Weddings Abroad

Traditionally, people get married in a church that is very near where the couple resides. There who have money can try something different such as having the ceremony done abroad.

There is some amount of risk should this be done in another country. This is because the couple will not be hands on throughout the entire wedding preparation. The travel company will be working on the details but so those who want someone else to handle it should make sure that these professionals are one of the best in the industry.

Most travel companies have a website where engaged couples can make inquiries. It will be a good idea to ask for the names of a few clients in the past to find out how well the firm performed during that event.

The rates for those who choose to have the wedding abroad will depend on the country where this will be held. Some are much cheaper than others so the couple should compare the prices first and see what is included in the package.

If the person is lucky, the travel company will frequently contact the client to make sure that this will work for the wedding. This means the customer will have a say in certain details such as the cake, d�cor and wardrobe. This will give the person a chance to make certain decisions regarding the wedding.

A representative will also make sure that the marriage certificate and others documents are in order before this takes place.

Most weddings abroad are done during weekdays. If the target date falls on a holiday, chances are this will have to be rescheduled. The venue may be on the beach or in an old church and couples are advised to inquire months in advance so that there is still a slot available.

The ceremony itself may be done in the conducted in the native dialect or in English so this is also something that the individual should check. It will really be awkward if the couple or the guests does not answer a single word being said by the one officiating the event.

There are those who have planned wedding in the Bahamas only to be disrupted by a coming hurricane. This can be avoided by also checking on the weather conditions to make sure Mother Nature will not ruin that special day. Contingency measures must also be set in place in case something uncontrollable happens.

Most wedding invitations include mentioning the attire to be worn during the affair. It will be crazy to wear a formal jacket and a long dress if this is done by the beach. This will look great if this was done in a castle or a church like what Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes did in Italy.

In a tropical setting, the bride should wear a short sleeved or sleeveless dress. The groom will wear a short-sleeved linen top.

Most engaged couples will be bringing along the outfits as part of the baggage. This could get ruined in the flight so airline companies advise passengers to have this placed in a hard case.

There are two reasons why couples may decide to have the wedding done abroad. The first is because it is much cheaper than doing it back home. The second is to only have close family and friends attend the event.

Surely some people who want to witness it can�t so the couple will have to decide whether or not to should the expenses. Of course, this is also a great way to test if those people really care about the couple.

Some couples who are having a wedding abroad can still subscribe to a bridal registry especially if the newly weds will be residing back home. Those who are planning to immigrate should probably mention in the invitation about this so cash can be given instead.

Friends and family members may even shoulder certain expenses such as the tours or the flight there as a present to the newly weds.

There are millions of people around the world who decide to get married either nearby or abroad. The decision where this will be held will really depend on the budget allotted since this could put the couple in debt for the next few years.
hopefully useful!

South Africa vs West Indies ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, Live Score Card

ON THE green surface of Delhi's historical Ferozeshah Kotla stadium this afternoon, South African captain Graeme Smith won the toss and decided to bowl first in the seventh match of the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

Both the group 'B' teams, South Africa and West Indies start their ICC Cricket World cup 2011 campaign with this match. Winning the toss could prove very important on this pitch because the outfield is likely to be slowed in the second session because of fog and moisture in the air.

South African captain Graeme Smith has preferred to play with two seamers Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and three specialist spinners Johan Botha, Robin Peterson and debutant Imran Tahir in his playing XI. West Indies is playing with one specialist spinner Sulieman Benn in their playing XI.

Before the Cricket World Cup, South Africa won both the warm-up matches in grand style. South African team registered their first victory in the warm-up match against Zimbabwe by eight wickets with 159 balls remaining and in the second warm-up match they beat Australia by seven wickets. Whereas, West Indies won one warm-up match against Kenya by 61 runs and lost to Sri Lanka by four wickets in the second warm-up match.

South Africa and West Indies are meeting for the fifth times in the Cricket World Cup. Both the teams have won two times each, and interestingly, all four matches have been won by the team batting first.

Here is the playing XI of South Africa and West Indies for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011:
South Africa: Graeme Smith (capt), Hashim Amla, Johan Botha, AB de Villiers (wk), JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Jacques Kallis, Morne Morkel, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Imran Tahir.
West Indies: Darren Sammy (Capt), Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Bravo, Kieron Pollard, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Devon Smith, Sulieman Benn, Kemar Roach, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Devon Thomas (wk).
(Source: http://www.merinews.com/article/south-africa-vs-west-indies-icc-cricket-world-cup-2011-live-score-card/15843919.shtml)

Baron Davis Traded "in principle" for Mo Williams

We have seen Deron Williams and Kirk Hinrich change zip codes and with the NBA trade deadline fast approaching and now another marquee trade has been made "in principle" by the Los Angeles Clippers and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The trade involves Baron Davis and Mo Williams. Sources reveal that the Los Angeles Clippers have agreed in principle to trade star Baron Davis and their 2011 first round draft pick to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Mo Williams and Jamairo Moon.

The deal would free up some salary cap space for the LA Clippers while also landing a promising young point guard in Mo Williams who made it to the NBA All-Star team during the LeBron James era.

The savings should give the Clippers more flexibility in free agency the next two seasons.

Although Baron Davis and Mo Williams are marquee names in the said trade, but it was actually the lottery pick of the LA Clippers which was more important for the Cavaliers.

Davis is not expected to be happy as relayed by the an anonymous GM. Davis will be joining a team that is handled by Byron Scott, a coach that he had clashed with when he was still playing for the New Orleans Hornets.

Additionally, Davis seems to have been getting into the groove playing with 2011 Slam Dunk champion Blake Griffin and the trade couldn�t have come at a worst time.

Neither Davis nor Williams suited up Wednesday night. Davis sat out the Clippers' loss to the New Orleans Hornets with swelling in his knee. Williams sat out Cleveland's loss to Houston, after returning from a hip injury before the All-Star break.
(Source: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/306110/baron-davis-traded-mo-williams)

Jennifer Aniston's New Haircut

Jennifer Aniston debuts a surprising new hairstyle.

She heralded the 'Rachel' haircut, so is Jennifer Aniston's new blunt bob the hairstyle du'jour?

The A-list actress stepped out at a photo call for her new movie, Just Go With It, sporting a swinging cut several inches shorter than the signature long layers she's had for the last several years.

Despite the fact that Aniston's new hairstyle is bound to garner attention from her fans, she admits the so-called 'Rachel' cut of the nineties is something she'd rather forget.

"How do I say this? I think it was the ugliest haircut I've ever seen," she told US Allure magazine. "What I really want to know is, how did that thing have legs?"

The cut was originally created by Aniston's current hairstylist Chris McMillian, who Aniston jokingly refers to as "the bane of (her) existence" for starting the trend.

What do you think of Jennifer Aniston's new haircut?
(Source: http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/marie-claire/beauty/news/article/-/8890074/jennifer-anistons-new-haircut/)

Chasing a Chase Credit Card?

Credit cards indeed have become one of most indispensable tools in managing finances nowadays. Aside from being an effective way of obtaining credit, credit cards also make it easier for people to spend their money the right way. That is why making the crucial decision of choosing the right credit card should be paid more attention.

