Comet, Brighter Than Full Moon, In 2013

Brilliant Comet, Brighter Than Full Moon, Making Debut In 2013

December 27, 2012

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Image Credit: Giovanni Benintende / Shutterstock

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to gaze upon the stars will be had next year by thousands of backyard astronomers who wish to catch a glimpse of the comet of the century.

Comet Ison has yet to earn its spotlight in the media, but soon enough it will be the trending topic among all the search engines.

The comet, which was discovered by two Russian astronomers, will be “the biggest star of 2013″ and “brighter than a full moon,” according to David Whitehouse, an author and astronomer.

Ison has been traveling for millions of years from the Oort cloud to reach Earth. The comet’s surface is very dark, and it is a few tens of miles across.

Whitehouse says if you jumped into the air while on the surface of the comet, you could leap 20 miles up, and it would take you over a week to come back down.

By the end of the summer next year the comet will become visible in small telescopes and binoculars. A few months later, by October, it will be passing Mars and the surface will shift, with the surface of the rock responding to thermal shock.

As the comet passes the orbit of Earth, the gas and dust geysers will gather force, and the space around Ison will become brilliant as the ice below the surface turns into gas and erupts. Once this happens, it will be reflecting the light of the sun.

By late November next year, the comet will be visible to the unaided eye just after dark in the same direction as the setting Sun. The comet’s tail could stretch like a searchlight into the sky above the horizon.

Ison will then swing rapidly around the Sun, passing within two million miles of it, which is closer than any planet ever does. The comet will be able to be seen to an “unaided eye” for months.

When Ison gets close in its approach to the Sun, it could become intensely bright, but at this point it will be difficult and dangerous to see without special instruments.

While comets can be a rare site to the backyard astronomers, Ison will not be the only space rock that will be visible next year. According to Whitehouse, another comet, called 2014 L4, was discovered last year and will be making a significant appearance in the evening sky in March and April, acting as the opening act for Ison.

New Comet Discovery May Be Brightest Visitor In Past Hundred Years

September 26, 2012

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Image Credit: Photos.com

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

Hale-Bopp, Haley’s, McNaught. These are just a few of the more well-known modern comets that have blazed across the night sky in our lifetime. Another comet that has been recently discovered could be added to that list next year when it makes a pass by the Sun in late 2013.

The comet, named C/2012 S1 (ISON), is due to come within 1.1 million miles of the Sun on, or around, November 29, 2013. Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok from Russia, made the discovery using the International Scientific Optical Network’s (ISON) telescope, capturing the images of the comet on 21 September with CCD imagery equipment.

The comet could blaze brightly across the heavens when it does arrive, experts believe. But just how brightly is difficult to determine. And there could be a chance the Sun will just boil it away as it passes, just as happened to comet Elenin last year. If it does survive the encounter, experts speculate it could outshine any comet seen in the last hundred years–perhaps even brighter than the full moon. If so, it should be easily visible to the naked eye for about two months, and could even be visible during daylight.

If the predictions hold true, Comet C/2012 S1 will likely be one of the greatest comet encounters in human history, exceedingly outshining the memorable Hale-Bopp of 1997 and Haley’s Comet in 1986. It could even be a much bigger spectacle than the long-awaited Comet Pan-STARRS, which will make a pass in March 2013.

BRIGHTNESS

The only thing that is certain at this point, is that the large cometary body was discovered just beyond the orbit of Jupiter and it’s orbital trajectory will take it close to the sun next year. The comet is currently very faint, but as it approaches the Sun, it will steadily brighten. It will be easily picked up by experienced amateur astronomers with CCD equipment in the coming months, and will be within binocular view by late summer 2013, and eventually by the naked eye in early November. Depending on brightness, the comet should remain visible to the naked eye from early November 2013 to mid-January 2014

“In the best case, the comet is big, bright, and skirts the sun next November. It would be extremely bright — negative magnitudes maybe — and naked-eye visible for observers in the Northern Hemisphere for at least a couple of months,” Karl Battams, of the NASA-supported Sungrazer Comet Project, told Spaceweather.com.

However, this outcome is far from certain, noted Battams. “Alternately, comets can and often do fizzle out! Comet Elenin springs to mind as a recent example, but there are more famous examples of comets that got the astronomy community seriously worked up, only to fizzle,” he said.

Writing in a blog for the Planetary Society, astronomer Bill Gray pointed out that the comet’s orbit has been very well constrained, but just how bright it will be is anyone’s guess at the moment–“…estimating comet brightnesses a year ahead of time is about like asking who’s going to win the World Series next year.”

“It could be astonishingly bright, or it could fizzle. I think it was David Levy (co-discoverer of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9) who said that comets are like cats: they have tails, and do whatever they want to do,” Gray remarked.

COMET ORIGINS

Comets originate from the outer limits of the solar system and are generally composed of icy volatiles such as water, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane and ammonia. These icy behemoths also contain dust, rocks and any other debris that just happen to be floating around when the Sun evolved. Researchers hypothesize that Comet C/2012 S1 originates from the Oort Cloud, a cloud of frozen comets located about one light year from the Sun possibly containing billions of cometary nuclei that formed during the early days of the solar system when the Sun formed.

“This is quite possibly a ‘new’ comet coming in from the Oort cloud, meaning this could be its first-ever encounter with the sun,” Battams pondered. “If so, with all those icy volatiles intact and never having been truly stressed (thermally and gravitationally), the comet could well disrupt and dissipate weeks or months before reaching the sun.”

As comets close in on the Sun, the increased solar energy puts stress on the celestial orbiter, causing its frozen volatiles to vaporize, bypassing the liquid phase altogether. Sublimation causes the comet’s gases to erupt, sweeping them back by the solar wind, which forms the tail, the common trait of the comet. Depending on the comet’s chemical elements, the journey past the Sun could make the tail spectacularly impressive.

Of course, this will be dependent on what the exact chemical makeup is and how it formed in deep space. And it is very likely the chemical elements may be just the right mixture that it will cause the comet to erupt, fracture and break apart long before it becomes visible to the naked eye. Or, it may whiz by and release very little material, fizzling any excitement of a spectacular showing.

SUNGRAZER

Due to the comet’s scheduled close inspection of our Sun, it will be, what experts call, a sungrazer. Sungrazersare comets that typically pass within a few million miles of the Sun, with some passing even within a few thousand miles. Famous examples of sungrazers are the Kreutz sungrazers and the Great Comets of 1843 and1882, as well as the Comet Ikeya-Seki of 1965.

Despite the likelihood of breaking up under the increased solar output of the Sun, there remains a slight chance it could become the brightest comet to scream across the skies in the last hundred years–even brighter than Ikeya-Seki, which dazzled astronomers in 1965.

If it lives up to the hype, it will be far brighter than the last bright visitor, Comet McNaught, which gave earthlings in the Southern Hemisphere a good show in January 2007. But then again, it could peter out like Elenin did in 2011, or more famously, the comet Kohoutek, which failed to live up to predictions in 1973.

“This is a very exciting discovery. The comet looks like it could become a very spectacular sight in the evening sky after sunset from the UK in late November and early December next year,” Robin Scagell, vice-president of theSociety for Popular Astronomy, told the Telegraph.

“Our members will be eagerly following it as it makes its first trip around the Sun and hoping to see it shining brilliantly and displaying a magnificent tail as it releases powerful jets of gas and dust,” he added.

DOOMSDAY

The debate over the brightness should not spill over into any concerns over the comet’s projected orbit. Doomsayers often get excited when new comets are discovered and start rumors of collision courses with the Earth, such as what happened with last year’s comet Elenin.

Comet C/2012 S1 will not even come remotely close to Earth. Even on its nearest approach in January 2014, it will be 36 million miles from Earth, according to comet hunters at Remanzacco Observatory in Italy.

Gray said the best bet is to just sit back, relax and enjoy the show. “I’d give it about a 30 percent chance of being exciting, with a 60 percent chance that I’m wrong. In other words, it’ll certainly bear keeping an eye on, but I don’t think anyone can say for sure right now.”

Far-right extremists testify in Breivik trial

The Associated Press: Far-right extremists testify in Breivik trial

Far-right extremists testify in Breivik trial By JULIA GRONNEVET – 1 day ago  OSLO, Norway (AP) — A handful of Norwegian right-wing extremists testified Tuesday in self-confessed killer Anders Behring Breivik's defense, backing his claims that Norway is "at war" with Islam. The 33-year-old self-styled anti-Muslim crusader has placed great importance on this line of argument, fearing his ideology could be undermined if he is declared insane. Breivik, on trial for killing 77 people in a bomb-and-shooting rampage in Oslo last July, has confessed to the attacks but denies criminal guilt. He claims he acted in self-defense because his victims had betrayed their country by embracing immigration. Defense lawyers attempted to show that while there are people who share Breivik's worldviews, they are not declared mentally ill for doing so. "Norway is at war," Tore Tvedt, a far-right extremist who has been convicted for his published anti-Semitic statements, told the court. He noted also how victimized he has felt by Norwegian police and public authorities for his political opinions. Although many of the witnesses echoed Breivik's political views during the hearing, all of them took care to distance themselves from his violence. "We are a non-violent organization," said Arne Tumyr, a long-time Islam critic and leader of the organization "Stop the Islamization of Norway." But he declared that "Islam is an evil political ideology disguised as a religion." Another witness, Ronny Alte, said that although he knows of no one in his immediate surroundings who supported Breivik's actions, "there could easily be around a hundred that I know about" on the Internet who do. Breivik's sanity is key to the case and is still an unresolved issue. Two psychological examinations carried out before the 10-week trial started in mid-April reached opposite conclusions on whether he is psychotic or not. If found guilty and sane, he would face 21 years in prison although he can be held longer if deemed a danger to society. If declared insane, he would be committed to compulsory psychiatric care. Although the trial is scheduled to end on June 22, the Oslo District Court on Tuesday announced that a verdict isn't expected until July 20, or possibly even on Aug. 24, due to administrative and technological reasons as well as security issues. It declined to elaborate further.

Gas Hydrates: fuel trapped in ice

Unlocking fuel trapped in ice

By Kirsten Korosec | October 25, 2011, 10:04 AM PDT

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Locked
within ice-like cages that are buried in the sediments below thick
Arctic permafrost and beneath the ocean floor, is an immense source of
energy that scientists have studied for more than two decades.

Methane hydrates — gas molecules trapped within a lattice of ice
— could contain more energy than all other known fossil fuels
combined.  That is, if folks figure out how to produce volumes of
methane from hydrate beyond a few small-scale field experiments.

Until then, the testing will continue.  ConocoPhillips, the Energy Department and Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp. are conducting the latest round of field experiments, which will focus on a production method that could create an innovative way of storing carbon dioxide.

