Coal Miners Of Meghalaya, India

Source: Based in New Delhi for Getty Images, photographer Daniel Berehulak writes for LightBox about his photo essay documenting the working life of coal miners in the Jaintia Hills.

I traveled to India’s far northeast last month, before the monsoon rains set in and rendered the mines unworkable for the summer. In the Jaintia Hills, in the remote state of Meghalaya, miners descend to great depths on slippery, rickety wooden ladders. Men, women, even children squeeze into ‘rat hole’ tunnels lacing thousands of privately-owned and unregulated mines. There, they toil to extract coal by hand with primitive tools and no safety equipment.

I was unsure of what the story would hold or the conditions I would face. I spent a week there, though two days were lost to arguing with ‘guides’ who, we believe, were hired by the mine owners to keep us from reporting. We eventually got underground to witness what miners were enduring to scratch out such a sad and meager existence.

As I was shooting an image of miners being lifted out from a shaft, about 300-feet deep, I wondered what I would do if the cable were to break and come crashing down. That is how four miners had died only weeks earlier. Where could I hide? Narrow shafts do not offer many escape routes beyond a few ‘rat hole tunnels’ that are two or three feet high.

Prabhat Sinha, from Assam, carries a load of coal weighing 60kg's, supported by a head-strap, as he ascends the staircase of a coal mine near the village of Khliehriat, in the district of Jaintia Hills, India. miners descend to great depths on slippery, rickety wooden ladders. Children and adults squeeze into rat hole like tunnels in thousands of privately owned and unregulated mines, extracting coal with their hands or primitive tools and no safety equipment.

Workers load coal onto trucks at a mine in the Jaintia hills, located in India's far North East state of Meghalaya.

Fourteen-year-old Chhai Lyngdoh, kicks out the coal from a container, as it is emptied onto a heap, after being craned out of a 300ft deep mine shaft.

Workers load coal onto a truck at a coal depot.

20 year old Anil Basnet pushes a coal cart, as he and a fellow worker pull coal out from the rat hole tunnel 300 ft below the surface.

22 year old Shyam Rai from Nepal pauses as he works, digging out coal, using hands and a pick to get at the seams of coal.

A crane lifts miners out of a 300ft deep mine shaft, as they head out for their lunch break.

A miner unloads tools after being hoisted from the depths of a coal mine.

Coal miners wash themselves off as they break for lunch at a coal mine.

A crane lifts miners out of the 300ft deep shaft of a coal mine.

12 year old Abdul Kayum from Assam pauses for a portrait, whilst working at a coal depot carrying coal to be crushed

Workers load coal onto trucks at a coal depot. After traversing treacherous mountain roads, the coal is delivered to neighbouring Bangladesh and to Assam from where it is distributed all over India, to be used primarily for power generation and as a source of fuel in cement plants.

An umbrella lays discarded on a heap of coal.

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10 Things You Didn't Know About You

Your Stomach Secretes Corrosive Acid
There's one dangerous liquid no airport security can confiscate from you: It's in your gut. Your stomach cells secrete hydrochloric acid, a corrosive compound used to treat metals in the industrial world. It can pickle steel, but mucous lining the stomach wall keeps this poisonous liquid safely in the digestive system, breaking down lunch.

Body Position Affects Your Memory
Can't remember your anniversary, hubby? Try getting down on one knee. Memories are highly embodied in our senses. A scent or sound may evoke a distant episode from one's childhood. The connections can be obvious (a bicycle bell makes you remember your old paper route) or inscrutable. A recent study helps decipher some of this embodiment. An article in the January 2007 issue of Cognition reports that episodes from your past are remembered faster and better while in a body position similar to the pose struck during the event.

Bones Break (Down) to Balance Minerals
In addition to supporting the bag of organs and muscles that is our body, bones help regulate our calcium levels. Bones contain both phosphorus and calcium, the latter of which is needed by muscles and nerves. If the element is in short supply, certain hormones will cause bones to break downeupping calcium levels in the bodyeuntil the appropriate extracellular concentration is reached.

