E-mail Forwards

2011 Darwin Awards Nominees

2012-02-10T23:30:00.000+08:00

Named in honor of Charles Darwin, the father of evolution, the Darwin Awards commemorate those who improve our gene pool by removing themselves from it.

NOMINEE 1: Planking Spanking
2011 Darwin Award Nominee
Confirmed True by Darwin

15 May 2011, Brisbane, Australia | PLANKING? What is it? 'Planking' is the peculiar wit of lying flat as a plank in unusual locations--train tracks, fire hydrants, clotheslines--and posting public photographs, spreading joy. This Australian craze had infected poor Mr. Acton B., a (former) planking enthusiast who was not aware that Balconies Are The #1 One Cause of Gravity-Fed Darwin Awards. Not knowing, he was doomed to repeat the lesson. Camera ready, the 20-year-old stretched himself out face-down on the railing, arms by his sides, stiff as a plank, balanced. Don't do it, don't cross that line young male Homo sapiens sapiens! Oh no...the species is doomed. Down he fell. Descent of man.

PLANKING happened on 15 May 2011, Brisbane AU. Although we do not have a photograph of the actual event, we encourage reporters to re-enact the scene for your own cameras. No, really, go ahead.

Planking is nothing without a photograph. The men down under have risen to the top of the zany photos crop, planking naked, planking on police cruisers, planking here, there, and across the desks on TV Network News. Planking has well and truly jumped the shark.

READER COMMENTS:
"Natural selection nudged him over the line, and he fell..."
"Planking is bound to remove people from the gene pool."
Please be careful where you plank! :)
Watch out for balconies :-)

"You will enjoy this. They are truly dark and hilarious. Your dad didn't quite get the wharped sense of humor that one needs to enjoy this. Maybe he was tired...Love, Gma Carolina"

"O site dos burros pra carai!"
"Blessedly he was not naked."
"As promised funny (but dark). From the vault of the always amusing Darwin Awards."

NOMINEE 2: Motorcycle Helmet Law, ex-Protestor
2011 Darwin Award Nominee
Confirmed True by Darwin

(July 2011, New York) Protesting motorcycle helmet laws, an Onondaga, NY man was participating in a bare-noggin protest ride when he was killed via flipping over the handlebars. The motorcycle accident injured the noggin of Mr. Contos, 55, fatally damaging a brain that was unable to determine the physics of the situation. Moreover, he'd do it again if he could, according to his elder brother. "He would have wanted it that way."

Certain laws have physics on their side, obviously, and the laws say one's body cannot walk away from a high-speed physical impact. Laws not subject to repeal. Unprotected--you squash like a bug. Protected--you eat squash for dinner.

Since properly padded and protected men can walk away from a 90-mph crash, protection is prudent when you increase {mass x speed} above a critical threshhold.

Prudent, but sould protection be mandatory? Robert Frost says, "I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his own way."

Police said Phil "hit his brakes, fishtailed and went out of control, flipping him over the handlebars." What we, the Darwin Awards committee, would like to know--and news reports don't explain--is just how he went over the handlebars?

NOMINEE 3: Hotter Copper Whopper
2011 Darwin Award Nominee
Confirmed True by Darwin

(3 July 2011, Leeds, UK.) Thief! How, many, thieves, have, to die, to prove that you shouldn't steal copper wire? Besides the risk, it's not right to cause thousands of dollars worth of damage, for hundreds of dollars in profit. HEY YOU IMMORAL IDIOTS, It makes bad environmental sense to destroy more than you recoup. Angry lecture!

Knowing that species evolve, why are we so dumb? Like Darwin's Finches, humans are filling the 'new islands' (evolutionary niches) created by our civilization, and our mutations are being tuned by each self-limiting step we take.

Which brings me to a Leeds teenager, who at 16 became a deceased Darwin Award winner by making one such self-limiting step. Copper theft is a killer, and also a nuisance. CE Electric UK has dealt with 279 incidents in the last year in West Yorkshire. They plead, "We are pleading with thieves to think about the consequences and how much they are risking for such a small return. DANGER OF DEATH signs are posted for a reason!"

Stealing copper? Fast track train to Charles Darwin's heavenly estate. "Welcome home, Leeds teen. You were old enough to know better!" Sometimes a friend has to cram life into too few years, but we comfort ourselves knowing that his destiny was to serve as a warning to others.

Copper Kills! CE Electric UK recently began marking the copper using 'SmartWater' technology to deter malicious, costly vandalism. American Electric Power is converting from copper grounding wire to copper-clad steel wire that has little scrap value and is tougher to cut.

NOMINEE 4: Wedding Jitters
2011 Darwin Award Nominee

(India) In 2004 a pre-wedding henna party was underway when a prowler with the appearance of an undead ghoul broke into the home of Indira Vegas, 23, a well-known red-headed stripper in downtown Delhi. While most of the party reacted with confusion as the prowler lurched forward, in a foetid cloud that reportedly reeked of "tear gas," Vegas approached the zombie and whacked its temple with her 5" stiletto heel. According to an eyewitness report, this dispatched the prowler, successfully halting a Class I invasion. What makes this story worthy of Darwin's notice however, is the subsequent actions of Vegas. She put the stiletto-heel shoe back on and went on to accidentally infect her sister-in-law, with what one neighbor described as a 'mis-step.' The name and whereabouts of the sister-in-law have not been released to the press. The woman, infected with a strange painful lassitude, passed into a "deep sleep" and was placed in a bedroom.

The photographer, Timothy Caes, 16, stated that the party was discussing who should report the deceased prowler to police, when a second ghoul emerged from the bedroom and began to savagely bite Vegas. Mr. Caes, the primary source of this report, is a local student who was not known to the group. He states that subsequent to this savage attack, Vegas inexlicably turned and began to menace him. Mr. Caees was able to subdue the reanimated zombies by bashing them several times with a tripod, knocking them to the floor and halting their wails.

That was enough. The sudden silence provoked a stampede of human chaos from the room, and what was effectively a herd of vertical bayonettes put an end to what was ultimately recorded as a "schizophrenic episode" on the part of the deceased.

Indra Vegas, who began her 15 minutes of fame by saving her friends, ended her life with yet another boneheaded move involving high heels. Women, high heels? Between you and me, put those things in your trash. High Heels = Natural Selection in Action.

Other High Heels Tragedies: Best wishes from Wendy Darwin.
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Darwin Awards 1999 Nominees

2012-02-10T23:24:00.000+08:00

Hard to believe, but another year has passed...For those who don't Know it, the Darwin Awards are awarded every year to the person(s) who died (or almost died) in the stupidest way...

The 1999 nominees are:

NOMINEE No. 1: [San Jose Mercury News]: An unidentified man, using a shotgun like a club to break a former girlfriend's windshield, accidentally shot himself to death when the gun discharged, blowing a hole in his gut.

NOMINEE No. 2: [Kalamazoo Gazette] James Burns, 34, (a mechanic) of Alamo, Mich., was killed in March as he was trying to repair what police describe as a "farm type truck." Burns got a friend to drive the truck on a highway while Burns hung underneath so that he could ascertain the source of a troubling noise. Burns' clothes caught on something, however, and the other man found Burns "wrapped in the drive shaft."

NOMINEE No. 3: [Hickory Daily Record] Ken Charles Barger, 47, accidentally shot himself to death in December in Newton, N.C. Awakening to the sound of a ringing telephone beside his bed, he reached for the phone but grabbed instead a Smith Wesson .38 Special, which discharged when he drew it to his ear.

NOMINEE No. 4: [UPI, Toronto] Police said a lawyer demonstrating the safety of windows in a downtown
Toronto skyscraper crashed through a pane with his shoulder and plunged 24 floors to his death. A police
spokesman said Garry Hoy, 39, fell into the courtyard of the Toronto Dominion Bank Tower early Friday
evening as he was explaining the strength of the building's windows to visiting law students. Hoy
previously has conducted demonstration of window strength according to police reports. Peter Lawyers,
managing partner of the firm Holden Day Wilson, told the Toronto Sun newspaper that Hoy was "one of the
best and brightest" members of the 200-man association.

NOMINEE No. 5: [Bloomburg News Service] A terrible diet and room with no ventilation are being blamed for the death of a man who was killed by his own gas. There was no mark on his body but an autopsy showed large amounts of methane gas in his system. His diet had consisted primarily of beans and cabbage (and a couple of other things). It was just the right combination of foods. It appears that the man died in his sleep from breathing the poisonous cloud that was hanging over his bed. Had he been outside or had his windows been opened, it wouldn't have been fatal. But the man was shut up in his near airtight bedroom. According to the article, "He was a big man with a huge capacity for creating "this deadly gas." Three of the rescuers got sick and one was hospitalized.

