Nelson Mandela on the Palestine/israel issue

 https://www.facebook.com/reel/1554176501987563?fs=e&s=TIeQ9V

We fully endorse late President Nelson Mandela’s views expressed in this link. 

If one changes-principles at will, such people have no right to lead ANYTHING!

The hypocrisy, lack of spine, of those leaders and people standing behind ANYONE in this conflict ONLY shows their own personal agenda. 

No one has said THIS more clearly than Nelson Mandela!

We request you to read this blog entry of ours

  “Through the eyes of an Arab Israeli..” 

which was posted on 3rd October 2007!

(Meeting with Israeli Palestinian Human Right Activist Najib Abu Rokaya)

Killer on the loose

A couple of months ago I saw an ad on Facebook or a watch that would measure blood sugar without actually having to prick the finger to take a blood sample. 

As I am a Type 2 diabetic with a widely ranging blood sugar value which needs me to adjust my insulin levels, I thought this could be an alternative. 

I ordered the watch.

It arrived with a broken screen. 

I did a test of all the values to be measured and found the pedometer, the blood pressure and the blood sugar values were grossly inaccurate. 

Also the watch strap clip fell to pieces within two days.

I informed the support team and they offered to send me a new watch. 

I expressly told them that I only needed a watch that accurately measured the blood sugar values, as other measurements were not life threatening.

A new watch arrived which was a different model to the first one. It even ran with a different app on my iPhone.

My testing revealed that all the inaccuracies in measurement continued and especially the blood sugar value. 

It never showed a value of more than 6 when  the actual value could be over 12. And it consistently showed a value of less than 5 when the actual value was more than 8. 

In Type 2 diabetes if the blood sugar measured is less than 5 it is necessary to lift the value with sn intake of sugar. And  if it is more than 7 the insulin dose injected has to be increased.

The value measured using the Smart watch F58 is just 5.7 whereas the value obtained using the blood sample and the blood glucose monitor in 13.8!

The situation with the first watch was similar!

These are killer situations for a Type 2 diabetic patient.

I wrote to the support team and they made a series of offers to refund money, all of which I refused.

In the meantime they removed the blood sugar measurement from the first watch.

The other major error is the pedometer reading. 

I take 2 steps to my wheelchair when I go to the toilet and another 4 steps from the wheelchair to the toilet. I get values which are picked out of thin air as 30 steps to over a 200 steps for such situations. Also I walk for almost an hour every week in the department store when I do my weekly shopping with a walker. I get readings of 100 steps to 500 steps, both of which are nowhere close to reality.

I say that these dangerous readings  that can be killers. You are duly warned not to use these watches for any medical purposes. 

And to top it off, the other day I got a reading of my body temperature of 47.5 C which means they had already killed me off.

Beware of the claims made for these watches.

I am putting a link on Facebook to this blog entry as it could lead you to a very serious situation leading to death!

Is it worth it?

Google announced its entry into the social networking by adding another bit to its Gmail web presence. They are trying to fight Twitter and Facebook - but it is my humble opinion that they are overstepping the mark with the introduction of their new "Buzz".

As it is, even with my 20 MBps site which is usually running at about 11 MBps, Google Gmail is SLOOOOW. I usually have to run it in the Basic format so as to get anything to load in a reasonable time.

That was the reason why I moved away most of my computing from from Yahoo to Google.

I generally appreciate the many Google products that I use. They include, beside the Search Engine, Gmail, Documents, Blogger, Translate, Groups.

They are all independent and work quite well as stand alone.

However, once you try to link them up, it really slows down the whole operation.

Gmail after 15 minutes of trying to upload a profile in Buzz!
Note the "Still working" dialog in yellow at the top.

Today, when I started to use Buzz, which can only be used in the Standard Mode of Gmail, it was more than Slow - it just hung my Gmail. The only way to regain control was to Reload the page and move to the basic format!

What is the point of adding another social networking site when I am quite happy with Orkut.

This appears to be a desperate and frantic cry from Google that they are unable to keep pace with Twitter and Facebook with Orkut, so they have launched Buzz as an antidote.

I think they are making a serious mistake. If they continue down this line, not only will they lose Orkut, but also Gmail to anyone who comes along with a reasonable amount of storage and a good search engine built in.

Picasa is not much use to me any longer as I have reached the end of my free uploads level. Google has not updated its payment method to include those that do not have credit cards. That is now becoming not much use.

My advice, as a Google early adopter, is to forget BUZZ, and concentrate on making Orkut much more international than it is presently. Trim Gmail to mail essentials. Increase the capacity in Picasa, and start a sectional approach instead of trying to be everything to everybody.

Competition is good and allowing some other players as Facebook and Twitter to coexist, only makes Google more interesting. Cutting the competition is never a good sign or a good strategy. It shows weak and shifting leadership at the top.

At the moment I am quite happy working with Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, LinkedIn, SiliconIndia, Plaxo, Pulse, Geni, Google Groups, Yahoo Groups, and a few more.

BUZZ is a wrong move in this equation!

