ARE YOU A BAD EMPLOYEE?

If you live by your own rules at work, you're not going to remain employed for very long.

Confidence and self-esteem in the workplace can go a long way. Too much of either, though, and you may end up being the dreaded "problem employee."

If you've got an inflated sense of self-worth or are just ignorant of how your bosses and co-workers perceive you, you could be dragging your team down without even realizing it.

Want to find out if you're the office outcast? Take a look at the list below. 

1. You're always late.

Maybe you just happen to move slowly in the morning, the line at your favorite lunch place adds 10 minutes to your break, or important calls seem to always come up before meetings. Whatever the case, rationalizing it won't help your reputation. Habitually poor time management will make your boss see you as selfish, disrespectful, unreliable, and disorganized.  

2. You make a lot of excuses.

People take notice when your excuses for why you can't do something outnumbers the times you successfully do your work. And if problems you can't solve do arise during the day, communicate them to your boss and colleagues immediately and honestly.

3. You complain about unexpected assignments.

Nobody likes the surprise of extra work, but if you regularly communicate your dissatisfaction with grumbling or even an explicit denial of the assignment, you will be labeled as someone with a poor work ethic.

4. You love to gossip.

Getting the inside scoop on your colleagues can be hard to resist, and sharing all your problems with coworkers can be cathartic. But after time, rumours and complaints will be associated with you, and you will lose the respect of your peers.

5. You're convinced you're the smartest person in the office.

Let's just assume that you are as brilliant as you think you are; you're still part of a team. And arrogant employees who don't respect the corporate hierarchy aren't going to last very long.

6. You don't believe in your company's mission or values.

If you're regularly making snarky remarks about what your employer stands for, your colleagues will likely have a hard time trusting your judgment on decisions. If you separate yourself from your company, then your employer is going to catch on and could separate from you. 

7. You're noticeably less productive than your colleagues.

If your boss seems to be spending more time with you than your coworkers, and these colleagues are constantly having to assist you, your employer may eventually determine that trying to improve your performance is a waste of time and money.

8. Your colleagues clearly don't enjoy working with you.

If it seems like coworkers aren't making eye contact with you or are uncomfortable when working with you on a project, it may actually be because they are afraid of you, or at least categorize you as a bad team player. If you're too aggressive or pushy, you'll come to be seen as a "lone wolf" that no one wants to deal with.

9. You find yourself regularly apologizing to clients or having your boss do it for you.

Everyone makes mistakes, but if it seems like your customers are regularly dissatisfied with your work, your employer is going to start seeing you as a danger to the company.

10. You can't take "no" for an answer.

If you find yourself defending your idea even after everyone has expressed he or she disagrees with it, you'll start to be seen as a troublemaker. Sometimes you just need to let things go for the sake of the team.

