100 things about me

WHAT WAS YOUR:
1. Last beverage = Grape Juice
2. Last phone call = Maeesha Mahir
3. Last text message = @ Maee
4. Last song you listened to = You gotta lift by Shannol
5. Last time you cried = I guess that was last year (2008)

HAVE YOU EVER:
6. Dated someone twice = Nop
7. Been cheated on = Yeah
8. Kissed someone & regretted it = Yeah
9. Lost someone special = Yap. GrandPa
10. Been depressed = Sometimes…
11. Been drunk and threw up = Nop. Cox I don't drink

FIRST THREE FAVORITE COLOURS:
12. Orange
13. White
14. Light Cream

THIS YEAR HAVE YOU: (2009)
15. Made a new friend = Yes. Ynita, Nicole, Melissa, Nur… a lot
16. Fallen out of love = No
17. Laughed until you cried = Yeah.
19. Found out who your true friends were = Yeah
20. Found out someone was talking about you = Yeah… cox they admitted to me lolx
21. Kissed anyone on your friend's list = Nop
22. How many people on your friends list do you know in real life = most of them
23. How many kids do you want to have = Four…
24. Do you have any pets = Yeah… my pillow hahah
25. Do you want to change your name = Yeah.. Ali bin Adam Yoosuf
26. What did you do for your last birthday = Went Pawning with Sarah Lee
27. What time did you wake up today = 17:30… cox I went bed at around 10 am..
28. What were you doing at midnight last night = chatting and twitting, Facebooking and Doing Industrial Relation (Singapore) assignment…and of cox cooking
29. Name something you CANNOT wait for = Meet my Maee
30. Last time you saw your Mother = Two Years back
31. What is one thing you wish you could change about your life? = my luck
32. What are you listening to right now… m not listening anything…
33. Have you ever talked to a person named James = Yeah
34. What's getting on your nerves right now = Assignments due dates…
35. Most visited webpage = Facebook and BBC and of cox twitter
36. Whats your real name = Ali Adam
37. Nicknames = Ayya, Ali, Adam, Abbas, Dhonik, Latin, Kalhey..
38. family members = 7 siblings
39. Zodiac sign = Virgo
40. Male or female? = obviously male
41. Profession: Human Resources, Cooking
42. education level: Bachelor of Commence (Major HRM + Management) on going..
43.College/University = Yeah.. Currently at Curtin University of Technology (Singapore Campus)
44. Hair colour = Black
45. Long or short = I would say I'm tall
46. Height = 5ft 6" I guess
47. Do you have a crush on someone? = Yeah
48: What do you like about yourself? = My Cleanliness and Orderly manner
49. Piercings = Non.
50. Tattoos = Non. And don't want
51. Righty or lefty = Righty

FIRSTS :
52. First surgery = Circumcision
53. First piercing = NON!!
54. First best friend = Ayya
55. First sport you joined = Football.. I think..
56. First vacation = not remember..
58. First pair of trainers = Salley, and Ishanttey

RIGHT NOW
59. Eating = Writing this
60. Drinking = Not drinking (cox I am fasting right now…)
61. I'm about to = Post this and sleep cox now morning 6 am. I didn't sleep yet..
62. Listening to = Tweet.. cox this is morning time
63. Waiting for = my lovely… lolx

YOUR FUTURE :
64. Want kids?= Yeah of cox
65. get married?= Yes. Of course.
66. Career? = Trainer, Coach, Teacher

WHICH IS BETTER :
67. Lips or eyes? = Eye
68. Hugs or kisses? = Hugs
69. Shorter or taller? = Whatever
70. Older or Younger? = Older
71. Romantic or spontaneous ? = Romantic
72. Nice stomach or nice arms? = Nice stomach
73. Sensitive or loud ? = Sensitive
74. Hook-up or relationship? = Relationship
75. Trouble maker or hesitant? = Trouble maker… if you were wrong..

