SERIOUS STUFF: Talking your way to Cancer

Ok, this might be a wake-up call to drive home the ironical point!

Everyone knows that excessive cellphone usage is harmful. Also, as always, everyone is a resident expert on how it harms, though no one knows how it actually harms, beyond the two-minute cellphone-you-know-what-radiation-cancer spiel. Here is a report, with references and credentials on how radiation from phones and towers really cook you. To whet your thinking

SAR (Specific absorption rate) - Rate at which radiation is absorbed by human body, measured in units of watts per kg (W/kg) of tissue. In USA, SAR limit for cell phones is 1.6W/Kg which is actually for 6 minutes. It has a safety margin of 3 to 4, so a person should not use cell phone for more than 18 to 24 minutes per day.

This information is not commonly known to people in India.

There is quite a bit of theory, empirical data from research, and analysis stuff that Electrical Engineers might decode better (the author is a Professor from IIT-B). And there's quite a bit on the Medical stuff as well. But to cut the conversation short, the cancer theory might not just be theoretical.

Please do take the effort to go through this document. If you can't access it, please let me know and I will be glad to forward it to you.

http://www.adrive.com/home/downloadfile/412242807

Userid: praveen.prabhakaran@gmail.com

Password: Radiationhazard9

She's beautiful, so that's ok

Sarah Palin proves that she has the right credentials to make it to the White House. I mean, she proves that if Bush can make it, so can she.

She was asked to comment on the South Korean crisis, currently getting media attention for all the North Korean reasons. She replied in typical Bush style, but without the grammatical errors as well, "Obviously, we’ve got to stand with our North Korean allies.” Thankfully, it was clarified to her promptly that the US is actually on the side of the other Korea. I am sure she will also be able to pinpoint South Korea on a map. It's just to the west of East Korea.

So, what does it take to become the Leader of the free world? If not brains, a bit of charm will do.

Wandering minds less happy than focused ones

Finally, proof that success is 99% concentration and 1% inspiration. It seems people who focus on their work are happier than those daydreaming, though daydreaming is ofcourse a pleasurable activity. The research also suggests that although difficult situations require more effort-expenditure, the very same will increase our happiness in the long run.

This article might really be worth the distraction from whatever you are doing right now.

http://news.discovery.com/human/mind-wandering-distracted-happiness.html

Reading Between the Lines - 34 - Lizard gives hope to women around the world

POPSCI, 09-11-2010: Scientists Discover Self-Cloning Lizard Species

Scientists in Vietnam have discovered an all-female species of lizard that propogates by self-cloning, giving hope to countless women around the world.

Further research on this might help some feminist scientists in discovering the secret of making perfect copies of themselves (horror?) without outside support. I should ask, why can't men advance scientific research along similar lines? They'll save a lot of money on shopping, for instance.

For more info on this exciting discovery for womankind, click

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-11/scientists-discover-self-cloning-all-female-lizard-species-vietnamese-restaurant

Akhand and Inspired

The Avatar says that bhajan is only kindergarten and that we have to move on. However, the first hour of the Akhanda Bhajan of 12th-13th Nov. might explain why bhajan is also the primary reason why people wish to remain in spiritual kindergarten. Mind-blowing might be a good word for it. They really pulled off a good one here, and kept it going till the hours really wore out the voices. The gents medley between 3-4 PM was worthy of a stand-alone session.

Incidentally, this might well be the last Akhanda bhajan for, probably the best singer of the Dubai Centre. And the singer proved once more why this label suits well. May the empowered voice find a sincere ear elsewhere that yearns for the ever Holy name.

Talking about Holy name, this Akhanda Bhajan seemed to be more of a genuine Krishna-fest than the Bhajan of Janmashtami past. With Hari's names being invoked by the singers around 5,184 times as per my MBA estimate (a guesstimate, nonetheless), this was a course on Krishna Consciousness.

Hail to the Hailers.

Reading Between the Lines - 33 - Ideology of Convenience

Christian Science Monitor, 10-11-2010: China puts Ai Weiwei, co-designer of the 'Bird's Nest' stadium, under house arrest

P's C: Ai Weiwei, one of China's best-known artists (and a vocal critic of the Chinese government) has been arrested for being an artist.

The Chinese government has now clearly defined that an artist's freedom of expression should only manifest in buildings and pictures of Hu Jintao. Shortly after his house arrest, Beijing police also arrested another couple for not aborting their second pregnancy.

