Astronomers New Find…Super Earth….

Astronomers Find A Planet Mostly Made of Diamond !!!!

55Cancri e

Haven Giguere

An illustration of the interior of 55 Cancri e.

Astronomers from Yale University believe planet 55 Cancri e is made largely of diamond.

The planet was first spotted orbiting its star in 2011. But at that time, scientists thought 55 Cancri e had a rocky core surrounded by water in a state where it is both liquid and gas. New observations challenge that assumption.

According to a statement from Yale University: 

The planet was first observed transiting its star last year, allowing astronomers to measure its radius for the first time. This new information, combined with the most recent estimate of its mass, allowed [lead researcher] Madhusudhan and colleagues to infer its chemical composition using models of its interior and by computing all possible combinations of elements and compounds that would yield those specific characteristics.

Planet 55 Cancri e is part of a class of planets known as “super-Earths.” It’s about twice as big as our Blue Marble and eight times as massive. It’s also scorching hot with temperatures that can hit 3,900 degrees Fahrenheit.

Because of these conditions researchers now believe planet  55 Cancri e is mostly made of graphite that surrounds a thick layer of diamond, rather than water.

“When you form diamond, it’s only a matter of temperature and pressure, and the temperature is very high on the surface,”  French scientist Olivier Mousis tells New Scientists’ Jacob Aron.

 SOURCE::: business insider.com

Natarajan

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/astronomers-discover-diamond-planet-2012-10#ixzz2931W48fy

Do You Know ?……

[1]
If you are right handed, you will tend to chew your food on the right side of your mouth. If you are left handed, you will tend to chew your food on the left side of your mouth.

[2]
To make half a kilo of honey, bees must collect nectar from over 2 million individual flowers

[3]
Heroin is the brand name of morphine once marketed by ‘Bayer’.

[4]
Communications giant Nokia was founded in 1865 as a wood-pulp mill by Fredrik Idestam.

[5]
Tourists visiting Iceland should know that tipping at a restaurant is considered an insult! In America tipping is forced upon customer at 15 to 18%.

[6]
People in nudist colonies play volleyball more than any other sport.
[7]
Albert Einstein was offered the presidency of Israel in 1952, but he declined.

[8]
Astronauts can’t belch – there is no gravity to separate liquid from gas in their stomachs.

[9]
Ancient Roman, Chinese and German societies often used urine as mouthwash.

[10]
The average person who stops smoking requires one hour less sleep a night.

[11]
The Mona Lisa has no eyebrows. In the Renaissance era, it was fashion to shave them off!

[12]
Because of the speed at which Earth moves around the Sun, it is impossible for a solar eclipse to last more than 7 minutes and 58 seconds.

[13]
The night of January 20 is “Saint Agnes’s Eve”, which is regarded as a time when a young woman dreams of her future husband.

[14]
There are over 25 million bubbles waiting to burst out of each bottle of Champagne

[15]
Google is actually the common name for a number with a million zeros

[16]
It takes glass one million years to decompose, which means it never wears out and can be recycled an infinite amount of times!

[17]
The heat of peppers is rated on the Scoville scale

[18]
Gold is the only metal that doesn’t rust, even if it’s buried in the ground for thousands of years
[19]
Your tongue is the only muscle in your body that is attached at only one end

[20]
If you stop getting thirsty, you need to drink more water. When a human body is dehydrated, its thirst mechanism shuts off.

[21]
Each year 2,000,000 smokers either quit smoking or die of tobacco-related diseases.

[22]
When it originally appeared in 1886 – Coca Cola was billed as an Esteemed Brain Tonic and Intellectual Beverage.

[23]
Zero is the only number that cannot be represented by Roman numerals

[24]
Kites were used in the American Civil War to deliver letters and newspapers.

[25]
The song, Auld Lang Syne, is sung at the stroke of midnight in almost every English-speaking country in the world to bring in the new year.

[25]
For every real Christmas tree harvested, two to three seedlings are planted in its place.

