Islamic Studies 101

UNBELIEVABLE AND WRITTEN BY A MUSLIM.   The writer is the Pakistani Executive Director of the Center for Research and Security Studies, a think tank established in 2007, and an Islamabad-based freelance columnist. It sure makes interesting reading... Particularly coming from a Pakistani official. By: Dr Farrukh Saleem Why are Jews so powerful There are only 14 million Jews in the world; seven million in the Americas , five million in Asia, two million in Europe and 100,000 in Africa.   For every single Jew in the world there are 100 Muslims. Yet, Jews are more than a hundred times more powerful than all the Muslims put together.   Ever wondered why? Jesus of Nazareth was Jewish.   Albert Einstein, the most influential scientist of all time and TIME magazine's 'Person of the Century', was a Jew.   Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis was a Jew.   So were Karl Marx, Paul Samuelson and Milton Friedman.   Here are a few other Jews whose intellectual output has enriched the whole humanity: Benjamin Rubin gave humanity the vaccinating needle. Jonas Salk developed the first polio vaccine. Albert Sabin developed the improved live polio vaccine. Gertrude Elion gave us a leukemia fighting drug. Baruch Blumberg developed the vaccination for Hepatitis B. Paul Ehrlich discovered a treatment for syphilis. Elie Metchnikoff won a Nobel Prize in infectious diseases. Bernard Katz won a Nobel Prize in neuromuscular transmission. Andrew Schally won a Nobel in endocrinology. Aaron Beck founded Cognitive Therapy.  Gregory Pincus developed the first oral contraceptive pill. George Wald won a Nobel for our understanding of the human eye. Stanley Cohen won a Nobel in embryology. Willem Kolff came up with the kidney dialysis machine. Over the past 105 years, 14 million Jews have won 15-dozen Nobel Prizes while only three Nobel Prizes have been won by 1.4 billion Muslims (other than Peace Prizes). Why are Jews so powerful? Stanley Mezor invented the first micro-processing chip.   Leo Szilard developed the first nuclear chain reactor; Peter Schultz, optical fibre cable; Charles Adler, traffic lights; Benno Strauss, Stainless steel; Isador Kisee, sound movies; Emile Berliner, telephone microphone; Charles Ginsburg, videotape recorder. Famous financiers in the business world who belong to Jewish faith include Ralph Lauren (Polo), Levis Strauss (Levi's Jeans), Howard Schultz (Starbuck's) , Sergey Brin (Google), Michael Dell (Dell Computers), Larry Ellison (Oracle), Donna Karan (DKNY), Irv Robbins (Baskins & Robbins) and Bill Rosenberg (Dunkin Donuts). Richard Levin, President of Yale University, is a Jew. So are Henry Kissinger (American secretary of state), Alan Greenspan (Fed chairman under Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Bush), Joseph Lieberman (US Senator), Madeleine Albright (American secretary of state), Casper Weinberger (American secretary of defense), Maxim Litvinov ( USSR foreign Minister), David Marshal ( Singapore 's first chief minister), Issac Isaacs (governor-general of Australia ), Benjamin  Disraeli (British statesman and author), Yevgeny Primakov (Russian PM), Barry Goldwater (US Senator), Jorge Sampaio (president of Portugal ), John Deutsch (CIA director), Herb Gray (Canadian deputy PM), Pierre Mendes (French PM), Michael Howard (British home Secretary), Bruno Kreisky (chancellor of Austria ) and Robert Rubin (American secretary of treasury). In the media, famous Jews include Wolf Blitzer (CNN), Barbara Walters (ABC News), Eugene Meyer (Washington Post), Henry Grunwald (editor-in-chief Time), Katherine Graham (publisher of The Washington Post), Joseph Lelyveld (Executive editor, The New York Times), and Max Frankel (New York Times). The most beneficent philanthropist in the history of the world is George Soros, a Jew, who has so far donated a colossal $4 billion most of which has gone as aid to scientists and universities around the world. Second to George Soros is Walter Annenberg, another Jew, who has built a hundred libraries by donating an estimated $2 billion. At the Olympics, Mark Spitz set a record of sorts by winning seven gold medals; Lenny Krayzelburg is a three-time Olympic gold medallist.   