Indian doctor's stem cell therapy makes Australian man better

Certain forms of Stem Cell Therapy is banned in several western nations, but is allowed in several Asian countries like India, Singapore and South Korea.

A recent NYT article has Cynthia Fox, the author of "Cell of Cells" stating "Asian religions worry less than Western religions that biotechnology is about 'playing God'". Rapid strides have, therefore, been made in stem cell therapy in many Asian nations, and the latest to benefit from this is Perry Cross, an Australian man who was left quadriplegic by a rugby game reportedly started showing significant progress following three months of treatment in India. This is what Fox News has to say about it.

Hopefully, the richer western nations will start looking at such forms of therapy as less of an intrusion into religious beliefs, and more of a way to make this world a better place to live in.

IBM goes the Social Media Way!

IBM seems to have embraced Web 2.0 features in the workplace. From using 'Dogear' - a community tagging system like Del.icio.us, 'Blue Twit' - their version of Twitter and 'Beehive' - based on Facebook, IBM seems to be experimenting with ways to have their 400,000 or so employees bond with each other, and hopes that this will foster better knowledge sharing and lead to innovation. Read more on it here....

6 Questions Unanswered by Science or Religion

Being the sceptic that I am, my mind refuses to accept simplistic answers to the complex questions that plague people (or atleast some people)! Here are six questions that I wonder will be answered in my lifetime.

1. What was there before the universe was formed (either by the Big Bang or by the entity known as God), and what will be there if the universe as we know it comes to an end?
2. What happens after a human or animal dies? (Well, the animal usually becomes an ingredient at McDonald's or Ponnusamy, but you know what I mean)!
3. Do ghosts, spirits, ghouls etc. exist?
4. Why do placebos work on some people? Is the power of belief so strong that it defies logic?
5. Is there intelligent life in outer space?
6. Why do Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton behave the way they do?

If you have the answers, let me know!

Limerick News - Phoenix Lander

There was a vessel named Phoenix Lander
That NASA built as an ice and life finder
In Mars it landed quite safely
The scientific world cheered happily
Images of ice the probe plans to render.

NASA's Phoenix Lander spacecraft had a picture perfect landing in the planet Mars. The craft plans to search for signs of ice and life in the planet. Read more on this....

Top 25 blogs as rated by TIME magazine

TIME magazine has come up with a list of top 25 blogs. Some of the usual suspects like the Huffington Post and Boing Boing are part of the list, but do check as there are other good offbeat ones as well.

The parrot who helped itself!

One day, a parrot called Yosuke Nakamura flew out of its cage and got lost. Unlike most other birds, guess what this parrot did to return to its owner....

Google's Friend Connect

Google's coming up with a service called Friend Connect that lets you grow traffic by easily adding social features to your website. Their website says "Visitors bring along friends from social networks like Facebook, orkut, and others to interact on your site." Sounds pretty interesting!
Wonder if this will lead us to witness a spurt in personal website development activity!

Limerick News - Hillary

There was a lady in the US named Hillary
Who paid her campaign team hefty salary
To win her a superdelegate
They campaigned until very late
But she lost to Obama in many a Primary.

Balaji is back with a bang! Watch the 3 deliveries that's made IPL history!


Courtesy: YouTube

Rediff says - Arasangam, a pleasant surprise!

Well, I certainly didn't expect this review from Rediff! Looks like Captain's 150th movie is a good watch!

Books that didn't see the light of day!

1. National Integration - The Need of the Hour by Raj Thackeray
2. Boys Dont Cry by Sree Sreesanth and Chimbu
3. Boost your IQ by George W Bush
4. The Finer Techniques of Shaving by Vijaya T. Rajendar
5. Knowing when to quit by Hillary Clinton
6. Chastity for life by Paris Hilton
7. Tolerance and Justice, the two pillars of humanity by Narendra Modi
8. Attaining Joy by Frugal Living by Vijay Mallya and Richard Branson
9. How to Control your temper by Harbajan Singh
10. The Art of Independent Decision Making by Tony Blair

A sneak preview of Captain's Arasangam movie!

A good friend of mine sent me a mail stating that he plans to watch Captain Vijayakanth's next movie 'Arasangam' on the first day of release! First day! How I envy him!!! Apparently Captain plays the role of a professor in a Police Training Academy! Being a fan of Captain's antics myself, I could start imagining a possible scene in the movie....

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Start of scene

Captain is called for a murder investigation. Its a new feature in the Police Training College where a top professor guides rookies in modern investigative techniques. Captain, followed by half a dozen star-struck rookie police trainees, enters the scene of the crime. A body of a man is found sprawled on the ground. The rookies try everything they've learnt in college - they take fingerprints, DNA samples, photographs, see if any piece of clothing is torn, check for attack marks on the body, scan the place for clues....

Captain watches them, gives an all-knowing smile... bends down, removes a sock from the dead man's feet, sniffs it deeply and says "Indha chocksu semma gabbu adikudhu! Appadinaa, indha chocksu thovaikkapattu remba naal aayirukkum". He immediately runs(the director plans to take this shot at 210 frames/second instead of the usual 24 fps, so that this running seems to appear as if it was shot in slow motion to the audience) to where the washing machine is kept and switches it on. Nothing happens. Captain smiles and exclaims "Washing machinu repair aayirukku. Idhu IFB machinu".

He immediately asks a rookie to ask the telephone company if the dead guy had made any call to IFB's customer care recently. The rookie checks and finds out that a call had been made the previous evening. Further check reveals that a man named Al Haq Wanna Phuq (Note: no intended offence to anyone here!) had been sent to fix the machine. Captain immediately takes his Karuppupazham(Blackberry) and logs on to the Police intranet via VPN. After a quick search he finds that Al Haq Wanna Phuq is a Pakistani theeviravaadhi who holds a part time job at IFB!

Captain's eyes turn maroon (a new feature in the movie... it used to turn red earlier... in this movie, the director has brought in a maroon colour to intensify Captain's rage), and he exclaims "Indha Pakistani theeviravaadhingala oruthan vidaama adichu thovaikkalaenna, naan inimela en chocksa thovaikkavae poradhilla"! Hearing this inspired speech, the rookies' eyes are filled with tears of awe for their beloved mentor!

Captain and the rookies walk away from the murder scene, while a song praising Captain plays in the background...

'Poraaru poraaru, veeradhi veerar poraaru,
Arasangatha maatha pogum, maamanidhar poraaru,
Karuppupazhatha usu pannum techu saavi poraaru,
Theeviravaadhiya nadungavaikkum thanga manickam poraaru!'

End of scene

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Long live Captain!

Blog Post #1

My first ever blog post. Hopefully, I will be a regular blogger!

Cheers!
Sathya.