In this three-part documentary series, Professor Jim Al-Khalili tells the story of one of the greatest scientific discoveries ever: that all the material world is made up of atoms.

Atom - The Clash of the Titans: Professor Al-Khalili takes us from the discovery of the atom to the development of quantum mechanics.



Atom - The Key to the Cosmos: This episode tackles world-changing discoveries such as radioactivity, the Atom Bomb and the Big Bang, and tries to answer the biggest questions of all - why are we here and how were we made?

 
Scientific American: The Secret to Raising Smart Kids: "Don't tell your kids that they are. More than three decades of research shows that a focus on effort—not on intelligence or ability—is key to success in school and in life. Our society worships talent, and many people assume that possessing superior intelligence or ability—along with confidence in that ability—is a recipe for success. In fact, however, more than 30 years of scientific investigation suggests that an overemphasis on intellect or talent leaves people vulnerable to failure, fearful of challenges and unwilling to remedy their shortcomings."

 
"Andrum, Indrum, Endrum" Maestro Ilayaraja Live in Concert - Jaya TV video (34 parts)

Title Credits


Ilayaraaja Interview


Prayer


Song: "Janani Janani", Movie: "Thaai Moogambigai", Singer: Ilayaraja


Parthiban - MC


Song: "Mandram Vantha Thendralukku", Movie: "Mouna Raagam", Singer: SPB


Song: "Enna Solli Paaduvatho", Singer: Hariharan, Sadhana Sargam


Song: "Ennai Thaalatta Varuvaala", Movie: "Kadhalukku Mariyadhai", Singer: Hariharan


Song: "Kaatril En Geetham", Movie: "Johnny", Singer: Shraya Ghosal


Song: "Ethetho Enna Valarthaen", Movie: "Punnagai Mannan", Singer: Chitra


Song: "Mayil Pola Ponnu Onnu", Movie: "Bharathi", Singer: Bhavatharini


Song: "Kaatril Varum Geethamae", Movie: "Oru Naal Oru Kanavu", Singer: Bhavatharini, Hariharan, Sadhana Sargam, Shreya Ghosal


Song: "Naan Thedum Sevvanthipoovithu", Movie: "Dharamapathini", Singer: Ilayaraja, Manjari


Song: "Pothi Vecha Malligai Mottu", Movie: "Man Vaasanai", Singer: Chitra, SPB


Song: "Yei Paadal Ondru", Movie: "Priya", Singer: Uma Ramanan, Vijay Yesudas


Kamal Address


Song: "Khajuraho", Movie: "Oru Naal Oru Kanavu", Singer: Hariharan, Shreya Ghosal


Song: "Adi Aathadi", Movie: "Kadalora Kavithaigal", Singer: Swarnalatha


Song: "Shenbagamae Shenbagamae", Movie: "Karagattakaran", Singer: Mano, Sadhana Sargam


Song: "Rasathi Onna", Movie: "Vaidhegi Kaathirunthaal", Singer: Jayachandran


Song: "Maanguyilae Poonguyilae", Movie: "Karagattakaran", Singer: Chitra, SPB


Ilayaraja commenting on composing songs


Ilayaraja commenting on composing song: "Senthoorapoovae", Movie: "Pathinaaru Vayathinilae"


Song: "Chinna Kannan Azhaikkiraan", Movie: "Kavikuyil", Singer: Karthik, Yuvan Shankar Raja


Song: "Sundari Kannaal Oru Sethi", Movie: "Thalapathi", Singer: Chitra, SPB


Vaali Address


Song: "Unna Vida", Movie: "Virumaandi", Singer: Tippu, Shreya Ghosal


Song: "O Priya Priya", Movie: "Idhayathai Thirudathey", Singer: Chitra, Mano


Song: "Ninnukkori Varnam", Movie: "Agni Natchathiram", Singer: Chitra


Song: "Paadariyaen Padippariyaen", Movie: "Sindhu Bhairavi", Singer: Chitra


Song: "Thendral Vanthu Theendum Pothu", Movie: "Avathaaram", Singer: Ilayaraja, Manjari


