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TRADE FREELY & LiVE LONGER
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pharoah88
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11-Sep-2010 19:06
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kItchen gOd |
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pharoah88
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11-Sep-2010 17:02
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Aussie churches ban Sinatra’s My Way MELBOURNE — Sports anthems and popular songs such as Frank Sinatra’s My Way have been banned from funerals at more than 200 Australian churches after new orders from Melbourne’s archbishop. The edict follows a study that found the signature song for Australian Rules Football team Collingwood was one of the top requests at Melbourne funerals, along with My Way and the Bette Midler version of The Wind Beneath My Wings . Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart said sports songs were not appropriate for a service which emphasises the solemn nature of death and is not designed as a celebration of the deceased’s life. “Secular items are never to be sung or played at a Catholic funeral, such as romantic ballads, pop or rock music, political songs, football club songs,” Archbishop Hart wrote in the new guidelines. “At the funerals of children ... nursery rhymes and sentimental secular songs are inappropriate because these may intensify grief.” The move in Melbourne has received a mixed reaction, a spokesman for the church said. One parish priest, Father Bob Maguire from South Melbourne, said the move would make it harder to balance the needs of mourners with those of the church. He told Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper he preferred to see funerals as “family affairs attended by clergy, not a clergymen’s affair attended by family”. AFP |
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pharoah88
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11-Sep-2010 16:28
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Aussie churches ban Sinatra’s My WayMELBOURNE The edict follows a study that found the signature song for Australian Rules Football team Collingwood was one of the top requests at Melbourne funerals, along with — Sports anthems and popular songs such as Frank Sinatra’s My Way have been banned from funerals at more than 200 Australian churches after new orders from Melbourne’s archbishop.My Way and the Bette Midler version ofThe Wind Beneath My Wings Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart said sports songs were not appropriate for a service which emphasises the solemn nature of death and is not designed as a celebration of the deceased’s life. “Secular items are never to be sung or played at a Catholic funeral, such as romantic ballads, pop or rock music, political songs, football club songs,” Archbishop Hart wrote in the new guidelines. “At the funerals of children ... nursery rhymes and sentimental secular songs are inappropriate because these may intensify grief.” The move in Melbourne has received a mixed reaction, a spokesman for the church said. One parish priest, Father Bob Maguire from South Melbourne, said the move would make it harder to balance the needs of mourners with those of the church. He told Melbourne’s .Herald Sun newspaper he preferred to see funerals as “family affairs attended by clergy, not a clergymen’s affair attended by family”. AFP |
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pharoah88
Supreme |
11-Sep-2010 16:21
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O V E R H E A R D : an UNcle mObIle-phOned an aUntIe : "Last mId-nIght a gamIng mentOr IntervIewed me at MBS casInO!"
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pharoah88
Supreme |
11-Sep-2010 16:17
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gamIng mentOr
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pharoah88
Supreme |
11-Sep-2010 16:15
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Aussie ‘kingmaker’ MP declines ministerial post
SYDNEY Country lawmaker Rob Oakeshott, one of the three independents dubbed “kingmakers” after polls gave neither Ms Gillard or the opposition enough seats to govern, said he had turned down an offer to become Regional Affairs Minister. Mr Oakeshott said his decision to back Ms Gillard had angered some parliamentary colleagues and he knew this would make it difficult to deliver the US$9 billion ($12 billion) package for rural Australia the independents had negotiated with her. — An independent Australian politician whose support was crucial to keeping Prime Minister Julia Gillard in power on Friday knocked back an offer to become a minister in her minority government.AFP |
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pharoah88
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10-Sep-2010 18:45
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pharoah88
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10-Sep-2010 17:33
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TRADE FREELY LIVE LONGLY |
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pharoah88
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10-Sep-2010 17:25
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Aug 29, 2010Difficult to accept a loved one's sufferingFeeling compassion with a detachment is wise, but tough when it comes to Mama
