dream of an orderly universe.

If light was a particle, how did it know which way to go when it was issued from an atom?

"The more success the quantum theory has, the sillier it seems," Einstein once wrote to friend.

The full extent of its silliness came in the 1920's when quantum theory became quantum mechanics.

In this new view of the world, as encapsulated in a famous equation by the Austrian Erwin Schrödinger, objects are represented by waves that extend throughout space, containing all the possible outcomes of an observation - here,
there, up or down, dead or alive. The amplitude of this wave is a measure of the
probability that the object will actually be found to be in one state or another, a suggestion that led Einstein to grumble famously that God doesn't throw dice.

Worst of all from Einstein's point of view was the uncertainty principle, enunciated by Werner Heisenberg in 1927.

Certain types of knowledge, of a particle's position and velocity, for example, are
incompatible: the more precisely you measure one property, the blurrier and more
uncertain the other becomes.

In the 1935 paper, Einstein and his colleagues, usually referred to as E.P.R., argued that the uncertainty principle could not be the final word about nature. There must be a deeper theory that looked behind the quantum veil.

Imagine that a pair of electrons are shot out from the disintegration of some other particle, like fragments from an explosion. By law certain properties of these two fragments should be correlated. If one goes left, the other goes right; if one spins clockwise, the other spins counterclockwise.

That means, Einstein said, that by measuring the velocity of, say, the left hand electron, we would know the velocity of the right hand electron without ever touching it.

Conversely, by measuring the position of the left electron, we would know the position of the right hand one.

Since neither of these operations would have involved touching or disturbing the right hand electron in any way, Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen argued that the right hand electron must have had those properties of both velocity and position all along. That left only two possibilities, they concluded. Either quantum mechanics was "incomplete," or measuring the left hand particle somehow disturbed the right
hand one.

But the latter alternative violated common sense. Such an influence, or disturbance, would have to travel faster than the speed of light. "My physical instincts bristle at that suggestion," Einstein later wrote.

Bohr responded with a six-page essay in Physical Review that contained but one simple equation, Heisenberg's uncertainty relation. In essence, he said, it all depends on what you mean by "reality."

Harivansh Rai Bachchan - Jo Beet Gayi

By 6:21 AM No comments
Jeevan Main Ek Sitara Tha
Maana Vah Behad Pyara Tha
Vah Doob Gaya To Doob Gaya
Ambar Kay Aanan Ko Dekho
Kitne Iskay Taare Toote
Kitne Iskay Pyare Chhoote
Jo Chhoot Gaye Fir Kahan Mile
Par Bolo Toote Taaron Par
Kab Ambar Shok Manata Hai
Jo Beet Gayi So Baat Gayi

Jeevan Main Vah Tha Ek Kusum
They Us Par Nitya Nichavar Tum
Vah Sookh Gaya TO Sookh Gaya
Madhuvan Ki Chaati Ko Dekho
Sookhi Kitni Iski Kaliyan
Murjhaayi Kitni ballriyan
Jo Murjhayi Woh Fir Kahan Khili
Par Bolo Sookhe Phoolon Par
Kab Madhuban Shor Machata hai
Jo Beet Gayi So Bat Gayi

jeevan Main Madhu Ka Pyala Tha
Tumnay Tan Man De Daala Tha
Wah Toot Gaya To Toot Gaya
Madiralya Kay Aangan Ko Dekho
Kitne Pyale Hil Jaate Hain
Gir Mitti Main Mil Jaate Hain
Jo Girte Hain Kab Uthte Hain
Par Bolo Toote Pyalo Par
Kab Madiralaya Pachtata Hai
Jo Beet Gayi So Baat Gayi

Mridu Mitti Kay Hain Bane Hue
Madhu Ghoot Phoota Hi Kartay Hain
Laghu Jeevan Lekar Aaye Hain
Pyale Toota Hi Karte Hain
Fir Bhi Madiralaya Kay Andar
Madhu Kay Ghat Hai Madhu Pyale Hain
Jo Madakta Kay Maare Hain
Vey Madhu Loota Hi Kartay Hain
Va Kachcha Peene Wala Hai
Jiski Mamta Ghat Pyalon Par
Jo Sachchey Madhu Sey Jala Hua
Kab Rota Hai Chillata Hai
Jo Beet Gayi So Baat Gayi

[via neeraj]

Dec 24, 2005

Dec 23, 2005

Dec 22, 2005

Euthanasia -- during Katrina

By 5:11 AM No comments
Katrina investigation focuses on more than one person from CNN

When I heard this new I felt something twist inside. I was wondering what effect crisis can take on human nature that within days life savers become life takers(if that is the case). Then something else struck me... weren't there more than one natural disaster in India(being an Indian that is the first comparision that I draw). Did the same things happen there? If yes were they reported/investigated(since I did not read abt it I do not know)? If not... then why not? We need to know what drives people to change so suddenly? Is it that the more you are use to tolerating the more you can?

More than one medical professional is under scrutiny as a possible person of interest as Louisiana's attorney general investigates whether hospital workers resorted to euthanasia in the chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina shattered New Orleans, a source familiar with the investigation has told CNN.

Dec 21, 2005

Dec 19, 2005

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

By 8:22 PM 2 comments
Explore real history of the nation: Kalam from The Hindu

Sometimes I wonder why the other leaders of our country do not think like this. Then there is another thought we don't have leaders we only have politicians.

There was a common thread to his utterances at these programmes: The real
strength of the nation lay in the values its people had nurtured down the history and these should form the basis for the country's march towards the future, exploiting the exciting possibilities that new developments in science and technology presented.

Inaugurating the diamond jubilee celebrations of the Kerala History Association in Kochi, he said that dogmas, rituals, systems and norms of the historical past, imposed by the last millennium of invasion and conquest, continued to condition the minds of the people of India even after 58 years of independence. "Now time has come, in the 21st century, [when] we need a new breed of historians who can make the past meet the present and create the future," he said.

...

The document dealt at length on how the State's farm sector could "graduate from grain production to food processing and marketing," bringing its full benefits to the toiling farmers. He said Information Technology could be used for maintaining an updated and enriched database of region specific agriculture information and also timely dissemination of information on seed selection, arrival of monsoon and demand for specialised crops. At Parumala in Pathanamthitta district, he inaugurated an International Paediatric Cardiac Services and Rural Telemedicine Connectivity at the St. Gregorios Cardio Vascular Centre there.

anonymuncule

By 4:01 AM 3 comments
kyo hota hai zindagi main kabhi aisa ke
her muskan - ek dhokha,
her asha - sirf sapna,
her kushi - ek saya,
her manzil - nayi raha,
her asoo - bikhre vishwas.

ya phir zindagi hai --
yu he bavajah muskarana,
bikhri ashao per naye sapne sajana,
saye ke piche chipi kirne talashna,
nayi raho per kisi nayi manzil ke oor chahle jana,
her vishwas ki boodh sajoker karna jivan sakar.
--शोभना

Dec 18, 2005

Dec 17, 2005

thought

By 5:20 PM No comments
So many people cross our paths... not everyone leaves a mark! We give right to people to enter our lives, our emotional relm. But it is not us who deciede when they leave, how they leave. Sometimes only there departure lets us know that they were a part of our lives. Strange as this maybe sometimes you have to hold on to some people to prevent them from leaving and sometimes you have to push people out. Neither of the transitions being right.

Dec 16, 2005

Google Music????!!!

By 5:02 AM No comments
Google whistles a new tune [from CNET]

Google Music will allow a person to type in the name of a band, artist, album or song in the main Google search bar special, and results will appear at the top, accompanied by icons of music notes, said Marissa Mayer, vice president of search products and user experience at Google.

Dec 14, 2005

quote

By 5:42 PM No comments
When it is near the end you think about the starting.
-- Mr and Mrs Smith

Everything is simpler than you think and at the same time more complex than you imagine.
-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Dec 13, 2005

Dec 11, 2005

Dec 9, 2005

anonymuncule

By 3:07 PM 3 comments
Kinta sare hain jasbaat, kitne he armaan, machalte hai jo dil se hoto tak aane ko.
Per na jane kyo kabhi main unko shabd nahi de pati aur kabhi awaaz.
--शोभना

Dec 7, 2005

Highway all the way...

