Irony of life

 

Continuously Learn & change ... Nokia CEO

 

Outlook of the majority people in the world

 

Technology trends before 2040

 

Dalai Lama's golden words

 

Observe!

 

The evolution of the employee .. from past to future

 

Benefits of walking

 

How to increase your happiness?

 

Lesson for mankind

 

Man O Man!

  Man O Man!

 When without money,

 eats vegetables at home;

 When has money,

 eats the same vegetables in a fine restaurant.

 .

 When without money, rides bicycle;

 When has money rides the same ‘exercise machine’.

 .

When without money walks to earn food

 When has money, walks to burn fat;

 Man O Man! Never fails to deceive thyself!

 .

 When without money,

 wishes to get married;

 When has money,

 wishes to get divorced.

 .

 When without money,

 wife becomes secretary;

 When has money,

 secretary becomes wife.

 .

 When without money, acts like a rich man;

 When has money acts like a poor man.

 Man O Man! Never can tell the simple truth!

 .

 Says share market is bad,

 but keeps speculating;

 Says money is evil,

 but keeps accumulating.

 .

 Says high Positions are lonely,

 but keeps wanting them.

 .

 Says gambling & drinking is bad,

 but keeps indulging;

 Man O Man! Never means what he says and never says what he means..!!

Better thinking on life!

 

My review ... "Outpost" by Mike Lees

The story revolves around Gar - an alien on a distant planet, who gets branded as a terrorist, tricked into the web of a perverted system of injustice. His autocratic superiors prevailed and banished him to a God-forsaken Outpost with the task of monitoring the Earth, humans and their culture. Whatever it is, the government has long arms! However, Gar desperately wants to retaliate. The story actually begins at a crucial moment when the space shuttle from Earth on a scientific mission lands near Gar’s Outpost; with a strange combination of astronauts with unique individualities. His chance opens up. But then..?

 

 

 

Mike with his effective writing style and sense of humour has added unusual situations. His characters with conflicts ... Mathilda, Stone, Perez, Hadley… are credible, to stimulate our interests.

Gar's characterisation as a brave and patronising guy, yet coolly causing fear in the minds of the astronauts - as cool as a cucumber - has come out nicely

 …”Hard to say mate, they (aliens) could invite you for a meal and a chat or blast you with ray guns! No idea.”

 Gar stood in front of them like a teacher telling children off in a classroom, “Well fantastic, smart, you supposed to be crack commandos and Earth’s finest and you run like kittens.”

Some actions by the space shuttle crew on the Alien’s planet, as Mike has portrayed scenically, are nice to imagine. The astronauts could not get on the same page, as everyone had a different book, and Mike has described this aspect well.

Mike has described the space-time shifts on an alien planet wonderfully:

 “Stone, how long have we been travelling from your point of view?”

My point of view? Thought Stone. “Eh, four and half minutes. And you?”

 “Two and half hours.  Are you sure we are going in the right direction?”

“Well, it seems something is playing with space time here. The nearer we get, the further is it away."

 Mike has made some good typical descriptions ... “In fact, many departments of Government were corrupt and took bribes, allowing the gangs to freewheel. A few brave journalists tried to bring the corruption to light, but were often accused of hyped up charges that would either get them killed or put in prison for many years. The entire system was working for itself, leaving the population to suffer and lose hope."

 

 Negatives

 

v  Unprofessional editing.

v  Unclear sequencing and colloquial jargon obstruct the flow.

 

 Positives

 

v  Exciting fun-filled witty prequel to a Sci-fi story, providing good entertainment value.

v  Some nice chapters, descriptions and good momentum

v  Interesting dialogues between Gar and the crew

 

 I liked:

v  Mike’s theme of the storyline with originality in character building.

v  The subtle humour with refreshing comic bits, running undercurrent, with dread factor throughout …

o    "..the Forbidden Planet, … For some it could be mild, for others, pure hell. Phobias you have; heights, spiders, sharks, tax bills etc and also any imaginative creatures like ghosts, demons, the mother-in-law or the like will become real and personified by those statues….a never-ending abyss which could engulf them into eternity."

o   "At home, I’m considered a … A mix between your Stalin and Hitler."

The book is enjoyable. How Mike plans to develop the created tempo, with a clear emphasis on the core theme compellingly, perhaps would make this Sci-fi series extraordinary.

Why only 1% succeed?

 

Positive and Negative energy

 

Self (ego) vs. soul

 

My review .. WHAT IF? ...By Swit La Pound

 “WHAT IF?” by Swit La Pound is a collection of eleven well-knit short stories wherein she has combined some facts, real places and people, pivoted on myths, strong doses of folktales and superstitions in the realms depicting the power of witchcraft, supernatural, voodoo and all kinds of evil a reader could imagine.

