Writer and Geek Show

Auto Shankar is the nickname of an Indian serial killer Gowri Shankar. Shankar and his gang were found guilty of six murders, committed over a period of two years in 1988–1989. Name: Gowri Shankar Known as: Auto Shankar DOB: January 21, 1954, Place: Kangeyanallur village, Vellore Number of victims: 6 Cause of death: Hanging Death: April 27, 1995 Crime Spree: 1988-1989 unsplash-logo Fancycrave

This week, we talk about the delicious chocolate

Chocolate Chocolate is a magic stuff made of roasted ground cocoa seeds. One of the most popular dessert ingredients. Needs no introduction, of course, chocolate can be used in a solid, liquid (choco syrup) and in many other forms. The word chocolate comes from the Nahuatl word chocolātl. Nahuatl was spoken in the valley of Mexico during the Spanish conquest of Aztec in the 16th century. Chocolate has been very popular in desserts and other forms of food and African countries are leading producers of cocoa even though it originated in the Americas. Western Africa produces about two-thirds of the world’s cocoa and Ivory coast produces about half of it. Types of chocolate: Dark chocolate: Dark chocolate is a mixture of cocoa, fat and sugar. More the amount of cocoa, more bitter the chocolate. Unsweetened chocolate: This is unsweetened chocolate liquor called bitter or baking chocolate. It’s pure ground cocoa. Milk chocolate: Milk chocolate either contains milk powder of condensed milk with a minimum of 20-25% of cocoa depending on the country. White chocolate: White chocolate contains cocoa butter, milk and sugar and no cocoa solids, that differentiates it from milk chocolates. History In the early history of chocolate (around 4000 years), chocolate was mostly used as a bitter beverage. Evidence has been found that chocolate was cultivated in present-day Mexico around 1900 B.C. Also believed to be fermented and consumed an alcoholic beverage around 1400 B.C. Christopher Columbus came across cocoa beans during his fourth mission to Americas when his crew seized a native canoe filled with cocoa. Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés came across chocolate in its true form in the court of Montezuma, who was the ruler of Tenochtitlan, capital of Aztec. The cocoa beverage was served in the gold cups and supposedly gave them power over women. The drink was said to be frothy with a very unpleasant taste but was highly esteemed by the natives. Chocolate made its way into Europe following the Spanish conquest of Aztec. It was used initially as medicine to treat abdominal pain and later sugar or honey was added to make it into a sweetened beverage and was served in the court. In the next century, chocolate became a favourite in Europe. Chocolate cultivation saw a rise and resulted in an increase in the slave trade. The Chocolaterie Lombart, was the first chocolate company established in 1760 in France. Industrial revolution accelerated the production of Cocoa. Coenraad van Houten, a Dutch chemist, added alkaline salts to chocolate which helped in reducing its bitterness. In 1828, he devieda method to remove much of the cacao butter from chocolate liquor which made production cheaper and gave more consistency to chocolate. This cocoa called Dutch cocoa also helped in creating chocolate in solid form in 1847 when Joseph Fry added melted cacao butter back to chocolate to make it mouldable. In mid 1875, Daniel Peter, a Swiss chocolatier, invented milk chocolate by adding powdered chocolate back to the liquor. Powdered milk used in this process was invented by Henri Nestlé, founder of Nestlé. They later created the Nestlé company. The conching machine, a surface scraping mixer and agitator was invented in the year 1879 by Rudolf Lindt, a Swiss chocolate manufacturer, which further improved the quality of the chocolate by giving is a smooth melt-in-mouth consistency. In England, Cadbury had started manufacturing boxed chocolates in 1868. During the World Columbian Exposition at Chicago held in 1893, Milton S. Hershey, American chocolatier and philanthropist purchased the chocolate processing equipment and started Hershey’s. Preparation Chocolate is made from cocoa beans. There are about 40 cocoa beans in a cocoa fruit. These beans are dried and fermented. The tree is called Cacao. Three main varieties are Criollo, Forastero and Trinitario. Criollo is the rarest of the three and is native to Central America, Carribean and Northern part of South America. They are difficult to grow and provide very low yield. Forastero is the most commonly grown version and commonly found in Amazon basin and Africa. They have a more chocolaty flavour which lasts for a shorter amount of time. Trinitario is a hybrid of Criollo and Forastero which originated in Trinidad. Process: Cacao pods are removed from the tree and the beans with pulp are removed and placed in bins to enable fermentation. The fermentation takes up to a week and results in the chocolate flavour. Pods are harvested when they are ripe or the cocoa content would be less. Dried beans are transferred to a facility where the shell is removed to extract the nib. The nib is then ground and liquefied to chocolate in purest form as chocolate liquor. Cocoa solids and cocoa butter can be extracted from this liquor. Conching: Conching is processed by which the texture of the chocolate is smoothened. Chonche is a container which contains metal beads that act as grinders. The frictional heat keeps the chocolate in liquid form. High quality chocolate is conched for 72 hours and lesser grade chocolates are conched for 5-6 hours. The conched chocolate is then stored in containers at 40-50 degree Celsius. Tempering: Tempering is a process to prevent uncontrolled crystallisation of cocoa butter in chocolate which results in crystals of varying sizes. Cocoa butter gave the chocolate its rigidity when solid at room temperature and when heated, the crystalline structure of cocoa butter breaks down and chocolate becomes liquid. Storage: Chocolate is very susceptible to temperature and humidity changes. unsplash-logo Simone van der Koelen

