People can live long, happy lives without consuming large amounts of the Earth's resources, a survey suggests.
The 178-nation "Happy Planet Index" lists the south Pacific island of Vanuatu as the happiest nation on the planet, while the UK is ranked 108th. The index is based on consumption levels, life expectancy and happiness, rather than national economic wealth measurements such as GDP.
The study was compiled by think-tank the New Economics Foundation (Nef).
Size doesn't matter One of the authors, Nef's Nic Marks, said the aim of the index was to show that well-being did not have to be linked to high levels of consumption.
'HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH'
Population: 209,000
GDP/capita: $2,900 (£1,575)
Climate: tropical
Resources: forests, fish
Economy: agriculture, tourism
Environmental issues: deforestation and clean water
Source: CIA Handbook 2006
Country profile of Vanuatu
"It is clear that no single nation listed in the index has got everything right, but it does reveal patterns that show how we might better achieve long and happy lives for all while living within our environmental means," Mr Marks said.
The small island state of Vanuatu is situated in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean, and has a population of 209,000. Its economy is built around small-scale agriculture and tourism.
Latin American nations dominate the top 10 places in the index, while African and Eastern European nations fill most of the bottom 10.
Among the world's largest economies, Germany is ranked 81st, Japan 95th, while the US comes in at 150th. Retail therapy will not bring happiness, according to the studyRichard Layard, director of the Well-Being Programme at the London School of Economics' Centre for Economic Performance, said that the index was an interesting way to tackle the issue of modern life's environmental impact.
"It reminds us that it is not good enough to be happy today if we are impoverishing future generations through global warming. "Over the last 50 years, living standards in the West have improved enormously but we have become no happier," Mr Layard told the BBC.
"This shows we should not sacrifice human relationships, which are the main source of happiness, for the sake of economic growth."
Although Vanuatu tops the happiness index, it is ranked 207th out of 233 economies when measured against Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Simon Bullock, economics co-ordinator for Friends of the Earth, which helped compile the data, said the findings showed that happiness did not have to cost the Earth.
"The UK economy hoovers up vast quantities of the world's scarce resources, yet British people are no happier than Colombians, who use far fewer," he said.
"The current crude focus on GDP is outdated, destructive and doesn't deliver a better quality of life."
Nef is calling for the adoption of a "global manifesto for a happier planet" that will list ways nations can live within their environmental limits and increase people's quality of life. The recommendations include: Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger Recognising the contribution of individuals and unpaid work Ensuring economic policies stay within environmental limitsThe index builds on a report that Nef published earlier this year that warned if annual global consumption levels matched the UK's, it would take 3.1 Earths to meet the demand
Friday, July 14, 2006
Technology Bite ....
An article from BBC
Scientists seek to restore sight
A diagram of the retinal prosthesis from the University of GlasgowPioneering work to tackle two common forms of blindness is being undertaken by University of Glasgow scientists.
Dr Keith Mathieson hopes an electronic optical implant will help blind people to regain their vision.
Technology similar to that found in devices like digital cameras could be in use within a decade.
Dr Mathieson said: "By implanting a device into the eye, we hope we will be able to fool the brain into believing the retina is still in working order."
The chip would assist about one million people in the UK with age-related macular degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa.
'Recognise faces'
Dr Mathieson said: "Advances in microelectronics have allowed us to develop a small device to be implanted on the retina itself. "The device would contain an imaging detector. "If light forms an image on the detector, then the result will be electrical stimulation of the retina in the shape of this image.
"The stimulated cells then send the information via the optic nerve to the brain."
The implant prototype has 100 pixels but the team hope that number will increase significantly as their work progresses.
Dr Mathieson, said: "Around 500 pixels would allow people to walk down the street and recognise faces. "Beyond where we are today it might be possible to make smart chips which have memory in them which would allow action replay and slow motion."
Dr Mathieson, from the University of Glasgow's department of physics, is working on the project with Dr James D Morrison from the neuroscience and biomedical systems department.
Scientists seek to restore sight
A diagram of the retinal prosthesis from the University of GlasgowPioneering work to tackle two common forms of blindness is being undertaken by University of Glasgow scientists.
Dr Keith Mathieson hopes an electronic optical implant will help blind people to regain their vision.
Technology similar to that found in devices like digital cameras could be in use within a decade.
Dr Mathieson said: "By implanting a device into the eye, we hope we will be able to fool the brain into believing the retina is still in working order."
The chip would assist about one million people in the UK with age-related macular degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa.
'Recognise faces'
Dr Mathieson said: "Advances in microelectronics have allowed us to develop a small device to be implanted on the retina itself. "The device would contain an imaging detector. "If light forms an image on the detector, then the result will be electrical stimulation of the retina in the shape of this image.
"The stimulated cells then send the information via the optic nerve to the brain."
The implant prototype has 100 pixels but the team hope that number will increase significantly as their work progresses.
Dr Mathieson, said: "Around 500 pixels would allow people to walk down the street and recognise faces. "Beyond where we are today it might be possible to make smart chips which have memory in them which would allow action replay and slow motion."
Dr Mathieson, from the University of Glasgow's department of physics, is working on the project with Dr James D Morrison from the neuroscience and biomedical systems department.
India's first war of Independence - 'Sipoy Mutiny'
When did the first mutiny against British rule take place in India?
If you accept the version of most historians and the Indian government, it was in 1857, when Indian soldiers of the British army rebelled against their colonial masters in what was known as the "sepoy mutiny" or the "first war of independence".
In fact so convinced is the Indian government of the date that it is now drawing up elaborate plans to commemorate the 150th anniversary in a grand manner next year.
But not everyone agrees that 1857 is the right date.
Overlooked
The Chief Minister of the southern state of Tamil Nadu, M Karunanidhi, argues that the first mutiny in fact began during the early hours of 10 July 1806.
So convinced is he that he has issued a commemorative postal stamp which depicts the first "sepoy mutiny" as happening in the fort in the town of Vellore, 130km (80 miles) from the state capital Madras.
Tipu Sultan was at the forefront of resistance to British rule That is 51 years before the better-known "sepoy mutiny" of 1857. Mr Karunanidhi's contention has much sympathy in the south of India, where historians and politicians complain that when it comes to recording Indian history, the north of the country often ignores or overlooks events in the south.
One of their greatest grievances is that south India's participation in the Indian independence struggle is neither recognised nor recorded - hence the debate over when the first "sepoy mutiny" took place.
Dress code
According to them, the Vellore revolt was the first organised uprising faced by the British involving Indian soldiers in the British army.
After the death of Tipu Sultan in 1799, the British detained his family members at the fort in Vellore.
Mr Karunanidhi says recognition of the revolt is better late than never
In 1806, the British introduced a dress code for its mostly Indian soldiers which required them to remove caste-marks, earrings and beards.
Instead the soldiers were ordered to wear newly designed turbans with leather embellishments.
Most of the Indian soldiers resented this, and by May 1806, the British authorities in Madras came to know of their simmering resentment. They identified some of those troops expressing dissent and punished them by publicly lashing some and sacking others. But the rebelling soldiers did not relent. Seized control Using the marriage of one of Tipu Sultan's daughters - scheduled on 9 July - as a pretext, they gathered at Vellore fort.
The rebellion began at Vellore fort
According to Madras-based historian S Muthiah, many of the 1,500-strong Indian garrison at the fort took part in the uprising, which began at 0300 the following morning.
More than 100 of the 350 European soldiers on garrison duty were killed, and by mid-morning the rebels had seized control of the fort.
But they made a fatal mistake. The celebrating sepoys failed to close the gates of the fort securely, and later that morning the British and Madras Cavalry - based 20 miles (32km) away in Arcot - charged through them.
