Happy Christmas, Hanukkah & Kwanzaa !

Wishing all of you Lotsa Joy & Happy Holidays! 

Happy Fathers Day !

Happy Fathers Day Greetings

Two great quote comes to mind - 'A man knows he is growing old because he begins to look like his father' but 'its a wise father that knows his own child'! And here's a funny cartoon that's more relevant of our wired times! Happy Fathers Day!

Wishing you a Blessed Easter

Happy Easter Greetings from the Websnacker Crew

Not exactly the religious kind but Easter is fun; full of hope, dollops of happiness (even if some of it is rather forced) and a great time to unwind with friends and family! Have a happy Easter! 

Happy New Year 2014

Wishing everyone a great 2014!

Happy New Year to all the nice folks who read this blog! On this momentous occasion as we enter a brand New Year, author Neil Gaiman's quote comes to mind "I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something"! 

Rock On, do new things and remember to like the Websnacker Fanpage on Facebook.

Joyous Christmas and Happy Holidays

Wishing you all a Happy, Merry Christmas

Christmas is here again. From the Websnacker and his blogging crew, we thank you for your love and wish you a joyous Christmas, fun filled holidays and a smashing New year ahead! And remember, keep readin' so that we can keep bloggin'! Cheer on!!

Happy Labor Day!

Happy Eid Wishes !!

Wishing all readers and fans, a safe, happy and blissful Eid! Let the feasting begin!

Stop the Violence

Its the Women's Day today but do we really care ?

Speaking My Mind

A local perspective adds more than just color

It's been a few weeks here now in Thailand for me. A "back to school" residential course with 'change the world' big aspirations. An altruistic social enterprise of sorts with plenty of money being spent on me and others of my kind from around the world, rather lavishly.

I did the primer in September last year but that was a small crowd maybe around two dozen. This time around, its much bigger, probably 100 or more, of many different nationalities and more women too.

Folks from the western world - Americans, Britishers and Canadians (again) as teachers & trainers and folks from Asia mostly as the trainees - Chinese, Cambodians, Indians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, Filipinos, Indonesians, Malaysians, many Thais of course with also a few from Fiji, Mongolia, New Zealand, Burma, Vietnam, Taiwan and Brunei. I don't know the rest - didn't I tell you it's a big crowd .

Considering our sponsors are really so considerate of our needs - what with the first class accommodations, air conditioned travel and multicuisine buffet selections everyday, I really don't get it how our western trainers can give or add any meaningful Asian or local perspective to this training exercise. I don't mean to be racist but many of our trainers seem to lack local knowledge or asian experience - almost all of them on their first visit to Thailand or for that reason, any other Asian country too.

I have to admit they have taught me brand new techniques and I have gained some great insights. I also agree they are indeed experts with extremely rich credentials and prestigious affiliations but without the local touch, it doesn't really add up much - a mission and vision statement isn't enough - at least the way it was originally intended to.

In the last one week of classes I have attended, there have been many instances of this lost opportunity and as someone chosen to head this new collective of global change makers, I am dismayed at the selections our sponsors have made. A few more local experts would have added a whole new perspective to this gathering - at its least, more depth, better insights and it would have costed cheaper too.

I will probably get a lot of flak for posting this and I am sure to annoy my sponsors, my mentor, many of my co-participants and perhaps most unfortunately my esteemed trainers who I otherwise have the highest regard.

But as someone who has always believed in speaking your mind, this seems the right thing to do - anything less would have been hypocritical!

Nordic Wake Party Lingo

Learning Words of Sorrow and Solace 

At college, I was friends with an oddball ‘beer addicted’ trio who were crazy about everything and anything Nordic - Norway especially. They frequently spoke Norwegian, loved Norwegian movies, Norwegian bands and even Norwegian beer - Ringnes!! In fact, during the summer, they went on a 30 day backpacking trip across the Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Sweden. 

Their rented house was also called the Norse House. They claimed, it was "devoted" to the culture and lifestyle of the Nordic countries. When someone sent them an email that King Harald V of Norway died, they wanted to hold a wake party. They were too sloshed to even realize that it was a joke!! (By the way, Harald V still lives).

The joke notwithstanding, the Wake party was too good an idea so they wanted to do it anyway! It was decided that the people attending the party should express their grief and console other mourners in Norwegian. However, very few people at the party (in fact, none) would be able to speak Norwegian. neither do I. 

Crazy as it sound, I was hooked though. So, I went home, I went home, locked myself in my room, switched the net and emerged 3 hours hour later with the Norwegian Terms of Sorrow and Solace – a sample of which you see below that came quite handy at the Wake party!! 

Words for Sorrow and Grief 

Jeg er bedrøvet. 

I am sad. 

Jeg stal har dø. 

I should have died. 

Vi gikk å se "Min Liv Som Et Hund." 

Let's go see "My Life as a Dog." 

Mit bekken banket. 

My pelvis is throbbing. 

Min magesekk har stukket mod en Skjødpersons spyd. 

My stomach has been stabbed with a Laplander's spear. 

Words for Solace and Consolation

Jeg smører min sko. 

I am greasing my shoes. 

NÂ det omveltnig begînte! 

Now the revolution begins! 

Det Svenske som suge mose gjøret det!

The scum-sucking Swedes did it! 

Ham var et adelig mann. Ham manget å tilføyelse Island. 

He was a noble man. He wanted to annex Iceland. 

Du er aller tiltrekkende. Behage trøst meg. 

You are very attractive. Please comfort me. 

Learn them by heart, and you will never again feel at a loss when you are at a crazy Norwegian wake party, or in Norway or need to express your sadness or comfort an other Norwegian.

An Apocalyptic Wedding Invite

Thanks to Ellen Forney for the inspiration, designed this wedding card for a friend of mine. What better way to celebrate our mutual love for Zombies and Graphic Novels!!

An Evening With Dr.Spock

I recently had the delight of attending an invitation only VIP lecture given by a (apparently) celebrated hypnotherapist or hypnotist to be precise. For obvious reasons, I will not disclose his name so there is no heartburn for my host. This guy (lets call him Dr. Spock cos he did look like Leonard Nimoy) claimed he was a certified hypnotherapist by training and a experienced psychic by choice - who combined both to aid his (rather very rich) clients get a fulfilling and rewarding life.

Let me say at the outset that I’ve often wondered whether many hypnotists doing stage shows are always honest. Although they often claim their subjects have been chosen totally at random, I’ve had my doubts and I know I’m not the only one. Several of my friends and I have in the past volunteered to be subjects for some of these shows and none of us has ever been hypnotized.

Well, as I learnt that evening, I could easily have been wrong. Hypnotizing someone doesn’t have to take long. Some people it seems that also make better candidates than others. Dr. Spock said that a person can be willing to undergo the process on one level, but not on another. (It’s obviously quite complex, but from what I understand, those who're cynical or possibly resisting the process can take a bit longer to hypnotize than those who aren't, for instance).

He pointed out that there are a lot of fallacies about hypnosis. One of the main ones is the commonly-held belief (probably propagated to some extent by the media) that one is "put under" by the hypnotist and is basically rendered a slave like robot, obeying any command the hypnotist in control issues. He said it was highly unlikely a hypnotized individual would do anything totally against what they believe, such as, for example, murdering someone.

What happens, Dr. Spock explained, is that hypnotized individuals move into an altered state of consciousness. They will often remain very alert during the process and can still be asked to perform a number of complicated tasks. But because they aren't feeling as inhibited as is usually the case, they may do things they'd normally consider embarrassing. He also said there are over 50 altered states or levels of consciousness one can move into – some lighter and others progressively deeper.

Dr. Spock also touched on the subject of subliminal advertising and subversive forms of control which can be used to manipulate people. He said most countries had banned such advertising because it is known to be an extremely effective, but dishonest method of selling products. He referred to the oft-mentioned scenario of a moviegoer suddenly feeling the need to buy a particular soft drink after viewing a subliminal advert. The person would then go out and buy this soft drink without realizing that his/her decision to purchase it had been prompted by the advert.

In a similar vein, Dr. Spock also warned us to avoid falling asleep in front of TVs. He said our brains still "tune in" to the audio when "asleep" and disturbing material can apparently adversely affect us for many years. He maintains it is often stored in the subconscious mind and may be responsible for certain phobias we might have but are not able to explain in lucid terms. For this reason, he said that if parents want to raise well-balanced children, they should make a resolute effort to ensure that a peaceful ambiance prevails around their bed time, particularly as they’re falling asleep, because they’re extremely open to influence and suggestion during this period.

One of the first demonstrations Dr. Spock performed involved showing us how we often underestimate our own strength. He hypnotized a rather tall chap who volunteered to be his "guinea pig". Dr. Spock didn't do anything dramatic or utter anything that was out of the ordinary, such as the usual sort of banter about "when I count to three you will be flying in the sky" etc etc.

I’m actually not quite sure what he did, because it was so quick. Once the young guy had been hypnotized, two of his assistants placed his head and feet on two chairs. The rest of his body hung unsupported above the ground. Dr. Spock then sat on the subject's waist and almost bounced on it, exerting a fair amount of force!! From what I can recall, he'd been told he wouldn’t bend and he didn’t. However, when he was "brought back", so to speak, he collapsed under the hypnotist's weight when the process was repeated!

The rest of the evening mainly took the form of a question and answer session. As it turned out, most of the questions that followed involved him making more use of his mystic clairvoyant faculties. Perhaps Dr. Spock is a bit unusual in a way – he believes in such things as past lives, astral travel and so on and his methods might thus seem a bit eccentric to some. However, despite a few bizarre answers he gave that evening, no one argued with what he’d said and generally seemed quite satisfied (as most Indians are usually in the presence of a foreigner, especially a white guy!)

Sometimes he appeared to pick up on traumatic childhood experiences and would mention in brief what he thought had happened and what effect these had had on the individuals concerned. Remember Past Life Regression.One woman burst into tears as what he'd said obviously struck a chord with her. He then said he could "see" the pain (presumably in her aura) and that she would begin healing. He said emotional pain was often stored in various parts of the body and might ultimately lead to disease if it wasn’t properly dealt with!!

Another claim he made which I found quite interesting related to the diagnosis of medical conditions. One example he mentioned involved determining if someone had cavities in their teeth. He said that after hypnotizing an individual, he would suggest to them that they had toothache. If all the teeth were fine, the person in question would apparently claim to experience toothache in all their teeth; if they actually did have cavities, they would only experience pain in the problematic ones. In such cases, the hypnotized person is able to show him which ones are aching. He will later suggest they see a dentist. He says in the past this information has always been found to be correct. He maintains that our bodies are extremely intelligent and that we should listen to them more often, because they frequently hold the solution to many of our problems.

Dr. Spock also touched on a subject on which many academics and sceptics might take him to task. He spoke about people's souls and said these were often many hundreds of thousands of years old. He alluded to a "soul agreement" – that we chose to be born, basically, and had certain issues we needed to deal with during particular "lives". Apparently, nothing that happens to us during our human existence is a mistake!

Towards the end of the evening, Dr. Spock performed another demonstration, this time on the whole audience. He asked that we place our hands with fingers interlocked, above our heads. We then had to imagine looking up at them through our heads while he uttered various commands. Actually some people would then be hypnotized and not be able to lower their hands when instructed to. He also told some people their eyelids would feel very heavy and that they would not be able to open them for a while, even if they tried to. Although I did everything he said, this didn’t happen to me. Besides, only a few people in the audience seemed to go into hypnosis.

But something else which he did say would happen, I definitely did experience. He said that he was altering the energy in the room and that some of us might feel tingling in our feet. I did, in fact, experience this – the sensation was exactly as he described it, almost like a feeling of pins and needles in my feet. We were also taken through what I would describe as a guided meditation. He suggested we would sleep very well when we got home that evening. As it turned out, I slept right through the night and felt great the next day.

I found the subject matter discussed that evening fascinating and I’d definitely like to book a private consultation with Dr. Spock soon, hopefully when I have some large cash to spare! I must confess, though, that I have since wondered - is my desire to see him my own or is it possible that the thought was secretly implanted in my mind?

An interesting point to brood over, isn't it?

Beauty Queens, Dinosaurs and Carnal Desires

Two weeks back or so, I impulsively participated in an online contest where you had to choose the prettiest girl who I would love to go out on a five star luxury date (and also deserved to become the next Miss Universe). Out of some dozen or so attractive and sexy women of varied colors, I randomly selected three – all tall, gorgeous and good-looking brunettes.

I did not even bother to read their names, which country they belonged to or what they did for a living - instead leaving my better judgement to what looked nice to my eyes or rather what I considered which one had the best physical attributes! Okay..now don’t get me wrong and call me a debauched lecher. With a client meeting to attend in 20 minutes, I obviously did not have the time to spare and besides, the contest had already received some 6255 entries!

Anyway, I get a call yesterday from a husky sounding woman who informs me that I am one of the lucky winners (out of the 10000 participants or so). But before you think that I have indeed won a blind date with this year’s Miss Universe 2010 – an exotic Mexican hottie named Ximena; the hard truth is a dampener – forget the first prize, I am not even amongst the top 10 winners but belong to ‘the consolation prize’ group. As evident from the name, the organizers idea of consoling me was to gift me a smart pair of jeans wear and 4 cans of foul smelling deodorants which they claim have the power to turn ON all women of the planet - crazy with carnal desires. Either, these guys had erroneously sent me 4 small cans of an insecticide or maybe, women really have weird & odd turn ons.

I come back home, switch on the telly and hop on to the Discovery channel. And what do I see – a slick documentary on courtship, sex and evolution. Have you ever been inexplicably attracted to someone completely outside your usual realm of possibilities, the host asks? It seems human beings aren't the only ones who have surprised themselves. I am told that the spiky horns and clubbed tails of dinosaurs evolved not only for protection, but to also equip them for vicious sexual battles between rival males.

In fact, it seems dinosaurs also indulged in beauty contests like humans, flaunting a bizarre array of quills, crests, ruffs and frills. The giant (and apparently mischievous) Diplodocus even sported a whip - perhaps for cracking dramatically as part of a courtship ritual!

And to prove that we did, somewhere along the line, evolve from the animal kingdom, I am told that the Hadrosaur had a one-metre high crest protruding from its head which acted like a natural trombone. Just think of the noisiest guy you know and multiply the sound by about 50. The female dinosaurs were it seems most attracted to the male Hadrosaurs with the deepest voices.

This all happened 65 million years ago. So, taking into account some million, million years of human evolution, one can only surmise from the laws of nature, that it's not entirely our fault if we pick the wrong partner. The laws of attraction it seems are now governed not only by considered choices of our own, but partly by our 'still alive' animal instinct and also by foul smelling, sex inducing deodorants. And, of course, an utterly fab denim outfit too!