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Image of the Day….” Desert in Bloom ” !!!

November 7, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Blossoming Atacama desert in Chile

Hundreds of millions of flowers bloomed in the Atacama Desert in Chile this year, linked to 2015’s ongoing strong El Niño.

View larger. | Flowers in the Atacama, November 1, 2015. Photo by Yuri Beletsky.

Earlier this week, we began hearing about the amazing desierto florido (desert in bloom) taking place in the Atacama, in Chile. It corresponds to the ongoing strong El Niño, which is a periodic warming of Pacific Ocean waters off the northern Chile’s coast. The El Niño caused more rainfall than usual over the Atacama, which caused hundreds of millions of flowers to germinate and bloom. Yuri Beletsky – who has contributed other beautiful photos of the Atacama to EarthSky – captured this image. He wrote:

Pretty amazing we still see flowers in the desert! I was driving down from the mountain and was astonished by the amount of flowers we still can see – it’s been almost a month (!) after the their normal season. Here is an image taken just with my cell phone. This year is truly exceptional here in Chile due to El Niño phenomenon.

We’ve got lots of clouds, high humidity, and no wonder the desert is full of life now.

I hope you’ll enjoy it!

Thank you, Yuri!

Just as El Niño is cyclical, so the unusual flower blooms in the Atacama are known to come and go about every five to seven years. That’s according to Pedro León Lobos, a botanist with Chile’s Institute of Agriculture and Livestock Research (IRA), in an interview with National Geographic published earlier this week.

By the way, Chile is prone to frequent earthquakes, and the Acacama Desert is north of Coquimbo, Chile, where a strong 6.8-magnitude quake struck earlier today (November 7, 2015).

Bottom line: 2015 featured an unusually prolific bloom of flowers in the Atacama Desert in Chile, tied to this year’s El Niño.

Source….www.earthsky.org

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Message for the Day…” Position , Pride and Power – all Vanish Before Death …”

November 7, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

To a superficial observer, life appears to revolve around eating and drinking, working, and sleeping. But verily life has a much deeper significance. Life is a sacrifice (yajna). Every little act is an offering to the Lord. If your days are spent in deeds performed in this spirit of surrender, your sleep would be a total immersion in the Divine Consciousness(Samadhi)! Most people commit the great fault of identifying themselves with the body and accumulate a variety of things for its upkeep and comfort. When the body becomes weak and decrepit with age, they still attempt to bolster it by one means or the other. How long can death be postponed? When Yama’s (Lord of Death’s) warrant comes, everyone must depart. Position, pride, and power – all vanish before death. Remember, you are not this body! It is your vehicle to serve all. Realising this, strive day and night, with purity in body, mind and spirit, to realise the Higher Self.

Joke of the Day…” Are You OK …” ?

November 7, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Last Wednesday a passenger in a taxi heading for the airport leaned over to ask the driver a question and gently tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention.

The driver screamed, lost control of the cab, nearly hit a bus, drove up over the curb and stopped just inches from a large plate glass window. For a few moments everything was silent in the cab. Then, the shaking driver said “Are you OK? I’m so sorry, but you scared the living daylights out of me.”

The badly shaken passenger apologized to the driver and said, “I didn’t realize that a mere tap on the shoulder would startle someone so badly.”

The driver replied, “No, no, I’m the one who is sorry, it’s entirely my fault. Today is my very first day driving a cab. I’ve been driving a hearse for 25 years.”

Source…..www.ba-bamail.com

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This Man Turned His Halloween Candy Into A Magical Landscape That’ll Amaze You…!!!

November 7, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

There are very few things you can do with all that candy you got on Halloween but don’t actually like. You know, those subpar candy necklaces and 3 Musketeers…I mean, we’re all in for the Twix and Reese’s, am I right? Sure, you can videotape yourself telling your kids you ate all their candy, or you can just power through and eat it, but typically you wouldn’t think to make a whimsical dreamland out of it…that is, unless you’re this guy.

A photographer by trade, this dad decided to take some of his kid’s Halloween candy and create a cool landscape with it.

Flickr / JaysunsPhotos

It doesn’t look like much from here…but a quick zoom-in reveals:

A whole town of mini people mining candies.

Flickr / JaysunsPhotos

He bought the tiny characters at a local hobby store and used various sweets in key shots.

He’d always wanted to try his hand at macro photography…I think he’s found his calling!

Fickr / JaysunsPhotos

Just chillin’ by a giant bubble gum.

Flickr / JaysunsPhotos

According to the photographer, the figurines are pretty much all about as tall as a Nerd candy.

Flickr / JaysunsPhotos

Chocolate is basically the same thing as water.

Flickr / JaysunsPhotos

The man behind the photos says, “I’ve never spent so much time setting up a shoot.”

Flickr / JaysunsPhotos

Judging by all this detail, we can totally understand.

Flickr / JaysunsPhotos

Honestly, I would have just eaten it, but this is way cooler — and involves less of a sugar high.

If you’d like to see more of the photographer’s work, head over to his Flickr page!

Source…..Amanda Black in http://www.viralnova.com

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All Hope Was Lost At This Crash Site…Until They Made A Shocking Discovery…

November 7, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Just yesterday, on November 4, 2015, a devastating accident rocked South Sudan as a cargo plane full of passengers crashed shortly after takeoff. When investigators and rescue workers arrived on the scene, they knew that there was little hope of finding survivors in the charred, twisted wreckage.

But just as they were about to give up all hope, they made a miraculous discovery.

Prospects were grim as rescue workers stepped onto the site of the horrific crash.

Getty Images

The plane was only designed to hold cargo and about 12 crew members, so it’s believed that overcrowding caused it to go down.

Getty Images

Approximately 36 passengers are confirmed dead, but numbers will likely rise as the wreckage is moved.

But just as they were about to give up hope, rescuers made a heartbreaking — but completely amazing — discovery.

Getty Images

They found a one-year-old girl crying underneath the wreckage. She’s one of two reported survivors, and volunteers were completely floored by the tiny child’s will to live. The other survivor ultimately succumbed to injuries sustained in the crash, but somehow, this brave little one made it.

The girl, named Nyalou Thong, was immediately rushed to the hospital. She’s reportedly doing well after receiving treatment for a broken leg and other minor injuries.

Getty Images

Sadly, Nyalou’s mother and brother died in the crash. As of now, rescuers are attempting to contact other family members.

Getty Images

She is expected to make a full recovery.

(via Mashable)

This child truly is a tiny miracle. Officials and volunteers who responded to the crash signed on for the recovery mission with heavy hearts, but this discovery proved to be a glimmer of hope. We’re sending our thoughts to the people of South Sudan as they recover from this tragedy, and to little Nyalou as she heals.

Source..Madeline Distasio……www.viralnova.com

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Image of the Day…. “Elephant Foot Glacier” ….

November 7, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

The Elephant Foot Glacier in northeastern Greenland, looks like a bowl of batter that has been poured over a pan. The sheer pressure of the zillion-ton ice has broken through the mountain and spilled into the sea in a near symmetric, fan-shaped lobe. Such glaciers are known as piedmont glaciers, and the Elephant Foot Glacier is a perfect example of it. Its shape is so distinct that it stands out dramatically from its surroundings when viewed from high above.

Glaciers are one of the most extraordinary of the earth’s natural phenomena. These rivers of frozen snow accumulated over centuries of precipitation are so densely packed that it exceeds its overall ablation. They are in a constant state of flux, flowing down in the direction of the slope towards a valley or a water body. You can’t really tell if it’s moving but come back in a few decades and you will be able to see thedramatic change in the landscape.

elephant-foot-glacier-4

Photo credit: unknown

The Elephant Foot Glacier is located on the Kronprins Christian Land peninsula. It is not connected to Greenland’s main ice sheet. Rather, it’s part of a network of glaciers and ice caps that hangs around the periphery of the island. Research has shown that as a whole, these outlying glaciers and ice caps account for 5 to 7 percent of Greenland’s total ice coverage, but they are responsible for 20 percent of its contribution to sea level rise.

