Friday, October 31, 2008

Indian Culture and Heritage

The long span of Indian history covering more than 3000 years and enumerating several civilizations has been a constant reminder of the country's rich multicultural extravaganza and world-renowned heritage. The people and their lifestyles, their dance forms and musical styles, art & handicrafts, and such other elements go on to reflect the varied hues of Indian culture and heritage, which truly epitomises the nationality of the country. This section attempts at showcasing all those elements, which act as a window to the culture and heritage of India.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Climate Change Can Grind Down Plate Tectonics

Earth's changing climate has a spectacular ability to reface the planet. Shifting winds and ocean currents can turn rainforests to deserts and back again, while ice ages have covered whole continents in glaciers again and again through time.Now, new evidence has emerged that, given enough time, climate change can even alter the course of plate tectonics.

The march of plate tectonics had previously seemed impervious to water and air's fickle motions. No matter the weather, plates would grind past and crash into one another to build mountain ranges, or sink into the hot depths of the mantle.But, according to Brendan Meade of Harvard University the mighty Andes mountain range, the longest on Earth, might not be here today if it wasn't for a drastic shift in climate 14 million years ago.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

McCain Goes On The Attack In Final Debate

John McCain lashed out at Barack Obama's efforts to link him to George Bush's unpopular presidency. "Senator Obama, I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago," McCain said. McCain came out fighting last night in what was perhaps his last big opportunity to turn around a campaign less than three weeks before the election, but Obama emerged from the encounter relatively unscathed. McCain's poll numbers have fallen as Americans appear increasingly unwilling to put another Republican in the White House at a time of financial turmoil and fears of a recession. Major U.S. stock market indexes fell nearly 8 percent or more Wednesday. The 90-minute encounter, at Hofstra University outside New York City, had the fireworks lacking in the candidates' first two debates. With the rivals seated at a round table, McCain assailed Obama's character and his campaign positions on taxes, trade, abortion and other issues.

McCain heatedly demanded that Obama explain his relationship with William Ayers, a Vietnam war-era radical. Obama brushed off the attack, saying he was 8 years old when Ayers was involved in anti-war activities, including the bombing of federal buildings. For all of McCain's intensity, it was far from clear that he managed to undermine Obama's growing popularity. The attacks also risked a backlash: Polls have shown that personal attacks by the McCain campaign — including advertisements about Ayers — have backfired, alienating voters at a time that the economy is the overwhelming concern. When McCain talked about Ayers, Obama countered: "The fact that this has become such an important part of your campaign, Senator McCain, says more about your campaign than it says about me." As in the previous two debates, national polls showed a majority of debate watchers rated Obama the clear winner. A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll found that 58 percent of those surveyed said Obama did the best job in the debate, with 31 percent saying McCain did better. The poll was conducted by telephone with 620 adult Americans who watched the debate and had a sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Friday, October 03, 2008

Obama Cites Gandhi To Back His Call For Change

Calling Mahatma Gandhi's message and significance as universal, US presidential top-runner Barack Obama has said that real change in America "will not come from Washington - it will come when the people, united, bring it to Washington".

A big admirer of Gandhi, whose portrait hangs in his office, Obama issued a statement on the birth anniversary of the great leader, calling upon Americans to "rededicate ourselves, every day from now until November 4 (election day), and beyond, to living Gandhi's call to be the change we wish to see in the world".