Inspirational Stories #100 - Are Birthday parties really needed?

This is purely my personal opinion. I have always hated to waste food, and I somehow cannot tolerate food being wasted in parties, weddings, etc.

I feel all this is just an ugly display of one's ego and wealth.

I have lived in big apartment complexes (still do) where almost everyday, there is one birthday celebration or the other. The kids and the parents start preparing atleast a week in advance - inviting friends, neighbours, organizing games, selecting the huge cake, choosing gifts for the other children attending the party, and ofcourse, buying lots and lots of food and drink. As always, children don't eat all the food that is served, and most of it is thrown into the garbage.

Inspirational Stories #99 - Why do we shout when we are angry?

I read this story somewhere and found it really made sense.  Here it goes:

A Hindu saint who was bathing in river Ganges saw a family on the bank, shouting at each other. The saint turned to his disciples with a gentle smile and asked, "Why do people shout when they are angry at each other?'.

The disciples thought for a while, and one of them said, ‘We shout because we lose our calm.’

"But, why shout when the other person is just next to you?’ asked the saint. ‘Isn’t it possible to speak to him or her softly? Why do you shout at a person when you’re angry?’

The disciples gave some  answers, but none satisfied the saint. Finally he explained, ‘When two people are angry at each other, their hearts are far apart and distant from each other, and in order to cover that distance, they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the louder they will have to shout to hear each other and cover that great distance.’

Then saint then asked, ‘What happens when two people are in love? They don’t shout at each other but talk gently and softly because their hearts are very close to one another. The distance between them is either imaginary, non-existent or very small.

He then continued, ‘When they love each other even more, what happens? They do not speak, only whisper and they get even closer to each other in their love. They need to only look at each other to understand what the other person has to say. That is how close two people are when they love each other.’

MORAL : When you argue do not let your hearts get distant, do not say words to add more fuel to the flame that distances each other further apart, else there may come a day when the distance is so great that you will not find the path to return.

Inspirational Stories #98 - 30 Seconds Speech by Bryan Dyson – Former CEO of Coca-Cola

“Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them – Work, Family, Health, Friends and Spirit and you’re keeping all of these in the Air.

You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four Balls – Family, Health, Friends and Spirit – are made of glass. If you drop one of these; they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for it.”

Work efficiently during office hours and leave on time. Give the required time to your family, friends and have proper rest.

Value has a value only if its values is valued.

Collected From 

http://sumi-ooty.blogspot.in/

Inspirational Stories #97 - The Secret of Happiness (Collected From The Alchemist)

A merchant sent his son to learn the secret of happiness from the wisest of men.
The young man wandered through the desert for forty days until he reached a beautiful castle at the top of a mountain. There lived the sage that the young man was looking for.
However, instead of finding a holy man, our hero entered a room and saw a great deal of activity; merchants coming and going, people chatting in the corners, a small orchestra playing sweet melodies, and there was a table laden with the most delectable dishes of that part of the world.
The wise man talked to everybody, and the young man had to wait for two hours until it was time for his audience.

With considerable patience, the Sage listened attentively to the reason for the boy’s visit, but told him that at that moment he did not have the time to explain to him the Secret of Happiness.
He suggested that the young man take a stroll around his palace and come back in two hours’ time.
“However, I want to ask you a favor,” he added, handling the boy a teaspoon, in which he poured two drops of oil. “While you walk, carry this spoon and don’t let the oil spill.”
The young man began to climb up and down the palace staircases,

STRANGE,AMAZING AND INTERESTING FACTS

ü  A Blue whale's tongue weighs more than an elephant.

ü  Bruce Lee was so fast that they actually had to slow a film down so you could see his moves. That's the opposite of the norm.

ü  Bone is five times stronger than steel.

ü  Tiger shark embroyos fight each other in their mother's womb. The survivor is born.

ü  Longest officially recognized place name is Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu, has 85 letters. It's the name for a hill, 305 metres (1,000 ft) high, close to Porangahau, New Zealand.

ü  111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

ü  You grow by about 8mm (O.3in) every night when you are asleep, but shrink to your former height the following day.

ü  Over 4 million cars in Brazil are now running on gasohol instead of petrol. Gasohol is a fuel made from sugar cane.

o   Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, never telephoned His wife or mother because they were both deaf.

ü  "Bookkeeper" is the only word in English language with three consecutive Double letters.

