Comics: Reality Check 07/02

P/S: With all the pandemic outbreaks going on it’s a very good thing and amazing that the world comes together to trump it but not the war that happens right under their noses. Heal the world everybody. Peace~  

The Truth About Being Single

I stumbled upon this when I was browsing. No pun intended but then again it is nice to share with all and some of them if you really think, they are somewhat. . .true.

1. The nice men are ugly.

2. The handsome men are not nice.

3. The handsome and nice men are gay.

4. The handsome, nice and heterosexual men are married.

5. The men who are not so handsome, but are nice men, have No money.

6. The men who are not so handsome, but are nice men with money think we are only after their money.

7. The handsome men without money are after our money.

8. The handsome men, who are not so nice and somewhat heterosexual, don’t think we are beautiful enough.

9. The men who think we are beautiful, that are heterosexual, somewhat nice and have money, are cowards.

10. The men who are somewhat handsome, somewhat nice and have some money and thank God are heterosexual, are shy and NEVER MAKE THE FIRST MOVE!!!!

11. The men who never make the first move, automatically lose interest in us when we take the initiative.

Now, Who The Heck Understands Men!?

“…Men are like a fine wine. They all start out like grapes, and it’s our job to stomp on them and keep them in the dark until they mature into something you’d like to have dinner with…”

Miss California ‘Stripped!’

omg! at yahoo has bring out the news Carrie Prejean has been stripped of her Miss California title.

“The Miss California USA Organization, in conjunction with the Miss Universe Organization and with the blessing of its  owner, Mr. Donald J. Trump, announced today the termination of Carrie Prejean as Miss California USA 2009, citing continued breach of contract issues,” the Miss California Organization said in a statement to Access Hollywood.

The group kicked the controversial beauty queen from her post due to “contract violations including Ms. Prejean’s unwillingness to make appearances on behalf of the Miss California USA organization,” the pageant’s Executive Director, Keith Lewis, said in a statement.

Last month, Trump decided that Prejean would be allowed to keep her crown despite racy photos of the 22-year-old surfacing on the Internet.

But Lewis claims that in the weeks that followed, the beauty queen did not step up to the plate.

“Since that time it has become abundantly clear that Carrie is unwilling to fulfill her obligations under our contract and work together,” Lewis’ statement continued.

Billy Bush broke the news to Prejean on Wednesday afternoon when he called her for Access Hollywood and “The Billy Bush Show.”

“We’ve just found out from Keith Lewis, your executive director there, that it’s official, they have put out a statement and you have been fired,” Bush said.

“Well, that’s the first that I know about that, Billy,” Prejean said.

“Really?” he continued.

“Yeah. I was just talking to my lawyer and I just got a phone call from you and I’ve gotten some text messages saying ‘Hey, is this really true?’ and I said, ‘True about what?’ and they said, ‘That you’ve been fired.’ And I started to laugh because everyone’s been cooperating and everyone’s been getting along so well,” she said. “This is the first that I’ve heard of it. This is funny to me. I have no idea what’s going on.”

Trump was also involved in Wednesday’s dethroning, and leant his voice to her dismissal.

“I told Carrie she needed to get back to work and honor her contract with the Miss California USA Organization and I gave her the opportunity to do so,” Trump said his statement.

“Unfortunately it just doesn’t look like it is going to happen and I offered Keith my full support in making this decision. Carrie is a beautiful young woman and I wish her well as she pursues other interests.”

Miss Malibu Tami Farrell, who was the First Runner-Up, is now Miss California.

In addition to the semi-nude photo scandal, Prejean’s reign as Miss California also created headlines at the Miss USA pageant in April after she answered a question from Perez Hilton regarding her stance on gay marriage.

She said she believed marriage “should be between a man and a woman.”

Shanna Moakler quit the Miss California Organization, where she had served as a co-executive director back in May after Trump let Prejean keep her crown.

When asked last month by Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush if she would return to the group if Prejean quit, Moakler said she would.

“Absolutely,” she said. “In a heartbeat…. It’s not [a] ‘her or me’[situation]. It’s you… have to, at some point, make her take responsibility.”

And on Wednesday, not long after the news broke, Moakler issued a statement to Access over Prejean’s firing.

