Intelligence Vs Smartness

It’s amazing how we’re delighted to meet some very “intelligent” guy or girl out there :p Definitely we should! Really, there are some kind of people out there who have been gifted a ‘beyond-normal’ level of intelligence. They are the ones who make inventions and discoveries that has been shaping our life from centuries and I guess this will continue to be as such in the future, unless artificial intelligence take over huh And the measure for intelligence is performed in IQ. Those having very high IQs can join societies too, one of which, the oldest being the Mensa, founded in England in the year 1946.

But one aspect of all these IQ and intelligence puzzles me. Why don’t people who are considered very intelligent and high IQs dominate the world? They invent stuffs, right, they discover things, yeah, but how come they are rarely at the front bench? Take a look around you, your leaders, politicians, company owners…most of the time, they don’t have intelligence levels that are beyond normal!

The answer my friend, is all about smartness instead of intelligence! Let me put it straight, being intelligent helps you solve problems, your brain being able generate solution while being smart, simply builds upon knowledge of the intelligent people and exploit their solution in creative ways. This partly explain why the intelligent political analyst is not a politician and the very good programmer is not a company owner (with some exceptions of course, due to the fact that being intelligent in no way prevents you from being smart as well!)

I know many among us have this fear that we are not as intelligent as others. Well this is true, i firmly believe that we are not born with an equal level of intelligence  (there are some scientists who claim the contrary). But our fear is not justified though, i’ll explain; this world needs intelligent people to evolve but we as humans, beyond everything, we need to survive and this, dear friends, is where smartness proves itself superior than intelligence! We are in a world where we have to adapt continuously  and who talks about adaptation talks about a constant search for new ways out of current situation, using the right combination of existing things, with compliments from the ‘intelligent’ guyz 

I believe that both intelligent and smart people are  important. We need them both, and if you feel you are not as intelligent as others, then know two things, firstly being the fact that there are people having less intelligence than you and they are leading happy life and secondly, you are smart! I believe that smartness can be developed much more than intelligence can. We, humans, have it inherently, we’re the smarts! Low level of intelligence automatically triggers the increase of smartness, provided that you wish so and believe in yourself.

Holidays winding up :S

Things are moving ! And moving damn fast!! Yesssssssss!!!

University and other educational institutions are resuming on Monday, 13th of August 2007 in Mauritius.

So we have roughly a little more than 2 weeks to get our minds and hearts focused back on studies huh I’m sure many among you are welcoming this resumption, am i right? Fed up enjoying yourself? Missing your friends,teachers,lecturers? Well, am a bit impatient too, but my main reason being, the sooner i complete my course and leave, the better it is :p

Things i usually do to ready myself before the D-day:

• Buy clothing (partially completed, am waiting for some t-shirts with unique designs and slogans )
• Get myself a new pair of sport shoes (that’s in the box in my room)
• I needed a leather strap (got it)
• My old purse is coming into pieces,too much cash got through.I need a leather purse(pending)
• My university bag, also known as the banana bag looks quite dirty…I’ll give it to my sister. Not sure if i’ll buy another one or use an existent, in very good state.(pending)
• I need copybooks, although in the average case, only half of a copybook per module will be used.At times, I’ve used only 1 page :p (pending)
• I need pens, compo and gel-type (pending)
• Other stationaries like lined papers for my file, lead and so on (pending)
• I need a medical certificate to certify that I’m physically and mentally fit…fear not UOM doesn’t require these yet, it’s for my archery license.(pending)

Hmmm that’s my first list…am sure I’m missing out stuff in there. What else do i need to be combat-ready? I mean study-ready…

Ok, some UOM news now:

• Went to pay for the university fees today, those who haven’t yet pay, don’t worry, you will definitely need to settle everything before your graduation
• Project list is already out for computer science and engineering, check out the site @ http://cse.uom.ac.mu .My project partner and I submitted our project choice today.
• List of electives for computer science and engineering (CSE) and Information Systems (IS) will be out tomorrow, friday 27th or at latest on monday 30th. Students will have around 1 week time to submit their chosen elective modules.
• I’m hearing a rumor that detailed result scripts for CSE and IS final year exams will be given to students either on friday 27th,monday 30th or tuesday 31st of July itself! This information is not confirmed though.If anybody has more information about it, let us know.

And yeah, checkmate is back, and kicking!

Helooooooooo guyz :D

Feeels as if it’s been days that i haven’t heard from myself huh? Yep, it’s through my own writing that i communicate with Mr the president else for the time being i’m just me, a simple me who is here to complicate things a bit on this planet :p

So how am I spending my holidays? 

As officially planned, i was supposed to have some internship in some IT-related company during the holidays.

Unfortunately my enthusiasm for the internship soon faded away. I did get an offer thx to Mr Gilles, but the problem was the location of the company: Trou aux biches and I’m from the south.

Nevertheless, I did get some sort of internship from  my mum, dad and the internet :p

With mum, I enjoyed myself in the kitchen, at times preparing a a complete lunch, bake cakes. Also went to work in mum’s churidaar shop on one day. I was also coached about tidying up my room…feels nice to stay in there afterwards

Dad taught me how to paint the house (no need to pay for people to get the job done).I managed so well in the painting job that I can now take up small jobs for painting houses.(to have a future president coming at your place is already something great…having him paint your house, imagine the honor ;))…For the costing, you’ll have to discuss with my personal manager, that is, Dad.

