My Indomitable Thoughts

H ow much of your favorite caffeinated drink would it take to kill you? Take this quick test and find out: Energy Drink Ingredients Wine is grapes. Sure, there's a lot of different kinds, but who really cares? Beer is hops, barley, water–again, pretty boring. Anyone who's reasonably intelligent would look somewhere to see what they're putting in their body. Especially if it makes you warm and tingly. Here, then, is your is your research, handed to your ass on a silver platter. Read More .   The Caffene Database This is the most complete list of caffeine that I know of. If you know something better, let me know, I'll add it! I want this to be the resource that everyone uses. Read More .  

This is a hilarious account of the conversation that a professor of philosophy has with his students. The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand. "You're a Believer, aren't you, son?" "Yes, sir." "So you believe in God?" "Absolutely." "Is God good?" "Sure! God's good." "Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?" "Yes." "Are you good or evil?" "The Book says I'm evil." The professor grins knowingly. "Ahh! THE BOOK!" He considers for a moment. "Here's one for you. Let's say there's a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help him? Would you try?" "Yes sir, I would." "So you're good...!" "I wouldn't say that." "Why not say that? You would help a sick and maimed person if you could...in fact most of us would...

Myself being knee deep into active blogging, I couldn't resist reading this article on about.com which gives Top ten ways to create content for your weblog . The top ten being... Check your mail and give a reply Visit the blogs listed on your blogroll on a regular basis. Comment in your own blog about what others are writing, with a link back to the original blog Read, listen to or watch news. Collaborate with others. Create lists. Like "100 most popular email accounts" ... you get the idea ? Play games, answer surveys or take quizzes Blog about a topic choosen at random. Check what others are writing ... In fact be the pulse of news generation. Do something new. The author left out one thing though, that is blog about your hobby or something you enjoy. Anyway I am not into blogging for blogging's sake . I do it because I enjoy doing it. The moment I start getting bored, I will quit blogging.

S ome of us are introverts and many are extroverts. Being a cronic introvert will make one a social outcast and a person who is an extreme extrovert will be considered a pain in the ass by others. So I guess the best way is the middle path that is neither a introvert or an extrovert but someone who adapts according to circumstances. Stevepavlina has writen this wonderful article called Steps needed to change from an Introvert to an Extrovert which explains the steps needed for changing one's behaviour to get the most out of life which I am listing in a short format. Blocks to becoming an extrovert Undervaluing extroversion - Spending time alone and with people are equally important. If you’re very introverted, you may undervalue the positive role people can play in your life, such as knowledge, friendship, growth, laughter, and so on. The optimal outcome is to strike a balance between the two. You don’t have to give up the introvert activities you enjoy. In fact, when you balanc...

P ublic speaking can be very stressful.Here are several good tips, tricks and resources that will hopefully help in giving a great presentation. These things should help whether you’re speaking at a large conference, giving a small internal presentation to you coworkers or classmates or giving a sales pitch. They’re pretty universal. Mental and Physical Preparation Before Your Presentation I’ve found that the more prepared I am, the more confident I feel. This makes for a better presentation. As you get comfortable speaking you’ll naturally feel more confident and the need to prepare (and time it takes) will not be so important. For newer and first time speakers I think you should spend as much time as you can getting ready. Well, don’t make yourself crazy, just make sure you know and feel comfortable with your material and practice a few times. If you’ve never spoken before a meeting with a speech coach can really help. They talk with you, get an idea of your style and will offer you ...

H ere I am going to list all the popular softwares that I have bookmarked on del.icio.us . Hmm... not quite all. Since I have tons of bookmarks on del.icio.us, I will be following a rule here. Only those softwares that have been bookmarked by at least 99 other people other than myself will find their way to this post. Audio & Video Vnc2swf is a screen recording tool for X-Window (X11), Windows and Mac OS Desktop. Vnc2swf captures the live motion of a screen through VNC protocol and converts it a Macromedia Flash(TM) movie (.swf). Foobar 2000 is an advanced audio player for the Windows platform. Some of the basic features include Replay Gain support, low memory footprint and native support for several popular audio formats. Stream Ripper is an Open Source (GPL) application that lets you record streaming mp3 to your hard drive. Audacity is a free, cross-platform sound editor. DbPowerAmp is a collection of audio tools which can be used for such things as digitally rippin...

