Free Samples

Parenting

Akshardam

After 5 years of non-stop, round-the-clock construction, the massive and awesome Akshardham Temple Monument to World Peace was inaugurated in 2005. The Akshardham Temple in New Delhi, India , constructed by the BAPS foundation -- the builders of the various Swaminaryan Temples across the world, is truely a modern day Wonder of the World.

It is one of the biggest and most intricate religious places of worship ever constructed. Combining several completely different and contrasting architectural styles of Hindu temple architecture of northern India -- Rajasthani, Orrisi, Gujarati, Mughal and Jain -- the Akshardham Monument is entirely constructed of marble and the red-sandstone that Delhi is famous for, and that so many of her monuments are constructed of. It was completed in only 5 years; a world record of sorts . So after years of waiting, the Temple was opened to the public on the 8th of November 2005 -- and to photographers. Below is the New Delhi Akshardham Complex as seen through the eyes of a BAPS photographer.

At its inaguration, it is widely being heralded as one of the greatest monuments India has ever produced. I hope you enjoy viewing this architectual marvel as much as I enjoy having the pleasure of presenting it to our blogeurs.

The Akshardham monument, built without steel, is entirely composed of sandstone and marble. It consists of 234 ornately carved pillars, 9 ornate domes, 20 quadrangled shikhars, a spectacular Gajendra Pith (plinth of stone elephants) and 20,000 murtis and statues of India's great sadhus, devotees, acharyas and divine personalities. The monument is a fusion of several architectural styles of pink stone and pure white marble. Pink stone symbolizes bhakti (devotion) in eternal bloom and white marble of absolute purity and eternal peace. The monument was built after over 300 million man hours of services rendered by 11,000 volunteers, sadhus and artisans.

It is truly one of the wonders of the modern world, and the wonders of modern India!

The Income Tax Inspector

A father walks into a market with his young son. The kid is holding a Rupee coin. Suddenly, the boy starts choking and gasping for breath. The dad realizes the boy has swallowed the coin and starts panicking, shouting for help.

A well dressed, serious looking woman is sitting at a tea stall in the market reading her newspaper and sipping a cup of tea.

At the sound of the commotion, she looks up, puts her Tea cup down , neatly folds the newspaper, places it on the counter, gets up from her seat and makes her way, unhurried, across the market. Reaching the boy, the woman carefully takes hold of the boy's testicles and starts to squeeze, gently at first and then ever more firmly. After a few seconds the boy convulses violently and coughs up the coin, which the woman deftly catches in her free hand. Releasing the boy, she hands the coin to the father and walks back to the Tea stall without saying a word.

As soon as he is sure that his son has suffered no lasting ill effects, the father rushes over to the woman and starts thanking her saying, 'I've never seen anybody do anything like that before, it was fantastic. Are you a doctor?'

No,' the woman replied, 'I work for the Income Tax Dept.

Folic acid improves a man's chance of becoming a father

US scientists have found a possible link between low dietary folate levels and abnormal sperm in men. The findings, from the University of California, Berkley, and the Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory, provide further evidence that healthy diets aid fertility. Folate is a soluble B vitamin found naturally in foods such as citrus fruits, green leafy vegetables and pulses. The synthetic form, folic acid, can be taken in dietary supplements. The benefits for women of high folate levels are well established in preventing birth defects, but this is the first time a reproductive benefit for men has been shown. The normal
recommended daily allowance (RDA) of folate for humans is 200 micrograms, and 400 micrograms for women trying to conceive and during pregnancy. The study, published in the journal Human Reproduction, looked at samples from 89 healthy, non-smoking men aged between 22 and 80, and information about their diet and supplementary intake. They found that men who ingested high levels of folate - between 722 and 1150 micrograms per day - had 20-30
per cent lower levels of abnormal sperm than men with low folate intake. The researchers were looking at forms of 'aneuploidy' in the sperm. Aneuploidy is an abnormal number of chromosomes in cells. If these abnormal sperm fertilise an egg, the resulting fetus can have the wrong number of chromosomes, something that can lead to chromosomal disorders such as Down's syndrome. Other risk factors also include miscarriage during pregnancy. The researchers targeted specific chromosomes - chromosomes 21, X and Y - as these are associated with the common types of aneuploidy in live births.
Brenda Eskenazi, professor of epidemiology and maternal and child health at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health, was the co-principal investigator of the study. She says: 'in previous studies, we and others have shown that paternal micronutrient intake may contribute to successful conceptions by improving the quality of the sperm. This study is the first to suggest that
paternal diet may play a role after conception in the development of healthy offspring'. The scientists warn that this is not conclusive evidence yet, and both men and women should take a serious look at their diet and lifestyle when trying to conceive. Smoking, drinking excessively and unbalanced diets are highly likely to affect fertility. In the US, folic acid has been added to breads, flour, cereals and other grain products since 1998 to ensure women get their RDA of folate. A
decision on whether folic acid should be added to bread and flour in the UK is due next year.