Another example of piedmont glaciers is the Malaspina Glacier in southeastern Alaska. 65-km long and 45-km wide, it is the largest piedmont glacier in the world. The glacier arises where several valley glaciers, primarily the Seward Glacier and Agassiz Glacier, spill out from the Saint Elias Mountains onto the coastal plain facing the Gulf of Alaska.

elephant-foot-glacier-1

Photo credit: Thobu/Panoramio

elephant-foot-glacier-2

Photo credit: eggertsae/Panoramio

Photo credit: phys.org

malaspina-glacier-1

Malaspina Glacier. Photo credit: Bob Mattson/Panoramio

Sources: NASA / Wikipedia

Source….www.amusingplanet.com

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This Simple Feature Tells Emergency Services Your Medical Information……..

November 7, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

If you’ve got an iPhone, here’s a handy app you’ll most definitely want to install, one that could potentially save your life. This health app, contains an important feature called Medical ID. You’re probably already familiar with the ‘In Case of Emergency’ (ICE) practice, which collects important contact information on your phone so that it may be used to contact family in the event of an emergency – well, Apple’s Medical ID is basically an enhanced version of ICE. This feature provides both emergency contact information, and also informs first responders and medical personnel of important health information, such as your medications, medical conditions, blood type and allergies.

Setting Up

Here’s how to set up Medical ID on your iPhone:

Note: To take advantage of this nifty feature, your phone needs to run on iOS 8.

1. To get started, launch the Health app.

2. Tap the Medical ID icon, located at the bottom-right of your screen.

3. Tap Edit on the top-right corner of your screen

medical ID

4. Change or update your name, photo, birth date and input any important medical information.

5. The fields available will allow you to list any medical conditions, allergies, and current medications. You also have a blank field for general medical notes – such as your preferred hospital or doctor, or any religious requests.

6. Further down, you can add multiple emergency contacts, which must be included in your already existing iPhone contacts. If your ICE contact is not in your phone book, they must be added prior to proceeding.

7. In the process of selecting your contacts, the Medical ID app, will ask you to identify your relationship with the person. With this in mind, should you rather not mention how this contact person is connected to you, you may simply put ‘other’ or ’emergency’.

8. Below the contacts section is another field, whereby you can add your blood type, height, weight and your organ donor preference.

9. Once you have completed the information, just tap Done at the top of the screen to save your changes.

Accessing Medical ID

Once all your important medical information and emergency contacts have been stored in your iPhone’s Medical ID, here’s how someone can access this information in the event of an emergency.

For safety reasons, your iPhone should be secure, meaning that it should have a passcode or Touch ID, prohibiting others from entering your phone. Despite this, the Medical ID can still be accessed from a locked screen.

medical id

Just tap Emergency on the bottom-left of the iPhone lock screen, allowing anyone without a passcode to make an emergency phone call. Then tap Medical ID, which will bring up a screen showing the information you entered previously. Anyone accessing your Medical ID can tap on any of your emergency contacts and call them directly.

What if you don’t have an iPhone?

This app has yet to be introduced to android users, in which case, it is wise to mark or create a separate folder for your ICE contacts.

Source….www.ba-bamail.com

Natarajan

India To Get Its First Transgender Sub-Inspector Of Police, Thanks To Madras High Court…

November 7, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

We weren’t done applauding the remarkable decision taken by West Bengal government that directed Kolkata police to include Hijras in the Civic Police Volunteer Force (CPVC), and now comes another good news that says India is set to get its first transgender sub-inspector of Police.

