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Ash Wednesday marks the first day of a privileged journey of forty days for Christians.

As you know, Jesus retreated into the wilderness and fasted for forty days to prepare for his ministry. It was for Him a time of contemplation, reflection, and preparation. By observing Lent, most Christians join Jesus on His retreat.

Lent consists of the forty days before Easter. Biblical societies relied very heavily on wood fires for heating and cooking, which meant that keeping ashes under control was a major housekeeping task. Then as now, if a person was preoccupied with something serious, they didn’t always tend to the housekeeping—it’s the least of their concerns. Imagine that there is a death in the family. A friend stopping by to pay their respects might gently say, “Did you know you have ashes on your face?”

So ashes became a sign of remorse, repentance, and mourning. Today someone might wear a black armband to signify that they are in mourning; back then people put ashes on their foreheads.

I attended church this morning and I can tell you that the church was packed full. It was great to see such reverence. The priest even said that Jesus must be happy to see such numbers of worshipers to follow his steps.

You can find biblical examples of this in 2 Samuel 13:19, Esther 4:1-3, Job 42:6, and Jeremiah 6:26. During Lent, ancient Christians mourned their sins and repented of them, so it was appropriate for them to show their sincerity by having ashes on their foreheads. The custom has persisted in the church as secular society has changed around us. It is most appropriate on Ash Wednesday, when we begin a period of sober reflection, self-examination, and spiritual redirection.

Traditionally, the ashes for the Ash Wednesday service come from burning the palm fronds from the previous year’s Palm Sunday celebration. If you burn the palm fronds yourself, don’t add any other ingredient—just burn the ashes plain. Add a little oil to the ashes so that they will stick to people’s foreheads. Of course, it is easier to purchase them from a religious supply house.

Some people only celebrate the happy times in Jesus’ life: Palm Sunday, Easter Sunday, and Christmas. But I think as true friends, we should also watch and pray with Him on HolyThursday, stand by Him at the cross on Good Friday, and retreat with Him into the wilderness during Lent.

In India, yogis often mark their forehead with ashes to remind themselves that they are made of carbon and will return to this state whilst their spirit will continue to survive. It is a lesson to practice detachment from earthly matters. The spiritual is more important than the physical.

May I wish all of you Christians a holy spiritual journey for the next 40 days?

Do you know why Google invested in Nanosolar?

What progress has since being achieved for this new technology?

Could we be daring enough to invite Nanosolar to roll out the technology and use the whole country as a Laboratory and a world show case of its products? Aren’t we blessed by the sun?
Imagine the solar house generating its own source of energy and even supplying the grid network with its surplus.A whole village could be developed along this same concept. There after a whole island could follow. Can you now dream of a clean energy efficient island country? Why not the Nanosolar Island?

Nanosolar’s vision:

At Nanosolar, we believe that energy should be clean, affordable, and abundant; and that the path to this is through innovation and technology.

In an age where carbon fuel scarcity is making peak-time electricity very valuable and where carbon fuels are driving global warming to unsafe levels, it is increasingly mandatory for electricity to be produced locally, clean, and in ways that reduce the peak-load burden on already overtaxed electricity grids.

At Nanosolar, we are working to make it possible to put A Solar Panel on Every Buildingâ„¢.

By setting the standard for solar technology with industry-leading cost efficiency and availability, we are planning to become the world’s largest solar energy technology company and thus contribute to creating a future based on inexhaustible, clean, affordable, and reliable energy.

Our revenue aspiration is to be the fastest company ever to go from $1 to $1 billion; and to sell $100 billion (in ’05 dollars) in PV panels by 2020.
For such a venture,we need our entrepreneurs to move and our politicians to buy in the dream and to set the proper regulatory frame for it to happen.

I invite you Mru Bloggers to start propagating this idea with your friends and the friends’ friends. Hopefully we would have created a loud enough “buzz” to get a spark. So the first step would be to Cut and paste this post to all your address book. The second step to arouse the mass media to this idea. The third step could be a write a petition letter to our Minister of Energy. Let us start off the NANOSolar Island!
What are your views?

