human

Believe it or Not…No Casualties in these Air crashes….

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When one thinks of airplane disasters, one relates them to tragedy, loss and devastation.

However, German photographer Dietmar Eckell finds ‘miracles in aviation history’ at the abandoned sites of wrecks that have resulted in no casualties.

‘Happy End’ is a photo-project of 15 airplanes that had forced landings but all on board survived and were rescued from the remote locations. The planes remain abandoned in nowhere for the last 10-70 years.

He writes, “It’s part of  my long term project ‘restwert’ (German for residual value) to document abandoned objects with fascinating backgrounds like cold war relicts, Olympic sites, flooded churches, railroad tracks, never finished nuclear reactors, overgrown adventure parks etc.”

Douglas Skytrain C-47, Yukon, Canada

In February 1950, a Douglas Skytrain C-47 plane accidentally crashed into the ridge and 10 passengers on board miraculously survived in the cold weather. Photograph: Dietmar Eckell

The pilot made it down to a nearby highway to get help rescuing the other nine survivors.Photograph: Dietmar Eckell

The photographer spent two hours at the crash site taking various shots of the wreckage. Speaking of his experience, Eckell says, “I still cannot imagine how they survived in February 1950 with temperatures in the -40s up there.” Photograph: Dietmar Eckell

Carvair, Alaska

In June 1997, Carvair took off from Venetie, United States of America. The aircraft was climbing when the engine on the left wing began to run rough. Soon, a fire broke out, causing the engine to fall off the wing. The captain was forced to carry out an emergency landing on a sand and gravel bar in the ChandalarRiver. Photograph: Dietmar Eckell

Fairchild C-82, Alaska

A twin-engine Fairchild C-82, carrying cargo, experienced troubled and had to crash-land in January 1965 in the Tundra forest, cutting down many trees. The three crewmembers survived by building a huge fire from the surrounding pines, which proved their salvation when a spotter plane saw its glow 3 days later. Photograph: Dietmar Eckell

Cessna T-50, Alaska

This Cessna T-50, also known as the “Bamboo Bomber,” crash-landed in Alaska after it ran out of fuel in the 1960s. Photograph: Dietmar Eckell

Cessna 310, Australia

A Cessna 310 in repose in Western Australia after it crashed in 1993. Eckell captured this image after a 1,500 kilometre drive. Photograph: Dietmar Eckell

B-24 Liberator, Papua New Guinea

This massive B-24 bomber crash-landed in Papua New Guinea swamp in October 1943 after running low on fuel after a bombing mission. The crew successfully parachuted to the ground, and the two pilots were unhurt in the crash landing.

Douglas C-53, Australia

The Douglas Skytrooper was forced to land in February 1942 after the pilot missed the airport and ran out of fuel. This cluttered transport wreck is the last shoot — to date — of the Happy End project. Photograph: Dietmar Eckell

Grumman hu-16 Albatross, Mexico

This Grumman Albatross crashed on a beach about 70 km south of Puerto Escondido, Mexico. The locals told Eckell that the plane was used by drug traffickers. Eckell discovered the wreck in 2010, six years after the crash. The imminent storm gave him precisely the backdrop he wanted. Photograph: Dietmar Eckell

Avro Shackleton, Western Sahara

Two engines of this plane suddenly failed, sending it down to the desert sand in 1994. Surviving this crash in such an inhospitable environment was an astonishing feat for the 19 passengers and crew. He remembers his attempt to reach the plane as dangerous. “After a 30-hour car ride from Morocco to Mauritania and a 26-hour ride on an ore train, I got to a mining town and there had to convince the local Polisario leader to take me over the border to the Western Sahara. I had the plane’s GPS location and we drove cross country to avoid getting caught by the Mauritanian military. Photograph: Dietmar Eckell

Curtiss C-46 Commando, Manitoba, Canada

This Curtiss Commando made a heroic emergency landing in the hills of Manitoba, Canada. All 3 people aboard survived. The Commando was often used as transport aircraft in World War II; command crews nicknamed the C-46 the ‘flying coffin’. Eckell explains that although this wreck is relatively easy to hike to, it involves an extra threat: It’s in polar bear country. Photograph: Dietmar Eckell

