LAUNCH OF WEBSITE WWW.SAMKANNAPPAN.COM ON NOV23, 2014:
Website www.samkannappan.com was launched on November 23rd, 2014 at Anjali center, Sugar Land, Texas by Dr. KamleshLulla, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston.
Dr. Ranjit Pillai, RND LLC, who developed the website requested Dr. Lulla to launch the website. Dr. Lulla mentioned about Kannappan’s contributions to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
Guests spoke their experiences with Kannappan for past many years. KR. Thiagarjan, Founder Chairman, Sri Meenakshi Temple, mentioned that Kannappan reminded him about upcoming actions on a continual basis and was thinking of the temple project all the time. He said when returning from a temple fund raiser event at San Antonio Dr. EA Palaniappan’s home, Kannappan drove towards Corpus Christie instead of towards Houston talking about the temple project.
Gopal Anantha said his family stayed with Kannappan when they came to Houston from New York and got involved in Sri Meenakshi Temple from the inception. BalaBalachandran said Kannappan helped to get visa to travel to India quickly. Dr. Padmini Nathan said that Kannappan calls her younger sister. She worked with Kannappan for the Tamil Nadu Foundation (TNF) conventionin Houston in May 2012. She asked Kannappan to summarize his life experience in one sentence. Kannappan said “ Regardless of ones background, ( poor or rich, from urban or rural areas, formal education or not) with hard and sincere work, he or she can reach the goal”. ParthaKrishnaswamy, BKM President, said that Kannappan works with both heart and brain. He helps others with his heart. He uses brain to write technical books.
Sockalingam Narayanan, brother of Kannappan, said Kannappan asked MGR for street lights in Nattarasankottai when MGR asked Kannappan what he wanted from him. Kannappan did not ask for anything for himself from MGR.
Rajan Radhakrishnan said he met Kannappan when he came to Houston to start a restaurant. Kannappan gave good suggestions regarding the Houston population with diverse background. He said he worked with Kannappan for TNF convention preparing for about fifteen months. Srikanth Venugopal also said he enjoyed working with Kannappan for TNF convention.
Dr. Sulekh Jain said he was told to meet Kannappan first when he moved from Cleveland. Dr. Naa Ganesan said Kannappan visited him in Seattle for NCEES board meeting. Nat Murthy said that Kannappan stayed with the goal of building an unique temple in Houston. He said Kannappan’s wife Meenakshi was supporting him in all his activities.Ramesh Cherivirala, President, Indo-American Charity Association said that he worked with Kannappan for Hurricane Katarina relief. He said that comments about organizational dictatorship he heard from a few turned out to be not true.
Dr. S. Alaguguruswamy said “Kannappan is Meenakshi temple and Meenakshi Temple is Kannappan”
Kannappan narrated his childhood days. His great grand father Meiyappan’s 80th birthday celebration included song by nine year old M.S. SubbuLakshmi. She sang again at Kannappan’s father Sockalingam’s 60th birthday in June 1980. SemmengudiSrinivasaIyer sang at 60th birthday of grand father Narayanan in October 1940 in Nattarasankottai.
Kannappan’s father left Burma in 1963 leaving all the properties when military nationalized all businesses . He was elected and served as Honorary Secretary for Kasi (Varanashi) Shiva Temple trust and protected properties worth about 300 crores.
David Palaniappan, MeenakshiKannappan, Leela Krishnamurthy, Malar Narayanan, RajiAlaguguruswamy, Padma Anantha, MeeraSrikanth, Viji Raja, Dr. A.K.Subramanian and Dr. Ram Sivaraman also graced the occasion.
Krishna Giri made the facility arrangements at Anjali Center and helped with photography. Somarajan Nair arranged for the snacks. Ranjit Pillai and Kushal Dekote handled the website presentation.
Hi, I am a registered Professional Engineer in Texas with over twenty-five years of experience in design, analysis, and software development for the petrochemical, refinery, and pipeline industries more
ASIA SOCIETY WELCOMES FOUR AMBASSADORS:
Sam Kannappan, Advisory Board, Asia Society
Asia society Texas center , Houston and US-ASEAM business council arranged a panel discussion by four U.S. Ambassadors on October 6th 2014. Charles C. Foster, Chairman, Asia Society, welcomed the gathering. Robert O. Blake, Ambassador of Indonesia, said that Indonesia has made good progress after the collapse in 1999. President Elect JokoWidodowill assume office on October 20th. William E. Todd, Ambassador of Cambodia said through negotiation government elected in July 2013 will assume office now. Joseph Y Yun, Ambassador of Malaysia, said that two plane accidents and President Obama′s visit had world focus on Malaysia. Bilateral cooperation is carried out in education and US visa waiver. Kirk Wager, Ambassador to Singapore is best friend for USA and provides platform for doing business in Asia. Alexander Feldman, CEO of US-ASEAN business council , said celebrates 30th anniversary and assists American businesses to do business in ASEAN region.
