kanalpakkangal.blogspirit.com [ கனல் பக்கங்கள் ]

• brain of total body weight (150 pound human) = 2%
  
• Average brain width = 140 mm Average brain length = 167 mm
  
• Average brain height = 93 mm
  
• Intracranial contents by volume (1,700 ml, 100%):
  

1. brain = 1,400 ml (80%);
   
2. blood = 150 ml (10%);
   
3. cerebrospinal fluid = 150 ml (10%) (from Rengachary, S.S. and Ellenbogen, R.G., editors, Principles of Neurosurgery, Edinburgh: Elsevier Mosby, 2005)
   
4. Average number of neurons in the brain = 100 billion
5. Number of neurons in brain (octopus) = 300 million (from How Animals See, S. Sinclair, 1985) Number of neurons in Aplysia nervous system = 18,000-20,000 Number of neurons in each segmental ganglia in the leech = 350 Volume of the brain of a locust = 6mm3 (from The Neurobiology of the Insect Brain, Burrows, M., 1996)

• 9 out of 10 people  believe Thomas Edison invented the light bulb.This isn't true; Joseph Swan  did. Swan received a British patent for his device in 1878, about a year before Edison !
• Clocks made before 1687 had only one hand
• The ship, the Queen Elizabeth 2, should always be written as QE2. QEII is the
  actual queen.
• If you can see a rainbow you must have your back to the sun.
• Russia has the most movie theaters in the world.
• Every year the sun loses 360 million tons.
• On average, a 4-year-old child asks 437 questions a day.
• 2,500 lefties die each year using products designed for rightists.
• On an average work day, a typist's fingers travel 12.6 miles.
• The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.

When I was searching for the R'day topics my web search lead me to many interesting subjects. One shock I got is on reading Godse's last official words ... Even the people who had gathered in court room were strongly felt for him.  The judge who convicted Nathuram was on record saying that had the public been the jury, Nathuram Godse would have been surely aquitted. -  Chella

 In the pic (L to R) :Nathuram Godse, Narayan Apte and Vishnu Karkare

Here is his speach ...

" Born in a devotional Brahmin family, I instinctively came to revere Hindu religion, Hindu history and Hindu culture. I had, therefore, been intensely  proud of Hinduism as a whole. As I grew up I developed a tendency to free  thinking unfettered by any superstitious allegiance to any isms, political  or religious. That is why I worked actively for the eradication of  untouchability and the caste system based on birth alone. I openly joined  anti-caste movements and maintained that all Hindus were of equal status as  to rights, social and religious and should be considered high or low on merit  alone and not through the accident of birth in a particular caste or  profession. I used publicly to take part in organized anti-caste dinners  in which thousands of Hindus, Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, Chamars  and Bhangis participated. We broke the caste rules and dined in the  company of each other.

 I have read the speeches and writings of Dadabhai Naoroji, Vivekanand,  Gokhale, Tilak, along with the books of ancient and modern history of  India and some prominent countries like England, France, America and'  Russia. Moreover I studied the tenets of Socialism and Marxism. But above  all I studied very closely whatever Veer Savarkar and Gandhiji had written  and spoken, as to my mind these two ideologies have contributed more to  the moulding of the thought and action of the Indian people during the last  thirty years or so, than any other single factor has done.

 All this reading and thinking led me to believe it was my first duty to  serve Hindudom and Hindus both as a patriot and as a world citizen.  To secure the freedom and to safeguard the just interests of some thirty  crores (300 million) of Hindus would automatically constitute the freedom  and the well-being of all India, one fifth of human race. This conviction  led me naturally to devote myself to the Hindu Sanghtanist ideology  and programme, which alone, I came to believe, could win and preserve  the national independence of Hindustan, my Motherland, and enable her to
 render true service to humanity as well.

