I doubt there are many Democrats who would want to entertain the thought of Donald Trump winning on November 8th.  That's traditional, long-time registered Democrat voters rather than the more recent, brash, Sanders insurgency supporting youth who so nearly upset the convention.  And yet there may be a case - which some hard-core Sandersites have long endorsed - for suggesting that a Trump win would be the better option for the long-term future of liberalism in America.

If Hillary Clinton wins the presidency then her very tenure will reinvigorate the Republicans in Congress, united in their bid to frustrate her at every turn.  It will likely give Paul Ryan, the House Speaker, an even higher profile and a leading role in not only refurbishing the Republican image - something he is desperate to do - but also in running for the presidency in four years time.  A Clinton presidency will also leave the substantial army of Trump supporters wholly unsatisfied, and ready to back either Trump or similarly iconoclastic right-wingers next time round, when they can point to four more years of "Democrat misrule" and establishment alienation.

A Clinton presidency might even engender a constitutional crisis.  While Trump said he would support Clinton as president if she won the election on November 8th., he has made enough noises previously to suggest that he and his supporters consider the whole electoral system rigged against them, and would use that as justification to dispute another Democratic victory.  Edward Foley on Politico has shown how such a challenge might work given the partisan nature of America's state operated electoral decision machines.

Should Trump actually win, a whole new scenario emerges (I know, I know....a contender for statements of the blinding obvious).  Given Trump's maverick approach to politics, and the division he has already inflicted on the Republican party, the Democrats can look forward to four years of ever increasing Republican turmoil as House and Senate Republicans try and deal with an unpredictable, and essentially non-party, president.  Four years of President Trump also provides even his hardest core supporters with the irrefutable evidence of not just how damaging such a presidency might be, but more importantly show them just how little he is able to change.  When no wall goes up - or at best a small symbolic one - and immigration doesn't cease; when terrorist attacks continue; when Trump's pally approach with a politically superior Vladimir Putin fails to bring gains to America and merely makes her look like an international patsy; when Trump's economic decision making fails to match the promise he has given of work for all those disenchanted, unemployed voters; when race relations hit a nadir and riots envelop the cities on a scale not seen since the 60s; when the economy tanks under the weight of an illiterate economic stategy; when all this and more happens do we really think the Trump brand will retain its potency in the re-election battle of 2020?

In such circumstances, the Democrats could nominate a new, fresh face, reinvigorate their liberal appeal, shore up their popular support across a variety of groups - the young, the black, the female, the Hispanic - and storm to victory not just in the race for the White House but also in the House and the Senate, probably for a generation at least.

The only question is - would four years of Trump be an acceptable price to pay for such future largesse?

Plenty of keyboards have already been called into action to provide quick analyses of last night's stormer of a presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.  To give just a flavour of some of the more prescient online commentary, this is the Washington Post take from Dana Milbank; Howard Kurtz gives a pretty balanced view from the right of the spectrum on Fox News; while the liberal viewpoint is most articulately expressed by Michelle Goldberg on Slate.  Politico meanwhile remains a forcing house of regular and detailed commentaries.

The commentariat consensus is that Hillary won - and unequivocally so.  Even Trump surrogate Rudy Giuliani admitted as much in a tweet he sent.  But Giuliani's tweet also offers - unusually - a proper cautionary note for the Clintonites.  She may win the debate and the plaudits of political insiders, as well as those voters who are more politically switched on than their peers.  Whether the debate will have translated that into an appeal to those who are largely alienated by politics is another matter, and Trump's one decent gambit last night was to keep identifying Clinton with the "failed" political establishment.

We already know that the hard-core Trump supporters will never be convinced by anything other than what Clinton characterised as a "Trump reality" that bears little relation to facts.  What Clinton needed to do was to try and win back some of that support which she appeared to have after the Democratic convention but which has dissipated over the course of the summer.

Certainly Mrs. Clinton exceeded expectations in the debate, while Trump probably came in under his.  All the more remarkable given that expectations for Clinton were already high - she was seen as a capable and professional debater who masters her brief exceptionally well - and those for Trump were correspondingly low - he was seen as a man of bluster and bluff with little regard for the facts.

