Press Sense! (1)

[Sharjeel]

lol! Good ones, HH sir!

[HH]

Press Sense - 9 / 12 : TRS `Prajagarjana' at Parade Grounds

TRS `Prajagarjana' at Parade Grounds
HYDERABAD, DEC. 8. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) is making all out efforts to make its Parade Grounds rally here on Saturday -- Telangana Prajagarjana -- billed as a `historic event,' a huge success.

It has invited representatives of about 15 parties, which are votaries of Telangana, to address the meeting to coincide with the foundation laying ceremony for the new premises of TRS, Telangana Bhavan.

`Last Meeting'


Mr. Rao said this could well be the last public meeting of the TRS in the unified State. The next meeting would only be to mark the victory of the TRS in achieving statehood for Telangana, most likely early next year.

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Visit:

http://www.hindu.com/2004/12/09/stories ... 410300.htm

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[HH]

Press Sense - 11 / 12 : Uproar Over `Offensive Remarks' : Congress MLAs Train Guns on KCR, Narendra

Uproar Over `Offensive Remarks' : Congress MLAs Train Guns on KCR, Narendra

HYDERABAD, DEC. 10. A group of Congress MLAs from Coastal and Rayalaseema regions led by Gade Venkat Reddy on Friday demanded that the two Union Ministers -- K. Chandrasekhara Rao and A. Narendra of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi -- quit for their comments against the Congress leadership at the Centre and in the State.

# Addressing a press conference in the Assembly lobbies, they said : "Being allies of the Congress, the TRS leaders should restrain themselves. If they cannot they should walk out of the alliance."
# Apart from the TRS leaders' comments and "threats" against the Congress leadership, the legislators were peeved that Mr. Narendra had spoken of seeking support from the BJP on the issue of statehood in Parliament. "How can he talk like this being in the Congress-led Government?" they asked.
# Mr. Venkat Reddy said the Union Ministers had made it a habit to confuse people of the State on Telangana and criticise the Congress leadership and the Chief Minister. In the latest instance, while Mr. Chandrasekhara Rao spoke of not hesitating to resorting to violence for demanding Telangana, Mr. Narendra raised questions over the Government efforts to build irrigation projects.
# They clarified that their demand for resignation was confined to the Union Ministers and not the State Ministers as "they are much more restrained." They hoped that the sub-committee announced by the UPA Government would take the opinion of legislators and leaders from all regions in the State. They said formation of separate Telangana was not a solution. Backwardness of a region could be removed within the integrated State. If the demand is to be considered, it should only be through the Second State Reorganisation Commission, as decided by the Congress Working Committee.

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Visit:

http://www.hindu.com/2004/12/11/stories ... 130400.htm

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[akhilis2cool]

Corruption Expirienced First Hand

[HH]

Corruption Expirienced First Hand

Mankind Has Evolved to the Point That World Peace is Possible



New Year's Message of Peace from the South Pole:
All over the world ... all the way to the south pole .... people are calling for peace not war.
The attached photo is from just after midnight January 1, 2003.
Location: Geographical South Pole.
- Wednesday, January 1, 2003 *****
Visit: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0101-07.htm

What May Be The Message For The NEW YEAR 2004 ?!

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[HH]

Hard Nut to Crack

Despite all efforts, the police fail to get any clue in the murder of a woman ...

ON RECEIPT of information that foul smell was emanating from a house on the Musheerabad Telephone Exchange bylane, the Chikkadpally police rushed to the spot only to find the main gate locked.

Bewildered, the police brought a ladder, put it across an open window on the first floor and went up. A bloated body of an old woman was found lying on the floor in a room the doors of which were bolted from outside. She was Shantabai, 73, owner of the house.

One end of the sari was found tied around her neck suggesting that she was strangled to death. Relatives told the police that a gold chain worn by the victim was stolen. A case of murder for gain was registered. Though the body was found on June 3, 2003, sleuths suspected that she could have been killed two or three days earlier.

