Interesting Readings

When I wander don’t tell me to come and sit down. Wander with me. It may be because I am hungry, thirsty, need the toilet. Or maybe I just need to stretch my legs.

When I call for my mother (even though I’m ninety!) don’t tell me she has died. Reassure me, cuddle me, ask me about her. It may be that I am looking for the security that my mother once gave me.

When I shout out please don’t ask me to be quiet…or walk by. I am trying to tell you something, but have difficulty in telling you what. Be patient. Try to find out. I may be in pain.

When I become agitated or appear angry, please don’t reach for the drugs first. I am trying to tell you something. It may be too hot, too bright, too noisy. Or maybe it’s because I miss my loved ones. Try to find out first.

When I don’t eat my dinner or drink my tea it may be because I’ve forgotten how to. Show me what to do, remind me. It may be that I just need to hold my knife and fork I may know what to do then.

When I push you away while you’re trying to help me wash or get dressed, maybe it’s because I have forgotten what you have said. Keep telling me what you are doing over and over and over. Maybe others will think you’re the one that needs the help!

With all my thoughts and maybes, perhaps it will be you who reaches my thoughts, understands my fears, and will make me feel safe.

Maybe it will be you who I need to thank.

I wonder if I would do what she did, however, I have not been in her situation, thus this might not mean anything.

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In 1987, Joy White brought her 3-week-old daughter to the hospital when she had a fever. Then the unthinkable happened…

A woman dressed as a nurse snuck into the hospital and kidnapped her baby girl, Carlina.

The story captured national attention as Joy and her husband Carl appeared on television begging the kidnapper to return her baby.

Years went by, then decades; Joy never gave up hope that she would see her daughter again, but the situation did appear to be hopeless.

The “nurse” who took Carlina was Ann Netty. After having difficulty conceiving, Ann kidnapped Carlina and raised her as her own daughter, who she called “Netty.”

Ann took Carlina from New York City to Connecticut and then to Georgia — miles away from her real family.

But Carlina became suspicious of her birth origins on her 16th birthday when she realized she didn’t resemble anyone in her family.

That same year, when Carlina became pregnant, she needed her own birth certificate to receive prenatal care. She asked her “mom” for her birth certificate, but she refused.

Carlina, already suspicious, went through Ann’s things and retrieved what she believed to be her birth certificate. When she brought the document to a government official, they all but accused her of stealing someone’s identity.

The birth certificate was fake…

When Carlina confronted Ann about the birth certificate, Ann admitted she wasn’t her biological mother, but told her an even more heartbreaking lie.

“Your mom left you,” Ann Pettway said, “and she never came back.”

That’s when Carlina decided to do some investigating of her own without many leads. Seven years later, Carlina went on the website of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Then she saw this photograph. It was a photograph of the missing Carlina White and a sketch of what she might look like today.

Carlina — still then Netty — believed her baby pictures resembled the photo and that she looked just like the sketch.

So she made a phone call that would forever change her life.

Carlina called Joy White, who notified police officers. They conducted a DNA test that concluded that Joy was in fact her biological mother.

In 2010, after 23 years of waiting, Joy was reunited with her daughter, and it’s all because Carlina used her wits to crack her own case.

http://nypost.com/2015/07/30/im-a-model-and-im-homeless/

http://www.metaspoon.com/typewriter-artwork-paul-smith/?fb

When you read a weather report and compared it to the real tensions between the two countries :) as quoted from an UAE newpaper article

"An NCMS spokesperson told Emirates 24|7: “The latest turn in weather is associated with a low pressure system in the east, specifically over Iran, along with a high pressure system over Saudi Arabia. “

English is often cited as For those learning, trying to master the intricacies of the English Language can often pose more than few hurdles. For starters there are many words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings "see" and "sea" for example.

Factor in silent letters "artistically, logically, musically, romantically, stoically" all have a silent A or the words 'Knife, Knight, Knock, Knot and Know' with their silent K and its not surprising that things can get quite confusing.

