The number of suicides amongst the youth, students and working youngsters in the recent past is extremely disturbing to say the least. This just points to the pressure the youngsters face from parents, peers, teachers and society which just manages to send these guys over the edge.
Our system of education needs to be revamped and a grading system introduced as suggested by Aamir Khan in 3 Idiots. The ranking system is a caste system which just manages to shame sensitive students into thinking they are no good – when that may actually be far from reality! I have an elder brother for whom academics was a piece of cake – I was always compared to him during my school days. There were rewards for doing well in school for him and I used to get the wooden spoon . But that really did not bother me too much – as I had decided mentally that my elder brother was in a different class academically and there was no way I was even going to try and compete! In fact I was happy being average and ranking between 15 -20 in a class of 40 whereas my bro used to vie for the top 3 slots! I never had the problem of figuring out where I lost one or two marks in maths, physics etc. as I was least bothered in trying to figure out where I lost forty – fifty marks – I was always happy getting what I got.
Where I live, there was another boy (an only child) who was extremely good at academics and games – in fact he always used to be down playing. He was a perfectionist – anything new he tried was always practiced and perfected! A top ranker in school always – achieved effortlessly without compromising on other activities. During the SSC exams there was a paper leakage at the center where he wrote his papers, as a result the papers were examined a little more rigorously and he obtained 86%. He did not top the Board results as expected by his mother. A neighbor asked her for sweets on his SSC results as is the norm in India and the lady was rebuffed by the mother stating that her son had not got a rank – the son who was standing behind her overheard this – can you imagine the mental trauma he would have gone through. As parents we cannot afford to be so insensitive – most of the parents in India want their children to come top achievers because they want to vicariously achieve their ambitions through their child. This kind of burden should never be put on any child! During the HSC exams there was mass scale copying and re-exams were held and again this boy did brilliantly but did not get the marks to get into medicine in Mumbai. He was getting admission outside Mumbai but his parents did not permit him to go as he was an only child! This boy ended up doing B.Pharm, then BSc, then HSC Commerce – he became a complete psychological wreck – in complete denial, not speaking with anyone and crying if you tried to approach him. In short he became a complete recluse – by the time I completed my CA he was still doing B.Com – a potentially brilliant doctor who could not make it because of parents misplaced sense of protection. A career gone down the drain – today he is a book-keeper in book store.
What I am trying to get at is that the parents should ensure that the child has an absolutely normal up-bringing without putting additional pressure on his/her academics. The SSC/HSC results never dictate what life has to offer. I know so many people who have done BSc, Engineering, etc but end up in banks or doing finance. Many times you end up studying something which has absolutely no bearing with your employment in later life. That is where our academic curriculum needs to go a drastic change – our system encourages mugging instead of understanding – it’s a memory based system rather than an analytical one which can help one as one goes ahead in life.
The kids today should realize that taking one’s life is not a solution – specially when they have not experienced the joys of LIFE. The parents, teachers, peers should understand that each individual is made differently – comparing results, denigrating, insulting and being sarcastic after exam results will only help in eroding a child’s confidence and morale. One needs to understand and encourage children to do their best – give them good values in life and teach them that life is not a bed of roses and the real education is the one which one gets as one faces the trials and tribulations in life.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
SCMM 2010 – end of another successful marathon
The marathon this year was different in the sense that the half marathon started from Bandra and ended at CST whereas the full marathon, dream run and other events began and ended at CST. As I have been running the half marathon for the past three years after graduating from the Dream Run, for me the start point was in Bandra. This was close to home and it just took me ten minutes to get to the venue.
As this was the first time that the marathon was being held from two venues, I expected certain logistic problems to crop up as the usually do in such cases. From my point of view the entrance to the holding area for corporate challenge participants, veterans and general runners should have been separate. The coporates pay quite a hefty chunk for their runners, plus the runners themselves raise money for charity so a different treatment was expected, as it has happened in the past. Once we entered the holding area we were cloistered together for almost 45 minutes. Luckily it was not as cold today as it was in the recent past, otherwise the nearly 45 minute stationary position one had to endure in the enclosure would have definitely cramped up the calf muscles and made the run a non-starter for me. A staggered start for elite participants followed by the corporate challenge runners followed by the veterans and then the general public would have made the start a little less exhausting.
At sharp 6.45am the starting gun went off and the runners started moving on to the road – it was one moving mass of humanity – 11000 runners is a lot of people, to be beaten only by the mass for the dream run. The run started from the MMRDA grounds at Bandra, past my daughters’ school and then turned on to the flyover which connects to the sea-link. I thought the run had started from MMRDA, but to my surprise when we turned onto the road leading to the sea-link on the flyover, near the SV road exit, the timing chip marker mats were placed – that is a good one and a half kilometers from the starting point – it would be a better idea to have the holding area close to the start point – maybe the glamour of the sea-link run blinkered the organizers! I hit the timing chip mats at around 7 am and that was when the real run started. Moving ahead of the mass of humanity was a test of patience and speed, but eventually as one reached the sea-link one could get enough space of one’s own to run at a comfortable pace. We had 15 people running from our company, but I did not come across a single colleague till the end of the race. The run on the sea-link was refreshing in the cool morning breeze and relatively clean air - it took me about 30 minutes to run the 5.6km distance on the sea link, and on to Worli sea face. We turned left after leaving the sea-link and ran on till we reached Cadell Road and turned back from there on to Worli sea face. The intermediate timing chip mat was placed just after the U-turn off Cadell Road.
The atmosphere as usual was electric with a lot of people – young and old – lining the streets to encourage the runners and give biscuits, oranges – one fruit which really refreshes you on the run. The various media teams on the road having their parties – song dance and music – it really shows that Mumbai has a never say die spirit and I love the city for it.
As I was passing the race course, I saw and cheered the front runners of the full marathon as they literally flew past us. The entire stretch from here on was full of people encouraging the runners with placards stating “YOU CAN DO IT”. I had targeted completing the run between 9.15am and 9.30am – I finished around 9.21am just as the Dream Run commenced.
As I entered the Corporate Challenge enclosure I was the only person there as none of the half marathoners had come back. I had my wife and daughter for company as we relaxed, took some photos and I stretched to relax my tired muscles. At around 10.45am we had quite a few of my colleagues back from the marathon and we had a photo session, then I pushed off to meet the Project Crayons (the charity we run for) personnel near the Metro theatre. We met them and had a short conversation and photo shoot with them too. My wife and daughter joined me at Metro, and I got one of the dirtiest looks I ever have had (you know the saying “if looks could kill……”) from my daughter (a Scorpio dirty look to boot for delaying her!!). Sonal from Project Crayons said that you better go else your daughter will make chutney out of you. On that note my marathon 2010 got over.
Last but not the least, A BIG THANK YOU to all those who contributed to our cause.
As this was the first time that the marathon was being held from two venues, I expected certain logistic problems to crop up as the usually do in such cases. From my point of view the entrance to the holding area for corporate challenge participants, veterans and general runners should have been separate. The coporates pay quite a hefty chunk for their runners, plus the runners themselves raise money for charity so a different treatment was expected, as it has happened in the past. Once we entered the holding area we were cloistered together for almost 45 minutes. Luckily it was not as cold today as it was in the recent past, otherwise the nearly 45 minute stationary position one had to endure in the enclosure would have definitely cramped up the calf muscles and made the run a non-starter for me. A staggered start for elite participants followed by the corporate challenge runners followed by the veterans and then the general public would have made the start a little less exhausting.
At sharp 6.45am the starting gun went off and the runners started moving on to the road – it was one moving mass of humanity – 11000 runners is a lot of people, to be beaten only by the mass for the dream run. The run started from the MMRDA grounds at Bandra, past my daughters’ school and then turned on to the flyover which connects to the sea-link. I thought the run had started from MMRDA, but to my surprise when we turned onto the road leading to the sea-link on the flyover, near the SV road exit, the timing chip marker mats were placed – that is a good one and a half kilometers from the starting point – it would be a better idea to have the holding area close to the start point – maybe the glamour of the sea-link run blinkered the organizers! I hit the timing chip mats at around 7 am and that was when the real run started. Moving ahead of the mass of humanity was a test of patience and speed, but eventually as one reached the sea-link one could get enough space of one’s own to run at a comfortable pace. We had 15 people running from our company, but I did not come across a single colleague till the end of the race. The run on the sea-link was refreshing in the cool morning breeze and relatively clean air - it took me about 30 minutes to run the 5.6km distance on the sea link, and on to Worli sea face. We turned left after leaving the sea-link and ran on till we reached Cadell Road and turned back from there on to Worli sea face. The intermediate timing chip mat was placed just after the U-turn off Cadell Road.
The atmosphere as usual was electric with a lot of people – young and old – lining the streets to encourage the runners and give biscuits, oranges – one fruit which really refreshes you on the run. The various media teams on the road having their parties – song dance and music – it really shows that Mumbai has a never say die spirit and I love the city for it.
As I was passing the race course, I saw and cheered the front runners of the full marathon as they literally flew past us. The entire stretch from here on was full of people encouraging the runners with placards stating “YOU CAN DO IT”. I had targeted completing the run between 9.15am and 9.30am – I finished around 9.21am just as the Dream Run commenced.
As I entered the Corporate Challenge enclosure I was the only person there as none of the half marathoners had come back. I had my wife and daughter for company as we relaxed, took some photos and I stretched to relax my tired muscles. At around 10.45am we had quite a few of my colleagues back from the marathon and we had a photo session, then I pushed off to meet the Project Crayons (the charity we run for) personnel near the Metro theatre. We met them and had a short conversation and photo shoot with them too. My wife and daughter joined me at Metro, and I got one of the dirtiest looks I ever have had (you know the saying “if looks could kill……”) from my daughter (a Scorpio dirty look to boot for delaying her!!). Sonal from Project Crayons said that you better go else your daughter will make chutney out of you. On that note my marathon 2010 got over.
Last but not the least, A BIG THANK YOU to all those who contributed to our cause.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
The mini ice age starts here
This is a post by David Rose, UK Mail, 10th January 2010 - it is worth a read as it throws the theory of Climate Change by proponents of green house gases for a complete toss. A must read if you are keen on knowing whether the world as it is today is going to end and whether the politicians who are trying to monetise carbon credits are right or is it a new financial scam in the making.
