New Year Traditions

Mock combats are performed to represent the struggle between the seasons, Life and Death, and Old year and New. Plant and fruit trees are beaten with sticks; water is poured to cleanse the spirit, remove impurities, and invite grace.

· There cannot be a New Year until the Old Year has gone. The Old Year is said to be evil and must be banished. A simulacrum of Death is paraded through the town or city and is buried, drowned, or burned. The effigy can be made of straw, twigs, or rags.

· Nothing should be taken out of the house as one may remove the good luck along with it. It was said to be wise to make sure that lots of things are to be carried in.

· Both one’s pockets as well as one’s stomach should be full. This was to make certain that in the ensuing year one would be prosperous and well fed. Empty pockets and un-stocked kitchen augured a year of poverty.

· Bidding farewell of the old year was originally done out of fear that the evil spirits were let loose on the last day of the year. So people would make lots of noise and have lots of fun to drive the evil spirits away, so that they could start a New Year unharmed and unimpeded.

· Another way people would drive the evil forces away was by setting of fireworks as it was believed that they were afraid of light and that they were also afraid of noise. So this was the reason why people would make lots and lots of noises at the stroke of midnight.

· Church bells are told to drive evil spirits away at the end of the old year.

· January is named for the Roman god, Janus. He is pictured with two faces one looking forward and one looking backward. This symbolizes the connection with both the ending of the old year and the beginning the new one. In America we use different symbols to represent the same things. An old man with a beard usually symbolizes the old year and a baby in diapers the new one.

· George Washington began the custom of holding a party on New Year’s Day where everyone was welcome. This became known as having an “open house” and is still done in many places today.

· Many cultures believe a tall, dark and handsome man crossing the threshold as a sign of good luck, but if the first person to enter the house is a red headed woman, the year is sure to be stressful.

· Holding a piece of silver or gold as the New Year begins is said to increase the chances of prosperity in the coming year. Some place a silver coin over the doorway or a penny on the windowsill.

· Eating pork, all kinds of greens, cabbage, sauerkraut, the Southern U.S. tradition of black-eyed peas or anything that forms a circle - such as donuts or pretzels - make for good fortune in the coming year.

· On New Year’s Day, it is believed that hair shouldn’t be washed as it would wash away good luck for the New Year. Red clothing is preferred during this festive occasion. Red is considered a bright, happy color, sure to bring the wearer a sunny and bright future. It is believed that appearance and attitude during New Year’s sets the tone for the rest of the year.

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Inspiration from Japenese Fishing

Fresh Fish

The Japanese have always loved fresh fish. But the waters close to Japan have not held many fish for decades. So to feed the Japanese population, fishing boats got bigger and went farther than ever. The farther the fishermen went, the longer it took to bring in the fish. If the return trip took more than a few days, the fish were not fresh. The Japanese did not like the taste.

To solve this problem, fishing companies installed freezers on their boats. They would catch the fish and freeze them at sea. Freezers allowed the boats to go farther and stay longer. However, the Japanese could taste the difference between fresh and frozen and they did not like frozen fish.

The frozen fish brought a lower price. So fishing companies installed fish tanks. They would catch the fish and stuff them in the tanks, fin to fin. After a little thrashing around, the fish stopped moving. They were tired and dull, but alive. Unfortunately, the Japanese could still taste the difference. Because the fish did not move for days, they lost their fresh-fish taste. The Japanese preferred the lively taste of fresh fish, not sluggish fish.

So how did Japanese fishing companies solve this problem? How do they get fresh-tasting fish to Japan? If you were consulting the fish industry, what would you recommend?
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Birth of Jesus

About 2000 years ago God sent an angel to Israel, to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to Joseph, a carpenter. The angel told Mary that by God’s power, she would conceive and bear a son.

When Joseph learned that she was pregnant, an angel instructed him to marry her. Joseph took her to Bethlehem to register for a census. While there, Mary gave birth to Jesus. She laid him in a manger because there was no room at the inn. Shepherds visited Jesus in Bethlehem.

Later, wise men brought gifts to Jesus. They told Herod the Great, a wicked king, that Jesus would rule Israel. So Herod sent soldiers to kill the children in Bethlehem. Warned by an angel, Joseph took his family to Egypt. After Herod died, they returned to Israel and raised Jesus in a town called Nazareth.
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Email Etiquette Tip - DON’T SHOUT!

If you USE ALL CAPS in your email or message board posts, you will immediately make yourself seem inexperienced or ignorant. Most experienced computer users consider the use of all capital letters to be the Internet equivalent of shouting.

For those of us who spend a lot of time hanging out in cyberspace, messages written in all capital letters are reminiscent of trying to hold a conversation in which one person is shouting every word while others are speaking at a normal volume.

Also, a message written in all capitals is harder to read. In blocks of text rendered in all capitals, words lose their “shape” because they are all the same height. Each word becomes a uniform rectangle. Most people read and quickly recognize words by looking at their overall shape. We do not read by visualizing words one letter at a time.

Capital letters are best left for their intended usage and, sparingly, to emphasize a particular word or phrase.

If you are new to the ways of the Internet, this restriction on the use of capital letters might seem silly and you might dismiss it as unimportant. However, using all capitals in your messages will adversely affect how people perceive you online.

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Martyrdom of Saint Thomas, disciple of Lord Jesus Christ

On this day St. Thomas the apostle was martyred. He was born in Galilee, and the Lord chose him among the twelve disciples (Mathew 10:3). When the Lord wanted to go to raise Lazarus from the dead, Thomas said to the other disciples: ” (John 11:16). He also asked the Lord at the supper: ” (John 14:5-6). When the Lord Christ appeared to the disciples after the resurrection, and said to them “Receive the Holy Spirit”, Thomas was absent. On his return, the disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” He said to them: ” (John 20:19-29).

After the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost in the Upper room in Zion, the apostles dispersed everywhere to preach the Gospel, Thomas went to India. He worked there as a slave at one of the friends of the king, whose name was Lukios, who brought him to the king who inquired about his profession. Thomas said: “I am builder, carpenter and a physician. He preached in his master’s palace, and Lukios’ wife believed and all his household.

The king asked him about his achievements, and he said: “The palaces that I built were the souls that have become the temples of the King of Glory; the carpentry that I did was the Gospel that removes the thorns of sin; and the medicines I practiced are the Holy Mysteries which heal the poison of the evil one. The king became angry and tortured him, and bound him among four poles, cut off his skin and rubbed his wounds with salt and lime. The apostle Thomas endured the pains. Lukios’ wife saw him suffering, and she fell from the window and died. Lukios came to him and said: “If you raise my wife from the dead, I believe in your God.” Thomas went to the room where the dead body was, and said: “Arsabona (Arsonia), rise up in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.” She rose instantly and bowed to the Saint. When her husband saw that, he believed and many more with him from the people of the city, and Thomas baptized them.

Once the sea drove a huge tree to the shore that no one could lift it up. St. Thomas asked the king for permission to lift it up and to use its wood in building a church. He got the permission, he made the sign of the cross, and he raised it and later he built the church, to which he ordained a bishop and priests.

St. Thomas left and went to a city called “Kantoura” (Kontaria), where he found an old man weeping bitterly because the king killed his six children. The Saint prayed over them, and the Lord raised them up. The idol priests were angry, and wanted to stone him. The first raised a stone to throw it at him, and his hand was paralyzed. The Saint prayed over his hand, he was healed instantly, and all the idol priests believed in the Lord Christ. Then St. Thomas went to the city of “Parkenas” and other cities, where he preached in the Name of Jesus Christ. The king heard about him, and he put him in prison. When he found out that he was teaching the prisoners the way of God, he tortured him, and at last he was killed with a spear, and he received the crown of martyrdom. He was buried in “Melibar” or Mt. St. Thomas, India , then his body was relocated to El-Raha.

Hence He is the patron saint of the Churches in India as he is said to be founder of the churches in India.

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Similarities between (Girls and Windows) and (Boys and Linux)

Similarities between :

Girls and Windows

oBoth have a great UI.

oBoth consume large resources and do less work.

oBoth crash unexpectedly.

oBoth are not easily portable on different architectures (environment).

oBoth can’t work on low resource architectures (environment).

oBoth are costly to maintain.

oBoth give mostly unexpected outputs.

oBoth’s working often contradicts with their documentation.

oBoth are easily prone to viruses (rumors and doubts) (and they (viruses) do spread very fast in windows based networks).

oIn spite of all above disadvantages, both are liked.

Boys and Linux

oBoth have an average UI.

oBoth are robust.

oBoth are highly secure.

oBoth can be easily modified to support new concepts/features.

oBoth are efficient.

oBoth are easily portable to any architecture (environment) no matter how low are resources.

oYou can easily guess the output for your input (in Linux just open its code, for boys they are mostly transparent by nature ).

oBoth provide large support for development (work environment).

oBoth are poorly documented.

