The intelligent question

Well, yet another interesting piece of stuff from my mailbox. LOL...I really enjoyed it like anything. Hopefully you too will like it :D
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While visiting India, George Bush is invited to tea with Abdul Kalam. He asks Kalam what his leadership philosophy is. He says that, it is to surround himself with intelligent people.

Bush asks how he knows if they're intelligent.

"I do so by asking them the right questions," says Kalam. "Allow me to demonstrate."

Bush watches as Kalam phones Manmohan Singh and says, "Mr. Prime Minister, please answer this question: Your mother has a child, and your father has a child, and this child is not your brother or sister.

Who is it?"

Manmohan immediately responds, "It's me, Sir !"

"Correct. Thank you and good-bye" says Kalam. He hangs up and says," Did you get that, Mr. Bush?"

Bush nods: "Yes Mr.. President. Thanks a lot.

I'll definitely be using that!"

Bush, upon returning to Washington, decides he'd better put Condoleezza Rice to the test. Bush summons her to the White House and says, "Condoleezza, I wonder if you can answer a question for me."

"Why, of course, sir. What's on your mind?"

Bush poses the question: "Uhh, your mother has a child, and your father has a child, and this child is not your brother or your sister. Who is it?"

Rice was puzzled and finally asks, "Can I think about it and get back to you?" Bush agrees, and Rice leaves.

Rice immediately calls a meeting of senior senators, and they puzzle over the question for several hours, but nobody can come up with an answer...Finally, in desperation, Rice calls Colin Powell and explains the problem.

"Mr. Powell, your mother has a child, and your father has a child, and this child is not your brother or your sister.

Who is it?"

Powell answers immediately, "It's me, of course."

Much relieved, Rice rushes back to the White House, finds George Bush, and exclaims,

"I know the answer, sir! I know who it is!

It's our Colin Powell!"

And Bush replies in disgust, "Wrong,

it's Manmohan Singh!"
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P.S - Just for laughs :D

I'm reading: The intelligent question

Blogging after a break

I don’t know but yes, I still managed to write this post. I am just back from a small break, a much needed break...I must say. Definitely to be cherished for long.

It is always a great feeling to be with your loved ones. And I must say myself lucky for the same. Lucky because it is very rare when I get my holidays approved for the number of days I expect it to be. And it happened this time...Thank God !! But I would have definitely liked my holidays to be stretched for long as to be very honest, I was never ever in a mood to come back to my normal routine. It really sucks to be here again and get involved with 9 to 5 routine. But anyways, that is how life goes...and sadly, I have become used to it and I guess....I am not the only one :(

Whatever maybe, this trip was quite memorable. Now, I am back to my usual routine. I am hoping to continue from where I left i.e; continue to blog. I have been off from blogging for over a week and that's very rare with me. Anyways, I am back to this blogging business and no doubt, I will keep it up...

Leaving you with one of my favorite videos. This video was shot while I was leaving for my vacation. I was seated inside a train compartment and just when train was passing through a deep valley, I got an idea to shoot this video. This was truly a breathtaking sight...

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Julian Assange's Wikileaks - The Internet Whistleblower

Celebrities exposed, Politicians exposed, everyone’s exposed…this is a very common scenario these days. There was a time when nobody used to bother on these things but not today. Seems that people are eagerly waiting for such things to happen. Well, I do not belong to any such category but yes one thing that has really caught off my attention these days is the one and the only WIKILEAKS.

Unlike many other sites, Wikileaks is truly one of the most amazing sites that I have come across in recent times. I don’t know how I could miss this site when it was first launched. Or just forget it, the thing which amazes me the most – How the hell it works? What makes it so unique when we have so many similar sites around? How does Wikileak manage to post such confidential data or say, secrets on its website? What makes it so secure and hackproof?

It all started with Collateral Murder, a leaked war video which was published on its website for the very first time. The moment it was published on Wikileaks, it lead to a huge uproar in the international community because of the controversies attached with the same. Yes, I myself did watch it and I was just blown away. You can also Goggle search and find the video.

