What were to happen if the speed of the Earth's orbit were to increase to 99.99% of the speed of light - by Jack Fraser

The Earth would be flung out of the Solar System, as we suddenly exceed the Solar Escape velocity (42km/s42km/s) by several orders of magnitude.

Within 3 minutes we will be outside the orbit of MarsWithin an hour we will have passed JupiterWithin 5 hours, the Earth will be outside the orbit of PlutoWithin 16 hours, we will have overtaken Voyager 2Within 19 hours we will have overtaken Voyager 1[1]Depending on your definition, we will leave the solar system some time between 17 hours and two days

At this point there’s a whopping great gap, as the planet cruises through interstellar space.

Depending on what direction you head in, you may reach the following milestones (you won’t reach all of them, because they’re in opposite directions!)

By the time Donald Trump’s first (only?) term ends (2021), we will have reached our nearest neighbour, Proxima Centauri in the αα-Centauri systemBy the time that the first Mickey Mouse film falls into the public domain (2023), we will reach Barnard's Starbut you can’t have any shore leave, because Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz had an unhappy love affairBy the time the world population reaches 8 billion (2025), we will reach the site of the famous battle [2]with the Borg, Wolf 3596 months after that, you could reach Sirius, the brightest star in our sky

Providing no collisions have occurred, Earth is still travelling at ultra-relativistic velocities, having barely slowed down in the past 8 years.

We can continue on our merry way — we’ll keep passing stars, on our voyage of exploration. We also hugely exceed the escape velocity of our galaxy — so we’re going to keep on going! Of course, what happens now does hugely depend on what direction we’re going in.

We can assume we must be travelling in the galactic plane (i.e. we cannot exit vertically) because otherwise the maths gets a bit icky and we have to start working out the height of the galaxy at a given radius…

Radially InwardIn 26,000 years, we will be within spitting distance of the Supermassive Black Hole at the centre of the Milky Way(unless we actually hit it, nothing weird really happens, it is just a really bright radio source)Another 50,000 years after that, the Earth exits out the other side of the Milky Way, having traversed the Delta Quadrant (I did warn you about those Borg!)Radially OutwardIn 24,000 years, we exit the Milky Way at the closest point, and enter into the intergalactic voidTangentialSomewhere around 50,000 light years (depending on the angle) we’d exit the galaxy “out of the side”

After this, it will be another 2.54 million years before another milestone — the Andromeda Galaxy.

But we just pass right on through — we still exceed the escape velocity, as long as we don’t knock into anything.

In fact, providing we don’t crash into any stars, there’s literally nothing to stop us. The Earth will just continue its nomadic existence until the Heat Death of the Universe.

Except, this is all irrelevant anyway.

The humans all died about three weeks in.

What did you expect?

You took the sun away from them!

Within a single day, Earth has (maybe) exited the solar system, and traversed 173AU — which means the power it gets from the sun has decreased by a factor of 1173211732

Whilst the atmosphere will retain a small amount of heat, this will dissipate quickly, and all water on Earth will freeze within a matter of days (if not hours).

Humanity cannot possibly survive more than a few weeks in these conditions (especially with no warning!)

This is why I totally ignored relativistic effects, the time referred to here is with respect to the Galactic standard of rest — because the relativistic effects I only occur in Earth's frame — and there's no-one alive on Earth to care about it!

So, it is my duty to announce to you, that Everyone Dies™.

Despite this, the Earth continues on its serene voyage across the heavens, soaring at unimaginable speeds through the vastness of our universe. A planet-sized hearse plunging through space.

But doing so in silence.

Footnotes

[1] Where are the Voyagers

[2] Battle of Wolf 359

Are the British people biased towards Indians when it comes to choosing between a Pakistani and an … by Robert James

I don’t disagree that quite a few people in Britain have a more positive attitude to India than Pakistan.

Watch this brief BBC news clip…

How Azad Kashmir city of Mirpur became Little England -BBC News

The British Pakistani population is not a representative cross-sectional sample of Pakistani society. 70% of British Pakistanis are from a Mirpuri background. What Britain has with a large proportion of the British Pakistani population, is a concentration from one very small area which often continues to set itself apart somewhat from the rest of Britian.

Here's a quote from a British Pakistani academic who lectures in Political Science:

Cultural conservatism… has deepened among many British Pakistanis

Cousin marriage is more common among Pakistanis than among Bangladeshis, as is the bringing over of partners from the subcontinent

Parveen Akhtar

So, the cultural divergence appears to be deepening - and that leads to distrust. The Indian population in Britain tends to be more open to the rest of society and better integrated.

In this climate of separation, with a high proportion of spouses brought in through arranged marriage with close clan-like family ties to their partner (60% of British Pakistanis marry a Pakistani national, and 55% of British Pakistanis are married to their first cousin), what you effectively have are largely non-integrating communities where the “1st generation” is repeated over and over. There are something like 4.7 children born to every British Pakistani woman, so this is also growing fast.

A lot of British people are quite uncomfortable with this situation, and it is negatively reflected in their opinion of Pakistan as a whole.

22 years ago, this was the big news story about Britain & Pakistan:

Pakistani cricket legend & progressive politician Imran Khan marries British beauty Jemima Goldsmith. Back in the 1990s this is probably how a lot of British people thought & hoped society here would progress - a gradual integration of cultures and populations, but the reality in many parts of the country with the British Pakistani community has been very different. These are the news stories making the headlines now.

