– Vivekananda on Mass/Energy, Prana and Death

Last updated on: October 28, 2005 at 7:21 am By Desh Kapoor

Here are a few nuggets from Vivekananda's lectures. The reason why these seem somewhat abrupt is because he gave the lectures.. and one of his American followers had documented those lectures verbatim!! Mass & Energy "The Whole Universe is a mass of energy, and it is present at every point. One grain is enough for all of us, if we know how to get what there is..." Prana and Death "At death all the senses go into the mind and the mind goes into the Prana, vitality. The soul goes out and carries part of the mind out with him. He carries a certain part of the vitality, and he carries a certain amount of very fine material also, as the germ of the spiritual body. The Prana cannot exist without some sort of Vehicle... it gets lodgement in th ethoughts, and it will come out again. So you manufacture this new body and new brain. Through it will manifest..." Read more

– Gandhi: Greatness gone Wrong!

Last updated on: October 27, 2005 at 2:46 pm By Desh Kapoor

Nice potrait - of a great man.. who ultimately ended up doing more harm than good! All because he put his "principles" ahead of his "duty" and "freedom of thought". Read more

– "Able Danger": Did US Army Intelligence know of Mohd. Atta?

Last updated on: October 27, 2005 at 2:45 pm By Desh Kapoor

Just listened to this section on "Able Danger" on CNN - a secret US Army Intelligence program that had identified, at least Mohd. Atta ... A YEAR BEFORE! Here is what Wikipedia says about what Able Danger is: Able Danger was a small, highly classified U.S. Army intelligence program under the command of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC). It was created as a result of a directive in early October 1999 by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Hugh Shelton, to USASOC to develop a campaign plan against transnational terrorism, "specifically al-Qaida." According to claims made by Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer and confirmed by four others, Able Danger had identified the 9/11 attack leader, Mohamed Atta, and three other 9/11 hijackers as possible members of an al Qaeda cell operating in the United States by mid-2000, more than a year before the attack. Data mining has been cited as the method by which this information was found. The claim appears to contradict the official conclusion of the 9/11 Commission that American intelligence agencies had not identified Atta as a terrorist prior to the attack. This has resulted in a political controversy that has begun to damage the credibility of the bipartisan 9/11 Commission. Read more

– An eternal Indian Beauty: MADHUBALA

Last updated on: October 27, 2005 at 12:59 pm By Desh Kapoor

Wanted to bring this eternal Indian beauty from Indian Cinema.. still my favorite! She was Madhubala - had the power to make many a hearts flutter.. but sadly her own heart couldn't keep pace with her. And as happened with most such beauties.. she died early .. in her 30's! Read more

– Transition from Middle Management to Senior Mgmt!

Last updated on: October 27, 2005 at 12:10 pm By Desh Kapoor

This is an issue that worries everyone ... and forms part of the "Mid Life Crisis" argument! We all deal with it.. are we going to make that transition or just remain where we are - in the middle rungs - for the rest of the life? Here is some thought from Management Recruiters International (MRI) site. Managers who aspire to senior positions have less than six years to make their way up the greasy pole before being labelled as 'career' middle-managers, with managers in the UK given less time to make the grade than those in the US. Read more

– The Illusory third Dimension and Gravity

Last updated on: October 27, 2005 at 11:54 am By Desh Kapoor

Do we just get to understand limited dimensions? Is the complete "picture" of the creation still eluding us? Here is one article from the Nov'05 issue of Scientific American on the Illusory third domension and how it "creates" the force of gravity! The force of gravity and one of the dimensions of space might be generated out of the peculiar interactions of particles and fields existing in a lower-dimensional realm By Juan Maldacena Read more

– Apple: Thinking differently!

Last updated on: October 27, 2005 at 11:41 am By Desh Kapoor

Here is a neat story from a blog of an Apple employee "Apple - Thinking Different Again"... what prompted this blog post was the picture of Rosa Park that adorned the front page of the Apple site! An impromptu memorial for a great lady! Please go to this post on my blog to see the picture. The story on George Harrison's death and how Apple changed its main web page? It was early on November 30th, and I was sitting at my desk in 1 Infinite Loop reading the news. I was stunned when I saw a headline saying the George Harrison had died. As with many others of my generation, his music had been an important part of my life for many years. It really hit me hard. I sat there in a dark contemplative mood for quite awhile, feeling quite alone in my grief. But then I realized I wasn’t alone; many of my colleagues at Apple were Harrison fans, and I was sure they’d also feel the need express some of their feelings at this moment. This gave me an idea…one that took considerable courage on my part: I would suggest to Steve that Apple put some sort of tribute on the home page. Up to this point, all my dealings with Steve had been strictly business, and I was afraid he’d think I was some kind of sentimental looney. But my feelings pushed me forward…I sent Steve this note Read more

– Podcast market: How big is it?

Last updated on: October 27, 2005 at 11:29 am By Desh Kapoor

Got this from Om Malik's blog.. It is rather interesting as to how the blogging market - and it accessorial stuff - has evolved and grown over the last few years! If a growth of 100% is believed to be true for next 5 years.. then we are talking serious stuff!! Now that Apple’s iTunes has added podcasting support, and it is getting noticed on Wall Street, it is about time someone came out with a market research report, however over-exuberant it might seem. The Diffusion Group emailed a press release this morning and were quick to point out that the “demand for time-shifted digital audio files or “podcasts Read more

– India helps Boeing with its A380

Last updated on: October 26, 2005 at 10:53 pm By Desh Kapoor

Source: Rediff.com News Highlight: In one more example of the world's discovery of India as the place for cutting edge technology development, most of the designs for building Boeing's next generation aircraft are going to be created and tested by the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. IISc, India's premier scientific research institute, has joined hands with Boeing, the leading American manufacturer of satellites, commercial jetliners, and military aircraft, to build next generation aircraft. Nearly 40 faculty members from various IISc departments -- like aerospace, metallurgy, centre for product design and manufacturing and civil engineering -- are involved in the Boeing project, which is being managed by the Society for Innovation and Development. SID is IISc's commercial arm, which was founded more than a decade ago. Read more

– Sachin Tendulkar: Still the best in business

Last updated on: October 26, 2005 at 9:29 pm By Desh Kapoor

Here is a tribute from Arjuna Ranatunga - arguably one of the best in his times in the world .. not very long ago! - to Sachin Tendulkar... enjoy. He again showed a glimpse of his genius at Nagpur ODI The return of Sachin Tendulkar reconfirmed what I have always believed to be the difference between greats and merely good cricketers. A good cricketer would take time to find his bearing after a long lay-off while a great one would slip into his cast as if he had never ventured out of it. On the basis of what I saw in the first cricket one-dayer in Nagpur, Tendulkar is still the very best in the business. Read more