Points to Ponder

1. The best way to get even is to forget..

2. Feed your faith and your doubts will starve to death...

3. God wants spiritual fruit, not religious nuts...

4. Some folks wear their halos much too tight...

5. Standing in the middle of the road is dangerous. You will get knocked down by the traffic from both ways.

6. Words are windows to the heart.

7. It isn't difficult to make a mountain out of a molehill, just add a little dirt.

8. A successful marriage isn't finding the right person; it's being the right person.

9. The mighty oak tree was once a little nut that held its ground.

10. Too many people offer God prayers with claw marks all over them.

11. The tongue must be heavy, indeed, because so few people can hold it.

12. To forgive is to set the prisoner free and then discover the prisoner was you.

13. It's all right to sit on your pity pot every now and again. Just be sure to flush when you are done.

14. You'll notice that a turtle only makes progress when it sticks out its neck...

15. If the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, you can bet the water bill is higher.

Source: E-mail from Ed

There is Always a Good Side

This Post is dedicated to my niece Swati, who is attempting (and is all set) to enter the real world, and is destined reach great new heights that she is perfectly capable of. Recently, she made it into the top 10 (after written, group discussion, and interview) of a multi-national consulting firm's examination, from a large pool of well-qualified candidates. She is not working for that company now, as the stars weren't aligned - I feel bad; I really feel bad for the company on missing out an excellent opportunity!

Everything depends on the way you look at things.
View every problem you encounter as an opportunity.
There is always a good side to every situation.

The optimist sees an opportunity in every misfortune.
The pessimist sees misfortune in every opportunity.
The optimist sees the doughnut, the pessimist sees the hole.

You can develop success from every failure.
Discouragement and failure are two stepping stones to success.
No other elements can do so much for you
if you're willing to study them and make them work for you.

When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.

Source: Jon Stigliano, who provided training on management and transactional analysis to a group of us in my previous job.

Office Humor

Owed Two The Spell Czech Er

Eye have a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea.
It plane lea marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid,
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite.
Its rare lea ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it.
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.

Source: E-mail from Phil, original source unknown

Grapes of Wrath and Vedanta

Yesterday, Sas (Sassosaurus) sent me this link to one of Swami Vivekananda's speeches. This is an excellent site with volumes of religious information. I enjoyed reading the article and his speech made a lot of sense to me. Also, I watched the movie Grapes of Wrath yesterday. I was surprised to hear Swami Vivekananda's vedanta from one of the characters (Tom Joad). The following are a few excerpts from Vivekananda's speech that I liked, and a transcript of Tom Joad's uttering of vedanta in the movie Grapes of Wrath. It is a great movie and I would say, it is a must see. This movie is based on a novel by John Steinbeck. My childhood buddy Raama loves Steinbeck and now I see why.

Excerpts from Swami Vivekananda's speech delivered in San Francisco on April 8, 1900.

...What religion can paint a heaven which is not like this earth? And it is all art, only this art is being made known to us gradually. We, with five senses, look upon this world and find it gross, having colour, form, sound, and the like. Suppose I develop an electric sense — all will change. Suppose my senses grow finer — you will all appear changed. If I change, you change. If I go beyond the power of the senses, you will appear as spirit and God. Things are not what they seem....

...These are what Vedanta has not to give. No book. No man to be singled out from the rest of mankind — "You are worms, and we are the Lord God!" — none of that. If you are the Lord God, I also am the Lord God. So Vedanta knows no sin. There are mistakes but no sin; and in the long run everything is going to be all right. No Satan — none of this nonsense. Vedanta believes in only one sin, only one in the world, and it is this: the moment you think you are a sinner or anybody is a sinner, that is sin. From that follows every other mistake or what is usually called sin. There have been many mistakes in our lives. But we are going on. Glory be unto us that we have made mistakes! Take a long look at your past life. If your present condition is good, it has been caused by all the past mistakes as well as successes. Glory be unto success! Glory be unto mistakes! Do not look back upon what has been done. Go ahead!...

...Therefore Vedanta formulates, not universal brotherhood, but universal oneness. I am the same as any other man, as any animal — good, bad, anything. It is one body, one mind, one soul throughout. Spirit never dies. There is no death anywhere, not even for the body. Not even the mind dies. How can even the body die? One leaf may fall — does the tree die? The universe is my body. See how it continues. All minds are mine. With all feet I walk. Through all mouths I speak. In everybody I reside....

An excerpt from the transcript of the movie Grapes of Wrath.

Well, maybe it's like Casy says.

Fella ain't got a soul of his own, just... a little piece of a big soul.

The one big soul that belongs to everybody.

Then...

Then what, Tom?

Then it don't matter.

I'll be all around in the dark. I'll be everywhere. Wherever you can look. Wherever there's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever there's a cop beating up a guy, I'll be there. I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad. I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready. And when people are eating the stuff they raise... living in the houses they build... I'll be there too.

I don't understand it, Tom.

Me neither, Ma, but...just something I've been thinking about.

Give me your hand, Ma.

Goodbye.

Goodbye, Tommy.

Grapes of Wrath Movie Trailer

Great Photographs

Source: Ed, original source unknown

Awesome Special Effects!

These guys are going to put ILM out of business! Also, in your face Spielberg! I am sure producers of this movie paid hefty royalties for Superman and Spider woman copy rights (need I say, I am being sarcastic?)


Seriously, Indian film censor board should ban this kind of movies that put our country to shame. It is OK (relatively speaking) to screwup on movies based on Indian culture and characters. But this is horrible.

Answers to Puzzles

A1. Spleen, Elixir, Stupid, Assure, Gutter, Jangle - Final: Resisting A Rest