THURSDAY 18 APRIL 2013 • plus@pen.com.qa • www.thepeninsulaqatar.com • 4455 7741

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• q.media employeesraise money tosupport Rota

• Your legalqueriesanswered

• Patient-centredcare linked to better outcomes: Study

• A gadget freak’sremote-controlled‘smart house’

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Stylish Oblivion mesmerises

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Students at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar showcased their creations at the ‘Fingerprint’ fashion show. Eric Gaskins, the celebrity designer from New York, was also part of the show this year.

Setting new Setting new fashion trendsfashion trends

2 COVER STORYPLUS | THURSDAY 18 APRIL 2013

By Isabel Ovalle

Fashion design sophomores, juniors and seniors at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar (VCUQ) had

their debut night on Tuesday at the ‘Fingerprint’ fashion show featuring their work in the form of fall and junior sportswear collections.

The show comprised looks that stu-dents started designing in January and working on in March. Yesterday and today these young designers also show-case their work for a different audience at The Gate Mall at 7pm.

This year students had opportu-nity to learn and work hand in hand with Eric Gaskins, from New York, who also made a collection espe-cially for the occasion. The North American designer graduated from Kenyon College in Ohio at age 20 and was awarded the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship which led to an interview with Hubert de Givenchy, which then led to an apprenticeship in Paris.

Alongside, the experienced profes-sional, The Gate Mall’s runway saw the designs of five senior students: Sultana Jasmine, Rabab Abdulla, Oulla Al Samarrae, Dana Masoud and Basra Bashir.

Gaskins’ collection was the first one to appear and consisted of luxuri-ous day and evening pieces that have been worn by celebrities such as Salma Hayek, Natalie Portman, Sharon Stone, Kim Cattrall, and many others. “What I love is the feedback from the client when she says that she’s worn a dress or suit over and over, the cut making her feel incredibly confident, sexy, the fit making her look better than she ever thought she could. For me that is really what it’s all about,” Gaskins has said.

Next-up on the runway was ‘Patterns’ the collection for kids that awed the audience who accompanied the small models with clapping all the way. The show continued with the sen-ior fall collection, ‘Illusions,’ and the junior sportswear collection, ‘Denim Focus.’

Pics:Qassim Rahmatullah

VCUQ students VCUQ students make their debutmake their debut

3

The closing of the spectacle was the senior thesis collection, depicted as an eclectic mix of day to evening looks that reflect the individual aesthetic of the designers.

Rabab Abdulla, an Indian brought up in Qatar, got inspiration from the clothes from her home country. “I look at a woman as someone who is always active and working. I wanted to make something that made you feel comfort-able, no matter what you are doing, whether it’s something at home or a special function,” said the student.

For this young designer, her objec-tive was to create something that could be worn in different events and at dif-ferent times and that will always make the user comfortable. “I’m a double major in Interior Design and Fashion. This is my first fashion show and I’ve learned a lot, the more I learned, the better I got,” she added.

In the fashion world, working back-stage also is a great source of knowl-edge. The young designer stated: “It was difficult staying up all night and not seeing my family so much, but I really enjoyed it,” she admitted.

The seniors were asked to start thinking about the collection since October, but started designing in January and actual production in March. After this experience, Abdulla recommends those who are in the fash-ion industry not to be scared, come out and try to be recognized by others.

On her part, Basra Bashir, original from Pakistan, gets her inspiration mostly from her culture. “I wanted to use the shawl like the one I want to use for my wedding. Ultimately, I aimed to give the collection a regal monarchy look, which is also the title of my col-lection, Monarchy.”

Bashir added: “I challenged myself to go out there and buy materials that I had never bought before, like silk, which, by the way, is very hard to sew. The fabrics and colors are also those that are in my accessories for my wed-ding. I wanted it to look like it was an actual royal palace.” The student also talked about the great experience of working with Gaskins. “He has been our mentor, he has given us feedback for about two weeks,” she said.

Sultana Jesmine prepared nine looks

for the occasion. “The whole process is very stressful but at the end it feels good to make something,” she admit-ted. The student considered that a lot of changes are already happening in fashion, while adding that “young ladies can wear anything they want under their abaya.”

Dana Masoud, a Palestine-Canadian student, decided to do a very classic, simple and elegant collection, with very simple silhouettes and a lot of embel-lished fabrics. “I actually bought beads and put them on my garments, getting inspiration from my childhood, when I always wanted to wear embellished clothes,” she said.

“Before I design I chose a target audience, in this case it was for ladies from 18 years to their late 20s,” she explained. For Masoud, the experience of working with Gaskins was also great: “He taught us a lot of techniques and interesting things, like how to sew gar-ments in a short time, because we used to take very long.”

The Chair of Fashion Design at VCUQ, Sandra Bell, explained that, after 14 years in Qatar and putting together this fashion show, “sometimes it’s really easy to do it, the students are very talented, they know exactly what they’re doing, and sometimes it’s the opposite, and it’s difficult to get them motivated and get them involved.” However, “with a little love and motiva-tion, you get what I got tonight. That’s what I love to do,” she continued.

Every year the University chooses a designer to act as a mentor, most fre-quently from the region. Nevertheless, VCUQ has hosted designers from the US, Brazil, India and Cambodia, among other origins. “I’m always in search of someone different, because fashion is an international business and I want students to understand that there are successful designers all over the world,” stated Bell.

Despite living in the Middle East, fashion students have an esthetic that is very Western. “I think we’re often taken aback by the abaya and the fact that it covers, but what most people don’t understand is what’s underneath is very Western,” explained the Chair of Fashion Design.

The Peninsula

Sometimes it’s really easy to do it (fashion show), the students are very talented, they know exactly what they’re doing, and sometimes it’s the opposite, and it’s difficult to get them motivated and get them involved. With a little love and motivation, you get what I got tonight.

PLUS | THURSDAY 18 APRIL 2013

Sandra Bell

Eric Gaskins

PLUS | THURSDAY 18 APRIL 20134 COMMUNITY

Mövenpick Hotel holds blood donation drive

Employees of Mövenpick Hotel Doha rolled up their sleeves to donate blood in an initia-tive in partnership with the

blood donors unit of HMC.Hotel General Manager Fabien

Chesnais led the team members in the campaign to raise awareness about the benefits of donating blood to support the healthcare system.

“We are constantly seeking oppor-tunities to contribute and give back and organising a blood donation cam-paign is one of them, our aim is to promote a business culture that’s focused on levitating our commitment to further aid the local community,” said Chesnais.

The Peninsula

Staff from Qatar Media Services — q.media — organised a char-ity bake sale last week at its headquarters in Al Jazeera

Tower, West Bay. All profits raised from the event were donated to Reach Out To Asia (Rota).

Maha Al Obaidan, q.media’s Marketing and Corporate Communications Director, said: “We are glad to see our team participating in our cake sale day and I am proud of every single employee who baked and donated. q.media has always been sup-portive of such charitable initiatives, and Rota without a doubt is one of the most recognised non-profit organisa-tions in the region and we are hon-oured to be able to partner with them for our community CSR initiatives.”

Lucy Urwin, q.media’s Corporate Communications Manager, said: “The turnout was great. Our staff baked over 30 items, from traditional des-serts to cakes. We were delighted with the turnout and the amount of money collected for Rota.”

Mohammed Jassim Al Naama, Director of Marketing, Events and Fundraising at Rota, said: “On behalf of

Rota and its staff, I would like to thank q.media for supporting our organisa-tion’s mission of developing Asia. I am

delighted to see q.media and many other Qatari companies giving back to the community, and the bake sale event

is only the start of more programmes to come in partnership with q.media.”

The Peninsula

q.media employees raise money to support Rota

Confederation of Alumni Associations of Kerala (CAAK) is organising an “Inter-collegiate Alumni Fiesta” tomorrow at Skills Development Centre.

Indian Embassy officials, community leaders and various college alumni leaders from Doha will attend the function.

Group competitions are scheduled at 4pm. In con-nection with the Alumni Fiesta, various competitions were held on April 12 and 13 at Bhavan’s School and the results have already been announced.

The overall winners will be awarded titles of Bala Prathibha, Yuva Prathibha and Kala Prathibha, and a rolling trophy will be awarded to the col-lege with the highest points. For details, contact 55489789/55376128 or email: caakqatar@gmail.com.

The Peninsula

q.media staff with the baked goods.

CAAK Inter-collegiate Alumni Fiesta 2013 tomorrow

Participants in the group competitions.

Bihar groups to

mark Bihar Divas

Bihar Foundation, Qatar Chapter and World Bihar Organisation, Qatar are celebrating 101 Bihar Divas at Copthorne Hotel on

Friday, April 19.Shakil Ahmed Kakvi, president, World

Bihar Organisation, Qatar, said: “The motive to celebrate Bihar Divas is to pro-vide a platform to people of Bihari origin around the world to work together for a better Bihar where they can forget all other identities and be a proud Bihari Indian. We feel proud of present Bihar and its glorious past. The progress of Bihar is the progress of India. Bihar is progressing fast under the leadership of Nitish Kumar. Now, Bihar is a land of opportunities. Join us as a good friend and reliable partner for bonding, branding and business in Bihar.”

The programme will start at 5pm with a seminar on the theme, ‘Vision Bihar 2020’ followed by an awards ceremony and release of a magazine, Parwaaz. Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and CEO, Bihar Foundation, Dipak Kumar Singh, will address the gathering through a video link.

This year, Abyanand, DGP Bihar, Dr Bindeshwer Pathak, founder, Sulabh International, and Ashfaque Karim, founder, Katihar Medical College, have been nominated for the excellence award by World Bihar Organisation, Qatar for their valuable services.

A music programme, “Ek Sham Bihar Ke Naam”, will be presented by members of Kainat Foundation. Nadir Abdul Salam, a budding artist, will perform Bhojpuri folk songs. The Peninsula

5COMMUNITY PLUS | THURSDAY 18 APRIL 2013

‘Damac Towers by

Paramount’ roadshow

reaches Qatar

Damac Properties is launching the next phase of a $1bn luxury hotel and serviced residences

for Qatari investors, following an event in Dubai.

‘Damac Towers by Paramount’, is being developed on sought-after real estate in Dubai overlooking the Burj Khalifa and the world’s largest mall.

Damac Towers by Paramount com-prises Paramount Hotel & Residences and Damac Maison serviced units – Paramount co-branded serviced hotel residences.

Developed by Damac Properties in partnership with Paramount Hotel & Resorts, the project offers a reflection of Hollywood glamour, synonymous with Paramount Pictures for the past 101 years. Damac Properties is presenting the project at the Four Seasons hotel in Doha on April 17 and 18.

“Dubai-Doha is currently the seventh largest international route in the world based on seat capacity, according to CAPA and Innovata data. Many Qataris, who regularly visit Dubai, are looking to own their own place, and luxury serviced apartments provide a home away from home where the whole family can expe-rience homely comforts and top-class service” said Ziad El Chaar, Managing Director, DAMAC Properties.

The Peninsula

Sony launches Cyber-shot HX300

Fifty One East and Sony have launched the Cyber-shot HX300 digital still camera, a power-packed device that offers DSLR-like capabilities in Qatar. The HX300 will be

available at all Fifty One East outlets located in Al Maha Centre, City Centre Doha and Lagoona Mall in addition to all Virgin Megastores at Villaggio and Landmark malls.

With a huge 50x optical zoom range – among the highest for any compact camera – the Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* lens covers a wide spectrum of shooting possibilities, from holidays and safari trips to sports, wildlife shoots and outdoor concerts. The T* coating on lens surfaces cuts reflections and ‘flare’, while Super ED and ED glass elements minimise chromatic aberration for satisfyingly sharp, high-contrast images.

The lengthiest shooting sessions are made pleasant and manageable by the camera’s balanced DSLR-style body and moulded ergonomic grip that fits comfortably into the hand. Add to that a full range of intuitively-placed controls including manual ring, custom button, jog dial and memory recall mode, and you have a camera that’s as good as a DSLR.

In a Cyber-shot first, the HX300 features newly-enhanced Optical Steady Shot for stress-free com-position and clearer photos even at high zoom settings. This model delivers an improved perform-ance as the high-speed autofocus at telephoto set-tings locks onto the subject around twice as quickly as its predecessor model, the Cyber-shot HX200V. Users will find it easier than ever to grab those

spontaneous moments with crisp, blur-free results.The Exmor R CMOS sensor inside the new

Cyber-shot HX300 captures richly-detailed, stills and Full HD video with very low picture noise, even when shooting without flash at dusk or in dimly-lit interiors.

The HX300 features the Advanced Flash that boosts the camera’s sensitivity, effectively extending flash range to make subjects at long distance appear brighter. This proves ideal for party shots, indoors

or at dusk where the camera’s built-in flash could otherwise struggle to reach the action.

Picture Effect makes it easy to spice up photos, movies and panoramas with a range of fun, impres-sive artistic treatments such as Toy Camera, Pop Colour, Soft High Key and Partial Colour. Everything is instant and automatic without the need to fid-dle around with smartphone apps or image editing downloads.

The Peninsula

Spanish food festival at

InterContinental Doha

A Spanish food festival began yesterday at Coral restaurant, in InterContinental Doha. The event marks the official inauguration of the eatery and will run every night until April 20.

The Spanish ambassador to Qatar, Carmen de la Peña, and the General Manager of InterContinental Doha, Andreas Pfister, inaugurated the gastronomical feast with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

The ambassadors of Cuba and Hungary, Ernesto Plasencia and Stephen Elter, respectively, and other dignitaries and staff from the Spanish Embassy were among the other officials who attended the first day of the festival.

The festival features authentic Spanish cuisine pre-pared by the hotel’s staff, with a special touch lent by two Spanish chefs who have come to Doha for the occasion, said the Spanish ambassador.

The fiesta presents a wide range of Spanish dishes. The hotel’s guest chefs from Spain will prepare a variety of tapas, paellas, gazpacho, croquetas, gambas al ajillo and countless other delicacies that best represent Spanish cuisine.

Other dishes to be expected include typical desserts like arroz con leche (rice with milk) and torrijas, made out of bread dipped in milk and fried.

To complement the ambiance and dining experience, a Flamenco show will be staged each night. The festival starts from 7pm and is priced at QR235, inclusive of buffet dinner and a glass of sangria.

The hotel expects to have a full house every day and is already fully booked for tonight. Coral restaurant seats 200 guests and has a terrace overlooking the swimming pool.

InterContinental Doha has organized the event in part-nership with Gulf Center for Foodstuffs and Ali Bin Ali and Partners Food Services Division

The Peninsula

The Spanish ambassador and the general manager of InterContinental Doha inaugurating the festival.Below: A Flamenco dancer.

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PLUS | THURSDAY 18 APRIL 2013 LEGAL66

I am working in a private company. In case a loan holder’s employer legally terminates his/her job contract and cancels the work permit, he/she cannot stay in the country longer than the notice period. How can he/she then repay the loan? Will insurance cover repay in this case?

Name withheldA loan is a contract between two parties that

requires repayment of the debt on the time agreed on, in instalments.

Traditionally, banks and companies give loans to employees with a guarantee to transfer their monthly salary to an account in the bank, and the lender deducts a percentage of the salary each month until the debtor has repaid the amount along with the interest and related expenses.

Some banks and companies that provide loans require to be informed by the employer when the employee resigns or his service is terminated, to enable them to take the required legal measures to recover their money.

Therefore, when an employee ends his service with a company, he should inform the bank or lender that his contract with the company has ended and he is committed to repaying his debt, however, the company has refused to extend his contract or transfer his sponsorship in order to let him work with another employer and enable him to repay the loan.

Needless to say, the employer is not responsible for the loan unless it is acquired with his official approval.

Law No (4) of 2009 on expatriates’ entry, exit, residence and sponsorship says sponsors are responsible for settling the debts of their spon-sored expatriates if they agree to do so in a written form. They should repay the expatriates’ debts if the latter do not have the required funds.

So, if the loan is given with the official approval of the employer, the employer is responsible for repaying the rest of the loan in case the employee does not have money for this.

If the employee got the loan without official approval from the employer, he is responsible for repaying the loan.

Normally, when a lender (whether a bank or company) comes to know that the debtor is about to leave the country for good, he file a case with the general prosecution to prevent him from leav-ing the country.

This can result in him being prevented from leaving the country and refusal to cancel his resi-dential visa.

This will result in the person being slapped with a travel ban, being unemployed and so having no income to repay the loan. Eventually this could lead to a compromise whereby the sponsor agrees to transfer the employee’s sponsorship to another company in order to let him work and repay his loan.

This will safeguard the rights of all parties, as the bank or lender will be able to recover its money and the employee will be able to work with another sponsor.

Repayment of the loan by an insurance company is possible only if the loan is insured.

In fact, a loan contract burdens the debtor with additional expenses besides the loan amount, such as administrative fees, the interest and the loan insurance fee.

It is worth mentioning that in Qatar there are charitable organisations that give humanitarian support to the needy, including debtors.

Therefore, the questioner can approach these charities for support if he cannot find any other solution and is unable to repay his loan.

Last month, I got a job in a company in Qatar with my expected salary. They sent me an offer letter and I accepted the offer by email. The company is asking for a No-objection Certificate (NOC) from my cur-rent sponsor. When I requested my current employer to give me an NOC, they said that since I was on a business visa I did not require an NOC and they would provide me an exit permit and an experience certificate and I could leave Qatar and my next employer could apply for my work visa. Is this true? The firm offering me the new job says I have to either get an NOC from my current sponsor or they can apply for my work visa after the expiry of my three-month visa.

Name withheldIn case the questioner leaves the country with

the aim of coming back on a work visa, there is no need for an NOC, taking into consideration the fact that he is on a business visa and will be returning on a work visa.

For further clarifications, it is advisable to inquire with the passport department, as their regulations change. I advise the questioner to make sure of what the requirements and procedures are in such a case.

