The Barometer

This legend, the truth of which is not necessarily related to its value, concerns a question in a physics degree exam

at the University of Copenhagen : "Describe how to determine the height of a skyscraper with a barometer."


One student replied: "You tie a long piece of string to the neck of the barometer, then lower the barometer from the roof

of the skyscraper to the ground. The length of the string plus the length of the barometer will equal the height of the building."



This highly original answer so incensed the examiner that the student was failed immediately.



He appealed on the grounds that his answer was indisputably correct, and the university appointed an independent arbiter

to decide the case. The arbiter judged that the answer was indeed correct, but did not display any noticeable knowledge of physics.



To resolve the problem it was decided to call the student in and allow him six minutes in which to provide a verbal answer

which showed at least a minimal familiarity with the basic principles of physics.



For five minutes the student sat in silence, forehead creased in thought. The arbiter reminded him that time was running out,

to which the student replied that he had several extremely relevant answers, but couldn't make up his mind which to use.



On being advised to hurry up the student replied as follows:



"Firstly, you could take the barometer up to the roof of the skyscraper, drop it over the edge, and measure the

time it takes to reach the ground. The height of the building can then be worked out from the formula H = 0.5g x t squared.

But bad luck on the barometer.



"Or if the sun is shining you could measure the height of the barometer, then set it on end and measure the

length of its shadow. Then you measure the length of the skyscraper's shadow, and thereafter it is simple

matter of proportional arithmetic to work out the height of the skyscraper.



"But if you wanted to be highly scientific about it, you could tie a short piece of string to the barometer

and swing it like a pendulum, first at ground level and then on the roof of the skyscraper. The height is

worked out by the difference in the gravitational restoring force T = 2 pi sq root(l / g).



"Or if the skyscraper has an outside emergency staircase, it would be easier to walk up it and mark

off the height of the skyscraper in barometer lengths, then add them up.



"If you merely wanted to be boring and orthodox about it, of course, you could use the barometer

to measure the air pressure on the roof of the skyscraper and on the ground, and convert the difference

in millibars into feet to give the height of the building.



"But since we are constantly being exhorted to exercise independence of mind and apply scientific methods,

undoubtedly the best way would be to knock on the janitor's door and say to him 'If you would like a nice

new barometer, I will give you this one if you tell me the height of this skyscraper'. "



The student was Niels Bohr, the only Dane to win the Nobel prize for Physics.

The Necklace

The cheerful little girl with bouncy golden curls was almost five.

Waiting with her mother at the checkout stand, she saw them, a circle of glistening white pearls in a pink foil box. "Oh mommy please, Mommy. Can I have them? Please, Mommy, please?"

Quickly the mother checked the back of the little foil box and then looked back into the pleading blue eyes of her little girl's upturned face.

"A dollar ninety-five. That's almost $2.00. If you really want them, I'll think of some extra chores for you and in no time you can save enough money to buy them for yourself. Your birthday's only a week away and you might get another crisp dollar bill from Grandma."

As soon as Jenny got home, she emptied her penny bank and counted out 17 pennies.

After dinner, she did more than her share of chores and she went to the neighbor and asked Mrs. McJames if she could pick dandelions for ten cents.

On her birthday, Grandma did give her another new dollar bill and at last she had enough money to buy the necklace. Jenny loved her pearls. They made her feel dressed up and grown up. She wore them everywhere, Sunday school, kindergarten, even to bed. The only time she took them off was when she went swimming or had a bubble bath.

Mother said if they got wet, they might turn her neck green. Jenny had a very loving daddy and every night when she was ready for bed, he would

stop whatever he was doing and come upstairs to read her a story.

One night as he finished the story, he asked Jenny, "Do you love me?"

"Oh yes, daddy. You know that I love you." "Then give me your pearls."

"Oh, daddy, not my pearls.

But you can have Princess, the white horse from my collection, the one with the pink tail. Remember, daddy? The one you gave me. She's my very favorite."

"That's okay, Honey, daddy loves you. Good night."

And he brushed her cheek with a kiss.

About a week later, after the story time, Jenny's daddy asked again, "Do you love me?"

"Daddy, you know I love you."

"Then give me your pearls."

"Oh Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have my baby doll. The brand new one I got for my birthday. She is beautiful and you can have the yellow blanket that matches her sleeper."

"That's okay. Sleep well. God bless you, little one. Daddy loves you."

And as always, he brushed her cheek with a gentle kiss. A few nights later when her daddy came in, Jenny was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed Indian style.

As he came close, he noticed her chin was trembling and one silent tear rolled down her cheek.

"What is it, Jenny? What's the matter?"

Jenny didn't say anything but lifted her little hand up to her daddy.

And when she opened it, there was her little pearl necklace. With a little quiver, she finally said, "Here, daddy; this is for you."

With tears gathering in his own eyes, Jenny's daddy reached out with one hand to take the dime store necklace, and with the other hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue velvet case with a strand of genuine pearls and gave them to Jenny. He had them all the time. He was just waiting for her to give up the dime-store stuff so he could give her the genuine treasure.

