Beautiful Mind

What is Festivus Event

2011-12-24T06:02:00.001+07:00

Festivus is a secular holiday celebrated on December 23 as a way to celebrate the holiday season without participating in its pressures and commercialism. It was created by writer Dan O'Keefe and introduced into popular culture by his son Daniel, a screenwriter for the TV show Seinfeld, as part of a comical storyline on the show. The holiday's celebration, as shown on Seinfeld, includes an unadorned aluminum "Festivus pole", practices such as the "Airing of Grievances" and "Feats of Strength", and the labeling of easily explainable events as "Festivus miracles". Celebrants of the holiday sometimes refer to it as "a Festivus for the rest of us", a saying taken from the O'Keefe family traditions and popularized in the Seinfeld episode to describe Festivus' non-commercial aspect.

Although the original Festivus took place in February 1966, as a celebration of the elder O'Keefe's first date with his future wife, Deborah, it is now celebrated on December 23, as depicted on the December 18, 1997 Seinfeld episode, "The Strike". According to O'Keefe, the name Festivus "just popped into my head".

The holiday, as portrayed in the Seinfeld episode, includes practices such as the "Airing of Grievances", which occurs during the Festivus meal and in which each person tells everyone else all the ways they have disappointed him or her over the past year. After the meal the "Feats of Strength" are performed, involving wrestling the head of the household to the floor, with the holiday ending only if the head of the household is actually pinned.

The original holiday featured more peculiar practices, as detailed in the younger Daniel O'Keefe's book The Real Festivus. The book provides a first-person account of an early version of the Festivus holiday as celebrated by the O'Keefe family, and how O'Keefe amended or replaced details of his father's invention to create the Seinfeld episode.

Some people, influenced or inspired by Seinfeld, now celebrate the holiday in varying degrees of seriousness; the beginning of the spread of Festivus is chronicled in the 2005 book Festivus: The Holiday for the Rest of Us by Allen Salkin.

Festivus is introduced in the Seinfeld episode "The Strike," which revolves around Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards) returning to work at H&H Bagels. He does so after learning that a 12-year strike in which he participated has ended (because the minimum wage has risen to the level of the wages demanded by the workers twelve years earlier). Kramer becomes interested in resurrecting the holiday when, at the bagel shop, Frank Costanza (Jerry Stiller) tells him how he created Festivus as an alternative holiday in response to the commercialization of Christmas.

    Frank Costanza: "Many Christmases ago, I went to buy a doll for my son. I reached for the last one they had, but so did another man. As I rained blows upon him, I realized there had to be another way."
    Cosmo Kramer: "What happened to the doll?"
    Frank Costanza: "It was destroyed. But out of that a new holiday was born: a Festivus for the rest of us!"
    Kramer: "That must have been some kind of doll."
    Frank Costanza: "She was."

Frank Costanza's son, George (Jason Alexander), creates donation cards for a fake charity called The Human Fund (with the slogan "Money For People") in lieu of having to give office Christmas presents. When his boss, Mr. Kruger (Daniel von Bargen), questions George about a $20,000 check he gave George to donate to the Human Fund as a corporate donation, George hastily concocts the excuse that he made up the Human Fund because he feared persecution for his beliefs—for not celebrating Christmas, but celebrating Festivus. Attempting to call his bluff, Kruger goes home with George to see Festivus in action.

Kramer eventually goes back on strike from his bagel-vendor job when his manager tells him he cannot have time off for his new-found holiday. Kramer is then seen on the sidewalk picketing H&H Bagels, carrying a sign reading "Festivus yes! Bagels no!" and chanting to anyone passing the store: "Hey! No bagel, no bagel, no bagel..."

Finally at Frank's house in Queens, New York, Jerry, Elaine, Kramer, and George gather to celebrate Festivus. George brings Kruger to prove to him that Festivus is real.

Festivus pole

In the episode, the tradition of Festivus begins with an aluminum pole. Daniel O'Keefe credits fellow Seinfeld writer Jeff Schaffer with introducing the concept, which was not part of the original O'Keefe family celebration. During Festivus, the pole is displayed unadorned. The basics of the Festivus pole are explained by Frank in two separate situations:

Cosmo Kramer: "And is there a tree?"
Frank Costanza: "No, instead, there's a pole. It requires no decoration. I find tinsel distracting ... [I]t's made from aluminum. Very high strength-to-weight ratio."

When not being used, the pole is stored in the Costanzas' crawl space.

Festivus dinner

In "The Strike", a celebratory dinner is shown on the evening of Festivus prior to the Feats of Strength and during the Airing of Grievances. The on-air meal was shown to be some sort of meatloaf. The original holiday dinner in the O'Keefe household featured turkey or ham followed by a Pepperidge Farm cake decorated with M&M's, as described in detail in O'Keefe's The Real Festivus. In the Seinfeld episode no alcohol is served at the dinner, but George Costanza's boss, Mr. Kruger, drinks from a hip flask.

Airing of Grievances

The celebration of Festivus begins with the "Airing of Grievances", which takes place immediately after the Festivus dinner has been served. It consists of lashing out at others and the world about how one has been disappointed in the past year.

From the Seinfeld episode:

Frank Costanza: "And at the Festivus dinner, you gather your family around, and tell them all the ways they have disappointed you over the past year!"

Frank Costanza: "The tradition of Festivus begins with the Airing of Grievances. I got a lot of problems with you people! And now, you're gonna hear about it. You, Kruger. My son tells me your company stinks! You couldn't smooth a silk sheet if you had a hot date with a babe...I lost my train of thought."

Feats of Strength

The Feats of Strength is the final tradition observed in the celebration of Festivus, celebrated immediately following (or in the case of "The Strike", during) the Festivus dinner. The head of the household selects one person at the Festivus celebration and challenges that person to a wrestling match. Evidently, the person may decline if they have something else to do, as Kramer did in the episode. Tradition states that Festivus is not over until the head of the household is pinned in a wrestling match. The Feats of Strength are mentioned twice in the episode before they actually take place. In both instances, no detail was given as to what had actually happened, but in both instances, George Costanza ran out of the coffee shop in a mad panic, implying he had bad experiences with the Feats of Strength in the past. What the Feats of Strength entailed was revealed at the very end of the episode, when it actually took place. Failing to pin the head of the household results in Festivus continuing until such requirement is met.

From the Seinfeld episode:

    Jerry Seinfeld: "And wasn't there a Feats of Strength that always ended up with you crying?"
    George Costanza: "I can't take it anymore! I'm going to work! Are you happy now?!"
    Frank Costanza: "I've brought one of the cassette tapes."
    Frank Costanza (on a tape recorder): "Read that poem."
    George Costanza (on a tape recorder): "I can't read it, I need my glasses."
    Frank Costanza (on a tape recorder): "You don't need glasses! You're just weak, weak!"
    Estelle Costanza (on a tape recorder): (shouts) "Leave him alone!"
    Frank Costanza (on a tape recorder): "All right, George. It's time for the Festivus Feats of Strength!"
    George Costanza: "No! No! Turn it off! No Feats of Strength! I hate Festivus!"
    Frank Costanza: "We had some good times."

Festivus miracles

Cosmo Kramer twice declares a Festivus Miracle during the Festivus celebration in the Costanza household.

Miracle 1:

    Sleazy Guy: "Hello again, Miss Benes."
    Elaine Benes: "What are you doing here?"
    Sleazy Guy: "Damnedest thing. Me and Charlie were calling to ask you out, and, uh, we got this bagel place."
    Cosmo Kramer: "I told them I was just about to see you. It's a Festivus Miracle!"