[26]
Drinking water after eating reduces the acid in your mouth by 61 percent

[27]
Peanut oil is used for cooking in submarines because it doesn’t smoke unless it’s heated above 450°F

[28]
The Shell Oil Company originally began as a novelty shop in London that sold seashells

[29]
The roar that we hear when we place a seashell next to our ear is not the ocean, but rather the sound of blood surging through the veins in the ear.

[30]
Nine out of every 10 living things live in the ocean

[31]
The banana cannot reproduce itself. It can be propagated only by the hand of man

[32]
Airports at higher altitudes require a longer airstrip due to lower air density
[33]
Fish and Chip selling officially remained an offensive trade until 1940 due to the smell it produces

[34]
The University of Alaska spans four time zones

[35]
The tooth is the only part of the human body that cannot heal itself.

[36]
In ancient Greece, tossing an apple to a girl was a traditional proposal of marriage. Catching it meant she accepted.

[37]
Do you know the names of the three wise monkeys? They are: Mizaru (See no evil), Mikazaru (Hear no evil) and Mazaru (Speak no evil).

[38]
Warner Communications paid $28 million for the copyright to the song Happy Birthday.

[39]
Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

[40]
A comet’s tail always points away from the sun

[41]
The Swine Flu vaccine in 1976 caused more death and illness than the disease it was intended to prevent

[42]
Caffeine increases the power of aspirin and other painkillers, that is why it is found in some medicines.

[43]
The military salute is a motion that evolved from medieval times, when knights in armor raised their visors to reveal their identity.

[44]
If you get into the bottom of a well or a tall chimney and look up, you can see stars, even in the middle of the day.

[45]
When a person dies, hearing is the last sense to go. The first sense lost is sight

[46]
Trivia in Roman mythology was the goddess who haunted crossroads, graveyards and was the goddess of sorcery and witchcraft. She wandered about at night, and was seen only by the barking of dogs who told of her approach.

[47]
In ancient times strangers shook hands to show that they were unarmed

[48]
Strawberries are the only fruits whose seeds grow on the outside

[49]
Avocados have the highest calories of any fruit at 167 calories per hundred grams

[50]
It cost the soft drink industry $100 million a year for thefts committed involving vending machines

[51]
The moon moves about two inches away from the Earth each year

[52]
The Earth gets 100 tons heavier every day due to falling space dust

[53]
Due to earth’s gravity it is impossible for mountains to be higher than 15,000 meters

[54]
Men’s shirts have the buttons on the right, but women’s shirts have the buttons on the left

[55]
Mickey Mouse is known as “Topolino” in Italy

[56]
Soldiers do not march in step when going across bridges because they could set up a vibration which could be sufficient to knock the bridge down

[57]
The painting that won second place in a competition held by the US National Academy of Design was hanging upside down when it was judged

[58]
Everything weighs one percent less at the equator

[59]
For every extra kilogram carried on a space flight, 530 kg of excess fuel are needed at lift-off

[60]
The letter J does not appear anywhere on the periodic table of the elements.

Source::::: input from one of my contacts…. interesting read ….

Natarajan

Chidambram Nataraja Temple…an Architectural Excellence!!!


Nataraja Temple at Chidambaram is a living testimony to ancient “Advanced astrological and geological knowledge” of Hindus surpassing to anything contemporary……

STUNNING FEATURES OF ARCHITECTURAL EXCELLENCE:

*. The place where the temple is located is the center point of world’s magnetic equator.

*. Three of the five Panchaboothasthala temples, those at Kalahasti, Kanchipuram and Chidambaram all stand on
a straight line exactly at 79 degree 41 minutes East longitude – truly an engineering, astrological and geographical wonder. Of the other two temples, Tiruvanaikkaval is located at around 3 degrees to the south and exactly 1 degree to the west of the northern tip of this divine axis, while Tiruvannamalai is around midway (1.5 degree to the south and 0.5 degree to the west).

