The Olympic Games

The Olympic flame for 2008 has already reached Beijing, China. This flame was lit from Olympia and transferred by famous Olympians to the venue as during past years.

We covered a capsular over view on the topic last fortnight at school...Here goes the summary....

Olympics is a global sports festival.its held once every four years. This four year period is called an Olympiad.

Ancient olympics was held at Olympia in Greece in honour of their God Zues, from 776BC to 392AD.Only greeks participated in these games for thousand of years. During the 293rd Olympics, King Theodosius had banned the games...

Pierre de Fredi, Baron de Coubertin, a French educator, studied about the history of these games and pioneered the International Olympics Committee. He is considered the Father of Modern Olympics.

The first Modern Olympics was initiated in 1896 at Athens, Greece. 14 nations participated. There were 245 players in 43 events.
From then it progressed into 202 nations, 301 events and 11099 participants in the last Olympics of 2004 also at Athens...

The Olympic Motto is coined from three Latin words- Citius, Altius and Fortius-meaning swift, higher and stronger...

The Olympic Creed as per Bishop Ethelbert Talbot can be read as follows:
" The most important thing is not to WIN but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph,but the struggle.The essential thing is not to have conquered, but to have fought well."

Games are usually held in stadiums. This comes from the word "Stade" which is a unit equivalent to about 182metres.

In Ancient Olympics, the prize were leaves of plants; whereas in Modern Olympics it varies from Gold(first),Silver(second) and Bronze (third) medals with a Diploma.The national anthem of the respective country of the winner is also played in their honour.

The opening and closing ceremonies are the greatest mega events in world history. The release of doves symbolise peace; parade with national flag; flame and torch relay; many arts forms and so on make the evenings colourful and memorable.

Olympics flag was designed in 1920. It is a set of intertwined five rings with colours of blue, yellow, black, red and green on a white background. This represents the five populated landmasses in the world and theres atleast one color from the flag of any country as well...

The Olympic events are generally Summer Olympics, Winter Olympics and Paralympics for the disabled.Most common events are athletics, swimming, gymnastics, soccer and hockey.Softball is the only sport exclusively for women.

The first winner in Ancient Olympics is koroibos whereas the player who won maximum gold medals is Ray Ewry. He had been debilitated by polio as a child but rectified by Physiotherapy exercises and made up the way all along to Olympics medal many times.

The Olympic oath according to Victor Boin : " We swear that we will take part in the Olympic Games in a spirit of Chivalry, for the honour of our country and for the glory of sport."

The most attractive events of our choice are synchronised swimming and rhythmic gymnastics....We are waiting for the show...eagerly...

(Prepared during the Olympic games of 2008...)

BIOGRAPHY (2) - GANDHIJI

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on 2nd October,1869 at Porbandur in Gujarat.
His parents were Karamchand Gandhi and Puthali Bhai.

As a child, Gandhiji was a shy and dull student who loved books.He was always honest,truthful and dutiful.He was a good son. he was highly inspired by Maharaj Harischandra and Shravana Maharishi.

Gandhiji took his degree in Law from London and became a Lawyer /Barrister. 

He was married to Kasturba. They had four sons- Harilal, Manilal, Devdas and Ramdas.

Gandhiji initailly worked in Africa for twenty years from 1893.Here, he fought hard against racial discrimination and apartheid.

During the train journey from Natal to Pretoria, Gandhiji got thrown out of the railway compartment, at Johannesburg, just for dark skin, in spite of having a valid train ticket.This was the turning point in his life from where he emerged as a national leader and led India into Independence.

Gandhiji started the newspaper"Indian Opinion", edited newspapers like Young India, Navjeevan; initiated the new mode of protest through Non violence called as Satyagraha which means adhere to truth in a nonviolent manner...

Passive resistance to British was initiated under his leadership in 1915 in India.

Non Cooperative movement in 1921.

Severe famines made scarcity for food and clothes. So Gandhiji adopted bald head and clad dhoti on September 21st, 1921.

In 1930, he led the Dandi March, which started from Sabarmati on March12th to Dandi till April6th.

Civil Disobedience was followed up to 1934.

Harijan weekly in 1934; All India Gramoday Sangh; Rural Development; Popularisation of Khadi...

Quit India in 1942 August 8th.

Gandhiji's autobiography is termed "My experiments with truth". 

Ahimsa and Satyagraha were popularised by Him...However, he was shot dead on 30th January,1948 by Godsey. As a non violent person, he laid down his life to prevent fights and quarrels...

Raghupati raghava rajaram........paavana seetharaam....

ONLINE FRIENDS

A Must Read for all who have children or grandchildren, who goes online... Everyone needs toread all of this and have your children read it too!

Courtesy:
Ms. Babita Narayanan, Kids World, Calicut.

After tossing her books on the sofa, she decided to grab a snack and get on-line. She logged on under her screen name By Angel 213. She checked herBuddy List and saw GoTo123 was on.

She sent him an instant message:
ByAngel213:Hi. I'm glad you are on! I thought someone was following me home today. Itwas really weird!
GoTo123:LOL You watch too much TV. Why would someone be following you?Don't you live in a safe neighborhood?
ByAngel213:Of course I do. LOL I guess it was my imagination cuz' I didn't see anybodywhen I looked out.
GoTo123:Unless you gave your name out on-line. You haven't done that have you?
ByAngel213:Of course not. I'm not stupid you know.
GoTo123:Did you have a softball game after school today?
ByAngel213:Yes and we won!!GoTo123:That's great! Who did you play?ByAngel213:We played the Hornets. LOL. Their uniforms are so gross! They look likebees. LOL
GoTo123:What is your team called?
ByAngel213:We are the CantonCats. We have tiger paws on our uniforms. They are really cool.
GoTo123:Did you pitch?
ByAngel213:No I play second base. I got to go. My homework has to be done before myparents get home. I don't want them mad at me. Bye!
GoTo123:Catch you later. Bye

Meanwhile......GoTo123 went to the member menu and began to search for herprofile. When it came up, he highlighted it and printed it out. He took outa pen and began to write down what he knew about Angel so far.

Her name: Shannon
Birthday: Jan. 3, 1985
Age: 13
State where she lived: North Carolina
Hobbies: softball, chorus, skating and going to the mall.
Besides this information, he knew she lived in Canton because she had just told him. Heknew she stayed by herself until 6:30 p.m. every afternoon until her parents came home from work. He knew she played softball on Thursday afternoons on the school team, and the team was named the Canton Cats. Her favorite number 7 was printed on her jersey. He knew she was in the eighth grade at the Canton Junior High School. She had told him all this in the conversations they had on- line. He had enough information to find her now.

Shannon didn't tell her parents about the incident on the way home from the ball park that day. She didn't want them to make a scene and stop her from walking home from the softball games. Parents were always overreacting and hers were the worst. It made her wish she was not an only child. Maybe if she had brothers and sisters, her parents wouldn't be so overprotective.

By Thursday, Shannon had forgotten about the footsteps following her.Her game was in full swing when suddenly she felt someone staring at her.It was then that the memory came back. She glanced up from her second base position to see a man watching her closely.He was leaning against the fence behind first base and he smiled when she looked at him. He didn't look scary and she quickly dismissed the sudden fear she had felt.After the game, he sat on a bleacher while she talked to the coach. She noticed his smile once again as she walked past him. He nodded and she smiled back. He noticed her name on the back of her shirt. He knew he had found her.

Quietly, he walked a safe distance behind her. It was only a few blocks to Shannon's home, and once he saw where she lived he quickly returned to the park to get his car.Now he had to wait. He decided to get a bite to eat until the time came to go to Shannon's house. He drove to a fast food restaurant and sat there until time to make his move.

Shannon was in her room later that evening when she heard voices in the living room.'Shannon, come here,' her father called. He sounded upset and she couldn't imagine why. She went into the room to see the man from the ballpark sitting on the sofa.

'Sit down,' her father began, 'this man has just told us a most interesting story about you.'Shannon sat back. How could he tell her parents anything? She had never seen him before today!

'Do you know who I am, Shannon?' the man asked.
'No,' Shannon answered.
'I am a police officer and your online friend, GoTo123.'
Shannon was stunned. 'That's impossible! GoTo is a kid my age! He's 14. And he lives in Michigan!'

The man smiled. 'I know I told you all that, but it wasn't true. You see,Shannon, there are people on-line who pretend to be kids; I was one of them.But while others do it to injure kids and hurt them, I belong to a group ofparents who do it to protect kids from predators. I came here to find you to teach you how dangerous it is to talk to people on-line. You told me enough about yourself to make it easy for me to find you. You named the school you went to, the name of your ball team and the position you played. The number and name on your jersey just made finding you a breeze.'

Shannon was stunned. 'You mean you don't live in Michigan?'
He laughed. 'No, I live in Raleigh. It made you feel safe to think I was sofar away, didn't it?'She nodded.

'I had a friend whose daughter was like you. Only she wasn't as lucky. The guy found her and murdered her while she was home alone. Kids are taught not to tell anyone when they are alone, yet they do it all the time on-line. The wrong people trick you into giving out information a little here and there on-line. Before you know it, you have told them enough for them to find you without even realizing you have done it. I hope you've learned a lesson from this and won't do it again. Tell others about this so they will be safe too?''It's a promise!'

That night Shannon and her Dad and Mom all knelt down together and thanked God for protecting Shannon from what could have been a tragic situation.

*****NOW*****
Please teach children not to give any information about themselves. This world we live in today is too dangerous to even give out your age, let alone anything else.

BIOGRAPHY (1) - ALBERT EINSTEIN

He was the most brilliant physicist in the world.
He was born near Ulm, Germany on 14th March, 1879.
His parents were Mr. Hermann, who ran a shop of electrical appliances and Mrs. Pauline, who was a housewife.
He had a younger sister named Maja.

