Ecofren Globe Community

Happy DRAGON year to you from Camelia

2012-01-24T01:33:00.000-08:00

A LONG LIFE JOURNEY DEPICTED IN A SMALL PICTURE

2011-12-30T22:10:00.000-08:00

A LONG LIFE JOURNEY DEPICTED IN A SMALL PICTURE

Clever Ideas to make your life easier!!

2011-12-26T20:53:00.001-08:00

Gotcha! Find tiny lost items like earrings by putting a stocking over the vacuum hose..

Look up! Use wire to make a space to store gift wrap rolls against the ceiling, rather than cluttering up the floor..

Attach a Velcro strip to the wall to store soft toys..

Re-use a wet-wipes container to store plastic bags..

Make an instant cupcake carrier by cutting crosses into a box lid..

Why didn’t I think of that?! We guarantee you’ll be uttering those words more than once at these ingenious little tips, tricks and ideas that solve everyday problems … some you never knew you had! (Above: hull strawberries easily using a straw)..

Overhaul your linen cupboard – store bed linen sets inside one of their own pillowcases and there will be no more hunting through piles for a match. Think I may try this one..

Stop cut apples browning in your child’s lunch box by securing with a rubber band.

Remove crayon masterpieces from your TV or computer screen with WD40 (also works on walls)..

Pump up the volume by placing your iPhone / iPod in a bowl – the concave shape amplifies the music..

Clever Ideas to make your life easier!!

ALWAYS HAS A SOLUTION

2011-12-25T23:55:00.000-08:00

ALWAYS HAS A SOLUTION

Be nice to FAT people

2011-12-25T23:47:00.000-08:00

boyfriend wanted

2011-12-25T23:29:00.001-08:00

A dog's seeing eye dog

2011-12-25T23:15:00.001-08:00

A dog's seeing eye dog
Lily is a Great Dane that has been

blind since a bizarre medical condition required that she have both eyes

removed. For the last 5 years, Maddison, another Great Dane, has been

her sight. The two are, of course,

inseparable.

"People will forget what you said; People will forget what you did.
But people will never forget how you made them feel."

WOW.... big Passion Fruit

2011-12-19T21:08:00.001-08:00

Recently, in Maranhao, Brazil ....

http://brazuka.net/en/maracuja-diferente-chama-a-atencao-no-maranhao/

Must I change my email address from Google Mail to Gmail? l

2011-12-08T19:09:00.000-08:00

Must I change my email address from Google Mail to Gmail?

Q I use the Google Mail service for email. Some time back, everything on the website seemed to change to a very small font – with letters just a millimetre or so high.

At 82 years of age I find it difficult to read, even with my glasses on. I can find no options on the website to enlarge the font. Is there something I am overlooking and would it be the same if I took up the offer to switch from Google Mail to Gmail?
Geoff Wilkins

A We’ll deal with your question about switching from Google Mail to Gmail first, just to clear up any confusion about the difference between the two – which is to say, practically none. But to understand why, it’s useful to know a little about Gmail’s history.

Google debuted its webmail service in April 2004, calling it Gmail. However, the Google Mail name came about as a result of a trademark dispute between Google and various organisations around the world that claimed prior rights to the ‘Gmail’ name.

From 2005 in the UK, this resulted in newcomers to the Gmail service being issued with email addresses ending in ‘@googlemail.com’ rather than ‘@gmail.com’.

As noted, this made little practical difference as Google continued parsing and delivering emails sent to either variation of the address (so messages to youremailaddress @googlemail.com or youremailaddress@gmail.com would end up in the same inbox.

However, messages sent during those four years would have appeared to have come from ‘@googlemail.com’ addresses. This situation persisted until just a couple of years ago, when the service’s official name reverted to Gmail.

Since then, all new sign-ups to the UK version of the webmail service have been issued with an ‘@gmail.com’ email address.

Regardless, this means many millions of people registered for accounts during the Google Mail years – and plenty of those users are still sending messages that appear to recipients as being from an ‘@googlemail.com’ email address.

As one of them, when signing in to Gmail, you will see a message that reads: “Google Mail is becoming Gmail in the UK. Want to switch to [youremailaddress@gmail.com]?” along with a “Maybe! Tell me more…” link. Click this link and an explanation and instructions will be displayed.

Alternatively, click the cog icon at the top right of the Gmail window, choose Mail settings and click the Accounts and Imports tab. Now click the ‘Switch to @gmail.com’ alongside the ‘Send mail as’ heading and follow the prompts to make the change.

Note that messages sent to both youremailaddress@googlemail.com and youremailaddress@gmail.com will continue to be delivered to your inbox, but from now on, messages you send will appear to the recipient as having originated from ‘@gmail.com’.

So, while accepting the offer to switch makes sense – it’s simply easier to say or type ‘Gmail’ – it will not resolve your problem of tiny fonts.

For that, the answer is to hold down the Control (Ctrl) key and tap 0 (that’s the zero key). This will restore the browser’s default zoom level, which we believe has been reduced inadvertently – typically with a twist of the mouse’s scroll wheel (try holding down Control while spinning the wheel to see what we mean).

http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ca/pc-help/2119493/change-email-address-google-mail-gmail#ixzz1g0GpgT5b

The smiling crippled girl

2011-11-27T22:58:00.000-08:00

Qian HongYan lost her legs in an accident
Her family in China are poor and couldn't afford prosthetic legs, so she uses a basketball to help her move. - Qian uses two wooden props to drag herself, and never complain, even though she has worn out six basketballs. -
She attends her class- She always smiles
Always cheerful
Be gratefull with what you have

The smiling crippled girl

Smile always
Be grateful with what you have.

When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?

2011-11-19T00:13:00.000-08:00

When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?
Every generation brings a new definition of masculinity and femininity that manifests itself in children’s dress
By Jeanne Maglaty
Smithsonian.com, April 08, 2011

Little Franklin Delano Roosevelt sits primly on a stool, his white skirt spread smoothly over his lap, his hands clasping a hat trimmed with a marabou feather. Shoulder-length hair and patent leather party shoes complete the ensemble.

We find the look unsettling today, yet social convention of 1884, when FDR was photographed at age 2 1/2, dictated that boys wore dresses until age 6 or 7, also the time of their first haircut. Franklin’s outfit was considered gender-neutral.

But nowadays people just have to know the sex of a baby or young child at first glance, says Jo B. Paoletti, a historian at the University of Maryland and author of Pink and Blue: Telling the Girls From the Boys in America, to be published later this year. Thus we see, for example, a pink headband encircling the bald head of an infant girl.

Why have young children’s clothing styles changed so dramatically? How did we end up with two “teams”—boys in blue and girls in pink?

“It’s really a story of what happened to neutral clothing,” says Paoletti, who has explored the meaning of children’s clothing for 30 years. For centuries, she says, children wore dainty white dresses up to age 6. “What was once a matter of practicality—you dress your baby in white dresses and diapers; white cotton can be bleached—became a matter of ‘Oh my God, if I dress my baby in the wrong thing, they’ll grow up perverted,’ ” Paoletti says.

The march toward gender-specific clothes was neither linear nor rapid. Pink and blue arrived, along with other pastels, as colors for babies in the mid-19th century, yet the two colors were not promoted as gender signifiers until just before World War I—and even then, it took time for popular culture to sort things out.

For example, a June 1918 article from the trade publication Earnshaw's Infants' Department said, “The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.” Other sources said blue was flattering for blonds, pink for brunettes; or blue was for blue-eyed babies, pink for brown-eyed babies, according to Paoletti.

In 1927, Time magazine printed a chart showing sex-appropriate colors for girls and boys according to leading U.S. stores. In Boston, Filene’s told parents to dress boys in pink. So did Best & Co. in New York City, Halle’s in Cleveland and Marshall Field in Chicago.

Today’s color dictate wasn’t established until the 1940s, as a result of Americans’ preferences as interpreted by manufacturers and retailers. “It could have gone the other way,” Paoletti says.

So the baby boomers were raised in gender-specific clothing. Boys dressed like their fathers, girls like their mothers. Girls had to wear dresses to school, though unadorned styles and tomboy play clothes were acceptable.

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/When-Did-Girls-Start-Wearing-Pink.html#ixzz1e8ZOuL4V

San Quentin Cell Tour

2011-11-19T00:10:00.000-08:00

San Quentin Cell Tour
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6yai4SMGfU&feature=player_embedded

San Quentin, California – In the 1930′s, San Quentin was rife with corruption by management, until a new director, Clinton Truman Duffy, appalled at the inhumane conditions at the prison, decided to implement reforms in the 1940′s. Prior to his appointment, prisoners made counterfeit currency in the prison shops, had their heads shaved and were forced to wear numbered uniforms, while eating out of pails and enduring solitary confinement in poured-concrete cells that had little air and no light. Even a petty offense to prison regulations would land an inmate in solitary, and race riots would put inmate lives at risk on a regular basis. San Quentin is still a harsh environment, filled with California’s most violent offenders, and the high ratio of guards to general population, just barely keeps the prison system from spiraling out of control.

Read more: http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-deadliest-prisons-world.php#ixzz1e8Y6PF9M

Marc Jacobs Perfume Ad With Dakota Fanning Banned

2011-11-11T00:38:00.000-08:00

Thursday, November 10, 2011
Marc Jacobs Perfume Ad With Dakota Fanning Banned

Unlike Beyonce's sexy TV commercial which was also banned a while back in the U.K., this banned Dakota Fanning perfume ad is a print ad in a magazine.

The Britain's advertising standards watchdog says that it seems to sexualise a child and could cause serious offence.

According to the Associated Press, four readers complained about the Marc Jacobs Oh Lola! advertisement which shows the 17-year-old actress in a short pale dress with an oversized perfume bottle that looks like a vase holding a giant red flower between her legs.

Looking younger than she is

Apparently, it's not so much about the ad being sexy as it is that she looks like she is below 16 and sexy. "We consider the ad could be seen to sexualise a child," it said. Where the bottle is positioned makes the ad sexually provocative.

The perfume maker says they have not received any complaints and the ad is targeted at readers over 25 years old. What's more, the company says that the image is not indecent although it is provocative.

Marc Jacobs chose Dakota because he says she could be a contemporary Lolita.

What do you think? Does she look too child-like for comfort in this ad?

The World’s Worst Floods By Death Toll

2011-11-11T00:32:00.000-08:00

The World’s Worst Floods By Death Toll

Throughout history, floods have proven to be the deadliest natural disasters. This is mainly due to the high population densities around rivers. When well-behaved, rivers provide the resources needed for agriculture, transportation, and industry. It is no accident that all of the ancient civilizations rose around rivers.

It also should be noted that not all of the dead were the victims of the initial floodwaters. Disease and famine that followed the disasters probably killed more than the floodwaters themselves.

Flooding disasters primarily as a result of typhoons or hurricanes have been excluded from this list and are instead included on the list of worst hurricane disasters.

1.
Huang He (Yellow) River, China
1931
Death Toll: 1,000,000 to 3,700,000

The Huang He River is prone to flooding because of the broad expanse of plain that lies around it. One of the major reasons for the flooding is the high silt content that gives the river its yellow tint (and thus its name). The silt—which constitutes as much as 60% of its volume—builds up until the river actually is higher than the surrounding land. The tendency to flood is exacerbated by ice dams which block the river in Mongolia; the dams back up the water, and then release devastating walls of water when they break.

The history of flooding has prompted the Communist Chinese government to embark on a program of building dams for flood control. The dams, however, have not proven entirely effective and have been the target of criticism from environmentalists.

2.
Huang He (Yellow) River, China
1887
Death Toll: 900,000 to 2,000,000

3.
Huang He (Yellow) River, China
1938
Death Toll: 500,000 - 900,000

The 1938 flood of the Huang He was caused by Nationalist Chinese troops under Chiang Kai-Shek when they broke the levees in an attempt to turn back advancing Japanese troops. The strategy was partly successful. By 1940, the Japanese were essentially in a stalemate with Chinese forces.

4.
Huang He (Yellow) River, China
1642
Death Toll: 300,000

Chinese rebels destroy the dikes along the city of Kaifeng, flooding the surrounding countryside.

5.
Ru River, Banqiao Dam, China
1975
Death Toll: 230,000

This flood was caused by the collapse of the Banquia Dam, along with several others, following a heavy rain caused by a typhoon. It is the worst dam related collapse in history.

6.
Yangtze River, China
1931
Death Toll: 145,000

Although the Huang He has caused more deaths, the Yangtze has had more than 1,000 recorded floods.

7.
The Netherlands and England
1099
Death Toll: 100,000

A combination of high tides and storms flooded the Thames and the Netherlands, killing 100,000.

8.
The Netherlands
1287
Death Toll: 50,000

A seawall on the Zuider Zee failed, flooding the low-lying polder.

9.
The Neva River, Russia
1824
Death Toll: 10,000

An ice dam clogged the Neva, flooding nearby cities.

10.
The Netherlands
1421
Death Toll: 10,000

The failure of a seawall on the Zuider Zee flooded the Dutch lowlands.

http://www.epicdisasters.com/index.php/site/comments/the_worlds_worst_floods_by_death_toll/

DON'T DRIVE CLOSE TO CONTAINERS

2011-10-30T20:38:00.001-07:00

DON'T DRIVE CLOSE TO CONTAINERS

Creepy 'reborn' dolls

2011-10-30T20:06:00.001-07:00

Creepy 'reborn' dolls

Travel Alert: Heavy Rain, Floods in Thailand and Rome

2011-10-30T19:26:00.000-07:00

Flood map of Thailand (2011) - Google map

Travel Alert: Heavy Rain, Floods in Thailand and Rome

As a major agricultural exporter and top rice producer, there are concerns about shortage of rice supplies, especially to the ASEAN countries, China, Japan and Korea, who are the main consumers of rice. Major industry affected by this monsoon disaster is the automotive, where Toyota and Honda have to suspend some assembly operations and suffer hundreds of million dollars in damage. Meanwhile, Western Digital, the hard drive manufacturer, has two major production facilities in the flood zone and they have to cease operations.

Rome, Italy

Rains and flash flood is causing significant disruptions to several ground transportations a couple of days ago. Several major roads in the city like around the Piazza di Porta Capena are closed and metro record travel suspension along lines A and B. Buses are also having some suspensions on their routes.

Intercity rail travel between Rome and Lido and Viterbo are also affected with delays in service. Rome's Fiumicino Airport (FCO) is expecting moderate delays in flight departures and arrivals which would disrupt domestic and international travel if the heavy rains won't ease up and continue to fill up the drains which cause flooding.

So far, one casualty has been reported and several reports of missing persons received by the local police. Rome city mayor is looking forward to declare a state of emergency if situation worsens.

http://sekupang.net/travelista/post/2011/10/22/Travel-Alert-Heavy-Rain-Floods-in-Thailand-and-Rome.aspx

Cheap & Exotic: 8 Great Places to Retire Abroad

2011-10-21T01:25:00.001-07:00

Cheap & Exotic: 8 Great Places to Retire Abroad

by Richard Eisenberg | Sep 7, 2010

Whether your inspiration is Hemingway in Paris, Kerouac in Tangiers, or some other generation of American expats, there’s something oh-so-romantic about retiring abroad. There’s also a practical consideration: A buck goes a lot farther in Costa Rica. At a time when nearly half of Americans approaching retirement age don’t have enough dollars stashed away, the best retirement planning decision you can make might be to change planes in Florida instead of settling there. More than 500,000 retirees live overseas, and the number is increasing.