It turned out to be Clinton who scored the more aggressive hits, on Trump's income tax returns, his "stiffing" of ordinary workers who worked for his companies, or his racism over the Obama Birther affair.  She maintained poise, looked relaxed, went in for the kill with appropriate but not over the top aggression.  She arguably didn't press one or two issues enough.  She could have pressed further on his tax returns, or seized upon his implicit admission that he hadn't paid federal tax in years.  She could have pressed on his pursuit of Obama's birth well after the president made his birth certificate public.  She could have been specific in calling him out as an early supporter of the Iraq war.  But these are quibbles.  The debate went well for her.  The only issue is whether it will have been enough to bring voters back into the fold.

For Trump, the issue is a little different.  He has defied all expectations and all campaigning conventions to get where he is today - that is, within a whisker of winning the White House.  No-one expects him to be articulate, no-one even really expects him to understand and ally himself with facts or, more broadly, the truth.  None of his nearly 40% of hard-core supporters are going to move away from him simply because his blustery one-liners didn't work in a debate, or because he was called out on various contortions of reality, or even because he is a giant narcissist who only talked about himself.  So emotionally based is his appeal that it is impervious to facts and events.   I thought one of his most astute points was when he noted that Clinton had spent hundreds of millions of pounds on television adverts attacking him, while he had spent nothing, and yet they were still level-pegging in the polls.

Trump is the anti-candidate, and to succeed he just needs to continue to exist.  The real issue for America in November is whether enough American voters - especially those in the so-called swing states - are nihilistic, alienated and angry enough to tell reality to go hang and put Trump in the White House.  We already know he can't get there because he is better qualified, or more astute, or has a better understanding of politics, or is a more eloquent and articulate speaker.  He is none of these things and Clinton beats him handily on each one.  Her unpopularity remains mysterious in many ways for a woman who has genuinely dedicated herself to a lifetime of public service, and who has come up from relatively humble origins.  But she is now the single most lethal personification of the politics of old, of the establishment, and if enough people are alienated from all of that, then she can't win them over.

This is an election between primal instinct and rational thought, and rational thought has an uphill battle.  That is why it may not matter that Hillary Clinton won the debate.  Donald Trump isn't campaigning that way, and his support base isn't interested.  So if you haven't yet seen it yet do watch it and enjoy - it was a great and rumbustuous debate (although the audience should have been allowed to make more noise!).  But for all the viewership - the highest for any presidential debate - it may not have mattered much.

Explore 10 things you may not know about the 16th U.S. president.

1. Lincoln is enshrined in the Wrestling Hall of Fame.
The Great Emancipator wasn’t quite WWE material, but thanks to his long limbs he was an accomplished wrestler as a young man. Defeated only once in approximately 300 matches, Lincoln reportedly talked a little smack in the ring. According to Carl Sandburg’s biography of Lincoln, Honest Abe once challenged an entire crowd of onlookers after dispatching an opponent: “I’m the big buck of this lick. If any of you want to try it, come on and whet your horns.” There were no takers. Lincoln’s grappling exploits earned him an “Outstanding American” honor in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

2. Lincoln created the Secret Service hours before his assassination.
On April 14, 1865, Lincoln signed legislation creating the U.S. Secret Service. That evening, he was shot at Ford’s Theatre. Even if the Secret Service had been established earlier, it wouldn’t have saved Lincoln: The original mission of the law enforcement agency was to combat widespread currency counterfeiting. It was not until 1901, after the killing of two other presidents, that the Secret Service was formally assigned to protect the commander-in-chief.

Abraham Lincoln circa 1846.

3. Grave robbers attempted to steal Lincoln’s corpse.
Secret Service did come to Lincoln’s protection, but only in death. In 1876 a gang of Chicago counterfeiters attempted to snatch Lincoln’s body from his tomb, which was protected by just a single padlock, in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois. Their scheme was to hold the corpse for a ransom of $200,000 and obtain the release of the gang’s best counterfeiter from prison. Secret Service agents, however, infiltrated the gang and were lying in wait to disrupt the operation. Lincoln’s body was quickly moved to an unmarked grave and eventually encased in a steel cage and entombed under 10 feet of concrete.

