Eyecatchers-126: "Intersex, The Third Gender"

Australia's official human rights watchdog wants a third gender called "intersex" to be created, for use in official documents such as passports and driving licences.

Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai ("Newscape"), December 7, 2008.

Detailed Wikipedia articles on "INTERSEXUALITY" and 'THIRD GENDER":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersex

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_gender

Grateful thanks to The Hindu and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

S&T Watch-40: Stem Cell Niche

Researchers have identified the precise location of bone marrow stem cell, using a new technology termed ex vivo imaging of stem cells.

Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai ("Newscape"), December 7, 2008.

Detailed Wikipedia articles on "STEM CELL" and "STEM CELL NICHE":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_cell

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_cell_niche

Grateful thanks to The Hindu and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Eyecatchers-125: "Dr Romila Thapar wins Kluge Prize!"

Dr Romila Thapar, Emeritus Professor of History, Jawaharlal Nehru University has been chosen for the Kluge Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Study of Humanity instituted by the United States Library of Congress. She will receive the one million dollar prize along with Peter Robert Lamont Brown, Professor of History at Princeton University, in a ceremony on December 10 at the Library of Congress.

Source: The Hindu, Madurai, Dec.5, 2008.

Detailed Wikipedia articles on "Kluge Prize" and "Romila Thapar" with her picture:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kluge_Prize

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romila_Thapar

Grateful thanks to The Hindu and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Letters-58: "Platitude or Declaration?"

The headline, 'Manmohan: no terrorist or enemy can destroy India's unity' (The Hindu, Dec.4), illustrates how a Prime Minister can make a self-evident platitude sound like a new declaration of national intent and a call to arms by a patriotic, unifying group of politicians. After the thousands of terrorist attacks and tens of thousands of innocent lives lost, which successive bands of netas have done little about, the one thing every Indian knows without the need for exhortations from anyone is that every such attack has resulted in greater unity. If it had been otherwise, this country would have imploded years ago. Our politicians miss no opportunity to pit the Muslim against the Hindu, and the Hindu against the Christian, one caste against another, tribes against castes, and sons of the soil against 'outsiders'.

The only schism they have left untouched is the poor against the rich. Indian unity is a reality that exists, not because of, but despite their machinations. - Nowroz J.Cama, Chennai.

Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai, December 5, 2008 ("Letters to the Editor").

Grateful thanks to The Hindu.

S&T Watch-39: Using Zinc Oxide Wires to Produce Electricity

A new type of power generator produces AC current by cyclical stretching and releasing of zinc oxide wires. GeorgiaTech has used piezoelectric properties of zinc oxide structures to harvest energy from the environment.

Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai, December 4, 2008. ("Snapshots" in the Science & Technology page).

Detailed Wikipedia article on "Piezoelectricity":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piezoelectric

Grateful thanks to The Hindu and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Q&A-3: "Does Caste Continbue to Haunt Urban India?"

Yes. Caste divides continue to haunt not only rural but urban India as well. Caste clashes have become commonplace in our country. Loss of lives and property in these clashes are considerable. Women and children are the worst sufferers. Admissions to our educational institutions right from schools to universities are made on caste basis and reservation quotas. The same can be said about employment too. So much so that there are caste-based associations and wings in educational institutions and public offices throughout the country. Parties in the name of castes do much damage to national harmony and peace - T.V.Ramamurthy, Guindy.

Courtesy: The Times of Adyar, November 23, 2008 ("Speak Out Loud")

Grateful thanks to Mr.Ramamurthy and The Times of Adyar.

Eyecatchers-124: "Towards Fuel Efficiency"

I came across this ad from the Petroleum Conservation Research Association, New Delhi and thought it should be seen by all who drive powered-vehicles, or at least the salient points. These tips we could follow easily.

1. Drive your car at 40-50 kmph, optimum fuel-efficient speed to give you maximum mileage. You can save up to 20% of petrol against driving at 70 kmph. (I think it is applicable to two-wheelers also and if you are driving a moped like me, 30-40 kmph may be the optimum speed).
2. Clean your car’s air filter regularly – dust causes rapid erosion of engine components and increases fuel consumption.
3. Always ensure that you drive in correct gear for better fuel efficiency.
4. Car-pooling reduces the number of cars plying on the roads, thereby leading to decongestion of traffic and decreasing pollution. It simultaneously leads to lesser greenhouse gas emissions and cuts traveling costs. The system also tackles the problem of inadequate parking space. Car-pooling eases driving stress and helps broaden your social network, increasing productivity and boosting morale.
5. Switching off engines at red lights for over 15 seconds
6. Using the recommended grade of engine oil
7. Periodically checking tyre pressure
8. Regular maintenance of vehicles is imperative

Use these tips from PCRA to make your contribution towards saving fuel and do your bit to tackle climate change.

