Joined: Jun '11
Location: Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of
Age: 45 (M)
Posts: 223
Today I want to share with you all a writing that although it is not my own, enjoys a profound and shocking message. It's a self-improvement story that can get you thinking differently the next time you try:
• Solve a problem • Make a decision • Free yourself from a limitation of your life
The story goes that an old teacher wanted to teach one of his disciples why many people live tied to a life of mediocrity ... and fail to overcome the obstacles that prevent them from succeeding. For the teacher, however, the most important lesson the young disciple could learn was:
Observe what happens when we finally get rid of those bonds and begin to use our true potential. To impart his lesson to the young apprentice, that afternoon the teacher had decided to visit with him some of the poorest and most desolate places in that province.
After a long walk they found what they considered the most humble of all dwellings. The half-collapsed shack, which lay in the farthest part of the hamlet, must have been-undoubtedly-some of the poorest of them all. Its walls miraculously stood, although they threatened to fall at any moment. The improvised roof let the water filter. And the garbage and the garbage that accumulated around it, gave a decrepit aspect to the house. However, the most surprising thing was that in that 10-square-meter hut, eight people could live. The father, the mother, four children and two grandparents managed to settle in that place. Their old garments and their dirty, smelly bodies were proof of the state of deep misery that reigned. Curiously, in the midst of this state of scarcity and total poverty, this family had a rare possession in such circumstances:
A cow.
A flacuchenta cow that with the little milk that produced, provided to that family with the little food of some nutritional value. More importantly, this cow was the only material possession of any value that family had. It was the only thing that separated them from total misery. And there, in the midst of garbage and disorder, the master and his rookie disciple spent the night.
The next day, very early and without waking anyone, the two travelers set out to continue their journey. They left the abode and before going on, the old master said to his disciple: "It is time for you to learn the lesson that you have come to learn."
Without the young man doing anything to avoid it ... The old man took a dagger in his bag and cut the poor cow that was tied to the door of the house, before the incredulous eyes of the young man. Teacher, said the young man, "What have you done? What lesson is this, which deserves to leave this family in total ruin? How could you kill this poor cow, who represented the only thing that this family possessed? "
Ignoring the young man's questions, the old man set out to continue the march. Thus, teacher and disciple left without being able to know what luck would run that family before the loss of its unique possession. Over the next few days, the young man was confronted by the grim idea that, without the cow, that family would surely starve.
A Year Later ... The two men decided to return again by those paths to see what luck had run that family. They searched the humble inn again, but instead found a large house. It was obvious that the death of the cow had been a blow too strong for that family, who had probably had to leave that place ... And now, a new family, with greater possessions, had taken over that place and had built a better home .
Where would that man and his children have gone? What would have happened to them? All this went through the mind of the young disciple ... While hesitating, he struggled to knock on the door and find out the fate of the old residents or continue the journey and avoid confirming their worst suspicions.
What would be his surprise when from the interior of that house came the man who a year ago gave him housing in his home. "How is it possible?" Asked the young man. "A year ago in our brief passage here, we witnessed the deep poverty in which you were ... What happened during this year for all this to change?"
The man related how, coincidentally, on the very day of his departure, some malefactor, envious of his cow, had savagely beheaded the animal. (This man was unaware that it was the master who killed his cow).
The man continued to tell the two travelers how his first reaction to the cow's death had been one of despair and anguish. For a long time, the cow had been their only source of sustenance. The possession of this cow had earned him the respect of his less fortunate neighbors, who envied not to count on so precious good. However, the man continued, shortly after that tragic day, we decided that unless we did something, our own survival would be in danger.
So we decided to clean some of the ground from the back of the hovel ... We got some seeds and decided to plant vegetables and legumes with which we could feed. After some time we began to sell some of the vegetables that were left over. And with this money we buy more seed and start selling our vegetables in the market place. So we could have enough money to buy better clothes and fix our house. In this way, little by little, this year has brought us a new life.
The teacher, who had remained silent, paying attention to the fascinating story of the man ... He called the young man aside and in a low voice asked: Do you think that if this family still had his cow, would he be where he is now? Surely not, replied the young man. If you see? Their cow, other than their sole possession, was also the chain that kept them tied to a life of mediocrity and misery.
