Eyecatchers-24 : 'Bored Student Invents New Language' - LATWP

Booming Tongues: Bored Student invents new language

Toronto, Aug.29: In any language, Sonja Elen Kisa was depressed. The world was overwhelming, and the thoughts that swirled through her mind in French, English, German or Esperanto echoed that.

So Kisa, 28, a student and translator in Toronto, decided to create her own language, something simple that would help clarify her thinking. She called it Toki Pona - 'good language' - and gave it just 120 words.

"

Ale li pona," she told herself, "Everything will be OK."

Kisa eventually sorted through her thoughts and, to her great surprise, her language took off, with more than 100 speakers today, singing Toki Pona songs, writing Toki Pona poems and chatting with Toki Pona words.

It is all part of a weirdly Babel-esque boom of new languages. Once the private arena practice of J.R.R.Tolkien, Esperanto speakers and grunting Klingon fanatics, invented languages have flourished on the Internet and begun creeping into the public domain.

The Website Langmaker.com now lists more than 1,000 language inventors and 1,902 made-up languages, from Ayvarith to Zyem.

The language inventors have, of course, created a word to describe what they do - conlang,' short for constructed languages.

In this realm of art, Toki Pona is white canvas with scattered brush strokes of primary colors.

Kisa created Toki Pona as an exercise in minimalism, looking for the core vocabulary necessary to communicate. With only 120 words, a Toki Pona speaker must combine words to express more complicated ideas. For example, the Toki Pona phrase for 'friend' is jan pona (the 'j' sounds like a 'y'), literally 'good person'.

Kisa, who is studying speech language therapy, tried to focus Toki Pona's vocabulary on basic, positive concepts. "It has sort of a Zen or Taoist nature to it," Kisa said.

Tolkien liked to call invented language his 'secret vice.' He spent hours at this hobby, designing grammars and modifying words from Latin, Finnish, Welsh and others for his languages. Eventually, his languages needed tongues to speak them, and they needed a place to live. Thus Middle-Earth was born - LATWP

(Courtesy: The New Indian Express, Madurai, Aug.30, 2007)

Eyecatchers-23 : 'Life on Mars' - Reuters

ANCIENT BACTERIA COULD POINT TO LIFE ON MARS

London, Aug.28: Ancient bacteria are able to survive nearly half a million years in harsh, frozen conditions, researchers said on Monday in a study that adds to arguments that permafrost environments on Mars could harbour life.

The findings also represent the oldest independently authenticated DNA to date obtained from living cells and could offer clues to better understand ageing, said Eske Willerslev, a researcher at the University of Copenhagen who led the study.

"When it can live half a million years on Earth, it makes it very promising it could survive on Mars for a very long time," Willerslev said. "Permafrost would be an excellent place to look for life on Mars."

The international team, which also included researchers from US, Canada, Russia and Sweden, tested the microbes living up to 10 metres deep in permafrost collected from Northern Canada, the Yukon, Siberia and Antartica.

When a cell dies, its DNA fragments into pieces but the samples the researchers studied were all very long strands - evidence the cells were able to continuously repair genetic material and remain alive, said Willerslev, whose findings were published in the Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences.

"These cells are active cells repairing DNA to deal with continuous degradation of the genomes, which is the genetic material that is key to life," he said in a telephone interview. "It is the same thing with humans."

The scientists do not yet know the mechanism driving the continuous repair but Willerslav said the cells survived by eating nutrients like nitrogen and phosphate lodged in the permafrost.

This is interesting because the temperature in Mars is much colder with more stable temperatures, representing an even better environment to sustain this kind of life, he added.

While most scientists think our neighbour in the solar system is lifeless, the discovery of microbes on Earth that can exist in environments previously thought too hostile has fuelled debate over extraterrestrial life.

Researchers had known these microbes could survive for a long time without food but until now there was little agreement on how long they could live, Willerslev said. Knowing this, and eventually pinpointing the key to the longevity, may also help scientists better understand the ageing process, he added.

