What I listened to in 2011

I was mostly listening to 80s and 90s style heavy metal in 2011 more than anything else. In the last two months I was listening to songs from Malmsteen's Trilogy, Poison's Greatest Hits, more of Guns 'N Roses, Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, Dokken, Faith No More, and less of Satriani and Steve Vai. Apart from these classics, I did check out some of the new bands like Vains of Jenna, and Crazy Lixx. Throw in a bit of Velvet Revolver, one or two songs of Saving Abel, Deep Purple (Slaves and Masters), Keel, 2011 was damn headbanging stuff.

1.  You Don't Rememeber - Malmsteen

2. Blame It On Love - Crazy Lixx

 3. Look in Her Eyes - Vince Neil

4. Bloodstreets - RIOT

5. Kill the King - Masters of Reality

December 2011

The last one month has been the month of Mullaperiyar, a dam in the Idukki district of Kerala. Keralites, especially the politicians, are sure that frequent earthquakes will break the dam and kill lakhs of people. Tamil Nadu is sure that nothing will happen as the water will "simply" flow to the Idukki dam and rest there. Era of disaster porn and empty jingoism. 

Indians will wake up in New Year to the amended Lokpal bill which will "undoubtedly make India the only place in the planet with zero corruption. Just like Kareena Kapoor's size zero. No soul in India will dare to be corrupt because of Lokpal. Just say the word, Lokpal; the corrupter will shudder and pee in public.

Religious rules sometimes create trouble for certain self-styled intellectuals. Rules are rules. 

I cannot agree more with fashion designer Julie Kagti's remarks that fashion in Bangalore is getting more influenced by Bollywod. In a city where everybody on M G Road, Brigade Road, or Commercial Street is never free from fashion, the onlookers have simply a good time. These places are just ramps for the fashionistas. Even not dressing properly is a fashion in Bangalore. It is just a matter of how easily, blindly, or intelligently one apes either Bollywood or Hollywood. People spend more time in unisex salons on weekends than sleeping at home. You are nothing, if you have not gone to a unisex salon. At least once. That is it.

A pretty girl I saw in a lift in office wanted to spend the New Year Eve in Goa, and not in her house. Her male friend was advising and was feeling nostalgic about how beautiful the beaches were. She must read this article by our eternally correct journalist, Rajdeep Sardesai.

As the evening gets uncomfortably chilly in Bangalore, the Sri Lankan cricket team lurches to defeat against the South African pace attack led by Vernon Philander on a green pitch. Indian should watch out as everybody in Australia would love to see India lose.

I could not stop headbanging as I stumbled upon one of the heavy metal classics from the 90s by Ministry.  Fans of Nine Inch Nails and Rammstein have much to reconsider. A great song to jam, practice, and sing at concerts. Also checked out Bathory's One Rode to Asa Bay.

Vidya Balan was one of the actresses I felt would use her brains rathr than beauty. But as we celebrate the age of porn and sleaze, her movie The Dirty Picture provides lots of eye candy. We must also acknowledge and thank the media for their steadfast campaigns for promoting porn and sleaze and creating vapid breaking news of of actresses like Veena Mallik.

Are outbreaks of Dengue and Chikungunya in Kerala just a garbage issue?

Whenever the state of Kerala reports an outbreak of vector-borne diseases like Dengue and Chikungunya, the media goes on an overdrive and as usual looks for culpable scapegoats. Following public, political, and media pressure, on September 24, 2011, the Kerala chief minister held an emergency meeting and directed waste management measures on a war footing among others.

Here comes my discomfort. It may be because I am ignorant. Vector-borne diseases and contagious diseases are different ball games. What we are witnessing in Kerala is outbreaks of vector-borne diseases such as Dengue and Chikungunya, and the state’s total failure to either control, anticipate, or study the issue at hand. Knee-jerk reactions like more doctors in affected areas, urgent waste disposal measures, and local body meetings (a group totally incapable of dealing with the situation) follow suit from various quarters, and for the media this is just an issue to up the TRP ratings.

This is simply not a “Garbage Issue”. This is a serious environmental and entomological issue resulting from deforestation, land use changes, and possible jumping of microbes from forests or animals to human habitations, and population movement.

 

And the most important fact is that the humid and hot climate of Kerala along with the presence of thick vegetation (including plantations and stagnant water (ponds) near households provide the best conditions for the disease causing Aedes mosquitoes to breed. Mosquitoes cannot ask for a much better environment to breed and create havoc than the present situation in Kerala.

