Pope vs Rabbi

Several centuries ago, the Pope decreed that all the Jews had to convert to Catholicism or leave Italy. There was a huge outcry from the Jewish community, so the Pope offered a deal.

He'd have a religious debate with the leader of the Jewish community. If the Jews won, they could stay in Italy; if the Pope won, they'd have to convert or leave.

The Jewish people met and picked an aged and wise rabbi to represent them in the debate. However, as the rabbi spoke no Italian, and the Pope spoke no Yiddish, they agreed that it would be a 'silent' debate.

On the chosen day the Pope and rabbi sat opposite each other

The Pope raised his hand and showed three fingers.

The rabbi looked back and raised one finger.

Next, the Pope waved his finger around his head.

The rabbi pointed to the ground where he sat.

The Pope brought out a communion wafer and a chalice of wine.

The rabbi pulled out an apple.

With that, the Pope stood up and declared himself beaten and said that the rabbi was too clever. The Jews could stay in Italy.

Later the cardinals met with the Pope and asked him what had happened.

The Pope said, 'First I held up three fingers to represent the Trinity. He responded by holding up a single finger to remind me there is still only one God common to both our beliefs.

'Then, I waved my finger around my head to show him that God was all around us. He responded by pointing to the ground to show that God was also right here with us.

'I pulled out the wine and wafer to show that God absolves us of all our sins. He pulled out an apple to remind me of the original sin.

'He beat me at every move and I could not continue.'

Meanwhile, the Jewish community gathered to ask the rabbi how he'd won.

'I haven't a clue' the rabbi said. 'First, he told me that we had three days to get out of Italy, so I gave him the finger.

'Then he tells me that the whole country would be cleared of Jews and I told him that we were staying right here.'

'And then what?' asked a woman.

'Who knows?' said the rabbi. 'He took out his lunch so I took out mine.'

Aaron runs errands

Got a lot done with the help of Jasmine's Dad's car. No accidents today, thankfully.

1. Gave tuition
2. Got measured for new tuxedo shirt
3. Collected ceremonial tea set
4. Bought wardrobe, cushions frm Ikea for new room
5. Brought invitation cards to my place
6. Bought Bengawan Solo cake cards
7. Ate helluva lot of food!

Little Big Planet wins 4 awards

"LittleBigPlanet" sacked the competition to win four trophies at the Game Developers Choice Awards.

Developed by Media Molecule, the cutesy PlayStation 3 adventure game which allows players to create and share their own levels was honored for best game design, debut, technology and innovation at the Game Developers Conference ceremony Wednesday evening.

http://www.mail.com/Article.aspx?articlepath=APNews\General-Entertainment\20090326\Games-Developer-Choice-Awards.xml&cat=entertainment&subcat=&pageid=1

Signs

Awesome short film. =]

A celebration

Hi guys!

As you know, Agape has recently launched Agape Transformation in 300 Days, AT300. In April, the ALGs will be rebranded. Details for the ALGs will be released later, but we want to commit this very important ministry into God's hands. This will probably be one of our last events together as 'Professionals'.

Our intention for this event is quite simple:
1. We want to commit Agape, AT300 & ALG to God.
2. We want everyone to enjoy themselves.
3. We want everyone to get to know everyone better, especially those we don't know that well.
4. We want to celebrate what ALG means to us.

As one era comes to an end, so another rises to take its place. I pray you'll be a part of Agape's new dawn, with ALG a very big part of that. I ask each of you who hears about this event to tell/remind three other people about it. Don't take no for an answer!

Group leaders, for one more time, please exhort the people in your group to come for this celebration. Let's work together to make things happen.

When?: Fri, 13 Mar 2009, 7.45pm
Where?: Church Office, Serangoon
Blk 266, Serangoon Central Dr, #04-255
Take Lift C to enter from the back door.
Things to Bring: Yourself, a willingness to share & the three Professionals you invited to the meeting.

Let's have fun. =]

Agape, Aaron

Liniment

Liniment, (or embrocation) from the Latin linere, to anoint, is a medicated topical preparation for application to the skin. Preparations of this type are also called balm. Liniments are of a similar viscosity to lotions (being significantly less viscous than an ointment or cream) but unlike a lotion a liniment is applied with friction; that is, a liniment is always rubbed in.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liniment

Ointment

An ointment is a viscous semisolid preparation used topically on a variety of body surfaces. These include the skin and the mucus membranes of the eye (an eye ointment), vagina, anus, and nose. An ointment may or may not be medicated.

