The Fun Learning

Basic Functions of Brain

2013-05-16T14:13:00.000+05:30

Real Woman

2013-05-01T07:46:00.000+05:30

Browser Extensions for solving crosswords, puzzles, games and Sudoku

2013-04-18T20:32:00.001+05:30

I have created some Browser Add-on or Extensions to give direct access to puzzles/games/crosswords/Sudoku to users directly from their browsers. These Extensions can be downloaded and installed in browser as below

Chome Broswer Extensions

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/search-extensions/wpcPuzzlesOnline.com?hl=en-US&utm_source=chrome-ntp-launcher

Chorme Add-on

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/search-apps/wpcPuzzlesOnline.com?hl=en-US&utm_source=chrome-ntp-launcher

Firefox Add-ons

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/user/5850031/

IE Extensions:

I tried hard to create IE Extensions but there were always one or the other problems while installing it. So I gave up on IE and request my users to either use Chrome (Suggested) or Firefox and enjoy above mentioned browser extensions.

Also please do provide a good rating with your feedback for above mentioned extensions in the corresponding download pages. In case you want me to improve these extensions, please do provide your feedback here as your comments. I will do my best to implement your review comments.

In Case you have any issue with these extensions please do check following page for troubleshooting
http://www.funwithpuzzles.com/2013/04/broswer-add-on-troubleshooting.html

Bright Color Rich Diet

2013-04-15T10:51:00.000+05:30

Aloe Vera miracle

2013-04-14T22:20:00.000+05:30

The aloe vera miracle: A natural medicine for cancer, cholesterol, diabetes, inflammation, IBS, and other health conditions...Must Share

• Halts the growth of cancer tumors.
• Lowers high cholesterol.
• Repairs "sludge blood" and reverses "sticky blood".
• Boosts the oxygenation of your blood.
• Eases inflammation and soothes arthritis pain.
• Protects the body from oxidative stress.
• Prevents kidney stones and protects the body from oxalates in coffee and tea.
• Alkalizes the body, helping to balance overly acidic dietary habits.
• Cures ulcers, IBS, Crohn's disease and other digestive disorders.
• Reduces high blood pressure natural, by treating the cause, not just the symptoms.
• Nourishes the body with minerals, vitamins, enzymes and glyconutrients.
• Accelerates healing from physical burns and radiation burns.
• Replaces dozens of first aid products, makes bandages and antibacterial sprays obsolete.
• Halts colon cancer, heals the intestines and lubricates the digestive tract.
• Ends constipation.
• Stabilizes blood sugar and reduces triglycerides in diabetics.
• Prevents and treats candida infections.
• Protects the kidneys from disease.
• Functions as nature's own "sports drink" for electrolyte balance, making common sports drinks obsolete.
• Boosts cardiovascular performance and physical endurance.
• Speeds recovery from injury or physical exertion.
• Hydrates the skin, accelerates skin repair.

Happy Baisakhi (13th April)

2013-04-13T15:13:00.000+05:30

Baisakhi is celebrated always on April 13th

Vaisakhi (Baisakhi) is a festival celebrated across the northern India, especially in the Punjab region by the Sikh community.
For the Sikh community this festival commemorates the establishment of the Khalsa. This day is also observed as the thanksgiving day by the farmers whereby the farmers pay their tribute, thanking God for the abundant harvest and also praying for the future prosperity.

Baisakhi, however, has had a new dimension added to it by Guru Gobind Singh. For it was on the day of Baisakhi in 1669, that he established the Khalsa Panth and gave a final impetus to the course of the earlier nine Gurus of Sikhism.

A rural festival of North India, marking the beginning of the solar year (New year), celebrated in Punjab with great fervor. For the Sikhs the day is a collective celebration of New Year along with the commemoration of the founding of the Khalsa Panth (Sikh brotherhood) by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699.

It also signifies the end of harvest of the main crop. During Baisakhi the farmers give 'thanks' to the Lord Almighty for their fortune and pray for a better crop the next year. Baisakhi involves a lot of socializing where friends and relatives are invited and delicious meals are served.

