Facing fears - essence of optimism for entrepreneurs

Growing up watching the likes of Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf play great tennis in their hay days, the curiosity about the game in my mind only grew with me. While I wanted to try my hand at it in my childhood, I was always afraid of a remark from my friend. He said "If you play at a wrong angle, the game has the potential to break your nerves." God, did I believe that. Perhaps it's true and perhaps it's not. But that stayed in my mind and I never even attempted it. But seeing many people in my apartments playing it, I thought why would I be the only one to break my nerves. I played tennis for the first time yesterday, and boy, did it feel good. I felt I had more exercise than my daily walk on a treadmill burning 450 cals gave me. And also playing a game does makes the difference, because you are not doing it for the sake of doing it (like walking), you are doing it because you love to do it. And what great way to love some physical exercise other than a game like tennis.

The point here is not playing tennis or doing some daily physical exercise. The point is breaking the long associated fears in a person. if I did not take up a racket and stepped on the court, I would have died some 50 years later still thinking I would break my nerves if I played at the wrong angle. Or probably I would have done it some other time in these 50 years but I would have lost all the time in between. So I guess the right thing for a person to do is to actually go there and do it. Many of us hear many a thing from childhood which have such strong thoughts implanted in our minds that we should not do 'this' for this might happen. Until we do not try it once, we will have no idea or proof to base that upon. No, that doesn't absolutely mean that you should try jumping off a roof to clear your fear of heights :) I am only mentioning about smaller fears in life.

Many a time you hear many people say 'This idea will not work out' or that idea has no scope. Never believe them. Approaching any situation with blatant optimism is the right way. I once saw a guy wearing a T-Shirt which said 'I haven't failed. I only found 1000 ways that don;t work. That's the spirit we need to possess. Fear of failure should not stop one from actually attempting something. If we don't have optimism and belief in ourselves, we have nothing. You want to be an entrepreneur, ignore those thousand guys who tell you the idea you have won't work. Try it and check it, you might fail a hundred times, but the 101th time, you have an idea of 100 ways how not to fail. It was definitely not an idiot who said 'Try and try till you succeed.' Faith in yourself, your idea and your capacity to implement can only make you a successful entrepreneur. It's not just about entrepreneurship. It's about anything that appears daunting to you at the first look. Until you try it yourself don't let others' opinions dictate what you want to do. Time to break some fears isn't it!!

An Amazing Conversation - Is God there? - Atheist Professor vs. Theist Student

I cam across this forwarded email which had this amazing conversation between an atheist professor and theist student. Searched about it on net and found several interesting versions and discussions about it on online forums. The conversation is as below:

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An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem science has with God, The Almighty.
He asks one of his new students to stand and.....

Prof: So you believe in God?
Student: Absolutely, sir.

Prof: Is God good?
Student: Sure.

Prof: Is God all-powerful?
Student: Yes.

Prof: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him.
Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn't. How is this God good then? Hmm?
Student: (Student is silent.)

Prof: You can't answer, can you? Let's start again, young fella. Is God good?
Student: Yes.

Prof: Is Satan good?
Student: No.

Prof: Where does Satan come from?
Student: From...God...

Prof: That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?
Student: Yes.

Prof: Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything. Correct?
Student: Yes.

Prof: So who created evil?
Student: (Student does not answer.)

Prof: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don't they?
Student: Yes, sir.

Prof: So, who created them?
Student: (Student has no answer.)

Prof: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son...Have you ever seen God?
Student: No, sir.

Prof: Tell us if you have ever heard your God?
Student: No , sir.

Prof: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God? Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?
Student: No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.

Prof: Yet you still believe in Him?
Student: Yes.

Prof: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your GOD doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?
Student: Nothing. I only have my faith.

Prof: Yes. Faith. And that is the problem science has.

Student: Professor, is there such a thing as heat?
Prof: Yes.

Student: And is there such a thing as cold?
Prof: Yes.

Student: No sir. There isn't.
(The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.)

Student: Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don't have anything called cold.
We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that.
There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat.
We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.
(There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)

Student: What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?
Prof: Yes. What is night if there isn't darkness?

