communication

” This Russian was Mystified by How Americans act on Planes …” !!!

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Aeroplane tropical sunset

It’s easy to mistake certain social customs of Americans that might suggest strong personal connections where none are intended. For example, Americans are more likely than those from many cultures to smile at strangers and to engage in personal discussions with people they hardly know. Others may interpret this “friendliness” as an offer of friendship. Later, when the Americans don’t follow through on their unintended offer, those other cultures often accuse them of being “fake” or “hypocritical.”

Igor Agapova, a Russian colleague of mine, tells this story about his first trip to the United States:

I sat down next to a stranger on the aeroplane for a nine-hour flight to New York. This American began asking me very personal questions: did I have any children, was it my first trip to the U.S., what was I leaving behind in Russia? And he began to also share very personal information about himself. He showed me pictures of his children, told me he was a bass player, and talked about how difficult his frequent travelling was for his wife, who was with his newborn child right now in Florida.

In response, Agapova started to do something that was unnatural for him and unusual in Russian culture — he shared his personal story quite openly with this friendly stranger thinking they had built an unusually deep friendship in a short period of time. The sequel was quite disappointing:

I thought that after this type of connection, we would be friends for a very long time. When the aeroplane landed, imagine my surprise when, as I reached for a piece of paper in order to write down my phone number, my new friend stood up and with a friendly wave of his hand said, “Nice to meet you! Have a great trip!” And that was it. I never saw him again. I felt he had purposely tricked me into opening up when he had no intention of following through on the relationship he had instigated.

The difference between American and Russian cultures here can be described as peach and coconut models of personal interaction.

In peach cultures like the United States or Brazil, to name a couple, people tend to be friendly (“soft”) with others they have just met. They smile frequently at strangers, move quickly to first- name usage, share information about themselves, and ask personal questions of those they hardly know. But after a little friendly interaction with a peach person, you may suddenly get to the hardshell of the pit where the peach protects his real self. In these cultures, friendliness does not equal friendship.

In coconut cultures such as France, Germany, or Russia, people are more closed (like the tough shell of a coconut) with those they don’t have friendships with. They rarely smile at strangers, ask casual acquaintances personal questions, or offer personal information to those they don’t know intimately. It takes a while to get through the initial hard shell, but as you do, people will become gradually warmer and friendlier. While relationships are built up slowly, they tend to last longer.

SOURCE:::: ERIN MEYER,  in www. businessinsider.com.au

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Who is McDonald in McDonald’s Restaurant ?….

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McDonaldsMcDonald’s is, without question, the most successful, popular, and influential fast-food restaurant chain in recorded history. The name most commonly associated with McDonald’s is Ray Kroc.  Kroc was the entrepreneur who founded the McDonald’s corporation.  So how did it come to be named “McDonald’s”? You see, contrary to what you’ll often read, to suggest Kroc created McDonald’s is, well, a crock.

As is sometimes the case with amazingly successful businesses, the early part of the McDonald’s story includes the people who came up with the ideas and created the thing, and the person who figured out how to sell the idea to the rest of the world. Ray Kroc was most definitely in the latter camp, essentially, theSteve Jobs of fast food, coming up with exceptionally few ideas himself and getting most of the credit, but ultimately one heck of a salesman.

In the early 1950s, Kroc was employed selling milkshake machines. One of his clients was a chain of restaurants in Southern California run by a pair of brothers, Richard and Maurice McDonald.

Born in New Hampshire, the McDonald brothers moved to California in the 1920s where they found work, among other places, as set movers for various movie studios. They switched to the restaurant industry in the late 1930s thanks to their dad, Patrick McDonald, who started “The Airdome” food-stand in 1937, which principally sold hamburgers and hot dogs.