Even as a young boy, he was attracted to music and followed his mother in playing violin. He also composed “Songs of Solomon” in the Bible.
He was also attracted to the Universe, Space and its functions.
He was very fond of Nature. He used to observe closely and think beyond his age.
His most cherished gifts as a child were a magnetic compass, books on science and geometry.

His primary education was in Munich. It was a hard time for him as a Jew in Nazi Germany.
So, later he went to study at the Milan Polytechnic in Italy and Zurich University, Switzerland.

He joined as a Clerk in a Patent Office.
He married a Serbian, Mileva Maric on 6th January, 1903. They had two sons- Hans and Edward.

In 1905, he published the theory of relativity and became famous.
(Time is related to person and place. Matter can be changed to energy, by E=mc2. He also studied nature of stars.)
He took Swiss citizenship and became Professor of Physics at Zurich.
Studies on Photoelectric effect bought him the Nobel Prize in 1921.
Later he proved the quantum theory of Max Planck.
He also came to be called Father of Atom Bomb, which pained him. So he became a strong advocate of world peace and love.
His later works were very complex and was not touched by scientists for years.

His second wife was Elsa.
At an old age, he migrated to USA.
At the end, he was taken care of by his sister, Maja.
He died on 18th April, 1955.

ON CREATIVITY

GREAT TALK ON CREATIVITY TO REVOLUTIONISE CHILDREN’S EDUCATION

Please watch this talk by Sir Ken Robinson
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/66

LET'S LEARN(3)- RAILWAY STATION

1. Trains are a mode of transport. Trains move on tracks called rails. The places where the trains stop to let people get in and out are called the railway stations.
2. In a railway station, there is one to many platforms. The steps on the train touch the platform and let’s people climb in and get out.
3. The people who travel by a train are called passengers.
4. To travel by train, we have to buy railway tickets from the counters on the platform.
5. The place from which we get into a train is called the boarding station.
6. The place where we get off from the train is called the destination.
7. To travel from one place to another, we can use a local passenger train or an express train depending on availability.
8. There are different categories and facilities in train journey. These are sleeper class, chair car, first or second class with and without air conditioning and economy class including a separate ladies compartment...
9. For long distance journeys, we can also buy tickets earlier. This is called reservation. In such trains, food catering is done as a paid inservice and is called pantry.
10. When we go to see off or welcome someone at the railway station, we have to buy platform tickets.
11. Trains have different numbers and names based on the route of travel. This is announced at the station, over public address system or displayed on television screens in big stations. In small stations, the details are displayed on notice boards and by ringing of loud bells.
12. The running of trains is controlled using signals between the Station Masters in every railway station and the guards inside every train.
13. These signals may be lights or flags…Red says stop and green says go…
14. In big stations, there are tea shops, bakeries, fruit stalls, restaurants, cloak room (to keep luggage), retiring rooms (to take rest), waiting rooms, prepaid auto and taxi services, telephone booths, tourist information centers etc.
15. There are many goods trains also which carry food materials, liquid fuels, and even our domestic LPG.
16. The engine drivers and technicians are specially trained by the Railway Institute.
17. All trains run on pre determined specific schedule only. This is called a railway timetable.
18. Railways have a separate police force to safe guard the system.
19. Porters are those people who can be called upon to help passengers to carry their luggage. Its a paid service. Some stations have hand carts for use by passengers with more luggage and these can easily be transferred through a conveyance belt system...However, slogan goes as " Less luggage, more comfort"...
20. Thus, a railway station is a busy area.

LET'S LEARN(2)- HOSPITAL

Hospital is an institution.

It provides medical treatment and nursing care for sick and injured people.

Lot of doctors and nurses work in hospitals.

Sick people are called patients.


Those patients who come to meet the doctor for a check up and return home are called out-patients.

Those patients who get admitted for detailed check up, surgery and long term treatments are called in-patients. They rest in pay wards.

Accident victims are first admitted into an emergency or casuality.

The unit in a hospital where we purchase medicines is called a pharmacy.

Place in a hospital where in-patients get their food is a canteen.

Patients do check up of blood, urine, sputum and motion in a microbiological laboratory in the hospital.

Patients also have to take X-rays, ECG, EEG or do scan of their bodies (USG, CT, MRI)etc in radiology labs in the hospital.

Children are regularly taken to the hospital for vaccination.

There are different departments in all major hospitals. Some of them are noted below.
· Neonatology - for new born babies.
· Pediatrics - child care.
· Gynecology - delivery of babies.
· Cardiology - heart diseases.
· Neurology - nervous disorders.
· Dentistry - tooth and gum problems.
· Physical medicine- general ill health of adults.
· Gerontology - care of aged.
· Urology - urinary diseases.
· Nephrology - kidney disorders.
· ENT - Ear, Nose and throat problems.
· Ophthalmology - eye disorders.
· Endocrinology - hormones.
· Dermatology - skin diseases.
· Pulmonology - chest diseases.
· Orthopedics - bone problems.
· Plastic surgery - correct appearance.
· Anesthesiology - aids in lowering sensitivity during surgery.
· Surgery - operations.