The number of times I heard the word “Happiness or Happy” to wish our friends the Chinese Newyear moved me today. The same thing happens on most feasts isn’t it? Happy Newyear; Happy Divali; Happy Easter; Happy Sankranti or Merry Xmas

I had earlier written a blog on Happiness and had brought to contribution one of my favourite mystics:

Happiness is our natural state. Happiness is the natural state of little children, to whom the kingdom belongs until they have been polluted and contaminated by the stupidity of society and culture. To acquire happiness you don’t have to do anything, because happiness cannot be acquired.

You don’t have to add anything in order to be happy; you’ve got to drop something. Life is easy, life is delightful. It’s only hard on your illusions, your ambitions, your greed, and your cravings.

Today on reading Guy Kawasaki’s blog, I was again awakened to the question of “Happiness.” He quoted:

Andrian White, a University of Leicester Psychologist who wrote on Self Well Being ( SWB) Factor of nations wherein Mauritius would rank 73th on the World Map of Happiness. I would only wish that we climb the ladder of the ranking!

Whilst the interest in SWB within positive psychology is to be welcomed it is interesting to note that the commercial development of the subject is in the very countries where SWB is highest. This leaves positive psychology open to the accusation of selling self-help to the worried well. The current lack of positive psychological studies in countries where levels of SWB are low does nothing to assuage this concern. It is worth asking where are the positive psychological studies exploring the effects on SWB of providing healthcare and education to communities that have never before has access to such resources? An approach that explored these questions really could be called positive psychology.

EXTRACT FROM THE PAPER OF Andrian WHITE

I wonder: how is it possible that the inhabitants of Paradise Island have such a low SWB ranking? It is worth noting that Denmark is at the top of the heap whilst our neighbour Paradise Island Seychelles is ranked 20^th. Why?

My meager contribution to the positive psychology to increase in our country is to offer to you and your friend the location of a free e-book of 90 pages: How to Be Happy and Have Fun changing the world.

Be Happy!

En ce jour de notre fête Nationale, Maha Shiva Ratree, je voudrai vous présenter, un extrait d’un récit de quelqu’un qui a vécu chez nous il y a quelques années.

Ce qui m’épate c’est la ferveur des dévots de Shiva et surtout le nombre grandissant des pèlerins. Que la fête soit un point de ralliement identitaire de la communauté hindoue ! Que la convergence vers un point commun le grand bassin soit signe d’unite!

Citation

Je me souviens aussi que la vedette incontesté et incontestable de ton marché est ton herboriste, celui là même qui dispense les herbes qui guérissent tout (ou donne la ” vigueur ” sans viagra) de génération en génération. Et puis, sans en avoir l’air, je n’arrive pas à oublier cette spiritualité ambiante de l’Inde mais quelque peu « dévoyée » que tu distilles comme de lourds parfums d’orchidées. Oh, ne te vexe pas ! Quand je dis que ta spiritualité est dévoyée, ce n’est pas une insulte, bien au contraire. Par « dévoyée », j’entends que cette spiritualité a recréé à sa mesure le savoir et l’érudition des bramanes qu’elle n’avait pas pu importé dans les maigres balluchons des coolies débarqués des pointes de l’Inde après l’abolition de l’esclavage ; qu’il s’agit d’une forme de spiritualité sans prêtres, et pratiquement sans livres qui a reconstruit ses structures et son clergé. Par exemple Le Gange et ses pèlerinages ont été remplacés par GRAND BASSIN, ton lac solitaire, niché à l’intérieur des collines, hors des itinéraires touristiques. Et c’est là que chaque année, pendant plusieurs jours les fidèles convergent dans un gigantesque balai qui envahi l’île du Nord au Sud.

Je me souviens que pour la fête de Maha Shiva Ratree, chaque village, chaque communauté tient à transporter à porteurs des ” cathédrales ” de bambous, des feuillages, des pierreries, des décorations, en l’honneur de Shiva. C’est bien normal puisque les habitants les auront patiemment construits pendant de longs mois, comme peuvent le faire en d’autres lieux les écoles de Samba.

