Heat index raised to 50 degree Celcius in Islamabad

Few days ago, heat index in Islamabad was raised to 50 degrees Celcius, as reported by a news item in The News, a local daily:

The severity of the heat wave that resulted in the ‘heat index’ soaring to record-breaking 50 degrees in most parts of the Punjab, including Islamabad.

So what exactly is "Heat Index"??

The heat index (HI) or humidex and carries is an index that combines air temperature and relative humidity to determine an apparent temperature — how hot it actually feels. The human body normally cools itself by perspiration, or sweating, in which the water in the sweat evaporates heat away from the body. However, when the relative humidity is high, the evaporation rate of the water is reduced. This means heat is removed from the body at a lower rate, causing it to retain more heat than it would in dry air. Measurements have been taken based on subjective descriptions of how hot subjects feel for a given temperature and humidity, allowing an index to be made which corresponds a temperature and humidity combination to a higher temperature in dry air.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_index

The Fast and The Furious

From 'Google' to just plain google

One of Google's worst fears may have been realised. The latest edition of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary includes the word "google" which means to use the well-known search engine to look for information on the web.

The entry means that in addition to being a proper noun, the word "google" - without capitalisation of the "g" - is now a common transitive verb.

In the latest publicly available filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission made available earlier this week, Google identified the key risks it faced in seeking to to maintain its dominance in the search market and preserving its revenue growth rate.

Among the risks listed by Google in its what is called the Q-10 filing was a concern that there may be a downside to too much success.

To quote Google: "We also face risks associated with our trademarks. For example, there is a risk that the word 'Google' could become so commonly used that it becomes synonymous with the word 'search'. If this happens, we could lose protection for this trademark, which could result in other people using the word 'Google' to refer to their own products, thus diminishing our brand."

Full Story

"Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V."

View of a nearby jogging trail.