When Dan found out he was going to inherit a fortune when his sickly father died, he decided he needed a woman to enjoy it with.
So, one evening he went to a singles bar where he spotted the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her natural beauty took his breath away.
"I may look like just an ordinary man," he said as he walked up to her, "but in just a week or two, my father will die, and I'll inherit 20 million dollars."
Impressed, the woman went home with him that evening and, three days later, she became his stepmother.
( Women are so much smarter than men! )
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Lotus Therapy
The patient sat with his eyes closed, submerged in the rhythm of his own breathing, and after a while noticed that he was thinking about his troubled relationship with his father.
I was able to be there, present for the pain,” he said, when the meditation session ended. “To just let it be what it was, without thinking it through.”
The therapist nodded.
“Acceptance is what it was,” he continued. “Just letting it be. Not trying to change anything.”
“That’s it,” the therapist said. “That’s it, and that’s big.”
This exercise in focused awareness and mental catch-and-release of emotions has become perhaps the most popular new psychotherapy technique of the past decade. Mindfulness meditation, as it is called, is rooted in the teachings of a fifth-century B.C. Indian prince, Siddhartha Gautama, later known as the Buddha. It is catching the attention of talk therapists of all stripes, including academic researchers, Freudian analysts in private practice and skeptics who see all the hallmarks of another fad.
For years, psychotherapists have worked to relieve suffering by reframing the content of patients’ thoughts, directly altering behavior or helping people gain insight into the subconscious sources of their despair and anxiety. The promise of mindfulness meditation is that it can help patients endure flash floods of emotion during the therapeutic process — and ultimately alter reactions to daily experience at a level that words cannot reach. “The interest in this has just taken off,” said Zindel Segal, a psychologist at the Center of Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, where the above group therapy session was taped. “And I think a big part of it is that more and more therapists are practicing some form of contemplation themselves and want to bring that into therapy.”
At workshops and conferences across the country, students, counselors and psychologists in private practice throng lectures on mindfulness. The National Institutes of Health is financing more than 50 studies testing mindfulness techniques, up from 3 in 2000, to help relieve stress, soothe addictive cravings, improve attention, lift despair and reduce hot flashes.
Some proponents say Buddha’s arrival in psychotherapy signals a broader opening in the culture at large — a way to access deeper healing, a hidden path revealed.
Yet so far, the evidence that mindfulness meditation helps relieve psychiatric symptoms is thin, and in some cases, it may make people worse, some studies suggest. Many researchers now worry that the enthusiasm for Buddhist practice will run so far ahead of the science that this promising psychological tool could turn into another fad.
“I’m very open to the possibility that this approach could be effective, and it certainly should be studied,” said Scott Lilienfeld, a psychology professor at Emory. “What concerns me is the hype, the talk about changing the world, this allure of the guru that the field of psychotherapy has a tendency to cultivate.”
Buddhist meditation came to psychotherapy from mainstream academic medicine. In the 1970s, a graduate student in molecular biology, Jon Kabat-Zinn, intrigued by Buddhist ideas, adapted a version of its meditative practice that could be easily learned and studied. It was by design a secular version, extracted like a gemstone from the many-layered foundation of Buddhist teaching, which has sprouted a wide variety of sects and spiritual practices and attracted 350 million adherents worldwide.
In transcendental meditation and other types of meditation, practitioners seek to transcend or “lose” themselves. The goal of mindfulness meditation was different, to foster an awareness of every sensation as it unfolds in the moment.
Dr. Kabat-Zinn taught the practice to people suffering from chronic pain at the University of Massachusetts medical school. In the 1980s he published a series of studies demonstrating that two-hour courses, given once a week for eight weeks, reduced chronic pain more effectively than treatment as usual.
Word spread, discreetly at first. “I think that back then, other researchers had to be very careful when they talked about this, because they didn’t want to be seen as New Age weirdos,” Dr. Kabat-Zinn, now a professor emeritus of medicine at the University of Massachusetts, said in an interview. “So they didn’t call it mindfulness or meditation. “After a while, we put enough studies out there that people became more comfortable with it.”
One person who noticed early on was Marsha Linehan, a psychologist at the University of Washington who was trying to treat deeply troubled patients with histories of suicidal behavior. “Trying to treat these patients with some change-based behavior therapy just made them worse, not better,” Dr. Linehan said in an interview. “With the really hard stuff, you need something else, something that allows people to tolerate these very strong emotions.”