The news comes from Tamil Nadu, a state hailed for forming the first transgenders welfare board, which is said to be the first not only in India but probably in the world.

Following a historic decision made by Madras High Court, K. Prithika Yashini is soon to become India’s first transgender sub-inspector of Police.

Madras High Court directed the Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board (TMUSRB) to appoint K. Prithika Yashini as a sub-inspector, as she is deemed perfectly entitled for the job.

Prithika was born and brought up as Pradeep Kumar. But her journey, unsurprisingly, wasn’t easy. She had to fight a long legal fight to get things going her way.

In the first go, her application was rejected due to the absence of ‘third gender category’ in the state police recruitment board.

Image Source: Facebook

She moved the High Court. As a consequence of this, she was allowed to appear for written, physical and endurance test, and also viva-voce. While she cleared all her rounds perfectly, in a 100-metre dash, she missed out by 1 second. But, she was testified to be an SI.

According to The Hindu, Chief Justice S.K. Kaul and Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana of the First Bench made the board realize their failure at not adding the ‘third gender category’ despite the Supreme Court’s direction.

Excited by things turning out in her favour, Prithika who also hopes to become India’s first transgender IPS Officer told NDTV, “I’m excited. It’s a new beginning for the entire transgender community,”

India has seen some significant feats this year in relevance to recognizing the talent sidelining other factors. Manabi Bandyopadhyay (India’s first transgender college principal) and Akkai Padmashali (First transgender recipient of Rajyotsava award) are a couple of notable examples.

Let’s hope more path-breaking decisions like these that give importance to talent over prejudices, are taken often. Let’s hope, people who don’t easily get socially accepted because of their choices that don’t exactly conform to social norms, get to live their dreams.

After all, it is dreams, aspirations and goals we are talking about- things that don’t have any genders or castes or religions.

Sources: NDTV , The Hindu

Cover Image Source

Ananta Sharma in http://www.storypick.com

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What Monsoon Waters Are Leaving Behind In Korea is Simply Beautiful….

November 6, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

We often downplay just how drastically the weather can affect our state of mind, but some studies suggest that our moods change with the seasons. This could explain why it’s just as hard to imagine being lethargic and irritable on a warm, sunny day as it is to imagine being upbeat and productive when the sky opens up with heavy rain and thunder.

Just ask the people of Seoul, South Korea. Right now, they’re facing the worst part of the year: monsoon season. Needless to say, they know a thing or two about letting the weather get them down. That’s whyPantone — a leading color technology and design firm — decided to team up with creators from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to turn the bustling city’s damp, dreary streets into exuberant works of art.

These creative minds teamed up to bring Seoul and its many residents back to life during monsoon season.

School of the Art Institute of Chicago

After all, it’d be hard not to smile while swimming with beautiful sea creatures on the way to work and school.

Instead of washing these creations away, however, heavy rainfall activates them!

School of the Art Institute of Chicago

So how exactly does that work?

School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Each piece is created with hydrochromatic pigments. They’re applied like regular paints, but they become invisible once they dry. The only thing that can bring them back to life is water.

As is the case in many major cities, life in Seoul revolves around the nearby river.

School of the Art Institute of Chicago

That’s why artists decided to incorporate marine life into these whimsical images in a way that captures the importance of the Han River to life in Seoul, while still shining a spotlight on the city’s famously vibrant culture.

That's why artists decided to incorporate marine life into these whimsical images in a way that captures the importance of the Han River to life in Seoul, while still shining a spotlight on the city's famously vibrant culture.

School of the Art Institute of Chicago

(via My Modern Met)

It’s tempting to let rain put a literal damper on your day, but it’s important to find beauty at every turn. That being said, it’s probably much easier to do that when talented creators cover your city’s streets with stunning images of whales, fish, and sea turtles. We wish the people of Seoul luck as they endure the final stages of monsoon season, and we hope that this awesome art is helping them get by!

Source….www.viralnova.com

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