To make your expat dreams a reality, however, will take a whole lot of research. The easy path is to flock to Boca with all those other snowbirds; it’s quite another thing to head off to a place where English isn’t spoken everywhere, the water may or may not be potable and SportsCenter isn’t even one of the premium channels. If you complain about Obamacare, just wait till you need to get cataract surgery in a hospital that doesn’t take Visa.

The good news is that there are scads of Web sites, media outlets, authors, and bloggers who can help guide you to the best, most affordable places. CBS MoneyWatch.com reviewed recommendations from the most prominent list makers for their best advice and favorite destinations. We’ve also put together a list of sources for further research, and explained how to use them.
Most Recommended Countries

First, the bottom line: The eight countries or regions below came up repeatedly as great, affordable places to live, based on recommendations from International Living, AARP, Forbes, U.S News, Kiplinger’s, Retiring-Overseas, and Global Post — as well as from expat Barry Golson, author of Retirement Without Borders and Gringos in Paradise.

Panama

Currency tied to dollar; retiree discounts; some hospitals have U.S. affiliations; favorable tax treatment on earned income and new homes

You may need to travel for top medical care; rural and quiet in many spots; some corruption and infrastructure issues

Ecuador

Currency tied to dollar; super cheap; rated Top Retirement Haven by International Living; beaches; hiking

Limited health care outside major cities; political instability; some crime pockets

Uruguay

Great beaches; Montevideo rated best in Mercer’s 2009 South America Quality of Living city rankings

You may want to head back to U.S. for serious medical issues; may be too quiet for urbanites

Mexico

Easy to visit U.S.; many expats; good health care near big cities; can import household goods tax-free

Avoid border towns due to drug cartels; expect petty crime and corruption

Costa Rica

Good economy; retirement income and real estate profits are untaxed; beaches and birdwatching; lush Central Valley

More expensive than other Central American countries; infrastructure is straining; Golson rates food variety a C+

France

Food and culture; No. 1 in 2010 International Quality of Life Index; health care rated best by World Health Organization

High taxes and maddening bureaucracy; prices high in Paris, Riviera and Provence

Argentina

European vibe; low housing prices; English spoken freely; wine and tango

Though inexpensive, it’s getting pricier; red tape; cold in the south

Italy

Food and culture; weather; best bargains are mostly in the south

Labor strikes; hot summers; big cities — and some regions aren’t cheap

Read more: http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/article/8-cheap-places-to-retire-abroad/462345/#ixzz1bP2aOy85

Happy Halloween day

2011-10-20T01:39:00.001-07:00

The Simplified Chinese Language...

2011-10-20T01:33:00.000-07:00

The Simplified Chinese Language...

For most of us, Chinese is a very difficult language to learn or understand. Hopefully, these simplifications will help you understand the Chinese language just a bit better!

Ai Bang Mai Ne - I bumped into the coffee table

Chin Tu Fat - You need a face lift

Dum Gai - A stupid person

Gun Pao Der - An ancient Chinese invention

Hu Flung Dung - Which one of you fertilized the field?

Hu Yu Hai Ding - We have reason to believe you are harboring a fugutive

Jan Ne Ka Sun - A former late night talk show host

Kum Hia - Approach me

Lao Ze Sho - Dawson's Creek

Lao Zi - Not very good

Lin Ching - An illegal execution

Moon Lan Ding - A great achievement of the American space program

Ne Ahn - A lighting fixture used in advertising signs

Shai Gai - A bashful person

Tai Ne Bae Be - A premature infant

Tai Ne Po Ne - A small horse

Ten Ding Ba - Serving drinks to people

Wan Bum Lung - A person with T.B.

Yu Mai Te Tan - Your vacation in Hawaii agrees with you

Wa Shing Kah - Cleaning an automobile

Wai So Dim - Are you trying to save electricity?

Wai U Shao Ting -- There is no reason to raise your voice

Top 30 Failed Technology Predictions

2011-10-20T00:18:00.000-07:00

Top 30 Failed Technology Predictions

Throughout history man has been making predictions of the future. With the advent of technology, the predictions moved away from religious topics to scientific and technological. Unfortunately for the speakers, many of these failed predictions have been recorded for all future generations to laugh at. Here is a selection of the 30 best.

Predictions 1 – 10

1. “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” — Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC), maker of big business mainframe computers, arguing against the PC in 1977.

2. “We will never make a 32 bit operating system.” — Bill Gates

3. “Lee DeForest has said in many newspapers and over his signature that it would be possible to transmit the human voice across the Atlantic before many years. Based on these absurd and deliberately misleading statements, the misguided public … has been persuaded to purchase stock in his company …” — a U.S. District Attorney, prosecuting American inventor Lee DeForest for selling stock fraudulently through the mail for his Radio Telephone Company in 1913.

4. “There is practically no chance communications space satellites will be used to provide better telephone, telegraph, television, or radio service inside the United States.” — T. Craven, FCC Commissioner, in 1961 (the first commercial communications satellite went into service in 1965).

5. “To place a man in a multi-stage rocket and project him into the controlling gravitational field of the moon where the passengers can make scientific observations, perhaps land alive, and then return to earth – all that constitutes a wild dream worthy of Jules Verne. I am bold enough to say that such a man-made voyage will never occur regardless of all future advances.” — Lee DeForest, American radio pioneer and inventor of the vacuum tube, in 1926

6. “A rocket will never be able to leave the Earth’s atmosphere.” — New York Times, 1936.

7. “Flight by machines heavier than air is unpractical (sic) and insignificant, if not utterly impossible.” – Simon Newcomb; The Wright Brothers flew at Kittyhawk 18 months later.

8. “Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.” — Lord Kelvin, British mathematician and physicist, president of the British Royal Society, 1895.

9. “There will never be a bigger plane built.” — A Boeing engineer, after the first flight of the 247, a twin engine plane that holds ten people

10. “Nuclear-powered vacuum cleaners will probably be a reality in 10 years.” -– Alex Lewyt, president of vacuum cleaner company Lewyt Corp., in the New York Times in 1955.

Predictions 11 – 20

11. “This is the biggest fool thing we have ever done. The bomb will never go off, and I speak as an expert in explosives.” — Admiral William D. Leahy, Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy during World War II, advising President Truman on the atomic bomb, 1945.[6] Leahy admitted the error five years later in his memoirs

12. “The energy produced by the breaking down of the atom is a very poor kind of thing. Anyone who expects a source of power from the transformation of these atoms is talking moonshine.” — Ernest Rutherford, shortly after splitting the atom for the first time.

13. “There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will.” — Albert Einstein, 1932

14. “The cinema is little more than a fad. It’s canned drama. What audiences really want to see is flesh and blood on the stage.” -– Charlie Chaplin, actor, producer, director, and studio founder, 1916

15. “The horse is here to stay but the automobile is only a novelty – a fad.” — The president of the Michigan Savings Bank advising Henry Ford’s lawyer, Horace Rackham, not to invest in the Ford Motor Co., 1903

16. “The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys.” — Sir William Preece, Chief Engineer, British Post Office, 1878.

17. “This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” — A memo at Western Union, 1878 (or 1876).

18. “The world potential market for copying machines is 5000 at most.” — IBM, to the eventual founders of Xerox, saying the photocopier had no market large enough to justify production, 1959.

19. “I must confess that my imagination refuses to see any sort of submarine doing anything but suffocating its crew and floundering at sea.” — HG Wells, British novelist, in 1901.

20. “X-rays will prove to be a hoax.” — Lord Kelvin, President of the Royal Society, 1883.

Predictions 21 – 30

21. “The idea that cavalry will be replaced by these iron coaches is absurd. It is little short of treasonous.” — Comment of Aide-de-camp to Field Marshal Haig, at tank demonstration, 1916.

22. “How, sir, would you make a ship sail against the wind and currents by lighting a bonfire under her deck? I pray you, excuse me, I have not the time to listen to such nonsense.” — Napoleon Bonaparte, when told of Robert Fulton’s steamboat, 1800s.

23. “Fooling around with alternating current is just a waste of time. Nobody will use it, ever.” — Thomas Edison, American inventor, 1889 (Edison often ridiculed the arguments of competitor George Westinghouse for AC power).

24. “Home Taping Is Killing Music” — A 1980s campaign by the BPI, claiming that people recording music off the radio onto cassette would destroy the music industry.

25. “Television won’t last. It’s a flash in the pan.” — Mary Somerville, pioneer of radio educational broadcasts, 1948.

26. “[Television] won’t be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.” — Darryl Zanuck, movie producer, 20th Century Fox, 1946.

27. “When the Paris Exhibition [of 1878] closes, electric light will close with it and no more will be heard of it.” – Oxford professor Erasmus Wilson

28. “Dear Mr. President: The canal system of this country is being threatened by a new form of transportation known as ‘railroads’ … As you may well know, Mr. President, ‘railroad’ carriages are pulled at the enormous speed of 15 miles per hour by ‘engines’ which, in addition to endangering life and limb of passengers, roar and snort their way through the countryside, setting fire to crops, scaring the livestock and frightening women and children. The Almighty certainly never intended that people should travel at such breakneck speed.” — Martin Van Buren, Governor of New York, 1830(?).

29. “Rail travel at high speed is not possible because passengers, unable to breathe, would die of asphyxia.” — Dr Dionysys Larder (1793-1859), professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy, University College London.

30. “The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to no one in particular?” — Associates of David Sarnoff responding to the latter’s call for investment in the radio in 1921.

http://listverse.com/2007/10/28/top-30-failed-technology-predictions/

Heaviest Woman of the World

2011-10-09T01:27:00.000-07:00

Heaviest Woman of the World

After reaching 700 pounds, Pauline Potter has officially entered the
record books as the world's most heaviest woman. But the 47-year-old from
Sacramento, CA now says she wants to lose weight so she can enjoy every
day life again.

World's most Beautiful Bus Stops

2011-10-08T20:43:00.000-07:00

ENGLAND

ITALY

JAPAN

HOLLAND

FINLAND

RUSSIA

ITALY

DUBAI-AIR

FRANCE

MALAYSIA

My Chinese teacher draws Venn diagrams to explain why she is still single

2011-09-29T23:11:00.000-07:00

My Chinese teacher draws Venn diagrams to explain why she is still single

Shanghai’s so-called “leftover women” — the sheng nu (剩女) — are constantly on my mind, now that I have one in my life. She’s my Teacher Wang, and I’ve previously blogged about her lessons on love, dating and being a sheng nu. This harsh term refers to the growing battalion of Chinese women in their late 20s and 30s who are well-educated, well-paid, career-minded, and — gasp! — still single, unlikely to get hitched anytime soon. It’s a hot topic, recently discussed in CNNGo’s ‘The stigma of being single in Shanghai’ and NPR’s ‘In China, Looking For Mr. Right (Enough).’ But no article is as informative or amusing as a first person perspective from a genuine sheng nu, an incredibly charismatic one who has her class scratching their heads, both bewildered and indignant that our beloved teacher can’t find the love of her life.

In our last class, Teacher Wang drew a Venn/set diagram in a lighthearted attempt to explain why she is still single. She kept it simple so we could understand her Mandarin. Below is her diagram, followed by my English translation:

“This diagram represents the men with desirable traits in Shanghai,” she said. “The handsome, the rich, and those who are talented. Those who are good-looking and have some money are sweet-talkers, probably with women on the side. Those who are handsome and talented are usually poor. Men who have cultivated their talent enough to make money from it are old by the time they do. As for the men who are all three, represented by this” — she pointed to the shaded area in the center — “well, they are all gay.”

We burst into laughter. “How about women in Shanghai,” we ask.

Teacher Wang paused, then started drawing. “I guess this also explains sheng nu,” she said, and we stared at her latest work of art:

“Men marry women who are beautiful, or rich, or talented. They avoid the overlaps, and these are the sheng nu. Beautiful and rich women are untrustworthy; talented and rich women are too old to bear children; as for women who are both beautiful and talented — well, the combination of looks and brains can be a bit too intimidating, and also, these women are poor. At least, I am!”

And women who are all three?

“Unattainable.”

http://shanghaishiok.com/2010/11/21/chinese-teacher-venn-diagrams-single/

Make Up Your Mind

2011-09-29T00:16:00.003-07:00

A man was riding the bus, minding his own business, when the gorgeous
woman next to him started to breast feed her baby.

The baby wouldn't take it, so she said, "Come on, eat it all up or …
I'll give it to this nice man here."

Five minutes later, the baby was still not feeding, so she said, "Come
on, honey. Take it or I'll give it to this nice man here."

A few minutes later the anxious man blurted out, "Come on, kid. Make
up your mind! I was supposed to get off four stops ago!"

Coolest Roadside Statues

2011-09-28T23:46:00.001-07:00

Coolest Roadside Statues

Driverless car navigates Berlin streets

2011-09-27T01:05:00.000-07:00

Driverless car navigates Berlin streets
September 21, 2011

BERLIN: It can talk, see, drive and no longer needs a human being to control it by remote. The car of the future — completely computer-controlled — is on the streets of Berlin.

All summer, researchers from the city’s Free University have been testing the automobile around the German capital.

The vehicle maneuvers through traffic on its own using a sophisticated combination of devices, including a computer, electronics and a precision satellite navigation system in the trunk, a camera in the front, and laser scanners on the roof and around the front and rear bumpers.

“The vehicle can recognize other cars on the road, pedestrians, buildings and trees up to 70 meters (yards) around it and even see if the traffic lights ahead are red or green and react accordingly,” Raul Rojas, the head of the university’s research group for artificial intelligence, told reporters at a presentation Friday.

“In fact, the car’s recognition and reaction to its environment is much faster than a human being’s reaction.”

The scientists have worked on their research car, a Volkswagen Passat worth €400,000 (US$551,800) with lots of built-in special technology, for four years.

Several other groups have also been working on such technology recently, notably Google, which has been testing a robotic Toyota Prius in Nevada.

“There’s a big trend for completely computer-controlled cars — many companies and research centers in several countries are working on it and it is hard to say, who’s got the most-developed vehicle at the moment,” said Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, a professor for automotive economics at the University of Duisburg-Essen, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Dudenhoeffer estimated that with the technology advances, it could only take another decade for the fully automatic cars to start becoming available for consumers. “Even today’s cars are often partially computer-controlled, for example when it comes to parking or emergency brakes.”

However, he said, that besides the technological issues, the legal challenges would be another issue that needed to be regulated: “Who will be responsible when there’s an accident — the owner or the passenger of the computer-controlled car or the company that produced it?”

“However, all in all, one can definitely say that computer-controlled cares will be much safer than human drivers,” Dudenhoeffer said. “Especially if you keep in mind that most of today’s accidents are caused by human error.”

In Berlin, the university researchers received a special permit from the city’s security and safety controllers in June to use it in regular traffic — under the condition that a safety driver sits behind the steering wheel, even if he doesn’t touch anything — not the steering wheel, gas pedals nor brakes.

On a special testing ground, the team has also been allowed to let the car run without anyone on board.

Rojas estimates that once the technology — specifically the sensors — gets less expensive, such cars will eventually conquer the roads.

“It is similar to the beginnings of the computers: 40 years ago, only research labs could afford computers, now everybody is walking around with a computer in his pocket.”

Ideally, the car will respond to orders by remote control, for example on an iPad or an iPhone. With a click or a touch, the passenger can call the car to his personal location and then order the car to drop him off at his desired destination.

“This kind of car is actually perfect for car sharing,” said Rojas. “There will be no more need for owning a car — once the automobile has dropped off its passenger it will drive on to the next passenger.”