A mainstream political rally for a British Pakistani Labour candidate in Birmingham - this photo caused a political controversy for Labour.

A Muslim extremist rally in London arranged by widely hated British Pakistani Anjem Choudary.

Mohammad Sidique Khan - British Pakistani ringleader of the 7/7 London suicide bombers.

This British Pakistani man, Asad Shah, was a much liked and respected citizen of Glasgow:

Mr Shah was an Ahmadi Muslim who had released YouTube videos speaking in favour of world peace. Hours before his death, he posted the following on Facebook:

Good Friday and a very Happy Easter, especially to my beloved Christian nation... Let's follow the real footstep of beloved holy Jesus Christ and get the real success in both worlds

Then, he was brutally killed in a premeditated religiously motivated murder.

This man, Tanveer Ahmed, was jailed for the crime - he drove from Bradford to Glasgow, stabbed Mr Shah repeatedly and stamped on his head as he lay bleeding to death. He is a Pakistani born Sunni Muslim with hardline Islamic views who entered the UK on a spousal visa through an arranged marriage.

These men, all but one of whom are from a Pakistani background, were jailed for their role in the grooming and rape of as many as 1400 white British girls as young as 11 in Rotherham.

Rotherham: In the face of such evil, who is the racist now?

These are the news stories bombarding Britain today about our Pakistani population. You just simply don't find the same controversy and negativity surrounding British Indians. You could blame the media I suppose, but they could not report these things if they did not happen.

Fear of being branded a racist in a climate of political correctness prevents many British people (especially educated middle class people) saying what they actually think about this, but they obviously do not like it, and soap shoved in the mouth doesn't cleanse the mind; those thoughts will come out more subtly - a detectable preference for India over Pakistan being one of the more obvious.

The most famous British Pakistani at the moment is probably London Mayor Sadiq Khan

Mr Khan is a progressive social democrat who has received death threats from Islamic hardliners in the UK for his stance on gay rights. He is often held up as a good example of a UK Pakistani becoming integrated and playing an important part in society.

However, what most people do not realise is that Sadiq Khan isn't really very Pakistani, his family lived in Delhi, India - only moving to Pakistan in 1947 during partition, as many Indian Muslims did - his own parents moved on to Britain before Sadiq was born in 1970, so the Pakistani connection is a little tenuous.

With Mr Khan becoming mayor of one of the great cities of the world, I don’t believe that Britain is close-minded towards Muslims being part of British society, in fact for many people, the opposite is true.

Its easy to say ‘well, there's a lot of Muslims in London’, and I'd agree, but there are other examples of a more open minded attitude to Muslims than may have been the case 40 years ago. The adorable Nadiya Hussain became the winner of wildly popular TV show The Great British Bake Off in 2015, and has been taken into the nations heart. She has gone on to become popular broadcaster and writer.

She has such a radiant smile - it would be very hard to dislike her. Nadiya is a British Bangladeshi, and now something of a British icon. Its hard if not impossible to find a British icons from a Mirpuri Pakistani background.

This is Natasha Khan - better known as British singer Bat for Lashes. She is mixed race, born to an English mother, her father is famous Pakistani squash player and coach Rehmat Khan and her second cousin is Jahangir Khan, 10 times British Open champion & widely regarded as the greatest squash player of all time. Many owners of a Bat for Lashes record are probably not even aware of the Pakistani connection, and that connection is to Karachi and Peshawar.

Another famous British Pakistani Khan (no relation to Sadiq or Natasha) is boxer Amir - again, his heritage is Punjabi Rajput rather than Mirpuri.

The British Pakistanis I have been friends with over the years have all been from families with middle class urban backgrounds around Karachi or Lahore, and I think its only fair and truthful to say that many non-Mirpuri Pakistanis who migrated to the UK integrated more readily with British society than the numerically dominant Mirpuri Pakistani population.

It is probably the case that the good things British Pakistanis from these commumities do, mostly occur within their communities, and go unreported to the wider society, whilst bad things they do which step outside community boundaries such as the murder of Mr Shah and the disgusting and racist sexual abuse of white girls are widely reported.

This doesn't cast Pakistan in a great light for those who do not understand the strange quirks of Pakistani migration to the UK - and it's fair to say most white British people have not got a clue about this. I first became aware of it from a British Pakistani friend a few years ago.

The UK will be better off as a society in my view if we can find a way past where we are today with better integration, and this may lead to a more generally positive attitude to Pakistan.

Is Hafiz Saeed's popularity growing in Pakistan? by Sohail Khurianwala

As a Pakistani who wants COURSE CORRECTION to happen very quickly in my country,

Hafiz Saeed’s popularity may be growing among the violent and Jihad minded sections of our society and country but it does not bode well for our country and society.

I hate both Hafiz Saeed and Maulana Masood Azhar as well as their financiers and backers - certain politicians and high ranking officers in the ISI and Pak Army.

I do not want to play the Kashmir-Card anymore since it is only causing Kashmiris to lose their lives fighting a formidable war machine which is the fourth largest in the world, backed by the second largest population in the world and an economy which is ten times the size of our economy.

