Fun and News

New Hospice Service For Pets: Pet Peace Of Mind

2009-07-03T00:55:00.000-07:00

Jack Black McNac was adopted adopted from Pet Peace of Mind.

What happens to pets when their owners have terminal illnesses? Unfortunately, many of them end up in already overcrowded shelters. But Pet Peace Of Mind, a program developed by the Rev. Delana Taylor McNac for the Hospice of Green County Inc. in Tulsa, has a solution that's good for the patient and good for the pet.

Hospice is a home care concept for those who are terminally ill and prefer to receive palliative care in their homes until their death occurs naturally.

Most of us realize how supportive a pet can be to a terminally ill person. A pet's instinctive knowledge that his owner is sick calls on his most loving instincts to be there for his very special friend.

That's what Rev. McNac realized when she developed the Pet Peace of Mind program. She is a Hospice chaplain and, coincidentally, a former veterinarian. Her new program, which depends only on donations, helps to provide pet supplies, pet care, transportation to pet services, and many other necessary service just for the Hospice patient's companion pet. Though it is encouraged that a patient determines where the pet will go after his death, or that families arrange for a well-matched placement of the pet, Pet Peace of Mind will work will local rescue groups to help place pets after their owners have passed away.

Pet Peace of Mind is up and running in the home town of its originator, Tulsa, OK, and more than 100 Hospice centers are interested in developing the program already. McNac hopes that by this time next year 7 to 10 Hospice programs will have been started.

2ND LD: Japan's 1st case of Tamiflu-resistant H1N1 influenza detected+

2009-07-03T00:50:00.000-07:00

TOKYO, July 3 (AP) - (Kyodo)—(EDS: ADD INFO)

The health ministry said Thursday it has detected a genetic mutation of the new H1N1 strain of influenza A that develops resistance to Tamiflu, marking the first case of the new influenza in Japan that did not respond to the anti-flu drug.

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said the Tamiflu-resistant virus was detected in a woman in her 40s infected with the new influenza in Osaka Prefecture.

The first case of HINI that showed resistance to Tamiflu was reported in Denmark at the end of last month.

The patient in Osaka is already recovering after being administered Relenza, another anti-flu drug.

According to the ministry, the female patient had been administered Tamiflu since May 18 as a preventive measure after she was found to have had close contact with another confirmed infected patient the previous day.

She developed a slight fever on May 24 and was confirmed infected with the new influenza on May 28. An analysis of a virus taken from her detected the genetic mutation that does not respond to Tamiflu on June 18.

There is no sign of any further spread of the Tamiflu-resistant virus as no other cases of the HINI influenza were reported around the patient, the ministry added.

30 year old sea turtle rescued on a Granada beach

2009-07-03T00:40:00.000-07:00

The injured Loggerhead is believed to have been injured after colliding with a boat

An injured sea turtle is being brought back to health after its rescue by Civil Guard officers near the beach in La Rábita, on the eastern coast of Granada province. It’s believed its injuries could have come from a collision with a small boat, which led the reptile to become disorientated and ending up on the shore.

The turtle is reported by EFE to be a Tortuga boba – a Loggerhead Sea Turtle – which is normally found in the deep waters of the eastern Mediterranean. The rescued reptile is a 120 cm adult and is believed to be around 30 years old.
(typicallyspanish.com)

Caesarean delivery can alter DNA: study

2009-07-03T00:07:00.000-07:00

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet believe they have discovered the DNA mutations that explain why children delivered by planned Caesarean are at a higher risk for immunological diseases such as asthma, cancer and diabetes.
The genetic makeup of white blood cells looks different in children delivered via Caesarean compared to that of children born normally, reports Svenska Dagbladet newspaper (SvD).

An explanation for the different DNA sequences might be that those delivered via Caesarean experience greater stress than babies delivered naturally.

While stress builds up gradually during normal birth, the nervous systems of babies delivered via Caesarean are exposed to sudden stress. At the same time, some DNA genes are turned off while others are switched on.

Professor and paediatrician Mikael Norman, one of the researchers involved in the study, explained that stress occurring during vaginal birth is positive and goal-oriented:

“During a Caesarean, the baby is totally unprepared. The stress comes all at once. There are animal experiments that show that negative stress can programme offspring, something that later can play a role in terms of risk of illness.”

The study at Karolinska focused on the white blood cells in the umbilical cords of Caesarean babies and found mutations in their genetic makeup. The researchers noted differences in DNA sequencing of babies delivered via Caesarean and those delivered normally during the first two days after birth.

“We believe it's a pioneering discovery that Caesarean birth can effect genetic makeup up. Previously, the discussions were about the short-term risk for the mother and child,” Norman told SvD.

“This is of an entirely different magnitude and is part of a new way of looking at the side effects of Caesarean birth.”

The Karolinska study is, on one hand, a result of a debate about the health effects of Caesarean delivery and, on the other, a result of the fact that Caesarean as a delivery method has increased from around 5 percent of births in 1973 to 17.5 percent in 2007.
(sweden daily)

Girl killed by 'lover' she met on Internet

2009-07-02T23:59:00.000-07:00

A schoolgirl who went to a cake shop to break up with her Internet "lover" died after being taken hostage and stabbed by the man.

The man was shot in a police attempt to save the girl and is recovering in a hospital.
An injured girl is carried to a nearby hospital Monday afternoon after she was rescued from a man who took her in hostage in a food shop in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. The girl, surnamed Fang, died in hospital from loss of blood.
The girl, believed to be about 16 years old, met the man in a cake shop near her school around 5:30 on Monday in Nanjing, Jiangsu province.

"I was told Fang (the school girl) was there to meet her Internet 'lover', who came to see her from Shenzhen," said a schoolboy surnamed Wang who goes to the same school as the girl. "Don't know what went wrong."

According to police, the man stabbed the girl because she wanted to break up with him.

Fang had previously skipped school to visit the man, said her teacher, who rushed to the scene after receiving a call regarding the incident.

The girl had already been stabbed several times before the emergency call was made, but she was still alive when police arrived. All three shop employees and customers had escaped.

The man held Fang close to his body as a shield and pointed the knife against her throat to resist arrest. Fang had several stab wounds and was bleeding heavily, according to police.

When police were unable to arrest the man, two snipers in position outside the cake shop fired two shots at him around 6:50 pm. Both the schoolgirl and the stabber were then taken to hospital, but Fang was confirmed dead due to excessive blood loss.

Her Internet "lover" was still hospitalized. No other information has been released about him.
(China Daily)

Fashion shows in underground train in Berlin. Cool!!

2009-07-02T23:31:00.000-07:00

A model wearing a creation by Savage Wear waits for the start of the "Underground Catwalk" fashion show in an underground train in Berlin, July 2, 2009.

Models wearing creations by Alex in Wunderland wait for the start of the "Underground Catwalk" fashion show in an underground train in Berlin, July 2, 2009.

Models present creations by X-Tra-X during the "Underground Catwalk" fashion show in an underground train in Berlin, July 2, 2009.

A model presents a creation by Savage Wear during the "Underground Catwalk" fashion show in an underground train in Berlin, July 2, 2009.

Models present creations by X-Tra-X during the "Underground Catwalk" fashion show in an underground train in Berlin, July 2, 2009.

A model presents a creation by Savage Wear during the "Underground Catwalk" fashion show in an underground train in Berlin, July 2, 2009.

Models wait for the start of the "Underground Catwalk" fashion show in an underground train in Berlin, July 2, 2009.

Models present creations by Models are Rockstars during a fashion show in an underground train in Berlin, July 2, 2009.

A model presents a creation by Alex in Wunderland during a fashion show in an underground train in Berlin, July 2, 2009.

Models present creations by X-Tra-X during a fashion show in an underground train in Berlin July 2, 2009.

A model presents a creation by Pinup Couture during a fashion show in an underground train in Berlin July 2, 2009.

Actress Masami Nagasawa accepts award as 'Best Swimmer 2009'

2009-06-30T02:49:00.000-07:00

TOKYO —Actress Masami Nagasawa, 22, was among four celebrities to accept awards recently at the 10th Best Swimmer Awards, held by the Japan Swimming Club Association in Tokyo. The annual awards are presented to celebrities who have contributed to the development of swimming in Japan, and who look good in swimsuits.

Actor Mokomichi Hayami, 24, comedian Koji Higashino, 41, and actress-comedian Shizuyo Yamasaki, 30 from comedy duo Nankai Candies, also accepted awards at the event.

Nagasawa and Hayami received favorable reviews for their performances as a diver and swimmer respectively in the movie “Rough” – released in Japan in August 2006. Nagasawa also spent a month in India in 2007 for the filming of drama special “Butterfly at the Ganges,” in which she swam fully-clothed in the holy river.

Yamasaki, affectionately known as Shizu-chan, said at the event: “I had no idea why I was chosen to accept an award, but it became clear when I lined up next to Masami. When people imagine ladies in swimwear, they think of me and then Masami,” drawing guffaws from the media in attendance. Yamasaki also spoke of her successful 10-meter dive during filming of a variety show recently, saying: “Somehow, I ended up pulling it off.”

Raptor

2009-06-30T02:40:00.000-07:00

A U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor taxis past a C-17 Globe Master at Kadena U.S. Air Force Base in Okinawa. Four of the aircraft, based in Langley, Va, are being deployed in the region for four months.

No honeymoon in Iran

2009-06-30T02:34:00.000-07:00

If the turmoil surrounding Iran's recent presidential election offers a glance at the inner psyche of Iranians, Honeymoon in Tehran offers a penetrating stare. Though the deceptively light title suggests that readers are getting a romance (and they do), the heart of the book is the turbulent love story between the Iranian-American author, Azadeh Moaveni, and Iran.

Moaveni was born and raised in northern California, among an enclave of successful Iranians-in-exile, her parents included. As an adult, she spent 1999 to 2001 in Iran wrestling with her identity during a time that the country wrestled with its own. The result was a journalism gig with Time magazine as well as her first book, Lipstick Jihad.

Lipstick Jihad was criticized by New York Times reviewer Alexandra Starr as being overly navel-gazing. What the reader gleans about Iranian society, Starr complained, comes strictly through the lens of Moaveni's personal experience. Apparently Moaveni had this review in mind when she sat down to write Honeymoon in Tehran. In this book, she again covers two years in Iran, but this time the lens is turned out. The result is a rare and riveting look at the people of Iran.

Moaveni landed in Teheran again at a crucial time. She arrived in 2005, on the eve of the presidential election that unexpectedly catapulted Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from an obscure local politician to a menacing figure on the world stage. Moaveni, however, intended to do more than cover the election; she also intended to test the waters following the publication of Lipstick Jihad.

"It was, in short, the sort of book that dictatorships never welcome and that one writes on the eve of permanent departure, a final, cathartic clanging of the door on the way out. But being young and foolish," she recalls in Honeymoon in Tehran, "I had every intention of going back. I so desperately wanted Iran to be a place where you could speak truth to power... How wonderful it would be, I reasoned, if I could return unscathed."
Upon her return, she plunges headlong into the people of Iran. The reader glimpses everyone from Basij militants to waiters, mullahs to the freewheeling upper class. The Nobel Peace Prize winner and human rights champion Shirin Ebadi appears just pages from an underground rock band whose music "resonated with a very contemporary Iranian despair."

This despair is tempered with acts of rebellion, however small and symbolic. Pet dogs, outlawed by the Islamic government, become a trendy accessory for a particular set of Iranian women. At the height of summer, secular Muslims make a pilgrimage to the market to buy crates of ripe shahani grapes, perfect for making homemade wine.

Moaveni presents a people whose attitudes often differ sharply from the government that pretends to represent them. When the Iranian government is outraged over a Danish newspaper's publication of caricatures of the prophet Muhammad, and bakeries are forced to black out the word Danish, "Iranians continued to placidly eat what they continued to call Danish pastry," she writes. In stark contrast to Ahmadinejad's Holocaust denial and anti-Israel rhetoric, "...most Iranians found the president's anti-Semitic rhetoric distasteful... I had never encountered the open, careless anti-Semitism that was rampant in Arab countries..."

Honeymoon in Tehran also depicts the gulf between the Muhammad Khatami presidency and the Ahmadinejad regime. While Khatami stood as a president of the people, even if he lacked real power, Ahmadinejad is a president of the mullahs. Though Iranians were repressed under Khatami, Ahmadinejad's election signaled a new, darker era. As Mr. X, the government minder who tracks Moaveni's journalistic doings, ominously tells Moaveni early on in Ahmadinejad's first term, "[T]imes are changing..."

Indeed, Moaveni's relationship with the mercurial Mr. X, who is by turns friendly and frightening, grows increasingly tense throughout the book. When he isn't there on the pages, he lurks in the margins. She is ever aware and wary of his presence and the control he exerts over her livelihood - mimicking the relationship the people of Iran have with their government.

As Iranians do their best to go about their lives and ape normalcy, so does Moaveni. She meets and falls in love with an Iranian, the European-educated son of a textile magnate. Despite their location, the two have a decidedly Western courtship, moving in together and marrying after she becomes pregnant.

But the noose tightens around Moaveni and her new family as it tightens around the collective neck of Iran. The government cracks down on women who push the boundaries of the dress code - changing the laws without warning, and arresting 150,000 whose dress was deemed appropriate just days before. "We were all afraid to leave the house," Moaveni writes, "because it was obvious the authorities were out to make a point, arresting even women who were 'sufficiently' covered." Shortly thereafter she receives a warning from a young policewoman. Moaveni is shocked; it is the same veil she has worn for years.

Moaveni's work as a journalist, which was closely monitored but never forbidden under Khatami, is scrutinized under Ahmadinejad. Without warning, Mr. X informs her that not only is it "no longer appropriate" for her to work, she is also under judicial review and charges will be forthcoming. Her writing, Mr. X tells her, is "guilty of propaganda against the regime [and] undermining national security."

Though Moaveni might have returned to Iran unscathed, she leaves terrified and conflicted about abandoning her country. And as she weaves her own narrative with the larger story of the Iranian people, she offers a depiction of a people that are similarly scarred. Today, she lives with her husband and son in London. At once beautiful and sad, Honeymoon in Tehran is Moaveni's poignant good-bye to Iran and, perhaps, the Iranian people's good-bye to hope.

President: Neda’s Death Suspicious

2009-06-30T02:24:00.000-07:00

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has asked the judiciary chief to conduct a thorough investigation into the death of Neda Aqa-Soltan, an Iranian woman who was shot dead in the post-election protests in Tehran.
In a letter to Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi on Monday, Ahmadinejad called for a thorough probe into the “suspicious“ death of Neda and apprehend those involved in the killing, Presstv reported.
“Neda Aqa-Soltan was shot dead in one of Tehran’s streets on June 20 by unknown elements under rather suspicious conditions,“ the president said.
“Amid the huge propaganda campaign by the foreign media and many other evidence about the heartfelt incident, it seems certain that opponents of the Iranian people interfere (in Iran’s internal affairs) for their own political ends,“ he added.
Neda, 26, became a symbol of post-election street rallies in Iran and an international icon in recent days after graphic videos of her death grabbed the attention of world media outlets.
Her death drew suspicions first after it was said that she was killed by a small caliber pistol--a weapon that is not used by Iranian security forces.

Different Versions
Meanwhile, new revelations about her death have surfaced in recent days.
Neda was killed on June 20 in an alley away from the scene of clashes between security forces and demonstrators.
The man who drove her to hospital said in an interview that her death looked “highly suspicious“, claiming there were no security forces or Basij members nearby.
“People were standing and there was traffic. Suddenly I saw a girl put her hand on her chest and drop to the ground with blood oozing from her mouth and nose,“ Presstv quoted the unidentified man as saying. It did not elaborate.
His version of the attack has added to the confusion already surrounding the shooting, which has been blamed on the security forces by the western media.
Security officials dismissed the report out of hand and insist that they did not open fire on protestors during the sporadic unrest.
“Police are not authorized to use weapons against the people,“ Tehran police chief Azizullah Rajabzadeh said on the morrow of Neda’s death.
Conflicting accounts by a doctor who said he tried but failed to save Aqa Soltan’s life in her final moments have only raised more questions without answering previous ones. (IRAN DAILY)

Iran Daily Caricature

2009-06-30T02:20:00.000-07:00

Michael Jackson's family want 2nd autopsy

2009-06-30T02:10:00.000-07:00

Michael Jackson's family wants the second autopsy on the singer to determine the cause of his death after the first autopsy revealed no official cause of death.

The Los Angeles County Coroner's office performed an autopsy on Jackson on Friday, but failed to determine what killed him.

Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, has died at the age of 50 after an apparent cardiac arrest. An autopsy was performed on the singer's body on Friday, but failed to determine the cause of death.

However, the three-hour autopsy revealed traces of the powerful painkillers OxyContin and Demerol.

Rumors and accusations have surfaced concerning Jackson's use of prescription drugs. Pending toxicology reports are expected to take four to six weeks.

Reverend Jesse Jackson, who met with the Jackson family yesterday, said the family wanted answers to questions surrounding the singer's death, including the role of the personal cardiologist, Dr Conrad Robert Murray, who was with him when he died.

NAT/SC/DT

Paikuli inscriptions studied, restored in Iraq

2009-06-30T02:08:00.000-07:00

Cube of Zoroaster, Naqsh-e Rustam, Iran
Archeologists have studied and restored the Sassanid inscriptions found on Paikuli Tower, located in the Iraqi Kurdistan.

“The Paikuli inscriptions are in Parthian, Pahlavi and Middle Persian languages,” president of the Societas Iranologica Europaea and head of the archeology team Carlo Cereti told CHTN.

“The inscriptions belong to the Sassanid King Narseh and are similar to the ones at the Cube of Zoroaster that bears Middle Persian, Greek and Parthian texts,” he added.

The Cube of Zoroaster is an Achaemenid tower-like construction at Naqsh-e Rustam archaeological site northwest of Persepolis in Fars Province, Iran.

Cereti also said that some petroglyphs were smuggled during the war and some of them have been transferred to a museum in Iraq.

According to Cereti, this is the first time the site has been studied after initial studies conducted by German archeologist Ernst Herzfeld in 1913.

The Paikuli monument, locally called 'idol house', is on the Iraqi side of the border with Iran on a north-south line drawn from Sulaimaniyah in Iraq to Qasr-e-Sirin in Iran on the ancient road from Ctesiphon to Azerbaijan.

In the 19th century, it consisted of the ruins of a large, square tower that had originally been covered on all sides by stone blocks, some of which contained inscriptions, but, at the time, lay scattered all around the monument.

Herzfeld reconstructed the monument as a tall, square box with a slightly wider base and the inscriptions placed up on opposite sides.

He found that the Paikuli inscription commemorates the war between the Sassanid king Narseh and Warahran III.

TE/HGH

Red tide under control in Persian Gulf

2009-06-30T02:06:00.001-07:00

Amid concerns that warming weather increases red tide, researchers say the soap-like foam substance produced by algae in the Persian Gulf is retreating.

As tourists and residents enjoy the beach, Mother Nature has been struggling to find its way out the red algal bloom; experts are keeping a watchful eye on the situation.

The phenomenon known as a 'red tide' is actually the result of an algal bloom, an event in which marine or fresh water algae accumulate rapidly in the water.

The latest ecological studies revealed the bloom of the microorganism Cochlodinium polykrikoides is under control.

Spring rains have played a helpful role in controlling the dangerous phenomenon by cooling down the weather.

Before the rains, four to five million units of algae could be found in a liter of Persian Gulf water. After the spring rains, the number decreased to 10,000 units per liter.

Scientists believe if the phenomenon is not under control serious effects will appear on the Persian Gulf environment and ecosystem.

Iranian researchers are racing to find ways to stop the spread of the red tide before the ocean warms in summer.

The effect of excessive algae on fish can be lethal. It produces oxygen radicals which can damage fish gills, possibly leading to suffocation.

Last year, the little creatures were to blame for 45 tons of dead fish; the damage inflicted on the Persian Gulf is estimated to be close to 500 million dollars.

NAT/SC/MD

Pioneering solar-powered aircraft unveiled

2009-06-30T02:02:00.000-07:00

Swiss aviation pioneer Bertrand Piccard at the unveiling of the 'Solar Impulse' in Zurich on June 26

Whereas flying too close to the Sun was to be Icarus' downfall, it is to be the salvation of his modern-day heir Bertrand P
iccard.

For Piccard aims to circumnavigate the globe on an aircraft fueled by the rays of the Sun, and the first version of his mount was unveiled in Zurich, Switzerland on Friday.

The aptly named 'Solar Impulse' is a light-weight giant. Light weight, because it weighs no more than 1,600 kg (3,527 lbs), and giant because its wing span of 63.4 meters (208 ft) is greater than that of the Airbus A340 wide-body airliner.

It is the result of six years of work by some of the brightest engineers, who aim to prove that it is possible to fly with zero carbon emissions.

The power for the 'Solar Impulse' comes from 11,628 silicon cells placed on the upper surfaces of the aircraft. These provide enough power not only during day-time flying, but at night too, by drip-feeding the onboard storage batteries with enough power during the day.

The propulsive elements are four 10-hp electric engines driving 2-blade propellers.

The present version of the aircraft is designed to carry one pilot for up to 36 hours.

The ultimate version, intended to cross the Atlantic Ocean and eventually circumnavigate the globe, will have a pressurized cockpit to shield the pilot from the effects of high-altitude flying.

The pilot of that momentous mission will be no other than the aviation pioneer Bertrand Piccard.

The Swiss psychiatrist and aeronaut became the first person - along with his co-pilot Englishman Brian Jones - to circumnavigate the globe non-stop in a balloon in March 1999, breaking numerous endurance and distance records.

The 51-year-old father of three, who is also one of the directors of the 'Solar Impulse' project, said at the Friday's unveiling ceremony: “Yesterday it was a dream. Today it's an airplane, and tomorrow it will be an ambassador of renewable energies and energy savings - flying day and night with no fuel and no pollution.”

Also attending the ceremony was the director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Giovanni Bisignani. He praised the event as a “great, great event” which “shows the world that carbon-free flight is possible.”

He did not say that sweet revenge is possible too. In this case, the revenge of Icarus.

Images taken from Mars show a long, deep canyon and the remains of beaches, which suggest the existence of a lake on the planet, reports say. Acco

2009-06-30T02:00:00.000-07:00

A reconstruction of the lake on the Shalbatana Vallis river valley on Mars as it looked around 3.4 billion of year ago.

Images taken from Mars show a long, deep canyon and the remains of beaches, which suggest the existence of a lake on the planet, reports say.

According to the reports released by the University of Colorado at Boulder, the pictures indicate water carved a 50-kilometer-long canyon, Reuters reported.

Taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the images show that the canyon would have covered an area of 200 square kilometers and been up to 450 meters deep.

Scientists have also identified formations that could belong to the shores of giant rivers and seas, but some of them could also have been created by dry landslides.

"This is the first unambiguous evidence of shorelines on the surface of Mars," says research associate and leader of the study Gaetano Di Achille.

"The identification of the shorelines and accompanying geological evidence allows us to calculate the size and volume of the lake, which appears to have formed about 3.4 billion years ago."

The Mars Phoenix mission found frozen water on the Red Planet last year. There is also evidence suggesting that water might still seep to the surface from underground.

Celebrity Deaths: Is 3 Really a Magic Number?

2009-06-30T01:39:00.000-07:00

By David Montgomery

Michael Jackson, Ed McMahon and Farah Fawcett renew theory that deaths happen in threes.

Rarely since Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper crashed and died more or less simultaneously in an Iowa cornfield on Feb। 3, 1959, has the Celebrity Death Rule of Three fulfilled itself with such swift efficacy.

That's the old rule that celebrities die in threes. Between Ed McMahon's passing on June 23 and Michael Jackson's death on June 25, less than three days elapsed. Farrah Fawcett also died on the 25th.

Even in the face of such powerful evidence for the triplicity of bold-face morbidity, skeptics denied it। They blogged with learned-sounding certainty about how celebrity deaths, like all human demises, occur with random frequency. The skeptics were met with equal cogency by those who maintain that whenever a famous person dies, two more face imminent doom.

Some of this conversation took place at the Web site Threes.com -- a space devoted to the essential three-ness of the universe -- where a poster named Fletch said that after Fawcett succumbed, he and his lunchmates wondered who would be next. A poster named Brian retorted that the "celebrity death rule of three" has "all the scientific rigor of Alanis Morissette's 'Ironic.' "

Over at the site Polls Boutique -- dedicated to the essential pollability of the universes -- 57.75 percent of respondents answered "yes" to the question, "Do celebrities die in threes?" Sample comment: "I used to not think so, but now with the deaths of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson so close together, I don't know."

"People are dropping every day, unfortunately," says Michael Scott Eck, administrator of Threes.com, also known as the Book of Threes. "We want completion, we want to have the tragedy be finished. To put it into three-ness is to complete it."

Eck says we're wired to organize messy reality into threes. There are trinities everywhere, holy and otherwise. Time is past, present and future. There are three states of matter, three dimensions. Triangulation is how we get our bearings. So finding patterns in death is how we master our own mortality, says Eck, and three is the essential pattern.

Fine -- but how then to explain the death of David Carradine? He was found hanged June 4 in Bangkok in a reported case of autoerotic asphyxiation, but that's not all that needs explaining. Under the rule of three, he could have been No. 1, making McMahon No. 2 and Fawcett No. 3.

Or was Carradine No. 3 in a previous trinity of death? Or is Jackson No. 1 in a new series? Who's next?

Surely there will be another dead celebrity. There always is.

Much depends, however, on which departed souls count as celebrities, and on how much time may elapse between deaths in a valid triplet.

Fawcett and Jackson weren't the only people to die on June 25. So did Sky Saxon. He was the singer and bass player for the psychedelic band the Seeds, which had a '60s hit with "Pushin' Too Hard."

Is Saxon a celebrity? If so, he, Fawcett and Jackson make three in one day। Then we could put McMahon and Carradine together with, say, Koko Taylor, the blues musician, who died June 3. Another three.

But if Saxon is not famous enough to qualify for the rule of three, then how sad: dead and dissed.

Once a couple of celebrities die, there is great pressure to elevate another dearly departed to the pantheon. So this week folks are mentioning Billy Mays in the same breath as Carradine, McMahon, Fawcett and Jackson.

Billy Mays? He's the great pitchman who starred in commercials for cleaning products, and he died Sunday।

If we count Saxon and Mays with the more famous four, that makes six, which is two fulfilled rules of three. See? We could also sub in Gale Storm, former star of the golden oldy TV sitcom "My Little Margie," who died Saturday.

Or maybe Mays, Storm and Fred Travalena, the comedian, who died Sunday, have observed a B-List Celebrity Death Rule of Three.

There are notable defunct doubles waiting to resolve into perfect dead triplets: The passing this year of Dom DeLuise and Dom DiMaggio could be interpreted as an omen for sort-of-famous Doms। And the deaths of David Herbert Donald and John Hope Franklin could give pause to accomplished historians who go by three names. Two members of Lynyrd Skynyrd died earlier this year. Who's next?

Maybe such pairs simply obey their own mystical pattern. Marilyn Johnson, author of "The Dead Beat," a book about the "pleasures of obituaries," posits that deaths don't come in threes, they come in twos, going back at least as far as Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, who both died on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Coincidence? You decide.

"It is more than coincidence. . . . It's supernatural," Johnson writes. "I thrilled recently to a pair of obituaries for Paul Winchell, the voice of Tigger in 'Pooh,' and John Fiedler, the voice of Piglet in 'Pooh'; the two had gone silent a day apart. I keep them next to my clip from October 25th, 1986, the day the New York Times ran side-by-side obituaries for the scientist who isolated Vitamin C and the scientist who isolated Vitamin K."

The pattern's the thing.

Theresa Lazenby-Jones and her 17-year-old son, Kenneth Jones, were at home last week grieving Jackson's death when they were struck by the coincidence of two such famous people as Fawcett and Jackson dying on the same day. Or was it coincidence?

Jones got on the computer to do some research, and mother and son were blown away by all the celebrities who have died on the 25th of a month in recent years: Bea Arthur (April 2009), Dan Seals (March 2009), Eartha Kitt (December 2008), James Brown (December 2006), Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes (April 2002), Aaliyah (August 2001).

"This is like kind of crazy," Jones says.

"It's just strange," says Lazenby-Jones।
Along with the apparent lethality of the 25th, she also respects in the rule of three. It applies to her family, too. She recently has buried an uncle, an aunt and a cousin.

"It's a saying in our family," she says. "When somebody dies, it's always in threes."

Michael Jackson and the God Feeling

2009-06-30T01:19:00.000-07:00

In startling ways pop culture mirrors long-standing spiritual arguments. In an age where the stage has replaced the pulpit -- where the line between the two is all but invisible -- morality is played out in the lives of celebrities. This is an unsettling phenomenon. Princess Diana slips into the role of Holy Mother almost equal with Mother Teresa. Michael Jackson's call to "Heal the World" in a pop song spreads to every corner of the planet and probably touches more people than the Pope's annual Christmas message.

With the sudden, sad death of Michael Jackson, whom I knew well for twenty years, a specific point of theology comes to life and haunts us. I'm thinking of Manichaeism, a Gnostic doctrine born in Persia in the third century, whose central idea is "the struggle between a good, spiritual world of light, and an evil, material world of darkness," as the Wikipedia entry puts it. Manichaeism pictured the destiny of the world, and each soul, in terms of black versus white, and so potent is the idea that it has permeated race relations, cultural divides, wars, and the whole tendency to demonize "them," those people who are different from us and therefore exist outside the light.

It's hard not to see Michael Jackson as a pop martyr to this kind of either/or thinking. His hit song, "Black or White," insisted that "it don't matter if you're black or white," something he deeply believed in. His skin changed from black to white because of vitiligo, but the public and press mistinterpreted this as a conscious attempt to change his skin and took it as the mark of someone who didn't know what world he belonged in. But I don't want to trade in symbols. As a real person, Michael struggled between extremes, and his vulnerability to the shadow side of human nature was very poignant. The tabloids consigned him to the dark side via cheap, sensationalized stories that verged on the ghoulish (stories he fed with behavior that flirted far too much with transgressive behavior). But the other aspect of Manichaeism was also there, an evangelical desire to bring light and healing to the whole world. The paradox of how one person could be so innocent and so disturbing at the same time remains a mystery.

I began to ponder Michael's nature after I received an e-mail that pointed to "the transcendent feeling he inspired in so many people with his music and his dancing. There was almost a religious, ritualistic feeling to it. He seemed to be in another zone when he was performing and took others with him." I agree, but the wider phenomenon is the "God feeling" communicated to millions of people through pop culture. Princess Diana played a key part, as Bono and Sting still do, as Live Aid concerts do. A transient mass communion substitutes for the traditional communion offered in church; a global feeling of oneness transcends the unity of small religious communities.

The flaws in this God feeling are obvious. It doesn't last. Strangers are brought together for a moment, usually through mass media, only to return to being strangers once the moment is gone. The message being communicated is far simpler than the doctrines and dogmas of organized faiths. All of which can make the God feeling seem superficial and sentimental. Did Michael Jackson really heal the world in any meaningful sense? Did it help Princess Diana to be elevated to saintly status when in reality her private life contained more than its share of trouble, confusion, and turmoil?

None of us are in a position to say. Communion is an actual phenomenon, however, and without it, we would feel much more alone and divided. In Afghanistan a pop talent show known as "Afghan Star" is watched by half the country's population. On the surface it looks like any other imitation of "American Idol," until you learn that this show is the most important vehicle for warring tribes and divisive religious traditions to view each other in peace. Via TV entertainment, "they" don't look as dark and ominous to "us." One is reminded that pop communion may, in fact, be the only kind that doesn't exclude anybody. The God feeling is important just because it isn't bound by doctrine and dogma. No one is outside the fold. When an audience lights candles and sways to "Heal the World," a space is created where nobody is unholy, no religion can exercise its imaginary exclusive patent on the true God. To the extent that Michael inspired such a feeling, he healed his own demons and ours, if only for an hour.

In some way that merges psychology and faith, Michael Jackson did play out the ancient split between dark and light; he was deliberately Manichean in his dangerous game with the media but also deeply divided. I come away feeling deeply distressed that he was imprisoned by a theological idea that has caused so much damage and distortion over the centuries. There is no cosmic war between dark and light, as I see it. Only one reality exists, and it's the human mind that judges and categorizes. We blow our own manmade suffering into grandiose cosmic schemes, and then we bow down and worship effigies to our own self-judgment. But that's an argument for another day. Today I linger on the rare thing that Michael accomplished. He inspired the God feeling in millions of people, and even amidst the grief at his sad undoing, a remembrance of that feeling comes through.

By Deepak Chopra

Girls Get the Anime Look with Extra-Wide Contact Lenses

2009-06-25T03:17:00.000-07:00

Anyone who's seen Japanese comics, cartoon videos or anime art is instantly struck by the common look of the girls - big eyes that, by making the rest of the face look small, add the cuteness and sex appeal prized by many Japanese men. Since no amount of cosmetic surgery will make actual human eyes larger, some girls are trying another way to up their cute quotient: extra-wide contact lenses!
These are no ordinary contacts - they're not only tinted, but tinted prominently in the extra-wide outer ring. The result is the appearance of a bigger, wider iris.

To quote the sales copy, "Wanna get big, watery shiny eyes without any surgery? CRAVE AND ENVY NO MORE!"

The extra-wide contact lenses are made by a variety of companies including Geo and Dueba, and cost in the $30-$50 per pair range. It seems they're not just cosmetic - send in your prescription and the lenses will be made to order.

Super Sexy Bikini Pants Combine Low-cut Jeans with a String Bikini

2009-06-25T03:05:00.000-07:00

These outrageously sexy bikini pants from Sanna's Brazil Fashion, a Japanese clothing company, blur the line between blue jeans and a string bikini. And you know what? I'm all right with that!

Low-riding blue jeans are a fashion trend that seems to have long legs - pun definitely intended. The only question is, how low can they go? Sanna's Brazil Fashion seems to have given us the answer with their new line of bikini pants that combine ultra low-cut blue jeans with an integrated string bikini bottom. The effect is stunning... super sexy yet extremely flattering, and without showing more skin than a normal bikini displays.

Here they are being modeled on a Japanese TV show. I'm guessing this segment caused more seizures in the viewing audience then those Pokemon cartoons of a few years back...
The eyebrow-raising, super sexy design is practical as well as provocative, as the bikini portion helps keep the pants securely hitched to the hips. From the rear, the bikini portion can also serve to mask another fashion trend whose 15 minutes expired some time ago: the trashy "tramp stamp" tattoo.
If you'd like to set a new fashion trend in your neighborhood - or get expelled/fired/ogled as the case may be, you can order the "bijini", to coin a phrase, at the Sanna's Brazil Fashion website. They're surprisingly inexpensive at just $88 plus shipping and are made in Brazil... to whom those who appreciate the female form now owe mucho gratitude! Many thanks also to Neil Duckett for the TV show images.

World's First Eyeball Tattoo - Ouch!

2009-06-25T02:57:00.000-07:00

A Toronto man has been the first to get an eyeball tattoo. Basically, he has turned the whites of his eyes blue.

Corneal tattooing is usually used for patients that have had trauma to their eye, not for this, which is called body modification.
It took 40 injections of blue ink in order to complete this procedure. Pigment was injected under the top layer of the eye using a syringe. The syringe injected the ink into the eye. At first they had tried a traditional needle with ink on it, but when the ink didn't hold, they switched to the syringe.

The man has reported that all is well so far, but it feels like he has something in his eye.
I can barely stand needles poking me anywhere, but in the eye? I can't even imagine. I wonder what would happen if you decided to change your mind after it was done?

Who here wants to get the world's next eyeball tattoo? Maybe a colorful rainbow would work nicely.

The P Mate

2009-06-25T02:50:00.001-07:00

Freud would be proud. Now women can pee like men. That's right, women everywhere can experience the joy that is standing up while going #1. What woman wouldn't love the experience that comes from the P Mate? Oh yeah, most of them -particularly the girlie girls.

While these would be useful for women who go camping a lot or marathon runnings, nothing says “I'm a total freak and I think you are as well,” than giving the woman in your life a fake penis to pee with.

Fundies (The Underwear Built For Two)

2009-06-25T02:45:00.000-07:00

Some couples share everything. For the people who won't accept that there is such a thing as too much intimacy, there is Fundies. Underwear for two, is a great gift for those annoying couples who are pretty much joined at the hip anyway. You never know, maybe getting a gift like this will make them realize how clingy they've been, and hopefully, they won't be so damn annoying anymore. It could just be the gift that keeps on giving.

Prius Hearse Makes Your Last Road Trip a Green Ride

2009-06-25T02:35:00.000-07:00

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust"... the great circle of life is as green as it gets, so why not make your final road trip an environmentally friendly one?

That's the idea behind the upcoming Toyota Prius Hearse by Lequios. The Japanese hearse manufacturer has plenty of experience with modifying Toyota products and by basing their newest model on the popular hybrid, is simply responding to clients' requests for a more eco-friendly vehicle.

The Prius Hearse is only in the design phase at the moment but if the pictured interior photos of Lequios' other models are any indication, this is gonna be one high-class hybrid! Based on the third-generation Prius, the hearse version is extended 1930mm (77.2 inches) for a total length of 6400mm (256 inches, or 21.34 feet).

The extra length and weight does take a toll on the hybrid's vaunted fuel economy but it's still quite respectable: 20.9km/l or about 44 mpg. Compare that to the 89.4 mpg rating of the new 2010 Prius... but then, you won't be taking the Prius Hearse on grocery runs or date nights - though wouldn't that be cool?

The estimated price of Lequios' upcoming Prius Hearse is 7,875,000 yen, or around $83,000 assuming you'll even be able to buy one here in the US of A. Just in case, though, I'm advising Larry David to start saving up those Seinfeld residual checks... his funeral is gonna be pret-ty, pret-ty good!

DO SMART WOMEN HAVE BETTER SEX?

2009-06-25T02:33:00.000-07:00

Are you good at ‘reading’ people, managing emotions and detecting everyone’s moods? Well, congratulations! Because chances are, you’re likely to have better orgasms than others.

Forget ‘team-building’ and ‘leadership development’, new research has found that a person’s EI (emotional intelligence) can also be used to measure how much fun they have in bed.

A study of more than 2000 female twins has found that those who are more in touch with their feelings have twice as many orgasms as the emotionally reserved group.

The term ‘emotional intelligence’ refers to a person’s ability to express and monitor their own feelings as well as that of the others. It appears that those who are more emotionally savvy are also better at communicating our sexual expectations and desires to our partners – thus improving their sex lives.

Andrea Burri, psychologist and lead author of the study, said a woman’s EI may also be connected to her ability to fantasise during sex.

“A woman’s feeling of control, or the capacity to integrate physical stimulation with fantasy, may be contributors to [the frequency of] orgasms.”

Courtesan Procession in Shinagawa

2009-06-25T02:26:00.000-07:00

The procession is held in Shinagawa and takes place every year on the first Saturday in June, and is part of a larger mikoshi festival.

photo

2009-06-25T02:02:00.000-07:00

"Yakult Lady" Chie Takamizawa

2009-06-25T01:59:00.000-07:00

Chie Takamizawa JUDIT KAWAGUCHI PHOTO

Chie Takamizawa, 30, is a "Yakult Lady" in downtown Tokyo. A mother of two boys, aged 8 and 9, she first got on her delivery bicycle when her second baby turned 8 months old. With almost eight years of speeding through alleys and avenues, Takamizawa delivers healthy beverages, yogurt and Yakult, a delicious fermented probiotic health drink, to her hundreds of loyal customers who depend on her and the drinks to keep them regular. Yakult contains billions of "good bacteria" that keep the digestive system in top working condition — specifically the Lactibacillus casei strain called Shirota. Every day about 25 million people drink it in 32 countries, delivered to their homes or offices by 79,000 Yakult Ladies like Takamizawa. As one of central Tokyo's top-30 saleswomen, Takamizawa always carries 20 kg of the tiny bottles on her route, kept fresh by 10 kg of ice. Although the load is heavy, it doesn't feel that way to her: She says it's been a great ride for her family, and she plans on peddling a lot more.

Having a shotgun wedding doesn't mean your life will go up in smoke! When I was 19 and in college, he was 21 and already working. We dated for six months before I got pregnant, but we knew we loved each other, and we are still very close and happy. My two best girlfriends also got married quickly and have perfect family lives with beautiful children.

If parents work with all their hearts, their children also put the same effort into their studies and sports. We never tell our kids to study hard or do better at baseball practice. It comes natural to them. They see my husband and me working hard, and even though they are so young, they know they should do their best, too.

Quitting a job must be very painful. I don't know if I can ever quit because I love my coworkers and customers too much. For example, one of my customers is in his late 80s. His wife drank Yakult until she passed away recently so he continues to place the little bottles on her butsudan (Buddhist family altar) every day. When I make deliveries to him, we pray together.

When parents have no worries about their children, they perform well at work. Most Yakult Ladies are mothers, and the older women teach the younger ones how to be better parents. In our office, we have 12 women and 26 kids. Our little ones are next door. They walk over for a hug, or we stop by and kiss them. They never cry because they are near us. And when the children go for a walk with their teacher, we kiss them and off they go. The company understands that we are moms first, then Yakult Ladies.

There is no demerit to having kids. You become strong fast because you want to protect them. You must be together since they are all over the place! For the 100-plus difficult things that parenting can entail, you get 200-plus happiness points: There is nothing more fun than seeing kids grow up.

A mother's feelings are not just reflected in but also transferred to her children. One day when I went home angry, within minutes my kids were fighting. I realized that my negative feelings flew right into their little hearts. Children are so sensitive, they can read people so perfectly. Now even if I am having a bad day, on the way home I focus on changing my feelings from negative to positive. By the time I arrive home, I always feel better. If I open the door happy, my kids run to me. I can even tell them that I had a rough day and they encourage me with "Keep fighting, mom!"

Any small goal is OK, but make a new one every day. In the morning, I always have a fresh goal, such as today I will sell this much Yakult or that many boxes of a particular tea. If I don't reach my goal by the time I usually finish, I rest, eat lunch and go out again. Without a goal, I would not work so hard.

Don't worry about aging. Today you're the youngest you'll ever be for the rest of your life, so enjoy this precious 24 hours.

No matter what you do, some days are just horrible. Don't freak out! Once every couple of weeks I have a day that is just awful, from a.m. to p.m. It rains cats and dogs, or I fall off my bike, my customers are not at home or they don't buy anything, my kids are fighting, I burn the dinner. "Today is a bad day," I say and just accept it all. The next day is always fine.

Judit Kawaguchi loves to listen. She is a volunteer counselor and a TV reporter on NHK's "Weekend Japanology." Learn more at: http://juditfan.blog58.fc2.com/

Sex sells in new Chinese cultural revolution

2009-06-25T01:51:00.000-07:00

Mannequin dressed in sexy lingerie at the show window of an adult sex-toys shop in Beijing.

BEIJING : Shopping for a new negligee, Beijing resident Ha Li is looking for that is, as she puts it, "as easy to take off as to put on".

Filling such needs is getting easier for Chinese like Ha, 23, who browses an array of vibrators, bondage gear, and other assorted goods like "Go Deep Oral Sex Mints" in a new Beijing sex shop.

Stores selling sex paraphernalia seem to be on every block in many parts of Beijing, catering to what experts say is a swelling sexual revolution led by a growing middle class, particularly the younger generation.

"It is very attractive to younger people," said Ha, a repeat customer at the shop, Boutique De L'Amour - which like many sex shops hangs out a shingle calling itself an "adult health" store.

"These kinds of shops help to lead you to new things. They raise the consciousness of sex and keep up with changing needs. Being more open is a very positive thing," she said.

While prostitution has made a conspicuous comeback in China from the puritan days of radical communist rule, open personal expressions of sexuality remain modest compared to the West.

But the atmosphere has loosened after 30 years of exposure to the outside world, said Li Yinhe, a well-known commentator on sexual issues.

Despite government efforts to rein in Web porn, the sexual frontiers are being pushed by a more adventurous generation of mostly urban young people, she said.

"China's youth is at the forefront of this. Youths today have grown up in the Internet age and have been exposed to new things as never before, which has had a huge impact," Li said.

In a reflection of the changing attitudes, the Ministry of Education in December called for sex education to begin as early as primary school, amid fears about AIDS and unwanted pregnancies as more young people experiment with sex.

"Previously this sort of information was for high school students only, and teachers would pass over those pages in the textbook and leave them to read on their own," Xinhua news agency said in a recent report.

Beijing and Shanghai each have more than 2,000 sex-related shops, according to state media, catering to an increasingly discerning shoppers like Ha.

"In Beijing, good quality sex products have only begun to come out in the past year," said Ha, an aspiring painter.

"The demand is big and the consciousness of sex is steadily growing."

Yang Zi, 25, opened Boutique L'Amour last month to tap this market.

While the vast majority of Beijing's sex shops are tiny cramped collections of cheap and low-quality Chinese-made goods, Yang pushes the envelop both on price and raciness with her mostly imported products.

