Cat Illustration

Self Serving interest shapes up your attitude.

Example of a CAT

Once an enlightened man asked his followers - 

Why does a person like a cat?

Some said - it is domesticated animal, subservient to the family.

One fellow pragmatically quipped - It keeps the rat menace away.

Then, the seer asked - Why does one hate a cat?

Pat came the reply - Because, it annoys people, when it gulps the milk or eats chicken, reserved for human consumption and also kills the pet birds.

The wise man continued.

Hence, cat is not permanently bad or good. its temporary actions, cause hatred and love towards it.

Moreover, none of the items cited by us (including chicken or Cow/ Buffalo milk) are actually designed/ produced for human consumption.

Since you have usurped the right of different species/ creatures and claiming that you alone are empowered to proclaim ownership over other creatures.

Thus key factor, affecting your behaviour is the mindset, which says love this object, as it appease your desire. Or hate the same - if it appears to threaten your interest.

Thus people, do not like or dislike objects; but just their interests or desire. The moment you shed the passion or desire, you will be treat everything with equanimity.

End of Life Indicators are present in Genes

Vitamin D(3) deficiency may also lead to Diabetes

Vitamin D, also acquired thru Sun Light is vital for the body. Vitamin Deficiency can lead to Diabetes. In this Electrical age, desktop jobs are preferred, depriving us the benefits of Sun Light. 

Everyone excluding Outdoor Workers, Sport Enthusiasts are vulnerable for this. Think about it. Make it a habit to get some Sun Light daily.

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Deficiency of vitamin D in the blood can increase your risk of developing diabetes, a new study has claimed.

Researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine found a correlation between vitamin D3 serum levels and subsequent incidence of Type 1 diabetes.

The six-year study of blood levels of nearly 2,000 individuals suggests a preventive role for vitamin D3 in this disease.

"Previous studies proposed the existence of an association between vitamin D deficiency and risk of and Type 1 diabetes, but this is the first time that the theory has been tested in a way that provides the dose-response relationship," said Cedric Garland, professor in UCSD's Department of Family and Preventive Medicine.

The researchers thawed and analysed 1000 samples of serum from healthy people who later developed type 1 diabetes and 1000 healthy controls whose blood was drawn on or near the same date but who did not develop type 1 diabetes.

By comparing the serum concentrations of the predominant circulating form of vitamin D '25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D)', investigators were able to determine the optimal serum level needed to lower an individual's risk of developing type 1 diabetes.

Based mainly on results of this study, Garland estimates that the level of 25(OH)D needed to prevent half the cases of type 1 diabetes is 50 ng/ml. A consensus of all available data indicates no known risk associated with this dosage.

"While there are a few conditions that influence vitamin D metabolism, for most people, 4000 IU per day of vitamin D3 will be needed to achieve the effective levels," Garland suggested.

He urges interested patients to ask their health care provider to measure their serum 25(OH)D before increasing vitamin D3 intake.

"This beneficial effect is present at these intakes only for vitamin D3. Reliance should not be placed on different forms of vitamin D and mega doses should be avoided, as most of the benefits for prevention of disease are for doses less than 10,000 IU/day," Garland said in a statement.

Meditation - Happiness - Scientific Explanation

Aanando Brahma

Mathieu Ricard of France- Scientist turned monk sheds light on the bright aspects of meditation and resultant happiness.

Re-Birth

Once a foreigner interested in the philosophy of Hinduism was waiting for darshan of His Holiness Sri Chandra Sekharendra Saraswati Swamigal at Kanchi to clarify his doubt. Shortly, he got his appointment and without wasting time, he put forth his question.

“Swamiji, I understand all your concepts, value them but for one particular faith (i.e) same soul taking various births, papa, punya being carried forward to the next births etc…Can you please make me comfortable on this aspect?”. Because, in all our religions, we get the reward for what we do in this birth only. (i.e) if we are honest, God is pleased and blesses us with benefits and we are dishonest, we get punished by Him.

At this point, the Seer asked him, whether he owns a car and if he could do a favour of collecting some statistical information within Kancheepuram using his vehicle. The guest readily agreed, at the same time wondering why his question was not answered spontaneously.