The vehicle of an ointment is known as ointment base. The choice of a base depends upon the clinical indication for the ointment, and the different types of ointment bases are:

Hydrocarbon bases e.g. hard paraffin, soft paraffin
Absorption bases e.g. wool fat, beeswax
Water soluble bases e.g. macrogols 200, 300, 400
Emulsifying bases e.g. emulsifying wax, cetrimide
Vegetable oils e.g. olive oil, arachis oil, coconut oil

The medicaments are dispersed in the base and later they get divided after the drug penetration into the living cells of skin.

Ointments are homogeneous, semi-solid preparations intended for external application to the skin or mucous membranes. They are used as emollients or for the application of active ingredients to the skin for protective, therapeutic, or prophylactic purposes and where a degree of occlusion is desired.

Ointments are formulated using hydrophobic, hydrophilic, or water-emulsifying bases to provide preparations that are immiscible, miscible, or emulsifiable with skin secretions. They can also be derived from hydrocarbon (fatty), absorption, water-removable, or water-soluble bases.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ointment

Crisis

A crisis (plural: crises) may occur on a personal or societal level. It may be a traumatic or stressful change in a person's life, or an unstable and dangerous social situation, in political, social, economic, military affairs, or a large-scale environmental event, especially one involving an impending abrupt change. More loosely, it is a term meaning 'a testing time' or 'emergency event'.

It's change, that's all.

Concertina wire

Concertina wire is a type of barbed wire or razor wire that is formed in large coils which can be expanded like a concertina. Each coil actually consists of two oppositely wound helices which support each other against crushing while allowing easy longitudinal movement. In conjunction with plain barbed wire and steel pickets, it is used to form military wire obstacles. During World War I soldiers manufactured concertina wire themselves, using ordinary barbed wire. Today it is factory made.

Concertina wire packs flat for ease of transport, but can then be deployed as an obstacle much more quickly than ordinary barbed wire.

A platoon of soldiers can deploy a single concertina fence at a rate of about a kilometer per hour. Such an obstacle is not very effective by itself, and concertinas are normally built up into more elaborate patterns as time permits.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concertina_wire

The Mom Song

Ampersand

An ampersand (&), also commonly called an " 'and' sign," is a logogram representing the conjunction "and". The symbol is a ligature of the letters in et, Latin for "and". Its origin is apparent in the images shown below.

The word ampersand is a corruption of the phrase "and per se and", meaning "and [the symbol which] by itself [is] and". The Scots and Scottish English name for & is epershand, derived from "et per se and", with the same meaning.

Traditionally, in English-speaking schools when reciting the Alphabet, any letter that could also be used as a word in itself ("A," "I," "&" and, at one point, "O") was preceded by the Latin expression "per se" (Latin for "by itself"). Also, it was common practice to add at the end of the alphabet the "&" sign, pronounced "and". Thus, the recitation of the alphabet would end in: "X, Y, Z and per se and." This last phrase was routinely slurred to "ampersand" and the term crept into common English usage by around 1837.

Through folk etymology, it has been claimed that André-Marie Ampère used the symbol in his widely read publications, and that people began calling the new shape "Ampere's and."

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampersand

Ellipsis

Ellipsis (plural ellipses; from the Greek: ἔλλειψις, élleipsis, "omission") in printing and writing refers to a mark or series of marks that usually indicate an intentional omission of a word or a phrase from the original text. An ellipsis can also be used to indicate a pause in speech, an unfinished thought or, at the end of a sentence, a trailing off into silence (aposiopesis).

The most common form of an ellipsis is a row of three periods (...). Forms encountered less often are: three asterisks (***), one em dash (—), multiple en dashes (––), and the Unicode Ellipsis symbol […].

The triple-dot punctuation mark is also called a suspension point, points of ellipsis, periods of ellipsis, or colloquially, dot-dot-dot.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellipsis

Guillemets

Guillemets (pronounced /ˈɡɪləmɛt/, or /ɡiːəˈmeɪ/ after French [ɡijmɛ]), also called angle quotes, are line segments, pointed as if arrows (« or »), sometimes forming a complementary set of punctuation marks used as a form of quotation mark. The symbol at either end — double « and » or single ‹ and › — is a guillemet. They are used in a number of languages to indicate speech. They are also referred to as symbols for rewind and fast forward.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillemets

Brackets

Brackets are punctuation marks used in pairs to set apart or interject text within other text. In computer science, the term is sometimes said to strictly apply to the square or box type.