NOMINEE No. 6: [The News of the Weird.] Michael Anderson Godwin made news of the Weird posthumously. He had spent several years awaiting South Carolina's electric chair on a murder conviction before having his sentence reduced to life in prison. Whilst sitting on a metal toilet in his cell and attempting to fix his small TV set, he bit into a wire and was electrocuted.

NOMINEE NO. 7: ["The Indianapolis Star"]. A cigarette lighter may have triggered fatal explosion in Dunkirk, Indiana. A Jay County man using a cigarette lighter to check the barrel of a muzzle loader was killed Monday night when the weapon discharged in his face, sheriff's investigators said. Gregory David Pryor, 19, died in his parents' rural Dunkirk home about 11:30 pm. Investigators said Pryor was cleaning a 54-caliber muzzleloader that had not been firing properly. He was using the lighter to look into the barrel when the gunpowder ignited.

NOMINEE No. 8: [Reuters, Mississauga, Ontario] A man cleaning a bird Feeder on the balcony of his
condominium apartment in this Toronto suburb slipped and fell 23 stories to his death. Stefan Macko, 55, was standing on a wheeled chair when the accident occurred, said Inspector D'Arcy Honer of the Peel regional police. "It appears the chair moved and he went over the balcony," Honer said.

NOMINEE No.9: [Arkansas Democrat Gazette] Two local men were seriously injured when their pick-up truck left the road and struck a tree near Cotton Patch on State Highway 38 early Monday morning. Woodruff County deputy Dovey Snyder reported the accident shortly after midnight Monday. Thurston Poole, 33, of Des Arc and Billy Ray Wallis, 38, of Little Rock are listed in serious condition at Baptist Medical Center. The accident occurred as the two men were returning to Des Arc after a frog gigging trip. On an overcast Sunday night, Poole's pick-up truck headlights malfunctioned. The two men concluded that the headlight fuse on the older model truck had burned out. As a replacement fuse was not available, Wallis noticed that the .22 caliber bullet from his pistol fit perfectly into the fuse box next to the steering wheel column. Upon inserting the bullet, the headlights again began to operate properly and the two men proceeded on east-bound toward the White River bridge. After traveling approximately 20 miles and just before crossing the river, the bullet apparently overheated, discharged and struck Poole in the right testicle. The vehicle swerved sharply to the right exiting the pavement and striking a tree. Poole suffered only minor cuts and abrasions from the accident, but will require surgery to repair the other wound. Wallis sustained a broken clavicle and was treated and released. "Thank God we weren't on that bridge when Thurston shot his balls off or we might both be dead" stated Wallis. "I've been a trooper for ten years in this part of the world, but this is a first for me. I can't believe that those two would admit how this accident happened," said Snyder. Upon being notified of the wreck, Lavinia, Poole's wife, asked how many frogs the boys had caught and did anyone get them from the truck. (Way to go, Lavinia!)

How memory works

2012-02-08T00:02:00.003+08:00

Click on image for larger.

Darul Hafidzin

2012-02-07T22:47:00.003+08:00

Assalamu'alaikum,

Alhamdulillah, pembangunan Maahad Tahfiz Darul Hafidzin (MTDH) hampir sempurna.... hampir 90% siap. InsyaAllah tak ada aral, awal tahun depan dah boleh bawa masuk anak-anak hafiz & hafizah.

Bagaimanapun MTDH masih perlukan dana untuk sempurnakan pembangunan. Anggaran kos keseluruhan ialah RM710,000. Setakat ini MTDH sudah melangsaikan bayaran sebanyak RM630,000 kepada tuan kontraktor. Jutaan terima kasih kepada semua penyumbang & pewakaf, hanya Allah shj yang akan membalas jasa baik tuan/puan.

MTDH masih memerlukan RM80,000 untuk menyempurnakan pembangunan. Tuan/puan dipelawa untuk menghulurkan infaq / wakaf / zakat / sumbangan kepada MTDH melalui:-

Akaun Bank Islam atas nama: Pusat Tahfiz Al-Quran Darul Hafidzin

No akaun: 1209 2010 03 2010

Akaun Bank Muamalat atas nama: Maahad Tahfiz Darul Hafidzin

No akaun: 1207 0005 8377 14

Pertanyaan lanjut, sila hubungi Ustaz Ashaari Mohd Saleh Al-Hafiz (019-6952099) / Yusoff Talib (013-3684294).

Jazakallah.....

http://darulhafidzin.blogspot.com/p/gambar-terbaru.html

Subject: MTDH: Skim Pelaburan Yg Dijamin Menguntungkan

Assalamu'alaikum,

Anda masih tercari-cari skim pelaburan yang strategik dan menguntungkan? Mari melabur dalam skim wakaf Maahad Tahfiz Darul Hafidzin (MTDH). Skim pelaburan yang pastinya tidak akan memberatkan anda dengan istilah "kejatuhan yang merudum", "ditutup bercampur-campur" dan yang seumpama dengannya. Malah keuntungannya dijamin akan mencecah sehingga 700 kali ganda, sebagaimana janji Allah dalam Al-Baqarah ayat 261:

"Perumpamaan (derma) orang yang membelanjakan hartanya pada jalan Allah, ialah sama seperti sebiji benih yang tumbuh menerbitkan tujuh tangkai, tiap-tiap tangkai itu pula mengandungi seratus biji. Dan (ingatlah) Allah akan melipat gandakan pahala bagi sesiapa yang dikehendakiNya, dan Allah Maha Luas (rahmat) kurniaNya lagi Maha Mengetahui".

Jangan lepaskan peluang pelaburan strategik ini, Insyaallah ianya akan menjadi bekal yang sangat ampuh untuk kita pada hari kemudian (yaumul mahsyar) nanti. Pelaburan boleh diniatkan dalam bentuk zakat, infaq sedekah atau wakaf. Pelaburan boleh disalurkan terus ke akaun Bank Islam atas nama "Pusat Tahfiz Al-Quran Darul Hafidzin", no akaun - 1209 2010 0320 10.

MTDH masih memerlukan dana bagi menyiapkan asrama dan kelas mengaji. Bagi mengikuti perkembangan terkini MTDH sila lawati, http://tahfizdarulhafidzin.blogspot.com/

Jazakallah.......

Tawakkul Karman and hijab

2012-02-03T23:18:00.000+08:00

When Nobel laureate Tawakkul Karman was asked about her Hijab by Journalists and how it is not proportionate with her level of intellect and education, she replied:

“Man in the early times was almost naked, and as his intellect evolved he started wearing clothes. What I am today and what I’m wearing represents the highest level of thought and civilization that man has achieved, and is not regressive. It’s the removal of clothes again that is regressive back to ancient times”
.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

2012-02-03T01:45:00.001+08:00

Law of the commoners :
".....to move is the chicken, to stay is the road.......therefore the chicken cross the road "

What if
".....to move is the road, to stay is the chicken.......therefore sharp corners in our trunk road".
(ie: Avoiding chicken farms therefore we built our roads with sharp corners.)

Hence, opportunity for Bituminas Premium-R A Classic.

Finally, the answers we have all been waiting for...

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Answers from the Economists:-

A CLASSICAL ECONOMIST : an invisible hand moved the chicken

A NEO-CLASSICAL ECONOMIST :because the marginal utility of the chicken to cross the road exceeds the marginal cost

A FREE-MARKET ECONOMIST : because there's an excess supply of chicken on this side, and an excess demand of chicken on the other side of the road

A CHICAGO SCHOOL ECONOMIST : because the market told it so

A KEYNESIAN ECONOMIST : because of a monetary expansion, the currency depreciates, the relative price of domestic chicken got lower, so there'll be an export expansion of chicken to another side of the road Answers from other prominent figures,

Answer from everyone else:

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE : To cross or not to cross, that is the question

KEANU REEVES (in 'The Matrix') : The chicken did not actually cross the road. Only your mind told you so

DARTH VADER : It was the chicken's destiny to cross the road

LUKE SKYWALKER : May the force be with the chicken!

KINDERGARTEN TEACHER: To get to the other side.

PLATO: For the greater good.

ARISTOTLE: It is the nature of chickens to cross roads.

