Vijay Barve

सलाम कृष्णाला !

2009-05-31T14:38:00.000-07:00

महिनाभर "आयपीएल'' स्पर्धा गाजत होती. चांगला खेळ, चांगले खेळाडू बघायला मिळाले. खूप छान मनोरंजन झाले. पण त्याचबरोबर अमाप पैसा कसा खर्च होतो किंवा त्याची उलाढाल कशी होते, ते पाहायला मिळाले. इतका पैसा उतू गेला की परदेशातील शाळांना प्रत्येक मॅचमध्ये देणग्या देण्यात आल्या !

भारतात गेल्या वर्षीच्या "आयपीएल' मध्ये असे काही झालेले आठवत तरी नाही. असो, उद्योजक, कलाकार सगळे त्यात समरस झाले होते. आणि इथे मात्र पुण्यासारख्या शहरात कृष्णा पाटील नावाची धाडसी गिर्यारोहक एव्हरेस्ट हे जगातील अत्युच्च शिखर पार करण्याचे स्वप्न उराशी बाळगून, ते पूर्णत्वाला नेण्यासाठी काही लाख रुपयांच्या मदतीसाठी वणवण भटकत होती.

राजकीय नेत्यांनी निवडणुकीचे कारण सोयीस्करपणे पुढे करून आपला नाईलाज दर्शविला, कलाकारांना त्यात काही रस वाटला नाही, उद्योजकांपर्यंत पोच नव्हती. शेवटी आपल्या मुलीचे स्वप्न पूर्ण करायचेच या ध्येयाने कृष्णाच्या वडिलांनी सारस्वत बॅंकेकडून कर्ज घेतले आणि तिला या मोहिमेवर धाडले. २१ मे २००९ रोजी या धाडसी कर्तबगार मुलीने हे शिखर सर केले. देशातील दुसरी तरुण गिर्यारोहक मुलीचा मान तिने आपल्या शिरपेचात रोवला. पेपरात ही बातमी वाचताना मान अभिमानाने ताठ झाली, ऊर भरून आले. तिचा खडतर प्रवास वाचून खरंच या १९ वर्षीय युवतीचे कौतुक करावे तेवढे थोडेच !

एव्हरेस्टसारखे शिखर पार करण्याची मोहीम म्हणजे काही सोपी नाही. किती तयारी आणि परिश्रम घेतले असतील तिने. मी एनसीसीत असताना अगदी छोटे ट्रेक्‍स करायची. म्हणजे कृष्णाने केले त्यातले एक पाऊलच असेल माझे जेमतेम, पण तेवढे छोटे ट्रेक्‍स करतानासुद्धा आम्ही किती सराव, मेहनत घ्यायचो. रोज व्यायाम, क्रॉस कंट्री, चांगले डाएट यामुळे स्टॅमिना वाढवायचा. मग चढ- उताराची प्रॅक्‍टिस. सगळ्यात महत्त्वाचे म्हणजे शिस्त स्वतःची, मोहिमेतील व बरोबरच्या सर्व ग्रुपची. त्यातच अर्धे यश मिळते, नंतर आहे तो कंट्रोल.

मनावर, सवयींवर, वागण्यावर, भावनांवर या समस्यांवर कंट्रोल ठेवायची सवय लावावी लागते. म्हणूनच गिर्यारोहक शारीरिकदृष्ट्या तर फिट असतोच, पण मानसिक तयारीही तितकीच महत्त्वाची. ऐनवेळी येणाऱ्या अडचणींवर कशी मात करायची याचे प्रशक्षण फार महत्त्वाचे. कृष्णाच्या मोहिमेत तर दोन ऍव्हलान्चचे अडथळे आले. सुदैवाने ती त्यातून सुखरूप वाचली, पण त्यांच्या ग्रुपमधील एक शेर्पा दगावला. आपल्या ग्रुपमधील कोणी असे जाणे म्हणजे एवढा मोठा मानसिक आघात असतो की पुढील प्रवास करण्याची जिगरच संपते.

