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Mother’s Day Special
May 9th
Mother’s Day is celebrated centuries old and the earliest Mother’s Day celebrations can be traced back to the spring celebrations of ancient Greece in honor of Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. During the 1600′s, the early Christians in England celebrated on the 4th Sunday of Lent (the 40 day period leading up to Easter), a day to honor Mary, the mother of Christ. In ancient Romans, it is an offering made to their Great Mother of Gods, Cybele. In England and Ireland it is celebrated in March and named as the Mothering Sunday, to honor all mothers.
In the United States, Mother’s Day started nearly 150 years ago, when Anna Jarvis, an Appalachian homemaker, organized a day to raise awareness of poor health conditions in her community, a cause she believed would be best advocated by mothers. She called it “Mother’s Work Day.”
Fifteen years later, Julia Ward Howe, a Boston poet, pacifist, suffragist, and author of the lyrics to the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” organized a day encouraging mothers to rally for peace, since she believed they bore the loss of human life more harshly than anyone else.
In 1905 when Anna Jarvis died, her daughter, also named Anna, began a campaign to honor mother. History shows that young Anna remembered a Sunday school lesson that her mother gave in which she said, “I hope and pray that someone, sometime, will found a memorial mother’s day. There are many days for men, but none for mothers.”
Anna began to push businessmen like John Wannamaker, and politicians including Presidents Taft and Roosevelt to support her crusade to create a special day to honor mothers. In 1908, Anna in honor of her mother, at her church in West Virginia, she handed out her mother’s favorite flower, the white carnation. Five years later, the House of Representatives adopted a resolution calling for officials of the federal government to wear white carnations on Mother’s Day. In 1914 Anna’s hard work paid off when Woodrow Wilson signed a bill recognizing Mother’s Day as a national holiday.
At first, people observed Mother’s Day by attending church, writing letters to their mothers, and eventually, by sending cards, presents, and flowers.
Mother’s Day has flourished in the United States. In fact, the second Sunday of May has become the most popular day of the year to dine out, and telephone lines record their highest traffic, as sons and daughters everywhere take advantage of this day to honor and to express appreciation of their mothers.
Shoaib Akhtar and Diya Mirza Getting Married Soon
May 1st
Just as the people finished thinking about the wedding of Shoaib Malik and Sania Mirza, here came another scandal which is as bigger as the one with the Sialkot-Deccan marriage; a cricketer marrying an Indian film actress. Another Shoaib, another Mirza; another Pakistani boy and another Indian girl; another pair following the trend of Shoaib-Sania.
Shoaib Akhtar and Diya Mirza Getting Married Soon
Indian film actress Diya Mirza has claimed that she and Shoaib Akhtar are very good friends and are getting married soon. She also challenged Shoaib-Sania that their wedding will be the biggest marriage of the sub-continent and they will not behave like them. She further stated that she loves Pakistani cricketers and Shoaib is her ideal man.
When the media tried to confirm the news from Shoaib Akhtar, Rawalpindi Express did not comment on it but sources told that the news of Akhtar-Diya scandal is true and they will also get married. Shoaib Akhtar is waiting for his comeback into the team and after his comeback; they both will make public the affair in a joint press conference.
Top Ten Unusual Phobias
Apr 18th
Haphephobia
| Haphephobia is a morbid fear of being touched. The person coping with this phobia may also exhibit an overwhelming fear of touching others. Some haphephobic individuals are fearful of their personal space being encroached upon while others may be fearful of contamination through touch.This phobia is sometimes referred to as Haptephobia, Aphephobia or Thixophobia. Haphephobia derives from the Greek word “haphe”, meaning touch and “phobos” meaning fear.