One of the most popular brand names of credit cards in the market today is the Chase credit card. Like any other credit cards, Chase credit card is a brand name of credit card like MasterCard or Visa that is accepted worlwide. Aside from Chase credit card, the company also offers travel cards, Auto & Gas cards and student cards.

Indeed, there are a number of ways in which Chase credit card can be advantageous and beneficial. Probably, the best feature Chase credit card has is the convenience it offers to busy and working people. A Chase credit card is also perfect for customers who are comfortable online. Aside from making it easy for the customer to maintain their account online, Chase credit card lets you check your balance and pay your bills through a secured web site.

Having a chase credit card is quite convenient for the customer because it lets the credit card holder purchase goods easily and quickly whether they buy it directly, over the phone, or even on-line. Since Chase Credit cards are international cards, it is beneficial for people who travel a lot because they can use it all over the world wherever they see the Chase credit card logo.

More and more people are choosing a Chase credit card because it offers a lot of credit card processing alternatives. Because Chase credit cards offers a wide array of processing options, many people appreciate it compared to other brands.

One of the most enticing offer Chase credit cards has is that it is available in numerous places. Chade credit cards also offer many deals and promotions like lower introductory APRs and waived membership fees that allow the holder to save more money.

There are alos many types of Chase credit card that offer reward programs for every purchase the holder makes. For instance, one type of Chase credit card allows you to earn travel miles for every dollar spent using your your Chase credit card. Another type of Chase credit card also allows you to earn reward points for every dollar you spend.

These points will then enable you to purchase from a Chase credit card catalogue and they will have your chosen item shipped to right next to your doorstep! These reward options you get from using a Chase credit card are great because it will give your tangible gifts and rewards, free trips and wonderful merchandise without spending a single cent. A Chase credit card is handpicked by many people because its company makes sure that they give good customer service to its customers.

Aside from getting all the great deals the card offers, having a Chase credit card can also give the holder instant access to customer support around 24/7. This will enable the customer to contact someone if his or her Chase credit card is stolen. Apart from this round-the-clock feature, Chase credit card also protects its customers from identity of thieves.

When you apply for Chase credit card, some of the benefits include 0% intro APR on all purchases and balance transfers you make for up to six months. Chase credit card does not charge any annual fee so it will fit your budget and, a Chase credit card have interest-free grace period as long as you pay your bill in full each month.

Having a Chase credit card also allows the holder to earn cash rewards on purchases and cash rewards. Apart from these, chase credit card has no balance transfer fee for balances transferred during the introductory period and you have the privilege to apply online over a secure server.

Although it offers a lot of advantages, bear in mind that a chase credit card it is still a credit card. And like any other credit cards, there are also a number of ways in which chase credit card usage can be less positive. hopefully useful!

Dispatch from 'Free Libya': The Right to Laugh at Gaddafi

In "Free Libya," people are laughing at Muammar Gaddafi as he goes on and on in a speech, dressed in a traditional outfit called a jard. A dozen men had gathered in a roadside cafeteria in the town of Tobruk, about 100 miles (160 km) from the Egyptian border, to watch the spectacle in one of the few buildings lit up on Tuesday night. The towns here are poorer and sparser than their Egyptian counterparts. But the locals now have the luxury of poking fun at the man who once had the power of life or death over them. "He has a hole in his shirt," one says. "Now he is a poor man!" another shouts. They all laugh.

The men feel they can now call falsehoods for what they are. "Gaddafi is saying it's all upside down here right now. But it's not. It's calm," says Fakry Labidi, an activist who helped liberate the area as well as an engineer who works for al-Harouj, a state-owned and partly Canadian-operated oil company.

Tobruk is several hundred miles away from Benghazi, the first large epicenter of the revolt, and even farther from Tripoli, the Libyan capital. But local activists felt wired into the revolutions going on far beyond the borders of their nation, even though foreign newspapers were never for sale in Gaddafi's Libya and websites were often blocked, says Gamal Shallouf, a marine biologist who has joined the newly fledged opposition. While the Internet has been down here since the revolution started, the regime's inability to shut down new-media innovations entirely has been key to spreading Libya's revolt.

"Generally, in Libya before this, there was no media," explains Shallouf. "So if Tobruk made a revolution, [the government] would spend three to five days killing us and finish the revolution. Nobody in [larger nearby communities and cities] al-Baida or Darna or Benghazi would have heard about it. But now with al-Jazeera and Facebook and the media, all of Libya hears about the revolution and is with the revolution. They know about it. They think, 'I am Libyan, this is my family, so I will go to the street to fight for them.' "

He and fellow Libyans had followed the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings on al-Jazeera and satellite Arabic-language news channels. He did his best, along with other Libyan activists, to internally circulate the videos he saw so that other Libyans could get a glimpse of what was happening on either side of their closed-off country. "After I got videos from the Internet, we sent them from Bluetooth to Bluetooth. Mostly videos of fighting in Egypt. I felt two things when I saw these videos: I felt sad. And then I wanted to make a revolution!"

With the Internet shut down, Libyans crossed the border for access. Says Tawfik al-Shaiby, a chemical-engineering professor at the University of Tobruk: "We sent my brother and his friend to Marsa Matruh [in Egypt] to use the Internet. I went to Egypt every day to give him a flash disk full of media from Tobruk, al-Baida, Benghazi.
They were videos from mobiles. Not just mine. We made copies, went to the Egyptian border at Salloum and gave it to someone there � my cousin's son � and he went to Matruh, where my brother was. That was the first media center of the Libyan revolution. My brother [a 31-year-old computer engineer] had this idea. On the 16th of February, he printed flyers for the protest and spread them in the streets from his car."

Shallouf recalls how Tobruk was then freed from the regime � the first town to be liberated, even before Benghazi, which has received most of the attention. "On Feb. 17, about 1,900 people took to the streets," he says. "The security was very hard on them. And after that, one or two were killed. On the second day, not hundreds but thousands came to the streets. And when more were killed, the people came out more and more. And lastly, all of Benghazi was in the streets, including women and children."

Today in Tobruk and along hundreds of miles of eastern Libya, security forces have disappeared. A few soldiers still wear their uniforms, but they are defectors, says activist Emad al-Maijri. Eastern Libya is in control of the people now, he says. And the people are well armed. "These are citizens, not the army," al-Maijri says.
The men, some with their faces wrapped in checkered kaffiyeh scarves, clamor to the car windows, asking to be photographed. Some have AK-47s slung over their chests and shoulders; others flash the V-for-victory sign. "Libya is in our hearts," one cries.

The same line is echoed in graffiti on the wall behind him. A battered flag � the new Libyan flag, as people in the east have declared it � flaps in the wind atop a flagpole here. The men are excited to see foreign journalists. "In the days of Gaddafi, I would have been executed for carrying you in my car," al-Maijri says excitedly, speaking of the dictator in the past tense, even though the battle to rid the country of him is still going on hundreds of miles away in Tripoli.
In a square in the center of the town of Midan al-Melek, the men are still celebrating on Tuesday night, chanting, milling about and firing off celebratory gunshots.

