Hyderabad: Ganesha goes green, eco-friendly clay idols flood the market

The Pearl City is all set to celebrate the Ganesh festival in an eco-friendly manner and with the tallest Ganesh idol in the country this year.
The 60-feet high Ganesha in Hyderabad is drawing the attention of every passerby. The gigantic idol took almost three months and 200 artisans at the Khairatabad Ganesh Utsav Committee to complete. A gigantic laddu weighing five thousand kilos will also be offered to the Ganesha here.

"We are very happy to celebrate 60 years. Artists from different villages have arrived to complete this task," said the organiser of Khairatabad Ganesh Utsav committee, Raj Kumar
However, to suit the need of every household, idols in other different sizes have also flooded the market. The most popular of these are the clay idols. The eco-friendly Ganeshas are made from mud and are colored with natural, non-toxic dyes which are easily soluble in water. With the "Ganesha goes green" campaign, people are pledging to celebrate the festival in an ecofriendly manner.
"The campaign is to encourage people to use clay Ganesh idols that do not harm the environment," said Satosh Banpur, director of the campaign- Hyderabad goes green.
"We always make clay Ganesh idols and this year, we are buying one. I hope everyone will employ eco-friendly idols to save the environment," said Vijaya, a local resident.
Elaborate security arrangements have also been put in place to ensure peaceful festivities.

Gene studies of Ebola in Sierra Leone show virus is mutating fast

Genetic studies of some of the earliest Ebola cases in Sierra Leone reveal more than 300 genetic changes in the virus as it leapt from person to person, changes that could blunt the effectiveness of diagnostic tests and experimental treatments now in development, researchers said on Thursday.
"We found the virus is doing what viruses do. It's mutating," said Pardis Sabeti of Harvard University and the Broad Institute, who led the massive study of samples from 78 people in Sierra Leone, all of whose infections could be traced to a faith healer whose claims of a cure attracted Ebola patients from Guinea, where the virus first took hold.
The findings, published in Science, suggest the virus is mutating quickly and in ways that could affect current diagnostics and future vaccines and treatments, such as GlaxoSmithKline's Ebola vaccine, which was just fast-tracked to begin clinical trials, or the antibody drug ZMapp, being developed by California biotech Mapp Biopharmaceutical.
The findings come as the World Health Organization said that the epidemic could infect more than 20,000 people and spread to more countries. A WHO representative could not immediately be reached for comment on the latest genetic study.
Study coauthor Robert Garry of Tulane University said the virus is mutating at twice the rate in people as it was in animal hosts, such as fruit bats.
Garry said the study has shown changes in the glycoprotein, the surface protein that binds the virus to human cells, allowing it to start replicating in its human host. "It's also what your immune system will recognize," he said.
In an unusual step, the researchers posted the sequences online as soon as they became available, giving other researchers early access to the data.
Erica Ollmann Saphire of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, has already checked the data to see if it impacts the three antibodies in ZMapp, a drug in short supply that has been tried on several individuals, including the two U.S. missionaries who contracted Ebola in Sierra Leone and who have since recovered.
"It appears that they do not (affect ZMapp)," said Saphire, who directs a consortium to develop antibody treatments for Ebola and related viruses. But she said the data "will be critical to seeing if any of the other antibodies in our pool could be affected."
Saphire said the speed with which Sabeti and colleagues mapped genetic changes in the virus gives researchers information that "will also be critical" to companies developing RNA-based therapeutics.
That could impact treatments under way from Vancouver-based Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp and privately held Profectus BioSciences of Tarrytown, New York.
Part of what makes the data useful is the precise picture it paints as the epidemic unfolded. Sabeti credits years of work by her lab, colleagues at Tulane and the Sierra Leone Ministry of Health and Sanitation in developing a response network for Lassa fever, a virus similar to Ebola that is endemic in West Africa.
Several of the study authors gave their lives to the work, including Dr Sheik Humarr Khan, the beloved "hero" doctor from the Kenema Government Hospital, who died from Ebola.
The team had been doing surveillance for two months when the first case of Ebola arrived from Guinea on May 25. That case involved a "sowei" or tribal healer, whose claim of a cure lured sick Ebola victims from nearby Guinea.
"When she contracted Ebola and died, there were a lot of people who came to her funeral," Garry said. One of these was a young pregnant woman who became infected and traveled to Kenema Government Hospital, where she was diagnosed with Ebola.
With the Lassa surveillance team in place, they quickly began testing samples.
"We've been able to capture the initial spread from that one person and to follow all of these contacts and everything with sequencing," Garry said.
The team used a technique called deep sequencing in which sequences are done repeatedly to generate highly specific results, allowing them to see not only how the virus is mutating from person to person, but how it is mutating in cells within the same person.
What is not clear from the study is whether the mutations are fueling the epidemic by allowing the virus to grow better in people and become easier to spread. That will require further tests in the lab, Garry said

Rupee ends lower at 60.56 after Yellen speech

The rupee fell on Monday, retreating from a three-week high hit last week, as the dollar gained after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen was seen as more hawkish than her European counterpart at a central bankers' meeting.
Most emerging Asian currencies eased on Monday after Ms Yellen called for a "pragmatic" approach to US monetary policy on Friday at a speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Some caution also prevailed ahead of gross domestic product data for the April-June quarter on Friday and possibly current account deficit numbers sometime this week.
However, broader sentiment remained supported by solid foreign flows into bonds and stocks. On Friday, foreign funds bought debt worth $286.69 million, and around $49.95 million in shares, official data showed.
"It is the foreign fund flows that have supported the rupee, and will continue to do so in the near term," said Surendran A V, head of treasury at Dhanlaxmi Bank.
The partially convertible rupee closed at 60.5650/5750 per dollar compared with 60.4650/4750 in the previous session.
The falls in the rupee came after the US dollar rose to a near one-year high against a basket of six-major currencies. Most Asian emerging market currencies also fell.
The rupee also faltered after the Nifty edged lower on Monday after hitting a second consecutive record high as gains in blue-chips were offset by a slump in resources firms following the top court's ruling on coal allocations.
In the offshore non-deliverable forwards, the one-month contract was at 60.89, while the three-month was at 61.45.

