MikeLigalig.com

Japanese Red Maple
A Japanese Red Maple is one of the most popular trees grown in Japan. They can be found in any yard patio or garden.

School of jacks at Liberty Wreck, Bali, Indonesia
School of jacks revolving around the shipwreck of Liberty in the Bali Sea, Indonesia

er, so what's a black hole to you now?

ugh.  i thought someone was getting married here... kasla, kasal, gikasal, kinasal, sinakal, etc.  kasla is tuba-tuba?

looks like it was the tortoise of fr chic.

Definition    
A Tortoise is a reptile from the Chelonian family  and  dwells well on land.    
A Turtle is a reptile from the Chelonian family and dwells well in the water.

Distribution    
Tortoise: Found mostly in Asia and Africa but some species exist in Americas too.    
Turtle: Africa, America.

Shape of the shell    
Tortoise: Mostly large dome shaped shells (with bumps on the top in some species).    
Turtle: Mostly flat, streamlined shells.

Weight of the shell    
Tortoise: The shells are heavier.    
Turtle: Generally light-weight shell.

Limbs    
Tortoise: Feet are short and sturdy with bent legs.    
Turtle: Webbed feet with long claws.

Diet    
Tortoise: Most are herbivores, but some species prefer live food.    
Turtle: Eats fruits, veggies, leafy vegetation and meat, hence they are omnivores.

Birth    
Tortoise hatchlings move from their nest to the mothers burrow soon after birth.    
Turtle hatchlings stay in their nest on their own for 90-120 days.

Family    
Tortoise: Chelonians    
Turtle: Chelonians

Class    
Tortoise: Reptilia    
Turtle: Reptilia

Kingdom    
Tortoise: Animalia    
Turtle: Animalia

Crown Group    
Tortoise: Chelonia    
Turtle: Chelonia

Lifespan    
Tortoise: 80-150 years. The longest living Tortoise is 326 years.    
Turtle: 20-40 years. The oldest was 86 years.

http://www.diffen.com/

Tortoises and Turtles are both reptiles from the family of Testudines, the major difference being that the land dwelling ones are called Tortoises and water dwelling are called Turtles.

The body of a tortoise and a turtle both is shielded by a shell, the upper part of which is called Carapace and the lower portion is called Plastron. The Carapace and the Plastron are attached at the end by a bridge which means that though the head and limbs may be withdrawn from the shell, the whole body can never be totally detached from it. These reptiles are generally reclusive and shy in nature.


tortoise and turtle: shy boys

Tortoise


Turtle

Quote from: hubag bohol on February 27, 2014, 01:00:55 PM
Kon hamisay lag hubon, Santo Papa material diay si Botoy...

mas daghan ug hamis ug hubon sa muntinlupa.  well, di baya hamis ug hubon si pope benedict.

Quote from: hubag bohol on February 27, 2014, 12:57:05 PM
He he, sa hinilakan lang daan, morag way kaseguroan ang imong pangagpas...

kay ngano laging gitaoran pag garter ang papal skull cap; gisamokan hinoon si future pope.

inspiring.  hackman shows that one can change careers anytime, at whatever age.

i already have a season ticket.

A handout picture provided by the Vatican Newspaper L'Osservatore Romano shows Pope Francis kissing a child dressed as Pope as he arrives in Saint Peter's Square to lead his Wednesday's General Audience, in Vatican City, 26 February 2014. (EPA/OSSERVATORE ROMANO / HANDOUT)

A woman cries at a memorial for the people killed in clashes with the police at Kiev's Independence Square, the epicenter of the country's current unrest, Ukraine, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014. Ukraine has been consumed by a three-month-long political crisis. President Viktor Yanukovych and protest leaders signed an agreement last week to end the conflict that left more than 80 people dead in just a few days in Kiev. Shortly after, Yanukovych fled the capital for his powerbase in eastern Ukraine but his exact whereabouts are unknown. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

http://news.yahoo.com/

"Ambition est jamais content, même sur le sommet de la grandeur." (Napoleon Bonaparte)

other motorcycle highs...

the future passengers of that future transport airline

the chorusline

hehehe, some people are just brighter than others.

atot!  you mean the sun looks like an ovum to you?

eeekkks.  not for kids.  xxxxx-rated.

