When In Arabia, Do As The Arabs Do

A disappointed sales manager of Coca-Cola returned from his assignment to Saudi Arabia.
A friend asked, "Why weren't you successful with the Saudis?" The sales manager explained, "When I got posted, I was very confident that I would make a good sales pitch. But I had a problem. I didn't know how to speak Arabic. So I planned to convey the message through three posters."

First poster: A man is lying in the hot desert sand totally exhausted and fainted.
Second poster: A man is drinking Coca-Cola.
Third poster: A man is totally refreshed and lively.
And then these posters were posted all over the place.

"Terrific! That should have worked!" said the friend.
"The hell it should have!" said the sales manager. "But no one told me they read from right to left!"

Think Before You Speak

There were four guys, a French, a Russian, a German and an American, who found a small genie bottle. When they rubbed the bottle, a genie appeared. Thankful that the four guys had released him out of the bottle, the genie said, "I will give each of you a wish. In front of you, there are four swimming pools. When you run towards the pool and jump, you shout what you want the pool of water to become, your wish will come true."
The French started. He ran towards the pool, jumped and shouted, "WINE". There he jumped into a pool of wine.
Next the Russian followed. He ran towards the pool, jumped and shouted, "VODKA". There he jumped into a pool of vodka.
Then it was the German's turn. He ran towards the pool, jumped and shouted, "BEER". There he jumped into a pool of beer.
Lastly it was the American. He ran towards the pool but stepped on a banana peel. He slipped towards the pool and shouted, "SHIT". There he jumped into a pool of ............................

The Monty Hall Problem

You are on a TV show. You are given a choice of 3 doors. Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You are to pick a door, winning whatever is behind it. So you pick one, say door 1. Since there are 2 goats behind 3 doors, whatever you choose, there is at least one goat left behind the 2 other doors. The host, Monty Hall, who knows what's behind them, opens one of these 2 other doors, say door 3, to reveal a goat. He then asks you, "Do you want to stick to your choice, or do you want to switch to door 2?" The question really is to ask, "Does switching increase your chance of winning the car?"
When you pick door 1, the chance of winning the car is 1/3 (i.e. the chance of having the car behind door 1 is 1/3 since there is 1 car in 3 possible doors). And then Monty eliminates door 3 for you by revealing a goat behind door 3. Intuitively, you think you then get a better chance of winning the car as the chance of having the car in door 1 is now 1/2 (since there is 1 car in only 2 possible doors) and likewise in door 2 is also 1/2. So you think it makes no difference whether to switch or not. So you choose to stick with door 1. Right? WRONG!

Let's go back and examine the probabilities in more details.

When you pick door 1, your chance of having the car behind door 1 is 1/3. There's no question about it. Let's now group doors 2 and 3 together. Your chance of having the car NOT behind door 1 (i.e. behind either door 2 or 3) is 2/3 since the total probability must equal to 1. By eliminating door 3 from the scene (by Monty), your chance of having the car behind door 1 is NOT increased from 1/3 to 1/2 as intuitively thought. Your chance of having the car in door 1 is still 1/3 as when you make your choice, you choose 1 out of 3 possibilities (doors 1, 2 and 3). As the saying goes, the dice has been cast. The probability will not, and cannot be altered. Only IF you are free to choose at this point, you are then to choose 1 out of 2 possibilities (doors 1 and 2), and the chance of having the car behind door 1 is indeed 1/2. So by eliminating door 3 from the scene, the effect is ONLY simply changing our group consisting of doors 2 and 3 to a group consisting of door 2 only. Hence your chance of having the car NOT behind door 1 (now behind door 2 only) is still 2/3. In other words, AT THIS POINT, the chance of having the car behind door 2 is 2/3, not 1/2 as intuitively thought. So after Monty eliminates door 3 for you by revealing a goat behind door 3, the chance of having a car in door 1 is 1/3, and in door 2 is 2/3.
Hence, YES, you WILL increase your chance of winning by switching. IN THEORY, YOU SHOULD ALWAYS SWITCH.

Behind the Shadow of The Father

It was a very hot summer day. The whole world seemed to be burning. Inside an air-conditioned clinic, a doctor was still feeling the heat outside. He raised his head and looked through the window. He saw hawkers busy selling their stuff on the street, hustling and bustling under the red hot sun. Before long, he heard very noisy sounds. Several people carried a big fellow into the clinic. The man had already fainted, with sweat all over his body. A little young girl was following and crying.
After the doctor's examination, the man was found to have gotten a sun-stroke. He was then given some water and an injection, and gradually regained his consciousness. Seeing her father recovered, the little girl was relieved despite still sobbing. She took out her purse, put all the money she got on the table and wanted to pay the doctor for the medical treatment. The doctor said, "Forget it. You may take this as a little help from me." The little girl thanked the doctor but continued crying. Trying to cheer up the little girl, the doctor said, "Don't cry, sweetheart. I know you are a strong girl. You were out in the sun all day and you are still okay. Look at your dad, he isn't as strong as you are." The girl cried even more loudly. She said, " No! It's not true! Dad asked me to sit behind his shadow all the time. It was him who stood up there, blocking the sun away from me all day. That's why I'm okay and he's not!"

A father's love is usually straightforward, pragmatic and yet mostly unspoken. Like a mother's love, it is also always dedicated, unconditional and unreserved, and is readily available when you need it. While we usually tend to praise mother's love more, do take a moment to appreciate the love from the father.