yoyo

2010-10-26T08:13:00.000+05:30

സുപ്രഭാതം.

Picture Cube

AN OLD MAN'S AGELESS WISDOM

2010-05-09T15:41:00.011+05:30

Once I had to travel to Klahanie (in Orissa)……..

I met an old man. I say old, but again it was virtually impossible to guess his age by simply looking at him. During our conversation, he recalled certain events and occasions and from that we concluded that he was about 104 years old.

I got into a lively conversation with this gentleman. I asked him, ‘Who is ruling our country?’

For him ‘country’ clearly meant Kalahandi. He looked at me and smiled at my ignorance. ‘Don’t you know?’ he said. ‘It is company sarcar that ruling our country.’ He meant of course the East India Company. The old man was not aware that India had become independent.

I showed him some Indian currency and the emblem of the Ashoka Chakra.

He was not impressed. He said, ‘This is just a piece of paper. How can you look at it and tell who is ruling us? It is goriwali rani who is ruling us.’

Nothing I said could convince him that the goriwali rani, or the ‘fair queen’ of England, no longer ruled India.

I knew that the barter system was very important to tribal people, so I asked him about that. ‘Do you know this small piece of paper can buy firewood, lots of saris, bags of salts, matchsticks, and even a piece of land?’

He looked at me sympathetically and said, 'For this paper, people fight, go away from our ancestral land, leave our forest and go to cities. Have we not led a complete life without that piece of paper? Our ancestors did. We are children of God, settled here happily without this paper. This is God’s land. Nobody owns this land. No river is created by us. No mountain is made by us. The wind does not listen to us. The rain does not ask our permission. These are gifts of God. How we can “sell” or “buy” land, I do not understand. When nothing is yours, then hoe can you make such transactions? This little paper of yours can turn our lives upside down.’

I could find no words to answer him. Until that moment, I had been convinced that I knew more than he did. We knew about currency movements, political parties, about the difference between Bill Gates and Bill Clinton. Here was a man who knew nothing of these, yet he was aware of deeper, more eternal truths. He knew that nobody owned the land, the mountain or the wind.

Who is more civilized-this wise old man in the Kalahandi forest or those of us with our fingers on the pulse of the Internet?

[It is taken from “Wise & Otherwise, A Salute to Life”, a book of Sudha Murthy, published by Penguin Books.]

Gandhiji

2010-05-08T21:16:00.001+05:30

എന്‍റെ രാഷ്ട്ര പിതാവിനു മുന്‍പില്‍ തൊഴുകൈയ്യോടെ... ഒരു നിമിഷം.

Gandhiji

2010-05-08T21:11:00.000+05:30

His life was his message.

Gandhiji

2010-05-08T21:04:00.001+05:30

I wish I could follow these foot steps.

Gandhiji

2010-05-08T20:52:00.001+05:30

In the memories of a great man, Mohandas K. Gandhi, who teach us the principle of Ahimsa, non-violence and simplicity. I salute thee.

Monitoring glacial retreat.

2009-07-21T13:51:00.000+05:30

The mass balance of a glacier is the direct link between climate and glacial retreat. The overall mass balance of a glacier is measured to calculate the volume of a glacial mass and glacial run off characteristics. For mass balance measurements, glacier size can range anywhere between 2-5 sq km to ensure accuracy of measurements.

The mass balance of a glacier can be measured through a direct glaciological method where at a number of individual points the change in levels of surface area is measured between two dates (e.g. Summer and winter).

The difference in surface levels between these two dates multiplied by near surface density can then lead to an estimate of the total net mass balance of the glaciers.

Depending on the amount of melted snow and ice, mass balance can be either positive or negative (gain or loss of glacier volume).

Mass balance of a glacier can be measured in variety of ways including geodetic techniques and direct glaciological methods. One of the most frequently used methods for measuring changes in surface levels include drilling wooden stakes into the glacier and snow depths relative to a known surface and then monitoring these points regularly.

However, such measurements need to be carried out regularly on a long-term basis for effective monitoring.

