Puzzling Schizophrenia....

Schizophrenia is the most puzzling mental disorder. The word means 'split mind'. This is not the same as split personality or multiple personality. In schizophrenia there is a split between the different faculties of mind. The different faculties include our ability to think, feel emotions, act with purpose, perceive external realities, communicate with others etc. Psychiatrists divide the symptoms of schizophrenia into positive and negative symptoms. Positive symptoms include breaks in thinking and speech, delusions, hallucinations, excitement aggression etc. Delusions are false beliefs held by the patient without sufficient justification. Hallucinations are sensations experienced without adequate external stimuli e.g: hearing or seeing things which are not really present. Negative symptoms are more disabling as they reduce social interactions and the ability to work or enjoy life. These symptoms occur due to defects in cognition and information processing. 
 
A patient with schizophrenia lives in his private world, cut off from the rest of us, a hapless victim of strange fears, false beliefs and unreal perceptions, lacking motivation and drive to improve his lot. Studies have shown derangement in the functions of certain brain areas in them. Most notable is the excess amount of a neurotransmitter (a chemical used by one brain cell to communicate to other cells) called dopamine. Other neurotransmitters like serotonin, glutamate etc also show abnormalities. But what causes these abnormalities is not yet conclusively known.

Causes include biological, psychological and social factors. Biological factors include genetic, neurotransmitter abnormalities (mentioned earlier ) etc. What is inherited is not the disease, but a propensity to develop the disease. If genetics is the gun, several environmental factors act as the triggers. Family, twin and adoption studies have shown that risk to develop the disease increases as one is more close (genetically) to a patient. The risk in general population is 1%; this increases to 10 - 15% if one's parent or sibling has schizophrenia. If both parents have the disease, one's risk increases to 30 - 35 %. If one has an identical twin with the illness, the concordance is 40 to 45%. Apart from genetics, other biological risk factors include winter birth, difficult birth etc. It is well known that viral infections increase during winter. The higher prevalence among winter born suggests that a hitherto unidentified virus may be responsible. Delayed or prolonged labor can cause cause subtle brain damage which increases the risk in later life. These theories await further confirmation.

Psychological factors include certain personality dispositions which result in poor interpersonal and social relationships.Social disadvantages like living in poor or underprivileged social settings can increase the risk.
Treatment of schizophrenia include anti psychotic drugs, education of the patient and family regarding how to manage the patient at home and tasks to increase the patient's cognitive skills. It is very important that relatives do not criticise the patient for his oddities. They have to deal with him with empathy and understanding. Neither should they ignore him and leave him to perish in his unreal world. Vocational training and rehabilitation assumes more importance later when the positive symptoms are under control.

Over 150,000 Gmail users lose messages due to a glitch

A glitch has been reported in over 150,000 Gmail accounts that has led to affected users losing their messages, attachments and Google Chat logs. Google has started probing into the matter and investigations are on to find out the cause of the glitch.

In an update from the search giant, a bug was found responsible for the goof up that led to complete resetting of the user accounts. There was a welcome message heralding the users when they logged in to their accounts as if they had just made themselves a new account.

Google has warned the users through its App Status Dashboard, "Google Mail service has already been restored for some users, and we expect a resolution for all users in the near future. Please note this time frame is an estimate and may change."

According to Google, the glitch has affected about 0.08 percent of the Gmail user base. It added that the engineers are working for users to get their access and mails back. Google also send out a word to users saying the affected users cannot sign in to their accounts for the period which the engineers need to repair them. 

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY !!!!!!!

To know how to say what other people only think is what makes men poets and sages; and to dare to say what others only dare to think, makes men martyrs or reformers, or both. - Elizabeth Rundle Charles, writer (1828-1896)

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY !!!!!!!

It is with words as with sunbeams, the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn. -Robert Southey, poet (1774-1843)

JOKE OF THE DAY - Never Lie to your Wife

This man was sitting quietly reading his paper one morning, peacefully enjoying himself, when his wife sneaks up behind him and whacks him on the back of his head with a huge frying pan.

Man: "What was that for?"

Wife: "What was that piece of paper in your pants pocket with the name
Marylou written on it?"

Man: "Oh honey, remember two weeks ago when I went to the horse races?
Marylou was the name of one of the horses I bet on."

The wife looked all satisfied and goes off to work around the house.

Three days later he is once again sitting in his chair reading and she
repeats the frying pan swatting.

Man: "What the hell was that for this time?"

Wife: "Your horse called."

Top 5 Bollywood movies on Cricket

Cricket, "Naam hi kafi hai". For the film producers and the movie goers in India, the subject of Cricket is one of the major sources of fascination. The craze for the game and for Bollywood has always been a prized obsession for the Indians. Blending these two popular aspects of entertainment, a good number of Bollywood movies have been made. Most of the films have become great success and some of them have proved to be chart busters. Among all the Bollywood movies based on Cricket, we have picked up five that provided the Cricket loving audience of India a nice mixture of both the game and the Bollywood "masala".

Lagaan

Cricket plays a central role in the inspiring story of the film Lagaan, directed by Ashutosh Gowariker. The film, starred by Aamir Khan, was also nominated for the prestigious Oscar Awards. Lagaan was set in the Victorian period of the British Raj, and it tells about the resilience, spirit, inspiration and team work of the rustic villagers. With almost one hour of cricket match between Britishers and the villagers, the film was a big hit as it was able to strike the cord in people's mind.

Iqbal

Iqbal, directed by Nagesh Kukunoor, depicts the love and passion for Cricket. It's a story of a deaf and dumb boy from a remote Indian village, played by Shreyas Talpade, who fights all the odds to fulfil his dream, to play for the Indian National Cricket Team. Convincingly narrated and sensitively handled, Iqbal succeeds in touching the core of your heart a number of times in those two hours. The movie works, because you want the 18-year-old deaf and dumb village boy, to succeed in his endeavour. Nagesh Kukunoor's IQBAL not only looks at the sport, but also at the politics that come with it.

