Category: Learning

Learning is the process of acquiring new understanding, knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, attitudes, and preferences. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals, and some machines; there is also evidence for some kind of learning in certain plants.

The Science Of Developing Self-Control In Life

In 1936, three years before WWII started, a Russian Orthodox family of four fled to the Siberian “snow forest” to escape religious persecution. The couple, Karp and Akulina Lykov, their 9-year-old son, and a 2-year-old daughter, only took a few possessions with them.

After a trek in the wilderness, they settled somewhere close to the Mongolian border, where they started building a succession of primitive huts. The Lykovs settled down there for good. They even had two more children, who were born in the wilderness. 

The family spent their days hunting, trapping, and farming. The mother of the family, Akulina, died of hunger in 1961. She chose to feed her children.1 But the family remained in the wilderness until a geologist discovered them in 1978. The Lykovs lived there without any form of contact with the outside world for 42 years.

1981 was a tragic year. Two of the children suffered from kidney failure, and another member of the family died of pneumonia. Karp passed away in 1988 in his sleep. The only survivor, Agafia, still lives in the wilderness today. The Lykovs were featured in a 2013 episode of Far Out by Vice.

It’s a remarkable story of survival, teamwork, and self-control. Even after the family was discovered in 1978, and realized that there was no war, they decided to live in a harsh place you can only reach by helicopter most part of the year.

What is Self-Control and Why Does It Matter in Life?

Self-control consists of two components, namely, our ability to (1) resist temptations and (2) exercise control over our emotions and behavior.2

To me, self-control is one of the most important things in life. Without it, I wouldn’t even write this article. Let’s face it, when you share anything on the internet that gets enough views, you always get a bunch of hate. Every time that happens, I feel like quitting. But I also realize that there are people who find these articles useful.

Self-control is what keeps me level-headed. It makes me resist my temptation to get pissed off and walk away. There’s also scientific proof that self-control matters in life.

A 2020 study by Dr. Penny Spikins and James Green from the University of York, confirmed that self-control is one of the most important factors in human evolution:3

“We rely constantly on self-control in every aspect of our lives. Although it is not an ability unique to humans, our elevated levels of self-control may have played a key role in our evolution. Self-control is likely to have been key to many of the traits such as prosociality, that define modern humans.”

The study shows that self-control plays a role in important aspects like deliberate practice, forward planning, time and energy investment, and tolerating discomfort. Think of the Lykovs. Without those factors, they couldn’t survive longer than two weeks. 

Self-Control in Daily Life

Most of us want to have a fulfilling career, vibrant social life, good relationships with our loved ones, and be in good physical shape. Here’s the thing: We need self-control to make those good things happen. Let me give you a few examples of what that looks like in daily life.

Eating Healthy

I stumbled upon this question on Quora: “Why is it hard to eat healthy?” The top answer bluntly says, “You lack self control.” That made me laugh because it’s the truth. But we all know that it’s not that simple.

Eating healthy is a problem for many reasons. For example, most of us see food as pleasure—not fuel. In developed countries, we don’t have to worry about getting access to food for our survival.

But your body still has the natural urge to take advantage of food when it’s available. On top of that, there are many biological processes going on that we’re not aware of. 

A recent study done at the University of Leeds, using data from 27,334 individuals from 12 European countries, showed there’s a clear link between education and diet.4

In my experience, eating healthy has nothing to do with your ability to resist buying junk food or ordering a pizza—it has everything to do with how much you educate yourself about your body. That’s an important reason why eating healthy is difficult: We lack the self-control to learn about nutrition, longevity, and how our bodies function. 

Running a Business

I started my first business in late 2010 with my father. Our business, a laundry technology company, will turn 10 years old this November. We’re glad to reach this milestone because we realize most businesses fail in their first few years.

Recent statistics show that 65% of businesses don’t make it until their 10 year anniversary.5 Why is that?

Again, this is just as complex as eating healthy food. But in my experience, it’s a business’s ability to adapt to changes. Our world is changing faster every year. In our business, we’ve kept adapting our products and services to stay relevant. We’re also driven by serving our clients.

Whenever I see businesses or experts use language like, “We’re the provider of so and so,” or “I have 50 million views,” I cringe. Operating a business has nothing to do with you or your badges of honor. It’s about what you can do for your clients. It requires self-control to stay focused on what matters.

Self Improvement

Why is it so difficult to improve yourself? Every day, we have the choice to do something that pays off later instead of now. Going to the beach, binge-watching tv shows, reading gossip, drinking alcohol, smoking, or every other pleasurable activity in life always gives you an instant payoff. 

You temporarily feel good. But in one year, two years, five years from now, you look back and you see no progress in your life. In life, we have to deal with a concept called “entropy.” Entropy is the Second Law of Thermodynamics and stands for the degree of disorder or uncertainty in a system. The basic idea is that everything inside a system moves towards disorder.

That’s why people often say, “Adapt or die.” If you don’t move forward, everything that’s related to you as a human will deteriorate. That’s a scary outlook. But here’s the problem: The degree of deterioration is so small that we don’t notice anything on a day-to-day basis. 

You probably feel the same as yesterday, correct? Entropy in humans works over a longer period. That’s why we feel no urgency to improve ourselves today. We need self-control to invest in ourselves despite seeing a lack of daily improvement. 

