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22 March 2012

Vande Mataram

“Vande Mataram”, the national song of India, is now more than 100 years of old. The immortal song was composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee. It was a part off Bankim Chandra’s Bengali novel, ‘Anand Math’ published in 1881.

The characters in the novel ‘Anand Math’ showed the motherland as the Mother Goddess and worshipped her as such. They did not know any other deity excepting the motherland and any other religion excepting the religion of patriotism. The spirit was reflected in the song ‘Vande Mataram’.

According to Sri Aurobindo, the Indian philosopher, Bankim Chandra became aware of three main elements which made up the moral strength necessary for serving the motherland. They were complete self-sacrifice, self discipline and organization and thirdly patriotism itself as a religion.

These ideas found perfect poetic expression in the great song which made millions of people enthusiastic and active during the freedom struggle. The song aroused the spirit of strong and deep nationalism.

‘vande mataram’ (meaning: I bow to thee, Mother) became the slogan used to encourage freedom fighters all over the country. Rabindranath Tagore, Indian poet and philosopher set the ‘Vande Mataram’ song to music. He sang it at the 1896 session of the Indian National Congress.


Telephone Conversation



Written in the first person narrative point of view, the poem “Telephone Conversation” by Wole Soyinka is a poetic satire against the widely-spread racism in the modern Western society. The poem is about a telephone conversation in England between the poetic persona seeking to rent a house and an English landlady who completely changes her attitude towards him after he reveals his identity as a black African. The motif of a microcosmic telephone conversation, therefore, is employed by the poet to apply to a much broader, macrocosmic level where racial bigotry is ridiculed in a contest of human intelligence, showcasing the poet’s witticism as well as his ingenious sense of humor.

The poem starts with a somewhat peaceful atmosphere befitting the poetic persona’s satisfaction for having found the correct house - “The price seemed reasonable, location indifferent.”  He was also happy about the privacy that he believed that he would enjoy, for “The landlady swore she lived / off premises.” At this stage, we get to know that the two were engaged in a telephone conversation, which, however, was to come quickly to an unpleasant end as the man decided to reveal his nationality - “Madam,” I warned. / “I hate a wasted journey – I am African.” A sudden, unexpected hush of silence is strengthened by a caesura in line 6 of the poem to emphasize the impact of the African’s race being revealed to the landlady. Furthermore, the poet’s use of the word “confession” to describe an announcement of the persona’s ethnic identity is very sarcastic in that being an African seems to be a sin which the persona committed, and which he needed to atone for.

An uneasy atmosphere ensues thereby. Following the caesura, there is “Silenced transmission of / Pressurized good-breeding”, with the word “silenced” again to reiterate the landlady’s sudden change, as well as the man’s intuitive sensitivity towards the unfriendliness on the other end of the phone. There is a foreboding overtone, relevant to the change of the woman’s attitude she would have towards the African man. And we get the first indication of the poet’s sense of humor in the expression “pressurized good-breeding”, too, which is an ironical manifestation of the polite manners landlady was supposed to have for the job of renting premises. After a considerable period of silence, the landlady finally spoke again, “Voice, when it came / Lipstick coated, long gold-rolled / Cigarette-holder pipped.”  It is interesting to note that when the landlady opened her mouth again, the feeling she gave off is immediately contrastive of what she was like before, as if her status in society was all of a sudden upgraded, which is indicated by her voice colorfully and olfactorially described. Such evocative language, which greatly appeals to our sensory impressions, conveys the poet’s power of imagination dissecting the sound of an affluent landlady’s voice. And such use of subtly imagistic language is abundantly rich throughout the rest of the poem.