By 2:11 PM 2 comments
All Roads Lead to Cities, Transforming India from NYTimes

Hmmm what I am wondering after reading the articles in NYTimes is that there is nothing in India except the highways? It seems to project that everything else was in a complete state of mess adn the highwys are changing this... not sure how much of this is true and how much is just hype sourrounding the highways. But why so much hype about this?

India found its niche in the cutting and polishing of low-cost diamonds for the global middle class, and today more than 7 of 10 diamonds in the world are polished in Surat. It has created close to 500,000 jobs here alone.
That is nearly half as many jobs as India's entire information technology industry.
Bangalore, the symbol of India's knowledge economy, may be a global buzzword, but the fate of India's rural poor depends more on industrial cities like Surat.
Together, the cities' dominance means that India will never return to a farming-based economy. The urban portion of the gross domestic product is roughly double the urban population, a fact not lost on Mr. Santoki or his boss, Savji Dholakia.

By 4:11 AM 1 comment
Women of Al Qaeda from MSNBC Newsweek

Jihad used to have a gender: male. The men who dominated the movement exploited traditional attitudes about sex and the sexes to build their ranks. They still do that, but with a difference: even Al Qaeda is using female killers now, and goading the men.

THis is not the summary nor the most interstin part of the article. But I simply could not decide which part to pick to took the introduction and quoted it. Never have I understood it nor do I think I will ever understand it how can people kill and on top of that the reasons sound well unreasonable.

Trucks Highways India and AIDS

By 2:18 AM 1 comment
On India's Roads, Cargo and a Deadly Passenger from NYTimes


Some 80 percent of truckers' wives who came in for voluntary testing and counseling tested positive, she said, usually because by the time they came in their husbands were on their deathbeds, and denial could no longer be sustained.

G. Karuna, 24, was another woman who fell prey to the peregrinations of her husband, a long-distance driver from a family of truckers. When they both sought treatment for tuberculosis or opportunistic infections at hospitals, they hid his occupation, since many private hospitals now turn truckers away.

After her husband died, his family blamed her, a cruel vengeance some in-laws inflict on the widows. They have made treatment and prevention that much harder.

She was forced to sleep on the path outside; the family refused to share even a loaf of bread that she had touched. Soon their whole village had ostracized her.

Ms. Karuna cried as she told her story, but that story also conveyed an uncommon
strength. She had left her husband's family and her village to start a new life on her own. She became an activist with the Social Educational and Economic evelopment Society, an advocacy group in Guntur, trying to save other truckers'
wives.

She showed women pictures of her handsome husband before he sickened, and after.

She told the wives to know what their husbands were doing outside the home, to negotiate the use of condoms with them, to get treated for sexually transmitted diseases. Her husband's relatives still teased her: "Why are you working so hard? You also will die."

Dec 4, 2005

quote

By 5:45 PM 2 comments
Sleep is a symptom of caffeine deprivation.
-- Author Unknown

A person isn't who they are during the last conversation you had with them - they're who they've been throughout your whole relationship.
-- Rainer Maria Rilke

Let each become all that he was created capable of being.
-- Thomas Carlyle

Analysis of Indian HWYs

By 5:25 PM No comments
Mile by Mile, India Paves a Smoother Road to Its Future from NYTimes

It is tooo long (7 pages) but then it covers all bases of what happens when we have to construct highways in india. Really complete analysis and I found it unbiased though I would have prefered to have read in an Indian newspaper. Good read with how moving the temples or mosques could be an issue or cutting pipal trees etc. and lots more.

Dec 3, 2005

Science

By 5:51 PM No comments
The changing identity of the scientist from The Hindu

I always felt that science and a scientist was pure persuit of knowledge where other "benifits" were just by products of the process.
Point to ponder about--- has such kind of thought bought about theories like ID in the scientifice domain? Surely it does "benifit" some people. Has science become business much like everything else?

The individual has slowly become part of a collective. "A single instrument is replaced by an orchestra, with each individual striving towards the same goal. Of course, in science, as in any respectable orchestra, there will always be a couple of virtuoso soloists". It is these that the Nobel, Lasker, Dan David, Fields and such prizes go to.

Such shifts in science policy by governments and international communities, has led to a new model — that science should ultimately serve society. Industry wants science to make money. Governments want science to enable development. Citizens want science to clean the air, the water and make life healthier, safer and enjoyable.

All of these are possible only through ideas — ideas that need to be thought of, that need to be tested, found working and then applied to achieve the ends. And ideas come from individuals; this cannot change. Therefore the individual scientist cannot be replaced. It is him that we need to make more and more of.

And a sure way to do so is through schools, colleges and universities. It is these that we need to sow, nourish and multiply.

:(

By 5:38 PM 2 comments
It looks like the rain Gods don't want cricket in chennai!!
On second thoughts it might be that they might be taking the lead away from the moral police for being the disruptive force.

Dec 2, 2005

:(

By 12:24 AM 3 comments
Nopes it does not ... if anyone know how to save last sesion on firefox let me know.........

Dec 1, 2005

FireFox 1.5

By 11:24 PM 1 comment
The one thing that I missed in firefox has been fixed.
They can remember sessions!!!! Maybe I will switch to FireFox now :)

Nov 30, 2005

If only this could be harvested!

By 7:44 PM No comments
Perspective: India's next big business? from CNET

"If you don't get into the Bay of Bengal now, you will be left back as an Okie,"
he said during a presentation at the International Petroleum Technology Conference last week. "Unless you step into the breach, you may regret one day dismissing me as a raving lunatic."
The optimism is grounded in massive oil deposits, close to 30 billion tons, in Central India. That's twice the size of the deposits in Iraq (13 billion tons, according to the Institute of Petroleum) and just shy of Saudi deposits. With this, India, which imports 70 percent of its oil, could become an exporter, Aiyar hypothesized. Although nations are clamoring to build their economies around clean industries like semiconductor design and outsourcing, there's still a lot to be said for 19th century activities like drilling holes into the ground and blowing up rocks.
Unfortunately, oil is stuck under the Deccan Traps, a deep layer of volcanic rock created 65 million years ago when the protocontinent Gowandaland smacked into Eurasia. The collision coincided with the extinction of the dinosaurs.

quote

By 4:59 PM 2 comments
Treat your password like your toothbrush. Don't let anybody else use it, and get a new one every six months.
-- Clifford Stoll

More ways to organize your news!!!

By 4:55 PM 3 comments
Yahoo unveils RSS e-mail folder from MSNBC

Looking to gain another edge on its rivals, Internet powerhouse Yahoo Inc. on Wednesday will begin testing a new e-mail folder designed to make it easier for people to track the latest information posted on their favorite Web sites.
The free feature relies on Really Simple Syndication, an increasingly popular technology that can compile content from a wide array of Web sites catering to a user's personal tastes.
Millions of people have signed up to receive automatic feeds on everything from the international news to family recipes since Yahoo first began providing its RSS service last year, said Scott Gatz, the Sunnyvale, Calif-based company's senior director of personalization products.

Nov 29, 2005

Another intersting feature by Google(ofcourse)

By 8:00 PM 1 comment
Hello, this is Google, your operator, speaking from CNET
A Web surfer can click a phone icon adjacent to an ad, enter his or her own phone number and then click a "connect for free" button. Google's service calls the advertiser's phone number and when the Web surfer picks up the receiver on his phone, he or she hears ringing as the call to the advertiser is connected, according to a Google Click-to-Call frequently-asked-questions page.
Unlike voice over Internet Protocol, a technology that sends voice transmission over the Internet, this service appears to connect two parties over the regular phone lines. However, Google declined to provide more details, including the specifics of the technology employed.
How do they do it????

Gud English

By 4:15 PM 3 comments
(Note: I am not sure any of this is true but it is gud read)

[via Shethra]

In TN , well Known Person,Mr Jeppier,Chairman of Self finance Engg Colleges Association ,who is always speaking in English ...Sathyabama college Students have Collected & published the Book Jappier's Spoken English... Njoy ...........with his..............English..............
Now, here are some classic English sentences from the great Mr. Jeppiar.
The stalwart talks to his students:

# At the ground:-----------------
All of you stand in a straight circle. There is no wind in the balloon. The girl with the mirror please comes her...{Means: girl with specs please come here).

# To a boy, angrily:---------------------
I talk, he talk, why you middle middle talk?

# While punishing students:-----------------------
You, rotate the ground four times...
You, go and understand the tree...
You three of you stand together separately.
Why are you late - say YES or NO .....(?)

