2008-01-06T15:19:50-06:00

Do you love your coffee in the morning? Well, I like it surely. Now, here is an exotic one of which only 1000 pounds are produced in a year around the world! Hmmm, how would that be possible? Well, its all about the "process". This is the Kope Luwak - or Luwak Coffee. It comes from Indonesia. This is how it works: Kopi Luwak or Civet coffee is coffee made from coffee berries which have been eaten by and passed through the digestive tract of the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus). The civets eat the berries but the beans inside pass through their system undigested. This process takes place on the islands of Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi in the Indonesian Archipelago, and in the Philippines (where the product is called Kape Alamid). Vietnam has a similar type of coffee, called weasel coffee which are coffee berries which have been defecated by local weasels. In actuality the "weasel" is just the local version of the Asian Palm Civet. The cat poop coffee is the most expensive coffee in the world! It sells for between USD 120 - 600 a pound. Here is this cat - Luwak - looking for coffee beans:... and here is the raw material for your coffee... 🙂 Read more

2008-01-05T16:39:53-06:00

We discussed the relation between language and culture, now lets discuss the connection between sciences and culture. Here, John Lienhard, discusses the construction of an algebraic equation and how it shows the cultural situaton in that era and society. A $7500 estate is to be divided among a widow, two sons, and three daughters. Each son is to receive twice as much as each daughter, and the widow $500 more than all the children. Determine the share of each. Read more

2008-01-04T23:06:53-06:00

Interesting cartoon on the current state of Pakistan... Read more

2008-01-04T22:35:52-06:00

People at the helm in Indian Government and Bureaucracy are by default dumb and idiots! They need proofs for living people and cannot believe death certificates of those who are dead! Every year a person who draws Government pension has to prove that he/she is alive through a Life Certificate. Signing at the bank isn't enough! Read more

2008-01-04T20:25:20-06:00

Two observations about Obama's victory in Iowa caucus this week that I found significant and which is why I had mentioned his name in my 2008 predictions as the next US President - and not HIllary Clinton: 1. His support is across the board, not just his supposedly "natural constituency"! Oprah has thrown her weight behind a guy who makes sense now - fresh face, fresh ideas, fresh demeanour! It was that he brought several different kinds of voters to the Iowa caucuses - a process that for years has been dominated by hardcore Democrats, and middle-aged and elderly voters - and has seen miserly turnouts even for a sparsely populated state. The newcomers were both young and middle-aged. Many of the latter were women who had never attended a caucus before - a group that should have been owned by Clinton. Read more

2008-01-04T20:03:17-06:00

There are very few blogs across the world, where you see people writing something "original" - something that THEY have researched and come up with. Here is a blogger - Blokesablogin (Meenakshi?) - who discusses the relationship between the languages and culture/civilization. She goes on to look at how Sankrit is different in its structure from English and how it paves way for the world view that people have? A must read! Read more

2008-01-04T17:53:57-06:00

For long now - in fact since its genesis - most Indians have believed this, but it has taken the world (specially the media) 6 decades to figure this out. "Pakistan is the most dangerous country in the world"! says Economist. Weapons - specially the Nukes - are surely part of the reason - but in my view, it has got to do with the mindsets! When a country's creation and existence is based on a "Negative" ideology (I am NOT like you, so we cannot live together) then there is little positive that can come out of it. The "You" and "They" in this negative ideology (which is what "Two Nation Theory" was) can soon have different protagonists. In 1947 it was the Hindus, and thereafter were different people but the same relationship with the "They". Along these years the "They" in the un-ending Two Nation theory have seen the Mohajirs, the Bengalis, the Ahmediyas, the Civilians, the Elected Leaders.... the roster has changed. But the mindset... the relatiionship with that character called "They" has remained the same. Two Nation theory is still at the VERY HEART of Pakistani existence. Read more

2008-01-04T16:16:11-06:00

There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun. Read more

2008-01-04T06:20:57-06:00

Now this is about another Slovenian - Ruder Boškovic' (Roger Joseph Boscovich), - who inspired Albert Einstein in his quest for the Unified Field Theory: He is famous for his atomic theory, given as a clear, precisely-formulated system utilizing principles of Newtonian mechanics. This work inspired Michael Faraday to develop field theory for electromagnetic interaction, and was even a basis for Albert Einstein's attempts for a unified field theory, according to Einstein's coworker Lancelot Law Whyte. Ok, so this is known.. but did Einstein "steal" from him for his Theory on Relativity as well? Was Einstein really what he was supposed to be or was he also taking credit of work done by others? There has been suggestions that he used his wife's mathematical genius in getting to the Theory of Relativity. Here Nikolas Tesla claims that Theory of Relativity concepts were advanced 200 years prior to Einstein by the same Boscovich! Read more

2008-01-04T06:09:37-06:00

Thomas Edison - as a person - was never really "Above board"! He was at times unscrupulous and was more interested in personal gains than science and its advancement! He could go to any lengths to discredit others and take credit for himself for even things done by others. Nikolas Tesla was working in his office as an employee and he is credited to have done most of the inventions, but Edison was the one who took the credit! Here is an example of how he used Tesla - a Slovenian immigrant! Read more

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