survival8

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

A World Without Borders

A World Without Borders

Following data / stats are present in this page:
1. The World's Most Friendly Countries
2. Asia's Newly Emerging Constitutions
3. Ten Recent Ongoing Conflicts Around The World
4. Heat Map Showing The Countries With Ongoing Conflicts
5. Map Showing The Countries Where English Is An Official Language
6. Percentage Of English Speakers By Country As Of 2014
7. Number of Internet users in 2011 (countries presented as bubbles)

1. The World's Most Friendly Countries:

#1 New Zealand
A large majority of expats living among Kiwis—75%—report that it was easy to fit into the new culture. And 55% say they will either stay or return to the country (compared with 23% of surveyed expats overall).

#2 Australia
A majority of folks living Down Under—77%—reported that they were able to integrate well with the local community, while 87% said
they felt welcome at work. Other sweet spots include an economy regarded as strong by 95% of respondents, and high rankings in the raising children abroad category.

#3 South Africa
In addition to being welcoming—79% of respondents here said they were able to integrate well with the local community—this country offers expats financial perks, with 47% saying that relocating here has brought more access to luxuries, and 69% reporting an increased disposable income.

#4 Canada
A majority of respondent here report better working conditions and improved work-life balance as a result of their relocation; 39% say they are interested in staying on to become long-term expats.

#5 United States
Expats here are impressed with their earnings, and say that, since relocating, their cars and housing situations have improved. But many are concerned with difficult-to-navigate school and healthcare systems.

#6 Turkey
Prepare to be delighted. Turkish people are the most friendly people I ever met,” noted one respondent living here. But Turkey, a new addition to the survey this year, also prompted worries about natural disasters.

#7 United Kingdom
Expats in the UK find community integration to be relatively easy, although many are concerned with the high cost of living and say that an uncertain economy is prompting them to consider moving.

#8 Philippines
This country is friendly on wallets, too: 47% report an increase in access to luxuries, including domestic staff, swimming pools, and owning properties.

#9 Spain
Expats fit in well here, with many reporting they have integrated well into their community, enjoyed the local culture, made local friends, learned and used the local language, and have experienced a better work-life balance than in their home countries (which included the UK, US, France, and Netherlands).

#10 Malaysia
Many expats here say they have learned the local language and befriended locals. Said one respondent, “Malaysia is a peaceful country. Government transactions like tax, EPF [Employees Provident Fund], are very efficient. Food is relatively cheap. Also the country is clean and green and they respect the environment.”

#11 Brazil
A new addition to the survey this year, Brazil warmly welcomes expats but is off-putting to many (81%) because of complex finances as a result of different currencies, money moving between countries, and complicated taxes. Still, expats here have a positive economic outlook (as do those in other BRIC countries) and expect the country’s economy to improve in the coming year.

#12 Italy
Another new addition to the survey this year, Italy has many expats (88%) who said the economy is weak and deteriorating; still, only 22% were considering relocating.

#13 Mexico
A majority of expats here (62%) say they were drawn to Mexico for better career and money prospects. Worries, though, include the possibility of natural disasters and their children’s safety.

#14 Singapore
Singapore provides the best of both worlds, say expats, offering both quality of life and career progression. Still, overall integration can be a challenge: Respondents say they are more likely to hang out with other expats than locals, and are also more likely to send their children to international schools.

#15 France
Claiming the No. 1 spot in the raising children abroad category, France impressed with its relatively low childcare costs and healthier children’s lifestyles. Plus, a vast majority has tried to learn or use French (93%), enjoyed the local food (71%) and felt welcome at work (89%).

Source: Fobes (Oct 2017)

2. Asia's Newly Emerging Constitutions

#1 Iraq
Date: October 15, 2005
Development: Constitution of Iraq following the Iraq War

#2 Bhutan
Date: March 24, 2008
Development: First elections to the National Assembly

#3 Nepal
Date: May 28, 2008
Development: Formation of Republic

#4 Turkmenistan
Date: September 28, 2008
Development: Constitution of Turkmenistan

#5 Kyrgyzstan
Date: June 10, 2010
Development: Constitution of Kyrgyzstan introduces parliamentary system.

#6 Myanmar
Date: March 30, 2011
Development: The military junta is replaced by an elected government

#7 Jordan
Date: June 12, 2011
Development: The Cabinet of Jordan is made an elected body

#8 Syria
Date: February 27, 2012
Development: Constitution of Syria formed.

#9 Vietnam
Date: January 1, 2014
Development: Current Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

#10 Thailand
Date: April 6, 2017
Development: Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand 2017

3. Ten Recent Ongoing Conflicts Around The World
Important thing to note here is that nine out of ten are in Africa.

#	Start of conflict	Conflict	Continent	Location	Fatalities
1	2012	Central African Republic conflict	Africa	Central African Republic	6,643+
2	2011	Libyan Crisis Libyan Civil War (2014–present)	Africa	Libya	14,382
3	2011	Yemeni Crisis Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)	Asia	Yemen Saudi Arabia	9,400+ – 15,500
4	2011	Sinai insurgency	Africa	Egypt	4,544+
5	2011	South Kordofan conflict	Africa	Sudan	7,000+
6	2011	Ethnic violence in South Sudan South Sudanese Civil War	Africa	South Sudan Ethiopia	50,000+
7	2009	Boko Haram insurgency	Africa	Nigeria Cameroon Niger Chad	51,567+
8	2003	War in Darfur	Africa	Sudan	178,363+
9	1998	Communal conflicts in Nigeria	Africa	Nigeria	17,156
10	1991	Somali Civil War War in Somalia	Africa	Somalia Kenya	500,000

4. Heat Map Showing The Countries With Ongoing Conflicts:

Source: Wikipedia

5. Map Showing The Countries Where English Is An Official Language

Shown here are the territories where English is an official language, that is, a language used in citizen interactions with government officials. In 2015, there were 54 sovereign states and 27 non-sovereign entities where English was an official language. Many country subdivisions have declared English an official language at the local or regional level.

