Why Some People Seem To Have All The

Why Some People Seem To Have All The Luck

Richard Wiseman

Why do some people have all the luck while others never get the breaks they deserve? I set out
to examine luck, 10 years ago. Why are some people always in the right place at the right time,
while others consistently experience ill fortune? I placed advertisements in national newspapers
asking for people who felt consistently lucky or unlucky to contact me.

Hundreds of extraordinary men and women volunteered for my research and over the years,
have been interviewed by me. I have monitored their lives and had them take part in
experiments. The results reveal that although these people have almost no insight into the
causes of their luck, their thoughts and behaviour are responsible for much of their good and
bad fortune. Take the case of seemingly chance opportunities. Lucky people consistently
encounter such opportunities, whereas unlucky people do not.

I carried out a simple experiment to discover whether this was due to differences in their
ability to spot such opportunities. I gave both lucky and unlucky people a newspaper, and asked
them to look through it and tell me how many photographs were inside. I had secretly placed a
large message halfway through the newspaper saying: ‘Tell the experimenter you have seen
this and win $50’.

This message took up half of the page and was written in type that was more than two inches
high. It was staring everyone straight in the face, but the unlucky people tended to miss it and
the lucky people tended to spot it.
Unlucky people are generally more tense than lucky people, and this anxiety disrupts their
ability to notice the unexpected.
As a result, they miss opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something
else. They go to parties intent on finding their perfect partner and so miss opportunities to
make good friends. They look through newspapers determined to find certain types of job
advertisements and miss other types of jobs.
Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there rather than just
what they are looking for. My research eventually revealed that lucky people generate good
fortune via four principles. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make
lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive
expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.
I wondered towards the end of the work, whether these principles could be used to create
good luck. I asked a group of volunteers to spend a month carrying out exercises designed to
help them think and behave like a lucky person. Dramatic results! These exercises helped them
spot chance opportunities, listen to their intuition, expect to be lucky, and be more resilient to
bad luck. One month later, the volunteers returned and described what had happened. The
results were dramatic: 80 per cent of people were now happier, more satisfied with their lives
and, perhaps most important of all, luckier.

The lucky people had become even luckier and the unlucky had become lucky. Finally, i had
found the elusive ‘luck factor’.

1) Listen to your gut instincts — they are normally right.
2) Be open to new experiences and breaking your normal routine.
3) Spend a few moments each day remembering things that went well.
4) Visualise yourself being lucky before an important meeting or telephone call.

Why Some People Seem To Have All The Luck Page 1 of 2

Have a Lucky day and work for it.
The author of ‘The Luck Factor’ teaches at the University of Hertfordshire. This
article is in circulation as an e-mail forward.

Government of India has an online Grievance forum

Government of India has an online Grievance forum at http://www.pgportal .gov.in/ Can you imagine this is happening in INDIA? The govt. wants people to use this tool to highlight the problems they faced while dealing with Government officials or departments like Passport Office, Electricity board, BSNL/MTNL, Railways etc.

Many of us say that these things don't work in India. Couple of months back, the Faridabad Municipal Corporation laid new roads in his area and the residents were very happy about it. But 2 weeks later, BSNL dug up the newly laid roads to install new cables which annoyed all the residents. A resident used the above listed grievance forum to highlight his concern. To his surprise, BSNL and Municipal Corporation of Faridabad were served a show cause notice and the guy received a copy of the notice in one week. Government has asked the MC and BSNL about the goof up as it's clear that both the government departments were not in sync at all. So use this grievance forum and educate others who don't know about this facility. This way we can at least raise our concerns instead of just talking about the 'System' in India. Invite your friends to contribute for many such happenings. PLEASE SPREAD THIS MESSAGE IF U WANT OUR INDIA TO HAVE A BETTER TOMORROW & FORWARD THIS MAIL TO AS MANY AS POSSIBLE.

You tell me ......................

A college student took up a course in Wildlife Zoology. After one week theprofessor gave the class a test. He passed out a sheet of paper divided intosquares. In each square was a carefully drawn picture of some bird's legs.No bodies, no feet, just legs !!

The test asked each student to identify the birds from their legs.The student sat and stared at the test and got more and more angry. Finallyhe stumped up to the front of the classroom and threw the test on theteacher's desk.'This is the worst test I have ever taken.'The teacher looked up and said, 'Young man, you have flunked this test.Whats your name?' The student pulled up his pant-legs and showed theprofessor his legs and replied

You tell me ......................

Airtel Wifi Router having WLAN issues

Airtel service for Broadband is a fairly good service in terms of customer service, data transfer and downtime. I am a satisfied customer since last 3 years.

Its on Saturday morning, my WLAN suddendly stopped working. I am having a Beetel 450 BX I Wifi Router on rental from Airtel itself. From looking at the default settings within the modem, I knew it was not a configuration issue but somehow the router was bricked.