*. The 9 gateways signify the 9 orifices in the human body.

*. The Chitsabai or Ponnambalam, the sanctum sanctorum represents the heart which is reached by a flight of 5 stairs called the Panchaakshara padi – pancha meaning 5, akshara – indestructible syllables – “SI VA YA NA MA”, from a raised anterior dias – the Kanakasabai. The access to the Sabhai is through the sides of the stage (and not from the front as in most temples). The Chit sabha roof is supported by four pillars symbolic of the four Vedas .

*. The Ponnambalam or the Sanctum sanctorum is held by 28 pillars – representing the 28 agama s or set methodologies for the worship of Shiva. The roof is held by a set of 64 beamsrepresenting the 64 forms of artand is held by several cross-beams representing the innumerable blood vessels. The roof has been laid by 21,600 golden tiles with the word SIVAYANAMA inscribed on them representing 21600 breaths. The golden tiles are fixed using 72,000 golden nails which represents the no. of nadis existing in human body. The roof is topped by a set of 9 sacred pots or kalasa s, representing the 9 forms of energy. The arthamandapa (sanctum) has six pillars denoting the six shastras (holy texts).

*. The hall next to the artha mantapa has eighteen pillars symbolizing the eighteen Puranas .

Source:::: input from ine of my contacts.

Natarajan

No Takers for First Ever APPLE Computer in Auction!!!!!

Source:::: the sun.co.uk net……date oct 9 2012….

Natarajan

 

 

Buyers don’t byte at £80k pricetag for first ever Apple computer

An original Apple computer failed to attract a big enough 'byte' from bidders when it went up for auction in London

Basic … the Apple-1 had with no screen and just 4KB of memory

THOUSANDS queued overnight to buy the latest Apple iPhone5 but an original Apple computer failed to attract a big enough ‘byte’ from bidders when it went up for auction in London today.

An original Apple home computer from the 1970s, with no screen and just 4KB of memory, had been expected to fetch £80,000 when it went under the hammer at Christie’s auction house.

However, even Apple’s most loyal fans decided it wasn’t quite worth that much.

The Apple-1 personal computer, one of the earliest Apple machines, failed to sell.

The 1976 machine was greeted with a top bid of £32,000 – more than £15,000 shy of its reserve price of £50,000.

The result will surely come as a huge disappointment to the all-conquering brand, which is often mocked for over-charging fans for its products.

The Apple-1 went on sale in July 1976 with a retail price of US$666.66 (roughly £415).

It was originally sold without a casing, power supply, keyboard or monitor, with buyers supplying their own.

 

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak

Revoltionary … Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak create Apple Computers in the 1970s

 

Auctioneers Christie’s said the Apple-1 machine was produced by the Apple Computer Company in 1976 after being designed and each model hand-built by Steve Wozniak.

His friend Steve Jobs suggested a number of improvements, and handled its sale and marketing. The first Apple-1s were sent to buyers direct from the garage of Jobs’ parents’ house.

To generate enough funds to finance the project, Jobs famously sold his VW and Wozniak his HP-65 calculator.

It was officially discontinued by October 1977, after around 200 units were produced.

It is estimated that less than 50 are still in existence.

The relic was priced at between £50,000 and £80,000 at Christie’s sale of travel, science and natural history in South Kensington.

Speaking before the auction, Christie’s spokeswoman Leonie Pitts described the machine as “historically important.”

She said: “Prior to the Apple-1 only high tech whizz kids had a computer. You had to buy the bits and put it together yourself.”

The computer, boasting a pre-assembled motherboard, revolutionised the industry at a time when computers had to be built after purchase.

In November 2010, an Apple 1 sold at Christie’s in London for £133,250. The computer came with original box, instruction manuals and a signed letter from Mr Jobs, who led Apple until his death last year.

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4580519/apple-1-failed-to-sell-christies-auction-london.html#ixzz28tUgbTP6

Classic Case Studies in Business Schools ….

Source:::: business insider.com…..

