Archives
29/08: Great Quotations to live by...
I think, therefore I am.
- Rene Descartes
The unexamined life is not worth living.
- Socrates 470399 B.C.E.
The best way to have a good idea
is to have a lot of ideas.
- Linus Pauling
Imagination is more important than knowledge.
- Albert Einstein
Think for yourselves and let others
enjoy the privilege to do so, too.
- Voltaire
My strength lies mainly in my tenacity.
Louis Pasteur
I find that the harder I work,
the more luck I seem to have.
- Thomas Jefferson
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
- Calvin Coolidge
And ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free.
John VII
Only the educated are free.
Epictetus
"There was a star danced,
and under that was I born."
William Shakespeare (15641616), TwelfthNight, II, i, 351
(for my niece, Halley, who was born in December, 1985)
"For rigorous teachers seized my youth,
And purged its faith, and trimmed its fire,
Showed me the high, white star of Truth,
There bade me gaze, and there aspire."
Matthew Arnold (18221888), Stanzas from the Grande Chartreuse
I have never let my schooling
interfere with my education.
- Mark Twain (18351910)
When I was a boy of fourteen my father was so ignorant
I could hardly stand to have the old man around.
But when I got to be twenty one, I was astonished
at how much he had learned in seven years.
- Mark Twain
A large part of [the purpose] of education may well be
what men have most feared and most desired the
achievement of moments of ecstasy.
- George Leonard
I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God
who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect
has intended us to forgo their use.
- Galileo Galilei
The universe is full of magical things
patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.
- Bertrand Russell
"I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to
have been only a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in
now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than
ordinary. Whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."
Isaac Newton
To
laugh often and much;
to win the respect of intelligent people
and the affection of children;
to earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
to leave the world a bit better,
whether by a healthy child, a garden patch
or a redeemed social condition;
to know even one life has breathed easier because you
have lived. This is to have succeeded.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
That best portion of a good man's life,
His little, nameless, unremembered acts
Of kindness and love.
- William Wordsworth
There are only two ways to live your life.
One is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though everything is a miracle.
- Albert Einstein (18791955)
We succeeded in taking that picture [of Earth from deep space], and,
if you look at it, you see a dot. That's here. That's home. That's us...
on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam.
The earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the
rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in
glory and in triumph they could become the momentary masters of a
fraction of a dot...Our posturings, our imagined selfimportance, the
delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are
challenged by this point of pale light.
Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In
our obscurity in all this vastness there is no hint that help
will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us.
It's been said that astronomy is a humbling, and I might add, a
character building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better
demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image
of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal
more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and
cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.
- Carl Sagan (19341996), Reflections on a Mote of Dust
(an image of Earth taken by Voyager 1 from the edge of the Solar System)
To sit alone with my conscience
will be judgement enough for me.
- Charles William Stubbs
I am not an Athenian or a Greek,
I am a citizen of the world.
- Socrates
Am I not destroying my enemies
when I make friends of them?
Abraham Lincoln
Do not regret growing older.
It is a privilege denied to many.
- unknown
Far and away the best prize that life offers
is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.
Theodore Roosevelt
It is well to remember that the entire universe,
with one trifling exception, is composed of others.
John Andrew Holmes
At the heart of science is an essential tension between
two seemingly contradictory attitudes an openness to
new ideas, no matter how bizarre or counterintuitive
they may be, and the most ruthless skeptical scrutiny
of all ideas, old and new. This is how deep truths are
winnowed from deep nonsense. Of course, scientists make
mistakes in trying to understand the world, but there
is a built in error correcting mechanism: The collective
enterprise of creative thinking and skeptical thinking
together keeps the field on track.
- Carl Sagan, "The Fine Art of Baloney Detection,"
Parade, February 1, 1987
I'm often asked the question, "Do you think there is
extraterrestrial intelligence?" I give the standard arguments there
are a lot of places out there, and use the word *billions*,
and so on. And then I say it would be astonishing to me if there
weren't extraterrestrial intelligence, but of course there is as
yet no compelling evidence for it. And then I'm asked, "Yeah,
but what's your gut feeling?" But I try not to think with my gut.