Concern about dominance by China in South China sea was discussed. Use of nine-dotted line by China is rejected by Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia. The Ambassadors agreed India would provide a balancing power to China in the region. Chase Untermeyer, Former Ambassador to Qatar moderated the panel discussion.
Picture: Sam Kannappan with Ambassador Robert O Blake
SUGGESTION FOR BLOG: MULTITASKING
Sam Kannappan June 4, 2010
Does multitasking increase efficiency? I think multitasking does not result in significant improvement. But on the other hand it is even dangerous. The term multitasking came from the computer industry. Only one task is active at a time. But tasks are rotated through many times in a short time in single core microprocessors.
In Human multitasking, people take longer to complete tasks and are predisposed to error. The brain is compelled to restart and refocus. If both tasks require selecting and producing actions, severe interference occurs. Action planning represents a “bottleneck.” The human brain can only perform one task at a time. Lapse of attention or absent mindedness can result from multitasking.
If the above is true, then why do we believe that people who multitask are able and efficient. It is possible to switch between simple non-competing tasks and have minimum disruption. Time management also helps to do any task efficiently. Benefits of time management is sometimes misunderstood to be from multitasking.
Question: There was a chess master once who would play ten different players simultaneously, and win every time. Was he “Multitasking” or engaging in “time management?”
Sam Kannappan,713 724-4399, sam.kannappan@gmail.com,www.samkannappan.comFATE OR FREEWILL:
Sam Kannappan, Houston, Texas
After seeing the movie “The Adjustment Bureau” in March 2011, I wanted to write and discuss this topic. In one′s life, is future determined by fate or it can be changed by Freewill?
The general tendency for the human mind is to blame fate when a task fails. When a task succeeds to claim victory or attribute the success to freewill against all odds. The fate or freewill definition seems to change depending on the end result? One may have certain goal. If the goal is reasonable, it is believed that by free will, the goal can easily be achieved. When some unexpected obstacles comes along, one blames fate.
THE KING′S SPEECH:
Sam Kannappan, Houston, Texas
After I saw the movie The King′s speech, I thought of writing something about it. King George VI had a stammering (stuttering) problem which started around 4 or 5 years of age. Some emotional event could have started the stuttering. Soon after King George V died elder son Edward abducted the throne to marry Mrs. Simpson of Baltimore. Invasion of Poland and declaration of war against Germany, resulted the great anxiety in England. Younger brother George VI′s speech capability becomes very important. The movie is about how a speech therapist without any credential helps the King to deliver the first War address to the world.
Other than highlighting the history during World War II, what does the movie tell? Any one regardless of their position in the society may have some insurmountable problem. But with effort and mentoring, one can overcome the difficulty.
King Goerge VI′s elder daughter Elizabeth follows him as the Queen of England. After her coronation, she visited Chennai (Madras), India in 1960. I saw the procession with my uncle on the road in front of Madras high court.
Have humanity learnt anything in the past fifty thousand years?
Sam Kannappan, Houston, USA, sam.kannappan@gmail.com,March 16, 2004
1. Change is a sure thing that happens. Movement of our ancestors from Africa
2. Religious differences do NOT go away for centuries
3. Super consciousness at individual level
4. Supra or Universal consciousness at group level
Today, we feel that things change around us all the time. Look at the past 50,000 years. Dr. Spencer Wells, Stanford University, in his book “The Journey of Man” , says that our ancestors migrated from Southern Africa through Madurai, India to Australia FIFTY THOUSAND YEARS ago. Specific Y chromosome markers (passed from father to son, some times with mutation) were identified in living descents today establishing origin, transit and terminus of the first known migration of human kind. This was followed by migration to China, Europe (30,000 years ago) and then to North America (15,000 years ago).
Buzz words come and go. At restaurant tables, one sees signs about low Carb or No Carb, not low Fat any more. One more change. By 2006, Trans Fat, which increases bad cholesterol and decreases good cholesterol, should be listed in all packaged foods in USA. One hears about 24/7 about serving all the time. What happened to 7/11 meant the store where one can buy things at odd times?
From the time of the thinkers of renaissance in Florence, Italy such as Calio to the out of box thinkers of 2004 AD, has the humanity learnt anything worth while? Religious conflicts which inflicted Humanity during the time of William Shakespeare in Europe continue to this day. Many wars are being bought in the name of religions. We all forget that ancestors of 6 billion people living today came from one place in Southern Africa. Divisions due to religion and race are artificial.
Basic problem is humanity fails at individual level and also at the group level. Super consciousness of individuals has not progressed through the centuries. Through Super consciousness, thoughts, words and actions are purified. Checks and balances are well thought off with common cause in mind. Long term effects should be thought off or not ignored. But actions are usually based on selfish short term gains. Question comes to a immature mind What do I get out of this?. So action is planned and manipulated to serve the self in many indirect and hidden ways. One justifies actions to suit ones immediate needs.
As a group at every level such as followers of a religion, dwellers of a city or citizens of a nation, we have not progressed in supra consciousness or Universal Consciousness. Through Supra consciousness, actions of a large group of people are lead in a way to benefit the humanity at large. Peer pressure or desire to fit in the common mould restricts out of box thinkers. Humanity should move towards peaceful coexistence with each other. Then there will some hope for progress in the right direction.