Tension rises with the explicitly racial discrimination in line 10 of the poem as the landlady asked “HOW DARK?”  The poet uses capital letters here, and a lot more to come, to accentuate the landlady’s effort in seeking clarification for something that would have been irrelevant to their previous topic, yet it mattered a lot to her.  “I had not misheard”, the persona reflected. Before he was able to respond, the landlady asked again, “ARE YOU LIGHT OR VERY DARK?” reinforcing the racist overtone in the English society today.  The woman’s pushy, unequivocal stance in pursuing the answer dumbfounded the man, who was so confused and so taken aback by the landlady’s sudden change of attitude that he suddenly appeared to have a blank mind. The automation imagery “Button B. Button A” that the poet uses here not only vividly shows the man’s temporary confusion, but also humorously foreshadows the intelligence contest that is to follow. On a deeper level, the image of the readily available automatic selection also implies the rampant racial discrimination taken for granted in the western society.

What makes him come to his senses from this sudden dumbfoundedness, however, is ironically the foul smell of the telephone booth, which the persona humorously refers to as a facility of children’s play.  “Stench of rancid breath of public hide-and-seek” dragged him out from his dream-like world back into reality.  The poet then uses sentence fragments, “Red booth.  Red pillar - box.  Red double-tiered / Omnibus squelching tar”, to describe the persona’s frantic attempt to ascertain the situation.  The diction “red”, which is connotative of terror and disturbance, is used three times to highlight the extreme mental discomfort of an African man, who referred to city buses, again humorously, as the idiomatic “omnibus”. Such extensive use of symbolically chromatic images points out the setting of this poem, for the first and only time, to be London. Thereby arises the sense of irony as the place where the persona was facing such ostentatious racism is in London, a city seen as a symbol of the developed western world, where equality and justice are supposedly valued above all. “This is real!” the persona’s exclamation only serves to delineate his bewilderment at the situation.

Instead of describing the justifiable indignation that the poetic persona was supposed to have felt at the moment, the poet chooses to characterize him a pacifist, or a humble and meek man who would rather not stand up to face the situation. The telephone conversation between the two conservationists continues as the African man hoped to get on with their previous topic instead of starting a new, awkward one on a politically sensitive issue – “Shamed / by ill-mannered silence, surrender / Pushed dumbfoundment to beg simplification.”  However, regardless of his thoughts, the landlady, who was unequivocal in seeking the clarification, continues to question him, “Considerate she was, varying the emphasis – “ARE YOU DAARK? OR VERY DARK?” The African man, now probably fuming with anger inside, remained silent, while the ruthless landlady continued with her racist inquiry: “You mean – like plain or milk chocolate?” The limited choice of words as well as the simple object of comparison that the poet uses to describe the landlady suggests her to be a linguistically impoverished character despite her affluent economic status. Furthermore, her tone was cold and bordering on aggressiveness, as is established by the persona’s interpretation accurately brought forth with clarity and specificity - “Her assent was clinical, crushing in its light / Impersonality.”

Deciding not to stay silent for any longer, and as if answering a passport control officer, he replied “West African Sepia… Down in my passport”, which was then responded with the landlady’s “silence for spectroscopic/Flight of fancy.” Here, the character of the poetic persona is seen to undergo a rapid development as he started to react against the landlady’s racist comments, by first forcing her into submission with his superior vocabulary. The double alliteration of “s” and “f” produce a special sound effect, making the atmosphere almost fearfully spooky, illustrating the mental status of the landlady whose turn it was now to feel dumbfounded. Also worth noting is the metaphor of spectroscope, hilariously befitting not only the skin color of the persona, but also the specific locale of England, where modern science and technology still inexplicably intermingle with superstition. Either the case, the instant victory he had over the landlady in this part of the conversation demonstrates the obvious difference in their education and knowledge, also illustrating the fact that beyond the landlady’s lavish exterior, she was simply a shallow judgmental racist.