How to Develop More Self-Control

How can we get some? Based on everything you’ve read until now, let me share three things you can do. 

1. Direct Your Energy Towards a Useful Pursuit

This is a common theme with every single person who demonstrates a high degree of self-control. There is always a higher pursuit or aim. The Lykovs survived in the wilderness to avoid prosecution and death. 

Viktor Frankl famously survived the Holocaust because he was driven to see his wife again. Our lives might not have the same life and death stakes—we still need a pursuit. 

And our pursuit must be useful to make it stick. Shallow pursuits that only fulfill your materialistic desires will not motivate you to control your urges. You need something that’s so important you’re willing to do whatever it takes. 

When I started my blog, I was dedicated to sharing honest advice without hidden intentions. To me, that was a worthy pursuit. That drove me to write every single day. As of this writing, I’ve published 331 articles on my site.

2. Set Long-Term Goals

On a day to day basis, I rely on a system that keeps me productive. A system is a combination of productivity strategies that help you to stay consistent. Read more about systems here.6

But when it comes to long-term drive, I love to set goals because they will give you a clear sense of direction. In what direction do you want to take your life over the next three, five, ten, and twenty years? This is a very hard thought-experiment if you take it seriously.

Most people say, “I don’t know.” But you shouldn’t let yourself off the hook like that. Practice self-control by forcing yourself to pick a direction in life. You can always adjust. The long-term goals I set for myself five years ago have changed today. But at least they got me moving. 

3. Minimize Stress

There’s some evidence that stress sabotages self-control.7 When you’ve had a stressful moment at work, it’s tempting to grab a candy bar (or two) to release the stress, right?

The same analogy is true for every other stress-related behavior. If you examine your life, you’ll find that you do a lot of things to simply manage stress. In fact, I believe that for most of us, that’s all that we do.

When I lived a stressful life years ago, I was only thinking about ways to get rid of that stress. But you’re only treating the symptoms that way. You can take as many vacations or buy as much crap you want from the internet, none of it will relieve your stress. If you truly want to minimize stress, you must design your life in a way that gives you a stress-level you can handle.

For me, that meant doing different work and leaving city life (I was living in London at the time). Some situations simply give us too much stress. A bad relationship is another common cause of stress. Unfortunately, there are no simple “step-by-step” tips for managing stress. 

Sure, you can meditate, take long walks, read, or journal—all these things will lower stress—but there’s nothing better than designing a life that causes less excessive stress. But that doesn’t mean we should avoid all stress.

An optimal level of stress is actually great for us and it will slow down entropy. We need to find out what that level is for ourselves. Every person has a different stress tolerance. The key is to improve our self-awareness and understand what stresses us out. Then, we want to lower that to a level that we can handle without getting frustrated.

Conclusion

Let me repeat the definition of self-control again: Our ability to (1) resist temptations and (2) exercise control over our emotions and behavior. 

These two aspects will increase the quality of our decisions and therefore, our lives. I hope that all of this inspires you to strengthen your self-control. Directing your energy towards a useful pursuit, setting long-term goals, and minimizing stress are all good ways to set yourself up for more self-control. 

Strengthening self-control is one of those things that has no end goal. It’s a never-ending process that will only benefit us the more we master it. When’s the last time you heard, “That person has too much self-control?” Exactly. More is better.

Ramkrishna Mission

Shri Ramkrishna Paramhans was one of the most notable and inspiring spiritual personalities who created a silent revolution in the realm of spirituality and inspired millions of people.

The Ramakrishna movement was started by Swami Vivekananda in 1897.The motto is “Atmano Mokshartham Jagat Hitaya Cha ( one’s own salvation and for the welfare of the world). 

Ramkrishna Mission is a Hindu religious and spiritual organisation which forms the core of a worldwide crystal movement known as the Ramkrishna movement of the Vedanta movement.

Contributions of Ramakrishna Mission:

Regeneration of humanity- It is a non political and non sectarian organisation. It works in spiritual regeneration of humanity without emphasising on a particular religion dog or Holy text. Unity of religion and selfless service is at the core of Ramakrishna Mission.

Social services- Ramkrishna paramhans used to say “service of man is the service of God”. Ramkrishna Mission work in the field of health education welfare of different sections spread of our culture, ethics, spirituality for this purpose Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission was founded.

Work for women- The Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission serve women through opening of Maternity success old age homes, vocational training centres for rural women and providing monthly allowance to widows. 

Hence, this movement founded after the death of Ramkrishna paramhans continues to serve the society as stated in this motto and based upon the teachings of Ramkrishna Paramhans it is it works for the fulfillment of twin ideas of renunciation and walking for self emancipation and social service.

NIKOLA TESLA

Serbian-American engineer and physicist Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) made dozens of breakthroughs in the production, transmission and application of electric power. He invented the first alternating current (AC) motor and developed AC generation and transmission technology. Though he was famous and respected, he was never able to translate his copious inventions into long-term financial success—unlike his early employer and chief rival, Thomas Edison.