Je me souviens de la concentration de ces ” monuments ” sur Grand Bassin…… cette marche forcée, de jour comme de nuit, enfants aux crochets des basques des parents, indifféremment à la gauche ou à la droite de l’autoroute. Pour comprendre la ferveur de ton peuple, il faut avoir assisté, à 6 heures du soir, quand la nuit commence à tomber, aux immenses cortèges quasi silencieux de pèlerins en dévotion qui montent en files lumineuses aux temples de Grand Bassin pour y honorer les signes de Shiva, lingam et yoni. Ces signes sont baignés d’offrandes de fleurs et de noix de cocos importées à grand frais d’Agalega et que les prêtres découpent d’un seul coup de coupe-coupe. Je me souviens qu’en début de soirée, au bord du lac, les fidèles jambes de pantalon troussés, les pieds dans l’eau y trempaient de milliers de petites lumières, des pastilles de méta qu’ils laissaient ensuite glisser sur le lac à bord de larges feuilles de manguiers, le tout accompagnée d’une lente constellation de prière.

Fin de citation

Jean Michel Billaut as announced came to Mauritius and delivered 3 full day seminars on the theme Future 2.0. He also gave a short presentation to the managers of the National Computer Board.

Jean Michel forecasts the slow death of our call center industries with the advent of Visio-technology coupled with the increased of the bandwidth of the internet due to be in place soon with the decision of the French Administrations to install ‘end to end’ fiber optics connections throughout the French territory.

I was so pleased to have held in my hand a proto-type version of iliad e-reader.
My partners of APM who contributed for Jean Michel’s trip to Mauritius, left the seminars happy to have learned so much about the future yet still hungry for more knowledge.

In the nutshell, without larger bandwidth,hi speed internet and without fiber optics connections the future of Mauritius would be gloomy.

Merci Jean Michel

http://billaut.typepad.com/jm/2007/02/ocean_indien_n1.html#comments

Nicole is being treated for cancer.The evil has recently been diagnosed and the progress of the disease is said to be growing fast.I was shocked to hear of Nicole’s illness.
As many Mauritians who have migrated in the 70’s to Canada,some of her children now live in North America whilst Nicole and Maurice had elected to reside partly in Singapore and Floreal Mauritius for some years already. Nicole herself comes from a family with many children. Her sisters and brothers, most of whom are over 60 are presently living in Mauritius,Canada and Italy. How to keep track with the relatives and friends? The blog is the solution.

Reading Nicole’s blog allows the whole gamut of well wishers, relatives and friends to keep track of her progress daily.

Nicole & Maurice: Bon Courage, God Bless you. You are in my prayers.

Would you be interested to have a non interested view of a fellow traveler on his latest appreciation or dissatisfaction on the services provided by the hotel you are about to book?

Vinivi a newly established internet service in Mauritius is now providing this service on line for 36 countries and covering over 19000 hotels or lodgings!

I encourage you to visit the site and to discover for yourself the benefits you could derive from its services. Furthermore why not encourage a Mauritian based enterprise to prosper?

I spoke today with the initiator of the project, Gilles Granger to inquire about his business model and his success factors.I leave you to guess his answers.

The display at Walt Dinsey World, designed in close collaboration with Bat Conservation International Founder Merlin Tuttle, features two remarkable species: the Malayan flying fox (Pteropus vampyrus) and the Rodrigues fruit bat (Pteropus rodricensis). The Malayan flying fox, also known as the large fruit bat, is easily the largest of the world’s bats. Its wingspan can exceed six feet (1.8 meters). Never before has a bat so large been on public display in North America, and the effect on visitors is dramatic.

The Rodrigues fruit bat, though much smaller, plays a key role in the educational aspect of the exhibit. It is among the rarest of mammals. Native to the single Indian Ocean island of Rodrigues in Mauritius, the species seemed destined for extinction just a quarter century ago, when only 70 Rodrigues fruit bats survived. Intense conservation efforts and a captive-breeding program have increased the population to around several thousand. The legacy of this species’ return from the brink of extinction gives us a perfect conservation message for our guests.