-Agencies
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/09/21/driverless-car-navigates-berlin-streets/

Bobby Bradley, 9, Becomes Youngest To Fly Balloon Solo

2011-08-30T00:42:00.000-07:00

Bobby Bradley, 9, Becomes Youngest To Fly Balloon Solo

Jeri Clausing, Associated Press

TOME, N.M. — Nine-year-old Bobby Bradley floated into history early Saturday, taking off solo in a hot air balloon and landing perfectly about a half-hour later to become the youngest trained pilot to accomplish such a feat.

Showing maturity and composure well beyond his years, Bradley proved any doubters wrong as he strategically touched down on a dirt road – exactly as his parents had instructed. Some among a small crowd gathered for the event then doused the boy with non-alcoholic champagne and silly string as he knelt to drink his celebratory glass.

"It was awesome. It was amazing. I loved it," he said.

"Absolutely perfect," is how his mother, Tami, described the landing.

His father, Troy Bradley, proudly remarked that his son "flew the way we knew he could."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/04/bobby-bradley-hot-air-balloon_n_871305.html

The boy took off to the cheers of more than 50 friends, family and classmates who gathered at 5 a.m. in Albuquerque to drive in a caravan to a remote field that was chosen for its lack of power lines and other potential hazards.

Takeoff came shortly before 7 a.m., along with three other balloons whose pilots included a designated balloon examiner for the Federal Aviation Administration and a balloonist who helped make Bradley's special ultra-light craft.

The boy's flight lasted 26 minutes.

"I didn't want to land," he said afterward. "I wanted to keep going. It's fun out there."
Although his mother said she would not normally recommend that 9-year-olds fly solo, she said it was a natural progression for her son, who is "not your normal 9-year-old."

Bobby is a fourth-generation balloonist and has been flying in them for more than half his life, with his parents and some of the sport's most experienced and decorated pilots. He has nearly 30 hours of flight time with his father in a standard hot air balloon. But he can't get his pilot's license until he's 16, so his family and friends built the smaller balloon that is classified as an ultra-light aircraft to enable Saturday's solo flight.

Both of his parents have been licensed pilots since they were teenagers. The two won the America's Challenge Gas Balloon Race, one of the country's biggest events in balloon racing, in 1998. Troy Bradley also helped pilot the first balloon to fly from North America to Africa and has set dozens of world records in ballooning.

Two days before the landmark flight, his maternal grandmother Jan Stevenson – who sewed the panels of the blue, red and yellow balloon together – gave him a jacket his late grandfather Bob Stevenson used to wear, complete with all the ballooning pins he was so proud of. Although Bobby had planned to wear it for the flight, it was getting warm out by the time he took off so he carried it in his gondola, along with two beanie bears belonging to him and his sister that he said his father always takes with him when he competes in balloon races.

After the flight, he hugged his grandmother and asked, "Were you scared?"

"I have to admit I was," she said.

Needles are the enemy for balloon dress

2011-08-30T00:39:00.001-07:00

Needles are the enemy for balloon dress
updated 8/9/2011 10:38:07 AM ET 2011-08-09T14:38:07

TOKYO — The latest in dresses from one Japanese designer is feather-light, see-through and comes with an unusual warning: watch out for needles.

Stampede! C'mon — what's not to like?
Hoof it over to Facebook to join the weird news herd.
It's a dress made from balloons -- 200 of them, to be exact.

The crystal-clear creation is the latest in balloon couture from balloon artist Rie Hosokai, who has won international prizes at Belgium's annual "The Millennium Jam" balloon festival for her skill at twisting and weaving the light, latex toys into dresses.

"There are latitude and longitude balloons to be woven together, so it's quite similar to fabric," said the 35-year-old Hosokai recently, as she deftly manipulated balloons into a transparent mini-dress.

All the work is done by hand, and Hosokai said it can be hard to account for the amount of air when adjusting the size and volume of the dress.

The garment, worn with white underwear and co-designed by Hosokai's husband Takashi Kawada, was modeled for photographers with the warning, "Watch out for needles."

Despite the inexpensive materials, 7 yen($0.09)for each of the 200 balloons she used, the bubbly creation came with a price tag of well over a thousand dollars, reflecting Hosokai's determination to puncture the stereotype of balloons being something cheap.

Advertise | AdChoicesAdvertise | AdChoicesAdvertise | AdChoicesMost of Hosokai's dresses carry price tags ranging from 150,000 to 300,000 yen($1,930 to $3,860), but she has sold a set of balloon dress, headpiece and bouquet for 1 million yen.

Each dress lasts only 24 hours at most before it starts to deflate, while some change color depending on the temperature and humidity.

Hosokai, who began her career as a florist before expanding into balloon art and opening her "Daisy Balloon" office ten years ago, hopes to lift the profile of balloon fashion and attract customers eager for unusual party wear.

She has sold more than 20 wedding dresses since entering the business two years ago and would be pleased if her ephemeral garments helped lift spirits in the wake of Japan's March 11 disaster by reminding people of their childhood dreams.

"You can wow people at parties or weddings with a balloon dress. They'll be surprised, " she said.

(Reporting by Hyun Oh; editing by Elaine Lies)

These are real birds!

2011-08-28T23:28:00.000-07:00

Sup, Polish Chicken

Peacock

Winson's Bird Of Paradise

Quetzal

Bleeding Heart Pigeons

Lady Amherst's Pheasant

Kingfisher

Green Jay

Golden Pheasant

Flamecrest

Formosan Magpie

Monal

To remove the bulb from the mouth

2011-08-28T23:21:00.000-07:00

1. Household light bulb
2. lace
3. bow scarf
4. screwdriver

Have a Laugh in China

2011-08-27T23:50:00.000-07:00

回收的最高境界! (Asking for 'unwanted' women for re-cycling)

婚紗的最高境界! The wedding gown ...!!!

溜狗的最高境界! (New way of dog walking)

先買人身保險~~所小木屋内的廁所!The toilet

他們一天要 KISS多少次呢？？(How many kisses a day???)

大家一起來 `~~ (Do it together)

超載的最高境界! (Another way of over capacity)

蛋糕的最高境界! (The cake for the 'ma-jong' player)

坐姿的最高境界! (Various sitting postures)

女生為啥愛遲到？原因在此！！(Why she was late ...!!!)

蒸饅頭的最高境界! (Steaming the buns)

BIG Advertisement

2011-08-27T23:03:00.000-07:00

Dragon heart

2011-08-27T22:57:00.000-07:00

Ngerii...Ular "Beranak" Dalam Perut Wanita ini..Pakistani woman has snake growing in belly

2011-08-06T20:25:00.000-07:00

Ngerii...Ular "Beranak" Dalam Perut Wanita ini..
Seorang wanita dari Pakistan merayu kepada pihak berkuasa untuk membantu dalam mendapatkan pembedahan untuk membuang ular besar yang sedang membesar di dalam perutnya.

Menurut akhbar Pakistan, wanita yang berusia 50 tahun Rasheedan Bibi dari Saggar, utara Lahore, secara tidak sengaja menelan ular kecil yang ada di dalam air minuman beliau beberapa bulan yang lalu.

Walau bagaimanapun, selepas beberapa minggu perut Rasheedan mula membesar, dan dia percaya dia hanya mengandung. Tetapi Rasheedan terus mengembang dan mengembang, dan menjadi sangat sakit. Selepas tujuh bulan bengkak sehingga Rasheedan akhirnya meminta bantuan perubatan dan pergi ke hospital.

Menurut Rasheedan kakitangan hospital menggunakan ultrasound untuk melihat apa yang telah membesar di dalam perutnya dan ia menunjukkan ular besar sedang melingkar di dalamnya.

Rasheedan, yang datang dari latar belakang luar bandar yang miskin, merayu kepada pihak berkuasa tempatan untuk membantu beliau mendapatkan rawatan agar ular besar itu dibuang.

Pakistani woman has snake growing in belly. This is indeed the weirdest thing we’ve heard in quite a while! A woman, originally from Pakistan went to the doctors believing that she was 7 months pregnant, just to find shocking news: the ultrasound revealed a giant snake growing inside her.

As unbelievable as that seems, it’s apparently true, 50 year-old Rasheedan Bibi claims to have accidentally swallowed a tiny snake from her drinking water, two months after the incident, her abdomen started swelling and the woman thought she was pregnant. After another 5 months she was extremely swelled and ill, that’s when she went to the doctors to find out what is wrong. The results were amazing, she had a huge snake growing inside her, now she seeks help at the authorities, because she can not afford the extraction procedure. How the snake grew in her body, still remains a medical mystery…

It’s amazing how the body didn’t reject the foreign animal immediately, and even more amazing and mysterious is what the gigantic snake inside her eats… The questions will remain unanswered until the surgeons operate Rasheedan Bibi from Saggar and take the snake out.

Workers build a footpath around the vertiginous slopes of Shifou Mountain in China

2011-08-01T22:22:00.000-07:00

Workers build a footpath around the vertiginous slopes of Shifou Mountain in China
Thousands of metres up the vertiginous slopes of Shifou Mountain in Hunan Province, China, a team of workers, operating with hardly any safety measures, are building a footpath.
The workers are building a plank road on the side of the mountain that, once it is finished, will stretch for 3km (9843 ft) and be China's longest sightseeing footpath.

48-year-old Yu Ji (above) is one of the workers and he has been working on high cliffs building such plank roads for more than 10 years. He comments: "Young people don't want this job, as it requires them to stay deep in the mountains for months or even years" Yu Ji takes charge of the most dangerous part of the project -
drilling the holes to set up pipes to support the footpath

This is Texas,USA

2011-08-01T21:35:00.001-07:00

Same-sex couples are married

2011-08-01T21:01:00.000-07:00

Felix Ramirez and Pedro Vargas.

Michael Kennedy and Ron Spaulding, and Rhonda Otten and Debra Curtis posing for photos in front of the City Council in New York.

Kim Valdon, right, and Rhonda Valdon remaining together for sixteen years, were married in the municipal clerk's office in Brooklyn.

Speaker of the City Council of New York, Christine Quinn, left, and her partner, Kim Catullo the wedding Marcos A. Shaldzhaba and Freddie L. Sambarano municipal clerk's office in Manhattan on the first day after went into effect a new law legalizing gay marriage.

Rabbi Sharon Kleybaum under the rainbow tent mate Sari Kessler and Eric Karp of New York. Three daughters married and brother Jonathan Kessler sincerely rejoice happening

Jonathan Mintz and John Feynblatt her daughters MeV and Georgia. They are applauding New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Mintz and Feynblatt are employees of City Hall.

Felipe and seventy-vosmidesyatishestiletny Byron await the wedding and give interviews, and New York.

David Hind and Craig Francisco dance your first wedding dance.

Same-sex couples are married

Hundreds of gay couples, dressed in formal suits, dress shirts and gathered to a breaking of emotion swept votes to bring the vows and ceremony to demonstrate their long-awaited gathering of the marriage on Sunday. New York has finally become the sixth and largest of the states that legalized same-sex marriages.
Couples began to recite the traditional "I agree / to" at midnight in the area from Niagara Falls to Long Island, even though New York was the center of the wedding with the onset of the morning. Thousands of pairs of hours waiting to say welcome vows, completely forgetting about the unbearable heat.
Thousands of demonstrators took to the campaign of protest in several cities throughout the state. This can be interpreted as a signal that the struggle for the right of same-sex couples to register their relationship is not over yet. State Senator Ruben Diaz, a minister who was the only Democrat who voted against same-sex marriage, pledged in his address to the crowd gathered to express their disapproval of what he and other opponents of same-sex marriage will try to ensure that prisoners on Sunday marriages were annulled . Ruben Diaz said the judge violated the law by abandoning the traditional twenty-four waiting period without good cause.
"We're going to prove to them next week, that their current actions are illegal," he said during his speech, which was held in Spanish. "Today we begin the battle! Today we start a war! "
But in general, in the lobby of the municipal clerk's office in Manhattan was an atmosphere of celebration and cheers and applause were heard every time the pair passed them on to the white-blue marriage certificate. Balloons waved over the heads of the crowd. One couple was dressed in kilts, the other - in a sparkling crown. Children scurried back and forth, enjoying the unexpected holiday.
Couples who, in some cases, waiting for opportunities to get married for many years, did not hide their emotions. The bridegroom Douglas Robinson tearfully exclaimed, "I agree, I swear to God, I agree !!!", when asked whether he takes Michael Elsasser his wife.
The first couple marries in Manhattan were semidesyatisemiletnyaya Phyllis Siegel and Connie vosmidesyatipyatiletnyaya Kopelou who have been together for twenty-three years. Kopelou arrived in a wheelchair and stood with her using a walker.
Witnesses tearfully watched as two elderly women have sworn to respect and cherish each other and then kissed.
"I gasped. I almost could not breathe, "said Siegel, after the ceremony. "It's amazing. The fact that it really happened to us - that we finally have the right to legally marry, like everyone else. "
Legalization in New York same-sex marriage is seen as a turning point in the national movement for the rights of gays and lesbians, and is expected to occur as the mobilization of supporters and opponents of this decision. In other states, has authorized gays and lesbians to marry, are Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont, and Washington, DC.

Architecture of Future: eVolo Skyscraper Competition

2011-07-28T22:47:00.000-07:00

Architecture of Future: eVolo Skyscraper Competition
eVolo Skyscraper Competition is a contest organized by eVolo magazine that focuses on technological progress and innovative design. eVolo Skyscraper Competition has been established in 2006. The contest was organized to recognize the brightest ideas in architecture and design. The eVolo Skyscraper competition of 2011 had 715 projects sent from 95 different countries (from 5 world continents). Here we will tell you about the three winners that have gotten 5,000, 2,000 and 1,000 dollars as prizes for first, second, and third places respectively. And you’ll also see the brightest finalists’ projects.

Now for the eVolo Skyscraper Competition finalists. This amazing Tree Skyscraper was designed by Eric Gangaye, Frédéric Velaye Andy, Alvin Pakeeroo, Yann Terrer, and Thomas Liaigre for the French city Montpellier. Apparently inspired by tree which connects the city through its five “roots” and the system of trains and walking paths. The skyscraper is also eco-friendly as most designs and features solar panels, water collectors, and wind turbines.

To be honest the third place project by the name Re-imagining the Hoover Dam has impressed me the most. First its shape is absolutely fantastic and of course location adds the charm to it. Designed by Yheu-Shen Chua from United Kingdom this project was meant to re-imagine the known Hoover Dam in the United States. The original dam consists of a platform, a bridge, and a gallery while the project sees all those things merged together and allow the visitors interact with the river via containers. The project also provides a vertical aquarium built-in 700-meter foot tower that hangs into Black Canyon.

Porifera Skyscraper was designed to be located at the base of Siene River, Paris. The skyscraper’s designers Nicolas Jomain and Boriana Tchonkova were inspired by marine sponges for their project and divided it in three connected towers for various functions like hotel, offices, and housing. The exterior is rather interesting as it has large openings in the structure while using solar, wind, and kinetic energy. This great band of towers can even generate the bio-fuel through algae and sunlight.

The project that took the first place probably should be even more valued for its purpose. A project for New Delhi called LO2P Delhi Recycling Center is meant for recycling cars the number of which grows by a thousand every day in the city thus polluting the environment. The recycled cars would be used as a building material for new structures. The air would be cleaned with the help of the skyscraper itself, which is designed as a huge lung.