Sony says PlayStation network back online, user information safe after attack

SAN FRANCISCO/TOKYO - Sony Corp's (6758.T) PlayStation Network was back online on Monday following a cyber attack that took it down over the weekend, which coincided with a bomb scare on a commercial flight carrying a top Sony executive in the United States.
Sony said on its PlayStation blog that its PlayStation network had been taken down by a denial of service-style attack, which overwhelmed the system with traffic, but did not intrude onto the network or access any of its 53 million users' information.

A Twitter user with the handle @LizardSquad claimed responsibility for the attack on Sunday, and said the attack was meant to pressure Sony to spend more of its profits on the network.
"Sony, yet another large company, but they aren't spending the waves of cash they obtain on their customers' (PlayStation Network) service. End the greed," one post said on Sunday.
Sony's network business has been hit by attacks before, with a security breach in 2011 dealing a major blow to plans at the time for a looser network designed to allow for the connection of a range of Sony devices.
Since then it has invested heavily in the system and is now hoping the network can serve as a centrepiece of its plans to rebuild its business after years of losses in its flagship electronics operations.
Lizard Squad said it had also targeted the servers of World of Warcraft video gamemakers Blizzard Entertainment, whose website was down. It threatened to attack Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) Xbox Live network, to which some users said they had problems accessing on Sunday.
"We don't comment on the root cause of a specific issue, but as you can see on Xbox.com/status, the core Xbox LIVE services are up and running," Xbox spokesman David Dennis told Reuters.
Blizzard Entertainment was not immediately reachable for comment, though its customer support Twitter account said the company's servers were stabilising.
BOMB SCARE
Lizard Squad also tweeted to American Airlines on Sunday to say they had heard that explosives were on board a flight carrying Sony Online Entertainment President John Smedley.
That followed an earlier tweet from a game player's forum telling the airline: "I'm gonna send a bomb on your plane be ready for me tomorrow".
A PlayStation spokeswoman in the United States said the FBI was investigating the diversion of the Dallas/Fort Worth to San Diego flight.
The FBI had no comment on the incident.
American Airlines said on its Twitter account that it was "aware of threats" made over the microblogging service and had alerted security.

Gaps remain in India's Ebola preparedness, says WHO

Thomson Reuters Foundation - India has been pro-active in preparing for an outbreak of Ebola, but authorities need to improve the surveillance of travellers and raise public awareness about the deadly virus, the World Health Organisation said on Friday.
There are nearly 45,000 Indian nationals living and working in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria - where more than 1,300 people have died of Ebola in the worst outbreak of the disease in history.
There is also a large population of West Africans, mainly students, in India and there are concerns that the disease could be imported into the country.
Asheena Khalakdina, the WHO's Team Leader for Communicable Diseases, said while the risk of Ebola coming to India was low, it was important that authorities put in place the precautionary measures outlined by the organisation.
"No country is perfect. You can go to any Western country and every country has areas where they can make improvements and certainly India is not an exception, so we are working closely with the ministry of health to see where those gaps are," Khalakdina told a news conference.
India's health minister, Harsh Vardhan, announced measures on Aug. 6 which included in-flight announcements prior to landing, informing passengers to self-report at immigration.
The government has also set up facilities at airports and ports to manage travellers showing symptoms of the disease such as fever, intense weakness or bleeding. Those displaying symptoms are being tracked for up to four weeks.
State authorities have also been instructed to designate hospitals with isolation wards for response to possible cases and to stock protective equipment.
Almost 500 passengers - mostly in the states of Maharashtra, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu - are currently being tracked, a health ministry statement said on Wednesday.
An Ebola hotline has received 619 calls in its first 11 days, mainly from the public seeking information on signs and symptoms of the hemorrhagic illness, the statement added.
"We need to educate and communicate so that we are raising awareness so that everyone knows what Ebola is and what it isn't, how it is transmitted and how they can protect themselves," Khalakdina said.
"It's good that people are informed and informed in the right way so that we can control public fears. It creates a lot of anxiety and fears, especially if you don't know about it."

How to become a more compassionate person.

In the main article above titled "We We Care," we discussed discoveries about the process by which our brains create the feeling of concern for other people. The researchers have also looked at how we might be able to tinker with that internal system and boost our ability to care about others. For insights, scientists have turned to Tibetan Buddhist monks, who for centuries have been practicing meditation regimen specifically designed to make them more compassionate. If you want to give it a try, here are some simple tips, gleaned from meditation manuals.

1. Sit. Find a comfortable place where you can sit without distractions. Initially allot yourself 10 to 20 minutes, with the goal of eventually increasing the amount of time.

2. Breath. Use deep breathing to relax any tension that you feel in your muscles. Concentrate upon relaxing your abdominal muscles and shoulders.

3. Reflect. Once you begin to feel calm, reflect upon your own desire for happiness and freedom from suffering, and your desire to care about all beings.

4. Have a mantra. Slowly begin to repeat simple phrases that state your wishes, such as “May I respond with mercy and empathy to pain,” or “May I be filled with compassion.