No Evidence


Shantabai was living alone in the house. Her two sons got separated from her and were living in some other locality. Though there were 10 single-room portions in the house, none was occupied. Incidentally, Shantabai never used to mingle with her neighbours.

No material evidence was available at the scene of offence. Finger or footprints were also not found. Though dog squad was pressed into service, it could not lead anywhere.

Shantabai used to live on the ground floor. It was not known as to why she went up the first floor.

While stolen gold chain indicated involvement of property offenders, the police were baffled by the fact that her portion on the ground floor was intact. Locked gate was another mysterious aspect.

Probe in All Angles


The police tried to probe if any of the earlier tenants was connected to the case. But, there was no data or information about the tenants who earlier lived in the house.

Initially, the needle of suspicion pointed to the victim's relatives who would become legal heirs of the property in the event of her death. Despite questioning all the kin of the victim, no lead could be stumbled upon.

The angle of rag pickers or petty offenders killing the old woman was also thoroughly inquired. But, this effort too did not yield any result. After investigating all possible angles, detectives kept their fingers crossed.
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Visit: http://www.hindu.com/2004/12/18/stories ... 040300.htm

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Submitted to Our Own Ace FH "Nut-Crackers" ... For Review / Reaction

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[HH]

e-Waste Threat To India

Thousands of Tonnes of e-Waste Being Dumped into India: Report
Dec 19, 2004

New Delhi, Dec 19 (PTI) After metal scrap, it is now the turn of e-waste to hit the Indian shores. A British Environment Agency (BEA) report reveals that about 23,000 tonnes of e-waste is finding its way to non-OECD countries in the far east, the Indian sub-continent, West Africa and China, without the right authorisation.
BEA has thus announced that it is stepping up activity to identify illegal exports and warned recycling companies not to export tonnes of e-waste every year to Asian countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and China, according to Kishore K Wankhade, Senior Programme Officer, Toxics Link, an NGO.
The report was compiled on behalf of BEA by the Industry Council for Electronic Equipment Recycling (ICER).

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Visit:

http://www.ptinews.com/pti/ptisite.nsf/ ... 6F00212AAB

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[HH]

Impressing the Science out of Children

Impressing the Science out of Children

* This is from The Future Does Not Compute: Transcending the Machines in Our Midst, by Stephen L. Talbott. Copyright 1995 O'Reilly & Associates. ... For information about the author's online newsletter, NETFUTURE: Technology and Human Responsibility, see http://www.netfuture.org/.

The Science and Engineering Television Network (SETN) would like to help science teachers. In a draft Internet announcement, /1/ SETN's president, Gary Welz, talks about the moving pictures that scientists and engineers create, ranging from "dazzling supercomputer animations produced by mathematicians and physicists to the video images of living cells shot by biologists through powerful microscopes." Teachers lack access to this "exciting visual material" -- which he thinks a shame, for "it is precisely the stuff that could stimulate a greater interest in mathematics and science." His proposed solution? Employ the Internet's video capabilities.

The assumption here is dead wrong. Video images, of course, will have their worthwhile uses. But high-tech dazzle is not what stimulates interest in math and science. Such a notion nevertheless seems implicit in much of the push for online science lessons today. Unless nature comes packaged with cinematic drama and slick technology -- unless we find some way to capture the most remote and astounding phenomena (so our fears seem to run) -- we'll lose the kids.

Yes, supercomputer animations of subatomic transactions and video images of strange, unseen interiors possess a certain wow factor. But they do not foster in the child either an understanding of the world or a more eager pursuit of scientific discipline. One doubts, in fact, whether these productions are received in any different spirit than Saturday morning cartoons and Hollywood's special effects. What they are likely to do is create a demand for the next advance in our ability to deliver a high-impact image. Most of us probably need only refer back to our own experience in order to satisfy ourselves that television nature programs -- presumably much more impressive than the city park or the woods out back -- offer no particular encouragement for children to become naturalists.