The bitter winter afflicting much of the Northern Hemisphere is only the start of a global trend towards cooler weather that is likely to last for 20 or 30 years, say some of the world’s most eminent climate scientists. Their predictions – based on an analysis of natural cycles in water temperatures in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans –challenge some of the global warming orthodoxy’s most deeply cherished beliefs, such as the claim that the North Pole will be free of ice in summer by 2013.
According to the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado, Arctic summer sea ice has increased by 409,000 square miles, or 26 per cent, since 2007 – and even the most committed global warming activists do not dispute this.
The scientists’ predictions also undermine the standard climate computer models, which assert that the warming of the Earth since 1900 has been driven solely by man-made greenhouse gas emissions and will continue as long as carbon dioxide levels rise. They say that their research shows that much of the warming was caused by oceanic cycles when they were in a ‘warm mode’ as opposed to the present ‘cold mode’.
This challenge to the widespread view that the planet is on the brink of an irreversible catastrophe is all the greater because the scientists could never be described as global warming ‘deniers’ or sceptics.
However, both main British political parties continue to insist that the world is facing imminent disaster without drastic cuts in CO2. Last week, as Britain froze, Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband maintained in a parliamentary answer that the science of global warming was ‘settled’.
Among the most prominent of the scientists is Professor Mojib Latif, a leading member of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which has been pushing the issue of man-made global warming on to the international political agenda since it was formed 22 years ago. Prof Latif, who leads a research team at the renowned Leibniz Institute at Germany’s Kiel University, has developed new methods for measuring ocean temperatures 3,000ft beneath the surface, where the cooling and warming cycles start. He and his colleagues predicted the new cooling trend in a paper published in 2008 and warned of it again at an IPCC conference in Geneva last September. Last night he told The Mail on Sunday: ‘A significant share of the warming we saw from 1980 to 2000and at earlier periods in the 20th Century was due to these cycles – perhaps as much as 50 per cent. 'They have now gone into reverse, so winters like this one will become much more likely. Summers will also probably be cooler, and all this may well last two decades or longer. ‘The extreme retreats that we have seen in glaciers and sea ice will come to a halt. For the time being, global warming has paused, and there may well be some cooling.’
As Europe, Asia and North America froze last week, conventional wisdom insisted that this was merely a ‘blip’ of no long-term significance. Though record lows were experienced as far south as Cuba, where the daily maximum on beaches normally used for winter bathing was just 4.5C, the BBC assured viewers that the big chill was merely short-term ‘weather’ that had nothing to do with ‘climate’, which was still warming. The work of Prof Latif and the other scientists refutes that view.
On the one hand, it is true that the current freeze is the product of the ‘Arctic oscillation’ – a weather pattern that sees the development of huge ‘blocking’ areas of high pressure in northern latitudes, driving polar winds far to the south. Meteorologists say that this is at its strongest for at least 60 years.
As a result, the jetstream – the high-altitude wind that circles the globe from west to east and normally pushes a series of wet but mild Atlantic lows across Britain – is currently running not over the English Channel but the Strait of Gibraltar. However, according to Prof Latif and his colleagues, this in turn relates to much longer-term shifts – what are known as the Pacific and Atlantic ‘multi-decadal oscillations’ (MDOs).
For Europe, the crucial factor here is the temperature of the water in the middle of the North Atlantic, now several degrees below its average when the world was still warming.
But the effects are not confined to the Northern Hemisphere. Prof Anastasios Tsonis, head of the University of Wisconsin Atmospheric Sciences Group, has recently shown that these MDOs move together in a synchronised way across the globe, abruptly flipping the world’s climate from a ‘warm mode’ to a ‘cold mode’ and back again in 20to 30-year cycles. 'They amount to massive rearrangements in the dominant patterns of the weather,’ he said yesterday, ‘and their shifts explain all the major changes in world temperatures during the 20th and 21st Centuries. 'We have such a change now and can therefore expect 20 or 30 years of cooler temperatures.’
Prof Tsonis said that the period from 1915 to 1940 saw a strong warm mode, reflected in rising temperatures.
But from 1940 until the late Seventies, the last MDO cold-mode era, the world cooled, despite the fact that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere continued to rise.
Many of the consequences of the recent warm mode were also observed 90 years ago. For example, in 1922, the Washington Post reported that Greenland’s glaciers were fast disappearing, while Arctic seals were ‘finding the water too hot’. It interviewed a Captain Martin Ingebrigsten, who had been sailing the eastern Arctic for 54 years: ‘He says that he first noted warmer conditions in 1918, and since that time it has gotten steadily warmer. 'Where formerly great masses of ice were found, there are now moraines, accumulations of earth and stones. At many points where glaciers formerly extended into the sea they have entirely disappeared.’ As a result, the shoals of fish that used to live in these waters had vanished, while the sea ice beyond the north coast of Spitsbergen in the Arctic Ocean had melted.
Warm Gulf Stream water was still detectable within a few hundred miles of the Pole. In contrast, Prof Tsonis said, last week 56 per cent of the surface of the United States was covered by snow. ‘That hasn’t happened for several decades,’ he pointed out. ‘It just isn’t true to say this is a blip. We can expect colder winters for quite a while.’ He recalled that towards the end of the last cold mode, the world’s media were preoccupied by fears of freezing. For example, in 1974, a Time magazine cover story predicted ‘Another Ice Age’, saying: ‘Man may be somewhat responsible – as a result of farming and fuel burning [which is] blocking more and more sunlight from reaching and heating the Earth.’
