happiness

Archive for the ‘news’ Category

Blog: . Profile: Guido Westerwelle

Guido Westerwelle has shot into the front line of European politics after his party scored a resounding success in German elections.
The 47-year-old leader of the liberal Free Democrat Party (FDP) will now sit down with Chancellor Angela Merkel and discuss terms for a new ruling coalition.
One of those terms will probably be Mr Westerwelle’s promotion to foreign minister.
He has tried to engage in what he calls “Spasspolitik” (fun politics).
For some this has been a breath of fresh air in the stuffy world of German politics, and has helped broaden the appeal of the FDP, especially among younger voters.
But in some cases it has backfired, landing him with a reputation as a joker.
His antics have included appearing in Germany’s Big Brother house and painting the figure 18 on the soles of his shoes (the vote percentage he targeted in the 2005 election).
Mr Westerwelle has broken new ground in becoming the first openly gay leader of a major German party.
He came out publicly in 2004, at Angela Merkel’s 50th birthday party, when he attended with his partner, businessman Michael Mronz.

Blog: New album

The model of the Grammy Award-winning singer is dressed in the same outfit that her real-life inspiration wore to the Brit awards – a thigh-skimming mini dress teamed with black high heels and huge red hooped earrings.
When he saw the waxwork for the first time, Mr Winehouse said: “It captures her totally… but she’s not that skinny anymore.
“I can’t get over the tattoos. They are perfect.”
Mr Winehouse also confirmed his daughter was about to start work on a new album.
“She has two or three more live gigs then she will be working on her new album. She’s got quite a few songs already.”
The Back To Black singer has rarely been out of the headlines in recent months. In June she was told she had “traces” of the lung disease emphysema, but went on to perform at the Nelson Mandela concert in London, and the Glastonbury Festival.
Earlier this week, her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, was jailed for 27 months for attacking a pub landlord and perverting the course of justice.
The 26-year-old admitted assaulting James King, 36, at the Macbeths pub in Hoxton, east London, in June 2006. He has already spent nine months on remand.
Mr Winehouse said he hoped Fielder-Civil could turn his life around.
“If Blake comes out of prison and proves to be a positive influence on Amy, then they will have a fantastic life, and he will make his parents very proud.
“The other option is just not tenable.
“I don’t know if the extra five or six months he has to spend in prison will make a difference, I just don’t know.”

Blog: Old favourites

The Japanese giant has also unveiled a new console, the PlayStation 3, which is due out in the spring of 2006.
Nintendo is due to provide more details about its plans later on Tuesday
The Xbox 360 was showcased last week on MTV, casting a shadow over Microsoft’s news event at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, E3, in Los Angeles.
Microsoft did reveal that gamers would be able to play their favourite Xbox games on the new machine.
The 360 will be what is called backward compatible with top-selling Xbox games. But Microsoft’s focus is on gaining broad support from game makers for the 360.
It said 160 games were heading for the console, with between 25 and 40 expected by the end of the year.
The Final Fantasy series has sold more than 60 million copies worldwide.
Among the other titles heading for the console is the popular fighting game Dead or Alive 4.
The games giant Electronic Arts, which makes games for all current consoles, also stressed its commitment to the 360.
Its line-up of games includes the racing title Need for Speed Most Wanted, the massively popular Madden NFL 06 and a game of the classic film The Godfather.
The Xbox 360 is due to go on sale in the US for the holiday season, which starts after Thanksgiving. It will be released in Europe and Asia shortly afterwards.
The price of the game system has not yet been announced.
Microsoft said people with its Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 will be able to upgrade for free to use the Xbox 360’s in-built Media Center Extender technologies.
This means people can access to digital music, video, photos, and standard and high-definition television content on Media Center-based PCs via any Xbox 360 console in the house.

Blog: Indian airline sector ‘to shrink’

Half of India’s airlines could disappear during the current downturn, Air India boss Raghu Menon has told BBC News.
The chairman of the country’s flagship carrier, Air India, believes that no more than four or five airlines will still exist once the downturn is over.
“A process of further consolidation may take place,” he said, soon after rivals Jet and Kingfisher signed an alliance.
India’s loss-making airlines are seeking $1bn (£500m) in government aid.
“It’s really been one bad thing after another for quite some time,” said Mr Menon in an interview with India Business Report.
In common with other airlines in South Asia, Air India is battling a slump in demand triggered by rising ticket prices and the economic slowdown.
Cost cutting is inevitable, though so far the industry’s efforts to do have been controversial.
Earlier this week, two of Air India’s biggest rivals – Jet and Kingfisher – announced they were forming an alliance, in an effort to stem their losses.
Together they will control half the market, posing a serious challenge to the national carrier.
“We were competing with both these airlines separately,” said Mr Menon.
“Now we’ll be competing with them perhaps as one entity.
“It’ll be a challenge.”

