Thank God it's Thursday - TGIT

Read how Four-day workweek can be beneficial for the environment and the employees. It is also called as the 4-10 policy where employees are expected to work 10 hours daily for four days in a week. In an era when most of us seem to be working more hours than ever, some 17,000 people in Utah have embarked on an unusual experiment. A year ago, the Beehive State became the first in the U.S. to mandate a four-day workweek for most state employees, closing offices on Fridays in an effort to reduce energy costs.

The move is different from a furlough in that salaries were not cut; nor was the total amount of time employees work. They pack in 40 hours by starting earlier and staying later four days a week. But on that fifth (glorious) day, they don't have to commute, and their offices don't need to be heated, cooled or lit.

After 12 months, Utah's experiment has been deemed so successful that a new acronym could catch on: TGIT (thank God it's Thursday). The state found that its compressed workweek resulted in a 13% reduction in energy use and estimated that employees saved as much as $6 million in gasoline costs. Altogether, the initiative will cut the state's greenhouse-gas emissions by more than 12,000 metric tons a year. And perhaps not surprisingly, 82% of state workers say they want to keep the new schedule.

How about your work day preference? Does 4-10 schedule sound interesting or you'll rather keep your existing schedule?

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Colombian leader infected with H1N1 virus

Alvaro Uribe has becomes the second president to be infected with the H1N1 Swine Flu and Colombian officials are contacting other South American governments whose leaders attended a summit last week with the Colombian leader, authorities said Sunday.

The Colombian President is in stable condition and under medical supervision at the presidential palace in Bogota, spokesman Cesar Mauricio Velasquez said.

The 57-year-old Uribe began feeling symptoms Friday, the same day as a meeting of South American presidents in Bariloche, Argentina, and he was confirmed to have swine flu after returning home, Social Protection Minister Diego Palacio said.

Public health director Gilberto Alvarez said in a telephone interview that there was no need to put the president in isolation and that his condition would monitored for three days to a week.

No family members or close associates of Uribe have shown swine flu symptoms, officials said.

During a Union of South American Nations summit of the region's presidents Friday, Uribe spent hours defending his plan to give U.S. troops more access to Colombian bases as part of his government's fight against drug traffickers and leftist rebels. Many of his colleagues have voiced concerns about the idea.

Palacio said Colombia's foreign ministry was informing governments whose leaders may have come in contact with Uribe.

No governments immediately reported cases of sick officials.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who attended Friday's summit, said he felt fine and had recently been tested.

Dr. Alberto Cortez, an infectious disease specialist at Colombia's Universidad Nacional, said it is possible the disease could have been passed on to other leaders at the summit. But he added it needs to be established when Uribe became sick to determine whether he picked up the virus in Argentina - where there are many cases - or if he arrived there with the disease.

Uribe is the second Latin American leader to come down with the swine flu.

On Aug. 11, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias announced he had swine flu and was being quarantined at his home. The 69-year-old leader, who won the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize for his work in ending Central America's civil wars, has recovered.

Colombia's presidential office released a brief statement Sunday saying the country's National Health Institute confirmed that Uribe had swine flu. It said his case was "developing satisfactorily."

National Health Institute director, Juan Gonzalo Lopez, said Uribe's case was confirmed on Sunday and that he had complained of body pains and general discomfort.

Local media said the president appeared congested and was sneezing during a meeting with regional officials Saturday.

Cesar Mauricio Velasquez, spokesman for Uribe, said Uribe planned to handle his duties while recovering.

Colombia has reported 621 confirmed cases of swine flu, including Uribe's. There have been 34 deaths from the illness, the government says.

Related links:
* Swine Flu H1N1 Survival Kit
* CNN -Colombian president has H1N1 virus
* Regular Flu More Deadly Than Swine Flu
* Things You Need to Know About the Swine Flu Outbreak

World's Best Wages

Do you know which country pay the highest net wages or should I say, the most employee-friendly country? It is not the United States but Switzerland. It pays to work in Switzerland: employees in Zurich and Geneva have the highest net wages in the world, a study by banking group UBS shows, while those in India's Mumbai take home the lowest.

The Swiss cities were also ranked among the top five most expensive in the world in the bank's 2009 "Price and Earnings" international study.

"With its extremely high gross wages and comparatively low tax rates, Switzerland is a very employee-friendly country," the Swiss bank said in a statement.

"No other cities allows workers to take home more income at the end of the month than Zurich and Geneva."

The study, published every three years, compares the income and purchasing power of employees in 73 cities across the globe, highlighting wide discrepancies in wages between different regions, and even within the same country.

The biggest gaps were found in Asia, the study said, with Tokyo ranking as one of the world's five costliest cities while the capitals of developing countries such as Malaysia, the Philippines and India were all at the bottom of the price range.

Oslo was this year's most expensive city, based on a standardized basket of 122 goods and services, followed by Zurich, Copenhagen, Geneva, Tokyo and New York.

When rents are factored in, however, New York rises to the top spot, the study said.

This year, the bank said currency fluctuations caused by the global economic crisis affected the rankings of several cities, most notably London, which was the second most expensive city in 2006, but which fell nearly 20 places following the pound's drop earlier this year.

The analysis involved more than 30,000 data points, collected by several independent observers in each city, in March and April, the bank said. All amounts were converted into a single currency before being compared.

The world's cheapest places to live were Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur, Manila in the Philippines, and India's Delhi and Mumbai. But the average employee in many of these cities, as well as Jakarta and Nairobi, gets paid some of the world's lowest salaries which have between 11 percent and 15 percent of the purchasing power of a salary in Zurich.

"An average wage-earner in Zurich and New York can buy an iPod nano from an Apple store after nine hours of work. At the other end of the spectrum, workers in Mumbai need to work 20 nine-hour days, roughly the equivalent of one month's salary," the study said.

Working hours also varied in the cities surveyed, with the study finding that on average, people in Asian and Middle Eastern cities work much more than the global average of 1,902 hours per year. Overall, the most hours are worked in Cairo, followed by Seoul, while the least hours worked were in Lyon and Paris.

Suicide Bombing At Saudi Palace

A suicide bomber lightly wounded a senior prince largely credited for Saudi Arabia's anti-terrorism campaign when he blew himself up just before going into a gathering of well-wishers for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the state news agency said Friday.

It was the first known assassination attempt against a member of the royal family since Saudi Arabia began its crackdown on al-Qaida affiliated militants eight years ago following the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States.

The militant who attacked the assistant interior minister, Prince Muhammad bin Nayef, late Thursday at the Ramadan gathering in Jiddah had previously expressed his intention to give himself up to the official, the Saudi Press Agency quoted the royal court as saying.

It is customary for senior members of the royal family to hold regular open gatherings where citizens can air grievances, seek settlement of financial or other disputes or offer congratulations.

Upon hearing news of the attack, King Abdullah swiftly headed to hospital, according to the agency. It said the prince, who is the son of Interior Minister Prince Nayef, was discharged from the hospital and nobody else was seriously injured.

The Interior Ministry has spearheaded the kingdom's aggressive campaign against terrorism, one that has intensified since militants first struck in the kingdom in May 2003. The country is the birthplace of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and was home to 15 of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers.

On Aug. 19, authorities announced the arrest of 44 suspected militants with al-Qaida links in a yearlong sweep that also uncovered dozens of machine guns and electronic circuits for bombs.

Last month, Saudi officials said a Saudi criminal court had convicted and sentenced 330 al-Qaida militants to jail terms, fines and travel bans in the country's first known trials for suspected members of the terror group.

The 330 are believed to be among the 991 suspected militants that the interior minister has said have been charged with participating in terrorist attacks over the past five years.

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Why Women Cry For No Reason

My friend Eileen, send this piece on why most women cry for no reason. A little boy asked his mother, "Why are you crying?" "Because I'm a woman, " she told him. "I don't understand, " he said. His Mom just hugged him and said , "And you never will." Later the little boy asked his father, "Why does mother seem to cry for no reason?" "All women cry for no reason, " was all his dad could say.

The little boy grew up and became a man, still wondering why women cry...

Finally he put in a call to God. When God got on the phone, he asked , "God, why do women cry so easily?"

God said

"When I made the woman she had to be special.

I made her shoulders strong enough to carry the weight of the world, yet gentle enough to give comfort.

I gave her an inner strength to endure childbirth and the rejection that many times comes from her children.

I gave her a hardness that allows her to keep going when everyone else gives up, and take care of her family through sickness and fatigue without complaining.

I gave her the sensitivity to love her children under any and all circumstances, even when her child has hurt her very badly.

I gave her strength to carry her husband through his faults and fashioned her from his rib to protect his heart.