Prof Tsonis said: ‘Perhaps we will see talk of an ice age again by the early 2030s, just as the MDOs shift once more and temperatures begin to rise.’ Like Prof Latif, Prof Tsonis is not a climate change ‘denier’. There is, he said, a measure of additional ‘background’ warming due to human activity and greenhouse gases that runs across the MDO cycles. 'This isn't just a blip. We can expect colder winters for quite a while' But he added: ‘I do not believe in catastrophe theories. Man-made warming is balanced by the natural cycles, and I do not trust the computer models which state that if CO2 reaches a particular level then temperatures and sea levels will rise by a given amount. 'These models cannot be trusted to predict the weather for a week, yet they are running them to give readings for 100 years.’
Prof Tsonis said that when he published his work in the highly respected journal Geophysical Research Letters, he was deluged with ‘hate emails’. He added: ‘People were accusing me of wanting to destroy the climate, yet all I’m interested in is the truth.’ He said he also received hate mail from climate change sceptics, accusing him of not going far enough to attack the theory of man-made warming.
The work of Profs Latif, Tsonis and their teams raises a crucial question: If some of the late 20th Century warming was caused not by carbon dioxide but by MDOs, then how much? Tsonis did not give a figure; Latif suggested it could be anything between 10 and 50 per cent.
Other critics of the warming orthodoxy say the role played by MDOs is even greater. William Gray, emeritus Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at Colorado State University, said that while he believed there had been some background rise caused by greenhouse gases, the computer models used by advocates of man-made warming had hugely exaggerated their effect.
The bitter winter afflicting much of the Northern Hemisphere is only the start of a global trend towards cooler weather that is likely to last for 20 or 30 years, say some of the world’s most eminent climate scientists. Their predictions – based on an analysis of natural cycles in water temperatures in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans –challenge some of the global warming orthodoxy’s most deeply cherished beliefs, such as the claim that the North Pole will be free of ice in summer by 2013.
According to the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado, Arctic summer sea ice has increased by 409,000 square miles, or 26 per cent, since 2007 – and even the most committed global warming activists do not dispute this.
The scientists’ predictions also undermine the standard climate computer models, which assert that the warming of the Earth since 1900 has been driven solely by man-made greenhouse gas emissions and will continue as long as carbon dioxide levels rise. They say that their research shows that much of the warming was caused by oceanic cycles when they were in a ‘warm mode’ as opposed to the present ‘cold mode’.
This challenge to the widespread view that the planet is on the brink of an irreversible catastrophe is all the greater because the scientists could never be described as global warming ‘deniers’ or sceptics.
However, both main British political parties continue to insist that the world is facing imminent disaster without drastic cuts in CO2. Last week, as Britain froze, Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband maintained in a parliamentary answer that the science of global warming was ‘settled’.
Among the most prominent of the scientists is Professor Mojib Latif, a leading member of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which has been pushing the issue of man-made global warming on to the international political agenda since it was formed 22 years ago. Prof Latif, who leads a research team at the renowned Leibniz Institute at Germany’s Kiel University, has developed new methods for measuring ocean temperatures 3,000ft beneath the surface, where the cooling and warming cycles start. He and his colleagues predicted the new cooling trend in a paper published in 2008 and warned of it again at an IPCC conference in Geneva last September. Last night he told The Mail on Sunday: ‘A significant share of the warming we saw from 1980 to 2000and at earlier periods in the 20th Century was due to these cycles – perhaps as much as 50 per cent. 'They have now gone into reverse, so winters like this one will become much more likely. Summers will also probably be cooler, and all this may well last two decades or longer. ‘The extreme retreats that we have seen in glaciers and sea ice will come to a halt. For the time being, global warming has paused, and there may well be some cooling.’
As Europe, Asia and North America froze last week, conventional wisdom insisted that this was merely a ‘blip’ of no long-term significance. Though record lows were experienced as far south as Cuba, where the daily maximum on beaches normally used for winter bathing was just 4.5C, the BBC assured viewers that the big chill was merely short-term ‘weather’ that had nothing to do with ‘climate’, which was still warming. The work of Prof Latif and the other scientists refutes that view.
On the one hand, it is true that the current freeze is the product of the ‘Arctic oscillation’ – a weather pattern that sees the development of huge ‘blocking’ areas of high pressure in northern latitudes, driving polar winds far to the south. Meteorologists say that this is at its strongest for at least 60 years.
As a result, the jetstream – the high-altitude wind that circles the globe from west to east and normally pushes a series of wet but mild Atlantic lows across Britain – is currently running not over the English Channel but the Strait of Gibraltar. However, according to Prof Latif and his colleagues, this in turn relates to much longer-term shifts – what are known as the Pacific and Atlantic ‘multi-decadal oscillations’ (MDOs).
For Europe, the crucial factor here is the temperature of the water in the middle of the North Atlantic, now several degrees below its average when the world was still warming.