The majority of countries where English is an official language are former territories of the British Empire. Notable exceptions include Rwanda, which was formerly a Belgian territory, and Eritrea, which was an Italian colony where the British Empire maintained control only in World War II and shortly after (1941–1955). English is the sole official language of the Commonwealth of Nations. English is one of the official languages of the United Nations, the European Union and the International Olympic Committee. Although English is not an official language at the national level in the United States, many states and territories within the United States have English as an official language.

The United Kingdom, United States, Australia and New Zealand, where the overwhelming majority of native English speakers reside, do not have English as an official language de jure, but English is considered to be their de facto official language due to its historical and widespread use in these nations.

6. Percentage Of English Speakers By Country As Of 2014

Because English is so widely spoken, it has often been referred to as a "world language", the lingua franca of the modern era, and while it is not an official language in most countries, it is currently the language most often taught as a foreign language. It is, by international treaty, the official language for aeronautical and maritime communications. English is one of the official languages of the United Nations and many other international organizations, including the International Olympic Committee.

English is studied most often in the European Union, and the perception of the usefulness of foreign languages among Europeans is 67 percent in favor of English ahead of 17 percent for German and 16 percent for French (as of 2012). Among some of the non-English-speaking EU countries, the following percentages of the adult population claimed to be able to converse in English in 2012: 90 percent in the Netherlands, 89 percent in Malta, 86 percent in Sweden and Denmark, 73 percent in Cyprus and Austria, 70 percent in Finland, and over 50 percent in Greece, Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia, and Germany. In 2012, excluding native speakers, 38 percent of Europeans consider that they can speak English.

Books, magazines, and newspapers written in English are available in many countries around the world, and English is the most commonly used language in the sciences with Science Citation Index reporting as early as 1997 that 95% of its articles were written in English, even though only half of them came from authors in English-speaking countries.

In publishing, English literature predominates considerably with 28 percent of all books published in the world [leclerc 2011] and 30 percent of web content in 2011 (from 50 percent in 2000).

This increasing use of the English language globally has had a large impact on many other languages, leading to language shift and even language death, and to claims of linguistic imperialism. English itself has become more open to language shift as multiple regional varieties feed back into the language as a whole.

7. Number of Internet users in 2011 (countries presented as bubbles)
This map illustrates the total number of Internet users in a country as well as the percentage of the population that had Internet access in 2011.

Share your ideas for any interesting world view, stats, etc.

Thanks and Regards
Ashishjainblogger@gmail.com

Saturday, October 14, 2017

Live your life the Virgin way!

Live your life the Virgin way!

Here are the top ten points by Richard Branson that will inspire you to live your life the Virgin way:

1. FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS AND JUST DO IT
You will live a much better life if you ‘just do it’ and pursue your passions. People who have the courage to spend their time working on things they love are usually the ones enjoying life the most. They are also the ones who dared to take a risk and chase their dreams.

2. MAKE A POSITIVE DIFFERENCE AND DO SOME GOOD
If you aren’t making a positive difference to other people’s lives, then you shouldn’t be in business. Companies have a responsibility to make a difference in the world, for their staff, their customers – everyone. The amazing part is that doing good is also good for business, so what are you waiting for?

3. BELIEVE IN YOUR IDEAS AND BE THE BEST
A passionate belief in your business and personal objectives can make all the difference between success and failure. If you aren’t proud of what you’re doing, why should anybody else be? Don’t get suckered into blindly pursuing profits and growth. Stay focused on being the best at everything you do and, if you want it to, the rest will follow.

4. HAVE FUN AND LOOK AFTER YOUR TEAM
Fun is one of the most important – and underrated – ingredients in any successful venture. If you’re not having fun, then it’s probably time to call it quits and try something else. If your team members are engaged, having fun and genuinely care about other people, they will enjoy their work more and do a better job – it’s really that simple. Find people who look for the best in others, lavish more praise than criticism, and love what they do.

5. DON’T GIVE UP
On every adventure I have undertaken – whether setting up a business, flying around the world in a balloon or racing across oceans in a boat – there have been moments when the easy thing to do would have been to throw in the towel and walk away. By simply sticking with it, brushing yourself down and trying again, you’ll be amazed what you can achieve.

6. LISTEN, TAKE LOTS OF NOTES AND KEEP SETTING NEW CHALLENGES
Listen more and talk less. Take notes – lots of notes. If you don’t write down your own (and others’) spontaneous ideas, they can be gone in the blink of an eye. Make lists to keep track of your goals. You’ll be amazed at the challenges a listening culture can overcome.