Moreover, there are reports and studies saying that “concurrent infections” can occur-this means the mosquito bites can cause both Dengue and Chikungunya. This means that a mosquito and a human being can be infected with more than one disease. This also means that in an ill-equipped medical hospital and clinic what can be the diagnosis, treatement, recording of symptoms.

While garbage and solid waste need to be removed and safely disposed of, this is not a measure that should be taken during vector-borne disease outbreaks. Waste disposal does not become critical when there is a medical emergency or when there is an epidemic like situation. But controlling vector-borne diseaes goes beyond waste disposal as it requires long-term studies and monitoring of existing infectious diseases and vectors and emerging threats. I feel each of these episodes are not the final ones and lack of scientific vision will lead to a big epidemic sooner or later. 

The media does not have the same level of knowledge it has when it comes to reporting political breaking news, backroom intrigues, and cinema. They have no idea about the difference between the terms, contagious diseases and vector-borne diseases. According to one definition:

Contagious means infectious by direct contact, but in common usage the word usually applies to diseases that are highly infectious and dangerous, implying something more serious than a common cold. 

Vector-borne diseases require a pathogen, a vector, and the human host.  Here the pathogen is the virus and the vector is the mosquito.

So, were sitting on a medical volcano and believing that if there is no garbage and household waste, there will no diseases. How naive have we become!

FACTSHEET

Dengue Virus: Dengue is a viral infection caused by Flaviviruses,  a group of viruses that can cause a number of diseases such as Dengue and Hepatitis C in humans. These viruses arev spread by mosquitoes and ticks and can reproduce in their vector.  Click here to know more about the Dengue hemorrhagic fever .

Chikungunya: Chikungunya is caused by Alphaviruses and is spread by mosquitoes. It has the distinction of having jumped from monkeys to humans.

Heavy metal is alive and kickin' real hard

While metal has disappeared from prime time music television, the cyberspace has hundreds of unheard, rare, and new bands rocking real hard. Some of the new bands are pretty good playing a style that critics may say retro. But the songs of some of these new bands are good and much much better than the two-chord alternative stuff that channels bombard you with. The following bands and songs, a mix of new and old, are real gems. 

Talon's All I Ever Needed is a great straight-edged mid tempo/melodic song with good guitar solos and pure vocals from Chandler Mogul. The songs make me feel that I have missed this band. Talon rose from the ashes of Voxen, says Melodic Rock, and invites fans of Dokken (my favourite) and Hericane Alice to lend their ears. Both are very good bands.

Melodic death metal band Evergrey is another great find with powerful melodic songs with classic guitar solos.Click here to listen to A Touch of Blessing. The vocals at times resembled the good old MSG.

I am big fan of Crazy Lixx'z Blame it on Love from their album New Religion. This melodic song has a unique passion and the harmonies perfect like the classic acts that rocked the 80s. One of the best new bands with that hard rock/heavy metal sound that takes the listener 20 years back.

I cannot forget Michael Monroe’s 80s hit, Dead, Jail or Rock n' Roll, a superb butt-kicking metal song from their Not Fakin' It album. Wikipedia says that the song video featured GNR frontman Axl Rose. What a song and what a musician! I remember watching with friends the video featured in Headbangers Ball when VHS tapes ruled the roost and months before I had the luck to listen to Appetite for Destruction. Yes, we missed to spot Axl Rose.

Riot was the most underrated band and had some exceptional power metal and melodic metal songs and albums. Listen to Riot - Buried Alive (Tell Tale Heart). What a great song and what a great band.

Finally two great power ballads from Y&T and Great White. Keep rockin'.

First come, first serve?

I did not have any idea about the origins of the phrase, First come, first served, until a mistake in an email I read got me thinking.

The Daily Writing Tips has an excellent article on the history of the popular phrase, which is converted by net-savvy geeks to FCFS. The same geeks create the mistake, first come, first serve. To read the mistaken phrase is definitely irritating at times.

So, first come, first served, and no more first come, first serve.

The horrific "revert back"

Countless emails, often from the big bosses of the corporate world, contains the nauseating mistake "revert back".

"....Revert back to me if you have any questions." This is what I saw a few days back in an email from someone whose name shoots everybody's BP up.

The verb, Revert, here is used in the sense, to go back in thought or discussion. Therefore, revert back is a redundant expression, as the word implies the sense of going 'back". 

So, do not revert back, just revert. 

Word 2007 error - This file is read-only

Consider that you are working on a very important document and your manager wants it immediately. After a few minutes, you click Save. And to your surprise, the Word 2007 document says that "This file is "read-only". Shocked and no time to do a Google search?