Please, Swamiji, go ahead, “What is the service you expect me to do now?”.

Swamiji said, ‘Please go around 10 maternity centres within Kancheepuram and collect the data of children born within the last 2 days – Child’ s gender, health condition, parents name, status, educational qualification, time of birth.

The man said “Fine, this is nothing, immediately rushed in his car like Lord Muruga goes in Thiruvilayadal and within a day he was back in the matam with exact statistics in front of Mahaperiyaval. He went through the statistics, about 15 children were born in 10 hospitals, 8 female and 7 male infants, out of which 3 children had malnutrition

defects, 2 children were the first child of highly rich parents, born in luxury hospitals while 4 were children of coolie labourers who already had few children.

Mahaperiyaval now looked at the gentleman and started asking few questions:

Do you think any of these children have been honest / dishonest within 2 days of their birth? Probably they could not even recognize their own mother. So, they have neither earned papa or punya in this birth.

According to your concepts, all these children should be living exactly identical to each other, but not so practically – some are ill, some are healthy, some are born to rich parents, some are born to poor parents –

Remember all children born in the same day, same longtitude, latitude, you can’t blame their horoscope which is going to be almost identical….

The gentleman was dumb folded!

It is here the concept of previous birth erupts! All these children have taken their present birth according to their deeds(karma) and the resultant Paapa, Punya which they have assimilated in their previous births.

Sanatana Dharma was smiling at the gentleman through Wise Saint.

Brown is better

Want to lose weight and still eat rice? Just switch to brown rice instead of white. Apart from being more nutritious, it also has fat-burning properties.

Why Brown Rice is better than White Rice~

What is brown rice? How is it different from white rice?

It is just normal rice but with all the nutrients still intact. The reason brown rice has many more nutrients than regular white rice is due to the fact that brown rice has only th...e outer layer, called the hull(husk), removed while white rice has been refined for convenience removing several nutritious layers—therefore losing all nutrients.
The next time you feel sluggish reach for brown rice. It has several health benefits:~

Brown rice has more than 80% of your daily value of manganese, which gives you energy from both carbohydrates and proteins.
Manganese also helps synthesize fatty acids, which keeps your nervous system in working order.

The fiber in brown rice produces the best health benefit of all – fat burning! In addition to requiring more energy to break it down, the fiber in brown rice helps satisfy your appetite and therefore decreases your chances of overeating. That is the equation for fat loss – eat less and burn more!

The fiber and selenium found in brown rice can also reduce your risk of many types of cancer, which is a health benefit we could all use. Finally, oils found in brown rice can help lower cholesterol, which according to research, we eat too much of already.

High Sounds of Ear Phones damage brain

Turning the volume up too high on your earphones may damage nerve cells that carry signals to the brain, researchers have warned.

University of Leicester research found that earphones or headphones on personal music players can reach noise levels similar to those of jet engines.

Noises louder than 110 decibels are known to cause hearing problems such as temporary deafness and tinnitus (ringing in the ears), but the study for the first time observed the underlying cell damage.

"The research allows us to understand the pathway from exposure to loud noises to hearing loss. Dissecting the cellular mechanisms underlying this condition is likely to bring a very significant healthcare benefit to a wide population," lead researcher, Dr Martine Hamann, said.

Nerve cells that carry electrical signals from the ears to the brain have a coating called the myelin sheath, which helps the electrical signals travel along the cell.

Exposure to loud noises - noise over 110 decibels - can strip the cells of this coating, disrupting the electrical signals.

This means the nerves can no longer efficiently transmit information from the ears to the brain.

However, the coating surrounding the nerve cells can reform, letting the cells function again as normal.

This means hearing loss can be temporary, and full hearing can return, the researchers said in a statement.

"We now understand why hearing loss can be reversible in certain cases. We showed that the sheath around the auditory nerve is lost in about half of the cells we looked at, a bit like stripping the electrical cable linking an amplifier to the loudspeaker. The effect is reversible and after three months, hearing has recovered and so has the sheath around the auditory nerve," Hamann said.

