Eyecatchers-106: "Spilling 3.7 million nickels!"

A truck carrying 20 tons of money from the Philadelphia Mint to the U.S.Treasury in Miami crashed, killing one passenger and spilling 3.7 million nickels onto I-95.

Courtesy: Sam Stark, Harper's Weekly, September 23, 2008.

Grateful thanks to Sam Stark and Harper's Weekly.

My Friends-1: "Mr.M.Senthil Kumar"

Senthil is a dear friend of mine, though he is younger to me by more than a dozen years. But he looks much younger. His many sterling qualities have endeared him to me. If there is any public activity, he will be there in the forefront, shouldering some important responsibility and doing his best. He is a Home Guard. His civic sense and social awareness are worth emulating. For example, he will not take carrybags from shops. He always carries cloth-bags to keep materials he purchases.

Our friendship deepened during our FASOHD days. He is so affectionate to me he would call me now and then and ask me whether I need any help. He has been helping me in almost all of my ventures. He is a tower of strength to me. I fondly and gratefully remember his great help on the days following my father's death and also during and after my daughter's marriage. My people say I exploit his kindness. Maybe true. Whenever I need any help, I immediately think of him and I do not hesitate to take his help whenever required. I do not know how I am going to repay him for his kindness.

May God bless him and bestow on him and his family all that is best.

Thank you, Senthil, thank you very much for all your kindness.

Eyecatchers-105: "Global Financial Crisis!"

American financial institutions faced the worst credit crisis since the Great Depression. Global stock markets lost $3.1 trillion in four days. American International Group (AIG), the world's biggest insurance company and a leader in the $62 trillion credit-default swap market, was nearly bankrupted. The US Federal Reserve loaned AIG $85 billion at 11% interest and took control of the company, which was founded in China in 1919 and driven out thirty years later by Mao. AIG was replaced in the Dow Jones Industrial Average by Kraft, the makers of Cheez Whiz. Central banks poured hundreds of billions of dollars into the market, and the Securities and Exchange Commission temporarily banned the short-selling of 799 financial-institution stocks.

Excerpt from "Harper's Weekly", September 23, 2008 ("Sam Stark")

Wikipedia article on "FINANCIAL CRISIS OF 2007-2008":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_crisis_of_2007-2008

Grateful thanks to Sam Stark, Harper's Weekly and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Nellaiappan's Column-7: "Communication Skills"

“Long time no see!” - When the Shift Officer greeted the Chairman of the organization who just dropped in, his immediate reaction was a “What!?” To explain that “what” in writer Sujatha’s words, it was 10,000 kilowatts. The GM-HR who accompanied the Chairman and who was also the son of the Chairman came to the rescue of the officer by diverting the conversation.

Actually the Chairman along with his family members was passing by the factory to a distant place and to break the tedious journey for some refreshment, they all just went to the factory. Because it was a Sunday, no higher official was available at the site and our poor officer rushed to greet them with a “long time no see.”

It was a shock to the officer. He could not make out the reason why the Chairman was so annoyed. Because the GM-HR knew the officer well, he intervened and saved him.

Our poor officer learnt the idiom only on that particular day, from the column “know your English” of a popular English daily. After learning something new, he applied it at the first opportunity. When he was expecting some pat on the shoulder for his knowledge it misfired.

That was not the only time his communication put him in trouble. Our officer was pet to the then GM. Every now and then he was inviting the GM to his house for a dinner. GM also was kind enough to invite him to his house. But somehow the dinner was eluding for quiet some time.

On an auspicious morning, both were discussing about the eluding dinner and decided to have that on the same day at 7.30 P.M. Our officer prepared a splendid dinner in his house for the GM and his family. Till 8 P.M no one turned up. When the officer phoned the GM, he came to know that the GM has made similar arrangements in his house and was waiting for the arrival of the officer and his family.

The Master Trainer of the organization and his Prime Disciple failed miserably in their communication. Both prepared dinner at their place and waited for the other to turn around.

They felt ashamed about their communication skills and decided not to let others know about it. They rescheduled the dinner for the next day and double confirmed the time. When the north Indian GM arrived at the house of the officer to taste the southern dishes, our officer was promptly knocking the doors of the GM Bungalow.

The telephone operator got our unfortunate officer in his mobile once, while he was standing on the open terrace above the 4th floor in the plant, supervising some civil work. She told him that VP was on the line. He answered with a “will call after half an hour”. She promptly informed the VP to call after half an hour. VP got annoyed and it has taken almost 6 months for the officer to bridge the gap.

I need not tell you, who that unfortunate officer was. But I should tell you that his experience helped many fortunate officers to improve their communication skills.

What about a delicious supper at 9.30 tonight? Somehow we should make it!

If you ask about 1) the venue 2) the menu 3) the host 4) the guest 5) the dress (formal or informal) 6) wet or dry 7) transport and 8) the agenda… well then you are smarter than the officer I was talking about.