Spitz, Krayzelburg and Boris Becker (Tennis) are all Jewish. Did you know that Harrison Ford, George Burns, Tony Curtis, Charles Bronson, Sandra Bullock, Billy Crystal, Woody Allen, Paul Newman, Peter Sellers, Dustin Hoffman, Michael Douglas, Ben Kingsley, Kirk Douglas, Goldie Hawn, Cary Grant, William Shatner, Jerry Lewis and Peter Falk are all Jewish? As a matter of fact, Hollywood itself was founded by a Jew. Among directors and producers, Steven Spielberg, Mel Brooks, Oliver Stone, Aaron Spelling ( Beverly Hills 90210), Neil Simon (The Odd Couple), Andrew Vaina (Rambo 1/2/3), Michael Man (Starsky andHutch), Milos Forman (One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest), Douglas Fairbanks (The Thief of Baghdad ) and Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters) are all Jewish. So, why are Jews so powerful? Answer : EDUCATION  Why are Muslims so powerless?  There are an estimated 1,476,233,470 Muslims on the face of the planet: one billion in Asia, 400 million in Africa, 44 million in Europe and six million in the Americas . Every fifth human being is a Muslim; for every single Hindu there are two Muslims, for every Buddhist there are two Muslims and for every Jew there are one hundred Muslims. Ever wondered why Muslims are so powerless? Here is why: There are 57 member-countries of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), and all of them put together have around 500 universities; one university for every three million Muslims. The United States has 5,758 universities and India has 8,407. In 2004, Shanghai Jiao Tong University compiled an 'Academic Ranking of World Universities', and intriguingly, not one university from Muslim-majority states was in the top-500. As per data collected by the UNDP, literacy in the Christian world stands at nearly 90 per cent and 15 Christian-majority states have a literacy rate of 100 per cent. A Muslim-majority state, as a sharp contrast, has an average literacy rate of around 40 per cent and there is no Muslim-majority state with a literacy rate of 100 per cent. Some 98 per cent of the 'literates' in the Christian world had completed primary school, while less than 50 per cent of the 'literates' in the Muslim world did the same.   Around 40 per cent of the 'literates' in the Christian world attended university while no more than two per cent of the 'literates' in the Muslim world did the same. Muslim-majority countries have 230 scientists per one million Muslims. The US has 4,000 scientists per million and Japan has 5,000 per million. In the entire Arab world, the total number of full-time researchers is 35,000 and there are only 50 technicians per one million Arabs. (in the Christian world there are up to 1,000 technicians per one million).   Furthermore, the Muslim world spends 0.2 per cent of its GDP on research and development, while the Christian world spends around five per cent of its GDP. Conclusion: The Muslim world lacks the capacity to produce knowledge! Daily newspapers per 1,000 people and number of book titles per million are two indicators of whether knowledge is being diffused in a society. In Pakistan, there are 23 daily newspapers per 1,000 Pakistanis while the same ratio in Singapore is 360. In the UK, the number of book titles per million stands at 2,000 while the same in Egypt is 20. Conclusion: The Muslim world is failing to diffuse knowledge.  Exports of high technology products as a percentage of total exports are an important indicator of knowledge application. Pakistan 's export of high technology products as a percentage of total exports stands at one per cent.   The same for Saudi Arabia is 0.3 per cent; Kuwait, Morocco, and Algeria are all at 0.3 per cent, while Singapore is at 58 per cent. Conclusion: The Muslim world is failing to apply knowledge.  Why are Muslims powerless? .....Because we aren't producing knowledge, ....Because we aren't diffusing knowledge., .....Because we aren't applying knowledge. And, the future belongs to knowledge-based societies. Interestingly, the combined annual GDP of 57 OIC-countries is under $2 trillion. America, just by herself, produces goods and services worth $12 trillion; China $8 trillion, Japan $3.8 trillion and Germany $2.4 trillion (purchasing power parity basis).   Oil rich Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait and Qatar collectively produce goods and services (mostly oil) worth $500 billion; Spain alone produces goods and services worth over $1 trillion, Catholic Poland $489 billion and Buddhist Thailand $545 billion. ..... (Muslim GDP as a percentage of world GDP is fast declining).  So, why are Muslims so powerless? Answer: Lack of education.  All we do is shout to Allah the whole day !!! and blame everyone else for our multiple failures!!!!!