In this episode, we talk about Shravanabelagola and Jainism

Shravanabelagola is one of the most sacred Jain centres in South India. The holy land is abundantly rich with centuries of history, glorious traditions and culture, distinctive religious nature and practices, and architecture. The place boasts a rare combination of diverse features which makes it a prominent place of pilgrimage and tourism. The town is bundled between the two hills of Vindhyagiri and Chandragiri and it is well known for its scenic beauty. Pratyk321 [CC BY-SA 4.0], from Wikimedia Commons

In this episode, we talk about how domestication of animals work.

Evo… what? Evolution The theory of evolution states that chemicals randomly orgnaised themselves into a self replicating molecule. The simple self-replicating molecule then underwent mutation and formed the complex organisms that ever existed on the earth. The theory consists of basicaly three parts: It is possible for the DNA of an organism to occasionally change, or mutate. The change brought about by a mutation is either beneficial, harmful or neutral. As mutations occur and spread over long periods of time, they cause new species to form. Mutations have seen to be affecting E-Coli bacteria which under right circumstances can replicate itself in every 20 minutes. By the process of mutation, certain bacteria can evolve which can be resistant to certain antibiotics. This is similar to certain insects becoming immune to DDT. Domestication But not all animals can be domesticated. Out of the 148 major terrestrial mammals, only 14 were domesticated and gthe theory is the for a species to be able to be domesticated, there are six charecterisitcs: Efficient diet: Should be able to feed on cheap accessible food. Quick growth rate: Should be able to mature and reproduce at a faster rate. Ability to breed in captivity: Should be able to breed under domestic conditions. Pleasant disposition: Should not be dangerous. Tendency not to panic: These animals should not have a tenency to panic. Social structure: Should follow a social structure like pack animals where a certain heirarchy is respected. This is the reason why animals like Zebra are difficult to be domesticated. Dogs are amongst the oldest domesticated animals. Dogs were domesticated before cattle and even plants. Changes in animals post domestication Animals become more tame, in some cases grow floppy ears, tail etc. Neural crest hypothesis suggests that deficits in the Neural Crest Cells which are the embryonic stem cells that produce various tissue types during embryogenesis. These changes do not usually get reversed if the animal is release back to the wild. Dingo being an example. Reversion almost never happens. Dingos are classic examples where in spite of staying apart from humans for thousands of years, thay haven’t shown any significant brain growth than normal dogs. Paths of animals into domestication Commensal pathway: Animals like dogs and cats who were attracted to human ways for resources available with human beings. Chickens too! Prey pathway: Animals like the livestock belong to a category that were once hunted for food. They were domestiated mostly for food. Directed pathway: These include animals like horses,donkeys etc that could be used for purposes like transporation etc. and no necessarily for meat. The pathways need not be exclusive. Animals may have followed multiple pathways. The Russian Domesticated Fox Dmitry Belyayev: Belyayev conducted the The Silver Fox Experiment. He believed that all the domesticated animals have been selected for tameness. He conducted an experiment which took up most the last 26 years of his life. He used a Siver fox, which is a variant of the Red Fox because he felt that it is more social and related to dog. In 1958, he directed his assistant Lyudmila Trut to visit various fur farm in Soviet Union and select the calmest foxes she could find. Experiment began with 30 male foxes and 100 vixens, most of them from a commercial fur farm in Estonia. They were bred solely for tameness and weren’t trained to ensure that the resulting tameness was due to genetics and not due to training. Darwin had stated that domesticated animals tend to have smaller heads, floppier ears, curlier tails and spotty coats to appear juvenile to humans. Belyayev wanted to test this theory as well. Genetics had recieved some bad rap in post war Soviet, so Belyayev spoke about his research in terms of Phsycology rather than mention genes. Starting at month one throughout, the foxes were tested for their reactions to the experimenter. They would pet and handle the foxes and at when they reach sexual maturity at 7-8 months, they are assigned an overall tameness score. During the end of 7-8 months they were categorised onto three classes based on their tameness index. An Elite class was later added that showed even more tameness and friendliness than class 1. The experiment started showing rapid results and by the fourth generation, researchers were able to find results that was up to their expectations. An employee took a fox home and it responded to it’s name the same a way a dog does. By tenth generation 18% of the population was elite group and by 20th generaion this number had risen to 35% and to around 80% in 2009. After around 40 generations, Belyayev’s foxes have floppy ears, transformation in skull size, curly tails, mating periods, changes in fur colour and even lost their fox odour. unsplash-logo Berkay Gumustekin

In this episode, we talk about the history of smoking.

The origin of tobacco can be traced back to 6000 BC, in the American continent. It was considered medicinal and used as a painkiller. Smoking cannabis can be traced back to 2000 BC, India. It is also mentioned in Atharvaveda. Cannabis smoking in the middle east was common, especially Hookah. Even women took part in it privately. Christopher Columbus played a big part in getting it to the European continent 1531 - first tobacco cultivation in Europe. By 1600, tobacco became an integral part of the society as a good section started smoking. In 1560, Jean Nicot took tobacco with him to Spain from France In 1571, a Spanish doctor named Nicolas Monardes, apparently “found out” tobacco could cure 36 health problems (what a joke!) In 1588, Thomas Harriet, a Virginian, said that smoking gives the daily dose of tobacco. Not surprisingly, he died of nose cancer. English King James I was one of the first to speak against smoking Tobacco used as an exchange during these time. The barter system did rely on tobacco. Africa was introduced to tobacco by Arab traders in the 13th century, It was popularised by French merchants in 1600 by bringing tobacco to Senegal & Gambia. The 17th century saw Japanese use a device called Kiseru. It was a long-stemmed device. In 1760, Pierre Lorillard set up the Lorillard Tobacco Company in NYC. it is the oldest tobacco company in the US. Nicotine was discovered in 1826 and found to be harmful to humans. 1836, Samuel Green mentioned that tobacco is an insecticide, a poison which can kill. Chinese got into the habit of smoking opium due to colonialism. The British got them addicted to opium and it resulted in the Opium Wars. Chewing tobacco became popular amongst cowboys in the 19th century. It was more popular than smoking. By 1901, smoking was catching up with 6 billion cigars and 3 billion cigarettes sold. In 1902, Britisher, Philip Morris set up Marlboro brand 1913, R. J. Reynolds set up the Camel brand of cigarettes. World Wars saw a tremendous increase in smoking. It was called soldier’s smoke and was included in the soldier’s ration. By 1923, Camel took over 45% of the market in the US. Which led to Marlboro marketing it as women’s cigarette in 1924. They called it Mild as May. The number of women smokers tripled over the next few years. Nazi Germany has one of the most powerful anti-smoking movement. During the 1950s evidence of smoking leading to lung cancer began popping up. In 1952, Kent Brand developed Micronite, a cigarette which contains asbestos. It was shelved shortly afterwards. In 1953, Dr Ernst L. Wynders found that cigarette tar causes a tumour in mice In 1956, first menthol cigarette was released by RJ Reynolds called Salem. In 1964, regulations in cigarette advertisements were placed after the finding on Smoking and Health report made it clear that smoking causes lung cancer. In 1965, Britain takes cigarette commercials off television In 1966, health warnings started popping up on packets In 1968, Bravo, a non-tobacco cigarette brand made of lettuce. Mega Failure! The US takes off cigarette advertisements in 1971 the first national Great American Smokeout takes place in 1977. It is an annual event which takes place on the third Thursday of every November. In 1982, it is found out that second-hand smoking also leads to lung cancer In 1985, lung cancer overtakes breast cancer as the number one cause of women’s death. India and Smoking The first act to add a statutory warning on packets came into existence in 1975 Public smoking banned in Kerala in 1999. The first state in India to do that. On September 8, 2000, the complete ban on tobacco and smoking advertisements came into effect. On Dec 1, 2004, prohibition of selling tobacco products within 100 yards of any educational institutions came into effect. In 2007, Chandigarh became first city smoke-free. Shimla followed. On Oct 2, 2008, public smoking was banned nationwide public In May 2009, mandatory pictorial warning covering at least 40% of the label came into effect. It also stated the use of only two languages on the packet. Hookah ban carried out in many cities during 2011-12 On October 2, 2012, theatres implemented to play “Sponge” and “Mukesh” - two awareness advertisements before movies. On October 2, 2013, these were replaced by “Child” and “Dhuan”. Use our Castbox Premium Coupon Code WRITER to get six months premium menbership of castbox. unsplash-logo Rist Art