Laminated Wood Skyscraper was designed by Tomas Kozelsky, Patrick Bedarf, and Dimitrie Andrei Stefanescu for an unusual location – the Amazon forest. Its purpose is clear though, research, recreation and education. Laminated Wood Skyscraper is meant to raise awareness about fast deforestation in Brazil. The building looks quiet unusual with its laminated titan-wood blocks connected by intertwining “veins”.

Hydro-thermal Skyscraper by Wendy Teo Boon Ting & Linda Hagberg designed for Taipei is another amazing project. The skyscraper was designed as a replacement for river buffer wall that stands on River Danshui, Taiwan. The skyscraper is to function as a filtering system that would clean the river water and increase the amount of hot water for landscape and habitual use.

Flat Tower is the project by Yoann Mescam, Paul-Eric Schirr-Bonnans, and Xavier Schirr-Bonnans from France that took the second place in eVolo Skyscraper Competition. In order to preserve the sky-line in a middle-size city but at the same time present the solution for high-density cities French architects went for an unconventional skyscraper that they called “Flat Tower” mainly because of it round flattened form. Beside the ability to accommodate large number of residents Flat Tower’s surface is perfect for collecting solar energy and rainwater.

Famine declared for two regions of Somalia

2011-07-23T20:55:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Famine declared for two regions of Somalia

The United Nations is now declaring the drought in the Horn of Africa has reached a famine stage for two states within Somalia. The hunger and malnutrition in Bakool and Lower Shabelle regions of Somalia is so bad that the crisis has been upgraded to a famine. The UN's official definition of famine is two deaths per 10,000 people with malnutrition reaching more than 30%.

From the Guardian, writer Mark Tran records the statement from the UN humanitarian coordinator Mark Bowden.

He warned: "If we don't act now, famine will spread to all eight regions of southern Somalia within two months, due to poor harvests and infectious disease outbreaks.

"We still do not have all the resources for food, clean water, shelter and health services to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of Somalis in desperate need."

He added that the lack of resources is alarming. "Every day of delay in assistance is literally a matter of life or death for children and their families in the famine-affected areas."

UN humanitarian agencies have welcomed the recent statement by al-Shabaab, Islamist insurgents affiliated to al-Qaida, requesting aid in southern Somalia, but said the inability of food agencies to work in the region since early 2010 has prevented the UN from reaching the very hungry – especially children – and has contributed to the current crisis. The Bakool and Lower Shabelle regions are understood to be controlled by al-Shabaab. The UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, said it was seeking further security guarantees from the rebel group that it can deliver greater amounts of assistance in the area to prevent more hungry people from becoming refugees.

The drought in east Africa has left an estimated 11 million people at risk, but Somalia has been the worst hit country as it is already wracked by decades of conflict. The most affected areas of Somalia are in the south, particularly the region of Lower Shabelle, Middle and Lower Juba, Bay, Bakool, Benadir, Gedo and Hiraan, where the UN says an estimated 310,000 now suffer from acute malnutrition.

The Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU) said the crisis represented the most serious food insecurity situation in the world today, in terms of scale and severity.

"Current humanitarian response is inadequate to meet emergency needs," it said. "Assuming current levels of response, evidence suggests that famine across all regions of the south will occur in the coming one to two months. A massive multisectoral response is critical to prevent additional deaths and total livelihood/social collapse and, most immediately, interventions to improve food access and to address health/nutrition issues are needed."

10 of Lady Gaga's Most Outrageous Hairstyles

2011-07-23T20:38:00.000-07:00

10 of Lady Gaga's Most Outrageous Hairstyles
http://hken.ibtimes.com/articles/185479/20110723/lady-gaga-hair.htm

Thai Superstitions

2011-07-17T03:07:00.000-07:00

Thai Superstitions about colours

Did you know that in Thailand that each day of the week is assigned a different colour for clothes you wear? I didn't really know about this at first but after a few years I was starting to get curious as to why people were giving me a different coloured shirt for my birthday. They were also telling me which day I should wear them! I started to get suspicious when they bought me a bright orange shirt and said I should wear it on Thursdays. That is when I discovered that each day of the week has its own colour.

Sunday - red
Monday - cream/yellow
Tuesday - pink
Wednesday - green
Thursday - orange/brown
Friday - blue
Saturday - black/purple

These days I have to wear a white shirt and tie at school. So, I don't pay attention to it so much any more. Anyway, you don't see many Thai people wearing the correct colour clothes for each day. But, some might wear a small piece of clothing, like a tie or handkerchief, which is the correct colour.

I think many people pay more attention to the colour of their day of birth. This then becomes their lucky colour. Some households might tie two colours around the pole of a spirit house - one for the husband and one for the wife. Even royal flags show the day the person was born. For example, Princess Sirindhorn was born on a Saturday so her flag is purple. The King was born on a Monday so his flag is yellow. The Queen was born on a Friday so her flag is blue.

Thai Superstitions about day of the week

If you were born on a....

Sunday, don't do anything auspicious on a Friday.
Monday, don't do anything auspicious on a Sunday.
Tuesday, don't do anything auspicious on a Monday.
Wednesday, don't do anything auspicious on a Tuesday.
Thursday, don't do anything auspicious on a Saturday.
Friday, don't do anything auspicious on a Wednesday.
Saturday, don't do anything auspicious on a Wednesday in the middle of the night!

Start Building a New House
Like anything else in Thai society, there are auspicious days for starting to build a house.

Good days: Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays
Bad days: Sundays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays

Ceremony for a New House
When Thai people have built a new house, they usually invite some monks to bless the house. However, there are certain days when you can do this:

Good days: Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays
Bad Days: Mondays, Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays

Forbidden Days
Don't do anything special or auspicious on Tuesdays (like wedding, new house ceremony etc.). If you do it there will be bad consequences
On Wednesdays, don't make merit in your house or have a new hair style cut.

Don't have a funeral on Fridays because the word for Friday in Thai, "sook", sounds like the same word for "happy"

Thai Superstitions about marriage

There is a Thai superstition that if you and your lover are born on the correct days then you will have a long and happy marriage.

These combinations will succeed:

A man born on Sunday and a woman born on Monday (and vice versa)
A man born on Friday and a woman born on Tuesday (and vice versa)
A man born on Thursday and a woman born on Sunday (and vice versa)
A man born on Wednesday and a woman born on Saturday (and vice versa)
A man born on Monday and a woman born on Saturday (and vice versa)
A man born on Wednesday and a woman born on Monday (and vice versa)
A man born on Friday and a woman born on Sunday (and vice versa)

These combinations will not succeed at all:

People born on Monday and Thursday
People born on Sunday and Tuesday
People born on Friday and Saturday
People born on Wednesday and Wednesday

Thai Superstitions about washing hair

Wash your hair on Sunday - you will live long
Wash your hair on Monday - you will be lucky and have a lot of money
Wash your hair on Tuesday - you will defeat your enemy
Wash your hair on Wednesday - bad luck, some people will say bad things about you
Wash your hair on Thursday - very good: the angels will look after you
Wash your hair on Friday - good: you will live happily
Wash your hair on Saturday - very good: the things you plan and carry out will be successful

Thai Superstitions about Gemstones

Lucky Gemstones sorted by Month of Birth

January - garnet and malachite
February - amethyst and opal
March - tourmaline and bloodstone
April - diamond
May - emerald
June - pearl and moonstone
July - ruby
August - amber
September - black sapphire and blue sapphire
October - opal and tourmaline
November - topaz
December - turquoise

Lucky Gemstones sorted by Day of Birth

Sunday - ruby
Monday - diamond
Tuesday - black sapphire and garnet
Wednesday - emerald
Wednesday evening - lapis lazuli
Thursday - topaz
Friday - blue sapphire
Saturday - zircon and black sapphire

Lucky Gemstones sorted by Thai Year Horoscope

Year of the Rat - garnet
Year of the Ox - moonstone
Year of the Tiger - zircon
Year of the Rabbit - lapis lazuli or emerald
Year of the Dragon - lapis lazuli
Year of the Snake - diamond
Year of the Horse - black sapphire
Year of the Sheep - moonstone
Year of the Monkey - topaz
Year of the Rooster - garnet
Year of the Dog - emerald
Year of the Pig - lapis lazuli

Thai Superstitions about Food and Eating

Don't eat a double banana because if you are a woman you will give birth to twins.

Don't eat before your elders because in your next life you will be born as a dog.

Don't eat food without rice because you will get rickets.

Don't eat salt under a tree because it will make the tree die.

Don't eat the leftovers from your child because it will make the kid naughty.

Don't eat corn when you have the flu because it will give you a higher fever.

Don't eat cold rice with hot rice because you will lose your way easily the next time you go out.

Don't eat chicken feet because it will give you bad handwriting.

Don't eat turtles because it will make you walk slowly.

Don't eat other people's food without permission because it will make your throat swollen.

Don't eat before a monk because you will become a bad ghost.

Don't eat all of the rice during your evening meal because you should leave some for the elves.

Don't eat egg when you have cut yourself because it will make it worse.

Don't eat chili sauce in the mortar bowl because if you are a woman you will give birth to a child with big lips.

Don't eat dog because the dog's spirit will possess you.

Superstitions about Animals

Do not kill big animals such as elephant, horse, cow, buffalo, etc. because it is a big sin
Do not touch a buffalo horn because it won't grow any more
Do not turn over a puppy because it will go and eat your chicken
Do not touch a horse's tail because it will get sick
Do not hit a dog with a bamboo pole meant for carrying things because it will become rabid
Do not hit a cat because it is as much sinful as hitting a novice monk
Do not hit a cat on the head because when you grow old your head will shake like the cat did when you hit it
Do not rest a cow or a buffalo in the temple grounds because it is a sin
Do not let a black cat jump across a corpse because the dead spirit will then become an angry ghost
Do not raise five cats and six dogs because it will be bad luck for you
Do not chain a monkey because your children will have small wrists like it has been chained
Do not pat a cat’s back because you will make it thin
Do not catch a firefly because your plates and bowls will break often
Do not allow a husband and wife to go and see a snake together because the wife will have a miscarriage

Thai Superstitions about Washing

Do not wash you clothes on the same day a relation is cremated, because the ghost will come and take you away
Do not wash your clothes during the night-time because you will become sick whenever you wear these clothes
Do not wash the mosquito net in the canal because a crocodile will attack you
Do not wash the plates of food that a neighbour gave you because you will hate each other
Do not wash your plates at night-time because you will wash away your money
Do not wash your hands together with other people because you will die together
Do not wash your rice cooker at night-time because you should save some for the house ghost

Supersitions Regarding Pregnant Women

Do not walk over lemon grass because the baby will come out with a withered leg.
Do not enter the chapel when an ordination is in process because you will then have a difficult delivery.
Do not watch an eclipse of the sun and the moon because the baby will be cross-eyed.
Do not walk and eat because it will hurt a lot when you give birth.
Do not step across the reins of a horse because the baby will stay longer in the womb.
Do not fish because the baby will be difficult to come out.
Do not sit on the steps because the baby will be difficult to come out.
Do not go to a funeral because a ghost will come and take the baby away.
Do not look after sick people because they won't get well.

Supersitions about Walking

Do not look down while you are walking because it will make your life shorter and no-one will love you.
Do not stomp your feet while in the house because you will scare the house spirits away and there will be no-one to look after the house.
Do not walk heavily because this kind of person won't be able to save money.
Do not step over sharp objects like scissors or knives because you will make it lose its sharpness.
Do not step over a book because it will make you stupid.
Do not step over the piece of wood propping up a banana tree because the bananas will be small.
Do not walk over a charcoal brazier because you will get in trouble.
Do not step over a gun or other hunting weapon because you will make the magic go away.
Do not step over a pole that is used to carry loads on your shoulders because you will get a gallstone

Superstitions about Lying Down and Sleeping

Do not sleep with your legs crossed because you will have a suffocating feeling in your dreams
Do not put your hand across your forehead because nobody will love you.
Do not eat while lying down because you will become a snake in your next life.
Do not sleep naked because the angel won't protect you.
Do not lie down with one knee up because a very violent class of demon will suck your blood.
Do not sleep under the beam of the house because the ghost will possess you easily.
Do not sleep near the threshold of the house because you will have a suffocating feeling in your dreams
Do not sleep on the gaps between the floorboards because a ghost will drag you down the hole.
Do not count the stars while lying down because it will make your life short.
Do not sleep in the kitchen because you will marry an old maid/man.
Do not sleep in the early evening because the ghost will come and take your soul.
Do not sleep while the sun is setting because you will never get up.
Do not sleep with your head pointing west because that is where ghosts live.
Do not lie down and read a book because it will make you stupid.

Superstitions about Sneezing

If you sneeze two or three times in a row, it means that someone is complaining or gossiping about you.
If you sneeze in the morning between 6 a.m. - 9 a.m., you will be lucky that day, you might get a promotion, if you have to travel you will have a safe trip
If you sneeze in the late morning between 9.01 a.m. - 12 p.m. you will receive good news from someone far away. You will be successful in your work.
If you sneeze in the early afternoon between 12.01 p.m. - 3 p.m. you will receive some good news from someone of the opposite sex. Or you will have a romantic meeting with someone you love.
If you sneeze in the late afternoon between 3.01 p.m. and 6 p.m. you will receive some good news regarding business. If you have lost anything you will get it back. Your investments will be successful. You shouldn't have anything to do with the opposite sex.
If you sneeze in the early afternoon between 6.01 p.m. - midnight, do not accept anything from anyone because bad things will happen.
If you sneeze between midnight until 6 a.m., be aware someone will come to ask to stay with you. Do not allow them. If someone asks for help, do not help. They will bring trouble.
During your travels, if you hear someone sneezing from high above, your trip will be dangerous. You shouldn't continue.
During your travels, if you hear someone sneezing from below, this will be a good trip, you might meet your soulmate.
During your travels, if you hear someone sneezing in front of you, you will have a safe trip. Some good things are waiting for you.
During your travels, if you hear someone sneezing behind you, it will be a bad trip. You should stop and go back staright away because bad things will happen like you will have an accident or you will be robbed.
During your travels, if you hear someone sneezing on your right, you will have a safe trip and no troubles.
During your travels, if you hear someone sneezing on your left, this trip will be successful. You should hurry because something big is waiting for you.

Superstitions about Geckos and Mice

Old people believe that having a gecko inside the house is lucky. They believe that geckos are relations that have died and been reborn to look after their children.

If you hear a gecko between 6 a.m. and noon it means that good news is on its way.
If you hear a gecko between 12.01 p.m. and 6 p.m. it is a sign of something bad to come.
If you hear a gecko between 6.01 p.m. and midnight it could be bad and good news coming your way.
If you hear a gecko between 12.01 a.m. and 6 a.m. then it doesn't mean anything. It is its normal cry.
If you hear a gecko cry four times in a row it means that within 15 days there will be trouble in the family.

If you hear a mouse in the house then you won't get ill. You wil get money and wealth. The people in your family will be safe from accidents. But, you should stay away from bad people because they will bring bad luck. You will receive gifts from elder relations that will bring you joy. The opposite sex will bring you wealth and you might also get promotion.

Superstitions about another animals
Thai superstitions involving small creatures with tails such as: house lizard, mouse, bird, bat, centipede, bee and other flying insects.

If the creature lands in front of you and its tail points to you: you will be lucky, you will receive precious gifts and the angels will look after you.

If the creature lands in front of you and its tail points to your right: you will get presents from your relations.

