Stories
7 times 7For almost two centuries, Spain has hosted an enormously popular Christmas lottery. Based on payout, it is the biggest lottery in the world and nearly all Spaniards play. In the mid 1970s, a man sought a ticket with the last two digits ending in 48. He found a ticket, bought it, and then won the lottery. When asked why he was so intent on finding that number, he replied, "I dreamed of the number seven for seven straight nights. And 7 times 7 is 48." 10 Life TipsNassim Taleb's top life tips:
1 Scepticism is effortful and costly. It is better to be sceptical about matters of large consequences, and be imperfect, foolish and human in the small and the aesthetic. 2 Go to parties. You can't even start to know what you may find on the envelope of serendipity. If you suffer from agoraphobia, send colleagues. 3 It's not a good idea to take a forecast from someone wearing a tie. If possible, tease people who take themselves and their knowledge too... Taoist Story - Seh-Ong Ji Ma"Seh-Ong Ji Ma"
(Seh-Ong's Wise Horse) There was a farmer named Seh-Ong that had a beautiful and strong horse. The neighbors complimented, "You are so lucky to have such a beautiful and strong horse." The farmer replied, "We'll see." Days later, the horse ran away from the farm and could not be found. The neighbors wailed, "You are so unlucky to have lost such a beautiful and strong horse." The farmer replied, "We'll see." Days later, the farmer's horse returned, but had brought... Zen Story - Empty Cup
Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor's cup full, and then kept on pouring. The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. "It is overfull. No more will go in!" "Like this cup," Nan-in said, "you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?" The few who do versus the many who talk"Bunker Hunt, the Texas oil billionaire, was asked once if he had any one piece of advice he could give people on how to succeed. He said that success is simple. First, you decide what you want specifically; and second, you decide you're willing to pay the price to make it happen — and then pay that price. If you don't take that second step, you'll never have what you want in the long term. I like to call the people who know what they want and are willing to pay the price to get it "the few...
Early train cars designSometimes previous experience blinds us to new perspectives. Early train cars were designed with no central aisles, and with brakes that had to be operated by a conductor seated outside, on top of the train car. Why such a dangerous practice? Because these early cars were almost exact replicas of what the expert designers were most familiar with – the stagecoach. QWERTY keyboard story"An engineer named Christopher Scholes designed the QWERTY layout in 1873 specifically to slow typists down; the typewriting machines of the day tended to jam if the typist went too fast. But then the Remington Sewing Machine Company mass-produced a typewriter using the QWERTY keyboard, which meant that lots of typists began to learn the system, which meant that other typewriter companies began to offer the QWERTY keyboard, which meant that still more typists began to learn it, et cetera, et...
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Thursday, 22 July 2010 08:36 | 
Written by André Ribeiro | 
Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen. 