The crowd becomes more frenzied over the sudden presence of foreign journalists; shoving breaks out, and a group of men form a ring around the reporters, linking arms to keep the pulsing crowd from crushing us. We stop our interviews and rush to the cars, sheltered by Libyan activists.

"Libyan people are very simple people, because we don't have tourists," says Shallouf. "So when they see foreign men, they want to talk to them and hear them. It's rare for us." He adds, "The crowd tonight was very angry from the Gaddafi speech. He views us like his farm, his cows. And he told us, 'If you don't stop the revolution, I will fight you with the Community of Sahel-Saharan States [An economic union founded by Gaddafi in 1998], with Chad and Mali and Sudan.' And he said all of this is not the beginning of the fighting. But I think it's his last hours. For us, we are laughing at him."
(Source: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2053198,00.html)

Steven Jobs Biography

Entrepreneur. Born Steven Paul Jobs on February 24, 1955, to Joanne Simpson and Abdulfattah "John" Jandali, two University of Wisconsin graduate students who gave their unnamed son up for adoption. His father Abdulfattah Jandali was a Syrian political science professor and his mother Joanne Simpson worked as a speech therapist. Shortly after Steve was placed for adoption, his biological parents married and had another child, Mona Simpson. It was not until Jobs was 27 that he was able to uncover information on his biological parents.

As an infant, Steven was adopted by Clara and Paul Jobs and named Steven Paul Jobs. Clara worked as an accountant and Paul was a Coast Guard veteran and machinist. The family lived in Mountain View within California's Silicone Valley. As a boy, Jobs and his father would work on electronics in the family garage. Paul would show his son how to take apart and reconstruct electronics, a hobby which instilled confidence, tenacity, and mechanical prowess in young Jobs.

While Jobs has always been an intelligent and innovative thinker, his youth was riddled with frustrations over formal schooling. In elementary school he was a prankster whose fourth grade teacher needed to bribe him to study. Jobs tested so well, however, that administrators wanted to skip him ahead to high school�a proposal his parents declined.

After he did enroll in high school, Jobs spent his free time at Hewlett-Packard. It was there that he befriended computer club guru Steve Wozniak. Wozniak was a brilliant computer engineer, and the two developed great respect for one another.

After high school, Jobs enrolled at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Lacking direction, he dropped out of college after six months and spent the next 18 months dropping in on creative classes. Jobs later recounted how one course in calligraphy developed his love of typography.

In 1974, Jobs took a position as a video game designer with Atari. Several months later he left Atari to find spiritual enlightenment in India, traveling the continent and experimenting with psychedelic drugs. In 1976, when Jobs was just 21, he and Wozniak started Apple Computers. The duo started in the Jobs family garage, and funded their entrepreneurial venture after Jobs sold his Volkswagen bus and Wozniak sold his beloved scientific calculator.

Jobs and Wozniak are credited with revolutionizing the computer industry by democratizing the technology and making the machines smaller, cheaper, intuitive, and accessible to everyday consumers. The two conceived a series of user-friendly personal computers that they initially marketed for $666.66 each.
Their first model, the Apple I, earned them $774,000. Three years after the release of their second model, the Apple II, sales increased 700 percent to $139 million dollars. In 1980, Apple Computer became a publically traded company with a market value of $1.2 billion on the very first day of trading. Jobs looked to marketing expert John Scully of Pepsi-Cola to help fill the role of Apple's President.
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(Source: http://www.biography.com/articles/Steven-Jobs-9354805)

List of Medical Careers

The medical field has broadened. There are now fields of specialization so if you haven�t yet chosen what you want to pursue, perhaps you should browse through the medical a list of medical careers. To give you some idea, here are a few.

1. When someone is injured, we are taught to dial 911 and wait until help arrives. The one that comes through the door is a EMT or emergency medical technician whose job is to stabilize the patient until they reach the hospital.

The EMT uses special equipment like a backboard to immobilize the patient if they are seriously injured to the regular stretcher. They always work in teams. One EMT drives the ambulance while the other stays in the back to monitor the patient. Some EMT�s are even part of the flight crew of a medical evacuation team.

Once they reach the hospital, they have to inform the doctor the current situation and then let them take it from there.

2. If you want to help someone with their eyesight, you can become an optometrist. Their job is to examine the vision of the patient and then prescribe eyeglasses or contact lenses. They may also prescribe medication as part of vision therapy and low vision rehabilitation.

People should not be confused between the optometrist and the ophthalmologist because this person does not more than just hand out corrective lenses. They perform eye surgery so the person may see again like those who are suffering from glaucoma and other eye diseases.

3. If you like to work in a hospital or clinic side by side with a doctor, then perhaps you can choose to become a practical nurse. Their job is to care the convalescent, disabled, injured and sick. This is done by making the rounds and checking on the vital signs of the patient including the blood pressure, pulse and respiration.

They will also administer injection, enemas, monitor catheters, treat bedsores, give massages, apply dressings and a host of other things as instructed by the doctor. If another test is needed, they will collect samples. Depending on what state they are in, they may be allowed to prescribe medicines or start intravenous fluids.

4. People who have a hard time speaking or pronouncing words will feel better after they are treated by a speech language pathologists better known as a speech therapists. These individuals assess, diagnose and treat those who have speech and communication disorders.

These speech problems may be caused by a brain injury, cerebral palsy, developmental delays, hearing impairment, language difficulties or a stroke. Given that each patient is different, the specialist will have to develop an individualized plan of care in order for it to work.

The end result is for the person to be able to make sounds, improve their voice and most importantly increase their language skills so they are able to communicate more effectively.

There are many opportunities in the medical field. You just have to find something you like and then take the proper courses in order to be certified. While some of the jobs mentioned you can do for the rest of your life, there are others that you can�t.

But if you still want to help people, go through the list of medical careers again and make that career shift. hopefully useful!

Justin Bieber�s Haircut Style

Teen heartthrob Justin Bieber is a Canadian pop star who was discovered on YouTube by Scooter Braun. Braun later became his manager, and Justin flew to Atlanta, Georgia where he signed with Island Records.

He has four successful pre-album singles and is the only artist in Billboard history to have four singles from the debut album that hit the top 40. He has become incredibly popular in both the United States and in Canada. There are many young boys who see him as the fashion icon for them.

Justin�s hairstyle is sleek and smooth. This makes him stand out, especially in the pop music scene where so many of the male singers are wearing spikes and other similar styles. The ends are jaggedly cut, which gives his style lots of texture and it�s rounded shape gives him an adorable appearance. This style does require a bit of styling, but all that is needed is some moulding gum or a little bit of wax. The style is great for any young boy.

It�s especially good for boys who have oval, oblong, or diamond shaped faces. This would be a good style for boys who have fine hair, because the volume and height at the top will make their hair appear fuller.

In order to get this look, have a stylist cut your hair in a rounded shape, fairly evenly around the entire head. The hair should be shaped around the ears, and the bangs cut to just above the eyebrows. Using wax, take sections of hair and piece them out with your fingertips. This style could easily be styled in just about any way you need it. Part the bangs for an entirely new look, or even sweep them back.

