1967: America’s First Heart

Transplant Performed

On December 6, 1967, Dr. Adrian Kantrowitz performed the first human-to-human heart transplant in America, and the second in the world, at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn. The patient, a two-week-old baby boy, lived for only six-and-a-half hours after surgery. Three days earlier, Dr. Christiaan Barnard had performed the world’s first heart transplant in Cape Town, South Africa. Maimonides Hospital was also the site of the implantation of the first commercial pacemaker and the first intra-aortic balloon pump, both in 1970. Kantrowitz invented a plastic heart valve, a heart-lung machine, an internal pacemaker, and a heart assist device that can be turned on and off – the result of 30 years of research. Cynthia Blair

Seth Thomas Clocks

Seth Thomas Clocks is America's Oldest Continous Clockmaker, having continuously manufactured clocks in the USA since 1813. Seth Thomas was founded in Thomaston, Connecticut, which at the time of its founding was known as Plymouth Hollow. Plymouth Hollow renamed the town Thomaston in honor of Seth Thomas the individual and the Seth Thomas Clock Company. In the Company's earlier years Seth Thomas Clocks was a fairly sizeable maker of grandfather clocks and grandmother clocks, which as this is written, are no longer part of their product line.

DDT Comeback Endorsed by World Health Organization

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reversed a 30-year policy by endorsing the use of DDT for malaria control. The chemical is sprayed inside houses to kill malaria-carrying mosquitoes which kill more than one million people each year. WHO says there is no health risk.

Dr Anarfi Asamoa-Baah, WHO assistant director-general for HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria said "Indoor residual spraying is useful to quickly reduce the number of infections caused by malaria-carrying mosquitoes; it has proven to be just as cost effective as other malaria prevention measures, and DDT presents no health risk when used properly."

"Of the dozen insecticides WHO has approved as safe for house spraying, the most effective is DDT," said Arata Kochi, director of the WHO's Global Malaria Programme. "Help save African babies as you are helping to save the environment," pleaded Dr. KochiGlobal ban A potent insecticide, DDT fell into disrepute with the publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring just over 40 years ago. Recent publications have questioned the credibility of some information in the book. The book claimed that widespread, indiscriminate use of DDT and related compounds was killing wildlife over vast tracts of North America and Western Europe

CLIMATE CHANGE:

POOR SUFFER AS WORLD GETS HOTTER

BRUSSELS (BELGIUM) APRIL 6, 2007 - Friends of the Earth
International has demanded steep emissions cuts by all rich
countries and more funding for climate change adaptation in
developing countries, after the world's leading scientific experts
today warned that the world's poor - who have done least to
pollute the atmosphere - will suffer most as the planet heats up.


Despite the negligible historical emissions of greenhouse gases by
the least developed countries, their people will bear the brunt of
climate change, as they are the most vulnerable to the impacts and
least able to adapt.


This is the message of the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC), which addresses climate impacts,
adaptation and vulnerability. [1]


The report - the second of a series based on the latest scientific
literature - has taken six years to compile and draws on research
by 2,500 scientists from over 130 countries. It should shock the
world into taking urgent action to reduce global emissions.


Friends of the Earth International's Climate Campaigner, Catherine
Pearce, said:


This report confirms that the scientific findings are stronger
than ever. World leaders have overwhelming evidence that urgent
action must be taken to cut emissions of greenhouse gases.


"It is now clear that we are to blame for the last 50 years of
warming, and this is already causing adverse changes to our
planet. Unless we take action to reduce emissions now, far worse
is yet to come, condemning millions in the poorest parts of the
world to loss of lives, livelihoods and homes. Climate change is
no longer just an environmental issue.


" It is a looming humanitarian catastrophe, threatening
ultimately our global security and survival. Industrialised
countries, including the USA, which have all done most to
contribute to climate change, must lead the way by making
significant cuts in their greenhouse gas emissions. Current
efforts on and resources for adaptation, including available funds
from the industrialized world, are clearly inadequate to meet the
scale of what is required. Urgent assistance is needed for
developing countries, which have done nothing to contribute to the
current threat of climate change and who are already facing the
devastating effects, Friends of the Earth International's Climate
Campaigner Catherine Pearce added.



