Psychic Pig to predict the outcome of Euro 2012

These omnivores and highly social animals are considered to be intelligent; they are frequently referenced for idioms and famous quotes – still are not considered important and are rated lowly.  

More than the IPL glamour that we had, Europe would clamour for Euro 2012 – the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship - the 14th European Championship for national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament will be hosted by Poland and Ukraine between 8^th  June and 1^st  July 2012. It is the first time that either nation has hosted the tournament.  The tourney features 16 nations, the last European Championship to do so (from Euro 2016 onward, there will be 24 finalists). Qualification was contested by 51 nations between August 2010 and November 2011 to join the two host nations in the tournament. The winner of the tournament gains automatic entry to the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup hosted by Brazil. 

Would you be interested in seeing or following the matches and would you be interested in predicting the winner of the tourney !  It is but human to exhibit a passion to know what would occur in future – at times arising out of fear, one would keep thinking of what future holds in store.  For centuries, mankind has attempted various methods in knowing the future though some would question the rationality of  reading the future or fortune telling, as they call it.  There are Psychics – some who possess ability to perceive information hidden from normal senses through extrasensory perception (ESP). Many believe in horoscopes and astrology. Astrology is stated as the Science of foretelling the future of people. There are some astrologers who use animals for foretelling.

Commonly, in India we see astrologers with green parrot in cage, parrot sliding out of the cage, picking up a card and fortune being read from the card so picked.  There are people who carry slender loris too….    During the FIFA World Cup, Paul the Octopus received International recognition after he correctly predicted Germany’s win over England and made four more correct predictions after that.  Challenging the Octopus was a Parakeet called Mani, a Malaysian bornnRose-ringed Parakeet resident of Singapore and an astrologer 'assistant' engaged in fortune prediction. In Western countries also, there is tarot and tarot readers – pack of cards used by mystics and occultists in efforts at divination.

After Paul the Octopus,  now comes a psychic pig to predict Euro 2012 – yes a Pig like the one seen here,  is set to take over where Paul the Octopus left off.  The pig would be predicting the results of matches at the European championships in Ukraine and Poland.  Kiev’s city government said  it would wheel out the porky tipster to give daily forecasts once the tournament kicks off. “A unique oracle hog, a real Ukrainian pig and a psychic which knows the mysteries of football,” a statement said. “Every day at 16.00 it will predict the result of the upcoming match.”

Paul the Octopus was not alone; a rare two-headed tortoise called Magdalena embarked on a new career as a tipster at last year’s ice hockey world championships in Slovakia and there was the German cross-eyed opossum called Heidi, who made an appearance on American television earlier this year to predict the Oscar winners.  Now comes the hog, which will be anxious to sniff out the correct result himself to avoid the chop as pork is a staple of the local cuisine.

The official mascots for Euro 2012 are - Slavek and Slavko, twins  representing Polish and Ukrainian footballers in national colours.  The names of the mascots were chosen in the web voting. They were designed by Warner Bros.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

29^th May 2012.

new potentially complex virus, called "Flame" or "Skywiper,"

Sometimes we are afflicted by ‘fever’ caused by viruses.  Viral fever refers to a broad spectrum of conditions where viral infections are associated with elevations of body temperature. Most viral infections are spread by inhalation of aerosolised particles, by intake of contaminated water or food, or by direct contact. Infection then spreads locally and thereafter into the blood stream or lymph channels.  A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses can infect all types of organism, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea.

Often the Computers and electronic devices that we use malfunction, probably attacked and affected by Computer Virus.  It is nothing physical but a computer program that can replicate itself and spread from one computer.  Commonly, the  term "virus" is used to refer to other types of malware, including but not limited to adware and spyware programs that do not have a reproductive ability.  Technically, a worm can exploit security vulnerabilities to spread itself automatically to other computers through networks, while a Trojan horse is a program that appears harmless but hides malicious functions. Whatever be thy name, they harm a computer system's data or performance.

