What do you think of Pink Slugs????

Have you seen them?  Hundreds of giant, fluorescent pink slugs, popping out on  Mount Kaputar, a 5,000-foot peak in the Nandewar Range in northern New South Wales. 

They are  eight-inch, how many cm is that? 25 cm? My God That’s large!

 

Scientists believe the eye-catching organisms are survivors from an era when Australia was home to rainforests. A series of volcanoes, millions of years of erosion and other geological changes "have carved a dramatic landscape at Mount Kaputar," the park service wrote on its Facebook page, and unique arid conditions spared the slugs from extinction.

They "probably would have long since vanished, if a volcano had not erupted at Mount Kaputar about 17 million years ago. The result of that eruption is a high-altitude haven for invertebrates and plant species that have been isolated for millions of years, after Australia dried out and the rainforests receded.

I cant wait to see them !  So people, our nextr holiday destination : Australia, New South Wales???

What do you think of Ah Boys To Men, Joshua?

OkOk.... people,  yesterday we (girls)  kind of spend about 1 hr 'discussing " him, beats doing other things at the moment, with wheather so hot, I think talking about  the HOTTEST topic seems fit!...hahha....

When fans asked ,  what he prefers Boxers or briefs?Joshua 'apparently' said :  boxers as briefs are suffocating (ahemmm.... cough..cough... choke choke....!!!!!). He further let on that at times he " go commando" because it's shiok & he can't be bothered. The habit started when he was in army. ...boy what these cute guys learn in the army!!!!

He likes chesty curvy girls , whom he thought is sexy.....vavavoom....... (Mandy is breathing hard now hhahaha......). No skinny girls for him, they reminded him of guys...hahhaa.....

A good time is having an intelligent conversation with someone. He  hates simplistic conversation that goes nowhere & appreciate being mentally stimulated.

Oh boy......  I seriously hope he looks as good in person as he does on print!!! You know some people are photogenic but .... I'm that kind, so I know. Anyway, looks like we have finally find ourselves a real celebrity......... cute & smart!!!!

Guys being molested on trains here in Singapore ???

Seriously have you heard of that?
It's so damn funny.... this news... read it on Stomp...
What's happening to this world ?????
Wonder if it's a pretty girl who does it would the guy complain after...lol....

Crowd Funding

An undergard from NTU did just that to help pay off her dad's hospital bills. In fact she raised about $25,000- last reported from more than 200 people. This happened last year.

Why I mention it here, it's because my friends have decided to start a bussiness & the brains thought of doing just that just to come up with working capital.

If you dont know what this is, crowd funding is where indiduals are asked to contribute money, usually online now, to support an activity which can include help pay for someone's debts (like mentioned above), support some campaign or support us -starting a business!!!!

Snake - Chinese Zodiac Animal

2013 is year of the Snake, so I thought I'll paste this info here, so that all of us can check back through the year. Be special aware of the "Compatibility" part.... that's very accurate I was told!!!!

Lucky Colors: red, pale yellow, black

 Lucky Numbers: 2, 8, 9

 Lucky Flowers: orchid, cactus

 Year of Birth: 1917, 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, 2025 

Personality

The snake ranks sixth of all the animals in the Chinese zodiac. People born in the Year of the Snake are the most intuitive, even while remaining the most private and reticent. Snake people represent the symbol of wisdom. They are intelligent and wise. Snake people are usually regarded as great thinkers.

 Snakes are materialistic and love keeping up with the Joneses. They love to posses the best of everything, but they have no patience for shopping. Snake people prefer to work alone, therefore they are easily stressed; if they seem unusually stressed, it is best to allow them their own space and time to return to normal. 

Health

Snakes prefer living a peaceful life, and they do not like a noisy environment. Snakes become easily stressed when their lives aren’t calm or in order. Therefore, a manageable workload would be good for them rather than a schedule of over workload. They need to spend lots of time to relax themselves. It's necessary to take vacation at a proper time. People should pay attention to the health of snake people, especially senior members in the family. 

Career

Snakes are very creative and extremely diligent. Though snakes work very hard, they have a tendency to be job-hoppers for they will easily become bored. Snakes are great thinkers. Complex problems stimulate them. And of course they’re excellent problem-solvers and thrive under tight deadlines. Good career choices for Snakes include: scientist, analyst, investigator, painter, potter, jeweler, astrologer, magician, dietician, and sociologist.

Relationships

People born in the year of the snake do not have a lot of friends. It is extremely hard to get to know them because they keep their feelings locked up inside. The snake will be careful in choosing friends. They will never forgive a breach in the friendship. Once people are friends, a Snake is willing to share his sorrow and happiness with them. Snake people guard their chosen friends much like valuable possessions, and they easily jealous and even obsessive.

Compatibility

Best with: Ox or Rooster

Worst with: Tiger, Monkey or Pig

The Origins of Christmas Customs

1.     The  Christmas Tree

Just as early Christians recruited Roman pagans by associating Christmas with the Saturnalia, so too worshippers of the Asheira cult and its offshoots were recruited by the Church sanctioning “Christmas Trees”.  Pagans had long worshipped trees in the forest, or brought them into their homes and decorated them, and this observance was adopted and painted with a Christian veneer by the Church.

 2.     The Mistletoe

Norse mythology recounts how the god Balder was killed using a mistletoe arrow by his rival god Hoder while fighting for the female Nanna.  Druid rituals use mistletoe to poison their human sacrificial victim.  The Christian custom of “kissing under the mistletoe” is a later synthesis of the sexual license of Saturnalia with the Druidic sacrificial cult.

