Dec 13th 2010
Optical Illusions that Trigger Your Brain
Click here to see them.

Dec 12th 2010
Top 20 Miss Mexico, Miss Venezuela and Miss USA Titleholders Who Became Actresses

Dec 11th 2010
Sights Around the World: South America

Dec 10th 2010

Top 7 Margaret Atwood Novels That I Have Read

Alias Grace

Lady Oracle

The Robber Bride

Cat’s Eye

The Blind Assassin

The Handmaid’s Tale

Surfacing

Top 3 Gabriel Garcia Marquez Novels That I Have Read

Del amor y otros demonios

Cronica de una muerte anunciada

Cien años de soledad

Dec 9th 2010
Sights Around the World: Africa

Dec 8th 2010
From Birth to Age 10 in 85 Seconds
Click here to see the video.

Dec 7th 2010
My Czech Experience (Prague & Karlovy Vary)

prague_1.doc
File Size: 4668 kb
File Type: doc
Download File

prague_2.doc
File Size: 0 kb
File Type: doc
Download File

prague_3.doc
File Size: 4780 kb
File Type: doc
Download File

kv_1.doc
File Size: 4398 kb
File Type: doc
Download File

kv_2.doc
File Size: 4454 kb
File Type: doc
Download File

Dec 1st-6th 2010
Jocular and fictional phobias

Picture
  • Aibohphobia – a joke term for the fear of palindromes, which is a palindrome itself. The term is a piece of computer humor entered into the 1981 The Devil's DP Dictionary.
  • Anachrophobia – fear of temporal displacement, from a Doctor Who novel by Jonathan Morris.
  • Anatidaephobia – fear of being watched by a duck. Comes from Gary Larson's The Far Side.
  • Anoraknophobia – a portmanteau of "anorak" and "arachnophobia". Used in the Wallace and Gromit comic book Anoraknophobia. Also the title of an album by Marillion.
  • Arachibutyrophobia – fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth. The word is used by Peter O'Donnell in his 1985 Modesty Blaise adventure novel Dead Man's Handle. It had circulated, unattributed, in the Internet for some time until it landed at the CTRN Phobia Clinic website: "Working one-on-one with one of our team, with guaranteed lifetime elimination of Sticky Peanut Butter Phobia. From $1497 and up."
  • Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia – fear of long words. Hippopoto- "big" due to its allusion to the Greek-derived word hippopotamus (though this is derived as hippo- "horse" compounded with potam-os "river", so originally meaning "river horse"; according to the Oxford English, "hippopotamine" has been construed as large since 1847, so this coinage is reasonable); -monstr- is from Latin words meaning "monstrous", -o- is a noun-compounding vowel; -sesquipedali- comes from "sesquipedalian" meaning a long word (literally "a foot and a half long" in Latin), -o- is a noun-compounding vowel, and -phobia means "fear". Note: This was mentioned on the first episode of Brainiac Series Five as one of Tickle's Teasers.
  • Keanuphobia - fear of Keanu Reeves, portrayed in the Dean Koontz book, False Memory, where a woman has an irrational fear of Keanu Reeves and has to see her psychiatrist, Mark Ahriman, each week. He calls her the "Keanuphobe" in his head. She eventually ends up killing her psychiatrist because she believes that he is one of the Machine agents trying to control her.
  • Luposlipaphobia - fear of being pursued by timber wolves around a kitchen table while wearing socks on a newly waxed floor, also from Gary Larson's The Far Side.
  • Nihilophobia - fear of nothingness, as described by the Doctor in the Star Trek: Voyager episode Night. Voyager's morale officer and chef Neelix suffers from this condition, having panic attacks while the ship was traversing a dark expanse of space known as the Void. It is also the title of a 2008 album by Neuronium. Also, the animated version of George of the Jungle (2007 TV series) is seen suffering in one episode of the cartoon, where they are telling scary stories.
  • Venustraphobia – fear of beautiful women, according to a 1998 humorous article published by BBC News. The word is a portmanteau of "Venus trap" and "phobia". Venustraphobia is the title of a 2006 album by Casbah Club.

Click here to upload file

Prejudices and discrimination

Picture

Nov 30th 2010
Animal phobias (Zoophobia)

Picture

Workplace phobia 

Picture
According to the general definition of specific phobias in DSM-IV or ICD-10, workplace phobia can be stated when an actual or imagined confrontation with the workplace or certain stimuli at the workplace (e.g. persons, objects, situations, events) causes a prominent anxiety reaction in a person. Secondly, avoidance behaviour towards the workplace or associated stimuli has developed. In some cases Workplace phobia may be a kind of social phobia or social anxiety or extreme shyness.

Trypanophobia

Picture
Trypanophobia is the extreme fear of medical procedures involving injections or hypodermic needles. It is occasionally referred to as aichmophobia, belonephobia, or enetophobia, names that are technically incorrect because they simply denote a “fear of pins/needles” and do not refer to the medical aspect of trypanophobia.

Triskaidekaphobia

Picture
Triskaidekaphobia (from Greek tris meaning "3," kai meaning "and," and deka meaning "10") is fear of the number 13; it is a superstition and related to a specific fear of Friday the 13th, called paraskevidekatriaphobia or friggatriskaidekaphobia.

Nov 29th 2010
Traumatophobia

Picture
Injury phobia is a specific phobia of blood/injection/injury type. It is an abnormal, pathological fear of having an injury.

Tokophobia

Picture
Tokophobia, or fear of childbirth or pregnancy, is a form of specific phobia. Other terms for the condition include tocophobia and parturiphobia.

Tetraphobia

Picture
Tetraphobia is an aversion to or fear of the number 4. It is a superstition most common in East Asian regions such as mainland China, Taiwan, Japan and Korea.

Telephone phobia

Picture
Telephone phobia (telephonophobia, telephobia) is reluctance or fear of making or taking phone calls, literally, "fear of telephone.

Technophobia

Picture
Technophobia is the fear or dislike of advanced technology or complex devices, especially computers.

Taphophobia

Picture
Fear of being buried alive is the fear of being placed in a grave while still alive as a result of being incorrectly pronounced dead. The abnormal, psychopathological version of this fear is referred to as taphophobia (from Greek taphos, meaning "grave"), which is translated as "fear of graves".

5 Signs That You Are Turning Into a Dictator

Picture
Click here to see them.

Nov 28th 2010
Spectrophobia

Picture
Spectrophobia (from Latin: spectrum, "image") or eisoptrophobia is a kind of specific phobia involving a morbid fear of mirrors and the dread of seeing one's own reflection.

Somniphobia

Picture
Hypnophobia or somniphobia is an abnormal fear of sleep. It may result from a feeling of control loss, or from repeating nightmares.

Scopophobia

Picture
Scopophobia or scoptophobia is the irrational fear of being seen or being stared at.


Social phobia

Picture
Social phobia may refer to any of the following conditions:

  • Specific social phobia – social anxiety occurring only in specific situations, such as a fear of public speaking
  • Social anxiety – the experience of anxiety (emotional discomfort, fear, apprehension, or worry) regarding social situations, interactions with others or being evaluated or scrutinized by other people
  • Social anxiety disorder – a diagnosis within the mental health professions referring to clinically excessive social anxiety

Nov 27th 2010
Radiophobia

Radiophobia is an abnormal fear of ionizing radiation, also used in the sense of fear of X-rays. The term is also used (polemically, not medically) to general opposition to the use of nuclear energy. Fear of ionizing radiation is not unnatural, since it can pose significant risks; however this fear may become abnormal and even irrational, often owing to poor information or understanding, but also as a consequence of traumatic experience.

Pyrophobia

Picture
Pyrophobia is an abnormal and persistent fear of fire. Pyrophobia is derived from the Ancient Greek πὔρ (pur) "fire" and φόβος (phobos) "fear."

Phobophobia

Picture
Phobophobia (from Greek: φόβος, phobos, "fear") is a phobia which is defined as the fear of phobias, or the fear of fear, which includes intense anxiety and unrealistic and persistent fear of the somatic sensations and the feared phobia ensued. Phobophobia can also be defined as the fear of phobias or fear of developing a phobia. Phobophobia is related to anxiety disorders and panic attacks that are directly linked to other types of phobias, such as agoraphobia. When a patient has developed phobophobia, his condition must be diagnosed and treated as part of anxiety disorders.

Nov 26th 2010
Pharmacophobia

Picture
Medication phobia (also known as pharmacophobia) is a fear of the use of pharmacological treatments. In severe, excessive and irrational, cases it may be a type of specific phobia.

Phagophobia

Picture
Phagophobia is a psychogenic dysphagia, a fear of swallowing.

Phasmophobia

Picture
The fear of ghosts in many human cultures is based on beliefs that some ghosts may be malignant towards people and dangerous (within the range of all possible attitudes, including mischievous, benignant, indifferent, etc.).
The fear of ghosts is sometimes referred to as phasmophobia and erroneously spectrophobia, the latter being an established term for fear of mirrors and one's own reflections.

Nov 25th 2010

Panphobia

Picture
Panphobia, from the Greek 'pan' and 'phobos,' also called Omniphobia, Pantophobia, or Panophobia, is a medical condition known as a "non-specific fear" or "the fear of everything" and is described as "a vague and persistent dread of some unknown evil", or only seeing the extremes to everything.

Paraskavedekatriaphobia

Picture
The fear of Friday the 13th is called friggatriskaidekaphobia (Frigga being the name of the Norse goddess for whom "Friday" is named and triskaidekaphobia meaning fear of the number thirteen), or paraskevidekatriaphobia, a concatenation of the Greek words Paraskeví (Παρασκευή, meaning "Friday"), and dekatreís (δεκατρείς, meaning "thirteen") attached to phobía (φοβία, from phóbos, φόβος, meaning "fear").

Osmophobia

Picture
Osmophobia (oz′mō-fō′bē-ă) or olfactophobia refers to a fear, aversion, or psychological hypersensitivity to smells or odors. The phobia generally occurs in chronic migraine sufferers who may have odor triggered migraines. Such migraines are most frequently triggered by foul odors, but the hypersensitivity may extend to all odors.

Nov 24th 2010

Nyctophobia

Picture
Nyctophobia is a phobia characterized by an acute fear of the darkness. It is triggered by the mind’s disfigured perception of what would or could happen when in a dark environment.

Nosocomephobia

Picture
Nosocomephobia is defined as the excessive fear of hospitals.

Nosophobia

Picture
Nosophobia is a specific phobia, an irrational fear of contracting a disease, from Greek "nosos" for "disease". Primary fears of this kind are fear of contracting pulmonary tuberculosis, venereal diseases, cancer, and heart diseases.

Nov 23th 2010

Nomophobia

Picture
Nomophobia is the fear of being out of mobile phone contact.

Neophobia

Picture
Neophobia is the fear of new things or experiences. It is also called cainotophobia.

Necrophobia

Picture
Necrophobia is the abnormal fear of dead things (e.g., corpses) as well as things associated with death (e.g., coffins, tombstones). Necrophobia is derived from Greek nekros (νεκρος) for "corpse" and -phob- for "fear". The symptoms include: shortness of breath, rapid breathing, irregular heartbeat, sweating, dry mouth and shaking, feeling sick and uneasy, psychological instability, and an altogether feeling of dread and trepidation. The sufferer may feel this phobia all the time, or only when something triggers the fear, like a close encounter with a dead animal or the funeral of a loved one or friend. The fear may have developed when a person witnessed a death, or was forced to attend a funeral as a child. Some people experience this phobia after seeing something frightening on television or in a movie.

Nov 22th 2010

Mysophobia

Picture
Mysophobia is a term used to describe a pathological fear of contact with dirt, to avoid contamination and germs. Someone who has such a fear is referred to as a mysophobe. The term was introduced by Dr. William Alexander Hammond in 1879 when describing a case of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) exhibited in repeatedly washing one's hands. This phobia is sometimes referred to as germophobia or germaphobia, a combination of germ and phobia to mean fear of germs, as well as bacillophobia and bacteriophobia. Mysophobia has long been related to the OCD of constantly washing one's hands. However, Harry Stack Sullivan, an American psychologist and psychoanalyst, notes that while fear of dirt underlies the compulsion of a person with this kind of OCD, his or her mental state is not about germs; instead, this person feels the hands must be washed. Other names for abnormal persistent fear of dirt and filth include molysmophobia or molysomophobia, rhypophobia, and rupophobia.

Megalophobia

Picture
Megalophobia is the fear of large/oversized objects.

Medication phobia

Picture
Medication phobia (also known as pharmacophobia) is a fear of the use of pharmacological treatments. In severe, excessive and irrational, cases it may be a type of specific phobia.

Nov 21th 2010
Lipophobia

Picture
Lipophobia refers to avoidance of fats in food.

Ligyrophobia

Picture
Phonophobia (also called ligyrophobia) is a fear of loud sounds. It can also mean a fear of voices, or a fear of one's own voice. For example, listening to a CD that starts with a minute of silence and then suddenly goes into loud rock music would be extremely startling for most people, assuming they had no prior knowledge of the content of the CD. Being startled is in itself a normal reaction, but the key difference is that people with ligyrophobia actively fear such an occurrence.

Koumpounophobia

Picture
Koumpounophobia is the term used to describe the phobia of buttons on clothing. This phobia regularly leads to feelings of fear and disgust when sufferers are exposed to buttons either visually or physically. There are varying degrees of this phobia, some sufferers may experience discomfort while others may have extreme reactions, in some cases leading to panic attacks and vomiting.The most common forms of treatment for koumpounophobia are behavioral therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy.

Nov 20th 2010

Hoplophobia

Picture
Hoplophobia from the Greek hoplon, meaning armor, is defined as the "fear of firearms" and as the "fear of armed citizens".

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia

Picture
Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia (pronounced hexa-koseeoi-hexe-konta-hexaphobia) (derived from Greek roots literally meaning "fear of [the number] six hundred sixty-six") is the fear that originated from the Biblical verse Revelation 13:18, which indicates that the number 666 is the Number of the Beast, linked to Satan or the Anti-Christ.

Hemophobia

Picture
Blood phobia (also, AE: Hemophobia, BE: Haemophobia) is the extreme and irrational fear of blood. Acute cases of this fear can cause physical reactions that are uncommon in most other fears, specifically vasovagal syncope (fainting). Similar reactions can also occur with trypanophobia and traumatophobia. For this reason, these phobias are categorized as "blood-injection-injury phobia" by the DSM-IV. Some early texts refer to this category as "blood-injury-illness phobia.

Nov 19th 2010

Heliophobia

Picture
Heliophobia has two meanings:


Haptephobia

Picture
The fear of being touched (also known as aphephobia, haphephobia, haphophobia, hapnophobia, haptophobia, thixophobia) is a rare specific phobia that involves the fear of touching or of being touched. It is an acute exaggeration of the normal tendencies to protect one's personal space, expressed as a fear of contamination or of the invasion, and extending even to people whom its sufferers know well.
Sometimes the fear is restricted specifically, or predominantly, to being touched by people of the opposite sex. In women, this is often associated with a fear of sexual assault. Dorais reports that many boys who have been the victims of sexual abuse have a fear of being touched, quoting one victim who describes being touched as something that "burns like fire", causing him to freeze up or to lash out.

Halitophobia (delusion halitosis)

Picture
Halitosis is a term used to describe noticeably unpleasant odors exhaled in breathing. Halitosis has a significant impact — personally and socially — on those who suffer from it or believe they do (halitophobia), and is estimated to be the third-most-frequent reason for seeking dental aid, following tooth decay and periodontal disease.

Gynophobia

Picture
Gynophobia (also spelled as gynephobia) is an abnormal fear of women. In the past, the Latin term was used, horror feminae, meaning "fear of women".
The word caligynephobia is also coined to mean the fear of beautiful women. For the latter one the expression venustraphobia is also used. In many cases it may also be rooted in social phobia or social anxiety disorder.

Nov 18th 2010

Gymnophobia

Picture
Gymnophobia is a fear (phobia) of nudity. Gymnophobics experience anxiety from nudity, even if they realize their fear is irrational. They may worry about seeing others naked or being seen naked, or both. Their fear may stem from a general anxiety about sexuality, from a fear that they are physically inferior, or from a fear that their nakedness leaves them exposed and unprotected. The word "Gymnophobia" is derived from the Greek "gymnos" (naked).

Glossophobia

Picture
Glossophobia or speech anxiety is the fear of public speaking. The word glossophobia comes from the Greek γλῶσσα glōssa, meaning tongue, and φόβος phobos, fear or dread. Many people only have this fear, while others may also have social phobia or social anxiety disorder.
Stage fright may be a symptom of glossophobia.

Gerontophobia

Picture
Gerontophobia is the fear of growing old, or a hatred or fear of the elderly.

Gerascophobia

Picture
Gerascophobia (Greek: gerasco, "I am ageing" and φόβος, phobos, "fear") is an abnormal or persistent fear of growing old or ageing. Gerascophobia is a clinical phobia generally classified under specific phobias, fear of a single specific panic trigger.
Some authors also refer to it as gerontophobia, while others prefer to distinguish the fear/dislike of old age in general and the fear of one's own ageing.
Gerascophobia is based on anxieties of being left alone, of being without resources and of being incapable of caring for oneself.

Nov 17th 2010

Genophobia

Picture
Genophobia is the physical or psychological fear of sexual relations or sexual intercourse. The word comes from the Greek terms genos, meaning “offspring,” and phobos, meaning “fear.” Genophobia can also be called coitophobia. This word is also formed from the Greek term phobos and the term coitus, referring to the act of copulation in which the male reproductive organ penetrates the female reproductive tract.The term erotophobia can also be used when describing genophobia. It comes from the name of the Greek god of erotic love, Eros. Genophobia can induce panic and fear in individuals, much like panic attacks. People who suffer from the phobia can be intensely affected by attempted sexual contact or just the thought of it. The extreme fear can lead to trouble in romantic relationships. Those afflicted by genophobia may stay away from getting involved in relationships to avoid the possibility of intimacy. This can lead to feelings of loneliness. Genophobic people may also feel lonely because they may feel embarrassed or ashamed of their personal fears.

Gephyrophobia

Picture
Gephyrophobia is an anxiety disorder brought about by the fear of bridges. As a result, sufferers of gephyrophobia may avoid routes that will take them over bridges.

Gelotophobia

Picture
Gelotophobia is a term, from the Greek for laughter gelos and fear phobia, to describe people who have a “fear of being laughed at”. While most people do not like being laughed at except, perhaps, for gelotophiles, there is a sub-group of people that exceedingly fear being laughed at. Without obvious reasons, they relate laughter they hear e.g., in a restaurant to themselves and feel unease when confronted with laughter.

Nov 16th 2010

Erythrophobia

Picture
Erythrophobia, from Greek: ερυθρός, red, and Greek: φοβία, fear, literally "fear of redness", refers to pathological blushing.

Erotophobia

Picture
Erotophobia, or sex phobia, is a term that has three different common usages or meanings. It may be used:

  • to describe a specific phobia related to sex, or
  • as a term in psychological studies describing one's degree of (general) aversion to sex, or
  • as a political term, used for example by some feminist intellectuals and sometimes in literary analysis

Ergophobia

Picture
Ergophobia also called Ergasiophobia, is an abnormal and persistent fear (or phobia) of work, finding work or functioning, ergophobia may also be a subset of either social phobia or performance anxiety. Sufferers of ergophobia experience undue anxiety about the workplace environment even though they realize their fear is irrational. Their fear may actually be a combination of fears, such fear of failing at assigned tasks, fear of speaking before groups at work (both of which are types of performance anxiety), or fear of socializing with co-workers (a type of social phobia).
"Ergophobia" is derived from the Greek "ergon" (work) and "phobos" (fear). "Ergo" is also used to form other English words, including "ergometer" (a device that measures the amount of work done by muscles) and "ergonomics" (an applied science that designs interfaces and working environments with the aim of maximizing functionality and improving worker comfort.

Emetophobia

Picture
Emetophobia is an intense, irrational fear or anxiety pertaining to vomiting. This specific phobia can also include subcategories of what causes the anxiety, including a fear of vomiting in public, a fear of seeing vomit, a fear of watching the action of vomiting or fear of being nauseated. Emetophobia is clinically considered an “elusive predicament” because limited research has been done pertaining to it. It is considered to be one of the most common phobias in the world.

Title.

Picture
Paragraph.

Nov 15th 2010
Impressive Pictures of the New 7 Wonders of the World

Dysmorphophobia

Picture
Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) (previously known as dysmorphophobia is sometimes referred to as body dysmorphia or dysmorphic syndrome) is a (psychological) somatoform disorder in which the affected person is excessively concerned about and preoccupied by a perceived defect in his or her physical features (body image). The sufferer may complain of several specific features or a single feature, or a vague feature or general appearance, causing psychological distress that impairs occupational and/or social functioning, sometimes to the point of severe depression and anxiety, development of other anxiety disorders, social withdrawal or complete social isolation, and more. It is estimated that 1–2% of the world's population meet all the diagnostic criteria for BDD.
The exact cause(s) of BDD differ(s) from person to person. However, most clinicians believe it could be a combination of biological, psychological and environmental factors from their past or present. Abuse and neglect can also be contributing factors.
Onset of symptoms generally occurs in adolescence or early adulthood, where most personal criticism of one's own appearance usually begins, although cases of BDD onset in children and older adults is not unknown. BDD is often misunderstood to affect mostly women, but research shows that it affects men and women equally.

Dental phobia

Picture
Dental fear refers to the fear of dentistry and of receiving dental care. A pathological form of this fear (specific phobia) is variously called dental phobia, odontophobia, dentophobia, dentist phobia, or dental anxiety. However, it has been suggested that the term "dental phobia" is often a misnomer, as many people with this condition do not feel their fears to be excessive or unreasonable and resemble individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder, caused by previous traumatic dental experiences.

Decidophobia

Picture
Decidophobia is the fear of making decisions.

Nov 14th 2010

Coulrophobia

Picture
Coulrophobia is an abnormal or exaggerated fear of clowns. The term is common, but is not commonly used in psychology. The prefix "coulro-" comes from the Ancient Greek κωλοβαθριστής (kōlobathristēs), “one who goes on stilts”. Coulrophobia can also be said to extend to a fear of covering up one's face with paint—the idea of hiding recognisable features under a layer of face paint can also unsettle coulrophobia sufferers.

Claustrophobia

Picture
Claustrophobia (from Latin claustrum "a shut in place" and Greek φόβος, phóbos, "fear") is the fear of having no escape and being closed in (opposite: claustrophilia). It is typically classified as an anxiety disorder and often results in panic attack. One study indicates that anywhere from 5–7% of the world population is affected by severe claustrophobia, but only a small percentage of these people receive some kind of treatment for the disorder.

Cibophobia

Picture
Anorexia nervosa (also called cibophobia, sitophobia) is an eating disorder characterized by refusal to maintain a healthy body weight, and an obsessive fear of gaining weight due to a distorted self image which may be maintained by various cognitive biases that alter how the affected individual evaluates and thinks about her or his body, food and eating. It is a serious mental illness with a high incidence of comorbidity and the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder. It can affect men and women of all ages, races, socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds.

Nov 13th 2010

Aviophobia

Picture
A fear of flying is a fear of being on an airplane (aeroplane), or other flying vehicle, such as a helicopter, while in flight. It is also sometimes referred to as aerophobia, aviatophobia, aviophobia or pteromechanophobia.

Atychiphobia

Picture
Atychiphobia is the irrational fear of failure, also known as performance anxiety.

Astraphobia

Picture
Astraphobia, also known as astrapophobia, brontophobia, keraunophobia, or tonitrophobia, is an abnormal fear of thunder and lightning, a type of specific phobia. It is a treatable phobia that both humans and animals can develop. The term astraphobia derives from the Greek words αστραπή (astrape; lightning) and φόβος (phovos; fear). In Sanskrit, the word "astra" means weapon, referring to the mythological demi god Indra who uses lightning as his weapon to bring fear to life on earth.

World's Newest Natural Wonders

China China Danxia

Kiribati Phoenix Islands Protected Area

France Réunion National Park, Réunion Island

Hawaii Papahanaumokuakea

Tanzania Ngorongoro Conservation Area

Oaxaca province, Mexico Prehistoric Caves of Yagul and Mitla

Russia Putoransky State Nature Reserve

Sri Lanka Central Highlands

Nov 12th 2010

Aquaphobia

Picture
Aquaphobia is an abnormal and persistent fear of water. Aquaphobia is a specific phobia that involves a level of fear that is beyond the patient's control or that may interfere with daily life. People suffer aquaphobia in many ways and may experience it even though they realize the water in an ocean, a river, or even a bathtub poses no imminent threat. They may avoid such activities as boating and swimming, or they may avoid swimming in the deep ocean despite having mastered basic swimming skills. This anxiety commonly extends to getting wet or splashed with water when it is unexpected, or being pushed or thrown into a body of water.

Anthophobia

Picture
Anthophobia is an abnormal and persistent fear of flowers (from Greek roots anthos, flower, + phobos, fear).
Though sufferers generally understand that they face no threat from flowers, they invariably experience anxiety at the sight or thought. Any genus or species of flowers can instill fear, as can any flower part, such as a petal or stem.

Anthropophobia

Picture
Anthropophobia or Anthrophobia (literally "fear of people", from the Greek: ἄνθρωπος, ánthropos, "man" and φόβος, phóbos, "fear"), also called interpersonal relation phobia or Social Phobia, it is pathological fear of people or human company.
Anthropophobia is an extreme, pathological form of shyness and timidness. Being a form of Social Phobia, it may be manifested in fears of blushing, meeting the gaze of the others, awkwardness and uneasiness when appearing in society, etc.

Androphobia

Picture
Androphobia is an abnormal fear of men.The word is derived from the Greek άνδρας (andras/man) and φόβος (phobos/fear).
Androphobia may be related to traumatic events in the sufferer's past. It may also be due to Social Phobia or Social Anxiety Disorder.

Nov 11th 2010

Agyrophobia

Picture
Agyrophobia (or Dromophobia) is a case of specific phobia, the irrational fear that crossing roads will cause bodily harm to oneself, even if no actual threat is posed.

Algophobia

Picture
Algophobia (from the Greek: ἄλγος, álgos, "pain" and φόβος, phóbos, "fear") is a phobia of pain - an abnormal and persistent fear of pain that is far more powerful than that of a normal person. It can be treated with behavioral therapy and anti-anxiety medication.

Aichmophobia

Picture
Aichmophobia (pronounced [īk-mō-fō′bē-ă]) is a kind of specific phobia, the morbid fear of sharp things, such as pencils (like needles, knives, a pointing finger, or even the sharp end of an umbrella[1]). It is derived from the Greek aichmē (point) and phobos (fear).


Agraphobia

Picture
Agraphobia (also contreltophobia) is the abnormal fear of sexual abuse. The condition is common but not widely known.

Nov 10th 2010

Agoraphobia

Picture
Agoraphobia (from Greek ἀγορά, "marketplace"; and φόβος/φοβία, -phobia) is an anxiety disorder. Agoraphobia may arise by the fear of having a panic attack in a setting from which there is no perceived easy means of escape. Alternatively, social anxiety problems may also be an underlying cause. As a result, sufferers of agoraphobia avoid public and/or unfamiliar places, especially large, open spaces such as shopping malls or airports where there are few places to hide. In severe cases, the sufferer may become confined to his or her home, experiencing difficulty traveling from this safe place. Although mostly thought to be a fear of public places, it is now believed that agoraphobia develops as a complication of panic attacks. However, there is evidence that the implied one-way causal relationship between spontaneous panic attacks and agoraphobia in DSM-IV may be incorrect. Agoraphobia as studies have shown,has two age groups at which the first onset generally occurs; early to mid twenties and in the early thirties thus helping to distinguish between simple phobias in child and adolesent years.

Acrophobia

Picture
Acrophobia (from the Greek: ἄκρον, ákron , meaning "peak, summit, edge" and φόβος, phóbos, "fear") is an extreme or irrational fear of heights. It belongs to a category of specific phobias, called space and motion discomfort that share both similar etiology and options for treatment.
Acrophobia sufferers can experience a panic attack in a high place and become too agitated to get themselves down safely.

Ablutophobia

Picture
Ablutophobia (from Latin abluere 'to wash off") is the persistent, abnormal and unwarranted fear of bathing, washing, or cleaning. This phobia is a situational specific phobia. Ablutophobia tends to be more common in children and women than in men.
Its symptoms and treatment are basically the same as for most specific phobias.

Nov 9th 2010

Top 12 Bloodiest School Shootings in History

Name                                                                      Location                                                 Date                  Year     Death toll

USA


University of Texas Massacre                           Austin, Texas, United States                August 1         1966      16
Columbine High School massacre                 Littleton, Colorado, United States       April 20           1999      13
Red Lake Senior High School massacre       Red Lake, Minnesota, United States March 21         2005     8
Virginia Tech massacre                                     Blacksburg, Virginia, United States    April 16            2007     33

Canada

École Polytechnique Massacre                        Montreal, Quebec, Canada                   December 6   1989    14

Europe

Dunblane massacre                                          Dunblane, United Kingdom                  March 13         1996   18
Erfurt massacre                                                  Erfurt, Germany                                       April 26             2002   17
Jokela school shooting                                     Tuusula, Finland                                     November 7    2007   9
Kauhajoki school shooting                               Kauhajoki, Finland                                 September 23 2008   11
Winnenden school shooting                            Winnenden, Germany                            March 11          2009   16

Asia

Azerbaijan State Oil Academy shooting         Baku, Azerbaijan                                      April 30            2009   13
Mercaz HaRav shooting                                    Jerusalem, Israel                                    March 6            2008   9

Nov 8th 2010

List of Serial Killers by Number of Victims (10 - 300+)

Picture
list_of_s_k.doc
File Size: 368 kb
File Type: doc
Download File

Nov 7th 2010

Top 28 Most Spectacular Swimming Pools in the World

Neptune Pool, California, USA (2 pictures)
Pimalai Resort, Koh Lanta, Thailand (2 pictures)
San Alfonso del Mar, Algarrobo, Chile (3 pictures)
The Icebergs, Sydney, Australia
Joule Hotel, Dallas, USA (3 pictures)
Alila, Ubud, Bali
Atlantis Resort, Paradise Island, Bahamas
Badeschiff, Berlin, Germany
Blue Lagoon, Grindavik, Iceland
Burj Al Arab, Dubai
Crown Towers Hotel, Taipa Island, Macau
Fours Seasons, Costa Rica
Four Seasons, Maui
Gellert, Budapest, Hungary
Golden Nugget, Las Vegas, USA
Harbour Plaza Hotel, Hong Kong
Hotel Caruso Belvedere, Ravello, Italy
Hotel Villa Malah, Turkey
InterContinental, Hong Kong
King's Pond Four Seasons, Hualalai, Hawaii
La Mamounia, Marrakech, Morocco
Mandarin Oriental, NY, USA
Marina Sands SkyPark, Singapore
Miraflores Park Hotel, Lima, Peru
Molori Safari Lodge, South Africa
Perivolas Luxury Hotel, Santorini, Greece
Raffles, Dubai
Westin Resort and Spa, Los Cabos, Mexico
Begawan Giri Hotel, Ubud, Bali
Six Senses Hideaway, Zighy Bay, Oman

Nov 6th 2010

Most Famous Unidentified Serial Killers (III)
USA

Picture
Zodiac Killer

The Zodiac Killer was a serial killer who operated in Northern California in the late 1960s. The Zodiac killer's identity remains unknown. The Zodiac killer coined the name "Zodiac" in a series of taunting letters sent to the local Bay Area press. These letters included four cryptograms (or ciphers), three of which have yet to be solved. The Zodiac murdered victims in Benicia, Vallejo, Lake Berryessa, and San Francisco between December 1968 and October 1969. Four men and three women between the ages of 16 and 29 were targeted. Numerous suspects have been named by law enforcement and amateur investigators but no conclusive evidence has surfaced.
In April 2004, the San Francisco Police Department marked the case "inactive", yet re-opened the case at some point prior to March 2007. The case also remains open in the city of Vallejo as well as in Napa County and Solano County. The California Department of Justice has maintained an open case file on the Zodiac murders since 1969.

Prime suspect

Arthur Leigh Allen was the prime suspect in the Zodiac murders and the only suspect served search warrants by police. He was never charged with any Zodiac-related crime, and his fingerprints did not match those left by the killer of taxi cab driver Paul Stine.In 1992, 23 years after the shootings, survivor Michael Mageau identified Allen as the man who shot him, from a photo lineup of 1968 driver's licenses. Allen, who suffered from diabetes, died in 1992 from kidney failure. In 2002, DNA samples taken from saliva on the Zodiac's stamps and envelopes were compared with the DNA of Arthur Leigh Allen, and the DNA of a former close friend of Allen named Don Cheney, who first identified Allen as the Zodiac Killer. Allen and Cheney were ruled out as the contributors of the DNA, though it cannot be stated definitively that it is DNA from the Zodiac on the envelopes.

Nov 5th 2010

Most Famous Unidentified Serial Killers (II)
UK

Picture
Jack the Ripper

"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the media. The letter is widely believed to have been a hoax, and may have been written by a journalist in a deliberate attempt to heighten interest in the story. Other nicknames used for the killer at the time were "The Whitechapel Murderer" and "Leather Apron".
Attacks ascribed to the Ripper typically involved female prostitutes from the slums whose throats were cut prior to abdominal mutilations. The removal of internal organs from at least three of the victims led to proposals that their killer possessed anatomical or surgical knowledge. Rumours that the murders were connected intensified in September and October 1888, and letters from a writer or writers purporting to be the murderer were received by media outlets and Scotland Yard. The "From Hell" letter, received by George Lusk of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, included half of a preserved human kidney, supposedly from one of the victims. Mainly because of the extraordinarily brutal character of the murders, and because of media treatment of the events, the public came increasingly to believe in a single serial killer known as "Jack the Ripper".
Extensive newspaper coverage bestowed widespread and enduring international notoriety on the Ripper. An investigation into a series of brutal killings in Whitechapel up to 1891 was unable to connect all the killings conclusively to the murders of 1888, but the legend of Jack the Ripper solidified. As the murders were never solved, the legends surrounding them became a combination of genuine historical research, folklore, and pseudohistory. The term "ripperology" was coined to describe the study and analysis of the Ripper cases. There are now over one hundred theories about the Ripper's identity, and the murders have inspired multiple works of fiction.

Suspects

The concentration of the killings at the weekend, and within a few streets of each other, has indicated to many that the Ripper was employed during the week and lived locally. Others have thought the killer was an educated upper-class man, possibly a doctor, who ventured into Whitechapel from a more well-to-do area; such notions draw on cultural perceptions such as fear of the medical profession, distrust of modern science, or the exploitation of the poor by the rich. Author Stephen Knight promoted an elaborate Masonic conspiracy theory involving the upper-class and a doctor in his 1976 book Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution, but many authors dismiss the theory as a fantasy. Suspects proposed years after the murders include virtually anyone remotely connected to the case by contemporary documents, as well as many famous names, who were never considered in the police investigation. As everyone alive at the time is now dead, modern authors are free to accuse anyone, "without any need for any supporting historical evidence". Suspects named in contemporary police documents include three in Sir Melville Macnaghten's 1894 memorandum, but the evidence against them is circumstantial at best.
Despite the many and varied theories about the identity and profession of Jack the Ripper, authorities are not agreed on a single solution and the number of named suspects reaches over one hundred.

Nov 4th 2010

Most Famous Unidentified Serial Killers (I)
Mexico

Picture
Female homicides in Ciudad Juárez

The phenomenon of the female homicides in Ciudad Juárez, called in Spanish the feminicidios ("femicides") and las muertas de Juárez ("The dead women of Juárez"), involves the violent deaths of hundreds of women since 1993 in the northern Mexican city of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, a border city across the Rio Grande from the U.S. city of El Paso, Texas. The estimated homicide toll is speculated by authorities to be about 400, but many local residents believe that the true count of los feminicidios stands at an estimated 5,000 victims. Most of the cases remained unsolved as of 2003,and are still unsolved today.

Suspects

The most prominent suspects in the Juarez serial case were arrested, following the discovery of body clusters in the areas noted in parentheses.
1995 - Abdul Latif Sharif was arrested, charged, and convicted of the 1995 murder of Elizabeth Castro Garcia (Lote Bravo)
1996 - Several members of Los Rebeldes, a Juarez street gang, were arrested (Lote Bravo).
1999 - Los Choferes, bus drivers on routes between the maquiladoras and residential districts, were arrested (Lomas de Poleo).
2001 - García Uribe and González Meza were arrested for the murder of eight victims found in a cotton field near the Association of Maquila Workers in East Juarez (Cotton Field).

Nov 3rd 2010

10 Great American Short Story Writers

Picture

For pictures click here.

10
Chuck Palahniuk

The author of “Fight Club” is not necessarily known as a “Short Story Writer,” however Palahniuk is a believer in the Ray Bradbury ritual of writing a short story every day. Many of his stories have ended up in his novels without the reader realizing they were originally independent tales. In one novel “haunted” he used a short story about a writers convention to bridge together 23 different short stories. This book features his infamous story “Guts” which has caused several people to faint when read aloud at book signings.

9
Washington Irving

Washington Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle”, both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works include biographies of George Washington, Oliver Goldsmith and Muhammad, and several histories of 15th-century Spain dealing with subjects such as Christopher Columbus, the Moors, and the Alhambra.

8
Isaac Asimov


Asimov is certainly one of the most prolific writers in the English language. He is known for many different works from his series “Foundation”, and “Fantastic Voyage”, to text books and everything in-between. He is primarily known as a science fiction writer, however he is one of the few people to have their writing span every major category of the Dewy Decimal System except Philosophy. He wrote an estimated 515 books in his lifetime. As far as writing short stories goes, he has 3 well known stories. “I, Robot”, “The Bicentennial Man”, and “The Last Question.” The first two have been turned into movies. He wrote 19 Short Story collections, spanning a total of 284.

7
Ray Bradbury

Bradbury is a very well known Science Fiction writer. He is famous for writing a short story every day, a ritual that many other writers have attempted to follow. He has written 11 novels, 3 of which are made up of loosely connected stories, and over 40 short story collections, for a grand total of over 400 short stories and novellas. But it’s not just quantity that earns him a place on this list. His best known short story “A Sound of Thunder”, is the origin of a common science fiction theme called “the butterfly effect”, it is also the most republished science fiction story of all time.

6
Stephen King


King is one of the most popular authors in America, and a very prolific writer as well. He is a huge fan of the short story. “1408″, “The Mist”, and “Hearts in Atlantis” are just a few of the 35 short stories he wrote that have been made into movies, though perhaps the most famous is “Stand By Me”. He has written 8 story collections and a total of 124 short stories and 17 Novellas in his career. He was also selected to be the editor of The Best American Short Stories of 2007, and also won the O. Henry Award in 1996.

5
J.D. Salinger

Salinger is known for his novel “Catcher in the Rye”, this is actually his only published novel. A very eccentric writer, he has written a great deal of material in his life, but much of it has never been seen by any one but him. He has 3 other books available to the public. “Nine Stories”, “Frannie and Zoey”, and “Raise High the Roof Beams, Carpenters and Seymour an Introduction”. All 3 of these books are short story collections. He also has about 2 dozen other uncollected short stories. Salinger is considered by many to be the greatest American writer of the 20th century.

4
O. Henry


Real name William Sydney Porter. O. Henry is known for writing flash fiction with wit and a strange twist ending. His most well known story is “The Gift of the Magi” which is a story about a young poor couple who each sells their most precious object in order to buy a Christmas gift for their partner, but in doing so they end up making each others gift worthless. This story has been retold in many different forms over the years. The O. Henry Award was established in his honor, it is a very prestigious award given to outstanding short story writers. Two writers on this list have won this award.

3
John Updike

Updike was an extremely gifted short story writer, he published over 150 short stories in his career, his last collection “Tears of my Father” was published in June 2009, about 6 months after his death. He has also won over 30 different awards in his lifetime including: the Pulitzer, the Rea Award, the PEN/Falkner award, and the aforementioned O. Henry Award to name a few.

2
F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald was an American writer of novels and short stories, whose works are evocative of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the twentieth century’s greatest writers. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the “Lost Generation” of the Twenties. He finished four novels, including The Great Gatsby, with another published posthumously, and wrote dozens of short stories that treat themes of youth and promise along with despair and age. If you want a recommendation for his greatest two short stories, I suggest reading “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” and “The Diamond As Big As The Ritz”. You won’t be disappointed.

1
Edgar Allen Poe

Poe is probably the most famous English short story writer of all time. Poe only wrote one complete novel in his lifetime, and it is not very well known, however his short stories are. Most people can tell you the story of “The Tell Tale Heart”, “The Masque of the Red Death,” or “The Pit and the Pendulum”. Poe has over 65 short stories to his name. Poe is also considered to have invented the detective genre.

Other special mentions:
James Baldwin (writer)
William Faulkner
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Ernest Hemingway
Flannery O'Connor

Nov 2nd 2010

10 Brilliant Writers Robbed of the Nobel Prize

Picture
For pictures click here.

10
Jorge Luis Borges
1899-1986

Borges had a good twenty years to be considered for a Nobel, and was hot in the running for one for many of those years, but the Nobel Committee refused to award it to him because of his support for right-wing dictators like Pinochet. Sounds like someone he shouldn’t have supported, but the Committee routinely awarded the prize to writers who supported left-wing dictators like Joseph Stalin. Pinochet was worse than Stalin?
Borges wrote the finest surreal literature to date, and won the first International Pulitzer Prize. Politics seems a bad subject on which to argue.

9 Vladimir Nabokov
1899-1977

One of the greatest non-native writers of English, Nabokov’s most famous novel, and his finest, is Lolita. He wrote many more excellent works of fiction and criticism as well as translations of poetry. He was nominated in 1974, along with Graham Greene (not the actor), and lost to Eyvind Johnson and Harry Martinson, joint winners. The former was Swedish, and both were members of the Nobel Committee at the time.

8 W. H. Auden
1907-1973

One of the greatest 20th Century poets in history, he won the Pulitzer, the National Book Award and profoundly influenced all poets, especially English-speaking poets, who have come after him. It is believed that the Committee turned him down because he made errors in a translation of a book by Nobel Peace Prize winner Dag Hammarskjold, and because he suggested that Hammarskjold was homosexual, like Auden.

7 Robert Frost
1874-1963

The greatest 20th Century American Poet, by far. The Bard of the Northeast. He won 4 (FOUR!) Pulitzer Prizes for his poetry, was awarded over 40 honorary doctorates from Oxford, Cambridge, Princeton and Harvard, among others. The only other winner of four Pulitzers for literature is Eugene O’Neill, who did win a Nobel. Frost’s fourth Pulitzer was awarded 20 years before he died. The Nobel Committee managed to ignore him for those 20 years.

6 Emile Zola
1840-1902

The greatest exemplar of the French school of literary naturalism. He wrote over 30 novels, and any one of them could have gotten a Pulitzer today, without competition. His 2 chances to win were spoiled for the same reason as the next entry.

5 Henrik Ibsen
1826-1906

Norway’s greatest author, and one of the finest modern dramatic writers in history. He had 6 chances to win, since the award was begun in 1901, but he lost due to arguments over Alfred Nobel’s eligibility requirements, as laid out in his will. He intended the winners to exhibit “lofty and sound idealism.” But from 1901 to 1912, the Committee believed that he meant “ideal direction.” Apparently Ibsen, the father of modern drama, was not leading the literary world in the ideal direction.

4 Marcel Proust
1871-1922

The author of the most monumental work of 20th-Century fiction, A la Recherche du Temps Perdu, In Search of Lost Time. It’s a 7-volume novel which exhibits one of the first, if not the first, example of stream of consciousness writing. And yet, the Committee awarded the 1920 prize to Knut Hamsun (Norwegian, which is closer to Swedish than French), for his monumental work, Growth of the Soil. Which one do more people read today? Yep, In Search of Lost Time.

3 James Joyce
1882-1941

The greatest Irish writer, besides W. B. Yeats who did win the prize. Joyce is also the greatest writer of stream of consciousness fiction in history. He practically invented the modern idea of speculative fiction, with his final work, Finnegans Wake, which is almost unreadable. He considered it his finest work, but is more famous for Ulysses, the Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

2 Leo Tolstoy
1828-1910

The greatest exemplar of literary realism in history, and possibly the greatest novelist in history. His two most titanic works, War and Peace and Anna Karenina, would have been more than sufficient to secure Knut Hamsun an award. If only Tolstoy had been born a little closer to Sweden, the Committee might have overlooked their arguable translation of Nobel’s will. Apparently, the Committee did not consider Tolstoy to be leading the modern literary world in “the ideal direction.”

1 Mark Twain
1835-1910

The inventor of the American Novel, with Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, and one of the all-time greatest novelists, humorists, essayists, critics and all-around authors. Like Tolstoy, he had 10 chances to win, and ten times was passed over, in favor of the following eleven authors:
Sully Prudhomme, Theodor Mommsen, Bjornstjern Bjornson, Frederic Mistral and Jose Echeragay (both in 1904), Henryk Sienkiewicz, Giosue Carducci, Rudyard Kipling, Rudolf Christoph Eucken, Selma Lagerlof, Paul Heyse.

Nov 1st 2010

Top 15 Cocktails...that I have tried

Oct 31st 2010

For more optical illusions click here.

Top 10 People Robbed of the Nobel Prize for Peace

Picture
For pictures click here.

10 Irena Sendler

Irena Sendler was a Polish Catholic who died in 2008. From 1939 to 1945, she personally saved the lives of 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto. She forged identification papers, passports, sheltered them in children’s homes throughout Warsaw.
The Gestapo caught her in 1943 and severely tortured her for the location of the Jews she had extricated from the Ghetto. She refused to give them up. She was sentenced to death and saved by a bribe to the Nazi officer in charge, who simply left her in deep in a forest with all four limbs broken.
She recovered and went right back to work saving Jews from the Ghetto. She was nominated in 2007, but was passed over in favor of Al Gore. She was 98 when she died.