# Sir at his best:---------------
Sir had once gone to a film with his wife. By chance, he happened to see one of our boys at the theatre, though the boy did not see them.
So the next day at school... (to that boy) -
"Yesterday I saw you WITH MY WIFE at the Cinema Theatre"

# Sir at his best inside the Class room: ----------------------------------------------
Open the doors of the window. Let the atmosphere come in.
Open the doors of the window. Let the Air Force come in.
Cut an apple into two halves - I will take the bigger half.
Shhh...Quiet, boys...the principal JUST PASSED AWAY in the corridor
You, meet me behind the class. (Meaning AFTER the class..)

This one is cool >> "Both of u three get out of the class."

Close the doors of the windows please. I have winter in my nose today...
Take Copper Wire of any metal especially of Silver.....
Take 5 cm wire of any length....
Last but not the least some Jeppiar experiences ...

Once Sir had come late to a college function, by the time he reached, the function had begun, so he went to the dais, and said, sorry I am late, because on the way my car hit 2 muttons (Meaning goats).

At Sathyabama college day 2002:
"This college strict u the worry no .... U get good marks, I the happy, tomorrow u get good job, jpr the happy, tomorrow u marry I the enjoy"

At St. Josephs fresh years day 2003:
"No ragging this college. Anybody rag we arrest the police"

Nov 28, 2005

I sit and think

By 6:15 PM 5 comments
I sit beside the fire and think
of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
in summers that have been;

Of yellow leaves and gossamer
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair.

I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall never see.

For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood in every spring
there is a different green.

I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago,
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.

But all the while I sit and think
of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door.

--JRR Tolkien [via Far From Perfect ]

Nov 27, 2005

Cyborg - a form of art???????

By 8:02 PM 1 comment
Pardon Me, but the Art Is Mouthing Off from NYTimes

IT was late in the day, rain was streaking the windows of a converted warehouse in San Francisco and the robot was not behaving. Represented by a talking head on a flat-screen monitor, and equipped with voice-recognition software, the artificial intelligence computer - known as DiNA - was designed to chat with visitors about current affairs. She is supposed to be a political animal, or more precisely, machine. But at this point in early November, just a few weeks before making her New York debut, she sounded rather clueless. When asked her opinion of the war in Iraq, she called it a "silly question." When asked whether she supported President Bush, she didn't recognize his name.

The robot's programmer, Colin Klingman, was taken aback. "She has a lot to say on Bush, believe me," he said. "I'll have to check the code."

The robot's creator, on the other hand, seemed unfazed. "She still has a lot to learn," said Lynn Hershman Leeson, the 64-year-old digital-media artist. "And she's not yet connected to the Internet, where she can gather information on anything from the mayor of Pasadena to the capital of Pakistan."

An animated exchange with the programmer followed: could that Internet integration happen in time for DiNA's New York debut at Bitforms gallery? Ms. Hershman Leeson calmly insisted it was important. The programmer relented: "Well, then, that's it. Whatever Lynn says will happen, will happen."

Nov 25, 2005

Nov 24, 2005

Nov 23, 2005

Child Labors... Do they have a choice?

By 8:17 PM 3 comments
Child workers refuse to quit jobs from BBC

"And for his pains, Tabrez was paid a pocket money of 50 rupees (just over
$1) a week, and at the end of the month, his employer sent 800 rupees (roughly
$17) to his parents.
Alam has never been to school and can neither read nor
write.
Tabrez Alam wants go back to work. He does not have many plans for the future.
"I will take up any work I can find. There is not much to do back home so I will have to go somewhere else to find work," he says.
Perhaps that explains why forcibly rescuing children from factories does not
work.
Most such children have nothing to go back to. Their parents are unable to provide for them, and many return to work once the dust settles."

good or bad?

By 3:42 PM No comments
Scientists close to producing baby from two dads from The Hindu

"Yet this startling idea is now a serious scientific prospect, say
researchers. Breakthroughs in stem-cell technology could soon lead to
`non-traditional' parents having their own offspring, not always with the help
of a woman's genes, some scientists saying within the next four years. The new
technology currently falls outside existing controls on human fertilisation
science."
[...]
"The technique behind this revolutionary science has been developed
over the past two years. "We still have several years to go before we can use it
on humans," said Professor Harry Moore, of Sheffield University's Centre for
Stem Cell Biology. Following pioneering work on mice carried out by American
researchers, teams — including Moore's — have used embryos donated by patients
undergoing IVF.
"You allow the embryo to develop for a short period in the
laboratory. Then you take out the cells from which it is composed," he said.

These cells are known as stem cells and they have the potential to turn
into cells of any type of tissue: skin, heart, kidney or brain, for example.
What researchers are now doing in laboratories round the world is developing
techniques to turn these stem cells into specialised cells.
Thus
insulin-secreting cells could be created for diabetics and brain cells for
Parkinson's patients."

quotes

By 3:30 PM 1 comment
Never mistake motion for action.
-- Ernest Hemingway

Character develops itself in the stream of life.
-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Technology and cricket

By 3:15 PM 1 comment
Cricket can learn from American football from The Hindu

Some very good suggestions to reduce some very frustrating umpiring decisions.

"What to do? Obviously the idea of sending every appeal to a third umpire
must be rejected as slow and belittling. Instead, consideration could be given
to the sort of compromise reached in American Football whereby each coach is
allowed four challenges during a match. To question a decision he must throw a
red flag onto the field, a move that in other circumstances might provoke a riot
in George Bush country. If replays indicate that the ref was right then a
challenge is forfeited. Compelling evidence is needed before a decision is
overturned.
Applying the idea to cricket, captains could be allowed two
challenges an innings. Of course they must not waste them. Shane Warne could get
through the allocation in his first over. Unless all three stumps had been
flattened, Justin Langer would seek a second opinion. Just as well Steve Waugh
has retired. The captain must be firm."

Nov 22, 2005

Its all in your brain!!!

By 5:18 PM 1 comment
This Is Your Brain Under Hypnosis from NYTimes

"In medical hands, hypnosis was no laughing matter. In the 19th century,
physicians in India successfully used hypnosis as anesthesia,
even for limb amputations. The practice fell from favor only when ether was
discovered.
Now, Dr. Posner and others said, new research on hypnosis and
suggestion is providing a new view into the cogs and wheels of normal brain
function.
One area that it may have illuminated is the processing of sensory
data. Information from the eyes, ears and body is carried to primary sensory
regions in the brain. From there, it is carried to so-called higher regions
where interpretation occurs. "
...
"According to decades of
research, 10 to 15 percent of adults are highly hypnotizable, said Dr. David
Spiegel, a psychiatrist at Stanford who studies the clinical uses of hypnosis.
Up to age 12, however, before top-down circuits mature, 80 to 85 percent of
children are highly hypnotizable.
One adult in five is flat out resistant to
hypnosis, Dr. Spiegel said. The rest are in between, he said."
...
"Brain scans show that the control mechanisms for deciding what to do in
the face of conflict become uncoupled when people are hypnotized. Top-down
processes override sensory, or bottom-up information, said Dr. Stephen M.
Kosslyn, a neuroscientist at Harvard. People think that sights, sounds and touch
from the outside world constitute reality. But the brain constructs what it
perceives based on past experience, Dr. Kosslyn said.
Most of the time
bottom-up information matches top-down expectation, Dr. Spiegel said. But
hypnosis is interesting because it creates a mismatch. "We imagine something
different, so it is different," he said."


Sounds like Imperious Curse... But only that is is not being used by dark wizards but Aurors of decease, the doctors. For those of you it seems gibberish check out the terms from A Harry Potter Dictionary.
Anything in itself is not good or bad it is its use that makes the difference!

Nov 21, 2005

quote

By 3:05 PM 1 comment
Shallow men believe in luck, believe in circumstances -- it was somebody's name, or he happened to be there at the time, or it was so then, and another day would have been otherwise. Strong men believe in cause and effect.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Nov 20, 2005

Brave mouse implies brave human!!!!

By 10:15 PM 1 comment
Fearless Mice May Shed Light on Fearful Humans from nrp.org Morning Edition

""They're kind of like fearless mice," he says. "They go to open spaces. They explore freely. And really for mice it's not a good thing because some predator can come and eat them."

