Maths genius: Count on inner gift(Human computer)

(Shakuntala Devi, 69,)

Shakuntala Devi discovered that she had a special attachment and understanding towards numbers when she was just three years old. By the time she was five, she over took learned mathematicians in solving complex problems within seconds; it took hours for the mathematicians to arrive at correct answers to those calculations! At the age of six, little Shakuntala demonstrated her talents at the University of Mysore, before a huge gathering of professors and students of higher studies in mathematics. With lightning rapidity and scientific precision, she declared right answers mentally working out calculations for the most complicated problems. At the age of eight, she thrilled the learned audience of Annamalai University, prompting the Vice Chancellor of the university to call her, 'A living wonder.' As a child, she toured all over India exhibiting her talent not only in numbers but telling the exact day of the week of any date ,month, year of the past or future. Still in her childhood, she took her first tour of Europe in 1950. Visiting London on October 5, 1950, Shakuntala entertained Britain's television viewers with her skills in numbers. In her live programme on BBC, she challenged the interviewer within seconds on hearing the problem, telling that the problem was worked out wrong. The interviewer did a quick check-up and confessed that BBC's calculation was wrong. Similarly, when she was giving a demonstration at the University of Rome, she proved that the machine was wrong and she was right!a( http://www.shakuntaladevi.in/index.htm)

Media report..

O Globo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Nov. 6, 1954: "… the virgin from India is indeed a marvel.

''Mainichi, Tokyo, Japan - Sept. 14, 1958: "… the audience, consisting of representatives, of the diplomatic corps and others, thoroughly enjoyed the remarkable mental performance of the sari clad woman.

" Times of Malta, Malta - Oct.25, 1961: "… anyone who can hold an audience of youngsters spellbound with mathematical figures for over an hour must be a wonder. But that is what Shakuntala Devi, India's human calculator, is…"El Nacional, Caracas, Venezuela - Apr. 8, 1965: "… Shakuntala is an extra -ordinary Indian Girl, on whom nature has bestowed classical beauty and a mathematical brain that has a stunned the whole world…"

Mirror, Manila, Philippines - Dec. 7, 1968: "… she has a remarkable talent for showmanship that can put Bob Hope out panhandling." Daily Mirror, London - Sep.21, 1973: "… the machines have no chance, for Shakuntala has never been beaten.

" The Sunday Times, London - Sep.23, 1973: "… there was no competition when it came to finding a fourth root: The machine can't do it. Shakuntala Devi took just three seconds."

'Detain Khairy and Datuk Ahmad Ismail under ISA' (MCA Youth )!!!~NST~.

1.Ting called Khairy a "political loser"who should be booked under the ISA.

2.He also wanted former Umno Bukit Bendera division chief Datuk Ahmad Ismail to be held under the same act for describing Malaysian Chinese as pendatang (squatters).

3."However, people like Khairy and Ahmad can talk all they want and no action was taken against them

4.If we want to use the ISA, let's use it against these people first. Lock them up for two years, let them think through everything they say so they can realise how nonsensical and narrow-minded they are."

Oil now US$78, can go as low as US$60 (Good News !!!)(NST)

The stunning collapse in oil markets accelerated on Friday, sending a barrel of crude plunging below US$78 (RM273) as investors grew more pessimistic about resolving a mushrooming global economic crisis

Oil hasn't been this cheap in 13 months -- a rare silver lining for consumers amid a rapidly imploding financial landscape. Crude prices have almost been cut in half since surging to a record near US$150 barrel recently. Energy experts believe prices could go even lower.

Anwar sets another takeover date...end of the year(The Star)

Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has set yet another deadline for Pakatan Rakyat to wrest control of the Federal government.It is not like something I will allow to linger for one or two years. The momentum will continue .

Speaking in English for a foreign media in attendance, Anwar said he was addressing the crowd at a critical time in the country’s history with the global economic crisis happening and Najib’s ascension as prime minister.
Anwar also predicted that the global economic crises would be worse than the Asian financial crises of 1998/1999, saying economists believe it would be similar to the Great Depression of the 1930s.

10 things Umno must do...(The Star Article By P. GUNASEGARAM)

