Category: News

“Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen” is a short story written by O. Henry, first published in 1907. It is a heartwarming and humorous tale set around Thanksgiving, revolving around two characters: a wealthy man and a poor man. The story highlights the themes of kindness, generosity, and the spirit of Thanksgiving.

Plot Summary:

The story centers on a tradition between two men who meet every year on Thanksgiving Day. One of them, who is very rich, always looks forward to this day to share a meal with a beggar (the second man), who is poor and homeless. Each year, the wealthy man invites the beggar to have a Thanksgiving meal with him at a fancy restaurant, offering him an extravagant feast.

However, the twist in the story comes when, on one particular Thanksgiving, the beggar is determined not to take advantage of the situation. Instead of accepting the free meal, he insists on paying for his own food. Throughout their meeting, they share stories and enjoy each other’s company, but it is clear that both men are equally kindhearted.

Themes:

1. Generosity and Kindness: The story emphasizes the importance of giving, not just in material terms but also through human connection and respect.
2. The Spirit of Thanksgiving: It highlights the idea that Thanksgiving is not just about the food but about the bonds between people and sharing moments of goodwill.
3. Irony: O. Henry is known for his ironic endings, and this story has a twist that might make the reader reflect on the true meaning of giving and receiving.

“Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen” is a touching story about human compassion and the unexpected ways generosity can be expressed.

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ironic (adj) sacastic

Increasing numbers of people worldwide are opting for cosmetic surgery to enhance their looks. What prospective patients may not know is that procedures to change the colour of one’s eyes are the riskiest. Research conducted by the online  eyewear store Overnight  Glasses asserts that eye colour surgery comes with a 92 per cent likelihood of complications. Eye colour change tops the researchers’ list of riskiest cosmetic procedures. Such operations include iris implants and laser pigment removal. There is also a procedure called keratopigmentation. This is a permanent eye colour change in which a special colourant is inserted into the eyes using precision laser technology.

Earlier this year, the American Academy of Ophthalmology released a warning against eye colour change procedures. Dr Ashley Brissette highlighted things that could go wrong. These include dye leakage, allergic reactions, infections, sensitivity to light, damage to the cornea that can lead to cloudiness or vision loss, and ultimately blindness. She said: “Anything that we do with the eyes, we have to be very, very cautious.” The researchers said recovery time can be up to two months, and the average cost of surgery is $12,000. Ophthalmologist Nicole Bajic advised getting coloured contact lenses instead of going under the knife. She said this, “can give you the look you want without putting your eye health at risk”.

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iris (n) A flat, colored, ring-shaped membrane behind the cornea of the eye, with an adjustable circular opening (pupil) in the center.

pigment (n) color, dye

Ophthalmology (n) The branch of medicine concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the eye.

One of life’s greatest mysteries may finally have been solved. Scientists believe they have unlocked the conundrum of the age-old question of whether the chicken or the egg came first. This problem has baffled great minds for centuries. However, researchers from the University of Geneva believe they have cracked this philosophical mystery. They suggest the egg came first. The scientists studied a tiny marine organism called Chromosphaera perkinsii. This single-celled species dates back over a billion years. The researchers found it can form multicellular structures which are similar to animal embryos. This means there was no need for a prehistoric chicken to lay an egg.

Researcher Marine Olivetta told “Nature Journal” that Chromosphaera perkinskii was first discovered in 2017 off the coast of Hawaii. She said it has offered many insights into ancient life forms. She said: “It’s fascinating that a species discovered so recently allows us to go back in time a billion years.” The researcher suggested that the genetics behind egg fertilization and embryonic development were present before animal life existed. This means nature could have created eggs long before evolution “invented chickens”. A more straightforward answer to the chicken and egg problem is that chickens came into existence 10,000 years ago, whereas eggs have existed for millions of years.

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conundrum (n): puzzle, mystery

baffled (v): puzzled, confused

Just when demographers are ringing alarm bells about overpopulation, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos says we need to populate our solar system. Mr Bezos was asked for his thoughts on humanity living in outer space in a thousand years’ time. He replied: “I would love to see, you know, a trillion humans living in the solar system. If we had a trillion humans, we would have at any given time 1,000 Mozarts and 1,000 Einsteins.…Space would be full of life and intelligence and energy.” He added that he wants to help “build heavy infrastructure that will be used by the space entrepreneurs of future generations…so that ingenuity and imagination can really be unleashed”.

Mr Bezos’ thoughts are echoed by fellow multi-billionaire Elon Musk, owner of X (formerly known as Twitter). In 2021, he said of the human race: “We don’t want to be one of those single-planet species; we want to be a multi-planet species.” Earlier this year, Mr Musk warned that: “Population collapse due to low birth rates is a much bigger risk to civilization than global warming…mark these words.” Mr Bezos conceives of people living in giant space stations. He said most inhabitants of these would visit Earth for vacations. He envisions our planet returning to its pristine environment, as factories would be built in space. He said they would exploit resources on the moon or on asteroids instead of using up Earth’s.

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demographer noun an expert in the study of statistics relating to the changing structure of human populations.

ingenuity noun the quality of being clever,

conceives verb

1. become pregnant with (a child). e.g “she was conceived when her father was 49”
2. form or devise (a plan or idea) in the mind. e.g “the dam project was originally conceived in 1977” Similar: think up, think of, come up with, dream up, draw up, devise

envisions verb = conceives

pristine adjective new or almost new, and in very good condition:
e.g pristine new offices
e.g Washing machine for sale – only two months old and in pristine condition.

I am very grateful. Talking on the phone with a stranger and she helped me resolve an issue that I thought might be slim to none to get it resolved on time but she got it resolved today – I cannot express enough to her how I am very grateful for what she did today.

I used to get many inboxes in my professional LinkedIn account from fortune 500 companies’ recruitment department like Google, Meta (Facebook), especial Amazon. And just recently right after May or early June, I have zero inbox which I felt very strange and wonder if is hiring freeze really happening now? And Are we already getting into a recession?

Today I got a D.M. from my co-worker via Slack about running Chromium in CLI Linux. Chromium comes with a debugger which is really helpful for developer debugging javascript, jquery or any front end javascript libraries. My co-worker could not get it to run in Linux. I could not figure out what was the cause as it might have to involve me having to install it myself in my environment but I recalled that I wrote a blog about install chrome in Linux a while back here in my blog:

https://chanvicheka-ouk.com/install-chrome-oracle-linux-server-release-7-6/.

Google chrome also comes with a debugger so I just send the note in above blog post to my co-worker and it works. My co-worker is happy and so is me.

e.g. running chrome in cli linux from terminal point to url http://damnvulnerableiosapp.com/ and with its debugger where I can add breakpoints with or w/o condition.

/usr/bin/startx /usr/bin/google-chrome  --no-sandbox  http://damnvulnerableiosapp.com/ -- vt1