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Saturday, January 31, 2009

Grateful

I always feel grateful that God has given me so much blessings in my life. I have a very loving husband who is always there for me and loved me. I have a family who supports me in all my decisions in life. I just feel so great that despite of everything I have gone through to reach this stage, God has truly given me so much strength and so much blessings that I am experiencing right now. I never dreamed of having so much in life but God is great and good all the time and he knew what his kids deserve to have. I owe everything to God. In this stage of my life, I could say that I couldn't ask for anything more because it has been given. I know saying thank you is not enough to say but I really am thankful for everything that I have. So guys do not forget everything that God has done for you. We know we tend to forget to thank him with all the blessings he gave but his very great and loving who never forget his children no matter what and will always be there for each and everyone of us. God Bless!

Friday, January 30, 2009

Update

I wish everyone a good evening. My day was kinda busy and lonely. Busy because it is our monthly shopping and lonely because my husband went back to work already. I am missing him already. We also went to the auction tonight with my parents in law. Everything seems to be busy here for a bit and I will probably keep myself busy. Well, I am bit tired and time to get rest. Have a goodnight everyone!

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Mardi Gras History

The origins of Mardi Gras can be traced to Medival Europe, though we have no written record of how that really transformed into the current Mardi Gras of today. But the origins of the Mardi Gras we celebrate today -- with Kings, Mardi Gras colors, and brass bands -- are traced to New Orleans.

Although we can trace its history to the Romans, a French-Canadian explorer, Jean Baptiste Le Moyne Sieur de Bienville, landed on a plot of ground 60 miles directly south of New Orleans in 1699 and called it "Pointe due Mardi Gras." He also established "Fort Louis de la Louisiane" (which is now Mobile) in 1702. In 1703, the tiny settlement of Fort Louis de la Mobile celebrated the very first Mardi Gras.

In 1704, Mobile established a secret society (Masque de la Mobile) ... similar to those who form our current Mardi Gras Krewes. It lasted until 1709. In 1710, the "Boeuf Graf Society" was formed and paraded from 1711 through 1861. The procession was held with a huge bull's head pushed alone on wheels by 16 men. This occurred on Fat Tuesday.

New Orleans was established in 1718 by Jean-Baptise Le Moyne. By the 1730s, Mardi Gras was celebrated openly in New Orleans.. but not in parade form. In the early 1740s, Louisiana's Governor The Marquis de Vaudreuil established elegant society balls -- the model for the New Orleans Mardi Gras balls of today.

The earliest reference to Mardi Gras "Carnival" appears in a 1781 report to the Spanish colonial governing body. That year, the Perseverance Benevolent & Mutual Aid Association is the first of hundreds of clubs and carnival organizations formed in New Orleans.

By the late 1830s, New Orleans held street processions of maskers with carriages and horseback to celebrate Mardi Gras. Newspapers began to announce Mardi Gras events in advance.

In 1871, Mardi Gras's second "Krewe" is formed, the Twelfth Night Reveler's, with the first account of Mardi Gras "throws."

1872 was the year that a group of businessmen invented a King of Carnival -- Rex -- to parade in the first daytime parade. They introduced the Mardi Gras colors of purple, green and gold; the Mardi Gras song, and the Mardi Gras flag.

In 1873, the first floats were constructed entirely in New Orleans instead of France. In 1875, Governor Warmoth of Louisiana signs the "Mardi Gras Act" making it a legal holiday in Louisiana, which is still is.

Most Mardi Gras Krewes today developed from private social clubs that have restrictive membership policies. Since all of these parade organizations are completely funded by its members, we call it the "Greatest Free Show on Earth!"