A mere 2% saving of petroleum products will translate into saving of Rs.10,000 crores per annum!

Courtesy: The Petroleum Conservation Research Association, New Delhi.

Letters-44: Looking Ahead

As a security consultant who has worked overseas for 25 years, I am stunned at the callous, unprofessional and totally disorganised security response to a situation such as the Mumbai terror attack. I can understand politicians trying to divert public attention by blaming Pakistan, which has never been a friend. It is well known that the Pakistan army will do everything possible to destabilise us. But then, we did not establish institutions at great costs to point a finger at others.

The initial response from the Mumbai police showed they had no idea what the situation was and how to handle it. Proposals such as having NSG contingents in every city are not the solution. The command and control should always be with the local police. They should have the means to respond adequately and promptly and be able to demand help from all sources. - Samuel Martyn James, Chennai.

Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai, December 1, 2008.

Grateful thanks to Mr.Samuel Martyn James and The Hindu.

S&T Watch-38: "New Electric Hybrid Bicycle"

Japan's Sanyo Electric on Monday (December 1, 2008) unveiled a new electric hybrid bicycle that can triple the user's pedal power to make it easier to climb hills. Equipped with a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, the "eneloop bike" takes the crossover between a normal bicycle and a moped one step further, aiming to tap growing interest in tackling global warming.

The system harnesses energy from braking when the bike goes downhill, and can add extra power equivalent to double the rider's pedal force for going uphill.

The bike can travel 1.8 times faster than conventional bicycles, thanks to the motor powering its front wheel - AFP.

Courtesy: AFP and The Hindu, Madurai, December 2, 2008.
Grateful thanks to AFP and The Hindu.

Eyecatchers-123: "RAW has failed miserably!"

I came across this article about RAW (Research and Analysis Wing), the anti-espionage and intelligence wing of the Govt of India. Its annual budget is a mammoth Rs.1000 crores! It is supposed to gather intelligence about terrorist groups and espionage activities and feed it to the concerned security agencies. But as we all know, there have been bomb blast after bomb blast and terrorist attack after terrorist attack. One is constrained to come to the conclusion that RAW has failed miserably. But the most painful part that has been revealed is since there is no accountability for the money that is being spent by it, it is alleged that there is a lot of misuse. Further, it is alleged that there is infighting and ego clash between officers selected from IPS cadre and those who have been recruited directly, affecting the smooth functioning of RAW.

Source: 'Dinamalar', Tamil daily, Madurai, December 2, 2008.

Grateful thanks to Dinamalar.

Letters-57: "Living with Terror"

Terror has no heart. But we hve to live with it. We need to make some change in our way of life. We must overcome differences of religion, caste, region etc and vote for candidates on merit. We should cooperate with the authorities in maintaining tight security, and inform the police of suspicious characters and activities.

Anyone breaking the law - starting from basic traffic violations - should be dealt with severely to drive home the importance of discipline. - Donald DCruz, Kollam.

Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai, December 1, 2008 ("Letters to the Editor")

Grateful thanks to Mr Donald DCruz and The Hindu.

Health News-9: "World AIDS Day"

World AIDS Day, observed December 1 each year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. AIDS has killed more than 25 million people between 1981 and 2007, and an estimated 33 million people worldwide live with HIV as of 2007, making it one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history. Despite recent, improved access to antiretroviral treatment and care in many regions of the world, the AIDS epidemic claimed an estimated 2 million lives in 2007, of which about 270,000 were children. The concept of a World AIDS Day originated at the 1988 World Summit of Ministers of Health on Programmes for AIDS Prevention. Since then, it has been taken up by governments, international organizations and charities around the world.