During the initial field trial set to begin in January 2012, carbon
dioxide will be injected into the methane hydrate-bearing sandstone
formations, which can be located more than 1,500 feet beneath the ocean
floor. Carbon dioxide molecules will be swapped for methane molecules,
and aims to achieve two goals: release the methane gas and permanently
store the carbon dioxide in the formation. This field experiment will be
an extension of earlier successful tests of the technology conducted by
ConocoPhillips and its partners in a laboratory setting, the DOE said.

The tests will use the “Iġnik Sikumi” (Iñupiaq for
“fire in the ice”) gas hydrate field trial well that was installed in
Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay region by ConocoPhillips and the Office of Fossil
Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory earlier this year.
The team will spend another month evaluating an alternative method of
methane production called depressurization, which was successfully
demonstrated during a one-week test in a different location by Japan and
Canada back in 2008.

Photo: Wikicommons; DOE

Occupy Wall Street

NEW YORK -- One of the richest men in the world took a stroll
among the people of the protest group called Occupy Wall Street who were
encamped like Bedouins in the Lower Broadway park named after him. Not a
soul knew or guessed that John Zuccotti, 74, was that fellow meandering
anonymously along like everyone else.

A young woman in her late twenties with long, wavy brown hair and the
fresh innocence of a Brown University graduate stood on the sidewalk
before a congregation of hundreds of people and as a "facilitator"
helped conduct a three-hour "General Assembly" in a style dubbed
"consensus democracy."

A hand-lettered sign on a corrugated box flap proclaimed:

"There are no leaders here. Don't ask for them. Get used to it!"

Reporters sought in vain for authorized representatives to answer their
questions, and many groused about not finding any. Without leaders, they
grumped, who is there to question? Who presents the group's talking
points and expresses cogent demands?

From the handmade signs bobbing daily in a sea of humanity, interviews with
dozens of protesters and the ongoing public exchanges among the
thousands at Occupy Wall Street emerge the questions that are beginning
to resonate across America:

» Is it fair for a tiny splinter of the population, allegedly just 1
percent, to own and control half or more of a nation's wealth?

» Should corporations be granted the privileges of "personhood," via a Supreme
Court decision on campaign finance, when corporations don't have a
conscience?

» Why have the world's millionaires increased by almost nine percent since 2009?

» Why are bailed-out banks allowed to hoard their cash?

» Why can't America eliminate the corrupting and destructive links between politicians and corporations?

The thirst for answers appears to be gaining momentum. An Associated
Press-GfK poll released Friday says 37 percent of Americans back the
people gathered here. And 58 percent of Americans say they are furious
about America's politicians.
A slender 27-year-old man, who calls himself Kwame, sat on a granite
slab beside a pale, plump, goat-bearded college professor and they mused
about the characteristics of the crowd.

For one thing, roughly 99 percent of everyone within sight, no matter how
they are garbed, carries a smartphone. Except for a bronze statue of a
businessman hunched over his briefcase, neckties are scarce. Almost as
scarce are people of color.

Kwame, who's black, is working on his Ph.D. in music at Stanford University.
The question was raised, "Why is there just one percent black people
among the 99 percenters in the park?"

"Education," he said. "The higher their education level, the more likely anyone is
to be here. Blacks in New York are a shrinking minority and their
schools are not up to high standards. But as this goes on, there'll be
more."

There are just about as many males as females. Many people claim to hold one or
more jobs and about two out of 10 say they can't find one. People who
haven't showered in far too long rub elbows with well-scrubbed travelers
from abroad. There are blue-dyed mohawks, a few hippie-ish longhairs,
tattoos of all colors, labor union workers, anarchists, musicians,
hundreds of blue tarpaulins, pillars of pizza boxes, plastic bottles of
water that cost more per quart than gasoline, and wave after wave of
curious tourists and "media" who invariably ask the question:

"Why are you all here and what do you want?"

The answer is both super-simple and ultra-complicated:

"Money."

The primary issue for almost every soul in the park -- whatever their age,
spiritual faith, political leanings, skin shade, gender, ethnicity,
hierarchical rank, IQ level or social class -- is an inquiry into what
money actually is, how money truly functions, what money is worth, how
money affects the way we are governed, how money is stolen and by whom,
how money affects the law, how to get money and how to spend it.

What so fascinates people about the month-old iCreature called Occupy Wall
Street is that the Occupiers have brilliantly directed the searchlight
of world attention on the global subject of money. Almost everybody
cares about money. As Mark Twain put it, "Some men worship rank, some
worship heroes, some worship power, some worship God, & over these
ideals they dispute & cannot unite -- but they all worship money."
n Zuccotti Park, the lefties, the righties, the middlies and the
politically perplexed have quite amazingly gathered to consider in a
unique 21st-century style the true role of money. In a wild and almost
weird collision of coincidences, Occupy has become the hottest ticket in
town.

The word "occupy" is now attached
to more than 1,000 cities (including Wilmington), states, nations and
locations globally. Plans are afoot for a massive, Internet-coordinated
"international" occupation of Central Park on the easy-to-remember date
of Friday, 11/11/11. A permit is required for large gatherings in the
city-owned park.

•°°

The privately owned Zuccotti Park is named for a lively and thoughtful man
whose life story epitomizes the wildest American dreams of avarice.
Before becoming one of the world's wealthiest real estate developers,
Zuccotti checked hats at a super-swanky 54th Street speakeasy with
zebra-striped decor called El Morocco, where his father, Angelo, was the
suave maitre d'.

Zuccotti graduated from Princeton, earned his law degree at Yale and became one
of the 500 richest men in the world according to Forbes Magazine. He
served on both the National Republican Congressional Committee and with
Vice President Joe Biden's 1988 presidential campaign. Zuccotti has paid
incognito visits to the park and friends say he was worried about the
disorder and mess, but he nonetheless smiled while strolling through the
plaza that carries his family name.

Then there is an Estonia-born writer and documentary filmmaker named Kalle
Lasn, 69, the founder and editor of a popular Canadian magazine called
Adbusters, which probes and satirizes the ideas and consequences of
consumerism, an economic philosophy that Adbusters readers regard as
pernicious and fundamentally evil.

This story began one day in a Vancouver supermarket. Lasn became infuriated
when he had to pay a quarter to rent a shopping cart. He jammed the coin
in the slot. It was his first act of vandalism against consumerism,
which he sees as an infernal machine that sucks coins from consumers'
pockets and seldom returns fair value. Adbusters soon became one of
Canada's favorite magazines.
In July 2011, Lasn published an editorial in Adbusters (www.adbusters.org) that called on 20,000 people to "set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months."

With what aim in mind? To investigate and eventually sever unscrupulous
links between politics and money and to force the government "to choose
publicly between the will of the people and the lucre of the
corporations."

A few dozen "activists" in New York City took note. On Sept. 17, a
Saturday, they showed up at the little--known, granite-paved Zuccotti
Park, about as big as a football field minus the end zones. It is two
blocks up Broadway from Trinity Church, at the top of Wall Street. It
is three blocks from the New York Stock Exchange and four blocks from
Federal Hall, the first capitol of the United States of America, where
George Washington was sworn in as the first president in 1789. Two
blocks to the west, the steel skeleton and glass skin of One World Trade
Center is built up to its 86th floor and will rise eventually to an
altitude of 1,776 feet above the ground on the spot where the North
Tower of the World Trade Center once stood.

Day by day, that first encampment of vinyl tarps, overstuffed backpacks,
sleeping bags, umbrellas, guitars, drums, a seedy old sofa and
unspeakable mattresses began to grow like the gray matter in a brain
does, neuron by neuron, from person to person, from smartphone to
smartphone, from mind to mind, in a way that the iPeople have come to
call "going viral."

By last Monday, Oct. 17, the first month's anniversary of Occupy Wall
Street's un-immaculate birth, the "Occupus" had sprouted tentacles in
hundreds of cities around the globe and the number increased each day.
Boston, Baltimore, Washington, Chicago, Denver, Salt Lake City, San
Francisco and Los Angeles were "occupied" within a week or so. Within a
fortnight, the estimated numbers in marching crowds and occupied places
was greater on the West Coast than in the East, where Occupy began. Then
London, Rome and Barcelona joined in, and so on round the globe.
In the first few weeks, Occupy was paid scant attention by the media,
which is not surprising because New York City is awash in political
protests and this one seemed to many editors no more significant than
most. Then, on Oct. 6, Paul Krugman, the 2008 winner of the Nobel
Memorial Prize for economics and the "Liberal" op-ed columnist for the
New York Times, wrote:

"What can we say about the [Occupy Wall Street] protests? First things first: The
protesters' indictment of Wall Street as a destructive force,
economically and politically, is completely right."

It was the equivalent of a rave theater review. Occupy Wall Street
suddenly gained momentum. A squad of uniformed police was positioned
just outside the park, unthreatened and content on overtime pay. "We're
minding the trust fund babies," is how one policeman put it.

Now the more mainstream media began to show up. Reporters immediately
noticed that there are no bathroom facilities in the park and personal
hygiene for the campers is rough. The McDonald's across Broadway allows
restroom privileges for all (most visitors pay for the kindness by
buying at least a cup of coffee first). So do Trinity Church and an
Episcopal public meeting room called Charlotte's Place that is decorated
with fresh flowers and offers sparkling-clean bathrooms, Wi-Fi and
tables for computers, and a free conference room where Occupy working
groups meet.

Because social communication is what Occupy is actually all about, the biggest
obstacle the Occupiers overcame was the police ban on voice
amplification. To hold General Assembly meetings for hundreds of people
alongside the noisy bustle of Broadway without megaphonic help would
have been impossible without Mike Check! Mike is a superhero of Occupy,
which may be leaderless but is not without heroes.

Mike Check! is the non-electronic human voice amplifier. It works very
simply, and is the primary means of vocal communication among the
participants in the evening plenary sessions, when hundreds of people
form a crescent of participants and onlookers on the Broadway side of
the park. For at least two hours each night, they discuss, decide and
take parliamentary decisions with all words sung full cry in a great
collective voice.
It works this way:

A person shouts: "Mike Check!"

Everyone who can hear the shout yells back, "Mike Check!" and the crowd even
mimics the inflection and accent of the speaker's voice.

The person shouts: "There's a reporter from Coney Island ..."

The crowd yells at the top of its voices: "There's a reporter from Coney Island ..."

The shouter: "who wants to interview somebody from Coney Island."

The crowd: "who wants to interview somebody from Coney Island."

Shouter: "So if ..."

Crowd: "So if ..."

Shouter: "you're from Coney Island ..."

Crowd: "you're from Coney Island ..."

Shouter: "Get over here."

Crowd (laughing): "GET OVER HERE!"

Those who know how to use Mike Check! best cut to the chase and talk in four-
or five-word bites. If a shouter uses overly long words or too-long
phrases, the crowd garbles them, which makes everything take longer.
Long-winded speakers are warned, "We get it ... enough!" by a particular
hand signal from anyone in the crowd (circling hands around each other
like a football referee when he wants to keep the game clock moving).

