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I was sitting in a café by the side of a lively street the other day. For a people watcher like me, this was sheer delight. From my vantage position, the Mediterranean Sea was a few feet away and I could see the dancing waves frothing up the shoreline. The sun was shining brightly in the clear blue sky and the palm leaves were swaying in the gentle breeze. An elderly gentleman sat two tables down from me. A group of four athletic youngsters were on my left and a middle-aged couple, on my right. 

There were various activities going on in these three diverse areas. The old man wished everyone as he came into the cafeteria, smiled in all directions, complimented the waitress by saying how pretty her red shoes were and settled down with a steaming cup of coffee. 

The sporty youth went directly for the buffet section and plied their plates with large quantities of food. They were all in their swim gear and seemed as if they had come straight from a strenuous swimming session. The moment their hunger was satiated, they whipped out their smartphones and with heads bent, started tapping on them. 

The middle-aged couple looked like they were into their second or third marriage. Either that or they had recently met through a dating site. I assumed this with absolute certainty because the pair could not keep their hands off each other. Let me clarify, I’m not a cynic but why would normal people who have been married for several decades demonstrate their affection so publicly? A casual hug here or there is acceptable but to smother one another in kisses every few minutes is doubtful. Seriously doubtful, that is. 

The old man was eager to talk to anybody who had the time or inclination to converse with him. He had a pleasant face and repeatedly kept glancing up from the newspaper that he was reading to absorb the scenery around him. He seemed calm, unhurried and looked like he was privy to a happy secret that he was dying to share with the world. 

The youngsters were very busy communicating with the other denizens of the cyber world and had eyes glued to their phones. They hardly spoke to anyone though a wry laugh would escape occasionally from one of them but they never divulged the joke. Their fingers moved with lightening speed over the keypad and they only realised the passage of time when their phones beeped a previously set alarm, which signified a specific allocated activity. 

The love-struck couple was, of course, caught up in their own universe and were either feeding morsels of food or showering more kisses on one another. 

Generally speaking, when one is people watching, one can readily jump to conclusions and weave fantastic stories about what one observes. I had already surmised that the old man was an affluent businessman who had somehow lost his fortune, the youngsters were Olympic athletes and the lovey-dovey couple was unmarried. 

To verify my deduction I decided to check with Rose, the cheerful waitress in the most incredible red shoes. 

“I don’t know anything about the athletes or the elderly gentleman,” she confessed

“And that couple?” I questioned, pointing discretely towards them. 

“Ah! The kissers?” she asked. 

“They are not married, right?” I inquired. 

“Yes and no,” she replied. 

“What do you mean?” I was curious. 

“They are married but not to each other,” she laughed.

PATAN, Nepal — When a massive earthquake struck Nepal in April, Nepal’s longest-serving “living goddess” was forced to do the unthinkable — walk the streets for the first time in her life, she told AFP in a rare interview.

Still following the cloistered lifestyle she entered at the age of two, Dhana Kumari Bajracharya also opened up about her unusually long 30-year reign, suggesting the pain of her unceremonious dethroning in the 1980s was still raw. 

Before the 7.8 magnitude April 25 quake, Bajracharya had only ever appeared in public while being carried in an ornate wooden palanquin. 

The Himalayan nation’s living goddesses, known as Kumaris, live in seclusion and rarely speak in public, bound by customs that combine elements of Hinduism and Buddhism.

But as the tremor hit, shaking the ground, reducing buildings to rubble and killing thousands, Bajracharya left her quarters in the historic city of Patan, south of Kathmandu, for the first time in three decades. And for the first time on foot.

“I had never thought about leaving the house like that,” she said, clearly still traumatised by the disaster that claimed more than 8,800 lives. 

“Perhaps the gods are angry because people don’t respect traditions as much anymore,” Bajracharya, 63, added.

As the disaster ripped through Nepal, shaking Bajracharya’s five-storey home, her family stayed indoors, waiting to see if the retired Kumari would break tradition and walk out with them.

“We couldn’t just leave the house like everyone else, we had to think of her. We didn’t know what to do,” said her niece, Chanira Bajracharya.

“But when nature forces you, you do the unthinkable,” she added.

Dhana Kumari Bajracharya was enthroned in 1954 when she was just two years old and reigned for three decades as the Kumari of Patan.