Miracle 2:

    Gwen: "Jerry!"
    Jerry Seinfeld: "Gwen! How did you know I was here?"
    Gwen: "Kramer told me!"
    Cosmo Kramer: "Another Festivus Miracle!"
    Jerry Seinfeld: (gives Kramer a murderous glare)

Rolled Sugar Recipe

2011-12-24T05:57:00.001+07:00

Ingredients

    1 1/2 cups butter, softened
    2 cups white sugar
    4 eggs
    1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    5 cups all-purpose flour
    2 teaspoons baking powder
    1 teaspoon salt

Directions

    In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
    Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
    Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Special Roast Prime Recipe

2011-12-24T05:55:00.001+07:00

Ingredients

    1 bone-in prime rib (6 to 7 pounds)
    8 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
    Salt and coarsely ground black pepper
    2 cups red wine
    4 cups beef stock
    1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves

Directions

Thirty minutes before roasting the prime rib, remove from the refrigerator and let come to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Make small slits all over the prime rib and fill each slit with a slice of the garlic. Season liberally with the salt and coarse pepper, place on a rack set inside a roasting pan and roast for about 2 hours until medium-rare, or until a thermometer inserted into the center of the meat registers 135 degrees F. Remove the meat to a platter, and tent with foil to keep warm.

Place the roasting pan on top of the stove over 2 burners set on high heat. Add the wine to the pan drippings in the pan and cook over high heat until reduced, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Add the stock and cook until reduced by half. Whisk in the thyme and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Slice meat as desired and serve with thyme au jus.

Total Time:: 2 hr 40 min
Prep: 10 min
Inactive: 30 min
Cook: 2 hr 0 min

Yield:: 6 to 8 servings

Taylor Swift–‘Safe and Sound’

2011-12-24T05:51:00.001+07:00

At HuffPost High School, we're not shy about our obsession with all things Hunger Games! So, when Taylor Swift surprised the twitterverse today with a brand new song that will be featured on the soundtrack, we put it on our iPod playlist and started listening to it on repeat immediately. "Safe And Sound" feels different from Taylor's other music: It's softer, airier, and reminds us of a (sombre) lullaby.

These lyrics in particular really conjured up an image of Katniss and Peeta in the arena for us: “Just close your eyes. The sun is going down. You’ll be all right. No one can hurt you now. Come morning light, you and I’ll be safe and sound." What do you think?

In the spirit of listening to "Safe And Sound" over and over (and over) again until The Hunger Games movie finally comes out in March, we came up with a few other songs that sound similar to us. Check them out in the slideshow below and share any other titles we're missing in the comments!

All About Melanie Amaro

2011-12-24T05:47:00.001+07:00

Melanie Ann Amaro (born June 26, 1992) is an American-born British Virgin Islands singer who won the first season of The X Factor USA in 2011, securing a $5 million recording contract with Syco Music and Sony Music.

Amaro was born in Miami, Florida, in the United States and was raised in Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. She is the daughter of Hipolito Amaro and Debra Sylvester Amaro. At age eleven, she started singing in school musicals, church choirs and sweet sixteens.[clarification needed] Amaro attended DnD Music Learning Center, Enid Scatliffe Pre-Primary School, Althea Scatliffe Primary School, BVI High School and graduated from Plantation High School in 2010.

Amaro was born in Miami, Florida, in the United States and was raised in Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. She is the daughter of Hipolito Amaro and Debra Sylvester Amaro. At age eleven, she started singing in school musicals, church choirs and sweet sixteens.[clarification needed] Amaro attended DnD Music Learning Center, Enid Scatliffe Pre-Primary School, Althea Scatliffe Primary School, BVI High School and graduated from Plantation High School in 2010.

All About Republic Wireless

2011-12-24T05:44:00.001+07:00

Republic Wireless is a wireless communications services provider based in Cary, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 2011, the company announced it would provide a monthly subscription of $19 per month for wireless service with unlimited calling, texting, and data on a "Hybrid Calling" system.

Republic Wireless began their beta service on November 8, 2011. The only available phone is an Android 2.3 based smartphone called the LG Optimus S, which is priced at $199 (including a month of service).
Brian Dally, Republic Wireless General Manager, said the company is "inverting the network" and that "Wi-Fi is primary and cellular is a fallover." The model relies on a proprietary VoIP application for the Android operating system that seamlessly switches between CDMA mobile networks and WiFi, depending on whether WiFi access is available.

TechCrunch expressed excitement about the announcement and described the plan as potentially disruptive to the wireless markets. The publication described the "WiFi first" model as an attractive feature because of the prevalence of WiFi access and the superiority of WiFi connections over digital mobile networks, which they expect will improve call reception and clarity. CNet wrote that the low price point would be "a home run" for parents who are interested in low-cost plans for young children. The Atlantic was more hesitant, acknowledging that the price point would be attractive to some consumers but speculating that the low-cost business model may lead to unreliable service. The magazine also suggested that since Republic Wireless purchases its air time wholesale from Sprint, it is dependent on major telecommunications companies who may be inclined to limit the company's growth to prevent it from becoming too disruptive.

PC World questioned Republic Wireless' marketing the plan as "unlimited" given the expectations that users monitor a "Cellular Usage Index" and remain within "fair use guidelines". The magazine faulted the company for advertising unlimited voice and data while simultaneously describing membership as a "privilege" and reserving the right to terminate users who crossed an undefined "fair use threshold". MSNBC wrote that coverage will be unlimited on WiFi access but when on the mobile network, consumers will be held to a monthly limit of 550 minutes of voice, 150 SMS, and 300 megabytes of data or face termination of their subscription. On Thursday, December 22nd, Republic Wireless announced on their blog that they would soon eliminate this fair use threshold.

Today May Be the Last Stand Blagojevich?

2011-12-07T10:13:00.001+07:00

On Tuesday, Mr. Blagojevich’s lawyers appealed for leniency at a daylong hearing. On Wednesday, he is expected to speak on his own behalf before the federal judge who will decide his sentence for 18 felony corruption convictions, including trying to sell or trade the Senate seat that President Obama left behind when he moved to the White House.

Mr. Blagojevich’s crimes carry maximum sentences that could stretch into hundreds of years behind bars, but federal prosecutors say he deserves 15 to 20 years in prison. Mr. Blagojevich’s lawyers said they were seeking far less, saying simply that they were advocating for “the lowest sentence possible.”

Mr. Blagojevich, a Democrat who won two terms as governor before being impeached and removed from office, is expected to become Illinois’s fourth governor in recent memory to go to prison. One of the former governors was convicted of crimes unrelated to his time in office, but the statistic is mortifying to residents here, even in a state long known for political shenanigans.

If Mr. Blagojevich, who seemed quiet and subdued in court on Tuesday, is incarcerated soon, his term will overlap with that of his immediate predecessor, former Gov. George Ryan, who is serving 6 ½ years at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., also for corruption.

Mr. Ryan, a Republican, was already engulfed in scandal when Mr. Blagojevich first ran for governor, and Mr. Blagojevich portrayed himself as a voice for reform amid so much unpleasantness. “On the heels of one corrupt governor and after running on a campaign to end ‘pay-to-play,’ Blagojevich took office and immediately began plotting with others to use the office of the governor for his personal gain through fraud, bribery and extortion,” prosecutors wrote in legal filings for James B. Zagel, the federal judge who has said he expected to announce a sentence on Wednesday.