KARL MARX: It was an historical inevitability.

TIMOTHY LEARY: Because that's the only trip the establishment would let it take.

SADDAM HUSSEIN: This was an unprovoked act of rebellion and we were quite justified in dropping 50 tons of nerve gas on it.

RONALD REAGAN: I forget.

CAPTAIN JAMES T KIRK: To boldly go where no chicken has gone before.

HIPPOCRATES: Because of an excess of phlegm in its pancreas.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR: I envision a world where all chickens will be free to cross roads without having their motives called into question.

DANA SCULLY: Its not possible! Chicken don't cross the road on their own, they are not capable of doing so.

FOX MULDER: You saw it cross the road with your own eyes. How many more chickens have to cross the road before you believe it?

RICHARD M NIXON: The chicken did not cross the road. I repeat, the chicken did NOT cross the road.

MACHIAVELLI: The point is that the chicken crossed the road. Who cares why? The end of crossing the road justifies whatever motive there was.

JERRY SEINFELD: Why does anyone cross a road? I mean, why doesn't anyone ever think to ask, What the heck was this chicken doing walking around all over the place, anyway?

FREUD: The fact that you are at all concerned that the chicken crossed the road reveals your underlying sexual insecurity.

BILL GATES: I have just released the new Chicken Office 2000, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your checkbook.

OLIVER STONE: The question is not, "Why did the chicken cross the road?" Rather, it is, "Who was crossing the road at the same time, whom we overlooked in our haste to observe the chicken crossing?

DARWIN: Chickens, over great periods of time, have been naturally selected in such a way that they are now genetically disposed to cross roads.

EINSTEIN: Whether the chicken crossed the road or the road moved beneath the chicken depends upon your frame of reference.

BUDDHA: Asking this question denies your own chicken nature.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON: The chicken did not cross the road - it transcended it.

ANDERSEN CONSULTING: Deregulation of the chicken's side of the road was threatening its dominant market position. The chicken was faced with significant challenges to create and develop the competencies required for the newly competitive market. Andersen Consulting, in a partnering relationship with the client, helped the chicken by rethinking its physical distribution strategy and implementation processes. Using the Poultry Integration Model (PIM), Andersen helped the chicken use its skills, methodologies, knowledge, capital and experiences to align the chicken's people, processes and technology in support of its overall strategy within a Program Management framework. Andersen Consulting convened a diverse cross-spectrum of road analysts and bestchickens along with Anderson Consulting with deep skills in the transportation industry to engage in a two-day itinerary of meetings in order to leverage their personal knowledge capital, both tacit and explicit, and to enable them to synergize with each other in order to achieve the implicit goals of delivering and successfully architecting and implementing an enterprise-wide value framework across the continuum of poultry cross-median processes. The meeting was held in a park-like setting, enabling and creating an impactful environment which was strategically based, industry-focused, and built upon a consistent, clear, and unified market message and aligned with the chicken's mission, vision, and core values. This was conducive towards the creation of a total business integration solution. Andersen Consulting helped the chicken change to become more successful.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY: To die. In the rain.

COLONEL SANDERS: I missed one?

JACK (Titanic) : They cross, I cross.

HOW TO IMPRESS A WOMAN

2012-02-03T01:39:00.000+08:00

Compliment her,
respect her,
honor her,
cuddle her,
kiss her, caress her,
love her, stroke her,
tease her,
comfort her,
protect her,
hug her,
hold her,
spend money on her,
wine and dine her,
buy things for her,
listen to her,
care for her,
stand by her,
support her,
hold her,
go to the ends of the Earth for her.

HOW TO IMPRESS A MAN

Show up naked.
Bring food.

SIMPLE VS REAL.........!!

2012-02-03T01:37:00.001+08:00

A simple friend has never seen you cry.
A real friend has shoulders soggy from your tears.

A simple friend brings a bottle of wine to your party.
A real friend comes early to help you cook and stays late to help you clean.

A simple friend hates it when you call after he has gone to bed.
A real friend asks you why you took so long to call.

A simple friend seeks to talk with you about your problems.
A real friend seeks to help you with your problems.

A simple friend wonders about your romantic history.
A real friend could blackmail you with it.

A simple friend, when visiting, acts like a guest.
A real friend opens your refrigerator and helps himself.

A simple friend thinks the friendship is over when you have an argument.
A real friend knows that it's not a friendship until after you ve had a fight.

A simple friend expects you to always be there for them.
A real friend expects to always be there for you!
Pass this on to anyone you care about....if you get it back you have found your true friends!

A Ball is a circle, No beginning, no end. It keeps us together,like our Circle of Friends, but the treasure inside for you to see is the treasure of friendship. You ve granted to me.

COUNTER CULTURE

2012-01-30T00:50:00.002+08:00

by Amir Muhammad

You know your life is a Malay TV drama when...

1. Your father wears bush-jackets, sighs a lot, and has a heavily lipsticked secretary whose only purpose in life is to say, "Ini dia fail yang encik minta tadi." (This is the file that you asked for.)

2. Your mother wears jewels around the house and is always asking you to "sabarlah" (be patient). At opportune moments she will worry that you're not eating enough, place a hand on your forehead and say you need to see a doctor. You decline politely but firmly. You don't quite trust your mother because she looks only five years older than yourself.

3. An entire conversation (encapsulating but not limited to introductions, exposition, and the dawning comprehension which come out of life-changing revelations) can be held while waiting for the lift to arrive in your 10-storey office building.

4. You spend an awful lot of time getting in and out of cars and putting on seat-belts.

5. You enjoy saying the most obvious things. When a bunch of relatives turns up at your doorstep with enough luggage to see them through another world war, you say, "Eh, dah sampai dah." (Eh, you're here). They somehow resist the temptation to say, "Nah, we're just holograms."

6. Shopping complexes not only offer you a dazzling array of commercial goods but have free Infidelity Checks. Hang around one long enough and you will find out whether your loved one is cheating on your sorry ass. You will spot the scumbag/tramp in an intimate moment with a third party as they share an ice-cream or leave a shoe-store. While you make this discovery the shopping complex will arrange for you to be hidden behind a convenient pillar.

7. Board meetings tend go very easily because only two out of the dozen people in the room ever have anything to contribute. The others exist only to nod furiously. This is understandable because they all look too young to know anything. The signal for a meeting to end is when your handphone goes off.

8. At cafes you only ever order "fresh orange" juice and when it arrives it will have a whole jungle of sprigs and twigs sticking out of it. The profuse vegetation between your mouth and the drink will frustrate any attempt to take large, comfortable gulps, so you merely sip. If the chat you are having at the cafe does not go well you can storm out after an average of two and a half sips, leaving the other person to pay for everything.

9. There are night-time moments along an alley-way when you will surrender to an inexplicable urge to get beaten up. You will know when the time comes because blue smoke will appear out of nowhere.

10. The proper protocol when visiting a hospital is to pace restlessly up and down the corridor and then grab hold of the nearest white-coated specimen to demand, "Bagaimana keadaan dia, doktor?" ("How's s/he doing, doctor?") You will persist in this line of questioning even after he
patiently explains that it is too soon to tell. You don't suspect the guy of being an imposter even though he seems awfully young to be a doctor.

11. Hands are an important guide to character. You know who your enemies are because they always crack their knuckles loudly before summoning the blue smoke. You know who your friends are because they always snap their fingers and say "Alright!" when you come up with some bright idea.

12. Your surroundings frequently come alive to the sound of music.

AMIR MUHAMMAD studied law and then film, and is now a full-time writer based in Kuala Lumpur. COUNTER CULTURE will discuss everything from Aristotle's fashion sense to Amy Mastura's politics, although not always in that order. The column will appear in malaysiakini every Wednesday.