In this episode, we discuss about the art of tattooing.

What is a tattoo? Body modification where ink, dye or pigment is inserted into the dermis layer of the skin to change the colour. Was considered uncivilised in the west until recently, tattoos carried symbolic meanings in many societies and culture since early ages. By 20th century, tattooing became more popular art in the west. The word tattoo, or tattow in the 18th century, from the Samoan word tatau, meaning “to strike”. History In Europe, tattooing is speculated to have been practised during the upper palaeolithic period (Old stone age, between 50,000 and 10,000 years). From evidence gained from the mummified skin, tattoos have been practised since the Neolithic times (new stone age. Approx 10,200 BC - 2000 BC). Direct evidence for the existence of tattoos exists only as far as 4000 years in history. Earliest tattoed human body is that of Ötzi the iceman who lived between 3370 and 3100 BC and was found in the Ötztal Alps between Austria and Italy. Ötzi had a total of 61 tattoos in the form of groups of parallel lines. Several other mummified bodies have been recovered from various parts of the world including Egypt, South America, Siberia and Alaska. Chinese cemeteries in the Xinjiang region have been known to contain tattooed mummies dating back to 2100-550 BC. It was considered to be a barbaric practice and often prisoners were forcefully tattood on face Greeks use tattoos for spy communications and used distinctive markings on their bodies to identify the ranks. Tattooing was introduced to Japan by the Ainu people of East Asia. They had smiling tattoos on the faces of women. In Europe, Britons, Danes and Norse used tattoos to identify the family. Emperor Constantine banned tattoo in AD 330 Pope Hadrian banned tattoo in the year 747 A.D. during the second council of Nicea and post Norman invasion in 1066, tattoos lost popularity from 12th to 16th centuries. During this time tattoos were used to identify criminals in Japan. Lines were added during subsequent lines to eventually spell out the word dog. Later tattoo became an art form and popular among the middle and lower class as ornate full body clothing was restricted to the royalty. William Dampier, a sailor and explorer was responsible for the revival of tattoos back in the west. He brought Polynesian Prince Giolo to London in 1691 who was completely tattooed. James Cook has been credited with bringing the word tattoo back to Europe after his travels to New Zealand and Tahiti. Nazis forcibly tattooed the prisoners for identification purposes. Tattoo Ink Created from compounds of heavy metals like Cadmium, Chromium or Lead with Manganese or Aluminium salts. Multiple needles penetrate into the dermis and deposit ink. Immune systems (white blood cells) tries to engulf the pigment granule. Since the pigment granule is larger in size, the blood cells cannot easily remove the ink particles. Over times, tattoo fades as the pigments are carried to the liver through lymph nodes and removed from the body. Process Tattoo machine uses needles, circular formation for lines and brush like formation for shading. Types of machines: Rotary: The rotary motion of a motor is converted into piston-like motion of the needle Coil type: An electromagnetic current is used to power the needle Ink passes from the needles to the dermis layer of the skin. Removal Lasers with frequencies in the range of picoseconds are used. Laser shatters the pigments and reduces the size which makes it easier for the white blood cells to remove the particles from the body. The shattering happens as the laser heats up one part of the ink particle resulting in a heat gradient and hence the particle rips apart. Frosting happens on the skin results from the shock wave that forms on the surface. unsplash-logo Romina Farias