My Photo Album-23: "Suri feeding birthday cake to Aravind"

The photo was taken on Aravind's birthday. After he cut the cake, Suri was feeding Arvind. See the joy in Aravind's face. He radiates joy wherever he goes. How simple a child's life is! How great it would be if one could become a child again! The next best thing is to keep children like Aravind by you so that you become young at least in spirit. (It is an old photo; must be several years old; I came across it while looking for something else. Immediately I put it in my bag deciding that it should find a place in my blog.)

Eyecatchers-104: "Man donates blood 150 times!"

Suresh Kamdas broke the myth that donating blood frequently lowers a person's immunity, making him prone to infections.

The 75-year-old, who first donated blood in 1962, is part of a select club of centurion donors. He has donated blood over 150 times. And now he has taken on the task of propagating the benefits of frequent voluntary blood donation.

Excerpt from "Man donates blood 150 times and breaks a myth" by Kounteya Sinha/TNN.
The Times of India, Chennai, June 14, 2008.

Grateful thanks to Kounteya Sinha, TNN and The Times of India.

Facts & Figures-47: "Mental Depression in the USA"

With all their riches and modern gadgets, one in five persons between the age group of 12 and 20 suffer from mental depression in the USA.

A study says that 27% people in the USA find it difficult to concewntrate on anything they do.

It has been estimated that in the year 2000 alone, due to mental depression, a loss of $ 300 crore has been incurred.

39% males and 22% females hafve been severely affected by mental depression in the USA.

Based on news item in Dina Malar, Tamil daily, Madurai, September 9, 2008.

Wikipedia article on "Major Depressive Disorder":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depression_(clinical)

Grateful thanks to Dina Malar and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

S&T Watch-27: "Accidental Fungal Growth leads to Cancer Drug"

A drug developed using nanotechnology and a fungus that contaminated a lab experiment may be broadly effective against a range of cancers, US researchers reported.

The drug, called lodamin, was improved in one of the last experiments overseen by Judah Folkman, a cancer researcher who died in January. Folkman pioneered the idea of angiogenesis therapy - starving tumours by preventing them from growing blood supplies.

Lodamin is an angiogenesis inhibitor that Folkman's team has been working to perfect for 20 years. His colleagues say they developed a formulation that works as a pill, without side-effects, reports New Scientist.

Tests in mice showed it worked against a range of tumours, including breast cancer, neuoblastoma, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, brain tumours known as glioblastomas and uterine tumours.

It helped stop so-called primary tumours and also prevented their spread, Ofra Benny of Children's Hospital, Boston, and Harvard Medical School and and colleagues reported.

"Using the oral route of administration, it first reaches the liver, making it especially efficient in preventing the development of liver metastasis in mice," they wrote in their report. "Liver metastasis is very common in many tumour types and is often associated with a poor prognosis and survival rate," they added.

The drug was known experimentally as TNP-470, and was isolated from a fungus called Aspergillus fumigatus fresenius.

Harvard's Donald Ingber discovered the fungus by accident while trying to grow endothelial cells - the cells that line blood vessels. The mold affected the cells in a way known to prevent the growth of tiny blood vessels known as capillaries - Reuters.

Excerpt from "Accidental Fungal Growth Results in New Cancer Drug" that appeared in The Times of India, Chennai, July 1, 2008.

Grateful thanks to Reuters and The Times of India.

Environment-12: "Chlorine Check"

Many recent pollution prevention efforts in the pulp and paper industry have focused on getting rid of the use of chlorine for bleaching, a process which helps to increase the brightness of the paper. Elemental chlorine (that is, pure chlorine) or chlorine dioxide is generally used for bleaching but, in the process, large amounts of chlorinated pollutants such as dioxins - a persistent organic pollutant with very high cancer-causing potential - are released into the water. Hence, there is an increasing trend worldwide to reduce the use of both elemental chlorine and chemical containing chlorine.

Two bleaching processes, which are increasingly being adopted by Western nations are elemental-chlorine-free (ECF) bleaching and total-chlorine-free (TCF) bleaching. In India, most of the paper and pulp companies are small or medium ones. Hence, there is little scope for investment in pollution-prevention technologies.

Courtesy: "Down to Earth" (sorry, other details not available).

Grateful thanks to Down to Earth.

A Thought for Today-129:

Grateful thanks to Paolo Nao and www.public-domain-photos.com for the above photo.

Is it so bad to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. - Ralph Waldo Emerson.

My Photo Album-22: "Suri with his kids"

Suri with his kids. I think it was taken in a photo studio some 25 years back.

My Photo Album-21: "Suri with his kids"

Suri with his kids. I think it was taken in a photo studio some 25 years back.

Facts & Figures-46: "Nauseating Figures"

1. About 65% of Indians defecate in places such as fields, railway tracks and abandoned or unfinished constructions.

2. Globally 1.2 billion people defecate in the open, and more than half of them are Indians.

3. About 2 lakh tonnes of faeces is discharged per day in the open in India.

4. On an average, a gram of excreta can contain about a crore viruses, 10 lakh bacteria, 1000 parasites cysts and 100 worm eggs.

5. 1000 children die daily of diarrhoea or other gastro-intestinal diseases.

6. Proper sanitation can reduce risk of diarrhoea by 40%; malnutrition and retardation growth by 60%; cholera by 72%; schistosomiasis (caused by blood flukes) by 77% and blindness by 25%.