7. DELEGATE AND SPEND MORE TIME WITH YOUR FAMILY
The art of delegation is one of the key skills any entrepreneur must master. ‘Hire your weaknesses’ – if you find people who can take on tasks you aren’t good at, it frees you up to plan for the future. It also gives you time to spend with your family, which is really the most important thing of all. Oh yes, and don’t forget to garner your family’s input on the occasional big idea – like Virgin condoms, for instance!

8. TURN OFF THAT LAPTOP AND IPHONE AND GET YOUR DERRIÈRE OUT THERE
Rather than sitting in front of a screen all your life, try switching it all off on a regular basis and going out into the world. Start with your own backyard and then expand your field of vision. ‘Life isn’t a dress rehearsal’. With so many fascinating people to meet, exciting adventures to embark upon and rewarding challenges to undertake, there’s no time to lose.

9. COMMUNICATE, COLLABORATE AND COMMUNICATE SOME MORE
Keep it simple, stupid, and above all else keep it coming. Mushrooms might grow when they are kept in the dark and fed a diet of dung but it doesn’t work with people. Remember Steve Jobs and the Pixar piazza: build open work environments that invite your people to intermingle and share their visions.

10. DO WHAT YOU LOVE AND HAVE A COUCH IN THE KITCHEN
As long as you are surrounded by the people you love and doing what you love, it really doesn’t matter where you are. When we are on Necker we tend to spend most of our time in the kitchen. Add in a bedroom and a partner that you love, and you really don’t need too much more.

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Is it possible to eliminate jails - Believe it can be done!

Here is a basic truth: To do anything, we must first believe it can be done. Believing something can be done sets the mind in motion to find a way to do it. To illustrate this point of creative thinking in training sessions, I often use this example: I ask the group, "How many of you feel it is possible to eliminate jails within the next thirty years?"

Invariably the group looks bewildered, not quite sure they heard right and thinking they are listening to a real fuzzy-wuzzy. So after a pause I repeat, "How many of you feel it is possible to eliminate jails within the next thirty years?"

Once they're sure I'm not joking, someone always blasts me with something like "You mean to say you want to turn all those murderers, thieves, and rapists loose? Don't you realize what this would mean? Why, none of us would be safe. We have to have jails." Then the others cut loose:

"All order would break down if we didn't have jails."

"Some people are born criminals."

"If anything, we need more jails."

"Did you read in this morning's paper about that murder?" And the group goes on, telling me all sorts of good reasons why we must have jails. One fellow even suggested we've got to have jails so the police and prison guards can have jobs. After about ten minutes of letting the group "prove" why we can't eliminate the need for jails, I say to them, "Now let me mention here that this question of eliminating jails is used to make a point. Each of you has come up with reasons why we can't eliminate the need for jails. Will you do me a favor? Will you try extra hard for a few minutes to believe we can eliminate jails?"

Joining in the spirit of the experiment, the group says, in effect, "Oh, well, but just for kicks." Then I ask, "Now, assuming we can eliminate jails, how could we begin?" Suggestions come slowly at first. Someone hesitantly says something like, "Well, you might cut down crime if you established more youth centers."

Before long, the group, which ten minutes ago was solidly against the idea, now begins to work up real enthusiasm.

"Work to eliminate poverty. Most crime stems from the low income levels."

"Conduct research to spot potential criminals before they commit a crime."

"Develop surgical procedures to cure some kinds of criminals."

"Educate law enforcement personnel in positive methods of reform."

These are just samples of the seventy-eight specific ideas I've tabulated that could help accomplish the goal of eliminating jails.

WHEN YOU BELIEVE, YOUR MIND FINDS WAYS TO DO.

This experiment has just one point: When you believe something is impossible, your mind goes to work for you to prove why. But when you believe, really believe, something can be done; your mind goes to work for you and helps you find the ways to do it.

- David J Schwartz

Saturday, October 7, 2017

Check this list of books, see if you want one!

Dear friends
Here is a list of book titles that I have in downloadable format (PDF), if you want any of these books, either follow the download link or if download link is not there, leave the book name in the comments or write to me at "ashishjainblogger@gmail.com".