Findings of the report include:


- Projected climate change is likely to affect millions of already
vulnerable people. Heat waves, floods, storm, fires and droughts
will cause increased deaths and harm.


- Many million more people are projected to be at risk from
coastal flooding due to sea level rise, especially in densely
populated and low-lying settlements which already face other
challenges, such as tropical storms.


- Roughly 20-30% of those species assessed so far are likely to be
at high risk of irreversible extinction if global average
temperature exceeds 1.5 - 2.5°C. Global average temperature has
already increased by about 0.7 °C since pre-industrial levels.


- Glacial retreat in the Himalayas will disrupt water supplies.
Friends of the Earth International warns that this will have
implications for billions of people across India, China, Nepal and
Bhutan.

- By 2020, 75-250 million people in Africa will be exposed to
water scarcity due to climate change.


- In some African countries, yields from rain-fed agriculture
could be reduced by 50% over the same period


- Over the next half century, climate change could impede the
achievement of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals

Courtesy: Friend of the Earth International

Milk chocolate was invented by Daniel Peter, who sold the concept to his neighbour ~ Henri Nestlé

Facts about Space

Did you know that...?

Our galaxy Milky Way spins at a speed of 100 billion km/sec!! Even
if you think you are standing still, you are spinning about 100000000
km/sec!!
.Our solar system is in the edge of our galaxy and Milky Way is in edge of
the Universe!!
.Sun is actually a medium sized star with a lifespan of 250 billion years!!

.There are totally 2 main kinds of planets - Terrestrial , Gas giants
.Mercury, Venus, Earth & Mars are grouped into Terrestrials as they have a
solid surface & a rocky core.
. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune are grouped into Gas giants as they are
mostly made up of gases and have a liquid or a semi - solid core.
.Pluto is neither of the 2 groups. No doubt it is made up of gases but due
to the very low temperature the gases solidify to form the surface. Due to
this it is a category of its own.
.Even though Mercury is closest to the Sun, Venus is considered the hottest
planet because Mercury has no atmosphere; the heat of the Sun is reflected
back to the space. But Venus has got a very thick atmosphere, it traps the
heat received from the Sun making it the hottest planet.
.The biggest mountain in the solar system is in Mars - the Olympus Mons
.There is a large red spot in the atmosphere of Jupiter called The Big Red
Spot. This is a very huge cyclonic storm system in which 3 Earths could fit
in!!!!
.Titan of Saturn & Io of Jupiter are the only moons to have atmosphere of
its own.
.Even though Saturn is the 2nd largest planet, its density is so less
compared to its size that it will float on water.
.Saturn’s rings are made up of layers of ice, rocks & dust. These layers are
so thick that you could go ice skating on it.
.Our closest neighbouring galaxy is the Large Magellanic cloud which is
170,000 light years (which is 510000000000000 km) from our galaxy. Pretty close eh!!
1300 Earths could fit into Jupiter & 13000 Jupiters would fit into the Sun

Source: Internet.

INTERESTING FACTS

Do you know which is the tallest mountain in the world? I bet most of you would be surprised to know that it is in the United States. Almost everyone talks of Mount Everest, in the Himalayas, as being the tallest mountain, but it isn't. It has the world's highest peak, but it isn't the tallest. Why?

Mountains are measured from their base to their tip. Mount Everest stands on the Asia continental shelf. It is measured from the ground to the tip, and stands at 29,035 feet, to its summit (tip).

Mauna Kea on the U.S. island of Hawaii is 32,000 feet tall. Because it is measured from the ocean floor, it doesn't reach as high as Mount Everest, but is actually taller from base to tip.

Here are some more geographical facts that may make you wonder.

Highest Peak:
The tip (peak) of Mount Everest is the world's highest point. It is 29,035 feet (8,850 meters) above sea level.


