When you wholeheartedly adopt a "with all your heart" attitude and go out with the positive principle, you can do incredible things - Dr Norman Vincent Peale
Monday, February 08, 2010
Sunday, February 07, 2010
A Thought for Today-317:
The sense of humor is the oil of life's engine. Without it, the machinery creaks and groans. No lot is so hard, no aspect of things is so grim, but it relaxes before a hearty laugh - George S. Merriam
Saturday, February 06, 2010
Random Thoughts-35: "Taking the Mind for a Walk"
If one is suffering like me from sleeplessness or frequent interruptions in sleep due to some annoying disease or due to some other reason, the question arises what to do from one's mind from worrying or brooding over unwanted things. As that only makes the suffering more intense. Suppose one could utilize this time creatively without being a nuisance to others that would be great. I found out a way unexpectedly. I am admirer of the cartoonist, late Abu Abraham. What he once said about creative idleness caught hold of me. Creative Idleness is like taking your mind for a walk. This sounded great. You don't get up from bed; do not switch on the light and roam the house like a caged lion and annoy others sleeping at home. I decided to experiment and give it a try.
The first day I decided to implement it, I had a small problem. I did not know where to start from. Then I remembered it was already past midnight and I was already into a new day, which was a Thursday. Thursday, well, do I not know something about it? Ya, it was actually Thor's day, named after the Norwegian God of Thunder. Then I remembered that I had come across the name somewhere else too. Where? I remembered that too. It was Thor Heyerdahl, the great explorer, adventurist and scientist and immediately his famous Kon-Tiki Expedition of 1947 came to my mind. He, along with a few volunteers, crossed the great Pacific Ocean on a balsa wood raft (nearly 8000 k.m.!) to prove the theory that when Incas invaded Peru, the natives escaped and migrated to Polynesia by balsa wood rafts. He built a balsa wood raft and named it 'Kon-Tiki' after the Polynesian Sun god and travelled 8000 k.m. in the Pacific and reached Polynesia. The book describing this expedition, Kon-Tiki expedition became a best-seller and the documentary made about the voyage won Academy award.
Now more about Thursday. It is an auspicious day for the Hindus, the Jews and the Moslems and they observe fast on this day.
To Kon-Tiki now. If Kon-Tiki is the sun god for the Polynesians, the Hindus many names for him like Suriya (from which my own name, Suri, is derived) Suresh, Sourav (remember Saurav Ganguly?), and a lot more. In fact, the Hindus worship the sun god by a hymn called 'Aditya Hrudyam'; by the way, Aditya is another name for the sun god; This hymns is full various names for the sun god.
Does Thursday any significance in my own life? Yes, it does. More than 30 years ago, a team of volunteers came to Karaikudi to popularise Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Transcendental Meditation, TM. I got interested and took initiation from Mr.Frank Carpenter. I still remember the fascinating way he gave us his home address. En Cino, City of Oak Trees, California, USA. I was given a mantra, 'shreem' which I vaguely remember to have some connection with 'Guruvaar', the Sanskrit equivalent of Thursday.
If you turn to literature, there you find many books which has some link or the other with Thursday like:
The Man who was Thursday by G K Chesterton
Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck
Thursday's Fictin by Richard James Allen
I find other references on searching, like:
Black Thursday referring to October 24, 1929 when the New York Stock Exchange crashed.
Maundy Thursday, the Thursday before Easter.
Thansgiving day in US, which is usually celebrated on a Thursday in November.
The General Elections are traditionally held on a Thursday since 1935 in the United Kingdom.
It went on like this till it dawned. Needless to say, I got up refreshed and excited, instead of being depressed and tired. Unfortunately, this idea slipped my mind. Another reason may be my biggest weakness: lack of perseverance. My people say I always give up things in the middle and never see them through.
Ok, let me take it up again. Thanks to Abu Abraham, may his soul rest in peace!
For those interested in looking up some of the above topics, I have subsequently searched for and have found some links, which I am furnishing below links from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
THURSDAY
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thursday
THOR
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor
THOR HEYERDAHL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor_Heyerdahl#Heyerdahl.27s_theory_of_Polynesian_origins
KON-TIKI
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kon-Tiki
THOR HEYERDAHL EXPEDITIONS and
ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE PACIFIC PEOPLES
http://www.greatdreams.com/thor.htm
THOR HEYERDAHL'S BOOK,THE KON-TIKI EXPEDITION FROM AMAZON.COM
(BOOK DETAILS AND EDITORIAL REVIEWS)
http://www.amazon.com/Kon-Tiki-Expedition-Bridge-Thor-Heyerdahl/dp/0582530067/ref=sr_1_1/181-1256319-1944528?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265423796&sr=1-1
KON-TIKI, THE 1951 DVD FROM AMAZON.COM
http://www.amazon.com/Kon-Tiki-Thor-Heyerdahl/dp/B000FDK746/ref=pd_sim_b_1
BOOKS ON AND BY THOR HEYERDAHL FROM GOOGLE BOOKS
http://books.google.com/books?q=+THOR+HEYERDAHL&btnG=Search+Books
THE KON-TIKI EXPEDITION - COLOR FILM FROM YOUTUBE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m2Z5amr_DE
KON-TIKI, FULL FEATURE PROGRAM (58 MINUTES) FROM YOUTUBE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGooopCTmpg
OBITUARY OF THOR HEYERDAHL FROM BBC NEWS
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1938294.stm
OBITUARY OF THOR HEYERDAHL FROM THE INDEPENDENT
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/thor-heyerdahl-729937.html
ADITYA HRUDAYAM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aditya_Hridayam
SURYA NAMASKARA (SUN WORSHIP)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surya_Namaskara
Grateful thanks to Abu Abraham, Google Books, YouTube, BBC News, The Independent,UK, Amazon.com, Great Dreams.com and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The first day I decided to implement it, I had a small problem. I did not know where to start from. Then I remembered it was already past midnight and I was already into a new day, which was a Thursday. Thursday, well, do I not know something about it? Ya, it was actually Thor's day, named after the Norwegian God of Thunder. Then I remembered that I had come across the name somewhere else too. Where? I remembered that too. It was Thor Heyerdahl, the great explorer, adventurist and scientist and immediately his famous Kon-Tiki Expedition of 1947 came to my mind. He, along with a few volunteers, crossed the great Pacific Ocean on a balsa wood raft (nearly 8000 k.m.!) to prove the theory that when Incas invaded Peru, the natives escaped and migrated to Polynesia by balsa wood rafts. He built a balsa wood raft and named it 'Kon-Tiki' after the Polynesian Sun god and travelled 8000 k.m. in the Pacific and reached Polynesia. The book describing this expedition, Kon-Tiki expedition became a best-seller and the documentary made about the voyage won Academy award.
Now more about Thursday. It is an auspicious day for the Hindus, the Jews and the Moslems and they observe fast on this day.
To Kon-Tiki now. If Kon-Tiki is the sun god for the Polynesians, the Hindus many names for him like Suriya (from which my own name, Suri, is derived) Suresh, Sourav (remember Saurav Ganguly?), and a lot more. In fact, the Hindus worship the sun god by a hymn called 'Aditya Hrudyam'; by the way, Aditya is another name for the sun god; This hymns is full various names for the sun god.
Does Thursday any significance in my own life? Yes, it does. More than 30 years ago, a team of volunteers came to Karaikudi to popularise Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Transcendental Meditation, TM. I got interested and took initiation from Mr.Frank Carpenter. I still remember the fascinating way he gave us his home address. En Cino, City of Oak Trees, California, USA. I was given a mantra, 'shreem' which I vaguely remember to have some connection with 'Guruvaar', the Sanskrit equivalent of Thursday.
If you turn to literature, there you find many books which has some link or the other with Thursday like:
The Man who was Thursday by G K Chesterton
Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck
Thursday's Fictin by Richard James Allen
I find other references on searching, like:
Black Thursday referring to October 24, 1929 when the New York Stock Exchange crashed.
Maundy Thursday, the Thursday before Easter.
Thansgiving day in US, which is usually celebrated on a Thursday in November.
The General Elections are traditionally held on a Thursday since 1935 in the United Kingdom.
It went on like this till it dawned. Needless to say, I got up refreshed and excited, instead of being depressed and tired. Unfortunately, this idea slipped my mind. Another reason may be my biggest weakness: lack of perseverance. My people say I always give up things in the middle and never see them through.
Ok, let me take it up again. Thanks to Abu Abraham, may his soul rest in peace!
For those interested in looking up some of the above topics, I have subsequently searched for and have found some links, which I am furnishing below links from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
THURSDAY
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thursday
THOR
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor
THOR HEYERDAHL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor_Heyerdahl#Heyerdahl.27s_theory_of_Polynesian_origins
KON-TIKI
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kon-Tiki
THOR HEYERDAHL EXPEDITIONS and
ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE PACIFIC PEOPLES
http://www.greatdreams.com/thor.htm
THOR HEYERDAHL'S BOOK,THE KON-TIKI EXPEDITION FROM AMAZON.COM
(BOOK DETAILS AND EDITORIAL REVIEWS)
http://www.amazon.com/Kon-Tiki-Expedition-Bridge-Thor-Heyerdahl/dp/0582530067/ref=sr_1_1/181-1256319-1944528?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265423796&sr=1-1
KON-TIKI, THE 1951 DVD FROM AMAZON.COM
http://www.amazon.com/Kon-Tiki-Thor-Heyerdahl/dp/B000FDK746/ref=pd_sim_b_1
BOOKS ON AND BY THOR HEYERDAHL FROM GOOGLE BOOKS
http://books.google.com/books?q=+THOR+HEYERDAHL&btnG=Search+Books
THE KON-TIKI EXPEDITION - COLOR FILM FROM YOUTUBE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m2Z5amr_DE
KON-TIKI, FULL FEATURE PROGRAM (58 MINUTES) FROM YOUTUBE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGooopCTmpg
OBITUARY OF THOR HEYERDAHL FROM BBC NEWS
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1938294.stm
OBITUARY OF THOR HEYERDAHL FROM THE INDEPENDENT
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/thor-heyerdahl-729937.html
ADITYA HRUDAYAM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aditya_Hridayam
SURYA NAMASKARA (SUN WORSHIP)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surya_Namaskara
Grateful thanks to Abu Abraham, Google Books, YouTube, BBC News, The Independent,UK, Amazon.com, Great Dreams.com and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
A Thought for Today-315:
The secret to a rich life is to have more beginnings than endings - Dave Weinbaum
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
A Thought for Today-314:
The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly - Buddha
Self-Improvement-69: "Brian Tracy's 21 Success Secrets of Self Made Millionaires"
Grateful thanks to Brian Tracy and YouTube.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
A Thought for Today-313:
Many individuals have, like uncut diamonds, shining qualities beneath a rough exterior - Juvenal
Saturday, January 30, 2010
TED News-3: "The Rediscovery of Wonder"
I am reproducing below a mail received from TED Curator, Chris Anderson, about TED 2011: The Rediscovery of Wonder for the benefit of all:
For details:
http://conferences.ted.com/TED2011/
http://conferences.ted.com/TED2011/program/
Grateful thanks to TED Team.
Dear TED Member,
We're delighted to announce that registration for TED2011 is open. As an existing member of the TED community, you have a chance to sign up ahead of the crowd! Simply sign in, complete the form and submit. Our system should have remembered the prior details we have on record for you so hopefully it won't take too long. Even though we expect, as in prior years, to be oversubscribed within a few days, all applications received by noon (US Eastern time) Thursday February 4th will be granted equal consideration.
TED2011 will be held once again in Long Beach, and runs Feb 28-March 4, 2001. (By popular demand, we're moving one day earlier in the week to a Monday-Friday format.)
Next year's theme takes us right to the core what so many people love about their TED experience: "The Rediscovery of Wonder". Breathtaking scientific discovery and mind-bending creativity will be on display as never before.
The conference fee has been at $6,000 for the past two years (of which $2k covers core costs and $4k is considered a donation to TED), and despite being massively oversold, we've decided to keep this price tier available for a third year, because we're aware that in the current economy many of our favorite TEDsters have to stretch to pay to come to TED. But if you can afford it, we do invite you to consider applying for Donor status. In addition to the extra privileges that come with the different color on your badge, $10k of your $12k fee is treated as a donation, and you'll therefore be making a spectacular contribution to spreading knowledge, insight and inspiration around the world. If you can't afford $12k, there is also an opportunity on the page to add a smaller amount on top of the $6k floor.
Whatever your level of contribution, in order to make your donation more meaningful, we'd like to give you a chance to specify which element of our work you'd most like to support. So on the reg page you'll be given the chance to select one of the following:
TED discretionary. You allow us to make use of the donation as most needed
TED Prize. Your donation goes toward one of the TED prize projects (you can specify which one, or - if you're willing - leave it up to us.) These are all initiatives in which any money you put in is massively leveraged by the efforts of the many collaborators working on each wish.
TED Talks distribution. Your donation supports the global distribution of TED talks online. Adding in all costs, each talk costs around 4 cents per view, so a basic $4k donation would literally allow 100,000 people to see a TED talk.
The Open Translation Project. Although the start-up costs were covered by Nokia, we have ambitious expansion plans for this project which is already enabling more than 2000 volunteer translators to bring TED to their local communities.
TED Fellows. This program is allowing 40 fellows and 15 senior fellows to be part of the TED community every year, significantly empowering a new generation of worldchanging talent.
TED to the developing world. We're now launching initiatives (involving DVDs, cell phones, TV, radio) to more effectively distribute talks in the developing world where internet access is limited.
TEDx Program. Thrillingly, hundreds of grass-roots organizers around the world are putting on independent TED-like events, many of which are of astounding quality, attracting amazing speakers new to TED. We would like to raise funding to better capture these events on video so that we can bring the best talks to TED.com.
Anyone at TED Donor level will be recognized on the website as a supporter of one of these initiatives. But more importantly still we just want you to understand that your money is being put to very good use. Without these contributions, TED could never have built these programs. And it's a remarkable thing that a single conference, backed by your support, is impacting the lives of literally millions around the world.
Therefore, finally, I just want to say -- and I really want you to hear me -- THANK YOU. Not a day goes by where we're not awed by the amazing group of people who make up the TED community.
We will process applications as fast as we can, though some will have to wait till after we get back from TED2010. The sooner you apply, the sooner yours will be processed, and all applications received by February 4th will get a response by February 25th.
Sincerely,
Chris Anderson, TED Curator
We're delighted to announce that registration for TED2011 is open. As an existing member of the TED community, you have a chance to sign up ahead of the crowd! Simply sign in, complete the form and submit. Our system should have remembered the prior details we have on record for you so hopefully it won't take too long. Even though we expect, as in prior years, to be oversubscribed within a few days, all applications received by noon (US Eastern time) Thursday February 4th will be granted equal consideration.
TED2011 will be held once again in Long Beach, and runs Feb 28-March 4, 2001. (By popular demand, we're moving one day earlier in the week to a Monday-Friday format.)
Next year's theme takes us right to the core what so many people love about their TED experience: "The Rediscovery of Wonder". Breathtaking scientific discovery and mind-bending creativity will be on display as never before.
The conference fee has been at $6,000 for the past two years (of which $2k covers core costs and $4k is considered a donation to TED), and despite being massively oversold, we've decided to keep this price tier available for a third year, because we're aware that in the current economy many of our favorite TEDsters have to stretch to pay to come to TED. But if you can afford it, we do invite you to consider applying for Donor status. In addition to the extra privileges that come with the different color on your badge, $10k of your $12k fee is treated as a donation, and you'll therefore be making a spectacular contribution to spreading knowledge, insight and inspiration around the world. If you can't afford $12k, there is also an opportunity on the page to add a smaller amount on top of the $6k floor.
Whatever your level of contribution, in order to make your donation more meaningful, we'd like to give you a chance to specify which element of our work you'd most like to support. So on the reg page you'll be given the chance to select one of the following:
TED discretionary. You allow us to make use of the donation as most needed
TED Prize. Your donation goes toward one of the TED prize projects (you can specify which one, or - if you're willing - leave it up to us.) These are all initiatives in which any money you put in is massively leveraged by the efforts of the many collaborators working on each wish.
TED Talks distribution. Your donation supports the global distribution of TED talks online. Adding in all costs, each talk costs around 4 cents per view, so a basic $4k donation would literally allow 100,000 people to see a TED talk.
The Open Translation Project. Although the start-up costs were covered by Nokia, we have ambitious expansion plans for this project which is already enabling more than 2000 volunteer translators to bring TED to their local communities.
TED Fellows. This program is allowing 40 fellows and 15 senior fellows to be part of the TED community every year, significantly empowering a new generation of worldchanging talent.
TED to the developing world. We're now launching initiatives (involving DVDs, cell phones, TV, radio) to more effectively distribute talks in the developing world where internet access is limited.
TEDx Program. Thrillingly, hundreds of grass-roots organizers around the world are putting on independent TED-like events, many of which are of astounding quality, attracting amazing speakers new to TED. We would like to raise funding to better capture these events on video so that we can bring the best talks to TED.com.
Anyone at TED Donor level will be recognized on the website as a supporter of one of these initiatives. But more importantly still we just want you to understand that your money is being put to very good use. Without these contributions, TED could never have built these programs. And it's a remarkable thing that a single conference, backed by your support, is impacting the lives of literally millions around the world.
Therefore, finally, I just want to say -- and I really want you to hear me -- THANK YOU. Not a day goes by where we're not awed by the amazing group of people who make up the TED community.
We will process applications as fast as we can, though some will have to wait till after we get back from TED2010. The sooner you apply, the sooner yours will be processed, and all applications received by February 4th will get a response by February 25th.
Sincerely,
Chris Anderson, TED Curator
For details:
http://conferences.ted.com/TED2011/
http://conferences.ted.com/TED2011/program/
Grateful thanks to TED Team.
A Thought for Today-312:
When written in Chinese, the word crisis is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity - John F. Kennedy
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
A Thought for Today-311:
Improve your business, your life, your relationships, your finances and your health. When you do the whole world improves - Mark Victor Hansen
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
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