Severe immune response kills SARS victims

An excessive immune reaction appears to be the fatal factor in patients who die of SARS, according to medical data from Hong Kong.

So, its not necessarily the virus that's claiming the lives of so many people! It's our own body that is kiiling us!! Sever immune reactions can be terrible!! I've once witnessed, first hand, a severe immune reaction and it was terrible to watch!!

Moreover, there is disturbing news as far as the life of the SARS virus is concerned!!

Scientists have also discovered that the SARS virus can remain viable for at least 24 hours after being deposited in a droplet on a plastic surface - a simulation, for example, of an infected person coughing on to the wall of a lift.

...

In a study in Germany reported by Stöhr, the virus was dropped in liquid on to a plastic surface, the drop was dried, and examined after 24 hours. "There were 10,000 virus units per millitre before, and after 24 hours there were 1000 - and that was viable viruses." [via NewScientist]

Now, the only hope is that we find some way to fight this killer virus before it mutates into something uncontrollable!!

Bombay Bloggers' Meet a.k.a. Mumbai Bloggers' Meet

The second Bombay Bloggers' Meet concluded this evening amidst a lot of revelry and enjoyment. Details of the meet will follow, as will a set of pics of the historic event! :-)

Twelve bloggers met at Five Gardens in Matunga and after a mandatory round of introductions proceeded towards the newly opened Cafe Coffee Day outlet at King's Circle. Here, the raucous bunch had a blast!!

So, till further details are posted... just keep on ruing the fact that you were not there!! :-D

Blackwill acted as India's spokesman: Pakistan

Pakistan on Monday described outgoing United States envoy to India, Robert Blackwill, as a 'spokesman of the Indian external affairs ministry'.
Foreign Office spokesman Aziz Ahmad Khan said Kashmiris would be delighted to see the back of Blackwill, who recently announced that he would go back to teaching at the Harvard University.

Ok, if Blackwill is Indian MEA spokesman, then who is Aziz Ahmad Khan?... spokesman for the Kashmiri people??

Moreover this "spokesman" haughtily announces that Pakistan would not accept Farooq Abdullah in an Indian delegation that wishes to travel to Pakistan.

"... It was during the tenure of Farooq Abdullah that maximum atrocities were committed against the Kashmiri people," he said.

"He has blood of Kashmiri people on his hands and he should first apologise to Kashmiri people and apologise to the [All Parties] Hurriyat Conference.

"If they forgive him, perhaps a delegation led by APHC leaders, in which others can be included, would be welcomed to Pakistan."

God!! if Farooq Abdullah has Kashmiri blood on his hands, then you Mr. Aziz Ahmad Khan, and your country, has Indian blood on your hands, legs, body and face. You're splattered with it!!

You know what this is called?? ... It's a classic case of pot calling the kettle black!!

PETA wants Pennsylvania borough to be renamed Veggieburg

An animal rights group says it will donate $15,000 worth of vegetarian patties to area schools if officials change the borough's name to Veggieburg.

Are these PETA people serious?? Or has advocating too much of veggies turned these people into vegetables, incapable of thought!

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says the name Hamburg conjures up images of slaughtered cows and unhealthy meals.

Really??! So, what would they like the towns to be named instead?... Cabbageville??... or perhaps Broccoliburg??!

Idiots!!
[link via Metafilter]

Give your hard drive a dose of proteins! Proteins produce nano-magnetic computer memory

Computer hard drive capacity could be increased a hundredfold by using a common protein to fabricate nano-scale magnetic particles, claims UK company Nanomagnetics
It uses the protein apoferritin, the main molecule in which iron is stored in the body, to create a material consisting of magnetic particles each just a few nanometres in diameter.
Each particle can store a bit of information and together they can be packed onto a disk drive at much greater density than is possible using existing hard disk manufacturing methods.

Interesting!... very interesting! We'll soon see the day when we go to out local chemist's shop with two prescriptions... one for your flu and one for your computer's memory! ;-)

Music finally comes on the Net... legally! EMI posts 140,000 songs for sale online

EMI Group has signed deals to put the bulk of its music catalog on the Web in Europe, in its boldest bid yet to exploit the medium that has threatened to bring the record industry to its knees.

