Historical
Our house is located in the 'Old Airport Area'. Until 1980 it was the busiest Airport in the Kingdom, now the new airport is located 25 kms away from the city. The archaelogical department maintains the sign boards and few buildings. This board is in the entrance of a road nearby, still 'Arrivals' and 'Departures' are readable.
Hysterical
This is a signboard of key duplicating shop, iron box.......means 'Safe'? -:)
Emotions - We face it in our everyday life, affect us in all directions and in different modes, the below message is forwarded by my friend, i am glad to share with my blog friends:
The distance between the front and rear wheels, l
The distance from your front wheel to the corner of the front bumper, k
The width of the car you're trying to park behind, w
Simon Blackburn, Professor of Mathematics, at the University of London,
worked out a formula for the perfect parking, reminds our good school days,
Blackburn's formula does this by sketching the arc of your car's turning capability into a full circle, then using the center of the circle to create the right-angle triangles Pythagoras loved.That's a lot of work just to tell you if you have enough space for an easy park. And it doesn't tell you how to do the parking. That's something you have to learn by doing, which is how most people figure out whether they have enough space to park in the first place.
Mathematics gives you a way of understanding in detail what people have learned to do simply by practice and expertise," he says."In fact, when we practice something, be it on the athletic field or in an automobile, we are becoming very good mathematicians at doing a particular kind of operation, but usually we don't call it mathematics — and we certainly don't give people a pass on the math test because they can park their car."
How To Park Perfectly
Source: The Geometry of Perfect Parking by Simon R. Blackburn
Credit: Alyson Hurt, NPR
I read an article published by EPA that paper production is the third most energy intensive of all manufacturing industries. To make one sheet of paper, 13 ounces of water (size of a soft drink can) is required, and also over the third of waste is sent to municipal landfills are papers, among other effects, it breaks down and produce gases like methane.
Reducing paper usage will bring the operations cost and it contributes a lot to our environment. For example, during 2007 Bank of America saved $700,000 by advising their employees to use double sided print, lighter weight paper and using online forms.
Some of the tips to conserve our energy, most of them we already know, hope nothing wrong to remind ourselves.
Just to share this message i have it in my inbox forwarded by a friend few months back, it is another perspective of how we can approach a task, does everything should be done rapidly? are we more adapted to "doing things faster" culutre? We cant either be too slow but do the things moderately with proper planning:
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It's been 18 years since I joined Volvo, a Swedish company. Working for them has proven to be an interesting experience. Any project here takes 2 years to be finalized, even if the idea is simple and brilliant. It's a rule.
Globalize processes have caused in us (all over the world) a general sense of searching for immediate results. Therefore, we have come to posses a need to see immediate results. This contrasts greatly with the slow movements of the Swedish. They, on the other hand, debate, debate, debate, hold x quantity of meetings and work with a slowdown scheme. At the end, this always yields better results.
Said in another words:
1. Sweden is about the size of San Pablo, a state in Brazil.
2. Sweden has 2 million inhabitants.
3. Stockholm, has 500,000 people.
4. Volvo, Escania, Ericsson, Electrolux, Nokia are some of its renowned companies. Volvo supplies the NASA.
The first time I was in Sweden, one of my colleagues picked me up at the hotel every morning. It was September, bit cold and snowy. We would arrive early at the company and he would park far away from the entrance (2000 employees drive their car to work). The first day, I didn't say anything, either the second or third. One morning I asked, "Do you have a fixed parking space? I've noticed we park far from the entrance even when there are no other cars in the lot." To which he replied, "Since we're here early we'll have time to walk, and whoever gets in late will be late and need a place closer to the door. Don't you think? Imagine my face.
Nowadays, there's a movement in Europe name Slow Food. This movement establishes that people should eat and drink slowly, with enough time to taste their food, spend time with the family, friends, without rushing.
Slow Food is against its counterpart: the spirit of Fast Food and what it stands for as a lifestyle. Slow Food is the basis for a bigger movement called Slow Europe, as mentioned by Business Week.
Basically, the movement questions the sense of "hurry" and "craziness"
generated by globalization, fueled by the desire of "having in quantity"
(life status) versus "having with quality", "life quality" or the "quality of being".
French people, even though they work 35 hours per week, are more productive than Americans or British. Germans have established 28.8 hour workweeks and have seen their productivity been driven up by 20%. This slow attitude has brought forth the US's attention, pupils of the fast and the "do it now!".
This no-rush attitude doesn't represent doing less or having a lower productivity. It means working and doing things with greater quality, productivity, perfection, with attention to detail and less stress. It means reestablishing family values, friends, free and leisure time. Taking the "now", present and concrete, versus the "global", undefined and anonymous. It means taking humans' essential values, the simplicity of living.
It stands for a less coercive work environment, more happy, lighter and more productive where humans enjoy doing what they know best how to do.
It's time to stop and think on how companies need to develop serious quality with no-rush that will increase productivity and the quality of products and services, without losing the essence of spirit.
In the movie, Scent of a Woman, there's a scene where Al Pacino asks a girl to dance and she replies, "I can't, my boyfriend will be here any minute now". To which Al responds, "A life is lived in an instant". Then they dance to a tango.
Many of us live our lives running behind time, but we only reach it when we die of a heart attack or in a car accident rushing to be on time. Others are so anxious of living the future that they forget to live the present, which is the only time that truly exists. We all have equal time throughout the world. No one has more or less. The difference lies in how each one of us does with our time. We need to live each moment. As John Lennon said, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans".
