The Happiness Curve is U shaped

For most of us ,  the most happy part of our lives was when we had no responsibilities, less things to care about , times when our body had surge of its youthful hormones.A recent study conducted , shows that the happiness curve for most humans is U shaped , with happiness declining after youth and "the sad times" or the bottom of the curveexperienced during the middle ages, when one gets bogged down by pressures of life and responsibilities of both rearing the kids as well as taking care of the parents , and other pressures concerning Job, finance, housing ets is high on us.
But the most happiest people have been found with certain traits, viz
They are happy doing whatever they do,
and are most content with what they have , rather than striving always to have more.

Happiness with contentment is a great gain

Religiosity Highest in World's Poorest Nations

"a median of 95% of adults say religion is an important part of their daily lives, compared with 47% who say the same in the world's richest countries."
There seems to be relationship between religiosity, per ca pita GDP, and the socio-economic status of a country.
It looks, more poverty, more the uncertainty of daily life, and hence more dependence on the Higher power.

In the world's poorest countries -- those with average per-capita incomes of $2,000 or lower -- the median proportion who say religion is important in their daily lives is 95%. In contrast, the median for the richest countries -- those with average per-capita incomes higher than $25,000 -- is 47%.

Religion provides the strength to endure the daily struggles of life.

....that day will close on you suddenly like a trap,Luke 21:34-36

Luke 21:34-36 NIV

   ³⁴ “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. ³⁵ For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. ³⁶ Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”

Debt stricken Japan

Tsunami consequences have been far to high for Japan to bear, but it is still trying hard , as a hardworking nation it is to revive itself. The Japanese government announced a new $50 billion emergency budget Thursday that will be used for disaster relief,

Nuclear plant workers at risk of depression, death from overwork

The indebted workers of the Fukushima plant are facing various degrees of stresses and depression , as many of them have lost their homes and friends, relatives.With not much refreshment available , they  have to go back to work on the reactor mess cleaning, taking up dangerous work , everyday., hence sleeplessness and depression ever since  the devastating Tsunami had its effect on Japan.
‘‘More than 80% of the on-site employees have their homes within a 20-km radius from the nuclear plant and some of them have lost their family members,’’

Radioactive iodine found in breast milk of 4 women

Small amounts of radioactive iodine found in breast milk of 4 women
Ever since the Fukushima reactor gave way to the impact of Tsunami and earthquake, radioactivity has been difficult to control from spreading.The radioactive waters were first relesed into the pacific ocean, california had rains with ceasium and radioactive Iodine in it, and the recent news is the finding of small amounts of radioactive iodine in the breast milk of four mothers, the breast milk of the mother of an 8-month-old baby in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, contained the highest level of 36.3 becquerels of radioactive iodine per kilogram, but no radioactive cesium was found, the group said.

A Magic Moment I Remember-Alexander Pushkin

A Magic Moment I Remember

A magic moment I remember:
I raised my eyes and you were there,
A fleeting vision, the quintessence
Of all that's beautiful and rare.

I pray to mute despair and anguish,
To vain pursuits the world esteems,
Long did I near your soothing accents,
Long did your features haunt my dreams.

Time passed. A rebel storm-blast scattered
The reveries that once were mine
And I forgot your soothing accents,
Your features gracefully divine.

In dark days of enforced retirement
I gazed upon grey skies above
With no ideals to inspire me,
No one to cry for, live for, love.

Then came a moment of renaissance,
I looked up - you again are there,
A fleeting vision, the quintessence
Of all that`s beautiful and rare.

Alexander Pushkin 

"http://immortalpoetry.com/A_Magic_Moment_I_Remember"

Malnutrition

Bill Gates: Great Ideas from Unexpected Places

"I have always been interested in the scientific discoveries underlying health advances in developing countries. The benefits of such breakthroughs are substantial, with the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives. And the challenges are great, often involving issues that no one has been able to solve before."
Bill Gates

Egyptian women's voices not heard any more across the Tahrir square

The voices have been silenced, voices of women who once crusaded, championed the cause, with all courage gathered motivated and protested across the Egyptian streets for the pulling down of Mubarrak's rule, are no more considered important, they have been once again pushed aside.
"On January 18th, a charismatic activist with the April 6 youth movement named Asmaa Mahfouz invited fellow Egyptian citizens to join her for a Day of Rage on January 25th. Facing down the camera, she told her audience "Do not be afraid."
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/04/prominent-during-revolution-egyptian-women-vanish-in-new-order/237232/

nearly 50 years of married life

Marriage is not a bed of roses, nor a cake walk. what keeps it going.
The article from guideposts revealed a womans way of keeping it alive."After nearly 50 years of married life, Marion Bond West has learned much about how to keep love alive."
http://www.guideposts.org/

12 Ways to Lower Blood Pressure Naturally - Prevention.com

12 Ways to Lower Blood Pressure Naturally - Prevention.com:
High BP is a silent killer, causing diseases like heart attacks, strokes, aneurysms etc.

