Practicing what he preaches - Man of the Millennium

"We cannot sustain ourselves, unless we contribute to the society in someway or the other. I strongly feel if even one person does his bit towards social good, there will be some change."

A will to serve combined with a sense of social justice has been the guiding principle of P. Kalyanasundaram, who has spent over 45 years in social service. A gold medallist in library science, he is also an MA in literature and history. During his 35-year-career as a librarian at the Kumarkurupara Arts College at Srivaikuntam in Tuticorin district, he gave away all his salary for charity and did odd jobs to meet his daily needs. He has also come forward to donate his body and eyes to the Tirunelveli Medical College.

The Union Government has acclaimed him as `The Best Librarian in India'. He has also been chosen as `one of the top ten librarians of the world'. The International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, has honoured him as `one of the noblest of the world', while the United Nations Organisation adjudged him as one of the 'Outstanding People of the 20th Century'. An American organisation has also selected him as the 'Man of the Millennium.'

Mr. Kalyanasundaram, who has founded a social welfare organisation, `Paalam', shares his experiences in a chat with Prathiba Parameswaran.

SIMPLICITY IN life and exemplariness in practice has been the hallmark of Mr. Kalyanasundaram. Born in August 1953 at Melakarivelamkulam in Tirunelveli district, he lost his father at a very young age. It was his mother, who inspired him to serve the poor.

When he was at college, the Indo-China war broke out, and he contributed his gold chain to the then Chief Minister, Kamaraj, for the war fund. At this time around, he went to meet Balasubramanian, Editor, Ananda Vikatan. "He sent me away, saying he would write about me the day I donated something I had earned myself. I did not speak a word to anyone about what I had done. I took it as a challenge," Mr. Kalyanasundaram recalls. Ever since he got a job as a librarian in Tuticorin, he has contributed all his salary, pension benefits and ancestral property to social welfare. It was not until 1990, when he received his pension arrears and contributed it to the Collector's Fund, that the then Tiruneveli Collector felicitated him, despite his protests. The `Paalam' serves as a bridge between donors and beneficiaries: it collects money and materials from those willing to donate and distribute them among the weaker sections. It has also contributed to the cyclone relief funds in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, and has helped the earthquake victims in Maharashtra and Gujarat. "We cannot sustain ourselves, unless we contribute towards the society in someway or the other. I strongly feel if even one person does his bit towards social good, there will be some change," he asserts.

Mr. Kalyanasundaram feels that one must achieve something in his chosen field. His contribution to library science is immense. A thesis he submitted as part of his post-graduate course to the Madurai Kamaraj University fetched him distinction. He has also hit upon an easy way of tracing and accessing books in libraries.

His ability to strike a rapport even with youngsters is remarkable. He cites the instance when he started wearing khadi. At college, he was required to take classes on Gandhianism. "I had to speak about simplicity and everything Gandhi stood for, but I was clad in expensive clothes. That was when I decided to switch over to khadi," he relates. Since then he had always practiced what he stood for, making himself a role model for many youths.

He was popular among college and school students, and many of them have joined his organisation.

He has long-term plans for his organisation. One is the setting up of a nationalised digital library with modern equipment, which could be accessed by people from all walks of life.

He also wants to set up an international children's university in Tamil Nadu, with foreign aid. However, he says, a mission has a meaning only when the right people are involved in it. The Directorate of Public Libraries should recruit people with a library science background to be librarians, he says. "And good librarians should have a broad knowledge of everything."

Sources: The Hindu - Y2K4

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Watch "New 3M LED Advanced Light Bulb Illuminates the Future" on YouTube

10 Things To Know About the New Higgs-like Particle

Here is a firework-worthy discovery: Scientists working at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva have announced that they have found a new subatomic particle consistent with the Higgs boson, sometimes called the “God particle” because, it is believed, finding it would enable us to make sense of the very workings of the universe and gain a new understanding of how our universe began.

The results were announced to an auditorium of cheering scientists at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research with no one less than physicist Peter Higgs of the University of Edinburgh, for whom the boson is named, in the audience. “I think we have it,” said Rolf Heuer, the director general of CERN.

Scientists have not found the Higgs particle but something “Higgs-like.”As the New York Times points out, they still have to deduce if the new particle, one of the heaviest subatomic ones yet,

…fits the simplest description given by the Standard Model, the theory that has ruled physics for the last half-century, or whether it is an impostor, a single particle or even the first of many particles yet to be discovered. The latter possibilities are particularly exciting to physicists since they could point the way to new deeper ideas, beyond the Standard Model, about the nature of reality.

