Five Reason for Chinese Food


1. The food style of a culture is certainly first of all determined by the natural resources that are available for its use. . . . It is thus not surprising that Chinese food is above all characterized by an assemblage of plants and animals that grew prosperously in the Chinese land for a long time. A detailed list would be out of place here, and quantitative data are not available. The following enumeration is highly impressionistic:

Starch Staples: millet, rice, kao-liang, wheat, maize, buckwheat, yam, sweet potato.

Legumes: soybean, broad bean, pea- nut, mung bean.

Vegetables: malva, amaranth, Chi- nese cabbage, mustard green, turnip, radish, mushroom.

Fruits: peach, apricot, plum, apple, jujube date, pear, crab apple, mountain haw, longan, litchi, orange.

Meats: pork, dog, beef, mutton, venison, chicken, duck, goose, pheasant, many fishes.

Spices: red pepper, ginger, garlic, spring onion, cinnamon.

Chinese cooking is, in this sense, the manipulation of these foodstuffs as basic ingredients. Since ingredients are not the same everywhere, Chinese food begins to assume a local character simply by virtue of the ingredients it uses. Obviously ingredients are not sufficient for characterization, but they are a good beginning. Compare, for example, the above list with one in which dairy products occupy a prominent place, and one immediately comes upon a significant contrast between the two food traditions.

One important point about the distinctive assemblage of ingredients is its change through history. Concerning food, the Chinese are not nationalistic to the point of resisting imports. In fact, foreign foodstuffs have been readily adopted since the dawn of history. Wheat and sheep and goats were possibly introduced from western Asia in prehistoric times, many fruits and vegetables came in from central Asia during the Han and the T'ang periods, and peanuts and sweet potatoes from coastal traders during the Ming period. These all became integral ingredients of Chinese food. At the same time,. . . milk and dairy products, to this date, have not taken a prominent place in Chinese cuisine. . . .

2. In the Chinese culture, the whole process of preparing food from raw ingredients to morsels ready for the mouth involves a complex of interrelated variables that is highly distinctive when compared with other food traditions of major magnitude. At the base of this complex is the division between fan, grains and other starch foods, and ts'ai, vegetable and meat dishes. To prepare a balanced meal, it must have an appropriate amount of both fan and ts'ai, and ingredients are readied along both tracks. Grains are cooked whole or as flour, making up the fan half of the meal in various forms: fan (in the narrow sense, "cooked rice"), steamed wheat-, millet-, or corn-flour bread, ping ("pancakes"), and noodles. Vegetables and meats are cut up and mixed in various ways into individual dishes to constitute the ts'ai half. Even in meals in which the staple starch portion and the meat-and-vegetable portion are apparently joined together, such as in . . . "wonton" . . . they are in fact put together but not mixed up, and each still retains its due proportion and own distinction. . . .

For the preparation of ts'ai, the use of multiple ingredients and the mixing of flavors are the rules, which above all means that ingredients are usually cut up and not done whole, and that they are variously combined into individual dishes of vastly differing flavors. Pork for example, may be diced, slice shredded, or ground, and when combined with other meats and with various vegetable ingredients and spice produces dishes of utterly diverge, shapes, flavors, colors, tastes, and aromas.

The parallelism of fan and ts'ai an the above-described principles of ts'ai' preparation account for a number ( other features of the Chinese food culture, especially in the area of utensil To begin with, there are fan utensils and ts'ai utensils, both for cooking an for serving. In the modem kitchen, fan kuo ("rice cooker") and Ts'ai kuo ("wok") are very different and as a rule not interchangeable utensils. . . . To prepare the kind of ts'ai that we have characterized, the chopping knife or cleaver and the chopping anvil are standard equipment in every Chines kitchen, ancient and modem. To sweep the cooked grains into the mouth, and to serve the cut-up morsel of the meat-and-vegetable dishes chopsticks have proved more service able than hands or other instrument (such as spoons and forks, the former being used in China alongside the chopsticks).

This complex of interrelated features of Chinese food may be described, for the purpose of shorthand reference, as the Chinese fan-ts'ai principle. Send a Chinese cook into an American kitchen, given Chinese or American ingredients, and he or she will (a) prepare an adequate amount of fan, (b) cut up the ingredients and mix them up in various combinations, and (c) cook the ingredients into several dishes and, perhaps, a soup. Given the right ingredients, the "Chineseness" of the meal would increase, but even with entirely native American ingredients and cooked in American utensils, it is still a Chinese meal.

3. The above example shows that the Chinese way of eating is characterized by a notable flexibility and adaptability. Since a ts'ai dish is made of a mixture of ingredients, its distinctive appearance, taste, and flavor do not depend on the exact number of ingredients, nor, in most cases, on any single item. The same is true for a meal, made up of a combination of dishes. In times of affluence, a few more expensive items may be added, but if the times are hard they may be omitted without doing irreparable damage. If the season is not quite right, substitutes may be used. With the basic principles, a Chinese cook can prepare "Chinese" dishes for the poor as well as the rich, in times of scarcity as well as abundance, and even in a foreign country without many familiar ingredients. The Chinese way of cooking must have helped the Chinese people through some hard times throughout their history. And, of course, one may also say that the Chinese cook the way they do because of their need and desire for adaptability.

This adaptability is shown in at least two other features. The first is the amazing knowledge the Chinese have acquired about their wild plant resources. . . . The Chinese peasants apparently know every edible plant in their environment, and plants there are many. Most do not ordinarily belong on the dinner table, but they may be easily adapted for consumption in time of famine. . . . Here again is this flexibility: A smaller number of familiar foodstuffs are used ordinarily, but, if needed, a greater variety of wild plants would be made use of. The knowledge of these "famine plants" was carefully handed down as a living culture -apparently this knowledge was not placed in dead storage too long or too often.

Another feature of Chinese food habits that contributed to their notable adaptability is the large number and great variety of preserved foods. . . . Food is preserved by smoking, salting, sugaring, steeping, pickling, drying, soaking in many kinds of soy sauces, and so forth, and the whole range of foodstuffs is involved-grains, meat, fruit, eggs, vegetables, and everything else. Again, with preserved food, the Chinese people were ever ready in the event of hardship or scarcity.

4. The Chinese way of eating is further characterized by the ideas and beliefs about food, which actively affect the ways . . . in which food is prepared and taken. The overriding idea about food in China -in all likelihood an idea with solid, but as yet unrevealed, scientific backing-is that the kind and the amount of food one takes is intimately relevant to one's health. Food not only affects health as a matter of general principle, the selection of the right food at any particular time must also be dependent upon one's health condition at that time. Food, therefore, is also medicine.

The regulation of diet as a disease preventive or cure is certainly as Western as it is Chinese. Common Western examples are the diet for arthritics and the recent organic food craze. But the Chinese case is distinctive for its underlying principles. The bodily functions, in the Chinese view, follow the basic yin-yang principles. Many foods are also classifiable into those that possess the yin quality and those of the yang quality. When yin and yang forces in the body are not balanced, problems result. Proper amounts of food of one kind or the other may then be administered (i.e., eaten) to counterbalance the yin and yang disequilibrium. If the body is normal, overeating of one kind of food would result in an excess of that force in the body, causing diseases. . . .

At least two other concepts belong to the native Chinese food tradition. One is that, in consuming a meal, appropriate amounts of both fan and ts'ai should be taken. In fact, of the two, fan is the more fundamental and indispensable. . . . The other concept is frugality. Overindulgence in food and drink is a sin of such proportions that dynasties could fall on its account. . . . Although both the fants'ai and the frugality considerations are health based, at least in part they are related to China's traditional poverty in food resources.

5. Finally, perhaps the most important aspect of the Chinese food culture is the importance of food itself in Chinese culture. That Chinese cuisine is the greatest in the world is highly debatable and is essentially irrelevant. But few can take exception to the statement that few other cultures are as food oriented as the Chinese. And this orientation appears to be as ancient as Chinese culture itself. According to Lun yu (Confucian Analects, chap. "Wei Ling Kung"), when the duke Ling of Wei asked Confucius (551-479 B.C.) about military tactics, Confucius replied, "I have indeed heard about matters pertaining to tsu (meat stand) and tou (meat platter), but I have not learned military matters." Indeed, perhaps one of the most important qualifications of a Chinese gentleman was his knowledge and skill pertaining to food and drink. . . .