So it is, with our Heavenly Father.

He is waiting for us to give up the cheap things in our lives so that he can give us beautiful treasures. Isn't God good?

Are you holding onto things that God wants you to let go of? Are you holding on to harmful or unnecessary partners, relationships, habits and activities that you have come so attached to that it seems impossible to let go?

Sometimes it is so hard to see what is in the other hand but do believe this one thing .

God will never take away something without giving you something better in its place.

The greatest gifts happen when you share love & touch others. NOT to DECIDE is to DECIDE ..

Corporate Lesson: The Washerman, Dog and Donkey

Good story with old version…

There was once a washer man who had a donkey and a dog.

One night when the whole world was sleeping, a thief broke into the house, the washer man was fast asleep but the donkey and the dog were awake.

The dog decided not to bark since the master did not take good care of him and wanted to teach him a lesson.

The donkey got worried and said to the dog that if he doesn't bark, the donkey will have to do something himself. The dog did not change his mind and the donkey started braying loudly.

Hearing the donkey bray, the thief ran away, the master woke up and started beating the donkey for braying in the middle of the night for no reason.

Moral of the story " One must not engage in duties other than his own"
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Now take a new look at the same story…

The washer man was a well educated man from a premier management institute.

He had the fundas of looking at the bigger picture and thinking out of the box. He was convinced that there must be some reason for the donkey to bray in the night.

He walked outside a little and did some fact finding, applied a bottom up approach, figured out from the ground realities that there was a thief who broke in and the donkey only wanted to alert him about it.

Looking at the donkey's extra initiative and going beyond the call of the duty, he rewarded him with lot of hay and other perks and became his favorite pet.

The dog's life didn't change much, except that now the donkey was more motivated in doing the dogs duties as well. In the annual appraisal the dog managed a " meets requirement" Soon the dog realized that the donkey is taking care of his duties and he can enjoy his life sleeping and lazing around.

The donkey was rated as "star performer". The donkey had to live up to his already high performance standards. Soon he was over burdened with work and always under pressure and now is looking for a job rotation…


If you have worked in a corporate environment, I am sure you have guessed the characters of the new story.

Smart Investing

A city boy, Kenny, moved to the country and bought a donkey from an old farmer for $100.00. The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day.

The next day the farmer drove up and said, "Sorry son, but I have some bad news, the donkey died last night."

Kenny replied: "Well then, just give me my money back."

The farmer said: "Can't do that. I went and spent it already."

Kenny said: "OK then, just unload the donkey."

The farmer asked: "What you gonna to do with him?"

Kenny: "I'm going to raffle him off." (Note: To raffle is to sell a thing by lottery - draw lot -! to a group of people each paying the same amount for a ticket)

Farmer: "You can't raffle off a dead donkey!"

Kenny: "Sure I can. Watch me. I just won't tell anybody he's dead."

A month later the farmer met up with Kenny and asked, "What happened with that dead donkey?"

Kenny: "I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at two dollars apiece and made a profit of $998.00."

Farmer: "Didn't anyone complain?"

Kenny: "Just the guy who won. So I gave him back his two dollars."

things To Do!

The moment we are living now is very precious and people around us are precious. We realise this only when we miss the moments and the people..

The obituary page had my name and photo in it. It wasn't too good a snap of me, I thought, as I looked at it absent-mindedly. And then I gave a cry of terror, "What's my photo doing in the death column?"


I remembered, the sharp chest pain last night. I looked around, it was morning; but my coffee had not been made. People were entering the house and walking through the bedroom door. I walked in and looked on the bed. There I was, all laid out; dead.

People stared at me, not many were crying, and some, I noticed, looked relieved. "LISTEN" I shouted, "I' M HERE, I'M OKAY , I'M NOT DEAD." Nobody heard me. They were all looking at the me on the bed. I walked back into the sitting room.


The coffin had arrived. It was being set up in the center. I watched them carry my body and put it in. "I' M NOT READY TO GO AS YET" I shouted, "I STILL HAVE WORK TO DO. DONT BURY ME BEFORE I AM READY"

I looked around. "Where's my family?," I asked myself. They were in the next room, weeping. "I'M NOT DEAD " I shouted to my wife and children. They continued to weep.


"How can I go before telling you I love you?," I asked my wife.

"How can I go, before hugging you both?," I asked my children.

I wept with them.


The singing was coming from the next room. I walked in as they sang my favourite songs.

There were tears in the eyes of one of the men as he sang. "But we haven't talked to each other for years", I said to him. "Why are you crying? Come on, shake my hand and let's make up." The man continued crying as he sang. He did not see my extended hand.


My dog walked up and smelt my coffin. She didn't seem too shattered I was no more. "I guess I was too strict with you," I told her, "Come, let me pet you."

The dog yawned as it stretched out and fell asleep.


The singing stopped as the priest came in. He sat next to the man who was crying and leaned to talk to him. I went close to hear what he was asking. "Is there anything good," he asked, " the dead man did in his life time?" The man who was crying shook his head sadly.


