Iyya

மனத்தொடு வாய்மை மொழியின் தவத்தொடு
தானஞ்செய் வாரின் தலை.

eppomae unmai pesina podhumnga, avan dheivam thaan. poi pesi thaan ella noyum varudhu, adhu thaan romba suffering tharidhu…

I was watching sometime ago, a live press conference on CNN of the US President. Reporters were asking him some pointed questions on his Iraq policy. Trying to defend the indefensible, Bush was getting quite irritated. Then some senior reporter from the US, obviously well known to Bush addressed him as Mr Bush and asked a question. Bush instead of answering shot back, “Don’t you know who I am ?” The reporter, taken aback by this rude response took his time before responding with, “Yes! Mr President! my questions is.”
Similar was the situation in a company I had worked for in the US. There were three partners. We used to call all of them by their first names. One day, a junior employee, who had recently joined the company, came to speak to the youngest partner and addressed him by his first name. “Call me sir!,” was the sharp retort from the boss.
Why do people put on airs? Why do they wish to create some distance between themselves and others? Are they very impressed by their own importance? Or, are they hiding their not so impressive personality behind their positions? What do they gain by doing it? I thought Bush’s behaviour was despicable.
A wise person should never ever act in such artificial way, no matter how high a position one reaches, since everything is temporary. I have myself seen many high and mighty bite the dust. In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna cautions, “All material achievements are temporary, liable to be taken away at death, if not earlier (10.34). “The strength, the ability, all these came from Me” (7.8-11). We should have equal vision towards other living entities (5.18), and should treat others with respect (18.54). If anything, God expects us to be engaged in beneficial works for others (12.4).
If one chooses to do otherwise, he or she shall be lonely, unloved, isolated, unpopular and even hated. Such false sense of superiority is temporary, since both God and universal consciousness are forever judging, and rewarding and punishing. In short, artificial living does not bring any benefit in the long run.
I prefer to act with respect towards one and all, especially towards those who serve me. I have found that very rewarding, since we need relationships, not strained ones. Let us behave like cultured human beings, if this is what we call ourselves.

Source: The Economic Times

DO YOU ever stop and think what an amazing thing our breath is? Probably not. To breathe properly, when you inhale your abdomen should protrude not your chest. When you exhale, your abdomen should flatten. You should breathe deeply and completely. Deep breathing is the single most effective, beneficial technique we can use to relieve pain and stress and to relax. Below is an exercise that I use on a regular basis.
Lie down somewhere comfortable and close your eyes. You can have some relaxing soothing music playing in the background if you prefer, or complete silence. Make yourself completely comfortable with pillows or whatever and your arms at your sides. Loosen any tight clothing.
Take a very deep breath in (using the proper breathing technique above) then exhale. Do this several times until you begin to feel your body relax a little. Try not to think about anything. Focus your mind completely on your breath flowing in and out. Now take another deep breath, and beginning with the top of your head guide your breath to that area and using your mind’s eye, as you exhale, direct the breath into your head. With the exhale, envision that the breath is penetrating into that area of the body you are focusing on. Take another deep breath and this time using your mind’s eye guide the breath into your face muscles, then another deep breath into your jaw and eye muscles….

Cynthia Perkins

SOurce: The Economic Times

அகர முதல எழுத்தெல்லாம் ஆதி
பகவன் முதற்றே உலகு.

Bagha means ellaamai irrukaravan. uyir ezhuthu na andha ezhuthula uyir irrukku.

valluvar correcta solleerukaar. andha nilaila irundha thaan thirukural puriyum. adhaan naan ungallukku thirukural selected kural padikaa sonnaen.

idukkan varungaal naguga- thunbam varumbodhu sirikka sollalai, adhanaala baadhikkama irungannu sollraar, apdi irundhaal andha thunbam poyirum.

gave the following verse to read,

thunbam varum bodhu thunivu vendum

inbam varum bodhu panivu vendum

eppodhum gnana thelivu vendum

 * indha book padikardhu ellam vitta podhumga, nammakku arivu irrukku, adhu sollum. book padicha irukara arivum poyirum…

There are three things extremely hard, says Benjamin Franklin: “Steel, a diamond, and to know one’s self.”