4. John Wilkes Booth’s brother saved the life of Lincoln’s son. 
A few months before John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln, the president’s oldest son, Robert Todd Lincoln, stood on a train platform in Jersey City, New Jersey. A throng of passengers began to press the young man backwards, and he fell into the open space between the platform and a moving train. Suddenly, a hand reached out and pulled the president’s son to safety by the coat collar. Robert Todd Lincoln immediately recognized his rescuer: famous actor Edwin Booth, brother of John Wilkes. (In another eerie coincidence, on the day of Edwin Booth’s funeral—June 9, 1893—Ford’s Theatre collapsed, killing 22 people.)

5. Lincoln is the only president to have obtained a patent.
Benjamin Franklin isn’t the only American political leader who demonstrated an inventive mind. After being aboard a steamboat that ran aground on low shoals and had to unload its cargo, Lincoln, who loved tinkering with machines, designed a method for keeping vessels afloat when traversing shallow waters through the use of empty metal air chambers attached to their sides. For his design, Lincoln obtained Patent No. 6,469 in 1849.

6. Lincoln personally test-fired rifles outside the White House.
Lincoln was a hands-on commander-in-chief who, given his passion for gadgetry, was keenly interested in the artillery used by his Union troops during the Civil War. Lincoln attended artillery and cannon tests and met at the White House with inventors demonstrating military prototypes. Although there was a standing order against firing weapons in the District of Columbia, Lincoln even test-fired muskets and repeating rifles on the grassy expanses around the White House, now known as the Ellipse and the National Mall.

Edwin Booth, brother of John Wilkes, as Hamlet in 1870. 7. Lincoln came under enemy fire on a Civil War battlefield. When Confederate troops attacked Washington, D.C., in July 1864, Lincoln visited the front lines at Fort Stevens on two days of the battle, which the Union ultimately won. At one point the gunfire came dangerously close to the president. Legend has it that Colonel Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., a future Supreme Court justice, barked, “Get down, you fool!” Lincoln ducked down from the fort’s parapet and left the battlefield unharmed.

7. Lincoln came under enemy fire on a Civil War battlefield. 
When Confederate troops attacked Washington, D.C., in July 1864, Lincoln visited the front lines at Fort Stevens on two days of the battle, which the Union ultimately won. At one point the gunfire came dangerously close to the president. Legend has it that Colonel Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., a future Supreme Court justice, barked, “Get down, you fool!” Lincoln ducked down from the fort’s parapet and left the battlefield unharmed.

8. Lincoln didn’t move to Illinois until he was 21.
Illinois may be known as the Land of Lincoln, but it was in Indiana that the 16th president spent his formative years. Lincoln was born in a Kentucky log cabin in 1809, and in 1816 his father, Thomas, moved the family across the Ohio River to a 160-acre plot in southern Indiana. Lincoln did not migrate to Illinois until 1830.

9. Poisoned milk killed Lincoln’s mother.
When Abraham was 9 years old in 1818, his mother, Nancy, died of a mysterious “milk sickness” that swept across southern Indiana. It was later learned that the strange disease was due to drinking tainted milk from a cow that had ingested poisonous white snakeroot.

10. Lincoln never slept in the Lincoln Bedroom.
When he occupied the White House, the 16th president used the current Lincoln Bedroom as his personal office. It was there that he met with Cabinet members and signed documents, including the Emancipation Proclamation.

I wrote the July portion of this post over a month ago and then it just sat in my drafts folder until today, when I was going to start an August post and....voila and oops, there it was!  SO this is going to be a combined belated effort! 

July:  July is one of those months that always flies by. It is usually full of summer outings, camping, family and fun. You just can't sit inside in July; in fact I can't even get any chores done, as there is so much fun stuff to do! Needless to say, my garden is a bramble and my fridge looks like a cross between Siberia and the Amazon (empty but tangled?) as I have not been home enough to care for it!

