Day: June 26, 2020

When the Reds Go Marching In: Liverpool Wins the English Premier League

A major event has happened this week in the form of the English Premier League. A great news for all the football fans. Today Liverpool Football Club became champions of England after three decades. The match was held against Crystal Palace in Anfield Football Stadium, Liverpool, in the Game Week 31 on 25 June, 2020. The full time match score was 4-0 with Liverpool’s goals from four players— Trent Alexander-Arnold( 23’), Mohamed Salah(44’), Fabinho(55’) and Sadio Mané (69’). Scoring 86 points in the table Liverpool stands at the top with Manchester City as second.

The English Premier League has come back with a bang in the pandemic times— that too with a champion which had to wait for a long time. Sports management agencies had postponed the popular tournaments as the dreaded coronavirus spread globally. After three months of strict lockdown, Unlockdown 1.0 has given relief to people in some ways. Die-hard sports lovers all over the world have received their excitement back after some popular tournaments have resumed. Major sports events like La Liga, Bundesliga and English Premier League have surfaced with some changes in the rules and regulations.

Jürgen Klopp, manager of Liverpool F.C, was determined to win a title with the boys. He had promised in a press conference on October, 2015, to achieve the impossible for the loyal supporters who have waited patiently for thirty years for the Premier League Title win. He became emotional when it was officially declared the historic EPL night at Stamford Bridge after Manchester City’s loss of 1-2 to Chelsea F.C on Friday, 26 June. Liverpool is now just one title behind the Manchester United who has twenty title wins.

Besides the red celebrations the breathtaking dynamics of the match changed the atmosphere of the night. Liverpool had 73% possession of the ball with 27% possession from Crystal Palace. Total shots taken by the Reds were twenty one with shot accuracy of 33%. Ball passing accuracy was 89% with successful passes of 789 out of 886 whereas Crystals had 71% with 235 successful passes out of 330. Neither yellow cards nor red cards were used.

Thousands of Liverpool fans could not hold the excitement. Even wearing masks for protection against COVID-19 they failed to maintain social distancing. They streamed towards the Anfield singing and dancing with immense joy. They lit flares and red fireworks while some gathered around the stadium in their vehicles and beeped horns. The police department made no attempts to disperse the twenty thousand odd fans from the area. Fans filled up the city singing the club’s famous anthem— You’ll Never Walk Alone. The social media accounts of players became choked with congratulatory messages. The players also uploaded the video clips of the moments of celebrations for the fans.

The Liverpool players were watching television with rapt attention in a hotel when Chelsea was playing Manchester City. They wanted Chelsea to win, which would guarantee them the championship. Their wish came true. Chelsea got two goals from C. Pulisic (36’) and Willian (penalty 78’). Manchester City scored one goal by super free-kick from K. De Bruyne (55’). Chelsea won in spite of having 35% of ball possession while Man City had for 65%. While Chelsea received one yellow card City received one yellow and one red card.

Three decades is quite a long wait. But Liverpool as the champion in such a highly competitive league proves the value of an age-old adage: patience pays. The colour of the League is now ‘Liverpool red’ all over.

Motivational Tips for Depression – 6 Ways to Feel Better

Depression can strike anytime to anyone. It doesn’t spare its victims, and has no boundaries. Depression may be a serious illness and will never be taken lightly. Depression is sadness, hopelessness, a loss of interest in your daily living, crying, feelings of loss and thoughts of suicide are abundantly present.

There can be many causes for depression:

Life Changes
Worry
Chronic Pain
Drug and alcohol abuse
Holidays
A break-up
A death
When you start to feel depressed, or when things are beginning to compile , here are 6 ways for you to feel better and obtain yourself motivated and possibly slip away from the misery of depression.

  1. Get up and Move

Get out of bed no matter how demanding it is. Achieving physical activity when depressed is difficult. However once up, make yourself do minor things to elevate your energy. You can always go back to bed later for a nap.

Make your bed. Brush your teeth. Do the dishes. Get the mail. Read the newspaper. Feed your cat. Sit on the porch. Call people you know. Go on the computer. There are numerous minor things to settle on from. Do them all or just one or two. Of course, if you have to go to work or school then you are way ahead of the game.

  1. Get in the Shower

Taking a hot shower will wake you up and cause you to feel refreshed and clean.

Get out of your pajamas or night attire and into something you are not ashamed of wearing outside your home. When you look pleasantly, you feel worthwhile, and when you feel worthwhile, it is a self-esteem boost.

Someone once told me when you’re depressed, take a shower, and wash your troubles away. So I go with that. On many occasions, I even have hauled myself literally crying to the shower, trying to scrub away depression. There is something about crying your sadness away within the shower that creates you are feeling somewhat revived.

  1. Put On A Happy Face

Put on some make-up, fix your hair up, shave that stubble off. Sometimes, with depression, we don’t take beneficial care of ourselves as we normally would. When you feel clean, refreshed, and polished, it’s harder to think less of yourself.

By doing my hair, I add the gel and blow dry it for a moment , and that i am good to travel . My hair is wild usually. Which is fine. If it is clean, I feel better. So get going and placed on that happy face.

  1. Tidy Up

Clean up and organize you living area. When our surroundings are dark, dirty, or messy, you start to reflect that atmosphere, falling deeper into depression.

Keeping your work and lebensraum clean, well-lit, and maintained, causes you to feel good about accomplishing something.

Keep the curtains open, let the sunshine through. It’s a good way of getting your daily dose of vitamin D. I rarely shut my curtains. I have a glass slider and a bedroom window. So, whatever sun I can get i’m optimistic. So vacuum, dust, and start cleaning your house or apartment.

  1. Listen to Music

Crank up the radio, or put on a DVD and dance. Strut around the house footloose and fancy free. There are all kinds of music that will get you moving if you just motivate yourself. Irish, Latin, Salsa, Reggae and more. Find something that you can move to, something up-beat and cheerful. Something that gets you moving and motivated. Let the music guide you into a better place.

