DISQUS

I love it! And sadly, I recognize #14 as a science fair experiment done by high school students with the help of our lab. We used the standard ceramic tile floor....oh, and there is largely no difference in the contamination with relation to time, but surface area and moisture content of foodstuff was significantly correlated to numbers of bacterial colonies. gotta love it....

Kudos!! I love the sentiment that 'we are all human first'. Growing up in a conservative family in the midwest, i really didn't become aware of homosexuality until my teens, and never witnessed homosexual kissing until I was in college (I totally did double-take - not my most graceful moment ;). While most my family is still very conservative, I think the US is slowly moving to accept LGBT as an equal lifestyle choice. It's hard, because the US is very polarized at the moment - much more so than in earlier generations. Building bridges between diffferent viewpoints is increasingly necessary. I hope you bring sensitivity and understanding to the medical field - it is sorely lacking sometimes.

I once read that the evil was colorless (Robin McKinley, Sunshine, great book) and i'm inclined to agree. To borrow her words "i hadn't thought of evil as being without color, but it is. Once you get past plain everyday wickedness, the color is sqeezed right out of it. Evil is a kind of oblivion, having destroyed everything on it's way there" (p. 358). My heart goes out to your countrymen, and all those who have lost loved ones to senseless violence. And i heartily agree with the comment about cowardice - how can someone believe they are heroic when they are killing children? How can that concept be supportable?

I saw this on your photo page once before and felt an easily explained affinity. These 'morning glories' grow on the fence lines in the midwest (US) and easily here in Florida. Although not usually a flower person, I have always loved thier indominibility and grace. As nature is a force greater than what we can comprehend, it must by necessity put our petty differences into perspective. The reasoning for our suffering? Is it for a reward in the afterlife? Simply unavoidable? Got me. Perhaps it is just so that we have something that defines our moments of peace, or happiness.

Absolutely. All of the cultures I can think of have a reverence for nature, I think because it does result in reflection and perspective. When in Chennai, we drove to Pondicherry and the trip gave me an entirely different view of India. I have a few spectacular pickies of workers in the rice fields, and there was no trash or traffic. Growing up in rural America, I loved rural India - it wasn't exactly home, but I related to working the land and walking the fields...Mother nature lets you know exactly where you stand, whether it be in concert with her or at the mercy of her frightening strength. Either way, nature is truely awesome.

Ok, as I'm reading the posts I have this thought (Thanks Rajiv for inspiration)...if we are all patterns (thoughts, emotions, energy...) spreading out and arranging other patterns around us, forming them to our image or being formed by them, when we cease to have physical presence, is perhaps our pattern merely more closely merged with those that still have a physical embodiment? And then bits of patterns, taken from the whole become more concentrated and attached to new little bodies at birth? With all the people in the world, the merging and leaving, ebb and flow of patterns (thoughts, emotions, energy, essence of whatever type) would be barely perceptible by the individual. It reminds me of a theory of pre-/afterlife concocted by a group of us in second year of university – that all humanity exists as a whole, good/bad - everything as one essence, and that we are split off into physical bodies for the duration of our lifetime, and reunited at the end. Hence why so many people are so lonely and searching for their 'soulmate' or belonging of some type – they miss the collective of the group and acutely feel the isolation. OK, I won't deny that there was something a little stronger than beer involved in this discussion and we might have just finished watching Star Trek: Next Generation, but it's fascinating to see where these theories intersect...

National pride and celebrating the acomplishments of some of the most educated, non-political, and succesful citizens is never a waste of money! Coming from a country that doesn't have a whole lot to be proud of lately and is at one of it's most polarized times in history, I know how far national pride can go to unify and heal interpersonal relationships. That, in turn, promotes compromise in other areas. Congratulations India! These scientists should be role models for your youth!

I couldn't help notice that many of your points are educationally based. Are there public libraries in Chennai? Other sources for self-education? Would/could religious leaders help with any of this?

At my workplace (admittedly it's a far cry from Chennai - I live in Fl), five of us carpool regularly. We tried all sorts of different guidelines, and here's what we figured out works for us.

We set a standard time and meeting place, that way communication need not be extensive. If you want to carpool that day, you show up, if not, that's OK. We only wait 5 minutes and then leave. If no one else shows up, then you just dirve yourself.

As far as privacy, we're all professionals and we try to keep the conversation professional. Often, we just listen to the radio, and that saves everyone form awkwardness.

On days when you need to be flexible, you can drirve yourself and not inconvenience anyone. I've kept stats over about 8 months and on average we carpool about 66% of the time. We've saved approximately $US 1045.65 in gas alone, and 3712.8 lbs of carbon. The money is definitely an incentive. For that, I can change my schedule a few times a week!

How do you see the use of solar in India developing in the next ten years?