Running: In July, I ran about 240 miles. This was the month with the ramp up and the taper for my 100 mile race at the beginning of August. The first couple of weeks were 70 - 80 miles and the last couple of weeks were very little miles (40ish). In addition I had a week off where I went running almost every day, with the highest day being 40 miles, which was the Rae Lakes loop (beautiful).

Reading: Not surprisingly, this was not a good reading month for me. I read 4 books, but it was hard, as I was traveling with other people a lot, as well as training for my race. (Books are starred for RHC, bolded for my own).

Fangirl (3 stars)
Death of a Salesman (2 stars)*
City on Fire (3 stars)
Blanche on the Lam (2 stars)*

Travel: I had a great time in July! I went to Tahoe a couple of times, to Yosemite once and up to my parents neck of the woods for a family gathering. My favorite part was...everything!

August: August is usually full of birthdays and outings and trips, and this year was no exception!

Running: I attempted to run another 100 mile race, this time in Colorado, but once again, I did not finish. Due to this, I ran about 156 miles. This included 50 miles of Silverheels for myself and a pacing stint in Leadville, which was about 20 miles.

Reading: I only read three books and they were:

1000 Lashes: Because I Say What I Think (2 stars)*
The Doubters Almanac (3 stars)
A Darker Shade of Magic (5 stars)

Travel: I went to Colorado twice in August; as stated above, once for my own race and once to pace a friend in Leadville. I am not a huge fan of the Denver airport (or highway 70) but I became very familiar with it in August. In addition, I had one weekend where I stayed home (blissful) and one weekend where I went to visit my parents.

So there you have it, my summer in a nutshell. It is a bit late, but I think that just shows that it was fun!!

How was your summer? Are you ready for Fall? What was the favorite part of your summer?

We are all aware of Parachute Coconut Oil. It’s perhaps the most famous hair oil used since several generations in many Indian families. Here is a photo that will remind you of many memories:

Did you notice that the bottle does not write “hair oil” on it?

It just writes “coconut oil”, even though majority of consumers use it like a hair oil. 

Actually -

• Coconut oil is an edible product, and it was not liable for excise duty.
• Hair oil is a cosmetic product, and it is liable for excise duty.

So what is Parachute Oil ? Is it an edible product or a cosmetic product?

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For years, the government and the company have been fighting over it. The government said that this product is a cosmetic item and therefore should be liable for tax. As a counter, the company (Marico) said that the packaging does not mention this product as a hair oil and is actually intended to be used as an edible item.

So when the Government claimed that parachute coconut oil is in fact a hair oil (which, by the way, for all practical purposes, it is); the company refuted the claim by saying that it is neither branded nor marketed as a hair oil. And the company is not accountable for how the consumers are actually using it.

The Government further raised a question that if indeed the coconut oil was an edible product, then why would the company package it in sachets, such as these -

The government wanted to prove that the product is indeed intended to be sold as a hair oil.
In response to this, the company said that such smaller packing was useful for students and other such people who wanted to use the cooking oil for small purposes and not store it. And in this whole case, the company was constantly avoiding the payment of tax on a product which was obviously used as hair oil in most of the country.

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The government came out with a simple solution: they changed the law!
New law said that any coconut oil with a packaging lesser than 200 ml would be treated as a cosmetic product; and any size above that would be treated as an edible item.
This circular affected the company a lot, since a big portion of their sales was in the below 200 ml segment, which was now liable for tax. Obviously, the company decided to appeal against this circular to the higher authorities.
There were a lot of cases in the Tribunal and also the courts, which said that merely because the packing is smaller, it cannot be classified as a hair oil. In view of the same, the Government then withdrew that circular.
Note:

• Parachute Coconut Oil even has an FSSAI approval, is necessary for edible products.                                   
• It also has the green vegetarian symbol on it which denotes that it is a vegetarian edible item.