Hot news keeps pouring in about steel. Such as, promoters’ stake in Tata Steel set to go up, in a bid to prevent a hostile takeover, even as L.N. Mittal is sighted closer home. Meanwhile, raking in the moolah at the box office, is Brandon Routh, the new `Man of Steel’ in Superman Returns, already in the No. 1 spot, since its first show on June 28. Just the right time to come to terms with steel.

In the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, steel appears after steed (a horse) and before steenbok (an antelope). The word is defined as “a hard, strong grey or bluish grey alloy of iron with carbon and usually other elements, used extensively as a structural and fabricating material.”

The Bard speaks of `hard bright steel and hearts harder than steel’ in King Richard II. There are three things extremely hard, says Benjamin Franklin: “Steel, a diamond, and to know one’s self.”

Steel is not only hard, but strong too. Which explains why the word `steel’ also means `strength and determination,’ as in the `nerves of steel’ that Swami Vivekananda spoke of, apart from `muscles of iron, and minds like thunderbolt’.

Steely resolve

After 9/11, the US President, Mr George W. Bush, said: “Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.” Praying for similar tenacity is this line in King Henry V: “O god of battles! Steel my soldiers’ hearts.”

To steel means “to make somebody unfeeling or tough enough to withstand a setback or trial, e.g. steeled myself for the news,” states http://encarta.msn.com. A sonnet has a line that talks of `steel’d sense or changes right or wrong.’

There are more instances of steel getting into the body! You come across “One whose hard heart is button’d up with steel,” in The Comedy of Errors. “A good leader needs to have a compass in his head and a bar of steel in his heart,” avers Robert Townsend. Encounter Mark Antony describing himself as `a man of steel,’ in Antony and Cleopatra. `Bow, stubborn knees; and, heart with strings of steel,’ reads a line from Hamlet. And there are `ribs of steel’ in Troilus and Cressida.

But, in Coriolanus, hear Marcius speak of steel growing as soft as `the parasite’s silk’. It may seem oxymoronic to say soft steel, but steel low in carbon is called soft or mild steel. The properties of steel are closely linked to its composition, explains www.schoolscience.co.uk. “For example, there is a big difference in hardness between the steel in a drinks can and the steel used to make a pair of scissors. The metal in the scissors contains nearly 20 times as much carbon and is many times harder.” While carbon content controls `carbon steel’, alloying elements, which are added to increase corrosion resistance and high-temperature strength, control `alloy steel’, educates Homeglossary.com.

“Persistence is to the character of man as carbon is to steel,” counsels Napoleon Hill. And Chuck Norris may agree, saying: “Men are like steel. When they lose their temper, they lose their worth.” But golden touch could soften steel and stones, postulates Proteus in The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

Its many forms

All steel products are made from semi-finished steel that comes in the form of slabs, billets and blooms, notes www.indiansteelalliance.com. “Though today there are over 3,500 varieties of regular and special steel available, steel products can be broadly classified into two basic types according to their shape: flat and long products.” The site has informative flowcharts depicting blast and electric arc furnace routes for producing steel.

Steel has competition from substitutes, especially in vehicle manufacturing. Sheldon Brown’s Bicycle Glossary explains: “Although steel is used for most high-quality bicycle frames, the use of steel instead of aluminium for many parts is often the result of penny-pinching.” Nobody should have to ride a modern bicycle with steel rims, brakes or handlebars, avers the glossary. For “the only reason steel is now used for these parts is to scrimp on costs.”

Among the meanings for steel on Encarta is `something made of steel,’ as for example a weapon. Catch up with `stabbing steel’ in The Winter’s Tale. “Treason has done his worst: nor steel, nor poison,” says Macbeth referring to a situation where even weapons and toxins can fail. “Bloody steel grasp’d in their ireful hands,” writes Shakespeare in King Henry VI. “Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabb’d; and as he pluck’d his cursed steel away, mark how the blood of Caesar follow’d it,” speaks Antony in Julius Caesar.