The study has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Triphala (Three Fruits) - Anti-Cancer Natural Drug

Triphala, a traditional ayurvedic medicine, has significant anti-cancer properties, which raises the hope for its wider use for cancer treatment in future, scientists claim.

With triphala inhibiting growth of cancerous tumours, scientists said it may be used for both therapeutic and preventive cancer treatment in the long run, after successful trials on animals and humans, which may take several years to complete.

Triphala is a non-toxic fruit-formulation, used in India since long as a household ayurvedic product to tackle chronic intestinal disorders and keep the heart healthy.

“The most important conclusion from our experiment is that we found about seven mg of chebulinic acid (the active molecule in Triphala) present in the dose used on mice, that may be responsible for its anti-cancer effect,” Sujit Basu, associate professor at the Ohio State University, who led a team of researchers, told Deccan Herald.

Generally available in the market as a powder, triphala is a combination of three fruit-amla (Emblica officinalis), haritaki (Terminalia chebula) and bibhitaki (Terminalia bellerica)-in equal amount.

Basu and his colleagues used commercially available triphala powder for the experiment. They administered it to cancer-afflicted mice, at a dose of 100 mg per kg of body weight, for seven days. Laboratory analysis showed significantly less growth in cancerous cells in mice who were administered triphala.

Experiments were also conducted with cancer cell lines, which too yielded promising results. The ayurvedic medicine, as well as its main active constituent, the chebulinic acid, block the action of a body chemical called vascular endothelial growth factor (VGEF) that plays a critical role in tumour formation.

More Info ...

Triphala

Marine Cloud Brightening Technique to Counter Intensity of Hurricanes

Cloud seeding could reduce destructive power of hurricanes

Environmental scientists working to tame the hurricanes, one of the most destructive forces of nature on Earth, has proposed using cloud seeding to decrease sea surface temperatures where the storm form.

Theoretically, the team claimed the technique could reduce hurricane intensity by a category.

The team focused on the relationship between sea surface temperature and the energy associated with the destructive potential of hurricanes. Rather than seeding storm clouds or hurricanes directly, the idea is to target marine stratocumulus clouds, which cover an estimated quarter of the world’s oceans, to prevent hurricanes forming.

“Hurricanes derive their energy from the heat contained in the surface waters of the ocean. If we are able to increase the amount of sunlight reflected by clouds above the hurricane development region then there will be less energy to feed the hurricanes,” said Dr Alan Gadian from the University of Leeds.

Using a technique known as Marine Cloud Brightening (MCB), the researchers propose that unmanned vehicles could spray tiny seawater droplets, a good fraction of which would rise into the clouds above, increasing their droplet numbers and thereby the cloud reflectivity and duration. In this way, more sunlight is bounced back into space, thereby reducing sea surface temperature.

The team’s calculations, based on a climate ocean atmosphere coupling model (HadGEM1) suggest this could reduce the power of developing hurricanes by one category. Somewhat different cloud-seeding projects, designed to directly influence rainfall amounts, already exist around the world and were most famously used in China during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

“Data shows that over the last three decades hurricane intensity has increased in the Northern Atlantic, the Indian and South-West Pacific Oceans. We simulated the impact of seeding on these three areas, with particular focus on the Atlantic hurricane months of August, September and October,” said Gadian.

The calculations showed that when targeting clouds in identified hurricane development regions the technique could reduce an average sea surface temperature by up to a few degrees, greatly decreasing the amount of energy available to hurricane formation.

One potential drawback to the idea is the impact of cloud seeding on rainfall in neighbouring regions. The team noted concerns that seeding in the Atlantic could lead to a significant reduction of rainfall in the Amazon basin and elsewhere. However, if different patterns of seeding were used, such rainfall reductions were not found over land.

“Much more research is needed and we are clear that cloud seeding should not be deployed until we are sure there will be no adverse consequences regarding rainfall,” said Gadian.

“However if our calculations are correct, judicious seeding of maritime clouds could be invaluable for significantly reducing the destructive power of future hurricanes,” he concluded.

The study has been published in Atmospheric Science Letters.

Cancer Cure Plant

Fagonia cretica - Plant from Indian Sub=continent is a cure for Cancer.