Just like the Chechens could not wrest their country free from Russia, or the Tibetans and Uighurs cannot think of breaking away from China, the same holds true for Kashmiris whose interests are best served if they make peace with India and discourage Pakistani authorities from meddling in their affairs.

I have interacted with Indians in Dubai and I can tell you this - Indian Muslims and Hindus are both very angry with this blinkered attitude we demonstrate, where they accuse us Pakistanis of thinking about ourselves to be the sole custodians of Muslims in the entire subcontinent and being more Muslim than the Muslims in India or Bangladesh.

We Muslims in Pakistan are not the model or template for all Muslims in South Asia. We need to recognize this fact. There are Muslims in India and Bangladesh who are doing well or perhaps even better than us.

We Pakistanis have not done anything substantial in humanitarian terms to call ourselves the custodians of all Muslims South Asia - We have not raised the standards of living of either our countrymen in our country now or in the past and nor did we help improve the lives of our former countrymen - The East Pakistanis and keep them with us.

The one thing that has happened consistently since 1947 is this fact:

Pakistan and the Two Nation Theory has led to the marginalization and KILLING of more Muslims in the entire subcontinent in the name of Islam, in the last 70 years than we can ever think of - beginning with the partition riots of 1947 in both Bengal and West Punjab, where the Muslim League supporters first carried out religion-motivated attacks against minorities in both Bengal (Calcutta and Noakhali) and Western Punjab and the Frontier Areas - inviting - massive retaliatory attacks and massacres against Muslims in both Bihar and East Punjab.

Pakistani authorities were responsible for the genocide of Bengali speaking Muslims in East Pakistan in 1971, the killing of many Pashtuns in the blow-back of the Afghan Jihad against the Soviets in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, the killing of thousands of Kashmiris in their futile Jihad against India since the lates 1980s and finally the murder of many Muslim minorities like Shias, Ismailis, Ahmedis and Bahai in our own country.

When will all these killings stop in the name of religion ?

When will we stop financing terrorists who want to cause mayhem in South Asia ?

That is the big question… which all upright and conscientious Pakistanis… each one of us need to address.

It can only be tackled if sane, secular minded and liberal folks like me in Pakistan stand up, shake our fists vigorously at the Pakistan Army, Intelligence Agencies and Political establishment who support this carnage and cry out once and for all.

ENOUGH is ENOUGH ! Stop sponsoring Jihads in our neighboring countries … if we do not want our country to be in the world- news daily dues to terror-attacks like these:

Senior police officers among 13 killed as suicide bomber strikes Lahore

Some amazing fact about black holes - by Matthew Clifford

This is a comparison of the Sun’s diameter versus the diameter of Earth.

The sun in itself has enough space to fit snugly 1.3 million planets the same size of Earth within its scorching envelope - that’s pretty big, considering the fact that we humans already consider the distance from England to Los Angeles an immense distance.

In order to turn the Sun into a black hole, you must compress all of the matter you see in the flaming ball of plasma above into a certain size - which is called the Schwarzschild’s radius - or Gravitation radius.

(Extremely simple. You just multiply by two the gravitational constant (6,674 * 10^-11), then multiply it with the object’s mass divide by the speed of light (299, 792, 458 m/s) squared.)

The concept of this term is pretty simple: If you compress a given sphere into its Schwarzschild’s radius, the escape velocity from the surface of the sphere would be equal with the speed of light - therefore, forming what we all know as a black hole.

If you were to compress the Sun into its Schwarzschild’s radius, it will be a ball with a diameter of 3 kilometers.

And if you try to compress Earth, you’ll have a black hole the diameter of 9mm.

About this small.

Now meet S5 0014+81.

It’s the largest black hole ever discovered and is heavier than our Sun by 40 billions times (40, 000, 000, 000) in the last observation.

If you plug in the equation above, you’ll find that this black hole has a Schwarzschild radius of about… 119 billions kilometers, along with a said diameter of about 236,39 billion km.

To give you a better perspective:

You see that tiny red dot I drawn in the middle of the black hole?

That’s this:

Yes, that’s our entire solar system you’re looking at - including Pluto - Rest in peace :(

S5 0014+81 is 47 times larger in diameter than the distance from Pluto to the Sun, and it takes the spacecraft New Horizon 9 years to travel from Earth to Pluto at the speed of 16.26 kilometers PER SECOND.

BOOOM *the sound of your mind exploding*

I really didn’t expect this answer to gain positive reactions, so let me present one more thing…

BONUS: S5 0014+81’s size isn’t it ‘vanilla’ form - rather, it’s just a lucky black hole out of many to stumble upon a large amount of ‘food source’ in the process and grow from there by consuming many stars and galactic dusts in its lifetime.

So what if we re-expand our fella right here with all of its bonus mass to its original size using our closest star - the Sun - as a marker? Although I understand that there are a lot of complex processes that went into deciding the final size of the star in its formation, this should be looked upon as a food for thought.

The Sun (1 Mo) has a diameter of 1,391,982 kilometers.

S5 0014+81 is 40,000,000,000 Mo.

So the ‘star’ S5 0014+81 should have a diameter of 55,679,280,000,000,000 kilometers.

Or 1804 Parsecs - 5885 Light years.

That’s 5 times thicker than the thickness of the Milky Way!

The largest star we’ve ever discovered is UY Scuti.