A request to restaurants

Ann Esselstyn - 8 Principles for becoming plant perfect

I am not a chef. I don’t peel anything and if it looks even a little bit complicated, I don’t make it.  What we have found is that eating plant based WITHOUT OIL is delicious, easy and  above all magical.

Follow 8 principles and you may well find yourself becoming PLANT PERFECT!

1. Eat oats (Old Fashioned) for breakfast, any way you can as oatmeal, as a cold cereal as we do
with alternative milk and fruit or in waffles or pancakes or just put your cereal bowl with oats, banana and alternative milk and a table spoon of flax seed into your waffle iron and you have your oat breakfast in waffle form  There are delicious ways to use steel cut  oats too.  Oats help lower cholesterol and also reduce artery inflammation.  Find the breakfast  with oats you love then eat it EVERY DAY!!!

2. Eat GREENS especially leafy greens as well as all the symphony of rainbow colored vegetables.
Cooked or raw vegetables are king!  Make leafy greens like Kale, collards and Swiss chard the nest on which you put your food, mix greens into your food or pile greens on the side of your plate.  Make kale sandwiches, mix greens into soup, cook kale, etc. cut in small pieces into pasta 4 minutes before it is done, then drain and you have a meal in one or mix a bunch of greens into pasta sauce and spread on your whole wheat, no oil pizza crust (see www. samis Bakery.com  on line for an
awesome millet/flax pizza crust) and top with vegetables of your choice. Never cheese.

3. Eat Beans and Lentils instead of meat and dairy.  All lentils are delicious. Try red lentils in soup.  They cook quickly and make the soup a nice color.  Put beans in salads.  Hummus made without tahini or oil has become our mayonnaise as a sandwich spread or dip for vegetables and crackers and even part of our favorite salad dressing.   Our main party dish is brown rice and black beans piled high with chopped tomatoes, thawed frozen corn, chopped green onions, water chestnuts, chopped cilantro, chopped arugula, chopped peppers, etc. and topped with salsa, low sodium tamari or if you don’t have heart disease with guacamole.  AVOID all the highly processed fake soy meats and any of the vegan cheeses, which have lots of oil in them.

4. Eat WHOLE Grains. Be sure that the word WHOLE is in front of wheat or rye in the ingredient list.   If not then it is just white flour fancied up to sound impressive.  Check also to be sure that there is no added oil in the bread.  Ezekiel makes many wonderful sprouted grain products available in the frozen food departments of health food stores. The Ezekiel Tortilla wraps are excellent and useful for everyday or parties.  Fill them with your choice and then roll them up and bake them for 10 minutes in a 450 degree oven. Delicious!  Use whole wheat pastry flour or barley flour in baking instead of white flour.

5. Eliminate oil! Empty all oil, even virgin olive oil out of your cupboards then you CAN’T use it. Instead any liquid works.  Vegetable broth (no sodium), water, wine, beer, orange juice, carrot juice, vinegar all work in stir -frying. Instead of oil in baking, use applesauce, baby food prunes, bananas. Finding a salad dressing you love is a challenge at first but there are so many possibilities out there you will soon never miss the oil filled ones.

6. Drink WATER! You can’t go wrong with water.  You can flavor it with a splash of orange or apple, etc. juice occasionally.  Never drink juices! And absolutely never drink pop, with or without added sugar.

7. Avoid sugar and salt as much as possible.   Save sugar for birthdays or special holiday treats.  Instead put grapes in your freezer for an amazing sweet treat or freeze bananas or mangoes and blend them in a strong blender for delicious “ice creams. “  Look at the government label for the amount of
salt in a product.  No added salt is ideal or aim for the salt content being equal to the calorie content.  Instead of salt add vinegar, lemon juice,  lime juice or hot sauces.  You will lose your taste for salt
before you know it.

8. Read Labels, especially the ingredients.    You will be surprised that often proclaimed zero
fat products have oil listed in the ingredients.  The government allows anything under .5 grams of fat to be called FAT FREE.

Fill up with all the great plant based food.  Life is GOOD!!!

from http://planeat.tv/ann-esselstyn

THESE ARE PRETTY CLEVER

Did you know about these?

Do you see the arrow between the "E" and "x" (in white)?                I had never noticed it before.