A massacre ensued, with more than 350 of the rebels killed and an equal number injured before the British finally recaptured the fort.
The British suspected the Mysore princes of having instigated the rebellion and transferred them to Calcutta.
Chief Minister Karunanidhi says that after 200 years, the move by the Indian postal department to bring out commemorative stamps has at last given "due recognition" to India's "first war of independence".
If you accept the version of most historians and the Indian government, it was in 1857, when Indian soldiers of the British army rebelled against their colonial masters in what was known as the "sepoy mutiny" or the "first war of independence".
In fact so convinced is the Indian government of the date that it is now drawing up elaborate plans to commemorate the 150th anniversary in a grand manner next year.
But not everyone agrees that 1857 is the right date.
Overlooked
The Chief Minister of the southern state of Tamil Nadu, M Karunanidhi, argues that the first mutiny in fact began during the early hours of 10 July 1806.
So convinced is he that he has issued a commemorative postal stamp which depicts the first "sepoy mutiny" as happening in the fort in the town of Vellore, 130km (80 miles) from the state capital Madras.
Tipu Sultan was at the forefront of resistance to British rule That is 51 years before the better-known "sepoy mutiny" of 1857. Mr Karunanidhi's contention has much sympathy in the south of India, where historians and politicians complain that when it comes to recording Indian history, the north of the country often ignores or overlooks events in the south.
One of their greatest grievances is that south India's participation in the Indian independence struggle is neither recognised nor recorded - hence the debate over when the first "sepoy mutiny" took place.
Dress code
According to them, the Vellore revolt was the first organised uprising faced by the British involving Indian soldiers in the British army.
After the death of Tipu Sultan in 1799, the British detained his family members at the fort in Vellore.
Mr Karunanidhi says recognition of the revolt is better late than never
In 1806, the British introduced a dress code for its mostly Indian soldiers which required them to remove caste-marks, earrings and beards.
Instead the soldiers were ordered to wear newly designed turbans with leather embellishments.
Most of the Indian soldiers resented this, and by May 1806, the British authorities in Madras came to know of their simmering resentment. They identified some of those troops expressing dissent and punished them by publicly lashing some and sacking others. But the rebelling soldiers did not relent. Seized control Using the marriage of one of Tipu Sultan's daughters - scheduled on 9 July - as a pretext, they gathered at Vellore fort.
The rebellion began at Vellore fort
According to Madras-based historian S Muthiah, many of the 1,500-strong Indian garrison at the fort took part in the uprising, which began at 0300 the following morning.
More than 100 of the 350 European soldiers on garrison duty were killed, and by mid-morning the rebels had seized control of the fort.
But they made a fatal mistake. The celebrating sepoys failed to close the gates of the fort securely, and later that morning the British and Madras Cavalry - based 20 miles (32km) away in Arcot - charged through them.
A massacre ensued, with more than 350 of the rebels killed and an equal number injured before the British finally recaptured the fort.
The British suspected the Mysore princes of having instigated the rebellion and transferred them to Calcutta.
Chief Minister Karunanidhi says that after 200 years, the move by the Indian postal department to bring out commemorative stamps has at last given "due recognition" to India's "first war of independence".
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Microsoft opens up on file styles
An article from BBC
Office users will get more options for the way they save filesUsers could be in for less frustration as Microsoft makes flagship programs handle rival ways of saving documents, spreadsheets and presentations.
The initiative covers the Word, Excel and PowerPoint programs from the Office software suite.
The prototype of the first tool to translate between formats will be made available as a free download on 6 July. Microsoft said it started building the software tools in response to requests from government customers.
File style
Every PC user knows how careful they have to be when moving important files around because of the incompatibilities between different programs, such as word processors, that do the same job. Saving a file in a format in one program can make it difficult to open in another, without sacrificing some of the way that the information in the file is laid out or formatted
Both Microsoft and the broader technology industry have been working to remove some of these problems by standardising the ways information is saved so it appears the same when opened by different programs.
This tool promises to be a very significant development in the trend towards practical open document standards Andrew Hopkirk, National Computing Centre, UK
Before now, Microsoft and the technology world have chosen to go their own ways.
The new initiative ends some of this diversity and will make it possible for anyone using programs in the Office software suite to save files in more so-called "open" formats.
Specifically, the tools will make it possible to save and work with files using the Open Document format - a specification developed by the open source community as an alternative to the proprietary formats used by large software firms.
Microsoft has been working towards a more open way of formatting documents based around the Extensible Markup Language (XML). This helps preserve the structure of data in a document, such as a spreadsheet, so that relationships between figures are preserved as they are opened in different programs or used for other purposes.
"This tool promises to be a very significant development in the trend towards practical open document standards and, critically, customer-friendly means to move between them," said Andrew Hopkirk, director of the UK's National Computing Centre's e-Government Interoperability Framework (e-GIF) programme, in a Microsoft statement.
Some of the free tools will be add-ins for older versions of the programs in the Office suite, said Microsoft. Prototypes of the translation tools will be made available via the SourceForge website which allows anyone to participate in the software development process.
The Microsoft-led project is being carried out with three other companies - French firm Clever Age, Aztecsoft in India and Dialogika in Germany.
Office users will get more options for the way they save filesUsers could be in for less frustration as Microsoft makes flagship programs handle rival ways of saving documents, spreadsheets and presentations.
The initiative covers the Word, Excel and PowerPoint programs from the Office software suite.
The prototype of the first tool to translate between formats will be made available as a free download on 6 July. Microsoft said it started building the software tools in response to requests from government customers.
File style
Every PC user knows how careful they have to be when moving important files around because of the incompatibilities between different programs, such as word processors, that do the same job. Saving a file in a format in one program can make it difficult to open in another, without sacrificing some of the way that the information in the file is laid out or formatted
Both Microsoft and the broader technology industry have been working to remove some of these problems by standardising the ways information is saved so it appears the same when opened by different programs.
This tool promises to be a very significant development in the trend towards practical open document standards Andrew Hopkirk, National Computing Centre, UK
Before now, Microsoft and the technology world have chosen to go their own ways.
The new initiative ends some of this diversity and will make it possible for anyone using programs in the Office software suite to save files in more so-called "open" formats.
Specifically, the tools will make it possible to save and work with files using the Open Document format - a specification developed by the open source community as an alternative to the proprietary formats used by large software firms.
Microsoft has been working towards a more open way of formatting documents based around the Extensible Markup Language (XML). This helps preserve the structure of data in a document, such as a spreadsheet, so that relationships between figures are preserved as they are opened in different programs or used for other purposes.
"This tool promises to be a very significant development in the trend towards practical open document standards and, critically, customer-friendly means to move between them," said Andrew Hopkirk, director of the UK's National Computing Centre's e-Government Interoperability Framework (e-GIF) programme, in a Microsoft statement.
Some of the free tools will be add-ins for older versions of the programs in the Office suite, said Microsoft. Prototypes of the translation tools will be made available via the SourceForge website which allows anyone to participate in the software development process.
The Microsoft-led project is being carried out with three other companies - French firm Clever Age, Aztecsoft in India and Dialogika in Germany.
Monday, July 03, 2006
'HIV stigma' drives India suicide
An article from BBC
A 15-year-old Indian boy whose parents had HIV was driven to suicide by the stigma associated with the virus, police say.
Santosh Baniya died of burn injuries after setting himself on fire in the western city of Ahmedabad last week. Both his parents were diagnosed with HIV two years ago. They are among more than five million people infected with the virus in India.
Before he died the boy had expressed fears about surviving his parents.
'Mentally tormented' Investigations suggested Santosh Baniya feared being ostracised once it became public knowledge that both his parents, who were vegetable sellers, were HIV positive, police said.