Friday, January 23, 2009

Smiling can be contagious

What is something that you can pass on to others but never lose? It is a smile. This is something that becomes infectious because in almost every situation when you smile at someone he or she will smile back. A smile is customarily an expression of pleasure or amusement, but can also be known as a grimace. Even in anxious moments or desperate situations smiling becomes an innate. Smiling according to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, not only changes a facial expressions, but can also make the brain produce endorphins which reduce physical and emotional pain, and give a greater sense of well-being. Each and everyday that we are out and about in the world we are going to cross paths with someone. Even though we do not know what problems may be lurking about with these people we can offer them a smile and, quite possibly, offer them a little hope because we gave them something they did not have at that time. It has often been said that "laughter is the best medicine". Many medical theories attribute improved health and well-being to laughter. Some studies demonstrate that certain hormones in our body decrease with laughter, which provides support that humor can relieve stress. What a better world this would be if all of us would carry a smile around with us. Then when possible let's give this smile away and help someone else. May people in our community are hurting for reasons we are not aware. Some of these reasons will surface and help can be given in the appropriate ways when tension is relieved and reassurance can be given. There are many of us that are anxious about situations and problems that we may be able to or may not be able to control. Whatever the problems we need to turn them over to the Lord and allow him to work through us. Put a smile on your face everyday and give the day to the Lord, then look to him for guidance. You will feel much better about yourself and will make an impact on those around you.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

The reality

Sometimes, it is really hard to explain what you really feel especially if you are hurting. You just want to cry out loud or disappear or die in order not to feel the pain anymore. Fighting with it is hard, facing it is hard to deal with but what will you do if that's the life given to you. How do you manage to ease the pain and how do you manage to overcome it without affecting your happiness and the people around you. Sometimes it is so hard to pretend you are happy if you are in pain but sometimes you just don't have the choice but to accept it. Life is really full of mystery and surprises that it's either it will make you happy, sad, hurt or might kill you in the end. You just have to see what really life has to bring.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

TYPE ONLY 1 WORD... IT'S HARDER THEN YOU THINK!!!

1. Where is your cell phone? NONE
2.Your significant other? FOREST
3.Your hair? BLACK
4. Your mother? FUNNY
5. Your father? STRICT
6. Your favorite thing? ME
7. Your dream last night? NONE
8. Your goal? HAPPINESS

9. The room you're in? LIVING
10. Your fear? UNLOVED
11. Where do you want to be in 6 years? PHILIPPINES
12. Where were you last night? HOME
13. What you're not? WORKING
14. Muffins? CHOCOLATE
15. One of your wish list items? CHILDREN
16. Where you grew up? PHILIPPINES
17. The last thing you did? EATING
18. What are you wearing? CLOTHES
19. Your TV? OLD
20. You're pet? BUBBA
21. Your computer? LATEST
22 Your life? HAPPY
23. Your mood? LAZY
24. Missing someone? FOREST
25. Your car? SLIPPERS
26. Something you’re not wearing? MAKE UP
27. Favorite Store? VS
28. Your summer? HOT
29. Your favorite color? BLACK
30. When is the last time you laughed? NOW
31. Last time you cried? SUNDAY
32. Who will/would re-post this? FRIENDS

33. FOUR PLACES I GO OVER AND OVER? LIVING ROOM, KITCHEN, BATHROOM, BED ROOM:)
34. FOUR PEOPLE WHO E-MAIL ME: RONNIE, LYMERA, EBAY, TODAY.COM
35.FOUR OF MY FAVORITE FOODS: CHICKEN, FRENCH FRIES, ADOBO, LUMPIA
36. FOUR PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW: DISNEYWORLD, BORACAY, PALAWAN, BOHOL
37. FOUR PEOPLE I THINK WILL RESPOND: FOREST, GRACE, DEZZ, ANNA

Here's what you're supposed to do....and please don't spoil the fun....Hit 'forward,' delete my answers, type in your answers and send it to a bunch of people. Have fun.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Most Expensive Coffee in the World

The most expensive coffee in the world does not hail from Jamaica or Hawaii, but instead from Indonesia.

Kopi Luwak the most expensive coffee in the world does exist, and those who drink the expensive coffee insist that it is made from coffee beans eaten, partly digested and then excreted by the Common palm civet, a weasel-like animal.

“Kopi” the Indonesian word for coffee along with “luwak” is local name of this animal which eats the raw red coffee beans. The civet digests the soft outer part of the coffee cherry, but does not digest the inner beans and excretes them.

Apparently the internal digestion ends up adds a unique flavor to the beans, removing the bitter flavor, and then beans are then picked up by locals and sold. The most expensive coffee beans can cost up to $600 a pound, and up to $50 per cup, if you can get over the fact that you are drinking such a strange brew.

