GLOCAL YOUTH VISION
ONLINE NEW(s) LETTER
OCTOBER 2006
Slur… Slur…
A little baby’s language is neither easy to define nor easy to comprehend. However everyone loves to listen to the joyful gurgles the baby makes and enjoys its talk thoroughly. Yet the same child-like speech is not acceptable from us “grown-up children”. We need to be responsible for every word we express. Sometimes we let out words without our control and simply justify it as “the slip of tongue”. It shows our inability to control our language.
On 08th August 2006, a one-day cricket match between South Africa and SriLanka took place at Colombo During the match, Dean Jones, the former Australia batsman who was on air as a commentator made a casual remark during the commercial break. “The terrorist has taken another wicket.” He was talking about the South African batsman Hashim Amla, a devout muslim. Unfortunately for Jones it was relayed across the world. One worng word ‘terrorist’ marred his name as well as the core values of the game in a split second.
On 19th September 2006, Sania Mizra, the Indian tennis superstar said in Kolkata that she had to assess every word she verbalized. An “if to but” from her lips could create a national crisis. If a secular person is analyzing every word she speaks then how much more careful should a spiritual person be!
In the Bible James 3:1-6 talk about the tongue using three important words.
A. Bit:
A bit is a piece of metal held in a horse’s mouth by the reins and is used to control the horse while riding. For us human beings, the origin of the word comes from inside our heart (Matt.12:34 – 35). If our heart is filled with God’s presence then pure and encouraging words will come out from our mouths. Let us fill our heart with His word and speak His words to others. (Col. 3:16).
B. Rudder:
A rudder is just like a steering wheel which guides a vehicle or a ship to the right direction. It equates with the tongue which leads the whole body. The spiritual person’s life should be controlled and maneuvered by His Spirit. Isaiah 30:21 says that God guides our way by speaking to us. Let us listen to His voice and channelize our life according to His command.
C. Fire:
Just as a small spark destroys the whole forest our tiny tongue can muck up our life as well as the lives of others. Instead, we need to master and steer the tongue with the help of filling our heart with the Word of God and His guidance. If we do the above then our words will be powerful and will bring transformation in the lives of others.
Let us control and direct our tongue with His help and spread His gospel across the globe like a wildfire!
J. Peter Daniel M.E., 76,
Living Spring Avenue, Sanjeevipuram, Bagayam,
Vellore 632 – 002, Phone. 0416 2282741, 9443800395.email: peterpearline@yahoo.co.in
Web site: http://glocalyouthvision.wordpress.com
Global News
Doctors perform first zero gravity surgery
Thursday, September 28, 2006 (
Merignac):
In what could be the next step forward for science, a team of French doctors has performed the world’s first operation in zero gravity.
Freefalling or floating in space can be an exhilarating experience though hardly suitable for surgery. But a team of doctors thought differently, their mission was to complete the world’s first zero gravity operation.
Flying above southwest
France, aboard a specially modified Airbus, with surgical instruments held in place with magnets. The six doctors were strapped into their positions as they removed a fatty tumour from a volunteer’s forearm.
Operation in stages
Zero gravity though could only be created for a few seconds at a stretch so the operation was done in several stages. It lasted around 11 minutes and was performed in 32 sequences, during which the Airbus 300 Zero G aircraft flew in arcs, putting it into free fall creating weightless conditions for 22 seconds each time.
“We finalised simple things which allowed us to operate in a space context, a little bit like an operation on earth. When you’ll see the pictures it seems that the surgeons are operating normally with the exception that you will see things floating and then you realise that something is happening,” said Dominique Martin, Professor
“But the aim of the operation is to arrive to a similar result when you operate in space and on earth,” he added. This experiment now paves the way for surgery on astronauts in space. They will be performed using specially developed robots, controlled from the ground.
On a lighter note already space tourism is quite a rage but now one can almost foresee outer space as the next destination for medical tourism as well.
Indian-origin NASA scientist briefs English players about ball tampering
Wednesday September 6 2006 00:00 IST
LONDON: An aerodynamics expert of Indian origin at NASA, Dr Rabi Mehta had last year proved how tampering with a cricket ball helps it swing in the air.
According to him, swing is caused by an ‘asymmetric flow of turbulence’ around the ball that produces a side force. According to The Scotsman, last December the scientist had met
England’s fast bowling coach Troy Cooley to brief him on what causes cricket balls to swing.