More than 5m people in India have HIV"He was mentally tormented as he could not face the humiliation owing to both his parents being HIV-positive," a police spokesman told the Press Trust of India news agency.
The boy, who had three siblings, had stopped attending school regularly after his parents were diagnosed with HIV, AFP news agency reported. A United Nations report in May estimated India had overtaken South Africa as the country with most people with HIV, the virus that causes Aids. But Indian authorities dispute the UN figure of 5.7 million sufferers, saying only 5.2 million have the virus.
People with HIV and Aids in India can face discrimination, including being ostracised and denied access to schools and hospitals.
My Views
People around the world, especially in India (that includes me) should realize that young kids like Santosh Baniya die everyday. Their aims, goals, etc everything goes in vain. What harm did these kids do to this community? Is this the reward that they get for being innocent?
When we start thinking about this, the main root cause for all this is ignorance. The kid died because of his parents ignorance. There are so many kids in world who die for no harm of theirs. This is completely insane and ridiculous.
Even though one doesn't kill these kids physically but mentally they are murdered and I personally feel that everyone of us are some how or the other involved in commiting this sin. The reason why I say this is because most of the individuals are involved in their own interests which is why people who know things are not able to (or rather don't spend time) in sharing information to people who are ignorant.
We have to wake up now and try to put some assertive thoughts in innocent people or rather people who are ignorant and make them realize certain things, the way it is supposed to be.
A 15-year-old Indian boy whose parents had HIV was driven to suicide by the stigma associated with the virus, police say.
Santosh Baniya died of burn injuries after setting himself on fire in the western city of Ahmedabad last week. Both his parents were diagnosed with HIV two years ago. They are among more than five million people infected with the virus in India.
Before he died the boy had expressed fears about surviving his parents.
'Mentally tormented' Investigations suggested Santosh Baniya feared being ostracised once it became public knowledge that both his parents, who were vegetable sellers, were HIV positive, police said.
More than 5m people in India have HIV"He was mentally tormented as he could not face the humiliation owing to both his parents being HIV-positive," a police spokesman told the Press Trust of India news agency.
The boy, who had three siblings, had stopped attending school regularly after his parents were diagnosed with HIV, AFP news agency reported. A United Nations report in May estimated India had overtaken South Africa as the country with most people with HIV, the virus that causes Aids. But Indian authorities dispute the UN figure of 5.7 million sufferers, saying only 5.2 million have the virus.
People with HIV and Aids in India can face discrimination, including being ostracised and denied access to schools and hospitals.
My Views
People around the world, especially in India (that includes me) should realize that young kids like Santosh Baniya die everyday. Their aims, goals, etc everything goes in vain. What harm did these kids do to this community? Is this the reward that they get for being innocent?
When we start thinking about this, the main root cause for all this is ignorance. The kid died because of his parents ignorance. There are so many kids in world who die for no harm of theirs. This is completely insane and ridiculous.
Even though one doesn't kill these kids physically but mentally they are murdered and I personally feel that everyone of us are some how or the other involved in commiting this sin. The reason why I say this is because most of the individuals are involved in their own interests which is why people who know things are not able to (or rather don't spend time) in sharing information to people who are ignorant.
We have to wake up now and try to put some assertive thoughts in innocent people or rather people who are ignorant and make them realize certain things, the way it is supposed to be.
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Rage for Money
Money, Money and Money is all what this world is about. Every individual in this world is working hard all day, all nights and all weekends just to smell the aroma of money - Rupees, Dollars, Euro, Yen and what not. There was a time when an individual was evaluated based on his charisma, talents, character and health but those days are way behind us.
In the present world of "Money and Hatred", everything is evaluated based on the wealth. Wealth is considered to be equivalent to the so called in those days charisma, talents, character and health. If an individual has wealth, he is considered to be one the most popular person in his community.
Well, frankly speaking this is what current world is all about, if a person says that he is not for money then he is considered to be "not worthy". Money is the one which brings relationships, quarrels, hatred, pleasure both mentally and physically, tears of joy and sorrow, makes a person impeccable and finally last but not the least "The Pride", for which, every human in this world is longing for.
Money plays a vital role at the time of birth and death. As day progresses, "hatred and sin" among humans is increasing drastically for various reasons. All reasons for these hatred and sin fall under one category called "The Money". God has created every human being on this beautiful Earth for some reason and most of us don’t realize that we have a duty to perform; instead we have screened ourselves behind an illusive screen, "The Money".
Most of us are squanderers, we don’t realize that our main purpose to be on this Earth is to maintain a good kinship within our race and eradicate animosity, which does not happen in the present world. Ofcourse, there are people who are not for Money; they do help the needy both in terms of money and food. There are some excellent and inspiring people all over the world, who are not money-minded, but only a chosen few to talk about and they are countably finite. We need more people who do not value their near and dear based on Money.
We should be fortunate enough to give birth as a human, because one big difference is the sixth sense, which no other living being on this earth is gifted with. This sixth sense makes the human race as the most intelligent living being on this earth. When God has gifted us with such an extraordinary power why do we have to utilize it in the improper way?
Plenty of technological improvements happened over the past decades and it is still ameliorating further as day progresses, but the overall poverty level is marching strongly up the hill rather than falling downwards inspite of this technological progress. We are so diligent and try to expose our skills and talents to lead a life of luxury which goes hand in hand with Money. We are never satisfied with what we have and when it comes to Money - It is our insatiable thirst. The technological improvement has done nothing to alleviate the pain of the people who are beyond the poverty line.
Present world is filled with corruption, war, looting, murder and many things to say. The main reason for all these things to happen in this world is Money. People do all these crimes for their pride and survival, which requires Money. The rich people do all these crimes to maintain their Pride in the society and the poor to Survive in this society (as per present world, a person is distinguished between rich and poor based on Money).
We talk about people who are millionaires and billionaires, but we never think about people who are dying every day at some corner of the world striving for good food. We have all the time in this world to fight against each other just for a thin rectangular sheet of paper which has some value for it, but we don’t have time to think about our kinship, near and dear who are dying without proper food and shelter. The world is filled with jealous, hatred, pride and ego; this is growing everyday which destroys the man himself and the people surrounding him.
It is high time that we start thinking about our mankind rather than focusing on Money, ofcourse Money is very important in our life and every one should realize that Money is necessary for a person to survive and lead his life in the most meaningful way, it shouldn’t be used in a way that it harms our own race. We are gifted with so much power and talent with which we can do miracles in many good ways rather being a brutal thing which doesn’t have any kind of concern for anything in this world. There are people who think good for their community but that count is very minimal. Every human in this world should try to be peaceful and harmonious, if not, try not to harm others for which we should be satisfied with whatever Money we earn or get.
“More the rage for Money, more the hatred and sin”. Let us first get satisfied with whatever we have and try not to fall into the deep valley of Money because of which we will not be able to have the complete vision of the world, which is in need of our help and harmony. Let us be a human being in this world rather than being Money minded carnivorous being, which intends to destroy their own race for Money.
Let us be good to ourselves, good to others, lead a meaningful life and make every moment of our life the most useful and memorable moment, for which we need to tear apart the illusive screen “The Money” screened in front of us and see the whole world with our God given gift of kind hearted vision.
“Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. There is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of its filling a vacuum, it makes one.” – Ben Franklin.
In the present world of "Money and Hatred", everything is evaluated based on the wealth. Wealth is considered to be equivalent to the so called in those days charisma, talents, character and health. If an individual has wealth, he is considered to be one the most popular person in his community.
Well, frankly speaking this is what current world is all about, if a person says that he is not for money then he is considered to be "not worthy". Money is the one which brings relationships, quarrels, hatred, pleasure both mentally and physically, tears of joy and sorrow, makes a person impeccable and finally last but not the least "The Pride", for which, every human in this world is longing for.
