Surfing Web from the Office !!!

Many people who have I-Net facility in their offices, which is very common in many corporate offices, surf the web for their personal purposes like e-mails, chatting, blogs, shopping etc. from the official network. Employers hardly used to bother about it. Lately many employers are getting stricter about Internet access for other than official work and web surfing for leisure at work. Many American companies are really on top of this. The computer forensic examiners are hired in companies to investigate computer misuse.

Computer security experts say there are four reasons why employees block site access -

1. Security - The companies are most concerned about security and that is why sites such as MySpace are blocked. There are numerous sites that can install adware or spyware onto a computer. Also there are online storage and file-sharing sites, that can be used to share proprietary information.
2. Legal liability – Employees that are allowed to surf indiscriminately can expose their employers to legal problems. If employees see pornography, hate sites, extreme religious sites and so forth, that is a lawsuit waiting to happen.
3. Productivity – Having employees spend their work day posting to personal blogs, chatting, planning wedding and vacations, shopping online, researching family genealogy, day trading, horoscopes, participating in online dating services or loosing money on gambling sites, keeps employees from doing the jobs they were hired to do.
4. Bandwidth problem - Workers who go online or download programs may create a bandwidth problem and bog down the speed of network operations. Downloading music or movies slows down the system. If employees are messing around on sites other than work, that could slow down the resources of others who are really trying to work, so companies just say our work computers are for work.

Some companies are putting up caution messages, when employees log on to their system, it says : "This system is for authorized business use only. Unauthorized access or activity is a violation of law. All system activity is subject to monitoring for security purposes". Expect more employers to block more web portals such as AOL, Yahoo and MSN. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(Adapted from Hindustan Times)

The Other Side of the Story/ Employees’ perspective –After reading this article, I interacted with few of my friends who has I-Net access at the office and surf web other than office work during working hours, and sought their opinion. As per them,

1. Net surfing in between the official work comes as a refreshing experience. It breaks the monotony of work.
2. They also feel that it enhances Net-working skills.
3. As well they are able to connect to their friends which is very difficult otherwise in this so much busy working schedule of theirs.

In my mind, one more question arises ----- How Ethical it is ?

Looking fwd to the opinion of worthy jatlanders….. what do you say…?

You are most welcome with your views - Pro as well as Con.

WINGS OF FIRE

Today I was going through Prez Dr APJ Abdul Kalam's Autobiography again, n savoured the lines of wisdom once more, then felt like sharing with all. So here'r some quotes from the book (with slight modifications). Hope who have gone thru the book , wont mind reading them again.
"We are all born with a divine fire in us. Our efforts should be to give wings to this fire and fill the world with the glow of its goodness."
" With faith, you can change your destiny."
"To strive to control thy thoughts and thy mind and, through these, to influence thy destiny."
"To succeed in life and achieve results, you must understand and master three mighty forces- desire, belief, and expectation.''
" Let God be your hope, your stay, your guide and provide the lantern for your feet in your journey into the future."
" If come across failure, accept your destiny and go ahead with your life. What you are destined to achieve in future is not revealed now but it is predetermined. Forget this failure, as it was essential to lead you to your destined path. Search, instead, for the true purpose of your existence. Become one with yourself and surrender yourself to the wish of God."
"Once your mind stretches to a new level, it never goes back to its original dimension."
"Those things that hurt instruct!"
"Bread baked without love is a bitter bread that feeds but half a man's hunger,"~Khalil Gibran. Those who cannot work with their hearts achieve but a hollow, half-hearted success that breeds bitterness all around.
"All reasonable men adapt themselves to the world. Only a few unreasonable ones persist in trying to adapt the world to themselves. All progress in the world depends on these unreasonable men and their innovative and often non-conformist actions."

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers and the would be mothers.

Thou' all days belong to mothers, and the bond between a mother and child is too strong to restrict itself to merely superficial celebrations on one such day. But I feel this isn't just about the celebrations n gifts etc., but surely this one day gives the opportunity to express our love for our mothers n thanking her for being there always supporting us. No doubt we love our mothers unconditionally but not always be able to say so. Feelings n emotions if expressed rightly are the sweetest, I believe.
As Karan Johar said in Kabhi khushi........, "It's all about loving your parents" And its never too late to say so....so I take this opportunity to say "I love you Mom".. for all the love you showered always,, for complying with my wants n wishes thou they might nt be reasonable alws, for always giving the best of lot, whatever it was, n above all for the delicious food made by you which has no match !