Dated: October 2017

Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell.pdf
Using Emotional Intelligence Handout (Hembree).pdf
Virgin way (Richard Branson).pdf
365 Days of the year (Books)
4 Hour Workweek (Timothy Ferriss, book, 2009)
48 Laws of power (Robert Greene)
7 Spiritual Laws of Success (Deepak Chopra, Notes)
8th Habit (Book)
A new Earth - Awakening to your life's purpose (Eckhart Tolle)
Abdul Kalam
Adolf Hitler - Motivational Clips
Ascent of money - the financial history of the world (Niall Ferguson)
Blink (Malcolm Gladwell)
Business and Mgmt Help Books (Notes)
Codependent No More (Books, Hazelden, Melody Beattie)
Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits (PDF)
How to stop worrying and start living - Dale Carnegie
How to win friends and influence people (Dale Carnegie)
How Would You Move Mount Fuji (William Poundstone)
Justice (Whats the right thing to do, M Sandel)
Lie Spotting - Pamela Meyer
LTCM - Long Term Capiltal Management (Hedge Fund)
Magic of thinking big (David J Schwartz)
Power of Now (Eckhart Tolle)
Power of positive thinking (Dr Norman Vincent Peale)
Power of subconscious mind - Joseph Murphy
Project Time Management (Books)
Road less traveled (M. Scott Peck)
Robin Sharma (Author)
Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra (Notes)
Speed Reading (Books)
Tim Harford Books
What It Takes to Be No 1 (Vince Lombardi on Leadership)
Who Moved My Cheese (Dr Spencer Johnson) (Notes)
You can heal your life (Louise L Hay)
You can win - Shiv Khera
Zero to One - Peter Thiel
101 Great Answers to the Toughest Interview Questions.pdf
201 best questions to ask on your interview
365 Daily Quotes.pdf
365 Sample Table Topics Questions (TM).pdf
365 Success Quotes.pdf
48 laws of power - Robert Greene.pdf
99 Essentials Book.pdf
A First Course in String Theory.pdf
Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
Art of influencing and selling
Art of the deal (Donald J Trump).pdf
As a man thinketh (MC Librivox, 64kb, mp3).zip
Benjamin Graham - David-Dodd - Security Analysis 6e (2).pdf
Bonded Labor (Siddharth Kara).pdf
Bonded Labor (Tackling the System of Slavery in South Asia).pdf
Building a winning culture (BB).pdf
Capital in the 21st century - Thomas-Piketty.pdf
Common sense of investing - John Bogle.pdf
Common sense on mutual funds (10e).pdf
Complete idiots guide to string theory (Musser G).pdf
Daily Inspiration (Robin Sharma).pdf
Daily Walk With Great Minds (2E).pdf
Emotional Intelligence 2.0 (Book Caps Study Guide).pdf
Emotional Intelligence 2.0 Step By Step.pdf
Emotional Intelligence 2.pdf
Finding the Right Stock.pdf
Freakonomics - Steven D. Levitt.pdf
Goal (EM Goldratt, 3e).pdf
Goal setting guide (Jim Rohn).pdf
Greatness Guide (Robin Sharma).pdf
Greatness-Guide-2 (Robin Sharma).pdf
Honest Truth (Achieve financial success and live a happier life).pdf
How Not To Be Wrong - Power of Mathematical Thinking.pdf
How to win at the sport of business (Mark Cuban).pdf
Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks.pdf
Intelligent investor (Ben Graham).pdf
Jonathan Livingston Seagul - Excerpt.pdf
Learned Optimism (Martin Seligman).pdf
Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill.pdf
Swaraj by Arvind Kejriwal.pdf
Management Concepts and Organizational Behaviour - Karam Pal - MC101 (Jul 2015).pdf
Mastery - Robert Greene.pdf
MegaLiving 30 Days to a Perfect Life (Robin Sharma).pdf
Millionaire mentor.pdf
One minute manager.pdf
Organizational Behavior (TN Chhabra) (PPT, Jul 2015).pdf
Port Folios Of The Poor.pdf
Price of inequality (stiglitz).pdf
Problems Of The Youth - Chetan Bhagat - Ashwani Rana.pdf
Psychology Of Selling - The Art Of Closing Sales - Brian Tracy.pdf
Psychology of Selling Life Insurance.pdf
Psychology of selling.pdf
Reading can boost your brain health, emotional intelligence (ET, 9-Aug-2017).png
Science of Getting Rich.pdf
Secret (Rhonda Byrne).pdf
Secret - A treasure hunt.pdf
Security Analysis (Benjamin Graham, David Dodd, 6e).pdf
Stay hungry stay foolish (Rashmi Bansal).pdf
Successful Time Management For Dummies.pdf
Handmaid's tale - Margaret Atwood (Download EPUB)
Last Lecture (Randy Pausch, Jeffrey Zaslow, 2008)

