Bedtime stories from space

Reading to your children is an invaluable bedtime ritual, but keeping them interested can prove a challenge for even the most experienced of parents. Luckily, the Global Space Education Foundation has just the thing you need: Story Time from Space.

A combination of learning and play, the project is exactly what it sounds like — astronauts from all over the world recording videos of themselves reading popular stories while simultaneously floating around the International Space Station (ISS). The premise was the brainchild of Patricia Tribe, the former director of education at Space Center Houston, and Alvin Drew, the first NASA astronaut, to read a story in space for the programme.

The two were looking for a way to blend the disciplines of reading and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education together, before landing on the idea of having real-life astronauts reading children’s books. “What better role models to engage kids in science and to engage them in reading?” Tribe told the Huffington Post. 

“You’re not only looking and listening to the books, you’re looking around the International Space Station.” The ISS is a space station, or a habitable artificial satellite, in low Earth orbit and serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which crew members conduct experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology and other fields. The station is suited for the testing of spacecraft systems and equipment required for missions to the Moon and Mars.

The Story Time from Space programme aims to stress the importance of diversity by featuring books for a wide range of levels and using an assortment of astronauts that read in different languages, including Japanese.

But, it doesn’t stop there. The team also has plans to expand the project to include a set of simple science experiments for children conducted from the space station. 

Long live wealthy!

More than half of wealthy investors around the world expect to live to the age of 100, with almost two in three planning to work longer in life to afford a comfortable retirement, according to a survey.

The UBS Investor Watch, which tracks the sentiments of more than 5,000 people with at least $1 million in assets, showed nine out of 10 were adjusting spending habits and making long-term investments to finance their longevity.

But around one-in-four respondents based in the US and Britain said they were not making any such financial changes, highlighting a shortfall in retirement planning in two of the world's most important economies as life expectancy rises, especially among the rich.

“The idea of living to 100 would have seemed absurd up until recently. Now, it’s destined to become commonplace,” Nick Tucker, Head of UK Domestic at UBS Wealth Management, said.

The prospect of living longer and passing a smaller legacy to successors worried 35 per cent of respondents, UBS said, while 62 per cent said they were planning to give away more of their wealth while alive.

Ghat gets makeover 

Varanasi is considered sacred by Hindus and is among the oldest in the world to have been continually inhabited. As the Ganga flows past its ghats, all 88 of them, each one has a historical tale to tell — if only the walls could speak.

One such is the Balaji Ghat, which is more popularly known as the abode of legendary shehnai artist Ustad Bismillah Khan for his early morning “riyaaz”. It is said the late musician would start his day from the ‘naubatkhana’ of the Balaji Ghat Palace and enthral listeners.

Built in 1735 by Maratha king Balaji Peshwa, it is an integral part of the riverfront and forms a part of the larger Panchganga Ghat. But the place turned into a pile of debris when four floors of the building completely collapsed in 1999. And again in September 2009, the floor of the Naubatkhana also collapsed.

Realizing the survival crisis that this culturally-rich structure was facing, INTACH carried out an initial documentation of the building in 2009. And, in 2012, INTACH nominated it for World Monuments Watch (WMW) and decided to take the initiative for renovating it -- after the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) granted it permission to do so.

After seven years of hard work and much effort, the building has been restored to its past glory and has also been thrown open to the public. A bonus to this heritage building is the museum which has placed all the antique pieces for display.

“We realised the need for immediate work and started off. Since it was a very vital project we involved only INTACH members for the restoration work,” Bindu Manchanda of INTACH said.

And for the smooth functioning of the restoration project, American Express extended its helping hand towards INTACH and contributed Rs 1.5 crore for the entire work.

“It is a partnership between INTACH and American Express. The hard work has paid off and we are very happy with the outcome. It was great to be able to contribute” in the protection of a heritage monument, said Manoj Adlakha, SVP and CEO, American Express Banking Corp., India.

Mt Everest beckons Sherpa

Between raising two daughters and working as a dishwasher at Whole Foods, Lhakpa Sherpa just doesn’t have time for training to climb Mount Everest. Even so, she has done it a record eight times and hopes to outdo herself yet again.

The 44-year-old native of Nepal holds the world record for summits of Everest by a woman and plans to return this month for what has become an annual expedition to the top of the world.

“My body knows that I have already been this high. It’s like a computer. It figures it out very quickly. My body knows the high altitude. It remembers.”

Lhakpa Sherpa is recognized by Guinness World Records and is well known in mountaineering circles, but she spends most of the year living a modest life in obscurity in Connecticut, where she moved with her now ex-husband, another well-known climber, in 2002.

She gets up most days at 6 am to walk her two daughters, 16-year-old Sunny and 11-year-old Shiny, to school. Then, because she does not know how to drive, often walks 3 km to her job, where she washes dishes in the prepared foods section and takes out the garbage. 

Without formal education, she has taken jobs in Connecticut cleaning houses, as a clerk at a local convenience store and as a dishwasher to give her daughters and now-grown son a chance at a better life in the US, she said.

Anne Parmenter, a field hockey coach at Trinity College in Hartford, climbed with Lhakpa Sherpa on an ill-fated Everest expedition in 2004. There were serious issues with that climb, including a physical confrontation between Lhakpa and her husband at the time that left Lhakpa unconscious.

— Sources: The Independent, Reuters, Associated Press & IANS