In the front window stands a mannequin in a leather bondage bikini. Nearby, a 5,000-yuan (730-dollar) harness used for upright intercourse hangs suspended from the ceiling with accompanying stirrups.

Other sex toys range in price from 200 yuan up to a princely 7,000 yuan.

Splattered red paint covers the floor like blood stains, while a loft upstairs features a bed on which sex paraphernalia is displayed.

China's new prosperity is allowing people to think more about sex, Yang said, quoting a Chinese adage that translates as "Only once you have enough to eat and warm clothes to wear can you satisfy sexual desires".

Most of her customers are women unfulfilled in bed, said Yang, who often fields follow-up calls by customers confused by what they bought.

"It doesn't matter which country you live in, every one needs it (sexual pleasure). It is an extension of life, the essence of living," said Yang, who perches on four-inch heels and sports a nose ring.

Yet, she said, deep-seated conservatism about sex endures in China.

It took some convincing to get city authorities to approve the Chinese name of her shop, Ao Tu - two characters which resemble the female and male sexual organs.

And Yang still hasn't found the courage to tell her parents back home in the northwestern province of Gansu about her business venture.

"They are very conservative and I don't want them to worry needlessly about me. They might think I have gone bad," she said.

Chic, Cheap and for Charity

2009-06-25T01:47:00.000-07:00

SINGAPORE: With the recession upon us all, thrift chic is just the ticket to stay fashionable without burning a hole in the pocket.

Forget Orchard Road and flagship malls - think Salvation Army.

Yes, the Christian charity which started in 1865 and with branches all over the world to help the needy can be your best find for hot togs.

In fact, the name you'd more often associate with the homeless, charity and overall feel-good activities would leave you feeling pretty good too since shopping at Salvation Army sees the money going to various community-aid services.

Checking out the racks uncovered S$5 shirts, jeans and pants.

However, you may not want to take home that wedding gown for the trip down the aisle even though the S$8 price tag is tempting.

With confidence and poise, no one would know that the fancy tux and lux gown is in fact under S$10 and second-hand.

Brush up your party chit-chat with some reading up - bestsellers and hardcover books can be found at S$2 or less at the store.

And after that, invite the hosts over to your place, furnished tastefully with quality solid wood furniture which find their way occasionally to the Salvation Army stores.

According to the retail manager of the Red Shield Industries Singapore, Paul Chay, the best selling items are clothes, furniture, as well as souvenirs.

Although most items on sale may be second-hand, it is also not uncommon to find new goods which have been donated by retailers and manufacturers.

Some of the sizzling hot deals stumbled on -- Johnson & Johnson Baby Wash (750ml) at S$3 and L’Arc Ladies shoes at S$25 per pair, with shoe-fetish shoppers who buy four pairs getting a pair free.

The most valuable and also priciest item in store to date, says Chay, is a pair of 6ft tall porcelain vases at S$1888 each.

As for the weirdest donation yet – the prize goes to a pair of bullock-cart wheels.

Take this then as a hint that you will find almost anything and everything in the Salvation Army thrift stores.

That also means you may not find items laid out in an attractive and orderly manner. But if patiently search, as you would in a sale, you may find some hidden treasures.

If there is something you were hoping to find but couldn’t, try leaving your contact details in the event that the item pops up.

Chances are, after one visit, you’d become a regular shopper, which is a good thing since items in the thrift store can change regularly.

Making a good check before heading to the check-out is a good idea, as well as keeping the receipts since you can make an exchange or return.

And what could be better than taking home an antique item or designer dress for a steal? The chance to pay even less when the thrift store holds a sale – imagine that!

- CNA/yt

Iran's mourning ceremony called off as pressure mounts

2009-06-25T01:34:00.000-07:00

Demonstrators protest the Iranian election results in Union Square, New York City.

TEHRAN: A mourning ceremony for protesters slain in Iran's post-election turmoil was called off on Thursday as the government clamped down hard on the opposition, vowing not to back down over the disputed vote.

But a leading dissident cleric issued a blunt warning to the nation's Islamic rulers that continued suppression of opposition protests would destabilise the government.

Mehdi Karroubi, a reformist parliament speaker who came a distant fourth in the June 12 presidential vote, cancelled the mourning ceremony as he was unable to find a site but plans to hold it next week, his party website said.

His decision came after a large force of riot police and Islamist Basij militiamen stopped a crowd of several hundred people trying to assemble outside parliament on Wednesday, according to a witness.

Another witness reported seeing police charge at passers-by, who dispersed into nearby streets, with some reports of shots being heard.

Iran's rulers have stepped up the pressure on the opposition, with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei insisting he would not back down over the disputed vote and security forces moving swiftly to stop public protests.

Iran's interior ministry has banned all gatherings by opposition groups, which have staged sometimes massive protests in Tehran over what they say were rigged results of the election that returned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power.

At least 17 people have been killed in the post-election violence, state media reports say, but the foreign media is banned from the streets under tight new restrictions imposed in the aftermath of the election.

But top dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, once tipped as a possible successor to Khamenei, warned the government over its crackdown and called for an "impartial" committee to be set up to resolve the crisis.

"If Iranians cannot talk about their legitimate rights at peaceful gatherings and are instead suppressed, complexities will build up which could possibly uproot the foundations of the government, no matter how powerful," he said in a statement faxed to AFP.

World leaders have voiced increasing alarm over the situation in Iran, facing the worst unrest since the 1979 revolution brought an Islamic government to power in one of the world's top oil exporters.

In the latest diplomatic snub, the United States said it would no longer issue invitations for Iranian diplomats to attend July 4 Independence Day parties at US embassies, following the violent suppression of protests.

Iran has accused the United States and its close ally Britain in particular of stoking trouble, with Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki announcing on Wednesday that Tehran may downgrade ties with London.

The two governments have already expelled diplomats in a tit-for-tat move, while a number of other European nations have hauled in Iranian envoys to protest at the election and crackdown on protestors.

Khamenei, grappling with an unprecedented challenge to his 20-year rule, warned on Wednesday the government would not tolerate dissent.

"In the recent incidents concerning the election, I have been insisting on the implementation of the law and I will be (insisting). Neither the system, nor the people will back down under force," he said.

Iran has refused to overturn the results of the poll but Khamenei has extended by five days a Wednesday deadline to examine vote complaints.

The Revolutionary Guards, the elite force set up to protect the Islamic republic, has already warned of a "decisive and revolutionary" riposte to any further protests.

The authorities have also intensified a crackdown on opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi with the arrest of 25 staff at his newspaper and vitriolic attacks from the hardline press.

Mousavi, who lost heavily to Ahmadinejad despite mounting a high-profile campaign that some observers said could lead to a second-round runoff, has urged supporters to continue protesting but to show restraint to avoid bloodshed.

In the latest backlash against the West, Iran's interior minister also took aim at the United States, saying rioters were being funded by the CIA and the exiled opposition group the People's Mujahedeen.

The authorities have expelled the BBC correspondent in Tehran and arrested two foreign reporters working for the US media.

Many hundreds of protesters, prominent reformists and journalists have been rounded up by the authorities, including some people close to top government officials such as former president Akhbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Another defeated candidate, former Revolutionary Guards chief Mohsen Rezai, has withdrawn his protest about election irregularities, in a blow to the opposition.

Despite the restrictions of the foreign media, images of police brutality have spread worldwide via amateur video over the Internet.

US President Barack Obama, who has called for dialogue with Iran after three decades of severed ties, said on Tuesday there were "significant questions about the legitimacy" of the poll but insisted Washington was not interfering.

Hans-Gert Poettering, president of the European parliament, said he hopes to lead a delegation of European deputies to Iran to study an election which appears to be "a massive fraud".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on a visit to France, reiterated his call for action to stop Iran acquiring nuclear weapons.

"What we need is a change in Iran, a change of policies, for moderation, for freedom and for peace

No to nuclear proliferation

2009-06-25T01:23:00.000-07:00

Widows of South Korean war veterans sing a Korean War song during a ceremony to mark the 59th anniversary of the 1950-53 Korean War and to denounce North Korea's nuclear programs at Changchung Gymnasium in Seoul, South Korea.

Harmony

2009-06-25T01:15:00.000-07:00

Spring and summer's collection includes bridal gowns, colorful and elegant evening gowns and casual wear, from Tel Aviv designer Yosef Perez

Israel marks three years since Gilad Schalit kidnapped

2009-06-25T01:06:00.000-07:00

Three years ago, Cpl. Gilad Schalit was abducted when a number of Palestinian gunmen launched a bloody cross-border raid from the Gaza Strip. Two IDF soldiers were killed in the incident, which ended after Schalit was dragged by his captors through a tunnel into the Gaza Strip. Today, Israel marks three years since that day, and three years since Gilad has seen his home. Speaking to Army Radio, Noam Schalit, the father of the abducted soldier, asked all Israeli citizens to mark the moment.

"My wish, today, on the 25th of June, 2009, from every person in the state, man and woman, from children to the elderly, is to close your eyes for three minutes," he told the station. "For just three minutes close your eyes and wait until those minutes pass, and during that time, try to think about what my son, Gilad, has gone through, a young man who is waiting with bated breath - not just three minutes, and not just three hours, and not even just three days, but is waiting in darkness and despair, mentally and physically tortured, to regain his freedom which was taken from him three years ago."

Yoel Schalit chose to use the occasion to speak directly to his brother.

"Gilad, my dear brother, after three years in captivity I thought you might like to know a little bit about the things that have happened here," he began.

"In the Beijing Olympics, the games you apparently sat and watched, Michael Phelps broke seven world records and won seven Olympic medals. Israel came back with a bronze medal in sailing, Maccabi Tel Aviv got to the finals of the Euroleague but lost to Moscow, and Spain won the European championship," the brother continued.

"Thousands of discharged soldiers left to travel all over the world; you could've traveled with them," Yoel said. "There are so many beautiful trails in this country, you walked them. Today in Israel there are 200,000 students, you could've been one of them. There are plenty of other things that happened and are still happening, and I'm waiting to tell you about them."

Yoel Schalit then turned to the prime minister with a plea.

"Mister prime minister, I request from you, save my brother," Schalit said. "Don't abandon him to an unknown fate. Don't wait for tomorrow, help Gilad today. Every day he is in captivity is a risk to his life."

"Gilad is still alive and it is your responsibility and your duty to bring him home," Yoel said.

Where is Iran?

2009-06-24T23:41:00.000-07:00

Iran: The Country of The Nobles The name of Iran comes from an ancient term "a-eer-ya-nem va-ee-jo" in Avesta, the holy book of Zoroastrianism, meaning the land of the Aeers'. This term refers to a certain plateau which the Indo-Iranians, a branch of Aryans selected for their settlement. By passage of time, the term "Aeer" changed to "Er" and later to "Ir". "Er" or "Ir", in the ancient languages of the time, meant NOBLE. The official name of our country in the Sassanid period (400-600 A.D.) was Iranshatr or Iranshahr. "Shatr" or "Shahr" means country. Thus Iranshahr means The Country of The Nobles.

Iran which has an area of 1,648,000 km2, and 64,878,000 (1994 est.) population is one of the most strategically located countries in the world. Just as a clue, Iran's population tops the total population of all the other Persian Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, UAE and Jordan! Iran occupies the entire 2,440 km eastern coast of the Persian Gulf that borders six other oil-rich Gulf states. Iran also borders Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey and Iraq, and shares its 740 km coast line Caspian Sea with Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Russia.

Iran was a constitutional monarchy, and turned to a republic due to an Islamic movement, in 1979.

Iran has a very colorful and diversified landscape, ranging from high plateau to mountain ranges, and to plain bordering the Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea. The dominant color is a delicate high brown, like the coat of a dear, but the countryside can vary enormously according to the altitude and vegetation.

Iranian plateau is very high, ranging an average between 1,000 and 2,000 meters (3,000 to 6,000 feet) in fact the plateau, besides being of varying heights, also includes many peaks, it is edged by two big mountain chains, the Alborz to the north, rising to 5,670 meters and forming a continuous wall above the banks of the Caspian sea; and the Zagross perhaps less impressive than the Alborz, which forms a formidable barrier on the west and south, with peak rising to 4,500 meters. The massive volcanic peak of Damavand, of the Alborz mountain range, separates the Iranian plateau from the moist coastal regions bordering the Caspian Sea.

As well as the plateau and the mountains, the central desert covering one-third of the surface of the country, as big as the whole of France, must also be taken into account. Its two parts, the Dasht-e-Kavir and the Dasht-e-Lut represent practically impassable barriers of pebbles, sand and salt.

Iran is a vast country made up of very different climate regions, so that the climate can change from one time of the year to another, as well as between different regions at the same time of the year.

There are generally four seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Spring starts from mid March and the weather is pleasant with warm and sunny days and occasional spring showers. The average temperature during Spring is around 20-25C degrees. In summer the heat is often overwhelming, with the temperature frequently rising above 35C degree in Tehran. In summer time, pleasant weather and beautiful sceneries in the Northern Iran and Caspian Sea attracts many people to escape from the heat and spend holidays in the mountain areas and the sea side. Autumn starts from mid September with rather cool and sunny days. Beautiful sceneries with colorful yellow, red and brown autumn leaves can be found by just an hour drive from Tehran. In winter, the cold can be intense and the thermometer frequently drops below zero centigrade to -5 or -10 centigrade at night, even in Tehran. Shemshak and Dizin Ski slopes in Northern Tehran are popular during winter.

Iran is very rich in terms of natural resources. Almost one-tenth of the world's oil and one-fifth of the world's natural gas reserve are in Iran. Iran's total oil reserves stands at 92.9 billion barrels. At the present extraction rate, it will last 70 years. Iran is ranked second in the world in view of its natural gas reserve, totaling 20.7 trillion cubic meters, and at the current daily consumption rate, it will take Iran 360 years to exhaust it! Besides natural resources, unlike many other Middle Eastern countries, Iran possesses strong agricultural and service sectors. These together with a population of more than 60 million make Iran a substantial domestic power from the political and economical point of view.

Official Iranian calendar is Jalali calendar, which was designed by Omar Khayyam (1048-1122), a famous philisopher, poet and a mathematician. Iranian Calendar has 365 days and 12 months. The Iranian new year begins on March 21 and is dated from the Hejira in 622 A.D. when the prophet Mohammed migrated from Mecca to Medina. In religious matters, the Moslem calendars usually give three systems, Jalali, Islamic and Georgian. The official weekend holiday in Iran is Friday.

Iranian school year starts from September 21, with either 3 quarters in junior or 2 semesters in senior level education. Iranian school year usually ends around the end of June.

Iran's official flag has three equal horizontal bands of green (top), white, and red.

Iran's currency is Rial. It has a fluctuating exchange rate between 2000-8000 Rials to 1 US Dollar.

A note for individuals planning to visit Iran: The government of Iran practices strict dress and behavioral code on females appearing in public. Also males above 18 years old born to Iranian parents should consider the Iranian government's viewpoint on naturalization law.

Mousavi: The Man Who Shook Tehran By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed

2009-06-24T23:32:00.000-07:00

Presidential hopeful Mir-Hossein Mousavi says he will push ahead with Iran's nuclear activities and will never halt uranium enrichment.

After the late Imam Ayatollah Khomeini, Mir Hossein Mousavi is the second man to lead a popular opposition movement and to cause upheaval in the Iranian capital of Tehran. He has stood up against the results of the elections and the vote rigging and now is leading the confrontation against the Supreme Leader’s orders, challenging the regime, its bodies, threats and symbols.

It’s not Mousavi’s mentality that distinguishes him but his leadership and courage. Other opposition leaders have emerged before Mousavi to challenge the ruling body, but would stop in their tracks as soon as the regime would brandish its weapons. Despite that he has been marginalized and vexed, Hashemi Rafsanjani is satisfied with the internal grievances. Despite his popularity, former president Mohamed Khatami remained hidden in fear of revenge; he considered the bomb he found in the airplane’s toilet a threat, and it was successful as it silenced him throughout the elections.

As for Mousavi, he appears to be a tough politician and a charismatic leader surrounded by hundreds of thousands of youths, or even millions, who hate Ahmadinejad and are disappointed with Khatami and other opposition leaders.

Mousavi is becoming more and more charismatic. The man stands in the middle of the masses knowing that he is the regime’s main target. If he were to escape assassination, he would not be safe from defamation of character as he may be accused of treason, spying or of other charges that would see him removed from the political field. Regardless of the pressure to which he was subjected to accept the election results, he strongly rejected them in an unprecedented manner we have not seen before in Iran’s contemporary history.

His excellent performance in debates and the support provided by his wife Zahra are highly admired. He ruthlessly attacked the ideas, attitudes and performance of Ahmadinejad’s government. Mousavi’s wife also took part in the massive campaign, causing Ahmadinejad to openly vilify her.

However, his opposition to Ahmadinejad, and his rejection to follow the Supreme Guide’s orders, does not make him a revolutionary who has some kind of plan to overthrow the regime or someone who does not share the Iranian Islamic ideology. In reality, Mousavi is a product of the Islamic revolution and the regime. In spite of his moderate attitude, he will never sail too far away from the Supreme Leader’s and President Ahmadinejad’s general policy. He openly supports the nuclear program and criticizes Ahmadinejad’s failed administration and describes his internal policy as a failed one and him as a liar. Mousavi can be considered a moderate Islamist liberal with great ideas for the regime, but at the same time he hates the leadership.

Now, Mousavi, dead or alive, has become a great problem for the regime. This is why his opponents want to kill his character before he becomes a martyr. They want to distort his revolution by claiming that it is a British plot backed by Israeli spying cells, citing as evidence the bombings attributed to the revolutionaries. The Iranian regime’s main goal now is to attack Mousavi’s character so that he would not become a leader of the Iranian masses, which would join him and together become a strong wave capable of washing away the authority’s fortresses.

a protest

2009-06-24T23:26:00.000-07:00

A young girl holds up photos comparing the Iranian President Ahmadinejad with Adolf Hitler during a protest against the result of the recent Iranian elections in Los Angeles. (AFP)

Supreme Leader: Iran Won't Give in On Election

2009-06-24T23:22:00.000-07:00

A mock Statue of Liberty with prison bars stands next to a portrait of Iran's late founder of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Khomeini, in front of the main building of the former US embassy in Tehran. (AFP)

CAIRO, (AP) – Iran's supreme leader said Wednesday that the government would not give in to pressure over the disputed presidential election, effectively closing the door to compromise with the opposition.

Iran also said it was considering downgrading ties with Britain, which it has accused of spying and fomenting days of unprecedented street protests over the vote.

"On the current situation, I was insisting and will insist on implementation of the law. That means, we will not go one step beyond the law," Khamenei said on state television. "For sure, neither the system nor the people will give in to pressures at any price." He used language that indicated he was referring to domestic pressures.

Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi claims that hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stole the June 12 election through massive fraud. He has called for annulling the results and holding a new vote.

Mousavi supporters flooded the streets of Tehran and other cities after the vote, massing by the hundreds of thousands in protests larger than any since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. Security forces initially stood by and permitted the demonstrations.

Khamenei said in a stern sermon broadcast to the nation Friday that Ahmadinejad was the legitimate winner. He told opposition supporters to halt their protests and blamed the U.S., Britain and other foreign powers for instigating unrest.

The government then ramped up both the use of force and its rhetoric, beating protesters, firing tear gas and water cannons at them. State media say at least 17 people have been killed in the post-election unrest. Amateur footage of a 27-year-old woman bleeding to death from a gunshot on a Tehran street unleashed outrage at home and abroad.

The government accused Britain of using spies to foment the unprecedented street protests and Iran expelled two British diplomats Tuesday. Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that two Iranian diplomats were being sent home in retaliation.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was asked about the option of reducing diplomatic relations with London after a Cabinet meeting in Tehran.

"We are studying it," Mottaki said, according to state television.

What is the most stupid animal in the world? (From Yahoo answer)

2009-06-24T03:31:00.000-07:00

I am trying to research into which animal is the most stupid in the world overall and not just based on brain size, social interaction etc. (Luke Humble)

Best Answer
It must be the domestic turkey. Some have been known to drown in a heavy rain shower because they didn't realize that it would be dry and safe inside their hutches! Others are so brainless that they can't even remember how to eat, and must be fed by the farmer.♥ (Lani s)

others
-sloth (hot_emo_)

-It depends on how you define "stupid." Each organism has it's own instincts, brain size, etc. What is smart or stupid to them...might not make sense to you or I...but that is their world. ; ) Make sense? Everyday I watch cats outside play, or bugs begging to get through the window because my light is on inside. I don't understand their logic...but it makes sense to them.
Hope this helps (Chistiaŋ)

-Humans....or so it seems. (JBR)

-Possums are pretty stupid. We have actually witnessed them chew off the ears and tails of their littermates, and those victims just sit still for it. They will also often be hit by cars while dining on roadkill.(rather than take it off the road) (missvict...)

-Which one is most plentiful? (isis)

-The Britney Spears, and what is more alarming is that this animal is breeding at a concerning rate (Lt Columbo)

-Chihuahuas. (Laughing Libra)

-the criminally-minded human animal (tw.haze)

-Most stupid?
Humans, from the looks of it. (acorn_an..)

-The idiotophant (Mr Mills)

-Man is by far :) (day dreamin baby)

-HUMANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (weird)

-I'm pretty sure it frequents this website. (Strix)

-Rush Limbaugh (spackler)

-Jellyfish have no brains so that's pretty stupid. Clams don't have a brain either. I saw a bee once slam itelf into the same spot of a window like 20 times, over and over, to try to get out and that's pretty stupid. Most humans would slam into an invisible barrier just once and not keep slamming themselves into the window over and over. (Professor Armitage)

-Those animals that are called people (norman77...)

-My husband says it's my cat, but I don't believe a word of it. (-: (terriean...)

-YOU WON'T FIND MANY ANIMALS IN GOD'S WORLD THAT ARE STUPID, THEY ARE INBORN WITH THEIR INSTINCTS AND KNOW EXACTLY WHAT TO DO YOU NEVER SEE THEM SMOKING OR DRINKING OR MURDERED FOR FUN THE LIST NEVER ENDS FOR MANKIND HE IS THE STUPID ONE SO THERE YOU GO THIS IS PROBALLY NOT WHAT YOU WANTED BUT IT GIVES ONE THOUGHTS TO PONDER (jk poet)

-all animals are smart about something.
Lemings seem pretty stupid because they commit mass suicide ,
People can be smart but they can also be very stupid making the same mistakes over and over again we lack the ten monkey syndrome which is that we dont appear to learn from past experiences and the lesson is transmitted to others of our clan
turkeys are very dump they will wait before a closed gate that stands on its own in a field with out fences on either side.
spaniels are very dump dogs ,seen one walk straight of a cliff.
some diosaurs had a brain the size of a pea.that must mean very dumb.
dodos big extinct australian birds were suposed to be very dumb ,so that their name became to mean stupid
alll in all ,i would have to say some people are the dumbest of animals
3 years ago (byderule)

Where is Bali?