The importance of the kitchen in the king's palace is amply shown in the personnel roster recorded in Chou li. Out of the almost four thousand persons who had the responsibility of running the king's residential quarters, 2,271, or almost 60 percent, of them handled food and wine.

source: http://www.index-china-food.com

50 Ways To Reduce Stress


1. Getup 15 minutes earlier
2. Prepare for the morning the night before
3. Avoid tight-fitting clothes.
4. Don't rely on your memory
5. Practice preventative maintenance
6. Make duplicate keys and store them where you can get to them
7. Say no more often
8. Set priorities in your life
9. Avoid negative people
10. Use your time wisely
11. Simplify everything you can
12. Make copies of important papers and store them where you'll be able to find them
13. repair anything that doesn't work properly
14. Ask for help
15. Chunk down big jobs into little ones
16. View problems as challenges
17. Look at challenges as opportunities
18. Unclutter your life.
19. Smile
20. Be prepared for rain
21. Laugh at something
22. Pet a dog or cat
23. Don't try to know all the answers
24. Look for the silver lining
25. Say something nice to someone
26. Teach a kid to fly a kite
27. Walk in the rain
28. Schedule some time each day to play.
29. Take a long shower or a bubble bath
30. Be Conscious of the decisions you make
31. Believe in yourself
32. Stop beating yourself up
33. Stop saying negative things to yourself.
34. Visualize yourself winning
35. Develop your sense of humor
36. Stop thinking that tomorrow will be a better day
37. Set goals for yourself.
38. Say hello to a stranger
39. Ask a friend for a hug
40. Give a friend a hug.
41. Look at the stars
42. Breathe slowly
43. Learn to whistle
44. Read a poem
45. Listen to some music you've never heard before
46. Watch a ballet
47. Read something
48. Do something new.
49. Stop a bad habit.
50. Buy yourself a flower

via: http://www.circleofchristianwomen.com

20 Reasons to Abandon Christianity


1. Christianity is based on fear
2. Christianity preys on the innocent
3. Christianity is based on dishonesty
4. Christianity is extremely egocentric
5. Christianity breeds arrogance, a chosen-people mentality
6. Christianity breeds authoritarianism
7. Christianity is cruel
8. Christianity is anti-intellectual, anti-scientific
9. Christianity has a morbid, unhealthy preoccupation with sex
10. Christianity produces sexual misery
11. Christianity has an exceedingly narrow, legalistic view of morality
12. Christianity encourages acceptance of real evils while focusing on imaginary evils
13. Christianity depreciates the natural world
14. Christianity models hierarchical, authoritarian organization
15. Christianity sanctions slavery
16. Christianity is misogynistic
17. Christianity is homophobic
18. The Bible is not a reliable guide to Christ's teachings
19. The Bible is riddled with contradictions
20. Christianity borrowed its central myths and ceremonies from other ancient religions

source: http://www.seesharppress.com

Reasons To Live With A Dog Instead Of A Woman




1. Dogs love it when your friends come over.

2. Dogs don’t expect you to call when you’re running late.

3. The later you are, the more excited they are to see you.

4. Dogs will forgive you for playing with other dogs.

5. Dogs don’t mind if you give their offspring away.

6. Dogs like it when you leave lots of things on the floor.

7. A dog’s parents never visit.

8. Dogs understand that instincts are better than asking
directions.

9. Dogs don’t hate their bodies.

10. No dog ever bought a Barry Manilow album.

12. Dogs agree that you have to raise your voice to get your point across.

11. Dogs never criticize.

13. Dogs would rather have hamburger than lobster for dinner.

14. You never have to wait for a dog. They’re ready to go 24 hours a day.

15. Dogs find you amusing when you’ve had too much to drink

source: http://www.thatwasfunny.com

50 Hebrew Scriptural Reasons


1. Be the "seed of the woman" that would bruise the serpent's heel (Genesis 3:15; Galatians 4:4; 1 John 3:8).

2. Be the "seed of Abraham" (Genesis 12:3; Matthew 1:1; Acts 3:25; 18:18, 22, 18; Galatians 3:16).

3. Be the "seed of Isaac" (Genesis 17:19; 21:12; Matthew 1:2; Luke 3:34; Hebrews 11:17-19).

4. Be the "seed of Jacob" and the "star out of Jacob" who will "have dominion" (Genesis 28:14; Numbers 24:17, 19; Matthew 1:2; Luke 3:34; Revelation 22:16).

5. Be a descendant of Judah (Genesis 49:10; Matthew 1:2-3; Luke 3:33; Hebrews 7:14).

6. Be a descendant of David and heir to his throne (2 Samuel 7:12-13; Isaiah 9:6, 7); 11:1-5; Jeremiah 23:5; Matthew 1:1, 6; Acts 11:23; Romans 1:4).

7. Be the Son of God (Psalm 2:7; Proverbs 30:4; Matthew 3:17; Luke 1:32).

8. Have God's own name, YHVH applied to Him (Isaiah 9:5-7; Jeremiah 23:5-6; Romans 10:9; Philippians 2:9-11).

9. Come at a specific time: 483 years after the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem (Daniel 9:24-26; Matthew 2:1, 16, 19; Luke 3:1, 23).

10. Be born in Bethlehem in Judah (Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:1; Luke 2:4-7).

11. Be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-2:1; Luke 1:26-35).

12. Be adored by great persons (Psalm 72:10-11; Matthew 2:1-11).

13. Be preceded by one who would announce Him (Isaiah 40:3-5, Malachi 3:1, Matthew 3:1-3; Luke 1:17; 3:2-6).

14. Be a prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15, 18; Acts 3:20-22).

15. Have a ministry of binding up the brokenhearted, proclaiming liberty to the captives, and announcing the acceptable year of the Lord (Isaiah 61:1-2, Luke 4:18-19).

16. Have a ministry of healing (Isaiah 35:5-6; 42:18; Matthew 11:5).

17. Have a ministry in Galilee (Isaiah 8:23-9:1, 2; Matthew 4:12-16).

18. Be tender and compassionate (Isaiah 40:11; 42:3; Matthew 12:15, 20; Hebrews 4:15).

19. Be meek and non-pretentious (Isaiah 42:2, Matthew 12:15-16, 19).

20. Be sinless and without guile (Isaiah 53:9; 1 Peter 2:22).

21. Suffer the reproaches due others (Psalm 69:10; Isaiah 53:12; Romans 15:3).

22. Be a priest (Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 5:5-6; 6:20; 7:15-17).

23. Enter publicly into Jerusalem on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11).

24. Enter the Temple with authority (Haggai 2:7-9; Malachi 3:1; Matthew 21:12-24; Luke 2:27-38, 45-50; John 2:13-22).

25. Be hated without cause (Psalm 69:4; Isaiah 49:7; John 7:48; 15:24, 25).

26. Be undesired and rejected by His own people (Psalm 69:8; Isaiah 53:2; 63:3; Mark 6:3; Luke 9:58; John 1:11; 7:3-5).

27. Be rejected by the Jewish leadership (Psalm 118:22; Matthew 21:42; John 7:48).

28. Be plotted against by Jews and Gentiles together (Psalm 2:1-2; Acts 4:27).

29. Be betrayed by a friend (Psalm 41:9; Matthew26:21-25, 47, 50, 55; John 13:18-21; Acts 1:16-18).

30. Be sold for 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12; Matthew 26:15).

31. Have His price given for a potters field (Zechariah 11:13; Matthew 27:7).

32. Be forsaken by His disciples (Zechariah 13:7; Matthew 26:31, 56).

33. Be struck on the cheek (Micah 4:14; 5:1; Matthew 27:30).

34. Be spat upon (Isaiah 50:6; Matthew 26:67; 27:30).

35. Be mocked (Psalm 22:7-8; Matthew27:31, 39-44, 67-68).

36. Be beaten (Isaiah 50:6; Matthew 26:67; 27:26, 30).

37. Be executed by crucifixion, having his hands and feet pierced (Psalm 22:14, 16, 17); Zechariah 12:10; Matthew27:35; Luke 24:39; John 9:18, 34-37; 20:35; Revelation 1:7).

38. Be thirsty during His execution (Psalm 22:15; John 19:28).

39. Be given vinegar to quench His thirst (Psalm 69:21; Matthew 27:34).

40. Be executed without having a bone broken (Exodus 12:46; Psalm 34:20; John 19:33-36).

41. Be considered a transgressor (Isaiah 53:12; Matthew 27:38).

42. Be "cut off, but not for Himself" (Daniel 9:24-26; Matthew 2:1; Luke 3:1, 23).

43. Be the one whose death would atone for the sins of mankind (Isaiah 53:5-7, 12; Mark 10:45; John 1:29; 3:16; Acts 8:30-35; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18; 1 John 3:5).

44. Be buried with the rich when dead (Isaiah 53:9; Matthew 27:57-60).

45. Be raised from the dead (Psalm 2:7; 16:10; Isaiah 53:9-10; Matthew 28:1-20; Acts 2:23-36; 13:33-37; 1 Corinthians 15:4-6).

46. Ascend to the right hand of God (Psalm 16:11; 68:18; 110:1; Luke 24:51, Acts 1:9-11; 7:55, Hebrews 1:3).

47. Exercise His priestly office in heaven (Zechariah 6:1; Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25-8:2).

48. Be the cornerstone of God's Messianic believing community (Psalm 118:22-23; Isaiah 28:16; Matthew 21:42; Ephesians 2:20; 1 Peter 2:5-7).

49. Be sought after by Gentiles as well as Jews (Isaiah 11:10; 42:1; Acts 10:45).

50. Be accepted by the Gentiles (Isaiah 11:10, 42; 49:1-12; Matthew 12:21; Romans 15:1).

source: http://www.bibleone.net

50 Ways to Order a Pizza


1. If using a touch-tone, press random numbers while ordering. Ask the person taking the order to stop doing that.
2. Make up a charge-card name. Ask if they accept it.
3. Use CB lingo where applicable.
4. Order a Big Mac Extra Value Meal.
5. Terminate the call with, "Remember, we never had this conversation."
6. Tell the order taker a rival pizza place is on the other line and you're going with the lowest bidder.
7. Give them your address, exclaim "Oh, just surprise me!" and hang up.
8. Answer their questions with questions.
9. In your breathiest voice, tell them to cut the crap about nutrition and ask if they have something outlandishly sinful.
10. Use these bonus words in the conversation: ROBUST FREE-SPIRITED COST-EFFICIENT UKRAINIAN PUCE.
11. Tell them to put the crust on top this time.
12. Sing the order to the tune of your favorite song from Metallica's "Master of Puppets" CD.
13. Do not name the toppings you want. Rather, spell them out.
14. Put an extra edge in your voice when you say "crazy bread."
15. Stutter on the letter "p."
16. Ask for a deal available somewhere else. (e.g. If phoning Domino's, ask for a Cheeser! Cheeser!)
17. Ask what the order taker is wearing.
18. Crack your knuckles into the receiver.
19. Say hello, act stunned for five seconds, then behave as if they called you.
20. Rattle off your order with a determined air. If they ask if you would like drinks with that, panic and become disoriented.
21. Tell the order taker you're depressed. Get him/her to cheer you up.
22. Make a list of exotic cuisines. Order them as toppings.
23. Change your accent every three seconds.
24. Order 52 pepperoni slices prepared in a fractal pattern as follows from an equation you are about to dictate. Ask if they need paper.
25. Act like you know the order taker from somewhere. Say "Bed-Wetters' Camp, right?"
26. Start your order with "I'd like. . . ". A little later, slap yourself and say "No, I don't."
27. If they repeat the order to make sure they have it right, say "OK. That'll be $10.99; please pull up to the first window."
28. Rent a pizza.
29. Order while using an electric knife sharpener.
30. Ask if you get to keep the pizza box. When they say yes, heave a sigh of relief.
31. Put the accent on the last syllable of "pepperoni." Use the long "i" sound.
32. Have your pizza "shaken, not stirred."
33. Say "Are you sure this is (Pizza Place)? When they say yes, say "Well, so is this! You've got some explaining to do!" When they finally offer proof that it is, in fact, (Pizza Place), start to cry and ask, "Do you know what it's like to be lied to?"
34. Move the mouthpiece farther and farther from your lips as you speak. When the call ends, jerk the mouthpiece back into place and scream goodbye at the top of your lungs.
35. Tell them to double-check to make sure your pizza is, in fact, dead.
36. Imitate the order taker's voice.
37. Eliminate verbs from your speech.
38. When they say "What would you like?" say, "Huh? Oh, you mean now."
39. Play a sitar in the background.
40. Say it's your anniversary and you'd appreciate if the deliverer hid behind some furniture waiting for your spouse to arrive so you can surprise him/her.
41. Amuse the order taker with little-known facts about country music.
42. Ask to see a menu.
43. Quote Carl Sandberg.
44. Say you'll be able to pay for this when the movie people call back.
45. Ask if they have any idea what is at stake with this pizza.
46. Ask what topping goes best with well-aged Chardonnay.
47. Belch directly into the mouthpiece; then tell your dog it should be ashamed.
48. Order a slice, not a whole pizza.
49. Shout "I'm through with men/women! Send me a dozen of your best, Gaston!"
50. Doze off in the middle of the order, catch yourself, and say "Where was I? Who are you?"

for more go to: http://www.jokesandhumor.com

50 Reasons To Be a Woman


1. Free drinks.
2. Free dinners.
3. Free movies (you get the point).
4. You can hug your friend without wondering if she thinks you're gay.
5. You can hug your friend without wondering if YOU'RE gay.
6. You know The Truth about whether size matters.
7. Speeding ticket? What's that?
8. New lipstick gives you a whole new lease on life.
9. You never had to walk down the hall with your binder strategically positioned in high school.
10. If you have sex with someone and don't call them the next day, you're not the devil.
11. Condoms make no significant difference in your enjoyment of sex.
12. If you have to be home in time for 90210, you can say so, out loud.
13. If you're not making enough money you can blame the glass ceiling.
14. You can sleep your way to the top.
15. You can sue the President for sexual harassment.
16. Nothing crucial can be cut off with one clean sweep.
17. It's possible to live your whole life without ever taking a group shower.
18. No fashion faux pas you make could rival The Speedo.
19. Brad Pitt.
20. You don't have to fart to amuse yourself.
21. If you cheat on your spouse, people assume it's because you're being emotionally neglected.
22. YOU never have to wonder if his orgasm was real.
23. You'll never have to decide where to hide your nose-hair clipper.
24. No one passes out when you take off your shoes.
25. If you think the person you're dating really likes you, you don't have to break up with them.
26. Excitement is only as far away as the nearest beauty-supply store.
27. If you forget to shave, no one has to know.
28. You can congratulate your teammate without ever touching her ass.
29. If you have a zit, you can conceal it.
30. You never have to reach down every so often to make sure your privates are still there.
31. If you're dumb, some people will find it cute.
32. You don't have to memorize Caddyshack or Fletch to fit in.
33. You have the ability to dress yourself.
34. You have an excuse to be a total bitch at least once a month.
35. You can talk to people of the opposite sex without having to picture them naked.
36. If you marry someone 20 years younger, you're aware that you look like an idiot.
37. If you're wearing cologne, you don't have to pretend it's aftershave.
38. You'll probably never see someone you know while peeing in an alley.
39. You'll never have to punch a hole through anything with your fist.
40. You can quickly end any fight by crying.
41. Your friends won't think you're weird if you ask whether there's spinach in your teeth.
42. There are times when chocolate really can solve all your problems.
43. You've never had a goatee.
44. Gay waiters don't make you uncomfortable.
45. You'll never regret piercing your ears.
46. You can fully assess a person just by looking at their shoes.
47. You'll never discover you've been duped by a Wonderbra.
48. You don't have hair on your back.
49. You know which glass was yours by the lipstick mark.
50. You get to hate Kathie Lee in the way only another woman truly can.


via: http://www.aaaugh.com/jokes

20 Reasons to Love the Nintendo Wii


1. The name isn’t as bad as you think. Really. Well, it’ll grow on you.
2. Innovative controls. The Wii-mote and Nunchuk that you use to play Wii games with make for a completely different kind of gaming. You wave, point, swipe and swing to play. It’s only as good as the games that make use of it though.
3. No graphical willy-waving. It’s a fair cop: Wii isn’t as powerful as PS3 or Xbox 360. But that means developers could and should be focusing on gameplay. And as a bonus, it means we don’t have to read endless game reviews dribbling on about textures.
4. Wii Sports. It comes bundled with your Wii, and is a collection of five sporty mini-games: tennis, baseball, golf, bowling and boxing. All show off the sheer fun of using the Wii-mote, and are the ideal introduction to what Nintendo’s console is capable of.
5. Full internet access. Yep, you’ll be able to surf the Web through Wii, using the Opera browser, which you’ll be able to download via the Wii Shop channel for free - at least until next Summer.
6. The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess. The latest installment of Nintendo’s classic adventure franchise is a launch title, and looks ace. Read our preview for more details.
7. It’s cheap. In the UK, a Will will cost you £180 at launch. That’s practically a pocket-money price! (if you’re Paris Hilton)
8. Play classic N64 games. The Wii’s Virtual Console lets you purchase ‘points’ which can then be exchanged for a host of retro games, which you download to the console. N64 titles announced so far include Super Mario 64, Starfox 64, The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time, and Mario Kart 64.
9. Your mum can play it. The joy of Wii is that the Wii-mote makes gaming fun even for people who don’t like traditional gaming. Like your mum. Hell, even your gran. Although you might need to stock up on some Jointace before inviting her round…
10. A proper global launch. Like Microsoft before them, Nintendo have more or less managed to get Wii out in Asia, North America and Europe at the same time. Even if us Europeans are a few weeks behind. Grr.
11. Nintendo are making LOADS of them. Six million by the end of March next year, in fact. This probably still won’t be enough to meet demand, mind.
12. Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz. Monkeys, bananas, evil multi-coloured octopii and the Wii-mote in perfect harmony. Read our preview.
13. Wi-Fi (or should that be Wii-Fi?). Either way, Wii has it, so you’re not tied to your broadband socket, and if you’ve already got a wireless home network, you can connect to the internetweb straight away.
14. Wii is the ultimate party console. Invite friends round, ideally with their own Wii-motes, and play a bunch of mini-games. With booze, obviously. I’m writing the Super Monkey Ball drinking game as we speak.
15. Create your own Mii. Miis are cartoon avatars, which represent you in some games, and will hopefully be used online too. Make it look like you, or make it look like Brian Blessed. The choice is yours.
16. In fact, create your own Mii right now. Go here.
17. Wii Play. Assuming you’re not a Zelda nut, Wii Play should be your first purchase. It’s more mini-games to show off your Wii-mote, but more importantly comes with an extra controller bundled in. Read our preview.
18. C64 games on the Virtual Console. Oh yes. Publisher System 3 is bringing some classic Commodore 64 games to the VC. Confirmed are Impossible Mission, California Games and The Last Ninja. Still a rumour (in my own, fevered, imagination) is Emlyn Hughes International Soccer.
19. Cartman loves it. Read why here (even if the actual South Park episode has been removed from YouTube).
20. Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2. Crazy anime fighting game. Whaddya mean you haven’t played the first one? Tsk.

source: http://www.ps3network.com/forums

Reasons to Give Up Coffee


11. You hate Sun Microsystems and all their products
10. Company now requires punching out to use the bathroom
9. You're operating too efficiently, finishing all your work well before the end of the day and therefore must slow down
8. You accidentally discovered how Office Jesus makes the coffee
7. Yesterday you passed a coffee bean
6. You're disturbing your cubicle neighbours with screams of "Get them off me! Get them off me!" while you tear at your skin
5. A homeless family has moved into your coffe mug
4. It's time to give up on your effort to prove the "100 cups of coffee" effect shown in Futurama
3. You were caught calling the brewer "my precious"
2. Your pee is sold as an energy drink
1. You haven't slept since the last Pope died

via: http://www.bbspot.com

20 Reasons Why We Can’t Change


1.We’ve never done it before.
2.Nobody else has ever done it.
3.It has never been tried before.
4.We tried it before.
5.Another company/person tried it before.
6.We’ve been doing it this way for 25 years.
7.It won’t work in a small company.
8.It won’t work in a large company.
9.It won’t work in our company.
10.Why change–it’s working OK.
11.The boss will never buy it.
12.It needs further investigation.
13.Our competitors are not doing it.
14.It’s too much trouble to change.
15.Our company is different.
16.The ad department says it can’t be done.
17.Sales department says it can’t be done.
18.The service department won’t like it.
19.The janitor says it can’t be done.
20.It can’t be done.