Top Bumper Stickers

2012-01-30T00:48:00.001+08:00

TOP BUMPER STICKERS SEEN AROUND THE WORLD

1.    Constipated People Don't Give A Crap.
2.    Practice Safe Sex, Go Screw Yourself.
3.    If You Drink Don't Park, Accidents Cause People.
4.    If You're Not A Hemorrhoid, Get Off My Ass.
5.    If You Don't Believe In Oral Sex, Keep Your Mouth Shut.
6.    Please Tell Your Pants Its Not Polite To Point.
7.    If That Phone Was Up Your Butt, Maybe You Could Drive A Little Better.
8.    My Kid Got Your Honour Roll Student Pregnant.
9.    Thank You For Pot Smoking.
10.   To All You Virgins, Thanks For Nothing.
11.   If At First You Don't Succeed...blame Someone Else And Seek counseling.
12.   Impotence: Nature's Way Of Saying "No Hard Feelings".
13.   If You Can Read This, I've Lost My Trailer.
14.   Horn Broken... Watch For Finger.
15.   It's Not How You Pick Your Nose, But Where You Put The Booger.
16.   Who Lit The Fuse On Your Tampon?
17.   You're Just Jealous Because The Voices Are Talking To Me
18.   The Earth Is Full - Go Home
19.   I Have The Body Of A God... Buddha
20.   This Would Be Really Funny If It Weren't Happening To Me
21.   So Many Pedestrians - So Little Time
22.   Cleverly Disguised As A Responsible Adult
23.   If We Quit Voting Will They All Go Away?
24.   The Face Is Familiar But I Can't Quite Remember My Name
25.   Eat Right, Exercise, Die Anyway
26.   Illiterate? Write For Help
27.   Honk If Anything Falls Off
28.   Cover Me I'm Changing Lanes
29.   He Who Hesitates Is Not Only Lost But Miles From The Next Exit
30.   I Refuse To Have A Battle Of Wits With An Unarmed Person
31.   You! Out Of The Gene Pool!
32.   I Do Whatever My Rice Krispies Tell Me To
33.   Where Are We Going And Why Am I In This Handbasket?
34.   It's Been Lovely But I Have To Scream Now
35.   I Haven't Lost My Mind, It's Backed Up On Disk Somewhere
36.   If You Can Read This, The Bitch Fell Off... [Seen On The Back Of A Biker's Vest]
37.   If Sex Is A Pain In The Ass, Then You're Doing It Wrong...
38.   Fight Crime: Shoot Back!
39.   If You Can Read This, Please Flip Me Back Over...[Seen Upside Down, On A Jeep]
40.   Remember Folks: Stop Lights Timed For 35mph Are Also Timed For 70mph.
41.   Guys: No Shirt, No Service Gals: No Shirt, No Charge [Reported To Be Seen On A Restaurant]
42.   If Walking Is So Good For You, Then Why Does My Mailman Look Like Jabba The Hut?
43.   Necrophilia: That Uncontrollable Urge To Crack Open A Cold One.
44.   Ax Me About Ebonics
45.   Body By Nautilus; Brain By Mattel
46.   Boldly Going Nowhere
47.   Cat: The Other White Meat
48.   Caution - Driver Legally Blonde!
49.   Don't Be Sexist - Broads Hate That
50.   Heart Attacks... God's Revenge For Eating His Animals

Ultraman vs. Star Wars

2012-01-29T01:00:00.001+08:00

Dennis Ritchie

2012-01-29T00:49:00.001+08:00

Rahsia Rukun Solat

2012-01-29T00:46:00.002+08:00

Nabi Muhammad SAW merupakan nabi terakhir yang diutuskan oleh Allah SWT untuk membimbing manusia ke arah jalan kebenaran. Tidak seperti umat nabi-nabi yang lain, umat nabi Muhammad telah diperintahkan untuk mengerjakan solat 5 waktu setiap hari. Ini merupakan kelebihan dan anugerah Allah SWT terhadap umat nabi Muhammad dimana solat tersebut akan memberikan perlindungan ketika di hari pembalasan kelak. Berikut diterangkan asal-usul bagaimana setiap solat mula dikerjakan.

SUBUH

Manusia pertama yang mengerjakan solat subuh ialah Nabi Adam a.s. iaitu ketika baginda keluar dari syurga lalu diturunkan ke bumi. Perkara pertama yang dilihatnya ialah kegelapan dan baginda berasa takut yang amat sangat. Apabila fajar subuh telah keluar, Nabi Adam a.s. pun bersembahyang dua rakaat. Rakaat pertama: Tanda bersyukur kerana baginda terlepas dari kegelapan malam. Rakaat kedua: Tanda bersyukur kerana siang telah menjelma. ZOHOR Manusia pertama yang mengerjakan solat Zohor ialah Nabi Ibrahim a.s. iaitu tatkala Allah SWT telah memerintahkan padanya agar menyembelih anaknya Nabi Ismail a.s.. Seruan itu datang pada waktu tergelincir matahari, lalu sujudlah Nabi Ibrahim sebanyak empat rakaat.

Rakaat pertama: Tanda bersyukur bagi penebusan.
Rakaat kedua: Tanda bersyukur kerana dibukakan dukacitanya dan juga anaknya.
Rakaat ketiga: Tanda bersyukur dan memohon akan keredhaan Allah SWT.
Rakaat keempat: Tanda bersyukur kerana korbannya digantikan dengan tebusan kibas.

ASAR

Manusia pertama yang mengerjakan solat Asar ialah Nabi Yunus a.s. tatkala baginda dikeluarkan oleh Allah SWT dari perut ikan Nun. Ikan Nun telah memuntahkan Nabi Yunus di tepi pantai, sedang ketika itu telah masuk waktu Asar. Maka bersyukurlah Nabi Yunus lalu bersembahyang empat rakaat kerana baginda telah diselamatkan oleh Allah SWT daripada 4 kegelapan iaitu:

Rakaat pertama: Kelam dengan kesalahan.
Rakaat kedua: Kelam dengan air laut.
Rakaat ketiga: Kelam dengan malam.
Rakaat keempat: Kelam dengan perut ikan Nun.

MAGHRIB

Manusia pertama yang mengerjakan solat Maghrib ialah Nabi Isa a.s. iaitu ketika baginda dikeluarkan oleh Allah SWT dari kejahilan dan kebodohan kaumnya, sedang waktu itu telah terbenamnya matahari. Bersyukur Nabi Isa, lalu bersembahyang tiga rakaat kerana diselamatkan dari kejahilan tersebut iaitu:

Rakaat pertama: Untuk menafikan ketuhanan selain daripada Allah yang Maha Esa.
Rakaat kedua: Untuk menafikan tuduhan dan juga tohmahan ke atas ibunya Siti Mariam yang telah dituduh melakukan perbuatan sumbang.
Rakaat ketiga: Untuk meyakinkan kaumnya bahawa Tuhan itu hanya satu iaitu Allah SWT semata-mata, tiada dua atau tiganya.

ISYAK

Manusia pertama yang mengerjakan solat Isyak ialah Nabi Musa a.s.. Pada ketika itu, Nabi Musa telah tersesat mencari jalan keluar dari negeri Madyan, sedang dalam dadanya penuh dengan perasaan dukacita. Allah SWT menghilangkan semua perasaan dukacitanya itu pada waktu Isyak yang akhir. Lalu sembahyanglah Nabi Musa empat rakaat sebagai tanda bersyukur.

Rakaat pertama: Tanda dukacita terhadap isterinya.
Rakaat kedua: Tanda dukacita terhadap saudaranya Nabi Harun.
Rakaat ketiga: Tanda dukacita terhadap Firaun.
Rakaat keempat: Tanda dukacita terhadap anak Firaun.
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Ava (24 months old) BSL Dinner Chat: National Deaf Children's' Society (NDCS) Sign Up Campaign

2012-01-14T00:38:00.000+08:00

A very cool video. please watch and read description below.

National Deaf Children's' Society (NDCS) Sign Up Campaign - please enjoy the video AND sign the petition! Only takes a few seconds, literally. Thank you so much! http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/7763

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Have you had trouble communicating with your deaf child, such as reading them a bedtime story?

Language and communication is key to any relationship, particularly at home. However, many families are not getting the support they need to learn to communicate with their child, particularly those who want to learn sign language.

Access to family sign language has been piloted in some areas and even the Prime Minister has recognised how successful it has been. NDCS is now lobbying the Government to expand the scheme across England. The Department for Education will be thinking about expanding these pilots in the autumn so we need your urgent help. Please ask your MP to write to the Department, using these 3 easy steps:

Step 1: Using the form on the URL below enter your name, address, postcode and email address, and then click on 'submit'.

http://e-activist.com/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=19&ea.campaign.id=116...

Step 2: On the next page you will be shown a draft message to your MP.

Step 3: You can send your message by email, or print off a copy and put it in the post by clicking on the option you prefer.

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This is a video of our daughter Ava, aged 24 months having a conversation with her mum Lilli at the dinner table.

We are both deaf so we were able to sign from when Ava was born, hearing parents should be given the chance to learn sign language and be able to communicate with their own child fully. We think its important to note that eventually it would be great to see this opportunity given to grandparents, siblings, and other family members/carers.

