| Tuesday, February 28, 2006 |
| DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS???? |
BOEING 747
Birthplace: Everett, WA.
Originator: Joe Sutter
Hometown Now: Everett, Wa.
Date Introduced: February 9,1969
Number of Variants: 9
Maximum Number of Pax: 568(400 series)
Freighter Version Payload:285,000 lbs.
Number Made: 1,381
In one of aviation history's flukes, the most iconic airline of all time nearly did'nt happen. Originally intended as a military transport airplane, the 747 did'nt win the contract, coming second to the Lockheed C-5, Galaxy. However, Boeing was not despondent and developed the plane as a passenger jet instead. What became the "jumbo jet"was then the largest and heaviest passenger aircraft every built. The distinctive hump on its upper deck made it stand out from the crowd. The aircraft's wife, capacious body made it relatively economic to operate in terms of its high passenger-to-fuel ratio it could carry up to 600 economy passengers.
This mass transport capacity opened up the skies to millions more people. By 2005, the plance had been in service with world airlines for 35 years and was still in productions. The SP (Special Performance) vatriant of the 747 100 was a shorter by 47 feet. In March 1976, an aircraft of this type set the world non-stop flying distance record of 8,940 nautical miles.
DID YOU KNOW?
* A 747-400 has six million parts.
* When pressurized, a 747 fuselage holds over a ton of air.
* One 747-tubrbofan engine produces more thrust than all four engines on a Boeing 707.
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Bubble Wrap
Birthplace: Hawthorne, NJ
Originators: Al Fiielding and March Chavannes
Hometonw Now: Saddle Brook, NJ
Date Introduced: 1960
Today's Price: $6.85
Annual Revenue: $3.5 billion plus
Stock Exchange Symbol: SEE (Sealed Air Corporation)
Al Fielding and Marc Chavannes discovered Bubble Wrap by accident, when they were trying to develop plastic-backed wallpaper. The pair found Sealed Air and started selling the materials in 1960. The material is composed of polyethylene encapsulating air. Bubble Wrap is now produced in several varieties, and with vairous "air cell" sizes. But apart from pink, anti-static Bubble Wrap, the material remains unviersally transparent.
DID YOU KNOW?
* Bubble Wrap starred on the cover of Playboy in July 1977, wrappinmg Farah Fawcett's assests.
* The Museum of Modern Art, New York featured Bubble Wrap in its "Humble Masterpieces" exhibition.
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Coca-Cola
Birthplace: Atlanta, GA
Originator: John Stith Pemberton
Hometown Now: Atlanta, GA
Date Introduced: 1886
Spokesperson: Rhe Coca-Cola Company
Original Price: $0.05 a glass
Today's Price: Variable
Number of Products: Over 400 brands
Number Sold: 1.3 billion servings daily
Stock Exchange Symbol:COKE
Coca-Cola is probably the world's best-known taste, and was the first truly global brnad, Dr. John Stith Pemberton, a pharmacist from Atlanta, Georgia, invented the drink. He mixed the Coca-Cola syrup, which was combined with carbonated water to make a popular soda fountain drink, in the local Jacobs pharmacy. First customer who paid 5 cents a glass, pronounced ythe drink to be "excellent", delivious and refreshing.
Frank M. Robinson, suggested the product's unusual name and wrote it down in his rather florid handwriting, feeling that the "Two C's would looke well in advertising". The first ad for the drink appeared in the Atlanta Journal, and hand painted in oilcloth signs indicated which soda fountains offered the product. This was just the first step in a fantastic cooperation between the brand and advertising, which had made the trandemark universally recognized.
A continous stream of slogans have entered the colective consciousness, from "Drink Coca-Cola" in 1886, the iconic "I'd like to teach the World to Sing" television advertisment of 1971, right up to the simple assertion "Real" of todays' campaign.
From its original output of around nine drinks a day, Coca-Cola is now the world's most ubuquitous brand, serving over 1.3 billion drinks very day.
DID YOU KNOW?
* Coca-Cola advertising helped to create the modern image of Santa Claus.
* In 1985, Coca-Cola was the first soft drink consumed in space.
* Coca-Cola has originated a range of recipes based on beverage, including French Onion soup.
* Coca-Cola appears in countless fils, including "It's a Wonderful Life "- there is a 1914 Coca-Cola soda fountain in Gower Drugs.
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Converse All Star Sneakers
Birthplace: North Andover, Ma.
Originator: Marquis M. Converse
Hometown Now: North Andover, Ma
Date Introduced: 1917
Chuck Taylor Joins Company: 1921
Sales per Week: 30,000 pairs
Types of Fabric: 11
Total Sales: 580 million pairs plus
When Charles "Chuck" H. Taylor played basketball for the Akron Firestones, he appreciated the fit of a new pair of canvas shoes with high tops that he was given. In fact, he was so impressed that he toured the country promoting both basketball and the Converse range shoes. The shoes were a product of the Converse Rubber Company, founded by Marquis M. Converse in 1908. Chuck used his basketball knowledge to help improve the All Star shoes, and addes his signature to the ankel patch in 1923. Known as the "Ambassador of Basketball", Chuck's reputation was such that his endorsement of All Stars led virtually every player in the National Basketball League to wear the shoes. In World War II Chich became the fitness consultant to the U.S. Armed Forces, and the shoe became the official sports sneaker of the mobilized men. IN 1962 a new low cut versionof the "Chuck" the "Oxford", was introduced. By 1966 this was available in seven cool colors. Sadly, Chuck, died in 1969, when his beloved shoes were in the height of popularity. The All Star is now available in an array of fabrics; canvass, hemp,flanne;,leather,suede,nubuck, corduroy, denim,velvet, vinyl and even gold lame'. The shoes are now back in fashion right now, as part of the "post-pop-tart-punk" revival.
DID YOU KNOW?
* 60percent of all Americans have owned at least one pair of Converses.
*Kurt Cobain was wearing a pair of "One Star" Converse when he died.
* The shoe is 90 years old and still in fashion.
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Levi's 501s
Birthplace: San Franciso, Ca.
Originators: Levis Strauss and Jcob Davis
Hometown Now: San Francisco , Ca.
Date INtroduced: 1873
Date Patented: May 20, 1873
Original Price: $0.20
Sales Volume (2004): $4.16 billion
Main Levi Straus Brands: 3
Owners: Privately owned.
Levis Strauss (1829-1902) came to New York from his brithplace in Bavaria in 1847. Other members of his family had previously established a dry goods firm in the city, and after working alongside them for about six years, Levi moved to San Franciso, where he set up a prosperous wholesaling business selling frabrics and other merchandise. In 1873, he and one of his clients, a tailor from Nevada named Jacob W. Davis, obtained a joint patent, financed by Strauss, for a method of strengthening "a pair of pantaloons" by "having their pocket-openings secured at each end by means of rivets.... whereby the seams .... are prevented from ripping." Almost immediately, Strauss started manufacturing reinforced "waist overalls" (as they were called) to Davis specifications, eventually as working clothes, but Strauss did not live long enough to witness the gradual transformation of his company's robust denim pants, later known as "Levis", into fashionable leisure wear -- a process that probably began when Vogue magazine featured them in 1935, and was further boosted by movie stars,pop musicians, anbd other trend setters during the 50's and 60's.
DID YOU KNOWN?
* The red tab sewn into the side of the right-hand back pockets of Levis' pants made its debut in 1936.
* In 2001, Levis Strauss & Co. paid $46,532 at auction for a pair of workpants it had made in the 1880s.
* In 2004, the firm proclaimed that May 1(5/01) would henceforth be officially known as "501 Day."
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Marlboro Cigarettes
US Birthplace: New York, Ny
Originator: Philip Morris
Homewtown Now: Richmond, Va
Date INtroduced: 1902
Today's Price: c. $14.95 200 carton
Number of Products: 4 varieties
Inventor of Marlboro Man: Leo Burnett Co.
Marlboro Box Designer: Frank Gianininoto
Stock Exchange Symbol: MO
The Marlboro story is one of the most fascinating marketing stories of the twentieth century, the history o a brand that went from zero to hero with a brilliant campaing tht tapped deep into the American psyche. In 1954, the Marlboro brand accounted for less than 1 percent of the total cigarette market. In fact, it had struggled so badly during the war that slogan, "Mild as May" had tainted the brand for many men. But a new advertising campaing in 1955, featuring a series of "Marlboro Men", togehter with a switch to filtered brands from orlder smokers, caused a huge %5,000 percent) upsurge in the popularity of the brand. These "Marlboro Men" included a lifeguard, a sailor, a drill sergeant, a construction worker and a gambler, and (of course) a cowboy. They were all rugged, lean, healthy outdoorsmen with a masculine dignity. "The Marlboro Man speaks for himself"
The cowboy proved to be the most popular character, and was adopted as Marlboro's sole image in 1963. By December 1975, Marlboro was the top selling brand in the world with a market worth of $32 billion. Philip Morris cigarette brand now account for 38percent of the American cigarette market. Their parent company, the Altria Group, Inc. also own Kraft, General Food, Oscar Meyer and Miller Brewing.
DID YOU KNOW?
* English cigarett manufacturer Philip Morris originally established the brand.
* Morris opened his first tobacco shop in Bond Street, London, in 1854.
* The Marlboro brand was named for the London street where the company had its headquarters.
* The "Marlboro Man" Wayne McLarenm, died from lung cancer.
* "Marlboro Country" is one of the most widely recognized fictional landscape in the world.
(Source: Made in America by:Nick Freeth) |
| posted by infraternam meam @ 10:37 PM |
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| HAVE YOU HEARD OR READ THESE WORDS??? |
** Baby Signing -- a controversial new practice that teaches babies how to communicate by "signing" before they are old enough to speak -- as young as six months. Advocates argue that the practice -- which was codified and promoted by Dr. Joseph Garcia -- reduces frustration, gives babies a sense of control andlets parents communicate with their children earlier, and more successfully. Critics believe that the process has little value, and can actually slow the natural process of learning to speak. It seems to us that the pressure to turn babies into tiny communication factories is an outgrowth of our urgent need to accelerate the development of our children and make them smarter, faster.Many, like Neil Postman, author of the seminal Disappearance of Childhood are highly critical of a society that over programs and over stimulates children. Nonetheless, baby signing isprobably an unstoppable force, and it won't be long before a major baby products marketer, like J & J jumps on the bandwagon, or before we see a whole industry of Signing-Friendly Day Care Centers.