via: http://www.surfarama.com

50 Reasons Women Don’t Leave Abusive Partners


1. Fear
2. Children
3. Lack of money
4. She loves her partner
5. Her partner “loves” her
6. The children love them both
7. Law enforcement blame her
8. Clergy blame her
9. Relatives blame her
10. She blames herself
11. Therapists blame her
12. Her batterer blames her
13. She’s a drug addict
14. Her partner is a pimp
15. Her father abused her
16. Her mother abused her
17. Her partner is an alcoholic
18. Her partner is a drug addict
19. Her partner says, “I’m sorry”
20. Her partner says, “I love you”
21. Her partner says, “I’ll never do it
again”
22. Her partner says, “I’ll take the
children”
23. Her partner says, “I’ll kill you if
you leave”
24. Her partner says, “I’ll kill myself if
you leave”
25. Fear of losing custody of her
children
26. She’s deaf
27. She’s blind
28. She’s mentally impaired
29. She can’t read
30. She’s in a wheel chair
31. She can’t speak English
32. She doesn’t have papers to be in
this country
33. The shelters are full
34. She’ll become homeless
35. No one believes she is being
abused
36. She doesn’t think she is being
abused
37. She knows the welfare system will
abuse her more
38. She’s isolated
39. She’s depressed
40. It’s not the right time
41. She’s never told anyone
42. She’s afraid of the unknown
43. She’s a public figure
44. Her partner is a public figure
45. Her partner threatens to abuse pets
46. Her partner is her personal care
attendant
47. Her partner threatens to expose her
as a lesbian
48. She feels that there is no help
49. She’s tried to leave before
50. Her partner found her before

source: https://www.vcpionline.org

30 Reasons to Reject The Matrix


1.The Wachowskis killed Jesus

Neo dies.
So let me get this straight. Neo dies and is resurrected in the original film, as a symbol of Christ's sacrifice to save mankind, the Wachowskis being in love with the idea of religious symbolism in their kung fu movies (notice that Morpheus wears sunglasses without earpieces, just like Allah).
According to them, therefore, Jesus, having been resurrected and taking his place as an invulnerable deity on Earth, will later die again in order to accomplish the exact same thing we all thought he had accomplished the first time around. I guess it's a good thing for us lost souls that your so-called "God" doesn't need sequels.

2.It's like rooting for the Cubs...

The Matrix survives. The machines are not defeated.
After spending every second of the first two films setting up the machines as evil, murderous slavemasters with predatory dreadlocked sentinels slithering through the darkness, we're forced to buy into a truce between man and machine in the last scene?
And what about the little girl in the film, supposedly the first love child merging man and machine? Does this not imply a thankfully-unseen man and sentinel sex scene, with a nude man, shall we say, "interfacing" with its so-called "female data port" using his "boner?"

3. He caught her! Oh, wait...

Trinity dies.

Boy, it's a good thing they based the entire second film around Neo keeping her alive. That was more than worth it. But don't worry, Trinity fans; your girl gets the same noble death as Cpl. Hicks in Alien 3.
Come to think of it, these films are like real life.

4. War crimes

Seraph is revealed to be a former one, as most of us guessed by his stand-off fight with Neo. What is not mentioned is that this man is also responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Zionites in some previous incarnation of The Matrix since he obviously chose the other door in The Architect's TV shop.
Why was he not punished for causing this slaughter? And, being Japanese, we must ask if he pleasured himself at the thought of all that death?

5. There's the Matrix! Shoot it!

Great plan for defending Zion, using those mechs to try to shoot the sentinels out of the air using machine guns, a technology available since 1939. I mean, there's no reason in the world to set up EMP devices around the perimeter...
Wait a second. Where did the humans get the Mechs? Or the ships? If these are leftover scraps from the great war between machines and man, how could they continually hold off the same force that defeated the original army at full strength? Maybe the Merovingian isn't the only machine who's also French.

6. Neo is burning down the prom!

So we find out Neo was able to defeat the sentinels in Reloaded through a vague kind of telekinesis (you should have known, from the well-bent spoon handed to Neo by his young stalker in Zion). That would be fine, except there is no such thing as telekinesis. Here's proof: try to bend a nearby object with your mind.
See? You can't. Now try to shut down the nearest robot using the same method. Simply impossible.

7. I'm dreaming of a white... cast?

Two actors were abruptly cut from the third film's cast before production ended, both female minorities. Coincidence?
Aaliyah and Gloria Foster were unceremonially dropped after shooting some scenes for Revolutions. What's wrong, guys? They didn't test well with the predominantly white Matrix audiences?
Neither actress could be reached for comment.

8. More weird religosity...

So Agent Smith takes a human body, and the first thing we see him do is cut his palms, presumably in order to punish himself for his newfound masturbation ability? Bizarre.

9. "She was not kissing your face..."

So they base a whole scene in Reloaded between the Merovingian and Persephone around his having lipstick on his anus due to a ladies' room rimjob?
I think I'll skip the Reloaded DVD deleted scenes, thank you very much.

10. The Matrix Murders

The first film killed 13 students at Columbine High School, the disturbed trench-coated teens imitating the pipe-bombing, shotgunning film's finale. How many troubled teens are out there Reloading with the release of the sequels?
In fact, the only reason the U.S. Attorney General did not press murder charges against the filmmakers is because the movie was shot in Australia, giving it diplomatic immunity.

11. The aborted American dream

Warner Bros. devoted $300 million to the production of the two Matrix sequels.
In the time the films have been in production, over one thousand American children will have died of starvation. For the cost of these films, each of those children could have been given one million dollars.

12. Would You Like some Chicken with your Destiny?

In what had to be the most ridiculous product placement deal in history, Kentucky Fried Chicken paid Warner Bros. over $30 million to cast mascot Colonel Sanders as the Architect in the sequels.
"Finger-lickin' good?" I think that after this trilogy is finished, Matrix fans will be "licking their fingers" in disappointment.

13. Reloaded Ridiculousness

Several times in the sequel Neo is seen flying at almost supersonic speeds. NASA experiments prove that such a velocity would tear a man's genitals off.

14. Bruce Willis was a ghost the whole time!

Can we please have just one major studio movie without a trick ending? I won't reveal it because some of you have requested that I not, but Revolutions has a shocking surprise near the end that the studio has bent over backwards (probably in slow-motion, while dodging bullets) to conceal. All I'll say is that it has to do with the surprise return of a certain treacherous character who we all thought was dead in the first film. Can any of you decipher what I'm saying here?

15.. Reloaded Ridiculousness, 2

The machines added two new enemies for Neo in Reloaded, called the Twins. Their first priority is to blend discreetly into the simulated world of the Matrix, to walk among the people unnoticed. So of course the Matrix made them huge albino men with bleach-white dreadlocks who occasionally transform into shrieking wraiths.
"What's that, honey?"
"Oh, nothing. It just looks like a simple Kung-Fu Swedish Rastafarian Helldemon. I'm sure there's no need to question our fragile, sheltered grasp of 'reality' as we know it."

16. The Matrix: Reconsidered

But the first film was great art, you say?
In the spoon-bending scene, watch closely. First we see Neo bend the spoon almost into a "U" shape... now watch carefully (freeze-frame it, for you DVD owners). A second later it's back to its normal shape again. Ironic that a film meant for no-attention-span kids also had a no-attention-span editor.

17. The Matrix: Reconsidered, 2

After they sucked the "bug" out of Neo's abdomen, where was the gaping bloody hole the thing should have left? Even if Trinity had the medical training to re-tie the knot in his navel, we certainly didn't see her do it.

18. The Matrix: Reconsidered, 3

In the same scene, the "bug" is casually discarded in the street. Better hope no one comes along and steps on the squirming, burrowing thing with their bare feet.

19. The Matrix: Reconsidered, 4

You've worked as a policeman your whole life, protecting the innocent, enforcing the law. You retire with honors, then take a job as a security guard, working the metal detector on the ground floor of a skyscraper in order to help pay for your wife's arthritis medication. You're sitting there, on a slow day, reading your newspaper, when a girl walks in wearing a trenchcoat. She issues no demands, no warnings, no "freeze" or "drop your gun." She just tears you in half with a spray of machine-gun fire, then does cartwheels along the walls while killing all your friends.
Somewhere, faintly, you can hear a theater audience cheering.

20. The Matrix: Reconsidered, 5

Neo can move faster than sound, yet can't move blindingly through bullet time and simply disarm the security guards rather than slaughtering them? It looks like Neo learned his disarming techniques from George W. Bush.

21. The Matrix: Reconsidered, 6

Neo and his crew can generate an infinite number of guns in the construct, but can't come up with non-lethal weapons such as long-range tasers and sleeping gas?
Would not the "exciting" skyscraper shootout have been just as exciting if the two had been armed with the Vomit Sticks from Minority Report? Or are these lives not worth saving?

22. The Matrix: Reconsidered, 7

You are a hard-working single mother, making ends meet by doing time as a secretary in an office building during the day, a drug-store clerk in the evenings. You are on the office phone with the babysitter one quiet Wednesday afternoon, telling her how to calm little Dakota down, to get her to stop crying her eyes out asking why Mommy is never home, telling her that you'll be there soon, honey.
A split-second later your head is severed by a shattered helicopter rotor blade, the skull bouncing off a nearby wall, leaving a spray of arterial blood on a motivational poster. Your eyes bulge wide, your brain inside remaining alive just long enough to recognize the horror of your fate. Aviation fuel splashes in through the shattered windows and ignites, incinerating mothers, husbands, fathers, best friends.
And somewhere, a theater full of young, chubby males cheers because Trinity made it out before the crash.

23. The Matrix: Reconsidered, 8

"If you wanna give me that juris-my-DICK-tion crap, you can kiss my ass."