Beat high blood pressure on your own

• 1. Go for power walks
• 2. Breathe deeply
• 3. Pick potassium-rich produce
• 4. Read food labels for sodium
• 5. Indulge in dark chocolate
• 6. Take a supplement
• 7. Drink alcohol—but not too much
• 8. Go decaf
• 9. Take up tea
• 10. Work (a little) less
• 11. Relax with music
• 12. Seek help for snoring

http://www.prevention.com/lowerbloodpressurenaturally/list/3.shtm-

Sometimes in my desperateness When all things looked bleak

Sometimes in my desperateness

When all things looked bleak

I could not help, replaying in my mind

All my past mistakes

I blamed myself for the same mistakes

Which I so often repeat,

Though I would have had resolved,

Not to commit them again,

But there are times ,

When my mind gets so completely occupied,

That I give in to these same mistakes.

But at these times of helplessness,

Iam reminded by His Word,

To not put trust in my strengths ,

But do all that I can,

And leave to Him the rest.

For the heavenly Father shines His Grace,

through my struggles and pains,

and I find in the end that,

all was for my best.

self

your Brain's smartest times to do everything

8 Times You’re Naturally Smart - Prevention.com:
brains own rhythm or its biological, functions based on human clock,sleep pattern etc

your brain's smartest times to do everything

• 7 to 9 AM: Best for Passion
• 9 to 11 AM: Best for Creativity
• 11 AM to 2 PM: Best for Tough Tasks
• 2 to 3 PM: Best for a Break
• 3 to 6 PM: Best for Collaboration
• 6 to 8 PM: Best for Personal Tasks
• 8 to 10 PM: Best for Relaxing
• 10 PM onward: Best for Snoozing

Man stranded in empty Japanese town since tsunami

The Associated Press: Man stranded in empty Japanese town since tsunami
75-year-old Kunio Shiga who cannot walk very far was found stranded braving freezing night temperatures, ever since the tsunami struck .He was found at his traditional two-story house within 20 kilometers from the Fukushima nuclear plant , his town displays a ghostly look as all the people have been ordered to evacuate .He does not know what has happened to his wife and his car was found struck in the mud.Due to shortage of running water and electricity he was not able to cook and was running out of supplies and food.He kept listening to his battery powered radio.

Ancestral warnings forgotten in Tsunami-hit towns of japan

Tsunami-hit towns forgot warnings from ancestors -
A centuries-old tablet in Aneyoshi reads,

"High dwellings are the peace and harmony of our descendants," the stone slab reads. "Remember the calamity of the great tsunamis. Do not build any homes below this point."

The monstrous Tsunami which levelled most of the towns in coastline did not touch about a dozen household in the Aneyoshi village , as they built their homes at a higher heeding the old warnings.
Another stone marker reads "Always be prepared for unexpected tsunamis. Choose life over your possessions and valuables."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_japan_earthquake_warnings_in_stone

Fukushima the leaking longest-lasting radioactive material

The March 11  earthquake of magnitude 9.0 and  15 m tsunami waves which  shattered the north eastern coast of Japan to rubbles  have left 13,116 people dead and 14,377 others unaccounted for.
One month after the quake 23,000 shelters are home to some 151,000 people.In the Tohoku region  alone,   where 25 percent of the population is 65 or older ,around  28,000 people are dead or missing and 150,000 are homeless . Each day, thousands of Japanese and American troops set out to look for the 15,000 people who are still formally categorized as missing.

As Tepco struggles to prevent further spread of radiation from the crippled Fukushima reactor ,its decommissioning may take decades  .
A study released last week found that cesium 137 levels in a village outside the 30-km recommended evacuation zone were between 590,000 and 2.19 million becquerels per cu m; after Chernobyl, residents living in areas that measured above 555,000 were forced to relocate.
The government has prohibited  the farmers  from planting in soil  as the levels of cesium -137 is high.

$ 100 billion to tap solar and other renewable energy , A Saudi initiative

Saudi Arabia is all poised for its new investments of $ 100 billion to tap solar and other renewable energy sources to meet its increasing demand of power.In order to sustain the 10 % economic growth scenario, Saudi Arabia needs to re invent new sources of Energy apart from its existing oil resources.The energy demang is coming heavy on the nation and the oil resources are to be preserved so that they can be used for export purposes, to continue to remain as one of the main providers of crude oil for global purposes.Right now Saudi Arabia  with 20 percent of the world’s oil reserves,  burns some 800,000 barrels a day of oil equivalent to satisfy domestic demands.  
After upraisings and violence curbed further exports of crude oil from Libya, Saudi Arabia increased its daily output to 8.87 billion barrels a day as part of its pledge to meet the global  needs.
The nation is making massive plans to tap solar power, nuclear power and other non hydrocarbon sources for meeting its future energy demands.