Scientists have discovered that extracts from a plant found in arid regions of India and Pakistan can kill cancerous cells and produces no harmful side-effects associated with chemotherapy.

Tea from the plant known as Virgin’s mantle is already drunk by women in rural Pakistan who have breast cancer, the Daily Mail reported.

Researchers from Aston University, Birmingham, and Russells Hall Hospital, Dudley, found that it contains potent anti-cancer agents that act singly or in combination against the proliferation of cancer cells.

Laboratory tests showed they arrested the growth of cells within five hours of application and caused them to die within 24 hours.

The plant, which has the botanical name Fagonia cretica, is found in arid, desert regions of Pakistan, India, Africa and parts of Europe.

Professor Helen Griffiths and Professor Amtul R Carmichael, who headed the study, found herbal tea made from the extract of the plant destroys cancer cells but unlike conventional chemotherapy, treatment does not damage normal breast cells, thus reducing side effects.

Reports from breast cancer sufferers in Pakistan suggested the plant extract does not trigger any serious side effects such as loss of hair, drop in blood count or diarrhoea.

The plant extract had a novel mechanism which could remedy defects in cell DNA that would normally resist tumour growth.

An impaired DNA response not only allows the cancer to flourish, it also inhibits the way chemotherapy works which reduces its effectiveness.

“A small hospital 100 miles north of Lahore in Pakistan started using the herbal tea 40 years ago to treat breast cancer patients. It appears to keep them in remission, although we can’t use the word cure at this stage,” Carmichael said.

“However, they live for a long time without losing their hair or putting on a large amount of weight, or experiencing other toxic side effects associated with chemotherapy, so we are confident this extract has something to contribute,” Carmichael was quoted by the paper as saying.

At present the herbal tea is being used to treat Asians but there might be different effects in Caucasian patients, she added.

The study was published in the journal PloS One.

Ginger

Ginger, a common spice in Indian kitchens can manage high levels of blood sugar which create complications for long-term diabetic patients, a new study has claimed.

Ginger, traditional part of Indian diet also help diabetics

Researchers from the University of Sydney found that ginger has the power to control blood glucose by using muscle cells.

“Ginger extracts obtained from Buderim Ginger were able to increase the uptake of glucose into muscle cells independently of insulin,” Professor of pharmaceutical chemistry Basil Roufogalis who led the research said in a statement.

“This assists in the management of high levels of blood sugar that create complications for long-term diabetic patients, and may allow cells to operate independently of insulin,” Roufogalis said.

“The components responsible for the increase in glucose were gingerols, the major phenolic components of the ginger rhizome. Under normal conditions, blood glucose level is strictly maintained within a narrow range, and skeletal muscle is a major site of glucose clearance in the body,” Roufogalis added.

The pharmacy researchers extracted whole ginger rhizomes obtained from Buderim Ginger and showed that that one fraction of the extract was the most effective in reproducing the increase in glucose uptake by the whole extract in muscle cells grown in culture.

The study also determined how the gingerols could increase glucose uptake and showed an increase in the surface distribution of the protein GLUT4.

When the protein localises on the surface of muscle cells it allows transport of glucose into cells.

In type 2 diabetic patients, the capacity of skeletal muscle to uptake glucose is markedly reduced due to impaired insulin signal transduction and inefficiency of the GLUT4.

The study was published in the journal Planta Medica.

Teacher Job

Job Satisfaction - Teacher's perspective

Once a big banquet was hosted by a millionaire to celebrate his elevation as CEO of a Multi National Company. All his corporate compatriots were invited as well as childhood friends. In a free wheeling discussion over the meal, He said  "Doctor wants his child to become a doctor.........              Engineer wants his child to become engineer......              Businessman wants his ward to become CEO.....                   BUT a teacher also wants his child to become one of them..!!!!    Nobody wants to become a teacher BY CHOICE"    Very sad but that's the truth.....!!! The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. ---- The CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued, "What's a kid going to learn from someone  who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?" To stress his point he said to another friend, "You're a teacher, Bonnie. Be honest. What do you make?" Teacher Bonnie, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied, "You want to know what I make?"  (She paused for a second, then began...) "Well, I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could. I make a C+ feel like the Congressional Medal of Honor winner. I make kids sit through 40 minutes of class time when their parents can't make them sit for 5 min. without an I Pod,  Game Cube or movie rental." "You want to know what I make? (She paused again and looked at each and every person at the table) I make kids wonder. I make them question. I make them apologize and mean it. I make them have respect and take responsibility for their actions. I teach them how to write and then I make them write. Keyboarding isn't everything. I make them read, read, read. I make them show all their work in math. They use their God given brain, not the man-made calculator. I make my students from other countries learn everything they need to know about English while preserving their unique cultural identity. I make my classroom a place where all my students feel safe. Finally, I make them understand that if they use the gifts they were given, work hard, and follow their hearts, they can succeed in life."  ( Bonnie paused one last time and then continued.) "Then, when people try to judge me by what I make, with me knowing money isn't everything, I can hold my head up high and  pay no attention because they are ignorant. You want to know what I make?" "I MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN ALL YOUR LIVES, EDUCATING KIDS AND PREPARING THEM TO BECOME CEO's,  AND DOCTORS AND ENGINEERS.........." "What do you make Mr. CEO?"   His jaw dropped; he went silent. THIS IS WORTH SENDING TO EVERY PERSON YOU KNOW

HAPPINESS is JOURNEY,not DESTINATION-

Fall out of Arrogance at Top

Arrogance at Top Management affects the performance the organisation 

Researchers have developed a new measure of arrogance that can help organisations identify egotistical managers before they have a costly and damaging impact.

Arrogant bosses can drain the bottom line because they are typically poor performers who cover up their insecurities by disparaging subordinates, leading to organizational dysfunction and employee turnover.

Arrogance is characterized by a pattern of behaviour that demeans others in an attempt to prove competence and superiority.

Stanley Silverman, dean of UA's Summit College and University College, says that this behaviour is correlated with lower intelligence scores and lower self-esteem when compared to managers who are not arrogant.

"Does your boss demonstrate different behaviors with subordinates and supervisors?" Silverman said.

According to him, a 'yes' answer could mean trouble.

Silverman warns that 'yes' replies to these other questions raise red flags and signal arrogance.

Left unchecked, arrogant leaders can be a destructive force within an organization, notes Silverman. With power over their employees' work assignments, promotion opportunities and performance reviews, arrogant bosses put subordinates in a helpless position.

They do not mentor junior colleagues nor do they motivate a team to benefit the organization as a whole, contributing to a negative social workplace atmosphere.

He said that arrogance is less a personality trait than a series of behaviours, which can be addressed through coaching if the arrogant boss is willing to change.

The findings of the study will be published in the July 2012 issue of The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist.

Meditation - Positive Effects

एकान्ते सुख मास्यताम्।

ध्यानावस्थित तद्गतेन मनसा पश्यन्तं यं योगिनः।

यस्यान्तं न विदुस्सुरासुर गणा देवाय तस्मै नमः।।

Loneliness is a major risk factor for health problems - such as cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer's - and death in older adults.

Social networking programs like creating community centres to encourage new relationships are implemented to diminish loneliness but these have not been effective.

However, a new study led by Carnegie Mellon University's J. David Creswell has provided the first evidence that mindfulness meditation reduces loneliness in older adults.

The researchers also found that mindfulness meditation - a 2,500-year-old practice dating back to Buddha that focuses on creating an attentive awareness of the present moment - lowered inflammation levels, which is thought to promote the development and progression of many diseases.

These findings provide valuable insights into how mindfulness meditation training can be used as a novel approach for reducing loneliness and the risk of disease in older adults.

"We always tell people to quit smoking for health reasons, but rarely do we think about loneliness in the same way," said Creswell, assistant professor of psychology within CMU's Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

"We know that loneliness is a major risk factor for health problems and mortality in older adults. This research suggests that mindfulness meditation training is a promising intervention for improving the health of older adults," he noted.

For the study, the research team recruited 40 healthy adults aged 55-85 who indicated an interest in learning mindfulness meditation techniques. Each person was assessed at the beginning and end of the study using an established loneliness scale. Blood samples also were collected.

