Scientists have suggested that, with a little willpower, it takes roughly 30 days for a person to form a new habit. As with mastering anything new, the act of starting and getting beyond the preliminary stage where everything feels awkward is 80% of the battle. This is precisely why it’s important to make small, positive changes every day over the course of at least a 30 day period.
Below you will find 30 challenges to be accomplished over the course of 30 days. If carried out diligently each of them has the potential to create a new positive habit in your life. Yes, there is some slight overlap between a few of them. And no, you don’t have to attempt all at once. Pick 2 to 5 and commit the next 30 days, wholeheartedly, to successfully completing the challenge. Then once you feel comfortable with these habits, challenge yourself with a few more the following month.
Use words that encourage happiness.
Try one new thing every day.
Perform one selfless act every day.
Learn and practice one new skill every day.
Teach someone something new every day.
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Full Post
Tuesday 29 November 2016
10 Painfully Obvious Truths Everyone Forgets Too Soon
You know how you can hear something a hundred times in a hundred different ways before it finally gets through to you? The ten truths listed below fall firmly into that category – life lessons that many of us likely learned years ago, and have been reminded of ever since, but for whatever reason, haven’t fully grasped.
1. The average human life is relatively short.
2. You will only ever live the life you create for yourself.
3. Being busy does NOT mean being productive.
4. Some kind of failure always occurs before success.
5. Thinking and doing are two very different things.
6. You don’t have to wait for an apology to forgive.
7. Some people are simply the wrong match for you.
8. It’s not other people’s job to love you; it’s yours.
9. What you own is not who YOU are.
10. Everything changes, every second.
Full post
1. The average human life is relatively short.
2. You will only ever live the life you create for yourself.
3. Being busy does NOT mean being productive.
4. Some kind of failure always occurs before success.
5. Thinking and doing are two very different things.
6. You don’t have to wait for an apology to forgive.
7. Some people are simply the wrong match for you.
8. It’s not other people’s job to love you; it’s yours.
9. What you own is not who YOU are.
10. Everything changes, every second.
Full post
Friday 25 November 2016
Research funding: 10 tips for writing a successful application
Securing funding through grant proposals can be a long and difficult process.Experts share their advice on how to help your applications succeed
Read the eligibility rules
Leave plenty of time to prepare
No unexplained jargon
Get other people to read it
Explain why research is needed
Network effectively
Justify extra time or resources
Participate in funding panels
Interpret referees feedback carefully
Plan applications in batches
Full Story
Read the eligibility rules
Leave plenty of time to prepare
No unexplained jargon
Get other people to read it
Explain why research is needed
Network effectively
Justify extra time or resources
Participate in funding panels
Interpret referees feedback carefully
Plan applications in batches
Full Story
Monday 14 November 2016
10 of the best virtual reality apps for your smartphone
Get started with VR on your iPhone or Android phone with these 100 apps, spanning films, games, news and 360-degree photo-sharing
You don’t need to spend hundreds of pounds on an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive headset to give virtual reality a try.
The Android or iPhone handset in your pocket is a VR device in its own right too, especially when paired with a sub-£20 Google Cardboard headset that uses your phone as its screen and works with both Android and iOS.
If you’re getting started with VR on your smartphone, here are 10 of the best apps to explore. They’re regular Android and iOS apps rather than ones requiring Samsung’s Gear VR mobile headset – that’s a separate roundup in its own right for the future.
Note, the recently-launched Guardian VR app (Android / iOS) is not included in this roundup for reasons of fairness, but it’s worth a look: currently it has the Guardian’s first VR film, 6x9, which tells the story of the psychological damage of extreme isolation.
You Tube
Google Cardboard
VRSE
NYT VR
Sisters: A Virtual Reality Ghost Story
Orbulus
Seene
Jaunt VR
InCell VR
RYOT VR
Full story
You don’t need to spend hundreds of pounds on an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive headset to give virtual reality a try.
The Android or iPhone handset in your pocket is a VR device in its own right too, especially when paired with a sub-£20 Google Cardboard headset that uses your phone as its screen and works with both Android and iOS.
If you’re getting started with VR on your smartphone, here are 10 of the best apps to explore. They’re regular Android and iOS apps rather than ones requiring Samsung’s Gear VR mobile headset – that’s a separate roundup in its own right for the future.
Note, the recently-launched Guardian VR app (Android / iOS) is not included in this roundup for reasons of fairness, but it’s worth a look: currently it has the Guardian’s first VR film, 6x9, which tells the story of the psychological damage of extreme isolation.