The fact is that efforts to impress children into science are more likely to do the opposite. The crucial requirement is not that the child receive maximal impact from some display, but rather that he actively discover within himself a connection to the phenomena he is observing. In this connection --arising from a properly engaged imagination and not from a surfeit of stimulation -- are to be found both the need to understand and the terms of understanding. But the supercomputer animations and strange videos visited upon him by technology preempt the imagination and operate at an abstract remove from the child. Just as he may have few grounds for distinguishing the evening news from the ensuing movie -- and therefore little cause for personally engaging the issues over which the reporters seem so distantly exercised -- so, too, he may find himself quite unrelated (other than incidentally and passively, via the jolt level) to images presented in the name of science.

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Visit:

http://www.praxagora.com/stevet/fdnc/ch13.html

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[HH]

P. V. Narasimha Rao, India's Former Prime Minister, No More

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh lays petals on the garlanded body of P. V. Narasimha Rao, India's former prime minister, in New Delhi December 23, 2004. Rao, who initiated free-market reforms but ended his political career facing criminal charges, died of heart failure on Thursday

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Visit:

http://photos.reuters.com/Pictures/default.aspx

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[Arti]

One of the very few threads that has info more than entertainment. Keep the sense pressing on, HH. Keep us informed.

I agree

[HH]

One of the very few threads that has info more than entertainment. Keep the sense pressing on, HH. Keep us informed.

I agree

Thank You, "vulcan" and "Arti"! ... For Your Appreciation of this Exercise in "exPRESSion".

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[Arti]

One of the very few threads that has info more than entertainment. Keep the sense pressing on, HH. Keep us informed.

I agree

Thank You, "vulcan" and "Arti"! ... For Your Appreciation of this Exercise in "exPRESSion".
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Any time!

[HH]

Press Sense - 25 / 12 : Mourners Gather in Hyderabad to Pay Tribute to Son of the Soil

Mourners Gather in Hyderabad to Pay Tribute to Son of the Soil

Hyderabad, Dec 25. (PTI):Thousands of mourners today paid their last respects to former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, who rose from a humble background to become the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and later took over the reins of the country at a crucial time in 1991.

A large number of party leaders, workers and people from all walks of life arriving since early this morning at the Jubilee Hall where the late Congress leader's body lay in state.

Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, Director General of Police S R Sukumara, Andhra Pradesh High Court Chief Justice Devender Gupta were among those who paid homage to Rao, who died in Delhi on Thursday following a cardiac arrest.

The funeral procession will begin at around 11.30 am from the Jubilee Hall, official sources said.

The mortal remains of 83-year-old Rao, wrapped in the tricolour, were brought here from New Delhi yesterday.

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Visit:

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/00 ... 251101.htm

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[HH]

Press Sense - 29 / 12 : Tsunami Hits Asia : 30 Minutes of Terror Caught Live on Home Video

Tsunami Hits Asia : 30 Minutes of Terror Caught Live on Home Video

Wednesday, 29 December , 2004, 15:37

Jakarta: The sun shone and birds sang in the Indonesian city of Banda Aceh moments before a giant earthquake struck. Ten minutes later, a one-storey high torrent of seawater carried away pulverised homes.

# In a horrifying home video shot by one family trapped in the direct path of Sunday's disaster, the 30 minutes that led to the destruction of an entire coastline were captured as the camera kept rolling throughout their ordeal.

The family of Sayed Husainy, a government spokesman in Aceh province on Sumatra island, the land mass closest the epicentre of the magnitude 9.0 earthquake, had been video-graphing each other for a family celebration.

Their smiles turned to confusion as the garden and houses around them began shaking uncontrollably - then came the water.
The family retreated into their lavish home as the first waves came racing in shore.

Within seconds they dashed to the first storey to avoid the rapids that smashed through doors and windows and rose treacherously behind them.

From the balcony, their camera captured the smashed remains of other fragile houses borne by the foaming ocean, while only the red-tiled roofs of low-rise building poked above the water line.

In the background, women from Husainy's family who were earlier pictured in traditional Islamic headscarves can be heard weeping and praying over and over again for God's mercy.

