MOUNTAIN AND RIVER

“Laghurudra Anushtthan” “Om Namah Shivaya”

In 1879, when there was British Rule in India, Lt. Col. Martin of Agar Malva was leading the army in the war against Afghanistan.

Col. Martin used to regularly send messages of his well-being to his wife. The war continued for long, and Lady Martin stopped getting news. She was distraught.

Once riding on her horse, she passed by the temple of Baijnath Mahadev. She was attracted to the sound of conch and mantra. She went inside and learned that the Brahmins were worshipping Lord Shiva.

They saw her sad face and asked her problem. She explained everything to them. They told her that Lord Shiva listens to the prayers of devotees & takes them out of difficult situations in no time. With the advice of the Brahmins, she started the “Laghurudra Anushtthan” (ritual ceremony) of the Mantra: “Om Namah Shivaya” for 11 days.

She prayed to Lord Shiva that if her husband reaches home safely, then she would get the temple renovated.

On the last of the “Laghurudra” a messenger came and gave a letter to her. Her husband had written:

“I was regularly sending messages to you from the battlegrounds but suddenly the Patthans surrounded us from all sides. We were entrapped in a situation where there was no scope for escaping death. Suddenly I saw a Yogi of India with long hair, carrying a weapon with three-pointers (Trishul). His personality was amazing and he was manoeuvring his weapon with a magnificent style. Seeing this great man, the Patthans started running back. With his grace our bad times turned into moments of victory. This was possible only because of that man of India wearing a lion skin and carrying a three-pointer weapon (Trishul). That great Yogi told me that I should not worry and that he had come to rescue me because he was very pleased with my wife’s prayers.”

Tears of joy were falling down Lady Martin’s eyes while reading the letter. Her heart was overwhelmed. She fell into the feet of Lord Shiva’s statue and burst in tears.

After a few weeks, Col. Martin returned. Lady Martin narrated the whole incident to him. Now, both husband and wife became devotees of Lord Shiva. In 1883, they donated Rs. 15,000 for renovating the temple. The information engraved slab for the same is still in the Baijnath Mahadev Temple of Agar Malva. This is the only Hindu temple built by the British.

When Lady Martin left for Europe she said that they would make a Shiva Temple at their home and pray to Him till the end of their life

Walking Over Niagara Falls

NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario –  Daredevil Nik Wallenda became the first person to walk on a tightrope across the Niagara Falls, taking steady, measured steps Friday night for 1,800 feet across the mist-fogged brink of the roaring falls separating the U.S. and Canada.

Afterward, he said he accomplished the feat through "a lot of praying, that's for sure. But, you know, it's all about the concentration, the focus, and the training."

The seventh-generation member of the famed Flying Wallendas had long dreamed of pulling off the stunt, never before attempted. Other daredevils have wire-walked over the Niagara River but farther downstream and not since 1896.

"This is what dreams are made of, people," Wallenda said shortly after he began walking the wire.

He took steady, measured steps amid the rushing mist over the falls as an estimated crowd of 125,000 people on the Canadian side and 4,000 on the American side watched. Along the way, he calmly prayed aloud.

ABC televised the walk and insisted Wallenda use a tether to keep him from falling in the river. Wallenda said he agreed because he wasn't willing to lose the chance and needed ABC's sponsorship to help offset some of the $1.3 million cost of the spectacle.

For the 33-year-old father of three, the Niagara Falls walk was unlike anything he'd ever done. Because it was over water, the 2-inch wire didn't have the usual stabilizer cables to keep it from swinging. Pendulum anchors were designed to keep it from twisting under the elkskin-soled shoes designed by his mother.

The Wallendas trace their roots to 1780 Austria-Hungary, when ancestors traveled as a band of acrobats, aerialists, jugglers, animal trainers and trapeze artists. The clan has been touched by tragedy, notably in 1978 when patriarch Karl Wallenda, Nik's great-grandfather, fell to his death during a stunt in Puerto Rico.

After he made it to the Canadian side of the falls, Wallenda said that at one point in the middle of the stunt, he thought about his great-grandfather and the walks he had taken: "That's what this is all about, paying tribute to my ancestors, and my hero, Karl Wallenda."

About a dozen other tightrope artists have crossed the Niagara Gorge downstream, dating to Jean Francois Gravelet, aka The Great Blondin, in 1859. But no one had walked directly over the falls, and authorities hadn't allowed any tightrope acts in the area since 1896. It took Wallenda two years to persuade U.S. and Canadian authorities to allow it, and many civic leaders hoped to use the publicity to jumpstart the region's struggling economy, particularly on the U.S. side of the falls.

A festive crowd gathered on both sides of the border to watch Wallenda, spreading blankets and setting up folding chairs under picture-perfect blue skies and summer-like temperatures.

NIK’S THOUGHTS AND FEELING DURING THE WALK.

There was “wind coming from every which way,” mist so powerful it clouded his vision and an unfamiliar wire beneath him.

“I feel like I’m on cloud nine right now,” Wallenda told reporters afterwards, which he performed before an estimated 112,000 people crowding the shores of both countries and an estimated 1 billion people who watched the live television broadcast.

“I hope what I do and what I just did inspires people around the world to reach for the skies,” he said.

He described a breathtaking view during the nighttime walk illuminated by spotlights that “compared to nothing.”

“There was no way to focus on the movement of the cable,” said Wallenda. “If I looked down at the cable there was water moving everywhere. And if I looked up there was heavy mist blowing in front of my face. So it was a very unique, a weird sensation.”

He said he accomplished the feat through “a lot of praying, that’s for sure. But, you know, it’s all about the concentration, the focus, and the training.”

“This is what dreams are made of, people,” said Wallenda, who wore a microphone for the broadcast, shortly after he stepped off from a platform on the American shore.

Along the way, he calmly prayed aloud.

After passing the halfway mark, Wallenda expressed fatigue. “I’m strained, I’m drained,” he said. “This is so physical, not only mental but physical.”

Toward the end, as he neared the Canadian shore, Wallenda dropped to one knee and gestured to the crowd below.   He sprinted the remainding 15 feet, where his wife and three children waited.

“I am so blessed,” he said later. “How blessed I am to have the life that I have.”

Wallenda said that at one point in the middle of the walk, he thought about his great-grandfather and the walks he had taken: “That’s what this is all about, paying tribute to my ancestors, and my hero, Karl Wallenda.”

Beautiful Collections of photos

Psychopaths not all psychos

“There is no real recipe for psychopathic personality disorder,” says Jennifer Skeem, UCI professor of psychology & social behavior. “The environmental factors are as ill-defined as the genetic factors, although antisocial behavior mixed with a history of punitive discipline, abuse and neglect seems to apply in many cases.” Credit: Steve Zylius / University Communications

Jennifer Skeem’s research requires that she spend time inside the minds of individuals most of us try to avoid: psychopaths.

Psychopathy is a complicated and widely misunderstood personality disorder, says the UC Irvine professor of psychology & social behavior, marked by boldness, fearlessness, cruelty, aggression and impulsivity.

While some people believe psychopaths are born, not made, Skeem stresses that the condition is shaped by the complex interaction of both environmental and genetic factors.

“There is no real recipe for psychopathic personality disorder,” she says. “The environmental factors are as ill-defined as the genetic factors, although antisocial behavior mixed with a history of punitive discipline, abuse and neglect seems to apply in many cases.”

Some of Skeem’s findings might come as a surprise to a public that equates the condition with serial killers and fictional characters such as Hannibal Lecter.

Psychopathy is not synonymous with violence, Skeem notes. In fact, she has found that psychopathic people often have no history of violent behavior or criminal convictions.

“An individual doesn’t necessarily need to be physically violent or a common street criminal to have psychopathic traits,” she says. Researchers estimate that about 1 percent of the general population are psychopaths.

Skeem points to Gordon Gekko, the unscrupulous financial executive played by Michael Douglas in the 1987 film “Wall Street,” as someone with all the signs of psychopathy.

She cites Ponzi scheme mastermind Bernie Madoff and Enron executive Andrew Fastow – ruthless, detached individuals who showed little remorse for robbing victims of their life savings – as real-life examples. Psychopathic traits helped them quickly climb the corporate ladder yet ultimately led to their downfall.

Can such traits ever be used for good? Skeem notes that the bold, risk-taking bomb squad leader in the Academy Award-winning movie “The Hurt Locker” succeeded in a high-pressure environment thanks to psychopathic tendencies.

Of course, some psychopaths do resort to violence and crime. But according to Skeem, youth and adults with high scores on measures of psychopathy can exhibit reduced violent and criminal behavior after intensive treatment, such as mental health counseling and drug abuse rehabilitation.

“There is scant scientific evidence to support the claim of ‘once a psychopath, always a psychopath,’” she says.