Japan to pump radioactive water into sea

Japan to pump radioactive water into sea
water from its cripled nuclear plant-Fukushima Daiichi plant damaged by the magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami on March 11 earthquake, will be dumped into sea until Sunday, a daylater than previously planned, due to interupption in the work caused by the second aftershock on Thursday.

Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) is struggling to contain the worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl which engineers say could take months to stabilise them and years to clear up the toxic mess .

"Power blackouts and restrictions, factory shutdowns, and a sharp drop in tourists have hit the world's most indebted nation, which is facing a damages bill as high as $300 billion, making it by far the world's costliest natural disaster.

Economists expect Japan to slip into recession this year"

Bjørn Lomborg: the dissenting climate change voice who changed his tune | Environment | The Guardian

Bjørn Lomborg: the dissenting climate change voice who changed his tune
world's best-known critic of the dominant scientific view of global warming and the ensuing climate change.
Rajendra Pachauri, compared him to Adolf Hitler , for treating human beings as numbers.
"But Lomborg's record on climate change is more nuanced than the stereotype suggests. From the beginning, he has said global warming is happening and is largely caused by humans. However, he has been consistently critical of what he sees as exaggeration of how much this matters, and of policies to tackle the problem. These would achieve too little and cost too much, he argues, meaning the money would be better spent on, say, reducing malaria and HIV/Aids, or extending clean water and sanitation."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/30/bjorn-lomborg-climate-change

California heavy-duty trucks are responsible for global warming pollution

Emissions from vehicles have been a major contributory factor among others for Global Warming.Studies conducted byUnion of Concerned Scientists, have indicated that among other vehicles leading to pollution and Global warming , heavy-duty trucks contribute one-fifth of the global warming pollution.
"In California, heavy-duty trucks are responsible for one-fifth of the global warming pollution from the transportation sector. Opportunities for significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from heavy-duty trucks are available and many solutions offer co-benefits of reduced fuel consumption, lower operating costs, and reduced smog-forming emissions."
"The greenhouse gas emissions emitted from heavy-duty trucks, primarily in the form of carbon dioxide, contribute to global warming. If global warming continues unabated, California is expected to face a sharp rise in extreme heat, a less reliable water supply, more dangerous wildfires, and expanding risks to agriculture. "
http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_vehicles/solutions/cleaner_diesel/CA-heavy-duty-trucks-and-global-warming.html

World Water Day 2011,water shortage. and wastage

Expanding cities, growing slums, shrinking villages, mushrooming industries, more water requirements, and water wastage and exploitation has resulted in water shortage.
SAVE WATER!!!!!!!!!!!  March 22, 2011

World Population Prospects,rising life expectancy and falling fertility

World Population Prospects


World population crossed its mark of   6.9 billion in mid-2010, according to United Nations demographic reports, and is still on its increase  reach 7 billion in late 2011.

The population grew   by 2 percent annually  a four decades ago, by 1.32 percent annually a decade a ago , from mid-2009 to mid-2010, the population grew by  1.16 percent.

Each year 79.3 million people are added to the population , this has been the consistent trend for nearly  a decade.

“Many industrial countries are now experiencing either relatively slow population growth or—in Japan, Germany, and 14 East European countries—absolute decline. The combination of rising life expectancy and falling fertility has led these countries to experience significant population aging, meaning a rise in the median age. In contrast, many developing countries continue to grow rapidly and have still-large proportions of young people.”

China is the oft discussed example of a developing country with low fertility and rapid aging. 95 percent of population growth is happening in developing countries with some countries like  Afghanistan, East Timor , Liberia, Niger ,Uganda, the Palestinian territories (West Bank and Gaza), with population growth rates above 3 percent a year. The developing countries are home to worlds 82 percent population but unfortunately contributing  “just 34 percent of gross world product in absolute dollar terms.”

http://vitalsigns.worldwatch.org

The sub Saharan regions are showing growth rate of average 2.4 percent while the asian subcontinent exhibits diverse demographic trend , with Afghanistan leading with 3.5  percent growth rate and  Japan showing a negative one tenth of 1 percent.

 Owing primarily to very low fertility rates,  South Korea and Singapore are facing the prospect of population shrinkage in the near future.

