Wednesday, 12 September 2012
DECORATIVE COLLECTIBLES / ARTICLES FOR HOME
- Photos of nice looking decorative articles / collectibles which I took at City Centre, Salmiah.
MY PHOTO FOR THE DAY - LIVE WHAT YOU LOVE
I took this photo because the inspirational message on the t-shirt caught my attention. Available at Berskha, Marina Mall.
WOODEN CAR POWERED BY BATTERY FOR $ 23,175
A young man from Uyghur along with his father, have developed a wooden car that's powered by battery. It looks like a life size toy wooden car, quite neatly built. The Car was exhibited last year at the International Tourism Festival in Kashgar, in Northwest China’s Xinjiang region. The father and son spent around 15,000 Yuan to design and build the car. It took a year to complete the car. The car cost 150,000 Yuan ($23,175).
Tuesday, 11 September 2012
MAGIC OF FLOWERS AND COLORS
I took this photo in Ahmadi. I thought the the flowers and colors - they look magical. The vibrant color violet has an amazing visual effect and so does magenta. They are energising colors. Peach is on the other hand is so soothing and calming.
LANTERN POWERED BY SALT WATER
Green House Co. Ltd, in Japan has developed an LED emergency lantern called GH-LED10WBW that runs on salt water!. The lantern weighs 680gram (23.98-oz). The lamp does not require any batteries rechargeable or otherwise to function. Just fill the lamp’s reservoir with salty water and voila!
All it requires is 16 grams (0.56 oz) of salt dissolved with 350 cc (11.83 oz) of water in a measuring bag and then poured into the lantern. The salt acts like an electrolyte in a simple wet battery, that uses a magnesium rod as an anode and a carbon rod as a cathode. During electrolysis, the magnesium ions travel to the carbon rod to generate electricity. The magnesium rod will have to be replaced with a new one, after 120 hours of usage, as it slowly gets destroyed by electrolysis.
The lantern produces 1.5 volts of DC power that can run its ten-LED white light, giving out 55 lumens of light. The lantern has a USB port to charge your devices at 4.5 volts. The LED lantern runs for eight hours before the saltwater needs replacing.
The LED lamp is intended for emergencies and recreation and will go on sale in Japan in mid-September 2012.
ART - AN OPTICAL ILLUSION WHAT DO YOU SEE
This is such a beautiful art work I came across. Quite an optical illusion. What do you see?
IMPORTANCE OF BEING ASSERTIVE
"When you say what you want, you live a happier and more authentic life. The three keys to being more Assertive are knowing what you want, believing you have a right to it and finding the courage to express it." - Caroline Adams Miller, author of "Creating Your Best Life."
Some people can be aggressive while they think they are being assertive. Aggressive people can be insensitive , mean and disrespectful to the point of being nasty, while they try to express themselves. This can really hurt people, put them off and even cause irreparable damage. Aggressive people can sound angry, pushy and sometimes even scary.
Assertiveness is about respecting youself and what you want, having a voice and not being afraid to give your opinion, views, thoughts or even decisions; but how you express it is important. Assertiveness is about communicating your feelings and choices to the other person in healthy and respectful manner without violating their rights in any way. Be polite, and clear in what you express. Don't express in an insulting, berating, arrogant or belittling or threatening manner. Never resort to yelling at the other person when you want to make your point. Assertiveness also involves ability to negotiate or reach a compromise. Being assertive will bring quality into your relationship with others and make you a more confident person.
No one can read our mind, though non-verbal signs and body language can tell certain things, but not everything. It's important to let others know what we want.
Sunday, 9 September 2012
MY PHOTO FOR THE DAY - WHO LIVES IN THERE?
Mysterious I thought...is the opening in the tree man made, or is it natural? Did some animal carve it out with it's teeth or claw? But then, it wouldn't be this perfect now would it? What does it seem to you? I thought it was a natural opening in the tree. My second thought, who could be living in there? Squirells? Rats? Never saw the bottom of a tree like this before. I thought it looked lovely with the little plants and a flower right in front of the opening in the tree, and the plants spreading sideways and upwards across the tree. I took this photo near the Niagara Falls, New York.