"It is interesting to see why some cells can survive for a very long time," he said. "That can be a key for understanding ageing." - Reuters

(Courtesy: The New Indian Express, Madurai, Aug.29, 2007)

Eyecatchers-22 : 'First Ecological Prison' - The New Indian Express

Norway put on show on Monday what it calls 'the world's first ecological prison,' where inmates play important roles in daily operations and learn to do their bit to protect the environment.

The Bastoey Island low-security prison uses solar panels for energy, produces most of its own food, recycles everything it can and tries to reduce its carbon footprint. (Agencies)

(Courtesy: The New Indian Express, Madurai, Aug.29, 2007)

Eyecatchers-21 : 'Sugar Batteries to Power Walkman!' - The Hindu

Tokyo: Bread and potatoes are staple sources of human energy, and now a carbohydrate diet is set also to power the Walkman portable music device.

Japanese technology company Sony, seeking to project an eco-friendly image, said it has developed a prototype battery cell that generates electricity from carbohydrates and sugar.

The test cells have achieved an output of 50 milliwatts, enough to play a Walkman, Sony said.

In a demonstration here on Thursday, a Sony employee poured a sugary sports drink to power a music player and its speakers.

The company said it came up with the battery essentially by studying how living creatures generate energy.

Sugar batteries would be biodegradable and the source material can be found in plants grown around the world.

Plants regenerate through photosynthesis, "underlining the potential for sugar-based bio batteries as an ecologically friendly energy device of the future," a Sony statement said.

The company said it would continue to develop the prototype and study ways to put it into practical use.

Sony, which changed the way the world listened to music with the Walkman, has vowed to rededicate itself to innovation after suffering a troubled patch with the success of Apple's iPod.

Sony was hit last year by the recall of millions of laptop computer batteries over fears that they could catch fire - AFP

(Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai, Saturday, Aug.25, 2007)

A Thought for Today-56: August 21, 2007

"Truth indeed rather alleviates than hurts, and will always bear up against falsehood, as oil does above water" - Miguel de Cervantes

A Thought for Today-55: August 20, 2007

"For every failure, there's an alternative course of action. You just have to find it. When you come to a roadblock, take a detour" - Mary Kay Ash

A Thought for Today-54: August 19, 2007

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive" - Gil Bailie

A Thought for Today-53: August 18, 2007

"Everything you are against weakens you. Everything you are for empowers you" -Wayne Dyer, American Psychotherapist & Author

A Thought for Today-52: August 17, 2007

"A dream is your creative vision for your life in the future. A goal is what specifically you intend to make happen. Dreams and goals should be just out of your present reach but not out of sight. Dreams and goals are coming attractions in your life." - Joseph Campbell

A Thought for Today-51: August 16, 2007

"Peace without justice is tyranny" — William Allen White, American writer and newspaper editor (1868-1944)

A Thought for Today-50: August 15, 2007

Desperation is sometimes as powerful an inspirer as genius - Benjamin Disraeli

A Thought for Today-49: August 14, 2007

"Among those whom I like, I find this common denominator, all of them make me laugh." - W H Auden

Eyecatchers-20 : ' In Death, Woman gives Life to Three' - UNI

New Delhi, Aug.27 : A woman suffering from fatal brain tumour, gave life to three other persons in her death through multiple organ transplant.

Leela Devi, 26, lost the battle with her brain tumour on Sunday. But showing the courage and compassion, the husband, Lance Naik GS Bisht of 26 Rashtriya Rifles, consented to donate her organs after she was pronounced brain dead.

A combined team of over 40-doctors and para-medical staff from army hospital and base hospital here on Sunday successfully transplanted her liver into a serving soldier with terminal cirrhosis due to Hepatitis B and one kidney into a 12-year-old daughter of a soldier suffering from end-stage kidney disease.