The holy book of the Sikhs, 'Granth Sahib' is taken in a procession, led by the 'Panj Pyaras' (five senior Sikhs) who are symbolic of the original leaders. The occasion is celebrated with great gusto at Talwandi Sabo, where Guru Gobind Singh stayed for nine months and completed the recompilation of the Guru Granth Sahib and in the Golden temple in Amritsar.

On Baisakhi day, water is drawn from all the sacred rivers of India and poured in to the huge tank surrounding the golden temple.

Bhutan the World's First 100% Organic Nation

2013-04-12T19:54:00.000+05:30

Bhutan set to plough lone furrow as world's first wholly organic country...

Bhutan plans to become the first country in the world to turn its agriculture completely organic, banning the sales of pesticides and herbicides and relying on its own animals and farm waste for fertilisers.

But rather than accept that this will mean farmers of the small Himalayan kingdom of around 1.2m people (according to Pema Gyamtsho, Bhutan's minister of agriculture and forests; the World Bank estimates it at around 740,000) will be able to grow less food, the government expects them to be able to grow more – and to export increasing amounts of high quality niche foods to neighbouring India, China and other countries.

The decision to go organic was both practical and philosophical, said Gyamtsho, in Delhi for the annual sustainable development conference last week. "Ours is a mountainous terrain. When we use chemicals they don't stay where we use them, they impact the water and plants. We say that we need to consider all the environment. Most of our farm practices are traditional farming, so we are largely organic anyway.

"But we are Buddhists, too, and we believe in living in harmony with nature. Animals have the right to live, we like to to see plants happy and insects happy," he said.

Gyamtsho, like most members of the cabinet, is a farmer himself, coming from Bumthang in central Bhutan but studying western farming methods in New Zealand and Switzerland.

Life is......

2013-04-11T20:58:00.000+05:30

You are your own boss???

2013-04-10T20:56:00.000+05:30

Fast Food (The Originals)

2013-04-09T07:56:00.000+05:30

Seven Dangers to Human Virtue

2013-04-08T15:37:00.000+05:30

How to maintain your sharpness and memory

2013-04-07T10:36:00.000+05:30

Exercise can be a memory saver
Out of all the signs of aging, the one people seem to fear the most is the loss of memory and mental sharpness. As brain expert Daniel Amen M.D. says, “brain health is enhanced by good diet as well as physical, mental, and social activities.”

We lose gray and white matter in the brain as we age, which decreases mental sharpness. Promoting connections between the brain’s nerve cells can keep you sharp.

Grey brain matter is in charge of processing information, and cognitive tasks and white matter acts as a communication center between different areas of the brain. Studies show that exercise, social, and mental activities are the best ways to save the white and grey matter in your brain and keep it healthy.

Omega-3 DHA is the most abundant fat in the brain tissues. There is also mounting evidence that DHA protects gray and white matter and promotes healthy brain networks.

A study from Scotland suggests that physical activity may be especially important for preserving the brain’s white matter and keeping it healthy.

A team at the University of Edinburgh set out to see which factors known to affect the health and volume of white matter might work best to maintain it.
The results demonstrated that the people who reported the most physical activity had healthier white matter.
Dr Alan Gow of the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology who led the research, said: “Our results suggest that to maintain brain health, physical activity may be more beneficial than choosing more sedentary activities. We are excited by the next stages of this research as we seek to understand more about what might underlie the effect, but in the meantime, increasing physical activity – even a short walk each day – can only be encouraged.”

Try to follow these steps to help maintain your sharpness and memory:
20+ minutes of exercise per day
A healthy diet
Stay socially active..

How to keep your Brain Healthy

2013-04-06T10:34:00.000+05:30

Do you know that you can keep your brain healthy and alert by eating the right foods?