आमच्या कुलू मनालीच्या एनसीसीच्या ट्रेकमध्ये रिव्हर क्रॉसिंग करताना असा एक कॅडेट वाहून गेला होता व नंतर त्याचे प्रेत मिळालेच नाही. केवळ त्याच्या हलगर्जीपणामुळे व शिस्त मोडल्यामुळे हा प्रकार घडला, पण बाकी ग्रुपवर एवढे दडपण आले की ते अजूनही आठवले तरी अंगावर शहारा येतो. पण कृष्णाने तिच्या मनाची तयारी केली होती हे अगदी दाखवून दिले. तिने सांगितले, "मी जेव्हा पीकवर पोहचले तेव्हाचा आनंद अवर्णनीय होता, पण तरीही मी मनाला पटवले, आताशी नुसते पीकवर पोहचलो आहोत, पण यानंतर उतार पूर्ण करून परत खाली पोहचायचे आहे. तेव्हाच मोहीम संपेल व तेव्हाच यशाचा आनंद मिळेल.'' खरंच किती परिपक्व विचार आहेत, शिवाय स्वतःच्या भावनांवर असा कंट्रोल ठेवून ध्येय गाठणे म्हणजे अपूर्वच.

तिचे प्रयत्न, मेहनत तर आहेच, पण तिच्या घरच्यांचा पाठिंबाही तिच्यासाठी महत्त्वाचा. त्यांच्या मोटिव्हेशन व सपोर्टमुळे ती हे स्वप्न पूर्ण करू शकली. तिच्या वडिलांनी मदतीचा हात पुढे आला नाही म्हणून न हरता, कर्ज काढून तिला एव्हरेस्टवर धाडले. शिवाय सारस्वत बॅंकेनेही ते कर्ज मंजूर केले, एवढेच नाही तर तिच्या यशामुळे, आनंदाने ते कर्ज माफही झाले ! खरंच कौतुकास्पद आहे. या मोहिमेत ज्या ज्या लोकांचा सहभाग होता, सहकार्य होते त्या सगळ्यांचा आम्हाला अभिमान आहे.

कृष्णा तुला असेच यश मिळो व एव्हरेस्टसारखीच तू जगातील सर्व शिखरे सर कर. एक मराठी मुलगी म्हणून आम्हाला तुझा अभिमान आहेच, पण आपल्या भारताचा तिरंगा अत्युच्च शिखरावर रोवून आलीस म्हणून तुला आम्हा सगळ्यांचा सलाम!

- अंजली भागवत

Article on eSakal

Pizza

2009-03-27T14:03:00.000-07:00

Right from childhood I have liking for Baked products. Bisuits, Bread, Cakes .... As I was introduced to Pizza, I started liking it too.

I enjoy Pizza of famous chains like Domino's Pizza, Pizza Hut etc. But I also used to enjoy Pizza made at home in Bangalore. We used to make it with ready made Pizza base in stove top pans. It is fun to try out own recipes for the pizza.

But now that I have a Oven, I thought of making a Pizza from scratch (Starting from Floor). A friend of mine suggested a recipe. And few other friends also give some practical useful tips. But the recipe is good enough if you want to try making one yourself. And of course toppings is your imagination and creativity.

The Pizza was Yummy !

The Crisis of Credit Visualized

2009-02-22T14:07:00.000-08:00

Found this simple and interesting short visualization on Credit Crisis.

Bespin : Another promissing tool from Mozilla Labs

2009-02-16T15:27:00.000-08:00

I hope you have already read or heard about Bespin. It is an web based code editor which can be used for "cloud computing" or just collaborating projects.

It boasts of the following features:

Ease of Use
Real-time Collaboration
Integrated Command-Line
Extensible and Self-Hosted
Fast
Accessible from Anywhere

Here is the screen shot of Bespin editing a HTML file.

Bespin has an interesting Dashboard to manage files and projects.

Visit Bespin project page for more details.

National Knowledge Commission : Call for a contest

2009-02-11T19:36:00.000-08:00

The recommendations of National Knowledge Commission have been crafted to achieve the objective of tapping into India's enormous reservoir of knowledge, mobilising national talent and creating an empowered generation with access to tremendous possibilities for the 550 million youth.
To accelerate the process of reform and to create a groundswell of public opinion, NKC invites everyone to

JOIN THE MOVEMENT
Participate in the online contests comprising debates, films and essays.