The other kidney was handed over to AIIMS, where it was transplanted into a 45-year-old with chronic kidney failure. Organ donation after brain death is rare in India. The armed forces launched the Armed Forces Organ Retrieval and Transplantation Authority (AORTA) earlier this year to increase awareness on organ donation. According to Col. A.K.Seth, director of AORTA, hundreds of serving personnel and their families have already pledged to donate their organs following a sustained campaign.

(Courtesy: The New Indian Express, Madurai, Aug.28, 2007)

Eyecatchers-19 : ' A Baby named '@'

Beijing: A Chinese coupled tried to name their baby "@" , claiming the character used in e-mail addresses echoed their love for the child, an official trying to whip the national language into line said.

The unusual name stands out especially in Chinese, which has no alphabet and instead uses tens of thousands of multi-stroke characters to represent words.

While the "@" symbol is familiar to Chinese e-mail users, they often use the English word 'at' to sound it out - which with a drawn out 'T' sounds something like 'ai ta', or 'love him', to Mandarin speakers - World Vignettes - Agencies

(Courtesy: The New Indian Express, Madurai, Aug.17, 2007)

Eyecatchers-18 : 'Motilal Nehru's Bank Account' by Piyush Srivastava

It is a savings account that no one has operated for the past 76 years. The family members forgot all about it as did the State Bank of India, Main Katcheri Branch, Allahabad, till someone recently stumbled upon the name of the account holder: Motilal Nehru - freedom fighter, the father of the first Prime Minister of the country, Jawaharlal Nehru, the patriarch of India's most influential political dynasty.

Opened in 1897, the account still has Rs.2,650/-. Incidentally, during the last 200 years the bank has destroyed many of its old records and ledgers, but somehow 1897 and 1907 survived. "As we say, history is eternal, so is the record which informed us about the glorious past of our bank," said K.Vaidyanathan, the AGM of the Bank.

(Courtesy: The New Indian Express, Aug.17, 2007)

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Free Essays, Term Papers, Articles, Summaries & Abstracts

Eyecatchers-17 : 'Scientists seek ways to feed the world', The New Indian Express, Aug.18, 2007

On an agricultural research station, south of Manila, a group of scientists are battling against time to breed new varieties of rice as global warming threatens one of the world's major sources of food. According to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), more than than half the world's 6.6 billion people depend on rice for nourishment.

Indian plant geneticist, Kumar Singh, grows 2000 rice varieties inside giant metal cabinets, the seedlings sprouting above styrofoam trays soaked with varying degrees of brine to simulate the seawaters that threaten to engulf rice-growing areas over the next century.

The three IRRI scientists (Moroccan crop physiologist, Rachid Serraj; Chinese scientist, Peng Shaobing and Indian plant geneticist, Kumar Singh) are entrusted with ensuring that the half of mankind who depend on rice will not go hungry as rising temperatures and ocean levels threaten one of the world's most important crops.

(Excerpted from 'World Panorama' of The New Indian Express (Madurai) of Aug.18, 2007)

Eyecatchers-16 : 'Blu-ray Disc' : Education Express, The New Indian Express, Aug.17, 2007

With the introduction of high storage Blu-ray Discs, the music and film industry is set for yet another revolution.

What about the idea of getting eight of your favourite movies copied in single disc? Wondering how it is possible? The introduction of VCDs and DVDs had revolutionalised the film and music world and the industry is set for yet another revolution with the introduction of Blu-ray Discs (BD). With their high-storage capacity, Blu-ray Discs can hold and play large quantities of high-definition video and audio, as well as photos, data and other digital content.

What is Blu-ray?

Blu-ray, also known as Blu-ray Disc (BD), is the name of a next-generation optical disc format jointly developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), a group of world’s leading consumer electronics, p[ersonal computer and media manufacturers (including Apple, Dell, Hitachi, HP, JVC, LG, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TDK and Thomson). The format was developed to enable recording, rewriting and playback of high-definition video (HD), as well as storing large amounts of data. This extra capacity combined with the use of advanced video and audio codecs will offer consumers an unprecedented HD experience.