In the 1990s, Dr. Linehan published a series of studies finding that a therapy that incorporated Zen Buddhist mindfulness, “radical acceptance,” practiced by therapist and patient significantly cut the risk of hospitalization and suicide attempts in the high-risk patients.
Finally, in 2000, a group of researchers including Dr. Segal in Toronto, J. Mark G. Williams at the University of Wales and John D. Teasdale at the Medical Research Council in England published a study that found that eight weekly sessions of mindfulness halved the rate of relapse in people with three or more episodes of depression.
With Dr. Kabat-Zinn, they wrote a popular book, “The Mindful Way Through Depression.” Psychotherapists’ curiosity about mindfulness, once tentative, turned into “this feeding frenzy, of sorts, that we have going on now,” Dr. Kabat-Zinn said.
Mindfulness meditation is easy to describe. Sit in a comfortable position, eyes closed, preferably with the back upright and unsupported. Relax and take note of body sensations, sounds and moods. Notice them without judgment. Let the mind settle into the rhythm of breathing. If it wanders (and it will), gently redirect attention to the breath. Stay with it for at least 10 minutes.
After mastering control of attention, some therapists say, a person can turn, mentally, to face a threatening or troubling thought — about, say, a strained relationship with a parent — and learn simply to endure the anger or sadness and let it pass, without lapsing into rumination or trying to change the feeling, a move that often backfires.
One woman, a doctor who had been in therapy for years to manage bouts of disabling anxiety, recently began seeing Gaea Logan, a therapist in Austin, Tex., who incorporates mindfulness meditation into her practice. This patient had plenty to worry about, including a mentally ill child, a divorce and what she described as a “harsh internal voice,” Ms. Logan said.
After practicing mindfulness meditation, she continued to feel anxious at times but told Ms. Logan, “I can stop and observe my feelings and thoughts and have compassion for myself.”
Steven Hayes, a psychologist at the University of Nevada at Reno, has developed a talk therapy called Acceptance Commitment Therapy, or ACT, based on a similar, Buddha-like effort to move beyond language to change fundamental psychological processes.
“It’s a shift from having our mental health defined by the content of our thoughts,” Dr. Hayes said, “to having it defined by our relationship to that content — and changing that relationship by sitting with, noticing and becoming disentangled from our definition of ourselves.”
For all these hopeful signs, the science behind mindfulness is in its infancy. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, which researches health practices, last year published a comprehensive review of meditation studies, including T.M., Zen and mindfulness practice, for a wide variety of physical and mental problems. The study found that over all, the research was too sketchy to draw conclusions.
A recent review by Canadian researchers, focusing specifically on mindfulness meditation, concluded that it did “not have a reliable effect on depression and anxiety.”
Therapists who incorporate mindfulness practices do not agree when the meditation is most useful, either. Some say Buddhist meditation is most useful for patients with moderate emotional problems. Others, like Dr. Linehan, insist that patients in severe mental distress are the best candidates for mindfulness.
A case in point is mindfulness-based therapy to prevent a relapse into depression. The treatment significantly reduced the risk of relapse in people who have had three or more episodes of depression. But it may have had the opposite effect on people who had one or two previous episodes, two studies suggest.
The mindfulness treatment “may be contraindicated for this group of patients,” S. Helen Ma and Dr. Teasdale of the Medical Research Council concluded in a 2004 study of the therapy.
Since mindfulness meditation may have different effects on different mental struggles, the challenge for its proponents will be to specify where it is most effective — and soon, given how popular the practice is becoming.
The question, said Linda Barnes, an associate professor of family medicine and pediatrics at the Boston University School of Medicine, is not whether mindfulness meditation will become a sophisticated therapeutic technique or lapse into self-help cliché.
“The answer to that question is yes to both,” Dr. Barnes said.
The real issue, most researchers agree, is whether the science will keep pace and help people distinguish the mindful variety from the mindless.
Monday, May 26, 2008
A love hormone that can ‘banish shyness’
Are you a little shaky about your first date? You could soon spray away your shyness with a ‘love hormone’ and win your girl.
Swiss researchers are developing a nasal spray, that contains oxytocin — a love chemical naturally produced in the brain, a product which they claim could help banish excessive shyness in people. Nicknamed the ‘cuddle chemical’ or the ‘love hormone’, oxytocin plays a crucial role in social relations and maternal bonding, and is also released during sex.
Inhaling the hormone lowers activity in the amygdala, a region linked with fear and danger, lead researcher Thomas Baumgartner of Zurich University has reported in the latest edition of the ‘Neuron’ journal.
Trials of the nasal spray are underway on 120 patients to help treat the pathological shyness. Sufferers usually receive therapy of some kind and the trial aims to see if oxytocin can speed up the process. Results are expected later this year.
Earlier studies by the Swiss team showed that a nasal spray makes people more trusting. They also proved that use of oxytocin can outweigh the effects of rumour and gossip.
Swiss researchers are developing a nasal spray, that contains oxytocin — a love chemical naturally produced in the brain, a product which they claim could help banish excessive shyness in people. Nicknamed the ‘cuddle chemical’ or the ‘love hormone’, oxytocin plays a crucial role in social relations and maternal bonding, and is also released during sex.
Inhaling the hormone lowers activity in the amygdala, a region linked with fear and danger, lead researcher Thomas Baumgartner of Zurich University has reported in the latest edition of the ‘Neuron’ journal.
Trials of the nasal spray are underway on 120 patients to help treat the pathological shyness. Sufferers usually receive therapy of some kind and the trial aims to see if oxytocin can speed up the process. Results are expected later this year.
Earlier studies by the Swiss team showed that a nasal spray makes people more trusting. They also proved that use of oxytocin can outweigh the effects of rumour and gossip.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
7 tips for keeping kids safe online
Any parent who has spent a few minutes trying to decipher the abbreviations in his or her teenager’s online chat conversations knows that the web hosts a youth culture all its own. And that world doesn’t just have its own language, it also fosters the sharing of personal information among friends—and sometimes strangers—that can set off alarm bells for parents. Here are a few tips for keeping up with your kid in this quickly evolving space—and helping to draw the line between harmless socializing and dangerous breaches of privacy
1. Talk to your kids about the web:
More important than trying to limit or control your kids’ web access is to educate them about what information-sharing and behaviour is smart and responsible on the net. Make it clear to your kids that everything they post to a social networking site, or even send in an email, could easily end up being widely distributed to anyone in cyberspace—including people they’d never talk with in person. On the list of details they should never share online: home addresses, phone numbers, any financial information, sensitive personal details or compromising pictures.
2. Use kid-oriented social networks:
One easy way to limit the dangers of social networking is to sign up your preteen kids for social networking sites designed for safety. The social network Imbee.com, for instance, is built to replicate real world friendships online, not to help kids meet strangers. Users can only access profiles within a limited network of friends. All new connections are approved by parents. The kids’ networking site Club Penguin is even safer, albeit targeted at a very young audience—with certain settings, users can only chat using a set of harmless phrases.
3. Use content-locking tools sparingly:
Programs like Net Nanny or Cybersitter can block objectionable content on the web and make tracking your children’s online behaviour easy. But Larry Magid, founder of Safekids.com and Connectsafely.org, suggests parents think twice before locking down internet use with these kinds of programs. For teenagers, these sorts of software are likely to inspire rebellion and tempt them to find other, less censored paths to blocked material. For younger kids, Magid suggests the filters are often a poor substitute for more long-lasting education about online safety.
4. Agree on good terms for web use:
The internet is more widely accessible every day, so a kid given strict rules about online behaviour without his or her input is likely to find a less restrictive entryway to the web. Instead, come to an agreement with your kids about what you both consider acceptable behaviour in terms of balancing their privacy and their safety. Larry Magid suggests parents and children write and sign pledges for proper online behaviour and post them by the family computer.
5. Monitor Your Kids’ Online Profile:
One of the dangers of social networking and blogging is that so much of it occurs on the public web, where it’s broadcast to the world. But if strangers can access kids’ profiles and blogs, so can parents. Just as you stay involved in your child’s friendships in the offline world, you can also keep tabs on his or her online socializing, either actively participating for younger kids or watching from a less intrusive distance for teenagers.
6. Pick your location for computer carefully:
Setting up a desktop computer that’s tied to a certain location in the house, rather than buying a laptop and using a wireless internet connection, is one way to make keeping an eye on your child’s web use easier. Even better: Put that computer in a high-traffic area of the house, like the living room or family room, to ensure that web surfing stays public. Keeping the internet out of your child’s bedroom also helps you balance his or her online activity with a healthy mix of offline activities like sports and reading.
7. Monitor cellphone use:
As phones get smarter, the line between a cellphone and a net-connected computer is beginning to blur. If your child has a phone with internet capabilities, you should be sure to include cellphone use in your discussion about safe online communication. Monitoring your phone bill is one way to keep tabs on the amount of web browsing your child is doing over a cellular network.