The mice are fearless because they have been genetically modified. They are missing a gene called stathmin."

good or bad????

By 7:55 PM No comments
The Problem With an Almost-Perfect Genetic World from NYTimes

"MIA PETERSON is not a fan of tests. Because she has Down syndrome, she says, she cannot always think as fast as she would like to and tests end up making her feel judged. A recent driving test, for instance, ended in frustration. The Boston Globe

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS Genetic testing may adversely affect children with Down syndrome. Fewer Born With Down Syndrome

Ms. Peterson, 31, the chief of self-advocacy for the National Down Syndrome Society, prefers public speaking and travel. And her test aversion extends to the latest one designed to detect Down in a fetus. "I don't want to think like we're being judged against," Ms. Peterson said. "Not meeting their expectations."

Heralded in the Nov. 10 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, the new prenatal test provides earlier, more reliable results for all women than the current test, which is routinely offered to only older women who are at higher risk. But for people with Down syndrome and the cluster of other conditions subject to prenatal screening, the new test comes with a certain chill.

Because such tests often lead to abortions, people with conditions from mental disability to cystic fibrosis may find their numbers dwindling. As a result, some fear, their lives may become harder just as they are winning the fight for greater inclusion.

"We're trying to make a place for ourselves in society at a time when science is trying to remove at least some of us," said Andrew Imparato, president of the American Association of People With Disabilities, who suffers from bipolar disorder. "For me, it's very scary.""

Nov 19, 2005

Nov 16, 2005

:)

By 12:52 AM 5 comments
Mother Nature tops Time person of the year list from Ruters "Oddly Enough"

Everything is fine untill this last section :) :) :)

"Some selections have been notoriously unpopular with Time readers, such as Adolf Hitler in 1938, Joseph Stalin in 1939 and 1942 and Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979.
Time's 2004 Person of the Year was U.S. President George W. Bush."

Kansas State Board of Education's definition of science

By 12:40 AM No comments
Philosophers Notwithstanding, Kansas School Board Redefines Science from NYtimes

"The changes in the official state definition are subtle and lawyerly, and involve mainly the removal of two words: "natural explanations." But they are a red flag to scientists, who say the changes obliterate the distinction between the natural and the supernatural that goes back to Galileo and the foundations of science.
The old definition reads in part, "Science is the human activity of seeking natural explanations for what we observe in the world around us." The new one calls science "a systematic method of continuing investigation that uses observation, hypothesis testing, measurement, experimentation, logical argument and theory building to lead to more adequate explanations of natural phenomena."
Adrian Melott, a physics professor at the University of Kansas who has long been fighting Darwin's opponents, said, "The only reason to take out 'natural explanations' is if you want to open the door to supernatural explanations.""
...
"There are two equally worthy ways to understand the divine, Galileo said. "One was reverent contemplation of the Bible, God's word," Dr. Holton said. "The other was through scientific contemplation of the world, which is his creation."

Nov 15, 2005

Owning internet

By 3:34 PM 1 comment
Other Nations Hope to Loosen U.S. Grip on Internet from NYTimes

"When Libya lost the use of its Internet domain ".ly" for five days last year, it needed help from an agency in California that reports to the United States Commerce Department.
Anyone looking to do business with an .ly Web site or e-mail an .ly address probably met with a "file not found" or "no such person" message. For anyone on the Internet, Libya was just not there.
In a day when Internet access is critical to world commerce - let alone casual communication - even a five-day lapse is a hardship. And when one government needs the help of another to make its citizens visible again on that network, it can be a damaging blow to its sovereignty, and perhaps a matter of national security, even if the cause was a dispute over payments, as in the Libyan case.
What if, by historical chance, France or Britain controlled country domain names on the Internet? Would the United States settle for asking another government to fix its own addresses?
That kind of power to hinder or foster freedom of the Internet, centralized in a single government, is the crucial issue for many of the 12,000 people expected in Tunis this week for a United Nations summit meeting on the information age."

Free MS product... any takers!

By 3:31 PM 1 comment
Microsoft eyes making desktop apps free from CNET

"Although no specific plans have been made, executives within Microsoft are examining whether it makes sense to release ad-supported versions of products such as Works, Money, or even the Windows operating system itself, according to internal documents seen by CNET News.com.
"As Web advertising grows and consumer revenues shrink, we need to consider creating ad-supported versions of our software," two Microsoft researchers and an MSN employee wrote in a paper presented to company executives earlier this year. The document was prepared for one of Microsoft's twice-yearly Thinkweek exercises, in which Chairman Bill Gates and other top executives gather to consider potential new avenues for the company to follow."

Curiosity is good.

By 3:17 PM 1 comment
Lack of curiosity is curious from triangle.com

"Over dinner a few weeks ago, the novelist Lawrence Naumoff told a troubling story. He asked students in his introduction to creative writing course at UNC-Chapel Hill if they had read Jack Kerouac. Nobody raised a hand. Then he asked if anyone had ever heard of Jack Kerouac. More blank expressions.
Naumoff began describing the legend of the literary wild man. One student offered that he had a teacher who was just as crazy. Naumoff asked the professor's name. The student said he didn't know. Naumoff then asked this oblivious scholar, "Do you know my name?"
After a long pause, the young man replied, "No."
"I guess I've always known that many students are just taking my course to get a requirement out of the way," Naumoff said. "But it was disheartening to see that some couldn't even go to the trouble of finding out the name of the person teaching the course."
The floodgates were opened and the other UNC professors at the dinner began sharing their own dispiriting stories about the troubling state of curiosity on campus. Their experiences echoed the complaints voiced by many of my book reviewers who teach at some of the nation's best schools.
All of them have noted that such ignorance isn't new -- students have always possessed far less knowledge than they should, or think they have. But in the past, ignorance tended to be a source of shame and motivation. Students were far more likely to be troubled by not-knowing, far more eager to fill such gaps by learning. As one of my reviewers, Stanley Trachtenberg, once said, "It's not that they don't know, it's that they don't care about what they don't know.""

Nov 13, 2005

quote

By 8:35 PM 5 comments
Some pray to marry the man they love, my prayer will somewhat vary; I humbly pray to Heaven above that I love the man I marry.
-- Rose Pastor Stokes

anonymuncule

By 8:19 PM 2 comments
ek shyam zindagi ke

dubo jane vali barsat,
garajte chamkte badal hazar,
halki barish ke phuar,
kahi urdte badal char,
saf kula nila asman,
uspe chamakti kirne beshumar,
dhimi hawa lati kushboo unjaan,
dhondne use badhte kadam char,
ujagar hota phuloo ka rang tamam,
khamoshi ko jagati panchiyo ke awaz,
dhime dhime pattiya gungunati koi raag,
dhalte suraj ki aakh micholi sab ke saath,
phir sitaro bhare aachal me sab samoti raat.

ye zindigi ki ek shyam aur sang hota tumara saath.

Nov 12, 2005

Just a note.... for the few and far readers

By 3:05 AM 5 comments
If u are seeing this entry as the top entry of my blog then I am still in the writting mode(and this mode may just change by the time I finish this note). That is my blog will be more of what I write than what I read.... so it can be safely avoided :) You won't be missing much!

Nov 11, 2005

anonymuncule

By 2:20 AM 2 comments
Aajnabi

Jab zindagi main andhera chane lage,
Jab kisi modh per dil thanha lage,
Jab shyam asuoome dhalne lage,
Jab rahien manzillo se door jane lage,
Jab manzil per khushiyon ke talash ho,
Jab naaye humraaz samajhne me tumko naakaam ho,
Jab vo thakne lage jo thame thumara haath ho,
Tab...
us andhare main,
un aasuoo main,
us modh pe,
us manjil pe,
Tum aapne saath ek aajnabi ko paaoge.

anonymuncule

By 1:53 AM No comments
Words!!!!

shatter dreams,
build hope,
bring you close,
tear you apart,
strengthen relationships,
weaken trusts,
spin lies,
hide truth,
comfort you,
hurt you,
express thoughts,
confuse feelings,
start a war,
end in peace,
destroy characters,
save lives.

Oh words just so many words...
can we live without them?
are we bound to them?
can we see above them?
are we limited by them?
can we feel beyond them?