But the effects are not confined to the Northern Hemisphere. Prof Anastasios Tsonis, head of the University of Wisconsin Atmospheric Sciences Group, has recently shown that these MDOs move together in a synchronised way across the globe, abruptly flipping the world’s climate from a ‘warm mode’ to a ‘cold mode’ and back again in 20to 30-year cycles. 'They amount to massive rearrangements in the dominant patterns of the weather,’ he said yesterday, ‘and their shifts explain all the major changes in world temperatures during the 20th and 21st Centuries. 'We have such a change now and can therefore expect 20 or 30 years of cooler temperatures.’
Prof Tsonis said that the period from 1915 to 1940 saw a strong warm mode, reflected in rising temperatures.
But from 1940 until the late Seventies, the last MDO cold-mode era, the world cooled, despite the fact that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere continued to rise.
Many of the consequences of the recent warm mode were also observed 90 years ago. For example, in 1922, the Washington Post reported that Greenland’s glaciers were fast disappearing, while Arctic seals were ‘finding the water too hot’. It interviewed a Captain Martin Ingebrigsten, who had been sailing the eastern Arctic for 54 years: ‘He says that he first noted warmer conditions in 1918, and since that time it has gotten steadily warmer. 'Where formerly great masses of ice were found, there are now moraines, accumulations of earth and stones. At many points where glaciers formerly extended into the sea they have entirely disappeared.’ As a result, the shoals of fish that used to live in these waters had vanished, while the sea ice beyond the north coast of Spitsbergen in the Arctic Ocean had melted.
Warm Gulf Stream water was still detectable within a few hundred miles of the Pole. In contrast, Prof Tsonis said, last week 56 per cent of the surface of the United States was covered by snow. ‘That hasn’t happened for several decades,’ he pointed out. ‘It just isn’t true to say this is a blip. We can expect colder winters for quite a while.’ He recalled that towards the end of the last cold mode, the world’s media were preoccupied by fears of freezing. For example, in 1974, a Time magazine cover story predicted ‘Another Ice Age’, saying: ‘Man may be somewhat responsible – as a result of farming and fuel burning [which is] blocking more and more sunlight from reaching and heating the Earth.’
Prof Tsonis said: ‘Perhaps we will see talk of an ice age again by the early 2030s, just as the MDOs shift once more and temperatures begin to rise.’ Like Prof Latif, Prof Tsonis is not a climate change ‘denier’. There is, he said, a measure of additional ‘background’ warming due to human activity and greenhouse gases that runs across the MDO cycles. 'This isn't just a blip. We can expect colder winters for quite a while' But he added: ‘I do not believe in catastrophe theories. Man-made warming is balanced by the natural cycles, and I do not trust the computer models which state that if CO2 reaches a particular level then temperatures and sea levels will rise by a given amount. 'These models cannot be trusted to predict the weather for a week, yet they are running them to give readings for 100 years.’
Prof Tsonis said that when he published his work in the highly respected journal Geophysical Research Letters, he was deluged with ‘hate emails’. He added: ‘People were accusing me of wanting to destroy the climate, yet all I’m interested in is the truth.’ He said he also received hate mail from climate change sceptics, accusing him of not going far enough to attack the theory of man-made warming.
The work of Profs Latif, Tsonis and their teams raises a crucial question: If some of the late 20th Century warming was caused not by carbon dioxide but by MDOs, then how much? Tsonis did not give a figure; Latif suggested it could be anything between 10 and 50 per cent.
Other critics of the warming orthodoxy say the role played by MDOs is even greater. William Gray, emeritus Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at Colorado State University, said that while he believed there had been some background rise caused by greenhouse gases, the computer models used by advocates of man-made warming had hugely exaggerated their effect.
45 Lessons in Life
To celebrate growing older, Regina Brett once wrote the 45 lessons life taught her. These lessons are good and will apply to all readers universally.
1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's,we'd grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."
1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's,we'd grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."
Hooky with Hockey
The powers that be (read Suresh Kalmadi), decided a new body was in order to set right the mess in Indian hockey, as a result of which Hockey India was formed in place of the Indian Hockey Federation. Hockey administration has become a completely rudderless ship caught in a major storm in the high seas. Caught in the churning and frothing political waters, the sport has taken a complete back seat and the administrators are apparently making hay while the players are frothing at the complete disregard by the powers that be for their welfare.
The players have gone on strike for the past few days as the promised match fees and piffling daily allowance has not been paid to the players for more than a year. Hockey India has a sponsorship deal for the national hockey team (men and women) which works out to Rs. 3.03 crores annually. If you account for the kit, training etc, I do not think the cost will go beyond Rs. 75 lacs a year for 50 players. This leaves a balance of Rs. 2.25 crores to be utilized for motivating the players by giving cash incentives to the team for international performance. A sum of Rs. 50000 per player per game should be good enough for the team to perform without thinking about monetary issues. Cash rewards can be given for winning major tournaments, but if this happens who will pay for the junkets of the administrators – who in many cases exceed the number of players – all on a free fully paid overseas junket.
It is so sad that the National team has to resort to threats and blackmail for something as routine as match fees which are not paid but only promised. Compare this with our cricketers and the cricket board which rakes in money by the oodles – though only ten countries in the world play the game. Hockey with a major international following, the national game to boot, is in such a sorry mess that it makes you puke. The administration of the game should be left to sports professionals who understand the game rather than thick skinned bureaucrats and politicians as realistically depicted by Shah Rukh Khan in his movie “Chak de India”!
Looks like our World Cup woes will continue with the administration of the game a complete disaster. The national team not practicing because of money – sad, very sad – looks like our national game is only going to disrepute and is slowly becoming a national shame as far as sports is concerned. Hopefully, something good will come of all this – the administration may be given to people who understand the game so that politicians with their eyes on free junkets are kept away from ruining the game more than they already have. Enough of playing hooky with hockey in India, I say!!
The players have gone on strike for the past few days as the promised match fees and piffling daily allowance has not been paid to the players for more than a year. Hockey India has a sponsorship deal for the national hockey team (men and women) which works out to Rs. 3.03 crores annually. If you account for the kit, training etc, I do not think the cost will go beyond Rs. 75 lacs a year for 50 players. This leaves a balance of Rs. 2.25 crores to be utilized for motivating the players by giving cash incentives to the team for international performance. A sum of Rs. 50000 per player per game should be good enough for the team to perform without thinking about monetary issues. Cash rewards can be given for winning major tournaments, but if this happens who will pay for the junkets of the administrators – who in many cases exceed the number of players – all on a free fully paid overseas junket.
It is so sad that the National team has to resort to threats and blackmail for something as routine as match fees which are not paid but only promised. Compare this with our cricketers and the cricket board which rakes in money by the oodles – though only ten countries in the world play the game. Hockey with a major international following, the national game to boot, is in such a sorry mess that it makes you puke. The administration of the game should be left to sports professionals who understand the game rather than thick skinned bureaucrats and politicians as realistically depicted by Shah Rukh Khan in his movie “Chak de India”!
Looks like our World Cup woes will continue with the administration of the game a complete disaster. The national team not practicing because of money – sad, very sad – looks like our national game is only going to disrepute and is slowly becoming a national shame as far as sports is concerned. Hopefully, something good will come of all this – the administration may be given to people who understand the game so that politicians with their eyes on free junkets are kept away from ruining the game more than they already have. Enough of playing hooky with hockey in India, I say!!
Monday, January 11, 2010
Advice from an Israeli Agent
AN ABSOLUTE MUST READ!! - (received through mail)
Juval Aviv was the Israeli Agent upon whom the movie 'Munich' was based. He was Golda Meir's bodyguard, and she appointed him to track down and bring to justice the Palestinian terrorists who took the Israeli athletes hostage and killed them during the Munich Olympic Games.
In a lecture in New York City he shared information that EVERY American needs to know -- but that our government has not yet shared with us.
He predicted the London subway bombing on the Bill O'Reilly show on Fox News stating publicly that it would happen within a week. At the time, O'Reilly laughed, and mocked him saying that in a week he wanted him back on the show. Unfortunately, within a week the terrorist attack had occurred.
Juval Aviv gave intelligence (via what he had gathered in Israel and the Middle East) to the Bush Administration about 9/11, a month before it occurred. His report specifically said they would use planes as bombs and target high profile buildings and monuments. Congress has since hired him as a security consultant.
Now for his future predictions. He predicts the next terrorist attack on the U.S. will occur within the next few months.
Forget hijacking airplanes, because he says terrorists will NEVER try and hijack a plane again as they know the people onboard will never go down quietly again. Aviv believes our airport security is a joke -- that we have been reactionary rather than proactive in developing strategies that are truly effective.
For example:
1) Our airport technology is outdated. We look for metal, and the new explosives are made of plastic.
2) He talked about how some idiot tried to light his shoe on fire. Because of that, now everyone has to take off their shoes. A group of idiots tried to bring aboard liquid explosives. Now we can't bring liquids on board. He says he's waiting for some suicidal maniac to pour liquid explosive on his underwear; at which point, security will have us all traveling naked!
Every strategy we have is reactionary.
3) We only focus on security when people are heading to the gates.
Aviv says that if a terrorist attack targets airports in the future, they will target busy times on the front end of the airport when/where people are checking in. It would be easy for someone to take two suitcases of explosives, walk up to a busy check-in line, ask a person next to them to watch their bags for a minute while they run to the restroom or get a drink, and then detonate the bags BEFORE security even gets involved. In Israel, security checks bags BEFORE people can even ENTER the airport.
Aviv says the next terrorist attack here in America is imminent and will involve suicide bombers and non-suicide bombers in places where large groups of people congregate. (i.e., Disneyland, Las Vegas casinos, big cities (New York, San Francisco, Chicago, etc.) and that it will also include shopping malls, subways in rush hour, train stations, etc., as well as, rural America this time. The interlands (Wyoming, Montana, etc.).
The attack will be characterized by simultaneous detonations around the country (terrorists like big impact), involving at least 5-8 cities, including rural areas.
Aviv says terrorists won't need to use suicide bombers in many of the larger cities, because at places like the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, they can simply valet park a car loaded with explosives and walk away.
Aviv says all of the above is well known in intelligence circles, but that our U. S. Government does not want to 'alarm American citizens' with the facts. The world is quickly going to become 'a different place', and issues like 'global warming' and political correctness will become totally irrelevant.
On an encouraging note, he says that Americans don't have to be concerned about being nuked. Aviv says the terrorists who want to destroy America will not use sophisticated weapons. They like to use suicide as a front-line approach. It's cheap, it's easy, it's effective; and they have an infinite abundance of young militants more than willing to 'meet their destiny'.
