Origin of the terms 'Bull's Eye' & 'Point Blank'

The English longbow yeomen were directed to practice frequently, and it has been stated that there was often a practice held immediately after church services in small hamlets, the only time during the week when many of the archers would gather. A common target was the white skull of a bull, and the greatest skill could be illustrated by getting a "bull's eye".
Another common shooting term derives from this activity, when the archer is far from the target, the arrow must be pointed high, due to the arched trajectory of an arrow. When the archer is very close to the target, then he may point directly, without aiming above the white bull's skull, hence "pointing at the white", or "point blanc" as it was stated in those times. The term is now an established military term, "point blank" range, or the distance at which a firearm can be directly aimed at the target without consideration of the arched trajectory. Modern firearms often have a point blank range of a few hundred yards.

Matreshkas -Russian nesting dolls

Matreshkas are those little wooden dolls where if you open them up, there is one inside, and so on until there it a tiny one in the middle that cannot be opened.

Belgium is famous for beer, chocolate, waffles and french fries.

Dualistic Model of Passion

According to Robert J. Vallerand's Dualistic Model of Passion, passion has two main flavors: harmonious and obsessive. 
Those with harmonious passion engage in their work because it brings them intrinsic joy. They have a sense of control of their work, and their work is in harmony with their other activities in life. At the same time, they know when to disengage, and are better at turning off the work switch when they wish to enjoy other activities or when further engagement becomes too risky. As a result, their work doesn't conflict with the other areas of their lives.


Obsessive passion is a different story. Like those with harmonious passion, those with obsessive passion perceive their work as representing a passion for them, and view their work as highly valued. A major difference is that they have an uncontrollable urge to engage in their work. As a result, they report feeling more conflict between their passion and the other activities in their life. 


Both forms of passion are associated with very different outcomes. Harmonious passion is associated with higher levels of physical health, psychological well-being, self-reported self-esteem, positive emotions, creativity, concentration, flow, work satisfaction, and increased congruence with other areas of one's life. These effects spill over into other areas. Because people with harmonious passion can actively disengage from work and experience other parts of their lives, they report general positive affect over time.
In contrast, those with obsessive passion display higher levels of negative affect over time and display more maladaptive behaviors. They report higher levels of negative affect during and after activity engagement; they can hardly ever stop thinking about their work, and they get quite frustrated when they are prevented from working. They also persist when it's risky to do so (just like a pathological gambler). A reason for this is that their work forms a very large part of their self-concept. To protect their selves, they display more self-protective behaviors, such as aggression,especially when their identity is threatened. Those with obsessive passion also have a more negative image of themselves, being quicker to pair the word "unpleasant" with "self" than those showing lower levels of obsessive passion. This suggests that their persistence doesn't come from a place of intrinsic joy, but an unstable ego.

Inspirational Quotes - 1

If you are going through Hell , then keep walking , Hell will come to an End !!

Which place is Potato Capital of USA

IDAHO is the  Potato Capital of USA.

China is the largest producer of Potato in world.

What is the Yin Yang Theory

What is the Yin Yang Theory?

Yin yang theory is a kind of logic, which views things in relation to its whole. The theory is based on two basic components: yin and yang, which are neither materials nor energy. They combine in a complementary manner and form a method for explaining relationships between objects. Gradually, this logic was developed into a system of thought that was applied to other areas. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is an example of one area where the yin yang theory is used to understand complicated relationships in the body.

The Origin of the Yin Yang Theory The original concept of yin and yang came from the observation of nature and the environment. "Yin" originally referred to the shady side of a slope while "yang" referred to the sunny side. Later, this thinking was used in understanding other occurrences, which occurred in pairs and had complementary and opposing characteristics in nature. Some examples include: sky and earth, day and night, water and fire, active and passive, male and female and so on. Working with these ideas, ancient people recognized nearly all things could have yin and yang properties. Yin and yang can describe two relative aspects of the same phenomena such as the example of the slope, or they can describe two different objects like sky and earth.
	Usually, yang is associated with energetic qualities. For example, movement, outward and upward direction, heat, brightness, stimulation, activity and excitement are all yang qualities. Yin, on the other hand, is associated with the physical form of an object and has less energetic qualities such as rest, inward and downward direction, cold, darkness, condensation, inhibition, and nourishment. See Table 1 for a description of yin and yang characteristics.

What is FLASH MOB

A flash mob is a group of strangers who organize themselves, using electronic media such as cell phones or the Internet, to gather together in a public place, behave in a predetermined manner for a predetermined amount of time, and then quickly disperse.
A successful flash mob event depends on the element of surprise. Participants, calledmobsters, share news about the time and place for an upcoming event through postings onblogs, chain e-mail messages, SMS text messages and social networking sites such asFacebook and Twitter.


Bill Wasik, senior editor of ,Harper's Magazine, orchestrated the first successful flash mob in June 2003 at Macy's department store. A group of 100 people received instructions to gather at one of four staging areas. Further directions led them to the store's rug department, where they told employees they lived together and were shopping for a "love rug."


