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Some Indians Find It Tough to Go Home Again

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 22:27:09 GMT

clipped by: Nerfzilla
clipper's remarks: “It seemed perfect,” he said recently of the job opportunity.

It wasn’t.

As Mr. Ayyadurai sees it now, his Western business education met India’s notoriously inefficient, opaque government, and things went downhill from there. Within weeks, he and his boss were at loggerheads. Last month, his job offer was withdrawn. Mr. Ayyadurai has moved back to Boston.

In recent years, Mother India has welcomed back tens of thousands of former emigrants and their offspring. When he visited the United States this week, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh personally extended an invitation “to all Indian-Americans and nonresident Indians who wish to return home.” But, like Mr. Ayyadurai, many Indians who spent most of their lives in North America and Europe are finding they can’t go home again.

About 100,000 “returnees” will move from the United States to India in the next five years, estimates Vivek Wadhwa, a research associate at Harvard University who has studied the topic. These repats, as t

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Some Indians Find It Tough to Go Home Again

NEW DELHI — When 7-year-old Shiva Ayyadurai left Mumbai with his family nearly 40 years ago, he promised himself he would return to India someday to help his country.

In June, Mr. Ayyadurai, now 45, moved from Boston to New Delhi hoping to make good on that promise. An entrepreneur and lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with a fistful of American degrees, he was the first recruit of an ambitious government program to lure talented scientists of the so-called desi diaspora back to their homeland.

Tags: india, soldiers, indian diaspora

Holiday Hazards to your Pets

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:27:17 GMT

clipped by: Nerfzilla
clipper's remarks: Christmas Trees - These create a whole realm of dangers for your pet. Poorly secured trees can fall on rambunctious pets as the run around or try to climb them. Pine needles can cause GI irritation and perforation. Sharp or breakable ornaments should be kept well out of the way of curious mouths and paws. Christmas trees may contain additives and preservatives, which leech into the water and can be toxic if ingested. Tinsel, yarn and ribbon can cause linear foreign bodies (get wrapped up throughout the intestinal tract) and create a blockage and/or possible perforations.

Sweets - Holiday candy can cause GI problems and become toxic once ingested. Chocolate is one of the most common causes of toxic reaction in pets. The darker the chocolate the worse it is. Do not place wrapped boxes of chocolate under the tree- dogs can sniff them out. Also be sure to keep the candy dishes covered so playful paws aren't tempted to fish them out.

The holidays make it easier for pets to sneak their

Clip Source: www.paws.org

Holiday Hazards

The holidays can be an exciting time. However they can bring extra hazards for your pets. Some of the most common ones are as follows:

Bones - Small turkey and ham bones can lodge in the throat, stomach and digestive tract requiring surgery to remove. Also, the fats and gravies that you may add to your pets’ food can cause diarrhea and vomiting.

Holiday Plants - Many plants can be poisonous to you pet. The holidays add a few more to that list and include mistletoe, poinsettia, lilies and holly (the berries are especially toxic).

Electrical Cords - These are always a hazard to curious kittens and puppies. But the extra lights and decorations provide even more temptation. Make sure that all electrical cords are in good condition and out of reach.

Tags: pet care

The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:18:36 GMT

clipped by: Nerfzilla
clipper's remarks: The mayor of a Connecticut town agreed to chop down three hickory trees on one block after a woman worried that a stray nut might drop into her new swimming pool, where her nut-allergic grandson occasionally swam. A Texas school required parents wanting to help with the second-grade holiday party to have a background check first. Schools auctioned off the right to cut the carpool line and drop a child directly in front of the building — a spot that in other settings is known as handicapped parking.
We were so obsessed with our kids' success that parenting turned into a form of product development. Parents demanded that nursery schools offer Mandarin, since it's never too soon to prepare for the competition of a global economy. High school teachers received irate text messages from parents protesting an exam grade before class was even over; college deans described freshmen as "crispies," who arrived at college already burned out, and "teacups," who seemed ready to break at the tiniest

Clip Source: www.time.com

The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting

Tags: child rearing

India parliament uproar over Ayodhya mosque report

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:52:22 GMT

clipped by: Nerfzilla
clipper's remarks: "I am stunned. I was shocked to see that the report has been leaked. I want to know who has leaked the report," senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader LK Advani said in parliament.