I gave her wisdom to know that a good husband never hurts his wife , but sometimes tests her strengths and her resolve to stand beside him unfalteringly.

And finally, I gave her a tear to shed. This is hers exclusively to use whenever it is needed."

"You see my son, " said God, "the beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears , the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair.

The beauty of a woman must be seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart - the place where love resides."

Please send this to ten beautiful women you know today. If you do, something good will happen - You will boost another woman's self-esteem.

Pass it on to men too - perhaps they will then understand "why women cry"

Black Eyed Peas concert banned by Malaysia

The Malaysia government has banned its Muslim from attending the coming Black Eyed Peas concert because the event is organized by Irish beer giant Guinness.

The prohibition comes amid a clampdown on alcohol consumption among Malaysia's Muslim majority. A Muslim woman who drank beer in public was sentenced to caning by an Islamic court last month, though authorities this week agreed to review the penalty. Officials also recently curbed retail sales of liquor in a central state.

In family and personal matters, Muslims in Malaysia are governed by Shariah or Islamic law, which forbids the consumption of alcohol.

The Black Eyed Peas will perform at a theme park near Kuala Lumpur on Sept. 25 as part of worldwide celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of Guinness' flagship brewery in Dublin. Malaysia's largest city is one of five places hosting Guinness' concerts.

The Malaysian show's official Web site said "the party is only open to non-Muslims aged 18 years and above." Previous major pop concerts in Malaysia, including one by the Black Eyed Peas in 2007, have always been open to Muslims.

"Muslims cannot attend. Non-Muslims can go and have fun," an official at the Ministry of Information, Communication and Culture told The Associated Press.

The Black Eyed Peas have enjoyed phenomenal success this year. The foursome has topped Billboard's Hot 100 singles charts for the past 20 consecutive weeks, the most ever by an act.

Their performance next month is the latest to be hit by restrictions in Malaysia. Shows by Gwen Stefani and Avril Lavigne in recent years faced protests by conservative Muslim Malaysians over immodest clothes, forcing the artists to don attire that revealed little skin.

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Microsoft photoshop ads flopped

Software giant Microsoft apologized Wednesday for the apparent bad judgment that led to the head of a black model being swapped for that of a white model in an online advertisement. Indeed a bad judgment and a bad taste as Microsoft is a global company.

Photo: A black man in an online Microsoft ads was replaced with a white man, bottom, on the company's Polish Web site.

The ads -- which showed three business people, one Asian, one white and one black -- was altered on Microsoft's Web site for Poland to place the head of a white man on a black man's body.

"We apologized, fixed the error and we are looking into how it happened," said Lou Gellos, a Microsoft spokesman.

He said that because the company was still reviewing how the swap occurred he could not comment further.

On Microsoft's official page on the social network site Twitter, a posting calls the swap "a marketing mistake" and offers "sincere apologies."

The business Web site CNET.com, which first published reports of the swap, wrote that the change in models may have been made with the "racially homogeneous" Polish market in mind.

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What goes around comes around - Series #2

One day a man saw an old lady, stranded on the side of the road, but even in the dim light of day, he could see she needed help. So he pulled up in front of her Mercedes and got out. His Pontiac was still sputtering when he approached her. Even with the smile on his face, she was worried. No one had stopped to help for the last hour or so. Was he going to hurt her? He didn't look safe; he looked poor and hungry.

He could see that she was frightened, standing out there in the cold. He knew how she felt. It was that chill which only fear can put in you. He said, 'I'm here to help you, ma'am. Why don't you wait in the car where it's warm? By the way, my name is Bryan Anderson.'

Well, all she had was a flat tire, but for an old lady, that was bad enough. Bryan crawled under the car looking for a place to put the jack, skinning his knuckles a time or two. Soon he was able to change the tire. But he had to get dirty and his hands hurt.

As he was tightening up the lug nuts, she rolled down the window and began to talk to him. She told him that she was from St. Louis and was only just passing through. She couldn't thank him enough for coming to her aid.

Bryan just smiled as he closed her trunk. The lady asked how much she owed him. Any amount would have been all right with her. She already imagined all the awful things that could have happened had he not stopped.

Bryan never thought twice about being paid. This was not a job to him. This was helping someone in need, and God knows there were plenty, who had given him a hand in the past. He had lived his whole life that way, and it never occurred to him to act any other way.

He told her that if she really wanted to pay him back, the next time she saw someone who needed help, she could give that person the assistance they needed, and Bryan added, 'And think of me..' He waited until she started her car and drove off. It had been a cold and depressing day, but he felt good as he headed for home, disappearing into the twilight.

A few miles down the road the lady saw a small cafe. She went in to grab a bite to eat, and take the chill off before she made the last leg of her trip home. It was a dingy looking restaurant. Outside were two old gas pumps. The whole scene was unfamiliar to her. The waitress came over and brought a clean towel to wipe her wet hair. She had a sweet smile, one that even being on her feet for the whole day couldn't erase. The lady noticed the waitress was nearly eight months pregnant, but she never let the strain and aches change her attitude. The old lady wondered how someone who had so little could be so giving to a stranger. Then she remembered Bryan .

After the lady finished her meal, she paid with a hundred dollar bill. The waitress quickly went to get change for her hundred dollar bill, but the old lady had slipped right out the door. She was gone by the time the waitress came back. The waitress wondered where the lady could be. Then she noticed something written on the napkin.

There were tears in her eyes when she read what the lady wrote: 'You don't owe me anything. I have been there too. Somebody once helped me out, the way I'm helping you. If you really want to pay me back, here is what you do: Do not let this chain of love end with you.' Under the napkin were four more $100 bills.

Well, there were tables to clear, sugar bowls to fill, and people to serve, but the waitress made it through another day. That night when she got home from work and climbed into bed, she was thinking about the money and what the lady had written. How could the lady have known how much she and her husband needed it? With the baby due next month, it was going to be hard.... She knew how worried her husband was, and as he lay sleeping next to her, she gave him a soft kiss and whispered soft and low, 'Everything's going to be all right. I love you, Bryan Anderson.'


There is an old saying 'What goes around comes around.'

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South Korea's first space program failed

South Korea's space program suffered a blow Tuesday after a satellite launched from its first space rocket (Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1) failed to reach proper orbit, a science official said.

The cause of the failure was not immediately known. Korean experts were working with Russian scientists, who provided the technology for launch, to determine the reason.

The Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 lifted off from the Naro Space Center on the southern coast about 5 p.m. (4 a.m. ET) Tuesday.

A series of delays had kept the rocket and its satellite payload earthbound for nearly four years, including a technical glitch that halted last week's countdown less than eight minutes before blastoff.

South Korea spent 502 billion won (US $402 million) on the rocket, which is part of an ambitious plan to jump-start the country's space program.

Officials plan another rocket launch in April. The long-term goal is to create an unmanned space probe that can reach the moon by 2025.

The rocket was originally scheduled to be launched in late 2005, before being pushed back to October 2007 and then 2008 due to "administrative and diplomatic reasons".

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10 Essential And Ethical Smartphone Tips

Mobile phones or Handphone phone or Cell phones have been annoying folks for ages, but a journalist recently got around punking the president of United States when his phone began quacking during a White House briefing while Barack Obama was speaking.

You could chalk it up to an isolated case of forgetfulness. But seriously, now that these gizmos do so much more than just calls, it's a red-letter day if someone doesn't do something annoying with a smartphone. Since smartphones facilitate so many potentially rude behaviors, we need to get on the same page about what nonsense is okay and what nonsense isn't.

When able: Pick. Up. The. Freaking. Phone!

Way back before the gods invented Google, when Ma Bell still walked the Earth and telephone handsets could hammer spikes through phonebooks, a ringing phone wrought apoplexy on unsuspecting families. Today, calls to your phone are generally for you from people you like. So why do recipients display the enthusiasm you'd expect from a sloth who’s woken himself by passing gas. “Wha? Is that mine?” And remember, even unrecognized numbers could be your mom calling from the pay phone she just wrapped her car around.

But first: Ask if it's OK to pick up the freaking phone

As discussed, a ringing phone could be Mom, trapped shoulder-deep in quicksand (who knows?) dialing bravely with her forehead to ask why you don't visit, and incidentally could you bring some rope. So you do have to answer.

But what if you're with someone? Ditching for another conversation is rude, so acknowledge locals first. Politely ask if they mind you checking the call. They HAVE TO SAY YES after all, since everyone knows you're going to pick up anyway.

Texting (tweeting, Facebooking, etc.)

If you were talking to a friend and he suddenly announced he'd rather read a book, would you be offended? How about a magazine? A pamphlet? What length of text is okay?