1.1  percent demographically homogenous growth rate in  Latin America and the Caribbean  while population declining in Germany (–0.1 percent).

High prevalence of HIV/AIDS  and the ongoing civil wars have shortened lives in Congo, Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe

Ten Things that will make you a happier person

Value ordinary moments

Avoid comparing yourselves with other

Don’t keep money as top priority

Plan meaningful goals for your life

Take initiative at work

Develop close relationships and treasure family

Smile even when you don’t feel like

Say thank you to others

Exercise

Give and share

Secret deal cut between the United States and Ethiopia to invade Somalia

Secret deal cut between the United States and Ethiopia to invade Somalia
One of the released Wiki Leaks cables, suggests that US Under Secretary of State for Africa, Jendayi Frazer in the Bush Administration  pressed Ethiopia's President Meles Zenawi to invade its neighbor Somalia when Ethiopia had no intention of invading Somalia in 2006. The Bush Administration  wanted to bring down the strongly growing Union of Islamic Courts , hence it pushed Ethiopia to invade . The U.S. military provided military aid and trained  Ethiopian troops.  Frazer was  was pushing the Ethiopians to attack, while  laying the groundwork both for the attack in the U.S. media and for a cover-up, by claiming that although the United States did not support Ethiopian military action, she could understand "the Somali threat" and why Ethiopia might find it necessary to go to war. Zenawi gave in to the US pressure with little support left for him at his homeland, to attack  Somalia.in 2006.
The attack finally did not go well for both US and Ethiopians . But it resulted in 20,000 deaths and according to some reports, left up to 2 million Somalis homeless. The 50,000 Ethiopian invasion force withdrew. “ the generally more moderate Union of Islamic Courts was weakened, but it was soon replaced in Somalia by far more radical and militant Islamic groups with a more openly anti-American agenda. In 2009,  the Ethiopian forces finally left the  Somalia  soil ,  leaving it  in  a more unstable  situation than when they attacked in 2006.
http://www.africaspeaks.com/somalia/291210.html
www.sudantribune.com

Fidel Castro: NATO's Inevitable War in Libya

Fidel Castro: NATO's Inevitable War: "
As the Libyan landscape changes its color owing to protests and opposition to the unmoving Gaddafi , growing frustration of the rebel leaders in this context, what role are the NATO countries going to play?
Excerpt-
"the inevitable military intervention that shall occur in Libya, the AP news agency, which I consider to be well-informed, headlined a cable printed today which stated": “The NATO countries are drawing up a contingency plan taking as its model the flight exclusion zones established over the Balkans in the 1990s, in the event that the international community decides to impose an air embargo over Libya, diplomats said”.

Islam and the Arab revolutions

The begining of this year saw the seeds of uprising and revolt against old regimes begin from Tunisia, soon like an avalanche, Egypt was shaken, Mubarrak had to step down, and now one hears this epidemic spread to Libya, Syria, Bahrain, Oman .The Middle East is undergoing Transformations.Where will this lead to?.This article in Economist , reveals further .The uprisings: Islam and the Arab revolutions | The Economist:

The 400 year old King James Bible, My second Bible in my Sixth Grade

The first Bible i received was a King James Bible, way back  in my sixth Grade.It was hard to understand , its language was archaic , not the spoken form of English,  but to me it seemed like the English of the Victorian or Pre-Victorian Era.One word which often used to make an impression in  the King James Bible  "verily".Others like, taketh, thou, wilt, whither, goest, etc were abundant.But yet that version had its own uniqueness, i learnt much of English through it.I committed myself as believer in Christ through this bible apart from the Gideon New Testament that i received as gift in my First Grade.

Today  King James Bible is 400yrs old
http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/arts/ann-wroe/beginning-was-sound

the sweat, the heat and the distress, summer in Chennai

This year again as before , the summer is keeping its usual temperature, while marking its entry into the southern part of the Indian subcontinent.What an  intense  heat? .I pray everyday  for the rains to shower their grace upon this land.Disappointingly the dusk and the dawn , the best part of each day, linger for a short time, like the closing and opening address of a ceremony.Two months before several creepers were purchased by my husband , we potted them near windows, to avoid the penetrating heat rays, they are still young and not thick enough to hide the scorching rays.I cannot but wonder , the others who work by day under the red angry sun, doing manual work.Blessed are the cooler countries with their share of cool spring and not such hot summers.Hope another ice age comes and some more continental movement and we are into the cooler part of earth.El Nina effect, thankfully as per climate reports, suggest lesser temperature hikes this summer than it was in 2010.One feels like coming out only when the sun is setting.Water melon, Jack fruit, Musk melon are refreshing fruits in the market this summer, but to see the sweat, the heat and the distress is very unwelcoming sign.