 Since the year 1920, that is, after the demise of Lokamanya Tilak,  Gandhiji's influence in the Congress first increased and then became  supreme. His activities for public awakening were phenomenal in their  intensity and were reinforced by the slogan of truth and non-violence  which he paraded ostentatiously before the country. No sensible or  enlightened person could object to those slogans. In fact there is nothing  new or original in them. They are implicit in every constitutional  public movement. But it is nothing but a mere dream if you imagine  that the bulk of mankind is, or can ever become, capable of scrupulous  adherence to these lofty principles in its normal life from day to day.  In fact, hunour, duty and love of one's own kith and kin and country might  often compel us to disregard non-violence and to use force. I could never  conceive that an armed resistance to an aggression is unjust. I would
 consider it a religious and moral duty to resist and, if possible, to  overpower such an enemy by use of force. [In the Ramayana] Rama killed  Ravana in a tumultuous fight and relieved Sita. [In the Mahabharata],  Krishna killed Kansa to end his wickedness; and Arjuna had to fight  and slay quite a number of his friends and relations including the
 revered Bhishma because the latter was on the side of the aggressor.  It is my firm belief that in dubbing Rama, Krishna and Arjuna as guilty  of violence, the Mahatma betrayed a total ignorance of the springs of  human action.

 In more recent history, it was the heroic fight put up by Chhatrapati  Shivaji that first checked and eventually destroyed the Muslim tyranny  in India. It was absolutely essentially for Shivaji to overpower and kill an aggressive Afzal Khan, failing which he would have lost his own life. In condemning history's towering warriors like Shivaji, Rana Pratap and Guru Gobind Singh as misguided patriots, Gandhiji has merely exposed his self-conceit. He was, paradoxical as it may appear, a violent pacifist who brought untold calamities on the country in the name of truth and
 non-violence, while Rana Pratap, Shivaji and the Guru will remain enshrined in the hearts of their countrymen for ever for the freedom they brought to them.

 The accumulating provocation of thirty-two years, culminating in his last pro-Muslim fast, at last goaded me to the conclusion that the existence of Gandhi should be brought to an end immediately. Gandhi had done very good in South Africa to uphold the rights and well-being of the Indian community there. But when he finally returned to India he developed a subjective mentality under which he alone was to be the final judge of what was right or wrong. If the country wanted his leadership, it had to accept his infallibility; if it did not, he would stand aloof from the Congress and carry on his own way. Against such an attitude there can be no halfway house. Either Congress had to surrender its will to his and had to be content with playing second fiddle to all his eccentricity, whimsicality, metaphysics and primitive vision, or it had to carry on without him. He alone was the Judge of everyone and every thing; he was
 the master brain guiding the civil disobedience movement; no other could know the technique of that movement. He alone knew when to begin and when to withdraw it. The movement might succeed or fail, it might bring untold disaster and political reverses but that could make no difference to the Mahatma's infallibility. 'A Satyagrahi can never fail'
 was his formula for declaring his own infallibility and nobody except himself knew what a Satyagrahi is.

 Thus, the Mahatma became the judge and jury in his own cause. These childish insanities and obstinacies, coupled with a most severe austerity of life, ceaseless work and lofty character made Gandhi formidable and irresistible. Many people thought that his politics were irrational but they had either to withdraw from the Congress or place their
 intelligence at his feet to do with as he liked. In a position of such absolute irresponsibility Gandhi was guilty of blunder after blunder, failure after failure, disaster after disaster.

 Gandhi's pro-Muslim policy is blatantly in his perverse attitude on the question of the national language of India. It is quite obvious that Hindi has the most prior claim to be accepted as the premier language. In the beginning of his career in India, Gandhi gave a great impetus to Hindi but as he found that the Muslims did not like it, he became a champion of what is called Hindustani. Everybody in India knows that there is no language called Hindustani; it has no grammar; it has no vocabulary. It is a mere dialect, it is spoken, but not written. It is a bastard tongue and cross-breed between Hindi and Urdu, and not even the Mahatma's sophistry could make it popular. But in his
 desire to please the Muslims he insisted that Hindustani alone should be the national language of India. His blind followers, of course,  supported him and the so-called hybrid language began to be used. The charm and purity of the Hindi language was to be prostituted to please the Muslims. All his experiments were at the expense of the Hindus.