HAVE YOU EVER :
76. Kissed a stranger? = Yeah
77. Drank hard liquor? = Nop…cox I don't believe in it
78. Lost mobile? = Yeah.. my first one.. it was stolen
79. Have you ever lied to your parents? Sometimes… yeah
80. Broken someone's heart? = I am not a Surgeon.. hehhe not sure
81. Had your own heart broken? = Nop
82. Been arrested? = Nop.. cox Insha Allah I am not a criminal, and never ever be..
83. Turned someone down? = Yes.
84. Cried when someone died? = Yeah my grand pa
85. Fallen for a friend? = Nop

DO YOU BELIEVE IN
86. Yourself? = Of cox…
87. Miracles? = Yeah… but those from Allah only…
88. Love at first sight? = Nop
89. Heaven? = Yeah
90. Santa Claus?= Of cox not, cox I am not a christian
91. Kiss on the first date?= Nop
92. Angels? = Of cox, believe in it is a must to be a muslim.

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY:
94. Had more than 1 boyfriend/girlfriend at a time? = Nop..
95. Did you sing today? = I think so.. but very quietly.. lolx
96. Ever cheated on somebody? = Yeah.. our lecturers… Sometimes they were irritating..
97. If you could go back in time, how far would you go? = My first day in this world…… lolx
98. If you could pick a day from last year and relive it, what would it be? = Day Anni was elected as a president…
99. Are you afraid of falling in love? = Yeah.. cox I don't wanna loose my Maee
100. Who do you want to tag? Everyone on earth.. Unfortunately I can't.. so better not to tag anyone…

100 things about me

A New Rule for the Workplace

A few months ago Peter's wife Eleanor came home upset after an incident with one of the parents at their daughter's school. That afternoon, when Eleanor said hello to Michelle, Michelle completely ignored her. Thinking maybe Michelle hadn't heard her, Eleanor said hello again, this time louder. Again, no response. Michelle wasn't speaking on the phone or in a conversation with another parent. She was able to respond, she just refused to. Eleanor was getting the silent treatment. Not one to give up, she said hello a third time. Finally, Michelle mumbled something without looking up and walked away.

Eleanor wasn't friends with Michelle. They had only spoken a few times in the past, most notably when she called Eleanor to complain about something their daughter did. Still, she was thrown off balance by Michelle's cold shoulder. It was one of those small things that's hard to get out of your mind. She wasn't expecting it.

We are constantly shocked by the things other people say and do or by the things they don't say and don't do. How can my boss have ignored me? How can my colleague have taken the credit? How can my employee have made that mistake? Can you believe my manager said that to me in front of all those other people? How can my partner be so inconsiderate? Why doesn't my spouse appreciate what I do for her?

When coaching executives or mediate conflicts between leaders, each person is always amazed at how the other people behave. This has led to a very simple conclusion.

The problem is not us. And it's not them. The problem is our expectations.

It's not that people behave well or badly. It's that we expect them to behave differently than they do. Even when they have proven our expectation wrong time and time again.

At this point, should you still be surprised when your boss for the 100th time doesn't invite you to a meeting? Or when you send a colleague a nice email and it goes unanswered? Again.

Here's my advice: don't go to a hardware store and get upset when they won't sell you milk.

In this case, the answer to frustration is acceptance. It's amazing how changing your expectations can change your experience.

Because the world is more global and organizations are more diverse, the likelihood we will interact with people very different from us is increasing exponentially. And people who are different from us do things we don't expect or want them to do. Sometimes they don't look at us when we speak to them. Sometimes they talk back. Sometimes they don't talk at all. They defy our expectations, and we feel frustrated.

Remember the golden rule? Treat other people the way you'd like to be treated? Forget it. It doesn't apply anymore, if it ever did. Try this new rule instead: Treat other people the way they'd like to be treated.

If you don't like to be micromanaged, for example, you probably try to avoid micromanaging others. But there are some times and some places where that would be a mistake. Like India, for example.