Berries:
They are packed with antioxidants which protect our brain from age-related diseases.
Memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease are attributed to weak neuron signals and communication within the brain. Eating berries can strengthen neuron signals and improve memory while reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
A study by Harvard researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital was done recently on berries and their effects on the brain. Elizabeth Devore, the lead author on this study stated, “Our findings have significant public health implications as increasing berry intake is a fairly simple dietary modification to reduce memory decline in older adults.”
Almonds:
Almonds are powerhouses and an excellent source of vitamin E. Almonds can help boost our brainpower and stabilize our mood. They contain phenylalanine, a chemical shown to work in conjunction with our cognitive processes and supports healthy neurological function.
According to a study conducted at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Center for Memory and Brain Health; vitamin E is very important because of its ability to lower the risk of cognitive decline due to age.
Wild Salmon:
Wild salmon is one of the best sources for omega-3 fatty acids, specifically DHA. Omega-3s help keep brain cells healthy and promotes brain tissue growth.
Omega-3s are also linked to prevention of Alzheimer’s disease.
Dark Chocolate:
Dark chocolate is fast becoming a superfood. It has to be the most delicious brain food. Chocolate releases endorphins to help you cope with emotional stress. Dark chocolate is also packed with flavonoids, which help with cognitive functions.
Oranges:
Oranges, as you may know contain very high levels of vitamin C, which is a great antioxidant for the brain. Like dark chocolate, oranges also contain flavonoids which are essential for improving cognitive functions.

The top Five Superfoods

2013-04-05T10:33:00.000+05:30

*Aloe vera has anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, and anti-viral properties. This energy tonic contains vitamins A, B12, C, and E, the minerals sulfur, calcium, magnesium, zinc, selenium, and chromium, as well as antioxidants, fiber, amino acids, enzymes, sterols, lignins, essential fatty acids and is naturally rich in polysaccharides. The polysaccharides that are available in aloe have a particular lubricating effect on joints, brain and nervous system and the skin. They allow our immune system to fight back chronic viral, nanobacteria, and fungal infections.

*Spirulina is anywhere from 62-71 percent essential amino acids. It also contains beta carotenet also contains chlorophyll, , and vitamin B12. It is actually the richest source of vitamin B12. B12 is important for healthy tissues, energy, and nerves…especially for strict vegetarians.

*Barley Grass has high anti-oxidant properties and significant levels of Omega 3 essential fatty acids, necessary for healthy cell wall development and brain function. Barley grass is also an alkaline food and helps keep the pH of the bloodstream at a normal healthy level.

*Coconut oil helps to balance hormones, stabilize blood sugar levels and boost the cellular healing process. It is also known to stimulate the thyroid and reduce stress on the liver and pancreas. This increases metabolism and helps us burn fat more effectively. Additionally, coconut oil increases our energy levels due to its very clean and easy digestive process.

*Chia-Chia seeds are rich in omega-3 and 6 fatty acids and much more.

Benefits of Green Tea....

2013-04-04T10:32:00.000+05:30

Lesson of Time-Karma

2013-04-03T10:30:00.000+05:30

Soaking and Sprouting Chart

2013-04-02T10:29:00.000+05:30

Heart Attack and Hot Water

2013-04-01T22:58:00.000+05:30

A very good article which takes two minutes to read. Heart Attacks And Drinking Warm Water

This is a very good article. Not only about the warm water after your meal, but about Heart Attacks. The Chinese and Japanese drink hot tea with their meals, not cold water, maybe it is time we adopt their drinking habit while eating.

For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you. It is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion. Once this 'sludge' reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.

Common Symptoms Of Heart Attack...

A serious note about heart attacks - You! should know that not every heart attack symptom is going to be the left arm hurting . Be aware of intense pain in the jaw line.
You may never have the first chest pain during the course of a heart attack. Nausea and intense sweating are also common symptoms. 60% of people who have a heart attack while they are asleep do not wake up. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know, the better chance we could survive..

A cardiologist says if everyone who reads this post shares it to 10 people, you can be sure that we'll save at least one life. Read this & Send to a friend. It could save a life... So, please be a true friend and share this article to all your friends you care about.. :-)

MAC Vs PC Vs Linux

2013-03-31T10:58:00.000+05:30

Very Useful Information about our body

2013-03-30T13:12:00.000+05:30

Complelling Reasons for eating fruits

2013-03-29T21:19:00.003+05:30

The Green Thing

2013-03-29T10:07:00.000+05:30

In the line at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."