He also says the next level of terrorists, over which America should be most concerned, will not be coming from abroad. But will be, instead, 'homegrown', having attended and been educated in our own schools and universities right here in the U.S. He says to look for 'students' who frequently travel back and forth to the Middle East. These young terrorists will be most dangerous because they will know our language and will fully understand the habits of Americans; but that we Americans won't know/understand a thing about them.
Aviv says that, as a people, Americans are unaware and uneducated about the terrorist threats we will inevitably face. America still has only a handful of Arabic and Farsi speaking people in our intelligence networks, and Aviv says it is critical that we change that fact SOON.
So, what can America do to protect itself? From an intelligence perspective, Aviv says the U.S. needs to stop relying on satellites and technology for intelligence. We need to, instead, follow Israel's, Ireland's and England's hands-on examples of human intelligence, both from an infiltration perspective as well as to pay attention to, and trust 'aware' citizens to help. We need to engage and educate ourselves as citizens; however, our U. S. government continues to treat us, its citizens, 'like babies'. Our government thinks we 'can't handle the truth' and are concerned that we'll panic if we understand the realities of terrorism. Aviv says this is a deadly mistake.
Aviv recently created/executed a security test for our Congress, by placing an empty briefcase in five well-traveled spots in five major cities. The results? Not one person called 911 or sought a policeman to check it out. In fact, in Chicago, someone tried to steal the briefcase!
In comparison, Aviv says that citizens of Israel are so well 'trained' that an unattended bag or package would be reported in seconds by citizen(s) who know to publicly shout, 'Unattended Bag!' The area would be quickly & calmly cleared by the citizens themselves.
Unfortunately, America hasn't been yet 'hurt enough' by terrorism for their government to fully understand the need to educate its citizens or for the government to understand that it's their citizens who are, inevitably, the best first-line of defense against terrorism.
Aviv also was concerned about the high number of children here in America who were in preschool and kindergarten after 9/11, who were 'lost' without parents being able to pick them up, and about our schools that had no plan in place to best care for the students until parents could get there. (In New York City, this was days, in some cases!)
He stresses the importance of having a plan, that's agreed upon within your family, of how to respond in the event of a terrorist emergency. He urges parents to contact their children's schools and demand that the schools too, develop plans of actions, just as they do in Israel.
Does your family know what to do if you can't contact one another by phone? Where would you gather in an emergency? He says we should all have a plan that is easy enough for even our youngest children to remember and follow.
Aviv says that the U. S. government has in force a plan, that in the event of another terrorist
attack, EVERYONE's ability to use cell phones, blackberries, etc., will immediately be cut-off, as this is the preferred communication source used by terrorists and is often the way that their bombs are detonated.
How will you communicate with your loved ones in the event you cannot speak to each other? You need to have a plan.
If you understand, and believe what you have just read, then you must feel compelled to send this to every concerned parent, guardian, grandparents, uncles, aunts, whomever. Don't stop there. In addition to sharing this via e-mail, contact and discuss this information with whomever it makes sense to. Make contingency plans with those you care about. Better that you have plans in place, and never have to use them, then to have no plans in place, and find you needed them.
If you choose not to share this, or not to have a plan in place, and nothing ever occurs -- good for you! However, in the event something does happen, and even moreso, if it directly affects your loved ones, then this e-mail will haunt you forever.
Telling yourself after the fact, "I should have sent this to so and so, but deleted it as so much trash from old Bill Jones, plus, I just didn't believe it", will not change anything. You were alerted, had the chance to do something, and instead of erring on the side of caution, you chose to disregard, if nothing else, a sensible, valuable warning.
Juval Aviv was the Israeli Agent upon whom the movie 'Munich' was based. He was Golda Meir's bodyguard, and she appointed him to track down and bring to justice the Palestinian terrorists who took the Israeli athletes hostage and killed them during the Munich Olympic Games.
In a lecture in New York City he shared information that EVERY American needs to know -- but that our government has not yet shared with us.
He predicted the London subway bombing on the Bill O'Reilly show on Fox News stating publicly that it would happen within a week. At the time, O'Reilly laughed, and mocked him saying that in a week he wanted him back on the show. Unfortunately, within a week the terrorist attack had occurred.
Juval Aviv gave intelligence (via what he had gathered in Israel and the Middle East) to the Bush Administration about 9/11, a month before it occurred. His report specifically said they would use planes as bombs and target high profile buildings and monuments. Congress has since hired him as a security consultant.
Now for his future predictions. He predicts the next terrorist attack on the U.S. will occur within the next few months.
Forget hijacking airplanes, because he says terrorists will NEVER try and hijack a plane again as they know the people onboard will never go down quietly again. Aviv believes our airport security is a joke -- that we have been reactionary rather than proactive in developing strategies that are truly effective.
For example:
1) Our airport technology is outdated. We look for metal, and the new explosives are made of plastic.
2) He talked about how some idiot tried to light his shoe on fire. Because of that, now everyone has to take off their shoes. A group of idiots tried to bring aboard liquid explosives. Now we can't bring liquids on board. He says he's waiting for some suicidal maniac to pour liquid explosive on his underwear; at which point, security will have us all traveling naked!