The Peninsula

Legal corner

By Abdelaal A KhalilLegal Consultant

Please send your queries to: plus@pen.com.qa

Job loss and loan repayment

HEALTH 7

Health Tipsfrom DOCTOR

Vaccines are made in several ways. However, all vaccines have the same general goal: weaken the virus or bacteria in a way that allows the recipient to develop an immune

response without developing any symptoms of infec-tion. Vaccines are made using the same components that are found in the natural virus or bacteria.Weaken the virus

Using this strategy, viruses are weakened so that they reproduce themselves very poorly once inside the body. The measles, mumps, German measles (rubella), rotavirus, intranasal influenza and chicken-pox (varicella) vaccines are made this way. Whereas natural viruses reproduce themselves thousands of times, vaccine viruses usually reproduce themselves fewer than 20 times. Because vaccine viruses don’t reproduce themselves very much, they don’t cause disease, but vac-cine viruses replicate well enough to induce “mem-ory cells” that protect against infection in the future. The advantage of live, “weakened” vaccines is that one or two doses provide immunity that is lifelong.Inactivate the virus

Using this strategy, viruses are completely inactivated (or killed) with a chemical. By killing the virus, it cannot pos-sibly reproduce itself or cause disease. The inacti-vated polio, hepatitis A, influenza (shot), and rabies vaccines are made this way. Because the virus is still “seen” by the body, cells of the immune system that protect against disease are generated. However, the limitation of this approach is that it typically requires several doses to achieve immunity.Use part of the virus

Using this strategy, just one part of the virus is removed and used as a vaccine. The hepatitis B and HPV vaccines are made this way. The vaccine is com-posed of a protein that resides on the surface of the virus. This strategy can be used when an immune response to one part of the virus (or bacteria) is responsible for protection against disease.Use part of the bacteria

Some bacteria cause disease by making a harmful protein called a toxin. Several vaccines are made by taking toxins and inactivating them with a chemi-cal (the toxin, once inactivated, is called a toxoid). By inactivating the toxin, it no longer causes harm. The diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccines are made this way. Just like for inactivated viral vaccines, bacterial vaccines require several doses to induce adequate immunity.

Dr. E V KumarSpecialist - Paediatrics

Healthspring World Clinic

How are vaccines made?

By Andrew M Seaman

Patients tend to do better when their doc-tors pay attention to their individual needs and circumstances, according to a new study.

“In a sense that sounds sort of obvious, but no one has ever showed that before,” said Dr Saul Weiner, the study’s lead researcher.

Weiner, a physician and health services researcher at Jesse Brown VA Medical Center and the University of Illinois at Chicago, said doc-tors are often focused on meeting recommended guidelines, such as prescribing certain medications for a condition like high blood pressure.

“The challenge of healthcare is actually custom-ising those guidelines to the individual’s circum-stance and the needs of a patient. For generations people have called that the art of medicine, but the problem with that is it seemed dismissive,” he said.

Previous studies had suggested that patient-centred care led to better outcomes, but it was hard to know what doctors were talking about with patients.

Researchers didn’t know — for example — whether doctors simply increased patients’ medi-cations when their blood pressure crept back up, or if they tried to find out why their current pills had stopped working.

Instead of the medication, it could be that the patients could no longer afford their pills, or that they had developed dementia and were forgetful.

For the new study, Weiner and his colleagues recruited 139 doctors-in-training, known as resi-dents, from two US Veterans Affairs facilities. The residents agreed to let their patients privately record a future medical visit.

They then recruited 774 patients of those doc-tors who agreed to secretly tape record one of their future visits by leaving a recorder in their clothing or bag.

The researchers then went through the patients’ medical records to see if there were any “red flags” that signalled patients’ conditions were deterio-rating. For example, if a person’s diabetes was no longer under control.

They then listened to the tape recordings to see if the doctors picked up on the “red flags” and tried to address the underlying cause. About 160 of the patients were then tracked for nine months to see if their condition had improved.

Overall, there were 548 “red flags” identified in the patients’ medical records, and 208 of them were addressed during the recorded visits.

The researchers found 71 percent of the patients who had their “red flags” addressed by their doc-tors improved, compared to about 46 percent of those whose doctors didn’t get to the underlying cause.

ADDRESSING THE PROBLEMThe study cannot prove that the doctors find-

ing those “red flags” caused their patients to do better, but Dr Robert Smith, who has researched patient-centred care at Michigan State University in East Lansing, said the results were consistent with previous research.

Smith, who wasn’t involved with the new study, said medical education needed to include patient-centred skills and interviewing practices into its curriculum. “Doctors are not bad people who are

not being patient-centred. It’s the fact they’re not

taught it,” he added.

Dr Lisa Cooper, who co-wrote an editorial accom-

panying the new study in the Annals of Internal

Medicine, said that there was also a resource issue.

“I’m always an optimist, but we do have chal-

lenges. We have an access problem. We don’t have an

adequate number of primary care physicians,” said

Cooper, from the Johns Hopkins University School

of Medicine in Baltimore.

Smith, Cooper and Weiner all said patients also

shouldn’t be afraid to speak up during their vis-

its. But Weiner said the responsibility ultimately

fell on the doctor. “Oftentimes patients don’t know

what about their context is relevant. If a patient

has diminishing cognitive abilities, they’re the last

person to know their diabetes is going out of control,”

he said. “That’s why I ultimately think that this is a

doctor’s job. Not a patient job.”

SOURCE: bit.ly/Zwi3u5 Annals of Internal Medicine,

online April 15, 2013. Reuters

Patient-centred care linked to better outcomes: Study

PLUS | THURSDAY 18 APRIL 2013

By Maggie Fazeli Fard

The Autism Revolution: Whole Body Strategies for Making Life All It Can Be by Martha Herbert

A new approach to tackling autism. Often, parents of autistic children are told that the disorder is genetically hard-wired, destined to remain

fixed forever. A new book offers parents hope for a different outcome.

The Autism Revolution, by Harvard Medical School researcher and clinician Martha Herbert, aims to approach autism methodically, with strategies to help parents better meet their child’s needs and make their lives as full as possible. Herbert shares real-life success stories of children and adults on the autism spectrum who, as she describes them, “didn’t follow the textbooks.” They followed recommendations to optimise nutrition, strengthen immunity and reduce stress and environmental toxins. They “got better — some dramatically so,” writes Herbert.

The book is based on the idea that environment and genetics, the body and the brain, all play power-ful roles in how autism is expressed. Viewed this way, autism becomes a collection of problems that can be solved or, at least, managed. Herbert writes, “you get a very different story than the hopeless-genetic-lifelong-brain-damage tale that most of us thought was the truth.” She uses success stories of patients in her clinical practice, combined with new scientific research, to support this.

It is unclear, however, what makes this book “revo-lutionary.” Her holistic approach isn’t unheard of in medicine and Herbert herself acknowledges that her strategies aren’t a cure; there’s no guarantee that any of her recommendations will work and what helps one person won’t necessarily help another. The book is designed to be “an organising framework,” she writes, one in which “small adjustments can sometimes trig-ger big changes.”

WP-Bloomberg

Autism book offers holistic strategies

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ith

im

ages

from

his

past

.A

s th

e fi

lm buil

ds,

it pla

ys w

ith

fam

ilia

r

sci-

fi

them

es

of

iden

tity

, m

em

ory,

fait

h in

in

sti

tuti

on

s an

d

hum

an

natu

re.

Lit

tle can

be said

about

Morgan

Freem

an

’s c

haracte

r w

ith

out

giv

ing

much

aw

ay,

but

suffi

ce t

o s

ay t

hat

he

en

ters

the fi

lm i

n s

hades,

lig

hti

ng a

cig

ar a

nd w

earin

g a

cape. Y

es,

a c

ape.

Kosin

sk

i could

have c

hucked a

ll h

is

vis

ual

eff

ects

an

d ju

st

gon

e w

ith

a

cape-c

lad F

reem

an

.A

naly

sin

g t

he s

ubst

an

ce o

f O

bli

vion,

wh

ich

decli

nes

— a

s so

many s

cie

nce-

ficti

on

film

s do —

as

the p

uzz

les

are

solv

ed,

inevit

ably

dim

inis

hes

the

film

. B

ut

for th

ose w

ho en

joy th

e

sim

ple

th

ril

l of

han

dsom

ely

sty

lised

image-m

ak

ing,

Ob

livio

n

is

mostl

y

mesm

eris

ing.

Th

e s

evere a

rti

ficia

lity

of

the fi

lm’s

un

iverse

begin

s crackin

g w

ith

Jack’s

curio

sity

for e

arth

ly, an

alo

g t

hin

gs.

It

starte

d w

ith a

foun

d b

ook, an

d g

row

s in

his

secret

moun

tain

hid

eaw

ay o

f old

records,

a b

ase

ball c

ap a

nd lit

eratu

re.

It’s

a f

am

ilia

r t

rope i

n s

ci-

fi t

hat

hum

an

ity b

reath

es

ete

rn

ally t

hrough

art.

But

if fi

lms l

ike O

bli

vion a

re s

o

preoccupie

d by th

e detr

itus of

our

civ

ilis

ati

on

, perh

aps

we

ou

gh

t to

aim

a l

ittl

e h

igh

er t

han

Tom

Cruis

e

blo

ckbust

ers.

Aft

er a

ll, our f

utu

re f

ate

depen

ds

on

it.

Ob

livio

n is

a U

niv

ersal

Pic

tures

rele

ase

. A

P

By

Jake

Co

yle

Early

in

the s

leek s

ci-

fi t

hrille

r

Ob

livio

n,

Tom

C

ruis

e,

as a

fly boy repair

man

livin

g a

rem

oved,

Jets

on

s-li

ke e

xis

t-en

ce a

bove a

n i

nvaded a

nd d

ese

rte

d

Earth

, in

ton

es

his

hom

e s

ickn

ess

.“I

can

’t

sh

ak

e

the

feeli

ng

that

desp

ite a

ll t

hat’s

happen

ed,

Earth

is

stil

l m

y h

om

e,”

he n

arrate

s.O

ne c

an

’t h

elp

but

chortl

e a

nd w

on

-der i

f C

ruis

e i

s sp

eakin

g f

or h

imse

lf.

Th

e c

his

ele

d b

lockbust

er s

tar c

arrie

s so m

uch

baggage n

ow

adays t

hat

an

audie

nce’s

rela

tion

sh

ip t

o h

im o

ften

feels

dow

nrig

ht

alien

.B

ut

Cruis

e, th

at

un

rele

nti

ng b

ull

et

of

headlo

ng m

om

en

tum

, is

un

daun

ted.

