Using online game to do research.

'Virtual' Virus Sheds Light on Real-World Behavior from npr.org

"A recent outbreak of a "plague" in a popular online game has scientists considering how the virtual world may provide clues to what people would do in real-world pandemics. In the role-playing game World of Warcraft, a "corrupted blood" spell killed characters and affected players in unexpected ways."

This is really really intresting point made in this program. But another step closer to living in the virtual world.

Reconstructed monster to understand it!

1918 Killer Flu Reconstructed from npr.org

"A flu virus that killed tens of millions worldwide after it appeared in 1918 has been recreated in the virological equivalent of the Jurassic Park story. Scientists rebuilt it from pieces of genetic material retrieved from the lungs of people who died 87 years ago. Researchers writing in the journals Science and Nature say the tightly guarded replica is even more virulent than they expected.
Yet public health officials aren't worried that the 1918 flu will again terrorize the population. It's no longer a new virus, and most people in the world have some immunity to the H1N1 virus family.
But scientists are interested in what it can reveal about future pandemics... and they say the copy of the 1918 flu bears an ominous resemblance to the bird flu virus now circulating in Asia."

Listen to the whole program to get the whole picture. This is a good prgram "All Things considered" on npr

thought

Is being idealistic living in a fantasy world?

anonymuncule

Karni hai mujhe us ehsaas se phir mulakat.

Shyam ka vo rangeen asamaa,
asmaa pe vo bikhre tare hazar,
un taaro se jagta asimit-ta ka ehsaas,
karni hai mujhe us ehsaas se phir mulakat.

khamosh jheel ka tharha pani,
pani pe dhundli parchaiya sunaati kahani,
un kahaniyo me chalakte sach ka ehsaas,
karni hai mujhe us ehsaas se phir mulakat.

dolti hawaao me pathiya vo shokh,
pathiyo pe jhilmilati boonde oas ki,
un boodho se jagta vishwas ka ehsaas,
karni hai mujhe us ehsaas se phir mulakat.

rimjhim baarish ke phoaar,
phoaar ka hoota pyasi mitti se milap,
us millap ki khushboo se apnepan ka ehsaas,
karni hai mujhe us ehsaas se phir mulakat.

H-1B issues are India centric?

Waging a battle on foreign Labor from CNET

The comments on this article are interesting too.

quote

Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to.
-- John Ed Pearce

Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing.
-- Wernher von Braun

Science does not have a moral dimension. It is like a knife. If you give it to a surgeon or a murderer, each will use it differently.
-- Wernher von Braun

Why torture the helpless.....

A squatter near her own residence from The Hindu

"She may well be the oldest living litigant in the world.
Lakshmi alias Esther, aged 112, has knocked at the doors of the Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority, seeking free legal aid to reclaim her tiny Slum Clearance Board tenement at Aminjikarai in Chennai. Her date of birth, according to a copy of her horoscope documents, is February 25, 1893.
The tenement was allotted to her over 21 years ago. Seven years back, she took one Moorthy as her tenant. When he refused to vacate and, instead, tried to evict her, Esther preferred a civil suit in the City Civil Court in 1999. "

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH even if it does not belong to her give it to her.