MikeLigalig.com

Ni Brenda D. Batuto/WC (Banat) Updated August 21, 2011 12:00 AM


CEBU, Philippines - Duha ka lalaki nadunggaban ug nakulatahan atol sa karambola didto sa barangay San Roque, dakbayan sa Talisay sa miaging gabii.

Ang nadunggaban giila sa mga polis nga si Homobono Nguho, samtang ang nabun-og sa kulata mao si Mark Anthony Gino, pulos hingkod, nga mga residente sa nahisgutang lugar. Gitumbok usab sa kapolisan ang miluba ni Nguho ug mikulata kang Gino mao sila si Ritskie Golosino, Gabriel Golosino ug Warry Golosino, pulos hingkod, nga mga silingan ra sa mga biktima.

Si SPO1 Mikie Espina nga nahinabi sa Banat News kagahapon mibutyag nga sa wala pa ang pagpanunggab si Nguho uban sa iyang mga higala nga sila si Dante Jubay, Romel Magbanwa, Mark Joseph Rafanan ug si Gino nag-istoryahanay atubangan sa kapilya sa ilang barangay.

Apan ang grupo sa mga Golosino kinsa giingong mga hubog kalit lang mitungha nga nagbitbit og mga botelya sa beer ug kutsilyo ug gibuak ang usa ka beer sa ilang atubangan.

Busa milakaw ug mibiya sa maong dapit ang grupo ni Nguho apan giingong gisundan kini sa mga Golosino ug kalit lang gidunggab niini ang buko-buko ni Nguho, samtang si Gino nga buot motabang kang Nguho, gikulata usab sa tulo ka Golosino.

Si Gabriel ug Warry nasikop dayon sa kapolisan ug nagkagulkol na karon sa prisohan, apan si Ritskie, nakaikyas ug maoy gipangita karon sa kapolisan. (BANATNEWS)

The young red river hog (Potamochoerus porcus) Thomu walks next to his mother Dagamba at the Berlin zoo.  
Photograph: TOBIAS KLEINSCHMIDT/EPA

Healthful Meat Choices

Meat can be healthy...and if you want to avoid getting fooled by glued meat being passed off as prime steak, try to respect these guidelines:

• The beef should be organic and grass-fed
• The animals should be allowed to live in their natural habitats, eating their natural diets
• It should ideally come from a local farmer who can verify that the animals are raised without antibiotics and pesticides
• The farmer should be aware of the relationships between animals, plants, insects, soil, water and habitat -- and how to use these relationships to create synergistic, self-supporting ecosystems

If you are not able to adhere to the above guidelines, maybe you should really consider becoming a vegetarian!

Processed Meats can Significantly Increase the Risk of Cancer

You should probably stay away from processed meats as they are preserved by smoking, curing or salting, or with the addition of chemical preservatives.

Nitrates added as preservatives to hotdogs, bacon, pastrami, salami, pepperoni, ham, some sausages and hamburgers (if they have been preserved with salt or chemical additives) create nitrosamines, which are clearly associated with an increased risk of certain cancers.

Processed meats may also increase your risk of diabetes by 50 percent. They also lower your lung function multiplying the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Grass-Fed Beef is Your Best Choice

Grass-fed beef that has NOT been "finished off on corn" is definitely your healthiest option because it is:

• A natural source of healthy omega-3 fats - Omega-3s in cattle that feed on grass is 7 percent of the total fat content, compared to just 1 percent in grain-only fed beef. It also has the optimal ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats (3:1)
• High in CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid); a fat that reduces your risk of cancer, obesity, diabetes, and a number of immune disorders
• High in beta carotene
• Loaded with over 400 percent more of vitamins A and E
• Virtually without any risk of Mad Cow Disease

Mass Food Production Dangers

There are two ways of feeding animals…CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) and grass-fed, organically-raised beef. Both have vast differences in contamination and nutrient content.

Most CAFO cows are fed grains (often genetically modified grains) when plain grass is their natural diet. This creates a much higher level of acidity in the animal’s stomach, resulting is excellent conditions for E. coli bacteria to survive. There is no federal requirement for meat grinders to test for E. coli. The 2011 list of USDA recalls for various meat products is only getting longer.

The Damaging Side Effects of Mass Food Production

Modern mass production must stop playing Russian Roulette with the public’s health. One problem in particular is the issue of contamination with hormones, antibiotics and pesticides. As much as 70 percent of all antibiotics used in the U.S. serve as growth enhancers for animals. This is the main reason for the rampant increase in antibiotic-resistant disease in humans.

Most people realize that conventionally-raised meat is one of the primary sources of pesticide exposureâ€"not fruits and vegetables! The CAFO animals are fed a diet consisting primarily of grains, which are sprayed with pesticides.

Genetically modified (GM) grains are another growing problem. They are more heavily sprayed with pesticides than conventional crops, and we still do not know what the effects might be on humans eating meat raised on GM grains.

Meat Glue is Unethical and Potentially Dangerous

Initially, they are obviously misleading consumers; however, food manufacturers are not required to disclose what they’ve done. Even though you may think you are purchasing a prime cut of meat, you’re actually paying a high price for bits and pieces that would normally be discarded or at least sold for a fraction of the price.

The more serious problem is the increased possibility of contracting food poisoning from these meats. According to the report, the bacterial contamination of meat-glued steak is hundreds of times higher than the real thing. So if you cook your steak rare, you are at a much higher risk of contracting food poisoning.

In the United States, somewhere from 6 to 81 million citizens contract food borne illnesses each year and food poisoning claims up to 9,000 lives every year.

What is Meat Glue?

Meat glue is an enzyme called transglutaminase. Some meat glues are made from the blood plasma of pigs and cows, specifically the coagulant that makes blood clot, and others are produced through the cultivation of bacteria.

Once the transglutaminase is scattered on a protein, such as beef, cross-linked, insoluble protein polymers are formed which act like "super-glue". They bind the pieces together with almost invisible seams. The glue-covered meat is then rolled up in plastic film, and then refrigerated. Some manufacturers have become so proficient in this practice, that even an expert butcher is unable to tell the difference between a piece of prime beef and one that’s been glued together from bits and scraps!

The meat glue is also used on:
Pork / Ham
Lamb
Fish Balls
Chicken
Processed Meat
Imitation Crab Meat

Interestingly enough, one of the leaders in aspartame, Ajinomoto, is also one of the leaders in transglutaminase. Their website states that transglutaminase is also used to “improve the general texture” of fat-free yoghurt and cheese.

http://littleresearchengine.com/2011/05/omg%E2%80%A6meat-glue-in-prime-beef-what%E2%80%99s-next/


If this video from Australian Today Tonight Show doesn’t make you change your mind about switching to organic, grass-fed beef from a local farm instead of the local supermarket mass-produced variety, I don’t know what will!

It concerns the meat you should never, ever eat. Many people know that ground beef comes from hundreds of animals from different parts of the world, but very few would ever suspect that this can be true for prime cut steaks!

Well, think twice before you barbeque this summer. Meat glue is being used to “super glue” small chunks of meat together that are too small to sell, and the inferior meat is being passed off as prime cuts.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXXrB3rz-xU&feature=player_detailpage#t=17s

A stork perched on the roof of a house in Sieversdorf, northern Germany silhouetted against a full moon. In just a matter of weeks storks will be planning their annual winter migration to southern destinations.  Photograph: Patrick Pleul/EPA

The butterfly Heliconius numata (top) and one of the species it mimics, Melinaea mneme (bottom) as scientists have discovered a 'supergene' that helps butterflies copy their unpalatable neighbours to avoid being eaten by birds.  Photograph: Mathieu Chouteau/PA

Quote from: hubag bohol on August 11, 2011, 03:13:57 PM
Lose excess weight

Goal: A body mass index (BMI) under 30 (the cutoff for obesity) and preferably under 25 (the cutoff for being overweight).
Problems prevented: 7.1 million heart attacks, 1.1 million strokes.
What you can do:  Determine your BMI by multiplying your weight in pounds by 703, then dividing by your height squared in inches. (Or use our online calculator.) Even simpler: Measure your waist. Men with a waistline over 40 inches and women with a measurement over 35 inches should lose weight.

Hmm, kuyaw-kuyaw na diay...

Naay bungoton nga nagpahipi...

The Smash Can

Just because you can’t afford a proper trash compactor doesn’t mean you have to shove your hand or foot into the nasty trash can to pack things more efficiently. The Smash Can from Reduce looks like an ordinary step trash can that you’d put in your kitchen, except that the lid has a built-in accordion-like device that allows you to crush the trash down without ever touching the garbage (or even opening the lid) itself. It costs $129, but you’ll save money on trash bags and save your hands (or shoes) from getting covered in garbage.

Sri Lankan wild elephants play at a wildlife sanctuary in Minneriya. Sri Lanka began surveying its wild elephant population living in national parks as part of a conservation drive to protect the dwindling animals. The island's elephant population has dwindled to 4,000 from a high of 12,000 recorded in 1900s, according to the Department of Wildlife Conservation.  Photograph: Ishara S.kodikara/AFP/Getty Images

Swallows gather on street power lines early in the morning in the village of Ezerec, Bulgaria. Photograph: Vassil Donev/EPA

This one comes from the “ounce of prevention” school of thought. Think how many times you’ve had messy hands after kneading dough or chopping up chicken, then gone to the sink to wash your hands. But then you get your messy, possibly-salmonella-covered hands on the faucet, which you then have to clean off, after which you should probably wash your hands again.

It’s a vicious, messy cycle, and one that you can avoid with a one-touch faucet like the ones made by Delta. Touch anywhere on the faucet with any part of your body (say, your still-clean elbow) to turn the water on and off without ever getting the faucet itself messy. Combine that with an automatic soap dispenser like the ones you see in many public bathrooms, and you have a sink that drastically cuts down on the spread of germs.

http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/shop2/cleanbots-pool.jpg


Robotic Pool Cleaner

You could hire a pool boy to vacuum leaves from the bottom of your pool. Or you could trust a robot to do the job instead.

Various companies manufacture robots that crawl along the floor of your pool and suck up debris, including Aqua Products, which makes both manual and automatic models. And if you’re sick of nuking your pool with chlorine to keep it clean in the summer, you could buy the futuristic-sounding Floatron, a solar-powered floating saucer that purifies the water and can reduce your chlorine usage by around 80%. It costs $300.

An ibex silhouetted during sunrise after the Perseid meteor shower in the night sky over El Torcal nature park reserve in the southern Spanish town of Antequera. The Perseid meteor shower is sparked every August when the Earth passes through a stream of space debris left by comet Swift-Tuttle. Photograph: Jon Nazca/Reuters

Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Cleaner

The shower is where we go to clean ourselves. So why do we let it get so disgusting?

A buildup of soap scum and mildew can make your morning shower a downright unpleasant experience, and you might not have time to go in and clean things on a regular basis. Enter the Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Cleaner, which hangs from your showerhead and sprays cleaning solution all over your shower at the touch of the button. The product doesn’t exactly get glowing reviews from Amazon users, who complain of short battery life, expensive refills and poor quality. But at $25 per unit, this might be worth a try if your shower has become a breeding ground for mildew.

UV Sanitizers

Think ultraviolet rays are only good for killing vampires and giving you skin cancer? Think again. Various gadgets use UV rays to sanitize everything from razors to towels, and one company, Violight, makes a range of tools for sterilizing your toothbrush (priced $30-$50). The same company also makes a UV cell phone sanitizer (for $39.99) so you’re not holding a germ-riddled iPhone two inches from your mouth. After all, dipping it in Purell hand sanitizer would probably void the warranty.

Bwahaha!

Hmm, kon maohon, ako diay tawon ning gamitoy nga nauwahi...

Purpose for Pets Portable Extractor

You know how on police procedurals, the crime scene investigators always put on their special glasses and bust out a blacklight so they can see the hidden DNA evidence?

Well if you have a pet who has been committing crimes of its own on your carpet, you can use this handy tool from Dirt Devil to do the same thing. This portable unit is specially designed for cleaning up pet accidents, and it comes with upholstery cleaner and special pet stain and odor remover. But the real prize here is the built-in blacklight, which illuminates those hidden stains that are making your house smell. The whole thing will cost you $109.99.

Littermaid Self-Cleaning Litter Box

One of the few advantages that cats have over dogs is that they don’t need to be taken for walks. There’s just one catch: If you don’t clean their litter box on a regular basis, your house will wind up smelling very, very bad.

Enter the Littermaid. The self-cleaning litter box senses when your cat enters the box, then automatically scoops the waste into a sealed containment unit when it leaves. (In a video posted on the website, a spokesperson is quick to assure cat owners that safety systems ensure that your cat will not be scooped along with its poop.) The system can work for up to a week, which is good if you want to travel for a few days and don’t want to hire a full-time cat-sitter. Models range in price from $130 to $200.

Quote from: chicogon on August 21, 2011, 12:15:35 AM
By Botoy ni? Or author unknown? 

Di tawon. Nabangalan ra ni nga timo-timo...

The most unappealing outcomes would arise if extraterrestrials caused harm to humanity, even if by accident. While aliens may arrive to eat, enslave or attack us, the report adds that people might also suffer from being physically crushed or by contracting diseases carried by the visitors. In especially unfortunate incidents, humanity could be wiped out when a more advanced civilisation accidentally unleashes an unfriendly artificial intelligence, or performs a catastrophic physics experiment that renders a portion of the galaxy uninhabitable.

To bolster humanity's chances of survival, the researchers call for caution in sending signals into space, and in particular warn against broadcasting information about our biological make-up, which could be used to manufacture weapons that target humans. Instead, any contact with ETs should be limited to mathematical discourse "until we have a better idea of the type of ETI we are dealing with."

The authors warn that extraterrestrials may be wary of civilisations that expand very rapidly, as these may be prone to destroy other life as they grow, just as humans have pushed species to extinction on Earth. In the most extreme scenario, aliens might choose to destroy humanity to protect other civilisations.

"A preemptive strike would be particularly likely in the early phases of our expansion because a civilisation may become increasingly difficult to destroy as it continues to expand. Humanity may just now be entering the period in which its rapid civilisational expansion could be detected by an ETI because our expansion is changing the composition of the Earth's atmosphere, via greenhouse gas emissions," the report states.

"Green" aliens might object to the environmental damage humans have caused on Earth and wipe us out to save the planet. "These scenarios give us reason to limit our growth and reduce our impact on global ecosystems. It would be particularly important for us to limit our emissions of greenhouse gases, since atmospheric composition can be observed from other planets," the authors write.

Even if we never make contact with extraterrestrials, the report argues that considering the potential scenarios may help to plot the future path of human civilisation, avoid collapse and achieve long-term survival. -- http://www.guardian.co.uk/

Rising greenhouse emissions could tip off aliens that we are a rapidly expanding threat, warns a report


    Ian Sample, science correspondent
    guardian.co.uk, Thursday 18 August 2011 19.04 BST



When they see what a mess we've made of our planet, extraterrestrials may be forced to take drastic action. Photograph: PR


It may not rank as the most compelling reason to curb greenhouse gases, but reducing our emissions might just save humanity from a pre-emptive alien attack, scientists claim.

Watching from afar, extraterrestrial beings might view changes in Earth's atmosphere as symptomatic of a civilisation growing out of control â€" and take drastic action to keep us from becoming a more serious threat, the researchers explain.

This highly speculative scenario is one of several described by a Nasa-affiliated scientist and colleagues at Pennsylvania State University that, while considered unlikely, they say could play out were humans and alien life to make contact at some point in the future.

Shawn Domagal-Goldman of Nasa's Planetary Science Division and his colleagues compiled a list of plausible outcomes that could unfold in the aftermath of a close encounter, to help humanity "prepare for actual contact".

In their report, Would Contact with Extraterrestrials Benefit or Harm Humanity? A Scenario Analysis, the researchers divide alien contacts into three broad categories: beneficial, neutral or harmful.

Beneficial encounters ranged from the mere detection of extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI), for example through the interception of alien broadcasts, to contact with cooperative organisms that help us advance our knowledge and solve global problems such as hunger, poverty and disease.

Another beneficial outcome the authors entertain sees humanity triumph over a more powerful alien aggressor, or even being saved by a second group of ETs. "In these scenarios, humanity benefits not only from the major moral victory of having defeated a daunting rival, but also from the opportunity to reverse-engineer ETI technology," the authors write.

Other kinds of close encounter may be less rewarding and leave much of human society feeling indifferent towards alien life. The extraterrestrials may be too different from us to communicate with usefully. They might invite humanity to join the "Galactic Club" only for the entry requirements to be too bureaucratic and tedious for humans to bother with. They could even become a nuisance, like the stranded, prawn-like creatures that are kept in a refugee camp in the 2009 South African movie, District 9, the report explains.

Mint

The Roomba has spawned many imitators, and if there’s one that stands out, it’s the Mint cleaner from Evolution Robotics.

The Mint, another self-navigating cleaner robot, is best if your living space is dominated by hard floors rather than carpets and rugs. The device is more like a robotic Swiffer than a vacuum, and it uses dry and wet microfiber cloths. It can be had for just $199.

Roomba

When it comes to futuristic cleaning technology, the Roomba is the 800-pound robot in the living room. (Okay, it’s more like eight pounds.)

Introduced nearly a decade ago by consumer robotics company iRobot, these tiny robots hover around your house vacuuming your floors, using infrared technology to sense and avoid obstacles.

When it’s done it will return to a docking station to charge, and all the maintenance you need to do is empty its dustbin and occasionally clean the thing. Depending on which generation and model you get, you can pay anywhere from $200 to $600.

The Roomba is not only convenient for those who can’t be bothered to vacuum, it’s also a source of endless entertainment, used as everything from a kitten transportation system to a robotic DJ.

By Matt Brownell, Main Street
http://shopping.yahoo.com/





The Mop of the Future

Since the days when Rosie the Robot cleaned up after the Jetsons, Americans have dreamed of a better way to clean. And while we have yet to invent a full-fledged robot maid, cleaning technology has advanced by leaps and bounds.

So if you’re still using a mop and broom to clean around the house, we recommend putting them in the closet and checking out some of the fancy new ways to keep your space clean. From vacuuming robots to self-cleaning litter boxes, the future of cleaning is here.

The ocean sunfish, Mola mola, or common mola, is the heaviest known bony fish in the world. It has an average adult weight of 1,000 kg (2,200 lb). The species is native to tropical and temperate waters around the globe. It resembles a fish head with a tail, and its main body is flattened laterally. Sunfish can be as tall as they are long when their dorsal and ventral fins are extended. --Wiki



A sunfish caught in 1910, with an estimated weight of 1600 kg (3500 lb)

"

• wners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are gods." â€" Christopher Hitchens
  
  

Bulakeño

Reyes was among 6 nominees shortlisted by JBC.

He was born on July 6, 1947 in Obando, Bulacan.

He obtained his law degree from San Beda College in 1971 and passed the Bar examinations the same year with a rating of 81.6%.

He worked as vice-president for legal and corporate affairs of R.C. Silverio Group of Companies from 1975 to 1981, and founded the Reyes Daway Lim Bernardo Lindo and Rosales law firm in 1982.

He also served as board secretary of the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation and chairman of the board of Celebrity Sports Plaza.

Reyes joined the judiciary in July 1990 as presiding judge of the Regional Trial Court (RTC)  Malabon.

He was appointed associate justice to the Court of Appeals on August 8, 2000.

Reyes was a recipient of the most outstanding alumnus award in 1998 from his high school Alma Mater, Colegio de San Pascual Baylon.

He was also hailed most outstanding Obandeño in the field of Law in 2003, and a finalist in the 1997 Awards for Judicial Excellence.

Reyes is married to Teresita Jacinta Reyes with whom he has 2 sons.

Malacañang has until September 17 to fill in the remaining vacancy in the Supreme Court. -- http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/

Reprimanded by SC

Reyes was named the newest magistrate of the high court despite having been reprimanded in 2008 for discourtesy in handling an intra-corporate case involving the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).

Reyes was one of several appellate court justices sanctioned by the high court for his involvement in the controversial case.

He was reprimanded after he helped to promulgate a decision dated July 23, 2008 which ruled that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had no jurisdiction to validate the proxy votes used by the Lopez family in a May 2008 stockholders meeting.

The case involved Meralco questioning before the appellate court the jurisdiction of the SEC to handle a complaint filed by GSIS, which had 4 seats in the Meralco board. GSIS had questioned the unvalidated proxy votes used by the Lopezes.

The decision was promulgated despite then CA Presiding Justice Conrado M. Vasquez Jr.'s order to hold the decision pending a ruling on which division of the appellate will handle the case.

Reyes has defended himself regarding the allegation.

"In my conscience, wala akong nakikita transgression," he told ANC.  "I didn't commit anything wrong regarding that case."

"Actually I was more of a victim. I did participate in that case as chairman, only chairman of the division. I was not the ponente," he added.

by Ina Reformina, ABS-CBN News
Posted at 08/19/2011 6:27 PM | Updated as of 08/19/2011 9:09 PM





MANILA, Philippines (4th UPDATE) - President Benigno Aquino III has appointed a former colleague in a security agency as the new associate justice of the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court received the appointment papers of Court of Appeals (CA) Associate Justice Bienvenido Reyes on Friday morning.