Wish you all a very happy International Podcast & Coffee Day. This is a special episode which will not feature our usual rambling. Saif and Naga from The Musafir Stories and The Passion People Podcast, respectively, hijacked our show

What were the origins of this humble but useful home applaince?

Vacuum Cleaner A vacuum cleaner, also known as a sweeper or hoover, is a device that uses an air pump to create a partial vacuum to suck up dust and dirt, usually from floors, and from other surfaces. Basically, it is a device which sucks your home tidy. Timeline 2300 B.C. - First rudimentary forms of broom and cleaning tools came into existence 1797 - Levi Dickenson devised a broom with the use of sorghum bristles. The sorghum broom business exploded and by 1860 sorghum got the name broomcorn. 1858 - Hiram Herrick patented a carpet sweeper which was the first American patent for a carpet sweeper. The device consisted of a rolling broom and dustpan. 1860 - Daniel Hess produced a carpet sweeper which used suction through a rotating brush and bellows. It was completely manual and that is probably the reason why it was not successful. It was the first rudimentary design of a vacuum cleaner. 1869 - Ives W. McCaffe came up with ‘Whirlwind’, the first manual vacuum cleaner which was upright. The belt driven, hand-powered device was sold for a retail price of $25 which would be around a whopping $450 in the present. This proved to be the reason for the unsuccessful run of the device. 1898 - A gasoline powered blower was developed by John S. Thurman, which had to be horse-drawn to locations due to its bulky nature. It was a moderately successful device which relied on blowing the dust into a receptacle instead of suction. 1901 - Hubert Cecil Booth from England manufactured the ‘Puffing Billy’ which was also a bulky device but relied on suction. The gasoline-powered machine was later upgraded to electric power. It used a cloth filter to collect the dust. Puffing Billy was extremely successful and hotels started installing it in their compound. It was once also used to clean West Minister Abbey. During the same time, David T. Kenney came up with a vacuum cleaner which was powered by steam engine. But it did not succeed in getting much business due to its weight of 4000 pounds. 1906 - Walter Griffiths came up with the first portable vacuum cleaner which used bellows and flexible pipe for suction. 1906 - Jame B. Kirby developed a vacuum cleaner that used water for dirt separation instead of a filter. It was called ‘Domestic Cyclone’. 1907 - James Murray Spangler, a janitor from Ohio devised a vacuum cleaner with the use of a broom, electric rotating motor, and a pillowcase for dust collection. Because he did not get the funding, he sold the patent to William Henry Hoover in 1908. 1926 - Hoover redesigned the vacuum cleaner by adding a steel box for sturdiness and disposal filter bags to collect dust. It became a mainstay in the market 1997 - A Swedish company came up with ‘Electrolux Trilobite’, the first autonomous cordless robotic vacuum cleaner. This was made available to the consumers in 2001. 2004 - A British company came up with ‘Airider’, a vacuum cleaner which uses the technology of hovercrafts to float above the floor. Affiliate Links: Here are some of the best vacuum cleaner available for you American Micronic-AMI-VCD21 Eureka Forbes Quick Clean DX (economic) Car vacuum cleaner: IGRID Car Vacuum Cleaner If you want to buy the vacuum cleaner we use, here is the link Karcher WD 3 unsplash-logo The Creative Exchange

Ice-cream is fascinating, and it does have a fascinating history too.