Noise Control!

We all are constantly at the receiving end of endless information, thrown at us without any particular preference or order or relevance! 

Sure, we are in control of our "newsfeed", as it is called - apparently "feeding" us the "news". But, then we really cannot control what the people in-charge of populating the feed are posting. Nor are we in control of events that are triggering the feed. 

However, we choose to ignore most of the things coming in our feed. Occasionally, hiding inappropriate ones, or blocking, or reporting them. This has causes us to apply a first level of filtering criteria - typically where our attention span is very less! In the process, we may/do ignore few things which might warrant more attention. 

How do we strike a balance? Or do we just gulp whatever is fed to us, which might lead to upset tummy sometimes, or puking occasionally (Snapchat-syle rainbow colored)!

Here's a dose of Monday Morning motivation!!

Don't wait for your dreams, chase them. #mondaymotivation pic.twitter.com/POwzNiAPWa

— SwimOutlet.com (@SwimOutlet) October 26, 2015

Don't put off what needs doing today #mondaymotivation #regrets via @moodcards pic.twitter.com/03wLJ7iTvH

— Andrea Harrn (@themoodcards) November 1, 2015

Credits @Entrepreneur #mondaymotivation pic.twitter.com/q43uZQyH62

— EAA (@eaaeduph) November 2, 2015

Update1 (04/11/2015):  
Found this... it makes so much more sense!!! 


Update2 (05/11/2015) - above vid was removed, so the link to story!  

Essena O'Neill: The girl using social media to tell you social media is evil: https://t.co/CKmoHizyIU pic.twitter.com/yfjYnPtjip

— Mashable (@mashable) November 5, 2015

And another one brewing up :)

So long Hipster Barbie: The parody Instagram account is calling it quits https://t.co/GodjI5yS2X pic.twitter.com/vrkJ9VX2PE

— Mashable (@mashable) November 5, 2015

Celebrations...

A couple of days back, I had been to a friend's wedding. And also turned 33. Both occasions called for a celebration by conventional traditions. While weddings are "grand affairs", birthdays are relatively personal. But, both are celebrated, and I wonder why?

Not just personal occasions, but even community/national events… every other day, we have some or the other religious holiday, or some jayanti or punyatithi or a national holiday. Just another reason to celebrate or have a holiday.

What is the reason and logic behind having these holidays, and the so called enforced celebrations?

Then there are these “Hallmark” celebrations. Mother’s day, father’s day, lover’s day, friendship day, blah blah blah… it seems we need a special day to show our love and affection to our special ones… hmmmm

What is the significance? Why at all do we celebrate? What is the meaning and symbolism of particular days?

Largest Democracy or Banana Republic?

Few days back some bafoon from the "political circles"(?) called us a Banana Republic. Which is an understatement, if I may. It is a no-brainer. The current state of affairs is much worst... but still people went "how dare he..." nobody has the gut,s to accept the problem and then move towards the solution .. they are instead more interested in playing the "naive ostrich" ..

The first step of solving a problem is acknowledging it and admitting that, yes, there is indeed a problem .. and then looking for solutions.

If people don't allow someone to speak truth, isn't it a banana republic anyways?

Social Media!

Once upon a time, every newcomer in the corporate IT world used to have fun with the most widely used communication tool - Email. And the fun was 'forwards'. Remember hitting 'Crtl+F' and 'Alt+Enter' impulsively and shooting a mail with 'FWD' in subject line, perhaps coupled with some other keywords to ensure 'safety'! ;) And then, there were blokes who used to religiously send Thought-For-The-Day or Good-Morning mails as a daily ritual! There were forwards of good-luck or bad-luck striking if one forwarded the mail to x number of recipients, or fund-raising for some sick child - for every forward 1$ will be credited, or blonde-jokes, or about some social-cause, or some product promotions.. variety of subjects.. I vividly remember same images being recirculated with different stories! While few others just plain, out-rightly fake news, stories or urban-legends! And of course, there was also the spamming on personal mail-ids. Over a period of time people could sensibly judge and decide what is true and what is not!

Bobak launches Curiosity - Animation

Read more about this guy here - unofficial fan-club here

And about the NASA space mission here

Note: You'll be asked to install a small add-on from 3DVIA to run this interactive animation!

Body and Soul...

Source

It is always said that the body is temporary while soul is immortal. Have been hearing this ever since my childhood. And I always had this dilemma or question about death in humans/animals as compared to trees/vegetation. Animals supposedly have soul which at the time of death seemingly leaves the body, rendering it lifeless. What happens with trees then? Do they die at some particular instant or moment? Or they don't have soul?

The Dirty Mind!

Warning: Mature thoughts, and some links contain mature/graphic content!

“My weak flesh cost me everything”, says Mr. Dominique Strauss-Kahn otherwise popularly known as DSK. A French political biggie, who could have been the next President of France, if not for that unfortunate incident. Dirty old man misjudged the 'fling' and it backfired. I don't know if the French people should have forgiven this 'little' misadventure being the very open cultured society? They were the ones who did ban the burkhas in the first place! Look at India, we 'forgive' our politicians, no matter what kind of harakiri they commit! We have our share of shameless scamsters, not just in money matters but also of DSK-kinds ;)

Revolutions...

Few years ago, we had a very touching Aamir Khan movie “Rang De Basanti”. Very inspiring and youth oriented. Does it have a cult status or not, is not what we are interested in. But, it certainly had ideas which were “revolutionary”. At the time when it was released, many people were motivated by it and wanted to do something to bring about a change in society, especially the youth. Others merely dismissed it as a typical Aamir Khan “masala” movie. They were the skeptics who believed that the “systems” is old enough and strong enough to be toppled by youth who are inspired by a popular media?  The idea seemed too farfetched at that point of time.

Meanwhile, the same youth was busy discovering a new media – internet more precisely the “social-networking”. The phenomenon called Facebook and Twitter had happened. The skeptics and the “system” dismissed it just as another addiction that youth is indulging into. Of course, the blogosphere had already evolved by this time. Combined with these newer tools or should we say “WMD” :) changed the world that we are now living in.

Guardians of Culture

Are we old enough to decide what’s good or bad for ourselves? Or do we still need others to tell us ‘what to do’ and ‘what not to do’? Or is it, that, we’ll always remain mamma’s boys and papa’s little princesses; no matter how old we grow or even if we have kids of our own?

Be it the kind of movies boys prefer to watch or the 7 pm deadlines for girls (10 pm for the liberal households), there will always be set of rules to ‘regulate’ or rein the adolescent genes, the hormonal changes, et al. The ever-worried parents do need such ground-rules to ensure that their young boys and girls grow into mature and responsible citizens of tomorrow. There’s no denying this fact of life (mind you, it’s necessary in many cases) and no harm in dealing with your children’s future with caution and prudence.

Most of the parents do realize when the time arrives. The time when all their parenting efforts are put to test by means of freedom acquired eventually by the youthfulness. And now it’s this upbringing that decides the course of actions an individual takes. There would be times when people turn to elders for guidance, counsel and support. And elders in turn show confidence in the judgments and decisions of the younger generation.

That’s how generations evolve and human race progresses. That’s Mother Nature’s way. Sparrow teaching its young ones to fly and then one fine day little ones fly off to newer heights to make them proud.