More than 32,000 people were killed by the tidal wave and quake in Indonesia, almost half of that total lived in Banda Aceh.

Inside Husainy's house, the only loss was expensive furniture, which was smashed to pieces in the swirling water as a glittering chandelier swayed overhead.

Up to 10 minutes after the first tsunami, the camera showed huge tidal waves continuing to crash into the palm trees that once marked the shoreline.

As the video reaches its end, almost half an hour after the chaos began, the sun still shone in the blue sky.

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Visit:

http://sify.com/news/othernews/fullstor ... d=13639048

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[HH]

Press Sense - 31 / 12 : TSUNAMI PREDICTED, NOT HEEDED

TSUNAMI PREDICTED, NOT HEEDED
29.12.2004. 15:24:32



Scientists at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Honolulu had forecast Sunday's massive tsunami within 15 minutes of the Indonesian earthquake, but did not know who to pass the information to.

A tsunami warning that could have saved thousands of lives was issued, but not acted upon, more than an hour before giant waves hit Sri Lanka and southern India, according to reports.

"We don't have contacts in our address book for anybody in that part of the world," said National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration director Charles McCreery.

In Sri Lanka, which suffered the biggest loss of life in the tsunami, crowds had come to the beaches to watch the sea after word spread that it was producing larger-than-normal waves.

Thousands of children joined their elders to see the spectacle. People collected fish brought in by the waves, just before being hit by the six-metre tidal waves.

None of the countries most severely affected had a tsunami warning mechanism or tidal gauges to alert people to the wall of water that followed a massive earthquake, said Waverly Person of the USGS National Earthquake Information Centre.

"Most of those people could have been saved if they had had a tsunami warning system in place or tide gauges."

Tsunami warning systems and tide gauges exist around the Pacific Ocean, for the Pacific Rim as well as South America.

Mr Person said because large tsunamis, or seismic sea waves, are extremely rare in the Indian Ocean, people were never taught to flee inland after they felt the tremors of an earthquake.

Since a tsunami is generated at the source of an underwater earthquake, there is usually time, from 20 minutes to two hours, to get people away as it builds in the ocean.

"People along the Japanese coasts, along the coasts of California, are taught to move away from the coasts. But a lot of these people in the area where this occurred, they probably had no kind of lessons or any knowledge of tsunamis because they are so rare."

The 9.0-magnitude underwater quake, one of the most powerful in history, off the Indonesian island of Sumatra devastated southern Asia and triggered waves of up to 10 metres high.

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Visit:

http://www9.sbs.com.au/theworldnews/reg ... 5&region=4

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[HH]

Press Sense - 1 / 1 / 05 : Only a Memory of the Town Remains

Only a Memory of the Town Remains

Leupueng, Sumatra, Jan. 1. (GUARDIAN NEWS SERVICE) : It is not easy to obliterate an entire town. Something should always be left standing, a mosque, a concrete shed or a toughly-built storeroom which the survivors can shelter beneath and make a nucleus around which to rebuild.

But Leupueng has been obliterated. Of this town of 10,000 people, nothing vertical and square-edged is left. From one end to another, Leupueng and most of its inhabitants have vanished as if they never were.

Yesterday, the London-based Guardian newspaper was the first news organisation to witness on the ground the aftermath of the town's erasure from the surface of the earth.

Its faint remaining imprint could only be reached by boat and a three-hour trek on foot over streams, through debris and mud, and along the remnants of the coast road which used to run south from Banda Aceh to Meulaboh, in north-west Sumatra.

Hard as it is now to believe that a week ago there was a town called Leupueng, the enormity of what happened here can only be grasped by understanding that it is just the nearest razed town to Banda Aceh. More than two dozen similar small towns are strung out along the coast to Meulaboh and beyond, packed hard between the seashore and the rock walls of steep forested hills and defenceless against the tsunami. If they have all suffered Leupueng's fate, and those who have flown over the region suggest they have, the death toll in Indonesia alone could easily surpass 150,000.

