Faith

Faith influences the life of many people in all spheres of their life. A person in moral authority can influence the decisions and life of people that come under his influence.

Clergy, from any religion and from any denomination wield influence on their congregation.  The faithful always look upto them for direction and help. In such a situation the power balance is immeasurably staked in favor of clergy and it is easy for them to take advantage of these vulnerable.

One in every 33 women who attend worship services regularly has been the target of sexual advances by a religious leader, a survey released Wednesday says.

“and clearly the problem is more than simply a few charismatic leaders preying on vulnerable followers,” said Diana Garland, dean of Baylor’s School of Social Work, who co-authored the study.

The consequences are terrible on the victim. They may suffer lasting psychological and spiritual consequences from the relationship, including depression and a deep distrust of organized religion.

It may shake the very foundation of faith.

Gift from Life

The following verse, that I had collected since long caught my eye while cleaning my disk.  Thought I would share it here.

This has a curious attraction, life gives us something else along with what we want.  Poet has described it so subtly, smoothly, touchingly. I liked it very much.

Life is a two sided coin always

When I picked up one

Unnoticed the other side came

Part and parcel.

And oh! I said, but I did not ask for this

Life smiled at me and said,

But child you dearly wanted that.

So that is what life is. In retrospect, humans do not gain anything or they lose anything. Life is a double edged sword, it takes in one hand, but remember it compensates you as well.  So, do not lose hope, or get discouraged when the troubles strike you along with streaks of fortune.

Education

Obama has embraced education to increase national competitiveness. He, being brought up in difficult situations has understood the value of education in furthering ones ambitions.  His speech to high school students this Tuesday centred around- put in your full efforts in studies for your and national benefit.

In his speech, Obama noted how lucky he was to have a mother who valued education. Though he couldn’t afford the nicest schools when growing up abroad, Obama said his mother pushed him to put in additional efforts.

Obama also talked about staying in school in order to pursue higher paying and more rewarding careers.

But the life has changed.  Researchers studying how to improve graduation rates at public colleges and universities have come up with a surprising and counter-intuitive finding: Many students may fail to complete a bachelor’s degree not because the work is too hard — but because they’re not challenged enough.

USA Today reports (http://tr.im/ygO8) that many students do not graduate because they are not challenged enough!!!!.

Indecent Pants

Lubna Ahmed Al Hussein is out from jail. She had already declared she will not pay a fine, but is willing to go to jail. The courts on appeal came down from lashes to fine. But Lubna did not appeal against the fine. What this episode accomplished? is a big question mark.

In any country, people have to observe a certain dress code. This depends on the society, in which one is living. In some countries full coverage like burkha for women is compulsory. In Saudi Arabia, a staunch supporter of American initiative against terrorism, women have to wear burkha in public.

Sudan, a society molded under the Islamic teachings, insists on the women to dress as it is taught in Islamic scriptures. Even Lubna came to the court wearing a traditional Sudanese scarf.  This only shows, no one can escape their upbringing.

In Muslim world, nothing changes unless the Islam changes. Islam changes only when interpretation, modification and liberalization of Quranic teachings  are accepted at large.

Faith

Human beings are programed by evolution to believe in some super being, because it gives them a better chance at survival, researchers have claimed. This conclusion was arrived at by Bruce Hood, professor of developmental psychology at Bristol University after an extensive study as quoted by the Times.

He further states “Our research shows children have a natural, intuitive way of reasoning that leads them to all kinds of supernatural beliefs about how the world works”.  His work is also supported by other researchers who have found evidence linking religious feelings and experience to particular regions of the brain.  They suggest people are programed to get a feeling of spirituality from electrical activity in these regions.

It is really a victory for propagators of organized religions.   The faith in God is an inborn, intuitive feeling to humans and it is not a forced tendency. The idea of “God” is etched in the psyche of humans, and it gives them an sense of “belonging”, that spurs them to live on.

Caster Semenya

Caster Semenya has been pulled on the rug more harshly than any other athlete.  It is a gender storm that rakes up all sorts of dirt. There is no systematic, civilized approach to get proper answer. But whole thing looks as if authority is out to get an innocent.

Sex tests were carried out on 800m champion runner before her Berlin gold medal win. This should have satisfied the world. If these tests were not enough to satisfy the curiosity, the very reputation of Berlin organizers is in doubt.  She has reached a stage where these primary doubts should have been cleared long back. Why all these athletic associations and federations accepted her as a female and allowed her to compete as one?

Furious South Africans have accused the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) of everything from racism to imperialism for ordering the test after her rapid improvement over the last year raised its suspicions.

Meanwhile, Caster has modeled, she has been put on the front page as a model by a South African paper, and she liked the lime-light of modeling.

FriendFeed

There is a lots of heartburn in the Etherworld today.  Some is genuine, some just superficial.  But there is lots of disappointment.  The news is out -FriendFeed is selling itself to FaceBook.  It just does not make any sense.  People in general of the opinion that they were rivals, though the services differ slightly in their approach to gather their clientele.  In fact I enjoyed FriendFeed better than FaceBook.

Now, if the history is recanted,  the founders were a bunch of zealots. The guys were out of Google,  for the sake of money?  I do not think so.  But did they get it?

Louis Gray and Robert Scoble were part of its success story. FriendFeed was a successful service, I do not know how they could have monetized that idea, but it was a successful idea to gather a large followers.  But it went out with a loud bang.  It deserved it.

Anyway, everyone has a stomach and we can see the results.  Even the mighty will succumb.

Tetris

Oh, it is twenty fifth birthday for Tetris. I think, there is hardly any computer geek who put his hand on computer key board has not played Tetris. It is a fascinating game to while away time. It was a game to be played when one is down and needed some fresh air in office. It was a game played on a game player while travelling. It was everywhere.  It was an addictive game, still it used to give some satisfaction of building something rather than destroying.

It was a game invented by a Russian, and steadily, the game worked its way around the world. Millions of people found themselves glued to their computers and game players – hearts racing and screaming in frustration – all over getting a simple horizontal line of digital squares to disappear.

Fun was, there was no winning target. One just went on playing, till he decided to stop. Yes, it was fun.

I do not play it anymore.

Moral Dilemma

President Obama restored fully the State funding for embryonic stem cell research. It is an about turn to the policy followed by Bush Administration.

Nations do not drastically change policy in moral ideologies or foreign relations at change in Government. But this case begs to differ.

The potential for stem cell research is so amazing; it may boil down to life and death or ability to live without suffering an incurable disease. It is perceived as the future of medical science.

But at the same time if cures are made from the bodies of unborn children, it will create a market for aborted fetus material. An embryo at any stage is a life. Its cells will naturally divide, this makes it alive. Therefore, it is like cannibalize policy followed by developing countries when they are constrained to find spares for their machinery.

Useful discoveries have also been made from adult stem cells, i.e. those that do not require destruction of embryos. But the scientific fraternity thinks it is a dead end.

Is it a dead end?

Web 2.0

The Global Language Monitor, which uses a math formula to track the frequency of words and phrases in print and electronic media, estimated that “Web 2.0″ is the one millionth word or phrase  in the English language.

The contention is purely subjective. There can not be any criteria or set rules to take a word into any language. English is a flourishing language and it adds and obsoletes many words. So, counting the exact number of words currently in a language is like counting stars- it can only be a best estimate.

The term “Web 2.0″ was coined by Darcy DiNucci in 1999 in her article “Fragmented Future”. Today Web 2.0 is a popular word among the internet savvy.  Still, nobody has yet been able to define “Web 2.0″ in a standard manner. Generally it denotes second generation of internet -interactive, collaborative, user-centered.

The official meaning given by the Global Language Monitor is “Web 2.0 – The next generation of web products and services, coming soon to a browser near you”.