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blowfish, swellfish, or in Japanese, fugu – is one of the most mysterious creatures of the sea. It is perhaps the world’s most deadly fish, yet in Japan the honourable fugu is the epitome of gourmet dining.About 100 species of puffers in several closely related families can be found throughout the world. Their most obvious characteristic is their ability to balloon out from a reasonable fish shape into a sphere two or three times large. When frightened, excited, or annoyed, they gulp water, or even air, into a sac on the belly. It swells inside their tough, elastic skin, like an inner tube inside a tire, so as to discourage predators or intimidate rivals. When the fish feels safe, it squirts out the water or releases the air, deflating to its normal shape.
In Japan, eating fugu has been the gastronomic version of Russian roulette for centuries. Sometimes a diner
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“It’s a terrible death,” a Japanese restaurant owner told me. “Even though you can think very clearly, your arms and legs become numb. It becomes impossible to sit up.
You can think but cannot speak, cannot move, and soon cannot breathe.”
Why the Japanese, who venerate hygiene, should make a ritual of eating deadly poisonous fish, is difficult for foreigners to comprehend. fugu ovaries, intestine, and liver can be so deadly that if even a tiny touch of them is left in the flesh, the gourmet dies, often within minutes.
About 60percent of puffer poisonings prove fatal.
When eating fugu, the diner puts his life in the hands of the chef. Before practicing their risky art, all fugu cooks must be licensed and must take intensive courses, extensive apprenticeship, and written exams.
To eat fugu liver is the height of exotica. It is one of the most poisonous parts of the fish, and techniques for detoxifying it are not dependable. Chefs are prohibited from serving fugu liver, but they sometimes relent under the impassioned pleas of gourmets. Mitsugoro Bando had four servings and paid the ultimate price.
Despite the danger, demand for puffers is increasing so fast that the Japanese fishing grounds are being depleted. Today the Japanese are successfully culturing the fish.
Every year from October through March, millions of diners bet their lives on not getting fatally poisoned.
Thanks to strict regulation of restaurants and wholesalers, the number that loses decreases each year. But this droll and preposterous fish with the goggling eyes, swollen belly, and floppy fins remains the world’s most deadly feast. The enigma of the fugu is summed up in the traditional verse:
Those who eat fugu soap are stupid But who’s who don’t eat fugu soup are also stupid.
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first originated in England. It is extremely popular in the various areas that formed up the British Empire. There are several test teams that are particularly recognized in Cricket as a sport. These teams are England, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Australia, Bangladesh, and others.This game particularly got an eccentric nature and even the languages used to describe the different aspects of this game are also idiosyncratic in nature. The majority of terms that are used to describe the different aspects of cricket have their origin in Australia and England. In the present times, most of the playing nations and most of the cricketers have widely accepted these terms.
The game of cricket is generally played between the two competing teams and each of these teams has eleven members. There is a large expanse of grass on which this game is primarily concentrated on and this is termed as pitch. In most of the cases, the different cricket teams are comprised of players who have mixed abilities, that is, some of the members of the team
specialize in batting while others specialize in bowling.
There are only some occasional players who can excel in both types of skills.
Each of the teams also appoints a highly specialist player who acts as wicket-keeper. A length of grass that is present in the centre of the pitch is termed as
‘wicket’. At both the sides of the wicket, there are three sticks placed adjacent to each other and this placement is generally ensured in an upright position. This is termed as ‘stumps’. The three sticks are separated from each other by a small distance and this distance is generally not more than the diameter of a cricket ball.
There is a chalk outline in front of each set of the stumps. This is termed as ‘crease’. There are two umpires who are known in this game. The length of the different games is generally variable in terms of duration of time and also in terms of the number of balls that are bowled.
As a part of this game, one team will generally bat first and the other one will bowl first. The batsmen will team are declared ‘all out’. This target is then set for the bowling team and they need to surpass this target score in order to win the match. That is, the reversal of roles is now ensured. The batting team now starts bowling and the bowling team starts batting. The reversal of the roles will happen once or more depending upon the format of cricket being played.
In this game, it is possible to score runs in a number of ways that is by being able to run between the wickets after a shot or directly ensuring to score four runs or six runs for which there are specified rules. Similarly even the dismissals of the playing batsmen can also happen in a number of ways.
All in all cricket is a very interesting game and it is liked by millions of people in this world.
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Not every one of us is born leaders.
Well, not all of us are born to be rich and privileged as well. Although it would really take hard work to become rich, the good news is: we could all try to be good leaders! All it takes is just the right leadership strategy.
I rediscovered the book,” The Tao of Leadership:
Leadership Strategies for the New Age,” John Heider’s adaptation of Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching or How Things Work, over the weekend and I’m so glad that I did. It’s a
21 valuable resource for all of us professionals and I feel so
at odds with myself for totally missing it all these years!
There are 81 nuggets of wisdom in total that could guide us in becoming the kind of leader that we want to be.
As a leader, I would like to say that I conform to the following leadership strategies:
The wise leader is like water
“Consider water: water cleanses and refreshes all creatures without distinction and without judgment;
water freely and fearlessly goes deep beneath the surface of things; water is fluid and responsive; water follows the law freely.”
It’s true that sometimes all you have to do is look at the things around you and you’d be surprised at the valuable lessons that you can learn from it. Take the case of water. It’s not rigid; it’s free-flowing.
As a leader in my company, I believe that I am a simple and calm person. Just like water, I am fluid, flexible, and responsive. I don’t believe that you should push people into doing things for you but rather you should just be an instrument in making things happen.
Allow things to be revealed freely while giving your workers the opportunity to explore and express themselves. You only step in as a guide, probably make sure everything is on the right track, yet never imposing.
Your ultimate goal is harmony. A harmonious working relationship is a perfect relationship.
Don’t stir things up “Run the group delicately, as if you were cooking small fish.”
When was the last time you cooked fish, especially a small one? Due to its delicate nature, you try to hold it as gently as you can, carefully handling it so it will not break as you bring it to the pan, and you make sure you cook it just right.
When you are starting a company, your leadership strategy should be that of a good chef. You orchestrate everything - ingredients, tools and equipment, manner of cooking, the right time, and yes, even the right heat.
Allow everything to process naturally. Sauté. Let simmer. Allow all flavors to mix and blend well. And
wait. In the right time, you have cooked up just the perfect dish!
Low and open “ Why is the ocean the greatest body of water? Because it lies below all rivers and streams and is open to them all.”
A tried and tested leadership strategy likewise espoused by Lao Tzu is that a good leader should be a good follower. Much like a good cook, you facilitate the making of the dish but you know that the ultimate star would be the dish itself. Just like the ocean, a wise leader provides the bed to make its workers do its work even at the risk of getting unnoticed for facilitating it all.
But reward and acknowledgment should not be the priority of a good leader; it’s the success in knowing that a job well done was finally achieved.
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Passage 18 DAY 18
I am sure you must have heard about the great apothecary, Nostradamus and all his predictions (some of which have come true) and which he had predicted nearly 500 years back. You must have also heard about Nostradamus predictions 2012, about the third world war and the deaths and the massacres and finally the end of the world. Scared? Worried? Well, don’t be. Here are some more facts about his predictions and what he had predicted and what actually might happen.
Before going into the details about Nostradamus predictions about 2012, let us learn more about this great French apothecary. Michel de Nostredame was born in the early 16th century and do you know what was the date of his birth? 21st December! His Latinized name was more popular, Nostradamus. By profession, he was a medicine man, who was helping people to come out from the deadly plague, that had hit Europe in the 1550’s. But, he stopped practicing medicine and focused more on occult. He started writing an almanac in the year 1550 and slowly, because his first one was a huge success, he was encouraged to write more. Slowly, his fame spread far and wide and people came to him with their birth dates and times, for his advice and views on their future. Of course, he did make some calculation errors and sometimes he predicted the wrong things.
Nostradamus, later started working on nearly one thousand French quatrains. Some of Nostradamus predictions that came true, such as the 9/11, Hitler, London fire, etc., are contained in these quatrains.
Nostradamus quatrains were all published in a book called ‘Les Propheties’ (The Prophecies). After reading these books and also after hearing about his predictions, it’s not that everyone appreciated what he did. Some people called him evil, some thought that he was fake. Some on the other hand thought that Nostradamus quatrains were spiritually inspired. But whatever the case was, Nostradamus’s name spread far and wide and today, Nostradamus predictions 2012, have made him even more popular. Let us now see what are Nostradamus predictions 2012.
You are probably wondering why the very date 21st December 2012 has been selected as Doomsday? Well, this is the day when according to the Mayan calendar, it completes it’s thirteenth cycle. That day will mark the
5125 yearlong cycle of the Mayan Long Count calendar.
Nostradamus predictions 2012 end of the world theory states that a Comet, called the NIBIRU, will hit the earth and cause great destruction in the year 2012. This comet will also start the Third World War. When the comet hits the earth surface or the sea bed, nearly the whole of Asia will be flooded. There will be a Tsunami, in front of which the Tsunami of 2004, will seem like a small tiny puddle. After the comet hits the earth, the earth will lose it’s orbit around the sun and massive earthquakes are going to hit the earth. The polar ice caps will start melting because of the excess heat and global warming will become a major issue.
Nostradamus had also predicted certain things about the first black President of America, Barack Obama. He had predicted that Obama would become the President and as we all know that he did. He also predicted that Obama would come in to contact with a person who will be an anti-Christ and this contact will lead to the start of the Third World War, involving almost all the countries of the world.
Nostradamus prediction about World War Three states that a Planet X will come and hit the earth and this will be the cause of some major destruction in the world including the city of Rome. He states that there will a Third World War with the ‘camels’. He said that the
‘camels will come to drink from the Danube’. The Danube is a river in Europe and as for camels, there are no camels in Europe (unless you consider the ones that are there in the zoos). So by camels most probably he meant the countries of Iran and Iraq. This will take place somewhere after 2011 and 2012. There will be a war between the Arab and the Christian world and this war will destroy almost all the countries except for two and that’s India and China. This is because, these two countries will not take part in the war.
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supply cheap food grains to millions of the poor. This is probably the most politically savvy step taken by a government that’s been buffeted around for nearly two years by charges of graft and inaction.Critics of the right to food law will find many things wrong with it: that it’ll be too costly, it might be implemented by the inept and venal Food Corporation of India that it’s better to give cash to the poor rather than grain that they might not want, anyway. Of course, it’ll take time to hammer out a good system to run the world’s largest food subsidy and delivery programme, but the only way to learn how to do that will be by
doing it, not sitting around in committees and talking about numbers and projections.
After all, when the first UPA government came up with the NREGS programme to guarantee poor Indians the under rural wage rates. So far this fiscal, which will end in March, the programme has given 33.1 million man hours of work to poor households. A little more than half of its beneficiaries are women. Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar worries about this: he recently said that the NREGS should be suspended for three months when harvesting is done, to keep labour costs low for big farmers who hire wage workers.
Yet, Pawar’s worry only highlights the importance of the NREGS and efforts of many state governments, to enforce minimum wages for workers in villages. If you believe anecdotal evidence, the seasonal flow of people moving from poor states to better off ones in search of daily wage work has slowed. This is a worry for people in states like Punjab and Maharashtra, who depended on this vast, peripatetic army of workers as a reliable source of very cheap labour, but higher or more stable wages mean that overall standards of living are going up across the country.
What is the food bill expected to achieve? Its first objective is clearly political. It will be hard for any political party to argue against a law which says that its only aim is providing cheap food to the poor. The fact that Congress president Sonia Gandhi prodded the Cabinet, which was dawdling on the bill, to clear it on a Sunday shows that she hasn’t lost sight of the aam aadmi objectives which brought two Congress-led coalitions to power in 2004 and 2009.
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The controversy regarding the monitoring of Internet content fails to die down. In the latest development, an inter-religious group on Thursday met Communications and IT Minister Kapil Sibal seeking strict action against the social networking websites and other Internet companies for putting up “anti-religious” content on the web that fuelled communal disharmony.
Quoting a Delhi court order restraining 22 social networking and Internet sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Google from webcasting any “anti-religious” or “anti-social” content, representatives from Muslim and Christian organisations besides some social
organisations asked Mr Sibal to take action against these Internet firms.
In their memorandum to the Minister, these organisations have urged the government to take “legal action (against these Internet companies) as early as possible…otherwise it may create communal disharmony and other kind of problems throughout the nation.”
Mr Sibal assured the delegation that the government would consider appropriate action against companies that posted offensive and objectionable content.
In its order, the Court observed that “contents which are uploaded by some miscreants through these social media sites are highly unacceptable and are inflammatory and derogatory which cannot be accepted by any religion”.
The court’s order came after hearing a petition filed by the former spokesperson of Darul-Ul Uloom and founder of FatwaOnline.org, Mufti Aijaz Arshad Qasmi.
Reacting to the court’s order, Google India said: “We believe that access to information is the foundation of a free society. Google Search helps spread knowledge, enabling people to find out about almost anything by typing a few words into a computer. And services like YouTube and Google+ help users to express themselves
Reacting to the court’s order, Google India said: “We believe that access to information is the foundation of a free society. Google Search helps spread knowledge, enabling people to find out about almost anything by typing a few words into a computer. And services like YouTube and Google+ help users to express themselves