** Brain Fingerprinting - a procedure for determining if someone is telling the truth that could very well become the new standard, replacing the unreliable polygraph and the controversial voice-stress analysis.Brain fingerprinting, developed by Dr. Lawrence Farrell, is based upon the fact that neurological responses donot lie. A series of electronic sensors read the subject"s "Brain Fingerprinting" as he or she reponds to images flashed on a screen. Preliminary tests, conducted with federal agencies, have found it to be 100 percent accurate.
** Fusarium Oxysporum - forget your drug-sniffing dogs and your police sweeps. The real way to wipe out cocaine, marijuana and heroin is biological warfare. A fungus known as fusarium oxysporum is being tested as a devastatinly effective -- and environmentally safe - way to destroy the growing fields. It's a bioherbicide, in other words; the stuff is so effective, reports The New York Times that Monatna State University suspended its research two years ago, afraid that they would be a target of drug cartels. It looks as though fusarium oxysporum could be the drug lord's worst nightmare.It's a narrative made for Hollywood evil drug chief battle bioherbalist.
** Cubanglo - coined by the writer Juan Flores to describe those residents of Miami's Cuban community who were born in the United States.
** Dem - to pinpoint a specific individual based on his or her demographic and psychographic characteristis. While this has always been done, sophisticated database marketers have dramatically elevated their ability to target with stunning precision, spurred by behavioural information gleaned from the Internet: they know who you are, where you live, what you buy, what groups you belong to, what magazines you read, how you like your coffee. In the future, we will be demmed by a posse of observant marketers (not to mention political candidates and nonprofit groups) just about every day.
** Edgewalkers - descrines those of mixed background like Tiger Woods (Asian and African American) who are creating a new America. In her book Edgewalkers, Nina Boyd Kreba writes the they "donot shed one skin when they move from theri cultures of origin to the mainstream and back. Edgewalkers maintain continuity wherever they go, walking the edge between two cultures in the same persona". The writer Walter Mignolo called this phenomenon "Bilanguaging" Basho Fujimoto, a young man who has an Irish-Welsch mother and a Japanese-American father, is quoted in the book as saying, "Our interest is not in taking traditional elements from our old cultures and mixing them all together, making from our old cultures and mixing them all together, making a nice, evenly distributed multicultruralism. It is more like taking the consciousness of all our heritage ... and working with that to create something new." This something new is going to be the most radical culture change we've seen since the great waves of early 20th century immigration -- influencing everything from food and literature to structures of thought.
** Generation 1.5 - descrines those Asians who came to the United States as Children; the segment was named by Asia Link Consulting Group. Depending on when they immigrated and their family circumstances here, some Generation 1.5ers assimilate rapidly, others try to hold on to their roots.
** H-1B Debate -- H-1B is the category that Immigration and Naturalization Service uses for visas that are issued to skilled foreign workers. The technology explosion has created great demand for these workers, and the tech industry keeps pushing to raise the ceiling; the current cap is 195,000 visas per year, but it is expected to go to even heigher, since 850,000 tech jobs are open. Immigration has alwys been a hugely sensitive issue, as Americans are torn between ourlong history of welcoming newcomers and our desire to keep Americans employed. Clearly, there is a shortage of skilled tech workers now, but in a forseeable future, when Americans are battling with foreign workers over jobs, a large national debate will erupt over H-1B and it will be on the tip of everyrone's tongue. Also, with unemployment well over 10 percent among some minority groups, the growth in H-1B workers is an ongoing example of our own demestic educational failures.
** Neoyorquinos - used to describe the polygot nature of Latino culture in the New York region. This dynamic, fast growing group -- which includes Puerto Rican, Domincans, Colombians and Cubans, -- makes it difficult, if not impossible to generalize about Latino culture and politics.
** Millennium Generation - used to describe those between 15 and 25; the most racially diverse group in American history; one third are black, Latino, Asian or Native American. While its predecessor generation is 60 percent more likely to be non-white than its parents' generation. They won't lean, shop or vote like any group we've seen, and - because they believe that rules aren't inherited, but invented - they will define the America to be.
** Nowherians -- coined by writer -- and nowherian himself - Pico Iyer to describe those born in one place -- often from parents of diverse ethnicity - raised somehwere else, shcooled in yet a different place and now engaged in a career in which they travel around the world. Nowherians, onne could argue, are the citizens of the future, as they are increasingly disscociated from geography and are creatures of transport and motion. The matra of previous generations was "there's no place like home"; for Newherians it's "There's no place that is home ". The open question; where will their loyalties and emotional center reside?
** Authethnic - whether it's food or literature or entertainment, authethnic describes the real thing: cultural expressions that are unadulterated, unmodified, uncompromised. These come from the pure heart of ethnic expreience, as opposed to that which has been put through the homogenizing mill of American Culture. When we seek out the Vrazilian restaurant run by a family from Rio, buy tickets for a singer of Portugese Fado in a part of twon we've never been or track down a Russian 'emigre' artist before her work gets swept up by the chic galleries, we are in pursuit of the Authethnic. And it's even becoming harder to find, even globally: Travel and Leisure magazine writes of sushi bars in Dublin, Mariachi bands in Kathmandu and Thail hill people drinking bottles of Guinnes..
** Britafornia - while you might think that there are few places on earth as different as Britain and California. Britafornia describes the transformation of England in a manner that parallels the demographic shifts in California. How? Consider that a large and increasing number of Britain's college graduates and successful enterpreneurs are Asian newcomers. These recent immigrants, amny from China, India and Pakistan, have achieved higher living standards that average whites, and the resulting demographic and income shifts will have profound (and not always positive) implications for British social life.
(Source: Dictionary of the Future by: Faith Popcorn and Adam Hanft) |
| posted by infraternam meam @ 12:38 AM |
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| POPE'S CARDINAL PICK COULD IRRITATE CHINA |
One of 15 new men to wear red hat is thorn in Beijing's side.
VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI named his first batch of cardinals Wednesday, sending strong political messages with nominations in Hong Kong and Venezuela.
Benedict named 15 new "Princes" of the Roman Catholic Church. One was sentimental favorite Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, Pope John Paul II's longtime private secretary.
The cardinals come from 11 countries on five continents and include the archbishops of Boston, Krakow, Poland; Seoul, South Korea; Bordeaux, France; Bologna, Italy; Manila, Philippines and Toledo, Spain.
Along with the Boston archbishop, Sean P. O'Malley, the other American selected was Archbishop William Levada.
A key appointment is that of HongKong Bishop Joseph Zen, an outspoken China critic and supporter of the underground church.
Benedict has sought to restore diplomatic relations with China, and Zen's nomination could be seen as an affront to Beijing. However, China experts said Benedict's selection was also practical, given that Zen is an expert on the Chinese Church and as cardinal will serve as a close papal adviser.
China broke ties with the Vatican in 1951 and demands that Catholics worship only in churches approved by the state-controlled Catholic Patriotic Association, which does not recognize the pope's authority.
"What the church, Monsignor Zen and the Vatican would like is just to be free to express our own faith, to express the freedom of religion, not to be involved in politics." said the Rev. Bernardo Cervellera, a China expert.
Benedict also nominated Caracas Archbishop Jorge Urosa Savino, who has sought to defuse recent tensions between the church in Venezuela and socialist President Hugo Chavez.
(Source: Assocaited Press by: Nicole Winfield) |
| posted by infraternam meam @ 12:13 AM |
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| Monday, February 27, 2006 |
| DE PAUL UNIVERSITY OFFERS FIRST 'QUEER STUDIES' MINOR |
College student Eric Oliver sits in the classroom's front row, ready to learn about Italian poet Dante and Catholic theologian St. Thomas Aquinas and theri views in morality and sin.
This isn't a religion, philosophy or literature class. It's an introductory course in queer studies, and tfor the next 90 minutes, Oilver and his calssmates study the history of same-sex desire, the biology of gender indentity and government reactions to homosexual behavior dating back for centuries. It is no longer remarkable that the subjects are taught, but on this day, it is notable where the discussions is taking place. The classroom is on the DePaul campus, the country's largest Catolic University and, it is believed, the first Catholic school to offer an undergraduate minor in queer studies. The minor became available in January.
"I can see how it may seem like a big step", said Gary Cestaro, Director of Lesbian, Gat, Busexual, Transgender and Queer Studies, the offical name of the minor.
Other Catholic schools, including Georgetown and Santa Clara in California, offer coruses in the subject, but they fall under Women and Gender Studies programs. Notre Dame offers a course on sex and sexuality in U.S. history that includes discussion on homosexuality and gay liberation.
Several non-religious colleges offer degrees in the subject, including the Illinois. which allows students to focus on queer studies within the gender and women's studies department.
"Institutions of higher learning, Catholic or not, are about open investigation and free inquiry. DePaul particularly has a strong indentity that involves commitment to social justice and to the urban community . At least from that perspective. LGBT studies make a lot of sense here," Cestaro said.
The new program, whcih began this semester, comes as religiously affilitated universities are grappling with potential conflicts between contemporary issues and religious values. Rev. John Jenkins, president of Notre Dame, recently limited the campus 'Queer Film Festival' and "The Vagina Monologues" show, requiring the festival to change its name and banning fundraising for the performance.
Jenkins, who wants the Catholic view point represented in discussions of morality, has requested faculty and student inout before deciding whether the shows should continue in future years.
Nicholas Lund-Molfese, who works with the higher education ministry at the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, said teh archidiocese isn't necessarily opposed to the program at DePaul.