There are four main types of brackets:

round brackets, open brackets, or parentheses: ( )
square brackets, closed brackets, or box brackets: [ ]
curly brackets or braces: { }
angle brackets, diamond brackets, or chevrons: < >
All these forms may be used according to typographical conventions that may vary from publication to publication and may vary even more from language to language.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bracket

Apostrophe

The apostrophe ( ’ or ' ) is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritic mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet or certain other alphabets. In English it has two main functions: it marks omissions, and it assists in marking the possessives of all nouns and many pronouns. (In strictly limited cases, it is allowed to assist in marking plurals, but most authorities now disapprove of such usage; see below.) According to the OED, the word comes ultimately from Greek ἡ ἀπόστροφος [προσῳδία] (hē apóstrophos [prosōidía], "[the accent of] 'turning away', or elision"), through Latin and French.

The apostrophe is different from the closing single quotation mark (usually rendered identically but serving a quite different purpose), and from the similar-looking prime (which is used to indicate measurement in feet or arcminutes, and for various mathematical purposes).

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostrophe

Kudos

Kudos (pronounced /ˈkjuːdɒs/, often /ˈkuːdoʊz/), from the Greek κῦδος (not to be confused with κύδος "taunt"), kydos, (literally "that which is heard of") means "fame" and "renown" resulting from an act or achievement. Extending "kudos" to another individual is often done as a praising remark. It entered English as British university slang in the early 1800s. In Standard British English, as in Greek, Kudos is a singular and not a plural noun, and is used exclusively as such in Britain. However, in common use in the US the noun is often plural: She received many kudos ['ku:doʊz] for her work.

The term is often attributed to recognition in the workplace with many Employee Recognition Programs developed solely to recognize the achievement of individuals.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kudos

Diaspora

The term Diaspora (in Greek, διασπορά – "a scattering [of seeds]") refers to the movement of any population sharing common ethnic identity who were either forced to leave or voluntarily left their settled territory, and became residents in areas often far removed from the former. It is converse to the nomadic culture. Diaspora cultural development often assumes a different course from that of the population in the original place of settlement. It tends to vary in culture, traditions and other factors between remotely separated communities. The last vestige of cultural affiliation in a Diaspora is often found in community resistance to language change and in maintenance of religious practice.

The first mention of a diaspora created as a result of exile is found in Deuteronomy 28:25 "thou shalt be a dispersion in all kingdoms of the earth". Its use began to develop from this original sense when the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek; the word "Diaspora" then was used to refer to the population of Jews exiled from Israel in 607 BC by the Babylonians, and from Judea in 70 CE by the Roman Empire. It subsequently came to be used to refer interchangeably, but exclusively, to the historical movements of the dispersed ethnic population of Israel, the cultural development of that population, or the population itself.

The wider application of Diaspora evolved from the Assyrian two-way mass deportation policy of conquered populations to deny future territorial claims on their part. In Ancient Greece the term Diaspora meant " the scattered" and was used to refer to citizens of a dominant city-state who emigrated to a conquered land with the purpose of colonisation, to assimilate the territory into the empire.

First modern attestation of diasporas is in 1876 from the Greek "Diaspora", derived from diaspeirein "to scatter about, disperse," from dia- "about, across" + speirein "to scatter". As an academic field, Diaspora studies has been established relating to the wider modern meaning of the usage 'Diaspora'.

Sometimes refugees of other origins or ethnicities may be called a Diaspora, but the two terms are far from synonymous.

The term became more widely assimilated into English by the mid 1950s, with long-term expatriates in significant numbers from other particular countries or regions also being referred to as a diaspora. An academic field, diaspora studies, has become established relating to this contemporary more general sense of the word.

