Pirates..an evil..?? Think again...

Who imagined that in 2009, the world's governments would be declaring a new War on Pirates? As you read this, the British Royal Navy - backed by the ships of more than two dozen nations, from the US to China - is sailing into Somalian waters to take on men we still picture as parrot-on-the-shoulder pantomime villains. They will soon be fighting Somalian ships and even chasing the pirates onto land, into one of the most broken countries on earth. But behind the arrr-me-hearties oddness of this tale, there is an untold scandal. The people our governments are labeling as "one of the great menace of our times" have an extraordinary story to tell -- and some justice on their side. ?

Pirates have never been quite who we think they are. In the "golden age of piracy" - from 1650 to 1730 - the idea of the pirate as the senseless, savage thief that lingers today was created by the British government in a great propaganda-heave. Many ordinary people believed it was false: pirates were often rescued from the gallows by supportive crowds. Why? What did they see that we can't? In his book Villains of All nations, the historian Marcus Rediker pores through the evidence to find out. If you became a merchant or navy sailor then - plucked from the docks of London's East End, young and hungry - you ended up in a floating wooden Hell. You worked all hours on a cramped, half-starved ship, and if you slacked off for a second, the all-powerful captain would whip you with the Cat O' Nine Tails. If you slacked consistently, you could be thrown overboard. And at the end of months or years of this, you were often cheated of your wages. ? Pirates were the first people to rebel against this world. They mutinied against their tyrannical captains - and created a different way of working on the seas. Once they had a ship, the pirates elected their captains, and made all their decisions collectively. They shared their bounty out
in what Rediker calls "one of the most egalitarian plans for the disposition of resources to be found anywhere in the eighteenth century." They even took in escaped African slaves and lived with them as equals. The pirates showed "quite clearly - and subversively - that ships did not have to be run in the brutal and oppressive ways of the merchant service and the Royal navy." This is why they were popular, despite being unproductive thieves. ? The words of one pirate from that lost age - a young British man called William Scott - should echo into this new age of piracy. Just before he was hanged in Charleston, South Carolina, he said: "What I did was to keep me from perishing. I was forced to go a-pirating to live." In 1991, the government of Somalia - in the Horn of Africa - collapsed. Its nine million people have been teetering on starvation ever since - and many of the ugliest forces in the Western world have seen this as a great opportunity to steal the country's food supply and dump our nuclear waste in their seas. ? Yes: nuclear waste.

As soon as the government was gone, mysterious European ships started appearing off the coast of Somalia, dumping vast barrels into the ocean. The coastal population began to sicken. At first they suffered strange rashes, nausea and malformed babies. Then, after the 2005 tsunami, hundreds of the dumped and leaking barrels washed up on shore. People began to suffer from radiation sickness, and more than 300 died. Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN envoy to Somalia, tells me: "Somebody is dumping nuclear material here. There is also lead, and heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury - you name it." Much of it can be traced back to European hospitals and factories, who seem to be passing it on to the Italian mafia to "dispose" of cheaply. When I asked Ould-Abdallah what European governments were doing about it, he said with a sigh: "Nothing. There has been no clean-up, no compensation, and no prevention." ? At the same time, other European ships have been looting Somalia's seas of their greatest resource: seafood. We have destroyed our own fish-stocks by over-exploitation - and now we have moved on to theirs. More than $300m worth of tuna, shrimp, lobster and other sea-life is being stolen every year by vast trawlers illegally sailing into Somalia's unprotected seas. The local fishermen have suddenly lost their livelihoods, and they are starving. Mohammed Hussein, a fisherman in the town of Marka 100km south of Mogadishu, told Reuters: "If nothing is done, there soon won't be much fish left in our coastal waters." ? This is the context in which the men we are calling "pirates" have emerged. Everyone agrees they were ordinary Somalian fishermen who at first took speedboats to try to dissuade the dumpers and trawlers, or at least wage a 'tax' on them. They call themselves the Volunteer Coastguard of Somalia
- and it's not hard to see why. In a surreal telephone interview, one of the pirate leaders, Sugule Ali, said their motive was "to stop illegal fishing and dumping in our waters... We don't consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits [to be] those who illegally fish and dump in our seas and dump waste in our seas and carry weapons in our seas." William Scott would understand those words. ? No, this doesn't make hostage-taking justifiable, and yes, some are clearly just gangsters - especially those who have held up World Food Programme supplies.. But the "pirates" have the overwhelming support of the local population for a reason. The independent Somalian news-site WardherNews conducted the best research we have into what ordinary Somalis are thinking - and it found 70 percent "strongly supported the piracy as a form of national defence of the country's territorial waters." During the revolutionary war in America, George Washington and America's founding fathers paid pirates to protect America's territorial waters, because they had no navy or coastguard of their own. Most Americans supported them. Is this so different? ?

Did we expect starving Somalians to stand passively on their beaches, paddling in our nuclear waste, and watch us snatch their fish to eat in restaurants in London and Paris and Rome? We didn't act on those crimes - but when some of the fishermen responded by disrupting the transit-corridor for 20 percent of the world's oil supply, we begin to shriek about "evil." If we really want to deal with piracy, we need to stop its root cause - our crimes - before we send in the gun-boats to root out Somalia's criminals. ? The story of the 2009 war on piracy was best summarised by another pirate, who lived and died in the fourth century BC. He was captured and brought to Alexander the Great, who demanded to know "what he meant by keeping possession of the sea." The pirate
smiled, and responded: "What you mean by seizing the whole earth; but because I do it with a petty ship, I am called a robber, while you, who do it with a great fleet, are called emperor." Once again, our great imperial fleets sail in today - but who is the robber? ? POSTSCRIPT: Some commenters seem bemused by the fact that both toxic dumping and the theft of fish are happening in the same place - wouldn't this make the fish contaminated? In fact, Somalia's coastline is vast, stretching to 3300km. Imagine how easy it would be - without any coastguard or army - to steal fish from Florida and dump nuclear waste on California, and you get the idea. These events are happening in different places - but with the same horrible effect: death for the locals, and stirred-up piracy. There's no contradiction. ? Johann Hari is a writer for the Independent newspaper?

Why in the down trodden city of **Calcutta**..???

> Soon after independence and in the early 50s Calcutta was one of the best
> cities of India and also considered as the commercial capital of our country
>
>
>
> Those days, Calcutta was still quite a regal, sophisticated, beautiful
> and a clean city, as the British had left it, with some very imposing and
> fine buildings such as the Calcutta High Court, Great Eastern Hotel,
> buildings in Dalhousie Square incl. Writers Building, Grindlays Bank,
> Imperial Bank ( now known as State Bank of India), the Statesman Office ,
> the Grand Hotel in Chowringhee etc etc., not forgetting the beautiful
> Victoria Memorial surrounded by its lovely gardens and the St. Pauls
> Cathredal.
>
>
>
> Calcutta was also famous for its beautifully maintained Maidan, with
> hundreds of trees and dotted with sports clubs?one could even play golf on
> the Maidan.
>
>
>
> Alipore, a very green suburb still has its beautiful Horticultural
> Gardens , well known for its annual flower show in winter. South Calcutta
> was famous for its lake surrounded by trees and Park Circus its poor cousin,
> also had a fairly decent ? park? where we apprentices from Gorachand
> Road enjoyed our evening walks.
>
>
>
> North Calcutta had the very popular Star Theatre, the Mirror Palace ,
> Rajbari and a little beyond Bentick St was the very fascinating China Town.
>
>
>
> Those days the city had some very posh hotels and restaurants, like the
> famous Great Eastern Hotel and the Grand with its very popular restaurant
> the ?Scheherazade? and its ballroom at the ?Princes?. Other very popular restaurants
> were Firpos, Flurys, Trincas and Kwality and a very good Chinese
> restaurant on Park St. which I think was named Peiping. Our favorite used
> to be the very reasonably priced ?Magnolia? on Park St with Patricia singing
> away as well as ?Mocambo? on Free School St. with the famous and very
> popular Pam Crain at the mike
>
>
>
> Besides the very popular hotels and restaurants Calcutta was also well
> known for its club life . The posh clubs being?Bengal Club, Tollygunge Club,
> Royal Golf Club, the famous Calcutta Cricket and Football Club which claims
> to be the second oldest sports club in the world, the Saturday Club, the
> Royal Turf Club, Calcutta Rowing Club, the Dalhousie Institute ( very
> popular with the Anglo Indians ) and of course the various football clubs
> such as Mohan Bagan, East Bengal, Mohd Sporting, and others who had their
> club houses on the Maidan
>
>
>
>
>
> In 40s and 50s Calcutta was the commercial capital of India and well known
> companies such as Duncans, Shaw Wallace, Andrew Yule, Imperial Tobacco, now
> known as India Tobacco Co (ITC) , Metal Box, Imperial Chemical Industries
> (ICI), Shalimar Paints, J.Thomas, Macneil & Barry, Mckinnon & Mckenzie,
> Jessop, Kilburn, Dunlop, the Birla group, and many more, besides a whole
> lot of tea companies had their head offices in Calcutta
>
>
>
> The city transportation system was also quite good in our time and the
> Calcutta Tramways Co had a fairly efficient service. We used to hop onto
> a tram at Park Circus and reach Esplanade in about 20 minutes --- the
> fare 10 paise (old currency )
>
>
>
> Calcutta was also the largest and the busiest port in India, right up to
> the 70s, and at times there used to be over a hundred ships in port with
> every berth in the King Georges Dock (now known as Netaji Subhash Dock),
> Kidderpore Dock, river jetties and buoys occupied and at times double banked
>
>
>
> Maximum number of ships used to be repaired at Calcutta, in fact even some
> foreign passenger and cargo ships used to specially come to Calcutta for dry
> docking and be laid up for repairs / survey just like these days we send
> our ships to Colombo, Dubai, Singapore and China for heavy repairs and
> dry docking . To cater to the ship repair business there were some very well
> equipped marine repair workshops such as Garden Reach Workshops, IGNR later
> known as the CIWTC Rajabagan Dockyard, Shalimar Works, Hoogly Docking and
> last but not the least the Calcutta Port Trust workshops which catered to
> its large fleet of port craft and dredgers. All these marine workshops were
> well known for their highly skilled manpower.
>
>
>
> In other words, besides being the commercial capital, Calcutta was also the
> shipping capital of India. It was obvious that Calcutta with its excellent
> ship repair facilities was ideally suited for training of marine engineers,
> more so since the deck cadets were being trained on the Dufferin at
> Bombay, and therefore setting up the DMET at Calcutta was fully justified
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *The decline of **Calcutta**?..*
>
>
>
> It is indeed very unfortunate that the shipping scene has drastically
> changed as far as Calcutta is concerned. The port was very busy right up to
> the mid 70s but started deteriorating, thanks to frequent strikes / labour
> problems, and its inability to cater to deep draft ships. The prevailing
> political situation in West Bengal, Naxalite activities, labour
> problems, strikes, ?gheraoes?, and the huge shortage of electric power,
> resulting in frequent load shedding was the beginning of the end.
>
>
>
> Companies started shifting their operations out of Calcutta and some just
> folded up. Trade and commerce at Calcutta suffered
>
>
>
> As for the city of Calcutta and its ?down trodden ? condition, you will be
> surprised to know that up to the late 40s, the streets of the then
> Calcutta were hosed down early in the morning at about 5AM every day by
> the staff of the Calcutta Municipality ! (If you do not believe me, please
> ask your parents / grand parents re the same). The rot started with the
> influx of refugees from the then East Pakistan, living on the streets in the
> city with no proper rehabilitation (unlike the refugees from West
> Pakistan ) , down turn in the state economy, and due to the rampant corruption,
> indiscipline and breakdown of civic services of the notorious
> Municipality of Calcutta
>
>
>
> The ruling Left Front continued to harbor anti private industry policies
> for 30 years. By the time they realized the damage caused to West Bengal?s
> economy and tried to attract private investment, the Trinamool had picked up
> the baton , and now its back to square one!
>
>

Did Lord macaulay succeed?

Did Lord Macaulay succeed? Undoubtedly, it’s the time to analyze the question whether Macaualy succeeded in his aim or not? Before doing that first, let us review his plan. Macaulay, while delivering his speech in British Parliament on Feb.2, 1835, said “I have travelled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen a person who is a beggar, or a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibres that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage and therefore I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system…”

Indeed, our youngsters have been demoralized, dollar-oriented and self-esteemed. It is a matter of pity that they don’t have time for their parents. So, how can one can think that they would be committed to the society? Most of them either get busy earning dollars through MNCs or plan to settle abroad.