Justin Bieber has a brand new short haircut. JB has confirmed that he cut his lovely hair to raise the money for a charity.
Let us know what you think about his latest haircut style?


Source:
http://trendyhaircutstyles.com/441/justin-bieber-haircut-style/
http://trendyhaircutstyles.com/822/justin-bieber-with-new-short-haircut/

Chaos and Bloodshed Continue as Gaddafi Loses His Grip on Power

Libya tipped towards all-out civil war on Tuesday, as the chaos from a week-long revolt deepened, with reports of bodies lying in the streets of the capital Tripoli and parts of eastern Libya entirely out of the control of Muammar Gaddafi's regime. With Gaddafi's hold on power looking increasingly tenuous, human-rights groups and exile organizations say it is now impossible to calculate how many have been killed during the past week, although their estimates easily exceed 400.

With events accelerating, Gaddafi's 42 years in power appear to be unraveling at lightning speed, buckling under several pressure points: Deep divisions within the military, which has launched air, naval and ground attacks against unarmed protesters; a stampede of defections among top officials; and a collapse of the regime's credibility internationally, let alone among many of its own citizens.

As rumors intensified that Gaddafi had fled the country, the leader appeared for a few seconds on state-run Libyan television at about 1 a.m. Tuesday morning. He appeared to be in front of his compound in Tripoli's western suburbs, which still bears the damage done to it by a U.S. aerial bombardment in 1986, the scars acting as a show of defiance against those who have long wished to see the back of him. I am in Tripoli not in Venezuela," he said as he climbed into a vehicle, awkwardly holding a huge gray umbrella.

That sneering shrug towards his enemies was classic Gaddafi. Yet while the Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution � as he is officially known in Libya � might still be in Tripoli, the city which has been his stronghold for four decades is now in chaos. Associated Press reported on Tuesday morning that numerous bodies lay on Tripoli's streets, after security forces again opened fire on anti-government protesters.

The capital has sunk into turmoil since Sunday, and only got worse on Monday, after Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam � long the favorite among Western leaders to succeed Gaddafi � gave his own 1 a.m. speech in which he warned that the military would crush the protesters "to the last bullet." As his speech ended, thousands of protesters poured into Tripoli's Green Square � a huge open area in the heart of the city, ringed by sidewalk caf�s and Libya's old fortress museum, a block from the seafront. Chanting their fury at Saif's threats of violence, the protesters confronted men who drove into the square in a convoy of about 50 cars and opened fire with machine guns, according to eye-witness accounts told to the Canada-based Libyan Youth Movement, an anti-government group which has sprung up during the past month and now acts as a conduit for information from those inside Libya. "We have confirmed 250 deaths on Monday in Tripoli alone," Ayat Mneina, a 23-year-old Libyan-Canadian student in Winnipeg, told TIME Monday night. "We have called the hospitals, and got that figure from doctors." If it is accurate, the total death toll for the past week stands at about 550.

Although the massacre of demonstrators in Tripoli � and in and around Libya's second-biggest city Benghazi, about 600 miles east of the capital � were designed to stanch the nascent rebellion and shore up Gaddafi's rule, by Tuesday they seemed almost certain to have backfired. Western leaders and members of the Arab League (of which Gaddafi currently holds the rotating chairmanship) expressed outrage on Monday at the assaults. The Arab League called an emergency meeting for Tuesday to discuss Gaddafi's brutal crackdown.

At home too, Gaddafi appears increasingly isolated. On Monday afternoon, two senior Air Force colonels flew Mirage fighter jets to Malta, where they claimed political asylum, saying they had rejected Gaddafi's orders to fire live ammunition on protesters. That night, Maltese officials refused to allow the Libyan ambassador to meet the two fighter pilots.

In an show of contempt for Gaddafi, which would have been unthinkable just a week ago, numerous diplomats have quit their jobs since Sunday, including the Libyan ambassadors to Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Poland, as well as several lower-level diplomatic officials. Nine staff members in the London embassy resigned, and joined the huge anti-Gaddafi demonstration outside the building. "After this bloodshed you cannot stay, you cannot be in such a situation," Ali al-Essawi, who resigned on Sunday as Libya's ambassador to India, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday morning. "Before, there were reforms, there was some progress. You could feel hope. But after this, there is frustration."
(Source: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2052978,00.html)

Carmelo Anthony Heads to New York Knicks in Multiplayer Trade with Nuggets

The New York Knicks landed All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony to play alongside Amar�e Stoudemire, bolstering a team seeking its first winning season in a decade and a return to National Basketball Association relevance.

The trade puts Anthony back in his home town with the team he said repeatedly was his first choice as a destination. The move, reported late yesterday by the Denver Post, was confirmed in an e-mail by Denver Nuggets spokesman Aaron Lopez.

�I�m glad it�s over,� the Post cited Nuggets coach George Karl as saying. �Everybody handled it as classy as you could handle it. There�s some sadness to it; there always will be.�

The Knicks will boast an offense with two of the NBA�s top 10 scorers. The 6-foot-8 Anthony ranks sixth, with an average 25.2 points per game this season, while the 28-year-old Stoudemire has scored an average 26.1 points per game, to rank second, since joining New York in July from the Phoenix Suns, where he spent eight seasons.

The Knicks (28-26) are second in the Eastern Conference Atlantic division behind the Boston Celtics, a year after posting a 29-53 record. New York hasn�t had a winning season since 2000-01 and last won a playoff series a year earlier, in Hall of Fame center Patrick Ewing�s final season with the team.

Trade details reported by the Post were confirmed by Lopez. Knicks spokesman Jonathan Supranowitz declined to comment in an e-mail.

Billups Moves
Anthony, 26, will go to New York along with 34-year-old Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Anthony Carter and Renaldo Balkman.

In exchange, New York will send Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov and a 2014 first-round draft pick to the Nuggets. Denver also gets the Golden State Warriors� 2012 and 2013 second-round draft picks and $3 million in cash.

The Knicks will also send Anthony Randolph and Eddy Curry to the Minnesota Timberwolves as part of the trade.

Knicks President Donnie Walsh�s failure to sign two-time reigning NBA Most Valuable Player LeBron James in July gave New York salary cap leeway to negotiate with a player such as Anthony, a four-time All-Star who is in the final year of his contract.

Anthony has finished among the top eight in NBA scoring in each of the past six seasons and is fourth among active players with a career average of 24.7 points per game.

Gold Medal
He played on the 2008 U.S. squad that won gold at the Olympics in Beijing and also was on the team that took the bronze medal in Athens in 2004 after becoming the first U.S. squad with NBA players to lose at the Games.

Anthony, who played in the All-Star Game on Feb. 20 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, was the No. 3 pick in the 2003 NBA draft after leading Syracuse University to the National Collegiate Athletic Association championship in his only season at the school.

He�s married to actress and television personality Alani �La La� Vazquez.