2009-06-24T03:27:00.000-07:00

Hearing the name "Bali" often brings images of a tropical paradise to mind. Although Bali is, in fact a tropical paradise, where exactly is it and what is so unique about it?

Bali is one of 17,000 islands (6,000 inhabited) in the archipelago that make up the country of Indonesia. It is 145 km (90 miles) long and 80 km (50 miles) wide. As shown on the map below, Bali is situated just east of the island of Java and west of Lombok.

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation with 231 million people; interestingly, most of Bali's 3 million people are Hindu. Although many of the islands that make up Indonesia are beautiful and appealing, Bali is particularly attractive. Much of the island is surrounded by beautiful beaches with clear water. Mount Agung, an active volcano, towers 3,142 m (10,308 feet) above the terrain in the center of the island. Hindu temples dot the landscape and the fertile island overflows with green rice paddies.

Bali also has a fascinating cultural tradition. Ubud, in the center of the island, is known for arts and crafts including woodcarving, batik-making and painting. Balinese dance and Gamelan orchestra performances are common. Small artistic touches are evident throughout much of the island in the form of small offerings presented to Hindu Gods.

Sex Tricks

2009-06-24T03:21:00.000-07:00

In your pursuit of becoming a great lover, there's an important lesson to be learned: It really helps to mix things up and vary your technique. "By experimenting with different degrees of touch and temperature, you will expose your man's body to a variety of thrilling physical reactions he hasn't felt before," says biopsychologist Mark S. Blumberg, PhD, author of Body Heat. "These diverse sensations dramatically increase arousal, heighten skin sensitivity, and release pleasure-fueling endorphins." To find out how to treat your guy to some of the most electrifying sensations he's never experienced, read on.
Heat Him Up!

Why it works: Adding heat to the right spots on your guy's bod will actually boost his sensitivity to touch. "Applying warmth raises his thermal temperature, causing his blood flow to increase, which, in turn, makes his skin more receptive to stimulation," explains Blumberg. And a little heat goes a long way.

Mind-blowing moves: Fire up your sack sessions by breathing new life into foreplay...literally. "When you blow on his skin, your warm breath creates a change in temperature, which heightens arousal," says Stella Resnick, PhD, author of The Pleasure Zone. Simply let your parted lips linger over his more sensitive spots, like his stomach or neck, and gently exhale. Juliana,* 23, swears this technique is not all hot air. "My guy actually quivers whenever I blow on his earlobes and nipples while we're fooling around," she says. "He always tells me he gets such a rush when I do that."

If you want to bring your man to the boiling point, try this hot-water trick. Put a warm — not scalding — cup of H2O by the bed. Before you go down on him, take a sip to get your mouth nice and toasty, and swallow. Then take another small sip, but this time hold on to the liquid as you take him in your mouth, swish the water around his member for a few seconds and then swallow. If any of it spills on him, just lick it off; we promise, he won't mind one little bit.

Another trick that's sure to raise his temperature: Use heat-activated lube. Squeeze a nickel-size dollop onto your palm and rub your hands together. Then gently massage it all over his shaft and testicles. But take your time. The longer you rub, the warmer it gets, and what you really want is for him to enjoy the slow burn.

Love each other

2009-06-24T03:16:00.000-07:00

A pair of Sumatran tiger cubs and a set of young orang-utans, all abandoned at birth, have become inseparable after sharing a room at an Indonesian zoo.

'Peace is not easy to find' by Kevin Ronkko

2009-06-24T03:05:00.000-07:00

Peace is not easy to find.
It is no catch phrase, but
It is a goal, that is always achievable,
for all of us,
but skills are required to find it.
When I think of peace, I think of great people who deeply believed in it, and stood up for the bringing about of it, no matter what.

-Martin Luther King Jr.-
-Ghandi-
-Emma Goldman-

Do a search on google, and learn about these great people...

The point is,
Peace is worth standing up for, peacefully.
Peace is dignity, love, braveness, empathy, understanding, and patience...
I have not always lived in peace,
but I have always tried,
and I always will.
When people talk of war for peace,
I truly feel that they don't know what peace is.
Peace is a choice that we make.

copyright © Kevin Ronkko 2009

Love Fun Facts

2009-06-24T03:01:00.000-07:00

The Italian city of Verona, where Shakespeare's lovers Romeo and Juliet lived, receives about 1,000 letters addressed to Juliet every Valentine's Day.

The expression "wearing your heart on your sleeve" comes from a Valentine's Day party tradition. Young women would write their names on slips of paper to be drawn by young men. A man would then wear a woman's name on his sleeve to claim her as his valentine.

Minnie Munro became the world's oldest bride when she married Dudley Reid at the age of 102 on May 31, 1991. Reid, the groom, was 83 years old.

Harry Stevens became the world’s oldest groom at 103 when he married 84 year old Thelma Lucas at the Caravilla Retirement Home in Wisconsin on December 3, 1984.

The longest engagement was Sixty-seven years, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. The happy couple finally wed at age 82!

Most recent research indicates just about 9,000 romantic couples each year take out marriage licenses, then fail to use them

The romantic Canadian porcupines kiss one another on the lips.

Experts insist that the average person falls in love seven times before marriage.

The heart is the most common symbol of romantic love. Ancient cultures believed the human soul lived in the heart. Others thought it to be the source of emotion and intelligence. Some believed the heart embodied a man's truth, strength and nobility. The heart may be associated with love because the ancient Greeks believed it was the target of Eros, known as Cupid to the Romans.
Anyone shot in the heart by one of Cupid's arrows would fall hopelessly in love. Because the heart is so closely linked to love, its red colour is thought to be the most romantic.

Top 10 Amazing Animal Survivors

2009-06-24T02:47:00.000-07:00

Top 10 Amazing Animal Survivors - The funniest videos are a click away

What to do if you lose your dog or cat? Go to http://petsurvivors.com/

Science fact

2009-06-24T02:20:00.000-07:00

Did you know that there are 206 bones in the adult human body and there are 300 in children (as they grow some of the bones fuse together).
Flea's can jump 130 times higher than their own height. In human terms this is equal to a 6ft. person jumping 780 ft. into the air.
The most dangerous animal in the world is the common housefly. Because of their habits of visiting animal waste, they transmit more diseases than any other animal.
Snakes are true carnivorous because they eat nothing but other animals. They do not eat any type of plant material.
The world's largest amphibian is the giant salamander. It can grow up to 5 ft. in length.
100 years ago: The first virus was found in both plants and animals.
90 years ago: The Grand Canyon became a national monument & Cellophane is invented.
80 years ago: The food mixer and the domestic refrigerator were invented.
70 years ago: The teletype and PVC (polyvinyl-chloride) were invented.
60 years ago: Otto Hahn discovered nuclear fission by splitting uranium, Teflon was invented.
50 years ago: Velcro was invented.
40 years ago: An all-female population of lizards was discovered in Armenia.
30 years ago: The computer mouse was invented.
20 years ago: First test-tube baby born in England, Pluto’s moon, Charon, discovered.
10 years ago: First patent for a genetically-engineered mouse was issued to Harvard Medical School.
5 years ago: The first successful cloning of human embryo
The smallest bone in the human body is the stapes or stirrup bone located in the middle ear. It is approximately .11 inches (.28 cm) long.
The longest cells in the human body are the motor neurons. They can be up to 4.5 feet (1.37 meters) long and run from the lower spinal cord to the big toe.
There are no poisonous snakes in Maine.
The blue whale can produce sounds up to 188 decibels. This is the loudest sound produced by a living animal and has been detected as far away as 530 miles.
The largest man-made lake in the U.S. is Lake Mead, created by Hoover Dam.
The poison arrow frogs of South and Central America are the most poisonous animals in the world.
A new born blue whale measures 20-26 feet (6.0 - 7.9 meters) long and weighs up to 6,614 pounds (3003 kg).
The first coast-to-coast telephone line was established in 1914.
The Virginia opossum has a gestation period of only 12-13 days.
The Stegosaurus dinosaur measured up to 30 feet (9.1 meters) long but had a brain the size of a walnut.
The largest meteorite crater in the world is in Winslow, Arizona. It is 4,150 feet across and 150 feet deep.
The human eye blinks an average of 4,200,000 times a year.
Skylab, the first American space station, fell to the earth in thousands of pieces in 1979. Thankfully most over the ocean.
It takes approximately 12 hours for food to entirely digest.
Human jaw muscles can generate a force of 200 pounds (90.8 kilograms) on the molars.
The Skylab astronauts grew 1.5 - 2.25 inches (3.8 - 5.7 centimeters) due to spinal lengthening and straightening as a result of zero gravity.
An inch (2.5 centimeters) of rain water is equivalent to 15 inches (38.1 centimeters) of dry, powdery snow.
Tremendous erosion at the base of Niagara Falls (USA) undermines the shale cliffs and as a result the falls have receded approximately 7 miles over the last 10,000 years.
40 to 50 percent of body heat can be lost through the head (no hat) as a result of its extensive circulatory network.
A large swarm of desert locusts (Schistocerca gregaria) can consume 20,000 tons (18,160,000 kilograms) of vegetation a day.
The largest telescope in the world is currently being constructed in northern Chile. The telescope will utilize four - 26 ft. 8 in. (8.13 meters) mirrors which will gather as much light as a single 52 ft. 6 in. (16 meters) mirror.
The Hubble Space Telescope weighs 12 tons (10,896 kilograms), is 43 feet (13.1 meters) long, and cost $2.1 billion to originally build.
The longest living cells in the body are brain cells which can live an entire lifetime.
The largest flying animal was the pterosaur which lived 70 million years ago. This reptile had a wing span of 36-39 feet (11-11.9 meters) and weighed 190-250 pounds (86-113.5 kilograms).
The Atlantic Giant Squid's eye can be as large as 15.75 inches (40 centimeters) wide.
Armadillos, opossums, and sloth's spend about 80% of their lives sleeping.
The starfish species, Porcellanaster ivanovi, has been found to live in water as deep as 24,881 feet (7,584 meters).
The tentacles of the giant Arctic jellyfish can reach 120 feet (36.6 meters) in length.
The greatest tide change on earth occurs in the Bay of Fundy. The difference between low tide and high tide can be as great as 54 ft. 6 in. (16.6 meters).
The highest temperature produced in a laboratory was 920,000,000 F (511,000,000 C) at the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor in Princeton, NJ, USA.
The most powerful laser in the world, the Nova laser at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, CA, USA, generates a pulse of energy equal to 100,000,000,000,000 watts of power for .000000001 second to a target the size of a grain of sand.
The fastest computer in the world is the CRAY Y-MP C90 supercomputer. It has two gigabytes of central memory and 16 parallel central processor units.
The heaviest human brain ever recorded weighed 5 lb. 1.1 oz. (2.3 kg.).
The deepest part of the ocean is 35,813 feet (10,916 meters) deep and occurs in the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. At that depth the pressure is 18,000 pounds (9172 kilograms) per square inch.
The largest cave in the world (the Sarawak Chamber in Malaysia) is 2,300 feet (701 meters) long, 980 feet (299 meters) wide, and more than 230 feet (70 meters) high.
The hottest planet in the solar system is Venus, with an estimated surface temperature of 864 F (462 C).
The ears of a cricket are located on the front legs, just below the knee.
The first electronic digital computer (called ENIAC - the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator) was developed in 1946 and contained over 18,000 vacuum tubes.
The leg muscles of a locust are about 1000 times more powerful than an equal weight of human muscle.
The cosmos contains approximately 50,000,000,000 galaxies.
There are between 100,000,000,000 and 1,000,000,000,000 stars in a normal galaxy.
Sound travels about 4 times faster in water than in air.
Scientists have discovered that copper pollution of the atmosphere occurred about 2500 years ago. This was discovered by analyzing ice cores from Greenland. The pollution was attributed to the Romans who used copper for military purposes and to produce coins.
Hydrofluoric acid will dissolve glass.
In a full grown rye plant, the total length of roots may reach 380 miles (613 km).
In a full grown rye plant, the total length of fine root hairs may reach 6600 miles (10,645 km).
A large sunspot can last for about a week.
If you could throw a snowball fast enough, it would totally vaporize when it hit a brick wall.
Boron nitride (BN) is the second hardest substance known to man.
The female Tarantula Hawk wasp paralyzes a large spider with her sting. She then lays her eggs on the motionless body so that her developing young have a fresh supply of spider meat to feed on.
The seeds of an Indian Lotus tree remain viable for 300 to 400 years.
The only letter not appearing on the Periodic Table is the letter “J”.
Velcro was invented by a Swiss guy who was inspired by the way burrs attached to clothing.
Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks like it's kissing the conveyor belt.
October 10 is National Metric Day.
If you stretch a standard Slinky out flat it measures 87 feet long.
The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
Super Glue was invented by accident. The researcher was trying to make optical coating materials, and would test their properties by putting them between two prisms and shining light through them. When he tried the cyano-acrylate, he couldn't get the prisms apart.
No matter its size or thickness, no piece of paper can be folded in half more than 7 times.
A car traveling at 80 km/h uses half its fuel to overcome wind resistance.
Knowledge is growing so fast that ninety per cent of what we will know in fifty years time, will be discovered in those fifty years.
According to an old English system of time units, a moment is one and a half minutes.
The typewriter was invented in 1829, and the automatic dishwasher in 1889.
The wristwatch was invented in 1904 by Louis Cartier.
When glass breaks, the cracks move at speeds of up to 3,000 miles per hour.
By raising your legs slowly and laying on your back, you can't sink in quicksand.
Ten minutes of one hurricane contains enough energy to match the nuclear stockpiles of the world.
Most gemstones contain several elements. The exception? The diamond. It's all carbon.
Diamonds are the hardest substance known to man.
Which of the 50 states has never had an earthquake? North Dakota.
When hydrogen burns in the air, water is formed.
Sterling silver contains 7.5% copper.
Cars were first made with ignition keys in 1949.
J.B Dunlop was first to put air into tires.
Alexander Graham Bell, who invented the telephone, also set a world water-speed record of over seventy miles an hour at the age of seventy two.
It is energy-efficient to turn off a fluorescent light only if it will not be used again within an hour or more. This is because of the high voltage needed to turn it on, and the shortened life this high voltage causes.
The Earth's equatorial circumference (40,075 km) is greater than its polar circumference (40,008 km).
Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world.
Due to gravitational effects, you weigh slightly less when the moon is directly overhead.
The Earth's average velocity orbiting the sun is 107,220 km per hour.
There is a high and low tide because of our moon and the Sun.
The United States consumes 25% of all the world’s energy.
Flying from London to New York by Concord, due to the time zones crossed, you can arrive 2 hours before you leave.
There is enough fuel in a full tank of a Jumbo Jet to drive an average car four times around the world.
The surface speed record on the moon is 10.56 miles per hour. It was set with the lunar rover.
If you could drive to the sun -- at 55 miles per hour -- it would take about 193 years
The moon is one million times drier than the Gobi Desert.
Just twenty seconds worth of fuel remained when Apollo 11's lunar module landed on the moon.
A Boeing 707 uses four thousand gallons of fuel in its take-off climb.
The planet Saturn has a density lower than water. So, if placed in water it would float.
Since 1959, more than 6,000 pieces of 'space junk' (abandoned rocket and satellite parts) have fallen out of orbit - many of these have hit the earth's surface.
It takes 70% less energy to produce a ton of paper from recycled paper than from trees.
Every year in the US, 625 people are struck by lightning.
Hawaii is moving toward Japan 4 inches every year.
The rocket engine has to supply its own oxygen so it can burn its fuel in outer space.
The North Atlantic gets 1 inch wider every year.
Oxygen is the most abundant element in the Earth’s crust, waters, and atmosphere (about 49.5%)
A stroke of lightning discharges from 10 to 100 million volts & 30,000 amperes of electricity.
A bolt of lightning is about 54,000°F (30,000°C); six times hotter than the Sun.
Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the Universe (75%).
The average distance between the Earth & the Moon is 238,857 miles (384,392 km).
The moon is 27% the size of the Earth.
The Earth weighs 6.6 sextillion tons, or 5.97 x 1024 kg.
The center of the Sun is about 27 million degrees Fahrenheit (15 million °C).
Sunlight takes about 8 minutes & 20 seconds to reach the Earth at 186,282 miles/sec (299,792 Km/sec).
The highest temperature on Earth was 136°F (58°C) in Libya in 1922.
The lowest temperature on Earth was -128.6°F (-89.6°C) in Antarctica in 1983.
Sunlight can penetrate clean ocean water to a depth of 240 feet.
The average ocean floor is 12,000 feet.
The temperature can be determined by counting the number of cricket chirps in fourteen seconds and adding 40.
House flies have a lifespan of two weeks.
Chimps are the only animals that can recognize themselves in a mirror.
Starfish don't have brains.
The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
Shrimp's hearts are in their heads.
Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie.
The longest recorded flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds
Emus and kangaroos cannot walk backwards.
Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have about ten.
Porcupines float in water.
An ostrich's eye is bigger that its brain.
An iguana can stay under water for twenty-eight minutes.
The common goldfish is the only animal that can see both infra-red and ultra-violet light.
It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
The pupil of an octopus' eye is rectangular.
Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.
The leg bones of a bat are so thin that no bat can walk.
Ants cannot chew their food, they move their jaws sideways, like scissors, to extract the juices from the food.
Hummingbirds are the only animals able to fly backwards.
A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
A cat's jaws cannot move sideways.
Armadillos get an average of 18.5 hours of sleep per day.
Armadillos can walk underwater.
There are more beetles than any other kind of creature in the world.
Certain frogs that can survive the experience of being frozen.
Only humans sleep on their backs.
The human brain is 80% water.
Everyone's tongue print is different.
As an adult, you have more than 20 square feet of skin on your body--about the same square footage as a blanket for a queen-sized bed.
In your lifetime, you'll shed over 40 pounds of skin.
15 million blood cells are produced and destroyed in the human body every second.
Every minute, 30-40,000 dead skin cells fall from your body.
The brain uses more than 25% of the oxygen used by the human body.
If your mouth was completely dry, you would not be able to distinguish the taste of anything.
There are more living organisms on the skin of a single human being than there are human beings on the surface of the earth.
Muscles are made up of bundles from about 5 in the eyelid to about 200 in the buttock muscle.
Muscles in the human body (640 in total) make up about half of the body weight.
The human body has enough fat to produce 7 bars of soap.
The human head is a quarter of our total length at birth, but only an eighth of our total length by the time we reach adulthood.
Most people blink about 17,000 times a day.
Moths have no stomach.
Hummingbirds can't walk.
Sea otters have 2 coats of fur.
A starfish can turn its stomach inside out.
A zebra is white with black stripes.
The animal with the largest brain in relation to its body is the ant.
The largest eggs in the world are laid by a shark.
A crocodile’s tongue is attached to the roof of its mouth.
Crocodiles swallow stones to help them dive deeper.
Giraffes are unable to cough.
Sharks are immune to cancer.
Despite the hump, a camel’s spine is straight.
Cheetah's can accelerate from 0 to 70 km/h in 3 seconds.
A giraffe's neck contains the same number of vertebrae as a human.
The heart of giraffe is two feet long, and can weigh as much as twenty four pounds.
On average, Elephants sleep for about 2 hours per day.
Lobsters have blue blood.
Shark's teeth are literally as hard as steel.
A mosquito has 47 teeth.
Oxygen, carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen make up 90% of the human body.
Seventy percent of the dust in your home consists of shed human skin
Fish are the only vertebrates that outnumber birds.
A cockroach can live for several weeks without its head.
The average human produces a quart of saliva a day -- about 10,000 gallons in a lifetime
Elephants have been known to remain standing after they die.
The embryos of tiger sharks fight each other while in their mother's womb, the survivor being the baby shark that is born.
Ants do not sleep.
Nearly a third of all bottled drinking water purchased in the US is contaminated with bacteria.
Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over 1 million descendents.
An Astronaut can be up to 2 inches taller returning from space. The cartilage disks in the spine expand in the absence of gravity.
The oldest known fossil is of a single-celled organism, blue-green algae, found in 3.2 billion year-old stones in South Africa.
The oldest multicellular fossils date from ~700 million years ago.
The earliest cockroach fossils are about 280 million years old.
Healthy nails grow about 2 cm each year. Fingernails grow four times as fast as toenails.
20/20 vision means the eye can see normally at 20 feet. 20/15 is better; the eye can see at 20 feet what another eye sees at 15 feet.
The average person has 100,000 hairs on his/her head. Each hair grows about 5 inches (12.7 cm) every year.
There are 60,000 miles (97,000 km) in blood vessels in every human.

Fun Facts About China

2009-06-24T01:59:00.000-07:00

Ice cream was invented in China around 2000BC
when the Chinese packed a soft milk and rice mixture
in the snow.
China is the fourth largest country in the world. China is sometimes a day ahead of the United States.
The Chinese year is based on the cycles of the moon. This is called a lunar schedule. A complete cycle of the Chinese calendar takes 60 years. The Chinese calendar dates back to 2600 B.C. It is the oldest known calendar.
Each year is represented by an animal. There are twelve animals which represent the twelve months.
According to readings Buddha named the years after the twelve animals that came to visit him before he left the earth. The Chinese believe that you have some of the characteristics of the animal representing the year in which you were born.

When a Chinese child loses a baby tooth, it doesn't get tucked under the pillow for the tooth fairy. If the child loses an upper tooth, the child's parents plant the tooth in the ground, so the new tooth will grow in straight and healthy. Parents toss a lost bottom tooth up to the rooftops, so that the new tooth will grow upwards , too.
It is considered good luck for the gate to a house to face south.
We know that the Chinese grew rice as long as 5000 BC Archaeologists have found rice grains in farming tools and pots from that period.
Long ago, silk making was a closely guarded secret. Anyone who gave the secret away could be killed.
At one time, Chinese patriots hoped to rid themselves of hated foreign conquerors. To announce the time of an uprising, the patriots hid messages in moon cakes.
Red is considered a lucky color in China. At one time wedding dresses were red. New Year's banners, clothing, and lucky money envelopes are still red.
Fourth graders are expected to know 2,000 of the over 40,000 written Chinese characters. By the time they leave college, they will know 4,000 or 5,000 characters. Each character is learned by looking at it and memorizing it.
Unlike the 26 letters of our alphabet, words cannot be sounded out letter by letter.

Fun Facts that you always wanted to know ........!!!

2009-06-24T01:54:00.000-07:00

If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.

The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.

Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie.

The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.

Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.

