Sparkly sexist vampires > Space-Time curvature?

I haven't blogged for over three months. I did map out a number of posts, some on paper, some in my mind, but I never got around to sitting down and typing them out. But I came across something on the Web just now which I have to SCREAM about.

It's this:

The top search suggestion on Google for 'step' is Stephenie Meyer! Take a look at the people 'below' her - the second name is Stephen Hawking, and two steps down, there's Stephen King, who is one of the best writers of horror fiction. And as for Hawking....

My sister gave me Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" for my 16th birthday. I don't think I've ever held a book so reverently, or learnt so much from a single book after that. In it, Dr.Hawking presents cosmological concepts and theories in a simple narrative style, chapter after chapter. When I studied cosmology in M.Sc, I found that the theories in the book are a little oversimplified. But why did I study cosmology? Stephen Hawking was definitely a reason. His book is an inspiration to thousands, if not millions of young students. It is also an excellent resource for the even larger population who are curious about the Universe but have lost touch with mathematics.

So, what do I have against Stephenie Meyer? Absolutely nothing, except that all she has done is write the Twilight 'Saga.' (ugh)

I don't hate Twilight because hating it is fashionable. I hate it because I did read the books - I read the 50-odd pages in the first three books that remain if you skip the 'Edward is so handsome' parts. As for Breaking Dawn, I read it till the wedding and stopped because my pharyngeal reflex works. Talking about the Twilight 'Saga' is redundant, as the bad writing, sexism, and sparkly vampires in it have been discussed very well.

When more people are interested in the person who wrote Twilight than the person who wrote A Brief History of Time, all I can say is:

'நெஞ்சு பொறுக்கு திலையே - இந்த
நிலைகெட்ட மனிதரை நினைத்துவிட்டால்'

Fascinating new facts on mosquitoes (or) Sani peyarchi nonsense

There are some intriguing things about mosquitoes that most people don't know. Of course, all of us know that mosquitoes range from the totally harmless ones which don't even bite humans, to the dangerous ones which spread Dengue and Malaria.

The difference between them? When a mosquito is born, it is influenced by the positions of Mt. Everest, Mt Ranier, Mt. Kilimanjaro and K2. These positions decide several things in the mosquito's life, like whether it is going to live long enough to bite someone, whether it will carry a disease, whether it will infect a person with a disease, and whether the infection will be lethal.

Mosquitoes' brains are well attuned to the positions of these four mountains. By analyzing them, a mosquito can decide whether the human it is planning on biting is susceptible to infection or capable of killing it. It can also send a telepathic signal to the mountain responsible, and protect itself from being swatted.

What? I'm crazy? Why? It's a perfectly logical argument!

Mountains don't move? Well, a mosquito is the center of its personal universe, so if it moves, the mountains also move, relatively speaking. Then? Mountains cannot control mosquitoes' lives? Why not? Oh, because mountains are made of rocks, and are not sentient?

Well then, why all this fuss about Sani Peyarchi?

With all the media coverage, the crowd in temples and the crores of money people are spending on pujas to Saneeswaran, one might think the apocalypse is taking place. If it was an everyday event, people would rather use the money to eradicate poverty, right?

The fact is, it is an everyday event. Astronomically speaking, Saturn (Sani) has done nothing but travel in its orbit, as regularly as it has done for millenia. For us, watching from our fixed vantage point o Earth, the constellation behind it has changed. The constellation Leo was in the same direction as Saturn before, now that Saturn has moved, Virgo is in the same direction.

The planets in our solar system are never part of the constellations of stars. Saturn lies a mere 1.2 billion km from us, while the constellations are light years away. There is really nothing linking the stars in a constellation together – the individual stars are separated by light years of vacuum and radiation. For example, the constellation Leo has stars ranging from a distance of 7.7 light years to 336 light years from earth.

Can a gas giant's path through space affect human beings, who are even less significant than mosquitoes on Earth on the astronomical scale?

I have a great respect for ancient Indian astronomy, and for people who really believe in God. But in this Sani peyarchi nonsense, there is no regard for astronomy, or faith. It's just superstition! And for superstition, there's just one word that fits: வெங்காயம்!