(The most luminous orange one)

It has a diameter of roughly 2.4 billions kilometers. (2,400,000,000 kilometers).

This is how it’s compared to the Sun.

Scroll up to see the diameter of the ‘star’ S5 0014+81.

That’s 23,199,700 times larger than UY Scuti.

Here is a portrayal:

Found it yet?

No?

Cause UY Scuti isn’t larger than the size of a single pixel in this picture.

If not for Mahatma Gandhi, would India still be under British rule? by Sahith S Tiger

Gandhi did not play any significant role in India’s Independence. In fact, he hindered it for decades.

This may sound astonishing and false to Gandhi-worshipers, who are multitude even today, but it is the truth. The Congress led by Gandhi was so ineffective that, until 1929, they did not even ask for self-governance, and were willing to settle for “partial independence” with British Rule. Exactly what they meant I do not know - I mean, either you are free, or you’re not. If they had had their way, this would have continued, and likely come into effect.

But then this guy came along:

Bhagat Singh was an anarchist, atheist, revolutionary, and believed firmly in a human being’s right to defend themselves. He began the movement that became the Poorna Swaraj declaration - “total independence, nothing less”. The British were quick to paint him as a “terrorist” because he believed in fighting back (throughout India’s freedom struggle, the British vocally supported and respected Gandhi’s non-violence movement, while continuing to safely ignore his demands since they had no fear of retribution). Singh quickly realized that the only way to garner support was to create a national incident - he and a comrade attacked the Legislative Assembly with low-yield, non-lethal grenades, and, instead of escaping, waited for the police and handed over their weapons in surrender. Singh (who was wanted for the murder of a British officer at the time) knew full well that the British would make a showcase of his trial and execution, and it would effectively reach more people across India than he ever could by himself. Once in jail, seeing the discrimination in how Indian prisoners were treated much worse than European prisoners, Singh went into a hunger strike, going without food for 116 days (no, that wasn’t a typo). The British were so terrified of his popularity that they moved his execution forward by 24 hours, secretly removed the body in pieces, cremated it and threw the ashes into the Sutlej river. At the time of his death, Singh was 23 years old.

Gandhi, who had some so-called noble ideas, I’m sorry, was simply idealistic to the point of being foolishly naive. This is a man who advised that the jews

should have offered themselves to the butcher's knife. They should have thrown themselves into the sea from cliffs... It would have aroused the world and the people of Germany... As it is they succumbed anyway in their millions." (link)

(Ref: Fischer, Louis (1950). The life of Mahatma Gandhi. Harper. p. 348.)


That’s an exact quote, by the way - his idea of fighting genocide was mass suicide. Oh, and he also used to sleep naked with little girlsto test the strength of his vow of celibacy.

If not for Gandhi, India likely would have adopted a more violent freedom struggle. I do not support violence but I do support self-defense. Gandhi recruited Indian soldiers to fight for the British in World War 1 - something Gandhi supporters gloss over when they talk about his non-violence. He also opposed Subhash Chandra Bose and his Free Army; actively pushing back their recruitment activities even as millions followed him into non-violence. These millions would instead have joined the struggle under the INA, and Britain would have been unable to hold on to India in the early 40s when faced with a united congress that fought back under Bose, which likely would have resulted in India becoming a free nation years earlier. This would have severely weakened Britain in the Second World War, which relied heavily on the Indian Army.What that would have meant for them and the rest of the world, who knows?

Willingly or not, Gandhi’s actions aided immensely in British oppression and control of India.

European Women Writes an Open Letter to Islamist Cleric Dr. Zakir Naik About Spirituality

Source: http://linkis.com/www.chakranews.com/e/gQwoa

European Women Writes an Open Letter to Islamist Cleric Dr. Zakir Naik About Spirituality

European Women and Hindu Maria Wirth Writes an Open Letter to Islamist Cleric Dr. Zakir Naik About Spirituality

Hindus generally don’t criticise other religions in spite of the fact that Christianity and Islam not only criticise, but demean Hinduism badly. Zakir Naik is only one example. Do Hindus know what is preached in the innumerable churches and mosques across India? I know for sure that Hindu gods are called devils by Christian missionaries. Yet Hindus neither defend their gods nor challenge the Abrahamic dogmas in spite of having a solid philosophical basis for their beliefs, which is lacking in Christianity and Islam.

 

Some years ago, Zakir Naik had ridiculed Ganapati and thrown a challenge to prove that Ganapati is God. I assume he means by God the Supreme Being that Muslims call Allah.

Now what do we know about Allah?

Foremost, Allah is great and merciful, and the faithful as well as the unfaithful are loudly reminded of it five times a day. He also knows what all human beings are doing, but is separate from them. It is claimed that Allah has communicated his final words to Prophet Mohamed. Those words are in the Quran. Allah declared that Islam alone is true. So, all human beings must follow Islam because other paths are wrong. And they must hurry up, because every human being has only one life.

Those, who do not accept Islam during their lifetime, will be thrown into eternal hellfire where “boiling water will be poured over their heads that not only melts their skin but also the inner parts of their bellies…” (Q22.19-22)

Clearly, here is where Allah’s mercy ends. He does not brook any dissent. And the Azan, which started compassionately, ends with: “Oh Allah, guide us to the Right Way. The Way of those whom You have favoured, not of those who have earned Your wrath…” Al-Fatiha 1

This means, Allah is merciful only to his followers who are called Muslims and he is wrathful to those who are not Muslims.