She says they also "make some of the best faces," which is professionally satisfying, as you can see in her first pit bull photo booth pic, from a few years ago, of two more Mutts n Stuff dogs named Tucker and Pitunia:



"They got right on set and started licking each other. I could instantly relate it to new lovers who stepped into the privacy of a photo booth and locked lips," says Terry. "I knew right away I, or rather they, had made magic. It's been the shot of shots to live up to but I think with the new series it has met its match."

"I love them, I love them, they're my whole world," says Garrison of Willis and Bumper, who she does not worry, with all this attention, will get big heads. Especially since Willis, in particular, already has one.

"You can see it in the picture," she says. "Friends texted, 'I don't think his head can get any bigger.'"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

It didn't take long for the block-headed pup to become a permanent member of the family. All the Garrisons had fallen in love with him. That includes Bumper.

"She mothers him," says Garrison. "She's constantly giving him kisses."

Lynn Terry, the photographer, tells HuffPost that for her part, she's been working with animals for about 10 years, and especially likes pit bulls because "I have a personal affinity for the breed. They are the underdog and I want to do what I can to change public opinion about the breed."

Bumper is a pit bull who "came from a not-so-great area of St. Louis," says Garrison. A "gentleman tried to fight her. She wouldn't engage." A little boy "lured her away" and got the dog to Mutts n Stuff, a local pit bull rescue.

Garrison and her husband Jason had had Bumper about 1.5 years, she says, when they felt ready to take in a foster dog. They were matched with another pit bull, then six months old, who had been part of of a 500-dog fighting ring that was raided in the summer of 2009.

"The largest pit bull fighting bust in U.S. history," says Garrison. Willis' mother was pregnant at the time of the bust; Willis himself was, Garrison says, "born about two weeks after the rescue."

This Is What Happens When You Put Pit Bulls In A Photo Booth

The Huffington Post
by Arin Greenwood
February 25, 2014

Kelly Garrison swears this picture isn't photoshopped:



Bumper, the licker, "went to kiss" Willis, the lickee, Garrison says. And photographer Lynn Terry "got the shot. She got just the perfect trigger time."

This picture is so perfect it's been shared tens of thousands of times on social media in the last few days. More than 200,000 people liked the photo on one site alone, the official Facebook page for a Chihuahua, pit bull and doberman threesome who use their YouTube fame to advocate for animal welfare.

The administrator of that page -- we're guessing the Chihuahua? -- said it "may be the greatest photo booth session of all time," which seems entirely right. And the photo gets even better when you find out more about the dogs who are in it.

15. Confusing "loose" and "lose"

"Loose" is an adjective that means "not tight." When you "lose" something, however, it's no longer in your possession.

https://trove.com/

14. Using "to" instead of "too"

"To" is either the start of an infinitive or a preposition. "Too" is an adverb to express excess.

13. Irregardless

This isn't an accepted word. Never use it.

12. Improper comma use

"Far too many people seem to think that punctuation use is a personal choice as opposed to a part of grammar. Were I not opposed to murder, I would hunt down Cormac McCarthy and kill him," Quora user Ara Ogle said.

Check out BI's complete guide to using commas without looking like an idiot. Our style guide dictates we use the Oxford comma (the last comma in a series), but some of our reporters vehemently disagree.

11. Using adjectives instead of adverbs

"Let's walk quiet." "I'll do it careful" "Make sure to stir it gentle." I grit my teeth every time I hear it," Quora user Jim Seidman wrote.

Some people praise these "flat adverbs" though.

Traditionally though, if you're describing how you do something (a verb), you need an adverb, which will likely end in "-ly."

Example: Let's walk quietly.

10. "Alot"

A lot is two words â€" no exceptions. You wouldn't write "alittle," so why write "alot?"

"Every time I see 'a lot' written as 'alot' I experience a fleeting, but very real homicidal urge," Quora user Emma-Francis Rutherford admitted.

9. Using "over" instead of "more than"

"Over is a spacial comparison. 'The bird flies over the house.' More than is appropriate for volume comparisons. 'She makes more than he does per hour,'" Reddit user geaster wrote.

8. Using "less" instead of "fewer"

"If you can count it, it's 'fewer,' if you can't count it, you use 'less,' Reddit user bigbangtheory_ wrote.