Student: You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something.
You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light....But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it?
In reality, darkness isn't. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?
Prof: So what is the point you are making, young man?

Student: Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.
Prof: Flawed? Can you explain how?

Student: Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God.
You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can
measure.
Sir, science can't even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one.
To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing.
Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor.
Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?
Prof: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.

Student: Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?
Prof: (The Professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to realize
where the argument is going.)

Student: Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavour, are you not teaching your opinion, sir?
Are you not a scientist but a
preacher?
Prof: (The class is in uproar.)

Student: Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor's brain?
Prof: (The class breaks out into laughter.)

Student: Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's brain, felt it, touched or smelt it?.....No one appears to have done so.
So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable
protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir.
With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?

Prof: (The room is silent. The professor stares at the student, his face unfathomable.)
Prof: I guess you'll have to take them on faith, son.

Student: That is it sir.. The link between man & God is FAITH. That is all that keeps things moving & alive.

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Pretty interesting conversation isn't it.. Click below to find some interesting comments on the above conversation that I picked up from an online forum from some atheist vs Theist guys..


CLICK HERE
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VizagDude

But, I am not that convinenced on the example that the student gave to explain FAITH. Though, none of them saw the Prof. brain, there is scientific proof that the HAS one and every human being does as well and thats good enough for me. I know if rquired (u know what Im sayin...), I can see it, touch it, feel it.So, that does not explain FAITH to me.Correct me if Im wrong.

TT

science doesnt go with teh belief of God itself, its just an explanation in terms of science against science, but when u say scientifically u can touch and feel the brain, then everytime u r in peril and think abt God, u r actually touching and feeling God..Does that answer ur qn bhai??

VizagDude

I agree that sicience does not go with the belief that God exists. Personally I am not an Atheist. But just for the argument sake, what Im trying to say is... the Student was not able to convinence me that example of the Brain and Faith. And what you answered is totally different.

Painkiller

if faith is such an irrefutable thing, what if someone has faith that there is absolutely no god?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

id also like to add this its from douglas adams hitchhikers guide to the galaxy
(the discussion is about babel fish, which when inserted into the ear can transalate any language into your own)
"Now it is such a bizarrely improbable coincidence that anything
so mindboggingly useful (like a babel fish) could have evolved purely by chance that some thinkers have chosen to see it as the final and clinching
proof of the non-existence of God.
"The argument goes something like this: `I refuse to prove that I
exist,' says God, `for proof denies faith, and without faith I am
nothing.'
"`But,' says Man, `The Babel fish is a dead giveaway, isn't it?
It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so
therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED.'
"`Oh dear,' says God, `I hadn't thought of that,' and promptly
vanished in a puff of logic.
"`Oh, that was easy,' says Man, and for an encore goes on to
prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next
zebra crossing.

TT:

ur logic is correct bro, faith of a human being is created with his beliefs in various things and when arguments like this converstaion prop up showing that God mite be there, an atheist mite as well believe it r probably stop arguing based on science....

Trigger_jam

I don't think it reached any surprising conclusion. All it showed was that both science and religion were built upon faith but as far as proving/showing/explaining the existence of god it failed. You don't need faith to know you exist. You need faith to believe otherwise.

Castanza

Guys, there is no God there is only Google. That conversation fits a telugu masala movie. that is not real class room stuff, it is just another tirade of believers against the non-believers. you can find the remaining part of the story here at this link. http://www.bowness.demon.co.uk/brain.htm

TT

depends on how u look at it dude, u found out a website that gives u the other side of the story as it states in the start itself it has different versions. Check these sites for the version that I have posted.....

http://www.sconsig.com/inspirations/faith.htm

http://www.fitnessandfreebies.com/christian/faith.html

http://gwenc.myblog.com/7717.html

I can give tons of those sites which do mention this side of the story.

So the moral of the story is THERE ARE TWO WAYS OF LOOKING AT A GLASS WITH WATER

U MITE LOOK AT IT AND SAY IT IS HALF EMPTY WHILE I CAN LOOK AT IT AND SAY IT IS HALF FILLED. the optimistic way of looking at it......no offense bro, just bringing up my side of the point.....