To Henry David Thoreau, though, “The finest workers in stone are not copper or steel tools, but the gentle touches of air and water working at their leisure with a liberal allowance of time.” A difference that is as big as between a hostile and harmonious takeover.

Going to the root

Online Etymology Dictionary traces steel to Old English `style,’ from West Germanic adjective stakhlijan `made of steel.’ It also gives reference to Old Saxon stehli, Old Norse, Middle Low German stal, Danish staal, Swedish st{macr}l, Middle Dutch stael, Dutch staal, Old High German stahal, and German stahl.

Interestingly, the word is related to stakhla `standing fast,’ from Proto-Indo-European. The base stak, meaning `to stand, place, be firm’ is further explained in an entry on `stay’, which in turn leads to stet, meaning `let it stand’, and having roots in Sanskrit tisthati.

Steel appears in the archaeological record during the Iron Age, one learns from Archaeology Wordsmith. “Steel was usually produced by carburisation of wrought iron. In this process, the iron is heated in a hearth with charcoal to about 800 degrees Centigrade. Carbon diffuses into the surface of the metal to make steel.”

Viking swords combined the strength of wrought iron with the hardness of steel, using a technique known as pattern welding, informs www.reference- wordsmith.com.

The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire, reminds John N. Mitchell. That, perhaps, applies to steel deals too.

Source: The Hindu Business Line

Iyya Comments:

idhu romba coorecta ezhudheerukaanga. carbon evlo pannudhu paarunga, idhu science illeenga, romba correcta solleerukaanga..

The Vedas are the only authoritative pointer to assimilate the truth of the Supreme Being and one’s relationship with Him. A tremendous effort and determination are needed to cull it because the truth is scattered and hidden behind a maze of terse statements.

In a lecture, Sri M.V. Anantapadmanabhachariar said that the Vedas are referred to as Prachina Sruti as they belong to the hoary past beyond Time, while the Divya Prabhandham is called the Navina Sruti, because the Azhwars, who have churned the boundless and abstruse ocean of the Vedas with their words to extract its essence, belong to later times.

But Vedanta Desika’s hymn Padukasahasram — a work of exceptional merit in terms of philosophy, poetry and devotion and a direct adoration of the Lord’s sandals (Paduka) — takes away the honours, for it is a further refined statement of the eternal truth expressed in the Divya Prabhandham. It is believed that this hymn of a 1008 verses was composed during a single night.

This gifted scholar, who holds a unique position by virtue of his proficiency in all arts and philosophy, has been responsible for establishing the Vedanta and making it accessible to all.

In this hymn, the Paduka is shown as capable of bestowing grace and auspiciousness along with the highest knowledge leading to Bhakti and Vairagya.

Another interesting aspect is that this hymn eulogises Nammazhwar also with great reverence, for this saint is believed to be a manifestation of Lord Ranganatha’s Paduka (Satari), because of which he came to be known as Satakopan.

In the debate about which is greater, the Lord or His sandals, it is declared that the sandals are greater since they bear the Lord who is the support and sustenance of the entire universe. By worshipping the Paduka, one is actually serving the one who constantly serves the Lord.

When one listens to the expositions of the Divya Prabhandham and their commentaries from learned preceptors, the essence of scriptural truths enters one’s consciousness through the ears.

It is also believed that through the preceptor’s grace, it is possible to get enlightened and even comprehend truths that had not been explicitly stated.

Source: The Hindu dated Friday, Jul 07, 2006

namma body oxygen edhuthuttu carbon velila viduthu, trees take carbon and release oxygen. appuram andha carbon than palama kudukudhu. naama pasicha adhai saapadrom. namma bodyla carbon ulla vecha epdi pasikum? ipdi thaan sithargal pannaanga…namma body kaathu thaanga (vaayu). aana namma thaan adhai edho getti porulnu nenaikarom, adhanala thaan parakka mudiyalai.  hanuman epdi parakaraar.
yaaraiyum paathu copy adikaadhae, nee neeyaga iru. mudinja varaikkum adhuthavangalluku udhavi pannu…

panivu, kanuvi, thunivu. thunivu irundhaal thaan panivu varum. arivu irundhaal thaan thunivu varum.

paarunga kural thaan edho nalla irrukunnu padikka sonna, adhuvum thappu sollaraar oruthar.

thunbathula sirika sollraar valluvar, adhu thappunu sollraanga. adhaan naan idhai ezhudhi vechaen.

