Origin of words - Etymology
Many English words have Indic origin, specifically Sankrita origin. Few immediate examples that come to mind: mother = maatr'a/maata/maate, father from pitr'a/pita, brother = bratr'a, etc.
Other day I was reminded of the name of one of the grandson of Bheema (Bheemasena of Mahabharata fame) by a prolific handle on twitter. That name is 'Barbaraka', son of Ghatotkacha and Kamakatankati. (Reference: 'Parva' by SL Bhyarappa) .
The word barbarian is clearly of Sankrita origin; 'barbara' in Sankrita means not-civilized, raakshasa kind. 'barbara hatye' (बर्बर हत्या, ಬರ್ಬರ ಹತ್ಯೆ) is common description for heinous killing, for example.
I am disappointed though; not too many know about the name Barbaraka, about the son of Ghatotkacha. He did not participate in Mahabharata war probably because of political reasons. There are not many stories available about him. That is a shame, it is such a great name for a superhero.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Saturday, May 7, 2011
What’s Cholesterol Got to Do With It? Answer: NOTHING!
"THE idea that cholesterol plays a key role in heart disease is so tightly woven into modern medical thinking that it is no longer considered open to question. This is the message that emerged all too clearly from the recent news that the drug Vytorin had fared no better in clinical trials than the statin therapy it was meant to supplant. "
"So how did we come to believe strongly that LDL cholesterol is so bad for us? It was partly due to the observation that eating saturated fat raises LDL cholesterol, and we’ve assumed that saturated fat is bad for us. This logic is circular, though: saturated fat is bad because it raises LDL cholesterol, and LDL cholesterol is bad because it is the thing that saturated fat raises. In clinical trials, researchers have been unable to generate compelling evidence that saturated fat in the diet causes heart disease. "
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/opinion/27taubes.html
"So how did we come to believe strongly that LDL cholesterol is so bad for us? It was partly due to the observation that eating saturated fat raises LDL cholesterol, and we’ve assumed that saturated fat is bad for us. This logic is circular, though: saturated fat is bad because it raises LDL cholesterol, and LDL cholesterol is bad because it is the thing that saturated fat raises. In clinical trials, researchers have been unable to generate compelling evidence that saturated fat in the diet causes heart disease. "
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/opinion/27taubes.html
Do Cholesterol Drugs Do Any Good? Answer: NO!
Despite evidence to the contrary, statins marketting continues. Drugging people for profits!
Do Cholesterol Drugs Do Any Good?
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_04/b4068052092994.htm
"...Yes, Wright saw, the drugs can be life-saving in patients who already have suffered heart attacks, somewhat reducing the chances of a recurrence that could lead to an early death. But Wright had a surprise when he looked at the data for the majority of patients, like Winn, who don't have heart disease. He found no benefit in people over the age of 65, no matter how much their cholesterol declines, and no benefit in women of any age. He did see a small reduction in the number of heart attacks for middle-aged men taking statins in clinical trials. But even for these men, there was no overall reduction in total deaths or illnesses requiring hospitalization—despite big reductions in "bad" cholesterol. "Most people are taking something with no chance of benefit and a risk of harm," says Wright. Based on the evidence, and the fact that Winn didn't actually have angina, Wright changed his mind about treating him with statins—and Winn, too, was persuaded. "Because there's no apparent benefit," he says, "I don't take them anymore."...."
Do Cholesterol Drugs Do Any Good?
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_04/b4068052092994.htm
"...Yes, Wright saw, the drugs can be life-saving in patients who already have suffered heart attacks, somewhat reducing the chances of a recurrence that could lead to an early death. But Wright had a surprise when he looked at the data for the majority of patients, like Winn, who don't have heart disease. He found no benefit in people over the age of 65, no matter how much their cholesterol declines, and no benefit in women of any age. He did see a small reduction in the number of heart attacks for middle-aged men taking statins in clinical trials. But even for these men, there was no overall reduction in total deaths or illnesses requiring hospitalization—despite big reductions in "bad" cholesterol. "Most people are taking something with no chance of benefit and a risk of harm," says Wright. Based on the evidence, and the fact that Winn didn't actually have angina, Wright changed his mind about treating him with statins—and Winn, too, was persuaded. "Because there's no apparent benefit," he says, "I don't take them anymore."...."