Language is not a privilege, it is a right.

Please can you sign this petition http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/7763 and support the NDCS Sign Up campaign. Thank you!

Kind and motivating words

2012-01-13T23:47:00.000+08:00

Kejahilan meracun diri sendiri

2012-01-12T21:44:00.000+08:00

Seorang wanita tiba-tiba mati dengan tidak disangka-sangka dengan tanda-tanda pendarahan dari telinga, hidung, mulut & mata. Selepas bedah siasat awal ia disahkan bahawa kematian disebabkan keracunan arsenik.

Dari manakah arsenik yang datang?

Polis melancarkan siasatan secara mendalam dan meluas. Seorang profesor institusi perubatan telah dijemput untuk datang membantu menyelesaikan kes itu.

Profesor dengan berhati-hati melihat kandungan dari dalam perut. Dalam kurang dari setengah jam, misteri itu dapat diselesaikan.

Profesor itu berkata: "si mati tidak membunuh diri atau dibunuh, beliau meninggal dunia akibat kemalangan dari kejahilan!"

Semua orang hairan, mengapa kematian akibat kemalangan dari kejahilan?

Profesor itu menjelaskan: "arsenik dihasilkan dalam perut si mati."

Si mati yang mengamalkan pengambilan Vitamin C setiap hari, yang dengan sendirinya tidak menjadi masalah.

Masalahnya ialah bahawa dia makan sebahagian besar udang semasa makan malam. Makan udang tidak mendatangkan masalah dan tiada apa yang berlaku kepada keluarganya walaupun mereka telah sama-sama udang. Walau bagaimanapun, pada masa yang sama si mati juga mengambil vitamin C ', itulah yang mendatangkan masalah!

Penyelidik di University of Chicago di Amerika Syarikat, mendapati selepas melalui uji kaji, makanan yang seperti kekerang lembut (shell) mengandungi kepekatan yang lebih tinggi lima sebatian arsenik kalium.

Makanan itu segar dengan sendirinya tidak mempunyai kesan toksik terhadap tubuh manusia.

Walau bagaimanapun, dalam mengambil vitamin C, tindak balas kimia berlaku dan asal unsur-unsur bukan toksik berubah kepada unsur-unsur toksik.

Keracunan arsenik mempunyai peranan magma dan boleh menyebabkan kelumpuhan kepada saluran darah yang kecil. Oleh itu, orang yang mati akibat keracunan arsenik akan menunjukkan tanda-tanda pendarahan dari telinga, hidung, mulut & mata. Oleh itu sebagai langkah berjaga-jaga, JANGAN makan udang apabila mengambil vitamin C.
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MAKANAN KEGEMARAN RASULULAH S.A.W

2012-01-05T22:34:00.002+08:00

1. Barli – Bagus untuk demam jika dibuat sup.

2. Kurma – Nabi berkata rumah yang tidak mempunyai kurma adalah sepert rumah yang tidak ada makanan.

3. Buah Tin – Buah dari syurga. Boleh mengubati buasir.

4. Anggur – Nabi suka buah anggur. Ia membersihkan darah, menguatkan buah pinggang, membersihkan perut

5. Madu – Ia adalah makanan segala makanan, minuman segala minuman, ubat segala ubat. Mengubati cirit birit jika dibancuh dengan air panas, membuka selera, menguatkan perut, membuang kahak. Elok diminun waktu pagi dengan air suam.

6. Tembikai (Segala Jenis) – Nabi berkata wanita mengandung tidak akan gagal melahirkan anak yang baik dari segi karater dan wajahnya.

7. Susu – Nabi berkata susu baik untuk membuang panas badan seperti tangan membuang peluh dari dahi. Menguatkan belakang, memperbaiki otak memperbaharui pandangan mata, membuang kelupaan.

8. Cendawan – Baik untuk mata, perancang keluarga.

9. Minyak Zaitun – Rawatan kulit dan rambut. Melambatkan penuaan, merawat radang perut.

10. Delima – Membersihkan tubuh dari syaitan & bisikan syaitan selama 40 hari.

11. Cuka – Nabi selalu meminum dengan minyak zaitun (Trend yang popular di restoran Itali)

12. Air – Minuman terbaik. Jika dahaga hendaklah disedut perlahan-lahan. Jangan diteguk. Mudah mendapat sakit pada hati

Beautiful Malaysia / Indahnya Malaysia

2011-12-31T02:28:00.001+08:00

Eye of KL - Malaysia

China Town - KL

Langkawi Island

Langkawi Cable Car top view

Langkawi Halong Bay

Tioman Island

Tioman Island - Salang Bay

Mount Kinnabalu - Borneo

Stop emails | Join Us by Email | Join from Web | Visit Yahoo! Group | kute_group Website

Funny Quotes

2011-12-24T21:03:00.001+08:00

Bahan bukan makanan yang dibenarkan dalam mi segera

2011-12-24T20:52:00.001+08:00

The Unleashed Mind: Why Creative People Are Eccentric

2011-12-19T23:54:00.003+08:00

Highly creative people often seem weirder than the rest of us. Now researchers know why
By Shelley Carson | April 14, 2011
http://www.scientificamerican.com/

He is one of the world’s best known and most successful entrepreneurs, with hundreds of patents to his name—including the Segway scooter. But you will never see Dean Kamen in a suit and tie: the eccentric inventor dresses almost exclusively in denim. He spent five years in college before dropping out, does not take vacations and has never married. Kamen presides (along with his Ministers of Ice Cream, Brunch and Nepotism) over the Connecticut island kingdom of North Dumpling, which has “seceded” from the U.S. and dispenses its own currency in units of pi. Visitors are issued a visa form that includes spaces on which to note identifying marks on both their face and buttocks.

Kamen, who works tirelessly at inspiring kids to pursue careers in science and engineering, is one of many highly creative people whose personal behavior sometimes strikes others as odd. Albert Einstein picked up cigarette butts off the street to get tobacco for his pipe; Howard Hughes spent entire days on a chair in the middle of the supposedly germ-free zone of his Beverly Hills Hotel suite; the composer Robert Schumann believed that his musical compositions were dictated to him by Beethoven and other deceased luminaries from their tombs; and Charles Dickens is said to have fended off imaginary urchins with his umbrella as he walked the streets of London. More recently, we have seen Michael Jackson’s preoccupation with rhinoplasty, Salvador Dalí’s affection for dangerous pets and the Icelandic singer Björk dressed for the Oscars as a swan.

It isn’t just average Joes who perceive highly creative individuals as eccentric. These individuals often see themselves as different and unable to fit in. The latest findings in brain imaging, creativity research and molecular biology suggest that these perceptions are not just based on a few anecdotal accounts of “weird” scientists and artists. In fact, creativity and eccentricity often go hand in hand, and researchers now believe that both traits may be a result of how the brain filters incoming information. Even in the business world, there is a growing appreciation of the link between creative thinking and unconventional behavior, with increased acceptance of the latter.

Making the Connection
The incidence of strange behavior by highly creative individuals seems too extensive to be the result of mere coincidence. As far back as ancient Greece, both Plato and Aristotle made comments about the peculiar behavior of poets and playwrights. (Aristotle was also the first to note the relation between creativity and depression, an association that has been substantiated by modern research.) More than a century ago Italian criminologist Cesare Lombroso catalogued the bizarre behavior of creative luminaries in his book "The Man of Genius" and attributed this behavior to the same hereditary “degeneration” that marked violent criminals.

In the past few decades psychologists and other scientists have explored the connection using empirically validated measures of both creativity and eccentricity. To measure creativity, researchers may look at an individual’s record of creative achievements, his or her involvement in creative activities or ability to think creatively (for example, to come up with new uses for ordinary household items). To measure eccentricity, researchers often use scales that assess schizotypal personality.

Schizotypal personality can appear in a variety of forms, including magical thinking (fanciful ideas or paranormal beliefs, such as Schumann’s belief that Beethoven channeled music to him from the grave), unusual perceptual experiences (distortions in perception, such as Dickens’s belief that he was being followed by characters from his novels), social anhedonia (a preference for solitary activities—Emily Dickinson, Nikola Tesla and Isaac Newton, for example, favored work over socializing), and mild paranoia (unfounded feelings that people or objects in the environment may pose a threat, such as Hughes’s legendary distrust of others).