Dr. Zakir Naik, I am confident that I got the concept of ‘God’ in Islam right because Christianity has a similar concept. And I dare to claim that it is not true. Can you prove (and this challenge goes also to Christian clerics) that Allah/ God is indeed so unfair and divisive? Can you prove there will be this huge cauldron of fire where billions of people will burn for ever after Judgment Day? Do these claims of “eternal hellfire for unbelievers” not rather have the purpose to keep the flock in check? To divide and rule?

There are about 2 billion Christians, who are told they have to remain Christians, otherwise they can’t go to heaven. And then there are about 2 billion Muslims who are told that they have to remain Muslims, otherwise they can’t go to paradise. Both religions had plenty of time to sort out which one is true, but they did not do it. Why? Because they cannot prove it. They can only make claims and counterclaims and fight among themselves, between Muslims and Christians and with heathens or infidels. They do this for the last 2000 years.

Under these circumstances, can anyone claim that Islam or Christianity is beneficial for humanity? Is it not time to have a thorough check of what REALLY is the truth?

In regard to the absolute Truth, Dr. Zakir Naik, your ancestors, the Indian Rishis, made valuable contributions and you can be proud of them. In ancient times, long, long before Christianity or Islam appeared on the scene, the Rishis had a very mature understanding of Brahman which would be ‘Truth’ or ‘Supreme Being’ or ‘God’ in English. Brahman is not personal, not a superhuman entity somewhere in heaven, not male or female, not jealous of other gods, not revengeful if ignored, but it is Sat-Chit-Ananda, the conscious, one essence in all names and forms – like the one ocean is the essence of all the waves.

The Rishis realised that this universe is a wrong perception of Brahman. They called it Maya, not really true, only apparently true.

For anything to qualify as absolute Truth, it has to be always – past, present and future – and it has to be self-evident.

The Rishis came to the conclusion that nothing fulfils these criteria except pure (= thought free) consciousness. This consciousness is here and now, always, everywhere. Yet we miss it because we focus only on things or thoughts, emotions, etc.  – like, when we focus a torchlight in a room only on the furniture and miss the empty space. Infinite space, which throbs with life and love is actually a good metaphor for Sat-Chit-Ananda – the highest truth that underlies names and forms (nama-rupa).

Science has meanwhile discovered the Sat-aspect of the truth. Oneness is there. To discover that this Oneness is also aware (Chit) and blissful (Ananda) scientists would need to turn to their own consciousness to research further instead of looking outside. Let us see whether the scientists will support also the claim of the Rishis that this whole manifestation is alive and full of bliss.

In one point, however, you are right, Dr. Zakir Naik: There is only one Truth, one God, which the wise call by different names. But the nature of it you got wrong. It does not send non-Muslims or non-Christians eternally into hellfire. The Supreme Being is indeed merciful and great.

But you wanted to know whether Ganapati is a deity.

May I explain a bit of your ancestors’ tradition which struck me as most profound when I came to know of it?

Sanatana Dharma is not only about intellectually knowing Sat-Chit-Ananda, but about realising it. Since Brahman is all pervading, it must be also in us (Ayam Atma Brahman). So we can tap and feel it. For this, however, we need to follow certain rules. We need to purify ourselves, lead a moral life, speak the truth, etc. To eat plenty of meat and have plenty of sex is not conducive for this purification. Yet one factor is very conducive: Bhakti – love for God.

Here Hindu Dharma brings in Ishwara.

The concept of Ishwara is close to the Abrahamic notion of a personal God but more benevolent. There is of course no eternal hell for unbelievers. Everyone gets chance after chance in life after life till he realises that he is not a separate wave, but one with the ocean.

Ishwara is God with attributes and has innumerable aspects, as this universe has innumerable aspects or human nature has innumerable aspects. These aspects are personified in different deities and the devotee can choose the one who is dearest to him. It helps to develop love for the invisible Truth – for example through Ganapati.

Those Devas are mistakenly much maligned by Christianity and Islam. They are not separate entities but kind of access points to the one Brahman, which is otherwise unimaginable. It is possible to feel familiar with them, to love them, to talk with them. And the scriptures leave no doubt that devas are ultimately Brahman.

And here, Dr. Naik, you may get an answer to your question whether Ganapati is ultimately the Supreme Being.

The Ganapati Atharvashirsa Upanishad, which is part of the Atharva Veda, states: “Tvameva kevalam karta si, tvameva kevalam dharta si, tvameva kevalam harta si.

Tvameva sarvam khalvidam brahmasi, tvam saksadatma si nityam.”

It means: You alone are the creator, you alone are the sustainer, you alone are the annihilator. All this is Brahman and you are that Brahman. You are indeed the Atman eternally.

This declaration, however, is not unique for Ganapati. It is said for other deities, too.

Yet the fact that this is written in a sacred text, is not proof enough. There are plenty of sacred texts in this world and if everything in them is blindly accepted as true, we end up with all kind of proclaimed truths which are not true. We need to verify what is declared as truth on the touchstone of reason, intuition and experience. If it contradicts all of these, it is not worth believing it and certainly not dying for it.

