1 minute = 61 seconds

Typically, we know 1 minute is 60 seconds - and therefore, it is really strange to know that there will for the first time in history, one minute 61 seconds. Yes, this is true. The last minute of the present day (31st December 2008) will be of 61seconds. That's because a leap second, the first for three years, is being added to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the standard clock used around the world, right on the cusp of 2009. Let me explain it in simple terms. Atomic clocks like those at NPL (National Physical laboratory) are now more than a million times more stable than the Earth's rotation. As a result, the two methods of measuring time slowly drift apart and we occasionally have to add or subtract a leap second to the atomic clocks to make sure astronomical and atomic time remain synchronised. The difference between atomic time and Earth time has now built up to the point where it needs to be corrected, so this New Year's Eve we will experience a rare 61 second minute at the very end of 2008. As a result, New Year's revelers will have a bit longer to reflect on the delights of 2008, or alternatively, be able to delay the entrance of a hard to-look-forward-to 2009.

“Happy New Year”

Myth of Democracy

Democracy at root means a system where each and every person and his/her opinion matters and decisions are taken by consensus serving majority. But examples can be seen everywhere suggesting how easily its meaning can be manipulated. One can implement any policy just by raising a group in its favour (and you would agree that its not tough to raise a group of people for anything with small incentives in India). And the magic of illusion is such that every person feels his/her own importance leaving everything on time for improvement. I would say this system is still some what better at politics level (giving them atleast one reason to think about common people) but in our daily life, out of politics, it is creating an environment of dirty politics in every people organization.

The Window

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour a day to drain the fluids from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.
The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs. And every afternoon when the man in the bed next to the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.
The man in the other bed would live for those one-hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the outside world. The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake, the man had said. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Lovers walked arm in arm amid flowers of every color of the rainbow. Grand old trees graced the landscape, and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance. As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.
One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man could not hear the band, he could see it in his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words. Unexpectedly, an alien thought entered his head: Why should hehave all the pleasure of seeing everything while I never get to see anything? It didn't seem fair. As the thought fermented, the man felt ashamed at first. But as the days passed and he missed seeing more sights, his envy eroded into resentment and soon turned him sour. He found himself unable to sleep. He should be by that window - and that thought now controlled his life.
Late one night, as he lay staring at the ceiling, the man by the window began to cough. He was choking on the fluid in his lungs. The other man watched in the dimly lit room as the struggling man by the window groped for the button to call for help. Listening from across the room, he never moved, never pushed his own button which would have brought the nurse running. In less than five minutes, the coughing and choking stopped, along with the sound of breathing. Now, there was only silence--deathly silence.
The following morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths. When she found the lifeless body of the man by the window, she was saddened and called the hospital attendant to take it away--no words, no fuss. As soon as it seemed appropriate, the man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.
Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look. Finally, he would have the joy of seeing it all himself. He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall.

Moral of the story:
The pursuit of happiness is a matter of choice...it is a positive attitude we consciously choose to express. It is not a gift that gets delivered to our doorstep each morning, nor does it come through the window. And I am certain that our circumstances are just a small part of what makes us joyful. If we wait for them to get just right, we will never find lasting joy.
The pursuit of happiness is an inward journey. Our minds are like programs, awaiting the code that will determine behaviors; like bank vaults awaiting our deposits. If we regularly deposit positive, encouraging, and uplifting thoughts, if we continue to bite our lips just before we begin to grumble and complain, if we shoot down that seemingly harmless negative thought as it germinates, we will find that there is much to rejoice about.

One job is being lost every 10 seconds in the world

Prepare for a horrendous piece of information. Globally, companies are laying off at least one employee every 10 seconds to cut costs and fight the economic crisis. So far in December, companies across diverse sectors have announced at least 115,000 job-cuts, a figure which translates into an average of more than 8,200 people being laid off a day or about six every one minute. More than 30,000 jobs were lost in the first week of December itself. But in the following seven days, the number nearly trebled to touch about 85,000, with the U.S. being accountable for more than one-third of the layoffs. The country has already seen a shocking 5,33,000 job losses in November alone.
I think that shortsightedness in management has created the problem, Job cuts and layoffs are yet another reaction of such shortsighted managements in these orgnizations! Lesser jobs will mean lesser incomes leading to lesser expenditures leading to lesser market demand, resulting in widening losses and yet widening crises. This was on a macro scale, on micro scale...a good management is always characterized by long sighted vision for future....the crises was born because management of various such affected organizations went on to make quick money and indulged themselves in the subprime fraud and now later repenting...these job cuts are short cut quick recovery trick with long & wide negative impact on themselves. Instead of this approach, organizations must take on task of innovating whatever they do, find out innovative solutions to curtail costs, delivering more value to customers, curtail the inefficiencies in the organizations and build on quality...such endeavours are going to pay off and will ensure sustenance not job cuts.

Plight of Muslims In India..