 From August 1946 onwards the private armies of the Muslim League began a massacre of the Hindus. The then Viceroy, Lord Wavell, though distressed at what was happening, would not use his powers under the Government of India Act of 1935 to prevent the rape, murder and arson. The Hindu blood began to flow from Bengal to Karachi with some retaliation by the Hindus. The Interim Government formed in September was sabotaged by its Muslim League members right from its inception, but the more they became disloyal and treasonable to the government of which they were a part, the greater was Gandhi's infatuation for them. Lord Wavell had to resign as he could not bring about a settlement and he was succeeded by Lord Mountbatten. King Log was followed by King Stork.  The Congress which had boasted of its nationalism and socialism secretly accepted Pakistan literally at the point of the bayonet and
 abjectly surrendered to Jinnah. India was vivisected and one-third of  the Indian territory became foreign land to us from August 15, 1947. Lord Mountbatten came to be described in Congress circles as the greatest Viceroy and Governor-General this country ever had. The official date for handing over power was fixed for June 30, 1948, but
 Mountbatten with his ruthless surgery gave us a gift of vivisected India ten months in advance. This is what Gandhi had achieved after thirty years of undisputed dictatorship and this is what Congress party calls 'freedom' and 'peaceful transfer of power'. The Hindu-Muslim unity bubble was finally burst and a theocratic state was established
 with the consent of Nehru and his crowd and they have called 'freedom won by them with sacrifice' - whose sacrifice? When top leaders of Congress, with the consent of Gandhi, divided and tore the country - which we consider a deity of worship - my mind was filled with direful anger.

 One of the conditions imposed by Gandhi for his breaking of the fast unto death related to the mosques in Delhi occupied by the Hindu refugees. But when Hindus in Pakistan were subjected to violent attacks he did not so much as utter a single word to protest and censure the Pakistan Government or the Muslims concerned. Gandhi was shrewd enough to know that while undertaking a fast unto death, had he imposed for its break some condition on the Muslims in Pakistan, there would have been found hardly any Muslims who could have shown some grief if the fast had ended in his death. It was for this reason that he purposely avoided imposing any condition on the Muslims. He was fully aware of from the experience that Jinnah was not at all perturbed or influenced by his fast and the Muslim League hardly attached any value to the inner voice of Gandhi.

 Gandhi is being referred to as the Father of the Nation. But if that is so, he had failed his paternal duty inasmuch as he has acted very  treacherously to the nation by his consenting to the partitioning of it. I stoutly maintain that Gandhi has failed in his duty. He has proved to be the Father of Pakistan. His inner-voice, his spiritual power and his doctrine of non-violence of which so much is made of, all crumbled before Jinnah's iron will and proved to be powerless.

 Briefly speaking, I thought to myself and foresaw I shall be totally ruined, and the only thing I could expect from the people would be nothing but hatred and that I shall have lost all my honour, even more valuable than my life, if I were to kill Gandhiji. But at the same time I felt that the Indian politics in the absence of Gandhiji would surely be proved practical, able to retaliate, and would be powerful with armed forces. No doubt, my own future would be totally ruined, but the nation would be saved from the inroads of Pakistan. People may even call me and dub me as devoid of any sense or foolish, but the nation would be free to follow the course founded on the reason which I consider to be necessary for sound nation-building. After having fully considered the question, I took the final decision in the matter, but I did not speak about it to anyone whatsoever. I took courage in both my hands and I did fire the shots at Gandhiji on 30th January 1948, on the prayer-grounds of Birla House.  

 I do say that my shots were fired at the person whose policy and action had brought rack and ruin and destruction to millions of Hindus. There was no legal machinery by which such an offender could be brought to book and for this reason I fired those fatal shots.  I bear no ill will towards anyone individually but I do say that I had no respect for the present government owing to their policy which was unfairly favourable towards the Muslims. But at the same time I could clearly see that the policy was entirely due to the presence of Gandhi. I have to say with great regret that Prime Minister Nehru quite forgets that his preachings and deeds are at times at variances with each other when he talks about India as a secular state in season and out of season, because it is significant to note that Nehru has played a
 leading role in the establishment of the theocratic state of Pakistan, and his job was made easier by Gandhi's persistent policy of appeasement towards the Muslims.  