The clerk responded, "*That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment."*

He was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.

But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry the
clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that old lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.
In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us.
When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills
that operate on electricity.

But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water.
We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service.
We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in
order to find the nearest pizza joint.

*But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?*

*Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smarta** young person.*

*The Green Thing*

A Sister's Eulogy for Steve Jobs - Final moments

2013-03-28T09:36:00.000+05:30

Mona Simpson (Job’s sister) delivered this Eulogy @ the memorial church of Stanford. Very well written. Gives a peek into Steve’s final 24 hours.

I grew up as an only child, with a single mother. Because we were poor and because I knew my father had emigrated from Syria, I imagined he looked like Omar Sharif. I hoped he would be rich and kind and would come into our lives (and our not yet furnished apartment) and help us. Later, after I’d met my father, I tried to believe he’d changed his number and left no forwarding address because he was an idealistic revolutionary, plotting a new world for the Arab people.
Even as a feminist, my whole life I’d been waiting for a man to love, who could love me. For decades, I’d thought that man would be my father. When I was 25, I met that man and he was my brother.
By then, I lived in New York, where I was trying to write my first novel. I had a job at a small magazine in an office the size of a closet, with three other aspiring writers. When one day a lawyer called me — me, the middle-class girl from California who hassled the boss to buy us health insurance — and said his client was rich and famous and was my long-lost brother, the young editors went wild. This was 1985 and we worked at a cutting-edge literary magazine, but I’d fallen into the plot of a Dickens novel and really, we all loved those best. The lawyer refused to tell me my brother’s name and my colleagues started a betting pool. The leading candidate: John Travolta. I secretly hoped for a literary descendant of Henry James — someone more talented than I, someone brilliant without even trying.
When I met Steve, he was a guy my age in jeans, Arab- or Jewish-looking and handsomer than Omar Sharif.
We took a long walk — something, it happened, that we both liked to do. I don’t remember much of what we said that first day, only that he felt like someone I’d pick to be a friend. He explained that he worked in computers.
I didn’t know much about computers. I still worked on a manual Olivetti typewriter.
I told Steve I’d recently considered my first purchase of a computer: something called the Cromemco.
Steve told me it was a good thing I’d waited. He said he was making something that was going to be insanely beautiful.
I want to tell you a few things I learned from Steve, during three distinct periods, over the 27 years I knew him. They’re not periods of years, but of states of being. His full life. His illness. His dying.
Steve worked at what he loved. He worked really hard. Every day.
That’s incredibly simple, but true.
He was the opposite of absent-minded.
He was never embarrassed about working hard, even if the results were failures. If someone as smart as Steve wasn’t ashamed to admit trying, maybe I didn’t have to be.
When he got kicked out of Apple, things were painful. He told me about a dinner at which 500 Silicon Valley leaders met the then-sitting president. Steve hadn’t been invited.
He was hurt but he still went to work at Next. Every single day.
Novelty was not Steve’s highest value. Beauty was.
For an innovator, Steve was remarkably loyal. If he loved a shirt, he’d order 10 or 100 of them. In the Palo Alto house, there are probably enough black cotton turtlenecks for everyone in this church.
He didn’t favor trends or gimmicks. He liked people his own age.
His philosophy of aesthetics reminds me of a quote that went something like this: “Fashion is what seems beautiful now but looks ugly later; art can be ugly at first but it becomes beautiful later.”
Steve always aspired to make beautiful later.
He was willing to be misunderstood.
Uninvited to the ball, he drove the third or fourth iteration of his same black sports car to Next, where he and his team were quietly inventing the platform on which Tim Berners-Lee would write the program for the World Wide Web.
