masterwordsmith-unplugged

There was once a lonely girl who longed desperately for love. One day while she was walking in the woods she found two starving song birds. She took them home and put them in a small glided cage. She nurtured them with love and the birds grew strong. Every morning they greeted her with a marvellous song. The girl felt great love for the birds. She wanted their singing to last forever.

One day the girl left the door to the cage open. The larger and stronger of the two birds flew from the cage. The girl watched anxiously as he circled high above her. She was so frightened that he would fly away and she would never see him again that as he flew close, she grasped at him wildly. She caught him in her fist. She clutched him tightly within her hand. Her heart gladened at her sucess in capturing him. Suddenly she felt the bird go limp. She opened her hand stared in horror at the dead bird. Her desperate clutching love had killed him.

She noticed the other bird teteering on the edge of the cage. She could feel his great need for freedom. His need to soar into the clear, blue sky. She lifted him from the cage and tossed him softly into the air. The bird circled once, twice, three times.

The girl watched delighted at the bird's enjoyment. Her heart was no longer concerned with her loss. She wanted the bird to be happy. Suddenly the bird flew closer and landed softly on her shoulder. It sang the sweetest melody, she had ever heard.

The fastest way to lose love is to hold on too tight, the best way to keep love is to give it -- WINGS!

-Author Unknown-

A private school in Washington, D.C., recently was faced with a unique problem. A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on their lips in the bathroom.

That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick, they would press their lips to the bathroom mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints.

Every night the maintenance man would have to scrub especially hard to remove the prints. And, the next day, the girls would put them back. So the principal spoke to the teachers and asked them for their help. They then spoke to the girls, but after two weeks, the situation didn't improve at all.

She even called a few of the girls' parents who were her friends for their advice, but to no one could come up with a solution. The mirrors were constantly covered with lipstick prints.

Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. She knew the standard threats of punishment would not work so she gave careful thought as to what would leave an effective, lasting impression on the girls.

So she met with the maintenance man and after a brief discussion, they called a number of the influential girls to the bathroom. She explained that the lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to scrub the mirrors every night.

One could see the young girls smiling at each other, all nodding publicly but smirking one to another. Now the principal was ready to put her plan into effect.

She said it was important to demonstrate how difficult it was to clean the lipstick off the mirrors, so it was necessary to ask the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required to remove the lipstick.

With disinterest the girls watched the custodian proceed to take a long handled brush and walk slowly over to a toilet, but then in shocked horror, they saw him dip the brush deep into the bowl, and then walk back to the mirror and carefully scrub the lipstick off with the dripping wet brush.

From that day forward, the mirrors stayed lipstick free.

~ Author Unknown ~

Happiness is key they say, well they could be right, just exercising helps you feel happy! Read though the interesting facts below and try some of them out for yourself! See if they have any effect on your own state of mind.

1. Although genes and upbringing influence about 50% of the variation in our personal happiness, our circumstances (income and environment) affect only about 10 percent. The remaining 40% is accounted for by our outlook and activities, including our relationships, friendships and jobs, our engagement in the community and our involvement in sports and hobbies.

2. A good mood has a distinct smell. Scientists have found that people can judge whether someone is in a positive mood from their body odour alone. In one experiment men and women were shown scary films while their armpit odour was collected on gauze pads. A week later researchers asked strangers to decide which pads came from people in a good mood and which came from frightened people. They were able to do this with surprising accuracy.

3. Older people are more satisfied with there lives than younger people: a recent survey by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention found that people aged 20-24 are sad for an average of 3.4 days per month as opposed to just 2.3 days for people aged 65-74

4. If you do 20 minutes of exercise, three days per week for six months, your general feeling of happiness will improve by 10-20%.

5. People who rate in the upper reaches of happiness on psychological tests develop about 50% more antibodies than average in response to flu vaccines.

6. According to researchers at The World Database of Happiness at Erasmus University in Holland, Denmark is officially the happiest nation in the world, followed closely by Malta, Switzerland, Iceland, Ireland and Canada.

7. In the USA clinical depression is 3-10 times more common today than two generations ago.

8. Immigrants tend to acquire the happiness characteristics of the nation to which they move, not the nation from which they were born.