In all cases, the term Diaspora carries a sense of displacement; that is, the population so described finds itself for whatever reason separated from its national territory; and usually it has a hope, or at least a desire, to return to their homeland at some point, if the "homeland" still exists in any meaningful sense. Some writers have noted that Diaspora may result in a loss of nostalgia for a single home as people "re-root" in a series of meaningful displacements. In this sense, individuals may have multiple homes throughout their Diaspora, with different reasons for maintaining some form of attachment to each.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaspora

Entropa

Entropa is a satirical sculpture created by controversial Czech artist David Černý and commissioned by the government of the Czech Republic to mark the occasion of its presidency of the Council of the European Union. It was supposedly created jointly by 27 artists and artist groups from all member countries of the EU; it soon came to light, however, that it was made only by Černý and two or three assistants.

The piece was unveiled on 12 January 2009. Moving and multimedia components were activated on the formal "launch date" of 15 January 2009. It is on display in the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels; a copy of it may appear on the wall of the New Scene of the National Theatre in Prague.

The Council of the EU has a rotary presidency system, whereby the governments of member countries exchange leadership every six months. It is customary for the presiding country to place an exhibit in the Justus Lipsius building, which are normally uncontroversial. France, which held the presidency before the Czech Republic, had simply erected a large balloon in the French national colours.

Theme
The sculpture is an ironic jab at the issue of European integration and the stereotypes associated with each country. It is subtitled Stereotypes are barriers to be demolished, in accord with the Czech European Union Presidency motto of Europe without barriers. According to the artist David Černý, Entropa "lampoons the socially activist art that balances on the verge between would-be controversial attacks on national character and undisturbing decoration of an official space".

The work is made of GRP (the joints of steel), approximately 256 square metres (2,760 sq ft) in area (16.4 metres (54 ft) high and 16.5 metres (54 ft) wide), almost 8 tonnes (7.9 LT; 8.8 ST) heavy (of which three fourths is the frame) and was installed between 5 to 11 January 2009 in presence of David Černý, three assistants, four climbers, two technicians, two cameramen and a representative of the Czech Permanent Representation to the EU.

It resembles an unassembled model kit containing pieces in the shapes of the 27 member states of the EU. Each piece has a distinctive theme that portrays the stereotypes which the artist perceived to be the most associated with that country. Some of these are portrayed in a particularly provocative manner. Among the pieces which have attracted the most attention are those of Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Poland and Slovakia; see below for details on the controversy.

Note also that some of the pieces differ from the form presented in the official booklet, mostly towards greater controversy (most notably the Danish piece, which looks completely innocuous from the official photo, the animals on the Finnish piece, and the Hungarian colours on the Slovak piece).

In an interview for The Times Online, Černý stated that the sculpture was influenced by the Monty Python brand of humour. At the launch ceremony, he added Sacha Baron Cohen and Les Guignols de l'info's portrayal of Nicolas Sarkozy as other influences.

Nations shown
With no clear indication made by the artist nor by the official presentation, various interpretations of a single country can be drawn, and this list is by no means definite.

Austria, a known opponent of atomic energy, is a green field dominated by nuclear power plant cooling towers; vapour comes out of them at intervals
Belgium is presented as a half-full box of half-eaten Praline chocolates
Bulgaria is depicted by a series of connected "Turkish" squat toilets; neon-like lights connect and illuminate them (later hidden with fabric)
Cyprus is jigsawed (cut) in half
The Czech Republic's own piece is an LED display, which flashes controversial quotations by Czech President Václav Klaus
Denmark is built of Lego bricks, and some claim to see in the depiction a face reminiscent of the cartoon controversy, though any resemblance has been denied by the artist
Estonia is presented with a hammer and sickle-styled power tools, the country has considered a ban on Communist symbols
Finland is depicted as a wooden floor and a male with a rifle lying down, imagining an elephant and a hippo.
France is draped in a "GRÈVE!" ("STRIKE!") banner
Germany is a series of interlocking autobahns, described as "somewhat resembling a swastika", though that is not universally accepted. Cars move along the roads.
Greece is depicted as a forest that is entirely burned, possibly representing the 2007 Greek forest fires and the 2008 civil unrest in Greece.
Hungary features an Atomium made of its common agricultural products melons and Hungarian sausages, based on a floor of peppers
Ireland is depicted as a brown bog with bagpipes protruding from Northern Ireland; the bagpipes play music every five minutes
Italy is depicted as a football pitch with several players who appear to be masturbating with the footballs they each hold.
Latvia is shown as covered with mountains, in contrast to its actual flat landscape
Lithuania a series of dressed Manneken Pis-style figures urinating on its eastern neighbours; the streams of urine are presented by a yellow lighting glass fibers
Luxembourg is displayed as a gold nugget with "For Sale" tag
Malta is a tiny island with its prehistoric dwarf elephant as its only decoration; there's a magnifying glass in front of the elephant
The Netherlands has disappeared under the sea with only several minarets still visible; the piece is supposed to emit the singing of muezzins
Poland has a piece with priests erecting the rainbow flag of the Gay rights movement, in the style of the U.S. Marines raising the Stars and Stripes at Iwo Jima.
Portugal is shown as a wooden cutting board with three pieces of meat in the shape of its former colonies of Brazil, Angola, and Mozambique
Romania is a Dracula-style theme park, which is set up to blink and emit ghostly sounds at intervals.
Slovakia is depicted as a Hungarian sausage (or a human body tightened by Hungarian tricolour)
Slovenia is shown as a rock engraved with the words first tourists came here 1213
Spain is covered entirely in concrete, with a concrete mixer situated in the northeast
Sweden does not have an outline, but is represented as a large Ikea-style self-assembly furniture box, containing Gripen fighter planes (as supplied to the Czech Air Force)
The United Kingdom, known for its Euroscepticism and relative isolation from the Continent, is "included" as missing piece (an empty space) at the top-left

