Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.
Fans of singers Chris Brown and Rihanna expressed dismay on Saturday at reports the couple had reunited just three weeks after Brown was alleged to have assaulted her.
Celebrity magazines People and Us Weekly said that the R&B stars were spending time together at the Miami home of hip hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs -- and that Rihanna 's father was supporting her decision.
"I love my daughter with whatever road she takes. I'm behind her win or lose. I will be supportive. If that's the road she wants to choose, I'm behind her," Rihanna 's dad Ronald Fenty told Us Weekly from his Barbados home.
Fans could scarcely believe the news that came a week after a picture, showing the 21-year-old "Umbrella" singer with bruises to her face and swollen lips, was leaked on the Internet.
"All the abusive men are celebrating," Highroller33138 wrote in a posting on the MTV.com website. "It sets a terrible example for women everywhere. Rihanna really disappointed me."
"Stupid, really stupid. ... I hate women like this," wrote ladyofthelake in a posting on TVGuide.com.
On Friday People quoted an unidentified source saying the couple, who had been dating for about a year, were back together.
"They care for each other. While Chris is reflective and saddened about what happened, he is really happy to be with the woman he loves," the source told People.
Representatives of Brown, 19, a clean-cut teen idol whose hits include "Run It!", declined comment on the reports. Rihanna 's publicist did not return calls seeking comment.
Los Angeles prosecutors have yet to decide whether to file charges against Brown after his arrest on February 8 on suspicion of making criminal threats against a woman.
The alleged assault on the eve of the Grammy Awards caused both stars to cancel their scheduled appearances. Brown issued a statement a week after the incident saying he was "sorry and saddened" and seeking counseling.
Dawn has yet to break over a small temple in a Tibetan region of western China, but monk Hua Chi is already finishing an arduous daily ritual that has left its mark on both the man and the shrine. Skip related content
Hua, also a doctor of traditional medicine who believes he is about 70 years old, has been performing a strict daily ritual at this temple in the monastery town of Tongren, in Qinghai province, for nearly 20 years.
He has knelt in prayer so many times that his footprints remain deeply, perfectly ingrained on the temple's wooden floor.
Every day before sunrise, he arrives at the temple steps, places his feet in his footprints and bends down to pray a few thousand times before walking around the temple.
The footprints are three centimeters (1.2 inches) deep where the balls of his feet have pressed into the wood.
But the years are beginning to make their own mark on his body.
"During the first years I would pray 2,000 to 3,000 times a day. But I have grown older, so in recent years I have only done around 1,000 each day," he said, adding sheepishly that he could sometimes only manage around 500 in the cold of winter.
The ritual started with no specific aim, but with time it has turned into a project of self-salvation, said Hua, who hopes his dedication will be noticed and guarantee his soul a smooth transition to the afterlife.
According to Tibetan Buddhism, following death, the spirit goes through a three-stage process which determines whether it enters nirvana or returns for rebirth in one of the six realms of existence -- hell, human, animal, hungry ghost, demi-god or god.
Hua says he is getting closer to his goal.
"I reconstructed this temple and have prayed and walked around the temple all these times so that after my death my spirit will not suffer," he said.
Hua's devotion has not gone unnoticed by younger monks at the temple, which lies within the Rongwo Gonchen Gompa, Tongren's main Tibetan monastery.
The monastery, which dates from 1301, is home to hundreds of youngsters studying Buddhist scriptures.
Twenty-nine-year-old Genden Darji says he spent many days admiring Hua's efforts before finding the courage to step into his footprints.
As he carefully repeats Hua's movements, the young monk says he plans to carry on the ritual when the older monk stops.
"Every day I come here and every day I look at the piece of wood, and it has inspired me to continue to make the footprints myself," he said.
International superstar Chow Yun Fat revealed undergoing plastic surgery 20 years ago after spotting signs of residing hair line and sagging skin at the corner of his eyes.
Chow was in Korea promoting his new movie "Dragonball" when he surprised the public by saying, "Since the year I made 'God of Gamblers', I realized the skin at the corner of my eyes were sagging and my hairline was residing. A Hong Kong doctor recommended a plastic surgeon who charged reasonably and then I started doing the treatments." That happened almost 20 years ago when he was only 33-years-old.
Chow was so engaged in the topic, he told the Korean host, "I can recommend a doctor to you if you would like to come to Hong Kong for a plastic surgery. You will definitely get a good job done for a reasonable price!" He said he went through plastic surgery for the audience "because they are my boss!"
In fact, many male artistes have undergone radio frequency resurfacing and intense pulse light treatments, one of whom includes Harlem Yu, to retain their youth.
Is it possible to cultivate genius? Could we somehow structure our educational and social life to produce more Einsteins and Mozarts — or, more urgently these days, another Adam Smith or John Maynard Keynes?
How to produce genius is a very old question, one that has occupied philosophers since antiquity. In the modern era, Immanuel Kant and Darwin's cousin Francis Galton wrote extensively about how genius occurs. Last year, pop-sociologist Malcolm Gladwell addressed the subject in his book Outliers: The Story of Success.
The latest, and possibly most comprehensive, entry into this genre is Dean Keith Simonton's new book Genius 101: Creators, Leaders, and Prodigies (Springer Publishing Co., 227 pages). Simonton, a psychology professor at the University of California, Davis, is one of the world's leading authorities on the intellectually eminent, whom he has studied since his Harvard grad-school days in the 1970s.
For most of its history, the debate over what leads to genius has been dominated by a bitter, binary argument: is it nature or is it nurture — is genius genetically inherited, or are geniuses the products of stimulating and supportive homes? Simonton takes the reasonable position that geniuses are the result of both good genes and good surroundings. His middle-of-the-road stance sets him apart from more ideological proponents like Galton (the founder of eugenics) as well as revisionists like Gladwell who argue that dedication and practice, as opposed to raw intelligence, are the most crucial determinants of success.
Too often, writers don't nail down exactly what they mean by genius. Simonton tries, with this thorough, slightly ponderous, definition: Geniuses are those who "have the intelligence, enthusiasm, and endurance to acquire the needed expertise in a broadly valued domain of achievement" and who then make contributions to that field that are considered by peers to be both "original and highly exemplary."
Fine, now how do you determine whether artistic or scientific creations are original and exemplary? One method Simonton and others use is to add up the number of times an individual's publications are cited in professional literature — or, say, the number of times a composer's work is performed and recorded. Other investigators count encyclopedia references instead. Such methods may not be terribly sophisticated, but the answer they yield is at least a hard quantity.
Still, there's an echo-chamber quality to this technique: genius is what we all say it is. Is there a more objective method? There are IQ tests, of course, but not all IQ tests are the same, which leads to picking a minimum IQ and calling it genius-level. Also, estimates of the IQs of dead geniuses tend to be fun, but they are based on biographical information that can be highly uneven.
