Life's Great Expectations!

the mrbrown show: operation jamban investigation Podcast: the mrbrown show 3 Mar 2008: operation jamban investigation Download MP3 (MP3, file size: 2.2mb, Time: 00:04:34)

It helps get food to the table fast, but there are some essential things you need to know before pressing that 'start' button Behold the West's favourite appliance: the microwave, an effective, no-fuss way to get dinner on the table - fast. Microwave ovens emit radio waves that cause water molecules to quickly flip back and forth. 'That flipping causes friction which generates a lot of heat,' says Dr Catherine Donnelly, professor of nutrition and food science at the University of Vermont. 'The food cooks based on how the water molecules move around in the product.' So, foods with higher water content like soups, sauces and coffee or tea heat up more quickly. But with the co...

Countless immune boosters fly off the shelves year-round, particularly in the cold and flu season. But even some of the most popular immune supplements haven't been tested against cold and flu in well-designed clinical trials. No clinical trials, for example, have been conducted on goldenseal, a purported immune-booster sometimes used to fend off the common cold - and there's evidence the herb may interfere with blood pressure drugs, decrease the activity of anticoagulants and hamper absorption of vitamin B. Goji, sometimes known as lycium, is a popular immune booster based on evidence from the laboratory and animal studies, and some human research in China - but no clinical trials have examined its ability to keep flu or colds at bay. The same is true for supplements derived from tropical fruits noni and mangosteen. A few herbs popular for other indicat...

A dangerous activity, involving trying to choke oneself to cause a brief high, is spreading among young boys in the United States At least 82 children have died in the United States in recent years as a result of playing the 'choking' game, a bizarre but increasingly common practice, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The game, which involves intentionally trying to choke oneself to create a brief high, has been around for years, but it appears to be spreading. One theory is that the Internet has made it easier for children to learn about the game. A search of YouTube turns up several videos warning about the practice, but also several troubling demonstrations by giggling adolescents showing how to play. The deaths identified by the CDC are based on media reports of the game ...

guardian.co.uk , Tuesday 15 January 2008 16.18 GMT A Greenpeace photo of the Japanese whaling vessel, Nisshin Maru, similar to the one on which activists are reportedly being held captive. Photograph: Jiri Rezac/EPA Two members of the radical anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd are reportedly being held against their will on a Japanese whaling ship in Antarctic waters. In a vessel called Steve Irwin, members of the group had been pursuing Japan's annual whaling hunt in the Antarctic for almost a month. After locating five Japanese whaling boats this morning, two of its activists – Australian Benjamin Potts and British man Giles Lane – boarded the Yushin Maru No 2 vessel. They handed the crew a letter advising them they were "illegally killing whales" and were then detained. "They were successful in delivering the message, but then they were not allowed to leave and return to our vessel," said Sea Shepherd s...

Something worth pondering.... " The happiest people in the world are not those who have no problems, but those who learn to live with things that are less than perfect." * A group of graduates, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. * Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. * Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee. * When all the students had a cup of coffee, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the simple and cheap ones. * While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. * Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. *...

LONDON (AFP) - - A European consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland on Wednesday declared victory in the takeover battle for Dutch group ABN Amro, sealing the biggest takeover in banking history and prompting the resignation of ABN's chairman. Rijkman Groenink stepped down after opposing the consortium's mostly cash bid worth 100 billion dollars (71 billion euros), which prevailed over an offer from British bank Barclays. The consortium, also comprising Belgian-Dutch group Fortis and Spain's Banco Santander, will now break up ABN Amro -- a move criticised by Groenink. The takeover is also expected to involve the loss of up to 19,000 jobs at ABN Amro . RBS chief executive Fred Goodwin rejoiced in the victory but acknowledged that much work lay ahead. "It is good to get to the end of what has been a very long road," Goodwin told reporters on a conference call. "There is still a huge amount of work out there to do," he added. Axel Pierron, an analyst at fi...

August 11, 2007 Financial markets were roiled again yesterday, with the Federal Reserve and other central banks stepping in to bolster liquidity in the wake of the subprime credit seizure. Serving as lender of last resort in these conditions is the proper function of central banks. But going further -- with an emergency rate cut, as some in the market seem to be anticipating or hoping for -- carries the risk of introducing even greater moral hazard into the financial system. It's worth recalling in this connection that the root cause of this credit correction was the Federal Reserve's willingness to keep money too easy for too long. The federal funds rate was probably negative in real terms for close to two years between 2003 and 2005. This led to a misallocation of capital into real estate and certain mortgage instruments that is currently being worked off. For the Fed to take its eye off the price-stability ball now in response to short-term market gyrations would only compou...

Greenspan sees dramatic drop in Chinese stocks ... Worried Shanghai Will Burst ...China Syndrome? U.S. stocks sold off Wednesday afternoon after former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said he was concerned Chinese stocks may undergo a " dramatic contraction " but said the global economy may be able to shrug off a drop in asset prices. Addressing a meeting in Madrid via teleconference, Greenspan said the recent boom in Chinese stocks could not last . " It is clearly unsustainable ," he said " There's going to be a dramatic contraction at some point ." The main Shanghai index has nearly tripled in past year and is up 56 percent so far in 2007. Greenspan also said a correction could cause problems for Chinese personal wealth. Some analysts have speculated that the Chinese government could be tempted to dip into its reserves to bail out any stung investors and avoid social unrest. Greenspan, who stood down as Fed governor last year, said cheap...

