Never blame anyone in your life. Good people give you Happiness. Bad people give your Experience. Worst people give you a Lesson and best people give you Memories.
This blog has become a sort of personal-cum-public diary. As for its contents, some are meant for me and my friends and relatives; others are for the public. This blog will have only positive, ennobling, elevating, encouraging and uplifting thoughts/ideas/materials. Whoever visits should feel happy and should be able to pick up some good ideas/thoughts/links. In short, "NOTHING NEGATIVE" is my motto.(Grateful thanks to Jon Sullivan and Public-Domain-Photos.com for the background photo)
Monday, October 16, 2017
Friday, October 13, 2017
India Watch-24: 560 princely states merge to form the Union of India
Just
after birth of Independent India, we executed the world’s largest merger and
acquisition activity, when 560 small princely states joined (merged) into the
Union of India. Hardly any blood was spilt, nor any bullet fired.
Eyecatchers-189: Major Tax Fugitives of India
Cities
with the richest tax fugitives
The
Times of India has published an infographic in its column of Oct.12, 2017 the following,
quoting the Income Tax Dept as its source:
Under
its ‘Name and Shame’ policy, the income tax department publishes the list of
income tax and corporate tax defaulters. So far it has named 96 defaulters.
They all have tax arrears above Rs 1 crore, but are either not traceable or
their assets are inadequate to cover the tax dues. Hyderabad was the last known
address of 24 of these 96 defaulters, followed by Ahmedabad and Mumbai.
Tax
defaulters and Tax arrrears:
Excerpt
from The Times of India, Oct.12, 2017
Grateful
thanks to The Times of India
Facts and Figures-86: Employment in IT in India
As of the year 2012, IT sector in India provided direct employment to 2.8 million and indirect employment to 8.9 million individuals. Considering the consistent growth of about 13% per year on workforce and revenues, we can assume that by the end of 2016 the entire IT sector will have close to 4.6 million direct employees and 14.5 million indirect employees in the sector.
Source: Quora.com
Grateful thanks to Quora.com
Source: Quora.com
Grateful thanks to Quora.com
Self-Improvement-158: Ikigai
Ikigai
Ikigai
is a Japanese concept that means "a reason for being." It is similar
to the French phrase Raison d'être. Everyone, according to Japanese culture,
has an ikigai. Finding it requires a deep and often lengthy search of self.
Such a search is important to the cultural belief that discovering one's ikigai
brings satisfaction and meaning to life. [Examples include work, hobbies and
raising children].
In
the culture of Okinawa, ikigai is thought of as "a reason to get up in the
morning"; that is, a reason to enjoy life. In a TED Talk, Dan Buettner
suggested ikigai as one of the reasons people in the area had such long lives.
The
word ikigai is usually used to indicate the source of value in one's life or
the things that make one's life worthwhile. Secondly, the word is used to refer
to mental and spiritual circumstances under which individuals feel that their
lives are valuable. It's not necessarily linked to one's economic status or the
present state of society. Even if a person feels that the present is dark, but
they have a goal in mind, they may feel ikigai. Behaviours that make us feel
ikigai are not actions we are forced to take—these are natural and spontaneous
actions.
In
the article named Ikigai — jibun no kanosei, kaikasaseru katei ("Ikigai:
the process of allowing the self's possibilities to blossom") Kobayashi
Tsukasa says that "people can feel real ikigai only when, on the basis of
personal maturity, the satisfaction of various desires, love and happiness,
encounters with others, and a sense of the value of life, they proceed toward
self-realization."
Excerpt
from Wikipedia.
Grateful
thanks to Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
A Thought for Today-685: Thornton Wilder
Seek the
lofty by reading, hearing and seeing great work at some moment every day - Thornton
Wilder
Q&A-1: What percentage of the human body is bacteria?
What percentage of the human body is bacteria?
Jun 13, 2012
3 percent
The human body contains trillions of microorganisms — outnumbering human cells by 10 to 1. Because of their small size, however, microorganisms make up only about 1 to 3 percent of the body's mass (in a 200-pound adult, that's 2 to 6 pounds of bacteria), but play a vital role in human health.
Source: Google.com
Thursday, October 12, 2017
India Watch-23: The Right to Vote
We are the only
nation in the world which gave every adult the right to vote from its first
day. In the US the world’s second largest democracy this right was given more
than 150 years after their independence.
Courtesy: Facebook
Eyecatchers-188: 2015 floods recharged Chennai's groundwater, but polluted it
2015
floods recharged Chennai's groundwater, but polluted it
Ram
Sundaram | TNN | Oct 12, 2017, 08:08 IST
Researchers
collected water samples from 22 spots along the adyar after the floods and in
April 2016.
The
2015 floods may have recharged aquifers across the city, but it con taminated
the groundwater with bacteria and chemical ions, a re search by Anna University
has found. Bacterial counts and chemical ions in groundwater samples collected
across the city exceeded Bureau of Indian Standard's (BIS) recommended limits,
concludes the research recently published in `Nature'.
Researchers
found presence of V Cholerae and S Typhi among other pathogens, which can cause
cholera, typhoid, urinary tract and respiratory infections. These pathogens,
when isolated from groundwater, have shown resistance to widely prescribed
antibiotics like ceftriaxone, doxycycline and nalidixic acid.
Continued
showers during the last fortnight of November 2015 and unprecedented rainfall
on December 1 in the catchment area of Adyar inundated the bank of the river
the next day . Samples were collected from 22 areas along the river soon after
the floods and six months later in April 2016.
The
research team during field visits found that several wells located on either
side of the banks were flooded in December 2015 and in all the bore wells, the
annular space between the casing and discharge pipe was not securely protected
with water tight seals. One of the researchers, professor L Elango, said this led
to the direct entry of surface water into the ground through the annular space.
The
top few meters were highly weathered and turned into regolith, layer of
unconsolidated solid material covering the bedrock, and a thin layer of
alluvium (3m to 5 m) formed in some regions along the river, the research paper
observed. "This supported sorption [a process by which a substance becomes
attached to another] of contaminated urban run-off carrying sewage, water from
industrial and domestic sources, printed papers, metal, batteries, oil and
paint," said G Gowrisankar, who was also a part of this study .
The
team compared the groundwater quality with drinking water standards specified
by BIS and suggested that groundwater not only in flood-affected areas, but
also in some non-affected locations were unsuitable for direct domestic use.
Concern for water quality based on chemical constituents was mainly due to
calcium (>200 miligraml) and sulphate (400 mgl) as they exceeded the BIS
limits.
The
study found that the total bacterial count (TBC) in groundwater was high in
most of the affected locations. The runoff carrying domestic sewage entered the
contaminated Adyar river and increased microbial counts in groundwater of
affected areas. In non-affected regions, it was comparatively lower.Though
these pathogens isolated from the groundwater showed resistance to antibiotics,
namely ceftriaxone, doxycycline and nalidixic acid, they were sensitive to
others including chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin, and tetracycline,
the report concluded.
Courtesy:
The Times of India dated
Grateful
thanks to Mr.Ram Sundaram, TNN and The Times of India
Facts and Figures-85: Sivakasi Fireworks
SIVAKASI FIREWORKS
NOT SPARKLING!
No. of fireworks manufacturing units in
Sivakasi: 800
Annual Business Turnover: Rs.4000 crore
No. of people engaged in manufacturing
fireworks: 1.75 lakh
Courtesy: The Times of India
Self-Improvement-157: Create safe spaces for yourself....
Create safe spaces for yourself. Wrap yourself in goodness and warmth and love. Stay surrounded by people who are genuine - Think twice if you can't trust them with your heart. You are allowed to protect your peace. Be mindful and aware of all energy that you allow into your life - Alex Elle
A Thought for Today-684: Benjamin Disraeli
Nurture
great thoughts; for, you will never go higher than your thoughts – Benjamin
Disraeli
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Eyecatchers-187: Cracking the body clock code wins trio a Nobel Prize
Cracking the body clock code wins trio a Nobel Prize
Three Americans recognized for discovering the cellular gears that drive circadian rhythms
By Tina Hesman Saey and Aimee Cunningham, October 2, 2017
Discoveries about the molecular ups and downs of fruit flies’ daily lives have won Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.
These three Americans were honored October 2 by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm for their work in discovering important gears in the circadian clocks of animals. The trio will equally split the 9 million Swedish kronor prize — each taking home the equivalent of $367,000.
