Medical Myth about Penicillin and Alcohol

I am down with the sickness and on Penicillin. Just bored sitting at home sick, so was having fun on Google. Found this very interesting fact - mixing alcohol with antibioticss (like penicillin) is perfectly OK. It is just a myth like saying don't cut your nails at night. (The reason for that myth is understandable in the days of no electricity, but not today).

Here is an extract of what I found on the web (http://www.abc.net.au/dimensions/dimensions_health/Transcripts/s776185.htm):

GEORGE NEGUS: Dr Nick Carr set out to do some medical myth-busting.

DR NICK CARR: When I was a young doctor, I found that whenever I prescribed antibiotics for someone, they always said to me, "Doctor, I can't have a drink "while I'm on these, can I?" It wasn't something they'd taught me in medical school. I had a good look in the books - couldn't find anything about it there. So I wondered, "Where does this story come from?" Well, the myth began at what used to be called the VD clinics - what are now known as the sexual health centres. The first true antibiotic was penicillin. It proved remarkably effective in curing some very nasty ailments. The problem was it didn't stop people having a few drinks and having more fun.

DR NORMAN ROTH, SEXUAL HEALTH PHYSICIAN: If they took alcohol while on penicillin, they might get frisky and pass on the disease before the penicillin could clear it up.

DR NICK CARR: So it's nothing to do with a real interaction between penicillin and alcohol?

DR NORMAN ROTH: Nothing to do with the pharmacology, no. It was a moral agenda to keep people under control.

PENICILLIN CAN BE TAKEN WITH ALCOHOL.

The above has been listed across many websites by different doctors. I hope this makes your life easier when you are not feeling too well! This fact gets me less depressed when I am sick definitely :)

IMPORTANT: But that does not mean I am going drinking hehe. I would still confirm with my doctor to make sure it doesn't react with other medication or your base disease. For example if you have fever, I would highly not recommend drinking. It's just a nice fact to know, so you can bring it up with your doctor.

CAUTION: Alcohol is injurious to health ... but totally worth it!

Movie Review: King Kong

King Kong: 10/10
*ing: Naomi Watts, Adrian Brody, Jack Black
Director: Peter Jackson
Genre: Action/Adventure/Classic/Romantic/Fiction/Fantasy
Plot: Classic King Kong brought back to life in true Peter Jackson style

Review: Let me start by saying this is one of the best movies I have ever seen. Easily makes it to my top 10 of all time. I went to see this movie with very high expectations after Lord of the Rings (LOTR), and it still blew me away. If you liked LOTR 2 and 3, you will LOVE this. Peter Jackson has once again showed why he is the best director ever with the most amazing imagination. He has the talent to bring his imagination to the big screen in the most amazing way. It is a 3 hour movie, and trust me it is usually not very easy to sit through a 3 hour movie without a break. But at the end of the 3 hours, I wanted more. I want to go see this movie again ASAP.

The movie starts off a little slow, with Peter Jackson trying to set up the plot. But as soon as the 2nd hour starts, the movie takes off. The special effects are mind blowing. All the various creatures (I won't spoil it for you), the picturesque cinematography, the crazy actions sequences. The best action sequence is King Kong fighting 3 dinosaurs at the same time with Naomi Watts in his hand.

It is almost hard to believe that King Kong is not for real. Naomi Watts (21 grams) is awesome in the movie. The scenes between her and King Kong are the best shot romantic scenes without any dialogue I have ever seen. It is astonishing how he is capable of producing such emotion, something we did not see too much of in LOTR. The finale is unbelievable and there must not be one female in the theatre who was not crying. Jack Black (School of Rock) has done a remarkable job as the senile movie producer. His last dialogue says it all "The beast died for the beauty". Adrian Brody's performance is nothing compared to The Pianist.

One more thing I truly loved about the movie is how Peter Jackson has carefully set the scene to the 1930-40s. I loved the way he has shown NY, the cameras, dresses, cars, broadways, ships etc. And once again the background score is outstanding. I could keep going on and on. One piece of advice: GO WATCH IT NOW!

Kudos Peter Jackson! No praise for him is too much. He will definitely win the best director academy award for this movie and I hope it wins best movie too! Best cinematography and special effects are a given.

Interviewing - difficult situation

Today I conducted another intervew for a contractor position. The candidate was late (which is always a turn off), and I was particularly not happy as I had left a meeting. Anyways he finally showed up and to my surprise he was my dad's age. I knew this is going to be very weird interviewing some one more than double my age. I forgot about the age difference like a good interviewer and after some small talk began my interviewing.

I started off with some behavioural type of questions and then dove straight into technical questions. I started firing my questions, and I did not get any responses. Things were not looking very good. The more questions I asked him, the more his face dropped. And I was not asking him anything I haven't asked other people.

And then finally after 20 minutes, he said in a very sad voice "I don't think I am right for this position." I was shocked! I could not believe what I heard. After absorbing this statement for a minute, I asked him if I could ask him some more questions. And another shocker, he replied "I rather not answer any more questions". I had never been in this situation before. I felt really bad for the guy.

I decided I had to make him feel good before he left my office. It was my duty not to hit his morale. So I continued by telling him that he was doing well. I then continued asking him easier questions to boost his ego. I could see the smile return to his face by the end of the interview. He was once more confident. It made me very very happy, I felt like I did my job. I knew in the first 5 minutes of interviewing he would not be a fit, but I had to be respectful of the interview process.