Haptein is a Greek word that means to fasten (that is, to bring two things together). Haptics is the English word for “a science concerned with the sense of touch,” used in technologies like touch-screen displays that let users feel clicks. |
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Doraphobia
| Doraphobia is the dread of touching the skin or fur of an animal. An abnormal and persistent fear of fur. Sufferers of this fear avoid fur-bearing animals such as dogs, cats, foxes, beavers and rabbits because fur is repulsive to them. Perhaps some of these phobics associate fur with childhood stories about “the big bad wolf” and other fur-bearing predators. Dora is a Greek word that means “the skin or hide of an animal.”The root word dora comes from the Greek verb derein, meaning “to skin or to flay.” This is also the source of derm, the Greek word for skin, which shows up in words like “dermatology”. |
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Eremophobia
| Eremophobia is the morbid dread of being alone. It is classified as a part of the depression spectrum and can manifest after trauma or loss of a loved one. The specifics of the illness are still vague but I have had been dealing with this through a friend for over a year now. It has been trying times for everyone involved and has left me physically and mentally drained to the point where I question the root of the friendship.
The Greek word erēmia means desert (a place where there are no other people). The word hermit shares the same Greek root, but a hermit may find solace rather than dread in solitude. |
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Ergophobia
| Ergophobia is a fear of or aversion to work. Ergophobia, or ergasiophobia, is a general fear of the workplace, or of things that occur in it. The person with ergophobia is probably well aware that he/she suffers from this condition. He may fear losing a job, being unable to perform certain aspects of the job (such as meeting deadlines or giving presentations), or with any task may encounter extreme anxietyErgon is the Greek word for work.
This word shows a family resemblance to the words ergonomic and ergometer. |
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Hypnophobia
| Hypnophobia is the morbid fear of sleep.The word hypnos is the Greek word for sleep.
Hypnotize is a word that shares the same Greek roots. |
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Brontophobia
| Brontophobia is an abnormal fear of thunder. An abnormal and persistent fear of thunder that causes undue anxiety even though sufferers realize that thunder itself poses no threat to them. When outdoors during a thunderstorm, they may suffer excessive anxiety. When indoors, they may hide under beds or desks, behind sofas, or in closets.Bronto is from the Greek word that means thunder.
The same root gives us the name of the brontosaurus (literally, “thunder lizard”). |
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Kakorrhaphiophobia
| Kakorrhaphiophobia is an abnormal fear of failure.The Greek word kakorrhaphia means a clever or devious plot or plan, derived from kakos, meaning bad or evil.
The English word cacophony shares the same Greek roots. |
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Ophidiophobia
| Ophidiophobia is an abnormal fear of snakes.The Greek word Ophis means snake.
Two other English words with similar roots are ophiomorphic, meaning “snakelike in form” and ophiophagous, which means “feeding on snakes.” |
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Taphephobia
| Taphephobia is the fear of being buried alive.The Greek word taphē means burial or grave.
You can see the same Greek root in the English word epitaph (an inscription on a tomb). |
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Phobophobia
| Phobophobia is an excessive fear of acquiring a phobia.The Greek word phobos means “fear or flight.”
When there’s nothing left to fear but fear itself, this word is the perfect double whammy of the Greek word for fear. |
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Bad Effects on Having Laptop on Your Lap
Feb 9th
Notebook (laptop) is a very efficient and important tool of many people today. Businessmen, college students, housewives and professionals all use laptops for one use or the other. However, it is better that men learn that they risk losing their fertility with the excessive usage of laptop computers.
The main reason men tend to lose their fertility with the excessive use of laptop computers is that the heat that is generated by the computers, and the posture that the man adopts to balance the laptop computer tends to increase the temperature surrounding the scrotum.
Scientific researches have proven that the higher is the scrotal temperature, the higher is the possibility of damaging sperms and affecting the male’s fertility. Moreover, with the advent of Bluetooth and infrared connections, where there are wireless links to the internet, more and more men are using laptops on their laps than on a desk.
Men usually keep their legs open wider than women to keep their testicles at the right temperature, and for added comfort. However, with a laptop on their laps, they tend to adapt a less comfortable position so that they can balance the laptop on their laps. This leads to an increase in body temperature that is found between the thighs.
It has been recently proven that prolonged and continuous usage of laptops on the laps tend to lead to damage to the fertility of the man. This was because the use of laptops usually leads to about 2.7C increase inthe scrotal temperature of the male. This has lead to more and more men having decreased sperm levels where sperm counts seem to have dropped by a third in ten years.
Most of the reasons for this reduced sperm count is drug use, smoking, alcohol and obesity. Besides this, pesticides, radioactive materials and chemicals, and laptops too contribute to decrease in fertility in men.
