The Golden 80s

The Grammarly blog has a few interesting tips on succeeding in business writing. They include the following: Keep it simple and short (KISS) - Mistakenly expanded as 'keep it simple and stupid" Consistent   Professionalism Review  If children aged three do not have Faecalibacterium, Lachnospira, Veillonella, and Rothia (Flvr) bacteria as their micro biome, there is a chance of them developing Asthma . This means that it is better to get exposed to these bacteria at a younger age so that your immune system has a better chance of not responding hyper actively to these microbes.  Every writer requires an editor , an editor who knows to edit. I agree.  As the liberal values were under attack in India, checked out what John Locke had to say about Liberalism. 

In hock is a phrase. Click to know its meaning. Sentence: British newspapers’ reputations suffer if they are seen as being in hock to their proprietors or advertisers. New Stateman

Everything and anything is social now. Companies and brands need the social media to generate leads and conversions. To achieve this, they will need a social media strategy to create brand loyalty and customer satisfaction, and increase revenues. Individuals need to list their websites and blogs high on Google page rankings and attract followers and likes and become thought leaders. The following are a few tips on how you can devise a social media strategy: Goals and objectives : Along with the company goals and objectives, you need to know for sure why you want to use the potential of social media. You need the KPIs to measure the success of your company’s social media strategy. You also need to know how you can achieve success on social media.  Demography : Users rule the social media and their behavior dictates whether your content can go viral or not. You need to know who your users are, where they come from, their habits, and which social media they use. You need to crea...

Some pop music songs remain in one’s head after you hear it first time. These rock or pop songs then replay automatically in your brain so that you want to listen to them again and again. Until another rocking song captures your attention. As a music buff, I have a long list of such rock songs. A long list. A cherished list spanning more than 20 years. First heard on radio when there were no CDS, internet, and mp3s. They include: Tom Sawyer – Rush Who Made Who – AC/DC Hysteria and Photograph – Def Leppard Sweet Child of Mine and Welcome to the Jungle – GNR Turbo – Judas Priest Neon Lights - Kraftwerk Such songs are always special. Special to that kid 20 years ago. When I heard the song Human Race by Three Days Grace , I remembered my cherished list of rock songs in a flash and this one belonged to that list. I liked this track from this Canadian rock band with its anthemic quality, good vocals and muted lead guitar solos. And they have a new vocalist in Matt Wals...

Last week, the media reported the alarming situation in Bengaluru city's Varthur lake as polluted foam from the lake spilled into the roads and surrounding areas. Similar reports appeared in the press about Bellandur lake pollution. The following are the 10 things you must know about phosphate pollution in lakes and streams: Phosphate along with nitrogen is a known naturally occurring ‘nutrient’. Phosphorus helps in the growth of plants like algae in aquatic ecosystems like lakes. Fish and other species feed on algae. Higher levels of phosphorus lead to faster growth of aquatic plants like algae. If you see weed like growth covering a large portion of a lake nearby, you can suspect nutrient pollution. Such growth of algae results in toxic algal blooms that are recognized by changes in the color of water. Faster plant growth in water bodies reduces the concentration of oxygen in these waters, and results in a condition called ‘Hypoxia’. Hypoxia results in the death of anim...

The following are the 10 things you must know about the Olive Ridley turtles : Olive Ridley Turtles are the smallest of the sea turtles in the world. They are so-called because of their olive-coloured shell which is called Carapace . Their scientific name is Lepidochelys olivacea .  They eat shrimps, crabs, molluscs and so on in the ocean. They have a habit of migrating thousands of kilometers in the open ocean. The female Olive Ridley turtles have the habit of returning to and nesting in the same beach.  The mass nesting of thousands of female Olive Ridley turtles is called Arribada , which is a Spanish word meaning  mass arrival .  Gahirmatha in Orissa, India has been reported as the world’s largest Olive Ridley turtle rookery. Olive Ridley turtles are listed as a vulnerable species by the IUCN Red List. They are threatened by trawling ships in the ocean and destruction of habitat for port and tourist projects.