இன்பத்துள் இன்பம் விழையாதான் துன்பத்துள்
துன்பம் உறுதல் இலன்.

buddha says, be alike in both inbam and thunbam. unwanted thoughts neenga vittutta adhu varadhu…

The second richest person on the planet closing a deal with the wealthiest is an event the world must take note of. When the `deal’ is about the former’s plans to pledge the bulk of his $44 billion fortune to a philanthropy foundation run by the latter, the world must applaud. Warren Buffet’s commitment to transfer as much as 85 per cent of his assets to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation — the largest charitable donation in history — sends a powerful signal to the rest of world. The sheer size of the pledge has set a new benchmark for socially focussed generosity. Astonished observers are probably correct in thinking the commitment made by the “Oracle of Omaha” — known so on account of his uncanny ability to pick undervalued stocks — will energise the non-profit sector and create a new wave of philanthropy. In turning his personal wealth into something of great value to society, Mr. Buffet has resisted the temptation to start a foundation in his own name. This is an unusually wise move. It costs money to give away money and setting up a foundation is an expensive business; a recent survey conducted by the Chronicle of Philanthropy found that some major foundations consume almost 30 per cent of the money they disburse in administrative costs.

By pledging to channel the bulk of his fortunes to an existing foundation, the head of the conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway has signalled that in philanthropy, as in business, it is not necessary to reinvent the wheel. It would have been hard to find a better choice for philanthropic investment than the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which runs innovative programmes on health care and education for the global community and which has proved it can put its money to consistently beneficial use. Already the largest philanthropic foundation in the world, it will find the Buffet pledge enhancing its profile and giving it more power to bring about social change. In a way, the Buffet pledge is a gesture of confidence in his friend, Mr. Gates, who will step down his role in Microsoft in two years and work full-time for the Foundation. Mr. Buffet is in tune with the culture of `meritocracy’, which values initiative and hard work; and is deeply opposed to an aristocracy created on the basis of inherited wealth. He is a strong opponent of efforts in the United States administration to repeal the estate tax. It is a culture that has encouraged many Americans to earmark substantial portions of their wealth for social purposes rather than passing it wholly to their children. It has created some of America’s best-known philanthropists such as the oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, the steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, and others such as Irene Diamond and Joan Croc (who inherited business empires from their spouses). Much may be wrong with American business, but there is something to be learnt from its most successful businesspersons about the art of giving.

Source: The Hindu dated Friday, Jun 30, 2006

Iyya Comments:
sambaarichu kolandhaikku kudhutha, avan kandahai panni paazhai poraan, so ivar parunga epdi kudukaraarnu. kolandhaikku arivu irrukku illeenga, avan avanukku thevaiyanadhai sambaarichukkuvaan…

A chilling novel details how everyday technologies could gradually lead to a far more invasive society than even Orwell dreamed of.

SCIENCE FICTION writers love to ask “What if?” What if a super-intelligent alien race had planted a pair of devices to boost our development at key moments? What if new technologies such as television and electronics become pervasive? George Orwell’s answer to the latter, in 1984, was to show the apparently perfect, controlled society they could enable.

But one thing usually missing is the “how?” At the Computers, Freedom, and Privacy (CFP) conference in Washington DC last month, Vernor Vinge, a retired computer scientist and the author of Rainbows End, provided a compelling explanation of how developing technology and powerful interests could create a society far more invasive and controlled than anything Orwell dreamed of.

The scenario he describes is the background he researched for Rainbows End. Set in 2025, the characters are surrounded by logical extensions of today’s developing technology. Wearable computing is commonplace. Tagging and ubiquitous networked sensors mean you can look at the landscape with your choice of overlay and detail. People send each other silent messages and Google for information within conversations with participants who may be physically present or might be remote projections. One character’s projection is hijacked and becomes the front for three persons. The owner of another remote intelligence is unknown. Top intelligence operatives try to solve a smart biological attack that infects a test population with the willingness to obey orders.

