Google Street View

Of late two of my friends have been to US. One has been to Philadelphia \fi-lə-ˈdel-fyə, -fē-ə\ (derived from Greek philein, to love, plus Greek adelphos, brother, i.e., the city of “Brotherly Love”). And the other one has been to Phoenix \fē'nĭks\ (A mythological bird, said to be the only one of its kind, which lives for 500 years and then dies by burning to ashes on a pyre of its own making, ignited by the sun. It then arises anew from the ashes).

Being inquisitive, I checked, how their respective flats/apartments looks like, in Google street view (GSV). GSV gives the omniscient feeling of any place in US, UK, NZ etc; especially if you are anticipated to visit the place. Though Google has launched this feature long time ago, this article is intended to let you know how to use GSV (if you are not familiar beforehand) and to show my friends’ apartments in U.S. :)

How to Use:

Step 1: Login to your Google account and click on "Maps" tab. If you don’t have Google account, you can use GSV from here. Give your desired address in the textbox displayed. Then it gives the destined location with a balloon mark (approximate location) as shown in the below screen shot.

Step 2: Double clicking on the navigation lines (white/green/yellow in color) leads you to the street view of that particular location as shown below screen shot.

Step 3: Drag and drop the stickman in the bird eye view map given at the extreme right hand corner, to navigate directly.GSV allows you to have 360° horizontal and 290° vertical panoramic views from a row of positions along the street, and 2X to 4X zoom of the ambience depending on the availability.

There are many buttons and tabs, privileged to be reconnoitered by you. Enjoy the panorama of the streets.

NOTE: Street View is not available in INDIA and many other countries till date.

Courage: The joy of living dangerously

Prologue:
Frank Lucas a drug lord from America, Frank Abagnale Jr an American security consultant and former check forger, and Osho a spiritual guru, are the people whose way if thinking was utterly out of the box.
Usually I don’t follow the spiritual lectures and practices, but on 10th July, I saw this book, titled "Courage" written by Osho, in our office library. I thought of giving it a try and see what’s in it. 

After couple of days, a friend of mine showed me a vedio of Osho’s addressing to his disciples. It was first time that I heard a speech about a particular English word by a spiritual guru, which left me stupefied.

About the book:
“Life is uncertain and insecure” this is what I heard from many people, but Osho addresses it in the other way. He says “Don’t call it uncertainty - call it WONDER”, “Don’t call it insecurity – call it FREEDOM”. He elucidates about courage and how to live life courageously/dangerously. He discusses about the importance of love, meditation, morals, ethics, dos and don’ts of human life. He addresses about the life before one’s birth, and the views of different communities/religions on how life will be after one’s death, with dainty examples. He also tells us (as in most of the other self-help books) to always get ready to accept the change when it knocks on your door, even if it leads you from bad to worse, you should be ready to accept and embrace the change (read book to know why).

I liked the following example regarding how we need to embrace the change. “When a human being is in mother’s womb, he/she gets everything from mother - food, breath and warmth. It is the best place in the world that a human being can ever live with out toiling much. But we can’t stay there for our lifetime, we have to accept the change and come out of the womb to face this world, where he/she has to strive for their endurance”.
There are few titillating stories like how George Bernard Shaw sold his books, how danger it is to ask time to a Punjabi at 12’o clock.

Few Lines from the book:
A boy was constantly scratching his head. His father looked at him one day and said, “Son why are you always scratching your head?”
“Well,” the boy responded. “I guess because I am the only one who knows it itches.”
The above four lines are enough to depict Osho’s wit and astuteness.

Epilogue:
On the whole I enjoyed the book.

Hand-me-up and hand-me-down

Does the expression ‘hand-me-up’ exist?

Believe it or not, it does. People who have older brothers or sisters will certainly know what ‘hand-me-downs’ are. They are usually clothes which the older child has outgrown, and which the parents give to the next in line. If the clothes are still in good condition, they get handed down to the unfortunate third child. Sometimes, a child grows up wearing hand-me-downs! A ‘hand-me-up’ is the opposite of ‘hand-me-down’. In this case, it is the younger generation which passes things on to the older generation: parents, grandparents, etc. Young people today are very fond of gadgets: computers, IPods, and cell phones are some of the things they must have. They cannot survive without them. Once a particular model becomes outdated, some people immediately go to the market and buy the latest version. What do the youngsters do with the old gadget? Many choose to hand it over to their less tech savvy parents or grandparents. This handing over of used gadgets to the older generation is called ‘hand-me-up’.
*I got this laptop from my daughter. It’s a hand-me-up.

SOURCE: THE HINDU