Thursday, August 31, 2006

Bug in posting date while posting from drafts

Today, I found a bug in Blogspot.com. If you are posting from a draft which you created some time back, the blog will be posted with the date of the draft creation, and not the actual time of posting. This will be a big problem, if you have multiple drafts, and if you post one draft today which you create today, and another post tomorrow which was created yesterday, then tomorrow's posting won't be at the top, and it will be the second post.

Let's hope blogspot will fix this problem soon.

Biggest Weakness can become your Biggest Strength

Sometimes your biggest weakness can become your biggest strength.

Take, for example, the story of one 10-year-old boy who decided to study judo despite the fact that he had lost his left arm in a devastating car accident.

The boy began lessons with an old Japanese judo master. The boy was doing well, so he couldn't understand why, after three months of training the master had taught him only one move. "Sensei," the boy finally said, "Shouldn't I be learning more moves?" "This is the only move you know, but this is the only move you'll ever need to know," the Sensei replied.

Not quite understanding, but believing in his teacher, the boy kept training. Several months later, the sensei took the boy to his first tournament. Surprising himself, the boy easily won his first two matches. The third match proved to be more difficult, but after some time, his opponent became impatient and charged; the boy deftly used his one move to win the match.

Still amazed by his success, the boy was now in the finals.

This time, his opponent was bigger, stronger, and more experienced. For a while, the boy appeared to be overmatched. Concerned that the boy might get hurt, the referee called a time-out. He was about to stop the match when the Sensei intervened.

"No," the Sensei insisted, "Let him continue." Soon after the match resumed, his opponent made a critical mistake: he dropped his guard. Instantly, the boy used his move to pin him. The boy had won the match and the tournament. He was the champion. On the way home, the boy and Sensei reviewed every move in each and every match. Then the boy summoned the courage to ask what was really on his mind. "Sensei, how did I win the tournament with only one move?" "You won for two reasons," the Sensei answered. "First, you've almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm."

The boy's biggest weakness had become his biggest strength.

Saturday, August 19, 2006

What it means to be poor

One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people can be. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.

On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?" "It was great, Dad." "Did you see how poor people can be?" the father asked. "Oh Yeah" said the son. "So what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.

The son answered, "I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.

We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them."

With this the boy's father was speechless. Then his son added, "Thanks dad for showing me how poor we are."

Too many times we forget what we have and concentrate on what we don't have. What is one person's worthless object is another's prize possession. It is all based on one's perspective. Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks for all the bounty we have, instead of worrying about wanting more. Take joy in all you have, especially your friends.

Before and after marriage (In telugu)

Year 2005

He and She are engaged. Both are working in Hyderabad, while their
parents are at Vizag. They are going by the same train to Vizag.
Incidentally, the first time they are traveling together

Time 10:00 PM

She : Enti Intha Tvaraga station ku vachharu.. Nenu usual gaa 10.45 train ki aithe 10.30 ki vasthaa

He : Nenu aithe direct gaa secunderabad lo ekkutha

She : Avunaa..He he

He : Sare le...Nenu water bottle konukosthaa..

She : Sare..

He comes back in 2 minutes catching his breath...with lots of other stuff apart from water bottle(choclates,crisps etc.)

She : Enduku Alaa parigethhi vastunaaru...Mellaga raavachu gaa...

He : Hmmn...Ante...Nuvvu okka daanive unnavu kadhaa...andukani...

She : Ayyo...Asalu nenu eppudu okka daane travel chesthaanu...Idhe 1st time nenu inkokaritho velthunanu...

He : Hmmmm

She : Sare...Velli train lo kurchundaam raa...

They get into the train

She : Side upper, Side lower book chesaava?

He : Avunu... So that we can talk for sometime. Migatha berths aithe andaru padukuntaaru...

She : Avunu...correcte...smiles naughtily !


Train starts

She : Next year idhe time ki manam pelli tarvatha mana modati Sankranthiki Vizag velthamu...

He: Holds her hand tightly, and gives her one Cadburys temptation chocolate

She : So sweet. Meeku ela telusu naaku e choclate ante ishtamani (even though she doesnt like it)

She splits the chocolate into smaller bits, and feeds him the first bit

He : You know what? Nenu eppudu kalalo kuda anukoledhu. That I will fall head over heels for someone.

She : Nenu kuda eppudu anukoledhu raa...