Reyes fills up 1 of 2 vacancies following the retirement last June of Associate Justices Conchita Carpio Morales and Antonio Eduardo Nachura.

Reyes and the President worked together in Best Security Agency Inc. (BSA), a security agency business Aquino put up with his uncle Antolin Oreta.

Reyes had disclosed to the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) that he served as BSA finance manager from 1987 to 1990 during the term of Aquino's mother, former President Corazon Aquino.

At the time, Mr. Aquino was the security agency's vice-president and treasurer.

He he, lamorok jamo... 

By Axel Hildebrand
BERLIN | Tue Aug 16, 2011 5:36pm EDT


(Reuters) - The famine in the Horn of Africa is manmade - the result of artificially high prices for food and civil conflict, the World Bank's lead economist for Kenya Wolfgang Fengler told Reuters Tuesday.

"This crisis is manmade," Fengler said in a telephone interview. "Droughts have occurred over and again, but you need bad policymaking for that to lead to a famine."

Some 12.4 million people in the Horn of Africa - including Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti - are affected by the worst drought in decades, according to the United Nations. Tens of thousands of people have already died.

Fengler said the price of maize, or corn, was significantly higher in east Africa than in the rest of the world due to controls on local food markets.

"In Kenya, the price for corn is 60 to 70 percent above the world average at the moment," he said. "A small number of farmers are controlling the market which is keeping prices artificially high."

The World Bank said Monday its Food Price index increased 33 percent in July from a year ago and stayed close to 2008 peak levels, with large rises in the prices for maize and sugar.

High food and energy prices have stoked inflation pressures around the globe, but the problem has been more acute in developing nations.

"Maize is cheaper in the United States and in Germany than it is in eastern Africa," said Fengler.

Somalia's two-decade long war is also seen as exacerbating the famine in the Horn of Africa.

Some 3.7 million Somalis risk starvation in two regions of south Somalia controlled by militant group al Shabaab, which has blamed food aid for creating dependency and blocked humanitarian deliveries in the past.

The group has accused the United Nations of exaggerating the severity of the drought and politicizing the crisis. -- http://www.reuters.com/

STEM CELLS

In addition to helping fight debilitating diseases, humanized animals have played a pivotal role in developing new treatments for infertility. They are also central to much stem cell research.

The world's first clinical trial using neural stem cell therapy in stroke patients -- a joint project between Scottish researchers and British biotech company ReNeuron -- was only possible after first testing human brain cells on rats.

Robin Lovell-Badge, a geneticist at the Medical Research Council, said other important animal research models included a Down's syndrome mouse with some 300 human genes and one with 95 percent of its liver derived from human cells.

A public opinion poll carried out for the report found general support for research into animals containing human material, if it was conducted to improve human health.

But there were serious concerns voiced about experiments involving the brain, the potential fertilization of human eggs or sperm in an animal, and giving animals human characteristics such as facial features or speech.

Attitudes also differed according to type of animal.

"If you come home and your parrot says 'Who's a pretty boy?' that's one thing. But if your monkey says it that's something else," said Christopher Shaw of the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London. -- http://www.reuters.com/

By Ben Hirschler
LONDON | Thu Jul 21, 2011 7:20pm EDT


(Reuters) - Scientific experiments that insert human genes or cells into animals need new rules to ensure they are ethically acceptable and do not lead to the creation of "monsters," a group of leading British researchers said on Friday.

While humanizing animals in the name of medical research offers valuable insights into the way human bodies work and diseases develop, clear regulations are needed to make sure humanization of animals is carefully controlled.

Extreme scenarios, such as putting brain cells into primates to create talking apes, may remain science fiction, but researchers around the world are constantly pushing boundaries.

Chinese scientists have already introduced human stem cells into goat fetuses and U.S. researchers have studied the idea of creating a mouse with human brain cells -- though they have not actually done so.

Such controversial research needs special oversight, according to a report from Britain's Academy of Medical Sciences on the use of animals containing human material.

Using animals with limited humanized traits is not new. Genetically engineered mice containing human DNA are already a mainstay of research into new drugs for diseases like cancer.

But Martin Bobrow, a professor of medical genetics at the University of Cambridge, who led the Academy's working group, said there were three areas of particular concern.

"Where people begin to worry is when you get to the brain, to the germ (reproductive) cells, and to the sort of central features that help us recognize what is a person, like skin texture, facial shape and speech," he told reporters.

His report recommends that government should put in place a national expert body, working within the existing system for regulating animal research, to oversee such sensitive areas.

British ministers said they welcomed the report and would consider its recommendations carefully.

Bobrow said other countries would need to follow suit with their own rules, as their scientists and regulators also recognized the need to address potential public concerns.

Massage and bodywork can contribute significantly to your animal’s ease of movement, health, and quality of life. In addition to reducing muscle soreness, deepening your relationship, and providing well-deserved pampering, massage can also:

    Boost the immune system
    Improve the quality and symmetry of movement
    Support better joint health and function
    Promote earlier detection of stresses and strains
    Stimulate circulation for greater health of all tissues
    Help reduce risk, severity, and frequency of injuries
    Improve athletic agility and coordination
    Reduce the effects of stress
    Minimize restrictions caused by old scar tissue
    Reduce or eliminate adhesions, knots, and other restrictions
    Improve skeletal alignment for more efficient movement
    Release endorphins (natural pain killers)
    Lower blood pressure
    Improve digestion

More at: http://allaboutanimalmassage.com/

DOUBTS OVER RUSSIAN GOALS

Foreign space officials and experts said they doubted Russian firms would be able to replace the 40-year-old Soyuz, much less launch a space platform, as quickly as planned.

Houston-based space consultant James Oberg said part of the publicity blitz at MAKS was "fantasy" aimed at helping Russian space agency Roskomos find foreign funding for new boosters, manned spacecraft and nuclear-powered Mars engines.

Roskomos' new head, Vladimir Popovkin, said at the air show the agency could no longer afford to spend nearly 50 percent of its budget on manned flights.

Oberg said Russia risked quickly losing its monopoly on transportation into space, adding: "This question is really worrying the more thoughtful Russian space strategists."

Russia "depends on an increasingly aging workforce saddled with mostly obsolete ground equipment and a few basic 'old reliable' designs with little prospects for upgrade or improved economy," he said. -- http://www.reuters.com/

RUSSIAN FIRMS AIM HIGH

A decade after it flew the first U.S. millionaire to space in 2001, Energia plans a six-person shuttle which it said would offer a softer landing for the super-rich than its 40-year-old Soyuz craft. It said it hoped it would be operating by 2015.

"People paying for the most expensive ticket in the world must be comfortable, not scared," said Vladimir Pirozhkov, who designed the model of the shuttle on show this week.

"This is just a glance at the future, but it is the ultimate transportation dream. It should be desirable."

Russia cannot sell tourist seats until 2013. It is carrying European and U.S. astronauts -- for more than $50 million a ride -- on its single-use Soyuz capsule, the only way of getting to the International Space Station since the U.S. shuttle was retired.

Russian officials say at least one of four U.S. companies at the forefront of the commercial space industry could develop space taxis by 2016 to take astronauts into low Earth orbit, up to an altitude of about 2,000 km (1,250 miles).

"We don't want to come late to the market," Derechin said.

Orbital Technologies said the planned new spacecraft would be able to take VIP clients to a hotel it plans to build in orbit 217 miles above Earth, catering for guests paying about $1 million for a five-day stay.

Orbital Technologies' Kostenko said the space hotel would be more comfortable than the space station, but did not promise luxury -- vacationers would still have to eat space food, take sponge baths and use vacuum toilets because of weightlessness.

By Alissa de Carbonnel
ZHUKOVSKY, Russia | Fri Aug 19, 2011 6:29am EDT


(Reuters) - A hotel in orbit, lunar sightseeing flights and luxury rides into the cosmos -- all are part of Russia's vision to ensure it is not left behind in the growing space tourism industry.


Russian firms unveiled their plans at the country's premiere air show this week at Zhukovsky, outside Moscow, saying the race was on to build a new craft to take people into space following the retirement of NASA's space shuttle in April.

RKK Energia unveiled plans for a replacement shuttle and Orbital Technologies said it hoped to build an orbiting hotel with room for seven guests by 2016. Other plans include flying tourists to the dark side of the moon and, by 2030, to Mars.

"Space tourism is a real and fast-growing business," said Sergei Kostenko, head of Russian firm Orbital Technologies, said at the MAKS air show. "Whoever builds the first new spaceship now will reap big dividends."

Although Russia currently holds a monopoly on rides to space aboard its Soviet-designed Soyuz, it starts at a disadvantage.

Foreign experts say they doubt Russian firms can achieve their ambitious goals because they lack funding and even Russian officials said it would be hard to rival U.S. private sector firms now competing for contracts with NASA.

Funding for the U.S. space program is much higher and NASA is expected to forge ahead with building a new generation of craft capable of traveling into deep space, with flights into low Earth orbit outsourced to private firms.

"The U.S. has more possibilities than us right now," said Alexander Derechin, deputy chief designer for Russia's partly state-owned space contractor RKK Energia.

He said the United States had made a "very wise decision" in planning a state-funded spaceship for deep-space flight and that Russia faced tough competition from companies such as Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin as well as start-up firms.

"But we must make a state-funded spaceship, though in such a way that it is also commercially competitive. It is a very difficult task," Derechin said.

Kini siya kay duol na sa state of blessedness...

Kini, manghod lag gamay sa tambucho-killing... 

Hmm, gasalig tingali sa computer nga way ayo ang program...

Gawas sa aksidente, gikinahanglan pang ibalhinbalhin og tulo ka mga sakyanan ang iyang lungon una pa gyud nalubong.

Human nalimbuwad ang trak, gibalhin kini sa usa ka laing sakyanan sa lungsod sa Barili.

Apan ang sakyanang Porter napalyar na sab human mo-overheat ang makina niini.

Nadala ra gyud hinuon kini sa sementeryo human gibalhin sa laing sakyanan sa lungsod hinungdan nga nalubong niana nang mga alas 3:30 sa hapon niadtong Huwebes.

Samtang, usa ka Dionesia Escapi, kansang anak nga si Cerilo lakip usab sa namatay ug paryente ra usab ni Diagbel nibutyag nga niana palang nga buntag nakabantay na siyag di maayong tilimad-on.

Ang ilang gilung-ag nga usa ka kaldero alang sa pagkaon sa mga tawo nayabo.

Matod niya nga di kini maayong tilimad-on kon ibase sa kinaraan nga mga pagtuo.

Gawas niini, ang mga bukag nga butangan sa kan-on iya usab nga nakit-an nga gilut-od lut-od sa pag-butang.

“Unya kana kunong imong ilut-od og butang, laksot man na, ”asoy ni Dionesia

Iya usab nga nakit-an ang butanganan sa limos nga gibalhinbalhin sa pagbutang.

Gikan sa atubangan gibalhin na usab sa luyo.

Siya nipasabot nga kon buot subayon sa karaan, di mahimong kini balhin-balhinon. -- Gipatik sa mantalaang SuperBalita Cebu Agosto 20, 2011.

Tugon sa patay gisupak
Ni Dennes R. Tabar
Friday, August 19, 2011


HUMAN sa disgrasya sa lungsod sa Barili nga nikalas og napulo ka mga kinabuhi ug niangol og 60 ka mga tawo, nitumaw ang mga pagtuo nga resulta kini sa wa pagpatuo sa mga kabanay sa namatay sa iyang mga panugon sa wa pa mamatay.

Ilubong unta niadtong Huwebes sa hapon si Tranquilina Diagbil, 70, taga Brgy. Kangdampas, apan naaksidente ang trak nga gikargahan sa iyang lungon ingon man sa mga naghatod.

Matod pa sa iyang mga paryente nga nga di lang magpaila nga si Diagbil nanugon nga kon ilubong man gani siya, di isakay kon di ilakaw lang siya paingon sa sementeryo.

Payayungan lang niya ang iyang lungon nga maoy naandan kaniadto pa kon dunay ilubong.

Apan ang iyang pamilya wa motuman sa iyang panugon tungod sa kalayo sa dapit diin siya ilubong.

Gibana-banang moabot og 17 kilometros ang gilay-on sa balay ni Diagbil sa sementeryo sa lungsod.

“Kon nakahibawo pa lang ko nga mao toy panugon niya, di ko to sila pasakyon (sa trak),” matod ni Kangdangpas Brgy. Captain Leonardo Iñego, Sr. sa interbyu sa TV Patrol sa ABS-CBN.

Mokabat sa 10, di 12, sukwahi sa unang taho, ang nangamatay.

The United States and Europe have traditionally been the biggest markets for the adult industry. But slumping economies there are curtailing growth while competition and low profit margins are also making life hard for companies, said Lo.

In Asia the market is much more undeveloped so "there is much potential for growth," Lo said. Adult product manufacturers have told him that in America and Europe, "it's a very tough time right now but in mainland China and Asia, it's good."

Lo said demand from suppliers has prompted his Hong Kong-based company to start branching out with new fairs in other parts of China, starting with a show in October in Shenzhen, just across the border from Hong Kong. It will be followed by shows in Fuzhou on China's eastern coast and Qingdao in the northeast. It's also eyeing shows in Taiwan and Singapore.

Other emerging markets are also sources of growth. Renata Bertacini came all the way from Sao Paulo, Brazil, to source items for her boutique and online shop Mimosexy.

"I came to find new products to take to Brazil, new things to import from China," she said. Many of the products were items she already stocks but at half the price that her middlemen back home charge, she can save money by buying them directly.

At the expo, vibrators of all shapes and colors, condoms, lubricants and blowup male and female dolls were on display. One company was selling coffee tables made of erotic statues.

"The mainland Chinese, they are very open to these sexual things," said Lo. "It's not something that's a taboo" anymore.

It's a sign of how rapid social changes in China are driving new businesses. Several decades ago, men and women were strictly segregated in many parts of life and most people wore drab clothing that revealed little. Nowadays, shops selling sexual aids are common in many cities, and pornography, while officially banned, is commonly found on the Internet.

China's booming economy, the world's second biggest, is in large part driving those changes.

"A lot of these people have first-generation money. Before when it was old money, it was shameful to show it," said Zach Goode, a sales manager at Electric Eel, which holds the global license to Hustler lingerie.

Now, China's nouveau riche don't just want BMWs and Gucci, "they want to express themselves and have sexy shoes and lingerie and have fun with it. They're not as repressed as the last generation was." -- http://news.yahoo.com/

By KELVIN CHAN - AP Business Writer | AP â€" 13 hrs ago



A female visitor, right, walks by mannequins dressed in sex underwear at a booth at the fourth annual Asia Adult Expo in Macau, China Friday, Aug. 19, 2011. The exposition kicked off Friday with companies showing off sexy products aimed at China's growing middle class. The adult industry is looking to tap mainland China and Asian markets amid the downturn in the U.S. and Europe. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)


MACAU (AP) â€" Sexy lingerie, adult costumes, inflatable dolls and much more are on display at an adult industry trade fair in the Chinese territory of Macau that shows how China's growing influence has spread even to the bedroom.

The fourth annual Asia Adult Expo kicked off Friday with companies showing off sexy products aimed at China's growing middle class. The adult industry is looking to tap mainland China and Asian markets amid the downturn in the U.S. and Europe.

Show exhibitors said many Chinese now have more open-minded views about sex, which is driving demand for their products. The expo's organizers said they plan to launch similar fairs later this year in other parts of China, which also churns out nearly three quarters of the world's sex toys.

Estimates of the size of the adult industry in China are hard to come by. But the state-run China Daily newspaper said in a report last year that China produces 70 percent of the world's sex toys, making it the world's biggest producer. The industry, with more than 1,000 manufacturers, is worth about $2 billion annually, it said.

"The standard of living in China is rising and people want to upgrade their lifestyle so the market needs these products," said Bo Chen, as he sat next to samples of his company's main product, a lifelike and anatomically correct female sex doll made of rubbery, flesh-like material that sells for 16,000 yuan ($2,500).

Chen owned a chemical factory in China's Jiangsu province but three years ago he decided to start making sex toys because he sensed there was an opportunity.

Chen, president of Jurong Outlook Toys & Gifts Manufacturing Co., said he and several friends pooled their money to start the business.

He is hoping to meet potential customers among the 2,500 trade visitors and 30,000 members of the general public expected at the Macau fair. It was his first visit to the annual show, attended by 80 companies from 13 countries.

Chen's case is not that unusual, said Kenny Lo, chief executive of show organizer Vertical Expo. Many Chinese manufacturers realized they could tweak their product lines to make adult goods with minimal investment to reap bigger profits. It's not such a big step for underwear makers to make sexy lingerie and it's easy for companies making regular toys to switch to sex toys, he said.

Quote from: islander on August 19, 2011, 11:24:17 PM
hadlok diay ning intsik kun silay host...

nganong kahang wa na man lang sila maghinukasay.  kapyotay pa silag ipok daghan pa unta mangatawa.   

Di mosukol ang mga Insik og hinukasay kay dehado sila sa mga itom...

Quote from: islander on August 19, 2011, 11:21:40 PM
di man lagi player ang nanipa.  lahi ug t-shirt ug ipok.

Hmm, ang coach galing...

By JILL LAWLESS - Associated Press | AP â€" 3 hrs ago


LONDON (AP) â€" Woot! The online expression of enthusiasm is now in the dictionary. So are textspeak, sexting â€" and, less happily, cyberbullying.

They are among 400 new entries in the 12th edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, published this month.

Another newcomer to the reference book's 24,000 entries is retweet â€" to repost another Twitter user's message.

Editor Angus Stevenson revealed some of the new entries in a blog post Thursday.

Some of the new words describe forms of behavior and communication created by technology. There's cyberbullying, a form of online abuse, and textspeak, the abbreviated language used in cell phone messages. And, of course, sexting â€" sending explicit photos or messages by mobile phone.

Less high-tech new entries include jeggings â€" a jeans-leggings hybrid popular with some and considered a fashion crime by others â€" and mankini, a sling-style bathing suit made infamous by comic character Borat.

Stevenson said the latest edition also added new meanings for existing words like friend and follower to reflect their new online uses. A friend is no longer just an intimate acquaintance, but also "a contact on a social networking website."

Unlike the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary, the concise edition was founded to include modern and slang terms as they enter common use. Its first edition in 1911 featured the then-new words aeroplane, motorist and flapper.

Stevenson said the new additions "are just carrying on the tradition of a dictionary that has always sought to be progressive and up to date."

Earlier this year compilers admitted hundreds of new words to the vast Oxford English Dictionary, including the Internet abbreviations OMG, "Oh My God"; LOL, "laughing out loud"; and IMHO, "in my humble opinion." -- http://news.yahoo.com/

Quote from: islander on August 19, 2011, 11:03:51 PM
wrong spelling!  mora man sad kag amiga nako nga si cirila unya gihimong shirley...

Oops, speaking goods words man ka...

Quote from: hubag bohol on August 19, 2011, 10:34:06 AM
Sumala pa ni PO3 Sarvida nga mga 200 metros ang gisubay sa trak de karga nga nag-ikis-ikis sa pagdulhog sa karsada hinungdan nga pag-abot sa ubos maayong pagkatumba.

Hmm, unsa kaha kon nangambak na lang ang mga pasahero...

Laurel Graeber writes that the exhibition "shows that Henson, the designer, puppeteer and filmmaker probably best known for 'Sesame Street' and 'The Muppet Show,' was once quite a Mad Man himself."

Quote from: chicogon on August 20, 2011, 04:34:25 AM
Maru kaau ni siya... 

He he, naay air of authority bisag hilom ra, unsa na kaha kon mo-lecture na...

The show highlights Henson above all as a television pioneer. He was one of the first to use soft material for puppets, which allowed more expressivity on screen. (He made the original Kermit from his mother’s old coat and a Ping-Pong ball.) He was also among the first puppeteers to synchronize his voice with his hand movements, said Cheryl Henson, president of the Jim Henson Foundation and one of his five children. And he devised other innovations by putting operators inside his creations. “He was always excited by the potential of puppetry,” she said. “He never saw it as a limited form just for young children.”

The exhibition, which shows Henson experimenting with new puppet types in the fantasy film “The Dark Crystal” (1982), ends with a montage of film and television clips that include interviews with him and illustrate his approach, both playful and serious.

“He liked to say, ‘unlike anything ever done before,’ ” Cheryl Henson said. “It’s kind of a Barnum & Bailey statement, but he always said that that was what the work had to be.”

“Jim Henson’s Fantastic World” runs through Jan. 16 at the Museum of the Moving Image, 35th Avenue at 36th Street, Astoria, Queens; (718) 777-6800, movingimage.us. -- http://www.nytimes.com/

With its multiple theaters, the museum can also enhance the exhibition in ways not possible elsewhere. Screenings will feature Henson projects outside the show’s main focus, like the science-fiction film “The Labyrinth” (1986) and episodes from his 1980s TV series “The Storyteller” and “The Jim Henson Hour.”

“The story of how he developed his thinking process and how his creativity grew from that make up the core of our show,” said Deborah Macanic, the project director at the Smithsonian. “If we had focused a lot on individual film projects, we wouldn’t have been able to tell that story.”

While the exhibition has an excerpt from “Time Piece” (1965), an Oscar-nominated short that Henson wrote, directed and starred in, only this museum has devoted an amphitheater to screening the whole nine-minute work continuously (through Sept. 30). A surreal, nonlinear film depicting its harried protagonist in places including the hospital, the street and the jungle, it was, Henson said, “the story of Everyman, frustrated by the typical tasks of a typical day.” No Muppets, no sunny songs.

Another surprise is the many displays of unrealized projects. But Henson often adapted early rejected concepts into later successful ones. Elements of “The Zoocus,” for instance, an unproduced 1960 variety show, turn up in “The Muppet Show” some 15 years later. “Jim never wasted an idea,” Ms. Falk said.

Quote from: islander on August 19, 2011, 10:51:59 PM
morag nagkinahanglan ug exorcist ni nga thread da...

Aron dili alimungawan ang regular nappers?

The entire exhibition, let alone Miss Piggy, almost didn’t make it to Queens; the tour was to conclude before the Museum of the Moving Image reopened in January after an extensive renovation. But Carl Goodman, the museum’s executive director, passionately wanted the show: Henson’s company and his creative home were just blocks away. Being an added stop has brought benefits. The exhibition runs in New York a full six months, twice as long as anywhere else.

“Other institutions who’ve hosted it would treat it as a kids’ exhibition and have programs just for younger people,” Mr. Goodman said. “We’ve been heartened to see that kids do love it and that we didn’t have to bring it down to their level.”

Instead the museum has devised programs, many for adults, featuring Henson’s collaborators as leaders and guests. They include “Look Both Ways and Go” (Sept. 18), an afternoon with Jane Henson, her husband’s original creative partner; “Muppet Music Moments: A Weekend Celebration of Jim Henson’s Birthday” (Sept. 24 and 25), with the music consultant Larry Grossman; and “Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey” (Sept. 25), a screening of a film about the “Sesame Street” puppeteer Kevin Clash, which he and the director, Constance Marks, will attend. This Saturday and Sunday the museum offers “Sound Effects,” an interactive family workshop about “The Muppet Movie.”

“A lot of this material I found in boxes Jim had saved and labeled ‘Old Production Files,’ ” said Craig Shemin, president of the Jim Henson Legacy, the organization that created the exhibition with the Smithsonian. “Jim saved everything.” When Mr. Shemin was working for the Jim Henson Company in the 1990s, “the production department said, ‘Oh, we don’t need these,’ ” he recalled, referring to the boxes. The trove went into the company archives, which Ms. Falk directs.

“There hadn’t been a traveling exhibition particularly devoted to Jim, ever,” said Ms. Falk, who broached the idea to the Smithsonian with Henson’s widow, Jane Henson. “The other shows that have gone up were much more about the Muppets.”

Not that “Jim Henson’s Fantastic World” lacks Muppets. Its more than a dozen examples include Kermit, the unflappable, easygoing frog whom Henson regarded as his alter ego; Bert and Ernie, the “Sesame Street” pals who embodied Henson’s comedic partnership with the puppeteer Frank Oz; Rowlf the dog, the first nationally known Muppet, who went from dog food commercials to “The Jimmy Dean Show”; the wise minstrel Cantus from “Fraggle Rock,” another Henson stand-in; and the inimitable Miss Piggy, absent from most of the tour but resplendent here in a wedding dress. (She had not been available until the show was nearing its end, said Bonnie Erickson, the designer who created her and the executive director of the Jim Henson Legacy. “But she’s delighted to be in New York and on display.”)

Dili ikahibulong kon ugaling chocolate manufacturers and nagpaluyo ani nga research kunohay...

Cookie Monster evolved from the Wheel Stealer, one of several puppet creatures Henson invented who consume a family’s snacks in a 1960s television commercial. He later appeared on TV chomping an I.B.M. computer. According to the exhibition, Henson had hit on something that the era’s advertising mavens had hardly considered: Humor sells products.

“He was also making fun of Madison Avenue and the way things were sold, and yet he was very successful at it,” Karen Falk, the show’s curator, said in an interview. “He was much loved by the Madison Avenue executives. Maybe having it come from a puppet character made it O.K.”

Henson the subversive advertising genius is just one of the lesser-known identities the exhibition reveals. It also portrays Henson the graphic designer, Henson the product of the ’60s counterculture, Henson the experimental filmmaker and Henson the creative collaborator. The 3,500-square-foot show, consisting of more than 120 artifacts, has come to New York as its last stop on a four-year tour organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. Tracing Henson’s development from his Mississippi childhood and Maryland high school and college years until his death from a bacterial infection in New York in 1990 (he was only 53), it comprises â€" along with a wealth of film and video â€" sketches, notes, photographs, television pitches, storyboards, and even doodles and office memos.

Kermit the Frog welcomes visitors to “Jim Henson's Fantastic World” at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens.


By LAUREL GRAEBER
Published: August 18, 2011


COOKIE MONSTER has an important lesson for Don Draper.

If you’re wondering what a fuzzy blue Muppet, adored by millions of children, could possibly have to do with the debonair protagonist of television’s “Mad Men,” you’ll have to visit the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens. Its new exhibition “Jim Henson’s Fantastic World” shows that Henson, the designer, puppeteer and filmmaker probably best known for “Sesame Street” and “The Muppet Show,” was once quite a Mad Man himself.

God doesn’t need to punish us. He just grants us a long enough life to punish ourselves. --Barbara Kingsolver

Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours. --Yogi Berra

It is better to have a meaningful life and make a difference than to merely have a long life. --Bryant H. McGill

The wise man avoids gaining weight
So he can sleep till well past eight...

How does God clean and purify us? First of all, when we become born again and we completely surrender ourselves to Jesus Christ and put our entire faith and trust in him, God will supernaturally regenerate us and give us a brand new nature, a new self. We become a brand new creation. He tells us what he is going to do to us at Ezekiel 36:26-27. "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you".
And this all happens the very moment when you are saved, because when you are born again you indeed become a brand new person. A brand new person who is walking arm and arm with Jesus Christ on a road to spiritual purity, spiritual growth, spiritual maturity, and spiritual strength.

The Bible tells us that once we are saved and become born again then we are no longer living our lives by ourselves. Galatians 2:20 tells us, "It is no longer I that live, but it is Christ that is living in union with me". Now both you and Jesus are living your life together, and it is at this point that a number of very marvelous things occur. First of all you have a brand new spotless heart, one that is no longer saturated with sin. You also have Jesus Christ dwelling within you and you are united with Jesus Christ. You now believe fully and completely in our Lord Jesus Christ. You have also pledged your love, trust, and obedience to the Lord. And something else extremely important has occured and that is the Holy Spirit has decided to move in and take up residence within you. The Holy Spirit is the one who's going to guide you and teach you and show you exactly what to do and how to do it, in order for you to become pure in heart. All the believer needs to do is constantly and continuously keep their focus on Jesus Christ.