In an unrelated development, the US has condemned the Communist dictatorship in Cuba for human rights abuses.

Reading Between the Lines - 32 - Insecurity about the Security Council

The Hindu - 10-11-2010: Pak criticises U.S. for backing India’s UNSC bid

P's C:

The Pakistan cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, has expressed “serious concern and strong disappointment' over Obama's backing of India for a permanent UNSC seat. With a distinguished legacy of providing a safe haven for international jihad and blowing up its own people on all working days, Pakistan is disappointed that India has been favoured, while the aspiring emerging world (terrorist) power has been overlooked.

Pakistan, with it's scintillating track record of electing one military after another and, of course, possessing a comprehensive international policy that chiefly consists of Kashmir, is deservedly upset that the world's largest democracy and one of the top ten economies is promoted in spite of its lack of any significance on the world stage.

Shortly after Gilani's statement, he rushed to offer PR solace to victims of yesterday's Sunni-Shia bloodbath, while hinting that this was the work of external agencies envious of Pakistan's amazing growth.

Festival of Lightness of Being

We have just celebrated Diwali, the Festival of Light, that dispels darkness. And what darkness would that be? The Darkness of ignorance.

Most vegetarians celebrate Diwali with sweet relish, in more than one sense. So, this must be the right time to bring on the topic of Varakh, which I myself have conveniently forgotten to remember.

Varakh is the silver foil used on sweets,- most of us know that. Some may not know that these sheets are made by hammering thin sheets of silver between booklets made of a bull's intestines. Therefore, you can be sure that the vegetarian sweet that you eat is bloody soiled physically, and is wholly sinful spiritually. I kind of knew this for a very long time, but chose to forget. There are overloads of sites which you can google for the actual process from guts to taste.

So, what better time to break a bad habit than yesterday? As of yesterday, I have quit Varakh laced sweets. Another small step forward spiritually and one more step backward societally. May Diwali be the occassion for you to light the lamp of conviction within, and dispel the darkness of ignorance, both circumstantial and convenient.

You are not what you don't eat.

Reading Between the Lines - 31 - Chidambaram and the Virtue of Impotency

The Hindu, 01-11-2010: Chidambaram on Arundhati: Not taking action is also an action

P's C: Chidambaram says that not filing a case for sedition was in accordance with the letter and spirit of law. More precisely, this seems to be accordance with the letter and spirit of the spineless. If not taking action is also an action, this Home Minister would have his autobiography written entirely in pause mode.

Wearing white makes you a wearer of white, not a white of heart or a clear of conscience, if there be any for those in politics. Chidambaram has proved yet again, that some politicians are better of firing with words than resorting to clear action that will define leadership.

Well known for doing nothing more than making interesting sentences, our Tamil Tiger, nay, pussy cat, is better of tending to Italiah homes than guarding the letter and spirit of the Indian conscience.

Being articulate, yet ineffectual, is giving a donkey a mike. Both serve no purpose.

Che

We celebrate the style because they applaud it too

Laugh in tragic synch with all else

And critique the abstract absurdities for social arts's sake

Never saluting the individual spirit that whistles a different note

While stifling the consciousness to permanent asphyxia.

The iconoclast among the lemming humanoids ran a solo marathon

But a marathon nevertheless,

Levelling stark peaks and valleys of self-interest

The revolutionary walked the spirit of love

Violent for the sake of virtue.

Only one in a million will lift a guitar,

To strum the rage against the machine,

Indifference at injustice is common,

Indignation less,

Action for the self-anointed few.

And in death, gain immortality

For, Che asks to kill only a man,

But indeed, it is killing a man,

Of whom,

Few walk the earth.

NB: Korda's photo of Che shown here is supposed to be the most reproduced photograph in history. Che's body died at the age of 39, and spirit lives from that day onwards.

Spirit of the Spirited

One of the most self-motivated, dynamic and capable guys from the Youth Wing is leaving Dubai soon, and thought I should share online what I shared with him:

It is the bold of spirit that prewrite history.

In the epic movie Cleopatra, Antony makes a statement to Octavian (Caeser's nephew) that goes something like this: When you die, you will realize that you died without ever having lived at all. History is embellished only with the chisel of defiance, and the hammer of counterculture. Intellectual, spiritual and cultural entropy form the watermark of civilization.

Alas, most of us exist watching life from the spectator's arena. It takes guts even to be foolish.