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The 2nd and 3rd "T's" are two people sharing (or fighting over) a
               tortilla and a bowl of salsa.

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The world's most famous bike race. The "R" in "Tour" is a cyclist.
The yellow circle is the front wheel of a bicycle, the "O" is the back wheel.

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The arrow means Amazon has everything from A to Z

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The gap between the "K" and the "I" is a sideways chocolate kiss.

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There is a dancing bear above the "ble".
Toblerone chocolate bars originated in Berne, Switzerland,
           whose symbol is the bear.

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See the "31" embedded in the "BR"?           Thirty one-derful flavors!

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Northwest Airlines. The circle is a compass.         The arrow in the upper left corner is pointing..?

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See the gorilla and lioness (in white) facing each other?   AWESOME ~  LOVED this one !

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The smiley half face is also a 'g".

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The emblem for the Milwaukee Brewers.
        Baseball glove forms an "M" and a "B".
This Logo was designed by a college student.

Steps to Cancer Prevention

• Do not use tobacco in any form.

• Eat a varied menu (whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and beans, without added fats), which supplies generous amounts of fibre, vitamins, and minerals.

• Have a variety of colors within your daily menu.

• Consume at least 40 grams of fibre per day.

• Avoid animal products and minimize added vegetable oils.

• Minimize alcohol intake.

• Engage in regular physical activity.

• Maintain your weight at or near your ideal level.

• Avoid excessive sunlight and unnecessary X-rays.

• Be sure to take a daily multiple vitamin without added minerals, or other reliable source of vitamin B12. Adults need 2.4 micrograms per day.

Health in Australia

Australia, like the US and other western countries, is becoming more and more obese. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2011-12, 70% of males and 56% of females in Australia aged 18 years and over were overweight or obese. Being overweight or obese increases the risk of suffering from a range of health conditions, including coronary heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, some cancers, knee and hip problems, and sleep apnoea. In 2008, the total annual cost of obesity to Australia, including health system costs, loss of productivity costs and carers' costs, was estimated at around $58 billion.

Each year around 55,000 Australians suffer a heart attack., this equates to around 150 heart attacks a day, or one heart attack every 10 minutes. More than 350,000 Australians have had a heart attack at some time in their lives (From the ABS National Health Survey)

To quote from a documentary I saw ... "What has happened to us? Despite the most advanced medical technology in the world, we are sicker than ever by nearly every measure. Two out of every three of us are overweight. Cases of diabetes are exploding, especially amongst our younger population. About half of us are taking at least one prescription drug. Major medical operations have become routine, helping to drive health care costs to astronomical levels. Heart disease, cancer and stroke are the country’s three leading causes of death, even though billions are spent each year to “battle” these very conditions. Millions suffer from a host of other degenerative diseases."

Almost everyone I know is taking some sort of pill ... Cholesterol, diabetes, blood pressure you name it.

However, it would seem to me that pills are the "band aid" solution. They mask the symptoms but do nothing to prevent the problem. Doctors in Australia don't have any interest in preventing any of the illnesses we face. They offer solutions once you already have the disease.

In contrast, even though I used to have very high cholesterol and a "fatty liver", even though my doctor recommended that I start taking Lipitor (an anti cholesterol drug), even though I was somewhat overweight ... since adopting a plant based diet I no longer have these issues and I'm drug free!

Again, to quote from the documentary I saw " Could it be there’s a single solution to all of these problems? A solution so comprehensive, but so straightforward, that it’s mind-boggling that more of us haven’t taken it seriously?"

What you eat can greatly affect your health and well-being. Scientific studies have shown time and again that choosing healthy foods can reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, and other diseases.

There is compelling evidence that dietary patterns that include processed foods and animal products, even in moderation, are the leading cause of modern diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer. The evidence that plant based diets are health supporting is consistent across all types of research, particularly in regard to whole plant foods. The wholefoods plant based diet has a wide breadth of benefit, in that the same dietary approach that will prevent or even reverse one disease is beneficial to the management of others.

Some resources to back up these claims

Whole Foods Plant Based Health - an excellent Australian resource

Biggest US Insurer Kaiser Permanente Tells 17,000 Doctors to Recommend Plant-Based Diets! also includes links to studies to back up their claims

The Last Heart Attack -- CNN Dr. Sanjay Gupta Documentary

Forks over Knives - examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting animal-based and processed foods.