The Standard Model refers to the elementary participles, the very most basic set of ingredients that are necessary to make up our world.

As CERN theorist John Ellis points out, “It’s great to discover a new particle, but you have find out what its properties are.”

While we wait to learn more about the new Higgs-ish particle, a few things we do know:

• 2. How many classes of subatomic particles there are, one being a boson (bits of energy that transmit forces, as a photon transmits light); the other is a fermion (bits of matter like electrons). 
• 125.5 billion: How much the new particle weighs in electron volts or gigaelectronvolts (GeV). 
• 45: How many years scientists have been looking for it. 
• 133 times more: About how much heavier the new particle is than the protons at the heart of every atom. 
• 4 percent: How much we can see of all the matter of the universe, the rest being “mysterious dark matter and dark energy” (BBC). 
• 5-sigma (or 5-standard deviation) level of certainty: This is what participles physics accepts as the standard for a discovery with each sigma a measure of “how unlikely it is to get a certain experimental result as a matter of chance rather than due to a real effect” (BBC). 
• 1,000: About how many people stood in line all Tuesday night to gain entrance into the CERN auditorium in Geneva. 
• 6,000: How many physicists (in two team of 3,000 each) operate the giant detectors in the collider. 
• 800 trillion. How many proton-proton collisions physicists have analyzed over the past two years. 
• 6: How many physicists, including Professor Higgs, invented the “notion of the cosmic molasses or Higgs field” in 1964. 

Source: http://www.care2.com/causes/new-higgs-like-particle-foun.html#ixzz1zklcgU30

Higgs boson binds the universe, but humans give it meaning

David Horsey / Los Angeles Times (July 5, 2012)
The "God particle" -- the Higgs boson -- exists, and that is good news. Without it, the universe would fly apart and we would have much more to worry about than a jobless recovery, immigrants sneaking across the border or the fate of "Obamacare."

On the Fourth of July, after 50 years of theorizing, hard research and sending protons careening into each other at something near the speed of light, physicists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research announced that they have almost certainly detected a boson. For the uninitiated -- which is about 99% of us -- a boson is one of two elementary particles that quantum theory says make up the universe. The other particles are fermions, also known as matter, such as protons and electrons.

Fermions, the theory goes, acquire their mass by passing through a molasses-like field called a Higgs field, named after Peter Higgs, physicist at the University of Edinburgh. (By the way, I haven't a clue what I’m talking about; this is simply my feeble attempt to summarize information presented by Los Angeles Times science reporter emeritus, Thomas H. Maugh II.) The assumption has been that something had to be holding all the matter in the universe together, but no one, until now, had actually found hard evidence of this pan-galactic molasses composed of boson particles.

This is very big news for scientists. It reinforces the Standard Model of physics that claims to explain how the universe works. What it means for the rest of us depends on a person's perspective.

I know, for me, this stuff is fascinating and also nearly impossible to comprehend. When pondering subatomic particles that bind the universe together, one is trying to understand a thing so tiny that it cannot be observed directly, even using the most advanced technology. Yet, an unimaginable number of these super-minute particles form a field so vast that they hold together a universe that is incomprehensibly huge.

Things so small and things so big boggle the human mind. Immediately, they conjure the ultimate unanswered questions: If all matter is given mass by the Higgs boson, where did the Higgs boson come from? It has been nicknamed the "God particle" because it makes everything else possible; did God make it? If so, where did God come from? Did this all start with a Big Bang and without a creator? What set off the Big Bang? And what came before it? And before that?

The news about the "God particle" is one of those challenging bits of information that can make everything else feel terrifyingly insignificant. It is a reminder that each of us is merely a tiny, carbon-based organism existing for a brief moment on a small planet that, by the scale of the universe, is no more singular than a grain of sand on a beach. We are dust in the wind, utterly inconsequential in the dark expanse of time and space.

At least that's one way to look at it. Another way to see it is that, in all that vastness, only we are aware of the awesome complexity. Only we strive to know and understand. All the rest is mere physical phenomena. What we do in our brief lives on this small planet may be the only thing that matters.

Thus, it behooves us to use our sliver of time well. We can waste it watching "Dancing With The Stars" or we can reach for the stars. We can squander it being petty, cruel, selfish or destructive, or we can be creative, compassionate, kind and just. The Higgs boson may glue this universe together, but we are the ones who give it meaning.

The "God particle" has a big job to do in the infinity of the universe, but on Earth, as John F. Kennedy said, "God’s work must truly be our own."