Much of a Meal is Food For Thought
Though it makes up only 2 percent of our total body weight, the brain demands 20 percent of the body's oxygen and calories. To keep our noggin well-stocked with resources, three major cerebral arteries are constantly pumping in oxygen. A blockage or break in one of them starves brain cells of the energy they require to function, impairing the functions controlled by that region. This is a stroke.

Thousands of Eggs Unused by Ovaries
When a woman reaches her late 40s or early 50s, the monthly menstrual cycle that controls her hormone levels and readies ova for insemination ceases. Her ovaries have been producing less and less estrogen, inciting physical and emotional changes across her body. Her underdeveloped egg follicles begin to fail to release ova as regularly as before. The average adolescent girl has 34,000 underdeveloped egg follicles, although only 350 or so mature during her life (at the rate of about one per month). The unused egg follicles then deteriorate. With no potential pregnancy on the horizon, the brain can stop managing the release of ova.

Puberty Reshapes Brain Structure, Makes for Missed Curfews
We know that hormone-fueled changes in the body are necessary to encourage growth and ready the body for reproduction. But why is adolescence so emotionally unpleasant? Hormones like testosterone actually influence the development of neurons in the brain, and the changes made to brain structure have many behavioral consequences. Expect emotional awkwardness, apathy and poor decision-making skills as regions in the frontal cortex mature.

Cell Hairs Move Mucus
Most cells in our bodies sport hair-like organelles called cilia that help out with a variety of functions, from digestion to hearing. In the nose, cilia help to drain mucus from the nasal cavity down to the throat. Cold weather slows down the draining process, causing a mucus backup that can leave you with snotty sleeves. Swollen nasal membranes or condensation can also cause a stuffed schnozzle.

Big Brains Cause Cramped Mouths
Evolution isn't perfect. If it were, we might have wings instead of wisdom teeth. Sometimes useless features stick around in a species simply because they're not doing much harm. But wisdom teeth weren't always a cash crop for oral surgeons. Long ago, they served as a useful third set of meat-mashing molars. But as our brains grew our jawbone structure changed, leaving us with expensively overcrowded mouths.

The World Laughs with You
Just as watching someone yawn can induce the behavior in yourself, recent evidence suggests that laughter is a social cue for mimicry. Hearing a laugh actually stimulates the brain region associated with facial movements. Mimicry plays an important role in social interaction. Cues like sneezing, laughing, crying and yawning may be ways of creating strong social bonds within a group.

Your Skin Has Four Colors
All skin, without coloring, would appear creamy white. Near-surface blood vessels add a blush of red. A yellow pigment also tints the canvas. Lastly, sepia-toned melanin, created in response to ultraviolet rays, appears black in large amounts. These four hues mix in different proportions to create the skin colors of all the peoples of Earth.

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Introduction of Corporate World

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Yuvraj Singh Six Sixes in T20 World Cup

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Yuvraj Singh is the left handed batsman, Indian Cricketer.

In the 2007 Twenty20 World Cup, Yuvraj hit six sixes in an over against England’s Stuart Broad a feat performed only three times previously in any form of senior cricket, and previously never in an international match between two Test cricket nations. India defeated England in this match.

Yuvraj hit the longest six of the tournament 119 meters off of Australian bowler Brett Lee.

India won the world cup 2007 T20 world cup.

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How to make a Wi-Fi connection

How to make a Wi-Fi connection

7 tips for working securely from wireless hotspots
Wireless hotspots are changing the way people work. These wireless local area networks (LANs) provide high speed Internet connection in public locations—as well as at home—and need nothing more than a mobile PC such as a laptop or notebook computer equipped with a wireless card.

In fact, hotspots are an everyday connection method for travelers and remote workers to browse the Internet, check their e-mail, and even work on their corporate networks while away from the office.