The Knicks made 14 straight playoff appearances from 1988 through 2001, during which time Ewing twice helped them reach the NBA Finals. The Knicks lost both appearances, in 1994 to the Houston Rockets, and in 1999 to the San Antonio Spurs.

Playoff Slump
Since losing in the Eastern Conference finals after the 1999-2000 season, the Knicks have made the playoffs twice and were eliminated in the opening round both times.

With one of the league�s highest payrolls and playing in the nation�s largest media market, New York has compiled a 173-319 record over the past six complete seasons. The low point was a 23-59 mark in 2007-08, when the Knicks matched a franchise record for losses in a season and endured turmoil off the court that led to the firing of Isiah Thomas as coach. He was replaced by Mike D�Antoni and the team went 29-53 last season.

Just before James opted to join the Miami Heat during the offseason, the Knicks signed Stoudemire, an eight-year veteran who�s the most experienced player on a young roster. In adding Anthony, the Knicks may be hoping for a run similar to the one that followed their last prolonged losing stretch.

New York had one winning season over a 12-year span from 1956 to 1967. It then won NBA championships in 1970 and 1973 behind players such as Walt Frazier and Willis Reed, now in the Hall of Fame. They remain the only titles in the history of a franchise that started play in 1946.
(Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-22/carmelo-anthony-moves-to-new-york-knicks-in-nba-trade-with-denver-nuggets.html)

Practicing The Yoga Positions

Yoga is one of the low impact exercises that anyone can learn and master. When entering the class, it will be a good idea to wear loose clothing and have a mat to be able to sit or stand properly on the floor.

Since this exercise has been practiced for more than 5,000 years, a lot of variations have been formed. This has created various positions with the same objective in mind of making the mind and the body work as one.

The warm-up of this exercise usually starts with the person standing with legs apart known as tree balance. After awhile, the individual should slowly lift onto the balls of the feet with one leg going up alternately.

After a few reps, this is the time the person will move the arms. This is called the prayer position in which both palms meet together above the head and then move slowly down until it reaches the front of the chest.

This can be done a few times and when the person is ready, the motion of the arms going from the top to bottom should be done simultaneously with one leg being raised with the other keeping the body balanced on the floor.

The triangle pose is also a simple exercise. The person stands with the arms and legs apart and then stretches from one side to the next. When the left hand is pointed upward, the head should also be facing in the same direction and vice versa. This should be repeated four to six times before proceeding to the other yoga positions.

The salutation pose is also another great exercise. The person starts by sitting in an Indian position and then kneels until the back, buttocks and thighs are aligned. Once this is locked, the left knee should be brought forward into a 90 degree position with the head and arms raised into the air and the spine slightly bended backward.

After a few seconds, the individual should back into the sitting position so that the same thing can also be done with the opposite leg.

Aside from standing, there are also the floor yoga positions. A very common one is known as the snake where the person lies flat on one�s stomach with the hands placed on the shoulders.

Slowly, the upper body will be raised as high as high as possible with the pelvis pushing down thus arching the back. This should be held for thirty seconds before releasing it and going down to the floor.

Those who are more flexible can do the more advanced one known as the bow pose. Instead of having the forearms on the ground, the hands should reach the ankles and then lift the body into the air with the weight of the body resting on the abdomen.

One of the more difficult is the head stand position. Here the person will start by kneeling on the ground and then lead forward with the forearms on the ground slowly lifting the legs into the air.

When the individual is having a hard time breathing in this position, it is best to slowly go down until the feet touches the ground.

The cow legged position is a great way to strengthen flexibility in both the arms and the legs. The person will start in a cross legged position and then put one leg over the other.

The right arm should be raised into the air with the elbow bent with the left arm coming from the back until the fingers of both hands touch each other. This should be held for a few seconds and also done for the other side.

The yoga positions just mentioned are just a handful of the more than 20 that are being done in one session. It will be a good idea to learn the basics first learn from a qualified instructor rather than doing it at home to be able to practice proper technique.

The person should not feel bad if there are others in the class who are doing it much better. After all, everyone had to start from scratch before being able to do some of the more difficult yoga positions. hopefully useful!

10 High Powered Ways To Increase Your Traffic

10 High Powered Ways To Increase Your Traffic:
1. Trade links with other web sites. They should be related to the subject of your web site. Instead of trading links, you could also trade banner ads, half
page ads, classified ads, etc.

2. Start an e-zine for your web site. When people read each issue they'll be reminded to revisit your web site. They'll see your product ad more than
just once which will increase your orders.

3. Form an online community. It could be an online message board, e-mail discussion list or chat room. When people get involved in your community they will regularly return to communicate with others.

4. Write articles and submit them to e-zines, web sites and magazines that accept article submissions. Include your business information and web address at the end of the article.

5. Give away an electronic freebie with your ad on it. Allow your visitors to also give the freebie away. This'll increase your ad exposure and attract people to your web site at the same time.

6. Combine your products or services into one big package deal with other businesses offerings. You could share a web site and advertise the package deal; which means double the traffic.

7. Submit your freebie to the online directories that list your particular item or service for free. If you're offering a free e-zine, submit it to all the free e-zine
directories on the internet.

8. Participate on message boards. Post answers to other people's questions, ask questions and post appropriate information. Include your signature file at the end of all your postings.

9. Exchange classified or sponsor ads with other free e-zine publishers. If there is a huge subscriber difference between e-zines, one can run more ads to make up for it.

10. Post your ad on free advertising areas on the internet. You can post it on free classified ad sites, free for all links sites, newsgroups that allow ads,
free yellow page directories, etc. hopefully useful!

The Bachelor Goes to Madawaska, Maine: 5 Things About This Quaint Town

The Bachelor Brad Womack and his remaining Bachelorettes hit the road so that Brad could visit their home towns and give some context on who and where his potential future wife is from. One of the stops? Madawaska, Maine.

It is not a place many can find on the map, until now. This quaint town shined in the limelight on this week�s Bachelor when the 26-year-old dental student Ashley Hebert took him to her hometown.

Here are five thing about the small main town:

It is not a large town. Back in 2000 there were about 4,ooo people from about 1,000 families.

Madawaska is the northernmost town in New England. It is right across the way from Edmundston in New Brunswick, Canada,

Over 80% of the residents of Madawaska speak French at home.

Their main industry, besides producing Bachelorettes, is producing paper.

Madawaska is home of the big Acadian festival.
(Source: http://blogs.babble.com/famecrawler/2011/02/21/the-bachelor-goes-to-madawaska-maine-5-things-about-this-quaint-town/)

Watch Cricket World Cup 2011 Online Through Willow TV

Watching the Cricket World Cup 2011 is what the fans of the games are after, but not all of them have access to satellite. However, for cricket fans, giving up is not an option.

Willow TV does not want to disappoint the cricket fans who are hungry for the action of the Cricket World Cup 2011, giving them the delight to witness every action, online.

Willow TV is an online network that is dedicated to provide fans all over the globe, live actions and excitement of the Cricket World Cup 2011. Cricket fans can witness Cricket World Cup 2011 24 hours, 7 days a week at Willow TV.

Business Insider regards Willow TV as the official online carrier of the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Fans will have all the chances to watch actions of the Cricket World Cup 2011 straight from India.

