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Pulling out Symptoms from Smoking Pot……

Arun Kevta — Sat, 10 May 2008 10:21:02 +0000

Serious pot users who give up cold turkey may discover themselves lighting up again to suppress withdrawal symptoms. In a study of nearly 500 marijuana smokers who tried toward kick the habit, about one-third resumed use to relieve or avoid withdrawal symptoms such as irritability and anxiety.

There is long been a debate over whether pot smokers actually become addicted to the , and whether withdrawal symptoms are real.
The study concerned 469 pot smokers, ages 18 to 64, which were recruited using word of mouth and advertisements. None of the participants suffered from recognized psychiatric disorders.

About one in four reported smoking pot more than 10,000 times in their lives — the equivalent of daily use for 27 years. More than half smoked more than 2,000 times.

“Heavy pot users should be aware that they may experience a withdrawal syndrome that will make them uncomfortable when they try to quit.
But other than to try to get patients enrolled in the trial, “the only other thing I can offer is inpatient care. Sometimes just keeping them away from marijuana will help prevent relapse.

Depression and Drugs, A hazardous Mix intended for Teenagers…..

Arun Kevta — Sat, 10 May 2008 10:08:56 +0000

Teenager who has been depressed at some tip in the past year is more than twice as probable to have used marijuana as teens who have not reported being depressed - 25 percent compared with 12 percent, said the report by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Marijuana is a more consequential substance of abuse than our culture has treated it in the last 20 years, said John Walters, director of the office. “This is not just youthful experimentation that they’ll get over as we used to think in the past.”

Using marijuana increase the risk of developing mental disorders by 40 percent, the report said. And teens who smoke pot at least once a month over a yearlong period are three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than nonusers, it said.

The report also cited research that showed that teens who smoke marijuana when feeling depressed were more than twice as likely as their peers to abuse or become addicted to pot - 8 percent compared with 3 percent.

Experts who have worked with children say there’s nothing harmless about marijuana.

“I’ve seen many, many kids’ lives negatively impacted and taken off track because of marijuana,” said Elizabeth Stanley-Salazar, director of adolescent services for Phoenix House treatment centers in California. “It’s somewhat Russian roulette. There are so many factors, emotional, psychological, and biological. You can’t predict the experimentation and how it will impact a kid.”

The drug control policy office analyzed about a dozen studies looking at marijuana use, including research by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Overall, marijuana use among teens has decreased 25 percent since 2001, down to about 2.3 million kids who used pot at least once a month, the drug control office said.

Precautions should be taken against sun exposure

Arun Kevta — Sat, 10 May 2008 09:51:06 +0000

Spending time outdoors require taking precautions against sun harm. one ounce of sunscreen is regularly considered sufficient to cover exposed areas, reapplications are needed throughout the day, especially as humidity levels increase.
During addition to the sunscreen, Chon recommends taking along a hat with a brim or cap, lip balm, a long-sleeved shirt if possible in sun-protective fabric and sunglasses with ultraviolet protection.
These are great items to keep handy in your bag to prepare for the sun as it intensify throughout the day.
It is recommended that applying sunscreen at least 30 minutes before going out and reapplying sunscreen and lip balm every two hours.
“Keep in mind, if you are sweating or swimming, you may need to reapply more often,” “Avoid reflective surfaces such as water, sand, snow and concrete. You can burn from indirect exposure to the sun, too.”

High Blood Sugar Tied to Pregnancy Complications

Arun Kevta — Thu, 08 May 2008 13:12:55 +0000

Women with high blood sugar levels during pregnancy gaze an enlarged risk of complications, even if the high blood sugar readings don’t meet the criterion intended for gestational diabetes.
Within a huge international study, researchers found that for each standard divergence increase in blood sugar, there is a greater risk of complications, such as having a large birth weight baby or needing a Caesarean section delivery.
Retiring thing that was clear from the study is that higher chances of complications, like an increased risk of C-section or a large baby, are related to high blood sugar and not to other conditions, such as stoutness or older motherly age, the study included more than 23,000 pregnant women from 15 centers in nine countries. None of the women had diabetes. All of the women undergo glucose tolerance testing between 24 and 32 weeks of development. This test be performed by first taking a fasting blood sugar reading, then having the woman drink a high-carbohydrate liquid in this case a 75-gram carbohydrate drink; 100 grams is standard in the United States and then rechecking blood sugar levels at one and two hours to assess how the body is processing the high sugar load.
The higher a woman’s blood sugar levels were, the more likely she was to have a C-section, to develop preeclampsia, have premature delivery and to have the delivery complication known as shoulder dystocia, the study found.
Babies born to women with higher glucose levels be more likely to have high insulin levels, low blood sugar, and to have a large birth weight, all indications of introduction toward high glucose levels.