EMI said on Wednesday it was supplying 140,000 songs for download through 20 European digital music distributors including Microsoft's MSN, music channel MTV and retailer HMV. [link via OnlineBlog]

Hmmm... having brought Napster down to its knees, it was inevitable that the big daddies of the music industry would themselves jump into the fray.

The big players are going to do the same thing as Napster did... although the downloads would cost around £1 per song (which is a stiff price to say the least!). Then an album (which has about 14-15 songs) would cost an exorbitant £15!!

Gee!! these people think they can get away with murder!

The Two Towers DVD Release Dates

Mark these dates on your Calendar: 8/28/03 & 11/18/03

These are the (US) DVD release dates for The Two Towers. Like Fellowship, the first date is the release of the DVD, and the November date is the release of the special edition (with rumored extra 48 minutes of footage).

Another good link is provided by theonering.net and has some more info about the actual footage. [link via Slashdot]

This news is like sweet music for all LoTR fans! And the icing on the cake is the fact that the final part of the LoTR trilogy, The Return of the King is slated for worldwide release less than a month after the Special Edition DVD of The Two Towers comes out, i.e. on 17th December 2003. So, mark down that date on your calendars too! :-)

Groom Shot in Head During Wedding

An Indian groom is in a coma in hospital after he was accidentally shot in the head by a friend who was celebrating the wedding by firing into the air, police said on Tuesday. [link via Yahoo]

Just goes to show that stupidity is the most abundantly available element in the universe!

I'm back! After a brief and a somewhat forced hiatus of 5 days, I'm back!

Spent the last five days in Pune. What started off as an intensely hectic trip to Pune, ended as a very relaxed and rejeuvenating sojourn. I'm glad I stayed back in Pune after my official work got over in the first two days.

Here are the answers and scores to the Supersam's Challenge

1. Why was Wg. Cdr. (retd.) S P Pendharkar in the news recently?
Ans: His daughter Dr. Vijeta Pendharkar is supposed to be marry Rahul Dravid.

2. In children's fiction, which character was created by Geppetto?
Ans: Geppetto created the most famous puppet of them all... Pinocchio.

3. Which is the first Indian courier company to have its own aviation facility?
Ans: Blue Dart

4. Which modern day country in the Middle East is the site of the world's earliest known civilization, the Sumerian civilization?
Ans: Iraq (Rohini says both Iraq and Iran. Logically speaking, I agree with her)

5. In cricket, a score of 111 is often referred to as 'Nelson'. Why so?
Ans: Lord Nelson had one eye, one arm and one leg. That's why. No points for only "one eye" answers. ;-)

6. Which song by the Rolling Stones was used as the theme song for the launch of Windows 95?
Ans: Start Me Up.

7. If you are a misocapnist, then what would you be allergic to?
Ans: Tobacco Smoke.

8. Which promotional character has Pepsi planned to revive in India during this summer?
Ans: Fido Dido, the promotional character for Pepsico's drink, 7UP.

9. In the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, an Indian game was demonstrated for the first time. Which game was it?
Ans: Kabaddi.

10. Complete this line, taken from a 20th Century Classic. “You can shoot all the blue jays you want if you can hit 'em, but remember it’s a sin __ ____ _ ___________."
Ans: To Kill a Mockingbird.

And now the scores!

Rohini - 7
Sarika - 8

So, that's it folks! The winner of this Supersam's Challenge is Sarika!! Congratulations! :-)

YES, all four wars

Some poor idiot named (??) Robert Price apparently posted comments to one of Varsha Bhosle's articles. And in doing so, all but invited Varsha to slam his feet into his own mouth.

This Robert Price person tried to indicate how Pakistan has "won" all the four wars that it has fought against India and how Pakistan's brilliant military strategies (ahem!) have had India begging to the world asking its help to rein in Pakistan.

Varsha Bhosle delivers a point-by-point rebuttal buttressed with references that no one can refute. And thus, she blasts Robert Price's argument into nothingness. I am tempted to quote some of Varsha's best (and sweet-sounding to my Indian ears) arguments, but I'll just quote the final remarks that she makes. I urge you to go and read the full article.

I'm sooo tired of gloating now. Maybe another day I'll tell you what the Indian Army was up against in Kargil... NO! I don't mean Paki "valour"; I refer to terrain and climate. But this article's been long. But, that's the nature of Indian Defence: We may take long, but we make a comprehensive kill in one stroke -- like the kukri to the NLI throat.
NLI refers to Pakistan's Northern Light Infantry which was wiped out completely during their foolhardy adventure atop the mountain peaks in Kargil and Drass.