  1. No Procrastinating

Tackle something you’ve been putting off doing. Even small accomplishments start your day by giving your self-confidence the increase it needs. If you are a writer and you like to write an essay or paper, write.

Take pictures, knit, clean out the attic you’ve got been aiming to do. If I can get one article done each day , I even have accomplished something. I attempt to get a 4 page article finished a minimum of four days week. TRY being the main word. Accomplishing one activity, one day at a time.

Working Through Depression

These things are not going to work without a concentrated effort. For the steps to work you must take an active role in your depression.

Sleeping is one of the safest activities to do when you are depressed. And at times, that is all you can do. But at one point, you’re going to have to come out from under the covers and find the light. So next time you feel like you are moving into the darkness try to motivate yourself to do at least one activity to keep your mind from falling even further into the pit of darkness.

Counselling and its importance

Some people often misunderstand the term counselling as a treatment for some mental illness or disorder.

Counselling is the process of talking about and working through your personal problems with a professional guide known as a councillor.

Why is counselling important?

In today’s world, people have to deal with many problems. Some are personal while some are professional. These problems cause an effect on your personality. Sometimes it even leads to severe issues like depression.

That’s why counseling is important.

Being able to talk about one’s problems with another human being can be relieving. Talking therapy has proven to be good for many people.

Counselling helps us to talk about our problems with a councillor who is especially there to listen to what we have to say and to understand our problems. A councillor also gives you advices on how to work through your problems without being judgemental.

If we don’t talk about our problems they start to pile up inside us and increases our stress and anxiety.

Benifits of counselling

When we talk about and share our problems with someone else we also get an opportunity to see our problems from different perspectives. The councillor tells us their perspective of our problems which makes us consider their views and think from different perspectives and eventually letting go of the problem.

Letting things out by talking that you’ve been keeping inside for quite a while can make you feel light and relieved. The feelings and emotions that people bottle up inside that may make them feel heavy when let out by talking makes them feel like a heavy weight has been lift up from their chest.

It’s seen very often that people are not able to discuss their problems even with the people they are close to like family and friends because they have the fear of being judged. But with an absolute stranger it is easy to talk about anything that you were embarrassed to share with your close ones without the fear of being judged. This helps people in making them feel less alone and isolated suffering from their own issues.

For couples having problems in their relationship, it’s proven to be good to discuss your problems with a neutral person who won’t be biased towards any one of the individual. The councillor dealing with the couple with relationship problems helps them to see the issue from other person’s perspective. There has been a positive result of consulting a relationship councillor.

With the help of counselling, slowly one by one each of your problem can be tackled so you can get on with your life feeling less stressful and focus properly on your work. It also lifts up your mood and helps you to make positive changes in your life.

What are the symptoms that you need a councillor?

There are no such symptoms that suggest you need a councillor. It’s always good to talk about your feelings and emotions with someone. It prevents them from getting piled up

It doesn’t matter what’s your age, counselling can really be helpful in solving your problems may it be family problems, relationship problems, anxiety, etc.

Talking therapy has always proven to be good and everyone must consider it.

Lucid Dreaming

We have all been dreaming since we were little kids. To enter the land of infinite possibilities where literally anything is possible is what every kid wishes when he or she dozed off to sleep. When we sleep our subconscious mind at times starts to make up situations and sequences which we see in our head. These situations and sequences are called dreams. These series of events that our mind makes us see can feel very vivid and real. Whatever a human can possibly think of can exist and can be even experienced in the dream world. 

But we usually don’t have the ability to control our dreams. Nor do we realise that we are in a dream. But imagine being able to control your dreams and dream of whatever you want. That way of dreaming is known as lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming is an art of dreaming where the dreamer is aware that he is in a dream and has control over it to some extent. Lucid dreaming is an extremely difficult and near impossible skill. One may train his mind to lucid dream for the whole of his or her life and still not master it. 

 This is because our brain is a very complex organ if not the most complex organ. That’s why every part in our body can be replaced with a man made machine except the brain. And gaining complete mastery over the subconscious part of the brain comes out to be a bigger and near impossible challenge. 

Imagine being able to control your dreams and experience anything you can positively think of. Be in any scenario, literally be the god of your own world. Lucid dreaming seems pretty amazing on paper but unfortunately can’t be done by everyone. 

One reason why mastering it becomes especially hard is that we do not dream every time we sleep. Nor can we control when we dream and when we don’t. Lucid dream is about a dream where while in your dream your subconscious brain snaps and becomes conscious of the fact that it’s dreaming. 

But it is no way close to deciding when to dream. We also dream for approximately 5-10 mins when we dream which may seem like a long time in the dream world. 

People have come up with methods to try to lucid dream but none of those prove to be successful. One method to try to dream lucid is counting your fingers. 

If one develops a habit of counting their fingers throughout the day and accidentally the subconscious mind starts to make you count your fingers in the dream you might start to lucid dream. This is because when only the subconscious part of our brain is awake we are unable to process numbers so if in a dream you start to count something. You would not be able to. And that error counts as a snapping factor, whenever the number of fingers you have in your dream do not add up to 10 your mind instantly becomes aware that you are dreaming and gains a bit of control. 

Good luck trying to lucid dream. 

Child labour

“Child Labour is devastation, they should concentrate on education”, heard this before? Well, if not, here’s the thing. Child labour is one of the things holding our country back. The youth of this country is the biggest asset for the latter at this time and it’s a shame that this evil still continues to persist in the society. “The one’s seeking employment are not getting jobs and those who are supposed to study and enjoy life are working day and night to thrive and survive”, strange isn’t it? 

Despite several attempts to implement policies to curb child labour India still needs effective steps to eliminate this problem. There are an estimated 152 million children in child labour, 72 million of which are in hazardous work. No one has time to listen to these unfortunate children who are mostly unseen human beings. There are thousands of NGOs in India, working with the help and support of government and the people. They identify the potential places of threat, rescue the children and work constantly to ensure that they get into good schools and receive proper education. There are many policies followed by NGOs and one of the best policies is “survey”.  It gives them a basic idea of what all is happening in the society and what areas should they focus on.The COVID-19 health pandemic and the resulting economic and labor market shock are having a huge impact on people’s lives and livelihoods. Unfortunately, children are often the first to suffer. The crisis can push millions of vulnerable children into child labour.