Preventing disease and taking control of your own health is a topic I wish the Australian Government, Australian media and Australian people knew more about.

If Australians knew that a wholefoods plant based diet would extend their life and reduce (and reverse) many cancers ...would they?

If Australians knew that, by changing to a wholefoods plant based diet they could be in control of their own health ... would they?

If Australians knew that, by changing to a wholefoods plant based diet taking another pill was not the only way to deal with their health problems ... would they?

Shouldn't this be front page news?

How to live a healthy long life

From the introduction to Forks over Knives

"What has happened to us? Despite the most advanced medical technology in the world, we are sicker than ever by nearly every measure. Two out of every three of us are overweight. Cases of diabetes are exploding, especially amongst our younger population. About half of us are taking at least one prescription drug. Major medical operations have become routine, helping to drive health care costs to astronomical levels. Heart disease, cancer and stroke are the country’s three leading causes of death, even though billions are spent each year to “battle” these very conditions. Millions suffer from a host of other degenerative diseases. Could it be there’s a single solution to all of these problems? A solution so comprehensive, but so straightforward, that it’s mind-boggling that more of us haven’t taken it seriously?"

Almost everyone I know is

• overweight
• taking some sort of medication, and
• often tired

The following links have been inspirational to me to defeat these symptoms. 

1. 21 Day Vegan Kickstart program. It's free! I registered with them, they provided me with daily emails which included videos, recipes and support.

2. The Happy Herbivore (website & books)

I recently purchased a couple of books to help me.

They are

Forks Over Knives - The Cookbook: Over 300 Recipes for Plant-Based Eating All Through the Year

Available from Amazon

The Engine 2 Diet: The Texas Firefighter's 28-Day Save-Your-Life Plan that Lowers Cholesterol and Burns Away the Pounds

Available from Amazon

I have tried a few of the recipes so far and I'm keen to try more.

3. If you would like to watch inspiring information I'd recommend the following

101 Reasons to go Vegan 1 hour 10 minutes

Vegucated - trailer

Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead - entire movie 1 hour 37 minutes

The Last Heart Attack -- CNN Dr. Sanjay Gupta Documentary

Forks over Knives 

An open letter to Restaurant Owners

Dear Restaurant Owner,

I would love to see more vegan choices on your menu! 

I can assure you that my friends and I will frequent your establishment more often if these options were offered, and would be more than happy to spread the word! 

A vegan lifestyle is filled with variety and countless choices of delicious food. It only excludes the use of animal products. In terms of diet this means no meat, fish, dairy, eggs, honey or other animal derived ingredients. 

The many benefits of becoming vegan, include greater health, saving the lives of many animals and being much more environmentally friendly. It really is the lifestyle choice to make.

ANIMALS WILL BE SAVED
64 BILLION land animals and 1-3 TRILLION water animals are killed for human consumption each year. They live lives of misery. 

YOU'LL BE HEALTHIER
A well balanced plant based diet is the healthiest of all, is suitable for all ages and can significantly lower health risks, such as heart disease, strokes, cancer, diabetes, obesity and high cholesterol.
"... vegan diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases, and are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life-cycle including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood and adolescence and athletes."
The American Dietetic Association, July 2009

THE EARTH WILL BE CLEANER
The best thing you can do to help the environment and save water is to adopt a plant based diet. Humans use of 'livestock' is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than all transport put together and is a major source of water and land degradation.
The United Nations is calling for a global shift towards a vegan diet to maintain sustainability as the global population heads to 9.1 billion by 2050. 
United Nations Environment Program (2010)

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I think you will agree that increasing vegan choices would be good for your business.

Thanks so much!

This turned up sometime in the early afternoon of the Monday in the last week of November:

 

 

 

 

 

 

A very curious development indeed.

 

 

 

 

 

And then all of a sudden it took off and disappeared into thin air ....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

... leaving this:

 

I suppose that it was delivered by the one and only Doctor Loo.

9 Daily Habits That Will Make You Happier

Happiness is the only true measure of personal success. Making other people happy is the highest expression of success, but it's almost impossible to make others happy if you're not happy yourself.

With that in mind, here are nine small changes that you can make to your daily routine that, if you're like most people, will immediately increase the amount of happiness in your life:
1. Start each day with expectation.