Original source: Higgs boson binds the universe, but humans give it meaning on Los Angeles Times Exclusive

A Homeless Polar Bear - by Greenpeace

The Arctic ice we all depend on is disappearing. Fast. Soon it could be ice free for the first time since humans walked the Earth. This would be not only devastating for the people, polar bears, narwhals, walruses and other species that live there - but for the rest of us too.


http://us.greenpeace.org/site/PageNavigator/SavetheArcticVideo.html

Time machine will study the first galaxies

By Paul Sutherland on June 27, 2012 7:14 pm on Time machine will study the first galaxies 
British astronomers have finished building a cosmic time machine to discover how the earliest galaxies formed and developed at the dawn of the universe. KMOS, the most complex instrument of its kind ever assembled, at a cost of £15 million, will peer back more than 13 billion years to see the first stars switch on in the darkness that followed the Big Bang.

An engineer inspecting the full array of 24 arms fitted to KMOS. Credit: ATC

Weighing eight and a half tons, it will be shipped out from Edinburgh to be bolted to the side of a giant telescope in the VLT array at Paranal in Chile and be able to pick out and study dozens of remote galaxies at a time.

They will be so far away that their light is too faint to see visually. But by staring at one patch of sky at a time for hours or even nights on end, KMOS – the K-band Multi-Object Spectrometer – will collect enough photons to learn all about them.

Previously, astronomers have had to pick out an individual faint fuzzy blob in photos from the Hubble space telescope and then determine its distance by checking the red shift of lines in a spectrum of its light.

KMOS has 24 supercold robotic arms that will observe 24 galaxies at once in a live view of the heavens seven arc-minutes wide – around a quarter the diameter of the moon in the sky. Clever software will help pick each target and stop the arms colliding with each other.

An image of each galaxy will be sliced and diced and fed through one of three spectrometers to give a 3D picture. Feeble photons of light that have spent 13 billion years racing across the void of space will reveal what each galaxy is made of and how it is spinning.

The revolutionary technique will help lift the veil from a mysterious time just a few million years after the Big Bang called the reionization epoch. That will help astronomers discover how galaxies evolved to become the cosmic islands we see today.

Skymania News was invited to Edinburgh to see KMOS before it departs for Chile. Systems engineer Phil Rees, who led the team building KMOS at the Astronomy Technology Centre in Edinburgh, told us: “For every pixel in the image, you’re getting the composition of the galaxy, the chemical elements in it, and also its velocity, so you can see how it is moving, how it is spinning, if bits are flying out of it and what they’re made out of.

A tiny patch of sky reveals countless galaxies in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, Credit: NASA/ESA 

“So it is giving you an incredible amount of information. It’s not just a picture of a galaxy, it is giving you a really detailed analysis of what’s happening there and then the clever guys try to work out what it actually means.”

KMOS contains more than 1,500 tiny, diamond-cut, gold-plated mirrors and will be chilled to a temperature of 100 degrees Kelvin (-170 C) to work at infrared wavelengths of light, using 56 separate cryogenic mechanisms. The intense cold, produced using liquid nitrogen then helium, is necessary to prevent the warmth of the apparatus from interfering with the faint signals from space. It will take a week to cool down to the required temperature.

The UK and Germany have each put £7.5 million into building KMOS for the European Southern Observatory. Six institutions were involved in its construction including the universities of Durham, Oxford and Bristol in the UK. It was assembled and tested at the ATC, which is part of the Science and Technology Facilities Council and based at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh.

The detectors, originally developed by the US military, pick almost single photons. Mr Rees said: “We get sent the best because the military don’t need such high spec. But we pay a premium. They are very expensive.”

He added: “Everything is cut to extremely high tolerances. We actually use sub contractors who are used to working with Formula One engines. It is very high-precision engineering. Because you can’t lubricate any of the mechanisms – their operating temperature is too cold – you have to ensure that the tolerances, the separation between all the components is extremely accurate so that you don’t get excessive wear when the things are moving.”

The biggest part of KMOS is a giant ring that surrounds the detectors. That will prevent the myriad of cables from getting tangled when the telescope turns to follow the stars as the Earth rotates. That “cable tidy” will take six weeks to travel by ship to Chile while the rest goes by air before both are carried across the Atacama Desert to the Very Large Telescope at Cerres Paranal. There KMOS will be fitted to VLT-1, named Antu after the native indian name for the Sun, with its huge 8.2-metre wide light-gathering mirror.

