Lessons from ISRO Vikram Lander

Publishing this blog as an Ex-ISRO scientist peeved at the ISRO culture of lies.

Who is Shan?

And what am I talking about?

Shan is Shanmuga Subramanian (Shan), an amateur enthusiast from Chennai who found the remains of Vikram lander that crashed on moon’s surface on September 6th. ISRO maintained that they found the remains in September, but never published the details.

In November, Shan, found the remains through meticulous effort.

‘This week, K. Sivan, ISRO’s director, dismissed the NASA announcement, repeating the claim that Vikram’s location had been identified back in September.’

ISRO should wake up from its culture of lies and support crowdsourcing like NASA does. Shame on them for not releasing the co-ordinates of the crash site they claimed to have found out and for not endorsing Shan.

Shan’s discovery was not immediately recognized at NASA. It took multiple emails and perseverance. It shouldn’t have been like that and he should have approached ISRO. But that was not the case. It reminds me of Srinivasa Ramanujam, another Chennai lad, who got fame through Prof. Hardy of the University of Cambridge.

 

 

Watch also the You Tube and read NASA’s email to Shan.


Our dear Joychayan

It is one year since he passed away!

12 June 1936 – 5 December 2018

Please join us for the First Death Anniversary Mass Service on Thursday, 5th December 2019 at Mar Baselios Mar Gregorios Orthodox Syrian Church, Sreekariyam, Thiryvananthapuram 6.30 am

Molly Jacob 0471-2417339

Human islands – ‘vanity and a grave misfortune!’

“United we stand, divided we fall!”

Quote attributed to Aesop, ancient Greek story teller (6th Century BC).

For one lion, Red, a pack of 20 hyenas is sure death. But the odds change when Tatu, Red’s ally joins. Even for a pack of 20 hyenas, a pair of two male lions is too much to take on!

“This also is vanity and a grave misfortune!”

King Solomon says: Ecclesiastes 4:8-12 New King James Version 

There is one alone, without companion:
He has neither son nor brother.
Yet there is no end to all his labors,
Nor is his eye satisfied with riches.
But he never asks,
“For whom do I toil and deprive myself of good?”
This also is vanity and a grave misfortune.

“And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.”

Jesus is quoted here in Mark 3:25 New King James Version (NKJV)

“Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls.”

Jesus is again quoted in Luke 11:17

Friendship of Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson

Broken families

We look at some families today and find relatives not even talking to each other and having so much distrust among themselves. Yet they are craving communication and care from the World.

Psalm 133.1

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brethren to dwell together in unity!” 

If it was not for Tatu, the Lion, his ally Red would be dead.

If it was not for Pee Wee Reese, the baseball career of Jackie Robinson would have ended in 1947.

‘No Man is an Island’

(John Donn, 16th century English Poet)

No man is an island entire of itself; every man 
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; 
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe 
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as 
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine 
own were; any man's death diminishes me, 
because I am involved in mankind. 
And therefore never send to know for whom 
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

What do you think? Love to hear your comments on this important topic. Thanks in advance.

Are we really made of stardust? | Natural History Museum

Stars that go supernova are responsible for creating many of the elements of the periodic table, including those that make up the human body. Planetary scientist and stardust expert Dr Ashley King explains.
— Read on www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/are-we-really-made-of-stardust.html

Christophobia in Sri Lanka

www.nytimes.com/2019/04/23/opinion/sri-lanka-bombing-christians.html

My comments that has appeared in New York Times:

“When I read the interview Rev.Serene Jones by Nicholas Kristof yesterday, and browsed the 100’s of comments on it, I was wanting to write my two-penny worth on top of them, but couldn’t make out how exactly I would respond.

Ross Douthat has come out with a brilliant piece today and it is the most nuanced position in the current global scenario. And I realize this is the importance of New York Times and accomplished journalists such as Nicholas Kristof and Ross Douthat. My two pennies won’t cut it!

Ross just introduced the term Christophobia. I have always wanted to question the sensational news reports from India, other Asian and African countries about “persecution“ of Christians. So now I agree with Ross that it is real.

The term that we in the West are familiar with is Islamophobia, which is in the context of supporting the freedoms of Muslims to worship, preventing comments directed against their practises, beliefs or dress code, even when some of them are barbaric practices. In the aftermath of the mosque shootings in New Zealand, their prime minister went out of the way to prevent the spread of hate against Muslims. Such protections are absent in much of the world where Christophobia is taking place.

Every faith and race in any part of the world must have protections against hate crimes. Civil debates about theology and religion can always take place without the persecutions. That would be my two-penny worth today.”

“we should try to convert people from misery to happiness, from bondage to liberation, and from cruelty to compassion.”

www.nytimes.com/2019/04/03/obituaries/sn-goenka-overlooked.html

“Rather than converting people from one organized religion to another organized religion,” he said, “we should try to convert people from misery to happiness, from bondage to liberation, and from cruelty to compassion.”

S.N. Goenka was instrumental in. Spreading above message through the popularization of meditation to Westerners.

Amazing economic miracle for India and world’s first massive economic inequality experiment- Kudos Rajiv Gandhi

t.co/fvHtZAFwgk

Unfortunately the Press – Indian and international – hasn’t given enough coverage for this amazing and pathbreaking announcement. It takes Indira Gandhi’s ‘garibi hatao’, namely, ‘get rid of poor’ to dizzying heights.

This could be a game changer in India and the world as an economic experiment in poverty alleviation and income disparity. Kudos to economists Thomas Picket and Abhijeet Banerjee.

This experiment has been recently tried on pilot basis is some countries without success. Sweden was one. But it has potential to succeed and address the income gap.

Recommending Gene Sperling to every entrepreneur and job seeker for the Economic Dignity vision . https://democracyjournal.org/magazine/52/economic-dignity/

I believe in Gene’s three pillars of economic dignity: second chances, capacity and willingness for responsible social behaviour, and opportunities in economic activities without domination and exploitation!