If there's any big truth about life, it's that it usually lives up to (or down to) your expectations. Therefore, when you rise from bed, make your first thought: "something wonderful is going to happen today." Guess what? You're probably right.

2. Take time to plan and prioritize.

The most common source of stress is the perception that you've got too much work to do.  Rather than obsess about it, pick one thing that, if you get it done today, will move you closer to your highest goal and purpose in life. Then do that first.

3. Give a gift to everyone you meet.

I'm not talking about a formal, wrapped-up present. Your gift can be your smile, a word of thanks or encouragement, a gesture of politeness, even a friendly nod. 

4. Deflect partisan conversations.

Arguments about politics and religion never have a "right" answer but they definitely get people all riled up over things they can't control. When such topics surface, bow out by saying something like: "Thinking about that stuff makes my head hurt."

5. Assume people have good intentions.

Since you can't read minds, you don't really know the "why" behind the "what" that people do. Imputing evil motives to other people's weird behaviors adds extra misery to life, while assuming good intentions leaves you open to reconciliation.

6. Eat high quality food slowly.

Sometimes we can't avoid scarfing something quick to keep us up and running. Even so, at least once a day try to eat something really delicious, like a small chunk of fine cheese or an imported chocolate. Focus on it; taste it; savor it.

7. Let go of your results.

The big enemy of happiness is worry, which comes from focusing on events that are outside your control. Once you've taken action, there's usually nothing more you can do. Focus on the job at hand rather than some weird fantasy of what might happen.

8. Turn off "background" TV.

Many households leave their TVs on as "background noise" while they're doing other things. The entire point of broadcast TV is to make you dissatisfied with your life so that you'll buy more stuff. Why subliminally program yourself to be a mindless consumer?

9. End each day with gratitude.

Just before you go to bed, write down at least one wonderful thing that happened. It might be something as small as a making a child laugh or something as huge as a million dollar deal. Whatever it is, be grateful for that day because it will never come again.

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Optimal settings for Handbrake

Can't ride!

Not allowed to play

Not allowed to play, a photo by tardis3 on Flickr.

Ultimate Dog Tease

European Commission announcement

The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter. There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter .

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where! more komplikated changes are possible.

Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.

Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as

replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl.

Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.

If zis mad you smil, pleas pas on to oza pepl.

The Goa'uld - here is Las Vegas!

egypt in Las Vegas
Originally uploaded by tardis3

pedestrian crossing sign

pedestrian crossing sign
Originally uploaded by tardis3

This pedestrian crossing system is being rolled out across the US and Canada. I haven't seen them in Australia - yet

The Basic Guide To Troubleshooting Windows Problems

While watching some episodes of Get Smart

The red convertible driven by Don Adams in the opening credits for the first two seasons is a 1965 Sunbeam Tiger Mark I, which came standard with a Ford 260 V8 engine. The car was used in several episodes throughout the first four seasons, though sometimes substituted by a very similar-looking Sunbeam Alpine with Tiger badging. A Volkswagen Karmann Ghia was used in the opening credits for the third and fourth seasons but never used in any episode. For the fifth season, the show featured a 1969 Opel GT used in the opening credits as well as the episodes for that season. Only used in the pilot episode was an early-'60s Ferrari 250 GT cabriolet.

Christmas lights

Playing Simon Says

Top Apps That Boost Your Media Centre

Top Apps That Boost Your Media Centre with thanks to www. lifehacker.com.au

Streaming video, digital DVD backups, DVR recording—it’s all possible from your TV-connected media centre, and you don’t need a system administrator to pull it off. These apps make filling and controlling your media centre PC even easier.

Photo by William Hook.

Give your tunes the covers they deserve

Your favourite band, assuming it’s not Motörhead, probably spend a good bit of time thinking about their album art. Pay credit to their creative indulgences, and give your media centre something to show when their tracks are playing, by embedding album art in your MP3 collection. I ran through the best sources and tools for Windows, Mac and Linux systems in a 2008 album art guide. Whatever tool you use, having album art consistent across your library might feel a bit obsessive, and it is—but there’s a certain reassuring payoff when your TV displays the same art as your iPod.