If the creature lands in front of you and its tail points to your left: you and your relations will be in danger or ill. You should go and make merit straight away.

If the creature lands on your left hand: you will have good luck and you will either inherit something expensive, get a promotion or live a happy life.

If the creature falls down and hits your right hand: bad things will happen to the people in your family. There will be no happiness in your life.

If the creature lands in the middle of a circle of people: everyone should be careful as bad things could happen to each and every person.

If one of these creatures falls down dead in the street while you are walking by: bad things might happen which might cause you to bleed and consequently die.

If one of these creatures falls down in the street and manages to crawl away unassisted: bad things might happen, you will get injured or get involved in a fight.

Here are some more Thai superstitions and old wives tales which have shaped Thai people today.

Do not wear your amulet when you go to the toilet. If you do so it will no longer be sacred.
Do not tap repeatedly with a spoon or chopsticks on a bowl of rice. Because you are inviting a ghost to come and eat with you.
The same goes for the top of the rice cooker. You will upset the rice goddess.
Do not kill yourself. It is a very bad sin.
Do not taste food with a large serving spoon. It will make your child look ugly.
Do not point your finger at a monk. You will lose your finger.
Do not point your finger at a rainbow. It will make your finger fall off.
Do not cut the wood for the stairs with a knife. Because the ghost will make you fall down the stairs.
Do not place a plate on top of another while you are eating. It will make you unable to pay off your debts.
Do not sell a needle in the middle of the night. Your shop will not be profitable.
Do not smell the flowers that you are going to offer to the monk. Something bad will happen to your nose.
Do not say bad things to your parents. It is a really bad sin.
Do not insult or say bad things to a monk. In the next life you will be deaf and dumb.
Do not insult sunshine, wind or rain because mother nature will make something bad happen to you.
Do not let toddlers who cannot talk yet eat fish. It will make their gums bleed.

Do not let your children play with shadows during the evening. The shadow guy will come and take them away.
Do not pick flowers in the temple grounds. You will go to hell when you die.
Do not walk with your face down. It will make your life shorter.
Do not stomp as you walk around the house. You will scare the guardian spirits of the house.
Do not walk heavily. You won't be able to save any money.
Do not walk across any sharp objects. It will make them unsharp.
Do not hit your parents. You will become a very bad ghost.
Do not boil an egg in a rice cooker. It will make your life worse.
Do not set up a spirit house in the shadow of a house. The owner of the house won't be successful.
Do not cut your hair on Wednesday. It is bad luck for you.
Do not cut your nails during the night-time. It will be like breaking the bones of your ancestors.
Do not insult a Buddha image. You will go to hell.
Do not get married on odd numbered months. It is a bad omen for your marriage.
Do not spit or complain about the smell at a funeral. Bad things will happen to you.
Do not take off your clothes or sleep next to the closet. A ghost will come to haunt you.

Don’t whistle at night because you will invite ghosts into your house.
Don’t let women eat chicken feet because they will have an affair
Do not let pregnant women whistle because her baby will have a crooked mouth
Do not allow an adult pay respect to a child (wai) because that child will have a shortened life
Do not joke while you are eating because the ghost will steal your rice
Do not cover your head when you go to a temple because this will make you bald
Do not sharpen a knife at night time because you will offend the angels
Do not look at naked people because your eyes will become swollen
Do not have sexual intercours on holy days (wan phra) because bad things will happen.
Do not let the bride and the groom meet three days before the wedding because their marriage will not last
Do not smile while sowing corn because it won’t grow
Do not stand in a doorway because a ghost will enter the house
Do not sew at night because the ghost will haunt you
Do not throw money away because you will lose your finger
Do not sing while you are eating because the ghost will curse you

http://xoomer.virgilio.it/joythay/pagine%20eng/superstitions.htm

4 teenage girls nabbed for allegedly sending mock book bomb

2011-07-17T03:04:00.000-07:00

4 teenage girls nabbed for allegedly sending mock book bomb
The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network
Sun, Jul 17, 2011

Four girls were arrested and questioned at the Bima Police precinct on Saturday for having allegedly sent a mock book bomb to the house of a police officer in Kampung Melayu, Asakota, Bima, West Nusa Tenggara.

The girls, who wore veils covering their faces, were spotted by the wife of low-ranking police officer Brig. Mulyadin while placing a thick book in front of the house. Mulyadin's wife called the police, who later arrested the girls.

The situation in the regency has been on high alert following a homemade bomb that exploded at an Islamic boarding school on Tuesday.

Days of tense conflict followed between police and armed civilians guarding the school. Police have arrested at least 14 people allegedly implicated in the explosion.

"We are still questioning [the girls]. We haven't yet established their motives," Bima Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Kumbul KS said, as quoted by kompas.com.

The police bomb squad neutralized the suspect book by blowing it up.

Police investigators also raided the house where the suspects had reportedly been staying to search for evidence. The house is apparently close to Mulyadin's residence.

http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Crime/Story/A1Story20110717-289569.html

The longest bridges in the world

2011-07-17T02:13:00.000-07:00

The longest bridges in the world
Did you ever want to see the longest bridge in the world? Well i did but now i dont have to because i just made a post about the 10 longest bridges in the world!!!

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1. Lake Pontchartrain Causeway
The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, or the Causeway, consists of two parallel bridges that are the longest bridges in the world by total length.[2] These parallel bridges cross Lake Pontchartrain in southern Louisiana. The longer of the two bridges is 23.87 miles (38.42 km) long. The bridges are supported by over 9,000 concrete pilings. The two bridges feature bascule spans over the navigation channel 8 miles (13 km) south of the north shore. The southern terminus of the Causeway is in Metairie, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans. The northern terminus is at Mandeville, Louisiana.

2. Donghai Bridge
Donghai Bridge (literally “East Sea Grand Bridge”) is the longest cross-sea bridge in the world and the longest bridge in Asia. It was completed on December 10, 2005. It has a total length of 32.5 kilometres (20.2 miles) and connects Shanghai and the offshore Yangshan deep-water port in China. Most of the bridge is a low-level viaduct. There are also cable-stayed sections to allow for the passage of large ships, largest with span of 420 m.

3. King Fahd Causeway
The King Fahd Causeway is multiple dike – bridge combination connecting Khobar, Saudi Arabia, and the island nation of Bahrain.
A construction agreement signed on July 8, 1981 led to construction beginning the next year. The cornerstone was laid on November 11, 1982 by King Fahd of Saudi Arabia and Sheikh Isa bin Salman al-Khalifa of Bahrain; construction continued until 1986, when the combination of several bridges and dams were completed. The causeway officially opened for use on November 25, 1986.

4. Chesapeake Bay Bridge
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge (commonly known as the Bay Bridge) is a major dual-span bridge in the U.S. state of Maryland; spanning the Chesapeake Bay, it connects the state’s Eastern and Western Shore regions. At 4.3 miles (7 km) in length, the original span was the world’s longest continuous over-water steel structure when it opened in 1952. The bridge is officially named the William Preston Lane, Jr. Memorial Bridge after William Preston Lane, Jr. who, as governor of Maryland, implemented its construction.

5. Vasco da Gama Bridge
The Vasco da Gama Bridge (Portuguese: Ponte Vasco da Gama, pron. IPA: ['põt(?) 'va?ku d? 'g?m?]) is a cable-stayed bridge flanked by viaducts and roads that spans the Tagus River near Lisbon, capital of Portugal. It is the longest bridge in Europe (including viaducts), with a total length of 17.2 km (10.7 mi), including 0.829 km (0.5 mi) for the main bridge, 11.5 km (7.1 mi) in viaducts, and 4.8 km (3.0 mi) in dedicated access roads. Its purpose is to alleviate the congestion on Lisbon’s other bridge (25 de Abril Bridge), and to join previously unconnected motorways radiating from Lisbon.

6. Penang Bridge
The Penang Bridge (Jambatan Pulau Pinang in Malay) E 36 is a dual-carriageway toll bridge that connects Gelugor on the island of Penang and Seberang Prai on the mainland of Malaysia on the Malay Peninsula. The bridge is also linked to the North-South Expressway in Prai and Jelutong Expressway in Penang. It was officially opened to traffic on September 14, 1985. The total length of the bridge is 13.5 km (8.4 miles), making it among the longest bridges in the world, the longest bridge in the country as well as a national landmark. PLUS Expressway Berhad is the concession holder which manages it.

7. Rio-Niteroi Bridge
The Rio-Niteroi Bridge is a reinforced concrete structure that connects the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Niteroi in Brazil.
Construction began symbolically on August 23, 1968, in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in their first and thus far only visit to Brazil. Actual work begun in January, 1969, and it opened on March 4, 1974.
Its official name is “President Costa e Silva Bridge”, in honor of the Brazilian president who ordered its construction. “Rio-Niteroi” started as a descriptive nickname that soon became better known than the official name. Today, hardly anyone refers to it by its official name.

8. Confederation Bridge
The Confederation Bridge (French: Pont de la Confédération) is a bridge spanning the Abegweit Passage of Northumberland Strait, linking Prince Edward Island with mainland New Brunswick, Canada. It was commonly referred to as the “Fixed Link” by residents of Prince Edward Island prior to its official naming. Construction took place from the fall of 1993 to the spring of 1997, costing $1.3 billion. The 12.9-kilometre (8 mi) long bridge opened on 31 May 1997.

9. San Mateo-Hayward Bridge

The San Mateo-Hayward Bridge (commonly called San Mateo Bridge) is a bridge crossing California’s San Francisco Bay in the United States, linking the San Francisco Peninsula with the East Bay. More specifically, the bridge’s western end is in Foster City, the most recent urban addition to the eastern edge of San Mateo. The eastern end of the bridge is in Hayward. The bridge is owned by the state of California, and is maintained by Caltrans, the state highway agency.

10. Seven Mile Bridge

The Seven Mile Bridge, in the Florida Keys, runs over a channel between the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Strait, connecting Key Vaca (the location of the city of Marathon, Florida) in the Middle Keys to Little Duck Key in the Lower Keys. Among the longest bridges in existence when it was built, it is one of the many bridges on US 1 in the Keys, where the road is called the Overseas Highway.

Muhyiddin insists Bersih political, threat to security

2011-07-07T20:14:00.001-07:00

A man attempts to flee a water cannon, November 10, 2007. — Reuters pic

Riot police fire tear gas at Bersih rally attendees, November 10, 2007. — Reuters pic

Muhyiddin said BN sees a trick weaved into the Bersih rally. — file pic

Muhyiddin insists Bersih political, threat to security

KUALA LUMPUR, June 25 — Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has deemed the July 9 Bersih rally as politically-motivated and a threat to national security as well as the country’s reputation.

Apart from calling in the organisers for questioning next week, police also insist they will not issue permits for at least three rallies planned on the day.

“As far as the government is concerned, we have made a decision and we think that the assembly is illegal and if the purpose is to send out a message that there are disagreements, that there are suggestions that they want to make about the rules of elections to the SPR (Election Commission), there are process and procedures for that.

“Because of that, we think the rationale given by Bersih to have the rally is not relevant. That’s why we say this rally is politically-motivated,” the deputy prime minister told reporters after touring the booths at the GLC Open Day here at the KL Convention Centre.

Riot police fire tear gas at Bersih rally attendees, November 10, 2007. — Reuters picElection watchdog Bersih 2.0 is planning a massive rally on the day in Kuala Lumpur to push for electoral reforms, with PAS aiming to galvanise all one million of its members to take part in the assembly.

Umno Youth and right-wing group Perkasa have also promised to carry out separate rallies to rival Bersih’s.

Today, Muhyiddin defended the counter rallies and said it was “normal” to have counter groups to any movement.

“Whether it is right or wrong, that is up to our interpretations, but we see this as something that can erupt situations that will not benefit the country, that will ruin the country’s image internationally, in the context of our hard work to develop the nation, attract investors, build our image globally as a peaceful and developed country,” he said.

Muhyiddin acknowledged Umno Youth’s pledge to rally but reiterated the prime minister’s remarks that the authorities have the right to take actions against anyone who participates in the assembly that is deemed illegal.

Police have repeatedly warned they will treat the rallies as illegal assemblies.

“So we leave it to the wisdom of the Umno Youth and Barisan Nasional leaders to decide on whether that is the right move or what is the right action they should take,” he said.

Muhyiddin then claimed news coverage of the rally, if it proceeds, will be used to falsely depict Malaysia as being in a state of unrest.

A man attempts to flee a water cannon, November 10, 2007. — Reuters pic“We in Malaysia know that after decades, that is not our culture. So I know their trick. We are not stupid, we are also experts in politics and understand their bad intentions.

“So this has bad intentions. They did it on purpose so the people will be in fear and there will be eruption of unwanted incidents and internationally, Malaysia will be seen as a country that is unsafe, tourists will stop coming, investors will not invest because of the unrest, that is their intention,” he said.

The first Bersih rally in 2007 saw up to 50,000 people take to the streets of Kuala Lumpur before they were dispersed by police armed with tear gas and water cannons.

The demonstration has been partly credited for Pakatan Rakyat’s record gains in Election 2008, where the opposition pact swept to power in five states and won 82 parliamentary seats.
http://malaysiansmustknowthetruth.blogspot.com/2011/06/muhyiddin-insists-bersih-political.html

Oh Shit I am 40 years old!

2011-06-27T01:28:00.001-07:00

Smart Electric Engineer

2011-06-27T01:08:00.001-07:00

Smart Electric Engineer

Three guys go down to Mexico one night, get drunk and wake up in jail. They find out that they're to be executed for their crimes but none of them can remember what they have done.

The first one is strapped in the electric chair and is asked if he has any last words. He says, "I am a priest and I believe in the almighty power of God to intervene on behalf of the innocent." They throw the switch and nothing happens; so they figure God must not want this guy to die, and let him go.

The second one is strapped in and gives his last words. "I am an attorney and I believe in the eternal power of Justice to intervene on the part of the innocent." The switch is thrown and again nothing happens.

Figuring the law is on this guy's side, they let him go.

The last one is strapped in and say's "I'm an electrical engineer, and I'll tell you right now, you'll never electrocute anybody if you don't connect those two wires." God rest his soul.