Patiala House

Patiala House is the most recent movie in this genre, in which Akshay Kumar has showed his bowling abilities. Yes, he has played the role of a young cricket loving British Indian whose passion for Cricket falls in conflict with his father's aspirations. Directed by Nikhil Advani, Patiala House is also a story about family ties and duty, a yearning to follow one's dreams, and trying to make sense of the dichotomies that life presents when one's family has migrated to another land.

Awwal Number

Another Aamir Khan movie on Cricket. Directed by a diehard Cricket fan Dev Anand, Awwal Number was probably one of the first few movies that pioneered the theme of sports based jealousy, passion, love and the spirit. The story revolves around cricket where a new star Sunny (Aamir Khan) has been included in the team in place of another famous star Ronny (Aditya Pancholi). All this creates hatred in heart of Ronny against Sunny though Sunny respects him. In short, Awwal Number' had all drama that attracted Bollywood filmmakers to make films on themes like this.

Dil Bole Hadippa

"A girl dresses up as a boy to play cricket for the village team. There's romance and songs on the way". Viewers were amazed to see Rani Mukherjee playing Cricket onscreen in disguise as a male player. The movie, directed by debutant Anuraag Singh, tries to capture the spirit of the game and the aspirations of a sportsperson. It is the story of an ordinary girl who aspires to play cricket for the national team and to fulfil her dream, how she pretends to be a man to join an all-male cricket team.

One-third HIV cases in age group 15-24: UNICEF report

Of the over 33 million HIV-AIDS cases reported worldwide every year, around one-third are adolescents of the age group 15-24 years, revealed a report by United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

The State of the World's Children (SOWC) report 2011 was released by UNICEF in the capital Friday.

According to UNICEF's annual flagship report on the adolescents (10-19 years) in the world, the risk of HIV infection is considerably higher among adolescent females and young women than their male counterparts of the same age group.

"There is lack of comprehensive and correct knowledge related to HIV. In developing countries, the problem is even more serious," said Karin Hulshof, representative of UNICEF India.

According to the UNAIDS, there are about 7,400 new infections diagnosed every day, with about 40 percent of those being in the 15-24 age group.

Only 30 percent males and 19 percent females have correct knowledge about the disease, the report said.

The report recommendations called for greater involvement and investment by the government as India shared nearly 20 percent of the adolescent population in the world.

"India is home to more than 243 million adolescents of the total 1.2 billion adolescents across the globe. We have to consider that this strata is the future of the country, especially when we call India a young nation," said Naveen Jindal, MP and convenor of parliamentary forum on children.

The ministry of women and child development (MWCD) also announced the success of its pilot programme SABLA -- Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls -- aimed at addressing the problems of adolescent girls between 11 and 18 years.

The central government had doled out nearly 1,000 crore for the central scheme that is being implemented through Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) projects and anganwadi centres.

"We plan to reach out over one crore girls in 200 identified districts after a baseline survey was conducted. Ministry will consider more such models if SABLA is successful," said D.K. Sikri, secretary, MWCD.

The report also said that with 81 million young people out of work globally in 2009, youth unemployment remains a concern in almost every country.

"In the year 2008, youth were nearly three times more likely to be unemployed in India," said a UNICEF official who was a part of the study.

More than seventy million adolescents of lower secondary age are currently out of school, and on a global level girls still lag behind boys in secondary school participation, the report mentioned. 

Over 5.5 Million tourists visited India in 2010

Over 5.5 million foreign tourists visited India in 2010, an increase of 8.1 percent over the previous year, parliament was told Friday.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahay said : "The foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in India during 2010 were 5.58 million as compared to FTAs of 5.17 million during 2009, showing a growth of 8.1 percent."

India is taking various steps to attract tourists from advertising in the country and abroad, to participating in travel fairs and road shows and offering incentives to inbound travellers, he added.

Domestic tourist visits in 2009 were 650 million as compared to 563 million in 2008, an increase of 15.5 percent, Sahay said.

India likely to be world's largest economy by 2050

In view of its continuing robust growth, India is expected to be the world's largest economy by 2050, surpassing China and the U.S., a Citi report said.

"China should overtake the US to become the largest economy in the world by 2020, then be overtaken by India by 2050," financial services group Citi said the report.

The estimates are based on purchasing power parity (PPP), an economic growth indicator that takes into account the purchasing power of each country's currency, instead of the prevailing exchange rate conversion.

Indian economy is expected to be nearly $85.97 trillion on PPP basis by 2050 from $3.92 trillion in 2010, Citi said.

Going by the report, India would surpass the U.S. -- currently the world's largest economy -- to become the second largest by 2040. 

Mumbai is world's 6th most expensive city for office space

Mumbai slipped by one place to sixth in the list of the world's most expensive office locations in 2011, according to global realty consultant Cushman & Wakefield.

The 2011 list was topped by Hong Kong, while London and Tokyo came second and third in the rankings, which valued Mumbai's office occupancy cost at USD $per square foot a year. India's financial capital occupied the fifth position in 2010, Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) said.

"Apart from being overtaken by Rio de Janeiro, Mumbai CBD (Central Business District) lost one position on the global ranking also because of the fact that it has not seen any change in the rental values over the previous year," the consultant said.

As per C&W's estimates, the Brazilian city moved up to fifth position from 13th in 2010 as rental values rose very sharply. 

India targets to double exports to $450 Billion by 2014

India's exports will almost double to $450 billion by 2014 on the back of increased demands of Indian engineering, chemicals, jems and jewellery, and leather products, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said Wednesday.

"Our total export is expected to reach $225 billion in the current fiscal and it will touch $450 billion by 2014," said Sharma, while releasing the draft strategy paper for doubling exports here.

He said exports of engineering products would triple to $120 billion by 2015.

"Engineering sector has done considerably well and now it needs to move up the value addition chain for high precision engineering, both for domestic production and exports," the commerce and industry minister said.

"On the whole, by 2014 we would like to see doubling of our exports in textiles, tripling of our exports in gems and jewellery and engineering, tripling of exports in electronics goods, doubling our agri-exports and tripling our leather sector exports," Sharma added.