Over time, you also should contemplate different levels of compassion. On the most basic level, you should think about problems and misfortunes that people experience, such as illness, hunger, and lack of shelter. Concentrate upon separating compassion—caring for others—from pity, which meditation expert Dusana Dorjee explains is a self-centered emotion that results from

shame and the desire to be seen as an altruistic person. Over time, you also should try to explore the second gradient of compassion, which involves concern for how other people suffer because of confusion and negative emotions. Finally, you may strive for the highest, “non-referential” form of compassion, which simply is an unconditional compassion for all beings, akin to the love that a mother feels for her child.

iPhone 6 Leaked in New Images

As the expected release of the next-generation iPhone nears, we are seeing more and more leaks each day. On Tuesday, new images of the alleged front and rear panels of the iPhone 6 (which is widely expected to come in 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch versions) appeared online, while a report pointed to lines of SDK code that indicated a new 828x1472 pixel resolution.
The alleged front and rear panel iPhone 6 images were posted by Feld & Volk, which makes customised luxury variants of the iPhone and iPad devices.
First spotted by MacRumors, the alleged front and rear panel iPhone 6 images of the anticipated 4.7-inch variant are in-line with what has been widely expected based on earlier leaks, with rounded corners and buttons indicating the iPhone 6 will take design cues from Apple's current generation iPod touch.

Further, the alleged iPhone 6 images again show the power button positioned on the right panel of the device, instead of on the top panel seen on existing iPhone models. Also seen are the new speaker holes at the bottom of the phone, alongside the Lightning port and 3.5mm audio jack. MacRumors also refers to an unlisted Feld & Volk image of the rear shell depicting the a 'round True Tone flash', and 'embedded Apple logo'.
A new screen resolution of 828x1472 pixels for the next-generation iPhone 6 has been tipped via iOS 8 files inside both the Xcode 6 beta 5 and the latest Xcode 6 beta 6 SDKs.
9to5mac notes the mention of a screen resolution of 414x736 pixels (16:9) was found inside the iOS 8's Springboard app, which refers to the iPhone home screen.
This particular file outlines for the system where icons, by default, will be placed on an iPhone's Home screen. This particular file, which was added in Xcode 6 beta 5 earlier this month and still exists in yesterday's Xcode 6 beta 6, is optimized for an iPhone with a resolution of 414 (width) x 736 (height). The iPhone SDK parses hardware resolutions via "point values," so the actual "Retina" resolution is in fact double (or potentially triple) whatever numbers the SDK presents.
Considering that iOS devices currently renders texts, images and other elements at '2X' the resolution in the SDK, the report speculates that Apple might debut the new iPhone 6 with 828x1472 pixels screen resolution.
If true, this resolution on the expected 4.7-inch display would give a pixel density of 359ppi, and on the expected 5.5-inch display a pixel density of 307ppi. As 9to5Mac notes, this fits in with Apple's 300ppi Retina threshold, first mentioned by Steve Jobs at the iPhone 4 launch. It would also mean more real estate, which as the report notes, translates to roughly two additional rows and 1 additional column at current iOS icon sizes.
A '3X' 'pixel-tripling' resolution, while previously considered possible, is now being considered unlikely to be implemented on the iPhone 6 - as it would indicate what's being called an unfeasible 1242x2208 pixel resolution in terms of battery life and developer adoption.
Further, the report notes the 2X Retina 'pixel-doubling' resolution implementation by Apple in previous generation iPhone devices, and the corresponding SDK values. The iPhone 5, iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s - all sport 4-inch (640x1136 pixel) displays, however, the SDK files only presented the half value - 320x568 pixels.
Previously, it was said that the Cupertino-based company was testing a higher screen resolution of 960x1704 pixels on at least one of the two iPhone models. This may still be implemented in the larger 5.5-inch iPhone 6 variant, and is in line with the current 16:9 aspect ratio (as is the newly-rumoured 828x1472 pixel resolution).

Of course, all such leaks must be taken with a pinch of salt, from alleged iPhone 6 component images to extrapolations from lines of SDK code, and much will become clear once Apple officially unveils its next iPhone. The Cupertino giant is expected to do so at a September 9 event.

Fastest growing careers in India

You want to know about the most wanted careers in India? The job market right now is a little awry, but it would soon get back with promising careers for the coming generation of geniuses.
Here is a peek into the future jobs with the maximum growth potential in the Indian market:
Event Manager: India has become a global arena for a myriad of events, meetings and conferences held every day across the country. If you are one of those pursuing a degree in communication, hospitality or public relations this is the place for you. The subcontinent is abuzz with new event management companies entering the industry by the minute and creating jobs, the jobs therefore, are plenty.
Annual salary: Rs 1.35 to 8.17 lakh per annum
Analytics Professional: Analytics is a profession which spans across various industries from healthcare, banks, e-commerce and marketing to information technology and biotechnology. It involves analyzing business strategy and devising or streamlining the organizational structure. All business want to stay ahead of their competition, this very factor creates jobs for the analytics professionals. A Bachelors or a Masters degree in business or finance is required.
Annual salary: Rs 1.79 to 9.80 lakh per annum.
R&D Professionals: Research and Development is a progressive field in India. R&D professionals are engineering technicians, who use their knowledge to assist engineers and other scientists to create, design and construct new products or equipments that will be then marketed and sold to the consumers or specific industries. R&D professionals are also responsible for testing and conducting experiments on the product, bringing together data and recording outcomes, to spot if the product is operational or would it be profitable.
Annual Salary: Rs to 30 lakh per annum.

Interior Designer: A new house needs building and designing, both these tasks were completed by contractors in old days. The scenario is changing with time, as people are employing interior designers to add a touch of beauty to houses and make them tastefully theirs. You can work under an agency, open your own or simply work as a freelance interior designer, it's pretty flexible.
Annual salary (greatly varies) estimate: Rs 91,000 to 5,58,000 per annum.
Civil Services: India is on the brink of change and the change maker is the young generation. One of the most sought after careers in India, civil services provides you with a platform to make a difference. A public sector profession it makes for one of the most well paying jobs in India. All you need to do is clear All India Examination for Civil Services, which is said to be a tough nut to crack.
Medical Professionals: There is a perpetual demand for doctors and specialized physicians; they are needed all the time no matter where the national economy is going. A doctor gets astonishing returns depending on his qualification. Surgeons earn the highest as they come with higher degrees and specialized practical experience.
The average salary estimate is around Rs 1.30 to 12 lakh per annum.

