HP and Intergraph settle patent fight



Hewlett-Packard Co. will pay $141 million to Intergraph Corp. to settle a long-running patent dispute, the companies said Friday.

Apple iWork '05: No Challenge For Microsoft Office



The company that brought the world the ultracool iPod is extending its new branding to include something traditionally as unhip as it gets: productivity software. Preshow rumors opined that Apple's new suite would be a direct assault on Microsoft Office, but the actual product Apple announced, dubbed iWork '05, is a completely different species than Office and doesn't challenge Microsoft's leadership in the office productivity market.

Google Mini: A Maxi Move Into Low-Cost Search



At $5,000, the Google Mini search appliance has such a low price — and rich, easy-to-use functionality — that few small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) will find it necessary to look elsewhere for their in-house search needs. While not for the ultrasophisticated enterprise, departments running standalone sites that simply need "search" will find both the price and Google brand attractive, and should investigate the Mini further.

Decoding Grid Technology



Hype about grid technology has grown, with new standards bodies and informational Web sites joining grid pioneers from the late 1990s. Grid has many meanings and claimed benefits, so how are users supposed to figure out what it means for them? Forrester segments grid technologies into three categories: compute grids, data grids, and resource grids. This report uses four dimensions of analysis to segment compute grids as 1) uncoupled compute grids such as Web farms; 2) loosely coupled compute grids such as those that use grid scheduler engines; and 3) tightly coupled compute grids such as clusters. Firms should take advantage of compute grids for specialized apps or the handful of supported commercial apps, focus on Organic IT technologies in the resource grid, and monitor the slow progress at making compute grid technology more applicable to commercial IT workloads.

Database Administration Challenges Are Shifting



During the past decade, database performance tuning was the most challenging administration task for most enterprises, but that has started to change. With top database management systems (DBMS) vendors rolling out new innovative features around automation and self-management, performance tuning is becoming less challenging and is requiring less effort and fewer skills. Forrester predicts that database upgrade and patch management will surpass performance and tuning to become the single most challenging activity by 2006.

My brother

It is a good movie, espeically for someone who

has a brother in real life. He is a friend, a competitor (for the love from parents),

and a brother.

You may fight a lot with him, but whenever you fight with others

he will be there to help you.

Wanna to be more creative ?
Following are some advices:
1. Ignore everybody, it is because that every great idea is always initially resisted.
2. The idea doesn't have to be big. It just has to change the world.
3. Put hours in: Do it for long enough and magically, life-transforming things happen eventually.
4. Nobody discovers things in a sudden, things are made slowly and in pain.
5. You are responsible for your own experience.
6. Everyone is born creative, everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten.
7. Keep your day job.
8. Companies that squelch creativity can not compete with companies that champion creativity.
9. Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb.
10. The more talented somebody is, the less they need the props.
11. Don't try to stand out from the crowd, try to avoid crowd altogether.
12. If you accept the pain, it cannot hurt you.
13. Never compare your inside with someone else's outside.
14. Dying young is overrated.
15. The most important thing a creative person can learn, professionaly, is where to draw the red line that separate what you are willing to do and what you are not.
16. The world is changing.
17. Merit can be bought, passion cannot.
18. Avoid the watercooler gang.
19. Sing in your own voice.
20. The choice of media is irrelevant.
21. Selling out is harder than it looks.
22. Nobody cares, do it for yourself.

Parable Of The Pencil
---------------------
The Pencil Maker took the pencil aside, just before putting him into
the box. There are 5 things you need to know, he told the pencil,
before I send you out into the world. Always remember them
and you will become the best pencil you can be.

One: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow
yourself to be held in Someone's hand.

Two: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, but
you'll need it to become a better pencil.

Three: You will be able to correct mistakes you will make.

Four: The most important part of you will always be what's inside.

And Five: On every surface you are used on, you must leave your mark.
No matter what the condition, you must continue to write.

The pencil understood and promised to remember, and went into the box
with purpose in its heart.

Now replacing the place of the pencil with you; always remember them
and you will become the best person you can be.

The Butterfly
-------------
A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small
opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for
several hours as it struggled to force its body
through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop
making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten
as far as it could, and it could go no further. So the
man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of
scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the
cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had
a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man
continued to watch the butterfly because he expected
that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and
expand to be able to support the body, which would
contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the
butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around
with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was
able to fly.

What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not
understand was that the restricting cocoon and the
struggle required for the butterfly to get through the
tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the
body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would
be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from
the cocoon. Sometimes struggles are exactly what we
need in our lives. If God allowed us to go through our
lives without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We
would not be as strong as what we could have been. We
could never fly!

>>>I asked for Strength.........
>>>And God gave me Difficulties to make me strong.
>>>
>>>I asked for Wisdom.........
>>>And God gave me Problems to solve.
>>>
>>>I asked for Prosperity.........
>>>And God gave me Brain and Brawn to work.
>>>
>>>I asked for Courage.........
>>>And God gave me Danger to overcome.
>>>
>>>I asked for Love.........
>>>And God gave me Troubled people to help.
>>>
>>>I asked for Favors.........
>>>And God gave me Opportunities.
>>>
>>>I received nothing I wanted........
>>>I received everything I needed!
>>>

A Quarter
---------

Several years ago a preacher moved to Houston, Texas USA. He often took the
bus from his home to the downtown area. Some weeks after he arrived, he had
occasion to ride the same bus. When he sat down, he discovered that the
driver had accidentally given him a quarter too much change.