Chepest Laptop (Under $10)

2009-02-03T14:59:00.000-08:00

The 'world's cheapest laptop', developed in India, was unveiled by Union Minister for Human Resources Development Arjun Singh at the Tirupati temple on Tuesday evening.

The laptop, jointly developed by several organisations, such as the University Grants Commission, the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, will be priced at around $10 to $20 (about Rs 500 to Rs 1,000), officials said.

S K Sinha, joint secretary in the ministry for education, giving a demonstration of the device which is smaller than the normal laptop, said that it will need some more fine-tuning. He said the laptop is expected to reach the market in about six months.

Arjun Singh had an interaction with the vice chancellors of the remote states like Jammu and Kashmir and Manipur to prove the point that the device will be able to bring about high quality networking among the various institutions of higher education and also increase the skills of e learning of the students in rural areas.

The project has already created a buzz in the laptop industry across the world.

The laptop has 2 GB onboard memory with wireless Internet connectivity. To make it useful for the students, especially in the rural areas, the scientists have made it low power consuming gadget.

The mission was launched at a huge gathering of academicians and the officials from across the country including thirty vice chancellors of central and state universities at the campus of Sri Venkateshwara University Tirupati.

Like the National Mission on Education through ICT, the laptop is also aimed at improving the skills of students, both at the school and higher levels. Under the mission the government also intends to provide high-speed Internet access to the schools to download e-books and e-journals and other material. Students will be able to download the material through the 'Sakshat' portal.

The goal of the national mission is to increase the enrollment in higher education in the country by 5 per cent over the next five years. The government will subsidise 25 per cent of broadband connectivity costs for private and public colleges.

The $10 laptop is being seen as India's reply to One Laptop per Child's XO and Classmate of Intel. The XO, created by scientist Nicholas Negroponte and MIT Media Lab was originally targeted to cost only $100 but by the time it was ready to enter the market its cost went up to $188. The Classmate notebook PC from Intel was priced at $ 300 a piece.

In contrast, the Indian government's effort to market lap top at only $10 has caused a flutter in the international laptop market and many players are curious to know the details of the costing and how Indians managed to keep the cost so low.

Rediff News : India unveils $10 laptop!

And there were mixed reactions from all over the world.

More than 150 news articles already on google news

I am eagerly waiting to hear /see more about it.

Thinking Visually

2009-02-01T10:37:00.000-08:00

Thinking Visually

View more presentations or upload your own. (tags: storytelling presentation)

Lingo Kid

2009-01-25T20:36:00.000-08:00

I came across this amazing video of a kid who know to speak 13 languages. He is from Mumbai and speaks several foreign languages to see Peacock Feather Fans. This boy has not done schooling but has learned the languages to survive in the competitive market of roadside sellers.

First Video shows him talking many languages

And the second one after a few years how he has matured.

Life is a amazing teacher isn't it ?

Rs. 500

2009-01-13T11:38:00.000-08:00

What is worth of Rs. 500 to you ? I was amazed by the options people have and the difference in the way people look at it.

Worth thinking over... Do leave your comments.

East African Savanna : Landscapes

2008-11-18T16:34:00.000-08:00

This is a collection of Landscapes in the African Savanna. Please feel free to click on the picture to see bigger images and set it as your wallpaper. I am not giving too many captions here.

Wildebeests and Zebras in the background.

Early morning bit of back light shot of Savanna animals mixed heard.

A Gazelle
Hanging nests of weaver birds.

Remains of 2004 famine

East African Savana : Butterflies and Plants

2008-11-09T20:14:00.000-08:00

Since I had very less free time to roam around, I managed to photograph only two Butterflies and I am yet to look for the identities of both.

The first one is this, probably a Lycaenidae

this another Pieridae looks like a Gull.

The Savanna walk was full of wild flowers. I did not have too much time to spend, but did manage to click few interesting ones.

This looks like Fabaceae

And this a Liliaceae

This a ground Orchid ?

Typical Savanna trees. Looks like some Acacia

Aloe seen in wild

I guess this is an Ipomea

This is Acacia species

This reminds me of Apta

A Solanaceae

This is a Cadaba species of Capparaceae. Reminded me of Cadaba fruticosa I seen back in Bangalore.

This one I am not remembering now.

This was an interesting herb, some ground orchid probably.

All the identities are listed here are wild guess of a non-botanist. Please let me know any hints on the identities here in comments or by email.

ISRO'S Bhuvan To Better Google Earth

2008-11-06T17:30:00.000-08:00

Rahul Srinivas, Nov 06, 2008 1637 hrs IST

Another 'Bhuvan' up against the Angrez

Now, this is a comparison we thought we never would make. Nevertheless, here it is. Come March 2009, ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) will launch its own IRS (Indian Remote Sensing) image portal called Bhuvan. The portal will offer detailed satellite views of our planet to users -- akin to those seen on Google Earth and Wikimapia, but with a difference; this one will give sharper and more detailed pictures than provided by Google. Google Earth, which can zoom up to 200m, will have good competition in Bhuvan, which has a sharper zoom level capability of up to 10m.

Apart from the "geek" value of this service, ISRO plans to use it to enhance urban and forest planning and traffic management. Like Google Earth, a "special" version would be in the offing for professional and corporate users who might need higher resolution data. Of course, this would come at a price, though the base version would remain free.

Now, the differences. While Google Earth provides single-layer information, Bhuvan would provide multi-layer information. Additionally, you would be able to view the images date-wise. The entire service makes use of Indian satellites and its focus will be the Indian subcontinent.

Apart from Bhuvan, ISRO is also readying an information portal called "Bhu Sampada." Both services are expected to be operational by March 2009.

Story

East African Savana : Animals

2008-10-31T23:02:00.000-07:00

During the walk in the Savannas, I could spot few Animals too. But since I was on foot, and had less time, could not see most of them from near.

First mammals we spotted were Gazelles. The Thomson's gazelle (Eudorcas thomsoni). They were very far from us.

After moving forward, we saw Zebra's. I guess they were The Plains zebra (Equus quagga, formerly Equus burchelli). There were many of them and were slowly moving away as we approaced them.

On the horizon we could spot some Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) .

There was another type of Gazelles. I think they were The Grant's Gazelle (Nanger granti). It disappeared behind the trees.

There were a few wildebeest too, among a group of zebras at a distance, but could not approach them.

On the way back, from the vehicle, I could see the wildebeests from near and I think they were The Blue Wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus).

In a short time that I managed, I could see lot of things I feel.

East African Savanna : Birds

2008-10-28T16:42:00.000-07:00

In October 2008, I got an opportunity to spend some time in East African Savanna. I was in Kenya, about 50 miles away from Nairobi. The place was, couple of kilometers off “Trans African Highway” which connects Cairo in Egypt to Cape Town in South Africa.

I was there for 5 days, but busy with meeting and hardly got time to go out of compound. But on last day, finally I took opportunity to walk out and explore a bit.

During my stay, I saw few birds, I could not identify them all, but I thought I will share the pictures anyway, and request for help from you to help me identify them.

These sparrow like birds were commonly seen and were nesting on medium trees, like weavers. There call was resembling Indian Mynas. The White-browed Sparrow-weaver (Plocepasser mahali

There were colonies of Weaver Birds. I presume they are Speke's Weaver (Ploceus spekei). The males were busy building nests.

There were several trees having these nests.

One more bird, The Superb Starling (Lamprotornis superbus). Really very active bird.

And this looks like The Northern Pied-babbler (Turdoides hypoleuca) .

Thanks to Alka for Ids.

More bird pictures to come.

Internet use 'good for the brain'

2008-10-14T14:55:00.000-07:00

For middle aged and older people at least, using the internet helps boost brain power, research suggests.

A University of California Los Angeles team found searching the web stimulates centres in the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning.

The researchers say this might even help to counter-act the age-related physiological changes that cause the brain to slow down.

The study features in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

Areas activated by reading a book in the brain of an experienced web user

As the brain ages, a number of changes occur, including shrinkage and reductions in cell activity, which can impact on performance.

It has long been thought that activities which keep the brain active, such as crossword puzzles, may help minimise the impact - and the latest study suggests that surfing the web can be added to the list.