There is antidote in the form of ‘Antivirus or anti-virus software’ that could  prevent, detect and remove malware.  They use  a variety of strategies searching for known patterns of data within executable code. However, it is possible for a computer to be infected with new malware for which no signature is yet known. To counter such so-called zero-day threats, heuristics can be used.

Now there is news abuzz of a new potentially complex virus, dubbed "Flame" or "Skywiper," which is infecting and stealing information from computers in Iran and the Middle East.  The Daily Telegraph reports that the malicious software is 20 times more powerful than any other known cyber warfare programmes including the infamous Stuxnet virus, and could only have been created by a state.  Flame, reportedly, is the third computer virus aimed at systems in the Middle East to have been exposed in the past three years.  In the past,  Iran has accused Israel and the West of using cyber warfare to sabotage its nuclear programme.

The Flame virus was detected by Kaspersky Labs, a Russian security firm that specialises in targeting malicious computer codes and which was set up by the discoverer of Stuxnet,  and reportedly this new virus is supposedly extremely sophisticated.  There are lurking fears that if  Flame went on undiscovered for five years, the only logical conclusion is that there are other operations ongoing that we don’t know about.  

Reportedly, Flame can gather data files, remotely change settings on computers, turn on computer microphones to record conversations, take screen shots and copy instant messaging chats.  It is so complex that researchers feel that what they have learnt of the virus is only minimal.  Kaspersky  laboratory’s research shows the largest number of infected machines are in Iran, followed by the Israel/Palestine region, then Sudan and Syria.  The virus contains about 20 times as much code as Stuxnet, which attacked an Iranian uranium enrichment facility, causing centrifuges to fail. It has about 100 times as much code as a typical virus designed to steal financial information.

The news is certain to stoke speculation that the virus is part of a growing list of examples of intelligence agencies waging cyberwar on foreign governments or other targets.  The added fear is that once  a machine is infected additional modules can be added to the system allowing the machine to undertake specific tracking projects.

The earlier one, Stuxnet is a computer worm discovered in June 2010 which initially spread via Microsoft Windows, and targets Siemens industrial software and equipment.  The worm initially spreads indiscriminately, but includes a highly specialized malware payload that is designed to target only Siemens supervisory control and data acquisition systems that are configured to control and monitor specific industrial processes

 

A computer worm is a standalone malware computer program that replicates itself in order to spread to other computers. Often, it uses a computer network to spread itself. This is due to security shortcomings on the target computer. Unlike a computer virus, it does not need to attach itself to an existing program. Worms almost always cause at least some harm to the network, even if only by consuming bandwidth, whereas viruses almost always corrupt or modify files on a targeted computer.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

29^th May 2012.

Brutal killings and savagery in civilized World

Animals are barbaric and humans are civilized.  Animals fight, harm and kill their own clan – humans only help others !!  We call our race very civilized  - a term which means that we have advanced from our primitive age, have learnt to cope up with pressures, not succumbing to emotions, treat others with respect, care and concern.  We are attuned to living in Society where every other person is shown care and we share our resources for the common benefit of all !!  we have made great strides in agriculture, Science, technology, medicine, long distance trade, self-governance and more. 

We know how to be relaxed and enjoy ourselves [whether it is Office or at home !]  On 27th May 2012, a Sunday, the crowds were thinner as the city was getting painted in yellow, supporting Chennai Super Kings in the battle against Kolkatta Knight Riders – the fans eventually were disappointed at the loss but the game was enjoyed by many who filled the stadium.  The euphoria had began hours before the first ball was bowled.  People were prepared to buy tickets at exorbitant rates though they kept saying that tickets were available…..   pedlars, hawkers, food stalls and wine shops around the stadium did roaring business

And today morning [28th May 2012] one only  expected to read more trivia on the newspaper of the IPL finals, the plays, the statistics, the men, trivia and more…………….  Sometimes, reading newspaper makes one sad……………..  here is example of gory things that were on print [the example cited here is Times of India, Chennai Edition  – but for certain any other paper would not have been much different]