The Kumari, a pre-pubescent girl from the Newar community, is considered an embodiment of the Hindu goddess Taleju.

Selection criteria is strict and includes a number of specific physical attributes from an unblemished body to a chest like a lion and thighs like a deer.

‘Why so old?’

Unlike Kathmandu’s “living goddess” who must move to an official residence, the Patan Kumari is allowed to live with her family, but can only emerge on feast days when she is paraded through the city to be worshipped. 

“I loved going out during the festivals the most,” said Bajracharya, remembering how devotees lined up along Patan’s narrow streets, eager to receive her blessings.

The Patan Kumari is traditionally dethroned once she begins to menstruate and, since Bajracharya never started her periods, she continued to serve well into her thirties.

But in 1984, Nepal’s then-crown prince Dipendra, who would go on to massacre his family 17 years later, stirred up a controversy which eventually ended her tenure.

“Why is she so old?” the 13-year-old prince reportedly asked when he saw Bajracharya during a festival, prompting priests to replace her with a young girl. 

Thirty years later, the memory of her abrupt dismissal still stings.

“They had no reason to replace me,” she told AFP. “I was a little angry... I felt the goddess still resided in me.”

Unchanged routines

Forced into retirement, Bajracharya decided to continue living the life she had always known, unable to abandon her duties or end her withdrawal from the outside world.

Every morning she wakes up, drapes an embroidered red skirt like the one she wore during her years as a Kumari, scrapes her hair into a topknot and lines her eyes with kohl curving upwards to her temples.

On special occasions, she uses red and yellow powder to draw a third eye in the middle of her forehead and takes to a wooden throne decorated with brass snake carvings.

Devotees are received, as when she was an official Kumari, on Saturdays and during festivals in a separate room in her red brick home reached by narrow stairs above two floors rented out to a shop and financial cooperative.

“The priests did what they had to do, but I cannot abandon my responsibilities,” she said.

When Bajracharya’s niece Chanira was chosen as a Kumari in 2001, she guided her through the process.

Nepal has seen sweeping changes during Bajracharya’s lifetime, transforming from a Hindu kingdom to a secular republic, the former Kumari’s daily routine remains the same.

Her one concession to modernity is a fondness for television, especially current affairs shows and Indian mythological dramas.

Since the quake, however, she spends most of her time engrossed in prayer, according to Chanira.

“It saddened her immensely... our astrologer had predicted last year that my aunt would leave the house, and we were wondering how that would ever happen,” she said.

“But we never expected this.”

LOS ANGELES — Marvel action flick “Ant-Man” proved less can be more as it topped the North American box office tally in its debut over the weekend, industry data showed Monday.

The movie — about a thief-turned-hero who wears special armour that makes him tiny but super strong as he undertakes a mission to save the world — posted sales of $57.2 million, said box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

Disney distribution chief Dave Hollis admitted that he wished the movie had done a little better, but still praised Marvel as a model of consistency.

“No one else could take what is really an obscure character and launch it in such a big way,” said Hollis. “It’s a sign that they’re doing so much right and that it’s a brand that has overwhelming momentum.”

It unseated the animated comedy “Minions”, a prequel to the “Despicable Me” movies featuring three tiny mischievous creatures. This one came in second with $49.3 million, after racking up $115.7 million last weekend in its debut.

“Minions” tells the story of lozenge-shaped, yellow characters whose goal is to serve the most despicable master they can.

Another movie making its debut — “Trainwreck” with comic Amy Schumer — came in third with $30.1 million in sales. It is about a woman who is wary of steady romantic relationships but falls for a sports doctor.

“Amy Schumer is absolutely a star,” said Nick Carpou, Universal’s domestic distribution chief. “Based on exit polling, after the humour, she’s the second biggest reason people went out to see the film.”

In fourth place was the animated flick “Inside Out”, at $11.5 million.

It features the voice of comedian Amy Poehler and follows young Riley as her emotions of joy, fear, anger, disgust and sadness battle it out internally as she copes with a move to a new city.

“Jurassic World” dropped from second to fifth place, taking in another $11.5 million, bringing the dinosaur movie’s overall total to a huge $611.2 million.

Taking the sixth spot was action-packed sci-fi fantasy “Terminator Genisys”, which brought in $5.4 million in its third weekend.