Natarajan

If you attend business school, you can expect to read a lot of case studies. Professors love them because they offer real-world examples of why businesses succeed and fail.
There are some classic cases that every business student should know, like why Apple changed its name and few other cases…
We’ve compiled the most influential cases here, with recommendations from business school professors across the nation and abroad

Why Apple changed its name

Case: Apple Inc., 2008
Key takeaway: Sometimes you can’t take a rival head on.
What happened? Apple changed its name from “Apple Computers” to “Apple Inc.” in 2007. That reflected a fundamental shift in its business, away from its iconic Mac computers and towards new lines like the iPod and new iPhone, which made up more than half of the company’s revenue by then. Though still an important part of the company, Apple’s amazing success came from completely changing the world of digital devices rather than from beating “Wintel” for share of the computer market. It reinvented itself, and did so very successfully.

Case: Leadership, Culture, and Transition at lululemon

Key takeaway: Figure out how to bring the founders into a strategy rather than alienating them.

What happened? In mid-2008 new CEO Christine Day took over from founder Dennis “Chip” Wilson. The decision came as the company wanted to expand and become more corporate. At the same time, Wilson was concerned about maintaining the culture and values of the company.
Day faced entrenched problems like outperforming stores, a poor real estate strategy, and barriers between various parts of the company. She used her experience from helping expand Starbucks worldwide to align the whole company with a strategic plan. She even convinced the founders to attend advanced management programs at Harvard and Stanford so they could better understand how the company must change. Worth around $350 million at the start of her tenure, Lululemon is now a $10.59 billion dollar company.

How Cisco bounced back

Case: Cisco Systems: Developing A Human Capital Strategy

Key takeaway: Great homegrown talent and a culture that values it are a huge advantages in a tough environment.
What happened?: Cisco grew rapidly during the tech bubble, acquiring 70 companies and more than doubling its work force. After the bubble burst, the company had to change the way it grew and developed talent, to build more from within rather than going out and buying it.
The company created a team to develop and leverage Cisco’s talent and began the ‘Cisco University’ initiative to promote an agile and versatile workforce. Within three years, the company had turned around and was listed as one of the top companies to become a leader.

How USA Today reinvented itself

Case: USA Today: Pursuing The Network Strategy

Key takeaway: Sometimes the old guard can’t handle a new reality.

What happened? Facing falling circulation of the daily newspaper and the rise of digital news, USA Today CEO Tom Curley saw the need to better integrate his businesses, to leverage and share content across the company’s internet, television and print platforms. His management team and staff were resistant, claiming insurmountable divides in culture and work style. Curley had to make the case that this was essential for the future of the business, and eventually replaced 5 of 7 senior managers as part of the change.

How Dreyer’s survived a disaster

Case: Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream

Key takeaway: Don’t try to spin bad news or mislead workers.

What happened? A variety of problems at the company, including high input prices, a collapse in sales of a low fat product line, and the end of a distribution contract with Ben & Jerry’s forced restructuring on the company. During the restructuring, the company’s executives flew all over the country and met with every employee to discuss the plan, preserving the company’s culture of openness and accountability. The company continued investment in a leadership program. This cultural consistency and employee faith in leadership helped them bounce back within a couple of years.

How Microsoft challenged Google on its home turf

Case: Microsoft’s Search

Key takeaway: There’s no magic solution. It takes an entire organization’s experience and talent.

What happened? 10 years after its founding, Google had managed to become dominant in search and search advertising. Microsoft was a distant third, and a deal to buy Yahoo had fallen through. Though already in a very strong financial position, it wanted a bigger piece of a rapidly-growing business.
The case tracks Google’s rise, Microsoft’s initial search efforts, and Microsoft’s push for real innovation in 2008, which led to Bing! in 2009. Microsoft decided to focus on how it met such challenges in the past, focusing on “user experience, the business model, and the ecosystem of the industry in question,” along with a significant marketing effort.