I came across this article in msnbc.msn.com written by John Frenaye which according to him are the five steps needed to cure homesickness. In a nutshell, these are the things he recommend for tackling effectively the issue of homesickness when away from home. Bring a piece of home with you . Nothing eases homesickness than a few mementos of your home and loved ones. Bring small photographs in a folding frame for your nightstand— your kids, wife, girlfriend, or loyal pooch. Do you have any young kids? Bring a recent piece of “art.” Does your wife or girlfriend wear a perfume that you love — bring along a sachet that will remind you of her. Stay in touch . Keeping in touch keeps home close to you and you close to home. There are ways to work around a time difference, but it is important to be sure to keep in touch with your home base — not your office, your home base. Be sure you know that Jimmy won his soccer game, and that your wife had the day from hell, and that Susie has t...

L earning how to say NO can be hard, but it’s something that can really help you be more productive, reduce stress and do a better job with the things you do say “ yes ” to. It's been found that saying no to some things can actually help everyone involved. Learning how (and when) to say no is something that takes practice, especially if you’re someone that is honestly interested in helping everyone you can, or one of one of the many who feels guilty every-time you turn down a request for help. Here are a few tips and observations that might help you know how and when to say no. Getting to “yes” via “no” . There are situations (I see them all the time in my field) where projects seem to get more and more complicated. This is usually do to the addition of tasks, requirements and people. There are many times when putting your foot down and not letting a new feature creep into your project, or not allowing the addition of a new influence in, can really help you get something fini...

Get and stay out of your comfort zone . I believe that not much happens of any significance when we're in our comfort zone. I hear people say, "But I'm concerned about security." My response to that is simple: "Security is for cadavers." Never give up . Almost nothing works the first time it's attempted. Just because what you're doing does not seem to be working, doesn't mean it won't work. It just means that it might not work the way you're doing it. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, and you wouldn't have an opportunity. When you're ready to quit, you're closer than you think . There's an old Chinese saying that I just love, and I believe it is so true. It goes like this: "The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed." With regard to whatever worries you, not only accept the worst thing that could happen, but make it a point to quantify what the worst thing c...

R ecently, I came across this really interesting article - 11 Steps to a better brain - on boosting your mental faculties. In a nutshell, this is what it advocated to boost one's brain power. Taking neuro drugs in a controlled manner might help in improving one's mental faculties . Eg: Taking Ampakines are said to make an elderly person perform like a much younger person (Sic). And with the help of modafinil, sleep-deprived people can perform even better than their well-rested, unmedicated selves. Eat the right foods . What you eat can affect how you think. Stay away from fizzy drinks , sweets & pastries and fast foods like burgers. And eat more foods containing lots of fibre like green leafy vegetables, foods containing curds (which keep you alert), foods rich in carbohydrates . And make sure you round it off with a good helping of fresh seasonal fruits . Music boosts brain power simply because it makes listeners feel better - relaxed and stimulated at the same ti...

M any people go through a lot of trouble while traveling abroad. It could range from passport problems to not having proper immigration clearance. If you take proper steps, you can do away with all these disappointments. Some of the things you have to be aware of while traveling abroad are as follows : Most embassies and consulates will not issue visa if the passport expires within the next six months. There should be enough blank pages to stamp the visas on. If there are no more pages left in the passport, apply for a new booklet. It takes between 15 to 20 working days to issue the booklet. Make sure that you do not require immigration clearance each time you travel abroad. The best way is to get an ' Immigration clearance not required ' endorsement on your passport. All you need to do is submit your graduation mark sheet or copies of your income tax returns for the last three years. Those over 65 years of age do not require immigration clearance. Take 12 passpor...