Occupy etiquette makes clear that no matter what the shouter says, or how
antithetical the words might be to local or personal beliefs, the crowd
is duty bound to echo the words at top volume.

The Mike Check! system was born of adversity and is a concept that
fascinates group dynamics people. Mike Check! actually forces people to
listen carefully to what others say and perhaps apprehend precisely what
they are saying before interrupting with a response.

Another hero of Zuccotti Park is the sanitation volunteer. There is a
cleanliness-is-next-to-godliness attitude among most of the Occupiers
(with a few swinish exceptions), necessary because littering is a
misdemeanor and could give authorities reason to kick everyone out on
public-safety grounds. On Oct. 14, Mayor Michael Bloomberg seemed about
to evict Occupy from the park to have it steam-washed by
"professionals." But John Zuccotti's company, the park's owners, backed
away from asking for a confrontation that might besmirch the name of the
park and the property.
To keep the park clean, the volunteer sanitation squads patrol
incessantly with brooms and trash pans, and warn people to put down
tarps when they paint protest signs because spilling paint on the
granite can get a person arrested.

There are numerous hand-drawn signs that proclaim, "DON'T DO DRUGS" and "NO
ALCOHOL." At a General Assembly, one of the volunteer security detail
men holds up a black plastic sack. He shouts Mike Check! "There are
three bottles ...

The crowd echoes: "There are three bottles ..."

"... of liquor in the bag."

"... of liquor in the bag"

"Alcohol will get us all thrown out!"

"Alcohol will get us all thrown out!"

"Don't bring it!"

"Don't bring it!"

By day 34 on Friday, the Occupiers were revving up for yet another weekend
of chaotic protests and teach-ins. The nightly General Assemblies
carried on under their rules of consensual democracy and the "lack of
leadership" was being criticized by Bloomberg, who prefers to deal with
an organization that has a hierarchy and a chain of command.

Nobody knows yet what Occupy will become. Will it get kicked out of the park?
Will it survive until Thanksgiving? Will it grow into an iCreature that
eats plutocrats for lunch? Will Kalle Lasn come to Manhattan to see what
he hath wrought? Will it end well, or end ugly? Millions worldwide are
tuned in to see.

Artificially Induced Longevity can be Inherited?

Scientific American article  reports

"

Longevity Shown for First Time to Be Inherited via a Non-DNA Mechanism

Experiments with worms show that altering an enzyme can not only lengthen their life spans, but that the longevity effect can be carried across several generations

By Sarah Fecht  | October 19, 2011 | 2

Research on nemotode worms is helping to illuminate ways to lengthen their lifetimes. The findings have yet to be replicated in vertebrates, including humans. Image: Wikimedia Commons

In October 2009 Stanford University geneticist Anne Brunet was sitting in her office when graduate student Eric Greer came to her with a slightly heretical question. Brunet's lab had recently learned that they could lengthen a worm's lifetime by manipulating levels of an enzyme called SET2. "What if extending a worm's lifetime using SET2 can affect the life span of its descendants, even if the descendants have normal amounts of the enzyme?" he asked.

The question was unorthodox, Brunet says, "because it touches upon the Lamarckian idea that you can inherit acquired traits, which biologists have believed false for years." The biologist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck​ theorized in 1809 that the traits exhibited by an organism during its lifetime were augmented in its offspring; a giraffe that regularly stretched its neck to eat would father calves whose necks were longer. The idea was largely discredited by Darwin's theory of evolution, first published in 1859. More recently, scientists have begun to realize that an organism's behavior and environment may indeed influence the genes it passes to its offspring. The heritability of those acquired traits is not based on DNA, but on alterations in the molecular packaging that surrounds a gene. When Greer approached Brunet in 2009 with his question about worms and SET2, such "epigenetic" inheritance had only been discovered for simple traits such as eye color, flower symmetry and coat color.

Brunet and Greer went ahead with the experiment. The results, published October 19 in Nature, provide the first evidence that some aspects of longevity can be passed from parent to offspring, independent of DNA's direct influence. (Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group.)

"I think this is a fundamentally important finding," says Matt Kaeberlein of the University of Washington in Seattle, who studies molecular mechanisms of aging. "It demonstrates for the first time that aging can be influenced by epigenetic changes that occurred in prior generations."

The study used Caenorhabditis elegans worms with very low levels of SET2. The enzyme normally adds methyl molecules onto DNA's protein packaging material. In doing so, the enzyme opens up the packaging material, allowing the genes to be copied and expressed. Some of those genes appear to be pro-aging genes, Brunet says. Her team knocked out SET2 by removing genes that code for it. This had the effect of significantly lengthening the worms' life spans, presumably because those pro-aging genes were no longer expressed.

Next, the long-lived, enzyme-lacking worms mated with normal ones. The offspring had the regular genes for making SET2, and even expressed normal amounts of the enzyme, but they lived significantly longer than control worms whose parents both had regular life spans. The life-extending effect carried over into the third generation, but returned to normal by the fourth generation (in the great-grandchildren of the original mutant worms). For the first few generations, having a long-lived ancestor increased life expectancy from 20 days to 25, extending a worm's longevity by 25 to 30 percent on average.

Brunet and her team have not yet determined the exact mechanism for the lifetime extension, or which molecules are at work. This is one of the study's imperfections, says David Katz, who researches epigenetic transcriptional memory at Emory University. Regardless, "the effect is clearly epigenetic," he says, "and it's probably one of the most complicated traits that has been linked to epigenetic inheritance."

The knowledge that epigenetics can impact a complex trait like life span has scientists curious to find out what other kinds of traits—such as disease susceptibility, metabolism and developmental patterns—are epigenetically heritable. Because epigenetic effects can be modified by environmental stimuli, Kaeberlein points out, it is possible that some of these traits "could be determined, at least in part, by the environment and lifestyle choices of parents, grandparents or even great-grandparents."

The study’s results are also exciting because the genes that code for the life-lengthening SET2 enzyme exist in other species, including humans. Brunet says she wants see if the results can be replicated in vertebrates, such as fish and mammals. Those questions will not be answered for many years, because it is unknown whether the SET2 complex has the same function in other species, and because those species have longer generational time frames.

"Worms have very short lives," Brunet says. "Will the effect apply to mammals that live thousands of times longer? We are excited to find out."

"

Now this is exciting.

But there could be another reason for the longevity found in certain populations such as the Japanese and Chinese. In these cultures, ancestor worship is common, and importantly, elderly are given much more respect than in other cultures of the world. Being regarded as useful and respected could be a driving factor for the old to live on. In most other cultures world wide, the senior citizens are viewed as a spent force, with little if any possible contributions to society.

Being fawned upon by the younger generation who look to them for guidance and advice could well be a motivating factor to live on. Of course this assumes that a person can give up on life and that outlook itself shortens her lifespan. But this is a reasonable assumption.

Look around you. Most of the people who are surprisingly fit and perky at a great age are, if you study their habits, people who have some driving force behind them.

 

Iqbal

ഇത്രേയുള്ളൂ; ഇത്രമാത്രം!

                 പുതിയൊരു കുഞ്ഞ്‌ നമ്മിലേക്ക്‌ വരാനിരിക്കുന്നു എന്ന വാര്‍ത്ത എത്ര
സന്തോഷത്തോടെയാണ്‌ നാം ആസ്വദിക്കാറുള്ളത്‌! കുടുംബത്തിലേക്ക്‌ പുതിയൊരാള്‍
വരുന്നു! ആകാംക്ഷയോടെ ആ കുഞ്ഞിന്‌ നല്ലൊരു പേര്‌ കണ്ടുവെച്ച്‌ നാം
കാത്തിരിക്കുന്നു. ഉമ്മയുടെയും ഉപ്പയുടെയും മനസ്സു നിറയെ ആ
കുഞ്ഞായിരിക്കും.

                അത്രയും
ആനന്ദവും ആശ്ചര്യവും നിറഞ്ഞ കൈകളിലേക്ക്‌ വന്നുവീണവരാണ്‌
നമ്മളോരോരുത്തരും. ഇനി, അതിലേറെ വേദനയും വിഭ്രാന്തിയും ബാക്കിയാക്കി
അവരില്‍ നിന്നെല്ലാം മടങ്ങിപ്പോകേണ്ടവരുമാണ്‌ ഈ നമ്മള്‍.
ജനിക്കുന്നതിനുമുമ്പ്‌ നമ്മെക്കുറിച്ച ഓര്‍മ കൂടിക്കൂടി വരും; പക്ഷേ
മരിച്ചുകഴിഞ്ഞാല്‍ നമ്മെക്കുറിച്ച ഓര്‍മ്മ കുറഞ്ഞുകുറഞ്ഞുവരും.

                എല്ലാവരും
ജീവിക്കുന്നവരാണെങ്കിലും ജീവിതത്തെക്കുറിച്ച്‌ ചിന്തിക്കുന്നവര്‍
കുറച്ചേയുള്ളൂ. ആനന്ദത്തിന്റെ ആഘോഷം മാത്രമാക്കി ജീവിതത്തെ
പുണരുന്നവര്‍ക്ക്‌ കൊച്ചുകാര്യങ്ങളെപ്പറ്റി ചിന്തിക്കാനേ നേരം കാണൂ.
ഭക്ഷണം, വസ്‌ത്രം, സൗന്ദര്യം, സൗകര്യം അങ്ങനെ വളരെ കുറച്ചുകാര്യങ്ങളുടെ
പിന്നില്‍ അവര്‍ ചുറ്റിത്തിരിയും. ചെറിയ ചെറിയ കാര്യങ്ങളേക്കാള്‍ വലിയ
കാര്യങ്ങള്‍ നിര്‍വഹിക്കാനുള്ള സന്ദര്‍ഭമാണീ ജീവിതമെന്ന്‌ തിരിച്ചറിയാന്‍
സാധിക്കുന്നവര്‍ മഹാഭാഗ്യവാന്മാരാണ്‌.




                 സുഖമൊരു
അനുഭവമല്ല. ദു:ഖമാണ്‌ അനുഭവമെന്ന്‌ ദു:ഖിച്ചവര്‍ക്കൊക്കെ അറിയാം.
രോഗങ്ങളും വേദനകളുമൊന്നുമില്ലെങ്കിലാണ്‌ സത്യത്തില്‍ നമുക്ക്‌ ഭയം
വര്‍ധിക്കേണ്ടത്‌. ഈ ജീവിതത്തിന്റെ നിസ്സാരതയെത്രയെന്ന്‌
തിരിച്ചറിയുമ്പോള്‍ വേദനകളെയും സന്തോഷങ്ങളെയും അതിജീവിക്കാന്‍ നാം
പഠിച്ചുതുടങ്ങും. അലക്കുകല്ലിന്റെ നിയോഗം അടിക്കുക എന്നതല്ല, അടി കൊള്ളുക
എന്നതാണ്‌. ഒരര്‍ഥത്തില്‍ നമ്മുടെയും നിയോഗമതാണ്‌. മരിക്കുന്നതുവരെ
ജീവിച്ചുകൊണ്ടിരിക്കുകയും ജീവിക്കുമ്പോഴൊക്കെ
പ്രവര്‍ത്തിച്ചുകൊണ്ടിരിക്കുകയുമാണ്‌ നമ്മുടെ ദൗത്യം.