"It's fewer marbles and less jam. One counts marbles but not jam," Quora user Roderick Chow wrote.

7. Using "affect" instead of "effect"

Use the acronym AVENUE to determine when to use the different forms. "Affect is a verb and effect is a noun, unless it's one of the rare exceptions."

These exceptions are: when someone "effects change" and "affect" as a psychological symptom.

6. Confusing homophones

Homophones â€" words that sound the same but have different meanings â€" weren't explicitly mentioned in either site's list, but we wanted to categorize these complaints.

The homophones include:

    They're, their, there
    You're, your
    could have, could of; should have, should of; would have, would of
    affect, effect

For the first, "they're" is a contraction of "they are." "Their" is a possessive pronoun. And finally, "there" is a location.

Similarly, "you're" is the contraction of "you are," while "your" is a possessive pronoun.

You should eliminate "could of," "should of," and "would of" from your vocabulary entirely.

The last, using affect or effect, deserves its own section.

5. Using "than" instead of "then"

"Then" conveys time, while "than" is used for comparison.

Example 1: We left the party and then went home.

Example 2: We would rather go home than stay at the party.

4. Improper ellipses

Surprisingly, this appeared high on both sites' threads.

"Ellipsis. Ellipses are three dots. Three. Not two, not four. Three," Tzuwei Chen wrote on Quora. There should also be a space on either side.

And using four dots â€" a period follow by an ellipses â€" is actually correct at the end of a sentence, as Reddit user wethrgirl noted.

3. "I guess using an apostrophe for plural's," Reddit user wekiva joked.

Only possessive words (and contractions) require apostrophes.

Quora user Bruce Feldman discovered an entire website dedicated to photographic evidence of this terrible phenomenon.

2. Using "I" and "me" in the wrong spots

"I" will always be the subject of a sentence or clause, whereas "me" will be the object. "Me" should follow any preposition (of, in, on, etc.) and function as both the indirect and direct object in a sentence.

15 Annoying Grammatical Mistakes That People Always Make

Christina Sterbenz
Business Insider



Quora and Reddit users started two similar threads about the English errors they find most "annoying." We listed the worst of the worst.

1. Using "it's" instead of "its"

"I see it so much that I now expect to see it. I will be reading an article, distracted by the dreadful anticipation of knowing it's coming. Then wham, I read a sentence like, "[T]he fire department said that it's equipment is outdated," and I will be brought to a rage," Michael Wolfe wrote as Quora's top comment.

Use "it's" as a contraction to replace "it is." Use "its" as a possessive pronoun to show ownership.

Example 1: It's raining.

Example 2: The dog wanted its bone.

Note: The top comment on Reddit actually corrected the original question, which asked about "grammar errors." "Grammatical errors," in reality, is proper, as user A40 wrote.

1. Iran



Persian racism in Iran purports a racist ideology where the Aryan race is seen as a superior race. Using the racist ideas of 18th-20th centuries Europe as the bases of its ideas, the dominant group exploits the country’s resources to promote lavishly funded research and exploration regarding the history and existence of this superior Aryan race in Iran.  On the other hand, serious works challenging the supremacy of Aryanist historiography not only do not receive any assistance but are not even allowed to publicize in Iran.  A perfect example is the historian Naser Poorpirar whose recent work on the history of Sasanid dynasty was not permitted for distribution in Iran.



http://beforeitsnews.com/

2. South Africa



Racism is still a big part of life in South Africa. The end of apartheid might have removed the legal framework allowing institutionalised racism, but racism in South Africa both predates and encompasses more than just the institutionalised racism of apartheid.

In July of 2012, Dr. Gregory Stanton, head of the nonprofit group Genocide Watch, embarked on a fact-finding mission in South Africa. He found that there is a coordinated campaign of genocide on white farmers, known as Boers.   The number of farm murders, or “plaasmoorde” as it is called in Afrikaans, is staggering. Over the last decade, it is estimated that at least 3000 Boers have been killed. Estimating the number of murders is necessary because the ANC has banned crime statistics from being published, claiming they scare off foreign investment.

