Weekly roundup

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. 

Meaning of 'in hock'

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

Essentials of creating a social media strategy for small businesess

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 create user personas to know your customers. 
• Social media audit: For beginners, competitor analysis is a good start. You need to evaluate how your competitors are doing, on which social media platforms they are on, in what ways they use these platforms and what are the conversations the customers are having about their products. You need to identify which keywords your competitors increasingly use on social media. A well-planned social media audit will help you devise your social media strategy in line with your company’s overall goals. 
• Timing: For maximum impact, you need to know the best time to post on social media in order to receive the best response and impact. It may vary from one social media platform to another. 
• Analyze your strategy: After you start implementing your social media strategy, evaluate its impact and engage in continuous improvement of your strategy. Listen to social social media conversations, identify the thought leaders and influencers in your domain. In collaboration with your customer support and marketing teams, manage all negative conversations and answer feedback carefully. 
• Gap analysis: Do a gap analysis to find out the areas where you need to prioritize and optimize. Find out whether your content in web pages or social media platforms lack in any aspect. Ensure you are using all the available media for social conversations. If you are auditing your social media strategy, identify the gaps and customize your strategy in line with your company’s objectives. 
• Content strategy: The most crucial part is your social media content strategy. Text alone will no longer suffice and you need to have a strategy to use different types of content such as videos, podcasts, and infographics. Remember that good content helps in building relationships with your customers, and you must have plans or content calendars to publish content that your customers need and want to know. 
• Create great content: Great and relevant content can bring in new customers or generate prospects, get brand advocates, and create an active online community that engages in conversations about your products and brands. You must also plan how you will measure engagement from the content that you post. You may have to use Google Analytics or other tools to do that. You must also plan to test the impact of different call to actions on your customers. 
• Review: Finally, you will have to set KPIs to measure the effectiveness of your social media strategy, its success, gaps, and pitfalls. You need to set KPIs for individual social media channels and for the ones that were the most effective for the campaigns you have done. 

Three Days Grace and the Human Race

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 Walst. The song belongs to the band's new album Human released March 2015.

I culled the song from the Billboard Hard Rock Albums chart. On the day of writing this, the album is at number 4 on charts. I would rate this track higher than the single Painkiller released on iTunes in 2014.

So, I will listen to the song again until another one displaces it.

10 things you must know about Phosphate pollution

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:

1. Phosphate along with nitrogen is a known naturally occurring ‘nutrient’.
2. Phosphorus helps in the growth of plants like algae in aquatic ecosystems like lakes. Fish and other species feed on algae.
3. 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.
4. Such growth of algae results in toxic algal blooms that are recognized by changes in the color of water.
5. Faster plant growth in water bodies reduces the concentration of oxygen in these waters, and results in a condition called ‘Hypoxia’.
6. Hypoxia results in the death of animals like fish in aquatic systems severely polluted by phosphorus and nitrogen.
7. Eating seafood from lakes or streams high in algal blooms is a risk to human health. The effects reported include deaths and neurotoxicity.
8. High levels of phosphorus reaches water bodies from agricultural actives, fertilizer overuse, untreated sewage, human waste, and storm water runoff.
9. Household detergents, pet waste, and lawns in urban areas contribute to phosphorus pollution.
10. It took more than 40 years to reduce phosphorus pollution into the severely polluted Lake Erie.

10 Things to Know About Olive Ridley Turtles

The following are the 10 things you must know about the Olive Ridley turtles:

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

Daily Environment Roundup - April 15

"...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 that requires the roofs of new commercial buildings be covered—at least in part—by either solar panels or plants." This is a great move!

A study in Finland shows that a steroid, 17β-trenbolone, which is used on livestock to increase muscle growth, alters the reproductive behaviour in male guppy fish.

WHO Report Links Weed Killer Ingredient Glyphosate to Cancer Risk, says NBC News.

India's National Green Tribunal (NGT) has asked the University Grants Commission (UGC) to monitor the undergraduate environmental studies courses and their syllabus. 

A new study published in the Human Reproduction journal says consumption of fruits and vegetables with high levels of pesticide residues was associated with a lower total sperm count. 

BOOKS

New Stieg Larsson book title and cover revealed. It will be called The Girl in the Spider's Web, will be written by David Lagercrantz, says the Independent newspaper.

Daily environment roundup - March 31, 2015

The 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 new book by New York University assistant professor of media, culture and communication Nicole Starosielski.

Read an excellent article on floral signals sent by plants.

A study by scientists from 20 countries show that lake temperatures have increased at a much higher rate than air temperatures.

While India is focused on auctioning of coal blocks, "...Beijing is closing its last major coal power station next year in an attempt to tackle air pollution which is costing the economy more than 10% of its GDP."  A lead story in Indian Express says nobody acted on the worsening air pollution in New Delhi, India's capital city.

A paper published in the leading medical journal BMJ says that increased exposure to particulate matter in the air can increase anxiety levels and the chances of stroke in women.