Tallest Mountain:
Mauna Kea on the U.S. island of Hawaii is 32,000 feet (9,750 meters) tall. Because it is measured from the ocean floor, it doesn't reach as high as Mount Everest.


Largest Lake:
The Caspian Sea, at 143,244 square miles (371,000 square kilometers), is the largest lake in the World. It is a salt-water lake.


Largest Freshwater Lake:
Lake Superior on the U.S.-Canada border is 31,700 square miles (82,100 square kilometers) and the world's largest fresh water lake.


Longest River:
The Nile River in Africa is the longest at 4,241 miles (6,825 kilometers) long. It only just beats the Amazon in length.


Largest River (system):
Although it's not quite the longest, the Amazon River is by far the biggest river system in the world. Its drainage basin is almost 2.4 million square miles. It lets almost seven million cubic feet of water into the ocean every second.


Highest Waterfall:
Angel Falls, in Venezuela, drops 3,212 feet (979 meters) from Devil's Mountain.


Widest Waterfall:Khone Falls stretch 6.7 miles (10.8 kilometers) across the Mekong River, between Laos and Cambodia.

SOME INTERESTING NAIL FACTS

There are many interesting facts that are related to nails. Some of these facts are pure superstition but most of them are scientific. Even some of the superstition beliefs draw attention with the presence of logic in them. So, here are some interesting facts about nails:

Nails are actually the same as hair. Both hair and nails are made of the same protein, called keratin.

The nail plates are dead cells and contrary to the popular belief, they don't breathe. So they don't require oxygen. However, the nail beds and the cuticles are live cells and they do need oxygen, vitamins and minerals.

Nails don't sweat. The nail bed does not have sweat glands, so it can't perspire. It is the skin around the nails that gets sweaty.

Nails grow at the rate of 0.1 mm daily (or 1 cm in every 100 days). So, for a finger nail to regrow completely, it takes between 4 and 6 months. For toe nails, the period of complete regrow is 12 to 18 months.

Men's nails grow faster than women's nails.

Finger nails for both genders grow faster than toe nails.

Toe nails are about twice thicker than finger nails.

The fastest growing nail is on the middle finger. The slowest – on the thumbnail.

When nails are freshly cut, they grow faster than nails that are not cut often. That is why it takes so much time to grow nails longer than an inch (breaking nails is excluded).

Seasons and weather also affect nail growth. Nails grow faster in warm climates and during daytime, than in cold climates and at night.

Nails grow faster on young people than on old people. Also nails grow much faster during pregnancy.

Nails grow at different speeds on both hands. If you are right-handed, the nails on your right hand will grow faster than the nails on your left hand and vice versa.

Light trauma, like typing on a computer stimulates nail growth. Well, this kind of trauma looks more like a massage actually.

Cutting your nails after dark is bad luck. Although this is pure superstition, there is enough logic in it – if you cut your nails when there is not enough light, you can injure yourself.

Nails reflect your health status.

Some mammals, for example elephants, have 5 nails on each of the their front legs and most often only 4 nails per hind leg.

It is a myth that hair and nails will continue to grow for several days after death. This is an optical illusion and is due to the fact that the skin shrinks, thus making it look as if the hair and nails are growing.

Nails are very tough (compared to skin of course) but even they will be dissolved in about 4 days, if you put them in Coke because Coke is highly corrosive.

Nail manicure is a very ancient activity. There is evidence that even 4,000 years ago it was known to our predecessors.

The longest finger nail ever recorded was that of an Indian guy and it was 48 inches long.

If you don't drink enough water, this is bad for your health anyway but you might have never expected that it leads to dry nails as well.

A hang nail is painful because you have ripped open the edge of the living nail root.

Male guitar players often leave the nails on their playing hand uncut and use them for playing as well. - Courtesy: Internet

INTERESTING SCIENTIFIC FACTS.

If you were able to lay the entire human skin flat on a surface, it may be able to cover an area of about 18 square feet.

You may not notice it, but there are ocean waves that can travel just as fast as a jet plane.