 3.     Christmas Presents

In pre-Christian Rome, the emperors compelled their most despised citizens to bring offerings and gifts during the Saturnalia (in December) and Kalends (in January).  Later, this ritual expanded to include gift-giving among the general populace.  The Catholic Church gave this custom a Christian flavor by re-rooting it in the supposed gift-giving of Saint Nicholas.

 4.     Santa Claus

a.       Nicholas was born in Parara, Turkey in 270 CE and later became Bishop of Myra.  He died in 345 CE on December 6th.  He was only named a saint in the 19th century.

 b.      Nicholas was among the most senior bishops who convened the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE and created the New Testament.  The text they produced portrayed Jews as “the children of the devil”[11] who sentenced Jesus to death.
 
c.       In 1087, a group of sailors who idolized Nicholas moved his bones from Turkey to a sanctuary in Bari, Italy.  There Nicholas supplanted a female boon-giving deity called The Grandmother, or Pasqua Epiphania, who used to fill the children's stockings with her gifts.  The Grandmother was ousted from her shrine at Bari, which became the center of the Nicholas cult.  Members of this group gave each other gifts during a pageant they conducted annually on the anniversary of Nicholas’ death, December 6.

 d.      The Nicholas cult spread north until it was adopted by German and Celtic pagans.  These groups worshipped a pantheon led by Woden –their chief god and the father of Thor, Balder, and Tiw.  Woden had a long, white beard and rode a horse through the heavens one evening each Autumn.  When Nicholas merged with Woden, he shed his Mediterranean appearance, grew a beard, mounted a flying horse, rescheduled his flight for December, and donned heavy winter clothing.

e.       In a bid for pagan adherents in Northern Europe, the Catholic Church adopted the Nicholas cult and taught that he did (and they should) distribute gifts on December 25th instead of December 6th.

 f.        In 1809, the novelist Washington Irving (most famous his The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle) wrote a satire of Dutch culture entitled Knickerbocker History.  The satire refers several times to the white bearded, flying-horse riding Saint Nicholas using his Dutch name, Santa Claus.

g.       Dr. Clement Moore, a professor at Union Seminary, read Knickerbocker History, and in 1822 he published a poem based on the character Santa Claus: “Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.  The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in the hope that Saint Nicholas soon would be there…”  Moore innovated by portraying a Santa with eight reindeer who descended through chimneys.

 h.       The Bavarian illustrator Thomas Nast almost completed the modern picture of Santa Claus.  From 1862 through 1886, based on Moore’s poem, Nast drew more than 2,200 cartoon images of Santa for Harper’s Weekly.  Before Nast, Saint Nicholas had been pictured as everything from a stern looking bishop to a gnome-like figure in a frock.  Nast also gave Santa a home at the North Pole, his workshop filled with elves, and his list of the good and bad children of the world.  All Santa was missing was his red outfit.

i.         In 1931, the Coca Cola Corporation contracted the Swedish commercial artist Haddon Sundblom to create a coke-drinking Santa.  Sundblom modeled his Santa on his friend Lou Prentice, chosen for his cheerful, chubby face.  The corporation insisted that Santa’s fur-trimmed suit be bright, Coca Cola red.  And Santa was born – a blend of Christian crusader, pagan god, and commercial idol.

So is christmas really Christ birth day?

Popular myth puts his birth on December 25th in the year 1 C.E.  The New Testament gives no date or year for Jesus’ birth.  The earliest gospel – St. Mark’s, written about 65 CE – begins with the baptism of an adult Jesus.  This suggests that the earliest Christians lacked interest in or knowledge of Jesus’ birthdate.

The year of Jesus birth was determined by Dionysius Exiguus, a Scythian monk, “abbot of a Roman monastery.  His calculation went as follows:

In the Roman, pre-Christian era, years were counted from ab urbe condita (“the founding of the City” [Rome]).  Thus 1 AUC signifies the year Rome was founded, 5 AUC signifies the 5th year of Rome’s reign, etc.

Dionysius received a tradition that the Roman emperor Augustus reigned 43 years, and was followed by the emperor Tiberius.

Luke 3:1,23 indicates that when Jesus turned 30 years old, it was the 15th year of Tiberius reign.

If Jesus was 30 years old in Tiberius’ reign, then he lived 15 years under Augustus (placing Jesus birth in Augustus’ 28th year of reign).

 Augustus took power in 727 AUC.  Therefore, Dionysius put Jesus birth in 754 AUC.

However, Luke 1:5 places Jesus’ birth in the days of Herod, and Herod died in 750 AUC – four years before the year in which Dionysius places Jesus birth.

Joseph A. Fitzmyer – Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies at the Catholic University of America, writes about the date of Jesus’ birth, “Though the year [of Jesus birth is not reckoned with certainty, the birth did not occur in AD 1.  The Christian era, supposed to have its starting point in the year of Jesus birth, is based on a miscalculation introduced ca. 533 by Dionysius Exiguus.”

The DePascha Computus, an anonymous document believed to have been written in North Africa around 243 CE, placed Jesus birth on March 28.  Clement, a bishop of Alexandria (d. ca. 215 CE), thought Jesus was born on November 18.  Based on historical records, Fitzmyer guesses that Jesus birth occurred on September 11, 3 BCE.