One of the 24 individual robotic arms that will seek out a galaxy. Credit: ATC

Astronomer Michele Cirasuolo, instrument scientist for KMOS in Edinburgh, said: “Until now you could only observe one object at a time. It was really time consuming. If you wanted to observe a large number of galaxies it would take years. That’s why KMOS is really needed.

“If you look at the local Universe, you see a lot of dark galaxies, some of them are round elliptical galaxies, some of them are spirals, some of them are still forming and some of them are dead. So we see them but we don’t know why they are like that. But if we go back in time you can trace them as they start forming, merging and assembling their stars.

“The second half of the Universe has been well studied by examining spectra of the nearer galaxies. But we are missing the first half and we need to look at the near-infrared light to see what the most distant galaxies are made of. To observe one galaxy at a time would be very time-consuming. By studying several at a time we can make a survey and have a proper statistical study.”

“A previous first-generation instrument, SINFONI, has been observing one galaxy at a time and in five or six years has observed 150-200 objects. KMOS will do that in a couple of months.”

How To Transfer Prints To Wood: An Awesome Photography DIY Project

How To Transfer Prints To Wood: An Awesome Photography DIY Project

A seven step simple method for wooden prints.
by James Brandon

One thing I love about my family is that there never seems to be a shortness of creativity floating around. My wife Kristin works with her mother Lori running a website over at Katie’s Rose Cottage and this project was really just right up their alley. At the time of writing this article Kristin is less than a week away from giving birth to our first child and son Isaac. It’s almost a guarantee that by the time you read this I will be a father! So suffice it to say that Kristin has been doing quite a bit of nesting to get ready for baby Isaac. My father-in-law has a small Cessna and I’ve been working towards getting my pilot’s license for some time now, so because aviation is fast becoming a tradition in our family we decided to do an aviation theme for Isaac’s room.

I have several aviation photos in my portfolio and Kristin said she wanted to print the photo on wood. I had no idea what she was talking about or how that was even possible but I listened and let her do her thing. So here’s how to get from the ‘Before’ image to the ‘After’ image, you’re gonna love it!

Read more: http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-transfer-prints-to-wood-an-awesome-photography-diy-project#ixzz1yTFKLOor

Millions of LinkedIn passwords reportedly leaked online | Security

A hacker says he's posted 6.5 million LinkedIn passwords on the Web -- hot on the heels of security researchers' warnings about privacy issues with LinkedIn's iOS app.

Update 1:08 p.m. PT: LinkedIn confirms that passwords were "compromised."

LinkedIn users could be facing yet another security problem.

A user in a Russian forum says that he has hacked and uploaded almost 6.5 million LinkedIn passwords, according to The Verge. Though his claim has yet to be confirmed, Twitter users are already reporting that they've found their hashed LinkedIn passwords on the list, security expert Per Thorsheim said.

LinkedIn revealed through its own tweet that it's looking into reports of stolen passwords, and it advised users to stay tuned for more information.

Many of the hashes include the word "linkedin," which The Verge believes lends credibility to the reports.

LinkedIn passwords are encrypted using an algorithm known as SHA-1, which is considered very secure. Complex passwords will likely take some time to decrypt, but simple ones may be at risk.

Sophos security expert Graham Cluley is advising LinkedIn users to change their passwords as soon as possible, at least as a precaution. If the report is true, then hackers are undoubtedly working hard to decrypt the hashed, or unsalted, passwords.

"Although the data which has been released so far does not include associated email addresses, it is reasonable to assume that such information may be in the hands of the criminals," Cluley added.

The report of the leaked passwords comes hard on the heels of word from security researchers that LinkedIn's iOS app is collecting information from calendar entries -- including passwords -- and transmitting it back to the company's servers without users' knowledge.

In response to concerns over this collection of data, LinkedIn yesterday tried to explain how and why it captures this information.

The company acknowledged that it picks up information from the Calendar app on your iOS device to try to sync any appointments listed with fellow LinkedIn users. The feature is opt-in, so users of the LinkedIn IOS app can turn off the ability to "Add Calendar" in the Settings screen.

The details sent to LinkedIn's server include the e-mail addresses of the people you meet with, the meeting subject, the location, and any meeting notes. The calendar data is sent securely using SSL encryption and isn't shared or stored, LinkedIn added.

But in a concession to concerned users, the company has promised two tweaks to the feature. It will no longer pick up meeting notes from your calendar. And it will add a "learn more" link to explain how your calendar data is being used.

LinkedIn did not address the question of whether passwords are being collected along with the meeting information.

To change your LinkedIn password, log onto your account. Click on your name in the upper right corner and then click on the link for Settings. In the Settings section, click on the Change link next to Password. You'll be prompted to to enter your old password and then create a new one. Aim to pick a complex password that's not easy to decipher. Then click on the Change Password button.

CNET contacted LinkedIn for further details and will update the story when we get more information.

How To: Create Your Own Chrome Theme in 2 Easy Steps!

Tech18:

Google Chrome comes with best and simple UI which takes very less time to load when compared to other browsers. Here is a chrome app which can beautify your browser with custom themes built by yourself.

Google introduced theme development for Chrome browser as soon as it came out of beta version. And there were many developers who took time and created some amazing theme. But, did you find your favorite theme?

My Chrome Theme is a Chrome App created by the Google Chrome team to help you create your own theme. Believe it or not, within 2 easy steps you can design your theme. You can even share it with your friends!

Steps to create your own Chrome Theme

Before we start with tutorial, download and install the My Chrome Theme app.

Download

Click on new tab, navigate to apps menu in your browser. Now click on the app you just downloaded. Click on Start Making Theme button. Now follow the below 2 steps to get down with your theme!

Step 1: Background Image

Select an attractive image for your theme and upload it or use web cam to take one. The app will upload the image and show you a preview of how it will look.

Once the image is previewed, you will get an option to adjust the image. The options are,

• Fit to screen
• Fill Screen
• Tile Image
• Custom

At the bottom of this page, you have a slider with two options, Design Mode and PreviewMode. When you slide to the Preview Mode, it adds Chrome Web App icons to the theme and previews this custom theme in New Tab Page.

Once you are okay with the image uploaded and adjustment. Go to next step.

Step 2: Coloring Your Theme

In this step, you can change the color of the toolbar, new tab and background tab. You can set custom color for all these or click on “I’m feeling lucky” to let the app choose colors for you, based on the image you have uploaded.

You can skip this step to apply the default grey color.

Give a name to your theme and give a description if you want to (not mandatory). Click on Make my Theme! Button and you are done!

Here is a theme Tech18 created. Download

Here is a theme that I have created. Download

Don’t forget to share your new theme with your friends! If you know any other way of developing Chrome theme, please share it with us.

The pigeon's passengers

Mountain Imperial Pigeon. Photo: Ramki Sreenivasan/ Conservation India.

How the imperial pigeons play a crucial role in regenerating our rainforests.

There is a modesty in their conquest of mountains. From the heights, they commandeer vistas of rugged mountains covered in forest or countryside dotted with great trees. From tall trees on high ridges, they scan the landscape, their heads turning on long and graceful necks. They have scaled peaks, even surpassed them. Yet, they speak only in soft and hushed tones that resonate among stately trees. For, the imperial pigeons are a dignified lot, keeping the company of great trees.


Down in the valley, the pigeon's voice throbs through dense rainforest: a deep hu, hoo-uk, hoo-uk, repeated after long pauses, like the hoots of an owl. In the dawn chorus of birdsong, it sounds like a sedate basso profundo trying to slow the tempo of barbets and calm the errant flutes and violins of babblers and thrushes. The calling pigeon, in a flock with others, is in a low symplocos tree whose branches shine with dark green leaves and purple-blue fruit. They are busy picking and swallowing the ripe fruits, each with fleshy pulp around a single stony seed.


These large birds, neatly plumaged in formal greys and pastel browns, are Mountain Imperial Pigeons — a species found in the rainforests of the Western Ghats and the Himalayas in India. In more open forests and on grand banyan and other fig trees along the roads through the countryside, one can see their cousins, the Green Imperial Pigeons shaded in more verdant sheen. As a group, the imperial pigeons have a penchant for fruit that necessitates roaming wide areas in search of food. Weeks may pass in a patch of forest with no sign of pigeons, but when the wild fruits ripen, the nomadic flocks descend from distant sites and the forest resonates with their calls again.

The transporter

Like other birds such as Hornbills and Barbets in these forests, imperial pigeons eat fruits ranging from small berries to large drupes, including wild nutmegs and laurels and elaeocarps (rudraksh). Yet, the pigeon's bill is small and delicate in comparison with the hornbill's horny casque or the barbet's stout beak, which seem more suited to handling large fruits with big stony seeds. The imperial pigeon's solution to this problem is a cleverly articulated lower beak and extensible gape and gullet that can stretch to swallow the entire fruit and seed.


