The Wings of Burden

An old legend relates that long ago God had a great many burdens which He wished to have carried from one place to another on earth, so He asked the animals to lend a hand. But all of them began to make excuses for not helping: the elephant was too dignified; the lion, too proud; and so on. Finally the birds came to God and said, "If you will tie the burdens into small bundles, we'll be glad to carry them for you. We are small but we would like to help."

So God fastened upon the back of each one a small bundle, and they all set out walking across the plain to their destination. They sang as they went, and did not seem to feel the weight of their burdens at all. Every day the burdens seemed lighter and lighter, until the loads seems to be lifting the birds, instead of the birds carrying the burdens.

When they arrived at their destination, they discovered that when they removed their loads, there were wings in their place, wings which enabled them to fly to the sky and the tree tops.

They had learned how to carry their burdens, and their loads had become wings to carry them nearer to God.

Burdens we carry for others may become wings of the spirit, to lift us into happiness such as we have never known

Create Mindset

As my friend was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from the ropes they were tied to but for some reason, they did not. My friend saw a trainer nearby and asked why these beautiful, magnificent animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away.

"Well," he said, "when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it's enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free." My friend was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn't, they were stuck right where they were.

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before? So make an attempt to grow further.... Why shouldn't we try it again?

Moral :

"YOUR ATTEMPT MAY FAIL,
BUT NEVER FAIL TO MAKE AN ATTEMPT."

Tapping into Your Creativity for Product Design Ideas

Are you an aspiring inventor? Many inventors fall into the profession by accident. They have a great idea and see it through. Others are curious by nature, enjoy building things, and are excellent problem-solvers. They can’t help but invent. Meanwhile, some people have an entrepreneurial spirit and long to make their ideas for products become commercial successes. No matter where you may fall on the inventor spectrum, if you want to be an inventor, you need ideas for products. Use these tips to tap into your creativity for product design ideas.

Become more curious – Learn to look at the world from different perspectives. For example, when you see a butterfly, observe and ask questions. Why does its wings shimmer? Why are they so powdery? While you may not use this particular knowledge in your inventions, becoming more curious and looking at things differently will serve you well throughout your life as an inventor.

Look for problems – Inventors develop products that solve problems, so it makes sense to be on the lookout for problems that you can solve. Start with problems that bother you personally and brainstorm product design ideas that can improve your life. Because you’ve become more curious, you’ve also become more observant, so use your observational skills to find problems others encounter (Source: http://how-to-patent-an-idea.net/how-we-help-inventors-and-new-product-ideas).

Hold regular brainstorming sessions – Brainstorming is a great way to put your product design ideas onto paper. Allow yourself to dream. Go ahead and write down even the wackiest of ideas for products. Some of these product design ideas may be goofy, but they could also spur you into discovering a related, but much better idea. If you had discounted that original wacky idea, you may not have dreamed up the better one.

Enjoy your free time – This is one field where you really can blend business with pleasure. Let your subconscious mind do some of the work. As you enjoy long walks, basketball games, or other pursuits, you may find that ideas for products pop into your mind!

Creativity is an important characteristic of inventors. Tap into your creativity and find a wealth of ideas for products.

My Review about Alastair Reynolds

Reynolds has excellent ideas and his writing skills have improved over time (Example: characterization), but his plots are somewhat haphazard and the pacing is inconsistent. Chasm City remains his finest book in my opinion. All of the threads work well together, and the gradual revelation of Tanner Mirabel's secrets is brilliantly realized. Revelation Space was a good debut but fatally flawed due to its paper-thin characters and that mind-numbing physics info-dump at the end. Redemption Ark was good up until the overly long ship chase (which took up about half of the book) and the skipped-over relativistic space battle. Absolution Gap took too long to get going and then took the absolute piss by doing a Hamilton at the end. I keep hearing good things about his short stories, and I'm hoping that they are more consistent than his novels. Nightshade Books should be churning out a collection of these stories sometime this year.