Here is a recipe worth trying:
Ingredients: Courage, Faith, Kindness for others, Laughter, Sense of humour, Tears.
Action:
Take equal parts of Faith and Courage,
Mix well with Sense of humour,
Sprinkle with a few Tears,
Add a helping of Kindness for others.
Bake in A good-natured oven,
And Dust with laughter.
Scrape away Any self-indulgence that is apparent,
And Serve with generous helpings.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Friday, March 30, 2007
D4. SOLITUDE - THE WAY I SEE IT
SOLITUDE
Solitude should rank amongst one of the dire necessities of the human spirit, yet surprisingly enough it has failed to obtain adequate recognition in our codes. The reasons are perhaps not far to fathom. On the one hand it is looked upon as a discipline or a penance, and on the other hand it is linked with laziness to which it is very much akin, viewed outwardly. A critical examination would, however, soon spell out the differences and show its merits.
Solitude is mistaken for a discipline or a penance , why? Discipline is a basic instinct in all walks of life and while it may manifest itself in desirable or undesirable form of loyalties to certain causes, its existence is unquestionable. Discipline demands sacrifices and solitude demands not physical but mental discipline - a control over one's thoughts and ideas. A few minutes of reflection will convince that far from being a penance the time spent in solitude can become our most treasured moments of the day! Solitude would enable us to view things in their proper perspective away from the turmoil of daily life.
Solitude provides us with an opportunity to have second thoughts on everyday affairs and, as everyone will appreciate, second thoughts are always better on matters of judgment, though they usually are not so in matters of conscience. A fresh appraisal will make us better understand others views.
Practically everyone of us must have, at some moments or other, debated and wondered, as to the purpose of our existence? Are we mere drifters on the sands of time? We begin our life with a stage when we are absolutely dependent on others for our very existence, we have no control over our actions. Slowly and slowly we learn things, learn in the way they are taught to us by others. For sometime whatever is taught to us is right, as far as we are concerned it is the gospel truth. This stage, again,
soon passes away and our intelligence takes a hand. We try to reason out and form and test our ideas. It is somewhere at this stage that the thought referred to above strikes us. The search begins, we start with short term goals and choose and discard and the mystery remains. But in 'deep solitude' one could expect a great moment to come in his life when he could see, however distinct, the ultimate goal of his wandering. The mirage of his imagination would then suddenly become a part of the tangible world. It would not matter how many ranges, rivers, valleys or parching dust-ways (metaphorically speaking) lie in the path. It would be his now and forever. The goal gets achieved or not, is immaterial, the realization itself is enough. The mystery is solved and peace, real mental peace, would descend.
Laziness is deliberate avoidance of activity for some gainful pursuit. Solitude would be voluntary withdrawal, not for avoiding work, but with a view to re-examine, reflect on our day-to-day activities, a self introspection with a view to make ourselves more agreeable and beautiful. Just as the creator of a statue, which is to be made more realistic, cuts away here and smoothes there, making one lighter and the other purer, until a lovely face emerges, so can we utilize the time kept apart for solitude daily to examine ways and means to cut away all that is excessive, straighten away all that is crooked, bring light to all that is overcast and labour to make one glow of beauty and never cease chiseling our image in the public mind till there shines out from it the god-like splendour of virtue and perfect goodness is entrenched in all walks of our life! This is within our reach, at no extra cost, if we just make-up our mind to devote a few seconds out of the precious time, at our disposal, in right earnest however busy our routine. Time so expended would surely then have no parallel with laziness.
Modern education, unfortunately, has ignored this human need for solitude. It does not look upon solitude as the indispensable pleasant ingredient it is to our ordinary life. It is from this want of recognition that many of troubles come. Hence, again, a decline in religion, in poetry, in all the other affections of the spirit; a disease to be doing something always, as if one could never sit quietly and let the puppet show unroll itself before one, an inability to lose oneself in mystery and wonder awhile, like a wave lifting us into new seas as the history of the world develops around us.
So irrespective of how busy your schedule, what others may gossip about you, in whatever walk of life you are, find time out for solitude and bathe in the sunshine of absolute bliss and mental peace.
Solitude should rank amongst one of the dire necessities of the human spirit, yet surprisingly enough it has failed to obtain adequate recognition in our codes. The reasons are perhaps not far to fathom. On the one hand it is looked upon as a discipline or a penance, and on the other hand it is linked with laziness to which it is very much akin, viewed outwardly. A critical examination would, however, soon spell out the differences and show its merits.
Solitude is mistaken for a discipline or a penance , why? Discipline is a basic instinct in all walks of life and while it may manifest itself in desirable or undesirable form of loyalties to certain causes, its existence is unquestionable. Discipline demands sacrifices and solitude demands not physical but mental discipline - a control over one's thoughts and ideas. A few minutes of reflection will convince that far from being a penance the time spent in solitude can become our most treasured moments of the day! Solitude would enable us to view things in their proper perspective away from the turmoil of daily life.
Solitude provides us with an opportunity to have second thoughts on everyday affairs and, as everyone will appreciate, second thoughts are always better on matters of judgment, though they usually are not so in matters of conscience. A fresh appraisal will make us better understand others views.
Practically everyone of us must have, at some moments or other, debated and wondered, as to the purpose of our existence? Are we mere drifters on the sands of time? We begin our life with a stage when we are absolutely dependent on others for our very existence, we have no control over our actions. Slowly and slowly we learn things, learn in the way they are taught to us by others. For sometime whatever is taught to us is right, as far as we are concerned it is the gospel truth. This stage, again,
soon passes away and our intelligence takes a hand. We try to reason out and form and test our ideas. It is somewhere at this stage that the thought referred to above strikes us. The search begins, we start with short term goals and choose and discard and the mystery remains. But in 'deep solitude' one could expect a great moment to come in his life when he could see, however distinct, the ultimate goal of his wandering. The mirage of his imagination would then suddenly become a part of the tangible world. It would not matter how many ranges, rivers, valleys or parching dust-ways (metaphorically speaking) lie in the path. It would be his now and forever. The goal gets achieved or not, is immaterial, the realization itself is enough. The mystery is solved and peace, real mental peace, would descend.
Laziness is deliberate avoidance of activity for some gainful pursuit. Solitude would be voluntary withdrawal, not for avoiding work, but with a view to re-examine, reflect on our day-to-day activities, a self introspection with a view to make ourselves more agreeable and beautiful. Just as the creator of a statue, which is to be made more realistic, cuts away here and smoothes there, making one lighter and the other purer, until a lovely face emerges, so can we utilize the time kept apart for solitude daily to examine ways and means to cut away all that is excessive, straighten away all that is crooked, bring light to all that is overcast and labour to make one glow of beauty and never cease chiseling our image in the public mind till there shines out from it the god-like splendour of virtue and perfect goodness is entrenched in all walks of our life! This is within our reach, at no extra cost, if we just make-up our mind to devote a few seconds out of the precious time, at our disposal, in right earnest however busy our routine. Time so expended would surely then have no parallel with laziness.
Modern education, unfortunately, has ignored this human need for solitude. It does not look upon solitude as the indispensable pleasant ingredient it is to our ordinary life. It is from this want of recognition that many of troubles come. Hence, again, a decline in religion, in poetry, in all the other affections of the spirit; a disease to be doing something always, as if one could never sit quietly and let the puppet show unroll itself before one, an inability to lose oneself in mystery and wonder awhile, like a wave lifting us into new seas as the history of the world develops around us.
So irrespective of how busy your schedule, what others may gossip about you, in whatever walk of life you are, find time out for solitude and bathe in the sunshine of absolute bliss and mental peace.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
MS4. MAGIC SQUARES
How Many Solutions.
3x3 Squares.
There is a unique solution for a 3x3 square. Let us examine why?