For Leupueng, the question of emergency aid is irrelevant. How can you send aid to a town which has ceased to exist?

...

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Visit:

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/00 ... 011001.htm

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[HH]

Press Sense - 5 / 1 / 05 : Five Cricket Heroes ...

Five Cricket Heroes ...

# Sixteen years before Narasimha Rao became Prime Minister, a South Indian had already led the country : In the summer of 1975, Srinivas Venkatraghavan was appointed cricket captain of India.

# No Bengali has yet become Prime Minister, but Saurav Ganguly is the most successful cricket captain India has had.

# As a batsman, Rahul Dravid is out of the top drawer. The 148 he scored in the Headlingley Test of 2002 was perhaps the best innings ever played by an Indian. On a wicked and seaming track he knew which balls to play and which to leave alone. In a nine-hour vigil at the crease he was beaten less than half-a-dozen times.

# As bowlers, both Kumble and Srinath defy conventional stereotypes. ... Kumble rarely turns the ball more than two inches. ... Srinath is a South Indian, rice-eating vegetarian — and withal, a world-class fast bowler.

# Sachin Tendulkar is the Mahatma Gandhi of Indian cricket ...

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Visit:

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mag/2003/ ... 120300.htm

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[HH]

Press Sense - 8 / 1 / 05 : Attention Diversion Cases On The Rise

Attention Diversion Cases On The Rise

Hyderabad:
CASES OF theft of cash and jewellery by diverting the attention of people are alarmingly on the rise in the city.

There are different types of attention diversion cases. In some cases, offenders come knocking at the door posing themselves as ornament polishers. To prove their skill, they polish a gold chain or two, putting them in a bowl of hot water. Later, they take it all away, distracting the attention of inmates, mostly lonely housewives.

In other cases, a couple of men approach lonely women walking on the road. Claiming themselves as policemen, they scare women saying a major offence is committed in the area and warn against wearing jewellery. They persuade them to remove their ornaments and take away the property by diverting the victim's attention.

No Evidence


Of late, offenders, adopting the second type of modus operandi, are striking frequently in different parts of the city. Incidentally, not a single offence has so far been detected.

On January 5, two old women -- Meenakshi, 66, and Lakshmi Punyavati -- were relieved of their jewellery in a similar fashion at Karkhana and Gandhinagar respectively.

The Abids police arrested a gang which used to cheat children adopting this trick in 2002. There is absolutely no material evidence that the police can rely on in these cases. All that the sleuths could do was to show the photographs of a Tamil Nadu-based gang of offenders that was accused of cheating people in a similar fashion. As none of the victims recognised them, their complicity was ruled out.

Who are these offenders and where are they from? As cases are reported in different localities, detectives of police stations concerned are probing them separately. "Unless co-ordinated effort is made, nabbing these criminals will not be possible. How will sleuths know if same persons cheated Ms. Meenkshi and Ms. Punyavati if the police probe the cases separately?" remarks a police officer.

Except the details of the Tamil Nadu gang, the city police do not have records of others using similar modus operandi. Attempts to make portrait parleys of the offenders did not succeed, as most of the victims could not give clear description of the accused. Policemen believe that some `first-time offenders' hailing from the city could be behind these cases.

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Visit:

http://www.hindu.com/2005/01/08/stories ... 830300.htm

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[HH]

Press Non-Sense - 12 / 1 / 05 : Suna Mia ... T Sunami ...

Suna Mia ... T Sunami ...

"Excerpt from Colombo Times":
Disclaimer : I don't know for sure if this one is for real. But I'd be
damned if it was for real. I got this from a person who said this
appeared in the Colombo Times.

On 26th Dec '04 early morning, several hours before the catastrophe
happened, Honolulu Tsunami Monitoring Center had tried calling the Sri
Lankan Meteorological Department Monitoring Centers in Palekelle and
Colombo but failed. They got in touch with Presidents' office. However
it was informed that she was out of the island on a private vacation.