Calling the Airtel exective, he said he will try an Firmware update or else he will replace it. Firmware update did resolve the issue. It turned out that Airtel is doing firmware update remotely for all the beteel ADSL modems and in process of the mass update they updated all the wireless routers as well with the same firmware as the ADSL modem and hence the WLAN function stopped working.

So if you run into the issue where your wireless stops suddenly then

1. If connecting a cable and acessing the Internet works.
2. If the WLAN Led is glowing or not. If its not glowing its pretty much the firmware update issue or existing firmware has to be updated.

Management and Employee relations

Wire Art .. This is amazing

11Yr old fixes the computer which that ID Ten Error

Read somewhere in Web, just wanted to share. J ………..

“I was having trouble with my computer. So I called Eric, the 11 year old next door, whose bedroom looks like Mission Control and asked him to come over.
Eric clicked a couple of buttons and solved the problem.


As he was walking away, I called after him, 'So, what was wrong? He replied, 'It was an ID ten T error.'

I didn't want to appear stupid, but nonetheless inquired, 'An, ID ten T error? What's that? In case I need to fix it again.'

Eric grinned.... 'Haven't you ever heard of an ID ten T error before?' 'No,' I replied. 'Write it down,' he said, 'and I think you'll figure it out.'

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So I wrote down: I D 1 0 T === J “

या! दहशतवाद्यांनो, तुमचे स्वागत आहे.

या! दहशतवाद्यांनो, तुमचे स्वागत आहे.
सव्वाशे कोटींच्या या देशाची सतत वाढती लोकसंख्या कमी करण्यासाठीच जणू तुम्ही अभियान उघडले असावे -
असा संशय येण्याइतक्या नियमितपणे सुरू असलेले तुमचे बॉम्बस्फोट बघितले कि मन थक्क होते.
तुमच्या कर्तृत्वाला आमच्या देशात पूर्ण वाव आहे.
लक्षात ठेवा ... इथे लोकशाही आहे.

त्यामुळे तुम्हाला पोटा सारख्या कायद्याखाली पकडले तर 'विशिष्ट' समाजाची मने दुखावतील
याची इथल्या राज्यकर्त्यांना बालंबाल खात्री आहे.
त्यामुळेच पोटयाचा सोटा कधीचाच म्यान करून आमच्या देशाचे कर्तृत्वसंपन्न गृहमंत्री
तुमच्या कारवायांवर बारीक लक्ष ठेवून आहेत.

अर्थातच त्यांचे लक्ष तुमच्यावर आहे. तुम्ही त्यांचे 'लक्ष्य' नव्हे!
त्यांचे लक्ष्य आहे ती मतपेटी आणि मुख्य म्हणजे त्यात पडणारी 'कथित' एक गठ्ठा मते!
सारांश काय, तर तुम्हाला घाबरण्याच काहीही कारण नाही.
या आणि निरपराध माणसांचे अगदी खुशाल बळी घ्या !
कस यायचं या देशात हा काय प्रश्न झाला?

बांगलादेशातून लाखो बांगलादेशी नागरिक इथे येतात, त्यांच्या सारखेच तुम्हीही या!
नेपाळातूनही तुम्ही सहजपणे बे-रोकटोक येऊ शकता.
ना कोणी पासपोर्ट विचारतील, ना कोणी व्हिसा !
हे विश्वचि माझे घर या आमच्याकडच्या संतवचनाचा अर्थ 'हे घर त्यांचेही विश्व' असा सुद्धा लावता येऊ शकतो.

समझौता एक्सप्रेस, मैत्री एक्सप्रेस, गळ्यात-गळा पॅसेंजर अशा अनेक गाडया इथे येतात.
एकदा का या भारतमातेच्या कडेखांद्यावर तुम्ही बसलात कि तुम्हाला कोणी रोकणार नाही.
कुठेही जा, कशीही झोपडी उभारा, रेशनकार्ड काढा, मतदार यादीत नाव नोंदवा,
आणि हे सर्व जमवत जमवत अस काही बस्तान बसवा कि तुम्हाला विरोध करण्याची कोणाची हिंमत होऊ नये !
सुप्रिम कोर्टाने आय.एम.डी.टी. कायदा रद्द करून बांगलादेशी नागरिकांच्या हकालपट्टीचा मार्ग मोकळा केलाय खरा,
पण कोण माईचा लाल तुम्हाला हाकलून देईल?