You don’t have to ask if it’s okay to check a text, but it’s nice. If you plan to write a text though, it’s polite to put less-confident companions at ease by explaining why. Their insecure explanation is that someone more interesting is happening elsewhere.

There are times to avoid calls.

Are you at a meeting, a funeral, the movies? Well, put your dang phone away before someone else does!

But really I’m talking bathrooms. Bathroom-talking is weird already, but on the phone it’s wrong all over. You look weird; whoever you called has to ignore your “harrumphings”; and anyone in a stall suddenly faces discomfiting questions about why half-a-conversation invaded his or her “me-time.”

Hold on, when can I use this dang phone?

Wait, you have to pick up all the time, but sometimes it’s rude? Reading texts might be mean? Holy cats this is complicated!

Not really. It’s all proximity and urgency. People you’re affecting in person deserve the most attention. As needed you can placate them with explanations and apologies: “Sorry I just have to take this because Dad texted me he’s on fire. You understand right?” They’d better.

Next comes urgency. People talking to you in real-time trump texters (unless said texter might urgently need directions or a fire-extinguisher or whatever).

Basically, with all the claims on our attention, you just have to make as many people as possible feel like you still find them important and worthwhile.

Grandma

This may be a special case of previous rules, but some people get extra consideration.

Not only do older folk deserve your attention when they're about, but they're less likely to know what thingamajiggery you're up to with that consarned computerphone. As far as they know, you're treating them like a withered ball of inconvenience just to play Game Boy. Anyway, be cool to old folks. They've earned it.

Friends don’t text friends driving while, er, drunk - or something - hold on, I’m on the phone

It’s not just obvious anymore; it’s the law. A bevy of states now insist, legally, that you not text while driving! Turns out even chatting on the phone in the car is dangerous. But texting? Why not bring a magazine, you sassy optimist?

Texting while walking

Meanwhile, texting and walking is AWESOME! You’d be hard-pressed to improve that high comedy without a monkey in a lamé top hat. But the key here, and it’s embarrassing to explain to grown-ups, is stuff you do to yourself is your business. Stuff that craps up the place for others is rude. When YOU fall over, it’s hilarious!

Less so if you land on a baby. But seriously, ER docs are seeing such an upswing in texters walking into traffic that the American College of Emergency Physicians issued a plea to quit fussing with every little digital communiqué and start looking both ways before crossing.

Honestly, isn't this the sort of thing your parents were supposed to teach you?

Your obnoxious ringtone

There’s a fine line between hip and annoying (right, Justin Timberlake?), but that line is microscopic with ringtones. If your phone does anything but just ring, you’ve got responsibilities.

First, take your phone with you everywhere. Someone else’s ringing phone is annoying, but making us listen to 15-second lashes of Soulja Boy while you’re elsewhere is downright cruel. Your office mates would like you to know they hope you die.

Second, turn the volume down - or off. You know when you’re choosing a ringtone and your crew’s all like, “Aw hell yeah, that’s funky/crunky/whatever?”

Now imagine your boss is in the room.

Right. Keep the volume low, and if you’re in a meeting (like with the president) turn it off.

“Sexting”

Ugh, let's get this out of the way. Sexting is when a person, usually a teenager it seems, takes a picture of his or her bits and sends it to someone else, usually a jerkwad (it seems).

No one wants to deny the consenting public such joy as can be contrived by shooting hot coffee out your nose when your beloved sends you a CRAZY picture you unwisely chose to open in a sales meeting. But have a little sense – and I'm probably talking to you here, kids: Before sending anything to anyone, remember they could forward it, even by mistake.

And for recipients, for whom manners really are important, there’s actually no such thing as “forwarding by mistake.” We’re onto you. Don’t be that loser.

MSNBC.

Angela Merkel is most powerful woman for 2009

Mommy bloggers should be happy with this post. Forbes' Power Women list isn't about celebrity or popularity; it's about influence. In assembling the list, Forbes looked for women who run countries, big companies or influential nonprofits. Their rankings are a combination of two scores: visibility — by press mentions — and the size of the organization or country these women lead. Oprah and Michelle Obama don't top most powerful women list.

At No. 1, for the fourth consecutive year, is German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Up for reelection this September, she is leader of the world's fourth-largest economy. She faces a tough year: Germany's GDP is expected to shrink this year despite a small uptick in the second quarter.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair, who remains in the No. 2 spot, has presided over the orderly takeover of 77 banks so far this year. In fighting for more power for her agency, she has butted heads with Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and U.S.Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

Chief Executives Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo (No. 3), Cynthia Carroll of Anglo American (No. 4) and Irene Rosenfeld of Kraft Foods (No. 6) rank among the world's most powerful businesswomen and are tasked with steering their companies through unusually challenging times.

Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, Tamasek, has delivered extraordinary average annual returns of 18 percent under the leadership of Ho Ching (No. 5). She is currently seeking a successor.

Queen Rania of Jordan (No. 75), for instance, is perhaps the most listened-to woman in the Middle East; her Twitter feed has 600,000 followers.

Top 10 Powerful Women 2009
1. Angela Merkel
2. Sheila Bair
3. Indra Nooyi
4. Cynthia Carroll
5. Ho Ching
6. Irene Rosenfeld
7. Ellen Kullman
8. Angela Braly
9. Anne Lauvergeon
10. Lynn Elsenhans

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What goes around comes around - Fleming & Churchill

I want this back. It DOES work.

His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog.

There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.

The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse surroundings An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.

"I want to repay you," said the nobleman. "You saved my son's life."

"No, I can't accept payment for what I did," the Scottish farmer replied waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door of the family hovel.

"Is that your son?" the nobleman asked.

"Yes," the farmer replied proudly.

"I'll make you a deal. Let me provide him with the level of education my own son will enjoy. If the lad is anything like his father, he'll no doubt grow to be a man we both will be proud of." And that he did.

Farmer Fleming's son attended the very best schools and in time, graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.

Years afterward, the same nobleman's son who was saved from the bog was stricken with pneumonia.

What saved his life this time? Penicillin.

The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill. His son's name?

Sir Winston Churchill.

Someone once said: What goes around comes around.

Work like you don't need the money.

Love like you've never been hurt.

Dance like nobody's watching.

Sing like nobody's lstening.

Live like it's Heaven on Earth.

Pass this on, and brighten someone's day.

AN IRISH FRIENDSHIP WISH: You had better send this back!! Good Luck!

I hope it works...

May there always be work for your hands to do;

May your purse always hold a coin or two;

May the sun always shine on your windowpane;

May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain;

May the hand of a friend always be near you;

May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

OK, this is what you have to do... Send this to all of your friends.

Now.....Make A wish!! I hope you made your wish!

Jessica Biel the most dangerous celebrity

Hot and beautiful Jessica Biel is the most dangerous celebrity on the Web. Security technology company McAfee Inc. on Tuesday reported that searches for the 27-year-old actress are more likely to lead to online threats such as spyware and viruses than searches for any other celebrity.

McAfee said fans searching for the actress have a one-in-five chance of ending up at a Web site designed to damage one's computer. Its the third annual report on the subject from McAfee, which last year found that Brad Pitt was the "most dangerous" celeb online.

"Cybercriminals are star watchers, too," said Jeff Green, senior vice president of McAfee's product development. "They latch onto popular celebrities to encourage the download of malicious software in disguise."

Following Biel in the report, in order, were Beyonce, Jennifer Aniston, Tom Brady and Jessica Simpson. McAfee noted President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama are curiously safe searches, ranking no. 34 and no. 39, respectively.

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Galileo's Telescope 400th Anniversary

Galileo's Telescope celebrates its 400th anniversary. According to NASA, Galileo heard about the invention of the spyglass — “a device which made distant objects appear closer” — in 1609. This discovery thus led him to “improve upon the spyglass and build a telescope.” The rest, of course, is history.

Galileo Galilei, father of modern observational astronomy

Galileo Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations, and support for Copernicanism. Galileo has been called the "father of modern observational astronomy," the "father of modern physics," the "father of science," and "the Father of Modern Science." Stephen Hawking says, "Galileo, perhaps more than any other single person, was responsible for the birth of modern science."

Galileo and the Telescope

The science of astronomy took a huge leap forward in the first decade of the 1600s with the invention of the optical telescope and its use to study the night sky. Galileo Galilei did not invent the telescope but was the first to use it systematically to observe celestial objects and record his discoveries. His book, Sidereus nuncius or The Starry Messenger was first published in 1610 and made him famous. In it he reported on his observations of the Moon, Jupiter and the Milky Way. These and subsequent observations and his interpretations of them eventually led to the demise of the geocentric Ptolemaic model of the universe and the adoption of a heliocentric model as proposed in 1543 by Copernicus.

The basic tool that Galileo used was a crude refracting telescope. His initial version only magnified 8x but was soon refined to the 20x magnification he used for his observations for Sidereus nuncius. It had a convex objective lens and a concave eyepiece in a long tube. The main problem with his telescopes was their very narrow field of view, typically about half the width of the Moon.

Who can seriously challenge Google

Every year, the market-research firm Millward Brown conducts a survey to determine the economic worth of the world's brands — in other words, to put a dollar value on the many corporate logos that dominate our lives. Lately the firm's results have been stuck on repeat: Google has claimed the top spot for the past three years. The most recent report values Google's brand — those six happy letters that herald so many of our jaunts down the Web's rabbit hole — at more than $100 billion. Illustration by Dave Wheeler. Text by TIME.

What's astonishing about this stat is how effortlessly Google seems to have earned the public's affection. Other companies — Microsoft, Coke, IBM, McDonald's — spend enormous sums to stay in the consciousness. Google, which makes most of its money from ads, rarely advertises itself. Telling the world how well it does what it does just isn't Google's way.

But Google's humility is being tested as never before. The firm's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., seem besieged by competitors gaining new momentum. Even nominal allies are questioning the company's motives and long-term plans. In July, Google's largest competitors, Microsoft and Yahoo!, agreed to work together in an attempt to dethrone it as the world's dominant search engine. The deal, which awaits government approval, would create a first: a tenacious, well-financed search rival.

Conflicts are beginning to take place in other areas where Google has ventured. That includes e-mail and office programs (Gmail, Google Docs), a cell-phone operating system (Android) and a Web browser (Chrome). Google scans and sells books, runs a phone system and is even working on a desktop operating system to rival Windows. CEO Eric Schmidt recently stepped down from Apple's board of directors because the two companies now compete in so many areas. The U.S. Justice Department is investigating a legal settlement between Google and the publishing industry over the company's book-scanning service, and Christine Varney, Justice's antitrust chief, said she sees Google as a "problem." Read Google Apps Going Google

At the moment, Google's most pressing problem is Microsoft. The software giant is spending $100 million to market its new search engine, Bing — and in the process, to get us all bummed about Google. Bing's slick ads are unavoidable and blistering. They suggest that Google is broken, that it rarely leads us to what we're looking for and turns us all into blathering zombies who spew out search keywords in casual conversation.

Microsoft claims Bing isn't even a search engine — it's a "decision engine." What that means isn't exactly clear. Bing seems to work the same way Google does: type in some keywords, it gives you some Web results. But the marketing shows signs of gaining traction. According to the media-metrics firm comScore, Bing captured 8.9% of the search-engine queries in July, a tiny increase from 8.4% in June. "All of us in the search industry were surprised by Bing," says Anna Patterson, a former Google engineer who has since gone on to found Cuil (pronounced Cool), one of the many smaller search start-ups in Google's shadow. "It's the first time you have someone with deep pockets that's willing to lose money in order to compete with Google, and they're willing to stick with it over the long term."

Google says it isn't worried, and publicly at least, the company is pretending not to notice Bing. The search engine is Google's cash cow, and the firm constantly pours resources into improving it — hiring the industry's brightest and most experienced engineers, paying them handsomely and letting them work on what is effectively the world's largest data-mining project. Just this month, Google unveiled a project it calls Caffeine, a massive overhaul of its back-end infrastructure that promises to create a faster, more accurate and more comprehensive search engine. "We aren't resting," says Gabriel Stricker, a Google spokesman. "We're continuing to innovate — I'M FEELING LUCKY is getting luckier all the time." Read Next Generation Google Search

This sort of constant improvement pays off: two-thirds of all searches in the U.S. are now conducted through Google — about 7 billion a month. Yahoo! has less than 20% of the market, and Microsoft less than 10%. Despite Microsoft's claims, most people think Google works pretty well as it is.

Microsoft argues that the Yahoo! deal will help change that perception. If the partnership is approved, Microsoft will take over Yahoo!'s search engine — type in "Britney Spears" at Yahoo! and you'll get results provided by Bing. Microsoft points out that search engines get smarter as more people use them; if a search engine notices lots of clicks on Spears' music videos after searching for the pop star, it can begin to highlight those videos in future searches. That's how the Yahoo! deal will help Bing beat Google, Microsoft says. By massively expanding its market share to a potential 26%, Microsoft will get access to a much broader pool of user data, which will in turn make it better at predicting what you want when you search.

Google pooh-poohs this claim. Hal Varian, the company's chief economist, has pointed out that most search engines look at only a small sample of their data in order to improve their results. In other words, Microsoft already has enough data to learn from its users. "It's not the quantity or quality of the ingredients that make a difference. It's the recipes," Varian told CNET. The recipes are Google's proprietary algorithms, which it has slaved over for more than a decade. They're Google's ultimate competitive advantage, and Google believes they'll help it weather the coming assault.

Privately, Googlers will tell you that the Bing ads rankle. They describe them as misleading and unfair, painting a picture of Google that doesn't match reality. Maybe, but Microsoft — a company not previously known for its marketing savvy — is taking a page out of a 1960s Procter & Gamble playbook: create a problem consumers don't know they have, then solve it. Bing! Read Bing Affiliate Program

Can Google play defense if Bing starts to move the needle? Google's first instinct has always been to innovate its way out of trouble. But there are a number of features in Google's search engine that most of the public is unaware of. Like how it can give you the local weather and movie times and perform currency conversions with a single search query. It's not in Google's DNA to run confrontational ads, but it's easy to imagine a campaign that shows off all the amazing things your friendly search giant can do.

At the moment, Google derives about 97% of its revenue from advertising. Barry Schwartz, CEO of the Web consulting firm RustyBrick and an editor at Search Engine Land, says that some at Google have to be getting a little jittery that the company's entire revenue stream rests on a single product. "They keep downplaying that they're competing with other companies — whenever they pitch something like Android or their new Chrome OS, they say it's just an attempt to get people to use the Web more," Schwartz says. But here's the irony: Google faces a problem very similar to the one plaguing Microsoft, which itself makes the bulk of its money from just two products — Windows and Office. Each company sees the other's business as its own path forward. The rest of us, we're just bystanders.

Tale of the Tape - How Google and Microsoft match up

Eric Schmidt, Google CEO
The Revenue Question: 97% of its revenue is from online ads. Everything else is a hobby

The Search Strategy: Ignore Bing for now and focus on making Google even better
The Perception Problem: Google is losing its halo as it expands into phones and operating systems

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO
The Revenue Question: Windows and Office rule. It needs another big revenue generator
The Search Strategy: Bing is spending $100 million to get you to try its "decision engine"

The Perception Problem: No one ever loved Microsoft. Bing could help soften its tech-demon image

Child trafficking in Malaysia

A few days ago, I posted a news article about Malaysia being the center of illegal wild animal trade in addition to the discriminated killing of primates for food. This post focus on inhumane activities of child trafficking. Child trafficking in Malaysia is a serious threat but there is no proper collaboration amongst government agencies to combat it, said Rumah NurSalam adviser Dr Hartini Zainuddin.

DID YOU KNOW: Some 1.2 million children, in both industrialised and developing countries, are trafficked each year. These children are subjected to prostitution, forced into marriage or illegally adopted; they provide cheap or unpaid labour, work as house servants or beggars; are recruited into armed under-aged groups; and are even used for sports.

“Not one of the 15 cases against arrested child traffickers have made it to court since the Anti-Trafficking in Persons (ATIP) Act was implemented in 2007,” she added.

Dr Hartini said many officers in the immigration, marine, customs and police departments were not trained to deal with young victims.

“Some were treated as routine illegal immigrants and deported,” she said.

Speaking at a media forum organised by The Body Shop on Friday, she said the victims should instead be placed under the Act which classifies them as those whose human rights have been violated.

Although Malaysia has been a signatory to the United Nations General Assembly Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) since 1995, there have been many crucial gaps, she said.

One such gap was the lack of proper counselling services for traumatised victims, she added.

Dr Hartini said another major issue was the handling of child victims who don’t have identity documents or are stateless.

Tenaganita coordinator Aegile Fernandez said she had seen many trafficked Malaysian children rescued from countries like Canada, Japan, Germany and the United States.

She said Malaysia was considered a country of origin, transit and destination for child trafficking.

“Many people think that this only happens in Thailand or the Philippines. They need to realise it’s happening right at our doorstep.

“People get shocked when they read about a brutal rape. But these children get raped seven to eight times daily by their clients.”

