Wit and Wisdom-1:

* People who live very close to office arrive late for work.

* Those who arrive late also tend to leave early.

* There is a strange virus that seems to make people fall ill the day before or after a holiday.

* Most bad rumours come true. Most good ones don't.

* If we know what to do, we do it. If we don't know what to do, we talk about it.

If we don't know how to talk about it, we write a report about it.

* The boss is not always right but the boss is always the boss.

* One percent of something is better than ten percent of nothing.

* Victory has a thousand fathers, defeat is an orphan.

* You get help in proportion to the help you give, but not from the same people.

* Generally, those who never make mistakes, never make anything.

* If you succeed, you will be called lucky. If you don't, you will be called stupid.

- William Deanley

Self-Improvement-5: "Tips for Better Human Relations"

1. Speak to people. There is nothing as nice as a a cheerful

word of greeting.

2. Smile at people. It takes 72 muscles to frown; only 14 to

smile.

3. Call people by name. The sweetest music to any one's ears is

the sound of his own name.

4. Be friendly and helpful. If you should have friends, be

friendly.

5. Be cordial. Speak and act as if everything you do is a genuine

pleasure.

6. Be genuinely interested in people. You can like everybody if

you try.

7. Be generous with praise, cautious with criticism.

8. Be considerate of the feelings of others. There are three

sides of a controversy - yours, the other fellow's and the

right one.

9. Be alert to give service. What counts most in life is what we

do for others.

Courtesy: Children's Digest, April 1998

A Thought for Today-118: October 20, 2007

Wealth is not power; Strength is not power; Knowledge is not power; Abilities and accomplishments are not power; CHARACTER IS POWER. Character is power when it is charged with ethical purity and spiritual serenity - Prof.K.Subrahmanyam (Values in Education).

Grateful thanks to Professor K.Subrahmanyam.

Self-Improvement-4: What makes you Happy in Life? - Fr Jose Panthaplamthottiyil, Chief Editor, Children’s Digest

“What makes you happy in life?” My question was not pre-meditated or well-planned. As I saw angelic face bubbling with joy and enthusiasm, the question popped out of my mouth even before I knew it. He paused. Then with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eyes, he said: “I am happy when I do the right things in life.”

“Excellent!” My response was spontaneous. Then I realized that there was a tear in my eyes. For a brief moment I was choked with emotion by listening to the wisdom of an eleven-year-old boy! A few months later, as I walked into Christ College, as a lecturer in 1991, I was curious to find out how our first-year Pre-University students would respond to my question. In some of the classes I went to, I asked the students to write down three most important things that make them happy in their life.

Their answers were diverse and numerous. However, some of them were common and identical. Most students wrote their family makes them happy. The second most common answer was that their friends make them happy. Here are a few other things they thought would really make them happy in their life: good marks, sports, movies, good jobs, helping others and being loved.

As I scanned through their answers I was pleasantly surprised in several respects. Is it not a familiar saying that ‘getting things and having things’ really make us all happy? Then how is it that most students chose family and friends as what really make them happy? Another thing that surprised me was the near absence of the mention of money in their answers. Am I to believe that they know better when the whole world seemingly is going after money as if nothing matters in this life? Anyway, they seemed to think that money is something that can buy everything in this world except happiness.

Also, they did not think of food and drink either when they searched for answers to my question. It is like they have already learned at this young age that the pleasure derived from food and drink is transient while happiness is something that really runs deep in our lives.

Our young students seem to find happiness at home with parents who care and with brothers and sisters who share their love. They find happiness when they are with their true friends. They also find happiness when they help others. Their happiness is real. No doubt about it. If they can find happiness in so many different ways, why is it that some of the adults among us think that true happiness is like a butterfly that is always beyond our grasp?

As I walked back to my residence, the words of Jesus came to my mind: “Father, Lord of heaven and earth, to you I offer praise; for what you have hidden from the learned and the clever you have revealed to the merest children.”

Yet, I sadly remembered that some of these very same students will probably lose their innocence very fast as they begin to grow up in our confused world. That made me wonder whether the grown-ups could do anything to make this world a better place to grow up for our students. Then I heard the eleven-year-old boy saying with a chuckle: “By doing the right things in life!”

Courtesy: Children's Digest (Date not known).

Grateful thanks to The Children's Digest.

Self-Improvement-3: Virtues which helped Benjamin Franklin achieve greatness

* Temperance
* Silence
* Order
* Resoluteness
* Frugality
* Industry
* Sincerity
* Justice
* Moderation
* Cleanliness
* Tranquillity
* Chastity
* Humility

Eyecatchers-40 : Plants may walk in the next century - Energy Era

The next century may see plants that can walk or animals that can photosynthesise, according to scientists.

At the same time, the distinction between computer and living beings would be blurred and computing would be so advanced that flawless future prediction would be a routine affair. US scientist Charles R.Canter told the final session of the 13th International Biophysics Congress in New Delhi recently.

With the advancement of modern biology, computer science and genetic engineering, the possibility of such “blue sky” events to become a reality is increasing day by day.

“Evolutionary methods can be extended to produce novel organisms such as walking plants or an animal capable of producing its own food using sunlight and some chemicals (photosynthesis),” Cantor, one of the pioneers of human genome project (a world-wide project to map human genome completely) and currently chief scientific officer of Sequenom Inc, California, USA, said.

However, the scientists said a wide gap between theory and practice still exists. Cantor said very soon there would a direct computer human interface which would enable humans to communicate with computers directly.

Already scientists in Caltech, US, have made an artificial nose that can smell like a human being.

Recently a group of German scientists from Munich has discovered that there is a strong possibility of crosstalk between a brain cell and a silicon chip, Nobel Laureate Erwin Nehrer said.

“Such discoveries would help achieve a human-computer interface where both sides can communicate with each other directly.”

Courtesy: Energy Era, Guwahati, October 1, 1999.

Grateful thanks to Energy Era.

A Thought for Today-117: October 19, 2007

A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him - Unknown

A Thought for Today-116: October 18, 2007

Cleverness is when you believe only a half of what you hear. Brilliance is when you know which half to believe - Unknown

A Thought for Today-115: October 17, 2007

Crises and deadlocks when they occur have at least this advantage - they force us to THINK - Unknown

A Thought for Today-114: October 16, 2007

Pay attention to your future, because you are going to spend a lot of time there - Unknown

A Thought for Today-113: October 15, 2007

There is no religion higher than truth - Unknown

A Thought for Today-112: October 14, 2007

If there is success without hard work or without trying, it is hardly worth anything. Only that success carries respectability which is achieved through hard work. The most desirable success is always the most difficult one - Unknown

A Thought for Today-111: October 13, 2007

Good and Evil have an equal share in moulding character, and in some instances, misery is a great teacher than happiness - Swami Vivekananda

A Thought for Today-110: October 12, 2007

Both pleasure and pain are great teachers and man learns as much from evil as from good.... The result of these combined impressions is what is called man's character - Swami Vivekananda

A Thought for Today-109: October 11, 2007

All the great systems of ethics preach ABSOLUTE UNSELFISHNESS as the goal - Swami Vivekananda.

'Self-Improvement-2: "Why We All Need a Personality Prop' by J.J.Dorairaj in The Mirror

Various are the methods adopted by human beings to infuse pep into their personality. Some adorn the walls of their dwellings with choice quotations taken from the holy scriptures or lines composed by their pet poets. Looking at these from time to time, their falling spirits have a chance to renew their strength.

This technique is by no means a novel one. In fact, it is followed by almost all religious people in the world. Through this, countless people have obtained victory in their lives.

Every great man has had his own favourite formula, motto or prop to help him rise higher up on the ladder of life.

Gladstone was the son of a merchant. He steadily rose to the position of the Prime Minister of England. His activities were so many and of such a varied nature that the people wondered how he could possibly cope with them. The secret was in his bed-room. There, on the wall right against his eyes as he lay on his bed, were found framed the following words: "underneath are the everlasting arms of God". During his strenuous career, he often went to bed in the small hours of the night, but as his eyes closed in slumber, he did not fail to read these memorable words, and as he awoke in the morning, they were the first words that he noticed. And this gave him the courage and the confidence to live another day.

One of the protestant leaders of England, John Wesley, began his career as a staunch Church of England man. After his conversion on May 24th 1730, he became an ardent evangelist. He traveled on horseback throughout the length and breadth of England, and stirred the people to a type of religion founded on real sincerity and not upon cant and hypocrisy. He is said to have traveled a total distance of 850,000 miles and preached more than 40,000 sermons!

At the same time, his literary output was prodigious. To guide him throughout his days, John Wesley kept a fly-leaf in his Bible which he never failed to read. On this fly-leaf were written the simple words. "Live today"; this inspired him to make every day a perfect day.

Mahatma Gandhi kept in his study room three porcelain dolls representing three monkeys in action. They reminded him to be ever careful of what he saw, heard and spoke.

The society that is responsible for redeeming addicts from alcohol asks its clients to keep on their office desk, dressing table or window sill some choice sentence to remind them of the evils of drink, chosen for them from famous writers. Perhaps we are not addicted to drink, but still we need personality props. Have you chosen the right one for yourself?

Excerpt from ‘WHY WE ALL NEED A PERSONALITY PROP’ by J.J.Dorairaj published in January 1974 issue of The Mirror.

Grateful thanks to Mr J J Dorairaj and The Mirror.

Facts and Figures-10: New Gandhiji Stamps, The Week, Oct.14, 2007

Four new 5-rupee stamps commemorating Mahatma Gandhi was released on October 2, 2007, his 138th birthday.

Courtesy: The Week, October 14, 2007.

Grateful thanks to The Week.

A Thought for Today-108: October 11, 2007

If you start judging people, you will not have time to love them - Mother Teresa

A Thought for Today-107: October 10, 2007

Never break four things in your life: TRUST, PROMISE, RELATIONSHIP and HEART. Because when they break, they don't make any noise but pain a lot - Unknown

A Thought for Today-106: October 9, 2007

If someone feels that they had never done any mistake in their life, then it means they had never tried anything new in their life - Albert Einstein