Nikola Tesla’s Early Years:

Nikola Tesla was born in 1856 in Smiljan, Croatia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father was a priest in the Serbian Orthodox church and his mother managed the family’s farm. In 1863 Tesla’s brother Daniel was killed in a riding accident. The shock of the loss unsettled the 7-year-old Tesla, who reported seeing visions—the first signs of his lifelong mental illnesses.

Did you know? During the 1890s Mark Twain struck up a friendship with inventor Nikola Tesla. Twain often visited him in his lab, where in 1894 Tesla photographed the great American writer in one of the first pictures ever lit by phosphorescent light.

Tesla studied math and physics at the Technical University of Graz and philosophy at the University of Prague. In 1882, while on a walk, he came up with the idea for a brushless AC motor, making the first sketches of its rotating electromagnets in the sand of the path. Later that year he moved to Paris and got a job repairing direct current (DC) power plants with the Continental Edison Company. Two years later he immigrated to the United States.

Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison:

Tesla arrived in new york in 1884 and was hired as an engineer at Thomas Edison’s Manhattan headquarters. He worked there for a year, impressing Edison with his diligence and ingenuity. At one point Edison told Tesla he would pay $50,000 for an improved design for his DC dynamos. After months of experimentation, Tesla presented a solution and asked for the money. Edison demurred, saying, “Tesla, you don’t understand our American humor.” Tesla quit soon after.

Nikola Tesla and Westinghouse:

After an unsuccessful attempt to start his own Tesla Electric Light Company and a stint digging ditches for $2 a day, Tesla found backers to support his research into alternating current. In 1887 and 1888 he was granted more than 30 patents for his inventions and invited to address the American Institute of Electrical Engineers on his work. His lecture caught the attention of George Westinghouse, the inventor who had launched the first AC power system near Boston and was Edison’s major competitor in the “Battle of the Currents.”

Westinghouse hired Tesla, licensed the patents for his AC motor and gave him his own lab. In 1890 Edison arranged for a convicted New York murderer to be put to death in an AC-powered electric chair—a stunt designed to show how dangerous the Westinghouse standard could be.

Buoyed by Westinghouse’s royalties, Tesla struck out on his own again. But Westinghouse was soon forced by his backers to renegotiate their contract, with Tesla relinquishing his royalty rights.

In the 1890s Tesla invented electric oscillators, meters, improved lights and the high-voltage transformer known as the Tesla coil. He also experimented with X-rays, gave short-range demonstrations of radio communication two years before guglielmo marconi and piloted a radio-controlled boat around a pool in Madison Square Garden. Together, Tesla and Westinghouse lit the 1891 World’s Columbian Exposition in chicago and partnered with General Electric to install AC generators at niagara falls, creating the first modern power station.

Nikola Tesla’s Failures, Death and Legacy:

In 1895 Tesla’s New York lab burned, destroying years’ worth of notes and equipment. Tesla relocated to colorado Springs for two years, returning to New York in 1900. He secured backing from financier J.P morgon and began building a global communications network centered on a giant tower at Wardenclyffe, on Long Island. But funds ran out and Morgan balked at Tesla’s grandiose schemes.

Tesla lived his last decades in a New York hotel, working on new inventions even as his energy and mental health faded. His obsession with the number three and fastidious washing were dismissed as the eccentricities of genius. He spent his final years feeding—and, he claimed, communicating with—the city’s pigeons.

Tesla died in his room on January 7, 1943. Later that year the U.S. supreme court voided four of Marconi’s key patents, belatedly acknowledging Tesla’s innovations in radio. The AC system he championed and improved remains the global standard for power transmission.

World population day

World population day is celebrated on 11th July every year.this day was initiated to spread awareness about issues related to population growth. This day was established by the governing council of United Nations development programme in 1989. This day was inspired by the population growth in 11th July in 1987 as the population became 5 billion . This day is used to spread awareness regarding population growth, poverty, unemployment ,health issues and discrimination.The day was suggested by Dr. K.C.Zachariah in which population reaches Five Billion when he worked as Sr Demographer at World Bank .As population has become more than 7 billion now .

This population growth has causing a lot health issues as there are not enough facilities for everyone . Hospital are not available and because of which people are having health issues which is having an impact on the economy of the country and the whole world.  People are making babies without any family planning which leads to a lot of issues. They are not able to Fulfill all the needs of a their kids and they grow up to be illiterate. We should understand how important family planning is . We should only produce Bab es if we can provide them with all the facilities. People in rural areas give birth till they get a boy which is causing discrimination between boys and girls . Such girls are not given proper education and are been married off at early age . Thus population growth is also causing lack of employment which directly leads to poverty . Which affects the economy and the s not good for the country in any way .

This population growth leads to global warming and pollution which is causing lack in natural resources . Fossil fuels are decreasing day by day and cannot be renewed further .People should realise how dangerous this growth is for all humans and mother earth . It is our duty to control population growth and help nature and maintain the balance . We should use condoms to control population growth and have family planning which we can afford to give to the child

By Ishita Pillay

Overthinking

This article is for people who overthink the fact that they overthink. Overthinking is thinking the same thought on repeat till it mentally drains us. We may fall into an endless trap of overthinking and overanalysing every single situation in our lives. 

Overthinking makes even the smallest of things in our lives get complicated. for example: instead of going out with a friend and enjoying the moment we could end up overthinking every aspect of that day.