Corona Virus is not only depleting the physical and mental health of the world but is slowly crippling the future also; a new feather in its cap has been added by a latest UN report in the form of – “Child Labour”. The on-going territorial wars, skirmishes, civil wars now and way before this deadly spread has deeply affected the children all across the globe. This article will focus on issues relating to Child Labour, overall effects of COVID-19 on child labour and various steps need to be taken by governments for the damage control. UN reports have revealed that around 19 million children were displaced within their own countries in 2019 due to conflicts, wars and violence. This number is of year, 2019 now the present number of displacements after the COVID-19 spread is much more and still under the process of assimilation. Children are not the face of this pandemic but the overall effect on children will be catastrophic and among the most lasting consequence for the society. The economic hardships faced due to job loss in developing and poor country like India, would lead to higher child mortality rates reversing the progress which was achieved in last 2-3 years in terms of child care and health in the country. The cases of child labour will climb in where the population is on a much higher side and surveillance machinery is already overburdened in terms of maintaining law and order situations. Children are considered the building block of a nation, the key foundation. But now due to this building stress the foundation is likely to crumble so one can imagine how deeply it will affect an entire nation in coming times.

Stricter laws and acts need to be enforced against the culprits; most of the countries don’t have any strict laws in place which lead to such crimes. For example, in India the maximum penalty for employing a child labour is imprisonment between 06 months to 02 years, under many cases due to lack of evidence and poor judicial system in place most of the culprits are set free by paying a minimal fine of Rs.20000-50000 which is a very nominal amount for these rich and powerful people. In these times, it has also become an equal responsibility of the parents and relatives to take of their wards and children.

This is one of the universal topics, which can be debated for as long as possible. No matter what we write there’s always something less in it. As a liberal society with not much humanistic thoughts we should pay attention to it and act accordingly.   

Influence of Tantrism in Pala School of Art

Tantrism – An Introduction

Tantrism can be understood as the unification of the male and female forces, that further attains the path of moksha after being united. The early history of Tantrism is difficult to trace but according to records, artefacts and other facts, this concept emerged as well as got widely accepted in 5th century.

It is also believed that it was in the 5th century that the Tantric Gods were started to be worshipped as well as some of the texts of Hinduism and Buddhism were also composed during this period.

The Mandala of Avalokiteshwara.

About the Pala Dynasty of Bengal

In order to examine the Pala sculptures and influences of Tantrism in Pala sculptures, let us first take up the history of the Pala dynasty.

The Pala dynasty, who had a ruling time period from 8th century CE to 12th century CE in Bengal, were originally the military conquerors. The empire was established after the declaration of Gopala as the emperor of Gauda state in upper Bihar by his Kshatriya associates in 750 CE. The literal meaning of the term Pala is the gaurdian or the protector in Sanskrit. The Palas were responsible for introducing and establishing Mahayana Buddhism in Tibet, Myanmar and Bhutan. The Palas had a large extentions of trade and also had influences in Southeast Asia. Ample number of evidences including the sculptures and architectural styles of Shailendra Empire in Java confirms the fact that Palas had great influences over those regions.

Map depicting the extention of the Pala Dynasty from 8th century to 12th century AD.

Obviously as a matter of misfortune, the Pala Empire disintegrated in the 12th century due to frequent attacks by the Sena dynasty.

Influence of Tantrism in Pala Sculptures

The Palas of Bengal and Bihar are being credited for developing the history and culture of the ancient era. They were the one who tried their best to preserve and patronise their cultures.
From the 8th to 12th centuries CE, the regions of Bihar and Bengal, that were under the Pala rule, rendered a huge number of religiously inspired sculptures. They majorly had the elements of Tantrism as well.

The Palas are referred as the great patrons of art , especially Buddhist, in the literary texts. In addition to these facts, the inscriptional evidences too confirm their art of giving patronages to the Buddhist monastic establishments. And since they were the patrons of Tantrism , so one can find Tantric objects in the sculptures. Palas were basically the followers of the Mahayana and Tantric schools of Buddhism. They patronised the Mahayana Buddhism and too supported Shaivism (specifically the Pala ruler Narayana Pala himself took the initiative to construct a Shiva temple in his empire). Hence for this reason, at a very great ease one can determine the overlapping influences of Tantrism in the Pala art alongwith the sculptures.

Durga Mahishasurmardini, black stone stele, 11th century, Pala Dynasty , Northeastern India

One thing can be highlighted that it was in this period only that Tantrism got highly developed with sculptural art forms. Therefore it is more commom to see intermingling and mixing of the Buddhist Tantric elements in Hindu cults as well as simply Tantric elements in Buddhist along with Hindu cults too.

Basically the Pala art was influenced from the Gupta art forms and it is considered to be an extentions of the same. The Gupta style of sculptural art was given a new dimension and was too patronised by the Pala rulers, that later came to be known as the Pala School of Art or Eastern Style of Medieval Sculpture.
One more historical fact can be added to the history of Pala school of art,that is the development,continuity and modification of the Pala sculpture even in the later phases, under the Sena Dynasty of Bengal in 12th century CE and was widely known as Pala-Sena School of Art.

Manasa with Astika on her lap, bronze sculpture, 11th cventury, Pala Dynasty, Bihar

Observations-
1. A huge Tantric effect can be seen in this sculpture wherein the main figure ,i.e., Manasa is beseated on lotus , that is obviously a Tantric element and she is wearing a large unusual crown (with serpent faces on it ) over her head that features a demonic type of element under Tantrism.
2. She is surrounded by some other mystic figurines as well. 3.The female figures are represented with nude torsos.
4. The upper part or the torso too is shown naked and is decorated with various ornaments.

This was how Tantrism effected the Pala School of Art, providing it a new dimension in the history of art and sculptures, thus.

