New Year Questions
New Year Questions
Keep Smiling
Amazing Glass Houses
A rarity in India - A Poor Chief Minister !!!!
Mind-blowing Food Facts
2 Pomegranate juice could prevent a heart attack
3 Onions are natural antibiotics
4 Mushrooms can ward off colds They contain more of an immune-boosting antioxidant called ergothioneine than any other food, say researchers at Pennsylvania State University .
6 Blueberries can boost memory
8 Eat chocolate, live longer
9 Grapefruit juice can stop medicine working
10 You should never drink tea or coffee with meals
11 Cherries can cure gout
12 Eating curry could help prevent Alzheimer's
13 Sniffing a lemon could help you beat asthma
14 Kiwi fruit can improve your eyesight
15 Garlic can cure mouth ulcers and verruca's
16 It is important have a little salt in your meals
17 Figs can delay brittle bone disease
18 Soya can mimic breast cancer drugs
19 Barbecued-food can cause cancer
20 Cinnamon can help diabetics
21 Chilies can help you breath more easily
22 Watermelon is good for the prostate
23 Coriander can lower your cholesterol levels
24 Nibbling nuts can prevent blood clots
25 Banish bad breath with natural yoghurt
GOD, Save India
The driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, RayBan sunglasses and YSL tie, leaned out the window and asked the cowboy, "If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, Will you give me a calf?"
Budhi Ram looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, "Sure, Why not?"
The yuppie parks his car, whips out his macBook Air computer, connects it to his iphone, and surfs to a NASApage on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.
The young man then opens the digital photo in iPhoto and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg , Germany .
Within seconds, he receives an email on his iPhone that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses an MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his iPhone and, after a few minutes, receives a response.
Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized LaserJet printer, turns to Budhi Ramy and says, "You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves."
He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on with amusement as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car.
Then Budhi Ram says to the young man, "Hey, if I can tell you exactly who you are & what is your business , will you give me back my calf?"
The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, "Okay, why not?"
You're Rahul Gxxxxi, says Budhi- Ram.
"Wow! That's correct," says the yuppie idiot, "but how did you guess that?"
"No guessing required." answered Budhi Ram. "You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You used millions of dollars worth of equipment trying to show me how much smarter you are than me; and you don't know a thing about how working people make a living - or about cows, for that matter. This is not a herd of cows....
Now give me back my dog.
God, Please Save India !!!
STUDENT WHO OBTAINED 0% ON AN EXAM
Have you heard this one?...
STUDENT WHO OBTAINED 0% ON AN EXAM
I would have given him 100% for his wit!!!
�
Q1. In which battle did Napoleon die?�
* his last battle
Q2. Where was the Declaration of Independence signed?�
* at the bottom of the� page
Q3. River Ravi flows in which state?�
* liquid
Q4. What is the main reason for divorce?
* marriage
Q5. What is the main reason for failure?�
* exams
Q6. What can you never eat for breakfast?
* Lunch dinner
Q7. What looks like half an apple?
*�The other half
Q8. If you throw a red stone into the blue sea what it will become?
*�It will simply become wet
Q9. How can a man go eight days without sleeping ?�
*�No problem, he sleeps at night.
Q10. How can you lift an elephant with one hand?�
*�You will never find an elephant that has only one hand..
Q11. If you had three apples and four oranges in one hand and four apples and three oranges in other hand, what would you have ?�
*�Very large hands
Q12. If it took eight men ten hours to build a� wall, how long would it take four men to build it?�
* No time at all, the wall is already� built.
Q13. How can u drop a raw egg onto a concrete floor without cracking it?�
*Any way you want, concrete floors are very hard to crack.
A journey to higher self
Reflect on this.
The woodcutter followed the advice. Deep within the forest, he found sandalwood trees. He was very happy. He expressed his gratitude to the monk for having guided him.
The woodcutter wondered, 'why then does the monk still stay at the edge of the forest and not venture into the forest, as he has been advising me?'
He expressed his doubts to the monk. The monk replied, 'If you want to be eternally happy, sit under this tree and I will teach you to go within. Then you will be eternally happy.'
One should balance being an outer and inner winner. Only then would one feel happy.
A HEART TOUCHING MESSAGE BY A WOMAN
Are you a working woman or a house-wife?
She replied: Yes I am a full time working house-wife.
I work 24 hours a day
I'm a mom,
I'm a wife,
I'm a daughter,
I'm a daughter-in-law,
I'm an Alarm clock,
I'm a Cook,
I'm a Maid,
I'm a Teacher,
I'm a waiter,
I'm a nanny,
I'm a nurse,
I'm a handyman,
I'm a Security officer,
I'm a Counselor,
I'm a comforter,
I don't get holidays,
I don't get sick leave,
I don't get day off,
I work through day and night,
I'm on call all hours and get paid with a sentence:
"What do you do all day"
Died of Shame
Her mother, very interested, asks;" How did it go?"
"I died of shame!" answers!
" Why?" Her Mother asked.
Annie said, "Karen from down the road, says that the stork brings babies.
Sally next door said you can buy babies at the orphanage. Peter in my class says you can buy babies at the hospital."
Her mother answers laughingly "But that's no reason to be ashamed?"
"No, but I can't tell them that we were so poor that you and daddy had to make me yourselves!"
Today's Dose - చాలాకాలంపాటు బతకాలని ఉంది
Just for laughs
Sky Walking
Warning! The Things You Must Not Tell Anyone At Work
Bernard Marr
Best-Selling Author and Enterprise Performance Expert
October 07, 2013
There are some things we shouldn't tell anyone at work. Sharing the 'wrong' things with co-workers can quickly backfire and leave us exposed, vulnerable or side-lined. While some banter with colleagues is great it is important to know where to draw the line.
Like most of us, I have definitely been there. We usually get an immediate sense for when we have crossed that line between acceptable banter and telling people things we shouldn't have. It is the looks we get as if they wanted to say: I never thought YOU would do THAT!? Or YOU believe WHAT? You are no longer the person I thought you were…
Anything you tell colleagues will spread faster than a revelation of a secret sex tape showing Kate Middelton and Justin Bieber would on Facebook and Twitter. Always remember everyone loves to pass on gossip. What's more, most people continue to talk and complain about colleagues when they get home or see friends.
So here are my top 10 things I believe you shouldn't share with anyone at work:
- Salary or money details – Never talk about money at work, be it details about your salary or how much you have spent on your house, car or latest gadget. Talking about money can trigger lots of negative feelings such as jealousy and resentment.
- Intimate details about your love or sex life – you might have the most amazing or most miserable love life there is but don't ever share the detail at work.
- Whether and how much alcohol you drink – even if you are nursing the hangover from hell or want to share the excesses of your super party weekend, don't do it at work. It will always look unprofessional. And as for talking about other drugs – don't even think about it!
- Political views – You might feel like saying: Why would anyone in their right mind vote for Obama? Simply don't do it. Politics can divide people and open up a massive can of worms.
- Religious views – The same applies to religious beliefs. It is great that people have their religions but remember that most wars are caused by religious differences.
- Non-pc jokes – We all like to have a laugh at work but not if it means you discriminate against anyone. If you feel the need to share jokes just think twice whether they might offend someone.
- Your Facebook account – Making friends at work is wonderful but I feel that connecting with all colleagues on Facebook is a step too far. I use LinkedIn for colleagues and Facebook only for close friends. I think it is so hard to control what goes out to others (e.g. comments of friends of friends etc.). Almost every day I see posts and pictures on Facebook that make me cringe (where friends of friends have posted completely inappropriate things) and it is best to keep colleagues out of that loop.
- Medical details – For whatever reason we love to talk about our illnesses and ailments. A bit like kids that can't wait to show others their scratches and bruises. Even though we all want to hear about medical details, work is not the place to share how you had an anal probe inserted to check for haemorrhoids.
- Gossip and negative comments about co-workers - Even if you think that everyone agrees David from the accounts department is a massive jerk – don't say it out loud!
- That you are looking for a new job – You might feel unhappy in your job and are actively looking for now post, but don't tell anyone at work. It will very quickly come out and could leave you in an awkward position.
So here you have it, my top 10 things you shouldn't share at work. Of course you can disagree with any of them and hopefully you'll let me know where you agree and disagree. Also, there are probably others you would add to this list – please let us know what they are…
Final thought: Of course there are some work places where it is safe to share more personal details. I am not advocating that you become a work robot that ever share any part of your personality with others. The point I am making is that at work it is usually inappropriate to share these things and can give unwanted ammunition to those who want to expose or side-line you.
Fwd: FW: HBR Blogs: Three Tips For Overcoming Your Blind Spots
Three Tips For Overcoming Your Blind Spots
by John Dame and Jeffrey Gedmin | 12:00 PM October 2, 2013
Ernst Cramer, the late, great editor-in-chief of the German daily Die Welt, once recounted how as a college student in America in the midwest, just after World War II, he questioned in a math class whether the textbook was not mistaken in a particular instance. The lecturer reflexively, and rather sternly, dismissed the possibility. Several months later, Cramer was working on a farm during summer vacation when he looked up to see his professor jogging across the field from a parked car in the distance. "Cramer," a repentant voice yelled, "you were right – the book was wrong and they've changed that section!"
Cramer related the tale as an endearing anecdote from his early experience in America. We're similarly charmed by the graciousness and integrity of Cramer's math professor. But we're re-telling the story here because the professor's first response reveals two failings all too common in managers. One is the reflex always to bestow uncritical faith in authorities (including one's own superiors) and handed-down rules; the other, the quick dismissal of seemingly irreverent assertions.
We all have such blind spots, and they are weaknesses we should combat. Even that idea is unfashionable in an era when we are urged to focus on polishing strengths. In the world of professional music, it's often the opposite. Most conductors, for instance, begin rehearsals by directing the orchestra immediately to the most difficult passages in a given piece, and spend most time on them, because they are areas of weakness.
But how do managers work actively to fight weaknesses of which, by definition, they are insufficiently aware? We'll offer a few tactics we have used deliberately to counter the effects of three infamous cognitive biases.