We tend to spend a lot of time thinking about our emotions. They may be the emotions of jealousy, hurt, anger, sadness, grief, etc. It is good to acknowledge our emotions but not get trapped in them.

Different people overthink different things. Some are stuck in their past, some worry about their future, some overthink about the people in their lives. Overthinking puts us in a dark place where we only keep thinking for hours and days without doing anything. We keep replaying questions like:

 “what if people don’t like me”

“Do I even have friends”

“I should have done this in the past”

“will I ever be able to be successful”

“What if I fail in life”

“why can’t I do this”

What we don’t understand is how irrelevant these thoughts are and how they consume our time and energy. Our past is gone, even if we want to change it we cannot. What we can change is our present and that will happen by not entertaining these thoughts.

The future is yet to come and is determined by our actions in the present. For a small example: if I do an internship in my present, it will help me in the future.

So things are still in our control and we don’t have to overthink so much.

Did you know it is our thoughts that control our actions?

If before going to a job interview you think about things like

“what if they don’t like me”

 “what if I mess it up”

 “what if I say the wrong things”

 Chances are they actually might not like you. The people conducting your interview would sense that you are not confident in yourself and would want to hire a person who believes in themselves.

Did you know many companies also give jobs based on confidence? Because every organization needs confident employees who believe in themselves.

Another thing a lot of people do is overthink even when they know the solution to it. Instead of thinking about why you keep getting bad marks in a subject may be giving the extra time, you spend thinking to study that subject could actually help you.

I used to overthink a lot of things in my life. It used to be about things that I wasn’t able to control. But, thinking about them did nothing but exhaust me mentally. Now I don’t entertain any negative thoughts which would cause me to overthink. I now try to work towards the things I want in my life instead of debating whether I will be able to do it or not. We need to stop saying things like “I can’t do it” and replace them with “I can”.

Human beings have the power to think. It is the brains of humans that made us reach the moon. Now, what I want you to understand is that every human being is as powerful as the person who came up with the smartest invention. But, it is on us what types of thoughts we entertain.

The more productive things a person thinks about the more successful and mentally strong they will be in their lives.

ROLIHLAHLA MANDELA.

Nelson Mandela a activist, lawyer, politician, philanthropist who was known for Internal resistance to apartheid mandela was born on 18 July 1981 in the village of Mvezo in Eastern Cape. Hearing to the elders stories of his ancestors during the war Mandela decided to make his won contribution to freedom struggle of his people. Nelson was the name given by his primary school teacher Ms Mdingance band while continuing with Bachelor of Arts degree he was expelled for joining a student protest. Inspite of returning Nelson ran way to Johannesburg and worked as mine security officer and completed his BA and graduated in 1943 and began to study LLB by his own admission mean while he was prisoned and left the university and got imprisoned after months he obtained LLB. He was the country’s 1st Black head of sts6and 1st elected in a fully representative democratic election on 1994. His Government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid and served as President of African National Congress ANL and also as 19th secretary General of Non-aligned movement. After the National party’s white only Government established apartheid a behaviour of racial segregation that promoted whites, he and ANL committee themselves to its overthrow. Mandela was sentenced to life time prison because he was white Amid growing domestic and the pressure of fears and racial civil war. In 1962 using the adopted name David motsamay Mandela travelled around Africa and England to gain support for the armed struggle and was imprisoned by which in 1944 multi racial general election led ANL in victoru and made Mandela president and Medela emphasised reconciliation between the movement and declined as 2nd Presidential term and became an elder statesman and focused on combating poverty and HIV AIDS through his charitable foundation and gained international acclaim for his activism and succeeded. Which regarded an icon of democracy and social justice and received more thna 250 honours and Nobel peace prize. By which he was described as the ‘Father Of The Nation’. In 2004 Mandela successfully campaigned for South Africa to host 2010 FIFA world cup . The popular books of Mandela are long walk for freedom, The prison letters of Nelson Mandela, conversation with myself.

In mid 2013, Mandela was hospitalized for lung infection and said the last precious words’ I am prepared to Die’ and nailed the name to be the Father of the Nation. The awards which were popularized were the Sakharov prize, Bharat ratna, Nobel peace prize, Lenin Peace prize, Presidential medial of freedom, Nishan -e Pakistan.

BREAKING BAD HABITS

When a human being performs a particular task a few times he starts building a habit of doing that. Habits are an effortless way of doing things. Habits can be both constructive as well as destructive depending.

Do you possess a lot of destructive or bad habits? Some people are unable to figure it out whether they possess any bad habit or not. While on the other hand there are a few people who know very well that they possess bad habits but are unable to break the habits even if they want.

Building a habit takes time you consciously do tasks over and over again until they establish tracks in your subconscious mind. In the same way, breaking a bad habit takes time.

Here are a few tips on how to break a bad habit :

1. Always focus more on why you want to break that bad habit.

2. Take the support of your family members or your friends.

3. Think about the positive impacts or the benefits of breaking the habit and bring that mental picture each time you think of doing the task which you consider as a bad habit.

4. Meditate every day for at least 15-20 minutes, it helps you bring control over your mind.

5. Try to reward yourself each time you can avoid the bad habit.

Once you follow these tips, I assure you within a few weeks or months, you will be able to break that bad habit.