Mr. Vinge makes two opening assumptions: no grand physical disaster occurs, and today’s computing and communications trends continue. He added a third trend: “The great conspiracy against human freedom.”

As novelist Doris Lessing has observed, barons on opposite sides of the river do not need to be in cahoots if their interests coincide. In our case, defence, homeland security, financial crime enforcement, police, tax collectors and intellectual property rights holders offer reasons to want to control the hardware we use. Then there are geeks, who can be tempted to forget the consequences if the technology is cool enough. Mr. Vinge quotes the most famous line from the comic strip Pogo: “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

Mr. Vinge’s technology to satisfy these groups’ dreams is the Secure Hardware Environment (SHE), which dedicates some bandwidth and a small portion of every semiconductor for regulatory use. Deployment is progressive, as standards are implemented. Built into new chips, She will spread inevitably through its predecessors’ obsolescence.

Plausible scenario

This part is terribly plausible. It sounds much like the Trusted Computing Platform, implemented in Intel chips and built into machines from Dell, Fujitsu-Siemens and others. Most people do not realise their new computer contains a chip designed to block the operation of any software not certified by the group. Now enhance that and build it into RFID chips, networked embedded systems, shrink and distribute as “smart dust.” All are current trends or works in progress.

Geeks are willing to fight Trusted Computing on the grounds that it could be used to block open-source software or to enforce draconian digital rights management. But what if accepting it meant less visible security, less bureaucracy, even slight profit? SHE automatically sends taxes, enables much less noticeable surveillance, and gets you through security checkpoints with no waiting. There is less crime, because legislative reality can be enforced on physical reality. Fewer false convictions.

“SHE,” Mr. Vinge concluded at the conference, “fits the trajectory that economics and technical progress are following. The infrastructure for such control will probably arrive in any case.” He also calls his scenario optimistic.

This is, however, one of the paths to Technological Singularity, which Mr. Vinge wrote up in a 1993 essay. It is the moment superhuman intelligence is achieved, either through systems we build or human augmentation. The Singularity changes everything; nothing after it is predictable. In the world of Rainbows End, he thinks, they are either on the verge of Singularity or it is happening.

This caused its own singularity in science fiction. Charlie Stross, whose novel Accelerando attempts to depict living through the Singularity, has called it “the turd in the punchbowl of near-future SF — you may politely pretend it isn’t there, but everyone has to deal with it.”

Author Ken MacLeod places the Singularity in the context of post-2001 hopelessness. “When human beings feel they can’t change the future, they begin to imagine that maybe superhuman beings can: gods, angels, aliens — and now artificial intelligences (AI). The idea of the Singularity is just a sophisticated version of this ancient … superstition, that human history is or soon will be made by something other and better than human beings.”

Mr. Vinge doesn’t dispute the notion that humans look for a way to believe things will be better. Year 2000 software remediation is an example: “Prudent apprehension caused an awful lot of money to be spent … and was one reason there were no significant problems.”

Most people assume the cause of the Singularity, if it happens, will be the effect of Moore’s Law (that the number of transistors that can fit in a given space on a semiconductor doubles every 18 months). It is also usually connected to AI. In his essay, however, Mr. Vinge suggested four or five paths to the Singularity, only one of which was unitary AI.

But here is where Mr. Vinge’s thinking gets optimistic (unlike the CFP conference, which saw surveillant databases everywhere).

“It’s not going to work very well,” he says, “but it will be attempted, both by the state and by civil special interest petitioners.” The drug laws provide a perfect illustration: “The ideal job to have in government is something everybody is convinced is essential to be done successfully that cannot be done successfully and the government is the only entity that can do it. Every time you fail, you say, `The problem is much larger than we imagined, give us some more money.’”

“The leaders of most powerful countries are coming to realise that the most important natural resources are not factories or the size of armies. Economic power is in the size of the population that is well-educated, creative and generally happy enough to be optimistic enough to want to do something creative.”