The solution to this annoying pop-up screen is very simple. Do the following steps to avert this problem:
1. From within the Office 2007 document, click the Office button or Ribbon.
2. Click the Word Options button.
3. Click Advanced in the Word Options screen that appears.
4. Scroll down to the Save section.
5. If the Allow background saves box is selected, click once to clear it.

6. Click the OK button, and reopen the document.
Note: Repeat these steps if you get the same error again.

Powerplay and Tsunami

Powerplay is a term used in the world of cricket. It was intended to increase the othewise boring middle overs of the game. But as World Cup Cricket 2011 unfurled, the host India found the powerplay too hot to handle. Powerplay has become an Achilles heel in the host's batting lineup as the batsmen simply squandered away the side's dominant position by playing extravagant shots. India narrowly escaped from the jaws of defeat against England, and lost, in a shameful fashion, to South Africa despite raising the prospect of an imposing total.

After 2004, the dreaded Tsunami returned to the news in Japan, which saw a fierce wave after an earthquake of 8.9 magnitude. The Tsunami also affected a few of the country's nuclear reactors. The effect of the Tsunami waves on the nuclear reactors have already raised questions on the safety aspects and ecological impacts of such reactors. I share my grief with those who lost their lives and dear ones in Japan.

Interesting Links and News - Jan 20

The abbreviation, Statement of Work, appeared in an email I received today. Decided to know more about it and landed right on Wikipedia.

25 commandements for journalists from Tim Radford, former Guardian science editor, letters editor, arts editor and literary editor. Excellent stuff.

"Mobile number portability (MNP), which allows customers to switch service providers without changing their cell number, will be available across India from Thursday (January 20)," says The Telegraph daily. The question is who will gain the most if people change their service providers in large numbers. "More than one out of six mobile phone subscribers (17.6%) want to switch over to another telecom company," says The Hindustan Times. Business Standard says that if the service providers tweak their plans, customers may be the winners.

I wonder what will happen if the same is done for DTH services. Because DTH subscribers are the most unhappy lot, compared to mobile subscribers.

Deadly Congo fever virus surfaces in India, reports The Telegraph. The Indian Express says, "A six-member team from the National Centre for Disease Control...will visit Gujarat to investigate the prevalence of Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic fever (CCHF)."

Accelerated melting of sea-ice over the coming decades will release more mercury into the environment, says a study. At present, the absence of sunlight prevents the chemical degradation of the heavy metal element.

Understanding Poetry: A Basic Checklist

A poem can be understood by trying to answer the following: who, what, when, where, and why. But it is wise to keep in mind the following to understand it fully:

Title: Understand the link between the title of the poem and the poem itself.

Speaker or character: Identify the speaker or the characters mentioned in the poem.

Setting: Find out the setting in which the poem is based on.

Situation: Understand the situation the speaker is in and its relevance to the poem.

Words: Understand the meaning of all the words in the poem, repetitions of words, punctuation, unusual expressions, capitalisation etc.

Form: The form in which the poem is written and whether it changes or develops into some other form.

Theme: The subject of or the idea behind the poem and the experience it tends to evoke, or the message it seeks to convey.

Imagery: Note the words that indicate or describe the auditory, visual, tactile, taste, smell, and movement in the poem and their contribution to the meaning or the poem itself.

Figures of Speech: Identify the type of figure of speech used. This includes simile, metaphor, paradox, personification, synecdoche (a part standing for the whole), metonymy (one standing for another), pun, hyperbole, irony, symbols etc.

An Act for Plain Writing

If you have read official documents released by the central government or the state governments in India, you will know the pain. The writing in such documents is characterised by ambiguos, lengthy, and wordy sentences. "Officialese" is the name given to such kind of writing. The same applies to legal documents also.

Now, the US government has decided to do something about obscure writing. The Plain Writing Act of 2010 seeks to etsbalish that "Government documents issued to the public must be written clearly, and for other purposes."

Interestingly, the act defines "plain writing" as "writing that is clear, concise, well-organized, and follows other best practices appropriate to the subject or field and intended audience." So, plain writing gets legal approval. Technical writers beware!

Traitorware and privacy

Traitorware are "devices that act behind your back to betray your privacy, says the Electronic Frontier Foundation. It actually got me thinking about my new smartphone, which may be leaking or accessing information to someone. Dangerous times ahead, as I started reading Web Photos That Reveal Secrets, Like Where You Live.

Meanwhile, I have to check my location security settings and disable it. That is my New Year resolution.