2015 - February: Interesting Articles & Links

* Nirupama Rao's recco -- Canteloube - "Bailero" sung by Patricia Rozario -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSqSznrgaSU&feature=youtu.be

* Bill Gates on the Future of Diseases -- http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/25/8103759/bill-gates-interview-hiv-malaria-vaccine-future-disease
- River Blindness - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onchocerciasis

* WSJ Insiders guide to Delhi -- http://www.wsj.com/articles/insiders-guide-to-delhi-india-1424983405

* (2015, Feb26 - Guardian) -- Black rats wre not the primary caus of the Great Plague of 1347


* (2015 Feb24 - Hindu) - From the first human genome, to a "great library of life" -- http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/from-the-first-human-genome-to-a-great-library-of-life/article6927137.ece
- Lecture at AIIMS by Eric  Lander, leader of the Human Genome Project
- Cost of sequencing - mapping a single genome (as part of HGP 1990-2003) cost $3billion, today it costs $3000
- Global Alliance for Genomics and Health - 246 organisations; 28 countries

* (2015, Feb24, BS) - Waiting for PMs word on GM - On #GMcrops #India - "Regrettably, the sane and well-founded counsel of the scientific community is being largely disregarded." -- http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/surinder-sud-waiting-for-the-pm-s-word-on-gm-115022301250_1.html
* (2015, Feb24, BL) - Dangerous Experiments - closure of Astra Zeneca lab, Blr


* Raghuram Rajan on India's Political Economy -- http://scroll.in/article/708502/Full-text:-Invoking-Hitler,-Raghuram-Rajan-warns:-A-strong-govt-may-not-move-in-the-right-direction

* Cool devices -- http://www.wsj.com/articles/interstellar-visual-effects-supervisor-paul-franklins-favorite-gadgets-1424372907
- Digital silence -- Digital Silence DS-101A

* The science of cool design -- http://www.fastcodesign.com/3032932/evidence/the-science-of-cool

* Caravan -- Why India's approach to regulating GM crops is a cause for concern -- http://www.caravanmagazine.in/vantage/why-indias-approach-regulating-gm-crops-cause-concern

* Superbugs -- http://www.livemint.com/Politics/TIs8kQgktJRd6aRi9XLGlO/Superbug-spread-reveals-thin-pipeline-of-newest-antibiotics.html
- Some 16 new antibiotics were approved from 1983 to 1987, but the rate of new drugs coming to market has fallen since then. From 2008 to 2012, just two were approved, according to a study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
- While drugmakers charge more than $100,000 for the latest cancer treatments, antibiotics command far less. Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc., an antibiotic developer bought by Merck & Co. for $8.4b this year, charges between $2,000 and $4,500 for its therapies.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that each year at least 2 million people are infected with antibiotic-resistant bugs in the US.


* Drone attack in graphics -- https://agenda.weforum.org/2015/02/can-bacteria-affect-our-dna/

* CSS Puns -- http://saijogeorge.com/css-puns/

* Rema on H1N1 Swine Flu -- http://devdutt.com/articles/indian-mythology/celebrating-shivas-holy-night.html
- (2010, ET) -- Did WHO experts fuel swine-flu scare? -- http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2010-01-13/news/28405023_1_vaccine-manufacturers-arnold-monto-sage

* On Sivaratri - Devdatt Pattnaik -- http://devdutt.com/articles/indian-mythology/celebrating-shivas-holy-night.html

* Mothers - photography -- http://www.jadebeall.com/#!/index/G0000Wm35big.yVE

* What makes You -- http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/12/what-makes-you-you.html

* EMOTIV - story of a bioinformatics co founder - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2951852/My-mother-said-captured-pirates-drink-Incredible-story-multimillionaire-CEO-started-life-four-year-old-refugee-fleeing-Vietnam-vial-poison.html

* Obama's pharma deal in India -- http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toi-editorials/obama-versus-obamacare-acting-at-big-pharmas-behest-us-president-hurts-india-others-and-his-own-legacy/

* Idioms - http://blog.ted.com/2015/01/20/40-idioms-that-cant-be-translated-literally/

* Japan's Debt - http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-10/how-japan-borrows-9-trillion-practically-for-free

* Pronouncing place names correctly -- http://designtaxi.com/news/372514/Useful-Guide-Shows-How-To-Pronounce-The-Tricky-Names-Of-32-Places-Correctly/

* Testosterone Check- http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21642000-promiscuity-and-fidelity-seem-be-specific-biological-adaptations-their
- The other was of 1,300 people who had had the lengths of their index and ring fingers measured. The ratio of these lengths indicates the effect on an individual of exposure to testosterone in the womb. (A long ring finger compared to the index finger means a big effect.) This ratio corresponds, throughout the primates as a group, to the amount of promiscuity found in a species’s mating system.

