Lessons on Life

There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not tojudge things too quickly. So, he sent them each on a quest, in turn, togo and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away.

The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third insummer, and the youngest son in the fall.When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.

WINTER; The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted.

SPRING; The second son said "No it was covered with green buds and full of promise."

SUMMER; The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen.

FALL; The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe anddrooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.

The man then explained to his sons that they were all speaking thetruth, because they had each seen but only one season in the tree's life. He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only oneseason, and that the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up. If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the promise of yourspring, the beauty of your summer, fulfillment of your fall.

Moral: Don't let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest. Don't judge life by one difficult season. Persevere through the difficult patches and better times are sure tocome sometime or later.

The Man of Life Upright

The man of life upright,
Whose guiltless heart is free
From all dishonest deeds,
Or thought of vanity;

The man whose silent days
In harmless joys are spent,
Whom hopes cannot delude
Nor sorrow discontent;

That man needs neither towers
Nor armour for defence,
Nor secret vaults to fly
From thunder’s violence;

He only can behold
With unaffrighted eyes
The horrors of the deep
And terrors of the skies.

Thus scoring all the cares
That fate or fortune brings,
He makes the heaven his book,
His wisdom heavenly things;

Good thoughts his only friends,
His wealth a well-spent age,
The earth his sober inn
And quiet pilgrimage.

T. Campion

How company logos will look like when the crisis is finally over.

To-day

So here hath been dawning
Another blue day
Think, wilt thou let it
Slip useless away?

Out of Eternity
This new day is born;
Into Eternity
At night will return.

Behold it aforetime
No eye ever did;
So soon it forever
From all eyes is hid.

Here hath been dawning
Another blue day;
Think, wilt thou let it
Slip useless away?

T. Carlyle

BBC Knowledge Magazine

Welcome to BBC Knowledge Magazine - the new magazine about science, nature and history...invention, innovation and more. Sir Francis Bacon was right about knowledge. It is power. Ben Franklin agreed, "An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest."

In the latest Issue

Darwin 200:
This issue BBC Knowledge commemorates Charles Darwin's 20th birthday with 22 pages of articles exploring evolution, including...

In search of the dodo:
An unearth the bizarre saga of the 19th century race to describe the dodo, complete with double-dealing and subfertuge

Evolution in Action:
Carl Zimmer visits biologist Richard Lenski in his Michigan lab, where he watches evolution happen before his eyes every day

Richard Dawkins:
A thought-provoking interview with perhaps the most famous - and most controversial - evolutionary biologist since Darwin himself

Plus lots more:
There's plenty of other subjects to titillate the curious mind, including how modern film portrays the Nazis; what Scottish bard Robert Burns has to do with the dawn of democracy; and a journey to the bottom of the world

Best of all, BBC Knowledge Magazine comes to you from a news source you can trust. The world-renowned BBC. With correspondents and news bureaus everywhere. And scientific connections all over the world.

You are so Blessed!

If you woke up this morningwith more health than illness, you are more blessed than themillion who won't survive the week.
If you have never experiencedthe danger of battle,the loneliness of imprisonment,the agony of torture orthe pangs of starvation,you are ahead of 20 million peoplearound the world.
If you attend a temple
Without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than almostthree billion people in the world.
If you have food in your refrigerator,clothes on your back, a roof overyour head and a place to sleep,you are richer than 75% of this world.
If you have money in the bank,in your wallet, and spare changein a dish someplace, you are amongthe top 8% of the world's wealthy.
If your parents are still married and alive,you are very rare,especially in the United States.
If you hold up your head with a smileon your face and are truly thankful,you are blessed because the majority can,but most do not.
If you can hold someone's hand, hug themor even touch them on the shoulder,you are blessed because you canoffer God's healing touch.
If you can read this message,you are more blessed than overtwo billion people in the worldthat cannot read anything at all.
You are so blessed in waysyou may never even know.
Blessings to you!

Google now offers you money saving Tips - Courtesy TipJar

Yes you heard me right - the internet behemoth that has amassed fortunes in its Internet business now offers you tips on how to save money. Well, that a very intelligent thought after plan given the current economic crisis.
Head over to TipJar and you can see it all in action. Tip Jar is actually powered by Google Moderator Engine. This itself began as an experiment for the Google App Engine in the early days.
Tip Jar is well thought off and it is segregated into 9 different regions/categories. This allows users to share and receive tips on finance, food, vacation, shopping, kids & family, cars & transit, at home, at work and miscellaneous topics.
But as always, TipJar is riddled with opposition due to the following clauses by Google :"By posting or voting on a suggestion in Tip Jar feedback, you give Google the right to use it freely without compensation."and also..
"You agree that Google has no obligation to use any idea or feature request you post or vote on in any Google product, service, or web site. You agree to not post any material that is copyrighted or subject to third party proprietary rights or that violates any third party rights.
"What is your opinion on this folks? Do you feel Google must have the last say on this?"