By this time, almost all passengers are asleep. And someone tells Him to talk slowly since he is too loud & disturbing

He : Padha...Door deggariki veldaamu...

He and She are at the door. He opens the door, and they sit at the steps for some 1 hour, they get in and sleep (Of course at their respective berths)


Year 2006.

He and She are married for 9 months by now

He and She get into the train.

She : A berth?

He : Rendu upper berth book chesaa. No disturbance (Edhava nasa vundadu)

She : Hmmmm...

He : Sare. water bottle ivvu...

She : Water ledhu...station lo kondhaam ani anukunaa....

He : Mundhe cheppi edavachu gaa! Ippudu chudu train start avvataaniki inko 5 mins kuda ledhu

She : Meeru Elaane anukuntu kurchunte aa 5 mins kooda vundadhu

He : Thooo edava bathuku!

He runs and gets the water bottle (And this time just the water bottle), just when the train starts

She yawns and says

She : Sare. Nenu chaala tired ga vunnanu...Velli padukunta.

He : Ok.. (Paduko ..koncham sepu nenu prashantangaa vuntaa)

After the TTR checks the tickets, he also gets into his berth and tries to sleep. He is not able to sleep after a while, due to some conversation happening below.

He turns towards the couple in the side-upper and side-lower berth

He : Babu... If you don't mind, meeru koncham mellaga maatlaadukunte memu padukuntaamu!

The side-upper & side lower couple walk towards the door

And life goes on ................

Friday, August 18, 2006

Are you part of the "99 CLUB"?

Long ago, there lived a King. This King should have been content with his life, given all the riches and luxuries he had. However, this was not the case! The King always found himself wondering why he just never seemed content with his life. Sure, he had the attention of everyone wherever he went, attended fancy dinners and parties, but somehow, he still felt something was lacking and he couldn't put his finger on it.

One day, the King had woken up earlier than usual and decided to stroll around his palace. He entered his huge living room and came to a stop when he heard someone happily singing away...following this singing...he saw that one of the servants was singing and had a very content look on his face. This fascinated the King and he summoned this man to his chambers.

The man, his servant, entered the King's chambers as ordered. The King asked why he was so happy? To this the man replied: "Your Majesty, I am nothing but a servant, but I make enough of a living to keep my wife and children happy. We don't need too much, a roof over our head and warm food to fill our tummy. My wife and children our my inspiration, they are content with whatever little I bring home. I am happy because my family is happy". Hearing this, the King dismissed the servant and summoned his Personal Assistant to his chambers.

The King related his personal anguish about his feelings and then related the story of the servant to his Personal Assistant, hoping that somehow, he will be able to come up with some reasoning that here was a King who could have anything he wished for at a snap of his fingers and yet was not contended, whereas, his servant, having so little was extremely contended.

The Personal Assistant listened attentively and come to a conclusion. He said "Your Majesty, I believe that the servant has not been made part of The 99 Club". "The 99 Club? and what exactly is that?" the King inquired. To which the Assistant replied, "Your Majesty, to truly know what The 99 Club is, you will have to do the following......place 99 Gold Coins in a bag and leave it at this servant's doorstep, you will then understand what The 99 Club is".

That very same evening, the King arranged for 99 Gold coins to be placed in bag at the servants doorstep. Although he was slightly hesitant and he thought he should have put 100 Gold Coins in the bag, but since his assistant had advised him to put 99, that is what he did.

The servant was just stepping out of his house when he saw a bag at his doorstep. Wondering about its contents, he took it into his house and opened the bag. When he opened the bag he let out a great big shout of joy.....Gold Coins.....so many of them. He could hardly believe it. He called his wife to show her the coins and they were besides themselves. He then took the bag to a table and emptied it out and began to count the coins. Doing so, he realized that there were 99 coins and he thought it was an odd number so he counted again, and again and again only to come to the same conclusion...99 Gold Coins. He began to wonder, what could have happened to that last 1 coin? For no one would leave 99 coins. He began to search his entire house, looked around his backyard for hours, not wanting to lose out on that one coin. Finally, exhausted, he decided that he was going to have to work harder than ever to make up for that 1 Gold coin to make his entire collection an even 100 Gold Coins.

He got up the next morning, in an extremely horrible mood, shouting at the children and his wife for his delay, not realizing that he had spent most of the night up conjuring ways of working hard so that he had enough money to buy himself that gold coin. He went to work as usual only not in his usual best mood, singing happily and whistling all day. He didn't even seem to notice that the King was watching him as he grumpily did his daily errands.

Seeing the man's attitude change so drastically, the King was puzzled. He promptly summoned his assistant to his chambers. The King related his thoughts about the servant and once again, his assistant listened. The King could not believe that the servant who until yesterday had been singing away and was happy and content with his life had taken a sudden change of attitude, even though he should have been happier after receiving the gold coins. To this the assistant replied "Ah but your Majesty, the servant has now officially joined The 99 Club."

He explained: "The 99 Club is just a name given to those people who have everything but yet are never content, therefore they are always working hard and striving for that extra 1 to round it out to 100! We have so much to be thankful for and we can live with very little in our lives, but the minute we are given something bigger and better, we want even more! We are not the same happy contented person we used to be, we want more and more and by wanting more and more we don't realize the price we pay for it. We lose our sleep, our happiness, we hurt the people around us just as a price to pay for our growing needs and desires. That is what joining The 99 Club is all about."

Hearing this the King decided that from that day onwards, he was going to start appreciating all the little things in life. Striving for more is always good, but lets not strive so hard and for so much that we lose all those near and dear to our heart, we shouldn't compromise our happiness for moments of luxuries!

Prayer can move mountains

Diane, a young university student, was home for the summer. She had gone to visit some friends one evening and time passed quickly as each shared their various experiences of the past year.

She ended up staying longer than planned, and had to walk home alone. She wasn't afraid because it was a small town and she lived only a few blocks away.

As she walked along under the tall elm trees, Diane asked "God" to keep her safe from harm and danger.

When she reached the alley, which was a short cut to her house, she decided to take it. However, halfway down the alley she noticed a man standing at the end as though he were waiting for her.

She became uneasy and began to pray, asking for "God's" protection. Instantly a comforting feeling of quietness and security wrapped around her, she felt as though someone was walking with her.

When she reached the end of the alley, she walked right past the man and arrived home safely. The following day, she read in the newspaper that a young girl had been raped in the same alley just twenty minutes after she had been there.

Feeling overwhelmed by this tragedy and the fact that it could have been her, she began to weep. Thanking the Lord for her safety and to help this young woman, she decided to go to the police station. She felt she could recognize the man, so she told them her story.

The police asked her if she would be willing to look at a lineup to see if she could identify him. She agreed and immediately pointed out the man she had seen in the alley the night before. When the man was told he had been identified, he immediately broke down and confessed.

The officer thanked Diane for her bravery and asked if there was anything they could do for her.

She asked if they would ask the man one question. Diane was curious as to why he had not attacked her.

When the policeman asked him, he answered, "Because she wasn't alone. She had two tall men walking on either side of her."

Sunday, August 13, 2006

Does God exist?

A man went to a barber shop to have his hair and his beard cut as always. He started to have a good conversation with the barber who attended him. They talked about so many things and various subjects. Suddenly, they touched the subject of God.

The barber said: "Look Sir, I don't believe that God exists as you say so".

"Why do you say that?" - asked the client.

"Well, it's so easy, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God does not exist. Oh, tell me, if God existed, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can't think of a God who permits all of these things."

The client stopped for a moment thinking, but he didn't want to respond so as to prevent an argument. The barber finished his job and the client went out of the shop. Just after he left the barber shop he saw a man in the street with a long hair and beard (it seems that it had been a long time since he had his cut and he looked so untidy).

Then the client again entered the barber shop and he said to the barber: "know what? Barbers do not exist."

"How come they don't exist?"-asked the barber. "Well, I am here, and I am a barber."

"No!" - the client exclaimed. "They don't exist because if they did there would be no people with long hair and beard like that man who walks in the street."

"Ah, barbers do exist, what happens, if that people do not come to me."

"Exactly!"- affirmed the client. "That's the point !! GOD does exist, what happens, if people don't go to him and do not look for him. That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world."

Monday, August 07, 2006

The worst HCI

document.getElementById("UserName").focus();

This is the javascript that is the worst simple HCI that I had ever seen. When you try to login in any website, if the downloading of the page is completed while typing the password, then the above code puts the focus in the username, and the password comes in the username text box, and others can see the password. This is a very simple, and it happenes very frequently. But, except very few websites like gmail.com, orkut.com, most of the websites have this problem. Why websites won't take care of even simple HCI things like this?