The writer, then 19, with her mother and father in Rajasthan, India. Those were happier times before her mother suffered a stroke in May 2008 and became bedbound. -- PHOTO: COURTESY OF LEE WEI LINGI awoke with a start, a while ago, from a dream. I looked at my watch. It was 4am. It was a dream worth remembering, so I decided to write it down immediately. If I had not done so, I would not have been able to remember it later. In my dream, I seemed to be simultaneously at home and outdoors at some unfamiliar place. Suddenly, a monster appeared and attacked me. I struggled with the monster but it matched me strength for strength. I did not utter a sound, nor was I frightened. Instead, I wrestled silently with it. Suddenly my mother appeared. She walked towards us, but did not say anything either. Instead, she made a dismissive gesture and the monster turned tail and ran away. That would be Mama's way of tackling problems, I thought: no need for unnecessary words or actions; just do things quietly and effectively. At that point, I woke up. I got up from the floor where I was sleeping and went into my mother's room to see how she was doing. She was sleeping peacefully. I am now back in my room recording what I can still remember of my dream - for a 'dream' indeed it was, as it cannot be classified as a nightmare. For two years and three months already, my mother has been too weak to get out of bed. But in that brief moment in my dream, I saw her again as she had been - physically normal. I wished I could have dreamt on, and after some time, together with Mama, vanquished the monster in the dream and then walked off together. In dreams, everything seems possible. That my mother appeared magically in my dream did not surprise me - either while I was dreaming or when I awoke. This is because between Mama and me, there was always some form of telepathy. Once, when I was staying with my brother Hsien Loong, my toothbrush was worn out and needed to be replaced. I hardly ever shop, so I did what I had always done before: I told Mama I needed a new toothbrush. Since we were in different houses and I did not want to wake her if she was sleeping by calling her on the telephone, I e-mailed her: 'Ma, I need a toothbrush.' She e-mailed back: 'I am telepathic. I just got a toothbrush for you. But one day, the commissariat will not be around. If you don't know the word 'commissariat' go look it up in the dictionary.' She was correct: I did not know what the word meant. And since I did not know where the dictionary was kept in my brother's house, that evening at dinner, I asked him what the word meant. He knew, of course. 'Commissariat', he explained, is a department in the army charged with providing provisions to soldiers. Now Mama is no longer in a position to be my commissariat. Worse yet, she is bedbound and no longer able to read - a favourite activity of hers. Mama had wide interests. She knew things that even many highly educated people would not know or be interested in, as would be obvious if one rummaged through her bookshelves, as I did recently. There were several books on the flora and fauna of Singapore. There was a hardcover book of children's nursery rhymes, which she had used to read to her grandchildren. Of all her grandchildren, my albino nephew enjoyed reading the nursery rhymes with her the most. There were several books on Buddhism and Hinduism. There was a King James version of the Bible printed in a large font so that she could read it even without her reading glasses. There were many books on the Indian caste system, and a book describing the ancient city of Harappa in the Indus valley. The city dates back about 4,600 years ago, and was an important trade centre in the ancient world. Mama was interested in the Silk Route long before it became a fashionable subject of interest. She had a book chronicling the travels of a Victorian lady on the Silk Route. There were six Malay kamus, or dictionaries. There was a book on Chinese customs and symbols. And of course, there were many books of poetry, including a collection of Rudyard Kipling's poems. There were also books relating to the early days of Singapore, including The Battle For Merger, a collection of radio talks my father delivered in 1961, detailing the early history of the People's Action Party's struggles with the communists. It is now out of print. There were many books, too, written by others about my father, including Lee Kuan Yew In His Own Words, excerpts of his speeches from 1959 to 1970, edited by S.J. Rodringuez. Mama also had the kinds of books one would expect to find on the bookshelves of someone so cultured: among other things, The Tale Of Genji, Ruth Benedict's The Chrysanthemum And The Sword, Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto's The Daughter Of A Samurai, the novels of Jane Austen, and a book I enjoyed tremendously as a child, Anne Of Green Gables. Mama didn't just collect these books, she read them. It is now 5.30am. I popped into her room again a while ago and she was still sleeping. I comforted myself that at least when she was sleeping, she was unaware of her unfortunate situation. Now I am trying to go back to sleep myself, but I cannot do so - not because of the dream but because of Mama's unhappy predicament. It is acutely felt by her three children, my two sisters-in-law, and my cousin Kwa Kim Li, who is my mother's favourite niece. But the one who has been hurting the most, and is yet carrying on stoically, is my father. It is easy when thinking in the abstract, to conclude that being born, growing old, falling sick and eventually dying is what happens to all of us. I accept these facts with no resentment that life is unkind. I have had more than my fair share of bad luck, but I never resented it, for I think suffering built up my resilience. But I find it difficult to accept my mother's suffering. The Buddhist principle of feeling compassion but with detachment is wise, but it is not an attitude that I find humanly possible to adopt when it comes to Mama. I cannot see her suffering with detachment. But there is nothing I can do to get her back to where she was before she suffered a massive stroke on May 12, 2008. She has been suffering since then, and so has my father. But that is life, and we all plod on, fulfilling our duties as best we can. Indeed by focusing my mind on my duties, I manage to temporarily block Mama's suffering from my consciousness. The writer is director of the National Neuroscience Institute. Send your comments to suntimes@sph.com.sg |
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pharoah88
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10-Sep-2010 16:05
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Let’s do our bid for a $2 COE
Sunday: 5th September 2010
Someone asked me: Will you bid for a certificate of entitlement (COE) if you see your dream car beckoning from the showroom? Then I had a dream. I dreamt of snagging a $2 COE and dashing over to get my metallic object of desire. Why a $2 COE? It has happened before - on a day in November 2008. True, it happened amid a banking crisis-sparked recession. The COE price for Category A cars (up to 1600cc) crashed to $2.