Friday, May 6, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
How India values heroes and devils
Come, kill native culture, decimate heritage and you shall be honoured. Homi Bhabha goes for Rs. 4.00, CV Raman for Rs. 10.00 and Mo-the(nste)-r Theresa for Rs. 20.00.
Quite telling.
Quite telling.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Fakebook!
Superb points made in this article in Slate.
http://www.slate.com/id/2282620/
There are countless ways to make yourself feel lousy. Here's one more, according to research out of Stanford: Assume you're alone in your unhappiness.
Apart from many folks living a wonderfully beautiful, awesomely super-duper life on Facebook, Facebook is a spying tool for both identity thieves and govt. alike. Name, location, address, birth date - only thing missing is SSN! They probably can get mother's maiden name as well.
And here Julian Assange claims Fakebook, google and yahoo! as government tools.
http://tinyurl.com/5tn2ucl
http://www.slate.com/id/2282620/
There are countless ways to make yourself feel lousy. Here's one more, according to research out of Stanford: Assume you're alone in your unhappiness.
Apart from many folks living a wonderfully beautiful, awesomely super-duper life on Facebook, Facebook is a spying tool for both identity thieves and govt. alike. Name, location, address, birth date - only thing missing is SSN! They probably can get mother's maiden name as well.
And here Julian Assange claims Fakebook, google and yahoo! as government tools.
http://tinyurl.com/5tn2ucl
Monday, May 2, 2011
Pakis decide to give up OBL
ISI could not hold on to OBL anymore. May be he ran out of money. At any rate, OBL is dead (supposedly, his body was thrown into the sea - I hope they wrapped him in pig skin). Good riddance to bad! Took a long time for this stage managed operation to be executed, President Obama!
Of course, wretched Paki intelligence (oxymoron) agancy ISI covered for OBL for all these years. It was time to give up!
"It's fairly well known that the ISI has a longstanding relationship with the Haqqani network….Haqqani is supporting, funding, training fighters that are killing Americans and killing coalition partners. And I have a sacred obligation to do all I can to make sure that doesn't happen…..So that's at the core - it's not the only thing -- but that's at the core that I think is the most difficult part of the relationship.”
Read more: http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2011/05/02/bin-ladens-death-what-this-means-for-pakistans-isi/#ixzz1LD2uqxRU
This guy gets it (in the comment section - above link):
PAKISTAN'S BALD-FACED LIES
"For over 10 years Pakistan has been lying thru its teeth that Bin Laden was not in Pakistan and anyone who said so was only defaming them. And, western governments and media bit this tune by always parotting that Osama was "somewhere in the rugged regions bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan", an obvious untruth because you have to be in either one country or the other - there is no in between. Now what does Pakistan have to say? He was found in a luxury purpose built high-security million dollar mansion in the backyard of Pakistan's capital, right near a military base!
Pakistan is the most dangerous country in the world today. If America has an axis of evil, then this is it - Pakistan. For ten years they have played a double-game. Hiding and harboring OBL and Al-Qaeda and creating terrorist activities all over the world and at the same time pretending to be America's ally in the war on terrorism and raking the American dollars in. This money went to line the pockets of Paki government officials, the ISI and to Al Qaeda.
Questions have to be asked to the Paki government. Even a few months ago the Paki army chief denied that OBL was inside Pakistan or their intelligence agency was protecting him. How could he live so close to the capital of Pakistan without them knowing about it? Who built this compound for him? Why was he deep inside Pakistan when they have been claiming for ten years that it is a lie meant to defame Pakistan?