24. The Matrix: Reconsidered, 9

You infiltrate a building to rescue a hostage who you can't afford to lose. Either his death, or your own death, would have unimaginable consequences for the entire living world. So, once you're inside and riding up the lift, it's a good idea to go ahead and set the building on fire by dropping a bomb on the first floor.

25. The Matrix: Reconsidered, 10

It's the film's climactic battle between Agent Smith and Neo. It begins with Agent Smith walking down the subway platform toward Neo. Neo's friends tell him to run. But no; he stands and fights.
They fight for what seems like an hour, back and forth, an epic battle of good and evil. Neo takes a beating, comes back, finds his courage, becomes The One. He goes toe-to-toe with the baddest of the bad. After this long, choreographed, pivotal moment of the film, Agent Smith is left...
...walking down the subway platform toward Neo. Neo's friends tell him to run.
He runs.
Excuse me, ticket lady? I'd like a refund of the last fifteen minutes of my life. It would be like if at the end of Rocky, after sitting through the whole film, the main character just lost the fight anyway.

26. Excuse me?

"I hate this place, this... zoo. It's the smelt."

27. By their fruits ye shall know them

I had attended a showing of The Matrix in May of 1999 with a lady friend, because we are both big Morgan Freeman fans. An hour into the film, as I observed what dreck we were wading in, I walked up and stood before the screen and tried to explain to the audience that this vomitus was below their dignity.
I was greeted by some of the most vulgar insults imaginable, until some began throwing objects and one man even knocked my pipe from my hand. Do you wish to be associated with a group of such character?

28. By their fruits ye shall know the staff, too

After the above incident, I was the one asked to leave.

29. The Matrix: Reconsidered further

If you need to get in touch with a person, you can simply call them at their office. You do not need to actually mail the phone to them.

30. Two words:

Keanu Reeves.

source: http://www.pointlesswasteoftime.com

20 Reasons When A Woman Should Call It A Night...


1. You have absolutely no idea where your bag is.

2. You truly believe that dancing with your arms overhead
and wiggling your bottom while yelling WOO-HOO
is truly the sexiest dance around.

3. You've suddenly decided that you want to kick someone's @ss
and honestly believe that you could do it too.

4. In your last trip to "pee" you realize you now look more like Lily Savage
than the goddess you were just four hours ago.

5. You drop your 3:00 a.m. kebab on the floor
(which you're eating even though you're not the least bit hungry),
pick it up and carry on eating it.

6. You start crying and telling everyone
you see that you love them sooooo much.

7. There are less than three hours before you're due to start work.

8. You've found a deeper/spiritual side to the geek sitting next to you.

9. The man you're flirting with used to be your biology teacher.

10. The urge to take off articles of clothing,
stand on a table and sing or dance becomes strangely overwhelming.

11. Your eyes just don't seem to want to stay open on their own so you
decide to keep them half closed and think it looks exotically sexy.

12. you seem to think that its a really good idea to get your mates
to push you down the street in a shopping trolley.

13. You yell at the bartender,
who (you think) cheated you by giving you just lemonade,
but that's just because you can no longer taste the vodka.

14. You think you're in bed,
but the pillow feels strangely like the kitchen floor.

15. You start every conversation with a booming,
"DON'T take this the WRONG WAY but..."

16. You fail to notice that the toilet lid's down when you sit on it.

17. You're hugs begin to resemble wrestling take-down moves.

18. You're soooo tired you just sit on the floor
(wherever you happen to be standing) and take a quick nap.

19. You begin leaving the buttons open on your button fly pants
to cut down on the time you're in the bathroom away from your drink.

20. You take your shoes off because you really believe
it's their fault that you're having problems walking straight.

via: http://amuzensantics.com

Over 40 Reasons to Bike to Work


1. Bicycles Increase Mobility For Those Who Don't Have Access To Motor Transport.
2. Bikes Increase Mobility For Those Who Don't Qualify To Drive A Car.
3. Bicycles Increase Mobility For Those Who Can't Afford Motor Transport.
4. Bikes Increase Mobility For Those Who Don't Want To Drive Motor Vehicles.
5. You Get Exercise Form Bicycling
6. Save Travel Money By Biking
7. Reduce Stress
8. Some companies actually pay you to bike to work
9. Biking Is Therapeutic For The Mind & Spirit
10. Cycling Is Therapeutic For The Body
11. Your commute will be the best part of your day instead of the worst part of your day.
12. Cycling Improves Self-Esteem
13. Save On The Membership To A Health Club, Get Your Exercise Bicycling To Work
14. Cycling Is Low Impact On The Body
15. Cycling Is Low Impact On The Environment
16. Bicycling In Your Neighbourhood Is A Great Way To Meet Your Neighbours
17. Camaraderie of Cyclists Makes It A Great Way To Meet A Nice Stranger With A Similar Interest
18. Bicyclist Can Ignore the Traffic Reports
19. Feel the Self-satisfaction Of Biking Past A Traffic Jam In The Bike Lane.
20. Predictable Commute Time
21. Easier Parking
22. Cheaper Parking
23. Leaving Your Car At Home Provide A Parking Space For Someone Less Fortunate
24. If You Are Lazy, Your Bicycle Provides Door-To-Door Transport (You Don't Have To Walk Across A Vast Parking Lot)
25. Reduce Demand For Parking Lots
26. Reduce Energy Consumption (see below)
27. Reduce Air Pollution -- Bicyclist Emit Few Gases
28. Reduce Water Pollution -- Bikes Don't Drip Brake Fluid, Anti-Freeze, Transmission Fluid, Etc.
29. Reduce Noise Pollution -- Even Without A Muffler Bikes Are Quiet
30. Reduces Road Wear -- Even If Cyclist Feel Like They Have The Weight Of The World On Their Shoulders.
31. Prevent and protest the sanctioned murder of responsible citizens.
32. Bikes Small Profile Reduce Congestion
33. Reduce Need To Lay Additional Asphalt And Concrete
34. Easier to Vary Your Route By Bicycle
35. Bicycling Improve Cardiovascular Health
36. Better muscle tone, bone mass improvement, clearer skin
37. Healthier People Have Lower Health Care Expenses
38. The Exercise Increase Your Productivity At Work
39. Increased Bike Uses Generates Bike Facilities Which Increase Property Values
40. Bicycling Gives You More Fresh Air Than A Sauna And You Can Still Sweat And Clean Your Pores
41. Bike Commuting Is A License To Dress Weird And Still Feel Smug
42. Urban Cycling Keeps You Humble
43. Biking Is Virtually Life Long Activity
44. Bicycling Can Be Enjoyed In A Wide Variety Of Topography
45. Cycling Can Be Enjoyed In A Wide Variety Of Climates
46. Bicycles Are A Great Means To See The World
47. Bicycling is cool.
48. Biking Is fun.

source: http://www.crazycolour.com

20 Reasons Star Wars is Better than Titanic

1. Titanic's big, but it doesn't have hyperdrive.

2. Star Wars has WAY cooler action figure potential.

3. Yoda could use the Force to lift Titanic out of the water.

4. Leia is a princess, a senator, a freedom fighter, and Jedi material; Rose is just marriage bait.

5. Ewoks throw better parties than either first class or steerage.

6. When flying towards the Titanic, Wedge can't say "Look at the size of that thing!" and really mean it.

7. It would be much scarier to get chased around the boat by a raving madman with a lightsaber as opposed to a handgun.

8a. Titanic is egalitarian by portraying poor people as sympathetic characters. Star Wars is egalitarian by promoting bug-eyed amphibians to Admiral.

8b. Said bug-eyed amphibious Admiral manages NOT to lose his ship.

9. We know Cal is the bad guy because he sneers at the poor and treats his fiancee like property. We know Darth Vader is the bad guy because he strangles people and blows up planets for fun.

10. Yeah, Leo can dance, but can he fly an X-wing?

11. People have not lost their lives trying to recreate scenes from Star Wars on the bow of a cruise liner.

12. Rose braves icy water to rescue her man. Leia braves Jabba the Hut.

13. Two words: John Williams.

14. There are always enough escape pods in Star Wars.

15. Do you know what the Empire does to self-proclaimed "kings of the world"?

16. If Luke were handcuffed to a pipe below decks in a sinking ship, he would use the Force to get the key.

17. "I'd rather be his whore than your wife" just doesn't have the same sting as "I'd rather kiss a Wookie."

18. Han is frozen in carbonite and turned into a wall ornament. Leo simply freezes.

19. We knew the boat was gonna sink. But who could've anticipated "Luke....I am your father." ???

20. Han Solo would've missed that damn iceberg!

via: http://www.chainletters.net

10 Reasons To Be On The Internet

1. Its too big to ignore
The number of Internet users over the age of 16 in the U.S. and Canada has reached 79 million, while the number of people buying products and services via the Web has hit 20 million according to a June 1998 Nielsen Media Research and CommerceNet study on Internet commerce. The study said that the number of US & Canadian Internet users had increased 36 percent since their last study 9 months earlier. The study also shows that the number of Web shoppers -- people checking out or comparing products and services on the Web -- is now 48 million and growing at an astonishing rate of 8% per month. And what about users throughout the rest of the world?
A recent survey by The Thomas Register says that 58.4% of the companies surveyed said they would use electronic commerce for at least 25% of their purchases in the next 12 months. At a recent publishing conference, analysts predicted ecommerce could reach $1 trillion per year by 2000.
Most forecasts predict that Internet retail sales during the 1998 holiday season will reach 3.25 Billion Dollars! No matter what your business is, you can not afford to ignore this market. And you can't service them if you are not on the Web! Do you know what your competitor's are doing?