Steve was like a girl in the amount of time he spent talking about love. Love was his supreme virtue, his god of gods. He tracked and worried about the romantic lives of the people working with him.
Whenever he saw a man he thought a woman might find dashing, he called out, “Hey are you single? Do you wanna come to dinner with my sister?”
I remember when he phoned the day he met Laurene. “There’s this beautiful woman and she’s really smart and she has this dog and I’m going to marry her.”
When Reed was born, he began gushing and never stopped. He was a physical dad, with each of his children. He fretted over Lisa’s boyfriends and Erin’s travel and skirt lengths and Eve’s safety around the horses she adored.
None of us who attended Reed’s graduation party will ever forget the scene of Reed and Steve slow dancing.
His abiding love for Laurene sustained him. He believed that love happened all the time, everywhere. In that most important way, Steve was never ironic, never cynical, never pessimistic. I try to learn from that, still.
Steve had been successful at a young age, and he felt that had isolated him. Most of the choices he made from the time I knew him were designed to dissolve the walls around him. A middle-class boy from Los Altos, he fell in love with a middle-class girl from New Jersey. It was important to both of them to raise Lisa, Reed, Erin and Eve as grounded, normal children. Their house didn’t intimidate with art or polish; in fact, for many of the first years I knew Steve and Lo together, dinner was served on the grass, and sometimes consisted of just one vegetable. Lots of that one vegetable. But one. Broccoli. In season. Simply prepared. With just the right, recently snipped, herb.
Even as a young millionaire, Steve always picked me up at the airport. He’d be standing there in his jeans.
When a family member called him at work, his secretary Linetta answered, “Your dad’s in a meeting. Would you like me to interrupt him?”
When Reed insisted on dressing up as a witch every Halloween, Steve, Laurene, Erin and Eve all went wiccan.
They once embarked on a kitchen remodel; it took years. They cooked on a hotplate in the garage. The Pixar building, under construction during the same period, finished in half the time. And that was it for the Palo Alto house. The bathrooms stayed old. But — and this was a crucial distinction — it had been a great house to start with; Steve saw to that.
This is not to say that he didn’t enjoy his success: he enjoyed his success a lot, just minus a few zeros. He told me how much he loved going to the Palo Alto bike store and gleefully realizing he could afford to buy the best bike there.
And he did.
Steve was humble. Steve liked to keep learning.
Once, he told me if he’d grown up differently, he might have become a mathematician. He spoke reverently about colleges and loved walking around the Stanford campus. In the last year of his life, he studied a book of paintings by Mark Rothko, an artist he hadn’t known about before, thinking of what could inspire people on the walls of a future Apple campus.
Steve cultivated whimsy. What other C.E.O. knows the history of English and Chinese tea roses and has a favorite David Austin rose?
He had surprises tucked in all his pockets. I’ll venture that Laurene will discover treats — songs he loved, a poem he cut out and put in a drawer — even after 20 years of an exceptionally close marriage. I spoke to him every other day or so, but when I opened The New York Times and saw a feature on the company’s patents, I was still surprised and delighted to see a sketch for a perfect staircase.
With his four children, with his wife, with all of us, Steve had a lot of fun.
He treasured happiness.
Then, Steve became ill and we watched his life compress into a smaller circle. Once, he’d loved walking through Paris. He’d discovered a small handmade soba shop in Kyoto. He downhill skied gracefully. He cross-country skied clumsily. No more.
Eventually, even ordinary pleasures, like a good peach, no longer appealed to him.
Yet, what amazed me, and what I learned from his illness, was how much was still left after so much had been taken away.
I remember my brother learning to walk again, with a chair. After his liver transplant, once a day he would get up on legs that seemed too thin to bear him, arms pitched to the chair back. He’d push that chair down the Memphis hospital corridor towards the nursing station and then he’d sit down on the chair, rest, turn around and walk back again. He counted his steps and, each day, pressed a little farther.
Laurene got down on her knees and looked into his eyes.
“You can do this, Steve,” she said. His eyes widened. His lips pressed into each other.