As my colleague Christopher Tan wryly pointed out: 'On the afternoon of the freak $2 result, those monitoring the tender noticed that a crash might be imminent. Hence they went in with ultra-low bids.
'It was a confluence of many aligned stars: the world economy was tanking, people were losing their jobs, salaries were being cut, and last but not least, COE supply was near its highest. 'Plus, the car 'population' had become very young after years of abundant COEs. Plus, many people were stuck with cars bought at high loans, and were not able to trade them in for new ones.'
In other words, car showrooms were empty and it was mostly individuals, not the dealers bidding on behalf of buyers, who put in bids that fateful November 2008 day.
Maybe it was because I had recently seen the movie Inception, but in my dream, people bought into the idea that they should do their own COE bidding, skipping the car dealers' package deal. Hence, the $2 COE for Category A was replicable, without most of those underlying factors my colleague cited. In my dream, I first 'entered' the mind of the person who devised the scheme, to grasp the fuel-injected mechanics of the COE system. He or she must have had a devilish sense of humour and understood Fallen Man. This person created a bidding set-up that tantalised would-be car buyers with a minimum $1 bid price yet set the actual bid price at the sum Bidder X will pay. Simply put, Bidder X is the price setter. He epitomises you and me, who desire a 'low' COE but will pay up for a 'high' COE simply because you and I have already made up our minds to buy a car, and we see others rushing to the showrooms (the best shorthand here is 'kiasuism', or fear of losing out). In my dream, this kiasuism was expunged from our human nature. Instead, a number of bidders were prepared to become what I shall call 'suckers'. But that is not a fair label, because these people did want a new car but were prepared to wait many months for it. They were 'public-spirited'. Remember, it was a dream. You can go to the Land Transport Authority's website on how COE bidding works, or you can Google 'how COE works' for simple yet accurate examples. I'll use a simplified illustration myself. Supposing there are 10 Category A COEs for the current bidding round. Technically, everyone - say, 20 bidders - can bid at $1. But there is no price setter to enable 10 bidders to secure the 10 COEs. All 20 have 'lost' and the 10 COEs go into the next bidding round. Bidder X comes into being, in this example, if 10 people had bid only $1 and the 11th bidder had put down $2. He is the price setter. The 12th to 20th bidders, together with Bidder X, secure all 10 COEs. These others (apart from Bidder X) had all bid more than $2. Bidder No. 20 can even bid $1 million or more and still get his COE at $2. In fact, this kiasuism was understood by the devilish creator of the scheme, since a high bid ensures the bidder's success! It also, typically and across the board, ensures in the real world that COE prices are not freak $2 ones. But should many be like the 20th bidder, and bid outrageously? The ancient Chinese said, 'You may get what you wish for.' The $1 million sum may well become the price setter if bidders 1 to 10 bid from $1 to $999,999 and bidders 12 to 20 bid above $1 million. If you have now truly grasped this Nobel Prize-worthy scheme, enter my dream world, and bid with me to get that $2 COE. Indeed, and this is real, not from the dream, the LTA has been on our side, helping out by allowing real-time transparency. You can actually monitor the bids. To repeat my dream scenario, individuals - not car dealers - did the bidding. Also, there were enough 'suckers' who bid $1 to enable Bidder X to set the price at $2. But who wants to be a sucker? Think of it this way: Even with the current annual COE quotas, how many genuine car buyers will be thwarted from getting their new cars within a reasonable time? Even if the wait is a year, remember, that COE will cost only $2! * It is defInItely wOrth it ! * Assuming there are 600 Category A COEs up for bidding (I use only one category to simplify my model), 599 people must bid more than $2, and only one must bid $2. The rest (just one person if there are only 601 bidders) must bid $1. As an alternative, only 601 people need to bid in this round, and plus or minus 600 in the next round, based on the actual available COEs each time. In this case, only one person puts in the $1 bid and the other 600 can put in $2. Come on, we can do it. Just hold back on your need for a car this round. It's worth it, for a $2 COE. Haha. The writer is The Sunday Times' copyeditor.