THE POWER OF POSITIVE LIGHTNING

A Schleicher ASK 21 glider is a craft of elegance and poise. Its slim wings, seductively curved cabin and tapering fuselage embody a balanced design that moulds modern materials into flowing aerodynamic lines. On the afternoon of 17 April 1999, one such beauty soared gracefully above countryside near Dunstable, England, with an instructor and a novice pilot on board. The student had been given the trial lesson as a 30th birthday present. Although large storm clouds loomed nearby, at 1608 hours conditions in the immediate vicinity were calm and the air was clear. At 1609 hours a fearsome force suddenly and violently shredded large sections of the glider. The instructor later recalled a “very loud bang” and a distressingly “draughty” cockpit. Dazed and briefly unconscious, he realised that “something was seriously amiss requiring unpleasant and decisive action.” By the time he vacated the wreckage noting on his way out that there was no need to eject the canopy, nor any canopy--his student had arrived at the same conclusion. Witnesses on the ground observed a bright flash and heard a loud crack, and craned their necks to see a ball of smoke and fine debris hanging in the space where the glider had been. Below this, the remnant of a fuselage plummeted earthwards at high speed, with larger sailplane fragments fluttering behind. Thankfully two open parachutes were among them, with deafened and soot-blackened aviators swinging underneath. They were the fortunate survivors of a curious and powerful phenomenon known as positive lightning. Usually, lightning occurs inside towering cumulonimbus clouds, or between the bases of such clouds and the ground. The vast vertical energy transfers involved in storm cell formation cause a strong negative charge to develop at the bottom of the cloud, which in turn attracts a positive charge on the ground underneath. Ordinary cloud-to-ground lightning happens when this differential grows to a critical point, and negative charge flows abruptly to earth in an explosive flash of electricity. This commonplace ‘negative’ lightning has a high voltage but a relatively low current. While it can certainly be dangerous, there are numerous reports of people being struck by lightning and surviving sometimes more than once. Similarly, lightning hits aircraft on a surprisingly routine basis, with several documented incidents occurring every year. Modern metal-skinned aircraft are designed to deflect the charge harmlessly through their outer conducting surfaces. The extent of the devastation wreaked upon the 1999 Dunstable glider was unusual. Investigators partly attributed this to the sailplane’s layered composite glass fibre construction. The lightning bolt passed through adhesive-bonded layers of glass fibre in the wings, stripping them apart in a spectacular process known as explosive delamination. Rapid heating of gases in the voids of the structure generated shock waves that flung apart layers of glider like a vigorously and instantaneously peeled airborne onion. Yet this didn’t explain the full magnitude of the damage. The conducting metal linkages of the flight controls should have provided a relatively easy route for the electrical discharge to pass through the glider, but metallurgical examination of the debris revealed some strange anomalies. Although one connecting bolt had experienced extreme temperatures of 1000 degrees Celsius, other components had been bizarrely deformed despite receiving much less heat. One hollow control rod was crushed into a solid bar by an intense magnetic field, something that could only have been generated by energies far exceeding those of ‘normal’ negative lightning. It was clear that some higher power had been at work. Suspicion rapidly settled on the phenomenon known as ‘positive lightning’. Awareness of positive lightning’s significance has gradually increased in recent decades, and it is now believed to comprise up to 5% of all lightning strikes. The negative charge at a storm cell’s base is balanced by a strong positive charge at the cloud’s anvil-shaped top, up to 60,000 feet above the ground. While there is also a positive charge on the ground immediately underneath the storm cell, significant charge differentials can develop between cloud tops and negatively charged land surfaces much further away. Occasionally these differentials are sufficient to spark a positively charged lightning strike— a huge high-energy arc capable of hitting the ground more than ten miles from the storm itself, often under clear skies and bright sunshine. Vast energies are required to deliver these bolts from the blue. Research suggests that positive lightning can generate currents and potentials ten times greater than negative strikes: up to 300,000 amps and 1 billion volts, or approximately 300,000.21 Gigawatts of power in a single discharge. Following the 1999 Dunstable incident, researchers in lightning test establishments in the US, UK, and Germany tried to replicate some of the glider’s extreme damage by unleashing increasingly huge electrical discharges onto unsuspecting test articles. Despite their best efforts, the hollow metal rods remained resolutely uncrushed. Maniacal cackling professors and hunchbacked assistants were not available for comment. Many of the more serious lightning strikes known to have adversely affected human interests whether flights, forests, power grids, or the Hill Valley clock tower— are now believed to have been positive. Reassuringly, all modern passenger aircraft incorporate conducting strips and other lightning mitigation measures, designed to protect vulnerable electrical and fuel systems. It should be noted that the Dunstable glider had no such protection, and that a lightning induced wing-shredding event on a commercial flight is considered exceedingly unlikely. Nonetheless, the fact that many aircraft safety standards are based on assumptions derived from puny negative lightning, rather than high power positive strikes, leaves some cause for concern. Not everything about positive lightning is negative. The phenomenon may represent the key to unlocking some important mysteries of meteorology, and is associated with intriguing scientific curiosities such as sprites, jets and Elves bizarre forms of high altitude lightning first imaged by observant space shuttle astronauts. And there are some highly speculative theories that may allow humans to eventually source useful energy from the sparkier parts of thunderstorms. Science, as ever, is charged with discovering both the helpful and the harmful aspects of this up-and-coming phenomenon.

WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the intelligence exhibited by machines or software, and the branch of computer science that develops machines and software with intelligence. Major AI researchers and textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents", where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chances of success. John McCarthy, who coined the term in 1955,defines it as "the science and engineering of making intelligent machines”. I research is highly technical and specialised, and is deeply divided into subfields that often fail to communicate with each other. Some of the division is due to social and cultural factors: subfields have grown up around particular institutions and the work of individual researchers. AI research is also divided by several technical issues. Some subfields focus on the solution of specific problems. Others focus on one of several possible approaches or on the use of a particular tool or towards the accomplishment of particular applications. The central problems (or goals) of AI research include reasoning, knowledge, planning, learning, communication, perception and the ability to move and manipulate objects. General intelligence (or "strong AI") is still among the field's long-term goals. Currently popular approaches include statistical methods, computational intelligence and traditional symbolic AI. There are an enormous number of tools used in AI, including versions of search and mathematical optimisation, logic, methods based on probability and economics, and many others. The field was founded on the claim that a central property of humans, intelligence the sapience of Homo sapiens can be so precisely described that it can be simulated by a machine. This raises philosophical issues about the nature of the mind and the ethics of creating artificial beings, issues which have been addressed by myth, fiction and philosophy since antiquity. Artificial intelligence has been the subject of tremendous optimism but has also suffered stunning setbacks. Today it has become an essential part of the technology industry and many of the most difficult problems in computer science

