Driving down a road, a motorist saw a baby horse running around aimlessly on the pavement. The little guy was either abandoned or lost, but the man couldn’t tell what had happened. Where was his mother? How did he get here? As he pulled up to the baby, though, the poor horse was belting out fearful sounds. This kind man had to stop and do something.
He discovered that the horse had somehow become separated from his mom and was too young to leap over the guardrail to meet the anxious mare. If he stayed stuck on the highway, the helpless creature would surely be hit by a passing car. That’s when this man did something so thanklessly awesome, you can’t help but smile.
Running back to his family, you can almost hear mom breathe a sigh of relief. That’s what we call a real hero — helping someone in need without a moment’s thought!
Utilize your authority over this body to foster the welfare of the world. This body is but an instrument, an implement given by God. Let it serve its intended purpose. Until the realisation of the purpose for which the implement is given, it is your duty to watch over it vigilantly and protect it from injury and disablement. During winter, woollen clothes are worn to withstand the rigour of the cold gales, but when the cold subsides, they are discarded. So too when the cold gales of material life don’t affect us in the least, the material body will no longer become essential. “Thou-art-That” – this is the highest and holiest spiritual maxim! You are the indestructible Atmic principle (Divine Soul). It is to realise and experience this Atmic principle, you have this body! In the process to realise the Supreme Lord here and now, you must take good care of yourself.
The ad for plastic surgery featured Heidi Yeh with three children whose images were altered
A Taiwanese model who featured in an advert for plastic surgery is threatening to sue the clinic and advertising agency, after the ad became a popular internet meme. She told the BBC’s Cindy Sui in Taipei how she believes losing control of her own image ruined her life.
“I’ve broken down many times crying and I haven’t been able to sleep,” says Heidi Yeh, as she struggles to fight back tears.
“The biggest loss for me is I don’t want to be a model anymore.
“Just because I’m a model, people can hurt me like this and I can’t fight back. I just want to hide.”
‘You can’t hide it forever’
Her “nightmare” began in 2012 with a photo shoot for an advertisement aimed at convincing people to get plastic surgery at a Taiwanese cosmetic clinic. The photo showed very attractive “parents” with sought-after big eyes and long, well-defined noses, and their three “children”, their images altered to make their eyes look exceptionally small and their noses flat.
The caption read: “The only thing you’ll ever have to worry about is how to explain it to the kids.”
Ms Yeh says her contract, signed by her agency and the Taipei office of US-based international advertising agency J Walter Thompson (JWT), stated the ad would be used in newspapers and magazines, by that clinic only.
But JWT later allowed another plastic surgery clinic, Simple Beauty, to use it on its website; it also put the image on JWT’s Facebook page.
Before long, the photo made its way across the internet, with a new caption: “Plastic surgery – you can’t hide it forever.”
‘People thought it was real’
Then in 2012, a Chinese tabloid attached it to a fake story – which first emerged in 2004 – about a husband from Heilongjiang who sued his wife when he found out she had plastic surgery before they met, because their children grew up to look nothing like her.
“When I first heard about this from a friend, I thought it was just a one-off rumour,” said Ms Yeh.
“Then I realised the whole world was spreading it and in different languages. People actually thought it was real. Even my then-boyfriend’s friends would ask about it.”
The picture and accompanying stories came up on Google in several languages, including Arabic, English and Japanese, and have become a global meme.
Ms Yeh, who has shot TV commercials and ads for major companies such as fast-food chain KFC, computer maker Vaio and a Japanese facial products brand, began to get less work.
“People refused to believe that I had never had plastic surgery. Clients would ask me if I was the woman in the picture. After this, I only got small roles in advertisements.”
It also, she says, affected her personal life. She suspects her then-boyfriend broke up with her partly because he was embarrassed by the rumours. She says relatives and her current fiance’s family have also asked about them. Strangers would spot her in public and gossip about her, she adds.
‘No-one controls the internet’
Ms Yeh estimates she has lost $4m new Taiwan dollars (£80,000; $123,000) in potential earnings. She is threatening to sue JWT and the cosmetic clinic for NT$5m. She says her goal is not the money, but to clarify that none of the stories are true, and to get the companies to own up to their role in how her image was used.
Ms Yeh said she had tried many times, through her modelling agency or on her own, to get the clinic and advertising agency to remove the image from their online sites, but they didn’t until shortly before she, with the help of a Taipei city councillor, held a press conference this month where she made her threat to sue.
In a statement to the BBC, JWT said its campaign “was created to promote plastic surgery services in a humorous manner”, adding that it owns the copyright to the photo, and so has rights to edit, modify and use it.
But Ms Yeh’s lawyer, Chang Yu-chi, disagrees: “We gave you the copyright and the right to edit it, but we didn’t give you the right to let another company use it, and to use it online.”
Asked whether JWT tries to ensure its advertisements are not misused, the agency says: “As we all know, no-one controls the internet… We can’t anticipate what degree of an impact it will have, how people will view it, and what they will do with it.”
The clinic says it followed proper procedures to obtain the rights to use the image.
Both companies are threatening to sue Ms Yeh in turn for damaging their images and have demanded she hold another press conference to apologise. Some people, meanwhile, have suggested online that she’s seeking fame to re-launch her career.
But Ms Yeh says she is a victim of cyber-bullying, and that she decided to speak out to give herself courage.
As for the children, Ms Yeh and the little girl’s mother both said their images were edited to make them look less attractive. The mother told reporters her daughter was disappointed with how she looked in the photo.
Ms Yeh says she hopes the image stops appearing. “I can’t bear to look at it… The children may not use social media now, but it will hurt them when they grow up.”
Crescent Pluto, acquired as New Horizons sped past in July on its way deeper into the Kuiper Belt
View larger. | Crescent Pluto. This world is 1,473 miles (2,370 km) wide. Image via NASA / JHU-APL / SWRI/ New Horizons spacecraft.
The New Horizons spacecraft looked back to a crescent Pluto, after sweeping past this world in July, 2015. The sun is behind Pluto in this image. New Horizons acquired the view using the Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC) onboard.
Here, Pluto’s ice mountains Norgay Montes and Hillary Montes can be seen rising as high as approximately 11,000 feet (3,500 meters) above Pluto’s surface. The so-called Sputnik Planum within the Tombaugh Regio stretches to the horizon on the right.
The frigid, very thin, cold atmosphere is seen with layers of haze. The average surface temperature of Pluto is minus 367 Fahrenheit (minus 232 Celsius). If our own Earth cooled to the same temperatures, our oceans would freeze almost all the way down and our atmosphere would collapse and freeze into a layer of frozen gasses 35 feet (11 meters) thick.
Bottom line: As New Horizons sped past in July, it looked back to a crescent Pluto.
On Nov. 6, 2015, NASA astronauts Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren spent 7 hours and 48 minutes working outside the International Space Station on the 190th spacewalk in support of station assembly and maintenance. The astronauts restored the port truss (P6) ammonia cooling system to its original configuration, the main task for the spacewalk. They also returned ammonia to the desired levels in both the prime and back-up systems. The spacewalk was the second for both astronauts. Crew members have now spent a total of 1,192 hours and 4 minutes working outside the orbital laboratory.
At about an hour after the 6:22 a.m. EST start of the spacewalk, astronaut Kjell Lindgren took this photograph of Scott Kelly at work, with the station’s solar arrays visible in the background.
LONDON: You might well be addicted to it, but quitting Facebook would actually make you happy, suggests a new study done by Denmark-based think tank Happiness Research Institute.
The study, done in Denmark, enrolled 1095 volunteers (94 percent of them said they visited Facebook as part of a daily routine) and divided them into two groups.
Half of them carried on using Facebook as usual whereas the rest spent their time away from the social network.
After a week, 88 percent of those who had given up Facebook said they felt “happy”, compared with 81 percent of those who had still been checking into their News Feed on a regular basis.
Those who had abstained from Facebook also reported feeling more enthusiastic, less lonely, less worried and more decisive, the study found.
They spent more time seeing family and friends face-to-face and said they found it easier to concentrate too – those are a serious set of benefits to taking some time away from the social network’s apps and websites.
The researchers ascribe anxiety associated with Facebook use to envy at other people’s lives as they are seen enjoying albeit in edited highlights.
“Instead of focusing on what we actually need, we have an unfortunate tendency to focus on what other people have,” wrote the authors of the study.
According to Meik Wiking, CEO of the Happiness Research Institute, Facebook is a “constant bombardment of everyone else’s great news”.
“After a few days, I noticed my to-do list was getting done faster than normal as I spent my time more productively. I also felt a sort of calmness from not being confronted by Facebook all the time,” Sophie Anne Dornoy, 35, one of the volunteers was reported as saying.
Inspired by her friends, my mother started a new tradition in our home last night. She invited the family of our maid Madina to come home for dinner. She had earlier sent dad and me off to buy all the groceries and special food was prepared for them. We all ate together and had a lovely conversation as well.
This is the first time we have ever done anything like this in our family. It felt surreal to see Madina’s whole family sitting on our couch and eating with us on our dining table. This was specially significant for me as I remember having bitter arguments with my mother as a kid about why our staff couldn’t use the same utensils and furniture as us! It would always end in her crying and then I had to back down. So you can imagine how amazing it was for me to see my mom organize this Diwali dinner on her own initiative.
