Hindi-English bhai bhai
The other day I posted a Hindi sentence with a poser it would be translated in English... A few responded, some here, some by e-mail and others by sms. All of them quoted a similar sentence...
Angrezi-hindi mei, "Darwaza bandh karo" kaise kahega…
"There was a black crow"
(Me: A particular lady added with a twist, in good measure: "aap ko sirf kholna aata hai"! Lolz!)
**
From the world of science…
We could one day get our electricity from plants…
Plants are the undisputed champions of solar power. For every photon of sunlight a plant captures, it produces an equal number of electrons. Converting even a fraction of that into electricity would improve on the efficiency seen in solar panels. "We have developed a way to interrupt photosynthesis so that we can capture the electrons before the plant uses them to make these sugars," said an assistant profession at the University of Georgia College of Engg.
**
Herbal medicines are often unsafe, says report.
Herbal supplements aimed at improving men's sexual abilities often contain the active ingredient in erectile dysfunction pills such as Viagra, report researchers in Journal of Sexual Medicines. Some of these over-the-counter herbal remedies contained more of the ingredient than is allowed. The products also had labeling problems, like expiration dates or lot numbers were missing or manufacturers could not be identified.
(Me: MNCs invest billions in research and field trials before they are approved by the Drug Administration and then marketed. And then when a few stray mishaps or side-effects are reported from patients – drug allergies aren't unheard of because every individual is different in some ways – our NGOs raise a huge ruckus and force the government ban those drugs. On the other hand, the formulae/ingredients for alternative therapy drugs have seldom been tested or tried out so rigorously and western researchers report they are harmful to health, none of our NGOs takes cognizance of them, worse, vested interests and the alternative therapy lobbies prevail upon the government to let the these manufacturers continue making them.)
**
What can I do to lower my risk of breast cancer?
Research has shown that a diet rich in omega-3 fats can stop the growth of breast cancer tumors by 30%. The study shows that eating fish regularly can actually prevent breast cancer. Omega-3's may also stop colon and prostate cancers.
(Me: Veggie votaries, plz.. note)
Muskmelon (the one with the yellow skin) is rich in vitamin C, an antioxidant that's vital for the growth and maintenance of body tissues.
**
Watermelon contains amino acids – citruline and arginine – which help overall cardiovascular function.
**
News of the day…
Nawaz Sharif set to become Pakistan's next PM.
(Me: Contrary to common belief, the earlier government lasted its full term and the next is to take over. Congrats to our neighbors!
In a recent interview to an Indian newspaper he had said, if elected to power he would try all those involved in the sea-born Mumbai attacks. Politicians usually give these kinds of politically-correct interviews for the thaaliayns from the local populace and also to chadao the newspapers' interviewers. However, his constituents being the electorate of his country, he – any other politician in his/her capacity – would be more keen to get applause from his own people. Citizens of ANY country aren't bad, and the blame should be placed on the way they are brought up via the geography and history textbooks that in the name of developing patriotism or nationalism, teach them only one side of the story, and seldom fair to the other.
While on the subject, an entirely different take… a world leader – I think it was Churchill – had once said democracy is the least bad of all governments e.g. monarchy, oligarchy, military dictatorship/junta, etc. One agrees: whereas in the other forms, only a handful of people take rake in a few thousand crores of rupees, in a parliamentary form of government, more so the coalition one with partner pulling in different directions, thousands of political leaders and politicians and babus (the administrative staff) right from the centre to state to local to panchayat share in the gigantic loot running into lakhs of crores with impunity cos. are all hand-in-gloves)
**
Q: How do you know you should not be driving because you have had too much to drink?
A: When you swerve to hit a tree and then realize that was only your car air freshener hanging from your rear view mirror.
**
A woman trying to find out from her smart phone apps: "Which burns more calories… digesting a cheeseburger or digesting a pizza?"
**
Weird world
Man flattens neighbour's home to settle petty score.
London: A logging contractor in the US, Barry S, took score-settling with neighbours to a new height when he got into his bulldozer and demolished two homes, flattened a pickup truck and snapped an electricity pole. Neighbours in Port Angeles, a small town of 19,000 people situated on the coast 80 miles northwest of Seattle, said that a long-running boundary dispute was behind the rampage.
**
Cops bust gang of matchmaking crooks who conned 15 families.
Arrest two women who passed as prospective bride's mother and matchmaker; 'bride' and other gang members absconding.
The Borivili (a Mumbai suburb) police have busted a gang that cons families of lakhs by posing as matchmakers. The police arrested two members of the gang, Kalpana P (42) and Asha P (45), who posed as matchmaker and the mother of the prospective bride, respectively. Jyoti P (22), who passed as the bride, is absconding. The gang is believed to have duped 14 families in Gujarat and one in Maharashtra of over Rs.50 lakhs using this modus operandi.
(Me: Shape of things to come… With Indian parents exceeding love for male progenies, the male-female ratio is already terribly skewed and getting worse by the day. If there are not enough nubile girls due to this, there would be a free-for-all among boys/boys' parents for the available ones…)
**
When one door closes, another door opens.
That's when you realize that you bought a really bad second-hand car!
**
Dos and Don'ts for online safety…
15 commandments to keep your internet identity safe from hackers..
- Never click on a link you did not expect to receive.
(Me: Many of us get e-mails, purportedly from known friends' ids, containing only a http link. These are all malwares and never ever click on them. Although I am always wary of such mails, only yesterday did I click on such a link – because it was from a very close friend - only to be warned by my anti-virus software that it's a malware).
- Use different passwords on different sites
- Never reuse your main email password.
(Me: Create a alpha-numerical-punctuation-spl.character pass that are pretty tough to crack and save them if you are using a single-user desktop)
- Use anti-virus software.
- (Me: don't be penny-pinching on this)
- Thick before you twee and how you share information.
- If you have a "wipe your phone" feature, you should set it up.
- - Only shop online on secure sites.
- - Don't assume banks will pay you back for your faux pas.
- Ignore pop-ups.
- - Be wary of public Wi-Fi.
- - Run more than one email account.
- - Macs are as vulnerable as PCs.
- Add a DNS service to protect other devices.
No comments:
Post a Comment