"I dont' have any allergic reaction per se to the subject matter. There were ways it could be treated good and ways it could be treated bad, which is true of any course that deals with history or sociology", he said. "Are there ways of doing this that would be according to Catholic teaching? Tes. Are there ways of doing this that would be opposed to Catholic teachings? Yes"
Although DePaul officials say the minor has'nt been cmtroversial, it does have critics.
Karl Maurer, spokesman for Catholic Citizens of Illinois, said he plans to send a letter to DePaul's president, denouncing a program that he contends "validates people in sinful lifestyle". Catholicism teaches that homosexual activity is immoral.
"I am very disappointed that anti-Catholic propaganda would be given such a high level of attention by DePaul", said Maurer of New Lenox, a DePaul graduate. "Keep in mind this is a university that calls itself the largest Catholic school in the country. This is almost truth in advertising."
Rev. James Halstead, chair of DePauls' religious studies department, said he has no academic qualms about the minor, but said he has had concerns about how it would affect DePaul's image.
"For those who don't know the inner workings of a university, study means study. Advocacy means advocacy. How does this play in circles outside the university that is a concern," Halstead said. "From the university's point of view, this is a matter that ought to be studied in a multidisciplinary study."
Students seem to agree. Cestaro, who is teaching the introductory course Tuesday and Thursday mornings this semester,s aid demand exceeded the 30 spots in the class.
(Source: REDEYE from Chicago News Services) |
| posted by infraternam meam @ 4:04 AM |
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| FIVE OH: MEN SAY SEX GETS BETTER WITH AGE |
Study: 50-years-olds more satisfied thatn men in 30s and 40s.
Maybe 50 really is nifty.
A new study finds that men in their 50s are more satisfied with their sex lives than men in their 30s and 40s. And they're almost as satisfied as men in their 20s, researchers say.
Least satisfied: men 70 and 79.
Some 1,185 Norwegian men were asked to rank, on a scale of zero to four, their overall satisfaction with their sex live. Tops were the twentysomethings, who averaged an overall satisfaction level of 2.79.
Men 50 to 59 were next, with a score of 2.77. The fortyish crowd scored a 2.72 and the thirtysomething froup a 2.55. Men between the ages of 70 and 79 trailed with a 2.14 rating.
Researchers were particularly intrigued that these numbers were recorded even as men in their 50s reported higher levels of sexual performance problems, such as difficulty maintaining erections.
"Although men experience more problems and less sexual function as they get older, it does'nt necessarily follow that they are less satisfied with their sex lives as a result." says lead author Sophie D. Fossa, who conducted the research with experts from the University of Oslo, the University of Bergen and Harvard Medical School.
The findings which came from responses from both married and single men, appear in this month's British Journal of Urology.
Men in their 50s may be "more settled" that their younger counterparts, said Xenia P.Montenegrp, who has studied the sex lives of older Americans. Older men have "different expectations" when it comes to sex - when you're in your 50s "you know what sex is and what it's going to be", said Montenegro, who co-authored the 2004 report "Sexuality At Middle and Beyond" for AARP.
It may be that men in their 30s and 40s have higher stress levels from trying to build their careers while caring for their youg families - pressures that can erode enjoying pleasure of all kinds, Montenegro added.
In the AARP study, 54 percent of men 50 to 59 said they had intercourse at least once a week in the past six months. Some 28 percent reported having oral sex. But Montenegro said frequency of sex and satisfaction levels are not always linked.
In other studies, Unversity of Chicago researchers have detected a connection between commitment and sexual satisfcation. The longer couples are together, the more they learn how to please each other, say Linda J. Waite and Maggie Gallagher in the Case for Marriage.
Not that the gray temple guys are completely satisfied. In the AARP study, one out of three respondents said they would be more satisfied if their partner showed more initiative in the bedroom.
(Source:CHICSUNTIMES/Andrew Herrmann/Staff Reporter) |
| posted by infraternam meam @ 3:44 AM |
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| Saturday, February 25, 2006 |
| GIRL 7, WEDS DOG TO PROTECT FAMILY FROM 'EVIL EYE' |
NEW DELHI - A 7 year old girl wed a stray dog as part of a ritual to ward off the "evil eye" on her and her family in eastern India, a news agency reported Wednesday.
Shivan Munda's uppet teeth appeared before her lower teeth - considered a bad omen by members of the Shantal ethnic group to which she belons, the Press Trust of India said in a report from Dhanbad, a coal mining town in the eastern state of Bihar.
Kundan Munda, a coal mine worker, said his daughter married the dog only to "remove the evil eye" a superstitious belief that some misfortune could befall her and the family, and that she would be free to marry a man later.
Friends and family participated in three days of traditional ceremonies and festivities that are part of a Shantal tribal marriage, Unda sais, according to the report.
(Source: Assocaited Press) |
| posted by infraternam meam @ 3:19 PM |
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| Thursday, February 23, 2006 |
| NATIVISM |
NATIVISM IS A STRONG DISLIKE FOR ETHNIC,RELIGIOUS, OR POLITCAL MINORITIES WITHIN ONE'S CULTURE.
In North America it was founded principally upon the fear that immigrant attitudes will erode the distinctive features of the majority culture. Unlike ethnocentrism, a generalized, largely passive perception of the superiority of one's own culture, Nativisim leads to pronounced activism and sometimes hostile measures taken in order to avert a perceived dnager. Nativism is common in most cultures during times of economic or political turmoil, and thee have been periodic waves of Nativism in both the United States and Canada throughout their histories.
In the United States, there had been from the earliest colonila days a mistrust among settlers from different countries and of different religions. These general antiphaties first rose to form Nativist movements to the 1790s, when the Federalists hoped to keep out what they saw as the corroding influence of radical immigrants by passing the ALIEN AND SEDITION ACTS. With the majority of settlers in British territories being Protestant Anglicans and Puritans, Quakers and Roman Catholics were seen as potential threats to the traiditonal English order. While these attitudes persisted in the early republic, there was no full Nativist frenzy until the 1830s. Yhe influx of more than a quarter of a million Irish, most of them Catholic, between 1820 and 1840 led to the second great wave of Nativism in the United States.
As most Americans were members of Protestant denominations that fostered the ethic of American individualism, it was easy to convince people in hard times that "Papal Schemes" to control American societies were afoot. SAMUEL F.B. MORSE'S Foreign Conspiracy against the Liberties of the United States (1834) and Reverend Lyman Beecher's A Plea for the West (1835) sought to alert American to clandestine plots being mastermined in Rome for the cultural takeover of the country.
Sensational exposes of Catholic practices were common in the press. Maria Monk's Awful Disclosures of the Hotel Dieu Nunnery of Montreal (1836), purporting to tell the firsthand account of the author's imprisonment in a Catholic monastery, many Americans feared the potential power of the Roman Catholic Church to overrun the Protestant foundation of the emerging public system of education. This sometimes led to violence, as in the Philadelphia riots in 1884, when a number of Iriah Catholics were killed and several churches burned. Thsi anti-Catholic Nativism led during the 1850s to the rise of the Secret Order of the Star Spangled Banner, more commonly known as the Know Nothing or American Party.
The Know Nothings were particularly strong in the Northeast and border regions. In the wake of their strong shwoing in 1854 and 1855, in which they gained control of several state governments and sent more than 100 congressmen to Washington, tehy attempted to restrict immigration, delay natrualization and perceived Catholic abuses. Finding little evidence to support Catholic crimes or conspiracies and with the country embroiled in the states rights and slavery issues. Know Nothing political influence and anti Catholic Nativism waned. Many non-Catholic Americans remained suspcious of Catholics, and occassionally anit Catholic Nativism reemerged, as in the formation of the AMERICAN PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION (1887)
The Theory of racial eugenies and international politics combined during World War I (1914-18)to produce an especially virulent strain of Nativism. Widely read pseudo-scientific works such as Madison Grant's Passing of the Great Race (1916) and Lothrop Stoddard's The Rising Tide of Color (1920) argued that Anglo Saxon vitality and success were threatened with mongrelization if immigrantion continued unabated.According to Grant, interraccial unions led to reversions to a "more ancient, generalized and lower" race. Blaming the Central Powers for World War I and Russians and Jews for the Bolshevik Revolution, which led to the establishment of the world's first communist state ifn 1917, Americans widely accepted the distinction between "old", pre-1880 immigration from westen and northern Europe. Throughout kuch of the 1920s, fear of German, Russians and Jewish subversives was commonplace and led to a revival of the Ku Klux Klan as an antiforeign organization and to a wholesale adoption of restrictive immigration legistlative witht he JOHNSON-REED ACT (1924) and the ORIENTAL EXCLUSION ACT (1924), the former practically eliminating immigration from eastern and southern Europe and the latter prohibiting virtually all Asian immigration.
Nativism undoubtedly contributed to President Franklin Roosevelt's unwillingness to suppor the Wagner-Rogers Bill (1939)which would have allowed annual admissions beyond quota, for two years, of 20,000 German refugees under the age of 14. Also during the depression years of the 1930s, more than 500,000 Mexican Americans were repatriated to Mexico. With the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939, restrictions on immigration were increased. Fear of undercover agents led to a drastic reduction of admission from Nazi-occupied countries, the Alien Registration Act was passed in 1940, the IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE (INS) was moved from the Department of Labor to the Department of Justice, and a network of law enforcement agencies was authorized to compile a list ofaliens for possible internment should the United States enter the war. This eventually led to the internment of some 3,500 Italians, 6,000 Germans and under the provisions of Executive Order 9066, 113,000 Japanese, more than 60 percent of whom were American Citizens.
Nativism began to ebb after World War II. THE McCARRAN-WALTER IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT (1952) maintained guotas but eliminated race as a barrier. U.S. Cold War commitments led to the admission of a variety of refugess on an exceptional basis. Finally, the IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT of 1965 abolished the national origins system and favored reunification of families, regardless of homeland.