Outfelt- you would know!

you feel way too much!

You are sensitive.

I want you to know that its okay to feel that way. You end up doing things for your friends because you think ” they will feel bad” .you just can not never ever say no to anyone even if you have to jump your boundaries for that.you notice little changes in someone’s behaviour. you feel everything so deeply. its a blessing and a curse.

you know your friend did not mean the joke that was aimed at you. you know they like you. but you get hurt, sometimes. and you suck at expressing how you feel. so you just let out a feeble smile.in those moments, you just want to disappear.

when you are a sensitive person, you end up thinking a lot about how others would feel. you keep putting yourself in their shoes. you try to be a nice person . you get kind with everyone , even with the people who dont deserve shit like that but you still be kind to everyone and tell others to do the same as well because you know what an unkind behaviour can do , cause you might have been through that and you dont wanna see people suffer. and sometimes being the good and nice person takes a toll on you and you end up doing things that you don’t want . just because of that one reason “that will feel bad no.”

well, you hide your pain well but you have cried during movies. and sometimes you just avoid listening to certain songs or watching certain movies.simply because you hit too close to home.

but all of this has an advantage that you empathise well with people . you actually understand what they are going to . you actually feel their trouble. it makes you a great friend . and you always try to br there for people.sometimes, it gets overwhelmimg you need an off swutch. sometimes you need some fuckening to stop. sometimes your brain screams at you to cut yourself some slack.you can guess people’s mood simply by the way they are talking , and also you can guess my someones way of texting if they are feeling low, being ignorant , falling apart or are just busy. and you want to help them .it really bothers you when you’re close friends are feeling low.you try to do everything in your capacity to fix it . and this becomes emotionally draining for you.

you cant be on bad terms with anyone if something goes wrong it keeps bothering you in your head. you feel the need to solve the situation .you cant concentrate on anything until they are at peace with you. and in sloving problems of everybody you forget you have your own shit to take care of and no one is gonna fix you. and in this mess u loose yourself.

honestly what they say is true – feeling everything too strongly and deeply is a curse and a blessing at the same time . you have made peace with it and its okay.but i want you to know that it is not your job to “fix” the world. you heal everyone but who heals you?

please relax and take care of yourself. in this world , surviving and living with a fragile heart is extremely difficult. people take advantage of you . you need to love yourself before you love others. you need to build a wall around that heart.

with love,

someone like you.

Electrified Fabric Could Zap the Coronavirus on Masks and Clothing

Prototype mask made from a fabric that can inactivate pathogens. Credit: Vomaris Innovations, Inc.

Wearing masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) can slow the spread of COVID-19. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends everyone wear some kind of face covering in public places, especially where social distancing is difficult to maintain. And health workers are donning additional coverings, such as gowns. Yet all such protective gear shares one significant problem: people still risk becoming infected with the novel coronavirus if they accidentally touch areas of the fabric that are contaminated with viral particles. So researchers are working to develop cloth that could inactivate or repel coronaviruses—ideally including the one that causes COVID-19—and other pathogens.

People transfer infectious particles to their hands if they touch the front of a mask during use or when they remove gowns or other PPE, according to Chandan Sen, director of the Indiana Center for Regenerative Medicine and Engineering at Indiana University. He and his colleagues have been developing a way to render those particles and other infectious agents harmless. The team researches “electroceutical” materials that wirelessly “generate electric fields across the surface of the fabric,” Sen says. Those fields can disrupt the behavior of bacteria or viruses on the cloth.

“The beauty of this [technology] is the inherently simple design,” he says. The polyester material is printed with alternating spots of silver and zinc resembling polka dots. They are one to two millimeters wide and spaced one millimeter apart. When the electroceutical material is dry, it functions as an ordinary fabric. But if it gets dampened—say, with saliva, vapor from a coughed up droplet or other bodily fluids—ions in the liquid trigger an electrochemical reaction. The silver and zinc then generate a weak electric field that zaps pathogens on the surface.

The researchers co-developed the material with the biotechnology company Vomaris Innovations in 2012. Last year they showed that the technology could be used to treat bacterial biofilms in wounds. A clinical trial is underway to further evaluate the fabric’s effectiveness as a Food and Drug Administration–cleared dressing for wound care, Sen says.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sen’s team tested its existing material on a different coronavirus strain that causes a respiratory illness in pigs and on an unrelated type of pathogen called a lentivirus. “We wanted to know how broadly this principle could be applicable,” he says. In a study posted on the preprint server ChemRxiv in May, Sen’s team reported that its electroceutical fabric destabilized both viruses, leaving them unable to infect cells. The researchers plan to submit the results to a peer-reviewed journal as well.

To study the fabric’s action, they placed a liquid solution containing viral particles onto the electroceutical fabric and a polyester control fabric without the metal dots. After the droplets were fully absorbed, and the samples had rested for one to five minutes, the researchers recovered viral particles from both fabrics and tested whether they could still infect the types of cells they typically target.

“The data presented here show that, of the total virus that was recovered, a significant percentage was inactivated,” says Jeff Karp, a professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and co-leader of an N95 respirator working group at the Massachusetts General Brigham Center for COVID Innovation. Karp, who was not involved with the study, adds that the researchers did not test all of the virus that they had placed on the cloth. “In fact, the majority of virus was not recovered from the textiles examined in this study,” he says. Sen responds that his team focused on sampling only enough viral particles to show that the fabric had rendered them unable to infect cells. The researchers recovered roughly 44 percent of the particles from the electroceutical fabric samples that had rested for one minute. And they retrieved 24 percent of them from the samples that had rested for five minutes.

The material’s virus-fighting abilities have not been tested specifically on SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The researchers’ findings with the two viruses they studied, however, gave them “hope that this could apply more widely,” Sen says. He adds that large-scale manufacturing of the electroceutical fabric is already possible and that the costs of producing it are relatively low. The metal dots could be printed directly onto the front surfaces of masks, he suggests. Or an electroceutical fabric could be inserted between the front of a mask and the wearer’s face.