9. Richer workers tend to be happier than poorer colleagues, but research suggests that happy people tend to have greater potential to become rich, so it’s a chicken or egg scenario

10. People who suffer strokes or other debilitating diseases suffer tremendously in the short term but after a while their happiness is only slightly below the average of the population.

11. When people get married their happiness peaks, but after a while their happiness returns to the level it was before they got married.

12. Women tend to experience their all-time lowest life satisfaction at age 37, whereas men typically experience this at 42.

13. Having 100-200 belly laughs a day is the equivalent of a high impact workout, burning off up to 500 calories.

14. Gold doesn’t guarantee happiness. Studies of Olympic athletes found that bronze medal winners are happier than silver medal winners and sometimes happier than gold medalists. According to the Australian teams psychologist , Graham Winters, it feels better to come third when you are not expecting it than to be pipped for first.

15. The late pioneering social psychologist Professor Michael Argyle, who conducted many happiness studies, showed that among the things that made people happy are sport, music and – most of all dancing. Encouraging sports facilities everywhere would greatly increase a nations happiness. Group dancing which, which combines, exercise, music, community, touch and rules, also drastically increases happiness.

16. Several studies have shown that a pet can reduce blood pressure and stress, promoting health and happiness.

18. People in steady relationships are generally happier than singles.

17. After basic needs are met, extra material wealth has little or no effect on life satisfaction or happiness (broadly speaking you would need to receive a windfall of more than £1 million to transform you from an unhappy person to a happy person and even then the effect is often temporary).

19. In nations with high levels of income equality, such as the Scandinavian countries, happiness tends to be higher than in nations with unequal wealth distribution, such as the USA. People tend to prefer more local autonomy and more direct democracy to increased income.

20. According to a new look at a 40 year old study on child rearing practices conducted at Harvard University, those children who were hugged and cuddled more grew up to be the happiest.

-Author Unknown-

*Thanks to a blog reader who sent this to me.

Battle of the Bands 2011: Passport to Fame, sponsored by Magnum, is the largest talent show aired live in Malaysia which  offers the best platform for every enterprising Malaysian band to showcase their talents.

Last night, the band Juanophobia (my son :-) is the violinist in the band) emerged as the WINNER of this awesome competition and walked away with a  a recording album with Sony Music, a 1+1 contract with the Organizer, RM32,000 worth of product sponsored by SHURE, RM6500 worth of Fender products and RM10,000 in cash.

Juanophobia's Journey in the Passport to Fame

Knowledge can educate, baffle or amuse us. Take a look at the following list that Angela sent me yesterday. Take care and have a wonderful week ahead!

[1] FORTNIGHT comes from 'Fourteen Nights' (Two Weeks).

[2] POP MUSIC is 'Popular Music' shortened.

[3] MOPED is the short term for 'Motorized Pedaling'.

[4] BUS is the short term for 'Omnibus' that means everybody.

[5] DRAWING ROOM was actually a 'withdrawing room' where people withdrew after Dinner. Later the prefix 'with' was dropped..

[6] NEWS refers to information from Four directions
N, E, W, and S.

[7] AG-MARK, which some products bear, stems from 'Agricultural Marketing'.

[8] QUEUE comes from 'Queen's Quest'. Long back a long row of people as waiting to see the Queen. Someone made the comment Queen's Quest..

[9] JOURNAL is a diary that tells about 'Journey for a day' during each Day's business.

[10] TIPS come from 'To Insure Prompt Service'. In olden days to get Prompt service from servants in an inn, travelers used to drop coins in a Box on which was written 'To Insure Prompt Service'. This gave rise to the custom of Tips.

[11] JEEP is a vehicle with unique Gear system. It was invented during World War II (1939-1945). It was named 'General Purpose Vehicle (GP)'.GP was changed into JEEP later.

[12] Coca-Cola was originally green.

[13] The most common name in the world is Mohammed..

[14] The name of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with Asia, America, Australia, Europe

[15] The strongest muscle in the body is the TONGUE.

[16] TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.

[17] Women BLINK nearly twice as much as men!!

[18] You can't kill yourself by holding your breath.

[19] It is impossible to lick your elbow.

[20] Wearing HEADPHONES for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times.

[21] It is physically impossible for PIGS to look up into the sky.

[22] The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language.

[23] Each KING in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history.