Ilayaraja on composing a song using only three notes


Mesmerising composition "Thumbi Vaa" (Malayalam), "Sangathil Paadatha Kavithai" (Tamil)


Sivamani and Show End

 

 
Docs Change the Way They Think About DeathBiologists are still grappling with the implications of this new view of cell death—not passive extinguishment, like a candle flickering out when you cover it with a glass, but an active biochemical event triggered by "reperfusion," the resumption of oxygen supply. The research takes them deep into the machinery of the cell, to the tiny membrane-enclosed structures known as mitochondria where cellular fuel is oxidized to provide energy. Mitochondria control the process known as apoptosis, the programmed death of abnormal cells that is the body's primary defense against cancer."

 
Politics is inevitable, deal with it: "Those who combine competence and usefulness (to the organization) are key elements of the mortar that makes for success. But in the absence of political sensitivity and smartness they may go waste. The challenge is to deal with the creative tension while maintaining one’s professional integrity. This is a challenge that one must not run away from."

 
Don't Believe the Hype: The 21 Biggest Technology Flops: "Hype is the coin of the realm in the technology business. If you listen to vendors and the media, it may sometimes seem as though every new product, service, concept or even security threat will be the Next Big Thing. Some live up to all the fuss, but many don't -- and some fail spectacularly. "

 
The incredible story of the Rs 1-lakh car: "There is a lot riding on its small wheels. If the yet-to-be-named car is a success when it goes on sale next year, it would herald the emergence of Tata Motors on the global auto scene, mark the advent of India as a global center for small-car production and represent a victory for those who advocate making cheap goods for potential customers at the 'bottom of the pyramid' in emerging markets."

 
Be More Than You Can Be: "Heat-resistant. Cold-proof. Tireless. Tomorrow’s soldiers are just like today’s — only better. Inside the Pentagon’s human enhancement project. "

 

Laws of nature - Fine tuning of constants - Eternal struggle between science and religion.

 

Scientists now believe there may really be a parallel universe - in fact, there may be an infinite number of parallel universes, and we just happen to live in one of them. These other universes contain space, time and strange forms of exotic matter. Some of them may even contain you, in a slightly different form. Astonishingly, scientists believe that these parallel universes exist less than one millimetre away from us. In fact, our gravity is just a weak signal leaking out of another universe into ours.

 
Global Security News and Analysis: Five Minutes to Midnight: "We stand at the brink of a second nuclear age. Not since the first atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki has the world faced such perilous choices. North Korea’s recent test of a nuclear weapon, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, a renewed U.S. emphasis on the military utility of nuclear weapons, the failure to adequately secure nuclear materials, and the continued presence of some 26,000 nuclear weapons in the United States and Russia are symptomatic of a larger failure to solve the problems posed by the most destructive technology on Earth."

Clock Timeline

 
Change or Die: "What happens if you don't work at mental rejuvenation? Merzenich says that people who live to 85 have a 50-50 chance of being senile. While the issue for heart patients is 'change or die,' the issue for everyone is 'change or lose your mind.' Mastering the ability to change isn't just a crucial strategy for business. It's a necessity for health. And it's possibly the one thing that's most worth learning. "

 
Maya civilization: "The Maya civilization is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as its spectacular art, monumental architecture, and sophisticated mathematical and astronomical systems. Many of these reached high development during the Classic period (c. 250 to 900), however these advances were also in the Preclassic (or Formative) period which came before, and in the Postclassic period which followed. At its peak, it was one of the most densely populated and culturally dynamic societies in the world."

Inca Empire: "The Inca Empire was the largest empire in Pre-Colombian America, and a considerably large empire in the world at its height. The administrative, political and military center of the empire was located in Cuzco. The Inca Empire arose from the highlands of Peru around 1197. From 1438 to 1533, the Incas used conquest and peaceful assimilation to incorporate a large portion of western South America, centered on the Andean mountain ranges, including large parts of modern Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile."