Friday, May 23, 2008
SRK's 'punishment' SMS to team
That Shahrukh is a charmer, no one denies, but the best part about the man perhaps is that he manages to say just the right things in just the right way, without saying too much. |
Monday, May 19, 2008
Feeling depressed, get married
Feeling depressed, get married. At least this is what a new study quoted by LiveScience.com suggests.
But it also concludes that marriage even if "so-so" gives a greater psychological boost to the depressed than to the happy people.
Previous studies, the website says, have suggested that the psychological perks of marriage depend upon marriage quality a happy marriage gives rise to a happy couple, and vice-versa.
Taking a cue from the earlier studies, Adrianne Frech, a sociology graduate student at Ohio State University, and her colleague, Kristi Williams, speculated that happy people would garner more psychological perks from marriage than depressed people.
In order to test the hypothesis, they looked at a sample of 3,066 men and women who had been interviewed and tested for depression once in either 1987 or 1988 and then again five years later. In the interviews, they were asked about the quality of their marriage (if they were married).
On an average, accounting for differences in depression, subjects who had got married over the five-year span between the two interviews reported improved psychological well-being in the second interview -- scoring an average of 3.42 points lower on the 84-point depression scale--than their counterparts who did not marry.
However, when they teased apart into how marriage affected those who had been depressed at the start of the study to those who had been happy, they came across something unexpected.
But it also concludes that marriage even if "so-so" gives a greater psychological boost to the depressed than to the happy people.
Previous studies, the website says, have suggested that the psychological perks of marriage depend upon marriage quality a happy marriage gives rise to a happy couple, and vice-versa.
Taking a cue from the earlier studies, Adrianne Frech, a sociology graduate student at Ohio State University, and her colleague, Kristi Williams, speculated that happy people would garner more psychological perks from marriage than depressed people.
In order to test the hypothesis, they looked at a sample of 3,066 men and women who had been interviewed and tested for depression once in either 1987 or 1988 and then again five years later. In the interviews, they were asked about the quality of their marriage (if they were married).
On an average, accounting for differences in depression, subjects who had got married over the five-year span between the two interviews reported improved psychological well-being in the second interview -- scoring an average of 3.42 points lower on the 84-point depression scale--than their counterparts who did not marry.
However, when they teased apart into how marriage affected those who had been depressed at the start of the study to those who had been happy, they came across something unexpected.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Are we over-glamourising the bikini?
‘Bikini is fashionable art’
That’s so Sensuous! The evolution of the bikini has been interesting. Now, the bikini is almost a prized piece of art. There’s great fascination around its history, invention and evolution. The bikini was invented to create a fashion sensation. Wow, it’s always got a great reaction! That said, there is a practical aspect in that, it’s much simpler to get in and out of a two-piece than a regular swim costume. Historically, during war time, rationing textile made it more efficient to wear a bikini. It was a dramatic change and made the bikini socially acceptable. That’s what led to the glamourisation of two-piece swim costumes. It should be considered that the one-piece costume caused a very similar reaction in the 1910-1930 period, as women were seen for the first time with bare legs, active and outdoors. Glamour women in a bikini had arrived and were making a sensation. When stars like Brigitte Bardot and Ursula Andress began wearing the bikini, the star factor attached itself to their clothing. To feel as glamorous as a movie star, it made perfect sense to copy what they wore.
There is evidence of bikini-shaped garments from antiquity -- Greek images on urns and Roman mosaics depict women athletes wearing what is essentially the modern bikini. The bandeau top is functional and acts as a brassiere for athletes -- ancient and modern. The best-known version of the story is that engineer Louis Reard and fashion designer Jacques Heim invented the ‘Bikini’ in 1946 in Paris -- and named it for the atomic bombs being tested in the Bikini Atoll of the Pacific in July of that year. Apparently, they thought it would cause a similar explosive reaction. Heim & Reard’s ‘Bikini’ was actually quite daring, with a high cut string bottom, although the version that eventually became popular. Gradually, as it became acceptable in Western society to bare the midriff, bikinis have become smaller, and sometimes leave out the top altogether--see Rudi Gernreich’s edgy (and not very popular!) ‘Monokini’. Different styles are acceptable in different places -- a beach in Brazil is different to one in North America.