Fans around the world can also watch the action of the Cricket World Cup 2011 through DirecTV or Dish.

GameGame updates can be seen at ESPNCricInfo.com.

More information of the story click here.
(Source: http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/8239860-watch-cricket-world-cup-2011-online-through-willow-tv)

Cairo Masses Reassert Their Revolution's Demand

Kamel Abdullah took the pages of the free antigovernment newspaper he'd just been handed and carefully laid them on the ground in front of him as a makeshift prayer mat.
The beefy 50-year-old with a prominent zabibe, or callused prayer bump, on his forehead stood shoulder to shoulder with the hundreds of thousands of other Egyptians who poured into Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday, Feb. 18, a week after the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, to hear one of Sunni Islam's most influential clerics deliver his first sermon in decades on home soil after having been driven into exile by Mubarak.

The Thursday-night return from Qatar of the immensely popular Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who is close to the still proscribed Muslim Brotherhood, has further enlivened a once stagnant political scene now brimming with a growing spectrum of ideological diversity. His center-stage role in Friday's demonstration may also raise the discomfort of some in Washington over the role Islamists are likely to play in Egypt's nascent democracy.

"I congratulate the youth," al-Qaradawi said from the balcony of a nearby building. "The revolution isn't over � it continues, and we must participate in the new Egypt. Be patient and preserve your revolution."

The aging cleric also had a warning for other Arab regimes currently facing outbursts of the long-suppressed wrath of their citizenries: "You can't stop history. The Arab world has changed from within. Don't stand against your people. Try and understand them."

The sound system in the vast square faltered several times, reducing al-Qaradawi's voice to a near whisper, but few in the mass crowd stirred. There was pin-drop silence during a stirring 30-min. sermon that was largely political but also personal, as the cleric recounted how his granddaughter had joined protesters in Tahrir, sweeping the streets and repainting graffitied walls.

The theologian, popularized on al-Jazeera through his weekly religious-affairs program, called on Egypt to maintain the nonsectarian unity shown throughout the uprising that ousted Mubarak, and while he praised the military, he also demanded that it "liberate" Egyptians from "this government that Mubarak formed," immediately release political prisoners and, in a move that would frazzle Israelis, reopen the Rafah border crossing with Gaza.

But if he was pressing the military rulers to whom Mubarak had handed power just a week earlier, al-Qaradawi also offered them help, lending his considerable political and moral authority to efforts to end the ongoing strike wave by hundreds of thousands of Egyptians by urging them to "support this revolution by returning to work."
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(Source: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2052652,00.html)

Planned Parenthood of Funding

The House of Representatives voted Friday to end federal funding for Planned Parenthood, with republicans arguing that the amendment was necessary to prevent taxpayer money from funding abortions�even though, under Title X, the organization is already prohibited from using federal funds for such purposes.

The amendment, which was introduced by republican representative Mike Pence of Indiana, passed 240 to 185, mostly along party lines. It still faces a vote in the Senate.

"Nobody is saying Planned Parenthood can't be the leading advocate of abortion on demand, but why do I have to pay for it?" Pence said the day before the vote. He added that he hopes Roe v. Wade is eventually overturned.

But federal funding for Planned Parenthood falls under Title X, which specifically bars the use of its funds to provide abortions. The vote would strip Planned Parenthood and similar organizations of about $327 million through the end of September, eliminating funding for counseling, education, contraceptives, STD and HIV screening, cancer screenings, and other medical and preventive-health services.

Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards told Mother Jones magazine that she believes they can win enough votes in the Senate to restore Title X funding. "We've taken this vote before," Richards said.

During debate on Thursday, democratic representative Jackie Speier of California followed comments against abortion funding by sharing her own experience with having undergone a medically necessary abortion, after the baby she was carrying moved from the uterus through the cervix at 17 weeks gestation.

"And that procedure that you just talked about was a procedure that I endured. I lost a baby," she told a stunned house of representatives late Thursday night. (You can watch video of her statement, above.)

"To think that we are here tonight debating this issue when the American people, if they are listening, are scratching their heads and wondering what does this have to do with me getting a job? What does this have to do with reducing the deficit? And the answer is nothing at all," Speier said.


(Source: http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/house-of-representatives-votes-to-strip-planned-parenthood-of-funding-2455860/)

Cross Training for Fitness and Fat Loss

The numbers on your scale do not indicate whether you are fit or fat. Far more significant than your total body weight is the composition of your body tissue. If a man�s fatty tissue is bigger than 14% up to 15% of his body mass, or if a woman�s is more than 20% to 22%, he or she is overweight, or more precisely, overfat.

A small amount of fat is needed for padding the internal organs and as insulation under the skin. Excess fat leads to such diseases as diabetes, gout, high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, and gallbladder problems. There are very few, very fat persons. The reason is that the fittest, not the fattest survive.

The problem now is focused on how to resolve the problem. The problem with most people who want to lose weight is that they have the propensity to concentrate more on getting those numbers lower than what they are seeing now. What happens next is that they strive harder to achieve a lower weight, according to the �ever reliable� result of the weighing scale.

It would be more important to think of the human body as a heat-exchange engine that works on the basic principles of energy physics. The caloric balance equals the total calorie intake minus the total calorie expenditure.

Some of the calories people ingest are used for basal metabolism. As people get old, their bodies require fewer calories for this basic upkeep. Some calories are excreted as waste products. Some go into �work metabolism,� the energy expenditure required for any physical activity.

Hence, if people take in more calories than are used by these functions, there is a definite caloric excess. By the laws of physics, energy is transformed rather than destroyed. In this case, each excess of 3,500 calories is changed into a pound of fat. If people want to reverse this process, they have to burn up 3,500 calories to lose a single pound.

Winning the War Against Fat
When you think of fighting fat with exercise, you probably think of hours of hard, sweaty exertion. If this is the case, then, you will not get any farther. This is because people who are so much into losing more by exerting more effort tend to get bored easily.

Why? Because experts contend that when people exert more effort than what they are capable of doing creates a tendency to develop weariness and ennui. Hence, they give up, stop doing their routine exercises, and end up sulking in the corner with a bag of chips that seems to have all the bad calories in this world.

Now, you might ask, "What should be done instead?" The answer: cross training.

After some intensive studies and experimentations, health experts were able to come up with the concept of incorporating cross training in order to overcome or break the monotony or dullness in an exercise program.

Cross training refers to the integration of diverse movements or activities into a person�s conventional exercise routine. The main purpose of incorporating cross training into an exercise program is to avoid overdoing excess muscle damages and to put a stop to an imminent boredom.

Three of the most commonly used activities whenever a person decides to engage into cross training are swimming, running, and cycling.

In cross training, distance is one way to extend your activity as your condition improves. For this reason, you need to traverse a measured distance.

If possible, swim the course and measure the distance. If you will be using a running track, such courses usually are a quarter-mile per lap for a complete circuit.

Cross training offers a variety of benefits for fitness and fatloss. It builds up the strength and endurance of the heart, lungs, and blood vessels. It has also some tranquilizing effect on the nerves, and it burns up calories as much as it makes your �losing weight� more bearable.