Let us write all combinations of 3 numbers from 1 to 9 that add up to 15 They are 1,5,9: 1,6,8: 2,4,9: 2,5,8: 2,6,7: 3,4,8: 3,5,7: and 4,5,6. Now the central number of the square can only be that number which occurs in at least 4 combinations. The only number that satisfies this condition is 5. So only 5 can occupy the center space. Next examine 1, it combines with only 9 and 8 and as such cannot occupy corner space, so must come in the middle of a row or column. So we can place 1 and 9, and 8 immediately. Rest all the numbers then automatically fall in place.
4x4 Squares.
There are only 880 solutions for a 4x4 square, first given by Bernard Frenicle de Bassy in 1693.
5x5 Squares.
There are a staggering number of solutions for a 5x5 square----68,826,306 not counting reflections and rotations. This counting was arrived at by Richard Schroeppel, a mathematician and computer programmer at Information International, who used a standard backtracking procedure consisting of about 3500 lines and took 100 hours on a PDP-10. A final report was written by Michael Beeper and was issued in October 1975. For interested readers there is one classification by central numbers 1 through 13 (same numbers for 25 to 13) given below:-
1 - 1,091,448. 2 - 1,366,179. 3 - 1,914,984. 4 - 1,958,837.
5 - 2,431,806. 6 - 2,600,879. 7 - 3,016,881. 8 - 3,112,161.
9 - 3,472,540. 10 - 3,344,034. 11 - 3,933,818. 12 - 3,784,618. 13 - 4,769,936
Higher Order Squares.
While no firm estimate is available for a 6x6 square, suffice it to say that, the number would run into billions. To imagine the number of solutions, simply increase all numbers in the 4x4 square by 10 to give a new 4x4 square consisting of numbers 11 to 26 with total of 34 + 40 = 74, this 4x4 square forms the inner core of the 6x6 square. Now we have to use numbers from 1 to 10 and 27 to 36 to form its boundary. Arrange these in pairs to total 37. Let us only consider one such combination of numbers arranged to give the required total of 111, see figure below formed with the Jaina square for the core 4x4 square:-
01 34 05 07 35 29
33 17 22 11 24 04
31 12 23 18 21 06
28 26 13 20 15 09
10 19 16 25 14 27
08 03 32 30 02 36
Now any pair of numbers in the first and last row or the extreme left and extreme right column, excluding the corner numbers since they total 37, can be interchanged. This interchange can create 4!x4! = 576 new squares. Since there are 880 squares of order 4 which can be used for the inner core, and, further these squares can be rotated, we have, for one set of border 576x4x880 = 2,027,520 solutions. Further, in this arrangement of border numbers, if we interchange 34 & 7 from top row and corresponding pair numbers 3 & 30 from the bottom row with 31 & 10 from the left column and the corresponding pair numbers 6 & 27 from the right column, we get another set of 2,027,520 squares. But this is not all. Besides the fact that other border squares can be formed, there are other methods of construction. For example, if we reduce all odd numbers by 1 and increase all even numbers by 1 in the core 4x4 square, we get a new square which has numbers from 10 to 27, excluding 11 and 26, still with a total of 74. (This can be done for 712 squares of order 4, as this process cannot be adopted for those squares which have only odd and even numbers in their diagonals). Thus for any border combination for these squares we shall have 576x4x712 = 1,640,448 solutions.
This method of generating squares from lower order squares, described later in detail, can be applied to generate squares of any order, and, as such, the number of squares that can be constructed can only be imagined. Besides this method, there are other methods, which, again, can result in a large number of solutions.
3x3 Squares.
There is a unique solution for a 3x3 square. Let us examine why?
Let us write all combinations of 3 numbers from 1 to 9 that add up to 15 They are 1,5,9: 1,6,8: 2,4,9: 2,5,8: 2,6,7: 3,4,8: 3,5,7: and 4,5,6. Now the central number of the square can only be that number which occurs in at least 4 combinations. The only number that satisfies this condition is 5. So only 5 can occupy the center space. Next examine 1, it combines with only 9 and 8 and as such cannot occupy corner space, so must come in the middle of a row or column. So we can place 1 and 9, and 8 immediately. Rest all the numbers then automatically fall in place.
