Musings of Ajaal & Gujaal

2012 : A Year with Books and Reading.

2012-12-29T22:08:00.002+05:30

2012 : A Year with Books and Reading

When it comes to books this year has been The Best of all these days of my mortal existence.

A book is rewritten in the mind of every reader, and the book rewrites each reader’s mind in a unique way, too.

Here is the list of Books i've read this year.

Casino Royale.
Live and Let Die.
Moonraker.
Diamonds Are Foreever.
From Russia With Love.
GoldFinger.
ThunderBall.
The Spy Who Loved Me.
The Man With The Golden Gun.
The Confessions of an Economic Hitman
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.
The Book Theif by Markus Zusak.
Imagine by John Lehrer. The Controversy that followed is a lesson to all writers
How We Decide by John Lehrer.
The Compass Of Pleasure : How Our rains Make Fatty Foods, Orgasm,Marijuana,Genoricity and Learning Feel So Good by David J. Linden.
The Great Gatsby by Scott F.Fitzgerald.
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson.
Teachings Of Buddha by Jack Kornfield.
How Proust Can Change your Life by Alain De Botton.
Moon Walking with Einstein: The Art and Science Of Remembering by Joshua Foer.
A Whole New Mind : Why Right Brainers will Rule the World by Daniel H.Pink.
Rudra : The Idea Of Shiva.
Made To Stick : Why Some Ideas Survive and Other Die By Chip And Dan Heath.
The Bed Of Procrustes : Philosophical and Practical Aphorims by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
Fooled By Randomness : The Hidden Role Of Chance in Life And in the Markets by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
The Signal And noise : Why So many predictions fail but some don't by Nate Silver.
Da Vinci's Ghost by Toby Lester.
The Upside Of Irrationality by Dan Ariely.
Every Thing you Know About English Is Wrong by Bill Brohaugh.
The Winning Way By Harsha Bhogle.
Minority Report and The Pay check by Phillip K.Dick.
Out of our Minds : Learning to be Creative by Ken Robinson. Do Watch this TED-Talk on How Schools Kill Creativity
John Grisham by King Of Torts.
Why is Penis Shaped Like that and other reflections of being Human by Jesse Berring.
Super Mario : How Nintendo Conquered America by Jeff Ryan
The Emperor Of Maladies : A Biography Of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee.
Stuff Of Thought: Language as a Window to Human Nature by Steven Pinker.
We are Anonymous by Parmy Olsen
Abraham Lincoln The Vampire Hunter by Grahame Smith
Digital Fortress by Dan Brown.
Moby Dick By Herman Melville.
Purple Cow by Seth Godin.
LinchPin by Seth Godin.
13 Things that Don't Make Sense by Micheal Brooks.
The Path Between Seas by David McCullough.
Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel.
Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane.
Wisdom of Psychopaths by Kevin Dutton
The Art Of stealing like an Artist by Austin kleon.
Being Wrong : Adventures In the Margin Of Error by Kathryn Schulz.
The Physics of Wall Street by James Owen Weatherall.
Kafka On the Shore by Haruki Murakami.
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami.

Books unable to complete :

Micro By Michael Crichton.
Faster : The Acceleration of just about Everything by James Gleick.
The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne.
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien.
The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling.
Mr.Penumbra's 24 hour Book Store by Robin Sloan.

Here are my Pick of the Best Books i've read this year.

The Emperor Of Maladies : A Biography Of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee.
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami.
13 Things that Don't Make Sense by Micheal Brooks.
The Winning Way By Harsha Bhogle.
Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
The Signal And noise : Why So many predictions fail but some don't by Nate Silver.
GoldFinger and From Russia With Love.
The Book Theif by Markus Zusak.
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson.
Stuff Of Thought: Language as a Window to Human Nature by Steven Pinker.
We are Anonymous by Parmy Olsen.
Digital Fortress by Dan Brown.
Moby Dick By Herman Melville.

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QUIZ 127 POTUS's Letter ? but to who ?

2012-11-10T22:13:00.001+05:30

POTUS's Letter ? but to who ?

Quiz 126 : What does this Depict ?

