Fuck and it's brothers and sisters

Perhaps one of the most interesting and colorful words in the English language today is the word "fuck." It is the magical word which, just by its sound can describe pain, pleasure, love, and hate. In language, "fuck" falls into many Grammatical categories. ~ It can be used as a verb both transitive (Jim fucked Lauren) and intransitive (Lauren was Fucked by Jim). It can be an action verb (Jim really gives a fuck), a passive verb (Lauren really doesn't give a fuck), and adverb (Lauren is fucking interested in Jim), or as a noun (Lauren is a terrific fuck). It can also be used as an interjection (fuck! I'm late for my date with Lauren). It can even be used as a conjunction (Lauren is easy, fuck she's also stupid). As you can see there are very few words with the overall versatility of the word fuck. Aside from its sexual connotations, this word can be used to describe many situations:
1. Greetings... ......"How the fuck are ya?"
2. Fraud....... ........"I got fucked by the car dealer."
3. Resignation. ......"Oh, fuck it!"
4. Trouble..... ........"I guess I'm fucked now."
5. Aggression.. ......."FUCK YOU!"
6. Disgust..... ......... .."Fuck me."
7. Confusion... ......... ." What the fuck....?"
8. Displeasure. ......... .."Fucking shit man..."
9. Lost........ ......... ......."where the fuck are we?"
10.Disbelief. ......... ...."UN-FUCKING-BELIEVAB LE!!"
11.Retaliation. ......... ..."Up your fucking ass!"
12.Apathy... ......... ....."Who really gives a fuck?"
13.Suspicion. ......... ..."Who the fuck are you?"
14.Directions. ......... ...."Fuck off."
15. Pleasure.... ......... ... "She was the greatest fuck ever!"
~It can be maternal.... ...."MOTHERFUCKER! !"
~It can be used to tell time......." It's four fucking twenty!"
~It can be used as an anatomical description. ......... ..."He's a fucking asshole."

Lastly, it has been used by many notable people throughout history:
"What the fuck was that?" ~Mayor of Hiroshima~
"That's not a real fucking gun." ~John Lennon~
"Where the fuck is all this water coming from?" ~Captain of the Titanic~
"Who the fuck is gonna find out?" ~Richard Nixon~
"Heads are gonna fucking roll." ~Anne Boleyn~
"Any fucking idiot could answer that." ~Albert Einstein~
"It does so fucking look like her!" ~Picasso~
"You want what on the fucking ceiling?" ~Michael Angelo~
"Fuck a duck." ~Walt Disney~
"Houston we Have a big fucking problem." ~The crew of Apollo 13~

Next End of the World: Nov.1, 4006


Clues about the world ending on Nov.1, 4006 are apparently visible in the window above Jesus in Da Vinci's "The Last Supper."

Note to Mayan calendar aficionados: You can hold off on building that flood-proof bunker. For a couple of thousand years.

A researcher in the Vatican archives has added to the long list of proposed arrivals for the End of Times. This time, the date – Nov. 1, 4006 – comes to us via Leonardo da Vinci.

Author Sabrina Sforza Galitzia recently told La Repubblica newspaper that da Vinci hid the prediction in his painting, The Last Supper. According to Sforza Galitzia, there are clues hidden in the central window, or lunette, that hovers above Jesus Christ as he sits with his disciples.

“There is a da Vinci code — it is just not the one made popular by Dan Brown,” Sforza Galitzia said.

In Brown’s novelized version, the painting revealed the marital status of Christ. Sforza Galitzia believes it predicts a global flood that will begin in March 21, 4006 and continue until November, wiping the Earth clean. According to Sforza Galitzia, this will provide humanity (at least, the excellent swimmers among us) with a “new start.”

By their nature, predictions of the Apocalypse tend to work best when telescoped well out into the future.

The next big date on everyone’s Ragnarok calendar is Dec. 21, 2012, when the Mayan calendar ends – or, at least, stops and picks up elsewhere. Some have posited that on that day, a major celestial event will upset the balance of the Earth’s poles, prompting the planet’s mantle to shift, causing widespread devastation.

Enough people were alarmed by the prediction that NASA went so far as to build a webpage to calm people’s fears.

As NASA points out, the 2012 scenario is actually the combining of two fantastical predictions – one that an as-yet undiscovered planet will collide with the Earth. That was supposed to happen in 2003 (oops). Later, it was moved forward to dovetail with the Mayan calendar.

“Nothing bad will happen in 2012,” NASA reassures. “Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012.”

There have hundreds of predictions of the End of Times. Most are the work of religious zealots. They would probably do well to read their Bible a little more closely.

“Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away,” Christ says in the Book of Matthew, chapter 24. “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my father only.”