The commerce and industry ministry Wednesday released draft strategy paper for doubling exports.

"We are uploading the draft strategy paper on the website to invite comments and suggestions from all stakeholders. The paper represents work in progress and is a first draft," the minister said. 

Number of women techies buying pepper sprays on a rise

The number of employees buying and keeping pepper sprays in Kerala to protect themselves from any attack by anti-socials during late office hours, is on a rise in the state.

A campaign to promote the use of pepper spray has been launched in Kerala's IT-hub Technopark here in the wake of widespread concern caused by the rape and death of a 23-year-old working woman on a train near Shornur earlier this month.

 

The spray, which comes in aerosol container, can spew out chilly liquid to a distance of five to seven feet, technopark employees said.

The pepper spray is being distributed in the IT campus as part of an awareness campaign initiated by Technopark employees's community website, 'Technopark Today', jointly with security firm Rampart.

S Suryajith, a Technopark employee and a prime-mover of the campaign, said recent attack and death of the woman passenger in train had prompted them to think about this self-defence mechanism.

"We have already got around 150 orders on the first day itself. We make door-to-door delivery within the technopark campus and distribute the spray via online trading for outsiders," Suryajith said.

"If that victim had a self-defence tool like pepper spray with her, she could have thwarted the attack by the man. Such shocking situation may happen to any girl anywhere these days," Suryajith told PTI.

Many employees in Technopark have to travel even during night and wee hours to meet their duty schedules. As the campus is located 10 kms from the city, they have to often commute by taxis or autorickswas to reach home. But, many feel the night travel is not always safe, especially for women.

"In such situations, an easy-to-handle self-defence device like pepper spray will give them courage to travel alone and to attend the work. Though we have begun the campaign solely for technopark employees, we are now getting calls even from outside Kerala requesting pepper spray," he said.

Oleoresin Capsaicin is the main ingredient in pepper sprays. The liquid is 20 times stronger than the normal chilly powder.

"As the spray container is smaller than the normal perfume bottle, it is easy to carry and keep in pockets, belt pouches or hand bags," said software professional Susmitha.

As part of the campaign, the website is running security awareness classes also for techies on how to handle the spray container if a situation called for using it.

Cricket Power, the official video game of ICC Cricket World Cup 2011

Cricket Power, the official video game of ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 is now available to audiences worldwide, just in time for the ICC World Cup season. The game is published by Karkadann Game. The game is also made available on CD especially for the Indian consumers.

Cricket Power is a browser based simulation game developed around the tenth edition of the tournament, featuring all real-life teams and favourite players participating in the ICC Cricket World Cup 201. The game includes an offline single player, online tournament mode, statistics tracking, challenging opponents and a myriad of other features that create a compelling and authentic gameplay experience, instantly transforming gamers from couch potatoes into heroes with the swing of a bat!

"We are all huge fans of gaming and cricket. With Cricket Power we leveraged our resources to deliver the best cricket playing experience possible online: a game that captures the unique elements of the sport itself - its physicality, technicality and skill, while creating an entertaining and immersive experience for gamers and cricket fans all over the world”, said of David Ortiz, General Manager of Karkadann Games.
“Securing this license to produce the online game based on the pinnacle event in the world of cricket is a strategic step in our positioning,” commented Ortiz. “We are also pleased with the partnership with Mindstorm, the Pakistan-based studio we chose to develop the game”, concluded Ortiz.

199 govt websites defaced in last 6 months

The government today said 199 government websites have been defaced by foreign hackers in the last six months.

"The website of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was defaced by a foreign hacker "Pakistan Cyber Army" on December 3, 2010. In addition to this, a total of 198 government websites were defaced by foreign hackers in the past six months," Minister of State for Communications and IT Gurudas Kamat said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.



He added that several measures have been taken to detect and prevent cyber attacks .

This includes audit of all new government websites and applications and engaging National Informatics Centre (NIC) to improve safety posture etc.

Replying to another query, Kamat said a total of 420 cases were registered under the IT Act 2000 in 2009.  

Top 5 silly reasons employees give to resign

'I was working for my parents until they decided to move'; 'I am moving because my girlfriend left the city'; 'I am staying very far from the workplace' are few of the silly reasons that make your manager laugh at your silliness rather than being concerned.

However, when it comes to India the reasons seem to differ a bit. Owing to the difference in the culture and lifestyle, employees here rely more on the reasons dealing with home or family matters. To find the top silly reasons which are used most often by employees in India, we got in touch with managers of various companies. When asked, managers came up with several reasons which they have found silly and inappropriate.

Here is the list of the top five reasons based on the extent of their silliness:

1.Getting married:

Female employees leaving their job so as to adjust to new set up or shift to their husbands' place might convince a manager. But male employees resigning just because they are getting married can not. It is the silliest of all the resaons. Speaking from her experiences, Fathima Kauser, Business Development Manager, Impressions Ark said, "As a manager, out of all the reasons I have come across, men leaving because of marriage is the most silly and fake."

2.Adjusting to Environment :

Employee leaving their job because of his/her inability to adjust to the environmental conditions is also quite funny for many employers. Managers have agreed that various employees while seeking their approval for resignation have used this reason. The reason is not only impractical but obviously fails to convince managers too.

3.Professional Line:

Not interested in the work they are doing, changing the line; this is after working for years in the same line are also some of the most commonly used reasons. Sridhar Kudamala, Project Manager, Mindtree, said "People would say that they are more interested to work on Implementation projects rather working on Maintenance projects." However, the ground reality is that there are not many projects(less than 10%) in Implementation category across the industry, whereas most of them (90%) are Maintenance projects, he added.

4.To Support Father:

'Going back to home town to support father's businesses' is the second reason Fathima Kauser of Impressions Ark has come across most often. Employees leaving their years old job and putting their entire career like at stake just to support their fathers' 'businesses', which is definitely not amongst the Birlas or Tatas is silly as well as unpersuasive.

