JPMorgan to Open Blockchain Innovation Lab in Greece – Blockchain Bitcoin News

JPMorgan has announced it will open a new blockchain innovation lab in Greece focused on the development of applications on top of Onyx.
— Read on news.bitcoin.com/jpmorgan-to-open-blockchain-innovation-lab-in-greece/

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Lord Shiva – Symbolism

 

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Quantum entanglement wins 2022’s Nobel Prize in physics

Three pioneers — John Clauser, Alain Aspect, and Anton Zeilinger — helped make quantum information systems a bona fide science.
— Read on www.freethink.com/science/quantum-entanglement-nobel-prize-physics

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Funeral by Simon Lewis

 

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Snow Water by Michael Longley

 

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Book Review – Empires of the Indus: The Story of a River by Alice Albinia

 

Empires of the Indus: The Story of a RiverEmpires of the Indus: The Story of a River by Alice Albinia
5 of 5 stars

The Empires of the Indus is a magnificent travelogue covering the trail of Sindhu or Indus river starting from Sindu Delta in Arabian sea and working upstream its way up through Pakistan, Afganistan, India and finally to its source Sense Khabab or Lion’s Mouth at Tibet. Sindhu river, more popularly known by its Greek name Indus is one of most important rivers in the history of human civilisation. It is on the banks of Sindhu river that the first cosmopolitan cities of Mohanjodaro and Harappa were inhabited in antiquity. It is where language first took root in human consciousness and mother of all languages, Sanskrit was codified by Panini some four thousand years back. But above all, it is where for the first time humans consciousness matured enough to enquire about its own self existence, its own relationship with universe and where the concepts of Being, Self, Gods and Almighty were first formed. The Rigveda, the oldest attempt in understanding self consciousness and the most sacred religious scripture of Sanatana Dharma was written on the banks of Indus. Buddha lived beside it during previous incarnations. Sikhism thrived around it, Muslim Sultans waded through it, British invaded it by gunboat, colonised it and then severed this namesake river from India in 1947.

The book is not an ordinary travelogue but also a refresher course in history as it covers the stories of the kings and empires based around Indus. It covers Darius’s march into Indus valley and then Alexander’s attempt to better it through his Macedonian army as described in Arrian. Alexander ever energetic wanted to cross Indus and invade India proper but Indus crossing had made the Macedonian army so wearied that they revolted and the Great one had to beat a hasty retreat. It also tells the story of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni who treaded Indus to repeatedly attack India but mostly failed to get the loot back to Afganistan over the Indus crossings where river currents would wash off most of it. Later Mughals traversed the same path and on crossing Indus they never went back their homeland of Samarkand. Once Mughal power waned, the Sikhs took control of the Indus banks and stopped any more invasions into India through its eastern passes. But British came crawling up from south and finally subdued them and stamped their authority on the Indus. Sindhu river was the soul of India and gave the country its name but was brutally severed from it in the bloody partition in 1947, now its part of Islamic Pakistan who could’t care less about its historic past because of it’s misplaced obsession with bygone Islamic glory.

The book also traces the lives of people still living in the river’s shadow like Kalash people who trace their ancestry to ancient Aryans, people in SWAT or Svatsu who in ancient times delved into Buddhist philosophy but have been reduced by Islamic puritanism into dumb illiterates now, Ladhakhi Dards who carved stone inscriptions on the upper reaches of Indus and Tibetan Droks who still follow their centuries old pastoral lives on the banks of Indus river.

Its an incredible journey made by Alice Albinia to the source of Indus and this magnificient travelougue give us a peek into the ancient past when rivers were the lifeline of human civilisation, when these waterways were revered as deities and when these fast flowing rivulets inspired people to write colossal works like RigVeda, Upanishads and Guru Granth Sahib.