If you wish to lose weight and burn a pound of fat in your body, you may need to walk about 35 miles in order to do it.

A normal eye blinks about 25 times in just a minute.

In a lifetime, a human being can drink about 16,000 tons of water. That is more than enough to fill in a large swimming pool and then some.

The largest organ inside the human body is the small intestine. Do not be fooled by its name. The small intestine can go to about as long as eight meters. Another interesting follow up fact to this is that the large intestine is only about a meter and a half long. Their names might have been switched, their sizes being in contrast with their length.

DID YOU KNOW?...

Coca-Cola was originally green.

Men can read smaller print than women can; women can hear better.

Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history: Spades - King David, Hearts - Charlemagne, Clubs - Alexander the Great, Diamonds - Julius Caesar.

In Scotland, a new game was invented. It was entitled "Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden".... and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.

The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid.

Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks; otherwise it will digest itself.

The Bible does not say there were three wise men; it only says there were three gifts.
The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.

Crocodiles never outgrow the pool in which they live. That means that if you put a baby croc in an aquarium, it would be little for the rest of its life.

A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.

When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly discovered that ball-point pens would not work in zero gravity. To combat this problem, NASA scientists spent a decade and $12 million developing a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside down, underwater, on almost any surface including glass and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to over 300*C. The Russians used a pencil.

There are over 650 muscles in your body. A smile uses 17 muscles, a frown uses 43!

The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28% (now get this...) The percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%.

Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

The world's youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.

The youngest pope was 11 years old.

The first novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.

If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out. Studies have indicated that rocking a baby stimulates its cerebellum and causes the baby anatomy to mature faster.

Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.

Butterflies taste with their feet.

Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds. Dogs only have about 10.

February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.

In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes, the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase "goodnight, sleep tight".

In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them mind their own pints and quarts and settle down. It's where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's"

If the population of China walked past you in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.

In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.

Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.

Shakespeare invented the word 'assassination' and 'bump'.

The name of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with.

Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.

It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month or what we know today as the honeymoon

Some interesting facts

A zebra is white with black stripes.
All the planets in our solar system rotate anticlockwise, except Venus. It is the only planet that rotates clockwise.
Hummingbirds are the only animal that can also fly backwards.
Insects do not make noises with their voices. The noise of bees, mosquitoes and other buzzing insects is caused by rapidly moving their wings.
The cockroach is the fastest animal on 6 legs covering a meter a second.
The word "listen " contains the same letters as the word "silent".
The only 2 animals that can see behind itself without turning it's head are the rabbit and the parrot.
A 'jiffy’ is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.
India invented the Number System . Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.
The whip makes a cracking sound because its tip moves faster than the speed of sound.
A hippopotamus can run faster than a man.
India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history.
'Hippopotomonstroses quippedaliophobi a' is the fear of long words.
Didaskaleinophobia is the fear of going to school.
Phobatrivaphobia is a fear of trivia about phobias !!
It is impossible to lick your elbow. ( We know you gonna try this !!! )
A snail can sleep for 3 years. ( wow, lucky chap he ? )
The names of the continents all end with the same letter with which they start
In 1883 the explosion of the volcano Krakatoa put so much dust into the earth's atmosphere that sunsets appeared green and the moon appeared blue around the world for almost two years.
"Almost" is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.
Twenty-Four- Karat Gold is not pure gold since there is a small amount of copper in it. Absolutely pure gold is so soft that it can be molded with the hands.
Electricity doesn't move through a wire but through a field around the wire.
Do you know the names of the three wise monkeys? They are: Mizaru (See no evil), Mikazaru (Hear no evil), and Mazaru (Say no evil ).
55 per cent of people yawn within 5 minutes of seeing someone else yawn. Reading about yawning makes most people yawn. Hello, zzzzz zzzz ?
The greatest art in spiritual life is finding balance. The entire teachings of the Buddha are summed up in his encouragement to find and travel the middle path. To seek neither the extremes of mortification and aversion for life, nor the extreme of indulgence, losing ourselves in pleasure-seeking. The balance between these two is the path of awakening and freedom. The path of balance is to be with what is true in life and to love that, to be committed to the truth on every level of our being. ~
Courgtesy: Christina Feldman and Jack Kornfield

Vonnegut's rules for short stories

Here's some lovely advice on writing short stories, from Kurt Vonnegut's collection, Bagombo Snuff Box:

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.

3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

4. Every sentence must do one of two things -- reveal character or advance the action.*

5. Start as close to the end as possible.

6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them -- in order that the reader may see what they are made of.

7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.

8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages

WEB OF SPIDERS

Bharat Hiteshi

Lakshmi Hayagreeva Cultural & Educaional Trust

It is a well-known fact that a spider from its own saliva weaves a web to trap and catch flies for its sustenance and livelihood. Likewise human beings, especially adults weave a web around themselves, so strong and get entangled that they find it difficult to get out of it and free themselves from attachment to human relations. The first desire is to have a child; then possession of objects for external comforts and then to achieve these finds legal and illegal means to do so and the passion becomes so great that he or she cannot get out of it. The entire life is woven of this relationship or that be it a wife or son or friend that ultimately all this breeds only sorrow when lost and is the cause of frustration. Frustration leads to anger and anger to loss of control over the tongue that is ready to wag and leads loose talk and breaking up of relationship with others. Physical and mental action can result when we are entangled in our web of ignorance and wrong feelings for those who do not wish for our happiness or joy.

The deities or Idols of Hinduism find a place then in our lives. The statue picture of Hanuman should invoke in us a spirit of doing service to the Lord and in His name like Ram and should not expect anything in return be it even our son.

“Jai Javan Jai Kissan” was the slogan given by Lal Bhadur Shastry. Both the solder and the farmer give all they have for their motherland not expecting anything in return. “Give me your blood and I will give you freedom” is what Subhash Chandra Bose said, so man must have a goal and ambition and keep it always in mind especially when dejected.

The shackles of desire should be broken as the spiders’ web is removed and recall to mind what Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru said “ Aram Haram Hai”.

Taste is the cause of joy and can end in sorrow. The weakness of human beings is to give into items of taste. One may like sweet meat very much; eating it in excess can lead to health problems. Smoking can be relaxing and nice to begin with but ends in cancer and other ailments.

“ A wise man does not become a slave to any taste” – Bhart Hiteshi.

Breaking the bondage of external attachments causes a revolution in our way and mode of thinking. It is like pulling out of bottle something and once it comes out it cannot be checked. So too let us pour out from our lives that which is unnecessary and keep control on the liquid we need most. This requires a cool head and cool mind.

One must be patient like the spider and take out the web when not needed.

Commercial Evangelists - 20 Signs to identify them!

They misinterpret and twist Bible verses to sharpen their personal agenda
They can be of local or foreign brands – very expensive
They crate their own fables on Biblical figures
They are good at acrobatics and ‘jump dances’ on the stage
They feign epileptic seizures that in turn stimulates hysterical reactions in others
They live by body languages – their faces rotate and eyebrows dance
They are good in voice modulation, they scream, screech and shriek
They wail while their tears hide in their eyelids
They are good at uttering lies and in practicing deception, they are master brains
They live a life of shame as parasites on the innocent knaves and gullible
They decorate themselves with expensive attire and jewelry paid for by believers, disgracing Him.
They are self-anointed earthly blessings-brokers with no covenant, binding on them
They travel all over the world and build up assets everywhere under the Sun.
They are insulated against action, as no power would ever dare to challenge them
They spent on philanthropy as fishing baits for more returns
They put innocent children into faith marketing and none would dare touch them invoking Child Labour Act.
They live either on TV hallows or borrowed hallows from ecclesiastical Judas Iscariots
They beg without shame and corner the returns in solid personal assets under shady Trusts
They are blind on faith; but smartly live on cornered faiths.