There was a hush as my wife walked into the room. "She looks beautiful," I thought. "YOU LOOK BEAUTIFUL" I shouted. She did not hear my words. She had never heard them before, because I had never said them. "G OD," I screamed in agony, "A little more time to do all the things I should have one!"


I watched as they lifted my coffin and carried it to the hearse outside. My dog did not bother getting up from deep sleep. The priest refrained from saying any word about me. They all understood, there was nothing good to say. I turned to say sorry to the man who had the tears. I turned to hug my children. I leaned over to whisper words of love into my wife's ears, and then I looked up and cried, "God, one more chance!"


"You shouted in your sleep," said my wife as she gently woke me up. "Did you have a nightmare?"

She looked startled, as I hugged her tight and whispered, "You're beautiful!"

what goes around

One day a man saw an old lady, stranded on the side of the road, but even in the dim light of day, he could see she needed help.


So he pulled up in front of her Mercedes and got out. His Pontiac was still sputtering when he approached her.

Even with the smile on his face, she was worried. No one had stopped to help for the last hour or so. Was he going to hurt her? He didn't look safe; he looked poor and hungry.


He could see that she was frightened, standing out there in the cold. He knew how she felt. It was those chills which only fear can put in you.


He said, "I'm here to help you, ma'am. Why don't you wait in the car where it's warm? By the way, my name is Bryan Anderson."


Well, all she had was a flat tire, but for an old lady, that was bad enough.

Bryan crawled under the car looking for a place to put the jack, skinning his knuckles a time or two. Soon he was able to change the tire. But he had to get dirty and his hands hurt.


As he was tightening up the lug nuts, she rolled down the window and began to talk to him. She told him that she was from St. Louis and was only just passing through. She couldn't thank him enough for coming to her aid.


Bryan just smiled as he closed her trunk. The lady asked how much she owed him.

Any amount would have been all right with her. She already imagined all the awful things that could have happened had he not stopped.

Bryan never thought twice about being paid. This was not a job to him. This was helping someone in need, and God knows there were plenty, who had given him a hand in the past. He had lived his whole life that way, and it never occurred to him to act any other way.


He told her that if she really wanted to pay him back, the next time she saw someone who needed help, she could give that person the assistance they needed, and Bryan added, "And think of me."

He waited until she started her car and drove off. It had been a cold and depressing day, but he felt good as he headed for home, disappearing into the twilight.


A few miles down the road the lady saw a small cafe. She went in to grab a bite to eat, and take the chill off before she made the last leg of her trip home. It was a dingy looking restaurant. Outside were two old gas pumps.

The whole scene was unfamiliar to her. The waitress came over and brought a clean towel to wipe her wet hair.

She had a sweet smile, one that even being on her feet for the whole day couldn't erase. The lady noticed the waitress was nearly eight months pregnant, but she never let the strain and aches change her attitude.

The old lady wondered how someone who had so little could be so giving to a stranger. Then she remembered Bryan.


After the lady finished her meal, she paid with a hundred dollar bill. The waitress quickly went to get change for her hundred dollar bill, but the old lady had slipped right out the door.

She was gone by the time the waitress came back. The waitress wondered where the lady could be. Then she noticed something written on the napkin.


There were tears in her eyes when she read what the lady wrote: "You don't owe me anything. I have been there too. Somebody once helped me out, the way I'm helping you. If you really want to pay me back, here is what you do: Do not let this chain of love end with you."


Under the napkin were four more $100 bills.


Well, there were tables to clear, sugar bowls to fill, and people to serve, but the waitress made it through another day. That night when she got home from work and climbed into bed, she was thinking about the money and what the lady had written. How could the lady have known how much she and her husband needed it? With the baby due next month, it was going to be hard....


She knew how worried her husband was, and as he lay sleeping next to her, she gave him a soft kiss and whispered soft and low, "Everything's going to be all right. I love you, Bryan Anderson."


There is an old saying "What goes around comes around." Today, I sent you this story and I'm asking you to pass it on... Let this light shine.

Don't delete it, don't return it. Simply, pass this on to a friend.

The power of prayers & The miracle at Dunkirk

During the 2nd world war several thousand allied soldiers, mostly British, were trapped by the Germans at a French coast called Dunkirk.

All escape routes were sealed off. The sea escape route was impossible as the German submarines and war ships were heavily guarding it.

The Germans were closing in from all other directions and a bloody massacre was expected the next day. No one was expected to live.


The British PM, Winston Churchill told the nation, "There is only one hope. Let's all pray for them."


Throughout that day and night the whole of Britain prayed for them. Special masses and prayers were conducted in every church.


That night, suddenly, there was a heavy and dense fog. It was totally the wrong season for fog and it never happened before. Under the cover of the heavy fog, the British ships crossed the French channel as the German subs and war ships could not detect them in the fog and rescued each and every one of the soldiers.


As soon as the ships returned home, the fog vanished.


How and why the heavy fog formed and vanished is still one of the biggest meteorological mysteries.