9 Mohandas Gandhi

Mohandas Gandhi was murdered in 1948. He began his work for Indian independence from Britain in 1916 and finally succeeded in 1947, when Louis Mountbatten relinquished India from Britain to the Indians. One man, by himself, Gandhi has been credited with defeating the British Empire singlehandedly, without raising one finger in violence.
He was nominated in 5 years, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1947, and 1948. 19 people nominated him in those years, especially Ole Colbjornsen, member of the Norwegian Parliament, who nominated him the first 3 times. In the years between 1939 and 1947, he was either not nominated by anyone, or the Swedish Academy refused to consider nominations during the War. Likewise, in the years preceding 1937, not one person on Earth nominated him.
A rule stipulates that death before being awarded the Prize renders one ineligible for it, nominated or not. But I think the Academy could have given it to him posthumously, and no one would have complained. In which case, they could still award it to him for the year 1948. He could certainly replace Cordell Hull, for 1945.
It is possible that his “experiments” with under-aged children reduced his chances of receiving the prize, but as earlier stated, most people would probably not object to his having been awarded the prize despite them.

8 Abdul Sattar Edhi

The head of the Edhi Foundation, based in Pakistan, he is a philanthropist, who in 1951 opened a small medical shop in Karachi, using his own meager funds, with the sole intention of helping anyone who came in. He had learned little about medicine, but wanted to help people. He claims that he does so because he enjoys it, in the same way that an evil man enjoys hurting people.
He has been treating everyone in the Karachi area, and all areas where his branches are located, over the whole world. He treats people at extremely low cost. He began the Edhi Foundation with donations from friends and supporters around Karachi, and the Foundation is a free maternity clinic and nursing school. Students may enroll at absolutely no cost. Tuition, books, and other equipment are free.
Karachi suffered a flu outbreak in 1957, and Edhi immediately set up tents in which he and his faculty treated everyone for free. He bought an ambulance with donations, which he personally drove to accidents, and to his own clinic, or to hospitals. The Edhi Foundation has a $10 million budget, but Edhi refuses to take any of the money for himself. As he is still alive, it is not entirely fair that he should be on this list, as he may win in the future. But I thought it fitting, given the recent 2009 Peace Prize, and the fact that he was considered for it also.

7 Jose Figueres Ferrer

Jose Figueres Ferrer was the President of Costa Rica 3 times, and during his first term, he granted women the right to vote, stating that while men may be stronger, there is no difference between male and female mental faculties. He abolished his country’s army, arguing that only a police force is necessary for domestic law enforcement, and that an army only exists for the promise of invading another country; he did not believe any country around him wanted to invade Costa Rica.
After nationalizing Costa Rica’s banking and creating a welfare state, he outlawed Communism. Ferrer oversaw the writing of a new constitution, guaranteed state managed public education for every citizen, gave citizenship to the children of black immigrants, and established a civil service bureaucracy.

6 Dr. Feng Shan Ho

He graduated from Munich University in 1932, and was appointed as a diplomatic secretary in Turkey, then in Vienna in 1937. The next year, Hitler annexed Austria, and Ho was promoted to Consul-General of the Chinese Embassy in Vienna.
After Kristallnacht, everyone in Austria knew full well the predicament facing the 200,000 Jews throughout the country. Their only hope was to escape from Europe, and this was possible only with exit visas. The Evian Conference of 1938 caused 38 countries to refuse Jews immigration, and Ho was ordered by Chen Jie, the Chinese ambassador to Berlin, not to provide visas for Jews.
Ho endangered himself for all six years of the War by refusing to obey this order. He issued 1906 visas by 27 October 1938, some for Jews, some not. How many Jews he saved will never be ascertained, but given that he issued almost 2,000 in only his first 6 months, he may have saved thousands of lives. Whoever saves one life saves the world entire. He was 96 when he died. He has been nicknamed “China’s Schindler.”

5 Cesar Chavez

He has been called “the Mexican Martin Luther King.” He found working conditions appalling for common Latino laborers in California, and co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which is now called United Farm Workers. He organized civil rights activism, and became the Community Service Organization’s national director in 1958. His efforts to gain higher wages and better working conditions for farm laborers finally succeeded in 1966.
After that, he fought to restrict illegal immigrants from entering the U. S. and taking jobs from legal Mexican citizens. His birthday is a state holiday in California. He died in 1993, and the next year was awarded the Medal of Freedom from Bill Clinton.

4 Stephen Biko

After Nelson Mandela was imprisoned in 1964, Steve Biko became the primary authority of the anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa. He founded the Black Consciousness Movement and advocated a worldwide “brotherhood of man.”
He was the primary architect of the protests that reached a head at the Soweto Uprising in June, 1976. He preached non-violence, which was not entirely heeded, and the uprising resulted in Apartheid police slaughtering school children at random in the crowds.
They then targeted Biko and finally caught him, and beat him to death, from 11 September to 12 September, 1977.

3 Dorothy Day

Dorothy Day (November 8, 1897 – November 29, 1980) was an American journalist, distributist, and devout Catholic convert. In the 1930s, Day worked closely with fellow activist Peter Maurin to establish the Catholic Worker movement, a nonviolent, pacifist, movement that continues to combine direct aid for the poor and homeless with nonviolent direct action on their behalf. A revered figure within segments of the U.S. Catholic community, Day is being considered for sainthood by the Catholic Church. Day has been the recipient of numerous posthumous honors and awards. Among them: in 1992, she received the Courage of Conscience Award from the Peace Abbey, and in 2001, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York.

2 Oskar Schindler

Oskar Schindler was the most famous member of the Avenue of the Righteous. He saved 1,200 Jews from the Nazis by employing them in his munitions factories from 1943 to the end of the War. He therefore placed himself in extreme mortal peril constantly during that time, as the Nazis knew full well that his workers were Jewish.
He was very persuasive, having paid millions to the Nazi Party up to that time, and insisted that his workers were more useful to the Wehrmacht by manufacturing pots, pans, and ammunition. But secretly, he had his workers sabotage the ammunition so it would not function.

1 Venerable Pope Pius XII

On April 28, 1935, four years before the War even started, Eugenio Pacelli (soon to become Pope Pius XII) gave a speech that aroused the attention of the world press. Speaking to an audience of 250,000 pilgrims in Lourdes, France, the future Pius XII stated that the Nazis “are in reality only miserable plagiarists who dress up old errors with new tinsel. It does not make any difference whether they flock to the banners of social revolution, whether they are guided by a false concept of the world and of life, or whether they are possessed by the superstition of a race and blood cult.” During the war (when Pacelli had become Pope) he spoke out strongly in defense of the Jews with the first mass arrests in 1943, and L’Osservatore Romano carried an article protesting the internment of Jews and the confiscation of their property. The Fascist press came to call the Vatican paper ‘a mouthpiece of the Jews.’
Prior to the Nazi invasion, the Pope had been working hard to get Jews out of Italy by emigration; he now was forced to turn his attention to finding them hiding places: “[t]he Pope sent out the order that religious buildings were to give refuge to Jews, even at the price of great personal sacrifice on the part of their occupants; he released monasteries and convents from the cloister rule forbidding entry into these religious houses to all but a few specified outsiders, so that they could be used as hiding places. Thousands of Jews — the figures run from 4,000 to 7,000 — were hidden, fed, clothed, and bedded in the 180 known places of refuge in Vatican City, churches and basilicas, Church administrative buildings, and parish houses. Unknown numbers of Jews were sheltered in Castel Gandolfo, the site of the Pope’s summer residence, private homes, hospitals, and nursing institutions; and the Pope took personal responsibility for the care of the children of Jews deported from Italy.”
The consequences of the actions of Venerable Pope Pius XII in defense of the Jews were such that the Chief Rabbi of Rome (Rabbi Zolli) during WWII converted to Catholicism and changed his name to Eugenio (out of reverence for the Pope).

Oct 30th 2010 

Cutest Dog Breeds

Oct 29th 2010 

Cutest Cat Breeds

Bonus: Longest Cat

Picture

Oct 28th 2010 

Top 10 Worst Roman Emperors
For pictures click here.

10 Domitian

The Apocalypse of Saint John is believed to have been written during Domitian’s reign at the end of the First Century. Domitian was a staunch advocate for the Roman gods and goddesses, the worship of whom had fallen out of practice by the time of his rise to power.
Eusebius of Caesarea, writing 300 years later, recounts that the first large-scale Christian and Jewish persecution began during Domitian’s reign. There is no non-Christian history of such activities, but Domitian is known to have been tyrannically opposed to all other religions other than Roman.
Like so many other emperors, Domitian dealt with dissent among his close advisors and friends by means of death. He executed a few too many prominent politicians and wealthy citizens, and the straw that broke the camel’s back was his murder of his secretary, Epaproditus.
A man named Stephanus, and several others, conspired to kill him, with Stephanus pretending to be wounded for several days, so he could conceal a dagger under his bandages. He approached Domitian in his bedroom, and stabbed him in the groin, whereupon the emperor was beset by several men, one of which was a fearsome gladiator, who all stabbed him to death.

9 Septimius Severus

There is no doubt that Christians and Jews were persecuted severely during Severus’s reign. He believed in a draconian interpretation of Roman law, which did not tolerate any religion but the Roman one. He did not seek out any particular religious culture, but simply persecuted all of the foreign ones.
Christians and Jews were the most common, and up to 1,000 to 3,000 were executed, after being given the option of cursing Jesus or Yahweh, or being beheaded or crucified. He had absolutely no respect of care for anyone except his army, since they were the ones who could rise up and depose him. He managed to stabilize the Empire through draconian fear, but this stability did not last long, once his son, #4, took the throne.

8 Maximinus Thrax

He was, by all accounts, a huge man, well over 6 feet tall, perhaps 7 feet or more. He has been blamed as causing the Crisis of the Third Century, largely due to his murders of several dozen of his closest friends, advisors, and benefactors. He did not trust anyone, and intended to make the people love him by conquest and expansion.
His first campaign was against the Alamanni people of Germania. They were absolutely no threat to Rome at this time, but Maximinus invaded them and conquered them, albeit at a terrible cost to his army. The people did not love him for this, but hated him. But he went right on invading Sarmatia and Dacia, modern-day Ukraine and Romania, respectively. These people had not instigated anything against Rome.
Meanwhile, a revolt began in North Africa, setting up two men as claimants to the Roman throne, Gordianus Sempronianus and his son. The Roman Senate supported them, and in response, Maximinus marched his army on Rome, but his troops had been fighting for so long that they were exhausted and sick. They were unable to enter the closed city gates, and many deserted. His Praetorian Guard had finally had enough and stabbed Maximinus in the back, then his son and advisors, beheaded them and put their heads on poles around the city walls, whereupon they were let in.

7 Diocletian

Diocletian reigned at the end of the Crisis of the Third Century, and though he significantly stabilized and improved the Empire’s military and economy, he will forever be remembered as the worst persecutor of Christians in history.
He issued several edicts in 303 removing all rights from Christians until they converted to the Roman religion. Of course, the Christians refused, and from 303 to 311, at least 3,000 were martyred. At first, those who refused were simply imprisoned, but it was not long before they were executed by both crucifixion and beheading. Christian churches were sought all over the Empire and burned to the ground, looted, and even Christian senators were stripped of their jobs, imprisoned and executed.
When the persecution did not seem to be working, as the Christians simply went into hiding and continued to spread their religion, Diocletian advocated their torturous and entertaining executions in the Circus Maximus and Colosseum, and this was the time when most Christians were thrown to the lions, much to the delight of the Roman citizens who worshiped Roman gods.
The murders did not truly stop until Constantine’s rise to absolute power in 324.

6 Tiberius

Tiberius was Emperor after Augustus, from 14 to 37, and did not care for the job. All he wanted was the luxury, and left the Senate to do all the ruling. The Senate despised him for this, and told the criticized him to the Roman populace, until he no longer trusted his safety in Rome and left for the island of Capri. He erected statues of his captain of the Guard, Lucius Sejanus, all over the city, and gave all the tasks of ruling to him. Tiberius more or less retired to Capri for the rest of his long life, only returning to Rome a few times.
While he lived on Capri, he had a huge villa built for him, Villa Jovis, the Villa of Jove (Jupiter), in which he indulged his pedophilia. He swam naked with and raped infants, toddlers and young boys. He did not otherwise physically harm them in any way, but even in his late seventies, sex with young children was one of his favorite pastimes.

5 Nero

Nero used the office of emperor to suit his desire for an opulent lifestyle, and had absolutely no care for the welfare of the people. He never trusted his mother, Agrippina, rightly so, and tried to kill her by having her ship sunk. This didn’t work, and he simply ordered her executed. He routinely executed anyone close to him, whom he did not trust, always under mysterious circumstances, because he feared the Praetorian Guard.
He managed to reign for 15 years in this way, killing anyone who dissented. He was accused of treason beginning in 62, and simply executed the accusers, several dozen of them. He loved to go to bars and whorehouses, not even disguising himself.
The Great Fire of Rome, in 64, has given rise to the legend that Nero fiddled while Rome burned. This is not true. He was away in Antium (Anzio), and returned to Rome to try to have the fire put out. He even paid for this out of his own pocket.
He did help out the survivors tremendously, letting them stay in the palace until homes were rebuilt, feeding them, etc. But the fire largely destroyed the city center, and Nero had a large part of this destruction rebuilt as his Domus Aurea. This was his gift to himself, a gigantic palatial garden complex of 100 to 300 acres, for which he heavily taxed the citizens throughout the Empire.
The city wanted a scapegoat, so Nero blamed the fire on the Christians, and they were terribly persecuted. He had many arrested, impaled, and burned to death as torches to light his gardens in the Domus Aurea. He is said to have breathed in the stench and laughed heartily, then turned to his lyre and sung his own songs.
The taxes irritated the populace sufficiently to begin revolts in various provinces, until by 68, Nero was no longer loved, but hated by all. His Guards deserted him in the palace, and he fled to a nearby villa, where a messenger appeared to tell him that the Senate had declared him a public enemy, whom they would beat to death. He had a grave dug, while he repeated, “What an artist dies within me!”
Then he stabbed a dagger into his throat and bled to death. It is believed by most scholars that Nero is the Great Beast whose number is six hundred and sixty six referred to in the last Biblical book The Apocalypse.

4 Caracalla

Caracalla was not insane. He was malicious and sadistic. From 211 to 217 he presided over an awe-inspiring spectacle of fearsome acts. He had his brother and co-emperor, Geta, and Geta’s wife, assassinated.
The citizens of Alexandria, Egypt ridiculed this crime with a public play, and when Caracalla got wind of it, he traveled with an army to Alexandria, invited the citizens into their city square, and slaughtered them, looting and burning the whole city. 20,000 died.
This was the sort of emperor he showed himself to be in almost every Roman province at that time, putting down all hints of rebellions, even where rebellions were not imminent. At the slightest whiff of discord, he ordered death. Wherever he went, his army killed, raped, and destroyed.
He was murdered by one of his Guardsmen, on April 8, 217, while urinating on the side of the road outside Carrhae. Caracalla had had the Guard’s brother executed on a false accusation.

3 Commodus

Commodus was the son of Marcus Aurelius, one of Rome’s greatest rulers, and this only enhanced Commodus’s crimes in the public mind.
He adored the gladiatorial games, so much so that he personally entered many of them and fought alongside the gladiators, who were all criminals and slaves, etc. This severely offended the entire Empire, especially the Senate.
Commodus once ordered all the cripples, hunchbacks, and generally undesirables in the city to be rounded up, thrown into the arena, and forced to hack one another to death with meat cleavers.
He especially adored killing animals, and killed 100 lions in one day, to the spectators’ disgust. He killed three elephants singlehanded in the arena, beheaded an ostrich and laughed at the senators attending, brandishing the head and motioning that they were next. He speared a giraffe to death, an animal which the spectators did not see as fearsome at all.
The senators conspired to have him killed, and poisoned him, but he threw it up. They then sent in his favorite wrestler, a gladiator named Narcissus, who strangled him in his bath. His reign lasted 12 years, from 180 to 192.