Fernandez said that babies aged below two were especially popular because they were considered a “long-term investment.”

“They are groomed to enter the prostitution or pornography trade, and eventually become pimps,” she said, adding that children were also trafficked for child labour or illegal organ harvesting.

She said corruption was another factor, citing restaurants, fishing vessels, golf clubs and hotels that continued to have such illegal activities.

The Body Shop managing director Datin Mina Cheah-Foong said it was raising funds and public awareness to end the exploitation of children.

Its partners are End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes, Rumah NurSalam, Tenaganita and PS The Children.

A hand cream called “Soft Hands Kind Heart” will be sold at all outlets at RM39.90, with RM30 going to all four non-governmental organisations for every tube sold.

Prevent H1N1 With Fennel Seed Treatment

Fennel Seed Treatment Claimed Effective to Prevent Swine Flu. Drinking a concoction made of fennel seeds soaked in warm water first thing in the morning could prevent you from catching swine flu says a study published in a Chinese medical research magazine.

According to report published in Al Khaleej a local Arabic daily, the study has resulted in an increase of fennel seeds sales by 50 per cent in some Asian countries.
The report read that similar increase in sales was also visible in countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The fennel seed warm drink is being distributed to people who are making pilgrimage to the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah.

沙迦: 根据中国医学研究杂志所发表的研究报告，在早上饮用茴香的种子(小茴香)所浸泡的温水可以预防猪流
感（A 型流感）。

根据一家阿拉伯文报章的报导（Al Khaleej），这项研究结果增加了一些亚洲国家的茴香种子销售量约 50%。
该报导也指出类似的销售量增长也出现在其他国家如沙特阿拉伯和埃及。

茴香的种子所浸泡的温水也在麦加(Makkah)和麥地那(Madinah)分发给前往朝圣的人。

Menurut kajian yang dikemukakan dalam sebuah majalah penyelidikan perubatan di China, minum air suam yang direbus dengan jintan manis pada pagi boleh mencegah selesema H1N1.

Menurut laporan dalam surat khabar harian bahasa Arab (Al Khaleej), kajian itu telah menyebabkan peningkatan jualan jintan manis di beberapa negara Asia sebanyak 50%.
Berita tersebut melaporkan bahawa peningkatan jualan yang serupa juga dapat dilihat di negara-negara seperti Arab Saudi dan Mesir.

Minuman jintan manis juga diedarkan kepada mereka yang sedang menunaikan haji di Makkah dan Madinah.


Original article from http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/09/07/05/10328712.html



Fennel Seeds Wiki

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), (also known as Tamil: சோம்பு, Sombu or Perunjeeragam) and known as saunf in Hindi is a plant species in the genus Foeniculum (treated as the sole species in the genus by most botanists). It is a member of the blunden family Apiaceae (formerly the Umbelliferae). It is a hardy, perennial, umbelliferous herb, with yellow flowers and feathery leaves. It is generally considered indigenous to the shores of the Mediterranean, but has become widely naturalised elsewhere (particularly, it seems, areas colonized by the Romans) and may now be found growing wild in many parts of the world, especially on dry soils near the sea-coast and on river-banks.

It is a highly aromatic and flavorful herb with culinary and medicinal uses, and is one of the primary ingredients of absinthe. Florence fennel or finocchio is a selection with a swollen, bulb-like stem base that is used as a vegetable.

Fennel is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including the Mouse Moth and the Anise Swallowtail.

Related posts:
* Swine Flu H1N1 Survival Kit

Massive lead-poisoning in China Shaanxi province

There is massive lead-poisoning in China's Shaanix province with at least 851 children living near a pair of smelting plants were found to have excessive lead levels in their blood. Other China's polluted cities are Linfen and Tianying.

有大规模铅中毒在中国的Shaanix省至少有851儿童生活接近对冶炼植物中发现有过多的铅含量，其血液中。其他中国的污染城市是临汾和天鹰

The Dongling Lead and Zinc Smelting Co. would cease operations no later than Saturday, Xinhua reported Wednesday, citing local authorities.

County officials had agreed to relocate residents who live within 1,640 feet (500 meters) of the Dongling Lead and Zinc Smelting Co. in three years, but the relocation is behind schedule, Sun Hong, the company's general manager, told Xinhua.

The local government has pledged to speed up the relocation, Xinhua reported this month.

A second smelter also was closed Wednesday in central China and two of its executives detained, a local official said, according to Xinhua,

Initial tests showed more than 1,300 children in the Hunan province town of Wenping have excessive lead in their blood from the Wugang Manganese Smelting Plant. A second round of testing has been ordered to confirm the results.

The plant opened in May 2008 without gaining the approval of the local environment protection bureau, said Huang Wenbin, a deputy environment chief in Wugang City, Xinhua reported. The plant was within 500 meters (about a quarter mile) of three schools.

The poisonings have occurred against the backdrop of China's rapid industrialization, which has produced economic success and wrought environmental havoc. Hundreds of millions of Chinese lack access to uncontaminated drinking water, and air pollution is blamed for myriad deaths and illnesses every year. Toxic air enshrouds cities across the country, one of the most polluted in the world.

The government has stepped up anti-pollution efforts in recent years, but many companies flout such campaigns and laws.

Related posts:
* How Water Gets Polluted
* Top 10 World's Most Polluted Places

Related links:
* China to close smelting plants in lead-poisoning cases

حصاد الجهاز من قبل الجنود الاسرائيليين

كانت هناك مطالبات ان الجنود الاسرائيليين قد يكون من الأجهزة التي تحصد القتلى الفلسطينيين. المطالبات وذكر في ما نشرته الصحيفة السويدية والحكومة الاسرائيلية واضحة جدا ، بالغضب بسبب ذلك ، وحتى السويدية وصف المادة على أنها قطعة من صدمة الصارخ العنصرية.

دونالد Bostrom ، صحفي مستقل لصحيفة السويد تأليف القطعة ردا على فضيحة فساد تم الكشف عنها مؤخرا في نيو جيرسي بأن بالتورط الخاص لبيع الكلى من المانحين في اسرائيل.

Bostrom اكد انه ليس لديها دليل على أن جنود اسرائيليين بسرقة الأجهزة ، وأنه يرى أن الغرض من هذه المادة هو الدعوة لإجراء تحقيق في العديد من المطالبات في 1990s على أن مثل هذا النشاط مستمرا. واحدة من تلك المطالبات هو من عائلة بلال احمد غانم (19 عاما) الرجل الذي قتل بالرصاص في عام 1992 ، على أيدي القوات الاسرائيلية في الضفة الغربية من قرية Imatin.

وقال غانم ان جثة أخذ وعاد بعد عدة أيام من قبل الجيش الاسرائيلي مع وجود قطع في القسم الوسطي التي كانت قد مخيط. عائلة غانم انهم يعتقدون أن الأجهزة قد أزيلت.

بعد تلك الحادثة ، لا يقل عن 20 أسرة فلسطينية لوكالة Bostrom انها تشتبه في أن الجيش الإسرائيلي قد اتخذت أجهزة أبنائهم بعد أن كانوا قد قتلوا على يد القوات الإسرائيلية ، ونقلت جثثهم -- افتراضا لتشريح روتينية.


English version: Organ harvesting by Israeli soldiers

Organ harvesting by Israeli soldiers

There has been claims that Israeli soldiers may have harvested organs from dead Palestinians. The claims was reported in a Swedish newspaper article and the Israeli government is pretty upset about it and even branded the Swedish article as a shocking piece of blatant racism.

Donald Bostrom, the freelance journalist for the Sweden newspaper authored the piece in reaction to a recently unveiled corruption scandal in New Jersey that allegedly involved the private sale of a kidney from a donor in Israel.

Bostrom stressed that he has no proof that Israeli soldiers were stealing organs, and that the purpose of his opinion article was to call for an investigation into numerous claims in the 1990s that such activity was going on. One of those claims is from the family of Bilal Ahmed Ghanem, a 19-year-old Palestinian man who was shot and killed in 1992, allegedly by Israeli forces, in the West Bank village of Imatin.

He said Ghanem's body was taken away and returned several days later by the Israeli military with a cut in his midsection that had been stitched up. Ghanem's family said they believed that his organs had been removed.

After that incident, at least 20 Palestinian families told Bostrom that they suspected the Israeli military had taken the organs of their sons after they had been killed by Israeli forces, and their bodies taken away -- presumably for routine autopsies.

Related posts:
* World Kidney Day 2009 - Supernumerary three kidneys

Related links
* Swedish paper's organ harvesting article draws Israeli outrage

Worst US Cities To Find A Job

The worst US cities to find a job right now are listed in this post. The list ranks the 50 most populous U.S. cities by the ratio of job postings to unemployed citizens. If you are residing in one of the cities listed below, you might want to consider moving to the Best US Cities to find a job, if you have the means and right offering.