That being said, English can truly be a beautiful language to speak and learn - to that end we've created a list of 100 words which we not only love the sound of, but we're sure you'll love using in the future.

1. Ailurophile A cat-lover. 2. Beleaguer To exhaust with attacks. 3. Brood To think alone. 4. Bucolic In a lovely rural setting. 5. Chatoyant Like a cat’s eye. 6. Comely Attractive. 7. Conflate To blend together. 8. Cynosure A focal point of admiration. 9. Dalliance A brief love affair. 10. Demesne Dominion, territory. 11. Demure Shy and reserved. 12. Denouement The resolution of a mystery. 13. Desuetude Disuse. 14. Desultory Slow, sluggish. 15. Diaphanous Filmy. 16. Dissemble Deceive. 17. Dulcet Sweet, sugary. 18. Ebullience Bubbling enthusiasm. 19. Effervescent Bubbly. 20. Efflorescence Flowering, blooming. 21. Elision Dropping a sound or syllable in a word. 22. Elixir A good potion. 23. Eloquence Beauty and persuasion in speech. 24. Embrocation Rubbing on a lotion. 25. Emollient A softener. 26. Ephemeral Short-lived. 27. Epiphany A sudden revelation. 28. Erstwhile At one time, for a time. 29. Ethereal Gaseous, invisible but detectable. 30. Evanescent Vanishing quickly, lasting a very short time. 31. Evocative Suggestive. 32. Fetching Pretty. 33. Felicity Pleasantness. 34. Forbearance Withholding response to provocation. 35. Fugacious Fleeting. 36. Furtive Shifty, sneaky. 37. Gambol To skip or leap about joyfully. 38. Glamour Beauty. 39. Gossamer The finest piece of thread, a spider’s silk. 40. Halcyon Happy, sunny, care-free. 41. Harbinger Messenger with news of the future. 42. Imbrication Overlapping and forming a regular pattern. 43. Imbroglio An altercation or complicated situation. 44. Imbue To infuse, instill. 45. Incipient Beginning, in an early stage. 46. Ineffable Unutterable, inexpressible. 47. Ingénue A naïve young woman. 48. Inglenook A cozy nook by the hearth. 49. Insouciance Blithe nonchalance. 50. Inure To become jaded. 51. Labyrinthine Twisting and turning. 52. Lagniappe A special kind of gift. 53. Lagoon A small gulf or inlet. 54. Languor Listlessness, inactivity. 55. Lassitude Weariness, listlessness. 56. Leisure Free time. 57. Lilt To move musically or lively. 58. Lissome Slender and graceful. 59. Lithe Slender and flexible. 60. Love Deep affection. 61. Mellifluous Sweet sounding. 62. Moiety One of two equal parts. 63. Mondegreen A slip of the ear. 64. Murmurous Murmuring. 65. Nemesis An unconquerable archenemy. 66. Offing The sea between the horizon and the offshore. 67. Onomatopoeia A word that sounds like its meaning. 68. Opulent Lush, luxuriant. 69. Palimpsest A manuscript written over earlier ones. 70. Panacea A solution for all problems 71. Panoply A complete set. 72. Pastiche An art work combining materials from various sources. 73. Penumbra A half-shadow. 74. Petrichor The smell of earth after rain. 75. Plethora A large quantity. 76. Propinquity An inclination. 77. Pyrrhic Successful with heavy losses. 78. Quintessential Most essential. 79. Ratatouille A spicy French stew. 80. Ravel To knit or unknit. 81. Redolent Fragrant. 82. Riparian By the bank of a stream. 83. Ripple A very small wave. 84. Scintilla A spark or very small thing. 85. Sempiternal Eternal. 86. Seraglio Rich, luxurious oriental palace or harem. 87. Serendipity Finding something nice while looking for something else. 88. Summery Light, delicate or warm and sunny. 89. Sumptuous Lush, luxurious. 90. Surreptitious Secretive, sneaky. 91. Susquehanna A river in Pennsylvania. 92. Susurrous Whispering, hissing. 93. Talisman A good luck charm. 94. Tintinnabulation Tinkling. 95. Umbratilous Shadowy; shaded or secluded. 96. Untoward Unseemly, inappropriate. 97. Vestigial In trace amounts. 98. Wafture Waving. 99. Wherewithal The means. 100. Woebegone Sorrowful or downcast.

