Wednesday, May 2, 2012


Pleasures and Perils of Technology

Present day, we enjoy technology so much that we even wonder how we survived all these days without all these new electronic smart stuff. Not only that we even became dependents of telephone, nay, the cell phone, texting, microwave etc. I think it is better to say not dependents, but slaves!

We enjoy them every moment doing one thing or other. We spend time on computer at work or at home, while driving or walking our ears are glued to the cell phone, even if the Government ban using cell phones while driving and by trying to follow the rules, but go in a round about way, we don’t use cell to talk but use it to send messages and SMS, not realizing that we are not cheating the Government, but our own consciousness. You will realize when you watch even a 2 year old, how tech savvy they became. My grand daughter Asha is the best example of that. She knows what buttons to press on the computer, how to move around on the IPAD etc.

I started this for two reasons. The recent experiences we had, one is Email and the other is IPAD. Couple of days back, the yahoo site had some problem or somebody was trying to hack, I am not sure, but suddenly, one of the forwarded messages that I got was sent without my knowledge to all the contacts I had in my address book! Generally I don’t keep more than 25 emails in my inbox, suddenly there appeared 110 all saying “Mailer notification that the email was failed to send”. We didn’t know what to do, but just deleted all of them and hoped it won’t happen again. But after few hours it started appearing again. This time, we checked internet to see what needed to be done in such cases. Meanwhile, we tried to contact yahoo and other possible places on phone. One of the suggestions was to change our password immediately and don’t use that one for any other purposes and they recommended that we should change our password once in few months and also use some unusual words and symbols. So, that is what we did and so far that incident did not occur again. But we noticed that the message was sent to handful of people who are unfortunate! We apologize to those who got it! Anyway, we wasted almost a half day for nothing on this.

Coming to the IPAD story, this is much more interesting. On Saturday evening, Swapna (my daughter) and her family came here to drop the kids with us so that they both can attend a friend’s wedding. The plan was to spend that night here and next morning Sunday we all would go to the nearby Zoo to celebrate Asha’s second birthday. All the preparations and plans and invitations were all in order! Both Swapna and Babu (my husband) left early to secure a best picnic area in the Zoo, I, Muhammed (our Son-in-Law) with the kids followed in his car after an hour. While driving, he asked me whether I saw his IPAD with Swapna or Asha, and mentioned that he left it in his car and he saw it in the middle of the night while coming from their friend’s wedding. When I said, we didn’t see it in the house, he said he might have lost it, and it might be stolen, since he forgot to lock the car!

After the party was over and while we all gathered in Swapna’s house for after party celebrations, he started playing with his Iphone and said that he can trace the whereabouts of his gadgets on it. I didn’t know that you can program it! He tried that and he could trace his IMAC and Computer etc but not the IPAD. Swapna was joking that the cost of the birthday party was increased by $500!

Monday morning when we connected our computers to check mail, Face Book and news (that is our routine and to chat with my sister) there we got email from Muhammed saying that he could locate the whereabouts of the IPAD on his IPhone. And he attached 4 documents with the Google earth maps exactly where the IPAD was! It was amazing. We learned that as soon as somebody opens the IPAD, it would be traced even if you don’t log into it. He immediately contacted our local police (our area is called Aurora) since it was stolen at our house and not in downtown Chicago where they live. But the police wanted somebody to come in person and place the complaint officially and can’t do much on phone. By 7 am he was already in his office. Meanwhile, Swapna called and said that she would come with the kids to our house and then go to the police department instead of her husband. She later sent a message saying that she will not but Muhammed will contact Aurora police in person.

He could clear his calendar from some meetings and attended some meetings on phone while on his way to Aurora. When he told Aurora police that he is on his way, they asked him to meet them in a nearby shopping mall. He got such a thrill when he saw 3 petrol cars and 4 officers ready for him there. When he told them his story and showed them on the petrol car computer how he located the IPAD, they immediately contacted other officers to identify the exact house. And they told him to wait in Aurora area till they let him know the progress. So while coming to our house he went by the suspected house to see what is happening and saw that there are already 3 police cars and one unidentified police car with about 6 officers surrounding the house at strategic places to cover the area if the suspect tries to escape! The police also told him that this is a teen ager and a group of people are involved! He got his “adrenaline rush” for the day!
All this happened by 11am that is when he came to our house to wait here till he hears from the police again. He was all excited and the police too since they could nail down a criminal red handedly in a short time! By noon, we got the call from police that they met the owners of the house and got the confessions from the kid and they recovered the IPAD and that Muhammed can come and get it.

All ended well. The lesson we learned was, never forget to lock the vehicles and that you should learn to utilize all the features on your gadgets. One good thing is, because of this incident, the police could nail down a thief in no time. Hats off to our Aurora police for acting diligently and fast.

Sailaja
USA
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Interesting Anecdotes

Albert Einstein started talking late as a child.One day at the Family Supper he observed ,"The Soup is too hot".There was a certain jubilation.Years later,when he was asked why he did'nt talk before,he said "Because till then everything was in order"

When he went to work in Princeton ,Einstein was asked what he would require for his study.He replied "A desk,some Pads and Pencils,and a LARGE BASKET to hold all my mastakes."

Charlie Chaplin invited Einstein to the premiere of 'City Lights'.The Public cheered both of them.Chaplin remarked,"They cheer me because they all understand me,and they cheer you because no one understands you"!

Nazis ransacked Einstein's house and Bank Account,and a Prize of 1000 Pounds was put on his head.Einstein said "I did'nt know I was worth this much".

Prof.C.T.Copeland of Cambridge University was once asked whyhe did'nt move from his small, dusty rooms at the top of the building to a more spacious accommodation.He replied,"I shall always live on the Top floor.It is the only place in Cambridge where GOD alone is above me".

When King Polemy of Egypt asked Euclid where there is an easy way to learn Geometry,Euclid said,"there is no Royal Road to Geometry"!

When Sir C.V.Raman was offered a glass of Champagne during his visit to Paris,he refused to drink saying "You may know Raman Effect on alcohol,bur certainly I won't like you to know the alcohol effect on Rama

When Albert Schweitzer was staying in England,he was asked "Why is it you always travel by third class?"He replied,"Because there is no fourth class."

Collected by

U.S.N.Murty(Suribabu)
Bargarah (Orissa)

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