Huge asteroid that ‘could wipe out human life’ heading for Earth, scientists say

 Scientists have moved closer to being able to stop a huge asteroid colliding with Earth and potentially wiping out human life. Researchers at the University of Tennessee have discovered that blowing the space rock up could make the collision worse by causing several devastating impacts.

Instead, small changes could be made to its surface to disrupt the forces keeping it together and cause it to break up in outer space.

They were studying Asteroid 1950 DA, which has a one in 300 chance of hitting the planet on March 16, 2880.

Although the odds seem small, it is the most likely asteroid to collide with Earth and the odds are higher than being shot dead in the US.


Astroid 1950 DA (Photo courtesy Nasa)

The asteroid has a diameter of one kilometre and is travelling at 14.5km (9 miles) per second relative to the Earth, which it would hit at nearly 61,155km (38,000 miles) per hour.

The impact would have a force of around 44,800 megatonnes of TNT and cause a huge explosion, tsunamis and change the climate of the globe, devastating human life.

But with 35 generations to go until its possible arrival, scientists are confident that the disaster can be averted.

The University of Tennessee researchers said 1950 DA is rotating so quickly it "defies gravity" and is held together by cohesive forces, called van der Waals, never before detected on an asteroid.
The findings, published in the science journal Nature, could prompt a change in tactics defending our planet.



Asteroid 1950 DA could hit the planet on March, 16, 2880. (Getty Images photo)

Previous research has shown that asteroids are loose piles of rubble held together by gravity and friction but by calculating 1950 DA's thermal inertia and bulk density, the team detected the action of cohesive forces that stop it breaking up.

Ben Rozitis, a postdoctoral researcher, said if only gravity were holding it together, the spinning would cause it to fly apart.

The rotation is so fast that at its equator, 1950 DA effectively experiences negative gravity and if an astronaut were to attempt to stand on the surface, he or she would be thrown off into space.

The presence of cohesive forces has been predicted in small asteroids but definitive evidence has never been seen before.


Astroid 1950 DA (Photo courtesy Nasa)

"Following the February 2013 asteroid impact in Chelyabinsk, Russia, there is renewed interest in figuring out how to deal with the potential hazard of an asteroid impact," Dr Rozitis said. "Understanding what holds these asteroids together can inform strategies to guard against future impacts," he added.

An estimated 1,500 people were injured when an undetected meteor exploded over the city of Chelyabinsk, releasing more than 30 times the explosive energy of the Hiroshima bomb.

It ripped through the atmosphere at 19 kilometres per second and was equivalent to between 500,000 and 600,000 tons of TNT, scientists found.

People directly under the flight of the meteor were knocked off their feet and many others suffered sunburn or eye damage as they looked at the intense fireball.

A shockwave following the impact knocked out thousands of windows and destroyed parts of buildings, injuring anyone nearby with flying debris.

High salt intake causes 1.6 million deaths worldwide

 A new analysis involving 187 countries has found that 1.6 million deaths due to heart diseases can be linked to high salt consumption. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends a daily salt intake of 2 grams whereas the average global intake is 3.95 g, varying between 2.18 to 5.51 g in different regions. Excessive salt causes increase in blood pressure which in turn leads to various heart ailments including heart attacks and strokes.

The research was led by Dariush Mozaffarian, currently at the Tufts University in US, though he was at the at the Harvard School of Public Health while doing the research. The findings were published in the August 14 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

"High sodium intake is known to increase blood pressure, a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases including heart disease and stroke," Mozaffarian said. "However, the effects of excess sodium intake on cardiovascular diseases globally by age, sex, and nation had not been well established."

The researchers collected and analyzed existing data from 205 surveys of sodium intake in countries representing nearly three-quarters of the world's adult population, in combination with other global nutrition data, to calculate sodium intakes worldwide by country, age, and sex. Effects of sodium on blood pressure and of blood pressure on cardiovascular diseases were determined separately in new pooled meta-analyses, including differences by age and race. These findings were combined with current rates of cardiovascular diseases around the world to estimate the numbers of cardiovascular deaths attributable to sodium consumption above 2.0g per day.

In their meta-analysis of controlled intervention studies, the researchers found that reduced sodium intake lowered blood pressure in all adults, with the largest effects identified among older individuals, blacks, and those with pre-existing high blood pressure.

"These 1.65 million deaths represent nearly one in 10 of all deaths from cardiovascular causes worldwide. No world region and few countries were spared," added Mozaffarian, who chairs the Global Burden of Diseases, Nutrition, and Chronic Disease Expert Group, an international team of more than 100 scientists studying the effects of nutrition on health and who contributed to this effort.

The researchers found that four out of five global deaths attributable to higher than recommended sodium intakes occurred in middle and low-income countries.

"Programs to reduce sodium intake could provide a practical and cost effective means for reducing premature deaths in adults around the world," added John Powles, last author and honorary senior visiting fellow in the department of public health and primary care at the University of Cambridge.

The authors acknowledge that their results utilize estimates based on urine samples, which may underestimate true sodium intakes. Additionally, some countries lacked data on sodium consumption, which was estimated based on other nutritional information; and, because the study focuses on cardiovascular deaths, the findings may not reflect the full health impact of sodium intake, which is also linked to higher risk of nonfatal cardiovascular diseases, kidney disease and stomach cancer, the second most-deadly cancer worldwide.

