Thursday, 17 January 2008
Pakistani Flag Hoisted at North Pole
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani woman Namira Salim won laurels for the country when she hoisted the green-and-white Pakistani flag at the North Pole.Namira with a ten-member expedition had reached North Pole on January 10.
Namira, who also awaits her space flight during the next couple of years, is the first Pakistani to reach the top of the world - the geographic North Pole.
Half Man Half Tree "Dede"
An Indonesian fisherman named Dede who feared that he would be killed by tree-like growths covering his body has been given hope of recovery by an American doctor - and Vitamin A.
The welts spread across his body unchecked and soon he was left unable to carry out everyday household tasks.
Sacked from his job and deserted by his wife, Dede has been raising his two children - now in their late teens - in poverty, resigned to the fact that local doctors had no cure for his condition.
To make ends meet he even joined a local “freak show”, parading in front of a paying audience alongside victims of other peculiar diseases.
Although supported by his extended family, he was often a target of abuse and ridicule in his rural fishing village.
But now an American dermatology expert who flew out to Dede’s home village south of the capital Jakarta claims to have identified his condition, and proposed a treatment that could transform his life.
After testing samples of the lesions and Dede’s blood, Dr Anthony Gaspari of the University of Maryland concluded that his affliction is caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), a fairly common infection that usually causes small warts to develop on sufferers.
Mercury's Unseen Side is Revealed
The first pictures taken by the Messenger probe as it passed Mercury on Monday have started to arrive at Earth.They include images that show parts of the surface missed by the Mariner 10 spacecraft when it flew by the planet in the 1970s.
Like the previously mapped portions of Mercury, the new sections appear heavily cratered.
Messenger needs to perform another two fly-bys and a number of engine firings to get itself into orbit in 2011.
Monday's manoeuvre took the probe to within just 200km (125 miles) of the planet at closest approach.
Messenger was programmed to collect more than 1,300 images and make other observations during the encounter.
The 700GB of data began transmission to Earth on Tuesday.
Ike Turner Overdosed on Cocaine
US soul legend Ike Turner, who died last month at the age of 76, was killed by a cocaine overdose, Californian coroners have established. "We are listing that he abused cocaine and that's what resulted in the cocaine toxicity," said an official at the San Diego County medical examiner's office.
Cardiovascular disease and pulmonary emphysema were also given as "significant" factors in the death.
Turner's daughter Mia said she was shocked by the report.
The singer had waged an "ongoing struggle" with drugs, she said, but the coroner was "overstating the situation".
"Daddy at that point was not doing drugs to the level it leads to believe," she told the North County Times in a telephone interview.
The former husband of Tina Turner died at his home near San Diego on 12 December.
Paul Parker, chief investigator at the medical examiner's office, was quoted by The Associated Press as saying hypertensive cardiovascular disease and pulmonary emphysema were also "significant and contributing factors" in Turner's death.
Rising to fame in the 1960s, the musician is best remembered for his musical partnership with Tina.
Their stormy marriage, in which she said he abused her, overshadowed his considerable achievements in popular music.
In his autobiography, he estimated he had spent $11m to support his cocaine habit in the 1970s and 1980s.
Amazing Horse In A Fire
A man rides through a bonfire in San Bartolome de Pinares in Spain. Horses are ridden through bonfires on the eve of the Festival of San Anton, the patron saint of animals.Real Bad Predictions
1). "Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."
Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949
2). "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943
3). "I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year."
The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957
4). "But what ... is it good for?"
Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.
5). "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977
6). "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us."
Western Union internal memo, 1876.
7). "The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would payfor a message sent to nobody in particular?"
David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.
8)."The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible."
A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.
9). "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?"
H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927.
10). "I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper."
Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in "Gone With The Wind."
11). "A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make."
Response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting Mrs. Fields' Cookies.
12). "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out."
Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.
13). "Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible."
Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.
14). "If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this."
Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M "Post-It" Notepads.
15). "So we went to Atari and said, 'Hey, we've got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come work for you.' And they said, 'No.' So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, 'Hey, we don't need you. You haven't got through college yet.'"
Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and H-P interested in his and Steve Wozniak's personal computer.
16). "Professor Goddard does not know the relation between action and reaction and the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react. He seems to lack the basic knowledge ladled out daily in high schools."
1921 New York Times editorial about Robert Goddard's revolutionary rocket work.
17)."You want to have consistent and uniform muscle development across all of your muscles? It can't be done. It's just a fact of life. You just have to accept inconsistent muscle development as an unalterable condition of weight training."
Response to Arthur Jones, who solved the "unsolvable" problem by inventing Nautilus.
18). "Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy."
Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859.
19). "The bomb will never go off. I speak as an expert in explosives."
Admiral William Leahy, US Atomic Bomb Project.
20). "This fellow Charles Lindbergh will never make it. He's doomed."
Harry Guggenheim, millionaire aviation enthusiast.
21). "Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau."
Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929.
22). "Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value."
Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre.
23). "Man will never reach the moon regardless of all future scientific advances."
Dr. Lee De Forest, inventor of the vacuum tube and father of television.
24). "Everything that can be invented has been invented."
Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899
25). "Louis Pastueur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction."
Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872
26). "The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the instrusion of the wise and humane surgeon."
Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen Victoria, 1873
Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949
2). "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943
3). "I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year."
The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957
4). "But what ... is it good for?"
Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.
5). "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977
6). "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us."
Western Union internal memo, 1876.
7). "The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would payfor a message sent to nobody in particular?"
David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.
8)."The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible."
A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.
9). "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?"
H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927.
10). "I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper."
Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in "Gone With The Wind."
11). "A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make."
Response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting Mrs. Fields' Cookies.
12). "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out."
Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.
13). "Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible."
Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.
14). "If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this."
Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M "Post-It" Notepads.
15). "So we went to Atari and said, 'Hey, we've got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come work for you.' And they said, 'No.' So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, 'Hey, we don't need you. You haven't got through college yet.'"
Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and H-P interested in his and Steve Wozniak's personal computer.
16). "Professor Goddard does not know the relation between action and reaction and the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react. He seems to lack the basic knowledge ladled out daily in high schools."
1921 New York Times editorial about Robert Goddard's revolutionary rocket work.
17)."You want to have consistent and uniform muscle development across all of your muscles? It can't be done. It's just a fact of life. You just have to accept inconsistent muscle development as an unalterable condition of weight training."
Response to Arthur Jones, who solved the "unsolvable" problem by inventing Nautilus.
18). "Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy."
Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859.
19). "The bomb will never go off. I speak as an expert in explosives."
Admiral William Leahy, US Atomic Bomb Project.
20). "This fellow Charles Lindbergh will never make it. He's doomed."
Harry Guggenheim, millionaire aviation enthusiast.
21). "Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau."
Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929.
22). "Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value."
Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre.
23). "Man will never reach the moon regardless of all future scientific advances."
Dr. Lee De Forest, inventor of the vacuum tube and father of television.
24). "Everything that can be invented has been invented."
Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899
25). "Louis Pastueur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction."
Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872
26). "The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the instrusion of the wise and humane surgeon."
Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen Victoria, 1873
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