ü  If you ate too many carrots, you'd turn orange.

ü  When glass breaks, the cracks move at speeds of up to 3,000 miles per hour.

ü  The world's first University was established in Takshila, India in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.

ü  There are as many chickens on earth as there are humans.

ü  250 people have fallen off the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

ü  315 entries in Webster's 1996 Dictionary were misspelled.

ü  Sharks can live up to 100 years.

ü  Due to gravitational effects, your weigh slightly less when the moon is directly overhead.

ü  American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first-class.

o   A normal person will die from total lack of sleep sooner than from starvation. Death will occur about 10 days without sleep, while starvation takes a Few weeks.

ü  Bamboo can grow up to 3 ft in 24 hours.

ü  It would take 1,200,000 mosquitoes, each sucking once, to completely drain the average human of blood.

ü  According to German researchers, the risk of heart attack is higher on Monday than any other day of the week.

ü  About 75 acres of pizza are eaten in in the U.S. Everyday.

ü  Indians have been biting into juicy mangoes for 3,000 years. But the western world came to know about it only 300 years ago!

ü  If you are locked in a completely sealed room, you will die of carbon dioxide poisoning first before you will die of oxygen deprivation.

ü  All the planets in our solar system rotate anticlockwise, except Venus. It is the only planet that rotates clockwise.

ü  Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.

ü  The cockroach is the fastest animal on 6 legs covering a meter a second.

ü  Google, with a brand value of $86 billion, is the world's most powerful brand.

ü  The creosote bush, which grows in the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan deserts, has been shown by radiocarbon dating to have lived since the birth of Christ. Some of these plants may endure 10,000 years, scientists say. If only they could talk.

ü  40 percent of McDonald's profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.

ü  The most beautiful and incredible gift of love is the monument Taj Mahal in India. Built by Mughal Emperor Shahjahan as a memorial to his wife it stands as the emblem of the eternal love story. Work on the Taj Mahal began in 1634 and continued for almost 22 years and required the labor of 20,000 workers from all over India and Central Asia.

ü  The word "listen" contains the same letters as the word "silent".

ü  The only 2 animals that can see behind itself without turning it's head are the rabbit and the parrot.

ü  Cat's urine glows under a black light.

ü  60% North Indians are pure vegetarian & in whole India 36%.

ü  Many fish can change sex during the course of their lives. Others, especially rare deep-sea fish, have both male and female sex organs.

ü  During the 2,475,576,000 seconds of the average length life, averagely we speak 123,205,750 words, have sex 4,239 times, shed 121 pints of tears.

ü  If you go blind in one eye, you'll only lose about one-fifth of your vision (but all your depth perception.)

ü  Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.

ü  The Statue of Liberty's index finger is eight feet and one inch long.

ü  Polar bears have more problems with overheating than they do with cold. Even in very cold weather, they quickly overheat when they try to run.

ü  The 73% of people who buy Valentine's Day flowers are men, while only 27 percent are women.

ü  Venice in Italy is built on 118 sea islets joined by 400 bridges. It is gradually sinking into the water.

ü  Bananas grow pointing upwards.

ü  ELEPHANT teeth can weigh as much as 9 pounds.

ü  A normal person laughs five times in a day.

ü  By age sixty, most people have lost half of their taste buds.

ü  The most powerful laser in the world, the Nova laser at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, CA, USA, generates a pulse of energy equal to 100,000,000,000,000 watts of power for .000000001 second to a target the size of a grain of sand.

ü  The world's population has been increased 3.1 billion in last 40 years.

ü  Giraffes can not swim.

ü  Human use 14 muscles to smile and 43 to frown.

ü  The heaviest human brain ever recorded weighed 5 lb. 1.1 oz. (2.3 kg.).

ü  POLAR BEAR can look clumsy & slow but during chase on ice, can reach 25 miles / hr of speed.

ü  The average person spends two weeks waiting for a traffic light to change.

ü  The focusing muscles of the eye move about 100,000 times a day. To give the leg muscles the same exercise would involve walking 80km (50 miles) a day.

ü  In the late 19th century, millions of human mummies were used as fuel for locomotives in Egypt where wood and coal was scarce, but mummies were plentiful.

ü  KIWIS are the only birds, which hunt by sense of smell.

ü  Hummingbirds are the only animal that can also fly backwards.