Dhaavak

Of course faith is necessary in realization of God. However, God realization is not illogical. This creation is a proof of God's exisrence. Albert einstein, who was himself a thiest had an atheist friend who belived in the Big Bang theory that everything just evolved out of nothing. Gases compresiing and decompressing etc. So whenever Einstein would ask him that if there were no god then where did everything come from, and he would always say it was just there. So one night Einstein mad a really cool looking model of the universe with planets in orbit and everything and set it in their lab. When the friend came to visit him the next day and saw the wonderful model of the universe he asked who had built that wonderful replica of the universe. Einstein replied: 'I don't know I woke up this morning and it was just there'. The friend asked numereous times but Einstein's reply was the same. Finally Einstein just told his friend that if even such a small imperfect model of the universe cannot come into existence on its own then how could this creation which has so much order and precision just evolve out of mere gaseous combustion. The freind was finally able to understand the fault in the theory of The Big bang.

Harihar2006

this argumet is not factual...

for a fact the statment that evoloution is not seen is not true...it could be seen every minute in viruses and bacterias etc...

also to sujjest that creation is possible only cos sone things are not seen is not acceptable... nealy all tyhe foundations of nucler physics are not seen and are only a model proped by observation of traits...

and prediction based on the model holds true and therefore the model in genereal is accepted ...

also the child does not answer the questions of evil abd suffering beging around if a creater had his way... and also as to why is it not stopped by the creater...

i hope atleast someon could answer me this question as to why the creator has alooved so much suffering to go on and for somepeople who do all evil do carry on with impunity...

also there is nothing called light as well...it is the presence of enegy whithin a certain frequency ... when the frequency chages the energy will take a different form...

also in darkness there is energy...( for example night vision thermal imaging...) the only thing is that it will not be in the frequency of light...

then it is safe to argue in darkness the essence of light is infact there...( the roort enegy of sufficient will produce light)

so basically the argument goes to the bhuddhist phylosaphy...

in strict theory where there is darkness there is light as well as darkness...depending on what state the energy is... in total darkness if one rubs hands tight and sees through a night vision you will see bright light...


buddhism does not believe in a creator...it also has some complex explanations about life and matter...

this principle is discribed in the complicated set of preachings of buddha called the "abidhamma" ...it is known as the theory of uncertaincy...which goes on to explain the atom the begiing of life and many other interesting nd complex physical issues....

basically budhissm does not accpt the logic which goes set= (A,B) : if A is taken off ... what reamains is B...

it says that as A and B could always be in a state of constant exchange while maintaining its equilibrium what that remains could be either at the time of extraction...

A , B or something inbetween but no less than (A+B)...

in the same sense and with modern science...it cannot be agrued that darkness is the mere absence of light...

or eveil is the mere absence of good...!

the argument which i put forth was for the first time ever in the world put forth by the enlightened one...

in western logic there was no place for an intermediate state...(check the A,B example) it took about 200 years for them to accept the intermediate state theory which was forced on them by the quantom physics observations which could be explained in no other way...

if some one wants to know more please feel free to ask also you can find more about abidhamma in many sri lankan buddhist web sites...

p.s - a nother aspect of the car argument is this...

according to abidhamma what we call an object is only a perception it is infact not true contrary to what the child and the professor said...

if the same car is broken in to pieces and thrown on the ground no one will call that car...! do u....? despite being the existence of all the pieces that made the car...

so what that was present as a car if u take it in a strict physical sense was not a car buit simply an accepted perception...when the perception is gone the car too is gone...!

this principle is refeered to by lord buddha as "sammuthi" or accepted perception... in elglish...also accepted perception is never the sole truth...! just like the exaple of car...

please feel free to ask if u want more information...

TT

gud argument there in terms of budhism, well talking abt the evil part of ur argument, lets think abt it like this, lets say if there is no evil like the mishaps which claim lives, and if every1 starts living forever then the very balance of the whole universe is lost, like we learn in our elementary classes, if we look at teh cycle of insect-frog-snake if insects are not eaten by frogs, the world will be full of insects, if more insects are eaten and less frogs are eaten by the snakes, the frogs grow and if more frogs are eaten, the population of insects again grows, i hope u got the point, what i mean 2 say is what is being looked upon as evil like the mishaps killing people mite be a balance of nature or GOD to achieve a harmony. Lets put it this way, if there is no evil and every1 starts living for a life cycle of average expectancy, then the alarming growth of population wud leave no land for human beings in the near future. Also we can think of it in terms of Punarjanma of teh Hindu philosophy I donno if Buddhism supports it but what I can say is tho people are good in this janma, they mote have committed sins in the previous janma, i dont say i am not a sinner but this mite be an explanation for the evil too...

koolhead

god...hmm..i like him...

there is no difference between good and bad, death and life, love and hate, curse and bless, poverty and wealthiness, evil and devil.....HEAT AND COLD....

these all are just a state, without one, the other has no meaning. they are like a glass- half filled with water..one can say this state either as HALF EMPTIED or HALF FILLED..both are correct...in fact both are same..but difference will be in views and every different view will lead to different results....LOVE or HATE...both are correct...in fact both are same..but difference will be in views and every different view will lead to different results..amazing..isnt it?

when i die, i lose my body..but what abt my thoughts? i cant imagine that i will disappear in this universe forever.....even not knowing my own presence....even not knowing that i ever existed...this cant happen....i wont let it happen..thats why i must believe in god..thats why i must believe in love...

ponting

The point of "heat" vs "cold" is also meaningless if one uses the concept of entropy or order/disorder in molecules. The professor-student conversation is not the greatest I have seen, having myself been engaged in some debates as a strong-headed atheist. I can now see the futility of such discussions
as "Science" has had to correct itself several times on a number of (mis)conceptions and is yet to answer many questions, some popular ones being the apparent absence of "missing-link" in evolution and many aspects of the origin of the mind-boggling universe. Now I have come to understand that just as "faith in God" can be the ultimate thing in someone's life (I don't have any right to say what that thing is), science likewise can be a spritual experience for some people with its ability to evolve, modify and discover,
(almost) always showing potential to benefit mankind in some ways.

TT

science says that entropy or the randomness of the universe is increasing but if the randomness of the universe is increasing everything shud start occuring in random, sun shud be able 2 rise in east r west r north r south, but it does rise in the east, earth does rotate in and revolute in the same way, and there are a lot of patterns if one observes closely, what i wanna say is that there are a lot of flaws in the heavy topic of science itself as u said, science takes that part of anything that it can explain and leaves the rest to bay, so y dont we justify the student taking that part of the argument which justifies his argument like science does....

all said and done, i am science student and believe in the discoveries of science as much as u do, but at the same time, I believe that God r a Spiritual Force runs the entire universe maintaining its balance.....

Castanza

TT,
In all of the three links that you posted there was nothing that continued after the professor's reply to the student's logic that I posted. I never found anything that proves logically that there is God. As someone said in a later post we can't prove that there is God by logic. Actually it is easy for the people trained in Logic and philosophy to cheat us by proving either way.
And how would the concept of believing in God be optimistic when "He doesn't save us from rushing in tidal wave"(from the story).
As it is said in the story God is a concept based on "belief", so no believer should ever try prove God's existence by logic because it is bound to fail.
Thanks brother for starting the discussion. But you should have posted the rebuttal that I posted with your first posting.
(baala vinodam vinnaarooo baallaalaara ee pooota.. )
Have fun,
George Castanza.

TT

gud one castanza bhai, actually i am neither an atheist nor a complete theist, i just believe that there is a spiritual force that runs the world in harmony bringing it in2 a balance. Like I said in my previous post, if the tidal waves dont hit and people do not meet their end in some way r the other, then the harmony of the nature would be destroyed (plz refer 2 my previous reply) the balance wud be missing, I am not saying people should be killed, but every1 cannot die in a heartache r in sleep, so death r the absence of life shud come in some form or the other, r may be we can believe in Punarjanma as I said, people who mite have sinned in previous birth mite have been facing teh consequences now, otherwise how wud we explain the fact that people come put of great mishaps safe and sound and call it being miraculously saved and stuff like that. Again, I am not saying that people shud be killed, its only an optimistic way of looking at it, every1 has 2 meet their end in one way r the other may be that was the way they were destined 2......

neway this is turning out 2 be an interesting discussion....

Presenting India - for those who think it is a land of snake charmers !!

Here's an interesting conversation from the movie Namasthey London in which Akshay Kumar replies to an English man who writes off India as a land of snake charmers

"Namasthey, Sir my name is Arjun Singh. Because of 5000 year old culture, we Indians bow and say Namasthey like this and say Pranaam. When we greet one another we fold our hands in namastey because we believe that God resides in the heart of every human being. The kind of culture in which a lady of catholic origin gives up the chair of Prime Minister for a Sikh, and a Sikh takes the oath of Prime Minister from a Muslim President to hold the chains of a nation in which over 80 percent of the people are Hindus. Your mother tongue English is more spoken in India than anywhere else in the world. And probably you do not know that a lot of words in English have their origins from Sanskrit. Sanskrit's word 'Maatr' became Mother in English, 'Bhratr' became brother, 'Giamiti' became Geometry and 'Trikonnithi' became Trigonometry. It may interest you to know that in our land, we have 5600 news papers, 3500 magazines in over twenty one different languages with a combined readership of over 120 million. It is pretty large when compared to your nation. We have reached the moon and back, but yet you people still feel that we have only reached as far as the Indian rope trick and you care to still see a snake on our hands. In the count of doctors, engineers and scientists, Gentleman, we are only behind two other nations in the world. This was a talk of the brains, now let's talk of strength. The world's third largest army is ours. What is yours. And even then I fold my hands in humility before you and bow and say namasthey to you because we don't consider anyone to be smaller or weaker than us and we don't believe we are above or beneath any individual. Namsthey. "

Jai Hind. Jai Bhaarat..

If interested, check out other facts about India which are from a forwarded email by clicking below
CLICK HERE
.

ACTS TO MAKE EVERY Indian PROUD



Q. Who is the co-founder of Sun Microsystems?
A. Vinod Khosla


Q. Who is the creator of Pentium chip (needs no introduction as 90% of the today's computers run on it)?
A. Vinod Dahm


Q. Who is the third richest man on the world?
A. According to the latest report on Fortune Magazine, it is Aziz Premji, who is the CEO of Wipro Industries. The Sultan of Brunei is at 6 th position now.

Q. Who is the founder and creator of Hotmail (Hotmail is world's No.1 web based email program)?
A. Sabeer Bhatia

Q. Who is the president of AT & T-Bell Labs (AT & T-Bell Labs is the creator of program languages such as C, C++, Unix to name a few)?
A. Arun Netravalli

Q. Who is the GM of Hewlett Packard?
A. Rajiv Gupta

Q. Who is the new MTD (Microsoft Testing Director) of Windows 2000, responsible to iron out all initial problems?
A. Sanjay Tejwrika


Q. Who are the Chief Executives of CitiBank, Mckensey & Stanchart?
A. Victor Menezes, Rajat Gupta, and Rana Talwar.

Q. We Indians are the wealthiest among all ethnic groups in America, even faring better than the whites and the natives.
There are 3.22 millions of Indians in USA (1.5% of population). YET,
38% of doctors in USA are Indians.
12% scientists in USA are Indians.
36% of NASA scientists are Indians.
34% of Microsoft employees are Indians.
28% of IBM employees are Indians.
17% of INTEL scientists are Indians.
13% of XEROX employees are Indians.


Some of the following facts may be known to you. These facts were recently published in a German magazine, which deals with WORLD HISTORY FACTS ABOUT INDIA.
1. India never invaded any country in her last 1000 years of history.
2. India invented the Number system. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.
3. The world's first University was established in Takshila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
4. According to the Forbes magazine, Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software.

5. Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans.
6. Although western media portray modern images of India as poverty striken and underdeveloped through political corruption, India was once the richest empire on earth.

7. The art of navigation was born in the river Sindh 5000 years ago. The very word "Navigation" is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH.
8. The value of pi was first calculated by Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is now known as the Pythagorean Theorem. British scholars have last year (1999) officially published that Budhayan's works dates to the 6 th Century which is long before the European mathematicians.

9. Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India. Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11 th Century; the largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Indians used numbers as big as 1053.
10. According to the Gemmological Institute of America, up until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds to the world.

11. USA based IEEE has proved what has been a century-old suspicion amongst academics that the pioneer of wireless communication was Professor Jagdeesh Bose and not Marconi.
12. The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra.

13. Chess was invented in India.
14. Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted surgeries like cesareans, cataract, fractures and urinary stones. Usage of anaesthesia was well known in ancient India.
15. When many cultures in the world were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilisation).
16. The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.


Quotes about India.
We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.
Albert Einstein.

India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend and the great grand mother of tradition.
Mark Twain.

If there is one place on the face of earth where all dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India.
French scholar Romain Rolland.

India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border.
Hu Shih
(former Chinese ambassador to USA)

ALL OF THE ABOVE IS JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG, THE LIST COULD BE ENDLESS.
BUT, if we don't see even a glimpse of that great India in the India that we see today, it clearly means that we are not working up to our potential; and that if we do, we could once again be an evershining and inspiring country setting a bright path for rest of the world to follow.
I hope you enjoyed it and work towards the welfare of INDIA.

Say proudly, I AM AN INDIAN.

iGoogle lets you add more than 6 tabs - screws up on moving content from 1 tab to another

Earlier Google Home, now known as iGoogle added a feature quietly, that lets you have more than 6 tabs on your iGoogle page. Earlier there was a restriction on the maximum number of tabs you could have - 6. After creating 6 tabs, you would not find the linke for "Add a tab". I just noticed that in iGoogle, even after having 6 tabs, you can find the link for Add a tab. Moreover, iGoogle also has a new feature, that now adds content automatically to the tab based on the tab name you give. You can do this by checking the check box "I'm feeling lucky. Automatically add stuff based on the tab name". These are indeed very good features. Because earlier I wanted to add more than 6 tabs for a variety of feeds and I couldn't. Also I needed to hand pick my feeds, but now the tab name gives an indication to iGoogle on the kind of content I want.

But there is one place where I would say iGoogle screwed up. Earlier it was very easy to move a particular feed from one tab to another. Just hold the title of the feed and drag it to the next tab, and the feed moves from the old tab to the new tab. Now, I don't know if they removed that inadvertently or screwed up something in the code, but I can no longer move that. This is very irritating because, when you have a tab and feel that it has too much content, you would feel to move some specific feeds to another more specifically named tab. But now you will have to remove the feed from the older tab, add it again in the new tab. If the drag and drop feature from one tab to another wasn't there before, it would have been ok but I don't get the logic in offering a nice feature and later removing it...

Any guesses anybody??

Gandhi/Nehrus - when will the dynasty rule end?

As a child I always liked Rajiv Gandhi, I don't know why, may be he looked like a prince though he was bald, or may be he had that charisma that children would fall for!! I still don't know..

Call it Indira or call it Nehru or now call it Sonia, or now even Rahul, the country has to go through this family, never really understood why, looks like this is a monarchy in rule voted by OUR own people. Does India lack in individuals who hold the caliber of any of these?? Nope, absolutely not, its just that Gandhi or Nehru tag at the end which makes them win the elections and rule the country!! Am I a supporter of BJP. Absolutely not!! I am a supporter of intellectuals taking the country ahead..
But isn't it high time to come out of the notion as to what Indira or Rajiv have done... In a country in which you have to go through such difficult exam as IAS to rule a district, the entire country is ruled by people who come from a DYNASTY.. does anyone really know what Rajiv Gandhi studied or now even Rahul Gandhi has? That clearly is masqueraded in the sympathetic wave created for the family.

As long as people vote looking at the PERSONS rather than POLICIES, as long as people vote for CASTE rather than REMOVAL OF PROBLEMS the country will remian the same. So the question is how do we show the progress that we have. Thanks to able intellectuals like Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram the country is making progress, but alas they still have to lie in the shadows of these GANDHI's and carry on their WHIMS.
Way to go India, my MOTHERLAND....