               അസഹ്യമായ
അനുഭവങ്ങള്‍ വരാനിരിക്കുന്ന ജീവിതമാണ്‌ നമ്മുടേത്‌. അനിഷ്‌ടകരമായ
വാര്‍ത്തകള്‍ കേള്‍ക്കാനിരിക്കുന്ന കാതും ഹൃദയം തകരുന്ന അലര്‍ച്ചയോടെ
കരയാനിരിക്കുന്ന കണ്ണുമാണ്‌ നമ്മുടേത്‌. അത്തരം അനുഭവങ്ങള്‍ വരുത്തരുതേ
എന്ന്‌ പ്രാര്‍ഥിക്കുന്നതോടൊപ്പം അങ്ങനെ വല്ലതും സംഭവിച്ചാല്‍
പിടിച്ചുനില്‍ക്കാനുള്ള കെല്‍പ്പു തരണേയെന്നും പ്രാര്‍ഥിക്കുന്നതിലാണ്‌
തിരുനബി(സ)യുടെ മാതൃക.




                യാഥാര്‍ഥ്യബോധത്തോടെ
ജീവിതാനുഭവങ്ങളെ നേരിടുന്നതിലാണ്‌ നമ്മള്‍ വിജയിക്കേണ്ടത്‌. കുഞ്ഞ്‌
മരിച്ചുകിടന്നപ്പോഴും മുഖത്ത്‌ സങ്കടം വിരിയാതെ, ഭര്‍ത്താവിന്‌ അത്താഴവും
ആനന്ദവും പകര്‍ന്ന സ്വഹാബി വനിതയെ കേട്ടിട്ടില്ലേ? ധീരമായ ഭക്തിയാണത്‌.
കണ്ണീരിനെ മുഴുവന്‍ കണ്ണിനു പിന്നില്‍ നിര്‍ത്തിയ അസാധാരണമായ
സത്യവിശ്വാസമാണത്‌.







              സ്വഹാബികളോടൊപ്പം
യാത്ര ചെയ്യുകയായിരുന്ന തിരുനബി(സ) അവിടെയൊരു ആള്‍ക്കൂട്ടം കണ്ടു.
എന്താണവിടെയെന്ന്‌ അന്വേഷിച്ചു. `അവിടെ ഒരു ഖബ്‌ര്‍
കുഴിച്ചുകൊണ്ടിരിക്കുകയാണ്‌ റസൂലേ'. ഇത്‌ കേട്ടതോടെ തിരുദൂതര്‍
വിഭ്രാന്തിയുള്ള മുഖത്തോടെ ആ ഖബ്‌റിന്നരികിലേക്ക്‌ ഓടി. അവിടെ
മുട്ടുകുത്തിയിരുന്നു. താഴെയുള്ള മണ്ണ്‌ നനയുന്നത്രയും ശക്തമായി കരഞ്ഞു.
എന്നിട്ടിങ്ങനെ പറഞ്ഞു: ``എന്റെ കൂട്ടുകാരേ, ഇതുപോലൊരു ദിനത്തെ നേരിടാന്‍
നിങ്ങള്‍ ഒരുക്കങ്ങള്‍ നടത്തണേ.'' (ഇബ്‌നുമാജ-സുനന്‍ 4195)




               ജനങ്ങളില്‍
ഏറ്റവും ബുദ്ധിശക്തിയുള്ളവന്‍ ആരാണെന്ന ചോദ്യത്തിന്‌ തിരുനബി(സ)യുടെ
മറുമൊഴി ഇങ്ങനെയായിരുന്നു: ``മരണത്തെ നിരന്തരം ഓര്‍ക്കുന്നവര്‍. അതിനായി
തയ്യാറെടുക്കുന്നവര്‍. ഇവിടെ മാന്യതയും പരലോകത്ത്‌ മഹത്വവും
നേടിയെടുക്കുന്നവരാണവര്‍.'' (ബൈഹഖി-ശുഅബുല്‍ഈമാന്‍ 7993, 10550)





              മരണത്തെ
ഓര്‍ത്ത്‌ തയ്യാറെടുക്കുന്നവര്‍ക്ക്‌ അല്ലാഹു ഹൃദയത്തെ ഉണര്‍ത്തുകയും
മരണസന്ദര്‍ഭം എളുപ്പമാക്കുകയും ചെയ്യുമെന്ന്‌ അവിടുന്ന്‌ പറഞ്ഞു. (ദൈലമി:
മുസ്‌നദുല്‍ ഫിര്‍ദൗസ്‌)




             `ജീവിച്ച
വര്‍ഷങ്ങളല്ല, വര്‍ഷിച്ച ജീവിതമാണ്‌ പ്രധാനം' എന്ന്‌ ഇംഗ്ലീഷിലൊരു
പഴമൊഴിയുണ്ട്‌. ആയുസ്സിന്റെ നീളത്തേക്കാള്‍ ആയുസിലെ കര്‍മങ്ങളിലായിരിക്കണം
നമ്മുടെ ശ്രദ്ധ. നമുക്ക്‌ ഒരു ഏകദേശ ധാരണപോലുമില്ലാത്ത നിമിഷത്തില്‍ ഈ
ജീവിതം അവസാനിക്കും.
ആരോടും
യാത്ര ചോദിക്കാതെ, ആരെയും കാത്തിരിക്കാതെ, എല്ലാവരെയും കരയിച്ച്‌,
പറയാനുള്ളതും ചെയ്യാന്‍ കരുതിയതുമെല്ലാം ബാക്കിവെച്ച്‌ സുനിശ്ചിതമായ ആ
വലിയ സത്യത്തിലേക്ക്‌ നമ്മള്‍ ഉള്‍ചേരുകതന്നെ ചെയ്യും. ഒട്ടം
പരിചിതമല്ലാത്ത മറ്റൊരു ലോകത്തെക്ക്‌ യാത്രയാകും. അതോടെ എല്ലാ രസച്ചരടുകളും
പൊട്ടിച്ചിതറും. ഒന്നിച്ചു കഴിഞ്ഞവര്‍ രണ്ടായി പിരിയും, വാക്കുകളില്‍
കണ്ണീരു കലരും. ഓര്‍മകളൊക്കെയും സങ്കടമാവും. നമ്മെ പുണര്‍ന്നിരിരുന്ന
കൈകള്‍ നമ്മുടെ നേരെ മണ്ണെറിയും; തീര്‍ന്നു!






             ജനിക്കും
മുമ്പ്‌ നമ്മെക്കുറിച്ച ഓര്‍മ കൂടിക്കൂടിവരും. മരണത്തോടെ ആ ഓര്‍മ
കുറഞ്ഞുകുറഞ്ഞുവരും. മരിക്കും വരെ ജീവിക്കുകയും ജീവിക്കുമ്പോഴൊക്കെ
പ്രവര്‍ത്തിക്കുകയുമാണ്‌ നമ്മുടെ നിയോഗം.


ഓര്‍ക്കുക: ഞാന്‍ ചെയ്‌തതിന്റെ
ആകത്തുകയാണ്‌ ഞാന്‍. നിങ്ങളും അങ്ങനെത്തന്നെ.

--

ബുള്ളഷ് റാവുവിന്റെ അമ്മയോട് നാമെന്ത് പറയും?

ബുള്ളഷ് റാവുവിന്റെ അമ്മയോട് നാമെന്ത് പറയും?

കഴിഞ്ഞ ചൊവ്വാഴ്ച അത്ര പ്രാധാന്യത്തോടെയല്ലെങ്കിലും മലയാള പത്രങ്ങളില്‍ വന്ന ഒരു വാര്‍ത്തയിതായിരുന്നു. ആലപ്പുഴ ജില്ലയിലെ പട്ടണക്കാടിന് സമീപം ഉഴുവ തറമൂട് റെയില്‍വേ ക്രോസിനടുത്ത ശ്രീകൃഷ്ണവിലാസം ഭജനമഠത്തിന്റെ നടപ്പന്തലിലെ മണിക്കയറില്‍ അര്‍ധരാത്രി ഒരു മുപ്പതുകാരന്‍ പശ്ചിമ ബംഗാളിലെ ജയ്പാല്‍ഗുഡി ജില്ലയില്‍ നിന്നുള്ള ബുള്ളഷ് റാവു തൂങ്ങി മരിച്ചു. ഇദ്ദേഹം  ഈ സമയത്ത് എങ്ങനെ ഇവിടെയെത്തി എന്നല്ലേ? വിശദീകരിക്കാം. ചെങ്ങന്നൂരില്‍ നിര്‍മാണത്തൊഴിലില്‍ ഏര്‍പ്പെട്ടിരിക്കുന്ന ബംഗാളി സംഘത്തില്‍ പെട്ടയാളാണ് ബുള്ളഷ്. നാട്ടില്‍നിന്നെത്തിയ രണ്ട്  തൊഴിലാളി സുഹൃത്തുക്കളോടൊപ്പം തീവണ്ടിയില്‍ യാത്ര ചെയ്യുകയായിരുന്നു അദ്ദേഹം. ഉഴുവയില്‍ വെച്ച് ആള്‍ തീവണ്ടിയില്‍നിന്ന് പുറത്തേക്ക് തെറിച്ചുവീണ് തലക്ക് മുറിവുപറ്റി. അര്‍ധരാത്രി, തനിച്ച്, രക്തമൊലിക്കുന്ന ശരീരവുമായി  ആ യുവാവ് അടുത്തുള്ള വീട്ടില്‍ സഹായത്തിന് കയറി. അവര്‍ സഹായിച്ചില്ലെന്ന് മാത്രമല്ല, ബുള്ളഷിനെ പറഞ്ഞുവിട്ടു. ഭാഷയറിയാതെ, വഴി തിരിയാതെ ആ ചെറുപ്പക്കാരന്‍ വീണ്ടും നിരവധി വീടുകളില്‍ കയറി ദയ യാചിച്ചു നോക്കി. ആരും അര ഗ്ലാസ് പച്ചവെള്ളം പോലും അവന് നേരെ നീട്ടിയില്ല. അര്‍ധരാത്രി രക്തമൊലിപ്പിച്ചു നടക്കുന്ന ബുള്ളഷിന് നേരെ ഒരു പട്ടി കുരച്ച് വന്നപ്പോള്‍ അയാള്‍ അടുത്തുള്ള ഭജനമഠത്തില്‍ കയറി. അവിടെ തൂങ്ങിക്കിടക്കുന്ന മണിക്കയര്‍ അപ്പോഴാണയാള്‍ കാണുന്നത്. ഈ മനുഷ്യര്‍ക്കും പട്ടികള്‍ക്കുമിടയില്‍ ജീവിച്ചിരിക്കുന്നതില്‍ അര്‍ഥമില്ലെന്ന് കണ്ട് ആ ചെറുപ്പക്കാരന്‍ ഭക്തിയുടെ കയറില്‍ തന്റെ ജീവന്‍ അവസാനിപ്പിച്ചു. രംഗം നടക്കുമ്പോള്‍ മഠത്തിന് ചുറ്റും കണ്ടുനില്‍ക്കാന്‍ ആളുകളുണ്ടായിരുന്നു. ആരും 'അരുത്, ഞങ്ങളുണ്ടിവിടെ' എന്നു പറഞ്ഞതേയില്ല.

