communication

6 Ds To Keep Your Inbox Clutter-Free !!!

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source:::::DNA net

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A new workshop had revealed the six easy ways to keep our inbox clutter-free as we struggle to handle high volumes of emails every day.

Productivity coach Wendy Cole, in her workshop “The Secret to Getting Things Done, and Managing 100+ Emails a Day”, says majority of employees aren’t trained to tackle vast volumes of emails and didn’t know how to use email programs like Microsoft Outlook, News.com.au reports.

According to Cole, here are the top six ways to handle and manage an email-filled inbox

1. Delete: Every time you read an email, decide if the information is relevant to you. If not, delete it

2. Do: If you can do whatever the email is requesting in two minutes, do it there and then

3. Delegate: If it can’t be done in two minutes but you are in a position to delegate it, pass it on to somebody else

4. Defer: If you can’t do the task immediately but it will take longer than two minutes, pick a time when you will get it done and add it to a to-do list

5. Diminish: Cut down your email load by making rules in your inbox and directing emails into different folders

6. Daily: Get your unread email count down to zero and do it daily

Cole said people should avoid keeping emails as a “messy to do list”, the report said.

She added the key to staying on top of your emails was to go into your inbox with a mindset that you are “processing”, and also advised on ‘centralised to-do lists’ to organise your work day.

Breaking News or Breaking Peace ??!!!!

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Shakuntala .G. Soratur in THE HINDU

By shouting out as if the whole hemisphere had been set on fire, the anchor soon caused an upheaval in our drawing room

After four years, I decided to watch prime-time news on English channels for an entire hour without any break, thanks to the interesting news bit that appeared on the small screen with the tag, ‘BREAKING NEWS’. I watched the same story on two news channels for the first 10 minutes. Both channels were interviewing an activist and conducting a debate on the same issue (it was a sensational scam story and the debate was not ‘live’). The anchors shouted out their questions and sometimes, even before the activist could answer, another question was shot at him. Sometimes, they would stop him in mid-sentence and complete his answer in sarcasm.

After awhile, I zeroed in on the channel whose news anchor was breathing down the neck of the panellists’ without any ‘break’ in the news saga. By shouting out and pretending as if the whole hemisphere had been set on fire, the anchor soon caused an upheaval in our drawing room. My disgruntled husband and son staged a walkout in protest against the ‘foolish’ viewer. My father complained of headache and without paying much attention to it, concluded that the presenter might end up losing his vocal chords.

The second half of the news show turned out to be overbearing. The news anchor continued to bully a panellist in a high-pitched tone, while serious faces shook or nodded their heads depending on which side they were on. My husband and son re-entered the TV room. They looked hungry and serious. My three-year-old son began to wail, demanding that the idiot box be turned off. Most panellists were raising their voices simultaneously, while my husband picked up our son in his arms and shouted at me.

The effect of prime-time news was showing as I yelled back at him. ‘Thirty seconds to go, Mr …,’ the news anchor announced but did not allow the panellist he was addressing to speak for more than 10 seconds. The verdict came from the self-styled judge himself. The news anchor was announcing another media trial with extra zeal in his voice.

This was akin to watching a saas-bahu soap! I switched off the TV set, while my son wiped his tears and gave me a sullen look.

With a sense of guilt, I tried to woo my son, who refused to come near me. Forcefully, I pulled him to me and took him on my lap. The next instant, I felt his underwear was wet. I screamed at the little boy and was about to seek an answer for his act, when the dog in the neighbourhood began to bark. Who knows, there might have been a ‘cat fight’ outside or maybe, my aggression passed on to the poor creature!

(The writer‘s email ID is shakuntalags@gmail.com)

Keywords: breaking news, news anchors

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Google Doodle on 197th Birth Anniversary of World”s 1st Computer Programmer !!!!

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Ada Lovelace's 197th Birthday
Visitors to the search engine giant Google’s homepage were greeted with a doodle featuring a stylized Google logo of a progression from old age computers to present day laptops on the occasion of the world’s first computer programmer Ada Lovelace’s 197th birth anniversary…Dec 10 2012!!!!