3. United States of America



Racial and ethnic discrimination has become a major issue and embarrassment for the United States of America within the international fora.  African Americans, Asian Americans and Latin Americans and also European Americans are still disregarded by those who think of themselves as native Americans (far from the fact that the Red Indians were the original natives of what we now know as modern America).

Even though America maintains a tolerant outlook under an African-American leader, the ground reality is far from being a homogeneous society, racial tinges being inextricably infused in the American culture and continues to occur in employment, housing, government welfare programs, education and lending.

4. United Kingdom



Do you know where the Joker got his scars? He had different theories to justify ‘em, but what the epic villain sported in the movie was a ‘Glasgow smile’ also known as ‘Cheshire grin’. Back in the 60’s hooligan firms were intolerant towards foreigners especially Americans which were mockingly referred to as the Yankees. The most common crime was to give an alien the Cheshire Grin. One need not forget the ghosts of apartheid which are still prevalent. In the year 2004, 87,000 people from black or minority communities were said to have experienced a racially motivated crime while 92,000 white people also fell victim to racial typecasts.

5. Malaysia



Non-Malays have suffered tremendously because of racist policies in Malaysia. Malay nationals too have suffered because of the nation’s flawed policies based solely on race. The injustice seems only crueller to them simply because they are supposed to be beneficiaries of such policies. Racism has therefore produced a distorted economy that will continue to drag Malaysia down the ranks of failed states.

6. Rwanda



Rwanda and genocide are often two synonymous words due to the ghastly repercussions of the civil war of April and June, 1994, which left 800,000 Rwandans dead in the time span of a mere 100 days. Most of the people who were brutally murdered belonged to the Tutsi ethnicity while the perpetrators of the crime belonged to the Hutu tribe. Rwanda had witnessed ethnic brutalities in the past but this particular event left even the native Rwandans almost annihilated.

Tension between the two factions remains to this day. After the genocide and the Tutsis regained control, about two million Hutus sought refuge in Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, and the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where much of the focus of Tutsi-Hutu conflict exists today. Tutsi rebels in the DRC accuse the government of providing cover for the Hutu war criminals.

7. Japan



According to the Japanese Constitution, all citizens are important under the law, regardless of their ethnic identity. At least one native people-group (the Ainu) has been formally recognized by the Japanese government. However the country has not effectively addressed xenophobic actions and foreign nationals are sometimes restricted from certain services and activities.

In 2005, a United Nations report expressed concerns about racism issues in Japan and that government recognition of the depth of the problem was not full.  Doudou Diène (Special Rapporteur of the UN Commission on Human Rights), concluded after a nine-day investigation that racial discrimination and xenophobia in Japan has a tremendous effect on three groups: national minorities, Latin Americans of Japanese descent, mainly Japanese Brazilians, and foreigners from underdeveloped countries.

8. Germany



For those who think anti-Semitic and eugenics feelings died along with Hitler, the contemporary German neo-Nazi ideas could come as a rude awakening. These groups think along the very lines of the Fuhrer himself, of a United Germany with its glory restored. Amid the constant backlash from the government and the United Nations, these groups have taken to underground activities.  The National Democratic Party of Germany has been accused of tacitly propagating Neo-Nazi or Neo-Fascist leanings while many other organizations face legal issues.  Some, like Volkssozialistische Bewegung Deutschlands/Partei der Arbeit, Action Front of National Socialists/National Activists, Free German Workers’ Party, and the Nationalist Front, are all indefinitely banned.

9. Russia



Racism in Russia is often targeted towards people who are deemed as not being ethnically Russians. Fanatic racists are extremely anti- Caucasians, Africans, Chinese and Jews.  Migrants from these particular races often face racial stereotyping and discrimination, which leads to hate crimes and gross human rights violations. Although it is the duty of the Russian government to safeguard the rights of these minorities and combat this social stigma, it seems to fail miserably in this duty. It is also infamous for violating its international obligations under the UN Convention on Racial Discrimination.

10. India



Racism, prejudice and xenophobia are rampant in India. It’s a strange mixture of prejudice, ignorance and centuries-old discriminatory practices, when communities kept to themselves and there were dining taboos based on caste. You couldn’t eat with people not of your caste or marry into their communities.