He k

eeps

com

ing b

ack w

ith

even

big

-ger fi

lms,

most

of

wh

ich

, despit

e it

all

, h

e r

eli

ably

propels

— e

ven

if

it’s

becom

e h

arder t

o s

ee C

ruis

e a

s any-

thin

g o

ther t

han

him

self

.In

Ob

livio

n,

the s

econ

d fi

lm f

rom

T

ron

: L

ega

cy d

irecto

r J

ose

ph K

osi

nsk

i,

he p

lays J

ack

Harper,

a p

atr

oll

er o

f th

e d

ron

e-c

on

trolled s

kie

s over E

arth

. F

rom

a s

parse d

ock

wh

ere h

e l

ives

wit

h h

is supervis

or an

d gir

lfrie

nd,

Vic

toria

(A

ndrea R

iseborough

), J

ack

makes

daily fl

ights

in

his

spacecraft

to

the E

arth

’s b

arren

surfa

ce. “W

e’r

e t

he

mop-u

p c

rew

,” h

e s

ays.

He t

ell

s us

that

it’s

been

60 y

ears

sin

ce

ali

en

s

invaded,

first

kn

ock

-in

g o

ut

the m

oon

(goodn

igh

t m

oon

, in

deed)

an

d t

hen

leadin

g t

o a

devas-

tati

ng n

ucle

ar w

ar.

Th

ough

hum

an

s,

he s

ays,

won

out,

th

ey h

ad t

o a

ban

don

the p

lan

et’s

surfa

ce (

New

York

is

bur-

ied u

p t

o t

he E

mpir

e S

tate

Buil

din

g’s

n

eedle

), t

ak

ing r

efu

ge o

n a

moon

of

Satu

rn

. O

n a

deso

late

Earth

, th

e o

nly

bein

gs

rem

ain

ing a

re h

idin

g b

an

ds

of

Scaven

gers

(“S

cavs”

) th

at

look s

om

e-

thin

g lik

e a

cross

betw

een

the T

usk

en

Raid

ers

of

Sta

r W

ars

an

d M

illi V

an

illi.

Mon

itorin

g

the

lan

d

are

wh

ite,

roun

d d

ron

es

that

appear l

ike g

ian

t,

floati

ng c

ue b

alls

from

afa

r, b

ut

men

ac-

ing r

obot

kille

rs

up c

lose

. O

ccasi

on

ally,

th

ey n

eed s

ervic

ing f

rom

Jack (

Cruis

e

as

WA

LL

-E).

He a

void

s th

eir

bla

sters

by a

uth

en

ticati

ng h

imse

lf, but

as

they

ble

ep a

nd b

lork,

he c

ow

ers

an

xio

usl

y

— n

ot

en

tirely

certa

in t

hey’r

e o

n t

he

sam

e t

eam

.H

is f

ait

h i

s g

reate

r w

ith

Vic

toria

, w

ho

gu

ides

his

m

ovem

en

ts

from

h

er com

pute

ris

ed desk

. H

er supe-

rio

r (

pla

yed w

ith

a f

olk

sy S

outh

ern

accen

t by M

eli

ssa L

eo)

is s

een

on

ly in

scratc

hy v

ideo c

om

mun

iques.

So w

e a

re b

ack in

a p

ost

-apocaly

pti

c

world

, a p

lace t

o w

hic

h m

ovie

s la

tely

can

’t h

elp

retu

rn

ing, all

wit

h v

ario

us

images

of

wrecked i

con

ic m

onum

en

ts

an

d u

npeople

d l

an

dscapes.

We h

ave

seen

many o

f th

e e

lem

en

ts o

f O

bli

vion

PLU

S |

TH

UR

SD

AY

18

AP

RIL

2013

HO

LLY

WO

OD

NE

WS

MO

VIE

89

BO

LLY

WO

OD

NE

WS

Gom

ez a

nnounces w

orl

d t

our

Am

eric

an

sin

ger

Sele

na

Gom

ez

has

announced h

er w

orld

tour p

lans

that

will

take h

er t

o 5

6 c

itie

s.T

he 2

0-y

ear-o

ld p

op s

inger b

ounced b

ack o

nto

th

e m

usi

c s

cene a

t th

e M

TV

Movie

Aw

ards

wit

h

her n

ew

sin

gle

Com

e &

Get

It.

Shortl

y a

fter t

he

Bollyw

ood-t

hem

ed perfo

rm

an

ce at

the even

t,

Sele

na a

nn

oun

ced s

he w

ill

be t

ourin

g 5

6 c

itie

s la

ter t

his

year.

“It’s

goin

g t

o b

e a

big

ger s

how

. I’m

excit

ed. I’ve

been

dan

cin

g a

lot

an

d I

just

wan

t to

en

terta

in

people

and I

’m s

uper s

toked,” s

he w

as

quote

d a

s sa

yin

g b

y c

onta

ctm

usi

c.c

om

.G

om

ez’

s in

spir

ati

on

s are B

rit

ney S

pears

an

d

Janet

Jackso

n, and s

he s

ays

she w

ould

focus

more

on d

ancin

g d

urin

g h

er t

our.

Gom

ez

said

: “I

kin

d o

f m

iss

show

s w

hen i

t ju

st

use

d t

o b

e a

bout

dancin

g a

nd p

erfo

rm

ing a

s oppose

d

to h

ow

big

and e

laborate

the s

tage is.

So I

kin

d o

f w

ant

to g

et

back t

o t

hat.”

“My f

avourit

es

were B

rit

ney a

nd J

anet

Jackso

n. S

o I

kin

d o

f w

ant

to

do a

lit

tle b

it m

ore d

ancin

g, and just

make i

t about

the e

nte

rta

inm

ent

and a

bout

the s

how

and t

he s

ongs,

as

oppose

d t

o h

ow

big

the s

tage o

r

how

many e

ffects

we c

an h

ave,” s

he a

dded.

The t

our w

ill

kic

k s

tart

in V

an

couver i

n C

an

ada a

nd w

ould

en

d i

n

St

Louis

, U

S, w

ith b

rie

f st

ops

in E

urope a

nd N

orth

Am

eric

a.

Gosling g

ot

em

oti

onal fo

r scre

en s

on

Acto

r R

yan G

osl

ing c

rie

d w

atc

hin

g a

baby

bein

g b

apti

sed o

n t

he s

ets

of

his

recentl

y

rele

ase

d fi

lm,

Th

e P

lace

Beyo

nd

Th

e P

ines.

“I d

idn’t

know

that

was

goin

g t

o h

appen. I

was

just

sit

ting i

n t

he c

hurch w

atc

hin

g a

baby b

ein

g

bapti

sed, and I

don’t

know

why I

was

em

oti

onal,

but

I w

as,

” conta

ctm

usi

c.c

om

quote

d h

im a

s sa

yin

g.

“Fir

st o

f all, th

at’s

due t

o t

he f

act

that

the k

id

who p

lays

my s

on is

an infa

nt

— h

is n

am

e is

Tony

Piz

za. It

’s h

ard n

ot

to lik

e a

guy n

am

ed T

ony P

izza

. W

e r

eally h

it it

off

,” h

e a

dded.

The 3

2-y

ear-o

ld a

cto

r i

s se

en a

s a b

ad g

uy i

n

the fi

lm a

nd e

ven

got

fake t

att

oos

to m

ake h

is

characte

r look r

ealist

ic.

Jen

nif

er A

nis

ton

may h

ave p

layed a

terrib

le

manager i

n t

he 2

011

com

edy H

orr

ible

Boss

es,

but

in r

eal life

the a

cto

r t

urned-d

irecto

r/pro-

ducer s

ays

she’s

a t

ota

l p

ush

ove

r w

hen in c

harge.

Anis

ton e

xecuti

ve p

roduced t

he u

pcom

ing t

ele

-vis

ion m

ovie

Ca

ll M

e C

razy:

A F

ive F

ilm

” a c

om

pila-

tion o

f sh

ort

film

s about

menta

l illn

ess

prem

ierin

g

on A

pril 2

0 o

n L

ifeti

me.

At

the m

ovie

’s p

rem

iere in L

os

Angele

s, A

nis

ton

adm

itte

d s

he’s

a h

ard-w

ork

ing, no-n

onse

nse

boss

w

ho loves

seein

g a

film

com

e t

ogeth

er f

rom

the g

round u

p.

Though a

udie

nces

are u

sed t

o w

atc

hin

g t

he F

rien

ds

actr

ess

in

big

budget

blo

ckbust

ers,

Anis

ton fi

nds

pass

ion in p

roje

cts

lik

e C

all

Me C

razy

most

fulfi

llin

g.

“These

are t

he t

hin

gs

you w

ake u

p e

xcit

ed a

bout,”

she s

aid

.T

he fi

lm’s

sta

r-s

tudded c

ast

and d

irecto

rs

inclu

de J

ennif

er H

udso

n,

Meliss

a L

eo a

nd A

shle

y J

udd.

Styl

ish

Obliv

ion

mes

mer

ises

Bollyw

ood im

pro

vin

g f

or

wom

en: K

are

ena K

apoor

Bollyw

ood sta

r K

areen

a K

apoor says th

e

portr

ayal

of

wom

en

in

In

dia

n c

inem

a i

s chan

gin

g,

an

d fi

lm d

irecto

rs

are i

ncreas-

ingly

creati

ng m

ore m

eanin

gfu

l role

s fo

r t

hem

.K

apoor s

ays

Bollyw

ood h

as

begun

portr

ayin

g

wom

en in a

more p

osi

tive m

anner.

