Save them SNAKES

Walking in 'the bush' with my dog Duke and we were going through a patch of elephant grass (about chest high) and couldn't see much. Suddenly, about 5 feet in front of me, a black oblong head appeared over the grass. The tableau froze. It may have been an Egyptian (but there was no white on its throat) or more probably a black spitter (Naja nigricollis nigricollis). I had a hard time getting Duke not to investigate this phenomenon and during that brief struggle, the curious cobra quietly slipped out of sight.

I have too often seen the fear that a snake can generate and the mindless killing rage that accompanies this fear. But snakes do not deserve this at all, they are a precious part of God's creation and play an invaluable part in the world's ecology. Let's face our fear and look beyond to the beauty and absolute uniqueness of our snakes.
the next time you see a snake victim, save that snake and get it back out to the wilds where it belongs...

A New "GARDEN OF EDEN"

Just imagine - in this day and age - science discovers a lost world, full of never before seen species and untouched by humans? Quite incredible yet true!

Wallace independently came to his theory of evolution after studying indonesia's wildlife and in particular the amazing birds of paradise...

The 'rediscovered' six wired bird of paradise


"It's beautiful, untouched, unpopulated forest; there's no evidence of human impact or presence up in these mountains," Dr Beehler told the BBC News website.

Let's hope it stays that way.

You Too can help to CONSERVE Wildlife

Finally, our Forest Department has decided to do the annual animal census for Tamil Nadu. There are vast areas to be covered and few volunteers. If you are interested in participating and don't have a clue as to how to get involved then post a comment with your email address and your location under this post and I will get back to you with details. You should be able to spare at least three consecutive days and your transportation to and from the particular forest area. Training will be provided.

This is a 1939 snap of a deer taken during a census,











and below is a diagram of the "line transect" method of counting.

Taking a good census is invaluable to our conservation efforts. So lend a hand and enjoy the forests at the same time. Believe me, it is an unforgettable experience...

The High Seas

As a child, my most exciting travel experiences were undoubtedly on ships. we used to board at Mombasa or Dar es Salaam and cross the Indian Ocean, passing the Seychelles, Mauritius and "Ceylon" too on the way to Madras. Then back again. Weeks of travelling either way - but what glorious fun!

Nowadays, when thinking of the oceans, our concerns are more about el nino, la nina and the global warming that melts ice caps, raising sea levels. The murky depths hide voracious sharks and other unnameable terrors. Vague fears of sudden, devastating tsunamis lurk in the corners of our imagination.

But, if I had my druthers, I would always prefer to sail in search of magical islands and pristine lagoons on the ever mysterious high seas.

LOVE

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profits me nothing.

Love suffers long, and is kind; love envies not; love vaunts not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil; rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.


And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13 (King James Version, modified by SLC)

Student Suicides

It's getting to be that time of year in my country. The school final exam 'season' starts towards the end of February and the carnage begins. So much pressure, so much hope and for some such a weight of despair that many of these little ones resort to death as the only escape from the hell on earth that we have created for them. We have placed such a terrible burden on our children; by our society, our family, our friends, our classmates, our teachers and our whole rotten "system of education".

Let us pray that each child will have the fortitude to withstand and that each one will find at least a single friend to tell him or her that all is not lost...

But every year we see them fall, plucked from life.
Then follows only the quietest of bewailings and helpless wringings of hands - and for such a little while - lest any should find out that we all share the blame.

See the first bit of
A MODEST PROPOSAL
FOR PREVENTING THE CHILDREN OF POOR PEOPLE IN IRELAND FROM BEING A BURDEN TO THEIR PARENTS OR COUNTRY, AND FOR MAKING THEM BENEFICIAL TO THE PUBLIC
By Jonathan Swift, 1729
below in the sidebar

ON POETRY

Facsimile reproductions of Emily Dickinson's writings can be found at http://www.emilydickinson.org
My English 101 professor suddenly asked us, just as we were nearing the end of term, "Why poetry?" and we were startled to find that we didn't have a ready answer. I still don't know...it is more than communication, language, beauty, symmetry or feeling.

Here's one by Drayton: "How Many Paltry Foolish Painted Things"

How many paltry foolish painted things,
That now in coaches trouble every street,
Shall be forgotten, whom no poet sings,
Ere they be well wrapped in their winding-sheet!
Where I to thee eternity shall give,
When nothing else remaineth of these days,
And queens hereafter shall be glad to live
Upon the alms of thy superfluous praise.
Virgins and matrons, reading these my rhymes,
Shall be so much delighted with thy story
That they shall grieve they lived not in these times,
To have seen thee, their sex's only glory:
So shalt thou fly above the vulgar throng,
Still to survive in my immortal song.

and one by Chesterton: "The Strange Music"

Other loves may sink and settle, other loves may loose and slack,
But I wander like a minstrel with a harp upon his back,
Though the harp be on my bosom, though I finger and I fret,
Still, my hope is all before me: for I cannot play it yet.