Schizotypal personality is a milder version of the clinical psychiatric condition called schizotypal personality disorder, which is among a cluster of personality disorders labeled “odd or eccentric” in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The schizotypal diagnosis grew out of large epidemiological studies in which researchers noticed that the relatives of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia were more likely to exhibit odd behaviors and beliefs than relatives of those not afflicted with schizophrenia. Schizotypal people, for instance, may dress in an idiosyncratic style; their speech patterns may be somewhat out of the ordinary; they may respond ineptly in social situations; their emotional responses may be inappropriate; they may believe in supernatural phenomena such as telepathy and omens; and they may be hard to get close to—both physically and emotionally. In short, schizotypal individuals are eccentric.

Not all schizotypal people have a personality disorder, however. They are often very high functioning, talented and intelligent. Many of my students at Harvard University, for example, score far above average on schizotypal scales, as well as on creativity and intelligence measures.

Nature or Nurture?
The first scientific evidence of a connection between schizotypal personality and creativity came from a 1966 study by American behavioral geneticist Leonard Heston. In this classic study, Heston reported that children adopted away from their schizophrenic biological mothers at birth were more likely to pursue creative careers and interests than children adopted away from non-afflicted mothers (thus lending support for Lombroso’s theory that the bizarre behaviors that often accompany creativity are inherited).

Harvard researcher Dennis Kinney and his team replicated Heston’s study 40 years later and suggested that schizotypal individuals may inherit the unconventional modes of thinking and perceiving associated with schizophrenia without inheriting the disease itself. In this study, Kinney and his colleagues rated 36 adopted offspring of schizophrenic parents and 36 matched control subjects adopted from nonschizophrenic parents using the Lifetime Creativity Scales. They found that the adopted offspring of schizophrenic individuals who themselves displayed signs of schizotypal personality had higher scores for creativity than the control subjects. The Kinney group also made a new discovery: some of their control subjects who did not have a family history of schizophrenia met the profile for schizotypal personality—and they too scored higher for creativity than other control subjects.

Taking the reverse approach, recent studies by British investigator Daniel Nettle and Australian researchers David Rawlings and Ann Locarnini have confirmed that creative individuals tend to score higher on scales of schizotypal personality than less creative individuals. In my research at Harvard, done in part with my colleague Cynthia A. Meyersburg, I have found that study participants who score high in a measure of creative achievement in the arts are more likely to endorse magical thinking—such as belief in telepathic communication, dreams that portend the future, and memories of past lives. These participants are also more likely to attest to unusual perceptual experiences, such as having frequent déjà vu and hearing voices whispering in the wind.

In two reviews of schizotypy and creativity—published in 1989 and 1997, respectively—both Robert Prentky, now a forensic psychologist at Fairleigh Dickinson University, and J. H. Brod of the University of Oxford concluded that not only do highly creative people display more of the traits associated with schizotypy but that the combination of creativity and schizotypy tends to run in families, again pointing toward a genetic component.

How could weird thoughts and behaviors enhance a person’s ability to think creatively? My research suggests that these manifestations of schizotypal personality in and of themselves do not promote creativity; certain cognitive mechanisms that may underlie eccentricity could also promote creative thinking, however. In my “shared vulnerability” model of how creativity and eccentricity are related, I theorize that one of these underlying mechanisms is a propensity for cognitive disinhibition.

Too Much Information
Cognitive disinhibition is the failure to ignore information that is irrelevant to current goals or to survival. We are all equipped with mental filters that hide most of the processing that goes on in our brains behind the scenes. So many signals come in through our sensory organs, for example, that if we paid attention to all of them we would be overwhelmed. Furthermore, our brains are constantly accessing imagery and memories stored in our mental files to process and decode incoming information. Thanks to cognitive filters, most of this input never reaches conscious awareness.

There are individual differences in how much information we block out, however; both schizotypal and schizophrenic individuals have been shown to have reduced functioning of one of these cognitive filters, called latent inhibition (LI). Reduced LI appears to increase the amount of unfiltered stimuli reaching our conscious awareness and is associated with offbeat thoughts and hallucinations. It is easy to see that allowing unfiltered information into consciousness could lead to strange perceptual experiences, such as hearing voices or seeing imaginary people.

Cognitive disinhibition is also likely at the heart of what we think of as the aha! experience. During moments of insight, cognitive filters relax momentarily and allow ideas that are on the brain’s back burners to leap forward into conscious awareness, in the same manner that bizarre thoughts surface in the mind of the psychotic individual. Consider this example from Sylvia Nasar’s 1998 book A Beautiful Mind, about Nobel Prize winner (and diagnosed with schizophrenia) John Forbes Nash. When asked why he believed that aliens from outer space were contacting him, he responded: “Because the ideas I had about supernatural beings came to me the same way that my mathematical ideas did. So I took them seriously.” (Nash’s case illustrates how the cognitive mechanism of the eureka moment is similar to the delusional experience called thought insertion, in which individuals suffering from psychosis believe that outside forces have placed thoughts in their brains. Most people suffering from psychosis or schizophrenia do not produce ideas that are considered creative, however. The ability to use cognitive disinhibition in a creative way depends on the presence of additional cognitive abilities associated with a high level of functioning.)

Reduced cognitive filtering could explain the tendency of highly creative people to focus intensely on the content of their inner world at the expense of social or even self-care needs. (Beethoven, for example, had difficulty tending to his own cleanliness.) When conscious awareness is overpopulated with unusual and unfiltered stimuli, it is difficult not to focus attention on that inner universe.

In 2003 my colleague Jordan Peterson and I reported on research we conducted at Harvard and the University of Toronto, where we found that highly creative individuals are more likely to display cognitive disinhibition when compared with those who are less creative. In a series of studies, we tested several hundred subjects on a latent inhibition task (a measure of how easily subjects ignore stimuli to which they have already been exposed). We also measured creativity in several different ways, including divergent thinking tasks (which require a large number of responses or solutions to a problem), openness to experience (the personality trait most highly predictive of creativity), the Creative Personality Scale, and the Creative Achievement Questionnaire (a measure of lifetime creative achievement). When we looked at high scorers on each of these creative measures, we found that they were more likely to have lower scores on the latent inhibition task (indicating cognitive disinhibition) than were the less creative subjects. We think that the reduction in cognitive inhibition allows more material into conscious awareness that can then be reprocessed and recombined in novel and original ways, resulting in creative ideas.

Brain-imaging and electroencephalography (EEG) studies support the theory that highly creative individuals tend to experience more cognitive disinhibition than do less-creative control groups. Beginning in the late 1970s, researcher Colin Martindale of the University of Maine initiated a series of EEG studies related to creativity. He and his colleagues found that highly creative people tend to produce more brain waves in the alpha range (a frequency of eight to 12 hertz, or cycles per second) during creative tasks than do less creative people. Martindale and his group interpreted alpha power as a marker of decreased cortical arousal and defocused attention and suggested that creative people were allowing more information into their conscious awareness during creative work.

Andreas Fink and his group at the University of Graz in Austria, who replicated Martindale’s findings in a set of studies over the past five years, have a different interpretation of the increased alpha waves associated with creativity. They say increased alpha activity indicates that the brain is focusing on internally generated stimuli rather than on the outside world. This interpretation explains the tendency of creative people to focus on their inner lives, which is also a sign of schizotypal personality.

Other brain research, published in 2009 by John Kounios of Drexel University and Mark Beeman of Northwestern University, has examined the aha! moment in greater detail. Kounios and Beeman had subjects solve word-association problems while their brain patterns were recorded using either functional magnetic resonance imaging or EEG. (For example, think of a word that can form a compound word with all three of the following words: crab, pine, sauce. The answer is “apple.”) Subjects signaled the exact moment the answer came to them, and whether they had come to the solution through trial and error or in a sudden rush of insight. The results indicate that a period of alpha activity precedes a burst of gamma activity (characterized by brain waves in the bandwidth above 40 Hz) at the moment of insight. Kounios and Beeman surmise that alpha activity focuses attention inward, whereas the gamma burst coincides with the arrival of the solution into conscious awareness.

Another brain-imaging study, done in 2010 by investigators at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, suggests the propensity for both creative insights and schizotypal experiences may result from a specific configuration of neurotransmitter receptors in the brain. Using positron-emission tomography, Örjan de Manzano, Fredrik Ullén and their colleagues examined the density of dopamine D2 receptors in the subcortical region of the thalamus in 14 subjects who were tested for divergent-thinking skills. The results indicate that thalamic D2 receptor densities are diminished in subjects with high divergent-thinking abilities, similar to patterns found in schizophrenic subjects in previous studies. The researchers believe that reduced dopamine binding in the thalamus, found in both creative and schizophrenic subjects, may decrease cognitive filtering and allow more information into conscious awareness.

