Travel businessmen and other businessmen can think about this. Johnny Lim has taught business in U.P. for 30 years. Now close to retirement, he comes up with a startling wisdom that contradicts most common beliefs. He said that to be permanently successful in business money is not important because money can be lost. Technology is not important because it can be copied. What is important is values.
He cited the winners in the lotto who become cash rich beyond their wildest imagination. Many of them fail in business and become poor again in spite of the availability of money. Many top corporations and successful individuals become bankrupt in spite of the handiness of money and technology. Values cannot be bought nor copied. It is generated, nurtured and internalized from within.
To be permanently successful, he said, the businessman must practice the basic values of sacrifice. Johnny Lim enumerates them and altogether they are contained in the word SACRIFICE:
S - Self-detachment. Subordination of self interest in favor of family, business, and community interests is the only way to permanently benefit one's self.
A - Accountability. You and you alone are responsible for anything that goes wrong. Do everything possible yourself and if you delegate, remember that the buck stops right where you are.
C - Courage. Believe in your mission and the benefit to others; think that you are capable and that the mission can be accomplished even if it looks beyond your personal abilities.
R - Respect. Show respect not to the people who have superior positions and resources but to the small people. Strength generated from small people can be infinitely more powerful.
I - Integrity. Be a total integer - 1. Total uniformity in crisis as in good times. Uniform action whether you are alone or with a group, and no hypocrisy.
F - Faith. Believe that everything will come out positively good, that even in badness something good will materialize. Treat problems as seeds of opportunity for greater things.
I - Innocence. Be a child of 0 to 2 years old, the reflection of total innocence; no prejudgment and prejudices.
C - Culture of leadership. Implement all the values by leading people in your mission, believing that you are intelligent and capable of doing your mission for the benefit of the majority.
E - Excellence. Believe that nothing can be done without superiority of enthusiasm and complete commitment to do it. Forming little habits over a long period produce excellence no matter what. There is no instant success.
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Other countries take to creative tourism development, the staging of events to attract tourists. In Edinburgh, Scotland the annual International Science Festival unfolds on April 6. The festival has it all, the invitation proclaims, entertaining, engaging, immersive events for everyone.
The flyers announce these come-ons: Walk on red-hot coals, dig to uncover a life-size dinosaur skeleton, take part in a scientific ghost-hunting experiment, have a conversation with science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, get your hands on and sit in cabs of a stunning assortment of big machines, make a 3D photo-realistic image of yourself then use it in a computer game. Sounds like a fun-filled experience for young and adults.
The trend for shows is to make the exhibits interactive, that is, the exhibits are not only to be looked at but touched, manipulated and interacted to by the viewer. Arthur C. Clarke is the English writer, quite an unorthodox person, who first imagined communication satellites hovering above earth at a point where the pull of earth's gravity and sun's gravity are equal, thereby allowing the satellites to orbit endlessly with very little energy required.
The exhibition features replica garments including loincloths, tunics, gloves, socks, leopard skins and footwear based on those found in Tutankhamun�s tomb. A broad, lively and informal forum for everyone with an interest in promoting science and technology is listed as one of the events. Others are: Test your pedal power on an energy bike, get into a spin with inertia and find out how fast your reflexes are. Explore the Earth's surface, see a tame tornado or perplex yourself on our puzzle trail. A hands-on display for all the family on greenhouse gases and climate change. Find out how fireworks fizz, get your food to glow in the dark, and design fashions to dye for. Use your team's skill and ingenuity to design the best flying machine and win a prize. Find out what genetic engineering really means and learn how to create the DNA to make a new protein. Explore colour and vision in this show about what we see - and what we think we see. And many others.
The Edinburgh Medal is one of Scotland's top science awards and is awarded each year, in association with the City of Edinburgh Council, to an individual who has not only demonstrated himself to be an exceptional scientist or technologist, but one who has also contributed to the social well being of the community with which he works. The Medal recipients are a distinguished and international group, and the presentation ceremony is always one of the highlights of the Science Festival. The 2001 Edinburgh Medal is being awarded to Sir John Sulston, one of the scientists at the heart of the world-wide project to unravel the human genome. He is also at the center of the wider social debate about how the code should be used, and is a strong advocate for the public ownership of the code so that the information can be used for the benefit of all.