Really, it's okay to reserve judgment until the evidence is in.
- Carl Sagan, The Burden Of Skepticism,
The Skeptical Inquirer, Vol. 12, Fall 87
To make an apple pie from scratch,
you must first invent the universe.
- Carl Sagan
29/08: Health Survey.
Keeping in mind Canada's Food Guide recommendations, we need these health products to allow us to live healthier. Please allocate 2-minutes of your time and fill out the following survey.
If you don't have 2 minutes, please allocate 1 minute of your time and do the survey quicker.
http://fs3.formsite.com/Health/MainMenu/index.html
22/08: 15 Great Science Fiction Novels.
 | 1. The Time Machine - H G Wells The Time Machine was first published in 1895, making it the oldest book on this list. Considered by many to be one of the greatest science fiction novels of all time, this book coined the term “Time Machine” which is almost exclusively used to refer to any device that allows humans to move through time.
The book’s main character is an amateur inventor who lives in London. He is never identified, instead being referred to simply as “The Time Traveller”. Having demonstrated to friends that time is a fourth dimension, and that a suitable device can move back and forth in this fourth dimension, he completes the building of a larger machine capable of carrying himself. He immediately sets off on a journey into the future. |
| 2. Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein Stranger in a strange land tells the story of Valentine Michael Smith, a human raised by Martians on the planet Mars, upon his return to Earth in early adulthood. The novel explores his interaction and transformation of Earth culture. Typically of Heinlein, this book cover a variety of human taboos, including homosexuality, nudism, and cannibalism. The book introduces the character of Jubal Harshaw who is a central figure in many later books by Heinlein. It won the 1969 Hugo award and has not been out of print since the first publication. Eventually Stranger in a Strange Land became a cult classic, attracting many readers who would not normally have read a work of science fiction |
| 3. The Lensman Series - E E “Doc” Smith I remember one summer in my childhood when all the other kids were busy hanging out at the movies and playing video games, that I spent every day lying in the backyard all day reading every book that E E Smith wrote (luckily my dad is a keen Sci-Fi fan so he had them all). Doc Smith was my introduction to Science Fiction - and what an introduction it was! The Lensman series was the first set of science fiction novels conceived as a series. It was also the original source which introduced many innovative concepts into science fiction, and a variety of ideas newly introduced in the series later were taken and used to solve non-fictional problems. In this sense the series was ground-breaking and defined an entire genre. |
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| 4. 2001 - A Space Odyssey - Arthur C Clarke Interestingly, this book was developed concurrently with Stanley Kubrick’s film and published after the release of the movie. In the background to the story, an ancient and hidden alien race uses a mechanism with the appearance of a large crystal Monolith (black in the film) to investigate worlds all across the galaxy and to encourage the development of intelligent life. This novel was followed by three others: 2010 (also made into a movie), 2069, and 3001. As yet no plans exist for the remaining two to be made in to films. |
| 5. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
The novel presents a future in which all books are banned and critical thought is suppressed. The central character, Guy Montag, is employed as a “fireman” (which, in this case, means “book burner”). 451 degrees Fahrenheit is stated as “the temperature at which book-paper catches fire, and burns …” It was originally published as a shorter novella, The Fireman, in the February 1951 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction. Fahrenheit 451 takes place in an unspecified future time in a hedonistic and rabidly anti-intellectual America that has completely abandoned self-control and bans the possession of books. People are now only entertained by in-ear radio and an interactive form of television. The protagonist, Guy Montag, is a fireman, certain that his job—burning books, and the houses that hold them, and persecuting those who own them—is the right thing to do. |
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| 6. The Foundation Series - Isaac Asimov The term ‘Foundation Series’ is often used to include the Robot Series and Empire Series, which are set in the same fictional universe. In total there are fourteen novels and dozens of short stories written by Asimov, and six novels written by other authors after his death. The series is highly acclaimed, deservedly winning the one-time Hugo Award for “Best All-Time Series” in 1965. The premise of the series is that scientist Hari Seldon spent his life developing a branch of mathematics known as psychohistory, a concept devised by Asimov. Using the law of mass action, it can predict the future, but only on a large scale; it is error-prone for anything smaller than a planet or an empire. Using these techniques, Seldon foresees the fall of the Galactic Empire, which encompasses the entire Milky Way, and a dark age lasting thirty thousand years before a second great empire arises. These books are captivating and if you start book one, you won’t stop until you finish book fourteen. |