4x4 Squares.
There are only 880 solutions for a 4x4 square, first given by Bernard Frenicle de Bassy in 1693.
5x5 Squares.
There are a staggering number of solutions for a 5x5 square----68,826,306 not counting reflections and rotations. This counting was arrived at by Richard Schroeppel, a mathematician and computer programmer at Information International, who used a standard backtracking procedure consisting of about 3500 lines and took 100 hours on a PDP-10. A final report was written by Michael Beeper and was issued in October 1975. For interested readers there is one classification by central numbers 1 through 13 (same numbers for 25 to 13) given below:-
1 - 1,091,448. 2 - 1,366,179. 3 - 1,914,984. 4 - 1,958,837.
5 - 2,431,806. 6 - 2,600,879. 7 - 3,016,881. 8 - 3,112,161.
9 - 3,472,540. 10 - 3,344,034. 11 - 3,933,818. 12 - 3,784,618. 13 - 4,769,936
Higher Order Squares.
While no firm estimate is available for a 6x6 square, suffice it to say that, the number would run into billions. To imagine the number of solutions, simply increase all numbers in the 4x4 square by 10 to give a new 4x4 square consisting of numbers 11 to 26 with total of 34 + 40 = 74, this 4x4 square forms the inner core of the 6x6 square. Now we have to use numbers from 1 to 10 and 27 to 36 to form its boundary. Arrange these in pairs to total 37. Let us only consider one such combination of numbers arranged to give the required total of 111, see figure below formed with the Jaina square for the core 4x4 square:-
01 34 05 07 35 29
33 17 22 11 24 04
31 12 23 18 21 06
28 26 13 20 15 09
10 19 16 25 14 27
08 03 32 30 02 36
Now any pair of numbers in the first and last row or the extreme left and extreme right column, excluding the corner numbers since they total 37, can be interchanged. This interchange can create 4!x4! = 576 new squares. Since there are 880 squares of order 4 which can be used for the inner core, and, further these squares can be rotated, we have, for one set of border 576x4x880 = 2,027,520 solutions. Further, in this arrangement of border numbers, if we interchange 34 & 7 from top row and corresponding pair numbers 3 & 30 from the bottom row with 31 & 10 from the left column and the corresponding pair numbers 6 & 27 from the right column, we get another set of 2,027,520 squares. But this is not all. Besides the fact that other border squares can be formed, there are other methods of construction. For example, if we reduce all odd numbers by 1 and increase all even numbers by 1 in the core 4x4 square, we get a new square which has numbers from 10 to 27, excluding 11 and 26, still with a total of 74. (This can be done for 712 squares of order 4, as this process cannot be adopted for those squares which have only odd and even numbers in their diagonals). Thus for any border combination for these squares we shall have 576x4x712 = 1,640,448 solutions.
This method of generating squares from lower order squares, described later in detail, can be applied to generate squares of any order, and, as such, the number of squares that can be constructed can only be imagined. Besides this method, there are other methods, which, again, can result in a large number of solutions.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
DD5. DEFT DEFINITIONS
CIGARETTE A paper tube filled with grass, with fire at one end a fool at the other end.
CIRCUMSTANCES Chain of events which no matter how unfortunate that clever people do not extract some advantage from and none, no matter how fortunate, that the unwise cannot turn to their disadvantage.
CIVILISATION Condition of present customs.
A series of victories over nature.
CLERK That white-collar worker who is tired even before he starts the days work.
CLEVERNESS Ignorance of things which it is not worthwhile to know.
COINCIDENCE Result of that inexorable law of averages which prevents any series of events being 100 per cent trouble free.
COMMUNIST A person who has given up all hopes of becoming a capitalist.
COMMUNALISM It is rooted in economics, fostered by politics, shaped by psychology and buttressed by religion.
COMPLACENCY Straightest road to frustration.
COMPLIMENT Lie in court clothes.
A little touch of love surrounded by great imagination.