No longer counting on the false assurance that they felt they were possessors of something, if they were nothing more than a skinny cow ... They must have made the decision to look for something else. In other words, the same cow as for their neighbors was a blessing ... He had given them the sense of possessing something of value and not being in total misery, when in reality they were living in the midst of misery.
What little you have becomes a punishment, since it does not allow you to look for more. You're not happy about it, but you're not totally miserable. You are frustrated with the life you lead, more than enough to want to change it. Do you see the tragedy of this situation?
When you have a job that does not meet your minimum economic needs and does not bring you any satisfaction ... It is easy to make the decision to leave it and look for a better one.
However, when you have a job:
It supplies your basic needs but does not offer you the opportunity to progress That offers you some comfort but not the quality of life that you truly want for you and your family It is easy to settle for what little you have. Many of us also have cows in our lives. Ideas, excuses and justifications that keep us tied to mediocrity ... Giving us a false sense of being right when faced with us is a world of opportunities to discover.
Opportunities that we can only appreciate once we have killed our cows.
Joined: Jan '09
Location: Italy
Age: 53 (M)
Posts: 3871
Considering this things is going on with impunity since days now, I guess it is allowed then.
Abstract
This paper presents Distributed Systems Foundation (DSF), a common platform for distributed systems research and development. It can run a distributed algorithm written in Java under multiple execution modes—simulation, massive multi-tenancy, and real deployment. DSF provides a set of novel features to facilitate testing and debugging, including chaotic timing test and time travel debugging with mutable replay. Unlike existing research prototypes that offer advanced debugging features by hacking programming tools, DSF is written entirely in Java, without modifications to any external tools such as JVM, Java runtime library, compiler, linker, system library, OS, or hypervisor. This simplicity stems from our goal of making DSF not only a research prototype but more importantly a production tool. Experiments show that DSF is efficient and easy to use. DSF’s massive multi-tenancy mode can run 4,000 OS-level threads in a single JVM to concurrently execute (as opposed to simulate) 1,000 DHT nodes in real-time.
To me, personal growth is a mindset... To learn, to grow you have to want to grow and want to learn. You have to be open minded, and be aware that nobody knows everything. But you can always learn a little something from somebody if you listen. And that's how you add knowledge to your hard drive, bit by bit, one information at a time. Being open minded can only result in good stuff.
Joined: Jan '09
Location: Italy
Age: 53 (M)
Posts: 3871
Personal development covers activities that improve awareness and identity, develop talents and potential, build human capital and facilitate employability, enhance the quality of life and contribute to the realization of dreams and aspirations. Personal development takes place over the course of a person's entire life.[1] Not limited to self-help, the concept involves formal and informal activities for developing others in roles such as teacher, guide, counselor, manager, life coach or mentor. When personal development takes place in the context of institutions, it refers to the methods, programs, tools, techniques, and assessment systems that support human development at the individual level in organizations.[2]
Personal development may include the following activities:
improving self-awareness improving self-knowledge improving skills and/or learning new ones building or renewing identity/self-esteem developing strengths or talents improving wealth[citation needed] identifying or improving potential building employability or (alternatively) human capital enhancing lifestyle and/or the quality of life improving health fulfilling aspirations initiating a life enterprise or (alternatively) personal autonomy defining and executing personal development plans (PDPs) improving social abilities
Personal development can also include developing other people. This may take place through roles such as those of a teacher or mentor, either through a personal competency (such as the skill of certain managers in developing the potential of employees) or through a professional service (such as providing training, assessment or coaching).
Beyond improving oneself and developing others, "personal development" labels a field of practice and research. As a field of practice, it includes personal development methods, learning programs, assessment systems, tools, and techniques. As a field of research, personal development topics increasingly[quantify] appear in scientific journals, higher education reviews, management journals and business books.[citation needed]
Any sort of development—whether economic, political, biological, organizational or personal—requires a framework if one wishes to know whether a change has actually occurred.[citation needed] In the case of personal development, an individual often functions as the primary judge of improvement or of regression, but validation of objective improvement requires assessment using standard criteria. Personal-development frameworks may include goals or benchmarks that define the end-points, strategies or plans for reaching goals, measurement, and assessment of progress, levels or stages that define milestones along a development path, and a feedback system to provide information on changes.