2 Elagabalus

It can be argued that Elagabalus’s assassination reign, from 218 to 222, began the Crisis of the 3rd Century, during which 50 years or so, Rome was ripped to pieces from the inside out by civil war after civil war, rampant anarchy, uprisings, economic hysteria and assaults from Germania and elsewhere.
Elagabalus took the throne at the ripe old age of 14, and immediately indulged his most sordid, depraved fantasies and desires. He was a man, yes, but wanted dearly to be a woman, and offered gargantuan sums of money to the physician who could turn him into one for real.
Until then, he enjoyed cross-dressing, and whored himself out to common men in whorehouses throughout Rome, wearing female disguises and facial makeup. He even solicited men in the Imperial Palace, standing completely naked in the doorway of his favorite bedroom and purring at every passerby, even his Praetorian Guards.
He confided to the head of the Guard that he would like to castrate himself, and asked what the most painful method would be, cutting, crushing, or cooking on open coals. He had hundreds, perhaps thousands, of affairs with men and women while he was married to a Vestal virgin, which was a serious outrage among Romans.
He installed El-Gabal, the Syrian sun god, as the chief god of Rome, surpassing Jupiter, and it is this sun god from which we derive the emperor’s nickname. He transferred all Roman sacred relics from their respective temples to a new temple he had built for El-Gabal, the Elagabalium, and named himself the high priest.
After 4 years of this, Rome erupted into riots as the praetorian citizens demanded his death or deposition. Elagabalus responded by walking right into the praetorian encampment and demanding the arrest and execution of everyone. Instead, everyone descended on him and his mother. He tried to hide in a large clothes chest, but they opened it and stabbed him to death. He and his mother were beheaded, and dragged throughout Rome. He was then flung into the Tiber and spat upon. He was 18 years old.

1 Caligula

“Little Boots” took the throne on the death of his second cousin Tiberias, something of a great Uncle to him. Some say Caligula ordered the head of the Praetorian Guard to smother him with a pillow.
Upon his ascension, everyone in the Empire rejoiced. For the first seven months or so, he was loved by all. He paid handsome bonuses to the military, to get them on his side, and recalled many whom Augustus and Tiberias exiled.
But he became very sick in October of 37, and the disease has never been pinned down. Philo blames it on his extravagant lifestyle of too much food, wine, and sex. After the disease passed and Caligula made a full recovery, he had turned into one of the most evil men in human history. Some Jewish, Christian and Muslim historians of centuries afterward even considered that Caligula might have been possessed by a demon.
He has been accused of the most awesomely disgusting, insane, luridly depraved crimes against humanity and morality, and this lister is sorry to say that the accusations are all absolutely true.
He began ordering the murders of anyone who had ever crossed him, or even disagreed with him on mundane matters. He had a very good memory. He exiled his own wife, and proclaimed himself a god, dressing up as Apollo, Venus (a goddess), Mercury and Hercules. He demanded that everyone, from senators to Guards to guests and public crowds, refer to him as divine in his presence.
When he was a boy, a seer told him that he would never be emperor until he walked on water. So he built a pontoon bridge across the Bay of Naples, put on the breastplate of Alexander the Great, and paraded night and day across the Bay, throwing lavish sex orgies in the light of bonfires.
He attempted to instate his favorite horse, Incitatus (“Galloper”), as a priest and consul, and ordered a beautiful marble stable built for him, complete with chairs and couches on which Incitatus never sat.
Once, at the Circus Maximus, the games ran out of criminals, and the next event was the lions, his favorite. He ordered his Guards to drag the first five rows of spectators into the arena, which they did. These hundreds of people were all devoured for his amusement.
A citizen once insulted him to his face in a fit of rage, and Caligula responded by having him tied down, and beaten with heavy chains. He made this last for 3 months, having the man brought out from a dungeon and beaten, until Caligula and the whole crowds that gathered were too offended by the smell of the man’s gangrenous brain, whereupon he was beheaded.
Caligula’s favorite torture was sawing, which topped another list on this site. The sawblade filleted the spine and spinal cord from crotch down to chest, and the victim was unable to pass out due to excess blood to the brain.
He also relished chewing up the testicles of victims, without biting them off, while they were restrained upside down before him.
He had another insulter, and his entire family, publicly executed one after another in front of a crowd. The man and wife were first, followed by the oldest child and so on. The crowd became outraged and began to disperse, but many stayed in morbid fascination. The last of the family was a 12 year old girl, who was sobbing hysterically at what she had been forced to watch. A member of the crowd shouted that she was exempt from execution as a virgin. Caligula smiled and ordered the executioner to rape her, then strangle her, which he did.
He publicly had sex with his three sisters at banquets and games, sometimes on the table amid the food. He was finally murdered by the Praetorian Guard and some senators, leaving the Circus Maximus after the games. His body was left in the street to rot, and dogs finally ate it. He had ruled for 4 years.

Oct 27th 2010 

Halloween in Asia

Middle East

Arab Christians in Lebanon, Syria and West Bank celebrate Saint Barbara's Day or Eid il-Burbara on December 4 in a style somewhat reminiscent of Halloween celebrations in other countries. Children wear costumes and go trick-or-treating whilst singing a song. The traditional food for the occasion is Burbara, a bowl of boiled barley, pomegranate seeds, raisins, anise and sugar offered to masquerading children. Lebanese Christians believe that Saint Barbara disguised herself as numerous characters to elude the Romans who were persecuting her.
Qarqe'an is a similar holiday celebrated in Kuwait and other Gulf states during Ramadan. The scary theme is not a part of the tradition: children dress in traiditional garb, form groups, carry baskets and sing outside of homes, receiving sweets and nuts for their effort.

Japan

Halloween has become popular only recently in Japan, mainly in the context of Americanpop culture. Western-style Halloween decorations such as jack-o'-lanterns can be seen in many locations, and places such as Tokyo Disneyland and Universal Studios Japan put on special Halloween events. The wearing of costumes is mostly limited to private home parties, day care centers and kindergartens, as well as in larger cities at bars frequented or run by foreigners. On a national scale trick-or-treating is largely unpracticed.

Hong Kong

Halloween in Hong Kong has two traditions. The first involves the event called "Yue Lan" (Festival of the Hungry Ghosts). It is less of celebration, but rather an opportunity to give gifts to spirits of the dead to provide comfort and ward them off.
The second and more commercialized event is celebrated by expatriate Americans or Canadians. Hong Kong Disneyland and Ocean Park (Halloween Bash) host annual Halloween shows. Lan Kwai Fong bars will be decked out with Halloween decorations to lure expats and locals interest in Halloween. While trick or treating is not as commonly celebrated in Hong Kong, there are events at Tsim Sha Tsui's Avenue of the Stars that try to mimic the celebration.

India

Halloween has become very popular among the new generation only recently[citation needed] mainly in the context of American pop culture. There are western style decorations like jack-o'-lanterns, trick-or-treating and costume parties etc. Many people collect all the candy and donate it to the poor. In India, Halloween is considered as more of a social event.[citation needed] Halloween is only popular in major cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangaluru, Chandigarh etc.
Among Hindus, especially among Bengalis, the Fall festival of light i.e. Deepavalee or Diwali is connected to Kali Puja (Kālī Puja) (worship of Goddess related to death), which takes place on a new moon in October / November that follows three weeks from the starting of Durga Puja or Navratri, the biggest festival of the autumn. The eve of Kālī Puja, known as the Bhoot Chaturdashi (Bhoot: ghosts or souls; Chaturdashi: 14 th lunar day i.e. the night before the new moon) is the night when the souls of the deceased is believed to visit the earth and 14 candles are lighted in memories of the deceased soul. Kali Puja is also the night of worshiping the deadly-beautiful and powerful goddess Kali. It is believed to be the night when the ghosts and spirits are at loose. It is the most important new moon of the year to the believers of dark magic and necromancy. Goddess Kālī is worshipped at that night with Tantric rites and mantras. She is prescribed offerings of red hibiscus flowers, animal blood in a skull, sweets, rice and lentils, fish and meat. It is prescribed that a worshipper should mediate throughout the night until dawn. Kālī Puja is celebrated in the late autumn, and in the last new moon of the Bengali month ‘Ashwin’ or the first one of the Bengali month ‘Kartick’. And interestingly it is right around the autumn harvest. Kālī Puja, though has connection to the dangerous and the dark. is also the time of earthen lamps, fireworks and crackers. Halloween and the Bhoot Chaturdashi almost coincide with one another; moreover their meaning is almost the same for the followers.
In other parts of Indian subcontinent, the 14 th lunar night of late autumn i.e. Bhoot Chaturdashi is celebrated to commemorate as the night when the Hell Demon King Narakasura (Naraka means the Underworld or the Hell, Asura meaning a non-divine or demonic group of people) was killed by God Vishnu. The night is also named as 'Naraka Chaturdashi' - the first day of Diwali.

Philippines

In the Philippines they celebrate a holiday called Undas or Araw ng mga Patay (Day of the Dead) on November 1 or November 2. Recently the habit of trick or treating has become popular in urban areas, especially the Metro Manila area, but on a national scale, it is not largely practiced.

Oct 26th 2010

Running Amok

Running amok, sometimes referred to as simply amok (also spelled amuk, from the Malay meaning "mad with uncontrollable rage") is a term for a killing spree perpetrated by an individual out of rage or resentment over perceived mistreatment.
Malaysian origin It was later used in India during the British Empire, to describe an elephant gone mad, separated from its herd, running wild and causing devastation. The word was made popular by the colonial tales of Rudyard Kipling.
Although commonly used in a colloquial and less-violent sense, the phrase is particularly associated with a specific sociopathic culture-bound syndrome in Malaysian culture. In a typical case of running amok, a male who has shown no previous sign of anger or any inclination to violence will acquire a weapon and, in a sudden frenzy, will attempt to kill or seriously injure anyone he encounters. Amok episodes of this kind normally end with the attacker being killed by bystanders, or committing suicide.
During the American occupation of the Philippines, many noted incidences of individuals running amok in Mindanao, Palawan and Sulu were documented in photographs. During the Spanish colonial period, the amuk's were called juramentador, meaning "those who have taken a vow", as the amok was confused with the tradition of shahid, who ceremoniously took a vow to God, detailing that he would die whilst attacking the enemy in the hopes of attaining Jannah. This vow was usually taken in front of a Rajah and an Imam before attacking. The same typical Malay method of spontaneous suicide attack with the kalis was used by syahid, yet a syahid would only attack enemy combatants, while an amok would strike out indiscriminately at civilians.
The term juramentado is still synonymous with amok for Christian Filipinos.
A widely accepted explanation links amok with male honor (amok by women is virtually unknown). Running amok would thus be both a way of escaping the world (since perpetrators were normally killed) and re-establishing one's reputation as a man to be feared and respected. Some observers have related this explanation to Islam's ban on suicide, which, it is suggested, drove Malay men to create circumstances in which others would kill them.

Contemporary syndrome

 "Running amok" is used to refer to the behaviour of someone who, in the grip of strong emotion, obtains a weapon and begins attacking people indiscriminately, often with multiple fatalities. The slang term going postal is similar in scope. Police describe such an event as a killing spree. If the individual is seeking death an alternate method is often suicide by cop.
Amok is often described as a culture-bound (or culture-specific) syndrome, which is a psychological condition whose manifestation is strongly shaped by cultural factors. Other reported culture-bound syndromes are latah and koro. Amok is also sometimes considered one of the subcategories of dissociative disorders (cross-cultural variant).

Halloween in Colombia

Traditions
In Colombia Halloween is celebrated widely and in the fashion of the United States' celebration. Children dress up and visit their neighbours chanting "¡Triqui triqui halloween, Quiero dulces para mi, Si no hay dulces para mi, Se le crece la nariz!" (Tricky tricky halloween, I want candy for me, If there is no candy for me, Your nose will grow!) There is no cultural precedent for the celebration of Halloween, the current festivities are the result of the influence of American culture and commercial interests. Notably, the chant commences with "Triqui triqui", a rough transliteration of "trick or treat", words which have no meaning in Spanish. The images and symbols commonly associated with Halloween (witches, skeletons, spider webs, pumpkins and the like) are faithfully represented in Colombian Halloween celebrations.

Recently the Catholic Church has expressed its concerns over the celebration of a day in which ghosts, goblins, witches and other expressions of evil are linked to the happiness of children. In recent years there has been a concerted push to change the celebration of Halloween to the celebration of Children's Day, in which costumes and sweets would still be present, but the sinister side of the event would be suppressed. Although there is increased use of "Children´s Day", "Halloween" is by far the word used for the celebration.

Oct 25th 2010

Cutest Rabbit Breeds

Bonus: Giant Rabbit

Halloween in Mexico

Traditions
In Mexico, Halloween has been celebrated since roughly 1960. There, celebrations have been influenced by the American traditions, such as the costuming of children who visit the houses of their neighborhood in search of candy. Though the "trick-or-treat" motif is used, tricks are not generally played on residents not providing candy. Older crowds of preteens, teenagers and adults will sometimes organize Halloween-themed parties, which might be scheduled on the nearest available weekend. Usually kids stop by at peoples' houses, knock on their door or the ring the bell and say "¡Noche de Brujas, Halloween!" ('Witches' Night, Halloween!') or "¡Queremos Haloween!" (We want Halloween!). The second phrase is more commonly used among children, the affirmation of "We want Halloween" means "We want candy", similarly "Me da mi calaverita" means "I want my little skull".

Halloween in Mexico begins three days of consecutive holidays, as it is followed by All Saints' Day, which also marks the beginning of the two day celebration of the Day of the Dead or the Día de los Muertos. This might account for the initial explanations of the holiday having a traditional Mexican-Catholic slant.