The news headlines had been mostly the passing of Mr. Lee Kwan Yew and this is just one side of that story. ======================= SINGAPORE: She was his closest friend, his “tower of strength”, for more than three-quarters of his life — the woman who got his attention when she bested him in school, who ran their household and their law firm, and without whom he would have been hard-pressed to enter politics. Madam Kwa Geok Choo and Mr Lee Kuan Yew were often seen as inseparable. But the Singapore public found out just how much she meant to him only when he published his memoirs in 1999 — telling all for the first time about the great love of his life and revealing an unexpected side to his unsentimental, hard-nosed public face. At Raffles College, she had beaten him to be the top student in English and economics at the end of the first term, giving Mr Lee stiff competition for the coveted Queen’s Scholarship. When the Japanese Occupation interrupted their studies, they reconnected under different circumstances: Mr Lee and her brother-in-law ran a business making stationery glue. With their friendship blossoming by September 1944, Mr Lee knew Mrs Lee well enough to invite her to his 21st birthday dinner, “an event not without significance” in those days. With the end of the war, Mr Lee decided to read law in England on his family’s savings. Mrs Lee, who was two-and-a-half years older than Mr Lee, said she would wait for his return. In the months before he left in September 1946, the couple spent a lot of time together and took photographs. Mr Lee wrote in his memoirs: “We were young and in love, anxious to record this moment of our lives ... We both hoped she would go back to Raffles College, win the Queen’s Scholarship to read law and join me wherever I might be. “She was totally committed. I sensed it. I was equally determined to keep my commitment to her.” Indeed, Mrs Lee was awarded the Queen’s Scholarship the next year. However, the Colonial Office could not find her a university place for that academic year and said she would have to wait till 1948. Mr Lee, who was studying at Cambridge’s Fitzwilliam College, managed to eventually arrange a meeting with the mistress of Girton College and persuaded her to take in Mrs Lee. She arrived in Britain in October. And two months later, during the Christmas vacation, they decided to get married at Stratford-upon-Avon. But they kept their marriage a secret as they felt her parents, her college and the scholarship authorities might not approve. <pic1> 

SHE WAS HIS ‘INSURANCE POLICY’

Back in Singapore in August 1950, the young couple got married on Sep 30 for a second time. They started their careers doing their pupillage at Laycock & Ong and, in 1955 with Mr Lee’s brother Dennis, they set up the law firm Lee & Lee. When the People’s Action Party was formed, Mrs Lee helped draft its constitution. In the 1959 general election, she even gave a speech on radio urging women to vote for the party. One of Singapore’s best conveyancing lawyers, she also in 1965 helped Law Minister Eddie Barker draft the clauses in the Separation Agreement to guarantee the water agreements with the state of Johor. And for most of Mr Lee’s political career, she was his unofficial speech proofreader — indeed, since his first speech to the Malayan Forum in 1950. But for the most part, she devoted herself to the role behind the scenes of being her husband’s staunchest supporter, running both the household, especially after the birth of their first son Hsien Loong in 1952, and the law firm as Mr Lee immersed himself in politics. Not only did her income enable him to continue in office over the years, she also put his mind at ease. Mr Lee said once, for “in case anything untoward should happen to me, she would be able to bring up my three children well”. While she was often seen by Mr Lee’s side over the years at official functions and on official trips, Mr Lee said he “made a point not to discuss the formulation of policies with her, and she was scrupulous in not reading notes or faxes that were sensitive”. But he did pay attention to her uncanny gut feel for people’s characters. “She would tell me whether she would trust that man or not. And often she is right,” he said. When he penned his memoirs, she would stay up with him until 4am going over the drafts, correcting, critiquing and getting him to write “clear and crisp”. FACED CRISES TOGETHER