The proof that all deities are Brahman is because only Brahman really exists. Brahman is like the ocean. The waves are not separate from it. The name with which one worships the Divine, does not matter. What matters is how much devotion one feels. The greater the devotion, the more miracles can happen. Ganapati is loved by millions of Hindus worldwide. He is the door through which they try to access Sat-Chit-Ananda.

Sanatana Dharma is very ancient. And yet the Rishis had such deep insights, for example that the world is a wrong perception of what is really true, like seeing a snake at dusk when in fact there is only a rope. Westerners who ridiculed Hindus because they believe that the world is an illusion keep now quiet as science supports the Hindu view.

Meanwhile NASA scientists have detected the building blocks of DNA in meteorites. The Max Planck Institute in Germany published the first picture of the whole universe. It had an oval shape. Could it be possible that those who ridicule Hindus for worshipping a Shiva lingam might soon rethink their attitude, as well, lest they embarrass themselves?

Great men have come and gone in India’s ancient civilisation. Some have been made into gods. There is nothing wrong with it. The Divine is in all.

It should make you reflect, Dr. Naik that science keeps validating the insights of the Rishis, for example the mindboggling age of the universe, or the ultimate Oneness of all.

Attempts to vilify Indian tradition by you and others are successful because the British weaned Indians away from their tradition and most people know little about it. Yet if you are sincere, you will realise that the wisdom of your ancestors scores high over the worldview and the mind set of Abrahamic religions. The attitude of “We alone are right and you go to hell if you don’t accept our religion” is doing great harm to humanity. It may be helpful for world dominion, but do you want to live in a world where everyone has to wear a straight-jacket?

If I were you, Dr. Naik, I would be worried especially about one thing: what if you wake up after death and there is NO paradise waiting for you? What if all those Jihadis, who were inspired by you, cursed you after realising there was no paradise for them? What if you are taking birth again in another form and reap the fruits of your actions of this life where you consciously or unconsciously distorted the truth? Rebirth is not only mentioned in the Indian texts. There is also plenty of evidence for it – over 3000 cases are documented in the archive of Virginia University.

Dr. Naik, I don’t know how deeply you believe what you preach. I know from personal experience how effective brainwashing in childhood can be. But I also know that it is possible to get out of it, and it seems the older one is, the easier.

For me, it was a great relief to come out of the Christian religious straight jacket and I would encourage you to also genuinely enquire into the truth. Your concept of God is not Truth. You quote a book as support. Truth does not fit into a book. Truth is THAT WHAT TRULY IS.

Your ancestors, the Indian Rishis, spoke from experience, not from book knowledge.

Yours Sincerely

Maria Wirth

HOW TO GET A FLAT STOMACH - by Jay Kim

HOW TO GET A FLAT STOMACH

As someone who designed an entire fitness program around getting and maintaining six-pack abs for life, I understand the allure of chiseled abs.

We all want to eliminate belly fat and have a flat stomach.

If we’re being honest, our Google search histories are littered with results for six-pack shortcuts, belly flab blasting pills, or topical gels that promise us miracle results.

I just hope none of us would go so far as to wear a slimming body vest out in public.

Don’t believe the hype—there are no shortcuts to a flat stomach and six-pack abs.

In this post, we’re going to cover why abs are so coveted, the scientific reasons why it’s difficult to get rid of belly fat, and exactly how you go about earning that six-pack.

It won’t be easy, but neither is fitting into a pair of Spanx.

Abs Are a Surefire Sign of Fitness

A flat stomach is the simplest barometer people use to judge someone’s fitness level.

We base this snap judgment on someone’s gut because no other body part is so obviously visible.

You can cover up most of your body with clothing, but if your gut protrudes out of your shirt, there’s no way to hide it.

As we’ll see, abs don’t happen by accident, so what may seem shallow is actually pretty intuitive. A carved out six-pack doesn’t just inform others of our fitness, though.

If you’re a guy, your abs have a huge impact on whether women find you attractive.

A Western Illinois University study found that women rated abs as the sexiest muscle on a man’s body.

Says bro science bible AskMen - Become a Better Man in an article about the study: “It could be its warmth, but it may also be the intimacy associated with touching a body part that is reserved for the one closest to you.”

No wonder over 75% of guys tell me they want to get rid of their belly when I ask them what their fitness goals are.

In today’s dating scene, a nice smile doesn’t seal the deal quite like rock-hard abs do.

Why It’s Hard to Get Rid of Belly Fat

A disclaimer before we begin: This section can be a bit science-y, but the information we’re going to cover is essential to understanding why there are no shortcuts to a flat stomach.

Every person is born with a finite amount of fat cells in their body.

When you’re little, the fat cells are small. As you get older, energy from the food you eat that isn’t burned off is stored in your fat cells, which grow in size as a result.

As your fat cells grow, certain parts of your body will become noticeably bigger.

On the flip side, fat cells go through a process called lipolysis by which their energy is released into the blood. Fat cells shrink in size during lipolysis, which leads to a reduction in overall body fat.

Triggering lipolysis to burn energy and shrink fat cells starts with chemicals known as catecholamines.

Every fat cell contains alpha and beta catecholamine receptors that affect how the cell reacts to lipolysis. Think of them like radio towers for your fat cells.

Beta receptors accelerate lipolysis, which is what you want.Alpha receptors have the opposite effect—they hinder lipolysis.