2. To Network
A large part of business is connecting and communicating with others. How often do you pass out your business card to someone you have just met? How often has a chance encounter turned into a big sale for you? Suppose you could be telling your story to hundreds, or thousands of people every day - 24 hours a day? You can on the World Wide Web!
Its amazing how far this networking can go. Recently, we were recommended to a potential client in Long Island, New York by a friend of his in Nebraska. The friend had seen our web site and been impressed. In another case a satisfied client of ours in Pennsylvania recommended us to a company within his industry located in Germany. The first order that our customer New York Italian Food Specialties received from their web site www.salami.com was from Tokyo! And that customer continues to reorder to this day. The world is getting smaller every day!

3. To Tell the World About Your Business
Just what is basic business information? Don't just think of a Yellow Pages ad. Its a lot more than "What do you do? Where are you located? What are your hours? " Suppose you had a score of salesmen manning your phones 24 hours a day who could instantly answer virtually any question. "Can I see a product brochure? What's on sale today? Can I order it now? Do you service my area? What kind of experience do you have . . ." If you could provide this sort of information to your customers and potential customers and tell them how they can benefit by doing business with you, do you think you would do more business? Well you can do this at a low cost on the World Wide Web.

4. To Service Your Customers
Providing business information is certainly one of the most important ways to serve your customers. But, a large percentage of companies who are extremely satisfied with their presence on the WWW point to increased customer service at lower costs as the reason for their success. Have you ever used the FedEx, UPS, or US Postal Service web sites to track down a package? Remember how long it took you to do this before the Internet?
We recently installed a UPS tracking service on a couple of our web sites. In the first 2 weeks of December 1998, 56 people used the tracking service at www.salami.com to track their orders. That's 56 customers who were serviced better and 56 phone calls the guys at Salami.com didn't have to make.
If you look at better ways of serving your customers, you'll find even more ways to use WWW technology. How about making forms available to pre-qualify for a loan?, or have your staff do a search for that specific part your customer needs without spending time taking down the information on the phone? You can do all of this quite easily on your web site.

5. To Increase Public Awareness
You might have difficulty in getting a National Magazine like Time to write up your business, but they might write up your Web Site if it contained something new and interesting. Even if you managed to get a story about your business in a national magazine could you benefit from someone in a distant city reading about it?
With a Web Site anyone, anywhere, at anytime can access your web information and become a potential customer. Our customer's www.salami.com site has been written up from Shanghai to Russia. They have been featured in Business Week Magazine, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, The Detroit Free Press, Newsday and many, many more. Once, they were even asked to address via video conference a convention of Italian Industrialists in Bari Italy! They have even had stories done on TV about them on CNBC! Not bad for two Italian Grocers from Long Island, N.Y.

6. To Sell Things
Most people think this is the number one use of the World Wide Web. We placed it here because we think you should only think about selling things on the Internet after you have done all the things we have previously mentioned.
Why? Because building a business in cyber space is really no different than building a business in the real world. It doesn't happen by accident. You have to market and publicize your business. Government figures show Internet commerce totaled more than $8 billion in 1997, but is expected to grow to more than $300 billion by 2002. The right use of your web site can get you into this exploding market.
Currently 1.6 million small businesses are on the Internet with an estimated one million more joining them this year. 25% of these businesses say that their Internet presences have generated increased sales. But what about the rest of them?
Too many people think that they can put up a web page and miraculously the mailman will start delivering checks to their door. Too many companies put up Web Sites and then ignore them. You have to incorporate your web site in your overall marketing effort Think of it as a tool like the telephone. By itself the telephone won't sell anything. But it is a tool which allows you to communicate with your customers, which then allows you to Sell things
The number one deterrent to selling on the Internet is the credibility of the seller . Think about it - would you have a problem placing an online order with Macy's or Lands End? Certainly Not! Because they are known entities. Before people will become customers they want to know more about you. They want to know what you do, and how it will benefit them. You can do this very easily and inexpensively with your web site. Then you will be able to turn your web site visitors into customers!

7. To reach a highly desirable demographic market
The demographics of WWW users shows them to be a very upscale group. They are members of the highest mass-market demographic available with high income and high levels of education and professions, consider these statements:

* The mean average household income is $53k (USD)
* Close to 17% of US Internet users report incomes in excess of $75,000.00
* 45% have a college degree or better. An additional 35% have some college education
* 42% of users surveyed are married
* According to FIND/SVP's 1997 American Internet User Survey the average Internet user is 36.5 yr. old
* 32% are between the ages of 31 - 45
* More than 40% are women

There is a lot of disposable income within this group and they have demonstrated an ever-expanding willingness to purchase online. In fact, the number one reason they give for purchasing online is that it is more convenient!

8. To Answer Frequently Asked questions
The people who answer your company's telephones and those of your customer services departments can tell you that they spend a large amount of their time answering the same questions over and over again. These are the questions that customers and potential customers want answered. Put the questions and answers up on your web site and you will make it easier for them to do business with you. Not to mention freeing up a number of hours of your staff's time every day!

9. To Create a 24 Hour Service
How often have you forgotten to make a phone call to the opposite coast at the right time of day. Face it business is becoming more and more a world wide operation. And everyone is operating on a different time schedule. But with your Web Site you can serve your customers, clients and partners 24 hours a day - seven days a week. And without overtime!
You can customize information for your visitors which will be available to them at their convenience. You can collect valuable information that will put you ahead of your competition while you sleep! This morning there were 8 requests for information from potential customers waiting for me when I turned on my computer, and its like that practically every day. How would you like to start every day with 8 new qualified sales prospects!

10. To Make New or Changed Information
Available Quickly.

Some times information changes so quickly you are stuck with a pile of outdated brochures or have just spent the money to mail out new price lists and information only to have to do it all over again. Electronic Publishing on the web solves this problem no paper, no printer's bills, no postage! You can even operate an inexpensive mailing list program on your site to publish information to your customers and potential customers as soon as it exists. You don't even have to wait for them to visit your web site. You can go out and get them!

source: http://www.beonthenet.com

20 Reasons Why Chocolate Is Better Than Sex


1. You can GET chocolate.
2. "If you love me you'll swallow that" has real meaning with chocolate.
3. Chocolate satisfies even when it has gone soft.
4. You can safely have chocolate while you are driving.
5. You can make chocolate last as long as you want it to.
6. You can have chocolate in front of your mother.
7. If you bite the nuts too hard the chocolate won't mind.
8. Two people of the same sex can have chocolate without being called nasty names.
9. The word "commitment" doesn't scare off chocolate.
10. You can have chocolate on top of your workbench/desk during working hours without upsetting your work mates.
11. You can ask a stranger for chocolate without getting your face slapped.
12. You don't get hairs in your mouth with chocolate.
13. With chocolate there's no need to fake it.
14. Chocolate doesn't make you pregnant.
15. You can have chocolate at any time of the month.
16. Good chocolate is easy to find.
17. You can have as many kinds of chocolate as you can handle.
18. You are never to young or to old for chocolate.
19. When you have chocolate it does not keep your neighbors awake.
20. With chocolate size doesn't matter; it's always good.

via: http://www.zromance.com

20 Reasons to Practice Yoga


1. Reduces your risk of getting heart disease.
2. Improves the functioning of your immune system.
3. Helps you to manage stress more effectively.
4. Can help relieve the pain of tension headaches.
5. Reduces the risk of developing hypertension ( high blood pressure )
6. Reduces your risk of developing non-insulin dependant diabetes.
7. Can help improve short term memory, focusing and concentration.
8. Increases your maximal oxygen intake.
9. Strengthens your respirtory system.
10. Helps to boost creativity.
11. Helps you sleep easier and better.
12. Helps the body resist upper respiratory tract infections
13. Increases ability to supply blood to the skin for cooling.
14. Reduces the rate and severity of medical complications from hypertension.
15. Reduces your risk of having a stroke.
16. Helps you to relax.
17. Helps to increase your overall health awareness
18. Helps give you willpower to lose weight.
19. Lowers your resting heart rate.
20. Helps to relieve constipation

via: http://www.bellaonline.com

10 Reasons for Animal Rights and Their Explanation


1. The philosophy of animal rights is rational
Explanation: It is not rational to discriminate arbitrarily. And discrimination against nonhuman animals is arbitrary. It is wrong to treat weaker human beings, especially those who are lacking in normal human intelligence, as "tools" or "renewable resources" or "models" or "commodities." It cannot be right, therefore, to treat other animals as if they were "tools," "models and the like, if their psychology is as rich as (or richer than) these humans. To think otherwise is irrational.

"To describe an animal as a physico-chemical system of extreme complexity is no doubt perfectly correct, except that it misses out on the 'animalness' of the animal."

-- E.F. Schumacher

2. The philosophy of animal rights is scientific
Explanation: The philosophy of animal rights is respectful of our best science in general and evolutionary biology in particular. The latter teaches that, in Darwin's words, humans differ from many other animals "in degree," not in kind." Questions of line drawing to one side, it is obvious that the animals used in laboratories, raised for food, and hunted for pleasure or trapped for profit, for example, are our psychological kin. This is no fantasy, this is fact, proven by our best science.

"There is no fundamental difference between humans and the higher mammals in their mental faculties"

-- Charles Darwin

3. The philosophy of animal rights is unprejudiced
Explanation: Racists are people who think that the members of their race are superior to the members of other races simply because the former belong to their (the "superior") race. Sexists believe that the members of their sex are superior to the members of the opposite sex simply because the former belong to their (the "superior") sex. Both racism and sexism are paradigms of unsupportable bigotry. There is no "superior" or "inferior" sex or race. Racial and sexual differences are biological, not moral, differences.
The same is true of speciesism -- the view that members of the species Homo sapiens are superior to members of every other species simply because human beings belong to one's own (the "superior") species. For there is no "superior" species. To think otherwise is to be no less predjudiced than racists or sexists.