Doodle shows Ada Lovelace, seated on a desk, writing a computer program with a quill on paper scroll, which twirls into the shape forming the letters of the Google logo.

Hovering the pointer or mouse over the logo would produce a bubble indicating December 10 would have been Ada Lovelace’s 197th birth anniversary.
Augusta Ada Byron, now commonly known as Ada Lovelace, was an English mathematician and writer chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage’s early mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine.
Her notes on the engine include what is recognised as the first algorithm intended to be processed by a machine. Because of this, she is sometimes considered the world’s first computer programmer.
 Natarajan

Facebook Facts …Most of Us Do not Know !!!!!

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With 900 million active users Facebook is a social storm today racing across continents, countries, colonies and even through small territories and hamlets. In today’s world of digital technology you may come across a person without a shirt but it’s hard to find one without a Facebook account. There was a similar situation once when a person without an Email Id was laughed at and today it is the same with the one who doesn’t hold a Facebook user Id.

According to socialbakers.com,United States Of America,with about 157 million users,tops the overall list of Facebook users followed by India with 45.9 million users, Brazil with 45.3 million users, Indonesia with 42.4 million users and Mexico with 32.9 million Facebook users. It may sound unbelievable but it’s a fact the critics around the world are cribbing about.

There are also many skeptics who disagree but for some of it’s users Facebook is an addiction, for some it’s a useful business promotion tool and for many it’s a perfect antidote to their existential loneliness.

In the given scenario it’s not only difficult to imagine our world without Facebook, but it’s also difficult to imagine our living without Facebook..

Firstly..

Here Are Some Popular Facebook Facts Most Of Us Know

>The popular social networking site Facebook Inc derived its name from Facebook, a directory that is found in American Universities. This directory is like a reference book for many and consists of photographs of the staff, faculty and students with their brief bio data mentioned in it.

Mark Zuckerberg Having Fun With His Harvard Friends
>In 2003 five students of Harvard University Mark Zuckerberg, Edurado Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, Andrew McCollum and Chris Hughes created a website called Facemash. Mark Zuckerberg, fondly called “Zuck” by his other friends, was a second year student in the university and wrote the software for this website. Later after many twists and turns and ups and downs the same crazy five gang created a social networking revolution website that is popularly known as Facebook today.

>Before opening Facebook it was planned by the team to open a social networking site for high school students called facebookhigh.com. But this idea bombed very badly..

>Originally Facebook was known as thefacebook.com but later Mark Zuckerberg purchased the domain name facebook.com for $2,00,000..

Here Are Some Amazing Facebook Facts Most Of Us Do Not Know

>When Facebook introduced the “News Feed” feature the first reaction it received was “Turn this shit off”

>The average age of a Facebook employee today is thirty one..

>As the CEO of Facebook ”Zuck” enjoys sixty percent of voting power in Facebook today..

>The engineers at the Facebook initially wanted to name the “Like” button “Awesome”

>Initially Facebook bosses decided to name it’s ad product “AdSeeds” in line with Google’s AdSense but for some unknown reasons they later dropped this idea.

>When Facebook was going through a desperate situation in 2004, Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple Inc saved today’s world number one social networking site by offering it a lucrative ad deal..

Dignitaries Waiting For Steve Jobs At WWDC,2008
The Worldwide Developers Conference is a conference held every year by Apple Inc in California. Steve Jobs wanted Facebook to present it’s new iPhone application at the 2008 WWDC. Steve expected Mark to do the presentation but instead Mark has sent a marketing manager and an engineer to do the job.Upset with their bad audition Steve Jobs had to cancel the presentation that year.

>In 2005,many of the employees and Mark Zuckerberg’ colleagues at Facebook strongly felt that “Zuck” should be replaced by a better person as their CEO. It is then that he took some serious ” CEO lessons ” from an authority on the topic.