Every strategy we have is reactionary.
3) We only focus on security when people are heading to the gates.
Aviv says that if a terrorist attack targets airports in the future, they will target busy times on the front end of the airport when/where people are checking in. It would be easy for someone to take two suitcases of explosives, walk up to a busy check-in line, ask a person next to them to watch their bags for a minute while they run to the restroom or get a drink, and then detonate the bags BEFORE security even gets involved. In Israel, security checks bags BEFORE people can even ENTER the airport.
Aviv says the next terrorist attack here in America is imminent and will involve suicide bombers and non-suicide bombers in places where large groups of people congregate. (i.e., Disneyland, Las Vegas casinos, big cities (New York, San Francisco, Chicago, etc.) and that it will also include shopping malls, subways in rush hour, train stations, etc., as well as, rural America this time. The interlands (Wyoming, Montana, etc.).
The attack will be characterized by simultaneous detonations around the country (terrorists like big impact), involving at least 5-8 cities, including rural areas.
Aviv says terrorists won't need to use suicide bombers in many of the larger cities, because at places like the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, they can simply valet park a car loaded with explosives and walk away.
Aviv says all of the above is well known in intelligence circles, but that our U. S. Government does not want to 'alarm American citizens' with the facts. The world is quickly going to become 'a different place', and issues like 'global warming' and political correctness will become totally irrelevant.
On an encouraging note, he says that Americans don't have to be concerned about being nuked. Aviv says the terrorists who want to destroy America will not use sophisticated weapons. They like to use suicide as a front-line approach. It's cheap, it's easy, it's effective; and they have an infinite abundance of young militants more than willing to 'meet their destiny'.
He also says the next level of terrorists, over which America should be most concerned, will not be coming from abroad. But will be, instead, 'homegrown', having attended and been educated in our own schools and universities right here in the U.S. He says to look for 'students' who frequently travel back and forth to the Middle East. These young terrorists will be most dangerous because they will know our language and will fully understand the habits of Americans; but that we Americans won't know/understand a thing about them.
Aviv says that, as a people, Americans are unaware and uneducated about the terrorist threats we will inevitably face. America still has only a handful of Arabic and Farsi speaking people in our intelligence networks, and Aviv says it is critical that we change that fact SOON.
So, what can America do to protect itself? From an intelligence perspective, Aviv says the U.S. needs to stop relying on satellites and technology for intelligence. We need to, instead, follow Israel's, Ireland's and England's hands-on examples of human intelligence, both from an infiltration perspective as well as to pay attention to, and trust 'aware' citizens to help. We need to engage and educate ourselves as citizens; however, our U. S. government continues to treat us, its citizens, 'like babies'. Our government thinks we 'can't handle the truth' and are concerned that we'll panic if we understand the realities of terrorism. Aviv says this is a deadly mistake.
Aviv recently created/executed a security test for our Congress, by placing an empty briefcase in five well-traveled spots in five major cities. The results? Not one person called 911 or sought a policeman to check it out. In fact, in Chicago, someone tried to steal the briefcase!
In comparison, Aviv says that citizens of Israel are so well 'trained' that an unattended bag or package would be reported in seconds by citizen(s) who know to publicly shout, 'Unattended Bag!' The area would be quickly & calmly cleared by the citizens themselves.
Unfortunately, America hasn't been yet 'hurt enough' by terrorism for their government to fully understand the need to educate its citizens or for the government to understand that it's their citizens who are, inevitably, the best first-line of defense against terrorism.
Aviv also was concerned about the high number of children here in America who were in preschool and kindergarten after 9/11, who were 'lost' without parents being able to pick them up, and about our schools that had no plan in place to best care for the students until parents could get there. (In New York City, this was days, in some cases!)
He stresses the importance of having a plan, that's agreed upon within your family, of how to respond in the event of a terrorist emergency. He urges parents to contact their children's schools and demand that the schools too, develop plans of actions, just as they do in Israel.
Does your family know what to do if you can't contact one another by phone? Where would you gather in an emergency? He says we should all have a plan that is easy enough for even our youngest children to remember and follow.
Aviv says that the U. S. government has in force a plan, that in the event of another terrorist
attack, EVERYONE's ability to use cell phones, blackberries, etc., will immediately be cut-off, as this is the preferred communication source used by terrorists and is often the way that their bombs are detonated.
How will you communicate with your loved ones in the event you cannot speak to each other? You need to have a plan.
If you understand, and believe what you have just read, then you must feel compelled to send this to every concerned parent, guardian, grandparents, uncles, aunts, whomever. Don't stop there. In addition to sharing this via e-mail, contact and discuss this information with whomever it makes sense to. Make contingency plans with those you care about. Better that you have plans in place, and never have to use them, then to have no plans in place, and find you needed them.
If you choose not to share this, or not to have a plan in place, and nothing ever occurs -- good for you! However, in the event something does happen, and even moreso, if it directly affects your loved ones, then this e-mail will haunt you forever.
Telling yourself after the fact, "I should have sent this to so and so, but deleted it as so much trash from old Bill Jones, plus, I just didn't believe it", will not change anything. You were alerted, had the chance to do something, and instead of erring on the side of caution, you chose to disregard, if nothing else, a sensible, valuable warning.
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