SINGAPORE: A water spout has been spotted from the eastern parts of Singapore. Water spout sighted off Singapore's east coast By Gamar Abdul Aziz, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 25 May 2007 1646 hrs Most callers to the MediaCorp News Hotline reported seeing what looked like a tornado or a twister over the sea. Most said they saw the phenomenon at about 2.30pm and that the phenomenon lasted about 15 minutes. Witnesses said it was moving in a circular motion. The water spout could be seen in several areas including Chai Chee, East Coast Park, Suntec City and Potong Pasir. Last August, a water-spout was also spotted off the coast of Sentosa Island. The National Environment Agency (NEA) said intense thunderstorms were the cause of the phenomenon. The water spout is a narrow column of water that is sucked to the base of a cloud, making it look like a funnel. An average diameter of a waterspout is 50 metres and it has average wind speeds of up to 150 kilometres per hour. The NEA added tha...

PROMISES TO PUT A SMILE IN YOUR HEART. READ ON... Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin? Why women can't put on mascara with their mouth closed? Why don't you ever see the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery"? Why is "abbreviated" such a long word? Why is it that doctors call what they do "practice"? Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons? Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker? Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour? Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food? Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes? Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections? You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes? Why don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff?! Why don't sheep shrink when it rains? Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together? If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the oppo...

PROMISES TO PUT A SMILE IN YOUR HEART Only in America ...do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front. Only in America ......do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries,and a diet coke. Only in America .....do banks leave both doors open and then chain the pens to the counters. Only in America ......do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage. Only in America ......do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight. Only in America ......do we use the word 'politics' to describe the process so well: 'Poli' in Latin meaning 'many' and 'tics' meaning 'bloodsucking creatures'. Only in America ......do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering. Now that you've smiled at least once, it's your turn to spread the stupidity and send this to someone you w...

[Thanks to Dorothy, who has written this wonderful Dive Report!] {> Photos {> Underwater Photos Mabuhay! Yeah you got it. It's my dive report again! (warning, this is a very long one) The trip to Malapascua was a 3-hr flight + 3-hr bumpy road trip + 1/2 hr scenic boat ride = very tired travellers. This hasn't taken into account the lack of sleep, the transfer to the mid-sized outrigger (Arbert) on a small pole-rowed boat, the dylan-carrying-his-suitcase-on-his-head episode, and the waiting for batches of supplies to be transferred onto the outrigger on those same row boats. Our original plan was to do 2 dives on the first day after breakfast, but fatigue took a hold of us after dive 1 and we decided to just rest for the day and pump up the no. of dives on days 2 and 3. Our DM Renelo (we call him "Rey") was accomodating, nice and went out of his way to help us during our surface intervals....and he's really good at pointing out the macro stuff. The Scubapro ...

The Glass Bridge Construction of the Skywalk began March of 2004 and will open March 28, 2007. Upon completion, the Glass Bridge will be suspended 4,000 feet above the Colorado River on the very edge of the Grand Canyon. On May 2005, the final test was conducted and the stucture passed engineering requirements by 400 percent, enabling it to withstand the weight of 71 fully loaded Boeing 747 airplanes (more than 71 million pounds). The bridge will be able to sustain winds in excess of 100 miles per hour from 8 different directions, as well as an 8.0 magnitude earthquake within 50 miles. More than one million pounds of steel will go into the construction of the Grand Canyon Skywalk. HUALAPAI INDIAN RESERVATION (Arizona) - A gleaming glass-bottomed walkway that juts out over the edge of the Grand Canyon welcomed its first visitors on Tuesday, with Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin taking one small step for man and one almighty leap for sufferers of vertigo. The Skywalk, a horseshoe-shaped o...

Viewpoint: Truths behind the market rout Bloomberg News Wednesday, March 7, 2007 VIEWPOINT By William Pesek Henry Paulson's visit to Asia couldn't be more timely. The U.S. Treasury secretary is in the region after global equity markets plummeted last week. While purely coincidental — Paulson's trip was planned well before China's stock plunge on Feb. 27 — he is getting a first-hand look at some of the world's most vibrant and, supposedly, risky economies. Unfortunately, Paulson will probably leave China, Japan and South Korea concluding two things that many investors already claim: This global market decline is merely a repeat of May 2006, and it has Asian fingerprints all over it. Paulson should dig deeper and learn the truth on both counts. The growing reassessment of risk from Shanghai to New York suggests this rout will be far more painful than May 2006, when emerging markets swooned only to recover soon after. The continued proli...

