Life has meaning, to find its meaning is my meat and drink - Robert Browning
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Facts and Figures-12: Internet
1. As of March 31, 2006, according to Internet World Status, over 1.02 billion people use the Internet.
2. Google Search Engine claims indexing 8.05 billion pages, whereas Yahoo claims 19.2 billion.
Courtesy: Manorama Yearbook 2007, p.204.
Grateful thanks to Manorama Yearbook.
A Thought for Today-171: December 12, 2007
The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears or the sea - Isak Dinesen
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
A Thought for Today-170: December 11, 2007
Fear is the dark room where negatives are developed - E.L.
A Thought for Today-169: December 10, 2007
Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside awakens - Robin S. Sharma.
Grateful thanks to Mr.Robin Sharma, my favourite writer.
A Thought for Today-168: December 9, 2007
Great dreamers' dreams are never fulfilled, they are always transcended - Alfred Lord Whitehead
A Thought for Today-167: December 8, 2007
History is the sum total of things that could have been avoided - Konrad Adenauer
Friday, December 07, 2007
Self-improvemnt-42: "Rules of Living"
Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.
Never trouble another for what you can do yourself.
Never spend your money before you have it.
Never buy what you do not want because it is cheap.
Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst and cold.
We seldom repent for having eaten too little.
Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.
How much pain the evils cause us that have never happened.
Take this always by the smooth handle.
Wit & Wisdom-2: "The Many Facets of Life"
Life is a dream - Realise it.
Life is a challenge - Meet it.
Life is a struggle - Accept it.
Life is a game - Play it.
Life is a treasure - Search it.
Life is an adventure - Win it.
Life is a duty - Perform it.
Life is a tragedy - Face it.
Life is an opportunity - Utilize it.
Life is a mystery - Unfold it.
Life is a bliss - Take it.
Life is a promise - Fulfil it.
and above all
Life is a journey - Complete it.
A Thought for Today-166: December 7, 2007
Ultimately, life is all about choices. One's destiny unfolds according to the choices one makes - Robin S.Sharma, "The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari".
Grateful thanks to Mr.Robin Sharma, my favourite writer.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Eyecatchers-45 : 'Man in the Moon' is four billion years old - AFP
The plains of solidified lava that give the moon its quirky human-like face as seen from the earth were created more than four billion years ago, according to a paper appearing on Thursday, in NATURE, the British science weekly.
The evidence comes from an unearthly silvery-grey stone that was blasted off from the face of the moon, perhaps by an impacting asteroid, and was the captured by the earth’s gravity, prompting to fall to ground in Botswana.
In 1999, the 13.5 kg remnant of this roving rock was found by local people near the village of Kuke, in the grasslands of the sprawling Kalahari Nature Reserve, who then sold it to meteorite hunters.
The lunar heritage of the rock, named Kalahari 009, has been confirmed by a telltale signature of oxygen isotopes and ratio of iron to manganese in two volcanic minerals, olivine and pyroxene.
The nature of these chemicals puts the rock into the category of a mare basalt – a lava that flowed out smoothly onto the lunar surface before solidifying, forming dark plains that early skywatchers mistakenly took for seas, “Mare” in Latin.
New analysis
A new analysis of fragments of phosphate in Kalahari 009 puts the rocks at the whopping old age of 4.35 billion years, give or take 150 million years, the Nature study says.
This implies that mare-type volcanism must have occurred at least as early as this date, just after the first stage of lunar crust formation, say the authors, led by Kentaro Terada of Hiroshima University in Japan and Mahesh Anand of Britain’s Open University.
Mare volcanism overlapped with a later stage of volcanism, evidence of which was found in rocks picked up by the Apollo missions.
The ‘Man in the Moon’ comprises eyes made of the Mare Imbrium and Mare Serenitatis, a nose consisting of Sinus Aestuum, while the Mare Nubium and Mare Cognitum provide its mouth. These and other mare account for nearly a sixth of the lunar surface, mostly on the side visible from the earth – AFP
Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai, December 6, 2007.
The evidence comes from an unearthly silvery-grey stone that was blasted off from the face of the moon, perhaps by an impacting asteroid, and was the captured by the earth’s gravity, prompting to fall to ground in Botswana.
In 1999, the 13.5 kg remnant of this roving rock was found by local people near the village of Kuke, in the grasslands of the sprawling Kalahari Nature Reserve, who then sold it to meteorite hunters.
The lunar heritage of the rock, named Kalahari 009, has been confirmed by a telltale signature of oxygen isotopes and ratio of iron to manganese in two volcanic minerals, olivine and pyroxene.
