ANANDHAN SUBBIAH - INSPIRE AND INNOVATE

PETA’s Australian wool boycott moves full-speed ahead as it celebrates what can only be seen as the beginning of the end of the cruel mulesing mutilation. 
 In Australia, where more than 50 percent of the world’s merino wool—which is used in products ranging from clothing to carpets—comes from, lambs are forced to endure a gruesome procedure called mulesing, in which huge chunks of skin and flesh are cut from the animals’ backsides, without any painkillers. When their wool production declines, some sheep are shipped to the Middle East on crowded multilevel ships. These journeys, which can last for months, are to countries where animal welfare standards are non-existent. The suffering sheep are dragged off the ships, loaded onto trucks, and dragged by their ears and legs to unregulated slaughterhouses, where their throats are slit while they are still conscious.

Sheep are gentle individuals who, like all animals, feel pain, fear, and loneliness. But because there is a market for their fleece and skins, they are treated as nothing more than wool-producing machines. No amount of fluff can hide the fact that anyone who buys wool supports a cruel and bloody industry. There are plenty of durable, stylish, and warm fabrics available that aren’t made from animal skins. Please join the millions of people all over the world who know that compassion is the fashion. Save a sheep—don’t buy wool.

The above is an excerpt from PETA . The one thing that continues to baffle me is how cruel human beings can be. I don’t think it matters if they are from a advanced or third world country some people are still primitive/sadistic. These are the same people who go to temples/churches/mosques with thier wife and children. Somehow humans have started to believe that they are above all the other species in this planet. Every single organism in this planet has a purpose and the more violations humans commit the mor e unsafe it will be for our future generation. The case of the vanishing bees is a good example.

I can understand the need to kill other species sometimes for food or for any other purpose . I think that is the way nature has set things up but what pains me most is the way man goes about doing this . The wool industry is another classic example when there are so many ways to do this the right way they have chosen the most cruelest and inhumane alternative possible to extract wool from these poor animals without any conscience. Animals in particular cats (all) and killer whales have a tendency to play (read as torture) with thier prey before killing them but they are “animals” and I am absolutely certain that they don’t realize the consequence of thier choice but humans understand the pain they are inflicting on these poor animals .

The next time you start writhing in your seat when watching a horror movie where a stupid teenager gets mauled by a psychopath you have to realize it is just a movie and think about the sheep and how they are being killed in the most sadistic way possible for absoultey no reason. I am sure you can make a diffrence - Don’t buy wool.

IndiaGlitz has very good quality Sivaji song and movie trailers @India Glitz

G.V Prakash is one of the emerging talents in the tamil music industry. Yuvan is another young composer who has allready stamped his class. Joshua Sridhar did everything he could to destroy his music talent and wasted a nice oppurtunity to make it big after the great success of Kadhal.

This song from the movie Kreedam is sung by the reliable Sadhana Sargam . It is a slow song with mild western beats.Her calm and composed rendering of the song is sure to make this a chart buster. I like the smooth transition Sadhana is able to make from low to high pitches and there is a charm in her voice which will appeal to a keen music lover. This is the third hit album in a row for G.V Prakash . Let us just hope that he will be able to sustain the high standards he has set for himself like his uncle , the legendary A.R Rehman.

http://anandhansubbiah.com/downloads/Akkam-Pakkam.mp3

There is lot of excitment around this new phone from Apple and I am really excited as well. Let us hope the phone is worth the hype. I am only concerned with the charge from the cellular provider . The phone will be as cool as advertised only if the user has access to all the data and there will be a price associated with this model.

The official launch of the iPhone is June 29, 2007, at 6PM local time.  It will be available only AT&T corporate owned stores. The cost ranges from $499 to $599 for the 4GB and 8GB models respectively.

The battery will feature up to eight hours of talk time, six hours of Internet use, and seven hours of video or twenty-four hours of audio playback. There is a 2 Megapixel camera for those quality shots, and wireless web access, as highlighted in the popular commercials.