The Conspiracy of “Bulbs”

Do you know for how long a light bulb can last? 1000 hours, 1500 hours, 3000 hours? What if I say there is an light bulb lasted for more than 120 year and still counting, you will definitely say are you kidding me?, mine doesn’t last for more than 1000 hours. Or you may ask which machine has manufactured it? But what if I say it is hand made. Read on full article to know why life span of light bulbs are made to decrease by some giant light bulb manufacturers…

In Livermore Fire station 6 there is a light bulb active from more than 120 years hand made. The light doesn’t have a switch but it has battery back an a power generator. The bulb is never switched off as by cooling and heating up again there act stress on filament which decreases the life span of bulb.

When everyone is trying to make a filament they failed the filament burned with contact of oxygen, so in 1840s Warren De La Rue told to put the filament in vacuum so if there is no contact of oxygen and no burn. In 1879 Thomas Edison invented a perfect light bulb by making filament of carbon, from then onwards everyone tried different filament to increase the life span and then come up with tungsten. And in 1920s the life of bulbs were at peak lasting from 2000 hours to 2500 hours normally.

But at these time the sales were at least for the bulb manufacturers for example OSRAM sold 63 million bulbs in 1923, and in 1924 only 28 million. So the giant manufacturers of that come with a meeting. In 1924 at Geneva, Switzerland before christmas the giants Philips, International General Electric, Tokyo Electric, OSRAM from Germany, UK Associated Electric(AEI) formed a cartel named Phoebus Cartel after the name of Greek God of light.

They agreed to decrease the life of bulbs to 1000 hours, the same way engineer discovered to increase, they told their engineers to decrease the life of bulbs. But, due to lack of trust they agreed to send bulbs from every factory to a lab for test. If the bulb lasts for 1000 hours is fine, but if it lasts more than 3000 hours then there is a fine of 200 Swiss Francs for every 1000 bulbs sold.

There again one question of will every manufacturer will follow or not? So they divided the area of sales. They were successful in there plan. The life of light bulbs decreased and there increased tremendously. They sold with same price to increase the profit.

-Sales – life of bubs

The cartel was made to last till 1955 but it ended in 1930s. However there were allegations on cartel, but they said that cartel in established for improvements in the bulb. The screw thread in bulbs are introduced by them.

The light bulb of Livermore is made before the formation of cartel that’s why it is there.

These is not the end of this case as there is still this type of work is going on.

In 2003 the video of Casey Neistat was gone viral as he tried to protest against apple. Apple launched IPod having non removable memory which lasts only for 18 months, and after that you have to give 250$ to refurbish it. So there was a case in court against this which Apple settled outside court.

ANNIE BESANT.

Annie wood is an famous writer, orator, theosophist, women’s rights activist, educationist, philanthropist. When we look into the history of wood she was born on 1st Oct 1847 at Clapham, London United Kingdom who belong to the British Nationality. She was an ancient supporter of both Irish and Indian self-rule . Annie Besant was a great and courageous lady who has been titled as a freedom fighter as she fought for many war to help people to get their real freedom. Annie Besant as a social reformer took a role as an social activist for both England and India. She proved herself as one of the best social activist through her great and continued social works even aftter being criticized regarding to women’s rights in India. Wood also fought gor women’s rights favouring the traditional Hindu customs as she had more respect for the old Hindu ideas.

During her life as a social activist, she wrote for the National reformer newspaper of NSS at the age of 19. She got married to Frank Besant a clergyman but soon got legally separated due to religious difference and they had 2 children asther and Mabel. Later, which she became a prominent speaker, famous writer for National secular society NSS and had a friendly relationship with her close friend of Charles Bradlaugh and later which they both joined hands and published a book by birth control campaigners. Charles Bradlaugh was 1st selected as member of parliament for Northampton and became the leading speakers for Fabian society and Marxist social democratic federation (SDF) and become involved in union actions including the Bloods Sunday demonstration and the London matchgirls strikes.

Besant was earning a small weekly wage by writing a column for National Reformer. The NSS allowed her to act as one of its public speakers which was very popular entertainment in Victorian times by which her demand for brilliant speaking increased. When we look into the theosophy interest of Basant she met Helena Blavatsky and over the next few years her interest in theosophy grew and she become society member and successful lecturer in the theosophy and also she was deeply involved in Indian Independence movement and continued her campaign to make India and independent country the love on Indian People culture, tradition make her bring it and started awakening Indian people for deep sleep through her loud speech .when she became President of theosophical society. She guided indian societies away from Buddhism to bring them towards Hinduism.

Annie came to India through her theosophy related religious movement and was selected as 1st women President of Indian National Congress as an Irish origin women who played a significant role towards Indian Independence movement and Annie left congress and joined the liberal party when Gandhi launched satyagraha against British rule and when he took effective control of the congress party.

Besides being a prolific writer Besant was ‘practised stamp orator’ who gave 66 public lectures in 1 year and also engaged in public debates. Some of the popular books are The political status of women, The law of population, why I am socialist, The 7 principles of man, Karma, The religion problem in India, The ancient wisdom.