人生就是为了找寻爱的过程，每个人的人生都要找到四个人。 第一个是自己 (yourself), 第二个是你最爱的人 (someone u love)，第三个是最爱你的人 (some who loves you) ，第四个是共度一生的人 (someone u would live together for life). 首先会遇到你最爱的人，然後体会到爱的感觉； 因为了解被爱的感觉，所以才能发现最爱你的人；当你经历过爱人与被 爱，学会了爱，才会知道什么是你需要的，也才会找到最适合你 ，能够相处一辈子的人。但很悲哀的，在现实生活中 ，这三个人通常不是同一个人；你最爱的，往往没有选择你 ；最爱你的，往往不是你最爱的；而最长久的，偏偏不是你最爱也不是 最爱你的，只是在最适合的时间出现的那个人。 你，会是别人生命中的第几个人呢？ 没有人是故意要变心的，他爱你的时候是真的爱你，可是他不爱你的时 候也是真的不爱你了，他爱你的时候没有办法假装不爱你；同样的 ，他不爱你的时候也没有办法假装爱你 。当一个人不爱你要离开你，你要问自己还爱不爱他 ，如果你也不爱他了，千万别为了可怜的自尊而不肯离开； 如果你还爱他，你应该会希望他过得幸福快乐，希望他跟真正爱的人在 一起，绝不会阻止，你要是阻止他得到真正的幸福，就表示你已经不爱 他了，而如果你不爱他，你又有什么资格指责他变心呢？ 爱不是占有，你喜欢月亮，不可能把月亮拿下来放在脸盆里 ，但月亮的光芒仍可照进你的房间。换句话说，你爱一个人 ，也可以用另一种方式拥有，让爱人成为生命里的永恒回忆 ，如果你真爱一个人，就要爱他原来的样子─爱他的好，也爱他的坏 ：爱他的优点，也爱他的缺点，绝不能因为爱他，就希望他变成自己所 希望的样子，万一变不成就不爱他了。 真正爱一个人是无法说出原因的，你只知道无论何时何地、心情好坏 ，你都希望这个人陪著你；真正的感情是两人能在最艰苦中相守 ，也就是没有丝毫要求。毕竟，感情必须付出，而不是只想获得 ；分开是一种必然的考验，如果你们感情不够稳固，只好认输 ，真爱是不会变成怨恨的。 两人在谈情说爱的时候，最喜欢叫对方发誓，许下承诺我们为什么要对 方发誓，就是因为我们不相信对方，我们根本不相信情人 ，而这些山盟海誓又很不切实际：海枯石烂、地老天荒 ，都不能改变我对你的爱!明知道海不会枯、石不会烂、地不会老 、天不会荒； ...

In one corner we have Internet Explorer 7 . After 18 months of development and a shiny new set of tabs, he's in top shape and looking better than his predecessor ever did. That is, before he entered the ring with Firefox 2.0 . Now he's just a cripple with fancy RSS reading. Interface "Unlike IE 7, which has reorganized its toolbar, Firefox 2 changes only the look and feel of its buttons." "The new shiny-glass look [firefox] is much more sophisticated, as are the rounded tabs and the hairline borders around the address bar and the search engine box." "IE 7's new streamlined look resembles Vista's." Tabbed Browsing "New in Firefox 2 is session restore; if Windows crashes and you have several tabs open in Firefox at the time, you can now relaunch Firefox with all the tabs intact..." "Firefox 2's tab updates are generally a step ahead of IE's. For example, you can configure Firefox to always save your last session for f...

Terok was travelling in a crowded bus. He was carrying the passport size photograph of his son for college admission. Accidentally, the photograph drop down from his pocket. He started searching for it frantically & found it on the floor below the ends of a woman's saree. He asked her, "Can you lift your saree? I wanna take photograph".... THE REST IS HISTORY He was beaten so badly that he had to be admitted to hospital. He was suprised to see Butol on the next bed to him in a worse condition. Butol explained what happened to him. He had gone to a remote village to work. He finished late & missed the last bus. He couldn't find any hotel nearby. So he approached a nearby house & asked the Owner whether he can stay there for a night. The Owner replied "I have 2 grown up daughters. Sorry, you can't stay here". Then he approached the next house & asked the Owner whether he can stay there for a night. The Owner replied "I have 3 grown u...

Sun Nov 5, 6:43 PM ET In this undated photo released by the New Zealand Defense Force, an iceberg is observed from a New Zealand Air Force P3 Orion maritime surveillance airplane on routine fisheries patrol in the southern ocean. A maritime warning has been issued after approximately 100 icebergs were discovered near Auckland Islands, 260 kilometers (160 miles) south of the South Island of New Zealand Friday, Nov. 3, 2006. The largest iceberg about 2 kilometers by 1.5 kilometers (1.2 by 0.9 miles) and more than 130 meters (425 feet) high were found floating in a major ocean shipping lane. (AP Photo/New Zealand Defense Force,HO) Icebergs near NZ after drifting from Atlantic Wed Nov 8, 5:53 AM ET Scores of icebergs have floated to within about 300 km (186 miles) of New Zealand, with the largest measuring about 1.8 km (1.1 miles) in length and standing some 120 meters (360 feet) above w...