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~
Fuck and it's brothers and sisters
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"
10 things not to buy in 2010
Like Betamax videotapes and rotary phones before them, these are the products and services that soon will go the way of the dodo.
By SmartMoney
Ten years ago, most homes relied on dial-up connections to access the Internet, and iPods, flat-screen TVs and the Nintendo Wii didn't exist.
As we begin 2010, consumers should expect to see more revolutionary products supplanting old mainstays. In media, DVDs, books, newspapers and magazines will continue to lose ground to services like in-home movie rentals and gadgets like the Amazon's Kindle electronic book reader. For big-ticket items, the push for energy efficiency will continue to influence consumer decisions on cars and home upgrades.
As a result, some consumer products appear poised for sales drops, which could be a prelude to obsolescence. Here are 10 items not to buy in 2010.
DVDs
The days of going to a video store to rent a movie are near an end. Blockbuster has said it plans to close more than a fifth of its stores by the end of 2010. (The company didn't return calls for comment.)
Looking ahead, DVD purchases could turn cold as well. An average DVD sells for around $20. That's pricier than signing up for Netflix or renting movies from cable providers' on-demand channels. Netflix charges as little as $8.99 a month to rent one DVD at a time -- with no limit to the number of monthly rentals.
Home telephone service
It will probably take a while, but home land lines could become as rare as the rotary phone.
According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study, more than one in five U.S. homes (22.7%) had cell phones -- and no land lines -- in the first half of 2009, up from 10.5% during the same period in 2006.
Ditching your home phone is easier now than it has been in the past, as cell phone companies compete for greater market share and alternatives to the home land line continue to grow. For example, magicJack provides phone service when it's plugged into a computer’s USB port and a home phone. It costs $39.95 and includes a one-year license for calls in the U.S. and Canada; after that, service costs $19.95 per year. (By contrast, Time Warner Cable's digital home phone service costs $39.95 per month.)
And consider Skype, which is free when you communicate with other Skype users. The software application uses the Internet as a platform to make calls, hold video conferences and send instant messages.
External hard drives
Consumers who keep their computers for years and upload thousands of songs, videos, movies and photos at some point find that they need to get more space.
External hard drives are one option, but they can crash, too. An up-and-coming alternative might be simpler and save you another transition down the road. Online backup services, like Carbonite and Mozy, allow users to back up data over the Internet.
These services quickly become more expensive than purchasing an external hard drive, which typically starts at around $70. At Carbonite.com, a one-year subscription starts at $54.95, and at Mozy.com monthly subscription costs total $54.45 for a year (although you can get 2 gigabytes of storage for free).
Smart-phone also-rans
In the past few years, several smart phones have hit the market with features similar to the iPhone and BlackBerry, but they haven't generated the same buzz.
As a result, fewer developers are likely to create applications and other products that cater to those phones.
Today, the BlackBerry dominates the smart-phone market with 40% market share, followed by the iPhone with 25%, according to data released by comScore in December. In the near term, both are expected to stay at the top. ComScore found that most consumers who will be shopping for a smart phone in the next three months plan to purchase a BlackBerry (51%) or an iPhone (20%).
By contrast, only 5% of respondents said they planned to purchase T-Mobile's MyTouch. The Palm Pre and Palm Centro received 2% and 1% of the vote, respectively.
Compact digital cameras
For nearly a decade, compact digital cameras were must-haves for most consumers. But during the past several years, another type of digital camera has been slowly rising in popularity: the single-lens reflex (SLR) camera, from manufacturers including Nikon, Canon, Sony and Olympus. Although bulkier, these cameras produce pictures that more accurately represent what's in their viewfinders than those that use older technology.
They are also pricier. For example, Canon's digital compact cameras start at $110, while the SLRs start at $570.
Newspaper subscriptions
The past few years have been unkind to the publishing industry.