5.Parents' Health:

Citing health problems along with health issues of the family members especially parents for leaving the job also seems to quite famous among employees. With the extent to which this reason has been used has led managers to not believe in this. Though there can be some true instances too. Employers find this silly as parents can always shift to the employees' city rather than he/she leaving only because they are 'ill'.

Is there any other reason which can beat these five in their level of silliness? If yes, do comment friends. 

MEN vs WOMEN

PROCESS: 

Women - Multiple process

Women's brain is designed to concentrate multiple tasks at a time. Women can Watch a TV and Talk over phone and cook the new recipe.

 

Men - Single Process

Men's brain designed to concentrate only one work at a time. Men cannot watch a TV and talk over the phone at the same time. He stops the TV while Talking. He can either watch TV or talk over the phone or cook.

LANGUAGE:

Women can easily learn many languages. Her brain sets up. But cannot find the solutions to problems.

Men cannot easily learn languages; he can easily solve the problems. A 3 year old gal has three times higher vocabulary than a 3 year old boy.

ANALYTICAL SKILL:

Men's brain has lot of space for handling the analytical process. So easily he can analyze and find the solution for a process. He can design (blue print) a map of a building easily.

If a complex map is viewed by women, she cannot understand it. She cannot understand the details of the map easily. For her it is dump of lines in a paper.

CAR DRIVING:

While driving a car, men's analytical spaces are used in his brain. He can drive a car fast. If he see an object at long distance, immediately his brain classifies the object's (bus or van or car) direction and speed of the object and drive accordingly. 

Whereas women take a long  time to recognize the object direction/ speed. His single process mind stops the audio in the car (if any), then concentrating only on the driving. You can often watch, while men driving the car fast, the women sit next to him will shout, "GO SLOW" , "CARE FULL", "AAHHH", "OHH GOD.." ..etc..

LIE:

Many times, when men lie to women face to face, they get caught easily. Her super natural brain observes the facial expression 70%, and the body language 20% and the words coming from the mouth 10%. So he is easily caught while lying. Men's brain does not have this.

  

Women easily lie to men face to face.  So guys, While lying to your girls, use phone, or letter or close all the lights or cover your/her face with blanket..

PROBLEM:

End of day, if men have lot of problems, his brain clearly classifies the problems and puts the problems in individual rooms in the brain and then finds the solution one by one.You can see many guys looking at the sky for a long time. If you disturb him, he gets irritated.

End of Day, if women have lot of problems, her brain cannot classify the problems. she wants someone to hear that. After telling everything to a person she goes happily to bed. She does not worry about the problem being solved or not.

WANTS:

Men want STATUS, SUCCESS, solutions, big process... etc

Women want RELATIONSHIP, friends, family...etc...

UNHAPPY:

If women are unhappy with their relations, they cannot concentrate on work.

If men are unhappy with their work, they cannot concentrate on the relations..

MAP:

Men can easily locate the place in a complex map. His analytical brain does this. While watching a cricket match in a stadium with full of crowd, men can leave his seat to tea shop and keeps everything in his mind and comes back to his seat without problems. He uses his analytical skills space of brain.

Women can't do this. They often lose their way to their seat.

LIFE:

Life is very easy to Men. One good job,(One alcohol bottle is enough for them - Optional)

Women want everything in life.

SPEECH:

Women use indirect languages in speech.

Merlin asked Sam, "Sam do you like to have a cup of coffee?"

This means, Merlin wants a cup of coffee.

Men use direct language. "Merlin, I want to have a cup of coffee, Pls stop the car when you see a coffee shop".

HANDLING EMOTION:

Women talk a lot without thinking.

Men act a lot without thinking. That's why many of prisoners are men all over the world.

Saudi 2011 budget biggest ever

Saudi Arabia has released details of its largest national budget ever, with plans to spend $154 billion in 2011 and invest $100 billion in education and infrastructure.

Saudi Arabia generated a gross domestic product (GDP) of $435bn in 2010, 16% higher than in 2009 which officials attributed to a 25% growth in the oil sector.

The budget for 2011 is $11 billion more than was allocated in 2010 and will see the construction of 610 new schools (in addition to the 3200 currently under construction and the 600 schools completed in 2010) and the rehabilitation of 2000 existing schools.

The budget includes $18.3bn for the construction of sports clubs, social centres and 12 new hospitals, adding to the 120 hospitals that are under construction at present.

KSA is also spending $6. 5billion on roads totalling 6600km (30,200km already under construction), while an additional $6.7 billion will be spend on building four new airports, developing the nation’s port services and rebuilding King Abdulaziz Inernational Airport in Jeddah.

The budget also allocates $13.5 billion for water projects, dams, sewage networks and other projects. The fund will cover the new water dealination and power plants at the industrial cities of Jubail, Yanbu, and Ras Azur.

In presenting the budget, Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf, said the focus had been to focus on balanced development and more employment opportunities and job creation. The budget, he said, attaches a particular importance to projects related to research and development (R&D) as well as science and technology projects for the e-government.

Wipro to give Rs.7 cr each to Paranjpe, Vaswani

Indian IT giant Wipro has reportedly offered severance pay of Rs. 7 crore each to joint CEOs Girish Paranjpe and Suresh Vaswani, who had an unceremonious exit from the company last month.

Citing a letter sent to the investors, DNA newspaper reported that they will be given December remuneration and stock-based compensation they are entitled to as directors.

“Board of director of the company accepted the resignation of Girish Paranjpe and Suresh Vaswani joint CEOs (IT business) and directors as a board member with effect from January 31 and agreed to pay a severance pay of Rs. 7 crore, subject to application deductions, in addition to December remuneration and stock-based compensation that the director is entitled to till January 31,” the report quoted a Wipro note to shareholders as saying. 

Though Wipro Technologies claimed that Girish Paranjape and Suresh Vaswani left the organization citing personal reasons, there were rumours that they were asked to leave the company. The announcement was made after the financial results for Q3 were announced in the third week of January 2011.

And the rumours assume greater significance when we read it along with the recent appointment of Rishad Hasham Premji, the eldest son of chairman Azim Premji, as chief strategy officer of the company’s infotech business, which sort of crystallized the company's succession plan.