1. Room 39, North Korea – Kim Jong’s Secret Vault

It’s hard enough getting into North Korea, imagine trying to get into Room 39! It’s a secretive North Korean government facility that’s said to be home to several illegal operations including counterfeiting $100 bills, production of drugs (including methamphetamine and heroin) and international insurance fraud. Many claim that Room 39 is critical to Kim Jong’s continued power, enabling him to buy political support and fund North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. Yikes!

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2. Bohemian Grove – A secret society of the most powerful!

Just like some cult thriller film, Bohemian Grove is a 2,700 acre rural location somewhere in Monte Rio, California. The land is owned by private San-Fran based arts club known as, well … the Bohemian Club. Every summer, the club host a two-week, three weekend camp in the woods for the most powerful men in the world.

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3. Svalbard Global Seed Vault – You know where to go in case Apocalypse actually takes place

Built out of the fear that those science-fiction scenarios when the world comes to an end might come true, Svalbard Global Seed Vault, located in the North Sea is home to 250 million crop seeds shipped from gene banks worldwide. The estimated cost of this place exceeds $9 million dollars.

Unless you’re a designated researchers or plant breeders you’re not allowed inside the vault. If in case you ever enter the vault you’d be the only hope for agriculture during a polar ice cap melt or any other Earthly disaster!

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4. North Sentinel Island, Andaman – Where the deadliest tribe resides

A group of indigenous people known as the Sentinelese live in the North sentinel Island of Andaman in Bay of Bengal. The estimated population of the island is between 50 and 400. These people are considered to be the last people on earth to remain virtually untouched by modern civilization.

Attempts to contact the tribe have been met with hostility. People have been attacked by arrows and stones if you get too close to their area. In fact on 26 January 2006, two fishermen were killed when their boat drifted near the island.

Nanotechnology is one of the most popular areas of scientific research, especially with regard to medical applications. It is one of the new detection methods that brings about cheaper, faster and less invasive cancer diagnoses. If scientists can load their cancer-detecting gold nano particles with anticancer drugs, they could attack the cancer exactly where it lives. Such a treatment means fewer side effects and less medication used. Nano particles also carry the potential for targeted and time-release drugs. A potent dose of drugs could be delivered to a specific area but engineered to release over a planned period to ensure maximum effectiveness and the patient's safety.

A Cancer Tumor absorbing nutrients from a blood vessel to survive

Nanotechnology based synthetic spheres projecting light beams on a tumor to detect and cure cancer

1. GPS Coordinate of pyramid of Giza = 29.979245, 31.134269
Speed of light = 299792458 m/s
We can see so much similarity between them.
Proof: Open Google map, search for pyramid of Giza, zoom it in and click on top of pyramid, check the coordinates; or open Google map, put 29.979245,31.134269 in the search box. It will take you to Pyramid of Giza.


2. Egyptians have oriented the Pyramid of Giza so precisely that it is pointing north within 5 hundredths of the degree of accuracy.
FYI: Forget about compass, Egyptians even did not have knowledge of wheels.
     
 
3. Pyramid of Giza has 8 sides (not 4 sides). It’s all 8 sides are visible only on equinox.

Ariel view of Pyramid of Giza taken on equinox:

4. In Hypostile room, Temple of Abydos, Egypt Chopper, Submarine and Tank are engraved.

• A nightingale’s song can be louder than a chainsaw.
• If you drilled a tunnel straight through the Earth and jumped in, it would take you 42 minutes 12 seconds to get to the other side.
• Humans share 50% of our DNA with a banana.
• If humans were capable of hearing bass frequencies lower than 20 Hz, we would be able to hear our own muscles moving.
• A single bolt of lightning contains enough energy to cook 100,000 pieces of Bread toast.
• Aircraft engines suck in 1.25 tons of air per second on take-off – that’s about the volume of a squash court.

Reliance Jio vs Airtel vs Vodafone vs Idea Cellular:

Comparison of  4G data tariffs

With the advent of Reliance Jio, the Indian telecom arena has faced a lot of changes as its tariff plans are too cheap and it comes bundled with other freebies as well.

Reliance Jio is aiming to position India within the top 10 countries in terms of data usage across the world. Many people have already switched to Jio and many are waiting to get their hands on one to enjoy data at low charge and free calls and other benefits.