"If you can justify killing to eat meat, you can justify the conditions of the ghetto. I cannot justify either one."

-- Dick Gregory

4. The philosophy of animal rights is just
Explanation: Justice is the highest principle of ethics. We are not to commit or permit injustice so that good may come, not to violate the rights of the few so that the many might benefit. Slavery allowed this. Child labor allowed this. Most examples of social injustice allow this. But not the philosophy of animal rights, whose highest principle is that of justice: No one has a right to benefit as a result of violating another's rights, whether that "other" is a human being or some other animal.

"The reasons for legal intervention in favor of children apply not less strongly to the case of those unfortunate slaves -- the (other) animals"

- John Stuart Mill

5. The philosophy of animal rights is compassionate
Explanation: A full human life demands feelings of empathy and sympathy -- in a word, compassion -- for the victims of injustice -- whether the victims are humans or other animals. The philosophy of animal rights calls for, and its acceptance fosters the growth of, the virtue of compassion. This philosophy is, in Lincoln's workds, "the way of a whole human being."

"Compassion in action may be the glorious possibility that could protect our crowded, polluted planet ..."

-- Victoria Moran

6. The philosophy of animal rights is unselfish
Explanation: The philosophy of animal rights demands a commitment to serve those who are weak and vulnerable -- those who, whether they are humans or other animals, lack the ability to speak for or defend themselves, and who are in need of protection against human greed and callousness. This philosophy requires this commitment, not because it is in our self-interest to give it, but because it is right to do so. This philosophy therefore calls for, and its acceptance fosters the growth of, unselfish service.

"We need a moral philosophy in which the concept of love, so rarely mentioned now by philosophers, can once again be made central."

-- Iris Murdoch

7. The philosophy of animal rights is individually fulfilling
Explanation: All the great traditions in ethics, both secular and religious, emphasize the importance of four things: knowledge, justice, compassion, and autonomy. The philosophy of animal rights is no exception. This philosophy teaches that our choices should be based on knowledge, should be expressive of compassion and justice, and should be freely made. It is not easy to achieve these virtues, or to control the human inclinations toward greed and indifference. But a whole human life is imposssible without them. The philosophy of animal rights both calls for, and its acceptance fosters the growth of, individual self-fulfillment.

"Humaneness is not a dead external precept, but a living impulse from within; not self-sacrifice, but self-fulfillment."

-- Henry Salt

8. The philosophy of animal rights is socially progressive.
Explanation: The greatest impediment to the flourishing of human society is the exploitation of other animals at human hands. This is true in the case of unhealthy diets, of the habitual reliance on the "whole animal model" in science, and of the many other forms animal exploitation takes. And it is no less true of education and advertising, for example, which help deaden the human psyche to the demands of reason, impartiality, compassion, and justice. In all these ways (and more), nations remain profoundly backward because they fail to serve the true interests of their citizens.

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be measured by the way its animals are treated."

-- Mahatma Gandhi

9. The philosophy of animal rights is environmentally wise.
Explanation: The major cause of environmental degradation, including the greenhouse effect, water pollution, and the loss both of arable land and top soil, for example, can be traced to the exploitation of animals. This same pattern exists throughout the broad range of environmental problems, from acid rain and ocean dumping of toxic wastes, to air pollution and the destruction of natural habitat. In all these cases, to act to protect the affected animals (who are, after all, the first to suffer and die from these environmental ills), is to act to protect the earth.

"Until we establish a felt sense of kinship between our own species and those fellow mortals who share with us the sun and shadow of life on this agonized planet, there is no hope for other species, there is no hope for the environment, and there is no hope for ourselves."

-- Jon Wynne-Tyson

10. The philosophy of animal rights is peace-loving.
Explanation: The fundamental demand of the philosophy of animal rights is to treat humans and other animals with respect. To do this requires that we not harm anyone just so that we ourselves or others might benefit. This philosophy therefore is totally opposed to military aggression. It is a philosophy of peace. But it is a philosophy that extends the demand for peace beyond the boundaries of our species. For there is a war being waged, every day, against countless millions of nonhuman animals. To stand truly for peace is to stand firmly against speciesism. It is wishful thinking to believe that there can be "peace in the world" if we fail to bring peace to our dealings with other animals.

"If by some miracle in all our struggle the earth is spared from nuclear holocaust, only justice to every living thing will save humankind."

-- Alice Walker

via: http://www.cultureandanimals.org

10 Reasons To Eat Fruit

1 - It's a healthy snack that can cure a sweet tooth

2 - There are lots and lots in season right now

3 - You can set a good example for your kids (or spouse, partner, or roommate!)

4 - You can always find a few different kinds on sale each week

5 - Their antioxidants helps prevent cancer

6 - Fruit is a quick and easy snack

7 - You'll be a hit when you arrive at a picnic with a gorgeous fruit s alad

8 - Fruit can be dipped in chocolate (but remember...everything in moderation!)

9 - It adds excitement to bland chicken dishes

10 - Because you can find lots and lots of great recipes to create throughout the summer!

source: http://web.mit.edu

Ten Reasons Not to Hit Your Kids

In Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Croatia, Cyprus, Latvia, Italy, Israel, Germany and Austria, it is illegal for a parent, teacher, or anyone else to spank a child. In some states and provinces, it is only illegal for a teacher to spank. In all areas of North America, physical punishment by a parent, as long as it is not severe, is still seen by many as necessary discipline, and condoned, or sadly, even encouraged.

Ten reasons not to hit the kids:

1. Hitting children teaches them to become hitters themselves. Extensive research data is now available to support a direct correlation between corporal punishment in childhood and aggressive or violent behavior in the teenage and adult years. Virtually all of the most dangerous criminals were regularly threatened and punished in childhood. It is nature's plan that children learn attitudes and behaviors through observation and imitation of their parents' actions, for good or ill. Thus it is the responsibility of parents to set an example of empathy and wisdom.

2. In many cases of so-called "bad behavior", the child is simply responding in the only way he can, given his age and experience, to neglect of basic needs. Among these needs are: proper sleep and nutrition, treatment of hidden allergy, fresh air, exercise, and sufficient freedom to explore the world around him. But his greatest need is for his parents' undivided attention. In these busy times, few children receive sufficient time and attention from their parents, who are often too distracted by their own problems and worries to treat their children with patience and empathy. It is surely wrong and unfair to punish a child for responding in a natural way to having important needs neglected. For this reason, punishment is not only ineffective in the long run, it is also clearly unjust.

3. Punishment distracts the child from learning how to resolve conflict in an effective and humane way. As the educator John Holt wrote, "When we make a child afraid, we stop learning dead in its tracks." A punished child becomes preoccupied with feelings of anger and fantasies of revenge, and is thus deprived of the opportunity to learn more effective methods of solving the problem at hand. Thus, a punished child learns little about how to handle or prevent similar situations in the future.

4. “Spare the rod and spoil the child”, though much quoted, is in fact a misinterpretation of Biblical teaching. While the “rod” is mentioned many times in the Bible, it is only in the Book of Proverbs that this word is used in connection with parenting. The book of Proverbs is attributed to Solomon, an extremely cruel man whose harsh methods of discipline led his own son, Rehoboam, to become a tyrannical and oppressive dictator who only narrowly escaped being stoned to death for his cruelty. In the Bible there is no support for harsh discipline outside of Solomon’s Proverbs. By contrast, the writings in the Gospels, the most important books in the Bible for Christians, contain the teachings of Jesus Christ, who urged mercy, forgiveness, humility, and non-violence. Jesus saw children as being close to God, and urged love, never punishment.3

5. Punishment interferes with the bond between parent and child, as it is not human nature to feel loving toward someone who hurts us. The true spirit of cooperation which every parent desires can arise only through a strong bond based on mutual feelings of love and respect. Punishment, even when it appears to work, can produce only superficially good behavior based on fear, which can only take place until the child is old enough to resist. In contrast, cooperation based on respect will last permanently, bringing many years of mutual happiness as the child and parent grow older.

6. Many parents never learned in their own childhood that there are positive ways of relating to children. When punishment does not accomplish the desired goals, and if the parent is unaware of alternative methods, punishment can escalate to more frequent and dangerous actions against the child.

7. Anger and frustration which cannot be safely expressed by a child become stored inside; angry teenagers do not fall from the sky. Anger that has been accumulating for many years can come as a shock to parents whose child now feels strong enough to express this rage. Punishment may appear to produce "good behavior" in the early years, but always at a high price, paid by parents and by society as a whole, as the child enters adolescence and early adulthood.

8. Spanking on the buttocks, an erogenous zone in childhood, can create in the child's mind an association between pain and sexual pleasure, and lead to difficulties in adulthood. "Spanking wanted" ads in alternative newspapers attest to the sad consequences of this confusion of pain and pleasure. If a child receives little parental attention except when being punished, this will further merge the concepts of pain and pleasure in the child's mind. A child in this situation will have little self-esteem, believing he deserves nothing better. For more on this topic, see "The Sexual Dangers of Spanking Children" (also in French).

Even relatively moderate spanking can be physically dangerous. Blows to the lower end of the spinal column send shock waves along the length of the spine, and may injure the child. The prevalence of lower back pain among adults in our society may well have its origins in childhood punishment. Some children have become paralyzed through nerve damage from spanking, and some have died after mild paddlings, due to undiagnosed medical complications.

9. Physical punishment gives the dangerous and unfair message that "might makes right", that it is permissible to hurt someone else, provided they are smaller and less powerful than you are. The child then concludes that it is permissible to mistreat younger or smaller children. When he becomes an adult, he can feel little compassion for those less fortunate than he is, and fears those who are more powerful. This will hinder the establishment of meaningful relationships so essential to an emotionally fulfilling life.

