RANTS, MUSINGS AND HUMOR



RAVES AND RANTS


Don’t Get Red Carded in Life

Why People Fail to Live up to Potential  
Stop being the Gorilla in the baketball court






We start by introducing John Doe a smart and handsome sophomore and popular to you, soon to be a senior. He has an above average IQ , fast grasping power and finely honed soft skills  He has always scored A’s in all school and college exams that he has sat in. Jack is also a fine athlete and is in the school teams for soccer and hockey. His friends and teachers have no doubt that John will be highly successful in life.

We now cut to the present. Jack is now thirty years old, is fast getting bald and already has a potbelly. He earns his living by selling insurance and just about scrapes through at each appraisal. He consistently fails to achieve his targets and is therefore constantly shouted at and bullied by his boss. He is married to a nagging spouse and has two children, 2 years and 4 years old.



The role of “Lady Luck”

So, what went wrong? Why did John the student-having potential galore-end up as John, the frustrated insurance salesperson? John will tell you the answer himself. He did not take his potential seriously and believed that the momentum in college will carry him through life as well. make it a success. He failed to appreciate that values change in meaning and worth at different stages of life. Though one cannot control ‘Chance’ or ‘Lady Luck’, most successful people plan their career and life such that when chance comes, they can easily get hold of it. John did no such thing.



Planning for Success


If you want to be successful in life, you have to plan for it. No one else can do it for you. With your initial position as the originating point- you can only reach your destination if you know what it is. There are many John Does out there have no idea of their destination and will invariably fail as they know nothing about planning.



 In planning for success, you have to take into account all possible adverse developments and obstacles you may face at different intensities, in the future. This is something like your financial consultant taking increased inflation into account before advising you on your investments.



It can pay to be a little pessimistic.


When you plan, you should take into account all the negatives that can happen but do not consider the positives. Assume that chance will never favor you. Then, any positive developments in your environment will help you but the negative will not have a very significant effect. Always keep Murphy ’s Law in mind “Everything that can go wrong will go wrong”.

Plan with sufficient time in hand and know everything possible through whatever resources you have with you before stepping out to battle a Dragon.



Success is relative


Finally, what is important is that you identify your destination, how you do is irrelevant to this discussion, provided it is your best effort. To be successful, you need to know what ‘being successful means to you’, for success is a relative term. If you plan to have plenty of money, but for you success actually means ‘contentment in life’ then despite your planning proving to be very accurate, you will have failed. For, being successful means ‘contentment’ for you, not riches, and though you are a wealthy person you lack ‘contentment’ in life.



Success comes to very few without some kind of risk.



No matter how many times Phil Collins croons “One more night”, he does get any because there are no comebacks in life. If you choose a wrong turning, you cannot reverse and come back to the starting line again. We all get just one throw of the dice in life, neither more nor less. So, if you are that shy-type –of –loser who hesitates to speak to a female for fear of being snubbed, you should remember that there are many more dreadful things than being snubbed. So go on and introduce yourself. She may snub you and she may not. In case of the former, you got nothing to lose and in case of the latter, you got it made, kid. Enjoy.







Demystifying Cloud Computing-A Soliloquy




Today wherever we go on the internet or whatever we talk on the web, you come across references to ‘Cloud Servers’ or ‘Cloud Computing” or references to ‘up in the cloud’. It may be fine for all the specialists out there but for the amateur, self-taught, would-be-geek like me, it is both embarrassing and frustrating. The former because I try to conceal my ignorance first and later when I ask them about it, they think I am joking (“Ah Come on!) followed by giggles and smiles.


Great thing huh? The cloud?
“…Cloud. What cloud? Oh! Cloud computing you mean”.
I get whacked on the back
Gosh! Or ha-ha…He doesn’t know what the cloud is.
Please. I am serious
Ha—ha—ha
Please ladies
Giggle giggle
That does it!
It appears that people have a perverted interest in keeping me illiterate.
Here” and I flip them the bird….
That is a normal conversation in my rational world.
F***!

Therefore as I was just developing  developing a gargantuan nerdy complex, I went inside my local library determined to find out what the cloud –related-fuss is. To my surprise, I found out that I actually use the cloud when I use my Google Docs account and my Gmail account.
If information is not stored on my company’s servers but on a common server, which can be accessed from anywhere then I am storing information on the cloud or cyberspace. The cloud is simply an umbrella term, which covers products and services that needs the internet to function. That is it. Therefore, once your documents and all information is stored on the cloud, you really do not need to carry your laptop anywhere. Go online anywhere with any laptop, access your information and continue working. This is the general idea. It is a different thing that you do not trust other computers but you can say bye to your external HDD’s now. 
As I further think, it becomes more and clearer to me, why cloud services have become so popular. Nowadays, we remain online all the time with our Wi-Fi adapters inside and wireless routers outside. As more and more people are using the internet, charges are falling. It makes sense to keep my software up there then to lug it with me.
For example, Google Docs has changed its name to Google Drive soon and is offering 5 GB free space to start with. So has Microsoft SkyDrive. So has Amazon, our old friend IBM and even very own desi Rediff.com operates in the cloud.
To my mind the terms storage and cloud gives me a sign of the immense potential of dirty jokes.
Like  ..psssst, heard that one about the vice cop and the geek whore?
 “This vice cop comes back to his station and reports to his boss
“I almost caught that geek whore today”
“The bitch was soliciting sexual favors on the internet.”
Boss: So why didn't you arrest her?
Ur..em.. you see Guv, She was doing it on the cloud
“And….I didn’t know whether we have jurisprudence above terra firma’’

(Now if you tell it to year friends, remember the whore is GEEK not GREEK;
With all those adverse economic factors in Greece, they are becoming very touchy now, Socrates and co have become rather touchy now!)
That’s the cloud demystified…..except for one thing
What to do when it rains???
******** 

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