Why Cisco started hunting bigger game

Case: New Millennium, New Acquisition Strategy? Cisco Systems

Key takeaway: Companies need different things at different times.

What happened? Around 2006, several years after the period described in “Developing A Human Capital Strategy” Cisco began to move away from its long standing acquisition strategy of buying small innovative startups and towards larger “platform” deals. The initial strategy came about as the internet was growing rapidly, and customers looked to Cisco for a wide variety of solutions. The case outlines how Cisco’s acquisition strategy developed, then changed as the company and market did.

How Ryanair beat two giants of the industry

Case: Dogfight Over Europe: Ryanair

Key takeaway: Lean organizations focused on a single business can lead on cost and challenge established competitors.

What happened?: In 1986, the two Ryan brothers announced that their young airline will take on giants like British Airways and Aer Lingus for the first time on the route between Dublin and London. It significantly undercut those two airlines on price, bringing in people who had previously preferred rail or ferry tickets.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/most-important-business-case-studies-2012-10

Big Moments of Internet History….

Source::::Article by:::
Jeremy Proome in MyBroadband net

Natarajan.

A look back at who was the first to mark their territory in the online space

As a relatively “new” medium, the Internet has seen many firsts in the last 20 years.

The first website, first image, first domain name, e-mail, and YouTube video, are all pivotal points in the evolution of the web as we know it.

First website
The first website was built by Tim Berners-Lee at http://info.cern.ch/ while working at CERN, and was put online on 6 August 1991 (it’s no longer live).

The first web page had the address http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html which contained information about the World Wide Web project. It provided an explanation about what the internet was, how to get your own browser, how to set up your own web server, and other details about the World Wide Web project.

That specific page no longer exists but a later copy from 1992 is available on W3C’s site.

First image
The first image ever uploaded to the web was of a promotional shot for Les Horrbles Cernettes.

Les Horrbles Cernettes were a musical/comedy group comprised of assistants and significant others of CERN scientists.

The photo was tweaked with version one of Photoshop, and uploaded by Tim Berners-Lee himself.

The first domain name
The first domain name ever registered on the Internet was “symbolics.com”.

It was registered on March 15, 1985, by the now-defunct computer manufacturer Symbolics.

In 2009, the domain was sold to XF.com Investments for an undisclosed sum.

First e-mail
The first e-mail ever sent is accredited to Ray Tomlinson in 1971.

Tomlinson is also famous for having introduced the use of the “@” symbol in e-mail addresses to separate the name of the user from the name of the user’s machine.

There had been similar electronic mailing systems since the early ‘60s, but these were limited to exchanging messages with users on the same mainframe computer.

First Youtube video
The first YouTube video was uploaded by YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim on April 23, 2005.

It’s called “Me at the zoo” and is a video of him visiting the San Diego Zoo.

It has been viewed more than 8.8 million times and is still available on the site!!!!

Bhagavad Gita …A Management Guru……

Borrowing From Antiquity…..
source::::: Article by Naresh Wadhwa in Silicon india net …..

Natarajan

My wife often tells me I spend more time in airport lounges and on board aircraft than I do at our home in Mumbai. I would imagine that is true for every modern-day leader, as they fly from one meeting to another, crisscrossing the world at dizzying frequencies. My constant companions during the innumerable flights every week are my books: whether in hardbound, paperback, or in their digital avatar on my iPad. But what really surprises me every time I read about the concepts and theories of modern-day management gurus is how many of the issues have been discussed and addressed in a book that is rarely seen as a management book. What surprises me even more is the fact that this book was not written in the last century, or even the last millennium. Yet, its true essence remains as relevant today as it was on the turbulent day its two protagonists began the conversation that was to turn into the Bhagavad Gita.