India is always a mystery. It is a country which is so huge that practices from Kashmir to Kanyakumari  are as different from each other as Scotland is from Greece or Russia. Each state is like a different country with diverse languages, cuisines, clothes, customs, climate. Punjabis, for example, are closer in terms of their food and language to Pakistanis than to Tamils and the Hindi.

All these differences have made people suspicious of other cultures.  These closed communities are naturally full of prejudices towards other communities and to those they see as “the outsiders”.  Every state considers itself superior. There’s a huge North-South divide too. Yet, in pre-colonial times, India was a haven for persecuted people. We gave refuge to Jewish people, Parsis from Persia, Armenians and later Chinese who ran away from the Revolution, and Tibetans who fled the Chinese. These people kept their distinct, separate identities but they prospered and loved India.

Caste System

I’ve only read a few articles on the philosophy of race and critical race theory so I’m not sure about this area of philosophy; however, it seems that the question of whether the caste system of India ought to be classified as a racist institution needs to be seriously addressed. It would obviously have large implications morally and legally for a large swath of humanity if it is deemed such.



The caste system dates back thousands of years and divides the people into specific social and economic groups; the Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaisya, Sudra and Ati-Sudra. These groups range from the Brahmin, which consists of those who are considered the highest caste, to the Ati-Sudra, who were also known as ‘untouchables’ and seen as the inferior caste. The two lower castes, the Sudra and the Ati-Sudra, currently make up the majority of the population, but are subject to discrimination and segregation due to their status.

At a 2009 meeting the United Nations Human Right Council, to the much dismay of HinduFascist groups (Hindutva), a resolution was passed equating the Hindu caste system with “discrimination and violation of human rights”.

Top 10 Racist Countries in the World


Swedish economists often do a World Values Survey, which measures global opinions and attitudes. One of the questions is, “What kind of person would you not want as a neighbor?” and if respondents choose “people of a different race” from the list, well, they make the “racist” list. Using the results of the survey and independent research, we’ve compiled a comprehensive list of the top 10 most racist countries in the world.


rac·ism (ˈrāˌsizəm/ noun)

1) the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, esp. so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races

2) prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race

Racism is actions, practices or beliefs, or social or political systems that consider different races to be ranked as inherently superior or inferior to each other, based on presumed shared inheritable traits, abilities, or qualities. It may also hold that members of different races should be treated differently (wikipedia)

An anti-Yanukovych protester cries near a memorial for the people killed in clashes with the police at Kiev's Independence Square, the epicenter of the country's current unrest, Ukraine, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2014. The Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday delayed the formation of a new government, reflecting political tensions and economic challenges following the ouster of the Russia-backed president. Parliament speaker Oleksandr Turchinov, who was named Ukraine's interim leader after President Viktor Yanukovych fled the capital, said that a new government should be in place by Thursday, instead of Tuesday, as he had earlier indicated. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

http://news.yahoo.com/

An unidentified North Korean woman on a bus weeps as she holds her South Korean relative's hand after the Separated Family Reunion Meeting at Diamond Mountain in North Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2014. The first reunions of North and South Koreans in more than three years have been held in North Korea. The final group of Koreans to participate in reunions ends Tuesday. (AP Photo/Yonhap, Lee Ji-eun)

http://news.yahoo.com/

A series of images from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) show the first moments of an X-class significant solar flare in different wavelengths of light February 24, 2014. Hot solar material can be seen hovering above the active region in the sun's atmosphere, the corona. (REUTERS/NASA/SDO)

http://news.yahoo.com/

The image, acquired a little more than three hours after the initial eruption, demonstrates the Sun's magnetic field reconnecting in the form of loops, down and left of the center of the solar disc to clearly see this distinctive belt of loops.

Coronal mass ejections are powered by energy stored in the magnetic field of the Sun's corona. This energy that can be released by the process of reconnection, in which oppositely oriented field lines are reconfigured to a more relaxed state and stored magnetic energy is converted into the heat and kinetic energy needed to drive huge outward eruptions.