"If what is written is correct, the conclusions are false. There was no conspiracy, no planning. I was distressed by the demolition of the mosque."

BJP leaders accused the Congress party-led government of "selective leaks" to distract attention from the economy and corruption - and demanded parliament see the report immediately.

Home Minister P Chidambaram denied his ministry was behind the "unfortunate" leak.

The angry opposition shouted: "No, it's not just unfortunate, it's shameful."

Mr Chidambaram said Justice Liberhan's 900-page report was being translated into Hindi. The report is due to be put before parliament on 22 December, along with an "action taken report" by the government.

The Indian Express newspaper reported the build-up to the demolition of the mosque had been meticulo

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

India parliament uproar over Ayodhya mosque report

India's main opposition BJP has reacted angrily to reports that its leaders are implicated in an inquiry into the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid mosque.

Parliament was in uproar on Monday over the leaked inquiry report which is said to blame senior BJP figures including Atal Behari Vajpayee and LK Advani.

The Liberhan commission report was submitted to the government in June but its contents have not been made public.

Some 2,000 people died in riots across India after the mosque was demolished.

The commission was set up to investigate events that led to a Hindu mob tearing down the disputed mosque in the northern town of Ayodhya.

Led by former high court judge MS Liberhan, the inquiry took 17 years to complete its work, at a cost of more than 65m rupees ($1.3m). Details about the commission's findings appeared in the Indian media on Monday.

Tags: india, south asia politics

Twelve million West Africans get yellow fever vaccines

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:37:35 GMT

clipped by: Nerfzilla
clipper's remarks: Yellow fever is spread through infected mosquitoes and has a wide array of symptoms from nausea and vomiting to kidney failure, jaundice and bleeding.

About half those who develop severe symptoms and are untreated die from the disease - about 30,000 people each year worldwide.

Local health staff in the target countries will vaccinate nearly 12 million people, as well as giving out vitamin A and de-worming tablets.

The World Health Organization says it is not aiming to eliminate yellow fever - there are too many infected mosquitoes in urban areas to make that possible - but to greatly reduce the number of people getting sick with the disease.

It wants to finish mass vaccinations in all high-risk African countries by 2015, but warns there is currently a gap in the funding needed to take the programme to the remaining West African countries most affected by yellow fever.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Twelve million West Africans get yellow fever vaccines

The world's largest mass yellow fever immunisation is starting in West Africa, targeting 12 million people.

Health charities are rolling out the vaccines to people in Benin, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Yellow fever is spread through infected mosquitoes and has a wide array of symptoms from nausea and vomiting to kidney failure, jaundice and bleeding.

Thirteen African nations are said to be at high risk of outbreaks of yellow fever, which can kill if untreated.

Tags: global health, africa, vaccines

Morphine 'might spread cancer

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:01:38 GMT

clipped by: Nerfzilla
clipper's remarks: Cancer Research UK said more tests were needed before any changes in treatment.

Dr Patrick Singleton from the University of Chicago told the meeting of experts that in laboratory tests, morphine not only strengthened blood vessels but also appeared to make it easier for cancers to invade other tissues and spread.

But he said this could be overcome by a drug - methylnaltrexone or MNTX - developed in the 1980s to prevent morphine-related constipation but only recently approved in the US. It appears to work without interfering with the pain-relieving properties of the opiate.

'Long history'

In mice with lung cancer, MNTX inhibited the apparent tumour-promoting effects of opiates, and reduced the spread of cancer in the mice by 90%.

"If confirmed clinically, this could change how we do surgical anaesthesia for our cancer patients," said Dr Singleton, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago Medical Center and principal author of the research.

