Thursday, May 29, 2008

The 96-yr-old who blogs

Understand the meaning of the words of Randall on his 96th year.

"I am a learner. I believe that when one stops learning he ceases to live and that it is never too late to learn,"

These words are nice and encouraging me to do what I am hided in myself.


Randall Butisingh


At an age when people begin to lose interest in many aspects of the world around them, 96-year-old Randall Butisingh not only mastered the intricacies of the internet but also began his own blog, which describes him as one of the world's oldest bloggers and shows him as a man with a remarkable catholicity of interests.

The grandson of indentured workers who were taken to Guyana to work on sugar plantations, Butisingh has watched the world transform many times over in the past nine decades and has adjusted himself to the changes.


"I am a learner. I believe that when one stops learning he ceases to live and that it is never too late to learn," Butisingh said.

At the age of 80, he learnt Arabic so he could read the Quran. At 95, he began studying Spanish and he is doing it "poco a poco" (little by little). Butisingh has an agile mind and an eager interest in life and at present he is studying the Hindu religion and philosophy.

Butisingh's blog is versatile. Its subject categories vary from Buxton (his home town), economics, world politics, environment, history, philosophy, poetry, psychology, religion and an inspiring thought for the day.

In April, Butisingh posted a blog on his website that stressed the need to keep the internet an open arena and out of the hands of those who wished to place restrictions on this free medium. He responds to every comment or response to his popular blog.

Born in Buxton, Demerara, in what is now Guyana, Butisingh has never visited India since he does not like travelling, but he has followed Indian history and geography.


"The person I admire most is Mahatma Gandhi, the architect of India's freedom. Although I never saw him, I wept when he died as many did all over the world," he said.

He has three collections of poems to his credit - "Love's Light", "Wild Flowers" and "Love's Balm". His poems were written in the 1970s and he was inspired to pen them after reading about the life of the late blind and deaf humanitarian, Helen Keller.

Explaining his daily routine, Butisingh said: "At my age, I do not work strictly as per routine. I cannot read for very long although I have good eyesight. You may find me in the day resting for hours and at nights up until two or three reading or typing up my blog.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

With the death toll from a massive earthquake in China now above 67,000, the government aims to prevent new deaths by protecting survivors from possible floods and the threat of a disease outbreak. Jamila Trindle reports from Beijing.



Chinese health officials said Tuesday that they have begun the country's largest public health effort in recent history to guard against the threat of epidemics among survivors of the Sichuan earthquake.

Concern about possible outbreaks is rising not only because survivors are living in cramped, sometimes unsanitary areas, but also because the threat of disease is always higher in the summer. Officials say there have been cases of diarrhea, tuberculosis, and hepatitis among survivors, and they are monitoring the cases closely.

Ministry of Health official Chen Xian Yi says researchers have compared the current outbreaks with disease patterns before the quake.

Chen says that they have found that there are no more cases after the earthquake. In other words, he says, so far, there has been no big outbreak of disease.

While health workers focus on disease, soldiers are trying to evacuate an additional 80,000 people from around a lake that formed when a landslide dammed a river during the quake. With heavy rains expected in the coming days, there are fears the dam could give way suddenly, causing a flood that could endanger more than a million people. More than 70,000 people evacuated the area earlier.


how deeply the disaster affect the people in china. If you want to see the coordination of chineese people even in this critical situation read the ppt . http://naveendavisv.googlepages.com/Earthquake11.ppt