But Mr. Blagojevich’s lawyers tried to present a different, warmer and cleaner side to their client. They portrayed Mr. Blagojevich, whose wife, Patti, sat behind him in court, occasionally crying, as a doting family man whose two young daughters would be crushed by his incarceration. They suggested that though he was the governor, he was surrounded by more dominant advisers who gave him lots of bad advice.

They said his policies for the state — health care insurance for children from poor families and free train and bus rides for older people — had been efforts to help citizens. And they compared his crimes with corruption cases of all sorts, all over the country, and concluded that 15 years in prison for Mr. Blagojevich’s crimes would be out of proportion.

“They’re minimally wrong compared to the outrageous conduct that was shown in these other cases,” Sheldon Sorosky, one of Mr. Blagojevich’s lawyers, said of his crimes.

Mr. Blagojevich was arrested in December 2008, just weeks after Mr. Obama’s election as president, and during a period when Mr. Blagojevich was mulling whom to choose to succeed him in the Senate.

At the time, federal authorities were secretly recording Mr. Blagojevich’s phone calls as part of a broader criminal investigation, and they captured him talking in stunningly crass terms about what he might be able to get — campaign donations, a high-paying job, a cabinet position — in exchange for his choice of a new senator. “I’ve got this thing, and it’s [expletive] golden,” he said on one recording, in a line that has since become part of the state’s lexicon.

After a trial that ended with a jury deadlocked on all but one of the charges, a second jury convicted Mr. Blagojevich during a scaled-down and simplified trial this year. It convicted him of wire fraud, attempted extortion, soliciting bribes, conspiracy to commit extortion and conspiracy to solicit and accept bribes; the earlier jury had convicted him of lying to federal agents. In addition to the convictions for trying to benefit from his role in selecting a senator, Mr. Blagojevich was found guilty of trying to get campaign contributions from the leader of a pediatric hospital and a racetrack owner in exchange for changes to state practices.

All 7 episodes‘Frozen Planet’ will be aired by Discovery Channel

2011-12-07T09:31:00.001+07:00

Discovery Channel extricated itself from a political ice storm by announcing it would air all seven episodes of "Frozen Planet," a wildlife and natural history series co-produced with the BBC.

The program -- which explores life in the earth's polar regions and the environmental effects of rising temperatures -- will premiere March 18 and air on subsequent Sundays, Discovery said Tuesday.

Four years in the making, the series was produced by the same documentary team behind the channel's critically acclaimed series "Planet Earth." Discovery said the U.S. version of "Frozen Planet" will be narrated by actor Alec Baldwin.

"Frozen Planet" is currently running on the BBC in Britain and generating huge ratings.

Controversy erupted last month when reports surfaced that Discovery was considering ditching the seventh episode of the series, which delves into the thorny issues of global warming. That episode, "Frozen Planet: On Thin Ice," includes on-camera shots of British naturalist Sir David Attenborough, who narrates the British version, discussing what shrinking glaciers and rising temperatures mean for people and wildlife that live in the region as well as the rest of the planet.

Activists launched an online petition urging Discovery Channel to run the entire series, including "On Thin Ice." The channel is owned by Maryland-based Discovery Communications.

The ruckus surprised Discovery executives, who had not screened all of the episodes until last week.

"Up until today we had not made any programming or scheduling decisions, and today we made our announcement," said Katherine Nelson, Discovery Channel spokeswoman

All About Albert Pujols

2011-12-07T09:13:00.001+07:00

José Alberto Pujols Alcántara (born January 16, 1980), better known as Albert Pujols (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈalβert puˈxols]), is a Dominican-American professional baseball player who is currently a free agent. A first baseman, Pujols is considered one of the top players in Major League Baseball, and was the most feared hitter in baseball in 2008, according to a poll of all 30 MLB managers.

He won the National League Rookie of the Year award in 2001, and has since been selected as an All-Star nine times, and won the National League Most Valuable Player Award three times. He has also twice won the National League Hank Aaron Award, and has two World Series rings from the Cardinals' 2006 and 2011 titles.

At the end of the 2011 season, he led all active players in batting average (.328), slugging percentage (.617), and OPS (1.037), and ranked 37th in number of home runs in Major League Baseball history. He was selected by ESPN.com as the greatest player of the decade from 2000–09. He stands 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) tall, weighs 230 pounds (100 kg), and bats and throws right-handed.

Early life and career

Born on January 16, 1980, Pujols was raised in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic by his grandmother. Pujols and his family immigrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic in 1996, first to New York City then (after Albert witnessed a shooting) to Independence, Missouri.

In the U.S., Pujols displayed his hitting skill by batting over .500 in his first season at Fort Osage High School in Independence, Missouri, twice earning all-state honors. Pujols graduated from high school in December 1998. He attended Maple Woods Community College in the Kansas City area in spring of 1999. In his only college season, Pujols hit a grand slam and turned an unassisted triple play in his first game. He batted .461 for the year.

Personal life

Pujols married his wife, Deidre, on January 1, 2000. They have four children, Isabella (Deidre's daughter, from a previous relationship), Albert Jr., Sophia, and Ezra. Albert and his wife are active in the cause of people with Down syndrome, as Isabella was born with this condition. He has taken part-ownership in Patrick's Restaurant in Maryland Heights, Missouri. The remodeled restaurant was re-opened as Pujols 5 in 2006.

Pujols is close friends with third baseman Plácido Polanco, a former teammate with the St. Louis Cardinals. Pujols is godfather to Polanco's 3-year-old son, Ismael.

In 2007 Pujols became a U.S. citizen, scoring a perfect 100 on his citizenship test. Later that year Upper Deck Authenticated announced it had signed Pujols to an exclusive autographed memorabilia agreement.

In 2008, Pujols agreed to help bring a MLS franchise to St. Louis by using his reputation and a large financial investment.

Pujols and his wife are devout and active Christians; one of his writings on his family's foundation's website states, "In the Pujols family, God is first. Everything else is a distant second". He writes, "My life's goal is to bring glory to Jesus. My life is not mostly dedicated to the Lord, it is 100% committed to Jesus Christ and His will. God has given me the ability to succeed in the game of baseball. But baseball is not the end; baseball is the means by which my wife, Dee Dee, and I glorify God. Baseball is simply my platform to elevate Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior." Pujols attends a Baptist church.

Pujols and Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa attended Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor rally in Washington, D.C., after being assured by Beck that the rally was not political. During the rally, Pujols was presented with a "Badge of Merit" for "Hope."

Cara membuat status kosong di Facebook

2011-12-06T14:54:00.001+07:00

saat membuat status update di facebook, selama ini kita tidak dapat memasukan value kosong,
tapi dengan cara ini kita bisa membuat update setatus kosong.

begini caranya, ketik @[2:2: ]

Lalu perhatikan apa yang terjadi.

What is Light Year

2011-12-06T14:25:00.001+07:00

A light-year, also light year or lightyear (symbol: ly) is a unit of length, equal to just under 10 trillion kilometres (10×1015 metres, 10 petametres or about 6 trillion miles). As defined by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a light-year is the distance that light travels in a vacuum in one Julian year.

The light-year is often used to measure distances to stars and other distances on a galactic scale, especially in non-specialist and popular science publications. The preferred unit in astrometry is the parsec, because it can be more easily derived from, and compared with, observational data. The parsec is defined as the distance at which an object will appear to move one arcsecond of parallax when the observer moves one astronomical unit perpendicular to the line of sight to the observer, and is equal to approximately 3.26 light-years.

