IA'S ALL ABOUT THE CUTE ANIMAL- DOLPHIN!!!

Dolphins are marine mammals, but there is also a fish species that's often called "dolphin" or "dolphin fish". Its scientific name is Coryphaena hippurus. To avoid confusion with the mammal species its Spanish name "dorado" or its Hawaiian name "mahi mahi" is often used.

Because of the confusion between the mammal and the fish species dolphins have in the past erroneously been called porpoises, especially in some US regions, where the fish species is common. In older books you can encounter the name "bottlenose porpoise" for the bottlenose dolphin, for instance. Dolphins and porpoises are however members of different whale families.

Dolphins have to be conscious to breath (Williams et al, 1990). This means that they cannot go into a full deep sleep, because then they would suffocate. Dolphins have "solved" that by letting one half of their brain sleep at a time. This has been determined by doing EEG studies on dolphins. Dolphins sleep about 8 hours a day in this fashion. Recent research confirmed that dolphins have only one eye closed when sleeping. The state (open or closed) of one eye remains constant for on average an hour, after which it switches state (Goley, 1999). REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, usually associated with dreaming has been recorded only very rarely. Some scientists claim dolphins do not have REM sleep at all.

A dolphin's behavior when sleeping/resting depends on the circumstances and possibly on individual preferences. They can either:

• swim slowly and surface every now and then for a breath

• rest at the surface with their blowhole exposed

• rest on the bottom (in shallow water) and rise to the surface every now and then to breath.

Dolphins communicate mainly by means of sounds. These sounds include whistles, but also so-called pulsed sounds, which are often described as squawks, barks, rasps, etc. But they also use breaching (jumping and falling back into the water with a loud splash) and pectoral fin (or flipper) and tail (or fluke) slaps (hitting the flipper or fluke on the water surface). Body posturing and jaw popping also have a role in communication. This list is not exhaustive.

As for language, we do not know if they have one. Several studies have demonstrated that dolphins can understand a structured language like ours. This same has been demonstrated for a number of other animals species as well (gorilla, bonobo, California sea lion, parrot). Some studies also indicate that dolphin vocalizations are complex enough to support some form of language. However, to date it has not been demonstrated yet that they indeed use a language for communication among themselves.

i LOVE DOLPHINS!!!

NATURAL DISASTER

The residents of Taman Seri Wangsa were fast asleep. Whenthunder rumbled through the quite of the night, a few people turned over in their beds, but went on sleeping. A bolt of lightning lit up the night sky and stuck the roof of uncle Shan’s double story house. A chunk of the roof seemed to explode, and flame rose from the house.  Home tuition tutor Mr.Chong, having finished the evening class at Lee’s house. The tutor who finished the class was just out of the house rushed to his bike, in a hurry to be home and out of the imminent heavy rain. He ducked instinctively as the lightning stuck, and then saw the flames on the roof of one of the houses.

Mr.Chong ran down the street, shouting,and “Fire! Fire! Call the fire Department!” As he ran, fear gripped him. The flames were still low, but their flickering frightened him for there was unusual strong wind blowing that night. The fire was in the middle section of the street where he lived with his wife and children. When he reached the fire, he identified the building as uncle Shan’s house.

No more that two minutes had passed since he had first raised the alarm, but already Taman Seri Wangsa was in flurry of shouting and running people in panic. The occupants of the houses clanged open their grill doors, running here and there, some organising evacuation of their homes, some waiting, uncertain and anxious. The yellowish orange, lit up their faces as they shouted and gesticulated. A pile of belongings started to build up in front of the some houses as people tried to save their possessions, and those who had cars were throwing their belongings inside them.

Uncle Shan and his wife were organising the evacuation of their burning house. The whole residents of the area helped, forming a human chain to carry out whatever the couples decided they had to save. In the panic, all kinds of objects appeared through the door, both the valuable and the useless. Meanwhile, the gusty wind fanned the flames and soon the whole roof was on fire. Suddenly I realised that no one had done a head count of the occupants of the house. I knew the fire department would be there of any moments, but even a moment could prove too long a time to wait to rescue the lives, especially the lives of the five children who lived in the house. I knew them all well. We grow up together as neighbours. 