In seventh position was “Magic Mike XXL”, a dance-themed drama about a former stripper, starring Channing Tatum. It pulled in $4.4 million in theatres over the weekend.

Dropping to eighth place after debuting at number five was Hollywood producer Jason Blum’s latest spine-tingler, “The Gallows”, which took in $4 million.

The movie, which recalls 1999’s “The Blair Witch Project” for its hand-held camera technique, gives young actors Reese Mishler, Pfeifer Brown, Ryan Shoos and Cassidy Gifford their first substantial roles.

“Bajrangi Bhaijaan” — about a speech-impaired girl from Pakistan who gets lost in India and gets help from a kind-hearted man to find her way home to her family — grabbed ninth place, with just over $2.6 million.

Rounding out the top 10 was “Ted 2”, the raunchy sequel to Seth MacFarlane’s comedy about a foul-mouthed teddy bear, which brought in $2.6 million.

Overall box office numbers are still being tallied, but it looks like ticket sales will be up more than 30 per cent over the same period last year. It marks the sixth consecutive weekend of gains, a sign that business is booming at the multiplexes. That cuts both ways, as Disney and Marvel discovered.

“It’s great for the business, but what it means is that it’s more competitive,” said Hollis.

VANCOUVER — Despite evidence that taking powerful anti-HIV drugs can help protect uninfected partners from contracting the virus that causes AIDS, the therapy is far from becoming routinely prescribed, scientists said Monday.

The practice, known as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, means that a healthy person who engages in sex with an HIV-positive partner takes anti-retroviral drugs daily as a preventive measure to ward off HIV.

Experts say the regime is effective, and carries minimal side effects.

“Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a game changer” in preventing the spread of HIV, said US researcher Chris Beyrer, co-chair of the International AIDS Society (IAS) science conference in this western Canadian city.

“The data is overwhelming... it works when it’s taken.”

At the conference, scientists released results on PrEP in several small studies of people at a high risk of contracting HIV, mostly due to sexual behaviour, in Brazil, the United States, and Botswana. 

The research showed that when PrEP is used correctly, it reduces HIV infection and is well-tolerated.

But several scientists said use of PrEP is far from becoming standard policy, and so remains an individual decision for people considered at high risk. 

The therapy is also relatively new. The US Food and Drug Administration in 2012 approved use of the drug tenofovir (Truvada) for adults at high-risk, in combination with safe sex practices.

Studies show success

A San Francisco study of 557 men having sex with men, and transgender people, showed most followed the drug regime, while the two participants who did contract HIV had very low levels of PrEP drugs in their system, reported Albert Liu of the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

“Our results support strongly the scale-up of PrEP,” he told reporters. 

“The drugs appear to be well tolerated.”

A Brazilian study of 509 men from 2014 to 2015 showed PrEP was well-received by recipients, “though more education is needed”, said Beatriz Grinsztejn, Instituto Pesq Clinica Evandro Chagas.

She said the results, which have yet to be finalised for publication, will help Brazil decide whether to adopt PrEP as a standard public health measure.

Adverse reactions in one study included just three reports of nausea, a headache, and weight loss, among 200 young men studied in 12 American cities, said Sybil Hosek of Stroger Hospital, Cook County, Illinois.

Hosek noted the men most likely to adhere to the treatment regime were those with the most risky lifestyles.

A study in Botswana of 229 heterosexual people in high-risk lifestyles “observed no HIV transmission in the study”, said Faith Henderson of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Some 87 per cent of the women on Botswana adhered to the drug regime, she said, noting that is a high rate compared to other measures aimed at reducing HIV risk for women.

“Women and girls [constitute] half of all people with HIV worldwide, and PrEP is much needed,” Henderson told reporters.

However, cost is an issue, and the pills can be too expensive for some. Another key barrier is making sure people take their pills daily, which can be challenge to maintain over time.

“PrEP is not just for personal benefit,” said Peruvian scientist Carlos Caceres, a guest editor for Journal of the International AIDS Society. 

“We have to look at PrEP as a public health consideration. Avoiding one infection in somebody who might infect someone else might avoid several [further] infections.”

Caceres added, “our [global] HIV response will not be sustainable if the number of infections is not significantly reduced.”

WASHINGTON — New research suggests poor sleep may increase people’s risk of Alzheimer’s disease, by spurring a brain-clogging gunk that in turn further interrupts shut-eye.