Money plays a vital role at the time of birth and death. As day progresses, "hatred and sin" among humans is increasing drastically for various reasons. All reasons for these hatred and sin fall under one category called "The Money". God has created every human being on this beautiful Earth for some reason and most of us don’t realize that we have a duty to perform; instead we have screened ourselves behind an illusive screen, "The Money".
Most of us are squanderers, we don’t realize that our main purpose to be on this Earth is to maintain a good kinship within our race and eradicate animosity, which does not happen in the present world. Ofcourse, there are people who are not for Money; they do help the needy both in terms of money and food. There are some excellent and inspiring people all over the world, who are not money-minded, but only a chosen few to talk about and they are countably finite. We need more people who do not value their near and dear based on Money.
We should be fortunate enough to give birth as a human, because one big difference is the sixth sense, which no other living being on this earth is gifted with. This sixth sense makes the human race as the most intelligent living being on this earth. When God has gifted us with such an extraordinary power why do we have to utilize it in the improper way?
Plenty of technological improvements happened over the past decades and it is still ameliorating further as day progresses, but the overall poverty level is marching strongly up the hill rather than falling downwards inspite of this technological progress. We are so diligent and try to expose our skills and talents to lead a life of luxury which goes hand in hand with Money. We are never satisfied with what we have and when it comes to Money - It is our insatiable thirst. The technological improvement has done nothing to alleviate the pain of the people who are beyond the poverty line.
Present world is filled with corruption, war, looting, murder and many things to say. The main reason for all these things to happen in this world is Money. People do all these crimes for their pride and survival, which requires Money. The rich people do all these crimes to maintain their Pride in the society and the poor to Survive in this society (as per present world, a person is distinguished between rich and poor based on Money).
We talk about people who are millionaires and billionaires, but we never think about people who are dying every day at some corner of the world striving for good food. We have all the time in this world to fight against each other just for a thin rectangular sheet of paper which has some value for it, but we don’t have time to think about our kinship, near and dear who are dying without proper food and shelter. The world is filled with jealous, hatred, pride and ego; this is growing everyday which destroys the man himself and the people surrounding him.
It is high time that we start thinking about our mankind rather than focusing on Money, ofcourse Money is very important in our life and every one should realize that Money is necessary for a person to survive and lead his life in the most meaningful way, it shouldn’t be used in a way that it harms our own race. We are gifted with so much power and talent with which we can do miracles in many good ways rather being a brutal thing which doesn’t have any kind of concern for anything in this world. There are people who think good for their community but that count is very minimal. Every human in this world should try to be peaceful and harmonious, if not, try not to harm others for which we should be satisfied with whatever Money we earn or get.
“More the rage for Money, more the hatred and sin”. Let us first get satisfied with whatever we have and try not to fall into the deep valley of Money because of which we will not be able to have the complete vision of the world, which is in need of our help and harmony. Let us be a human being in this world rather than being Money minded carnivorous being, which intends to destroy their own race for Money.
Let us be good to ourselves, good to others, lead a meaningful life and make every moment of our life the most useful and memorable moment, for which we need to tear apart the illusive screen “The Money” screened in front of us and see the whole world with our God given gift of kind hearted vision.
“Money never made a man happy yet, nor will it. There is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more a man has, the more he wants. Instead of its filling a vacuum, it makes one.” – Ben Franklin.
learning curve.. 06/30
It was a pretty long day ... the start of the day was pretty horrible for me, it was all because of my lethargic act ...
I went to a place without complete preparation ... and that costed me sweat and embarassment even though I mentioned in my previous "learning curve" that I should be lot prepared with 2-3 backups .... I was not ...
hmmm it is not that easy to get things in place within a day right ...
This time I was well prepared but not complete ... I didn't have 2-3 backup plans in case of primary failures ... anyways that was a good leason ... to tell something is always easy but someone will learn it only when they face it and this time I did ... from now on MAN I will freaking prepared in anything I do.
I went to a place without complete preparation ... and that costed me sweat and embarassment even though I mentioned in my previous "learning curve" that I should be lot prepared with 2-3 backups .... I was not ...
hmmm it is not that easy to get things in place within a day right ...
This time I was well prepared but not complete ... I didn't have 2-3 backup plans in case of primary failures ... anyways that was a good leason ... to tell something is always easy but someone will learn it only when they face it and this time I did ... from now on MAN I will freaking prepared in anything I do.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
learning curve .. 06/29
At the end of the day, there was something interesting that I learned
1. be more organized and make a note of everything that I do and make a list of things that needs to be done the next day. because I badly missed something which should have been done two days ... my bad anyways will correct myself.
2. Not to get too excited, this is tough on my side but will get there ...
3. I should read more to know more and share the knowledge with others ....
1. be more organized and make a note of everything that I do and make a list of things that needs to be done the next day. because I badly missed something which should have been done two days ... my bad anyways will correct myself.
2. Not to get too excited, this is tough on my side but will get there ...
3. I should read more to know more and share the knowledge with others ....
Dr. Abdul Kalaam - my all time inspiration
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalaam's speech in Hyderabad.
[OUR HONOURABLE PRESIDENT OF INDIA]
"I have three visions for India.
1. In 3000 years of our history, people from all over the world havecome and invaded us, captured our lands, conquered our minds. F romAlexander onwards. The Greeks, the Turks, the Moguls, the Portuguese,the British, the French, the Dutch, all of them came and looted us,took over what was ours. Yet we have not done this to any othernation. We have not conquered anyone.
2. We have not grabbed their land, their culture, their history andtried to enforce our way of life on them. Why? Because we respect thefreedom of others. That is why my first vision is that of FREEDOM. Ibelieve that India got its first vision of this in 1857, when westarted the war of independence. It is this freedom that we mustprotect and nurture and build on. If we are not free, no one willrespect us.
3. My second vision for India is DEVELOPMENT. For fifty years we havebeen a developing nation. It is time we see ourselves as a developednation. We are among top 5 nations of the world in terms of GDP. Wehave 10 percent growth rate in most areas. Our poverty levels arefalling. Our achievements are being global ly recognized today. Yet welack the self-confidence to see ourselves as a developednation, self- reliant and self-assured. Isn't this incorrect?
4. I have a THIRD vision. India must stand up to the world. Because Ibelieve that, unless India stands up to the world, no one will respectus. Only strength respects strength. We must be strong not only as amilitary power but also as an economic power. Both must gohand-in-hand. My good fortune was to have worked with three greatminds. Dr. Vikram Sarabhai of the Dept. of space,Professor SatishDhawan, who succeeded him and Dr.Brahm Prakash, father of nuclearmaterial. I was lucky to have worked with all three of them closelyand consider this the great opportunity of my life.
5. I see four milestones in my career:
Twenty years I spent in ISRO. I was given the opportunity to be theproject director for India's first satellite launch vehicle, SLV3. Theone that launched Rohini. These years played a very important role inmy life of Scientist. After my ISRO years, I joined DRDO and got a chance to be the part ofIndia's guided missile program. It was my second bliss when Agni metits mission requirements in 1994. The Dept. of Atomic Energy and DRDO had this tremendous partnership inthe recent nuclear tests, on May 11 and 13. This was the third bliss.The joy of participating with my team in these nuclear tests andproving to the world that India can make it, that we are no longer adeveloping nation but one of them. It made me feel very proud as anIndian. The fact that we have now developed for Agni a re-entrystructure, for which we have developed this new material. A Very lightmaterial called carbon-carbon. One day an orthopedic surgeon from Nizam Institute of Medical Sciencesvisited my laboratory. He lifted the material and found it so lightthat he took me to his hospital and showed me his patients. There werethese little girls and boys with hea vy metallic calipers weighingover three Kg. each, dragging their feet around.