If a virus-stopping PPE material were widely available, it could limit the novel coronavirus’s ability to spread. “There is a huge unmet need to better understand modes of viral transfer that lead to virus transmission,” Karp says. “As we develop a better understanding of this, there is a huge immediate need to develop and quickly apply solutions that can reduce transmission.”

Metal dots are not the only potential approach. Paul Leu, director of an advanced materials laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh, and his colleagues are developing a textile coating that repels bodily fluids, proteins and bacteria. It also repels one strain of adenovirus that causes respiratory illness and another that causes conjunctivitis, as reported in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces in April. Leu’s team has also not tested the material with the novel coronavirus itself, however. “The main thing with testing [the coating on] SARS-CoV-2 is the biosafety level you need to test it, because it’s very hazardous,” he says. Still, his team plans to see how well textiles with this coating repel a different coronavirus.

Leu says the coating, which remains repellent even after ultrasonic washing and scraping with a razor blade, could make PPE safer for wearers to take off. It could also be used on hospital bed linens, drapes and waiting room chairs, the researchers note in the study. But Leu points out that the coating is intended for use with medical textiles that are already considered reusable. His team has not tested it on single-use masks or N95s, but he thinks it could potentially damage them. Still, he says, the coating could work well for cloth masks such as those now being worn by many among the general public.

By developing materials that kill or repel viruses, researchers hope to make masks and other protective gear safer to remove and more effective against all viruses. “If the common person were to have PPE that wouldn’t spread infection,” Sen says, “I think that’s a big, big deal.”

 

June 26 observed as International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking

Today is International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. In 1987, the United Nations General Assembly decided to observe 26th June as the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking as an expression of its determination to strengthen action and cooperation to achieve the goal of an international society free of drug abuse.

The theme for this year’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking is “Better Knowledge for Better Care”. The theme emphasizes the need to improve the understanding of the world drug problem and how in turn, better knowledge will foster greater international cooperation for countering its impact on health, governance and security.

Supported each year by individuals, communities and various organizations all over the world, this global observance aims to raise awareness of the major problem that illicit drugs represent to society.

Around 269 million people used drugs worldwide in 2018, which is 30 per cent more than in 2009, while over 35 million people suffer from drug use disorders, according to the latest World Drug Report. 

12 Ways to Stop Undermining Your Self Esteem

It is easy to lose track of your worth after you have spent significant time in an unhealthy work environment. If you were given too little, you may view yourself as lacking and believe you are inadequate. If you were starved for the recognition you may become hard on yourself and insecure in conflictual situations because you fear being seen as wrong and being fired.

Conversely, if you were given too much you may have become dependent upon other people to fill you up and make you feel happy and successful, perhaps becoming angry or abusive when the world doesn’t shift on its axis to give you what you want when you want it. When you have never been held responsible for sustaining your own success or well-being you remain emotionally immature and demanding.

1. Change your inner dialogue.
To increase your self-esteem improve the way you talk to yourself. Stop the inner dialogue that you are not good enough or that you must repeatedly prove your worth. That causes you to be inauthentic and to over-function.

Conversely, if you only feel good enough when people are bending over backward to placate your needs you will suffer from the disappointment of unmet and unrealistic expectations. That will cause you to become angry, demanding and to feel empty.

2. Find balance.
If you are not getting your important needs met because you put yourself second to meeting the needs of others, start putting your needs first. When you put yourself first you give yourself the sense of importance you so desperately seek to feel from others.

If, on the other hand, you expect others to put you first and do everything for you, you will never develop the all-important empathy necessary for sustaining healthy connections. Find the balance of what you need to do for yourself and what you can realistically expect from others.

3. Know your worth.
If your worth is dependent upon pleasing others you will come up empty. Nothing you do for others will be enough to make you feel valued and appreciated in the way you desire. Knowing your worth has to come from within. Your worth is determined by the treatment you accept or expect for yourself, not by how much of yourself you give away.

Conversely, cannot gain the skill of developing your own self-worth if you expect others to constantly soothe you, build you up and make you feel like you are a success. Measuring your worth by how important others make you feel makes your sense of self to dependent on other people.

To know your worth take charge of yourself and see how it feels to experience your own power.

4. Create your own success and happiness.
Neither success or happiness are givens. They are creations. If happiness is not developed from within, you will naturally start looking for happiness from outside sources. This makes you needy. Your expectations, driven by insecurity, will drain others or push them away.

Trust that you deserve success and happiness. Figure out how to self-soothe and make yourself happy. When you enjoy your own achievements and success your sense of worth will attract new opportunities and the recognition you deserve from your bosses and coworkers.

5. Be proud.
Do things you are proud of. Take care to dress nice. Be nice, be calm, be loving and have boundaries. Work hard, achieve all you can, be clean and be kind. Kindness will take you further in life than any other human characteristic.

Walk tall. There is so much about you that is good, regardless of what you have been told. Choose to believe in who you are and be proud of that. Do not compare yourself to others. Like the snowflake, you are not repeatable.

6. Work hard.
Happiness is a byproduct of achieving and having a purpose. Hard work trumps genius, so let go of the idea you have to have a stellar IQ to be successful. The hard workers in life, void of entitlement, are the people who succeed at the highest levels.

There is nothing that can make you feel better about yourself then being committed in life, to your life, and to yourself through hard work. With hard work, success is a guarantee. Success naturally brings us self-love, self-respect, self-esteem, recognition and happiness.

7. Exercise.
Exercise is good all around. First, it is the best anti-anxiety and anti-depressive agent around. It promotes positive mood and it also helps you feel good about your physique. Nothing can lower self-esteem more quickly than not liking what you look like.

Commit to exercising a minimum of three times per week, and do what you can to get outdoors. When you get outside, it yanks you out of the daily grind and you are reminded of how beautiful this earth is, how beautiful life is and how much you have to be thankful for.

A little fresh air is enough to cleanse your spirit of negativity.

8. Eat healthy.
What you feed your stomach you feed your brain. The digestive system is the most similar in neurochemistry to the brain, which is why your stomach is considered your second brain. To feel good and be happy, eat healthy.