Disrupted sleep may be one of the missing pieces in explaining how a hallmark of Alzheimer’s, a sticky protein called beta-amyloid, starts its damage long before people have trouble with memory, researchers reported Monday at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference.

“It’s very clear that sleep disruption is an underappreciated factor,” said Dr Matthew Walker of the University of California, Berkeley, who presented data linking amyloid levels with people’s sleep and memory performance. “It’s a new player on the scene that increases risk of Alzheimer’s disease.”

Sleep problems are treatable — and a key next question is whether improving sleep can make a difference in protecting seniors’ brains.

“Sleep is a modifiable factor. It’s a new treatment target,” Walker said.

Enough sleep is important for good health generally — seven to eight hours a night are recommended for adults. When it comes to the brain, scientists have long known that people who don’t get enough have trouble learning and focusing. And anyone who’s cared for someone with dementia knows the nightly wandering and other sleep disturbances that patients often suffer, long thought to be a consequence of the dying brain cells.

The new research suggests that sleep problems actually interact with some of the disease processes involved in Alzheimer’s, and that those toxic proteins in turn affect the deep sleep that’s so important for memory formation.

“It may be a vicious cycle,” said Dr Miroslaw Mackiewicz of the National Institute on Aging, who wasn’t part of the new work.

Walker’s team gave PET scans to 26 cognitively healthy volunteers in their 70s to measure buildup of that gunky amyloid. They were given words to memorise, and their brain waves were measured as they slept overnight.

The more amyloid people harboured in a particular brain region, the less deep sleep they got — and the more they forgot overnight, Walker said. Their memories weren’t transferred properly from the brain’s short-term memory bank into longer-term storage.

What’s the risk over time? Two sleep studies tracked nearly 6,000 people over five years, and found those who had poor sleep quality — they tossed and turned and had a hard time falling asleep — were more likely to develop mild cognitive impairment, early memory problems that sometimes lead to Alzheimer’s, said Dr Kristine Yaffe of the University of California, San Francisco.

Sleep apnoea — brief interruptions of breathing that repeatedly awaken people without them realising it — caused a nearly twofold increase in that risk, Yaffe said. She recommended that people at risk of Alzheimer’s be screened for sleep disorders, especially apnoea, which has effective treatment.

“There’s a lot of evidence that we need to pay more attention” to sleep in seniors, she said.

Animal studies give clues to the biology behind these changes. Dr David Holtzman of Washington University in St Louis reported a series of mice experiments that found amyloid production is highest during waking hours and lowest during deep sleep. Depriving mice of sleep spurred toxic amyloid buildup and, intriguingly, once those deposits began, the mice stayed awake longer on their own. Holtzman also checked Alzheimer’s other bad actor, the protein tau that forms tangles in the brain, and found the same effect on deep sleep.

Another hint came a few years ago, when University of Rochester scientists reported that the brain uses sleep to flush out toxic debris. They injected mice brains with amyloid and watched it clear faster while they slept.

The work comes as researchers hunt ways to prevent a coming wave of Alzheimer’s as the population ages, driven by the baby boomer generation that begins turning 70 next year. More than 5 million Americans already have Alzheimer’s, a number expected to more than double by 2050. Changes that lead to Alzheimer’s can begin 20 years before memory lapses, and scientists are studying drugs in people at high risk in hopes of finding preventive treatment.

But so far, lifestyle changes are the main recommendation, and starting early seems important. Yaffe also reported Monday that younger adults who get little physical activity have worse cognitive functioning by middle age. In Sweden, Karolinska Institute researchers tracked down seniors’ long-ago report cards to find that school performance at age 9 or 10 predicted who was already building a better “cognitive reserve” to guard against later-in-life decline.

“There are lots of risk factors we might be able to change. Sleep is one,” said Alzheimer’s Association Chief Science Officer Maria Carrillo. Together, the new research emphasises how “sleep is critical as we age”.

WASHINGTON — Woolly mammoths spent their lives enduring extreme Arctic conditions including frigid temperatures, an arid environment and the relentless cycle of dark winters and bright summers.

An exhaustive genetic analysis of these bygone Ice Age giants and their living cousins, Asian and African elephants, has revealed a slew of genetic adaptations that enabled woolly mammoths to thrive for eons in such adverse circumstances.