He said to me: Please remove the pain of my patients. In three weeks, we made these Floor reaction Orthosis 300-gramcalipers and took them to the orthopedic center. The children didn'tbelieve their eyes. From dragging around a three kg. load on theirlegs, they could now move around! Their parents had tears in their eyes. That was my fourth bliss!
6. Why is the media here so negative? Why are we in India soembarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements? We aresuch a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but werefuse to acknowledge them.
7. Why?
We are the first in milk production.
We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.
We are the second largest producer of wheat.
We are the second largest producer of rice.
8. Look at Dr. Sudarshan, he has transferred the tribal village into aself-sustaining, self driving unit. There are millionsof suchachievementsbut our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.
9. I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. Itwas the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths hadtaken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaperhad the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years hadtransformed his desert land into an orchid and a granary. It was thisinspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details ofkillings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buriedamong other news.
10. In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Whyare we so NEGATIVE?
11. Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things?
12. We want foreign TVs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreigntechnology. Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we notrealize that self-respect comes with self-reliance?
13. I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girlasked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is.
She replied: I want to live in a developed India.
For her, you and I will have to build this developed India. You mustproclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highlydeveloped nation.
14. Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance.Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choiceis yours.
YOU say that our government is inefficient.YOU say that our laws are too old.YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke,The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach theirdestination.YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolutepits.YOU say, say and say.
15. What do YOU do about it? Take a person on his way to Singapore.Give him a name - YOURS. Give him a face - YOURS. YOU walk out of theairport and you are at your International best. In Singapore you don'tthrow cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are asproud of their Underground links as they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs.60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway orPedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOUcomeback to the parking lot topunch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or ashopping mall irrespective of your status identity. In Singapore youdon't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public duringRamadan, in Dubai. YOU would not dare to go out without your headcovered in Jeddah. YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs.650) a month to, "see toit that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else." YOU wouldnot dare to speed beyond 55mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, "Jaanta haimain kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Takeyour two bucks and get lost."
16. YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than thegarbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand.
Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo?Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates inBoston??? We are still talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respectand conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in yourown. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the momentyou touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciativecitizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India?
17. Once in an interview, the famous Ex-muni cipal commissioner ofBombay, Mr.Tinaikar, had a point to make. "Rich people's dogs arewalked on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over theplace," he said. "And then the same people turn around to criticizeand blame the authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. Whatdo they expect the officers to do? Go down with a broom every timetheir dog feels the pressure in his bowels?
18. In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has donethe job. Same in Japan. Will the Indian citizen do that here?" He'sright.
19. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeitall responsibility. We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect thegovernment to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totallynegative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going tostop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop topick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learnthe proper use of bathrooms.
20. We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of foodand toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the leastopportunity. This applies even to the staff who is known not to passon the service to the public. When it comes to burning social issueslike those related towomen, dowry, girl child and others, we make loud drawing roomprotestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse?"It's the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if Ialone forego my sons' rights to a dowry." So who's going to change thesystem?
21. What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us itconsists of our neighbors, other households, other cities, othercommunities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When itcomes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system welock ourselves along with our families in to a safe cocoon and lookinto the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr. Clean tocome along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand orwe leave the country and run away.
22. Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to baskin their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecurewe run to England. When England experiences unemployment, we take thenext flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand tobe rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is outto abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system.Our conscience is mortgaged to money.
23. Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for agreat deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too....I amechoing J.F.Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate toIndians.....
"ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKEINDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY"
24. Lets do what India needs from us.
[OUR HONOURABLE PRESIDENT OF INDIA]
"I have three visions for India.
1. In 3000 years of our history, people from all over the world havecome and invaded us, captured our lands, conquered our minds. F romAlexander onwards. The Greeks, the Turks, the Moguls, the Portuguese,the British, the French, the Dutch, all of them came and looted us,took over what was ours. Yet we have not done this to any othernation. We have not conquered anyone.
2. We have not grabbed their land, their culture, their history andtried to enforce our way of life on them. Why? Because we respect thefreedom of others. That is why my first vision is that of FREEDOM. Ibelieve that India got its first vision of this in 1857, when westarted the war of independence. It is this freedom that we mustprotect and nurture and build on. If we are not free, no one willrespect us.
3. My second vision for India is DEVELOPMENT. For fifty years we havebeen a developing nation. It is time we see ourselves as a developednation. We are among top 5 nations of the world in terms of GDP. Wehave 10 percent growth rate in most areas. Our poverty levels arefalling. Our achievements are being global ly recognized today. Yet welack the self-confidence to see ourselves as a developednation, self- reliant and self-assured. Isn't this incorrect?
4. I have a THIRD vision. India must stand up to the world. Because Ibelieve that, unless India stands up to the world, no one will respectus. Only strength respects strength. We must be strong not only as amilitary power but also as an economic power. Both must gohand-in-hand. My good fortune was to have worked with three greatminds. Dr. Vikram Sarabhai of the Dept. of space,Professor SatishDhawan, who succeeded him and Dr.Brahm Prakash, father of nuclearmaterial. I was lucky to have worked with all three of them closelyand consider this the great opportunity of my life.
5. I see four milestones in my career:
Twenty years I spent in ISRO. I was given the opportunity to be theproject director for India's first satellite launch vehicle, SLV3. Theone that launched Rohini. These years played a very important role inmy life of Scientist. After my ISRO years, I joined DRDO and got a chance to be the part ofIndia's guided missile program. It was my second bliss when Agni metits mission requirements in 1994. The Dept. of Atomic Energy and DRDO had this tremendous partnership inthe recent nuclear tests, on May 11 and 13. This was the third bliss.The joy of participating with my team in these nuclear tests andproving to the world that India can make it, that we are no longer adeveloping nation but one of them. It made me feel very proud as anIndian. The fact that we have now developed for Agni a re-entrystructure, for which we have developed this new material. A Very lightmaterial called carbon-carbon. One day an orthopedic surgeon from Nizam Institute of Medical Sciencesvisited my laboratory. He lifted the material and found it so lightthat he took me to his hospital and showed me his patients. There werethese little girls and boys with hea vy metallic calipers weighingover three Kg. each, dragging their feet around.
He said to me: Please remove the pain of my patients. In three weeks, we made these Floor reaction Orthosis 300-gramcalipers and took them to the orthopedic center. The children didn'tbelieve their eyes. From dragging around a three kg. load on theirlegs, they could now move around! Their parents had tears in their eyes. That was my fourth bliss!
6. Why is the media here so negative? Why are we in India soembarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements? We aresuch a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but werefuse to acknowledge them.
7. Why?
We are the first in milk production.
We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.
We are the second largest producer of wheat.
We are the second largest producer of rice.
8. Look at Dr. Sudarshan, he has transferred the tribal village into aself-sustaining, self driving unit. There are millionsof suchachievementsbut our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.
9. I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. Itwas the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths hadtaken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaperhad the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years hadtransformed his desert land into an orchid and a granary. It was thisinspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details ofkillings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buriedamong other news.
10. In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Whyare we so NEGATIVE?
11. Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things?
12. We want foreign TVs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreigntechnology. Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we notrealize that self-respect comes with self-reliance?
13. I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girlasked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is.
She replied: I want to live in a developed India.
For her, you and I will have to build this developed India. You mustproclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highlydeveloped nation.
14. Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance.Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choiceis yours.
YOU say that our government is inefficient.YOU say that our laws are too old.YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke,The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach theirdestination.YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolutepits.YOU say, say and say.