Nov 10, 2005

hhhmmmmm

By 3:13 AM No comments
A pope for our times: why Darwin is back on the agenda at the Vatican from Times Online

"He argued that the real message of Genesis was that the Universe did not make itself, and had a creator. “Science and theology act in different fields, each in its own.” In Rome, the immediate reaction was that this was a Vatican rejection of the fundamentalist American doctrine of “intelligent design”. No doubt the Vatican does want to separate itself from American creationists, but the significance surely goes further than that. This is not another Galileo case; the teachings of the Church have never imposed a literal interpretation of the language of the Bible; that was a Protestant mistake. Nor did the Church condemn the theory of evolution, though it did and does reject neo-Darwinism when that is made specifically atheist.
Indeed, one can go back nearly 1,500 years before Darwin and find St Augustine of Hippo, the most commanding intellect of all the early doctors of the Church, teaching a doctrine of evolution in the early 5th century. In one of his greatest works, De Genesi ad Litteram, he stated that God did not create an organised Universe as we see it now, but in the beginning created all the elements of the world in a confused and “nebulous” mass. In this mass were the mysterious seeds of the creatures who were to come into existence.
Augustine’s thought does therefore contain the elements of a theory of evolution, and even a genetic theory, but does not have natural selection. St Augustine has always been orthodox. He did not foresee modern science in AD410, but he did have an extraordinary grasp of the potential evolution of scientific thought. Cardinal Poupard’s address to the journalists should not be seen as a matter of the Roman Church changing its mind and accepting Darwin after 145 years."

One win one loss

By 3:01 AM No comments
Evolution Slate Outpolls Rivals from NYTimes

"The vote counts were close, but of the 16 candidates the one with the fewest votes was Mr. Bonsell, the driving force behind the intelligent design policy. Testimony at the trial revealed that Mr. Bonsell had initially insisted that creationism get equal time in the classroom with evolution.
One incumbent, James Cashman, said he would contest the vote because a voting machine in one precinct recorded no votes for him, while others recorded hundreds."

Nov 9, 2005

What to say!!!! Redefinition of science???

By 3:11 PM No comments
Kansas Board Approves Challenges to Evolution from NYTimes

"The standards move beyond the broad mandate for critical analysis of evolution that four other states have established in recent years, by recommending that schools teach specific points that doubters of evolution use to undermine its primacy in science education.
Among the most controversial changes was a redefinition of science itself, so that it would not be explicitly limited to natural explanations.
The vote was a watershed victory for the emerging movement of intelligent design, which posits that nature alone cannot explain life's complexity. John G. West of the Discovery Institute, a conservative research organization that promotes intelligent design, said Kansas now had "the best science standards in the nation.""

I have a simple question how can a board of some people decide what is to be taught in science when the majority of scientific community has little or no doubt abt evolution?
What is taught in science classrooms should not be decided on what majority thinks...

Software's real bugs!

By 2:57 PM No comments
History's Worst Software Bugs from wired.com

My fav...

"With that recall, the Prius joined the ranks of the buggy computer -- a club that began in 1947 when engineers found a moth in Panel F, Relay #70 of the Harvard Mark 1 system. The computer was running a test of its multiplier and adder when the engineers noticed something was wrong. The moth was trapped, removed and taped into the computer's logbook with the words: "first actual case of a bug being found.""

However, there is a list of software bugs as we know of it today.

Nov 7, 2005

I did not know such a thing existed

By 3:34 PM 1 comment
The Literary Darwinists from NYTimes

"Jane Austen first published "Pride and Prejudice" in 1813. She had misgivings about the book, complaining in a letter to her sister that it was "rather too light, and bright, and sparkling." But these qualities may be what make it the most popular of her novels. It tells the story of Elizabeth Bennet, a young woman from a shabby genteel family, who meets Mr. Darcy, an aristocrat. At first, the two dislike each other. Mr. Darcy is arrogant; Elizabeth, clever and cutting. But through a series of encounters that show one to the other in a more appealing light - as well as Mr. Darcy's intervention when an officer named Wickham runs away with Elizabeth's younger sister Lydia (Darcy bribes the cad to marry Lydia) - Elizabeth and Darcy come to love each other, to marry and, it is strongly suggested at book's end, to live happily ever after.
For the common reader, "Pride and Prejudice" is a romantic comedy. His or her pleasure comes from the vividness of Austen's characters and how familiar they still seem: it's as if we know Elizabeth and Darcy. On a more literary level, we enjoy Austen's pointed dialogue and admire her expert way with humor. For similar reasons, critics have long called "Pride and Prejudic" a classic - their ultimate (if not well defined) expression of approval.
But for an emerging school of literary criticism known as Literary Darwinism, the novel is significant for different reasons. Just as Charles Darwin studied animals to discover the patterns behind their development, Literary Darwinists read books in search of innate patterns of human behavior: child bearing and rearing, efforts to acquire resources (money, property, influence) and competition and cooperation within families and communities. They say that it's impossible to fully appreciate and understand a literary text unless you keep in mind that humans behave in certain universal ways and do so because those behaviors are hard-wired into us. For them, the most effective and truest works of literature are those that reference or exemplify these basic facts.
From the first words of the first chapter ("It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife") to the first words of the last ("Happy for all her maternal feelings was the day on which Mrs. Bennet got rid of her two most deserving daughters"), the novel is stocked with the sort of life's-passage moments that resonate with meaning for Literary Darwinists. (One calls the novel their "fruit fly.") The women in the book mostly compete to marry high-status men, consistent with the Darwinian idea that females try to find mates whose status will assure the success of their offspring. At the same time, the men are typically competing to marry the most attractive women, consistent with the Darwinian idea that males look for youth and beauty in females as signs of reproductive fitness. Darcy and Elizabeth's flips and flops illustrate the effort mammals put into distinguishing between short-term appeal (a pert step, a handsome coxcomb) and long-term appropriateness (stability, commitment, wealth, underlying good health). Meanwhile, Wickham - the penniless officer who tries to make off first with Darcy's sister and then carries off Lydia - serves as an example of the mating behavior evolutionary biologists call (I'm using a milder euphemism than they do) "the sneaky fornicator theory.""

A different scrutiny on one of the books I really like. I wouldn't think of it this way!!!!!!! The entire atricle is rather long but good read.

Fuel alternative

By 3:17 PM No comments
World's next fuel source could be designer organisms from CNET

"J. Craig Venter, who gained worldwide fame in 2000 when he mapped the human genetic code, is behind a new start-up called Synthetic Genomics, which plans to create new types of organisms that, ideally, would produce hydrogen, secrete nonpolluting heating oil or be able to break down greenhouse gases.
The initial focus will be on creating "biofactories" for hydrogen and ethanol, two fuels seen as playing an increasing role in powering cars in the future. Hydrogen also holds promise for heating homes and putting juice into electronic devices. "

Nov 5, 2005

Nov 4, 2005

Husband & Wife

By 11:37 PM 2 comments
From Vishnu Bhagavata
Husband and Wife must be souls like twin flames illuminating all about them.It is not a question of equality between them but of identity.

She is language; he is thought
She is prudence; he is law
He is reason; she is sense
She is duty; he is right
He is author; she is work
He is patience; she is peace
He is will; she is wish
He is pity; she is gift
He is song; she is note
She is fuel; he is fire
She is glory; he is sun
She is motion; he is wind
He is owner; she is wealth
He is battle; she is might
He is lamp; she is light
He is day; she is night
He is justice; she is pity
He is channel; she is river
She is beauty; he is strength
She is body; he is soul

Nov 3, 2005

quote

By 4:42 PM 2 comments
You cannot make yourself feel something you do not feel, but you can make yourself do right in spite of your feelings.
-- Pearl Buck

Nov 2, 2005

This is pathetic!!!

By 3:38 PM No comments
In pictures: Force Fed from BBC

"Souadou’s fingers are often clamped between two sticks, a frequently-used instrument of torture.
This, her grandmother explains, will stem her urge to vomit by distracting her with some local pain.
Officially, force-feeding is said to have disappeared after government health campaigns pronounced it wrong, but the message has yet to reach some remote areas of Mauritania."
...
"Some young women affected suffer from conditions such as early diabetes, heart disease, gallstones and arthritis, which may immobilise and eventually kill them.
The obsession of some Mauritanians with female obesity is continuing to cripple a small but extremely vulnerable sector of its society."

Another thought... why are women in most societies treated as a object to represent something, it can be wealth, honor, anything?