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Height of Globalization

Question: What is the height of Globalization?
Answer : Princess Diana.

Question : How ???
Answer : An English princess with an Egyptian boyfriend crashes in a
French tunnel driving a German car with a Dutch engine, driven by a
Belgian driver,who was on Scottish whiskey, followed closely by Italian
Paparazzi,on Japanese motorcycles, treated by an American doctor, using Brazilian
medicines, dies!

And all this stuff is read by an citizen from another country!

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Creativity :: Brainstorm Rule: Build on Ideas

In a Brainstorm, you don’t need to come up with completely unique, original, and fully formed ideas. If everyone did this, the meeting would be very quiet while everyone sat and thought, and you wouldn’t end up with very many novel ideas. The best ideas come from a collaborative effort of springboarding off one idea to arrive at another improved or modified solution. After you have built on the original idea several times, you’ll have something completely new that you never would have thought of on your own.

Never hold back because your idea is only partially formed or incomplete. The other brainstormers can build on it and turn it into a possible solution. Even a little random thought could provide the spark that gives someone else a great idea.

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Memory Tip4:: SQ3R

SQ3R is an acronym for a popular study system that will help you get the most from your studying. SQ3R stands for Survey, Question, Read, Recite, and Review. It’s a good system to use if you are trying to learn the material in a textbook.

Survey

In this first step, you should take no more than 5 minutes to get an overview of what the chapter or book is about. Read the preface, table of contents, chapter titles, headings, graphs, summaries, etc. This will give you an outline of what you are about to learn which will help you know what to expect.
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Concentrating when studying

Concentration: the ability to direct your thinking

The art or practice of concentration,
no matter if studying biology or playing pool,
is to focus on the task at hand and eliminate distraction

We all have the ability to concentrate — sometimes. Think of the times when you were “lost” in something you enjoy: a sport, playing music, a good game, a movie. Total concentration.

But at other times,

* Your mind wanders from one thing to another
* Your worries distract you
* Outside distractions take you away before you know it
* The material is boring, difficult, and/or not interesting to you.

These tips may help:
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The Four Learning Styles for Students

The Visual/ Verbal Learning Style
You learn best when information is presented visually and in a written language format. In a classroom setting, you benefit from instructors who use the blackboard (or overhead projector) to list the essential points of a lecture, or who provide you with an outline to follow along with during lecture. You benefit from information obtained from textbooks and class notes. You tend to like to study by yourself in a quiet room. You often see information “in your mind’s eye” when you are trying to remember som ething.

Learning Strategies for the Visual/ Verbal Learner:
To aid recall, make use of “color coding” when studying new information in your textbook or notes. Using highlighter pens, highlight different kinds of information in contrasting colors.
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Time Management(for Students)

Developing time management skills is a journey
that may begin with this Guide, but needs practice and other guidance along the way.

One goal is to help yourself become aware of how you use your time
as one resource in organizing, prioritizing, and succeeding in your studies
in the context of competing activities of friends, work, family, etc.

First: this exercise in time management
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Motivating Yourself

As young children, we have a great ability to learn and to see past setbacks.

As we begin to meet expectations created by our families, schools, and environment, the motivation of our early years shifts from our goals to pleasing others, and often our desire to learn suffers.

How can you motivate yourself?

With this exercise, try to

* recognize your sense of discovery
* take responsibility for your learning
* accept the risks inherent in learning with confidence, competence, and autonomy
* recognize that “failure” is success:
learning what doesn’t work is on the same path
as learning what does work
* celebrate your achievement in meeting your goals

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Avoiding Procrastination

Is your procrastination related to a project? or is it a habit?

To remedy procrastination:

Begin with one, modest project
Answer these basic questions
Keep the answers before you as you mark your progress:

What do you want to do?
* What is the final objective, the end result?
It may be obvious, or not
* What are the major steps to get there?
Don’t get too detailed: think big
* What have you done so far?
Acknowledge that you are already part of the way,
even if it is through thinking!
The longest journey begins with a first step

Why do you want to do this?
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Memory :: Tip3

Mental Block
Everyone has experienced a mental block when trying to remember something. This happens most often when you are under pressure to remember, such as during a test.

Instead of trying to think harder, it’s often helpful to stop trying to remember and move on to another problem. Frequently, you will find that just giving up the search will be enough to remove the block and the fact will instantly come into your head. This is because you are more relaxed. It’s also likely that your subconscious will continue to think about the problem and the answer will pop into your head a few minutes later.

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