The contrastive images that the poet has so far established of the persona of the African origin and the landlady of the western European society serve to increase the tension in the atmosphere, precipitating the conflict to its climactic moment. Although the African man had already provided an answer, the landlady did not understand as she was not only bigoted, but also definitely under-educated, as compared to the poetic persona.  She continued asking rudely, “…till truthfulness changed her accent / Hard on the mouthpiece “WHAT’S THAT?” conceding / “DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT IS.” Paying no attention to the landlady’s disrespect for him, the persona started to turn the table completely against her, as he took a firm control over the conversation, defending the dignity and integrity of his ethnic identity from the ruthless onslaught of the racist landlady. To effectively show this, the poet juxtaposes various major European hair colors together in a deliberately confusing manner, suggesting that although being an African, the persona is nonetheless a person no different from any Europeans – “Facially, I am brunette, but, madam, you should see / The rest of me.  Palm on my hand, soles of my feet / Are peroxide blond. Friction, caused – / foolishly, madam – by sitting down, has turned / my bottom raven black – One moment, Madam!” Sensing the landlady’s “receiver rearing on the thunderclap”, which indicates the landlady’s slow but finally furious realization that she had been outwitted, he rushed to ask sarcastically, “Madam …wouldn’t you rather / See for yourself?” The quasi politeness of the tone the poet uses here can hardly conceal the ultimate insult, which shows how indignant the man was as he outwitted her by inviting her to see his bottom, thus ending the poem with a tremendous sense of humor, apart from the obvious sarcasm.

To conclude, through his poem “Telephone Conversation”, Soyinka is able to satirize the racist society in the west. By showing that a dark African persona is eventually capable of confronting the racial discrimination aimed towards him, and retaliates against it by outwitting the landlady, the poet sends out a clear message - dark skinned people are no less intelligent than people that are lighter in skin color.





19 March 2012

Unlock You Own Creativity - Analysis

In our day to day lives, we seldom have a need to think outside the box. We tend to do more of the same thing day in and day out. When situations arise where we need to think outside the box or draw on our creativity, many people cannot do so.  The first reason for why we won’t be creative is we don't need to be creative for most of what we do. The second reason - most of us have certain attitudes, which lock our thinking into the status quo and keep us thinking more of the same. This is what is called as the Mental Locks. Every child born is gifted with their won creative thinking and as the child develops, it has to develop further on its own. But it is subjected to certain rules which makes it very narrow minded thus resulting in a normal human being just like everybody else, who have also been through the same situations. 

"The hallmark of creative people is their mental flexibility. They are able to shift in and out of different types of thinking depending on the needs of the situation at hand. Sometimes, they're open and probing, at others, they're playful and off-the-wall. At still others, they're critical and fault-finding. And finally, they're doggedly persistent in striving to reach their goals." These four types of thinking translate into four roles, the explorer, the artist, the judge, and the warrior. Children enter school as question marks and leave as periods." We need to recapture the magic power of the question!

The seven mental locks are:  1. The Right Answer 2. That's Not Logical 3. Follow the Rules 4. Be Practical 5. That's Not My Area 6. Don't Be Foolish 7. I'm Not Creative

Throughout our traditional education system, we are rewarded for "the right answer."
 In mathematics and the sciences, the right answer is clear and there is usually only one. But in liberal arts subjects and most of the rest of life, there are many possible answers to questions depending on many factors. There is a Harry Chapin song called "Flowers are Red" which captures the danger of this mental lock in killing our creative spirit. It is the story of a little boy is painting flowers all colors of the rainbow in art class when his teacher scolds him, telling him that "...flowers are red young man and green leaves are green. There's no need to see flowers any other way than the way they always have been seen." After being punished, the little boy "learns" the right or acceptable way to paint flowers. He goes to another school where the art teacher does not suffer from "the right answer" mental lock-she sees all colors of the rainbow and encourages the boy to express his true spirit. But for the little boy it is too late. He can only paint flowers red. The key what story tells us is to not look at life as a series of problems that need to be solved but rather as opportunities. Ask "what if...” In this way second, third, tenth possible right answers may appear. Or change the question. "Different words bring in different assumptions and lead your thinking in different directions."