“The illusion of freedom becomes a strange thing when a government is dealing with … thousands of people who are as bright as the smartest people running the government. Together, they outclass the people running the show. The turning point is the notion that to provide this illusion of freedom for such a group would wind up being more like real freedom than anything in human history.”

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

Source: The Hindu dated Friday, Jun 30, 2006

Iyya Comments:
paarunga technology epdi ellam maara pogudhunnu. romba mukkiyaminga idhu…

Feeling giddy? Stop worrying; your family doctor can sort out your vertigo problem.

A SENSE of imbalance, spinning, unsteadiness, giddiness — in short, a feeling that you or the environment around is moving when in reality neither is constitutes vertigo. One feels one may fall down, which is scary.

Normally the body maintains balance by integrating inputs received from the head, neck, torso and limbs and then coordinating muscle contraction and posture to ensure that the body is stable and in no risk of falling. What is more, one FEELS stable and secure. The inputs concerned are not just the five senses of smell, hearing, vision, touch and pain; but sensory information regarding the position of the head from the three fluid-filled canals in the inner ear; visual inputs from the front of the head that indicate the relative position of the body in space i.e. in land, water or air; muscle sensations that tell the state of contraction or relaxation of the muscles; and joint sensations that inform the exact position of each joint.

These inputs are integrated by the balance centre in the brainstem i.e. the “stem” of the brain that connects the large top part of the brain to the tubular spinal cord; the cerebellum, a cabbage-like structure that coordinates all physical activity and gives smoothness and grace to all our movements; and certain other brain cells below the cerebral cortex that determine the tone of the body’s muscles. Normally all of this works like a well-oiled machine; we are not even aware of it. But when things go wrong, do we feel it? That’s vertigo!

Given the numbers of players and stakeholders in this balance business, it is obvious that problems in any of these multiple areas can cause vertigo. To simplify the confusion, doctors divide the causes into central and peripheral ones.

When things go wrong

“Central” refers to sinister problems within the brain — in the brainstem, the cerebellum, or those neuronal groups that help maintain muscle tone or integrate information coming from the eyes and ears. These problems may be related to growths or tumours in these areas, or reduced blood supply to these structures due to brain ischaemia, which is more common in diabetics and hypertensives, inflammation with or without infections or degenerative disorders.

Peripheral causes may be problems in the delicate inner ear balance apparatus, eye problems, nerve or spinal diseases that reduce peripheral sensory inputs, or certain problems in the neck like spondylosis where the neck vertebrae are mal-aligned. The neck bones are unique in that two major arteries called vertebral arteries carrying blood to the brainstem bore through these bones. Mal-aligned bones make the arteries take a tortuous course and, in certain positions of the neck, they get pinched. Even momentary reduction in blood supply to the brainstem can cause vertigo. Another way blood supply can be affected is if the person has irregular heartbeats; a long enough run of such arrhythmia can cause vertigo. Depression, anxiety and certain hormonal disorders like thyroid deficiency can also cause vertigo.

A detailed history including details of medication, any history of trauma like whiplash injury in a road traffic accident, a good general and systemic examination, some simple blood tests, an long strip ECG, ENT consultation, eye check and digital x-rays of the neck will help sort out most vertigos. Sometimes an MRI scan of the neck is done. A brain scan is an easy way to rule out sinister central causes of vertigo; but it could be expensive. The good news is that often a simple clinical examination technique called the positional vertigo manoeuvre can help tell whether the cause is central or peripheral. The other associated symptoms and signs also help decide whether a scan is called for. History of headaches and vomiting, eye examination that suggests increased intra-cranial pressure, symptoms or examination signs suggestive of cerebral ischaemia in hypertensives and diabetics, anything suggestive of infections like meningitis or encephalitis are indications for a scan.

Luckily the majority of vertigos are peripheral in origin and effective medical treatment is available too. So, though a frightening symptom, vertigo generally is more bark than bite.

The writer is a Senior Consultant, Holistic Internal Medicine and Rheumatology, Chennai

Source: The Hindu dated  Sunday, Jul 02, 2006

Iyya Comments:

Balance thaanga romba mukkiyam, adhu pochunna ellamae pochu….

vazha theriyannum…