Aztecs: "The Aztecs were a Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican people of central Mexico in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries who built an extensive empire in the late Postclassic period of Mesoamerican chronology. They called themselves Mexicas (Classical Nahuatl: Mexìcâ, IPA: [me??i?ka?]). The nucleus of the Aztec Empire was the Valley of Mexico, where their capital Tenochtitlan was built upon raised islets in Lake Texcoco. After the 1521 conquest and fall of Tenochtitlan by Spanish forces and their allies which brought about the effective end of Aztec dominion, the Spanish founded the new settlement of Mexico City on the site of the now-ruined Aztec capital. The capital of the modern-day nation of Mexico, the greater metropolitan area of Mexico City now covers much of the Valley of Mexico and the now-drained Lake of Texcoco."

 
State of the union- 2006: A year of divorces in India: "In blocking traffic, marriages are second only to God. The pomp and scale of marriages in 2006 were probably unmatched in the past. But the year also saw an alarming number of divorce suits and an unprecedented number of verdicts. Some of the reasons for divorce in cities include snoring, incompatible eating habits, dress sense and other things that may, at first glance, shock readers. But it is easy to fathom that in the metros, where affluence and independence are on the rise, both the young and the old are not viewing marriage as an inescapable bond. Tolerance, that vital side effect of love, is vanishing."

 
Life of Buddha:


Buddha Chaitanya Part 2:

 
Vision - A Tribute to Carl Sagan


Carl Sagan's Cosmos: A Personal Voyage




Carl Sagan on Evolution:

 
Technology Review: The Problem with Programming: "Bjarne Stroustrup, the inventor of the C++ programming language, defends his legacy and examines what's wrong with most software code."

 
The Birth of the Machine That Changed the World: "Twenty-five years ago today the nation?s largest computer company introduced to the world its smallest computer ever, the IBM Personal Computer. The rollout of the PC was perhaps the most momentous product introduction of the past half century. But was it a phenomenal market coup or a serious business blunder? A shot of adrenaline for the personal computer industry or a technical hodgepodge that would leave a generation of computer users tearing out their hair?"

 
Heroes and Icons of the century: "Twenty people who articulate the longings of the last 100 years, exemplifying courage, selflessness, exuberance, superhuman ability and amazing grace."
Scientists and Thinkers of the century: "People who overthrew our inherited ideas about logic, language, learning, mathematics, economics and even space and time."
Leaders and Revolutionaries of the century: "Twenty people who helped define the political and social fabric of our times."
Artists and Entertainers of the century: "Twenty pioneers of human expression who enlightened and enlivened us."
Builders and Titans of the century: "Twenty innovators who changed how the world works."

 
In the mind of the brain: "A conversation with Professor V.S. Ramachandran, world-renowned explorer of the human brain, on neuroscience, philosophy, consciousness and beyond."

 
Factory Farms: "There is no specific definition of what a factory farm is, but they tend to have certain characteristics in common. Animals most often raised in these conditions are dairy cows, cattle, pigs, chickens and turkeys. The main characteristic of a factory farm is that animals are crowded together in confined spaces where they can’t carry out their natural behaviors like grazing, rooting and pecking. Animals are raised in facilities that cannot properly process all the waste, so manure is most often held in large lagoons that can hold millions of gallons of waste. This waste is often over-applied to the land and runs off into surrounding streams and waterways, or can leak from the lagoons into the ground and groundwater. Antibiotics, chemicals and/or hormones are used to promote faster growth and to ward off diseases.

Factory farms emphasize high volume and profit with little or no regard for environmental quality, human health, safe food, humane treatment of animals, and the rural economy. For more information on factory farms in general, visit the Factory Farming page on Sustainable Table."