Flames crackled down as I took count of the children. The four oldest were already on the pavement, looking sleepy and disoriented. They sat huddled together in silence. “Where’s Hema?” I asked urgently. The children stared at me blankly. I ran inside shouting, “There’s a child upstairs! Hema! Hema! ”

I raced upstairs although by that time the top landing was shrouded in dense smoke. I ran into the smoke and searched each room on the upstairs floor. I could barely see around me so, banging into the furniture, I felt my way. Where are you Hema? I thought desperately. The fire was spreading fast, but I continued to work my way from room to room, groping among the furniture. At last I felt the form of small legs. The child was still sleeping! I picked the child up, and hurried to escape the increasing heat of the fire and the choking smoke.

 Outside the room, I saw the flashlights of the fire-fighters who had come up after me. They took the child for me, and quickly led me downstairs and out to safety to her grateful parents and my own worried family were waiting. The kids parents thanked me while crying for saving their kids live. The fire had been extinguished by the fire-fighters after some hours. They only could help to control the fire to not separate to the other houses but they couldn’t save uncle Shan’s house. The fire abolish uncle Shan’s house. The whole family was in sad of losing their house.

The next day our area committee had a meeting to help the victim of the incident. They request for help with one of the NGO in from the nearby area. They had a visit and promised to help the victims as soon as possible. Meanwhile we as neighbours helped them by giving some foods, cloths and also books for the children.

MEMORABLE CHRISTMAS EVE.....

During the December festive season almost every shopping and business complex is a hive of activity. The last few days before Christmas are exceptionally busy days. Many last minute shoppers scurry along from shop to shop in a last bid to complete their shopping. Unfortunately mum and I were also completing our shopping at Berjaya Times Square on the Sunday before Christmas. Berjaya Times Square acknowledged as Malaysia’s largest building ever built in a single phase with a gross built-up area of 7.5 million square feet, it is an international landmark offering unparalleled shopping, luxury accommodation, business, fine food and beverage, and abundant entertainment to the estimated 2.5 million visitors each month. Berjaya Times Square Kuala Lumpur is an architectural masterpiece that house over 1000 shops, service outlets and variety of retail anchors all under one roof.

Hundreds of people were in the complex and parking was at a premium. Fortunately we went early and got a parking after an hour rounding in the parking area to find parking. As we planned earlier, we went to do our last purchase for Christmas before attend a concert in the same mall. It was a tiring day for us; however we didn't stop our shopping. We both were so excited about the promotions held there and we started to pick all the things that we need. As well as you know, u can find any woman or all the women during promotions!

While doing shopping a blue cotton dress hanged in the women’s section attracted and hooked me. As I reach the dress, I saw a hand grabbing it over. I quickly turned and said its mine. What a shock It was my childhood friend Linda, we started to scream in happiness and hugged each other. It has been many years since we met. Meanwhile, my mum doing shopping we were talking about our life and studies. At some point, her mother came and said that they already finish their shopping and wanted to go back house. It was a sad moment. However, we exchanged our phone numbers and promised to keep in touch and even we planned to have a meet up soon. My mum invites her family to house during Christmas open house at my house. We continued back our shopping after their move. We both totally forget about the dress in excitement of meeting each other.

We went about to complete our shopping. Lastly we went to a watch shop to a gift of watch for my grandfather for Christmas. He is a watch collector, he have a small shelf full of branded and unique watches. My mum bought a Levis branded watch that I was crazy about for me. I just love the elegant purple color of it and the design of it. I feel awesome to wear it on. Rite after the purchase, we complete our shopping and left was to attend the concert by some local artist at the same mall. As we had left more time for the concert, me and mum planned to take rest while have some meal at secret recipe in the mall itself. I had ordered grilled mushroom chicken and mum had ordered Caribbean style fish fillet. It was wonderful meal.

After the meal we went to the lower ground concourse, where the concert held on. By the time we reach there it was about the concert going to start. We get comfort with the place that we chose to sit. The concert started by one of the Malaysian famous host Aznil Nawawi. While he was hosting all of sudden there was a tremendous explosion. My first thoughts were that it was an earthquake. My hair was standing on ends.

I turned around and to my horror there were several people lying down with blood around them. Slivers of glass were strewn everywhere. Babies were howling. People were running in all directions. The place was in a devastating condition.The police were on the scene within minutes. There cordoned off the area. The paramedics arrived soon after and attended to the injured. We were lucky that we were not injured. The people in the mall ran riot after the explosion. After some two hours the police managed to bring the scene under control. Those severely injured were transported to hospital. The explosion occurred as a result of a bomb being placed in one of the stores. The police questioned us and from that we were allowed to go home.

As my father heard about the incident he get shocked and thanked god for nothing happened to us. However, we felt sorry for those who injured in the blast. We prayed for them to get well soon. The explosion was a hot story for that year Christmas in all over Malaysia. It was hot, scary and unforgettable Christmas ever I had in my life.

TECHNOLOGY

Those days when it comes to voicing out opinions the only thing would come into mind was the papers but with the advanced in technology people voice out their opinion in the open through social networking system or in the internet.
But instead people are taking this as an advantage to spread malicious rumors  and citing comments about religions and pornographic and just many more. These act are certainly not welcomed by many people. I agree with the statement that users of the internet should be liable fully of what they publish in the internet. Serious actions would be taken against them.

First of all, by citing scornful comments in the social network such as Facebook, Twitter or their Blogs there will be attracting thousands of people to read their post but at the same time they would also be the reason behind causing havoc behind controversial issues. Such as a person cite religious comments in social network system and that is going to offend many people who read the post. It would also be a reason to destroy harmony in the multi-racial country.

Besides that, there are a group who circulate pornographic videos and also using internet to threaten people. They are not aware that they are violating human rights by doing so. Actions can be taken under cyber law and also criminal law against the person if a report was filed against them. Among the cases we often read in the papers network if she leaves him, or boyfriend creates a fake social network account to tarnish girlfriend’s reputation. These are nothing but sore eyes to read such stories as people are taking advantages of internet.

Such threats and circulation of such videos and pictures would cause emotional distress for the victims. Some who could not take this problem might also think of ending their life while some would seek help from the media or the police. By doing such things, they are violating the purpose of social networking and internet. They are not aware of it but they are hurting many people directly and indirectly.
But there are times that one could not hold responsible for the post and updates on controversial issues. That it when the person’s account was hacked by strangers or some unfriendly people. Hacking accounts is another popular trend these days where a group would hack into people’s account to voice out their opinion. The owner of the account will be a victim in this issue. They should not be hold responsible for such issues. But they could also avoid this by reporting their account if it has been hacked. 

In a nutshell, netizens should be responsible and also thoughtful of others before voicing out their opinion via internet as there are more than thousand pairs of eyes watching and reading their comments.

ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL BOY!

Good morning fellow friends. A wise man once said that “all work and no play makes jack a dull boy” which means that without time off from work, a person becomes both bored and boring. The wise man stated just now is known as James Howell and today I would like to share some of my opinions based on the proverb.

As you all know, we lead a fast-paced life. We work and study for long hours, and we are exhausted by all the commuting and traffic jams that we have to put up with every day. By the time we reach home, we seem to have only enough energy to turn on the television, our PC’s or log onto the internet. None of these activities really help us to build up the mental physical energy that is needed to face another long, stressful day at college, school or at work. Playing games, however, can help us relax and at the same time challenges our minds and allows for interaction between players, something which our hectic lives rarely allows us to do.