"...Their (elephants) dung is usually packed with seeds. Elephants disperse more seeds of more species for longer distances than any other animal, thereby planting the trees of the future," a quote from an Independent newspaper's story on the African nation Malawi's decision to burn four tons of ivory in a bid to save wildlife. Pollution in Yangtze River forces China to relocate a few of the world's only freshwater porpoise,  Yangtze finless porpoise, to a secure habitat. A bird no larger than a cricket ball could derail plans to build Adani’s plans for the $16.5 billion Carmichael mine, says news.com.au A review of The Human Age,’ by Diane Ackerman in the New York Times . David Suzuki : We can’t afford to waste water The Price of Damming Tibet’s Rivers US submits plans to submit to the United Nations a plan to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 26 to 28 percent by 2025. A National Geographic report says ".. .France approved a law last week t...

T he vast majority of the world's  remaining forests are fragmented . In other words, the forests that we see today are "...increasingly isolated from other forests by a sea of transformed lands, and they are found in ever-smaller sized patches." says a new study . This means that only the Amazon and the Congo are the two major forests left in the world, says Christian Science Monitor . Another study says that "The amount of moisture transpired from leaves increases for some tree species but drops on average." because of climate change. Global climate change disturbs seafloor ecosystems on continental margins and required millions of years for ecological recovery, says a paper published in PNAS . Around 8 million metric tonnes of plastic go into the oceans every year. Today, 99 percent of our transoceanic data traffic —including phone calls, text and e-mail messages, —travels across the oceans via undersea cables, says a ...

Scientists and doctors have been saying that overuse of antibiotics will lead to antibiotic resistance. Bacteria share genes through a process called Horizontal Gene Transfer . This process is different from the way human beings or other organisms get their genetic material from normal cell division of their parental genome. Carbapenems are a class of antibiotics that were being used against several strains of bacteria, including gravely ill patients and those that show antibiotic resistance. But the emergence of multi-drug resistance has also affected Carbapenems. The concern now is that the resistance against Carbapenems have been increasing worldwide. The medical world is worried about such resistance in  Enterobacteriaceae  and  Klebsiella pneumoniae to Carbapenems, as anyone can get an infection from these two bacteria from crowded places such as hospitals. A recent study advocates that hospitals must compulsorily screen for two genes,  Klebsiella pneumon...

If you have accidentally deleted your WhatsApp conversations and want to view them again, you can restore the conversation from the backed up files. The  msgstore.db.crypt8 file in WhatsApp is the backup file that saves your chats and messages. WhatsApp manually saves the backup file in your phone. Use the  msgstore.db.crypt8 to restore them. You can view this file in the WhatsApp/Databases folder location on your phone. You can find it either on your phone SD card or in your device's internal memory. For more information on restoring backed up files in WhatsApp, see How do I recover deleted messages?

There was free for all today in Kerala as the opposition MLAs tried to prevent the finance minister K M Mani from presenting the budget. The CPM-led opposition clashed with the watch and ward personnel who prevented the opposition MLAs from reaching the treasury benches and prevent the finance minister from going ahead with the state budget for 2015-16. The finance minister laid the budget on the table after receiving oral instructions from the Assembly Speaker whose dais was destroyed by the opposition MLAs. In the ensuing clashes, a few MLAs were injured and they were taken to hospital. NDTV says that "... Outside the assembly, a massive contingent of LDF and BJP protesters raised slogans against Mr Mani and threw bottles of water at the police, who used batons, tear gas and water cannons to control the crowd . The police has deployed a 2,500-strong force outside the assembly, with multiple barricades. " The state capital Thiruvananthapuram then witnessed clashes...

My all time favorite Whitesnake is back in an electrifying style with a their 12th album called Purple. An official announcement from the hard rock band's site says "The Purple Album will be released in North America on May 19th... is a re-imagination of classic songs from David Coverdale’s time as the lead singer for Deep Purple’s Mark 3 and Mark 4 studio albums." And their cover of Deep Purple classic Stormbringer is gaining traction on YouTube. Obvioulsy, the cover song is more scorching and thrashy than Deep Purple's original.