While announcing the name of T K Kurien, who was earlier the chief executive of the company's eco-energy division, as the new head of the IT division of the company, Wipro had said that “there is a change in environment, there is a need for a simpler organization structure”. 

According to a Wipro watchdog, who has been indirectly connected with a lot of executives in the company, “T K Kurien has been a close affiliate of Azim Premji (closer than the two CEOs) and taking him above the corporate hierarchy as the CEO was expected to come some day.

Cell phone calls alter brain activity

Spending 50 minutes with a cell phone plastered to your ear is enough to change brain cell activity in the part of the brain closest to the antenna.

But whether that causes any harm is not clear, scientists at the National Institutes of Health said on Tuesday, adding that the study will likely not settle recurring concerns of a link between cell phones and brain cancer.

"What we showed is glucose metabolism (a sign of brain activity) increases in the brain in people who were exposed to a cell phone in the area closet to the antenna," said Dr. Nora Volkow of the NIH, whose study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study was meant to examine how the brain reacts to electromagnetic fields caused by wireless phone signals.

Volkow said she was surprised that the weak electromagnetic radiation from cell phones could affect brain activity, but she said the findings do not shed any light on whether cell phones cause cancer.

"This study does not in any way indicate that. What the study does is to show the human brain is sensitive to electromagnetic radiation from cell phone exposures."

Use of the devices has increased dramatically since they were introduced in the early-to-mid 1980s, with about 5 billion mobile phones now in use worldwide.

Some studies have linked cell phone exposure to an increased risk of brain cancers, but a large study by the World Health Organization was inconclusive.

Volkow's team studied 47 people who had brain scans while a cell phone was turned on for 50 minutes and another while the phone was turned off.

While there was no overall change in brain metabolism, they found a 7 per cent increase in brain metabolism in the region closest to the cell phone antenna when the phone was on.

Experts said the results were intriguing, but urged that they be interpreted with caution.

"Although the biological significance, if any, of increased glucose metabolism from acute cell phone exposure is unknown, the results warrant further investigation," Henry Lai of the University of Washington, Seattle, and Dr. Lennart Hardell of University Hospital in Orebro, Sweden, wrote in a commentary in JAMA.

"Much has to be done to further investigate and understand these effects," they wrote.

Professor Patrick Haggard of University College London said the results were interesting since the study suggests a direct effect of cell phone signals on brain function.

But he said much larger fluctuations in brain metabolic rate can occur naturally, such as when a person is thinking.

"If further studies confirm that mobile phone signals do have direct effects on brain metabolism, then it will be important to investigate whether such effects have implications for health," he said.

Volkow said the findings suggest the need for more study to see if cell phones have a negative effect on brain cells.

Meanwhile, Volkow isn't taking any chances. She now uses an ear phone instead of placing a cell phone next to her ear.

"I don't say there is any risk, but in case there is, why not?"

The world’s biggest family: The man with 39 wives, 94 children and 33 grandchildren

The world’s biggest family: The man with 39 wives, 94 children and 33 grandchildren

Ziona Chana lives with all of them in a 100-room mansion. His wives take it in turns to share his bed. It takes 30 whole chickens just to make dinner. He is head of the world’s biggest family – and says he is ‘blessed’  to have his 39 wives.

They live in a 100-room, four storey house set amidst the hills of Baktwang village in the Indian state of Mizoram, where the wives sleep in giant communal dormitories.

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You treat this place like a hotel: With 100 rooms the Ziona mansion is the biggest concrete structure in the hilly village of Baktawng.

The family is organised with almost military discipline, with the oldest wife Zathiangi organising her fellow partners to perform household chores such as cleaning, washing and preparing meals.

One evening meal can see them pluck 30 chickens, peel 132lb of potatoes and boil up to 220lb of rice.

—————————————————————-

He even married ten women in one year, when he was at his most prolific, and enjoys his own double bed while his wives have to make do with communal dormitories.

He keeps the youngest women near to his bedroom with the older members of the family sleeping further away – and there is a rotation system for who visits Mr Chana’s bedroom.

The wives and I: Mr Ziona Chana poses with his 39 wives at their home in Baktawang, Mizoram, India

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Shared bedroom: A look inside the four-storey mansion, Chhuanthar Run – The House of the New Generation

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY !!!!!!!

Mere parsimony is not economy. Expense, and great expense, may be an essential part in true economy. -Edmund Burke, statesman and writer (1729-1797)

Apple's iPad2 launch delayed to June

The launch of Apple Inc's iPad2 tablet will be delayed to June from April as maker Hon Hai faces production bottlenecks due to the device's new design, Taiwanese brokerage Yuanta Securities said in a note.

Component makers had to change their production processes after Apple made design changes to the iPad2 before the Lunar New Year at the beginning of February.

"Our checks suggest new issues are being encountered with the new production process and it is taking time to resolve them," Yuanta's head of downstream tech equities, Vincent Chen, wrote in the note on Tuesday.

Hon Hai declined to comment on the note. Apple was not immediately available for comment.

The note said that if the launch of the iPad2 is delayed by two months, total iPad shipments would be 23 million units this year, down from the broker's original forecast of 30.6 million units.

Manufacturing sources have previously said the new model would have cameras on the front and and back of the device and would be slimmer, lighter and have a better resolution display than the first iPad.

11-yr-old chess prodigy Ivana gets FIDE WFM rating

Two-time world under-8 chess champion Ivana Furtado secured her Woman FIDE Master (WFM) title after winning a silver medal in under-12 girls category at World Youth Chess championship in Greece recently.

The 11-year-old chess prodigy from Goa had earlier became the Women Candidate Master (WCM). 

Ivana's current FIDE rating is 2001 and her rank in the U-12 girls as per the latest FIDE rating list is first in National, first in Asian and fourth in World, a press release by the Chess Association of Goa, said.