मायबाप मनमोहनसिंगांनी विलक्षण हुशारीने सुप्रिम कोर्टाचा आदेशच हाकलून लावला. तेव्हा सुखनैव रहा.
आता तर काय, रामविलास पासवान यांनी तुम्हाला चांदीच्या तबकातून नागरिकत्व देण्याचीच शिफारस केली आहे.
केवढे हे औदार्य! किती पराकोटीची तत्व निष्ठा! तेव्हा अजिबात संकोच करू नका.
या आणि निरपराध माणसांचे अगदी खुशाल बळी घ्या!

या भारतवर्षात मानवाधिकारांच्या रक्षणासाठी कटिबद्ध झालेले कित्येक महान विचारवंत आहेत.
ते तुम्हाला अगदी हवं ते देतील. अगदी रोज इच्छाभोजन सुद्धा घालतील.
तुमच्या कारवायांचा सुगावा लागल्यामुळे 'विशिष्ट' वस्तीत कोंबिंग ऑपरेशन सुरू आहे असा नुसता फोन करा...

बघा मानवाधिकारवाल्यांची फौज तुमच्या मदतीला धावून येते कि नाही!
मुंबई पोलिसांना आणि इथल्या ए.टी.एस.ला मानवाधिकार कशाशी खातात हे तरी कळतं का?
त्यांनी तुम्हाला हात लावलाच तर मिडियातले मित्र देखिल तत्परतेने धावून येतील.

खूपच बोअर झाल्यानंतर निखळ मनोरंजनासाठी तुम्ही 'बॉम्बस्फोट-बॉम्बस्फोट' खेळता
आणि या नतद्रष्टांच्या पोटात दुखतं!
खरं तर त्यांनी तुमच्या प्रतिभेचं, धाडसाचं, कल्पकतेचं कौतुक नको का करायला?
केवढी तुमची विविधतापूर्ण शैली !

कधी रेल्वेत तर कधी रूग्णालयात, कधी कचरा-कुंडीत तर कधी स्कूटरमध्ये...
शिवाय त्यात एक भौगोलिक समानतेचं सूत्रही आहेच.
कर्नाटक असो वा काश्मिर, गुजरात असो वा गुवाहाटी... तुमचा खेळ सर्वत्र सुरूच!

आमचे गृहराज्यमंत्री श्री. प्रकाश जयस्वाल म्हणाले ते खरंच आहे
एवढया मोठया देशात इतक्या मोठया लोकसंख्येला वाचविण्याच्या कामात पोलिस पुरे पडणार तरी कसे?
तेव्हा पोलिस अपुरे आहेत, शस्त्रास्त्रे बोथट आहेत, कायदे शेळपट आहेत
आणि मुख्य म्हणजे निरपराध माणसांच्या मृत्यूबद्दल हळहळ व्यक्त केली,
नुकसान भरपाई जाहीर केली कि दहशतवादाचा विषय इथे तेवढया पुरता संपतो.
तेव्हा खुशाल या... निरपराध माणसांचे जीव घ्या !

या देशात एक बरे आहे. इतरांच्या मानवाधिकारांचे रक्षण करण्याची जबाबदारी असलेल्यांना -
म्हणजेच पोलिसांना - इथे फारसे मानवाधिकार वगैरे नसतात.

MASUM - Objectives

This is my second post on MASUM and I wanted to write about the objective and intiatives of MASUM in details.

Intervention against Family Violence

Any act of violence against a woman, whether at home or outside, is never an isolated incident. It is a weapon that is used by the powerful against those who are powerless. Immediate support is provided to women in distress by our para-legal workers called Saathis, at community level using strategies like counselling, imparting knowledge of the law to women, motivating women to form support groups and pressure groups at village level as well as by influencing decision-makers in the village to act on behalf of the distressed women.

The counselling center Samvaad (dialogue) located at Saswad reaches out to women who are victims of violence, abuse and exploitation. Emotional support and legal aid services are provided by trained social workers and a visiting lawyer from Pune.

MASUM has also worked with other organisations at the policy making level to help draft and enforce the law against domestic violence.

Health Programme - Our health workers at the village based women's health centers use self-help techniques to enable women to understand their own bodies and to participate in the process of diagnoses and treatment. An essential part of the health program is also to provide literacy to the rural women about their own bodies. The health workers at the centers conduct whole-body, speculum and bimanual examinations as well as breast examinations for detection of reproductive tract infections and other gynaecological problems at village level. Pap-smears are collected for prevention or early detection of cervical cancer.

The health workers treat women with traditional herbal medicines available in the neighbourhood, allopathic drugs under generic names, accu-pressure techniques, dietary alternatives and exercises.

MASUM's health program is not an alternative to the Government health program. Every person has the right to receive primary health care and it's the State's obligation to fulfill this right. Making people aware of this right is a part of MASUM's programs.

Training and capacity building - MASUM has started several capacity building initiatives with the objective of empowering women and other marginalized groups with useful skills and elevating their confidence.