The human male body has a fixed testicular temperature to maintain usual sperm production and development. Though it is not known the exact time of heat exposure and frequency of exposure to heat that can lead to reversible and irreversible production of sperms, it is known that frequent usage of laptops can lead to irreversible or partially reversible changes in the reproductive system of the male body.
This is why it is advised that young men and teenage boys should limit the use of laptops on their laps to avoid losing their fertility. It is not advisable for young men or boys to also use wireless services on their laps to play games and do other work as they are sure to develop problems in ten years’ time, when trying to have a family.
It is thereby advised that men should use laptops on the desk; in fact, anywhere else is possible, other than using it in the lap. Women don’t have to worry much about laptop computers on their laps, as so far, there have been no studies on the impact of using laptop computers on their laps.
What is a Blogging
Jan 24th
I heard about this word “blogging” but what this really means to you? I don’t even understand how this word form into a writing of different problems and solution into our present lives or showing your emotions on things and people around you. Environment where you are in, made you become a good blogger but you don’t know how to start writing it. You don’t need to be a good English talker (if it stops you from writing) as long as you communicate it well and understood by your readers.
Blog means an online journal where an individual, group, or corporation presents a record of activities, thoughts, or beliefs. Some blogs operate mainly as news filters, collecting various online sources and adding short comments and internet links.Other blogs concentrate on presenting original material. In addition, many blogs provide a forum to allow visitors to leave comments and interact with the publisher. “To blog” is the act of composing material for a blog. Materials are largely written, but pictures, audio, and videos are important elements of many blogs. The “blogsphere” is the online universe of blogs. (Britannica)
To start with, make sure that you have an idea in mind and try writing it in draft. As you go along, read back what you have written and edit it. Whether it is not complete yet, you can edit it and add up everything you want to put in that blog. Compose and write your blogs with your OWN WORDS. Avoid copying word for word from any article when you want to publish a blog as some are copy righted. You can always surf around the internet world and get an idea on how some people write their own blogs. Personally, I don’t even have an idea on how to be involve in a blog world but as I browse the net, I found some funny, interesting and most important is educational writings as it could be. I do love reading but writing is not my forte. I don’t also give any comments because most of the time, I gave negative word if not good one but I always make sure that everything is an encouraging comments as I could not make a perfect writing on my own, that’s why I am contented with reading blogs. This is a dream come true for me but still hoping for a better writing in the future.
Manny Pacquiao – World’s Best Boxer
Nov 28th
It’s been another success for Manny Pacquiao and to all Filipino people in bringing home the belt of boxing yesterday, November 15 Philippine time, when the referee stopped the game winning the title. Kreigel, commented Manny as the world’s best boxer in the world and it is a history.
What is his secret of having this strength to fight Miguel Cotto-well known to be the strongest and biggest guy among his opponents. The night before the fight, Cotto was interviewed and he told the reporter that he’ll gonna win it. Filipino people are almost scared with how the fight will go through because of all the interview that poured out the public. Manny Pacquiao is humbly tellingthe people that he never and will never belittle Cotto’s strength for he is the strongest among his opponents. He will do his best to bring home the belt and to make it history in the world boxing of his time. He was even accused by Mayweather, Sr. that he is using steroids to make him strong and to be a muscle man look. He denied all the accusations and he told that he is not using any but a self-discipline during his trainings, a proper diet and a complete rest, no sex three months before the fight. (Quite true, but how can he explain his linkage to a Filipina sexy star and made her wife Jinky a teary eyed during a thanksgiving mass).
I personally watched the fight via net live streaming. On the first round of the fight, I was so stunned watching when everyone assumes that Cotto will gonna knock him down. I was screaming on the third round when he unexpectedly knocked down Cotto. The fight last till 12 rounds which is the last round but just started the last round, the referee had stopped the fight. Pacquiao was declared as unanimously winner.
Brief History:
He is currently the WBO welterweight world champion, IBO and Ring Magazine light welterweight champion and was known as the number one pound-for-pound boxer in the world.
He is also the former WBC lightweight world champion, WBC superweight world champion, IBF superbantamweight world champion, and WBC flyweight world champion.
