2.6.13 is out. Full changelog between 12 and 13 is here. Both my patches are in.

Chemman Chaalai

Chemman Chaalai, The Gravel Road (Tamil with English subtitles) [A Tamil film without singing and dancing] looks like a very powerful and interesting movie. I will be looking to watch it. This review has an interesting synopsis.

Nokia n770 versus Mobilis Wireless

There is adequate information and pictures for the n770. It seems it's an 220MHz TI OMAP with a 4.1" TFT? and priced at USD$350. The Mobilis Wireless appears to be 400MHz Xscale PXA-255 based with a 7" TFT and priced at USD$250?. But there are so few pictures and so few concrete pieces of information about it. ncoretech needs to put up more information about it if they want to arouse developer interest. It's no use having a good product if you don't let anyone know about it and independently test and talk about it. Surely, one can do better than just a single pdf with vague information.

I was reading about the effects of industrial pollution on the global climate. I noticed Veerabhadran Ramanathan's work especially on the tracking of air mass and polluted air masses over the Indian sub-continent. Apparently, a large scale experiment called INDOEX was performed.

The summary of what they've concluded from their results is here. Here are some things that caught my attention:
all pre-INDOEX experiments revealed findings that the impact of the anthropogenic pollution from the Indian sub-continent on the chemical, physical and optical properties of the atmosphere can be substantial in magnitude and spatial coverage.

I think that means that the amount of pollution from India is large. Further, it means that the impact of this pollution on the earth's atmosphere is big too.

Evidence of direct transport of anthropogenic emissions (such as dark grey filter color and high dust loading) was detected 1500 km from southern India. Since then, more evidences of the anthropogenic impact in the Indian Ocean region have been observed.

I think that means that the pollution from India even makes its way to the northern chain of the Maldives right smack in the middle of the Indian Ocean. That's very bad.

Trajectory calculations show that the northeast monsoonal low level flow can transport sulfates, mineral dust and other aerosols from the Indian sub-continent to the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) within 6 to 7 days and the transport of mineral dust in the middle troposphere from the Arabian desert can reach to 4000 km away with a transit time of 2 to 3 days [Krishnamurti et al., 1998].

Ok. That means it takes just 6-7 days for the pollution to travel across the ocean. I couldn't quite get an understanding of what their results imply in terms of long term enviromental impact. I am of course wondering what impact all this pollution will have on the monsoons and climate change. The pollution has had a serious negative effect on human life. I didn't look for stats but I'm pretty sure incidence rates of respiratory disease has been on the rise. Organo-mercury and other organo-heavy metal compounds and PCB contamination of the food supply will probably start to have an impact in terms of a rise in neurological disorders.

This is bad stuff. I think we should do something about it. I don't know what, yet...

From this article about thimerosal:

Although reliable numbers are hard to come by, autistic disorders also appear to be soaring in India, Argentina, Nicaragua and other developing countries that are now using thimerosal-laced vaccines. The World Health Organization continues to insist thimerosal is safe, but it promises to keep the possibility that it is linked to neurological disorders "under review."

Be careful what you let doctors put into you. The "First, do no harm" principle should be a key assumption about vaccines. Developing countries should be very wary about vaccines. There is often a double standard in vaccine manufacture. Notice the: Vaccine manufacturers had already begun to phase thimerosal out of injections given to American infants

What about infants who aren't in America? Do they deserve any less?

Hehe. This one and this one. John Leach, I can't wait for the next one.