Tailoring classes : Economic independence, self-reliance and confidence in oneself is a proven means of women's empowerment. MASUM conducts tailoring classes in various villages to teach young girls a useful skill. In addition to tailoring, the girls also learn physical exercises, self-defense techniques, health information, women's issues, rights of women and related laws etc.

Mobile Computer Van : This project, which started in May 2008, was envisaged with the objective of bridging the technological gap between urban and rural areas. A mobile van with 10 computer systems visits four villages in the Purandar Block to impart computer training to adolescent girls especially those from marginalized groups. We also aim to extend the services to school students in the form of computer aided education and to farmers to help them build a communication link with agricultural training institutes.

Human Rights Training Programmes : Over the past 20 years MASUM has developed as a credible training resource in areas of women's health care, gender sensitization and mainstreaming of gender issues, violence against women, human rights, reproductive and sexual rights, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR).
MASUM has functioned as the training unit for the Maharashtra Women and Health Programme (MAH - WAH). MASUM in partnership with IWRAW – Asia Pacific has conducted intensive training programmes for NGOs in Maharashtra as well as from other states of India on the CEDAW. MASUM is part of a group – Beyond the Circle which comprises of individuals, representatives of NGOs and academic institutions committed to advancing ESC rights in the Indian Context. MASUM's Institute of Training in Rights-based Activism (MITRA) was started in October 2003 as a program to build capacities of NGOs in Maharashtra working on diverse issues (women's issues, children's issues, health, HIV-AIDS, micro-credit, rural development) in urban, rural as well as tribal areas, by training participants from within these organisations in the rights based perspective and framework. This initiative was further extended to train activists from NGOs at the National level.

In addition to the above resource persons from MASUM have been regularly training other NGOs as well as government organisations on gender issues, women's health, micro-credit etc., Capacity building of rural NGOs on above issues is an ongoing activity of MASUM.

Publications : MASUM has produced and published several flip books, training manuals, booklets, reports and books on issues related to health, domestic violence and human rights to empower grass-roots level development workers with skills and knowledge required to bring about a noticable change in the field.

Micro-credit Programme – Streedhan Vikas Prakalp (women’s resource development program) Women’s self-help savings groups have been working since 1991 in 8 villages of Parner Block and 18 villages of Purandhar to enable poor women to build their resources. About 5000 women members save a small amount every month and access easy and low interest loans without any collateral in their time of need.

Children's Programmes - The current heirarchical framework in which our society operates today is a result of years of socialization. To break this mould that disempowers women, dalits and other marginalised communities, MASUM works with groups of children in order to create an environment conducive to the development of harmonious relationships based on gender-equality, non-violence, religious and cross-cultural tolerance and values of democracy. We work with groups of children divided into two age gropus. The Raan Pakhre (free wild birds) group is for children from 6years to 14 and Bharari (taking flight) group works with adolescents. This is also a space where children can come and discuss issues close to their hearts, share ideas, opinions as well as their problems. These children are encouraged to raise certain issues to the village level with the support of MASUM activists.

MASUM activists visit several schools to impart the same values to school students as well.

Our pre-school teachers conduct Balwadis (pre-school education) in the interior and highly neglected tribal areas in Parner Block in order to facilitate enrollement of children from these marginalized communities into mainstream schools.

Democracy Festival - MASUM stands for women's rights, democracy, equality, secularism and diversity. MASUM opposes fundamentalism. Every year Lokshahi Utsav, an idea that evolved in MASUM, is observed in Pune in which over 25 civil society organizations along with the citizens of Pune come together to celebrate the spirit of democracy. The celebrations are held from 26th Jan to 30th Jan during which several concerts, lectures, discussions etc. are organised.

Campaigns
MASUM is engaged in several campaigns and initiatives at the local, State and National level to promote basic human rights and the values that the organisation upholds.

MASUM - NGO

MASUM is an NGO and I was associated with this NGO while I was in Pune. For the Exemplary work which this NGO does, I was bound to write about it on my Blog. If this interest you or you wish to get associated for an NGO, feel free to contact MASUM's office and there are many needful people who would require you help, case and assistance.


1. Name of the organisation : Mahila Sarvangeen Utkarsh Mandal (MASUM)

2. Registration : Registered with Charity Commissioner, Pune region.
Registration Number - E/ 1284 / (Pune)

About MASUM

MASUM is a non-profit organization working in the rural areas of Purandar (Pune District) and Parner (Ahmednagar District) Blocks of Maharashtra with the oppressed, marginalised and minority groups with an emphasis on their participation in all activities and programmes. It aims at creating awareness about various forms of exploitation and abuse faced by the underprivileged and the minority groups in the community and help them organize themselves to deal with such violations. MASUM is a development group with a feminist perspective and a democratic approach. MASUM works mainly on the issues of Health, Domestic Violence, Women's Resource Development and Self-Employment, and Capacity building with rights approach.