Numerical value

One light-year is equal to:

    exactly 9,460,730,472,580.8 km (about 9.5 Pm)
    about 5,878,625,373,183.608 miles (about 6 trillion miles)
    about 63,241.1 astronomical units
    about 0.306601 parsecs
    exactly 31,557,600 light-seconds

The figures above are based on a Julian year (not Gregorian year) of exactly 365.25 days (each of exactly 86,400 SI seconds, totalling 31,557,600 seconds)[2] and a defined speed of light of 299,792,458 m/s, both included in the IAU (1976) System of Astronomical Constants, used since 1984.

Other values

Before 1984, the tropical year (not the Julian year) and a measured (not defined) speed of light were included in the IAU (1964) System of Astronomical Constants, used from 1968 to 1983.The product of Simon Newcomb's J1900.0 mean tropical year of 31,556,925.9747 ephemeris seconds and a speed of light of 299,792.5 km/s produced a light-year of 9.460530×1015 m (rounded to the seven significant digits in the speed of light) found in several modern sources was probably derived from an old source such as a reputable 1973 reference which was not updated until 2000.

Other high-precision values are not derived from a coherent IAU system. A value of 9.460536207×1015 m found in some modern sources is the product of a mean Gregorian year of 365.2425 days (31,556,952 s) and the defined speed of light (299,792,458 m/s). Another value, 9.460528405×1015 m, is the product of the J1900.0 mean tropical year and the defined speed of light.

History

The first successful measurement of the distance to a star other than our Sun was made by Friedrich Bessel in 1838. The star was 61 Cygni, and he used a superlative 6.2-inch (160 mm) heliometer designed by Joseph von Fraunhofer. The largest unit for measuring distances across space at that time was the Astronomical Unit (AU), equal to the radius of the Earth's orbit (1.50×108 km; 9.30×107 mi). The use of this unit in trigonometric calculations based on 61 Cygni's parallax of 0.314 arcseconds, gave the distance to the star as 660,000 AU (9.9×1013 km; 6.1×1013 mi). Bessel realised that a much larger unit of measurement was needed to make the vast interstellar distances comprehensible.

James Bradley had stated in 1729 that light travelled 10,210 times faster than the Earth in its orbit. In 1769, a transit of Venus revealed the distance of the Earth from the Sun, and this, together with Bradley's figure, allowed the speed of light to be calculated as 3.01×108 m/s, very close to the modern value.

Bessel used this speed to work out how far light would travel in a year, and announced that the distance to 61 Cygni was 10.3 light-years. This was the first appearance of the light-year as a measurement of distance, and, although modern astronomers prefer the parsec, it is popularly used to gauge the expanses of interstellar and intergalactic space.

Distances in light-years

Distances measured in fractions of a light-year (or in light-months) usually involve objects within a star system. Distances measured in light-years include distances between nearby stars, such as those in the same spiral arm or globular cluster.

One kilolight-year, abbreviated "kly", is one thousand light-years (about 307 parsecs). Kilolight-years are typically used to measure distances between parts of a galaxy.

One megalight-year, abbreviated "Mly", is one million light-years (about 307 kiloparsecs). Megalight-years are typically used to measure distances between neighbouring galaxies and galaxy clusters.

One gigalight-year, abbreviation "Gly", is one billion (109) light-years—one of the largest distance measures used. Gigalight-years are typically used to measure distances to supergalactic structures, including quasars and the Great Wall.

The Darkest Hour (film)–Trailer

2011-12-06T14:17:00.001+07:00

The Darkest Hour is an upcoming 3D American science-fiction horror film directed by Chris Gorak and produced by Timur Bekmambetov. The American-based production depicts an alien invasion in Russia and stars Olivia Thirlby and Emile Hirsch as young people caught in the invasion. The film has a release date scheduled for December 25, 2011 in the United States and Russia.

Premise

The story tells of a group of five young people who fight to survive in Russia after an alien invasion, the catch being that the aliens are invisible energy lifeforms.

Cast

    Emile Hirsch as Sean
    Olivia Thirlby as Natalie
    Rachael Taylor as Anne
    Joel Kinnaman as Skyler
    Max Minghella as Ben

Russian actors Gosha Kutsenko, Veronika Ozerova, Nikolai Yefremov, Arthur Smolyaninov, and Georgian actor Dato Bakhtadze also appear in the film.

Production

The Darkest Hour is directed by Chris Gorak and produced by Timur Bekmambetov. While most films about alien invasions are centered in the United States or have an international scale, Bekmambetov's involvement ensured the premise to be an alien invasion from Russia's perspective.

With a production budget of US$40 million,[2] filming with 3D cameras began in Moscow on July 18, 2010. Production used resources from the Russian-based company Bazelevs, owned by Bekmambetov. Filming was temporarily suspended three weeks later due to the 2010 Russian wildfires affecting the city and its vicinity with its smog. By September 2010, filming had resumed, and it was announced that the release date would remain unchanged. As of April 7 though, the release date has changed to December 25, due to filming conflicts in Russia.

Release

The Darkest Hour is scheduled to be released on December 25, 2011 in 2D, 3D, IMAX, and IMAX 3D.

Trailer

The Invention of New Planet

2011-12-06T14:12:00.001+07:00

The National Optical Astronomy Observatory announced on Wednesday the discovery of Kepler-21b, a new planet that's close to the size of earth and is only about 352 light years away.

"By astronomical standards, that's right next door," Katy Garmany, the Deputy Press Officer at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, told HuffPost.

Astronomers frequently discover new planets (according to Time magazine, we're up to over 2,000), but Garmany said that what's exciting about Kepler 21-b is that the planet is relatively Earth-sized. While its mass is about 10 times the size of our planet, its radius is only 1.6 times the size of Earth's.

"Until a few years ago, the smallest extra-solar planet that we had discovered was the size of Jupiter or Saturn, which are about ten times bigger than the Earth," Garmany said. "Now we're getting down to something almost the size of the Earth, showing that we have the technology to find the earth-size planets."

The new planet has a star that's just a bit bigger and hotter than Earth's sun, although it's substantially younger. But because the planet is so close to its star, it's far too hot to have liquid water, the base for life as we know it. At only 6 million kilometers (about 3.7 million miles) away from the star, Kepler-21b's temperature is a blistering 2,960 degrees Fahrenheit, according to scientists' estimates.

By contrast, Earth is about 150,000,000 km (93 million miles) from its own sun.

The discovery of Kepler-21b was a collaboration of both sky (the Kepler observatory) and ground-based telescopes at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona.

Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer, writes in Discover Magazine that researchers examined the planet for 15 months. The results of the study will be published in Astrophysical Journal.

All About Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

2011-12-05T13:40:00.001+07:00

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the sixth and penultimate novel in the Harry Potter series by British author J. K. Rowling. Set during protagonist Harry Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts, the novel explores the past of Harry's nemesis, Lord Voldemort, and Harry's preparations for the final battle alongside his headmaster and mentor Albus Dumbledore.

The book was published in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury and in the United States by Scholastic on 16 July 2005, as well as in several other countries. It sold nine million copies in the first 24 hours after its release, a record at the time which was eventually broken by its sequel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. There were many controversies before and after it was published, including the right to read the copies delivered prior to the release date in Canada. Reception to the novel was generally positive and it won several awards and honours, including the 2006 British Book of the Year award.

Reviewers noted the book took on a darker tone than its predecessors, though it did contain humour. Some considered the main themes to be love and death, and trust and redemption. The character development of Harry and several other teenage characters was also remarked upon.

The film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released 15 July 2009 by Warner Bros.