Couple suing over child selection "blunder''

An Australian couple has launched an action in the Supreme Court of Victoria against the health services involved in an embryo testing procedure, after the mother gave birth to a boy instead of a girl. The couple had undergone IVF and PGD (preimplantation genetic diagnosis) at Melbourne IVF to enable doctors to select only female embryos to be re-implanted in an attempt to avoid haemophilia, an inherited disorder that only affects males. Instead,the mother gave birth to a baby boy, Jess, who doctors later confirmed is affected by the blood clotting condition. The couple are alleging that in no point during the pregnancy were they informed that the child was not a girl, and are now seeking compensation and
damages to pay for the child's care costs and other losses they will incur.
If the couple had been informed of the true sex of their child, they say they would have considered terminating the pregnancy. It is reported that the defendants will contest the action on the grounds that the couple did not make inquiries as to the sex of their child after ultra-sound scans and that the boy may have been conceived naturally.
Sex selection is permitted in Victoria only to reduce the risk of a serious genetic condition being passed to the child. The couple opted for the procedure to avoid passing on hameophilia, which also affects the boy's uncle. 'By choosing the IVF procedure, we hoped to never see a child suffer in this way again', the parents told reporters. 'At no stage did we want a
designer baby, we just wanted a healthy baby.''We love our little boy, but we are very sorry he has to go through so
much in his life', the couple said. 'We tried everything to avoid this situation, and now our boy has to go through all the pain and treatment in order to survive. We now face the fact that Jess will require treatment for the rest of his life'.
The action is being taken against Melbourne IVF, Ballarat Health Services, the couples' obstetrician and Bendigo Radiology. In documents lodged with the court, lawyers for Melbourne IVF say that a counsellor told the couple in 2003 that there was a risk of misdiagnosis with the PGD method. They also claim the couple signed consent forms, including one that stated 'If a pregnancy is achieved from biopsied embryos, we understand that further diagnostic tests are recommended to confirm the early embryo diagnosis'. No date has been set for the trial.

Artificial Muscle Heals Itself - Also Charges iPod

Researchers in California have created an artificial muscle that heals itself and generates electricity.The research, parts of which are already being used in Japan to generate electricity from ocean waves, could be used to make walking robots, develop better prosthetics, or even charge your iPod. "We've made an artificial muscle that, when you apply electricity to it, it expands" more than 200 percent, said Qibing Pei, a scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles and study author. "The motion and energy is a lot like human muscles."
Artificial muscles have been around for years but have essentially hamstrung themselves. Some artificial muscles get so big they tear, developing uneven film thickness and random particles that cause muscle failure. The researchers used flexible, ever-more ubiquitous carbon nanotubes as electrodes instead of other films, often metal-based, that fail after repeated use. If an area of the carbon nanotube fails, the region around it seals itself by becoming non-conductive and prevents the fault from spreading to other areas. "During long-term tests with the new device the actual material experiences a number of events but still worked," said Pei.
By "events" Pei actually means they stabbed the artificial muscle with pins. Any other artificial muscle would have failed, but their model kept operating. The self-healing muscle is also energy efficient. "It conserves about 70 percent of the energy you put into it," said Pei. As the material contracts after an expansion the rearranging of the carbon nanotubes generates a small electric current that can be captured and used to power another expansion or stored in a battery.
Scientists in Japan charge batteries from ocean waves using the same idea. Other scientists have speculated that the artificial muscle could be used to capture wind energy. "The way he's put these carbon nanotubes together is really quite innovative," said Kwang Kim, a material scientist at the University of Reno who was not involved in the research. "Some people want to use this to charge their batteries."