THE GREAT ASHOKA OF INDIA

"In the history of the world there have been thousands of kings and emperors who call themselves "their highnesses," "their majesties", and "their exalted majesties" and so on. They shone for a brief moment, and as quickly disappeared. But Ashoka shines and shines brightly like a bright star, even unto this day."Ashoka was the first ruler to unify all of India. He was also the first Buddhist King who after his conversion to Buddhism attempted to embrace nonviolence and Buddhist principles as part of royal policies Today, he is considered one of India's greatest leaders. Ashoka the Great ruled India from 273 BC until 232 BC. Despite the acclaim held by H.G. Wells, for many Americans, Ashoka is not well known. This hub is an effort to elucidate the achievements of this historical figure. This is targeted to those who are not familiar with Ashok. Ashoka was born in 304 BC. He was the son of the Mauryan Emperor Bindusara. He had one younger brother and also older half-brothers. Early on, he showed great promise. When he started showing success as a military leader, his older brothers began to fear that Ashoka would ascend to the throne. When an uprising occurred in the Takshashila province, Prince Susima suggested to his father that Ashoka would be the best person to deal with it. When news reached the province that Ashoka was coming, the fighting stopped. The militia who had started the revolt welcomed Ashoka's arrival. With this victory, Susima became more concerned about Ashoka.  He portrayed him as power hungry and ambitious.  Soon, he had convinced his father to exile Ashoka to Kalinga. In Kalinga, Ashoka fell in love with Kaurwaki who worked as a fisherwoman.  She would later be one of his many wives. His exile was soon ended when there was an uprising in Ujjain Province.  Emperor Bindusara now called Ashoka back from exile and sent him to Ujjain.  This time there was a great battle and Ashoka was seriously hurt. During his recovery, he was overseen by Buddhist monks and nuns.  It was during this time that he first learned about Buddhism.  He fell in love with his nurse Devi.  She too would become one of his wives. The year after the battle at Ujjain, the Emperor Bindusara became very sick. It was clear that he would die. Soon, a war broke out between all of his sons over who would succeed the emperor. After a series of battles, Ashoka killed many of his brothers. He thus attained the throne in 274 BC. For the first eights years of his rule, he became famous for his brutaiity and his desire to expand the Mauryan Empire.His nickname at this time was Chandashoka which means "cruel Ashoka". So, when Ashoka was in his eighth year of rule, his wife Devi gave birth two twins: Prince Mahindra and Princess Sanghamitra.He also learned that one of his brothers was hiding in Kalinga. Ashoka was outraged that any place would aid his brother. He launched a full invasion of the province. In the fighting, thousands of people were killed and large areas of land were ravaged. After the battle, Ashoka decided to look over the destruction. The place that he had once been exiled now lay in utter collapse with houses burned down and many bodies still unburied. It was said that this was the first time that Ashoka saw the direct impact of war. According to legend, upon seeing the utter devastation, he said: "What have I done?"  For the rest of his life, he would not forget the horror that he saw on this day. It is said that his wife Devi accompanied him at Kalinga. She was so bothered by what she saw that she left his side. She ran away and never returned. Devi was Buddhist and perhaps this in combination with Ashoka's memory of learning about Buddhist principles led him to change his ways. From this point on, he embraces Buddhism. He took on the Buddhists Radhaswami and Manjushri as his teachers. He decided that he would base the rest of his rule on Buddhist principles. Ashoka now reversed course. He set free all of his prisoners and returned their property. There is a story that the pregnant wife of one of his brothers escaped the palace before she could be killed. The baby survived and was brought up by Buddhist monks and nuns. When the boy was 13, he was discovered by Ashoka who learned the boy's identity. Ashoka, at this time, felt so much shame that he moved the boy and his mother to live in the palace. At this time, he got a new name. Instead of Chandashoka, he became known as Dharmashoka which means "pious Ashoka."Ashoka now begins a massive public works project where he orders the creation of thousands of Buddhist buildings. He builds stupas which are mounds that house Buddhist relics and he builds viharas which are Buddhist monasteries. He orders the construction of roadhouses for travelers which are free of charge.He created edicts which protect wildlife against sport hunting and he promotes the vegetarianism. He initiates the building of universities, irrigation systems, and hospitals.He signs peace treaties with many of the neighbouring kingdom even though with India's resources, he would have little trouble to conquer them outright.Ashoka takes the very innovative position of protecting minority interests in India. He required nonviolence as well as loerance of all other religions and all opinions."Dharmashoka also defined the main principles of dharma as nonviolence, tolerance of all sects and opinions, obedience to parents and other religious teachers and priests, liberality toward friends, humane treatment of servants, and generosity towards all."Ashoka ruled for over 40 years. 50 years after his death, the Mauryan Empire came to an end. He had numerous wives and many heirs but most of their names are lost. Buddhism did not, of course, stay the state religion of India. Still, empowered by Ashoka, Buddhism quickly spread outside of India's borders into Southeast Asia. Today, the Ashokra Chakra, the Wheel of Dharma, is featured on the national flag of India.  Ashoka used this image on many of his constructions.  The wheel has 24 spokes which represent:

