Few lines for Roses

- Shephali

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Amazing Facts about India and Indians!

Thanks to my friend who sent me this interesting piece of facts about India in a concise.

1. India is the world’s largest, oldest, continuous civilization.
2.India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history.
3.India is the world’s largest democracy.
4.Varanasi, also known as Benares, was called “the ancient city” when Lord Buddha visited it in 500 B.C.E, and is the oldest,continuously inhabited city in the world today.
5.India invented the Number System. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.
6.The World’s first university was established in Takshashila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
7. Sanskrit is the mother of all the European languages. Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software - a report in Forbes magazine, July 1987.
8. Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans. Charaka, the father of medicine consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago.Today Ayurveda is fast regaining its rightful place in our civilization.
9. Although modern images of India often show poverty and lack of development, India was the richest country on earth until the time of British invasion in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus was attracted by India’s wealth.
10. The art of Navigation was bornin the river Sindhu 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH. The word navy is also derived from Sanskrit ‘Nou’.
11. Bhaskaracharya calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. Time taken by earth to orbit the sun: (5th century) 365.258756484 days.
12. The value of pi was first calculated by Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century long before the European mathematicians.
13. Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India. Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10**53(10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as 5000 BCE during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used number is Tera 10**12(10 to the power of 12).
14. IEEE has proved what has been a century old suspicion in the world scientific community that the pioneer of wireless communication was Prof. Jagdish Bose and not Marconi.
15.The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra.
16. According to Saka King Rudradaman I of 150 CE a beautiful lake called Sudarshana was constructed on the hills of Raivataka during Chandragupta Maurya’s time.
17. Chess (Shataranja or AshtaPada) was invented in India.
18. Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted complicated surgeries like cesareans, cataract, artificial limbs, fractures, urinary stones and even plastic surgery and brain surgery. Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India. Over 125 surgical equipment were used. Deep knowledge of anatomy, physiology, etiology, embryology, digestion, metabolism, genetics and immunity is also found in many texts.
19. When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization).
20. The four religions born in India, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, are followed by 25% of the world’s population.
21. The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.
22. India is one of the few countries in the World, which gained independence without violence.
23. India has the second largest pool of Scientists and Engineers in the World.
24. India is the largest English-speaking nation in the world.
25. India is the only country other than US and Japan, to have built a super computer indigenously.

Following facts were published in a German Magazine, which deals with world history.

38% of Doctors in America are Indians

12% of Scientists in America are Indians

36% of NASA employees are Indians

34% of Microsoft employees are Indians

28% of IBM employees are Indians

17% of Intel employees are Indians

13% of Xerox employees are Indians

Famous Quotes on India (by non-Indians):

Albert Einstein said: We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.

Mark Twain said: India is, the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human Speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand Mother of tradition. Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only.

French scholar Romain Rolland said: If there is one place on the face of earth where all the dreams of living men have found home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India.

Hu Shih, former Ambassador of China to USA said: India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border.

- Shephali

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Growing old?!

YOU KNOW YOU’RE GETTING OLD WHEN …

“Getting a little action” means you don’t need to take a laxative.
Adult diapers are actually kind of convenient.
All of your favorite movies are now re-released in color.
At cafeterias, you complain that the gelatin is too tough.
Conversations with people your own age often turn into “dueling ailments.”
Everything hurts and what doesn’t hurt, doesn’t work.
In a hostage situation you are likely to be released first.
It takes a couple of tries to get over a speed bump.
It takes longer to rest than it did to get tired.
It takes twice as long to look half as good.
It’s harder and harder for sexual harassment charges to stick.
Many of your co-workers were born the same year that you got your last promotion.
No one expects you to run into a burning building.
People call at 9 p.m. and ask, “Did I wake you?”
People no longer view you as a hypochondriac

For more check out here.

Birthday’s have always been fun time but at the same time reminds us of getting old. Some love the hair turn grey while some dread it. Well, no arguing about getting old is good or bad. Enjoy and have fun with a few birthday jokes below. Found them while surfing…

Joke#1

“Artificial intelligence is a wonderful thing.
I told my computer that today is my birthday,
and it said that I needed an upgrade.”

Joke# 2

An eminent old man was being interviewed, and was asked if it was correct that he had just celebrated his ninety-ninth birthday.
`That’s right,’ said the old man. `Ninety-nine years old, and I haven’t an enemy in the world. They’re all dead.’
`Well, sir,’ said the interviewer, `I hope very much to have the honour of interviewing you on your hundredth birthday.’
The old man looked at the young man closely, and said, `I can’t see why you shouldn’t. You look fit and healthy to me!’