Top 5 Windows Phone 7 based smartphones

Microsoft launched its new mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7 (WP7), after the not so successful Windows Mobile platform, in late 2010. The mobile platform was met with mixed reactions initially, but the fever of WP7 is slowly catching on. More companies are now announcing handsets based on the WP7.

Recently, mobile making giant Nokia chose the WP7 platform over Google's Android as its primary smartphone operating system. This partnership has further strengthened WP7's growing popularity. The deal will also allow WP7 to enter new markets where Nokia already rules the roost.

Although the markets are not exactly buzzing with WP7 phones at the moment, but the crystal ball surely does not deny such a scenario in the future. The present league of WP7 phones have created quite a stir already, and the prospects look to be handsome for this mobile platform. Android, iOS better watch out, for this baby is taking huge steps toward the No.1 spot and could well manage to reach it.

Keeping in mind the soaring recognition that WP7 is gaining, we bring to you the Top 5 Windows Phone 7 based smartphones (of this only three are available in India today, we hope the rest two will be announced soon).

1. HTC HD7

HTC was one of the first companies to announce a slew of phones running on WP7, after the platform was released by Microsoft, and was the first company to bring a WP7 phone in India. The HTC HD7 was the first WP7 smartphone launched in India. It has the largest screen of all the HTC smartphones running on WP7. HTC HD7 has a 4.3 inch S-LCD capacitive touchscreen display and a 5MP camera coupled with auto focus and dual LED flash. The device supports high definition video recording and playback. Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 1GHz processor, the phone comes with an internal memory of 16GB and 576MB RAM. Connectivity options include 3G (HSDPA, HSUPA), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB and GPS.
India Price: 28,499 

2. Dell Venue Pro

Dell launched its first WP7 based smartphone in India, the Venue Pro, in the beginning of this month. The device sports a 4.1 inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with WVGA resolution. The screen is also made fall-resistant by the addition of the Gorilla display, which can also be found in Dell Streak tablet. The Venue Pro has a vertical slider QWERTY form factor. The phone is one of the few WP7 handsets that come with QWERTY keypad along with LG Optimus 7Q and HTC 7 Pro. It comes with a 5MP camera with autofocus and LED flash. The handset is powered by a 1GHz Snapdragon processor with Adreno 200 GPU, 1GB flash ROM and 512MB DDR RAM. It comes with 16GB of internal storage with no memory card slot for memory expansion. Features of connectivity on this phone are Wi-Fi, 3G (HSDPA + HSUPA), GPS and microUSB support.

India Price: 34,990

3. HTC 7 Mozart

HTC released two WP7 phones in India in quick succession. First the HD7 followed by the HTC 7 Mozart. The Mozart features a 3.7-inch S-LCD capacitive touchscreen with 480x800 pixel resolution. Sporting an 8MP camera with autofocus and Xenon flash capabilities, the Mozart can record videos at 720p. The connectivity options of the phone include Wi-Fi, 3G and GPS support and it is powered by a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. It ships with 8GB of internal support (with no support for memory cards) and 576MB RAM.
India Price: 26,490
4. LG Optimus 7

The Optimus 7 is the first WP7 smartphone from the LG stable. It has a 3.8 inch WVGA capacitive touchscreen with 800X480 pixel resolution. The Optimus 7 sports a 5MP camera with LED flash and can record HD video at 720p. Powered by a 1 GHz QSD8650 Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, the phone ships with 16GB internal memory. Other features of the phone include a digital compass, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor and an accelerometer.

India Price: Not available yet

5. Samsung Omnia 7

The first Samsung phone running on WP7, the Omnia 7 sports a 4-inch super AMOLED display screen with WVGA resolution. It has a 5MP camera with LED flash, capable of recording videos at 720p. It has a dedicated camera key. Powered by 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, the phone ships with 8GB of internal memory. Connectivity features in the phone comprise of Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS.
India Price: Not available yet  

Are you ready to quit your job while your boss is smiling?

Do you want to quit your job? Are you afraid that your resignation will be declined? Are you afraid that you will lose your friends at job and some of the people you really had thought as your mentor?

Resigning from your job sometime seems easy for some people but at the same time resigning without offending boss is not as easy as you think. Though we don't like our job and want to quit, it is very difficult to resign tactfully without offending the boss. Your present boss who has given some responsibilities will feel disappointed or rather offended with the decision of quitting the company . When an employee quits, there are many problems or rather losses that the company incurs. For example financial loss, training a new guy will incur time loss and instability (for whatever time frame that new guy will need to actually fill that space). This eventually, and to be more apt, brings frustration within the boss. Whatever the causes are, we should make it clear that when we are leaving we should leave on good terms because we never know when we will need that employer in future or his reference.

So here are certain tips on how to quit job without offending the boss:

Give sensible reason:

"I want to quit the job because my wife does not like the weather of this city" said an employee to his employer. So what will be the reaction of your boss when somebody tells the same thing and leaves the job? The boss will feel angry or rather disgusted. Whenever we quit job, it is very important to give a logical and sensible reason to our boss. The boss should feel that your reason for quitting the job is sensible enough and in that way you might get a "Best of luck" from your boss also!

Train your juniors:

While serving your resignation period or your notice period, you can actually train your juniors whom you think can take over the job responsibility after you. This will not only bring confidence in your juniors but also your boss will have choices before he decides the person who can replace you.

Find your replacement:

It sounds very difficult to find your own replacement, but believe me; it will be very helpful for your boss to relieve you if he finds a person before thinking who's next! It will also show that you are responsible and committed to the company and to your boss. After all, whatever the reasons are, he was the person who had hired you!

Avoid abrupt resignation:

Serve your notice period! This may sound very lengthy however this is a term that now most of the companies have made compulsory. Buying your notice period is something you can discuss however put across the same to your boss politely as this may sound rude.

Complete your task or project:

It is very important that you finish your job or task before you finally say adieu to your employer as the next person who will replace might find himself/herself in a soup when he joins the post. This will not only affect the future transactions but also will decide your relationship status with your previous company or boss.