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| 7. Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut Slaughterhouse-Five; or, The Children’s Crusade: A Duty-Dance With Death is a 1969 novel by Kurt Vonnegut. Widely regarded as a classic, it combines science fiction elements with an analysis of the human condition from an uncommon perspective, using time travel as a plot device and the bombing of Dresden in World War II, the aftermath of which Vonnegut witnessed, as a starting point. A disoriented and ill-trained American soldier named Billy Pilgrim is captured by German soldiers and is forced to live in a makeshift prison. Billy has become “unstuck in time” for unexplained reasons so he randomly and repeatedly visits different parts of his life, including his death. He meets, and is later kidnapped by, aliens from the planet Tralfamadore, who exhibit him in a Tralfamadorian zoo with Montana Wildhack, a pornographic movie star. |
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| 8. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy series created by Douglas Adams. The series follows the adventures of Arthur Dent, a hapless Englishman who, with his friend Ford Prefect, an alien from a small planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse, escapes the demolition of Earth by a bureaucratic alien race called the Vogons. Zaphod Beeblebrox, Ford’s semi-cousin and part-time Galactic President, unknowingly saves the pair from certain death. He brings them aboard his stolen spaceship, the Heart of Gold, whose crew rounds out the main cast of characters: Marvin, the Paranoid Android, a depressed robot, and Trillian, formerly known as Tricia McMillan, a woman Arthur once met at a party who he soon realises is the only other survivor of Earth’s destruction. After this, the characters embark on a quest to find the legendary planet of Magrathea and the Question to the Ultimate Answer. |
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| 9. Dune - Frank Herbert Dune is a science fiction novel written by Frank Herbert and published in 1965, and is frequently cited as the best-selling science fiction novel in history. Dune is set far in the future amidst a sprawling feudal interstellar empire where planetary fiefdoms are controlled by noble Houses that owe allegiance to the Imperial House Corrino. The novel tells the story of young Paul Atreides as he and his family relocate to the planet Arrakis, the only source of the spice melange, the most important and valuable substance in the universe. In a story that explores the complex interactions of politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion, the fate of Paul, his family, his new planet and its native inhabitants, as well as the Padishah Emperor, the powerful Spacing Guild, and the secretive female order of the Bene Gesserit, are all drawn together into a confrontation that will change the course of humanity. |
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| 10. Neuromancer - William Gibson This ’80s novel caused a sensation when it was published. Set in a near-future world, this novel helped to popularize the cyberpunk genre. The novel uses visual power and imagery it’s predecessors were not able to achieve. The main character of Neuromancer is Case, a console cowboy, who, by linking his brain directly with computers, pirates data kept in the cyberspace matrix. This is simulated by a worldwide database with a crippled nervous system. With the aid of Molly (who has concealed cybernetic weapons), they embark on a violent adventure. |
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| 11. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K Dick Published in 1968, this novel, even today, is years ahead of its time. Set in the future, the World War had obliterated millions with entire species extinct. This causes the humans to look for a new home planet. However, large corporations build artificial animals, which look extremely realistic, and are successful in creating artificial humans, used for slave labor. This causes great fear amongst the human population and the androids are subsequently banned. The androids are on the run, and Rick Deckard is brought in to hunt down the escapees to “retire” them. This book was the inspiration for Blade Runner. |
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| 12. Gateway - Frederik Pohl Winner of both the Hugo, and Nebula Awards, Gateway is the story of the ultimate futuristic goldrush! Set in the 21st century, Gateway – a large asteroid - has been found; containing hundreds of ancient space ships. All of these ships have pre-programmed courses set. Little is known about the builders of these ships, the Heechee. The curious humans explore the destinations that are preset which result in either vast wealth, or death. The two main characters are Robinette Broadhead, who becomes a prospector, and Sigrid, his digital psychotherapist. Much of the novel consists of Broadhead’s conversation with Sigrid, interspersed with his memories of Gateway and the journeys he has taken in the Heechee ships. A slow moving thinking person’s novel which builds to an amazing crescendo. |