Web use stimulates much more activity in the same brain

Lead researcher Professor Gary Small said: "The study results are encouraging, that emerging computerized technologies may have physiological effects and potential benefits for middle-aged and older adults.

"Internet searching engages complicated brain activity, which may help exercise and improve brain function."

The latest study was based on 24 volunteers aged between 55 and 76. Half were experienced internet users, the rest were not.

Compared with reading

Each volunteer underwent a brain scan while performing web searches and book-reading tasks.

Both types of task produced evidence of significant activity in regions of the brain controlling language, reading, memory and visual abilities.

However, the web search task produced significant additional activity in separate areas of the brain which control decision-making and complex reasoning - but only in those who were experienced web users.

Brain activity in web newcomers: similar for reading and internet use

The researchers said that compared with simple reading, the internet's wealth of choices requires that people make decisions about what to click on in order to get the relevant information.

However, they suggested that newcomers to the web had not quite grasped the strategies needed to successfully carry out a web search.

Professor Smith said: "A simple, everyday task like searching the web appears to enhance brain circuitry in older adults, demonstrating that our brains are sensitive and can continue to learn as we grow older."

Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, said: "These fascinating findings add to previous research suggesting that middle-aged and older people can reduce their risk of dementia by taking part in regular mentally stimulating activities.

"Older web users - 'silver surfers' - are doing precisely this.

"Frequent social interactions, regular exercise and maintaining a balanced diet can also reduce dementia risk."

Dr Susanne Sorensen, head of research at the Alzheimer's Society, said: "Use it or lose it may well be a positive message to keep people active but there is very little real evidence that keeping the brain exercised with puzzles, games or other activities can promote cognitive health and reduce the risk of dementia."

Story

Holographic television to become reality

2008-10-06T13:18:00.000-07:00

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Picture this: you're sat down for the Football World Cup final, or a long-awaited sequel to the "Sex and the City" movie and you're watching all the action unfold in 3-D on your coffee table.

The future of television? This image is an impression of what 3D holographic television may look like.

It sounds a lot like a wacky dream, but don't be surprised if within our lifetime you find yourself discarding your plasma and LCD sets in exchange for a holographic 3-D television that can put Cristiano Ronaldo in your living room or bring you face-to-face with life-sized versions of your gaming heroes.

The reason for renewed optimism in three-dimensional technology is a breakthrough in rewritable and erasable holographic systems made earlier this year by researchers at the University of Arizona.

Dr Nasser Peyghambarian, chair of photonics and lasers at the university's Optical Sciences department, told CNN that scientists have broken a barrier by making the first updatable three-dimensional displays with memory.

"This is a prerequisite for any type of moving holographic technology. The way it works presently is not suitable for 3-D images," he said.

The researchers produced displays that can be erased and rewritten in a matter of minutes.

To create television sets the images would need to be changing multiple times each second -- but Peyghambarian is very optimistic this can happen.

He said the University of Arizona team, which is now ten-strong, has been working on advancing hologram technology since 1990 -- so this is a major step forward. He believes that much of the difficulty in creating a holographic set has now been overcome.

"It took us a while to make that first breakthrough, but as soon as you have the first element of it working the rest often comes more rapidly," he said. "What we are doing now is trying to make the model better. What we showed is just one color, what we are doing now is trying to use three colors. The original display was four inches by four inches and now we're going for something at least as big as a computer screen."

There are no more great barriers to overcome now, he said.

The breakthrough has made some long-time researchers of the technology believe that it could now come to fruition.

Tung H. Jeong, a retired physics professor at Lake Forest College outside Chicago who had studied holography since the 1960s told NJ.com; "When we start talking about erasable and rewritable holograms, we are moving toward the possibility of holographic TV ... It has now been shown that physically, it's possible."

And what might these holographic televisions look like?

According to Peyghambarian, they could be constructed as a screen on the wall (like flat panel displays) that shows 3-D images, with all the image writing lasers behind the wall; or it could be like a horizontal panel on a table with holographic writing apparatus underneath.

So, if this project is realized, you really could have a football match on your coffee table, or horror-movie villains jumping out of your wall.