Hotspots range from paid services, such as T-Mobile or Verizon Wireless, to public, free connections. Hot spots are everywhere, including:

• Coffee shops 
• Restaurants 
• Libraries  
• Bookstores  
• Airports  
• Hotel lobbies

But they all have one thing in common—they are all open networks that are vulnerable to security breaches. And that means it's up to you to protect the data on your PC. In this article, we cover a few tips to make working in public locations more secure.

1. Try to choose more secure connections

It's not always possible to choose your connection type—but when you can, opt for wireless networks that require a network security key or have some other form of security, such as a certificate. The information sent over these networks is encrypted, which can help protect your computer from unauthorized access. The security features of different networks appear along with the network name as your PC discovers them.

2. Make sure your firewall is activated

A firewall helps protect your mobile PC by preventing unauthorized users from gaining access to your computer through the Internet or a network. It acts as a barrier that checks all incoming information, and then either blocks the information or allows it to come through. All Microsoft Windows operating systems come with a firewall, and you can make sure it's turned on.

To activate the Windows Vista Firewall

• Click Start and then click Control Panel.
• In Control Panel, click Network and Internet. 
• Under Windows Firewall, click Turn Windows Firewall on or off. 
• Ensure that On is selected. 

 To activate the Windows XP Firewall 

• Click Start, and then click Control Panel. 
• In Control Panel, click Network Connections. 
• In the Network Connections window, under Network Tasks, click Change Windows Firewall Settings. 
• In the Windows Firewall dialog box, on the General tab, ensure that On is selected.

3. Monitor your access points

Chances are that there are multiple wireless networks anywhere you're trying to connect. These connections are all access points, because they link into the wired system that gives you Internet access. So how do you make sure you're connecting to the right one? Simple—by configuring your PC to let you approve access points before you connect.

Configure Windows Vista Access Points

Windows Vista takes the guesswork out of connecting to hotspots because you are automatically prompted to approve new connections. In addition, after you approve a connection, you assign it a profile for future use.

Configure Windows XP Access Points

• Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Network Connections.
• Right-click Wireless Network Connection, and then click Properties. 
• On the Wireless Networks tab, make sure that the Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings check box is selected. 
• Under Preferred networks, make sure that the name of the network that you want to connect to is highlighted, and then click Advanced. 
• Click Access point (infrastructure) network only, and then click Close.

4. Disable file and printer sharing

File and printer sharing is a feature that enables other computers on a network to access resources on your computer. When you are using your mobile PC in a hotspot, it's best to disable file and printer sharing—when it's enabled, it leaves your computer vulnerable to hackers. Remember, though, to turn this feature back on when you return to the office.

Disable file and printer sharing in Windows Vista

• Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
• Click Network and Internet, and then click Network and Sharing Center. 
• Under Sharing and Discovery, click the arrow next to File sharing, click Turn off file sharing, and then click Apply. 
• Click the arrow next to Printer sharing, click Turn off printer sharing, and then click Apply.

Disable file and printer sharing in Windows XP

• Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
• Click Security Center, and then click Windows Firewall. 
• Click the Exceptions tab, and then under Programs and Services, clear the File and Printer Sharing check box.

5. Make your folders private

When the folders on your mobile PC are private, it's more difficult for hackers to access your files.

To make a folder private in Windows Vista

Windows Vista not only makes folders private by default, but it also requires passwords for shared folders. As a result, you're already covered! But if you want to double-check, simply right-click on the folder in question, and select Properties. On the Security tab, you can review the set permissions.

To make a folder private in Windows XP

• Click Start, and then click My Computer.
• Click the drive where Windows is installed, and then click Documents and Settings. 
• Open your user folder, right-click the folder that you want to make private, and then click Properties.
• On the Sharing tab, click Do no share this folder, and then click OK.

Repeat the steps above for each folder that you want to make private.

6. Encrypt your files

You can protect your files further by encrypting them, which requires a password to open or modify them. Because you must perform this procedure on one file at a time, consider password-protecting only the files that you plan to use while working in a public place.

