10 Things About Your Eyes

Few people could argue that without our 5 senses life would be pretty dull. All our senses are extremely important but I think if you asked most people which sense would they least like to lose they would probably say their vision. As with most of our abilities, our vision is something that many of us take for granted. If you stop and think for a moment, you will realize that just about everything we do in our day to day life involves our vision. During this article I am going to try and see if I can get you to start thinking a little bit more about your eyes. Listed below is my top 10 list of weird and wonderful things you didn't know about your eyes 10.  Everyone needs reading glasses as they get older This is assuming that you already have perfect distance vision. If you are currently reading this article and are under 40 years of age with perfect distance vision, I can say with absolute certainty that you will need reading glasses at some point in the future. For about 99% of the population the age that you will first start needing reading glasses is between 43 and 50 years old. This is because the lens in your eye slowly loses its focusing ability with age. In order to focus things near to you, your lens has to change from a flat to a more spherical shape and it loses the ability to do this as you get older. As you get to around 45 years old you will start to hold things further away from you to keep them focus. 9.  The lens in your eye is quicker than any camera lens Just behind the pupil sits the eyes natural lens, whose function is to focus on the object you are looking at. Just take a minute to glance around the room and think about how many different distances you are focusing at. Every time you do this, the lens in your eye is instantly changing focus without you even being aware of it! Compare that with a camera lens which takes a few seconds to focus between one distance and another. Just be thankful that the lens in your eye is as quick as it is, otherwise things would be continually going in and out of focus. 8.  Your eyes are fully developed by the age of 7 years. By the age of 7 years old our eyes are fully developed and are physiologically the same as adult's eyes. It is for this reason that it is vitally important to pick up a lazy eye before we reach this age. The earlier a lazy eye is diagnosed, the greater the chance it will respond to treatment, as the eyes are still developing and capable of an improvement in vision. Beyond 7 years old no amount of treatment will result in any improvement in vision. 7. You blink approximately 15,000 times each day Blinking is a semi- involuntary function meaning we do it automatically, but can also choose to blink if we so require. Blinking is an extremely important function of your eyes as it helps remove any debris on the surface of your eye, by spreading fresh tears over them. These tears help to nourish your eyes with oxygen and also have important anti bacterial properties. You can think of the function of blinking as being similar to the action of the windscreen wipers on your car, cleaning and removing everything to keep you seeing clearly. 6.   Everyone gets cataracts as they get older People don't realize that cataracts are just a normal consequence of getting older and everyone gets them at some point in their life. You can think of cataracts as being similar to getting grey hair, in that it is just a normal natural age change. The average age people first get cataracts is about 70 years and by 80 years old you are guaranteed to have cataracts. In the same way that you could not find any 80 years old without grey hair, it would be equally impossible to find anyone over 80 years old without cataracts. Cataracts refer to a gradual clouding of the lens in your eye and typically take about ten years from onset to them needing treatment. 5.  Diabetes is often first detected during an eye test People who suffer from type 2 diabetes (the type you develop later in life) are often symptom free, meaning they often don't even know that they have it. This type of diabetes is commonly picked up during an eye test as it can be seen as tiny hemorrhages from leaking blood vessels at the back of your eye. This certainly is good reason to get your eyes tested regularly. 4.  You see with your brain and not your eyes The function of your eyes is to collect all the required information about the object you are looking at. This information is then passed from your eye to the brain via the optic nerve. It is the brain (visual cortex) where all this information is analyzed to enable you to "see" the object in its finished form. This is not to say that your eyes don't play an important role as they certainly do. 3. Your eyes can adapt to blind spots in your vision Certain eye conditions such as Glaucoma and certain general health conditions such as having a stroke, can lead to you developing blind spots in your vision. This would be extremely debilitating if it wasnt for your brain and your eyes ability to adapt to make these blind spots disappear. It does this by suppressing the blind spot in your affected eye and letting your other good eye fill in the gaps. It is adaptation like this that makes your eyes so resilient. 2.  20:20 vision is not the best vision you can have When people hear the phrase 20:20 vision they assume that this is the best vision possible. However this is not true as 20:20 vision refers to what the average adult should be able to see. If you imagine a typical eye test chart the 20:20 vision is probably only the line second from the bottom. The line below it is even smaller than 20:20 vision and would mean you have 20:16 vision. So don't be so impressed next time someone tells you they have 20:20 vision! 1. Your eyes water when they are dry I know this might sound crazy but this is one of strange facts about your eyes. Your tears are made up of 3 different components and they are water, mucus and fat. If these 3 components are not in exactly the right quantities, your eyes can become dry as a consequence. Your brain responds to this dryness by producing extra water and hence your eyes water. __,_._,___

Indians transact over USD 137 billion in a year through ATMS !

................ATMs in India  have become a preferred mode of banking transactions for both customers and banks, due to the convenience and cost-saving factors. The volume of ATM transactions increased from 17,797 lakh aggregating to Rs 4,38,151 crore during 2007-08 to 23,530 lakh  ( barely 2 transactions per head per year for entire population of nearly 1.1 billion) aggregating to Rs 6,16,456 crore during 2008-09, as per RBI..............