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| 13. Ender’s Game - Orson Scott Card Taken from home at the tender age of 7, surrounded by enemies, with no hope and impossible odds, he is Earth’s last hope. Ender excels in the field of combat. The invasion of the alien insects ‘buggers’ looms over the Earth. Ender is put to the test when he leads Earth’s defensive and retailitory attack against the aliens. The dialogue, visuals, and details bond you to the characters and make this story incredible. |
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| 14. 1984 - George Orwell George Orwell wrote 1984 a year before his death to show the world the grim and bleak future of a society subject to totalitarianism. It’s a disturbing and chilling story of Big Brother, where sex is frowned upon and only to be used for reproductive purposes. It was written in 1949, four years after the end of WWII and the paranoia and fear that arose from that time, as well as the threat of communism, gave birth to 1984. In the novel the world has been grouped into three opposing forces: Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia. Winston Smith, of Oceania, is living in London, a society where you are monitored constantly through telescreens which are in every room. Even if you are physically alone, you are always being watched and individualism is forbidden. The government provides the ‘entertainment’: movies and music. Crime is monitored by the Thought Police, an elite and secretive government organization that can erase you and all records of your existence. |
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| 15. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley Huxley is one of my favourite writers. Brave New World is set in a dystopian future which anticipates developments in reproductive technology, biological engineering, and sleep-learning that combine to change society. The world the novel describes is a utopia, though an ironic one: humanity is carefree, healthy and technologically advanced. Warfare and poverty have been removed and everyone is permanently happy. The irony is that all of these things have been achieved by eliminating many things that humans consider to be central to their identity — family, culture, art, literature, science, religion, and philosophy. It is also a hedonistic society, taking pleasure from promiscuous sex and drug use, especially the use of soma, a powerful drug taken to escape pain and bad memories through hallucinations. |
21/08: Little Known Facts about Bill Gates
Bill Gates is known as the World’s richest man (although he was recently de-throned), yet most people really don’t know a whole lot about the name and face behind Microsoft. Today’s Microsoft Monday is all about Bill and some little known facts about him. We’ve also included a photo that shows the Microsoft team in 1978, and details about where everybody is now. I’m sure Gates wasn’t expecting his team would eventually leave and get into jobs like cattle ranching or creating the Cabbage Patch Doll, but they did!
Little Known Facts about Bill Gates
- William Henry Gates was born on October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington.
- His SAT score was 1590. The top score for the test is 1600.
- By the age of 17, Gates had sold his first computer program, a time-tabling system for his high school, for $4,200.
- Gates told his university teachers he would be a millionaire by age 30. He became a billionaire at age 31.
- While at Harvard, Gates co-wrote Altair BASIC, which became Microsoft’s first product.
- He met his wife, Melinda French, in 1987 at a Microsoft press event in Manhattan while she was a worker for the company. They would go on to get married on New Years Day in 1994.
- In 2002, Bill Gates was considered more idolized than Chinese Communist leader Mao Tse-tungin a poll of teenagers in Hong Kong and China. The survey was conducted by the City University of Hong Kong.
- He is currently having a building named after him at Carnegie Mellon University, called the Gates Building of Computer Science.
- Bill Gates earns $250 every second; that’s about $20 million a day and $7.8 billion a year!
- If he drops a thousand-dollar bill, he needn’t even bother to pick it up because in the four seconds it would take him to pick it up, he would’ve already earned it back.
Where are they now?
This photo shows the early team that made up Microsoft in 1978. We know Bill stuck around, but what happened to the others? Everybody you see pictured except Gates, eventually left Microsoft (although Paul Allen is still a senior strategy advisor) .
- Pictured above is Bob O’Rear who was Microsoft’s Chief mathematician. He left Microsoft in 1993 and then went on to be a cattle rancher.