You Tube
Google Cardboard
VRSE
NYT VR
Sisters: A Virtual Reality Ghost Story
Orbulus
Seene
Jaunt VR
InCell VR
RYOT VR
Full story
The complete guide to virtual reality – everything you need to get started
From Oculus Rift to Google Daydream, VR is getting plenty of hype. Which system should you go for, what do you need to buy, and what should you play?
Until recently, virtual reality had been something of a fantasy for storytellers and technologists. As long ago as 1935, American science fiction writer Stanley G Weinbaum described something like virtual reality in a short story called Pygmalion’s Spectacles.
“But listen – a movie that gives one sight and sound. Suppose now I add taste, smell, even touch, if your interest is taken by the story. Suppose I make it so that you are in the story, you speak to the shadows, and the shadows reply, and instead of being on a screen, the story is all about you, and you are in it. Would that be to make real a dream?”
Technologists might still be working on smell and taste, but Albert Ludwig’s “magic spectacles” eerily foreshadow the current prominence for headsets and 360-degree games, videos and virtual worlds.
Since Ludwig’s magic spectacles found their way into print, there have been decades of experimentation around virtual reality, from the first head-mounted VR system in the late 1960s to the first commercial products in the 1980s – not to mention Hollywood’s interpretation in the1992 film The Lawnmower Man, which shaped mainstream perceptions of virtual reality, or VR, for some time afterwards.
The current age of virtual reality began in 2010, when American teenager Palmer Luckey created the first prototype of a VR headset that would evolve into the Oculus Rift. Two years later, he launched a $250,000 Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to commercialise it – and $2.4m of pledges later, the tech industry’s interest in VR was reborn. Two years after that, Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, liked the Rift so much he bought the company for $2bn.
Several competitors have emerged since then, from the HTC Vive and Sony’s PlayStation VR to smartphone-powered headsets such as Samsung’s Gear VR and Google Cardboard. Meanwhile, hundreds of developers are making VR games and apps, film-makers are exploring the potential for documentaries and animation, and Facebook and YouTube have jumped on the bandwagon with 360-degree videos.
But if you’re new to virtual reality, where should you start? In the absence of a passing professor with magic specs, here’s everything you need to know about hardware, apps and games.
Full feature
Until recently, virtual reality had been something of a fantasy for storytellers and technologists. As long ago as 1935, American science fiction writer Stanley G Weinbaum described something like virtual reality in a short story called Pygmalion’s Spectacles.
“But listen – a movie that gives one sight and sound. Suppose now I add taste, smell, even touch, if your interest is taken by the story. Suppose I make it so that you are in the story, you speak to the shadows, and the shadows reply, and instead of being on a screen, the story is all about you, and you are in it. Would that be to make real a dream?”
Technologists might still be working on smell and taste, but Albert Ludwig’s “magic spectacles” eerily foreshadow the current prominence for headsets and 360-degree games, videos and virtual worlds.
Since Ludwig’s magic spectacles found their way into print, there have been decades of experimentation around virtual reality, from the first head-mounted VR system in the late 1960s to the first commercial products in the 1980s – not to mention Hollywood’s interpretation in the1992 film The Lawnmower Man, which shaped mainstream perceptions of virtual reality, or VR, for some time afterwards.
The current age of virtual reality began in 2010, when American teenager Palmer Luckey created the first prototype of a VR headset that would evolve into the Oculus Rift. Two years later, he launched a $250,000 Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to commercialise it – and $2.4m of pledges later, the tech industry’s interest in VR was reborn. Two years after that, Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, liked the Rift so much he bought the company for $2bn.
Several competitors have emerged since then, from the HTC Vive and Sony’s PlayStation VR to smartphone-powered headsets such as Samsung’s Gear VR and Google Cardboard. Meanwhile, hundreds of developers are making VR games and apps, film-makers are exploring the potential for documentaries and animation, and Facebook and YouTube have jumped on the bandwagon with 360-degree videos.
But if you’re new to virtual reality, where should you start? In the absence of a passing professor with magic specs, here’s everything you need to know about hardware, apps and games.
Full feature
All about raising Alan
‘Down’s Syndrome is not going to stop my son from leading a wonderful life’
was 33 years old when Alan was born. He had a flat nose, almond-shaped eyes, and short limbs. He looked like a doll. I felt blessed. A few hours later, I was told that he had Down’s Syndrome and was born without an anus.