Logical is an important creative thinking tool. Its use is especially appropriate in the practical phase of the creative process when you are evaluating ideas and preparing them for action. When we are stuck in the "That's Not Logical" mental lock, the most unfortunate consequence because, it is that we may fail to be opens to the intuitive hunch. Here, two types of thinking are defined, soft thinking and hard thinking. Soft thinking is like a floodlight, searching for similarities and connections in things, whereas, hard thinking is like a spotlight, looking for differences in things. In the creative process, when gathering ideas, there are two phases that should operate at different times in the process: the imaginative phase which uses soft thinking and the practical phase which applies hard thinking. In the imaginative phase we "think something different" and in the practical phase our focus is on "getting something done".  The best soft tool to fight off logical thinking is using metaphors to describe problems or concepts.

Creative thinking involves not only generating new ideas, but escaping from obsolete ones as well. It is not only constructive, but also destructive. You often have to break out of one pattern to discover another. So be responsive to change and be flexible with rules. Rules are good to some extent but when it comes for our own personal development, we need to break a few! In fact, Rules are made to be broken. When a person is put through certain condition, he is not given the chance to think beyond what exactly is happening. This not only kills his ideas but also makes him obsolete. Though breaking the rules is generally not the good idea, but to some extent, it may help in bringing out the new innovations into creations which would lead to further development. Remember, breaking rules won't necessarily lead to creative ideas, but its one avenue.

Picasso said that, "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist after growing up". We are told from the time we enter school and sometimes much earlier to be practical, stop daydreaming..., a dangerous habit is to shoot down others ideas, to find flaws immediately. In doing so, we kill the opportunity for newness, for the creative and innovative to emerge. We need to fight our "negative" framework and listen to ideas with an open mind searching and exploring all the positive ramifications first. There is a time for the practical, hard thinking mind of the judge to enter when we are ready to talk about the reality of "what is". Until such time, however we need to do as much "what-iffing" as we did as freely as children. The provocative answers to "what-iffing" can give us stepping stones to new ideas. A great suggestion is that at the same time we veto or shoot down someone else's idea, we must come up with an alternative idea that both people like. This puts a constructive, positive spin on the judge and requires us each to stretch our minds outside the box and remain open.

Creativity requires incubation. Framing a problem as a question is like planting a seed. Once the seed is planted, we need to step back and give the seed a chance to begin growing, spread out its root system. How can we best do this? Play, play, play. Do anything you want but don't focus on the problem. Answers will come in the strangest places, at the oddest times. If necessity is the mother of invention, play is its father. The next you have a problem - play with it. If you don't have a problem, take the time to play anyway. You may find some new ideas. Companies that live a mission that promotes creativity often give their employees freedom to play, knowing it is the results of playtime where great ideas often emerge. They are not stuck in the mental lock that "Play is Frivolous".

Tunnel vision or living in the world with the attitude, "That's Not My Area" is a recipe for stuck and zero creativity. Journeying off the beaten path, creating project teams with members from diverse disciplines, having lunch with someone in a world totally different from your own are all ways to attack this mental lock. Keeping a notebook close at all times to write down ideas which come whenever, where ever can help an individual to grow up gradually. Often inside our dreams are answers to problems. No matter what happens, a man must never hesitate to participate in a chance that is given to him. If you make an error, use it as a stepping stone to some new ideas you might not have discovered otherwise. 
Always remember the two benefits of failure - first, if you fail, you learn what doesn't work. And second, the failure gives you an opportunity to try a new approach.

Some people are closely married to their ideas that they put them up on a pedestal. It’s difficult, however, to be objective if you have a lot of ego tied upon your idea."There is a close relationship between the "ha-ha" of humor and the "aha" of discovery." So be foolish is what is recommended. Be stupid, reverse your perspective on things, and learn to laugh at yourself. Occasionally, let you "stupid monitor" down, play with the fool, and see what crazy ideas you can come up with. Although playing the fool may not solve problems, it gets us out of ruts and we often learn important things if we break out of the "Don't Be Foolish" mental lock.

"To err is wrong" is wrong when it comes to developing our creative ability. Making mistakes is a critical part of learning. Edison knew 1800 ways not to make a light bulb. Though sure of messing up everything and go wrong completely, there is a small chance of success. All we have to do is to take a little risk. Taking risks requires exercising our "risk muscle" so that we stay flexible and minimize our fear. As Suzanne Jeffers says, feel the fear and do it anyways. Stepping outside our comfort zone and risking being wrong is where the greatest of ideas emerge.

The self-fulfilling prophecy has much power. If we are mentally locked into thinking, "I'm Not Creative", chances are high, and we won't be. Unlocking the last mental lock requires believing in your ideas and then using the tools suggested in overcoming the other mental locks to being creative. When new information comes into existence and circumstances change, it is no longer possible to solve today's problem with yesterday's solution. We need a way to generate new ideas. Creative thinking is that means, and like its biological counterpart, it is also pleasurable. Only a creative person can want to know it all.

Be stupid, reverse your perspective on things, and learn to laugh at yourself. Occasionally, let you "stupid monitor" down, play with the fool, and see what crazy ideas you can come up with. Although playing the fool may not solve problems, it gets us out of ruts and we often learn important things if we break out of the "Don't Be Foolish" mental lock.

"To err is wrong" is wrong when it comes to developing our creative ability. Making mistakes is a critical part of learning. Edison knew 1800 ways not to make a light bulb. Though sure of messing up everything and go wrong completely, there is a small chance of success. All we have to do is to take a little risk. Taking risks requires exercising our "risk muscle" so that we stay flexible and minimize our fear. As Suzanne Jeffers says, feel the fear and do it anyways. Stepping outside our comfort zone and risking being wrong is where the greatest of ideas emerge.

The self-fulfilling prophecy has much power. If we are mentally locked into thinking, "I'm Not Creative", chances are high, and we won't be. Unlocking the last mental lock requires believing in your ideas and then using the tools suggested in overcoming the other mental locks to being creative. When new information comes into existence and circumstances change, it is no longer possible to solve today's problem with yesterday's solution. We need a way to generate new ideas. Creative thinking is that means, and like its biological counterpart, it is also pleasurable. Only a creative person can want to know it all.



17 March 2012

Flash Back to High School


Elders say ‘school is temple and teachers are god’. This is so true. 
The three years I spent in seshadripuram high school was really fantastic period in my life. I never spent my time so happily in all the ways. I don’t know about other students who spent their time in the same school, but those three years were golden days in my life. Tough I have passed many years, spent time in many schools and also with many people; but those wonderful moments can never be bought back.
All those years, it was a nice experience. All the teachers were very good, kind and affectionate. Great thinkers say the aim of education is the knowledge of not facts but of values. I am glad to say that we received the same in our school!
Everyone says college days are best days, but I feel school days are better than that! You know, when I joined that school in 8th standard, I was so reserved. But today I am able to communicate with people without any fear and moreover I am able to become what I want to!This was only because of my teachers who put confidence not only in me but in every child. Homely atmosphere in that school gave us a feeling of being free.
I would like to recall some of my old memories. We went to Vishveswaraih museum in 8th standard, Shivagange in 9th standard and there was this spectalcular journey to many of the places in 10th standard which lasted for 5 days!.
Me and my friends were all happy that we were going to college which was the second step in our life but at the same time we were also sad that our awesome school days were finished and we miss that even now a lot, lot and a lot………
I will never forget those glorious days, sweet memories of my teachers and friends and moreover unity that was present in our class............!


16 March 2012

Visual Basic 6.0 - Introduction


Dedicated to all my classmates...

Visual Basic (VB) is a third generation event driven programming language and Integrated Development Environment(IDE) from Microsoft for its COM programming model first released in 1991. VB was originally created to make it easier to write programs for the Windows computer Operating System. VB is designed to be relatively easy to learn and use. It enables the rapid application development (RAD) of graphical user Interface(GUI) applications, access to database using Data Access Objects, Remote Data Objects, or ActiveX Data Objects.