Oct 24th 2010

Visit Vatican City

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Welcome to Vatican City"

Halloween in Canada and USA

Traditions

The commercialization of Halloween in the United States did not start until the 20th century, beginning perhaps with Halloween postcards (featuring hundreds of designs), which were most popular between 1905 and 1915. Dennison Manufacturing Company (which published its first Halloween catalog in 1909) and the Beistle Company were pioneers in commercially made Halloween decorations, particularly die-cut paper items. German manufacturers specialised in Halloween figurines that were exported to the United States in the period between the two World Wars.
Mass-produced Halloween costumes did not appear in stores until the 1930s, and trick-or-treating did not become a fixture of the holiday until the 1950s. In the 1990s, many manufacturers began producing a larger variety of Halloween yard decorations; before this, the majority of decorations were homemade. Some of the most popular yard decorations are jack-o'-lanterns, scarecrows, witches, orange string lights, inflatable decorations such as spiders, pumpkins, mummies and vampires, and animatronic window and door decorations. Other popular decorations are foam tombstones and gargoyles.
Halloween is now the United States' second most popular holiday (after Christmas) for decorating; the sale of candy and costumes is also extremely common during the holiday, which is marketed to children and adults alike. According to the National Retail Federation, the most popular Halloween costume themes for adults are, in order: witch, pirate, vampire, cat, and clown. Each year, popular costumes are dictated by various current events and pop culture icons. On many college campuses, Halloween is a major celebration, with the Friday and Saturday nearest October 31 hosting many costume parties.
The National Confectioners Association reported in 2005 that 80 percent of American adults planned to give out candy to trick-or-treaters, and that 93 percent of children planned to go trick-or-treating. Madison, Wisconsin, home of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, hosts one of the more infamous annual Halloween celebrations. Due to the large influx of out-of-towners crowding the State Street area, riots have broken out in recent years, resulting in the use of mounted police and tear gas to disperse the crowds. Likewise, Chapel Hill, NC, site of the University of North Carolina, has a notorious downtown street party which in 2007 drew a crowd estimated at 80,000 on downtown Franklin Street, in a town with a population of just 54,000. In 2008, in an effort to curb the influx of out-of-towners, mayor Kevin Foy emplaced measures to make commuting downtown more difficult on Halloween.
Anoka, Minnesota, the self-proclaimed "Halloween Capital of the World", celebrates the holiday with a large civic parade and several other city-wide events. Salem, Massachusetts, also has laid claim to the "Halloween Capital" title, while trying to dissociate itself from its history of persecuting witchcraft. At the same time, however, the city does see a great deal of tourism surrounding the Salem witch trials, especially around Halloween. In the 1990s, the city added an official "Haunted Happenings" celebration to the October tourist season. Nearby Keene, New Hampshire, hosts the annual Pumpkin Fest each October which previously held the record for having the greatest number of lit jack-o'-lanterns at once. (Boston, Massachusetts holds the record as of October 2006). In Atlanta, Georgia, the Little Five Points neighborhood hosts the Little Five Points Halloween Parade on the weekend before October 31 each year.
Rutland, Vermont has hosted the annual Rutland Halloween Parade since 1960. Tom Fagan, a local comic book fan, is credited with having a hand in the parade's early development and superhero theme. In the early 1970s, the Rutland Halloween Parade achieved a degree of fame when it was used as the setting of a number of superherocomic books, including Batman #237, Justice League of America #103, Amazing Adventures #16 and The Mighty Thor #207.
New York City hosts the United States' largest Halloween celebration, known as The Village Halloween Parade. Started by Greenwich Village mask maker Ralph Lee in 1973, the evening parade now attracts over two million spectators and participants, as well as roughly four million television viewers annually. It is the largest participatory parade in the country if not the world, encouraging spectators to march in the parade as well. Barbara Ehrenreich, in her book on collective joy mentions this as an example of how Halloween is transitioning from a children's holiday to an adult holiday and compares it to Mardi Gras.
In Detroit, Michigan, the night before Halloween is referred to as Devil's Night, and for many years involved petty vandalism by children and teens, such as rubbing soap or wax on car windows or throwing eggs at houses. This activity perhaps started in the 1930s. In the 1970s, the minor vandalism gave way to serious acts of arson, and the city today mounts volunteer neighborhood patrols to prevent violence.
In many towns and cities, trick-or-treaters are welcomed by lit porch lights and jack-o'-lanterns. In some large and/or crime ridden areas, however, trick-or-treating is discouraged, or refocused to staged trick-or-treating events within nearby shopping malls, in order to prevent potential acts of violence against trick-or-treaters. Even where crime is not an issue, many American towns have designated specific hours for trick-or-treating, e.g., 5–7 pm or 5–8 pm, to discourage late-night trick-or-treating. After the September 11 terror attacks, trick-or-treating was discouraged in many areas. Some feared that terrorists would take the opportunity to attack trick-or-treaters, and others felt that celebrating Halloween so soon after the attacks seemed inappropriate. There were even fears of attacks on shopping malls after an anonymous email began circulating on the Internet that was allegedly written by a terrorist that alluded to planned attacks on shopping malls on October 31, 2001. This threat was revealed to be a hoax after an official FBI press release stating that the threat was deemed not credible.
Those living in the country may hold Halloween parties, often with bonfires, with the celebrants passing between them. The parties usually involve traditional games (like snipe hunting, bobbing for apples, or searching for candy in a similar manner to Easter egg hunting), haunted hayrides (often accompanied by scary stories, and costumed people hiding in the dark to jump out and scare the riders), and treats (usually a bag of candy and/or homemade treats). Scary movies may also be viewed. Normally, the children are picked up by their parents at predetermined times. However, it is not uncommon for such parties to include sleepovers
Trick-or-treating may often end by early evening, but the nightlife thrives in many urban areas. Halloween costume parties provide an opportunity for adults to gather and socialize. Urban bars are frequented by people wearing Halloween masks and risqué costumes. Many bars and restaurants hold costume contests to attract customers to their establishments. Haunted houses are also popular in some areas.
Fireworks are also held at Disneyland (as of 2009) and Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom during an event at that park called Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party titled HalloWishes.

Oct 23rd 2010

Halloween in Europe

The Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, Germany, and Austria

Halloween has become increasingly popular in Belgium, Sweden, The Netherlands, Germany, and Austria since the early 1990s. From early October, stores are full of merchandise related to the popular Halloween themes. Students and little children dress up on Halloween for parties and small parades. Trick-or-treating is uncommon in these countries because children already engage in a similar practice to celebrate St. Martin's Day, which takes place a few days after Halloween. On November 11, Dutch, Belgian, German, and Austrian children ring doorbells hoping to receive a small treat in return for singing a short song dedicated to St. Martin.

Romania

Halloween in Romania is celebrated around the myth of "Dracula" on October 31. In Transylvania and especially in the city of Sighişoara, there are many costume parties, for teenagers and adults, that are created from the US model.[citation needed] Also the spirit of Dracula is believed to live there because the town was the site of many witch trials; these are recreated today by actors on the night of Halloween. 

Greece

In the traditional culture of some regions of Greece there were traditions very similar to Halloween, beliefs about nocturnal visiting and processions of dead people, preparation of special biscuits and carving jack-o'-lanterns(Jack-o-lantern was made to scare other people all the year).Halloween has become popular only recently in Greece, mainly in the context of American pop culture. Western-style Halloween decorations such as jack-o'-lanterns can be seen in many locations, and places In Athens and Patras. Halloween in Greece start getting more popular every year from Television and especially for children From Disney Channel. There are lot of Halloween Stores in Greece especially in Patra.Patra is a famous Carnival Town.Patra's Carnival it's very popular and one of the best of Europe,that's why Halloween is more popular in Patra,Patra's citizen are always in the mood for Party,and Halloween for them is one more reason to have one!.Finally Villa Mercedes Greece's best Night Club since 2009 organize on Halloween night the Best and Biggest Halloween Party in The Country.Orthodox Church is against Halloween and many Greek's call this Celebration Satanic. (trick-or-treat's translation in Greek is "Φάρσα ή Κέρασμα" (Farsa hi Kerasma)

Switzerland

In Switzerland, Halloween is seen as being a pagan festival. After first becoming popular in 1999, Halloween is on the wane. People see it as an imported product from the United States, which has not recently enjoyed a good image in the country. Switzerland already has a "festival overload" and even though Swiss people like to dress up for any occasion, they do prefer a traditional element.
Ueli Mäder, a professor of sociology at Basel University said that the Swiss adoption of Halloween about ten years ago – Swiss shops stocked Halloween costumes and masks for the first time in 1999 – came from "a need for rituals". "In a strongly commercialised world a need arises for meaningful experiences. I can imagine that a ritual like Halloween when it is celebrated in a simple genuine way can satisfy that need." But he added: "It also took on an exaggerated or extreme form for a while which probably turned some people off. Perhaps is there is a need to bring Halloween back to a more simple level." 

Italy

In the traditional culture of some regions of Italy there were until the last centurytraditions very similar to Halloween, i.e. beliefs about nocturnal visiting and processions of dead people, preparation of special biscuits and carving jack-o'-lanterns.
Particularly between 1630 and 1640 the Catholic Church carried on a campaign to suppress surviving pagan traditions connected to All Saints' Day and its eve. These feasts vanished completely; until the mid-1970s the festivity was completely unknown by the people, in 1979 just 1 million of people on a population of 57 million declared celebratingHalloween.
Between the 20th and 21st centuries, however, Halloween was popularized principally by television and merchandising coming from United States, including sitcom episodes such as The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror (trick-or-treat's translation as "Dolcetto o Scherzetto", literally treat-or-joke, appeared first in dubbed sitcoms). As a result, in 1989 4 million declared celebrating it, in 1999 7 million and in 2009 10 million,turning Halloween in Italy into a majorfestivity that outclasses the Catholic onesamong Italian children.
Halloween traditions are mostly based on US tradition, but even then not completely – for example the story of Jack-o'-lantern is not widely known, and people talk simply of the "zucca di Halloween" ("Halloween pumpkin"). Some children trick-or-treat and are given candy or fruit, they dress up as skeletons, zombies, devils etc., though most elderly people still do not understand the children's request. Teens, instead, celebrate the festivity disguising themselves as horror characters, throwing eggs, spraying foam and doing dirty tricks on each other.

Denmark

In Denmark children go trick-or-treating, even though they already collect candy from neighbors on Fastelavn, the Danish name for the Carnival which occurs before Lent.

Visit the UK

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"You're Invited"

Visit Ukraine

Click on the picture for more information. 

Picture
"Welcome to Ukraine"

Oct 22nd 2010

Halloween in Europe: Ireland and the UK

Ireland

Picture
Halloween is a significant cultural event in Ireland; it is widely celebrated. It is known in Irish as Oíche Shamhna, literally "Samhain Night." In the Irish language, Samhain is the name for the month of November. Pre-Christian Celts had an autumn festival, Samhain "End of Summer," a pastoral and agricultural "fire festival" or feast, when the dead revisited the mortal world and large communal bonfires would hence be lit to ward off evil spirits. Costumes and masks being worn at Halloween goes back to the Celtic traditions of attempting to copy the evil spirits or placate them. Samhnag — Candle lanterns carved from turnips, were part of the traditional festival. Large turnips were hollowed out, carved with faces and placed in windows, also used to ward off harmful spirits.

Traditions

On Halloween night, adults and children dress up as creatures from the underworld (e.g., ghosts, ghouls, zombies, witches, and goblins), light bonfires, and enjoy spectacular fireworks displays – in particular, the city of Derry is home to the largest organized Halloween celebration on the island, in the form of a street carnival and fireworks display. It is also common for (illegal) fireworks to be set off by members of the public for the entire month preceding Halloween as well as a few days after. Halloween was perceived as the night during which the division between the world of the living and the otherworld was blurred so that spirits of the dead and inhabitants from the underworld were able to walk free on the earth. It was believed necessary to dress as a spirit or otherworldly creature when venturing outdoors to blend in, and this is where dressing in such a manner for Halloween comes from. This gradually evolved into trick-or-treating, because children would knock on their neighbours' doors in order to gather fruit, nuts, and sweets for the Halloween festival. Salt was once sprinkled in the hair of the children to protect against evil spirits.


Houses are frequently adorned with pumpkins, or traditional turnip carved into scary faces; lights or candles are sometimes placed inside the carvings, resulting in an eerie effect. The traditional Halloween cake in Ireland is the barmbrack, which is a fruit bread. The Halloween Brack traditionally contained various objects baked into the bread and was used as a fortune-telling game. In the barmbrack were a pea, a stick, a piece of cloth, a small coin (originally a silver sixpence), and a ring. Each item, when received in the slice, was supposed to carry a meaning to the person concerned: the pea, the person would not marry that year; the stick, "to beat one's wife with," would have an unhappy marriage or continually be in disputes; the cloth or rag, would have bad luck or be poor; the coin, would enjoy good fortune or be rich; and the ring, would be married within the year. Commercially produced barmbracks for the Halloween market still include a toy ring.

Games are often played, such as bobbing for apples, in which apples, peanuts, and other nuts and fruit and some small coins are placed in a basin of water. The apples and nuts float, but the coins, which sink, are harder to catch. Everyone takes turns catching as many items possible using only their mouths. In some households, the coins are embedded in the fruit for the children to "earn" as they catch each apple. Another common game involves the hands-free eating of an apple hung on a string attached to the ceiling. Games of divination are also played at Halloween, but are becoming less popular. Lunchtime (the midday meal, sometimes called "dinner" in Ireland), on Halloween is called Colcannon.

UK

ScotlandScotland, having a shared Gaelic culture with Ireland, has celebrated the festival of Samhain robustly for many centuries. The autumn festival is pre-Christian Celtic in origin, and is known in Scottish Gaelic as Oidhche Shamhna, the "Summer's night." During the fire festival, souls of the dead wander the Earth and are free to return to the mortal world until dawn. Traditionally, bonfires and lanterns (samhnag in Scottish Gaelic) would be lit to ward off the phantoms and evil spirits that emerge at midnight. The term Samhainn or Samhuinn is used for the harvest feast, and an t-Samhain is used for the entire month of November.

Traditions
In Scotland, folklore, including that of Halloween, revolves around the ancient Celtic belief in faeries (Sidhe, or Sith, in modern Gaelic). Children who ventured out carried a traditional lantern (samhnag) with a devil face carved into it to frighten away the evil spirits. Such Halloween lanterns were made from a turnip, or "Neep" in Lowland Scots, with a candle lit in the hollow inside. In modern times, however, such lanterns use pumpkins, as in North American traditions, possibly because it is easier to carve a face into a pumpkin than into a turnip. Due to this, the practice of hollowing out pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns may have its roots in this practice.

Houses were also protected with the same candle lanterns. If the spirits got past the protection of the lanterns, the Scottish custom was to offer the spirits parcels of food to leave and spare the house another year. Children, too, were given the added protection by disguising them as such creatures in order to blend in with the spirits. If children approached the door of a house, they were also given offerings of food (Halloween being a harvest festival), which served to ward off the potential spirits that may lurk among them. This is where the origin of the practice of Scottish "guising" (a word that comes from "disguising"), arose, with the tradition of children going from door to door in costume, which became prevalent at Halloween in Scotland and Ireland by the 19th century. It is now a key feature of the tradition of trick-or-treating practised in North America.

In modern-day Scotland, this old tradition survives, chiefly in the form of children going door to door "guising" in this manner; that is, dressed in a disguise (often as a witch, ghost, monster, or another supernatural being) and offering entertainment of various sorts. If the entertainment is enjoyed, the children are rewarded with gifts of sweets, fruits, or money.

Popular games played on the holiday include "dunking" for apples (i.e., retrieving an apple from a bucket of water using only one's mouth). In some places, the game has been replaced (because of fears of contracting saliva-borne illnesses in the water) by standing over the bowl holding a fork in one's mouth and releasing it in an attempt to skewer an apple using only gravity. Another popular game is attempting to eat, while blindfolded, a treacle- or jam-coated scone on a piece of string hanging from the ceiling. Sometimes the blindfold is left out, because it is already difficult to eat the scone. In all versions, however, the participants cannot use their hands.

In 2007, Halloween festival organisers in Perthshire said they wanted to move away from U.S.-style celebrations in favour of more culturally accurate traditions. Plans include abandoning the use of pumpkins and reinstating traditional activities, such as a turnip lantern competition and dooking (ducking) for apples.

England  

Traditions
In parts of northern England, there is a traditional festival called Mischief night, which falls on the 30th of October. During the celebration, children play a range of "tricks" (ranging from minor to more serious) on adults. One of the more serious tricks might include the unhinging of garden gates (which were often thrown into ponds or moved far away). In recent years, such acts have occasionally escalated to extreme vandalism, sometimes involving street fires.

 Bobbing for apples is a well-established association with Halloween. In the game, attempts are made (using only one's mouth) to catch an apple placed in a water-filled barrel. Once an apple is caught, it is sometimes peeled and tossed over the shoulder in the hope that the strips would fall into the shape of a letter, which would be the first initial of the participant's true love.

Other traditions include making toffee apples and apple tarts. Apple tarts may be baked with a coin hidden inside, and nuts of all types are traditional Halloween fare.

There has been increasing concern about the potential for antisocial behaviour, particularly among older teenagers, on Halloween. Cases of houses being "egg-bombed" or having lit fireworks posted through the letterbox (especially when the occupants do not give money or gifts) have been reported, and the BBC reported that for Halloween 2006, police forces stepped up patrols to respond to such mischief. 

Wales  
In Welsh, Halloween is known as Nos Calan Gaeaf (the beginning of the new winter; see Calan Gaeaf). Spirits are said to walk around (as it is an Ysbrydnos, or "spirit night"), and a "white lady" ghost is sometimes said to appear. Bonfires are lit on hillsides to mark the night.