Woohooo!!... Way to go Varsha!!

Final human genome sequence released

This time it is the real thing, scientists promise - the complete sequence of human DNA, as perfectly rendered as it ever will be.

...

"What we've got now is what we'll have for all eternity," says Francis Collins, director of the US National Human Genome Research Institute and the head of the consortium of 16 international institutions that collaborated to sequence the code. [link via Slashdot]

But as they've already observed, humans have significantly lesser number of genes than was earlier thought.

While past estimates varied up to 140,000, two international scientific teams have now shown the true number is between 27,000 and 40,000.

...

"The small number of genes is significant [because it means] we're not hard-wired," says Craig Venter, head of one team at the private company Celera.

"People think genes are an absolute cause of traits. But the notion that the genome is the blueprint for humanity is a very bad metaphor," he says. If you think we're hard-wired and deterministic, there should indeed be a lot more genes."

SYRIA MAY BE NEXT

Syria may become an American military target if it was found to be harbouring Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, according to a senior Pentagon adviser.

He said that if such weapons were found on Syrian soil: "I'm quite sure we would have to respond to that".[link via Metafilter]

Mr. Richard Perle, I think you and your idiot pretzel-fearing boss could do better by using all your resources to try and find any proof of those WMDs in Iraq first. Warheads with traces of nerve agent don't count if you are trying to justify invasion of a country.

So, before you talk about doing an Iraq on Syria, first attend to the business that you've left unfinished in the last year or so... viz. finiding Osama, finding WMDs in Iraq, etc.

And if anyone thinks this is an anti-American view... think again! This is just an anti-idiotarian view!

Read Between the Lines as a young budding journo Rohini tries to analyse news that catch her eye, on her brand new media blog.

What is this blog all about? Read the FAQs :-)
In short, as the byline of her blog announces, it is "a weblog on the media- from news to movies, sportspersons to journalists, advertising to war reporting.... "

Great work, Rohini!! :-)

SARS was born in weapons lab: Russian scientist

The virus of atypical pneumonia, better known as SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, was created artificially, possibly as a bacteriological weapon, Sergei Kolesnikov, academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, told a press conference in the Siberian town of Irkutsk on Thursday, the Russian RIA Novosti news agency reported.

According to Kolesnikov, the virus of atypical pneumonia is a synthesis of the viruses of measles and infectious parotiditis or mumps, the natural compound of which is impossible. This can be done only in a laboratory, he said.

Now, much before SARS became a global threat and when it was just a disturbing problem in South East Asia, I had this chat with a friend. And I, being a conspiracy theorist that I am, had hypothesized that SARS could be lab-created virus that was let loose as a smokescreen. Geez! my brain thinks up such weird stuff these days!!... and when it comes true, it just feels so smug!! ;-)

Here it is once more... a chance to take on Supersam's Challenge!!

Send in your answers to me at webmaster at opti-mystic dot net. Please do not post answers in the comments.

So here are 10 questions for you...

1. Why was Wg. Cdr. (retd.) S P Pendharkar in the news recently?

2. In children's fiction, which character was created by Geppetto?

3. Which is the first Indian courier company to have its own aviation facility?

4. Which modern day country in the Middle East is the site of the world's earliest known civilization, the Sumerian civilization?

5. In cricket, a score of 111 is often referred to as 'Nelson'. Why so?

6. Which song by the Rolling Stones was used as the theme song for the launch of Windows 95?

7. If you are a misocapnist, then what would you be allergic to?

8. Which promotional character has Pepsi planned to revive in India during this summer?

9. In the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, an Indian game was demonstrated for the first time. Which game was it?

10. Complete this line, taken from a 20th Century Classic. “You can shoot all the blue jays you want if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin __ ____ _ ___________."

I know I did not send the answers to the last Supersam's Challenge, but I promise I'll be a good boy this time and post the answers and the scores this time around! :-)

So, go ahead and take up the challenge!

Speed of sound is silenced

Concorde, the world's first supersonic passenger jet, will be grounded in the autumn after a plunge in passenger numbers and a string of high-profile technical problems.
British Airways and Air France will announce the decision today, following months of deliberation with technical advisers from Airbus.[link via Metafilter]

Well, I've never travelled in a Concorde, but I'm a wee bit sad to note that it'll no more take to the skies!