Wom

en’s

“role

s are b

ein

g w

rit

ten b

y n

ew

and y

oung d

irecto

rs

and

they a

re s

how

ing t

hat

we a

re n

ot

just

obje

cts

of

desi

re,” s

he s

aid

.F

or t

he m

ost

part,

wom

en lead s

ubse

rvie

nt

lives

in I

ndia

, and B

ollyw

ood’s

portr

ayal of w

om

en is

no

dif

ferent.

In m

ost

India

n fi

lms,

the f

em

ale

lead’s

jo

b is

to p

out

and m

ake t

he m

ale

prota

gonis

t lo

ok

good.

Kapoor w

as

speakin

g o

n N

ew

Delh

i T

ele

vis

ion

chan

nel

on

Mon

day

aft

er r

eceiv

ing N

DT

V’s

En

tert

ain

er

of

the D

eca

de a

ward. S

he h

as

acte

d

in m

ore t

han 5

0 fi

lms

since join

ing t

he fi

lm indust

ry in 2

000.

If I

take r

um

our

seri

ously

, I’

d b

e in

menta

l asylu

m: K

alk

i

Rum

ours

can

’t b

e t

aken

serio

usl

y o

r t

hey w

ould

driv

e a

perso

n

crazy

, fe

els

Kalk

i K

oechlin.

She r

ubbis

hed r

eports

that

she h

ad s

tayed o

ut

of

prom

oti

onal

acti

vit

y for E

k T

hi D

aa

yan b

ecause

of her c

o-s

tar H

um

a Q

uresh

i, w

ho w

as

allegedly

havin

g a

n a

ffair

wit

h h

er fi

lm-m

aker h

usb

and A

nurag K

ash

yap.

“I d

on’t

underst

and t

hese

rum

ours.

I h

ave b

een s

hooti

ng f

or m

y fi

lm.

I had a

n inte

nse

schedule

, so

I c

ould

n’t

join

them

(E

k T

hi

Da

aya

n t

eam

) fo

r t

he p

rom

oti

ons.

For t

he last

12 d

ays,

I h

ave b

een p

rom

oti

ng n

on-s

top

for t

he fi

lm w

ith H

um

a a

nd E

mraan H

ash

mi,”

Kalk

i sa

id.

“As

a p

erso

n, if

I t

ake e

very r

um

our s

erio

usl

y, I

would

be in a

menta

l asy

lum

. I

just

have t

o ignore it

and m

ove o

n,” s

he a

dded.

Kash

yap i

ntr

oduced K

alk

i to

Bollyw

ood w

ith h

is s

uccess

ful

film

Dev

D a

nd late

r t

he t

wo d

ate

d e

ach o

ther a

nd t

heir

love s

tory c

ulm

inate

d in

marria

ge in 2

011

.K

alk

i sa

ys

they a

re v

ery h

appy t

ogeth

er.

“It’s

great.

We b

oth

are g

ett

ing v

ery,

very b

usy

. W

e h

ave t

o fi

nd t

ime

to s

pend w

ith e

ach o

ther.

We a

re v

ery h

appy w

ith e

ach o

ther a

nd b

oth

of

us

love o

ur jobs,

” sh

e s

aid

.D

irecte

d b

y K

annan I

yer,

Ek

Th

i D

aa

yan, w

hic

h a

lso featu

res

Konkona

Sen S

harm

a, is

sla

ted f

or a

n A

pril 1

8 r

ele

ase

.

I get

paid

so m

uch, I

laugh, says

Arc

hana P

ura

n S

ingh

Actr

ess

Archana P

uran S

ingh, w

ho h

as

been judgin

g C

om

ed

y C

ircu

s fo

r s

ix y

ears,

says

she e

njo

ys

it b

ecause

it

is a

“very w

ell-p

aid

job”

and s

he is

“laughin

g a

ll t

he w

ay t

o t

he b

ag”.

“I g

et

paid

so m

uch t

hat,

of

course

, I

will la

ugh. I

am

laughin

g a

ll t

he

way t

o t

he b

ag. It

’s a

very w

ell-p

aid

job, th

e r

em

unerati

on is

fabulo

us.

It’s

my job, I

have t

o l

augh,” s

aid

Archana, w

ho h

as

been c

row

ned L

au

gh

ter

Qu

een p

ost

her s

tint

as

a judge o

n t

he s

how

.S

he s

ays

one g

ets

“m

ore m

oney”

for b

ein

g a

judge a

nd, “I

would

say

the m

oney is

not

unju

stifi

ed”.

The a

ctr

ess

, w

ho w

as

seen p

layin

g v

ario

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SCIENCEPLUS | THURSDAY 18 APRIL 201310

© GRAPHIC NEWSSources: The Double Helix by James Watson, Nature, Life Technologies Pictures: Associated Press, National Library of Medicine

Human cell: Nucleus of every cell contains46 chromosomes, 23 from each parent

Genome: DNA ismade of chemical basesA, C, G and T. Each Abase bonds with T baseand each G base with C

Genetic code: Order ofnucleotides within gene isinheritable instructions neededto make protein molecules

Some proteins are buildingmaterials of cells – skin,heart, blood – whileothers control biologicalprocesses such asdigesting food or carryingoxygen in blood

Mutations: Alterationsto sequence of code canresult in proteins withincorrect form and shape.Scientists have identifiedmore than 6,000 genedisorders which affectabout one in 200 people

Personalgenomes:New-generationsequencingtechniques mayeventually identifyrisks ofgeneticdiseasesandsuggesttherapies

Nucleus

DNA: Uncoiled molecule is so large thataverage chromosome contains 50mm of DNA

Gene

Protein

Chromosome: Each chromosome iscomprised of one tightly coiled molecule ofDNA with proteins that serve to package DNAand control its functions. DNA carries unique geneticcode that determines characteristics of each person

1869: Nuclein – nowknown as DNA ordeoxyribonucleic acid –isolated from nuclei ofwhite blood cells

1879: Chromosomesdiscovered withinnucleus of cell

1900: Building blocks ofDNA established asphosphate and sugar(deoxyribose) and four bases (nucleotides)adenine (A), cytosine (C),guanine (G), thymine (T)

1953: James Watson andFrancis Crick (clockwisefrom top left) – guidedby X-ray photographstaken by Maurice Wilkinsand Rosalind Franklin –discover double-helixstructure of DNA

1961: Marshall Nirenbergdeciphers genetic code,revealing sequence ofamino acids in proteinmolecules

1977: Walter Gilbert andFrederick Sanger devisetechniques for sequencingorder of base pairs

1990: Human GenomeProject begins with goal ofsequencing nucleotidesand mapping all genes inhuman DNA

June 2000: U.S. PresidentBill Clinton announcesthat 85% of genome hasbeen sequenced.Research now shiftsto discovering howindividual genes withinchromosomes vary

2006: Sequence of lasthuman chromosomepublished. Chromosome 1is largest with 4,316 genes,made up of some 249million base pairs

1986: Leroy Hooddevelops first high-speedautomated DNA sequencer

1933: Chromosomesshown to contain DNA

1941: “One gene-one protein”hypothesis

1944: Discoverythat DNA, notprotein, ismaterial ofinheritance

Cost persingle

genome(2001)

$95.3m

Cost pergenome(2013)

$1,000

World DNA Day on April 25 will commemorate the 60th anniversary of the publication of the structure of DNA by James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins, Rosalind Franklin and colleagues in the journal Nature in 1953. In addition, DNA Day will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the completion of the Human Genome Project. Graphic shows human cell and structure of DNA plus timeline of key moments on the road to the discovery of the double helix.

11INTERIOR DESIGN PLUS | THURSDAY 18 APRIL 2013

By Michele Lerner

Armeane M Choksi acknowledges he’s a bit of a “gadget freak” in explaining his need for an uber-connected house.

Whether he’s sitting in his second-floor home office or vacationing out of the country, Choksi can control just about every major component of his mansion in northwest Washington by touching the screen of his smartphone or tablet.

He can preset the drapes in his din-ing room, living room and the south side area of his family room to open at 4pm and close at 10am to protect his rugs and furniture from the harsh sun. While he’s in the kitchen, he can lower the screen in the basement home thea-tre and begin playing a favourite movie so that it’s ready for him when he gets there. And he can turn on, turn off or dim practically any light in the house.

“This system is completely compre-hensive and controls the front-door camera, cable TV, the Kaleidescape video-distribution system, Internet radio, satellite radio, lighting, tem-perature, the shades and security,” says Choksi, 69, who served as vice presi-dent of the World Bank before found-ing two investment firms.

“The advantage is that if I want to change the temperature, I don’t have to go running from room to room,” adds Choksi, who lives in the house with his wife, Mary. “If I have dinner, I can preset the lighting in every room and preset the music — all with one button. You can watch one TV in one room and listen to music in a second room.”

Smartphones and tablets have made luxury more convenient to those with means, but it’s not for everyone. If you’re the type of person who strug-gles with the TV remote, you may not want your entire home controlled by technology. And some over-the-top features can become outdated quickly, requiring expensive updates.

Choksi said the app-based technol-ogy is far more advanced than a similar system he previously owned. The older system, he said, was clunky, with touch screens attached to walls and compo-nents that didn’t talk to one another.

Being able to operate “online has lowered prices and made these systems more accessible,” says Tom Wells, pres-ident and founder of Integrated Media Systems in Sterling, Virginia.