In many urban areas, principally South Wales, Welsh children Trick or Treat, as per the American custom. Halloween parties and events are common place. 

New Series: Halloween around the World
Source: wikipedia

Picture

Top 10 Most Bizarre (and Ugly) Shoes

Visit Turkey

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Turkey Welcomes You"

Oct 21st 2010 

Top 10 Beautiful Fishes

Visit Switzerland

 Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Welcome to Switzerland"

Visit Sweden

Click on the picture for more information.  

Picture
"Welcome to Sweden"

Visit Spain

Click on the picture for more information.  

Picture
"I Need Spain"

Oct 20th 2010 

 Visit Slovenia

Click on the picture for more information.  

Picture
"I Feel SLOVEnia"

Visit Slovakia

Click on the picture for more information. 

Picture
"Little Big Country"

Oct 19th 2010 

Top 10 Impressive Roman Catholic Basilicas

Picture
10 Basilica of the Shrine of the Assumption Baltimore, USA

Full title: Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or more simply, the Baltimore Basilica, was the first major Roman Catholic cathedral built in the United States. It was designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe, who also was enlisted by Thomas Jefferson to design the Capitol Building. Construction began in 1806 and was completed in a relatively short period of 15 years in 1821. The Cathedral is a monumental neoclassical-style building designed in conformity to a Latin cross basilica plan — a departure on Latrobe’s part from previous American church architecture, but in keeping with longstanding European traditions of cathedral design. The plan unites two distinct elements: a longitudinal axis and a domed space.
Picture
9 Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar Zaragoza, Spain

The Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar is a minor basilica built in the 1st or 2nd century AD and sits on the banks of the Ebro. It is dedicated to Our Lady of the Pillar, the patron saint of Spain, who is said to have appeared to St. James in the 40 AD and gave him a small wooden statue and a column of jasper and instructed him to build a church in her honor. The statue atop the pillar is present in the church to this day. Amazingly, during the Spanish Civil War, three bombs were dropped on the church, none of which exploded. The architecture is of baroque style, and the present building was predominantly built between 1681 and 1872.
Picture
8 Notre Dame de Paris Paris, France

Notre Dame de Paris is the Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Paris and is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture in the world. It was one of the first constructed Gothic cathedrals and one of the first buildings to use flying buttresses for support. Construction began in 1160 on the Île de la Cité and was completed around 1345. The design also famously includes numerous gargoyles and grotesques incorporated into the rainwater gutter system as well as for ornamental purposes. The basilica was a target of vandalism throughout history, most recently during the Second World War and a restoration project is currently underway to restore the church to its highest degree of magnificence.
Picture
7 St Patrick’s Cathedral Melbourne, Australia

St. Patrick’s Cathedral of Melbourne is internationally known as a leading example of the Gothic Revival style of architecture and it the cathedral church of the Archdiocese of Melbourne. Construction began in 1858 and, due to long and frequent economic delays, was not officially completed until 1939. The church is the tallest in Australia and was dedicated to St. Patrick as the Catholic community in Melbourne was almost entirely Irish when construction began.
Picture
6 St Mark’s Basilica Venice, Italy

St. Mark’s Basilica is Venice’s most famous church and one of the best known examples of Byzantine architecture. Churches on the site date back to 828 but construction of the current building did not start until 1063 and was not consecrated until 1094, with constant additions throughout its history with an official completion date of 1617. It was presented as a status symbol of Venetian wealth and power and from the 11th century onwards, the building was known by the nickname Chiesa d’Oro (Church of gold).
Picture
5 Basilica of Our Lady of Dolours Thrissur, India

The stunningly white Basilica of Our Lady of Delours is located in southern India and is the biggest in tallest church in Asia. The church began construction in 1929 and was consecrated in 1940, yet the tallest of the towers was not completed until 2007 and was dubbed the Bible Tower. The basilica was built in an Indo-Gothic style with three large towers, the tallest of which is 260 feet high. The red cross atop the Bible Tower is lit at night and can be seen from miles away. The church is dedicated to Our Lady of the Dolours in reference to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the seven sorrows of her life.
Picture
4 Notre-Dame de la Garde Marseille, France

Notre-Dame de la Garde is a basilica located in Marseille, France. This ornate Neo-Byzantine church is situated at the highest natural point in Marseille, a 162 m (532 ft) limestone outcrop on the south side of the Old Port. As well as being a major local landmark, it is the site of a popular annual pilgrimage every Assumption Day (August 15). Local inhabitants commonly refer to it as la bonne mère (“the good mother”). The church was built between 1853, when the foundation stone was laid on September 11, and 1864. The church was built on the site of a 13th century chapel, also dedicated to Our Lady of the Watch, the traditional guardian of seafarers.
The basilica is surmounted by a 60 m (197 ft) belfry topped with a huge statue of the Virgin and Child, visible across much of the city and for miles out at sea. Construction of the basilica took five years and required 170,000 tons of material, including 23 shiploads of marble and porphyry from Italy.
Picture
3 Basilica of Our Lady of Licheń Licheń Stary, Poland

The Basilica of Our Lady of Licheń is located in the village of Licheń Stary near Konin in Poland. It was designed by Barbara Bielecka and built between 1994 and 2004. The construction founded entirely from pilgrims’ donations. With the central nave 98 meters tall, 120 meters long and 77 meters wide, and with a tower 141.5 metres tall, it is Poland’s largest church and on of the largest churches in the world. The church is dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows whose icon, dating back to the 18th century, is displayed in the basilica’s main altar. It is one of Poland’s principal pilgrimage sites.
Picture
2 Las Lajas Cathedral Ipiales, Colombia

Las Lajas Cathedral is a cathedral located in the municipality of Ipiales and built inside the canyon of the Guaitara River. The architecture of this cathedral is of gothic revival architecture built from January 1, 1916 to August 20, 1949, with donations from local churchgoers with the intention to replace an old 19th century chapel. The story of the cathedral’s creation is that in 1754 an Amerindian named “Maria Mueces” and deaf-mute daughter “Rosa” were caught up by a very strong storm. They found refuge between the gigantic Lajas and to Maria Mueces surprise the girl exclaimed “the mestiza is calling me…” and pointing to the lightning illuminated painting over the laja.
Picture
1 St. Peter’s Basilica Vatican City

The Basilica of Saint Peter, officially known in Italian as the Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano is located within the Vatican City. St. Peter’s has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world, holding 60,000 people. It is regarded as one of the holiest Christian sites and has been described as “holding a unique position in the Christian world” and as “the greatest of all churches of Christendom”. In Catholic tradition, it is the burial site of its namesake Saint Peter, who was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus and, according to tradition, first Bishop of Rome and therefore first in the line of the papal succession. Tradition holds that Saint Peter’s tomb is below the altar of the basilica. There has been a church on this site since the 4th century. Construction on the present basilica, over the old Constantinian basilica, began on April 18, 1506 and was completed on November 18, 1626. It is associated with the papacy, with the Counter-reformation and with numerous artists, most significantly Michelangelo. As a work of architecture, it is regarded as the greatest building of its age.

Bonus

Picture

San Thome Basilica Santhome, Chennai (Madras), India

Picture

Notre Dame d'Afrique (Our Lady of Africa) Algiers, Algeria 

Picture

Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Sacré-Cœur Basilica) Paris, France

Picture

Sagrada Família Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain 

Visit Serbia

Click on the picture for more information.  

Picture
"Welcome to Serbia"

Visit San Marino

Click on the picture for more information. 

Picture
"Welcome to San Marino"

Oct 18th 2010 

Visit Russia

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Welcome to Russia"

Visit Romania

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Explore the Carpathian Garden"

Oct 17th 2010

"The Sweet Escape"

The Best Places To Hide...and Never Be Found

Auyuittuq National Park, Canada
What and Where:
An 8,300-square-mile park on Baffin Island, part of Canada's Nunavut territory.

How: Fly from Ottawa or Montreal to Iqaluit, capital of Nunavut. Then charter a flight to Pangnirtung, about 17 miles south of the park. From there hire someone to take you in via boat if it's summertime, or snowmobile in the winter. Note that access is impossible while the ice is breaking up around June or freezing over around October.
Pros: Hard to leave even if you want to.
Cons: Polar bears in the spring; near-total darkness and possibility of hypothermia in the winter.
Picture
Socotra
What and where:
Island in the Indian Ocean, 210 miles south of the Arabian Peninsula and 106 miles west of the Horn of Africa. Belongs to Yemen.

How: From mainland Yemen, hop a fishing boat or take one of two weekly flights, weather permitting. Hurricane-strength winds buffet the island from May to August, making ship dockings and plane landings difficult.
Pros: Pristine sandy lagoons and beaches, abundant marine life, exotic endemic plants and birds, no major predators. Fewer than 45,000 residents in 3,625 square kilometers.
Cons: Hurricane-strength winds four months of the year. Alcohol is illegal.
Picture
Kamchatka Peninsula
What and Where:
A 182,356-square-mile peninsula of volcanoes, geysers, forest and wildlife in the Russian Far East between the Sea of Okhotsk and the North Pacific.

How: Fly from Moscow or Anchorage to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the peninsula's main urban area. Go north until the peninsula's only highway ends.
Pros: Skiing and trout-fishing possible.
Cons: Predators include brown bears, wolves, lynx and weasels. The peninsula has 29 still-active volcanoes.
Picture
Laguna San Rafael National Park, Chile
What and where: A 6,726-square-mile national park on the Pacific Ocean in southern Chile.

How: From Puerto Montt, the nearest major seaport, take a cruise into the park and jump ship--preferably with kayak and fishing rod.
Pros: Mountain scenery, great fishing.
Cons: Rains all year.
Picture
Mongolian Hinterland
What and Where: Landlocked nation between Russia and China.

How: Fly to the capital Ulaanbaatar via Beijing or Moscow; head in any direction.
Pros: Generous hospitality rooted in nomadic culture. Horseback riding and falconry popular pastimes. Home to the 13th-largest lake in the world (in surface area) as well as taiga forest and the Gobi desert.
Cons: Weather can be extreme. Mutton-centric diet.
Picture

Visit Portugal

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Welcome to Portugal"

Visit Poland

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Feel Invited"

Oct 16th 2010

Visit  Norway

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Welcome to Norway"

Visit The Netherlands (Holland)

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Welcome to Holland"

Oct 15th 2010

Visit  Montenegro

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Breathtaking Beauty"

Visit Monaco

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Welcome to Monaco"

Picture

5 Drinks That Help You Calm Down

1. Drink a glass of milk. It contains tryptophan, which as it is metabolized is converted to mood-boosting serotonin. Plus, its calcium, magnesium and potassium content may help keep blood pressure down.
2. Drink hot cocoa. Warm drinks raise your body temperature—a feeling we associate with comfort, so it triggers a similar response in our brains.
3. Order black tea instead of coffee. A study by University College London shows that drinking black tea four times a day for six weeks lowered the stress hormone cortisol after a stressful event.
4. Drink green tea—packed with theanine, which increases the brain’s output of relaxation-inducing alpha waves and reduces the output of tension-making beta waves.
5. Drink a glass of cold water, then go for a walk outside. The water gets your blood moving and the air invigorates by stimulating the endorphins that de-stress you.

Oct 14th 2010

Visit Moldova

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Welcome to Moldova"

Visit Malta

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Welcome to the Heart of the Mediterranean"

Visit Macedonia

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Welcome to Macedonia"

Oct 13th 2010

Visit Luxembourg

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Welcome to Luxembourg"

Visit Lithuania
Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Heart of the Baltics"

Oct 12th 2010

Visit Liechtenstein

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Welcome to Liechtenstein"

Visit Latvia

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Best Enjoyed Slowly"

Oct 11th 2010

Visit Italy

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Welcome to Italy"

Visit Ireland

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Welcome to Ireland"

Visit Iceland
Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Come and Be Inspired by  Iceland"

Oct 10th 2010

Visit Hungary

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"A Lofe for Life"

Oct 9th 2010

Visit Greece

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Welcome to Greece"

Visit Germany

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Simply Inspiring"

Oct 8th 2010

Visit France

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Welcome to France"

Visit Finland

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Welcome to Finland"

Oct 7th 2010

The Most Powerful Women In The World
click on each woman to view profile

Picture

Visit Estonia

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Welcome to Estonia"

Visit Denmark

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Feel Free"

Oct 6th 2010

How long can you freeze food?

Here is a guide to how long you can freeze foods before you sacrifice quality. Keep in mind that quality does deteriorate the longer food sits in your freezer, so aim to defrost sooner rather than later.
  • Bacon: 1 to 2 months
  • Breads: 2 to 3 months
  • Casseroles: 2 to 3 months
  • Cooked beef and pork: 2 to 3 months
  • Cooked poultry: 4 months
  • Cookie dough: 3 months
  • Fruit: 8 to 12 months
  • Frozen dinners: 3 to 4 months
  • Hot dogs: 1 to 2 months
  • Lunch meats: 1 to 2 months
  • Sausage: 1 to 2 months
  • Soups and stews: 2 to 3 months
  • Uncooked chicken (parts): 9 months
  • Uncooked chicken (whole): 1 year
  • Uncooked steaks, chops, or roasts: 4 to 12 months
  • Uncooked ground meat: 3 to 4 months
  • Vegetables: 8 to 12 months
 
Basic tips for freezing food:
  • Freeze foods as close to purchase (or harvest if you have a garden) as possible. The fresher food is when you freeze it, the better the quality when you defrost it.
  • While most foods can be frozen, there are some foods you should keep out of the freezer. Don't freeze canned foods or eggs in shells (which can crack and allow bacteria to enter). Technically you can freeze mayonnaise, cream sauce, and lettuce, but the quality takes a big hit. Here's a list of foods that don't freeze well with details on their condition after thawing.
  • Cool cooked foods down before freezing so they freeze faster, which helps preserve quality.
  • Packaging matters and varies depending on what you're freezing. If you choose glass over plastic containers, wrap, or bags, you'll need to make sure it's tempered so it doesn't break.
  • You can freeze meat in its original packaging, but if you want to store it for long periods of time, add an additional layer of packaging, such as plastic wrap or bags.
  • It's always a good idea to label items so you know what they are and how long they've been in the freezer.
  • Resist the temptation to defrost foods on your countertop. The three safest ways to thaw foods are in your fridge, in cold water, and in the microwave.
How to freeze fresh produce:
  • The key to freezing fresh fruit is to spread out the cleaned, dried, and prepared (cut up) pieces of fruit on cookie sheets. Once the individual pieces of fruit are frozen, you can combine and put in freezer bags. Some people prefer to pack fruits in sugar or sugar syrup to help preserve texture and flavor. The National Center for Home Food Preservation has tips on how to freeze specific fruits such as strawberries, tomatoes, peaches, and many more.
  • Vegetables usually need to be blanched (boiled or steamed for a short time) before freezing to maintain flavor, color, and texture. Blanching times vary depending on the vegetable. The National Center for Home Food Preservation has a chart with blanching times for everything from corn to collard greens and simple instructions for how to freeze a large variety of vegetables.