The CIA's secret war in Tibet

"The CIA's Secret War in Tibet," which was published in 2002. This is a respectable illustrated publication written by direct participants in the events. It transpires that there were training camps for Tibetan guerrillas in Colorado, and the CIA made inroads into Tibet with aviation support. CIA operatives also arranged for the Dalai Lama's escape through the Chinese border. The authors of the book conclude that the CIA was preparing a rebellion in Tibet, having established complete control over the "resistance movement."

Obama-Dalai Lama meeting creates dilemma in U.S.-Chinese relations



The Dalai Lama's meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is probably the most interesting part of his visit to Washington D.C. because the Department of State is involved in concrete politics, even if the spiritual Tibetan leader is largely a symbolic figure and does not concern himself too much with Tibetan emigration.

On the eve of this meeting President Barack Obama had to do the least interesting part of the work. He had to receive the Dalai Lama as a bow to etiquette and exchange routine phrases with him for about an hour. Both admitted for the umpteenth time that Tibet is part of China (has anyone doubted that?), both expressed themselves for the preservation of Tibet's unique identity (who would object to this?) and so on and so forth. Everything went as usual - the Dalai Lama has been to the White House more than once.

It was clear that the United States and China will not seriously quarrel over Tibet although masses of people, especially in the United States, waited with bated breath whether the American Nimitz aircraft-carrier will be allowed to enter the Fragrant Harbour, that is, Hong Kong on the day of Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama. Previously, the Chinese authorities would not allow American warships to enter their ports in such cases. This time it was an aircraft-carrier, a symbol of American might. Will the Chinese ban it from entering the port? Not yet, it passed another mile and another, and finally made its way into the port. Sino-American relations will also follow their road, being complicated but important at the same time. .

Tibet is an issue in bilateral relations albeit its role is far from what the unenlightened public may think. In January the Chinese authorities held one more round of talks with the representatives of the Tibetan emigration. The talks were not very productive although this is an iffy statement. At least, it was interesting for the Tibetans living outside Tibet that the autonomous region is entering a new stage in its development although even now Tibet looks much better than 10 years ago. The new stage will cost about $60 billion (some states in the U.S. would be certainly happy to get the sum that Beijing has allocated to Tibet). It's not that Beijing is emphatically against the Diaspora's participation in this work. This is all about the terms.

If the United States orients the Tibetan emigration to work against China, this is not a trifle. This is why Beijing is so nervous about the Dalai Lama's ceremonial visits to the White House. This is why it is so closely following specific moves made by the Department of State in this direction. Beijing is trying to understand what influence is exerted on Tibetans there. After all, the Dalai Lama's views on the inseparability of the destinies of Tibet and China are well known. But he is 75 years old. What if the Tibetan emigration splits into moderate and extremist groups? In fact, the split has already occurred but for the time being all Tibetan emigres are trying not to demonstrate it.

Is Beijing overreacting to Washington's attempts to take part in this process? It depends. A context can be interpreted very extensively: any bureaucrat from the State Department who speaks its jargon should appreciate this phrase. It is used when the situation is being assessed in the context of half a century.

Tibet and China were united during the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty. They have represented one state for more than 700 years. This state is more than three times older than the United States. True, Tibet's geographic location has made it inaccessible, quite autonomous and colorful and this will never change. However, as the same meeting in the White House bears out, nobody disputes the existence of China's national borders. This is a requirement of international law, the UN Charter, etc. But the situation was different half a century ago.

The CIA's role in the events of 1959, when the Dalai Lama left Tibet, followed by tens of thousands of his compatriots, is not very well known. In 1959 (during the Great Leap, Mao Zedong's first destructive experiment) the Chinese authorities seemed to think that the unrest of dalai lamas was a strictly domestic affair. They were scared that Tibetans, who had received modern education for the first time in Tibet's history, started returning to the autonomy and eventually led it to rebellion. They had to introduce Chinese troops into the region.

However, Beijing is sometimes wrong. There is a book "The CIA's Secret War in Tibet," which was published in 2002 (I learned about it in the Expert magazine). This is a respectable illustrated publication written by direct participants in the events. It transpires that there were training camps for Tibetan guerrillas in Colorado, and the CIA made inroads into Tibet with aviation support. CIA operatives also arranged for the Dalai Lama's escape through the Chinese border. The authors of the book conclude that the CIA was preparing a rebellion in Tibet, having established complete control over the "resistance movement."

Later on, the CIA worked with the emigration. There was a report to the effect that the Dalai Lama administration admitted receiving annual $1.7 million subsidies from the CIA in the 1960s. Part of this money was designed for funding guerrilla operations against Chinese authorities. No doubt, there is more information about this.

An extensive context means that in the late 1950s--early 1960s the United States did not recognize China and did not have official relations with it. In effect, it was engaged in subversion against China. It was doing the same as regards Cuba. Later on it went to war in Vietnam... It was only after President Richard Nixon's visit to Beijing in 1974 that a new stage of world history was launched.