'Candy Crush' decline continues for King, shares fall

Social and mobile game company King Digital Entertainment Plc reduced its 2014 forecast after reporting lower-than-expected second-quarter revenue on Tuesday, as gamers continued to spend less money on its "Candy Crush Saga" game.
King also announced a $150 million special dividend, or 46.9 cents per share, payable to shareholders of record on Sept. 30. Its shares, however, slipped 22 percent in after-hours trading after closing at $18.20 on the New York Stock Exchange.
The company, which went public in March, said it has reduced its 2014 forecast and expects gross bookings in the range of $2.25 billion to $2.35 billion from its previous estimate of $2.55 billion to $2.65 billion.
"We have seen a step down in monetization in the latter part of Q2 and so we have adapted the view forward," Chief Executive Officer Riccardo Zacconi said in an interview.
Investors have worried that unless King delivers a set of consistent and long-lasting hits, apart from "Candy Crush Saga," it might suffer the same fate as "Farmville" maker Zynga Inc and "Angry Birds" developer Rovio Corp, which are struggling to retain players.
King's second quarter gross bookings, an indicator of future revenue, was $611 million, up 27 percent from the year-ago period, but less than the last quarter when it reported gross bookings of $641.1 million.
King has yet to see its other titles such as "Farm Heroes Saga" and "Bubble Witch 2 Saga" fully offset user losses of its "Candy Crush Saga" puzzler game that accounted for about 60 percent of second-quarter gross bookings.
"We expect 'Candy Crush' will decline, but have a very strong tail and a long tail," Chief Financial Officer Hope Cochran said in an interview. "We will be launching the 'Candy Crush' sister title in Q4, which will give more longevity to that title."
The company reported revenue of $594 million for the second quarter ended June 30 compared with $456 million in the year-ago period. This fell short of analysts' expectations of $608.3 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
It reported second-quarter net income of 52 cents per share compared with 39 cents per share in the year-ago period, and surpassing analysts' estimate of 49 cents per share. Non-GAAP earnings were 59 cents per share, which was in line with analysts’ expectations, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The company also said on Tuesday that it had acquired Singapore-based mobile game studio Nonstop Games for $6 million in cash upfront, and would pay $74 million over a four-year period if it reached certain revenue targets. Certain employees of Nonstop, which recently released strategy game "Heroes of Honor - War of Kings" for iOS devices, were given $10 million upfront, the company said

8 Morning Mistakes To Avoid

Are you always in a bad mood when you wake up? Do you skip breakfast? A few simple changes can transform your mornings

1. Waking up with a jerk and hitting the gym 

Mornings are slowdown time. Give yourself time to wake up quietly and move your muscles slowly. Says spiritual guru Mohanji, "When you wake up, turn to your right and get up from the bed. This balances the energy flow, which is latent during sleep." Yoga expert Abhishek Sharma says, "What we do soon after we wake up sets the tone for the rest of the day. Mistakes in the morning have adverse effects on the quality of our day, and over a period of time, lead to serious consequences on our health and well-being. Spend a few minutes in silence, take deep breaths, sip room temperature water."

2. Not stretching 

When we wake up, our muscles, particularly the spine, is a bit stiff. Waking up without stretching makes us carry this stiffness, which compromises our productivity through the day. Move gently after waking up. If you have tight hamstrings and calves, stretch them. Just three to four gentle stretches and a few deep breaths will help.

3. Starting your day with a cup of tea 

The secret of good metabolism is not to start your day with a cup of tea but something alkaline. Says yoga and fitness expert Mini Shastri, "Don't start your day with something acidic like tea or coffee with sugar and milk. Drink lime juice and water. Follow it up with white tea or quality green tea."

4. Checking your phone 

Author Julie Morgenstern wrote in her best-seller Never Check Email In The Morning And Other Unexpected Strategies For Making Your Work Life Work, "You don't have to immediately solve the world's problems in the first two hours after you wake up. Your energy should be first focussed on the most important jobs, not the least important. Check your emails only once you reach office. Checking them in the morning won't really make you productive. On the contrary, it'll put you in an unhappy mood." Corporate guru Azim Jamal starts his day with the hour of power or what he calls 20:20:20. "20 minutes exercise, 20 minutes meditation and 20 minutes of reading something uplifting," says Jamal.

5. Skipping breakfast 

A slew of recent reports link skipping breakfast to obesity, diabetes and weak immunity.

In fact, Harvard School of Public Health has said that missing breakfast puts extra strain on the body. Wellness expert Ramon Lamba says, "If you skip breakfast, you will end up making wrong food choices through the day. You don't have to have breakfast like a king, but you do need to eat something." In the morning, blood sugar levels are low because there's a long gap between dinner and breakfast time. If we do not eat something in about half an hour of waking up, the levels dip further making us lethargic. Another big mistake is to start the day with sugar in tea, biscuits, etc. Fitness expert Leena Mogre says, "Begin the day with a few soaked almonds, whole wheat bread, rotis or some fruit. This raises the blood sugar levels gradually."

6. Waking up grumpy 

Most people have cluttered and over-busy mornings. They abuse their maids, curse the traffic and everyone else around them. But the good news, according to mood researcher Allison G. Harvey, Ph.D, professor of psychology at the University of California, is that morning bad mood lasts only for about 20 minutes! Actress Manisha Koirala says, "I think the worst thing people can do is to begin their day with noise or being grouchy. It blocks positive energies. Tranquillity in the morning time is the most important thing. Before 10 am, try to listen to natural soothing sounds of nature - birdcalls, sounds of ocean, chanting of mantras."

7. Not planning the day ahead 

Do you pack your clothes and plan your meals a day in advance? Says Mogre, "The biggest mistake people make is not planning in advance. It may be unappealing to think about the next morning after a long day, but plan your meals and set your clothes aside. Prep up your breakfast, the night before."