A person cannot taste food unless it is mixed with saliva. For example, if strong-tasting substance like salt is placed on a dry tongue, the taste buds will not be able to taste it. As soon as a drop of saliva is added and the salt is dissolved, however, a definite taste sensation results. This is true for all foods. Try it!

The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.

Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks otherwise it will digest itself

Humans are the only primates that don't have pigment in the palms of their hands.

Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married.

It's possible to lead a cow upstairs...but not downstairs.

Dogs have four toes on their hind feet, and five on their front feet.

The ant can lift 50 times its own weight, can pull 30 times its own weight and always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.

A cockroach will live nine days without it's head, before it starves to death.

The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the males head off.

Butterflies taste with their feet.

Elephants are the only mamals that can't jump.

Starfish don't have brains.

Polar bears are left handed.

A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.

An ostrich's eye is bigger that it's brain.

The longest recorded flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds.

The fingerprints of koala bears are virtually indistinguishable from those of humans, so much so that they could be confused at a crime scene.

Snails can sleep for 3 years without eating

Porcupines float in water.

Armadillos are the only animal besides humans that can get leprosy.

Many hamsters only blink one eye at a time.

A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.

The longest recorded flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds.

A male emperor moth can smell a female emperor moth up to 7 miles away.

A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue!

Orcas (killer whales) kill sharks by torpedoing up into to shark's stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode.

Ten percent of the Russian government's income comes from the sale of vodka.

The number of possible ways of playing the first four moves per side in a game of chess is 318,979,564,000.

The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." uses every letter in the alphabet. (Developed by Western Union to Test telex/two communications)

The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is "uncopyrightable".

Stewardesses' is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand.

No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, and purple.

"I am" is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.

The Hawaiian alphabet has 12 letters.

111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

If you spell out consecutive numbers, you have to go up to one thousand until you would find the letter "a"

Men can read smaller print than women; women can hear better than men.

Bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers were all invented by women.

The reason firehouses have circular stairways is from the days of yore when the engines were pulled by horses. The horses were stabled on the ground floor and figured out how to walk up straight staircases.

The airplane Buddy Holly died in was the "American Pie." (Thus the name of the Don McLean song.)

Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history. Spades - King David; Clubs - Alexander the Great; Hearts - Charlemagne; and Diamonds - Julius Caesar.

Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.

Pearls melt in vinegar.

Honey is the only food that doesn't spoil.

If you put a raisin in a glass of champagne, it will keep floating to the top and sinking to the bottom.

Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.

Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks or it will digest itself.

It was discovered on a space mission that a frog can throw up. The frog throws up its stomach first, so the stomach is dangling out of its mouth.Then the frog uses its forearms to dig out all of the stomach's contents and then swallows the stomach back down again.

If NASA sent birds into space they would soon die; they need gravity to swallow.

Studies show that if a cat falls off the seventh floor of a building, it has about thirty percent less chance of surviving than a cat that falls off the twentieth floor. It supposedly takes about eight floors for the cat to realise what is occurring, relax and correct itself.

Emus and kangaroos cannot walk backwards, and are on the Australian coat of arms for that reason.

The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin during World War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.

More people are killed annually by donkeys than die in aircrashes.

Certain frogs can be frozen solid, then thawed, and survive.

Cat's urine glows under a black light.

A shark can detect one part of blood in 100 million parts of water.

A rat can last longer without water than a camel.

To escape the grip of a crocodile's jaws, push your thumbs into its eyeballs - it will let you go instantly.

If you toss a penny 10000 times, it will not be heads 5000 times,but more like 4950. The heads picture weighs more, so it ends up on the bottom.

Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2-6 years of age.

The 3 most valuable brand names on earth: Marlboro, Coca-Cola, and Budweiser, in that order.

Coca Cola was originally green.

40% of McDonald's profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.

Every person has a unique tongue print.

The most common name in the world is Mohammed.

Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

The world's youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.

The youngest Pope was 11 years old.

Einstein couldn't speak fluently when he was nine. His parents thought he might be retarded.

Leonardo da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time.

Sherlock Holmes never said "Elementary, my dear Watson".

In "Casablanca", Humphrey Bogart never said "Play it again, Sam".

A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time: 1/100th of a second.

Months that begin on a Sunday will always have a "Friday the 13th."

First novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer

The mask used by Michael Myers in the original film "Halloween" was actually a Captain Kirk mask painted white.

James Doohan, who plays Lt. Commander Montgomery Scott on Star Trek, is missing the entire middle finger of his right hand.

All of the clocks in the movie "Pulp Fiction" are stuck on 4:20.

Debra Winger was the voice of E.T.

During the chariot scene in 'Ben Hur' a small red car can be seen in the distance.

The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time television were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.

Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots.

Every day more money is printed for monopoly than the US Treasury.

The city with the most Roll Royces per capita: Hong Kong

Percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28% Percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%

Barbie's measurements if she were life size: 39-23-33

Cost of raising a medium-sized dog to the age of 11: £4000

Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them used to burn their houses down - hence the expression "to get fired."

The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the "General Purpose" vehicle, G.P.

The term "whole 9 yards" came from WWII fighter pilots in the South Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got the "whole 9 yards."

The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.

The US Interstate road system was designed so that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.

The cruise liner Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six inches for each gallon of fuel that it burns.

A Saudi Arabian woman can get a divorce if her husband doesn't give her coffee.

The dot over the letter 'i' is called a tittle.

Most lipstick contains fish scales.

Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn't wear trousers.

Ketchup was sold in the 1830s as medicine

You can tell from the statue of a mounted horseman how the rider died. If all four of the horse's feet are on the ground, he died of natural causes. One foot raised means he died from wounds suffered in battle. Two legs raised means he died in action.

Unveiling the blinking phone dress

2009-06-23T03:28:00.000-07:00

Reuters – A photographer takes pictures of Russia's Maria Sharapova as she poses at a Liberty boutique promoting …
LONDON (Reuters) – Former Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova presented a prototype dress to reporters that is designed to light up when the wearer's mobile telephone rings.

British fashion student Georgie Davis dreamed up the knee-length sleeveless white dress as part of a school project with mobile phone-maker Sony Ericsson to figure out ways of incorporating new technology into fashion.

Davis said the dress is designed to eventually be connected to the wearer's phone by Bluetooth wireless technology, so she can be alerted to a call even in noisiest of places.

"When you're in a pub or a bar, you can never, ever hear your phone," 20-year-old Davis told Reuters on Wednesday.

The right shoulder of the dress is embellished with translucent white scales that move and light up.

Sharapova showed off the dress to a gaggle of photographers and a crowd of passers-by from the window a luxury department store in central London.

(Reporting by Catherine Bosley; Editing by Paul Casciato)

Carnival held in NE China's Harbin

2009-06-23T03:23:00.000-07:00

Actors perform during a carnival held in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, June 21, 2009. Colorful performances attracted many citizens and tourists to attend the activity in Harbin on Sunday. (Xinhua Photo)

Tourists undergo sand therapy in NW China's Turpan city

2009-06-23T03:21:00.000-07:00

Several tourists undergo sand therapy in Turpan, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, June 15, 2009. (Xinhua/Liu Jian)

The flower stinks

2009-06-23T03:17:00.000-07:00

Three little visitors pose for a group photo in front of the blooming Titan Arum (Amorphophallus titanum) or "Corpse Flower" at the Huntington Botanical Garden in San Marino of California, the United States, June 19, 2009. Native to the equatorial rain forests of Sumatra, the Amorphophallus titanum can reach more than 6 feet in height when it blooms, opening to a diameter of 3-4 feet. But the plant is perhaps most famous-or infamous-for its exceptionally foul odor. Hence the nickname, Corpse Flower.(Xinhua/Qi Heng)

Sea lion wears sunglasses for observing upcoming solar eclipse

2009-06-23T03:10:00.000-07:00

Photo taken on June 18, 2009, shows an animal trainer in the Sunshine International Aquarium in Tokyo, Japan, wears sunglasses for the sea lion Luke to prepare for observing the solar eclipse next month. This 21-year-old male sea lion will join with aquarium guests to observe the solar eclipse on July 22. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

Polar Bears Found Swimming Miles From Alaskan Coast

2009-06-23T03:01:00.000-07:00

Polar bear. An aerial survey by government scientists in Alaska's Chukchi Sea has recently found at least nine polar bears swimming in open water -- with one at least 60 miles from shore -- raising concern among wildlife experts about their survival. (Credit: iStockphoto/Frederic Audet)

An aerial survey by government scientists in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea has recently found at least nine polar bears swimming in open water – with one at least 60 miles from shore – raising concern among wildlife experts about their survival.
Geoff York, the polar bear coordinator for WWF's Arctic Programme, said that when polar bears swim so far from land, they could have difficulty making it safely to shore and are at risk of drowning, particularly if a storm arises.

“To find so many polar bears at sea at one time is extremely worrisome because it could be an indication that as the sea ice on which they live and hunt continues to melt, many more bears may be out there facing similar risk,” he said.

“As climate change continues to dramatically disrupt the Arctic, polar bears and their cubs are being forced to swim longer distances to find food and habitat.”

Scientists say the Arctic is changing more rapidly and acutely than anywhere on the planet, noting that 2007 witnessed the lowest sea ice coverage in recorded history.

Satellite images indicate that ice was absent in most of the region where the bears were found on August 16, 2008, and some experts predict this year’s sea ice loss could meet or exceed the record set last year.

The discovery of the nine bears at sea came as the US Minerals Management Service was conducting marine surveys in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas in advance of potential offshore oil development.

In May, the US Department of Interior listed polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, with Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne cited the strong body of science pointing to the significant loss of Arctic sea ice habitat as the primary reason for protecting the bear with federal legislation.

However, the state of Alaska has opposed the listing and has sued the federal government over its decision to list the bear.

Professor Richard Steiner of the University of Alaska’s Marine Advisory Program said: “While these bears are swimming around in an ice-free coastal Arctic Ocean, the only thing the State of Alaska is doing is suing the federal government trying to overturn the listing of polar bears.

“The bottom line here is that polar bears need sea ice, sea ice is decaying, and the bears are in very serious trouble. For any people who are still non-believers in global warming and the impacts it is having in the Arctic, this should answer their doubts once and for all.”
Adapted from materials provided by World Wildlife Fund.

New Class Of Dim Supernovae

2009-06-23T02:57:00.000-07:00

Colour image of supernova SN 2008ha taken on 2008 December 30 at Calar Alto Observatory, with the Zeiss 2.2m Telescope and camera CAFOS. It is a composite of the B, V and R bands. The SN is the faint reddish dot marked with an arrow. The quite irregular shape of the galaxy UGC 12682, that hosts the supernova, is seen at the centre of the image. (Credit: Stefan Taubenberger, Max Planck Institut for Astrophysics.)

Core-collapse (or gravitational) supernovae are among the most energetic and violent events in the universe. They constitute the final tremendous explosions that end the life cycles of stars more massive than approximately 8 times the Sun. After running out of fuel, the core of such a star collapses and forms a neutron star or a black hole. At the same time, the outer layers are ejected at high velocity (up to 10% of the speed of light) and shine as brightly as billions of stars together.
The total energy suddenly released by such a typical supernova exceeds the total energy release of the Sun during its whole past and future life time of 10 billion years.

However, some core-collapse supernovae are up to 100 times less energetic and luminous than usual. These low-power explosions normally show the presence of hydrogen gas, but a new event, supernova SN 2008ha, is the first dim supernova in which no hydrogen could be detected. This research has been performed by an international team lead by the Italian astronomer Stefano Valenti (Queen's University in Belfast, United Kingdom), including scientists from Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (Germany), the National Institute for Astrophysics (Italy), and various other institutions.

The results, recently published in the scientific journal Nature, are based on data gathered at Calar Alto Observatory (Andalusia, Spain), the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG), Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) and Liverpool Telescope (all in Canary Islands, Spain), the Copernico Telescope (Asiago Observatory, Italy), and other smaller observational facilities.

Taken together, the dimness and lack of hydrogen leave room for two scenarios for the origin of SN 2008ha. One possibility is that the progenitor star may have been a moderately massive star in a binary system, which lost its outer layers through the interaction with the companion. Alternatively, the explosion may be due to a very massive star which shed its envelope through stellar winds and formed a black hole upon core collapse. If the latter scenario should prove to be correct, SN 2008ha may be of particular importance in our understanding of the connection between supernovae and a group of gamma-ray bursts.

The tale of SN 2008ha is one more step in an ongoing research program whose goal is to unveil the secrets of these cosmic explosions. This project involves an international team of scientists from many institutions and relies on observational data from different observatories and instruments. No doubt this exploration will produce more exciting news in the near future.

How to cheat on any test

2009-06-23T02:56:00.000-07:00

Social Competition May Be Reason For Bigger Brain

2009-06-23T02:51:00.000-07:00

Professor David Geary finds that competitive ancestors may be blamed for today's big brain. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Missouri-Columbia)

For the past 2 million years, the size of the human brain has tripled, growing much faster than other mammals. Examining the reasons for human brain expansion, University of Missouri researchers studied three common hypotheses for brain growth: climate change, ecological demands and social competition. The team found that social competition is the major cause of increased cranial capacity.
To test the three hypotheses, MU researchers collected data from 153 hominid (humans and our ancestors) skulls from the past 2 million years. Examining the locations and global climate changes at the time the fossil was dated, the number of parasites in the region and estimated population density in the areas where the skulls were found, the researchers discovered that population density had the biggest effect on skull size and thus cranial capacity.

"Our findings suggest brain size increases the most in areas with larger populations and this almost certainly increased the intensity of social competition," said David Geary, Curator's Professor and Thomas Jefferson Professor of Psychosocial Sciences in the MU College of Arts and Science. "When humans had to compete for necessities and social status, which allowed better access to these necessities, bigger brains provided an advantage."

The researchers also found some credibility to the climate-change hypothesis, which assumes that global climate change and migrations away from the equator resulted in humans becoming better at coping with climate change. But the importance of coping with climate was much smaller than the importance of coping with other people.

"Brains are metabolically expensive, meaning they take lots of time and energy to develop and maintain, making it so important to understand why our brains continued to evolve faster than other animals," said Drew Bailey, MU graduate student and co-author of the study. "Our research tells us that competition, whether healthy or not, sets the stage for brain evolution."

Journal reference:
David Geary and Drew Bailey. Hominid Brain Evolution. Human Nature, (in press)
Adapted from materials provided by University of Missouri-Columbia.

NASA launches unmanned moon rocket

2009-06-23T02:40:00.000-07:00

The launch occurred one month shy of the 40th anniversary of the first lunar footprints.

CAPE CANAVERAL (AP) — NASA has launched its first moon shot in a decade.

An unmanned rocket blasted off Thursday from Cape Canaveral, carrying a pair of science probes that will scout out potential landing spots for astronauts. It's a first step in NASA's effort to return humans to the moon by 2020.

One probe will orbit the moon and provide a 3-D relief map of the lunar surface. The other satellite will drop its spent upper-stage rocket into a shadowed crater at the moon's south pole. This satellite will measure the matter that's kicked up, send the data to Earth, then also crash into the surface. The goal is to determine if frozen water is present.

The launch occurred one month shy of the 40th anniversary of the first lunar footprints.

My Father the Lion of the Desert A Talk with Mohamed Omar al Mukhtar

2009-06-23T02:28:00.000-07:00

By Khaled Mahmoud

Cairo, Asharq al-Awsat - In this interview, Asharq Al-Awsat speaks to Mohamed Omar al Mukhtar, the son of Libyan resistance leader Omar al Mukhtar who fought against Italy’s occupation of Libya in the 1920s and 1930s, which eventually led to his execution.

Mohammed al Mukhtar, 87, who accompanied Libyan leader Colonel Muamaar Gaddafi to Italy, spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat by telephone briefly before resorting to a mediator, Jalidi Khatrish, the Media Advisor to the Libyan Embassy in Rome, due to health reasons. The interview was conducted under the supervision of Hafed Gaddour, Libya’s ambassador to Rome.

The interview proceeded as follows:

Q) How did you feel when you first landed in Italy and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was waiting for you?

A) I felt proud to be the son of a great Mujahid who was martyred after resisting the Italians. They admitted their crimes, in particular the crime of executing the Mujahid of all Mujahideen [Omar al Mukhtar].

Q) Has the matter of your father’s execution been laid to rest with Italy?

A) This has been a good step and God willing it will be successful and mark the beginning of good ties based on equality and mutual interests.

Q) What does your visit to Rome represent and how do you feel?

A) It feels good.

Q) How did you feel when Berlusconi hugged you?

A) It was good.

Q) Gaddafi has a picture of your father pinned to his chest. How did you feel about that?

A) We were honoured by that.

Q) What is your message to the Italian people?

A) Now that there has been reconciliation, we are friends.

Q) Do you believe that all issues have been settled with the Italians?

A) Yes of course. They are not how they were in 1911 under [Benito] Mussolini. This is a new generation and we look forward to improved ties between Libya and Italy.

Q) How has your family responded to this visit?

A) The whole family is delighted at the visit.

Q) What is your message to the Italian people?

A) We hope that this visit and my presence alongside our brother leader [Gaddafi] will mark the beginning of new relations between the two countries after a dark chapter of Italian colonization of our country ended.

Q) It was the first time that an Arab leader has pinned a picture of an Arab martyr killed by Westerners to his chest. What does this mean to him and to you especially as the son of that martyr?

A) It is a good sign and we are proud of it. The leader Muammar Gaddafi is faithful to the martyrs and the Mujahideen who resisted the Italian occupation under the leadership of my father Omar al Mukhtar, may his soul rest in peace.

Q) What is your message to the Libyan people?

A) I would tell them that Italy’s acknowledgment and apology is addressed to the Libyan people, and there is no doubt that this honours the entire Libyan nation and we can hold our heads high thanks to the revolution and to Colonel Gaddafi.

Q) How do you view Italian official and media attention that was paid to your visit to Rome?

A) I have been received well and this exceeds me to the entire Libyan nation, especially Colonel Gaddafi.

Q) It is as if Omar al Mukhtar’s soul is being felt in Italy.

A) Yes, no doubt, and this of course pleases us.

Q) Is there anything you’d like to say to our readers?

A) I would like to wish them success in their work in the best interest of the entire Arab and Islamic world.

How to disable the "Turn Off Computer" button in windows XP?

2009-06-22T02:50:00.000-07:00

Today tip is very useful particularly for those users who want to restrict the common users to shutdown public computer in common areas. You can disable the "Turn off Computer" button on the start menu and a common user will not "Turn Off, Restart and Stand By" a computer. Using registry editor, you can implement this task in all windows XP versions with minimum effort.

Follow the given steps to disable Turn off Computer" button on the start menu:

To use this feature, you will need to be logged into your computer with administrative rights.
Click Start button and type regedit in Run option then press Enter for next.

Here locate the location to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

Here in right side panel, right click to create a new DWORD value with the name NoClose.

What pains you pains me, King Abdullah tells citizens

2009-06-22T02:46:00.000-07:00

(Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah speaks to citizens at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah on Sunday.) (SPA)

JEDDAH: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah told citizens yesterday he is part of them and feels their pains. He said they would see many good things happening in the coming days.

Addressing citizens and officials who came to greet him on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of his accession to the throne, King Abdullah said what he had done for the country and its citizens was the result of God’s blessings. He wished every citizen success and good health.

“My brothers...I have nothing for you except thanks ... I wish you all the best ... I am one of you ... What pains you pains me ... It is God Almighty who helped me to serve you,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted the king as telling those who came to greet him.

The reception was attended by Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior Prince Naif, Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal and other senior princes and top officials.

Speaking on behalf of the citizens, Abdul Maqsoud Khoja, a prominent Jeddah businessman, commended King Abdullah’s efforts to promote moderation and inject the spirit of responsibility. He also praised the king for his endeavors to fight poverty, empower women and promote education.

King Abdullah, meanwhile, held talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Yemeni Vice President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

In another development, King Abdullah yesterday appointed Prince Miteb bin Abdullah as deputy commander of the National Guard for executive affairs with the rank of a minister.

Arab News newspaper caricature

2009-06-22T02:42:00.001-07:00

Rafsanjani Family Members Arrested

2009-06-22T02:34:00.000-07:00

Faezeh Hashemi

In the wake of unrest in the past few days, five close relatives of the Chairman of the State Expediency Council (SEC) Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani have been arrested.
His daughter Faezeh, one granddaughter, Hossein Mar’ashi’s wife (Mar’ashi is Rafsanjani’s brother-in-law), Mar’ashi’s daughter and Mar’ashi’s sister-in-law have been in custody, the Persian daily ’Iran’ reported Sunday.
Based on the report, the five were “inciting saboteurs“ in the illegal protest rally in Azadi Avenue on Saturday.
It is also reported that another close relative of the former president was present in a protest rally in Tohid Square on Saturday but escaped after being identified by the security forces.

No Report on Ban
Meanwhile, the prosecutor general’s assistant for judicial affairs, Hossein Zebhi Saturday said his office has not received any report on travel ban on close relatives of some officials. He emphasized that the prosecutor general’s office is the only authority that can publish the names of and information about people banned from economic transactions and/or travelling overseas, ILNA reported.
“In line with Article 44 of the Constitution moves have been taken to reduce the number of people banned from leaving the country by banks and the Central Bank of Iran (CBI). Furthermore, the list of people prohibited from engaging in commerce, which includes over 100,000 namesÉ will reduce significantly in the near future and be made public,“ he noted.

Ulema Urged to Help Promote Lofty Causes

2009-06-22T02:18:00.000-07:00

(President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad)

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said late Saturday that the June 12 presidential election had “40 million winners.“
Addressing a group of clerics in Tehran, he called on them to play a crucial role in promoting the moral and lofty causes of the Islamic Revolution and defend the independence of the Islamic Republic, IRNA reported.
The presidential elections proved that the people still have affection for the revolution and the Islamic Republic system, he added.
The massive turnout of voters confronted the “unreal western democracy“ with several challenges, he noted. Referring to the 85 percent voter turnout in the 10th presidential elections, he said his government is duty bound to help improve the quality of life and offer more services.
Condemning interference of certain foreign powers in Iran’s domestic affairs, Ahmadinejad reiterated that the nation will not consider such governments as friends.
He urged western states, particularly the US and Britain to change their policy of interference in Iran’s domestic affairs.
President Barack Obama at the weekend publicly urged Tehran to stop what he called “violent and unjust actions“ toward its own people.
“We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people,“ Obama said in a statement Saturday, AFP reported.
“The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost,“ he said in reference to the ongoing street unrests in Tehran and some other cities.

Triangle Puzzle (from where comes this"hole"?)

