Polygamous men live longer

Last updated on: August 21, 2008 at 11:51 am By Desh Kapoor

It seems a man's survival is based on his ability and opportunity to procreate! Study has found that polygamous men (with more than one wife) lived on average 12% longer than men from monogamous cultures. The study discounted for socio-economic factors etc. They studied men over 60 from 140 countries. Women's longevity is explained by "Gandmother effect" - the doting on the grand-kids increases their age as this emotional bonding has a good effect on age. For men, the "Grandfather effect" does not work. Rather it is the ability to utilize their virility and take it well into the grey years. While women are limited due to the menopause, men can procreate. Read more

Narendra Modi for Prime Minister

Last updated on: August 20, 2008 at 10:35 am By Desh Kapoor

Since 2002, when the Gujarat riots broke out, a lot of things have happened. Modi was a villain in my eyes as well at that time. But over the years, pragmatism and realism has taken over. Read more

For intelligence, Size does matter!

Last updated on: August 19, 2008 at 7:36 pm By Desh Kapoor

It seems that size does matter when it comes to intelligence! It seems that Einstein's brain - a few hours after his death - was retrieved and cut into 240 pieces and preserved for study. It is understood that studies that bigger brains in certain areas are responsible for higher intelligence. Most studies show that smarter brains are typically bigger—at least in certain locations. Part of Einstein’s parietal lobe (at the top of the head, behind the ears) was 15 percent wider than the same region was in 35 men of normal cognitive ability, according to a 1999 study by researchers at McMaster University in Ontario. This area is thought to be critical for visual and mathematical thinking. It is also within the constellation of brain regions fingered as important for superior cognition. These neural territories include parts of the parietal and frontal lobes as well as a structure called the anterior cingulate. So what do you think about your size of the brain? Read more

Hiring of Techie Muslims by SIMI and across the world for terrorism

Last updated on: August 19, 2008 at 7:13 pm By Desh Kapoor

A 16 year old kid when arrested Hammad Munshi - unrelated to this case has been held guilty. He had been brainwashed to kill "non-believers" and was a computer enthusiast. He had a website and also would go to jehadi sites and distribute material on how to make bombs and kill.There has been a deliberate attempt by SIMI honchos to recruit techies. The group has been called Muslim Technical Persons Organization. Three techies have been arrested recently Peedical Shibly, Yahya Kamakutty and Muzzamil Sheikh. The techies are good planners - probably having the PMP certification?? - and they can hack in to systems and distract the agencies by sending emails through other people's computers as was done in Gujarat bombings. These guys also go around the internet getting the information on making bombs and other ways of killing. The main criteria being looked into during the recruitment was that the persons should be well versed with computers and hacking. Their role was to hack into systems and send out mails prior and after terror attacks. This according to Nagori acted as a distraction to investigating agencies. Further they were also assigned the role of providing information relating to bomb making and the use of chemicals. Read more

"Seeing" but without collecting impressions

Last updated on: August 19, 2008 at 6:48 pm By Desh Kapoor

I recently came across the lectures by Mooji - a Jamaican mystic from Shri Ramana Maharishi school. This is the second lecture of his that gives a most profound paradigm in terms of interaction with the world! A Must watch! Read more

Pervez Musharraf steps down

Last updated on: August 18, 2008 at 3:06 pm By Desh Kapoor

As he faced the imminent impeachment, President Musharraf of Pakistan today resigned citing the best interest of the Pakistani nation. He is replaced by Mohd. Soomro - his loyalist. Nawaz Sharif and some others are obviously aiming for his blood to avenge the throwing out that happened when Musharraf came in (Oct 1999). I wonder where is Pakistan headed now. The current crop of these politicians are not only weak and corrupt but cannot withstand the onslaught of the Army. Hence, echoing a friend's sentiments, I would say that we will see a coup very soon. I will be shocked if any party can even finish half its term. No political party in Pakistan has ever completed a full term anyways. Musharraf brought to Pakistan a realistic and pragmatic (although insincere) look at the world polity. His undoing was that he wanted to preserve his country as well as keep its terror infrastructure intact. He, very skillfully handled the pressure on Taliban and ISI and others to give out nothing to the US. Sheikh Sayeed, the Daniel Pearl mastermind and one who had wired $100k to Mohd. Atta (9-11 terrorist), has been kept out of reach as was the mastermind of the largest Nuke bazaar - AQ Khan. Nawaz Sharif or Zaradari would not have had the guts to do it. And if they were at the helm and had not saved these entities, a coup was imminent. Read more

Flying the flag

Last updated on: August 18, 2008 at 2:50 pm By Desh Kapoor

What a picture! Credits: Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP/Getty Images Read more

Chinese Great Leap and the story of the greatest human tragedy

Last updated on: August 18, 2008 at 4:37 am By Desh Kapoor

In the Beijing Olympic's opening ceremony, Mao's name was never mentioned. Was it an oversight? Or was it deliberate? Mao left a legacy that is barbaric and heartless. His Great Leap led to millions of deaths - anywhere from 36 to 70 million. There is a book by another Chinese - "Tombstone" - which catalogs the pain and suffering of that time. Tombstone because he considers the book to be the tombstone of his own father who died because of hunger at that time. The research he has done - interviews, access to official and government papers - is unprecedented. And he is not really a dissident - in fact he was a reporter of Xinhua and also a member of the communist party for many years. Yang Jisheng has written from the eyewitness accounts of the normal people at that time. Needless to say its not pretty at all. A combination of criminally bad policies (farmers were forced to make steel instead of growing crops; peasants were forced into unproductive communes) and official cruelty (China was grimly exporting grain at the time) created, between 1959 and 1961, one of the worst famines in recorded history. Read more

What is SIMI and how it was formed

Last updated on: August 18, 2008 at 3:13 am By Desh Kapoor

Here is another very good graphic of what is SIMI and how it goes around hurting the innocent citizens because of its professed goal of setting up an Islamic society. I think just catch them and send to any of the Islamic society of their choice - Iraq? Iran? Pakistan? Bangladesh? Whatever they want... but there is NO reason why someone should have the freedom to kill ordinary citizens because he is from a different religion! Our history have already seen some leaders with completely screwed up minds who have created a society that hurts its own regularly! Source: HT Read more

Buddhist artifacts of 2000 years back found in Gujarat

Last updated on: August 18, 2008 at 3:08 am By Desh Kapoor

Gujarat once had a big presence of Buddhism. Hsieng Tsang had also documented that in his travelogues when he visited Vadnagar between 640 and 644 AD. He had documented presence of 1,000 Buddhist monks and 10 Buddhist monasteries. For last decade more and more Buddhist artifacts have been found. Now, a plaque has been found which depicts the life of Buddha and dates back 1900 years. Some more things from that time (2000 years ago) have also been found. Talking about the on-going excavation, Rawat says, "From the three different sites in Vadnagar, we have excavated around 2,000 pieces of archaeological importance, including a 2,000-year-old housing structure, numerous clay utensils, silver coins, beads, ornaments, Roman style head sculpture, turbaned face clay plaque." All this is probably from Mahayana period. Buddha probably lived anywhere from 563 BC to 400 BC. Ashoka lived from 273 to 232 BC, which was 200 years after Buddha. Read more