Neither Choksi nor Wells would disclose the cost of the system. But experts say such technology can cost tens of thousands of dollars or more.

Wells says the new systems can do 50 percent more than they used to for 30 percent of the cost. “Now every-one can start with a Web-based device instead of needing to install a special touch panel. That brings down the cost tremendously.”

Although this technology may seem frivolous, it has some practical applications.

For example, when Joseph Pigg needed to let a plumber into his beach house in Delaware while he was at work in Washington, he pulled out his iPhone to shut off his alarm system. When he’s at the beach and his dogs need walking in the city, he can use the same app to handle security at his Washington home and let in a pet sitter.

Pigg installed SimpliSafe, a wireless home-security system with motion sensors on the doors and windows. He gets a text message when they’re opened.

“The ability to use my phone to con-trol everything remotely is what really sold me on the system,” Pigg says.

Joshua Baker, founder and co-owner of Bowa, a luxury-home renovation and remodelling company in McLean, Virgnia, says handling things remotely from a tablet or smartphone is particu-larly important for people who travel frequently or have a second home.

“One client travels often and has a lot of packages delivered to her home,” Baker says. “We have a sensor set up so that if the door to her vestibule is opened, a caretaker gets an e-mail and can check by camera to see if a package has been delivered, and then go pick it up.”

Derek Goldstein, principal and chief executive of Casaplex, a technology-services company in Kensington, Maryland, says someone typically calls his company to set up TVs or a security camera and then asks what else can be automated. The answer: everything.

“You can incorporate everything into your home-automation system such as lighting, security, audio-visual equipment, energy monitoring and your HVAC, and then all the systems can speak to each other,” he says. “For instance, I can set my system so that when the security camera picks up the fact that I’m coming home, it can turn the TV on to CNN, kick on the heat and turn on the right lights to illumi-nate a path to my bedroom so I can get changed.”

Here’s a look at some of the most popular smart-home devices:

— Lighting: Baker says Bowa fre-quently installs lighting “scenes” that can control an entire house.

“Most people only have a few ways that their home is lit, so we can set up standard weekday scene, a weekend scene and an entertaining scene,” he says. “For example, if you have a ‘night’ scene, you can touch your iPad or a button on your bedroom wall that will set the TV onto the news with a 30-minute timer, turn off the interior lights throughout the house, turn on the alarm, turn on your outside security lights and set your temperature for sleeping.”

— Security: Multiple cameras allow owners to remotely monitor their homes and to allow people to enter.

Casaplex’s Goldstein says some homeowners are adding keyless entry systems; a regular key is a backup.

“If you have a maid that comes every Tuesday, you can give her a code that you activate to let her in and deactivate at all other times,” Goldstein says.

— Energy efficiency: A temperature sensor will record your preferences and learn over time how to optimise your energy use. You can also get a monthly energy-use report from the system.

“You can tie your HVAC to your mobile phone’s GPS, so that when the GPS shows that you’re four miles from home, the heat will automatically go on,” Goldstein says.

— Home monitoring: You can set sensors to check for a leak in your basement, to alert you if your plants need water and even keep an eye on your kids.

“If you have cameras or sensors and it’s time for your kids to go to sleep, you can flash the lights in their room instead of yelling at them,” Goldstein says.

— Entertainment: “Consumers want their entertainment to be tech-friendly, too, so they’re including the ability to stream video and audio serv-ices anywhere in the house,” says Wells, of Integrated Media Systems. “People

want to store their photos, music and movies on the cloud so that they can access them remotely, especially if they have a second home.”

— Appliances: “Some of the new ranges and refrigerators have a built-in ability to look up recipes and set the temperature and timer for you,” Goldstein says. “They have internal diagnostic systems that e-mail the dealer and the homeowner if servic-ing is needed.”

New appliances also have safety fea-tures that allow you to deactivate the controls and reactivate them with a smartphone, Goldstein says.

At the International Consumer Electronics Show in January, Goldstein says, he saw a prototype for wall-mounted refrigerator cubes that cool different types of food to the optimal temperature. The cubes can be connec-ted to food providers that automatica-lly deliver more chicken, for example, when poultry is running low.

With the smartphone and tablet ser-ving as the nerve center of the home, what happens if the devices are lost or stolen?

“The thought that someone would have your address and complete access to your home is pretty terrifying,” Wells says. “That’s why you need make sure all your information is encrypted and that you password-protect your devices.”

In addition, most devices can be wiped clean remotely if you report it as stolen. Goldstein says his company installs one or two hard-wired con-trol panels in the house as a backup to wireless systems. He says wireless networks sometimes get congested, which can cause problems with home-automation systems.

“Before you jump into adding high-tech features to your home, you need to make sure you know what you’re asking for,” Baker says. “There’s a fine line between control and automation, so you want to make sure whatever it is, that it actually makes your life easier.”

WP-Bloomberg

The remote-controlled ‘smart house’

TV and music in Choksi’s living room, and elsewhere, can be pro-grammed wirelessly.

Choksi, 69, holds an iPad he uses to control devices in the home.

TECHNOLOGYPLUS | THURSDAY 18 APRIL 201312

By Reed Stevenson

Techies are trumpeting a so-called virtual currency called Bitcoin that behaves in some ways like traditional curren-

cies. Financial experts are debating its regulatory pitfalls and volatility, high-lighted by a tumble in valuation this month that brought the digital money to the world’s attention.

Meanwhile, many of us still don’t understand what Bitcoin is. Bloomberg.com answers the question in its Tech Deals blog.

What is Bitcoin?It’s similar to the US dollar, the euro

or the Mexican peso — except that it isn’t controlled by any country; you can’t hold one; and you can’t buy many things with it right now. Some tech-savvy companies — notably blogging-tool maker WordPress — are starting to accept payments in Bitcoin.

While some enthusiasts have issued bills and coins that serve as physical proxies for the currency, Bitcoin was designed to be purely digital. You can’t go to an ATM and take out a Bitcoin, or put one in a cash register. Bitcoins live in online wallets, which are accessed via a computer. It’s more like an MP3 than a CD.

Who created Bitcoin?The identity of those responsible for

inventing Bitcoin remains a mystery. A programmer or group of programmers going by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto published the original specifications for it. While Bitcoin has been around since 2009, it started as an obscure project that computer hobbyists experimented with.

How do you find Bitcoins?There are currently just over 11 mil-

lion Bitcoins, and there is a total of 21 million to be unearthed by the year 2140. In theory, anyone with a com-puter could “mine” Bitcoins through an automated mathematical proc-ess. You can unlock more of them if you discover a hidden series of letters and numbers that matches up with

the Bitcoin security keys specified by Nakamoto.

Programmers have written software, which can run in the background on PCs, to rapidly check possible combi-nations of letters and numbers one by one in the hopes of stumbling on an unclaimed Bitcoin. If you’re planning to get rich by running one of these types of programs on your MacBook, don’t bet on it. All of the easy ones have been found. Now, high-powered computer systems are needed.

The format, where it becomes more difficult and expensive in terms of computing power to discover Bitcoins over time, was designed to keep the currency’s growth rate — or inflation — steady and predictable.

Is it true they have been used to buy drugs and other illegal items?

Bitcoin transactions are not eas-ily traceable. That means holders can trade them or use them to purchase things online anonymously. As a result, Bitcoin has been used on Internet black markets such as Silk Road to buy illicit items including drugs. Iranians have used Bitcoins to get around financial restrictions imposed by the US, and there’s a thriving online market where drugs are traded online.

What is a Bitcoin worth?Bitcoins now have a market value

of about $1.04bn based on supply and exchange rates, according to Bitcoincharts.

There’s no control over how people value Bitcoin against their own cur-rencies. That, and a recent self-feeding cycle of public curiosity, explain how the value of Bitcoin in dollar terms has soared to more than $200 from mere cents at its inception. In the past week, the value has slumped to as low as $84 from as high as $266, according to Tokyo-based Mt. Gox, the largest Bitcoin exchange.

Why is it so volatile?It stems mainly from the lack of

liquidity and a central monetary authority to make sure supply and demand are balanced. That, plus the absence of any large exchanges where buyers and sellers can find each other, makes Bitcoin vulnerable to manipula-tion or speculation.

Where do I buy some?There are several upstart websites

that act as Bitcoin exchanges, such as BTC-e and Tradehill. Mt. Gox has halted trading periodically since April 11, citing difficulties with serving the high trading demand and cyberattacks on its system. The temporary closing also happened to come shortly after the crash in Bitcoin’s value.

WP-Bloomberg

LOOKAWAY PLAYER (FREE)This is as much a technical demo

as a stand-alone app – not a criti-cism. It’s a player for YouTube vid-eos that pauses them if you look away from the screen, and mutes or unmutes the volume when you put your finger to your lips. A hint at possible user interfaces for future entertainment apps. iPhone / iPad

HOMESTYLER (FREE)This is Autodesk’s latest iPad app,

aimed at homeowners who are plan-ning a spot of home improvement. The idea: “Watch your home design ideas come to life within a photo-graph of your own space.” You take a photo of a room, then can change the wall colours, insert 3D models of fur-niture, and browse the app’s “Design Stream” for more inspiration. iPad

STATUS BOARD (£6.99)“You’ve got data. Status Board

makes it beautiful,” explains the App Store listing for this stylish produc-tivity app. It pulls in emails, diary dates, tweets, weather forecasts, news and other information and displays it on a customisable home-screen: useful if you tend to work at a desk with your iPad somewhere nearby – particularly in a dock. iPad

MAIL PILOT (£10.49)There is no shortage of apps try-

ing to help solve email overload, and while this one’s expensive it has some good ideas. The key principle is turn-ing your inbox into a to-do list, with due dates for dealing with specific emails. Lists, gesture controls and an ability to work with all IMAP provid-ers rather than just Gmail make it worth a look. iPhone / iPad

POCKET VILLAGE (FREE)Social games publisher Wooga has

been making waves on Facebook for some time. Pocket Village is its lat-est game, and as the name implies, involves building a village full of “Pocketeers” characters. In-app pur-chases of diamonds and coins fuel the action. iPhone / iPad

The Guardian

Apps of the dayExplaining Bitcoin to neophytes

By Joseph Menn

Oracle Corp released a major security update on Tuesday for the version of Java program-ming language that runs inside Web brows-

ers to make it a less popular target for hackers.The patch fixes 42 vulnerabilities within Java,

including “the vast majority” of those that have been rated as the most critical, said Oracle Executive Vice President Hasan Rizvi.

