India is great : 11/20/12

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Facebook 101: 25 Tips and Tricks

Chances are, if you're not on Facebook already, then you're likely to be getting on it pretty soon. Whether it's your kids or your next door neighbor (or those old friends you just reunited with at your high school reunion), folks around you have been hounding you to sign up, set up a profile, and start "social-networking" with all your friends, and their friends, and so on. Truth is, social-networking sites such as Facebook (and MySpace, Bebo, LinkedIn, etc) are increasingly turning into the first place people go when they get on the Internet, as these services offer e-mail, chat, music players, photo sharing, and so much more beyond just staying in touch with your Friends.

But the best (or worst) part about Facebook is all the people from your past who come out of the woodwork (we're talking grade-school past). All this means you'll want to look your very best on your Facebook profile, and make the best use of all that the service has to offer, which is why we've come up with 25 tips that'll optimize your social-networking experience. Try 'em out by clicking on 'Next' below, and if you've got any tips we've missed, please let us know!

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10 Tips for a healthy heart

Healthy eating and exercise

How can I stay healthy, active and busy? What can I do to keep my blood pressure down? What help and advice is there for me on eating well, and staying fit?

Live Well Suffolk is the healthy lifestyles service for everyone living and working in Suffolk. It is commissioned by NHS Suffolk and it's all free! They can help you if you want to kick unhealthy habits and start leading a healthier life. Find out about their activities and taster sessions.

Eating well

Healthy eating can help you manage your weight and will improve your general well-being. It can also reduce your risk of developing illness and serious disease. Your GP can offer advice but there are many other sources of information and guidance including books (available in Suffolk Libraries) and websites.

Age UK Healthy eating for older people
British Dietetic Association Fact sheets on diet, food labelling, weight loss and nutrition for all ages
Diet and healthy eating Easy read leaflets and posters
Easy read information on food and exercise
Eatwell The Food Standards Agency website on healthy eating, nutrition and obesity, including recipes
Five a day Top tips for eating more fruit and vegetables
Nutrition publications Advice on nutrition issues for different age groups

Keeping active and healthy

Keeping busy and active is crucial to a healthy and fulfilling life. Exercise should be fun, and can range from taking your dog for a walk to running a marathon. For example Change4Life is a campaign to help families eat well, move more and live longer. The website includes quizzes, games, recipes and information about what is happening where you live.

There are many other organisations that can help adults and children to enjoy healthy lifestyles and activities. Click here for a few suggestions, or search the resource Directory

Learning is excellent exercise for the brain, so keep it active by doing new things. Join a class, try out some leisure learning in your local area, join a club or society.

For information about local sports, leisure facilities, classes and clubs search in the resource Directory or see the Things to do pages on this website.

Article of suffolk.olminfoserve.co.uk

A strong heart is a result of healthy lifestyle choices. Be active and stress-free

Today's fast-paced life and workplace pressures escalate stress levels, taking a toll on one's heart. We must realise that the healing power of the body decreases when under stress, leading to many complications like hypertension and poor immunity. Today, even youngsters are prone to heart ailments. So, it's very important to stay healthy and manage your stress levels by understanding the risk factors — high cholesterol levels, stressful lifestyle, smoking, and lack of exercise — following simple changes in lifestyle.

Avoid smoking

Smoking reduces life expectancy by 15-25 years. If you are a smoker, you are twice more likely to have a heart attack than a non-smoker. The moment you stop smoking, the risk of heart attack begins to reduce.

Cut down on salt

Too much salt can cause high blood pressure, which increases the risk of developing coronary heart disease.

Watch your diet

Try to have a balanced diet. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables, starch foods such as wholegrain bread and rice.

Monitor your alcohol

Too much alcohol can damage the heart muscle, increase blood pressure and also lead to weight gain. Avoid intake of alcohol or at least limit it to one to two units a day, gradually decreasing the consumption.

Get active

At least aim for 30 minutes of moderate exercise a day. Keeping yourself fit not only benefits the heart but also improves mental health and well-being.

Monitor your BP, blood sugar and cholesterol levels

Routine medical check-ups will ring an alarm, if you need medical help.

Manage your waist

Cholesterol deposition in blood vessels begins in the first decade of life. Carrying a lot of extra weight as fat can greatly affect your health. Make small but healthy changes in your diet.

Manage your stress level

If you find things are getting on top of you, you may fail to eat properly, smoke and drink too much. This may increase your risk of a heart attack. Practice yoga/meditation. Take a vacation.

Check your family history

If a close relative is at risk of developing coronary heart disease from smoking, high BP, high cholesterol, lack of physical activity, obesity and diabetes, then you could be at risk too.

Laughter is the best therapy

Laughter anytime will work wonders for you. It is an instant way to unleash the pressure and it makes you feel light.

(Inputs by Dr Kushagra Katariya, chief cardiothoracic surgeon, Artemis Health Institute, Gurgaon)

Article from Timesof India

Beyond 2012: Why the World Won't End

Blue Marble - High-Res Image of the Earth

› View larger
A 'Blue Marble' image of the Earth taken from the Visible/Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard NASA's Suomi NPP satellite. This composite image uses a number of swaths of the Earth's surface taken on January 4, 2012. Credit: NASA/NOAA/GSFC/Suomi NPP/VIIRS/Norman Kuring Dec. 21, 2012, won't be the end of the world as we know, however, it will be another winter solstice.

Contrary to some of the common beliefs out there, the claims behind the end of the world quickly unravel when pinned down to the 2012 timeline.

Below, NASA Scientists answer questions on the following 2012 topics:

Question (Q): Are there any threats to the Earth in 2012? Many Internet websites say the world will end in December 2012.

Answer (A):The world will not end in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012.

Q: What is the origin of the prediction that the world will end in 2012?

A: The story started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth. This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the doomsday date was moved forward to December 2012 and linked to the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan calendar at the winter solstice in 2012 -- hence the predicted doomsday date of December 21, 2012.

Q: Does the Mayan calendar end in December 2012?

A: Just as the calendar you have on your kitchen wall does not cease to exist after December 31, the Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on December 21, 2012. This date is the end of the Mayan long-count period but then -- just as your calendar begins again on January 1 -- another long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar.

Q: Could planets align in a way that impacts Earth?

A: There are no planetary alignments in the next few decades and even if these alignments were to occur, their effects on the Earth would be negligible. One major alignment occurred in 1962, for example, and two others happened during 1982 and 2000. Each December the Earth and sun align with the approximate center of the Milky Way Galaxy but that is an annual event of no consequence.
› More about alignment

"There apparently is a great deal of interest in celestial bodies, and their locations and trajectories at the end of the calendar year 2012. Now, I for one love a good book or movie as much as the next guy. But the stuff flying around through cyberspace, TV and the movies is not based on science. There is even a fake NASA news release out there..."
- Don Yeomans, NASA senior research scientist
Q: Is there a planet or brown dwarf called Nibiru or Planet X or Eris that is approaching the Earth and threatening our planet with widespread destruction?

A: Nibiru and other stories about wayward planets are an Internet hoax. There is no factual basis for these claims. If Nibiru or Planet X were real and headed for an encounter with the Earth in 2012, astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye. Obviously, it does not exist. Eris is real, but it is a dwarf planet similar to Pluto that will remain in the outer solar system; the closest it can come to Earth is about 4 billion miles.

Q: What is the polar shift theory? Is it true that the Earth's crust does a 180-degree rotation around the core in a matter of days if not hours?

A: A reversal in the rotation of Earth is impossible. There are slow movements of the continents (for example Antarctica was near the equator hundreds of millions of years ago), but that is irrelevant to claims of reversal of the rotational poles. However, many of the disaster websites pull a bait-and-switch to fool people. They claim a relationship between the rotation and the magnetic polarity of Earth, which does change irregularly, with a magnetic reversal taking place every 400,000 years on average. As far as we know, such a magnetic reversal doesn’t cause any harm to life on Earth. Scientists believe a magnetic reversal is very unlikely to happen in the next few millennia.
› More about polar shift

Q: Is the Earth in danger of being hit by a meteor in 2012?