Playing certain games can help to enhance skills that we need at work or in our studies. In experiments with rats, it has been found that rats stimulated by toys are better able to find their way through a maze than those that live without these toys. Apparently the toys help the rats to learn. Strategy game such as chess and bridge bring out the deep thinkers with the ability to solve problem s through unusual solutions. Players are forced to make decisions, see patterns in the play and change their plans according to circumstances. Such skills are useful in a variety of subjects such as reading or carrying out experiments in a science laboratory.

Other game such as scrabble brings different type of benefit. Many of us are enthusiastic fans of computer games, with good reason. But they cannot compare with the companionship that board games provide. What could be more enjoyable than the jokes and witty remarks that our friends or family came up with in the course of a game. Board games are for everyone and several generations can play together, thus bridging the gap that usually prevents true communication. The face-to-face interaction board games afford us is truly valuable. 

Besides, other games also make classroom activities more interesting. Grammar lessons in English can be based on crossword puzzles. Students can revise past participles by reading the clue “moved quickly up and down, or from side to side”. The answer of course is “shaken”.  Bingo is another game which we can be adapted for use in the classroom. We can learn words, how they spelled and pronounced the words. We can make the game more interesting by adding competitive element and dividing the class into different teams. Indeed, learning need longer be ‘all work no play’.

To sum it up, the mental and intellectual challenge inherent in most board games is the main reason for their continuing popularity. They help us to learn in an interesting way and encourage social interaction. Before I end, let me assure you that we do need to study and learn, for the search for the knowledge will never end. But the search itself need not necessarily be dry and devoid of enjoyment in our work. After all “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. 

5 EXPERT TIPS THE MUST-DOS FOR SEXY TRESSES.

1

 For super shiny hair, apply an anti-frizz serum followed by shine serum or spray. This works great on those with straight hair.

2

When getting a new color. Hair and skin should not be of the same tone. Avoid yellow tones if your skin undertone is yellowish while pinkish skin should avoid warm blonde tones.

3

Don’t go more than four shades darker or lighter than your natural hue.

4

Blast-of-cool-water trick at the end of a shampoo for smoother hair follicles.

5

The more you take out of your hair, the more you have to put into it. Condition hair according to type as well as how much chemical processing and heat styling it’s been subject to.

INDIAN BABY SHOWER CEREMONY

In Tamil it is called as seemantham or valaikaapu means “the expecting mother wear bangles”. This ceremony is performed during the first odd months of pregnancy mostly during the seventh month for the expectant mother in her mother’s house. Prayers are invoked for the well-being of the mother to be and the fetus mostly married women are invited for this function. The expectant mother is made to wear a lot of bangles mostly glass ones of colorful colors and the sound of these bangles are supposed to reach the womb. It is also believed that the baby can hear the bangles clinking sound and the baby will know that it is welcomed. Guess bring gifts for the mother such as bangles, jewelry, sarees, fruits, and sweets because they believe that if the mother is pleased, then the baby will be happy too. Only vegetarian food will be prepared. 

During the ceremony, there is music played, and the expecting mother decked in bright color and expensive traditional attire (saree) with a lots of flowers and garland made of jasmine or mogra. A swing is decorated with flowers of her choice which she uses to sit and swing. The ceremony starts by the husband having to break a coconut and put the garland on expectant mother. Than the bangle ceremony starts, married ladies blessed the expectant mother by adorning the bangles on her and prayed for a safe delivery and healthy baby. After that she will asked to pick one of the three bundles of different taste

of rice tied in a white masculine cloth. The three bundles being ponggal rice(sweet),  puli rice (tamarind) and tayiru (yogurt) rice. If the mother pick the tamarind or yogurt rice (both of which sour), she will be having baby boy and if you pick the sweet rice it’s predicted that it’s a baby girl. The expectant mother than will be feeded with sweets and those three taste rice by her husband, parents and parents in law. Then guests will be served food. At the end a small gift contain of auspicious things like turmeric stick, kum kum, thali string, bangles and betel leave with betel nut.