Astrology stands today as a belief system; it is not scientific..

astrological charts is a set of rules about
how to decipher the locations of planets,
the sun, and the moon in the sky at the time
of important events. The astrologer will
undertake hours of complex mathematics to
derive a detailed horoscope. This
framework, however, is flawed. There is no
discernible influence of celestial bodies on
humans. Therefore, all the complicated
number crunching in the world makes no
difference because the conclusion is
nonsense. Garbage in: Garbage out.
Proponents have no plausible explanation
for how astrology might work. Various
natural mechanisms have been proposed,
but physically measurable forces fail
because astronomers can demonstrate that
they are too small to be significant.
Therefore, astrologers must resort to some
unknown entity. Whenever you have to
resort to “insert supernatural here,” your
concept is no longer a scientifically testable
hypothesis…
There is a distinct tone of “sciencey-ness”
to astrology. Practitioners will call it
“scientific” based on the methodological,
careful and systematic use of calculations
and real astronomical position data. (Never
mind the various natural laws these
calculations utterly disregard.) They
consider “research” to mean consulting
tables and the rules.
Astrology is an unworkable, failed theory.
Its predictions are so imprecise that they
are difficult to test. Astrologers have not
provided an acceptable, natural basis of
why humans should be so influenced by
celestial conditions at a particular time. The
astrological paradigm has failed to
contribute any knowledge to the social
sciences. Imagine how USEFUL such a
theory could be, and yet…it isn’t at all.
Except to those who benefit from the feeling
of a semblance of control over their affairs.
At no time would a scientist say that a
cause simply did not matter so long as he
believed it to be true. This is what
astrologers have done—exhibiting a clear
indication that astrology stands today as a
belief system; it is not scientific, it is a
pseudoscience.

Fire eating..

Fire-eating
You don’t really “eat” fire, but you can
put a flame in your mouth without getting
burned. You need a torch built as
described above and some kerosene.
Immerse the torch in kerosene and then
light it. Again, let the excess kerosene
drip off before you attempt your
demonstration. Tilt your head backward,
open your mouth and slightly breath out:
never breath in! Put the torch in your
mouth, without rushing but also without
hesitation: instantly close your mouth.
You won’t feel any pain and the torch will
extinguish itself: this happens because
without oxygen the flame can’t stay alive.
Be careful only to use kerosene, never use
alcohol, gasoline, or any kind of solvent:
their flames are too hot and can easily
burn you.

Trust in absolutely nothing..

The fact is there is nothing that you can
trust; and that is a terrible fact, whether
you like it or not. Psychologically there is
nothing in the world, that you can put
your faith, your trust, or your belief in.
Neither your gods, nor your science can
save you, can bring you psychological
certainty; and you have to accept that you
can trust in absolutely nothing.

Swamy Vivekananda's.. Life..

Vivekananda, who spread the message of
India's spiritual heritage across the world,
battled several health problems all along
and no less than 31 diseases and ailments.
'The Monk as Man' by renowned Bengali
writer Shankar lists insomnia, liver and
kidney diseases, malaria, migraine, diabetes
and heart ailments as some of the 31 health
problems that the Swami faced in the course
of his life.
Shankar describes Swami Vivekananda's
health problems using a sanskrit quote
'shariram byadhimandiram' --- the body is
the temple of diseases.
Ironically, Vivekananda used to emphasise
greatly on physical strength and is known
for the shocking statement 'Better to play
football than read the Gita'.
One of the perennial problems that
Vivekananda lived with was chronic
insomnia and in a letter to Shashi Bhushan
Ghosh dated May 29, 1897, he confided "I
never in my life could sleep as soon as I got
into bed."
The previous year, Vivekananda seemed to
have written to his 'dhira mata' (Sara Bull)
from New York complaining about his lack
of sleep. "My health has nearly broken
down. I have not slept even one night
soundly in New York since I came ... I wish I
could go to the bottom of the sea and have
a good, long sleep."
It is also known that Vivekananda used to
suffer from diabetes like his father and at
that time suitable drugs were unavailable.
Shankar writes that Vivekananda had tried
different modes of treatment ranging from
allopathic, homoeopathic to ayurvedic and
had also taken advice from all kinds of
quasi-medical experts from various
countries.
He narrates that in the summer of 1887,
Vivekananda (whose real name was
Narendranath Dutta) had fallen very ill due
to overstrain and lack of food.
During this period, he also suffered from
gallstones, and acute diarrhoea. Later,
during the same summer, he came down
with typhoid and problems in the urinary
tract.
"Narendranath's abdominal pains were a
source of great anxiety," Shankar says.
Shankar wonderfully chronicles the various
medical problems Swami Vivekananda faced
during his stint as a wandering monk in the
country and across the world, and why he
cut short his journey in Cairo, Egypt, to
return to India.
It was to French operatic soprano Rosa
Emma Calvet that Vivekandanda had
declared in Egypt that he would die on July
4.
"Swami Vivekananda's eyes filled with tears.
He said he wanted to return to his country to
die, to be with his gurubhais," Shankar
wrote.
The fateful evening of July 4, 1902,
Vivekananda passed away following a third
heart attack, completing 39 years, five
months and 24 days.

