Friday, December 07, 2007
New Superbug
Friday, November 16, 2007
Android - An Open Handset Alliance Project
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Nokia Energy-Saving Move
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians (legend has it), that was passed on from generation to generation, says that, “When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount.”
However, in many organizations, more advanced strategies are often employed, such as:
- Buying a stronger whip.
- Changing riders.
- Giving horse and rider a good bollocking.
- Re-structuring the dead horse’s reward scale to contain a performance-related element.
- Making the horse work late shifts and weekends.
- Suspending the horse’s access to the executive grassy meadow until performance targets are met.
- Scrutinising and clawing back a percentage of the horse’s past 12 months expenses payments.
- Appointing a committee to study the horse.
- Arranging to visit other countries to see how other cultures ride horses.
- Convening a dead horse productivity improvement workshop.
- Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included.
- Reclassifying the dead horse as living-impaired.
- Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse.
- Outsourcing the management of the dead horse.
- Harnessing several dead horses together to increase speed.
- Providing additional funding and/or training to increase dead horse’s performance.
- Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse’s performance.
- Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do some other horses.
- Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses.
Finally, there is the highly effective…
- Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Carrot, Egg, or Coffee...
Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil,without saying a word.
In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me what you see."
"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.
Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma.
The daughter then asked, "What does it mean, mother?"
Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity - boiling water. Each reacted differently.
The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak.
The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened.
The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.
"Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?"
Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?
Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?
Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, It releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you.
When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?
The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; They just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.
May we all be a COFFEE!
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Mathematics
- Smart Man + Smart Woman = Romance
- Smart Man + Dumb Woman = Affair
- Dumb Man + smart Woman = Marriage
- Dumb Man + Dumb Woman = Pregnancy
Office Arithmetic
- Smart Boss + Smart Employee = Profit
- Smart Boss + Dumb Employee = Production
- Dumb Boss + Smart Employee = Promotion
- Dumb Boss + Dumb Employee = Overtime
Shopping Math
- A Man will pay $2 for a $1 item he needs.
- A Woman will pay $1 for a $2 item that she doesn't need.
General Equations & Statistics
- A Woman worries about the future until she gets a husband.
- A Man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.
- A successful Man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend.
- A successful Woman is one who can find such a Man.
HAPPINESS
- To be happy with a Man, you must understand him a lot and love him a little.
- To be happy with a Woman, you must love her a lot and not try to understand her
at all.
LONGEVITY
- Married men live longer than single men do, but married men are a lot more willing
to die.
PROPENSITY TO CHANGE
- A Woman marries a Man expecting he will change, but he doesn't.
- A Man marries a Woman expecting that she won't change, and she does.
DISCUSSION TECHNIQUE
- A Woman has the last word in any argument.
- Anything a Man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.
HOW TO STOP PEOPLE FROM BUGGING YOU ABOUT GETTING MARRIED
- Old aunts used to come up to me at weddings, poking me in the ribs and cackling,
telling me, "You're next." They stopped after I started doing the same thing to
them at funerals.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Kids In Grade School Think Fast!
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Never Put Your Banana in the Refrigerator!
- Depression - According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.
- PMS - Forget the pills - eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood.
- Anemia - High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anemia.
- Blood Pressure - This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it perfect to beat blood pressure. So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit's ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke.
- Brain Power - 200 students at a Twickenham (Middlesex) school were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert.
- Constipation - High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives.
- Hangovers - One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.
- Heartburn - Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.
- Morning Sickness - Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness.
- Mosquito bites - Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.
- Nerves - Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system.
- Overweight and at work - Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at work leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and crisps. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady.
- Ulcers - The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach.
- Temperature control - Many other cultures see bananas as a "cooling" fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand, for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature.
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) - Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan.
- Smoking &Tobacco Use - Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking. The B6, B12 they contain, as well as the potassium and magnesium found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal.
- Stress - Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body's water balance When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack.
- Strokes - According to research in The New England Journal of Medicine, eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%!
- Warts - Those keen on natural alternatives swear that if you want to kill off a wart, take a piece of banana skin and place it on the wart, with the yellow side out. Carefully hold the skin in place with a plaster or surgical tape!
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
20 Ways To Maintain A Healthy Level of Insanity
- At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.
- Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice.
- Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, Ask If They Want Fries with that.
- Put Your Garbage Can On Your Desk And Label It "In."
- Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks. Once Everyone Has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch To Espresso.
- In The Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write "For Sexual Favors."
- Finish All Your sentences with "In Accordance With The Prophecy."
- Don't use any punctuation
- As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.