8. Getting nicotine-or-caffeine `hit' 

A lot of people reach for their pack of cigarettes or that strong black coffee as soon as they get up. With the body away from any nourishment for several hours, and mornings being the best time for digestive juices to work - a cigarette or a strong coffee on an empty stomach can devastate the system over a period of time.

Don't give anything to your body before you drink a glass of water. A small fruit or even a non-sugary biscuit before that coffee would do wonders in protecting your digestive system.

Funnyman Robin Williams gave comedy a darker edge

Oscar-winning actor Robin Williams shot to fame for his madcap standup act and his offbeat alien Mork, but his most famous roles showed a depth of pain behind the comedian's mask.
The wildly popular 63-year-old funnyman, whose career spanned more than three decades, was known for rapid-fire, stream-of-consciousness improvisations and impersonations.
On screen, his characters were often offbeat and eccentric -- from the zany alien Mork from the planet Ork, the television role in the 1970s that first catapulted him to fame, to the divorced dad who transforms himself into a elderly British nanny in Mrs. Doubtfire.
His skill at imitating voices was often showcased -- as in his portrayal of the genie in the 1992 Disney adaptation of "Aladdin," in which his character runs through a string of celebrity impressions.
But he also found success in darker roles, including an Oscar-winning turn as psychologist Sean Maguire, a Vietnam veteran and widower who counsels troubled genius Will Hunting.
'I was shameful'
But for all Williams Hollywood success and outsize public persona, the comedian faced private demons, including recurring battles with drugs, alcohol and mental illness.
He quit drinking and cocaine in the early 1980s, when his first son was born, but after 20 years sober, he started drinking again while filming in Alaska in 2003, he told the Guardian newspaper in 2010.
"It was that thing of working so much, and going 'Fuck, maybe (drinking) will help?' And it was the worst thing in the world," he told the newspaper, adding, however, he did not start taking drugs again.
It took him another three years to get back to sobriety, after a family intervention led him to rehab, he said, blaming his drinking for the breakup in 2008 of his 19-year-second marriage.
"You know, I was shameful, and you do stuff that causes disgust, and that's hard to recover from."
It was health problems -- and open heart surgery -- in 2009 that he credits with being the true turning point.
"It breaks through your barrier, you've literally cracked the armor. And you've got no choice, it literally breaks you open. And you feel really mortal," he said.
During the three-hour surgery, doctors replaced Williams' aortic valve, repair his mitral valve, and correct an irregular heart beat.
The actor was also reportedly diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and in July, 2014, he checked into a Minnesota rehab facility for help maintaining sobriety after a grueling year-and-a-half of work.
A darker side
One of Williams' most famous roles was as radio disk jockey Adrian Cronauer, whose loud and drawn out "Gooooooood morning, Vietnaaaaaam" started each broadcast and was the title of the film.
The character bucks authority on the air, bringing US troops the 1960s rock music and lifestyle they missed from home, playing unapproved songs and riffing in quick-fire improvisations in between.
Although he brings humor to his portrayal of the character, the film, set amid one of the longest and deadliest US wars abroad, is hardly a comedy.
And even his more light-hearted films touch on deeper sadness, including slapstick "Mrs. Doubtfire," the cross-dressing character created by divorced dad Daniel Hillard in desperation to see his kids, who were living with a wife who sees him as irresponsible.
Williams was beloved as inspirational prep-school teacher John Keating, in the "Dead Poets Society," another character that defied authority with an unorthodox teaching style that ultimately gets him fired.
And in yet another dramatic role in "Awakenings," Williams played Malcolm Sayer, a doctor with a ward full of catatonic patients.
Sayer finds success with a treatment, shepherding his newly-awakened charges into an unfamiliar world decades after their mental freeze, but it is ultimately temporary.
But Williams left behind his darker side in films for children, including as the voice behind the genie in Disney's "Aladdin," singing the iconic, and award-winning, song "Friends Like Me," and in kids' romp "Jumanji" about a boardgame that comes to life.

Mystery Of Giant Eyeball That Puzzled Marine Biologists In Florida Solved

State experts believe the eye could have been from a swordfish. This conclusion from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission was based on the color, size and structure of the eyeball, along with a bone present around it. The softball-sized eyeball was found on the Florida Straits Offshore according to the wildlife officials. A fisherman may have caught the fish and discarded its eye. 

Gino Covacci, found the eye while on a walk north of Ft Lauderdale, on the Pompano Beach. He found it fully intact and ‘fresh’. “It was still bleeding when I put it in the plastic bag.”  He immediately made a report to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission who preserved the eye before they handed it over to the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, St. Petersburg, Fla. The institute was to analyze the eye and identify its origin.

The officials couldn’t tell immediately the size of the swordfish that could have had this eye but the species is known to grow as big as 1400 pounds. If necessary, the Marine biologists would use genetic testing to identify the species associated with the eye. 

An assistant professor at the Florida University, Miami, in the marine science program started the discussion with colleagues immediately pictures of the eyeball hit the internet. A swordfish’s eye, according to them is assumed to be smaller since the eye is hidden inside the head. 

Image Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

  According to a recent news release by the commission :

“After examining an eye found on a south Florida beach this week, researchers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) believe the specimen came from a swordfish. Genetic testing will be done to confirm the identification.

“Experts on site and remotely have viewed and analyzed the eye, and based on its color, size and structure, along with the presence of bone around it, we believe the eye came from a swordfish,” said Joan Herrera, curator of collections at the FWC’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg. “Based on straight-line cuts visible around the eye, we believe it was removed by a fisherman and discarded.”” 

Read more: http://www.unbelievable-facts.com/2014/07/mystery-of-giant-eyeball-that-puzzled.html#ixzz3A5DXP1xr

British People Trust More Wikipedia Than Mainstream Media News

 British people trust Wikipedia more than the mainstream media, the information site's founder Jimmy Wales said Sunday, at the close of a three-day conference of the Wikimedia movement in London.
A YouGov poll of almost 2,000 British adults found 64 percent trust the authors of Wikipedia entries to tell the truth "a great deal" or "a fair amount".
This compared to 61 percent who trusted BBC news journalists, 45 percent who trusted journalists on broadsheet newspapers such as The Times and The Guardian, and 13 percent for journalists on tabloids such as The Sun.

"British people trust Wikipedia more than the news," Wales told the conference, to cheers from the audience.
"The things that's really impressive here is the BBC has an excellent reputation... and we're trusted slightly more than the BBC. That's a little scary. But it's something we have accomplished," he said.
Wales acknowledged that the online encyclopedia -- which relies on the public for its contributions and corrections -- was "flawed" but said that people "turn to us for reliable, solid information.... We do a decent job of it."
The YouGov survey revealed however that the traditional Encyclopaedia Britannica is viewed as the most reliable source of information by far, trusted by 83 percent of respondents.
"I'm not going to rest until they trust us more than they ever trusted Encyclopaedia Britannica in the past," Wales said.
After three days of discussions, the "Wikimania" annual event closed with a moment of silence for contributors who had died in the past year.
This included Ihor Kostenko, a 22-year-old Ukrainian geography student who was shot dead in pro-European protests in Kiev in February. Wales named him "Wikipedian of the year".

Survey of India :Google polluted Internet with classified data

After registering a Preliminary Enquiry against Google for alleged mapping of classified areas, CBI has sought help of Survey of India which has alleged that the Internet giant continued to "pollute" the web with classified material despite being warned against it.
As the probe continues, Surveyor General of India Swarna Subba Rao alleged that the Internet giant did not refrain from mentioning classified site even after having been asked not to do so.
"During their (Google's) Mapathon 2013 exercise, they collected lot of classified data and we had approached them to refrain from doing so when we came to know about it," Dr Rao told PTI from Dehradun.
He said, instead of desisting, Google "polluted the Internet" with the coordinates of classified locations on the map. "They (Google) have expressed their desire to meet me at some hotel but I have been firm of a meeting in office," he said.
The Survey of India (SoI), the official mapping agency of the country, is the complainant in the case. After initial probe by Delhi Police, the case was handed over to the CBI as the investigation involved a company which is based in the US.
Google had not taken permission from SoI before organising a mapping competition in February-March 2013 in which they asked citizens to map their neighbourhoods, especially details related to hospitals and restaurants.
Alarmed by Mapathon, SoI, India's national survey and mapping organisation under the Department of Science and Technology, asked the Internet giant to share its details and found that there were several coordinates with information on sensitive defence installations which are out of the public domain.
The CBI has examined Google-India's Legal Advisor Geetanjali Duggal and others so far.
Asked for its response, Google India said "we continue to be in touch with relevant authorities and take national regulations and security very seriously.
"We are cooperating with the CBI's investigations and have submitted a detailed response to the queries that they have sent. We have nothing more to share at this point in time." .
The CBI registered the PE based on a complaint filed by the Surveyor General of India's office to the Union Home Ministry, in which it was alleged that Google had been indulging in activities of mapping several areas which were not included in the maps of the country.
Highlighting the violations to the Home Ministry, the SoI said only it was mandated to undertake 'Restricted' category surveying and mapping, and no other government or private organisations or individual are authorised to do so.
As per the National Map Policy 2005, "the responsibility for producing, maintaining and disseminating the topographic map database of the whole country, which is the foundation of all spatial data, vests with the Survey of India".
It was alleged that Google India had launched a nationwide contest and people might have passed on maps and other key details of strategic installations located in other cities and states to the US company, the sources added.
For SoI, it was clarified that the company never took any permission before undertaking the mapping exercise, and from national security point of view, civil and military Vital Areas, Vital Points (VPs) cannot be shown in the map/data published in public domain.

This Is What Will Happen If The Earth Loses Oxygen For 5 Seconds

Oxygen may not be the main constituent of the Earth's atmosphere, but its role in the survival of many forms of life elevates its significance. No one can live without sufficient quantity of food, water and oxygen. Of the three, oxygen is by far the most important and urgently needed. Have you ever imagined what if oxygen from the Earth was lost for 5 seconds? To find out more read below..

Read more: http://www.unbelievable-facts.com/2014/02/this-is-what-will-happen-if-earth.html#ixzz3A2ztNuvI

Millions Of Chinese People Still Living In Caves In 21st Century

Cave dwelling is known to be a thing of the past especially in the 21st modern China. Xi Jinping, the current paramount leader of China once lived in a cave too. Those who have moved out of the caves to live in the cities would love to retire there later on in their lives. 

Image source: www.odditycentral.com

 Most of these Chinese caves have been passed on from generation to generation. They have been modernized to have electricity, plumbing, water, phone services, etc. depending on one’s financial status. Building materials required are few since they are built on existing landscape. The hills they are dug into provide all year round natural insulation and are more energy-efficient. The caves favor farmers who get more arable land to plant their crops. 

Image source: www.odditycentral.com

www.nydailynews.com

Shaanxi province is home to most of the caves in China since it’s endowed with porous soil which makes it easy to dig. The LA Times report discovered that the caves feature a semicircular entrance covered with quilts or rice paper that leads to a vaulted long room dug into the side of the mountain. The walls are covered with decorations like photographs of movie stars or famous people torn out of magazines. Some of the caves have been reinforced with brick masonry and protrude from the mountains. A family can have different chambers by connecting the caves laterally. Some of the beautiful caves are spacious with high ceilings and a nice yard for exercises and basking in the sun out front. 