Douglas C-47 R4D-8, Iceland

In November 1973, this US Navy transport plane crashed after encountering severe weather conditions and icing near Vik, Iceland. All 7 passengers and crew members made it to safety.Photograph: Dietmar Eckell

Vought F4U Corsair, Hawaii

A Vought F4U Corsair ended up in Hawaii waters a few years after World War II.  cal diving school operators helped Eckell to find the small fighter plane and told him the pilot escaped.Photograph: Dietmar Eckell

Bristol 170, Canada

This Bristol Type 170 broke through the frozen lake on landing, fracturing the wing, and has been there ever since 1956. Eckell tracked it down with the GPS coordinates and persuaded a local Cessna pilot to fly him out to it. Photograph: Dietmar Eckell

Check out Dietmar Eckell’s Facebook page

Source….www.rediff.com

Natarajan

Message for the Day…” 4 Questions that Every Person Should Ask Himself…”

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Sathya Sai Baba

There are four key questions that every person must show interest in: “Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? How long will I be here?” All spiritual inquiry begins with these questions. The four Vedas give you the answers! Will you drop a letter into the post box without writing the address of the sender and receiver? If you do, then, the letter will go nowhere and the effort in thinking and writing the letter would be wasted! So too, it would be a phenomenal waste of opportunity to have come into this world, without knowing where we have come from and where we are going. Just as the no-address letter will go to the dead-letters office, the clueless individual soul will be caught in the cycle of birth and death for eternity! To avoid this phenomenon, enquiry about the Self with spiritual discipline is essential and must be prioritized. The answers will automatically come to you, as practical experiences.

 

Two Indians Make it to the FORBES List of Top 20 Billionaires of 2015….

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Indians are making their country proud everywhere. While 5 Bollywood actors made it to 35 highest-paid actors list released by Forbes yesterday, 2 Indians have made it to the list of Tech Billionaires of 2015.

Here’s the entire list:

20. Klaus Tschira – Rs. 54,844 Crores

  •     Net worth- $ 8.6 billion
  •     Co-founder of SAP

19. Hiroshi Mikitani – Rs. 55,482 Crores

  •     Net worth – $ 8.7 billion
  •     Chairman & CEO of Japan’s biggest E-retailer, Rakuten

 

18. Eric Schmidt – Rs. 58,026 Crores

  •    Net worth – $ 9.1 billion
  •    Executive chairman Google

 

17. Hasso Plattner – Rs. 58,026 Crores

  •    Net worth – $9.1 billion
  •    Co-founded SAP (Systems, Applications, Products)

 

16. Lei Jun – Rs. 84,179 Crores

  •    Net worth – $13. 2 billion
  •    Founder of Xiaomi

 

15. Shiv Nadar – Rs. 94,372 Crores

  •    Net worth – $14. 8 billion
  •    Co-founder of HCL

shiv-nadar-1

14. Robin Li – Rs. 97,571 Crores

  •    Net worth – $15.3 billion
  •    CEO of China’s largest online search company Baidu

 

13. Ma Huateng a.k.a. Pony Ma – Rs. 102,661 Crores

  • Net worth – $16.1 billion
  • Chinese Internet firm – Tencent

 

12. Paul Allen – Rs. 111,571 Crores

  •    Net worth – $17. 5 billion
  •    Co-founder of Microsoft Corporation

11. Azim Premji – Rs. 121,788 Crores

  • Net worth – $19.1 billion
  • Founder of Wipro

Azim-Premji-1

 

10. Michael Dell – Rs. 122,443 Crores

  • Net worth – $19.2 billion
  • Founder of Dell

 

9. Lauren Powell Jobs – Rs. 124,356 Crores

  • Net worth – $19.5  billion
  • Founder of Emerson Collective

 

8. Steve Ballmer – Rs. 137,126 Crores

  • Net worth – $21.5
  • Owner of Los Angeles Clippers, an American basketball team

7. Jack Ma – Rs. 144,763 Crores

  • Net worth – $22.7 billion
  • Founder of Alibaba Group

 

6. Sergey Brin – Rs. 186,215 Crores

  • Net worth – $29.2 billion
  • Co-founder of Google and runs Google X

 

5. Larry Page – Rs. 189,404 Crores

  • Net worth – $29.7 billion
  • CEO of Google

4. Mark Zuckerberg – Rs. 212,969 Crores

  • Net worth – $33.4 billion
  • Founder & CEO of Facebook

 

3. Jeff Bezos – Rs. 221,896 Crores

  • Net worth – $34. 8 billion
  • CEO of Amazon

 

2. Larry Ellison – Rs. 346,235 Crores

  • Net worth – $54.3 billion
  • Ex-CEO of Oracle Corporation

 

1. Bill Gates – Rs. 459,161 Crores

  • Net worth – $72 billion
  • Founder of Microsoft Corporation he has been on the top of the list for 16 times out of last 21

They are the richest in the tech field in the world. Now please don’t look at your bank balance and cry.