The Disney’s Animal Kingdom has 20 Malayan flying foxes and 7 Rodrigues fruit bats. The bats, all of them males, came from the Lubee Foundation, Inc., of Gainesville, Florida, in 1998. The nonprofit organization, dedicated to conserving Old World fruit bats, was founded by the late Luis F. Bacardi of the Bacardi Rum family, an early and stalwart supporter of BCI.

The Disney Animal Kingdom is visited by millions of pet lovers per year. Has any Mauritian Entrepreneur thought of making use of this unique opportunity to reap in some economic value from our Rodrigues fruit bat?

Because of my wife’s place of birth in La Ferme Rodrigues ,I have a foible for the Island.

Today in Paris,The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said temperatures were probably going to increase by 1.8-4C (3.2-7.2F) by the end of the century.

Dr Rajendra Pachauri, the IPCC chairman, said: “It is extremely encouraging in that the science has moved on from what was possible in the Third Assessment Report.

“If you see the extent to which human activities are influencing the climate system, the options for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions appear in a different light, because you can see what the costs of inaction are,” he told delegates in Paris.

Writing in the journal Science, an international group of scientists concluded that temperatures and sea levels had been rising at or above the maximum rates proposed in the last report, which was published in 2001.

The paper compared the 2001 projections on temperature and sea level change report with what has actually happened.

The models had forecasted a temperature rise between about 0.15C-0.35C (0.27-0.63F) over this period. The actual rise of 0.33C (0.59F) was very close to the top of the IPCC’s range.

A more dramatic picture emerged from the sea level comparison. The actual average level, measured by tide gauges and satellites, had risen faster than the intergovernmental panel of scientists predicted it would.

In my earlier blog in July last year, I mentioned the mitigating effect of global dimming.Now, the 130 scientists have statued: the net effect of global warming is greater than forecasted earlier.
Island country like Mauritius, where a large part of our economy is based on sea related Tourism,has to readjust its economic strategy. Soon,there would  be a Carbon tax for airline travelers which will change the economics of traveling long distances and also an environment tax to be levied from those causing deteriorations of the global  environment.
I wonder if the authorities issuing building permits  on the coast will integrate these  climatic changes to come :the rising sea level, warmer atmosphere, more violent winds  etc…..”Gouverner c’est prevoir” I had been taught by my 6th grade primary school teacher Mr. Aime Laval to whom I am forever so grateful.

The entrepreneur in me sees opportunities to exploit, in the light of such future certainties.

En 1806, était il possible de s’en procurer aux marché une volaille pour se nourrir et d’en faire une fête ? Peut-être bien que la volaille était de la ferme de l’éleveur ou alors la volaille été le produit de la chasse !

En 2006, est il possible de s’en procurer du poisson pêcher ou du poisson de ferme? Dans peu de temps, les produits pêchés de la mer ne suffiront pas. L’exploitation grandissante de la pêche conjuguée avec une baisse drastique de la reproduction marine résultera dans un déficit irréversible. O la ! Déjà les quotas sont imposés par les pays sensés et conscients de la situation critique de la pêche non contrôlée. La solution : l’aquaculture ou cultiver l’océan.

Je vous recommande la lecture d’un mini dossier qui parait sur l’express du jour le 24 janvier. Je me réjouis de voir l’évolution de la deuxième phase de la societe FMM. Red Drum semble avoir pris des ailes….Outre de se trouver à la table des convives de Maurice, Red Drum et Guele Pavee de FMM donnent saveur aux repas gastronomique maintenant en Suisse, Afrique du sud, les pays du Golfe, les états unis d’Amérique et le Canada. FMM a ouvert la voie me disait mon ami Jean Pierre H…, maintenant les gros captaines arrivent ! La bataille et le jeu d’influence seront pour les meilleurs sites ! Voila que l’industrie de la mer prend son envol. Petit Ile Maurice avec un champ d’action océanique très étendue ! Ile Maurice Ferme océanique d’envergure c’est mon rêve !

Cultivons l’Océan…notre Ferme Marine Bio et Ecolo!