- Another example is Bob Greenberg who was a programmer. When he left Microsoft in 1981, he went on to help develop Cabbage Patch dolls!
- Marla Wood was a bookkeeper and left Microsoft in 1980 and then sued them for sex discrimination. Now she describes herself as a “professional volunteer.”
- Jim Lane was a project manager and left Microsoft in 1985, and eventually went on to own his own software company.
18/08: Relationship Rules
1. If a man wants you, nothing can keep him away. If he doesn't want you, nothing can make him stay.2. Stop making excuses for a man and his behavior.
3. Allow your intuition (or spirit) to save you from heartache.
4. Stop trying to change yourselves for a relationship that's not meant to be.
5 . Slower is better.
6. Never live your life for a man before you find what makes you truly happy.
7. If a relationship ends because the man was not treating you as you deserve then heck no you can't "be friends." A friend wouldn't mistreat a friend.
8. Don't settle.
9. If you feel like he is stringing you along, then he probably is.
10. Don't stay because you think "it will get better." You'll be mad at yourself a year later for staying when things are not better.
11. The only person you can control in a relationship is you.
12. Avoid men who've got a bunch of children by a bunch of different women. He didn't marry them when he got them pregnant, why would he treat you any differently?
13. Always have your own set of friends separate from his.
14. Maintain boundaries in how a guy treats you. If something bothers you, speak up.
15. Never let a man know everything. He will use it against you later.
16. You cannot change a man's behaviors. Change comes from within.
17. Don't EVER make him feel he is more important than you are...even if he has more education or in a better job.
18. Do not make him into a quasi-god. He is a man, nothing more nothing less
19. Never let a man define who you are.
20. Never borrow someone else's man.
21. If he cheated with you, he'll cheat on you.
22. A man will only treat you the way you ALLOW him to treat you.
23 . All men are NOT dogs.
24. You should not be the one doing all the bending...compromise is a two way street.
25. You need time to heal between relationships...there is nothing cute about baggage...deal with your issues before pursuing a new relationship.
26. You should never look for someone to COMPLETE you...a relationship consists of two WHOLE individuals...look for someone complimentary...not supplementary.
27. Dating is fun...even if he doesn't turn out to be Mr. Right.
28. Make him miss you sometimes...when a man always know where you are, and your always readily available to him- he takes it for granted.
29. Never move into his mother's house.
30. Never co-sign for a man. (Hallelujah, thank you Jesus!)
31. Don't fully commit to a man who doesn't give you everything that you need. Keep him in your radar but get to know others.
09/08: Satan matches the fequency of his voice with the ones you think with...
I ran into this very interesting set of images and thought I'd share it on mohammadi.ca Apparently, Satan matches the frequency of his voice with the ones you think with... and tricks you into doing bad deeds. A flow diagram is also included! These for religions in general...
08/08: Dog on steroids...
Image submitted by Richard
What in the world
did the owner feed this dog?
--->Dog Steroids?
08/08: Best Quotation by a Comedian...
This is by far the greatest quote I've heard in a long time. I am certain that everyone is with me on this one.
"You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is
a white guy,the best golfer is a black guy,the tallest guy
in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the America's Cup,
France is accusing the U.S. of arrogance, Germany doesn't
want to go to war, and the three most powerful men in
America are named Bush, Dick, and Colon."
--Comedian Chris Rock
07/08: Canada is the 8th most peaceful nation.
The Global Peace Index released the results of the analysis into each nation's peace. Canada is 8th ranked nation in the world. These results are based on specific metrics which are explained on the website.
>> Click here to see the details of how Canada was ranked #8.
| Rank | Country | Score |
| 1 | Norway | 1.357 |
| 2 | New Zealand | 1.363 |
| 3 | Denmark | 1.377 |
| 4 | Ireland | 1.396 |
| 5 | Japan | 1.413 |
| 6 | Finland | 1.447 |
| 7 | Sweden | 1.478 |
| 8 | Canada | 1.481 |
| 9 | Portugal | 1.481 |
| 10 | Austria | 1.483 |
Source: http://www.visionofhumanity.com/rankings/
Congradulations to all the Canadians... Go Canada Go!