Remove ads automatically from recorded TV

Some commercials are worth their short time commitment, but sometimes you just want to watch exactly 24 minutes of condensed television. Windows Media centre plug-in Lifextender does the job inside your hooked-up PC, while DVRMSToolbox runs through Media-Center-recorded files independently, and can then export them to more generally usable formats than Windows’ somewhat locked-down system. (Original posts: Lifextender, DVRMSToolbox)

Boost Boxee with repositories and feeds

Boxee is basically the XBMC media centre app with a different look and a more social flair. It also supports a lot of independent content creators and independent developers, whether through the official App Box, through adding repositories of new apps, or through stand-alone RSS feeds.

Rename files for easier detection

Media player apps try their best to figure out exactly what TV shows and movies you’ve got loaded into storage, but they often have a hard time keeping up with the naming schemes used by a variety of applications and fallible humans. Grab an app like MediaRenamer (for movies and television) or TVrename (for shows alone) and whip your files into a shape that XBMC, Boxee, Windows, Plex, or any other media centre can easily figure out. For a quick read on what media centre apps like to see—XBMC in particular—read Jason’s guide halfway through his XMBC add-on guide.

Rip DVDs the easy way

Rather than find out halfway through the final disc of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles that your disc is scratched beyond repair, you could rip the suspect DVD to a digital file and play it from there, with just a minor skip. Adam’s built a tool called DVD Rip to make it a dead-simple process in Windows, but it’s fairly easy to pull off with HandBrake or VLC Media Player on Windows, Mac or Linux systems.

Media centre remotes for your phone (or iPod touch)

Sure, you could go the easy route and buy an infrared-based, media-center-friendly physical remote for your TV-attached setup, but if you’d like a bit more functionality—and, more importantly, actual typing input—there’s probably a free or cheap remote for your Wi-Fi powered phone or iPod. Gmote turns an Android phone into a multi-system remote, assuming you don’t mind a quick software installation. iPod/iPhone owners have their pick of many XBMC-compatible remotes in the App Store, the free Boxee remote, and MediaMote (iTunes direct link) ably handles your Windows Media centre remote.

Make your router more media-friendly

Your standard off-the-shelf router treats all net traffic the same, can’t tell you exactly how much you’ve downloaded this month, and is fairly difficult to turn into anything other than an agent of your modem. Install DD-WRT or Tomato on your little antenna box, however, and it can be a wireless bridge for your entertainment center (Installation guide: Tomato)

Convert and transfer tracks to your portable player

The best media centres can play just about any video or audio format out there, but even the coolest phones and media devices have a fairly limited format range, and only so much space. Among the five best media converters we rounded up, Super and Format Factory can match most devices and file types, while MediaCoder and HandBrake get the job done on any platform. Need help getting the file onto your phone or device? The doubleTwist media manager is the easiest drag & drop solution we’ve seen.

New supermarket

A new supermarket opened here in Estevan. It has an automatic water mister to keep the produce fresh. Just before it goes on, you hear the sound of distant thunder and the smell of fresh rain.

When you pass the milk cases, you hear cows mooing and you experience the scent of fresh mown hay.

In the meat department there is the aroma of charcoal grilled steaks with onions.

When you approach the egg case, you hear hens cluck and cackle, and the air is filled with the pleasing aroma of bacon and eggs frying.

The bread department features the tantalizing smell of fresh baked bread & cookies.

I don't buy toilet paper there anymore.

Austar & Foxtel plans 28 new channels

On September 29 Foxtel will be revealing its next plans for new channels and technology to media, but they may have had their thunder stolen somewhat by Austar which has told some subscribers about the 28 new channels the regional platform will be offering.

Under the banner of “the biggest thing to happen to TV in years”, its magazine reveals that amongst the 15 standard definition channels there will be four new movie channels, four new sports channels, three more news and documentary channels, a murder mystery channel, two ad-free, educational kids channels and a new lifestyle channel.

There will be 13 HD channels offerings will be four sport channels, six movie channels and three channels devoted to drama, comedy and classics.

Austar is also heavily promoting its new MyStar HD box, which can record up to 90 hours of SD programming or 30 hours of HD programming.

There will also be improvements to the red button interactive application, with eight more timeshift channels being added to the mix. Austar also indicated “more news next month”.

Found at http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2009/09/austar-plans-28-new-channels.html