So Simonton falls back on his "intelligence, enthusiasm, and endurance" formulation. But what about accidental discoveries? Simonton mentions the case of biologist Alexander Fleming, who, in 1928, "noticed quite by chance that a culture of Staphylococcus had been contaminated by a blue-green mold. Around the mold was a halo." Bingo: penicillin. But what if you had been in Fleming's lab that day and noticed the halo first? Would you be the genius?
Recently, the endurance and hard work part of the achievement equation has gotten a lot of attention, and the role of raw talent and intelligence has faded a bit. The main reason for this shift in emphasis is the work of Anders Ericsson, a friendly rival of Simonton's who teaches psychology at Florida State University. Gladwell featured Ericsson's work prominently in Outliers.
Ericsson has become famous for the 10-year rule: the notion that it takes at least 10 years (or 10,000 hours) of dedicated practice for people to master most complex endeavors. Ericsson didn't invent the 10-year rule (it was suggested as early as 1899), but he has conducted many studies confirming it. Gladwell is a believer. "Practice isn't the thing you do once you're good," he writes. "It's the thing you do that makes you good."
Simonton rather dismissively calls this the "drudge theory." He thinks the real story is more complicated: deliberate practice, he says, is a necessary but not sufficient condition for creating genius. For one thing, you need to be smart enough for practice to teach you something. In a 2002 study, Simonton showed that the average IQ of 64 eminent scientists was around 150, fully 50 points higher than the average IQ for the general population. And most of the variation in IQs (about 80%, according to Simonton) is explained by genetics.
Personality traits also matter. Simonton writes that geniuses tend to be "open to experience, introverted, hostile, driven, and ambitious." These traits too are inherited — but only partly. They're also shaped by environment.
So what does this mean for people who want to encourage genius? Gladwell concludes his book by saying the 10,000-hour rule shows that kids just need a chance to show how hard they can work; we need "a society that provides opportunities for all," he says. Well, sure. But he dismisses the idea that kids need higher IQs to achieve success, and that's just wishful thinking. As I argued here, we need to do more to recognize and not alienate high-IQ kids. Too often, principals hold them back with age-mates rather than letting them skip grades.
Still, genius can be very hard to discern, and not just among the young. Simonton tells the story of a woman who was able to get fewer than a dozen of her poems published during her brief life. Her hard work availed her little — but the raw power of her imagery and metaphor lives on. Her name? Emily Dickinson.
Americans like answers in black and white, a cultural trait we confirmed last year when the biracial man running for President was routinely called "black".
The flattening of Barack Obama's complex racial background shouldn't have been surprising. Many multiracial historical figures in the U.S. have been reduced (or have reduced themselves) to a single aspect of their racial identities: Booker T. Washington, Tina Turner, and Greg Louganis are three examples. This phenomenon isn't entirely pernicious; it is at least partly rooted in our concern that growing up with a fractured identity is hard on kids. The psychologist J.D. Teicher summarized this view in a 1968 paper: "Although the burden of the Negro child is recognized as a heavy one, that of the Negro-White child is seen to be even heavier."
But new research says this old, problematized view of multiracial identity is outdated. In fact, a new paper in the Journal of Social Issues shows that multiracial adolescents who identify proudly as multiracial fare as well as — and, in many cases, better than — kids who identify with a single group, even if that group is considered high-status (like, say, Asians or whites). This finding was surprising because psychologists have argued for years that mixed-race kids will be better adjusted if they pick a single race as their own.
The population of multiracial kids in the U.S. has soared from approximately 500,000 in 1970 to more than 6.8 million in 2000, according to Census data quoted in this pdf. In the early years, research on these kids highlighted their difficulties: the disapproval they faced from neighbors and members of their extended families; the sense that they weren't "full" members in any racial community; the insecurity and self-loathing that often resulted from feeling marginalized on all sides. That simple but harsh playground question — "What are you?" — torments many multiracial kids. Psychologists call this a "forced-choice dilemma" that compels children to claim some kind of identity — even if only a half-identity — in return for social acceptance.
But the new Journal of Social Issues paper suggests this dilemma has become less burdensome in the age of Tiger Woods and Barack Obama. The paper's authors, a team led by Kevin Binning of the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Miguel Unzueta of the UCLA Anderson School of Management, studied 182 multiracial high schoolers in Long Beach, Calif. Binning, Unzueta and their colleagues write that those kids who identified with multiple racial groups reported significantly less psychological stress than those who identified with a single group, whether a "low-status" group like African-Americans or a "high-status" group like whites. The multiracial identifiers were less alienated from peers than monoracial identifiers, and they were no more likely to report having engaged in problem behaviors, such as substance use or persistent school absence.
The writers theorize that multiracial kids who choose to associate with a single race are troubled by their attempts to "pass," whereas those who choose to give voice to their own uniqueness find pride in that act. "Rather than being 'caught' between two worlds," the authors write, "it might be that individuals who identify with multiple groups are better able to navigate both racially homogeneous and heterogeneous environments than individuals who primarily identify with one racial group." The multiracial kids are able to "place one foot in the majority and one in the minority group, and in this way might be buffered against the negative consequences of feeling tokenized."
In short, multiracial kids seem to create their own definitions for fitting in, and they show more psychological flexibility than those mixed-race kids who feel bound to one choice or another.
Fortunately, all these questions of racial identity are becoming less important, as we inch ever closer to the day when the U.S. has no racial majority. One of these days, after all, we will all be celebrating our multiracial pride.
United States aid for the Gaza Strip's reconstruction will likely top $900 million, an official said, as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton prepared to make her first Mideast trip as America's top diplomat.
Israeli and Palestinian officials said Monday that Clinton will visit Israel and the West Bank during the first week of March. Clinton said during her Asia trip last week that she would attend an international donors conference in Egypt on March 2 to discuss reconstruction in Gaza.
She provided no other details, but a U.S. official in the United States said Monday that the Obama administration's donation will be at least $900 million in humanitarian and rebuilding aid to the Palestinian Authority to help Gaza recover from Israel's offensive against Hamas last month. (Photos: "Israeli Soldiers Sweep Into Gaza")
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the donation had not received final approval, said the exact amount was still to be determined.
The official added that the aid would not go to Hamas. The U.S. recognizes the West Bank-based government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and has no formal contacts with the Islamic militant group Hamas, which runs a separate Palestinian administration in the Gaza Strip. (Read: "Despite Gaza Attacks, Hamas Thinks It Has the Upper Hand")
The Israeli officials, meanwhile, said Clinton will arrive in Israel on March 2 for meetings with the country's top leaders. Israel is currently ruled by a caretaker government as Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu cobbles together a new coalition. (Read: "Can Israel Survive Its Assault on Gaza?")