A: The Earth has always been subject to impacts by comets and asteroids, although big hits are very rare. The last big impact was 65 million years ago, and that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Today NASA astronomers are carrying out a survey called the Spaceguard Survey to find any large near-Earth asteroids long before they hit. We have already determined that there are no threatening asteroids as large as the one that killed the dinosaurs. All this work is done openly with the discoveries posted every day on the NASA Near-Earth Object Program Office website, so you can see for yourself that nothing is predicted to hit in 2012.

Q: How do NASA scientists feel about claims of the world ending in 2012?

A: For any claims of disaster or dramatic changes in 2012, where is the science? Where is the evidence? There is none, and for all the fictional assertions, whether they are made in books, movies, documentaries or over the Internet, we cannot change that simple fact. There is no credible evidence for any of the assertions made in support of unusual events taking place in December 2012.
› Why you need not fear a supernova
› About super volcanoes

Q: Is there a danger from giant solar storms predicted for 2012?

A: Solar activity has a regular cycle, with peaks approximately every 11 years. Near these activity peaks, solar flares can cause some interruption of satellite communications, although engineers are learning how to build electronics that are protected against most solar storms. But there is no special risk associated with 2012. The next solar maximum will occur in the 2012-2014 time frame and is predicted to be an average solar cycle, no different than previous cycles throughout history.
› Video: Solar Storms
› More about solar storms

Based on nasa.gov

Planet gets lost in space

In a rare event, a planet pulled free from its mother star and sailed off alone into empty space. Named Object CFBDSIR 2149, the lonely planet is a dull star with no shine to talk of. It is estimated to be between 50 to 120 million years with a sizzling temperature of around 400 degrees celcius.
Although rare, it’s not for the first time that such an event occurred in deep space, but this one was the closest one spotted from earth at over 100 light years away. The planet was seen to be gravitating towards a cluster of 30 stars of the same age and composition that floated together in space called the AB Doradus Moving Group.
It was spotted through an infrared camera at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope and a large telescope in Chile ranked as the sixth largest in the world. Astronomers consider this discovery vital since it helped them comprehend how planets separate from planetary systems.

(Based on Ndtv.com)

New life for stray animals in Nagpur

The Nagpur Municipal Corporation, together with the People for Animal (PFA) has flagged off a project to save wounded stray animals. They have set up a special mobile ambulance service to treat wounded, sick or injured stray animals.
The mobile hospital is equipped to deal with an assortment of wounded stray animals from dogs and cats to cows and monkeys. Earlier, the animals died from accidents and ailment since there was not many veterinary hospitals around. Animals were cramped into a truck which frightened the injured animal more than saving it. The mobile ambulance is a round-the-clock service that can rush to their rescue in moments. The organization has also built a special cemetery for pets and plans to build a shelter near the crematorium with special provisions for drinking water to prevent sunstroke.

(Based on Articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com)

Aryans were natives of India, not foreigners!

In a recent analysis that could change history, it has been concluded that the ancient races that combined to make up the people of India, Aryans and Dravidians, were both natives of India.
All these years it was believed that Dravidians were the natives and Aryans were nomads who came in from Central Asia but the study by Dr Lalji Singh, vice-chancellor of Benaras Hindu University (BHU), said that proto Aryan races were present in the Harappan civilization. Both Aryans and Dravidians had the same genetic basis and both used Sanskrit as their language.
The script however was an older form of the oldest script in India, the Brahmi script. Called proto Brahmi, the father of the Brahmi script of the Indus Valley Civilization still remains a mystery. This script along with the Kohi script engraved on palm leaf manuscripts comprised about 18 letters and pictures and was written from right to left. It was only much later, around 2000 to 1500 BC that the left to right system was created. The longest manuscript from the Harappan civilization unearthed so far had about seven lines engraved on a palm leaf.