ü  Due to a metal shortage during World War II, Oscars were made of painted plaster for three years. Following the war, the Academy invited recipients to redeem the plaster figures for gold-plated metal ones.

ü  The word 'set ' has the most number of definitions in the English language: 192.

ü  A Blue Whale can eat as much as 3 tones of food everyday, but at the same time can live without food for 6 months.

ü  Bird Feeding: Do not feed avocado as it is toxic to birds!

ü  The average person has 100,000 hairs on his/her head. Each hair grows about 5 inches (12.7 cm) every year.

ü  After spending hours working at a computer display, look at a blank piece of white paper. It will probably appear pink.

ü  An average human move 25.4 times during sleep in a day.

ü  An average human speak 4,800 words in 24 hours.

ü  The Jules Undersea Lodge is an underwater hotel in Key Largo, Florida and is the only such hotel in the United States. It is 30 feet (9 m) deep on the ocean floor and guests have to scuba dive to get to their rooms.

ü  OWL is the only bird, which can rotate its head to 270 degrees.

ü  By the time you turn 70, your heart will have beat some two-and-a-half billion times (figuring on an average of 70 beats per minute.)

ü  Girls however are slightly more likely than boys to use home computers for e-mail, word processing and completing school assignments than playing games.

ü  Humans have 46 chromosomes, peas have 14 and crayfish have 200.

ü  An eyeball weighs about 1 ounce

ü  The cosmos contains approximately 50,000,000,000 galaxies.

ü  The polar bear's compact ears and small tail also help prevent heat loss.

ü  A cough releases an explosive charge of air that moves at speeds up to 60 mph.

ü  Women produce half the world's food, but own only one percent of its farmland.

ü  OSTRICH eats pebbles to help digestion by grinding up the ingested food.

ü  The oldest existing newspaper in India is Bombay Samachar.

ü  The USA uses 29% of the world's petrol and 33% of the world's electricity.

ü  The retina inside the eye covers about 650mm2 (1 sq in) and contains 137 million light-sensitive cells: 130 million rod cells for black-and-white vision and 7 million cone cells for colour vision.

ü  Dr. Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin (TUS)'s [the 52nd Dai al-Mutlaq of Dawoodi Bohras] voice at the age of 98 is so clear that a computer analysis in Germany interpreted it to be the voice of a 40 year old.

ü  An average person uses the bathroom 6 times per day.

ü  Dr. Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin (TUS) [the 52nd Dai al-Mutlaq of Dawoodi Bohras] built the Raudat Tahera in Mumbai (India) over the qabr mubarak of his father. The mausoleum is the only one of its kind to have the entire Quran inscribed on its walls.

ü  Global Positioning System (GPS) is the only system today that can show your exact position on the Earth anytime, in any weather, no matter where you are!

ü  Of the more than 600 million school-age children in the developing world, 120 million primary school-age children are not in school, 53 percent are girls.

ü  When you sneeze air rushes out your nose at a rate of 100 miles per hour.

ü  The height of Mt. Everest (29,035 feet) was revised upward by 7 feet based on measurements made in 1999 using the satellite-based Global Positioning System.

ü  If you could throw a snowball fast enough, it would totally vaporize when it hit a brick wall.

ü  A 'geep' is the resulting offspring of a sheep and a goat.

ü  There are roughly 4,000 known minerals, although only about 200 are of major importance.

ü  Traffic lights are being used before the invention of motor car.

ü  The Hubble Space Telescope weighs 12 tons (10,896 kilograms), is 43 feet (13.1 meters) long, and cost $2.1 billion to originally build.

ü  An average human produce 1.43 pints sweat in a day.

ü  Butterflies are the second largest group of pollinators, next to bees.

ü  Vitamin K is necessary for clotting of blood.

ü  At the deepest part of the ocean (35,813 feet/10,916 meters) in the Mariana Trench, that depth the pressure is 18,000 pounds (9172 kilograms) per square inch.

ü  An average human's breathe 438 cubic feet AIR in 24 hours.

ü  A camel's hump is not used for water storage, but camels can go for long periods of time without water. They drink large amounts of water up to 20 gallons at a time. This water is stored in the animal's bloodstream.

ü  The most commonest English word in writing around the world is "the".

ü  Polar bears have two layers of fur for further protection from the cold.

ü  At least 300,000 people have been killed by volcanoes during the last 500 years.

