It was surprising & sad. Some 33,000 people killed themselves in Japan in 2007. Here is the related news link.
It was hard to beleive this would be the case in an advanced country like Japan. What is also surprising is the US has half that rate.
What is not surprising but even more sad is 25,000 farmers committed suicide in India in 2007. That's just farmers - the total number goes beyond 100,000. It was something like 3 suicides every 15 minutes. Link with some stats. It was not surprising to me because life isn't easy in India, with so many facing debt problems, family issues, parent imposed peer pressure and what not.
Ultimately, the cause is usually a mental depression or disorder that triggers people to commit suicide. We hope more people call suicide prevention hotlines before taking that drastic move. We can also hope that families and society in general communicates better, stay knowledgeable and sensitive to mental condition of individuals, so much of this is prevented in the first place.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Beware of smoke
There are a lot of "forest" fires around the San Francisco bay area past few days, resulting in a lot of smoke in the air. We could tell by the smell, the moment we step outside from home or office. I was watching related news on TV - they asked people to stay indoors with AC on if they can, especially if one has lung conditions like asthma. Kind of obvious advice, but they also said something no so obvious - sometimes you can't tell by the smell, but harmful particles are in the air when such fires are going on, and inhaling them is equally dangerous. Breathers beware!
The same applies if there is an indoor fire. Obviously, fire kills, but what is not so obvious is smoke also kills. If you have inhaled smoke inside a building that is on fire, it has enough toxic or inflammable particles that can damage your lung tissues or cells. People have died of pneumonia a week later of inhaling such smoke, though they escaped without external burns from the fire.
So, next time you see a fire inside, just get the hell out. And, vice-versa!
The same applies if there is an indoor fire. Obviously, fire kills, but what is not so obvious is smoke also kills. If you have inhaled smoke inside a building that is on fire, it has enough toxic or inflammable particles that can damage your lung tissues or cells. People have died of pneumonia a week later of inhaling such smoke, though they escaped without external burns from the fire.
So, next time you see a fire inside, just get the hell out. And, vice-versa!
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Dasavatharam - the movie review
I got to see this new Kamal movie Dasavatharam over the weekend. I guess I was expecting more given the hype, but came out with a lukewarm feeling about the movie. It seemed more like a reincarnation of Micheal Madana Kama Rajan, rather than 10 incarnations!
First, the Rangarajan Nambi episode is a bit gross to watch with family. The scenes are well taken, and Napolean has done extremely well sitting throughout on an elephant. I think the legend is Nambi fell by himself into the water along with the statue - not chained up as depicted - they were clear upfront that they have used a figment of imagination. Legend also has it that 2 of Ramanuja's disciples had their eyes gorged out, so we can't give a clean chit to the king. It was a good way to convey the message that people will find divine identities to fight about - when Allah and Jesus weren't around, they picked on Vishnu & Siva, though the Gods have nothing to do with these fights.
The idea of deadly virus and all that is good. The scenes are designed well (especially tsunami related), and somehow linked to the main storyline. What bothered me was the need for so many characters, which didn't look like Kamal at all. The make up as President Bush, the granny, the white terrorist (Keith Fletcher) the CBI officer (Naidu), tall muslim, the social worker (Vincent Boovarayan?), Japanese karate master was all too much. Since the world knows Kamal is a distinguished actor that can do any role, I don't think this proved anything new.
I was actually expecting the avatars will happen in sequence (just like the original Vishnu's 10 avatars). But, all of these characters were mixed, and didn't look like Kamal, so that was disappointing. If I compare this with Austin Powers, where Mike Meyers comes in about 4 roles, I'd rate Austin Powers much higher than Dasavatharam. The dialog, the comedy, the scenes are structured and coordinated much better in Austin Powers, and it doesn't make you toss in the chair at times, wondering how much longer is this going to be. In Dasavatharam, some of the tamil is too intense, the Japanese tamil, telugu mix and plenty of english is a strange combination. I think director Ravikumar is also running out of steam - Sivaji also has a similar formula and somewhat a drag towards the end.
The final message is also good (in complex tamil, though) - there needs to be a majority of rational people for religious beliefs to be replaced with scientific thinking.
My dad didn't like it, and my wife wanted to see it again and I was in the middle. Overall, an ok time pass, but could have been done way better to live up to the name and hype.
First, the Rangarajan Nambi episode is a bit gross to watch with family. The scenes are well taken, and Napolean has done extremely well sitting throughout on an elephant. I think the legend is Nambi fell by himself into the water along with the statue - not chained up as depicted - they were clear upfront that they have used a figment of imagination. Legend also has it that 2 of Ramanuja's disciples had their eyes gorged out, so we can't give a clean chit to the king. It was a good way to convey the message that people will find divine identities to fight about - when Allah and Jesus weren't around, they picked on Vishnu & Siva, though the Gods have nothing to do with these fights.
The idea of deadly virus and all that is good. The scenes are designed well (especially tsunami related), and somehow linked to the main storyline. What bothered me was the need for so many characters, which didn't look like Kamal at all. The make up as President Bush, the granny, the white terrorist (Keith Fletcher) the CBI officer (Naidu), tall muslim, the social worker (Vincent Boovarayan?), Japanese karate master was all too much. Since the world knows Kamal is a distinguished actor that can do any role, I don't think this proved anything new.
I was actually expecting the avatars will happen in sequence (just like the original Vishnu's 10 avatars). But, all of these characters were mixed, and didn't look like Kamal, so that was disappointing. If I compare this with Austin Powers, where Mike Meyers comes in about 4 roles, I'd rate Austin Powers much higher than Dasavatharam. The dialog, the comedy, the scenes are structured and coordinated much better in Austin Powers, and it doesn't make you toss in the chair at times, wondering how much longer is this going to be. In Dasavatharam, some of the tamil is too intense, the Japanese tamil, telugu mix and plenty of english is a strange combination. I think director Ravikumar is also running out of steam - Sivaji also has a similar formula and somewhat a drag towards the end.
The final message is also good (in complex tamil, though) - there needs to be a majority of rational people for religious beliefs to be replaced with scientific thinking.
My dad didn't like it, and my wife wanted to see it again and I was in the middle. Overall, an ok time pass, but could have been done way better to live up to the name and hype.
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