As he considered what to do, he thought to himself, you better give the
quarter back. It would be wrong to keep it. Then he thought, "Oh", forget
it, it's only a quarter. Who would worry about this little amount? Anyway
the bus company already gets too much fare; they will never miss it. Accept
it as a gift from God and keep quiet.

When his stop came, he paused momentarily at the door, then he handed the
quarter to the driver and said, "Here, you gave me too much change". The
driver with a smile, replied, "Aren't you the new preacher in town? I have
been thinking lately about going to worship somewhere. I just wanted to see
what you would do, if I gave you too much change."

When the preacher stepped off the bus, he literally grabbed the nearest
light pole, and held on, and said, "Lord, I almost sold your Son for
twenty-five cents!"

Our lives are the only Bible some people will ever read.


================================

The Burning Hut
---------------
The only survivor of a shipwreck washed up on a small, uninhabited
island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him, and every day he scanned
the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he
eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him
from the elements, and to store his few possessions.

But then one day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find
his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky. The worst had
happened; everything was lost. He was stung with grief and anger. "God, how
could you do this to me!" he cried.

Early the next day, however, he was awakened by the sound of a ship
that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him. "How did you
know I was here?" asked the weary man of his rescuers. "We saw your smoke
signal," they replied.

It is easy to get discouraged when things are going bad. But we
shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst
of pain and suffering. Paul wrote, "... I have learned the secret of being
content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether
living in plenty or in want" (Philippians 4:12). Paul had
confidence that good would come out of everything (Romans 8:28), so he
learned to be thankful, not bitter, even when he was suffering. Who knows?
Remember next time your little hut is burning to the ground--it just may
be a smoke signal that summons the grace of God.

The Cracked Pot
---------------

A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on each end of a
pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it,
and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of
water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master's house,
the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only
one and a half pots full of water to his master's house. Of course, the
perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for
which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own
imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of
what it had been made to do. After two years of what it perceived to be a
bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream.

"I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you."

"Why?" asked the bearer. "What are you ashamed of?"

"I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load
because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to
your master's house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work,
and you don't get full value from your efforts," the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion
he said, " As we return to the master's house, I want you to notice the
beautiful flowers along the path."

Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the
sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the other side of the path, and
this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad
because it had leaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the
bearer for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only
on your side of your path, but not on the other pot's side?"

That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage
of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day
while we walk back from the stream, you've watered them.

For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate
my master's table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not
have this beauty to grace his house,"

Each of us has our own unique flaws. We're all cracked pots. But if we
allow it, the Lord will use our flaws to grace His Father's table.

In God's economy, nothing goes to waste.

So as we seek to minister together, and as God you to the tasks He has
appointed for you, don't be afraid of your flaws.

Acknowledge them, and allow Him to take advantage of them, and you, too,
can be the cause of beauty in His pathway.

Go out boldly, knowing that in our weakness we find His strength, and that
"In Him every one of God's promises is a Yes."


SUPPLIED BY: TAN-NGOOI CHIU AI
PLEASE REPLY TO: ecltanca@nus.edu.sg
-------------------------------------

An Interview with God
---------------------------------
I dreamed I had an interview with God.

"So, you would like to interview me?" God asked.

"If you have the time," I said.

God smiled. "My time is eternity; what questions do you
have in mind to ask me?"

"What surprises you most about humankind?..."

GOD ANSWERED ...

"That they get bored with childhood - they rush
to grow up and then long to be children again.
That they lose their health to make money and then lose
their money to restore their health."

"That by thinking anxiously about the future,
they forget the present, such that they live in
neither the present nor the future."
"That they live as if they will never die,
and die as if they had never lived..."

God's hands took mine and we were silent for a while
and then I asked...

"As a parent, what are some of life's lessons you
want your children to learn?"

God replied with a smile:

"To learn that they cannot make anyone love them.
What they can do is to let themselves be loved.
To learn that what is most valuable is not what they have
in their lives, but who they have in their lives.
To learn that it is not good to compare themselves to others.
To learn that a rich person is not the one who has the most,
but is one who needs the least.
To learn that it only takes a few seconds to open
profound wounds in persons one loves, and that it may
take many years to heal them.
To learn to forgive by practicing forgiveness.
To learn that there are persons who love them dearly,
but simply do not know how to express or show their feelings.
To learn that money can buy everything but ... happiness.
To learn that two people can look at the same thing and
see it very differently.
To learn that it is not always enough that they be
forgiven by others, but that they must also forgive themselves.
And to learn that I am here -- always."


-- Author Unknown

Attending an academic conference by Michael Ernst from MIT CSAIL

Contents:

Goals of conference attendance
Meeting other researchers

The Best Online Reference Sites



Looking for an answer to a specific question? Check out this list of the best reference sites of 2004, as compiled by the American Library Association.