Women Without Kids Up 80 Percent From 30 Years Ago

2011-06-24T22:58:00.000-07:00

Women Without Kids Up 80 Percent From 30 Years Ago

The number of American women without children has risen to an all-time high of 1 in 5, a jump since the 1970s when 1 in 10 women ended their childbearing years without having a baby, according to the Pew Research Center.
About 1.9 million women aged 40-44—or 18 percent—were childless in 2008, an 80 percent increase since 1976, when just 580,000—10 percent of those in that age bracket—had never given birth, the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey shows.
Childlessness has increased across racial and ethnic groups and most education levels, but has dropped among women with advanced degrees in the past decade, according to the research.
Part of the reason for the rise in the number of childless women is an overall pattern toward delaying marriage and having kids, the research showed. Experts say that a drop in societal pressure to be a parent is also responsible for the trend, along with an increase in career opportunities and an improvement in birth control options and effectiveness.
"People put off getting pregnant," said women's health expert Dr. Laura Corio, a member of AOL Health's Medical Advisory Board. "Even when they're married they're putting off getting pregnant. Then they wake up one day and they're 40 and they want to have a child. It's like, hello?"
Explanations for the trend vary, but for some, the reason behind delaying parenting is a simple joie de vivre.
"They're freer. People are enjoying their lives: they're traveling, shopping, eating out," Corio told AOL Health. "Putting a baby into the situation is going to change everything."
Though the most educated women are still among those most likely to never give birth, there was a 31 percent decline in those aged 40-44 with master's, doctoral or professional degrees who had not had babies between 1994 and 2008, when 24 percent of women in that category were childless.
The data represents combined statistics from 2006 and 2008 (referred to as 2008 in the study) and from 1992 and 1994 (referred to as 1994).
White women remain the most likely not to have had a child, but the childless rates have grown more quickly for blacks, Hispanics and Asians over the past decade, according to the figures.
Never-married women still had the highest incidence of childlessness, though those rates also have declined over the past 10 years. By comparison, the childless rates have increased for those who are married or were at one time referred to as the "ever-marrieds."
"A lot of women can't find someone, or they're very picky or very educated," Corio said. "Contraception is also better. A lot of pregnancies in the past may have been accidents where they decided to keep the baby. It's also money - they think, we're not in the financial situation [to have children]."
Among the women aged 40 to 44 without children, the number of those who didn't want to have children equaled the number of those who did but weren't able to conceive, according to figures from the National Survey of Family Growth.
In 2003, about 6 percent of women in that age group were voluntarily childless, 6 percent were involuntarily childless and 2 percent didn't have children but wanted them in the future.
Along with the population changes have come shifts in attitude, with public opinion showing more acceptance of women without children, Pew Research reported. Most adults - 59 percent in 2002 - said they disagree with the statement that people who don't have kids "lead empty lives," compared to only 39 percent who didn't agree with the statement in 1988.
Similarly, a 2007 Pew survey showed that 41 percent of adults believe children are important for a successful marriage, down from 65 percent who expressed the same views in 1990.
About 46 percent of people said the trend has no bearing on society, according to a 2009 Pew survey, but 38 percent said it was bad for society -- up from 29 percent in 2007.

The End of the World and 2012

2011-06-21T23:28:00.001-07:00

The End of the World and 2012 | Terrence McKenna and Timewave Zero

December 21, 2012 is a date that has gained much interest and speculation as it's time draws near. As with the Y2K apprehension, there are those readying themselves for the possibility of the world as we know it coming to an end. A recent movie has depicted what could possibly happen, and there are message boards all over the internet buzzing about the subject. The question on many people's minds is... did the ancient Mayan civilization predict the end of the world using a long count calendar? More importantly, how accurate is the date?

Many scientists and even present day Mayan scholars are of the belief that the calendar ending in 2012 is not a prediction of the end of time. Information on the teachings of ancient Mayans are difficult to find and show that there was much disagreement on what the date itself meant. Whether it is the end of the world, or simply an end of one cycle and the beginning of another... it has generated much discussion in the last several years. However, it is not only in this decade that there has been discussion on this date... and one man believed he found a theory that supported this prediction in the mid-1970's.
Terrence Kemp McKenna

Terrence Kemp McKenna could be described as a writer and philosopher, although his interests and studies covered many areas. He is often called the "Timothy Leary for the nineties"... even by Leary himself. He experimented frequently with hallucinogenic substances from the time he was a teenager, feeling that the natural chemicals opened the mind to many ideas. A trip to the Amazon with his brother Dennis (a trip where they hoped to find a plant which produced dimethyltryptamine, another hallucinogenic) instead led him to discover the properties of Psilocybe cubensis, or the "magic mushroom" which grew in abundance.

McKenna agreed to become part of an experiment while he was there in taking this substance to see how far the expanses of his mind could be opened. He described being in perfect communication with the divine source of knowledge and enlightenment (known to him as the Source, or by the Greek name, Logos). This experience prompted him to study the ancient philosophies of the King Wen sequence of the IChing and to develop some very controversial theories from it. His first book, "The Invisible Landscape... Mind Hallucinogens and the IChing", written in 1975, was inspired by these readings and experiences. One of these theories discussed is the Novelty theory.

Sponsor Message:

In this particular context, novelty means new. Throughout the thousands of years of this planet's existence, there have been periods of time where new concepts and natural occurrences happened... with both positive and negative results. In studying the King Wen sequence of binary lines that were broken and solid (yin and yang respectively), Kemp concluded that the universe itself existed to produce new things as evolution continued. He graphed this over time to show that a geometric pattern emerged..much like the pattern in the King Wen sequence. The new happenings would ebb and flow and the universe continued. This graph resulted in what Kemp called "timewave zero". It shows time points for events in history that were important, although it does not show where they take place at.

Events such as the discovery of fire and how to use it, creating weaponry for defense, natural disasters, creating machinery to hasten work times, devastating illnesses (such as the Black Plague), higher technology... all fell into a pattern, according to this graph. Kemp and his colleagues took it a step further... taking this graph into the future. In doing so, he found that the speed at which new ideas and concepts comes to a curve... in 2012. The exact date he landed on is up for debate. It is said that he used the bombing of Hiroshima as a point of reference, and he actually hit November of 2012 by his graph's standards... moving it up only after hearing of the Mayan calendar. However, he insisted that the date was December 21, 2012... the same date that the Mayan calendar ends... and he insisted he had no previous knowledge of the Mayan Long Count Calendar at the time.

Psilocybe cubensis So what could it all mean? Have we gained so much in technological advances that we are dooming ourselves? Does it simply show that there will come a point where technology will come to a head... and we will have to become completely dependent on it? Was it that Kemp was on hallucinogens and was just "seeing things"... or do these very hallucinogens open the mind to where it can actually be seen and make sense? According to Kemp's "Stoned Ape" theory, psilocybin was once part of evolving man's daily diet. In consuming it, evolution began to take place because psilocybin opened the mind up to do so. By this theory, when psilocybin was removed as a food source... mankind stopped evolving. Of course there are those that will say Kemp was biased, as he was a strong supporter of the use of hallucinogens... but does being biased mean he was wrong?

What is interesting about McKenna's novelty and timewave zero theory is that it does show the points in time that showed advancement and catastrophic events. Periods such as the Islamic Golden Age, The Crusades, the Renaissance, the Black Plague, the world wars... all can be seen on the graph. If the pattern continues, it shows a distinctive curve in the time of 2012... meaning from that point, it progresses to infinity. Whether that means an end to the world or a progression into further evolution is up for debate... at least until December 21, 2012!

McKenna passed away from brain cancer April 3, 2000 at the age of fifty-three. There are many that will argue that any theory conceived while under the influence of a mind-altering drug has too many holes from it's inception... however in looking at the King Wen Sequence and the timewave zero graph, it does start to add up. It is true that psilocybin is a psychedelic, however that does not in and of itself disprove the theory. The fact is, when looking at the ebb and flow of new concepts, technology and disasters both natural and man-made, it is not hard to fathom that it is coming to a head... and it is not beyond possibility that 2012 is the year this will happen.

Not every doomsday prediction ends on that date... but many do. The ones that predict other dates... such as Sir Isaac Newton predicting the date as falling in the year 2060... show that this century promises to bring massive change to the world as we know it. The question is... are we ready?

Written by Angela Sangster, Copyright 2010 TrueGhostTales.com

http://www.trueghosttales.com/2012-end-world-terrence-kemp-mckenna.php

Revising 60s Hits

2011-06-17T02:10:00.000-07:00

Revising 60s Hits

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some of the artists of the 60s are revising their hits with new lyrics to accommodate aging baby boomers. They include:

Bobby Darin:
Splish, Splash, I Was Havin' a Flash

Herman's Hermits:
Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Walker

Ringo Starr:
I Get By With a Little Help From Depends

The Bee Gees:
How Can You Mend a Broken Hip

Roberta Flack:
The First Time Ever I Forgot Your Face

Johnny Nash:
I Can't See Clearly Now

Paul Simon:
Fifty Ways to Lose Your Liver

The Commodores:
Once, Twice, Three Times to the Bathroom

Marvin Gaye:
Heard It Through the Grape Nuts

Procol Harem:
A Whiter Shade of Hair

Leo Sayer:
You Make Me Feel Like Napping

The Temptations:
Papa's Got a Kidney Stone

Abba:
Denture Queen

Tony Orlando:
Knock 3 Times On The Ceiling If You Hear Me Fall

Helen Reddy:
I Am Woman, Hear Me Snore

Leslie Gore:
It's My Procedure, and I'll Cry If I Want To

And last but not least:

Willie Nelson:
On the Commode Again

Most Expensive Spice in the World

2011-06-16T00:37:00.001-07:00

Most Expensive Spice in the World
Saffron - the most expensive spice

Birthplace of this spice is India, extract it from the stamens of flowers Crocus sativus. Sell saffron in powder form and in-kind (brown thread). 1 kg of saffron worth 6,000 dollars. This is due to the fact that the collection is a manual process, and to obtain 0.5 kg of saffron to 35-100 thousand flowers in bloom on each of these three stamens.

Biggest Boar

2011-06-15T19:52:00.000-07:00

Louis Vuitton pitches handbags in museum

2011-06-12T23:57:00.001-07:00

Visitors look at items on display at the Louis Vuitton Voyages exhibition in the national museum of China in Beijing, to mark the French fashion house's 20th year in China. The exhibition features hundreds of canvas trunks and leather handbags dating back to the 1860s. (AFP)

Louis Vuitton pitches handbags in museum
By AFP
Published Monday, June 06, 2011

Louis Vuitton may have lost prime advertising space in China when its giant suitcase was torn down in Shanghai, but it is now wooing customers in the hallowed halls of the national museum in Beijing.

The Louis Vuitton Voyages exhibition, marking the French fashion house's 20th year in China - the world's fastest growing market for luxury goods - features hundreds of canvas trunks and leather handbags dating back to the 1860s.

Louis Vuitton is already the brand of choice for many of China's increasingly wealthy middle class and analysts said the show in the heart of the capital would help cement its dominance of the country's high-end market.

The display also reflects a growing trend in China for luxury products to use museums, art galleries and film festivals to promote their brands in the hope of appealing to more sophisticated and well-educated consumers, they said.

Earlier this year, US designer Diane von Furstenberg showed off a selection of her creations at an exhibition called Journey of a Dress in Beijing's trendy 798 art district.

The Louis Vuitton show "is quite a clever thing to do because it is a very premium and prestigious setting", Sam Mulligan, director of Data Driven Marketing Asia in Shanghai, told AFP.

"It suggests history and longevity and being in the business for a long time - all of these things are important in this market."

Shaun Rein, managing director of China Market Research Group, agreed.

"Louis Vuitton consumers are very interested in buying a brand with long-term heritage... and I think that's why Louis Vuitton is very smart to partner with the museum," Rein told AFP.

The newly refurbished National Museum located across from Tiananmen Square hopes the exhibition will "inspire the domestic cultural design industry", the People's Daily website quoted museum deputy director Chen Lusheng as saying.

The glitzy show of trunks and handbags is in stark contrast to the centuries-old bronze vessels and porcelain vases on display in other parts of the museum.

Louis Vuitton, whose products have been promoted by celebrities from former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to U2 singer Bono, is no doubt hoping to boost its position in China's booming luxury sector.

China is forecast to be the world's top buyer of luxury products such as handbags, watches, shoes and clothes by 2015, according to consultancy PriceWaterhouseCoopers - but analysts say brand loyalty can be fickle.

"Right now Louis Vuitton is the dominant player but they are going to have massive problems in the coming five years" as people start to buy their second or third luxury handbag, said Rein.

"After you've bought Louis Vuitton or Gucci, do you go back to Louis Vuitton and Gucci or do you try something different?"

Despite its popularity among well-heeled consumers, Louis Vuitton has run into problems with the authorities.

Workers began dismantling Louis Vuitton's 20-metre-high suitcase in a busy shopping district of Shanghai last month after the government ruled it breached size restrictions for outdoor advertising, state media said.

Huang Chen - the proud owner of two Louis Vuitton handbags - said the exhibition in Beijing would help Chinese consumers better understand the history of the luxury designer and boost sales.

"Young people will understand why it became a major brand," Huang told AFP as she toured the show with her 18-year-old daughter.

"The quality is good and they are useful. It is more convenient to use than other bags."

But the People's Daily - the ruling Communist Party's mouthpiece - has criticised the museum for holding the exhibition, saying it was "too commercial".

"Shouldn't the National Museum raise its threshold and make its selection stricter when introducing an exhibition?" the newspaper said on its website.

But student Wang Jing, a confessed Louis Vuitton lover, gave the exhibition a big thumbs-up.

"I like the general feel (of the handbags). Even though it is simple on the outside, the inside is detailed. I really want to buy one," she told AFP.

Once she saves the money, that is.
http://www.emirates247.com/offbeat/louis-vuitton-pitches-handbags-in-museum-2011-06-06-1.401220

Cyndi Lauper - Electra Woman & Dyna Girl ...and others

2011-06-12T23:31:00.000-07:00

Cyndi Lauper - Electra Woman & Dyna Girl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiPY4KdZ2eQ&feature=player_embedded

Sexy Vulcan Women of Star Trek - T'Pol and Saavik
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPx-1LhMm5A&feature=player_embedded

Final Six Minutes of the Six Feet Under Series Finale
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWdYMuo3_B4&feature=player_embedded

waste lands

2011-06-12T23:26:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNlwh8vT2NU

The Bad Effects You Can Experience From Acid Rain

2011-06-12T23:24:00.001-07:00

The Bad Effects You Can Experience From Acid Rain

Rain water is said to be rich in minerals and it contains elements that are beneficial for the skin as well as the hair. However, with the pollution that is getting worse every day, and this increases the possibility of acid rain that can destroy vegetation, water bodies and can harm animals and human beings. Rain water at the present time is contaminated. It has been mixed with toxic substances that can cause soil erosion, cause skin diseases and can destroy even an entire forest. So why is acid rain considered to be very harmful to all living things? What could be its effects?

Too much nitrogen oxide, carbon, and ammonium can mix with water droplets in the atmosphere causing the water’s pH level to go below 7 making it acidic. This is the cause of acid rain. Acidic water can be harmful to all living things on the ground.

This is harmful to almost everything on the ground and can affect vegetation. The acid water will go to the ground and is absorbed by the plants, causing the plants to die. Microorganisms necessary for biochemical processes can be damaged as well as the waxy coat of plants making them susceptible to diseases.

Animals can also fall victims of acid rain. It can make harmful elements like mercury to leak to the ground and be washed down the rivers, lakes and seas. This can affect the marine life. Not only that fishes and other aquatic animals will die but humans can also get affected by eating fish with high harmful element deposits in its stomach.

Skin problems like irritation, burns and blisters are some of the result of acid rain in humans. If the acid content in the rain is so high, it may burn the skin. Doctors also stated that it increases the risk of skin cancer. Also, humans eating vegetation and animals with harmful chemicals can bring about health problems.

These are all about acid rain and its effects. This polluted rain can make metals corrode and can transform beautiful buildings and monuments to ugly ones. It is best to do what we can to avoid the occurrence of acid rain and save our mother earth.

http://www.naturmeds.info/the-bad-effects-you-can-experience-from-acid-rain.html

Anti-Phishing Guidelines

2011-05-24T00:54:00.000-07:00

Anti-Phishing Guidelines (All Time Favourites)

Always type the URL directly on the browser software.
Never click the link from the email to a website to update your login, personal or financial information.

Protect your Free Email account even if its free but used to communicate with friends, business and login into sensitive account. Apply similiar anti-phishing rules and do not lose the password.
Always install and update your anti-virus software to prevent hijacking of your browser software.
Never let anyone know your computer password. You will never know how the keylogger software can get into your system. Poor password management, accidents or eavesdropping by the social engineers will get your PC setup for key logging.
Never open any attachment from strangers, including extensions such as PDF, PNG, JPG, DOC,XLS, etc.
Some sites will tell you how to check the URL, check the grammar, or not to believe in the email address used in the email, etc.