In today's newspaper, I came across a photo of the current Japanese Prime Minister Mr Junichiro Koizumi, who is presently on a visit to India for strengthening the ties between Japan and India. In the photo Mr Koizumi holds a banner reading " Seven Social Sins " as compiled by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi a.k.a M.K.Gandhi popularly known as Mahathma Gandhi - the father of our nation. I reproduce them below : Seven Social Sins Politics without Principle Wealth without Work Pleasure without Conscience Knowledge without Character Commerce without Morality Science without Humanity Worship without Sacrifice

G oogle has been hogging the news for some time because they have been the first to provide a whooping 1 GB storage space for its free email service called GMail - Now being upgraded to 2 GB space - which they have promised to go on increasing in a time based manner. It created ripples in the email arena so much that it forced Yahoo - one of the oldest and most popular email providers to upgrade its free email service from just a measly 6 MB storage space to 250 MB space. And they have also promised to provide 1 GB storage space in the future for all its email users - though that hasn't happened yet. That set me thinking; Is GMail the only service which provides over 1 GB storage space to its users or are there others? A quick search in google and yahoo search spit out a few surprises. Obviously there are a lot of email providers which are giving over 1 GB space to their users. For starters, there is a very popular email service (popular at least in India) called Rediffm...

H ave you considered what impact your daily decisions have on the health of the world's environment? What difference would it make if you didn't use a car, or if you used less water or owned fewer clothes ? Ecological Footprint model helps estimate how much productive land and water you need to support what you use and what you discard. Is our lifestyle sustainable? With the environment slowly deteriorating because of the simple decisions that you and I make, it is necessary to look at our consumption of resources. The more resources we consume, the more pressure it puts on the planet to supply those resources. Ecological Footprinting is a way of determining relative consumption. Ecological Footprints have been used to argue that current lifestyles are not sustainable. If everyone consumed as many resources as the average person in the North America, we would need five earths to meet the demand. In contrast, India (which has 5 times more population than America) has an ecol...

I still remember during my days as a kid, we used to store pottable drinking water in brass pots - infact most of the households used to store drinking water in metal pots; specifically made of brass or copper. Also pots made of these metal alloys were cheap. At that time nobody analysed why we used vessels made of these metal alloys and most took it as common practice. But over the years, the brass and copper utensils were replaced with more economical steel and plastic utensils as these materials became widely prevalent. Now an international study has suggested that the use of brass vessels to store drinking water could help combat diseases such as diarrhoea, typhoid, jaundice and dysentery. A report published in the Nature said, the vessels could prove specially useful in the developing countries where people view plastic containers as better and cheaper options to store drinking water. The scientists found that the bacteria were less likely to thrive in brass water pots than i...

1. Quit smoking - now Did you know that roughly one out of five men keeps making the killing choice by continuing to smoke? If you smoke, or spend a lot of time around someone who does, sooner or later it can kill you. According to leading health specialists, cigerette smoke contains carbon monoxide as well as radioactive particles. The main way smoking may kill is by heart disease,lung disease or cancer - three of the top five killers in men. But first, smoking will make your life miserable. You'll suffer the mood swings associated with nicotine addiction; you will break into embarrassing coughing and retching fits in front of family, friends and colleagues; food will loose its taste. Meanwhile, the smoke will damage your lungs and pollute your blood with carbon monoxide ultimately starting a reaction in your body that causes cancer cells to grow. On the other hand, you can kick this bad habit. The incentive is that you will live longer, no matter how long you have been smoking...

S earching has become one of the most used function by anybody using the Internet - maybe second to the popularity of Email. This is because apart from Email, what makes Internet really very useful for the average user is, the search engines that allow him to search for and find the information he needs. Just think of what the state of the Internet would have been if we didn't have the capability of searching for what we want. Realizing the uniqueness of search in the internet, there has been an explosion of search engines on the web brought out by different companies. The most popular being Google , Yahoo and MSN (owned by Microsoft ) in decreasing order of popularity (though that may change in the future). Google claims to have indexed and ranked a couple of billion web pages more than its nearest competitors and is in the forefront in the race for supremacy in the web search arena followed closely by Yahoo. Both these companies have been acquiring other value based companies w...