The participants were randomly assigned to receive either the eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program or no treatment. The MBSR program consisted of weekly two-hour meetings in which participants learned body awareness techniques - noticing sensations and working on breathing - and worked their way toward understanding how to mindfully attend to their emotions and daily life practices. They also were asked to practice mindfulness meditation exercises for 30 minutes each day at home and attended a daylong retreat.

The researchers found that eight weeks of the mindfulness meditation training decreased the participants' loneliness. Using the blood samples collected, they found that the older adult sample had elevated pro-inflammatory gene expression in their immune cells at the beginning of the study, and that the training reduced this pro-inflammatory gene expression, as well as a measure of C-Reactive Protein (CRP).

These findings suggest that mindfulness meditation training may reduce older adults' inflammatory disease risk.

"Reductions in the expression of inflammation-related genes were particularly significant because inflammation contributes to a wide variety of the health threats including cancer, cardiovascular diseases and neurodegenerative diseases," said study collaborator Steven Cole, professor of medicine and psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the UCLA School of Medicine.

While the health effects of the observed gene expression changes were not directly measured in the study, Cole noted that "these results provide some of the first indications that immune cell gene expression profiles can be modulated by a psychological intervention."

Creswell added that while this research suggests a promising new approach for treating loneliness and inflammatory disease risk in older adults, more work needs to be done.

The researcher has been published in 'Brain, Behavior and Immunity'.

Perils of Nail Polish

Decorations may be a bonus to a person, but they should not cause ill health. Nail Polish of ladies may cause health complication, researchers observe. Better to keep off unnecessary complications.

God has given  us our due. We need not overtly get obsessed with unwanton additions to boost up image.

(If needed traditional remedies such mehendi /gorintaaku) are available.)

Life of Nikola Tesla - Lessons for us

Nikola Tesla was born 156 years ago on July 10. Tesla’s contributions to the world of technology are vast, including the Tesla coil, modern radio, the induction motor, and most famously the alternating current (AC) electrical supply system that powers the world. His life and experience hold lessons for all aspiring technologists who, just like Tesla, are eager to bring the benefits of technology to a large community of people.

It’s not a stretch to say that Tesla was (and maybe still is) the greatest electrical engineer the world has ever known. Tesla’s contributions to the world of technology are vast, including the Tesla coil, modern radio, the induction motor, and most famously the alternating current (AC) electrical supply system that powers the world.
Tesla spent much of his life suffering for his brilliance and fighting for recognition.

It therefore seems especially fitting to mark Tesla's birthday by taking a few minutes to reflect on his life and accomplishments. His life and experience hold lessons for all aspiring technologists who, just like Tesla, are eager to bring the benefits of technology to a large community of people.

Lesson No. 1: Believe


Throughout his career, Tesla challenged established scientific wisdom and, because of his creative and independent thinking, was able to create technologies that others thought impossible. Only Tesla had the grit to challenge the most famous inventor of his time (and his employer), Thomas Edison, arguing for the use of his AC electricity delivery system in place of the DC system championed by Edison. Only Tesla had the vision and inventiveness to harness Niagara Falls into powering a city. Even when Tesla’s financiers doubted him, he stuck to his guns and ended up proving everyone wrong.Remember Tesla when you’re being told that it can’t be done when you know it can.

Lesson No. 2: Quit


When Tesla first went to work for Edison as a new immigrant to the United States, Edison promised him $50,000 if he could improve the running of his direct current electrical plants. When Tesla succeeded, Edison laughed and said that Tesla didn’t understand American humor, offering him a meager salary bump instead. Tesla promptly quit. His inventions for his own company and for other industry giants such as Westinghouse cost Edison a fortune in time and money. In fact, shortly before his death, Edison admitted that his greatest mistake in life was not adopting Tesla’s AC system earlier.
Remember Tesla when you are truly not being valued for your contributions, or when promises by stakeholders or clients are not being kept. Quitting a job can be very scary, but there are times when you’ve got to do it.