"It also

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Morphine 'might spread cancer'

Laboratory tests suggest morphine could in fact encourage the spread of cancer, for which it is routinely prescribed to relieve pain from surgery and tumours.

US scientists say the opiate promotes the growth of new blood vessels which deliver tumours oxygen and nutrients.

Speaking at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Boston, they also claim to have found a drug which counters this effect.

Parents Are Borrowing From Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:27:54 GMT

clipped by: Nerfzilla
clipper's remarks: It’s little wonder, then, that some parents, and even a few child therapists, have found themselves taking mental notes from a television personality known for inspiring discipline, order and devotion: Cesar Millan, otherwise known as the Dog Whisperer.

The suggestion that the Dog Whisperer is also a Child Whisperer of sorts has popped up — sometimes couched as a joke, but, well, not really — in parents’ forums like blogs, online discussion boards, magazines, Twitter feeds and podcasts. Some parents are starting to take notice.

“When we started watching his shows, we had intended to apply his advice toward our dogs,” said Amy Twomey, a blogger on parenthood for The Dallas Morning News who is raising three children under 10 with her husband, Matt. “But we realized a lot of ideas can be used on our kids.”

Indeed, Mr. Millan’s advice has replaced a shelf full of books on how to tame an unruly child. “It’s all the same simple concept: how to be the pack leader in your own house,”

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Becoming the Alpha Dog in Your Own Home

AS far back as “Father Knows Best,” television has been an unintentional teaching aid for parents. To watch Mike and Carol Brady labor tirelessly to boost Jan’s wobbly self-esteem, or Cliff and Clair Huxtable corral Denise’s rebellious impulses with affection and wisdom, was to learn how to raise happy, healthy children. After all those hours in front of the set, you couldn’t help but absorb the lessons.

Today’s network lineup provides fewer idealized families and no shortage of questionable child-rearing role models (see “Gosselin, Jon”). For every take-charge SuperNanny, there’s a Homer Simpson, and who wants to raise a Bart?

Amazon Erases Orwell Books From Kindle

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 19:05:00 GMT

clipped by: Nerfzilla
clipper's remarks: Amazon effectively acknowledged that the deletions were a bad idea. “We are changing our systems so that in the future we will not remove books from customers’ devices in these circumstances,” Mr. Herdener said.

Customers whose books were deleted indicated that MobileReference, a digital publisher, had sold them. An e-mail message to SoundTells, the company that owns MobileReference, was not immediately returned.

Digital books bought for the Kindle are sent to it over a wireless network. Amazon can also use that network to synchronize electronic books between devices — and apparently to make them vanish.

An authorized digital edition of “1984” from its American publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, was still available on the Kindle store Friday night, but there was no such version of “Animal Farm.”

People who bought the rescinded editions of the books reacted with indignation, while acknowledging the literary ironies involved. “Of all the books to recall,” said Charles Slat

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Amazon Erases Orwell Books From Kindle

In George Orwell’s “1984,” government censors erase all traces of news articles embarrassing to Big Brother by sending them down an incineration chute called the “memory hole.”

On Friday, it was “1984” and another Orwell book, “Animal Farm,” that were dropped down the memory hole — by Amazon.com.

In a move that angered customers and generated waves of online pique, Amazon remotely deleted some digital editions of the books from the Kindle devices of readers who had bought them.

An Amazon spokesman, Drew Herdener, said in an e-mail message that the books were added to the Kindle store by a company that did not have rights to them, using a self-service function. “When we were notified of this by the rights holder, we removed the illegal copies from our systems and from customers’ devices, and refunded customers,” he said.

Oscar Mayer Wienermobile crashes into Wis. home

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 15:22:16 GMT

clipped by: Nerfzilla

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Oscar Mayer Wienermobile crashes into Wis. home

MOUNT PLEASANT, Wis. – One southern Wisconsin homeowner is probably not in love with the Oscar Mayer wiener. The famed hot dog's Wienermobile crashed Friday into the deck and garage of a home in Mount Pleasant, about 35 miles south of Milwaukee.