Supply your brain with the nutrients that stimulate health and positive mood. Eat lots of greens and drink a lot of water. Eat low-fat proteins to fuel your body for positive mood, productivity and sustainable energy.

9. Choose healthy connections.
It only takes one toxic person to destroy your entire sense of self. Choose people, companies or bosses that treat you with dignity and respect. Refuse to participate in relationships where you have to constantly prove your worth to keep their interest. Conversely, to have healthy a self-esteem avoid being that person who demands others to constantly bend to your needs for you to feel alive and worthy.

10. Depend on yourself.
Do not allow others to do for you what you can do for yourself. There is no path to a healthy self-esteem through being lazy or entitled. Learn to take care of your own needs, learn to be responsible for your own success. Support your life in all the ways you can.

Take control and become a whole person you can admire, depend upon and trust.

11. Let others be themselves.
If you are needy, insecure, entitled or demanding you become controlling. When you are controlling you compromise the freedoms of the important people in your life through fear, abandonment or engulfment. When you love yourself, you will not need to make demands because you will already have your needs taken care of. This makes you easier to work with and for.

People will respond to you the most when you give them the freedom to be themselves.

12. Be happy for others.
People with healthy self-esteem seldom feel jealousy or envy because they are satisfied in their own lives, careers and relationships. They are satisfied with who they are as people. Be happy for other people and their happiness. This shift will fundamentally change your life and only serve to bring happiness your way.

Trust there is enough love, money, happiness and success for everyone. When you see there is no such thing as lack, other people’s success or happiness will no longer be a threat to you and your view of yourself. Your self-worth is YOUR business.

Europa Ocean could support life

Europa is one of the smallest moons among all 4 Galilean moon (Lo, Ganymede and Callisto) orbiting around Jupiter. Astronomer Galileo Galilei discovered the first of Jupiter moons around 400 years ago.

Recent searches have found that there can be an evolvement of life and that’s why the search of existence of life typically revolve around the Jupiter’s moon Europa that it could be the best bet to find the habitat.

According to NASA’s Researchers, the subsurface ocean can be habitable of life. The surface of the Europa is all covered with icy shells and According to the researchers, there is an ocean under the icy shells which could have the potential of the evolvement of life.

Scientists have found a new theory according to which the ocean’s water came from the water-rich minerals which released their water because of heating caused by the radioactive decay of the satellite’s core. Europa gravitational interaction with Jupiter-giant planet in the solar system and all the moon has played a vital role.

Europa is 31,000 km in diameter which makes it smaller than Earth’s moon but slightly bigger than the Pluto. Europa’s distance from the sun is nearly 485 million miles and estimated to be nearly 4.5 billion years old. Europa is Jupiter’s sixth satellite. Many spacecraft have done flybys of Europa including Pioneer, Voyagers and Galileo Spacecraft which around Jupiter through which scientist have discovered the oceans could be under the ice surface and the composition is not clear till now.

The scientists have found that this ocean would originally not as much acidic as they initially thought, and along with high concentrations of carbon dioxide, calcium and sulfate. It was thought that this ocean could still be rather sulfuric” said Mohit Melwani Daswani, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Jet. According to researchers they have seen the traces of chloride on Europa’s Surface which suggests that the water will become chloride rich which implies the Europa’s Ocean could be same as Earth’s Ocean and could support life.

Using the data of Galileo mission the lead researcher Mohit Melwani Daswani, has said “We were able to model the composition and physical properties of the core, silicate layer, and ocean. We find that different minerals lose water and volatiles at different depths and temperatures.”

He also said that the Europa is one of the best bet to find the habitat in the solar system .And this theory could be also the possibility of Saturn’s moon Titan to be formed by the same process as Jupiter Moon Europa. He also told about the further missions NASA’s Europa Clipper mission will launch a few years later, whose aim is to find the habitat in Jupiter moon Europa.

Obviously, some questions are still unanswered could life be possible on Europa or could the cold moon could ever melt the rock or the still we are unknown by ocean temperature. But all these answers may be given by the Europa mission a few years later.

The press was released on 24 June by Astrobiology.com.

DELIBERATE PRACTICE

Deliberate practice refers to a special type of practice that is purposeful and systematic. purposeful practice requires your complete undivided attention and your full time. It requires Deep Work and a lot of concentration to reach goal.The only way you can improve is if you have some idea of how you’re doing relative to your goals and what parts you need to improve on in order to get closer to your goals. You have to make list about your pros and cons and which field require more practice for more improvement. Purposeful Practice Requires Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone: If you never push yourself beyond what you’re already capable of, you can never improve. You have to do more than your capacity or power and stretch yourself. Never think that you can do the work, develop yourself to do the work. You can achieve anything with deliberate practice. “Practice makes a man perfect”. You can change your luck by hardwork. So never get disappointed that any work is out of your reach.

“Success has to do with deliberate practice: practice must be focused, determined, and in environment where there’s feedback”

While regular practice might include mindless repetitions, deliberate practice requires focused attention and is conducted with the specific goal of improving performance.Fundamentally, the theory of deliberate practice posits that development of expertise requires incorporating a self-reflective feedback loop into the skill delivery or development (i.e., practice) process, rather than simply performing a task repetitively until mastered.

Can You Achieve Anything With Enough Practice?

With enough work and effort you can achieve your goal, doesn’t matter how hard is this. While human beings do possess a remarkable ability to develop their skills. There are no limits to how far any individual can go. Their is no limitations. If anyone want to enhance your ability, achieve more and more success nothing will stop you.

Deliberate practice can help us maximize our potential. It turns potential into reality.

Examples of Deliberate Practice

  • Joe DiMaggio was one of the greatest hitters in baseball history. I recently heard a little-known story about how DiMaggio developed his exceptional ability. 
  • In some circles, golfer Ben Hogan is credited with “inventing practice.” Hogan methodically broke the game of golf down into chunks and figured out how he could master each section. Today, experts have a new term for his rigorous style of improvement. 
  • How long does it take to become elite at your craft? And what do the people who master their goals do differently than the rest of us? Check out these lessons on success from Mozart, Picasso, and Kobe Bryant.