MASUM's objectives :

· To make women self reliant and conscious of their human and constitutional rights and to put pressure on the state for fulfilling its obligation towards its people.

· To nurture women's physical and emotional health.

· To provide vocational training and credit facilities to women for self-employment.

· To create a sustainable and humane mode of development through people's active involvement in rural Maharashtra.

· To create a progressive space in society for all it's deprived people, and to specifically resist casteism, sexism, religious chauvinism and homophobia.

· To work towards the elimination of discrimination, inequality, intolerance and violence - both, within and outside the home.

· To work towards the creation of a society based on equality, freedom, democracy, diversity and peace.


MASUM is headed by a board of trustees including Ms. Nirmala Sathe (chairperson), Dr.Ramesh Awasthi, Ms. Manisha Gupte, Mr. Anwar Rajan and Ms. Anita Borkar.

The organization has a staff strength of about 65 people - rural and urban. As a policy MASUM gives priority to employing people from minority and marginalized groups.

Contact Persons : Dr. Ramesh Awasthi (Trustee and Co-Convener) - 09960807276
Ms. Manisha Gupte (Trustee and Co-Convener) - 09890870120

Contact details :

B1-41 Kubera Vihar,
Hadapsar Gadital,
Pune – 411028,
Maharashtra.


Tel – 91-20-26995625
91-20-26995633


SASWAD OFFICE

Mahalsakant Society,
Kodit Naka,
Saswad,
Purandar Taluka,
Pune District,
Maharashtra
India

Tel:- 02115-22969/33 (917-22969 from Pune City)


MALSHIRAS REGISTERED OFFICE

At Post Malshiras, (Bhuleshwar),
Purandar Taluka,
Pune District,
Maharashtra
India

Tel:- 02115-262167 (917-262167 from Pune City)

RALEGAN OFFICE

Gramin Mahiti Kendra(MASUM),
At Post Ralegan Sidhi,
Parner Taluka,
Ahmednagar District,
Maharashtra
India.

Tel:- 02488-40-221



Email : masumfp@vsnl.com
masum.puneindia@gmail.com

Website : http://www.masum-india.org/

What are Stem Cells?

A really informative article...

http://www.lifecellinternational.com/power-of-stem-cells-and-cord-blood/what-are-stem-cells

What are Stem Cells?

Stem cells are the primal cells of the body. The different cell types within the body are all derived from such cells- and hence the name. Stem cells are undifferentiated, "blank" cells that do not yet have a specific function. Characteristically, stem cells have a high capacity for self-renewal. This feature permits their continuous culture under laboratory conditions.
Stem cells have the unique ability to differentiate into a variety of cells.

When a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential to either remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function - such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell or a nerve cell.

Given the right environment, stem cells can give rise to a number of tissues that constitute the different organs. Also serving as a kind of repair system for the body, stem cells can divide repeatedly and then differentiate and replenish cells within the body. These unique characteristics are the reason why stem cells are considered a breakthrough in regenerative medicine. They have the potential for providing cells and tissues to treat various debilitating, life-threatening diseases.

Stem cells can be derived from various sources such as the bone marrow, embryos obtained by in vitro fertilization, amniotic fluid and umbilical cord blood.
There are three broad categories of stem cells, which can be derived from various sources such as the bone marrow, embryonic tissue, amniotic fluid and umbilical cord blood.


Why is Cord Blood so Valuable? Cord blood is the blood left over in the umbilical cord and placenta after the birth of a baby. This blood has been found to be an extremely rich source of stem cells. These stem cells can now be used as an alternative to embryonic, bone marrow and other stem cell types. There are no ethical controversies surrounding stem cells derived from the umbilical cord as the umbilical cord and placenta are usually discarded after birth.

Your baby's cord blood is a valuable source of stem cells that could be used to treat many life-threatening diseases and medical conditions. The value and benefits of umbilical cord blood stem cells are great as stem cells have saved many lives so far, and medical researchers are exploring new uses for umbilical cord blood stem cells in treating diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
Banking your baby's cord blood means that should a need arise, your child will have a source of stem cells that is an exact match, with almost no risk of rejection.

Diseases Treated with Stem Cell Therapy Across the world, stem cell transplants have been used since the 1960s to treat a variety of diseases such as:
Acute Leukemia
Chronic Leukemia
Histiocytic Disorders
Inherited Erythrocyte Abnormalities
Inherited Immune System Disorders
Inherited Metabolic Disorders
Inherited Platelet Abnormalities
Lymphoproliferative Disorders
Myelodysplastic Syndromes
Myeloproliferative Disorders
Other Inherited Disorders
Other Malignancies
Phagocyte Disorders
Plasma Cell Disorders
Stem Cell Disorders

Future Stem Cell Applications
Research is currently on for the following diseases

Moon and the Happy Smiley

Today, on 1st of December, the Moon turned into a smiley and want to post this picture if you'all missed the celestial phenomena.