SUPERSTITION ABOUT WATCHES AND CLOCKS - IS IT FOR REAL?
I do find some superstitions amusing, interesting or sometimes shocking. Many times in life, black cats (and adorable black kittens) have crossed my path. I've broken mirrors and glasses - well accidently. Nothing bad or out of the ordinary ever happened any of those times. I read the other day, that in many countries, people even today consider gifting a time piece - wrist watch, alarm clock, wall clock, pocket watch so on, will bring bad luck. The same belief system exist in Feng Shui as well. I am not against Feng Shui. In fact it's a very interesting subject. According to the superstition, timepieces measure the passage of time and when you gift a time piece of any sort, it symbolizes a limited lifespan to the recipient or stealing life from others, which is very inauspicious. I have at various times in my life received watches as gift (from my husband and son). I didn't experience anything negative. We have gifted watches to friends, relatives and family through the years. Let me think.... did I have a bad relation with any of them after gifting? No. Did they experience anything bad upon receiving a watch? No . Are they all leading a fairly good life? Yes.
Watches and clocks, are common gifts given by people. If we give power to thoughts, they take shape and form. If you think of good things, harbor faith, believe in your dreams, you are bound to attract good. If you are constantly afraid and fearful of something, you are likely to attract the very thing you fear, into your life. Don't entertain unnecessary thoughts and superstitions.
HOW NOT TO LET PEOPLE ANNOY YOU
There is a minority of people you might know, who has a penchant for speaking or behaving in an annoying way. They can literally drive others mad. What do you do? You can't even avoid some of them. It might be a colleague you detest and each time you have to interact with this person, you hope he or she won't open their mouth lest you get annoyed. It could be a friend who trumpets and boasts endlessly about things that aren't even true just to show off and feel important because actually they have a problem in their head or in their life and they are miserable. It could be a relative who invariably never fail to annoy you, but you exercise immeasureable patience out of civility. It could be parents who don't do anything about their screaming child or baby while you are dining in a restaurant. Or someone who talks so loud on the mobile while you are watching a movie in the theatre. I honestly feel like laughing as I type this because seriously...what do you do?. I am too civil to say, 'please shut up and get lost'. But the thought does cross my mind in certain 'situations'.
It started off as a beautiful day yesterday, until I had an annoying encounter with an annoying friend, just when I have been doing some conscious work towards tolerance, choosing to react wisely in difficult situations, as I believe your choice of how you react makes a huge difference in how positively or negatively things turn out. After the phone call, I thought, what was she? An alien who missed her spaceship and got lost on earth because her behavior was certainly not earthly - unfathomable! I needn't have given my energy away. Actually I never reacted, just that I felt bad inside at several things this person said to me. What should I have done? I should have cut the call short the moment I felt annoyed or felt my energies being drained. One thing I must I say is, don't entertain toxic people, who you can do without. You don't have to let them feed on your energy, eat your brains or drain you out. Don't waste your time thinking about why someone said or did that, because, people say or do things or behave in a certain way, as they deem right and it has nothing really to do with you. It's got to do with them, their emotions, their difficulties, their shortcomings, their inability to be positive. They are insensitive and lack manners. All they know is to annoy others, just to feel better about themselves - some of them do it knowingly, and some don't even know they are being annoying.
Do yourself a favor. Work consciously on choosing how to react in difficult situations with annoying people. Don't get angry or argue, snap back or retort or compete in their game. You won't win - you will just end up feeling terrible. So don't give away your energy. Don't allow your moods and mind to be controlled by their negativity. Calm yourself when you know you are getting upset. When you don't react and keep calm, annoying people kind of get confused, become lost, they sort of stop. I met this young man who speaks so calmly even with the most annoying people - I was amazed. And they back off! You can say calmly what you want to say - make it short and simple, then, choose to walk away, by telling you have things to do or you're busy so you don't have to be a victim. Talk the least to annoying people and only what's necessary. Honestly speaking, majority of people around us are nice, kind, helpful, generous..... - it's just the minority - a few who are annoying. Now should you allow one person to ruin your day? No...you don't have to. You can retreat to your beautiful life peacefully, leaving the annoying person to himself (or herself).