Deliberate practice is a method for improving your performance at anything, based on constant feedback and working at the edge of your abilities. Elite people in every field use it to build up their expertise. Let’s take a look at exactly what deliberate practice is, how to do it, and why it works. Research concludes that we need deliberate practice to improve performance. Unfortunately, deliberate practice isn’t something that most of us understand, let alone engage in on a daily basis. This helps explain why we can work at something for decades without really improving our performance.Deliberate practice is hard. It hurts. But it works. More of it equals better performance and tons of it equals great performance.

Justice for Jayraj and Fenix – The Need To Stop Custodial Deaths

More than 1,000 people of Sathankulam town in Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi district staged a dharna Tuesday after two persons were allegedly killed in police custody here. In a chilling case of police torture, a father and son died in a span of 10 hours, in judicial custody in Thoothukudi, a coastal town in south Tamil Nadu, allegedly after being subjected to third-degree tre­at­ment by the police. The incident triggered widespread political and societal outrage.

The deceased have been identified as Jayaraj (59) and his son Fenix Emmanuel (31).  Two sub-inspectors have been suspended. According to the protesters and other local residents, Jayaraj along with Fenix ran a mobile shop named APJ in the town. On Friday, he closed his shop around 8:15 pm. Personnel from the Sathankulam police station, who was on patrol duty, reportedly pulled him up for running the store beyond the permitted time, and an argument took place.

On Saturday evening, the police personnel visited the shop again and had an altercation with Jayaraj.  When Fenix intervened, both father and son were taken to the police station and booked under several sections of the IPC, including Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 353 (use of force to deter public servant from duty).

On Sunday, after a medical check-up, the duo was lodged in the Kovilpatti sub-jail. That evening, local residents alleged, Fenix complained of chest pain and Jayaraj had a high fever. Both were taken to the Kovilpatti government hospital, where Fenix died on Monday evening and Jayaraj succumbed to respiratory illness Tuesday morning.

Jayaraj’s wife Selvarani has lodged a complaint, alleging that police brutality led to the death of her husband and son. In her complaint letter to the district criminal court and Assistant Commissioner, she said the police brutally attacked her husband and son, used curse words, and threatened to kill them. She urged them to book the police officers responsible under section 302 of the IPC and suspend them from duty.Condemning the killing, all trader union bodies, various political outfits, activists, and the local public staged protests in various parts of the town. Kanniyakumari MP Vasanthakumar, former AIADMK MP Sasikala Pushpa, and other party functionaries participated in the protest. Their demands include the arrest and suspension of the police officers responsible for the incident, compensation of Rs 50 lakh to the family members of the deceased, a doctor from the protesters’ side to be allowed during the autopsy, and a government job to one member of the deceased’s family.

The series of violations in the case mock our procedures. Whenever there is a death in police custody, the concerned police officers are duty-bound to bring it to the notice of senior officers expeditiously.

In view of the perception that custodial deaths take place because of reckless incidents of arrest, amendments have been effected to the Criminal Procedure Code, stating arrests be made only in offences which attract punishment of more than seven years or in those offences where there is apprehension that the accused may commit similar offences or assist other accused to escape. As soon as the accused is arrested, he should be medically examined by competent government medical officers and necessary medical assistance should be provided as per the requirement. Information about the arrest should be communicated to his advocate and relatives/family members. Details of his arrest need to be conveyed to the police control room and displayed on the unit website. In addition, following directives from the Supreme Court, a State Police Complaints Authority has been formulated under the chairmanship of a retired High Court judge to look into grievances in this regard. All complaints about custodial death are also looked into minutely by NHRC and SHRC from time to time.

Even though all these directives are being underlined and well-published from time to time, it is a matter of concern why these are not implemented at the ground level. Once one gets a job in the police department and wears the police uniform, there is a misconception that this is a blanket approval to arrest anyone and obtain a confession by indulging in physical harassment. Several times, suspecting someone for petty theft or because of personal rivalry, complaints are registered by people of means, and this is followed by arrest and physical torture.

If the police officer does not do so, he is declared a good-for-nothing. Many a time, a police officer who indulges in beating a citizen in public and violates all norms is appreciated by people and he is considered a hero.  Kamte was working as officer-in-charge of detecting crimes in Sangli police station for the last three years, and had reportedly detected several offences using high handed tactics and was applauded by the public from time to time. This must-have led him to believe he is beyond any law.

NHRC, as well as SHRC, have clarified more than once that unless a person has gone to a police station to lodge a complaint, whether he is in the lock-up or outside, he would be treated as under arrest and it is the responsibility of the police officer in charge of the police station to take care of his health. The study of custodial deaths reveals that more than 65 per cent are attributed to suicide, about 25 per cent to mental shock and less than five per cent to police harassment. These are official statistics and they tell us that we need a whole range of steps – from safety measures to psychological inputs and an array of methods and systems to keep a check on these violations and create a culture of fair and proper investigations.

Acting with impunity

These incidents have brought into sharp focus the way Indian policemen torture and interrogate suspects in their custody leading to death in several cases. As a result, policemen all over the country have been severely criticised and condemned. Strictures passed against policemen from time to time by learned judges of various courts notwithstanding, the police continue to brazenly torture suspects in their custody.

The Central Bureau of Investigation too uses torture as a method of investigation. In September 2016, B.K. Bansal, Director General of Corporate Affairs, and his son Yogesh committed suicide. In their suicide note, the two men listed the names of officers who had tortured their family in connection with a case of disproportionate assets. Bansal’s wife and daughter too had committed suicide two months earlier. On the directions of the National Human Rights Commission, an inquiry was held by the CBI. Expectedly, the agency exonerated all the accused. Taking cognisance of the matter, the Central Vigilance Commission published a standard operating procedure laying down guidelines for interrogation of accused officials.