Fields that have recently reconnected are heated to many millions of degrees, then cooling to the one million degree temperatures that are visible to Proba-Two's Sun Watcher using Active Pixel System Detector and Image Processing (SWAP) imager. A second Proba-Two sensor, Lyman Alpha Radiometer (LYRA), measures the Sun's energy intensity at the same time. Both instruments are operated for ESA by the ROB. (EPA/ESA)

http://news.yahoo.com/

A handout picture made available by the Royal Observatory of Belgium on February 25, 2014 shows a European Space Agency (ESA) Sun-watching Proba-Two mini-satellite image of the aftermath of the 'coronal mass ejection', on space, February 18, 2014.

it must be manned by a polar bear and a penguin.

faster, jack, faster!  go around the world soon, jack!

one of those who stayed behind

Travelers through the region's airport, rebuilt completely for the games, reported briskly moving security lines and check-in times of anywhere from 10 minutes to three hours, depending on destination. On what was predicted to be the heaviest Olympic-related travel day, the transit situation seemed to come down to this: It was like a busy morning at any normal big-city airport.

By the Black Sea coastline, Olympic Park, which will be hosting events at the upcoming Paralympic Games, had cleared out. Like the city of Sochi around it, the park felt deserted except for the legions of volunteers in multicolored patchwork jackets who still patrolled the area. Most security barriers remained in place in anticipation of the Paralympics, but security was noticeably more relaxed.

more at http://news.yahoo.com/sochi-cleans-world-leaves-olympics-behind-085405648--spt.html

Sochi cleans up as world leaves Olympics behind

Associated Press
By TED ANTHONY February 24, 2014

SOCHI, Russia (AP) â€" By the busload, the world's athletes and visitors rolled toward Sochi's airport and took off for home Monday, fresh from a Winter Games experience that many Russians pronounced a smashing success and that the Olympic movement's chief enthusiastically labeled a victory for the region and the host nation. "Yes! We did it!" one Olympic volunteer exulted as she darted into the night.

After 17 days of global sport and spotlight, Sochi ended the spirited chants of "Ro-ssi-ya! Ro-ssi-ya!" and started cleaning up.

The potassium and folate found in spinach can help lower blood pressure, and according to recent research, one serving of nutrient-packed leafy greens (like spinach) a day can help reduce your risk of heart disease by 11 percent. Enjoy some in salads, omelets, and smoothies.

http://www.shape.com/

Talk about a perfect snackâ€"watermelon is not only a diet-friendly food, but it can help protect your heart too! A Florida State University study found that people given a 4,000mg supplement of L-citrulline (an amino acid found in watermelon) lowered their blood pressure in just six weeks. Researchers say the amino acid helps your body produce nitric oxide, which widens blood vessels.

Green tea is rich in catechins, compounds that have been shown to decrease cholesterol absorption in your body. Another bonus? It may help prevent cancer and weight gain, too!

Believe it or not, cheese could help lower your blood pressure! A recent study from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School found that people who eat three servings a day of low-fat dairy have lower (three points less) systolic blood pressure than those who eat less.

According to researchers in The Netherlands, people who drank more than two, but no more than four, cups of coffee a day for 13 years had about a 20 percent lower risk of heart disease than people who drank more or less coffee or no coffee at all. Moderation is the key to coffee's heart-health benefitsâ€"the caffeine is a stimulant which can cause a temporary increase in blood pressure, and in excess, can lead to irregular heart beat.

Research shows that potassium-rich cranberries can help reduce LDL cholesterol levels and help raise the good HDL levels in your body, and regular consumption of the holiday favorite may help reduce your overall risk of heart disease by as much as 40 percent.

Just one teaspoon a day of antioxidant-rich cinnamon can help reduce fats in the bloodstream, helping to prevent plaque build up in the arteries and lower bad cholesterol levels by as much as 26 percent, according to recent research.

A daily 4,500mg dose of this blue-green algae (usually found in supplement or powder form) can help relax artery walls and normalize blood pressure. Spirulina may also help your liver balance your blood fat levelsâ€"decreasing your LDL cholesterol by 10 percent and raising HDL cholesterol by 15 percent, according a recent study.

A 2011 study published online in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that drinking two daily cups of 100-percent orange juice can help reduce diastolic (resting) blood pressure. OJ contains an antioxidant that has been found to help improve blood vessel function.

Forget the old 'an apple a day' adageâ€"it seems eating a daily persimmon is a better way to keep the doctor away. Research shows the polyphenols found in this fruit (which has twice as much fiber and more antioxidants than an apple) can help decrease levels of LDL cholesterol and triglycerides.