15. What do YOU do about it? Take a person on his way to Singapore.Give him a name - YOURS. Give him a face - YOURS. YOU walk out of theairport and you are at your International best. In Singapore you don'tthrow cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are asproud of their Underground links as they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs.60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway orPedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOUcomeback to the parking lot topunch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or ashopping mall irrespective of your status identity. In Singapore youdon't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public duringRamadan, in Dubai. YOU would not dare to go out without your headcovered in Jeddah. YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs.650) a month to, "see toit that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else." YOU wouldnot dare to speed beyond 55mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, "Jaanta haimain kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Takeyour two bucks and get lost."
16. YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than thegarbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand.
Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo?Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates inBoston??? We are still talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respectand conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in yourown. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the momentyou touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciativecitizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India?
17. Once in an interview, the famous Ex-muni cipal commissioner ofBombay, Mr.Tinaikar, had a point to make. "Rich people's dogs arewalked on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over theplace," he said. "And then the same people turn around to criticizeand blame the authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. Whatdo they expect the officers to do? Go down with a broom every timetheir dog feels the pressure in his bowels?
18. In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has donethe job. Same in Japan. Will the Indian citizen do that here?" He'sright.
19. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeitall responsibility. We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect thegovernment to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totallynegative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going tostop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop topick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learnthe proper use of bathrooms.
20. We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of foodand toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the leastopportunity. This applies even to the staff who is known not to passon the service to the public. When it comes to burning social issueslike those related towomen, dowry, girl child and others, we make loud drawing roomprotestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse?"It's the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if Ialone forego my sons' rights to a dowry." So who's going to change thesystem?
21. What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us itconsists of our neighbors, other households, other cities, othercommunities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When itcomes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system welock ourselves along with our families in to a safe cocoon and lookinto the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr. Clean tocome along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand orwe leave the country and run away.
22. Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to baskin their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecurewe run to England. When England experiences unemployment, we take thenext flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand tobe rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is outto abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system.Our conscience is mortgaged to money.
23. Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for agreat deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too....I amechoing J.F.Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate toIndians.....
"ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKEINDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY"
24. Lets do what India needs from us.
Man : Emotions : Computer woow sounds interesting
This is an article from BBC
Computers 'set to read our minds'
An "emotionally aware" computer system designed to read people's minds by analysing expressions will be featured at a major London exhibition.
Visitors to the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition are being invited to help "train" the computer how to read joy, anger and other expressions.
Its designers say there are potential commercial uses, such as picking the right time to sell someone something.
But it may also help improve driver safety and help people with autism.
The computer, which is connected to a camera, locates and tracks 24 facial "feature points" such as the edge of the nose, the eyebrows and the corners of the mouth.
A total of 20 key facial movements - including a nod or shake of the head, a raise of the eyebrow or a pull on the corner of the mouth - have been identified.
Combinations of these movements, which are thought to represent underlying emotions, are then fed into software and used to detect the same facial combinations in real-life situations.
Subtle variations Peter Robinson, professor of computer technology at the University of Cambridge, said: "The system can already cope with the variation in people's facial composition; for example, if you have a round or thin face, or if you wear glasses or have a beard.
"However, there are small variations in the way people express the same emotion."
The scientists have been "training" the recognition system by using actors to make different facial expressions. They hope the exhibition will generate valuable new data to improve the programme's ability to read faces.
Professor Robinson added: "Our research could enable websites to tailor advertising or products to your mood." For example, he explained, software linked to a webcam could process a person's image, encode the correct emotional state and transmit the information to a website, which could then display products or advertising.
Dashboard aid The technology is also being developed for use in cars to improve driver safety. The team is recording the faces of volunteers in driving situations and monitoring facial movements to identify more complex expressions linked to confusion, boredom or tiredness.
"We are working with a big car company and they envision this being employed in cars within five years," Professor Robinson said, adding that a camera could be built into the dashboard.
The team is also working with colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to develop a wearable version of the system, to help those with conditions, such as autism and Asperger's syndrome, who have particular difficulty in reading other people's facial expressions and emotions.
The headset, which is at its first prototype stage, would interpret other people's moods and communicate those to the wearer.
The Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition runs from Monday 3 July to Thursday 6 July at The Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG.
Computers 'set to read our minds'
An "emotionally aware" computer system designed to read people's minds by analysing expressions will be featured at a major London exhibition.
Visitors to the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition are being invited to help "train" the computer how to read joy, anger and other expressions.
Its designers say there are potential commercial uses, such as picking the right time to sell someone something.
But it may also help improve driver safety and help people with autism.
The computer, which is connected to a camera, locates and tracks 24 facial "feature points" such as the edge of the nose, the eyebrows and the corners of the mouth.
A total of 20 key facial movements - including a nod or shake of the head, a raise of the eyebrow or a pull on the corner of the mouth - have been identified.
Combinations of these movements, which are thought to represent underlying emotions, are then fed into software and used to detect the same facial combinations in real-life situations.
Subtle variations Peter Robinson, professor of computer technology at the University of Cambridge, said: "The system can already cope with the variation in people's facial composition; for example, if you have a round or thin face, or if you wear glasses or have a beard.
"However, there are small variations in the way people express the same emotion."
The scientists have been "training" the recognition system by using actors to make different facial expressions. They hope the exhibition will generate valuable new data to improve the programme's ability to read faces.
Professor Robinson added: "Our research could enable websites to tailor advertising or products to your mood." For example, he explained, software linked to a webcam could process a person's image, encode the correct emotional state and transmit the information to a website, which could then display products or advertising.
Dashboard aid The technology is also being developed for use in cars to improve driver safety. The team is recording the faces of volunteers in driving situations and monitoring facial movements to identify more complex expressions linked to confusion, boredom or tiredness.
"We are working with a big car company and they envision this being employed in cars within five years," Professor Robinson said, adding that a camera could be built into the dashboard.
The team is also working with colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to develop a wearable version of the system, to help those with conditions, such as autism and Asperger's syndrome, who have particular difficulty in reading other people's facial expressions and emotions.
The headset, which is at its first prototype stage, would interpret other people's moods and communicate those to the wearer.
The Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition runs from Monday 3 July to Thursday 6 July at The Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
learning curve ...
Today it was really interesting coz I got to know a lot about whatz going on in my company :) not politically but technically ... because it was a day of information sharing within our team which was pretty interesting ....
Even though I didn't give any presentation for the day, I was really impressed with all the presenters they did their best to give the best out of 'em applauds to all ...
I learned three things at the end of the day
1. When you give a presentation - be humorous
2. Be thoroughly prepared ... always have 2-3 backup plans even if the primary and secondary plans is a debacle
3. Have lots of pictures in your presentation so that people know what you are talking.
Well even though I have done many presentations in my career, I still have tough time in making others laugh because I am not good at that, anyways I will get there one day ...
Even though I didn't give any presentation for the day, I was really impressed with all the presenters they did their best to give the best out of 'em applauds to all ...
I learned three things at the end of the day
1. When you give a presentation - be humorous
2. Be thoroughly prepared ... always have 2-3 backup plans even if the primary and secondary plans is a debacle
3. Have lots of pictures in your presentation so that people know what you are talking.
Well even though I have done many presentations in my career, I still have tough time in making others laugh because I am not good at that, anyways I will get there one day ...
Krishnamurti: On War
My friend directed me to read this article it is very impressive, kudos to my buddy Faisal oh by the way he is my colleague at work ... anyways letz get to the article ...
Questioner: How can we solve our present political chaos and the crisis in the world? Is there anything an individual can do to stop the impending war?
