Wednesday, June 25, 2008

The Extraction Job?

The local bar was so sure that its bartender was the strongest man around that they offered a Rs 10,000 bet. The bartender would squeeze a lemon until all the juice ran into a glass, and hand the lemon to a patron. Anyone who could squeeze one more drop of juice out would win the money. Many people like weight-lifters, wrestlers, body builders, etc had tried over time, but nobody could do it.

One day this scrawny little man came in, wearing thick glasses and a safari suit, and said in a tiny, squeaky voice, "I'd like to try the bet." After the laughter had died down, the bartender said OK, grabbed a lemon, and squeezed away. Then he handed the wrinkled remains of the rind to the little man.

But the ! crowd's laughter turned to total silence as the man clenched his fist around the lemon and 5-6 drops fell into the glass. As the crowd cheered, the bartender paid the Rs 10,000, and asked the little man, "What do you do for a living? Are you a lumberjack, a weight-lifter, or what?"

"No," replied the man.

"I work as a Project Manager in a software company !! "

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Ipod & deafness? and How EMFs affect our health?


You might love listening to your favourite music on your iPod, but a new survey has revealed that more than 70 per cent of young adults are losing their hearing power, thanks to the increasing use of headphones. A recent survey showed that more than 70 per cent of the youngsters are suffering from the first sign of hearing loss with tinnitus or ringing in the ear.

This may be due to listening to music played at dangerously loud levels on headphones. “That was a real surprise because that was actually more common than the older respondents,” a website quoted Professor Harvey Dillon, director of the National Acoustics Laboratory at the organisation that led the survey, as telling a radio channel. “Mostly for the younger people it didn't happen very often, and it didn't last for very long when it did happen. But it did happen. And we think that that's probably a warning sign for them,” he added.

The survey also revealed that two-thirds of the people listened to music on headphones and of those, 60 per cent played music at dangerous loud levels.

Prof Dillon said it could take just weeks for hearing loss to begin. “That's part of the problem. Although it's happening, definitely, it's happening gradually and people just don't notice it,” he said.

Some 25 per cent of younger people thought that if they damaged their hearing it would get better, he added. The risk of damage occurred in two stages when people go to concerts or noisy venues. “Both occurred inside the inner ear and while one was temporary the other was permanent,” he said. “We tend to notice the temporary loss of hearing .What we don't notice is that at the same time, in the same place but through a different mechanism, there's also a permanent loss going on.

A few hair cells dying here, a few hair cells dying there and they add up from time to time,” he added.

Prof Dillon said that safe headphone audio levels were 85 decibels, averaged over an eight-hour day. He also advised workers exposed to loud machinery or industrial noise to wear earmuffs or plugs to protect their hearing.

Click on this EMF Chart to know how our hearing ability is affected by various types of noises that fills our day.


PS: Nowadays when I'm seduced by the tune to increase my music player volume right before my finger taps the volume increase button my brain taps my memory about this article. Hope it does effect on you as well.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Safety Car in Formula One Race


Earlier you might have read about Formula One Facts. Also you might be eagerly awaiting to watch The first ever Formula 1 Race to be held at night in Singapore titled Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix on 26-28 September 2008 at Marina Bay area. I recently happened to get to know about another interesting fact related to Formula One Safety Car. And I thought that it will be great news to share with you for your pleasure reading. So, here it is.

The safety car is a key factor in Formula One racing. In the event of an incident or adverse weather conditions, the safety car is deployed by the FIA race director in order to show the cars down and to restore order to the race.

Instructions: The safety car is called onto the circuit to reduce speed, especially during hazardous situations like accidents, unsafe track (objects or dirt on the track), bad weather/poor visibility condition & oil slicks or if there is a danger of aquaplaning.

Regulations: When the safety car is deployed, yellow flags are waved (In Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix these flags are going to be electronic type, I read somewhere) to indicate that no overtaking permitted, reduce speed and laps completed behind the safety car count as race laps.

It looks like there is a selection process to define a specific car model as Safety Car for the year between the leading Safety Car manufacturers like DC & BMW. For this year 2008 It was Mercedes SL 63 AMG was selected as F1 Safety Car for 2008. Here you can find how the safety car evolved over the period of time.

Sign Language: The safety car communicates with the drivers by means of light signals.
Orange Light – No Overtaking
Green Light – Overtake
Flashing white light – Always On

Free Driving: Once the safety car leaves the track, the leading car determines the pace until the Start/Finish line. From then on the drivers may overtake again.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Kids Playing Video Games Excessively? Make them Play Wii Fit

Growing kids and some matured adults too are playing video game like crazy. Many of them are spending lots and lots of their time in playing video games by means of gaming devices merely like addiction. It causes havoc for their health may it be eye sight issues, behavioural issues, obesity & lack of interest in other social activity.

But strangely some studies suggest that there few positive aspects of such act like games involving firing guns could improve eyesight. Other than this Nintendo's Wii Fit seems to be a gaming method used for rehab.

Fitness-oriented video games are also being used more and more in nursing homes for rehabilitation is an interesting way to make people exercise to make healthy living. Why not you try to divert your kids playing such virtual games that makes them do exercise unknowingly and will surely benefit them with better health in result.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

How to Make Decisions? Six Hats Thinking

The Six Hats Thinking technique enables you to break out of your habitual thinking style and make better quality decisions. Six Hats Thinking was created by Edward De Bono with the aim of looking at the effect of a decision from a number of important, different perspectives, and modifying your decision accordingly. This decision making approach can be successfully used individually or in a group.

In short, you consider the effect of a decision by wearing six "hats", and in turn, articulating the aspirations and concerns of each group.

White Hat
This is the data hat, where you consider facts, figures and information, identify any gaps in your knowledge and either fill or acknowledge them. For example, you use historical data or case studies to predict future behaviour, or do a cost benefit analysis.

Red Hat
This is the emotional hat, where intuition, instinct and irrational responses are considered.

Black Hat
Is the negative, pessimistic, "the world is going to end" hat. This viewpoint is useful as flaws and assumptions can be flushed out and addressed, and contingency plans prepared.

Yellow Hat
Is the polar opposite of the black hat, where optimism prevails. This is where benefits and added value are considered.

Green Hat
The Green Hat is used to put some creativity into the process. What other options exist? Is there a trickier, smarter solution?

Blue Hat
Is the hat worn by the person facilitating the decision making process, ensuring each hat is worn in turn and gets a fair amount of air-time.

Here's an example of how Six Hats Thinking can be used.

A small training company are deciding on whether to deliver online training. This is new territory for them as they have historically only done face to face training. However, they need to grow the business and think this is what customers want.

White Hat Thinking
The team look at their finances and see face to face training numbers are generally stagnant, and declining for some courses. Feedback from customers suggest a growing proportion would prefer a training solution that could be delivered "on demand", wherever and whenever the trainee requires. There are already a considerable number of successful training companies with an online presence.

Red Hat Thinking
The team are nervous about their lack of experience in managing online training. They are concerned their roles will change into being technical support and no longer doing what they enjoy or are good at.

Black Hat Thinking
Black hat thinking flushes out concerns about the cost and complexity of building a website and creating an online training platform, particularly if not all courses are suited to an online environment. Also, how does this project fit with existing workload?

Yellow Hat Thinking
Yellow hat thinking frees the team up to believe that in a year's time they will be wondering what they were worried about. They break the project up into manageable chunks, with agreed deadlines and deliverables. They realise that if all goes to plan, there may be a new market in turning other companies training from off-line into on-line training.

Green Hat Thinking
Spending some time wearing the green hat makes the team consider other ways to deliver training, both off and on-line. They create two different training solutions which they had not previously considered.

Blue Hat Thinking
Throughout the discussion, one person wears the blue hat, ensuring no thinking style dominates or colours the others.

Six Hats Thinking forces you to consider many different perspectives when making a decision, and break out of your habitual thinking style. This technique is particularly useful for both newly formed, or established teams, as there is a transparent decision making process to be followed

Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveils iPhone 3G

Yesterday Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled iPhone 3G, the App Store, MobileMe, and more in his Worldwide Developers Conference keynote address from San Francisco's Moscone West. Here is a video clip on WWDC 2008 Steve Jobs Keynote - iPhone 3G. This is expected to be released on July 11th in Apple retail outlets & AT&T stores in the US and in 70 other countries by end of of this year.


Here are some Pros & Cons for you to decide on what you can expect on this new iPhone 3G version.

Pros:
  • Location-based services via the GPS

  • Comes at a low price (US$199 for the 8GB & US$299 for the 16GB version)

  • 3G speed is twice faster than its current version

  • Thinner than the previous model and much lighter version for extra cost

  • Software 2.0 supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, delivering push email, calendar & contacts

  • Longer battery life

  • Supports collection of applications available on its SDK for gaming lovers

  • Looks a little better with the new design

  • Better reception & Better Audio
Cons:
  • No Multimedia Messaging

  • No dock included anymore

  • No Copy & Paste

  • No voice dialing & Video recording

  • No flash support for browser

  • No Landscape keyboard

  • No expandable Memory

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

The Law of the Garbage Truck

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly.

So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!' This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck.'

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so...

Love the people who treat you right.
Pray for the ones who don't - that they see the wisdom of their foolish ways'

Chennai Rail Network Map

Here is the map of Chennai City & Suburban Railway Network Map. This is very useful for the travellers to avoid increasing traffic jam during their journey. Click on the image below to get the clear map