 I now stand before the court to accept the full share of my responsibility for what I have done and the judge would, of course, pass against me such orders of sentence as may be considered proper. But I would like to add that I do not desire any mercy to be shown to me, nor do I wish that anyone else should beg for mercy on my behalf. My confidence about the moral side of my action has not been shaken even by the criticism levelled against it on all sides. I have no doubt that honest writers of history will weigh my act and find the true value thereof some day
 in future. "

Happy to watch the Republic day parade of India. If there is one place you can understand the vast diversity of Indian Subcontinent then this is the day. Happy to see our Kalam, waving his hands to the youth of India. Saudi king , the chief Guest also impressed a lot on seeing the diversity of the country. No country can be boast of such a vast cultural diversity and unity. In this day i would like to remember some of the galant Indian youths. Bhagath Singh like leftist youths fought for the country by giving their life.

Many think that India got its freedom by Gandhian struggle. But it is only an half truth. Without Bhagath Singh, Sughadev, Netaji etc etc Indian freedon would have been a dream. A person like Churchil could have handled Gandhian movement for a few more decades! The indian gallantry, unrest and Labour Party came into power in England are some of the reasons for our independence. In this day i would like to remember one such brave youth ... Udham Singh, aperson who took revenge for Jalian Wala Bhagh Masacre ... that too in England soil ! Some of his last words before he was hanged in UK ....

"I did it because I had a grudge against him (Sir Michael O'Dwyer) , he deserved it. I don't belong to any society or anything else. I don't care, I don't mind dying. What is the use of waiting until you get old? That is no good ... Is Zetland dead? He ought to be, I put two in him. I bought the revolver from a soldier in a public house. My parents died when I was 3 or 4 ... Only the one dead, eh? I thought I could get more." Read more

Got a mail from my Canadian Friend / music producer Stephen Conroy and got this fantastic lovely fav gal of chella LIEL! ( Many many favorite girls will come soon! ) . Mr Stephen wrote me ...

 " Hi Chella, You've been missed! Doing excellent over here. Great to see your return. Looking forward to more of your excellent vision. Here's a treat: Arabic/Jewish children's choir with invited guest Bill Clinton ... Check out this beautiful performance of an Arabic/Jewish children's choir! (They invited Bill Clinton to sing Imagine with them.)
http://www.liel.net/Liel-ClintonVideo2.wmv "

Another Celine Dion??! I visited her site liel.net and it is fantastic... with music !! Visit it once ! - Chella

 The Hounen festival at Tagata shrine is one of the most famous (or infamous?) festivals in Japan. Every year on March 15 a huge two and a half meter wooden phallus is carried the short distance between two shrines attracting visitors from all over Japan and international media attention. The festival is fun with a lot of sake drinking; however the background of the festival is rather more serious.

Hounen means bountiful year and like many cultures, Japan had numerous fertility rituals appealing to gods or spirits for a good harvest. Spring is the time of regeneration where seeds sprout and dormant trees and plants that seem to be dead come back to life.

The Hounen festival pays veneration to a female deity, Tamahime-no-mikoto, embodying agricultural fertility. Every year at the height of winter a new phallus is made from a single Japanese cypress tree and carved according to strict ritual. According to Shinto traditions newly made objects posses vitality. The phallus is a gift to the deity, which accompanies her visiting husband once a year.

Much of a human's crucial brain development happens during childhood, but it isn't all downhill from there. Studies have shown that neurons continue to grow and change well into the adult years.

CREDIT: Courtesy of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and Dr. Noam Harel, University of Minnesota.

Already an established brow-wetter over the pond, jessica Alba has been sorely missed since the axeing of sci-fi's Dark Angel. But fear not-she's set to return to the big screen as the superbly-named "Honey Daniels" in Honey. Better still, she plays a sexy dancer.

The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend a personal God and avoid dogmas and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs, it would be Buddhism.

Who said it... Talai Lama ? No It is Albert Einstein!! ( Taken from Slashdot.orgs recent post on ID- Chella )