Peyghambarian is also optimistic that the technology could reach the market within five to ten years. Peyghambarian is also optimistic that the technology could reach the market within five to ten years. He said progress towards a final product should be made much more quickly now that a rewriting method had been found.

However, it is fair to say not everyone is as positive about this prospect as Peyghambarian.

Justin Lawrence, a lecturer in Electronic Engineering at Bangor University in Wales, told CNN that small steps are being made on technology like 3-D holograms, but, he can't see it being ready for the market in the next ten years.

"It's one thing to demonstrate something in a lab but it's another thing to be able to produce it cheaply and efficiently enough to distribute it to the mass market," Lawrence said.

Yet, there are reasons to be optimistic that more resources will be channeled into developing this technology more quickly.

The Japanese Government is pushing huge financial and technical weight into the development of three-dimensional, virtual-reality television, and the country's Communications Ministry is aiming at having such technology available by 2020.

Peyghambarian said there are no major sponsors of the technology at present, but as the breakthroughs continued, he hopes that will change.

Even if no major electronics company commit themselves, there is hope that backers could come from outside of the consumer electronics industry, he said.

"It could have some other applications. In training it's useful to show people three-dimensional displays. Also it would be good to show things in 3-D for defense command and control and for surgery," he said.

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Cloud computing is a trap, warns GNU founder Richard Stallman

2008-10-06T13:03:00.000-07:00

Web-based programs like Google's Gmail will force people to buy into locked, proprietary systems that will cost more and more over time, according to the free software campaigner

Richard Stallman on cloud computing: "It's stupidity. It's worse than stupidity: it's a marketing hype campaign." Photograph: www.stallman.org

The concept of using web-based programs like Google's Gmail is "worse than stupidity", according to a leading advocate of free software.

Cloud computing – where IT power is delivered over the internet as you need it, rather than drawn from a desktop computer – has gained currency in recent years. Large internet and technology companies including Google, Microsoft and Amazon are pushing forward their plans to deliver information and software over the net.

But Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation and creator of the computer operating system GNU, said that cloud computing was simply a trap aimed at forcing more people to buy into locked, proprietary systems that would cost them more and more over time.

"It's stupidity. It's worse than stupidity: it's a marketing hype campaign," he told The Guardian.

"Somebody is saying this is inevitable – and whenever you hear somebody saying that, it's very likely to be a set of businesses campaigning to make it true."

The 55-year-old New Yorker said that computer users should be keen to keep their information in their own hands, rather than hand it over to a third party.

His comments echo those made last week by Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle, who criticised the rash of cloud computing announcements as "fashion-driven" and "complete gibberish".

"The interesting thing about cloud computing is that we've redefined cloud computing to include everything that we already do," he said. "The computer industry is the only industry that is more fashion-driven than women's fashion. Maybe I'm an idiot, but I have no idea what anyone is talking about. What is it? It's complete gibberish. It's insane. When is this idiocy going to stop?"

The growing number of people storing information on internet-accessible servers rather than on their own machines, has become a core part of the rise of Web 2.0 applications. Millions of people now upload personal data such as emails, photographs and, increasingly, their work, to sites owned by companies such as Google.

Computer manufacturer Dell recently even tried to trademark the term "cloud computing", although its application was refused.

But there has been growing concern that mainstream adoption of cloud computing could present a mixture of privacy and ownership issues, with users potentially being locked out of their own files.

Stallman, who is a staunch privacy advocate, advised users to stay local and stick with their own computers.

"One reason you should not use web applications to do your computing is that you lose control," he said. "It's just as bad as using a proprietary program. Do your own computing on your own computer with your copy of a freedom-respecting program. If you use a proprietary program or somebody else's web server, you're defenceless. You're putty in the hands of whoever developed that software."

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Beetles trouble Logging trade

2008-10-02T09:19:00.000-07:00

A mountain pine beetle infestation is sweeping across British Colombian forests hitting the Canadian logging trade. Mark Worthington reports.

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World's rarest tree frog found

2008-09-11T08:51:00.000-07:00

An extremely rare female frog has been spotted for the first time in 20 years.

The tiny amphibian, Isthmohyla rivularis, is carrying eggs, suggesting that the species is doing well.