BIRTHDAY
by Sam Kannappan, Houston
Birth Day is the day when the children look forward to blowing out the candles on the cake and to receive gifts. When one gets older, the birthday gets noticed less.
My birthday came along on Tuesday December 28th. I like to start the day with a cup of coffee. But I had to go for a fasting blood test. When I arrived at the laboratory, they sent me to another location. After I gave blood, I drank that cup of coffee. My next stop was at the imaging center for a CT scan. When I arrived, I was given barium to drink. I was about to start on the second dose of barium. I told the technician that I drank coffee thirty minutes earlier. He said “Oh, NO”, You need to come back in about four hours.
So I drove to my office in Baytown. As usual, analysis tasks of urgent nature were waiting. So I spent next four hours solving two complicated problems reminding my stomach that I can not even drink water. When four hours passed, I drank second dose of barium and drove to the CT scan center. When finished with the CT scan, I went home to get ready to go to a Holiday Party in Friendswood knowing that I cannot eat much there.
TO BE IN THE TRAFFIC OR NOT TO BE:
Emerging thoughts in Sam Kannappan′s mind on March 13, 2004
I am from Houston, Texas. This week we were driving in the rural roads of Missouri and Illinois. One crosses mighty Mississippi River bridge looking at the beautiful lighted towers supporting cables at Alton. During driving, you come across one city had no traffic lights. Another City had a Down Town of old brick buildings with one light. What a difference compared to Houston. Due to the closing of the spur to Down Town, cars backs up on Southwest freeway. Traffic is going to get worse due to the Katy Freeway construction with two lanes only. In rural Illinois, you travel through highways next the family owned small stores. The owner at the counter gives directions with a map. He takes time to explain that the winding highway in side the small town cautioning that the highway number changes after the unprotected rail way line crossing.
At lunch time, one customer stares at Martha Swart on the TV screen and says “Does the punishment fit the crime?” People take sides clearly in the presidential campaign between the importance of jobs and security. Some play Missouri State lottery′s Keno game which continues all the time on a monitor. One jumps up with joy to claim the ten dollars won in the last round. Every one in the room notices his winning. When I arrived back in sprawling Houston, the recent images of the rural life in Missouri and Illinois fades away as a distant memory.
A CHILD IN YOU:
March 3, 2011
A colleague from Mumbai, India, Murukesh Lakur, spent a few weeks in Houston, Texas. The day before he left, he told me that he saw a child in me. I told him that I take that as a compliment and asked him what different thing he saw in me compared to adults. He said “purity”. Then do the world experience makes a person not pure when growing up? Then I remembered Late Actor Nakesh from Chennai told Meena′s brother Late Athappan years ago that I am like a child in a grown up person.
If an adult is considered a child, does that mean the adult is not street smart and can be tricked easily. Anatomically, significant changes in brain structure continue after age 18 reaching adulthood. Does learning make an adult see deficiencies where as a child may not see the deficiencies? Does a child say what it sees where as an adult modifies the thought in to a presentable format? Is the level of intuition, not intelligence, same for both a child and adult? Is manipulation in an adult an outcome of being street smart?
So I started looking into the difference between children and adults.
I found the following quotations:
The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives. - Albert Einstein
A child can ask questions that a wise man cannot answer. - Author Unknown
Children are unpredictable. You never know what inconsistency they′re going to catch you in next. - Franklin P. Jones
Children find everything in nothing; men find nothing in everything. - Giacomo Leopardi, Zibaldone Scelto
We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many different languages. The child knows someone must have written those books . It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books but doesn't know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God. We see a universe marvelously arranges and obeying certain laws, but only dimly understand these laws. Our limited minds cannot grasp the mysterious force that moves the constellations. - Albert Einstein
Success and failure in one′s life (An accumulation many smaller incidents)
October 24, 2009
Persons to be highlighted:
Successful Person: Mahatma Ghandi
Not successful Person: Adolf Hitler
Mahatma Ghandi:
Karam Chandra Gandhi was born on October 2nd___in Porbander, India. His father was a ___ and mother was housewife. He was assassinated in 1948. His close friends were___and___. He had __ sons and __ daughters.
Five incidents to be highlighted:Adolf Hitler:
54 pages linkIncidents to be highlighted:
Adlof Hitler was born on 20th April 1889 in Austria. He committed suicide with his long-time mistress Eva Braun on April 30th 1945 in Berlin. He served as chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945. He lived in Linz, Vienna, Munich, Berlin. He became German Citizen in 1932.
Childhood: He was close to his mother. His father frequently beat him.
Parents life style: Father was an illegitimate child. He was an Austrian customs official.
Close friends: Childhood friend August Kubizek said that he was a confirmed anti-Semite when he was a eight years old in Linz in 1897.
He attended Catholic school in an 11th century Benedictine cloister whose walls were engraved in number of places with the symbol of the swastika. He wanted to become an artist or an architect.
Milestone events, major events (out of their control) shaped their life: