For the last 20 days, my site was missing again. I was under the impression that it was the usual glitch. If I had shown perseverance which I show in my work, it would have been up in a single day. I took it casually (as usual for personal matters). Unfortunately, it turned out to be a major one. Anyhow, mochahost resolved it today. Thank you machahost
Yesterday, I spent 3 hours in Golconda fort admiring the will power of a single man to achieve the desired fort. It is inspiring to think how many men & women have worked for a single man to fulfill his dream. As they always say, a passionate dream backed by strong will and ability to take hardships on the way is something only a human being can have. I used to think, I need to go to the pyramids to get the inspiration. We have it at the backdoor man. Go to Golconda & get inspired.
By PAMELA PAUL – Published: October 22, 2010 New York Times THE GIST People are most likely to unfriend those who post mundane or inflammatory status updates. THE SOURCE “Unfriending on Facebook: Friend Request and Online/Offline Behavior Analysis” by Christopher Sibona and Steven Walczak, The Business School at the University of Colorado Denver. BEFORE you post that umpteenth status update about your toddler’s latest witticism or your feelings for Glenn Beck, consider this: According to research by a graduate student at the Business School at the University of Colorado Denver, the top two reasons that Facebook users unfriend people is that they post too frequently on trivial topics or about polarizing subjects — particularly politics and religion. “One of the interesting things about unfriending is that most real-world friendships either blow up or fade away,” said Christopher Sibona, who wrote the study with his adviser, Steven Walczak, an associate professor of information systems management. “But on Facebook, users actively make the decision to unfriend, and people often don’t know why or what’s happened in the relationship.” Not everyone, it seems, really wants to be friends with everyone. According to the study, those who initiate a friendship are more likely to …Read the Rest
I have successfully changed the theme of web site again today. Though the change is going to be continuous, it is a major change this time. I have taken much less time to complete the changes than my son took few years ago for his site www.krishnamoorthi.com. I am tempted to add an image to this blog, as my new theme accommodates an image even in the preview window.. I have inserted the image of Mahendra hills taken from our terrace, as my newly ordered Adobe Lightroom3 kit is yet to arrive to process any photo in my library.
This is my original blog – Probably, could be the first one, as I was always impressed with someone else’s way of telling the society better about what I wanted to say and hence copied & pasted into my blog till now. But this blog is based on my own experience & I am able to express my feeling the way it has to be expressed. I kept on reading books for the last 25 years (after completing my Business Administration studies – mostly management books, other than the technical books related to my field) to quench my thirst for knowledge. The thirst was never quenched, rather I became more thirsty when I learnt more. I have restriction of time at my disposal. The need to concentrate while reading is of paramount importance. This directly affected my style of working, reflecting, relaxing & living. I want to have a cool head while I read (& hence, the ambience at home has to be really cool. I do not want any nagging thoughts from my credit card companies, hence totally ignore them etc.,) Also, due to the daily arrival of hard copies of Wall Street Journal & Financial Times hard copies …Read the Rest
ScienceShot: Altruistic Bacteria by Cassandra Willyard on 1 September 2010, 1:00 PM | Permanent Link | 0 Comments Email Print | More Previous Article Next Article Credit: Elizabeth H. White/CDC Even bacteria occasionally take one for the team. The bugs typically develop drug resistance by acquiring genetic mutations that fend off antibiotics; eventually the survivors and their offspring take over the colony, and the drugs stop working altogether. But a new study suggests that resistance can spread in an entirely different way—through altruism. A team of researchers doused an Escherichia coli colony of with a non-lethal dose of antibiotics. Not surprisingly a few cells carried mutations that allowed them to survive. But rather than taking over the colony, these mutant cells began secreting a molecule called indole, which turns on pumps that push drugs out of the cell. Other E. coli, which stop producing indole in times of stress, soaked up the molecule and were able to fight off the antibiotic, the team reports online today in Nature. The mutants did not need to produce indole to survive. They were simply working for the greater good.