You would know if you drank the most expensive coffee in the world, because the quantities of it are tiny amounts.

Martin Luther

Martin Luther (November 10, 1483 - February 18, 1546) was a Christian theologian and Augustinian monk whose teachings inspired the Protestant Reformation and deeply influenced the doctrines of Protestant and other Christian traditions. Martin Luther was born to Hans and Margaretha Luder on 10 November 1483 in Eisleben, Germany and was baptised the next day on the feast of St. Martin of Tours, after whom he was named. Luther’s call to the Church to return to the teachings of the Bible resulted in the formation of new traditions within Christianity and the Counter-Reformation in the Roman Catholic Church, culminating at the Council of Trent.

His translation of the Bible also helped to develop a standard version of the German language and added several principles to the art of translation. Luther's hymns sparked the development of congregational singing in Christianity. His marriage, on June 13, 1525, to Katharina von Bora, a former nun, began the tradition of clerical marriage within several Christian traditions.

Luther's Writings

The number of books attributed to Martin Luther is quite impressive. However, some Luther scholars contend that many of the works were at least drafted by some of his good friends like Philipp Melanchthon. Luther’s books explain the settings of the epistles and show the conformity of the books of the Bible to each other. Of special note would be his writings about the Epistle to the Galatians in which he compares himself to the Apostle Paul in his defense of the Gospel. Luther also wrote about church administration and wrote much about the Christian home.

Luther's work contains a number of statements that modern readers would consider rather crude. For example, Luther was know to advise people that they should literally “Tell the Devil he may kiss my ass.” It should be remembered that Luther received many communications from throughout Europe from people who could write anonymously, that is, without the specter of mass media making their communications known. No public figure today could write in the manner of the correspondences Luther received or in the way Luther responded to them. Luther was certainly a theologian of the middle-ages. He was an earthy man who enjoyed his beer, and was bold and often totally without tact in the blunt truth he vehemently preached. While this offended many, it endeared him all the more to others.

He was open with his frustrations and emotions, as well. Once, when asked if he truly loved God, Luther replied “Love God? Sometimes I hate Him!” Luther was also frustrated by the works-emphasis of the book of James, calling it “the Epistle of Straw, and questioning its canonicity. Also irritated with the complex symbolism of the Book of Revelation, he once said that it too, was not canon, and that it should be thrown into the river! He later retracted these statements, of course. Luther was a man who was easily misquoted or taken out of context. While a brilliant theologian, and a bold reformer, he would not have made a good politician. But then, he never aspired to any career in politics.

Martin Luther's Death

Martin Luther escaped martyrdom, and died of natural causes. His last written words were, "Know that no one can have indulged in the Holy Writers sufficiently, unless he has governed churches for a hundred years with the prophets, such as Elijah and Elisha, John the Baptist, Christ and the apostles... We are beggars: this is true."

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Six Remodeling Mistakes To Avoid


Doing it yourself can save thousands of dollars. But making mistakes during your remodel can be costly and dangerous. The key is to plan ahead, use common sense and take some tips from the pros.

Here are a few common mistakes remodeling rookies make.

Failing to locate water cutoffs

Before you start any work, especially in wet areas like bathrooms and kitchens, you need to locate the water cutoff in the house and at the street. This way, if a disaster occurs, you know where to head to cut off the flood.

Not preparing to localize and minimize dust and debris

Demolition is messy. Minimize the impact on your house by containing the mess. Create a work zone and keep tools and supplies inside it. Buy large sheet plastic and heavy duty masking tape to completely screen off doorways and openings. At the end of every work session, use a shop vac to get rid of dust and debris. Then take 15 minutes to organize your tools and supplies. It’ll make it quicker to get started next time.