In 1940, the brothers branched out opening McDonald’s barbeque drive-in restaurant in nearby San Bernardino. It did well, but more importantly it taught the pair some important lessons about the fast-food service industry, particularly that hamburgers are among the most profitable food item to sell and that the carhop employees bringing food to customers were completely unnecessary. (They had about 20 such employed at the time). They also came up with a bunch of ideas on how to speed up the process from raw patty to putting the burger in the customer’s hands, including a complete re-design of the kitchen and the creation of an assembly line process of cooking. With these lessons learned, the McDonald brothers shut down the barbeque restaurant for three months in 1948 to re-tool it. With a slimmed-down menu and an emphasis on serving the chow as quickly and as cheaply as possible, the highly-mechanized drive-in began churning out 15-cent hamburgers (about $1.30 today) with unprecedented speed.

By 1954, the McDonald brothers were operating nine outlets and had sold 21 franchises, initially simply franchising their process, rather than the brand name.

It was then that a 52 year old Ray Kroc came calling. At this point in his life, Kroc had served in the army in the same regiment as Walt Disney (with Kroc lying about his age to get in- he was 15 at the time) and, later, he worked as a jazz musician, paper cup salesmen, radio DJ, restaurant employee, and ultimately a salesman of milkshake machines, which unfortunately were at this point getting harder and harder to sell. You see, the brand he was selling (Prince Castle) was significantly more expensive than the increasingly popular Hamilton Beach milkshake machine. Needless to say, despite being at the age when many are loath to start a new career (52), he was on the lookout for a new venture.

Having some experience in his past working at restaurants and having observed many restaurants across the nation while peddling his wares, he knew a good restaurant system when he saw one.  Around this time, the McDonald’s brothers had just lost their franchising agent, Bill Tansey, due to poor health. Thus, Kroc was able to convince the McDonald brothers to hire him as their new agent. However, unlike the brothers, he had much bigger goals than a local fast-food chain, wanting to take the company nationwide.

With a deal in hand, Kroc founded the McDonald’s corporation and opened his first franchise in Des Plaines, Illinois, on April 15, 1955, with the brothers slated to receive half a percent of gross sales. Within five years, McDonald’s had opened 100 franchises.

So how did the McDonald’s brothers get phased out of the operation and popular consciousness, with Ray Kroc being the only one most have heard of? In 1961, the brothers were perfectly happy with their chain of restaurants and had little interest in the much more rapid expansion that Kroc heavily advocated. Kroc then went about gathering investors and bought the business from the McDonald brothers for $2.7 million dollars (about $21 million today), which was enough to give them each about $1 million after taxes. At the ages of 52 and 59, the pair were set for semi-retirement. However, they were also supposed to receive continual royalties from the deal, but had kept that part out of the paperwork on Kroc’s insistence, as he felt it wouldn’t go over well with the investors.  Of course, as it wasn’t in writing, he didn’t honor that part of the deal. (Yep, the Steve Jobs of fast food; see Bonus Facts here)

From here, Kroc was finally able to implement his rapid expansion plan. Fast-forward a little over 50 years and the company is presently boasting about 35,000 different locations in 118 countries across the globe, employing about 1.7 million individuals who serve about 68 million people every day, all the while profiting over $5 billion annually.

 

Bonus Facts:

  • An average beef cow (200 kg of usable meat) produces enough meat to make about 4,500 hamburgers at McDonald’s.
  • About 3 billion pounds of potatoes are used to make McDonald’s fries every year, this is about 8% of all potatoes grown in the United States or a half a percent of all potatoes grown in the world per year. (If you’re curious: A Brief History of French Fries)
  • When the McDonald brothers sold the business to Kroc, they withheld the original restaurant, giving it instead, free of charge, to their original employees who worked there. Kroc later managed to force this restaurant out of business by opening a McDonald’s extremely close by.

SOURCE::::: http://www.today i foundout.com

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Image of the Day….A Fantastic View From ISS.. ” !!!

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European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti took this photograph from the International Space Station and posted it to social media on Jan. 30, 2015. Cristoforetti wrote, “A spectacular flyover of the Gulf of Aden and the Horn of Africa. #HelloEarth”

Image Credit: NASA/ESA/Samantha Cristoforetti 

SOURCE:::: www. nasa.gov.