A single-layer Blu-ray disc can hold 25 GB data and a dual-layer, 50 GB. Over nine hours of high-definition (HD) video can be stored on a 50 GB - BD. BDs are more durable and less susceptible to dust, fingerprints and even scratches.

(Compiled by Edex Team)

(Excerpted from ‘Education Express’, Supplement to The New Indian Express, August 17, 2007)

Small is Beautiful

When we light a small earthen lamp, without a question and with least hesitation it sheds its humble light. It does not look around to watch if any other lamp is shedding its lustre. It is not dismayed also if no other light is burning in the vicinity.

It is content to be given to shed its own little light. It is not worried how much more darkness need to be removed from over the world. Is it a small privilege to be given to remove even a jot of darkness?

The small is beautiful. Have you not seen a tiny grass flower? Natured needed to exercise all its talents to create that tiny flower, complete in its own size of glory. If little things had no meaning they would not be there. Scientists have by now told us how much power, mystery and glory are there in in the tiny atom.

Let us not be nervous about our smallness. For, without grains of sands, even the loftiest monuments could not be built. In fact, the ultimate brick of the greatest monuments is the sand particle.

There are people who think too highly of themselves. They have what is called a superiority complex. That abominable thing is too bad for themselves, and not good for others.

There are, again, those who think too lowly of themselves. They have an inferiority complex. This is worse than the superiority complex. They think that they are good for nothing. By continuously thinking that way, they really become so.

Such people can never become good citizens. When we discuss momentous issues concerning mankind, and the responsibility of doing our mite, they throw up their hands and dogmatically declare that small persons like them can do nothing about these great problems.

So they shy away even from discussing these problems. Taking shelter behind their so-called or supposed smallness they take an inverse pride in declaring that they have nothing to do with the ambitious scheme of solving world problems.

We should clearly understand that even a small lamp has the capacity and the privilege to give light. Often enough, these days, thanks to frequent power shortages, we are given the opportunity to appreciate the usefulness of the good old, humble candles. When proud powerhouses fail, humble candles give light. Even today the basic measure of all magnificent light is the candle power!

If thousand suns do not suddenly burst forth in our horizon, there is no reason to be disheartened. In fact that would be too tragic for our planet. Let us light thousand small lights.

Enlightened citizenship is every individual’s responsibility. That is the spirit of the times. That is the basic assumption of democracy. This is also the teaching of Vedanta. You are, whoever you may be, the centre of light, you are verily that! "Tat Tvamasi!" True enlightened citizenship cannot be worked for in lesser terms. We can gain nothing by letting go our grip on the highest truth, whereas by remaining anchored in the highest truth we can eventually enlighten ourselves and others.

Swami Vivekananda teaches: You are part of the Infinite. This is your nature. Hence you are your brother’s keeper. Not one can be happy until all are happy. When you hurt anyone, you hurt yourself, for you and your brother are one. …Each is responsible for the evil anywhere in the world. He is indeed a yogi who sees himself in the whole universe and the universe within himself.

Enlightened citizenship is very much a home-grown affair, in the sense that your home can become a light-house. The light that is within you, when that shines without also, that is enlightened citizenship.

The greatest legacy that Gandhiji has left to mankind is to have shown by his own example that each human being has a direct responsibility to world peace by the progressive day-to-day transformation of the individual soul. In fact, for all practical purposes, enlightened citizenship is a spiritual adventure.

Courtesy: “ENLIGHTENED CITIZENSHIP” - A Ramakrishna Math, Delhi, publication

A Thought for Today-48: August 13, 2007

"Diamonds are nothing more than chunks of coal that stuck to their jobs." - Malcolm Forbes