Nov 1, 2005

Translations of Hindi song lyrics

By 9:14 PM 1 comment
Not bad translations.... from http://www.bollywhat.com/lyrics/swad_lyr.html


yeh jo des hai tera swades hai tera
this country of yours is your motherland
tujhe hai pukaara
and is calling out to you
yeh woh ba.ndhan hai jo kabhi TuuT nahii.n sakta
this is a bond which can never break
miTTii kii hai jo khushbuu tuu kaise bhulaayega
how can you forget the scent of your earth
tuu chaahe kahii.n jaaye tuu lautke aayega
you can go anywhere but you'll always come back
nayii nayii raaho.n me.n dabii dabii aaho.n me.n
in new paths, in every sigh
khoye khoye dil se tere
to your lost heart
koii yeh kahega
someone will say
yeh jo des hai tera swades hai tera
this land of yours is your motherland
tujhse zi.ndagii hai yeh kah rahii
life is telling you
sab to paa liya ab hai kya kamii
you have achieved everything now what's left
yuu.n to saare sukh hai barse
looks like hapiness has been showered on you
par duur tuu hai apne ghar se
but you're far from your home
haa.n laut chal tuu ab deewane
now come back oh crazy one
jahaa.n koii to tujhe apna maane
where at least someone will call you their own
aawaaz de tujhe bulaaye
and will call out to you
vahii des
that very same country
yeh jo des hai tera....
this land that is yours.....
yeh pal hai vahii jisme.n hai chhupii
this moment has hidden in it
puurii ek sadii saarii zi.ndagii
a whole century of life
tuu na puuchh raaste me.n kahe
don't ask why in the road
aaye hain is tarah do raahe.n
has come a fork with two ways
tuu hi to hai raah sujhaaye
you are the one who should choose the path
tuu hii to hai ab jo yeh bataaye
you should choose
jaaye to kis disha me.n jaaye
which direction to take
vahii des
this very country
yeh jo des hai tera....
this land that is yours....

quotes

By 8:56 PM No comments
Curious things, habits. People themselves never knew they had them.
-- Agatha Christie

It isn't what you have, or who you are, or whereyou are,
or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy.
It is what you think about.
-- Dale Carnegie

Oct 29, 2005

100 Years of Relativity -- Sir Albert Einstein

By 12:29 AM 3 comments
Einstein's Legacy -- Where are the "Einsteinians?" from Logos Journal [via ALDaily]
An excellent write up on Einstein. There is another article on him regarding the situtaion of Nazi Germany and him being a Jew. That is a good read too.

"For more than two centuries after Newton published his theories of space, time, and motion in 1687, most physicists were Newtonians. They believed, as Newton did, that space and time are absolute, that force causes acceleration, and that gravity is a force conveyed across a vacuum at a distance. Since Darwin there are few professional biologists who are not Darwinians, and if most psychologists no longer often call themselves Freudians, few doubt that there is an unconscious or that sexuality plays a big role in it. So as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Einstein’s great discoveries, the question arises: How many professional physicists are Einsteinians?"
...
"After 1930, virtually all of Einstein’s colleagues were certain the revolution was over and that physics was nearly complete. Nearly alone in his stance, Einstein saw the quantum as only a stepping stone to the real thing, which he searched for the rest of his life. Quantum theory was not the only theory that bothered Einstein. Few people have appreciated how dissatisfied he was with his own theories of relativity. Special relativity grew out of Einstein’s insight that the laws of electromagnetism cannot depend on relative motion and that the speed of light therefore must be always the same, no matter how the source or the observer moves. Among the consequences of that theory are that energy and mass are equivalent (the now-legendary relationship E = mc2) and that time and distance are relative, not absolute. Special relativity was the result of 10 years of intellectual struggle, yet Einstein had convinced himself it was wrong within two years of publishing it. He rejected his theory, even before most physicists had come to accept it, for reasons that only he cared about. For another 10 years, as the world of physics slowly absorbed special relativity, Einstein pursued a lonely path away from it. "
...
(It took us hundred years to catch up to him)
"One way to understand this story is to say that theoretical physics has finally caught up to Einstein. While he was shunned in his Princeton years as he pursued the unified field theory, the Institute for Advanced Study where he worked is now filled with theorists who search for new variants of unified field theories. It is indeed a vindication of sorts for Einstein because much of what today’s string theorists do in practice is play with unified theories of the kinds that Einstein and his few colleagues invented."
...
"Let us be frank and admit that most of us have neither the courage nor the patience to emulate Einstein. We should instead honor Einstein by asking whether we can do anything to ensure that in the future those few who do follow Einstein’s path, those who approach science as uncompromisingly as he did, have less risk of unemployment of the sort he suffered at the beginning of his career and less risk of the marginalization he endured at the end. If we can do this, if we can make the path easier for those few who do follow him, we may make possible a revolution in science that even Einstein failed to achieve."

Oct 28, 2005

What will you name your child?

By 9:15 PM 5 comments
We get letters (3) from google blog

"Walid Elias Kai, a Ph.D. in search engine marketing, is, it must be said, an avid fan of our company. Dr. Kai, who is Lebanese, and his Swedish wife Carol live in Kalmar, Sweden, where their son was born on September 12. His name? Oliver Google Kai."

And here is the website of Google-Kai

hmmmm

By 4:28 PM No comments
China, India Superpower? Not so Fast! from YaleGlobal Online
"Both China and India are still desperately poor countries. Of the total of 2.3 billion people in these two countries, nearly 1.5 billion earn less than US$2 a day, according to World Bank calculations. Of course, the lifting of hundreds of millions of people above poverty in China has been historic. Thanks to repeated assertions in the international financial press, conventional wisdom now suggests that globalization is responsible for this feat. Yet a substantial part of China's decline in poverty since 1980 already happened by mid-1980s (largely as a result of agricultural growth), before the big strides in foreign trade and investment in the 1990s. Assertions about Indian poverty reduction primarily through trade liberalization are even shakier. In the nineties, the decade of major trade liberalization, the rate of decline in poverty by some aggregative estimates has, if anything, slowed down. In any case, India is as yet a minor player in world trade, contributing less than one percent of world exports. (China's share is about 6 percent.)
What about the hordes of Indian software engineers, call-center operators, and back-room programmers supposedly hollowing out white-collar jobs in rich countries? The total number of workers in all possible forms of IT-related jobs in India comes to less than a million workers – one-quarter of one percent of the Indian labor force. For all its Nobel Prizes and brilliant scholars and professionals, India is the largest single-country contributor to the pool of illiterate people in the world. Lifting them out of poverty and dead-end menial jobs will remain a Herculean task for decades to come."

Oct 26, 2005

How long has it been since India performed this way?

By 3:23 PM No comments
India wrap up comprehensive win from cricinfo

"Tendulkar's opening gambit, though, was the talk of the day. Returning after a six month lay-off, Tendulkar arrived with a gambler's instinct only to hit the jackpot with whatever he tried. There was risk, frenzied spells of play and cheeky improvisation, but all this was amid magical strokeplay reminiscent of the boy genius who charmed all in the last decade. He charged down the track to Chaminda Vaas, scampered perilous single after perilous single, was occasionally beaten by seam movement and change of pace, chipped a few that just eluded fielders, and attempted some audacious shots.
In between all this were some stomach-churning moments: a thundered six over midwicket, a classical straight-drive off the front foot - with a high elbow, minimum follow through and slight nod of the head a few moments after bat struck ball - a cheeky paddle-sweep off Vaas, when he read the line and beat the fielder to perfection. Fifty off 50 balls, momentum seized, bowlers hassled, fielders guessing, captain experimenting, crowd in a frenzy ... welcome to Tendulkar territory.
He soon shifted to a lower gear, but the experiment to promote Pathan to No.3 was working spectacularly at the other end. He fed off Tendulkar's aggression and announced his arrival with a superb pulled six off Vaas. Once the spinners came on, he began to soar. Tillakaratne Dilshan was dismissed for two fours and a six, Upul Chandana for a four and two sixes. The straight boundaries were peppered with some crisp lofted drives as Pathan, who raced to a 41-ball fifty and went on to outscore Tendulkar soon after, increased the tempo.
The fall of both Pathan and Tendulkar in quick succession gave Sri Lanka a small window of hope but Dravid's silken dismantling of their attack left them gasping. Dravid is arguably the best finisher in one-dayers today and his shot selection in the slog overs was simply impeccable. He brought up his fifty off 47 balls, mainly through some judicious strike rotation, but launched into a splendid blitz at the death and ended on 85 off just 63. If you can end an innings with a sequence that reads `four, two, four, two, dot, four, four' and rattle the Sri Lankans into elementary fielding errors, you have surely done a cracking job."