The great speaker rested her soul on 20 sep 1933 at the age of 85 in Indian land of Adyar Madras, Madras Presidency British.

Mental Health

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Mental health is all about behavioural and emotional well being. Mental health refers to how we feel, behave and think. Sometimes we feel low and sometimes we feel extreme rush of happiness. It’s not a big deal if you feel sad or happy or furious because we all are human beings afterall, we all have feelings and emotions. But what if those emotions take over our mind so harsh that it’s almost impossible to control them? What if you’re sad continuously for one weeks or months? This is something to worry about. This is what we call mental illness when a person himself can’t control his emotions and ultimately it ruins his life. Sometimes, the burden is so much that people often have suicidal thoughts and some even commit suicide because self killing seems easier than dealing with those emotions.

Most common mental illness:-

1) Anxiety:-

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Anxiety is your body’s natural response to stress. It’s a feeling of fear or apprehension about what’s to come. The first day of school, going to a job interview, or giving a speech may cause most people to feel fearful and nervous.

But if your feelings of anxiety are extreme, last for longer than six months, and are interfering with your life, you may have an anxiety disorder.

Anxiety is your body’s natural response to stress. It’s a feeling of fear or apprehension about what’s to come. The first day of school, going to a job interview, or giving a speech may cause most people to feel fearful and nervous.

But if your feelings of anxiety are extreme, last for longer than six months, and are interfering with your life, you may have an anxiety disorder.

This type of anxiety may cause you to stop doing things you enjoy. In extreme cases, it may prevent you from entering an elevator, crossing the street, or even leaving your home. If left untreated, the anxiety will keep getting worse.

Anxiety disorders are the most common form of emotional disorder and can affect anyone at any age. According to the American Psychiatric Association, women are more likely than men to be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.

Depression:-

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Depression is classified as a mood disorder. It may be described as feelings of sadness, loss, or anger that interfere with a person’s everyday activities.

People experience depression in different ways. It may interfere with your daily work, resulting in lost time and lower productivity. It can also influence relationships and some chronic health conditions.

Mood swings:-

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Mood swings refer to rapid changes in mood. The term may refer to minor daily mood changes or to significant mood changes as seen with mood disorders such as major depression or bipolar depression. Mood swings can also occur in women who suffer from premenstrual syndrome or premenstrual dysphoric disorder. The menopausal transition, specifically the time around approaching menopause or perimenopause, is associated with mood swings in some women. Mood swings can be seen with other conditions as well, including schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, dementia, and thyroid conditions.

Symptoms

  • not eating enough or overeatinghaving insomnia or sleeping too much
    distancing yourself from other people and favorite activities
    feeling fatigue even with enough sleep
    feeling numbness or lacking empathy
    experiencing unexplainable body pains or achiness
    feeling hopeless, helpless or lost
    smoking, drinking, or using illicit drugs more than ever before
    feeling confusion, forgetfulness, irritability, anger, anxiety, sadness, or fright
    constantly fighting or arguing with friends and family
    having extreme mood swings that cause relationship problems
    having constant flashbacks or thoughts that you can’t get out of your head
    hearing voices in your head that you can’t stop
    having thoughts of hurting yourself or other people
  • being unable to carry out day-to-day activities and chores

How to overcome:-

Get plenty of sleep

Eat well

Avoid alcohol, smoking and drugs

Get plenty of sunlight

Manage stress

Activity and exercise

Do something you enjoy

Connect with others and be sociable

Do things for others

Ask for help

Conclusion:-

Mental illness is a bigger concern for today’s generation. It is a serious issue and no one should take it lightly. If you’re facing some sort of mental illness then please do cure as soon as possible. It’s not a myth, but a harsh reality that everyone needs to be understood.

Senior Citizens Welfare Fund

About the Scheme

According to the 2011 population census India has nearly 104 million senior citizens of the total population. And around 71 % of senior citizens live in rural parts and 29 % reside in urban areas of India. These senior citizens are often left out when it comes to basic amenities and requirements and have to depend on others for their living and financial support especially in urban areas, whereas the senior citizens living in rural areas are unable to get aids for their age-related impairments or disabilities due to financial weakness. For overcoming this issue in senior citizens of rural and urban areas and provide the senior citizens with financial and health stability, the government came up with the Senior Citizens Welfare Scheme and Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana. The Senior Citizens Welfare Fund (SCWF) was included under the Finance Act, 2015 for 3 years that is till 2020. This fund is utilized for the welfare of senior citizens. It is expected that around 5,20,000 senior citizens would benefit from this scheme. The scheme also tries that at least 30 % of beneficiaries in all districts should be women as far as possible. An amount of Rs. 410.23 crore was allocated as of December 2019, as initial funding under the scheme, and is handled by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The fund is allocated from the unclaimed money which is lying untouched (after 10 years is transferred) under the Small Savings Schemes, Public Provident Fund, Employees Provident Fund (unclaimed for 7 years), any insurance scheme (be it life or non – life), any such unclaimed policy under the insurance companies, Coal Mines Provident Fund, and Central Government Schemes such as the Savings lying in the Post Office, Post Office Time Deposit Account, Kisan Vikas Patra, Post Office Monthly Income Account, Post Office Recurring Deposit, and Senior Citizens Savings Scheme.