Blog：.Away from Keyboard

When you have to leave your computer, enter Stealth mode and move to a spot where the monsters are unlikely to patrol. Using Stealth, the Rogue can go AFK in places that other classes generally can’t.
Attribute Points
Rogues should focus on getting more Agility which adds to their Defense, Critical Hit chances, Attack Power, and Dodge chance. Additionally, you could also focus on Stamina for added health.
Weapons
Rogues use daggers by default. You can, however, train in swords if you wish to be different. You can even build up both skills and use the best depending on what weapons you have. At level 10 you can dual wield.
Rogues can also use throwing weapons or train in bows, crossbows, or guns which will typically do more damage. You can use throwing weapons to get some additional damage done to the monster before it reaches you. They can also be used to finish off monsters that are running away. Additionally, these weapons are useful for pulling monsters rather than sneaking up on them in Stealth mode.
Poisoning
The Rogue has the unique ability to create and apply special poisons to weapons. Poisoning can be trained at level 20. To create poisons you will need to buy empty vials and purchase various reagents as dictated by each recipe. At higher character levels the Rogue can train in more powerful and unique poison recipes. There are even additional extremely powerful recipes to be found which require rare ingredients available out in the world. Poisons can be resisted.
Crippling Poison, which can slow an enemy’s movement speed, is very effective against monsters that run when they are about to die. This makes the Rogue very useful in a party. Party members become accustomed to having a Rogue around for this helpful ability.
Lock Picking
You can improve this skill on locked chests. You should also create practice locks with engineering, or purchase them from engineers, to develop this skill more quickly.
You can also offer to unlock locked boxes from other players for free to build up skill in Lock Picking.
Only rogues may train in Lock Picking.
Traps
The Rogue can detect and disarm traps. Hunters use traps. Disarming an enemy faction hunter’s trap will flag the rogue for PvP.

Blog：On love and marriage

When I was married, I was still a little girl inside, a girl who believed every single word in the fairy tales, a girl who is waiting for a knight to come and to make my life complete. My self-centered, schoolgirl fantasy made myself land roughly on my marriage life. To be honest, the first month after I married was really a hell for me. First my parents-in-law moved in with us, and then my sister-in-law, with her 4-year-old son, also came from Canada to visit us. Suddenly I was surrounded by a group of strangers, the strangers who were supposed to be close to me but I barely knew .
Everyday I was struggling a lot to please them, to adjust myself to the new role of a wife, a daughter, a sister and an auntie. If I were more outgoing and sophisticate, things would be much better. But I was so awkward and helplessly shy! No matter how hard I tried, I found it hard to blend in with the whole family. When they were laughing away, exchanging gossips about old friends, all I could do was sitting there uncomfortably with a polite smile on my face. I tried to include myself in their conversations, but I got all worried and nervy and I stammered and said things twice. I didn’t only feel silly, but I also looked silly. I hate myself for that. The real loneliness is the loneliness you felt in a crowd. I was so miserable invisible and I yearned for some help and support. The only one I could turn to was my husband. But I was extremely grieved to find that he was not there. He grew so distant and usually came home very late. Even he was at home, he was too busy to converse with the others to spare time for me.
One night, after another long and painful waiting, he finally showed up. I asked why he came home so late, he only gave me an impatient answer that he needed some time to relax. Frustrated by the pang of rejection, I burst out: ” I made a big mistake in marrying you!” There was an awkward painful silence between us: ” As you wish.” He finally dropped these words and stormed out of our bedroom. My whole world seemed to be shattered, and disconnected by these simple words. I couldn’t believe we were still in our honeymoon period and everything had already changed. Angry tears spilled out of my eyes. I rushed back to my parents’ home. When I arrived, without saying hello to my mum, I stomped off at my room for a good cry. ” What are you crying for?” my mum asked. I sobbed and told her the whole story. To my surprise, my mum frowned and said: ” Girl, this time you went too far.” My mum used to be overprotective of me, and my husband was not the ideal type she thought for me. So I couldn’t believe that she wasn’t on my side and blamed me for all this. ” Why did you say that? I did nothing wrong!” I cried. ” Really? But the truth is the man you chose to marry has changed, as his wife you even didn’t know the reason.” ” How could I know? He even didn’t talk to me.” I defended myself. ” Perhaps you’ve given him too much pressures. Don’t say no. I know you didn’t mean to. But marriage is nothing like a fairy tale. Sometimes you have to make compromises, sacrifices and cope with his needs. So don’t just think about yourself all the time.”
I realized there was something true about my mum’s words. In those days, I had indulged too much in my own problems; perhaps I did overlook something important. And I heard my mum continued in her gentle but firm voice: ” Never say you want a break up unless you really mean it, cause it hurts.”
That night I came home and had a heart-to-heart talk with my husband. I finally dig out the truth. My husband’s career was on edge. Because of his male pride, and also because he didn’t want to worry me, he chose to keep it to himself. ” You don’t understand,” he said embarrassingly, ” I am a man, and I should provide you with a comfortable life, but….” I stared at my husband, surprisingly to find his hair had grown a bit thin. I went up to him and we hugged each other: ” That’s Ok, everything would be fine.” I said.