2012-11-07T09:55:00.000+05:30

What does this Depict ?

Quiz 125

2012-11-05T23:05:00.002+05:30

ID the Person !! ??

QUIZ 124

2012-11-05T22:54:00.000+05:30

Its been eons since i've posted Questions,Reason : One Fine day Completely lost interest in Quizzing, and its philosophy behind it.Now Trying to Revamp it. Will i regain my Form Back, Who Knows....

Simple !! ID the Person for me ??

QUIZ 123

2012-04-28T11:01:00.000+05:30

ID the Ad, And its Context ??

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Quiz 122

2012-04-28T10:58:00.000+05:30

Probably, the first occurrence of the Now-in-Fad Phrase ???

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My Pick of Favourite Songs for this Month

2012-01-31T22:34:00.000+05:30

1) Oasis ~ Stop Crying your Heart Out

Being a Oasis FanBoy i really love each and every songs from their labels, But this particular song has been lately close to my heart. With Liam Gallagher's Brilliant vocal's, this song is a must hear.

" cause all of the stars
Are fading away
Just try not to worry
You'll see them some day

Take what you need
And be on your way "

2) Florence and the Machine : What the Water Gave Me

Thanks to one of my Friend who recommended this band, Florence and the Machine is a Brilliant Band always giving a Musical Cocktail and Experimenting in Myriad Sub Genres, This Particular Song is Sinusidal with "Soul" at the beginning and ends on a typical "rock" note with "Celtic" Background.My favourite

3) Kasabian ~ Album: Velociraptor ~ Man Of Simple Pleasures

Even though Velociraptor Remains their least loved Album, for no Percievable reason this particular song is what i always play in the "Repeat Mode".

4) Radiohead: Videotape
"When I'm at the pearly gates
This will be on my videotape, my videotape Mephistopheles is just beneath
And he's reaching up to grab me"

Can't resist !!!! This is one song which has been literally haunting me for the past two years, utterly indecipherable both in meaning and the depth of the melody.Not to mention Thom Yorke's petrifying Vocals

QUIZ 121

2012-01-28T11:19:00.001+05:30

Whose "To Do List" or an earlier version of "Bucket list " is this ??

ANS: Thomas Alva Edison cracked by @FagunB

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QUIZ 120

2012-01-28T11:11:00.001+05:30

IDentify ??

Ans : Yes Minister cracked by @FagunB

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QUIZ 119 > IDentify the Series

2012-01-16T12:15:00.001+05:30

IDentify the Series ?? Series of what ? by whom ?

O'Reilly Series of Books cracked by @FagunB
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Quiz 118 IDentify the Person caricatured ?? ( look closely on the Pic for clues)

2012-01-16T12:08:00.000+05:30

IDentify the Person caricatured ?? ( look closely on the Pic for clues)

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QUIZ 116 > IDentify the brand

2012-01-16T11:09:00.001+05:30

IDentify the Brand ??

Ans: Schwarzkopf , Cracked by @_tushar_r @FagunB @binoyxj and Mayukh Nair

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115 > IDentify the Movie

2011-11-05T18:51:00.001+05:30

IDentify the Movie ?

Ans: The Movie: Amadeus, a period film released in 1984, which won 8 academy awards, 4 BAFTA awards, 4 Golden Globes and a DGA award.
Cracked by Kiminesh

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Quiz 114 > First occurrence of What ??

2011-11-03T20:28:00.001+05:30

First occurrence of what ??
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Ans: The above picture depicts the manuscripts of Gottfried Leibniz, a German Mathematician and philosopher (life history here) when he developed the "infinitesmal calculus" independent of Isaac Newton in the 1660s, which later paved the way for differential calculus and integral calculus.
None cracked this quiz.

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QUIZ 113 IDentify ? Where ? Prior to what ?

2011-10-25T20:17:00.005+05:30

IDentify ? Where ? Prior to what ?