Scripting languages such as VBA and VBScript are syntactically similar to Visual Basic, but perform differently.  It is a high  level programming language which evolved from the earlier DOS version called BASIC that was invented by Dartmouth College professors John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz. BASIC means Beginner’s All Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. It is a very easy programming language to learn. The code look a lot  like English Language. Different software companies produced different versions of BASIC, such as Microsoft QBASIC, QUICKBASIC, GWBASIC ,IBM BASICA and so on. However, people prefer to use Microsoft Visual Basic today, as it is a well developed programming language and supporting resources are available everywhere. Now, there are many versions of VB exist in the market, the most popular one and still widely used by many VB programmers is none other than Visual Basic 6. We also have VB.net, VB2005, VB2008 and the latest VB2010. Both Vb2008 and VB2010 are fully object oriented programming (OOP) language.

VB is a Visual and events driven Programming language. These are the main divergence from the old BASIC. In Basic, programming is done in a text – only environment and the program is executed sequentially. In VB, programming is done in a graphical environment. In old BASIC, you have to write program code for each graphical object you wish to display it on screen, including its position and its color. However, in VB, you just  need to drag and drop any graphical object anywhere on the form, and you can change its color any time using the properties window.

On the other hand, because the user may click on a certain object randomly, so each object has to be programmed independently to be able to response to those actions (events). Therefore, a VB program is made up of many subprograms, each has its own program code, and each can be executed independently and at the same time each can be linked together in one way or the other.

If this content wasn't enough and you had any more information, please do share. Your participation is more important..



Workaholics!


A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old son waiting for him at the door.

"Daddy, may I ask you a question?"

"Yeah sure, what is it?"

"Daddy, how much do you make an hour?" "That's none of your business. Why do you  ask such a thing?" the man said angrily.

"I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?", pleaded  the little boy.

"If you must know, I make $35 an hour."

"Oh, "the little boy replied, with his head down.

Looking up, he said, "Daddy, may I please borrow $10?"

The father was furious, "If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow  some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself  straight to your room and go to bed. I work long hard hours everyday and don't  have time for such childish behaviour."

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door. After about an hour  or so, the man had calmed down, and started to think he may have been a little  hard on his son. May be there was something he really needed to buy with that  $10 the man went to the door of the little boy's room and opened the door.

"Are you asleep, son?" he asked.

"No Daddy, I'm awake," replied the boy.

"I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on your earlier," said the man. "It's been a long day, and I took out my aggravation on you. Here's that $10 you  asked for."

The little boy sat straight up, smiling, "Oh, thank you Daddy!" he yelled.

Then reaching under his pillow he pulled out some money. The man, seeing that the boy already had money, started to get angry again. The little boy  slowly counted out his money.

"Why do you want more money if you already have some?" the father grumbled.

"Because I didn't have enough, but now I do," the little boy replied.

"Daddy, I have $35 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early  tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you."





Funny Definitions

Doctor : A person who kills your ills by pills, and later kills you with his bills.
Boss : Someone who is early when you are late and late when you are early
Tears : The hydraulic force by which masculine power is defeated by feminine power
Atom Bomb : An invention to end all inventions
Rumor : News that travels faster than the speed of sound
Classic : A book which people praise, but do not read
Dictionary : The only place where divorce comes before marriage
Marriage : An agreement in which a man loses his bachelor's degree and women gains her master's degree
Father : A banker provided by the nature
Politician : One who shakes your hand before election and confidence after election
Smile : A curve than can see lot of things straight
Optimist : A person who starts taking a bath in case he accidentally falls into a river
Diplomat : A person who tells you to go to hell in such a way that you look forward for the trip
Etc : A sigh to make others believe that you know more than you actually do
Office : A place where you can relax after your strenuous home life
Committee : Individuals who can do nothing individually and sit to decide that nothing can be done together
School : a place where father pays and son plays
Life Insurance : A contract that keeps you poor so that you can die Rich!
Nurse : A person who wakes you up to give sleeping pills
Lecture :  An art of transferring information from the notes of the Lecturer to the notes of the students without passing through "the minds of either"
Conference : A confusion of man multiplied the number of present
Compromise : The art of dividing a cake in such a way that everybody believes he got the biggest piece.
Criminal :  A guy no different from the rest....except that he got caught!
Experience : The name men give to their mistakes

14 March 2012

Simple test to know your personality!

 
Interesting if you're honest!

Here's an interesting psychology-type test...Give it a try...and keep
scrolling for all the instructions...
Now don't cheat :)
Don't peek but begin the test as you scroll down and answer.
Answers are for who you are now...not who you were in the past.

Have pen or pencil and paper ready. This is a real test given by the
Human Relations Dept. at many of the major corporations today. It helps
them get a better insight concerning their employees and potential
employees.

It's only 10 simple questions, so... grab a pencil and paper, keeping
track of your letter answers.

Ready??
Begin...


1. When do you feel your best?
(a) in the morning
(b) during the afternoon & early evening
(c) late at night

2. You usually walk
(a) fairly fast, with long steps
(b) fairly fast, with short, quick steps
(c) less fast head up, looking the world in the face
(d) less fast, head down
(e) very slowly

3. When talking to people you
(a) stand with your arms folded
(b) have your hands clasped
(c) have one or both your hands on your hips
(d) touch or push the person to whom you are talking
(e) play with your ear, touch your chin, or smooth your hair

4. When relaxing, you sit with
(a) your knees bent with your legs neatly side by side
(b) your legs crossed
(c) your legs stretched out or straight
(d) one leg curled under you

5. When something really amuses you, you react with
(a) a big, appreciative laugh
(b) a laugh, but not a loud one
(c) a quiet chuckle
(d) a sheepish smile

6. When you go to a party or social gathering you..
(a) make a loud entrance so everyone notices you
(b) make a quiet entrance, looking around for someone you know
(c) make the quietest entrance, trying to stay unnoticed

7. You're working, concentrating hard, and you're interrupted. Do you:
(a) welcome the break
(b) feel extremely irritated
(c) vary between these two extremes

8. Which of the following colors do you like most?
(a) red or orange
(b) black
(c) yellow or light blue
(d) green
(e) dark blue or purple
(f) white
(g) brown or gray

9. When you are in bed at night, in those last few moments before going to sleep, you lie:
(a) stretched out on your back
(b) stretched out face down on your stomach
(c) on your side, slightly curled
(d) with your head on one arm
(e) with your head under the covers

10. You often dream that you are
(a) falling
(b) fighting or struggling
(c) searching for something or somebody
(d) flying or floating
(e) you usually have dreamless sleep
(f) your dreams are always pleasant

POINTS:

1.
(a) 2
(b) 4
(c) 6

2.
(a) 6
(b) 4
(c) 7
(d) 2
(e) 1

3.
(a) 4
(b) 2
(c) 5
(d) 7
(e) 6

4.
(a) 4
(b) 6
(c) 2
(d) 1

 5.
(a) 6
(b) 4
(c) 3
(d) 5
(e) 2

 6.
(a) 6
(b) 4
(c) 2

 7.
(a) 6
(b) 2
(c) 4

 8.
(a) 6
(b) 7
(c) 5
(d) 4
(e) 3
(f) 2
(g) 1

9.
(a) 7
(b) 6
(c) 4
(d) 2
(e) 1

 10.
(a) 4
(b) 2
(c) 3
(d) 5
(e) 6
(f) 1

Now add up the total number of points.

OVER 60 POINTS:
Others see you as someone they should "handle with care". You're seen
as vain, self-centered, and who is extremely dominant.
Others may admire you, wishing they could be more like but don't
always trust you, hesitating to become too deeply involved with you.

51 TO 60 POINTS:
Others see you as an exciting, highly volatile, rather impulsive
personality, a natural leader, who's quick to make decisions, though
not always the right ones. They see you as bold and adventuresome,
someone who will try anything once; someone who takes chances and
enjoys an adventure. They enjoy being in your company because of the
excitement you radiate.

41 TO 50 POINTS:
Others see you as fresh, lively, charming, amusing, practical and
always interesting, someone who's constantly in the center of
attention, but sufficiently well-balanced not to let it go to their
head. They also see you as kind, considerate, and understanding;
someone who'll always cheer them up and help them out.