- Ask People What Sex They Are. Laugh Hysterically After They Answer.
- Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is "To Go."
- Sing Along At The Opera.
- Go To A Poetry Recital And Ask Why The Poems Don't Rhyme.
- Put Mosquito Netting Around Your Work Area And Make Tropical Sounds All Day.
- Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You're Not In The Mood.
- Have Your Co-workers Address You By Your Wrestling name, Rock Hard.
- When The Money Comes Out Of The ATM, Scream "I Won!, I Won!"
- When Leaving The Zoo, Start Running Towards The Lot, Yelling "Run For Your Lives, They're Loose!!"
- Tell Your Children Over Dinner, "Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go."
- Tell Your Friends About This Post To Make Them Smile...It's Called Therapy...
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
DEATH: A Wonderful Way To Explain It
Very quietly, the doctor said, "I don't know."
"You don't know? You, a Christian man, do not know what is on the other side?"
The doctor was holding the handle of the door; on the other side came a sound of scratching and whining, and as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room and leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.
Turning to the patient, the doctor said, "Did you notice my dog? He's never been in this room before. He didn't know what was inside."
The knew nothing except that his master was here, and when the door opened, he sprang in without fear.
"I know little of what is on the other side of death, but I do know one thing... I know my Master is there and that is enough."
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
A Nice Story: I Can Sleep When the Wind Blows
As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, he received a steady stream of refusals.
Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer. "Are you a good farm hand?" the farmer asked him.
"Well, I can sleep when the wind blows," answered the little man.
Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help, hired him. The little man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man's work.
Then one night the wind howled loudly in from offshore. Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand's sleeping quarters. He shook the little man and yelled,
"Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they are blown away!"
The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, "No sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows."
Enraged by the response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm.
To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered with tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down.
Nothing could be blown away. The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, so he returned to his bed to also sleep while the wind blew.
Moral of the Story
When you're prepared, spiritually, mentally, and physically, you have nothing to fear. Can you sleep when the wind blows through your life?
The hired hand in the story was able to sleep because he had secured the farm against the storm. We secure ourselves against the storms of life by grounding ourselves in the Word of God. We don't need to understand, we just need to hold His hand to have peace in the middle of storms.
I hope you enjoy your day and you sleep well.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Peng You
Fong jie goa - ü jien tsou
Jou goa lei - jou goa tsou
Hai tsin de tsien tsche sche mo
Tsen ai doa - tsai huei ti
Uei tsing moa - uei huei scheng
Tsung jou mo - tsung jou ni
Tsai sching tsong
Peng jou i scheng i tsü tsou
Na she er tse bu tsai jou
i tschü hoa - i bei tse
i scheng tsi - ni bei tsou
Peng jou bu tsen bu dan goa
I shen peng jou ni huei dou
Hai jou sheng - hai jou tou
Hai jou tsou - hai jou wo
Tse sien nie - i ge jen
Fong jie goa - ü jien tsou
Jou goa lei - jou goa tsou
Hai tsin de tsien tsche sche mo
Tsen ai doa - tsai huei ti
Uei tsing moa - uei huei scheng
Tsung jou mo - tsung jou nü
Tsai sching tsong
Peng jou i scheng i tsü tsou
Na she er tse bu tsai jou
Ni tschü hoa - i bei tse
Ni scheng tsi - ni bei tsou
Peng jou bu tsen bu dan goa
I shen peng jou ni huei dou
Hai jou sheng - hai jou tou
Hai jou tsou - hai jou wo
Peng jou i scheng i tsü tsou
Na she er tse bu tsai jou
Ni tschü hoa - i bei tse
Ni scheng tsi - ni bei tsou
Peng jou bu tsen bu dan goa
I shen peng jou ni huei dou
Hai jou sheng - hai jou tou
Hai jou tsou - hai jou wo
Thursday, May 11, 2006
For My One and Only: Liezel
On the occassion of our 943rd day of being together. In laughter and in tears, In sunshine, and in rain. Through all those years. And to all the years to come.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Iba talaga ang Pinoy!
Pinoy big brother....rose online version
Monday, May 08, 2006
Monday, April 24, 2006
Must Be the Mompo
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Easter in the early Church
Easter in the early Church
The observance of any special holiday throughout the Christian year is believed by some to be an innovation postdating the early church. The ecclesiastical historian Socrates Scholasticus (b. 380) attributes the observance of Easter by the church to the perpetuation of local custom, "just as many other customs have been established", stating that neither Jesus nor his apostles enjoined the keeping of this or any other festival. However, when read in context,this is not a rejection or denigration of the celebrationwhich, given its currency in Scholasticus' time would be surprisingbut is merely part of a defense of the diverse methods for computing its date. Indeed, although he describes the details of the Easter celebration as deriving from local custom, he insists the feast itself is universally observed.