Waslik's subsequent flash mobs included one group applauding for 15 seconds in the lobby and mezzanine of the Hyatt hotel and another group pretending to be tourists from Maryland in a SoHo shoe store. It wasn't until June 2006, when Wasik published an article about his flash mobs in Harper's, that their source was publicly known. According to Wasik, he created the flash mob, at least in part, "as a stunt that would satirize scenester-y gatherings."
Since then, flash mobs have been organized by many people, for many purposes, all over the world. 

World Wide Web turns 20 on 6th Aug 2011

This day, exactly 20 years ago, the World Wide Web was born, marking a significant day in the progress of the Internet. On 6 August 1991, Tim Berners-Lee, published the first Web page, making the WorldWideWeb available publicly.
It all began at CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, in the 1980s, where physicist Tim Berners-Lee followed up a proposal for information management. He showed how information could be transferred easily over the Internet by using hypertext - the point-and-click system of navigating through information.
With support from Robert Cailliau, a systems engineer, Berners-Lee succeeded in converting a NeXT computer as the first web server, hypermedia browser and web editor.

Tim Berners-Lee





Robert Cailliau

Happy 20th birthday to the World Wide Web! Or, at least, the first webpage launched on said World Wide Web. Not the Internet. The Web.
It seems as if Tim Berners-Lee's work has been confusing everyone from tech-savvy individuals to net neophytes for just as long a time. So let's get to the bottom of what we're celebrating so we don't look silly when we put the wrong name on the birthday card, OK?
Here's the deal: The Internet is neither 20, nor is it actually synonymous with what's being celebrated today. That's the World Wide Web. The first use of the word Internet came some fifteen years and change prior to the launch of the first actual Web page, and it was coined in December of 1974 as a way to describe a global system of computers connected via the TCP protocol.
The Internet is the technological underpinning that makes the World Wide Web possible. It's the system of local area networks, regional networks, and other separate networks that are all interwoven such that computer A can connect up to computer B (or smartphone C) to facilitate an exchange of information.
The Web, in contrast, is analogous to a handshake – just one method a person can use to interact with another person in some capacity. Berners-Lee didn't connect up all the computers in the world in 1991. Rather, he developed three different technologies that made it possible for users to better find and share information among these connected systems.
The first technology, uniform resource locators (URLs) can be thought of as mailing addresses for information –the location of a file within the World Wide Web that's dynamically mapped to the file's actual location on a system within the Internet itself.
The second, HyperText Markup Language (HTML), is the fuel a Web browser needs in order to display the text, graphics, and hyperlinking system that powers the very Web itself. It runs hand-in-hand with the third technology, the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), or the backbone rules that allow for requests and file transmissions to occur between Web browsers and Web servers.

Agile vs. Waterfall Software Development Model

Waterfall and Agile are two different approaches to software development that also find use in project management. Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages, and the selection of either method will depend on various project-centric factors.

Waterfall Method

The Waterfall model is a sequential design process used in software development, with the development life cycle of Conception, Initiation, Analysis, Design, Construction, Testing, Implementation, and Maintenance progressing steadily downwards, just like a waterfall flows down. Completion of one stage leads to another, and each stage has its separate goals. It owes its origin to the standard workflow process in the construction and manufacturing industries.
The advantage of the Waterfall method is the division of the project into tight compartments, reducing the dependency on individuals in the team. Key individuals coming and going at the transition points of stages does not affect project execution. The method also calls for robust documentation, further lessening the dependence on individuals.
The disadvantages are the inflexibility and rigidity. Just as water that flows down a waterfall cannot come back, it is not possible to alter a completed stage or even the project design in any way. Requirements gathering upfront therefore become critical. The logic is that the time spent upfront to ensure comprehensive requirements gathering and design saves considerable time and effort later.

Agile Method

Agile software development bases itself on an iterative and incremental approach. Software developers work on small modules, and respond to users' changed requirements rather than follow a specific or predetermined plan of action. The basic design is simple, and changes are made as work progresses.
Unlike with the Waterfall method, testing and customer feedback occurs simultaneously with development. This method gives priority to collaboration over design. Interactions among stakeholders take priority over processes and tools, and working software takes priority over documenting procedures. Different developers may work on different modules, and integrate all modules together at the end.
Agile methods of software development gained popularity in the 1990s as a reaction to the drawbacks of the traditional Waterfall methods. Critics considered the Waterfall method heavily regulated, regimented, and micromanaged to suit many needs, and have been working on various incremental approaches experimented since 1957.

The Best Model

Both the Waterfall method and the Agile method of software development have their uses. Although Agile arose as a reaction to the limitations imposed by the Waterfall method, Waterfall still retains its relevance as a better method when the environment is stable with no room for changes, when frequent interactions with ends users and other stakeholders are not possible, or when there is a risk of key developers quitting the project midway.
Agile is a lightweight method. As software developers focus on smaller work areas, overhead becomes less, and the project costs considerably less than when using the Waterfall method. When customer requirements are hazy, or the business environment is uncertain, Agile methods that allow making frequent changes, and testing during the construction stage remains the best choice. Successful execution of Agile projects nevertheless requires highly skilled and competent developers, and stakeholders who know what they want. With the scope to accommodate changes, an Agile project can easily lose its way.

Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/office/project-management/articles/50473.aspx#ixzz1UF7dhMid

Steve Jobs: How to live before you die | Video on TED.com

Steve Jobs: How to live before you die | Video on TED.com