Watch the heroes Moopheus, Chickity and Leo in action by clicking on the following posters:






GRACE Factory Farm Project: "The GRACE Factory Farm Project (GFFP) works to create a sustainable food production system that is healthful and humane, economically viable, and environmentally sound. When invited by regional or grassroots groups, the GFFP helps rural communities, family ranchers and farmers around the country oppose the spread of new factory farms, and close down existing operations that adversely affect the health and well-being of communities."

 
At the Five-Year Mark, Agile Manifesto Still Stands: "Five years after the Agile Manifesto was inked, the jury is out on its impact. On the one hand, there is evidence that the ideas put forth by its backers have taken hold, influencing how teams think about software development today. On the other hand, adoption of agile methodologies is only now beginning to get off the ground. "

 
The World's Largest Matrix Computation - Google's PageRank : "The World's Largest Matrix Computation
Google's PageRank is an eigenvector of a matrix of order 2.7 billion. One of the reasons why Google is such an effective search engine is the PageRank algorithm, developed by Google's founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, when they were graduate students at Stanford University. PageRank is determined entirely by the link structure of the Web. It is recomputed about once a month and does not involve any of the actual content of Web pages or of any individual query. Then, for any particular query, Google finds the pages on the Web that match that query and lists those pages in the order of their PageRank."

 
Srinivasa Ramanujan: "Srinivasa Aiyangar Ramanujan (December 22, 1887 - April 26, 1920) was an Indian mathematician and one of the most esoteric mathematical geniuses in the twentieth century. Nicknamed as 'the man who knew infinity,' he had uncanny mathematical manipulative abilities. He excelled in number theory and modular functions. He also made significant contributions to the development of partition functions and summation formulas involving constants such as p. A child prodigy, he was largely self-taught in mathematics and had compiled over 3,000 theorems by the year 1914 when he moved to Cambridge. Often, his formulas were stated without proof and were only later proven to be true. His results have inspired a large amount of research and mathematical papers. In 1997 the Ramanujan Journal was launched to publish work 'in areas of mathematics influenced by Ramanujan'."

 
Dept. of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances - Online Public Grievance Lodging And Monitoring System: "The Public Grievance Lodging And Monitoring System, is an online computerised system over NICNET which has been developed with an objective of speedy redress and effective monitoring of grievances by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances(DARPG) besides providing a faster access to the public."

 
Spying and lying in 21st-century America: "Freedom rests on the principle of the rule of law and equality before the law. So when government, fearing the citizenry in the exercise of their constitutional rights, ignores its duty to safeguard those rights and even undercuts them, despotism looms in the future and democracy becomes an endangered species. "

 
ADDRESS TO THE NATION BY THE PRESIDENT OF INDIA DR. A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM ON THE EVE OF 57TH REPUBLIC DAY - 2006: "Mission for Scientists and Technologists: For the scientists and technologists of the nation, I have five immediate national missions: (a). Increasing the Solar Photo Voltaic Cell efficiency from 14% to 45% using nano technology; (b). Research in proteomics to identify the disease causing mechanism and to develop new methods to treat diseases; (c). Earthquake forecasting using multiple parameter pre-cursors such as pre-shock conditions and electromagnetic phenomena, prior to the final rupture; (d). Building a validated mathematical model for predicting the quantum of rain for a particular cloud conditions in a particular region in a prescribed time using the new type of Polarimetric radar and; (e). Developing the products in the healthcare, electronics and materials to meet the national requirements using the convergence of nano, bio and info technologies."

 
Big Ball of Mud: "While much attention has been focused on high-level software architectural patterns, what is, in effect, the de-facto standard software architecture is seldom discussed. This paper examines this most frequently deployed of software architectures: the BIG BALL OF MUD. A BIG BALL OF MUD is a casually, even haphazardly, structured system. Its organization, if one can call it that, is dictated more by expediency than design. Yet, its enduring popularity cannot merely be indicative of a general disregard for architecture. "

 
Democracy, modernity, and the Indian child: "At present, our schools act like factories, forcing children into a fixed, preconceived mould. They stifle natural curiosity and creativity. The fruits of democracy and modernity will remain elusive if education is not structurally adjusted to the needs of the rural poor. "

 
Business 2.0 :: My Golden Rule: "We asked 30 business visionaries, collectively worth over $70 billion, what single philosophy they swear by more than any other -- in business, life, or both. Here are the secrets of their success."