കായംകുളത്തുനിന്ന് ഞായറാഴ്ച ഒരു റിപ്പോര്‍ട്ടുണ്ടായിരുന്നു. ടിന്‍ഷീറ്റ് ഷെഡില്‍ താമസിക്കുന്ന ബംഗാളി തൊഴിലാളികള്‍ക്കുനേരെ പ്രദേശത്തെ ചില മാന്യന്മാര്‍ മൊബൈല്‍ ഫോണ്‍ മോഷണത്തിന്റെ പേരുപറഞ്ഞ്, നിര്‍മാണ സാമഗ്രികള്‍ ഉപയോഗിച്ച് മൃഗീയമായ ആക്രമണം അഴിച്ചുവിട്ടു. 15നും 30 വയസ്സിനുമിടയിലുള്ള 36 തൊഴിലാളികള്‍ ഇതെഴുതുമ്പോഴും ദേഹം മുഴുക്കെ മുറിവേറ്റ് വിവിധ ആശുപത്രികളില്‍ ചികിത്സയിലാണ്. മൊബൈല്‍ ഫോണല്ല, കരാറുകാര്‍ക്കിടയിലെ കുടിപ്പകയാണ് പാവപ്പെട്ട തൊഴിലാളികള്‍ ആക്രമിക്കപ്പെട്ടതിന്റെ യഥാര്‍ഥ കാരണം. സ്ഥലത്തെ പ്രധാന മാന്യന്മാരാണ് ആക്രമണത്തിന് പിന്നിലെന്നത് കൊണ്ടുതന്നെ പൊലീസ് കാര്യമായ നടപടികള്‍ ഒന്നും ഇതുവരെയും എടുത്തിട്ടില്ല.

'അന്യസംസ്ഥാന തൊഴിലാളികള്‍' എന്നത് നമ്മുടെ ഭാഷയില്‍ അടുത്തിടെ വന്നുചേര്‍ന്ന ഒരു പ്രയോഗമാണ്. നമ്മുടെ ചെറുപ്പക്കാര്‍ നല്ലൊരു ശതമാനം വിദേശത്തുപോവുകയും ഇവിടെയുള്ളവര്‍ ശാരീരികാധ്വാനമുള്ള തൊഴില്‍ ചെയ്യുന്നത് മടിക്കുകയും ചെയ്തപ്പോഴാണ് അന്യസംസ്ഥാന തൊഴിലാളികള്‍ നമ്മുടെ തൊഴില്‍ കമ്പോളത്തിലെ വലിയ സാന്നിധ്യമായത്. നമ്മുടെ നിര്‍മാണമേഖല ഇന്ന് മുന്നോട്ടുപോകുന്നത് പ്രധാനമായും ഇവരുടെ അധ്വാനശേഷിയുടെ ബലത്തിലാണ്. സാമാന്യം തരക്കേടില്ലാത്ത കൂലികിട്ടുന്നതുകൊണ്ട് അവരും സന്തോഷത്തോടെ തൊഴില്‍ ചെയ്യുന്നു. അങ്ങനെ, ഒഡിഷയിലെയും ബംഗാളിലെയും ബിഹാറിലെയും വിദൂര ഗ്രാമങ്ങളിലെ പട്ടിണിപ്പാവങ്ങള്‍ക്ക് കേരളം എന്നത് അവര്‍ കണ്ടെത്തിയ 'ഗള്‍ഫ്' ആയി മാറി. ഒരു കാര്യമുറപ്പ്, നാളെ അവരെല്ലാം തിരിച്ച് വണ്ടി കയറിയാല്‍ കേരളത്തിന്റെ ഉല്‍പാദന, നിര്‍മാണമേഖല സ്തംഭിക്കും.

പക്ഷേ, ആ മനുഷ്യരെ മനുഷ്യരായി കാണാനുള്ള മാന്യത പുരോഗമന കേരളം കാണിക്കുന്നുണ്ടോ? അര്‍ധ മനുഷ്യരോ താഴ്ന്ന മനുഷ്യരോ ആയല്ലേ നാം പലപ്പോഴും അവരെ പരിഗണിക്കുന്നത്? ആസ്‌ട്രേലിയയിലെ  ഇന്ത്യന്‍ വിദ്യാര്‍ഥികള്‍ക്കുനേരെയുള്ള വംശീയ വിവേചനത്തിനെതിരെ സായാഹ്ന ധര്‍ണ നടത്തുമ്പോഴും നമ്മുടെ ഉമ്മറത്തെ ബംഗാളിയോട് മാന്യമായി പെരുമാറാന്‍ മലയാളിക്ക് കഴിഞ്ഞില്ല. ഗര്‍വിന്റെയും അഹങ്കാരത്തിന്റെയും വ്യാകരണവും ശരീരഭാഷയുമാണ് നാം അവരോട് കാണിച്ചത്. ഗള്‍ഫിലും മറ്റും ഇതേപോലെ 'അന്യരാജ്യ' തൊഴിലാളികളായി ജീവിക്കുന്ന മലയാളി ചെറുപ്പക്കാര്‍ അയക്കുന്ന കറന്‍സിയുടെ ബലത്തിലാണ് നമ്മളീ അഹന്തകളൊക്കെയും കാണിക്കുന്നതെന്ന് നാം മറന്നുപോയി.

അന്യസംസ്ഥാന തൊഴിലാളികളോടുള്ള അയിത്ത മനോഭാവം മാത്രമല്ല, മറ്റൊരാളുടെയും പ്രശ്‌നത്തില്‍ ഇടപെടാനുള്ള മലയാളിയുടെ സന്നദ്ധതയില്ലായ്മ കൂടിയാണ് ബുള്ളഷിന്റെ മരണം വെളിവാക്കുന്നത്. വാഹനാപകടത്തില്‍ പെട്ട് നടുറോഡില്‍ രക്തമൊലിപ്പിച്ച് പിടയുന്നവനെ കൈപിടിച്ചുയര്‍ത്തുന്നതിനുപകരം, ആ രംഗം മൊബൈല്‍ കാമറയില്‍ ഒപ്പിയെടുക്കാന്‍ വെമ്പുന്ന മനസ്സ് മലയാളിയില്‍ വികൃതമായി വളര്‍ന്നുകൊണ്ടിരിക്കുകയാണ്. ഞാന്‍, എന്റെ കാര്യം എന്ന കുടുസ്സു ചിന്തയില്‍ എന്തേ നമ്മള്‍ മലയാളികള്‍ ഇന്ത്യയിലെ ഏറ്റവും വിദ്യാസമ്പന്നരായ പുരോഗമന സമൂഹം പെട്ടുപോയി? ഒരിറക്ക് വെള്ളംപോലും കിട്ടാതെ വേദനകൊണ്ട് പുളഞ്ഞ്, മനോവേദനകൊണ്ട് തകര്‍ന്ന് ജീവിതമവസാനിപ്പിച്ച ബുള്ളഷിന്റെ ആത്മാവ് നമ്മളെക്കുറിച്ച് ഇപ്പോള്‍ എന്തു വിചാരിക്കുന്നുണ്ടാവും? കുടിലിലെ പട്ടിണിമാറ്റാന്‍ ആ ചെറുപ്പക്കാരനെ കണെ്ണത്താ വിദൂരതയിലേക്ക് പറഞ്ഞുവിട്ട ബുള്ളഷിന്റെ അമ്മ നാളെ ഇങ്ങോട്ടുവന്ന് എന്റെ മകനോട് നിങ്ങളെന്തേ ഇങ്ങനെ ചെയ്തുവെന്ന് ചോദിച്ചാല്‍, സത്യം, നമ്മളെന്താണ് മറുപടി പറയുക? വിദൂരദേശങ്ങളില്‍ തീര്‍ത്തും അന്യമായ സാഹചര്യങ്ങളില്‍ നമുക്ക് കഞ്ഞിയെത്തിക്കാന്‍ വേണ്ടി ചോരനീരാക്കി പണിയെടുക്കുന്ന നമ്മുടെ മക്കളോട്/അനുജന്മാരോട് അന്നാട്ടുകാര്‍ ഈ വിധം പെരുമാറിയാല്‍ അവര്‍ക്കുനേരെ വിരല്‍ചൂണ്ടാന്‍  നമുക്കെങ്ങനെ കഴിയും?

ബുള്ളഷിന്റെ മരണം ഒരു ചൂണ്ടാണി മാത്രമാണ്. നാം, മലയാളികള്‍ എവിടെ എത്തിനില്‍ക്കുന്നുവെന്നതിന്റെ ഓര്‍മപ്പെടുത്തല്‍. ഈ അപരാധത്തിന് നാം കൂട്ടമായി മാപ്പുചോദിക്കുക. മുഖ്യമന്ത്രിതന്നെ മുഴുവന്‍ മലയാളികള്‍ക്കും വേണ്ടി ആ ചെറുപ്പക്കാരന്റെ കുടുംബത്തോട് ഖേദപ്രകടനം നടത്തുക. എങ്കില്‍ അതൊരു അനുഭവമായിരിക്കും. ജനങ്ങള്‍ക്കിടയില്‍ പുതിയൊരു അവബോധം സൃഷ്ടിക്കാന്‍ അതുപകരിക്കും. പൊങ്ങച്ചബോധം കുടഞ്ഞു തെറിപ്പിക്കാന്‍, സ്വന്തത്തെയും കടന്ന്  അപരനിലേക്ക് നീളാനുള്ള ചിന്ത അവനില്‍ കരുപ്പിടിപ്പിക്കാന്‍ അതുപകരിച്ചേക്കും.

ബുള്ളഷ്, നീ ഞങ്ങളോട് പൊറുക്കുക.

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Civil Disobedience: Muslim women flout French ban of veil

Kenza Drider, wearing an Islamic face veil announces in front of Meaux court house, east of Paris that she will be candidate for the 2012 French presidential elections Thursday Sept. 22, 2011. Drider declared her longshot candidacy Thursday, the same day that a French court fined two women who refuse to remove their veils. All three are among a group of women mounting an attack on the law that has banned the garments from the streets of France since April, and prompted similar moves in other European countries. (AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)

PARIS—Kenza Drider's posters for the French presidential race are ready to go, months before the official campaign begins. There she is, the "freedom candidate," pictured standing in front of a line of police -- a forbidden veil hiding her face.