The discovery was filmed by the BBC in the Costa Rican jungle as part of a scientific expedition with a team from Manchester University and Chester Zoo as they work on conservation programmes for rare frogs.

Andrew Gray describes the find.

Additional footage courtesy of Alexander Villegas

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'Extinct' frogs survive devastating fungus

2008-09-11T08:34:00.000-07:00

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- A tiny frog species thought by many experts to be extinct has been rediscovered alive and well in a remote area of Australia's tropical north, researchers said Thursday.

The Armoured Mistfrog had been seen since 1991 until it was found in Australia's tropical north.

The 40 millimeters-long (1.5 inch) Armoured Mistfrog had not been seen since 1991, and many experts assumed it had been wiped out by a devastating fungus that struck northern Queensland state.

But two months ago, a doctoral student at James Cook University in Townsville conducting research on another frog species in Queensland stumbled across what appeared to be several Armoured Mistfrogs in a creek, said professor Ross Alford, head of a research team on threatened frogs at the university.

Conrad Hoskin, a researcher at The Australian National University in Canberra who has been studying the evolutionary biology of north Queensland frogs for the past 10 years, conducted DNA tests on tissue samples from the frogs and determined they were the elusive Armoured Mistfrog.

Alford's group got the results on Wednesday. A spokeswoman for the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency also confirmed Hoskin's findings.

"A lot of us were starting to believe it had gone extinct, so to discover it now is amazing," Hoskin said. "It means some of the other species that are missing could potentially just be hidden away along some of the streams up there."

Craig Franklin, a zoology professor at The University of Queensland who studies frogs, said the Mistfrog's rediscovery was exciting.

"It's very significant," Franklin said. "We've lost so many frog species in Australia ... Hopefully it's a population that's making a comeback."

The light brown frogs, with dark brown spots, congregate in areas with fast-flowing water. So far, between 30 and 40 have been found.

The chytrid fungus was blamed for decimating frog populations worldwide, including seven species in Queensland's tropics between the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Armoured Mistfrogs had been classified as critically endangered rather than extinct, but most researchers believed they had died out from the disease, Alford said.

Most of the Armoured Mistfrogs that Alford's group has found are infected with the fungus, but the disease does not appear to be making them sick, he said.

Alford and his team plan to study the creatures to try and determine how they managed to coexist with the fungus, in a bid to aid future conservation and management of vulnerable frogs.

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Armstrong returning to cycling

2008-09-09T14:52:00.000-07:00

Lance Armstrong's return to win a seventh consecutive tour made him a nationwide hero.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Lance Armstrong is getting back on his bike, determined to win an eighth Tour de France.

Armstrong's return from cancer to win the Tour a record seven consecutive times made him a hero to cancer patients worldwide and elevated cycling to an unprecedented level in America.

The Tour "is the intention," Armstrong's spokesman Mark Higgins told The Associated Press, "but we've got some homework to do over there."

Added Bill Stapleton, Armstrong's lawyer and longtime confidant: "We're not going to try to win second place."

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Urban Biodiversity in Copenhagen, Denmark : June 2008

2008-08-27T20:38:00.000-07:00

I had opportunity to visit Copenhagen in June 2008. June was a really good time to travel because the weather was really pleasant. I could walk a lot on the streets. To help me even more the days were really long, almost 20-21 hours.

I am trying to give a glimpse of whatever biodiversity I came across while I was there.

These Pigeons were happily moving on the ground feeding. I felt at home because this is very familiar site back in India too.

This Magpie was commonly seen scavenging on the trash cans. I found them commoner than the crows there.

The swans were present in the lakes. Some of them were very active in the afternoon.

And some of them were taking a nap.

The swans were bold and friendly and would let me go near to take photographs.

The gulls were feeding along with Swans.

And look at this Gull sitting on the statue.

And the familiar Coots were also seen.

The ducks were present, but were not looking as bright as we see them in India.

The crows were present, though in lesser number.

There another type of Pigeons which I need to identify yet.

I also saw a lot of sparrows, though I could not photograph any.

The were lot of flowers around. I could hardly photograph them, but took some snaps on the way, which are mostly planted garden flowers. Here are few of the photographs.