In your strings is hid a music that no hand hath e'er let fall,
In your soul is sealed a pleasure that you have not known at all;
Pleasure subtle as your spirit, strange and slender as your frame,
Fiercer than the pain that folds you, softer than your sorrow's name.

Not as mine, my soul's annointed, not as mine the rude and light
Easy mirth of many faces, swaggering pride of song and fight;
Something stranger, something sweeter, something waiting you afar,
Secret as your stricken senses, magic as your sorrows are.

But on this, God's harp supernal, stretched but to be stricken once,
Hoary time is a beginner, Life a bungler, Death a dunce.
But I will not fear to match them-no, by God, I will not fear,
I will learn you, I will play you and the stars stand still to hear.

As i find time, i will try to add a few more to the sidebar (lower down) but if you really want poetry try visiting http://plagiarist.com/poetry/poets/ it's free online and has a goldmine of stuff. For the wiki fans there is the sister project http://wiki.poetryx.com/Main_Page

ENJOY!

A HAPPY NEW YEAR UNIVERSE

Orion's belt


A close-up of the Crab Nebula



The Horse Head Nebula in Orion (can be seen in tiny perspective in the first pic)


An amazing look at a sunspot on our own little sun!


and Uranus who sports two new belts and moons...









take a look at the title link, click on "interactive" and be amazed...

EVOLUTION

I have been a bit hesitant to jump into the fray on the evolution debate as this issue can become a very emotive one, especially for many of my close friends.

Questions about creation and evolution are rather fundamental and how we handle them does have repurcussions for our worldviews and for our daily lives too. So, all hesitations aside, here we go.

A bit to my sorrow, I have found that it was my assumptions that caused most of my heartache. The first one was that I knew what my bible teaches about how God created. it took me far too long to realise that while the effect of God's creative action is clear enough, the how is conspicuously absent.

Second wrong assumption was to take the latest findings and theories of science as a static thing. Science is in such a fluctuant state that it is foolish to take its findings as fixed.

Third wrong un was to assume that I could convince my friends that this debate is largely misplaced.

The Pennsylvania Federal Court's ruling and rather acerbic comments will serve only to further polarize a debate which is already heading to Mars. In the final analysis, since science tries to figure out the 'hows' while religion seeks answers to 'whys' there is very little likelihood that they will tread the same path.

thanks to lifewithalacrity.com for the pic

Start the CADENZA

"... play my concerto unrehearsed from the score. I myself believed this was impossible. Liszt, however, obviously did not share my view. And so he began to play. After his accomplishment, I must add that further perfection is inconceivable; he played the Cadenza, which technically is exceedingly difficult, perfectly! Afterwards, he handed me the score and said: 'Just stay your course. I tell you truly, you have the ability needed - let nothing frighten you!' I cannot express the importance of his words. It was as though he initiated me. Many times when disappointments or bitterness are about to overwhelm me, my thoughts return to what he told me then, and my remembrance of that moment enables me to keep up my courage." (Grieg, Rome, 9 April 1870)

Saturday was the first day of production for our new medical transcription firm "Cadenza". We did well with our files in spite of a few initial scares due to a missing codec, a slow-to-arrive broadband, and some bobbles with the FTP.

It is exhilerating to start something new and do well right from day one. Good preparation, TEAMWORK, and a fast reaction time are some of the key ingredients. Many thanks to our MT Guru - Shankarji and for the efforts of Ramesh and our 'surprise' editor Pugazh. We will stay the course...

MOONS OF MYSTERY

Dione, Rhea, Enceladus and Lapetus are just four of Saturn's many moons that have been closely studied by the space explorer Cassini in recent close fly-bys.


And here is a rare alignment viewed from within Saturn's rings:

NARNIA

...ASLAN TAMED


DISNEY AND NARNIA ARE a strange combination. C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe really should not be commercialised. In any case Lewis thinking on Christianity is very far removed from what is acceptable to American conservatives. Disney have already decided that they want the conservatives as potential customers AND SO Lewis and his creations must yield to "modification" and eventually adulteration.

