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Showing posts from April, 2007

Who wants to be the next president?

Hillary and Obama are fighting it out in the US of A. When it comes to India, quite a few names are springing up these days. Amitab 'Big B' Bhachan's name has been doing the rounds for a while now. If Ronald 'Cowboy' Reagan can do it, why not our 'angry young man of 70s and 80s'? Another name that has sprung up is that man from Bengalooru, Narayana Murthy (Infosys fame!) Churumuri.wordpress.com quotes Capitalism is about providing equal opportunities for people, giving them the incentive to perform and creating the competitive conditions. I believe in compassionate capitalism where there is capitalism in the mind, socialism in the heart, and corporations which make profits will have to live in harmony with the society around them. Beware! Narayana Murthy is a Shylock. Not just that, the Infosys slave master also has very strong views about India's National Anthem Deccan Herald reports: National anthem could make foreigners at Infy uneasy: NRN "W...

Chocolate Lowers Blood Pressure

WebMD Medical News reports that Dark Chocolate and other cocoa-rich foods may lower blood pressure better than tea. A new study suggests that dark chocolate and other cocoa-rich products may be better at lowering blood pressure than tea. Researchers compared the blood pressure-lowering effects of cocoa and tea in previously published studies and found eating cocoa-rich foods was associated with an average 4.7-point lower systolic blood pressure (the top number in a blood pressure reading) and 2.8-point lower diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number). But no such effect was found among any of the studies on black or green tea. Cocoa and tea are both rich in a class of antioxidants known as polyphenols. But researchers say they contain different types of polyphenols, and those in cocoa may be more effective at lowering blood pressure. Polyphenols Help Blood Pressure Current guidelines call for people with high blood pressure to eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, which are als...

Gandhi's India?

Or is it Munnabhai's India? The victims of Operation Leech: With the help of the Calcutta intelligentsia and human-rights activists, can Burmese victimised by an Indian armed operation in the Andamans find justice? by | Soe Myint On 11 February 1998 in New Delhi, the Ministry of Defence announced in a press conference that on 8 February, a joint operation of the three wings of the Indian armed forces had successfully intercepted “an international gang of armed smugglers” and seized arms and weapons worth of USD 1 million in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The operation had been code-named “Operation Leech-111”. The security forces claimed to have arrested 73 foreign nationals. Six “gun-runners” were said to have been killed in the encounter. The media soon brought to light glaring gaps in the government’s story. The newspaper Andamans Today exposed the fact that those arrested and killed in the operation belonged to the National United Party of Arakan (NUPA) and the Karen National...

Praying for Life

As the Smoke Kills... The burning of incense releases high levels of some chemicals associated with lung cancer, findings over the past five years indicate. Incense, used primarily for religious, medicinal and meditative purposes, was found to create air quality environments hazardous to human health, according to reports by New Scientist magazine. A set of chemicals called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are of primary concern. While organic and often aromatic, PAH include carcinogenic chemicals such as the components of benzene and the chemical used in mothballs. A 2001 study by the National Cheng Kung University of Taiwan surveyed the air quality inside a poorly-ventilated temple and found benzopyrene levels that are 40 times greater than what is found inside of the homes of people who smoke cigarettes. The air quality in the temple was almost as bad as standing next to a busy intersection filled with car exhaust. Another report says: Benzene and methyl chloride was the most abun...

Stop Elephant Slavery

Elephants shouldn't be made slaves, chained and paraded in religious festivals. Yesterday, during a muslim festivity in Kerala, a tusker went wild - killing the mahout and injuring another elephant. It took almost three hours for the angry tusker to be tranquilised.

Circumcised what?

To understand the 'circumcised Aids prevention strategy', one has to understand the politics behind it. This American government wouldn't pay for Africa's condoms. Using Condoms goes against the principles of sex laid out in the holy scriptures. http://www.searchforacure.org/editorials/bushwhacked.html Bush stopped efforts by the Senate and House to increase funding for AIDS in Africa. When he talks big about AIDS in Africa he doesn't tell you he made sure one third of the money must be used for abstinence-only programs -- a complete waste of 300 million dollars. And none will go to any agencies offering family planning. And because Bush does not trust the Global AIDS Fund he wants the money to be given out by his State Department -- which knows absolutely nothing about HIV and chose 14 African countries for funds based on politics not their ability to use the money. Countries that have spent years planning and developing treatment programs that are left out of Bush...