Lured by the package of pulpy richness in fruit, the pigeon then becomes a transporter of seed. Many seeds are dropped in the vicinity of the mother tree itself, scattered around with seeds from rotting fruit fallen on the earth below. The concentrated stockpile of seeds below elaeocarp and nutmeg trees is attacked by rodents and beetles, leaving little hope for survival and germination. But when the pigeon takes wing, some seeds go with the pigeon as passengers on a vital journey, travelling metres to miles into the surrounding landscape. Voided eventually by the pigeon, the dispersed seeds have an altogether greater prospect of escape from gnawing rat and boring beetle and — when directly or fortuitously dropped onto a suitable spot — of germination. By carrying and literally dropping off their passengers where some establish as seedlings and grow into trees, the pigeons become both current consumers and future producers of fruit.


Still, it is the quiet achievement of the trees that seems more impressive. Rooted to a spot, the trees have enticed the pigeons to move their seeds for them. Deep in the forest, one discovers a seedling where no trees of that kind stand nearby, bringing a rare pleasure like an unexpected meeting with an old friend. The pigeons are plied with fruit and played by the trees. The modest conquest of the mountains by the pigeons is trumped by the subtler conquest of the pigeons by the immobile trees.

Peril of extinction

In speaking of the pigeon's passengers, one recalls with misgiving the fate of Passenger Pigeons. The Passenger Pigeon was once found in astounding abundance across North America in flocks numbering tens of millions — flocks so huge that their migratory flights would darken the skies for days on end. Yet, even this species was exterminated by unmitigated slaughter under the guns of hunters and by the collection — during their enormous nesting congregations — of chicks (squabs) by the truck-load. Within a few decades, the great flocks and society of Passenger Pigeons were decimated in vast landscapes transformed by axe and plough, plunder and profiteering. By 1914, the species — at the time perhaps one of the most abundant land bird species in the world — had been reduced to a single captive female. The last known Passenger Pigeon, Martha, died in Cincinnati Zoo in September 1914, closing the page on another wonderful species, in another sorry chapter of human history on Earth.


Our pigeons are more fortunate, but in many areas they, too, are dying a slow death. Some fall to the bullets of hunters who take strange pride in their dubious sport or skill. Some roam large areas of once-continuous rainforests, which now have only scattered fragments. The mountain imperial pigeons are still seen winging across in powerful flight from one remnant to another, over monoculture plantations and stagnant reservoirs. Their forays are getting longer, and their journeys often end fruitless. Our countryside, too, is becoming bereft of their green cousins, as grand banyans and other fruit trees vanish along our widening roads, and diverse forests of native trees are replaced by miserable Australian acacias and eucalyptus, if they are replaced at all. As their homes are whittled away, the hornbills, barbets, and other pigeons vanish silently. With them vanish subtle splendours and prospects of regeneration. On the roads, the vehicles speed along on their wheels of progress, carrying passengers of a different kind, barely aware of the majesty and opportunity for renewal left behind.


From the valley, the imperial pigeons take wing and — in a minute — fly high and swift over the mountain to distant rainforests. There, sometime in the future, new seedlings will perhaps still emerge in a silent testimony. A testimony that one can forever fly high and strong if one only consumes what one also regenerates in perpetuity.

E-mail: trsr@ncf-india.org

18 Amazing Features of Samsung Galaxy S3! | Tech18

Samsung has been one of the best smartphone producers of the year 2011 and now they are back again. They held an unpacked event at London to showcase their new model Galaxy S3.

Amazing Features of Samsung Galaxy S3!

There were lots of rumors spreading on net from past couple of months about its design, screen size and others! But all those rumors were lashed out today.Well, it’s amazing!, as its powered by Android 4.0.04 Ice Cream Sandwich Operating System with 1.4GHz quad-core application processor. Here are some more amazing features of Samsung Galaxy S3:

1. 4.8″ HD Super AMOLED display with 1280×720 screen resolution.

2. 8-megapixel rear-facing and 1.9-megapixel forward-facing camera.

3. 8.6mm thick and 133g weight. mimicking warmth & beauty of nature!

4. ‘Smart Stay’ technology uses the front-facing camera to detect if you’re looking at it, so it knows whether to keep the screen awake.

5. ‘S Voice’ a new voice recognition technology introduced in Galaxy S3! It listens, responds quickly and understands 8 different languages!

6. The new ‘Smart Alert’ feature ensures you don’t miss notifications, while ‘Social Tag’ keeps you up-to-date with friends & family.

7. Sharing features: ‘S Beam’, ‘AllShare Cast’, ‘Buddy Photo Share’ and ‘AllShare Play’ ensure you stay socially connected. ‘S Beam’ which expands on Android Beam, allowing you to share a 1GB mobile file with a friend in just 3 minutes, or transfer a 10MB music file in just 2 seconds—without using WiFi or a cellular signal – by tapping your phone together with another Galaxy S3.