In terms of their relationship as a couple, they did not dodge difficult personal problems, but faced them and sorted them out early on, Mr Lee said. “We gradually influenced each other’s ways and habits, we adjusted and accommodated each other. We knew that we could not stay starry-eyed lovers all our lives, that life was an ever-ongoing challenge with new problems to resolve and manage.” When their younger son Hsien Yang married in 1981, Mr Lee wrote the newly-weds a letter with advice on marriage: “We have never allowed the other to feel abandoned and alone in any moment of crisis. Quite the contrary, we have faced all major crises in our lives together, sharing our fears and hopes, and our subsequent grief and exultation. These moments of crisis have bonded us closer together.” Mr Lee’s brother, Mr Lee Suan Yew, described the couple as being inseparable — they had to be seated together at family dinners. While her husband did not prefer the arts, Mrs Lee loved classical music. “And he, being very much in love with his wife, would comply and follow her to the Esplanade and listen to some concerts,” Mr Lee’s brother said.Others, such as former minister George Yeo, who had the opportunity to observe the couple on overseas trips, spoke of their very special close relationship. Education Minister Heng Swee Keat recalled their bantering over Mr Lee’s sweet tooth and how Mrs Lee would “with good humour keep score of the week’s ‘ration’." While she sat quietly and unobtrusively, anyone who saw them would know “how much strength her presence gave her husband” at official events.

DISCLAIMER: This is not a political post as I do not discuss politic and religion with other then my own circle.

Despite being kind of a political issue that I am about to discuss here, I want people to focus on enlightening me out of my confusion.

Here we go: I read this BBC news article about the Bali Nine today, and had been reading the numerous headlines on Australian newspapers the last few weeks, but just lets discuss this particular news article by BBC (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-31741558?OCID=fbasia) There is a part of that news mentioned and I quoted "Ms Bishop had announced the offer to repatriate three Indonesian convicts in return for the two Australian men in a joint news conference with Prime Minister Tony Abbott." I COULD NOT HELP BUT THINK: Should President Jokowi requested Australian government to just execute those 3 Indonesian convicts instead of repatriate them, would Australian government do it? (this is just a hypothetical question based on difference between 2 countries law system, Indonesian believe in Capital Punishment while Australia does not).

This is just to show how Australian been asking Indonesian practically to forget their own law. The law clearly stated that drug attract dead penalty, yet when it's come to uphold their laws, you want the Indonesian to just forget about it? WHY?

When the Bali Bomber were capture, you insisted that Indonesian should go hard on him, is that because he is not an Australian? I smell rotten fish just to think of these 2 examples.

Another quote from the same news resource stated above:

"We respect Indonesia, we honour the friendship that we have with Indonesia, but we stand up for our values and we stand up for our citizens and these are Australian citizens in extremis." 

Oh WOW wee Mr Abbott, thanks for your respect for Indonesia, obviously you respect Indonesia ONLY when Indonesia do what you've expected them to do right? That is really a RESPECT, NOT!!!!!

Very well Mr Abbott for standing up for your values but why expecting other to do otherwise? You may NOT believe in capital punishment and that is your believe NOT the Indonesian's! The other question in my mind is what EXACTLY stand up for your citizen that you do? Obviously you have a very short memory or you pretend to not know that all these were started by your very own Federal Police tip off to the Indonesian authority to bust your own people and now you make it as if all these are just about upholding their lawswhich you well aware that the law has been in placed long before your own citizen decided to take that law for granted! Did you not consider this before you informed the Indonesian authorities? MY MIND transported back to statements made few years ago and still there in the wikipedia link as I quoted below:  (source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bali_Nine) "The parents of Rush and Lawrence criticised the AFP for allowing the Indonesian police to arrest the nine rather than allowing them to fly to Australia and arresting them in Sydney upon their return." Another statement I also got from the Wikipedia: "Can I just say to every young Australian, please take notice of this. I even beg them not to take the terrible risks that these young people have done – their lives destroyed in the case of two people. I feel desperately sorry for the parents of these people, I do ... but the warnings have been there for decades and how on earth any young Australian can be so stupid as to take the risk is completely beyond me."— Australia's prime minister, John Howard, quoted following the news of the death penalty, February 2006. OBVIOUSLY, Australian Police knew, and let it happened, Is that the level of care you are talking about Mr Abbott? What make you so different with John Howard? I truly failed to understand people. I do not understand why the rage, and the expectation behind all this drama? Do people actually KNOWS what had happened and how it started?

