Month: December 2020

No Pain, No Gain

Jase Thomas Jacob

Have you ever thought what Benjamin Franklin thought when he flew a kite during thunder, with a metal key tied to it? Everyone thought he was crazy and was going to be hurt, but he knew that if he succeeded, he would have invented electricity.

 

Like him, there are many other cases where people have to endure pain to gain something. We can’t achieve anything without hardships and struggle. One has to go through some pain to reach the specific target. 

 
Like, if one wants a healthy body, he/she must earn it by going through the pain of the exercise. If one wants to eat, there needs to be some work done in the form of cooking. If one wants to live in luxury, he/she needs to work and earn it.
 

Success is always achieved when you work towards it, and prayers alone cannot help you make it. Moreover, the things which come in your life without any pain or struggle will go back instantly without giving you the proper benefits.

 

So everyone should work hard and never lose hope. Otherwise, you will not be able to survive in this world.

Thank You!!

The History of New Year Resolutions

Jase Thomas Jacob

A New Year starts with a New Resolution. As we are coming to the end of 2020,I decided to look into the History of New Year Resolution. So, buckle up! We are going about 4000 years back!

 

The ancient Babylonians are said to be the 1st people to make resolution during New Years. Back then in Babylon, a year started by mid-March, when crops were planted. During this time, The people choose new kings, repay debts and return borrowed things.

 

A similar thing was going on in Rome, when Emperor Julius Caesar was king. He established January 1 as the beginning of a New Year. Ancient Romans used to offer sacrifices to Janus, the 2 faced God.

 

Even the early Christians used to have resolutions. They used to wish to be better than the past year. They also had New Year Eve and watch night services. People would stay till midnight in church to begin the New Year in prayer.

 

This year, We are not able to celebrate New Year like this, but At least, lets begin 2021 with a fresh resolution!!

Daedalus-An Example of Pride and Fall

Jase Thomas Jacob

“Oh my wings! See my two wings!”

 

These were probably the last words of Icarus, the son of the proud craftsman, Daedalus.

 

Wait! You must be thinking,”What is all this story of wings, last words, Icarus?” Well, my friends, let us go back in time to understand the story of wings.

 

Once upon a time, there lived a proud architect named Daedalus. He was so proud of himself that he pushed his own nephew from his balcony for being a good craftsman like his uncle. He was SO stupidly proud of himself that he thought that with his skills, he was above all Gods. Little did he knew what was in store for him.

 

One day, King Minos of Crete invited him to his kingdom for a task. The King wanted to build a palace with a very difficult maze (The Labyrinth) under it in which the Minotaur could be imprisoned (The Minotaur was a monster with the head of a bull and a human body).

 

Daedalus brought his son, Icarus, with him. They lived on Crete until the maze and palace were complete. Daedalus went to the king and told him he wanted to leave the island. Minos was furious. He told Daedalus that he would never leave the island.

 

Daedalus and his son, Icarus were now trapped on the island.There, his crafty brain worked hard for a way to escape. He decided that he would make wings out of wax and feathers and he and Icarus would fly back to the mainland.

 

Now, lets take a break. Here, Daedalus is showing his pride. Back in the day, the Gods did not like it when humans tried to act like them by overcoming their mortal limits. In ancient Greek culture, acting like a God was called ‘hubris’, and it was often severely punished. As flying was a ‘Gods Only Right’, Daedalus was a ‘hubris’.

 

Now, back to the story. Daedalus told Icarus to collect all the feathers he could. The glued them onto two frames with wax. Daedalus and Icarus went to the top of a cliff and strapped on the wings. Before they flew off the mountain, Daedalus warned Icarus of two things, 1. No going near the Sun, and 2. No going near the sea.

 

They ran towards the edge of the cliff and flapped their wings. They flew! Daedalus has done the impossible! Alas! This angered the Gods!

 

Icarus was beaming with happiness and pride and began to fly higher and higher. “Remember what I said. Don’t fly too close to the sun,” Daedalus shouted after Icarus. Unfortunately, it was too late. The wax began to melt. Icarus flapped his wings madly but the feathers began to fall off his wings. He fell into the sea and drowned! Daedalus was heart broken. 

 

With great sorrow and humbleness, Daedalus reached Sicily (Holy city of Apollo) and built a temple for Apollo. Here, Daedalus didn’t reach Sicily by accident, rather he understood his folly and built he temple for The Sun God, the cause of Icarus’ demise, accepting his inferiority.

 

Now, if you have read the entire story carefully, you would notice that in Daedalus’ life, he had caused the fall of two young men, one being his nephew, and the other, his son Icarus. But the difference between these falls were that one made him prouder, while the other made him humble.

 

If Daedalus had not been so proud of himself, he would still have his son. And this is a lesson to all those proud people out there, who thinks high about themselves. It is good, but to an extend. So, let us not be ‘hubris’ like Daedalus.

The True Essence of Life: Happiness

Reneeka Kumar

Once lived a troubled king who wished to unlock the true essence of life. Many tried answering, but none of the responses satisfied the king. He felt the need to consult someone wise: the old saint living in the forest. 

It was a long-distance, and the sun was shining brighter than ever. The king had traveled miles to meet the saint. The now dehydrated king looked desperately around for water. Just as he was going to give his hopes up, he found a well nearby and quenched his thirst. 

He thanked his stars, and as he was going to continue his journey, something struck his mind. He was happy! Happy because he quenched his thirst. It dawned upon him that the true meaning of life is happiness. What is it exactly?

Some define it as immense satisfaction when something good happens. Some say it’s when you make big, or when you get your desired things. For the rich, it might be when they visit exotic places. For the poor: it might be when they have a shade on them. Happiness is something commonly seek.