Democracy

2009-03-18T23:11:00.002+05:30

Atlast the EC announced the right of our neighbours.

General Election will be conducted from April 16 to May 13.

May 16- they will declare who gets the milk.

Do you knw wat r the 'systems' and 'ISMs' around us?

They are,

SOCIALISM: U have 2 cows. The state takes 1 and gives it to someone else.

COMMUNISM: U have 2 cows. The State takes both of them and gives you the milk.

FASCISM: U have 2 cows. The State takes both of them and sells you the milk.

MILITARY DICTATORSHIP: U have 2 cows. The State takes both of them and shoots you.

BUREAUCRACY: U have 2 cows. The state takes both of them, accidentally kills one and spills the milk in the sewer.

CAPITALISM: U have 2 cows. U sell one and buy a bull.

PURE DEMOCRACY: U have 2 cows. Ur neighbours decide who gets the milk.

REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY: U have 2 cows. Ur neighbors pick someone to decide who gets the milk.

ANARCHY: U have 2 cows. Either you sell the milk at a fair price or ur neighbors kill you and take the cows.

[Don't frget to cast ur vote]

[Be a responsible neighbor.Rmbr April 16 is ur day]

[yasar arafath- ur neighbor]

Invest half an hour to protect the environment by changing how you live each day

2009-03-14T13:33:00.000+05:30

Hi friends,

You may not be able to reduce global warming, end pollution and save endangered species single-handedly, but by choosing to live an earth-friendly lifestyle you can do a lot every day to help achieve those goals.

And by making wise choices about how you live, and the amount of energy and natural resources you consume, you send a clear message to businesses, politicians and government agencies that value you as a customer, constituent and citizen.

Here are five simple things you can do—in 30 minutes or less—to help protect the environment and save Planet Earth.

Invest half an hour to protect the environment by changing how you live each day

1.Drive Less, Drive Smart

Every time you leave your car at home you reduce air pollution, lower , improve your health and save money.

Walk or ride a bicycle for short trips, or take public transportation for longer ones. In 30 minutes, most people can easily walk a mile or more, and you can cover even more ground on a bicycle, bus, subway or commuter train. Research has shown that people who use public transportation are healthier than those who don’t. Families that use public transportation can save enough money annually to cover their food costs for the year.

When you do drive, take the few minutes needed to make sure your engine is well maintained and your tires properly inflated.

Public Transportation: Fast Track to Fewer Emissions and Energy Independence

Families that use public transportation can save more than they spend on food

If you want to help reduce global warming, let alone air pollution, one of the best things you can do is to get out of your car.

Walk or ride a bicycle for short trips, or take public transportation for longer ones. Either way, you will significantly reduce the amount of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions you generate each day.

The Rising Environmental Cost of Driving Alone

Transportation accounts for more than 30 percent of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. According to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), public transportation in the United States saves approximately 1.4 billion gallons of gasoline and about 1.5 million tons of carbon dioxide annually. Yet only 14 million Americans use public transportation daily while 88 percent of all trips in the United States are made by car—and many of those cars carry only one person.

Added Benefits of Public Transportation

Consider these other benefits of public transportation:

Energy independence—According to Treehugger.com, if just one in 10 Americans used public transportation daily, U.S. reliance on foreign oil would decrease 40 percent.

Safety—Riding a bus is 79 times safer than riding in an automobile, and riding a train or subway is even safer.

Health—Studies have shown that people who use public transportation regularly tend to be healthier than people who don’t, because of the exercise they get walking to and from bus stops, subway stations and their homes and offices.

Cost savings—According to an APTA study, families that use public transportation can reduce their household expenses by $6,200 annually, more than the average U.S. household spends on food every year.

The Heart of the Debate Over Public Transportation

So why don’t more Americans use public transportation?

Transportation experts and social scientists may argue about which came first, America’s love affair with the automobile or the urban and suburban sprawl that makes long daily commutes in at least one and often two cars a requirement for many American families.

Either way, the problem at the heart of the debate is that good public transportation systems are not available to enough people. While public transportation is readily available in many major cities, the majority of Americans in smaller cities, towns and rural areas simply don’t have access to public transportation.