Pasted from <http://www.cpf.gov.sg/imsavvy/infohub_article.asp?readid={533534806-6311-3618128299}> |
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pharoah88
Supreme |
10-Sep-2010 11:16
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pharoah88
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10-Sep-2010 10:55
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pharoah88
Supreme |
10-Sep-2010 10:54
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Free And Free F A F 
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pharoah88
Supreme |
10-Sep-2010 10:22
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Passengers peeved about peanuts on planesConcern over allergies prompts flood of public comments to DOTAdvertisement | ad info
 About 3 million Americans have peanut allergies, according to the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network.
 msnbc.com contributor
The No. 1 suggestion from travelers on ways to enhance airline passenger protections? Ban peanuts on planes. Of the nearly 1,300 public comments submitted to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), the majority are focused on peanut allergies. The agency is seeking public comment on issues affecting airline passengers — from peanuts on planes to involuntary bumping policies to surprise baggage fees — through Sept. 23. Hidden fees have airline passengers in a frenzy Technically, DOT doesn’t have the authority to change in-flight peanut policies. An appropriations law from 2000 prohibits the agency from passing peanut rules until a scientific study proves a rule change will benefit airline passengers with allergies. No such study has been completed or commissioned. “We haven’t said we won’t do anything,” said DOT spokesperson Bill Mosely. “We haven’t ruled anything in or out. So we still do want to hear public comments about peanuts. We plan to read and review them all.” In June, DOT issued a notice saying it is simply gauging public opinion on ways to handle in-flight peanuts. The problem with flying peanuts The fear of having a severe reaction from exposure to peanuts while locked inside an airplane keeps some allergy sufferers grounded. Under DOT’s rules, passengers with severe peanut allergies have a qualifying disability covered by the Air Carrier Access Act, which prohibits discrimination by U.S. and foreign carriers against individuals with disabilities. As far back as 1988, DOT advised airlines to make reasonable accommodations for passengers disabled by their peanut allergies. Most airlines voluntarily comply, but no formal rules have been put in place. DOT is posing three alternatives to accommodate peanut-allergy sufferers on airplanes:
DOT is also asking the public to comment on how peanuts and peanut products carried on board by passengers should be handled. Peanut protections for airline passengers “Many of our customers ask for peanuts. But if someone alerts us about a peanut allergy, we can create a peanut-free buffer zone for them of three rows in front of and three rows behind their seat,” said Delta spokesperson Susan Elliott. The airline’s website also notes that when advised that a passenger with peanut allergies is flying, “Gate agents will be notified in case you'd like to pre-board and cleanse the immediate seating area.” AirTran, Alaska/Horizon, American, Continental, JetBlue and United are among the major domestic airlines that do not serve peanuts. However, most of these airlines also post notices saying they can’t promise that some items served on board won’t contain nut products or that other passengers won’t bring their own nut products on board. While Southwest can’t guarantee a nut-free airplane, it will suspend peanut service on an entire flight if a passenger with an allergy requests it. Are these peanut-precautions enough? For now, voluntary compliance by airlines, and the cooperation of other passengers, is all there is. But Chris Weiss, FAAN's vice president of advocacy and government relations, is encouraged DOT is seeking public feedback on the issue. “One would assume that after the deadline, all the comments will be read and categorized somehow. So maybe the DOT will rule on this issue someday after all.” Want to share your comments on peanuts-on-planes or other passenger rights issues with the DOT? You can file comments on DOT-OST-2010-0140 here.