7. Consider completely removing sensitive data from your notebook PC

If you're working with extremely sensitive data, it might be worth taking it off your notebook PC altogether. Instead, save it on a corporate network share and access it only when necessary. This way, you have multiple safeguards in place.

A few simple precautions can help make working in public places more secure. And by selecting the best connections and adjusting settings, you can enjoy productive and safe work sessions no matter where you are.

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How to Exercise Your Eyes

We all know how important it is to keep our bodies fit by doing things like going to the gym, jogging, and swimming. But, did you know that you can exercise your eyes as well?

Eye exercising will keep your eyes healthy and help minimize eyestrain. Here are some easy to follow steps and tips to exercise your eyes and keep them healthy!

Palming Exercise - Sit comfortably on a chair. Rub your hands together until they feel warm. Close your eyes and cover them lightly with your cupped palms. Avoid applying pressure on your eyeballs. Place your palms so that the nose remains uncovered, and the eyes remain behind the slight hollow of the palms. Make sure that no light rays enter the eyes, and leave no gaps between fingers or between the edge of the palms and the nose. You may still see other lingering traces of colors. Imagine deep blackness and focus on the blackness. Take deep breaths slowly and evenly, while thinking of some happy incident; or visualize a distant scene. After your eyes see nothing but blackness, remove your palms from your eyes. Repeat the palming for 3 minutes or more.

Close your eyes tightly for 3-5 seconds, then open them for 3-5 seconds. Repeat this 7 or 8 times.

Close your eyes and massage them with circular movements of your fingers for 1-2 minutes. Make sure you press very lightly; otherwise, you could hurt your eyes.

Press three fingers of each hand against your upper eyelids, and hold them there for 1-2 seconds, then release. Repeat 5 times.

Sit and relax. Roll your eyes clockwise, then counter-clockwise. Repeat 5 times, and blink in between each time.

Focusing Exercises - Sit about 6 inches (150 mm) from the window. Make a mark on the glass at your eye level (a small sticker, black or red, would be perfect). Look through this mark and focus on something far away for 10-15 seconds; then focus on the mark again.

Hold a pencil in front of you at arm’s length. Move your arm slowly to your nose, and follow the pencil with your eyes until you can keep it in focus. Repeat 10 times.

Look in front of you at the opposite wall and pretend that you are writing with your eyes, without turning your head. It may seem difficult at first, but with a bit of practice it is really fun. The bigger the letters, the better the effect.

Imagine that you are standing in front of a really big clock. Look at the middle of the clock. Then look at any hour mark, without turning your head. Look back at the center. Then look at another hour mark. Do this at least 12 times. You can also do this exercise with your eyes closed.

Focus on a distant object (over 150 feet or 50 m away) for several seconds and slowly refocus your eyes on a nearby object (less than 30 feet or 10 m away) that’s in the same direction. Focus for several seconds and go back to the distant object. Do this 5 times.

Focus on an object in the distance (as far as possible) with a low contrasting background. Do this for a few minutes every half hour or so. This does not improve your vision, nor does any other technique. It can, however, maintain your best eyesight level during the day and prevent significant further vision deterioration.

Make up and down eye movements starting from up to to down. Do this 8 times. Then do the side to side eye movement, starting from left to right. Repeat this 8 times. Make sure not to add pressure to your eyes! It only worsen your vision!

Tips

It’s more important to do the exercises regularly than to do them for a long time. Even 30-60 seconds of eye movement every hour is very helpful. For example, when your computer takes its sweet time to do something, most people just stare at the poor thing and waste the time, but you can make a few circles with your eyes. Even the first day you do this, you should notice that, when you finish working, your eyes aren’t as tired as usual.

Taking short breaks from near work (e.g. staring at a computer monitor) to stare out to the distance also relieves some strain.

Palming is a good method to help your eyes feel better. You close your eyes and put your palms over them, this will rest your eyes.

Blink the eyes many times.

Splash your eyes with cold water repeatedly when feasible, and especially when your eyes are strained.

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