Blog：I can not love you more

Last night when I surf the internet, I ran across an article “An angel among us”. It told a story about how a family was devastated by the tragic loss of their baby and went through many firsts without their loved one. I was caught up by a sudden wave of uneasiness while reading this. What if something dreadful happens to you? This terrible question constantly gnawed me and I found I couldn’t finish that article.

I called grandma to see if you are OK. During the phone I could hear you gurgling and I suddenly felt so silly. Surely you are safe with your grandma. What am I thinking about? I really should not be so paranoid. Certainly I don’t want to be one of those parents who choke their children with too many attentions. I don’t want that my love has somehow become your burden. But it afflicts me to watch you through any pains, even I know that the pain is a part of life and you can’t grow up without it.

I remembered that last time you were running a fever. In the hospital, the nurse was giving you an intravenous injection. She tried several times but failed. You squirmed and screamed in bed, obviously in a lot of pains. I couldn’t bear to see you like this so I lowered my head to stare at the bed sheet. My hands, which were pressing you against the bed, started to tremble like a leaf. Tears swelled up until I couldn’t see anything clearly. Finally I heard your father said: ‘Stop administrate, just prescribe us some drugs.” I felt a lot relieved and hold you tightly. Poor thing, it took me a lot of time to calm you down.
Your fevel turned out to be caused by the vaccine and there was no need for any treatment. After you went home, you recovered soon without taking any drugs. The medical condition is terrible in China. The doctor would treat any patient with intravenous injections; even in most case it is not necessary. Overcrowding in hospital even made it harder to bear. That time the Child Hospital was overcrowded with baby patients and their worried parents. Almost all the babies were adminstrated by intravenous injections. There were not enough chairs, so some of the parents had to stand in the hallway while their babies adminstrated in their arms. So please grow up healthily!
I know it is impossible for me to protect you from all the troubles and sorrows of life. I should teach you to live with it and fight with it. For that point, I must be tough. Sometimes I even have to be hard on you. My dear, forgive me if I gave you hard time sometimes. Please understand, it won’t be easy for me! I just can’t love you more.

Blog：Film ‘planned’ on Polanski’s life

A film about the life of director Roman Polanski is to be made, industry paper Hollywood Reporter has said.
The film, titled Polanski, will chronicle his childhood in Poland during the Holocaust and the murder of his wife, Sharon Tate, in 1969.
It will also focus on an incident in 1977 when Polanski was charged with unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl.
Film-maker Damian Chapa is behind the project. Polanski’s management team have made no comment on the plans.
Chapa will write, produce and direct the movie, which will begin shooting in January in Belgium, Poland and the US, the newspaper said.
The title role is due to be cast in the next few weeks.
Polanski jumped bail after being charged with unlawful sex, and has not returned to the US.

Blog： Underwhelmed in Barcelona

But some parts of the Spanish press were less impressed.
In Barcelona – whose team had earlier been tipped to sign up Beckham – El Periodico comments: “The show begins. Great fuss about the arrival of Beckham in Madrid”.
The Barcelona-based La Vanguardia has four front-page stories, but no room for Beckham, and neither does Avui – although it does carry another football story – “Kluivert will reveal today whether he will continue at Barcelona on a reduced wage”.
BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.

Blog：Picture clues

He wants to place suspended pictures from the ceilings of accident and emergency units that only someone high up in the room will be able to see.
Patients that survive cardiac arrest will be interviewed to see if they have had an out-of-body experience and whether they saw the pictures.
“We reckon a year will give us 100 people who leave their bodies,” Dr Fenwick told the British Association’s annual science festival, held this year at the University of Salford, Greater Manchester.
If none of the patients could recall the pictures, Dr Fenwick said, it would suggest the experiences were not real.
“It will show that there is some mechanism in the brain that is creating these scenarios.”