Madina and her family at our home for dinner
It was also a humbling experience for me and made me realize anew what a privileged life we lead. As we spoke to them I learned more about their family and realized some of their struggles. They bought a small home a couple of years back, but the terms of interest were so high that they now owe back as much money as the value of their property itself! Local money lenders often exploit the poor in this way. They are thinking of selling their home as a result. Their elder son could not go to college so he could help pay the loan. He now works late into the night to earn a meager wage. Husband is a laborer. Son has an aptitude for computers but the family is too poor to afford one. Younger son is in the ninth grade but looks tiny for his age. Turns out he almost died of typhoid last year. He was smiling the whole evening. –
This is our other maid Meena. She lost her husband nine months ago in a car accident. She now works in six houses to support her family. She told me she makes food for her own kids in the morning, then cooks in six houses all day, then returns home to cook dinner for her own family again. She said on most days she has no appetite left after being around food the whole day! This brave woman earns Rs.25,000 a month through sheer hard work. I’ve never seen her frown or complain. Could it be that the great teachers we are all looking for are working in our own homes? –
As I drove them home I realized how far our maid lives. It took us forty five minutes one way in our car, and she comes without one, managing with public transport or depending on her husband to drop her. She comes early morning and goes home in the evening. I feel if more people visited the homes of their domestic staff and realized the context of their lives, they would not be so quick to judge them for being late or for other things.
On our way back home my mom commented that she had always been invited by Madina for festivals like Eid and the marriage of their daughter. She and dad attended these events to their family’s great delight. Mom said it had never occurred to her that she had never invited their family over to our home! Isn’t it amazing how the hearts of the poor can be so large! They are certainly not poor in love, generosity and spirit. Mom said she felt content and peaceful after having them over for dinner. It was clear that we received more than we gave last night.
It looks like this is the beginning of a beautiful new tradition in our family, which I hope we will only enhance as time goes on. It touched and opened my heart in many ways. I’ve asked their son to send me specs of the computer he needs and I’m going to see how we can arrange that for him. It doesn’t take much to make a big difference in someone’s life!
– Written by Nithya Shanti here and republished with permission in http://www.the betterindia.com
Naraka Chaturdasi (or Deepavali) is the festival that teaches you to remember how character decides destiny, designs achievements and demarcates one as divine or demonic! Laziness is a demon that possesses and debilitates an individual. Its brother is conceit. Add anger to it and it will totally debilitate anyone! Anger weakens your nerves and heats up your blood, changing its composition. A simple burst of fury consumes the strength gained in three months! The Lord chose to invade Narakasura’s kingdom repeatedly, forcing him to explode into furious anger again and again! His resistance was thus annihilated. Learn from the Lord’s strategy. On this Deepavali day, people insist on wearing new clothes. Let your hearts too rejoice, clothed in fresh ideals, feelings and resolutions. Relish the sweets of virtues from today, and mould your lives into sweet songs of Love.
A WOMAN boarded a plane for a short trip, but when it landed and everyone left, she remained in her seat. Nobody realised.
So she continued on with another load of passengers to a destination she never intended on visiting, flying a total of 14 hours instead of four.
Because 82-year-old Dolores Runnels has dementia, she just stayed on the plane. She was meant to fly from Dallas to Houston then to Greenville, US.
Instead, she ended up on the other side of the country, going from Dallas to Houston to Greenville to Baltimore to Chicago and then back to Greenville.
All the while her baffled daughter Melody Allega was waiting at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport.
“I get to baggage claim. Her bags are there, but there is no mother,” Ms Allega toldWYFF4.com.
Nobody seemed to know what had happened to her mum.
“I just kept thinking about how scared she would be to show up somewhere and not realise where she was or how she got there or how to get home.”
Finally, it became disturbingly clear what had happened — she hadn’t been escorted off the plane by Southwest staff.
That’s despite Runnel’s family contacting the airline prior to the flight.
Her son had even received an email response from Southwest confirming they acknowledged Ms Runnels had dementia and outlining a plan to get her safely to Greenville.
“Who counted that plane? That’s not just an old person that needs help or a person with dementia that needs help, that’s national security biting the dust,” he said.
Allegra said her mum was left “hungry and confused” and she wanted the airline to apologise.
Southwest Airlines spokesman Dan Landson told WYFF4.com: “A passenger travelling alone on Flight 486 from Houston Hobby to Greenville-Spartanburg arrived at her intended destination but did not get off the aircraft and travelled on with other passengers to Baltimore/Washington.
“Upon her arrival at BWI and after learning of the situation with this customer, our airport employees did what they do best — they jumped into action, bought her food, and diligently worked on flight arrangements to get her back Greenville-Spartanburg that day.
“At Southwest, we consider each customer an extended part of our family. We’ll complete an internal review of what happened.”
This is our other maid Meena. She lost her husband nine months ago in a car accident. She now works in six houses to support her family. She told me she makes food for her own kids in the morning, then cooks in six houses all day, then returns home to cook dinner for her own family again. She said on most days she has no appetite left after being around food the whole day! This brave woman earns Rs.25,000 a month through sheer hard work. I’ve never seen her frown or complain. Could it be that the great teachers we are all looking for are working in our own homes? –
Take off with Natarajan 