Fashion wise, the two-piece or bikini just follows the development of the 20th century. First it became acceptable for women to bathe in the sea, and woolen swimming dresses emerged; as women began to assert themselves as athletic and advances were made in fabric technology,synthetic one-piece costumes developed. The next logical step was the simpler two-piece. It’s popularity has in- creased in proportion to the popularity of sunbathing, swimming, beach holidays, and other aspects of modern life. Hence, bikini wars started. To a point, where the bikini became an obsession!
The bikini is nothing but a three piece triangle. It’s like the bermuda triangle, where men just lose themselves. It drives men crazy. The bikini makes men forget any other attachment they have. Essentially, the bikini was adapted from the lingerie. It’s almost like an undergarment which can be worn outside.
The evolution of the bikini triggered the inside-outside revolution. Gautlier revolutionised the bikini and corset by making his models wear them on clothes. In fact, La Perla’s colourful bikini tops are worn only under transparent shirts, to show-off. The fashion interpretation of the bikini has been over-glamourised. Now, I see women on Miami beaches wearing bikini briefs with sexy halter tops. I agree, bikini’s the most seductive piece of clothing ever invented.
It has an emotional, physical and metaphysical dimension to it. It can be sensual, sporty, seductive all at the same time. When it’s sporty, bikini’s construction is not so exhibitionist! Most men I know, find it the most exciting piece of garment. Iconic images of a bikini always arouse great curiosity. Men and bikinis have a unique, interesting relationship -- it’s pure erotica. That’s why bikini has been over-glamourised because it’s the briefest garment in the world. The bikini has changed the shape and style of fashion. There’s nothing sexier than the itsy-bitsy, teenie weenie bikini!
There is evidence of bikini-shaped garments from antiquity -- Greek images on urns and Roman mosaics depict women athletes wearing what is essentially the modern bikini. The bandeau top is functional and acts as a brassiere for athletes -- ancient and modern. The best-known version of the story is that engineer Louis Reard and fashion designer Jacques Heim invented the ‘Bikini’ in 1946 in Paris -- and named it for the atomic bombs being tested in the Bikini Atoll of the Pacific in July of that year. Apparently, they thought it would cause a similar explosive reaction. Heim & Reard’s ‘Bikini’ was actually quite daring, with a high cut string bottom, although the version that eventually became popular. Gradually, as it became acceptable in Western society to bare the midriff, bikinis have become smaller, and sometimes leave out the top altogether--see Rudi Gernreich’s edgy (and not very popular!) ‘Monokini’. Different styles are acceptable in different places -- a beach in Brazil is different to one in North America.
Fashion wise, the two-piece or bikini just follows the development of the 20th century. First it became acceptable for women to bathe in the sea, and woolen swimming dresses emerged; as women began to assert themselves as athletic and advances were made in fabric technology,synthetic one-piece costumes developed. The next logical step was the simpler two-piece. It’s popularity has in- creased in proportion to the popularity of sunbathing, swimming, beach holidays, and other aspects of modern life. Hence, bikini wars started. To a point, where the bikini became an obsession!
‘ Men think bikini is the most sensual garment'
The bikini is nothing but a three piece triangle. It’s like the bermuda triangle, where men just lose themselves. It drives men crazy. The bikini makes men forget any other attachment they have. Essentially, the bikini was adapted from the lingerie. It’s almost like an undergarment which can be worn outside.
The evolution of the bikini triggered the inside-outside revolution. Gautlier revolutionised the bikini and corset by making his models wear them on clothes. In fact, La Perla’s colourful bikini tops are worn only under transparent shirts, to show-off. The fashion interpretation of the bikini has been over-glamourised. Now, I see women on Miami beaches wearing bikini briefs with sexy halter tops. I agree, bikini’s the most seductive piece of clothing ever invented.
It has an emotional, physical and metaphysical dimension to it. It can be sensual, sporty, seductive all at the same time. When it’s sporty, bikini’s construction is not so exhibitionist! Most men I know, find it the most exciting piece of garment. Iconic images of a bikini always arouse great curiosity. Men and bikinis have a unique, interesting relationship -- it’s pure erotica. That’s why bikini has been over-glamourised because it’s the briefest garment in the world. The bikini has changed the shape and style of fashion. There’s nothing sexier than the itsy-bitsy, teenie weenie bikini!
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Tips to recover scratched CD/DVDs
Don't you feel like crying every time you add another disc to your pile of scratched discs. Trashing that disc which contained your favorite songs, pics, files, games or videos is not easy.