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropa

London by air

London is a major international air transport hub with the largest city airspace in the world. Eight airports use the words London Airport in their name, but most traffic passes through one of five major airports. London Heathrow Airport is the busiest airport in the world for international traffic, and is the major hub of the nation's flag carrier, British Airways. In March 2008 its fifth terminal was opened,[184] and plans are already being considered for a sixth terminal. Similar traffic, with the addition of some low-cost short-haul flights, is also handled at London Gatwick Airport. London Stansted Airport and London Luton Airport cater mostly for low-cost short-haul flights. London City Airport, the smallest and most central airport, is focused on business travellers, with a mixture of full service short-haul scheduled flights and considerable business jet traffic.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London#Air

Leprosy

It was 1873, and Dr. Armauer Hansen of Norway had astounding news for the world: leprosy was caused by a bacterium (Mycobacterium leprae). Until then, the disease was thought to be from a curse or sinful ways.

Not very contagious
Modern medicine knows that leprosy is spread when an untreated infected person coughs or sneezes (but not by sexual contact or pregnancy). However, leprosy is not very contagious; approximately 95% of people have natural immunity to the disease. People with leprosy who are treated with medication do not need to be isolated from society. (Historically, people with leprosy were sent to "lepers' colonies" on remote islands or in special hospitals.)

Signs and symptoms
The earliest sign of leprosy is commonly a spot on the skin that may be slightly redder, darker, or lighter than the person's normal skin. The spot may lose feeling and hair. In some people the only sign is numbness in a finger or toe.

If left untreated, leprosy has serious effects on the body, including:

Hands and feet - Leprosy bacteria attack the nerves in the hands and feet and cause them to become numb. A person may get cuts or burns on the numb parts and not know it, leading to infections which cause permanent damage. Fingers and toes may be lost to infection. Serious infections in the feet may require amputation. Paralysis may cause the fingers and toes to curl up permanently.
Eyes - Leprosy bacteria attack the nerves around the eyes causing the loss of blinking reflex (which protects the eye from injury and moistens the surface). The eyes become dry and infected, and blindness may result. Because of numbness of the eye, the person cannot feel dirt or scratches in the eye.
Face - Damage to the internal lining of the nose causes scarring and eventual collapse of the nose.

Treatment available
The good news is that leprosy is curable. In 1981, the World Health Organization recommended the use of a combination of three antibiotics--dapsone, rifampin, and clofazimine--for treatment, which takes six months to a year or more.

During the course of treatment, the body may react to the dead bacteria with pain and swelling in the skin and nerves. This is treated with pain medication, prednisone, or thalidomide (under special conditions).

A hopeful outlook
Before treatment was available, a diagnosis of leprosy meant suffering and pain and being shunned by society. Today, antibiotics and good skin care will prevent the disease from destroying the body. Perhaps in the future a vaccine will eliminate this ancient scourge altogether.

Source: http://rarediseases.about.com/cs/infectiousdisease/a/071203.htm