The researchers did their work in fruit flies. But “an awful lot of what was subsequently found out in the fruit flies turns out also to be true and of huge relevance to humans,” says John O’Neill, a circadian cell biologist at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England. Mammals, humans included, have circadian clocks that work with the same logic and many of the same gears found in fruit flies, say Jennifer Loros and Jay Dunlap, geneticists at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College.
Excerpt from Science News
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/cracking-body-clock-code-wins-trio-nobel-prize
Grateful thanks to ScienceNews.org
Three Americans recognized for discovering the cellular gears that drive circadian rhythms
By Tina Hesman Saey and Aimee Cunningham, October 2, 2017
Discoveries about the molecular ups and downs of fruit flies’ daily lives have won Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.
These three Americans were honored October 2 by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm for their work in discovering important gears in the circadian clocks of animals. The trio will equally split the 9 million Swedish kronor prize — each taking home the equivalent of $367,000.
The researchers did their work in fruit flies. But “an awful lot of what was subsequently found out in the fruit flies turns out also to be true and of huge relevance to humans,” says John O’Neill, a circadian cell biologist at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England. Mammals, humans included, have circadian clocks that work with the same logic and many of the same gears found in fruit flies, say Jennifer Loros and Jay Dunlap, geneticists at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College.
Excerpt from Science News
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/cracking-body-clock-code-wins-trio-nobel-prize
Grateful thanks to ScienceNews.org
Self-Improvement-156: GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK
GIVE YOURSELF
A BREAK
Stop
beating yourself up!
Everyone
makes mistakes, has setbacks and failures.
You don’t
come with a book on how to get it right all the time.
You will
fail sometimes, not because you planned to, but simply
Because you
are human. Failure is a part of creating
a great life.
-
Les Brown, tinybuddha.com
Gratful
thanks to Les Brown and tinybuddha.com
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
India Watch-22: The world's leading receiver of remittances
Remittances to India are money
transfers from non-resident Indians (NRIs) employed outside the country to
family, friends or relatives residing in India. India is the world's leading
receiver of remittances, claiming more than 12% of the world's remittances in
2015.
Remittances to India stood at US$68.91 billion
in 2015, accounting for over 4% of the country's GDP. As per the Ministry of
Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA), remittance is received from the approximately
25 million members of the Indian diaspora.
Source: Wikipedia
Grateful thanks to Wikipedia, the Free
Encyclopedia
Q&A-5: How many organisms are in the human body?
How many organisms are in the human
body?
Researchers hope the advance marks an
important step towards understanding how microbes help make humans human. The
human body contains about 100 trillion cells, but only maybe one in 10 of those
cells is actually — human. The rest are from bacteria, viruses and other
microorganisms.
Grateful thanks to Google, Jun 13, 2012
Facts and Figures-85: Incredible number of Lifeforms living on your skin
There are more lifeforms living on your
skin than there are people on the planet.
Eyecatchers-186: Supreme Court for 3-tier right to privacy: Intimate, private and public
Supreme Court for 3-tier right to
privacy: Intimate, private and public
Dhananjay Mahapatra| TNN | Updated:
Aug 3, 2017, 08:13 AM IST
HIGHLIGHTS
· 1st zone: It's concerning marriage, sexuality, relationships.
· 2nd zone: It involves imparting personal data through credit card, social networking sites, I-T declarations, etc.
· 3rd zone: Here, the privacy protection requires minimal regulation. The individual will retain his privacy to body & mind.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday
outlined a three-tier, graded approach to the question whether privacy is a
fundamental right by examining the issue through its intimate, private and
public aspects even as it reserved its verdict in the case.
Prior to completion
of the two-week-long hearing that attracted arguments for and against
conferring fundamental right status to privacy+ but which saw all parties
accepting its intrinsic importance for an individual, a nine-judge bench headed
by Chief Justice J S Khehar said privacy could be configured into three zones.
Justice D Y Chandrachud set out the tentative thought process and drew support
from Justice R F Nariman. He said,
"The first zone could be the most
intimate zone of privacy concerning marriage, sexuality, relations with family
and the law should frown upon any intrusion. The state could still intrude into
this intimate zone in extraordinary circumstances provided it met stringent
norms.