“First and foremost, my faith has been restored in the Miss Universe Organization and with Donald Trump. I believed eventually what I intimately knew would come to fruition,” Moakler said.

PS: Gosh, where are the quintessential Missus-of-world-peace gone to nowadays?

HAH! So You Think It’s ‘Deleted’?

I found this article on Yahoo! Tech I think it’s interesting. It’s always fun to write about research that you can actually try out for yourself and according to Cristopher Null, it does.

Try this: Take a photo and upload it to Facebook, then after a day or so, note what the URL to the picture is (the actual photo, not the page on which the photo resides), and then delete it. Come back a month later and see if the link works. Chances are: It will.

Facebook isn’t alone here. Researchers at Cambridge University (so you know this is legit, people!) have found that nearly half of the social networking sites don’t immediately delete pictures when a user requests they be removed.

In general, photo-centric websites like Flickr were found to be better at quickly removing deleted photos upon request.

Why do ‘deleted’ photos stick around so long? The problem relates to the way data is stored on large websites: While your personal computer only keeps one copy of a file, large-scale services like Facebook rely on what are called content delivery networks to manage data and distribution.

It’s a complex system wherein data is copied to multiple intermediate devices, usually to speed up access to files when millions of people are trying to access the service simultaneously. (Yahoo! Tech is served by dozens of servers, for example.)

But because changes aren’t reflected across the CDN immediately, ghost copies of files tend to linger for days or weeks.

In the case of Facebook, the company says data may hang around until the URL in question is reused, which is usually ‘after a short period of time.’ Though obviously that time can vary considerably.

Of course, once a photo escapes from the walled garden of a social network like Facebook, the chances of deleting it permanently fall even further. Google’s caching system is remarkably efficient at archiving copies of web content, long after it’s removed from the web.

Anyone who’s ever used Google Image Search can likely tell you a story about clicking on a thumbnail image, only to find that the image has been deleted from the website in question – yet the thumbnail remains on Google for months.

And then there are services like the Wayback Machine, which copy entire websites for posterity, archiving data and pictures forever.

The lesson: Those drunken party photos you don’t want people to see? Simply don’t upload them to the web, ever, because trying to delete them after you sober up is a tough proposition.

PS: Gosh, makes me want to think twice now if I ever want to post my nudes..erk.. SNAP!

A Lover’s Note: I Love, You

Love is not finding someone to live with; it’s finding someone you can’t live without- Rafael Ortiz

Love Your Kids Enough To Say ‘NO’

In the light of recent event – a 13-year-old boy fathered a child with his 15-year-old girlfriend- it has come to my pondering; what has come to kids today and have parents failed?

No offence but I must say, we need parents who are willing to say to their children, ‘I love you so much that I am willing to say ‘no’ to you’. And this is one case where a big ‘NO’ should have come before the damage occurred. We must teach them what sex is all about but to no avail and I’m sorry to say that parents today come shy to even talk about ‘the flower and the bees’ subject. And where do the children learn it from? other means by which from the mass media and even from their friends.

Kids can’t do what they like and when do parents must come in to guide? do we have such parents who can do that?

Many parents often accede to what children want. Sometimes you have to take a firm stand to say ‘NO!’. Is the British report a clear case of social breakdown? if it can happen there, it can happen ANYWHERE. Here are some guidelines that maybe can be implemented to keep this kind of thing at bay:

• Be consistent. If you don’t, you will confuse your children.
• Don’t make promises you can’t keep.
• Don’t make you children feel smaller than they are.
• Don’t correct your children in front of others. Talk to them in private.
• Stop preaching to your children.
• Don’t be put off when your children ask honest qustions.
• Treat your children as individuals, not things.
• Don’t think it is beneath your dignity to apologise to your children when you are wrong.
• And don’t ever suggest that you are perfect or infallible.

Teach them the ways God and to respect authority. Be consistent, decisive abd respectful of your children as individuals. Hold your children accountable for their actions and help them learn from experience. But when you teach, do that with love and concern. Balance responsibility with forgiveness and love.

A Lover’s Note: I Dreamt Of You

I dreamt of you last night. It felt so real; Your voice that I longed to hear again, your smell, your touch, your gazing my eyes. . . We talked random things and we laughed though I couldn’t recall what we were talking now. I know it wasn’t real. But it was nice. . .’seeing’ you again, cuddling and holding each other’s hands once more. I dreamt of you last night. And it felt so real. . .

A lover’s note.

P/S: I love you.

Comics: Reality Check 01/22

'Your condition is know as Banjofolitus Androfilus...or, in Hick terms, Banjo on my knee'

P/S: Why don’t doctors just use plain words to name a sickness or disease or any other kind that mostly related to medicals? instead Latin words are use or some other words that are completely Unpronounceable ?huhu~ anyways, Happy Holidays to medic students at VSMU. . .FINALS ARE OVER! YEAY!

Chennai: Girl ‘Married’ Off To A Frog

It was not a a fairy tale yanked out of a children’s story book but a real life ritual, where a minor girl was married off to a frog in a remote village in southern India, BERNAMA reported.

Hoping that the century-year-old ritual would ward off evil and bring good omen to Pallu Puthupattu village, located about 150 km from C hennai, eight-year-old R.Vigneshwari was chosen as the bride of the hour.

Last Friday, during the harvest festival, after much ordeal, the villagers ushered the frog, fished out of a local temple pond, to the venue where the bride, clad in bridal finery, was waiting.

All the Hindu wedding rituals were performed. Half the villager played the role of bridegroom’s relatives while the other acted as part of the bride’s entourage at the temple ceremony.

It is widely believed among villagers that the frog is a reincarnation of Lord Siva. Every year, this marriage is being organised. They believe that if they don’t do the annual ritual, girl children would die unnaturally or houses in villages would go up in flames and famine would attack.

‘We cannot deviate them from their belief. We could see that females aged 80 or 70 had performed such marriages in their childhood,’ S.Geetha, a local women’s rights activist, told Bernama.

The village priest tied the nuptial string on the bride on behalf of the groom and the villagers solemnly blessed the ‘newly married couple’ by showering rice and even offering small amounts of money as wedding gift.

After the marriage, the frog was returned to its natural habitat while the bride went home.

Geetha said it was customary for the village elders to select a girl who had yet to attain puberty for the ritual. Another 11-year old girl had been slated to marry next year.

The village legend goes that the people suffered from frequent natural calamities and sickness, like outbreaks of cholera, and this ritual was piously performed for divine blessing to help ease their hardship, she said.

P/S: There’s a Malay saying ‘Lain padang, lain belalang’ which brings the meaning that every place has its own ways of life and folk tales. In this case, tradition by cause makes this world more vibrant and colorful to be explored.

First-Day Whirldwind For Obama

US President Barack Obama holds talks with his White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Obama is set to sign a series of executive orders to close the Guantanamo "war on terror" prison, end harsh interrogation tactics and shutter secret prisons, marking a dramatic reversal of policy from his predecessor. (AFP/White House/Pete Souza)

In a first-day whirlwind, President Barack Obama showcased efforts to revive the economy on Wednesday, summoned top military officials to the White House to chart a new course in Iraq and eased into the daunting thicket of Middle East diplomacy.

‘What an opportunity we have to change this country,’ said the 47-year-old chief executive, who also issued new ethics rules for his administration, hosted a reception at the presidential mansion for 200 inauguration volunteers and guests selected by an Internet lottery and even took the oath of office again after it was flubbed Tuesday.

The Associated Press(AP) reported as after dancing at inaugural balls with first lady Michelle Obama past midnight, Obama entered the Oval Office for the first time as president in early morning. He read a good luck note left behind by President George W. Bush, then began breaking cleanly with his predecessor’s policies.

Aides circulated a draft of an executive order that would close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within a year and halt all war crimes trials in the meantime.

Closing the site ‘would further the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States and the interests of justice,’ read the draft prepared for the new president’s signature. A copy was obtained by The Associated Press, and an aide said privately that Obama would sign a formal order on Thursday.

Some of the 245 detainees currently held at Guantanamo would be released, while others would be transferred elsewhere and later put on trial under terms to be determined.

Obama’s Cabinet was moving closer to completion.