Several studies have linked gene variations that are associated with the neurotransmitter dopamine to both creativity and eccentricity. Hungarian researcher Szabolcs Kéri, who reported in 2009 that highly creative achievers were more likely to have a variant of the neuregulin 1 gene previously associated with schizophrenia, speculated that this gene variation facilitates cognitive disinhibition. These findings support the theory that cognitive disinhibition may be affected by genetic variations and that it may be one factor that predisposes an individual to both creative thought and eccentricity.

The Importance of Intelligence
Clearly, however, not all eccentric individuals are creative. Work from our lab indicates that other cognitive factors, such as high IQ and high working-memory capacity, enable some people to process and mentally manipulate extra information without being overwhelmed by it. Through a series of studies, we have, in fact, shown that a combination of lower cognitive inhibition and higher IQ is associated with higher scores on a variety of creativity measures.

The shared vulnerability model suggests that at least a subgroup of highly creative individuals may share some (but not all) biological vulnerability factors with individuals who suffer from psychotic illnesses, such as schizophrenia. This vulnerability may allow the highly creative person access to ideas and thoughts that are inaccessible to those of us with less porous mental filters.

For several years I have included a question in my creativity research that asks “Do you often feel like a square peg in a round hole?” Participants who score high on the Creative Achievement Questionnaire have answered “yes” significantly more often than those who have low scores in creative achievement. In fact, one participant—a Hollywood screenwriter—answered “no” but then wrote below the question: “I don’t feel like a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. I feel like an octagonal peg with conical appendages.”

The good news is that the plight of square pegs may be improving. The ascendancy of innovative technology as a key factor in economic growth has elevated creativity from merely a positive trait to a highly sought-after commodity in the global market. Many leading corporations—such as Coca Cola, DuPont, Citigroup and Humana—now have chief innovation officers on their leadership teams. Prestigious business schools—such as Harvard, Stanford, Columbia and Yale—have added courses on creativity to their curricula. And Fortune 500 companies, including PepsiCo, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Aetna and Marriott, now routinely put employees through creativity training programs. Trainers in these classes use a variety of tools and techniques to help noneccentrics open their minds to “out of the box” thoughts and stimuli that might otherwise be ignored or suppressed.

As the market value of creative thinking increases, the round-hole world may continue to make adjustments to accommodate and assimilate eccentrics. Such accommodations already exist in communities with high concentrations of artists, writers, scientists and computer geeks. Managers within these communities tolerate bizarre clothing choices, disregard of normal social protocols and nontraditional work schedules in the interest of promoting innovation. At Dean Kamen’s company, Deka Research & Development, for example, not only is denim well accepted but employees are allowed—even expected—to solve problems and complete tasks in whatever way works best for them.

Square pegs (and octagonal pegs with conical appendages) no longer have to work so hard at fitting in. It is high time. Indeed, we all owe a deep debt of gratitude to those whose creative work has been accomplished at the expense of square-peg feelings of alienation and ostracism. The creative efforts of eccentrics add richness, beauty and innovation to the lives of those of us who have fit somewhat more comfortably into our round holes.

Please take a minute to vote for Scientific American in the Webbys: http://bit.ly/h8LsQk. We are a nominee for excellence in science.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

SHELLEY CARSON is a lecturer and researcher at Harvard University, where she teaches creativity, abnormal psychology and resilience. She is author of Your Creative Brain: Seven Steps to Maximize Imagination, Productivity, and Innovation in Your Life, recently published by Jossey-Bass/Wiley, with Harvard Health Publications.
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How meteor craters are formed

2011-12-17T23:48:00.001+08:00

Related to:
10 Greatest Major-Impact Craters on Earth

Click on image for original size.

10 Greatest Major-Impact Craters on Earth

2011-12-17T23:40:00.001+08:00

www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured

1. Chicxulub Crater, Mexico

Buried underneath the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, near the Chicxulub village (which means “the tail of the devil” in Mayan), this ancient impact crater is simply huge at 105 miles (170km) in diameter. The impact happened roughly 65 million years ago when a comet or asteroid the size of a small city crashed (equivalent to 100 teratons of TNT) on Earth and caused destructive mega-tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions around the globe.

The Chicxulub impact is widely believed to have led to the extinction of dinosaurs, because of a global firestorm or because of a dramatic and widespread greenhouse effect that caused long-term environmental changes.

Read more here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicxulub_crater

2. Manicouagan Crater, Canada

Manicouagan Reservoir (Lake Manicouagan), also known as the “eye of Quebec”, is an annular lake in central Quebec, Canada that lies within the remains of an ancient, eroded impact crater.

Some 212 million years ago, a 3 mile (5km) wide asteroid hit the earth, to causing a 62 mile (100km) wide giant hole. It has been worn away by the passing of glaciers and other erosive processes, ever since.

3. Kara-Kul Lake, Tajikistan

At an altitude of 13,000 feet (3,900 m) above sea level, lies Kara-Kul, also known as Qarokul, a 16 mile (25km) wide lake in the Pamir Mountains in Tajikistan, close to the Chinese border.

The lake is actually located within a 28 mile (45km) wide circular depression, which was hit by a meteorite approximately 5 million years ago. Kara-kul was only discovered recently, through satellite imagery.

4. Clearwater Lakes, Canada

Two circular lakes/impact craters on the Canadian Shield in Quebec formed simultaneously by the impact of an asteroid pair which crashed on Earth approximately 290 million years ago, near the eastern shore of Hudson Bay. The larger of the two craters is West Clearwater Lake with a 20 mile (32km) diameter, while the smaller one, East Clearwater Lake, has a 13.7 mile (22km) diameter.

The lakes are a great tourist location mostly because of the number of sprinkling islands that form a sort of a “dotted line”. The lakes are also, obviously, famous for their clear waters.

5. Mistastin Lake, Canada

Located in Labrador, Canada, the Mistastin crater is the result of a meteorite crash that caused a 17.4 mile (28km) wide giant hole into the ground, 38 million years ago. Since then the eastward moving glaciers have drastically reduced its size and a lake appeared within the rims, Mistastin Lake. It occupies an elliptical, east–north-east trending depression, approximately 11 by 7 miles in size. In the middle of the lake, there's an arcuate central island which could be the central uplift of the complex crater structure.

6. Gosses Bluff, Australia

Approximately 142 million years ago, a large asteroid or comet (22 km in diameter) crashed at 40 km/sec in the southern Northern Territory, near the center of Australia, and released massive energy equivalent to 22,000 megatonnes of TNT. This is how one of the most significant impact structures in the world, the Gosses Bluff crater formed. Dimensions are also impressive: it has a 15 mile (24km) diameter and goes down to 16,400 ft (5,000m). What we get to see today is a highly eroded structure that still stands as a stark reminder of the event.

7. Aorounga Impact Crater, Chad

Aorounga is an eroded meteorite impact crater that formed 2-300 million years ago in an area of the Sahara Desert, northern Chad, in Africa, when a comet or asteroid with a 1 mile diameter (1.6 km across) hit the crust of Earth. Such impacts only happen roughly once every million years.

The crater is about 11 miles (17 km) across and is accompanied by two nearby circular features that have been revealed by the Space Shuttle's SIR-C radar after picturing an area of about 22 miles (36 km). If the assumptions and the hypothesis that the dark band in the upper right corner could be a second impact crater, then Aorounga may be part of a chain of multiple impact craters.

8. Deep Bay, Canada

Situated near the south-western tip of Reindeer Lake in Saskatchewan, Canada, Deep Bay is a strikingly circular, very deep and unusually irregular and shallow lake. The 8 mile (13km) wide crater is a complex impact structure with a low, totally submerged central uplift, formed about 100 million years ago (some say 140 million) when a large meteorite crashed in the area.

9. Lake Bosumtwi Crater, Ghana

About 30 km south-east of Kumasi, Ghana, in the crystalline bedrock of the West African Shield, lies Lake Bosumtwi, the country’s only natural lake. The impact of a meteorite some 1.3 million years ago, opened up hole in the ground with a 6 mile (10.5 km) diameter. The crater gradually got filled with water to form the lake we see today. Surrounded by dense rainforest, the Ashanti people consider it to be sacred. They think it’s the place where souls of the dead come to bid farewell to the god Twi.

