Government ought to tackle distractions to lessen car accidents

It may be that you are not aware but the concept of talking on or sending text messages with cell phones while driving has become not only problematic but also a bane by now and the brunt is being felt by the concerned government departments and officials only. Even though the problem has become rampant in leading metropolises across the globe, US is feeling the heat to the greatest extent but the laws banning the aforesaid tasks are already proved as effete. In brief, they have failed to make any substantial impact; the risk of traffic accidents has not lessened considerably. What can be done then? Experts advocate managing the problem of distracted drivers in general seems to be the best option at the moment.

Now the question remains whether this is feasible or not. Well, we have to get into the observations of Highway Loss Data Institute, a nonprofit organization funded by the auto insurance industry, at the outset. The Institute made a detailed analysis (through minute comparison) of monthly collision claims in four states, known for banishing handheld cell phone use prior to and after the bans became operative. The researchers have the conviction that car collision rates didn't alter after bans became operational--and they didn't change for nearby states devoid of such bans, either.

The study makes it clear that laws prohibiting handheld phone practice have been useful in getting people to bring hands-free devices for driving into play. However, it fails to ensure that
hands-free devices have lessened the number of car accidents that take place in general. The situation, if truth be told, is baffling indeed.

What conclusion can be drawn from here? Each and every aspect indicates that the problem starts and ends with the driver and above all with his/her distraction. To cut a long story short, instead of cell phone, distraction leads to accidents and its burgeoning effect on the society. Bear in mind that distraction can be anything ranging from texting a message in cell phone, programming a GPS navigation system, eating French fries to anything else.

Government has to deal with distraction instead of phones or texting to decrease number of accidents.

Proper rest makes brain more active

Whatever may be the advancements in the medical world, brain is still an enigma and hence, lots of rumors and certainly speculations do revolve around the same. Do you know why at times we fail to remember most common things? Learn the answer from here. As stated by a panel of eminent researchers, it may be that you or any concerned person or even we think of the same too often. Do you find any difference? You may since this is the age that doesn’t believe that an idle mind is a devil’s workshop.

Lots of changes are happening almost at each moment and more are still to come; hence, it is the time for you to look at those that have remained unnoticed thus far. So long scientists used to concentrate on volunteers in action, appraising their physiological or biochemical responses as they completed specific mental tasks. However, a sea change has occurred recently and the credit in this regard goes to the proliferation of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), accurately maps brain activity founded on changes in blood-oxygen levels. With the help of it neuroscientists have concluded that crucial activity in the brain — connected specifically to memory and learning — may crop up when it is at rest.

Is this study any wonder? Perhaps not since copious numbers of studies over the past decade have made it clear that sleep is exceedingly important to the consolidation of memories and learning; what is more, people who take a nap after learning a new task, for instance, remember it better in contrast to people who don't have forty winks.

Now as per as the novel study from the lab of New York University (NYU) cognitive neuroscientist Lila Davachi, there is akin evidence that the brain at rest, even while remaining awake, is conducting significant action. In short, the scientist suggests that certain forms of brain activity actually augment during waking rest and are associated with better memory consolidation.

New form of journalism to get unfolded

What is the future of journalism? Let me put the question in this way. What is the future of print journalism? Is it going to be as extinct as the dinosaur very soon? The question is quite obvious, the existing trends do confirm that the days of print journalism are too limited and the way in which web-based journalism has started to control the scenario already, we are heading towards a web-based revolution in the journalism industry too. Perhaps you have already become acquainted with the term online journalism. But what you were familiar with was nothing save for the first generation of the same online journalism; surfacing of the new Apple iPad is going to change the rest altogether straight away and analysts assume that may happen in an instant.

Are you getting flummoxed thanks to this bombardment of info? Let me help you. Have you seen Minority Report? I’m talking of Steven Spielberg's 2002 sci-fi spectacular. Can you recall the scene when the main protagonist or Tom Cruise is sitting on a near-future subway car, and a passenger across the aisle is reading a paper-based USA Today? What does the scene speak about and consist of? On the front page was moving video of Cruise underneath a headline warning that he was running wild. Then the headline changes to depict the other top stories of the moment, round about mid-21st century. Do you get the idea? Perhaps we are heading towards the same right away.