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The European Commission has just announced an agreement that English will be the official language of the EU rather than German which was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, Her Majesty's Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5 year phase-in plan that would be known as "Euro-English".
In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of the"k". This should klear up konfusion and keyboards kan have one less letter. There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond
year, when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like "fotograf" 20% shorter. In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be ekspekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkorage the removal of double letters, which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of the silent "e"s in the language is disgraseful, and they should go away. By the fourth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v". During ze fifz year, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and
similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters. After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi to understand ech ozer. Ze drem vil finali kum tru! And zen ve vil tak over ze world!
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In Thailand, riot policemen need groin protectors because street protesters have been targeting cops in their most vulnerable areas. Major-General Damrongsak Nilkhuha is the latest victim of testicle-grabbing incidents. He was at a rally outside Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's house when a woman crossed the barricade, grabbed his testicles from behind and squeezed them hard. The grabbing caused embarrasment. Others were pinched in their sensitive parts during this and other protests.. A Thai company, Nation Man Thailand, offered to donate a thousand groin protectors to the police. It make groin protectors for Thai boxers made from elastic polyurethane.
A group of radical Hindus ran away with chips of marble taken off the Taj Mahal, the famous monument to love in Agra, and broke through police cordons at a disputed shrine. Authorities in India are sensitive to acts committed by vandals. They may have religious significance. The Hindus and the Muslims in India and a variety of other sects have been at odds with each other ever since we can remember. The Taj Mahal does not belong to any particular religious group but to all Indians; however, radical groups may have a different point-of-view.
Signs seen lately - Denmark, in a Copenhagen airline ticket office: "We take your bags and send them in all directions". German/Austria, a sign in a hotel catering to skiers read , �Not to perambulate the corridors in the hours of repose in the boots of ascension�. British/England, in an effort to boost orange juice sales in predominantly continental breakfast eating England, a campaign was devised to extol the drink�s eye-opening, pick-me-up qualities, �Orange juice. It gets your pecker up�.
Osama bin Laden, not feeling well and concerned about his health, goes to consult a psychic about the date of his death. Closing her eyes and silently reaching into the realm of the future she finds the answer. "You will die on an American holiday." "Which one?" Osama bin Laden asks nervously. "It doesn't matter," replied the psychic. "Whenever you die, it will be an American holiday."
The highest Islamic priests in Saudi Arabia have banned the globally-popular children's game, Pokemon. The fatwa said the game and its trading cards teach gambling and polluted the minds of children. Jewish, Christian and Shintoist symbols on the cards also incurred the ire of the Islamic body. Gambling is forbidden in Islam. Pokemon has developed into a multi-million dollar industry. Saudi Arabia has decided to confiscate and destroy all cards and accessories in the kingdom.
Four hundred children trekked to Buenos Aires in a mammoth 2,000-kilometer march aimed at bringing attention to child poverty. It is estimated that 43 percent of children in Argentina are living below the poverty line. Children are forced to work in order to afford the high cost of obtaining an education.
The voice of Catholicism may be silenced forever. Residents near the Vatican radio station complained of severe health defects resulting from abnormally strong magnetic radiation emanating from Vatican broadcasting towers, which transmit the Holy See's message across the globe. People living near the station said the signal is so strong that at times Vatican Radio broadcasts can be heard when they open the refrigerator or when the doorbell rings. Italy's Environment Ministry gave the Pope 15 days to reduce the station's magnetic voltage or face eternal silence.
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This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most
generous and possibly the least appreciated people on earth. He wrote:
"Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of
the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and
forgave other billions in debts. None of these countries is today paying
even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.
"When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans
who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the
streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.
"When earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the United States that hurries in
to help. This spring, 59 American communities were flattened by tornadoes.
Nobody helped.
"The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars! into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering Americans.
"I'd like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplane. Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the
Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC10? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all the International lines except Russia fly American planes?
"Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman on the moon? You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon not once, but several times and safely home again.
You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at. Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, and most of them, unless they are breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home to spend here.
"When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke.
"I can name you 5,000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.
"Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them get kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles. I hope Canada is
not one of those.
"Stand proud, America! "
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