Man killed for objecting to drinking in public   :  in the suburb of Madipakkai, reportedly, a 52-year-old man was murdered on Saturday night after he objected to two men consuming liquor in front of his house in Madipakkam. is son who came to his rescue was injured in the attack. ive people were arrested in connection with the murder.  The man, Jayaraman noticed two young men consuming liquor in the middle of the road in front of his house.  The  two did not make way for the vehicle.  Jayaraman scolded them for drinking in public – the duo duo entered into an argument with Jayaraman and left the place after warning him of dire consequences.  They found out his mobile number and kept making threat calls from different numbers, said an investigating officer.  Later they came with more friends, called Jayaraman to come out of his house, assaulted him with knives and stones.  Jayaraman died on the spot and Vinoth Kumar,who tried to intervene,sustained injuries.Velu and his friends fled the scene.They were arrested on Sunday morning.

Elsewhere in Sembium, a  37-year-old parttime actor,B Kumar, was stabbed to death by a 3 member gang.  The deceased had acted as a villain in a couple of Tamil movies,was drunk at the time.  The report states that a friend of the actor who was a money-lender used him to threaten people when loans were not properly repaid.  In one such confrontation, there was a melee, the person who had taken loan stabbed Kumar and fled the scene.  Kumar is survived by wife Kasthuri and two daughters. He had done minor roles in a few Tamil movies and also acted in television serials like Kolangal and Idhayam.

In the heart of the city in T.Nagar, Police on Saturday (26/5) detained three juveniles from Kamarajar Colony in T Nagar in connection with the murder of two elderly sisters aged 75 and 72 in May 2011.  The three boys were the prime suspects in the murder eight months ago.  The two sisters were found strangled and 25-30 sovereigns of gold jewellery and cash were missing from their house.  Reportedly the victim’s domestic help and her husband had hired the petty offenders to kill the old women. 

In another incident in the suburbs of Chitlapakkam, Police fished out a duo who had fallen into a lake after consuming liquor and died later.

While these are barbaric acts – a confession by a Party claiming to be so disciplined has shocked the civilized  World – the crime and utterance are ghastly and heinous…. 

It is the statement of MM Mani, Idukki Dist Secretary of CPM, that they have killed the enemies of the party.  He  is quoted as stating ‘yes, We have shot,stabbed and beaten them to death’. A hit-list of party enemies was prepared and each of them was executed in that order.  Had it been some other State, the Human Rights activists would have been jumping to bring down the Government – but their voices are not heard now.  It simply is a brazen display of medieval thuggery – and the local leader is outrageous in openly claiming that. – and these words were uttered in a meeting convened to clarify their position in another death.  The shocking footage of his speech has found its way to the state’s TV channels and is vivid with details of the murders, of the plans and executions.  Some reports have it that it describes a list of 13, of which 4 are no more living.   “The first one was shot dead, the second was beaten to death and the third was stabbed to death,” he said with absolute derision, citing their names and other details.  The murders he narrated were in fact among the most sensational in the district – three of them in the early 1980s and the fourth in 2004. In the first three, nobody had been convicted for lack of evidence.

The chief minister and the home minister said his speech would be examined and action would be taken. The DGP has also asked the district police chief to take action including re-examination of the case-diary. The families of the victims said they would go to court asking for new investigation.

The murder of Revolutionary Marxist Party leader TP Chandrasekharan has drawn unprecedented public ire.  There were reports of a former Minister threatening a DSP, part of the investigating team.  Chandrasekharan was unarmed, had not been involved in a fight and was hacked beyond recognition by a hired criminal gang. Although the CPM has washed its hands off the murder, investigation of the case has led the police to several CPM functionaries including an area secretary and criminals whom they had allegedly hired for the murder.