If you want to express your appreciation,
please use the comment box below.
06/08: Top 10 Bad Things That Are Good For You
Beer quells heart disease and chocolate staves off cancer? Though often tagged with a disclaimer, studies that tell us to eat, inhale and generally indulge in "bad stuff" is music to our ears. So go ahead and enjoy these bad-for-you remedies--everything in moderation, as they say--until the next study inevitably overturns the research. Heather Whipps10 Beer
The newest bad kid on the block, beer has long been overshadowed by its healthier alcoholic cousins. While no one's suggesting you switch that glass of antioxidant-rich Pinot Noir for a tall glass of lager--there's still that beer gut to worry about--new research has suggested that moderate beer intake can actually improve cardiovascular function. Now if only a scientist will discover the health benefits of ballpark franks and chicken wings. Heaven.
9 Anger
If you're one of those people who tends to bottle things up, only to explode ... don't hold it in so long. Studies show that bursts of anger here and there are good for the health, and can be an even more effective coping mechanism than becoming afraid, irritated or disgusted. Anger, like the consumables in this list, however, is best in moderation: stay angry for long periods of time and you'll be plagued with a host of health issues, like blood pressure, sleep disorders and lung damage.
8 Coffee
Java is one of the most debated substances around. Is it good for you? Is it bad for you? Both? The consensus, now anyways, seems to favor those who enjoy their morning jolt--unrelated studies claim coffee is a major source of antioxidants in our diet and can help lower your risk of diabetes. Something in the beans is also thought to ease the onset of cirrhosis of the liver and pancreatitis, good news for those who like to party hard all night before their morning caffeine boost.
7 LSD
We're definitely not in the business of advocating drug use. But check out this interesting science: In heavy drinkers, small doses of LSD have been thought to help bypass the rock-bottom stage of alcoholism and prevent relapses. These studies--some decades old--were done in closely monitored, clinical settings; many patients haven't had a drink in the many years since. It's an interesting finding that needs a lot more investigation, and not a remedy that should ever be tried at home. Meantime--and this may come as no surprise--a recent study of 36 volunteers who took an LSD-like drug in a lab setting had them reporting mystical experiences and behavior changes that lasted for weeks.
6 Sunlight
Exposure to the sun's rays is necessary to survive, but can also kill you in gross, cancerous quantities. Asthmatics, at least, could benefit from measured doses of ultraviolet rays, according to scientists. Sunlight suppressed the immune reactions that cause asthma in some lab studies with mice and could be used to treat humans afflicted with the disease in the future. And sunlight--even if indirect, such as on a shaded porch--is known to boost the mood. Extra sunlight can help office workers avoid afternoon drowsiness, a recent study found. There's still no excuse to head outside and bake, however.
5 Maggots
They're creepy, slimy and altogether ooky, but maggots can save your life. These squirmy larvae are science's newest wonder-cure and were approved in 2003 as the Food & Drug Administration's only live medical device. Placed on serious wounds, maggots mimic their "wild" lifestyle and munch on bacteria and dead tissue, stimulating healing and helping to prevent infection.
4 Marijuana
It's medicinal, we swear! Marijuana, often associated with memory loss, is ironically now being hyped as a way to stave off the ultimate form of memory loss--Alzheimer's. Recent studies on mice suggest that anti-inflammatories found in the drug prevent the clumping of brain proteins, one major cause of the disease. So when should you start preventative therapy? We suggest waiting for the human studies to wrap up.
3 Red Wine
A crucial ingredient in the diets of the world's heart-healthiest populations--like those Bordeaux-guzzling French--red wine has long been known to have potent anti-cancer and artery-protecting benefits. The key, some studies indicate, is an antioxidant found specifically in the skin of red wine grapes, called resveratrol. The latest studies even link resveratrol to greater endurance, a reduction in gum disease and Alzheimer's. White wine, which is fermented after the skins are removed, is less beneficial according to some studies.
