LONDON OLYMPICS 2012 LOGO

        London Olympics, which is now less than a year has a unique logo comprises of four broken blocks representing the year of 2012, each jagged with sharp edges. The block representing the number “2” has the city name London, written in a lower case. While the block representing the number “0” has the International Olympic Committee symbol of five intertwined circles i.e. Olympic rings. This symbol has the pride of being unveiled five years before the Olympic event itself in 2007. Thus, it also acts as the torchbearer (not physical) for the entire Olympic event as it is the only thing that would come to anyone’s mind when they think of this global event.

            And so the organizing committee took pains to create this piece of art that they say it conveys to the world their “openness, invitation” to the various global community to take part in the games. This logo is the result of £400,000 and designed by the Wolff Olins. It is said that it is aimed at the youth and “young people”. The design is lauded by the organizing committee and the persons who designed it but the public reaction to it is from mild to negative and hardly positive. Many observers panned the logo as a broken “Swastika” and even compared it to a sexual indulgence of a cartoon character. Not to forget a version of Swastika is the symbol of Hitler’s Nazi Regime. So there was widespread negative publicity. Iran came to the point of complaining to the IOC about the similarities of the Logo to the word “Zion” and threatened to pull out of the game but later it revoked. The logo is very bright in color unlike various former Olympics logo and modern too, resembling none of the cultural significance of the world’s biggest kingdom. An animation video released along with the logo caused seizures in number of people with photosensitive epilepsy triggering the cut down of the shot.

            

              The symbol devoid of neither any cultural significance, nor any relation to sporting activity except the Olympic rings is a letdown to many including me. So I thought of creating my own logo for the grand event. It is composed of both the number 2012 and the word London. The first and last three of the word London is made to resemble the year 2012 and also the word “LO” of the London resemble a person active in a sport either running, throwing a disc or a ball. It also depicts an open arm inviting people to come and join the grand sporting event. The four Pink stripe found over the letter N and O represents the four United Countries; England, North Ireland, Scotland and Wales which constitute the United Kingdom. London, which is the capital of the United Kingdom is the painted first “O” colored Pink, with a white dot representing “London Eye”

            

          I don’t hate the original logo, just that it didn’t reached my expectation. I know the hard work the persons involved would have undergone to create that logo. But it could have been better. I just don’t want people to remember that broken piece of glass as the reminder of one of the best Olympic Games that is going to occur at an international city of London.

            I have no idea with which software did the designer created the logo, but I have done my version of the logo with the help of simple Paint Brush application of the windows XP OS in a matter of a day so it wouldn't be as sharp and clear as the original. Though I would be happy if the concerned authorities provide me at least half of the £400,000 they spent on the original London Olympic Logo. J

Should you Exercise when Sick?

                   Worried about your hard earned fitness losing its sheen if you are not going to exercise when sick? First of all, it is normal that a person get fever or sick due to external or internal factor. The sickness strengthens the immune system of the body towards other pathogenic attack in future. Health centric people are often careful about their body and do not always tend to get sick. But lets see what to do when a person get sick and is puzzled about undergoing exercise. 

Brought down by cold and fever

            A common knowledge is that a person affected by ‘above neck symptoms’ like nasal congestion, sore throat and cough without fever can continue with their exercise as it increases the blood flow throughout the body and there is an increased level of oxygen into the lungs, thus relieving the respiratory tract of various congestions. But be sure that you are not contagious to spread your cold. Whereas cold along with fever that may include ‘below neck symptoms’ is a certain no-no towards exercise.

Burning calories

            So you exercise to burn calories? Don’t worry, there is a proven theory that when a person’s body temperature increases due to fever, the level of calorie burnt by the body to produce energy also increases. It says that an increase of 0.5°C in the body temperature will increase the BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) by 5% which literally means that there is an increased level of calorie burnt by the body as its temperature increases. Though the level is significant, it is not the best way to burn calorie. Until you force yourself high calorie food, you don’t have to worry about increasing your calories as a result of not exercising and continuous resting. At the same time, low calorie during fever will make the immune system harder to battle the flu.