Perhaps the earliest extant primary source referencing Easter is a 2nd century Paschal homily by Melito of Sardis, which characterizes the celebration as a well-established one.
A number of ecclesiastical historians, primarily Eusebius, bishop Polycarp of Smyrna, by tradition a disciple of John the Evangelist, disputed the computation of the date with bishop Anicetus of Rome in what is now known as the Quartodecimanism controversy. Anicetus became bishop of the church of Rome in the mid second century (c. AD 155). Shortly thereafter, Polycarp visited Rome and among the topics discussed was when the pre-Easter fast should end. Those in Asia held strictly to the computation from the Hebrew calendar and ended the fast on the 14th day of Nisan, while the Roman custom was to continue the fast until the Sunday following. Neither Polycarp nor Anicetus was able to convert the other to his positionaccording to a rather confused account by Sozomen, both could claim Apostolic authority for their traditions[1]but neither did they consider the matter of sufficient importance to justify a schism, so they parted in peace leaving the question unsettled. However, a generation later bishop Victor of Rome excommunicated bishop Polycrates of Ephesus and the rest of the Asian bishops for their adherence to 14 Nisan. The excommunication was rescinded and the two sides reconciled upon the intervention of bishop Irenaeus of Lyons, who reminded Victor of the tolerant precedent that had been established earlier. In the end, a uniform method of computing the date of Easter was not formally settled until the First Council of Nicaea in 325 (see below), although by that time the Roman timing for the observance had spread to most churches.
A number of early bishops rejected the practice of celebrating Easter, or more accurately Passover, on the first Sunday after Nisan 14. This conflict between Easter and Passover is often referred to as the "Paschal Controversy". The bishops dissenting from the newer practice of Easter favored adhering to celebrating the festival on Nisan 14 in accord with the Biblical Passover and the tradition passed on to them by the Apostles. The problem with Nisan 14 in the minds of some in the Western Church (who wished to further associate Sunday and Easter) is that it was calcuated by the moon and could fall on any day of the week.
An early example of this tension is found written by Theophilus of Caesarea (c. AD 180; 8.774 "Ante-Nicene Church Fathers") when he stated, "Endeavor also to send abroad copies of our epistle among all the churches, so that those who easily deceive their own souls may not be able to lay the blame on us. We would have you know, too, that in Alexandria also they observe the festival on the same day as ourselves. For the Paschal letters are sent from us to them, and from them to usso that we observe the holy day in unison and together."
Polycarp, a disciple of John, likewise adhered to a Nisan 14 observance. Irenaeus, who observed the "first Sunday" rule notes of Polycarp (one of the Bishops of Asia Minor), "For Anicetus could not persuade Polycarp to forgo the observance [of his Nisan 14 practice] inasmuch as these things had been always observed by John the disciple of the Lord, and by other apostles with whom he had been conversant." (c. AD 180; 1.569 "Ante-Nicene Church Fathers"). Irenaeus notes that this was not only Polycarp's practice, but that this was the practice of John the disciple and the other apostles that Polycarp knew.
Polycrates (c. AD 190) emphatically notes this is the tradition passed down to him, that Passover and Unleavened Bread were kept on Nisan 14 in accord with the Biblical Passover and not the later Easter tradition: "As for us, then, we scrupulously observe the exact day, neither adding nor taking away. For in Asia great luminaries have gone to their rest who will rise again on the day of the coming of the Lord.... These all kept Easter on the fourteenth day, in accordance with the Gospel.... Seven of my relatives were bishops, and I am the eighth, and my relatives always observed the day when the people put away the leaven" (8.773, 8.744 "Ante-Nicene Church Fathers").
Early within the Church it was admitted by both sides of the debate that the Lord's Supper was the practice of the disciples and the tradition passed down. The Last Supper is believed by some to be a Passover Seder (see: The Last Supper). The Nisan 14 practice, which was strong among the churches of Asia Minor, becomes less common as the desire for Church unity on the question came to favor the majority practice. By the 3rd century the Church, which had become Gentile dominated and wishing to further distinguish itself from Jewish practices, began a tone of harsh rhetoric against Nisan 14/Passover (e.g. Anatolius, c. AD 270; 6.148,6.149 "Ante-Nicene Church Fathers"). The tradition that Easter was to be celebrated "not with the Jews" meant that Easter was not to be celebrated on Nisan 14.
source: wikipedia