Read-on, if you find yourself wishing for a miracle every time your fav CD is scratched:
Home Remedy :
here's an easy home remedy, which might give you the desired results. Rub a small amount of toothpaste on the scratch and polish the CD with a soft cloth and any petroleum-based polishing solution (like clear shoe polish). Squirt a drop of Brasso and wipe it with a clean cloth.
Technology to the rescue
There are many softwares available on the net, which enable the recovery of the CD data. BadCopy Pro is one such software, which can be used to recover destroyed data and files from a range of media.
Just a few clicks is all it requires to recover the disc from almost all kind of damage situation; be it corrupted, lost data, unreadable or defective. DiskDoctors is another popular company, which offers both software and solutions to recover data from a scratched CDs and DVDs.
General Tips:
* Always wipe the CD from the center outward with stratight spoke-like strokes. Wiping CDs in circles will create more scratches.
* Do not scratch the graphics layer as you cannot repair the disc. HINT: Hold the disc up to a light with the graphics layer facing the light source. If you can see light thru the scratches at any point then the disc may be irreparable and or exhibit loading or playing errors.
* Clean your Disc players lens regularly with a suitable product to ensure optimal viewing pleasure.
* Make sure to use a soft, lint-free cloth to clean both sides of the disc. Wipe in a straight line from the centre of the disc to the outer edge.
* If wiping with a cloth does not remove a fingerprint or smudge, use a specialized DVD disc polishing spray to clean the disc.
* Only handle the disc by its outer edge and the empty hole in the middle. This will help prevent fingerprints, smudges or scratches.
Statistics:
*Fingermarks/ prints cause 43% of disc problems!
* General wear & tear causes 25% of disc problems!
* Player-related issues cause 15% of disc problems!
* User-related issues cause 12% of disc problems!
* PlayStation 2 machine scratches cause 3% of disc problems!
* Laser rot (a manufacturer error) causes 2% of disc problems!
Read-on, if you find yourself wishing for a miracle every time your fav CD is scratched:
Home Remedy :
here's an easy home remedy, which might give you the desired results. Rub a small amount of toothpaste on the scratch and polish the CD with a soft cloth and any petroleum-based polishing solution (like clear shoe polish). Squirt a drop of Brasso and wipe it with a clean cloth.
Technology to the rescue
There are many softwares available on the net, which enable the recovery of the CD data. BadCopy Pro is one such software, which can be used to recover destroyed data and files from a range of media.
Just a few clicks is all it requires to recover the disc from almost all kind of damage situation; be it corrupted, lost data, unreadable or defective. DiskDoctors is another popular company, which offers both software and solutions to recover data from a scratched CDs and DVDs.
General Tips:
* Always wipe the CD from the center outward with stratight spoke-like strokes. Wiping CDs in circles will create more scratches.
* Do not scratch the graphics layer as you cannot repair the disc. HINT: Hold the disc up to a light with the graphics layer facing the light source. If you can see light thru the scratches at any point then the disc may be irreparable and or exhibit loading or playing errors.
* Clean your Disc players lens regularly with a suitable product to ensure optimal viewing pleasure.
* Make sure to use a soft, lint-free cloth to clean both sides of the disc. Wipe in a straight line from the centre of the disc to the outer edge.
* If wiping with a cloth does not remove a fingerprint or smudge, use a specialized DVD disc polishing spray to clean the disc.
* Only handle the disc by its outer edge and the empty hole in the middle. This will help prevent fingerprints, smudges or scratches.
Statistics:
*Fingermarks/ prints cause 43% of disc problems!
* General wear & tear causes 25% of disc problems!
* Player-related issues cause 15% of disc problems!
* User-related issues cause 12% of disc problems!
* PlayStation 2 machine scratches cause 3% of disc problems!
* Laser rot (a manufacturer error) causes 2% of disc problems!
Lovable Knots cannot be seperated...
WRONG NUMBER
It was the day of my son's XII results and I was so tensed. I sat
beside him while he logged on the website with his registration no.
"Ma", he screamed in excitement," I scored 1191, with centum in 4
subjects. I cant believe it. "I kinda became numb in my excitement.
My eyes became wet. I kissed him on his ! forehead and smiled.
Soon we realized that he stood first in the state. Oh, my joy knew no
bounds when Reporters and media persons soon swamped my house for
interviews and photos. I was so honored to join him in the snaps.
I wanted to call my "wrong-number-friend to tell him the news......
I was so excited. He was someone whom I have known for more than 20 years.
