Time technicians at the National Institute of Standards & Technology set a new level of precision in 1949 by inventing the atomic clock. It counted the oscillations of the nitrogen atom in an ammonia molecule–and was reliable to within one second in three years. More recently, NIST switched to an atomic clock based on the vibrations of cesium atoms. It will need 300,000 years to gain or lose a single second. But NIST scientists are working on a still-better model: a single mercury ion will be trapped in a vacuum by laser beams and cooled to its lowest possible energy level. The atom’s oscillations will then be so stable that the new timepiece should be accurate to within one second in 10 billion years–the total life span of stars similar to our sun.

A professor in a world-acclaimed medical school once posed this medical situation — and ethical problem — to his students: “Here’s the family history: The father has syphilis. The mother has TB. They already have had four children. The first is blind. The second had died. The third is deaf. The fourth has TB. Now the mother is pregnant again, The parents come to you for advice. They are willing to have an abortion, if you decide they should. What do you say?”

The students gave various individual opinions, and then the professor asked them to break into small groups for “consultation.” All of the groups came back to report that they would recommend abortion.

“Congratulations,” the professor said, “You just took the life of Beethoven!”

A British publication once offered a prize for the best definition of a friend. Among the thousands of answers received were the following:

• “One who multiplies joys, divides grief, and whose honesty is inviolable.”
• “One who understands our silence.”
• “A volume of sympathy bound in cloth.”
• “A watch that beats true for all time and never runs down.”

The winning definition read: “A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out.”

The mindless violence and massacre of innocent civilians by the maoists is really heart rending. 100 people meeting the end of their lives and a few hundreds injured without having any clue about it, makes it all the more saddening. Why isn’t the government with all its might and the machinery at it’s possible unable to contain this mindless violence?

My heart goes to all those families who have lost their dear ones. None can replace that loss. I read it in the newspaper today that a family of four perished as they were going on their very first vacation. The twin girls died in each other arms. Where in the world do we see compassion? My only prayer is that God will give wisdom to the rulers of this nation and help them deal with these issues very effectively.

The distance from my house to the place I work is roughly 9kms. I was driving back home at around 10:30pm. Traffic was very less and very few street lights were working, still the roads were bright and clear because of the huge bright billboards on either sides of the road.

I then started counting the number of billboards along the way. To my utter surprise I found that we had around 200 billboards in a space of 9kms. Some huge, some small, some hanging precariously from the roof tops of dilapidated homes endorsing roughly around 150 different products. Each of the ads were unique and compelling in their own way.

I woke up to the fact that I am flooded with huge amount of information, whether I like it or not. From the time you wake up, till you sleep this information from all sides hits you whether you need it or not. Most of the times this information sits in my subconscious memory, and then suddenly comes to the forefront when i am making a decision.I am pretty not sure if I am taking the right decision based on the facts stored in my subconscious memory.There was a time when information was scare and held very sacred. Today is not that story anymore. Less is no longer considered to be good…