The tales never lose in the telling, though sound absurd, as one reads it with reasoning and rationality. Swit transports us back to our childhood days …"children and youth came on those nights to curl around the bright fires with us, ears in the air, attentively taking in the stories, word for word…. here, stories of ghosts, tokoloshe, witchcraft and muti are a daily dish we all believe. Since time in memorial we have been warned and told, over dim bonfires casting shadows on the wall, of the spirits that roam this forsaken community, especially in the night, for whatever reasons known only to them, and assumed by elders to scare us off.'

 

Swit has neatly portrayed mixed hues of cruelty in utterly selfish wicked people as cunning as a fox; how tactfully they spread evils in society; how they take advantage of the deeply rooted faiths in dreams, paranormal, and such strange phenomenons of gullible people who are as innocent as a lamb. She has indirectly depicted the essentiality of strong bonding in family, which, when beset with unrest, is how members come together, as a clan and society observing certain traditions, as otherwise, they know evil triumphs when good men do nothing.

Swit has crafted some nice character developments (Mzee, Sheila, Tasha, Wandile..) and situations with funny imaginations. There are explorations of friendship, conflicts and genuine emotions typifying parents and their children in families. She has effortlessly carried the stories with her interesting style, veering the readers to give a feel of normal events that occur in our day-to-day life:

 

v   “My phone rang and I went out of the bathroom, back to the bedroom where I had left it, toothbrush in mouth still. Mum hated that. She always complained that it looked gross and unsanitary.”

 

v   "AS HE GREW, TAYLOR became possessive of his family and would so often, lose his temper, and get into fights and arguments, when he thought his family needed his protection and defense. In the same manner; Taylor was adamant about his perception of things, and frequently had anger outbursts, when people failed to see things his way."

 

v  Swit has graphically depicted a typical daughter… "She tested our patience and rebelled against our authority, many times a day, but after some time, we learnt to live with each other, and understand each other better than we had before."  Yes, a mother understands what a child does not say!

 Readers will be able to see a piece of themselves within some of these characters and their stories.

 

 

 Positives

 

v  Engaging chapters, well narrated with unimaginable paradigms. 

v  Good descriptions of practised cultures.

v  Imagery portrayal …… "Open the shed, he did, tried to put down the plough… plough would not budge. The plough somehow was now stuck to his shoulders and hands, involuntarily not letting go. Something was holding everything as he carried it, stuck to his body."

v  Easy flowing natural style… “As growing children, it was in the blood to explore, break rules and test out the truancy of theories. So, we used to crown ourselves ‘Sherlock Holmes” and try to crack these mysteries. At times trying to break the rules hoping for an encounter with these supernatural forces, against the advice of elders.”

 Negatives

 

v  Lack of professional editing. Unconnected sequencing and unclarities disturbing the flow. Absence of a glossary for foreign words. 

v  Overdone narratives – inadequate dialogues.

 

Swit has challenged some fundamental faiths, what if some of them are not myths or tales, as we think, but the things do happen, whereas we cannot imagine or accept. She makes us ponder over what if it happens in our own life, how we would react to such sad and scary situations.

The readers will enjoy the book as it sustains enthusiasm with good entertainment value.

This is life!!!

 

Do you know?

 DO YOU KNOW?

1. Hot water will turn into ice faster than cold water.

3. The sentence, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” uses every letter in the English language.

4. The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.

5. Ants never sleep!

6. “I Am” is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.

8. The most common name in the world is Mohammed.

9. When the moon is directly overhead, you will weigh slightly less.

10. Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from the blowing desert sand.

11. There are only two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: “abstemious” and “facetious.”

12. The name of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with.

14. TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.

15. Minus 40 degrees Celsius is exactly the same as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

16. Chocolate can kill dogs, as it contains theobromine, which affects their heart and nervous system.

17. Women blink nearly twice as much as men!

18. You can't kill yourself by holding your breath.

20. The Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from Public Libraries.

21. People say "Bless you" when you sneeze because when you sneeze, your heart stops for a millisecond.

22. It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky

23. The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language.

24. “Rhythm” is the longest English word without a vowel.

25. If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die.

26. Each king in a deck of playing cards represents great king from history.

Spades - King David

Clubs - Alexander the Great, 

Hearts - Charlemagne

Diamonds - Julius Caesar.

27. It is impossible to lick your elbow.

28. 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

29. If a statue of a person in the park on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle.

If the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle.

If the horse has a all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

30. What do bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and laser printers all have in common?

Ans. - All invented by women.

31.Question - This is the only food that doesn't spoil. What is this?

 

Ans. - Honey.

32. A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.

33. A snail can sleep for three years.

34. All polar bears are left handed.

36. Butterflies taste with their feet.

37. Elephants are the only animals that can't jump.

38. In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

39. On average, people fear spiders more than they do death.

41. The ant always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.

42. The electric chair was invented by a dentist.

43. The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.

44. Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over million descendants.

45. Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times

46. The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.

48. Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.

Relax! Trust in God.