The Corporate Karma

In a volatile business environment that changes by the hour, even the most focused organizations and leaders can be tempted off course. The corporate battlefield is strewn with the remains of companies once deemed too big to fail, struck down by competition or circumstances, or both. Lured by the false hopes of short-cuts to glory and glitter, once hallowed logos and corporate reputations today lies in tatters. As the recent years have shown, the ones that survived are the ones that have often chosen a tough trek through adverse climate rather than a cushy elevator ride to the top. In most cases, the ones that have emerged unscathed through the recent crises are the ones that chose unglamorous prudence over flashy recklessness and arrogance.

Ancient Indian wisdom and the teachings of the Bhagavada Gita tell us that our results follow from our actions. Good actions today will give us good results tomorrow. Similarly, for companies, performance in line with the needs of its key stakeholders – clients, employees, investors, and communities – will result in profitability and sustainability. The story that keeps coming to my mind in this context is that of 1,400 year-old Japanese construction company named Kongo Gumi. This family-held temple construction company had been in continuous operation since the year 578, with an enviable run of more than 1,400 years. It had weathered countless domestic upheavals and global turmoil, even temporarily shifting production to make coffins during World War II. Internally, the company had a robust yet flexible succession policy in practice, with its last president being the 40th member of the family to lead the company. The unraveling of this venerable organization began somewhere in the 1980s, when, uncharacteristically, Kongo Gumi started to borrow heavily to invest in real estate. The real estate bust that followed in the 1990s in Japan left the company with a mountain of debt and a pile of assets that had lost most of its value. To make matter worse, business in its core market, temple construction, dived off a cliff roughly around the same point of time. Revenues plunged and the firm was left with an unserviceable debt portfolio. By 2006, Kongo Gumi had been liquidated and absorbed into another Japanese organization.

A leader is only as good as his or her team and the people who form the links of the hierarchical chain. In a utopian world, every team member is perfect and they are perfectly aligned to roles tailor-made for them. In reality, we operate in a volatile and uncertain world characterized by complexity and ambiguity. Most organizations are locked in a constant search for the right employees and consequently countless studies and reams of pages in management manuals have been devoted to decoding human behavior. Interestingly, thousands of years ago, the Bhagavad Gita seems to have sorted out human characteristics, when it mentioned four types of ‘followers’: those seeking respite from distress, those looking for wealth, those who are inquisitive, and those looking for the ultimate and absolute knowledge. Fast forward to present times and, somehow, this classification seems similar to Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, whichseeks to segregate individuals by their needs: Physiological Needs, Safety Needs, Love and Belonging Needs, Esteem Needs, and Self-Actualization Needs.

Yes, the classification in the Bhagavad Gita may not exactly match the needs and desires of today’s knowledge workers but the fact remains that most modern day organizational structures focus much of their time and energy in fostering organizational harmony by understanding what drives employees and what their motivational factors are. For some, it is money. For others, it is the pursuit of higher goals, or, to put it in the words of the Gita, ‘the inquisitive, and those looking for absolute knowledge’. For high performing modern-day organizations, few tasks are as important as reading people, understanding people, and harnessing the power of people to drive corporate goals and deliver organizational targets.

The Corporate Soul

One of the most well-known and often quoted lines talk about the immortality of the soul: ‘nainam? chindanti ?astr?n?i, nainam? dahatip?vakah?, nacainam? kledayanty?po, na?os?ayatim?rutah?.’ Somehow, this line keeps reminding me of the mortality of organizations. In an unforgiving marketplace, the great survivors have been the ones that have stayed true to their soul. Over time, these companies have metamorphosed to remain relevant to the demand of the times, but one look under the hood reveals their souls have remained intact. Here, I’m reminded of that famous comment by Peter Drucker: ‘The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer.’ The companies that have survived and thrived despite the ravages of time and market are the ones that were quick to understand this and set it as a constant lighthouse for their corporate voyage.