Web and Email Threats Continues to Rise in 2008

2008-08-14T08:38:00.000-07:00

By Megha Banduni Rai, Network Computing, August 05 2008, 1230 hrs

Websense Security Labs recently conducted research that says that 60 percent of the top 100 most popular Web sites either hosted malicious content or contained a masked redirect. The top 100 most popular Web sites, many of which are social networking, Web 2.0 and search sites, represent the majority of all Web page views and are the most popular target for attackers. With their large user base, good reputations and support for Web 2.0 applications, these sites provide malicious code authors with abundant opportunity.

Following the trend seen in 2007, attackers continued to take advantage of laws in traditional security measures and bypass reputation-based systems to increase attack effectiveness.

In the first half of 2008 more than 75 percent of the Web sites that Websense classified as malicious were actually sites with seemingly “good” reputations that had been compromised by attackers. This represents a 50 percent increase from the second half of 2007.

In addition to Web exploits, email spammers are also taking advantage of the reputation of popular email services like yahoo and Gmail to bypass antispam systems.

Dan Hubbard, chief technology officer, Websense says, “Today attackers are overwhelmingly forgoing creating their own malicious sites and targeting legitimate Web sites that have a built in base of visitors. There is an element of trust in the Web 2.0 world that the Web sites we frequent every day are safe, but attackers are taking advantage of the “good reputations” of Web sites to launch attacks.”

He further explains, “Most Web security and URL filtering technology today heavily rely on a Web sites’ reputation, but this method is outdated. To safely use the Internet today, organizations need Web security protection that can analyze the content on the Web page in real-time.”

Websense Security Labs found that 29 percent of malicious Web attacks included data-stealing code, demonstrating that attackers are after essential information and data. The convergence of blended Web and email threats continues to increase. Websense Security Labs reports that now more than 76.5 percent of all emails in circulation in the past six months contained links to spam sites and/or malicious Web sites. This represents an 18 percent increase since December 2007.

Websense researchers believes that organizations should prepare for continuing challenges in during the second half of 2008 and encourages security managers to shift their protection emphasis from guarding against inbound attacks at the infrastructure level to guarding essential information against blended threats and accidental or malicious loss, in tune with Web 2.0 and the internet as a business platform.

To ensure risk mitigation keeps in step with the threat climate, enterprises must rethink their approaches to Web, messaging, and data security. Organizations must think about data. How is it used? Who is using it? Where and when is it safe to use? Who can receive it? Which channels can safely send it?

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CherryPal

2008-08-01T13:40:00.000-07:00

Just read about this new computer

CherryPal™ is trying to change the world one computer at a time. We’ve created the most affordable, easiest to use and greenest desktop computer available.
The CherryPal desktop is a tiny PC designed with the user in mind. It does all the things you do every day: surf the web, keep in touch with your friends, listen to iTunes, watch videos, word processing, presentations and spreadsheets, all without the hassle of a traditional PC. It only uses 2 watts of power, lasts 10 years and has 80 percent fewer parts. There’s no software or upgrades to install, no risk of viruses, and no operating system to deal with and free 24/7 support – all for just $249. We’ve created the most affordable, easiest-to-use and greenest desktop computer available.

Official Website of CherryPal

Microsoft Prepares For Post-Windows Era With 'Midori'

2008-07-31T13:25:00.000-07:00

The operating system is being designed from the ground up to support Internet-based computing and multicore architectures.

By Paul McDougall, InformationWeek, July 31 2008, 1230 hrs

Microsoft researchers are developing a new operating system that's designed from the ground up to support Internet-based computing and multicore architectures and which could one day replace the company's storied Windows franchise.

The operating system, which currently goes by the development name Midori, is being built to solve problems that are beyond the scope of Windows, a so-called fat OS that was first developed before the Internet came into widespread use and most PCs had only a single processor.

It's possible that Midori is being designed for use in cloud computing scenarios, in which business applications reside on centralized servers and are accessed through the Web. Microsoft researchers also are building the OS with an eye to achieving better performance on multicore PCs, company documents show. To date, developers have had little success creating software that's able to fully harness the power of computers that feature two or more cores on a single chip.

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