The study, published in the journal Cell Reports, compared the genomes of two mammoths whose remains were found in permafrost in northeastern Siberia, one 18,500 years old and the other 60,000 years old, with genomes of three Asian elephants and one African elephant.

Mammoths possessed genetic changes associated with skin and hair development, fat biology, insulin biology and temperature tolerance that differentiated them from the elephants, University of Chicago geneticist Vincent Lynch said.

“We think that these changes make sense in mammoths because we know that mammoths evolved long, thick hair, large fat deposits and lived in really cold places,” Lynch said. “Insulin signalling is important for fat biology because insulin regulates how much sugar in the blood is converted to energy and fat.”

The researchers also “resurrected” the mammoth version of a gene called TRPV3. When transplanted into human cells, it produced a protein less responsive to heat than its elephant versions, indicating it helped make mammoths less sensitive to cold.

Woolly mammoths, a bit larger than modern elephants, dwelled in the steppes of northern Asia, Europe and North America. The last mammoth disappeared roughly 4,000 years ago. Whether their extinction resulted from a warming climate or human hunting remains hotly debated.

The researchers acknowledged their genome sequencing could make it easier to bring back the mammoth via cloning much like the movie dinosaurs of “Jurassic World”.

“If you want to build a woolly mammoth, we’re showing some places to start. But that had nothing to do with why we studied mammoths,” Penn State University biologist Webb Miller said.

“I don’t know why people are interested in cloning mammoths. It would be much easier, and perhaps more useful, to clone Franklin Roosevelt,” Miller added.

Lynch said it seems inevitable someone will clone a mammoth.

“While I think it will soon be technically possible to resurrect a mammoth, it is not something that we should do. Modern humans are not responsible for the extinction of mammoths, so we owe no debt to nature,” Lynch added.

Introduced as a 2008 model heavily influenced by the ionic original 1970-74, the revived third generation Challenger was Dodge’s gambit into retro-inspired and renewed muscle car showdown between America’s “big three”. Large, comfortable, brawny and stylised, the Challenger perhaps best captured the spirit and aesthetic of its muscle car roots.

Revised to compete with all-new recently launched Ford Mustang and imminent Chevrolet Camaro archrivals, the 2015 Challenger significantly features a new 8-speed automatic gearbox and subtly face-lifted styling. In addition to revised interior, it also receives improved driver assistance, safety and infotainment systems and new colours, models and customisation options.

Imposing proportions

Closely following the curvature, profile proportions and styling details of the original 1970s Challenger, its contemporary successor is a similarly and gloriously moody and brutally aggressive design. With similarly long bonnet, evocative Coke-bottle hips and menacing deep-set quad headlights and wide rear lights, the modern Challenger is, however, taller and longer.

At 5-metre long and 1.9-metre wide, the Challenger well disguises its size, but with luxury saloon proportions and basic underpinnings, is more a grand tourer coupe than lithe sports car. With modern integrated bumpers, higher waistline, narrower glasshouse and larger wheels, the contemporary Challenger seems even more imposing than the original.

Lightly face-lifted, the 2015 Challenger’s most notably features a new split grille design inspired by the 1971 model and matching split — rather than full-length — LED rear light re-design. Along with new bold retro-influenced colours and alloy wheels, it also features new fog lights and projector headlamps with LED halo surrounds.

Muscular mid-range

With an extended model range including a devastating powerful 6.2-litre supercharged 707BHP SRT Hellcat halo version, Challenger engine options are otherwise little altered, including the 5.7-litre HEMI V8 Challenger R/T version tested. A modern interpretation of a charismatically traditional American OHV V8, the R/T’s is a robust and muscularly low-revving engine.

Developing 372BHP at 5200rpm and 400lb/ft at 4400rpm in 8-speed automatic guise as tested and 3BHP and 10lb/ft more with 6-speed manual gearbox, the Challenger R/T completes the 0-100km/h dash in approximately five-and-a-half seconds. Muscular and abundant in low- and mid-range, the R/T’s generous torque provides effortless on-the-move acceleration and flexibility. 

Refined and relaxed speed, the R/T’s new 8-speed gearbox better utilises its generous but low-revving engine for improved off-the-line responses, versatility and refinement. Smooth and succinct in auto mode, the R/T’s paddle-shift actuated manual gearbox mode provides more control, but a low 5800rpm rev limit requires quick up-shifts for best results.