So the problem is twofold:

Persuading people with ready access to public transportation to use it more often.

Creating affordable public transportation options in smaller communities.

Trains, Buses and Automobiles

Train systems are the most efficient in many ways, typically emitting less carbon and using less fuel per passenger than buses, but they are often more expensive to implement. Also, the traditional advantages of trains can be mitigated to a large extent by using hybrids or buses that run on natural gas.

Another promising alternative is bus rapid transit (BRT), which runs extra-long buses in dedicated lanes. A 2006 study by the Breakthrough Technologies Institute found that a BRT system in a medium-sized U.S. city could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 650,000 tons during a 20-year period.

If you live in an area with good public transportation, do something good for the planet today. Park your car, and take the subway or the bus. If you don’t, then talk to your local and federal elected officials about the benefits of public transportation and how it may help solve some of the problems they’re wrestling with right now.

2.Eat Your Vegetables

Eating less meat and more fruits, grains and vegetables can help the environment more than you may realize. Eating meat, eggs and dairy products contributes heavily to global warming, because raising animals for food produces many more greenhouse gas emissions than growing plants. A 2006 report by the University of Chicago found that adopting a vegan diet does more to reduce global warming than switching to a hybrid car.

Raising animals for food also uses enormous amounts of land, water, grain and fuel. Every year in the United States alone, 80 percent of all agricultural land, half of all water resources, 70 percent of all grain, and one-third of all fossil fuels are used to raise animals for food.

Making a salad doesn’t take any more time than cooking a hamburger and it’s better for you—and for the environment.

3.Reusable Bags: Paper, Plastic or Something Better?

Switch to Reusable Shopping Bags Producing plastic bags uses a lot of natural resources, and most end up as litter that fouls landscapes, clogs waterways, and kills thousands of marine mammals that mistake the ubiquitous bags for food. Worldwide, up to a trillion plastic bags are used and discarded every year—more than a million per minute. The count for paper bags is lower, but the cost in natural resources is still unacceptably high—especially when there is a better alternative.

Reusable shopping bags, made of materials that don’t harm the environment during production and don’t need to be discarded after each use, reduce pollution and save resources that could be put to better uses than making plastic and paper bags. Reusable bags are convenient and come in a variety of sizes and styles. Some reusable bags can even be rolled or folded small enough to fit into a purse or pocket.

4.Change a Light Bulb and Change the World

Compact fluorescent light bulbs and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are more energy efficient and less expensive to use than the traditional incandescent bulbs invented by Thomas Edison. For example, compact fluorescent light bulbs use at least two-thirds less energy than standard incandescent bulbs to provide the same amount of light, and they last up to 10 times longer. Compact fluorescent light bulbs also generate 70 percent less heat, so they are safer to operate and can reduce energy costs associated with cooling homes and offices.

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, if every U.S. household replaced just one regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb, it would prevent 90 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, the equivalent of taking 7.5 million cars off the road. On top of that, for every incandescent bulb you replace with an approved compact fluorescent light bulb, you will save consumers $30 in energy costs over the life of the bulb.

A Bright Idea Goes Global: Nations Worldwide Phasing Out Incandescent Lighting

China Makes Commitment to Energy-Efficient Lighting

Let There Be Light: Solar-Powered LED Lamps Brighten Lives of Poor People

5.Pay Your Bills Online

Many banks, utilities and other businesses now offer their customers the option of paying bills online, eliminating the need to write and mail paper checks or to keep paper records. By paying your bills online you can save time and money, lower the administrative costs of companies with which you do business, and reduce global warming by helping to prevent deforestation.

Signing up for online bill paying is easy and doesn’t take much time. You can either choose to have certain bills paid automatically each month or elect to review and pay each bill yourself. Either way, you will receive outstanding returns on your small investment of time.

Why Online Bill Paying is Good for the Environment

Reduce waste paper, save time and money with online bill paying

Take Care,

With Love,

yasar arafath p.k. malappuram.