Facebook experiment continues

Although I am not blogging as regularly as before, I am around on the internet. I am still experimenting with Facebook.

I have two pages of photographs associated with my Facebook page at the moment. The first is called "History of JM" where I am putting up photographs of me from my childhood days till today. As I discover new photos from my past in my collection, I scan them and put them up in the annual order I think they were taken. Not much interest to others, but a sort of interesting work for me.

The second page is my experiment with photojournalism of today, where I am recording the days activities in the form of photographs and uploading them on my page called "Jacob's week in pictures". I am trying to make it more interesting as the days go on, but I am not quite a photojournalist as yet.

I am planning to start a new photo page on Facebook. If one wanders around our home, each and every nook and cranny which has the touch of Annikki (not my den which is a mess) is the creative paradise of a great artist. I am trying to photograph all her artistic creations that lie around the house, not as individual items but how she transforms even the simple wasp's nest into a creative artistic form. I am still searching for a name for this page, so if you have a suggestion, please do let me know.

I was planning a page of pictures from my alma mater, Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai, but I discovered that one already existed on the alma mater Facebook Group page. I plan to put up the older pictures from my collection on this page rather than start a new page. I do not know whether the younger crowd that populates Facebook will appreciate this history, but it is worth the effort.

There is much to Facebook that I have not yet discovered. Hopefully I will be able to separate the wheat from the CHAFF and create an experience which is rewarding to all age groups that populate Facebook, not just the younger crowd.

Never heard of the NOROVIRUS before Wednesday!

(Cross-posted on all my major blogs.)

I have been missing on the Blogosphere and in my Google Groups for a few weeks. It has been because of the sheer workload and also as I have found the Facebook experience quite fascinating. I found many relatives, even quite distant ones, many many friends, Cathedralites, Stephanians, CHAFF and many other groups, including my School House Group, SAVAGE, on Facebook, that I have been familarising myself to all what could be done by me on Facebook.

Although I am achieving quite a lot in creating my corner in Facebook, it is no match for the direct Blog or a Google group - and that is why I am back at blogging!

In my 24+ years in Finland I had never missed a days work or events because of any form of serious illness. I have been ill (including a bout of painful herpes inside the mouth), but it was always possible to get to work and work without having to take time off.

But this last week was different.



While at the funeral of a dear friend, Willie, Michelle's husband, I felt claustrophobic in the Small Chapel, which meant I had to go outside for some fresh air. Annikki and I went back inside to place the wreath from the whole MATTHAN Family on the coffin, but I continued to feel very weak.

Michelle (with Willie) owns the best Chinese / Indian Restaurant in town - the Royal Garden.

Michelle is from Calcutta and is a close friend of our daughter, Joanna, and consequently, a close family friend of ours. Any visitor to Oulu usually gets a treat at one of her restaurants. So Michelle is known by our family and friends around the world. (Cousins Chacko and Ammu, niece Nirupa, niece Preminda with husband Chris and Malayika, Cathedralites Sunil (and Kamal) Sahni, Sadhana Madhusadan (née Shah) Viney Sethi, Stephanians Ajay Verma, Prof. Ajeet Mathur, are just a few who have enjoyed the hospitality of Michelle and Willie.)

I suggested to Annikki that we go home and rest before attending the farewell reception for Willie at the Royal Garden Restaurant.

After getting home and resting for about half an hour I was violently ill and unable to lift my head. I did not know what had hit me. Annikki treated me all the best remedies that she has up her sleeve, Silica to line the stomach, magnesium tablets, and one pain-killer. I managed to retain a bit of everything to help me sleep off the next four to six hours, but the vomiting and diarrhoea did not abate. It was absolutely miserable.

Next morning Annikki read in the local newspaper about something known as the NOROVIRUS and the symptoms were exactly what I had been through.

A quick Google Search yielded all the important data and I was sure that absolute fasting with only liquids was the right answer.

By evening I was able to consume some of Annikki's great Fish Soup and it stayed in.

By the next morning the main symptoms had vanished, but at 5 am the Norovirus hit Annikki.



Despite her agony she took quick action to ensure that her mother, Hilja, who was supposed to be brought home that afternoon, was looked after while Annikki recovered from this virus. According to Jonana, who sent us a text message from Newcastle, it can be fatal for the elderly.

I had a good friend from Tampere, a town 500 km south of Oulu, coming to visit me on Friday evening / Saturday morning.



I did not want to disappoint Nadir or miss meeting him as his visits to Oulu are only once every two years. Rather than ask him to cancel, I booked Nadir in at a hotel across from the Railway Station, as the Norovirus is extremely contagious. I was clean but the house would have been disturbingly filled the virus.

We spent a few wonderful hours together and he was on his way on Saturday afternoon.

I would like to know which of my efforts you appreciate more - my blogs, my Facebook entries, my direct posts to you - or maybe I should just SHUT UP....

(OK Ubi, I know what you will say, but believe me you are not too old for Facebook. However, although it seems easy, it is quite complicated to work out all the ins and outs and it is not intuitive as it should be.)