I wept uncontrollably. But even before I could absorb what Down’s Syndrome meant, he was whisked away to a neo-natal intensive care unit for his first pull-through surgery. His second and third were performed at intervals of a few months each. He was the first baby to undergo laparoscopy in Chennai under the guidance of a group of surgeons from Switzerland.
Everyone, including doctors, told me that I would not be able to cope and that life as I knew it would be over if I kept Alan. But I refused to give up my baby and vowed to raise him myself.
They were wrong: having Alan is the best thing that has ever happened to me. He changed my life for the better; he made me a stronger person.
Full Story
was 33 years old when Alan was born. He had a flat nose, almond-shaped eyes, and short limbs. He looked like a doll. I felt blessed. A few hours later, I was told that he had Down’s Syndrome and was born without an anus.
I wept uncontrollably. But even before I could absorb what Down’s Syndrome meant, he was whisked away to a neo-natal intensive care unit for his first pull-through surgery. His second and third were performed at intervals of a few months each. He was the first baby to undergo laparoscopy in Chennai under the guidance of a group of surgeons from Switzerland.
Everyone, including doctors, told me that I would not be able to cope and that life as I knew it would be over if I kept Alan. But I refused to give up my baby and vowed to raise him myself.
They were wrong: having Alan is the best thing that has ever happened to me. He changed my life for the better; he made me a stronger person.
Full Story
Fighting to be fit? Don’t
You are not living to your full potential if you don’t take care of the four foundational pillars of being
The word ‘holistic’ has made its way into common vocabulary, especially in the health and wellness industry. What does it mean?
It’s a basic and intuitive concept on which our very existence should rest, not just health and fitness. It is a multidimensional web of our foundational pillars and their interconnections.
There is an Indian proverb that says that everyone is a house with four rooms — physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Most of us tend to live in one room most of the time but we need to go into every room every day, even if only to keep it aired.
So, holistic fitness includes physical, emotional, mental and spiritual fitness. It should be clear that a lacuna in one is bound to affect the whole chain and strip ‘holistic’ of its meaning.
A whole can be viewed as a sum of its parts. But it would be flawed to not recognise that it’s not just the adding up that delivers a functional equation. The health of each part will impact the health of the whole.
Full Story
The word ‘holistic’ has made its way into common vocabulary, especially in the health and wellness industry. What does it mean?
It’s a basic and intuitive concept on which our very existence should rest, not just health and fitness. It is a multidimensional web of our foundational pillars and their interconnections.
There is an Indian proverb that says that everyone is a house with four rooms — physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Most of us tend to live in one room most of the time but we need to go into every room every day, even if only to keep it aired.
So, holistic fitness includes physical, emotional, mental and spiritual fitness. It should be clear that a lacuna in one is bound to affect the whole chain and strip ‘holistic’ of its meaning.
A whole can be viewed as a sum of its parts. But it would be flawed to not recognise that it’s not just the adding up that delivers a functional equation. The health of each part will impact the health of the whole.
Full Story
Know Your English -- 2016-11-14
What does the expression ‘You’re toast’ mean?
How is the word ‘minion’ pronounced?
What is the meaning and origin of ‘on cloud nine’?
Which is correct: ‘different from’ or ‘different than’?
Read the full story
How is the word ‘minion’ pronounced?
What is the meaning and origin of ‘on cloud nine’?
Which is correct: ‘different from’ or ‘different than’?
Read the full story
Get your CV on top of the pile
It’s time to write that winning resume. Here are some basic guidelines.
A poorly written curriculum vitae (CV), despite the glowing achievements it may contain, will almost certainly create a negative first impression on a potential employer. After all, your CV is the initial point of contact companies have for judging how well you present yourself. Here are some basic guidelines to create the best line of communication.
Watch your length
List personal information
Order your content
Prioritize your past experience
Include professional and academic qualifications
Remember your language skills
Concentrate on skills when applying for an overseas position
Limit personal interests
Provide detailed references
Double check and triple check
Full story
A poorly written curriculum vitae (CV), despite the glowing achievements it may contain, will almost certainly create a negative first impression on a potential employer. After all, your CV is the initial point of contact companies have for judging how well you present yourself. Here are some basic guidelines to create the best line of communication.
Watch your length
List personal information
Order your content
Prioritize your past experience
Include professional and academic qualifications
Remember your language skills
Concentrate on skills when applying for an overseas position
Limit personal interests
Provide detailed references
Double check and triple check
Full story
Wednesday 2 November 2016
News Nuggets -- dt. 2016-11-02
The Employees Provident Fund Organisation will settle death claims within a week and retirement cases before a worker superannuates from the job.