COMPUTER Brainless chip.
COMPROMISE A temporary expedient often wise in party politics.
COMPULSION Starting point for corruption.
CONCEIT An ' I ' disease that doctor's can't cure.
CONFERENCE Meeting of those individuals who, knowing that they cannot do a thing independently, meet and decide that nothing can be done collectively either.
CONDUCT Sermon of life.
CONFIDENCE A plant of slow growth especially in an aged bosom.
CONSCIENCE The still, small voice that makes you feel still smaller.
Is something that feels terrible when all others feel well.
Fault's alarm.
The inner voice which prevents some from enjoying the fruits of their sin.
CONSERVATIVE A statesman who is enamoured of existing evils, as distinguished from the liberal who wishes to replace them with others.
CONSISTENCY The first refuge of the unimaginative.
CONSULT To seek another's approval of a course already decided upon.
CONTEMPT Murder committed by the intellect.
CONTENTMENT A thing that is acquired by tuning your yearning and earning capacities to the same wavelength.
Wanting what you get as opposed to getting what you want.
CONTRACT A piece of waste-paper unless you can trust the other party.
CONVERSATION A fair for the display of the minor mental condi-tions, each exhibitor being too intent upon the arrangement of his own words to observe those of his neighbours. Is the daughter of reasoning, mother of knowl-edge, the health of the soul, the commerce of heart, the bond of friendship, the nourishment of content and the occupation of men of wit.
CO-OPERATION Doing with a smile what we have to do anyway.
CORPORATION /COMMITTEE An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.
COSMETICS A woman's way of keeping a man from reading in between the lines.
COURTESY An investment which pays regular dividends in friendship.
The quality that keeps a woman smiling when a departing guest stands at the open screen and lets the flies in.
COW A machine that makes grass fit for human consumption.
COWARD One who in perilous emergency thinks with his legs.
COVETOUSNESS The deadliest poison.
CIRCUMSTANCES Chain of events which no matter how unfortunate that clever people do not extract some advantage from and none, no matter how fortunate, that the unwise cannot turn to their disadvantage.
CIVILISATION Condition of present customs.
A series of victories over nature.
CLERK That white-collar worker who is tired even before he starts the days work.
CLEVERNESS Ignorance of things which it is not worthwhile to know.
COINCIDENCE Result of that inexorable law of averages which prevents any series of events being 100 per cent trouble free.
COMMUNIST A person who has given up all hopes of becoming a capitalist.
COMMUNALISM It is rooted in economics, fostered by politics, shaped by psychology and buttressed by religion.
COMPLACENCY Straightest road to frustration.
COMPLIMENT Lie in court clothes.
A little touch of love surrounded by great imagination.
COMPUTER Brainless chip.
COMPROMISE A temporary expedient often wise in party politics.
COMPULSION Starting point for corruption.
CONCEIT An ' I ' disease that doctor's can't cure.
CONFERENCE Meeting of those individuals who, knowing that they cannot do a thing independently, meet and decide that nothing can be done collectively either.
CONDUCT Sermon of life.
CONFIDENCE A plant of slow growth especially in an aged bosom.
CONSCIENCE The still, small voice that makes you feel still smaller.
Is something that feels terrible when all others feel well.
Fault's alarm.
The inner voice which prevents some from enjoying the fruits of their sin.
CONSERVATIVE A statesman who is enamoured of existing evils, as distinguished from the liberal who wishes to replace them with others.
CONSISTENCY The first refuge of the unimaginative.
CONSULT To seek another's approval of a course already decided upon.
CONTEMPT Murder committed by the intellect.
CONTENTMENT A thing that is acquired by tuning your yearning and earning capacities to the same wavelength.
Wanting what you get as opposed to getting what you want.
CONTRACT A piece of waste-paper unless you can trust the other party.
CONVERSATION A fair for the display of the minor mental condi-tions, each exhibitor being too intent upon the arrangement of his own words to observe those of his neighbours. Is the daughter of reasoning, mother of knowl-edge, the health of the soul, the commerce of heart, the bond of friendship, the nourishment of content and the occupation of men of wit.