Bill gates - Microsoft Going 'Independent' Way

Arun Kevta — Thu, 08 May 2008 04:16:57 +0000

Bill Gates Microsoft chairman said Wednesday the company isn’t pursuing other deals following the withdrawal of its $47.5 billion takeover bid for Yahoo.He said in Tokyo that the company put “a lot of effort” in the talks with Yahoo and has decided the two should pursue “independent paths.”

Over the weekend, Microsoft withdrew its 3-month-old unsolicited bid for Yahoo Inc. after seeing the impasse with Yahoo’s board over a mutually acceptable sales price.

“Now at this point Microsoft is focused on its independent strategy,” Gates told reporters at a news conference in Tokyo.Those comments seemed to set a different tone than on Tuesday in South Korea, where he said the company wasn’t ruling out alternative partnerships after the failure to buy Yahoo.

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer had orally offered to pay $33 per share, or $47.5 billion, for Yahoo, up from an initial bid valued at $44.6 billion, or $31 per share. At the time the negotiations collapsed, the value of Microsoft’s original offer had fallen to $42.3 billion, or $29.40 per share, because half the deal was supposed to be financed with Microsoft’s declining stock.

Yahoo’s board wanted $37 per share - a price that the company’s stock hasn’t reached in more than two years.Microsoft trails Google in the online search and advertising markets, and the bid for Yahoo was an attempt at turning that around.

But Gates said that Microsoft was determined to make “advances” in its own search offering and meetings were in the works in Seattle to hammer out more specific plans.

“We will make the advances that give people a great choice there,” he said.

Microsoft’s intense pursuit of Yahoo was widely seen as an acknowledgment of weaknesses in Microsoft’s solo Web search and advertising strategy, and the software maker now needs to prove it can innovate without Yahoo as a partner.

Gates makes periodic trips to Asia, and he was in Japan two years ago. He said he met with business partners in Japan, which he sees as an important market. Talks covered digital broadcast software for Windows-based personal computers and giving free downloads of Microsoft software to Japanese students.

In Ten New Countries “ Vodafone” Announces iPhone

Arun Kevta — Wed, 07 May 2008 05:56:41 +0000

Vodafone company will be celebrating today. It will down some Champagne, move on to shots of whisky or perhaps tequila (even though it knows slamming tequila will give it a splitting headache tomorrow) and finish with a drunken punch-up.
After this, the telco will stumble over to Apple. It will throw one of its arms around the now repulsed Cupertino company, who has been sipping nothing more than mango smoothies all night, and start pumping its hand enthusiastically. Vodafone will then slur loudly into Apple’s ear “You’re my best mate, you are” and then fall down onto the scratchy conference room carpet, slipping off into a sloshed slumber.
The reason for this celebration? Vodafone has signed a deal with Apple to provide the iPhone in ten more countries. If your name is on this list, you too can come to the party:
Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey.

Manmohan singh shown images from the “ Cartosat-2A”

Arun Kevta — Wed, 07 May 2008 05:11:36 +0000

the Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman G. Madhavan Nair on Monday presented to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh the first lot of high quality images received from the recently launched satellites Cartosat-2A and the Indian Mini Satellite-1 (IMS-1).
Excited space scientists who accompanied Dr. Nair pointed out the exact spot where they were located. “Here we are,” they told the Prime Minister as he looked at the images and appreciated their clarity.
Cartosat-2A and IMS-1 were launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota on April 28 when a total of 10 small satellites were successfully put in orbit.
The high-quality cameras are capable of sending back high-resolution images. Dr. Nair and other scientists briefed the Prime Minister on not only the latest success of ISRO but also its future programmes that include manned space flight and the mission to the moon, Chandrayaan-1.
A scale model of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C9 that put the satellites in orbit was also presented to the Prime Minister.

Grand Theft Auto is game or art…

Arun Kevta — Wed, 07 May 2008 04:52:36 +0000

In The New York Times’ Seth Schiesel described “Grand Theft Auto IV” as a “violent, intelligent, profane, endearing, obnoxious, sly, richly textured and thoroughly compelling work of cultural satire disguised as fun. It calls to mind a rollicking R-rated version of Mad magazine featuring Dave Chappelle and Quentin Tarantino.”
In the Los Angeles Times, Pete Metzger wrote that “while some might argue that games as morally bankrupt as the ‘Grand Theft Auto’ series are leading to the demise of society, those who can appreciate decency-eschewing escapism will find nothing better than this one.”
Andrew Reiner of the Game Informer — something of a bible for people of a certain age — was far less restrained. “I now know how film critics felt after screening ‘The Godfather.’ ”
It’s going to make its corporate distributor, Take-Two Interactive Software, and its creator, Rockstar Games, a great deal of money. A number of Wall Street analysts believe the game, which costs about $60, may earn more than $500 million during its first week of release. One analyst estimates that purchases of
“GTA IV” may represent more than 3 percent of all U.S. and European software sales in 2008.
There’s a new world of entertainment here, proceeding under its own power and following its own stars. But what does it contain? In this case, the story of a former Serbian militiaman (the protagonist through whom the players act) lured to a fictional version of New York. He kills, maims, has sex, then kills and maims some more, while also stealing various forms of transportation, all with a nifty range of music on their radios. (Available for download.) The graphics are stunningly realistic, and the opportunities for a player to interact with the characters and the physical setting are quite gripping.
Still, where earlier generations of youthful art crossed boundaries — the critics call that being “transgressive” — they also affirmed something else, some alternative or countercultural value. The Beat generation, just to take one example, rejected middle-class morality and aesthetics for Buddhism, ecstasy and sexual expression. “GTA IV” affirms the pleasure of eschewing decency for obnoxious violence.
That’s why a spokesman for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg reacted with horror over the use of that city as a backdrop. The mayor, he said, “does not support any video game where you earn points for injuring or killing police officers.”
One of the most interesting things about this game is that it’s the product of a global youth culture whose frame of reference has been shaped by mindless American action films, by post-apocalyptic Euro-American fantasy fiction and Japanese graphic novels. The game’s “authors” are a pair of young Englishmen, and the technical crew that put it together is in Scotland. They’ve thrust their Balkan protagonist into an America of the imagination that exists nowhere and, in a virtual sense, everywhere.
Censorship will not avail against this kind of compelling cultural shift — nor should it. “GTA IV” is a work of genius, but it’s genius in the service of nothing more than sensation and profit. With this game, the interactive video industry is now an art form in search of an artist.

“Google” launches translation tool for hindi.

Arun Kevta — Wed, 07 May 2008 04:33:05 +0000

Google ,The Internet giant has added a new language in its translation application list by launching a Hindi translation service. ‘Google Translate’ translates any text or any web page from English to Hindi and vice versa. Now, it translates 14 dialects language from English including Hindi, Chinese, Japanese and Arabic language from Asian continent.
Google.com official has announced on Monday to launch a distinctive services of translation that allows the user to translate the desired web pages into Hindi from English and vice versa. Users can also translate their own text by writing the text as per its pronunciation; for this, users have to first log on to” google translate hindi.com “ and then type the word to be translated, choose the language as per requirement and press enter.

After few seconds, Google translates the text and shows in the right side of the typing pad. For example: translating the word ‘Apne’, user has to type the exact letter in English from the regular keyboard in small or capital cap and select the language ‘Hindi’ to get the translation in Hindi font. After pressing ‘Enter’, the translated form displays on the right side of the typing pad.

On the other hand, for translating any web page, it needs to submit the right web address of the web page and then select the language and click on ‘Enter’ button. After a few seconds processing, the translated page displays on the screen. However, the accuracy of translation in Hindi is not so correct; it translates the page according to the words not the appropriate sentence sequence.

Google has also asked the suggestion for better translation and user can suggest to Google. It will add the right words in its dictionary.

“Facebook” is Pakistan's Favorite Dating Destination

Arun Kevta — Wed, 07 May 2008 04:28:25 +0000

The Young generation of Pakistan is increasingly looking for love and companionship through social networking Web site Facebook, according to a Press Trust of India (PTI) report.

Facebook is now the eighth most surfed portal in Pakistan, coming next only to Google and YouTube - in that order, as per Alexa, a US-based research Web site.

In a conservative country where it is still relatively difficult for members of the opposite sex to interact with each other, Facebook does come in handy for scores of youngsters who’re increasingly searching for love and friendship through such Web sites.

Meanwhile, the older generation who isn’t quite accustomed to these newer and hipper ways of wooing and romancing, cannot but relate to the Facebook phenomenon. In turn they’re closely monitoring their children who they think spend too much time Facebooking. Even educational institutions are taking steps to ensure that students don’t waste their time on such Web sites. For instance, the prestigious Beaconhouse National University in Lahore has blocked Facebook in its computer labs saying it is a big ‘distraction’ for students.