Courtesy: The Week, August 31, 2008.

Grateful thanks to The Week.

Letters-40: "Is this Your Phone?"

1. It is strange that you deliberately mislaid nearly a thousand cellphones across the world just to see how honest people were. ["Excuse Me, Is This Your Phone?", Reader's Digest, August 2007"]. Unattended cellphones could be dangerous - they can be used to cause blasts. It is surprising that people first picked up the phones and went on to return them, risking their lives and that of others. The best course would have been to alert the police about an unattended object. - Divyang Purohit, via email.

2. That you recovered 654 out of 960 "lost" cellphones proves that an overwhelming majority of people the world over, are still guided by an inner personal code of Honesty. It is heartening that there are people in Mumbai who may not have scored a "pass" in the politeness test, but are honest. - Dr.R.K.Malhotra, New Delhi.

3. In June, I lost my cellphone at a wedding reception. Since my phone was "not reachable" I sent an SMS to it. Minutes later I got a call from the finder - a guest at the same reception who had already got back home to a nearby town. He insisted on coming back all the way to my hotel and handing over the lost phone, even though it would be midnight by the time he got to me. He refused any reward or travel expenses. My phone is now more precious - it is a symbol of honesty and goodness. - D.Petersen Priyakumar, via email.

Courtesy: Reader's Digest, October 2007.

Grateful thanks to Divyang Purohit, Dr.R.K.Malhotra, D.Petersen Priyakumar and Reader's Digest.

S&T Watch-26: "Machines may outsmart humans by 2050"

Machines might catch up with human reasoning capabilities by the year 2050. At the Intel Developer Forum held in San Francisco, Justin Rattner, chief technology officer, Intel, demonstrated two working personal robot prototypes developed at Intel's research labs. One of the demonstrations showed electric field pre-touch that has been built into a robotic hand. Based on a novel sensing modality used by fish, this hand can 'feel' objects before it even touches them. The other demonstration was a completely autonomous mobile manipulation robot that can rocognise faces and interpret and execute commands using motion planning, manipulation, perception and artificial intelligence.

Rattner also demonstrated powering a 60-watt light bulb without the use of a plug or wire of any kind. This has been made possible by a wireless resonant energy link that promises to deliver wireless power safely and efficiently. The technology relies on strongly coupled resonators-a principle similar to the way a trained singer can shatter a glass using her voice.

Intel researchers are also investigating how millions of tiny micro-robots, called 'catoms', could build shape-shifting materials. If used to replace the case, display and keyboard of a computing device, this technology could make it possible for a device to change physical form in order to suit the specific way you are using it. A mobile computer, for example, could be tiny when in a pocket, change to the shape of an earpiece when used as a mobile phone, and be large and flat with a keyboard for browsing the Internet or watching a movie.

Courtesy : Electronic For You September 2008

Facts & Figures-45: "400 TV Channels in India!"

The Govt of India has given permission for 400 TV channels.

Courtesy: Ananda Vikatan, Tamil Weekly, September 10, 2008.

Grateful thanks to Ananda Vikatan.

My Photo Album-20: "Dad with my kids"

Dad with my kids. This was taken by a photographer-friend more than 20 years back.

Letters-39: "Bihar Floods"

1. Every year hundreds of people die, thousands become homeless and infrastructure worth millions is washed away in Bihar floods. By the time people overcome the trauma, the floods come raging again. Unfortunately, the Centre and the Bihar government are indifferent to the people's plight. Instead of forestalling the calamity by constructing a dam, the administration remains a mute witness to the catastrophe. - Tejeshwi Sharma, Stockholm.

2. The Bihar government has neither the strategy nor the executive mechanism to manage the floods. The story is the same this year too - it begins with an aerial survey of the flooded areas by the Prime Minister and his entourage. It is followed by an announcement of financial aid and material relief by the Centre and some agencies. Whether it reaches the afflicted areas in time is a moot point. - Prem Chand, New Delhi.

3. The Prime Minister has done the right thing by declaring the floods in Bihar, caused by a breach in the Kosi embankment, a national calamity. Unfortunately, flood management seems to be nowhere in the agenda of governments. What is important now is to think of measures to prevent the recurrence of such a tragedy. If China could tame the ferocious Yangtze river, there is no reason why India cannot tame the Kosi or the Godavari. What is needed is a commitment to the cause. - R.Unni Krishnan, Kochi.

Courtesy: The Hindu, Chennai, September 1, 2008.

Grateful thanks to M/s.Tejeshwi Sharma, Prem Chand, R.Unni Krishnan and The Hindu.

Eyecatchers-103: "Laptops in Space Infected"

NASA confirmed that laptops in space had been infected with the virus Gammima.AG.

Courtesy: Harper’s Weekly, Sep 2, 2008.

Grateful thanks to Harper's Weekly.

India Watch-12: "Bihar Floods"

1.2 million people were left homeless by monsoon floods in Bihar.

Courtesy: Harper's Weekly, Sep.2, 2008

Grateful thnaks to Harper's Weekly.