My Prayer to conclude: ‘God. They do not know what damage they do to the community that trusts them and what slight and sham they cause on You and the image of Christianity in collaboration with your accredited herds in identifiable robes. Forgive them because they neither know nor evaluate the damage their atrocious actions cause on Christianity as a whole’

This is pasted in other blogspots too. Mathew Thomas

Interesting facts

·
Let knowledge enrich our intelligence

· Next time you drink a glass of water think about this: the hydrogen molecules in water are 14 billion years old, they were created at the same time as the universe.

· 10 percent of television ‘Snow’ is caused by microwave radiation from the big bang.An 8oz glass of water weighs ½ a pound, an 8oz glass of gas from the center of the sun would weigh about 75 pounds.

· June 1, 1999 General Motors Corp. has a device in many of its new cars that functions like the black box recorder in airplanes: It collects data as a car crashes. (Source: CNN)

· May 26, 1999 The scientists who created Dolly, the world’s first cloned mammal, said the 3-year-old sheep has DNA in her cells typical of a much older animal. (Source: CNN)

· An elephant’s trunk contains more than 50,000 muscles. (Source: U.S. Humane Society)

· The Panda bear is expected to become extinct by about 2040, barring a drastic change of events. Artificial insemination could delay the extinction of the giant panda by about 60 years or more, according to scientists who want to use the technique to produce more pandas. (Source: CNN/Associated Press)

· A monkey was once tried and convicted for smoking a cigarette in South Bend, Indiana.

· After English, the most widely used languages on the Internet are German, Japanese, French, Spanish, Swedish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Norwegian, Finnish, Czech, Danish, Russian, and Malay. (Source: The Babel team)

· The sky is shrinking and has been doing so for the past 40 years, scientists have discovered. About five miles of sky have been lost since 1958, and that figure may double over the next century. Researchers studying the Earth’s upper atmosphere, 56 miles up, said the contraction is probably a result of the greenhouse effect.

· The world’s three richest people have assets that exceed the combined wealth of the 48 least developed countries, according to a recent United Nations report on global inequality.

· A car is stolen every 30 seconds in the United States.

· The Russian Blue is a breed of cat prone to having an extra toe. Six toed cats are so common in Boston and surrounding parts of Massachusetts that some experts consider it an established mutation.

· Cats have a third eyelid, called a haw, which is rarely visible. If it is visible it could be an indication of ill health.

· Blood is composed of a yellowish fluid, called plasma, in which are suspended the millions of cells that constitute about 45 percent by volume of whole blood. In an average healthy adult, the volume of blood is one-eleventh of the body weight, or between 4.5 and 6 liters (5 and 6 qt).

· The very first tools were sticks and stones picked up off the ground. Between one and two million years ago, human beings learned to improve their crude implements. Using one stone, they would hammer away at another, sharpening the sides and end. These stones could be used to cut meat, carve wood, and dig roots. The earliest tools were sharpened on just one side and were handheld. Later, stones were sharpened on both sides and attached to axe handles, spear shafts, and arrows.

On May 30, 1431, Joan of Arc-“the maid of orléans”-was burned at the stake in Rouen. One of the great heroines of France, she lived at a time when the English controlled much of her country. Joan fought several winning battles, but she was finally captured by a rival French faction and sold to the English. Tried before a pliable French court, she was proclaimed a witch and executed before reaching her 20th birthday. Almost 400 years later, in 1920, the papacy canonized her as a saint

Courtesy: Internet

From Shvetashvatara Upanishad

All is change in the world of the sense, But changeless is the supreme Lord of Love.Meditate on him, be absorbed in him, wake up from this dream of separateness.