He also lectured senior officials at the
England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on the effects of tampering. It is possible that the meetings fuelled suspicion among English players that
Pakistan cricketers had tampered the ball during the Oval Test two weeks ago, said the paper.
Australian umpire Darrell Hair received intense criticism when he awarded five runs against the Pakistani side after claiming they had been tampering with the cricket ball.
If the rough side is bowled in a manner that it faces the batsman, then the air clings to the ball for longer, creating a pressure difference that allows the ball to swing.
This technique requires skill to angle the ball correctly but the rougher the side (made by tampering) the greater is the swing effect, the Scotsman quoted Mehta as saying while explaining the funda behind swing of a cricket ball after being tampered with.
New initiative to hook kids to science
[ 26 Sep, 2006 2334hrs IST
TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
NEW DELHI: With less than 3% of schoolchildren wanting to pursue a career in science,
India is trying to get innovative to make the subject more attractive to them. Concerned that the country’s best minds do not turn to science, and those who take to it do not remain in the field, India has joined hands with Germany to roll out a Science Express which will traverse the country to attract youngsters to the subject.
Science Express, a joint initiative of the ministry of science and technology and Max Planck Institute,
Germany, will criss-cross the country throughout next year as part of efforts to generate interest of the younger generation in science subjects.
The Science Express will explain basic concepts of science in a simple way to attract students.
3-year-old buys pink convertible on Internet
Wednesday, 27 September , 2006, 09:04
London: Jack Neal briefly became the proud owner of a pink convertible car after he managed to buy it for 9,000 pounds ($17,000) on the Internet despite being only three years old. Jack’s mother told the BBC she had left her password for the eBay auction site in her computer and her son used the “buy it now” option to complete the purchase.
“Jack’s a whiz on the PC and just pressed all the right buttons,” Rachel Neal said. The seller of the second-hand car, a dealer from Worcestershire, central
England, was amused by the bid and agreed not to force the sale through.
“Luckily he saw the funny side and said he would re-advertise,” Neal said.
3 lakh people to embrace Buddhism in K’taka
Gulbarga, UNI:
A massive congregation of Buddhists will be held here on October 14, in which about three lakh people belonging to various communities across the nation will embrace Buddhism.
Disclosing this to newspersons here today, International Buddhist Youth Organisation National President Bhante Bodhi Dhamma said they would hold the congregation to inculcate the message of peace and build an enlightened ‘Bharat Nirman’.
He said there were about two crore Buddhists in the country and about five lakh in Karnataka. ”We are not concentrating on people of a particular religion to convert to Buddhism, but some people who suffered social discrimination are coming forward to embrace Buddhism,” he said.
Survey puts Internet users at in India at 37 million
Bangalore, September 19, 2006
The number of Internet users in
India has reached 37 million in the month of September, up from 33 million in March. During the same period, the number of “active users” has risen from 21.1 million in March to 25 million in September.
“Active User” is an internationally accepted and widely used category to define users who have used the Internet at least once in the last 30 days. According to a joint research by the Internet and Mobile Association of India and IMRB International, the numbers are result of the largest “offline” survey so far carried out in
India to estimate the “ever user” and “active user” categories.
The primary survey for the study was conducted in early 2006 amongst 16,500 households covering 65,000 individuals across 26 major metros and small towns in
India, with additional coverage of 10,000 business and 250 cyber cafe owners. The survey did not include rural areas. According to the findings, youth are the main drivers of Internet usage in
India. College students and those below the age of 35 are the biggest segment on the Internet.
Both these segments have the highest proportion of conversion of “Ever” users to “Active” users of Internet. Besides the youth, the Internet hungry small towns are further fuelling the growth. As per the survey, smaller metros and towns are increasingly embracing the Internet evolution and are pushing growth from below.
Smaller cities and towns have shown a whopping 142 per cent YoY growth and now account for 25 per cent of all internet users.
Teenager and addicted to the net? Beware Swati Sharma
Posted online: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 at 0940 hours IST
Ludhiana, September 13: The case study of a 19-year-old boy, an Internet addict, has come as further evidence of what doctors have apprehended for some years now: youngsters getting afflicted by a whole new gamut of psychological diseases, thanks to the advancement of technology.
The study was conducted by Dr Krishnanand, Head of Department of Clinical Psychology,
Christian
Medical
College and Hospital, on an unmarried 19 year old boy who suffered from symptoms like headache and sadness.