8. Texting someone, but decided to call them instead? Simply raise the phone to your ear & the ‘Direct Call’ feature activates.

9. Touchwiz on GALAXY S3 has been enhanced, from ring-tones to live wallpaper and lock screen, to create a relaxed & peaceful experience.

10. ‘Pop up Play’ is another innovative feature that is perfect for doing two things at once.

11. 8-megapixel with LED flash, zero shutter lag, ‘Burst shot’, ‘Best photo’, ‘Face zoom’ & ‘Group tag’.

12. HD video can be recorded even with the front-facing camera and while you are taking a video you can also capture a still shot.

13. With a 4.8” HD Super AMOLED display, this phone offers a captivating vivid & incredibly sharp experience, and true color rendition.

14. Display is super fast with a 0.01ms response speed & is more energy-efficient, so you can enjoy longer hours of battery life.

15. Despite a generous screen, the size of the phone is only 22% larger than the earlier version Galaxy S2 due to a reduced bezel.

16. It also features wireless charging and Wi-Fi Channel Bonding, which doubles the Wi-Fi bandwidth.

17. There’s a range of stylish accessories to enhance the experience: Flip Cover, AllShare Cast Dongle & S Pebble.

18. Experiential features: 3 Hubs (Game, Video, Music), mobile payment & ‘S Health’personal wellness app to name a few.

Galaxy S3 has the fastest web browsing, seamless multi-tasking, supreme graphics quality and an instantly responsive UI on a larger screen. It is designed to recreate the natural world’s gentle curves, with natural ergonomics for a wonderful fit in your hands.

It will be launched in 145 countries partnering with 296 mobile operators around the world.3G version will be launched at the end of May, starting with Europe. 4G version will be available in North America, Japan, and Korea during this summer. And will be available in Pebble Blue and Marble White.

Additionally, Samsung Galaxy S3 will also provide 50GB storage on Dropbox!

Sir James Dyson explains his bladeless fan

The Hindu : NATIONAL / KARNATAKA : Theme park in Hesaraghatta ruffles feathers

The Hindu : NATIONAL / KARNATAKA : Theme park in Hesaraghatta ruffles feathers


The last surviving grassland in the city, Hesaraghatta, is being threatened again — this time by a theme park and ‘film city' proposed for a landscape that supports a unique biodiversity, including migratory birds.

A 350-acre area has been earmarked for either a theme park or a film city, or both, according to officials at the Department of Tourism. The project finds mention in the State Budget, which proposed a “theme park” to be set up under public-private partnership in Hesaraghatta. The budget also speaks of a “wellness circuit” covering Bangalore and Mysore, “coastal circuit” and a heritage circuit.


Not long ago, environmentalists were alarmed by a Rs. 140-crore ‘tree-planting' project embarked on by the BDA in the Hesaraghatta grassland, which, they alleged, would destroy the habitat of wintering raptors such as harriers, tawny eagles and short-eared owls.

The official said that a detailed project report was now being prepared for the project and that the tourism department was waiting for a response from investors. “The 350 acres could be used for either one or two projects depending upon the size of each. We are waiting to hear from the investors about the size and nature of the project.”

Killing a catchment

Meanwhile, naturalists, birdwatchers and wildlife photographers who have made Hesaraghatta their haunt, are naturally concerned.

Leading bird expert S. Subramanya points out that the land slated for the theme park was the very space where trees were planted in a project that ran up to crores of rupees. “Besides being a waste of public money, the project will also destroy a unique grassland habitat, a home for some rare wildlife.”


A checklist of wildlife prepared by Dr. Subramanya lists jackals, the Indian fox and 133 species of birds, including migratory birds of prey, in the grassland. The globally threatened lesser florican was spotted here after 100 years last December.

Says photographer Mahesh Bhat, who lives in Hesaraghatta: “On the one hand, they have called for tenders to remove silt from the canals and tanks around Arkavathi river in order to rejuvenate them. And on the other, they are killing one of Arkavathi's main catchments, Hesaraghatta.”

TAP 2011 Results | TPRF: Food for People | causes.com

Just in time for World Water Day (tomorrow), TAP Founder Becky Straw has posted a TPRF blog entry sharing the results of last year's water campaign, a program very similar to this year's. http://bit.ly/GICQoU Enjoy the report, and be inspired to participate with a contribution for this year's TAP matching fund on Causes.

Dieffenbachia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dieffenbachia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If you have a plant like the one in the picture below, get rid of it.