I will bet that despite what Obama said about intelligence sharing with Pakistan, they never told the Pakis that they found out where OBL was. Otherwise, OBL would have been spirited away by the Pakis yet again. Many years ago, when Musharraf was President, I said that OBL was probably hiding safe inside the Pakistan Presidential compound. I was not far from the truth. Question is why did America the gullible believe all the Paki lies and deception. The country that has poked its dirty, bomb-laden fingers in the butt of every country in the world.
I can bet that the Paki government is now deeply concerned that it has lost the "cash-cow" OBL. Because, without OBL, Paki cannot milk America for more and more money. If I were America, I would be concerned that they WILL find a new way of terrorism to keep milking America. It is a pity that the most powerful and intelligent country in the world, USA, was so taken in by Pakistan's constant lies, deception, evil and double-faced games. I am afraid that America will keep doing the same mistake. Because Pakis have convinced the gullible Americans that a few terrorist bombs and activities in Afghanistan and Waziristan is a threat to America and only the Pakis can save them."
Of course, wretched Paki intelligence (oxymoron) agancy ISI covered for OBL for all these years. It was time to give up!
"It's fairly well known that the ISI has a longstanding relationship with the Haqqani network….Haqqani is supporting, funding, training fighters that are killing Americans and killing coalition partners. And I have a sacred obligation to do all I can to make sure that doesn't happen…..So that's at the core - it's not the only thing -- but that's at the core that I think is the most difficult part of the relationship.”
Read more: http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2011/05/02/bin-ladens-death-what-this-means-for-pakistans-isi/#ixzz1LD2uqxRU
This guy gets it (in the comment section - above link):
PAKISTAN'S BALD-FACED LIES
"For over 10 years Pakistan has been lying thru its teeth that Bin Laden was not in Pakistan and anyone who said so was only defaming them. And, western governments and media bit this tune by always parotting that Osama was "somewhere in the rugged regions bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan", an obvious untruth because you have to be in either one country or the other - there is no in between. Now what does Pakistan have to say? He was found in a luxury purpose built high-security million dollar mansion in the backyard of Pakistan's capital, right near a military base!
Pakistan is the most dangerous country in the world today. If America has an axis of evil, then this is it - Pakistan. For ten years they have played a double-game. Hiding and harboring OBL and Al-Qaeda and creating terrorist activities all over the world and at the same time pretending to be America's ally in the war on terrorism and raking the American dollars in. This money went to line the pockets of Paki government officials, the ISI and to Al Qaeda.
Questions have to be asked to the Paki government. Even a few months ago the Paki army chief denied that OBL was inside Pakistan or their intelligence agency was protecting him. How could he live so close to the capital of Pakistan without them knowing about it? Who built this compound for him? Why was he deep inside Pakistan when they have been claiming for ten years that it is a lie meant to defame Pakistan?
I will bet that despite what Obama said about intelligence sharing with Pakistan, they never told the Pakis that they found out where OBL was. Otherwise, OBL would have been spirited away by the Pakis yet again. Many years ago, when Musharraf was President, I said that OBL was probably hiding safe inside the Pakistan Presidential compound. I was not far from the truth. Question is why did America the gullible believe all the Paki lies and deception. The country that has poked its dirty, bomb-laden fingers in the butt of every country in the world.
I can bet that the Paki government is now deeply concerned that it has lost the "cash-cow" OBL. Because, without OBL, Paki cannot milk America for more and more money. If I were America, I would be concerned that they WILL find a new way of terrorism to keep milking America. It is a pity that the most powerful and intelligent country in the world, USA, was so taken in by Pakistan's constant lies, deception, evil and double-faced games. I am afraid that America will keep doing the same mistake. Because Pakis have convinced the gullible Americans that a few terrorist bombs and activities in Afghanistan and Waziristan is a threat to America and only the Pakis can save them."
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