Talking to Newsline, Dr Krishnanand said, “Thanks to easy accessibility of Internet and the nominal charges of approximately Rs 25 for an hour, the youngsters get into a habit of surfing the Net for as much as eight to 10 hours a day.”
Various studies, added Dr Krishnanand, have shown that those who indulge in excessive Internet use lack self discipline, have problems in getting along with their family and friends, or are trying to avoid facing frustrations in life. “This addiction, known as Internet Syndrome, can be defined as impulse control disorder,” he pointed out.
Global guitar star is born on the Web
[ 11 Sep, 2006 2148hrs IST REUTERS ]
SEOUL: South Korean student Lim Jeong-hyun has basked in 5 minutes and 20 seconds of fame nearly 9 million times over.
Lim, 22, was identified by the Media about two weeks ago as the mysterious man bathed in sunlight who played guitar in one of the most-watched videos of all time on the popular video sharing YouTube.com website.
About eight months ago, a video simply titled guitar appeared on YouTube.
It shows a young man sitting between his desk and bed, bowing his head so that his baseball cap covers his eyes, ferociously playing a rock version of Johann Pachelbel’s Canon the music often played at weddings.
The guitarist’s face is never seen. His real name is not mentioned but he calls himself “funtwo”. The focus is on his fingers.The austerity of the clip and the new interpretation of a well-known piece of music has fascinated millions.
MIT to honour six Indian-American scientists
Press Trust of
India
Washington, September 10, 2006
Six Indian-Americans are among 35 young scientists who will be honoured by the prestigious Technology Review journal of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for innovations and research that are found to be “most promising and exciting”.
“Innovative technology has provided
America its driving force as well as its competitive edge. And in recent years Indian-Americans have been contributing a significant slice of this technology – far in excess of their present population in the United States,” said INDOlink, a prominent website covering a range of issues.
The Indian-Americans chosen for the award are: Prithwish Basu of BBN Technologies, Ram Krishnamurthy of Intel, Ashok Maliakal of Lucent Technologies’ Bell Laboratories, Anand Raghunathan of NEC Laboratories America, Jay Shendure of Harvard Medical School and Sumeet Singh of Cisco Systems Inc.
Indian-Americans comprise just under one per cent of the country’s population, but their contribution to innovative technology is 12-17 per cent, according to the Technology Review (TR) magazine.
For six years now, the editors of TR have honoured innovators under the age of 35 whose inventions and research are found to be “most promising and exciting.”
“This week, when the 2006 annual TR35 – 35 technologists and scientists under the age of 35, was announced, the list included six Indian-Americans providing a roadmap to what’s hot in emerging technology,” INDOlink said.
India’s battle against snake bites
By John Sudworth BBC correspondent,
Delhi
The Russell’s Viper is one of the world’s most deadly snakes, and it does most of its killing in
India. At least 20,000 victims, mostly agricultural workers, suffer the fatal consequences of its bite – pain, vomiting and dizziness, followed by kidney failure. It’s not a nice way to die. As far as Indian snakes are concerned, it’s not the only way either. A variety of poisonous snakes kill 50,000 Indians a year. In fact as many people die of snakebites in
India as the rest of the world put together.
And yet most of these deaths are preventable. In
Australia for example, a country with more venomous snakes, there was only one death last year.
Four NRI students are ‘Davidson Fellows’
Wednesday, 13 September , 2006, 04:18
Houston: Four Indian-American teenagers have been named as this year’s Fellows of nonprofit organisation Davidson Institute for Talent Development, an honour for “prodigiously gifted” students under the age of 18 years.
The “Davidson Fellows”–Shivani Sud, Sheela Krishnan, Varun Kumar and Anarghya Vardhana–have also won scholarships ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 for their projects in the fields of science, medicine and mathematics.
They will be recognised in
Washington on September 27 along with 16 other fellows from across the country.
“The Davidson fellows are success stories because they’ve nurtured their genius by seeking out mentors, relying on strong family support and working diligently to achieve their goals,” said Bob Davidson, the co-founder of the Reno-based institute, which was established in 1999 to support profoundly gifted students.
Shivani, 16, of
Durham, has won $50,000 scholarship for her project in science. She developed a technology to deliver chemotherapeutic molecules to cancerous cells with increased efficiency.