RSK

Babur's dislike for India

Excerpt from the  Economist ( Babur, the first Mughal Emperor)

Babur stayed in Delhi to consolidate his power, but he hated India. His list of complaints offers a good indication of the things that mattered to a 16th-century emperor:

Hindustan is a country of few charms. There are no good-looking people, there is no social intercourse, no receiving or paying of visits, no genius or manners. In its handicrafts there is no form or symmetry, method or quality. There are no good horses, no good dogs, no grapes, musk-melons or first-rate fruits, no ice or cold water, no good bread or food cooked in the bazaars, no hot baths, no colleges, no candles, torches or candlesticks.

The only things Babur liked about India were the abundance of gold and silver and the weather after the monsoon. He built gardens to remind him of Kabul, but flowers do not do as well in India as in the crisp Afghan air. His friends could not stand the heat, and went back to Kabul. As ruler, he was stuck there, pining for the jollity of the old days. In 1528 he wrote to one of his oldest friends, Khwajah Kalan, "With whom do you spend time? With whom do you drink wine?"

It was not just the friends that Babur missed. He had given up drinking because of his health, and admits that "the craving for a wine-party has been infinite and endless for two years, so much so sometimes that it has brought me close to tears." The knowledge that wine was forbidden sharpened his yearning for "the permitted flavours of melons and grapes" that flourished in Kabul. When he cut open a melon, he wept. "How can one forget the pleasures of those lands?" Once he had got his affairs sorted in India, he wrote, he would "set out immediately".

He never did. His health failed, and two years later he was dead, at 47. He was buried at Agra, disinterred sometime between 1539 and 1544 and buried again on a green hillside with a stream running through it. An inscription placed there by his great-great-grandson Shah Jahan, creator of the Taj Mahal, describes it as "this light garden of an angel king".

Changing Schools :: 1960 - 2010

SCHOOL -- 1960  vs. 2010



Scenario 1:
Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.

1960 - Crowd gathers. Johnny wins. Johnny
and Mark shake hands and end up best mates for life.

2010 - Police called, arrests Johnny and Mark.. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Mark started it. Both children go to anger management programs for 3 months. School board hold meeting to impliment bullying prevention programs

Scenario 2:
Robbie won't Keep still in class, disrupts other students.

1960 - Robbie sent to office and given 6 of the best by the Headmasterl. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.

2010 - Robbie given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. Robbie's parents get fortnightly disability payments and School gets extra funding from state because Robbie has a disability.

Scenario 3 :
Billy breaks a window in his neighbour's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.

1960 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.

20010 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. Goverment psychologist tells Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison.

Scenario  4:
Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.

1960 - Mark gets glass of water from
Teacher to take aspirin with.

2010 - Police called, Mark expelled from
school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and
weapons.


Scenario 5 :
Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from Guy Fawkes, puts them in a model airfix paint bottle, blows up an ant's nest.

1960 - Ants die.

2010-  Police, Armed Forces,  & Anti-terrorism Squad called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, MI5 investigate parents, siblings removed from home, computers
confiscated. Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly
again.

Scenario  6:
Johnny falls while running during break and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher... Mary .  Mary hugs him to comfort him.

1960 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.

2010 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy..........



 

Who Packs your Parachute ?

Charles Plumb was a U.S. Navy jet pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience.  One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down! How in the world did you know that? asked Plumb. I packed your parachute, the man replied. Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man pumped his hand and said, I guess it worked! Plumb assured him, It sure did. If your chute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today. Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says, I kept wondering what he might have looked like in a Navy uniform: a white hat, a bib in the back, and bell-bottom trousers. I wonder how many times I might have seen him and not even said 'Good morning, how are you?' or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor. Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent on a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn't know. Now, Plumb asks his audience, Who's packing your parachute? Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day. Plumb also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy territory - he needed his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, and his spiritual parachute. He called on all these supports before reaching safety.

Teamwork means not letting your colleagues fail....

Here is a wonderful link for your viewing ........ http://www.wimp.com/elephantrescued/

Swiss Bank Dress Code

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Swiss bank dress code: Skin-tone lingerie, no tight-fitting skirts

AFP, Dec 17, 2010, 04.57am IST

ZURICH: Swiss banking giant UBS has issued a strict dress code

 for employees, calling on them to wear "skin-coloured" lingerie

 and to ditch "fancy and coloured" artificial fingernails. 

In a document of over 40 pages, UBS underlined details

 from head to toe, including permissible hairstyles, what 

cut of skirt and which type of socks to wear. 

Women should not wear "flashy" jewellery or skirts that are

 "too tight behind". 

Underwear must not be "visible against clothing or spilling

 out of clothing". Rather, they should be "skin-coloured under 

white shirts." 

Employees should ensure that natural roots are not showing 

if they have coloured their hair. "Three days of stubble is not

 permitted and a visit to the barber is recommended once every

 four weeks," it added. 

Employees are also urged to "avoid smelling of strong scent,

 garlic, onion and cigarette smoke". 

Men should wear a "straight-cut two button jacket and pants that

 make up part of a classic professional suit." They should not 

wear ties that do not match the "morphology of the face" nor

 socks with cartoon motifs. 

"The reputation of UBS makes up our most precious asset. 

Adopting an irreprochable behaviour implies having an

 impeccable presentation," said the bank, which has been trying

 to rebuild its reputation since suffering record losses during

 the financial crisis.