He tried. He always, always tried, and always with love at the core of that effort. He was an intensely emotional man.
I realized during that terrifying time that Steve was not enduring the pain for himself. He set destinations: his son Reed’s graduation from high school, his daughter Erin’s trip to Kyoto, the launching of a boat he was building on which he planned to take his family around the world and where he hoped he and Laurene would someday retire.
Even ill, his taste, his discrimination and his judgment held. He went through 67 nurses before finding kindred spirits and then he completely trusted the three who stayed with him to the end. Tracy. Arturo. Elham.
One time when Steve had contracted a tenacious pneumonia his doctor forbid everything — even ice. We were in a standard I.C.U. unit. Steve, who generally disliked cutting in line or dropping his own name, confessed that this once, he’d like to be treated a little specially.
I told him: Steve, this is special treatment.
He leaned over to me, and said: “I want it to be a little more special.”
Intubated, when he couldn’t talk, he asked for a notepad. He sketched devices to hold an iPad in a hospital bed. He designed new fluid monitors and x-ray equipment. He redrew that not-quite-special-enough hospital unit. And every time his wife walked into the room, I watched his smile remake itself on his face.
For the really big, big things, you have to trust me, he wrote on his sketchpad. He looked up. You have to.
By that, he meant that we should disobey the doctors and give him a piece of ice.
None of us knows for certain how long we’ll be here. On Steve’s better days, even in the last year, he embarked upon projects and elicited promises from his friends at Apple to finish them. Some boat builders in the Netherlands have a gorgeous stainless steel hull ready to be covered with the finishing wood. His three daughters remain unmarried, his two youngest still girls, and he’d wanted to walk them down the aisle as he’d walked me the day of my wedding.
We all — in the end — die in medias res. In the middle of a story. Of many stories.
I suppose it’s not quite accurate to call the death of someone who lived with cancer for years unexpected, but Steve’s death was unexpected for us.
What I learned from my brother’s death was that character is essential: What he was, was how he died.
Tuesday morning, he called me to ask me to hurry up to Palo Alto. His tone was affectionate, dear, loving, but like someone whose luggage was already strapped onto the vehicle, who was already on the beginning of his journey, even as he was sorry, truly deeply sorry, to be leaving us.
He started his farewell and I stopped him. I said, “Wait. I’m coming. I’m in a taxi to the airport. I’ll be there.”
“I’m telling you now because I’m afraid you won’t make it on time, honey.”
When I arrived, he and his Laurene were joking together like partners who’d lived and worked together every day of their lives. He looked into his children’s eyes as if he couldn’t unlock his gaze.
Until about 2 in the afternoon, his wife could rouse him, to talk to his friends from Apple.
Then, after awhile, it was clear that he would no longer wake to us.
His breathing changed. It became severe, deliberate, purposeful. I could feel him counting his steps again, pushing farther than before.
This is what I learned: he was working at this, too. Death didn’t happen to Steve, he achieved it.
He told me, when he was saying goodbye and telling me he was sorry, so sorry we wouldn’t be able to be old together as we’d always planned, that he was going to a better place.
Dr. Fischer gave him a 50/50 chance of making it through the night.
He made it through the night, Laurene next to him on the bed sometimes jerked up when there was a longer pause between his breaths. She and I looked at each other, then he would heave a deep breath and begin again.
This had to be done. Even now, he had a stern, still handsome profile, the profile of an absolutist, a romantic. His breath indicated an arduous journey, some steep path, altitude.
He seemed to be climbing.
But with that will, that work ethic, that strength, there was also sweet Steve’s capacity for wonderment, the artist’s belief in the ideal, the still more beautiful later.
Steve’s final words, hours earlier, were monosyllables, repeated three times.
Before embarking, he’d looked at his sister Patty, then for a long time at his children, then at his life’s partner, Laurene, and then over their shoulders past them.
Steve’s final words were:
OH WOW. OH WOW. OH WOW.

Arvind Kejriwal's Fast Enters 5th Day (Some Pictures)

2013-03-27T11:47:00.002+05:30

Happy Holi to All.....

2013-03-27T11:11:00.000+05:30