Police said the driver was trying to turn the Wienermobile around in the driveway and thought she was moving in reverse. But she instead went forward and hit the home. It sat in the driveway as if it were stuck in the garage Friday afternoon.

No one was home and no one was injured. No citations were immediately issued.

Both the home and vehicle suffered moderate damage, which Oscar Mayer spokeswoman Sydney Lindner says insurance will cover.

Police hadn't been able to speak to the homeowner as of early Friday evening.

Color By Numbers

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 22:45:13 GMT

clipped by: Nerfzilla

Clip Source: manhattanusersguide.com

arts
Colour By Numbers

You'll have to wait until night falls in Seville to try this out.

Colour By Numbers is a light installation in Seville's Tower of Perdigones. The creators of CBN did a similar installation a couple of years back in Stockholm.

The way it works is this: Using your cellphone, you call the number listed on the website and then get to control the color of the lights on each floor of the tower, watching the result via a live feed on your computer. The installation only works when it's dark in the host country. Cost is equivalent to an overseas call to a cellphone. Details are on the Colour by Numbers website, which has been up and down this morning.

Tags: art

Colombia arrests 2 suspects in pyramid scheme

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 02:35:26 GMT

clipped by: Nerfzilla

Clip Source: www.salon.com

Colombia arrests 2 suspects in pyramid scheme

Jan 17th, 2009 | BOGOTA, Colombia -- Colombian police have arrested two more suspects in a pyramid scheme that authorities say cheated at least 200,000 people.

Police say 41-year-old William Suarez and 67-year-old Maria Amparo Guzman were captured Saturday at a farm north of the capital. Both face money laundering charges.

A police statement says more than 250 million pesos ($113,000) were seized from Suarez.

Suarez was a partner in DMG, which was shuttered in November. Authorities called it a pyramid scheme that laundered drug money and raked in hundreds of millions of dollars last year.

Guzman is the mother of DMG owner David Murcia and was allegedly involved in the company.

Murcia is already in jail; his wife was arrested Jan. 13 in Uruguay.

Tags: columbia, fraud

The Chinese way of transgenic rice

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 02:10:23 GMT

clipped by: Nerfzilla
clipper's remarks: The European discourse of playing God does not play well in Asia; it presupposes the God of Genesis, a creator with a plan, a garden, absolute control and a stable equilibrium of species. And in general the Apocalyptic vision of European political activism has not penetrated beyond small numbers of urban professionals in Asia, where grounds of objection to transgenics have to do with consumer preference and resistance to corporate globalization. China is the case that confounds the discourse; not [multi-national corporations], but Chinese scientists have been the drivers of transgenic research and development. China showed how public sector investments in transgenics could target specific problems in agriculture without signing away the farm.

China is moving aggressively to boost biotechnological research, citing the awesome responsibility of ensuring enough food for its huge population. Anyone paying attention to China's melamine adventures and other product quality issues has

Clip Source: www.salon.com

The Chinese way of transgenic rice

Lew Kwan Yew, the former Prime Minister of Singapore, used to justify one-party rule by suggesting "Asian values" supported authoritarian domination. The term "Asian values" was never easy to define and always controversial, but I heard an echo of old debates in a fascinating, and very smart essay on China and transgenic rice by Ron Herring, a professor of political science and political ecology at Cornell University.

Herring argues that Asia and Europe see genetically modified organisms in starkly different contexts. In Europe, messing around with DNA is often seen as a crime against nature -- or as plot by multinational corporations to make all farmers their vassals. Or both.

But it's different in Asia.

Tags: science, genetically modified food, asian culture

Give me back my kidney, or pay the consequences!