Maybe you are still having troubles to envisage the near future. Let me put in this way that the day when integrated circuits, wireless connectivity and impressionable screens can combine to project images on a paper-based product is not far away. And whatever may be the dominating troubles of the current market economy, necessity knows no law and thanks to this age-old principle, we will conform to the new notion and discard the old at the same instant.

What shall be the new business models and pattern of jobs then? Old order will change yielding place to new and a new form of journalism will get unfolded.

Scourge of texting while driving getting almost omnipotent

Surely there is no one who is yet to know of texting, communication by means of sending a text message to a mobile phone or other electronic device. Well, even if the definition looks to be simple, the reality is just the opposite and the passion of texting, believe it or not, has become almost a scourge in several metropolises across the globe. How can this scourge be checked? The pertinent governments are devoid of any precise answer yet and what is more frightening is that a recent study states clearly, state laws meant to desist drivers from texting are effete in reality and have hardly any effect on crash rates.

The study was conducted in New York, Washington, D.C., Connecticut and California and the Highway Loss Data Institute left no stone unturned in comparing hits of 100 insured vehicles per year in four different jurisdictions previous to and after bans on handheld cell phone use and texting became operative. It is to be noted that data were also collected from states in close proximity for comparison. Days of arduous struggle made the researchers conclude that monthly fluctuations in crash rates didn't amend after bans were enacted and what is more, rates of crashes compared to places close at hand devoid of texting or handheld phone bans also didn't change.

What were the earlier deductions then? Earlier studies by the Institute, funded by insurance companies, did come across four-fold increases in injury-related crash risk linked with cell phone use, as a result this result was surprising to a great extent. However, the Institute is not ready to take this lesson lightly and on the word of its President Adrian Lund, it has got busy in gathering data to comprehend this disparity.

What can be the possible reasons behind this occurrence? If we rely on Adrian Lund, drivers are simply switching to hands-free phone use. Some studies even suggest that the hazard of hands-free phone use when driving is little different from that handheld phone use.

Coca Cola – newest prey of a global desire

Why is Coke always in news? Well, it is one of the most preferred drinks and as per the claim of the company, it records 6 billion servings per day of its 500 brands in 200 nations and if it is a reality, the company has lots of reasons to boast of. However there have been sordid developments as well and several malpractices connected with Coke have caught our attentions. While on one hand it has been maligned for (allegedly) violating environmental chastity, on the other hand it has been framed for other misdemeanors also. But, it is back in news again and at this time, it is due to the new allegation – coke is an excellent biofuel.

Experts suggest, even though many consider the same as one of the best drinks known hitherto, other than having carbohydrates and caffeine to make one revel it, Coca Cola is a sugary drink that is enough competent to run even a mobile phone. Is this true? Can this be accepted? The question is quite difficult since it is not expected that a globally acclaimed company can dupe its own loyal clientele in this way. It is also heard at times that Coke is used as an outstanding industrial cleaner and is used by hospitals to keep catheters clean and US police apparently make use of it to wash blood off the road.

The situation is quite baffling, without a doubt. However a new study refutes all these and sneers at the development. As per it if phosphoric acid is used to generate energy in Coke, lots of beverages and foods contain more phosphorous. While Coca-Cola classic contains 41 mg of phosphorous per 8 ounce serving, milk contains 228 mg per 8 ounce and peanuts have 288 mg per ½ cup serving. How can Coca Cola be held culpable then?

On the word of Adam Best, a scientist from Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), a coke powered battery is improbable to be commercially used for the reason that it is will not be well-organized and also pricey to make.

What is the reality then? Truly speaking, whenever crude oil prices skyrockets, a new search for alternative miracles commences and Coca Cola has become the newest prey of a global desire.

Dubai real estate getting vulnerable to Chinese dragon!

It doesn’t matter whether one is strong or weak, it, if there is any prospect, has to undergo continual onslaughts from imperialist powers. You may consider this as a ramshackle and effete feudal war principle and hence, it has got rejected by now but in reality, only you are erroneous. The same notion exists in full force, only the domain and way of expressing the same has changed, and realty sector of Dubai is going to be its new target.