Amar Paul, a senior analyst of OPI, believes that he would think some points before he quit the job, managing relationship is one of the most important qualities of any professional, and moreover many of the companies give more weightage to the recommendations from the ex boss, so it's very important to maintain a good relationship with boss after you quit the job.


So are you ready to quit your job while your boss is smiling?

Why a Stone is Better than an iPhone?

Life in the Metro: A networking site to find love

Here's good news for Delhi Metro users. If you are bored of commuting alone and eager to find a match or make friends, there is a social networking site just for you.

The brainchild of 24-year-old management student Sameer Suri, the portal www.metromates.in is fast becoming popular among young Metro commuters.

"I was inspired by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. When I decided to create a portal, I wanted it to be unique and the very thought struck me when I was travelling in the Metro," Suri, a student of the New Delhi Management Institute, told IANS.

Suri said the idea of creating an exclusive portal for Metro commuters came to his mind during his usual one-hour travel from Janakpuri to Saket on the Metro, characterised by stiff, poker-faced fellow commuters and a fleeting realisation of the loneliness and isolation of urban life.

The portal was launched in January and in less than two months, around 1,200 people have registered and 8,000 people liked the community on Facebook.

"It's not just one among the many networking portals available on the net. It has its own set of users like Metro commuters. While signing up on the portal, we seek specific details like the route taken by a person and the time usually a person boards and alights," he said.

The portal also asks for details such as your sexual orientation, personality traits, height and waist size, and whether you're signing up for dating or friendship.

"Now, getting friends or a partner to date is easier for Metro commuters," Suri smiled.

"After a person signs up, he or she is given a unique bluetooth code. While travelling, you'll have to turn on your bluetooth device, and set a phone name to metromates.in/yourusername. After you do that, other metromates users will be visible on your (GPRS-enabled) phone," he said.

Besides these, one can also view other profiles, note down their profile names and type 'metromates.in/(the other persons profile name)' in the browser to connect with them and exchange bluetooth messages.

For easy identification, the portal asks its users to travel in the last compartments.

As many as 493 members have already registered on the Jahangir Puri-Huda City Centre route, which mainly carries college students. The Dwarka sector 21-Noida City Centre line has 444 members.

As many as 116 members have registered on the Dilshad Garden-Rithala route, 102 members on the Central Secretariat-Badarpur route and 47 on the Inderlok-Mundka route.

Most of the users are between 20 and 30 years and a majority prefer dating to making friends.

"Metromates has got me new friends. Usually, I really get bored as I travel from Malviya Nagar to Noida City Centre. Now I have got three friends. If more members use the portal, it will be more fun," said Avinash Sen, a hotel management student, who has been using the service since Feb 12.

And what next?

Suri said metromates would soon arrange a get- together for all its users.

According to the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IMAI), there are nearly 52 million internet users in India. Mobile internet users currently number around 10 million and most of them use it for social networking.
And how many of them are looking for love?

Statistics are not available on that yet, but as Suri and his fellow travellers will tell you, there are quite a few!

Fake Sonia, PM tweet from cyberspace

Even as the political turbulence caused by allegations of corruption ranging from 2G to S-Band to Adarsh to Swiss Bank accounts has rocked the power corridors, pranksters are making the hay by putting up fake profiles of the Indian leaders including Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.

“JPC might include ISRO and Adarsh Scams. Congress has nothing to hide because what's hidden will never be found,” says one tweet in the name of Sonia Gandhi. Obviously, this and many such postings are fake.

There are several such postings one can find from sham accounts of politicians and top celebrities on popular social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, says a PTI report. 

Since many political leaders have social media, which has become the order of the days, it is difficult to distinguish between which is original or which is fake. And naturally this has become a headache for some top leaders.

Similarly, a tweet from an account named after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says, "Madam ji, left can never be right ji. Purulia can never be Rae Barreily ji."

Other fake accounts include that of Rahul Gandhi too, in whose name there are several Twitter accounts, which have his picture and tweets about his past programmes and visits. A hyper-active youth icon, Rahul is a sensation for the youth and the fraudsters are making use of that celebrity status.

A few months back, there was a rumour about Wipro chairman Azim Premji joining the Twitter bandwagon. However, soon it was found out that it was a fake one, following which Wipro even issued a clarification and said that it was planning to take corrective actions to rectify it. 

And, quite recently, Facebook had suspended the account of a woman who shares her name with Prince William's future bride, Kate Middleton, accusing her of being an impostor. Facebook had locked out healthcare assistant Kate Middleton's social network website claiming that she had registered under a fake name.

So, when originals are ousted for being namesakes, fakes are going scot-free it seems. Maybe this is the order of the cyber space.

Give equal tax treatment to overseas Indians

Seeking equal treatment in investment and taxation between overseas and resident Indians, diversified conglomerate Hinduja Group today said amnesty must be given to bring back black money from foreign soil to India.

In a pre-budget memorandum to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Hinduja Group Chairman S P Hinduja said, "Overseas Indian investment and taxation (must) be at par with resident Indians in all respects."

Hinduja, who is also Chairman of IndusInd International Federation, said NRIs having their wealth in Overseas Corporate Bodies (OCB) should be allowed to invest in India.

"By lifting the ban on OCBs and simplifying the procedures for individual NRI investment, the market will be widened with more players," he said.

Top 5 Blackberry Applications

Top free apps-

BlackberryMessenger (BBM)

When you own a Blackberry, you ought to have the Blackberry Messenger. Once you activate your Blackberry plan, with the messenger, you and your Blackberry bretheren can be in touch simply by sharing the BB Pin or unique barcode. Images, videos and chatting with your Blackberry buddy becomes much easier.

Drivesafely

The primary reson for having a Blackberry is the connectivity it offers. But, what happens to safety when connectivity becomes more important.  The BB application, Drivesafely manages that aspect of safety by reading out the messages and e-mails received while driving. The app is easy to operate and ensures your safety while traveling as well. 

Dictionary and Thesaurus - Dictionary.com

Got stuck at some difficult word and need a quick response to it? This fee app from Dictionary.com features more than 325,000 words and definitions and more than 275,000 synonyms and antonyms. It also offers you word of the day, spelling suggestions and phonetic and audio pronunciations.