Ashish
ashishjainblogger@gmail.com

Sunday, October 1, 2017

Imagining all of cosmic time on a single calendar year

The universe is 13.8 thousand million years old. We are going to imagine all of the cosmic time, and in order to do that, let's compress it into a single calendar year. The cosmic calendar begins on January 1st with the birth of our universe. It contains everything that's happened since then, up to now, which on this calendar is midnight December 31st. On this scale, every month represents about a billion years. Every day represents nearly 40 million years. Let's go back as far as we can, to the very first moment of the universe. January 1st, the Big Bang. (explosion) It's as far back as we can see in time... for now. Our entire universe emerged from a point smaller than a single atom. Space itself exploded in a cosmic fire, launching the expansion of the universe and giving birth to all the energy and all the matter we know today. I know that sounds crazy, but there's strong observational evidence to support the Big Bang theory. And it includes the amount of helium in the cosmos and the glow of radio waves left over from the explosion. As it expanded, the universe cooled, and there was darkness for about 200 million years. Gravity was pulling together clumps of gas and heating them until the first stars burst into light on January 10th. On January 13th, these stars coalesced into the first small galaxies. These galaxies merged to form still larger ones, including our own Milky Way, which formed about 11 billion years ago, on March 15th of the cosmic year. Hundreds of billions of suns. Which one is ours? It's not yet born. It will rise from the ashes of other stars. See those lights flashing like paparazzi? Each one is a supernova, the blazing death of a giant star. Stars die and are born in places like this one -- a stellar nursery. They condense like raindrops from giant clouds of gas and dust. They get so hot that the nuclei of the atoms fuse together deep within them to make the oxygen we breathe, the carbon in our muscles, the calcium in our bones, the iron in our blood, all of it was cooked in the fiery hearts of long-vanished stars. You, me, everyone -- we are made of star stuff. This star stuff is recycled and enriched, again and again, through succeeding generations of stars. How much longer until the birth of our Sun? A long time. It won't begin to shine for another six billion years. Our Sun's birthday is August 31st on the Cosmic Calendar... ...four and a half billion years ago. As with the other worlds of our solar system, Earth was formed from a disk of gas and dust orbiting the newborn Sun. Repeated collisions produced a growing ball of debris. See that asteroid? No, not that one. The one over there. We exist because the gravity of that one next to it just nudged it an inch to the left. What difference could an inch make on the scale the solar system? Just wait, you'll see. The Earth took one hell of a beating in its first billion years. Fragments of orbiting debris collided and coalesced, until they snowballed to form our Moon. The Moon is a souvenir of that violent epoch. If you stood on the surface of that long ago Earth, the Moon would have looked a hundred times brighter. It was ten times closer back then, locked in a much more intimate gravitational embrace. As the Earth cooled, seas began to form. The tides were a thousand times higher then. Over the eons, tidal friction within Earth pushed the Moon away. Life began somewhere around here, September 21st, three and a half billion years ago on our little world. We still don't know how life got started. For all we know, it may have come from another part of the Milky Way. The origin of life is one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of science. That's life cooking, evolving all the biochemical recipes for its incredibly complex activities. By November 9th, life was breathing, moving, eating, responding to its environment. We owe a lot to those pioneering microbes. Oh, yeah-- one other thing. They also invented sex. December 17th was quite a day. Life in the sea really took off, it was exploding with a diversity of larger plants and animals. Tiktaalik was one of the first animals to venture onto land. It must have felt like visiting another planet. Forests, dinosaurs, birds, insects, they all evolved in the final week of December. The first flower... bloomed on December 28th. As these ancient forests grew and died and sank beneath the surface, their remains transformed into coal. 300 million years later, we humans are burning most of that coal to power and imperil our civilization. (whooshing) Remember that asteroid back in the formation of the solar system-- the one that got nudged a little to the left? Well, here it comes. It's 6:24 AM on December 30th on the Cosmic Calendar. (impact thundering) For more than a hundred million years, the dinosaurs were lords of the Earth, while our ancestors, small mammals, scurried fearfully underfoot. The asteroid changed all that. Suppose it hadn't been nudged at all. It would have missed the Earth entirely, and for all we know, the dinosaurs might still be here but we wouldn't. This is a good example of the extreme contingency, the chance nature, of existence. The universe is already more than 13 and a half billion years old. Still no sign of us. In the vast ocean of time that this calendar represents, we humans only evolved within the last hour of the last day of the cosmic year. 11:59 and 46 seconds. All of recorded history occupies only the last 14 seconds, and every person you've ever heard of lived somewhere in there. All those kings and battles, migrations and inventions, wars and loves, everything in the history books happened here, in the last seconds of the Cosmic Calendar. But if we want to explore such a brief moment of cosmic time... ...we'll have to change scale. We are newcomers to the cosmos. Our own story only begins on the last night of the cosmic year. It's 9:45 on New Year's Eve. Three and a half million years ago, our ancestors, yours and mine, left these traces. We stood up, and parted ways from them. Once we were standing on two feet, our eyes were no longer fixated on the ground. Now we were free to look up in wonder. For the longest part of human existence, say the last 40,000 generations, we were wanderers, living in small bands of hunters and gatherers, making tools, controlling fire, naming things, all within the last hour of the Cosmic Calendar. To find out what happens next, we'll have to change scale to see the last minute of the last night of the cosmic year. We're so very young on the time scale of the universe that we didn't start painting our first pictures until the last 60 seconds of the cosmic year, a mere 30,000 years ago. This is when we invented astronomy. In fact, we're all descended from astronomers. Our survival depended on knowing how to read the stars in order to predict the coming of the winter and the migration of the wild herds. And then, around 10,000 years ago, there began a revolution in the way we lived. Our ancestors learned how to shape their environment, taming wild plants and animals, cultivating land and settling down. This changed everything. For the first time in our history, we had more stuff than we could carry. We needed a way to keep track of it. At 14 seconds to midnight, or about 6,000 years ago, we invented writing. And it wasn't long before we started recording more than bushels of grain. Writing allowed us to save our thoughts and send them much further in space and time. Tiny markings on a clay tablet became a means for us to vanquish mortality. It shook the world. Moses was born seven seconds ago. Buddha, six seconds ago. Jesus, five seconds ago. Mohammed, three seconds ago. It was not even two seconds ago that, for better or worse, the two halves of the Earth discovered each other. And it was only in the very last second of the Cosmic Calendar that we began to use science to reveal nature's secrets and her laws. The scientific method is so powerful that in a mere four centuries, it has taken us from Galileo's first look through a telescope at another world to leaving our footprints on the Moon. It allowed us to look out across space and time to discover where and when we are in the cosmos. CARL SAGAN: We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.

References: Cosmos A Space Time Odyssey, Standing Up in the Milky Way

Thursday, September 28, 2017

My Books Wish List (October, 2017)

Dear friends

I love reading so one day I decided to get the list of famous books of my interest and then I search them on search engines like Google, Million Short (https://millionshort.com/) to get them gratis. For example, if I wanted self help books, I query 'self help books' on Google and it presents you with a list of its own. While opening Google, instead of typing 'google.com' (this redirects you to local site like 'google.co.in', 'google.co.uk', etc), type 'google.com/ncr', here 'ncr' means 'no country redirect' and you land on to the global 'google.com' page.