While not necessarily destructive or physically threatening, psychopaths are usually unpleasant people. Callousness, selfishness and lack of guilt make personal and professional relationships with them unbearable.

So how should you handle a psychopath in the workplace or at your next family reunion?

“You can try to work with the individual to get him or her therapy and treatment,” Skeem says. “But if you don’t have that kind of investment in the person, it’s best to keep a distance.”

She directs the School of Social Ecology’s Risk Reduction Research Lab, where her team focuses on understanding why some people with mental disorders engage in self-harm, violence and criminal behavior – and others do not.

Skeem hopes her work can be used to inform legal decisions – on sentencing and parole, for example – concerning high-risk, high-need individuals. Decisions based on faulty assumptions about risk for violence and amenability to treatment can have adverse consequences for both offenders and the public, she notes.

“Research on psychopathy has evolved to a level that it can greatly improve on the current one-size-fits-all policy approach,” Skeem says.

Provided by University of California, Irvine

"Psychopaths not all psychos." June 19th, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-psychopaths-psychos.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

Eight cool destinations to beat the summer heat

The monsoon may have cooled the southern states but northern India is still reeling under the heat wave. Most conversations still start with weather reports. The hot topic: Where are you headed while there’s still a bit of summer to weather? The mountains, where else? From the cool springtime of the Himalayas to the moist, temperate Western Ghats, here is our list of the coolest destinations. Text and photos: LAKSHMI SHARATH

8. MUNNAR

Located at the confluence of the three rivers on the Western Ghats in Kerala is Munnar. Wrapped in a fabric of tea plantations, Munnar is a biodiversity hot spot surrounded by wildlife sanctuaries, although its habitat is now fragmented. If you are a wildlife enthusiast or a birder or just a pantheist, Munnar is the place for you.

7. COORG

They don’t call it the Scotland of the East for nothing. The fabric of green is only interrupted by waterfalls, rivers and streams. The mist comes calling – be it at Talacauvery where the River Cauvery has its origins or at Raja’s Seat in Madikeri, which offers some spectacular views. The Western Ghats are covered with forests, while coffee and spice plantations fill their slopes. If you haven’t been to Coorg, then you surely have no idea what bliss is.

6. KODAIKANAL

Call it the Gift of the Forests or the Princess of the Hill Stations, Kodaikanal is nestled high up in the Western Ghats. Dense shola forests, grasslands, tall eucalyptus groves – Kodaikanal is drenched in fog and mist most of the time. Caves, hidden waterfalls, lakes tucked away inside lush forests – Kodaikanal is indeed nature’s own destination.

5. SIKKIM

Imagine sitting outside your little homestay , sipping chai and losing yourself in a misty sky and then all of a sudden, the mist parts ways just to give you that little glimpse , for a few seconds of the mighty Kanchenjunga. That is Sikkim for you. You will be walking up a knoll and suddenly you see an old monastery. I prefer Pelling to Gangtok as it is quieter and offers better views of the mountain. And while you are there, visit Yuksom, the old capital of the state. Tsango Lake and Nathu La can be visited from Gangtok but if you want to visit Gurudogmor Lake, give yourself a few more days to travel up north.

4. MASHOBRA 

Barely a few kilometres away from Shimla, Mashobra is an escape from the touristy capital. Wake up to a Himalayan sunrise, do a bit of birding, admire the contours of the mountains, drive up to Chail to see the palace or just lose yourself in the verdant forests around – Mashobra is an ideal getaway to beat the heat.

3. NAINITAL

It may be crowded and filled with loud tourists but my vote goes for Nainital. The Himalayas circle you and, on a clear day, you can see the peaks of Nanda Devi and Trishul if you take the cable car up to the Snow View. The colonial atmosphere takes you to the days of the Raj, but Nainital also has its bit of mythical influences. Be it the grace of the Goddess Naini Devi who gives the town its name or the eye-shaped lake, Nainital is both mystical and magical.

2. DIRANG

An obscure little hill station, Dirang is located in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh in northeast India. Quiet and sleepy, the town is my favourite stopover en route to Tawang. Walk around and you will find houses huddled along the banks of a small stream. You could drive up to see ancient monasteries or visit the ruins of the 17th century fort.

1. LADAKH
I cannot think of any place on earth that can be more breathtaking, challenging and fascinating than Ladakh. There is beauty in its barrenness. The colours are stark. The Indus River beckons you, curving along the path, taking you to lands forgotten. Clothed in snow, the mountains encircle you as you climb the steps to monasteries perched precariously on cliffs. Watch the lakes change colour every minute as you drive through the land of high passes, and feel humbled in the barren landscape. My favourite is Pangong Tso, although Tso Moriri comes a close second. If you are up to it, cycle or hike up to Khardung La or lose yourself in the colours of the Nubra Valley.

Front-most part of the cortex involved in making short-term predictions about what will happen next

The image shows the overlap of lesions for eight subjects superimposed on a template brain -- red indicates maximum overlap (seven subjects) and dark blue is minimum overlap (one subject). The patient group was selected for lesions that include frontopolar cortex, but the lesions almost invariably extended outside to other parts of anterior prefrontal cortex. Credit: Christopher Kovach, University of Iowa

Researchers at the University of Iowa, together with colleagues from the California Institute of Technology and New York University, have discovered how a part of the brain helps predict future events from past experiences. The work sheds light on the function of the front-most part of the frontal lobe, known as the frontopolar cortex, an area of the cortex uniquely well developed in humans in comparison with apes and other primates.

Making the best possible decisions in a changing and unpredictable environment is an enormous challenge. Not only does it require learning from past experience, but it also demands anticipating what might happen under previously unencountered circumstances. Past research from the UI Department of Neurology was among the first to show that damage to certain parts of the frontal lobe can cause severe deficits in decision making in rapidly changing environments. The new study from the same department on a rare group of patients with damage to the very frontal part of their brains reveals a critical aspect of how this area contributes to decision making. The findings were published June 19 in the Journal of Neuroscience.

"We gave the patients four slot machines from which to pick in order to win money. Unbeknownst to the patients, the probability of getting money from a particular slot machine gradually and unpredictably changed during the experiment. Finding the strategy that pays the most in the long run is a surprisingly difficult problem to solve, and one we hypothesized would require the frontopolar cortex," explains Christopher Kovach, Ph.D., a UI post-doctoral fellow in neurosurgery and first author of the study.

Contrary to the authors' initial expectation, the patients actually did quite well on the task, winning as much money, on average, as healthy control participants.

"But when we compared their behavior to that of subjects with intact frontal lobe, we found they used a different set of assumptions about how the payoffs changed over time," Kovach says. "Both groups based their decisions on how much they had recently won from each slot machine, but healthy comparison subjects pursued a more elaborate strategy, which involved predicting the direction that payoffs were moving based on recent trends. This points towards a specific role for the frontopolar cortex in extrapolating recent trends."

Kovach's colleague and study author Ralph Adolphs, Ph.D., professor of neuroscience and psychology at the California Institute of Technology, adds that the study results "argue that the frontopolar cortex helps us to make short-term predictions about what will happen next, a strategy particularly useful in environments that change rapidly -- such as the stock market or most social settings."

Adolphs also hold an adjunct appointment in the UI Department of Neurology.

The study's innovative approach to understanding the function of this part of the brain uses model-based analyses of behavior of patients with specific and precisely characterized areas of brain damage. These patients are members of the UI's world-renowned Iowa Neurological Patient Registry, which was established in 1982 and has more than 500 active members with selective forms of damage, or lesions, to one or two defined regions in the brain.

"The University of Iowa is one of the few places in the world where you could carry out this kind of study, since it requires carefully assessed patients with damage to specific parts of their brain," says study author Daniel Tranel, Ph.D., UI professor of neurology and psychology and director of the UI Division of Behavioral Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience.

In a final twist to the finding, the strategy taken by lesion patients was actually slightly better than the one used by comparison subjects. It happened that the task was designed so that the trends in the payoffs were, in fact, random and uninformative.

"The healthy comparison subjects seemed to perceive trends in what was just random noise," Kovach says.

This implies that the functions of the frontopolar cortex, which support more complex and detailed models of the environment, at times come with a downside: setting up mistaken assumptions.

"To the best of my knowledge this is the first study which links a normal tendency to see a nonexistent pattern in random noise, a type of cognitive bias, to a particular brain region," Kovach notes.

The researchers next want to investigate other parts of the frontal cortex in the brain, and have also begun to record activity directly from the brains of neurosurgical patients to see how single cells respond while making decisions. The work is also important to understand difficulties in decision making seen in disorders such as addiction.

More information: "Anterior prefrontal cortex contributes to action selection through tracking of recent reward trends," Journal of Neuroscience.

Provided by University of Iowa

"Front-most part of the cortex involved in making short-term predictions about what will happen next." June 19th, 2012.http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-front-most-cortex-involved-short-term.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek