Who's got a story to tell?

[sophtpaw]

To What End
--------------

The board of a large company were working on their
mission statement.

"What is your fundamental purpose?" asked Nasrudin.
"Our mission is to create constantly increasing
dividends for our shareholders," they declared.

"To what end?" asked Nasrudin.
"So they make increased profits which they will want to
reinvest in our company," they said.

"To what end?" asked Nasrudin.
"So they make more profits," they said, becoming
somewhat irritated.

'To what end?" asked Nasrudin nonchalantly.
"So they re-invest and make more profits."

Nasrudin pondered this for a while and thanked them
for their explanations.

Later that week they had arranged to visit Nasrudin's
house to work further on the Mission Statement. They
found him in his garden stuffing oats into his donkey.

"What are you doing?" they asked. "You are giving that
poor beast so much food that it will not be able to go
anywhere."

"But it is not meant to go anywhere," Nasrudin replied.
"Its purpose is to produce manure."

"To what end ?" they asked.
"Because without it I can not grow enough oats in my
small allotment to feed this greedy beast."

More information, and another story, at
http://www.nasrudin.org

[N'Jal]

A scientist come to another scientist and said the universe came into being after all the atoms exploded from the size of a pin and the atoms created plannets and some formed as stars other's as moons others as gas giants.

The other scientist said where did the atoms come from the first said they were always there, the second scientist said impossible something or someone had to create them, the first scientist scoffed and said don't be rediculus.


The first scientist went home and the second stayed and made a model universe the next day the first scientist arrived and said that's nice who made that. The second scientist said

"No one, it was always there."

[matthew]

Nasrudin is well known in the arab world. Although he is usually called "Mullah Nasrudin" he has also been known by several other names. Since I have personal experience living in Morocco, I will use the name they use there--Juha.

One day Juha went to his neighbor's house and asked to borrow an extremely large sum of money. His neighbor responded by asking what Juha intended to do with the money. "I want to buy an elephant," he responded. Upon hearing this the neighbor reminded Juha that he was a poor man and would not be able to provide a place for the elephant to live or food for it to eat. Indignant Juha stormed off saying, "I asked you for money, not advice."

Sound like anyone we have met?

[xaque]

A master was explaining the nature of Tao of to one of his novices. "The Tao is embodied in all software - regardless of how insignificant," said the master.

"Is the Tao in a hand-held calculator?" asked the novice.

"It is," came the reply.

"Is the Tao in a video game?" continued the novice.

"It is even in a video game," said the master.

"And is the Tao in the DOS for a personal computer?"

The master coughed and shifted his position slightly. "The lesson is over for today," he said.

--From "The Tao of Programming", by Geoffrey James.

http://www.canonical.org/~kragen/tao-of-programming.html

[weekend warrior]

Once upon a time there was a drummer living in a small country village. He heard there was going to be a fair in the city of Benares. So he decided to go there and earn some money by playing his drums. He took his son along to accompany him when playing music written for two sets of drums.

The two drummers, father and son, went to the Benares Fair. They were very successful. Everyone liked their drum playing and gave generously to them. When the fair was over they began the trip home to their little village.

On the way they had to go through a dark forest. It was very dangerous because of muggers who robbed the travelers.

The drummer boy wanted to protect his father and himself from the muggers. So he beat his drums as loudly as he could, without stopping, "The more noise, the better!" he thought.

The drummer man took his son aside. He explained to him that when large groups passed by, especially royal processions, they were in the habit of beating drums. They did this at regular intervals, in a very dignified manner, as if they feared no one. They would beat a drum roll, remain silent, then beat again with a flourish, and so on. He told his son to do likewise, to fool the muggers into thinking there was a powerful lord passing by.

But the boy ignored his father's advice. He thought he knew best. "The more noise, the better!" he thought.

Meanwhile, a gang of muggers heard the boy's drumming. At first they thought it must be a powerful rich man approaching, with heavy security. But then they heard the drumming continue in a wild fashion without stopping. They realised that it sounded frantic, like a frightened little dog barking at a calm big dog.

So they went to investigate and found only the father and son. They beat them up, robbed all their hard-earned money, and escaped into the forest.


----> What's the moral of the story? The moral is: Overdoing leads to a downfall.

[N'Jal]

Um father know's best?

[weekend warrior]

Nah-uh, you could switch the father and son and the moral would be the same. Try again :) hint - some ubuntu fans here are guilty of this.

[poofyhairguy]

----> What's the moral of the story?

Learn to play the piano, not the drums.

[N'Jal]

Avoid forests...

[weekend warrior]

Erm... nope. Right then, a bigger clue :-k

Look at this (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=62866), particularly the third post, GeneralZod's and you just... might.... string it all together. :)

[N'Jal]

Just because you are good at something there's no need to show it off all the time.

[GeneralZod]

The moral is:

"Drums are bad, mmm-kay?"

:D

[skoal]

"The wish"

Fishing in a boat one day, two men spot a bottle floating by. The fisherman in the front picks up the bottle and pulls out the cork. To his surprise, A GENIE APPEARS!...

"You freed me from the bottle", says the Genie, "I shall grant you one wish!"

Without thinking, the fisherman yells, "I wish the lake would turn into BEER!"

And just like that they were floating in a lake full of beer...

"Way to go", the second fisherman said angrily. "...Now we have to pee in the boat!!"

\\//_

[kvlastos]

The moral is:

"Drums are bad, mmm-kay?"

:D
[-X Moral = drum good, muggers live to enjoy music another day. Beside, musicians always end up pawning their axes anyway. The little boy and his father profited as they could then sing the Blues. They went on to greater fame and riches. And, the whole community prospered!

[weekend warrior]

Give the man a cupie doll! :grin:

http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/6114/cupie9fo.jpg

N'Jal you got it basically, esp. with the last bit you wrote, "all the time". Then kvlastos (welcome to the forums!) :) got part of the idea also. Essentially, don't overdo it, or in other words "drum good" - do it well.

It's very simple. When a newcomer's expectations are realistic, humble then they'll be pleasantly surprised by good things in linux. If a newcomer's expectations have been inflated by relentless, fanatical "drumming" of linux, then they're bound to be bitterly disappointed by bad things.

That's the message here. >> Moderation is the key. Be a humble ubuntu/linux messenger. <<


btw - the answer is right after the question at the end of the story, hehe. Just highlight the space after it, you'll see it. ;-)

[poofyhairguy]

Give the man a cupie doll! :grin:

http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/6114/cupie9fo.jpg

N'Jal you got it basically, esp. with the last bit you wrote, "all the time". Then kvlastos (welcome to the forums!) :) got part of the idea also. Essentially, don't overdo it, or in other words "drum good" - do it well.

It's very simple. When a newcomer's expectations are realistic, humble then they'll be pleasantly surprised by good things in linux. If a newcomer's expectations have been inflated by relentless, fanatical "drumming" of linux, then they're bound to be bitterly disappointed by bad things.

That's the message here. >> Moderation is the key. Be a humble ubuntu/linux messenger. <<


btw - the answer is right after the question at the end of the story, hehe. Just highlight the space after it, you'll see it. ;-)


Holy carp that was smart.

[weekend warrior]

Many humble thanks poofy :) Not so much smarts I would say as simply accumulated bits of wisdom picked up here and there over the years being around computers, seeing many people come and go.

I just hope those people here who truly need to hear this message get it.



OT - How are you holding up on the hometown front? Looks like The Big Easy will be out for a few. :sad: