The older I get the more I believe you have to give something back to the universe, to society, to nature, to your god — you decide what to call it. There are lots of ways of doing that and for us one of them is to help other people. Buddha’s Smile School is a privately run school for underprivileged children in Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh, India.

The school is run by a woman called Rajan Saini who has been working for many years giving hope, an education and daily sustenance to the untouchable caste children of the region.

For them the school if free — Rajan and her husband Sukhdev use their own income and combine it with funds they receive from other people to support, educate and feed these wonderful and deserving children. You can give directly to Rajan by going here and following the bouncing ball — which is what we do. Or, if you prefer visit Amistad International — a registered USA charity that is also helping them.

Go on! Give it a go! I bet you’ll feel better afterwards.

I enjoyed visiting Chengdu. It’s a huge city of about 10 million — seems mostly modern(ish). One thing I do notice when I travel these days, is how we are all the same. We all work, we all eat lunch and we all want to be happy. The old saying — more things unite us than separate us — has never seemed truer for me.

For a while now, I’ve been reading how calorie restriction may extend life so I thought it was time to stick something about it on my blog.

This is another study that seems to suggest that when people substantially cut their calorie intake they may also enjoy the 30% increase in longevity discovered a while back when these tests were performed on rats and lower life forms.

In a nutshell: cutting calories may work to extend life by reducing body temperature and levels of insulin, as well as by decreasing DNA damage.

These traits are also associated with maintaining a low-carb or a carbohydrate controlled diet.

Okay, I admit it! I’m old enough to be a grandfather — well, old enough in years, but I am definitely not old enough in my head.

Grandfatherhood has always conjured up the kind of images that play havoc with my brain. I never thought I would be a father and I can assure you, most unequivocally, that my life-plan never included any child of mine having children of their own. And like all well-laid plans of mice and men, this one never quite turned out the way I expected. Even though the idea of being called Grandpa still sends a shiver down my spine, when my grandson gives me a smile and looks to me for a cuddle then all that stuff is forgotten in a instant.

I’ve done a lot of reading about grandparenting since finding I was a tad deficient in some areas, and not quite sure what my daughter expected me to be able to do. Most of the advice I read can be put into two words: DON’T PANIC!

That was easy to do, until I tried the whole feeding thing.

The Net is a wonderful space, there is advice for every situation. It seems if you want to survive a feeding without having to change your clothes and wash your hair afterwards, all you need do is:

• Drape a tea towel or a nappy over each shoulder
• Wear a hat so the child doesn’t run his food-laden fingers through your hair
• Wear recreational spectacles, swimming or laboratory goggles to keep food and other stuff out of your eyes
• Wear a smock. They suggested a large shirt worn backwards but I went out and bought a pinnie. One of those that go over your head.

Anyway, I’ve got to say it went rather well. I fed him today for the first time and I came out of it totally unscathed. Not one mark on me — nothing. After I de-robed he stopped crying and gave me a smile…

Now I’m off to find out how to change his nappy without getting soaked or throwing-up. Any suggestions?

THE chances of a British person falling ill with avian flu will be as low as 1 in 100 million even if the virus infects birds in Britain, the Government’s chief scientist said yesterday. Link

You gotta love these scientists. They know everything, and nothing. In this case the UK’s chief scientist is claiming that bird flu is nothing to worry about. Well, I suppose that’s true — there’s not much to worry about if you don’t go around kissing chickens or eating them rare.

However, what this know-all statical maven hasn’t mentioned is this: If — and maybe it’s a small if and maybe it’s a big fat if — but if the virus mutates — I mean we’ve all seen the movie and viruses do mutate and become airborne. Well, if that happens, this scientist won’t be too worried, he’ll be holed-up in his specially controlled environment laboratory along with the politicians who are also telling us not to worry.

Us — that’s me and you — well be out here standing in various lines, wearing a government issued smog mask, arguing with some equally scared 20 year old army sergeant and dropping dead like flies.

No need to scare yourself silly about Global Warming — well not yet anyway. Take a look across the pond at Indonesia they have just confirmed a 27-year-old woman who died on Monday in Jakarta had bird flu — that’s 20 people who have died of bird flu in Indonesia since July.

Meanwhile the French are also getting worried. One little old Turkey with the flu has caused their poultry industry to drop by more than thirty percent. French scientist and politicians (who we all love and trust) are saying that it’s okay to eat well-cooked eggs and chicken meat.

I suppose if you like your Sunday eggs fried (or poached) with hard shrivelled up yokes and without any hollandaise sauce, well then, that’s okay. Personally, I’m off to cook some good old Aussie lamb chops for breakfast. Honey, where’s the barbecue sauce?

Here’s a little something for all you hygiene nuts.

For the gross news of the day – a twelve year old schoolgirl, Jasmine Roberts, took part in a science fair at the New Tampa school and took the top prize for her project that compared the level of bacteria found in ice used in drinks served at a fast food restaurant with the level of bacteria in the toilets at the restaurant.

Her discovery: Seventy percent of the time, the ice had more bacteria than the toilet water.

Weight of the Evidence | Link