Lesson No. 3: Find the Critical Path


Edison famously declared that genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration; Tesla disagreed. Upon Edison’s death, Tesla was quoted in the New York Times as saying, “His method was inefficient in the extreme...just a little theory and calculation would have saved him 90 percent of the labor.” Tesla believed that a method of invention that involved careful planning and application of knowledge to problems before implementation was superior to Edison’s trial-and-error approach.Remember Tesla when you are being urged to undertake development before the critical path is clear to you. Remember Tesla when trial and error is being held up as the great savior of slow technology implementation. Remember Tesla and have the courage to figure things out before pushing ahead prematurely.

Lesson No. 4: Don’t Be Nikola Tesla

As much as I admire Tesla’s brilliance, courage, and accomplishments, it seems to me that his greatest lesson for the 21st century IT professional is the quiet warning his life offers when viewed as a whole and not just in the confines of his work.
To be sure, Nikola Tesla is one of the most important inventors in history, his funeral was attended by heads of state -- he even has an automotive company and a planet named after him. But he also died in poverty, alone and living in a hotel, the victim of his poor career decisions.
Tesla famously tore up his contract with Westinghouse for the generous royalties he was owed on the Niagara Falls Power Project mentioned above, all because he was gratified that Westinghouse believed in his idea when no one else did and he wanted the budget-stricken project to succeed.
Disputes with J.P. Morgan brought an end to his near open-ended financing from the banker who, like all stakeholders, needed proper management and attention.
He never married or had children, believing a personal life would distract him from his calling as an inventor.
He had a history of losing patents for his inventions, including (at least for a time) losing the patent for the invention of radio to Marconi. And Edison and Marconi often get more credit for Tesla’s discoveries than he does.

The takeaway?

We’d all like to be as technically brilliant as Tesla, but that brilliance is no substitute for the business and social acumen you need to achieve the peace of mind, influence, and financial security that many of us would consider the most important result of all this hard work. What’s more, without the requisite resources and influence, Tesla was unable to bring many of his greatest inventions to the world. What a shame to be stymied not by scientific impossibility but by business and social blundering.

So, as we take note of the incredible genius and life of Nikola Tesla, take a moment to think about how you can be more like him—but not too much.


Key sources for
the article by Marc J. Schiller Remembering Nikola Tesla: Lessons for Today's IT Leaders:

Tesla Memorial Society of New York website.

Body Language - Insight

Everyone is influenced by the Body Language, which expresses the emotions and conveys the feeling. It sometimes enhances, distorts, negates the communication by the speech.

Read onto the insights in the opinions of researchers, linked with anthropology.

Wallpapers Self Illuminating

Swayam Prakasha (Self Illumination) is the property of some matters. Radium being one among them. Now, the principle is brought into application.
Read on ...

Dilemma ... 1

Dilemma of a Traditional Pundit

(Implications to the society)

Reproduced the first part of conversation between a revered seer and a great traditional scholar.

This is a dialogue between a learned Pundit and His Holiness Sri
Chandrashekhara Bharati Swami, the late Shankaracharya of Sringeri Sharada
Peetha, on the topic of Education. Only the first part of the conversation,
titled ‘The Wrong Attitude’, has been reproduced here. I thought it might
be of interest in the context of what we have been discussing lately: the
preservation of Vedic Culture.
 

 THE WRONG ATTITUDE

  One evening a learned Pandit came to pay his respects to His Holiness.
After some formal enquiries about his welfare, His Holiness asked him:
 
 S: What is your elder son studying now?
  
P: He will be appearing for School Final Examinations at the end of the
year.
 
S: And after that?
 
 P: I have not yet decided. The authorities within recent years have
increased the cost of education enormously and I find it very difficult to
meet it out of my scanty earnings. I do not know how I can manage if he has
to get higher education. The boy however is very intelligent and promising
and his teachers assure me that he is bound to shine in life.
 
S: I suppose by ‘shining in life’ you mean becoming rich.
 
 P: Not only that, I include also a status commanding respect and influence.
 
S: Anyhow you mean only worldly prosperity?
 
P: Of course. The education that is being imparted in the English schools
is purely secular and I cannot expect any spiritual benefit from it.
 
S: I suppose, then, you have made other arrangements for training him in
your own system of Dharma?
 
 P: Where is the time for it? The morning and the early night are spent by
him in preparing his class lessons and in the evening he must have some
recreation, the rest of the day he has to attend his school.
 