But if you have the time to do the above, wouldn't it be more convenient and less strenuous to simply Type in the URL of the site you wish to go?

http://www.hotscams.com/articles/anti-scam-guide.html

419 Scams

2011-05-24T00:50:00.000-07:00

419 Scams
419 Scams are also known as Advance fee Scams or Advance Fee Fraud. The most popular variant of such scams are the Inheritance Scam and Lottery Scam. The Inheritance Scam is covered in this category, while Lottery Scam is covered in a category on its own.

In general, the scammer in a 419 scam makes up a story about a large sum of money (fake) that does not exist in reality.

In the case of Inheritance Scam (which is what this category will cover), someone rich has died leaving behind a huge sum of money. The scammer will request to transfer the money out of their country with your help, e.g. coming forward to pretend to be the next of kin.

In the process, they will request money from you first to cover some legal fees, bank fees, transfer fees, or whatever they can think of. This fee is called the "Advance Fee" and hence the scam was known as Advance Fee Scam. After you have paid the fees, you can forget about seeing that large sum of fake cash.

The scammers will disappear with your money, and may even use your personal information for identity theft. This is commonly known as "Nigerian Advance Fee Fraud (419)".

Some tips about 419 scams:

1) The sender's email address can be fake. The scammer can send the mails out using any email address via an anonymous mail server.

2) The names used in the email are fake - most of the time. There is no need to inform the police about the names, because they need more than that to find the real person behind all these.

3) The whole story is fake, including the money, dead people (if any), etc.

4) If you still insist on going ahead to try it out, please bewarned "Never Pay Money to Get Money (prize)". We assure you that at some point in the communication process, they will ask you for money. In some cases, they will also ask you for personal identity information, which can be used to scam the bank to provide them with you bank account details.

5) If you received a check from a stranger for any funny reasons, it might be a fake check. When you bank in a fake check, the bank will clear the check and deposit the cash into your account within 3 days. After that, the scammer will ask you to send the money to them. When the bank finds out that the check is fake after about 10 days, they will ask you to return the money.

Best Defense:

1) Do not respond to such emails (delete them!)

2) If you sent any sensitive personal information (e.g. Bank Acct. No., National ID Card no., Birthday, etc) to the scammers, contact the bank immediately so that they are aware of the fraud. If this is a credit card, contact your bank to terminate the card and issue a new one.

3) Inform your friends and family members, esp. the elderly, about such scams. It is too late to tell them if they have already been scammed. Prevention is better because there is no cure!

http://www.hotscams.com/categories/419-scams.html

Genesis 2.2 Speakers - FERRARI of Speakers

2011-05-21T22:41:00.001-07:00

This one is being described as “the Ferrari of Speakers”. The Genesis 2.2 speakers are 6.5 feet high, have a suite of 1-inch speakers down the front and four 8-inch woofers at the back. They come with a servo-controlled bass amplifier. The speakers weigh 1,400 pounds and come with a suspension system and spikes to keep it rooted to the floor.

Genesis 2.2 Speakers

President of United States of America Barack Obama has also advised Facebook users

2011-05-21T21:16:00.000-07:00

President of United States of America Barack Obama has also advised Facebook users to be careful about what they post on their Facebook profiles. Important video to watch. Take a look..

Facebook : Thinking before post ( A friend of a friend may be an enemy...)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5XZp-Uyjsg&feature=player_embedded

* Adult Truths *

2011-05-19T23:01:00.000-07:00

*** Adult Truths ***

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger..

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on # 5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

10. Bad decisions make good stories.

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report that I swear I did not make any changes to.

14. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

15. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

16. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.

17. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

18. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

19. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?

20. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!

21. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

22. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

23. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time.

24. The first testicular guard, the "Cup," was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. That means it only took 100 years for men to realize that their brain is also important.

Ladies.....Quit Laughing.

World Tallest Dog

2011-05-19T20:22:00.000-07:00

Standing at nearly 43 inches tall from paw to shoulder and weighing a staggering 245lbs could this be the world's new tallest dog? Pictured here in the parks of Tuscon, Arizona, George, a four-year-old blue great Dane, looks more like a miniature horse than a dog.
'Giant George' and owner Dave Nasser share a couch together: The four-year-old blue great Dane, weighs a staggering 245lbs and measures almost 43ins at the shoulder. The gentle giant, who measures 7ft 3ins from nose to tail, could be a prime contender to take the title from the former record holder, Gibson, a harlequin Great Dane who passed away from cancer last August.

Now George's owners, David and Christine Nasser, are awaiting confirmation from Guinness World Records to see if he has achieved the lofty heights.

'He's 42.625 inches at the shoulder,' said David. 'He's very very unique.'

According to David, George consumes 110lbs of food every month, and sleeps alone in his own Queen Size Bed. David and Christine raised George from when he was 7 weeks old, but never expected him to grow so big.

Magnificent: George measures more than 7ft from nose to tail and tucks away 110lbs of food every month.

With size comes problems: The giant great Dane barely fits in the back of his owner's SUV

The couple eventually had to move their aptly named dog out of their king sized bed, when he grew too large for the three of them to share the same sheets.

Dr. William Wallace of the Buena Pet Clinic in Tucson, who witnessed the documentation necessary for the Guinness record, said: 'In my 45 years of experience working with giant breed dogs, without question, George is the tallest dog I have ever seen.'

David is currently rushing to get that necessary documentation into Guinness as other dog owners are coming forth claiming the record. As they wait for the results to come through, George is busy occupying himself with his new found stardom and even has a Facebook fan page and Twitter accounts for his adorning fans. It appears as though the sky's the limit for this mammoth hound.

Paws for thought: George's giant feet dwarf his owner Dave Nassar's hand. Last August the worldís tallest dog, Gibson, a harlequin Great Dane, passed away from cancer

Making Beautiful Flowers From Soap

2011-05-04T23:49:00.000-07:00

Making Beautiful Flowers From Soap

This is a skill passed down from generation to generation in several small villages in Thailand . Thousands of tourists come to these places to buy such an unusual soap.
However, I doubt very much that someone could use it for its intended purpose, for example, wash your hands.

SMALLEST PETROL ENGINE

2011-04-19T21:22:00.000-07:00

SMALLEST PETROL ENGINE

SCIENTISTS have built the smallest petrol engine, tiny enough to power a WATCH.

The mini-motor, which runs for two years on a single squirt of lighter fuel, is set to revolutionize world technology. It produces 700 times more energy than a conventional battery despite being less than a centimetre long, not even half an inch. It could be used to operate laptops and mobile phones for months doing away with the need for recharging. Experts believe it could be phasing out batteries in such items within just six years.

The engine, that is minute enough to be balanced on a fingertip, has been produced by engineers at the University of Birmingham. Dr. Kyle Jiang, lead investigator from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, said: "We are looking at an industrial revolution happening in peoples' pockets. The breakthrough is an enormous step forward. Devices which need recharging or new batteries are a problem, but in six years will be a thing of the past."

Other applications for the engine could include medical and military uses, such as running heart pacemakers or mini reconnaissance robots. At present, charging an ordinary battery to deliver one unit of energy involves putting 2,000 units into it. The little engine, because energy is produced locally, is far more effective. One of the main problems faced by engineers who have tried to produce micro motors in the past has been the levels of heat produced. The engines got so hot they burned themselves out and could not be re-used.

The Birmingham team overcame this by using heat-resistant materials such as ceramic and silicon carbide. Professor Graham Davies, head of the university's engineering school, said: "We've brought together all of the engineering disciplines, materials, chemical engineering, civil engineering, and mechanical engineering."

Ming Dynasty mummy in China

2011-04-13T19:54:00.000-07:00

Ming Dynasty mummy in China

Archaeologists have discovered a well-preserved, 700-year-old, body of a woman inside a stone coffin in China

Credit Card scam in Australia

2011-04-13T19:52:00.000-07:00

Credit Card scam in Australia - PLEASE READ

http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/1838411/2098813694/name/Credit

BOEING 797

2011-04-11T00:09:00.001-07:00

BOEING 797

Boeing is preparing a 1000 passenger jet that could reshape the Air travel industry for the next 100 years.. The radical Blended Wing design has been developed by Boeing in cooperation with the NASA Langley Research Centre. The mammoth plane will have a wing span of 265 feet compared to the 747's 211 feet, and is designed to fit within the newly created terminals used for the 555 seat Airbus A380, which is 262 feet wide.

The new 797 is in direct response to the Airbus A380 which has racked up 159 orders.

Boeing decide to kill its 747X stretched super jumbo in 2003 after little interest was shown by airline companies, but has continued to develop the ultimate Airbus crusher 797 for years at its Phantom Works research facility in Long Beach, Calif.

The Airbus A380 has been in the works since 1999 and has accumulated $13 billion in development costs, which gives Boeing a huge advantage now that Airbus has committed to the older style tubular aircraft for decades to come.

There are several big advantages to the blended wing design, the most important being the lift to drag ratio which is expected to increase by an amazing 50%, with overall weight reduced by 25%, making it an estimated 33% more efficient than the A380, and making Airbus's $13 billion dollar investment look pretty shaky.

High body rigidity is another key factor in blended wing aircraft, It reduces turbulence and creates less stress on the air frame which adds to efficiency, giving the 797 a tremendous 8800 nautical mile range with its 1000 passengers flying comfortably at mach 0.88 or 654 mph cruising speed, another advantage over the Airbus tube-and-wing designed A380's 570 mph.

The exact date for introduction is unclear, yet the battle lines are clearly drawn in the high-stakes war for future civilian air supremacy.

New Concept Cars 2010

2011-04-03T21:43:00.000-07:00

Mercedes-Benz Biome Concept
The Mercedes-Benz Biome is a futuristic ultralight concept that uses advanced bio-technologies to increase eco-efficiency. It was created by Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Center California for the 2010 LA Design Challenge.

The Mercedes-Benz Biome makes use of a hypothetical bio-technology called Symbiosis – "a system in which the vehicle becomes part of the ecosystem like the leaves of a tree."

The vehicle is grown in the company's Nursery through proprietary DNA. The customer's specific desires are genetically engineered into the Star and the vehicle grows when this combines with the Seed capsule.

The interior of the Biome grows from Mercedes-Benz DNA in the front star, when it fuses with the seed. The exterior grows from the rear star, creating the shape. The wheels are grown separately from four unique seeds.

The vehicle is capable of collecting energy from the sun and storing it in chemical bonds, in the form of a fluid called BioNectar4534.

Thanks to another technology trees can be retrofitted with receptors that can harvest their excess solar energy into BN4534.

This creates an incentive to plant more trees and collect more energy, while also helping the ecosystem. The vehicle can be composted after its lifespan is complete or used as building material.

Most of the energy used to power the vehicles is stored in a lightweight grown material called BioFibre. It is much lighter than metal or synthetic composites, but stronger than steel when mature.

Thanks to its technology, the Biome Concept releases pure oxygen into the environment.
Design Team:

* Hubert Lee
* Christopher Rhoades
* Nicolas Garfias
* Alan Barrington
* Daniel Kim
* Benjamin Messmer
* Jack Luttig

(Source: LA Auto Show)

Four Wheeler Magazine's Project Toyota 4Runner Backcountry is a special version focused on exploration. The 4Runner was lifted approximately 2.5-inches, using Old Manu Emu (OME) suspension system with heavy-duty springs and special shock absorbers.

The P285/70R17 Falken WildPeak A/T tires are mounted to 17×8 Teflon-coated ATX Mojave wheels.
(Source: Toyota)

Nissan has revealed the first image of the Murano CrossCabriolet, an open verion of the Japanese crossover that will make its debut at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show and will go on sale in 2011.
(Source: Nissan)

Audi e-tron Spyder Concept: design process
Audi has released an official design story of its e-tron Spyder Concept, presented at the 2010 Paris Motor Show. The material also includes photos from the design and prototype construction process.

Presented as a show car at the last Paris Show, the Sesto Elemento (Sixth Element in Italian) is powered by a 5.2 liter V10 engine with 570hp and thanks to the extensive use of carbon fiber has a total weight of just 999 kg.

The extreme performances include a 0-100 km/h time of 2.5 seconds.

The projected price for the production version is about €2.5 million / $3.4 million.

(Source: AutoMoto.fr via Autoblog.it)

Train Ride in Bangladesh

2011-04-03T01:20:00.000-07:00

Train Ride in Bangladesh

Love Manchester United, backs Filled Tattoos "Red Devils"

2011-04-02T23:51:00.000-07:00

Love Manchester United, backs Filled Tattoos "Red Devils"
John Retter really shows his love for Manchester United (MU). Because of his love, he fulfilled his back with a tattoo bearing the "Red Devils".

To get the best tattoo on her back that, Retter willing to pay 1000 pounds (about USD 14.4 million). That is the fee that he gave to the famous tattoo artist, Tony Gallon.

According to Tony Gallon told The Sun, "That tattoo symbols biggest football club I ever made."

The process of making a tattoo was not as easy as imagined. It took 16 hours to finalize until perfect. So as not saturated, during the tattoo, Retter reading biographies United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson. Really love MU.

Retter claimed never to miss the game MU, even through the television. Residents Paignton, Devon, southwest England, said, "This symbol is brilliant with lots of history. I am proud to have a tattoo like this," said Retter.

About the long feud between Manchester United and Liverpool, he said, "As the sun rises, I'll undress and sunbathe on the beach and would have many supporters who condemned the opponent."

http://soccesstyle.blogspot.com/2011/03/love-manchester-united-backs-filled.html

Obese Ohio Man Dies After Sitting in Chair for Two Years

2011-04-02T23:27:00.000-07:00

Obese Ohio Man Dies After Sitting in Chair for Two Years

Paramedics in Ohio received a call from a girl who was in need of help as her morbidly obese boyfriend went unconscious in his chair.

When the paramedics reached that place, the man was found welded to the chair and they were told that he was in his chair for last two years.

In order to remove him, a hole had to be made through a wall of the house and then he was removed from the recliner but he died due to his critical condition after being taken to the hospital.

Paramedics reported it to be the worst thing they had ever responded to as the man was found sitting on his own feces and urine and was covered in maggots. It was revealed later that the man had refused to leave his chair for last two years and his girlfriend was giving him food and soft drinks on the chair only.

Health official Jim Chase said, “The chair was very filthy, a lot of odor to it. Going in the house, the house was not clean. The living room where the man lived in his chair was very filthy, very deplorable. It's unbelievable that somebody lives in conditions like that”.

http://topnews.us/content/237802-obese-man-died-after-being-welded-his-chair-two-years

Nuclear crisis shifts German politics

2011-03-30T21:43:00.000-07:00

Nuclear crisis shifts German politics
By Jack Ewing, NYT

The elections in Baden-Wurttemberg on Sunday were transformed by the events in Japan.

An election in a comfortable and prosperous corner of Germany, half a world away from a radiation-spewing nuclear plant and ruined villages in northeastern Japan, was a political tsunami of sorts for Europe’s most populous country and its most powerful economy.

Economists have played down the effects that the earthquake and nuclear emergency in Japan will have on global growth. But the elections in the state of Baden-Württemberg on Sunday were transformed by the events there. After a contest that became largely a referendum on atomic energy, voters swept aside the Christian Democratic Union, the party of Chancellor Angela Merkel that had governed the state for 58 years, and set the stage for the first German state government led by the Green Party, longtime opponents of nuclear power.