Krishnamurti: War is the spectacular and bloody projection of our everyday life, is it not?War is merely an outward expression of our inward state, an enlargement of our daily action. It is more spectacular, more bloody, more destructive, but it is the collective result of our individual activities. Therefore, you and I are responsible for war and what can we do to stop it? Obviously the ever-impending war cannot be stopped by you and me, because it is already in movement; it is already taking place, though at present chiefly on the psychological level. As it is already in movement, it cannot be stopped- the issues are too many, too great, and are already committed. But you and I, seeing that the house is on fire, can understand the causes of that fire, can go away from it and build in a new place with different materials that are not combustible, that will not produce other wars. That is all that we can do. You and I can see what creates wars, and if we are interested in stopping wars, then we can begin to transform ourselves, who are the causes of war.
An American lady came to see me a couple of years ago, during the war. She said she had lost her son in Italy and that she had another son aged sixteen whom she wanted to save; so we talked the thing over. I suggested to her that to save her son she had to cease to be an American; she had to cease to be greedy, cease piling up wealth, seeking power, domination, and be morally simple – not merely simple in clothes, in outward things, but simple in her thoughts and feelings, in her relationships. She said,” That is too much. You are asking far too much. I cannot do it, because circumstances are too powerful for me to alter.” Therefore she was responsible for the destruction of her son.
Circumstances can be controlled by us, because we have created the circumstances. Society is the product of relationship, society changes; merely to rely on legislation, on compulsion, for the transformation of outward society, while remaining inwardly corrupt, while continuing inwardly to seek power, position, domination, is to destroy the outward, however carefully and scientifically built. That which is inward is always overcoming the outward.
What causes war – religious, political or economic? Obviously belief, either in nationalism, in an ideology, or in a particular dogma. If we had no belief but goodwill, love and consideration between us, then there would be no wars. But we are fed on beliefs, ideas and dogmas and therefore we breed discontent. The present crisis is of an exceptional nature and we as human beings must either pursue the path of constant conflict and continuous wars, which are the result of our everyday action, or else see the causes of war and turn our back upon them.
Obviously what causes war is the desire for power, position, prestige, money; also the disease called nationalism, the worship of a flag; and the disease of organized religion, the worship of a dogma. All these are the causes of war; if you as an individual belong to any of the organized religions, if you are greedy for power, if you are envious, you are bound to produce a society which will result in destruction. So again it depends upon you and not on the leaders – not on so-called statesmen and all the rest of them. It depends upon you and me but we do not seem to realize that. If once we really felt the responsibility of our own actions, how quickly we could bring to an end all these wars, this appalling misery! But you see, we are indifferent. We have three meals a day, we have our jobs, we have our bank account, big or little, and we say, “For God’s sake, don’t disturb us, leave us alone”. The higher up we are, the more we want security, permanency, tranquility, the more we want to be left alone, to maintain things fixed as they are; but they cannot be maintained as they are, because there is nothing to maintain. Everything is disintegrating. We do not want to face these things, we do not want to face the fact that you and I are responsible for wars. You and I may talk about peace, have conferences, sit round a table and discuss, but inwardly, psychologically, we want power, position, we are bound by beliefs, by dogmas, for which we are willing to die and destroy each other. Do you think such men, you and I, can have peace in the world? To have peace, we must be peaceful; to live peacefully means not to create antagonism. Peace is not an ideal. To me, an ideal is merely an escape, an avoidance of what is, a contradiction of what is. An ideal prevents direct action upon what is - which we will go into presently, in another talk. [not on this website] But to have peace, we will have to love, we will have to begin, not to live an ideal life, but to see things as they are and act upon them, transform them. As long as each one of us is seeking psychological security, the physiological security we need – food, clothing and shelter – is destroyed. We are seeking psychological security, which does not exist; and we seek it, if we can, through power, through position, through titles, names – all of which is destroying physical security. This is an obvious fact, if you look at it.
To bring about peace in the world, to stop all wars, there must be a revolution in the individual, in you and me. Economic revolution without this inward revolution is meaningless, for hunger is the result of the maladjustment of economic conditions produced by our psychological states – greed, envy, ill-will and possessiveness. To put an end to sorrow, to hunger, to war, there must be a psychological revolution and few of us are willing to face that. We will discuss peace, plan legislation, create new leagues, the United Nations and so on and on; but we will not win peace because we will not give up our position, our authority, our money, our properties, our stupid lives. To rely on others is utterly futile; others cannot bring us peace. No leader is going to give us peace, no government, no army, no country. What will bring peace is inward transformation which will lead to outward action. Inward transformation is not isolation, is not a withdrawal from outward action. On the contrary, there can be right action only when there is right thinking and there is no right thinking when there is no self-knowledge. Without knowing yourself, there is no peace.To put an end to outward war, you must begin to put an end to war in yourself. Some of you will nod your heads and say, “ I agree”, and go outside and do exactly the same as you have been doing for the last ten or twenty years. Your agreement is merely verbal and has no significance, for the world miseries and wars are not going to be stopped by your casual assent. They will be stopped only when you realize the danger, when you realize your responsibility, when you do not leave it to somebody else. If you realize the suffering, if you see the urgency of immediate action and do not postpone, then you will transform yourself; peace will come only when you yourself are peaceful, when you yourself are at peace with your neighbour.
Questioner: Why do men fight?
Krisnamurti: why do young boys fight? You sometimes fight with your brother, or other boys here, don’t you? Why? You fight over a toy. Perhaps another boy has taken your ball, or your book and therefore you fight. Grown-up people fight for exactly the same reason, only their toys are position, wealth and power. If you want power and I also want power, we fight, and that is why nations go to war. It is as simple as that, only philosophers, politicians, and the so-called religious people complicate it. You know, it is a great art to have an abundance of knowledge and experience-to know the richness of life, the beauty of existence, the struggles, the miseries, the laughter, the tears- and yet keep your mind very simple; and you can have a simple mind only when you know how to love.
Questioner: How can we solve our present political chaos and the crisis in the world? Is there anything an individual can do to stop the impending war?
Krishnamurti: War is the spectacular and bloody projection of our everyday life, is it not?War is merely an outward expression of our inward state, an enlargement of our daily action. It is more spectacular, more bloody, more destructive, but it is the collective result of our individual activities. Therefore, you and I are responsible for war and what can we do to stop it? Obviously the ever-impending war cannot be stopped by you and me, because it is already in movement; it is already taking place, though at present chiefly on the psychological level. As it is already in movement, it cannot be stopped- the issues are too many, too great, and are already committed. But you and I, seeing that the house is on fire, can understand the causes of that fire, can go away from it and build in a new place with different materials that are not combustible, that will not produce other wars. That is all that we can do. You and I can see what creates wars, and if we are interested in stopping wars, then we can begin to transform ourselves, who are the causes of war.
An American lady came to see me a couple of years ago, during the war. She said she had lost her son in Italy and that she had another son aged sixteen whom she wanted to save; so we talked the thing over. I suggested to her that to save her son she had to cease to be an American; she had to cease to be greedy, cease piling up wealth, seeking power, domination, and be morally simple – not merely simple in clothes, in outward things, but simple in her thoughts and feelings, in her relationships. She said,” That is too much. You are asking far too much. I cannot do it, because circumstances are too powerful for me to alter.” Therefore she was responsible for the destruction of her son.
Circumstances can be controlled by us, because we have created the circumstances. Society is the product of relationship, society changes; merely to rely on legislation, on compulsion, for the transformation of outward society, while remaining inwardly corrupt, while continuing inwardly to seek power, position, domination, is to destroy the outward, however carefully and scientifically built. That which is inward is always overcoming the outward.
What causes war – religious, political or economic? Obviously belief, either in nationalism, in an ideology, or in a particular dogma. If we had no belief but goodwill, love and consideration between us, then there would be no wars. But we are fed on beliefs, ideas and dogmas and therefore we breed discontent. The present crisis is of an exceptional nature and we as human beings must either pursue the path of constant conflict and continuous wars, which are the result of our everyday action, or else see the causes of war and turn our back upon them.