ü  More artists live in California than any other state in the United States. There are 10,000 arts organizations in California.

ü  8.7 million of United State residents who were born in Asia.

ü  Polar bears know how to pack on the fat, a single bear can consume 100 pounds of blubber at one sitting.

ü  Like a bat, dolphins use echolocation to navigate and hunt, bouncing high-pitched sounds off of objects, and listening for the echoes.

ü  Some scientists call Greenland an island, others say it's a continent, but it's only about one-third the size of Australia.

ü  Brahmi script were the edicts of Ashoka inscribed.

ü  It takes 17 muscles to smile & 43 to frown.

ü  In a lifetime the marrow creates about half a tonne of red corpuscles.

ü  The SWAN has over 25,000 feathers in its body.

ü  Bill Clinton considered repealing the Twenty Second Constitutional Amendment, which limits presidents to two elected terms, in the event of a terrorist attack.

ü  Monarchs have been known to migrate over 3000km. In fact a Monarch tagged at Presqu'ile, here in southern Ontario, was recovered in Mexico and is on record as being the longest insect migration.

ü  CASSOWARY is one of the dangerous BIRD, that can kill a man or animal by tearing off with its dagger like claw.

ü  Alfred Southwick inventing the first electric chair & Professionally he was a Dentist (MDS, DDS).

ü  Lab tests can detect traces of alcohol in urine 6 to 12 hours after a person has stopped drinking.

ü  The leg muscles of a locust are about 1000 times more powerful than an equal weight of human muscle.

ü  In 2004, Clinton, Mikhail Gorbachev and Sophia Loren won a grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for narrating the Russian National Orchestra's "Peter and the Wolf/Wolf Tracks."

ü  Dolphins are of the aquatic mammal family Delphinidae. It is estimated there are between 30 to 40 species of dolphins.

ü  Dr. Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin (TUS) [the 52nd Dai al-Mutlaq of Dawoodi Bohras] memorized the Quran at the age of 21 & built the Mahad uz Zahra, Surat (India) the first of its kind in the world for the study of the Quran.

ü  Chocolate can be killed dogs. Chocolate affects a dog's heart and nervous system. A few ounces is enough to kill a small sized dog.

ü  The largest quantity of fish in the world is produced by Japan & Russia.

ü  Mini-lops were derived from German lops called "Kleine Widder" lops. Mini lops were recognized as their own breed in 1982.

ü  It can easily learn about any cat's present state of mind by observing the posture of his tail.

ü  An average human's take 2.9 pounds WATER (including all liquids) in 24 hours.

ü  The United Nations University is located in Tokyo.

ü  In Britain 70% mothers go for work.

ü  The top selling Christmas Trees are: balsam fir, Douglas-fir, Fraser fir, noble fir, Scotch pine, Virginia pine and white pine.

ü  More than 50 million Americans said they had a disability; for 32.5 million of them, the disability was severe.

ü  The most prominent topographic feature on Earth is the immense volcanic mountain chain that encircles the planet beneath the sea, the chain is more than 30,000 miles (48,000 kilometers) long and rises an average of 18,000 feet (5.5 kilometers) above the seafloor.

ü  North American Real Christmas Trees are grown in all 50 states and Canada. Eighty-five percent (85%) of artificial trees sold in the U.S. are manufactured in China.

ü  An average human's take of 3.25 pounds FOOD in a day.

ü  First Stock Exchange of America was in Philadelphia & it was established in 1791.

ü  The compound carotene gives the carrot its color.

ü  Every year around 1 billion Valentine cards are sent across. After Christmas it's a single largest seasonal card-sending occasion.

ü  Children between ages 6 to 10 exchange more than 650 million Valentine's cards with teachers, classmates, and family members.

ü  India's first television center was set up at Delhi.

ü  Cerberus, the three-headed dog of Greek mythology, guarded the gates to the underworld.

ü  Insects do not make noises with their voices. The noise of bees, mosquitoes and other buzzing insects is caused by rapidly moving their wings.

ü  The chemical pectin, found in ripe fruit, causes jam to set when cooling.

ü  African Greys enter into a lifelong monogamous bond when sexually mature. Like macaws, they pick their mates carefully!

ü  It is said that Hatchetfish will break the surface of the water and "fly" after their prey using their large pectoral fins as "wings".

ü  Harvester larvae are carnivorous. They feed on aphids not plants.