>A Taiwanese guy by name Steve Chen worked for a few weeks with Facebook in 2005 and left it as he wanted to start something of his own. But that time this guy never knew that his decision will create a technological revolution in the digital age. This 27 year old ex PayPal employee joined hands with his other PayPal colleagues Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim and founded the path breaking site that is more popularly known as You Tube today.

>In 2006 Mark Zuckerberg was very impressed with a funny guy called Chris Putnam and hired him for a crucial position in Facebook. Wanna know what this guy did.. ?? He was such a genius, he hacked Facebook site and created thousands of profiles that were meant to look like MySpace profiles. Instead of getting upset with this whiz kid’s misdeed “Zuck” hired him.

>But, quite surprisingly, the current employees of Facebook feel that their CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s best talent lies not in hiring people but in firing people.

>Some time ago, Steve Ballmer, the current C E O of Microsoft who ranks nineteenth in the Forbes 400 list today, wanted to buy Facebook outright but remained contented by investing $240 million when his offer to buy Facebook was rejected by Mark Zuckerberg and team.

>In 2006 Mark Zuckerberg opened Facebook to workplace networks but surprisingly nobody in USA noticed it. That time Yahoo came up with an offer of $1.4 billion to buy Facebook. “Zuck” was initially tempted to accept the billion dollar deal but could somehow overcome his temptation and finally rejected the offer. Though Business Week termed this rejection as one of the “biggest failed mergers” in the history, it still made Mark Zuckerberg a man worth of twenty four billion dollars today.

>Since they hold rights to some social networking patent, Reid Hoffman, the founder of LimkedIn and Mark Pincus, founder of Zynga own a reasonable stake in Facebook today.

>Very few people know that a Russian holding firm, DST holds a great stock in Facebook. It is so because Peter Thiel of Angel Investor, Facebook’s first outside investor, sold half of his stock in 2009 to this Russian holding firm.

>Apple Inc’s veteran Bud Colligan, former Yahoo Inc executive Ellen Siminoff and former Open Table CEO Jeff Jordan were all interviewed for the post of Chief Operations Officer of Facebook in 2007. But it was finally bagged by Sheryl Sandberg who was formerly vice president of Global Online Operations and Sales at Google Inc. Mark Zuckerberg was very much impressed with this lady when he first met her in a 2007 Christmas party hosted by Dan Rosensweig who was then the chief operating officer (COO) of Yahoo Inc. Sheryl is one of the active directors on the Facebook board today. Period.

>Accel partner Jim Breyer invested $12.7 million in Facebook in 2005. After this investment from Jim Breyer, the initial founders of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, Sean Parker and Dustin Moscovitz took a million dollar bonus each.

>Exactly one day after taking the one million dollar bonus, Mark Zuckerberg went to a gas station where a crazy guy, with a pistol in his hand, jumped over him and tried to cause some serious damage. Screaming loudly a fully terrified Zuck jumped into his SUV and zoomed off.

>After being arrested on cocaine related charges in North Carolina, Sean Parker, the co-founder and the then president of Facebook was sent out by Accel Partners who were the principal share holders in Facebook those days.

>With an estimated value of $18.7 million there is also an Indian share holder in Facebook by name Divya Narendra. Though he holds only .022 percent stake in Facebook today, he is already worth the above mentioned figure with that miniature stake. On some copyright issue he waged a prolonged legal battle with Facebook which, as he claims, helped him pursue a career in jurisprudence.

Mark Zuckerberg Kissing His Future Wife Wife Priscilla Chan In Front Of Oprah Winfrey Camera Crew In 2010
>Mark Zuckerberg met his future wife Priscilla Chan, a Chinese, in Harvard University. Before their marriage they lived together in a sparsely furnished rented home in Palo Alto, California. In 2010, when Oprah Winfrey decided to do a talk show with Zuck he allowed her entire crew with cameras into his house. Mark Zuckerberg kissed his then girl friend Priscilla Chan in front of all the giggling crew that day. That time he revealed to the crew that he practices Chinese language every morning at the kitchen table as part of his preparation for his future Honeymoon in China. Period.