But here’s the kicker: Not all fat cells are created equal. So if a cell’s composition is skewed heavily toward alpha receptors, it will be harder to shrink that fat cell because it’s resistant to the lipolysis being triggered.

Now, I’ll give you three guesses as to what the composition of the fat cells in your lower belly is, and the first two don’t count.

Bingo – the composition of fat cells in your belly is skewed toward alpha receptors.

Belly fat isn’t stubborn because God hates us; the composition of fat cells in that area make it stubborn.

The Shortcut To Belly Fat Loss Isn’t Worth the Risk

Being born with a finite amount of fat cells means you don’t gain new ones or lose old ones as you age.

The exception to that rule would be liposuction—a complete removal of fat cells from part of your body.

But unless you are morbidly obese or your doctor says you need liposuction, you should never consider it.

Not only are you going under the knife unnecessarily, but your laziness can sabotage your results.

Liposuction can get rid of your gut, but if you keep eating junk and don’t exercise, fat is still going to be stored in parts of your body where fat cells haven’t been removed.

Your stomach may stay flat, but your face, legs, and arms will get puffy.

Do you really want to look like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man if he had a flat stomach?

If you hate your gut, liposuction is not the answer.

There are natural ways to getting the body that you want. It requires hard work and determination, but it’s completely achievable and doesn’t require a risky surgery.

How to Get a Flat Stomach

If you’re frustrated that the million crunches you do every morning aren’t melting your belly fat and giving you the six-pack abs you crave, there’s a simple reason for that:

“Exercise is not the main barrier to losing your love handles. It’s diet.”

That’s a quote from Craig Ballantyne, an author, trainer, and coach who is basically reiterating the old saying that you can’t outwork a bad diet.

I’ve said before that fitness is 85% diet and 15% exercise, so even if you’re working out six days a week, if your diet is not in check, you’re never going to come close to having six-pack abs.

If you want to get a flat stomach, start reducing your body fat percentage.

This answer might seem simplistic if you’ve spent years searching for a shortcut. The reason you might have overlooked it is because, while obvious, reducing your body fat is not easy.

But if you follow these five steps, you’ll burn body fat and uncover that glorious six-pack:

1. Learn the simple science behind energy balance

You have to know how many calories you’re consuming and how many you’re expending.

You can only lose body fat by eating fewer calories than you’re burning.

It’s simple math—calories in vs. calories out.

2. Maintain a proper balance of macronutrients

The three macronutrients are protein, carbs, and fat. Your body—and abs—need all three.

Depending on your fitness goals, your diet should be comprised of different amounts of each macronutrient. Once you find the balance that your body needs, stick to those numbers.

3. Clean up your diet

Natural foods are the best building blocks for any lifelong nutrition plan.

Take it upon yourself to learn which foods are good and which are bad. You might be surprised to see meals you thought were healthy are actually sabotaging your fitness.

For example: Eating a salad drenched in salad dressing is not as healthy as you think.

4. Start a strength training program focused on compound lifts

Many “fitness” websites will tell you excessive cardio is the best way to shed fat and uncover your abs, or that high intensity interval training is the shortest way to see your six-pack.

We know that’s not true.

All the people I’ve worked with have gotten seriously lean without doing a single minute of cardio.

The most effective way to shed body fat and build lean muscle is with compound lifts.

5. Be patient, damn it

Stop looking for quick fixes and weird tricks. Six-pack shortcuts don’t exist!

Crunches won’t spot reduce your belly fat. Your whole body fat percentage needs to go down in order to reduce belly fat and uncover your abs.

You didn’t gain a belly overnight, and the process to get rid of it won’t happen overnight, either.

So where is Early Fat Loss Most Obvious?

There’s a natural pecking order in your body when it comes to fat loss.

For men, this is generally how fat loss progresses throughout the body:

First to go: Pecs, arms, chest, face, legsLast to go: Back, hips, stomach

When it comes to your stomach, the upper abs are less stubborn than the lower abs.

For guys, the lower abs are where the most stubborn fat cells are located. So don’t get discouraged when your top abs come in and there’s a strip of belly fat below them.

In the body fat royal rumble, your lower abs are the last man standing.

For women, here’s the progression of body fat loss:

First to go: Upper body, arms, face, stomachLast to go: Legs, hips, glutes (butt)

Women’s bodies are built differently than men’s bodies, plus women carry more body fat than men.

If you’ve ever seen a woman at the gym with a fit upper body and extra weight in her hips and legs, now you know it’s because her “last mile” is different from her male counterparts.

How to Know You’re on Track

When you’re trying to lower your body fat percentage, the scale does not determine your success.

You can drop weight and still end up skinny fat or fat jacked if your body fat percentage doesn’t change.

Either outcome is going to leave your belly fat intact.

Body fat calculators can give you a rough idea of your progress, but the easiest and most accurate way to measure your body fat percentage is with a pair of calipers. I use these.

For visible abs, the level you’re aiming for depends on gender:

Men: 10% or lowerWomen: 15% or lower

Those are the levels at which your abs will begin to show. Guys will likely need to get down to single digits before their bottom abs will become visible.

I know…I know…after a few weeks you may be tempted to think, “That slimming body vest doesn’t look too ridiculous” or “my favorite Spanx are on sale this week.”