31 TO 40 POINTS:
Others see you as sensible, cautious, careful and practical. They see
you as clever, gifted, or talented, but modest... Not a person who
makes friends too quickly or easily, but someone who's extremely loyal
to friends you do make and who expects the same loyalty in return.
Those who really get to know you realize it takes a lot to shake your
trust on your friends, but equally that it takes you a long time
to get over it if that trust is ever broken.

21 TO 30 POINTS:
Your friends see you as painstaking and fussy. They see you as very
cautious, extremely careful, a slow and steady plodder.
It would really surprise them if you ever did something impulsively
or on the spur of the moment, expecting you to examine everything
carefully from every angle and then usually decide against it. They
think this reaction is caused partly by your careful nature.

UNDER 21 POINTS:
People think you are shy, nervous, and indecisive, someone who needs
looking after, who always wants someone else to make the decisions and
who doesn't want to get involved with anyone or anything.
They see you as a worrier who always sees problems that don't exist.
Some people think you're boring. Only those who know you well know
that you aren't.

Now lets see what kind of personality you have. My total score was 47. So you can share your personality score with us..Whats your score?



8 March 2012

Top 10 Grammar Myths



10. A run-on sentence is a really long sentence. Wrong! They can actually be quite short. In a run-on sentence, independent clauses are squished together without the help of punctuation or a conjunction. If you write I am happy I am glad as one sentence without a semicolon, colon, or dash between the two independent clauses, it’s a run-on sentence even though it only has six words.

9. You shouldn’t start a sentence with the word however. Wrong! It’s fine to start a sentence with however so long as you use a comma after it when it means “nevertheless.”

8. Irregardless is not a word. Wrong! Irregardless is a word in the same way ain’t is a word. They’re informal. They’re nonstandard. You shouldn’t use them if you want to be taken seriously, but they have gained wide enough use to qualify as words.

7. There is only one way to write the possessive form of a word that ends in s. Wrong! It’s a style issue. For example, in the phrase Kansas’s statute, you can put just an apostrophe at the end of Kansas or you can put an apostrophe s at the end of Kansas. Both ways are acceptable.

6. Passive voice is always wrong. Wrong! Passive voice is when you don’t name the person 
who’s responsible for the action. An example is the sentence “Mistakes were made,” because it doesn’t say who made the mistakes. If you don’t know who is responsible for an action, passive voice can be the best choice.

5. I.e. and e.g. mean the same thing. Wrong! E.g. means “for example,” and i.e. means roughly “in other words.” You use e.g. to provide a list of incomplete examples, and you use i.e. to provide a complete clarifying list or statement.

4. You use a before words that start with consonants and an before words that start with vowels. Wrong! You use a before words that start with consonant sounds and an before words that start with vowel sounds. So, you’d write that someone has an MBA instead of a MBA, because even though MBA starts with m, which is a consonant, it starts with the sound of the vowel e–MBA.

3. It’s incorrect to answer the question “How are you?” with the statement “I’m good.” Wrong! Am is a linking verb and linking verbs should be modified by adjectives such as good. Because well can also act as an adjective, it’s also fine to answer “I’m well,” but some grammarians believe “I’m well” should be used to talk about your health and not your general disposition.

2. You shouldn’t split infinitives. Wrong! Nearly all grammarians want to boldly tell you it’s OK to split infinitives. An infinitive is a two-word form of a verb. An example is “to tell.” In a split infinitive, another word separates the two parts of the verb. “To boldly tell” is a split infinitive because boldly separates to from tell.

1. You shouldn’t end a sentence with a preposition. Wrong! You shouldn’t end a sentence with a preposition when the sentence would mean the same thing if you left off the preposition. That means “Where are you at?” is wrong because “Where are you?” means the same thing. But there are many sentences where the final preposition is part of a phrasal verb or is necessary to keep from making stuffy, stilted sentences: I’m going to throw up, let’s kiss and make up, and what are you waiting for are just a few examples.