Custodial deaths have been on the increase in recent years. They increased by 9% from 92 in 2016 to 100 in 2017, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. Since policemen responsible for custodial deaths rarely get punished, they feel emboldened to continue using torture as the tool to get to the truth. In 2015, for instance, the police registered cases against fellow police officers in only 33 of the 97 custodial deaths.

A historic order

The Supreme Court delivered a historic order in 2006 on police reforms. It stated, among other things, that every State should have a Police Complaints Authority where any citizen can lodge a complaint against policemen for any act of misdemeanour. However, only a few states such as Kerala, Jharkhand, Haryana, Punjab and Maharashtra have implemented the order. Others have not taken the matter seriously.

Until exemplary punishment is meted out to policemen who are responsible for custodial deaths after proper judicial inquiry, not much can be expected to ameliorate the situation. Proper interrogation techniques coupled with the use of scientific methods to extract the truth from suspects can go a long way in reducing custodial deaths.

Therfore, It should be mandatory for every officer in charge of the unit to visit immediately all incidents of escape of prisoners or deaths in custody. If the unit in charge does not reach the spot of the incident promptly, she or he should be held accountable. Otherwise, such serious incidents would continue to recur. The time is now ripe for the Indian government to consider ratifying the international treaty against torture and declare her commitment to human dignity.

PM Modi launches ‘Atma Nirbhar Uttar Pradesh Rojgar Yojana’ for migrant workers

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said that the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic is going on and since there is no Vaccine for Coronavirus we only have one medicine for this deadly virus and that is Mask and ‘do gaz ki doori’ or social distancing. Launching the unique and path-breaking initiative scheme of Atma Nirbhar Uttar Pradesh Rojgar Yojana through video conferencing Prime Minister said that ATMANIRBHAR ABHIYAN is going to benefit Uttar Pradesh the most.  

The Atma Nirbhar Uttar Pradesh Rojgar Yojana is focused on generating employment for those migrant workers of the state who recently returned from other states. Under the campaign around one crore 25 lakh people will be provided employment in the state in different schemes.

On this occasion the Prime Minister praised the UP government and particularly the leadership of Yogi Adityanath for handling the migrant workers issues perfectly. PM said that the Yogi Government has done a wonderful job and worked on war footing using all resources to contain the spread of Corona. Even Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath decided not to attend the last rites of his father and decided to work for the people of the state.

Mr. Modi said that Uttar Pradesh has shown exemplary success in controlling the spread of Corona and this success becomes more important when we compare it with 4 major countries of Europe whose total population is close to UPs population and while those countries have more than one lakh deaths,  but in Uttar Pradesh the number is only 6 hundred. The UP government has therefore saved more than 80 thousand lives if we compare it with the casualties in 4 countries of Europe.

PM said that the ATMANIRBHAR BHARAT campaign will generate approximately 35 lakh new jobs in the agriculture sector.

AIR correspondent reports, the Prime Minister especially mentioned the efforts of the state government in dealing with the epidemic and termed it historic. He said that the state government made arrangements of one lakh beds, constituted more than 60 thousand health teams, provided food and ration to the needy and stated various schemes for ATMANIRBHAR BHARAT.

On this occasion PM interacted with members of Self Help Groups and beneficiaries of different central and state government schemes. Under the Atma Nirbhar Uttar Pradesh Rojgar Yojana a Loan amount of 5900 crores will be distributed to 2.40 Lakh units.  

More than 1 lakh new units will also get 3226 crore rupees as loan amount.  The campaign is launched in 31 districts of the state. These districts have more than 25,000 returnee migrant workers.

Anatomy of eyes.

Eyes are one of the most important parts of our body. They work very similar to camera. Eyes basically convert light into electric signal. Light enters into eyes through cornea. Eyes have pupil which control the amount of light entering our eye. Light then passes through lens which forms an image on retina. Retina has rods and cons cell which convert image into electric signal. Naturally we ought to take best care of this sensitive part of our body. Our senses are the input mechanisms for us to perceive the world and act. Eyes are perhaps the most important of our five senses. They are most sensitive organ. Eyes are perhaps the most favorite body part of poets, they are said to reflect emotions of the being. We rest with our eyes closed, we are said to have closed eyes when we die.

Structure and Working of Eyes and its function

Human eyes are basically designed in two parts- front part, which comprises of lens, cornea and iris; and the interior part which comprises of vitreous, retina and veins.Cornea is the transparent structure found in front of our eyes. Light enters into our eyes through cornea which focuses most of the light. Then light passes through lens and gets further focused.  Behind the cornea is iris. It is a colored, ring shaped membrane. The iris has a circular opening called pupil. Pupil can expand or retract to control the amount of eyes entering our eyes. The pupil may take some time to react to light- that is why eyes take time to adjust to low light.The lens is surrounded by muscles which keep the lens in place. These muscles can relax to flatten the lens or contract to thicken the lens. The lens in our eyes is a convex lens- the surrounding muscles make it of variable focus length. When lens is flattened the focus length is high thus we are able to see far away, and when the lens is thickened, the focus length is small and we can see closer objects.

 The interior chamber of eyeball is filled with vitreous humor. After the light crosses lens, it passes through vitreous humor to reach retina. Retina is like the film in camera. It acts as screen for the image formation. Interesting thing to note here is that the image formed is inverted! This happens because of the convex lens in our eye. And only real image formed in a convex lens are always inverted. It is the magic of our brain that interprets the things right way up.Retina has three tissue layers. The first layer is called sclera which gives eye most of its white color [2]. The middle layer is called choroid which contains blood vessels that supply the retina with nutrients and oxygen and remove its waste products. Retina has millions of light sensing nerves. These nerves are called rods and cones because of their shape. Cones are concentrated in the center of the retina. Cones work more in bright light. They provide clear, sharp central vision and detect colors and fine details. Rods and cones convert light in electric signals. This signal is sent to brain via optical nerves which interprets the signal. Rods are located outside the center of retina. They extend all the way to the outer edge of the retina. They provide peripheral or side vision. Rods also allow the eyes to detect motion and help us see in dim light and at night.