In 2008, newspaper advertising revenues declined by 17.7%, according to the Newspaper Association of America. Meanwhile, average daily circulation at 379 newspapers fell 10.6% from April through September 2009, compared with the same period a year ago, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
Magazines haven't fared any better. In 2009, more than 360 magazines shut down. During the first half of 2009, ad pages fell 27.9% when compared with the same period in 2008, according to Publishers Information Bureau.
The morning newspaper has been replaced by a growing online media presence -- much of which is accessible for free. Amazon's Kindle -- even with its price tag of around $250 -- and other e-book readers could increasingly become one-stop sources to access newspapers, magazines and books.
CDs
When was the last time you bought a CD or even walked into a record store?
The past decade has been devastating to the record industry. At its start, there was Napster. Then came iTunes, which was introduced in 2001 and offered affordable pricing and easy accessibility. Face it, CDs aren’t coming back.
Record stores are feeling the pinch. Most Virgin Megastores in the U.S. have shut down following declines in sales and revenues. In 2004, Tower Records entered bankruptcy, and by 2006 most locations had closed.
New college textbooks
Unless a student absolutely needs brand-new textbooks, she can use several alternatives to save.
Shop for used textbooks, which can help you save 70% to 90% off the retail price, says Mike Gatti, the executive director at the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association, a trade group. Check out Web sites like CheapestTextbooks. com, BooksPrice or Amazon. Many college bookstores also sell used texts.
Another option is downloading books online. Sites like CourseSmart sell subscriptions to digital copies of more than 7,000 textbooks. TextbookMedia allows students to download textbooks for free. You can also rent textbooks on Chegg.
Gas-guzzling autos
Skyrocketing gasoline prices made headlines late in the decade, and they remain volatile.
The Energy Information Administration estimates that crude oil prices averaged around $77 a barrel for the fourth quarter of 2009, up from $42.90 in the first quarter. The EIA also projects prices will rise in 2010 to their highest point in more than two years: $81.33 a barrel.
Recent announcements by car manufacturers that they plan to mass-produce fuel-efficient cars could help push consumers away from gas-guzzling vehicles.
According to the Department of Energy, the most efficient cars include the Honda Civic Hybrid, which gets 40 miles per gallon in the city and 45 mpg on the highway, and the Toyota Prius hybrid (51/48 mpg). Also getting good marks for their efficiency are the diesel-fueled Volkswagen Jetta and Golf.
Energy-inefficient homes and appliances
Ten years ago, shopping for home upgrades involved looking at a product’s functionality and aesthetics. Now, there's a third consideration: energy efficiency.
Today, the products most touted by manufacturers and retailers are those that are Energy Star-certified and those that meet new federal environmental standards.
Most of these appliances and other products come with higher price tags than their counterparts but help lower heating and cooling bills.
In addition, the government is offering a federal tax credit of up to $1,500 on energy-efficient home upgrades. Many of the tax breaks -- including those on eligible insulation, roofs and windows and doors -- are set to expire at the end of this year. But others run through Dec. 31, 2016.
Modern Economy
It is the month of August, on the shores of the Black Sea . It is raining, and the little town looks totally deserted. These are tough times, everybody is in debt and everybody lives on credit. Suddenly, a rich tourist comes to town.
He enters the only hotel, lays a 100 Euro note on the reception counter and goes to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to choose one.
The hotel proprietor takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the butcher.
The butcher takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the pig farmer.
The pig farmer takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the supplier of his feed and fuel.
The supplier of feed and fuel takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the town's prostitute, who in these hard times offered her "services" on credit.
The prostitute runs to the hotel, and uses the 100 Euro note to settle her debt with the hotel proprietor for the rooms she rented when she brought clients there.
The hotel proprietor then lays the 100 Euro note back on the counter so that the rich tourist will not suspect anything.
At that moment, the tourist comes down after inspecting the rooms and takes his 100 Euro note, saying that he did not like any of the rooms and leaves town.
No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now without debt, and looks to the future with a lot of optimism.... .
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how modern company is doing business today.
Postingan