To fight confirmation bias, have a devil's advocate.
Confirmation bias refers to our tendency, when receiving new information, to process it in a way that it fits our pre-existing narrative about a situation or problem. Simply put, if you're already inclined to believe that the French are rude, you will find the examples on your trip to Paris to validate your thesis. Disconfirming evidence – the friendly waiter, the helpful bellman – gets pushed aside. They're just "the exception." Warren Buffett says, "What the human being is best at doing, is interpreting all new information so that their prior conclusions remain intact." He knows he is prone to it himself.
Attorneys, debaters, and politicians engage in a kind of confirmation bias when, in order to make a case, they select certain data while deliberately neglecting or deemphasizing other data. But confirmation bias can cause disaster in business and policy when it leads a decision-maker to jump to conclusions, fall prey to misguided analogies, or simply exclude information that inconveniently disturbs a desired plan of action.
What to do? The only remedy is to make sure you have a full and accurate picture available when making important decisions. When you have a theory about someone or something, test it. When you smell a contradiction – a thorny issue, an inconsistency or problem – go after it. Like the orchestral conductor, isolate it, drill deeper. When someone says – or you yourself intuit – "that's just an exception," be sure it's just that. Thoroughly examine the claim.
Dealing with confirmation bias is about reining in your impulses and challenging your own assumptions. It's difficult to stick to it day in and out. That's why it's important to have in your circle of advisers a brainy, tough-as-nails devil's advocate who – perhaps annoyingly, but valuably – checks you constantly.
To cure hindsight bias, keep a diary.
As we move through life, we all keep a running record, at least at some level in our memory banks, of what worked, what didn't, and why. The trouble is, most of us tend to have selective memories. Hindsight bias is confirmation bias's equally problematic sibling. Again, we're cherry-picking from a body of data, in this instance to confirm a theory about why something that has already happened (the 2008 financial crash, the re-election of Barack Obama, the decision to hire a senior executive or implement a business strategy) played out as it did.
There's nothing wrong with having theories, mental models, and frameworks of analysis. On the contrary. The problem begins when critical, independent thinking ends and we fail to keep testing our templates. Hindsight bias impairs our ability to draw the right conclusions, as we imagine after the fact that a situation in the past was avoidable, or a decision simpler than it actually was at the time. This is a point made compellingly by the Swiss businessman and novelist Rolf Dobelli in his new book The Art of Thinking Clearly – a fascinating examination of 99 cognitive inclinations that most of us carry around, generally unaware.
Here's one way to check hindsight bias: Keep a diary. And record minutes from important meetings. We have a friend who just for fun asks dinner guests in his Capitol Hill home in Washington – he entertains some pretty heady gatherings – to scribble on a piece of paper their predictions about politics, business, and world events. He tucks the scraps in a drawer, let's them settle for a year or so, and then pulls them out for a reading over coffee and dessert. It's pretty funny stuff. What becomes painfully clear is that we failed to predict much of anything – claims after the fact notwithstanding.
To overcome "groupthink" start with hiring.
In his 2008 book "Outliers: the Story of Success," Malcolm Gladwell shares a cultural theory of plane crashes. He notes that Korean Air had more crashes than virtually any other airline in the world for a period at the end of the 1990s. Why? It seems likely that Korean traditions of hierarchy created the tendency – including in the cockpit when something seemed out of place or not quite right – to defer to superiors.
Companies like developing their own culture. It's important. Yet a culture that binds too tightly suffocates, chokes off independent thought, and can create a Stepford-like environment. If you find yourself feeling exhilarated because everyone around you is thinking just like you, you should consider that a huge red flag. It may well be that people are self-censoring for fear of exclusion or retribution. There's also ample research – psychologist Irving Janis is the pioneer in this area – that when groups become too close-knit they fall prey to illusions of invincibility.
Fighting groupthink should start at the hiring stage. Look for people who share your basic values and purpose, but who are also tough, independent, and able to tell you what they think. Moreover: check that decisions at all levels in the company are being made on the basis of rationality, not merely flowing from authority or a tendency (however subconscious) to conform.
Which brings us back to editor Ernst Cramer, who also liked to tell the story of how he was first hired by legendary German publisher Axel Springer. The two men had a meeting at Springer's Berlin office that, in Cramer's view, did not go very well at all. It seems there was a serious bone of contention, a rather vehement disagreement on a political issue that went back and forth between the two for some time. Neither was willing to relent.
Later that day, Cramer received a call asking him to return to meet with Springer again. The publisher greeted the young editor with the announcement, "Cramer, you're hired." The somewhat stunned Cramer reminded Springer that the two had spent half their time that morning in very spirited debate, to which Springer replied: "Exactly – that's why I need you on the team!"
That's self-awareness. That's taking the blinders off for full vision. And exactly these things lie at the core of growth and great leadership.
JOHN DAME AND JEFFREY GEDMIN
John Dame is CEO of Dame Management Strategies (DMS). Jeffrey Gedmin is CEO of the Legatum Institute.