Source: Abstracted from the book NORTH AMERICAN IMMIGRATION by: John Powell) |
| posted by infraternam meam @ 2:23 PM |
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| Wednesday, February 22, 2006 |
| ALLIANCE OF FILIPINO AMERICANS FOR THE PROTECTION OF IMMIGRANTS RIGHTS |
February 2006
To the Honorable Senator of the U.S. Congress:
We, the undersigned members of the Filipino American community express our serious discontent with the ongoing abuses suffered by immigrants in this country. In particular, the descriminatory treatment of undocumented and temporary workers is causing us great concern. We appeal to you as an elected member of the U.S. Congress to stand against the expansion of all forms of injustice, but most especially the insensitive policies and erosion of rights perpetrated on immigrant communities.
In recent years, immigrants of color have been suffering the most severe rollback of rights and liberties. Arab and Muslim Americans live in fear of biased initiatives like Special Registration and domestic spying. Latinos are frequently victims of workplace raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Many Filipino Americans suffer through life-threatening medical conditions rather than seek emergency care at a public hospital. Immigrants of color are treated as second-class members of society as a matter of policy.
Every human being deserves the same opportunity to pursue life, and happiness, including immigrants.
Today, our country is mired in a polarized debate over immigrants policy, which is really about how to integrate newcomers into civil society. On one side are those who see immigrants as cheap instruments of production who should be denied to basic public services and workplace equality. On the other side are those who support the rights of all people to live with dignity and respect. We've been here before as a nation, it was called segregation and Jim Crow.
Rights are approximately 2.4 million Filipino-Americans in the U.S., 65 percent of whom are foreign-born. Within this group, anywhere rom 6percent to 35 percent are undocumented (respective estimates of the U.S. and Philipine Government). This amounts to thousands upon thousands of Filipino living under the constant threat of deportation and vulnerable to employer abuse.
There are those in the U.S., who fear social progress and seek to exploit and abuse newcomers to our country. We hope you are not one among them.
The solution to this complex issue is not out of our reach. Proposals that grant permanent resident status to the undocumented, restore fairness to the deportation process, and reject the further expansion of existing guestwoker programs are among the most equitable ways to show our respect for the contributions of immgirants and integrate newcomers into American society.
We must also reject all attempts to further rollback the rights if immigrants, including the REAL ID ACT and bills such as HR 4437, the Border Protection, Anti-Terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act.
As members of the Filipino community, we implore you to back the current trend fo racist laws and policies that relegate immigrants to second-class status in society.
Instead, we invite you to stand for the rights and dignity of all people.
For further information, you may contact the Fellowship of Filipino Migrants at telephone (224)281-6888 or e-mail nerisaafpmc@yahoo.com, lead convenor of AFAPIR.
(Source: an open letter from The Filipino-American Community Builder/ Feb '06 issue) |
| posted by infraternam meam @ 11:14 PM |
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| FILIPINO AMERICAN ALLIANCE FIGHTS CRIMINALIZATION OF IMMIGRANTS |
CHICAGO, Illinois - On January 21, after the Chicago Koneks educational forum on the impact of HR 4437 to the immigrant communities, more than 40 leaders of FilAM grassroots organization organized the Alliance of Filipino Americans to Protect Immigrants' Rights (AFAPIR).
AFAPIR's immediate concern is to promote the passage of the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act (S.1033) which was introduced in the Senate by Sen. John McCain of Arizona on May 12,2005 and the defeat of HR4437 or the Border Protection, anti-Terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act which was approved on December 16th 2005 by the House of Representatives.
Senator Durbin, in his letter to Grace Villamor of AFAPIR's Lobbying committee, said "S. 1033 includes provisions desgined to improve border security and to reduce the number of undocumented immigrant wrokers in ou country by reforming our nation's immigration policies. The legistlation would create a porcess for immigrant workers who pay taxes and otherwise obey the laws to come out of the shadow encourage the reuniting of families spearated by immigration, require the development of a national strategy for border security, and strengthen enforcement of labor and immigration laws"
Meanwhile, Atty, Maricar Madrid Crost, one of the panelists in the forum said, "This measure (HR 4437), which is presented in the guise of promoting national security, is not the answer to illegal immigration. Its venom has a far-reaching adverse impact upon illegal aliens and family memebrs, legitimate businesses and even well meaning social service entities. It will also burden the average American who will end up paying for the cost of implementation."
Rev. Fr. Caludio Holzer, the representative of the Scalabrini Mission Center to the forum said, "The bill is the manifestation of the rising tide of anti-immigration sentiment. It is insensitive to the long-tradition of the church to open its doors to anyone, without exception, needing help".
Indeed, HR4437 is considered in the immigrant and civil rights circles as nasty and draconian bill meant to make immigrant and refugee communities suffer even more.
Crost added, "THis bill is loaded with punitive, mean-spirited provisions that will harm not only millions of immigrants but also many people who work with immigrants on a daily basis. Among the lowlights of the bill are:
-- The Bill would turn millions of hard working immigrants into criminals by making unlawful presence in the US (previously a non-criminal matter) a felony.
-- It would make anyone who provides any aid to an undocumented immigrant a felon (including relatives, lawyers, teachers, clergy members, and social service workers).
-- It would force employees to verify Social Security numbers, inlcuding those of current employees, in effect forcing millions of immigrant workers out of work.
-- It would spend #2billion on a nearly 800-mile long fence along the Arizonea and California border.
-- It would broaden many grounds for deportation and increase penalties for many immigration-related offenses; and
-- Abolish the Diversity Visa program, a major immigration program enables thousands of immigrants who lack a family or employer sponsor to lawfully come to the US."
On another hand, Elsie Sy Niebar, a columnists of Via Times and a long time community activitist, implores the participation of well-meaning leaders. She said, "this is an issue we should all unite and work together. We should not allow our kababayan exploited by anyone, especially by another kababayan".
Please collect signatures and send our community's Statement of Concern to:
Sen. Richard Durbin
332 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING,
WASHINGTON DA, 20510
Sen. Barack Obama
713 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING,
WASHINGTON DC 20510
(Source: Abstracted from "The Filipino-American COMMUNITY BUILDER,Feb. 06 Issue) |
| posted by infraternam meam @ 10:41 PM |
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| Tuesday, February 21, 2006 |
| A FILIPINO LABOR ACTIVIST |
CARLOS BULOSAN (1911 - 1956)
Carlos Bulosan, a Filipino migrant worker, emerged as one of America's most respected writers and labor activist during the 1940s. Although he was disillusioned later in life, his novels reflect the optimism of immigrant opportunity in the United States.
Bulosan emigrated from Luzon Island in the Philippines in 1930. Having had considerable contact with Americans and having heard favorabale reports from relatives and friends, he traveled to Seattle, Washington, where poverty forced him to sell his services to a labor contractor, who put him to work in the Alaskan canneries. From the dangerous first season in the canneries through a variety of low-wage agricultrual jobs in Washington, California, Idaho, Montana, and Oregon, Bulosan learned firsthand the deceptiveness of the "American Dream". Not only were jobs hard to find during the depression, but racial prejudices was common. Riding boxcars across the West, he witnessed the plight of the African Americans, Chinese, Jews, and fellow Filipinos, who alng with poor whites were struggling tomake ends meet with dignity. Bulosan nevertheless met with many acts of kindness by ordinary Americans and marveled at the moral complexity of the country: "America are all Americans that have toiled and suffered and known oppression and defeat, from the first Indian that offered peace in Manhattan to the last Filipino pea pickers."
Determined to give his people a voice and to help immigrants cope with their difficultires, Bulsoan expressed his exprience in stories and poems. In 1934, he established the radical magazines The New Tide and became active in labor politics. He also published in mainstream magazines such as the New Yorker and Harper's Bazaar. In 1950, he became editor of the highly politicized yearbook of the United Cannery and Packing House Workers of America. At the time of his death from tuberculosis in 1956, he was little known, but Filipino immigrants of the 1960s and 1970s revived interest in his life and work. Bulosan is best remembered for three semiautobiographical World War II-era works dealing with the paradox of American attitudes toward Asian Immigrants: The Voice of Bataan (1943), The Laughter of My Father (1944), and America Is in the Heart (1946). The 1973 republication of the latter novel led to its widespread use in college classrooms and a greater appreciation for Bulosan.
(Source: Abstracted from the Book/ NORTH AMERICAN IMMIGRATION by: John Powell) |
| posted by infraternam meam @ 11:41 PM |
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| REMOTE REDUX |
Be a control freak with hot new gadgets.
The remote control must be pushing all the right buttons - it's no longer just the meek little touch pad presiding over the family TC or DVD player.
The year, it will be empowerd beyond its wildest AAA battery powered dreams. It'll be asked to operate an Xbox 360 and a Windows Media Center PC. It'll bulk up with Wi-Fi. And, in its most daring mission, it'll control an entire house -- turning up the heat, truning on the home theater and closing the blinds with a single command.
Logitech's Harmony 890 Advanced Universal Remote($400, www.logitech.com)
New Z-Wave technology from Zenys of Denmark. (www.Zen-sys.com) promises control-coordinating appliances, light switches and home-entertainment devices with a remote-without expensive rewiring.
Leviton (lighting) and Wayne-Alton (garage doors) are among the manufacturers developing products using Z-Wave technology, which delivers RF, of radio frequency, signals from one device to another throughout the house. (Other manufacturers have adopted a similar technology called ZigBee).
The 890, whcih can operate up to 15 devices whithin 100 feet, uses a simple online setup wizard for programming commands. It uses a rechargeable lithum-ion battery and comes with a charging station.
Gyration Media V=Center Remote Control (Model GPR6005,$150. www.Gyration.com. due in the spring)
This part remote, part mpuse performs all the basic tricks with a home theater, but it also controls a Media Center PC. A mini-gyroscope turns this remote into a wireless, motion-sensing mouse, so you can summon, video or music files off your Media Center PC from the sofa.
Accoustic Research Wl-Q Universal Remote Control (Model APR2470, $299, www.thomson.net, due this spring)
The Wi-Q won't close your motorized blinds, but this Wi-Fi equipped home threater remote displays a program guide -- along with localized news, weather and sports uwing technology developed by TVcompass of Chicago-on a full color screen thatmeasure a little more than a square inch.