The most awaited feature is the ability to see You Tube Videos. I am very intrested in how well the streaming works.

The phone also features POP support so you can use the mail client to most major provideers like yahoo , gmail etc.

The phone is definitely on the pricey side so I would assume most consumers will wait before they jump in. Also this will also require most consumers to upgrade their service plan which means shelling out more money to the cellular provider.

This is from the movie Satham Podathae . Yuva Shankar Raja is the composer. The awesome Shankar Mahadevan is the singer. This is a song about a little baby and he has sung the song with a lot of heart and passion. There is a beautiful rhythm to the song. Shankar is one of the very few singers who can effortlessly sing in high pitch without missing a beat. You will not be able to stop admiring the simple lyrics by Muthukumar.

You can buy the complete album at http://www.raaga.com/channels/tamil/movie/T0001192.html

http://anandhansubbiah.com/downloads/Azhagu.mp3

I went to the Rehman concert at the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island NY. The expectation was very high as Rehman is known to be a perfectionist and I was not disappointed . I went to the concert with my wife Amy and her two sisters Jen and Rita. My navigation system somehow took me to the Lincoln Tunnel and before I realized it I was in Manhattan . The traffic was way too high and to make things worse no one bothered to follow the traffic rules. It reminded me of driving in crowded Bangalore. The fact is when there are way too many vehicles it is not always easy to follow rules or to enforce rules. I wish India had a lesser population and maybe things would be more organized then .

The concert was actually very good. The quality of the sound was outstanding even though there were phases where the vocals were not clearly audible . The seating arrangements and the lighting arrangements left a lot to be desired but that did not stop the thousands of fans who had gathered there from having fun or enjoying the music . The songs included latest hits like Sivaji,Guru,Rang De Basanti and Rehmans old hits.

The pick of the singers was Hariharan . He even did a small dance much to the amusement of the audience . Blazee was the crowd entertainer . He was full of energy and made his presense felt with Secret of Success and the theme song of Sivaji. He also went around the audience and drove them to a frenzy.

The best songs overall were probably all the sivaji songs , Secret of Success and Chaiya Chaiya . Kailash Kher (wore a funny turban and was) a perfect partner for Sukhwinder Singh. Chithra and Sathana Sargam did thier job to perfection. Naresh Iyer , the singer from Indian Idol made sure that the faith Rehman had in him was spot on !! .

Vijay Yesudas did not get too many opportunities but the singer had a tough time with the Sivaji song ‘Sahana ‘. Rehman was at his best as usual but he was visibly tired . His rendition of the popula song “Antha Arabic” from bombay was one of the highlights of the concert . The crowd simply went nuts when he sang the blockbuster hit from Sivaji. My sister-in-law Rita got all excited listening to Hariharan singing her favorite song from Roja. Amy and Jen had a great time as well . Amy was even singing along with the singers ! The only thing which was bothering both me and Amy was that our daughter was not with us . I was thinking that I should take Ria to a Rehman concert when she is old enough just to let her know the awesome talent we have in India.

Overall it was the best place to be in if you are a music fan. Rehman is a class act and he confirmed it with a terrific concert.

I managed to take some pictures but they are really not high quality but anyway here they are http://www.anandhansubbiah.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=925.

Here are some songs(original) from the concert:

Boys - Secret Of Success

http://anandhansubbiah.com/downloads/Secret.mp3

Bombay - Antha Arabic

http://anandhansubbiah.com/downloads/Antha-Arabi.mp3

Bombay - Kannalane

http://anandhansubbiah.com/downloads/Kannalanae.mp3

Roja - Kadhal Rojavae

http://anandhansubbiah.com/downloads/Kadhal-Rojave.mp3

Cruel acts toward animals have long been recognized as indicators of a dangerous psychopathy that often claims more than animal victims. “Murderers … very often start out by killing and torturing animals as kids,” according to Robert K. Ressler, who developed profiles of serial killers for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).(1) Studies have now convinced sociologists, lawmakers, law enforcement officials, and the courts that acts of cruelty to animals deserve our attention. They can be the first sign of a violent pathology that includes human victims.