I am here today not to write anything against Muslim community or any other community and I believe I don’t have any right to. I want to express my bitter feelings about the thinking of youth of our country"Muslim is just like any another religion...................." This is what most of the people in India like to showcase but is it true to their heart? Well I don’t think so....Continous assault by terrorists in India have affected the life of Muslim badly, especially the ferocious Mumbai attack just a few days back. Serious investigations by Indian government have revealed that those attackers are from Pakistan and this activity has been promoted from there only. A month has passed when this horrendous act happened and it has touched the hearts of all the people of our nation. But who are the most scared after this attack?
Hindus, Sikhs or Christians? No but the Muslims living in India, those innocent ones, who consider India as their mother land. I agree that Mumbai terror attack was laid by Muslims who came from Pakistan (acc to Govt. of India) but don't understand why our Muslim citizens are suffering because of the deeds of those Pakistani terrorists.
Muslims are already a minority in India, and Terrorism is doing more damage to India and Indian Muslims in particular. Whenever there is any war like situations with Pakistan due to terrorism, a parallel situation emerges inside India, between Hindus and Muslims. I don’t understand why?I read about an incidence from somewhere recently which clearly indicates the plight of Muslims in our country. It says"On December 1, a Class 9 Muslim student who wears a headscarf walked in late to class in a prominent central Delhi convent school. "You Pakistani," said the teacher."Excuse me, Ma'am, I am not a Pakistani," the stunned student replied.The 14-year-old student, requesting anonymity, said she complained to the principal, who was sympathetic. "I was told the teacher would be spoken to," the student said.
Initially I thought it was only the older generation who considers Muslims and terrorist (from Pakistan) the same and the one who is responsible for all atrocities in our country. But what offended me is that even our younger generation; the Youth of our country considers the same. And I don’t have to go far to find an example.
Is it the urban India where open prejudices against Muslims are growing? Perhaps that's why Indian Muslims are more worried.
On this I want answer to just one question. Why Muslims are considered as refugee in their own Country, India?
(With the help of http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/darainshahidi/2226/53016/black-eid.html)

Beyond the Flying Size 10 - A Fighting Footwear

The shoe-hurling incident earlier this week, in which President Bush narrowly dodged a coupe of size 10 projectiles, has become a full-fledged phenomenon. So it's time to have a closer look at footwear-based weaponry.
The thrown boot is a traditional non-lethal weapon. However, technically it might fall into the hazardous classification. "Within the non lethal community, it is generally accepted that any impact exceeding 58 foot-pounds of kinetic energy will result in a potential fatality," according to an Army article on engineering non-lethal artillery projectiles.That's "roughly one-half the impact one would feel being hit by a baseball thrown by a professional pitcher." And there are some people out there capable of hurling a boot with considerable force.
The modern sport of throwing a rubber boot – known as "Wellie Wanging" - seems to have originated in Yorkshire but may well have been invented independently in other places. Notable competitions also take place in New Zealand (Taihape claims to be the Boot-Throwing capital of the world ). But it is Finland which is hosting the "World Championships of Boot throwing" on June 25th-29th, 2009. Following the strict rules for International World Championships of Boot throwing" on June 25th-29th, 2009. Following the strict rules for International Competitions, the world record for so-called "Wellie Wanging" is over 219 feet. The combat effectiveness hand-thrown boots is open to doubt, but future developments like the robotic welly wanger could be more potent.
Shoe bombs are not a new idea. During WWII, the Special Operations Executive discovered plans by German saboteurs to smuggle in explosives disguised as "the heels and soles of a boot." Bombs were also disguised as lumps of coal, a car battery, a belt, and "a tin of Smedley's English red dessert plums." SOE agents themselves used hollow boot heels to conceal various devices, including a small fighting knife, a three-inch version of the commando knife.
It is only one step from a knife concealed in a boot heel to the most famous killer footwear of all: the shoes with a poisoned flick knife used by Rosa Klebb in the James Bond film From Russia With Love. Although some sources suggest that the blade was activated by clicking the heels together, an inspection of the movie's props shows that each boot has a small protruding pin which works the mechanism. While it has the advantage of being a hands-free weapon, having a blade in your shoe makes it very had to stab any of an opponent's vital organs, hence the need for poison. Ian Fleming specified that the substance was poison from the Fugu or pufferfish. The fictional version killed within twelve seconds; in real life, it can take between four and twenty-four hours, giving the victim a bit more time to go find the antidote. (Fleming had Bond dying at the end of the novel, but later decided that prompt action by a colleague saved him when it was clear that fans wanted more 007.)
Were the shoes hurled at the President also poisoned? Further investigation is warranted: it's never too late to discover a chemical weapons plot in Iraq…

Lighting the Darkness

We don’t travel far in life, until we meet people facing real darkness, dark nights of the soul, yearning for signs of light, of God’s hopeful presence and love. The darkness might be physical, emotional, or spiritual pain. Or, it might be loneliness, emptiness, worry, fear, uncertainty, and anger. Or again, it might be loss and sorrow, disappointment or regret.
We can see the darkness and hardships of life on the nightly news or the morning headlines. Sometimes it’s closer home, among our friends or their families. Sometimes it’s closer still – places of pain in our own families where it’s all too real. And sometimes, it’s even closer, on the interior of our own hearts – the pain of darkness yearning for hopeful signs of light.
What I want to say to you today is this: “No matter how hard the darkness tries in your life, it can never extinguish the light of God – a light searching for us in the darkness. No darkness of fear, loneliness, disappointment, sorrow, or sin can overcome the invincible, irrepressible light of God’s goodness and power seeking you and me.
The night is darkest just before dawn. Just when it seems the darkness of life might overcome us – when the hardships are too many, the fear too great, the pain too deep – the light shines, hope lives, and God is with us.