May 13th 2010 | From The Economist print edition SOME discoveries are so unusual it takes years, decades and sometimes centuries to understand their full significance. One such discovery is the fossil bed known as the Burgess Shale, which contains a record of bizarre creatures that lived 505m years ago. It was discovered in the Canadian Rockies over a century ago and was popularised in 1989 in a book, “Wonderful Life”, by Stephen Jay Gould, an American palaeontologist. It has long been believed that the curious fauna that lived there vanished in a series of extinctions because the fossil record ends. But that no longer appears to be the case. A famous fauna vanished with a whimper, not a bang The Burgess Shale came soon after a period of time known as the Cambrian explosion, when most major groups of complex animals arose over a surprisingly short period. Before 560m years ago, most living things were either individual cells or simple colonies of cells. Then, and for reasons that remain a mystery, life massively diversified and became ever more complex as the rate of evolution increased. An unusual feature of the Burgess Shale is that it is one of the …Read the Rest
Ancient Man in Greenland Has Genome Decoded (A version of this article appeared in print on February 11, 2010, on page A12 of the New York Times.) The genome of a man who lived on the western coast of Greenland some 4,000 years ago has been decoded, thanks to the surprisingly good preservation of DNA in a swatch of his hair so thick it was originally thought to be from a bear. An artist’s impression of “Inuk.” This is the first time the whole genome of an ancient human has been analyzed, and it joins the list of just eight whole genomes of living people that have been decoded so far. It also sheds new light on the settlement of North America by showing there was a hitherto unsuspected migration of people across the continent, from Siberia to Greenland, some 5,500 years ago. The Greenlander belonged to a Paleo-Eskimo culture called the Saqqaq by archaeologists. Using his genome as a basis, a team of researchers from the University of Copenhagen determined that the Saqqaq man’s closest living relatives were the Chukchis, people who live at the easternmost tip of Siberia. His ancestors split apart from Chukchis some 5,500 years ago, …Read the Rest
Fashion Magazine to Salute Large-Size Women Solve Sundsbo Images from V magazine’s “Size” issue highlighting plus size models. By RUTH LA FERLA Published: January 8, 2010 A FORTHCOMING feature in V, among the more progressive of American fashion magazines, will trot out a parade of flamboyantly curvy models showing off what Bridget Jones, that Everywoman’s heroine, called her “wobbly bits.” But the editors of the February issue of V intend no insult or irony. “Big, little, pint size, plus size — everybody is beautiful,” said Stephen Gan, the magazine’s creative director, “and this issue is out to prove it.” Are skin-baring photographs of plus-sized models fashionable? The eye-popping centerpiece of the magazine’s “Size” issue features several voluptuous women clad in skimpy swimsuits, bra tops and low-slung jeans. The models flaunt bulging tummies, powerful thighs and fleshy midsections — with love handles intact. The magazine’s online preview on Models.com was picked up by scores of other Web sites and stirred a raucous debate. Some readers praised the decision to highlight models larger than size 2 as bold. Others castigated the editors as following the lead of more-conservative fashion magazines, which habitually ghettoize a large-size population that ought to be featured in …Read the Rest
Johnson & Johnson heiress dead at 30 By Noel Vasquez, Getty Images LOS ANGELES (AP) — Casey Johnson, the socialite daughter of New York Jets owner Woody Johnson and heiress to the Johnson & Johnson business empire has died, a spokesman for the family and police said Monday. She was 30. VIDEO: More on the life and death of Casey Johnson TMZ.com reported that Johnson was found dead Monday. Police officers responded to her Los Angeles home around 11:51 a.m. where paramedics had already pronounced Johnson dead, officer Sara Faden said. Faden said she did not know how long Johnson may have been dead by the time authorities arrived. She said Johnson’s death may have been from natural causes since a preliminary investigation turned up no signs of foul play. But Faden added that a final cause of death will be determined by coroner’s officials, who will seek toxicology tests. Results of those tests could take six weeks to obtain. In a statement released through publicist Jesse Derris, the Johnson family says it “is mourning its tragic loss, and asks for privacy during this very difficult time.” Casey Johnson gained celebrity as the girlfriend of Tila Tequila, a reality TV …Read the Rest
Mind Where Did the Time Go? Do Not Ask the Brain A version of this article appeared in print on January 5, 2010, on page D1 of the New York Times edition. That most alarming New Year’s morning question — “Uh-oh, what did I do last night?” — can seem benign compared with those that may come later, like “Uh, what exactly did I do with the last year?” Or, “Hold on — did a decade just go by?” It did. Somewhere between trigonometry and colonoscopy, someone must have hit the fast-forward button. Time may march, or ebb, or sift, or creep, but in early January it feels as if it has bolted like an angry dinner guest, leaving conversations unfinished, relationships still stuck, bad habits unbroken, goals unachieved. “I think for many people, we think about our goals, and if nothing much has happened with those then suddenly it seems like it was just yesterday that we set them,” said Gal Zauberman, an associate professor of marketing at the Wharton School of Business. Yet the sensation of passing time can be very different, Dr. Zauberman said, “depending on what you think about, and how.” In fact, scientists are not …Read the Rest
Adult Learning | Neuroscience How to Train the Aging Brain By BARBARA STRAUCH New York Times – Published: December 29, 2009 I LOVE reading history, and the shelves in my living room are lined with fat, fact-filled books. There’s “The Hemingses of Monticello,” about the family of Thomas Jefferson’s slave mistress; there’s “House of Cards,” about the fall of Bear Stearns; there’s “Titan,” about John D. Rockefeller Sr. The problem is, as much as I’ve enjoyed these books, I don’t really remember reading any of them. Certainly I know the main points. But didn’t I, after underlining all those interesting parts, retain anything else? It’s maddening and, sorry to say, not all that unusual for a brain at middle age: I don’t just forget whole books, but movies I just saw, breakfasts I just ate, and the names, oh, the names are awful. Who are you? Brains in middle age, which, with increased life spans, now stretches from the 40s to late 60s, also get more easily distracted. Start boiling water for pasta, go answer the doorbell and — whoosh — all thoughts of boiling water disappear. Indeed, aging brains, even in the middle years, fall into what’s called the …Read the Rest