Can't Rahul Gandhi learn about the lives of people in the rural areas by becoming an IAS officer instead of becoming an MP. Can he become one ever? Oh, I forgot, why does he have to, when he is a Gandhi. Now, one may say, the PAs and Secretaries offering advice to them and other ministers are all officers of IAS cadre. Now, let's say an officer X does offer some good advice for the progress of the country, how many ministers would come forward to implement the same, when they are busy doing 'collections' during the short tenure that they have..

It is high time, we have graduates as MLAs and MPs and Ministers. Without minimum education level set for the 'people's representatives' how do you expect them to solve the problems of the country, when they can never come up with a solution. I am tired of hearing the argument, that a common man, aam junta, cannot become a MLA or a MP then, why not? most of the educated people are common people too, they come from these areas of poverty too, at least they will have a minimum knowledge of what can be done for the country. It is time that intellects become leaders and rule the country towards progress. It is time that parties like Lok Paritran get their fair share in elections and become representatives of the people. Watching movies like Rang De Basanti and forming yahoo groups is not just enough. It is time people start 'thinking' before they vote. The vote should not be for Gandhi or Nehru or for Congress or BJP. The vote should be for progress and development of the nation. Will we ever see the light of that day ever? One can only hope..

Learning from egos in the online world

Ever wonder, why people go crazy in the online world, swearing at one another in the online forums, abusing someone to an extent that they would change their user names and going against the sites' moderators and admins to such an extent that they would be banned, and a lot of times it doesn't make much sense to a neutral reader. Though this seems to be a very good topic of research for a grad student in Psychology, the logic behind it is pretty simple. Every body needs a feeling of importance. Call it ego, call it self-respect or call it any thing that you would like when attributed to you. The bottom line is people want to feel important. They want appreciation of their work. They want someone to assert the fact that they know, that they are an important part of this society and they are good.

It is only this fact of feeling important, that makes many people post thousands of pictures and posts in online forums and communities. It is this, that makes people take creative and weird videos and post them on Youtube. It is this, that makes many people get dvds, rip movies and post pictures and clippings from these movies to movies forums ignoring what could happen to them if they are caught of piracy. It is this feeling that makes people carry thousands of posts in online forums. And what do they ask for. They want you to thank them for what they are doing. They want you to tell them that they are creative, and that their work is the best. If you don't believe me, check it out yourself by joining in one of these forums and watch out for the so-called "Senior Members" or the biggies in those forums. Check out how far can people go in wasting their personal time to get that feeling of being important.

You might have a feeling that these guys are a bunch of losers. Of course they are not. These are people with families', great jobs in IT or other fields, who spend some time very frequently to get that feeling of importance in the virtual world. It doesn't matter that the other person hasn't seen them, it doesn't matter that if the other person is actually typing the truth, it doesn't matter if their online name has nothing to do with their real name and that the praise is for their virtual id. All that matters is the fact that what they had done is important and that someone else asserted that they are good and creative.

So, what does all this prove to us. If an unknown person with a virtual id could do so much for you in an online forum for your enjoyment, so that you would appreciate their efforts, what does it tell us of the people in the real world. You need not read Dale Carnegie's How to win friends and influence people to understand that people need a feeling of importance. Things like the online forums and many things around you teach this very effectively and practically to us. The next time you feel that a colleague in your office has done a decent job on something, go ahead and appreciate them. You do not need to flatter them, just tell them honestly what you feel about it. If you are a manager, tell some one who works for you, once in a while, how much you appreciate their work. Send them an email of appreciation. Most people quit jobs not because of the money or the challenges but because their work is not appreciated. Give people honest appreciation, and make them feel important. A person with a satisfied ego is bound to stay lot longer than a person who is substantially overpaid.

Also, you can use the same in your family relations. The next time your wife makes a good meal, tell her how good it is, tell her once in a while that you appreciate all that she is doing. This is also equally applicable to kids. When your kid ace in a course or do something good, tell them you are proud of them. In an effort to keep you proud, they will do what you want them to do even without your telling them. If you observe, all that is needed is honest appreciation, which takes you probably a couple of minutes, the effects can only be experienced than explained..