Picture of the day-396: Kodaikanal photo by Pravin

This Kodaikanal photo was taken by Pravin during one of his visits there.

  I had been to Kodaikanal only once during my bachelor days.

This photo creates in me a longing to visit the place again.

My Photo Album-162: SIVARAMAN

My young friend, Sivarman.  He is an MCA.  Actually he joined our organisation after I retired and was continuing to work on contract for a year or so.  We were occupying adjacent seats in the office. He is a sincere, hard, devoted and tireless worker. I quit that contract job three years back, but still he continues to help and has been kind to me in various ways.  Especially, when my computer creates some job problem, in spite of his tight schedule, he manages to visit our house and sets right the problem very kindly.  I very much cherish the friendship of the soft-spoken Sivaraman very much.  May God bless him!

Photo taken by me during my last days at CECRI with my Canon Powershot A590 IS digital camera.

A Thought for Today-587: Thoreau

Dreams are the touchstones of our character - Henry David Thoreau

Write-up on Thoreau from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau

Full Text of His famous works from Project Gutenberg:

Walden:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/205/205-h/205-h.htm

Civil Disobedience:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/71/71-h/71-h.htm

Grateful thanks to Project Gutenberg and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Picture of the day-395: Lord Buddha

Mamallapuram is just 14 km from my brother, Nellai's place, Tirupporur.  Both of us are early risers and, at every opportunity, we go to Mamallapuram in the early mornings to enjoy sea breeze and feast our eyes on the wonderful statues of yore as well as the present, lying along the streets.

Yes, Mamallapuram is full of sculptors, bringing life to images hidden in stones.  As I went along a road full of sculptures lying about for sale and sculptors chiseling stones, I came across this statue of Lord Buddha, whom I always love.  I clicked it with my Canon Powershot A590 IS digital camera.

My Photo Album-161: M/s.M.Ramakrishnan and C.Srividyarajagopalan

My friends, Mr.M.Ramakrishnan and Mr.C.Srividyarajagopalan, who have been doing a wonderful job as in charge of the Infrastructure Committee of the Karaikudi Book Festivals.  

Photo taken by Suri with his Canon Powershot A590 IS digital camera inside the venue of the Book Festival.

A Thought for Today-586: Gloria Steinem

Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning - Gloria Steinem, American feminist, journalist, and social and political activist.

Write-up on Gloria Steinem from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Steinem

Works by or about Gloria Steinem in libraries (WorldCat catalog):
http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n83-74143

Grateful thanks to Gloria Steinem, WorldCat.org and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Picture of the day-394: Second Karaikudi Book Festival Inauguration

Inaugural Function of the Second Karaikudi Book Festival -  

Prof.Dr.'Vetri' Meyyappan, Valampuri John, 

Dr.M.Raghavan (the then Director of CECRI), 

Vice Chancellor and Dr V Sundaram, the then President of FASOHD

My Photo Album-160: Suri with his cousins

A Thought for Today-585: Robin Sharma

We are all here for some special reason. Stop being a prisoner of your past. Become the architect of your future - Robin Sharma

Brief Write-up on Robin Sharma from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Sharma

His official Website:
http://www.robinsharma.com/

Grateful thanks to Robin Sharma and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Picture of the day-393: Ariyakkudi Temple

Ariyakkudi Arulmigu Thiruvengadamudaiyaan Thirukkovil. 

Photo by Suri with his Canon Powershot A590 IS digital camaera.

My Photo Album-159: Prof ALC delivering a lecture

Prof.AL.Chidambaram, a former professor from Annamalai University, is delivering a lecture at CECRI Auditorium, Karaikudi, for FASOHD.  He is fine gentleman, whose kindness I cherish very much.  Even after losing contact, he used to send me New Year Greetings (containing a lot of wonderful quotations) every year which I loved.  Unfortunately, I have lost his contact completely now.

A Thought for Today-584: Voltaire

Love truth, and pardon error - Voltaire, French Writer, Historian, Philosopher and Playwright

A biographical sketch of Voltaire from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltaire

Links to Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary (9 Vol)(English Translation) from Project Gutenberg:

• A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 1 (English) (as Author)
• A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 10 (English) (as Author)
• A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 2 (English) (as Author)
• A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 3 (English) (as Author)
• A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 4 (English) (as Author)
• A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 5 (English) (as Author)
• A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 6 (English) (as Author)
• A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 7 (English) (as Author)
• A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 8 (English) (as Author)
• A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 9 (English) (as Author)

Grateful thanks to Project Gutenberg and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Health News-26: Cancer drug to flush out dormant HIV

This is another news item which I came across in the same section of the paper of the same day. It is reported that researchers claim that a drug used to treat certain types of cancer, VORINOSTA or vorinostat, is able to dislodge hidden virus in HIV patients. Lab experiments measuring active HIV levels in CD4 + T cells, which are specialized white blood cells that the virus uses to replicate, showed that this drug unmasked the hidden virus in these cells. It is a major breakthrough in the treatment of AIDS. 

More on this:
Cancer Drug May Flush Out 'Hidden' HIV - Study:
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=160683

Grateful thanks to The Times of India and MedicineNet.

Eyecatchers-162: Solar System that looks like Ours!

I came across this news item in the Chennai edition of The Times of India of July 27, 2012 under the section, TIMES TRENDS, which I would like to share here. Scientists have discovered the first exoplanetary system which has planets lined up in aligned orbits similar to those in our solar system. At the centre of this system is Kepler 30, a star as bright and as massive as our sun.

For more on this topic:

On the Same Plane by Sid Perkins (July 25, 2012)

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/07/on-the-same-plane.html?ref=hp&utm_source=buffer&buffer_share=fd897

Science Now, News.ScienceMag.Org

Grateful thanks to The Times of India and Science Now.

Picture of the day-392: Macaw

My Photo Album-158: Arunvel

A Thought for Today-583: Harry Truman

It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit - Harry Truman, 33rd President of the USA


Some Important events during his Presidency:

1. Dropping of Atom Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
2. Formation of the UNO
3. Recognition of Israel
4. Berlin Airlift
5. Formation of NATO
6. Chinese Civil War
7. Korean War


Biographical sketch of Harry Truman from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman

Grateful thanks to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Picture of the day-391: Pattamangalam Sri Ayyanar Temple

My Photo Album-157: Karthik riding a Kayak in Australia

Grateful thanks to Karthik for providing the photo

A Thought for Today-582:Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

All I'm saying is simply this, that all life is interrelated, that somehow we're caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason, I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. You can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.