Still it may make for good cinema, and most have not read C.S. Lewis and so will not know what they are missing...

pic-"narniaweb", thanks to Tarkheena (groups.msn.com/FriendsofNarnia/
homepage.msnw)

ECO-T

My biggest regret since starting into Medical Transcription has been my inability to get out into the forest. Well, tomorrow that changes.

Tomorrow, I will be in Mudumalai, hiking in a friend's undeveloped estate on the border of the Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary.

This is the forest where twice in 2003 we came face-to-face with tigers. The second of those experiences was my daughter's first of a tiger in the wild. This is also the forest that we saw burning, with Ursula and Jan (Switzerland) in the drought of late February this year. We regularly have visitors come from all over the world to see the forests and to meet and study our forest's unique tribal peoples.

The real truth, though is that it isn't really the wildlife (plenty), nor the scenery (wonderful), nor even the camaraderie of a good hike, but just the undescribable total experience of being in the forest. Along with that comes a haunting sense that the next generation may not have any of this - for what little we have left is most certainly disappearing.

MAKE TIME FOR THE FOREST!

WHAT'S NEWS?

A "NO" for the Bill of Rights

I suppose that it was inevitable that the executive would start to habitually bypass the courts. the first instances which were winked at were the setting up of the prison at Guantanamo and the indefinite detainment of "suspected terrorists" without due process.

Once the American people swallowed that one, then it was only a matter of a short time before the executive decided that they could indeed do anything in 'a time of war'.

It may not be amiss to point out that when the British ruled America, fomenters of rebellion were 'the terrorists' and similarly in my country, when we fought for independence, all of our leaders spent long stints in jail without any due process. these were all imperial and executive decisions taken in the best interest of protecting the nation against "terrorists". There is no doubt at all that Robin Hood is a terrorist of the first order and so too William Tell.

But, we could excuse this of emperors and kings - those who believe that they alone are capable of interpreting rightly their God given prerogatives - can we expect the same from those who espouse the wonder of democracy and who claim to be under the constitution and law of their land?

Renditions of such declared terrorists to other countries where there will be no question of any civil rights (nor even human rights) is another case in point. These are not the actions of America for if they were then there would never have been any need for secrecey in the first place!

Despite having been proved wrong on WMD and Iraq, despite the disastrous cosequences of a prolonged war/insugency in Iraq and despite the fact that graver threats exist and are now having to be ignored - it is time that the American people, through their judiciary and elected representatives, restored that balance of power that has sustained such a vibrant democracy for the last three centuries and restore to us in the rest of the world, a nation that is both mature and respectful of its own proud tradition of freedom.
12-19-2005

A YES FOR THE 1st AMENDMENT

Today's U.S. news of the acquittal of a person who had expressed support for Palestine and condemned Israel is an indication that America has not yet abandoned basic human rights despite the threat of terrorism:"...that people's beliefs or thoughts or wishes were criminal," said David Nevin, a Boise lawyer who defended the student in Idaho last year. "I think juries are pretty reluctant to go there."

Full Story

12-07-2005

ENCEPHALITIS AND DENGUE

The whole world is worried about avian flu mutating into a more virulent form. But, what are we doing about diseases that are very similarly transmited and even more dangerous to humans? In India, over 1,300 kids have died in Uttar Pradesh of the Japanese Encephalitis Virus. In many areas of India, during the monsoon season, Dengue quietly kills hundreds of children. In the U.S., West Nile Virus - another ARBO - is rapidly spreading.

Our failures on the extant diseases do not augur well for how we will deal with any new epidemic.

AIDS WORLDWIDE

Over 40 million cases!
My own data indicates an incidence of 1.5 - 1.8% in the general population of my home state of Tamil Nadu, with a Male:Female ratio of 15:1. Of the affected women, about 6% are sex workers while the vast majority (92%) are housewives who have got AIDS from their spouses. Still 2% are unmarried and have contracted AIDS from premarital sexual activity.

And yet when an actress dares to address this issue in public, she is ostracized and criminal cases are registered against her.

ON KICKING THE ENEMY WHEN HE IS DOWN

Now that President Bush is on the defensive on Iraq, it was refreshing to see support for him coming from a democrat who has even higher aspirations - HRC.

Whether her analysis is sound is a different question. Regardless of the presence of American and allied troops, Iraq will still turn into a very dangerous place!

original article

A Rose is a Rose...

The Rose Moss : Rhodobryum



a mere 3-5cm high





If you get a chance, take a closer look at the leaves under a low power microscope - the cells, symmetry and colours are simply glorious



An entire world in a microcosm to wonder at...