>Initially Mark Zuckerberg was not in favor of adding photo sharing feature to Facebook but Sean Parker convinced “Zuck” about it and photo sharing is the most popular feature on Facebook today. Cartoon Cat was the first photo uploaded to Facebook followed by photos of socializing girls.

>Caterina Fake, the co founder of Flickr and Hunch could not open a Facebook account because of the word “Fake” in her last name. Facebook thought it’s a fake name and refused to allow her to create an account.

>Currently there is an official “Facebook Phone” in Asia.

>There was a redesign of Facebook in 2008 that made every digital giant in the Silicon Valley unhappy. In a protest Dell CEO Michael Dell too joined a group called “Petition Against New Facebook”. Period

>Facebook can never come to any understanding with Google anytime in future for any form of acquisition or for any other business understanding since Microsoft, a major partner in Facebook since 2007, will not allow it’s arch rival Google to have any say whatsoever in any of the affairs of Facebook. It’s an irrevocable unwritten understanding between Facebook and Microsoft with which Google shall forever be unhappy. In an effort to break the supremacy of Facebook in social network market Google created Google+ and you all know how it is faring today.

>Finally, according to Facebook’s co-founder Dustin Moscovitz, Facebook is planning to come up with an ad network in future just on the lines of their revolutionary social networking site called facebook.com

Conclusion

According to a recent study (July,2012) conducted by the The University Of Wisconsin School Of Medicine And Public Health, Facebook, as is believed by many, doesn’t cause depression. The study further suggests that it is unnecessarily alarming to advise the parents or patients about the risk of “Facebook Depression” which, many critics feel, is caused by the excessive usage of this popular social networking site. The study also found that 70% of Facebook users today are adolescents..

source::::
Narrenaditya in amazing truelife stories.com

Natarajan

A Small True Story ….Problem With Whom !!!!

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It’s A Small Story But A Very Cute Story

Some where in midtown Mumbai there is a posh locality meant for the living of only aristocratic families.It’s perhaps the only locality in the most popular city of India where there are many independent houses and a very few apartment buildings. Meridian Towers is one such apartment complex in that locality that houses the families of the rich and famous personalities of Mumbai.

And it is in these apartments that our beloved Ramakanth Joglekar and his wife Bhavana Joglekar are living.It is not important here to know what Ramakanth and Bhavana do for their living but it is important to know what made them the central point of this story.

Ramakanth is about sixty years of age and Bhavana about fifty seven.They do everything to make their lives happy and it is again irrelevant here to know more about their other family members because it is only the cute couple of Ramakanth and Bhavana that live in that posh five bed room apartment where our story is taking place.

Ramakanth and Bhavana have a very long and successful love marriage that is about thirty five years old now.Their love story may not be as intense as Sohni-Mahiwal or Shajahan and Mumtaz but they strongly believe that they have a better and more powerful love story to narrate to the world if only the world is willing to pay some attention to them.

They still spend a lot of time together and still believe in squeezing maximum juices out of life.With a wide collection of world’s most popular and rich varieties of Red Wine,the lovely middle aged couple of Ramakanth and Bhavana take pride in throwing lavish parties to their other aristocratic friends,often.

Life is on a song for the lovely couple until Ramakanth gradually started noticing a problem in his wife that really kept bothering him a lot .However,his abundant love for his wife did not allow him to discuss it with her.But at the same time he cannot remain ignorant of the problem and some how wants his wife to overcome that problem at the earliest.He had spent many sleepless nights unable to know what to do.

Then one fine morning Ramakanth personally visited Dr.Jayavanth Divakar,an ENT Surgeon practicing in Linking Road,Santa Cruz, Mumbai.

He told the doctor..”Doc, I have a doubt for the last couple of months that my wife is going deaf day by day.But I cannot discuss the problem with her as it may be very embarrassing for her to accept it..So what do you want me to do..Please help..”