 

Source….www.storypick.com  and  www.forbes.com

Natarajan

 

India”s Pride….Indians come home with 173 medals at Special Olympics….

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Ishant Tudeja, a 13-year old boy with intellectual disabilities bagged a gold and silver medal in roller skating at the Special Olympics World Games. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

The 275-member strong Indian contingent made the country proud by pocketing 173 medals at the Special Olympic World Summer Games 2015 in Los Angeles.

The athletes, who competed under the banner of Special Olympics Bharat, bagged 47 gold medals, 54 silver and 72 bronze pieces 14 disciplines during the nine-day event that ended August 2.

The country was most successful in athletics where Indians collected a total of 47 medals which included three gold medals in various categories of the 100-metre race. They also clinched the soft ball gold on debut.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the Indian contingent for its great outing in the American city.

“Achievements of Indian contingent at @LA2015 @SpecialOlympics are truly gladdening. They are India’s pride,” Modi wrote on his Twitter page.

“The @LA2015 @SpecialOlympics were a triumph of determination, hardwork & sportsman spirit. Congratulations to all athletes who participated,” he tweeted.

Mukta Narain Thind, Special Olympics Bharat’s national director (organisation development), said it was an improvement from last year.

“They shine every time, and they have shone this year too. We are pleased with the performance, the medal tally has improved. They have bagged 173 from 150 something last time around, so we are extremely proud of what they have achieved,” Mukta told IANS.

“Next is the winter Olympics in Austria in 2017 which will be our main focus. The athletes will start training from October this year,” she said.

India had won 156 medals – 56 gold, 48 silver and 52 bronze – in the last edition of the games held in Athens, Greece.


Facts about Special Olympics:

  • Special Olympics is the World’s largest multi-sport event which is held for athletes with disabilities
  • Special Olympics was founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver
  • In 1988, International Olympics Committee recognised Special Olympics
  • The 2015 Special Olympics event in Los Angeles had the largest gathering in the World after 1984
  • This year, the Games were held from July 25, 2015 to August 2, 2015
  • The 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games were officially opened by Michelle Obama. Stevie Wonder was also featured in the opening

Source….www.hindustantimes.com and http://www.indiatoday.intoday.in

Natarajan

In Pictures….Hiroshima on 6 Aug 1945…

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Hiroshima mushroom cloud after the first atomic bomb was dropped by a US Air Force B-29

The first atomic bomb was dropped by a United States aircraft on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945.

Photo from the US Army Signal Corps showing the devastation left after the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. No precise date given for the photo which was taken some time not long after the explosion.

US President Harry S Truman, who announced the news from the cruiser USS Augusta in the mid-Atlantic, said the device was more than 2,000 times more powerful than the largest conventional bomb previously used.

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima - Aerial view after the bomb

The Hiroshima bomb, known as “Little Boy”, contained the equivalent of between 12 and 15,000 tons of TNT and devastated an area of 13 square kilometres (five square miles).

The Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay landing on the Marianas Island after the atomic bombing mission on Hiroshima, Japan.

The bomb was dropped at 0815 local time from an American B-29 Superfortress, known as Enola Gay, seen here returning to the Marianas Island.

Firestorms after the explosion of the atom bomb in August 1945, Hiroshima, Japan

The plane’s crew say they saw a column of smoke rising and intense fires springing up.

Devastation at Hiroshima, after the atomic bomb was dropped. The building on the right was preserved as the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, Atomic Bomb Dome or Genbaku Dome, 1 September 1945.

More than 60% of the buildings in the city were destroyed.

The patient's skin is burned in a pattern corresponding to the dark portions of a kimono worn at the time of the explosion

No-one is sure how many died on that first day. Estimates start at 70,000 but later estimates suggest the final toll was far higher, about 140,000, of Hiroshima’s 350,000 population. This person’s skin was burned in a pattern corresponding to the dark portions of a kimono worn at the time of the explosion.

Hiroshima bombing - The landscape after the bombing

The US President said the atomic bomb heralded the “harnessing of the basic power of the universe”. It also marked a victory over the Germans in the race to be first to develop a weapon using atomic energy.

The Roman Catholic Church of Urakami standing over the burn-razed cityscape of Nagasaki, southern Japan, after the second atomic bomb ever used in warfare was dropped by the US over the Japanese industrial centre.

Another atomic bomb dropped three days later over the Japanese city of Nagasaki killed at least 74,000 people by the end of year.

A Photograph of a Soldier at Hiroshima after the Blast in Japan, August 1945.

The bombings brought about an abrupt end to the war in Asia – but critics said Japan had already been on the brink of surrender. The two atomic bombs, with the Soviet declaration of war against Japan on 8 August 1945, finally left the Japanese no choice. Japan surrendered to the Allies on 14 August 1945.

Source….www.bbc.com

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Message for the Day…” Keep the Mind Free from Dirt and dust of Evil thoughts…”

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Sathya Sai Baba

The greatest disease (or absence of ease) is the absence of Shanti; when the mind gets peace, the body also will have health. So everyone who craves for good health must pay attention to the emotions, feelings and motives that animate you. Just as you wash clothes regularly, you must wash the mind free from dust and dross again and again! Otherwise, if dirt accumulates and you form a ‘habit’, it is difficult to get rid of the ‘stains’, besides it is harmful for the clothes. So washing should be a daily process; you should see that no mud settles upon the mind! That is to say, you have to move about in such company that dirt is avoided. Falsehood, injustice, indiscipline, cruelty, hate – these form the dirt; Sathya, Dharma, Shanti, Prema (Truth, Righteousness, Peace, Love) – these are the cleansers. If you inhale the pure air of virtues, your mind will be free from evil viruses and you will be mentally sturdy and physically strong.

Advice From 104 Years Old Doctor ….” Energy Comes From Feeling Good, Not from Eating Well…”

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Advice From a 104 year  Old Doctor….!!!

Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara, Japan,
As a 97 year old Doctor, he was interviewed, and gave his advice for a long and healthy life… Born in 1911 he is now 104 years old …
 