Using its INternet connection, the Wi-Q updates the program guide automatically. It'll remind you with a written prompt, too, when your favoraite programs are about to start. But a program guide on a tiny remote control screen? Well, it means a little less clutter on the TV screen.
Logitech's Harmony Advanced Universal Remote for Xbox 360 ($130, www.logitech.com)
A home theater remote with a set of buttons dedicated to the Xbox 360. Press a button and the 42-inch plasma, the audio video receiver and 360 fire up, ready to play Condemed: Criminal Origin in high-definition with surround sound.
Miracle Remote from Dynatron ($30, www.miracleremote.com)
The Miracle Remote isn't much of a miracle - but it works. Dynatron sells these replacement remotes for a TV brands. They won't work with a TV/VCR or TV/DVD, just TVs. The Miracle Remote does a few things an $8 drugstore remote can't like calling up picture in picture and running the auto-program feature that dials in all your channels.
Otherwise, they're pretty much the same. But these cheaper replacement remotes requires the owner to input coding to match TV, DVD player or CVR brnads.
GE, Find it Universal Remote ($40. www.jascorpoducts.com)
Here's another strange but true remote that includes two way paging technology. It's not just a remote control, it's a search party. The remote comes with a "Lost Item Locator" that attaches to a key chain, cell phone, purse-anything that might get lost. The remote finds a lost item by sending out an RF signal. When you hear beeping, that means your lost item is found. One caution: The remote can only locate item within 30 feet.
(Source: REDEYE/THE HARTFORD COURANT) |
| posted by infraternam meam @ 11:11 PM |
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| MAN IN ANIMAL CASE ARGUES HE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO REGISTER AS SEX OFFENDER. |
BATTLE CREEK, Mich. - A man who pleaded no contest to a sodomy charge involving a sheep says he should not have to register as a sex offender.
Jeffrey S. Haynes said the state registry is intended to keep track of people wjo have committed crimes against humans.
But Valhoun Country Circuit Court Judge Conrad Sindt told Haynes at his sentencing hearing that once he is released from prison, he must register with the Michigan State Polic Public Sex Offender Registry.
Haynes, 42, of Battle Creek, was sentenced Monday to 2 1/2 years to 20 years in prison. A no contest plea is not an admission of guilt but is treated as such for sentencing purposes.
Tamara Towne, an assistant prosecutor for the county, argued that Haynes should be ordered to register as a sex offended because once out of prison, he could prey on children or vulnerable adults.
Haynes said he isnot a violent person and would not assault children.
"The prosecutor is being real hard on me for what I did", he said. "But I should not be treated as a child molester."
A telephone call seeking commment wasleft Tuesday at the Marshall office of defense attorney John B. Sullivan.
Police said Haynes had sex with a sheep at a Bedford Township farm on Jan. 26, 2005. The animal's owner caught him on the property and the sheep was found injured.
Haynes was arrested in June after a DNA sample taken from the animal matched Haynes genetic material.
Haynes has prior conviction for burglary, home invasion and uttering and publishing, and was on parole for burglary at the time of the sex crime.
(Source:CHICSUNTIMES/Associated Press) |
| posted by infraternam meam @ 11:00 PM |
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| THE HOLE TRUTH |
WHAT'S UP WITH THE GOOFY OLYMPIC MEDALS?
TURIN, Italy., Some folks think it looks like a doughnut. Others see a bagel. Or a giant Life Saver, or a CD.
An Austrian Olympian used it as an eye patch. Whatever the view, it really is an Olympic medal.
Designed by Italians who thought long and hard about the best way to symbolize their country, the Turin medals ae very different from any predessor, and for the first time in Winter Games history, the gold, silver and bronze all have a hole in themiddle.
Designer Dario Quatrini sayas the hole represents the open space of an Italian piazza, or city sqaure. Except the medal isn't square at all -- it's round. And when worn, Quatrini has explained, it has yet another meaning.
"Circling and revelaing the area near the heart and focusing attention on the athlete's vital energy and human emotions", says Turin Olympic Committee.
The Winter Games, unlike the Summer Olympics, allows organziers great freedom in designing the shape and size and content of medals.
At 1994 Lillehammer Games in Norway, for instance, themedals contained sparagamaite, a stone extracted from the ski jump site. At Nagano in 1998, Japanese organizers used lacquer.
In 2003, at Salt Lake City, themedals were'nt round at all, but rather had uneven edges that were supposed to look like river rocks found in Utah streams and rivers.
Jennifer Heil of Canada wong a gold medal in women's mogul on the opening day of competition. She likes her medal just fine.
"I just wanted it to be heavy, because I knew there was, like, a big hole in it, and I was'nt disappointed", she said, "It hink it's trully cool".
(Abstracted from REDEYE/Associated Press) |
| posted by infraternam meam @ 4:48 AM |
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| Saturday, February 18, 2006 |
| PICTURE BRIDES (MAIL-ORDER BRIDES)TO THE UNITED STATES |
This informal term refers to women who married single immigration men they had never met but with whom they had exchanged photographs, usually through family intermediaries. Securing picture brides was most common among Japanese and Korean laborers in Hawaii during the early 20th century and was viewed as an extension of the traditional custom of arrangedmarriages. By the start of the 20th century, thousands of single laborers from Japan and Korea had become established in the United States, but with few single women from their home countries, family life was impossible. The costs of a return trip to Asia to marry was prohibitvely expensive, so they used the picture-bride system instead, as they were usually known in Europe, though with fewer immigrantion restrictions, there was less gender imbalance in the 1990s, as women seeking escape from poverty and gender limitations in countries in Souteast Asia and Europe advertised themselves through more than 200 matchmaking agencies for marriage to men from economically advanced, western nations.
The vast majority of Asian immigrants arriving in North America were single males, most hoping to earn enough money to return to their homelands and enjoy a better life. More often than not, they stayed, building a new life in America. With a rising tide of anti-Asian sentiments in the United States and Canada,however, and increasingly restrictive regulations in measures such as the CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT (1882), the CHINESE IMMIGRANTION ACT (1885), and the GENTLEMEN'S AGREEMENT (1907), it became clear that the gender imbalance would not be redressed. Workers often turned to families or other matchmakers to help them arrange marriages in theri home countries. The practice became especially prevalent after 1907. when a loophole in the Gentlemen's Agreement provided that wives of Japanese immigrants were excluded from the new restrictions. As Japan formalized its protectorate of Korea after 1907, the labor immigration of Koreans that had begun in 1903 was curtailed, though families and Japanese marriage agents did arrange for abaout 1,100 Korean pictures brides to enter the United States before the JOHNSON-REED ACT halted the practice in 1924. Most Japanese and Korean picture brides immigrated to Hawaii, marrying men much older than themselves. They were often shocked to see husbands who looked mothing like their pictures, though most chose to stay rather than return to their previous circumstances.
With ecnomic malaise characteristic of many former Soviet territories, by the late 1990s it is estimated that more than 150,000 women from these region were usingmail-order bride agencies to advertise themselves in an attempt to escape their economic and social ciccumstances. Western men who sought out wives in this way tended to be well-educated and generally prosperous but, based on recent evidence, felt threatened by the effects of greater gender equity in western countries. The exact number of these arrange marriages is uncertain but probably averaged around 5,000 annually throughout 1990s, less than 6 percent of the total number of spouses entering the United States and Canada each year. During 1990s and early 2000s, the great majority of women advertising in North America as potential brides came either from Southeast Asia or the countries of the former Soviet Union.
Although the divorce rate in mail-order marriages appears to be lower than in the population generally, the system is open to abuse by both spouses. A sginificant number of women clearly used the policy provisions of both the United States and Canada, permitting the naturalization of wives regardless of birth country, in order to bypass ordinary immigration restrictions. Before 1986, foreign spouses in the United States generally were granted permanent rsidency as a matter ov course. Concern over fraudulent marriage led to the passage of IMMIGRATION MARRIAGE FRAUD AMENDMENTS (1986,1990), requiring a two-year wait for condiitonal resident status for the alien spouse, after which both parties were required to petition Immigration and Naturalization Service and to undergo personal interviews to determine that the marriage was legitimate. On the other hand, the rate of spousal abuse by men seeking more submissive wives seems to be higher than in the general population. In 1990, the U.S. Congress passed a bill providing for a conditional residency waiver if the spouse could demonstrate that battering or extreme cruelty had led to the dissolution of a good faith marriage. A series of high profile murders in Washington State involving mail-order brides led to passage of Washington State Senate Bill 6412 (2002), requiring matchmaking businesses to provide a state background check and marital history upon request to prospective brides in their native language. Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles, a Democrat and author of the bill, led discussions with memebrs of the U.S. Congress during 2002 about the possibility of passing similar measure at the Federal Level.