Spades - King David
Clubs - Alexander the Great,
Hearts - Charlemagne
Diamonds - Julius Caesar.

[24] What do bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and laser printers all have in common?

Ans. - All invented by women.

[25] A CROCODILE cannot stick its tongue out.

[26] A SNAIL can sleep for three years.

[27] All POLAR BEARS are left handed.

[28] BUTTERFLIES taste with their feet.

[29] ELEPHANTS are the only animals that can't jump.

[30] In the last 4000 years, no new ANIMALS have been domesticated.

[31] STEWARDESSES is the longest word typed with only the left hand.

[32] The human HEART creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.

[33] RATS multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over million descendants.

[34] People say "BLESS YOU" when you sneeze because when you sneeze, your heart stops for a millisecond.

[35] If you SNEEZE too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die. So good to bless the sneezing person

The following post was sent to me by Angela. I was absolutely floored by the information and opine that even though in many ways we have come a long way indeed, there are areas in which we have taken a few steps backwards. Anyway, enjoy reading and have a lovely start to the week!

THE YEAR 1906

This will boggle your mind, I know it did mine! The year is 1906. More than one hundred years ago. What a difference a century makes! Here are some statistics for the Year 1906 :

The average life expectancy was 47 years.

Only 14 percent of the homes had a bathtub.

Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.
.

There were only 8,000 cars and only 144 miles
of paved roads.

The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower!

The average wage in was 22 cents per hour.

The average worker made between $200 and $400 per year .

A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

More than 95 percent of all births took place at HOME .

Ninety percent of all doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION! Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press AND the government as "substandard."

Sugar cost four cents a pound.

Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.

Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.

Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason.

Five leading causes of death were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke

The American flag had 45 stars.

The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was only 30!!!!

Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and ice tea hadn't been invented yet.

There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

Two out of every 10 adults couldn't read or write. Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores. Back then pharmacists said, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health." ( Shocking? DUH! )

Eighteen percent of households had at least one full-time servant or domestic help.

There were about 230 reported murders in the ENTIRE ! U.S.A. !

Now I forwarded this from someone else without typing it myself, and sent it to you and others all over the United States,& Canada possibly the world, in a matter of seconds!

Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years.

IT STAGGERS THE MIND, EH?

As you grow older, do you find that it is more and more difficult to remember where you placed your car keys or your glasses or worse still - where you parked your car? Years ago, I remember reading an article about how our brain starts to shrink every ten years once we reach thirty years of age. Lately, I have become more and more forgetful.

Someone sent me the link to this fantastic memory test.

This test will determine if you're getting enough sleep or if your mind has really lost it! The test consists of three parts:

You'll be shown 12 photos in the FIRST PART.

You'll be shown another 12 photos in the SECOND PART.

You'll be shown 48 photos in the THIRD PART and you will be asked if you saw them in the first part, the second part - or never saw them at all.

When you have finished the third part, your results will be given to you.

CLICK HERE TO BEGIN THE TEST.

For those of you who are baby boomers, perhaps you might want to enjoy DON'T FORGET TO REMEMBER ME by The Bee Gees while doing this test.

Please leave a comment and do share your results if you like ;-). Thanks! Have a lovely weekend, dear reader.

YAY! Streamyx internet connection is now back to normal. WHAT A RELIEF!!! For almost I week, I felt as though the world had come to a standstill when waiting for pages of my favorite websites to load. So today, I have had a veritable feast reading and reading to my heart's delight - after days of withdrawal symptoms!

From one of my favorite magazines, here's a MUST-READ from The New Yorker:

The Voting Rights Act, which passed in 1965, stands as one of the great monuments to civil rights in American history. The Fifteenth Amendment, ratified in 1870, purported to give Americans the right to vote regardless of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude,” but it was not until a century later, with the passage of the act, that the right was enforced, and Southern blacks were finally free to cast a ballot. Over the years, an ideologically diverse group of Supreme Court Justices has reviewed and approved the constitutionality of the act many times. But, in a case to be argued before the Court this spring, the current conservative majority has a chance to undo this signal achievement of American democracy. For more, click here.