Lord Voldemort has returned to power, and his wrath has been felt in both the Muggle (non-magical) and Wizarding worlds. Severus Snape, a member of Dumbledore's anti-Voldemort coalition—the Order of the Phoenix—but formerly one of Voldemort's Death Eaters, meets with Narcissa Malfoy, mother of Harry Potter's school rival Draco. Snape makes an Unbreakable Vow to Narcissa, promising to protect Draco.

Meanwhile, Dumbledore collects Harry from his aunt and uncle's house. Dumbledore takes Harry to the home of Horace Slughorn, former Potions teacher at Hogwarts, to persuade him to return to teaching, and he finally agrees. Later, when shopping for schoolbooks, Harry and his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger follow Draco Malfoy to Dark Arts supplier Borgin and Burkes, where they overhear Draco insisting the store-owner fix an unknown object. Harry is instantly suspicious of Draco, whom he believes to be a Death Eater like his father. The students return to school, and Dumbledore announces Snape, the previous Potions teacher, will be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts, while Slughorn will resume his post as Potions teacher.

Harry receives a used Potions textbook once belonging to someone named "The Half-Blood Prince", which is heavily annotated and helps Harry excel in Potions. Believing Harry needs to learn Voldemort's past to gain advantage in a foretold fight, Dumbledore schedules regular meetings with Harry in which they use Dumbledore's Pensieve to look at memories of those who have had direct contact with Voldemort. Harry learns about Voldemort's family and the influences that corrupted Voldemort, eventually leading him into dividing his soul into seven Horcruxes. Two of these have already been destroyed. Of the remaining, one resides in Voldemort, one resides in Voldemort's snake, one is Slytherin's locket, and the other two are suspected to be hidden in objects belonging to Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw, or Gryffindor.

Harry falls in love with Ron's sister Ginny, and Ron and his girlfriend Lavender Brown break up, to Hermione's delight. Harry spends much of his time following Draco Malfoy for any proof of suspicious actions, though he often cannot find him on his magical map of Hogwarts. Harry realises when Draco is not on the map, he is using the Room of Requirement on the seventh floor of Hogwarts, which transforms into whatever its user needs. Harry is unable to gain access to the room unless he knows for what exact purpose Draco is using the room. Eventually Harry and Dumbledore leave Hogwarts to fetch and destroy the locket Horcrux, completion of which would make Voldemort one step closer to mortal. They journey into a cave important to Voldemort's youth that Dumbledore senses is protected with magic. They reach the basin where the locket is hidden underneath a potion. Dumbledore drinks the potion and Harry fights off Voldemort's Inferi, an army of re-animated corpses. They take the locket and return to Hogwarts as quickly as possible. Dumbledore is very weak, and when they reach Hogsmeade they can see the Dark Mark, Voldemort's symbol, visible above the astronomy tower.

When they arrive at the tower, Dumbledore uses his magic to freeze Harry in place while Harry remains hidden by his cloak of invisibility. When Draco Malfoy arrives, he disarms and threatens to kill Dumbledore, acting on his mission from Voldemort. Dumbledore tries to stall Draco by telling him he is not a killer, but Snape bursts into the tower and kills Dumbledore. Because of Dumbledore's death, his spell on Harry is broken and Harry rushes after Snape to avenge Dumbledore's death. Snape reveals he is the Half-Blood Prince and manages to escape. Later, Harry looks at the locket he and Dumbledore retrieved and realizes it is not a real Horcrux; containing only a note from someone named "R. A. B".

After Dumbledore's funeral, Hermione explains to Harry that Snape was called the Half-Blood Prince because he had a Muggle father and a magical mother (whose maiden name was Prince). Harry is devastated to think he trusted and took help from the man who would turn out to be Dumbledore's murderer. He tells his friends he will not be returning to Hogwarts next year and will instead search out and kill Voldemort by destroying all of the Horcruxes. Ron and Hermione vow to join him.

Movie Review

Somehow I never did one of these when I went to the actual cinema and saw it. Since we rewatched it last night for the first time since, a few summary thoughts for the blog-record:

    Dark, dark, darkety-dark. That’ll continue through the next two flicks.
    Finally feeling sorry for Draco.
    A moderate amount of changes from the book. I disagree with some, though I understand them.
    Alas for those trying to figure things out, the “half-blood prince” story line, already scant in the book, practically vanishes in the movie.
    The FX are downplayed here, vs some other movies. That works well, as this is much more of a character film. Indeed, where the FX do show up, they feel forced in (even if they echo bits in the book).
    Dumbledore’s continued manipulation of Harry (and others) — all in a good cause, mind you — grates even further here.
    Why is the penseive different in every movie we see it?
    Again, a lot of Tom Riddle background is chopped here, though what there is (around Slughorn) is good. (Slughorn is also portrayed quite nicely.)
    Snogging ahoy! The book was thick with the build-up of hormones and the growing relationships between the characters, and the movie carries that on, though with mixed success. Part of that’s my problem, because I’ve never much cared for the character of Ginny Weasley (or the actress portraying her in the movies), and thus never “got” the Harry/Ginny thing (my personal vote would have been for Luna).

Overall, an okay movie, albeit suffering from being mid-series and largely a setup for the events of the book/movies to follow.

It’s Wonderful Life Review

2011-12-05T09:57:00.001+07:00

It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 Hollywood Christmas drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra and based on the short story "The Greatest Gift" written by Philip Van Doren Stern.

The film stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man whose imminent suicide on Christmas Eve brings about the intervention of his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody (Henry Travers). Clarence shows George all the lives he has touched and the contributions he has made to his community.

Despite initially being considered a box office flop due to high production costs and stiff competition at the time of its release, the film has come to be regarded as a classic and a staple of Christmas television around the world. Theatrically, the film's break-even point was actually $6.3 million, approximately twice the production cost, a figure it never came close to achieving in its initial release. An appraisal in 2006 reported: "Although it was not the complete box-office failure that today everyone believes ... it was initially a major disappointment and confirmed, at least to the studios, that Capra was no longer capable of turning out the populist features that made his films the must-see, money-making events they once were."

It's a Wonderful Life was nominated for five Oscars without winning any, although the film has since been recognized by the American Film Institute as one of the 100 best American films ever made, and placed number one on their list of the most inspirational American films of all time.

Last night had me watching an old favorite movie... "It's A Wonderful Life". I suppose most of you have seen it, if not you should find a way.

It's the life story of George Bailey. A small town guy with big dreams to see the world. Not unlike many of us I'm sure, George has his plans sidetracked time after time by circumstances beyond his control. It's also a story of how good seems to counter bad.

George was given an unusual "gift" of seeing what would happen if he had never been born. His old town of Bedford Falls became Pottersville, named after the ruthless businessman Mr. Potter in the story. The nice quiet place George had known before his gift was given was transformed into a town filled with every sort of vice.

The story ends Christmas eve with George finally realizing that the most important things in life are worth far more than is describable. Family, friends, and strangers stepped forward to help George out of his problems just in the nick of time.

The movie is one of the best Christmas shows ever.

What happened over the years to change Christmas into the mega shopping, gotta have the latest and greatest, biggest and the best, keep up with the Jones, gift-a-thon it has become? Seriously... how does buying that fancy doo-dad or expensive widgit add anything to Christmas?

If you want to give something this Christmas, why not make it the gift of your time. Head on down to the nursing home and visit with some folks that probably seldom get visitors. Adopt a family... help someone that needs it for Christmas this year.

What would Jesus do? It is His birthday celebration after all.