10. Barringer Crater, Arizona, US

Some 49,000 years ago a large nickel-iron meteorite “just” 150 ft across, weighing several hundred thousand tons (~300,000) and traveling at a speed of 40,000 miles per hour, hit Earth. The result of this meteor lies 55 km east of Flagstaff, Arizona and is called the Barringer Crater – the best preserved impact crater ever. The force generated by the impact was equal to the explosion of 20 million tons of TNT. Picture that.

It measures 0.75 miles (1.2 km) across, is 575 ft (175 m) deep and has a rim 148 ft (45 m) higher than the surrounding plain. Discovered in 1902, the Barringer Crater was named after Daniel Barringer, a successful mining engineer. Today it is still owned by his family and is also known as Meteor Crater, Coon Butte, and Canyon Diablo.
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The 45 Most Powerful Images Of 2011

2011-12-10T00:46:00.003+08:00

What a year! Here's to 2012 being a more quiet and less destructive year.

by Matt Stopera

From: www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-most-powerful-photos-of-2011

1.

Robert Peraza, who lost his son Robert David Peraza in 9/11, pauses at his son’s name at the North Pool of the 9/11 Memorial.

(Getty Images / Justin Lane)

A whirpool forms off the Japanese coast after the tsunami on March 11.

(Reuters / Kyodo )

This sightseeing boat, Hama Yuri, was pulled 1300 feet from the coast and somehow balanced itself on a two story house during the tsunami in Japan.

Members of the national security team receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House on May 1.

(Reuters / HANDOUT)

Two lights from the former site of the World Trade Centers shine for the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

(Reuters / GARY HERSHORN)

Phyllis Siegel, 76, left, and Connie Kopelov, 84, both of New York, embrace after becoming the first same-sex couple to get married at the Manhattan City Clerk's office.

(Getty Images / STAN HONDA)

A protester gets sprayed in the face with pepper spray at an Occupy Portland protest. (Randy L. Rasmussen/The Oregonian)

A before and after shot of Joplin, Missouri after a massive tornado on May 22.

Source: zeitlosimagery

Friends and loved ones gather at the Oslo cathedral to mourn 93 victims killed in twin terror attacks from a bombing in downtown Oslo and a mass shooting on Utoya island on July 22.

(Getty Images / Paula Bronstein)

10.

A monstrous dust storm (Haboob) roared through Phoenix, Arizona in July.

Source: danbryant.com

11.

A policeman detains an opposition activist in Baku on March 12. Azerbaijan police detained more than 30 activists of the opposition Musavat Party when its members took to the street of Baku to protest against the ruling elite following a similar rally a day before. (Reuters)

12.

Christians protect Muslims during prayer in Cairo, Egypt.

Source: @NevineZaki

13.

An aerial shot of the damage immediately following the Japanese tsunami.

(Reuters / KYODO)

14.

A girl in isolation for radiation screening looks at her dog through a window in Nihonmatsu, Japan on March
(Reuters / Yuriko Nakao)

15.

A man sits in front of a destroyed apartment building following the Joplin, Missouri tornado. (Reuters)

16.

A University of California Davis police officer pepper-sprays students during their sit-in at an "Occupy UCD" demonstration in Davis, California. (Jasna Hodzic)

17.

A mother comforts her son in Concord, Alabama, near his house which was completely destroyed by a tornado in April.

(AP / Jeff Roberts)

18.

Chile's Puyehue volcano erupts, causing air traffic cancellations across South America, New Zealand, Australia and forcing over 3,000 people to evacuate. (Reuters)

19.

Firefighters of Ladder Company 4 — which lost seven men on 9/11 — perched together on their aerial ladder, watching a news bulletin in Times Square declaring that Osama bin Laden was dead on May 2.

Source: lens.blogs.nytimes.com

20.

Slain Navy SEAL Jon Tumilson's dog "Hawkeye" lies next to his casket during funeral services in Rockford, Iowa. Tumilson was one of 30 American soldiers killed in Afghanistan on August 6 when their helicopter was shot down during a mission to help fellow troops who had come under fire.

21.

A boy looks at a figure of Steve Jobs next to flowers laid in his tribute at an Apple store in Hong Kong, China.

(AP / Kin Cheung)

22.

Cars are abandoned on Chicago's Lake Shore Drive during the "Snowpocalypse" in February.

Source: chicagotribune.com

23.

Facebook played an extremely important role in the uprisings throughout the Middle East.

Source: theatlanticwire.com

24.

84-year-old Dorli Rainey was pepper sprayed during a peaceful march in Seattle, Washington. She would have been thrown to the ground and trampled, but luckily a fellow protester and Iraq vet was there to save her. (Joshua Trujillo / seattlepi.com)

25.

Australian Scott Jones kisses his Canadian girlfriend Alex Thomas after she was knocked to the ground by a police officer's riot shield in Vancouver, British Columbia. Canadians rioted after the Vancouver Canucks lost the Stanley Cup to the Boston Bruins.

(Getty Images / Rich Lam)

26.

Hurricane Irene approaches the east coast.

27.

Billy Stinson comforts his daughter Erin Stinson as they sit on the steps where their cottage once stood on August 28 in Nags Head, N.C. The cottage, built in 1903 and destroyed by Hurricane Irene, was one of the first vacation cottages built on Albemarle Sound in Nags Head.

(Getty Images / Scott Olson)

28.

Flowers and tributes are seen outside the home of Amy Winehouse in London on July 24.

(Reuters / STEFAN WERMUTH)

29.

Office workers gather on the sidewalk in downtown Washington, D.C., moments after a 5.9-magnitude earthquake shook the nation's capital. The earthquake was centered northwest of Richmond, Va., but could be felt from North Carolina to Massachusetts.

(AP / J. Scott Applewhite)

30.

Mihag Gedi Farah, a seven-month-old child, is held by his mother in a field hospital of the International Rescue Committee in the town of Dadaab, Kenya. The baby has since made a full recovery.

(AP / Schalk Van Zuydam)

31.

A woman jumps from a burning building during the London riots in August. (Amy Weston / WENN.com)

32.

Office workers look for a way out of a high rise building in central Christchurch, New Zealand on February 22. A strong earthquake killed at least 180 people.

(Reuters / Simon Baker)

33.

A woman cries while sitting on a road amid the destroyed city of Natori, Miyagi Prefecture in northern Japan after the massive earthquake and tsunami.

(Reuters / ASAHI SHIMBUN)

34.

A demonstrator shows his bottom to riot police during a protest by European workers and trade union representatives to demand better job protection in the European Union countries in Brussels on March 24.

(Reuters / Thierry Roge)

35.

A woman rebel fighter supporter fires an AK-47 rifle as she reacts to the news of the withdrawal of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces from Benghazi on March 19.

(Reuters / GORAN TOMASEVIC)

36.

Police spray Ugandan opposition party leaders with colored water during demonstrations in the capital Kampala on May 10.

(Reuters / James Akena)

37.

A student is punched in the face by a police officer in Chile. Students in Chile are demanding a new framework for education.

(Reuters / VICTOR RUIZ CABALLERO)

38.

An aid worker using an iPad captures an image of a dead cow's decomposing carcass in Wajir near the Kenya-Somalia border on July 23.

(Reuters / STRINGER)

39.

A Libyan rebel is pictured with Gadhafi's golden gun.

(Getty Images / Philippe Desmazes)

40.

Harold Camping speaks about the end of the world. The world was supposed to end on May 22 of this year.

(AP / Marcio Jose Sanchez)

41.

A phone hangs off the hook on Wall Street.

(Reuters / LUCAS JACKSON)

42.

US gay service members march in a gay pride parade for the first time ever.

(Getty Images / Sandy Huffaker)

43.

A woman hangs onto a street sign in chest deep water along the flooded streets in Rangsit on the outskirts of Bangkok on October 24.

(Getty Images / Paula Bronstein)

44.

A distressed bride attempts suicide in China after her fiance abruptly called off their marriage. Still in her wedding gown, she tried to kill herself by jumping out of a window of a seventh floor building. Right as she jumped, a man managed to catch and save her.

(Reuters / CHINA DAILY)

45.

A U.S. Army soldier takes five with an Afghan boy during a patrol in Pul-e Alam, a town in Logar province, eastern Afghanistan.

(Reuters / Umit Bektas)

Final lunar eclipse of the year 2011

2011-12-10T00:11:00.000+08:00