From its inception until 2004, UNAIDS spearheaded the World AIDS Day campaign, choosing annual themes in consultation with other global health organizations. In 2005 this responsibility was turned over to World AIDS Campaign (WAC), who chose Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise as the main theme for World AIDS Day observances through 2010, with more specific sub-taglines chosen annually. This theme is not specific to World AIDS Day, but is used year-round in WAC's efforts to highlight HIV/AIDS awareness within the context of other major global events including the G8 Summit. World AIDS Campaign also conducts “in-country” campaigns throughout the world, like the Student Stop AIDS Campaign, an infection-awareness campaign targeting young people throughout the UK.

It is common to hold memorials to honor persons who have died from HIV/AIDS on this day. Government and health officials also observe, often with speeches or forums on the AIDS topics. Since 1995 the President of the United States has made an official proclamation on World AIDS Day. Governments of other nations have followed suit and issued similar announcements.

Excerpt from "World AIDS Day" from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Grateful thanks to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. for providing the above material under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Eyecatchers-122: "Two Million Books/Articles/Images in Public Domain!"

A news item in the Newscape section of The Hindu, Madurai edition of November 21. 2008 caught my eye. It was about the Europeana Digital Library, which was launched on November 20, 2008. It had to be closed after it was swamped by Internet users. Then I went to their website (www.europeana.eu). Swamped is right. 10 million hits per hour! Naturally they had to close down. However, they have offered to come up with a robust version by mid-December.

In the meanwhile some info about the Europeana project.

Europeana is a search platform for a collection of European digital libraries with digitized paintings, books, films and archives. The project was initiated by the European Commission. The Library contains around two million digital items, all of them already in public domain.

I repeat for the sake of bloggers, all the 2 million items are in the PUBLIC DOMAIN, which means you can use, re-use, distribute, re-distribute, excerpt and probably modify also; of course, with ncessary credit/attribution. Sort of bonanza, what you think!

The project aims to have 10 million works by 2010, when Europeana is due to be fully operational.

Grateful thanks to The Hindu and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Open Access-6: "Open Access and the New Possibilities Offered by Digitization"

As open access takes on strength and visibility, new possibilities appear. The capacity to link documents together constantly grows in importance. Linking research articles with their underlying data is also being increasingly discussed. Researchers are not yet used to sharing data with others. But, with computers, new forms of exploitation of vast corpora of documents and data are becoming possible. Even a perfunctory use of Google makes this point clear. In the end, one may even wonder whether the venerable article and the mode of publishing it has generated for the last three and a half centuries will make sense much longer in the new environment.

In the end, exactly as Origen has taught us, the changes in communication technologies shift our relations to documents and transform the meaning we ascribe to their existence. If this is true, then it is time to go back to fundamentals. Fundamentally, science is open knowledge and its energy flashes out of the shock of ideas. The end result of this fundamentally agonistic activity is a critical edition of sorts, always striving to reach perfection, yet never ended or ending. Seen from on high, science is little more than an endless concatenation of texts that correct or refute each other, topic by topic, argument by argument, fact by fact. One might say, however scandalous this might sound at present, that science is a kind of Wikipedia, but a Wikipedia where attribution is closely monitored and where participation depends on credentials. If this characterization of science succeeds in capturing some of its essence, it becomes legitimate to ask whether the researcher will still be an "author" of "articles" 30 years from now. The author form is a child of print, and authorship is different from attribution. Whether authorship will still be needed in a few decades is a question well worth asking.

The answer is far from certain....But a choice remains before us: will scientists and scholars finally recover the control over the tools needed for their great conversation, or will it increasingly be taken over by commercial interests? This is what open access is all about....

Excerpt from "Digitizing and the Meaning of Knowledge" by Jean-Claude Guédon, Academic Matters, October/November 2008.

Posted by Peter Suber in "Open Access News" at 11/22/2008 01:28:00 PM

Grateful thanks to Jean-Claude Guédon, Academic Matters, Peter Suber and Open Access News.

Health News-8: "Insulin in Spray Form"

The Chief Executive Officer of the Generex Biotechnology Corporation of U.S., Anna Gluskin, launched the world's first Recombinant DNA human insulin buccal spray nationally in Kolkatta on Monday (November 17, 2008).

Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai, November 18, 2008 ("Snapshots")

Wikipedia articles on "RECOMBINANT DNA" and "INSULIN":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recombinant_DNA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin

Grateful thanks to The Hindu and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Letters-56: "Campus Violence"

1. Students get emboldened and resort to arson and hooliganism because of the support and protection from political parties and caste leaders. Even students who want to study earnestly are denied a healthy atmosphere or dragged into caste politics. Unfortunately, police hesitate to take action as it can culminate into a serious law and order problem and the opposition can exploit the issue. Though condemnable, the police inaction in the law college episode must be seen in this context. - Tharcius S.Fernando, Chennai.