 
Are You a Star at Work?: "How do you become a star at work? For more than a decade, Robert E. Kelley has tried to answer that question, conducting in-depth research at such companies as AT&T's Bell Labs, 3M, and Hewlett-Packard. How do average performers differ from stars? Are stars just smarter? Or more self-confident? Or better at interpersonal and leadership skills? The answer, says Kelley, is none of the above: 'It isn't what stars have in their heads that makes them stand out. It's how they use what they have.'"

 
NRI's dilemma resolved: Indians Abroad: "Oh, and I will say 'it's wicked cold' but I will continue to pronounce 'aunt' and 'half' the way I always have. If people don't understand my accent, well, I guess they'll just have to learn. I am from India. This is how I talk and this is how I live. This is my way."

 
Memory and Learning: Myths and Truths: "Those who plan to improve their learning skills must be alert against a volley on false claims that are ripe in books and materials devoted to accelerated learning. This short and concise list should help you avoid books or websites that do not stick to the basics of science. In addition to memory myths, you will find, at the bottom, a summary of other myths described extensively at other places of this website. "

 
Social Issues Research Centre Guide to flirting: "Flirting is much more than just a bit of fun: it is a universal and essential aspect of human interaction. Anthropological research shows that flirting is to be found, in some form, in all cultures and societies around the world. "

 
South Indian Classical Carnatic Music Krithi Archive with Online Audio Music Class and Lessons: "An excellent site with downloadable audio lessons for learning Carnatic classical music. "

 
Yahoo! Netrospective: 10 years, 100 moments of the Web
This is a cool site that celebrates the web's history over the last decade and takes us on a trip down memory lane and makes us think how the Internet has developed over the last ten years, becoming an essential part of all of our daily lives.

 
The cradle that is India: "Oppenheimer concludes with two extraordinary conclusions: 'First, that the Europeans' genetic homeland was originally in South Asia in the Pakistan/Gulf region over 50,000 years ago; and second, that the Europeans' ancestors followed at least two widely separated routes to arrive, ultimately, in the same cold but rich garden. The earliest of these routes was the Fertile Crescent. The second early route from South Asia to Europe may have been up the Indus into Kashmir and on to Central Asia, where perhaps more than 40,000 years ago hunters first started bringing down game as large as mammoths.'"

 
The Top 100 Gadgets of All Time: "Whether they're strapped to our belts, sitting on our desks, or jammed in an overstuffed closet, we absolutely love our gadgets.
So it wasn't exactly easy coming up with the definitive list of the 100 best gadgets ever unleashed. In the weeks we spent debating the entries, tempers were flared, fingers were pointed, chairs were smashed over heads, and feelings were hurt. But we emerged, like Moses from the mountain, with the world's most authoritative ranking of the best gadgets of all time. "

 
Kyoto Pact goes into effect: "Amid fanfare marking the enactment of the Kyoto global warming pact, leading proponents laid out their next goals Wednesday: persuading the United States to join the world crackdown on emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases and planning further steps when the current agreement runs out in 2012. "

 
Escape From the Universe: "The universe is destined to end. Before it does, could an advanced civilisation escape via a 'wormhole' into a parallel universe? The idea seems like science fiction, but it is consistent with the laws of physics and biology. Here's how to do it"

 
Great moments in microprocessor history: "The evolution of the modern microprocessor is one of many surprising twists and turns. Who invented the first micro? Who had the first 32-bit single-chip design? You might be surprised at the answers. This article shows the defining decisions that brought the contemporary microprocessor to its present-day configuration."