I think, never in the history before, has any site created such huge impact the way this Wikileaks seems to have done. Mere one leaked war video on its site and the Wikileaks was popular overnite with tonnes of page impressions to follow in the coming days. It is just amazing to see a site which sounds so normal but gets popular like anything because of some controversial content. The way Wikileaks has rose to popularity just goes to show that people love anything controversial. A term which is perfectly apt for Wikileaks - Whistleblowing. And this is what Wikileaks is all about.

All credit to Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks who seems to have revolutionized web with his own unique concept of whistleblowing. Juslias Assange, who hails from Australia is an expert Programmer and a Hacker. Don't know what intentions he had in his mind when he decided to launch his internet whistleblower. Very few would dare to do what he alone has done. Good or Bad, I think he deserves a pat on his back for his initiative to let everyone know on what's going behind, obviously the real facts.

His Wikileaks is in news again for the same thing - Whistleblowing and this time it is much more bigger than what anyone could have imagined in his/her dream. Seems that this man doesn't fear anyone and goes with his decision right or wrong. Inspite of the dire consequences he might have to face, he went on to publish around 90,000 documents related to Afghan War also known as Afghan War Dairy on his site i.e; Wikileaks. This most recent act has been widely criticized by many but it looks as if Julian doesn't care a bit. While very recently, I was surfing through one news site, I happened to pass by this comment

"As it now functions, the Web site is primarily hosted on a Swedish Internet service provider called PRQ.se, which was created to withstand both legal pressure and cyber attacks, and which fiercely preserves the anonymity of its clients. Submissions are routed first through PRQ, then to a WikiLeaks server in Belgium, and then on to “another country that has some beneficial laws,” Assange told me, where they are removed at “end-point machines” and stored elsewhere. These machines are maintained by exceptionally secretive engineers, the high priesthood of WikiLeaks. One of them, who would speak only by encrypted chat, told me that Assange and the other public members of WikiLeaks “do not have access to certain parts of the system as a measure to protect them and us.” The entire pipeline, along with the submissions moving through it, is encrypted, and the traffic is kept anonymous by means of a modified version of the Tor network, which sends Internet traffic through “virtual tunnels” that are extremely private. Moreover, at any given time WikiLeaks computers are feeding hundreds of thousands of fake submissions through these tunnels, obscuring the real documents. Assange told me that there are still vulnerabilities, but “this is vastly more secure than any banking network.”

Incredible...Isn't it? I am not sure if any network is as powerful and secure as this one. Phenomenal...the right word to describe it. Well, I have been through the site myself and I was pretty impressed though I didn't find much time to wade through the content as it was enormous. Just to let you know more, it is not about the war footage or controversial content, it is much more than that. For me, it was always - How does it work and this is what prompted me to know more and more about it. Though not much but still enough...I can understand it better now.

What about you? Have you been through the site? What are your views about Wikileaks? Do you find it ethical or unethical? Please have your say !!

I'm reading: Julian Assange's Wikileaks - The Internet Whistleblower

Should I do a Guest Post in blogs of my own niche?

guest post by Shabnam Sultan

Interesting and yet another guest post from a very good blogger friend of mine...Shabnam. It all related with guest posting - Should you or shouldn't? I found it useful. Hope you too will find it the same.
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Guest Posting is an effective way of increasing traffic to your blog, creating quality back links and needless to say that how much it helps in networking with other bloggers.In short guest posting is marketing your blog effectively – Am I right??


When you write guest posts for other bloggers you want to write such a post which will create interest in readers of other blogs so that they pay a visit to your blog.One thing which you should remember is that while doing guest posts in other blogs don’t over promote yourself by revealing too much information about yourself as most readers don’t appreciate this.

Regarding guest post one thing can come to your mind is that should I write a guest post in my competitor’s blog? Will it benefit me? Believe me there are lots of bloggers who don’t appreciate the idea of doing guest post.

Some bloggers feel that if they do a guest post in their competitor’s blog they will loose their loyal readers! Well if you have a bigger fan following then this will not be the case.

To be honest if you take my opinion then I don’t think you will loose your visitors. If your blog has good and unique content then your readers will NOT leave you. There is a saying that “CONTENT IS KING”. Hence, always try to write good contents in your blog which your readers will value as the mere existence of your blog online is because of your readers. Readers visit blogs to find valuable info around and for that they visit websites/blogs of same niche. Consider an example, if a reader wants to know about “make money online” then he will visit all the quality blogs of that niche.