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A ” Village ” with a Difference …

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At first glance, the village of Hogeweyk in the Dutch town of Weesp looks like an ordinary place. There are shops and residences, parks and restaurants, and even a theater. There are only 152 people living here, though, and you might notice that all of them are elderly. The younger people here are actually staff–nurses, doctors, and specialists–who work around the clock.

The village is actually a pioneering step in the future of elder and dementia care. Each of the 152 residents are eldery folks living with severe Alzheimer’s and/or dementia, and need nursing home facilities. However, instead of confining them to a depressing room in an institution-like setting, the residents Hogeweyk enjoy complete freedom as well as privacy and autonomy.

And it seems to be working. According to a study, the patients at Hogeweyk are more active and need less medication than patients elsewhere.

Residences come in a few different styles, and can be chosen on what makes the patient happiest, or is most like their home life.
The grocery store allows residents to shop and cook as they would normally, but more importantly, it allows them to continue making their own choices and functioning as adults.
The apartments provide comfort and a sense of dignity to the patients, while the 250-person staff is on hand to ensure care and safety. You can find the staff posing as everyday people in the town, as clerks, cashiers, and store attendees. The only thing the village lacks is money, because finances are difficult for people with dementia and Alzheimer’s. Everything is included in the payment plan.
The staff dresses in regular street clothes rather than a clinical-looking uniform to help residents feel comfortable. The residents, like the woman on the right, do their own shopping with assistance, as needed, from the staff.
The staff is careful to balance residents’ comfort with honesty. They’ll never lie about where they are, or that Hogeweyk is a care facility, but they keep things friendly and informal to make residents feel at ease. They’ll also never correct anyone who might mix up their memories.
Hogeweyk includes restaurants, a bar, gardens, and a theater so residents can enjoy activities and socializing while getting care.
Niek Roozen
A layout of Hogeweyk. The white areas are buildings.

Hogeweyk opened in 2009 and has been successful in its treatment plan. Despite its fancy appearance, the cost is actually comparable to other, more traditional care facilities in the Netherlands. And more importantly, it gives people living with dementia and Alzheimer’s a chance to live out their lives in a pleasant, safe, and happy environment.

SOURCE:::::www.viralnova.com

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Message For the Day…” Never be Afraid of Anyone Nor Should You Cause Fear to Others…”

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Within humans there is some residual animal nature and this nature must be refined and transformed. One who is able to transform this animal nature in man is Govinda. For an animal, human nature is inaccessible as a goal, but for human, Divinity is accessible as a goal. When green grass is shown to a herbivorous animal, it is attracted, comes close and expresses its pleasure by moving its tail. The same animal runs away if you take a stick to hurt it. Human beings today are attracted and come closer when they see wealth, but if someone is angry and shouts at them, they stay away from them. Is this not displaying animal nature? As human beings, never be afraid of anyone nor should you cause fear to others. Bhaja Govindam exhorts you to control your animal nature within and attain Divine proximity. Chant the loving Name of God daily and grow in faith and confidence in Him. 

Sathya Sai Baba

 

Why We Do Not Feel the Earth Spin …?

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Why can’t we feel Earth’s spin?

We can’t feel Earth’s rotation or spin because we’re all moving with it, at the same constant speed.

Earth spins on its axis once in every 24-hour day. At Earth’s equator, the speed of Earth’s spin is about 1,000 miles per hour (1,600 kph). The day-night has carried you around in a grand circle under the stars every day of your life, and yet you don’t feel Earth spinning. Why not? It’s because you and everything else – including Earth’s oceans and atmosphere – are spinning along with the Earth at the same constant speed.

Think about riding in a car or flying in a plane. As long as the ride is going smoothly, you can almost convince yourself you’re not moving. A jumbo jet flies at about 500 miles per hour (about 800 km per hour), or about half as fast as the Earth spins at its equator. But, while you’re riding on that jet, if you close your eyes, you don’t feel like you’re moving at all. And when the flight attendant comes by and pours coffee into your cup, the coffee doesn’t fly to the back of the plane. That’s because the coffee, the cup and you are all moving at the same rate as the plane.