Multi-drug resistance and carbapenems resistance

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 pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC) and New Delhi metallo-β-Lacatamase-1 (NDM-1), in Enterobacteriaceae infections, as these genes can rapidly cross geographic boundaries. The study also recommends limiting the use of Carbapenems to treat these infections to counter the emergence of resistance to this antibiotic.

NDML-1 infections has created a ruckus in India in 2010 with the media hyping it as a superbug that is set to devour the country because of its poor sanitation.

How to restore deleted or backed up messages in WhatsApp

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?

Kerala Assembly turns into battleground, but Mani presents Budget

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 between the protesters and the police. Buses and governmnet vehicles were burnt and the houses of MLAs were attacked allegedly by the returning protesters.

Whitesnake is back with a new album!

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.

The fundamental issue of water

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 categories; for example it usually costs more to get water from informal private providers, health costs increase because waterborne disease is more prevalent, and the potential for human productivity is compromised.

Daily Editorial Track - Feb 14, 2015

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 Bihar Governor.

The problem with official enviromentalism

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 parties, and NGOs who can work together to charter a new development agenda that looks forward and relies on scientific data to arrive at crucial ethical and technically sound decisions. The environment ministry's activism must be not to be an adversary to the government or any other sector, but accomplish its objectives through collaboration, persuasion, and legal remedies on a case by case basis. Environmental management must be within a project, and not outside of the project. The ministry must also consider the cultural diversity of India and requires a different level of skills and expertise unmatched when compared to other ministries.

For this, the ministry must have data that debunks the false EIA reports, canards in the media, and counterclaims unleashed by its opponents. It must create a national database of environmental studies published by peer-reviewed journals, universities, professionals and NGOs. In such a setup, no EIA mafia or corporate entity can misguide the government with false data and land it in a soup. Of course, the person leading the ship must have the required knowledge to take decisions. In an open and transparent environment, the people will not be pitted against the governments they themselves elected. Whether you hate it or not, it is time for "green lobbying" to ensure that the environmnetal concerns are taken into account, and no laws, environmental or human, are violated.

This is a ministry that requires extensive collaboration with India's research institutes and personnel who can separate the wheat from the chaff. It also requires extensive inputs from international agencies who can supply updated scientific data.

The environment ministry must never become just a project clearance ministry: it has a crucial role in defining the future of India's social and ecological environment. This ministry may have nothing to do with India's economic growth, unless the environmental damages and benefits of development are not accounted in the accounting books. Yes, it's time to account in dollars or Indian rupees the ecological damage or the ecological benefits accrued by development and growth in India. Otherwise, the future generations will curse the present generation for doing nothing for them, when the West is taking serious note of environmental concerns.

My 2015 bookshelf

What the media said about Obama's visit to India

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 heads on TV saw a problem here and remarked that it was inappropriate).

"...But more broadly, India set no specific goals limiting greenhouse gases, as Beijing did in November..."

"...India indicated it would set up a government-backed insurance pool to cover some of the risk, but not all of it...'

"...Some analysts said the understanding sounded vague and inconclusive...."

Washington Post

The paper's Headline said, Obama, India’s Modi claim breakthrough on nuclear issues

"...a three-day visit that is heavy on pageantry and symbolism..."

LA Times Headline:  was a bit critical"...Modi rejected calls for India to match China’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions..." "...The meeting between the two leaders was rich in atmospherics,.."

"...Indian officials have also offered to create an insurance pool to shelter nuclear suppliers from liability in case of an accident,.."

Wall Street Journal

The story headlined " U.S. and India Advance Nuclear Trade"  says "...None of Sunday’s discussions amounted to a major accord..."

" Mr. Obama said he and Mr. Modi had achieved “breakthrough understandings,...but he offered no specifics..."

" The agreement calls for a...“memorandum of law”—essentially an executive action—could be used to ensure that India is in compliance with international rules on liability..."

The Guardian Newspaper says "....Obama and Modi agree to limit US liability in case of nuclear disaster..." The story added "...Details of the deal remain vague,.."

Now the Indian media

The Hindu is quite sure that there is no dilution of liability law and says "...an enhanced insurance pool with a liability package of atleast $200 million..."

The Times of India's headline was more pro-business fluff, but the paper was skeptical on the liability clause indicating it will be tested on courts. 

The Hindustan Times saw a "...dramatic progress in the stalled six-year-old civilian nuclear agreement ..." and agreement on "...setting up a Rs. 1,500-crore “insurance pool..."

The DNA report hinted that a everything was agreed upon a week before and the tea session Obama and Modi had at the Hyderabad House finally clinched the deal (How the reporter came to know about this is the question). "...India's five public sector insurance companies will stand to insurance Rs 750 crore..." 

Towards the end the story descends into jingoistic stuff like "...the agreement is an outcome of the US' recognition that India is a major power in the 21st century..." It marks the end of the nuclear apartheid India has been subject to in the last three decades. The deal recognizes India as a nuclear power..."

The Indian Express had more details in multiple stories and did document the long path ahead for the nuclear deal that was claimed to be done. 

Happy New Year 2015

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.