This beatitude tells us if we are pure in heart then we will see God. The reward for this beatitude is truly marvelous because when the believer becomes pure in heart, not only will they see God as they pass into heaven immediately upon their death, but they will see God right now, not with their natural eye, but through their spiritual vision, through their faith in Jesus Christ. For the pure in heart will see God in all his glory in every single thing that they see. To the pure in heart, God will become extremely visible. -- http://robertwells.tripod.com/

The truth is we can't do any of these things on our own. We can't reform ourselves. We can't self clean ourselves. Many people have tried to clean themselves. Some have tried to do this through asceticism or leading a life of complete self denial, or by other methods such as by going away from the world and living in solitude, or permanent silence, or by beating their bodies with whips and clubs, even by inflicting upon themselves all forms of degrading and unpleasant acts, even going so far as castrating themselves. They have tried to cleanse themselves through celibacy, fasting, and prayers. But such asceticism is not biblical and it will not result in purity of heart.

So the first point we must be aware of is this:

The path to a pure heart begins with the realization that we have impure hearts. The entire Bible revolves around the central theme that the Lord looks at the heart of the person and not at their external appearance, their behavior, or their achievements. The Lord does not acclaim education, intellect, business success, or social position, as the world does.

And the second point we must be aware of is this:

God must clean us. God alone is able to make rotten people pure in their imaginations, thoughts, words, deeds, and desires. The pure in heart are those who are free from evil desires and evil purposes. So if God is the only one who can cleanse us, then how does he do it? Well the Bible tells us that God has a plan to deal with the problem of sin infected hearts. God has a plan to save us and make us holy in thought, word and deed. And the plan is found in many places such as in Romans 8:29. Here God tells us that he wants "to conform us to the image and likeness of His Son". Thus God's plan is to make us like his own Son, like Jesus Christ. His purpose is nothing less than that we be pure in heart just like Jesus Christ is.

The Sixth Beatitude: Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.


Psalms 119:9 "How can a believer keep his heart pure? By keeping it according to The word of God".

Out of the hearts of men come all kinds of evil things. Everything from evil thoughts and greed, to slander and arrogance. All these evil things come from the inside of man, from his heart, and this evil from the heart is what makes man unclean. Two very good examples of verses that show the evil of the heart are below.

Mark 7:20-23 "That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within the man, and they defile the man."

Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked".

Therefore, one of the most important questions that we can ask is how can we be truly pure in our hearts and clean of filth and sin? How can we be pure in our imaginations, in our thoughts, in our words, in our decision making, and in our desires? How can we think what God thinks, will what God wills, desire what God desires, hate what God hates, and love what God loves? In other words how can our hearts be pure hearts, free from sins like pride and envy, free from evil thoughts and evil deeds?

Yes!!! 

This beatitude is also very concerned with mercy through the act of daily forgiveness. Of forgiving offenses that have been inflicted upon you, and in which you show mercy towards everyone who wrongs you regardless of the reasons and regardless of the circumstances. Our Lord demands that we forgive one another just as he is constantly forgiving you. Matthew 6: 14-15 points this out so very clearly. "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses".

Many ask why should Christians be merciful? Well for one thing, God shows us mercy, not when we are good, but when we are miserable, helpless, wicked, ungodly, and powerless. He shows us mercy when we are his enemies and we are disobedient, unrighteous, dead in trespasses and sins, foolish, ignorant, suffering, and miserable due to the consequences of our sin. Yet God looks upon our misery and wretchedness and truly feels our pain and is very happy to extend his mercy to each of us. So instead of pouring out his just wrath upon us, he is compassionate toward us. He freely justifies us, forgives our sins, extends his mercy upon us, and fills us with his own righteousness. And that is one reason why we ought to be merciful every day to the miserable, the helpless, the wretched, and the needy.

Secondly, each one of us needs the mercy of God each and every day. We need to be aware that we are still miserable sinners, and because of that, we are still in need of God's mercy every single day. If we are honest and examine ourselves in the light of God's Word, then we will realize that indeed we do sin daily. And because we sin daily, we need God's forgiveness and mercy daily, and if God is willing to give us his mercy every day then we in turn should be happy to extend mercy to others also on a daily basis.

Another reason for having continuous mercy is that being merciful is a test of our Christianity. If you are not constantly being merciful then there is only one explanation. You have not understood the grace and the mercy of God and you are outside of Jesus Christ. We who have received God's rich mercy are merciful because the grace of God makes us that way. -- http://robertwells.tripod.com/

The Fifth Beatitude: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.


Mercy is love toward those that are miserable, those that are wretched, and those that need some type of help or assistance.
The merciful are those that are tender hearted and who truly feel in the deepest parts of their beings the pain and the suffering of those who need mercy. But most importantly is the fact that the merciful are those special individuals who go out of their way and make the effort to help. Having compassion on the those that are in any way hurting is only the first part of having mercy. Doing something about it, is the all important second part.

We as believers must show mercy to all men and we are to do this by both sympathizing with them and by taking care and tending to their needs. And we must do this with readiness and gladness, with affection and tenderness, always ready to give and to forgive. Our Lord instructs us to show the same type of mercy to others that he shows to each of us. He talked much about showing mercy and a good example is found at 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God".

Therefore, to be merciful as a Christian does not mean to perform isolated, occasional acts of charity. A Christian is to be habitually merciful, and all acts of mercy should be done in a thankful and cheerful manner. Just imagine how absolutely wonderful God would feel if in the act of being merciful he heard you say, "Praise be to you God for this opportunity that you have given me to help someone else in need. Thank you Father for letting me be of some assistance to another human being." So doing an act of mercy in a thankful and loving manner has to make God our Father just beam with joy.

The merciful are indeed those special people who love all men as themselves: The merciful truly believe that whatever mercy they desire from God, they in turn will show to all men everywhere. The merciful are the ones who realize that our Heavenly Father demands that we be merciful, and they also realize that our acts of mercy will be repaid a thousand fold. Mercy is extremely important to Jesus Christ and much of the Bible either directly or indirectly deals in some way with mercy and kindness shown to others.

In Blade Runner, the dying replicant Roy Batty introspectively says the phrase, during a rain downpour, moments before his own death:

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in     the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. [pause] Time to die.

In the Channel 4 documentary On the Edge of Blade Runner, Rutger Hauer, director Ridley Scott, and screenwriter David Peoples asserted that Hauer wrote the "Tears in Rain" speech. There were earlier versions of the speech in Peoples's draft screenplays; one included the sentence "I rode on the back decks of a blinker and watched c-beams glitter in the dark, near the Tannhauser Gate." In his autobiography, Rutger Hauer said he merely cut the original scripted speech by several lines, adding only "All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain", although the original script, displayed during the documentary, before Rutger Hauer's rewrite, does not mention "Tannhauser Gate":

I've known adventures, seen places you people will never see, I've been Offworld and back... frontiers! I've stood on the back deck of a blinker bound for the Plutition Camps with sweat in my eyes watching the stars fight on the shoulder of Orion...I've felt wind in my hair, riding test boats off the black galaxies and seen an attack fleet burn like a match and disappear. I've seen it, felt it...!

Hauer described this as "opera talk" and "hi-tech speech" with no bearing on the rest of the film, so he "put a knife in it" the night before filming, without Ridley's knowledge. --Wiki

Blade Runner - TEARS IN RAIN [Hi-Res Video]

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