This plant is very common at our houses, gardens, parks and offices (popular as indoor & outdoor plant). The plant (Dumb Cane or Dieffenbachia) is now proven to be dangerous, so, please take care!

I know that the leaf of this plant causes itching if its sap (milk) touches your skin. But there are more dangerous facts! Read the details below.

May be useful for you. You better believe it.
Please read below.
One of my friends almost lost her daughter who put a piece of the leaf of this plant in her mouth and her tongue swelled to the point of suffocation. This is one plant but there are others with the same characteristics of coloring. Those are also poisonous and we should get rid of them. Please watch out for our children. As we all leave our children at home in the hands of a nanny, we should give them a safe environment where they can play .

Name: Dumb Cane or Dieffenbachia
"This plant that we have in our homes and offices is extremely dangerous!
This plant is common in Rwanda. It is a deadly poison, most specially for the children. It can kill a kid in less than a minute and an adult in 15 minutes. It should be uprooted from gardens and taken out of offices. If touched, one should never touch his/her eyes; it can cause partial or permanent blindness. Please alert your friends

Avaaz - Killing thousands to make millions

In days, a multi-billion dollar Swiss pharma company may get the Indian Supreme Court to shut down our supply of affordable medicines.Only we can stop this outrage.

Novartis is suing our government so it can squeeze more profits from the sick and needy. If Novartis wins, it will threaten Indian companies’ ability to produce low-cost medicines for malaria, AIDS, cancer and other life-threatening diseases, depriving millions around the world of the treatments they desperately need and threatening thousands of Indian jobs. But people power can push Novartis to drop the suit before the final ruling.

One man is masterminding this stealthy attack on the health of millions -- Ranjit Shahani, who heads Novartis India and India’s massively powerful pharmaceutical lobby group. When 100,000 people have signed the petition we’ll stage hard hitting actions targeting Shahani by name and push him to drop the case!

Avaaz - Killing thousands to make millions

30 giant hornets vs. a whole honey bee hive

Thirty Japanese giant hornets take on an entire hive of European honey bees and slaughter 30,000 bees in three hours.

Not having evolved alongside the giant hornet, European honey bees don't have a natural defense against them. But the Japanese honey bee does:


The Japanese honey bee, on the other hand, has a defense against attacks of this manner. When a hornet approaches the hive to release pheromones, the bee workers emerge from their hive in an angry cloud-formation with some 500 individuals. As they form a tight ball around the hornet, the ball increases in heat to 47 °C (117 °F) from their vibrating wings, forming a convection oven as the heat released by the bees' bodies is spread over the hornets. Because bees can survive higher temperatures (48 to 50 °C (118 to 122 °F)) than the hornet (44 to 46 °C (111 to 115 °F)), the latter dies.


source: http://kottke.org/12/01/30-giant-hornets-vs-a-whole-honey-bee-hive

Replacing our old worn-out kilogram

The standard measure for the kilogram needs to change because, offically speaking, the universe is gaining mass. The trick is finding a technique that ties the kilogram to a fundamental constant (like the second is tied to energy transition times in cesium atoms).

Familiarly known as Le Grand K and held in a vault just outside of Paris under three bell jars, [the international prototype kilogram] dates back to the 1880s, when it was forged by the British metallurgist George Matthey from an alloy of nine-tenths platinum and one-tenth iridium. As a metric unit, the kilogram is "equal to the mass of the international prototype," according to the official definition. In other words, as metrologists like to point out, it has the remarkable property of never gaining or losing mass. By definition, any physical change to it alters the mass of everything in the cosmos.

Aside from a yearly ceremonial peek inside its vault, which can be unlocked only with three keys held by three different officials, the prototype goes unmolested for decades. Yet every 40 years or so, protocol requires that it be washed with alcohol, dried with a chamois cloth, given a steam bath, allowed to air dry, and then weighed against the freshly scrubbed national standards, all transported to France. It is also compared to six temoins (witnesses), nominally identical cylinders that are stored in the vault alongside the prototype. The instruments used to make these comparisons are phenomenally precise, capable of measuring differences of 0.0000001 percent, or one part in 1 billion. But comparisons since the 1940s have revealed a troublesome drift. Relative to the t'emoins and to the national standards, Le Grand K has been losing weight -- or, by the definition of mass under the metric system, the rest of the universe has been getting fatter. The most recent comparison, in 1988, found a discrepancy as large as five-hundredths of a milligram, a bit less than the weight of a dust speck, between Le Grand K and its official underlings.

source:http://kottke.org/12/01/better-kilogram

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