The vote is all the more astonishing because Baden-Württemberg is a conservative, wealthy state that exemplifies both the post-1945 birth, and the renaissance of Germany’s export-driven economy. Stuttgart, the state capital, is the headquarters of Daimler and Porsche. The medium-sized firms that are the backbone of German export success flourish, while the Black Forest embodies a very German reverence of nature.

Curb on speed

Now the Greens, led by a former Communist, will be in charge. They want speed limits on the autobahns where those Daimlers and Porsches roam free. Their party platform refers to cars as “the most inefficient form of mobility.”

The most direct affect of the vote on Sunday will be to push Germany away from nuclear power, which today provides 23 per cent of its electricity.

Merkel, whose belated conversion to nuclear power critic did not win over voters, conceded as much on Monday. “In view of the incident in Japan and the shape of things in Fukushima, we simply can’t go back to business as usual,” she said in Berlin.

The vote signalled that the categories that have defined politics here since World War II have eroded. For decades, the center-right Christian Democrats and the center-left Social Democrats dominated, with the Free Democrats playing a supporting role.

The Greens emerged in the 1970s, from an era of protest untypical of orderly West Germany. Now the Greens are in a position to lead a German state for the first time — with the Social Democrats as minority partner.

The Greens espouse many political positions that would be considered left-wing in America, but behind the progressive image lurks a strain of conservativism that was key to success on Sunday. The party has in effect become a new political entity, liberal on social issues but wary of much of modern life.

The Green Party is skeptical of digital technology and its potential to be used to gather information on citizens. Its emphasis on preserving the environment was in step with conservatives’ desire to preserve the traditional character of Baden-Württemberg, exemplified by vine-covered hillsides and tidy Black Forest villages.

The party also channeled popular outrage against a costly expansion of the Stuttgart train station that had been supported by the Christian Democrats.

Winfried Kretschmann, the 62-year old former teacher who leads the state’s Green party, was a communist organiser as a university student but said on his website that his radicalism back then was a “fundamental political error.” Instead, Kretschmann emphasised his Catholic roots.

The website of the Green Party reassured voters that its leaders do not plan to tamper with the region’s economic success, built around big manufacturers like Bosch and mid-sized engineering and machinery companies. At 4.5 per cent, Baden-Württemberg has the lowest jobless rate in Germany.

That contrasts with other protest parties in Europe, many of which lean rightward, embrace nationalism and mistrust immigrants.

Kretschmann will face difficult tests of party principles against economic reality, choices that may determine whether the vote in Baden-Württemberg marks a permanent political shift or just a short-term reaction to catastrophic events far away.

The state is 45 per cent owner of Energie Baden-Württemberg, or EnBW, which generates about half of its electricity from nuclear power plants. In its election platform, the Green party promised to shut down one plant immediately and the other in 2012. Both have been shut down temporarily because of a moratorium declared by Merkel after the disaster in Japan.

It is unclear where the replacement power will come from, said Georg Zachmann, an energy specialist at Bruegel, a research organisation in Brussels.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/150120/nuclear-crisis-shifts-german-politics.html

Obama Shakes Hands With Libya's Qaddafi

2011-03-27T22:44:00.001-07:00

Obama Shakes Hands With Libya's Qaddafi

Published July 09, 2009
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/09/obama-shakes-hands-libyas-qaddafi/

Singapore’s super techie taxi driver

2011-03-16T01:13:00.000-07:00

Singapore's super-duper Wi-FI, 3G taxi.

Singapore’s super techie taxi driver
By Xavier Lur
Thu, Mar 10, 2011

Imagine surfing the web on a laptop, charging your mobile phone, or even printing important documents — all during your taxi ride from home to work. This fascination is however, a reality on Mohammed Rafee Bin Naina Mohd's Comfort DelGro taxi.

The 49-year-old tech-savvy cabbie has installed a black and white printer that allows passengers to print their documents on the go, a VoIP phone that can be used to call friends or spouse anywhere in the world for free, and a digital video camera mounted next to his rear mirror.

Need to surf the web, but don't have a mobile data plan? No worries. His taxi is also equipped with a laptop with Wi-Fi connection so commuters can easily fire up Yahoo! Singapore on the browser and catch up with the latest news.

There are even two 30-volt power points and a host of phone chargers for passengers to charge their electronic devices. This is particularly useful for those who need a quick boost in their phone's battery life.

It's uncommon for taxi drivers here to install GPS systems in their cab, but Rafee's cab has one to help him home in on deserted locations he is unsure of.

The total amount of money he has spent so far on the equipment is $2,000. He doesn't charge his passengers for using his equipment, but he receives at least $10 in tips every day.

"I have regulars too, instead of driving around and looking for passengers for 10 hours, I rather have one passenger who's sitting inside for ten hours," Rafee told CNNGo. "I find it more worthwhile to have more regulars. So I don't charge them anything for my services."

38-year-old Comfort DelGro taxi driver Tan Beng Huat, however, thinks installing such electronic devices is redundant and could pose a potential target for car thieves.

"Singapore is a small country, thus travelling from destination A to B requires an average of just 10-15 minutes. I don't see a need to put in place such devices in my taxi," he told Yahoo! Singapore.

In New York, taxis are equipped with touch-screen monitors that let passengers watch TV, pay with credit cards and even check their location on GPS.

Meanwhile, Japanese mobile phone giant NTT Docomo and Tokyo taxi service Tokyo Musen have partnered to provide free Wi-Fi connectivity in taxis. And 100 of these taxis also have PSP Go devices on board so that passengers can indulge in games while on their ride.

The writer is a 16-year-old technology blogger who loves social media and gadgets. He is also Singapore's No. 1 Twitter user, with 180,000 followers.

Uzumaki whirlpool Japan tsunami

2011-03-15T23:46:00.000-07:00

Uzumaki whirlpool Japan tsunami [HD]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FYS7ajEY3s&NR=1

Japan Tsunami Earthquake East Hachinohe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIz5dN6Pjys&feature=related

Moment of Japan earthquake caught on cameras triggering 10m tsunami http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KQ2-gTqFfA&feature=related

Japan earthquake: CCTV video of tsunami wave hitting Sendai airport
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DSSssHxm4Y&feature=related

Fresh footage of huge tsunami waves smashing town in Japan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRDpTEjumdo&feature=related

Japan Earthquake: Helicopter aerial view video of giant tsunami waves
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3AdFjklR50&feature=related

Aerial video from town closest to Japan's mega-quake epicentre
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPEWBhYGYEY&feature=related

Satellite images before & after Japan tsunami; aerial, ground video of aftermath
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PljZOj5knzo&feature=related

Video of Japan town wiped out by monster quake-tsunami
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeBqDk2YeOE&feature=related

Video of cars, ships wrecked by tsunami waves after Japan earthquake
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY2HPT7obWE&feature=related

Warning system worked but tsunami was too powerful

2011-03-15T23:26:00.000-07:00

Warning system worked but tsunami was too powerful
by Tryst Williams, Western Mail

Mar 16 2011

The devastating impact of the Japanese tsunami has highlighted the need for a review of the response to warning systems, says Professor Simon Haslett of the University of Wales

TSUNAMIS are unpredictable hazards, yet for many years geographers like myself have been attempting to educate residents of tsunami-prone areas with what to do if warned that the arrival of a tsunami is imminent.

The standard advice for coastal residents that feel an earthquake or who have been issued with a tsunami warning is to get up high. Preferably this should be interpreted as meaning get to higher ground, but on coastal lowlands the advice is to go into the upper floors of buildings.

In some countries, such as Nicaragua, the advice has even been to adopt a palm tree and climb to the top of it to get above the flow of the tsunami. Indeed, a similar tactic served one Japanese man well when he is reported to have shimmied to the top of a pole and just managed to keep his head above water as the tsunami made landfall last Friday.

One shouldn’t try to escape inland unless the ground rises quickly as tsunami can penetrate many kilometres inland on coastal lowlands travelling at the speed of a 30mph car – it’s difficult to outrun if roads are jammed with traffic or debris from any preceding earthquake. In the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 26, 2004 this advice to get up high served well in many places away from the earthquake epicentre with even hotels located on the beach surviving the tsunami strike and people who managed to get upstairs on the whole were OK; it was people who were stranded on beaches or in streets, or on coastal plains adjacent to the earthquake epicentre, such as Banda Aceh on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, that sadly made up the majority of the 250,000 victims. Friday’s magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami in Japan made most of this advice almost useless. Eyewitnesses have reported that tsunami warning sirens sounded within a minute of the earthquake, so the warning system worked well. But what were residents supposed to do in response?

The earthquake occurred at 2.46pm local time, with most adult inhabitants out at work, children in schools and colleges, and many of the elderly in their homes. At first the quake was estimated to have a magnitude of 8.8, but then through the day it rose to 8.9, and then just before I gave an interview on the 6 o’clock news on BBC News Channel it was revised upwards to magnitude 9.0 by the United States Geological Survey, which I was able to tell viewers around the world.

Due to the close proximity of the coast to the earthquake’s epicentre, within a few 10s of minutes to an hour and a half, the tsunami quickly mounted the coastal lowlands near the city of Sendai in north-east Japan. The areas worst affected included the Miyagi and Fukushima Prefectures, from Sendai in the south then north to the city of Kesennuma.

High ground is many kilometres inland in some areas in this region so the only survival tactic available to many residents was to go into the higher floors of buildings. However, the height, speed and power of the tsunami was so great that it demolished many buildings in its path. It has been estimated that the wave was up to 10m high in places and resembled a gigantic river flowing from the sea.

Each building the tsunami destroyed contributed to the debris it had armed itself with as it progressed inland from the shore. So with boats, shipping containers, cars and building debris, the tsunami effectively became a bulldozer flattening all in its path. Only a few tall buildings, such as the five-storey hospital in Shizugawa, remained standing, but even here staff evacuated patients from the lower floors up into the third floor only for the tsunami to submerge that floor and the fourth floor above. Only the fifth floor and roof top stayed above the torrent. Fleeing inland was also difficult as the tsunami apparently penetrated around 10km inland in some places.

Then as soon as the tsunami wave inundated the land it withdrew – in what is termed the backwash – back out to sea, taking with it some of the debris it collected and also people caught up in the wave. Indeed, one man was found 9km out at sea marooned on a floating rooftop. Many “before and after” photographs that are emerging on the internet clearly show that new channels have been created on the coast by the tsunami backwash draining the floodwater back into the sea.

But it may not all be over yet. The Japanese Meteorological Agency, the national organisation responsible for monitoring natural hazards, has said that there is a 70% chance of an earthquake in the magnitude of 7 or greater within the three days starting from 10am last Sunday, and a 50% within three days starting 10am today. A lethal tsunami is usually only generated by an earthquake of 7.5 magnitude or more, so unless another earthquake surpasses that then we hopefully won’t see another devastating tsunami.

What advice can coastal scientists give to residents living in such areas as north-east Japan and Banda Aceh?

Building high and sturdy refuge platforms may be an option, as have been built elsewhere, but even these may not have withstood the force of Friday’s tsunami. Scientists now need to think long and hard about how we might be able to better prepare, educate and protect people who live in coastal lowland areas like Sendai who face considerable risk from such an unstoppable tsunami.

Simon Haslett is Professor of Physical geography and Dean of the School of STEM at the University of Wales, and he is author of Coastal Systems (2008, Routledge)

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/03/16/warning-system-worked-but-tsunami-was-too-powerful-91466-28342337/

A collection of kisses

2011-03-02T22:03:00.000-08:00

Brawn GP Formula One driver Rubens Barrichello of Brazil kisses the TV camera on podium after the Italian F1 Grand Prix in Monza September 13, 2009. Barrichello won the race ahead of his team mate Jenson Button of Britian and Ferrari's driver kimi Raikkonen of Finland. (REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini) #

A couple dance during the qualifying rounds of the 7th Tango Dance World Championship in Buenos Aires, Monday, Aug. 24, 2009. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) #

A student kisses his mother on the sidelines of the making of the film "Abel" at a school being used as a movie set in Aguascalientes, Mexico, Friday, Aug. 28, 2009. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte) #

Angie Heusinger, firefighter Jonathan Croom's mother, kisses his casket after speaking during a funeral mass for her son at St. Joseph Cathedral in Buffalo, N.Y., Friday, Aug. 28, 2009. Croom was one of two Buffalo firefighters who died Monday, Aug. 24, 2009 after falling through the floor and into the basement of a burning convenience store while searching for a victim who was reported trapped. (AP Photo/Harry B. Scull, J.R.) #

This picture taken on July 8, 2009, shows Aksentije, 14, a Serbian youth with Downs Syndrome being kissed by his father Sasa as he attends a community center in the southwestern Serbian town Aleksandrovac. Aksentije plays a leading role in a film highlighting the difficulties of disabled persons being accepted into society, and how they strive to triumph over adversity. (ALEXA STANKOVIC/AFP/Getty Images) #

Heath Slocum kisses his 20 month-old daughter Stella, as he celebrates his win at The Barclays golf tournament at Liberty National Golf Club Sunday, Aug. 30, 2009, in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Mel Evans) #

A couple kiss as they set up at the Climate Camp on Blackheath, in south London, on August 26, 2009. Around 1,000 activists descended Wednesday on a stretch of open land in London after the location of the week-long Climate Camp was finally revealed. Protesters arrived from several areas of the capital to Blackheath in south east London, setting up the camp on a hill overlooking Docklands and Canary Wharf. (Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images) #

Son of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Piersilvio and his fiancee Silvia Toffanin kiss as they arrive at the Venice film festival on September 2, 2009. (FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Cruise ship option for W.Cup quake city: PM

2011-03-01T23:58:00.000-08:00

Cruise ship option for W.Cup quake city: PM

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — New Zealand was looking at using cruise ships to house World Cup fans in quake-hit Christchurch if it no longer had enough hotels for the event, Prime Minister John Key said Wednesday.

Key, who was raised in Christchurch, said he remained optimistic the devastated city could still host matches at the September-October tournament but warned a final decision was "months, not weeks" away.

Christchurch's AMI Stadium was damaged when last week's 6.3-magnitude quake reduced swathes of the city to rubble, killing hundreds of people, and is closed until March 15 as operators check if it will be ready for the World Cup.

Even if it is given the all clear, tournament organisers must consider other factors, such as whether the shattered city has enough hotel accommodation to host tens of thousands of rugby fans.

Key said the government wanted the city to participate in the largest event ever staged in the country and was willing to offset some of the cost of using cruise ships to house the fans, including England's "Barmy Army".

"We've already made inquiries about cruise ships and that's entirely possible, and that's not a bad place to stay if you're the Barmy Army," he told reporters.

"Even if it costs a bit more, we might be prepared to accommodate that cost if it means holding the cup in Christchurch."

Christchurch is one of the Cup's main venues, slated to host seven matches, including two quarter-finals.

The tournament's September 9 kick-off is in little more than six months but Key said a decision on whether the matches went ahead as planned would take time.

"There's a series of different boxes that will need to be ticked before we can say yes or no," he said.

"My strong preference is to hold the Cup in Christchurch if we can because I think it sends a very strong international message that Christchurch is going through a rebuilding phase," he said.

"Equally, if we don't, sadly the message is it's not."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j6liiD81IfY7sURd2ldTOH1sk5RQ?docId=CNG.c3b34c9b9309df2fa737f2c85c702358.591

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