Mirror lake, Utah

Mirror lake--situated in the Uinta National Forest in Central Utah- is a tiny but very beautiful lake. Its clean blue water perfectly adds to its natural beauty.

Wow....it has been nearly three months since I last wrote in my blog. Well, this summer passed very well. I became the dad of a second child-Smriti. This time my wife and I were better prepared as parents than when our first child was born. The hardest part now is to manage time between the lab and the family. We have been through few experimentations to churn out an schedule that works best for all of us and we are still working on it. Talking about last summer, we had several get togethers, few potlucks, few short trips around Utah and other fun stuffs. Due to our very young children, we did not make any long trip and we are not hoping any for one more year. Hopefully, that won't let our "enthusiasm for travelling" let up. There are many interesting stuffs piling up in my mind which I will surely pour into my blog so stay in touch and I hope you also enjoyed your summer.

Marshy, balloony land raised above the ground....

It was downpouring this late afternoon here at Salt Lake City. Fortunately, I happened to see an amazing natural phenomenon right infront of my apartment at the West Village: a swampy land filled with water, as if it were a balloon, and raised above the ground. The neighbors were having fun. This video shows how the marshy land looked like.

Female Winner of the Salt Lake City Marathon 2009

Blurry Image.....huh! Nevertheless, I happened to catch in my camera the top female finisher of the salt lake city marathon 2009.

Male winners of the Salt Lake City Marathon 2009

So we now know the winner of the Salt Lake City Marathon 2009. Fortunately, I happened to capture the first and second male finishers of the competition in my camera early during the race and here I put their image again with baloons showing who finished first and second with respective finish time. I am looking back at the images I took y'day to see if I can find the first female finisher. For now, this is it.

Salt Lake City Marathon, 2009

Could our belief have a healing effect?

( Image :http://realchristianity.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/prayer.jpg)

Of late, I am reading articles relating religion or faith to health. Growing up in an oriental country where people believe so much in religion and have so much faith in God, I always wonder whether such beliefs have any curative effect on health, let alone there effect on many other countless wishes the devotees pray God for. It was a revelation to find that people in the western world also believe in religion and God. They may not seem to be as extravagant to show off their devotion as the Orientals, but they equally believe that their faith in religion and God saves them from various illness and misfortunes and helps them live a healthy life. A recent article pubnlished in TIME mentions that different forms of prayer like meditation, yoga etc. do help develop the frontal and parietal lobes of the brain; such development not only increases the ability of the brain to think and analyze it also helps living better life by rationally removing all the faulty predispositions coming to one’s mind. Equally important is another religious practice of fasting. It is now well known that the followers or at least devotees of all major religions practice fasting in some way or the other. Short term fasting is beneficial biologically as well. People eating little less than that required by the body were found to live longer than those eating plenty or in excess. A less stress to the digestive system means better functioning of the system itself and of the whole body. Fasting is believed to have purgative effect on the digestive system helping body get rid of any undigested, faulty materials and tune itself for better performance. Yes, pushing oneself to the limit in the name of religion and faith may have dangerous consequences; yet, little faith and little spirituality could actually do good to our health. So what do you think, go for the little ???

For more read: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1879016,00.html