Shigeaki Hinohara is one of the world’s longest-serving physicians and educators. Hinohara’s magic touch is legendary: Since 1941 he has been healing patients at St. Luke’s International Hospital in Tokyo and teaching at St. Luke’s College of Nursing.
He has published around 15 books since his 75th birthday, including one “Living Long, Living Good” that has sold more than 1.2 million copies. As the founder of the New Elderly Movement, Hinohara encourages others to live a long and happy life, a quest in which no role model is better than the doctor himself.
Doctor Shigeaki Hinohara’s main points for a long and happy life: 
* Energy comes from feeling good, not from eating well or sleeping a lot.We all remember how as children, when we were having fun, we often forgot to eat or sleep. I believe that we can keep that attitude as adults, too. It’s best not to tire the body with too many rules such as lunchtime and bedtime.
* All people who live long regardless of nationality, race or gender share one thing in common:None are overweight. For breakfast I drink coffee, a glass of milk and some orange juice with a tablespoon of olive oil in it. Olive oil is great for the arteries and keeps my skin healthy. Lunch is milk and a few cookies, or nothing when I am too busy to eat. I never get hungry because I focus on my work. Dinner is veggies, a bit of fish and rice, and, twice a week, 100 grams of lean meat.
* Always plan ahead. My schedule book is already full until 2014, with lectures and my usual hospital work.
There is no need to ever retire, but if one must, it should be a lot later than 65. The current retirement age was set at 65 half a century ago, when the average life-expectancy in Japan was 68 years and only 125 Japanese were over 100 years old. Today, Japanese women live to be around 86 and men 80, and we have 36,000 centenarians in our country. In 20 years we will have about 50,000 people over the age of 100…
* Share what you know. I give 150 lectures a year, some for 100 elementary-school children, others for 4,500 business people. I usually speak for 60 to 90 minutes, standing, to stay strong.
* When a doctor recommends you take a test or have some surgery, ask whether the doctor would suggest that his or her spouse or children go through such a procedure. Contrary to popular belief, doctors can’t cure everyone. So why cause unnecessary pain with surgery I think music and animal therapy can help more than most doctors imagine.
* To stay healthy, always take the stairs and carry your own stuff. I take two stairs at a time, to get my muscles moving.
* My inspiration is Robert Browning’s poem “Abt Vogler.” My father used to read it to me. It encourages us to make big art, not small scribbles. It says to try to draw a circle so huge that there is no way we can finish it while we are alive. All we see is an arch; the rest is beyond our vision but it is there in the distance.
Pain is mysterious, and having fun is the best way to forget it. If a child has a toothache, and you start playing a game together, he or she immediately forgets the pain. Hospitals must cater to the basic need of patients: We all want to have fun. At St. Luke’s we have music and animal therapies, and art classes.
* Don’t be crazy about amassing material things. Remember: You don’t know when your number is up, and you can’t take it with you to the next place.
* Hospitals must be designed and prepared for major disasters, and they must accept every patient who appears at their doors. We designed St. Luke’s so we can operate anywhere: in the basement, in the corridors, in the chapel. Most people thought I was crazy to prepare for a catastrophe, but on March 20, 1995, I was unfortunately proven right when members of the Aum Shinrikyu religious cult launched a terrorist attack in the Tokyo subway. We accepted 740 victims and in two hours figured out that it was sarin gas that had hit them. Sadly we lost one person, but we saved 739 lives.
* Science alone can’t cure or help people. Science lumps us all together, but illness is individual. Each person is unique, and diseases are connected to their hearts. To know the illness and help people, we need liberal and visual arts, not just medical ones.
* Life is filled with incidents. On March 31, 1970, when I was 59 years old, I boarded the Yodogo, a flight from Tokyo to Fukuoka. It was a beautiful sunny morning, and as Mount Fuji came into sight, the plane was hijacked by the Japanese Communist League-Red Army Faction. I spent the next four days handcuffed to my seat in 40-degree heat. As a doctor, I looked at it all as an experiment and was amazed at how the body slowed down in a crisis.
* Find a role model and aim to achieve even more than they could ever do. My father went to the United States in 1900 to study at Duke University in North Carolina. He was a pioneer and one of my heroes. Later I found a few more life guides, and when I am stuck, I ask myself how they would deal with the problem.
* It’s wonderful to live long. Until one is 60 years old, it is easy to work for one’s family and to achieve one’s goals. But in our later years, we should strive to contribute to society. Since the age of 65, I have worked as a volunteer. I still put in 18 hours seven days a week and love every minute of it.
Source….www.ba-bamail.com
Natarajan

“Balaji”…The World’s Richest God has got a demat account in HIS name Now…!!!

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Balaji, the world’s richest god at Tirupati, has now opened a demat account to enable devotees to donate shares and securities, after finding it a tedious task to get physical share certificates dropped in Hundi transferred on his name.

Considered the first globally for a shrine management, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has opened demat account (1601010000384828) with the Stock Holding Corporation of India.

PS Reddy, MD and CEO of Central Depositories Service (CDSL), .. told ET that the innovative move by TTD was primarily aimed at addressing the hassles pertaining to transferring the physical share certificates. “TTD has been receiving physical share certificates as donations by devotees in its open Hundi, which indicates that devotees are interested in donating shares.

TTD viewed that enabling devotees to use the demat account for donations helps both.” Reddy said though TTD is the first shrine management in the country till date to open a demat account ,CDSL would explore similar interest from other temple managements in other parts of the country that were receiving shares as donations.

While acknowledging that the temple has been receiving thousands of share certificates valuing lakhs of rupees, a TTD top official, however, refused to divulge details on the quantum and value of shares received so far.

Source….www.economictimes.indiatimes.com

Natarajan

 

” Let us Take our Eyes Away from the Dark Spots of our Life …”

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The Black Dot: A Beautiful and Inspiring Story!

This beautiful story has a simple, yet important message. I hope as many people as possible give it a read. I know I am happy I read it, as it gave me a few things to think about in my own life. Sometimes it is the simplest of stories that make us ponder the most.

the black dot

 

the black dot

the black dot

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the black dot

the black dot

the black dot

the black dot

the black dot

the black dot

the black dot

Source……www.ba-bamail.com

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