DailyOh! When no sleep killed a family to why Trump is right about prophets of doom
No sleep can kill us. And we mean that literally.
Hey there,
It’s literally the middle of the working week. That, of course, applies only to people and places that have Monday to Friday as working days.
According to the International Organisation for Standardisation, Wednesday is the third day of the week. But in countries that have Friday as holiday, Wednesday is the fifth day of the week. Islamic countries, as you would know, have Friday as a holiday because it is the day for prayers.
All other days are for prayers too, but Friday is for special prayers.
Just like Sunday came to be a holiday, because for most Christians it is observed as a day of worship and rest. Why Sunday? Because it is considered the day Christ came to life after death. Easter Sunday, remember?
So, how did Sunday come to be a holiday in India when Christians are just 2.3 per cent of India’s population, that is, 3.08 crore of the 133.92 crore people that we are in total?
Thank the British! Why? Let us tell you.
Around 1883, in British India, the mill workers were slogging all seven days of the week. Obviously, they rebelled. (Aren't we too are on the verge of a semi-rebellion every Friday afternoon?) So after seven long years of a sustained struggle, on June 10, 1890, the British government declared Sunday as a holiday.
And the thought of holiday reminds us how a vacation turned into a tragedy for eight tourists from Kerala at a resort in Nepal. All eight, who were holidaying in the neighbouring country, died in their sleep. The cause of the death left us in shock.
They were choked by fumes from the kerosene heater they had kept on through the night. The windows were shut. So there was no way for the fumes to get out. These eight people were from two different families, and the Nepal holiday was a get-together of sorts for them.
This is how the horror unfolded. But do remember, the next time you feel like keeping the heater on all night because it is too cold, don't. Heaters eat up all the oxygen and moisture in the air (kerosene heaters even give out toxic fumes). So keep water in open containers and keep either the door or the window open to let the air pass when your heaters are on.
Many say passing away in your sleep in a rather painless death, but how do they know about the last-minute pain of those already dead.
And as we were thinking over this, we were reminded of another tragedy when a family in Italy died in sleep because (will you even believe it?) they couldn’t sleep?
Yes, insomnia can be killing. Insomnia, or the inability to sleep, can kill you of exhaustion. We actually rest when we sleep. When we don’t sleep, we don’t rest. When we don’t rest, we get tired. When we get tired beyond a point, we die. That happens after months of not being able to sleep. And that condition - yes, it is a condition - is called fatal familial insomnia.
But if you are fighting insomnia, here’s a tip. Fix your waking up time. Wake up every day — for a few days — at the same time, no matter how late you slept at night. This is likely to in turn fix your sleeping time. The tip, of course, can’t fix fatal familial insomnia.
Nothing can. It is incurable — as of today.
Who knows if a cure is found in the future.
But what everyone really is losing sleep over these days is the coronavirus. You must have heard of it by now.
This virus has infected hundreds since its December outbreak in China’s Wuhan. That’s the reason the virus is also being called the Wuhan virus. You know, over 1.11 crore people stay in Wuhan, so the world is scared about a quick spread of the virus. Nine people have already died of it.
Why is the coronavirus so scary? To begin with, because it is reminding people of the SARS virus.
Yes, you got it right, SARS is the same virus that killed nearly 650 people across China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003. Coronavirus is basically believed to be a cousin of SARS.
China had actually hidden how huge the SARS problem got. So the world is now afraid that China could once again hide data related to the Wuhan virus.
So how does the Wuhan virus kill? Basically, it causes pneumonia in the infected person. Now, pneumonia doesn’t kill, you’d say.
Yes, it doesn’t, if you are given the right medication. But when a person is infected by the Wuhan virus, she suffers pneumonia but antibiotics don’t help.
Both SARS and coronavirus are zoonotic.
But what on Earth is zoonotic? Don’t lose it, we will tell you that.
Zoonosis is an infectious disease caused by bacteria, viruses and parasites that spread from animals to humans. And zoonosis is our Word of the Day. The word originates from Greek zoon (meaning animal - the same word root as Zoology and, yes, zoo, where you go to see animals) and nosos (which means sickness). Before you start to think that only animals transfer diseases to humans, let us tell you, we, as in we humans, too transfer diseases to animals. That process is called reverse zoonosis.
Talking of viruses, have you heard of “ILOVEYOU”?
Not someone saying that to you. That you must have heard. (If you haven't, Valentine's Day is just round the corner.)
But here we are talking about the computer virus ILOVEYOU. It was a computer worm that infected over 10 million Windows personal computers on and after May 5, 2000.
The world, however, survived it all — SARS and ILOVEYOU. We are likely to survive the Wuhan virus too. And if you believe in Donald Trump, you will know that he believes the world would even survive climate change. Trump believes those constantly crying climate change, are ‘prophets of doom’.
Who are these prophets of doom? If you don't have a dictionary handy (or are too tied up to Google the phrase), here's some help. Prophets of doom are pessimistic people who always keep thinking bad things are either happening or are about to happen.
The phrase finds its origin in some of the prophets’ most used words about the days of God's wrath approaching. Like Judgment Day, when we will all be held accountable for all that we do, also all that we do not do.
And that will be punishment day.
That day has been coming since the beginning of time. It probably would still be coming after we've been through the end of time.
This wrath of God is a unifying factor across all religious texts. We are constantly told that Gods will get angry with this or with that. Now, that has no scientific basis.
Let us give you an example. There is this prophet mentioned in Old Testament, Prophet Zephaniah. He said the day of God’s wrath is close – and getting closer.
During Zephaniah’s times, old empires were crumbling, economy going through a recession-like situation, and people were killing people. Yes, we know what you're thinking: the same things that are happening even now. The same kind of things that have always been happening.
So, prophets of doom never told us we are living through the doom. They always said doom is on its way. So, for us, it is still on its way while it is already here and we're doing a manageable job at surviving it.
Trumps thinks he — also us — is being fooled into believing that climate change is on its way. It would help if he realises that it’s already here. Well, if not, then there's always a Thunberg Stinkeye to take care of the situation.
Climate scientists say even if we (Trump and the rest of the world) do everything that needs to be done to save the world, islands would still sink, forest fires would still happen, and droughts and deluges would still hit us.
Because enough damage has been done to the world while we're avoiding Doomsday.
So, hum karen to karen kya aur bolein to bolein kya?
For now, leave Trump to America and listen to this.
Even as America is dealing with Trump, India is left to deal with Nithyananda. And now, India wants Interpol too to deal with him (because should they not have a share of the pie) with a blue-corner notice.
Oh! But we must first tell you who he is. Nithyananda is a rape accused 'godman' who fled the country after charges were framed against him. Where did he go? He bought an island near Ecuador and set up his own nation there, calling it Kailaasa. It's even got a passport and flag and all.
But Indian agencies are unable to locate him. This blue-corner notice will help us know which corner of the world he is hiding in. But if you want to know how a blue-corner notice is different from a red-corner notice, read this.
Coming back to the hunt for Nithyananda - you, of course, must have come across some video or the other where he is giving out sermons from undisclosed locations in foreign lands, no?
This ‘owner of a country’ in one such video that emerged in June said, if he had his way, he would remove all non-vegetarian lifestyle from the face of Earth. As India and Interpol try to locate him in various corners of the the world, watch this:
Bye for now. You have a day to let his words sink in.
We will be back tomorrow.