In 2016, the Department of Economic Affairs transferred an amount of Rs 5889.17 crore to the corpus of Senior Citizens Welfare Fund and the interest accrued from this would be utilized for the Welfare Scheme funded from the Senior Citizens Welfare Fund. The Department of Economic Affairs allocated an amount of Rs 16 crore from the Senior Citizens Welfare Fund and provided it to the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment for the implementation of the Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana. An inter–ministerial committee is set up for the administration of the funds. This ministry comprises – Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment as the Nodal Ministry, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, and Department of Financial Services.

Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana is a scheme under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. This scheme was launched in 2017. The funds for this scheme target at providing assistive living devices and other aids to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category belonging to senior citizens, who suffer from disabilities due to growing age. Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India (ALIMCO) is a public sector undertaking under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment by which the scheme is implemented. This public sector undertaking manufactures assistive living devices. Depending upon the disability of impairment the following assistive devices are provided to the eligible senior citizens under the scheme:

• Spectacles

• Artificial Dentures

• Hearing Aids

• Walking Sticks

• Wheelchair

• Crutches / Walkers

• Elbow Crutches

• Tripods / Quadpods

To avail of benefits under this scheme, the senior citizen must belong to Below Poverty Line (BPL) category. He/she must be suffering from age-related disabilities and those disabilities can be – Loss of teeth, hearing impairment, locomotor disability, or low vision. The assistive devices provided for these impairments try to provide near normalcy bodily functioning.

Impact  

A total of 325 districts were selected for the implementation of this scheme. 135 districts completed their assessment camps for identification of the beneficiaries as of 25/01/2019. As per the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment 70939 senior citizens belonging to the BPL category have benefited from 77 distribution camps organized. In the year 2017 – 18,34069 senior citizens benefited from this scheme and in the year 2018 – 19, 36870 senior citizens benefited from this scheme of Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana.

Leonardo Da Vinci’s Human Powered Helicopter Becomes Reality

Leonardo Da Vinci's Aerial Screw

It would be hard to call Leonardo Da Vinci anything other than a man ahead of his time.  Between 1452 and 1519, Leonardo did just about everything. He is most famous today for his skills as a painter, where he painted some small works- like the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. His sketches of man were the most anatomically correct to date (The Vitruvian Man). He was also a famed sculptor, musician, architect, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, writer mathematician, engineer and inventor. He conceptualized things far beyond his time, including concentrated solar power, a calculator, the double hull for ships, a tank and, most interesting to those of us in the aviation industry, a helicopter.

Over 420 years before the first helicopter was built, Leonardo Da Vinci sketched out what he called the Aerial Screw. This aerial screw was a man powered helicopter that required four men to spin cranks fast enough to generate enough lift to get off the ground.

Now, fast forward to 1980, 461 years after Leonardo passed away.  The American Helicopter Society sought to finally see the first human powered helicopter take flight. To win the prize money, which started at $10,000, the helicopter needed to reach at least 3 meters in the air (9.8 feet) for 60 seconds while being stable enough to have the center of the helicopter stay within a 10 x 10 meter box (32.8 x 32.8 feet). It would take 9 years from then before the first human powered helicopter even got off the ground when students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo got their human powered helicopter 8 inches off the ground for all of 7.1 seconds. In the next 20 years, not much progress would be made so the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation pledged additional prize money to try to see if that would inspire more innovation.

Sure enough, it did. Two teams, one from the University of Maryland and the other AeroVelo, were locked in a tight race to win. The university of Maryland got their man powered helicopter to fly for 65 seconds but it only reached 8 ft (about 1.8 feet short of where they needed to be) in August of 2012.

Finally, this July in Toronto, Aerovelo took the $250,000 in prize money with this flight:

While we don’t expect to see these Atlas human-powered helicopter’s flying around a city near you soon, this was a remarkable achievement. Congratulations to the Aerovelo team! And, over 480 years later, Leonardo Da Vinci’s vision of a human powered helicopter came to fruition.

Is McDonald’s a Monopoly?

A firm is said to be a monopoly if it is the only sole vendor of its item and its item doesn’t have any close substitutes, for instance, McDonald’s. The factors like government license, ownership of resources, copyright and patent, and high starting cost makes McDonald a solitary dealer of goods. Every one of these factors limit the passage of the other sellers onto this market. It also possesses some information that is not known to other sellers.

McDonald’s is a commonly used example of monopolistic competition. Monopolistic competition signifies the variety in the products available in the market. Though they have similar products they are yet different from each other in various aspects. McDonald’s have divided them products in different varieties and have many outlets and dine ins too. There are many other similar ones in the competition like KFC, Subway, Burger King etc. All of these are a similar kind of food chain and serve fast food itself yet their very basics are differently structured.

This makes the entity the single seller in the market controller as well as the price maker. They maximize their profit by deciding the price of the product that is to be sold and by determining the quantity of the equivalent. Also, McDonald’s charge different prices from different customers for the same product called ‘Price discrimination’ as this entity aims for profit maximization. 

A very significant quality of McDonald’s is the fact that wherever they put up an outlet they always go with the native cuisine and have so many options. People love their menu because of their varieties without posing a close substitute from other entities. McDonald’s has made use of non-price competition for their growth too. Though they have similar products they are yet different from each other in various aspects.