 Cruelty to Animals: The First of Many Crimes? Acts of cruelty to animals are not mere indications of a minor personality flaw in the abuser; they are symptomatic of a deep mental disturbance. Research in psychology and criminology shows that people who commit acts of cruelty to animals don’t stop there—many of them move on to their fellow humans.

Studies have shown that violent and aggressive criminals are more likely to have abused animals as children than criminals considered non-aggressive.

A survey of psychiatric patients who had repeatedly tortured dogs and cats found that all of them had high levels of aggression toward people as well.According to a New South Wales newspaper, a police study in Australia revealed that “100 percent of sexual homicide offenders examined had a history of animal cruelty.” To researchers, a fascination with cruelty to animals is a red flag in the lives of serial killers and rapists; according to the FBI’s Ressler, “These are the kids who never learned it’s wrong to poke out a puppy’s eyes.”Examples That Make the Headlines: Notorious Killers History is replete with serial killers whose violent tendencies were first directed at animals. Albert DeSalvo, the “Boston Strangler,” who killed 13 women, trapped dogs and cats and shot arrows at them through boxes in his youth. Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer had impaled frogs, cats, and dogs’ heads on sticks. Dennis Rader, the so-called “BTK” killer, who terrorized people in Kansas, wrote in a chronological account of his childhood that he hanged a dog and a cat. During the trial of convicted sniper Lee Boyd Malvo, a psychology professor testified that the teenager, who killed 10 people with a rifle, had “pelted—and probably killed—numerous cats with marbles from a slingshot when he was about 14.”The deadly violence that has shattered schools in recent years has, in most cases, begun with cruelty to animals. High-school killers such as 15-year-old Kip Kinkel in Springfield, Oregon, and Luke Woodham, 16, in Pearl, Mississippi, tortured animals before starting their shooting sprees.Columbine High School students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who shot and killed 12 classmates before turning their guns on themselves, spoke of mutilating animals to their classmates.“There is a common theme to all of the shootings of recent years,” says Dr. Harold S. Koplewicz, director of the Child Study Center at New York University. “You have a child who has symptoms of aggression toward his peers, an interest in fire, cruelty to animals, social isolation, and many warning signs that the school has ignored.”

Sadly, many of these criminals’ childhood violence went unexamined—until it was directed at humans. ‘The Link’ Next Door: Cruelty to Animals and Family Violence Because abusers target the powerless, crimes against animals, spouses, children, and the elderly often go hand in hand. Children who abuse animals may be repeating a lesson learned at home; like their parents, they are reacting to anger or frustration with violence. Their violence is directed at the only individual in the family more vulnerable than themselves: an animal.

Parents who neglect or abuse an animal frequently subject their own children to similar hardships.  The Boston Police Department partners with the New England Animal Control/Humane Task Force to detect and respond to domestic violence associated with cruelty investigations. The New Jersey Coalition for Battered Women works with animal control to identify signs of domestic violence. Additionally, children should be taught to care for and respect animals in their own right. After an extensive study of the links between animal abuse and human abuse, two experts concluded, “The evolution of a more gentle and benign relationship in human society might be enhanced by our promotion of a more positive and nurturing ethic between children and animals.”

 What You Can Do

• Urge your local school, law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and judges to take cruelty to animals seriously. Those charged with protecting our communities and animals must send a strong message that violence against any feeling creature—human or nonhuman—is unacceptable.
• Be aware of signs of neglect or abuse in children and animals and immediately report suspected crimes to authorities.
• Take children seriously if they report that animals are being neglected or mistreated.

Some children won’t talk about their own suffering but will talk about an animal’s.  Don’t ignore even minor acts of cruelty to animals by children. Talk to the child and the child’s parents. If necessary, call a social worker.

Original Source : PETA