Rose Bowl Game

2011-12-05T09:48:00.001+07:00

The Rose Bowl (officially the Rose Bowl Game presented by Vizio for sponsorship purposes) is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 (New Year's Day) at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.[1] When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2. The Rose Bowl is nicknamed "The Granddaddy of Them All" because it is the oldest bowl game. It was first played in 1902, and has been played continuously since 1916. Since 1945, it has been the highest attended college football bowl game.[4] It is a part of the Tournament of Roses "America's New Year Celebration", which also includes the historic Tournament of Roses Parade.

In 2002 and 2006 (2001 and 2005 football seasons), the Rose Bowl game was also the BCS National Championship Game. In the current BCS alignment, the Rose Bowl will host the Big Ten and Pacific-12 conference champions unless they are involved in the national championship game. Beginning with the 2012 Rose Bowl, Rose Bowl game representative teams from the Big Ten and Pacific-12 conferences are determined by Big Ten Football Championship Game and Pacific-12 Football Championship Game, respectively.

Except in the years when the Rose Bowl served as the BCS National Championship Game, the Rose Bowl Game has continued to be played in the afternoon. The Tournament of Roses was the host of the 2010 BCS National Championship Game between the Alabama Crimson Tide against the Texas Longhorns in a separate game that was held on January 7 with Alabama emerging victorious, 37–21. The 96th Rose Bowl Game was held on January 1, 2010, a week before the BCS National Championship. Played at a traditional time, the game pitted the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Oregon Ducks, with the Buckeyes winning, 26–17. In the most recent Rose Bowl Game, played January 1, 2011, the TCU Horned Frogs defeated the Wisconsin Badgers, 21–19. This year, in 2012, the Wisconsin Badgers will play the Oregon Ducks.

On September 8, 2011, Executive Director P. Scott McKibben resigned for personal reasons. William B. Flinn, the Tournament’s longstanding chief operating officer, assumed the role of interim executive director.

Big Ten and Pac-12 schools

Team	Appearances	Wins	Ties	Latest
Southern California	33	24		2009
Michigan	20	8		2007
Washington	14	7	1	2001
Ohio St.	14	7		2010
Stanford	12	5	1	2000
UCLA	12	5		1999
California	8	2	1	1959
Wisconsin	7	3		2012
Illinois	5	3		2008
Iowa	5	2		1991
Oregon	5	1		2012
Michigan St.	4	3		1988
Washington St.	4	1		2003
Penn State	3	1		2009
Oregon St.	3	1		1965
Nebraska	2	0		2002
Minnesota	2	1		1962
Northwestern	2	1		1996
Arizona St.	2	1		1997
Purdue	2	1		2001
Indiana	1	0		1968

Other universities*

Team	Appearances	Wins	Ties	Latest
Alabama	6	4	1	1946
Pittsburgh	4	1		1937
Texas	2	2		2006
Duke	2	0		1942
Tennessee	2	0		1945
Columbia	1	1		1934
Georgia	1	1		1943
Georgia Tech	1	1		1929
Harvard	1	1		1920
Miami (FL)	1	1		2002
Notre Dame	1	1		1925
Oklahoma	1	1		2003
TCU	1	1		2011
Navy	1	0	1	1924
Brown	1	0		1916
Southern Methodist	1	0		1936
Tulane	1	0		1932
Washington & Jefferson	1	0	1	1922
Pennsylvania	1	0		1917

In 1918 and 1919 the Rose Bowl hosted football games between military institutions.

Rose Bowl Game Result

Date played	Winning team		Losing team		Notes
January 1, 1902	Michigan	49	Stanford	0	notes
January 1, 1916	Washington State	14	Brown	0	notes
January 1, 1917	Oregon	14	Pennsylvania	0	notes
January 1, 1918	Mare Island - USMC	19	Camp Lewis - US Army	7	notes
January 1, 1919	Great Lakes - US Navy	17	Mare Island	0	notes
January 1, 1920	Harvard	7	Oregon	6	notes
January 1, 1921	California	28	Ohio State	0	notes
January 2, 1922	California	0	Washington & Jefferson	0	notes
January 1, 1923	Southern California	14	Penn State	3	notes
January 1, 1924	Washington	14	Navy	14	notes
January 1, 1925	Notre Dame	27	Stanford	10	notes
January 1, 1926	Alabama	20	Washington	19	notes
January 1, 1927	Alabama	7	Stanford	7	notes
January 2, 1928	Stanford	7	Pittsburgh	6	notes
January 1, 1929	Georgia Tech	8	California	7	notes
January 1, 1930	Southern California	47	Pittsburgh	14	notes
January 1, 1931	Alabama	24	Washington State	0	notes
January 1, 1932	Southern California	21	Tulane	12	notes
January 2, 1933	Southern California	35	Pittsburgh	0	notes
January 1, 1934	Columbia	7	Stanford	0	notes
January 1, 1935	Alabama	29	Stanford	13	notes
January 1, 1936	Stanford	7	SMU	0	notes
January 1, 1937	Pittsburgh	21	Washington	0	notes
January 1, 1938	California	13	Alabama	0	notes
January 2, 1939	Southern California	7	Duke	3	notes
January 1, 1940	Southern California	14	Tennessee	0	notes
January 1, 1941	Stanford	21	Nebraska	13	notes
January 1, 1942**	Oregon State	20	Duke	16	notes
January 1, 1943	Georgia	9	UCLA	0	notes
January 1, 1944	Southern California	29	Washington	0	notes
January 1, 1945	Southern California	25	Tennessee	0	notes
January 1, 1946	Alabama	34	Southern California	14	notes
January 1, 1947	Illinois	45	UCLA	14	notes
January 1, 1948	Michigan	49	Southern California	0	notes
January 1, 1949	Northwestern	20	California	14	notes
January 2, 1950	Ohio State	17	California	14	notes
January 1, 1951	Michigan	14	California	6	notes
January 1, 1952	Illinois	40	Stanford	7	notes
January 1, 1953	Southern California	7	Wisconsin	0	notes
January 1, 1954	Michigan State	28	UCLA	20	notes
January 1, 1955	Ohio State	20	Southern California	7	notes
January 2, 1956	Michigan State	17	UCLA	14	notes
January 1, 1957	Iowa	35	Oregon State	19	notes
January 1, 1958	Ohio State	10	Oregon	7	notes
January 1, 1959	Iowa	38	California	12	notes
January 1, 1960	Washington	44	Wisconsin	8	notes
January 2, 1961	Washington	17	Minnesota	7	notes
January 1, 1962	Minnesota	21	UCLA	3	notes
January 1, 1963	Southern California	42	Wisconsin	37	notes
January 1, 1964	Illinois	17	Washington	7	notes
January 1, 1965	Michigan	34	Oregon State	7	notes
January 1, 1966	UCLA	14	Michigan State	12	notes
January 2, 1967	Purdue	14	Southern California	13	notes
January 1, 1968	Southern California	14	Indiana	3	notes
January 1, 1969	Ohio State	27	Southern California	16	notes
January 1, 1970	Southern California	10	Michigan	3	notes
January 1, 1971	Stanford	27	Ohio State	17	notes
January 1, 1972	Stanford	13	Michigan	12	notes
January 1, 1973	Southern California	42	Ohio State	17	notes
January 1, 1974	Ohio State	42	Southern California	21	notes
January 1, 1975	Southern California	18	Ohio State	17	notes
January 1, 1976	UCLA	23	Ohio State	10	notes
January 1, 1977	Southern California	14	Michigan	6	notes
January 2, 1978	Washington	27	Michigan	20	notes
January 1, 1979	Southern California	17	Michigan	10	notes
January 1, 1980	Southern California	17	Ohio State	16	notes
January 1, 1981	Michigan	23	Washington	6	notes
January 1, 1982	Washington	28	Iowa	0	notes
January 1, 1983	UCLA	24	Michigan	14	notes
January 2, 1984	UCLA	45	Illinois	9	notes
January 1, 1985	Southern California	20	Ohio State	17	notes
January 1, 1986	UCLA	45	Iowa	28	notes
January 1, 1987	Arizona State	22	Michigan	15	notes
January 1, 1988	Michigan State	20	Southern California	17	notes
January 2, 1989	Michigan	22	Southern California	14	notes
January 1, 1990	Southern California	17	Michigan	10	notes
January 1, 1991	Washington	46	Iowa	34	notes
January 1, 1992	Washington	34	Michigan	14	notes
January 1, 1993	Michigan	38	Washington	31	notes
January 1, 1994	Wisconsin	21	UCLA	16	notes
January 2, 1995	Penn State	38	Oregon	20	notes
January 1, 1996	Southern California	41	Northwestern	32	notes
January 1, 1997	Ohio State	20	Arizona State	17	notes
January 1, 1998	Michigan	21	Washington State	16	notes
January 1, 1999	Wisconsin	38	UCLA	31	notes
January 1, 2000	Wisconsin	17	Stanford	9	notes
January 1, 2001	Washington	34	Purdue	24	notes
January 3, 2002*	Miami (FL)	37	Nebraska	14	notes
January 1, 2003	Oklahoma	34	Washington State	14	notes
January 1, 2004	Southern California	28	Michigan	14	notes
January 1, 2005	Texas	38	Michigan	37	notes
January 4, 2006*	Texas	41	Southern California	38	notes
January 1, 2007	Southern California	32	Michigan	18	notes
January 1, 2008	Southern California	49	Illinois	17	notes
January 1, 2009	Southern California	38	Penn State	24	notes
January 1, 2010	Ohio State	26	Oregon	17	notes
January 1, 2011	TCU	21	Wisconsin	19	notes
January 2, 2012	Oregon or Wisconsin	N/A	Oregon or Wisconsin	N/A	notes

Who is Eddie Long

2011-12-05T09:19:00.003+07:00

Eddie Lee Long

Eddie Lee Long (born May 12, 1953) is a preacher and the senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, a megachurch in unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States, near Lithonia. When Long started as pastor for New Birth Church in 1987, there were 300 church members. Since his installation, membership has grown to 25,000.

During this time, Long has become the focus of Senate investigations concerning whether he has personally profited from his church's tax exempt status and lawsuits alleging homosexual misconduct with underage male members of his parish. Long has denied wrong doing through his attorneys and has settled the lawsuits out of court.

Eddie Long Personal Life

Long was born in Huntersville, North Carolina, to Floyd and Hattie Long and graduated from North Mecklenburg High School in 1972.

Long married Dabara S. Houston in 1981 and they were divorced after a brief marriage. The couple gave birth to son Edward Long. Houston said she was the victim of "cruel treatment" and was afraid of Long's "violent and vicious temper," according to Fulton County Superior Court records. She and her son "had to flee [the couple's Fairburn home] in order to ensure their safety". Long vigorously denied the allegations and Houston was awarded custody of the then 2 year old son.

Long is the husband of Vanessa Griffin Long. She filed for divorce on December 1, 2011 and announced her filing in a statement the next morning. On the same day, a statement issued through New Birth stated that Vanessa Long had rethought her decision and would withdraw her petition, but her attorneys later confirmed that she would continue with the divorce.He is the father of four children, Eric, Edward, Jared and Taylor.

Eddie Long Education

Long graduated from North Mecklenburg High School.[citation needed] He then attended North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina where Long received a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration in 1977.

Long donated $1 million to North Carolina Central University in 2008 which will be used to establish a professorship in his honor. Long has been under investigation by U.S. Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), along with five other televangelists' ministries, to determine if the ministers are personally profiting from the religious empires they control that are exempt from U.S. taxes. Long stated he was not worried that his million-dollar gift would bring Grassley's magnifying glass back to him. "I am not doing anything wrong and I'm helping my school" Long said. "I am making (the donation) from my own personal income." Long has said that he has had various real estate ventures and also has royalties from his books. Long is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.

Though the degree is unrecognized, Long states that he holds a doctorate in "Pastoral Ministry" from the unaccredited International College of Excellence, a Bible college accredited by an organization that is not recognized by either the Council for Higher Education Accreditation or United States Department of Education, the two institutions responsible for recognizing educational accrediting institutions in the United States (see Accrediting Commission International).

Eddie Long Carrer

After earning his undergraduate degree, Long worked as a factory sales representative for the Ford Motor Corporation, but was fired after he submitted expense reports that included personal telephone calls.

After being fired by Ford for financial irregularities, Long moved to Atlanta to study theology and became the pastor of a small Jonesboro, GA church. In 1987 he became the pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, which at the time had around 300 members. Under Long, membership grew to 25,000.

In 2002, John Blake of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote that Long "was consecrated a bishop in 1994 by the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship, a relatively new movement within African-American Baptist churches that embraces Pentecostal beliefs." According to the Rev. Dan Vojir's analysis: "Long's title of "Bishop" comes from a break-away Baptist organization founded by - of course - self-appointed "bishops": the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship. He separated from this "heretical" group back in 1998, but has conveniently kept the title."

In 2006, Long was chosen by the family of Martin Luther King, Jr. to host and officiate the funeral for Mrs. Coretta Scott King, wife of the late civil rights pioneer. The event was attended by four Presidents (George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter).

Long was a prominent supporter of George W. Bush's faith-based initiatives.His ministry received a $1 million grant from the U.S. Administration of Children & Families. Rev. Timothy McDonald suggested a link between Long's anti-gay activity and the grant saying "If you look at the black pastors who have come out with the faith-based money, they're the same ones who have come out with campaigns on the gay marriage issue."

Controversies

Salary and Senate investigation

On August 28, 2005 the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that during the period between 1997 to 2000, Long received more than $3.07 million worth of compensation and benefits from his eponymous non-profit charity, Bishop Eddie Long Ministries Inc. Long contended that the charity did not solicit donations from members but instead gained its income from royalties, speaking fees and several large donations. In 2007, Senator Chuck Grassley announced an investigation into the tax-exempt status of six ministries under the leadership of Benny Hinn, Paula White, Eddie L. Long, Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar, and Kenneth Copeland by the United States Senate Committee on Finance.

Teaching regarding sexual orientation

CNN has said "Long frequently denounces homosexual behavior." Long has ministered "homosexual cure" programs to recruit gays and lesbians for what he called "Sexual Reorientation" conferences and his church offers an ongoing "Out of the Wilderness" ministry to help convert homosexuals into heterosexuals.

In 2004, Long led a march with Bernice King to the grave of her father, Martin Luther King, Jr. The march was a protest against same-sex marriage and in support of a national constitutional amendment to limit marriage rights to couples comprising "one man and one woman."

In 2006, Long's appearance at Atlanta's Interdenominational Theological Center's spring graduation stirred up controversy, and led to some students discussing a boycott. Long's invitation prompted Black liberation theologian James Cone—who was scheduled to receive an honorary degree—to boycott the ceremony. Thirty-three graduating seniors sent a letter to the seminary's president "questioning Long's theological and ethical integrity to be their commencement speaker." Many students did not agree with Long's beliefs that God can "deliver" homosexuals and his teachings on prosperity.