"The second zone would be the private zone, which involved parting
of personal data+ by use of credit card, social networking platforms, income
tax declarations. In this sphere, sharing of personal data by an individual
will be used only for the purpose for which it is shared by an individual.
"The third is the public zone where privacy protection requires minimal
regulation. Here, the personal data shared will not mean the right to privacy
is surrendered. The individual will retain his privacy to body and mind."
The formulation suggests right to privacy may not be unfettered.
Excerpt from The Times of India dated
Aug.3, 2017
Grateful thanks to Mr. Dhananjay Mahapatra and
The Times of India.
Self-Improvement-155: Speak Five Lines to Yourself Every Morning
* I am the Best
* I can Do It
* God is always with me
* I am a Winner
* Today is My Day
APJ Abdul Kalam
* I can Do It
* God is always with me
* I am a Winner
* Today is My Day
APJ Abdul Kalam
A Thought for Today-682: Celebrate Life!
Take chances. Tell the truth. Learn to say NO. Spend money on the things you love. Laugh till your stomach hurts. Dance even if you are too bad at it. Pose stupidly for photos. Be child-like. Celebrate this event called LIFE - Unknown
Wednesday, October 04, 2017
Q&A-4: Is it illegal to watch movies online for free?
It is not inherently illegal for the viewer to watch a movie online. On the other hand, downloading a copy onto your computer without some sort of license to do so is a violation of civil law and the downloader may be subject to a lawsuit from the copyright holder.
Courtesy: Google
India Watch-21: Best Brains of India
Sundar
Pichai – CEO, Google
Satya
Nadela – CEO, Microsoft
Thomas
Kurian – CEO, Oracle
Sajay
Kumar Jha – CEO, Global Foundries
Nikesh
Arora – CEO, Softbank Internet and Media
Francisco
D’Souza – CEO, Cognizant
Dinesh
Paliwal – CEO, Harman International
Sanjay
Mehrotra – CEO, SanDisk Corporation
George
Kurian – CEO, NetApp
Shantanu
Narayan – CEO, Adobe
Vinod
Dham - Founder, Pentium Chip
Vinod
Khosla – Founder, Sun Microsystems
Indira
Nui, CEO, Pepsi
Ajaypal
Singh Banga – CEO, Mastercard
Ivan
Menzes, CEO, Diageo, Biggest Alcoholic Beverage Co.
Rakesh
Kapoor, CEO, Reckitt Benkiser
L
N Mittal, Chairman, Arcelor Mittal Steels
The
list goes on…
One
in every three employee in Apple is an Indian
38%
Doctors in US are Indians
36%
of NASA scientists are Indians
36%
of Employees in Microsoft are Indians
28%
of Employees of IBM are Indians
Courtesy:
Himanshu Jain, Lecturer in Chemistry, Allen Classes, Kota
Gratefulthanks
to Mr.Himanshu Jain
Facts and Figures-84: India likely to be the Third Largest Economy in 10 years
India is expected to be a USD 6 trillion economy - the third largest in the world - in the next 10 years, majorly helped by digitisation, says a report.
For the full article:
The Hindu dated Sep.28, 2017
http://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/india-likely-to-be-third-largest-economy-in-10-years-morgan-stanley/article19768047.ece
For the full article:
The Hindu dated Sep.28, 2017
http://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/india-likely-to-be-third-largest-economy-in-10-years-morgan-stanley/article19768047.ece
Eyecatchers-185: Germany bans Meat at all Govt Functions
Barbara Hendricks, Germany's Federal Minister for Environment, issued a statement saying that hereafter only vegetarian food will be served at Govt functions and cited the environmental burden that intensive meat production places on the planet. She added that the Ministry has a duty to mitigate against the negative effects of meat consumption and must set an example. Animal agriculture accounts for a significant proportion of greenhouse gas emissions.
Self-Improvement-154: Seven Rules to be Happy
* Never Hate
* Don't Worry
* Live Simply
* Expect Little
* Give a Lot
* Always Smile
* Best of All Keep in Touch with God
* Don't Worry
* Live Simply
* Expect Little
* Give a Lot
* Always Smile
* Best of All Keep in Touch with God
A Thought for Today-682: Unknown
The most useful asset of a person is not a head full of knowledge. But a heart full of love with ears open to listen and hands willing to help.