Doctor smiled and said “It’s only your doubt that she is developing deafness but you are not sure that she is deaf..So conduct a small test..When she is working in the kitchen tomorrow ask her a question “What curry are you cooking for lunch today”.. First you stand at a thirty feet distance from her and put this question in a low tone.. Then reduce the distance by five feet and move slightly closer to her and put the same question from twenty five feet distance and then from twenty feet distance and so on..Like that keep decreasing five feet every time and repeat the question..Remember,the tone when you put the question should be in normal conversational level and not more than that..Let me know at what distance you got the reply from her and then we will be able to know how severe her deafness is and what line of treatment should be adopted..Don’t worry I will take care of it..”

Next morning Bhavana was busy in the kitchen preparing food items for the day.Ramakanth thought “it’s the right time to perform the test on her.”

He went into their master bed room;stood in the utmost corner of the room which is more than thirty feet from Bhavana and asked her in a normal tone.. “Sweetheart,what’s cooking up for lunch..”..

No reply from Bhavana..

A shocked Ramakanth reduced the distance and put the same question from about twenty five feet now..No reply again as Bhavana was busy frying something on the pan..

A heart broken Ramakanth repeated the question from twenty feet and then from fifteen feet and again from ten feet but was not getting any reply from his beloved wife.Without even lifting her head she was busy with her cooking operation.

Finally Ramakanth,who is now almost in tears for his beloved wife,moved very close to her and asked the same question from less than a five feet distance “Sweetheart,what’s cooking up for lunch..”..

Watching her beloved husband standing almost next to her Bhavana turned to him and said “It’s Deep Onion Fried Chicken curry Sweetheart..But why are you asking the same question so many times..First you asked me from the corner of our bed room “Sweetheart,what’s cooking up for lunch..”..I said ” Deep Onion Fried Chicken curry..”..Then you came to our wardrobe and asked the same question and again I replied..Then you repeated the same question standing near our double cot,then from our dressing table,then standing at the entrance of our bedroom and then from our dining table and now finally standing so close to me you are asking the same question “Sweetheart what’s cooking up for lunch..”..”It’s your favorite Deep Onion Fried Chicken Curry sweetheart,but now tell me what’s wrong with you..Why are you acting so funny..Why are asking the same question so many times..Is everything fine with you or is there any problem..Why don’t you get checked up once..There is a very good ENT specialist by name Dr.Jayavanth Divakar in Linking Road,Santa Cruz..His wife is my childhood friend..Shall I take his appointment tomorrow..You are sixty sweetheart and therez nothing wrong in getting checked up once..”

Conclusion

Am not sure about the origin of this story but am given to understand that it’s a true story.I have only reported what I have read half a decade ago hence cannot claim originality or ownership to this story.

source:::: amazing true life stories .com

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Mother…A Researcher in Child Development !!!!!

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source ::::unknown….input from my friend….nice one to be shared with you all !!!!!

Natarajan

I Am A Mother

The Officer At The Driving License Counter Asked The Lady
” What is Your Occupation ? ”

The Woman Seeking Renewal Of Her License Seemed To Be Puzzled.
So The Officer Said
” Ma’am, Are You Employed,
Have Your Own Business Or……..

The Woman Replied
” Oh, Yes !!

I Have A Full Time Occupation.

I Am A Mother ”

Officer : ” We Don’t Have ‘ Mother ‘ As An Option For Occupation.
I Will Write it Down As ‘ Housewife ‘.
That Takes Care Of All Questions.”

This Had Happened Long Ago,
And Was Forgotten.Years Later When I Went To Get My License,The Public Relations Officer Was A Somewhat Pompous. Woman.

” Your Occupation ? ”
She Asked in A Rather Authoritative Tone.

I Just Had An inspiration And Replied
” I Am A Researcher in The Field Of Child Development, Nutrition And Inter-Personal Relationships ”

The Lady Officer Stared At Me in Amazement.
I Calmly Repeated My Statement And She Wrote it Down Verbatim.
Then, Unable To Conceal Her Curiosity,
She Politely Asked

” What Exactly Do You Do in Your Profession, Ma’am ? ”

I Was Feeling Good About Having Described My Occupation So Calmly And Confidently.
So I Replied

” My Research Projects Have Been Going On For A Number Of Years
( Mothers Never Retire !! ).