Her findings can assist with more efficient drug delivery by overcoming cell membrane barriers, one of the greatest challenges facing conventional chemotherapy. Through protein transduction, Shivani developed a drug delivery system focused on an amino acid region of the HIV-1 Tat protein that allows larger medicinal molecules to pass into the cell.
NRI doctor wins ‘genius’ award in US
Chidanand Rajghatta
[ 20 Sep, 2006 0149hrs IST TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
WASHINGTON: A physician of Indian origin and a Pakistani-born painter are among 25 brainiacs who have won a spend-it-as-you-like $ 500,000 prize known as the ‘genius’ grants awarded annually by a well-known American Foundation.
Atul Gawande, 40, whose multi-faceted personality rolls in a political activist, surgeon, and author, and who is currently at the
Harvard
Medical
School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in
Boston, is among the recipients.
Gawande, who was once an aide to Hillary Clinton in her effort to straighten the health care system is the
United States, is also a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine and author the book “Complications” and the column “Notes of a Surgeon” in the New England Journal of Medicine. Both efforts are aimed at examining ways to prevent human error in surgery. One of Gawande’s innovations is a bar code on instruments and sponges to prevent surgeons from accidentally leaving them in patients.
Shahzia Sikander, 37, is a Pakistan-born, New York-based artist trained at Lahore’s National College of Arts in
Lahore, whose works merge the traditional South Asian art of miniature painting with contemporary forms, styles and vibrant hues.
Previous sub-continental winners of the prestigious grant given by the MacArthur Foundation include economist Sendhil Mullainathan of MIT in 2005 for his contributions to the evolving field of behavioural economics. The foundation has named 732 fellows since 1981.
1,000 new central schools during 11th Plan
[ 11 Sep, 2006 2134hrs IST IANS ]
NEW DELHI: At least 1,000 new Kendriya Vidyalayas or central schools would be opened in the country during the 11th Five-Year Plan, Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh announced on Monday.
This was stated by Singh, who is also chairman of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, after honouring 48 Kendriya Vidyalaya teachers with Incentive Awards here.
He said the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan’s march towards empowerment of women is not a mirage, but a reality. Out of 48 awardees and 14 national awardees, 46 were women.
Gujarat clubs Jains, Buddhists with Hindus
[ 20 Sep, 2006 0218hrs IST TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
GANDHINAGAR: For three years, the Narendra Modi government sat over a Bill seeking to regulate religious conversions, even after it was passed by the Assembly and had the governor’s consent. Nothing came in the way of the law, apart from the chief minister’s own inhibitions to figure exactly how he could further consolidate his image as the Hindutva mascot.
Finally, on Tuesday, the Gujarat Assembly passed the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Bill (Amendment) Bill, 2006, with the amendment, coming after three years of conflicting legal opinion being balanced with political and ideological motives.
Amid protests by an outnumbered Opposition, the Bill went through, along with an important newly added clause which clubs Jains and Buddhists with Hindus, in the same manner as Shias and Sunnis on one hand and Protestants and Catholics on the other.
It virtually means conversions between Jains and Hindus, Buddhists and Jains, and Hindus and Buddhists can happen easily, without government’s permission. More importantly, a Hindu who decides to become a Buddhist, would not be called a convert. Ditto for a Protestant seeking to become a Catholic, or vice versa, and a Sunni becoming a Shia or vice versa. The curbs are on crossing the faith-lines between Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. Surprisingly, Sikhs are not even mentioned in the draft. But if a Hindu wants to become Christian — the main target for Modi — the district magistrate has to be informed first. Christian community leaders are livid that the law is now on the verge of being enforced.
“The Bill is extremely draconian and unconstitutional,” said Jesuit-activist Father Cedric Prakash, Minister for state for home Amit Shah, who introduced the Bill, said Jainism and Buddhism were “construed as parts of Hinduism”. During the discussion on the Bill, an appeal was made by a hardline BJP MLA and former state for home Gordhan Zadaphia, to also club Sikhs with Hindus.
It is learnt that the government had indeed toyed with the idea of describing Sikhs as “part of the Hindu family”, but dropped the proposal fearing protests. Shah refused to comment on the issue. Arguing that the amendment would not stand legal scrutiny, leader of opposition Arjun Modhvadia said: “Buddhism was given the status of a separate religion by the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992. As for Jains, they were given the same status by a division bench of the SC in 2004.”
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