Cross training has three basic components:
1. Endurance exercises to condition the heart, lungs, and blood vessels and to induce relaxation. These begin with a careful planned walking and jogging regimen, depending on fitness level.

2. Exercises to strengthen the muscles, particularly those important to good posture. These include some activities that are selected to encourage some people who are already burnt out with a particular routine.

3. Exercises to improve joint mobility and prevent or relieve aches and pains. These consist of a series of static stretching positions that are safe and effective for most of the people who wish to try to lose some fat.

Indeed, cross training is a great way to modify the concept of exercising and losing fat without having to endure monotonous activities. In fact, the idea of exercising is to like what you are doing, hence, if you engage into cross training, you will be aware of it that you have already achieve your desired weight.
Boiled down, cross training is, certainly, one way of having fun. hopefully useful!

Bassmaster Classic 2011: Super Bowl of Fishing takes to Tricky Louisiana Bayou

The Bassmaster Classic 2011 is the most prestigious bass-fishing event in the world, drawing 50 top fishermen to New Orleans in the wake of the BP oil spill. Oil is a nonfactor, organizers say.

Atlanta

Picking the right lure and using the right technique to coax monster bass out of the water won't be enough for this year's Bassmaster Classic 2011, the Super Bowl of angling.

Wedging sleek bass boats around the Louisiana marshlands may present the biggest challenge of this year's tournament, which returns to the New Orleans area for the first time since 2003. Swift tides make the area particularly bass-rich, but treacherous for the 50 fishermen who qualified for the tourney. Organizers didn't see enough evidence of damage from last year's BP oil spill to change venues.

Heavy morning fog already delayed boat launches on Friday, the first of the three-day tournament, which will culminate with a final weigh-in Sunday at the New Orleans Arena. Last week's practice sessions in Bayou Segnette State Park saw boats running aground on hidden shoals, with several fishermen having to call in for rescue.

While past champs like Kevin VanDam and Skeet Reese will compete, early favorites include Greg Hackney, a Louisiana native who counts the area as part of his home fishing ground.

"There's plenty of fish, but the sheer size of the habitat means if you make a mistake, especially on the first day, you're pretty much done, because you just don't have the time to change," Mr. VanDam told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "You can't win on the first day, but you can definitely lose on the first day, because the distances involved means you're stuck with your choices."

The rules are simple: Fishermen can use only artificial baits, and each angler can weigh in up to five fish each day that have to measure at least 12 inches. Dead fish result in an eight-ounce penalty. The winner is the fisherman who has the biggest total "bag weight" at the end.

The event could inject up to $30 million into the Greater New Orleans economy and could be an important public-relations jolt for a region whose image suffered during last year's oil spill.

"Perception is our biggest challenge, and that's why an event like this is so good. It continues to help us get the word out.... We've worked with EPA, FDA, and NOAA, at the federal level, at the state level," Ewell Smith, executive director of the Louisiana Promotion & Marketing Board, told Fox 8 in New Orleans.

The fishing for the 41st annual Bassmaster Classic is likely to be good. The bass in the Mississippi River Delta are just beginning to spawn, and the area is known for the number and size of largemouth bass.

"I think this bunch doesn�t realize how good the fishing is here,� Mr. Hackney told the SunHerald, a Mississippi newspaper. �It�s real good, and it�s going to get better. We�re going to see a 10- or 11-pounder from somebody, maybe one each day."

He continued, �This bunch of guys can catch fish, and the best fishermen in the world are coming to a phenomenal place and they�re coming at the right time of the year. It�s going to be great.�
(Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Sports/2011/0218/Bassmaster-Classic-2011-Super-Bowl-of-fishing-takes-to-tricky-Louisiana-bayou)

Why There's No Turning Back in the Middle East

The year of the revolutions began in January, in a small country of little importance. Then the protests spread to the region's largest and most important state, toppling a regime that had seemed firmly entrenched. The effect was far-reaching. The air was filled with talk of liberty and freedom. Street protests cropped up everywhere, challenging the rule of autocrats and monarchs, who watched from their palaces with fear.

That could be a description of events in Tunisia and Egypt as those countries' peaceful revolutions have inspired and galvanized people across the Middle East. In fact, it refers to popular uprisings 162 years earlier that began in Sicily and France. The revolutions of 1848, as they were called, were remarkably similar in mood to what is happening right now in the Middle East. (They were dubbed the springtime of peoples by historians at the time.) The backdrop then, as now, was a recession and rising food prices. The monarchies were old and sclerotic. The young were in the forefront. New information technologies � mass newspapers! � connected the crowds.

Except that the story didn't end so well. The protesters gained power but then splintered, fought one another and weakened themselves. The military stayed loyal to the old order and cracked down on protests. The monarchs waited things out, and within a few years, the old regimes had reconstituted themselves. "History reached its turning point, and failed to turn," wrote the British historian A.J.P. Taylor.

Will history fail to turn in the Middle East? Will these protests in Yemen, Bahrain, Jordan and beyond peter out, and in a few years, will we look back at 2011 and realize that very little actually changed? It's certainly possible, but there are two fundamental reasons the tensions that have been let loose in the Middle East over the past few weeks are unlikely to disappear, and they encompass two of the most powerful forces changing the world today: youth and technology.

The central, underlying feature of the Middle East's crisis is a massive youth bulge. About 60% of the region's population is under 30. These millions of young people have aspirations that need to be fulfilled, and the regimes in place right now show little ability to do so. The protesters' demands have been dismissed by the regimes as being for Islamic fundamentalism or a product of Western interference. But plainly these are homegrown protests that have often made the West uneasy as they have shaken up old alliances. And what the protesters want in the first place is to be treated as citizens, not subjects. In a recent survey of Middle Eastern youth, the No. 1 wish of the young in nine countries was to live in a free country, although, to be sure, jobs and the desire to live in well-run, modern societies ranked very high as well.

Young people are not always a source of violence. The West experienced a demographic bulge � the famous baby boom in the decades after World War II � that is known mainly for fueling economic growth. China and India, likewise, have a large cohort of young workers, and that adds to those countries' economic strength. But without economic growth, job opportunities and a sense of dignity, too many young people � especially young men � can make for mass discontent. That is what has happened in the Middle East, where the scale of the youth bulge is extreme � perhaps the largest in the world right now. From 1970 to 2007, 80% of all outbreaks of conflict occurred in countries where 60% or more of the population was younger than 30. And even places where the baby boom produced growth are not without problems. The peak years of the West's bulge came in the late 1960s, a period associated with youth rebellions and mass protests.

Journalists, politicians and scholars have all noted the Middle East's youth problem. But the region's governments have done little to address it � youth unemployment remains staggeringly high, by some measures close to 25%. The oil boom has certainly helped the Gulf countries pay off their people in various ways, but more than half of those who live in the Middle East are in lands that do not produce oil. Moreover, oil has proved a curse in the rich countries, where the economies have little to offer other than extracting hydrocarbons, where armies of foreigners do all the work and where regimes continue to offer their people a basic bargain: we will subsidize you as long as you accept our rule. Rattled by recent developments, Kuwait and Bahrain both decided to give all of their citizens bonuses this year ($3,000 in Kuwait, $2,700 in Bahrain).