Snake brain is not developed..

Snake means death! It is amazing to find
foolish and utterly absurd misbeliefs like
this and many more about this misjudged
creature. Compelling folklores,stories,
myths and legends have us convinced.
Below are the some common beliefs
about snakes.
1. It is totally eroneous to believe that snake
bites can be cured by mantras,
mantriks,magic spells roots and herbs.Do
you know that in our country about
25,000 people die playing fools to such
beliefs? Anti-Venom is the only cure for
the snake bite! The other remedies are
useful to relieve fear and treat shock, but
should never be substituted for or
interfere with the anti-venom treatment.
Snake bites are cured only when timely
treatment is rendered to the patient.
Mantriks casting spells, using snake
stones to suck out the venom, Naagveli,
kinds of oil, ash etc. are all futile. The
snake stone is merely a benzoin or a gall
stone, and has no effecton the venomous
bite.
2. Snakes are revengeful. There is no
scientific basis to this. A snake's brain is
not developed to the extent of retaining
memory. It is said that if you kill a snake,
another (its mate) will follow you and
take revenge. That, of course is wrong,
but may have some basis in fact. When
you kill a snake it expels its musk from
the anal opening; it is very possible that a
nearby snake may show up to investigate
what the musk (a sex - attractant) is all
about.
3. Snakes guard wealth. This is a common
misbelief. Old crumbling houses, 'wadas'
are ideal for snakes as they find plenty of
hiding places together with rats and mice.
In the days of yore, people often buried
their wealth and it could be a possibility
that a snake and the hidden wealth were
unearthed together, giving this
impression.
4. Old snakes have hair on them. Hair does
not grow on snakes. Periodically snakes
cast of moult and if some moult remains,
it appears like hair. Sometimes some
snake charmers even stick hair onto the
snake's head.
5. 5. Snakes hypnotize. This is believed to be
so because snakes stare fixedly as they do
not have eyelids and cannot blink.
6. Snakes sway to the music of the flute . This
misbelief has been strengthened by our
ever popular but ludicrous Hindi films.
Even though it is now proven that they
can detect some airborne sounds, there is
no evidence that snakes can appreciate
music. Snakes are said to dance to music.
While playing the flute, the snake
charmer sways and the snake moves to
the swaying movement. It is the natural
instinct of the snake to keep a close track
of any moving object. In fact they
instinctively stay away from artificial
vibrations.The music of the snake-
charmers only serves to charm the
audience.
7. Cobras, particularly the king cobra, are
supposed to wear a 'nagmani' that makes
one a millionaire. The poor Irula tribal
snake-catcher has a good answer to the
legend of the jewel or light in the head of
the snake. When asked about this belief,
an Irula will reply, " if it was so we
would be rajas not snake-catchers."
8. Snakes suck milk from a cows udder by
coiling around its legs. This is not true.
Milk is not part of a snake's natural diet.
Where they would find it in nature, how
they would obtain it with no powers of
suction and with over hundred sharp
teeth in the way, and of what nutritional
value a few spoonfuls of milk would be to
a snake, are questions that should be
considered.
9. Sand boa bites cause leprosy. The blotches
on the skin of the sand boa have given
rise to this notion. Since this harmless
snake has a body pattern that vaguely
resembles that of patients suffering from
this dreaded disease, people are quick to
make this association. Actually, snakes
are clean and free of disease.
0. A green tree snake pierces a man's head
with its pointed head . The vine (common
green whip) snake is accused of poking
one's eyes out or `stinging' one on the
forehead. Actually, the pointed nose of
this harmless snake is soft and
rubbery.The vine snake can inflict a
painful(but harmless) bite on the finger
or even on the nose, but no one has ever
received an eye injury.
1. Snakes like the sweet pungent smell of the
kevada or the raat-ki-rani. This is an
unproven statement.
2. A small snake of Kashmir is supposedly so
deadly that it melts the snow it passes
through !
3. The tails of rat snakes, despite various
stories about them, are no more
dangerous then pieces of rope and so not
have stingers, do not suffocate cows, lash
down paddy and so on.
4. Bites by a snake with rings on its body,
does not give the victim's body a ringed
pattern.
5. In north western India, kraits are
supposed to suck a man's breath away as
he sleeps.This is perhaps the farmer-
labourer's explanation for the respiratory
paralysis that a severe krait-bite brings
on.
6. In Maharashtra, the little earth bound
saw scaled vipers are believed to jump
through the air for six feet or more. Six
inches would be more accurate.
7. Cobras are believed to mate with rat
snakes, but they in fact mate with only
their own species and generally keep
away from the larger and sometimes
cannibalistic rat snakes.
8. The red sand boa has an extremely blunt
tail; thus there are several popular stories
about `two headed snakes'. Just as it fools
the mongoose and other predators into
attacking its tail while the head seeks
escape, a large percentage of humans are
also fooled.
9. Pregnant women loose their eyesight if they
see a snake. This is not true.
0. Snakes hold their own tail in their mouth,
form a coil and chase people. Snakes use
their tails as whips.

SHIVARAJ .N