Savagery, brutality, grisly murders, goons, hired murders, killing, kidnapping, maiming, forcing, shutting voices, oppression – all seem to occur in the modern civilized World.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.          

28^th May 2012

Venus follows sibling Serena Williams - bows out of Roland Garros

It is unlikely that many would have heard of Dr Henrik Samuel Conrad Sjögren, a Swedish Ophthalmologist who passed awy in 1986.  In some movies, you would hear the Doctor utter some disease name, not intelligible to common man expressing that ‘nothing is in their hands’ – ‘Sjogren’s syndrome’ is perhaps one such illness.

Yesterday, I had posted about Serena Williams going down  to the unhearlded 111th-ranked Virginie Razzano of France - a stunning defeat of 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 loss  at Roland Garros. Read the earlier post here :  http://sampspeak.blogspot.in/2012/05/career-high-for-virginie-razzano-serena.html.  Eight Grand Slam finals had been ‘all Williams affairs’

Known too well,  is the sibling rivalry and the domination the William sisters had.. after Serena, Venus Williams also followed being knocked out of French Open not only by a younger opponent, alos by an illness which has changed her life and the way she plays.  Afflicted by the disease,  Williams says she wakes up each morning unsure of how she will feel.  Venus Williams has been a fierce competitor, one who would not give up easily and one who fought from behind to win.  Venus Ebony Starr Williams  was World No. 1 for sometime thought her ranking has dropped down to lowly 53 now.   She has an impressive tally of  21 Grand Slam titles, which is more than any other active female player except  her younger sister Serena Williams.   She has won Wimbledon Singles five times and has added 3 Olympic medals to that – 1 in Singles and the other 2 in Women’s doubles.  She has  43 career singles titles,  and  her 35-match winning streak from the 2000 Wimbledon Championships to the 2000 Generali Ladies Linz tournament final is the longest winning streak since January  2000. 

Venus Williams has played  her sister Serena Williams  23 times and has won 10 of them.  in 23 professional matches since 1998, with Serena winning 13 of the 23 matches. On the doubles side, the pair have won 12 Grand Slam doubles titles playing alongside each other.  Venus is a powerful baseline player more adapted to grass using her height to her advantage in reaching the ball.   She holds the record for the fastest serve struck by a woman in a main draw event. At the Zurich Open, she recorded 130 mph (210 km/h)

Radwanska smiling

A player known for wrapping the match in quick time, she is struggling, glum and lacks the verve that carried her to top once.   At Roland Garros, Venus  barely put up any resistance and lost 6-2, 6-3 to No 3-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland.   Venus made  33 unforced errors, 27 more than Radwanska ending up a lopsided 60-minute defeat in the second round of the French Open. Though it would rank as any upset with 3^rd seed ousting the 53^rd, Venus getting eliminated in the 2^nd round is big news.   The player who eliminated her - Agnieszka Radwańska is a Polish player who has reached five Grand Slam quarterfinals.

Williams revealed her diagnosis in late August at the U.S. Open, when she withdrew before her second—round match. She skipped the Australian Open in January, before returning    to the tour in March in a bid to earn a berth on the U.S Olympic team.  She was diagnosed to have been afflicted with - Sjogren’s syndrome, a mysterious disease caused by an overproduction of B lymphocytes, the cells of the immune system that make antibodies. The deluge of B cells clogs glands.  The disease often starts out as an uncomfortable feeling in the eyes and mouth, food becomes tasteless,  some have swollen glands in their necks,  and makes the person feel weak and tired – and it is stated that there is no way to alleviate this.  Sjögren's syndrome is a systemic autoimmune disease in which immune cells attack and destroy the exocrine glands that produce tears and saliva.  It is named after Swedish ophthalmologist Henrik Sjögren who first described it.  Nine out of ten Sjögren's patients are women and the average age of onset is late 40s.

Often Physicians tell that lack of exercise and sedentary life-style causes disorders and rarely even those who are extremely active with physical activity also get afflicted with disorders

With regards – S. Sampathkumar