A series of big security flaws in the Java plug-in for browsers have been uncovered in the past year by researchers and hackers, and some have been used by criminal groups before previous patches were issued.

One widespread hacking campaign disclosed this year infected computers using Microsoft Corp’s Windows and Apple software in hundreds of com-panies, including Facebook, Apple Inc and Twitter.

The situation grew so bad earlier this year that the US Department of Homeland Security recom-mended that computer users disable Java in the browser. But many large companies use internal software that relies on Java and have been pressing Oracle to make the language safer.

Perhaps the most significant change will be that, in the default setting, sites will not be able to force the small programs known as Java applets to run in the browser unless they have been digitally

signed. Users can override that only if they click to acknowledge the risk, Rizvi said.

Not all known problems are being fixed with the current patch, but there are no unpatched problems that are being actively exploited, Rizvi said.

Primarily a database software and applications company, Oracle inherited Java when it bought Sun Microsystems in 2010.

It is the company’s greatest exposure to the mass market, as versions of Java run on desktops, in telephones and other devices and on servers. The browser version, however, has been especially prone to security problems.

Reuters

Oracle fixes 42 holes in Java to revive security confidence

COMICS & MORE 13

Hoy en la HistoriaApril 18, 1906

1949: The Republic of Ireland Act came into force, ending the constitutional role of the British monarchy in the state1983: A suicide car bombing at the U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killed over 60 people2002: The U.S. Senate rejected President George W Bush’s plan to allow drilling for oil in Alaska2002: Afghanistan’s former king, Mohammed Zahir Shah, returned to Kabul after 29 years in exile

A devastating earthquake struck San Francisco. Over 3,000 died and 200,000 were left homeless in one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history

Picture: Getty Images © GRAPHIC NEWS

ALL IN THE MIND Can you find the hidden words? They may be horizontal,vertical, diagonal, forwards or backwards.

ALEXANDR DOLGOPOLOV, ANDY MURRAY, DAVID FERRER, FELICIANO LOPEZ, FERNANDO VERDASCO, GAEL MONFILS, GILLES SIMON, JANKO TIPSAREVIC, JOHN ISNER, JO-WILFRIED TSONGA, JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO, JUAN MONACO, KEI NISHIKORI, MARDY FISH, NICOLAS ALMAGRO, NOVAK DJOKOVIC, RAFAEL NADAL, ROGER FEDERER, STANISLAS WAWRINKA, TOMAS BERDYCH.

Baby Blues Jerry Scott and Rick Kirkman

Zits by Dennis Young and Denis Lebrun

Hagar The Horrible Chris Browne

LEARNARABIC

How to Conjugate Verbs in the Present Tense:

Examples:

Ana Adrusu I study

Anta Tadrusu You study

Anti Tadruseena She studies

Howa Yadrusu He studies

Hiy ’ya Tadrusu She studies

PLUS | THURSDAY 18 APRIL 2013

PLUS | THURSDAY 18 APRIL 2013

HYPER SUDOKU

CROSSWORD

CROSSWORDS

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER

How to play Hyper Sudoku:A Hyper Sudoku

Puzzle is solved

by filling the

numbers from 1

to 9 into the blank

cells. A Hyper

Sudoku has

unlike Sudoku

13 regions

(four regions

overlap with the

nine standard

regions). In all

regions the numbers from 1 to 9 can appear

only once. Otherwise, a Hyper Sudoku is

solved like a normal Sudoku.

ACROSS 1 Finery

8 Key for someone with 20/20 vision?

14 Audit targets

15 Concluding syllables

16 Take at an opportune time

17 Grooms

18 Modern chemistry experiment?

20 End of a dictionary

21 “The Scarperer” author

22 “Ciao”

24 “The cautious seldom ___”: Confucius

25 Teary

27 ___ Fields

28 Winter ailment, informally

29 Get dressed for a party, say

31 52-Down unit

34 One who’s blue, for short?

36 Poison ivy and others

37 Herb that causes euphoria

39 2022 World Cup host

41 Threshold

42 Raw

44 Lead character in Larry McMurtry’s “Lonesome Dove”

47 Many a “Twilight” fan

49 Stick for a kite

50 Bankrupted

51 It might be covered by an umbrella

54 “Aladdin” princess

55 Remove spots from

56 Compass divisions

57 Most slapstick

58 Showcases of rock bands?

59 Ones who are hurting?

DOWN 1 Blow up, maybe

2 Fix for a wobbly table

3 Boot cover

4 Carving tools

5 A wolf may have one

6 Part of a jail cell

7 Prescription directive

8 Swept, say

9 Yards, e.g.

10 Command associated with numbers

11 “Couldn’t agree with you more”

12 Seemed right

13 They go below signatures,

briefly

15 Oct. 24

19 “Moby-Dick” setting

23 Lethal injection administerers

25 Hinged vessel, often

26 2001 British Open champion David

28 Britain’s biggest-selling paper, with “The”

30 Certain board member: Abbr.

31 “Home Invasion” rapper

32 Avoid

humiliation

33 Points in the direction of

35 First jazz musician to win a Pulitzer Prize

38 Raises

40 “Eugene Onegin” girl

43 Conditions, with “up”

44 Museum employees

45 Revolutionary state

46 Christmas tree base coverings

48 One who’s really going places

50 Like the majority of Saudis

52 Informal pub

53 Brown green?

54 Prod

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15

16 17

18 19

20 21 22 23

24 25 26 27

28 29 30

31 32 33 34 35 36

37 38 39 40

41 42 43 44 45 46

47 48 49 50

51 52 53

54 55

56 57

58 59

A T O M H O N O R S L U ML O G E A R E N A C O R EB I R M I N G H A M A S I SA L E P P O I N A F L A S H

H A I R L I E NH A S I D I O N O R G A NA L A S S A M O A N E M OB A N A T L A N T A L O OI M A A N T H E M D E C KT O N E R O A T B E S O S

T R O T S A L TD O O R N A I L S U R G E SE D N A C R O S S R O A D SJ O I N K O R E A I B E TA R O D S N E A D T E N S

How to play Kakuro:The kakuro grid, unlike in sudoku, can be of any size. It has rows and columns, and dark cells like in a crossword. And, just like in a crossword, some of the dark cells will contain numbers. Some cells will contain two numbers.However, in a crossword the numbers reference clues. In a kakuro, the numbers are all you get! They denote the total of the digits in the row or column referenced by the number.Within each collection of cells - called a run

- any of the numbers 1 to 9 may be used but, like sudoku, each number may only be used once.

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER

14

EASY SUDOKUEasy Sudoku PuzzlesPlace a digit from 1 to 9 in each empty cell so everyrow, every column and every 3x3 box contains allthe digits 1 to 9.

Cartoon Arts International / The New York Times Syndicate

CINEMA / TV LISTINGS 15

14:00 English Sports

News

14:30 Copa

Libertadores

Sao Paolo V Atl

Mineiras

16:15 Fa Cup Millwall

V Wigan

18:00 English Sports

News

18:30 French Cup

Evian V Psg

20:15 German Cup

Stuttgart V

Freiburg

22:00 Total Italian

Football

22:30 Rugby Aviva

Premiership

Leicester V Wasps

00:15 German Cup

Bayern Munich

V Wolfsburg

02:00 Copa Libertado-

res Sao Paolo V

Atl Mineiras

08:00 News

09:00 The Secret

of the Seven

Sisters

10:30 Inside Story

11:00 News

11:30 The Stream

12:00 News

12:30 People &

Power

13:00 NEWSHOUR

14:00 News

14:30 Inside Story

15:00 Witness

16:00 NEWSHOUR

17:30 The Stream

18:00 NEWSHOUR

19:30 Witness

20:00 News

20:30 Inside Story

21:00 NEWSHOUR

22:00 News

22:30 The Stream

23:00 The Secret

of the Seven

Sisters

13:15 Magic Of

Science

13:40 Mythbusters

14:35 Border Security

15:05 Auction

Hunters

17:50 Mythbusters

18:45 Sons Of Guns

21:00 Baggage

Battles

21:30 Sons Of Guns

22:25 Mobster

Confessions

22:50 Mobster

Confessions

13:00 Monster Fish

14:00 Python

Hunters

16:00 Man-Eater of

The Congo

18:00 Hunter Hunted

19:00 Monster Fish

21:00 World’s Deadliest

Snakes

22:00 Man-Eater of

The Congo

23:00 Man v.