Getting in a hurry

Sure it’s appealing to rip that wall separating the kitchen and the family room right out, but safe demolition demands planning and forethought. First, turn off all the electricity and water to the demo area. Use a stud finder that is equipped to locate metal to determine where wire and pipes are running through the wall. Then, using a small dry wall saw, cut some investigative holes to see exactly what’s behind the wall. This way, you avoid ripping out most of a wall only to discover it contains a vent or pipe that will be costly to move.
Not protecting surfaces
Mask every finished surface and keep it masked as you work. This means cabinets, walls, baseboards, flooring, and moulding. Cover countertops with interlocking foam tiles to deflect the impact of dropped tools. There’s nothing more discouraging than having to replace, repaint or refinish because of damage, spills or splatters.
Not having a Plan B for plumbing
You may think you’ll get your plumbing done in a day, but jobs have a way of expanding. Supply yourself with end stop fittings to cap off open pipes so you can turn the water back on in mid-job. Home Depot’s end stops are called Sharks; Lowe’s offers a line named Gators. They come in ½”, ¾” and 1-inch sizes and it’s smart to have an assortment on hand. Follow the directions for use.
Not protecting floors when you move appliances
Even builders make this mistake. Put down carpet or masonite (sweep or vacuum thoroughly first to remove anything that could scratch the floor) to roll the appliances over as you are installing them. This will protect new tile or wood flooring from damage.

Almost 1 Am

It's almost 1 am and I am still awake. I am not sleepy yet and I am still watching TV. I normally sleep around 2am or sometimes earlier but it's quite balance and still manage to get an eight hours of sleep because I woke up late in the morning and most of the time around noon...lol! But I will try not to stay up late because we have lots of things to do tomorrow and surely I have to wake up a little bit early from the normal I wake up..Have a goodnight everyone!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

American Idol 2009

There are new surprises and new things in the new season of American Idol. Here's the full details from Fox News:


When Fox's "American Idol" premiered eight years ago, no major media outlet wrote a story about the little summer replacement series that seemed like a desperate attempt to revive the '80s show "Star Search."

Eight years later, "Idol" has seen a drumroll toward tonight's season premiere that has made the presidential primary seem minimalist and low key. Every fluctuation in the format has been the subject of rumors, counter-rumors, leaks and denials. And this season's major changes -- the potentially risky addition of a fourth judge -- have only fueled the frenzy all the more.

At the center of the media whirlwind is the man who arguably has done more to shape reality television than anyone else: Fox's head of alternative programming, Mike Darnell. The executive said he's excited as he anticipates the reaction to the shake-up within America's most popular television program.

I've now seen four of the audition cities cut, and they're really good," Darnell said. "Not only is the talent great, but the introduction of the fourth judge is really creating a great dynamic. Better than I expected, to be honest."

The new judge, songwriter Kara DioGuardi, joins the holy judging panel that has formed the show's backbone since its early days. On-air chemistry can be like lightning in a bottle, something hard to capture or replicate, but Darnell believes that DioGuardi will actually heighten -- not detract from -- the show's original elements.

"She's not shy, so she puts up a good fight," he said. "So what it's doing is really adding to the group dynamic. Just by having a good fourth person in there, everybody's comments are changing. They are saying things they didn't say in years past."

Darnell also promises that the male-versus-female dynamic will become more pronounced this season, beginning tonight with a contestant he refers to as "bikini girl."

But the new judge is one of a host of alterations made to the show in response to last year's midseason stall in the ratings. This season there will be a shuffling of the midround rules -- including a wild-card round -- and the use of more backstage footage to underscore the young contestants' emotional agonies.

"We're going back to sort of a raw feel," he said. In the middle rounds, after singing and being judged, the contestants will immediately be confronted by host Ryan Seacrest rather than being allowed to retreat backstage, as in the past.

"So you see if they're upset with what Simon said, you get to see it right away instead of them going backstage," explained Darnell. "It's really the rawness of what's happening. How do they feel right after? How do they feel stepping off that stage? They can't hide it. They can't cover it up."

The changes to television's lone giant also came about to address another issue: The show is aging. "Change is important. As long as you don't change the core of the show, little changes can make a big, big difference. What it says to the audience is we're not out of gas," he said. "Imagine a scripted show that was in its eighth season, you'd do some fictional changes. Some new characters, whatever it may be, and this is our version of that. We just know it's the biggest show on TV, and we better not rest on our laurels because the audience will become apathetic with you."

Monday, January 12, 2009

15 of the Hottest Touchscreen Phones

Touchscreen phones are the new “in” device when it comes to mobile phones and it seems that 2008 will be the year when the mobile phone manufacturers really ramp up the releases of these devices to meet consumer demand for smarter, more advanced touchscreen phones.

Here are 15 of the hottest touch screen phones for this year.

  1. HTC Touch Diamond:

    The HTC Touch Diamond is the successor to the Touch Cruise. It will run Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, with a Qualcomm 528MHz MSM 7201A processor and 256MB ROM/192MB of RAM.

    It has a 2.8″ VGA screen, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR, eGPS (), a 3.1 Megapixel camera with flash and a forward facing camera. It has a Samsung MoviNAND for 4GB of internal flash storage.

    The Touch Diamond also has an orientation sensor that automatically switches the phone output according to the orientation of the phone. The dimensions of the phone are 51 x 99 x 10.7mm.

  2. Apple iPhone Second Gen:

    Not a lot of confirmed information out there about the new iPhone.

    There is plenty of unconfirmed information though:

    It will be similar in size to the current iPhone.

    It will also include 3G, GPS, a glossy black casing, chrome volume buttons and more rounded edges due to less metal used in the case.

    These have not been confirmed by Apple yet, but I am pretty sure they will be with time.

  3. LG Secret:

    It sports a 5 megapixel camera and is only 11.8mm thick, making it the slimmest phone with a 5 megapixel camera currently on the market.

    It is made from carbon fiber and the LCD screen is protected by tempered glass. The touch screen buttons respond to commands with a luminous blue light. The camera is capable of capturing video at 120FPS and DivX certified recording. It comes pre-loaded with Google Package that enables the user to check their Gmail, use Google Maps and watch YouTube videos. It can also open Microsoft documents and it will have 100MB of onboard memory which can be expanded with a microSD card. The screen auto-rotates like the iPhone. It has Voice Clarity software that ensures that sound is always clear no matter what the surroundings are. It measures 102.8 x 50.8 x 11.8 mm.

  4. LG Prada II:

    It features 3G with 7.2Mbps HSDPA connectivity, a QWERTY keyboard, a 3″ WQVGA 400×240 px TFT touchscreen and a 5 megapixel camera.

    It also has a front facing camera for video calls, Wi-Fi b/g connectivity, USB 2.0, Bluetooth, Full HTML browsing, FM-Radio, TV-out and a microSDHC memory slot (up to 8GB).

    The Prada fashion designers will be closely involved in making the custom themes, touch UI, built-in ringtones and cellphone accessories for the Prada II.

    This phone truly is fully loaded.


  5. Samsung Instinct:

    This 3G Samsung is the first Sprint device to have EV-DO Rev support. It features a 2 Megapixel camera, stereo bluetooth, audible caller ID, voice dialing commands and a full HTML web browser.

    It also has a media player that displays album art, Sprint Radio and Sprint TV support, integrated Microsoft Live Search and GPS.

    It supports personal and corporate email access, visual voicemail and has a 262K color 3.1 inch screen with 2GB of memory.

    It measures in at 116 x 55.1 x 12.4 mm and weighs 124.7 grams.

  6. Nokia Tube 5800:

    The Nokia Tube 5800 is equipped with a 3.1 Megapixel camera, and is similar in design as the iPhone. It has a TV-Out port for wide-screen viewing, it has quad band and 3G capabilities, Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS built in to the phone.

    The touch screen is 3.2 inches wide and can display 16 million colors, it will have 140MB onboard storage, with an SD slot for up to 8GB. The phone measures 111 x 52 x 14.5 mm and it will weigh in at 104g. The Nokia Tube 5800 will be launched late 2008 and it will face tough competition from the second gen iPhone, and many of the phones on this list.

  7. Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1:

    The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 measures 109 x 52.5 x 16.5 mm, and weighs 145g. It is running the Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system.

    It has a Qualcomm 7200 CPU running at 528Mhz, 128MB of RAM, a 3″ 800×480 tocuhsscreen, a 3.2 megapixel camera, a slide out QWERTY keyboard, a microSD expansion slot and Bluetooth 2.0.

    It also has WiFi and a cool picture blogging feature.

    Acccording to Sony Ericsson, “it lets you enjoy the convergence of communication and entertainment.”

  8. LG Vu:

    It measure 108 x 55 x 13 mm, and weighs only 89.5g. The LG Vu features a 3″ 240×300 262k color touchscreen, Quad band and a software QWERTY keyboard.

    It has a 2 megapixel camera, 128MB of on board memory, a microSD expansion slot, 3.6Mb HSDPA connectivity, Bluetooth 1.2 and USB2.0 support.

    It will support the AT&T mobile TV network and true touch browsing on the web.

    The sleek design on this new LG speaks for itself.

  9. LG U990:

    This is LG’s first 3G phone to be released. It has a 5 Megapixel camera, a 3″ 400×240 pixel, 262k-color touchscreen. The camera can record video at 120FPS.

    It supports audio / video downloading and streaming, plus video calling. It also sports a full web browser, and multiple formats of audio are supported by the media player on the phone. It also has 170MB of onboard memory, but this can be expanded with swappable microSD cards.

    Finally the phone has support for Stereo Bluetooth and USB2.0.

  10. Samsung Anycall Haptic:

    The Sensitive user interface (UI) stimulates the sense of sight, hearing and touch. Its like a living thing. The touchscreen volume button has sound and vibration that make it feel like a real button.

    The UI is adjustable to your personal taste, allowing you to create your own menu on the desktop with widgets.

    It has nice drag-and-drop functionality for ease of use. It also has a 3.2″ 16:9 display, a full HTML web browser, a 2 Megapixel camera and Bluetooth 2.0 stnadard.

  11. Neonode N2:

    The Neonode N2 measures 47×77×14.7 mm, and weighs a very lightweight 70g. Its 2″ 176×220px 65k color touchscreen display features its optical/infrared touchscreen technology called ZForce.

    It has a 2 Megapixel camera, internet radio stream capturing software, a gesture-controlled screen.

    It also has MiniSD for added storage and an mp3 player. The Neonode N2 ActiveSync is used to synchronize your calendar and address book which probably means that the N2 is going to be Windows based.

  12. HTC Pharos P3470:

    The Pharos P3470 is running Windows Mobile on a 200Mhz CPU. It has a 2.8″ screen, Quad band GPRS (EDGE only), GPS, 256MB ROM, and 128MB of RAM.

    The camera on this HTC is 2 Megapixels.

    It comes with Bluetooth and a microSD expansion slot. Some things of note: there is no WiFi or 3G surprisingly enough.

    No word yet, but hopefully they will reconsider about the lack of WiFi support.

  13. Sony Ericsson G900:

    The dimensions of the G900 are 106.0 x 49.0 x 13.0 mm, and it weighs 99g.

    It has a 240×320 pixel, 262k color TFT touchscreen. It is running on Symbian OS, and has 160MB of memory.

    The memory can be expanded through the Memory Stick Micro™ (M2™) expansion slot.

    The give you the option of keypad or touchscreen keyboard. It has a 5 Megapixel camera, Bluetooth, WiFi, a full HTML web browser and video streaming capabilities.

  14. Sony Ericsson G700:

    The G700 is the little brother of the G900, sporting a smaller 3.2 megapixel camera and lacking WiFi support.

    It features a one-touch organizer that can create little “post-it” notes that can be handwritten using a stylus and saved to the phone.

    It also has cool recognition software that recognizes handwriting and converts it into text automatically.

    Not bad if they are calling it the G900’s little brother.

  15. Motorola Rokr E8:

    The Motorola Rokr E8 has modeshift technology which transforms the display of the device to only show the controls for either the the music player or the phone.It features 2GB of internal memory (expandable to 4GB), a 2.0 Megapixel camera and a full HTML browser.It measures 115×53x10.6mm and weighs 100g. It also has class 2 stereo Bluetooth, USB 2.0 and GPRS.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the second longest river system in the United States. Only the Missouri River is longer. The Mississippi flows 2,340 miles (3,766 kilometers) from its source in northwestern Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico.
The word, Mississippi probably comes from a combination of Chippewa words (mici and zibi) meaning "great river" or "great water." It was first written as "Michi Sepe" by Lieutenant Henri de Tonti traveling with the explorer La Salle.
The Mississippi and its tributaries drain almost all the plains between the Appalachian Mountains and the Rocky Mountains. Its drainage basin is the third largest in the world, exceeded in size only by the watersheds of the Amazon and Congo Rivers. The drainage basin covers 1,247,300 square miles (3,230,490 square kilometers) in 31 states and 2 Canadian provinces. This area encompasses the nation's most productive agricultural and industrial regions. The Mississippi is the nation's chief navigable water route. Barges and towboats on the Mississippi River System carry sixty percent of the agricultural goods, industrial products, and raw materials transported on inland waterways.
The Mississippi River and its valley also support many kinds of animals and plants including freshwater fishes, birds, deer, raccoons, otters, mink, and a variety of forest trees. But pollution from agriculture and industry seriously threaten the life of the Mississippi.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

The Origin of Money


Money. Everybody wants it, and you can always use more. But what is money? Where does it come from? Is it really the “root of all evil” as the Bible and Pink Floyd have said? Do we really need it? How did we all come to value little slips of paper with portraits of dead presidents on them? Why can’t they just give everybody a million dollars and make us all rich? And why is any of this important to those who are concerned about human liberty?

I’ll anticipate some conclusions here: Money is vital to a prosperous society, without it mankind could do no better than a primitive agricultural society. Money originates and evolves privately, in the market, as a solution to the problems presented by direct barter. Governments (in collusion with large Banks) around the globe have forcibly taken over and monopolized the creation of new money, and abolished the natural gold standard for the sole purpose of expanding their own power and confiscating wealth. All other “justifications” for government money are lies based on completely discredited economic hogwash. The unprecedented and artificial “fiat money” imposed on us now represents a grave threat to civilization itself.

What is Money?

Money can be defined as: A generally accepted medium of exchange. Theoretically, money can be anything that people desire to own, not for its direct use, but rather for its later value in trading for things that are useful. In practice, around the world and throughout history, one substance emerged as “the people’s choice” as the best money, and that substance is gold.

In the Beginning . . .

Imagine a primitive village with a fisherman (Mr. Fisher), a baker (Mr. Baker), a wagon maker (Mr. Wagoner) and a berry picker (Ms. Berry ). Even in primitive societies, workers tend to specialize like this, because of what Ludwig von Mises called the two most important facts about humans(!!):

  1. That a group of people can produce more goods by specializing and trading than they can in self-sufficient isolation.

  2. Man’s ability to recognize fact #1.

So trading goods with others is a mutually beneficial, natural way for humans to improve their situation. If Fisher wants bread and Baker wants fish, they will want to trade, say one fish for two loaves of bread. So far, so good. But what happens if Fisher wants bread, but Baker doesn’t like fish? This is the first problem with barter, the so-called “double coincidence of wants.” Fisher has to want what Baker has at the same time Baker wants what Fisher has.

To solve the problem, Fisher might go visit Ms. Berry , the berry picker, because he knows that almost everybody likes berries. He trades his fish for a basket of berries, not because he wants to eat them, but because he thinks that Baker will trade loaves of bread for them. When this happens, berries are beginning to function as money, because they are being demanded not just for their value as food, but for their value in exchange.

So we see that money has a function. It solves problems. And like anything else that has a function, it stands to reason that some items will work better than others. You could pound a nail in with a rock, but a hammer works better, because it has certain qualities (leverage, flat surface) that make it superior to a rock for that purpose. And so it is with money. Some things will possess qualities that make it a better money than other things.

Good Money vs. Bad Money

What are the properties that make for a good money? One we’ve already touched on, and that is that money must be something that nearly everyone values. Another problem with barter is divisibility. Mr. Baker and Mr. Wagoner might agree that a nice wagon is worth 1,000 loaves of bread, but Wagoner doesn’t want 1,000 loaves, he only wants one. He can’t whack off 1/1000th of a wagon, that would be useless. So a good money must be something which is still valuable even when divided into very small amounts. Other qualities that make for useful money include durability and also interchangeability, where one unit is the same as any other.

It’s very unlikely that anything extremely common, like sand, could ever become money because people just don’t value common things as highly as rare things. That’s good, for another very important quality of good, sound money is that it should be costly to produce. Briefly, this is because the ability to create money without cost carries with it the extraordinary power to redistribute real wealth to whoever is allowed to create it. More on this later.

What began to happen, over centuries, in separate societies all over the world, is that people tried out all sorts of things as money - salt, seashells, cattle, etc. This was a spontaneous, natural competition to determine the best money. That is, the best according to function, as determined by the market, not the whim of some tyrant.

Tired

It was pretty busy here today. We resumed cleaning the porch and thankfully we are done today. Now our porch is clean and we can hang out in there anytime we want. In fact, we had our breakfast their today. Whheewww, we were very busy for the last 3 days and now everything is back to normal. After our clean up, we went out to run some errands and had our dinner at China Buffet and Sushi Bar, our favorite restaurant to dine. I was so full and their foods are great. Now I am tried and ready to go to bed..lol, I seldom go to bed early but I think I am worn out from our clean up so now it is time for my beauty rest. Have a great evening everyone!

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

History of our calendar

Before today’s Gregorian calendar was adopted, the older Julian Calendar was used. It was admirably close to the actual length of the year, as it turns out, but the Julian calendar was not so perfect that it didn’t slowly shift off track over the following centuries. But, hundreds of years later, monks were the only ones with any free time for scholarly pursuits – and they were discouraged from thinking about the matter of "secular time" for any reason beyond figuring out when to observe Easter. In the Middle Ages, the study of the measure of time was first viewed as prying too deeply into God’s own affairs – and later thought of as a lowly, mechanical study, unworthy of serious contemplation.

As a result, it wasn’t until 1582, by which time Caesar’s calendar had drifted a full 10 days off course, that Pope Gregory XIII (1502 - 1585) finally reformed the Julian calendar. Ironically, by the time the Catholic church buckled under the weight of the scientific reasoning that pointed out the error, it had lost much of its power to implement the fix. Protestant tract writers responded to Gregory’s calendar by calling him the "Roman Antichrist" and claiming that its real purpose was to keep true Christians from worshiping on the correct days. The "new" calendar, as we know it today, was not adopted uniformly across Europe until well into the 18th century.

What is the origin of the names of the months?

A lot of languages, including English, use month names based on Latin. Their meaning is listed below. However, some languages (Czech and Polish, for example) use quite different names.

MonthLatinOrigin
JanuaryJanuariusNamed after the god Janus.
FebruaryFebruariusNamed after Februa, the purification festival.
MarchMartiusNamed after the god Mars.
AprilAprilisNamed either after the goddess Aphrodite or the Latin word aperire, to open.
MayMaiusProbably named after the goddess Maia.
JuneJuniusProbably named after the goddess Juno.
JulyJuliusNamed after Julius Caesar in 44 B.C.E. Prior to that time its name was Quintilis from the word quintus, fifth, because it was the 5th month in the old Roman calendar.
AugustAugustusNamed after emperor Augustus in 8 B.C.E. Prior to that time the name was Sextilis from the word sextus, sixth, because it was the 6th month in the old Roman calendar.
SeptemberSeptemberFrom the word septem, seven, because it was the 7th month in the old Roman calendar.
OctoberOctoberFrom the word octo, eight, because it was the 8th month in the old Roman calendar.
NovemberNovemberFrom the word novem, nine, because it was the 9th month in the old Roman calendar.
DecemberDecemberFrom the word decem, ten, because it was the 10th month in the old Roman calendar.


Monday, January 5, 2009

IT'S MONDAY

It's Monday and as usual nothing much to do at home. I woke up around 10 in the morning, had my coffee and spent my time in front of my computer. This is the usual routine for me everyday. Keeping track with my emails and some other stuff that I do in the computer. I also talked about working this week but it was canceled because my employer can not afford this time to pay a baby sitter. Oh well, that's life and that's how it goes. I was worried about accepting that job because I can only spend less time with baby when he is home but now I am glad because he has all my attention and I am so excited because he is coming home soon. I guess that it for now and have a great evening everyone.
 
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