The one and only reason is that a group of Chinese investors is close to arrive in Dubai next month with the aim of capitalising on hard-pressed properties now available in the market and the same has been confirmed by media reports posted on the Chinese Ministry of Commerce official website. It has been learnt that the group comprising twenty investors from the Zhejiang province in eastern China is contriving to visit Dubai at the end of February.

"When they learned of such an opportunity to visit Dubai, more than twenty members expressed an interest in joining the visiting group," Zhou Dewen, head of the Wenzhou SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) Business Development and Promotion Association, told the English-language China Daily newspaper. "Although the economy there has not revived yet, we believe big business opportunities exist not only in property, but also in export trading," he added.

What makes these investors interested in Dubai all of a sudden? If we rely on reports, investors from Wenzhou were badly affected by the downturn in their local property market and on the word of Zhou, the group may have lost up to $7.4bn on their investments in the region. Nevertheless, the region is having a direct property link to the emirate. Around 150,000 Chinese expatriates are learnt to live in Dubai and the report says in the region of 20,000 of them are from the Wenzhou region.

But this not all and there are more factors to mull over. Analysts are considering that the government of China is also taking active interest in the realty sector of Dubai and any such attempt of industrialists will benefit China, already recognised to expand its tentacles in several sectors across the globe.

Wake up Kashmiri Hindus

Let me begin with a very short narrative. During the last October, two persons, completely unknown to each other prior to the summit, had a chance meeting in New Delhi, national capital of India, thanks to a human rights conference on refugee problems across the globe. While one Kartik Banerjee came all the way from Calcutta, the other one Manish Kaul has roots in the Kashmir valley. There was nothing common between the two, hailing from two different cultures except two. Both of them were Hindus and victims of Islamic persecutions. Mr. Banerjee is a Bengali Hindu driven out from current Bangladesh, representing a community waiting for justice for the last 63 years, Mr. Kaul is a Kashmiri Hindu in quest of justice for last 20 years. Both of them still shiver due to their horrific experiences; Mr. Banerjee can’t forget incidents that reduced his community from 29% in 1948 to less than 10% currently, Mr. Kaul still has memories of 19 th January, when Kashmiri Hindus were shown the door (for eternity?).

What is most unfortunate, even after 20 years most of India is unaware of the horrific developments that led to the expulsion and of the day when all hell broke loose in the valley of Kashmir on the peaceful, patriotic community of Kashmiri Hindus. What is their condition at present? The whole community has been left in lurch but still hopes that one day it shall return to the native land.

Well, they have received lots of assurances in the meantime both by the Union governments and self-claimed custodians of the Hindu society. But if one has to comprehend the staggering reality, he must visit Kashmiri Hindu refugee camps in Mishriwala, Jammu. They are languishing in refugee camps, don’t know how long they will be there and many youngsters have not only become frustrated and lost hopes but are found to fume also at the uncanny antipathy of the Indian governments, irrespective of party ideologies.

Now the question remains can there be any comeback. If we take into account Indian government’s dealing with Bengali Hindus, the answer is no. It can’t be since the Indian psyche, thanks to slavery of Hindus throughout the last millennium, can’t get pro-active ever. Whom should Kashmiri Hindus go for justice then? Should they go for UN or Amnesty International? It’s not known whether these premier human rights organizations are even aware of plights of these hapless people. Truly speaking, I don’t know.

But surely you can’t ask of the same to the community that gave birth to Fatah, Hamas, Hezbollah or even Black September, responsible for the Munich massacre, when members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage and finally murdered. What do these make us conclude? Islam is not a religion but a political doctrine that thrives through rapid expansions to the detriment of Kafirs or infidels.

There is another question. What ails the Sangh or self-claimed custodians of Hindus? Are they mere paper tigers? If the developments are analyzed, they will definitely prove to be worse than that. Do you recall Maulana Masood Azhar still? The dreaded Pakistani terrorist was freed by the Indian government in exchange of passengers on the hijacked Indian Airlines Flight 814 (IC814) that had eventually landed in Kandahar, Afghanistan and the whole program was supervised by BJP’s iron man, known for melting at each and every occasion.

What can India do for Kashmiri Hindus then? There is no answer as India is lost in political squabbles, behaving like a rudderless ship and Kashmiri Hindus have to make their own destiny.

Hence, instead of expecting India to wake up, Kashmiri Hindus must wake up if they still have the desire to exist and flourish.