Oct 25, 2005

Oct 23, 2005

You must have met one!!!!

By 7:06 PM No comments
Nutty Professors from The Chronicle

"The absent-minded professor becomes more difficult to handle, however, when his behavior verges on the dysfunctional. All vocations attract certain personality types; academe appeals particularly to introspective, narcissistic, obsessive characters who occasionally suffer from mood disorders or other psychological problems. Often, these difficulties go untreated because they are closely tied to enhanced creativity, as can be the case with obsessive-compulsive disorder, major depression, bipolar disorder, and the kind of high-functioning autism known as Asperger's syndrome.
According to the American Psychiatric Association's diagnostic criteria, those with Asperger's syndrome will often manifest "marked impairments in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body postures, and gestures to regulate social interaction," a "failure to develop peer relationships," a "lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests, or achievements with other people," and a "lack of social or emotional reciprocity." In addition, those with Asperger's may be preoccupied with "stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest" that are "abnormal either in intensity or focus"; they may stick to "specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals"; they may manifest "stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms," or a "persistent preoccupation with parts of objects.""

Mandir Break(that is what I call it)

By 7:04 AM 3 comments
Bare feet, cold marble floor, insense smell, flicking diyas, kids walking around, multitude of colors, and ofcourse Gods & devoties that is what I associate with a mandir.
But there is nothing like standing there eyes closed while the pooja is going on and just concentrating on the shloks that are being chanted. For that short duration mind does not wander around it feels that the shloks are just washing away on your soul. Or the time that I just sit at the mandir... it seems like a break form all that is going on. Kind of a fresh starting point collecting all the thoughts.

thought

By 3:33 AM 1 comment
Strange as life is, it just needs a crack in the strong walls that you have build to walk back in with all that you seems to have successfully thrown out..........

NPR

By 12:36 AM 1 comment
I am getting addicted to Health and Science section on NPR and ofcourse All Things Considered...

Oct 22, 2005

group study, racism, sexism

By 5:30 PM No comments
The Inequality Taboo from http://www.commentarymagazine.com/

Note: Needs to be read with an open mind

This article was a very intresting read. It talks abt the difference/inequality of races and gender. Ofcourse the author is talking about genetic/biological diferences that give rise to these inequalities. Basically talking about group studies.

Brings about things like women are not apt for math and sciences and since there major contirbution in history has not been much what are the reasons for it(no social structure is not considered as a reason).
There are some other intersting things as girls do well in schools but not after that. The other side is then crimes are done mostly by men and almost 100% of the wars were by men.

Also brings about the issue of IQ difference between blacks and whites. Here is consedring that the social factor and only speculating that there might be a biological factor too.(I wonder why the difference though from the other group study)



"Elites throughout the West are living a lie, basing the futures of their societies on the assumption that all groups of people are equal in all respects. Lie is a strong word, but justified. It is a lie because so many elite politicians who profess to believe it in public do not believe it in private. It is a lie because so many elite scholars choose to ignore what is already known and choose not to inquire into what they suspect. We enable ourselves to continue to live the lie by establishing a taboo against discussion of group differences.
The taboo is not perfect—otherwise, I would not have been able to document this essay—but it is powerful. Witness how few of Harvard’s faculty who understood the state of knowledge about sex differences were willing to speak out during the Summers affair. In the public-policy debate, witness the contorted ways in which even the opponents of policies like affirmative action frame their arguments so that no one can accuse them of saying that women are different from men or blacks from whites. Witness the unwillingness of the mainstream media to discuss group differences without assuring readers that the differences will disappear when the world becomes a better place.
The taboo arises from an admirable idealism about human equality. If it did no harm, or if the harm it did were minor, there would be no need to write about it. But taboos have consequences.
The nature of many of the consequences must be a matter of conjecture because people are so fearful of exploring them.76 Consider an observation furtively voiced by many who interact with civil servants: that government is riddled with people who have been promoted to their level of incompetence because of pressure to have a staff with the correct sex and ethnicity in the correct proportions and positions. Are these just anecdotes? Or should we be worrying about the effects of affirmative action on the quality of government services?77 It would be helpful to know the answers, but we will not so long as the taboo against talking about group difference prevails.
How much damage has the taboo done to the education of children? Christina Hoff Sommers has argued that willed blindness to the different developmental patterns of boys and girls has led many educators to see boys as aberrational and girls as the norm, with pervasive damage to the way our elementary and secondary schools are run.78 Is she right? Few have been willing to pursue the issue lest they be required to talk about innate group differences. Similar questions can be asked about the damage done to medical care, whose practitioners have only recently begun to acknowledge the ways in which ethnic groups respond differently to certain drugs.79
How much damage has the taboo done to our understanding of America’s social problems? The part played by sexism in creating the ratio of males to females on mathematics faculties is not the ratio we observe but what remains after adjustment for male-female differences in high-end mathematical ability. The part played by racism in creating different outcomes in black and white poverty, crime, and illegitimacy is not the raw disparity we observe but what remains after controlling for group characteristics. For some outcomes, sex or race differences nearly disappear after a proper analysis is done. For others, a large residual difference remains.80 In either case, open discussion of group differences would give us a better grasp on where to look for causes and solutions.
What good can come of raising this divisive topic? The honest answer is that no one knows for sure. What we do know is that the taboo has crippled our ability to explore almost any topic that involves the different ways in which groups of people respond to the world around them—which means almost every political, social, or economic topic of any complexity.
Thus my modest recommendation, requiring no change in laws or regulations, just a little more gumption. Let us start talking about group differences openly—all sorts of group differences, from the visuospatial skills of men and women to the vivaciousness of Italians and Scots. Let us talk about the nature of the manly versus the womanly virtues. About differences between Russians and Chinese that might affect their adoption of capitalism. About differences between Arabs and Europeans that might affect the assimilation of Arab immigrants into European democracies. About differences between the poor and non-poor that could inform policy for reducing poverty."
...
"In university education and in the world of work, overall openness of opportunity has been transformed for the better over the last half-century. But the policies we now have in place are impeding, not facilitating, further progress. Creating double standards for physically demanding jobs so that women can qualify ensures that men in those jobs will never see women as their equals. In universities, affirmative action ensures that the black-white difference in IQ in the population at large is brought onto the campus and made visible to every student. The intentions of their designers notwithstanding, today’s policies are perfectly fashioned to create separation, condescension, and resentment—and so they have done."


I have never been in favor of reservation or % of representation of women or a race in a particular work force or university. But on the other hand is it possible for the society to be accepting if a actually qualified human for a group that is not "apt" for the job wants to take it up without being discreminated against.
This will remain a difficult unless we accept the difference and respect each other inspite of it. Not try to misuse the a greateer IQ or more phusical strength. And so far histroy tells us that has not been the case so far. That is why I would rather have people be taught that all of us are equal untill there is respect and then move on from there.

Just some thoughts from the top of my head.

Morality... differs

By 4:51 AM No comments
Do the Right Thing

"Consider the following dilemma: Mike is supposed to be the best man at a friend’s wedding in Maine this afternoon. He is carrying the wedding rings with him in New Hampshire, where he has been staying on business. One bus a day goes directly to the coast. Mike is on his way to the bus station with 15 minutes to spare when he realizes that his wallet has been stolen, and with it his bus tickets, his credit cards, and all his forms of ID.
At the bus station Mike tries to persuade the officials, and then a couple of fellow travelers, to lend him the money to buy a new ticket, but no one will do it. He’s a stranger, and it’s a significant sum. With five minutes to go before the bus’s departure, he is sitting on a bench trying desperately to think of a plan. Just then, a well-dressed man gets up for a walk, leaving his jacket, with a bus ticket to Maine in the pocket, lying unattended on the bench. In a flash, Mike realizes that the only way he will make it to the wedding on time is if he takes that ticket. The man is clearly well off and could easily buy himself another one.
Should Mike take the ticket?
My own judgment comes down narrowly, but firmly, against stealing the ticket. And in studies of moral reasoning, the majority of American adults and children answer as I do: Mike should not take the ticket, even if it means missing the wedding. But this proportion varies dramatically across cultures. In Mysore, a city in the south of India, 85 percent of adults and 98 percent of children say Mike should steal the ticket and go to the wedding. Americans, and I, justify our choice in terms of justice and fairness: it is not right for me to harm this stranger—even in a minor way. We could not live in a world in which everyone stole whatever he or she needed. The Indian subjects focus instead on the importance of personal relationships and contractual obligations, and on the relatively small harm that will be done to the stranger in contrast to the much broader harm that will be done to the wedding.
An elder in a Maisin village in Papua New Guinea sees the situation from a third perspective, focused on collective responsibility. He rejects the dilemma: "If nobody [in the community] helped him and so he [stole], I would say we had caused that problem.""