As you might imagine, Detroit is the lowest ranked city, with 18 unemployed people per each job posting. Also near the bottom are Miami, Florida and the foreclosure-ravaged Riverside, California, which have job posting-to-unemployed ratios of 1:9 and 1:10 respectively. It's also more than a little worrisome that enormous cities like Chicago and Los Angeles rank near the bottom of the list.

Here's the rest of the bottom ten cities:

41. Buffalo, NY (1:6)
42. Orlando, FL (1:6)
43. Sacramento, CA (1:6)
44. Rochester, NY (1:6)
45. Chicago, IL (1:7)
46. Portland, OR (1:7)
47. Los Angeles, CA (1:8)
48. Riverside, CA (1:9)
49. Miami, FL (1:10)
50. Detroit, MI (1:18)

Related posts:
* Top 10 worst work habits
* Top 10 Worst Places to be a Blogger

FD - Failure with dishonesty

Teachers and educators (or is it educationists) can now get even with cheaters. Instead of failing their students with the F grade, they can now punish them with the FD grade, for failure with dishonesty. To the cheaters, failing with F is the worst result, but with an FD, that would be totally catastrophic.

B.C. university introduces grade worse than F

It used to be that the worst grade you could receive in school was an F, and that was bad enough.

But B.C.'s Simon Fraser University is taking punishment to a whole new level, introducing a grade of FD -- meaning failure with dishonesty -- the worst possible grade a student can receive.

Dr. Rob Gordon, director of criminology at SFU and acting chair of the senate committee on academic integrity, says the new grading is intended to curtail cheating using the internet.

"What used to be a lot of cheating in libraries has changed quite significantly," he told ctvbc.ca.

"We now have to be concerned about cheating during exams with high-tech devices and the inappropriate use of internet sources and downloading, including online companies offering services to students that promote academic dishonesty."

University department chairs can impose the FD grade if they feel the incident warrants a severe penalty, or if the student has landed themselves in academic hot water in the past.

"They only use this grade in particularly egregious cases of dishonestly or in cases when they've committed acts of dishonesty several times and haven't learned from their lesson," Gordon said.

The mark, which has yet to be used in its introductory semester, will stay on the student's transcripts for two years after graduation.

"It's more than a fail, it's a failure with a particular reason that is publicly announced that may well be seen by potential employers."

Some students say it's unfair to carry that stigma into the working world.

"Two years loss of your life that is a bit too far," Olid Amid said.

But although some consider the new grading heavy handed, others say the punishment is just in a time where internet cheating is increasing at Canadian post-secondary institutions.

"A student would seriously need to re-evaluate their intentions at university and what they are hoping to get out of it," University of Alberta student Patrice Strate said.

"It makes it a lot easier for those of us who don't cheat to get good grades and to not worry about the people who are cheating," student John Aubrey said.

The University of Alberta uses a similar system where cheaters are given an F8 or F9 grade, which is reduced to an F after three years.

"In our case we give the students a chance to redeem themselves," Dean of Students Frank Robinson said.

"[In] three years they can graduate and have a clean record and get on with life."

--------------------------------------------------

Responses to this proposed ruling

Every loser who cheats and succeeds decreases the credibility of my (expensive) education. So many times I observed students blatantly cheating during exams (UBC, BCIT) where I had sacrificed hours to study and pass. - Trent

I for one believe if a student is caught cheating they should be expelled. They are clearly demonstrating a morel and ethical flaw that inevitably will resurface in their work. - kevin in vancouver

Cheating is not right but this is a harsh judgment that lasts too long from a professor who thinks a kid has cheated and who would know better than the professor/s when they probably did it themselves. Just teach the kids and stop trying to be cops - Jim-Surrey (possible cheater)

About Time. It should be on their record forever. As an employer, I want a person that did the work in the correct manner using their own ideas and resolve. Not someone who took the easy way out and cheated. - William

Well I can't say I'm against it, something needs to be done. But lets hope a student isn't TOO smart lest they be wrongfully accused of cheating. - Alli (possible pro-cheater)

I'm all with the schools on this one.Schools are to expensive to operate to have their chairs filled with cheats. And also,if cheating is allowed to go on unabated,the diplomas that the rest of the students earn are worthless because the schools lack credibility. - Doug in BC

I agree with this. Why work hard and educate yourself when you can go online and steal the answers somewhere? That's not educating yourself. It's a sad world when someone calls this heavyhanded and wrong. Where are the morals and work ethics. Just do a half ass job. Nobody cares. Nobody will notice. This is wrong. Cheating is wrong and should be punished. - Joe

Those that play by the rules have nothing to fear however those students who cheat and try to get things the easy way deserve the stigma of an F-D. - Randy

Best US Cities To Find A Job

Though the Obama Administration has warned that unemployment will reach 10 percent this year, job markets across the country may not be uniformly bad. According to a new report by the search engine Indeed, the best city to find a job is Washington, D.C., where there are six job postings for every unemployed person. Before you get too excited, Washington, D.C. and Jacksonville, Florida are the only cities on the list in which job postings actually outnumber the unemployed.

The list ranks the 50 most populous U.S. cities and metropolitans by the ratio of job postings to unemployed citizens. Here's the rest of the top 10 - and each city's respective ratio:

1. Washington, DC (6:1)
2. Jacksonville, FL (3:1)
3. Baltimore, MD (1:1)
4. Salt Lake City, UT (1:2)
5. New York, NY (1:2)
6. San Jose, CA (1:2)
7. Hartford, CT (1:2)
8. Oklahoma City, OK (1:3)
9. Austin, TX (1:3)
10. Boston, MA (1:3)

Related posts:
* How not to lose your job, be your own Boss
* Top 10 Jobs That Make The Most Money
* A Guide For Dorky White People In Obamamerica

Primates butchered for food

In the northern part of Malaysian state of Sarawak, native folks, logging workers and some city dwellers are slaughtering primates, intentionally – in some cases mother and baby – to have them as exotic meat which is said to ‘‘very tasty”. Those native are not facing any food shortage crisis, it just that they killed primates for sports. And Miri Wildlife Department (in charge of park and wildlife) is not doing anything about it.

Photo: Hand of a slaughtered gibbon.

These practices are widespread and despite repeated complaints and reports to the State Wildlife Department and State Forestry Department, it seems to be getting worse.

In northern Sarawak (east Malaysia state), the killing of primates has become a “normal” practice in rural longhouses.

A senior reporter for Sin Chew Daily’s Miri office, Vincent Lo Kiun Shin, recently witnessed the horror of a mother gibbon and her baby being slaughtered for food by longhouse folks in Ulu Baram.

Expressing disgust with what he saw, he said: “These longhouse folks are supposed to value the forests they live in and protect its resources but they seem to be killing these wildlife blatantly without any mercy.

He said the animals were shot with guns and blowpipes and slaughtered.

“These animals are already in danger of extinction. Loggers are killing them and chasing them out of the forest.

“Now, they are being hunted and killed by the natives. Unless this sort of killing is stopped, soon there will be no more primates left in the forests,” he said yesterday.

Even here, monkeys and macaques are also being openly sold in the native markets and backlanes. (See also Photos of Macaca fascicularis at Sama Jaya Forest Reserve)


Related posts:
* Making animal welfare more mainstream
* 10 Endangered Animals On The Brink Of Extinction

Free 15Malaysia Short Films Portraying Malaysian Life

15Malaysia is 15 short films about Malaysia featuring some of the country's coolest directors, actors, musicians and politicians. Those films not only showcasing the talent of Malaysian directors and portraying Malaysian life but also poking fun at the government, religion and the local society. The films will be released via the Internet in stages after Aug 17.

WHAT IS 15MALAYSIA?

15Malaysia is a short films project. It consists of 15 short films about Malaysia directed by some of the best young filmmakers in our country. Each film lasts between 3 to 7 minutes. 15Malaysia is not a parody of 1Malaysia.

WHAT ARE THE FILMS ABOUT?

All our films have socio-political subject matters. These vary from corruption, race relations, inflation, Islamic banking, social apathy, ethical commerce, pedophilia, government health warnings and so on. Some are funny, other serious – all try to deal with aspects of Malaysian life. Each filmmaker was responsible for choosing his or her own subject matter.

LIST OF 15MALAYSIA SHORT FILMS

1. Potong Saga (by Ho Yuhang, release 17 Aug 2009) - A laugh-out-loud film about a Chinese boy’s misguided attempts at opening an Islamic bank account.