At the Capitol, the Senate confirmed Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state after a one-day delay forced by Republicans. The vote was 94-2, and spectators seated in the galleries erupted in applause when it was announced.

Treasury-designate Timothy Geithner emerged unscathed from his confirmation hearing, apologizing for having failed to pay $34,000 in taxes earlier in the decade.

To the evident anger of Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Republicans on the panel invoked long-standing rules to postpone a vote on Eric Holder’s appointment as attorney general.

Counting Clinton, seven Cabinet members have been confirmed so far, as have the two top officials at the Office of Management and Budget.

Obama’s schedule for the day included separate sessions on the economy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The new president has pledged to take bold steps to revive the economy, which is struggling through the worst recession since the Great Depression. Last week, he won approval to use $350 billion in leftover financial industry bailout funds.

He presided over the White House meeting on the economy as the House Appropriations Committee moved toward approval of $358 billion in new spending, part of the economic stimulus package making its way to his desk.

The new commander in chief held his first meeting in the Situation Room, where he, Vice President Joe Biden and senior military and foreign policy officials discussed war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama campaigned on a pledge to withdraw U.S. combat forces from Iraq within 16 months, and to beef up the commitment in Afghanistan. Obama asked the Pentagon to do whatever additional planning necessary to “execute a responsible military drawdown from Iraq.”

The new White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said Obama’s phone calls to leaders in the Middle East were meant to convey his ‘commitment to active engagement in pursuit of Arab-Israeli peace from the beginning of his term.’

Gibbs also that in conversations with Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian and Jordanian leaders, the president emphasized he would work to consolidate the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Obama intends to name former Senate Majority leader George Mitchell as a special envoy to the region.

Not everything was new at the White House.

In the Oval Office, Obama worked at a desk built from the timbers of a British naval vessel, the HMS Resolute, and used off-and-on by presidents since the 1870s, including Bush. It also appeared that the carpet that Bush used in his second term, a yellow sunbeam design, was still in place.

If some of the furnishings remained in place, there was no doubt that the new president meant to fulfill his campaign promise of change.

‘As of today, lobbyists will be subject to stricter limits than under any … other administration in history,’ Obama told reporters as he signed the new rules. The restrictions included a ban on gifts by lobbyists to anyone serving in the administration.

He also imposed a pay freeze for about 100 White House aides who earn $100,000 or more. Its implementation was unclear, since none of them was on the payroll before Tuesday’s noontime inauguration.

On Tuesday, within hours of Obama’s inauguration, his administration froze last-minute Bush administration regulations before they could take effect.

Among them was an Interior Department proposal to remove gray wolves from Endangered Species protections in much of the northern Rocky Mountains, and a Labor Department recommendation that would allow companies that manage employee retirement plans to market investment products to plan participants.

On Wednesday night, Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath to Obama at the White House -a rare do-over. The surprise moment came in response to Tuesday’s stumble, when Roberts got the words of the oath a little off, which prompted Obama to do so, too.

The White House reassured that Obama has still been president since noon on Inauguration Day. But Obama and Roberts went through the drill again out of what White House counsel Greg Craig called ‘an abundance of caution.’

Obama also dropped by a party for his staff at a packed DC Armory, telling his supporters that they deserve credit for his historic election victory, in part because they didn’t know any better. He said they simply didn’t know that a guy like him shouldn’t win, that their fundraising model wasn’t typical and that the odds were stacked against them.

Obama and his wife began their day at a prayer service that is traditional for the first business day of a new administration. They were joined in front-pew seats by Biden and his wife, Jill, as well as former President Bill Clinton and his wife, hours away from confirmation as the nation’s top diplomat.

‘Grant to Barack Obama, president of the United States, and to all in authority your grace and good will. Bless them with your heavenly gifts, give them wisdom and strength to know and to do your will,’ prayed the Rev. Andy Stanley, one of numerous clerics from several religions to speak.

Obama and his wife also played host and hostess for a select 200 at an open house.

‘Enjoy yourself, roam around,’ a smiling Obama told one guest.

‘Don’t break anything.’

P/S: Can’t wait of what Obama wants to do to bring the toppled administration back to ‘normal’ after it was led by George W. Bush last time.