Drider declared her longshot candidacy Thursday, the same day that a French court fined two women who refuse to remove their veils. All three are among a group of women mounting an attack on the law that has banned the garments from the streets of France since April, and prompted similar moves in other European countries.

They are bent on proving that the ban contravenes fundamental rights and that women who hide their faces stand for freedom, not submission.

"When a woman wants to maintain her freedom, she must be bold," Drider told The Associated Press in an interview.

President Nicolas Sarkozy strongly disagrees, and says the veil imprisons women. Polls show that most French people support the ban, which authorities estimate affects fewer than 2,000 women who wore the veil before the ban.

Drider declared her candidacy Thursday in Meaux, the city east of Paris run by top conservative lawmaker and Sarkozy ally Jean-Francois Cope, who championed the ban.

"I have the ambition today to serve all women who are the object of stigmatization or social, economic or political discrimination," she said. "It is important that we show that we are here, we are French citizens and that we, as well, can bring solutions to French citizens."

Two other women arrested wearing veils in Meaux -- while trying to deliver a birthday cake to Cope -- were fined in court Thursday, one euro120, the other euro80.

They want to push their case to the European Court of Human Rights.

"We cannot accept that women be punished because they are openly practicing their religious convictions. We are demanding the application of European rights," said one of those convicted, Hind Ahmas.

With Islam the second religion in France and numbers of faithful growing, there are worries that veiled Muslim women could compromise the nation's secular foundations and undermine gender equality and women's dignity. There are also concerns that practices like wearing full veils could open the door to a radical form of Islam. Lawmakers banned Muslim headscarves in classrooms in 2004.

Few Muslim women in France cover their faces. Most who veil themselves wear the "niqab," a filmy cloth attached to the headscarf that covers all but the eyes. The law also affects the burqa, with just a mesh covering over the eyes, worn largely in Afghanistan.

Belgium passed a similar face veil ban that took effect in July, and the Netherlands announced Friday it has drawn up legislation to outlaw Muslim face veils. A draft law has been approved in Italy.

In France, the veil ban was also seen as a political maneuver by the unpopular Sarkozy's conservative UMP party, which Cope chairs, to entice deeply conservative and far-right voters.

Flouting the French measure outlawing face veils in all public places can lead to a fine of euro150 and, in some cases, citizenship classes. However, thus far there have been few legal consequences.

According to the Interior Ministry, 146 women have been given citations by police but only a handful have reportedly been forced to take the next step -- appear before a judge for a possible fine. The Justice Ministry says figures are not yet available.

"I tried to understand this law and what I understood is that this is a law which puts us under house arrest," Drider said, referring to women who choose to stay home rather than remove their face veils, or risk arrest.

What the law has done, she says, is give citizens the right to insult veiled women.

Drider and others say that many women who refuse to remove their veils become shut-ins rather than go outside and risk a citation, or insults. One woman in a long black robe was seen recently in a chic Paris neighborhood wearing a surgical mask on her face -- one of several tricks developed to get around the ban.

Drider, 32, who has worn a face veil for 13 years, hasn't shirked from denouncing the ban in the past. She was the only veiled woman to testify before an information commission of lawmakers studying a potential ban before the law was passed.

With four children, Drider says she goes about the southern city of Avignon, where she lives, facing down insults but left alone by police.

Ahmas, 32, from Aulnay-Sous-Bois, a northeast Paris suburb, looked for trouble when she tried to deliver an almond cake to Cope, the mayor of Meaux, with another veiled woman. The gesture was not without a touch of humor: in French, "almond" sounds like "fine."

The women, while intent on showing the power behind the veil, have a male backer. Rachid Nekkaz, a wealthy businessman revolted by the street ban, has promised to pay fines for women sanctioned for breaking the law. With his association, Don't Touch My Constitution, he heads Drider's support committee for the presidency.

For Nekkaz, the Meaux case will be the first in France in which a conviction for veiled women could stick. He wants to see an appeal eventually go to the highest French court, then on to the European Court of Human Rights and calculates that this could happen in 2014.

Drider has obstacles to overcome, too, like getting 500 mayors to back her candidacy, a requirement for anyone running for the presidential elections in April and May. With more than 36,000 mayors in France, she thinks this is doable -- despite her status as a lawbreaker.

Both women insist that neither Drider's candidacy for the presidential race nor the Meaux court case are a provocation because their aim is to set aright a measure they say has skewed French values and compromised women's rights.

"My candidacy is to say the real problem in France is not us ... The real problem in France is really women's freedom ... whatever their religion," she said. "So let's not focus on what I wear. Let's deal with the real problems. My candidacy is really for that, to say don't stop at what I wear but go much deeper."

Islamic cultural center open in N.Y.

Sep 22, 2011  |  

An NYPD officer keeps watch during the Wednesday grand opening of the Park51 Islamic cultural center in New York City. It's near Ground Zero, and the project has drawn criticism from opponents who say they don't want a Muslim prayer space near the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. / MARIO TAMA/Getty Images

BY KAREN ZRAICK AND VERENA DOBNIK

NEW YORK -- The developer of an Islamic cultural center that opened Wednesday evening near the site of the terrorist attacks that leveled the World Trade Center says the biggest error on the project was not involving the families of 9/11 victims from the start.

People crowded into the center, where a small orchestra played traditional Middle Eastern instruments and a photo exhibit of New York children of different ethnicities lined the walls. The enthusiasm at the opening belied its troubled beginnings.

"We made incredible mistakes," Sharif El-Gamal told the Associated Press in an earlier interview.

The building at 51 Park Place, two blocks from Ground Zero, includes a mosque that has been open for two years. El-Gamal said the cultural center is modeled after the Jewish Community Center on Manhattan's Upper West Side, where he lives.

"I wanted my daughter to learn how to swim, so I took her to the JCC," said the Brooklyn-born Muslim. "And when I walked in, I said, 'Wow. This is great.' "

The project has drawn criticism from opponents who say they don't want a Muslim prayer space near the site of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The center is open to all faiths and will include a 9/11 memorial, El-Gamal said. He called opposition to the center -- which prompted one of the most virulent national discussions about Islam and freedom of speech and religion since Sept. 11 -- part of a "campaign against Muslims."

Last year, street clashes in view of the trade center site pitted supporters against opponents of the center.

When the center was first envisioned, several years ago, activist Daisy Khan and her husband, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, played a major, vocal role. But they soon left the project because of differences with the developer.

El-Gamal, 38, confirmed Wednesday that they parted ways because "we had a different vision."

The couple said they had discussed plans for Park51, as the center is known, with relatives of 9/11 victims, first responders and others. But El-Gamal said he wishes victims' families had been involved earlier -- before the center became a point of contention. "The biggest mistake we made was not to include 9/11 families," El-Gamal said, noting that the center's advisory board now includes at least one 9/11 family member.

El-Gamal also noted that the featured photographer in the "NYChildren" exhibit is Danny Goldfield, who is Jewish.

Goldfield said he didn't want to pass judgment on the center's opponents. But he said he'd like them to see the show "more than anyone."

El-Gamal said that fund-raising is under way to complete the 15-story building that also is to include an auditorium, educational programs, a pool, a restaurant and culinary school, child care services, a sports facility, a wellness center and artist studios.

The mosque is needed in lower Manhattan, he said, because thousands of Muslims either work or live in the area.

Athletic, Muslim, Fashionable

Athletic, Muslim, Fashionable - a Tale of the Sports Hijab

Tala Hadavi | Montreal

Olympic hopeful, 17-year-old Zeinab Hammoud

Female Muslim athletes who observe a strict Islamic dress code sometimes face the question of whether they will be allowed to participate in major competitions -- with their heads and most of their bodies covered.  Now, one Iranian-Canadian woman is marketing a product to change that.  It complies with the requirements of many major sports, and it’s fashionable, safe and comfortable -- while still meeting Islamic requirements.

An Olympic hopeful faces a small obstacle

Seventeen-year-old Zeinab Hammoud has a brown belt in Taekwondo, and dreams of one day making it to the Olympics.  But unlike her sister, Rana, Zeinab chooses to wear the Islamic headscarf, or hijab.  

This became a problem four years ago. The team’s hard work, passion and hopes were dashed when the Taekwondo Federation of Quebec expelled them from a tournament in 2007. The reason: their hijabs were considered unsafe. “I was really disappointed because I trained really hard for that tournament. When I found out we were expelled I lost all my motivation to continue,” Hammoud said.

Civil rights supporters and sports enthusiasts around the world were enraged. Elham Seyed Javad was one of them. “In my opinion every individual, no matter their religion, should have the same rights as anyone else in society," he stated. "I mean, sports was made to re-unite people."

Athletic fashion

Javad was an industrial design student at the time, so she decided to take on the problem as one of her school projects. "At the time, in 2008, when I decided to take on this project, the international federation of Taekwondo didn’t allow its athletes to wear anything under the helmet. So my professor didn’t think there was a point of pursuing it.  But my point was, the rule is there because nothing has been invented that is appropriate," she explained.

Javad spent countless hours with the Hammoud sisters’ taekwondo team and with pattern maker Latifa Boukenda, to make the best product possible. “This was a very exciting project for me. I’ve worked in fashion for many years but this was special because it was beyond fashion," she said. "It had a more human and social aspect to it. helping young women blossom and follow their athletic dreams."

Ultimately, they hit upon a design that worked, and a fabric that was stretchy, breathable, and dried quickly.  Called a “ResportOn,” the garment was an immediate hit.

Even Zeinab’s sister Rana, who chooses not to wear the hijab, was impressed. “I just tried the Resport hijab and the hair was inside so it doesn’t come out and it’s very comfortable so you can play without trying to put your hair inside all the time,” she noted.

Rules reconsidered, changed

Javad’s invention came at an opportune time.  A year later, in response to pressure from the taekwondo community, the World Taekwondo Federation changed its rules to allow for head-coverings.

The Montreal Muslim Taekwondo team was able to compete again.

“I was in the stands and got teary-eyed because since the very beginning my goal was to be able to see the girls on the mats again. When it happened it was like someone gave me the world," Javad stated.

Javad thought she was just helping Zeinab and her teammates.  But when an investor approached her about marketing the product, things changed dramatically.  In January, her sports hijab became available to athletes all over the world.  She has been busy ever since. “My days start at 2am when my phone goes off with an email from an athlete from the other side of the world. I turn it on and read the email, get happy and go back to sleep," she said.

While there are other sports hijabs on the market, Javad believes hers has some advantages.  Those include a built-in t-shirt that keeps it from pulling loose, and an opening at the back that allows easy access for wearers to adjust their hair.