2009-06-22T02:10:00.001-07:00

When The War Went Away

2009-06-22T01:57:00.000-07:00

(Assignment America: Friendships Grown Among Men Who Fought On Opposite Sides Of Vietnam War)
How do you make a story that already was as good as it gets even better?

If you don’t remember from last week, Nguyen Hong My and Dan Cherry are long lost enemies, reports CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman.

They first tried to kill each other 37 years ago in the skies over Vietnam. The History Chanel aired a recreation of their epic dog fight. Dan was piloting the American F-4, Hong My was flying the North Vietnamese MiG, emphasis on was. Dan blew it out from under him.

As you might imagine, it's hard to make up after that kind of fight. But a few years ago the two men were reunited on a Vietnamese TV show. Jerry Springer would have been sorely disappointed.

"He had a very firm handshake," Dan said. "And he says to me, 'Welcome to my country. I'm glad to see that you're in good health. And I hope that we can be friends.'"

And those weren't just words. After the show, Hong My invited Dan back to his home. Dan held his grandson, and the War went away.

Today the men are best friends. Just a few weeks ago, Hong My came to visit Dan at his home in Bowling Green, Ky. The trip was mostly pleasure, but the men hope it would also serve a more serious purpose. In fact, our first story ended with that message.

"We hope the fact that we can put this war behind us and we can reconcile our differences and develop a friendship might help Vietnam veterans on both sides," Dan said.

Although Hartman didn't know it at the time of their interview, Dan and Hong My actually had one particular veteran in mind, someone they thought they could especially help.

For the last 37 years, John Stiles has been trying to forget Vietnam. He said his case of photos is hidden up in his attic for a reason.

"It brings back uncomfortable memories," John said.

In January of 1972, John was flying reconnaissance missions when his plane was shot down. He always thought it was ground flak that got him, but Hong My had evidence to the contrary, including a round, red medal presented to Hong My by Ho Chi Mihn himself.

"That means that he had shot somebody down," John said.

"And that was you?"

John shook his head yes.

Understandably, John wasn't sure if he wanted to meet Hong My. He was nervous he wouldn't know what to say. Although, in the end, he didn't have to say anything. The two men just looked at each other, until finally, once again, the War went away.

"I felt this huge release of weight that I don't have to carry around anymore," John said. "It's gone. It was wonderful - just absolutely wonderful."

Over the next few hours, they talked about planes, toasted their grandchildren, and showed War for what it often is, a disagreement between friends who just haven't had a chance to meet yet.

how to whistle

2009-06-22T01:52:00.001-07:00

Boy Hit By Meteorite Travelling At 30,000mph

2009-06-22T01:46:00.000-07:00

(The meteorite struck Gerrit on the hand, and buried itself in the road)

A teenager was hit by a meteorite travelling at 30,000mph - and lived to tell the tale.
Gerrit Blank was on his way to school when he saw a massive fireball heading straight towards him from the sky.

The white-hot meteorite bounced off the schoolboy's hand and hit the ground so hard it left a foot-long crater in the tarmac - as well as a three-inch scar on his hand.

Gerrit, 14, said: "At first I just saw a large ball of light and then I suddenly felt a pain in my hand.

"Then, a split second after that, there was an enormous bang like a crash of thunder."

"The noise that came after the flash of light was so loud that my ears were ringing for hours afterwards.

"When it hit me it knocked me flying and then was still going fast enough to bury itself in the road."

Scientists are now studying the pea-sized meteorite, which crashed to Earth in Essen in Germany.

Chemical tests on the rock have now proved it is from outer space.

Ansgar Korte, director of Germany's Walter Hohmann Observatory, said: "It's a real meteorite, therefore it is very valuable to collectors and scientists."

Chances of being struck by a meteorite are around one in 100 million.

Mr Korte said: "Most meteorites don't actually make it to ground level because they evaporate in the atmosphere.

"Of those that do get through, about six out of every seven of them land in water."

There is only one other known case of a human being surviving a direct hit from a meteor.

A grapefruit-sized meteor crashed through the roof of a house in Alabama, in the USA, in 1954.

After smashing through the top of the building, it bounced off furniture and then hit a woman who was asleep at the time.

Mich. Great-grandmothers Become Bowling Champions

2009-06-22T01:40:00.000-07:00

(Michigan Great-grandmothers Win Doubles Title To Become State Bowling Champions)

Two great-grandmothers from Grand Rapids have become state bowling champions. The women are 86-year-old Emma Dausman and 69-year-old Judy Conner. They won a Division 2 doubles title at the U.S. Bowling Congress' Women's Bowling Association state tournament.

Dausman carried a 125 average but the octogenarian rolled games of 192, 189 and 173 for a personal-best 554 series in the tournament, which ended last month.

Conner had games of 178, 203 and 176 for a 557 series. She carries a 161 average.

With their combined handicap of 496 pins, they won by 32 pins with a total score of 1,607.

Dausman told The Grand Rapids Press that Conner made her feel very relaxed by always encouraging her.

Mucky Pup Saved In Dramatic Toilet Rescue

2009-06-22T01:37:00.000-07:00

(Puppy saved)

A week-old cocker spaniel was the subject of an emergency rescue after being accidentally flushed down his owner's toilet.

The tiny pooch was trapped in a waste pipe for almost four hours after four-year-old Daniel Blair decided he "needed a wash" in the loo and pulled the chain.

Frantic attempts to find the flushed puppy began, but all efforts by the fire brigade and the RSPCA at the house in Northolt, Middlesex, failed.

The 'plumb' job landed to drain experts Dyno-Rod, who used specialist camera gear to locate the crying pet in a pipe 20 yards away from the Blairs' home.

Neighbours were warned not to flush their toilets to prevent him from being pushed into the main sewer and an engineer from the firm was called.

Will Craig, 22, from Harrow in Middlesex, said he was initially reluctant to nudge the pup towards a manhole cover, "because I was scared of hurting (him)".

"But the RSPCA said I was his only hope," he told the Daily Mirror. "Eventually I pushed him far enough for the firemen to grab."

Cheering broke out as the pet was plucked out of the manhole to complete the rescue.

The young dog is recovering well after his draining experience and has been named Dyno in tribute to his rescuers.

Distraught Daniel said he was "so, so sorry" about flushing Dyno down the toilet, vowing: " I won't do it again".

British Government Spells End Of 'i Before E' Rule

2009-06-22T01:25:00.001-07:00

I Before E, But Not In UK: British Govt Advice To Teachers Spells End Of 'i Before E' Rule

(AP) It's a spelling mantra that generations of schoolchildren have learned _ "i before e, except after c."

But new British government guidance tells teachers not to pass on the rule to students, because there are too many exceptions.

The "Support For Spelling" document, which is being sent to thousands of primary schools, says the rule "is not worth teaching" because it doesn't account for words like 'sufficient,' 'veil' and 'their.'

Jack Bovill of the Spelling Society, which advocates simplified spelling, said Saturday he agreed with the decision.

But supporters say the ditty has value because it is one of the few language rules that most people remember.

Virginia Man Wins Spelling Title After 51 Years

2009-06-22T01:19:00.000-07:00

Senior Spelling Title Goes To Virginia Man Who Competed In Scripps Bee As A Youngster
(AP) It took Michael Petrina Jr. 51 years to finally win a national spelling bee.

The Arlington, Va., man bested 45 other spellers older than 50 to win the AARP's annual National Spelling Bee Saturday in Cheyenne. The 64-year-old's winning word was "woad," a plant whose leaves yield a blue dye.

AARP spokeswoman Joanne Bowlby says Petrina won his state's national spelling bee when he was 13, but then lost at the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

In second place Saturday was 55-year-old Scott Firebaugh of Knoxville, Tenn., and in third place was 66-year-old Gil Couts of Bigfork, Mont.

Petrina won $500, a trophy and dictionary kit.

The AARP bee started in 1996.

Catch and cut

2009-06-22T00:49:00.000-07:00

Japanese whalers cut open a Baird's beaked whale, their first catch of the season, which was caught some 60 kilometers (38 miles) off the coast, in Wada, Sunday.The whaling firm of Gaibo Hogei Corporation Ltd., is one of eight coastal whaling operations in Japan that hunt Beard's Beaked and Pilot whales, species not subject to the International Whaling Commission's 1986 ban on commercial whaling. The catch, measuring more than 10 meters in length, comes a week before the International Whaling Commission (IWC) are due to meet in Madeira, Portugal. (AP/Shuji Kajiyama)

Humor: First Interview With Bo, The New White House Puppy

2009-06-22T00:26:00.000-07:00

CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller takes a comical look at what an interview with the new White House puppy could look like.

Bo, the new White House puppy, stayed indoors today, since there were thousands of people on the South Lawn for the Easter Egg Roll.

He’s still getting acclimated to his new home, and agreed to take a few questions in the family quarters of the White House.

Q. Let me start by asking you about your breeding, just what is a Portuguese Water Dog.

A. I’m not really sure.

Q. Well, do you like the water?

A. Not crazy about it, no.

Q. Are there American water dogs?

A. Actually, I consider myself more American than Portuguese.

Q. So how did you come to be picked by the First Family. Was there much of a vetting process?

A. Ted Kennedy had something to do with it, not really sure. But a few weeks back the Obamas came by to visit. Most puppies know the routine: look cute, jump up on your hind legs, play up to the kids and put a look in your eye that says “pick me, pick me.”

Q. You are pretty cute. You look like one of those Ewoks from the Star Wars movies.

A. I get that a lot. Not much I can do about it.

Q. How do you like the White House so far?

A. On first glance, it looks like a great home. Good food, lots of attention. A big lawn out back. Haven’t found any fire hydrants yet, but I’m still looking around.

Q. Did you get any advice about being the White House dog?

A. Over the weekend, I spoke to Barney, who had this job in the Bush White House. He said he loved it here and really misses the place. He also told me about some great places to hang out. He said to make friends with the chefs, they’re always a soft-touch for an afternoon snack.

Q. Any other advice?

A. Yeah, he said to make sure the First Family doesn’t get a second dog. He said everything changed the day Mrs. Bush brought a new puppy into the place, Miss Beazley. He said all of a sudden, Beazley got all the hugging and cuddling, especially from the Bush daughters.

Q. Barney used to spend time in the Oval Office with President Bush. Have you been there yet with President Obama.

A. Not yet. I’m not fully house-broken, so they’re limiting where I can go.

Q. What do you think of the Obama daughters?

A. Cute kids. They’re really excited about me. I get to sleep in their rooms.

Q. They named you Bo. How do you like it?

A. Well, I started out as Charlie. Bo is okay, just so long as they don’t start calling me Bobo, Baby Bo, Bubala. You get the idea.

Q. In all the photographs of you over the weekend, you were wearing a colorful lei? What was that about?

A. Look, I’m a puppy. I can’t control what people put on me to enhance my cuteness. You try taking a lei off your neck without benefit of opposable thumbs.

Q. Sorry, didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.

A. No problem.

Q. You know, a few weeks before Barney left the White House, he bit a reporter’s finger.

A. Are you challenging me?

Q. Not at all, but you’re not so inclined are you?

A. Hey – when you’re surrounded by reporters and photographers, and they’re grabbing at you, someone’s gonna get nipped. We’re dogs, ya know.

Q. Well, thanks for speaking to me. Maybe we can do this again in a few weeks.

A. Call my press secretary. She handles me.

American space tourist buys return ticket to orbit

2009-06-22T00:21:00.000-07:00

(Two-time space tourist: A Saturday, April 7, 2007 file photo taken from a broadcast on Russian RTR Russian Television Channel, Space tourist U.S. billionaire Charles Simonyi, left, is seen aboard the space craft before the launch of the Soyuz TMA-10 from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Simoni will become the world's first two-time space tourist when he leaves Earth behind Thursday, March 26, 2009 and heads back to the space station.) (AP/RTR-Russian Television Channel)

Recession or no, billionaire Charles Simonyi couldn't pass up another shot at space, even if it meant shelling out $35 million more.

Besides, it may one of the last times the Russian government allows tourists to hitch a ride to the international space station.

"It's now or never," said Simonyi, who has now spent $60 million for a couple of space vacations. The first was $25 million.

A computer genius who helped build Microsoft, Simonyi (sih-MOHN'-ee) will become the world's first two-time space tourist when he leaves Earth behind Thursday. He'll be accompanied by two professional astronauts — a Russian and American — who will be going up for a six-month stint at the space station.

His own trip will last under two weeks, and it will be his last.

"I'm not getting any younger," the 60-year-old told The Associated Press in a recent telephone interview. He'll be one of the older men to fly in space, though nowhere near John Glenn's record at age 77.

Besides, he's promised his new wife, Lisa Persdotter, a 28-year-old Swedish socialite, that this will be his final spaceflight. He told her about his plans when they got engaged and "she was very supportive, but, BUT to a limit, mainly. Just once," Simonyi said with a chuckle. He's quick to point out this is his first marriage, and he's taking one of their engagement rings with him into orbit.

The Hungarian-born Simonyi, who lives in suburban Seattle, is among six rich people who have bought tickets to space through Virginia-based Space Adventures.

NASA, the major stakeholder in the space station, may not love the idea of hosting tourists — "spaceflight participants" as it calls them. But the initial concerns back in 2001 have eased over the years with the addition of guidelines.

Space station program manager Mike Suffredini has spoken to Simonyi, just as he has with everyone going up, to make sure the visitor understands his limitations at the orbiting complex.

"It really has to do with their safety," as well as the safety of the others and the space station itself, Suffredini said. "They're extremely restricted" in what they can do on the American side.

All this may soon be moot: Russian space officials have indicated that after this year, there will be no more seats available to tourists. That's because the space station crew is about to double in size to six — hopefully by the end of May — and professional fliers will fill all the slots.

After he returned from his two-week space station trip in April 2007, Simonyi said Russian cosmonauts told him how different and rewarding it was to go back up a second time. With doors closing on future tourist flights, Simonyi did not want to miss out.

Because the training for his first flight was so recent, Simonyi got the abridged version, three months at cosmonaut headquarters in Star City, Russia, versus six to eight months before. He will return to Earth on April 7 in a Soyuz capsule.

"I look at it as a continuation of the first flight," Simonyi said. "The reasons are the same. It's to support space research, it's to popularize civilian space flight and communicate the excitement of sciences and engineering to our kids."

Simonyi's own interest in space was kindled in childhood. He represented Hungary as a junior cosmonaut, when he was 13, and won a trip to Moscow to meet one of the first Soviet spacemen. His interest in computer programming eventually led him to the United States; he's been a U.S. citizen for 27 years.

Simonyi — who has a doctorate in computer science and is a licensed pilot — led the development of Microsoft Word and Excel. He left Microsoft in 2002 and founded Intentional Software Corp. as well as the Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences.

He's offered to do medical and radiation experiments while he's up there, and will use Windows on Earth software to photograph Earth. The view and the feeling of weightlessness are drawing him back as well.

"It's a super-wide screen, and the Earth is fantastic blue," he said.

His wife of four months will be at the launching site in Kazakhstan, along with about a dozen other family and friends. Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, who was an usher at Simonyi's wedding, can't make it.

It's ironic, Simonyi said, that he left Hungary in 1966 as a teenager, frustrated by Soviet secrecy, and now Russia is allowing him to fulfill his dream — again.

Good or bad husband - 20 ways to tell?

2009-06-22T00:09:00.000-07:00

Someone has unearthed a Relate-style test from 70 years ago, designed to measure how women rated as wives. Back then, wifely misdemeanours included soiled aprons and wearing cold cream to bed (who knew?). A wife got merit points for asking her husband’s opinion on important purchases and letting him sleep late at weekends. You will not be surprised to learn there was no equivalent test for men, so I have decided to remedy that and bring you the up-to-date Good Husband Guide 2008.

The good husband

* Recognises the clinically proven need for us to sleep longer than teenage boys.

* Is willing to discuss current affairs, such as who is out on The Apprentice, and is prepared to talk about Mad Men, even though the series has finished (and would be prepared to go to the Sex and the City movie if you let him have two martinis first).

* Shows no interest in experimenting with late-onset jewellery-wearing and thinks Harrison Ford looks a prat with his earring (phew).

* Deals with own stain removal and attempts own ironing.

* Is diet aware: will cook without a pint of cream and pound of cheddar, and doesn’t mind the occasional lentil.

* Is fashion literate. Knows the difference between Marni and Louboutin, and is up to speed with Kate Moss’s latest collection (what we love, what we hate).

* Has a good changing-room manner: always patient and upbeat. Knows not to make wheezing noises whenever catches sight of a price tag or to say, “Is that meant to be that way round/how much longer is this going to take?”

* Is size aware. Knows wife’s knicker size, so can pick some up from M&S in an emergency.

* Is emotionally aware. Understands the need for wife to talk about things for at least half an hour before going to sleep, including Sheherazade Goldsmith’s bedroom fireplace (could it work for us?).

* Is surgery aware. Can’t understand why they would do it. What can they think they look like?

The bad husband

* Splashes fat all over the kitchen from cooking with the gas on full.

* Plays football all the time, even when it’s hailing, but can’t, when quite sunny, go to check out what is new in Gap.

* When shopping, buys everything organic, including pasta (look at the bill!) and buys a bag for life every time.

* Fails to ask wife’s opinion on important purchases such as 10ft painting featuring a lot of red or fridge for bedroom.

* Still doesn’t get the difference between PMT, MT and post-MT. Implies there isn’t much to choose between them.

* Pretends is only interested in Grand Theft Auto because of the amazing graphics.

* Expresses a view on weight-loss-to-cost ratio of Power Plate, MBT trainers and other essentials that do not concern him.

* Orders stuff on the internet, then leaves it at the post office.

* Doesn’t think you need Botox, but thinks everyone who has had it looks fantastic.

* Can sort of see why Sean Penn fell for that tsunami model.

Hot Facts! Did you know this about sex?

2009-06-21T23:59:00.000-07:00

Did you know that rats make love about 20 times a day?

Sex is the best and safest way to relax, its effect is 20 times as strong as valium’s.

For every web page with “normal” content, there are five of them with pornographic content.

In terms of biochemistry, sex has the same effect on the body as eating too much chocolate.

Beards grow faster on men who have sexual intercourse on a regular basis.

Male bats have the highest homosexuality rate among mammals.

Formicophilia is a fetish that involves having small insects crawl over one’s genitals.

Ithyphallophobia is the fear of watching and thinking about erect penises.

There are men in Guam whose job is to travel across the country and sleep with virgins, who pay them for the privilege of giving them the first sexual intercourse.

In Hong Kong, a woman whose husband cheats on her has the legal right to kill him, but she is only allowed to use her bare hands.

A Greek who is unfaithful to his wife would sometimes be punished by having his pubic hair removed in public and having a huge radish inserted in his rectum.

In India, it is cheaper to pay for a prostitute than it is to buy a condom.

Sex burns 360 calories per hour.

Women who read romance novels make love twice as many times as those who do not read them.

An average person spends two weeks of his or her life kissing.

A brand of condoms was named after pharaoh Ramses, who had more than 160 children.

On average, men think about sex every seven seconds.

The woman who holds the record in the number of children gave birth to 69 of them.

The youngest parents in the world were eight and nine and they lived in China around the year 1910.

25 percent of women think that money makes men sexier.

Some lions mate as many as 50 times a day.

Humans, bonobos apes and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure.

Those who get caught mastrubating in Indonesia are faced with the penalty of decapitation.

120 million sexual intercourses “occur” in the world every day.

The orgasm of a pig lasts 30 minutes.

85 percent of men who died of heart failure during intercourse turned out to have been cheating on their wives.

Research shows that shoes and feet are the biggest fetish object in the western world.

A minute’s kiss burns 26 calories.

Only 17 percent of women have an orgasm during intercourse.

A research by sex shop owners shows that the most popular flavour of edible underwear is – cherry.

The glasses that can find anything (except, of course, your missing glasses)

2009-06-21T23:57:00.000-07:00

You know the feeling. Call it a senior moment, absent-mindedness or a sign of what a busy active brain you have. We’ve all asked ourselves that irritating question: “Where on earth did I leave my car keys?”

Now a team of Japanese scientists claim to have come up with the answer. And the secretive artificial intelligence project codenamed Smart Goggle does not stop at elusive keys. With Yasuo Kuniyoshi’s invention balanced on your nose, nothing – be it the remote control, mobile phone or iPod – should ever go missing again.

Simply tell the glasses what you are looking for and it will play into your eye a video of the last few seconds you saw that item.

Built on to the glasses is a tiny camera which makes a constant record of everything the wearer sees: the tiny display inside the glasses identifies what is being scanned and a small readout instantly announces what the computer thinks the object probably is. For some things that look different from a range of angles, however, the glasses offer only a “best guess” – they are better at identifying a guitar and a chair than a coathanger or battery.

The hardware itself is not extraordinary: what has taken Professor Kuniyoshi several years to perfect is the computer algorithm that allows the goggles to know immediately what they are seeing. It is, he says, a problem that has always vexed the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence.

But working in a team with Tatsuya Harada, one of Japan’s masters of the science of “fuzzy logic”, Mr Kuniyoshi believes he has cracked the problem. Behind the goggles is possibly the world’s most advanced object recognition software and a computer that can learn the identity of new objects within seconds.

So if the user wanders round the house for about an hour telling the goggles the name of everything from that coathanger to the kitchen sink, they will remember. Then if, at some point in the future, you ask them where you last saw a particular item, they will play the appropriate footage.

Professor Kuniyoshi has even greater ambitions for his software, ambitions that owe a lot to the visual display of the Terminator of science fiction. He describes his goggles as the ultimate connection between the real world and the cyber world and believes that they could eventually be loaded with vast quantities of data from the internet.

With that database installed, the glasses might actually know much more about what the wearer is seeing than the wearer himself – species of animal, technical specifications of vehicles and electronics, or even the identity of people. In a demonstration, the professor showed how the user might, for example, gaze at a selection of unknown flowers and the glasses would say which were begonias, which were ferns and which were pansies.

Although the experimental model, shown exclusively to The Times yesterday, is still too bulky for daily use, the team at the Tokyo University School of Information Science and Technology are confident that it can soon be miniaturised. It could even, they suggest, be small enough to look little different from a normal pair of glasses.

But unfortunately, of course, there is one irritating question they would not be able to answer: “Now where did I put my glasses?”

Sheyla Hershey - Record-Breaking Breasts

2009-06-21T23:45:00.000-07:00

(One woman stopped at nothing to achieve her twin dreams: a 38KKK bust, and a world record)

We were already fairly impressed last April, when we heard (via ABC) that one Sheyla Hershey traveled to Houston for a boob job. And not just any boob job: An enhancement bound for the record books. Because after eight surgeries and a full gallon of silicone, the petite model/actress was a staggering 34 FFF.