10. Because children learn through parental modeling, physical punishment gives the message that hitting is an appropriate way to express feelings and to solve problems. If a child does not observe a parent solving problems in a creative and humane way, it can be difficult for him to learn to do this himself. For this reason, unskilled parenting often continues into the next generation.

Source: http://www.naturalchild.org

10 Reasons Why Gay Marriage is Wrong

01) Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.

02) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

03) Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

04) Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

05) Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Britany Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

06) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.

07) Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

08) Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.

09) Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10) Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.

via: http://www.craigslist.org

Ten Reasons Not to Smoke


1.) It is estimated that every cigarette you smoke takes 12 minutes off of your life.

2.) Smoking causes more than eight of every 10 cases of lung cancer. There is no cure for lung cancer and the Victims usually die within five years.

3.) Tobacco contains a poison called nicotine. An injection of one drop of nicotine in its purest form (70 mg) will kill an average-sized man. Cigarettes contain a very small amount of nicotine (between .1 and 2.2 mg). This amount will not kill you, but will make your heart beat faster and can make your hands shake.

4.) Smoking increases your risk of getting many serious diseases including cancer, heart disease, emphysema and bronchitis

5.) Fires started by cigarettes cause 25,000 deaths each year in the United States alone.

6.) Smoking is dangerous for nonsmokers who breath the smoke from smokers' cigarettes. During the 12 minutes a cigarette burns, smoke from the cigarette fills the room with poisonous gases.

7.) Smokeless tobacco increases the risks of mouth cancer and other diseases of the mouth like tooth decay and gum recession. Early signs of mouth cancer may occur after just a few years of use.

8.) Smoking during pregnancy can harm the developing baby, it can cause conditions such as low birth weight and premature birth. As the child grows older it may develop problems such as the ability to process what they are hearing and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder).

9.) Over 400,000 Americans die each year from smoking-related diseases. That's more than from AIDS, alcohol, car accidents, fires, illegal drugs, murders and suicides combined.

10.) A very strong relationship exists between smoking and academic performance. Of all high school seniors with an A average in their senior year, only 7% were currently daily smokers; of those with a D average, 46% were daily smokers.

via: http://mason.k12.il.us

Few Reasons Not To Anger Women

10 Reasons Woman was Created

10. God was worried that Adam would frequently become lost in the garden because he would not ask for directions.

9. God knew that one day Adam would require someone to locate and hand him the remote.

8. God knew Adam would never go out and buy himself a new fig leaf when his wore out and would therefore need Eve to buy one for him.

7. God knew Adam would never be able to make a doctor's, dentist, or haircut appointment for himself.

6. God knew Adam would never remember which night to put he garbage on the curb.

5. God knew if the world was to be populated, men would never be able to handle the pain and discomfort of childbearing.

4. As the Keeper of the Garden, Adam would never remember where he left his tools.

3. Apparently, Adam needed someone to blame his troubles on when God caught him hiding in the garden.

2. As the Bible says, It is not good for man to be alone!

And finally, the Number 1 reason why God created Eve . . .

1. When God finished the creation of Adam, He stepped back, scratched his head, and said, “I can do better than that.”

via: http://www.beallmansion.com

10 Reasons Women Don't Want Sex

1. Use of oral contraceptives. Some women will find that their sexual drive is decreased by the Pill (or any of the other hormonal approaches to birth control -- patch, ring, and shot).
2. Use of antidepressants. Not everyone experiences a decrease in sexual desire, but many do.
3. Breastfeeding. Prolactin (the hormone that facilitates breastfeeding) decreases sexual interest.
4. Lack of sleep. For most women, sleep comes before sex once the relationship has been established.
5. Stress. Due to work, financial issues, educational stress, extended family, and other important issues in life. When stress is increased, many women do not see sex as a solution to it.
6. Disagreements with one's mate. Any relationship will bring with it the challenges of conflicting feelings and desires. That can play itself out in sex.
7. Low levels of free testosterone. While knowing the level of total testosterone in the bloodstream can be helpful, finding out the free testosterone is very essential to discovering the possible physiological causes of low sexual desire.
8. High levels of SHBG. A woman with high levels of sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), may have low sexual interest. This is because it combines with free testosterone (making it "unavailable") and that decreases libido.
9. Fear of intimacy. The inability to handle the level of intimacy that sex brings and maintains in a relationship is a very common reason for a decrease in sexual desire for one's partner.
10. Body image. Women who view themselves as unattractive to their mate and/or in their own mind's eye.

via: http://top-10-reasons.blogspot.com

10 GOOD REASONS FOR BEING...

IRISH
1. Guinness
2. 18 children because you can't use contraceptives
3. You can get into a fight just by marching down someone's road
4. Pubs never close
5. Can use Papal edicts on contraception passed in the second Vatican Council of 1968 to persuade your girlfriend that you can't have sex with a condom on
6. No one can ever remember the night before
7. Kill people you don't agree with
8. Stew
9. More Guinness
10. Eating stew and drinking Guinness in an Irish pub at 3 in the morning after a bout of sectarian violence

FRENCH
1. When speaking fast you can make yourself sound gay
2. Experience the joy of winning the world cup for the first time
3. You get to eat insect food like snails and frog's legs
4. If there's a war you can surrender really early
5. You don't have to read the subtitles on those late night films on Channel 4.
6. You can test your own nuclear weapons in other people's countries.
7. You can be ugly and still become a famous film star
8. Allow Germans to march up and down your most famous street humiliating your sense of national pride.
9. You don't have to bother with deodorant
10. People think you're a great lover even when you're not

ENGLISH
1. Two World Wars and One World Cup doo-dah doo-dah
2. Proper beer
3. You get to confuse everyone with the rules of cricket
4. You get to accept defeat graciously in major sporting events
5. Union jack underpants
6. Water shortages guaranteed every single summer
7. You can live in the past and imagine you are still a world power
8. Bathing once a week — whether you need to or not
9. Ditto changing underwear
10. Beats being Welsh or Scottish

AMERICAN
1. You can have a woman president without electing her
2. You can spell colour wrong and get away with it
3. You can call Budweiser beer
4. You can be a crook and still be president
5. If you've got enough money you can get elected to do anything
6. If you can breathe you can get a gun
7. You get to be really obese
8. You can play golf in the most hideous clothes ever made and nobody seems to care
9. You get to call everyone you've never met "buddy"
10. You can think you're the greatest nation on earth, when you're not, at all

via:http://forums.canadiancontent.net

Reasons to Believe in the Christian Faith

1. The Integrity of its Founder
Christ said He came from heaven to fulfill prophecy, to die for our sins, and to bring to His Father all who believe in Him. His first-century followers drew their own conclusions. They said they saw Him walk on water, still a storm, heal crippled limbs, feed 5,000 with a few pieces of bread and fish, live a blameless life, die a terrible death, and alive again.
During His ministry, when some of Jesus' followers took issue with His teachings and left, He asked those closest to Him if they too wanted to leave. Peter spoke for the others when he said, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (John 6:68-69).
One of the most powerful evidences that Jesus lived, died, and rose from the dead is the changed lives of His disciples, from those of the first century to those in the present time.
To know Jesus from history is to know Him from afar. It is only to know "about" Him rather than to actually "know" Him. Do you know Jesus? Would you like to learn how you can know Jesus as your Lord and Savior?

2. Its Book is Reliable
The Bible was written in three different languages over a period of about 1,500 years by 40 different authors from every walk of life - kings, peasants, philosophers, fishermen, poets, statesmen scholars, and tax collectors. The book on which the Christian faith rests tells one single story that begins with creation and concludes on the threshold of eternity. The integrity of its historical and geographical record is supported by archeology. The accuracy with which it has been copied and handed down to us has been confirmed by the Dead Sea Scrolls of Qumran, which brought the world manuscripts 1000 years older than any others previously in existence.
The subject matter of the Bible includes many topics, some that are controversial, and others that are not. Yet, the biblical authors spoke with continuity and harmony from Genesis to Revelation, telling one unfolding story: "God's redemption of man."

3. Its Claim
The first Christians were not driven by political motivations or religious dissent, they spoke of Jesus life, death, burial, and resurrections because they were witnesses. They risked their lives to tell the world that with their own eyes they had seen an innocent man die and then miraculously walk among them 3 days later (Acts 5:17-42). Their argument was very concrete. Jesus was crucified under the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. His body was buried and sealed in a borrowed tomb. Guards were posted to prevent grave tampering. Yet after 3 days the tomb was empty, and witnesses were risking their lives to declare that He was alive.
These Christ-followers went even further in their effort to make it clear, that their faith is not based on myth or legend. The Apostle Peter speaks of them, "We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty" (2 Peter 1:16).

4. Its Impact on the World
A carpenter rabbi from Nazareth changed the world. Calendars and dated documents bear silent witness to His birth. From rooftops, necklaces, and earrings, the sign of the cross bears visual witness to His death. The Western world-view, which provided a basis for social morality, scientific methodology, and a work ethic that fueled industry, had roots in basic Christian values. Social relief agencies, whether in the West or East, are not fueled by the values of Hinduism, Buddhism, atheism, or secular agnosticism, but by the direct or residual values of the Bible and the Christian faith..

5. Its Offer of Grace
No other religious system offers everlasting life as a gift to those who trust One who has overcome death for them. The salvation Christ offers does not depend on what we have done for Him, but on our acceptance of what He has done for us. Instead of moral and religious effort, this salvation requires a helpless admission of our sins. Instead of personal accomplishments of faith, it requires confession of failure. Unlike all other options of faith, Christ asks us to follow Him -- not to merit salvation but as an expression of gratitude, love, and confidence in the One who has saved us (Ephesians 2:8-10).

via : http://whbc.org
Asigurari