According to Mike Schell, co-author of the excellent book, Managing Across Cultures: The 7 Keys to Doing Business with a Global Mindset, Indian workers prefer — and expect — to be micromanaged. Mike told recently: "That ultimate sin of Western managers is the best way to get things accomplished in some cultures. Once you begin to treat people the way they want to be treated, you'll find the results much more rewarding. When operating in a new country, we don't just need word translators. We need people translators."

In some cultures it's important for meetings to start on time. In others, it makes no difference. In some cultures it's rude to interrupt. In others, it's simply the norm. Understanding other people's expectations can help you reset your own. And that helps you work with them more effectively.

When American guy sitting in a meeting with Yukiko, Japanese partner, and she doesn't speak, he might assume she agrees with what he saying. But he would be wrong. It's not that she agrees with him, it's just that she would never disagree with him in public. If he understand that, he won't be surprised when she doesn't follow through.

Still it's almost easier to understand Yukiko because he from New York and she's from Tokyo. He expects her to be different.

But Chris in the office next door? Who's also from New York? That's a different story. he shouldn't need instructions on what to expect from him.

Each one of us is, in effect, from a different culture. We have different parents, different teachers, different experiences, different hopes and dreams, successes and failures. Even if we understand the same words, we're still speaking different languages.

So instead of getting frustrated with other people, learn their rules of engagement. If you pretend each person is from a foreign country you don't fully understand, you'll be more open to accepting him or her.

Think of every interaction as an experiment that explains a little bit more about the individual you're dealing with. Then, when someone defies your expectations, don't get mad. Just change your expectations to more accurately align with reality. Once you understand your colleagues' operating instructions, you might decide to approach them differently. Use different words. Be more or less aggressive.

Or you might decide to leave — to go and work somewhere else with other people. Because once you accept your colleagues, once you realize you simply can't buy milk at a hardware store, you might decide you don't want to be in a hardware store at all. It’s not that people can't change. In fact you're setting yourself up if you expect them to.

"Do you think Peter should call Michelle to talk with her about this afternoon?" Eleanor asked Peter, still stewing over getting the cold shoulder.

"That depends,” Perter answered, "will you be OK with it when she blows you off?"

Source: Peter Bregman

A New Rule for the Workplace

You gotta lift...

You gotta lift...

Life after human or Modified version... but still called "Human"

In the light of Adrian Stuart,

Today, we are modifying and augmenting our bodies and abilities in ways which were not only impossible 100 years ago, but unfathomable.

If at this point in time, you happen to be young and a city-dwelling citizen of a rich, technologically advanced country, it’s unlikely that you will appreciate how truly distant the world of your grandparents is to your current existence. In some cases, your grandparents may have lived in homes with mud floors, without electricity, running water, antibiotics and of course, no internet. Not too long ago, your relatives may have grown their own food and made their own clothes. Many of the grandparents of which we speak, born around the World War II era, are currently engaged in knee and hip replacement surgery, cataract operations, organ transplants - and with an access to pharmaceuticals with properties that would have been astonishing not too long ago.

What will the future hold for someone who is 10 years old today? One possible vision of life after the next hundred years is described by a group of people who believe that the concept of being ‘human’ is about to become a cloudy issue. These are the posthumanists. The basic idea of a posthuman is someone who once was a human – or one of their ancestors was a human – but this future person has now modified themselves to the point where they are not quite the same as we are today.

What would such a person be like? In which ways could an individual modify themselves so that they would become ‘different’ than human?

Some of the ways in which the idea of human-ness is changing are already with us: moving slowly but present nonetheless. For example, knee and hip surgery and artificial organs – these are clearly not ‘parts of us’, yet we use them as replacements for organs that have been damaged or failed. In the future, replacement parts grown through nanotechnology may lead to even better mechanical replacements that we can produce at this time. Further in the future, biology and nanotechnology together may produce replacement organs which are indistinguishable from the original – but young and healthy. Continuing on further, there is no necessity to stop at the elements of the body which we currently view as ‘hardware’ – parts of the brain as they are fail or are injured can be replaced.