Snaptu

Snaptu brings you most of the social networking applications like Facebook, Twitter, and numerous other things like weather information, news, and RSS feeds at one place. Easy instalation and user interface makes it one of the top choices in the mobility sector.

NDTV

Stay updated with all the current happenings in the country with the NDTV Blackberry app. Watch the daily video updates, news stories and photo gallaries. The app also allows you to become a citizen journalist with iWitness, where you can record and send videos and photos from your mobile to NDTV directly.

Top paid apps-

One Touch Flashlight (US$ 0.99 USD)

A feature that most simple mobile phones have in terms of a separate feature, cn simply be achieved in a Blackberry with this paid applicaton. At $0.99, the application allows one touch on/off, uses less power and the already present LED flash light to light up when needed.

MemoryBooster - RAM Optimizer (US$4.99 USD)

Memory Booster manages the memory of the Blackberry device while applications are running. It helps the device to run better and a lot faster.

App Lock (US$0.99 USD)

With this locking application, the Blackberry user can be assured of their data's safety. One can lock messages, third party apps., BBM and even the folders on the SD card from unauthorised access.

BeBuzz (US$5.99 USD)

The simple app that makes life on a Blackberry even more interesting. It is a LED colour customiser with which one can simply customise LED colour for alerts on SMS, calls, e-mails or even to many third party application alerts as well. It also features an audible reminder or vibrate while ringing for the ones who are very forgetful.

Mobile checkbook (US$4.99 USD)

With the mobile checkbook, you will no longer need to sit in front of the computer to manage all yor bannking transactions. You can easily maintain your account detail on the move with details like recording transactions as they happen, checking your account balance any time and this can be done for numerous accounts.

ViewSonic ViewPad 10 tablet review

Vendor Estimated Price 38,000/-

Whats Hot - Dual boot - multimedia - battery - connectivity Whats Not - Price - heavy

There are a lot of tablets that have been launched in India within the past few months and more are on the verge of being launched. Most tablet manufacturers have chosen to go with Android as the operating system, whereas few others have chosen Windows 7. However, ViewSonic comes with a tablet that dual boots both operating system, that almost provides the user best of both sides.

Looks & Ergonomics
The ViewPad 10 is not the slimmest or the sexiest tablet out there, but its got a vibrant 10.1” display. There are three touch sensitive buttons on the matte finish bezel that extends below the glossy bezel and perform different functions under the two OS. There is a 1.3MP front camera present as well. The tablet has two full size USB2.0 port, mini VGA port, microSD card slot and 3.5mm audio jack and microphone on the side.  The back has a brushed metal finish with the ViewSonic logo printed in the centre with speakers and heat vent at corners.
The tablet weighs just under 1kg and was easy to use with two hands. Using the tablet in vertical as well as horizontal position did not pose any problem. The brushed metal back and the matte finish bezel provide excellent grip.

Display
The tablet has a 10.1” capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels. We loved the touch response on the tablet and multi-touch worked superbly across windows and android. Of course, like every other tablet out there, the large display is a fingerprint magnet and requires cleaning every now and then.

Hardware & Software
The ViewPad 10 is powered by an Intel Atom processor running at 1.66GHz with 1GB of DDR 3 RAM along with 16GB SSD storage. The SSD provides quick boot up and thought the hardware is more than enough for Android, 1GB RAM makes the overall windows experience slightly sluggish. It comes with WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth, 3G and assisted GPS.  The tablet also has a G-sensor, E-compass sensor and an ambient light sensor.
The tablet comes loaded with Windows 7 Home premium and Android OS v1.6 as operating systems, which can be selected, on start-up. We loved the fact that Windows on the tablet performed the same way on a laptop. In fact, when we tried connecting to the Internet using a Reliance Netconnect USB modem, it worked flawlessly. We installed various windows application and other than the slight sluggishness due to low RAM we faced no issues.
It comes with Android is v1.6 and ViewSonic has no plans to upgrade it on the tablet. The performance on Android is fantastic, though due to the older version the number of apps is limited across categories.

Multimedia
Thanks to Windows 7 and the full size USB 2.0 port, the ViewPad tablet provides for the easiest access to multimedia. Like a standard desktop, various codecs and multimedia player could be loaded allowing the user to play any format of video as well as audio. Watching videos on the tablet was superb due to the large sized display. The sound output from the tablet is not too loud, but is higher than that for personal listening. The sound output in the earphones is great though with excellent clarity. 

User Interface
ViewSonic has not done any modification across either of the interface than the standard wallpaper change to Viewsonic’s logo. Windows 7 interface is like a standard laptop, instead of physical mouse and keyboard; the user gets an onscreen keyboard and the multi-touch display to work with. In Android, it’s the same basic android interface that was in phones around a year back.

Conclusion
Although, the tablet has excellent hardware with a great touch-screen display, it’s the dual-boot operating system that is the major advantage over competitors here. However, we barely used the Android operating system over windows as it provided more options. The battery backup of the device lasted us just over a day, which is impressive considering we constantly worked on it and it was connected through WiFi constantly.
The ViewPad 10 is priced at Rs 38,000, which is too steep for an average consumer who now has options in terms of the MSI Windpad at 35,000 and the Apple iPad starting from Rs 28,000 in the same screen size.

Specifications
10.1" LCD screen with Capacitive multi-touch screen
1024x600 with LED backlight
220 cd/m2 Brightness
700:1 Contrast Ratio    
Intel Pine Trail N455 1.66GHz processor
DDR3 1GB SDRAM 667MHz
16GB SSD SATA
Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n), Bluetooth 2.1 (optional 3G module) + EDR, 3G and assisted GPS
Windows 7 Home Premium
Android 1.6
0.875 kg
1.3 megapixel camera (front)
G-Sensor, E-Compass sensor and ambient light sensor
Ports-3.5mm audio jack for stereo headset, 2 USB 2.0 ports, mini VGA port, Micro SD card slot