Windows Live and Kicking

This is my first techie blog, and probably my only one in a while. It's been more than 1 month since the Windows Live launch, and I frankly love it! Microsoft seems to be finally ready to compete with Google and Yahoo on the web.

Windows Live Mail (formerly Hotmail) http://mail.live.com/ has a nice quick interface (thanks AJAX). Very outlook style, but the best part about it is right click functionality, spell check and search.

Windows Live Messenger is pretty cool too, though I have only seen a demo and not tried it. Its Orange!

Windows Live Local http://local.live.com/ is a great answer to maps.google.com. The absolutely insane part about it is the Bird's eye view of all the major cities. There are actually pictures of all the buildings, restaurants and streets. Another awesome feature coming up is the ability to drive from X to Y through the streets, all simulated.

Windows Live Favorties http://favorites.live.com/. I havent used this one, but its useful to store you favorite links on the web, so that you can access it from anywhere.

Windows Live Domains http://domains.live.com/. Use your own domain and use hotmail as the provider. No need for bad aliases anymore.

Windows Live http://www.live.com/ - This has to be the best of the lot. At first I was not too much in love with it. But over time it has become my homepage. One page with all my news, stocks, weather, horoscopes, mail. And soon with an integrated messenger, videos and recent documents from your desktop! Definetely give this a shot.

You can find all the latest live technologies at http://ideas.live.com/. Everything is ofcourse beta still.

Go Live!

What does a dentist do?

In my opinion, a dentist is someone who could not get into medical school and had to opt for this career (i.e. Took the easy way out). I really doubt anyone could be obsessed with teeth, and that is their first choice of profession.

What does a dentist do in the US? Pretty much nothing. He is the liaison between the patient and the "real" tooth doctors. The only thing he can do confidently (not well) is do fillings and fix cavities. A hygenist does cleaning not a dentist. An endodontic doctor checks for root canals, nerves and fixes them. An orthodontists straightens teeth. Somone in the lab makes crowns. The assistant takes x-rays. Gum diseases are taken care of by a gum specialist. Jaw problems are fixed by a jaw specialist. Oral surgeries are performed by an oral surgeon.

So is D.D.S. really something to be in awe of? I think not. Its basically an equivalent of a carpenter's job. If a dentist is a doctor, I am a "doctor" for your e-mail inbox.

And the most ridiculous part is how expensive dental treatment is. Even with a top-notch insurance, I had to shell "tons" of cash. And the problem is far from solved. Frankly up to date I havent had any pleasant trips to the dentist. Have one coming up very soon, not really very excited about it.

Will you exchange your life?

Often this thought must have crossed your mind - I wish I was living his life. I wish I could have all he did. I wish I could exchange places with him. The age old adage holds true - the grass is greener on the other side.

But the real question to ask is - would you? I don't believe you would. If you give it a serious thought you will not. Actually you should ask yourself this question - it really helps. Makes you appreciate all you have, all you live for, all you don't want to lose, all you love. Reminds you of your goals and all you want to do with this life. Makes you thank God for all you have, from the basics in life to the luxuries. It's important to remember the basics since you only appreciate it when you do not have it. From personal experiences I have really learnt how to appreciate basic God-given things like hands, legs, eyes etc. Things we take for granted.

You do this and suddenly all your troubles are something you can live with and work on your problems. But bottom line is you will not be ready to give up all you have.

You are aware of your problems, you have no clue what problems the other person is having. Would you really take up his troubles and problems? I doubt it. You obviously have only seen the fun part of his life, times of joy and laughter. Remember everyone has problems - even though they are not evident. They could be anything - education, job, relationship, money, health.

Be happy with what you have, it's the best it gets! It is your experience!

Gaurav's Dictionary: Trance

Word: Trance
Type: Noun
Meaning: Club Music
Pronunciation: tr(ain) (d)ance
Acronym: Techno, Rave, dANce, Club, Electronic
Use: There is nothing better than listening to trance when you're buzzed.

P.S: This is obviously not a word I discovered - the acronym I may have.
This is one acronym I found on the web for trance:
TRANCE- Technical Research in Acoustic Neural Consciousness Enhancement

The Mind: An amazing place

For every individual, his or her actions are either controlled by the mind or by the heart. How can the heart think, right? What this means is that you go with your gut feeling, what you want to do without seeing the practical side to it. So are your actions controlled by your heart or mind?

Mine are definetely controlled by my mind. My mind is so strong, that often I cannot even control where it wanders. Its so influential that it can force me to believe that I am experiencing physical pain. And when there is pain, it can completely ignore it. I have always wondered if anyone else feels the same way. I am so confused often - is it hurting or is my mind causing it to pain. It's something on the lines of the matrix. May sound crazy but its true. I sometimes do get confused between fiction and reality for a bit, because the mind paints such a clear picture of fiction. My mind is so influential that I could be happy in a place that resembles hell, or could be sad in a heaven-like place just based on how my mind interprets it.

It is always thinking. Always. In bed, in the shower, at work (which is good), during a movie, while eating, listening to music, talking on the phone. I have tried meditating, but it is really hard to clear my thoughts. It is constantly at work. And not only thinking, but asking the whys, hows, whats and analyzing the situation, projecting the future and deciding the results. I frankly often get scared to get unneeded information, beacuase that will keep my mind busy processing it. It is like a vacuum, where it will suck all the information it can find. For the most part, I am thankful for it. But at other times, it just makes my life so complicated. It truly is an amazing place. I would want someone to map it. I am positive it would be one of the most complex, convulated structures that exist. I guess that is the reason, thoughts take a long time to find their way out of my system.