Today at 9am I watched a children's play celebrating divali, with perhaps 32 children in all, and it was so lovely indeed, and inspired me to post this tonight, because I too love India.

भारतीय गणराज्य

India is the world's largest, oldest, continuous civilization.
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India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history.
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India is the world's largest democracy.
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Varanasi, also known as Benares, was called "the ancient city" when Lord Buddha visited it in 500 B.C.E, and is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today.
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India invented the Number System. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.
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The World's first university was established in Takshashila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
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Sanskrit is the mother of all the European languages. Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software - a report in Forbes magazine, July 1987.
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Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans. Charaka, the father of medicine consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago. Today Ayurveda is fast regaining its rightful place in our civilization.
Although modern images of India often show poverty and lack of development, India was the richest country on earth until the time of British invasion in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus was attracted by India's wealth.
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The art of Navigation was born in the river Sindhu 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH. The word navy is also derived from Sanskrit 'Nou'.
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Bhaskaracharya calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. Time taken by earth to orbit the sun: (5th century) 365.258756484 days.
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The value of pi was first calculated by Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century long before the European mathematicians.
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Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India.
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Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11th century.
The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10''53(10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as 5000 BCE during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used number is Tera 10''12(10 to the power of 12).
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IEEE has proved what has been a century old suspicion in the world scientific community that the pioneer of wireless communication was Prof. Jagdish Bose and not Marconi.
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The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra.
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According to Saka King Rudradaman I of 150 CE a beautiful lake called Sudarshana was constructed on the hills of Raivataka during Chandragupta Maurya's time.
Chess (Shataranja or AshtaPada) was invented in India.
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Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted complicated surgeries like cesareans, cataract, artificial limbs, fractures, urinary stones and even plastic surgery and brain surgery. Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India. Over 125 surgical equipment were used. Deep knowledge of anatomy, physiology, etiology, embryology, digestion, metabolism, genetics and immunity is also found in many texts.
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When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization).
The four religions born in India, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, are followed by 25% of the world's population.
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The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.
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India is one of the few countries in the World, which gained independence without violence.
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India has the second largest pool of Scientists and Engineers in the World.
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India is the largest English speaking nation in the world.
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India is the only country other than US and Japan, to have built a super computer indigenously.
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38% of Doctors in America are Indians.
12% of Scientists in America are Indians.
36% of NASA employees are Indians.
34% of Microsoft employees are Indians.
28% of IBM employees are Indians.
17% of Intel employees are Indians.
13% of Xerox employees are Indians.

We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.
-Albert Einstein

Now it is all so clear and painfully obvious why I am getting nowhere with my troublesome spine...I need to learn how to do this from the pro's...

0 to 200 in 4 seconds

The couple had been debating the purchase of a new auto for weeks.
He wanted a new truck. She wanted a fast little sports-like car so she could zip through traffic around town.

He would probably have settled on any beat up old truck, but everything she seemed to like was way out of their price range.

“Look!” she said. I want something that goes from 0 to 200 in 4 seconds or less. “And my birthday is coming up. You could surprise me.”

For her birthday, he bought her a brand new bathroom scale.

Services are pending...

So much can be achieved in one day, and so much wasted in one lifetime.

Seeking a meaning in what you speak
Mind capturing every moment with complete recall
delivering the bits of shard sentiment
offered to self in jagged bare bones n'all

one day after yesterday I write this
hoping that one day before too long
fulfillment of dreams, and golden seams
will awaken tomorrow,
what today sought yesterday
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Tellement peut être réalisé en un jour, et tellement gaspillé dans une vie.
Cherchant une signification dans ce que vous parlez
Esprit capturant chaque moment avec le rappel complet
fournir le peu du sentiment de tesson
offert à l'art de l'auto-portrait dans le n'all déchiqueté des essentiels
un jour après hier j'écris ceci
espérant qu'un jour avant trop long
réalisation des rêves, et coutures d'or
se réveillera demain,
ce qui aujourd'hui a cherché hier
-lauren6

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Nothing happens unless first a dream.
: Carl Sandburg :

Like so many, I have long been an admirer of owls, and wanted to share my own owl post, with you.

Hearing is of course very important to owls, and many have asymmetrical skulls with openings for hearing at different levels, helping them to find their prey. By looking at an owl's face, (an owls face stores sound), scientists learned to create different sound systems.

Owls use two particular methods to hunt their prey, the first being perch and pounce...wherby the owl finds it's prey, and sits, perching and waiting. In time the owl will pounce on it's prey, and return to it's nest. The second method is known as quartering, and is typical of country owls, and can be witnessed by the soaring flight, and upon finding it's prey, will swoop and grab it's 'food'.

Traditionally, owls have been associated with wisdom, and also with the goddess Athena. Many images of bookish owls have been seen by us all. However, crows and rooks, ("rook parliaments!"), are actually more intelligent. The Ancient Egyptians, with their hieroglyphic 'm' depicted the owl, though it can be seen with legs broken, thus preventing it for coming to life and attacking.

Japanese culture sees the owl as a deathly symbol, a bad omen, a sign of foreboding, (or "the grim" as Harry Potter discovered.) Italian culture also fears the howling of an owl, which is seen as a forewarning of death in the neighbourhood, due to the owl's tones resembling a mourning. Romans saw them as funery birds, as their nests were in inaccessible places, and their nocturnal habits cast a notion of seeing them in daytime as bad indeed.

Their vampiric strix was partly based on the owl, and the Hopi culture regards owls as somewhat taboo, considering them dirty and ominous creatures.

It can be seen across the world that owls command enormously contrasting beliefs and superstitions, unlike any other creature. They have been venerated, feared, despised, admired, and condemed as foolish, wise, and historically associated with witchcraft, medicine, the weather, life, birth and also death. Such beliefs regarding owls can be found from the very earliest times, before recorded time even, and passed down through generations.

Early Indian folklore represents owls in the form of wisdom and helpfulness, with powers of prophecy, and this theme recurs in Aesop's fables and also in Greek myths and beliefs. By the time of the Middle Ages in Europe, a transformation of the owl's image and portrayal can be seen, as they became associated with witches, and 'the inhabitant of dark, lonely and profane places, a foolish but feared spectre.' The night, a time when people are blind, accompanied only by the sound of an Owl's eerie call, left people with apprehension, the unkown, and foreboding, fueling the belief that a death was imminent or some evil afoot. The 18th century brought more detailed zoological study, through closer observation of habits, and bringing a reduction in the mystique surrounding owls, which brought a softening of western superstitions regarding them, the owl now holds of position as a symbol of wisdom.
-lauren6

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A very rainy morning. We walked into Easedale before dinner. The coppices a beautiful brown. The oaks many, a very fine leafy shade. We stood a long time to look at the corner birch tree. The wind was among the light thin twigs, and they yielded to it, this way and that.
-Dorothy Wordsworth, November 17th, 1801

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When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life in a manner so that when you die the world cries and you rejoice.