Finally they called the Prime Minister's secretariat, but he was out
on his morning walk. Thinking at least it's best to keep him vigilant
on this, the Honolulu officials left the message with the person who
picked up the phone to inform the Prime Minister that there's a
Tsunami coming from Indonesia.

On Prime Minister's return, the operator told him about the call, said
"T Sunami" from Indonesia is arriving in 2 hrs. Prime minister promptly
took action to send a delegation to Katunayake Airport with a name
board 'Welcome Mr. T. Sunami - Indonesia.'

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[HH]

Press Sense - 13 / 1 / 05 : Havoc in Chennai (26/12/2004)

Havoc in Chennai (26/12/2004)


Surging Back : Sea water surges back after a wave flooded Chennai and killed many early on 26 Dec 2004

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Visit:

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/gallery/0281/028108.htm

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[HH]

Coastal 'Green Belts' Seen as Tsunami Life Savers

Coastal 'Green Belts' Seen as Tsunami Life Savers



India's worst tsunami-hit state, Tamil Nadu, says it has started planting trees along the coastline to act as a barrier against future tidal waves

Tue Jan 4 : Science - Reuters
GENEVA (Reuters) - Barriers such as coastal mangrove forests and coral reefs saved lives by deflecting Asia's tsunami and governments should protect such natural bulwarks against the wrath of the sea, a leading environmental group said on Tuesday.

Friends of the Earth (news - web sites) said the natural barriers were the only long-term solution to shielding coastal populations.


"What we have seen in the tsunami crisis is that the areas that were protected naturally suffered less than those that were more exposed," Friends of the Earth Chairwoman Meena Raman said.


In many areas, mangrove forests and coral reefs that once acted as natural buffers have been replaced with hotels, shrimp farms, highways, housing and commercial developments.


But in India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, coastal "green belts" mitigated damage from the Dec. 26 tidal wave, which killed more than 150,000 in one of the worst natural disasters on record, the group said.


"The full fury and wrath of the tidal waves were felt in areas where nature's green belts of coral reefs and mangroves no longer exist or were never present in the first place," the Amsterdam-based organization said in a statement.


"It is only through having such natural defenses that coastal communities can be protected in the long run," it said.

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Visit:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... arriers_dc

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[HH]

Press Sense - 15 / 1 / 05 : Kanchi Mutt Seeks PM's Intervention

Kanchi Mutt Seeks PM's Intervention

Saturday January 15 2005
PTI

NEW DELHI: The Kanchi mutt has sent an SOS to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking his immediate intervention to prevent the "disruption" of the special worship offered there for the past 2500 years, following the arrest of the junior seer Vijayendra Saraswati.

Recalling the mutt's fervent appeal to him on January 1, the mutt in its letter to Singh said, "our worst fears have now materialised and with the unseemly arrest of Sri Vijayendra Saraswathy Swamiji, there has unfortunately been a disruption to the powerful worship offered to Lord Chandra Mouliswar uninterruptedly for the last 2500 years".

The mutt said Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's letter to Singh dismissing apprehension that the puja traditions would be broken "is not based on facts".

"The pujas held by the appointed priest in the Mutt for Lord Vinayaka, Adi Shankara etc are entirely different from the puja that can be offered only by anointed Shankaracharya to Lord Chandramouliswarar and Maha Tripurasundari.

"When the acharyas travel, the Vigraham (sphatika lingam and Maha meru) of Lord Chandramouliswara is taken by the acharyas with them and pujas performed thrice every day". It said.

The letter signed by an unnamed manager, with copy marked to VHP supremo Ashok Singhal, said, "We shall be deeply beholdened to you for your immediate intervention in this matter".


...

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Visit:

http://www.newindpress.com/newsItems.as ... &rLink=337

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[HH]

Press Sense - 17 / 1 / 05 : Sunny Days Ahead ...

***** Sunny Days Ahead ...

January 17, 2005

PERFECT weather is forecast for the start of the Australian Open.

"There may be an early shower, but it should be well before the matches start and we're looking at a top temperature of 24 or 25 degrees," senior forecaster Ward Rooney said.

"The wind will be mild west to southwesterly, which will get brisker in the afternoon.

"Really, you couldn't get a much better day for tennis in Melbourne in January."

The bureau expects 29C tomorrow and 35C on Wednesday with the trend fine and warm through to Saturday.

***** Sunny Days Ahead ... There ... Down-Under ... TsunAMI Days ... Are Over Here !?! ... More Sunny Days Here, Too ...



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Visit:

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_pag ... 62,00.html

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[HH]

Press Sense - 18 / 1 / 05 : Saturn Sight ...

Thursday, January 13, 2005

Saturn Quite a Sight in Winter

The American spacecraft Cassini has been orbiting Saturn since July, sending back close-up images of the planet's amazing rings. The unmanned Cassini will release a probe into atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's largest moon.

Saturn is back! The ringed planet has returned to the eastern skies this winter.

Saturn is a gas giant planet 75,000 miles in diameter and 800 million miles from Earth. At least 35 moons orbit Saturn, 17 of which were discovered in the last decade.

But the most breathtaking features of Saturn are its rings. Although they appear smooth, Saturn's rings are actually composed of millions of separate particles ranging in size from microscopic to 1 mile across. These moonlets each orbit the planet and reflect the light of the Sun as if one solid mass.

An unmanned spacecraft named Cassini reached Saturn on July 1 and is now orbiting the planet like a satellite, sending back some amazing pictures.

Today, Cassini will drop off a probe that has been hitching a ride since leaving Earth. The Huygens Probe will descend into the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's largest and most mysterious moon. Check out saturn.jpl. nasa.gov/home/index.cfm for the latest information, for images of Saturn's Amazing Rings.

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Visit:

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ ... /501140317

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[HH]

Press Sense - 20 / 1 / 05 : The Exotic Tribal World ...

Thursday January 20 2005 HYDERABAD:
The Exotic Tribal World ...
Want to know more about the exotic yet inaccessible tribes and their culture? No need to venture into the thick of the jungles.

Just step into a museum in the heart of the city and get up close and personal with the tribal world.

The Nehru Centenary Tribal Museum near Masabtank, Hyderabad, established by Tribal Cultural Research and Training Institute (TCRTI), Tribal Welfare Department, captures the essence of tribal culture in its pristine state.

From tribal huts, agriculture implements, hunting weapons, musical instruments and exquisite ornaments to wax models of tribal panchayats in progress, weekly shandies and colourful masks, the museum offers it all, giving urbanites a peek into tribal lifestyles.

Established at a cost of Rs. 1 crore, the museum focuses on seven tribes - the Savara, Chenchu, Porja (primitive tribal groups), Lamabada, Koya, Bagata and Yanadi.

One of the museum's most fascintating displays is the models of houses of different tribal groups. The most common are rectangular or square with one or two rooms. The walls are made of mud or mud with wattle, while the roofs are thatched with dry grass or palmyra leaves.

The weaponry is also unique: bows and arrows, spears, traps and snares are all on display.Then there are tribals musical instruments including the tammor, kiridi, sonnai, kinnera, kangri, vette, kalikom and dappu. The exquisite ornaments worn by tribals are a feast for the eyes, especially Lambada ornaments made of silver, brass, aluminum and even gold. Some tribal groups like the Nakipod, Savara and Gond wear wooden masks depicting Pandava characters.

"It took almost two years to build the tribal huts and to collect the various instruments and ornaments. All the material was brought from the tribal areas across the state,'' says TCRTI research assistant K.Chandra Raju.

As many as 50 tribals belonging to various groups were roped in. The TCRTI also collected material belonging to another 26 tribal groups but has not put them on display as yet. It may take another two years to exhibit the entire collection, says an official.

Various items such as bamboo craft, wax and terracota items made by tribal groups are also being sold to promote tribal culture.

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Visit:

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.as ... sh&Topic=0

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