* Delhi Elections - the funny side - http://www.newslaundry.com/2015/02/10/the-funny-side-of-delhi-elections/
* Election Tweets - funny - http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2015/02/10/modi-invites-kejriwal-for_n_6649978.html
* Kerjiwal documentary - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3l3RKEBC0M

* 12 Cognnitive Biases -- http://io9.com/5974468/the-most-common-cognitive-biases-that-prevent-you-from-being-rational

* "Encouraged flattery and chamchagiri" - @Ram_Guha takes a dim view of #Indian leaders who set a poor example http://www.ndtv.com/opinion/the-staggering-vanity-of-indias-powerful-737618

* Memory - http://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/idea-happened-memory-recollection?intcid=mod-latest

* Farmers, migrant workers - http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-02-04/how-produce-aisle-looks-migrant-farmworker

* Bengal Famine - http://yourstory.com/2014/08/bengal-famine-genocide/

* India -- 28 Reasons Why You Should Never Ever Visit India -- http://www.buzzfeed.com/andreborges/

* Catepillar - Snake Mimicry - http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/nature/post/caterpillar-appears-snake-camouflage/

* #Polio - how a #Vaccine programe carried on despite "“one of the worst pharmaceutical disasters in U.S. history” - http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/ike-trusted-new-vaccine

2014 September - Interesting Articles & Links

A Drug & a Hairy Woman -- https://in.finance.yahoo.com/news/doctors-chance-appointment-hairy-woman-215500968.html

Medical Devices - Duties - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Higher-duties-hit-local-mfg-of-medical-devices/articleshow/43834255.cms

Things Little Girls Need from their Fathers -- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joyce-mcfadden/things-little-girls-need-from-their-fathers_b_3348956.html

Drones record protests in HK -- http://mashable.com/2014/09/29/drone-hong-kong-protest/

Modi at Madison Square  (S. Vishwanathan, AsianAge) -- http://www.asianage.com/columnists/how-madison-danced-modi-playlist-142
Modi is like Amar-Akbar-Antony -- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joyce-mcfadden/things-little-girls-need-from-their-fathers_b_3348956.html

Gene Revolution - The Antecedants -- http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/shreekant-sambrani-gene-revolution-the-antecedents-113012200098_1.html
- Junk Science vs. Pseudo Science

- Ali Baba - Jack Ma - Still poor at 35? -- http://vulcanpost.com/7702/jack-ma-youre-still-poor-35-deserve/

Don't Go Scotland! -- http://scroll.in/article/679581/%5BVideo%5D-US-comedian-John-Oliver-breaks-down-the-Scottish-independence-debate

* The Economist and Slavery -- Rebuttal -- http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/09/economist-review-slavery-110687.html#ixzz3CgupojIy

* TRAVELLER IN A MARINE WORLD -- Mahima Jaini, Marine Scientist -- http://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/traveller-in-a-marine-world-114082900872_1.html

* Indian scholar wins Marconi Society's Young Scholar Award -- http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/indian-student-at-stanford-receives-marconi-society-young-scholar-award-114090200433_1.html
- Earlier, India-born Stanford University Professor A J Paulraj had won the 2014 Marconi Prize, for his pioneering contributions to developing the theory and applications of MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) antennas.
- Both, Prof, Paulraj and Asnani would receive the awards in Washington D.C. on October 2, 2014.

November 2013 - Interesting Articles & Links

The Four "Cs" of Innovation -- http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/sami-mahroum-on-the-global-competition-for-the-next-new-thing

* Aravind, Indulekha (2013): A LIFESAVING WARMTH, BS 16Nov13 -- http://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/a-life-saving-warmth-113111601151_1.html

- Rahul Panicker, Jane Chen, Naganand Murty and Linus Liang -- Embrace

-  Stanford University class titled Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordability

- According to WHO, 20 million premature and low-birth-weight babies are born every year, out of which four million die in the first month

- $90,000 fellowship from Echoing Green Ventures and another $35,000 for winning the Stanford business plan competition.

- Investors and supporters include Vinod Khosla's Khosla Impact Fund and Jeff Skoll's Capricorn Investment Group, as well as Ranjan Pai of the Manipal Group and Biocon chairperson Kiran Mazumdar Shaw

* The Employee - 'best short movie ever made' - http://www.artthesystem.com/2013/11/the-best-short-movie-has-ever-made-102.html

* Geeta Govinda - Dheera Samire Yamuna Theere -- http://gitagovinda.wordpress.com/2012/11/22/ashtapadi11/

- Meaning -- http://www.sangeetasudha.org/jayadeva/j10.html

* Ram Guha on Nehru -- http://www.telegraphindia.com/1131116/jsp/opinion/story_17562525.jsp#.UofZgY2x8yp

- Great human achievements are always the result of combined endeavors in which numerous people take part. It may be that one person takes the last step, but the other persons also count and should not be forgotten.

* Tharoor on Modi -- https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/shashi-tharoor-on-india-s-main-opposition-leader--narendra-modi

* Obituary - Augusto Odone - the economist behind a medical breakthrough - http://www.economist.com/news/obituary/21589838-augusto-odone-world-bank-economist-who-derived-lorenzos-oil-treat-his-son-died-october

- ADRENOLEUKODYSTROPHY (ALD) is a rare and terrible disease. A faulty X-chromosome lets very-long-chain fatty acids accumulate, and cripple the body. They eat away at the myelin sheath which insulates the nervous system. The victims—mostly boys—become mute, deaf, blind and paralysed. Then they die, often by choking on their own saliva.

-  A mixture of oleic and erucic acids (in effect, olive and rapeseed oil) should, he reasoned, inhibit the effects of the deadly acids, soaking them up before they hurt the nervous system.

- The charity founded in Lorenzo’s name, the Myelin Project, now pays for gene therapy and stem-cell research.

* Kochi Metro gets Rs.1500 Cr loan from French agency, AFD @ 11% -- http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Kochi/kochi-metro-bags-rs1500crore-loan/article5355438.ece

- Total project cost - Rs.5537 Cr

* Biotech transforming soya oil -- "In a Bean -- a Boon to Biotech" -- http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/16/business/in-a-bean-a-boon-to-biotech.html

- Despite industry promises to create better-tasting or more nutritional foods, virtually all the biotech crops introduced since 1996 have been aimed at helping farmers control weeds and insects. That has made it easier for various consumer interest groups to oppose the crops.

- Monsanto’s Vistive Gold soybeans and DuPont Pioneer’s Plenish soybeans are engineered to silence the gene for an enzyme that converts oleic fatty acid into linoleic acid.

*  Raghavan, Srinath on Sri Lanka - http://www.asianage.com/columnists/choking-chogm-588

* Poem - Charles Burkowsky - Go All the Way -- http://vimeo.com/78472610

* Dance moves - http://www.edisproduction.de/2013/10/20/man-with-awesome-dance-moves-will-amaze-you/

* http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2013/11/typhoon-philippines?fsrc=scn/fb/wl/bl/horrorafterHaiyan

* Introverts -- http://themetapicture.com/how-to-interact-with-the-introverted/

* Two Theories about Gold Imports - http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/devesh-kapur-marla-spivack-arvind-subramanian-milan-vaishnav-two-theories-about-gold-113110500998_1.html#!

- while India claims to import large amounts of gold from Switzerland (more than $26 billion), Switzerland reports that it shipped gold worth less than $6 million (yes, million, not billion) to India

- Switzerland ranked first among the major countries to which India despatched its secret tax and finance-related queries (232 in all) during the last fiscal year.