You will be surprised to know that Indian Government invests a huge amount to produce one doctor or an engineer with a hope that they would serve the nation. Unfortunately, all such hopes come to an end when these selfish people settle in developed countries just for the sake of their financial upliftment. Does this scenario not depict the one part of Macaulay’s dream?

Secondly, the other aspect of the coin is that the present education system has increased the strength of only degree holders who are lacking in practical knowledge. They have been adopting the system of cramming and vomiting of information. That’s why the prestigious corporate are also facing this problem and not able to employ the brilliant, intelligent and dedicated persons. Actual essence of education like moral values and culture of India has becomes obsolete subject for them. The demand of introduction of morals and ethics in educational system is not new.

In 1948, the University Education Commission had said, “The possibilities of including religious and moral studies in the academic syllabi of the universities be explored.” It is essentially, indispensable that the students are told through education that the key to genuine development is the self-assertion. We can’t achieve the goal unless we impart the moral and ethical values, through an important system of education among all the section of society. In fact, we need such an education by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, the intellect is expanded and by which one can stand on one’s feet. “Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man.” Swami Vivekanand.

Think it Over

Macaulay and India's rootless generations
By M.S.N. Menon

“I dimly realised,” writes Malcolm Muggeridge, who worked in India as a teacher and journalist for long years, “that a people can be laid waste culturally, as well as physically—not only in their land but in their inner life—as if it is sown with salt. That is what happened in India; an alien culture, itself exhausted, trivialised and shallow, was imposed on them. When we (British) went, we left behind... a spiritual wasteland. We had drained the country of its life and creativity, making it a place of echoes and mimicry.”

We can still hear the echoes and mimicry from this wasteland—from the ‘children of Macaulay’. Tagore used to call them ‘shadows’. They are not real people, but zombies programmed by Macaulay to act like the Caliban, the slave.

Macaulay wanted only babus: men, as he said, Indian in colour, but British in the way they thought. But the British masters sat rather heavily on these babus and left a deep imprint of their ugly bottoms on them. So, if you see the babus going about with the ugly imprint of the bottoms of their erstwhile masters, you should not be surprised. The slaves are rather proud of it.

Naturally, the ‘children of Macaulay’ grew up ashamed of their civilisation, of their ancestors, while they felt overwhelmed by the ‘great achievements’ of Europe.

Nirad Choudhury's Continent of Circe is perhaps the best known outcry of this sense of shame among westernised Indians. But, then, he was an Anglophile. His pride? That he knew the names of every street in London! Did he know anything about India? No. Not till he was old.

Not much has changed even after the country became independent. Why? Because power passed into the hands of these very babus—the Nirad Choudhurys of India.

So, generations of Indians grew up in this country, fascinated by the achievements of the West, of Britain in particular. Did the ‘liberators’ of India change Macaulay's educational system? Not at all. Why? Because they knew even less than Nirad Choudhury of their country.

Here is what Dr Subhash Kashyap, former Secretary General of the Lok Sabha, has written on the so-called ‘founding fathers’ of our Constitution: “It (Constituent Assembly) was an elitist body and not an assembly of representatives of the people. They were western educated, nurtured in British concepts and culture and most fascinated by British institutions. Neither the ethos and genius of India nor the vision and view of Gandhi seem to have inspired them much. The result was: They bodily lifted large chunks of the 1935 Act (enacted by the British Parliament).” In short, they were no ‘founding fathers’.

Little did they know that India, a country of the greatest diversity, called for a new type of Constitution, that the Constitutions they copied were meant for homogeneous societies only. If this is what our ‘Constitution makers’ were, not much need be said of the bureaucracy, which used to carry out the orders of the British.

What has happened to Macaulay's children? Nirad Choudhury is no more. He died a heartbroken man. He became one of the bitterest critics of western civilisation, particularly British. His complaint? That the British did not live up to his expectations. Surely, his life was a tragedy. His life's work was in vain.

After what has happened to Choudhury, few will perhaps dare to put on his mantle—that of Caliban, the slave. At least, few will ramble about India, when they know next to nothing about this country.

Nationalism is taboo to our minorities. We know why. (But on this later.) They would like to change their history. But one must have roots in one's country, for a man without roots is like weeds in a field.

That is why the denigration of nationalism is all wrong. That is why this hankering after other people's way of life is all wrong. Macaulay had his day. And England is no more what it was. The sun has set over the British empire. But the sun of India is rising over the horizon. Let us hope, it will dispel the ‘shadows’ from our land

6yr-old Indian-American boy's IQ is greater than that of Einstein

An Indian-American boy has an IQ greater than that of Albert Einstein at the tender age of six.

Pranav Veera has an IQ of 176, while Einstein's IQ was believed to be about 160.

The little boy can recite the names of the U.S. presidents in the order they served in office, and is able to say the alphabet backward.

Given a date back to 2000, Pranav can even tell which day of the week that was.

He is highly competitive at playing Wii video games, and likes to play outside.

Pranav's parents have revealed that he seemed unusually intelligent while playing with alphabet sets, when the boy was just four-and-a-half years old.

He could even recall which letters were certain colours, they say.

"That kind of puzzled us. You have to have not a normal memorization, but some other means of recall," the Chicago Sun-Times quoted his father Prasad Veera as saying.

The little boy's mother, Suchitra Veera, has revealed that he presently loves all kinds of alphabets.

"He loves to collect them, like different colors, different sizes, different materials," she said.

Pranav's parents decided to have his IQ tested at Powers Educational Services in Hyde Park three months ago

"I said, 'Let's try it out, because he seems to do a lot of stuff kind of not quite normal for his age. He tested 176," his father said.

Pranav's teacher Marci Taylor, at McCormick Elementary in the Milford School District, calls him "an amazing child".

"He knows so much, yet he's probably more excited about learning than any child I've ever seen. He shakes with excitement," she said.

What she finds impressive about Pranav is the fact that he knows so many incredible things at the age of 6.

"He loves to go play at recess and climb on the monkey bars," Taylor said.

When asked what he wants to be when he grows up, Pranav says: "An astronaut." (ANI)

I think this is some thing all of us will understand.

Heidi is the proprietor of a bar somewhere in Europe. In order to increase
sales, she decides to allow her loyal customers - most of whom are
unemployed alcoholics - to drink now but pay later. She keeps track of the
drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers loans).



Word gets around and as a result increasing numbers of customers flood into
Heidi's bar. Taking advantage of her customers' freedom from immediate
payment constraints, Heidi increases her prices for wine and beer, the
most-consumed beverages. Her sales volume increases massively.


A young and dynamic customer service consultant at the local bank recognizes
these customer debts as valuable future assets and increases Heidi's
borrowing limit.


He sees no reason for undue concern since he has the debts of the alcoholics
as collateral. At the bank's corporate headquarters, expert bankers
transform these customer assets into DRINKBONDS, ALKBONDS and PUKEBONDS.
These securities are then traded on markets worldwide. No one really
understands what these abbreviations mean and how the securities are
guaranteed. Nevertheless, as their prices continuously climb, the securities
become top-selling items.


One day, although the prices are still climbing, a risk manager
(subsequently of course fired due his negativity) of the bank decides that
slowly the time has come to demand payment of the debts incurred by the
drinkers at Heidi's bar.


However they cannot pay back the debts.
Heidi cannot fulfill her loan obligations and claims bankruptcy.


DRINKBOND and ALKBOND drop in price by 95 %. PUKEBOND performs better,
stabilizing in price after dropping by 80 %.


The suppliers of Heidi's bar, having granted her generous payment due dates
and having invested in the securities are faced with a new situation. Her
wine supplier claims bankruptcy, her beer supplier is taken over by a
competitor.


The bank is saved by the Government following dramatic round-the-clock
consultations by leaders from the governing political parties.


The funds required for this purpose are obtained by a tax levied on the
non-drinkers.


Finally an explanation I understand ...
-------------- next part --------------

We worked on status for 16 yrs ...

Far away from the ruckus in Parliament , on the campus of West Bengal’s Marine Engineering and Research Institute (MERI) in Kolkata, there was quiet disappointment — and surprise.

While the news that Chennai would get the Indian Maritime University was known as early as last year, faculty said that the Bill marked the end of an upgrade process they had been working on for 16 years.

The idea was floated first in 1991 and MERI, then known as the Directorate of Marine Engineering Training (DMET), was the first choice.

So much had been the enthusiasm that the West Bengal Government has offered 31 acres for expansion to the institute which now sits on 33 acres leased from the Kolkata Port Trust.

“We were all eagerly waiting for the final verdict. Chennai was nowhere in the contention,” said MERI director S Mukhopadhyay. “Two years ago, the UGC team visited us. After this, another Central team came. In June, last year, the parliamentary standing committee that was looking into the setting up of a university also consulted us...We gave all relevant documents, we have ensured adequate infrastructure, we never missed any deadlines.”

In fact, a top faculty member at Chennai’s National Marine Academy, who did not wish to be named, said today that “going by technical excellence and eligibility for being upgraded to the Indian Maritime University, MERI is clearly the winner.”

Reason: While MERI, established in 1949, offers a bachelor’s degree in Marine Engineering, the only institute in the country to do so, Chennai’s NMA provides only training courses for port and Merchant Navy personnel and a BSc course began just two years back.

MERI is the only institute for marine engineers approved by the All India Council for Technical Education and the only institute in the country to have a full-size marine propulsion engine for training. It’s called the “Ship on Campus.”

As an intermediate step towards the upgrade, the Indian Institute of Maritime Studies was established in Mumbai in 2002 to integrate the four government-owned institutes — the Lal Bahadur Shastri Nautical College at Mumbai, T S Chanakya, MERI and MERI’s branch in Mumbai. All these institutes will now be subsumed within the university.

“It is certainly a disheartening moment for us and our students, we have the best faculty, adequate apparatus and standards required. No inspection team ever said we lack any amenities. At present, we are in a process of introducing newer courses. Our institute has also applied for National Board of Accreditation certification,” said member of faculty and Engineer Officer R K Paul.

The Seed

A successful business man was growing old and
knew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business.?
Instead of choosing one of his Directors or his children,
he decided to do something different. He called all the young
executives in his company together.

He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO.
I have decided to choose one of you. "The young executives were
Shocked, but the boss continued. "I am going to give each one
of you a SEED today - one very special SEED. I want you to plant
the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with
what you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will then
judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be
the next CEO."

One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others,
received a seed. He went home and excitedly, told his wife the
story. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and he planted
the seed. Everyday, he would water it and watch to see if it had
grown. After about three weeks, some of the other executives began
to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.?

Jim kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew.?
Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing.?
By now, others were talking about their plants, but Jim didn't have
a plant and he felt like a failure.
Six months went by -- still nothing in Jim's pot. He just knew he
had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but
he had nothing. Jim didn't say anything to his colleagues, however.
He just kept watering and fertilizing the soil - He so wanted the
seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the young executives of the company
brought their plants to the CEO for inspection.
Jim told his wife that he wasn't going to take an empty pot.
But she asked him to be honest about what happened. Jim felt sick
to his stomach, it was going to be the most embarrassing moment
of his life, but he knew his wife was right. He took his empty pot
to the board room. When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the variety
of plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful --
in all shapes and sizes. Jim put his empty pot on the floor and
many of his colleagues laughed, a few felt sorry for him!

When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young
executives.

Jim just tried to hide in the back. "My, what great plants, trees,
and flowers you have grown," said the CEO. "Today one of you will
be appointed the next CEO!"

All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Jim at the back of the room with
his empty pot. He ordered the Financial Director to bring him to
the front. Jim was terrified. He thought, "The CEO knows I'm a
failure! Maybe he will have me fired!"?

When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened
to his seed - Jim told him the story.?

The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim,
and then announced to the young executives, "Behold your next
Chief Executive Officer!?

His name is Jim!" Jim couldn't believe it. Jim couldn't even grow
his seed.

"How could he be the new CEO?" the others said.

Then the CEO said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone in this
room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it,
and bring it back=2 0to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds;
they were dead - it was not possible for them to grow.

All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and
flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you
substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Jim was the
only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with
my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new
Chief Executive Officer!"

* If you plant honesty, you will reap trust?

* If you plant goodness, you will reap friends

* If you plant humility, you will reap greatness

* If you plant perseverance, you will reap contentment

* If you plant consideration, you will reap perspective

* If you plant hard work, you will reap success

* If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation

* If you plant faith in God?, you will reap a harvest

So, be careful what you plant now;
it will determine what you will reap later.?



"Whatever Y ou Give To Life, Life Gives You Back"

The mantra behind marital bliss...

For many years, it was reckoned that the prescription for marital malaise was having a baby.

However, now, two psychologists from the University of California at Berkeley have claimed that if both partners are equally pleased about a pregnancy - and careful not to backslide into traditional gender roles - most couples are satisfied in their relationship, reports the Daily Telegraph.

To reach the conclusion, Philip and Carolyn Cowan, who are also fellows with the Council on Contemporary Families, followed 96 couples for six years after their first babies arrived.

Those who welcomed their children saw more positive feelings return at about 18 months. But those who were ambivalent or disagreed on the new addition - about one-third - continued to be caught up in tension.

And all those couples were either separated or divorced by the time the child reached kindergarten.

"Given these findings ... it isn't wise for an eager spouse or would-be grandparents to pressure couples to become parents before both are ready," reported the Cowans, who will present their findings at the council's annual conference in April.

"In light of the long-term consequences ... the decision should not be rushed," they added. (ANI)

ANI

• Email Story
• IM Story
• Printable View

RECOMMEND THIS STORY

RECOMMEND IT:

NUMBER OF VOTES ()

Entertainment News

• Scarlett Johansson in talks to play 'Black widow' in Iron Man sequel ANI- 05:10 PM
• Mary J. Blidge's phone call was Estelle's best Christmas gift ever ANI -05:10 PM
• Akon, Gabrielle Union offer support to battered Rihanna ANI - 05:10 PM
• Joaquin Phoenix says he'll be remembered for his music rather than acting ANI - 04:30 PM
• Freida Pinto on spending spree in the fame-game ANI - 04:30 PM

VERY INTERESTING STUFF

 
In the 1400's a law was set forth in England that a man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have 'the rule of thumb'
------------ --------- --------- ----- 
Many years ago in Scotland , a new game was invented. It was ruled 'Gentlemen Only...Ladies Forbidden'.. ..and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.
------------ --------- --------- ----- 
Men can read smaller print than women can; women can hear better. 
------------ --------- --------- -----
Coca-Cola was originally green. 
------------ --------- --------- -----
It is impossible to lick your elbow. 
------------ --------- --------- ----- 
Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
------------ --------- --------- -----
The first novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer. 
------------ --------- --------- -----
The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments. 
------------ --------- --------- -----
Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history: 
Spades - King David Hearts - Charlemagne Clubs -Alexander, the Great Diamonds - Julius Caesar
------------ --------- --------- ----
111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987, 654,321 
------------ --------- --------- -----
If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes. 
------------ --------- --------- -----
Q. Most boat owners name their boats. What is the most popular boat name requested? 
A. Obsession
------------ --------- --------- ----- 
Q. If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter 'A'?
A. One thousand 
------------ --------- --------- -----

In Shakespeare' s time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes.
When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase...... ... 'goodnight, sleep tight.' 
------------ --------- --------- -----
It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, which we know today as the honeymoon. 
------------ --------- --------- -----
In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts... So in old England , when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them 'Mind your pints and quarts, and settle down.' 
It's where we get the phrase 'mind your P's and Q's'
------------ --------- --------- -----
Many years ago in England , pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim, or handle, of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service. 'Wet your whistle' is the phrase inspired by this practice. 
------------ --------- --------- -----
At least 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow! 
------------ --------- --------- -----
- Now....
Don't delete this just because it looks weird. Believe it or not, you can read it. 
I cdnuolt blveiee that I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd what I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in what oredr the ltteers in a word are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is that the first and last ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it wouthit a porbelm. This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the word as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?
------------ --------- --------- -----

Valentine's Day Massacre

 

• 
  Valentine's Day Massacre

 As millions of Brits plan to celebrate St. Valentine's Day this Saturday, the controversial Muslim cleric Anjem Choudary has warned Brit lovers that if they celebrate Valentine's Day they will rot in hell.

The hate preacher slamed the practice of exchanging cards, sending roses or enjoying romantic candlelit dinners, claiming Britain's favourite tradition as "a futile and evil festival", used to justify sinful actions such as free-mixing, promiscuity, vain sexual talk and even fornication, The Daily Star reported.

The London-born lawyer, who in his youth was a cider-drinking ladies' man, posted the 800-word rant on his anti-West website, 'The Islamist'.

The article is headlined, "Valentine's Day Of Fornication" and shows bloody pictures of hearts, while the cover of the magazine shows pictures of Palestinian children killed during last month's attacks by Israel in the Gaza Strip.

The former leader of banned hate group al-Muhajiroun even calls it "Pagan festival" and says it "diverts" people away from "the submission and worship of Allah".

"Many view this day as harmless fun, an opportunity to show love and affections towards spouses and partners by exchanging cards, giving flowers and having candle lit dinners etc, not realising that its origin and current day practices conflict with the teachings of Islam," Choudary wrote.

"The recognition of Valentine's Day opens the door to the Devil to manipulate their behaviour, encouraging them to abandon their Islamic identity and to entertain desires of lust, to engage in pre-marital relations and in other evil practices," he adds, "People should not succumb. Instead we should endeavour to attain the best form of love, which is exclusive love for Allah."

The rant is only the latest in a string of bizarre attacks by the extremist.

In December, he told Muslims enjoying Christmas was "the pathway to hellfire and purchasing trees and having Christmas turkey meals are completely prohibited by Allah." (ANI)

Men value education more than chastity in women....

This Valentine's Day researchers at University of Iowa have taken the opportunity to a question that has haunted people for eternity - what men and women want in a partner.

In their study, University of Iowa sociologists Christine Whelan and Christie Boxer, found that men are increasingly interested in an educated woman who is a good financial prospect and less interested in chastity.

On the other hand, women prefer a man who wants a family and less picky about whether he's always Mr. Nice Guy.

For the study, the researchers analysed results of a 2008 survey of more than 1,100 undergraduates at the UI, the University of Washington, the University of Virginia and Penn State University, comparing the results to past mate-preference studies.

Since the 1930s, researchers have been asking college students to rank a list of 18 characteristics they'd prefer in a mate from "irrelevant" (0) to "essential" (3), allowing for a comparison of mate preferences dating back three generations.

And it was found that today's young adults rank love and attraction as most important, which didn't even make the top three a few generations ago.

"Marriage used to be a practical arrangement. Getting married for love or attraction was considered foolish and perhaps even dangerous," said Whelan, author of "Marry Smart: The Intelligent Woman's Guide to True Love" and a visiting assistant professor of sociology in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

In the 1930s male respondents were seeking a dependable, kind lady who had skills in the kitchen. Chastity was more important than intelligence.

But, the recent results indicate that guys look for love, brains and beauty, and if the lady has a sizable salary to her credit, it's an added advantage.

Men ranked "good financial prospect" No. 12 in 2008, a significant climb from No. 17 in 1939 and No. 18 in 1967.

"These results are consistent with the rise in educational and career opportunities for women, and men's increasing desire to share the financial burdens with a future spouse," said Whelan.

However, chastity, which men ranked at No. 10 in 1939, fell to dead last in 2008.

"When we administered the survey, several female students snickered at the idea that we even included the chastity item. This is consistent with the widespread hook-up culture on college campuses," said Whelan.

Women of the 1930s ranked emotional stability, dependable character and ambition as the top three characteristics they wanted in a man. Attraction and love didn't come in until No. 5.

But today, women, like men, put love at the top of the list, with dependability and emotional stability rounding out the top three characteristics in their Mr. Right.

The ladies rated desire for home and children much higher in importance than men do.

In 2008, women rated desire for home and children fourth men ranked it ninth.

The researchers compiled a list of what the sexes look for in their prospective mates.

Class IV Result...

Check out the result that changed my life at all... 

I dnt know wh0m to thank for this because there are so many people who have given their support in their own way...

Thank you all you those who have extended their support.

Hii guys,
Welcome to my blog.. Well this isnt my blog exactly but I just own the name.. Newys friends u all are invited to give your views on anything u like and netime...!!!