On August 1, 1966, the day psychiatrist Stuart Brown started his assistant professorship at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, 25-year-old Charles Whitman climbed to the top of the University of Texas Tower on the Austin campus and shot 46 people. Whitman, an engineering student and a former U.S. Marine sharpshooter, was the last person anyone expected to go on a killing spree. After Brown was assigned as the state’s consulting psychiatrist to investigate the incident and later, when he interviewed 26 convicted Texas murderers for a small pilot study, he discovered that most of the killers, including Whitman, shared two things in common: they were from abusive families, and they never played as kids.

Brown did not know which factor was more important. But in the 42 years since, he has interviewed some 6,000 people about their childhoods, and his data suggest that a lack of opportunities for unstructured, imaginative play can keep children from growing into happy, well-adjusted adults. “Free play,” as scientists call it, is critical for becoming socially adept, coping with stress and building cognitive skills such as problem solving. Research into animal behavior confirms play’s benefits and establishes its evolutionary importance: ultimately, play may provide animals (including humans) with skills that will help them survive and reproduce.

Most psychologists agree that play affords benefits that last through adulthood, but they do not always agree on the extent to which a lack of play harms kids—particularly because, in the past, few children grew up without ample frolicking time. But today free play may be losing its standing as a staple of youth. According to a paper published in 2005 in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, children’s free-play time dropped by a quarter between 1981 and 1997. Concerned about getting their kids into the right colleges, parents are sacrificing playtime for more structured activities. As early as preschool, youngsters’ after-school hours are now being filled with music lessons and sports—reducing time for the type of imaginative and rambunctious cavorting that fosters creativity and cooperation.

PLEASE READ THIS EXCELLENT ARTICLE BY CLICKING ON THIS LINK. TQ.

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - San Francisco may lose its main newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, as owner Hearst Corp cuts a "significant" number of jobs and decides whether to shut or sell the money-losing daily.

The privately held New York-based publisher already is considering shutting a second West Coast paper, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, in the face of a devastating decline in advertising revenue and big losses.

Founded shortly after Gold Rush fever hit California in the mid-19th century, the Chronicle has long been an essential part of daily life for many Bay Area residents, even as it sometimes disappointed or outraged them.

But the Chronicle lost more than $50 million last year and this year's losses to date are worse, Hearst said on its website on Tuesday. It said the paper has lost "major" amounts of money since 2001, a year after Hearst bought the paper. For more, click here.

On Tuesday, some of the biggest names in American retailing reported steep profit declines. However, chains like Home Depot and Macy’s beat analysts’ expectations and sent their share prices higher — largely because they are making the radical changes necessary to stay alive and grab market share.

Home Depot, for instance, is taking painful steps to make itself leaner, like shutting peripheral businesses including its Expo Design Centers. Frank Blake, chief executive of Home Depot, said on Tuesday: “We have become a simpler company, which is a good thing.”

But while trimming the fat, retailers must also beef up the things that matter to customers. So even though Home Depot reduced inventory levels by $1 billion, its in-stock levels are at an all-time high — meaning that when customers come in looking for a nail gun or a roll of duct tape, they are likely to find it.

Along the same lines, while Home Depot is reducing costs by cutting 7,000 jobs, or 2 percent of its workers, it is not eliminating merit pay increases and bonuses for its top sales staff. This month, the University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction Index showed that Home Depot had the best customer service improvement of any specialty retailer. For more, click here.

The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, offered a sober assessment of the national economy and the prospects of recovery to Congress on Tuesday, as reports of plunging housing prices and consumer confidence reinforced the grim outlook.

Mr. Bernanke told the Senate banking committee that the Federal Reserve was doing everything it could to unlock credit markets and encourage lending and borrowing. Still, a full recovery is potentially at least a year away, he said, and that is if all goes according to plan.

“If actions taken by the administration, the Congress and the Federal Reserve are successful in restoring some measure of financial stability — and only if that is the case, in my view — there is a reasonable prospect that the current recession will end in 2009 and that 2010 will be a year of recovery,” Mr. Bernanke said.

Though he lingered over the seriousness of the financial crisis enveloping the country, the Fed chairman buoyed investors by stating his resistance to any nationalization of the big banks. The prospect of the government taking up to a 40 percent stake in Citigroup in return for more assistance has pushed the idea to the fore. For more, click here.



Have a nice day everyone...enjoy surfing!