There is nothing surprising in the fact that Beijing remembers this past. It's another matter that the past never comes back.

iPad's review

The first iPad reviews are in and so far they're sounding pretty great with very few reservations. Here are the highlights of what the early reviewers are saying:

The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg is in love with the iPad's interface and design:

The iPad is an advance in making more-sophisticated computing possible via a simple touch interface on a slender, light device. Only time will tell if it's a real challenger to the laptop and netbook.

USA Today's Edward Baig was impressed:

Apple has pretty much nailed it with this first iPad, though there's certainly room for improvement. Nearly three years after making a splash with the iPhone, Apple has delivered another impressive product that largely lives up to the hype.

New York Times' David Pogue was sure to clarify just where the device excels:

The iPad is not a laptop. It's not nearly as good for creating stuff. On the other hand, it's infinitely more convenient for consuming it - books, music, video, photos, Web, e-mail and so on. For most people, manipulating these digital materials directly by touching them is a completely new experience - and a deeply satisfying one.

PCMagazine's Tim Gideon also realizes the iPad's limitations, but praises it nonetheless:

Is the iPad a perfect product? No. And the omissions will give the anti-Apple crowd plenty of ammo. Why do I need this extra device that's not a full-fledged laptop? Where's the camera? What about Flash? Um, how about multitasking? These are all valid complaints, but one thing I can say about most Apple products, and certainly the iPad: There may be things it doesn't do, but what it does do, it does remarkably well. Aside from the aforementioned limitations, there isn't a lot else to gripe about. And to my great surprise, you can actually get real work done with the iPad.

The Houston Chronicle's Bob "Dr. Mac" LeVitus agrees with our thoughts that the iPad is a whole new category of mobile devices:

It turns out the iPad isn't as much a laptop replacement as I thought (though it could easily be used as one). Instead, it's an entirely new category of mobile device. For example, now when I want to surf the Web from the couch or back deck, the iPad is the device I choose. Starbucks? Same thing. Think of the iPad as a new arrow in your technology quiver, an arrow that will often be the best tool for a given task.

I had high expectations for the iPad, and it has met or exceeded most of them.

BoingBoing's Xeni Jardin was thinking ahead while trying out the device:

Maybe the most exciting thing about iPad is the apps that aren't here yet. The book-film-game hybrid someone will bust out in a year, redefining the experience of each, and suggesting some new nouns and verbs in the process. Or an augmented reality lens from NASA that lets you hold the thing up to the sky and pinpoint where the ISS is, next to what constellation, read the names and see the faces of the crew members, check how those fuel cells are holding up.

I like it a lot. But it's the things I never knew it made possible - to be revealed or not in the coming months - that will determine whether I love it.

Will you buy iPad ?

Now you know the rest of the story

 Now you know the rest of the story

A dreamer and his dream Let me tell you, Jesse hated this job. And you would too, I imagine, if you had to do it. Jesse was a chicken plucker. That's right.

.He stood on a line in a chicken factory and spent his days pulling the feathers off dead chickens so the rest of us wouldn't have to, it wasn't much of a job. But at the time, Jesse didn't think he was much of a person.

..

His father was a brute of a man. His dad was actually thought to be mentally ill and treated Jesse rough all of his life. Jesse's older brother wasn't much better. He was always picking on Jesse and beating him up.

..

Yes, Jesse grew up in a very rough home in West Virginia .

..

Life was anything but easy. And he thought life didn't hold much hope for him.

That's why he was standing in this chicken line, doing a job that darn few people wanted.

..

In addition to all the rough treatment at home, it seems that Jesse was always sick.

Sometimes it was real physical illness, but way too often it was all in his  head.  He was a small child, skinny and meek. That sure didn't help the situation any.

..

When he started to school, he was the object of every bully on the playground. ..

He was a hypochondriac of the first order. For Jesse, tomorrow was not always something to be looked forward to.

..

But, he had dreams.

..

He wanted to be a ventriloquist. He found books on ventriloquism. He practiced with sock puppets and saved his hard earned dollars until he could get a real ventriloquist dummy.

..

When he got old enough, he joined the military. And even though many of his hypochondriac symptoms persisted, the military did recognize his talents and put him in the entertainment corp.

..

That was when his world changed. He gained confidence. He found that he had a talent for making people laugh, and laugh so hard they often had tears in their eyes. Yes, little Jesse had found himself. You know, folks, the history books are full of people who overcame a handicap to go on and make a success of themselves, but Jesse is one of the few I know of who didn't overcome it. .

Instead he used his paranoia to make a million dollars, and become one of the best-loved characters of all time in doing it!

..

Yes, that little paranoid hypochondriac, who transferred his nervousness into a successful career, still holds the record for the most Emmys given in a single category. The wonderful, gifted, talented, and nervous comedian who brought us Barney Fife . . .

Jesse Don Knotts.

NOW YOU KNOW, "THE REST OF THE STORY"

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