State Bank of India has reduced home loan rates to 9.1%--the lowest in six years--for loans sanctioned in November and December this year.
Police revive enumeration of senior citizens in Chennai. Senior citizens can contact the toll-free number 1253 that was dedicated to receive calls from senior citizens in distress.
With big airlines in, smaller cities start flying. Civil aviation ministry is aggressively pushing regional connectivity across the country.
Woman passengers getting on or off trains at Coimbatore and Trichy railway station, can feed their infants, get their doubts cleared, file complaints or simply enjoy some privacy at exclusive facilitation centres.
Rural Kerala declared open defecation free. Kerala has become the first open defecation free (ODF) state among densely populated states in the country.
China says it won't back India's NSG (Nuclear Suppliers Group) bid.
Election of candidates can be set aside if they lie about education: Supreme Court
China has allowed the export of an unmanned combat drone that can carry between 16 and 24 air-to-surface missiles at a time and stay in the air for 60 hours at a stretch. Pak may buy export variant of China's 1st stealth aircraft.
Frequent Facebook users more likely to live longer. Study Links More Friend Requests To Reduced Mortality.
iPhone8 may come with wireless charging.
NASA develops technology to prevent flight delays, that safely increases the number of airplanes that can land on the same runway at busy airports.
SP Balasubrahmanyam will be conferred the prestigious Centenary Award for Indian Film Personality of the Year at the International Film Festival of India 2016 (IFFI).
Friendship groups play a major role in a student's life and the density of ties that heshe shares with friends is associated with specific social and academic benefits, says a new study .
Reminding people of their close, caring relationships can reduce their tendency to anthropomorphise objects -ascribing humanlike characteristics to inanimate objects -as a way of feeling socially connected, and help people reconnect with real people, suggests new research.
Source: Times of India. dt. 2nd Nov 2016
Compiled by HR Mohan
Tirupati darshan tickets can now be purchased at T. Nagar and Mylapore post offices.
In an effort to cope in case of a flood this northeast monsoon, the Chennai Corporation has begun mobilising NGOs and volunteers and will impart training on flood relief for volunteers shortly.
Educationists and activists have termed the Ministry of Human Resource Development’s (MHRD) decision to establish world-class institutions a ‘hare-brained’ idea at worst and wishful thinking at best.
Planetary rings that surround Saturn, Neptune and Uranus were formed four billion years ago when large objects passed very close to planets and got destroyed, scientists have found, solving the mystery behind the origin and diversity of these rings.
After four years of intensive screening, researchers at Pune’s Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) have transformed insulating metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), which are generally used for gas storage and solvent separation, into semiconductor MOFs by incorporating polymers.
The National Book Trust has set the ball rolling to bring out a dozen books in Sanskrit next year, beginning with a book on Mahatma Gandhi that will hit the stands within months.
The orange spotted grouper fish (Epinephelus coiodes) has the potential to emerge as an alternative to Vannamei, an exotic whiteleg shrimp, as a major breakthrough has been made by scientists at the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) here in mass production of the seed of the fish.
The Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation Ltd (TACTV) seems to have broken free from cable TV operators to roll out its Arasu Fibre internet scheme, and has invited applications from young entrepreneurs and entities to roll out the scheme.
Obama to hand over digital keys to successor. The handle @POTUS will be made available to the 45th President of the United States on January 20, 2017.
Expressing serious concerns over the proposal of the GST Council for imposing 26 per cent ‘Sin Tax’ on tobacco, public health advocates of Assam said such a tax rate below 40 per cent will negatively impact revenue and public health.
The Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) will carry out aerial mapping of the city to study its rooftop solar energy generation prospects. The aerial mapping exercise will use the light detection and ranging (LIDAR) technology, which is said to be a first in the country. An aircraft will fly over the city, sending pulses of light, which will get reflected back from objects on the ground.
Zoomcar, India’s first 100 per cent self-drive car rental company, also allows individuals to purchase vehicles on behalf of the firm, list the vehicle on a dynamic basis on its platform when sitting idle and finally share in the profit on monthly basis.
