Carl Sagan, "We are one planet"

Why guys don't want to be friends with a girl who breaks up with them...

The McDonalds Analogy

I know a girl who broke up with a guy and she told him she wanted to "still be friends." He said, "No thanks." She wondered why he couldn't fall back to being just friends after they had a romantic relationship. I came up with the "McDonalds Analogy" to try and explain it in a simple way that would help all women understand this tough question.

Imagine if you went to McDonalds a lot and ordered a Big Mac Combo meal. A Big Mac, Large Fries and a Coke. You really like this meal. One day, you pull up to the drivethrough and order the Big Mac Combo meal and the girl tells you, "I'm sorry - you can have the Big Mac and the Coke, but you can't get fries with that anymore." You think about this for a moment, and sure - the Big Mac is the centerpiece of the meal, but McDonalds has some really good fries and you like their fries with your meal. So you say, "I've been able to get fries with that before, why can't I have fries with my Big Mac combo anymore?" The girls says, "Well, I just think it is better if you only have the Big Mac and the Coke from here on out."

At this point, a lot of guys are going to go to Wendy's or BK and see if they can get fries with their combo at that drivethrough window. But there are some guys who REALLY like McDonalds Big Macs and they might think, "If I keep coming here and ordering the Big Mac and Coke, maybe she'll change her mind and give me some fries with that later." So they will keep on getting the combo without the fries until the deal breaker happens: One day that guy is going to order the Big Mac and Coke and then he's going to pull up a little bit to pay, and someone else is going to pull up to the drivethrough speaker and order the "Big Mac Combo" and he is going to hear the girl say, "Would you like fries with that?"

That's why guys don't like to be friends with a girl who breaks up with them.

Source: b937online

Food for Your Eyes | Pokhara Rendezvous Series 15

Source: Flickr

A view from Baglung highway
An afternoon retreat in Lake side

Monsoon bloom at Lake side

Lakeside lodge

Lakeside hut

Organic and fresh from the orchard garden

Fight Web Censorship and Enjoy Your Privacy

Breaking Down the Firewall

--Meryl Rothstein

Internet censorship is the book burning of the modern age, denying as much as a third of the world's population access to news and information.
But a new brand of activists -- or "hacktivists" -- are using their computer expertise to help people stranded in Web-censored countries abroad (and corporate offices and military bases at home) jump the firewall. The key innovation, developed by the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab, is a software program called Psiphon. In the latest version (due out this winter), prospective users, or aid groups, contact the Citizen Lab to receive passwords and Web links. Once signed in, users are then patched directly into the Psiphon network of servers. A search bar pops up on their own screen, and they can surf the Web freely. All censors see is an unfamiliar IP address, which could be for anything from a bank transaction to an eBay sale.
According to Ronald Deibert, the lab's director, the biggest threat to the system is censors who might sign up for the service to learn Psiphon's IP addresses and block them. But the lab has developed a high-tech shell game to counter this measure. As soon as one address is blocked, Psiphon assigns it to another region and puts in a new one. When the next one gets discovered, Psiphon again swaps in a new one. The process can go on indefinitely, until the censors grow tired or the firewalls come down.

Source: http://www.esquire.com/features/best-brightest-2007/sixideas1207

GET IT HERE: PSIPHON

Geek Meditation Session

Food for Your Eyes | Pokhara Rendezvous Series 14

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When Phewa turns gold
When age takes its toll

A long wait

Loneliness

Abundant freshness

Cave gupteshwor

A mild evening at lake side

Food for Your Eyes | Pokhara Rendezvous Series 13

Source: Flickr

Mahila baje smiles in a Pokhreli village.
There goes the meandering river.

The valley stretches over infinity.

Sunset at Lake Fewa

Sunset again in the hills

Lakeside retreat