2. True, the police inaction is unacceptable. But had the police swung into action and the exigencies of the situation constrained them to use force resulting in the death of even one student, vested interests would have seized the opportunity. Many more lives would have been lost, not to mention the torching of scores of buses. The task of the police is delicate and difficult indeed. - G.M.Jeyabalan, Sattankulam.

Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai, November 18, 2008 ("Letters to the Editor").

Grateful thanks to M/s.Tharcius S.Fernando, G.M.Jeyabalan and The Hindu.

Eyecatchers-121: "What is happening in Sri Lanka?"

I came across an open letter from Mr.Douglas Devananda, Secretary, People's Democratic Party of Eelam, in the Tamil daily, 'Dinamalar'(Madurai, November 16, 2008 - prominently published in the second page). It makes one wonder what is really going on in Sri Lanka. I am furnishing below some excerpts from that open letter.

1. 95% of the Sri Lankan Tamils live in the area under the control of the Sri Lankan government; only 5% of Sri Lankan Tamils are living in the area which is under the control of LTTE. Even most of these people would like to get out of the clutches of LTTE but they are restrained forcibly. The LTTE is using them as a shield to protect itself.

2. It is the habit of LTTE to seek peace when its position is weak to buy time to re-equip itself for war again.

3. Even Hitler, who is considered to be the worst dictator the world has ever seen, did not kill his own people. But LTTE has killed and has been killing its own people.

4. LTTE has no faith in democracy.

5. Gandhiji chose the path of non-violence to fight the British and Subhas Chandra Bose the path of arms. Yet Bose never thought of murdering Gandhiji. LTTE supremo Prabhakaran is not like that. LTTE has systematically eliminated other Tamil leaders who fought for the Tamils either through the democratic path of non-violence or the path of violence like the LTTE. Thus it has killed thousands of elder Tamil statesmen, experienced Tamil politicians and fellow-fighters.

6. Intelligentsia who disagree with LTTE, people who question their path, people refuse to pay the tax imposed by LTTE and persons who refuse to take up arms to fight for them meet with violent end.

7. Even the LTTE cadres who question the measures adopted by LTTE are destroyed.

8. LTTE has forcibly abducted Tamil youth from their homes and trained them to fight the war.

9. Tamils issue and LTTE issue are two different issues.

If the above are true, then the people of Tamil Nadu are being taken for a ride by the Tamil Nadu politicians. Why there is so much hue and cry? Are the Tamil Nadu politicians using the Sri Lankan Tamil issue for their own selfish ends and to divert the attention of people from real burning problems like rampant corruption, spiralling price rise, alarming power cut leading to closure of many factories and rendering thousands of workers jobless, student unrest and caste violence?

S&T Watch-37: "Tricolor on the Moon!"

The Moon Impact Probe (MIP) onboard Chandrayaan-1 successfully ejected and landed on the lunar surface. With the Tricolor painted on its sides, the probe marks the presence of India on the moon. India thus becomes the 4th member of the elite club.

Source: The Hindu, Madurai, November 15, 2008.

Detailed Wikipedia article on "MOON IMPACT PROBE":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_Impact_Probe

Grateful thanks to The Hindu and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Facts & Figures-57: Inflation down to 8.98%

The Tamil daily Dinamani, Madurai, reports that the country's inflation rate has come down to 8.98% as of November 1, 2008.

Grateful thanks to Dinamani.

Facts & Figures-56: "Bimonthly Electricity Bill, Rs.1,02,468!"

I came across this news in a Tamil daily. The Minister for Power of the Govt of Tamil Nadu, Arcot Veeraswamy has informed the Tamilnadu Legislature that the electricity bill for the residence of former Chief Minister, Ms.J.Jayalalitha for two months was Rs.1,02,468 and that of the Chief Minister, Mr.M.Karunanidhi, Rs.15,000.

One wonders how many persons reside with Ms Jayalalitha and what are all the gadgets they have, to consume so much electricity! Especially when you remember her speech about 'plunging Tamil Nadu in darkness'. Is not conserving power by minimising the consumption the responsibility of all of us, especially our leaders?