Several hundreds .of devotees from various parts of the State and also from the neighbouring States have arrived in large numbers at Sri Laxminarasimha Swamy Devasthanam in Dharmapuri of Jagtial district on Tuesday to worship Lord Yama Dharmaraja (God of Death). This is the only temple shrine in entire country where Lord Yama (God of Death) is worshipped. It is believed that people who offer prayers at the Lord Yama temple on Yama Dwetheeya would not go to ‘hell’ after their death. It is believed that people having ‘Bhagini-hastha’ (food served by one’s sister) on this day would enjoy longevity and cleansed of their sins, the priest said.
TTD approves Rs. 188 crore development works for Tirupati
In Delhi, air pollution around Diwali is the maximum due to temperature inversion, increase in vehicular traffic and bursting of crackers. Due to slow wind speed, low temperature and reduced sunlight, the polluted air does not disperse or rise up, and instead, remains suspended just above the ground.
The study by Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, reveals that long work hours (48 per cent), work pressure (40 per cent), work life imbalance (32 per cent) were the top three cause of work-related stress. The other reasons included lack of role clarity, personal and professional relationship conflict, inability to recognise stress and managers’ inability to fight stress.
Source: The Hindu. dt. 2nd Nov 2016
Compiled by HR Mohan
Compiled by HR Mohan
Tirupati darshan tickets can now be purchased at T. Nagar and Mylapore post offices.
In an effort to cope in case of a flood this northeast monsoon, the Chennai Corporation has begun mobilising NGOs and volunteers and will impart training on flood relief for volunteers shortly.
Educationists and activists have termed the Ministry of Human Resource Development’s (MHRD) decision to establish world-class institutions a ‘hare-brained’ idea at worst and wishful thinking at best.
Planetary rings that surround Saturn, Neptune and Uranus were formed four billion years ago when large objects passed very close to planets and got destroyed, scientists have found, solving the mystery behind the origin and diversity of these rings.
After four years of intensive screening, researchers at Pune’s Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) have transformed insulating metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), which are generally used for gas storage and solvent separation, into semiconductor MOFs by incorporating polymers.
The National Book Trust has set the ball rolling to bring out a dozen books in Sanskrit next year, beginning with a book on Mahatma Gandhi that will hit the stands within months.
The orange spotted grouper fish (Epinephelus coiodes) has the potential to emerge as an alternative to Vannamei, an exotic whiteleg shrimp, as a major breakthrough has been made by scientists at the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) here in mass production of the seed of the fish.
The Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation Ltd (TACTV) seems to have broken free from cable TV operators to roll out its Arasu Fibre internet scheme, and has invited applications from young entrepreneurs and entities to roll out the scheme.
Obama to hand over digital keys to successor. The handle @POTUS will be made available to the 45th President of the United States on January 20, 2017.
Expressing serious concerns over the proposal of the GST Council for imposing 26 per cent ‘Sin Tax’ on tobacco, public health advocates of Assam said such a tax rate below 40 per cent will negatively impact revenue and public health.
The Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) will carry out aerial mapping of the city to study its rooftop solar energy generation prospects. The aerial mapping exercise will use the light detection and ranging (LIDAR) technology, which is said to be a first in the country. An aircraft will fly over the city, sending pulses of light, which will get reflected back from objects on the ground.
Zoomcar, India’s first 100 per cent self-drive car rental company, also allows individuals to purchase vehicles on behalf of the firm, list the vehicle on a dynamic basis on its platform when sitting idle and finally share in the profit on monthly basis.
Several hundreds .of devotees from various parts of the State and also from the neighbouring States have arrived in large numbers at Sri Laxminarasimha Swamy Devasthanam in Dharmapuri of Jagtial district on Tuesday to worship Lord Yama Dharmaraja (God of Death). This is the only temple shrine in entire country where Lord Yama (God of Death) is worshipped. It is believed that people who offer prayers at the Lord Yama temple on Yama Dwetheeya would not go to ‘hell’ after their death. It is believed that people having ‘Bhagini-hastha’ (food served by one’s sister) on this day would enjoy longevity and cleansed of their sins, the priest said.
TTD approves Rs. 188 crore development works for Tirupati
In Delhi, air pollution around Diwali is the maximum due to temperature inversion, increase in vehicular traffic and bursting of crackers. Due to slow wind speed, low temperature and reduced sunlight, the polluted air does not disperse or rise up, and instead, remains suspended just above the ground.
The study by Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, reveals that long work hours (48 per cent), work pressure (40 per cent), work life imbalance (32 per cent) were the top three cause of work-related stress. The other reasons included lack of role clarity, personal and professional relationship conflict, inability to recognise stress and managers’ inability to fight stress.
Compiled by HR Mohan
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