Given below is the list from 'google.co.in':

Given below is the list from 'google.com/ncr':

Next you look up for book you want by forming queries like 'the secret pdf', 'power of now pdf', 'think and grow rich pdf', and so forth. If this does not work, try other post-fixes after the book name like ''psycho cybernetics epub', 'psycho cybernetics ebook download' to get links to any site like 'archive.org' having the book for download in format other than PDF.

Here is a list of books that I wish to read but could not find them to download gratis. If you have any of these books, please send it at: ashishjainblogger@gmail.com

Self Help Books:

The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success (Deepak Chopra M.D., 1994)
You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life (Jen Sincero, 2013 e1)
Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life (Dr Spencer Johnson, 1998 e1)
Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself (Melody Beattie, 1986 e1, 1992 e2)
The Untethered Soul (Michael A. Singer, 1971, 2007)
The Happiness Project: Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun. (Gretchen Rubin, 2009)
The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path To Higher Creativity (Julia Cameron, 1992)
Women Who Love Too Much (self-help, Robin Norwood, 1985)
The Magic (self-help and spirituality, Rhonda Byrne, 2012)
The Richest Man in Babylon (George Samuel Clason, financial advice through a collection of parables, 1926)
Wherever You Go, There You Are (Jon Kabat-Zinn, 1994)
10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Really Works – a True Story (Dan Harris, 2014)
F*ck Feelings: One Shrink's Practical Advice for Managing All Life's Impossible Problems (Michael Bennett MD, Sarah Bennett, e1 2015)
Full catastrophe living: using the wisdom of your body and mind to face stress, pain, and illness (Jon Kabat-Zinn, 1991)
59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot (Richard Wiseman, 2009)
The Relaxation & Stress Reduction Workbook (Matthew McKay, Elizabeth Robbins Eshelman & Martha Davis, 2008, 6e)
Train Your Brain: 60 Days to a Better Brain (Ryuta Kawashima, 2003)
Study Smarter, Not Harder (Kevin Paul MA, 2014)
The Book of Woman (Osho, 2013)

Fiction Books:

Don't Let Go (Harlan Coben, 2017)

Though the purpose of this article is to tell you how you could get free books online, but at times there are books that are either to new to be on internet for download, or are not so popular to show up in top ranks in Google search result, or are simply not there on the internet for download, at this time, some one who could afford it can look up the URL given below for those books and then share them to help others grow as well, after all, sharing is caring!

Few paid sites where these books might be available in downloadable format are:

www.scribd.com

Paid sites where you could read online:

www.24symbols.com

To use Google to search a URL for a book, type in search string like this: "book-name url:archive.org", "book-name url:scribd.com" and so forth.

# Creating a 'Google Search Alert' for books
To monitor the web for interesting new content about your search-query. Go to Google Alerts page and create a search-alert for a search query like "you are a badass pdf" and once new results are published on the web you will be notified about it over mail and on this page.

Thanking you in anticipation!
Warm Regards
ashishjainblogger@gmail.com

Saturday, July 22, 2017

Career or home-making for women?

You are born in a society that kills girl child in the womb even before she has come to life, you cut girls from schools, make them drop even before matriculation only to keep them at home to do the household chores. Now when the time comes after a girl has completed schooling and was lucky enough to have college education, and finished that as well, she is well suited to have a career, a future, a job and she decides she wants to be the homemaker, makes one wonder how lame a person can be.

When a woman chooses to be a homemaker, a housekeeper, or a housewife, there are certain responsibilities that she now has; Wikipedia has a page dedicated only for this and each responsibility has a dedicated section (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homemaking). To be clear, some of these responsibilities include cooking, cleaning, laundry, maintenance (home and lawn), repair, operations, interior design, de-cluttering, purchases, etc., why lie?

However, as one in India would know and must have seen, hired maids, who do it to earn a meager living, perform all these tasks. For the women who called themselves homemakers "live lives queen-size". They have a husband to pay for everything, the one thing that she/they should have done themselves, I.e., educate the kids is done in private schools and home tuitions, etc., as they are unfit to impart something they didn't well receive in the first place.

The best thing that these women are good at is in fighting with their in-laws or kids or whoever it is in their way of life. I have seen a lot such fighting, and it is in these fights that you see the level of logic or intelligence they can apply to a situation, a word of advice though, if you do encounter a fight like this, don't mind the women's language.

Now I am a very positive person, I try to look at the bright side of everything and applying the same idea here, I see that even though these women add to the count of the unemployed in the country, they do not add to the count of the poor.

Thursday, July 13, 2017

Understanding Schizophrenia

(Self-portrait of a person with schizophrenia, representing that individual's perception of the distorted experience of reality in the disorder)

The word "Schizophrenia" was coined by Paul Eugen Bleuler (30 April 1857 – 15 July 1939), it is derived from two Greek words "skhizein" meaning "to split" and "phren" meaning "mind".