(Source: abstracted from the book: NORTH AMERICAN IMMIGRATION by: John Powell) |
| posted by infraternam meam @ 9:58 AM |
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| TABULATED FILIPINO MIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES |
Immigration by Region and Selected Country of Last Residence
Fiscal Year 1820 - 2002
Region and Country of Last Residence:
Philippines
1820 ----- 16
1821-1830- 16
1831-1840- 16
1841-1850- 16
1851-1860- 16
1861-1870- 16
1871-1880- 16
1881-1890- 16
1891-1900- 16
1901-1910- 16
1911-1920- 16
1921-1930- 16
1931-1940- 528
1941-1950- 4,691
1951-1960- 19,307
1961-1970- 98,376
1971-1980- 354,987
1981-1990- 548,764
1991-1993- 195,634
1991-1994- 248,466
1991-1995- 298,162
1994------ 52,832
1995------ 49,696
1996------ 54,588
1997------ 47,842
1998------ 33,176
1999------ 29,590
1991-1995- 463,358
2000------ 40,587
1991-2000- 503,945
2001------ 50,870
2002------ 48,674
Persons Naturalized by Region and Country of Birth
Fiscal Year 1991-2002
Philippines:
Total 179 years
from 1820-1998
1,460,421
Total 180 years
from 1820- 1999
1,490,011
Total 181 years
from 1820- 2000
1,530,598
Total 182 years
from 1820- 2001
1,581,468
Total 183 years
from 1820 to 2001
1,630,142
Refugees and Asylees Granted Lawful Permanent Residence Status in the United States by Region and Selected Country of Birth, Fiscal Year 1946-2002 (by decade)
Philippines
1946-1950--- NA
1951-1960--- NA
1961-1970--- NA
1971-1980--- 213
1981-1990--- NA
1991-2000--- 968
Total from 1946-2003
1,368
Persons Naturalized by Region and Country of Birth
Fiscal Year 1991-2002
Philippines
1991--- 34,450
1992--- 28,587
1993--- 33,925
1994--- 40,777
1995--- 37,870
1996--- 51,346
1997--- 30,898
1998--- 24,872
1999--- 38,944
2000--- 46,563
2001--- 35,431
2002--- 30,487
(Source: Abstracted from the book/NORTH AMERICAN IMMIGRATION By: John Powell) |
| posted by infraternam meam @ 3:49 AM |
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| Thursday, February 16, 2006 |
| FILIPINO IMMIGRATION IN NORTH AMERICA |
Because the United States had acquired the Philippines as a colonial territory in 1898, Filipinos were in some ways privileged immigrants during the 20th century and second in number only in Chinese among Asian immigrants to the Unied States. They were third in Canada, behind Chinese and East Indian immigration. In. U.S. census of 2000 and the Canadian census of 2001, 2,364,815 Americans and 327,550 Canadians claimed Filipino descent. The largest concentrations of Filipinos in the United States are in California, Hawaii and Chicago, Illinois with significant areas of settlement in cities with large naval bases, including San Diego, California; Bremerton, Washington; Jacksonville, Florida; and Charleston, South Carolina. More than half of Filipino Canadians kive in Ontario, with a large settlement also in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The Philippines is a country of 7,000 islands occupying 115,000 square miles in the South China and Philippine Seas between 5 and 19 degrees north latitude. Nearby countries includes Taiwan to the north and Malaysia and Indonesia to the south. Most of the population, an estimated 82,841,518, resides on 11 major mountainous islands that take up the greatest part of the country's land area. About 83 percent of the population practices Roman Catholicism; 9 percent Protestantism and 5 percent Islam. Malay peoples indeginously inhabited the Philippine Islands when Magellan landed there with his Spanish fleet in 1521. Spain governed the isalnds until 1898, when they were ceded to the United States following the Spanish-American War. A nationalist uprising broke out the following year but was successfully suppressed by U.S. forces by 1905. From 1941 to the end of World War II in 1945, the islands were occupied by Japan. In 1946, the Philippines was granted independence and a republican government was formed between 1972 and 1981. President Ferdinand Marcos was deposed in 1986, leading to significant political destabilization under President Corazaon Aquino. Between the 1965 election of Marcos and his 1986 overthorw, some 300,000 Filipinos immigrated to the United States. Communist and Muslim insurgents launched a coup in 1989 that was defested with the hekp of the United States. A Muslim region in the south was evetnually granted autonomy in 1996, ending the ongoing rebellion.
Some of the earliest Filipino immigrants to North America were sailors who left their ships in New Orleans, Louisiana, during the 19th century. The number of immigrants remained small, however, until the first decade of the 20th century. With provisions of the CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT (1882) and the GENTLEMEN'S AGREEMENT (1907) largely excluding Chinese, Japanese, and Korean laborers, there was high demand for cheap agricultural labor in Hawaii and California. In 1906, teh Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association began to actively redruit in the Philippines, and by the mid-1920's, there were a large voluntary workforce seeking admission. By 1931, 113,000 Filipino workes had come to Hawaii. About 39,000 eventually returned to the Philippines, but more than 18,000 enventually migrated to California. In addition to these, some 27,000 Filipinos immigrated directly to the mainland, most hired under the PADRONE SYSTEM of labor supply. Most Filipini immigrants were young men, and as late as 1940, the ratio of Filipino men to women was still 3.5 to 1. With the rise of unemployment during the depression, the TYDINGS McDUFFIE ACT of 1934 limited Filipinis immigrantion to 50 per year. As important, with the Philippines being made a commonwealth and detined for independence, Filipinos were classified from nationals to alien.
A second period of immigration, particularly associated with military developments, occurred between 1946 and 1964. Filipino Americans had occurred between 1946 and 1964. Filipino Americans had served with distinction during World War II, helping substantially in driving the Japanes from the Philippines. The WAR BRIDES ACT of 1946 enabled American soldiers to bring some 5,000 Filipina brides to the United States following the World War II. The Military Bases Agreement of 1947 permitted the United States to make use of 213 sites in the Philippines and thus to maintain a formidable presence there into the 1990s. Exemption to the Tydings-McDuffie Act enabled the United States to recruit more than 22,000 Filipinos into the navy (between 1944 and 1973), most of whom were assigned to work in the mess halls or as personal servants. Exemptions also enabled some 7,000 additional Filipino agricultural workers into the country.
A new phase of immigration began with the IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT of 1965, which both eliminates race as a factor in the selection process and classified immediate relatives of U.S. citizens as a special immigrants., thus admitted outside the annual quotas of 20,000. The significant family reunification numbers were augmented in 1974 when the Philippines instituted an ongoing overseas employment program. This led to an average of more than 600,000 Filipino workers migrating each year, though most of these went to countries of the Middle East and East Asia. A large percentage of these immigrating to the United States were highly trained professionals,especially doctors and nurses. Emigration to Canada remained small in part because Canadian immigration police encouraged migration only of professional and skilled workers.
As in most developing countries, workers migration was seen as beneficial to the Philippines. In 1995, for instance, remittances totaled to US$4.87 billion, or about 2.5 percent of the gross national product, and the amounts remained high into the first decade of the 21st century. Between 1991 and 2002, more than 600,000 Filipinos immigrated to the United States.
It is difficult to arrive at precise figures for Filipino immigration to Canada. Not only were Filipinos grouped under the cateogry of "Other Asians" until 1967, but they also followed a distinctive pattern of immigration with no precedents in the Chinese, Japanese, or Asian Indian communities. There were virtually no immigrants prior World War II, and fewer than 100 by 1964. Beginning in 1965, however, a steady immigration began, which was accelerated by the new IMMIGRATION REGULATIONS of 1967, which included a points system that gave preference to skilled workers in high demand areas, such as health care. Between 1971 and 1992, total immigration from the Philippines placed them in the top 10 of source countries and between 1994 and 2002, the country ranked from second to sixt each year, with a total of about 110,000 immigrants. Unlike other Asian groups, most Filipino immigrants were women who came for job opportunites in medical fields, especially nursing, and clerical areas. Although the gender differential gradually became more balanced, by 1990 Filipina women still composed about 60 percent of the immigrant populations.
Another difference between Filipino and other Asian immigration is that most early immigrations came first from the United States, where their relationship afforded special opportunities for access to tje country. Sometimes unable to remain in the United States, they learned that visas were available for skilled technicians in Canada, particularly in Ontario. By early 1970s, they were bringing family members and encouraging others to migrate directly from the Philippines. As Canadian immigration policy in the 1980s gave special weight to family reunification, more Filipinos took advantage of the provisions. During the 1980s and 1900s. Filipino immigrants were less likely to choose Toronto, though it remained the foremost Filipino community in Canada with a population of 140,000 in 2001. Vacouvers's was second, with more than 60,000. Of 232,670 Filipino immigrants in Canada in 2001, about 96 percent arrived after 1970.
(Source: Abstracted from ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NORTH AMERICAN IMMIGRATION) |
| posted by infraternam meam @ 12:44 AM |
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| Wednesday, February 15, 2006 |
| WHAT IS VIRGIN COCONUT OIL? |
VIRGIN COCONUT OIL or VCD in short, is coconut oil processed from fresh coconuts. This is in contrast to the common way of processing coconut oil from crudely dried, long stored and aged coconut meat called "Copra". Copra in storage accumulates two harmful elements; mold (therefore Aflatoxin) and rancidity (free fatty acids). Oil extracted from Copra has to be treated with caustic soda; thus refined, bleached and deodorized at 400 degrees F to become edible.
A continous extracting process starting with fresh coconuts, results in oil that does not have Aflatoxin, free fatty acids and caustic soda residues. The VCO is extracted either by fermentation of freshly extracted coconut milk or two (2) hours of drying and mechanical separation. The fermentation system can yiled VCO that is absolutely cold processed whereas the mechanical or expeller method requires the coconut meat to be quick-dried first at 80degrees C temperature.
Answers to the Negative Information on Coconut Oil.
Coconut Oil is 92percent saturated fat and for this reason, coconut oil was considered "bad oil". Doctors and nutritionists have generally taken the position that mono-saturated fats and poly-unsaturated fats are the good fats and saturated fats are the bad fats. The distinction between saturated fats from animal and from coconuts and palm oil was lost. Furthermore, most of the research on coconut oil was done on hydrogenated coconut oil, which has been transformed to produce trans fatty acids. Transfats from even on mono-unsaturated and poly-unsaturated oils.
Recent research has shown that not all saturated fats are alike and that the fatty acids in coconut oil are medium-chain fats which can be metabolized by the liver into energy and donot reach the blood vessels to raise serum cholesterol or contribute to heart disease.
The other properties of coconut oil, particularly its lauric acid content, were ignored. The anti-bacterial effect of lauric acid is of recent findings. Coconut oil is becoming recognized as a "functional food" that is powerful tool against immune disease.
Health Functions of VCO.