A new UN report titled Water in the World We Want  urges that "...national governments must make sustainable advancements in water, wastewater, and sanitation management, reduce corruption, and hold energy and agricultural sectors responsible for waster use efficiencies. The 94-page report is a comprehensive one for experts working on managing water and water resources. Let me quote a few gems from the repot: The global water crisis is not that there isn’t enough water on Earth to meet all needs; it is a crisis of there not being enough water where we want it, when we want it, of sufficient quality to meet these needs. As long as there are governments, corporations, and individuals out to protect only their own interests, wealth will continue to be ill-distributed, financial resources will remain inadequate, and vulnerable populations will continue to bear inequitable costs and consequences. Lack of basic services actually increases expenditure in other sectors and categ...

While the BJP's debacle at New Delhi cannot linked to lack of reforms, Indian Express feels that reforms should be accelerated in collaboration with the opposition and the states. I can't agree more with "Liberalism can’t be taken as a licence to indulge in vulgarity" as said by the Express  about the ever-increasing fall in the standards of language in popular entertainment. And it is nobody's case that India stands a chance in the cricket world cup down under. The Hindu writes that dealing with black money requires internal and external steps, and in the second edit questions the recent tie-up of Facebook and Reliance. The Telegraph cannot agree with a bit of decency on TV, followed by Hindustan Times  who echoes the same liberal pro-western values. Deccan Herald blasts the Bihar Governor's impropriety in giving time to Manjhi, and in another editorial  supports South Africa to win the cricket world cup. Deccan Chronicle also finds problems with ...

The environment ministry's existence requires an overhaul. It has so far functioned as another project clearance agency, a remnant of the old licence-permit raj dispensation. The principal activity of this department must be to safeguard the environment of India, and not the single-handed purpose of clearing projects. Instead, it has degenerated known for its controversial decisions, yes or no to high-profile projects, and lies created by a section of pro-free-market journalists First of all, the ministry must have an environmental philosophy that outlines what exactly it will achieve in the next few decades. The environment ministry's objectives should never be for the next five years or the period when the existing government is in power. The philosophy must be to safeguard the environment without landing in controversies involving delayed project clearances that subverts its primary mission and functional role. It requires a cadre of officials, professionals, political...

While watching the MEA press conference yesterday, I felt that there were "less details" about the Indo-US talks and less concrete answers when the journalists' pressed for more information. So, the following is what the foreign and Indian press said about the talks. Understandably, the US media was more skeptical, while the Indian media was not sure about the nitty-gritties of the deal and the insurance pool amount that will be created. Overall the reports indicated a new warmth and progress in Indo-US relations, but also noted the atmospherics and the live media coverage. New York Times : "...two countries sought to transform a fraught geopolitical relationship into a fresh partnership for a new era of cooperation." On nuclear liability: "...The details remained vague, and it was unclear whether the understanding would convince American companies.." "...Mr. Modi’s reference to Mr. Obama by his first name drew notice..." (Talking h...

There is only one thing that can make me feel better at any time of the day or in any mood. It is Music. Since all music TV is just video crap and the new music dance/trance/EDM trends are ridiculous. let me sit back and enjoy the great musicians who created great music 20-30 years back. And they are still around and I can listen to them because of the World Wide Web. No time for music porn as I insert White Lion/s Big Game CD into my computer. New albums to listen to: Frank Hannon Band - Born Free Paul Skowron (Former Noisy Mama singer) solo CD 'Resurrection Road' Guitarist Ritchie Kotzzen's new album Europe - War Of Kings AC/DC - Rock or Bust Revolution Saints first album Lynch Mob - Sun Red Sun A second-hand bookstore forced me to buy the following: Mass Communication in India - Keval J Kumar Granta - The magazine of new writing 107 Granta - The Best of Young American Novelists (2007) Thomas Piketty is still there and I have reached page 10 .