Image source: www.odditycentral.com

A current TV report in 2007 found that most of the caves were being abandoned by the younger generations although the old were still living there. According to the LA Times report, a one bedroom primitive cave with no plumbing costs $30 rent per month while a three-bedroom deluxe cave with plumbing sells for approximately $46,000. Most of these people rely on potties or outhouses that they empty outside. The unfortunate thing is that most of these caves are not for rent or sale since they are handed down from a generation to another. 

Image source: www.inhabitat.com

Most of those who have lived in caves all their lives would not imagine anything different. They find them easy and comfortable to live in. 

Read more: http://www.unbelievable-facts.com/2013/11/millions-of-chinese-people-still-living.html#ixzz3A2xurUmd

Foreign investors pull out Rs 5,000 crore from debt securities this month

 After pouring in over Rs 80,000 crore in Indian debt securities in first seven months of 2014, overseas investors have pulled out nearly Rs 5,000 crore ($811 million) so far this month.
In comparison, equity markets have seen a modest net inflow of about Rs 100 crore so far in August.
According to the latest data compiled by depositories, foreign investors made gross purchase of equities and debt securities worth over Rs 33,351.67 crore during August, as against sale of about Rs 38,215 crore across the two segments - resulting into a net outflow of Rs 4,863.35 crore ($801.46 million).
The significant outflows this month have also brought down net investments by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) to $25.6 billion as on August 8, against more than $26 billion registered at the end of July.
FIIs and FPIs have purchased shares worth about Rs 27,875 crore so far this month, while they sold equity worth Rs 27,777 crore in the same period.

Emergency Labs in U.S for EBOLA viruse

All three U.S. facilities established to quickly make vaccines and therapeutics in the event of a major public health threat say they are standing by to support any U.S. government effort to scale up a treatment for Ebola.
The facilities, called Centers for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing (ADM), were set up by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in partnership with private industry, to respond to pandemics or chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear threats.
They have the expertise to quickly switch production lines to manufacture, for example, a smallpox vaccine if that scourge were to re-emerge, or an anthrax vaccine, and other life-saving compounds against both natural outbreaks and bioterrorism.
"They know our number and they can call us 24 hours a day," said Brett Giroir, chief executive of Texas A&M Health Science Center, site of one of the facilities. "We are prepared."
Global health agencies are only starting to consider whether to make experimental drugs, most of which have only been tested on monkeys, available to patients in West Africa, which is suffering the worst Ebola outbreak in history.
The World Health Organization is convening a group of bioethicists to consider such as issues as who decides which patients would receive the treatments or vaccines. U.S. officials have repeatedly emphasized the importance of public health measures such as quarantines to stop the spread of the disease.
Among the Ebola treatments that have shown promising results in lab animals is an antibody cocktail from Mapp Biopharmaceutical, a tiny biotechnology company in San Diego; a vaccine from Profectus in Tarrytown, New York; and an RNA-interference drug being developed by Vancouver-based, Tekmira Pharmaceuticals, which late last week got approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to resume safety trials in human volunteers.
The decision to order any of the three advanced labs to begin making Ebola treatments would be made at the highest levels of the Obama administration.
BUS-LENGTH CLEAN ROOMS
The Texas facility consists of a dozen bus-length mobile clean rooms, each supplied with sterile air, nutrient media for growing cells, and other clean-manufacturing requirements.
"We are prepared to make any kind of vaccine," Giroir said, from the traditional kind grown in chicken eggs to newer varieties grown in mammalian or bacterial cells. "The whole idea is to take a process that may exist only on sticky notes at a small biotech company and scale it up as fast as possible"
The three centers are required to have the ability to produce vaccines against pandemic flu but must also dedicate at least six months a year to developing products against other threats, and at sufficient volume to meet a sudden spike in U.S. demand, Giroir said.
The Texas facility collaborates with British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline Plc. A center led by Emergent Biosolutions in Baltimore, Maryland, collaborates with various universities as does the third center, in Holly Springs, North Carolina, led by Swiss drug company Novartis AG.
Their operations are funded with $400 million from HHS and are overseen by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of HHS's Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.
Combined, the centers have the capacity to produce and deliver at least 50 million doses of vaccine against pandemic influenza, the most likely source of a health emergency, within 12 weeks.
Any Ebola order would be for much fewer doses, said Giroir. "Even if Ebola were spreading here, it's not an airborne transmissible disease like influenza so you wouldn't need 50 million doses. At most you'd need a few thousand, maybe a million."
SCALING UP
The centers are not set up to invent drugs. They are designed to take what Giroir calls "the scientific substrate" or recipe for the product, either an existing one or, as in the case of Ebola treatments, an experimental one and develop a process for making it.
Of the three, only the Texas lab said it can produce proteins such as human antibodies in plant-based systems, which is how Mapp's Ebola drug has been made in limited quantities, so the government may sub-contract with a company that has additional plant technology.
One candidate is Bryan, Texas-based Caliber Biotherapeutics LLC. Mapp currently works with Kentucky BioProcessing, a unit of tobacco giant Reynolds American to produce its drug. More capacity would be needed to scale up.
Emergent Biosolutions' facility does not have the recipe to develop an Ebola treatment, but Adam Havey, president of the company's biodefense division, said that if the government asked it to produce something against the virus “we would absolutely respond to that.”
Novartis said its facility also "stands ready, as with previous public health emergencies, to provide scientific support aimed at halting the current outbreak."
Even with dedicated facilities to hand, getting medicines to Africa quickly and in sufficient quantities will be a challenge.
BARDA does have a network of distributors, including Baxter International Inc, Cook Pharmica LLC and JHP Pharmaceuticals, who would be obliged, if requested, to fill vials and package a BARDA-designated product.
While U.S. legislation intended such production to be for U.S. use, there are provisions for products to be provided to allies and other countries if it is in the interest of national security.