2. Chocolate (by Yasmin Ahmad) - To be release on 19 Aug 2009

3. The Tree (by Amir Muhammad) - To be release on 21 Aug 2009

4. House (by Linus Chung) - To be release on 24 Aug 2009

5. Halal (by Liew Seng Tat) - To be release on 26 Aug 2009

6. The Son (by Desmond Ng) - To be release on 28 Aug 2009

7. Lumpur (by Kamal Sabran) - To be release on 31 Aug 2009

8. One Future (by Tan Chui Mui) - To be release on 2 Sep 2009

9. Slovak Sling (by Woo Ming Jin) - To be release on 4 Sep 2009

10. Gerhana (by James Lee) - TO be release on 7 Sep 2009

11. Meter (by benji and Bahir) - To be release on 9 Sep 2009

12. Duit Kecil (by Johan John) - To be release on 11 Sep 2009

13. Healthy Paranoia (by Khairil Bahar) - To be release1 on 4 Sep 2009

14. Lollipop (by Nam Ron) - To be release on 15 Sep 2009

15. Rojak! (by Suleiman Brothers) - To be release on 16 Sep 2009

Proton Jumbuck a failure in Australia

I am not too sure if I should labeled this post as Business or Motoring or maybe a Wall of Shame. One thing for sure, this post is about product failure.

Proton (Malaysia car maker) has announced that its Jumbuck model will be phased out in Australia over the next few months. The renamed Arena, which was introduced into the Australian market in early 2003 as a low-cost half-tonne pick up, will be replaced eventually by a new model Jumbuck, which the company is in the process of developing and which is based on the Exora platform.

Proton Arena or Proton Jumbuck failed to capture the Australian market not because it is too cheap, but because as a product, it possessed some obvious flaws like limited seats, limited weight capacity, underpowered, no airbag, no safety conformity with international standard and plasticky (too much plastic material). In fact, Proton Arena is rarely seen on Malaysian roads.

So when we talked about a product, most of its principles applied in blogging. Unlike an expensive product, at least we can make some flaws during the course of our blogging adventures but we must put efforts to improve it. But for a real consumer product, even some minor mistakes make cost the company millions of dollars in losses.

Essentially, a product must have a strong branding. In real life, company will spend a lot of money promoting it. The same case applied in blogging, you have to promote your blog as a product. Promotion can be free if you know the way.

A product must have features that customers like. Likewise, your blog must offered services or information that are useful to your readers.

A product must be upgraded. You often heard that such product will be replaced with a newer model to satisfy the customers demand. Likewise, your readers expect your blog to be updated frequently with new posts. Basically, nobody like old stuff.

A product must be affordable. Readers like free stuff. If you think you must charge subscription for the readers to access your blog, then make sure you delivered quality stuff. That is what they called it value for money.

The power of 090909

To the Chinese, September 09, 2009 (or 090909 or 09-09-09) is within the month of the Hungry Ghost and considered as not auspicious. However, since the date is a lifetime occurrence, some considered it to be special and perhaps powerful. The next 09-09-09 will happen in September 09, 3009, way beyond our lifetime. As such some Chinese couples have set 09-09-09 as their wedding date.

This is because the number “nine” when pronounced in Mandarin sounds like the word “everlasting”.

In Malaysia, Johor Baru Tiong Hua Association manager Eric Ku said their past records showed only about 20 couples registered their weddings during the Hungry Ghost month but this year, more than 80 couples have submitted their documents for the registration on the specific day.

When asked why the couples decided to go ahead even though it falls during the Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival, Ku explained that those who chose the day might be more “modern-minded”.

“Normally, Chinese still perceive the tea ceremony as the actual marriage day, thus they are not so particular about the date they choose to register,” he said.

He added that since this year is the Year of the Ox, it is also seen as a good year to get married.

“We plan to have 99 couples for a mass wedding on that day and we will also organise a dinner for them.

“We are targeting about 100 tables for the dinner,” he told The Star.

He added that this kind of dinner will be the first of its kind being organised by the association for a mass wedding.

Michael Robert Dacre, Jetpod inventor died

Newly-assembled aircraft Jetpod, by the British-based Avcen Ltd, crashed and burst into a ball of fire during a test flight from Tekah airstrip near Taiping, Perak, Malaysia, killing its inventor Michael Robert Dacre, 53, who was piloting the aircraft. The crash happened at 12.30pm Sunday. Dacre is also Avcen's managing director.

Avcen Limited Malaysia is based at Patimas Technology Centre, Technology Park, Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur and Dacre had intended for the 8-seater flying taxi to be ready in 2010.

Taiping deputy police chief Supt Syed Abdul Wahab Abdul Majid said Dacre suffered severe burns and injuries and died at the scene.

The incident was witnessed by many residents, including retired soldier, Halim Hamid, 50, who lives in nearby Taman Saujana Jaya.

He said he was scooping shrimps to feed his pet fish at a disused pond about 50 metres from where the jet had crashed.

“Earlier, I saw it going down the runaway three times but it could not take off.

“However, on the fourth run, the jet took off into the air but at about 200 metres high, it shot vertically to the sky before veering to its left and then falling to the ground,” he said.

There was a loud explosion when it crashed but firemen who were at the scene managed to put out the blaze, he said.

Halim said the jet had been earlier transported in parts in a container to the airstrip about a week ago before it was assembled.

Police personnel at the scene were seen collecting the pilot’s burnt, dismembered limbs from the wreckage before sending his remains to the Taiping Hospital.

Some of the residents said a co-pilot had wanted to accompany the deceased on the test flight but Dacre decided to fly alone.

Several Royal Malaysian Air Force personnel were at the scene to check the wreckage.

Meanwhile, Bernama quoted Taiping Fire and Rescue senior operations officer Mohd Sobri Abdullah as saying that the fire and rescue personnel had been stationed at the airstrip since 8.30am on the request of the company.

He said the plane was at an altitude of 200 metres when it suddenly plunged to the ground and erupted into a ball of fire.

The fire and rescue personnel present provided emergency response but were unable to save the victim, he said, adding that investigations had commenced to determine the cause of the crash.

According to Wikipedia Jetpod is a design proposal for a very quiet aircraft that can take off and land in short distances (STOL), developed by Avcen Limited, a company formed in 1998 to promote development of the Jetpod.

A number of applications have been proposed, including as a military transport, an executive transport, and as a short to medium-range air taxi.

According to Avcen's publicity materials, the Jetpod's maximum speed is 550 km/h (350 mph, 300 knots).

It would need only 125 meters (135 yards) to take-off or land, allowing runways to be constructed close to the center of major cities, and would be sufficiently quiet to not be noticeable above city traffic.

The trip from Heathrow Airport to central London would take about 4 minutes and cost about $100.

Struggle of Pakistani Christians

Pakistani Christians being the minority have became refugees in their own country. The Christian population of Pakistan is only 5 percent of the overall population. Overwhelmed by a Muslim majority, at times they face violent attacks. Other times, they believe they're expelled from their lands -- faced with a distant and dark future.

About 2,000 Christians were evicted from the land and home and dumped in a camp at downtown Islamabad. Being locked down and without proper sanitation, water and shelter, people are dying of poverty in this camp.

Other countries of course deal with religious strife; minorities all over the world face an uphill struggle. But here, with the addition of poverty, in the oppressive heat -- in an over-crowed camp on the side of the road in downtown Islamabad -- it seems that much worse.

Related posts:
* Christians Persecution And Hate Campaign In Mosul, Iraq
* Bigotry Of Islamophobia
* Persecution And Hate Campaign In Orissa, India
* Alysa Stanton - First Black Female Rabbi
* Behind the scenes: A refugee camp for Pakistani Christians

Breaking Alexa Top 100K Rank

Since this blog was started since 12 months ago, it has now achieved another small milestone, i.e, breaking the Alexa Top 100K barrier. To some, getting under the Alexa Top 100K is not a big deal but maintaining the rank would be a challenge especially if you try to press the rank further down to 50K or below.

There are a lots of posting on tips and tricks on improving your Alexa ranking but the basic formulas of gaining the converted rank are as follows:
1. Consistency and growing traffic
2. A traffic spike once a while
3. Growing backlinks
4. Be involved in some form of social networking

What is so important about hitting the Alexa 100K rank?
1. Nothing, if you are a seasoned blogger.
2. A smaller accomplishment if you are a newbie.

What is the benefits of gaining Alexa 100K rank?
There are no significant benefits. The only real benefit is that if you are selling advertising it reinforces the worth of advertising on your site. Most serious advertisers are going to want other metrics to confirm the traffic level of your website.