Immune system

            The various layer of immune systems act as the protective layer of our body. They need nutrients from our diet to produce vital hormones and enzymes to fight against the flu. At this critical time, your stress through exercise depletes the resources required by the immune system making it tougher to fight the flu.

Rest and nutrition

            Rest, good nutrition and lot of water are probably the best when sick rather than exercise. Exercise during sickness prolongs the illness gradually decreasing the person’s fitness rather than increasing it. Stress to you body which is already under attack from pathogens will lead to wastage of stored energy in your body. Nutrient depletion will be unable to repair damaged cells or tissues by producing hormones. Thus stress through exercise will delay your time to recover.

Recovery

            Exercise or physical activity when sick depends on the severity of the sickness. You know your body better than anyone else. Take time to look after it and heed to its requests. Once after you recover, do not go back to heavy exercise. The body has just rejuvenated from an illness and will take time to roll back to normal as it was before you were ill. So start with a low to mild exercise like aerobics. The body will signal if it is ready for exercise i.e. if you get weak or muscle ache during this start ups, it means that you are not fully recover and need to reconcile for a few more days, but if it isn’t, you are ready to go forward and pump the iron bars.

PS: I'm not a doctor, this articles reflects my views along with advises collected from various health websites. So if you are a health fanatic and doesn't want to stop your exercise you better contact your doctor. :) 

                   

Does Social networking worth it?

           Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, I know, you would be replying for the title above with a yes, but do you really think that swapping to google plus from facebook might help? First it was friendster, then swap to friendsfeed, then the mighty myspace, double jump to facebook, and now google plus, Maybe in future you may swap to google thrice or even eyebook, earbook, legbook blah blah blah. Sitting in a comfy room and chatting, meeting your friends are common now. Days are numbered when they actually met face to face. 

"Yeah we met yesterday.." my friend said "On facebook!" when i asked him did he met any of our friends lately. It might be possible that a new social networking site may come offering such as

"you can actually share thing through us, just take and drop your thing in the box given below, But be careful to take out your hand immediately, we are sorry if you hand is shared" 

or

 " now you can really meet your friends face to face, just put your face in to the window(box) given below and your face will poke out of your friends monitor, but beware you can just put your face into it and nothing else"

          And whats with the color blue? sparing few all the other social networks colored their themes blue. Once done with the networking our eyes sees blue everywhere reminding me of a friend terming it as "blue fever". 

       but around the world social networking has helped connect millions of people for a good cause too, like the japanese tsunami fund raising, arab uprisings, etc. It can be used for a greater cause, but very unlikely to be used for taking the dog out for a walk. Many of you might even have spent many sleepless night using this social networking and waking up the next day late to use it again. Does it worth it? Go out and have fun. 

FORT MANORA

                     Manora fort is situated 20 km away from the town of Pattukottai, Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu, India. It was built by a Maratha king, Serfoji II in early 19th century. Serfoji II built this fort to showcase the win over Napolean army by the British army in the battle of waterloo. This fort also served as a base camp for the Britisher in many battles and also as a store house of their arms.

                     Its 230 meters high towers acted as the watch tower and also as the light house for the ships coming that way in the bay of bengal. The 8 storey tower was said to overlook a part of distant country Sri Lanka across the bay of bengal, a claim still unproven. It is said that the Lankan traders used to come to Manora and traded goods with their Indian counterparts.

                    Their are many claims regarding treasure Serfoji might have hidden inside the mazes of the fort. This claim resulted in the locals to damage the campus in search of the treasures but yielding none. Neglect from maintainance has already cost the heritage building severely that public are allowed to go until the 2nd floor of the 8 storey tower in fear of collapse of the tower. Also, it is claimed that an underground passege from this fort leads to the big temple in Thanjavur, 65 km away.

                     Many plans were tabled to improve the fort but all remained in the papers without moving further. The sea near the fort was planned to develop water sports, but when we got there the sea was filled with weeds and was in black in colour without much fanfare. The place was deserted with no tourists or even any persons in sight. Only the new modern lighthouse with a high gated compound looks fresh.

                    Without proper funds and government order it is impossible to bring back the glory of Manora, already ravage by peoples ignorance and natural disaster like the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. There are many age old legacies waiting behind the strong gates of Manora waiting to be told and revived.