The Filipino boxing superstar is the first boxer to win seven world titles in seven different weight divisions. In addition, he is the only boxer to win the lineal championship (“the man who beat the man”) in four different weight classes. He is not just a boxer, he also a politician, an actor, a product endorser and a singer.
Swine Flu or the H1N1 Origin
Nov 1st
What is swine flu or the H1N1 pandemic? How it spreads all over the world? When this flu started?
Swine influenza (also called swine flu, hog flu, pig flu and sometimes, the swine) is an infection by any one of several types of swine influenza virus. Swine influenza virus (SIV) is any strain of the influenza family viruses that is endemic in pigs. As of 2009, the known SIV strains include influenza C and the subtypes of influenza A known as H1N1, H1N2, H3N1, H3N2 and H2N3 according to Wikipedia.
H1N1 emerged as a massive threat to health worldwide, it comes out to nowhere but where and when this flu originated is not clear yet.
The main flu virus circulating in humans has been from the H1 family prior to 1889. People born prior to this year who have been exposed to H1 flu, have some immunity to this illnesses but born after 1889 do not have any immunity to H1.
In 1918, the “Spanish flu” that may reflect a zoonosis either from swine to humans, or from humans to swine is an epidemic that kills at least 50 million people globally. It is caused by an H1N1 virus whichfrom bird flu into a human flu. H1N1 sufferers develop a rapidly fatal infection deep in their lungs, although most cases are found to be mild. Most deaths are caused by bacterial lung infection that move in after the virus.
After 1919, the descendants of the H1N1 virus continue to circulate and cause seasonal flu outbreaks in humans – and pigs. In 1930, influenza virus was identified as swine flu or came from pigs.
In 1933, the first human flu virus is isolated at Mill Hill in London. When given to ferrets, it produces a disease whose symptoms are all but identical to the Iowan pig virus.
In1957, an H2N2 virus completely displacing the H1N1 viruses that have been circulating in humans since 1918. The pandemic is fairly mild. The human-adapted H1N1 swaps genes with an H2N2 bird flu was produced by genetic virus. The new H and N surface proteins mean most people do not have antibodies to the virus, allowing it to go pandemic. However, its human-adapted genes mean it is not as lethal to humans as the 1918 virus, which came, with few changes, from birds.
In 1968, an H3N2 virus causes the “Hong Kong” flu pandemic, whichaccording to research is even milder than the Asian flu. The virus only differs from H2N2 in one of its surface proteins, the H; since many people still have antibodies to the unchanged N2 protein, its effects are less severe. But because H3N2 completely replaces H2N2 in people, no one born since 1968 has any immunity to H2.
In 1977, an H1N1 virus appears in north-east China and starts circulating in humans. It causes seasonal flu in every subsequent year. No one knows where it came from, though it looks like an H1N1 that circulated in the Soviet Union in 1950.
In 1988, a swine flu virus killed one woman and infected others. Influenza-like illness (ILI) was reportedly widespread among the pigs exhibited at the fair. 76% of 25 swine exhibitors aged 9 to 19 tested positive for antibody to SIV, but no serious illnesses were detected among this group. Additional studies suggested between one and three health care personnel who had contact with the patient developed mild influenza-like illnesses with antibody evidence of swine flu infection. However, there was no community outbreak, according to wikipedia.
In 1998, H1N1 swine flu virus emerges inthe US. It is a hybrid of human, bird and swine flu viruses, and by 1999 it is the dominant flu strain in US pigs. US pig farms try to control it with vaccines, but these attempts are largely ineffective because the virus evolves too rapidly, changing the surface proteins targeted by the vaccine while keeping its internal genes unchanged.
H5N1 flu, first identified as a threat to humans in Hong Kong in 1997, spreads from Asia around the world, apparently carried by wild birds. It was in 2004, when this “bird flu” proves deadly to humans, killing more than half of its victims, it is kept in check by its inability to spread readily from human to human. H5N1 is also known to be found in pigs in Indonesia and fears to reassort to human viruses that pigs can harbour.
In 2009, The first case of a new type of swine flu are reported in California and Texas in late March.
In April, with 900 cases of suspected swine flu reported in Mexico, the World Health Organization (WHO) upgrades the pandemic warning level of swine flu. The US government advises against travel to Mexico as it is know to be the carrier of this virus.