Still, Hershey wanted more! And she was determined to get it. When her boyfriend begged her to stop, she broke up with him (note to men: You have to support our dreams, no matter how deluded and life-threatening silly they might seem!).

But Hershey was forced to settle with her FFF mosquito bites because "the state of Texas has limits on the amount of silicone that can be injected into breast implants," noted ABC. Reading this, we found ourselves impressed by Texas, because we didn't think it was the kind of state to impose limits on such things, what with the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders and the state priding itself on everything being bigger there and whatnot.

But, as Hershey discovered through diligent research, they have no such restraint in Brazil! And so now, after a ninth surgery, she's the proud owner of both a 38KKK bust (according to Britain's Daily Star) and the world record for largest breasts. We wonder if Guinness has a category for worst back pain.

World's strongest laser unveiled at California lab

2009-06-21T23:37:00.000-07:00

(Mark Jackson, center, gives a tour of the target bay of the National Ignition Facility to Stephen Eckstrand, left, of the U.S. Department of Energy at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in Livermore , California, US, Friday. AP/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

The world's most powerful laser, created to help keep tabs on the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile while also studying the heavens, has been unveiled.

The super laser, known officially as the National Ignition Facility, was unveiled Friday at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory about 50 miles east of San Francisco.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., were among thousands of people in attendance at the ceremony.

The NIF, which is the size of a football field, consists of 192 separate laser beams, each traveling 1,000 feet in one-thousandth of a second to converge simultaneously on a target the size of a pencil eraser.

Federal officials said they planned to use it on a multifaceted assignment that would include ensuring aging nuclear weapons are functioning properly without resorting to underground testing.

Other uses will include the study of astrophysics and experiments in developing green energy programs.

Beginning next year, scientists also will use the laser for experiments aimed at creating controlled fusion reactions similar to those found in the sun.

"More energy will be produced by this ignition process than the amount of laser energy required to start it. This is the long-sought goal of energy gain that has been the goal of fusion researchers for more than half a century," said NIF director Edward Moses.

The laser will be used in astrophysics, allowing scientists to mimic conditions inside planets and new solar systems, something the lab's officials said would allow for conducting experiments that could never be undertaken on Earth before.

Ha-Ha! Ape study traces evolution of laughter

2009-06-21T23:27:00.001-07:00

(In this 2005 photo provided by the University of Portsmouth, England, baby orangutan Enero laughs while being tickled in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. AP/University of Portsmouth, Dr. Marina Davila Ross)

When scientists set out to trace the roots of human laughter, some chimps and gorillas were just tickled to help. Literally.

That's how researchers made a variety of apes and some human babies laugh. After analyzing the sounds, they concluded that people and great apes inherited laughter from a shared ancestor that lived more than 10 million years ago.

Experts praised the work. It gives very strong evidence that ape and human laughter are related through evolution, said Frans de Waal of the Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory University in Atlanta.

As far back as Charles Darwin, scientists have noted that apes make characteristic sounds during play or while being tickled, apparently to signal that they're interested in playing.

It's been suggested before that human laughter grew out of primate roots. But ape laughter doesn't sound like the human version. It may be rapid panting, or slower noisy breathing or a short series of grunts.

So what does that have to do with the human ha-ha?

To investigate that, Marina Davila Ross of the University of Portsmouth in England and colleagues carried out a detailed analysis of the sounds evoked by tickling three human babies and 21 orangutans, gorillas, chimps and bonobos.

After measuring 11 traits in the sound from each species, they mapped out how these sounds appeared to be related to each other. The result looked like a family tree. Significantly, that tree matched the way the species themselves are related, the scientists reported online Thursday in the journal Current Biology.

They also concluded that while human laughter sounds much different from the ape versions, its distinctive features could well have arisen from shared ancestral traits.

Jaak Panksepp of Washington State University, who studies laughter-like responses in animals but didn't participate in the new work, called the paper exciting.

It's the first formal study of how chimps and other apes respond to tickling, a highly detailed examination that compares an unusually wide range of species to humans, he said.

Panksepp's own work concludes that even rats produce a version of laughter in response to play and tickling, with chirps too high-pitched for people to hear. So he believes laughter goes even farther back in the mammalian family tree than the new paper proposes.

Robert Provine, a neuroscientist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, who wrote the 2000 book, "Laughter: A Scientific Investigation," said the new paper reveals some important insights, like details of the ape sounds that hadn't been appreciated before.

ADOLF HITLER Biography

2008-05-30T23:51:00.000-07:00

Born: April 20, 1889
Braunau, Austria
Died: April 30, 1945
Berlin, Germany
German dictator and nationalist

The German dictator Adolf Hitler led the extreme nationalist and racist Nazi party and served as chancellor-president of Germany from 1933 to 1945. Arguably one of the most effective and powerful leaders of the twentieth century, his leadership led to the deaths of nearly six million Jews.
Early life

Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889, in the small Austrian town of Braunau on the Inn River along the Bavarian-German border. The son of an extremely strong-willed Austrian customs official, his early youth seems to have been controlled by his father until his death in 1903. Adolf soon became rebellious and began failing at school. He finally left formal education altogether in 1905 and began his long years of aimless existence, reading, painting, wandering in the woods, and dreaming of becoming a famous artist. In 1907, when his mother died, he moved to Vienna in an attempt to enroll in the famed Academy of Fine Arts. His failure to gain admission that year and the next led him into a period of deep depression as he drifted away from his friends.

It was during this time of feeling rootless that Hitler first became fascinated by the immense potential of mass political manipulation (control). He was particularly impressed by the successes of the anti-Semitic, or anti-Jewish, nationalist Christian-Socialist party of Vienna Mayor Karl Lueger (1844–1910). Lueger's party efficiently used propaganda (spreading a message through literature and the media) and mass organization. Hitler began to develop the extreme anti-Semitism and racial mythology that were to remain central to his own "ideology" and that of the Nazi party.

In May 1913, Hitler returned to Munich, and after the outbreak of World War I (1914–18) a year later, he volunteered for action in the German army in their war against other European powers and America. During the war he fought on Germany's Western front with distinction but gained no promotion (advancement) beyond the rank of corporal (a low-ranking military officer). Injured twice, he won several awards for bravery, among them the highly respected Iron Cross First Class.
Early Nazi years

The end of the war left Hitler without a place or goal and drove him to join the many veterans who continued to fight in the streets of Germany. In the spring of 1919, he found employment as a political officer in the army in Munich with the help of an adventurer-soldier by the name of Ernst Roehm (1887–1934)—later head of Hitler's elite soldiers, the storm troopers (SA). In this capacity Hitler attended a meeting of the so-called German Workers' party, a nationalist, anti-Semitic, and socialist group, in September 1919. He quickly distinguished himself as this party's most popular and impressive speaker and propagandist, and he helped to increase its membership dramatically to some six thousand by 1921. In April of that year he became Führer (leader) of the renamed National Socialist German Workers' party (NSDAP), the official name of the Nazi party.

The poor economic conditions of the following years contributed to the rapid growth of the party. By the end of 1923, Hitler could count on a following of some fifty-six thousand members and many more sympathizers, and regarded himself as a strong force in Bavarian and German politics. Hitler hoped to use the crisis conditions to stage his own overthrow of the Berlin government. For this purpose he staged the Nazi Beer Hall Putsch of November 8–9, 1923, by which he hoped to force the conservative-nationalist Bavarian government to cooperate with him in a "March on Berlin." The attempt failed, however. Hitler was tried for treason (high crimes against one's country) and given the rather mild sentence of a year's imprisonment in the old fort of Landsberg.

It was during this prison term that many of Hitler's basic ideas of political strategy and tactics matured. Here he outlined his major plans and beliefs in Mein Kampf, which he dictated to his loyal confidant Rudolf Hess (1894–1987). He planned the reorganization of his party, which had been outlawed and had lost much of its appeal. After his release, Hitler reconstituted the party around a group of loyal followers who were to remain the center of the Nazi movement and state.
Rise to power

With the outbreak of world depression in the 1930s, the fortunes of Hitler's movement rose rapidly. In the elections of September 1930, the Nazis polled almost 6.5 million votes, and the party had gained undeniable popularity in Germany. In November 1932, President Hindenburg (1847–1934) reluctantly called Hitler to the chancellorship to head a coalition government of Nazis, conservative German nationalists, and several prominent independents.

The first two years in office were almost wholly dedicated to balancing power. With several important Nazis in key positions and Hitler's military ally Werner von Blomberg in the Defense Ministry, he quickly gained practical control. Hitler rapidly eliminated his political rivals and brought all levels of government and major political institutions under his control. The death of President Hindenburg in August 1934 cleared the way for Hitler to remove the title of president. By doing this, Hitler officially became Führer (all-powerful ruler) of Germany and thereby head of state, as well as commander in chief of the armed forces. Joseph Goebbels's (1897–1945) extensive propaganda machine and Heinrich Himmler's (1900–1945) police system perfected the complete control of Germany. Likewise, Hitler's rule was demonstrated most impressively in the great Nazi mass rally of 1934 in Nuremberg, Germany, where millions marched in unison and saluted Hitler's theatrical appeals.
Preparation for war

Once internal control was assured, Hitler began mobilizing Germany's resources for military conquest and racial domination of central and eastern Europe. He put Germany's six million unemployed to work to prepare the nation for war. Hitler's propaganda mercilessly attacked the Jews, whom Hitler associated with all internal and external problems in Germany. Most horrifying was Hitler's installment of the "final solution" of imprisoning and eventually destroying all Jewish men, women, and children in Himmler's concentration camps.

Foreign relations were similarly directed toward preparation for war. The improvement of Germany's military position and the acquisition of strong allies set the stage for world war. To Germany he annexed, or

Adolf Hitler.
Reproduced by permission of the Corbis Corporation.
added, Austria and the German-speaking Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia, only to occupy all of Czechoslovakia early in 1939. Finally, through threats and promises of territory, Hitler was able to gain the neutrality of the Soviet Union, the former nation that was made up of Russia and other smaller states. Alliances with Italy and Japan followed.
The war

On September 1, 1939, Hitler began World War II with his quest to control Europe. The sudden invasion of Poland was immediately followed by the destroying of Jews and the Polish elite, and the beginnings of German colonization. Following the declaration of war by France and England, Hitler temporarily turned his military machine west, where the light, mobile attacks of the German forces quickly triumphed. In April 1940, Denmark surrendered, soon followed by Norway. In May and June the rapidly advancing tank forces defeated France and the Low Countries. In the Air Battle of Britain, England sustained heavy damage, but held out after German naval operations collapsed.

The major goal of Hitler's conquest lay in the East. On June 22, 1941, the German army advanced on Russia in the so-called Operation Barbarossa, which Hitler regarded as Germany's final struggle for existence and "living space" (Lebensraum) and for the creation of the "new order" of German racial domination. However, after initial rapid advances, the German troops were stopped by the severe Russian winter and failed to reach any of their three major goals: Leningrad, Moscow, and Stalingrad. The following year's advances were again slower than expected, and with the first major setback at Stalingrad (1943), the long retreat from Russia began. A year later, the Western Allied forces of America, England, and Russia started advancing on Germany.
German defeat

With the German war effort collapsing, Hitler withdrew almost entirely from the public. His orders became increasingly erratic (different from what is normal or expected), and he refused to listen to advice from his military counselors. He dreamed of miracle bombs and suspected betrayal everywhere. Under the slogan of "total victory or total ruin," the entire German nation from young boys to old men, often barely equipped or trained, was mobilized and sent to the front. After an unsuccessful assassination attempt on July 20, 1944, by a group of former leading politicians and military men, Hitler's reign of terror further tightened.

In the last days of the Nazi rule, with the Russian troops in the suburbs of Berlin, Hitler entered into a last stage of desperation in his underground bunker in Berlin. He ordered Germany destroyed, believing it was not worthy of him. He expelled his trusted lieutenants Heinrich Himmler and Hermann Göring (1893–1946) from the party and made a last, theatrical appeal to the German nation. Adolf Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945, leaving behind a legacy of evil and terror unequaled by any leader in the modern world.

source: www.notablebiographies.com/. ../Hitler-Adolf.html

Pointe du Hoc by Brian Williams

2008-05-30T23:36:00.000-07:00

The Objective
Pointe du Hoc was located on the coast to the west of the Omaha beach landings and was the position of six 155mm cannons with a range of 25,000 yards. These cannons had a commanding view of both Omaha and Utah beaches and the potential to cause much damage to the invading force. The area had been bombed since May and then grew in intensity during the three days and nights before D-Day. During D-Day, the USS Texas bombarded the point as did 18 medium bombers of the Ninth Air Force at H-20.

The point stood on cliffs between 85 to over 100 feet high at whose base was a very small rocky beach that offered no protection. Because the point was positioned on near impregnable cliffs, the Germans had concentrated their defenses in anticipation of a ground assault from inland. Above were heavily fortified concrete casements interlaced with tunnels, trenches, and machine-gun positions around the perimeter. Although the 716th Infantry Division was thinly stretched along 30 miles of the shoreline, approximately 200 German troops (125 infantry and 85 artillery men) were garrisoned in or around the point.

The task fell to Lt. Col. James Earl Rudder's 2nd Ranger Battalion and called for 3 Companies (D, E, and F) of the battalion to scale the heights. Company D was to approach the heights on the west, while E and F were to attack on the east. The main Ranger force (5th Battalion and Companies A and B of the 2nd) were to wait off shore for signal of success and then land at the Point. In addition to destroying the guns, the Rangers were to move inland and cut the coastal highway that connected Grandcamp and Vierville. They were then to wait for the arrival of the US 116th Infantry from Omaha Beach to the east - scheduled to relieve them at noon on the 6th. Once linking up with the main force, they were then to move on Grandcamp and Maisy to the west in order to attempt to link up with the forces that were to land at Utah beach.

The Landing
H-Hour was scheduled for 0630 on June the 6th. The Rangers approached the point with their flotilla of ten landing craft and four DUKW's, but the seas were rough and one LCA sank after taking on excessive water. Ten minutes later, a supply craft sank leaving only one survivor. In the confusion and strong tide, they approached the beach near Pointe de la Percée, at over 3 miles east of their objective. Rudder immediately realized his error and headed west toward the point, but not before losing another DUKW to 20mm fire. The error proved to be costly because the Rangers were now 35 minutes behind schedule at which time the defenders at the point were able to reenter their positions after the bombardment. The main Ranger force was to wait until 0700 at which time if the landing was successful, they would follow the landings at Pte-du-Hoc. If not, they would land on the western side of Omaha and fight their way westward to the point. The designated time came and went and word was given to land at Omaha - Rudder and his Rangers were on their own.

The Rangers headed for the cliffs, but now they found themselves only on the Eastern side of the point when the plan called for landings on both sides. The beach at the base of the cliff was only 30 yards wide and heavily cratered from the bombardment. In order to climb the heights, the Rangers' LCA's were equipped with rocket-fired grappling hooks and the DUKW's were fitted with fireman ladders. But, because of the shelling from the USS Texas and others, earth had piled up at the base of the cliff and the DUKW's couldn't approach close enough to the cliff to effectively use their ladders. On the other hand, the piling at the base gave the men somewhat cover from enemy fire and also made the height to climb less.

After several failed attempts (due to the weight of soaked ropes) and due to the assistance of naval artillery (especially the British destroyer the Talybont), the Rangers finally struggled to the top after incurring only 15 casualties. As men reached the top, they went off in small groups to accomplish their missions.

They reached the gun emplacements only to find that they had been removed and telephone poles had been temporarily installed. Lt. Col. Rudder then split his command into two. One group stayed behind to establish a command posts, while the other went in search of the missing guns. The second group headed south and found the guns in an apple orchard, where they had been removed in order to be saved from the bombardment. They were unguarded and were destroyed with thermite grenades. The primary mission of the Rangers had been accomplished.

Up to this point, the German defenders had not yet recovered from their initial confusion. They were slowly regrouping and assembling, and later that day the 916th and 726th counterattacked the Ranger positions. Throughout the day, the USS Satterlee, Barton, and Thompson gave fire support to the Rangers when possible. By nightfall, the Ranger were forced back into a 200 yard wide defensive position inside the battery. The Rangers had lost 1/3 of his men and ammunition was running low.

By June 7th, the next day, of his original 225 men, Rudder had fewer than 100 and almost no food. Despite attempts of the 5th Ranger Battalion that had landed at Omaha Beach four miles to the east, the Rangers remained under siege. By the 8th of June, the 5th Ranger Battalion finally relieved Rudder's position. They were almost 2 days behind schedule.

In the end, Rudder's Rangers had suffered 70 percent casualties and held off five German counterattacks. Rudder was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his service at Point du Hoc and went on to command the 109th Infantry Regiment later in the war.

D-Day 6

2008-05-30T23:25:00.000-07:00

HITLER MENYEPELEKAN SEKUTU
Selain perencanaan yang matang serta koordinasi yang luar biasa – menggerakkan armada dan logistik sebesar itu – terdapat sejumlah faktor teramat penting yang menyebabkan kemenangan pendaratan di Normandia yang diberi nama sandi Operation Overload tersebut.

Faktor Rusia jelas sangat tak bisa diabaikan. Saat itu Hitler tengah ngotot maju ke Rusia, dengan mengabaikan medan barat yang sudah berhasil ditakhlukkan. Akibatnya 56 divisi AB Jerman dialihkan ke Rusia. Untuk medan timur ini Hitler mengerahkan 157 divisi. Sementara itu Rusia melalui Stalin melakukan ofensif besar-besaran. Dalam sepuluh hari, 130 divisi pasukan Rusia berhasil menghancurkan seluruh kekuatan Jerman di situ, sehingga menewaskan, melukai dan menawan 350.000 tentara Jerman.

Faktor lain kesalahan Hitler sendiri, Sang fuhrer terlalu berobsesi segera mencaplok Rusia, sehingga ia mengabaikan permintaan para jenderalnya di medan barat. Von Rundstedt dan Rommel minta supaya pasukan di timur dikonsolidasikan, dan mengalihkannya ke Prancis. Ia pun tak bisa memberi solusi atas pertentangan dua jenderalnya itu. Von Rundstedt usul divisi tank diletakkan di garis belakang untuk melakukan serangan balasan secara massal kepada pasukan pendarat di Normandia. Sedangkan Rommel yakin, Sekutu harus secepatnya diusir ke laut pada jam-jam pertama. Ketidakbecusan Hitler mengambil keputusan berakibat fatal. Pasukan tank datang terlambat. ”Aku sungguh ingin menjabat tanggannya (Hitler) kata jenderal Sekutu.

Disamping itu, keberhasilan tersebut ditunjang oleh operasi intelijen yang terjitu dalam sejarah perang modern. Yaitu mengalihkan perhatian Jerman dengan mengerahkan dua armada pasukan palsu dibawah komando Jenderal Patton. Misi Patton seolah tengah bersiap menggempur Jerman dengan cara masuk lewat selat yang ditutup Jerman di Pas de Calais. Dengan sandi Double Cross, intelijen Inggris yang berhasil menggarap mata-mata Jerman lantas membocorkan informasi itu. Sehingga mereka mengirim pesan ”gerakan Patton” itu kepada Hitler. Selain itu intelijen Sekutu berhasil membongkar pula sandi rahasia intelijen Jerman sehingga diketahui segala informasi penting mengenai gerakan dan rencana pasukan Jerman.

Dan faktor terpentig lainnya adalah kemampuan pesawat udara Sekutu makin cangging yang sebelumnya diabaikan oleh Nazi. ”Mereka (AS) hanya bisa membikin mobil dan lemari es, bukan pesawat,” begitu ejek panglima AU Nazi (Lutfwaffe), Hermann Goering, pada Agustus 1941. Namun, kenyataanya sungguh lain, pesawat-pesawat AS dapat memotret udara dan pertahanan vitalnya. Tidak ada pesawat Jerman yang dapat mendeteksi serbuan pesawat Inggris. ”Di medan timur kita bertempur orang melawan orang, tapi di sini kami bertarung melawan mesin perang,” kisah seorang prajurit Jerman yang terjebak di Normandia. Dalam suratnya kepada anaknya beberapa pekan setelah Hari-H, Rommel mengatakan, ”Segala bentuk keberanian tidak membantu. Sungguh mengerikan... Setiap tembakan kita sekarang ini sepertinya berbalik menghantam kita sendiri dalam jumlah ratusan kali lipat.”

Bagaimana bila Operation Overload itu gagal? ”Jika Hari-H itu gagal, maka Agustus 1945 Amerika mungkin terpaksa menjatuhkan bom atom di Jerman.” Tutur William O’Neill, profesor sejarah PD II, ”bukannya di Hiroshima dan Nagasaki yang akan kita kenang, tapi Berlin dan Frankfurt”. Dua pekan setelah pendaratan di Normandia itu, AS berhasil membuat bom atom pertama.

Peristiwa besar itu sudah berlalu, 64 tahun silam. Operasi pendaratan ala Normandia mungkin tak akan ada lagi dalam sejarah perang masa sekarang dan masa mendatang. Zaman sudah bergulir ke teknologi jarak jauh, tapi lebih memusnahkan.

D-Day 5

2008-05-30T23:05:00.000-07:00

HITLER TIDUR NYENYAK

Ketika pasukan payung Inggris mendarat di gelap pagi di sebelah timur kota Caen, Jenderal Erich Marck, sang panglima pertahanan Jerman ke-84, justru tengah berpesta merayakan ulang tahunnya. Lalu Marsekal Erwin Rommel, sang panglima Nazi untuk pertahanan Eropa, saat itu justru tengah berpesta merayakan ulang tahun intrinya, Lucie. Tiga hari sebelumnya ia sempat pergi ke Paris untuk membelikan sepatu buat ultah istrinya. Dari komando Paris ia memperoleh laporan bahwa tak ada tanda-tanda Sekutuakan menyerang. Ia pun sempat melaporkan soal tersebut kepada Hitler, dan sempat mengotrol divisi panser dan tank. Rommel pun sempat meninjau pertahanan di Normandia. Sesudah memastikan keamanannya, ia mengajak istrinya berjalan-jalan sambil mencoba sepatu barunya.

Pada saat Sekutu menyerbu itu, Hitler pun tengah terlelap dalam mimpi. Ia kebetulan berada di Calais, prancis. Ia segera mengamati peta Prancis dan mengistruksikan serangan balasan kepada anak buahnya Goering. Tapi telat. Pasukan udara Inggris ke-6 lebih dulu memporakporandakan markas besar Divisi ke 716. Bahkan beberapa wilayah lain disekitar itu telah dikuasai. Kubu pertahanan Jerman pun kacau balau. Gelombang pendaratan tak tertahankan lagi, sementara dari belakang pasukan payung sudah menggunting. Praktis pantai Normandia jatuh hari itu. Dan dalam 24 jam berikutnya, sebanyak 155.000 pasukan Sekutu sudah bercokol di pantai tersebut. Ribuan tank, panser, jip, truk dan amunisi langsung pula didaratkan. Pijakan kokoh untuk melanjutkan pembebasan Eropa sudah digenggam Sekutu.