Stay strong, my brothers and sisters in fitness, and do not settle for faking a flat stomach.

Stick to your diet and exercise program and your belly will go from flab to fit before you know it.

Hollywood movies to wait for in 2017

The Hollywood galaxy is gonna shine again with its brightest stars in 2017! If you think Hollywood’s best days are gone then watch out, 2017 might prove you wrong! From some Sci-fi Action to same vintage classics, Here is a list of Hollywood movies which will surely make 2017 an year to remember for all we Hollywood fans!

Wolverine 3: Logan

Director: James Mangold
Star Cast: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Richard E. Grant, Boyd Holbrook, Stephen Merchant, Dafne Keen
Expected Release Date: March 3

Kong: Skull Island

Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Star Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman, Brie Larson, Jing Tian, Toby Kebbell, John Ortiz, Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Shea Whigham, Thomas Mann, Terry Notary, John C. Reilly
Expected Release Date: March 10

Beauty And The Beast

Director: Bill Condon
Star Cast: Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Kevin Kline, Josh Gad, Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci, Ian McKellen, Emma Thompson
Expected Release Date: March 17

Fast 8: The Fate of The Furious

Director: F. Gary Gray
Star Cast: Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Nathalie Emmanuel, Elsa Pataky, Kurt Russell, Charlize Theron, Scott Eastwood, Helen Mirren
Expected Release Date: April 14

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Director: James Gunn

Star Cast: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Sean Gunn, Glenn Close, Pom Klementieff, Elizabeth Debicki, Chris Sullivan, Kurt Russell
Expected Release Date: May 5

The Lego Batman Movie

Director: Chris McKay
Star Cast: Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes
Expected Release Date: February 10

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

Director: Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg
Star Cast: Johnny Depp,Javier Bardem, Brenton Thwaites, Kaya Scodelario, Geoffrey Rush
Expected Release Date: May 26

The Divergent Series: Ascendant

Director: Lee Toland Kreiger
Star Cast: Shailene Woodley, Miles Teller, Theo James, Naomi Watts, Bill Skarsgård, Octavia Spencer, Ansel Elgort, Jeff Daniels, Nadia Hilker, Keiynan Lonsdale, Jonny Weston, Deaven Brooks
Expected Release Date:June 7

The Mummy

Director: Alex Kurtzman
Star Cast: Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella, Annabelle Wallis, Jake Johnson, Courtney B. Vance, Russell Crowe
Expected Release Date: June 9

World War Z II

Director: David Fincher
Star Cast: Brad Pitt
Expected Release Date: June 9

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Kingsman: The Golden Circle

Director: Matthew Vaughn
Star Cast: Taron Egerton, Julianne Moore, Halle Berry, Mark Strong, Pedro Pascal, Channing Tatum, Jeff Bridges
Expected Release Date: September 29(US) October 6(UK)

Transformers 5: The Last Knight

Director: Michael Bay
Star Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, Isabela Moner, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, John Turturro, Santiago Cabrera, Laura Haddock, Anthony Hopkins, Liam Garrigan, Jerrod Carmichael, Mitch Pileggi
Expected Release Date: June 23

Wonder Woman

Director: Patty Jenkins
Star Cast: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Connie Nielsen, Robin Wright, Lucy Davis, Lisa Loven Kongsli
Expected Release Date: June 2

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

Director: Shawn Levy
Star Cast: Not disclosed
Expected Release Date: June 29

Spider-Man: Homecoming

Director: Jon Watts
Star Cast: Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Zendaya, Donald Glover, Jacob Batalon, Laura Harrier, Tony Revolori, Tyne Daly, Bokeem Woodbine, Marisa Tomei, Robert Downey Jr.
Expected Release Date: July 9

War For The Planet Of The Apes

Director: Matt Reeves
Star Cast: Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson, Steve Zahn, Judy Greer, Karin Konoval, Terry Notary
Expected Release Date: July 14

Jumanji

Director: Jake Kasdan
Star Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan, Nick Jonas
Expected Release Date: December 22

Alien: Covenant

Director: Ridley Scott
Star Cast: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Danny McBride, Demián Bichir, Billy Crudup, Noomi Rapace, Guy Pearce, James Franco
Expected Release Date: May 19

King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword

Director: Guy Ritchie
Star Cast: Charlie Hunnam, Jude Law, Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey, Djimon Hounsou, Eric Bana
Expected Release Date: May 12

Thor: Ragnarok

Director: Taika Waititi
Star Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Idris Elba, Anthony Hopkins, Cate Blanchett, Tessa Thompson, Jeff Goldblum, Karl Urban, Mark Ruffalo
Expected Release Date: November 3

Justice League: Part One

Director: Zack Snyder
Star Cast: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Ray Fisher, Gal Gadot, Ciarán Hinds, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa
Expected Release Date: November 17

Star Wars: Chapter VIII

Director: Rian Johnson
Star Cast: Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac
Expected Release Date: December 15

Some more of ‘em

Dunkirk

Director: CHRISTOPJER NOLAN

STAR CAST: TOM HARDY, HARRY STYLES, CILLIAN MURPHY

RELEASE DATE: 21 JULY

The Mummy

Release date: 9 June 2017 (USA)

DirectorAlex Kurtzman

Star Cast:Tom Cruise;Sofia Boutella;Russell Crowe