Although swine flu spreads, it is still progressing quickly enough to justify preparing for a pandemic. However, the WHO delays declaring a pandemic, partly because there is not enough evidence that the virus is spreading in the general population outside the Americas, where it originated.
It was just on June 2009 when World Health Organization (WHO) oficially declared swine flu as pandemic.
On July 2009, treatment plans are shaken by the discovery of swine flu that is resistant to the antiviral drug Tamiflu and the realisation that the H1N1 vaccine is growing compared to ordinary vaccine.
The US decides to use its standard formulation for flu vaccine, so no new regulatory tests will be needed. This will allow it to authorize pandemic vaccine before September, when a renewed wave of the pandemic is expected. But this formulation uses a lot of virus, and so reduces the number of doses that can be made.
On August 2009, many have obtained supplies of the antiviral drugs for their households.
In September, four major vaccine manufacturers report that their swine flu vaccines work with only one shot and the good news is, vaccine is effective despite rapid number of people were infected.
Until this time, H1N1 alert is still continues as it is a fatal virus. Proper self care is needed. Cover your mouth when you are sneezing, avoid exposing yourself to crowds, wash your hands properly and equip yourself with vitamins.
Does Ghost Exists?
Nov 1st
Did you asked yourself if ghosts really exist? Did you feel the spirit that scares you in your alone moment? Isn’t it old sayings that every time we celebrate the Halloween, there seems ghosts roaming around?
According to study, ghosts exist in a different of places on earth. They can create a centre acts as an entry point and a point of receiving or transmitting their black energy. Ghosts generally create a place for themselves in people, trees, houses, electrical equipments.
Why do they exists when they are done on this earth? Some died in different types of death, some says that they didn’t really finish their purpose on earth. According to some, spirit goes back and enter in other people’s body for them to fulfill all their tasks. Do you believe that ghosts is hungry for sex, food, thirsty and still smokes? What the thinking of some but I don’t judge people who believes on this type or I can say that they hallucinate of these things. No one can prove that ghosts can do eating and the like as normal people does but we can not under estimate Skeptics and Psychics people who studied spirits. Maybe it does exists with them but to some that really don’t see ghosts may just laugh.
As I read some articles about ghosts existence here are some that what I’ve found. Ghosts exist in humans to satisfy their desires, to seek revenge, to settle their give-and-take account with those persons or to derive pleasure out of tormenting them. The ghosts, is being considered as demons spirits exists in any part of the physical body, mind or intellect of the person and commonly known as demonic possession.
Ghosts exist on animals. Why do they enter on animals body? They exist when they want to trouble mankind through controlling them, the possessed animal would become wild and attack humans thus causing distress to them.
I haven’t experience to see ghosts in my entire life, even to feel that bad spirit. I don’t even imagine how if i would meet a ghost one day. As all I knew, only GOD exists in this world with true power. If you only trust in HIM am sure, ghosts will never exists in your thinking.
What’s Behind Mona Lisa’s Smile
Oct 24th
Did you wonder why Mona Lisa’s smile is ever changing from radiant to a serious one after just a moment.
It happens because our eyes are sending mixed signals to the brain about her smile.
Different cells in the retina transmit different categories of information or “channels” to the brain. These channels encode data about an object’s size, clarity, brightness and location in the visual field.
“Sometimes one channel wins over the other, and you see the smile, sometimes others take over and you don’t see the smile,” says Luis Martinez Otero, a neuroscientist at Institute of Neuroscience in Alicante, Spain, who conducted the study along with Diego Alonso Pablos.
A study was conducted by Otero and Pablos by asking volunteers whether they see the smile or not. They ask the volunteers to look at the painting in different sizes in varying distances and they found out that when viewing in a far away distance they had the trouble making out any facial expression from the portrait. When they moved closer, in a bigger portrait they began to see the smile. The more the bigger the portrait is, the more they can view the smile.
This suggests that retinal cells that process dead-centre vision convey information about the smile just as well as the cells that contribute to peripheral vision.
Otero and Pablos team compared that light affects on their judgments on Mona Lisa’s smile.
Hope everyone is convinced about this study.