Mr. Paper’s Advice To Writers!

“Fiction reveals truths that reality obscures.”

  • Ralph Waldo Emerson

Bonjour! Today’s article deals with Mr. Paper who wishes to address the writers! A fictional concept of Mr. Paper is covered who shares his grievances with you all!

Hello writers! I know you must have smartly deciphered till now that I am a piece of paper speaking to you. Through this article, I wish to convey my emotions. So, let me begin.

“I Really Appreciate Each And Every Writer.”

I may not be able to say this to you, but yes, every writer is precious to me. The hard work and special efforts that you put in in order to make your book a success aren’t unnoticed because I am the one who actually notices! 😉

“Let Alone Writers, I Love It When Any Person Whatsoever Chooses To Scribble Almost Anything On Me.”

Yes! Anyone who writes is someone who preserves my rights 😉 When you write, you provide me my most important right which is to never be a blank sheet! Thank you for taking some efforts to inscribe something on me because that keeps me alive.

“I Hate It When Writers Waste Paper By Throwing Most Of The Half Empty Sheets In The Trash.”

Some writers tend to create their rooms a mess by writing a short paragraph which maybe later doesn’t seem appropriate to them, which makes them curl the paper into a ball and then bury it into the trash. Please stop killing us!

“How I Wish Writers Would Make More Use Of Paper Than Their Laptops!”

Writers today, in this digital era, no longer make use of paper which makes me feel overwhelmingly sad because I feel ignored and left out. Please spend some time with me as well!

“Please Don’t Resort To Dog Earring When Reading Books!”

This is a gentle request to all the readers as well as writers to not practice dog earring because that stretches my body, leaving me in pain. Please use bookmarks for the same!

“Please Don’t Tear A Page Unnecessarily.”

This is my earnest request to all of the humans out there to not tear or lacerate us without any reason. By doing this, you plot our demise unintentionally which is not something you want to do, right?

“Please Don’t Curse Us When You Are Unable To Come Up With Content.”

Some writers tend to curse the page for not receiving relevant ideas. I totally understand that writing can be a stressful task at times but then blaming a blank sheet of paper isn’t fair, right? So, please don’t curse and manhandle us because we didn’t hurt you a pinch!

Lastly, I would like to wish each and every writer by giving them my best regards. We await the time when you would get a sheet out and begin engraving something on us. We may seem inanimate to you, but we aren’t. We can feel the essence of your hard work as you prepare your manuscript and try getting it published. We value and respect you! Writing is a fun task and requires some love while we (papers) love you back! So, wait no more! Publish your book and make the utmost use of us (papers).

“Happy Writing”

Thank You For Reading!

The art of cooking

A culinary art is the art of cooking. Cooking is the process of preparing food and meals that will be eaten or the food served to other people.

The word “culinary” is defined as something related to, or connected with, cooking or kitchens. People who are working in the culinary arts are known as culinarians. A person working in restaurants is commonly known as a cook. The skillfully preparation of food and meals that are as pleasing to the palate as to the eye is the responsibility of the Culinary artist. Culinary artists require a lot of knowledge about the science of food they prepare and a good understanding of how diets and nutrition affect people in the preparation of their meals. Culinary artists work in restaurants, hospitals and other institutions where kitchen conditions vary depending on the type of business.

The culinary art is comprised of many categories. Some of which are tools, methods, combination of spices and ingredients that adds flavor to the food. It normally needs the right measurements, proper selection and accurate combination of ingredients involved to reach desired result.

The diversity of the culinary arts around the world mirrors many considerations such as Economic, Aesthetic, Nutritional, Religious and Cultural.

The dawn of fire, and the culinary arts, if not always, is associated with fire. The heat generated by fire is required to change the food’s texture, flavor, nutritional contents and even its appearance. Heating is important in the culinary arts because it disinfects the food and makes it softer. The food danger zone is between 4 to 60 degrees Celsius. Within these temperatures, the bacteria found in the found or even those that were transferred to the food can grow at a very alarming rate. Under ideal conditions bacteria can double their population every twenty minutes. Although at a glance, these foods may not appear harmful, when ingested they can be. Many people have the misconception that bacteria will die when we freeze our food or refrigerate them, but this actually does not rid the food of bacteria, merely it slows down their expansion.

One of the most famous departments in the culinary arts is probably baking. Baking is the art of cooking food using an oven in culinary arts. Through applying dry heat evenly through the oven and onto the food which then cooks the food. It is used in producing pastry based desserts such as tarts, pies and cakes. The ovens dry heat causes the starch to gelatinize, and the results to the browning or charring of the outside of the food. Some uneducated in the culinary arts might think that the charred part or the brown part is not as tasty as it sounds, but this part is actually what gives taste and flavor to the baked good, partly sealing the moisture of the food. The browning apparent in the baked good is caused by the sugar caramelizing and the chemical reaction that happens between the reduction of sugar and the amino acid (Mail-lard reaction). Moisture in the baked goody, on the other hand, is not really completely kept in time as the goody is being baked it will become drier and drier.

reference-https://www.paranetinfo.com/learn-the-importance-of-cooking-food/