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 02:06:50 GMT

clipped by: Nerfzilla
clipper's remarks: There is neither ethical nor legal justification for demanding the kidney or compensation. An organ donation is a gift. We have specifically prohibited the selling of organs for just this reason. Ethically, we believe that the only acceptable reason for donating an organ to another person is altruism. You give the organ because you want the other person to get it. What happens after that is irrelevant. If you cannot sue to get your kidney back because you now have a medical need for it, you certainly do not have grounds to sue to get it back simply because you are angry with the recipient.

This case is not about the commodification of organs, either. No only do we prohibit the selling of organs, but we hold both the donor and recipient harmless in the action. The donor cannot sue the recipient for the costs associated with the donation, and the recipient cannot sue the donor if the donor had an undiagnosed medical problem that was transmitted with the organ.

Experts in both law

Clip Source: open.salon.com

Give me back my kidney, or pay the consequences!

We’ve become inured to the spectacle of bitter public divorce battles over assets or children, but how about body parts?

Richard Batista is demanding, as part of a divorce settlement, that his estranged wife Dawnell return the kidney that he donated to her. This is something new, and the press has been busy analyzing the implications. Discussion has centered on the ethics of organ donation and the commodification of body parts. They are missing the point. This has nothing to do with ethics or money; it is about spousal abuse. Specifically, this is an example of the all too common phenomenon of abusive, controlling men trying to continue abusing and controlling the women who leave them.

Tags: health and medicine, divorce, medical ethics, transplant

At age 140, lobster to regain his freedom

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 10:37:50 GMT

clipped by: Nerfzilla
clipper's remarks: He said a lobster's age can be worked out from how much it weighs, with each pound (453.6 grams) counting for 7 to 10 years.

Mr Valenti said it was not uncommon for lobsters to live for more than 100 years but it was rare for them to be caught because they were generally too big for the baskets.

The group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said it found out that the old lobster was in the restaurant's tank when a diner called them.

"We applaud the folks at City Crab and Seafood for their compassionate decision to allow this noble old-timer to live out his days in freedom and peace," said PETA's Ingrid Newkirk.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

At age 140, lobster to regain his freedom

A lobster thought to be about 140 years old will be returned to the ocean after briefly becoming the mascot for a New York City restaurant, an animal rights group has said.

The 9-kilogram lobster was caught off the coast of Canada about two weeks ago and bought for $US100 ($143) by City Crab and Seafood to become its mascot, said manager Keith Valenti.

The lobster has been the star of photographs with restaurant patrons, but will be returned to the ocean. (REUTERS: Brendan McDermid)

"We bought a big lobster, started taking pictures with kids and it worked out real well," said Mr Valenti, adding it was a "no brainer" to return the old crustacean to the ocean.

Retail tycoon gets kidney from hanged gangster: report

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 10:35:36 GMT

clipped by: Nerfzilla
clipper's remarks: Tan's mistress also confirmed to the newspaper that his organs were donated although she did not name the recipients.

Mr Tang, 56, had been desperate for a kidney and had been on dialysis.

Last September, he was sentenced to one day in prison and fined after pleading guilty to entering an illegal arrangement to purchase a kidney and to falsely declaring that the would-be donor, an Indonesian, was a distant relative.

The Indonesian donor, Sulaiman Damanik, who came from a poor background, had agreed to sell his kidney for 150 million rupiah. He was also jailed for two weeks and fined last year.

It was the city-state's first organ trading case. The high-profile case prompted the government to say it plans to amend its organ transplant law so that kidney donors can receive financial compensation.

Under existing laws, it is illegal for donors to be given cash in return for giving up a kidney.

- AFP

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Retail tycoon gets kidney from hanged gangster: report

An ailing Singapore retail magnate has received a kidney believed to have come from a convicted gangster hanged on the same day, The Straits Times reported.

Tang Wee Sung, whose Tangs department store sits in the prime Orchard Road tourist and shopping belt, was recuperating after a transplant operation Friday morning, the report said.

After a check with the city's hospitals, the newspaper said it believed the kidney came from Tan Chor Jin, a former triad leader who was sent to the gallows at Changi Prison early Friday for the gangland-style shooting of a nightclub owner in 2006.