The brighter star in the Pic is Venus and the other one is Jupiter.


Some more information at
http://www.moonconnection.com/moon_december_2008.phtml

smiley

Hats off to our soldiers!! What a soldier is...

This is a very very touching article I came across ... Hats off to our soldiers.


1/2 boy 1/2 man
The average age of the military man is 19 years.

He is a short haired, tight-muscled kid who, under normal circumstances is considered by society as half man, half boy. Not yet dry behind the ears, not old enough to buy a beer, but old enough to die for his country. He never really
cared much for work and he would rather wax his own car than wash his father's, but he has never collected unemployment either.

He's a recent High School graduate; he was probably an average student, pursued some form of sport activities, drives a ten year old jalopy, and has a
steady girlfriend that either broke up with him when he left, or swears to be waiting when he returns from half a world away.

He listens to rock and roll or hip -hop or rap or jazz or swing and a 155mm howitzer.

He is 10 or 15 pounds lighter now than when he was at home because he is working or fighting from before dawn to well after dusk.

He has trouble spelling, thus letter writing is a pain for him,
but he can field strip a rifle in 30 seconds and reassemble it in less time in the dark.
He can recite to you the nomenclature of a machine gun or grenade launcher and use either one effectively if he must.

He digs foxholes and latrines and can apply first aid like a professional.

He can march until he is told to stop,or stop until he is told to march.


He obeys orders instantly and without hesitation, but he is not without spirit or individual dignity.

He is self-sufficient.

He has two sets of fatigues: he washes one and wears the other. He keeps his canteens full and his feet dry.

He sometimes forgets to brush his teeth, but never to clean his rifle. He can cook his own meals, mend his own clothes, and fix his own hurts.

If you're thirsty, he'll share his water with you; if you are hungry, his food. He'll even split his ammunition with you in the midst of battle when you run low.

He has learned to use his hands like weapons and weapons like they were his hands.

He can save your life - or take it, because that is his job.

He will often do twice the work of a civilian, draw half the pay, and still find ironic humor in it all.

He has seen more suffering and death than he should have in his short lifetime.

He has wept in public and in private, for friends who have fallen in combat and is unashamed.

He feels every note of the National Anthem vibrate through his body while at rigid attention, while tempering the burning desire to 'square-away' those
around him who haven't bothered to stand, remove their hat, or even stop talking.

In an odd twist, day in and day out, far from home, he defends their right to be disrespectful.

Just as did his Father, Grandfather, and Great-grandfather, he is paying the price for our freedom. Beardless or not, he is not a boy.

He is the Fighting Man that has kept this country free

He has asked nothing in return, except
our friendship and understanding.
Remember him, always, for he has earned our respect and admiration with his blood.

And now we even have women over there in danger, doing their part in this tradition of going to War when our nation calls us to do so.

As you go to bed tonight, remember this shot. . ..

A short lull, a little shade and a picture of loved ones in their helmets.
Prayer wheel for our military... please don't break it Please send this on after a short prayer.
Prayer Wheel
'Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands.
Protect them as they protect us.
Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need. Amen.'
When you receive this, please stop for a moment and say a prayer for our ground troops , sailors , and airmen , in all frontiers

There is nothing attached...

This can be very powerful...
Of all the gifts you could give a Soldier, Sailor, Coastguardsman, Marine, or Airman, prayer is the very best one.
I can't break this one, sorry.
Pass it on to everyone and pray for the Indian Soldier.He will always do you proud.

Hotel Review - Pizza Hut - Kammanahalli

A laid back saturday afternoon was a perfect day to feast on a good Pizza. So instead of ordering it home we decided to visit the nearest

Pizza Hut

. Just left from Kamanahalli signal on outer ring service road, its very close by to our place, but the broken road for about 200 mts is a dissapointment.

Stepping in the place, the ambience was like any normal Pizza hut restraunt. But a warm greeting from the waiter who began serving our table, made us remark the difference in this place. The service is extra ordinary. The serving staff actually knows how to take care of the customers / guests. The pizzas are served almost at every corner but definitely the pleasant and positive experience made us write this review.

For anyone staying around outer ring road, this is a much recommended place. For ambience we would love to give 8/10, for service we would say 11/10 yeah a +1, food as usual deserves a 8 or 9.

Mumbai terror attack - What happens next

The whole nation watches, glued to television sets every minute, mourning, feeling sad, feeling angry, there is anguish but everyone knows the future of this incident. Its mumbai, it will be back on its feet in no time is the feeling around. Is it ok to have this feeling? What happens next? Probably the attack which is linked to pakistan, will be condemed by all politicians and the various countries and then the most dreadful of all thing, everyone will forget.