I still do not remember when we became friends, but certainly cannot
forget the first day he called me when I blasted him for giving me so
many wrong calls.....after that he had called up a week later asking
apology, for he had now got the right no of his friend whom he wanted
to talk to .We spoke for an hour that day...even without knowing each
other's names.Though he kept pestering me to reveal my name I never did
and so he kept a name...Sweety. I used to get so shy whenever he called
me 'Sweety'. I was doing first year of BSc. Maths then, and he was a
Computer Engineering student.
From then he used to call me very often . We almost discussed everything..
By the final year of my college, we probably we were in love, but I had
been cautious. I was in a dilemma whether to tell him. But what if he
was of a different religion? Do I have the courage to talk to my parents
about it?........all these questions ran through my mind.
I decided I'll not talk to him thereafter. When he called next time I
lied to him I that I was going to Delhi for my post graduation. He gave
me his office number and asked me to ring him up once I reach there.
I never called .......
A couple of months later my marriage got fixed with a guy of my
parent's choice. I was not happy but I did not complain; rather accepted it as
an obedient daughter. At times I felt I missed my wrong- number-friend.......
My hubby was a moody person; I have hardly spent any good time with
him- but he was genuine indeed and never bothered my personal space.
After 2 years we had a boy...Yet,I was not very happy with my married
life...One day I happened to browse through my diary and found I still &
my old friend's office phone no that he had given me. I dialed it and
spoke with him. He said he was married and got a kid too. I was happy
for him though in the bottom of the heart I felt bad that I could not
marry him.
From then I used to occasionally call him on that number. I never gave
him mine as I felt that would put me in trouble...
And till today I almost shared everything with him including my
relationship with my hubby.....today I was so happy and I wanted to call him.
Just then I got a call. "Your husband met with an accident and died on
the spot"I banged the phone down. I broke. I did not call my friend.....
I somehow started feeling guilty. I have never tried to talk to him properly
when he was alive or moved close with him....I felt I had been a bad wife........
A couple of years passed and one day my son brought home a Bengali girl
and said they wanted to get married. I got them married as I did not
want my son to go through what I did.
I decided to give my son his father's room and started clearing it.
There was a phone book. I gently opened it to find, " Wrong no Sweety
-26579785"
God always puts the right numbers together. Its we who interpret it
wrong!!!
It was the day of my son's XII results and I was so tensed. I sat
beside him while he logged on the website with his registration no.
"Ma", he screamed in excitement," I scored 1191, with centum in 4
subjects. I cant believe it. "I kinda became numb in my excitement.
My eyes became wet. I kissed him on his ! forehead and smiled.
Soon we realized that he stood first in the state. Oh, my joy knew no
bounds when Reporters and media persons soon swamped my house for
interviews and photos. I was so honored to join him in the snaps.
I wanted to call my "wrong-number-friend to tell him the news......
I was so excited. He was someone whom I have known for more than 20 years.
I still do not remember when we became friends, but certainly cannot
forget the first day he called me when I blasted him for giving me so
many wrong calls.....after that he had called up a week later asking
apology, for he had now got the right no of his friend whom he wanted
to talk to .We spoke for an hour that day...even without knowing each
other's names.Though he kept pestering me to reveal my name I never did
and so he kept a name...Sweety. I used to get so shy whenever he called
me 'Sweety'. I was doing first year of BSc. Maths then, and he was a
Computer Engineering student.
From then he used to call me very often . We almost discussed everything..
By the final year of my college, we probably we were in love, but I had
been cautious. I was in a dilemma whether to tell him. But what if he
was of a different religion? Do I have the courage to talk to my parents
about it?........all these questions ran through my mind.
I decided I'll not talk to him thereafter. When he called next time I
lied to him I that I was going to Delhi for my post graduation. He gave
me his office number and asked me to ring him up once I reach there.
I never called .......
A couple of months later my marriage got fixed with a guy of my
parent's choice. I was not happy but I did not complain; rather accepted it as
an obedient daughter. At times I felt I missed my wrong- number-friend.......
My hubby was a moody person; I have hardly spent any good time with
him- but he was genuine indeed and never bothered my personal space.
After 2 years we had a boy...Yet,I was not very happy with my married
life...One day I happened to browse through my diary and found I still &
my old friend's office phone no that he had given me. I dialed it and
spoke with him. He said he was married and got a kid too. I was happy
for him though in the bottom of the heart I felt bad that I could not
marry him.