Few definitions of this word:
A long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behavior, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation. (Google Dictionary)

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by abnormal social behavior and failure to understand what is real. Common symptoms include false beliefs, unclear or confused thinking, hearing voices that others do not hear, reduced social engagement and emotional expression, and a lack of motivation. People with schizophrenia often have additional mental health problems such as anxiety disorders, major depressive illness, or substance-use disorders. Symptoms typically come on gradually, begin in young adulthood, and last a long time. (Wikipedia)

Confusing, yeah, let me start over...

Schizo means to split, phrenia in this case refers to the mind even though schizophrenia can be interpreted to mean splitting of the mind, it does not refer to the split personality like some media sources might portray. Rather schizophrenia describes scattered or fragmented pattern of thinking.

Schizophrenia is actually a syndrome meaning there are all sorts of symptoms that might be associated with it and different patients might experience different symptoms. Although symptoms can be broadly categorized under three major areas: positive symptoms, negative symptoms and cognitive symptoms.

Alright, taking a step back, most human symptoms from any illness are extreme version of a normal physiological process for example everyone has a heartbeat, right, tachycardia is a fast heartbeat. In the same way, everyone has a normal body temperature but during a fever, that temperature is higher.

In schizophrenia, patients have positive symptoms, which aren't positive is the sense that they are helpful but positive in the sense they are some new feature that does not have a normal or physiologic counterpart.

These are psychotic symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech and disorganized or catatonic behavior; none of which occur physiologically.

Delusions are false beliefs that the person might feel very strongly about so much so that they will not change their mind even if you gave them evidence against it. There are all sorts of different delusions like for example a delusion of control where somebody thinks that some outside source or person or thing is controlling their actions.

There can be delusions of reference where someone might think that insignificant remarks are directed at them, like a newscaster is speaking directly to them through the TV.

Hallucinations are a second type of positive symptoms and there can be any kind of sensation that is not actually there, including visual but also including auditory sensations like hearing voices or commands.

A third type is disorganized speech, an example being something like a word salad which seems just like a random jumbling of the words or phrases like "pencil, dog, hat, coffee, blue!"

Disorganized behavior, on the other hand, could be like an exhibit of bizarre or silly behavior that is out of context and does not seem to have much of a purpose, like for example, wearing multiple layers of jackets on a hot summer day. Also sometimes, there may be behavior that is described as catatonic, which has to do with their movements, postures and responsiveness. So like, they might be super resistant to moving or being an unresponsive stupor.

Negative symptoms are when there is reduction or removal of normal processes. In addition, this is like a decrease in emotions that they can express or a loss in interest in things that they once found interesting.

One type of negative symptom is called flat affect where they do not respond with an emotional reaction, which would seem inappropriate. Like if they saw something very unexpected like a small monkey playing in the living room, they might simply sit and watch idly as if nothing was happening.

Another type is alogia or poverty of speech, which a lack of content in their speech so like if somebody asked them "Do you have any children?", they might respond with "Yes.", instead of "yeah, one boy and two girls".

A third type of negative symptom is avolition, which is the decrease in motivation to complete certain goals so some of them might stay at home for a long period of time without trying to reach out the friends or find work.

Cognitive symptoms are like not being able to remember things, learn new things or understand other things easily. These symptoms are more subtle though, they are more difficult to notice and might only be detected if there are really specific tests for them. Example would be somebody not being able to keep track of several things at once, like a phone number and an address.

People with schizophrenia seem to cycle through three phases, typically in order. During the prodromal phase, patients might become withdrawn and spend most of their time alone and a lot of times, it seems similar to other mental disorders like depression or anxiety disorder. During the active phase, patients experience more severe symptoms like delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, disorganized behavior or catatonic behavior. Following an active phase, patients are often enter into a residual phase where they might exhibit cognitive symptoms like not being able to concentrate or becoming withdrawn again as with the prodromal phase.

For an official diagnosis of schizophrenia (DSM-V), patients need to be diagnosed with two of the following:

1. Delusions

2. Hallucinations

3. Disorganized speech

4. Disorganized / catatonic behavior

5. Negative symptoms

Also, at least one of them has to be one of these:

1. Delusions

2. Hallucinations

3. Disorganized speech

So basically, they could not have just disorganized behavior and negative symptoms. Even though some patients might have cognitive symptoms as well, they are not specifically needed for diagnosis. Also though for a diagnosis, signs of these disturbances must be ongoing for at least 6 months, meaning that they are likely in one phase or another for a period of 6 months but there must be at least one month of “active” phase symptoms.

Finally, those symptoms cannot be attributed to another condition, like substance abuse.

Now that we have diagnosed it, why does it even happen in the first place? What causes schizophrenia? Well, researchers do not really know, since it seems that signs and symptoms of schizophrenia are pretty unique to humans, or at least they are hard to imagine or notice in animal models like mice or rats (“Is this rat delusional?”). One clue is that that majority of anti-psychotic medication that improves schizophrenia symptoms blocks the dopamine receptors “D2” which reduces dopamine levels in neurons. This thing suggests may be schizophrenia has something to do with the increased levels of dopamine. These medications are though neither universally nor completely effective and do not work for everyone with schizophrenia which adds to the confusion that there is probably more to the story than just the D2 receptors. Interestingly, one of the most effective anti-psychotic drugs is a weak D2 antagonist (blocker) so just seems that other neurotransmitter systems norepinephrine, serotonin and GABA are probably involved.