It took solid over a decade for India to punish the terrorists of the 93 blast, so what about now. There will be reports filed, and in another 2 days, media will start reporting the usual stuff on Rakhi Sawant and Himesh Reshmiya and the topic of the biggest terror attack on India goes to the back burner.

So who all gained in this terrorizing event.
--> Yes ofcourse, Pakistan, they got to smirk on making India miserable.

-->Politicians, LK Advani didn't spare commenting that the PM's speech was useless. Everyone wanted camera coverage. MR. Munde couldn't get enough that he walked straight to the nariman house location; for what? Visiblity and votes. No one spared a single minute or chance to earn some votes.

-->For the england team it was very fortunate that they were saved off a 7-0 washout series in One dayers as they have a good alibi of security.

I really loved what shobha de said in her interview. This is no time to sit quite and relax. We have to go behind the terrorist aggressively. Just see what the US did to taliban and Iraq for revening 9/11 and that too without any solid proof. So what about the 9/11 here in our own Mumbai. Who is going to revenge for this?

The government should come out strong and restore the faith in the people that if someone dares to attack us again, we will not think twice for shedding blood of the victims.

Condolences to all innocent people and their families who became the unfortunate targets of this terror attack and Salute to all the martyrs

Comics to enjoy

US Dollar Almighty

I recently found this article which explains this question in a easy way…thought it may be of interest to some of you in this group…

US Dollar Almighty
(Posted recently by Malaysian Author Mr. Syed Akbar Ali in his blog.)

Just to excite your interest (keep you from yawning) 'US Dollar Almighty' I will talk about the following:
i. Why is the US Dollar such an international currency, why is it so widely used and what is its future role?

To be widely accepted and to be successful, any currency must be perceived to represent value.In the beginning gold and silver were used as currencies. Whether they were used as currency or not, gold and silver carried their own value.
In the beginning (say in India in 6th century BC) gold and silver coins did not have 'token' values or face values. The weight of the coin was widely known, but there was no mention of how much 'money' it represented. So the monetary value of the coin could vary.
Later coins started having token values or face values higher than the amount of metal inside them, just like paper currencies today. This became 'fiat' money.But the more basic question is why gold ? Well the simple answer to that is because gold does not rust. You can burn it, melt it, blow it up or whatever but you can always put it back together again as a piece of gold and it would still be gold. Plus the fact that it is rare. You must dig up mountains to obtain gold.
There are other metals which are more expensive than gold and are also rarer - like uranium. But I think if we carried uranium coins in our pocket, we would start glowing quite embarrasingly. Gold has withstood the test of time.


In short, human beings need something that is dependable, something that will not disappear, something that is unchanging, something that is valuable. This is why human beings have given such high value to gold. This is a simple but very important point, please remember this because we will revisit this point when we come to see why the US Dollar is so succesful as an international currency. And plus the fact that gold is also rare - it became a perfect store of value and a medium of exchange, both rolled into one. You could store your wealth in the form of gold bars and gold jewellery in all shapes and sizes. Or you could use gold coins as money, a medium of exchange.



OK, not to bore you any longer. In my humble opinion, this is also exactly why the US Dollar, is perceived to have value, by almost the whole world. The US Dollar (also called 'greenback') is actually printed on cotton. The US Dollar represents a country, the United States of America (a country with 306 million people now?) which is perceived to be dependable, unchanging, has great 'economic' value and will not disappear anytime in the foreseeable future. Let me say something about the gold standard, the famous Bretton Woods agreement of 1944 and such. I really dont know what it all means. It has stopped functioning since 1971. The world has moved on quite well since then. During World War 2, even before the Bretton Woods agreement, the British Pound was pegged to the US Dollar and vice versa. In 1944, at the height of WW2, the Brits and the US met at a golf club in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire and agreed that their currencies, plus that of their wartinme allies, should have a fixed exchange rate. How would they achieve this? They would each hold gold in their central banks to back up their currencies. But this was not enough. Also at that time, the IMF and the IDRB (Int'l Bank for construction and Development - at that time mostly for orang putih sahaja because half the world was the British Empire and the other half was the French, Dutch, American and German empire) had also come into being. So they agreed that if any of the Bretton Woods countries had foreign exchange reserve problems, the IMF would extend emergency loans to that country.