A 2007 article in the Southern Poverty Law Center's magazine called him "one of the most virulently homophobic black leaders in the religiously based anti-gay movement."

Allegations of sexual impropriety and lawsuits

On September 21 and 22, 2010, Maurice Robinson, Anthony Flagg, and Jamal Parris filed separate lawsuits in DeKalb County Superior Court alleging that Long used his pastoral influence to coerce them into a sexual relationship with him. In June, one of the accusers, Robinson, had been arrested and charged with burglary in connection with a break-in to Long's office. An iPhone, iPad and other items—more than $1,300 worth—were taken from the office, according to the police report. On September 24, Spencer LeGrande, a member of a New Birth satellite church in Charlotte, North Carolina, filed a similar suit, making him the fourth man to file a lawsuit claiming sexual misconduct by Long. The plaintiffs state that Long placed the men on the church’s payroll, bought them cars and other gifts, and took them separately on trips to destinations such as Kenya, South Africa, Turks and Caicos Islands, Trinidad, Honduras, New Zealand, and New York City. The lawsuits stated that Long would "discuss the Holy Scripture to justify and support the sexual activity." Flagg's suit claims that Long presided over a "covenant" ceremony between the two of them; Flagg's attorney said that the ceremony was "essentially a marriage ceremony, with candles, exchange of jewelry, and biblical quotes."

Long denied the allegations through his attorneys and spokesman. In a prepared statement, Long said, "I have devoted my life to helping others and these false allegations hurt me deeply.[...]But my faith is strong and the truth will emerge. All I ask for is your patience as we continue to categorically deny each and every one of these ugly charges."

Roland Martin, a commentator for TV One, was scheduled to interview Long during a segment on the Tom Joyner Morning Show to discuss the two lawsuits. However, the lawsuit filed by Parris on September 22 prompted Long's legal team to cancel the Martin interview as well as a planned news conference;Long's attorney spoke to Martin on behalf of his client on Joyner's show instead.

On September 26, Long spoke to the New Birth congregation but he did not address the issue directly. Long spoke of painful times and said, "I've been accused. I'm under attack. I want you to know, as I said earlier, I am not a perfect man, but this thing, I'm going to fight." Long's unwillingness to address the accusations by name prompted a group of over 70 people, headed by the pastor of a small church in South Carolina, to hold a protest rally on the steps of the Georgia state Capitol on October 31, 2010, calling for Long's resignation.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on May 27, 2011, that the lawsuits were settled out-of-court; terms were undisclosed. Later reports indicated that although not a plaintiff, there was a potential fifth accuser who participated in the settlement discussions. On May 30, 2011, an episode of the documentary series Sex Scandals In Religion aired on Canadian television network VisionTV. It took an investigative look at the allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior by Long with young men in his care.

How to url encode

2011-10-10T12:41:00.001+07:00

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Validate Email Form Check

2011-10-06T10:35:00.003+07:00

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function validateForm()
{
var x=document.forms["myForm"]["email"].value;
var atpos=x.indexOf("@");
var dotpos=x.lastIndexOf(".");
if (atpos<1 || dotpos<atpos+2 || dotpos+2>=x.length)
{
alert("Not a valid e-mail address");
return false;
}
}
</script>
</head>

<body>
<form name="myForm" action="demo_form.asp" onsubmit="return validateForm();" method="post">
Email: <input type="text" name="email">
<input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>
</body>

</html>

Script to Force Download Image

2011-10-06T10:27:00.003+07:00


<?php
$file = 'monkey.gif';

if (file_exists($file)) {
    header('Content-Description: File Transfer');
    header('Content-Type: application/octet-stream');
    header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename='.basename($file));
    header('Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary');
    header('Expires: 0');
    header('Cache-Control: must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0');
    header('Pragma: public');
    header('Content-Length: ' . filesize($file));
    ob_clean();
    flush();
    readfile($file);
    exit;
}?>

The above example will output something similar to:

Script to close webpage windows using click

2011-10-06T09:47:00.002+07:00

If this link clicked, the windows open will be closed
<a href="javascript:window.close()">Close</a>

Closing a Frameset Window from a Link Click
<a href="javascript:top.window.close()">Close</a>

Css property that i dont know yesterday

2011-10-05T15:38:00.002+07:00

To adjust the line distance between any line text : line-height: 1.4em;

How to reset CSS ver. 1

2011-10-05T15:35:00.001+07:00

By default css has many padding on its syntax, so when you have any <p> syntax, they will create many padding on your html project.

This is not at <p> syntax only, others syntax must be calibration to get better interface. so this is the Css resetter:

/* http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/css/reset/ 
   v2.0 | 20110126
   License: none (public domain)
*/

html, body, div, span, applet, object, iframe,
h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, p, blockquote, pre,
a, abbr, acronym, address, big, cite, code,
del, dfn, em, img, ins, kbd, q, s, samp,
small, strike, strong, sub, sup, tt, var,
b, u, i, center,
dl, dt, dd, ol, ul, li,
fieldset, form, label, legend,
table, caption, tbody, tfoot, thead, tr, th, td,
article, aside, canvas, details, embed, 
figure, figcaption, footer, header, hgroup, 
menu, nav, output, ruby, section, summary,
time, mark, audio, video {
	margin: 0;
	padding: 0;
	border: 0;
	font-size: 100%;
	font: inherit;
	vertical-align: baseline;
}
/* HTML5 display-role reset for older browsers */
article, aside, details, figcaption, figure, 
footer, header, hgroup, menu, nav, section {
	display: block;
}
body {
	line-height: 1;
}
ol, ul {
	list-style: none;
}
blockquote, q {
	quotes: none;
}
blockquote:before, blockquote:after,
q:before, q:after {
	content: '';
	content: none;
}
table {
	border-collapse: collapse;
	border-spacing: 0;
}

Put this code on your top of css document. have a nice design making.

How to add Shadow on Text property using css3

2011-10-05T10:03:00.000+07:00

if your design have any text shadow decoration, and you want to convert it into html and css3. Use this code to add these effect font border or font shadow.

the code:

#element{
  text-shadow: 0 0 2px #000; /* horizontal-offset vertical-offset 'blur' colour */
  -moz-text-shadow: 0 0 2px #000;
  -webkit-text-shadow: 0 0 2px #000;
}

Cara menghilangkan Black List Smadav 8.5

2011-05-18T20:03:00.000+07:00

Smadav 8.5 telah dirilis, Jika anda menggunakan Smadav PRO maka Smadav anda akan update secara otomatis jika komputer anda terhubung dengan internet. Namun jika tidak dapat terupdate otomatis maka anda dapat mendownloadnya secara manual dari http://smadav.net , Lalu menginstalnya.
Jika anda pengguna Smadav versi PRO dengan key yang diambil dari internet(bajakan) maka Smadav anda akan di blacklist, (berwarna hitam). Jika anda ingin menghilangkan blacklist dari Smadav tersebut ikuti langkah ini:

Begini cara menghilangkan blacklist smadav 8.5 yaitu:

Buka Smadav 2011 8.5 yang sudah terinstall sebelumnya
Masuk ke Setting
Masukan Name : anti-bajakan , Key: Kosongkan saja
Klik register
Maka akan muncul alert: Telah berhasil menghilangkan tanda bajakan.
Klik ok, maka smadav anda hijau kembali.. :)

Lalu setelah berhasil menghilangkan tanda bajakan atau blacklist smadav 8.4 tersebut, bagai mana cara mengembalikan menjadi pro kembali?
Anda dapat melakukan Donasi ke Pihak Smadav untuk mendapat key registrasi smadav PRO 8.5