 
PhysicsWeb - Physics World - The greatest equations ever (October 2004): Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism and the Euler equation top a poll to find the greatest equations of all time. Robert P Crease discusses the results of his reader survey

 
Entropy and Art: "Order is a prerequisite of survival; therefore the impulse to produce orderly arrangements is inbred by evolution. The social organizations of animals,the spatial formations of travelling birds or fishes, the webs of spiders and bee hives are examples. A pervasive striving for order seems to be inherent also in the human mind-an inclination that applies mostly for good practical reasons. "

 
The Story of the Two Things: "For every subject, there are really only two things you really need to know. Everything else is the application of those two things or just not important."

 
Students saying no to computer science: "Nationwide numbers for undergraduate enrollments in computer science departments this fall were not available. But a survey of Ph.D.-granting computer science departments in the United States by the Computer Research Association found that the number of new undergraduate majors in the field dropped 18 percent last year. "

 
Black holes turned 'inside out': "The black hole only appears to form but later opens up and releases information about what fell in, so we can be sure of the past and we can predict the future."

 
Top Ten Technologies of the Century: "The 20th century has hosted an incredible plethora of technological advances. Medical advances are such that the average Joe can extend his usefulness and outlive it. Science split the atom so that we could destroy a couple of cities in the name of peace, and we sent men to the moon so that they could bring back some rocks. We accidentally learned to melt ice caps and create more forceful hurricanes, and we figured out how to build more cars than we'll ever have drivers. All cool stuff. But for my money, the real revolution is in the evolving diversity of communications media from that first phone call to Mr. Watson to the Information Age, which is much hyped, and deservedly so. My top 10 technologies support the propagation of rock & roll, democracy, pornography, and capitalism -- the Best Stuff of our postmodern life. "

 
NASA - Gravity Probe Launched: "Gravity Probe B was successfully launched on its mission to test two extraordinary predictions of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity. More info available here

 
Kashmir - Years of violence - By Francois Gautier : "Do you know the real history of Kashmir? There is a great deal of misconception among the people about the State: That Kashmir did not always belong to India, or that it is a 'disputed area'. This is why we recently at FACT (Forum Against Continuing Terrorism) chose to hold an exhibition at the India Habitat Centre, which was a great success. Here are some of the facts we highlighted through the photographic exhibition. "

 
The loser's guide to getting lucky: "Professor Wiseman's four top tips for becoming lucky:

• Listen to your gut instincts - they are normally right


• Be open to new experiences and breaking your normal routine


• Spend a few moments each day remembering things that went well


• Visualise yourself being lucky before an important meeting or telephone call. Luck is very often a self-fulfilling prophecy"

 
The Law of Accelerating Returns - by Raymond Kurzweil : "An analysis of the history of technology shows that technological change is exponential, contrary to the common-sense 'intuitive linear' view. So we won't experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century -- it will be more like 20,000 years of progress (at today's rate). The 'returns,' such as chip speed and cost-effectiveness, also increase exponentially. There's even exponential growth in the rate of exponential growth. Within a few decades, machine intelligence will surpass human intelligence, leading to The Singularity -- technological change so rapid and profound it represents a rupture in the fabric of human history. The implications include the merger of biological and nonbiological intelligence, immortal software-based humans, and ultra-high levels of intelligence that expand outward in the universe at the speed of light."

 
ponniyin celvan of kalki: "Ponniyin celvan of Kalki"

 
Mohammed The Prophet: "The subject of my writing is about the tenets of a religion which is historic and its prophet who is also a historic personality. I may also add Prophet Mohammad is also a historic personality, every event of whose life has been most carefully recorded and even the minutest details preserved intact for the posterity. His life and works are not wrapped in mystery. My work today is further lightened because those days are fast disappearing when Islam was highly misrepresented by some of its critics for reasons political and otherwise."