By the way, a trivia question. Do you know why the Concorde's nose is crooked (or bent, pointing towards the ground)?

Iraq's UN ambassador says 'game is over'

In the first admission by an Iraqi official that US-led forces have seized control of Baghdad, the country's ambassador to the United Nations said, "The game is over" and hoped Iraqis would have a peaceful life.

Amen to that! Lets hope that we have seen/heard the last of Saddam Hussein.

Though that may just be wishful thinking. If the question that haunted people all over the world in the past few weeks was "Where is Raed?" then the one that'll certainly haunt the people in the coming weeks would be "Where is Saddam?"

Appearing on 60 Minutes on CBS, Said Aburish, one of Saddam Hussein's biographers said (when asked if Saddam could have escaped before Baghdad fell),

“I don’t think that’s ever a consideration for Saddam Hussein,” says Aburish. “That would have given away everything he ever stood for. He had this preoccupation from the time he was in his 20s: ‘I belong in this page of Arab history.’ Going down with Baghdad, going down with the ship completes him.”

According to Aburish, who has studied Saddam for decades, the most important thing in life for this Iraqi leader is to be remembered by the Arabs as another Saladin, the Muslim warrior who triumphed over the Crusaders 800 years ago.[Read more]

Sources in the British intelligence have been quoted saying that though Saddam was almost certainly in the targeted building at some point, he was "probably" not there when the bombs were dropped.

So that means, just like Elvis, Saddam has left the building!

Amidst drumrolls and blowing trumpets and the clash of cymballs, let me announce the unveiling of this week's Blog Mela which is in its seventh edition this time around.

Jayakrishnan Nair clinically dissects Arundhati Roy's arguments on the war, US and Saddam. Easily the most-nominated post of this Blog Mela.
And in another of his posts, Jayakrishnan argues why we could have reasons to suspect the motives of an organization that supposedly represents the interests of Indo-Americans in the US.

Niraj lays bare the hypocrisy of some of the students of Stanford University who want to disassociate the University's name from the Hoover Institution under the pretext that Hoover Institution is composed of war-mongers and the association stifles "academic freedom".

Jyotsna Kamat talks about Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya on the occasion of her birth centennial, giving us an informative insight into the life and work of this multi-faceted lady who was a trade-unionist, a revolutionary, a reformer, a great patron of arts, an accomplished writer (she has authored twelve books), an orator, and a freedom fighter - a truly amazing Indian woman.

Kingsley makes a profound discovery as he has iron and dates on his mind (to know what that means, you ought to read the post!) ;-)

Swami (April 7 post. Permalinks not working.) makes an interesting point about how conflict, disagreement, argument and even war are essentially parts of an equilibrium.

Sankar Narayan (April 3 post. Permalinks not working) has an interesting insight into the impacts of the Iraq war on the Indian IT industry.

Vikas Kamat traces the history of the Khilafat Movement and its place in the Indian freedom movement in an insightful post. As the person who nominated this post pointed out, "More people should be aware of the story."

Rohini (April 8 post, titled "Your name in the Headlines". Permalinks not working.) attacks the concept of "news-selling" that has been embraced by some newspapers recently, notably The Times of India.

Anita (April 5 and April 8 posts. Permalinks not working.) posts some of her delightful memories of her trip, as she talks about her long walks at Auroville or when she bemoans the "efficiency" of the Railways booking system at the Howrah Railway Station in Kolkata.

Dina Mehta observes the importance of colour in the way it is a reflection of our emotional states, moods, attitudes, personality, society - in short, any form of human existence.

Yazad (April 2 post. Permalinks not working.) discovers a deep philosophical insight while watching a TV serial.

And that folks, was a roundup of some of this week's hand-picked blogs from the Indian Blogworld!!

This list is mirrored at Realwomenonline.com.

Bharateeya Blog Mela. Well folks, its Monday again... and a start to yet another week. Just a couple of days to go for the seventh edition of Bharateeya Blog Mela. Please send in your nominations for the Mela. For details on how to submit your nominations, click here. Alternatively, you could even leave your nominations as comments on this post.

C'mon people, lets see the cream of the Indian blogscape on the Blog Mela!!

PS: Shanti has created some really cool buttons for linking to the Blog Mela. They are available here.