Fire is not seen until one firestick rubsAgainst another, though fire is still there, Hidden in the firestick. So does the LordRemain hidden in the body until He is revealed through the mystic mantram

Shvetashvatara Upanishad

Noble qualities of a woman - selfless love, humility, gentleness, kindness, shyness, simplicity, calmness, compassion, generosity and coyness

Some people drink deeply from the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle. Grant M. Bright

We must learn our limits. We are all something, but none of us are everything. Blaise Pascal

Be curious always! For knowledge will not acquire you: you must acquire it. Sudie

A GREAT HUMANE STORY

There were two old men who dwelt together for many years and who never quarreled.Then one said to the other: "Let us pick a quarrel with each other like other men do.""I do not know how quarrels arise," answered his companion. So the other said to him:"Look, I will put a brick down here between us and I will say 'This is mine.' Then you can say 'No it is not, it is mine.' Then we will be able to have a quarrel. "So they placed the brick between them and the first one said: "This is mine." His companion answered him: "This is not so, for it is mine." To this, the first one said: "If it is so and the brick is yours, then take it and go your way." And so they were not able to have a quarrel.

POSITIVE TIPS ON EMPLOYER-

EMPLOYEE RELATIONSHIP

There's no foolproof method for gaining someone's loyalty, but many of the same things that hold true in a personal relationship apply in an employment relationship, as well. The keys to a positive relationship are trust and respect. When employees feel respected, they will generally respect you and the business in return.

Following are some hints for

gaining an employee's respect and trust:

Be ready to listen to the employee's questions and concerns about the job.
Treat your employees with respect, not as inferior people. Be polite to your employees.

Recognize and reward your employees for a job well done. Ask for your employees' input in making decisions that affect their work.
Gradually build trust in your employees by giving them additional responsibility or extra latitude in making decisions.

Treat all your employees fairly and impartially.
Be firm, but not tyrannical, when making decisions and disciplining employees.
Apologize or admit to employees when you were wrong.
Give employees credit where due.
Express genuine concern for employees' problems.
Keep your employees informed about work-related matters.

Here are some tips on what not to do:

Don't belittle employees (alone or in front of other employees or customers).
Don't lie to employees.
Don't build false hopes for raises or advancement.
Don't pass off your employees' work or ideas as your own.
Don't swear at employees.
Don't fail to lead your employees.
Don't treat your employees like children.
Don't allow yourself to be intimidated by aggressive employees.
Don't show disregard for employees' personal needs.
Don't talk about employees behind their backs to other employees. Once employees feel that you will treat them fairly and sense that you care about them as people, you will be more likely to inspire in them a concern for the well-being of the business and the quality of their work.

But keep it professional. Make sure that you don't cross any lines or make the employer-employee relationship too personal

(More educative articles on relationship, interaction and reward to follow in future issues)

THE THREE C’s in our life

Commitment, Control and Challenge.

Commitment: -

Make a positive commitment to yourself, to learning, work, family, friends, nature, and other worthwhile causes. Praise yourself and others. Dream of success. Be enthusiastic.

Control

Keep your mind focused on important things. Set goals and priorities for what you think and do. Visualize to practice your actions. Develop a strategy for dealing with problems. Learn to relax. Enjoy successes. Be honest with yourself.

Challenge

Be courageous. Change and improve each day. Do your best and don't look back. See learning and change as opportunities. Try new things. Consider several options. Meet new people. Ask lots of questions. Keep track of your mental and physical health. Be optimistic

CUSTOMER SERVICE QUOTES

"Being on par in terms of price and quality only gets you

into the game. Service wins the game." Tony Alessandra

"There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else." Sam Walton

"The single most important thing to remember about any

enterprise is that there are no results inside its walls. The result of a business is a satisfied customer." Peter Drucker

"Biggest question: Isn't it really 'customer helping' rather than customer service? And wouldn't you deliver better service if you thought of it that way?" Jeffrey Gitomer

"Customer complaints are the schoolbooks from

which we learn." Author Unknown

"Here is a simple but powerful rule - always give people

more than what they expect to get." Nelson Boswell

"There's a place in the world for any business that takes care of its customers--after the sale." Harvey MacKay

"One customer, well taken care of, could be more valuable than several thousands worth of advertising." Jim Rohn

"Treat every customer as if they sign your paycheck…because they do." Author Unknown "If we don’t take care of our customers, someone else will." Author Unknown