My Research is Conducted in The Laboratory As Well As in The Field.
I Have Two Bosses.

(One is God and the other is my entire family).
I Have Received Two Honours in This Field.

(A son and a daughter)
My Topic is Considered To Be The Most Difficult Part Of Sociology.

( All Moms will Agree!! ).
I Have To Work More Than 14 Hours Every Day.

Sometimes Even 24 Hours Are Not Enough And The Challenges Are Tougher Than Many Other Professions.

My Compensation is in Terms Of Mental Satisfaction Rather Than Money ”

I Could See That The Officer Was Thoroughly impressed.
After Completing The Licensing Formalities,
She Came To The Door To See Me Off.

This New Viewpoint About My Occupation Made Me Feel Much Better On My Way Back Home.

I Was Welcomed By My 5 Year Old Research Assistant At The Door.

My New Project (My 6 Month old Baby) Was Energetically Practicing Her ‘ Music ‘.

I Had Earned A Small Victory Over The Governmental Red Tape Today.
I Was No Longer ‘ Merely A Mother ‘,
instead I Was Now A Highly Placed
Functionary in A Service Vital For Mankind -Motherhood !!

‘ Mother ‘ – Isn’t it A Great Title.
Fit To Be Added To The Nameplate On The Door !!

By This Standard, Grandmothers Deserve To Be Called Senior Research Officers,And Great Grandmothers Qualify As ‘ Research Directors ‘.
Aunts And Other Ladies Of That Age Group Can Be Called ‘ Research Facilitators ‘

Please Share This With All Mothers, Grandmothers, Great Grandmothers,
All Ladies Currently Holding Posts Like
Didi – Tai – Chachi – Mami – Mausi – Bua ……

They Will All Shower You With Blessings And Life Will Be Happier.

India on Diwali Night !!!

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NASA releases map of India on Diwali night !!!

  • A satellite imagery of India on Diwali night released by NASA. Photo: PTI
    PTIA satellite imagery of India on Diwali night released by NASA. Photo: PTI
  • NASA releases map of India on Diwali night. PTI graphic
    PTINASA releases map of India on Diwali night. PTI graphic

NASA, the national space agency of the US, on Thursday released a black and white satellite imagery of India Diwali night 2012, cautioning people against the fake image in circulation on the social media.

“On November 12, 2012, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite captured this night-time view of southern Asia,” NASA said releasing a picture of India on this Diwali night.

“The image is based on data collected by the VIIRS ‘day- night band’, which detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared. The image has been brightened to make the city lights easier to distinguish,” it said.

NASA said most of the bright areas in the imagery released by it are cities and towns in India. “India is home to more than 1.2 billion people and has 30 cities with populations over 1 million,” it said.

Cities in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan are also visible near the edges of the image.

“An image that claims to show the region lit for Diwali has been circulating on social media websites and the Internet in recent years. In fact, it does not show what it claims.

That image, based on data from the Operational Linescan System flown on US Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites, is a colour—composite created in 2003 by NOAA scientist Chris Elvidge to highlight population growth over time,” NASA said.

“In that image, white areas show city lights that were visible prior to 1992, while blue, green, and red shades indicate city lights that became visible in 1992, 1998, and 2003 respectively,” it said.

“In reality, any extra light produced during Diwali is so subtle that it is likely imperceptible when observed from space,” NASA said.

Keywords: NASA images, Diwali night, India satellite images, Earth at Night

source::::::THE HINDU

Natarajan

Difference Between Complete and Finish !!!!!!

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No dictionary has been able to adequately explain the difference between COMPLETE and FINISHED.
However, in a recent linguistic conference held in London, England, & attended by some of the best linguists in the world: Samsundar Balgobind, a Guyanese, was the clear winner.