Twin studies have shown to support the genetic basis as well, even though there have not been any specific genes conclusively linked to schizophrenia yet.

In addition, environmental factors like early/prenatal exposure to infections, and certain autoimmune disorders like celiac disease have been linked with schizophrenia.

Finally, an important set of clues involve the epidemiology, schizophrenia seems to happen slightly more in men than in women with onset in the mid-twenties for men but late twenties for women and a clinical signs for schizophrenia are often less severe. Some studies suggest differences might be due to estrogen regulation of dopamine systems. There however does not seem to be any difference among the race.

Now treating schizophrenia can be really tricky and anti-psychotic medications are often used but it is super important to combine the efforts of several explanations/disciplines and health professionals including professionals in therapy and counseling, medicine, and psychopharmacology. Anti-psychotics can be very effective at reducing symptoms but they often come with a lot of additional considerations to keep in mind like cost and potential for unwanted side effects like tolerance, dependency or withdrawal.

Final word, schizophrenia is not curable but treatable and could last life long. It is a serious mental illness that is diagnosed to 3.2 million people in the population every year. About 0.3–0.7% of people are affected by schizophrenia during their lifetimes. In 2013, there were an estimated 23.6 million cases globally. About 20% of people do well, and a few recover completely.

( My Eyes at the Moment of the Apparitions by German artist August Natterer , who had schizophrenia)

(Cloth embroidered by a person diagnosed with schizophrenia.

A schizophrenic patient at the Glore Psychiatric Museum made this piece of cloth and it gives us a peek into her mind.)

A picture by an anonymous schizophrenia patient.

Friday, June 30, 2017

Are minimum wages sufficient?

This notice here shows the data about the minimum wages and skill based categories in India (minimum wages figures are in INR). The working hours are mentioned but these could extend from 11 hours to 12 hours a day.

A Case Study: how practical these figures are:
This table shows the monthly expenses of last seven months of a person keeping a low economic profile in Gurugram (Haryana, India). These expenses include costs of rent, maintenance, electric and food. Rent is for a one room-set (or studio) apartment with a floor area of 220 sq. feet. Water is state-government provided. Lunches on weekdays are company provided.

Item	Expense	Month
House Rent	4500	Dec-2016
Maintenance	500	Dec-2016
Electric	200	Dec-2016
Food/Milk/Etc	2755	Dec-2016
Total	7955
House Rent	4500	Jan-2017
Maintenance	500	Jan-2017
Electric	200	Jan-2017
Food/Milk/Etc	3021	Jan-2017
Total	8221
House Rent	4500	Feb-2017
Maintenance	500	Feb-2017
Electric	200	Feb-2017
Food/Milk/Etc	3806	Feb-2017
Total	9006
House Rent	4500	Mar-2017
Maintenance	500	Mar-2017
Electric	200	Mar-2017
Food/Milk/Etc	4054	Mar-2017
Total	9254
House Rent	4500	Apr-2017
Maintenance	500	Apr-2017
Electric	200	Apr-2017
Food/Milk/Etc	3084	Apr-2017
Total	8284
House Rent	4500	May-2017
Maintenance	500	May-2017
Electric	200	May-2017
Food/Milk/Etc	3297	May-2017
Total	8497	May-2017
House Rent	4500	Jun-2017
Maintenance	500	Jun-2017
Electric	200	Jun-2017
Food/Milk/Etc	4712	Jun-2017
Total	9912	Jun-2017
Total	9051	Jul-2017
Total	7453	Aug-2017
Total	8541	Sep-2017
Total	9880	Oct-2017
Total	11678	Nov-2017

Clearly, if costs tend to increase monthly then living on the bare minimum is not possible.

Sunday, June 18, 2017

Making 5000 friends on Facebook

Ever felt that you need to explore, meet people, try new language, new culture, influence politics, get influenced by politics, well, Facebook could be that place where to make overseas friends to achieve all of this. In addition, we are not talking about a group or two, we talking of five thousand of such friends. It starts with the user adding a few acquaintances and then developing on this group of people to get to other and more people.

For adding new people:

Facebook has this utility “People You May Know” where you can find people with whom you have mutual friends and these ones the user should add first.

Going forward this way, the application “Find Friends” helps discover people based on hometown, city (location), high school, mutual friend, college or university, employer, university (postgraduate). Find people with whom you have mutual friends, the more the better.

One has to be consistent in sending friend requests and adding the people, do not be shy, times could be testing, but make a note of sending at least ten friend requests a day. If one is feeling, s/he could be sending five hundred requests on occasions.

Getting people to add you:

There several factors in which you can influence people to add you, like location, mutual friends, interests, common activities, political inclinations, etc.

Put on a profile picture that shows you socializing and avoid mug shots. Put on a picture with the opposite sex, whether it is family, friends, colleagues or batch mates, anything would work if your picture shows you smiling and in the company. If you cannot find opposite sex, it would be difficult to recognize you between you and your friend(s).

Support a political party, for example edit your profile picture to put on the icons to support political parties (Democrats, Republicans, individuals). Use your profile cover photo space to put on banner supporting a political party. Chances are people supporting the same party would add you before you add them.

Put in information about you in the Facebook profile, be genuine, do not brag and let public see it so they know whom they are adding.

Be expressive while putting content on Facebook put your articles, pictures, application scores, one-liners, notes, anything, but be social and expressive.