ü  In a lifetime the average US resident eats more than 50 tons of food and drinks more than 13,000 gallons of liquid.

ü  In the year 1935 the United States Congress announced the first Sunday of August as the National Friendship Day. It was initially declared a holiday in honor of friends.

ü  The most commonest English nouns are time, person, and year.

ü  The most prominent topographic feature on Earth is the immense volcanic mountain chain that encircles the planet beneath the sea -- the chain is more than 30,000 miles (48,000 kilometers) long and rises an average of 18,000 feet (5.5 kilometers) above the seafloor.

ü  When a Norwegian scientist, Nils Oritsland, studied a polar bear on a treadmill, he found that his subject would move off for short periods of time at higher speeds and would sometimes lie down and refuse to walk at all!

ü  Russia is the largest country in area.

ü  3,467 Nos. of confectionery nut stores in the United States, they are among the best sources of sweets for Valentine's Day.

ü  Clinton's Presidential Library, the largest in the United State, is located in Little Rock, Arkansas.

ü  Some butterflies, such as the Northern Pearly Eye, will fly at night.

ü  Buddha delivered his first sermon at Sarnath.

ü  The first electronic digital computer (called ENIAC - the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator) was developed in 1946 and contained over 18,000 vacuum tubes.

ü  An estimated 175,000 Real Christmas Trees are sold via e-commerce or catalogue and shipped mail-order.

ü  Canaries were introduced to Spain in 1478 when the Spaniards conquered the Canary Islands.

ü  When curled up in a ball, polar bears sometimes cover their muzzles - which radiate heat - with one of their thickly furred paws.

ü  Cockatoos are one of the most long-lived parrots.

ü  There are 292 species of butterflies in Canada. Most of which are found in British Columbia (176) and the fewest on Prince Edward Island (42). In Ontario we have 142 species.

ü  180 million nos. of Valentine's Day cards exchanged annually, making Valentine's Day the second-most popular greeting-card-giving occasion.

ü  For over 100 years, until the 16th century, the Spaniards maintained control of Canaries, selling only males to other European countries. Then, due to a shipping accident, a large cargo of canaries escaped and flew to the Island of Elba. They soon were sold all over Europe.

ü  4% people drink cold drink daily.

ü  Debris flows are like mud avalanches that can move at speeds in excess of 100 mph (160 kph).

ü  Mass production of toothbrushes began in America around 1885. The first American to patent a toothbrush was H. N. Wadsworth, (patent number 18,653,) on Nov. 7, 1857.

ü  90% of the Vitamin C present in Brussel Sprouts are lost in cooking.

ü  Canaries were classified for by their shape and the geographic areas in which they were developed while others are named and classified for their plumage, song, or color. Different countries became known for the classification they bred, for example, the Germans bred for song while the English and French bred for coloration.

ü  All domestic canaries available today originated from the Island Canary, Serinus canaria.

ü  Self-employment, part-time and home-based work have expanded opportunities for women's participation in the labor force but are characterized by lack of security, lack of benefits and low income.

ü  Father's Day was first observed in Spokane, Washington, in 1910. Sonora Louise Smart Dodd,of Washington, first proposed the idea of a "father's day" in 1909.

ü  There are approximately 30-35 million Real Christmas Trees sold in the U.S. every year.

ü  About 40% Proportion of all Valentine card purchases which parents account for.

ü  Oils from the orange roughy, Hoplostethus atlanticus, a deep-sea fish from New Zealand, are used in making shampoo.

ü  "The Boston Tea Party" took place in 1773, that was an act of direct action protest by the American colonists against British Government in which they destroyed many crates of tea bricks belonging to the British East India Company on ships in Boston Harbor.

ü  A Boeing 747's wing span is longer than the Wright brother's first flight.(the Wright brother's invented the airplane).

ü  Alginates, derived from the cell walls of brown algae, are used in beer, frozen desserts, pickles, adhesives, boiler compounds, ceramics, explosives, paper and toys.

ü  Alfred Southwick developed the idea of using electric current & Professionally he was a Dentist (MDS, DDS).

ü  Half of the world's refugees and displaced people are women and girls. As refugees, they are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence while in flight, in refugee camps and during resettlement.

ü  Kandla port has a free trade zone.

ü  Cotton, rags and paper take 6 months to break down.

ü  An average human Lose 85.60, body temperature in a day.