His final challenge was this:
Some say there is no difference between COMPLETE and FINISHED.
Please explain the difference between COMPLETE and FINISHED in a way that is easy to understand.

Here is his astute answer: “When you marry the right woman, you are COMPLETE.
But, when you marry the wrong woman, you are FINISHED.
And when the right one catches you with the wrong one, you are COMPLETELY FINISHED!”

His answer was received with a standing ovation lasting over 5 minutes …..

source::::input from one of my friends….nice one to share with you all

Natarajan

SMS….20 Years Old Today !!!!! …DEC 3 2012….

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3 December 2012 ….BBC NEWS SITE…. AN interesting interview thro SMS…. NICE TO READ …..

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Texting SMS pioneer Matti Makkonen 20 years on…..

In a world first, on 3 December 1992, an engineer sent the message “Merry Christmas” from a PC to a mobile device using Vodafone’s UK network.

But the origins of the idea date back further to Matti Makkonen. Over a pizza at a telecoms conference in 1984, the former Finnish civil servant put forward the idea of a mobile phone messaging service. This was to become the SMS (short message service) standard.

Dubbed the “father of SMS”- a title he dislikes because of the work others did to develop the technology – Matti Makkonen rarely gives interviews. However, he made an exception for the BBC’s tech team with an interview via SMS.

Following are the highlights of SMS text interview…. Questions of Mr. LEO KELLON from BBC are answered by MR. MATTI MAKKONEN..SMS PIONEER !!!!

Tues 15:24
It’s been estimated 8 trillion test messages were sent last year. 20yrs ago how popular did you think sms would get and what did you think it would be used for?

Tues 15:40
20yrs ago I didn’t see sms as separate issue – it was just a feature in the revolutionary mobile communications system. Very useful for quick business needs.

Tues 15:45
You never got any money for it as you didn’t patent the idea. Is that a regret – or are you glad how things worked out?.

Tues 15:58
I dont think I made a patentable innovation, but was one of the early persons to understand the need and the concept. I’m glad the work was done as part of GSM.

Tues 18:03
You’ve been described as the “reluctant father of SMS” and it took a newspaper investigation to identify you. Why were you so quiet about your achievement?

Weds 06:05
I did not consider sms as personal achievement but as result of joint effort to collect ideas and write the specifications of the services based on them.

Weds 12:22
Cn u txtspk?

Weds 12:26
No! My passion is to write correct language (Finnish), using all 160 characters.

Weds 12:28
What do you think of people who do? Do you hate it?

Weds 12:33
No, I don’t hate them. Actually sms can also be seen as a way for language to develop. More symbols, less characters.

Weds 14:26
What do you make of sexting? A lot of high profile figures have come to regret some of their more explicit messages!?!

Weds 15:18
In my mind private messages of high profile persons should be kept out of public discussion. Privacy belongs to telecommunication as much as to private letters.

Weds 17:08
Do you suffer from text spam? If so what kind?

Weds 17:16
Not at all. Finnish legislation is quite protective. Marketing messages are allowed only if you really allow them. Spam calls are more often problem.

Weds 18:47
Do you prefer typing in a keypad or touchscreen? And how fast are you?

Weds 20:11
I love touchscreen. Slow enough to think and sometimes even edit what I write.

Weds 20:13
Will sms survive another 20 years – of will Facebook, Skype and other instant messaging chat systems take over?

Weds 20:30
20 years is long time… I believe that reliable convenient to use text messaging will stay forever. Is not necessary what we call sms. No more pay per message.

Thurs 10:38
It was 8 years between your idea of SMS and the first text being sent. Were you surprised it took so long?

Thurs 14:26
No. Actually I felt myself as a customer, who had noticed a need. I was happy to see that the development was going on in a gsm working team. The real launch of the service, as I see it, was when Nokia introduced the first phone that enabled easy writing of messages (Nokia 2010 in 1994).

Thurs 14:41
Do you have any other big idea for the future!?!

Thurs 15:06
Not my idea but integration of mobile content display to my eyeglasses would be nice. Maybe someone is working working with it !!!