Visit The Czech Republic

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Welcome to the Czech Republic"

Visit Cyprus

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Love Cyprus"

Visit Croatia

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Land of Diversity"

Oct 5th 2010

True Stories Behind Car Company Logos

Picture
Did a wallpaper pattern in a Paris hotel room inspire the famous Chevrolet Bowtie emblem? Does the blue and white BMW roundel really symbolize a propeller and sky? And was the Porsche logo first sketched on a napkin in a New York City restaurant? In the world of automobile logos, truth can be stranger than fiction—though a good story can go a long way toward embellishing a brand’s corporate identity.
From Ferrari’s Prancing Horse to Cadillac’s crest, automobile logos appear on everything from steering wheel hubs to giant billboards, and even the lapel pins on the suits of company executives. This kind of flexibility is one of the design elements needed for an effective and strong logo, says Jack Gernsheimer, Creative Director of Partners Design Inc. and author of Designing Logos: The Process of Creating Symbols that Endure.
With over 40 years of advertising experience and more than 500 logos to his credit, Mr. Gernsheimer believes it’s essential to look long-term and to keep things simple when designing a logo. “Not getting too trendy with the type or color” is vital, he says. “When you design a logo, ideally it should endure for decades.” For many automakers, the roots of their logos stretch back over a century and contain enough symbolism and intrigue to fill a Dan Brown novel.
Automotive Pioneers Tragedy plays a role in a popular myth surrounding the famous intertwined double-R logo of British luxury automaker Rolls-Royce. The company’s founders, Sir Henry Royce and Charles Stewart Rolls, originally used red lettering for the emblem that combined the first initial of their last names. Legend has it the color was changed, from red to black, in a mark of respect after the death of Sir Henry Royce in 1933. In reality, black lettering was simply considered more becoming of a prestigious luxury car. The timing of the color change was pure chance.
Rolls Royce’s second iconic emblem, the Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament, is linked to a similarly tragic (but in this case, entirely true) tale. Designed by Charles Sykes in 1911, the model for the emblem was Miss Eleanor Thornton, the personal secretary of John Scott Montagu, the 2nd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu and friend of company co-founder Charles Stewart Rolls. In 1915, Miss Thornton died at sea while traveling to India. Yet for almost 100 years her likeness has graced every Spirit of Ecstasy.
The origins of some automotive logos begin even before the dawn of the automobile. The Mercedes-Benz three-pointed star is commonly known to symbolize the use of the company’s engines on land, sea and air. But the star first appeared on a personal note written in 1872 from company founder, Gottlieb Daimler, to his wife. Mr. Daimler used a three-pointed star to mark the location of his family’s new home in the town of Deutz, Germany. His sons adapted the emblem as the Mercedes-Benz logo from 1910 onward.
One of the best known emblems of all time, Ferrari’s Prancing Horse first appeared on warplanes flown by Francesco Baracca, an aviator and hero of World War I. In 1923, Enzo Ferrari met Francesco’s parents after a race, where they suggested Ferrari use their son’s prancing horse badge on his race cars—both for good luck, and as an homage to Francesco, who died before the war ended. A yellow background was added (it’s the official color of Enzo Ferrari’s hometown of Modena, Italy) and the horse’s tail was redesigned to point upward.
In the case of BMW, myth (and savvy marketing) has fooled generations into linking the company’s logo with an aviation theme. “A German advertising agency in the 1920s produced an ad that showed the [BMW] roundel against the spinning propeller of an airplane to reflect the company’s origins as an aircraft engine manufacturer,” says Dave Buchko, company spokesman for BMW North America. “That, it seems now, turns out to be urban myth.” While it’s true that BMW manufactured airplane engines, the blue and white logo represented the colors of the Bavarian flag, not a stylized propeller and sky.
American Ingenuity Had it not been for a talkative spouse, the Chevy Bowtie emblem could have claimed one the strangest design origins. Louis Chevrolet said the famous emblem was inspired by a wallpaper pattern in his hotel room during a visit to Paris in 1908. The story would have been considered fact, had it not been for Mr. Chevrolet’s wife. She later said her husband had seen an advertisement featuring a similarly shaped logo in a Sunday supplement. Eye-catching design—and careful evolution—is a theme found in many American car company logos.
The Cadillac crest is the coat of arms of French military commander and explorer, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, who founded Detroit in 1701. Simplified and streamlined over the years, the basic style remains intact. “It’s so distinctive, you don’t want to give that away,” says Anne Marie Webb, Design Manager for GM’s Global Brand Identity. When updating one of GM’s brand logos, Webb says she always considers elements “that made it recognizable and strong.” Even then, cultural differences must be considered. The Buick Tri-Shield emblem is monochromatic in every country except China, where the logo maintains red, blue and grey coloring. “They felt [color] had a more premium feel,” explains Webb.
Changing times can also bring big changes in a logo. For more than 80 years, Chrysler has used a wide range of badges featuring ribbon seals, or ribbon seals with wings. But in 1962, Chrysler Chairman Lynn Townsend wanted a more modern and less fussy corporate logo. According to Chrysler’s archives, out of approximately 700 designs, Townsend selected the Pentastar. Many assumed the design symbolized the five divisions of the company (circa the early 1960s). It didn’t; the design simply looked good.
Lawyers, Latin and Luck Some car company logos owe their existence to legalities and economies of scale. In 1909, having left the company bearing his name, August Horch established a second automobile company in Zwickau, Germany. But with his name already in use, Horch had a serious problem. He couldn’t legally name his new company after himself. However, when translated into Latin, "Horch"—which means "hark"—became the lawyer-friendly "Audi." The four interlinked Audi rings came about in 1932, when four struggling automakers joined together under the corporate banner of Auto Union. These companies included Audi, DKW, Wanderer and, ironically, the original Horch.
Volvo also has Latin roots. Meaning “I roll,” the name was taken from a brand of ball bearings before it was applied to the Swedish automaker in 1924. The Volvo logo is the Roman symbol for iron—symbolizing a warrior’s shield and spear. The diagonal streak across the grille was originally only a mounting point for the badge, but is now “almost as much a brand ID as our iron symbol,” says Daniel Johnston, Product Communications Manager at Volvo Cars North America.
Good luck—and an easier to pronounce name—played a role in the creation of the Toyota nameplate in 1936. In the book Toyota: A History of the First 50 Years, company founder Kiichiro Toyoda “ran a contest for suggestions for a new Toyoda logo. There were over 20,000 entries. The winning entry consisted of katakana characters in a design that imparted a sense of speed… “Toyoda” became “Toyota” because as a design it was esthetically superior and because the number of strokes needed to write it was eight, which in Japan is a felicitous number, suggestive of increasing prosperity.”
Statues, Stars, and Smart Cars Inspiration for a name and logo can come from careful consumer research, legal loopholes or, in some cases, by looking at the surrounding environment. The Maserati brothers took inspiration for their company’s trident logo from the statue of Neptune in the central square of Bologna, Italy, where Maserati was originally headquartered. The trident with Maserati script below was sketched by Mario, an artist, who also happened to be the only Maserati brother never actively involved in the design or engineering of cars.
Inspiration for the Subaru name literally came from the heavens—or more precisely, the Japanese name of a star cluster in the Taurus constellation. Six of the stars are visible to the naked eye and—in keeping with corporate identity—this matches the six companies which combined to form Fuji Heavy Industries, Subaru’s parent company. The Hyundai name has an even simpler explanation. In Korean it means “modern,” while the company’s logo is a stylized “H” that also represents two people, the company and customer, shaking hands.
The Smart name seems to speak for itself, no translation needed. It actually happens to be an acronym of Swatch (the Swiss watch company that was a partner during the early stages of the company), Mercedes (the brand’s current custodian), and “Art.” The company’s logo signifies compact, with a “C,” and forward thinking with an arrow emblem.
Plot Twists When it comes to the origin of an iconic logo, the same car company can sometimes have two variations of the same story. That holds true with Porsche, and the truth behind the German sports car manufacturer’s eye-catching emblem. According to a spokesperson with Porsche Cars North America, an extremely influential automobile distributor, Max Hoffman, met with Ferry Porsche in a New York City restaurant in 1951. The discussion moved on to Hoffman’s belief that Porsche needed a powerful logo, something distinctive and elegant. A rough sketch was made then and there, on a dinner napkin.
Yet the story from Porsche Germany differs from this colorful explanation. Max Hoffman did ask Ferry Porsche for a logo, but the emblem was designed by Porsche engineer Franz Xaver Reimspiess—and most definitely not sketched on a napkin somewhere in Manhattan. Does it matter who is right or wrong? Probably not.
A tall tale never hurts, especially when it involves two companies known for building some of the most exotic cars in the world. Car enthusiasts love to stoke the rivalry between Lamborghini and Ferrari, even down to the minutiae of the Lamborghini logo. The design of the gold and black emblem was led by company founder Ferruccio Lamborghini, and the bull located in the center stands for his astrological sign (Taurus). Legend has it that Mr. Lamborghini purposefully copied the Ferrari shield, then reversed that company’s yellow and black color scheme to prod the ego of Enzo Ferrari.
With the key protagonists having passed away, there is probably no way to know for certain how much of this is true. “To our knowledge, this is just a rumor,” said a spokesperson for Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. “The only way to confirm would have been to ask Mr. Lamborghini himself.”

Visit Bulgaria

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
Welcome to Bulgaria"

Visit Bosnia and Herzegovina

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"The Heart Shaped Land"

Oct 4th 2010

Visit Belgium

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Your Travel Therapy Starts Here"

Visit Belarus

Click on the picture for more information.

Picture
"Welcome to Belarus"

Oct 3rd 2010

Micro pigs

Click here to see video.

Hasta la Vista, Baby!

Picture
2011 Departed American brands

1. Pontiac
In theory, it was GM’s performance brand. We’ll miss cars like the G8, GTO and Solstice GXP; we wish we could erase the Aztek from our memory (as did Pontiac, no doubt).
2. Mercury
Founded in 1939 by Henry Ford’s son, Edsel, Mercury most recently served as an example of poor badge engineering.
3. Saturn
Originally known for its plastic-bodied cars and “no-haggle” dealer model; severely held back by a lack of new and unique product.
4. Hummer
Thrust into pop culture by a muscle-bound Austrian-born actor/governor, these off-road-biased trucks proved far too bulky and inefficient for the times.

Optical Illusions

Click here.

Visit Austria

Click on the picture for more information

Picture
"It's Got to Be Austria"

Visit Andorra

Click on the picture for more information

Picture
"A Whole World in a Small Country"

Visit Albania

Click on the picture for more information

Picture
"A New Mediterranean Love"

Albanian main Destinations


Central Albania
Eastern Albania
Ionian Coast
Northeastern Albania
Northern Adriatic Coast
Northwestern Albania
Southern Adriatic Coast
Southern Albania
Tirana and Surroundings

Oct 2nd 2010

Millionaire Myths

We all have are preconceptions about millionaires: they're tax evaders who just inherited their money from rich Aunt Flo, and they hang around the golf course all day with their snobby, elitist friends. So what's the average millionaire really like? Here are seven millionaire myths, and the real facts about the ones who seem to have it all.
1. Millionaires Don't Pay Their Taxes
Fact: It is estimated that millionaires, those in the top 1% of earners, pay about 40 percent of all taxes. Current tax regulation shifts may change these numbers to make this even larger than that -- so think twice before accusing the millionaires in America of not paying taxes.
2. Millionaires Just Inherited Their Money
According to Thomas J. Stanley's book, "The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy," only 20% of millionaires inherited their riches. The other 80% are what you'd call nouveau riche: first-generation millionaires who earned their cash on their own. Many millionaires simply worked, saved, and lived within their means to generate their wealth -- think accountants and managers: regular people going to work every day. Most millionaires didn't get their riches overnight when a rich relative died -- they worked for the money.
3. Millionaires Feel Rich
From the outside looking in, you would think that millionaires feel rich and secure, but that's not so. Most millionaires worry about retirement, their kids' college fund and the mortgage just like the rest of us. Those worries are greatest among new millionaires, the people who just recently acquired their wealth.
4. Millionaires Have High-Paying Jobs
It certainly doesn't hurt to be gainfully employed, but half of all millionaires are self-employed or own a business. It does help to have a college degree, as about 80 percent are college graduates, though only 18% have master's degrees.
5. Millionaires All Drive Fancy Cars
You can get that idea of the rich guy in a fancy German car out of your head when you think of a millionaire: They actually drive a Ford, with the carmaker topping the millionaire preferred car list at 9.4 percent. Cadillacs run second on the millionaires' favorite car list, and Lincolns third according to onmoneymaking.com.
Car payments are an investment with little return, which is why someone looking to grow wealth avoids high-priced vehicles in favor of a more economical set of wheels.
6. Millionaires Hang Around the Golf Course All Day
Those millionaires are all retired, with nothing else to do but hang around the golf course, right? Wrong. Only 20 percent of millionaires are retirees, with a full 80 percent still going to work. It's not as glamorous or fun, but millionaires go to work just like you do; it's how the money gets in the bank.
7. Millionaires Are Elitists
We've already established that most millionaires earned their money and not inherited it, still go to work, drive a Ford, and worry about their kids' college expenses. Sounds a lot like the rest of America, right? Millionaires come in all shapes and sizes -- some may be elitists, but most are just regular Joes who successfully managed their money.
The Bottom Line
Maybe you see a pattern here: Today's millionaires are people who live within their means, budget and spend wisely, and focus on financial independence first. These are habits that take discipline, but ones we can all adopt to begin growing wealth. If these facts prove anything, it's that every one of us can strive to become a millionaire -- you can start by driving your old car with pride.

Oct 1st 2010

The World's Most Remote Hotels
Check them out by clicking here.

World's Scariest Bridges
Check them out by clicking here.

Sep 30th 2010

Real-Life 'Iron Man' Mechanical Suit Unveiled

Picture
In 1963, Stan Lee imagined that a mechanized suit that could boost the wearer's strength and mobility might turn an average person into a superhero. That idea became the comic book "Iron Man." Today, a tech company is trying to turn that same notion into a reality.
This week, Raytheon Sarcos unveiled the XOS 2, a real-life mechanical exoskeleton suit that dramatically increases the strength of the person wearing it. Since "Iron Man 2" is hitting DVD shelves this week as well, they invited actor Clark Gregg, who plays S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Coulson in the movie, to come to the company's Utah research facility and try it on for himself.
Like Tony Stark, the inventor inside the Iron Man armor, Raytheon Sarcos produces defense technology for the military. The XOS 2 suit is intended to allow military personnel to lift heavy objects and perform repeated tasks without risking fatigue or injury. The company says the suit can allow one soldier to do the work of three and in less time. Someone in the XOS 2 can lift a 200 pound weight several hundred times without getting tired.
The XOS 2 is still a prototype, and it needs to be attached to a hydraulic engine in order to operate. But the company is working to increase its efficiency to the point where it will independently on a small onboard engine. While the suit looks bulky, it's maneuverable enough for the operator to do push-ups, climb stairs, and kick around a soccer ball.
Raytheon's Dr. Frasier Smith told Engadget that right now the company is focused on creating suits for "logistics" -- lifting and carrying heavy equipment -- but that armored combat models are still in the planning stage. The company hopes to have their suits in operation within the next five years. There is no word on whether or not they plan to equip the suits with rocket boots or repulsor rays.

Sep 29th 2010

Picture

India will use monkey security force for Commonwealth Games

When the Commonwealth Games begin next week in New Delhi, organizers will deploy 38 trained langur monkeys to patrol the grounds in an attempt to scare away smaller, stray primates that can roam the streets of Delhi. The langurs, which are giant, gray monkeys with black faces, will be on a leash and accompanied by a trainer. They'll be positioned outside various venues and tasked with keeping wild monkeys from causing havoc in and around the Games.
Stray monkeys are a constant presence in the Indian capital. Office buildings, hospitals and government locations often station langurs around their grounds to keep wild packs of animals away from humans. In rare instances, the wild monkeys have even proved to be deadly. Three years ago, New Delhi's deputy mayor was killed when he fell from a balcony during an attack of stray monkeys. Organizers will rent the use of the langurs for the two weeks of competition. When the Games are over, the monkeys will return home with their trainers.