Pada hari-H itu, pihak Sekutu mengerahkan 155.000 pasukan, Jerman hanya 50.000 pasukan. 12.000 pesawat udara Sekutu, Jerman hanya 890 buah. 4,100 kapal pendarat dan 1.200 kapal Sekutu, sementara Jerman hanya 21 kapal. 950 tank Sekutu dan Jerman hanya 127 tank. Pada 24 jam pertama pertempuran hampir separuh pasukan Jerman dengan peralatan tempurnya diatas tewas.

Perintah Hitler supaya pasukannya bertahan sampai titik penghabisan pun tak bisa mengubah keadaan. Memang banyak unit pasukannya yang melawan habis-habisan. Tapi banyak unit lainnya yang langsung menyerah. Mereka kebanyakan terdiri dari orang tua, anak-anak dan para wajib militer dari negara-negara yang dikuasai Jerman. Satu batalion tentara Nazi bahkan menyerah dengan menggunakan sandi semapur kepada kapal perusah AS McCook yang menghujani mereka dengan meriam. Jernderal Karl Wilhelm con Schlieben, sang panglima Cherbourg, yang mengancam ”hukuman mati buat pasukannya yang mundur dari posisinya’ pun akhirnya menyerah setelah meriam AS mengarah ke bunkernya.

Toh, gerak maju Sekutu masih belum semulus rencana. Kota Caen yang dirancang bisa dikuasai pada hari pertama – kota ini strategis untuk loncatan serangan ke Paris – ternyata baru bisa dikuasai setelah enam minggu. Setelah itu gerak maju pasukan Sekutu seolah tak terbendung. Melalui operasi pemboman yang masif pada 31 Juli 1944, dengan sandi operasi Cobra, pasukan Jenderal George Patton berhasil menguasai kota strategis Avranches. Dari kota ini pasukan patton mengumpulkan tenaga dan bergerak ke timur. Pihak Jerman yang mencoba melakukan serangan balasan, justru terjebak di Argentan, dengan hasil 10.000 pasukannya tewas, dan 50.000 ditawan. Akhir Agustus Paris berhasil dibebaskan.
Bersambung ke D-Day 6

God Was On The Beach

2008-05-30T22:53:00.000-07:00

God Was On The Beach On D-Day : Chaplain Burkhalter Tells Power of Prayers.

"Dear Mable,

It is mid-afternoon here in France several weeks after D-Day. Shells from heavy artillery are humming overhead and the sounds of shells bursting are coming from all directions in the not-so-far-off distance. The regiment I'm with forms part of the front line.

I entered France on D-Day with the "Fighting First Division." This Division has well-trained, courageous and experienced men. Our officers are of the highest order, men of great courage and experience who are war-wise and have seen a lot of battle. The First Division was the first to enter France in World War I and first to enter France in this war; they were the assault troops in the American sector on D-Day. There are not many close-up photographs of the First Division on D-Day because the beach was too hot for photography in those early morning hours and also all through the afternoon. Picture-taking was better in the days that followed.

When my part of the Division landed, there were impressions made on my mind that will never leave it. Just before landing we could see heavy artillery shells bursting all up and down the beach at the water's edge under well directed fire. As I stood in line waiting to get off the LCI to a smaller craft to go into shore, I was looking toward land and saw a large shell fall right on a landing craft full of men. I had been praying quite a bit through the night as we approached the French coast but now I began praying more earnestly than ever. Danger was everywhere; death was not far off. I knew that God alone is the maker and preserver of life, who loves to hear and answer prayer. We finally landed and our assault craft was miraculously spared, for we landed with no shells hitting our boat.

Ernie Pyle came ashore the morning after the assault and after seeing the results of what took place the day before he wrote in his article for the Stars and Stripes, "Now that it's all over, it seems to me a pure miracle we ever took the beach at all."

The enemy had a long time to fix up the beach. The beach was covered with large pebbles to prevent tank movements, and mines were everywhere. The enemy was well dug in and had set up well prepared positions for machine guns and had well chosen places for sniping. Everything was to their advantage and to our disadvantage, except one thing, the righteous cause for which we are fighting - liberation and freedom. For the moment our advantage was in the abstract and theirs was in the concrete. The beach was spotted with dead and wounded men. I passed one man whose foot had been blown completely off. Another soldier lying close by was suffering from several injuries; his foot was ripped and distorted until it didn't look much like a foot. Another I passed was lying very still, flat on his back, covered in blood. Bodies of injured men all around. Sad and horrible sights were plentiful.

In a recent write-up it is said of one of the colonels of the First Division that led his regiment in on the beach during the early morning, "This blue-eyed soldier had stood on the beach where thousands of men were pinned down by enemy fire, and in a quiet drawl said, 'Gentlemen, we are being killed here on the beaches; let's move inland and be killed there.'"

In from the beach were high hills which we had to climb. We crawled most of the way up. As we filed by those awful scenes going up the hill and moving inland, I prayed hard for those suffering men, scattered here and there and seemingly everywhere.

We filed over the hill as shells were falling on the beach back of us, meaning death for others who were still coming in. Later, one of the soldiers told me that on this occasion he saw a shell land right on top of a wounded man and blow him to bits. Before going over the top of the hill we crouched for awhile close to the ground just below the top. While lying there I did most of my praying. The shells were falling all around and how I knew that God alone was able to keep them away from us. I shall never forget those moments. I am sure that during that time I was drawn very close to God.

Later, about ten of us were crossing along the edge of a field when we heard sniper bullets whiz by. We all fell to the ground. As we lay there hugging the earth, that we might escape shrapnel from shell fire and bullets from sniper's guns, the birds were singing beautifully in the trees close by. As I lay there listening I thought of the awfulness of it all; the birds were singing and we Human Beings were trying to kill each other. We are the greatest of God's creation, made in the image of God, and here human blood was being spilt everywhere. About three minutes later and only about forty yards away we filed by one of our own boys lying by the side of the hedge, crouched over with a hole in the back of his head. His eyes were open but he was dead, hit by a sniper. We didn't have time to stop, we were pushing on inland making a new front as we went. Someone behind and hours later would move him.

On the afternoon of the second day we were quite a way inland and two of my assistants and I were out trying to locate bodies of dead soldiers. We always take care of the American dead first and then the enemy dead. This was the second day and we were still fighting our way ;inland, moving fast. Since we did not have any vehicles yet to send bodies back, all we could do on the move was to put the bodies in mattress covers and leave them in a marked place to be taken care of later by the rear echelons. Our business was to keep fighting on inland and pushing the enemy back. On the roadside my assistants and I saw a dead German officer. He was a tall fellow; must have been about six feet four. We turned him over and stretched him out the best we could. I looked at his face and was surprised to see how young he looked. No doubt he was in his twenties but he had the face of a boy. I thought: surely, this fellow was too young to die. It almost seemed that he had asked for it. I became conscious of an awful evil force behind it all to cause a young fellow like this to seemingly hunger and delight to kill and be killed. We slid his body into a mattress cover and left him by the side of the road.

Most of this section of France we are moving through is farming area with fields and hedges and orchards. We see cows and chickens and ducks and pigs and all that goes with farming.

On one occasion we were near some farm houses and some large shells began to fall, so several of us near a stone barn dashed into it to get out of the way of shrapnel. Just inside was a mother hen covering her little chicks. When we hurried in she became frightened and fluffing her feathers rose up to protect her young. I looked at her and silently said, "No, mother hen, we are not trying to hurt you and your little family, we are trying to hurt each other."

Nobody can love God better than when he is looking death square in the face and talks to God and then sees God come to the rescue. As I look back through hectic days just gone by to that hellish beach I agree with Ernie Pyle, that it was a pure miracle we even took the beach at all." Yes, there were a lot of miracles on the beach that day. God was on the beach D-Day; I know He was because I was talking with Him.

While in England Chaplain Burkhalter wrote his wife that he had visited many places of interest in his days off duty and among them, he was exceptionally happy to have the privilege of visiting the Baptist Headquarters in London and had a nice little visit with 'dear Dr. Rushbrooke," President of the Baptist World Alliance. He said that "Dr. Rushbrooke is such a humble and Godly man and that you could just see the Lord in his face."

Since his equipment has arrived, Chaplain Burkhalter has a jeep and a trailer, a square box with canvass covering, in which he carries his organ, desk, typewriter, song books, bed roll, etc. He has a clerk and four assistants working with him. He has held field services out under the trees in France, and the Lord has been very real as they felt His presence there. Chaplain Burkhalter is the proud father of a baby daughter, Mabel Jean, born March 21, after he went overseas. Mrs. Burkhalter is living with her mother in Crawfordsville, Indiana.

caption : Capt. John G. Burkhalter, former Miami minister and now chaplain with the "Fighting First" division in France, performs a job not required of him by checking the identification of a dead German soldier just ahead of the burial squads.

Be Strong

2008-05-30T22:48:00.000-07:00

Be Strong!

Be strong!
We are not here to play, to dream, to drift.
We have hard work to do and loads to lift.
Shun not the struggle,
face it: 'tis God's gift.

Be strong!
Say not the days are evil. Who's to blame?
And fold the hands and acquiesce, O shame!
Stand up, speak out
and bravely, in God's name.

Be strong!
It matters not how deep entrenched the wrong,
How hard the battle goes, the day is long:
Faint not, fight on!
Tommorrow comes the song.

-- Maltbie D. Babcock
highrock.com/ JohnGBurkhalter/D-day.html

D-Day 4

2008-05-30T22:37:00.000-07:00

SEMUA MELESET DARI RENCANA

Pihak sekutu sendiri sejak 1942 sudah merumuskan strategi: harus masuk dari Prancis untuk menusuk jantung Jerman. Namun rencana itu selalu saja berantakan karena kerap terjadi perbedaan pendapat mengenai strategi dan logistik antara Inggris dan AS. Akhirnya rencana besar itu – dengan komando dipegang oleh Jenderal Dwight ”Ike” Eisenhower – mulai digarap serius sejak 1943 sampai awal 1944. selagi perencanaan digodok terus, tentara AS diterbangkan ke Iggris selatan, sehingga mencapai hampir satu juta orang menjelang D-Day.

Pilihan pendaratan jatuh ke Normandia. Alasannya, meski dari segi alam lebih ganas, tapi pantai itu lebih lemah pertahanannya. Pilihan tidak jatuh ke Calais, atau pelabuhan besar lainnya. Pihak Sekutu belajar dari pengalaman pahit pasukan Kanada ketika menyerbu Pelabuhan Dieppe Prancis pada 1942, yang gagal total sebelum mendekati pelabuahan gara-gara benteng pertahanannya sangat kuat.

Ofensif ke Normandia itu pun menggunakan taktik ”klasik”: menusuk dari depan dan belakang. Selain mengerahkan gempuran dari kapal meriam, memuntahkan pasukan ke pantai, Ike mengerahkan serbuan pasukan payung besar-besaran ke garis pertahanan belakang Jerman untuk memotong bala bantuan serta diterjunkan di pantai. Dari udara pesawat pembom melakukan gempuran. Untuk menangkal serangan balasan dari pesawat udara Jeman, pihak Sekutu melepaskan balon-balon udara yang diikat dengan kawat baja. Kami harus secepat mungkin memperoleh pijakan dulu dan bru menusuk ke pedalaman,” kata komandan lapangan Inggris Jenderal Bernard Montgomery sebelum penyerbuan.

Toh di atas kertas lain dengan hasil di lapangan. Rencana pendaratan tanggal 5 Juni terpaksa dibatalkan setelah sepuluh perahu dengan 1.000 tentara yang mencoba melakukan pendaratan, lenyap disapu ombak. Tanggal 6 Juni yang diramalkan bakal cukup baik cuacanya, ternyata tetap kurang menguntungkan meski sudah lebih baik ketimbang hari sebelumnya.

Maka sejak dari perintah pertama penyerbuan dikumandangkan, mulailah kesalahan demi kesalahan terjadi. Pasukan payung yang diterjunkan dari ratusan pesawat transpor C-47 – dengan kapsaitas 12 pasukan – nyaris tak ada mendarat di tempat yang tepat, akibat kabut tebal dan angin kencang. Mereka harus membersihkan arena pendarata buat para marinir. Gempuran meriam dari kapal-kapal sekutu pun tak mampu melumpuhkan kubu-kubu meriam Jerman yang terus memuntahkan maut. Dalam suasana yang kacau-balau itu, pukul 05.00. sekitar 3.000 tentara Sekutu berhasil menginjak pasir Pantai Normandia. Mereka harus tertatih-tatih menghindari semburan peluru dan meniti medan ranjau. Dari jumlah pendarat pertama itu, hampir separuhnya tewas sebelum sempat melepas satu peluru pun.

Pantai Omaha benar-benar berubah menjadi arena penggilingan daging. ”Pantai Omaha benar-benar mengerikan.” tulis Letjen Omar Bradley dalam laporannya. Setelah itu, gelombang demi gelombang pasukan berdatangan, dengan kematian yang setiap menit menjemput. Mereka berhasil menembus pertahanan Jerman di perbukitan.

Bersambung ke D-Day 5

D-Day 3

2008-05-30T22:18:00.000-07:00

NERAKA DI NORMANDIA
Posisi tentara Jerman di pantai dan dibukit-bukit patai lebih menguntungkan. Akibatnya, lebih dari 200 pasukan AS yang mendarat pertama tewas, tanpa memiliki kesempatan membalas. ”Pantai dan daratan Omaha menjadi lautan mayat,” kata Letjen Omar Bradley, komandan lapangan AS di garis depan. ”Kulit kami bergidik melihat pemandangan itu. Sejumlah orang diam dalam kesunyian. Hanya terlihat air mata dan kematian yang ada. Saya tidak ingin merasakan seperti itu. Saya hanya melihat dan segaera membenahi perahu. Salah seorang prajurit menangis melihat temannya tewas. Kapal yang hancur ditarik ke kapal USS Chase, yang kami tinggalkan seperempat jam sebelumnya.” Divisi tank Jerman ke 21 berhasil membuat kocar-kacir tentara AS sejauh tiga mil dari pantai.

Norbert N. Peters, dari Divisi Infantri ke-1 berkisah, di depan kami terhalang bukit yang terjal. Tingginya 15 meter. Tapi itu harus dilewati, apapun risikonya. ”Kami mendaki lewat batu-batu, saya lihat empat prajurit Jerman yang menangani meriam. Saya menghampirinya dengan sembunyi. Dengan jarak yang enak, saya menghantamnya. Dua orang tewas, dua menyerah. Saya menyelamatkan teman-teman saya di bawah.” katanya.

Adolf Hitler pun kaget. Dalam kalkulasi Hitler dan para jenderalnya. Termasuk Jenderal Erwin Rommel yang bertanggung jawab atas Normandia. Sekutu tak mungkin melakukan pendaratan di Normandia. Alasanya, kawasan laut di situ sangat berbahaya. Cuaca sangat cepat berubah dan arus lautnya deras. Maka dalam kalkulasi Nazi Jerman, pendaratan ke Prancis yang sudah dikuasai Jerman sejak 1942 akan dilakukan di Calais, sekitar 300 km utara Normandia, atau Cherbourg. Asumsinya, di situ perairan selat yang paling dangkal. Serta ada pelabuhan besar. Di situlah Nazi menempatkan pasukan perhanan pantai yang amat kuat. Toh, di Pantai Normandia, Hitler menempatkan lebih dari 10.000 pasukan yang dilengkapi dengan bunker, meriam pantai, Tank Tiger MK IV berbobot 80 ton dengan meriam 88 mm, meriam antithank Flak 42 ukuran 88 mm, tank Panther, dan senapan mesin MG-42.

bersambung di D-Day 4

D-Day 2

2008-05-30T22:02:00.000-07:00

SARAPAN TELUR DAN KOPI

Pada pukul 03.00, 6 Juni 1944, diatas kapal USS Chase – salah satu dari 5.300 kapal milik sekutu – seorang prajurit dari Infantri ke 16 Amerika Serikat menulis dalam buku hariannya. ”Kami mempersiapkan diri sejak dini hari.” Beragam cara yang dilakukan prajurit lainnya untuk mengisi jam-jam yang paling menegangkan dalam hidupmereka itu. Sarapan pagi berupa telur dan kopi panas, tak bisa dinikmati dengan enak. ”Inilah sarapan terakhirku?”

Cuaca sungguh jelek. Kabut menggelantung pekat. Ombak besar. Kapal-kapal kecil terombang-ambing. Di dalam kapal-kapal pendarat itu nyaris tak tersisa ruang kosong. Prajurit berjejalan, sebagian yang mabuk laut memuntahkan isi perut sekenanya. Ada yang kena muka rekannya, atau sepatu temannya. Semuannya begitu sibuk dengan hatinya sendiri-sendiri. Bagi sebagian besar projurit dari AS, Inggris dan Kanada itu –total berjumlah 370.000 orang – inilah pengalaman tempur mereka yang pertama, dan mungkin yang pamungkas.

Dengan kecepatan 6 knots, satu jam kemudian, pintu dek landing ships tank (LST) terbuka. Garis pantai Normandia nampak kehitaman, masih sejauh 11 mil, di pantai itu sudah menunggu sekitar empat juta ranjau, bermil-mil pagar kawat berduri, ribuan senapan mesin, meriam dan tank. Tapi pasukan Jerman yang menunggui senjata-senjata itu tak menyadari akan kedatangan tamu sedemikian banyak. Sementara itu, pasukan payung yang akan diterjunkan ke garis belakang pertahanan Jerman di Normandia juga sudah disiapkan.

”Sebagai orang beragama,aku meminta kalian untuk berlutut bersamaku untuk berdoa. Jangan menunduk, tapi dongakkan kepala kalian supaya dapat melihat Tuhan, dan minta rahmat dan bantuannya,” kata seorang kolonel yang memimpin satu batalion pasukan payung, sebelum memasuki pesawat terbang. (sang kolonel tewas beberapa hari kemudian).

Dan detik penyerbuan tiba. Meriam kapal berdentum-dentum, membangunkan pasukan Jerman. Di tengah terpaan angin yang sangat kuat, para prajurit di tongkang-tongkang berlompatan ke air. Mereka berenang sekenanya. Serbuan dibagi dua. Tentara AS di pantai Utah dan Omaha. Inggrisdan Kanada di sebelah Timur di pantai Gold, Juno dan Sword.

Beberapa prajurit terlihat timbul tenggelam ketika sebuah mortir Jerman menghantam lambung perahu. Mereka saling berpegang ke tangga. Seorang perwira marah ketika sejumlah prajurit kembali ke kapal. Beberapa kapal terhempas badai dan lenyap di dasar Selat Inggris. Jarak pantai masih jauh. Peluru terus bertebaran. Ada yang selamat, tapi banyak pula yang hilang begitu menyentuh air laut. Ada yang saling menembak sambil berenang.

“saya mencoba berpegang pada tiang besi. Sepuluh meter di depan saya, sebuah tank amphibi terbakar kena hantam mortir. Jerman masih menembaki setiap gerakan. Sulit bagi saya untuk membalas. Akhirnya tongkang kami terkena juga. Untung saya selamat. Saya terus berenang. Surat keluarga dan beberapa foto dalam kantung basah. Tapi saya terus bertahan. Di depan saya, dua prajurit berhasi mendarat di pantai. Akhirnya saya merasakan daratan makin dekat. Bibir saya mulai menyentuh daratan,” kenang seorang prajurit AS.

Pantai Omaha menjadi sasaran pertama. Tapi tidak semuannya beruntung selamat sampai pantai. Ada yang baru masuk ke tongkap sudah harus kembali lagi ke kapal menjadi mayat. Akibatnya dek kapal penuh dengan prajurit yang tewas. Di pantai ini, divisi Infantri ke-1 dan ke-29 harus menghadapai hujan tembakan dari penjaga pantai Jerman. ”Banyak prajurit yang menangis dan memanggil-manggil Ibunya,” cerita seorang prajurit. Sepuluh menit pertama sebanyak 197 tentara tewas dan luka-luka. Termasuk perwira dan prajuritnya. Pantai Omaha menjadi neraka. Sementara pendaratan di Pantai Utah yang dilakukan Korps VII AS dan Divisi Infantri ke _4 di ujung sebelah barat situasinya sama saja.

”Hanya ada dua jenis orang yang berada di pantai ini: orang mati dan mereka yang akan mati!” teriak seorang letnan kolonel memberi semangat anak buanya. Kata-kata itu terus dikumandangkan, termasuk oleh anak buahnya. Dan ia pun termasuk yang akhirnya mati.

Bersambung ke D-Day 3

D-DAY 1

2008-05-30T21:44:00.000-07:00

(Ditulis kembali oleh Ignata dari Jakarta-Jakarta No 413 4-10 Juni1994)
Tepat 64 tahun silam, pada 6 Juni 1944, sebuah sejarah besar dicetak oleh pasukan Sekutu dengan pendaratan di Normandia. Inilah pendaratan (serbuan ke pantai) terbesar sepanjang sejarah perang, dan tak mngkin terulang lagi dalam perang yang lebih modern. Pendaratan ke Normandia ini menjadi kunci penentu pembebasan daratan Eropa dari cengkeraman tentara Hitler.

Peristiwa itu diperingati secara besar-besaran, pada peringatan ke 50 di tahun 1994, termasuk kehadiran seluruh kepala negara Sekutu dan Eropa pada umumnya, mewakili dua sisi kehidupan: kemenangan dan kekalahan. Toh, baik si pemenang maupun si pecundang pada dasarnya meraskan hal yang sama: kepahitan dan kepedihan. Kini semua pun berharap, semoga kejadian itu tak terulang kembali.

Namun sejarah 64 tahun lalu itu masih menyisakan sedikit kontroversi. Sebagian rakyat Prancis, yang dikenal punya rasa nasionalisme yang tinggi bahkan cenderung chauvinis, tak bisa menerima bahwa Prancis dibebaskan oleh Sekutu. Mereka bilang Prancis bebas berkat perjuangan rakyat Prancis sendiri yang dipimpin De Gaulle. Sebaliknya, Inggris, Amerika Serikat dan Kanada bilang, merekalah pembebasnya. Sejarah mencatat, dalam penyerbuan ke Normandia tak ada pasukan Prancis yang terlibat. Dalam pertempuran selanjutnya menuju Paris, barulah pasukan De Gaulle aktif membantu. Sebuah Kontroversi menyangkut harga diri, itu saja.

bersambung ke D-Day 2