The Israeli officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the visit had not been announced by the State Department, which has not released Clinton's schedule for next week.
Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said Clinton also would visit the West Bank during her stay.
FBI Director Robert Mueller pointed Monday to recent terror attacks in Mumbai, India, and Somalia to highlight the FBI's concern that small groups or individuals could carry out such attacks on U.S. soil.
In a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, Mueller worried that the dramatic terror attack on hotels and other facilities in Mumbai potentially could be replicated in the United States.
"This type of attack reminds us that terrorists with large agendas and little money can use rudimentary weapons to maximize their impact. And it again raises the question of whether a similar attack could happen in Seattle or San Diego, Miami, or Manhattan," Mueller said.
He said he is increasingly concerned with "pockets of people around the world that identify with al Qaeda and its ideology" but who have little or no actual contact with al Qaeda.
Mueller cited the first-ever suicide bombing by a naturalized U.S. citizen last October. A Somali native who had settled in Minnesota traveled back to Somalia and blew up himself and 29 others.
The idea that Shirwa Ahmed, 27, was radicalized in the United States raised red flags throughout the FBI.
"One pattern in particular concerns us," Mueller said. "The prospect of young men, indoctrinated and radicalized within their own communities and induced to travel to Somalia to take up arms -- and to kill themselves and perhaps many others -- is a perversion of the immigrant story. And it raises the question of whether these young men will one day come home and, if so, what they might undertake here."
Authorities have said as many as 20 young Somali men reported missing in Minnesota may have returned to Somalia to take up arms.
A female teacher in Singapore who had sex with a 15—year—old student was jailed for 10 months Monday, a court spokesman said.
The woman’s identity had been withheld to protect the victim, said the spokesman, who confirmed that District Judge Sarjit Singh handed down the sentence, but gave no further details.
Now unemployed, the 32—year—old woman earlier pleaded guilty to having sex with a minor under the age of 16.
The friendship between the teacher and boy began when he was a 14—year—old Grade Six pupil and joined an overseas school trip which she led, a report said.
They later had sex, when he was 15, after the boy said he loved the woman who had declared him her godson, it said. By then, the boy had moved on to a secondary school.
They had sex five more times but when she tried to end the affair the boy threatened to kill her, leading her to contact police, the report continued.
The report added that Judge Singh said the case involved a serious breach of trust.
The woman could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
She wept as she was led away to serve her sentence, 938Live radio reported.
Despite the threat of job losses and the country's deepest economic recession, seven in 10 Singaporeans will continue to spend on beauty products and services, a small industry survey showed.
One in every two polled said they spent at least S$50 a month on beauty products and a third said they would be cutting back on other lifestyle choices, not beauty, according to a survey by the organiser of the BeautyAsia 2009 exhibition.
"I don't think any of us has ever really appreciated how important looking good is to Singaporeans," show organiser Gillian Loh said in a statement.
"For the majority, it is a 'must-have' rather than a luxury."
Shopping is considered a pastime for many people in this small city-state of 4.6 million and cosmetics counters at department stores on central Orchard Road are often crowded.
The poll fits in with what economists often call the "lipstick factor", referring to the historic rise in sales of beauty products as consumers spend on small luxuries to offset their overall belt-tightening.
Despite the government's dire warning the economy could shrink by five percent this year, around 36 percent of respondents said they would keep their current standard of living, according to the poll of just under 100 people aged over 18, which was conducted in January.
Even those who said they would review their beauty spending would just switch to house brands over designer levels, it said.
A list purporting to reveal this year's Oscar winners has been published on the web sparking a £40,000 betting frenzy.
The document is circulating online and names Kate Winslet for best actress, Mickey Rourke for best actor and Slumdog Millionaire for best film.
More surprisingly it names actress Amy Adams as best supporting actress for Doubt when Penelope Cruz was the bookies' favourite.
The Oscar organisers insist the list is fake and say that no one is yet aware of the winners.
But since it has appeared online, bookmaker Paddy Power has taken nearly £40,000 in bets on Adams, who has won nothing so far this season.
She plays the role of a young nun in John Patrick Shanley's heavyweight drama about suspected child abuse in a Catholic school.
The "leaked list" also claims the best original song award will go to Peter Gabriel for Wall-E, although AR Rahman has two nominations for Slumdog Millionaire.
Academy spokeswoman Leslie Unger dismissed the document as "a complete fraud".
She said auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers were still counting the ballots when it was published online.
"There are only two people there who will know the complete list of winners in advance of the envelopes being opened during the ceremony," she told Sky News online.
"The Academy's president is not advised of the winners in advance, and no such list is created," she said.
British bookmakers are wary after losing £100,000 in a suspected gambling sting surrounding Paul Weller's win at the Brit Awards.
A string of bets were placed on him securing the best male solo artist category, which he duly won.
Leaked List:
Actor in a leading role: Mickey Rourke
Actor in a supporting role: Heath Ledger
Actress in a leading role: Kate Winslet
Actress in a supporting role: Amy Adams
Animated Feature Film: Wall-E
Art Direction: The Dark Knight
Cinematography: Slumdog Millionaire
Costume Design: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Directing: Slumdog Millionaire
Documentary feature: Man on Wire
Documentary short: The Conscience of Nhem En
Film editing: Milk
Foreign language film: Departures
Makeup: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Music (Score): Defiance
Music (Song): Down to Earth (Wall-E)
Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire
Short film (animated): Presto
Short film (live action): Auf Der Strecke (On The Line)
Gillian Chung, whose career was badly affected by the outburst of sex photo scandal involving Edison Chen last year, will be resuming work next month by starting on movie and commercial shoots. Chung may also be answering a talk show invite where she will reveal her life and emotions after the scandal in the past year.
Her first strike back into showbiz will be James Yuen's new movie, where the role as a third party in a relationship is said to be "made-to-measure" for her. Her partner in girl group, Twins, Charlene Choi will cast as the "official girlfriend" in the love triangle. According to Hong Kong media reports, CEO of Emperor Entertainment Group (EEG), Albert Yeung, has invited Andy Lau, who has a healthy image, to "shield" Chung in a successful return, by casting together in several movies.
Chung is now also an East Asia endorsee for a particular jeans brand and has secretly started on the commercial shoots. She will begin the promotional events in Hong Kong.
Other than these, Chung will be taking on an interview by CEO of TVB, Stephen Chan, on his popular talk show "Be My Guest" where she will talk about how the sex scandal has affected her. Chung and EEG did not state what questions should be avoided on the show but requested for the filming to be closed to media. With regards to this, Chan said, "Nothing has been confirmed as yet."