In the meantime, here we compare the 4G plans offered by Reliance Jio, Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular to show you how much you need to pay for 4G data.

Take a look from below.

Charges for 1 GB Data

Reliance Jio - there's no specific plan for 1 GB data
Airtel - Rs. 255
Vodafone - Rs. 255
Idea Cellular - Rs. 246 (in select circles)



Charges for 2 GB Data

Reliance Jio - Rs. 299
Airtel - Rs. 455
Vodafone - Rs. 359
Idea Cellular - Rs. 455

Charges for 4 GB Data

Reliance Jio - Rs. 499
Airtel - Rs. 755
Vodafone - Rs. 559
Idea Cellular - Rs. 755

4G Data you get for Rs. 1,000

Reliance Jio - 10 GB of 4G data for 28 days and unlimited and free night usage, voice calls and SMS
Airtel - 10 GB for 30 days
Vodafone - 10 GB for 28 days
Idea Cellular - 6 GB for 28 days

4G Data you get for Rs. 1,500

Reliance Jio - 20 GB of 4G data
Airtel - No specific package
Vodafone - 15 GB
Idea Cellular - 11.5 GB

4G Data you get for Rs. 2,000

Reliance Jio - approximately 24 GB
Airtel - No specific package
Vodafone - 20 GB
Idea Cellular - 16 GB


Reliance Jio offers up to 75 GB for Rs. 4,999

With Reliance Jio, you can get up to 75 GB of 4G data for a price of Rs. 4,999. This is clubbed with free and unlimited night data usage,

Reliance Jio is offering around 30 percent additional data

If you compare the 4G data tariff offered by the telecoms, you will get to know that Reliance Jio is providing around 25 to 30 percent additional data for around the same cost.
The additional benefit of Jio is that you get free access to hundreds of Public WiFi hotspots and free connectivity across thousands of educational institutions.

Vertically scrolling screenshots is a cool feature that lets you take vertically-scrolling screenshots to capture an entire app or website. But right now, this is available only on a few Samsung devices and Xiaomi phones running MIUI8. 

Easily stitch multiple screenshots in one long screenshot!

Chat heads let you quickly read and reply to messages while you're using other apps. Originally introduced in Facebook Messenger,you can reply to the message without leaving the screen you're on, by just tapping on the chat head.You can use your finger to move chat heads around on your screen, or drag them to the bottom of the screen to close them when you're done chatting.The best part is that you can get the chat heads on Whatsapp that too without rooting your device

Watch the video for getting Chat heads for Whatsapp on your Android Device

Look closely at your keyboard and concentrate on the F and J keys. In most of the cases you will probably notice a little raised line or bump below them. Almost all modern keyboard models come with this feature. You will notice that only the F and J keys are having this feature.

HERE IS THE REASON.

These are to help us position our fingers correctly so that we are able to type without looking at the keyboard. If you balance your hand correctly using these bumps it improves your typing speed and makes it easier to use the keyboard.

The F and J keys were specially used for this purpose. These keys are referred to as the home row. The bumps on these keys enable you to position your hands on the keyboard without looking in a manner that is optimal for touch typing. You are supposed to place the index fingers of your left and right hands over the ‘F’ and ‘J’ keys respectively. With your index fingers on the two ridged keys – your left hand covers A, S, D and F while the right covers J, K, L and colon. Both thumbs should rest on the space bar. 

Device responsible for Lakhs of deaths

This is called ADE 651 (for Advanced Detection Equipment).
It is a fake bomb detector made by a UK based company called ATSC. The company sold this using the premise that this device could detect any explosive, drugs, ivory, and other substances from a long distance.
This device was sold at $60,000 a piece and the Iraqi government, thinking it was legitimate, spent around $78 million to acquire these devices to be used in Baghdad.
This fake device was used on checkpoints in Iraq at a time when bombs were killing or injuring thousands
This device is responsible for tens of thousands of deaths due to car bombings in the city of Baghdad.
The founder of the company had been convicted in April 2013 and sentenced to 10 years in prison.