Harriet Baskas is a frequent contributor to msnbc.com, authors the “Stuck at the Airport” blog and is a columnist for USATODAY.com. You can follow her on Twitter . |
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AK_Francis
Supreme |
09-Sep-2010 16:24
Yells: "Happy go lucky, cheers." |
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Ha ha, not mistaken, our old man n Tunku Abdullaman, Msia, also fr Cambridge leh. And some of our st board scholars were fr Cambridge as well.
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niuyear
Supreme |
09-Sep-2010 16:23
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Is this bird looking for Bikini Pilots?
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pharoah88
Supreme |
09-Sep-2010 16:17
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pharoah88
Supreme |
09-Sep-2010 16:09
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Cambridge ousts Harvard to take top place NUS , NTU slip in world university ranking LONDON But Harvard yesterday forfeited first place to Cambridge in a league of the world’s top universities, the first time in the list’s seven-year history that the Ivy League institution has been knocked off the No 1 spot. American institutions, however, dominate the list, taking 31 of the top 100 places in the QS world university rankings. Singapore’s National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University both slipped one place to No 31 and No 74 respectively. The list features 15 Asian universities, led by the University of Hong Kong at No 23. The QS table is based on measures of research quality, graduate employability, teaching and how international the faculties and student bodies are. Harvard, which takes its name from Mr John Harvard, an alumnus of Cambridge who was its first benefactor, was still most popular among the 5,000 employers polled worldwide. However, Cambridge was voted best for research quality in a survey of 15,000 academics. It has an outstanding pedigree: Famous minds who pushed back the frontiers of knowledge there include Newton, Darwin and Wittgenstein. Mr John O’Leary, executive member of the QS academic advisory board, blamed a hiring freeze for Harvard losing its top spot. “Cambridge has gone to the top because it has improved its citations. Harvard has taken more students and had a hiring freeze amongst its academics. That’s the reason these two have swapped around.” Dr Wendy Piatt, director general of the Russell Group of UK universities, welcomed the results but noted that British universities “are threatened with further cuts which will make it more difficult than ever to maintain their world-class status”. She cited countries like China and Korea that are investing massively in their universities, helping them to rise rapidly up international rankings. — Both have earned fistfuls of Nobel prizes, have educated enough statesmen to table a string of international summits and inspired eminent scientists, philosophers and poets.THE GUARDIAN American institutions, however, dominate the list, taking 31 of the top 100 places in the QS world university rankings. |
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pharoah88
Supreme |
09-Sep-2010 16:01
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I jUst love to share any thIng I fInd InterestIng
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pharoah88
Supreme |
09-Sep-2010 15:57
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Men: All the right moves revealed ... PARIS Psychologists have identified the key male dance movements that most arouse female interest — and all are related to central body motions which send out primal signals of health, vigour and strength. A team led by Mr Nick Neave of Northumbria University in England, filmed 19 men between the ages of 18 and 35 in a lab as they danced to a standard disco beat. The men, none of whom were professional dancers, wore reflective markers that studded their body and were filmed by 12 3D cameras. The footage was used to create a dancing avatar, or animated figure, that was faceless and genderless. Thirty-seven young heterosexual women were shown clips of the avatars and asked to judge which dance movements were the most attractive. Eight “movement variables” emerged which distinguished the trolls from the Travoltas. “Good” dancers performed wider and bigger movements of the head, neck and torso and did faster bending and twisting movements of their right knee. In contrast, “bad” dancers tended to be stiff and plod — and throwing their arms around was no substitute for fast, variable movement of the central body region. The study was published yesterday in “Men all over the world will be interested to know what moves they can throw to attract women,” said Mr Neave. “We now know which area of the body females are looking at when they are making a judgement about male dance attractiveness. If a man knows what the key moves are, he can get some training and improve his chances of attracting a female through his dance style.” Mr Neave said he was eager to do the experiment in reverse — create female dancing avatars and get men to judge their performance. — Men who want to attract women on the dance floor had better learn a few moves that answer the female mating drive rather than bother with the moonwalk.Biology Letters, a journal of the Royal Society, which is Britain’s de-facto academy of science.AFP If a man knows what the key moves are, he can get some training and improve his chances of attracting a female through his dance style Mr Nick Neave,
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