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Why AI does not have to be a black box?

techcrunch.com/sponsor/wells-fargo/why-ai-doesnt-have-to-be-a-black-box/

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The Song of Amergin

The “Song of Amergin” and its origins remain mysteries for the ages. The ancient poem, perhaps the oldest extant poem to originate from the British Isles, or perhaps not, was written by an unknown poet at an unknown time at an uncertain location. The unlikely date 1268 BC was furnished by Robert Graves, who translated the “Song of Amergin” in his influential book The White Goddess (1948). Graves remarked that “English poetic education should, really, begin not with Canterbury Tales, not with the Odyssey, not even with Genesis, but with the Song of Amergin.” Recounted in the Leabhar Gabhála (The Book of Invasions), the poem has been described as an invocation, as a mystical chant, as an affirmation of unity, as a creation incantation, and as the first spoken Irish poem. A sort of magical affirmation to give one power over one’s enemies.

I am Wind on Sea,
I am Ocean-wave,
I am Roar of Sea,
I am Stag of Seven Tines,
I am a Hawk on a Cliff,

Who knows the ages of the moon, who, if not I.
Who has been to where the sun sleeps, who, if not I
Who touches the stars and knows their song?

I am shining tear of the Sun,
I am Fairest among Herbs,
I am Boar for Boldness,
I am Salmon in Pool,
I am a Lake on a Plain,

Who knows the ages of the moon, who, if not I.
Who has been to where the sun sleeps, who, if not I
Who touches the stars and knows their song?

I am leveller of mountains
I am ancient craft
I am victor and fallen
I am Awen that fires your mind
I am dew in the sunlight.
I am fairest of flowers.
I am mightiest of trees
I am meaning of the Earth Song.

Who knows the ages of the moon, who, if not I.
Who has been to where the sun sleeps, who, if not I
Who touches the stars and knows their song?

 

The original poem in Irish:

Am gaeth i m-muir,
Am tond trethan,
Am fuaim mara,

Am dam secht ndirend, [dam = ox, deer, stag?]
Am séig i n-aill, [séig = hawk, eagle or vulture?]

Am dér gréne,
Am cain lubai,
Am torc ar gail,
Am he i l-lind,
Am loch i m-maig,
Am brí a ndai,
Am bri danae,
Am bri i fodb fras feochtu,
Am dé delbas do chind codnu,

Coiche nod gleith clochur slébe?
Cia on co tagair aesa éscai?
Cia du i l-laig fuiniud gréne?

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Book Review – मृत्युंजय by Shivaji Sawant

 

मृत्युंजयमृत्युंजय
by Shivaji Sawant

 

Mritunjaya is a masterpiece of Marathi literature retelling the life-story of Karna, an unparalleled character from Indian epic of Mahabharat. This book is an outstanding achievement from Shivaji Sawant and provides a glimpse of an age long bygone when Dharma stood in force throughout Bharatvarsha and produced heroes of such prowess and strength that they are remembered till this date. The book tries to unravel the meaning of life through the impeccable life travails of Karna, the first Pandava who was abandoned at birth by her mother, Kunti and lived as a commner son of charioteer, a Sutputra. He was conceived with sun’s energy and was born with a un-penetrable armour and glowing earrings. He learned the warcraft not under the tutelage of any guru but by sheer will power and became one of the Maharathi’s of his time. His is a story of betrayal at birth, unbreakable friendship with Driyodhna the Kaurava prince, and above everything of immense generosity. Karna was the most generous of all human beings ever born and none will ever emulate him in future as well. He never let anyone go empty-handed from his door, he knowing fully well that God Indra in disguise is after his body armour didn’t blink an eye and teared up the armour from his body and gave that to him. This act of generousity left him exposed against the might of Pandavas and ultimately led to his downfall by the hands of Arjuna but for him life was just a passage in time to be led in an impeccable way.

Mrityunjaya is the autobiography of Karna, and yet it is not just that. With deceptive case, Sawant brings into play an exceptional stylistic innovation by combining six “dramatic soliloquies” to form the nine books of this novel of epic dimensions. Four books are spoken by Karna. These are interspersed with a book each from the lips of his unwed mother Kunti, Duryodhana (who considers Karna his mainstay), Shon (Shatruntapa, his foster-brother, who here-worships him), his wife Vrishali to whom he is like a god and, last of all, Krishna. Sawant depicts an uncanny similarity between Krishna and Karna and hints at a mystic link between them, investing his protagonist with a more-than-human aura to offset the un-heroic and even unmanly acts which mar this tremendously complex and utterly fascinating creating of Vyasa.

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एषः संस्कृतचमत्कारः

 

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