Children aren't born spoiled. Get the 10 signs your children are brats and what you can do to set them straight.
No child is born spoiled or a brat--it's only indulgent parenting can make them that way, Oprah & Friends Radio host Rabbi Shmuley says. "Naturally, children are innocent and have a cuteness which makes people's hearts warm to them and helps bring out our best qualities," he says. "When we raise kids who are spoiled, we snuff out the child's natural attractiveness." If you are guilty of spoiling your children, Rabbi Shmuley says chances are, you have brats on your hands.
10 Signs Your Children Are Brats:
1. They resort to crying or yelling when they want something.
2. They throw themselves on floor and won't get up.
3. They constantly throw tantrums or even hit you when you punish them.
4. They ignore you when you ask a question.
5. They are rude to other adults and even to other children.
6. They refuse to share toys or treats with other children.
7. They are show-offs and are constantly trying to one-up their peers to be the center of attention.
8. They always want whatever everyone else has. Once they have it, they want something new.
9. They keep a messy room and never help out around the house despite your pleas for them to do so.
10. They refuse to go to bed.
What to Do if Your Children Are Brats:
1. Reward good behavior and punish bad behavior.
2. If your children yell when they want something, don't give it to them and take away something they like.
3. If they won't get off the floor during a tantrum, pick them up and put them in their room until they calm down and apologize.
4. If they ignore you when you tell them to do something, punish them immediately. Put them in a corner and don't let them out until they apologize.
5. If they won't share, take away the toy or treat.
6. Don't buy them whatever they want. Make them earn things.
7. If they keep a messy room, don't let them out until it's clean.
8. Enforce bedtimes. Continually put them back into their beds. After a while, they'll stop getting out. You must show there is no other option.
9. Compliment your children profusely and give them rewards when they do the right thing.
A photo that appears to be singer Rihanna with her face bruised, scratched and swollen from an alleged attack by boyfriend Chris Brown has appeared online.
The close-up image, posted on the celebrity website TMZ, shows a welt above each of her eyebrows, marks on her cheek and around her lips, and general swelling.
TMZ have not said how they obtained the image or who took it.
A press photo of Rihanna, taken earlier on the night she was attacked, shows her with a tattoo of Roman numerals on her left shoulder.
The TMZ photo shows the same numerals on the same shoulder.
Brown, 19, was arrested last week for threatening a woman who accused him of assaulting her earlier this month.
He was later released on $50,000 (£34,800) bail.
There has been no official confirmation whether the woman Brown is alleged to have attacked is long-term partner Rihanna, real name Robyn Fenty.
However, sources close to the couple have reportedly indicated Rihanna was the victim.
The Los Angeles Police Department launched an internal investigation hours after the photo was posted.
They say the image "has the appearance" of one of the star taken by them after her assault.
Brown has released a statement in connection with the inquiry into the incident.
He said: "Words cannot begin to express how sorry and saddened I am over what transpired.
"I am seeking the counselling of my pastor, my mother and other loved ones, and I am committed, with God's help, to emerging a better person."
Following the extensive media coverage of Rihanna's injuries, a martial arts expert has challenged Brown to a 'real fight'.
A homosexual couple have been jailed over a wedding scam set up to allow a Malaysian man to live permanently in Hong Kong, the city's immigration department said.
Malaysian Derek Chong, aged 29, and Hong Kong resident Andrew Lam, 51, organised for Chong to marry a Hong Kong woman so he could settle in the southern Chinese city, the department said in a statement.
The couple paid the woman 25,000 Hong Kong dollars (3,200 US) to agree to the marriage in 2006, before Lam and Chong moved in together.
Chong then successfully applied for a dependent visa. A year later he contacted his "wife" to help extend his stay and he was granted a further three-year visa in November 2007.
Lam and Chong were on Tuesday both jailed by city magistrates for eight months on a joint conspiracy charge, according to the statement.
Lam's friend Edward Lai, 43, was also jailed for five months for helping the couple find an unnamed middleman, who then provided the woman.
"The department has been very concerned with non-Hong Kong residents obtaining the right to stay in Hong Kong by means of marriage of convenience," a department spokesman said in the statement released late Tuesday.
An immigration spokesman told AFP Wednesday that the woman involved in the scam had also been prosecuted, but no verdict had been reached.
Gigi Lai announced her retirement from showbiz last year and was married to Hong Kong businessman, 52-year-old Patrick Ma, just before Chinese New Year this year in Australia. On their return from honeymoon in Europe, the newly wed threw a nuptial dinner in Hong Kong for Lai's family and guests. In her speech on the dinner, she said she is happy to have found a reliable lifetime partner.
Held at the five-star Peninsular Hotel, the dinner was specially thrown for families and friends. TVB's management Virginia Lok and celebrities Catherine Tsang and Sheren Tang were their only guests from showbiz.
Before dinner began, Ma's spokesperson expressed gratitude on behalf of the couple by distributing ang baos of more than hundred dollars to each media present. Halfway through the dinner, Lok came out of the banquet hall to spoke to the media. She described the dinner to be a cocktail party and Lai's brother, who suffered major injuries from an accident years back, was very happy on watching the couple's photo montage which tracked their growth. Lok also said she is touched to see Lai in bliss.
According to reports, Lai, in her wedding gown, said her vows with her husband on the dinner. She said, "I am thankful to have found someone who loves me. I thank the media for your concern. Please be assured that my husband loves me very much and will take good care of me. I am very happy to have found someone with whom I can share my life."
Lok also said that Lai and husband will pick some pretty wedding photos for media's publication later.
A married Chinese tycoon who could no longer afford to support his five mistresses during the economic slowdown held a contest to decide which one to keep, local media reported Tuesday.
The contest took a tragic turn when one of the mistresses, who was eliminated based on her looks, drove her former lover and the four other women off a mountain road in an apparent fit of anger, the Shanghai Daily reported.
The driver died in the December 6 crash while the man and four other women were hospitalised, the report said.
Initially, it was thought to be an accident, but then details of the bizarre contest emerged in a letter left by the dead woman, a 29-year-old former waitress surnamed Yu, the newspaper said.
The woman met the entrepreneur, surnamed Fan, at the restaurant where she worked in the coastal city of Qingdao in 2000 and became his lover, the report said.
Fan later introduced her to the four other mistresses -- two of his employees and two former clients -- with all given a 5,000-yuan (733-dollar) monthly allowance and rent-free apartment, the report said.
However, when Fan's business ran into tough times, he decided to lay off all but one woman, the report said.
Fan hired an instructor from a modelling agency to judge a private contest he held at a hotel in May, but he did not tell the women about his intentions.
Yu was eliminated in the first-round beauty competition and a woman surnamed Liu eventually won after dominating the drinking round, the report said.
When Fan told Yu she was dismissed and that he was selling her apartment, she decided to exact revenge during a group outing.
After the accident Fan paid Yu's parents 580,000 yuan as compensation for her death. His wife divorced him after learning of his affairs, the report said, adding the other four mistresses also left him.
The tale was reported in other Chinese media, but none gave further details about Fan, such as his age or profession.
A 175-pound pet chimpanzee has been shot dead by police after it mauled a woman in America.
The victim, said to be in her 50s, suffered serious facial injuries and was taken to hospital in Stamford, Connecticut.
Stamford police Lieutenant Richard Conklin told reporters that the woman was visiting the owner's house when the ape attacked her for no apparent reason.
Sandra Herold, the owner of the 15-year-old chimpanzee called Travis, wrestled with the animal as it mauled her friend, then ran inside to raise the alarm.
"She retrieved a large butcher knife and stabbed her long-time pet numerous times in an effort to save her friend, who was really being brutally attacked," Conklin said.
The victim suffered "a tremendous loss of blood", he said.
The ape had started roaming around the vicinity when emergency crews arrived.
But it suddenly returned to the scene of the attack, forcing police to retreat into their cars, newspaper websites in the area said.
The primate then reportedly opened the door of a police car, forcing the officer inside to fire several shots. The chimp eventually died from its wounds.
Travis was well known around Stamford because he rode around in trucks belonging to the towing company operated by his owner.
In 2003, he escaped from his owner's vehicle in downtown Stamford for two hours.
Police then used cookies, macadamia treats and ice cream in an attempt to lure him back into the vehicle.
At the time of the 2003 escape, police said the owners told them the chimpanzee was toilet trained, dressed and bathed himself, ate at the table and drank wine from a stemmed glass.
Outspoken Bukit Lanjan assemblyman Elizabeth Wong lodged a police report at the Damansara police station here Sunday night over nude pictures and videos of her that have been circulating via MMS.
In a statement released Monday afternoon, Wong said that the distribution and publication of these photos/ video was a malicious attack.
“This constitutes a gross outrage on my modesty, a gross invasion of my privacy, and in particular the sanctity of my personal life,” she said (see statement in full below).
“I have received a lot of support from my supporters, friends, colleagues and members of my constituency. I wish to thank them for their concern, support and encouragement.
“My family members are standing behind me. I would like to appeal to the media to give me and my family members some breathing space in this trying time so that I can weather this huge challenge,” she added.
OCPD Asst Comm Arjunaidi Mohamed confirmed a report was lodged and that police were investigating.
He appealed anyone who has received or seen the nude pictures of Wong to come forward and cooperate with the police.
"We don't have the pictures and we have not seen them, either," he said.
The pictures are believed to have been taken using a handphone, possibly before the general election last March.
Police sources said that the Commercial Crimes Division has been put in charge of the investigation.
Wong won the Bukit Lanjan seat with a majority of over 5,000, the second largest majority won by a PKR state assembly candidate in Selangor.
She was later appointed a member of the Selangor state executive council, in charge of Tourism, Consumer Affairs and the Environment. She is also the information chief of the Women’s wing of PKR and of her division Petaling Jaya Utara.
As at press time, she had not commented on the issue on her blog.
Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim urged the police to conduct a proper investigation into the matter.
He told reporters at the Parliament lobby in Kuala Lumpur that the Selangor state executive council would discuss the matter during its meeting on Wednesday.
“Someone is trying to frame her," said Khalid, adding that he was waiting for the police report before commenting further.
“The party will discuss the matter with regard to her status. It is unfair to make any decision at this moment without any information," he said.
PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said she would look into the matter and said she felt sad that it happened.
“There is a pattern of PKR assemblymen being attacked,” she said, alleging that the ruling coalition Barisan nasional has had its share of scandals too.
Selangor exco member and Seputeh MP Teresa Kok said she had nightmares after learning about the incident.
“This is like invading a person’s privacy and the incident took place at her home.
“The whole incident could be politically motivated,” said Kok, adding that there must be someone purposely circulating the photos.
“She did not do anything that is against the people’s wishes. She is a victim and I support her," said Kok.
Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak) said the party would wait for Wong to explain the situation to the Selangor mentri besar.
“We don’t want to know if these are old or new nude pictures. She must explain to us and if she is really guilty of having posed or was involved in the taking of these pictures, we will not hesitate to take action.
“But we don’t want to make any speculation as yet,” he said, adding that he had earlier discussed the matter with both Khalid and Pakatan Rakyat de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
“And they both agreed that we should not compromise on any disciplinary action. We will leave it to the mentri besar to decide if she is guilty or not as he is the head of the state,” he said.
A Valentine's Day love story with a twist may lead to the saving of an entire species.
China Doll is the last living female Yangtze soft shelled turtle in the world.
She has lived in a small pond at a decaying zoo in Changsha after being dumped there by a travelling circus 50 years ago.
Unnoticed and unloved it was only recently that scientists suddenly realised she was the last of her kind. Well almost.
At another zoo in Suzhou, two days' drive away, the last male soft shelled turtle has been living out his life alone for the past 100 years.
And these two are the last hope for saving the turtle, believed to be the largest species of freshwater turtles in the world.
So China Doll went on a date.
With international wildlife experts in attendance she was lifted aboard a truck, placed securely in a purpose built glass tank and driven across China to meet Lover Boy.
A special breeding pool was built at Suzhou Zoo.
They designed a 'Jacuzzi D'Amour', where it is hoped that history will be made and a species saved as the two elderly turtles get it together.
Lover Boy, who is 101 years old, moves slightly slower than a lump of granite, so foreplay could take some time.
The turtles are due to come out of hibernation in the Spring.
Scientists hope that by Autumn they will hear the splash of tiny flippers that will finally signal the species has emerged from the brink of extinction.
A Japanese computer game that lets players simulate raping girls has had its sales blocked by Amazon.
The 'RapeLay' videogame was available to buy on the web store via a third-party seller specialising in Hentai - sexually explicit Japanese animation products.
"We determined that we did not want to be selling this particular item," an Amazon spokeswoman said.
Rapelay was reportedly created exclusively for the Japanese market but a couple of "like new" copies were being offered on Amazon.
The game was released in 2006 by Illusion studio, based in Japan.
Other titles from the studio include 'Battle Raper' and 'Artificial Girl'.
According to game review site Giant Bomb, RapeLay is a "molestation simulation that allows you to terrorise a woman and her two teenage daughters, with events ranging from groping on a train to gang rape and forced abortions".
The Belfast Telegraph reported that Labour MP Keith Vaz said he was shocked by the Amazon listing and planned to raise the issue in Parliament.
Mr Vaz told the paper: "It's intolerable that anyone would purchase a game that simulates the criminal offence of rape.
"To know that this is widely available through a major online retailer is utterly shocking. I do not see how this can be allowed.
"I will be raising this matter in Parliament and hope that action is taken to prevent the game from being sold."
"Chemistry look what you've done to me," Donna Summer crooned in Science of Love, and so, it seems, she was right. Just in time for Valentine's Day, a panel of scientists examined the mystery of what happens when hearts throb and lips lock. Kissing, it turns out, unleashes chemicals that ease stress hormones in both sexes and encourage bonding in men, though not so much in women.
Chemicals in the saliva may be a way to assess a mate, Wendy Hill, dean of the faculty and a professor of neuroscience at Lafayette College, told a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science on Friday.
In an experiment, Hill explained, pairs of heterosexual college students who kissed for 15 minutes while listening to music experienced significant changes in their levels of the chemicals oxytocin, which affects pair bonding, and cortisol, which is associated with stress. Their blood and saliva levels of the chemicals were compared before and after the kiss.
Both men and women had a decline in cortisol after smooching, an indication their stress levels declined.
For men, oxytocin levels increased, indicating more interest in bonding, while oxytocin levels went down in women. "This was a surprise," Hill said.
In a test group that merely held hands, chemical changes were similar, but much less pronounced, she said.
The experiment was conducted in a student health center, Hill noted. She plans a repeat "in a more romantic setting."
Hill spoke at the session on the Science of Kissing, along with Helen Fisher of Rutgers University and Donald Lateiner of Ohio Wesleyan University.
Fisher noted that more than 90 percent of human societies practice kissing, which she believes has three components — the sex drive, romantic love and attachment.
The sex drive pushes individuals to assess a variety of partners, then romantic love causes them to focus on an individual, she said. Attachment then allows them to tolerate this person long enough to raise a child.
Men tend to think of kissing as a prelude to copulation, Fisher said. She noted that men prefer "sloppy" kisses, in which chemicals including testosterone can be passed on to the women in saliva. Testosterone increases the sex drive in both males and females.
"When you kiss an enormous part of your brain becomes active," she added. Romantic love can last a long time, "if you kiss the right person."
Lateiner, a classical scholar, observed that kissing appears infrequently in Greek and Roman art, but was widely practiced, despite the spread of skin disease at that time by facial kissing. And there was a potential for social faux pas by kissing the wrong person at the wrong time.
Overall, the science of kissing — philematology — is under-researcherd, Hill concluded.
I don’t know about you, but in my own professional life I often get so bogged down with the details of my daily work that I forget – or I ‘don’t have time’ – to sit back and widen my vision, to fly up and take a bird’s eye view of the whole landscape. Being in the thick of it all, I often don’t see the wood for the trees. In fact, the very idea of ‘sitting back’ and looking at the bigger picture somehow seems like laziness – shouldn’t I be working, doing something, being productive, not just floating around watching while everyone else gets on with things?
I am going to suggest that this attitude is quite wrong and that we should, in fact, be habitually taking in the bigger view, surveying the entire terrain of our lives and our world. If we don’t do this, we run the risk of being reduced to machines, trudging along, doing what we do without really thinking about why.
I suggest that coming up with a mission statement can, as part of a package of changes, be a very effective way of bringing more meaning and happiness into your life.
Most individuals don’t have a mission statement. They don’t have a clear idea of where they are going in life; they don’t know what they want to achieve. They just drift along, year after year, decade after decade. Most people live like that and they die like that. Napoleon Hill, in his famous book Think and Grow Rich, wrote that most people did not have a goal, did not now where they were going. He also presented a six step plan by which anyone could achieve financial success. If you want to find out about the plan, it’s presented in chapter 2 of the book, but the key element in the plan is that a clear statement of purpose, and a mission statement, can be a powerful way of achieving this.
A mission statement, however, cannot just be thrown together. It needs to be carefully crafted. Here are the elements of a good mission statement.
Your goals should be specific and clear
What are your values? What do you stand for? What are you going to achieve? What are you going to contribute to the world? This isn’t about what you want to achieve – it’s not a wish list; it’s a definite statement of intent, it’s your ‘order’ from the menu of the universe, it’s what is going to happen. When you start to get bogged down in the details of daily life, think back to your mission statement – it will act as a compass to keep you on track; your decisions and actions will be guided by it. In this sense, it provides you with a wide angle lens through which you can keep the bigger picture in view.
Your goals do not need to be (SHOULD not be) ‘realistic’ or ‘attainable’
We’ve all heard about ‘SMART’ targets which have to be measurable, realistic etc., etc. The point here is that the universe can do anything, however unbelievable or ‘unrealistic’ it is.
It should indicate how you are going to achieve your goals – this does not contradict the previous statement. You must not include a specific, detailed plan, but a statement about what you are going to offer in exchange for meeting your goal. For example, your goal is to be the best sales person in your company – you will achieve this goal by giving outstanding service to every customer. There’s nothing here about sales targets, how many clients you need to see, how many sales you need to make etc. Once you have written down the ‘how’ in general terms, the universe will do the rest.
It should be short
Some organizations produce long rambling mission statements which nobody ever reads! Napoleon Hill suggests you read through your ‘mission statement’ every morning and evening; you’re not going to do this if it’s going to take twenty minutes. And the ideas aren’t going to be as powerful if they’re not focused. So keep it short, focused and powerful, like a laser beam.
It should make you feel good
If you know where you’re going, you’ll live a life of eager anticipation and joy. Just as if you are sailing somewhere on a ship – you know you’ll get to your destination and in the meantime you’re enjoying the view. This attitude of anticipating a future you have already chosen (you bought the ticket, you got on the ship, the ship’s moving) whilst living in the present moment (you’re looking out at a wonderful sunrise, enjoying the view) is, to me, the only sensible way to live.
Taking time to write and regularly review your mission statement is one of the most important things you can do in life. Next time you get bogged down in the day-to-day detail of life, stop and think about your mission statement. It will keep things in perspective; it will clarify your vision and it will keep you moving on the right course.
Your life is like a ship – of course, you need a crew, busily working away to keep afloat and keep moving, but even more importantly, you need a map, you need a compass and you need a captain. Without them, your ship just won’t get anywhere.
At first, the investment sounded too good to be true to Emiko, a 74-year-old retired elementary school principal. But she ached to grow her retirement fund so she could take any burden or worry away from her two children. So Emiko invested conservatively, only the equivalent of a few hundred dollars at a time.
But then the returns started coming in.
It was exactly as Kazutsugi Nami had promised, a 36-percent return on the money Emiko had invested with his firm, L&G.
"I want to create a world where your money never disappears," Nami told investors on an L&G promotional video from 2007. Emiko says Nami issued "enten" money, a quasi-currency Nami called "money from heaven." She began to invest hundreds of thousands, watching her enten account grow.
But then the returns stopped.
Tokyo Metropolitan Police arrested 75-year-old Nami and 21 other executives of the now-bankrupt L&G on charges of organized fraud last week. Nami, chatting up reporters over a beer moments before his arrest, denied any wrongdoing.
"Time will tell if I'm a swindler," he said. "Time will tell."
Investigators say at least 10,000 people have alleged that they were swindled by Nami, a number that plaintiffs' attorneys expect will at least triple. Plaintiffs' attorneys say Nami wined and dined investors at giant parties in the ballrooms of expensive Tokyo hotels.
The investors also used the enten money to purchase household items, clothes and jewelry at L&G markets. But the bigger scheme allegedly took place in a separate investment fund, into which Emiko poured thousands upon thousands.
Emiko, who asked to withhold her last name, showed CNN her bank statement, showing a loss the equivalent of U.S. $400,000.
"I'm ashamed of my stupidity. I'm so embarrassed," she said. She's also filled with anger when she thinks of the charismatic man she trusted with her retirement. "I despise him, to the point I wish I could kill him. He didn't just do it to me. I involved three of my friends in this, too."
Although there are differences between the allegations of fraud against Wall Street's Bernie Madoff and Japan's Kazutsugi Nami, there are also parallels as well, said Temple University professor Jeffrey Kingston.
"They were both smooth operators," Kingston said. "They were moving in high-echelon circles and they wiped out the savings of a lot of people. I think the biggest parallel is the consequence for the investor. They're left holding the bag and they have nothing left."
Emiko is not hopeful she'll ever see any of the money she invested with Nami. Most of the money, according to her attorney, has gone to pay off early investors.
Emiko says she's working on staying healthy in her elder years, so she won't burden her children -- something she might now not be able to avoid.
"Sam" the koala, the most famous furry survivor of Australia's worst-ever wildfires, is healing well thanks to the efforts of caretakers at a rescue shelter — and she even has a new boyfriend, "Bob."
Sam, who captured hearts around the world after she was photographed drinking from a firefighter's water bottle, has also won the affection of "Bob," another koala whose paws were scorched in the weekend's inferno, caretaker Lynn Raymond said Thursday.
"Bob is her protector — as soon as she is moved, he's on the move, too. It really looks like he's making sure she's OK," Raymond said from the Mountain Ash Wildlife Shelter in Rawson, 100 miles (170 kilometers) east of Melbourne in Victoria state, where the deadly fires continue to burn. "They're good company for each other."
Neither koala is likely to be healthy enough for release for at least four months, and are being comforted by caretakers who salve their scorched paws every few hours.
Global interest in the fate of Sam has been intense since a photograph of firefighter David Tree offering her a bottle of water in a burned-out forest was splashed across the Internet, in newspapers and on television broadcasts. The telephone at the shelter has rung incessantly with callers eager for an update on the creature's condition.
"It's insane," Raymond said with a laugh. "(But) everybody has been absolutely wonderful."
Sam was found moving gingerly on scorched paws by a fire patrol, said David Tree, the firefighter who spotted her.
On Thursday, Tree clarified to The Associated Press that the rescue occurred Sunday, Feb. 1, three days after the fire initially broke out, and not last Feb. 8 as the AP previously reported.
Tree and his crew were conducting backburning operations to help contain a clutch of six fires that the Country Fire Authority called the Delburn complex. The fires started on Jan. 29 and destroyed 30 houses, cars and other property before being contained, though not extinguished, on Feb. 7. No one was killed in the Delburn complex of fires, though more than 180 people have died in other blazes in the region.
Tree said he crouched down and held out a bottle of water for Sam to drink, which she eagerly accepted, holding Tree's hand as he poured water into her mouth.
"You all right, buddy?" Tree asks in a video of the encounter as he approaches the koala. Later, as Sam gulps from the bottle, he quips: "How much can a koala bear?"
Often mistakenly called koala bears because they resemble a child's teddy bear, the marsupial is actually a somewhat ornery creature with a loud growl and sharp claws.
Sam and Tree were reunited at the shelter on Wednesday, a meeting that left the 44-year-old firefighter fighting back tears.
"When I saw her, I was just overwhelmed," Tree said Thursday. "I got a bit choked up, got a bit of a gut rise."
Tree was relieved to see his little friend doing so well, and plans to give her a cage that currently houses his 11-year-old daughter's canary. "We'll worry about the canary later," he said.
Sam, who suffered second- and third-degree burns to her paws, has been sharing a cage with Bob, who took an immediate interest in her when she arrived, Raymond said.
Both Sam and Bob were given painkillers when they first arrived, but they're off the drugs now, Raymond said. The two are still receiving antibiotics. For now, though, the famously thirsty marsupial appears to be on the mend.
"I'm just looking at Sam now — she is fast asleep," Raymond said. "She's doing very, very well."
Tree told the AP on Thursday the intensity of the media interest in the koala's rescue caught him completely by surprise, but he was concerned that it did not overshadow the tragedy of the lives and property lost in the blazes.
We've all heard it before, "Exercise is good for you because...."
Nowadays you can't check out at the grocery store or do much of anything without being reminded that us mortal humans need to exercise. Still, we persist, procrastinate and eventually complain that we're overweight, sick, dying, etc.
Listen. Some exercise is better than none, more exercise is generally better than less, and no exercise can be disastrous. No one is asking for you to start a rigorous daily regimen, just do something. If you need motivation, here is a list of scientifically proven health benefits that regular exercise brings.
Longevity. People who are physically active live longer. According to a 20 year follow-up study, regular exercise reduces the risk of dying prematurely.
New brain cell development, improved cognition and memory. Exercise stimulates the formation of new brain cells. Researchers found that the areas of the brain that are stimulated through exercise are responsible for memory and learning. For instance, older adults who engage in regular physical activity have better performances in tests implying decision-making process, memory and problem solving.
Improved sexual function and better sex life. Regular exercise maintains or improves sex life. Physical improvements in muscle strength and tone, endurance, body composition and cardiovascular function can all enhance sexual functioning in both men and women. Researchers revealed that men who exercise regularly are less likely to have erectile dysfunction and impotence than are men who don't exercise.
Exercise is a powerful antidepressant. Study after study has shown that exercise promotes mental health and reduces symptoms of depression. The antidepressant effect of regular physical exercise is comparable to the potent antidepressants like Zoloft. It may take at least 30 minutes of exercise a day for at least three to five days a week to significantly improve symptoms of depression.
Cardiovascular health. Lack of physical activity is one of the major risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. Regular exercising makes your heart, like any other muscle, stronger. A stronger heart can pump more blood with less effort.
Cholesterol lowering effect. Exercise itself does not burn off cholesterol like it does with fat, however, exercise favorably influences blood cholesterol levels by decreasing LDL (bad) cholesterol, triglycerides and total cholesterol and increasing HDL (good) cholesterol.
Prevention and control of diabetes. There is strong evidence from high quality studies (e.g. Finnish Diabetes Prevention Study) that moderate physical activity combined with weight loss and balanced diet can confer a 50-60% reduction in risk of developing diabetes.
Blood pressure lowering. The way in which exercise can cause a reduction in blood pressure is unclear, but all forms of exercise seem to be effective in reducing blood pressure. Aerobic exercise appears to have a slightly greater effect on blood pressure in hypertensive individuals than in individuals without hypertension.
Reduced risk of stroke. Research data indicates that moderate and high levels of physical activity may reduce the risk of total, ischemic, and hemorrhagic strokes.
Weight control. Regular exercise helps to reach and maintain a healthy weight. If you take in more calories than needed in a day, exercise offsets a caloric overload and controls body weight. It speeds the rate of energy use, resulting in increased metabolism. When metabolism increases through exercise, you will maintain the faster rate for longer periods of a day.
Muscle strength. Health studies repeatedly show that strength training increases muscle strength and mass and decreases fat tissue.
Bone strength. An active lifestyle benefits bone density. Regular weight-bearing exercise promotes bone formation, delays bone loss and may protect against osteoporosis - form of bone loss associated with aging.
Better night sleep. If you suffer from poor sleep, daily exercise can make the difference. The natural dip in body temperature five to six hours after exercise may help to fall asleep.
A list of artistes function fees for China has been exposed on the Internet. Jay Chou and international superstar Jacky Chan top the chart at S$200,000; pop idol Lee-hom Wang's function fee is found to be three times more than that of David Tao's, though both belong to the same league of artistes.
Falling shortly behind Chan and Chou are Wang and the four Heavenly Kings - Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau, Aaron Kwok and Leon Lai - with function fees of $130,000. King of Mandarin R&B, Tao, is said to only receive S$18,000, an amount less than one-third that of Wang's.
Annie Yi, whose extramarital affairs was exposed on tabloids, is said to receive S$70,000 for making appearances at functions; while her husband, Harlem Yu only receives S$50,000 for his appearance. At the bottom of the list is winner of Miss Hong Kong 1994, Halina Tam, receiving S$22,000.
However, on China reporter's clarification, the above statistics may be inaccurate. According to sources, Tao earned S$200,000 at the Jiangsu 2009 countdown party by singing just three songs. Hunan TV revealed, Wang's usual function fee is about S$100,000, similar to that of Leon Lai; but for larger scale events such as countdown parties, his fees will escalate to the level of Tao's.
Yi's fees is said to have been overestimated; S$70,000 may be the fee for commercial functions but her fee for each episode of drama is only about S$20,000.
There was a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind. She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She told her boyfriend, 'If I could only see the world, I will marry you.
One day,
Someone donated a pair of eyes to her. When the bandages came off, she was able to see everything, including her boyfriend.
He asked her, 'Now that you can see the world, will you marry me? The girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind. The sight of his closed eyelids shocked her. She hadn't expected that. The thought of looking at them the rest of her life
led her to refuse to marry him.
Her boyfriend left in tears and days later wrote a note to her saying: "Take good care of your eyes, my dear, for before they were yours, they were mine."
This is how the human brain often works when our status changes. Only a very few remember what life was like before, and who was always by their side in the most painful situations.
Life Is a Gift
Today before you say an unkind word - Think of someone who can't speak.
Before you complain about the taste of your food - Think of someone who has nothing to eat.
Before you complain about your husband or wife - Think of someone who's crying out to GOD for a companion.
Today before you complain about life - Think of someone who died too early on this earth.
Before you complain about your children - Think of someone who desires children but they're barren.
Before you argue about your dirty house someone didn't clean or sweep - Think of the people who are living in the streets.
Before whining about the distance you drive Think of someone who walks the same distance with their feet.
And when you are tired and complain about your job - Think of the unemployed, the disabled, and those who wish they had your job.
But before you think of pointing the finger or condemning another - Remember that not one of us is without sin.
And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down - Put a smile on your face and think: you're alive and still around.
An Australian traveller was caught with two live pigeons stuffed down his trousers following a trip to the Middle East.
Customs officials said the 23-year-old was searched after authorities discovered two eggs in a vitamin container in his luggage.
They found the pigeons wrapped in padded envelopes and held to each of the man's legs with a pair of tights.
Officials also seized seeds in his money belt and an undeclared eggplant.
The alleged bird smuggler, who arrived in Melbourne on Sunday on a flight from Dubai, has been questioned.
Australia has very strict quarantine regulations on the importation of wildlife, plants and food to protect health, agriculture and the environment of the isolated island nation.
Charges of wildlife smuggling, which carry a penalty of up to 10 years in jail and a hefty fine, could be brought against the man.
Richard Janeczko, national investigations manager for the Customs Service, said the pigeons were not endangered and that the case - along with the birds, eggs and seeds - had been turned over to the Quarantine Service to assess the health risk associated with bringing the birds into the country.
South Korean actress Lee Young-ae was said to have been taken advantage of by her manager, who swindled almost 200million Korean won (about S$220,000) in Lee's name. The case took a turn when the manager appeared in person on Sunday to deny his involvement in the case and claim victim of the swindle. According to police, the mastermind of the case is indeed someone else and they are currently investigating.
Lee made her debut performance as a TV model in 1991. Her delicate features and brilliant acting skills made her popularity grow exponentially six years ago when she was casted in popular TV series Dae Jang Geum (also known as Jewel in the Palace) as female lead Seo Jang Geum. However after that series, she was known to have stopped drama productions and only take on commercials occasionally.
Recently, her manager was known to have been collecting money from various units "to support the production of Dae Jang Geum 2 because the production team is lacking funds though Lee had agreed to act". According to various reports, he collected about 200million Korean won from his "fund-raising".
Korean media reports that many people were moved by the manager's actions under they found out that the production team of Dae Jang Geum and director Lee Byoung-hoon has no plans for a second series of the drama. The production team and the actress were surprised to have become victims of fraud.
The direction of the case changed when Lee's manager showed up in person on Sunday to deny his involvement in the case, and also requested for the journalist who did that report to make an apology. Lee was not known to have spoken regarding the case.
Korean police revealed, the misunderstanding came in when mastermind of the swindle claimed himself to be the "manager of Lee Young-ae"; in actual fact, the main culprit is someone else and the police are amidst investigation.
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