CO-OPERATION Doing with a smile what we have to do anyway.
CORPORATION /COMMITTEE An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.
COSMETICS A woman's way of keeping a man from reading in between the lines.
COURTESY An investment which pays regular dividends in friendship.
The quality that keeps a woman smiling when a departing guest stands at the open screen and lets the flies in.
COW A machine that makes grass fit for human consumption.
COWARD One who in perilous emergency thinks with his legs.
COVETOUSNESS The deadliest poison.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
P4. LOVE
Time we talked of LOVE
Love is sharing all the wonderful things of life,
With someone you care about.
By caring for each other's ups and downs,
Your lives get forever intertwined.
By sharing your hopes, thoughts, dreams,
Your lives will flourish as never before.
Working with each other to build your lives,
Together strengthens your love.
Love as it tightens its grip offers the best in life,
With that person at its center.
Your love having brought you closer together.
Will create a decorative, beautiful HOME.
That Home while still expressing your individuality,
Will abound in affection and harmony.
And inevitably your love for one another,
Will make that Home an abode for peace.
Very rich in HAPPINESS and filled with, evergrowing,
LOVE FOR EACH OTHER.
Love is sharing all the wonderful things of life,
With someone you care about.
By caring for each other's ups and downs,
Your lives get forever intertwined.
By sharing your hopes, thoughts, dreams,
Your lives will flourish as never before.
Working with each other to build your lives,
Together strengthens your love.
Love as it tightens its grip offers the best in life,
With that person at its center.
Your love having brought you closer together.
Will create a decorative, beautiful HOME.
That Home while still expressing your individuality,
Will abound in affection and harmony.
And inevitably your love for one another,
Will make that Home an abode for peace.
Very rich in HAPPINESS and filled with, evergrowing,
LOVE FOR EACH OTHER.
Monday, March 26, 2007
D3. A NICE TALE
Little Artist
A mother dropped a beautiful orange vase on the floor it splintered into dozens of pieces. She swept them up and threw them into the wastebasket.
An hour later she found her little daughter had collected the pieces and had pasted them on a piece of cardboard. Then using a green crayon, she had drawn stems and leaves on each piece, converting them into a bouquet of lovely flowers.
The mother was moved to tears. Where she had just seen trash, her daughter had seen a treasure.
And we? Do we see "treasures" in those around us? Are we willing to collect the bits and pieces of broken lives and bind them together again? Are we willing to take the trouble to make a lovely bouquet of flowers from the wastebasket of life.
A mother dropped a beautiful orange vase on the floor it splintered into dozens of pieces. She swept them up and threw them into the wastebasket.
An hour later she found her little daughter had collected the pieces and had pasted them on a piece of cardboard. Then using a green crayon, she had drawn stems and leaves on each piece, converting them into a bouquet of lovely flowers.
The mother was moved to tears. Where she had just seen trash, her daughter had seen a treasure.
And we? Do we see "treasures" in those around us? Are we willing to collect the bits and pieces of broken lives and bind them together again? Are we willing to take the trouble to make a lovely bouquet of flowers from the wastebasket of life.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
E3. MOST OBSTINATE WORD
Habit:
Let me tell you about the most obstinate word I have come across, maybe you will agree too. It is HABIT. You see if we remove the first letter H, "a bit" still remains. When we remove both H and A, "bit" still remains. O.K. if we remove the first 3 letters "it" still remains. If we go a step further and remove T also, the egoistic "I" still remains. The only way to get rid of HABIT is to get rid of it at one go!!!!
Let me tell you about the most obstinate word I have come across, maybe you will agree too. It is HABIT. You see if we remove the first letter H, "a bit" still remains. When we remove both H and A, "bit" still remains. O.K. if we remove the first 3 letters "it" still remains. If we go a step further and remove T also, the egoistic "I" still remains. The only way to get rid of HABIT is to get rid of it at one go!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)