Dealing With a Metrosexual Patient !!!!!

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December 1, 2012

Dealing with a metrosexual patient

DR. V. JOHN BENNO   in THE HINDU

Do you think the metrosexual is going to believe your last-century clinical skills? He believes only in echos, endos, angios and tomos.Don’t rub the wrong side of the metrosexual and end up being the twitters’ target!

A metrosexual patient can be defined as one who talks, walks, laughs, coughs, wheezes and sneezes like an American. He has set foot in the dreamland — America (never mind, if it was only to sit in the bench between breakfast and lunch and catch the next return flight).

Need proof of his American-ness? Well! He comes to your clinic clad in shorts and addresses you, “Doc!,” unlike the pants-clad locals who call you, “Doctorrr!” or “Sarr!” Sometimes, he prefers your second name. Oh, I forgot an important thing! Whenever I say ‘he,’ please insert an ‘s’ in brackets before ‘he.’ (Beware the female metrosexual!).

The intro (don’t you know the short form of introduction?) to the metrosexual patient’s complaints starts like this: “Doc! You know my eyes are sooo… precious to me!” (For all others, they are optional accessories!). And then he elaborates his complaints. You should be grateful to him that during the whole conversation, he keeps his notebook closed, ignores his i-phone calls and fancy SMS tones, all…….. for your sake.

Try to concentrate on his talk and suppress the temptation of yawning, or worse, laughing. Other points to remember before you lose any more of your metrosexual patients: 1.The best way (or the worst way?) to insult a metrosexual patient is to talk to him in the local tongue.

2. Don’t ask him: “Do you work on computers?” Not only because it is so obvious, but also because this silly question will, in his eyes, downgrade you to the level of computer illiterates, who call the computer a computer. (‘Computerologists’ call it ‘SYSTEM’)

And then graciously he lets you examine him, with milder comments like, “It’s so hot doc! Can you please increase the AC?” or “Are you sure you are qualified to do this, doc?” You have to increase the AC though you might feel a shiver and assure him that you were a gold medallist in medical school. (Remember! In the U.S., it’s medical school, not college!)

After examining him, you ‘must’ order special investigations. Do you think the metrosexual is going to believe your last-century clinical skills? He believes only in echos, endos, angios and tomos. (Come on! I can’t keep expanding every short form!) Mind you, the report printouts should be of the ultimate quality and in multicolour. He asks you to explain every aspect of the report and listens intently, though he doesn’t understand an iota of your explanation. He loves to carry these coloured papers, but still asks for a soft copy. (CDs and pen drives are much harder than papers, why the hell call them soft!)

Then, he asks for the diagnosis. Don’t be stupid and say things like ‘cold with fever.’ Be exact — ‘Acute viral laryngopharyngitis with pyrexia.’ He immediately googles it in his laptop/ i-phone/both and comes back with lots and lots of information (or misinformation) and starts asking you the most intelligent questions like, “Doc! Is it heat? You know, I missed my oil bath last week!” or “Doc! I had those stupid idlis for breakfast. Is it gas?” Don’t get angry at these queries; but politely say “no.” Don’t rub the metrosexual up the wrong side and end up being the twitters’ target!

After all these ordeals, the metrosexual firmly denies any form of treatment whatsoever; he has come to you only for an assurance that everything is all right with his physique. He is a member of two gyms, you know, (don’t bother him by asking whether he has ever seen the interiors of the gyms) and does pranayama regularly (twice a year). Obviously, he is in good health and doesn’t need to spend unnecessarily (!)

At last, somewhat satisfied, the metro asks you to quote your fees. He searches for petty cash (read one hundred rupees) among his platinum and gold cards; luckily he finds a hundred ‘bucks’ note. After paying, he asks you for a receipt (for the silly tax formalities, you know). After looking at the receipt a couple of times, he asks in a hushed tone, “Doc! Can you make it two hundred, please?” After all, Dil hai Hindustani!

(The writer is a consultant ophthalmologist. Email: johnbennov@yahoo.com)