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Ans: The above pic depicts Mount Rushmore(the official website here) before the construction of the memorial situated in South Dakota in United States of America. which now bears the carved head sculptures of former American presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln

Cracked by Deepak, MayukhNair and Kayyessee
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QUIZ 112 Find the Connect

2011-10-11T18:48:00.002+05:30

Find the connect ??
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Ans: The Connect- The guy to the left is the English contemporary author Stephen King, whose book "Misery" was adapted as a Hollywood movie of the same name in which Kathy Bates(the lady in the above pic) plays the antagonist character, "Annie Wilkes". This movie was remade in Tamil as "Julie Ganapathy" directed by critically acclaimed director, Balu Mahendra(the guy to the right).
None cracked this quiz.

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QUIZ > 111 IDentify the book ??

2011-10-03T19:22:00.002+05:30

IDentify the book ??

Ans: Book- "Peter the Lord's Cat: And Other Unexpected Obituaries from Wisden"(2006) by Gideon Haigh

A reader's review of this book "This is a book that does exactly what it says on the cover. It's a collection of some of the more unusual obituaries featured in Wisden over the years & doesn't necessarily concentrate on the most famous of cricket glitterati but more on those associated with the game (yes ,even the Lord's cat), whose obituaries have some curiosity value.
I found that this was a book which was an enjoyable read , in a "dip in & out " fashion. Some quite thought provoking entries,some quite humorous & some , as with those who perished in war,very tragic.
Still, an interesting collection & well worth getting a hold of."

Cracked by Victor

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QUIZ 110 Honorary Group ... Identify ??

2011-09-30T00:02:00.003+05:30

Honorary Group ... Identify ??
Ans: The Honorary Group: The Tau Beta Pi Association, the oldest engineering honour society in the US, founded at Lehigh university in the late 19th century.

Cracked by Sumit Mishra. Good Job Sumit!

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QUIZ 109: Identify whats happening in this pic

2011-09-29T23:58:00.001+05:30

IDentify ??
Ans: The unveiling of Amazon Kindle by Jeff Bezos
Cracked by Sumit Mishra, Karthik, Aarti & Deepak.

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QUIZ 108 > ID the Place ??

2011-09-05T14:18:00.002+05:30

ID the Place ??
Ans: The above pic depicts Night view of Pentagon Memorial, built in memory of all those who lost their lives during the 9/11 attacks.
Cracked by Sumit Mishra
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QUIZ 107 IDentify the Plant ( divinity )

2011-08-24T14:26:00.003+05:30

Identify the plant ( divinity ) ?

ANS: Rudraksha, whose beads are used as worship aid in Hinduism.

None cracked this Quiz.

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Quiz 106: Identify what this is and give context???

2011-08-23T23:09:00.001+05:30

Identify what this is and give context
Ans: The above picture depicts the fountain of youth situated in Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park, privately owned, in St. Augustine, Florida

None cracked this Quiz
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Scientific facts to answer for some of ur Y's: Y are some people left-handed? Is this type of preference restricted to humans alone?

2011-08-11T16:00:00.002+05:30

Nearly 75% of the population is strongly right-handed and about 90% is predominantly right-handed. Among the rest, a great deal of variability exists. Some are strongly left-handed, and others, called ambidextrous, are left-handed for some activities and right-handed for others.

Researchers suggest that differences in left and right-handers in patterns of brain organisation may be associated with differences in skills, aptitude and perhaps even personalities. In the large majority of right-handers, speech is controlled by the left side of the brain.

Handedness is defined as a preference for the use of either the right or left hand. Although most animals have a preferred paw/hand; only people have a species-typical preference for the right hand.
Only after 6 months of a baby's birth, they start showing a preference for either the right or left side of their body. This is due to functional asymmetry of two sides of the brain. It is said that the left hemisphere of the brain controls the right side of the rest of the body and vice versa.

      In left-handers, the brain organisation is unpredictable. In about 71% of the left-handers speech is controlled by the left hemisphere of the brain, as is the case for right-handers; but in the remaining left-handers speech is controlled by the right hemisphere. In some left-hander cases, both hemispheres are capable of controlling speech.
      Some findings say that genes may also play a role in this handedness. But the precise mechanisms by which genes affect handedness is still unknown. A physical injury may also be involved.
Social pressure have had a considerable effect on handedness. Using the left hand to pass on or receive something is strongly discouraged even now in many countries including India. Only in recent years has society become tolerant of differences among people to accept left-handedness as a benign trait.
      Left-handedness is generally associated with special talents and also certain disorders such as stuttering, dyslexia, depression and emotional withdrawal.

