This Tuesday, a rare Lunar Eclipse was observed in the northern hemisphere, lasting for few mins to hrs in different places, as it occurred on the day of winter solstice (the longest night of the winters).

Lunar eclipse occurs when the earth comes in between the sun & moon, blocking the suns rays to reach the moon. Light after being refracted from the earth's atmosphere turn the moon into crimson red before it slips into darkness. Although, lunar eclipses are common but its occurrence on winter solstice is rare. Similar thing happened about 400 years ago on Dec. 21, 1638 & will occur again on Dec.21, 2094.

A one day free eye camp was arranged by our hospital in a Basic Health Unit (BHU), in Chakwal district of Punjab, Pakistan on 9th Dec,2010 & I was asked to be the man in charge. I accepted the offer whole heartedly, as I enjoy seeing new places, meeting new faces & helping others.

A total of about 150 patients were seen. Out of which 70 percent had simple refractive errors & they were un-noticed as they were either unaware of the problem or they didn't had the money to visit a hospital & buy glasses. They inculded mostly young school going boys & girls. Twenty percent of the patients had Cataracts, belonging to the age group of 45-75. Rest 10 percent had minor eye infections.

Google yesterday announced the release of its brand new phone in the Nexus Series, the Nexus S. It is the first phone in the market to come pre-installed with Anrdoid 2.3 ( code named:  Gingerbread), Google's famous smartphone operating system.

World Aids Day was celebrated on 1st Dec, 2010 to spread awareness about this deadly disease which, according to the survey of WHO in 2008, affects around 33.4 million people. An estimated 2.7 million people are newly infected & about 2 million people die of it every year.

What is AIDS!

AIDS is a disease caused by Human Immunodeficiency Virus, commonly known as HIV, which attacks the main defense barriers of the Human body. Once the defense barriers are broken, any infection can sabotage the victim.

Why are the Figures so High!

First of all, the people are mostly unaware of this disease & they come to know about when it has ravaged everything.

Secondly, Aids remains a social taboo to be discussed in our society because it is mostly considered to be spread by sex. But it is not always so....