What experts think of Alexa ranking
Many experts think that Alexa is relevant to advertisers as their figures have always been skewed, formulas are erratic, unpredictable and rely on depreciated concepts of marketing. However, we must all use Alexa ranking as a basic guide to measure the amount of traffic to a blog or website.

Related posts:
* Top 9 Ways To Increase Your Alexa Ranking
* Great ways to improve your Alexa rank
* Do Follow Blogs - Get More Backlink Juices


For EC Members
Please contribute a sensible comment to this post and get a free 100EC Credits for each comment. Limited to the first 15 entries. Only one comment allowed per commenter. Out-of-topic comment get no EC Credits.

UPDATES:
* Aug 20, 2009 - The above reward is now withdrawn. Thank you to those who have participated.

When to catch streaking Perseid meteor shower

Malaysians who missed catching the peak of the Perseid meteor shower in the early hours this morning can catch the shower again after midnight tomorrow.

Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Astronomy Atmospheric Science Unit lecturer Assoc Prof Dr Chong Hon Yew said the meteor shower would be at its best between 1.30am and 4am in the northern sky with more than 100 Perseids streaking across the sky per hour.

He also said that according to the Inter­national Meteor Organisation (IMO), the shower could have started from July 24 and is expected to be observed until around Aug 17.

Dr Chong also said the Perseids are a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle, are usually fast, bright and occasionally leave persistent trains.

“They are called thus because the point they come from lies in the constellation Perseus,” he said.

The shower is visible from mid-July each year, with the greatest activity between Aug 8 and 14, peaking around Aug 12.

Dr Chong said the meteor shower can be observed with the naked eye.

For photo bloggers, this would be a great chance to take shots of the steaking Perseid meteor shower and post their best photos on their blog.

Next Generation Google Search

This year Microsoft has been quite busy spending and deal-making spree to grow Bing, recently signing a huge search deal with Yahoo. And with Bing starting to steal some market share from Google, it’s proving to be a formidable opponent. Oh, and now you can’t count out Facebook either, which just launched a new realtime search engine.

Google’s not taking any of this lying down. Secretly, they’ve been working on a new project: the next generation of Google Search. This isn’t just some minor upgrade, but an entire new infrastructure for the world’s largest search engine. In other words: it’s a new version of Google. Try the new G search engine here: http://www2.sandbox.google.com.

The project’s still under construction, but Google’s now confident enough in the new version of its search engine that it has released the development version for public consumption. While you won’t see too many differences immediately, it’s a completely upgraded Google search.

Google specifically states that its goal for the new version of Google Search is to improve its indexing speed, accuracy, size, and comprehensiveness. Here’s what they wrote:

“For the last several months, a large team of Googlers has been working on a secret project: a next-generation architecture for Google’s web search. It’s the first step in a process that will let us push the envelope on size, indexing speed, accuracy, comprehensiveness and other dimensions. The new infrastructure sits “under the hood” of Google’s search engine, which means that most users won’t notice a difference in search results. But web developers and power searchers might notice a few differences, so we’re opening up a web developer preview to collect feedback.”

Related posts:
* Google Apps Going Google
* The Tide of Google Wave
* Google Most Valuable Global Brands 2009
* Morro Anti-Virus Service From Microsoft

Are Mommy Bloggers Still Trusted

Many may not be aware but mommy bloggers are facing some sort of ethical crisis. Traditionally, work from home moms blogged about their marriages, homes, kids and mom's routines. Nowadays, make money online moms have gone mainstream and have become too commercialized and aiming for more revenue. In a way, it's good for them to supplement their family income while maintaining their home in a ship-shape condition. But this resulted in readers losing trust on their posts.

Those posts are usually sponsored posts, meaning some advertisers are paying mommy bloggers to post about their products or services. Those posts are no longer an honest review from the mommy bloggers. Their concern is just to post an article, get paid for it and repeat the process. And this doesn't make readers happy.

As for the advertisers, their brand become more saturated and gain wider publicity but that caused their brand loyalty to decline because readers are now aware that the reviews on the products are no longer honest and genuine reviews.

The problem isn't paid reviews, but mommy bloggers who are working with it in a less-than-sincere way. With this in mind, some A-list mommy bloggers and other women bloggers are taking steps to become more transparent and stem what they fear is a backlash against their profession.

At last month's fifth annual BlogHer Conference -- a gathering of more than 1,500 women bloggers in Chicago -- Gumbinner and three other bloggers launched Blog with Integrity, a Web site devoted to improving blogger ethics.

"After a spring and early summer of polarizing debates about blogger compensation, sponsored posts and product reviews, an alarming increase in ethical lapses and idea theft, and a growing backlash against poor blogger relations practices, we believed it was time to refocus on integrity," the site says.

As of Monday, people from more than 880 blogs had signed the site's pledge, in which bloggers promise to disclose material relationships, policies and business practices, and let readers know the difference between editorial content and advertising.

For more details, read 'Mommy bloggers' vow to avoid ethical conflicts

So, my esteemed readers, do you agreed with this post. Please cast your vote and/or comment.

Who do you trust
	I still trust mommy bloggers
	Mommy bloggers are no longer sincere
	I only trust my own mum
pollcode.com free polls

Top 50 Mommy Blogs.

1. The Mommy Blog (http://themommyblog.net/)
2. MommyBlog (http://www.mommyblog.com/)
3. Just Another Mommy Blog (http://tracey-justanothermommyblog.blogspot.com/)
4. Blonde Mom Blog (http://blondemomblog.com/)
5. Modern Mommy Blog (http://www.modernmommyblog.com/)
6. So Close (http://www.tertia.org/so_close/)
7. Kim Chi Mamas (http://kimchimamas.typepad.com/)
8. News From Hawkhill Acres (http://lillhawkins.com/)
9. Hormone Colored Days (http://hormonecoloreddays.blogspot.com/)
10. Writing Mamas Salon (http://writingmamassalon.blogspot.com/)
11. Joy Unexpected (http://www.joyunexpected.com/)
12. Soapbox Mom (http://soapboxmom.com/)
13. Sarcastic Mom (http://sarcasticmom.com/)
14. Mom101 (http://mom-101.blogspot.com/)
15. June Cleaver Nirvana (http://www.junecleavernirvana.com/)
16. Absolutely Bananas (http://www.absolutelybananas.com/)
17. Crunchy Domestic Goddess (http://crunchydomesticgoddess.com/)
18. Committed Parent (http://committedparent.wordpress.com/)
19. Play Groups Are No Place For Children (http://playgroupsarenoplaceforchildren.com/)
20. Mom To The Screaming Masses (http://momtothescreamingmasses.typepad.com/)
21. Mother Goose Mouse (http://mothergoosemouse.com/)
22. Undomestic Diva (http://undomesticdiva.typepad.com/)
23. Motherhood Uncensored (http://www.motherhooduncensored.net/)
24. The Dalaimama (http://thedalaimama.net/)
25. Crazy Bloggin Canuk (http://crazybloggincanuck.blogspot.com/)
26. Maniac Mommies (http://www.manicmommies.com/)
27. Mother Bumper (http://www.motherbumper.com/)
28. Three Boys Under My Roof (http://3boysundermyroof.blogspot.com/)
29. Imaginary Binky (http://www.imaginarybinky.com/)
30. Girls Gone Child (http://www.girlsgonechild.net/)
31. Notes From the Trenches (http://www.notesfromthetrenches.com/)
32. This Full House (http://www.thisfullhouse.com/)
33. And Baby Makes 6 (http://andbabymakes6.com/)
34. Antique Mommy (http://antiquemommy.com/)
35. Gwendomama (http://gwendomama.blogspot.com/)
36. Secret Agent Mama (http://secretagentmama.com/blog/)
37. Whiskey In My Sippy Cup (http://www.whiskeyinmysippycup.com/)
38. Temporarily Me (http://www.temporarilyme.com/)
39. Single SuperMama (http://www.flinger.us/supermama/)
40. Crunchy Carpets (http://crunchycarpets.com/)
41. Who’s the Boss Blog (http://www.whosthebossblog.com/my_weblog/)
42. Beyond Mom (http://beyondmom.com/)
43. Mommy Cracked (http://www.mommycracked.net/)
44. Walking With Scissors (http://www.walkingwithscissorsblog.com/)
45. Melia Lore (http://melialore.com/)
46. Six Browns (http://www.6browns.com/)
47. Blog That Mommy! (http://www.blogthatmommy.blogspot.com/)
48. Pundit Mom (http://punditmom1.blogspot.com/)
49. The Redneck Mommy (http://theredneckmommy.com/)
50. CityMama (http://citymama.typepad.com/citymama/)


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