This, of course, opens up a very interesting debate. At what point does a person stop being a ‘human’ – or even, at which point does a person stop being ‘themselves?’

Stephen Pinker, a cognitive neuroscientist presents this question within a very old story told by the Greek, Plutarch, in the 1st century CE.

"The ship wherein Theseus and the youth of Athens returned [from Crete] had thirty oars, and was preserved by the Athenians down even to the time of Demetrius Phalereus, for they took away the old planks as they decayed, putting in new and stronger timber in their place, insomuch that this ship became a standing example among the philosophers, for the logical question of things that grow; one side holding that the ship remained the same, and the other contending that it was not the same."

Pinker takes The Ship of Theseus paradox a step further. What if, asks Pinker, a nanomachine could be produced that could perfectly duplicate the process of an actual neuron. Surgeons would replace one of your neurons with this tiny device – and you notice no difference. They then replace a second, then a third and so on. You feel no different, your perceptions and memory remain the same.

What would you feel if the new neurons had the ability to recall anything that you had ever perceived – which of course, felt just as you were thinking it with your own brain? Is it not, still, your own brain?

Ultimately, every cell in the body could be replaced by the new nano-cell. This cell, of course, would function at least as well as the one it replaced, and it would have the additional benefit that it too could be replaced in case of damage – in effect, a kind of immortality. Pinker has described a possible surgical technique that would lead to a posthuman state.

Still, we must remind ourselves that the potential posthuman reality as described in this article will arrive in series of small steps. Again, some of these can already be observed in their infancy. Science and technology is giving us the ability to manipulate our cells by genetic engineering; psychoactive drugs enable us to have enhanced memory or cognitive abilities, even items as innocuous as a mobile phone are essentially ‘external memory storage’ devices, replacing what we could keep in our own memory.

What is certain, is that the arrival of any new technology will have deep and far reaching effects - and it is obvious that whatever the future holds, taking the time now to discuss, debate and help shape the way forward is an investment opportunity not to be lost.

Life after human or Modified version... but still called "Human"

The Maldives: A New & Happy Era

This article was posted on Times Magazine. Friday, August 6, 1965.

If someone remarked that the Maldives became free last week, one might certainly be pardoned for asking, "Oh, really? How much had they cost before?" Nevertheless last week the Maldives, a collection of 2,000 coral islands in the Indian Ocean, became free.

Even the British, who had drawn up the independence papers long ago, were unprepared for the event. There was no Union Jack that could be dramatically rung down. None of the Queen's relatives were there. The ceremony was not even held in the Maldives. It took place, quite unexpectedly, when Sultan Ibrahim Nasir appeared at the door of the British High Commissioner's home in Ceylon and said he was ready to sign. He was sorry to arrive without warning, said Nasir, but he hadn't expected to be coming to Colombo so soon. He had made the three-day boat trip only because he needed to see a dentist.

Independence was hardly a burning issue to the Maldives, whose 95,000 Moslems mostly fish. Although the British had held them as a protectorate since 1887, the islands had always governed themselves, and the British had never even sent an administrator to their capital at Male. Britain's only responsibilities, in fact, were the conduct of Maldivian foreign affairs (nonexistent) and defense (unnecessary). Its only interest was the R.A.F. runway on the island of Gan, which it will retain as a steppingstone to Southeast Asia.

"I am confident," Commonwealth Relations Secretary Arthur Bottomley told Parliament in London last week, "that this will mark the beginning of a new and happy era in Anglo-Maldivian relations." But even that did not seem very likely. Rather than join the worldwide stampede of newly emerging nations, the Maldives seem intent on submerging. They are not going to join the Commonwealth. They have not applied for membership in the United Nations. Nor, apparently, will they seek diplomatic relations with any nation anywhere. The closest thing the Maldivians have to a foreign service, in fact, is a Male fish trader who has set himself up in business in Ceylon

The Maldives: A New & Happy Era