Joke# 3

Will you come to my party on Saturday?
Yes, please, What’s the address?
25 The High Street. Just push the bell with your elbow.
Why with my elbow?
Well, you won’t be empty-handed, will you!

Joke# 4

It was Grandpa Jones’ 100th birthday and he was still in perfect health. At his birthday party he was asked how he managed to live so long and stay so fit. He explained “I put my long life down to spending so much time out of doors. I’ve been in the open air, day after day, rain or shine, for the last 75th years.” “How do you manage to keep up such a rigorous fitness regime?” we asked. “It’s simple” he said. “When I married my wife 75 years ago, we both made solemn pledge on our wedding night. We agreed that whenever we ever had a fight, whoever was proved wrong would go outside and take long walk.”

- Shephali

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My gallery of pics

My gallery section on this blog contains some photos of my family and me. This is one way I am in touch with my parents and other kith and kens. For my parents and me (specially my parents, who are far away in a different country) it really matters a lot. By looking at the photos the distance of separation is narrowed to some extent. To put the photo’s on the net I would always request someone and need help. But now I can do it myself. How? Well thanks to my brother-in-law who helped me out by introducing me to this J Album software. It is a web based photo album generator. With few clicks and in minutes the photo’s can be uploaded to the Internet. The best part of it that I like is that it is so simple and for a non-tech person like me, it is an incredible tool. And of course not to mention that it is FREE!

Easy to use. Just drag and drop an image folder onto JAlbum, select an output directory and press “Make album”.

- Shephali

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Medicare lottery

From The New York Times:

The Bush administration announced Thursday that it would conduct a lottery to select 50,000 people who will receive Medicare coverage of prescription drugs in the next 18 months, before drug coverage becomes available to all Medicare beneficiaries in 2006.

Looks to be a great project.

The government, Mr. Thompson said, will select participants at random from the pool of applicants, alternating between cancer patients and those with other serious diseases.

Who will be the lucky one?!

Beneficiaries will generally have to pay the same share of drug costs in the demonstration project as in the standard Medicare drug coverage that begins in 2006. They will also face a large gap in coverage, like the “doughnut hole” in the standard Medicare drug benefit. But under both programs, co-payments will be reduced or eliminated for low-income people.

Finally co-pay may be no-pay!

- Shephali

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A struggle with healing

I have a really tough time understanding the health system in USA. Till now I had heard the patients side mostly. It used to be my relatives or friends or a program on the TV relating a miserable state of a patient trying to cope up, somehow, with this health system. My stay here has not been for a very long duration, so needless to say I haven’t come across a problem like Jacob Reider had to face. Well he has put a nice posting of his experience with the insurance companies and has very nicely portrayed that the health system in really shaken out here. It is mind boggling to imagine how the billing staff handles these kinds of incidents. No wonder, the billing staffs make mistakes like printing a different address of the insurance company or printing the social security number instead of the phone number (Actually my brother-in-law had a similar experience!). I totally agree with Graham about his opinion on impoving health care coverage and billing process. Yes, it may sound crazy but then, if possible, it would be a big leap towards an efficient health system.

- Shephali

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Put a hold on yourself

Eating…who doesn’t like it but to what extent is the question. I came across this article - You know you crave it. It was interesting and informative.

Since life isn’t likely to get less stressful, here are some ways to help mute the call of food cravings.

Those tips about ways to stop craving looks really helpful. While reading I made plans to implement some of those tips myself. Easier said than done but there is no harm in giving a try. A healthy diet is key to a happy life.

- Shephali

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Playing with watercolors

I saw this painting done by my nephew, who is 5 years old and was really amazed at the flow of the colors. He has done it with a real smoothness withholding the essence of the drawing. He has painted himself and his little sister flying kites.

His painting reminds me of my days when I was little. I too painted (you can say tried to paint) with watercolors many times. But never came even close to his painting. Once I drew a hut and my mother thought it looked like an inverted basket! Another time I drew scenery and she said it looked like a cat and mouse race. I would get very disappointed at her mundane response. I would look at her with my wide-open eyes with a big question like,” What?! Can’t you make out what I have depicted in my painting”?

But, after seeing my nephew’s painting now, I realize that my mother reactions were genuine. Definitely my brush strokes would be haywire all over the paper, randomly, with no consistency and of course must have been unimpressive to her.

- Shephali

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Art on display

My friend sent me this amazing piece of art! Deserves an applause!

- Shephali

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Funny engineers

Jokes about engineers?! Well I have heard a lot about them but didn’t come across this one that my father-in-law posted on his blog yesterday.

Once, four engineer friends were traveling in a car. Almost halfway to their destination, the car…

- Shephali

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