Don't they have better things to do???

Singapore scientists embrace plan for cyberhugs

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore scientists looking for ways to transmit the sense of touch over the Internet have devised a vibration jacket for chickens and are thinking about electronic children's pyjamas for cyberspace hugs.

A wireless jacket for chickens or other pets can be controlled with a computer and gives the animal the feeling of being touched by its owner, researchers at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) told The Straits Times.

The next step would be to use the same concept to transmit hugs over the Internet, it said.
"These days, parents go on a lot of business trips, but with children, hugging and touching are very important," the paper quoted NTU Associate Professor Adrian David Cheok as saying.

NTU is thinking of a pyjama suit for children, which would use the Internet to adjust changes in pressure and temperature to simulate the feeling of being hugged. Parents wearing a similar suit could be "hugged" back by their children, the paper said.

What can you say to that mad lot?

Personally I'd rather this mob of mad scientists spent their time on solving world hunger or the common cold or something HALFWAY BLOODY SENSIBLE like hugging their own children. You might feel differently?

Are You Irresistibly Attractive?

“A man never discloses his own character so clearly as when he describes another’s.” Jean Paul Richter

My coaching often integrates some of the ’28 Principles of Irresistible Attraction’ developed by coaching guru and creative thinker Thomas Leonard.

Thomas’s Attraction approach steers us away from ‘seducing’ our way through the daily maze - chasing doggedly after things, reluctant people, endless dead ends, or objectives that are frustratingly elusive the more you crank up the treadmill.

He advocates instead making yourself so ‘irresistibly attractive’ that the things you want come to you more effortlessly and you attract what you need and value (again needs come into play).

A chiropractic analogy explains Attraction in action. A chiropractor doesn’t prescribe medications to heal, but helps your system to heal you by realigning bones that may be impeding the electrical flow of your nervous system.

This is a good analogy, because part of the Attraction process is to increase the flow of your current system (heart, mind, spirit, body), rather than using medications to chemically restore or repair.

Attraction is a simple but sophisticated living approach – don’t forget that your approach to life is a choice, which many people forget to consciously make.

‘Character is not made in a crisis – it is only exhibited’. Robert Freeman

I’m musing over Thomas's Principle #20 – ‘Develop More Character Than You Need’. Are you someone with character? A big person? A forthright person who doesn’t have a need to constantly tell lies? (We’ll allow white lies where they smooth the social fabric along without harming anyone).

Thomas believes that people have put results, expediency and efficiency ahead of principles and character, but that although character has languished over the past 20 years or so, it’s coming into its time again.

I agree and also think it’s never been needed more out there, both personally and professionally. I don't care a bit if that makes me look like I have old-fashioned values either...

Character for me is strength, not wielding power. As the world shifts from power to strength as the primary paradigm, character matters more, even more so right now as a troubled planet stands uneasily on the sidelines of an anti-terrorism war - and worries over how that impacts us individually and collectively.

Character’s about honesty, integrity, honour…and about fearlessly living out your own convictions, about compassion and humility, about other people being able to put trust in you; and standing for what’s important to you. If you don't stand for something you'll fall for anything? Discuss...

Morality Question - would you steal this pie?

Here's a morality question for you all. Last week I was in the local deli and bought a couple of things including a $15 tart/pie to feed the household.

But... while I was buying it and they were adding something else to the order, the woman beside me at the counter paid for her stuff, grabbed her bags - and my pie - and raced out the door.

The shop owner and the counter girl immediately realised that she'd taken my pie by mistake. She is apparently a regular customer, so they thought a) she'd be back within a few mins b) she'd ring from hom and tell them about the mistake c) she'd bring it back 'cos she lives locally and has to come back into the shop soon.

This week the deli staff and I are giggling and they're a little shocked because the (middle-class well-off lady customer) stole the pie, never surfaced , and hasn't come back yet. They're looking forward to seeing if she tries to pretend nothing happens the next time she walks in, whereas we know she's the Pie Thief. lol

We all get situations like this that are so tempting to get a little treat from the ATM or the universe or someone else's mistake. She probably thought she got lucky with a very EAT-ME-Now free tart. But she stole from them and my dinner too! They kindly gave me another one so I didn't starve.

Would you steal the pie? Or are you going to give a funny/fake answer cos if you say HELL YES FREE PIE, the whole internet will brand you as a dishonest person?

How NOT to succeed at sleeping your way to the top

This girl ISN'T yet succeeding at 'shortcuts to sleeping your way to the top'. I had to laugh and feature this one..

The banker's reply is hilarious and very true. lol Men must be bored witless by women like this and as one of the gender I apologise on behalf of the female population for her crass approach to umm, 'romance'?. Darling go earn your own money!

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Deal or no deal? An online exchange between a woman looking for a husband who earns more than $500,000 a year and a mystery Wall Street banker, who assessed her potential for romance as a business deal, has cause quite an Internet stir.

The anonymous 25-year-old woman recently posted an ad on the free online New York community Web site Craigslist, newyork.craigslist.org/, appealing for advice on how to find a wealthy husband.

"I know how that sounds, but keep in mind that a million a year is middle class in New York City, so I don't think I'm overreaching at all," the woman, who described herself as "spectacularly beautiful" and "superficial," wrote.

"I dated a business man who makes average around 200 - 250. But that's where I seem to hit a roadblock. $250,000 won't get me to Central Park West," she said, asking questions like "where do rich single men hang out?"

The mystery banker, who said he fit the bill, offered the woman an analysis of her predicament, describing it as "plain and simple a crappy business deal."

"Your looks will fade and my money will likely continue into perpetuity ... in fact, it is very likely that my income increases but it is an absolute certainty that you won't be getting any more beautiful!" the banker wrote.

"So, in economic terms you are a depreciating asset and I am an earning asset," he said. "Let me explain, you're 25 now and will likely stay pretty hot for the next 5 years, but less so each year. Then the fade begins in earnest. By 35 stick a fork in you!"

"It doesn't make good business sense to "buy you" (which is what you're asking) so I'd rather lease," he said.

While the woman has since removed the ad from Craigslist, it -- along with the response -- has become a popular email joke that, bank JPMorgan Chase says, led to one of its bankers mistakenly being credited with writing the response.

Brian Marchiony, spokesman for JPMorgan Chase, said the banker did not write the response and that his email signature accidentally became attached to the ad and response when he forwarded it to friends and it then wound up on blogs.

Craigslist was not immediately available for comment, but a spokeswoman told The New York Times that "it does look as if the post was made sincerely."