Many famous people including Leonardo Da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, Lewis Carroll were left handed. Recent one in spotlight is the present president of USA, Barack Obama :)
P.S: Einstein is right handed. ^_^ shown here for the sake of example for a right-handed person

This post dedicated to all left-handers out there. N also to celebrate the Left-Handers day which happens to be on August 13th ♥♥

Thats all folks, A Scientific fact thus explained.

More to be continued................. :)

Top 20 BioSuppliers-2011 by Biospectrum ABLE(Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises)

2011-07-22T15:43:00.000+05:30

This is a continuation of a previous post : Top 50 Life Science Companies

Now let us talk about BioSuppliers which serve as fodder to Life Science Companies. The budding biotech industry in India pulled out BioSuppliers from the single digit growth of 7.5% in financial yr 2009-10 to an impressive 18.93% in financial yr 2010-11.

The BioSuppliers clocked 4,630 crore in revenue in financial yr 2010-11.

Here is the list of companies which made it to the Top 20 BioSuppliers:

Spinco Biotech (MD: Mr.C Ravindranath; Business: Distribution of analytical instruments; Chennai)
Waters India (President: Mr. K V Venugopalan; Business: Manufacturer and supplier of analytical instruments ans solutions; Bangalore)
Agilent Technologies (President & Country General Manager: Mr. Parmeet Ahuja; Business: Lab equipments and research products; Gurgaon)
Becton Dickinson (Director: Mr. Sunit Trivedi; Business : Supplier of diagnostic bioresearch and medical equipment; Gurgaon)
Shimadzu Analytical (India) (MD: Mr. Senya Imamichi; Business : Analytical and Scientific Instrumentation; Mumbai)
Invitrogen Bioservices India (MD: Mr. Devashish Ohri; Business: Manufacturer and supplier of biotech consumables and instruments; Bangalore)
Sartorius Stedim India (MD: Mr. Amit Chatterjee; Business: Anaytical and Scientific Instrumentation; Bangalore)
Imperial Life Sciences (CEO: Mr. Suresh Kumar Gupta; Business: Supplier of products used in biotechnology and molecular biology research; Gurgaon)
Sigma-Aldrich Chemicals (MD: Mr. Raja Ram; Business: Manufacturer and supplier of chemicals, biochemicals and equipment; Bangalore)
DSS Imagetech (MD & CEO: Mr. Arvinder Dhingra; Business: Supplier of clinical lab, biotech research instrument and tools; New Delhi)
RFLC (MD: Mr. Sushil Mehta; Business: Manufacturing and marketing of fine chemicals and lab kits; New Delhi)
Genetix Biotech Asia (CEO: Mr. Arun Prakash; Business: Technical support and distribution of life sciences supplies; New Delhi)
Eppendorf India (CEO: Mr. V Sankarnarayanan; Business: Develops, produces and distributes systems for use in laboratories; Chennai)
Toshwin Analytical (MD: Mr. Nakul Toshniwal; Business: Specializes in analytical and laboratory equipment for life sciences; Mumbai)
Towa Optics (MD: Mr. Rakesh Batra; Business: Distributor of life sciences equipments; New Delhi)
Advanced Microdevices (MD: Mr. Nalini Kant Gupta; Business: Production of microporous membranes and separation products; Haryana)
Medispec India (MD: Mr. Vippul Chhatbar; Business: Marketing, installation and servicing of biomedical, analytical systems; Mumbai)
HiMedia Laboratories (CEO: Dr. GM Warke; Business: Manufacturer of media products for microbiology, immunology and serology; Mumbai)
Christ Nishotech (CEO: Mr. Shoeb Kurawadwala; Business: Executes turn-key projects in the pharma ranging from process water to highly purified water; Mumbai)
Genaxy Scientific (CEO: Mr. Navneet Trehan; Business: Biotechnology research products; New Delhi)