Jewish proverb says, God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers. I do not know (by experience) what it's to be a mother, Hope to experience the same some day. "AMEN "

Hierarchies of Life.....!!! Thank God, there's No limit

Life is a hierarchy....we keep moving step by step. Growth is also a process of these hierarchies - be it physical, social, emotional, mental, or personal growth.Or call them "paaydaans" of life. One goal attained, we set our aspirations for another aim and mostly a higher one. As the human needs are arranged in a hierarchy, first come the basic biological needs; they satisfied, next come safety needs, we want to preserve for the future; once they are met, we look for love n belongingness, the social n emotional needs. Majority of people reach to this level, next step is of self esteem,,,, when we feel secure in all these lower levels,,, we maintain our self esteem higher than the social esteem. And on the highest level comes, the need for Self-Actualization , i.e. the realization of the potential to the maximum. Every one has a high potential, which hardly one utilizes. Mostly we are entangled with these lower level needs of physical n materialistic grabbing and dealing with personal and social relational issues. Very few people try to explore their selves to the most depths and then to bring it to the reality of action. There are two processes necessary for self-actualization: self exploration and action. The deeper the self exploration, the closer one comes to self-actualization.

There's no limit to the personal growth, Sometimes I wonder, just imagine if some limit is set on the exploration, on the growth, how would be the life??? Most people, if not all, wud be able to reach that limit, then what…… ??? How saturated one wud feel if the capacity to think, to imagine is marked,,… what wud you do if you cant think beyond that capacity……!!! May be there’ll be lot of anxiety, unrest, discontent, haphazardness, n restlessness.

Thank God, there’s no Limit.

IQ, EQ & SQ

For long, the world gave much importance to Intelligence Quotient. In mid-1990s, findings in neuroscience and psychology stressed the importance of Emotional Quotient (EQ). In 2000, however, a new dimension to human intelligence was introduced, i.e. Spiritual Quotient (or SQ). Spiritual intelligence is the ultimate intelligence. This is the intelligence used to solve problems of meaning and value. "Is my job giving me the fulfillment I seek?" "Am I relating to the people in my life in a way that contributes to their happiness and mine?" Answers to these questions determine whether we will find happiness or not. IQ and EQ are inadequate in such issues.

On a spiritual note, EQ involves freeing ourselves from our own emotional baggage and the conditioning of our early life and the expectations of others. Such shedding of 'stuff' is a prerequisite of any spiritual journey. Because then only we become aware of ourselves, and 'why' of the feelings and needs of others. Also, it helps realizing those values which we had heard about—like acceptance and unconditional love.
Spiritual Intelligence is about compassion and creativity, self-awareness and self-esteem, flexibility and gratitude. Thus what were once espoused by the great philosophers of the likes of Swami Vivekananda are once again being exhorted by the modern day corporate world.
SQ is about the growth of a human being. It is about moving on in life. About having a direction in life and being able to heal ourselves of all the resentment we carry. It is thinking of ourselves as an expression of a higher reality. It is also about how we look at the resources available to us. We realize that nature is not meant to be exploited. Ultimately, we discover freedom from our sense of limitation as human beings and attain "moksha".
SQ is about pondering over life's purpose. Just being in touch with that question is fulfilling. As we move along the path, deeper levels of self get unfolded, leading to fulfillment. Humans are essentially spiritual beings, evolved to ask fundamental questions. "Who am I?" "Where am I going?" "What do others mean to me?" It is an ability to answer questions like these that lead people to personal growth workshops.
Spiritual intelligence also addresses the need to place one's life in a shared context of value. The transformative power of SQ distinguishes it from IQ and EQ. IQ primarily solves logical problems. EQ allows us to judge the situation we are in and behave appropriately. SQ allows us to ask if we want to be in that situation in the first place. It might motivate us to create a new one.
SQ has little connection to formal religion. Atheists and humanists may have high SQ while someone actively religious may not. It’s more concerned about the humanist point of view. Of course, this is culture specific, with Westerners responding to ideas of 'God' and Buddhists and Hindus responding to certain symbols.
The awakening of our spiritual intelligence may be a time of great joy and meaning and may pave a way for personal growth and a feeling of being in control. We use spiritual intelligence to transform ourselves and others, heal relationship, cope with grief, and move beyond conditioned habits of the past. To develop high SQ, each person needs to approach the task according to his/her personality.
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