2 Chocolate
Chocolate lovers rejoice: study after study lately has touted the magical benefits of the indulgent treat, which is packed with the antioxidant flavonols that prevent certain cancers and keep your arteries from clogging. The most recent news? These powerful chemicals may even increase blood flow to the brain, warding off dementia. Just stick to the highest cocoa content possible--the bars packed with sugar don't help your health one bit.
1 Sex
Scientists have found that the benefits of sex go beyond immediate, ahem, gratification and satisfying the goal of procreation. Besides the obvious evolutionary purposes, we can all take pleasure in the news that having sex is an easy way to reduce stress, lower cholesterol and improve circulation throughout the body. As if you needed another excuse.
05/08: Funny Images of George Bush...
I just realized that I haven't included the WGirls' George Bush pictures on Mohammadi.ca. These pictures were created and distributed by www.deegraeve.com and are hilarious. Due to some issues, the person behind these images cannot distribute them. So here they are... Check them out.
03/08: If were alone on an uninhabited island, which of these would you choose?
Simple Question... Which would you choose?
03/08: Creative Ads for your perusal.
These days, Advertising agencies are trying creative methods to reach their targeted audience. Though some are not successful, there are those that stand out. Here are some creative advertisements that you might run into...
02/08: McDonald's Application Form
This is an actual job application a 17-year-old boy submitted at a McDonald's fast-food establishment in Florida – and they hired him because he was so honest and funny!
McDONALDS APPLICATION
NAME: Greg Bulmash
SEX: Not yet. Still waiting for the right person.
DESIRED POSITION: Company's President or Vice President. But seriously, whatever's available. If I were in a position to be picky, I wouldn't be applying here in the first place.
DESIRED SALARY: $185,000 a year plus stock options and a Michael Ovitz style severance package. If that's not possible, make an offer and we can haggle.
EDUCATION: Yes.
LAST POSITION HELD: Target for middle management hostility.
SALARY: Less than I'm worth.
MOST NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT: My incredible collection of stolen pens and post-it notes.
REASON FOR LEAVING: It sucked.
HOURS AVAILABLE TO WORK: Any.
PREFERRED HOURS: 1:30-3:30 p.m., Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.
DO YOU HAVE ANY SPECIAL SKILLS?
Yes, but they're better suited to a more intimate environment.
MAY WE CONTACT YOUR CURRENT EMPLOYER? If I had one, would I be here?
DO YOU HAVE ANY PHYSICAL CONDITIONS THAT WOULD PROHIBIT YOU FROM LIFTING UP TO 50 LBS? Of what?
DO YOU HAVE A CAR?
I think the more appropriate question here would be "Do you have a car that runs?"
HAVE YOU RECEIVED ANY SPECIAL AWARDS OR RECOGNITION?
I may already be a winner of the Publishers Clearing house Sweepstakes.
DO YOU SMOKE?
On the job no, on my breaks yes.
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE DOING IN FIVE YEARS?
Living in the Bahamas with a fabulously wealthy dumb sexy blonde super model who thinks I'm the greatest thing since sliced bread. Actually, I'd like to be doing that now.
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01/08: Darkie toothpaste
Darlie is an Asian toothpaste brand of a Hong Kong based company Hawley & Hazel. The original name of this toothpaste was called "Darkie", as shown on the picture below. In the 50's, Darky/Darkie was a racist term used to refer to black people in the Northern United States.
What's interesting is that during the earlier decades, these racist branding and advertisements were very common. As times changed, these companies had to eliminate their racist branding practices. During these times, "Darkie" was changed to "Darlie". You can see this from the pictures of the toothpastes below. Another tobacco product "Nigger Hair" was changed to "Bigger Hare.".
Though these changes took place in the United States, the Chinese name of the Brand (which means "Black Man") has stayed the same. In China, they don't think of the term "Black Man" as offensive.
From the picture above, you can see the evolution of the toothpaste brand. The 3rd toothpaste from the right(most recent), has a picture of a white man and has the name changed to 'Darlie'.
Darlie products are still sold online. Check this link >> http://toothpaste.bind.org/c122667.html
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darlie
http://www.prmuseum.com/kendrix/abroad.html
http://toothpaste.bind.org/c122667.html
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