Those payments are a reminder that in the Middle East, there are two modes of control: mass repression and mass bribery. Perhaps the latter, used in the Gulf states, will prove more effective � though in Bahrain, the regime faces specific challenges, with a Sunni minority ruling over a Shi'ite majority. The broader predicament facing both systems, however, is a population that is increasingly aware, informed and connected. It's too simple to say that what happened in Tunisia and Egypt happened because of Facebook. But technology � satellite television, computers, mobile phones and the Internet � has played a powerful role in informing, educating and connecting people in the region. Such advances empower individuals and disempower the state. In the old days, information technology favored those in power, because it was one to many. That's why revolutionaries tried to take over radio stations in the 1930s � so they could broadcast information to the masses. Today's technologies are all many to many, networks in which everyone is connected but no one is in control. That's bad for anyone trying to suppress information.

Of course, the state can fight back. The Egyptian government managed to shut down Egyptians' access to the Internet for five days. The Iranian regime closed down cell-phone service at the height of the green movement's protests in 2009. But think of the costs of such moves. Can banks run when the Internet is down? Can commerce expand when cell phones are demobilized? Syria has only now opened access to Facebook, but its basic approach remains to keep the world tightly at bay � which is a major obstacle to economic growth and to tackling that vital problem of youth unemployment. North Korea can stay stable as long as it stays utterly stagnant. (And that stability is for the short term anyway.) For regimes that need or want to respond to the aspirations of their people, openness becomes an economic and political necessity.

The modernizing imperative � societies need to embrace more openness to make progress � is why I am allowing myself to be optimistic about the progress of the youth revolutions. It's easy to be disappointed when looking at the Middle East's sad recent history. And yet something in the region feels as if it is changing. Warren Buffett once said that when anyone tells him, "This time it's different," he reaches for his wallet because he fears he's going to be swindled. Well, I have a feeling that this time in the Middle East, it's different. But I have my hand on my wallet anyway.
(Source: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2049804,00.html)

People of Wal Mart

The Latest News about the �People of Wal-Mart", it�s called "People of Wal-Mart. People taking pictures of shoppers and post them online so others can make fun of them. However, a Metro Detroit woman was not laughing when her mom popped up on the site." You cannot be confident in the store while you're shopping? It upsets me, "said Melanie Wheeler.

I sat down with the Ypsilanti woman. She told me her mom's picture in" People in Wal-Mart "website. caption read" A member of the Canadian division of the trench coat mafia. "Wheeler said her mother was shopping Ypsilanti Wal-Mart on Ellsworth Road, but did not realize that someone had snapped a picture of her and was shocked to find it online.
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Len Lesser, 'Seinfeld's' Uncle Leo, Dead at 88

Len Lesser, best-known to TV fans as Uncle Leo on 'Seinfeld,' has died.

Lesser died from pneumonia in Burbank, CA. He was 88.

He had a very long television career, making his first appearance on a 1949 -- yes, 1949! -- episode of 'Studio One.' During the course of his 60-year career he appeared in such shows as 'Dragnet,' 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents,' 'Gunsmoke,' 'Mike Hammer' (the 50s version), 'Playhouse 90,' 'The Jack Benny Program,' 'The Untouchables,' 'The Outer Limits,' 'The Wild, Wild West,' 'Get Smart,' 'Boy Meets World,' 'ER,' 'Cold Case' and dozens of others.

His most recent role was a 2009 appearance on 'Castle.'

Just this weekend, Retro TV ran an episode of 'Peter Gunn' from 1959 that co-starred Lesser. 'Seinfeld' fans might be surprised to know that Lesser had been working that long, since they know him best from that NBC sitcom (and 'Everybody Loves Raymond').
(Source: http://www.tvsquad.com/2011/02/16/seinfelds-uncle-leo-len-lesser-dead-at-88/)

Tips for Selecting The Perfect Reception for Your Wedding

Your wedding theme
Your wedding reception selection will depend a lot on the theme you want for your wedding. A beach, a hilltop, a garden, even a historic area can enhance your reception and make your wedding a very memorable event. Consider the kind of d�cor you will need and which would work well for the reception. A place that's too windy, for example, will ruin delicate tulle and chiffon arrangements.

Location
Consider how far the reception is from the church or if it is accessible to the bridal party and the guests. It could have the most breathtaking views but if it would take more than an hour to get there on a winding dirt-road past deserted areas, you might want to reconsider. Ask about traffic jams or rush hours that could affect your arrival and departure times.

Facilities for an indoor reception
Check the reception yourself. Take the most common route you and your guests will be taking to see the condition of the road. When you arrive, check the parking area if there's enough space for guests' parking, or if there' space for handicap access if it's needed. Look at the fa�ade, the color of the building and the design of the structure if these figure well into your specs.

Survey the area where your wedding reception will be held and see if it can accommodate the number of guests you will be having. Check for airconditioning, clean bathrooms and a changing room for the bride if possible.

If you want your wedding ceremony done in the same place, ask where and how. Inquire also about seating arrangements, the location of the food table, wedding gifts and the DJ's booth. Ask to see pictures of sample settings that are similar to what you have in mind.

If you're having an outdoor reception, survey the grounds and surrounding plants and flowers. Ask if the garden will look the same on the month of your wedding or if the blooms won't be around by then.

Ask the reception manager if they expect to have construction work done around the time of your wedding reception. You don�t want the sound of hammers and drills heard during toasts nor workmen going in and out of the area while you're having your first dance.

Date
If the venue is available on your selected date, ask if there's anyone else who's booked the place on the same day. Imagine how disappointed you would feel if there's a convention of noisy salesmen next door.

Food
Most venues have partnerships with caterers. Look at the menus for the best choice with your budget. Or if you want to bring some food and wine or have your own caterer, ask for corkage fees. You might also want to inquire about cake cutting fees, since some venues charge this separately.

Before you decide on which menu you like, schedule a food tasting first. Make sure to have your guests in mind when choosing the menu, since you might have ones who are non-meat eaters. Make necessary adjustments on the menu if it's called for.

Cost
Ask how much it would cost to rent the place or to set up a ceremony. Since most venues charge a set number of hours (usually 4-5), ask how much succeeding hours would cost in case your reception gets extended. If they have wedding packages, make sure to check these as well. Most of these include the wedding cake, flowers and the limo.

Make sure you know what is included in the price and don�t just assume. Most reception rentals include lighting, sound system, tables and chairs. Others include video systems, music, utensils, glasses, floral arrangements, even venue decors.

Next, inquire about payment schedule: when the deposit should be paid and when the full payment is due. Make sure you put everything in writing and once the contract has been drawn, read it carefully in case some things have been missed. Don�t be afraid to complain or change a few things. After all, it's your wedding reception and the right selection will figure a great deal on whether it will turn out to be a wonderfully memorable event or something you'll be mad about for years to come. hopefully useful!