From then I used to occasionally call him on that number. I never gave
him mine as I felt that would put me in trouble...
And till today I almost shared everything with him including my
relationship with my hubby.....today I was so happy and I wanted to call him.
Just then I got a call. "Your husband met with an accident and died on
the spot"I banged the phone down. I broke. I did not call my friend.....
I somehow started feeling guilty. I have never tried to talk to him properly
when he was alive or moved close with him....I felt I had been a bad wife........
A couple of years passed and one day my son brought home a Bengali girl
and said they wanted to get married. I got them married as I did not
want my son to go through what I did.
I decided to give my son his father's room and started clearing it.
There was a phone book. I gently opened it to find, " Wrong no Sweety
-26579785"
God always puts the right numbers together. Its we who interpret it
wrong!!!
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Going parrot shopping
A man goes into a pet shop to buy a parrot. The shop owner points to three identical looking parrots on a perch and says:
"The parrot to the left costs 500 dollars".
"Why does the parrot cost so much?" the customer asks.
The owner says, "Well, it knows how to use a computer."
The customer asks about the next parrot and is told "That one costs 1,000 dollars because it can do everything the other parrot can do plus it knows how to use the UNIX operating system."
Naturally, the increasingly startled man asks about the third parrot and is told "That one costs 2,000 dollars."
Needless to say this begs the question "What can IT do?"
To which the owner replies "To be honest I have never seen it do a thing but the other two call him the boss!"
"The parrot to the left costs 500 dollars".
"Why does the parrot cost so much?" the customer asks.
The owner says, "Well, it knows how to use a computer."
The customer asks about the next parrot and is told "That one costs 1,000 dollars because it can do everything the other parrot can do plus it knows how to use the UNIX operating system."
Naturally, the increasingly startled man asks about the third parrot and is told "That one costs 2,000 dollars."
Needless to say this begs the question "What can IT do?"
To which the owner replies "To be honest I have never seen it do a thing but the other two call him the boss!"
Monday, May 05, 2008
WOMAN & ANGER
A man and woman had been married for more than 60 years. They had shared everything. They had talked about everything. They had kept no secrets from each other except that the little old woman had a shoe
box in the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about.
For all of these years, he had never thought about the box, but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would not recover..
In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man took down the shoe box and took it to his wife's bedside.
She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the box.. When he opened it, he found two crocheted dolls and a stack of money totaling $95,000.He asked her about the contents. 'When we were to be married,' she said, ' my grandmother told me the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doll.'
The little old man was so moved; he had to fight back tears. Only two precious dolls were in the box. She had only been angry with him two times in all those years of living and loving. He almost burst with happiness.
'Honey,' he said, 'that explains the doll, but what about all of this money? Where did it come from?'
box in the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about.
For all of these years, he had never thought about the box, but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would not recover..
In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man took down the shoe box and took it to his wife's bedside.
She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the box.. When he opened it, he found two crocheted dolls and a stack of money totaling $95,000.He asked her about the contents. 'When we were to be married,' she said, ' my grandmother told me the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doll.'
The little old man was so moved; he had to fight back tears. Only two precious dolls were in the box. She had only been angry with him two times in all those years of living and loving. He almost burst with happiness.
'Honey,' he said, 'that explains the doll, but what about all of this money? Where did it come from?'
'Oh,' she said, 'that's the money I made from selling the dolls.'
Love to forgive him;
And Patience for his moods;
Because Lord, if I pray for Strength,
I'll beat him to death, because I don't know how to crochet
Friday, May 02, 2008
How should you refuse a kiss
Sometimes its right to refuseStop flirting. Flirting gives off the impression to your partner that you want something further than just hand holding.
Try not to give off the wrong signals.
Shake your head. Try not to pull away when your girlfriend or boyfriend tries to kiss you. They will only be left feeling rejected and your partner won’t really want to try to kiss you later on in your relationship.
Be honest. Tell your partner honestly that you are not really ready to kiss yet and that you will let him or her know when you will be later on. Honesty is the best route in this situation.
Tell your partner that you don’t like to kiss early in the relationship. If they try anyways and don’t abide by your wishes, then this person is not worthy of your time and, of course, your kiss.
Be kind to your girlfriend or boyfriend after you refuse their kiss. Let them know you still like him or her by hugging and holding hands. This way, your partner will not feel completely rejected.
Move away from your girlfriend or boyfriend. Turn your head if necessary and explain you are not ready yet. If this person cares about you, then he or she will stop trying and wait for you to make the move.
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