This topic, close to my heart, also reminds me of a management classic that I’d picked up from an airport bookstore many years back: The Living Company by Arie de Geus. Today, Arie de Geus is not as widely remembered as, say, Peter Drucker or Tom Peters, or even Sumantra Ghoshal. But de Geus’ seminal work on corporate mortality remains one of my favorites and a must read for all those bewildered by the prevailing high rate of business casualties. In this book, de Geus and his colleagues at a famous Anglo-Dutch company carried out deep research into the secret sauce of corporate longevity. The results were eerily similar to what is widely understood to be the secrets of human longevity: long-surviving corporates and businesses practices a life of caution, prudence, and moderation. They stayed true to their soul and corporate identity. Centenarian firms practiced conservative financing models, scrubbed clean of the fancy financing products with glitzy acronyms that have led to the downfall of many. Above all, such companies have been robustly cohesive, paid heaps of attention to their people and communities, and accepted continuous learning as a way of life.

The Call of Duty

In today’s turbulent times, the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita rarely fail to offer me a solution to the mind’s conflicts. In a fast paced, outcome-hungry, result-driven world, it often helps to fall back on that one great saying from the Gita: ‘Karmanye Vadhikaraste ma phaleshu kadachana’- ‘Do your duty and don’t expect any benefits out of it’.

Living with the Men in Blue…..

On the 80th anniversary of the IAF ,Pankaja Srinivasan recalls what it is like to be the wife of an Air Warrior…
in
THE HINDU….

Natarajan

Air Force wives are digging out saris from their boxes even as you read this. They are readying themselves for the Air Force Day party on October 8. As I look back on all the parties I have attended in the last 25 years as a wife of an Air Force pilot, I can’t help but smile.

Initially, I struggled to keep up with the ranks and names of my husband‘s colleagues. Pilot officer, flying officer, flight lieutenant… It was all right for them, they only had to remember me as “Ma’am”. My husband almost called off our wedding because I wrote letters to him addressed as ‘Lieutenant’ instead of ‘Flight Lieutenant’.

Even now, after all these years, he is not amused. But I got the hang of it eventually. I learnt to pack my entire household into 20 boxes and move at short notice. I moved into towns I did not even know existed. But I also learnt that in the Air Force we knew how to have fun whether we were living in Ladakh, Rajasthan or Assam. We lived out of one box or two, in messes, in impossibly small rooms, sometimes sharing space with snakes and scorpions, and sometimes the bathrooms with total strangers, while the rest of our luggage was parked in a friend’s garage or in an aeroplane hangar.

Sometimes, of course, we got lucky. “Madam, you live in such a big bungalow. I am sure you can afford the fee I am asking.”

This was the tabla master as we discussed lessons for my son. He was right about the big house. It had a huge courtyard and gardens in both front and rear. But I wish he had seen the previous places I called home. I have lived in accommodation with walls made of mud or bamboos, and so small that if I fell off the bed I would land in my neighbours’ yard. If size was a criterion, he would have taught my son for free!

In the days before running water and mobile phones (Leh in the 1990s), we created our own entertainment. When newly-wed Ritu got off the aircraft at Leh to join her husband, she was told her husband was on duty so one of his colleagues had come to pick her up.

She got into the vehicle and to her horror found herself surrounded by masked men who relieved her of her mangalsutra and handbag, and then let her go. She was inconsolable. She wanted to take the first flight out of Leh and return to her father’s. That evening, at a party, she tearfully unpacked her welcome gift and was astounded to find her handbag and her jewellery. Ritu’s abductors were her husband’s colleagues and this was their way of welcoming her into the fold.

Lessons in life

Incidents such as these keep us going through the postings, packings and unpackings, and the cold, heat and dust. “I have moved thrice this year and my kid has changed three schools,” is a common refrain. But the upside is, this lifestyle is a huge learning curve for the kids. And for us. We became good hostesses, event managers, crisis managers, public speakers, counsellors…all rolled into one. Some of us became innovative cooks. Many of us learnt to make gulab jamuns from scratch only because we got all that milk powder in the rations.

Most importantly we learnt to take life in our stride.

The first Air Force officer I met after my husband was Sameer. He came to our wedding. Four days later he died in a crash at Bidar. We learnt to accept that part of the Air Force too.