* Anti viral/anti-bacterial function
Coconut oil is rich in lauric acid, which is known for being antiviral and antibacterial. Studies have been done on its effectiveness in "lowering the viral load of HIC/AIDS patient." Most bacteria and viruses are encased in a coat of lipids. Lipid-coated viruses and bacteria are easily killed by MCFA,(Medium Chain Fatty Acids) which primarily destroy these organisms by disrupting their lipid membranes. Medium-chain fatty acids, being similar to those in the microorganism's membrane, are easily attracted to and absorbed into it. The membrane literally slits open, spilling its insides and killing the organism. Our white blood cells quickly clean up and dispose of the cellular debris. MCFA kill invading organisms without casuing any known harm to human tissues.
* Increase Body Metabolism
Coconut Oil is also being used by Thyroid sufferers to increase body metabolism and to lose weight. Coconut oil and palm oil are the only plant oils that are medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA) Even the "good oils" such as soya oil, corn oil, etc. are long chain fatty adics. MCFA are digested and utilized differently. They are not packaged into lipoproteins and donot circulate in the bloodstream like other fats, but are sent directly to the liver where they are immediately converted into energy. As a consequense you can eat much more coconut oil than you can other oils before the excess is converted into fat. Replacing LCFA with MCFA results in a decrease in body weight gain and a reduction in fat deposition. MCFA also shift the body's metabolism into hgiher gear, so that you burn more calories. MCFA are dietary fats that can actually promote weight loss.
* Promotes Healthy Skin
Virgin Coconut Oil is also used for making natural soaps andotehr health products, as it is one of the healthiest things one can put on their skin. The surface of the skin consists of a layer of dead cells. As these dead cells fall off, new cells take their place. As we age, this process slows down and dead cells need to accumulate, giving the skin rough, flaky texture. Coconut oil aids in removing dead cells on the outer surface of the skin, making the skin, smoother, creating a helathier, more youthful appearance. The removal of excessive dead skin and the strengthening of underlying tissues are two of the key advantage of using Virgin Coconut Oil.
(Source: Carica Health Products/caricaphil@yahoo.com) |
| posted by infraternam meam @ 2:23 PM |
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| ASSORTMENT OF OLD WIVES' TALES |
You Can Catch VD from a Toilet Seat.
Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) received this name precisely because they are transmitted throught sexual contact. The list of STDs includes syphillis, gonorrhea, genital herpes,chlamydia, and HIV. Although the bodily fluids of an infected person can theoretically carry STD bacteria or viruses, most of these germs have an exceedingly short survival rate when exposed to light, heat, or air. Therefore, the chance of catching anything from a toilet seat is nonexistent - unless, of course, that's where you had sex. And you can't "get infected" by swimming in the same pool as someone who is infected, as long as the chlorine concentration is at least 1.5 parts-per-million; in the open sea, the sun and the salt essentially counteract the risk. Likewise, you know that girl everybody heard about in school who sued the pool owner because she got pregnant by swimming near a boy who ejaculated in the water? It did'nt happen at least, not in the pool.
The Shortest Distance Between Two Points Is a Staight Line.
Thhe shortest distance between two points is a straight line only in teh abstract world of plane (Euclidean) geometry. As any airline pilot knows, a curved line is a always the shortest distance between two points on the curved globe, such as London and New York, where the "Great Circle Route" adds the third dimension to Euclid's postulate. In teh 1960s, a third mathematical theorem was offered by this highly respected scholarly journal, MAD magazine. "The shortest distance between two points is a taxi".
He Drinks Like a Fish.
Although it looks as though they are constantly swallowing water, fish don't drink. They absorb any water they need from the food they eat. The mouth action is to force water over their gills, where oxygen is extracted so they can breathe. In any event, fish certainly "don't drink"in the sense of consuming alcohol.
Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining.
This refers, of course to being optimistic, not to a meteorological phenomenon. Taken with sayings as "It's always darkest just before the dawn" and "Put on a happy face." it means that one should always try to find something good in a bad situation. Before this starts tos ound like a sermon, remember that "everyone loves a winner" and, human nature being what it is, nobody wants to hang around a loser. A positive attitude may hide the sad truth, but being upbeat is contagious and helps to provide emotional relief.
Don't Swim for an Hour after Eating.
For about an hour after eating, the body focuses its energy on digesting the meal; the blood goes to the stomach, the energy supply dips, and the metabolism thinks food. But this has nothing to do with the dreaded "stomach cramps" that every mother warns her child about. There is no such thing as a stomch cramp. And there is no connection to a muscle cramp that may, indeed, endagner a swimmer. Most likely, Mom just does'nt want you to blow lunch.
Breakfast like a King, Lunch like a Knave, Dinner like a Pauper.
The days of eating " healthy breakfast with one item from each of the four basic food groups" are over. On the other side of the plate, Pop Tarts don't cut it either. Stiff, eating something in the morning cuts the hunger and provides enough energy to make it through the first part of the day. Most agree that school children who are denied breakfast have trouble concentrating, lack energy, and fall behind in their studies.
On the other hand, if you eat a big meal late at night, you fell sluggish and gain weight because there's not enough time to work off the calories before bed. What's a body to do?
That's how the expression, "Breakfast like a king (large), lunch likee a knave(mediunm), and dinner like a pauper(small)" came about. The theory is to eat when you need the energy and practically fast when you donot. Informal diest advice adds that you should never eat after 8:00PM That gives your metabolism four hours to work before you hit the sack.
Marijuana Leads to Heroin.
There are many variables which come into play when an individual takes drugs; pain, peer pressure, depression, finacial ability, medical necessity, and of course, opportunity. Smoking one marijuana cigarette today won't lead to shooting heroin tomorrow, although the people with whome one associates -- and the conviviality in doing so - may make further experimentation attractive. Once you're already in a restaurant, as the saying goes, why not try the whole meny? On the other hand, nobody can force you to eat Brussels sprouts.
Society has long held that a drug is a drug is a drug, even if the legal inconsistency borders on hypocritical. The two most addictive drugs in the arsenal - alcohol and nicotine - are widely available and culturally accepted, even encouraged through advertising. Indeed, a frequent argument is that more people (politicians, the police, lawyers and the prison industry, not to mention the drug dealers) benefits from the drug problem than from preventive drug education.
Dogs Don't Sweat.
Of course, dogs sweat. You would, too, if you had to wear a fur coat in hot weather. Dogs excrete moisture through the pads on their paws. Any excess moisture (not "Sweat", although it sure smells as bad) leaved Fido's body through his mouth in the form of vapor and a slobbering, wet tongue. That's why dogs pant so much in hot weather).
Gout Is Caused by Eating Too Much Rich Food.
Gout is an inflammation of the joints (frequently the big toe). It is not caused by righ food, although its actual casue is not definitely known. What is known is that gout is crystalline deposit of purines stemming from an excess uric acid in the blood. Caffeine may also be involved. If eating rcih foods or consuming alcohol causes an individuals' metabolism to produce uric acid, that acid might exacerbate an existing condition, but it's after the fact. The image of an old man, hid gouty foot wrapped in bandages, banging into walls and screaming in pain may have been mainstay of silent comedies. But it certainly is not funny to those who suffer from the affliction.
People Go Nuts During a Full Moon.
According to journalist Paul Katzeff in Full Moons, there is some truth to this asserion, although scientists differ in their explanations. The murder rate does spike during lunar fullness, but so does romance. The birthrate rises slightly during the full Moon, but so does female ovulation. The word Lunacy, meaning insanity, derives from the Latin words luna/lunaris, for the Moon. Anecdotes hours, 44 minutes, and 3 seconds when it glows full in the sky. Emergency room personnel and paramedics report that their business picks up during the full Moon, and supervisors in psychiatric institutions also insists that their patients grow restive at those times. There may be some chicken-and-eggism going on here. Do people act differetnly during the full Moon, or does the full Moon serve as a convenient timing device to peg behavior that goes on all the time? If the brightness of a full Moon keeps light-sensitive people from sleeping, their behavior may well be affected. Some people insist that the gravitational pull of the Moon and the Sun on Earth's tides also affects the human body, which is "98 percent water". On this point, the jury of scientific research is still out, but collective mind is finally looking into quantifying what the average nonscientist has "known" all along.
Middle Children Are Ignored, so They Grow Up More Independent.
In a family of three children, the firstborn is egocentric, teh third born is the perennial baby, and the secondborn learns to be independent because nobody pays any attention to her. Right? The firstborn is insecure at having been pushed aside by the secondborn, who then gets all the attention. The the thirdborn becomes the independent one, because everybody is still paying attention to the first two, Or maybe, the firstborn is the independent one. She helps raise the secondborn and teaches him how to raise the thirdborn when the time comes. No,wait!. Maybe all three get together and form a singing group. Studies of the psychological effects of birth order are as varied as teh personalities of the subjects they try to analyze, and just as irregular, Many other factors contribute to a child's personality - for example, the age of the parents, the stability of the marriage, the socioeconomic circumstances, and the years separting the siblings arrivals. The only thing that can be proved beyond a doubt is that, in a family with three children, teh firstborn will be the oldest.
(Abstracted from the book:TALL TALES, LEGENDS, AND OUTRAGEOUS LIES B0OK by: Nat Segaloff) |
| posted by infraternam meam @ 3:40 AM |
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| Tuesday, February 14, 2006 |
| TALL TALES......AESOP |
AESOP
The wrold knows very little about Aesop other than his fables, which describe human nature as freshly now as when he first told them in the sixth century, B.C. Aesop is believed to have been a slave who lived in ancient Greece from 560 B.C. to 520 B.C. Regardless of his intellect or politcal acumen, his slave status doomed him to a lifetime of servitude. It is also thought that he was of African origin.
Popular myth holds that Aesop's storytelling skills made him so beloved by the Greeks that he was permitted to travel as a free man. When he arrived in the realm of King Croesus, he was invited to stay as a citizen. There Aesop ingratiated himself, using his illustrative fables to reconcile people. His ambassadorial skills inspired Croesus to send him on a mission to Delphi to dispense a quantity of gold to the populace. But the greed displayed there so offended Aesop that he theatened to return the gold to Croesus. This action enraged the Delphis and they executed Aesop.