1. Be a true champion of Malays.
Somewhere along the way, the Umno train became derailed in terms of serving the genuine and pressing needs of the Malay masses. Instead the focus came to rest on things such as contracts, companies, cuts, equity stakes and such - in other words the enrichment of a relative few in the community.
Sometimes such things have been at the expense of the interests of the country when businessmen (including some from other communities) got deals which were too good from the Government. That is already bad but this was coupled with less attention and intelligent effort on vital areas such as education which has set the clock back in some cases.
2. Put a full stop to money politics.
The best way of doing this is to simply get the Anti-Corruption Agency into the act to stop vote buying and tampering. It is against the law to buy votes, so let the law enforcers in - it cannot be kept as purely a party matter and only for the party’s disciplinary committee to deal with. Only if such measures are taken will Umno members and the general public be convinced that the leadership wants to do away with money politics once and for all.
3. Renew the fight against corruption.
The evidence of corruption is all over the place if one cares to look for it - people living beyond their means, questionable contracts, strange land deals and so on. These are all at great cost to the nation and an immediate stop must be put to such things.
Measures already considered for more independent law enforcement as well as prosecution of offenders must be put in place to give real meaning and effect to fighting corruption instead of just lip service.
4. Put serious checks against patronage and its abuse.
It may be just too much to expect the nexus between business and politics to be nixed just like that. But certainly a lot, lot more can be done to ensure that patronage politics does not do undue damage to the interests of the country.
One easy way of doing that is to ensure that the awarding of contracts is more transparent and follows guidelines. The next point shows how this can be done.
5. Set benchmarks for all contracts and procurements.
There are international benchmarks available for the procurement of all manner of goods and services. It is also possible to employ consultants at a fraction of the cost of a project to determine benchmark prices and to oversee the project to see that it is finished according to acceptable standards. Doing such simple things ensures that the Government never needs pay excessive sums for goods and services while ensuring that they are up to international standards.
6. Be less racial.
It must be pretty obvious by now that Malaysian communities are not taking too well to the tried and tested means used by the politicians of yore - race - of increasing their appeal to their own communities. If that does not change, there is great risk of polarising some sections of the voting public - and these days you can’t afford that, as the not-so-recent elections showed. Policies these days must appeal to the broader mass of Malaysians.
7. Be more tolerant in terms of religion.
Religious issues have often been deliberately manipulated by all shades of politicians for their own narrow benefits, not of the community even but of the politicians who seek to be champions of their own race and religion.
There are real problems of religion, especially when it comes to things like conversion and the rights of individuals. These won’t go away if their honest, frank and considered discussion is suppressed - they merely surface somewhere else. Politicians must facilitate the discussion of religious issues rather than suppress it, in the spirit of acceptance and tolerance.
8. Cut the emotive content in language issues.
Long ago, Bahasa Malaysia was accepted as the national language. There is no issue there. What we have to do is to think of how we can get our people to equip themselves with everything that they need to thrive in a very competitive world.
One of that is mastery of the English language and we must not let our affection for the Malay, Chinese and Tamil languages stand in the way of that. If we can’t agree, then perhaps the best way is to give people genuine choice in the kind of education they want. As long as language gets politicised, it’s going to be very difficult to move forward.
9. Become more accommodative rather than confrontational.
The old mode of working among the BN coalition was to shout and to draw the lines and this was especially so with Umno. The approach was well, rather confrontational.
And, of course, when the lines are drawn, they are pretty difficult to redraw. It would be far better to seek reconciliation through accommodation and consultation instead. In that mode, chances for solution - rather than stop-gap measures - are infinitely better.
10. Be a true champion of Malaysians.
The time has come for all parties to think of themselves as Malaysians and see how we all as a group can move forward. If we help all the disadvantaged amongst us, automatically the most disadvantaged communities will be helped more.

Ghandhism-A Must read for parents.......and for parents-to-be.....


Dr. Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and founder of the M.K.Gandhi Institute for Non-violence, in his June 9 lecture at the University of Puerto Rico , shared the following story: I was 16 years old and living with my parents at the institute my grandfather had founded 18 miles outside of Durban, South Africa, in the middle of the sugar plantations. We were deep in the country and had no neighbours, so my two sisters and I would always look forward to going to town to visit friends or go to the movies. One day, my father asked me to drive him to town for an all-day conference, and I jumped at the chance. Since I was going to town, my mother gave me a list of groceries she needed and, since I had all day in town, my father asked me to take care of several pending chores, such as getting the car serviced. When I dropped my father off that morning, he said, "I will meet you here at 5:00 p.m., and we will go home together." After hurriedly completing my chores, I went straight to the nearest movie theatre. I got so engrossed in a John Wayne double-feature that I forgot the time. It was 5:30 before I remembered. By the time I ran to the garage and got the car and hurried to where my father was waiting for me, it was almost 6:00. He anxiously asked me, "Why were you late?" I was so ashamed of telling him I was watching a John Wayne western movie that I said, "The car wasn't ready, so I had to wait," not realizing that he had already called the garage. When he caught me in the lie, he said: "There's something wrong in the way I brought you up that didn't give you the confidence to tell me the truth. In order to figure out where I went wrong with you, I'm going to walk home 18 miles and think about it." So, dressed in his suit and dress shoes, he began to walk home in the dark on mostly unpaved, unlit roads. I couldn't leave him, so for five-and-a-half hours I drove behind him, watching my father go through this agony for a stupid lie that I uttered. I decided then and there that I was never going to lie again. I often think about that episode and wonder, if he had punished me the way we punish our children, whether I would have learned a lesson at all. I don't think so. I would have suffered the punishment and gone on doing the same thing. But this single non-violent action was so powerful that it is still as if it happened yesterday. That is the power of non-violence.

Mukesh Ambani Quotes.

China and India will, separately and together, unleash an explosion of demand. Mukesh Ambani I think that our fundamental belief is that for us growth is a way of life and we have to grow at all times. Mukesh Ambani The organizational architecture is really that a centipede walks on hundred legs and one or two don't count. So if I lose one or two legs, the process will go on, the organization will go on, the growth will go on. Mukesh Ambani