Obviously what causes war is the desire for power, position, prestige, money; also the disease called nationalism, the worship of a flag; and the disease of organized religion, the worship of a dogma. All these are the causes of war; if you as an individual belong to any of the organized religions, if you are greedy for power, if you are envious, you are bound to produce a society which will result in destruction. So again it depends upon you and not on the leaders – not on so-called statesmen and all the rest of them. It depends upon you and me but we do not seem to realize that. If once we really felt the responsibility of our own actions, how quickly we could bring to an end all these wars, this appalling misery! But you see, we are indifferent. We have three meals a day, we have our jobs, we have our bank account, big or little, and we say, “For God’s sake, don’t disturb us, leave us alone”. The higher up we are, the more we want security, permanency, tranquility, the more we want to be left alone, to maintain things fixed as they are; but they cannot be maintained as they are, because there is nothing to maintain. Everything is disintegrating. We do not want to face these things, we do not want to face the fact that you and I are responsible for wars. You and I may talk about peace, have conferences, sit round a table and discuss, but inwardly, psychologically, we want power, position, we are bound by beliefs, by dogmas, for which we are willing to die and destroy each other. Do you think such men, you and I, can have peace in the world? To have peace, we must be peaceful; to live peacefully means not to create antagonism. Peace is not an ideal. To me, an ideal is merely an escape, an avoidance of what is, a contradiction of what is. An ideal prevents direct action upon what is - which we will go into presently, in another talk. [not on this website] But to have peace, we will have to love, we will have to begin, not to live an ideal life, but to see things as they are and act upon them, transform them. As long as each one of us is seeking psychological security, the physiological security we need – food, clothing and shelter – is destroyed. We are seeking psychological security, which does not exist; and we seek it, if we can, through power, through position, through titles, names – all of which is destroying physical security. This is an obvious fact, if you look at it.
To bring about peace in the world, to stop all wars, there must be a revolution in the individual, in you and me. Economic revolution without this inward revolution is meaningless, for hunger is the result of the maladjustment of economic conditions produced by our psychological states – greed, envy, ill-will and possessiveness. To put an end to sorrow, to hunger, to war, there must be a psychological revolution and few of us are willing to face that. We will discuss peace, plan legislation, create new leagues, the United Nations and so on and on; but we will not win peace because we will not give up our position, our authority, our money, our properties, our stupid lives. To rely on others is utterly futile; others cannot bring us peace. No leader is going to give us peace, no government, no army, no country. What will bring peace is inward transformation which will lead to outward action. Inward transformation is not isolation, is not a withdrawal from outward action. On the contrary, there can be right action only when there is right thinking and there is no right thinking when there is no self-knowledge. Without knowing yourself, there is no peace.To put an end to outward war, you must begin to put an end to war in yourself. Some of you will nod your heads and say, “ I agree”, and go outside and do exactly the same as you have been doing for the last ten or twenty years. Your agreement is merely verbal and has no significance, for the world miseries and wars are not going to be stopped by your casual assent. They will be stopped only when you realize the danger, when you realize your responsibility, when you do not leave it to somebody else. If you realize the suffering, if you see the urgency of immediate action and do not postpone, then you will transform yourself; peace will come only when you yourself are peaceful, when you yourself are at peace with your neighbour.
Questioner: Why do men fight?
Krisnamurti: why do young boys fight? You sometimes fight with your brother, or other boys here, don’t you? Why? You fight over a toy. Perhaps another boy has taken your ball, or your book and therefore you fight. Grown-up people fight for exactly the same reason, only their toys are position, wealth and power. If you want power and I also want power, we fight, and that is why nations go to war. It is as simple as that, only philosophers, politicians, and the so-called religious people complicate it. You know, it is a great art to have an abundance of knowledge and experience-to know the richness of life, the beauty of existence, the struggles, the miseries, the laughter, the tears- and yet keep your mind very simple; and you can have a simple mind only when you know how to love.
Out Sourcing
Clip:
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=1674437
My comments about the clip
Go India!!!!!
He was 100% right about India emerging as a great country in terms of economy. This is a good sign, and he also did have an interview with an Indian born american and he mentioned that everything starts from the streets "eventhough outside it looks shabby but inside we have a pentium PC". This is very true.
But, let us take a step back and think in the other direction for a moment. Technologically, economically India is doing great, well and good but what about millions of people who are still laid back? what about people who are still behind the line of poverty? According to recent survey, Indian poverty is still over 60% which is a lot for a country like ours. The video was concentrated completely on the outsourcing and how people in India are connected to it.
But my concern here is how can we overcome the big HOLE of poverty in India. As you all know the rich is getting richer and the poor is always poor, as mentioned in the video the journalist asked the women in the slums of Bombay as to how many years she was living there and she mentioned "25", well wait a minute this is something to think about. When India is emerging so good why does a family have to live in the slums with no improvement in their life for 25 years. I feel that instead of us concentrating more and more on how to get connected with the western world, we all should start thinking as to how we can overcome this big HOLE called Poverty HOLE.
Also, I personally feel that India is getting more dependent upon the western countries like US, UK for projects which is a very bad sign. The more dependent we get, the more vulnerable we are to debacle. The reason being now the economy is bad all over the world, but this is not going to be the same all future, this will change and the economy will get better in countries like US, UK etc. When this happens, these countries will mind their own ass and stop outsourcing .... in this case India will be in a deep shit, back to square one as we were in 1990's where in our economy was OK. When India gets more and more dependent on western countries I have a sense of feeling that we are being USED for other countries economic growth which is good as well as bad.
We should start thinking in the direction of being a completely Independent country. The more independent we are the more brighter the future is for us. I know this is a long long long way but feel its completely plausible.
Well I always wanted to share it with my friends, foes, relatives, etc etc ...
Anyways at the end Go India!!!! and Bharath matha ki jai!!!!
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=1674437
My comments about the clip
Go India!!!!!
He was 100% right about India emerging as a great country in terms of economy. This is a good sign, and he also did have an interview with an Indian born american and he mentioned that everything starts from the streets "eventhough outside it looks shabby but inside we have a pentium PC". This is very true.
But, let us take a step back and think in the other direction for a moment. Technologically, economically India is doing great, well and good but what about millions of people who are still laid back? what about people who are still behind the line of poverty? According to recent survey, Indian poverty is still over 60% which is a lot for a country like ours. The video was concentrated completely on the outsourcing and how people in India are connected to it.
But my concern here is how can we overcome the big HOLE of poverty in India. As you all know the rich is getting richer and the poor is always poor, as mentioned in the video the journalist asked the women in the slums of Bombay as to how many years she was living there and she mentioned "25", well wait a minute this is something to think about. When India is emerging so good why does a family have to live in the slums with no improvement in their life for 25 years. I feel that instead of us concentrating more and more on how to get connected with the western world, we all should start thinking as to how we can overcome this big HOLE called Poverty HOLE.
Also, I personally feel that India is getting more dependent upon the western countries like US, UK for projects which is a very bad sign. The more dependent we get, the more vulnerable we are to debacle. The reason being now the economy is bad all over the world, but this is not going to be the same all future, this will change and the economy will get better in countries like US, UK etc. When this happens, these countries will mind their own ass and stop outsourcing .... in this case India will be in a deep shit, back to square one as we were in 1990's where in our economy was OK. When India gets more and more dependent on western countries I have a sense of feeling that we are being USED for other countries economic growth which is good as well as bad.
We should start thinking in the direction of being a completely Independent country. The more independent we are the more brighter the future is for us. I know this is a long long long way but feel its completely plausible.
Well I always wanted to share it with my friends, foes, relatives, etc etc ...
Anyways at the end Go India!!!! and Bharath matha ki jai!!!!
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