Now think about what would happen if the car or plane wasn’t moving at a constant rate, but instead speeding up and slowing down. Then, when the flight attendant poured your coffee … look out!

If you're drinking coffee in a steadily moving car or airplane, no problem. But if the car or plane speeds up or slows down, your coffee sloshes and maybe spills. Likewise, as long as Earth spins steadily, we can't feel it move. Image by H.C. Mayer and R. Krechetnikov, via Science.

If you’re drinking coffee in a steadily moving car or airplane, no problem. But if the car or plane speeds up or slows down, your coffee sloshes and maybe spills. Likewise, as long as Earth spins steadily, we can’t feel it move. Image by H.C. Mayer and R. Krechetnikov, via Science.
Likewise, Earth is moving at a fixed rate, and we’re all moving along with it, and that’s why we don’t feel Earth’s spin. If Earth’s spin were suddenly to speed up or slow down, you would definitely feel it.

The constant spin of the Earth had our ancestors pretty confused about the true nature of the cosmos. They noticed that the stars, and the sun and the moon, all appeared to move above the Earth. Because they couldn’t feel Earth move, they logically interpreted this observation to mean that Earth was stationary and “the heavens” moved above us.

With the notable exception of the early Greek scientist Aristarchus, who first proposed a heliocentric (sun-centered) model of the universe hundreds of years B.C.E., the world’s great thinkers upheld the geocentric (Earth-centered) idea of the cosmos for many centuries.

It wasn’t until the 16th Century that the heliocentric model of Copernicus began to be discussed and understood. While not without errors, Copernicus’ model eventually convinced the world that Earth spun on its axis beneath the stars … and also moved in orbit around the sun.

Sky wheeling around Polaris, the North Star.

Sky wheeling around Polaris, the North Star.
A time exposure of the northern sky, revealing the apparent motion of all the stars around Polaris. In fact, this apparent motion is due to Earth’s spin. Image via Shutterstock
Bottom line: Why don’t we feel Earth rotating, or spinning, on its axis? It’s because Earth spins steadily – and moves at a constant rate in orbit around the sun – carrying you as a passenger right along with it.

SOURCE::::www.earthskynews.org

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Joke of the Day…” Do You Want to go to Heaven … ” ?

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Do you want to go to heaven !!!!

Father Murphy walked into a pub in Donegal, and said to the first man he meets, “Do you want to go to heaven?”

The man said, “I do Father.”

The priest said, “Then leave this pub right now!” and approached a second man. “Do you want to got to heaven?”

“Certainly, Father,” was the man’s reply.

“Then leave this den of Satan,” said the priest, as he walked up to O’Toole.

“Do you want to go to heaven?”

“No, I don’t Father,” O’Toole replied.

The priest looked him right in the eye, and said, “You mean to tell me that when you die you don’t want to go to heaven?”

O’Toole smiled, “Oh, when I die, yes, Father. I thought you were getting a group together to go right now.”

SOURCE:::: http://www.joke a day.com

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Message For the Day…” Ways for atoning our Sins …”

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In the course of one’s day to day activities a number of small creatures and insects may be destroyed. In these and other ways, sins may be committed, knowingly or unknowingly. For removing such sins, the scriptures have prescribed five types of Yajnas or worships –Brahma Yajna, Deva Yajna, Pitru Yajna, Manushya Yajna and Bhuta Yajna. Brahma Yajna is the study of sacred books and scriptures.Deva Yajna involves offering worship, bhajans, etc. Pitru Yajna refers to ceremonies to departed ancestors. The fourth one, Manushya Yajna, refers to extending hospitality to guests, invited and uninvited.Bhuta Yajna refers to offering food to animals, birds and insects, and looking after wild animals. By engaging in such service and thereby fulfilling the requirements of these Yajnas, we can atone for sins of various kinds that might have been committed  

Sathya Sai Baba

Gen Next … or Gen Lost … ?