Confidence and refinement

A more practical and efficient car than the one it replaces, the 2015 Challenger R/T’s eight-speed gearbox and automatic four-cylinder de-activation when cruising allows for improved 12.3l/100km/combined cycle fuel consumption. Efficient for an 1852kg brute, the R/T can also be driven on cheaper minimum 91RON fuel requirement, but 93RON is recommended.

With unequal double wishbone front and multi-link rear suspension, long wheelbase and well-balanced weight distribution, the Challenger drives with big car confidence and stability at speed. Driven back-to-back with its four-door saloon Charger sister at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Formula One circuit, the Challenger was more agile and eager through corners.

Riding on sticky low profile 245/45R20 tyres the Challenger R/T was grippy through corners yet felt refined and comfortable on the smooth Yas Marina tarmac. More agile through tight corners than its vast size and hefty weight suggest, the Challenger’s quick electric-assisted steering turns in tidily, with little body lean through corners.

Cabin comfort

Stable, refined and comfortable at speed, the Challenger is well-insulated from noise vibrations and harshness. Visibility from its hunkered narrow glasshouse cab was good on track. But, with high bonnet, beltline and boot, and vast dimensions, its’ blind spot and rear cross-path alerts and reversing camera are useful for congested public roads. 

Large and comfortable, the Challenger features good front headspace, huge cabin width, and well-cushioned and adjustable seats and steering and user-friendly layouts. Seating three passengers in the rear and 458-litre luggage volume, the Challenger is practical. It features a driver-tilted console and retro-style analogue dials flanking a customisable TFT instrument panel.

Finished with extensive soft textures and generously equipped, the 2015 Challenger features a large, intuitive 8.4-inch Uconnect touchscreen with voice command, from which to access infotainment and driving systems and modes, including additional performance instrumentation. Driver assist and safety systems available also include adaptive cruise control and forward collision warning.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 5.7-litre, cast-iron block/aluminium head, in-line V8-cylinders

Bore x Stroke: 99.5 x 90.9mm

Compression ratio: 10.5:1

Valve-train: 16-valve, OHV

Gearbox: 8-speed automatic, rear-wheel drive

Gear ratios: 1st 4.70 2nd 3.13 3rd 2.10 4th 1.67 5th 1.28 6th 1.0 7th 0.84 8th 0.67

Reverse/final drive ratios: 3.53/3.08

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 372 (377) [277] @5200rpm

Specific power: 68.8BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 200.86BHP/tonne

Torque lb/ft (Nm): 400 (542) @4400rpm

Specific torque: 95.86Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 292.65Nm/tonne

Rev limit: 5800rpm

0-100km/h: 5.5 seconds (est.)

Fuel consumption, city/highway/combined: 14.7/9.4/12.34/100km*  *US EPA

Fuel capacity: 70 litres

Fuel requirement, recommended (minimum): 93(91)RON

Length: 5027mm

Width: 1923mm 

Height: 1461mm

Wheelbase: 2951mm

Track, F/R: 1610/1621mm

Ground clearance: 132mm

Kerb weight: 1852kg

Weight distribution, F/R: 54.3 per cent/45.7 per cent

Aerodynamic drag co-efficiency: 0.337

Seating capacity: 2-door/5-seat

Headroom, F/R: 999/942mm

Legroom, F/R: 1067/840mm

Shoulder room, F/R: 1485/1368mm

Hip room, F/R: 1404/1215mm

Cargo volume: 458 litre

Steering: electric-assisted rack & pinion

Turning circle: 11.4 metres

Lock-to-lock: 2.62-turns

Suspension F/R: Unequal double wishbones/multi-link

Brakes, F/R: Ventilated discs 345 x 28mm/320 x 22mm

Brake calipers, F/R: dual-/single-piston

Tyres: 245/45R20

Ever heard of the 10GB Ethernet? It’s local networking speed that would let you move or copy the equivalent contents of just a little less than 2 CDs in one second, or an entire 500GB hard disk in 7 minutes, between computers.

We crave ever faster Internet connectivity, it’s understood; but what about the speed of local networks, the internal ones we have at work and even at home and that uses cables? This is what is referred to as Ethernet.

Do we really need faster local network rates? Is there a real need to transfer and copy digital contents locally faster, more than over the Internet? Especially when you think that the typical transfer speed on a local Ethernet cabled network is already a hundred faster than that of the Internet.

In the overwhelming number of situations the Ethernet cable connection that our computers use to exchange data with other machines on the same network, in one given physical location, would be 1GB/s, or 1GigE, or simply 1GB, that is one gigabit per second Ethernet. Some older hardware — rarely seen these days — still has Ethernet adapters that go for just 100Mb, one hundred megabit per second, which is ten times slower that 1GB.

Internal, or local networks, are as important as external ones today. The exchange and copying of files between colleagues in an office is very common. Users expect this to happen at the speed of light, almost as if one was saving the files on their own computer. The local network then becomes “transparent”.

Even homes today use some form of Ethernet network. You would connect a hard disk to your router and everyone in the family can save data there for all to share. Now if you’re handling one simple Word text file or one small photo it wouldn’t matter that much whether you have 1GB Ethernet or faster. You wouldn’t tell the difference. However, if you are copying high resolution photos that “weigh” 50MB or more, video files, or even small files but in large numbers, then you really can benefit from faster Ethernet.

Enter 10GB Ethernet, a connection that is 10 times faster than 1GB.

It is one of these high tech innovations that has been on paper for a few years now but has so far failed to make it on Mr Everybody’s computer. There are a few reasons for that. One of them is cost. In the current state of technology a 10GB Ethernet would add about $45 to the price of a typical laptop. It may not appear a lot at first sight, but manufacturers want to remain competitive and such additional cost would truly matter in the end.

Moreover, to benefit from 10GB you would need the machines at both ends (sending and receiving) to be fitted with it, otherwise it is the slower of the two that rules. Cables must also be able to carry data this fast, and routers and network switches must also be fitted with 10GB. That’s a lot of change in manufacturing and more hardware to buy for all of us.

There are also other technical considerations such as processors’ architecture, but Intel, for one, now seems to work on addressing this issue.

The fact that most home users connect via Wi-Fi  and not cable, particular mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones, has so far kept manufacturers reluctant to move faster in implementing the ultrafast Ethernet protocol.

Again, the need for faster Ethernet is driven by the large files we use, copy, save and share, not forgetting that home audiovisuals, especially 4k TV image needs to move huge amounts of data almost instantly. So in a nutshell, 10GB certainly is coming to us as surely as USB3.0 has finally made it on most devices and is now gradually replacing USB2.0.

When exactly to expect 10GB Ethernet? An average of all estimates indicates that we could have it in business in about two years; and at home in six to eight. The patient ones will be rewarded.

I wish there was a dummy’s handbook on how to get rid of earworms. Incidentally, I love all the handbooks that are actually written or recommended for dummies. You know like, “500 French words for dummies”, “Basic yoga postures for dummies”, “Bond investing for dummies”, “Interpreting body language for dummies”, “Improving entire metabolism for dummies”, “Bartending for dummies” “Boosting your self-confidence in a day for dummies” and my all time favourite-”Borderline personality disorder for dummies”.

The last one, believe it or not, is in its fifth edition. There must be an inherent need for people on the cusp of disordered mentality to reach for this self-help book. I must place an order for one too because I like reading ridiculous suggestions on inane stuff.

But I hope by the time I get my hands on the tome, my earworm would have receded because the crazy Beatles song “Let it be” is driving me insane. Actually, there is nothing wrong with the legendary number, but the way it is resonating incessantly in my brain is turning me into a neurotic.

What is an earworm? Well, it is those annoying tunes that lodge themselves inside our heads and repeat on an endless loop. In other words, it can be any snippet of a catchy song that gets stuck in our minds and keeps playing like a broken record. Over and over again, that is.

So, I woke up today to the sound of a Beatles track, especially the lyrics, “when the broken-hearted people, living in the world agree, there will be an answer, let it be”. And after that the line “there will be an answer, let it be”, seeped into my mind and refused to exit. I did my morning yoga, ate breakfast, read the newspaper, bought the groceries, went to the drycleaners and also visited the dentist but the nagging tune kept reverberating in my ears.

This is serious trouble, said the voice in my head. It ironically echoed the opening stanza of the song “when I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me. Speaking words of wisdom, let it be”. I looked all around me; there was no sign of the Madonna. This meant that I was basically left to fight my own battles. Or face my own demons, so to speak.

An Internet search revealed that now scientists might have found a way to help. Researchers claimed the best way to stop the phenomenon was to solve some tricky anagrams, which could force the intrusive music out of our working memory, allowing it to be replaced with other more amenable thoughts. But they also warned not to try anything too difficult as those irritating melodies might wiggle their way back into our consciousness.

“Sudoku puzzles prevented the songs from replaying in our heads, but if they were too challenging it had little effect. Anagrams were more successful and solving those with five letters gave the best results,” I read out.

“Like Right is an anagram for Girth?” asked my husband.

“Maybe,” I said.

“Beamy or Embay,” he supplied.

“The song is not going away,” I complained.

“Why don’t you try repeating — she sells seashells on the seashore?” he offered helpfully.

“Or say — Betty Butter bought some butter but the butter that Betty bought was bitter so Betty bought some better butter to make the bitter butter better,” chanted our daughter.

“There will be an answer, let it be,” I sang.

JAKARTA — From drones to smartphone apps, Indonesia is harnessing technology to tackle traffic chaos during the annual mass exodus before the Muslim Eid holiday, when the potholed roads of overpopulated Java become clogged with millions of slow-moving cars and crashes are frequent.

Cities in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country empty every year at the end of the holy month of Ramadan as people head to villages to celebrate Eid with their families. 

This trip is an annual ritual known locally as “mudik” that transforms journeys of a few hundred kilometres into 24-hour odysseys. 

The crush is particularly acute on Java, a crowded island that is home to more than half of Indonesia’s 250 million people.

Hundreds of new vehicles are hitting the road every day as the economy booms, but scant investment means many routes remain as they have for years — narrow, ageing roads snaking through mountainous terrain.

“Mentally, we are prepared,” said Astri Wahyuni, who was gearing up to travel to a village in central Java from the capital Jakarta with her husband and two young children for Eid, which is expected to fall on Friday. The journey normally takes as little as five hours — but in the run-up to Eid, it can last 25. 

This year, however, a series of new technological tools are being rolled out in an attempt to ease the traffic chaos. 

In Jakarta — an overcrowded, grim metropolis that suffers notorious traffic jams which only get worse in the run-up to Eid — police have deployed drones for the first time this year to monitor traffic as it floods out of the city. 

The unmanned aerial vehicles whizz high above the outskirts of the city, which has a population of about 10 million, with images relayed in real-time back to a traffic-monitoring centre where police can make quick decisions as issues arise.

“If there’s bad traffic, if there’s an accident, we’ll be able to see it from above,” Jakarta police spokesman Muhammad Iqbal told AFP.

App explosion

Police have also launched a smartphone app that allows drivers to access the police CCTV network via their handsets and check traffic conditions on vital motorways.

It will face stiff competition from a series of specialised “mudik” apps launched in time for the annual holiday, with technology companies seeking to capitalise on the growing popularity of smartphones as cheaper models flood the market and incomes rise.

Services such as “Ayo Mudik” and “Media Mudik” help locate the nearest mosque and inform drivers when they should start fasting, a requirement for Muslims during daylight hours in Ramadan. 

Countless map and GPS navigation apps have added extra “mudik” features that identify rest stops, petrol stations and meet-up spots for car pooling.

And those wanting to document their “mudik” in pictures can download “Instadeen”, which allows users to add religious text or Koranic verses to their photos before posting them online.

Shinta Dhanuwardoyo, the founder and CEO of Indonesian digital media agency Bubu, said tech entrepreneurs were being creative, developing apps tailored to the particular characteristics of the country’s mass exodus.

“These apps may not necessarily work in other countries, it’s very localised,” she said.

Despite the technical innovations, there was little sign “mudik” in 2015 was any different from previous years, with hours long queues on major routes and reports of scores of people killed in crashes since the weekend, when the exodus began.

To stand any chance of seriously reducing the chaos, observers say major investment in public transport and infrastructure is needed, something that new President Joko Widodo has pledged but which has yet to materialise.

“You can enjoy the trip, making memories with your family,” Wahyuni said. “That is something you cannot replace with social media, I think, the uniqueness of the ‘mudik’ tradition itself.”