And from the internet, I learned a whole bunch of stuff, ranging from crafts,pranks, technology related to tips and tricks which I will definitely share with you guyz  on this very blog, so, keep track, subscribe to my blog either through feedreaders or email notifications

One thing am really enjoying a lot during my holidays: sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep 

I get whatever sleep hours i wish :p I can go to bed at any time, wake up whenever I feel like getting on my feet!

Reaaaallyyyyyy enjoying my holidayzzzzzzzzzzzzzz (even with a pentium 3, 450mhz as pc, this holidayz still rocks!)

You have files to share with friends?

Greetingz everybody

Sending of files is almost an everyday activity known to all users of instant messengers like msn,yahoo,gtalk and so on.

But the problem is: At times we have files to share but our friends do not even know what files we have…so they’ll have to ask to all their contacts and so on.Furthermore sending files via messenger unfortunately does not allow us to pause the transfer; what if the file is say 700mb? And either the sender or receiver’s internet connection gets broken during the last 10mb of transfer? (i can imagine your frustration)

The evident solution is here: Set up a server on your own pc whereby friends can view which files you have, use download managers (thus can pause downloads…).

Setting up a server on your own pc…Sounds complicated? Well if you want to share files using servers like Apache, IIS etc, installation and security setups can be a bit tough for newbies, specially if all you want to do with a server is share files.

What I propose instead: use a very compact server which requires no installation or setup! Everything gets running with a simple double-click! Yeah, It’s real and It’s HFS

Step 1:

Download HFS (550KB only). Download link

Step 2:

Double-click on the downloaded file. A window like the one below will open.

Step 3 :

Wanna be a googlebot?

Relax…I’m not asking you to work for google

For those who are unaware, a googlebot is a program that visits webpages on the internet, extract information to be stored in databases. And when you, normal users do a search using google, google will use these databases to give you links to appropriate websites.That’s a brief about the task of a googlebot.

So what’s the advantage of being a googlebot?

Well, the googlebot is allowed access to webpages that are normally restricted to registered users (members-only sites). This is mainly because the site owners want their websites to be searchable via google but at the same time preventing non-members from accessing. The most basic option they choose: check the User Agent

Basically, the User Agent contains info about the browser you are using(opera,firefox,internet explorer…), the operating system(winxp,vista,linux…)

So, all you have to do to fake yourself as a googlebot is simply to change the data in your User Agent.

How to do it

Firefox Users

Download and install the User Agent Switcher from here

After installation, you will find that a new menu item has been added in your firefox browser.
click on Tools–>User Agent Switcher–>options–>options (As shown in the shot below)

Now, select User Agents and click on “Add”

The art of war winning arguments

I begin this post by informing you, readerz about something strange…Been quite some days now that I haven’t posted on my blog…why? Well, I did start writing 3 posts, each and everytime, I just got a black hole in my mind or simply, I will save the post to resume later, and it will disappear :S I just couldn’t complete my posts! Is that some sort of wizardry playing in the background huh? Time will tell.

Our topic for today will be…(read the title :p) . Those who know me a bit can confirm, I really enjoy arguing and of course, I’ll do everything reasonable to win the arguments Some can label me as “teti” (stubborn) but that’s my personality and I’m not changing :p

Surely most among you hate it when someone gains the upper hand in an argument and you would really like to have some sort of magical mantra to bail your out and thus dominate over your peers ;). Dream not, winning arguments is no magic at all, it demands for trust in thyself,a pinch of general knowledge, some tool-words and a big spoon of experience. The last ingredient is damn important and you will be able to lay your hands on it as you evolve through relentless practice in the unforgiving world of arguments

Trust thyself, that is, self-confidence

One of the most important asset that a good arguer should have is self-confidence. This in fact not only gives him a boost in digging for astounding salvos of words but is also clearly visible to an opponent. It is already a kick to your opponent’s morale when he realises that you are sure about when you are saying.

I must highlight here that while arguing, you should avoid the use o terms like: “i think” ,”maybe”, “possibly”, “it is possible” etc… Show that your are absolutely convinced about your righteousness. You should instead include terms like: “definitely”, “absolutely”,”you get my point?”, “are you still with me here?” etc… Now being polite, using words like “please” and all, is just another still of arguing. You can be polite even during an argument but it will mostly be interpreted by others as the sarcastic side of you :p So…better be natural, no need to force yourself with the ” please, spare me your nonsense”, say it straight away : “stop your nonsense, am getting bored”

U know what………….

Well I don’t know Do you?