 
Scientific American: Is dark matter theory or fact?: "Dark matter is known to exist through the gravitational effect it exerts on visible matter in the universe. As our astrophysical experiments become more sophisticated, and our understanding of large gravitational systems (galaxies and clusters of galaxies) grows, we will answer more of the questions that have faced us years. New questions about the nature and origin of dark matter are continually being put forward, ensuring that this field will be exciting, dynamic and at the forefront of astrophysical research for years to come."

Other related interesting articles on Dark Matter can be located here, here or here at Cosmic Hide and Seek: the Search for the Missing Mass.

 
The Physics of Santa: "A funny Scientific Disproof of the Santa Theory, and a couple of Rebuttals Thereto."

 
Extracts from Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda: "Yoga is the science which teaches us how to get these perceptions. It is not much use to talk about religion until one has felt it. Why is there so much disturbance, so much fighting and quarrelling in the name of God?. There has been more bloodshed in the name of God than for any other cause, because people never went to the fountainhead; they were content only to give mental assent to the customs of their forefathers, and wanted others to do the same. What right has a man to say he has a soul if he does not feel it, or that there is a God if he does not see him?. If there is a God we must see Him, if there is a soul we must perceive it; otherwise it is better not to believe. It is better to be an outspoken atheist than a hypocrite"

"We do not all see it, but we all throw out these Tanmatras, just as a flower continuously sends out fine particles which enable us to smell it. Every day of our lives we throw out a mass of good or evil, and everywhere we go the atmosphere is full of these materials. That is how there came to the human mind, unconsciously, the idea of building temples and churches. Why should man build churches in which to worship God? Why not worship Him anywhere? Even if he did not know the reason, man found that the place where people worshipped God became full of good Tanmatras"

"Every day people go there, and the more they go the holier they get, and the holier that place becomes. If any man who has not much Sattva in him goes there, the place will influence him and arouse his Sattva quality. Here, therefore, is the significance of all temples and holy places, but you must remember that their holiness depends on holy people congregating there. The difficulty with man is that he forgets the original meaning, and puts the cart before the horse. It was men who made these places holy, and then the effect became the cause and made men holy. If the wicked only were to go there, it would become as bad as any other place. It is not the building, but the people that make a church, and that is what we always forget"

"To believe blindly is to degenerate the human soul. Be an atheist if you want, but do not believe in anything unquestioningly."

 
Films Division videos: If you have grown up in India during the good old days when Doordarshan was the only option for TV entertainment, you would definitely remember Ek, Anek Our Ekta (full lyrics) and The Balloon, Let Me Live, and The Race with Death videos from Films Division of India.

 
Asha for Education™: Sandeep Pandey wins 2002 Ramon Magsaysay Award: "There are six levels an individual can live by - yourself, your body, your family, society, nature, universe. The biggest challenge facing mankind is in bringing these levels into harmony. Only if both material and consiousness needs are satisfied will human beings be happy. From this one derives two principles of education - (i) self reliance (swawalamban) and (ii) human values (samajikta). Education has to provide/inculcate these two principles for a just social order. "

 
Why I Am An Atheist by Bhagat Singh: "As regards the origin of God my own idea is that having realized the limitations of man, his weaknesses and shortcoming having been taken into consideration, God was brought into imaginary existence to encourage man to face boldly all the trying circumstances, to meet all dangers manfully and to check and restrain his outbursts in prosperity and affluence."

 
19th Century Guide to Dishonest Argument: "A man may be objectively in the right, and nevertheless in the eyes of bystanders, and sometimes in his own, he may come off worst. For example, I may advance a proof of some assertion, and my adversary may refute the proof, and thus appear to have refuted the assertion, for which there may, nevertheless, be other proofs. In this case, of course, my adversary and I change places: he comes off best, although, as a matter of fact, he is in the wrong."

 
So..finally I have experimented with blogs. Long time since I have developed interest in creating blogs. Now that google has shown interest in blogs and news is out suggesting the use of blogs in Semantic Web initiative, I had to create this blog (as Semantic Web happens to be my area of research interest).