സകാത്തുല്‍ ഫിത്വ്‌ര്‍

സകാത്തുല്‍ ഫിത്വ്‌ര്‍


റമദാന്‍ മാസത്തില്‍ പ്രത്യേകമായി ശ്രദ്ധപതിപ്പിക്കേണ്ട ഒരു സകാത്ത്‌ ഇസ്‌ലാം നിശ്ചയിച്ചിട്ടുണ്ട്‌. അതാണ്‌ വ്രതസമാപന സകാത്ത്‌ അഥവാ സകാത്തുല്‍ ഫിത്വ്‌ര്‍.
``മുസ്‌ലിംകളിലെ അടിമകള്‍, സ്വതന്ത്രര്‍, പുരുഷന്മാര്‍, സ്‌ത്രീകള്‍, ചെറിയവര്‍, വലിയവര്‍ (എന്നീ വേര്‍തിരിവുകളില്ലാതെ) എല്ലാവരുടെ പേരിലും ഓരോ സ്വാഅ്‌ കാരക്കയോ ബാര്‍ലിയോ ഫിത്വ്‌ര്‍ സകാത്ത്‌ നല്‍കല്‍ ബാധ്യതയായി അല്ലാഹുവിന്റെ ദൂതര്‍(സ) നിര്‍ബന്ധമായി നിശ്ചയിച്ചിരിക്കുന്നു. പെരുന്നാള്‍ നമസ്‌കാരത്തിന്‌ ആളുകള്‍ പുറപ്പെടുന്നതിനു മുമ്പായി അത്‌ നല്‍കണമെന്നും അദ്ദേഹം കല്‌പിച്ചിരിക്കുന്നു.'' (ബുഖാരി, മുസ്‌ലിം)
റമദാന്‍ അവസാനിക്കുന്നതോടെയാണ്‌ ഈ സകാത്ത്‌ നിര്‍ബന്ധമായിത്തീരുന്നത്‌. ഈദുല്‍ഫിത്വ്‌ര്‍ (ശവ്വാല്‍ ഒന്ന്‌) നമസ്‌കാരത്തിന്‌ പുറപ്പെടുന്നതോടെ അതിന്റെ സമയം അവസാനിക്കുകയും ചെയ്യുന്നു. ഹ്രസ്വമായ സമയപരിധിക്കുള്ളില്‍ അത്‌ പൂര്‍ണമായി നിര്‍വഹിക്കപ്പെടാന്‍ പ്രയാസമാണെങ്കില്‍ വ്രതസമാപനത്തിന്‌ രണ്ടോ മൂന്നോ ദിവസം മുമ്പായി അത്‌ കൊടുക്കുകയും ചെയ്യാം. ഇബ്‌നു ഉമര്‍(റ) പറയുന്നു: ``അവര്‍ (സ്വഹാബികള്‍) ഫിത്വ്‌ര്‍ സകാത്ത്‌ പെരുന്നാളിന്റെ ഒന്നോ രണ്ടോ ദിവസം മുമ്പ്‌ നല്‍കാറുണ്ടായിരുന്നു.'' (ബുഖാരി)
സമ്പത്ത്‌ എന്ന അല്ലാഹുവിന്റെ അനുഗ്രഹം ലഭിച്ചവര്‍ക്ക്‌ മാത്രം നിര്‍ബന്ധമാണ്‌ സാധാരണ സകാത്ത്‌. അതിന്‌ നിശ്ചിത പരിധിയും കൃത്യമായ തോതും കണക്കുമെല്ലാം നിശ്ചയിക്കപ്പെട്ടിരിക്കുന്നു. എന്നാല്‍ സകാത്തുല്‍ ഫിത്വ്‌ര്‍ സമ്പത്തിന്റെ മാനദണ്ഡമനുസരിച്ചല്ല നല്‍കേണ്ടത്‌. കണക്കനുസരിച്ച്‌ തന്റെ സമ്പത്തിന്റെ സകാത്ത്‌ കൊടുത്തുതീര്‍ത്തവരും കണക്കനുസരിച്ച്‌ സകാത്ത്‌ കൊടുക്കാന്‍ മാത്രം സമ്പത്തില്ലാത്തവരും സകാത്തുല്‍ ഫിത്വ്‌ര്‍ കൊടുക്കേണ്ടതുണ്ട്‌. നിത്യവൃത്തിക്ക്‌ വകയില്ലാത്തവര്‍ മാത്രമേ ഇതിന്റെ നിര്‍ബന്ധ കല്‌പനയില്‍ നിന്ന്‌ ഒഴിവാക്കപ്പെടുകയുള്ളൂ.
മനുഷ്യസഹജമായ താല്‌പര്യം അംഗീകരിച്ചുകൊണ്ട്‌ അല്ലാഹു നിശ്ചയിച്ച ആഘോഷം എന്ന നിലയില്‍ പെരുന്നാളിന്റെ ആഹ്ലാദം പങ്കിടുവാന്‍ നിത്യവൃത്തിക്ക്‌ കഷ്‌ടപ്പെടുന്നവര്‍ക്കുപോലും സാധിക്കണമെന്നതാണ്‌ സകാത്തുല്‍ ഫിത്വ്‌ര്‍ കൊണ്ട്‌ ലക്ഷ്യമാക്കുന്നത്‌. ജീവിതത്തില്‍ സൂക്ഷ്‌മത കൈവരിക്കാനും വന്നുപോയ പാളിച്ചകള്‍ക്ക്‌ പരിഹാരവും പ്രായശ്ചിത്തവുമായിക്കൊണ്ടുമാണ്‌ സത്യവിശ്വാസി വ്രതമനുഷ്‌ഠിക്കുന്നത്‌. നോമ്പുകാരന്‌ വീണ്ടും വിമലീകരണത്തിനുള്ള അവസരം കൂടിയാണ്‌ സകാതുല്‍ ഫിത്വ്‌ര്‍. ``അനാവശ്യമായ വാക്കും പ്രവൃത്തിയും മൂലം നോമ്പുകാരന്‌ വന്നുപോയ പിഴവുകളില്‍ നിന്ന്‌ അവനെ ശുദ്ധീകരിക്കാനും പാവങ്ങള്‍ക്ക്‌ ആഹാരത്തിനുമായി റസൂല്‍(സ) സകാത്തുല്‍ ഫിത്വ്‌ര്‍ നിര്‍ബന്ധമാക്കിയിരിക്കുന്നു.'' (അബൂദാവൂദ്‌, ഇബ്‌നുമാജ)
കാരക്കയും ബാര്‍ലിയും മാത്രമല്ല നാട്ടിലെ പ്രധാന ആഹാര സാധനങ്ങളാണ്‌ ഫിത്വ്‌ര്‍ സകാത്തായി നല്‍കേണ്ടത്‌ എന്നാണ്‌ സ്വഹാബിമാരുടെ പ്രവര്‍ത്തനങ്ങളില്‍ നിന്ന്‌ മനസ്സിലാകുന്നത്‌. അബൂസഈദില്‍ ഖുദ്‌രി(റ) പറയുന്നു: ``ഒരു സ്വാഅ്‌ ഗോതമ്പ്‌, അല്ലെങ്കില്‍ ഒരു സ്വാഅ്‌ ബാര്‍ലി, അല്ലെങ്കില്‍ ഒരു സ്വാഅ്‌ പാല്‍ക്കട്ടി, അല്ലെങ്കില്‍ ഒരു സ്വാഅ്‌ മുന്തിരി എന്നിങ്ങനെയായിരുന്നു ഞങ്ങള്‍ സകാത്തുല്‍ ഫിത്വ്‌ര്‍ കൊടുത്തുവന്നിരുന്നത്‌.'' (ബുഖാരി)
സകാത്തുല്‍ ഫിത്വ്‌ര്‍ അരി കൊടുക്കണമെന്ന്‌ വിശുദ്ധ ഖുര്‍ആനിലോ ഹദീസിലോ പറഞ്ഞിട്ടില്ലെങ്കിലും നമ്മുടെ നാട്ടില്‍ അരിയാണ്‌ സകാത്തുല്‍ ഫിത്വ്‌ര്‍ നല്‍കേണ്ടതെന്ന കാര്യത്തില്‍ മുസ്‌ലിം സമൂഹത്തില്‍ രണ്ടഭിപ്രായമില്ല. അത്‌ മേല്‍പറഞ്ഞ ഹദീസുകളുടെ അടിസ്ഥാനത്തിലാണ്‌.

എങ്കിലും സകാത്തുല്‍ ഫിത്വ്‌ര്‍ സമൂഹത്തിനുപകരിക്കുംവിധം സംഘടിതമായി നിര്‍വഹിക്കാന്‍ എല്ലാ മുസ്‌ലിംകളും ഇനിയും തയ്യാറായിട്ടില്ലെന്നത്‌ ഖേദകരമാണ്‌.
സകാത്ത്‌ കൊടുക്കുന്ന വ്യക്തി തനിക്കും തന്റെ കീഴിലുള്ള കുടുംബത്തിനും വേണ്ടി അത്‌ നിര്‍വഹിക്കണം. ശവ്വാല്‍ ഒന്നിന്‌ കാലത്ത്‌ പിറന്ന കുഞ്ഞുള്‍പ്പെടെ ഒരാള്‍ക്ക്‌ ഒരു സ്വാഅ്‌ എന്ന തോതില്‍ ധാന്യം അയാള്‍ സകാത്ത്‌ സമിതിയെ ഏല്‌പിക്കണം. സ്വാഅ്‌ എന്നത്‌ നബി(സ)യുടെ കാലത്തെ അളവാണ്‌. മെട്രിക്‌ തൂക്കമനുസരിച്ച്‌ രണ്ടുകിലോഗ്രാമും ഏതാനും ഗ്രാമും ആണത്‌. ആയതിനാല്‍ ആളൊന്നിന്‌ രണ്ട്‌ കിലോഗ്രാം വീതം അരിയാണ്‌ നല്‍കേണ്ടത്‌. ശേഖരിച്ച സകാത്ത്‌ റമദാനിന്റെ അവസാനത്തെ ദിവസങ്ങളില്‍ തന്നെ അര്‍ഹതപ്പെട്ടവര്‍ക്ക്‌ എത്തിച്ചുകൊടുക്കുക എന്നത്‌ സകാത്ത്‌ സമിതിയുടെ ബധ്യതയാണ്‌. ഒരുതരത്തില്‍ സമുദായത്തിന്റെ നിര്‍ബന്ധിതമായ ഒരു റിലീഫ്‌ കൂടിയാണ്‌ സകാത്തുല്‍ ഫിത്വ്‌ര്‍.

Top 12 healthiest foods on earth

Healthiest Foods on Earth

Healthiest Foods on Earth
1. Berries
All berries are low in sugar and high in fiber. Blueberries have been shown to increase memory in lab studies, and raspberries and strawberries are loaded with ellagic acid, a powerful antioxidant that seems to have some anti-cancer properties, according to the American Cancer Society.