And so it goes. Happy landings to the Air Warriors on the 80th Anniversary of the IAF, and to their wives too.

Keywords: Air Force, Air Force officers

A Sweet Tale of Neem Leaves !!!!!

A sweet tale of how neem trees yield money
Story by:::
P. OPPILI in “THE HINDU “……

Natarajan.

The agreed procurement price of neem leaves is Rs.100 per kg for the top quality leaf.

Implementation of National Biodiversity Act enables people in two villages in Andhra to earn additional revenue

Some hundred neem trees have changed the lives of people in two villages, Amarchintha in Mahabubnagar district and Revalli in Nalgonda, both in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh.

They have helped them earn additional revenue of few thousand rupees, thanks to the implementation of access and benefit sharing (ABS) mandated under the National Biodiversity Act 2002.

SUCCESS STORY

Sharing this success story with The Hindu, Sriram Gangadhar of Bio-India Biological Corporation (BIB), Hyderabad, said that a couple of years ago, a Japanese company approached him for developing a food ingredient from neem to be mixed with water.

Generally, Japanese do not drink plain water. Instead, they prefer green tea water, energy water or medicated water. It is because of this habit that he received a proposal from the Japanese firm for developing neem-based water, which can be easily soluble and which gives a typical taste with its medicinal benefits.

Based on the Japanese inputs, BIB decided to work with local communities for collecting the neem leaves without involving any middle men, brokers or traders and under the National Biodiversity Act principles.

The company has identified two Neem rich villages and entered into an agreement with local communities, providing them five per cent on procurement price of leaves.

It is the Biodiversity Monitoring Committee in the Andhra Pradesh State Biodiversity Board that takes care of processes including signing pacts with local communities and collecting leaves.

Mr. Gangadhar says the agreed procurement price is Rs. 100 per kg for the top quality leaf. The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), which has concluded an agreement with the BIB, gets a royalty of five per cent on the sale of the leaves.

About 2,100 kg of leaf was, so far, exported to Japan. The Indian company is keen on working with many communities on sustainable harvesting methods to meet bulk needs of Japanese firms which are for increasing the quantity of production and expanding the project to a bigger scale with a lot of investment and research.

Similarly, the Neem water has proved to be good for overall health and it is a hit. “This is one of the successful case studies on ABS,” Mr. Gangadhar says, adding that the proceeds of revenue, meant for the villagers, are immediately passed on to them.

DIFFERENT FORMS

Balakrishna Pisupati, NBA Chairman, said that in order to implement the ABS system, there are four different types of forms: Form I — application for access to biological resources and/or Associated Traditional Knowledge; Form II — transferring the results of research to foreign nationals, companies, Non-resident Indian for commercial purposes or otherwise; Form III — intellectual property rights and Form IV — third party transfer of the accessed biological resources and associated traditional knowledge.

The NBA, which till now received over 600 applications, has cleared around 100 applications, Dr. Pisupati said, adding the maximum number of applications, coming under Form III, relate to prior approval for patents.

In respect of the third party transfer of biological resources accessed and associated knowledge, the Authority has signed agreements with 17 applicants.

Keywords: National Biodiversity Act, neem leaves, neem water, sustainable harvesting

Tell Your Address … I will Show the Visual Location!!!!!

SOURCE::: Input from one of my friends… truly amazing…. pl try this link to findout any address in this world!!!!!…what a simple way to locate spots and sites!!!!!… Hats off to the persons behind this tech.
Natarajan

WOW! This is incredible!!
Try it at once…!!!
This is truly a keeper.
Faster and better than Google Earth..
ANY ADDRESS – ALL OVER THE WORLD
Much faster than we imagine!!!!!
It’s unbelievable technology.

Is there nowhere to hide,then ??

After opening the link below,
slowly type in the address you want,
one letter or number at a time,
then pause, letter by letter,
space by space, and watch
each time where it takes you.

http://showmystreet.com/
showmystreet.com – fast & easy street viewing
showmystreet.com