Based on this agreement, and the safety net provided by the IMF and the IDRB, their exchange rates were kept stable - within a difference of 1% fluctuation only. But there were other more ridiculous aspects of Bretton Woods. Only the US Dollar could be converted into gold, the price of gold had to be maintained at a certain level and stuff. Quite impossible. Since 1865 (end of American Civil War), the US remains the most viable and robust nation on the surface of the earth. The fact that the US also has aircraft carriers, nuclear bombs and such are secondary. The US Dollar became a global currency even without these weapons of war. Compared to the US, as late as 1962, France was close to becoming a military dictatorship (the rebel 'colons' almost overthrew General DeGaulle). Around that time France also had to introduce a new currency, the 'new' French Franc. Spain was ruled by the dictator Generalissimo Francisco Franco from 1947 until 1975. Germany was divided and under constant threat of war until 1989. These are not exactly the conditions that build great confidence in your currency's international stature.Then just six years ago, in 2002 the Western European currencies disappeared and were replaced by the Euro, which was officially introduced in 1999. The Euro was physically launched in 2002 at parity with the US Dollar. But the Euro has now surpassed the US Dollar at 1.36:1. Why? Simply because the Euro zone (15 countries altogether?) is now the largest economic grouping in the world, with a combined GDP that exceeds the USD12.0 Trillion of the US.The Euro is not yet as popular as the US Dollar but it is geting there.


The US Dollar derives a lot of strength from the fact that many people around the world are reassured that as a country America is quite unshakeable and for the foreseeable future it will remain a rich, powerful and stable country. You can rely on the fact that when we wake up tomorrow America will still be around. This simply means that whether they like it or not, whether they agree or not, whether they are aware or not, people around the world still place their trust in the United States of America.

The point is, not only oil is priced in US Dollars but even the currencies of countries are valued in US Dollars. And the trade in foreign currencies is many times larger than the trade in oil. How many times larger? The trade in foreign Currencies is estimated to be USD2.0 Trillion PER DAY!! And most of this Forex trade is done in US Dollars. So that is how 'Almighty' the US Dollar is. Global oil trade is only a fraction of the currency trade. Then gold is also traded in US Dollars. But the greatest demand for US Dollars is between countries that export goods. Usually when a country exports goods, it wants payment in its own currency. When we export palm oil to Pakistan, we want to be paid in Ringgit, not in Pakistani Rupees. Therefore Pakistani importers must 'buy' our Ringgit (using their Rupees) and then give us the Ringgit in exchange for the palm oil. So technically the more we export, the more the demand for our Ringgit - hence our Ringgit will increase in value (or strengthen). But this is not always the case. Sometimes exporters do not want to be paid in the currencies of their home countries. For example in the 80sand 90s (and maybe even now) Indonesian exporters frequently wanted to be paid in US Dollars for their exports - not in their own Indonesian rupiahs. This is because their currency was suffering uncertainty -meaning fluctuation in value on a daily basis, instability etc.Or their country may be suffering increasing rates of inflation which may make their Rupiah earnings become smaller. So they want to bepaid in US Dollars which they will later convert to Rupiahs at a more opportune time. If their currency deteriorates further, they will exchange the US Dollars and get even more Rupiahs. So the US Dollar is going to be around for a while. The main reason is because America is a stable, rich, very progressive, extremely creative and productive country. And they are a democracy which values freedom. This is the underlying strength of the US Dollar. This is why the US Dollar is still Almighty. Just for your information, in the last week, despite the financial crisis, the US Dollar has strengthened against almost all world currencies except the Japanese Yen.

Thailand tiger temple - Interesting and astonishing

Thailand tiger temple

Tiger Temple is the place where you can meet some friendly tigers… or that’s what they say.
http://www.tigertemplethailand.com/tours_tiger_temple_thailand.html

Ripleys believe it or not!

Got this rare picture in email. Believe it or not!

Did u get the catch?

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If you look from the bottom to the top you would notice that the picture is morphed. There are around 7-8 lines which shows the manipulation job

The Mobile Store – Fooling around people for HTC Phones.

The mobile store have been advertising about HTC phones as some very discounted prices, and in reality they do not have a single piece forget to sell not even for display in any store in any city in India. They advertised the price of HTC TYTN II or HTC 4550 at 24999 along with some offers. I happened to book the phone in one of the stores and they committed that they will arrange the phone in next 2 days. 2 days became 12 and they one of their sales rep gave me a sorry call stating that the phone is not available. It was highly frustrating and someone who booked a HTC phone or was waiting on the commitment that the stock would be available next week (Which never came) would know.

According to me, very unprofessional way of doing business, I should say by Mobile Store. If they didn’t have a single phone in stock, there was no need to put false pricing and then mislead customer’s causing unnecessary disappointment. They could have upfront told customer and removed the phone from their website as available. As per them the company was not producing enough stock, so how come its available in the market at other stores. So no need to spoil the brand of HTC by giving false alibi.

I hope this blog reaches the mobile store and HTC management that how much the brand image has been tampered and is getting tampered day by day.