Monster

13:20 Jessie

13:45 A.N.T Farm

17:00 Austin And Ally

19:35 Good Luck

Charlie

20:00 Jessie

21:40 Hannah

Montana

22:30 Sonny With A

Chance

22:55 Wizards Of

Waverly Place

12:00 Hop

14:00 Arthur

18:00 Decoy Bride

20:00 The Goods:

Live Hard, Sell

Hard-18

22:00 Detroit Rock

City

13:45 Animal Precinct

15:30 Orangutan

Island

16:00 The Really Wild

Show

17:25 Animal

Planet’s Most

Outrageous

18:20 Project Puppy

19:15 Monkey Life

21:05 Wildest Latin

America

22:00 Into The Pride

22:55 Untamed China

With Nigel

11:35 Ned Kelly

13:15 Scalphunters

14:55 Carry On

Columbus

16:20 The Way West

18:20 A Star For Two

19:55 Pope Of

Greenwich

Village

22:00 A Dog’s

Breakfast

23:25 Johnny Be

Good

12:35 Cimarron

15:00 Bad Day At

Black Rock

16:20 Beau Brummell

18:10 Cat On A Hot

Tin Roof

20:00 Somebody Up

There Likes Me

22:00 Flareup

23:35 Splendor In

The Grass

14:45 Flicka: Country

Pride

16:45 Queen Of The

Swallows

20:00 The Adventures

Of Tintin

22:00 Princess Sydney:

Legend Of The

Blue Rabbit

TEL: 444933989 444517001

MALL CINEMA

1

Snow White & The Huntsman (Action) – 3.00, 7.15 & 11.15pm

Beat The World (Drama) – 5.15pm

Love Wedding Marriage (2D/Comedy) – 9.30pm

2

Croods (3D/Animation) – 2.30pm

Foodfight (2D/Animation) – 4.30 & 6.30pm

The Host (2D/Action) – 8.30pm

Ek Thi Daayan (2D/Hindi) – 11.00pm

3

Kontiki (2D/Adventure) – 2.30pm

The Haunting In Connecticut 2 (2D/Horror) – 5.00pm

Udhayam (2D/Tamil) – 7.00pm

Fire With Fire (2D/Action) – 9.30 & 11.30pm

LANDMARK

1

Kontiki (2D/Adventure) – 2.30pm

Foodfight (2D/Animation) – 5.00 & 7.00pm

Fire With Fire (2D/Action) – 9.00pm

Udhayam (2D/Tamil) – 11.00pm

2

Croods (3D/Animation) – 2.30pm

The Haunting In Connecticut 2 (2D/Horror) – 4.30pmThe Host (2D/Action)

– 6.30 & 9.00pmDetective Dee (2D/Action) –

11.15pm

3

The Haunting In Connecticut 2 (2D/Horror) – 2.30pm

Udhayam (2D/Tamil) – 4.30pm

Defective Dee (2D/Action) – 6.45pm

Ek Thi Daayan (2D/Hindi) – 9.00pm

Fire With Fire (2D/Action) – 11.30pm

ROYAL PLAZA

1

Croods (3D/Animation) – 2.30pm

Foodfight (2D/Animation) – 4.30pm

The Host (2D/Action) – 6.30pm

Fire With Fire (2D/Action) – 9.00pm

The Haunting In Connecticut 2 (2D/Horror) – 11.00pm

2

Rise Of The Guardians (Animation) – 3.00pm

Brave (Animation) – 5.00pm

Love Wedding Marriage (2D/Comedy) – 7.00pmDevil’s Double (Action)

– 9.00 & 11.00pm

3

Jack Reacher (Action) – 3.00 & 5.30pm

The Bourne Legacy (Adventure) – 8.00 & 11.00pm

QF RADIO 91.7 FM ENGLISH PROGRAMME BRIEF LIVE SHOWS Airing Time Programme Briefs

SPIRITUAL HOUR

6:00 – 7:00 AM A time of reflection, a deeper understanding of the teachings of Islam.

MORNING SHOW “RISE”

7:00 – 9:00 AM Rise, a LIVE 2-hour morning show hosted and produced by Scott Boyes.

INTERNATIO-NAL NEWS

1:00 PM The latest news and events from around the world.

CORNERS 6:00 – 7:00 PM Corners, a LIVE 1-hour show that airs Tuesdays and Thursdays presented by Laura Finnerty and Nabil Al Nashar. I Love Qatar chats with Laura about upcoming events this weekend and the top events for the week ahead. Join the conversation call 4482 4488

REPEAT SHOWS

FASHION 4:00 – 5:00 PM Fashion is a 1-hour weekly show hosted and produced by Laura Finnerty.

LEGENDARY ARTISTS

8:00 – 9:00 PM The show tells the story of a celebrity artist that has reached unprecedented fame. Throughout the episode the artists’ memorable performances/songs will be played to put listeners in the mood.

STRAIGHT TALK

10:00 – 11:00 PM A weekly 1-hour Political show produced and hosted by Nabil Al Nashar.

PLUS | THURSDAY 18 APRIL 2013

PLUS | THURSDAY 18 APRIL 2013 POTPOURRI16

Editor-In-Chief Khalid Al Sayed Acting Managing Editor Hussain Ahmad Editorial Office The Peninsula Tel: 4455 7741, E-mail: plus@pen.com.qa / editor@pen.com.qa

If you want your events featured here, mail details to plus@pen.com.qa

Hey’Ya: Arab Women in Sport When: March 7-Jun 16 Monday–Thursday, Saturday: 9am-8pmFriday; 3pm-9pm (Sunday closed)Where: QMA Gallery, Bldg 10 What: The Qatar Museums Authority will exhibit ‘Hey’Ya: Arab Women in Sport’ at QMA Gallery in Katara Cultural Village. The exhibition was first held in London during the 2012 Olympic Games. The exhibit originated in Qatar, beginning at the Arab Games’ Athletes Village in December 2011, where photographer Brigitte and documentary maker Marian Lacombe set up an outdoor studio, working with female athletes. They then travelled to 20 Arab countries from the Gulf to North Africa, documenting images and videos of 70 Arab sportswomen. Free entry

‘Paper Trail’ works from the Collection of the Barjeel Art FoundationWhen: Until April 20; 10am-10pmWhere: Katara Cultural Village, Bldg 22

What: A curated exhibition by Barjeel Art Foundation featuring selected works from the collection of Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi. The exhibition interrogates ideas of what is ‘real’ in ways that highlight how histories are guided by carefully selected narratives that apply meaning to what we see and hear.There will be an extensive educational programme and visiting artists talks complementing the exhibition. Free entry

Designed To WinWhen: Until June 23; 10am-10pm Where: Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art What: Katara Exhibition in Collaboration with the Design Museum in London.Designed to Win celebrates ways in which design and sport are combined, pushing the limits of human endeavour to achieve records and victories of increasing significance and wonder. There will be an extensive educational programme and visiting artists’ talks complementing the expo.

A Bridge to the MoonWhen: Until April 27; 10am-10pmWhere: Katara Gallery 2 — Bldg 18 What: Amal Al Aathem is one of the most prominent and proactive Qatari artists today, her reputation as a Qatari artist with a real voice and message has won her respect internationally. Her work has been widely exhibited in the region and in different parts of the world. Al Aathem believes that old philosophies have linked the moon, nature and the woman in a symbolic way, believing that the moon is the centre of the universe and the woman is thecentre of society.

Events in Qatar MEDIA SCAN

• Qatari students in Egypt have requested the

Supreme Council of Health through social

media to reconsider its decision to scrap

the position of medical attaché in Qatar’s

embassy in Cairo and end their health

insurance.

• There are demands to review construction

standards to include norms for seismic

resistance in them.

• Citizens are suggesting that the Central

Municipal Council have closer relations with

government companies and convey people’s

opinions to these firms as a representative

body.

• A number of people have demanded that

the Traffic Department ease rules related

to tinted glasses on vehicles, taking into

consideration the climate of the country and

families with children.

• People are asking why certificates of Qataris

who have studied abroad are not granted

due recognition by the concerned body, while

expatriates with the same qualifications from

the same universities are being employed

here. They are demanding a solution to this

problem to enable Qataris to take part in their

country’s development.

• There is talk in the social media about

the resignation of the director general of

Underage Affairs Corporation.

• A number of students and parents have

complained about lessons being held prior

to examinations, which create confusion and

waste students’ time, because of which many

students prefer to skip them to prepare for

the tests.

• There is talk about the hacker who attacked

Israeli websites and is threatening to attack

Qatari government sites.

• A number of citizens are asking why

expatriates are representing Qatar in official

international events.

• A number of Qatar Red Crescent employees

have asked the government to establish a

seismological station for earlier detection of

earthquakes.

A summary ofissues of the daydiscussed by the Qatari communityin the media.

IN FOCUS

A picture of an insect drawing nectar from a flower.

by Sushma Kulkarni

Send your photos to plus@pen.com.qa. Please mention where the photo was taken.

Florida battlesslimy invasionby giant snails

South Florida is fighting a grow-ing infestation of one of the world’s most destructive inva-

sive species: the giant African land snail, which can grow as big as a rat and gnaw through stucco and plaster.

More than 1,000 of the mol-lusks are being caught each week in Miami-Dade and 117,000 in total since the first snail was spotted by a homeowner in September 2011, said Denise Feiber, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Residents will soon likely begin encountering them more often, crunching them underfoot as the snails emerge from underground hibernation at the start of the state’s rainy season in just seven weeks, Feiber said.

The snails attack “over 500 known species of plants ... pretty much anything that’s in their path and green,” Feiber said.

A typical snail can produce about 1,200 eggs a year and the creatures are a particular pest in homes because of their fondness for stucco, devoured for the calcium content they need for their shells.

Reuters