Soma Purana

I went to Plymouth, MI during this period for CP16 training. I found out a very nice Bikram Yoga place in Plymouth and had a class all seven days. Looking towards 1000 classes in 1000 days on 3/18/16!!! As a matter of fact, I did double on 3/21 Sun (took the morning class in NJ and an evening class in MI) and therefore have a extra day just in case.

I have become a little concerned with B12 since vegetarians don't get much B12. We don't need much B12, just about 1.0 mcg. Next time I go to Wegman's I will look for fortified soy milk which provides about 1.3 mcg per cup. http://www.wegmans.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=345948&storeId=10052&langId=-1#vitaminb Even though meat and fish provide plenty of B12, I was surprised to find that animals actually do not make B12 - only some bacteria and fungi do. For vegetarians there is another option called  Red Star Vegetarian Support Formula   which I am going to explore too. Some useful links: http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/b12.php http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=newtip&dbid=122&utm_source=daily_click&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_email http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/vitaminb12 http://www.veganhealth.org/b12/rec

I had an event on 1/23/16 Saturday at Bikram Yoga. Towards the end, I threw up and passed out for may be a minute. I was taken to the emergency and no problems were found. I felt fine after a few minutes in the yoga studio itself. I was doing double on this day since I knew the studio would be closed due to snow Sunday. I think, the simple reason for the event was I was not hydrated enough. However, this alarmed my family - my wife and daughter were also with me doing yoga. As expected Sunday everything was closed due to historic snow. I continued yoga with no difficulty every day the following week. I am approaching 1000 classes in 1000 days (today it would be 953 in 953) and I don't want to break the flow. After reaching the 1000 milestone, I don't plan to establish any more milestones. I won't do doubles. But I will go for yoga everyday I can.

My goal is now 1000 classes in 1000 days. After that, I don't plan on having anymore targets. Probably I must do some reflection on what this yoga has done for me. Let me first say what it has not. I did not lose a single pound of weight all this time. As a matter of fact, I gained about 20 lbs. Now I have begun to lose a few pounds. I have a bigger belly, disappointing. I don't suppose weight gain is caused by yoga. It is just diet. I don't have much interest in my work. No, I am not saying Bikram caused me to lose interest in work. That is just the result of aging, I am 63 now. I have stomatitis (mouth sores) occasionally flare up and cause much discomfort. I still do, Bikram did nothing for it. I used to be plagued by frequent knee pain with Bikram. It has not gone away completely. But it happens very rarely. In general, my knees are much stronger. What benefits did Bikram do to me? Even as I am losing interest in my work, I am gaining much interest in continuing...

I wanted to suggest what type of experiences a US visitor should plan to acquire. My brother's family will visit us in West Windsor, NJ some time in the future. So I started making my list below what experiences I would arrange for them. This list is not in any particular order. I will continue to update this list. Take them to a Trenton court and see how a trial is conducted. We all see court trials on TV and movies, but that does not reflect reality. Depending on time availability see both a civil trial and a criminal trial at least one full day each.  Take them to Mercer County community college and let them sit through an entire class period (either my class class or another professor's class). This will give them an experience of how students interact with each other and with the professor. My feeling is they will see this interaction is quite different from what they have experienced in India. Take them to Princeton University and sit through a public talk, a classro...

Ian Johnson had posted this post: http://www.returnyoga.org/2012/07/09/dandayamana-janushirasana-the-ego-stands-naked/ So true!

How many times the  term "equality" appears in the originally written US constitution? Answer : zero times. How many times the  term "equality" appears in the 27 amendments to the  US constitution? Answer : exactly once. The 14th amendment says, no state shall " deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." A single reference, boy, how powerful it has been! This is a cornerstone of american civil rights.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1316376/posts

This question did not ever occur to me. Did it occur to you? We should always challenge status quo. I came across an article  that neuroscience and Buddhist beliefs agree that "the self" ever-changing. Doesn't seem far-fetched to me. I have seen numerous people who have changed so radically between their childhood and adult lives or even between two adult ages. We have heard the expression "you are not the same person anymore." Most mainstream religions seem to suggest that self is fixed. Some say self is indestructible, not even death eliminates the self. But interestingly radical transformation of "self" is visible in people who were not religious before became deeply religious (e.g., George W. Bush). Do you think Dalai Lama would be such a kind-hearted person if he were not chosen as the Lama and instead his life as farmer or a bank clerk? Religion always muddies up the water, if you ask me. While it says "the self" is fixed, ...

R proposed to S and S accepted. On 9/20 Pari and I went for dinner at Doasi Place with Anupam and Rumu. We had a wonderful time. On 9/21 we went to see a musical "Little Women" at Kelsey Theater. N came home on 9/21 and stayed with us for a few hours and drove back that night to Brooklyn. An eventful day!

I was discussing my friends Anupam and Rumu about the level of students that we teach. It is the usual diatribe about how bad they are, etc. I think it is difficult for professors to put themselves in a typical student's shoes. It is not always easy to for anyone to understand everything a professor teaches. In differential calculus, there is something called epsilon-delta definition of a limit which everyone hates. It is not all that critical and the sky doesn't fall if you skip teaching it. But most professors gamely go thru the ritual of teaching it and spoiling their hour and and their students feel they just sipped world's worst drink. My take on this, if students don't understand it, skip it. If it is really important condense it, simplify it, teach it in a way one can follow. Buddha understood this very well. He devised three different means or vehicles for imparting his teachings depending on the level of his audience. All three aim for the same Buddhahoo...

I have missed class on a few days in the last hundred days. But as before, I made it up by doing doubles on other days. I am waiting for 1000 to happen and then I will take a day off!

Interesting reading here .

These days, I come across so many words I am not sure what they mean. For instance, I started reading a research article and came across three terms in the short very first paragraph  that I had heard before but forgot their exact meaning, "sympathetic nervous system", "cohort", "prospective study." Thank god for Google to quickly find the meaning on the net and move on.

There are less than 100 glycobiologists in the entire US. Freeze is a one of the most talented one. Listen to his talk at a conference here .

Harrison Ford plays the glycobiologist in the movie. He studies a rare genetic disease called Pompe. Watch and listen here . The movie is based on the true story.

You should read this "The illustrated guide to a Ph.D."

I have found some exciting writings on rare genetic diseases. I am still reading this one . It is very interesting reading written by non-biologist Matt Might about a rare deadly diseases his young son has. Matt who is a computer science professor in the university of Utah won an award for best online science-writing. You may also want to read the same story written in a shorter version by a journalist here .

Frank Macfarlane Burnet was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1960 for his clonal selection theory which explains how our body's adaptive immune system works. 

In Epigenetics, we learn about methylation and acetylation. acetylation may not really be considered epigenetic marking since it is not heritable by mitosis.  Also, acetylation is marking on histone N-term tails which do not affect DNA directly but can be considered as chromatin remodellers by eating into histone's positive charge. Histones methylation does not alter the charge of the histone. H3K4me means methylation of the 4th Lysine (K) residue on histone 3. DNA Methylation, on the other hand, can occur on CpG islands in the DNA and can modify transcription.