I was out shopping today. I passed my 2nd year at UOM, do i have to prepare for the 3rd now :p

Dad and I went to pick up mum at phoenix, then we went to curepipe for car fitness test. Btw, did you know that it’s not uncommon to find people bribing the staff there so as to ensure their vehicle get fitnessed successfully. But mind u, we didn’t pay any bribe for my car, the guy just came, open the ..(i forgot the name of it…”capo” in english is?) and shut it immediately…seems he got x-ray eyes huh? Is that called a fitness test? Wow…very efficient and technologically advanced we are here uh

After that, went to jumbo for some shopping. It’s strange, buying stuff for the kitchen seems quite different for me than it was some years ago. I still remember how boring it was for me, except when reaching the toyz, biscuits and chocs stalls. Not anymore, i feel more concerned about things we need in the kitchen, appreciate the value for money of each stuff we are purchasing. One thing which particularly shocked me today was MILK…I knew it’s price was climbing up, but didn’t thought it has reached to such a level :S Average cost of powdered milk , 1 Kg…R135. My family of 4 people use 5kg monthly.I am sure that this basic commodity itself is a real burden for many families in mauritius.
What do we do? Drink fresh milk from cows? Well, this is considered as gold i think…Simply to rare to obtain :p We are reaching a point where i think: The government should launch a new scheme of one cow per family. Whereby each family is given grants and guidance about how to breed a cow to obtain your milk :p

Ok, now some shopping for me We went to Vacoas and Curepipe, visiting shop after shop to obtain the rarest,best value for money stuffs :p Well, unlike most teenagers, buying my clothing is not only my responsibility :p 3 of us, mum, dad and I have to agree on something then we buy it :p Of course, I have the veto, cause i’ll be the one to use them At times when i like something, and mum doesn’t like it that much, she’ll agree just to please me, and other times, i don’t like something…but mum likes, so I say it’s nice to please her But at the end of the day, all the stuffs we buy are really nice As for dad, he’s our finance minister
I was asking a salesgirl if she had some trousers on sale and she said: “ki kaliter ou p roder: habiller? semi-habiller? ou lezot?” ehh c’mon, of course I want to wear the trousers completely :S I don’t really understand those terms :p Fortunately mum was there to manage the conversation

Btw, it’s friday 13 today, count the dots in the title :p
Have a nice weekend everybody, those who are off-duty, enjoy And those who work, “bon courage”.

Ah…Mauritian culture of bargaining ;)

On the presidential agenda today: Putting myself under the skin of a salesman in a churidaar shop!

Went to open the shop accompanied by a salesgirl at 8:45am. I was expecting a very very boring day, without my computer…(if only i had a laptop…). Soon afterwards some customers got in.

Being specialized in women’s wear…the customers were all ladies. Who say Mauritian ladies, say bargain(cass prix)! It’s now so well anchored in our culture that if ever a lady comes in, ask you for a price, you tell her, and she take out the money, get her stuff, well she will be looked down by other ladies :p She will be the abnormal one

And I often tell people involved with customers : If something is being given free…such is the mentality of SOME women that even for that R0.00, they will ask you for a discount :S…my god, instead of giving them the gift only, you will have to give them money along with it :p

One of the best strategies to counter this ‘bad’ habit of bargaining is to level up your prices! Let’s say you want to sell something at R150 (which includes your profit), advertise the price as R200. Then when some customer ask you for discount, remove R10,15,25….If they insist for more discount, take out more money to the limit of your buffer, that is R50. And if you want to do some marketing, and making you NICE in front of customers, say things like : “Akoz mo cone ou mo tire R50 la…” Customers really like it when you give them importance or try to establish some special relationship with them. They feel favored and will surely come to your shop next time

A t some point today, I got a lady whose purchases reached the sum of R975. I already did her ‘discount’ and all…But when she heard 975…she instantaneously said: “fair li 900″…(according to her, she was helping me out i think uh…so that i won’t have problem with small change etc…mind you, i had more than enough R25 notes ) So I looked at her…forced a smile on my face, and slapped back with tenderness : “ou p envi mem faire 1 chiffre rond pou moi :)…pas cass la tete ou, done moi R1000 dans place R975″ :p Ohhh no no :p Never ask for even a penny in surplus from a woman :p She agreed to pay her R975 bill without coming to her own 900

I know bargaining is not done only by women, i know guyz who do it too! But ladies n gentlemen, let’s be honest: Bargaining is mostly a feminist habit What you say?

And yeah,there is a nice comment from a very young (maybe the youngest police officer in mauritius) in my post concerning some policemen who don’t pay bus tickets. Check it out.

Passed in all modules :p

Yessss! My luck saved me once again! I got my results this afternoon and I’ve successfully passed all my year 2 modules for the Computer Science and Engineering course.

On saturday, final year students got their results, and today it was for 2nd year. Results were published on the notice board at 4:30pm. Thx to Ashika (i know you won’t read this)  who was on the spot and smsed my result :p

Let’s now wait for the detailed results which will be available in August now.

And before I forget, Happy Birthday to Asghar (i know u won’t read this :p )

The new 7+1 wonders of the world!

Here’s the list of the ‘winners’

1. India’s Taj Mahal
2. the Great Wall of China
3. Jordan’s Petra
4. Brazil’s statue of Christ Redeemer
5. Peru’s Machu Picchu
6. Mexico’s Chichen Itza pyramid
7. the Colosseum in Rome
8. The pyramids of Giza