I failed to understand journalism! Can those crap journalists sleep at nights knowing what they did? Selling part news to raised hate rage and later question why there are so much war? 

I do appreciate that Chan and Sukumaran today is not the same as they were 10 or so years ago; however, what is that all got to do with LAW? One of the Anti Capital Punishment arguments about Capital Punishment is there is always a chance of wrong sentencing, sentencing an innocent people, well, in this case, how would one know for sure if the pair has really changed toward the better and thus deserve the clemency? I realized that my last statement sound very harsh, but so is my heart right now. I am angry at the world, I am angry at the ignorance people, I am angry at the fact how people trying to portrait themselves as one thing yet doing opposite!

As a parent, we teach our children to own their mistake, but obviously this does not apply when it comes to Australians, but WHY?

As a parent, we remind our children to mind their own business, but obviously not for Australians?

As a parent we teach our children to help each other as much as we can and be sincere, but when it comes to Australia, there is NO SUCH THING! I help you so you have to help me says Abbott! (Tony Abbott: Indonesia should reciprocate tsunami aid by sparing Bali Nine pair as quoted from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/18/tony-abbott-indonesia-reciprocate-tsunami-aid-sparing-bali-nine-pair)

Do Australians really think that they are above the law and the law should be bend to suit them?

What are we teaching our young generations here? Do enlighten me!

Please stop saying the Indonesian happy to take your tourist dollars! Go and see how bad Bali is now compared to Bali 20 yrs ago.  Stay away from Bali, and other part of Indonesia if you want, that's probably is for best. Do also try to understand that Australia being "nice" to Indonesia is not without anything in return, I bet your farmers sells lots of dairy and many other farming products to the Indonesians and make lots of money from them. 

I bet the Indonesian Freeport gold has made some of you rich there! 

Our family practically practicing these, i.e order what we can eat, however, I do not believe that my children understood the why behind these. This should explain it better.

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Ratan Tata Tweet... Germany is a highly industrialized country. In such a country, many will think its people lead a luxurious life.

When we arrived at Hamburg , my colleagues walked into the restaurant, we noticed that a lot of tables were empty. There was a table where a young couple was having their meal. There were only two dishes and two cans of beer on the table. I wondered if such simple meal could be romantic, and whether the girl will leave this stingy guy.

There were a few old ladies on another table. When a dish is served, the waiter would distribute the food for them, and they would finish every bit of the food on their plates.

As we were hungry, our local colleague ordered more food for us.When we left, there was still about one third of un-consumed food on the table.

When we were leaving the restaurant, the old ladies spoke to us in English, we understood that they were unhappy about us wasting so much food.

"We paid for our food, it is none of your business how much food we left behind," my colleague told the old ladies. The old ladies were furious. One of them immediately took her hand phone out and made a call to someone. After a while, a man in uniform from Social Security organisation arrived. Upon knowing what the dispute was, he issued us a 50 Euro fine. We all kept quiet.

The officer told us in a stern voice, "ORDER WHAT YOU CAN CONSUME, MONEY IS YOURS BUT RESOURCES BELONG TO THE SOCIETY. THERE ARE MANY OTHERS IN THE WORLD WHO ARE FACING SHORTAGE OF RESOURCES. YOU HAVE NO REASON TO WASTE RESOURCES."

The mindset of people of this rich country put all of us to shame. WE REALLY NEED TO REFLECT ON THIS. We are from country which is not very rich in resources. To save face, we order large quantity and also waste food when we give others a treat. (Courtesy: A friend who is now changed a lot)

THE LESSON IS:- THINK SERIOUSLY ABOUT CHANGING OUR BAD HABITS. Expecting acknowledgment, that u read the message and forward to your contacts. VERY TRUE -"MONEY IS YOURS BUT RESOURCES BELONG TO THE SOCIETY."