Happiness isn’t something that can be defined by words. It’s raw emotion, something that comes from within. It’s common. Everybody experiences it, yet we can’t describe it. Every person defines it in his/her manner. In whatever means you may define it; the truth is that it is vital for a healthy and prosperous life. 

Happiness. Such a simple word, isn’t it? Yet something so complicated that millions fail to understand. Finding happiness in this materialistic world is the main reason for this failure. No amount can buy you your happiness, whether be the favorite thing you desire or the person you love the most, or the career you build, unless and until you feel it within yourself. 

“If one speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows one, like a shadow that never leaves.” In other words, happiness is a state of mind. It is not something that happens to us, but a deliberate decision to choose happiness day in and day out, regardless of the circumstances.

“Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your actions.” – His Holiness The Dalai Lama.

Cultivating happiness is an easy task. To be content and happy with whatever you have and yourself takes time and patience. We should try to appreciate the people and things in our lives. At the end of the day, they are the ones who matter the most in our lives.

Cast aside your past, and look forward to a beautiful future. Learn to live today with more happiness than yesterday and forget about your past sadness for a harmonious life. Be grateful for the things you have.

Try to find goodness in every situation, and accept the things that already happened, whether good or bad. Never forget to choose merrier and positive people to be closer to you so that their vibes will also help you in becoming one too. 

At times you may feel low, but do not ever forget that you have people who love you. Never hesitate to ask for help. It’s a long journey, but implementing these rules in our lives sure does help! Happiness is not something created, it’s generated.

You saw how a simple thing such as water could please a king who had everything. It wasn’t the water that did the trick, but it was the king who learned to find good in little things. The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts. We must understand that happiness is nothing more than the state of a person’s mind. Our thoughts channel our emotions. Therefore, we must work on having only positive energy, and this can only be done when we see life in a positive light. There’s always a reason to be happy.

“There is no path to happiness. Happiness is the path.” 

Life is a beautiful adventure. Cherish and worship it. Once a moment is gone, it never comes back. Be happy and enjoy your life with your loved ones. Happiness is truly the true essence of life!

Generating Confidence

LoveU

Reneesa Kumar

Wait a minute, before we go to the depth of this topic. I have one question for you all. Have you ever been to any situation where you feel your confidence was low? Well, their many cases we face like weak in a subject, etc. Now the question arises, what is exactly Confidence? Actually, even I don’t know what is confidence but, in my experience, I think, Confidence is your belief in your ability to figure things out. As you know we need confidence in ourselves so I am going to tell you 5 steps to have more confidence in your life. 

  1. Decide You Need No Reason to be more Confident – You don’t need 50 peoples to tell you are amazing or beautiful. You have to just say to yourselves “You know what today we lift my head up a little bit, you know today I’m gonna give myself a little bit of credit. I am just gonna be confident. I am gonna walk into this room and stand tall as if I was an incredibly confident person for no reason.” That’s the power of intention, it’s the power of self – directed human being that we get to choose how we want to feel you could be happy right now for no reason. You don’t need 50 things to make you happy. You have to just sense the moment feel grateful for life. 
  2. Integrity – Integrity Being aligned with who you are your values your beliefs and your dreams. For example – Keeping your promises even if it takes extra effort.

3. Competency – A competency is the capability to apply or use a set of related knowledge, skills, and abilities required to successfully perform. For example – Teamwork, Responsibility, etc.

4. Momentum – Momentum is the key to Confidence. When we stop having momentum in our life, we often feel lost or confused. For example – Do something tiny every day.

5. Community – You know that we need people around us and who are supportive, positive, and buoyant and who appreciate our sense of aliveness, joy, and happiness in life.

I hope these 5 steps will boost your confidence. “In fact, the confidence of the people is worth more than money.”– Carter G. Woodson. With this, I would like to end my speech. I hope you enjoyed it.

Quantum Computing

Gokul

So what is Quantum Computing?
Here is the definition: Quantum computing is the use of quantum phenomena such as superposition and entanglement to perform computation. Computers that perform quantum computations are known as quantum computers.
Why is Quantum Computing important?
Quantum computing is said to be more power efficient than modern computing through the use of quantum tunnelling. They are expected to reduce power consumption from 100 to 1000 times. Quantum computers could speed up the learning process of AI, reducing thousands of years of learning to mere seconds.

Now Lets See How It Works
A quantum computer works with particles that can be in superposition. Rather than representing bits such particles would represent qubits, which can take on the value 0, or 1, or both simultaneously.

What does a Quantum Computer do?
A quantum computer encodes information into quantum states and computes by performing quantum operations on it. There are several tasks for which a quantum computer will be useful.
The new goal is to manipulate and control quantum systems so that they behave in a prescribed way. A quantum computer encodes information into quantum states and computes by performing quantum operations on it. There are several tasks for which a quantum computer will be useful.

How does quantum computing exactly work?
Quantum computers perform calculations based on the probability of an object’s state before it is measured instead of just 1s or 0s which means they have the potential to process exponentially more data compared to classical computers. A single state such as on or off, up or down, 1 or 0 – is called a bit.

Who is behind Quantum Computing and where is it found?
In 1998 Isaac Chuang of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Neil Gershenfeld of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Mark Kubinec of the University of California at Berkeley created the first quantum computer (2-qubit) that could be loaded with data and output a solution.

Can Quantum Computing change the world? Let’s take a look
Quantum computing could change the world. It could transform medicine, break encryption and revolutionise communications and artificial intelligence. Companies like IBM, Microsoft and Google are racing to build reliable quantum computers.

Thank You For Reading