"The spice turmeric is a powerful anti-inflammatory," Dr. Schneider says. "It contains curcumin which lowers inflammationâ€"a major cause of arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries." A 2009 study found that curcumin helps reduce the fatty deposits in arteries by as much as 26 percent.

Broccoli is rich in vitamin K, which is needed for bone formation and helps to keep calcium from damaging the arteries, Dr. Schneider says. Not to mention, broccoli is full of fiber, and studies show a high-fiber diet can also help to lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

Pomegranate contains phytochemicals that act as antioxidants to protect the lining of the arteries from damage, explains Dr. Gregg Schneider, a nutritionally oriented dentist and expert on alternative medicine. A 2005 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that antioxidant-rich pomegranate juice stimulated the body’s production of nitric oxide, which helps keep blood flowing and arteries open.

Asparagus is one of the best, natural artery-clearing foods around, says Shane Ellison, an organic chemist and author of Over-The-Counter Natural Cures. "Asparagus works within the 100,000 miles of veins and arteries to release pressure, thereby allowing the body to accommodate for inflammation that has accumulated over the years." It also helps ward off deadly clots, Ellison says.

Fatty fish such as mackerel, herring, tuna, and salmon are chock full of omega-3 fatty acids, Madden says. "Eating fish twice a week can reduce your risk of developing heart disease by decreasing inflammation and lowering triglyceride levels, and it may even help boost your HDL levels."

Sterols are compounds that compete with the cholesterol in your food for absorption within your digestive tract, Madden says. "Sterols have been shown to lower both total and LDL cholesterol and can be found in certain brands of fortified orange juice, margarine spreads, and milk." Just be sure to check the labelâ€"make sure the margarine is trans fat-free and that "partially hydrogenated oil" does NOT appear on the ingredient list.

Grabbing a handful of nuts is a heart-healthy way to beat the afternoon itch for a cookie, Madden says. "Almonds are very high in heart-healthy monounsaturated fats, vitamin E, and fiber, while walnuts are a great plant-based source of an omega-3 fatty acid called alpha-linolenic acid." According to the American Heart Association, monounsaturated fats can help reduce levels of bad cholesterol in your blood and lower your risk of heart disease and stroke.

A 2011 study found that people ages 65 or older who regularly used olive oil (for both cooking and as a dressing) were 41 percent less likely to have a stroke compared to those who never use olive oil in their diet. Use a little olive oil instead of butter or drizzle some over pasta, salad, or veggies to take advantage of its high mono- and polyunsaturated fats, Madden says. "And although it’s a healthier option, remember to use these oils sparingly, as all fats still contain the same number of calories."

The soluble fiber found in whole grains such as whole-wheat bread, brown rice, and oatmeal binds the cholesterol in your meal and drags it out of your body, Madden says. "And, when your body needs to utilize cholesterol in the future, it draws on your blood cholesterol supply, effectively lowering your total blood cholesterol level and your risk for heart disease."

Top 20 Artery-Cleansing Foods

Protect your heart with every bite of these natural foods

By  Jessica Smith




"Instead of using a whopping dollop of mayonnaise on your sandwich, try using thin slices of avocado," suggests Megan Madden, a registered dietician in New York, NY. A 1996 study done by researchers in Mexico found that people who ate avocado every day for one week experienced an average 17 percent drop in total blood cholesterol. What's more, their levels of LDL ("bad") cholesterol decreased and HDL ("good") cholesterol increased.

Lion cubs in grass
African lion cubs huddling among the grass of the Masai Mara Reserve. African lions are listed as vulnerable species by the International Union of Conservation of Nature.

Honeyeater
The honeyeaters are a large family of small to medium sized birds which feed on nectar. They are most commonly found in Australia and New Guinea.

Dubrovnik
The old city of Dubrovnik in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea is one of the biggest touristic centers in the Mediterranean area. In 1979 it became part of the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Porto riverside by night, Portugal
Located along the Douro river estuary in northern Portugal, Porto is one of the oldest European centers; it was registered as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996.

Alhambra patio with pool, Granada, Spain
The Alhambra is a fortress and royal palace located in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. Originally a small fortress, it was renovated in the midst of the 11th century by King Badis Ben Habus of the kingdom of Granada and was converted into a royal palace in 1333.