Oct 21, 2005

Oct 20, 2005

Meditation practice to train the brain

By 11:57 PM No comments
Scientists Bridle at Lecture Plan for Dalai Lama from NYTimes

"He has been an enthusiastic collaborator in research on whether the intense meditation practiced by Buddhist monks can train the brain to generate compassion and positive thoughts. Next month in Washington, the Dalai Lama is scheduled to speak about the research at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience.
But 544 brain researchers have signed a petition urging the society to cancel the lecture, because, according to the petition, "it will highlight a subject with largely unsubstantiated claims and compromised scientific rigor and objectivity."
Defenders of the Dalai Lama's appearance say that the motivation of many protesters is political, because many are Chinese or of Chinese descent. The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 after the Chinese crushed a Tibetan bid for independence."

Splog by Sploggers

By 11:52 PM 1 comment
Tempted by blogs, spam becomes 'splog' from CNET

"The attacker, or splogger, used automated tools to manipulate the Blogger-BlogSpot service and create thousands of fake blogs loaded with links to specific Web sites (home mortgage, poker and tobacco sites among them). The move was designed to doctor search results and boost traffic to those sites by fooling the search-engine spiders that crawl the Web looking for commonly linked-to destinations.
The counterfeit blogs also triggered thousands of RSS--Really Simple Syndication--feeds and e-mail notifications, swamping RSS readers and in-boxes. "

Not a religious point of view....

By 3:24 PM No comments
Why do we believe in God? from The Guardian

"Richard Dawkins, our best-known Darwinist and a ferocious critic of organised religion, notes that religion seems to be, on the face of it, a cost rather than a benefit: "Religious behaviour in bipedal apes occupies large quantities of time. It devours huge resources. A medieval cathedral consumed hundreds of man-centuries in its building. Sacred music and devotional paintings largely monopolised medieval and Renaissance talent. Thousands, perhaps millions, of people have died, often accepting torture first, for loyalty to one religion against a scarcely distinguishable alternative. Devout people have died for their gods, killed for them, fasted for them, endured whipping, undertaken a lifetime of celibacy, and sworn themselves to asocial silence for the sake of religion."
It seems at first glance as if Dawkins is arguing that religion is an evolutionary disaster area. Religious belief, it seems, would be unlikely, on its own merits, to have slipped through the net of natural selection. But maybe that interpretation of what Dawkins is saying neglects some of the further benefits that religion might well offer in the human quest for survival and security.
In his book Darwin's Cathedral, David Sloan Wilson, professor of biology and anthropology at Binghamton University in New York state, says that religiosity emerged as a "useful" genetic trait because it had the effect of making social groups more unified. The communal nature of religion certainly would have given groups of hunter-gatherers a stronger sense of togetherness. This produced a leaner, meaner survival machine, a group that was more likely to be able to defend a waterhole, or kill more antelope, or capture their opponents' daughters. The better the religion was at producing an organised and disciplined group, the more effective they would have been at staying alive, and hence at passing their genes on to the next generation. This is what we mean by "natural selection": adaptations which help survival and reproduction get passed down through the genes. Taking into account the additional suggestion, from various studies of twins, that we may have an inherited disposition towards religious belief, is there any evidence that the Divine Idea might be carried in our genes?"

Science behind happiness!

By 12:01 AM 1 comment
So what do you have to do to find happiness? TimesOnline

"Public surveys measure what makes us happy. Marriage does, pets do, but children don't seem to (despite what we think). Youth and old age are the happiest times. Money does not add much to happiness; in Britain, incomes have trebled since 1950, but happiness has not increased at all. The happiness of lottery winners returns to former levels within a year. People disabled in an accident are likely to become almost as happy again. For happiness levels are probably genetic: identical twins are usually equally bubbly or grumpy."
...
"Their holy grail is the classification of strengths and virtues. After a solemn consultation of great works such as the samurai code, the Bhagavad-Gita and the writings of Confucius, Aristotle and Aquinas, Seligman's happiness scouts discovered six core virtues recognised in all cultures: wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance and transcendence. They have subdivided these into 24 strengths, including humour and honesty.
But critics are demanding answers to big questions. What is the point of defining levels of happiness and classifying the virtues? Aren't these concepts vague and impossible to pin down? Can you justify spending funds to research positive states when there are problems such as famine, flood and epidemic depression to be solved?"
...
"At the Royal Institution, Nettle explained how brain chemistry foils our pursuit of happiness in the modern world: "The things that you desire are not the things that you end up liking. The mechanisms of desire are insatiable. There are things that we really like and tire of less quickly — having good friends, the beauty of the natural world, spirituality. But our economic system plays into the psychology of wanting, and the psychology of liking gets drowned out.""
...
"Happiness is neither desire nor pleasure alone. It involves a third chemical pathway. Serotonin constantly shifts the balance between negative and positive emotions. It can reduce worry, fear, panic and sleeplessness and increase sociability, co-operation, and happy feelings. Drugs based on serotonin, such as ecstasy, produce a relaxed sense of wellbeing rather than the dopamine pattern of euphoria and craving.
In essence, what the biology lesson tells us is that negative emotions are fundamental to the human condition, and it's no wonder they are difficult to eradicate. At the same time, by a trick of nature, our brains are designed to crave but never really achieve lasting happiness."

Oct 19, 2005

Controversial book!

By 7:21 PM No comments
Book on the Mahatma stirs up a storm in Orissa from sify.com

"Michha Mahatma, claims Bibudharanjan, exposes what he calls the “false Mahatmahood” of Mohandas Karamachand Gandhi. “Gandhi is true but Mahatma is false. He was a man with all human failings but he covered them up all in his autobiography My Experiments with Truth in such a way to project himself a Mahatma. After his death his followers continued to cover up the unpalatable side of Gandhi and even went to the extent of blacking out his son Harilal's write up published in the Hindustan Standard a few days after his murder,” he says.
“In my book I have attempted a total and unbiased evaluation of Gandhiji, basing everything on evidence and documents. If the truth explodes the myth of Gandhiji's Mahatmahood, so be it. Why are the followers of Gandhi, who made a name for himself as a seeker of truth be agitated?" says Bibudharanjan.
In Michha Mahatma Gandhi's experiments with his self-imposed celibacy come in for criticism. Gandhi has been portrayed as a bad husband and a terrible father. "
...
"However, Bibudharanjan is unfazed by all the dharna, police complaints and threats. "I am open to criticism. But let them go through the book and then criticise me! Not a single word is my figment of imagination. Everything is based on research. When the so-called Gandhi followers show such intolerance it explodes the myth of Gandhi as Mahatma because he too was intolerant to criticism!" "

What affect will these comments have?

By 3:33 PM No comments
'War on terror a struggle for soul of Islam' from IE

"He cited India as an example of how democracy can defeat the 'jihadi appeal' to Muslims.
"Democracy does seem to weaken the appeal of the terrorist extremists. As our Indian friends are quick to point out, India has the second largest Muslim population in the world. Yet thus far Muslims from India have not been discovered participating in the global 'jihad' in either Afghanistan or Iraq," he said."

Why do such people still hold offices?!?!?!!!

By 3:29 PM No comments
Gujarat IAS officer sent back from Bihar after he said ‘can’t have Dalit, OBC staff’ from IE

""Don't you have a software that identifies officials by their caste?" an IAS officer appointed by the Election Commission of India as an observer for the Bihar polls reportedly wanted to know from the state officials. When he was told that there was no such software, he allegedly pitied the condition of Bihar. "We have an excellent software in Gujarat." "

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