2. Beans
Beans are extremely high in fiber, which helps to control weight, prevent or manage diabetes and blood sugar, and may help prevent colon cancer and protect against heart disease. The National Institute of Medicine recommends 25-38 grams of fiber a day. The average American gets only 4-11 grams. One cup of beans provides 11-17 grams.

3. Nuts
Some of the largest and most important long-term studies of diet and health have shown that eating nuts several times a week is consistent with a risk of heart attack and heart disease that is 30%-50% lower than the general population. Just one ounce of nuts-almonds, macadamia, Brazil , walnuts, pecans-eaten three to five times a week seems to be the magic number.

4. Wild Salmon
Fish is the ultimate anti-aging food. Cold-water fatty fish like wild salmon, sardines, mackerel and herring contain omega-3 fats that protect the brain and the heart, improve mood, and lower blood pressure and triglycerides.

5. Raw Milk
Raw, organic milk nearly always comes from grass-fed cows and contains high levels of cancer-fighting CLA (conjugated linolenic acid) as well as a rich assortment of vitamins, minerals and beneficial bacteria (like Lactobacillus acidophilus)

6. Grass-Fed Meat
Meat from grass-fed cows has a much different fat profile than ordinary supermarket meat: high in omega-3s, lower in potentially harmful omega-6s and loaded with CLA, a kind of fat known for its anti-cancer activity. A superb source of protein and vitamin B12, it's also missing the antibiotics, steroids and hormones found in the meat that comes from feedlot farms.


7. Eggs
Considered by many to be nature's most perfect food, the egg is high in protein and relatively low in calories. The yolk contains choline, one of the most important nutrients for the brain, as well as lutein and xeazanthin, two critical nutrients for eye health. Brassica Vegetables Cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli and kale all contain plant compounds called indoles that help reduce the risk of cancer. In addition to a stunning range of vitamins and minerals, they also contain sulforaphane, an important plant chemical that helps the body detoxify health-damaging chemicals.

8. Apples
Not only do they keep the doctor away, they also appear to do the same for lung cancer, diabetes and asthma. An apple contains five grams of fiber and a rich blend of nutrients including the bone-building vitamin K and the anti-inflammatory nutrient quercetin. And there's no better way to control your appetite than an apple eaten about half an hour before a big meal.

9. Onions and Garlic
In an impressive number of published studies, the consumption of onions and garlic has demonstrated protective effects against stomach, prostate and esophageal cancer. Along with broccoli, tea and apples, onions and garlic are among a select group of foods found to reduce mortality from heart disease by 20%.

10. Pomegranate Juice
Called "a natural Viagra" by researchers at Tel Aviv University , pomegranate juice is loaded with antioxidants. Studies show it can reduce blood pressure and plaque in the arteries. New research indicates it also slows the progression of tumors.. Four to eight ounces a day is highly recommended.

11. Green Tea
Though all teas are great for you, green tea has a unique profile of plant chemicals that have anti-cancer activity. It's now fairly established that green tea may help prevent the following types of cancers in humans: bladder, colon, esophagus, pancreas, rectum and stomach. If that's not enough, it also appears to help with weight control.

12. Honey
It is an antioxidant and antibiotic. Touted as a cure all by many authorities. It is named in Qur'an as a natural medicine.

Top 12 reasons Why Anna Hazare is wrong and Lok Pal a bad idea

FAQ: Why Anna Hazare is wrong and Lok Pal a bad idea

08.14.2011 · Posted in Public Policy

Don’t fall for the miracle cure that is being offered. Corruption must be fought differently and it’s not easy.

1. Is Lok Pal is necessary to fight corruption?

No, not only is it unnecessary, it will make the problem worse.
Corruption in India arises because of too much government, too many
rules, too much complexity and too much ambiguity. Adding one more,
huge, powerful layer to an already complex system will make the system
even more complicated. Complexity creates the incentives for
corruption–both on the part of the bribe giver and the bribe taker.

1A. Is the government’s version of the Lok Pal bill better?

No. We don’t need a Lok Pal at all. Making existing constitutional
institutions—like CAG, CVC, CBI and the Election Commission—more
independent will serve the purpose equally well. If we have been unable
to prevent the politicisation and undermining of these instutitions why
would we be able to prevent the Lok Pal from being politicised and
undermined? If we can prevent Lok Pal from being politicised and
undermined, why can’t we restore the independence and credibility of
CAG, CVC, CBI and the Election Commission?

2. What’s the alternative to Lok Pal then?

The alternative is to proceed with second-generation reforms, or Reforms 2.0.
Contrary to conventional wisdom reforms have reduced corruption, albeit
by moving it to higher up the government. In 1989 an ordinary person
would have to pay a bribe to get a telephone connection. By 2005, there
was no need to pay a bribe at all and anyone could get a phone in
minutes. Yes, 2010 saw the 2G scam in telecoms, but that was because the
UPA government reversed the reform process.

In fact, data show that perceptions of corruption are lower in some sectors of the economy, usually those that have been liberalised.

If you are interested in exploring real alternatives, you can start
by reading Atanu Dey’s slim, easily readable and inexpensive new book, “Transforming India”.

3. Doesn’t Hong Kong have an Ombudsman and doesn’t it enjoy low corruption?

This is a specious argument. There is little evidence to prove that
Hong Kong has low corruption because it has an Ombudsman. On the
contrary, there is empirical evidence from across the world suggesting that countries with high economic freedom are perceived to suffer from less corruption.

Hong Kong is one of the freest economies of the world,
and therefore, incentives for government officials to be corrupt are
relatively low. The Ombudsman is useful to address the residual
corruption in economic sectors and in sectors like law enforcement that
do not have discretionary powers over economic sectors.

4. How can we have economic reforms if the corrupt politicians don’t allow it?

We have not really demanded them at all, actually. If we did, they are
bound to register in the national political agenda. We should persuade
politicians that their political future is linked to implementing
economic reforms.

5. Easy to say, but how can we do this?

By voting. The constituencies that stand to benefit from economic
reforms—the middle class—needs to vote in larger numbers. In the absence
of the middle class vote base, politicians appease the poor by giving
handouts and entitlements, and cater to the super rich by allowing the
crony sector to exploit the half-reformed economy. It’s not easy, and we
have to be innovative. See for instance, Atanu Dey’s interesting idea
to form middle-class vote banks to induce good governance.

Whatever may be the claims made by the people promoting Lok Pal,
there is no miracle solution. They are peddling miracle weight-loss
pills. Sadly, such pills usually don’t work and can cause severe damage
to your health. If you are cautioned not to take those pills, you can’t
ask “which other miracle weight-loss pill do you recommend”? The answer
is in diet and exercise, which is hard work.

6. In the meantime, what’s wrong with Jan Lok Pal?

This question has already been answered above, but it’s usual
to encounter it again at this stage. The problem with Jan Lok Pal is
that it’ll make the problem worse. Does anyone seriously think we can
hire tens of thousands of absolutely honest officials who will
constitute the Lok Pal? Who will keep watch on them? Maybe we need a
Super Lok Pal, and then a Hyper Lok Pal to watch over the Super Lok Pal
and so on…This isn’t sarcasm, this is the logical extension of the Lok
Pal argument.

7. Don’t we have the right to protest peacefully? Why do you say that a fast-until-death lacks legitimacy?

Of course we have the right to protest peacefully. But it’s not about
whether we have the right or not. It’s about are we using that right
wisely. (You have the freedom of speech but that doesn’t mean it’s a
good idea to blast Eminem using a loudspeaker at 2am in a residential
district.)

As Ambedkar said while introducing the Constitution in November 1949,
once the Constitution came into force, we should avoid all
non-constitutional methods like protests and satyagraha, for they are the grammar of anarchy.
If two persons go on fasts until death for two opposing reasons, we
cannot decide the issue by allowing one person to die first.

Fast until death is political blackmail. It is a form of theatre
engaged in to coerce the government into doing something that the
agitators want. Whatever may be the cause, a single person cannot be
allowed to dictate laws to the whole nation.

8. Doesn’t Anna Hazare have the right to fast until death?

Anna Hazare has the right to protest peacefully. However to the extent
that his actions amount to an attempt to commit suicide, they are
illegal. The government can legitimately prevent him from killing
himself whatsoever the reason he might have to attempt suicide.

9. You are an armchair intellectual. Shouldn’t we trust activists more?

Pilots don’t design aircraft. Practicing doctors don’t discover new
drugs and treatments. These jobs are usually done by armchair
intellectuals. So being an armchair intellectual is not a
disqualification.

You shouldn’t trust intellectuals or activists because of what they
are. You should examine their arguments and make your own judgement.
Most of the people supporting Lok Pal have not examined what the
proposal is, have not tried to consider opposing arguments and blindly
accept it as a solution because some famous people said so.

11. Aren’t those who oppose Anna Hazare’s agitation supporting the corrupt politicians?

No. It takes an enormous amount of arrogance to claim that Anna Hazare
and his supporters have the exclusive hold on the right way to fight
corruption.

In the real world, it is foolish to expect 100% clean and non-corrupt
politicians. The real world challenge is to achieve good governance
with imperfect constitutions, imperfect institutions, imperfect leaders
and imperfect citizens. This requires us to realise that individuals
respond to incentives. If we remove incentives for taking or giving
bribes, then corruption will be lowered. We can reduce incentives for
corruption by following through with the reforms that started in 1991
but have stalled since 2004.

It is entirely possible to oppose the UPA government’s politics and
policies, while recognising that it is the legitimately constituted
government of the country. Individuals and parties might suffer from a
legitimacy deficit because of flagrant corruption, but the Government of
India as an institution remains the legitimate authority to make policy
decisions for the whole nation.

12. Why is fasting illegitimate when Mahatma Gandhi used it in our struggle for independence from the British?

There is a huge difference in context between 26th January 1950 when the
Constitution of India came into force and the time before it.

Mahatma Gandhi used civil disobedience against laws imposed on India
by the British government. Indians had no say in how the laws were made
and how they were implemented. Indians could not repeal laws we didn’t
want. Civil disobedience was justified in this context.

Gandhi also used it to coerce Indian nationalist leaders too,
including Ambedkar and the Indian National Congress, into accepting his
views. Whatever might be the wisdom of Gandhi’s intentions, this was
undemocratic and created a culture of ‘high command’ that lives on to
this day. Fasting was not justified in this context. This part of Gandhi
receives little attention in the dominant narrative of Indian history.

With the formation of the Republic of India on 26 January 1950,
things changed profoundly. All Indians have a say in how laws are made
and how they are implemented. We can amend or repeal laws that we do not
like. There is, of course, a method to do this, which must be followed.
These are the constitutional methods that Ambedkar referred to in his
grammar of anarchy speech. When constitutional methods are available,
there is no case for non-constitutional methods like satyagraha or
hunger strikes.

There is thus no equivalence between Gandhi’s satyagraha against the
British ruling us and Mr Hazare’s hunger strikes against we ruling
ourselves.