S: That means, he has no time in which he can learn and practise some of
our Dharmas.
 
P: Practically none. But, I am glad that unlike other boys, he is
continuing to perform his daily sandhya worship, though somewhat
perfunctorily.
  
S: I am equally glad about it. But, don’t you think that you are seriously
neglecting his spiritual education?
 
P: I fear I am, but how can I help it in the present conditions of the
country?
 
S: I take it that from your infancy you have been trained in the orthodox
method and have been taught the Vedas and other sacred literature.
 
P: Yes.
  
S: Do you really believe that such training and teaching have been
beneficial to you?
 
P: Certainly.
 
 S: Are you then justified in denying to your son the kind of training and
teaching which you really believe to be beneficial?
 
P: I know I am not. But what can I do? It is impossible to get on in this
world now without the modern education.
 
S: I hope you are getting on well enough without that education?
 
P: Only so so.
 
S: How is that? You are certainly above want. You are held in high respect
by everybody who comes into contact with you. What is there to complain in
your case?
 
P: Not much, but we are characterized as ‘old’ Pandits and wherever we go
we are looked down upon by the laukika gentlemen (officers, pleaders and
the like) for want of modern education which they have received.
 
S: Why don’t you reciprocate by calling them ‘modern’ and looking down upon
them for want of the orthodox education which you have got?
 
P: How can we do that?
 
S: If you really believe that the training that you have undergone is
superior to theirs, that alone must be your proper attitude. There is no
reason at all, in any case, why you allow them to look down upon you.
 
P: It is not a case of allowing them or not. It is a fact that they do look
down upon us.
  
S: If so, it must equally follow that you must look down upon them, whether
they allow it or not. Do you really ever maintain that attitude?
 
P: I can’t say we do.
 
S: So far as I have been able to understand the trend of modern society,
the Pandits not only passively allow themselves to be looked down upon by
the modern gentlemen, but positively even look up to them.
 
P: I fear that is a correct reading of the attitude of most of us.
 
S: Further when you see a modern gentleman pass by you in a luxurious car
while you are trudging along the road with a bundle of books or clothes
under your arm, have you not felt very often envious of him?
 
P: I must confess I have sometimes felt so.
 
S: Though you may not have framed it in so many words, you must have
regretted that you were not given the benefit of modern education in your
boyhood.
 
P: Sometimes I have that regret.
 
S: That regret must have unconsciously coupled with another regret that
your boyhood has been wasted in the pursuit of the worthless Vedic lore?
 
P: I do not think my regret took that form, but I have felt that my
education could have been on more modern lines.
  
S: By ‘more modern lines’, you mean more useful lines.
 
P: Yes.
 
S: That is, you felt that the Vedic training was useless or at least less
useful than English education?
 
P: I can’t say that I felt so, positively.
 
S: I quite see that; that is why I stated that you unconsciously felt it.
In doing so, you must have impliedly thought ill of your parents for giving
you this worthless education.
 
P: Impliedly, as Your Holiness puts it.
 
S: Thus whenever you see a modern gentleman, you are sorry that you have
not had his education, you are sorry that you had your education and you
mentally think ill of your parents for denying you the former and giving
you the latter and incidentally perhaps think ill of your teachers also?
 
P: It is not always so, but at some moments my mind does admit of such an
analysis.
 
S: If, in spite of the invaluable training you have got, you are sometimes
led to look up to the loukikas, is it any fault of theirs that they accept
your attitude at your own valuation and look down upon you? If you, who
know what Vedic culture is, can lower yourself so much as to think ill of
your parents, is it any wonder that those who do not know what that culture
is do not appreciate it in you? Don’t you think also, believing as you do
in our Shastras, that the unmerited abuse of the Vedas and your parents and
teachers is a sin bound to land you in more sorrow? Why can’t you pity the
laukika for the waste of his boyhood in the pursuit of purely secular
education? Why can’t you abuse his parents for spoiling his spiritual
interests by giving him a training divorced from Vedic culture? Why don’t
you make him feel that you really pity him? And, why don’t you, by your
conduct, make him look up to you?

... continued