Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Hong Kong's Robot Staff

A robot performs as a chef prepares food at Robot Kitchen in Hong Kong. With a whir and a flash of lights, another robot whizzes to the restaurant table and takes a customer's order, while a second races to another table to deliver plates of steaming food. Robot Kitchen opened in July to cash in on the city's love affair with gadgets, claiming to be the world's first eatery staffed by machines.
Robo Waiter 1, for instance, is a crudely designed box on wheels covered in shiny paper and with an illuminated bulb to represent a head. Robo Waiter 1 is designed as a female robot, and for the purpose of delivering dishes.The computer inside can recognise voice patterns, take meal orders and send them by infrared to the cooks in the kitchen. It is steered by a video camera, which detects objects in its way and guides the robot around them. Robo Waiter 2 is much the same, but has a tray for carrying food.

Click here to see the video showing a robo waiter at work.
Tags: Hong Kong, Robot, Restaurant, Kitchen, Robot Kitchen

Get Ready to Lead

The fact is, all leaders must be born. And from there on in they are constantly learning. I believe this new era of American history will call upon leaders to possess two fundamental qualities, courage and holiness. That's why you may be experiencing difficulty in your life right now. God is getting you ready for leadership. God is getting his men and women ready to take a moral stand for Christ in a generation that is becoming increasingly hostile to the Gospel.

You might be saying to yourself, wait a minute, I'm not a leader. Well relax, even the great spiritual leader Elijah wasn't perfect. Heaven knows that King David himself had some very serious shortcomings. God will mold you into a leader for use in His purposes.
--Steve Farrar
Tags: Motivation, Leadership, Christianity, Steve Farrar

Clear Colors

I don't know who wrote the following thoughts, but my daughter gave this to me a few years ago when doing a high school bible study. Here are some of the highlights:-
"I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have the Holy Spirit's power. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won't let up, slow down, back away or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense and my future is secure. I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotion, plaudits, or popularity. I must go until heaven returns, give until I drop, preach and tell all I know and work until He comes. And when He comes to get His own, He won't have any trouble recognizing me. My colors will be clear. "
Gentlemen, the question is this. How clear are your colors?
--Steve Farrar
Tags: Motivation, Christianity, Steve Farrar

Please Do These 3 Things

I am extremely leery of any quick fix solution or overnight formula for success. In my opinion, they don't exist. With that said, the following formula is one that I have recently shared with 2 members of my family to encourage them to break through the rut they are in and experience success. Therefore, if I would share it with my family, I must believe in the principles. I suggested that they begin to regularly do these three things:-

1. Surround themselves with positive people who believe that this life is not all that there is. Personally, I find this at my local church. This email goes out to thousands of people all over the world. I know we don't share the same faith in all cases. This message is not about my faith. It is about you finding a group of people who regularly meet together and have a belief that there is more to life than what we see. This is the first step to a positive outlook on life.

2. You must exercise weekly in order to stimulate endorphins and maintain an energetic life. The exercise of walking to the kitchen or curling 12 ounces does not count as exercise. I run 1 mile twice a week and 2-3 days a week do strength training. This is nothing difficult but it makes a major difference on my attitude.

3. You MUST educate yourself through reading. The average CEO in America reads 4-5 books per month. The average America reads one book per year and 60% of us don't get past the first chapter! Make a promise to yourself to read at least one book per month. Read anything!

Regardless, of what you read....develop a passion for reading and learning and you will see your attitude and outlook on life begin to change. Any person who faithfully invested their time in these three areas may not break world records in levels of success. However, everything in me believes that they would see dramatic improvements. I believe in those three things so much, I encouraged my family to invest their time in these areas.
-- Ron White
Tags: Motivation, Success, Ron White

Monday, October 30, 2006

Remembering G. W. B.

Dear Friends:
I have the distinguished honor of being on the committee to raise US$5,000,000 for a monument for George W. Bush. We originally wanted to put him on Mt. Rushmore until we discovered there was not enough room for two more faces.
We then decided to erect a statue of George in Washington DC, in the Congressional Hall Of Fame. We were in a quandary as to where the statue should be placed. It was not proper to place it beside the statue of George Washington, who never told a lie, or beside Dick Cheney, who never told the truth, since George could never tell the difference.
We finally decided to place it beside Christopher Columbus, the greatest Republican of them all. He left not knowing where he was going and when he got there he did not know where he was. He returned not knowing where he had been and did it all on someone else's money.
Thank you.

George W. Bush Monument Committee
P. S. The Committee has raised $1.35 so far
Tags: Jokes, Funny, George Bush, Washington, Dick Cheney, Republicans, Mt. Rushmore, Donation, Humor

MotoGP World Title

Nicky Hayden of USA grabbed his first world title after finishing 3rd in the MotoGP's last race held in Valencia, Spain. Australian Troy Bayliss won the race itself with defending champion Valentino Rossi struggling to finished at 13th which eroded his chances of winning the world title.

Results for Valencia MotoGP Race:-
1. Troy Bayliss (Australia) Ducati 46:55.415
2. Loris Capirossi (Italy) Ducati 46:56.734
3. Nicky Hayden (U.S.) Honda 47:04.645

Tags: Sports, MotoGP, Motorcycle, Nicky Hayden, Valentino Rossi, Troy Bayliss, Ducati, Honda, Valencia

Sunday, October 29, 2006

The Best Bank

One day, three bankers, a Citibanker, one from HSBC and another from Maybank (Malaysia's #1 bank), went for a walk. They were old buddies from school and they were remembering the tough old days they went as students together. For no apparent reason, they went into a zoo and passed an elephant.

Being from the same field and the same school, there is little bit of peer competition going on, so when he saw this elephant, an idea clicked the Citibanker, he said to the others "Why don't we prove who is the best among us?". The others, of course, agreed.

Then the Citibank said "Let's make a test. Whoever can make this elephant laugh, he works for the best Bank". They all agreed and started.

Being a pure logical strategist, the Citibanker tried to make the elephant laugh by telling jokes (In this story, the elephant do understand the language, boleh la). Of course it stayed still. As a more practical guy, the HSBC guy tried to make funny gestures... and the elephant still stood firm. Now, it's the Maybanker turn. Being the tomorrow -can- do- it guy, he whispered something to the elephant, and it laughed at him while pointing its trunk at him. The other two were astonished. How come this Maybanker beat them?

So the HSBC guy said "OK, let's make another test. Let's make this elephant cry". So there they went again. The Citibanker told sad stories. The HSBC guy made sad gestures, and they fail again. Then, the Maybanker whispered something again in the elephant's ear and it just cried, weeping and patting away.

This can't be, thought the other two. So the Citibanker said "OK, you've won twice. If you can win this test, we will bow to you. Let's make this elephant run".

He went and barked to the elephant orders to run. Of course, it stayed still. The HSBC guy pushes the elephant and stabs it with stake to make it run, it stayed still. So...our Maybanker comes to it and whispers something again in its ear and the elephant ran and ran as fast as it could, as if it was scared to death.

The other two surrendered. "OK, you're the best, pal. You work for a very good Bank, not even our global bankers can beat you. Do tell us your secret".

"Well" said the Maybanker "The first time I made it laugh, I said "Maybank is the best bank ". When I made it cry, I told the elephant how much I get paid". "And when I made it run scared to death, I said to it, "Why don't you join Maybank?"

Tags: Jokes, Funny, Humor, Citibank, HSBC, Maybank, Zoo, Bank

Pattaya International Fireworks Festival

Pattaya is definitely firing up its presence internationally. Covid19 has hit many nations really hard and Pattaya wasn't exempted from ...