Hence, don’t be skeptic of doing a guest post on blogs which are of your own niche. Grow as a network with bloggers of same niche; update your blog regularly with quality content. Your readers will flock around your blog as “bees around nectar”.
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Shabnam is an avid blogger from India. She is basically a tech blogger and an owner of two wonderful blogs - http://astronomyforeveryone.blogspot.com and http://techiezlounge.com/

I'm reading: Should I do a Guest Post in blogs of my own niche?

Blogging Safely through Anonymous Blogging

Well, this writeup is in continuation to my last post. Here I will not be speaking on the same thing instead I will be discussing more on how to maintain privacy if you are a blogging about anything especially about your work, company etc.. In our earlier post, we have seen that until and unless you follow some strict content access control methods, your blog remains public to everyone. And this is where the whole problem originates.

There are many still who find it nothing but just imagine your blog being read by your family members who are left shocked and upset reading your uncensored thoughts. Your Boss being made to rethink on his decision to hire you. Well, the positives are many but odds are not less either. Whatever maybe, the point is very simple - You should keep on blogging without being concerned much on these issues. But the only thing you must remember - You have to limit access to your content by making your blog private or shareable only to certain trusted people.

So, just like we have seen it in our previous post...below are some few simple precautions that you must take to maintain control of your personal privacy so that you can express yourself without facing unjust retaliation. These simple protections can surely save you from embarrassment or just plain weirdness in front of your friends and coworkers.

To begin with, the best way to maintain privacy online is to Blog Anonymously. Now, you must be thinking what and how ? Let's say you want to start a blog about your terrible work environment but you don't want to risk your boss or colleagues discovering that you're writing about them. You'll want to consider how to anonymize every possible detail about your situation. And its all possible if you follow some few simple technologies that make it hard for anyone to trace the blog back to you. These few simple technical tricks are mentioned below:

Make use of Pseudonym and Stop sharing any identifying details

In any case, if you are blogging about your workplace please make sure not to include things like where you're located, how many employees there are, and the specific sort of business you do. Also avoid sharing any general details like details related to your present job, etc... Never use real names or post pictures of yourself. Also, avoid using pseudonyms which sound like real names. Try making it look unique.

And if you are worried about your blog being visible to your colleagues then the best you can do is to avoid blogging at work. You should stop doing it anyways as blogging makes use of computer resources like internet connection which may get you in trouble sooner or later. Also, it gets much more difficult to hide your blogging from office-mates and IT operators who observe traffic over the office network.

Making use of Anonymizing Technologies

Online services like Invisiblog.com offer anonymous blog hosting for free. You may create a blog there with no real names attached. Even the people who run the service will not have access to your name.

You can make use anonymous network to edit your blog thus preventing your blog hosting service from logging your unique IP address and thus tracking what computer you're blogging from. You can even make use of “overlay network” that hides the IP address.

Making use of Ping Servers

Services like pingomatic.com allows you to broadcast your blog entry to a lot of news venues at once, while making you untraceable. The program will send out notice (a "ping") about your blog entry to several blog search engines like Feedster and Technorati. Once those sites list your entry which is usually within a few minutes you can take the entry down. Thus the news gets out rapidly and its source can evaporate within half an hour. This protects the speaker while also helping the blog entry reach people fast.

Limiting Audience

Plain and simple. Why not designate individual posts or your entire blog as available only to those who have the password, or to people whom you've designated as friends? This surely looks to be one of the better ways to revamp privacy concerns. Let your blog be visible to only those whom you want and thus avoiding any collateral damage to your privacy. Password Protect if you are really concerned about your blog privacy.

Escaping from Google and other search engines

Making use of files like robot.txt or a robot text file can certainly exclude search engines like from gaining access to certain parts of your blog. But it is not the same case always. Instead try looking for many other many tools and tricks for making your blog less searchable, without relying on robots.txt.

Anonymous Registration of Domain Names

Please do it in case you don’t want people to look up the WHOIS records for your domain name and find out who you are. This is apart from giving your real name or personal information in your blog.

