Input - Output <<< = 0 ; A simple way to stay healthy

Being an engineer, I tend to look at any problem with a set of inputs that result in a set of outputs and the only way to manage the outcome is to either control the inputs or manage the system in between. Oh! Come on! Don't give up! This is not going to be an Engineering 101 lecture.

Let us take our body in this context; our body being the system, the food being the inputs and calories burnt being the output. When we consume more calories that we burn, we deposit the difference in our body (input more than output). When we consume less than we burn (input less than output), we use what we have stored in our body and therefore lose weight. However, most of us belong to the first category where we consume more than we burn and therefore end up building a nice round THOPPAI (also known as beer belly, the ugly mass over the waist, ab, excess tires or a love handle). Let us talk about how to keep our inputs in control.

EAT HEALTHY, EAT SLOW, and EAT LESS. Finding good food to eat is not that hard, staying away from bad good is the tough job. Eat a good mix of high fiber, whole grain, high protein foods. Stay away from the nasty white rice and the bleached wheat flour. Lots of fruits and veggies with a good balance of proteins from lentils, beans and tofu should do the job. Keep the sodas away and the Halloween candies far away from the kids. Bottom line, consume foods that are crunchy, colorful and natural. Alright! Alright! let us get to the tough challenge; eating slow and eating less. Most of us spend 8-10 hours a day slouching in front of a glowing monitor. We burn electric energy and not enough calories in our daily lives. Therefore, the first step to consuming less is to EAT SLOW. Enjoy the food. The chefs (including the spouse who cooks) work hard to cook you a meal and take pride in what they serve. Give the attention it deserves. Smell the food, taste it and chew slow. Leave the silver on the plate and rest your back after a mouthful. Scientific research has shown that it takes about 15 minutes for your brain to understand the stomach is full. So, when you relax and eat slow, you WILL EAT LESS.

I have always wondered at people who load their plate with 15 different items in a buffet. Why? Take small portions on your plate and eat more often. Enjoy the food. Stay healthy. Increase the output, reduce the input and put your body to work.

EAT HEALTHY. EAT SLOW. EAT LESS.

OfficeBook vs. Facebook; David vs. Goliath; a battle over trademark

It has been more than a year since a few of us started Leaders 2020 Inc, a company with a mission to enable a enduring and fulfilling professional life to millions of workers worldwide. With over 50+years of experience between 3 of us and hundreds' of interviews we conducted with employees worldwide, we realized that the 2 most important reasons for any employee to stick with a company for the long term are the following.

1. Fit of employee's values with the leader/hiring manager's values (extends to values of the executives in the company)
2. Fit of employee's values with the culture of the organization

We decided to create an application called 'OfficeBook' that job seekers could use to find the right FIT. Our discussions with LinkedIn to release our app on their platform were of no avail. We then released the application on Facebook in May 2008 with approval from Facebook. We met with some of the executives and product management personnel within Facebook to see if 'OfficeBook' could enable Facebook make an entry into the professional landscape (a competitor to LinkedIn) and the discussions went no where. Leaders 2020 also filed for 'OfficeBook' trademark then.

OfficeBook on Facebook was a modestly successful application with 100s of users tagging companies on their organization's culture daily and finding which of the companies matched their values. Hundred's companies worldwide located in all countries from South Africa to the U.S were tagged. However, when Facebook changed their feed flow, the number of users dwindled leading to closure of the company early this year. 'OfficeBook' was also discontinued.

In the last stage of approval of 'OfficeBook' trademark early this year, Facebook hired Cooley Godward Kronish to oppose trademark registration. Why would Facebook use their precious borrowed cash to oppose a trademark being registered by one of their application developers? What was the motivation for the Goliath to pursue this David? This is the same company that approved our application a year ago and was familiar to executives and employees of the company. Facebook in their opposition believe that they will be 'damaged' by the issuance of registration of 'OfficeBook'. Here's their reasoning:

1. Services offered by 'OfficeBook' significantly overlapped with services under Facebook Marks that allows users to share opinions on businesses (Is anyone aware of such a service from Facebook?)
2. OfficeBook will create confusion for Facebook mark where the term BOOK is distinctive as it relates to social networking. (I am sure Netbook, Notebook, Playbook and all other 'book's sound similar to Facebook).

Both reasonings are utterly ridiculous and baseless considering the fact that Facebook approved OfficeBook as an application in May 08 and was also known to some of their executives. Is this the 'Facebook' bully flexing their muscles over a tiny application developer? What is their expecation? That, they will be able to force their weight on poor application developers who will shudder at the might of Facebook to easily give up without a fight?

Hinduism and Evolutionism; Darwinism was later

Hinduism is considered to be one of the oldest religions (2000 BC) from one of the oldest civilizations in the world (Indus Valley). So, you must be wondering why the concept of evolution was accepted by Hinduism then and was built into one of the oldest Sanskrit Epics, Ramayana and in texts such as Garuda Purana. Wasn't the concept of evolution proposed by Darwin in the late 19th Century? Let us dig a bit.

The Ramayana is an ancient Hindu epic in Sanskrit that's thought to have been compiled in the 400BC time frame by a Hindu Sage Valmiki. It depicts the duties of relationships, portraying ideal characters like the ideal servant, the ideal brother, the ideal wife and the ideal king. What's most important about Ramayana to our discussion are the main characters in the story; Rama the dark skinned king of Ayodhya, Lakshmana the fair skinned brother of Lord Rama, Sita the queen and Hanuman the mighty ape who assisted Lord Rama in winning over Ravana the demon king. So, what's any of this got to do with the theory of evolution?

Ramayana is probably the oldest epic that depicted a dark skinned king as a ruler of a nation with a variety of subjects who were both dark and light, working side by side with monkeys who were both dark skinned and light skinned to win against a nasty 10 headed villain. What's most surprising to me is the concept of monkeys who walk on 2 legs vertical to the ground, just like humans, co-existing with men and women that we are familiar with. Isn't that the last stage of evolution to the existing human form?

Also, in Garuda purana, written eons ago in India, depicts the 10 avatars of Lord Vishnu, the dark skinned Indian god. The 10 avatars are the following:

1. Matsya, the fish
   
2. Kurma, the tortoise
   
3. Varaha, the boar
   
4. Narasimha, the half-man/half-lion
   
5. Vamana, the dwarf
   
6. Parashurama, Rama with the axe
   
7. Rama, Ramachandra, the prince and king of Ayodhya
   
8. Krishna (meaning "dark coloured" or "all attractive")
   
9. Gautama Buddha (meaning "the enlightened one") appeared in the Kali Yuga (specifically as Siddhartha Gautama).
10. Kalki ("Eternity", or "time", or "The Destroyer of foulness"), who is expected to appear at the end

What's striking about the Dasavatar (10 avatars or 10 stages) is the evolution of the being from a fish (matsya) to an amphibian (tortoise) to a land animal (boar) to a half animal/half human (Lion king) to the complete human form (dwarf Vamana). Isn't this evolution?

I wonder if sages from the those years in India, who composed Ramayana and the texts of Garuda Purana knew and believed about the concept of evolution of humans from the seas to land and in land from 4 legged animals to free standing monkeys and finally to the humans that we are.

And here we are after centuries and centuries questioning the concept of evolution........