The nature of these chemicals puts the rock into the category of a mare basalt – a lava that flowed out smoothly onto the lunar surface before solidifying, forming dark plains that early skywatchers mistakenly took for seas, “Mare” in Latin.
New analysis
A new analysis of fragments of phosphate in Kalahari 009 puts the rocks at the whopping old age of 4.35 billion years, give or take 150 million years, the Nature study says.
This implies that mare-type volcanism must have occurred at least as early as this date, just after the first stage of lunar crust formation, say the authors, led by Kentaro Terada of Hiroshima University in Japan and Mahesh Anand of Britain’s Open University.
Mare volcanism overlapped with a later stage of volcanism, evidence of which was found in rocks picked up by the Apollo missions.
The ‘Man in the Moon’ comprises eyes made of the Mare Imbrium and Mare Serenitatis, a nose consisting of Sinus Aestuum, while the Mare Nubium and Mare Cognitum provide its mouth. These and other mare account for nearly a sixth of the lunar surface, mostly on the side visible from the earth – AFP
Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai, December 6, 2007.
Grateful thanks to The Hindu.
A Thought for Today-165: December 6, 2007
The pursuit of perfection is the pursuit of sweetness and light - Mathew Arnold
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Self-improvement-41: "Ten Minutes of Daily Tonic - Prof.Dr.N.H.Athreya"
Be warned, some one told me humorously, when you meet Swami Nikhileswarananda. He will hand you a bomb.
The bomb refers to the booklet, "Thoughts of Power" by Swami Vivekananda.
I learnt later that Swami Nikhileswarananda has distributed over 1,00,000 copies of this little book in the past few years. He placed a beautiful suggestion before the participants of the seminar on Management & Leadership recently held at Rajkot: "Purchase 10 copies of this booklet containing powerful thoughts and present them to ten friends with a request that if they find the book inspiring and elevating, they should in turn present ten copies to their friends; a fission like reaction will take place and you will undergo tremendous transformation, leading to the transformation of the whole society."
I liked the idea. I too have made a beginning. What is my logic? Thoughts lead to words, words lead to action and action leads to results and consequences. Since we all want positive results, we have to start with good thoughts.
And where do you find them?
You find them in a number of places. The availability is not the problem. Availing of it is. One unfailing place to start is the bookstore of any Ramakrishna Mission Centre. Modestly priced books are there to cater to all tastes. If you want cartoon type of books, they are available. If you want heavy volumes, they are available. Books you can carry in your shirt pocket are available too.
If you don't want to read, if you would rather prefer to listen, you are welcome to audio and video cassettes. For example, the three volumes of Bhagavad Gita by Swami Ranganathananda are available now in print media. For quite some years, they have been available in video cassettes form.
Our output depends in good part on our input, especially of thoughts.
I have found that 15 minutes - that is the minimum - of reading of any of the Math's publications energizes me for the day. If you will find it difficult to spare 15 minutes a day, you can make it 10 minutes; only, make it a DAILY ten minutes. It may help you as it has helped me, since 1938.
Please do not ask me for book title suggestions. The list will be long. I can list some of the books. I recently read or re-read. They are are: God Lived with Them; They lived with God; Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna; Parables of Sri Ramakrishna; Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda; Ramakrishna Upanishad and Bhagavad Gita by Swami Ranganathananda.
The books are available in a number of languages. I find some of the books read better in the Indian languages.
In 1938, I started with an investment of one rupee a year in good books. Now it is one thousand rupees per month. I give this information for only one reason. It pays to invest in books. Compared to other countries, India offers books at modest prices. Ramakrishna Math offers first-class books at most modest prices, almost token prices. It is an available blessing. It blesses when it is availed of. My prayer is that you avail it.
Article by Prof.Dr.N.H.Athreya, Management Consultant & Founder Director, MMC School of Management, Mumbai
Published in Souvenir of Ramakrishna Mission, Porbander.
Grateful thanks to Prof.Athreya and Sri Ramakrishna Mission, Porbaner.
A Thought for Today-164: December 5, 2007
There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all - Peter Drucker
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
A Thought for Today-163: December 4, 2007
The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others - Mahatma Gandhi
Monday, December 03, 2007
A Thought for Today-162: December 3, 2007
A real great man is the man who makes every man feel great - Charles Dickens
A Thought for Today-161: December 2, 2007
One way to get blood pressure is to go mountain-climbing over molehills - Earl Wilson
A Thought for Today-160: December 1, 2007
Ignorance is a form of environmental pollution - Frank Freeman
A Thought for Today-159: November 30, 2007
A ship in harbour is safe - but that is not what ships are for - John Shedd
A Thought for Today-158: November 29, 2007
Life is no brief candle - it is a splendid torch - Bernard Shaw
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