I don't know what to think after reading this article, my heart is  broken, yet not sure what to think of it. How cruel human can be, but is it really cruelty behind all these? Where are those who abandoned those children? No body had any contact with them? What did they say about this all? SAD SAD SAD ===========================================

As copied from http://www.viralnova.com/raised-by-animals/

Domesticated animals can teach young children a lot about life. (Pets are not very good at reading, though.) Under strange circumstances, the same kinds of animals can teach children how to survive. Children who were raised by animals are called "feral children."The following children found themselves in a bad situation, abandoned by their parents or coming from a neglectful home. They encountered wild animals in their time of need. Instead of being these animals' victims, the children become their friends and part of the pack.

Natasha Mikhailova. In 2009, 5-year-old Natasha Mikhailova was discovered inside a locked apartment in the Siberian city of Chita. The young Mikhailova was filthy and greeted the visitors by barking and walking on all fours. Mikhailova was essentially abandoned by her father and grandparents inside a locked apartment with only cats and dogs. When she was finally rescued from the apartment, she communicated only in barks and ate food with her tongue. Researchers hope that she can eventually be rehabilitated and live a normal life in society.

Vanya Yudin. In 2008, 7-year-old Vanya Yudin was found by Russian social workers in a room full of birds. Apparently, his mother had confined him there and raised him like a pet bird. The room was a mess of bird food and bird droppings when the social workers arrived. Yudin had never spoken to another human being during his life. He communicated by chirping and flapping his arms. Social workers removed Yudin from the home and he was sent to a rehabilitation facility.

Bello Bello also known as the Nigerian chimp boy, was found in 1996 living with a chimpanzee family in Northern Nigerian. Bello was just 2 years old when he was found with the chimps. Researchers suspect that Bello was abandoned in the forest by his family because of his mental and physical disabilities. Bello didn't walk properly according to those who found him. He used his legs, but let his arms drag around like an ape. Eventually, Bello was placed in an orphanage. He was unable to communicate effectively with other humans years later and still behaved like a chimp in many ways.

Oxana Malaya. Oxana Malaya was abandoned by her parents at the age of three. Left starving and freezing, the young Malaya found a home of sorts in a local dog kennel. She lived with dogs there for five years until a neighbor discovered her. Malaya barked at authorities when they arrived to rescue her. Most of her mannerisms had become entirely dog-like. She has since been mostly rehabilitated and lives a quiet life. 

Daniel. Daniel is perhaps better known as "The Andes Goat Boy." In 1990, a group of hikers found the 12-year-old living among a herd of goats in the mountains of Peru. Daniel survived by drinking goat's milk and eating whatever he could scavenge for 8 years, usually roots and berries. Daniel also walked on all fours, which hardened his feet and hands into something resembling hooves. A team of researches from the U.S. named him Daniel. They concluded that he had no human language skills, but could communicate with the goats in his herd.

John Ssebunya. At 4 years old, John Ssebunya was a witness to his father's brutal murder of his mother. The traumatized Ssebunya fled his village in Uganda for the jungle, where he was accepted by and cared for by a pack of vervet monkeys. Ssebunya lived the life of a monkey for three years. Ssebunya was discovered in 1991 and rescued, but not without a fight from his adoptive monkey family. Ssebunya would later recount to his rescuers that after a few days in the jungle, he was approached by a group of five monkeys. They taught him how to search for food and climb trees.

Ivan Mishukov. Ivan Mishukov ran away from his abusive home at only 4 years old. He scavenged and begged for food on the streets. He shared some of this food with a pack of stray dogs. In exchange, the dogs protected Mishukov and kept him from freezing to death. Observers who witnessed Mishukov with the dogs say that he appeared to be the pack leader. Police captured a barking, snarling Mishukov and brought him to a rehabilitation center two years later. Today, Mishukov leads a completely normal life, which is remarkable given his circumstances.