Very simple..Isn’t it ? So, the next time if you happen to be plagued by the feeling of being caught while blogging at work, do keep these things in your mind as these tips are likely to answer your privacy concerns which if not solved then may pose a grave threat to you as well as your blogging. Hope you will keep it in your mind forever. If you feel you have more to add to it then please do...

I'm reading: Blogging Safely through Anonymous Blogging

Job Search Blogging - Do's and Dont's

It has happened to many and it can happen to anyone. Talking about blogging, it really gets addictive at times. I have felt the same and I think there are many out there who have the same feeling. Anyways as I said it in the beginning, it can happen to anyone...yes, you can get fired because of your blogging. There have been growing cases of such bloggers who have met the same fate. Be it sharing confidential information, making inappropriate comments about the company, or both. Posting company news, pictures, and even making positive comments about a company has got people into troubles and has often cost them their jobs.

So, a question to my fellow bloggers who have been blogging just for fun or say, for passive income and who have a solid job as a backup - Are you ready for the same? Getting fired from your job - How does it sound to you? Have you ever thought of the same? Does your blogging has some limitations or it has become a common place to vent out your frustrations to your company? Do you really care or not ??

Perhaps we never take it seriously. These questions never bother us and sooner or later, we pay price for the same. Anyways, it is a food for thought for all of us. Getting back to the same thing, what about job seekers - should you be blogging or not? Can having a blog, a personal web site, or an account on a social networking site impact your job search, for better or for worse? Well, it can. There are many examples to support the same.

One thing that all job-seekers must know, You are being watched. You may be smart but employers are getting more smarter than you. You may think, you published and escaped but to be honest, employers are looking out at every possible mean to reach out to you and know as much as possible about you. A common thing noticeable today is that people usually do not care much about mentioning each and everything in their resumes. Well, it looks good at one instant but beware of its dangers in the long run. Even if it's not on your resume, if your blog, web site or profile contains information on your real identity, the people you least expect, and those that you certainly don't want reading it, may find it. Not only your boss and prospective employers, but, also your customers, colleagues and co-workers.

So, it does look like a problem to me. But every problem has a solution. And below we have some solutions for the same. The points below are do's and dont's when it comes to blogging for the job seekers. You blog...its fine but try to keep these points in your mind before penning down anything and everything...

1. Avoid putting a link in your resume which links to any site which includes inappropriate content that is not appropriate for a business audience.
   
   
2. Be extra careful in sharing anything online. It has become a habit for people to share anything on facebook and myspace these days. Its good but you must realize that even if you don’t want others to peep inside still there might be some who may find it easily accessible. Making you account private may help to a great extent. Keep everything private from your prospective employer.
   
   
3. Fine, you have created a personal website. Only thing to remember - If you are a job seeker then your personal website must be specifically related to your job search including your resume, samples, your portfolio, and certifications. Include only professional and academic information. Or use your profile on sites like LinkedIn to promote your experience.
   
   
4. If you have a blog then do mention it on your resume unless it's irrelevant to the career field / position that you are interviewing for. Like if you are a marketing professional and if you have a blog on the same then please mention it in your resume. And if you don’t have a blog then try making one which is related to your career interests.
   
   
5. Start a job search blog which allows job seekers blogging to track their job search and market their skills. A job search blog can help with your job search and give you exposure.
   
   
6. Never put anything in haste and do not put post anything which is inappropriate. Must remember that a hastily written blog post critical of your job or detailing your wild night with a hot date can be read today and you may pretend as if you didn’t do anything but your potential employer will keep it in his/her mind forever.
   
   
7. Last but not the least, do find some time to visit sites like monster.com and naukri.com. These sites have a job search blog plus a variety of mainstream and niche sites. It is highly recommended to read these blogs on a regular basis, review the advice that is offered, and pick up tips that will aid your job search.

Well, here we go again. Frankly speaking, I have never been in any such situations. Though the amount of information which I share is huge and mostly public. But the important thing with me is that I know what to share and what not to. And I feel we all must...what say ??

I'm reading: Job Search Blogging - Do's and Dont's