1.              Love

2.              Courage

3.              Patience

4.              Peacefulness

5.              Kindness

6.              Goodness

7.              Faithfulness

8.              Gentleness

9.              Self-control

10.         Selflessness

11.         Self sacrifice

12.         Truthfulness

13.         Righteousness

14.         Justice

15.         Mercy

16.         Graciousness

17.         Humility

18.         Empathy

19.         Sympathy

20.         Godly knowledge

21.         Godly wisdom

22.         Godly moral

23.         Reverential fear of God

24.         Hope/trust/faith in the goodness of God 

FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE IN 1453

The siege of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire and one of the most heavily fortified cities in the world, took place in 1453. Sultan Mehmed II, ruler of the Ottoman Turks, led the assault. The city was defended by, at most, 10,000 men. The Turks had between 100,000 and 150,000 men on their side. The siege lasted for fifty days. The Turks employed various important war tactics in taking over the city. They used huge cannon to destroy the walls, warships were used to the cut the city's sea defense. They also used an extensive infantry to engulf the city. After using his heavy artillery to form a breach in the wall, the fist attack was launched upon Constantinople on a May morning at 1:00 a.m. The shout of men could be heard miles away. This fist attack was led by the Bashi-Bazouks. They tried to attack the weakest point in the walls. They knew they were outnumbered and out skilled, but they still fought with passion. After fighting for two hours, they were called to retreat. The second attack was brought on by the Anatolian Turks from Ishak's army. This army could easily be recognized by their specialized uniforms. This army was also more organized than the first. They used their cannons to blast through the walls of the city. By using trumpets and other noises they were able to break the concentration of their opponents. They were the first army to enter the city. The Christians were ready for them as they entered. They were able to massacre much of the army from this attack. This attack was called off at dawn. Before the army was able to gain strength and order, another attack feel upon them. Mehmet's favorite set of troops called the Janissaries started to attack. They launched arrows, missiles, bullets, stones and javelins at the enemy. They maintained perfect unity in this attack, unlike the other attempts. This battle, at the stockade, was a long tiring battle for the troops. The soldiers fought in hand-to-hand combat. Someone had to give. It was the Christians. The Turks remembered a port called the Kerkoporta. They noticed it had accidentally been left open by the Christians. The Christian army frequently used that gate to try to penetrate the flank of the Turkish army. They stormed the gate, but the Christians were able to stop them before completely entering the city. While battles were being fought on land, the Turks were also trying to take control of the sea. Many ships were placed in the Golden Horn and off of the Marmora shore to help siege the city. Many of the soldiers came from these ships to aid the army on land. Once the signal was sent, troops flooded off of these ships to take down the harbor walls and start looting the city. The City was now completely taken over by the Turks. Mehmed renamed the city Istanbul. To further glorify the city he built mosques, palaces, monuments and a system of aqueducts. The city was now officially claimed for Islam. New rules and regulations came about for the conquered. The Greeks were to form communities within the empire called milets. The Christians were still allowed to practice their religion, but had to dress in distinguishing attire and could not bear arms. So came the end to the great city of Constantinople.