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One of the biggest treats when we were children was being taken to India Gate on a cool summer evening or a not-too-severe winter one and let loose to play in the lawns.

We invariably got a bright coloured balloon, a Kwality ice cream of our choice and, if we had been particularly good, one of the incredibly innovative local toys priced at Rs 5 at most being sold by hawkers (incidentally, these are great even today) — stuff that was never available in the big shops.

On Diwali, as a special treat, we were often driven around and down from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate to admire, with “oohs” and “aahs”, the illuminated buildings all the way, including the circular Parliament House.

I still remember how these lights were missing the year Indira Gandhi was assassinated.

The Shankarlal Music Festival, Kamani and Shriram Bhartiya Kala Kendra’s Ramlila were also a part and parcel of growing up for us.

We were regularly “subjected” (back then, it felt like that) to Bhimsen Joshi, Alarmel Valli, Pandit Jasraj and Hariprasad Chaurasia — whether it bored us or not.

Then, whenever we had some aunts, uncles or relatives visiting (which was alarmingly often back then), we’d be bundled off to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, Fatehpur Sikri and Agra Fort.

I remember feeling quite involved in the lives of the various Mughal kings as guides in Agra held forth in their broken English on tales from their past — some imagined and some real, I suspect.

I even recall wanting to meet Akbar after having gone repeatedly to his stunning Fatehpur Sikri and Salim Chishti’s dargah – something in the way he had built these monuments made me feel he was worth meeting.

Needless to add that Red fort, Old Fort (and boating there), Qutub Minar and so on were all old hat for us — I had seen the sound and light show so many times that I could tell you what was coming next.

The Ramlila’s main high drama bits (when Ram breaks the bow and Parshuram is furious or the fight Jatayu puts up to save Sita from Ravan), dialogues and songs are still firmly etched in my memory.

Well, I happened to be at a lunch recently where I found seven children (in the age group of 9 to 15) and on impulse I asked them something about Barack Obama, the Republic Day and then India Gate.

I was a bit surprised to learn that only two of them could clearly tell me where India Gate is (only one knew why it exists).

A few seemed to recall having driven past it sometime.

Two looked almost totally blank and muttered that they had heard of it, they knew it was in Delhi, yes, but they couldn’t quite be sure who had built it — or why.

They vaguely remembered reading about it in their textbooks.

None had been there for an ice cream at all.

Lodi Garden and Nehru Park sounded “familiar” to a couple of them; one said he was sure his father went jogging to one of these regularly.

Intrigued, I asked about Agra.

All of them perked up and mentioned the Taj Mahal, although only three had seen it.

Agra Fort, Fatehpur Sikri and Salim Chishti’s dargah drew a total blank.

None of them had seen the Red Fort or the Old Fort (of course the sound and light show was unheard of), although school day trips had taken five of them to Qutub Minar.

Needless to add that none was exasperatingly familiar — as we used to be — with any of the well-known classical singers and dancers I mentioned and I mentioned quite a few.

I refer to Delhi and Gurgaon but speak to parents in any city and you will realise how little time and effort is going into making children aware of their own country, culture and heritage.

Even the festivals we (I speak of people like us, which, of course, represents a miniscule part of Indian society) celebrate today — Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Halloween — are largely borrowed.

I don’t know what we as parents are thinking of but how are we allowing an entire generation to grow up with no clear sense of identity and no knowledge of their incredibly rich cultural heritage – something we have to be proud in a country where there is a lot not to be proud of?

Can India be reduced only to malls, Bollywood and cricket?

Are we content to allow our children to relate to Eminem, Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga but have absolutely no knowledge of any Indian artist barring, say, the Shah Rukh Khans of the world?

Can American sitcoms be the answer?

And have we collectively ever stopped to think: if these children grow up not knowing where they are coming from, how will they ever know where they are going?

SOURCE:::::  Anjuli Bharghava in http://www.rediff.com

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