(Source: EVERYTHING TALL TALES,LEGENDS & OUTRAGEOUS LIES BOOK by Nat Segaloff) |
| posted by infraternam meam @ 10:51 PM |
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| ANATOMY OF AN UPROAR |
September 2005
Fleming Rose,culture editor of the Danish weekly, Jyllands Posten, solicits illustrations of the Prophet Muhammad, hoping to spark a debate about self-censorship in Denmark.
September 30
Jyllands-Posten publishes 12 cartoon caricatures of the Prophet.
October 14
Some 3,500 Muslims demonstrate peacefully in Copenhagen, demanding an apology from the newspaper.
October 17
Al-Fagr, a weekly newspaper based in Cairo, publishes the cartoons. Three Egyptian magazines reprint the drawings to little reaction.
October 19
Ambassadors from several Muslim countries request a meeting with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. He declines.
November 19
A group of Danish Muslims announces a visit to the Middle East to publicize the cartoon controversy.
December 2005
Danish Muslim delegations visit Cairo, Damascus and Beirut and present a 43-page dossier with the original 12 cartoons and three others that had not been published.
December 9
After a meeting in the holy city of Mecca, leaders from 57 Muslim nations condemn the "desecration of the image" of Mohammad.
January 10, 2006
A Norwegian paper reprints the cartoons in solidarity with Jyllands-Posten.
January 26,2006
Saudi Arabia recalls its Ambassador from Denmark, and several groups in the Middle East launch a boycott of Danish products.
January 29, 2006
Libya announces it will close its embassy in Denmark.
January 30, 2006
Jyllands-Posten apologizes on its website to any Muslims it has offended but stands by its decision to publish the cartoons.
February 1, 2006
Newspapers around Europe reprint the cartoons in a defense of press freedom.
February 3, 2006
Prime Minister Rasmussen meets the foreign diplomatic corps in Copenhagen and calls for calm.
February 4-5, 2006
Mobs set fire to Danish and Norweigan embassies and the Danish consulate in Beirut.
February 8, 2006
Three people are killed in protests in Afghanistan, bringing the total dead there to 11.
Febraury 10, 2006
Rose takes a leave of absence from Jyllands-Posten, citing exhaustion.
(Source: TIMEMAG/WORLD Feb.20 issue) |
| posted by infraternam meam @ 11:09 AM |
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| Monday, February 13, 2006 |
| ON VALENTINE'S DAY......OF MARRIED LOVE |
SONG OF SONGS (1:1-1:6)
The most beautiful of songs, by Solomon
The Woman
Your lipes cover me with kisses;
yourlove is better than mine.
There is frangrance about you;
the sound of your name
recalls it.
No womam could keep from
Loving you.
Take me with you, and we'll run
away;
by my king and takeme to your
room.
We will be happy together,
drink deep, and lose ourselves in
love.
No wonder all women love
You!
Women of Jerusalem, I am dark
but beautiful,
dark as teh desert tents of
Kadar,
but beautiful as the draperies in
Solomon's palace.
Don't look down on me of
My color,
because the sun has tanned me.
My brothers were angry with me
and made me work in the
vineyard.
I had no time to care for myself.
SONG OF SONGS (1:7-2:7)
The Man
Tell me, my love
Where will you lead your flock
to graze?
Where will they rest from the
noonday sun?
Why should I need to look for you
among the flocks of the other
sheperds?
Don't you know the place,
loveliest of women?
Go and follow the flock;
find pasture for your goats
near the tents of the shepherds.
You, my love, excite men
as a mare excites the stallions of
Pharoah's chariots.
Your hair is beautiful upon your
cheeks
and falls along your neck like
jewels.
But we will make for you a chain
of gold
with ornaments of silver.
The Woman
My king was lying on his couch,
and my perfume filled the air
with fragrance.
My lover has the scent of myrrh
as he lies upon my breasts.
My lvoer is like the wild flowers
that bloom in the vineyards at
Engerdi.
The Man
How beautiful you are, my love;
how your eyes shine with love!
The Woman
How handsome you are, my
dearest;
how you delight me!
The green grass will be our bed;
the cedars will be the beams of
our house.
And the cypress trees the ceiling.
I am only a wild flower in the Sharon,
a lily in amountain valley.
The Man
Like a lily among the thorns
is my darling among women.
The Woman
Like an apple tree among the trees
of the forest
so is my dearest compared to
other men.
I love to sit in its shadow,
and its fruit is sweet to my taste.
He brought me to his banquet hall
and raised the banner of love
over me.
Restore my strength with raisins
and refresh me with apples!
I am weak from passion.
He left hand is under my head,
and his right hand caresses me.
Promise me, women of Jerusalem;
swear by the swift deer and the
gazelles
that you will not interrupt our
Love. |
| posted by infraternam meam @ 1:26 AM |
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| SHORT NOTES.... ON THIS VALENTINES DAY. |
Love took up the glass of Time, and turnd' it in his glowing hands;
Every moment, lightly shaken, ran itself in folden sands.
Love took up the harp of Life, and somote on all the
chords with might;
Smote the chord of Self, that, trembling, pass'd in
music out of sight.
(ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON, from Locksley Hall)
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
LOVE'S YOUNG DREAM
The days are gone, when beauty bright
My heart's dream wove;
When my dream of life, from morn till night
Was love still love.
New hope may bloom,
And days may come,
Of milder, calmer beam;
But there's nothing half so sweet in life
As love's young dream.
(THOMAS MOORE, from Irish Love Poems: Danta Gra)
%%%%%%%%%%%%%
WHEN LOVE IS KIND
When Love is kind,
Cheerful and free,
Love's sure to find
Welcome from me.
But when love brings
Heartache or pang,
Tears, and such things --
Love may go hang!
If Love can sigh
For one alone,
Well pleased am I
To be that one.
But should I see
Love given to rove
To two or three,
Then -- good-by, Love!
Love must in short,
Keep fond and true,
Through goor report,
And evil too.
Else, here I swear,
Young Love may go,
For aught I care --
To Jericho.
(THOMAS MOORE)
%%%%%%%%%%%%
My true love hath my heart, and I have his,
By just exchange, one for the other given.
I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss;
There never was a better bargain driven.
My true love hath my heart, and I have his.
His heart in me, keeps me and him in one.
My heart in him, his thoughts and senses guides;
He loves my heart, for once it was his own;
I cherish his, because in me it bides....
My true love hath my heart, and I have his.
SIR PHILIP SIDNEY
from The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia |
| posted by infraternam meam @ 12:47 AM |
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| STRANGE ILLNESS.... |
TESTICULAR FEMINIZATION SYNDROME
(androgen insensitivity syndrome,AIS;
complete androgen insensitivity)
This is an intersex condition, in which the reproductive organs differ from the genetic sex of the person. Affected individuals are born with female external genitalia and are thought to be females at birth.
At purberty, their breasts develop, and though they usually have little body, they otherwise have normal female appearance. However, the CHROMOSOMES are those of a male; an XY chromosome pair, rather than the XX found in normal females.
Every FETUS, whether genetically male (XY) or female (XX), starts life with the capacity to develop either a male or female reproductive system. All fetuses have undifferentiated, non-specific genitals for the first few weeks after conception. After a few weeks, in an XY fetus (without AIS), these non-specific genitals develop inside the body and start to produce androgens. IN AIS, the child is onceived with male (XY) sex chromosomes. Embryonic testes develop inside the body and start to produce androgens. In AIS, these androgens cannot complete the male genital development due to a rare inability to use the androgens that are being produced by the testes. The problem lies in the androgen receptor GENE on the X CHROMOSOME received from the mother. This affects teh responsiveness, or sensitivity, ot the fetu's body tissues to androgens. The developmenty of the external genitals continues along female lines, but another hormone produced by the fetal testes acts normaly and suppresses the development of female internal organs. Thus a person with AIS has external genitals that are completely female. However, internally there are testes instead of uterus and ovaries.
Affected individuals typically come to medical attention when they fail to begin menstruating at the time of puberty. Upon examination, the vagina is shallow, and there are ni Fallopian tubes or uterus. The testicles may be in teh abdominal atrea and are incapable of producing viable sperm.
The testes are generally removed and plastic surgery can enlarge the size of the vagina, enabling continued female gender identification. (Some physician suggest that affected males never be told their true genetic sex for psychological reasons.However, most professional now view the witholding genetic and gonadal information as an old-fashioned and paternalistic attitude and recommend full disclosure with psychological support and counseling.)
Following treatment and continued estrogen theraphy, affected individuals live as normal women. Although they are sterile. Life span and intelligence are normal.
It has been proposed by one genetic researchers that Joan of Arc was actually a male with this SYNDROME. The suggestion is based on examination of extensive documentation of her physical characteristics presented at her trial for heresy in 1431 and at her posthumous Trial of Rehabilitation in 1456. This documentation includes accounts by those who lived in close quarters with her that while she had well-developed breasts, she has had no pubic hair and did not menstruate. This hypothesis had led to specualtion concerning elevated testosterone levels and her behavior. The same suggestion had been made regard Queen Elizabeth I, England's "Virgin Queen" (1533-1603)
A nationwide registry of Danish patients suggested an incidence of one in 20,400 male births. The androgen receptor gene is locted on teh X chromosome, and the disorder is therefore an X-LINKED trait. In about two-thirds of cases, AIS is inherited from the mother. The other third result from spontaneous MUTATION in the fetus. CARRIER females can be detected by biochemical means and PRENATAL DIAGNOSIS has been accomplished by CHORIONIC VILLUS SAMPLING.
(Source: GENETIC DISORDERS AND BIRTH DEFECTS BY: James Wynbrandt and Mark D. Ludman, MD., FRCPC) |
| posted by infraternam meam @ 12:04 AM |
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| About Me |
|
Name: infraternam meam
Home: Chicago, United States
About Me: I am now at the prime of my life
and have been married for the past 25 years.
Sickly at times, but wants to see the elixir vita,
so that I will be able to see my grandchildren from my two boys.
See my complete profile
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