* Best coin ever spent -- http://www.edisproduction.de/2013/10/14/best-coin-ever-spent/

* Partition photos - LIFE - http://greatgameindia.wordpress.com/2013/08/15/rare-photos-of-partition-of-india-1947/

* 10 things Japan gets awesomely right - http://en.rocketnews24.com/2013/11/09/10-things-japan-gets-awesome-right/

* 10 Corporations Control Almost Everything you Buy (in USA) - http://www.policymic.com/articles/71255/10-corporations-control-almost-everything-you-buy-this-chart-shows-how

* Vikramaditya and his Nava Ratnas - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikramaditya

* Wife's Cancer -- http://thefreethoughtproject.com/guys-wife-cancer-unforgettable-3-photos-destroyed-me/

* 39 Life Lessons - http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-11523/39-life-lessons-ive-learned-in-39-years.html

* Why do we draw Rangolis? -- http://guruprasad.net/posts/why-do-indians-draw-rangoli-scientific-reason/

* Dale Carnegie - http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21588832-folksy-tips-father-self-help-america-how-succeed

* Yakuza -- http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21588937-japanese-bank-wrestles-lending-gangsters-loans-and-sharks

* Saar Please give me  posting -- http://www.accountabilityindia.in/raghubytes/saar-please-give-me-posting

* Tweet Technology -- http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-11-07/the-hidden-technology-that-makes-twitter-huge

* Ponnappa, Shyam (2013): BS - http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/shyam-ponappa-predictability-in-infrastructure-113110601126_1.html

* 10 things Japan gets horribly wrong -- http://en.rocketnews24.com/2013/11/06/10-things-japan-gets-horribly-wrong/

* Guha, Ramachandra (2013):  A DANGLING CONVERSATION -- http://caravanmagazine.in/essay/dangling-conversation?page=0%2C0

* WB data - GDP indicators - http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG

- net ODA flows - http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/DT.ODA.ALLD.CD/countries - India $3b (2011)

* 15 most inspirational books for entrepreneurs -- http://www.entrepreneur.com/slideshow/229656

* India's Middle-class Defer Dreams -- http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/economic-slowdown-inflation-cause-indias-middle-class-to-defer-dreams

* http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/03/education/edlife/looking-for-intimacy-in-the-age-of-facebook.html

* Anyone can be a polymath - http://www.aeonmagazine.com/world-views/anyone-can-learn-to-be-a-polymath/

* Venture Japan -- http://venturejapan.blogspot.jp/2013/10/2013-10-19-venture-into-japan-1-13.html

* Flight Crash Memorial -- http://www.viralnova.com/i-noticed-this-tiny-thing-on-google-maps-and-when-i-zoomed-in-well-nothing-could-prepare-me/

* Bhattacharya, Jyotirmoy (2013): INTELLIGENT DEVICES, EPW, 2Nov13 -- http://www.epw.in/postscript/intelligent-devices.html

- Arduino - pen source electronics -- http://www.epw.in/postscript/intelligent-devices.html

* Asagne, Julian (2013): GOOGLE AND THE BANALITY OF DONT BE EVIL -- http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/02/opinion/sunday/the-banality-of-googles-dont-be-evil.html?_r=1&

* Doodles from Ecuador -- http://twistedsifter.com/2013/10/doodles-that-incorporate-everyday-objects-javier-perez/

* NItish Kumar vs. Modi - Repartee - http://www.telegraphindia.com/1131030/jsp/frontpage/story_17510768.jsp#.UnOaMfk_us3

* Virgin America - Airline Instructional Video - http://elitedaily.com/news/world/virgin-americas-new-flight-instruction-safety-video-amazing/

* Kashyap, Anurag (2013) - short film - THAT DAY AFTER EVERYDAY -- http://www.filmycurry.com/that-day-after-everyday-a-short-film/

* Milo Manara - illustrator - http://www.milomanara.it/

- Human history - http://redaccion.lamula.pe/2013/10/27/la-historia-de-la-humanidad-por-milo-manara/danielavila/

* CNR Rao - Bharat Ratna, BS 16Nov13 -- http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/c-n-r-rao-the-man-pioneering-the-next-wave-of-nanoscience-113111601191_1.html

- Founder of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Rao has about 50 doctorates and 1,400 research papers (!)

- JNCASR - four major areas—advanced materials, molecular biology and genetics, evolutionary biology and engineering mechanics -- among the few research institutes to specialise in areas such as biology through nano-science. The institute is also working on a host of critical areas such as cancer, malaria, epilepsy, and HIV.