Pingbusuk

Tuesday 25 March 2014

Wan Zack Haikal chooses Kelantan

WAN Zack Haikal Wan Noor chose Kelantan over two other Super League teams before mutually terminating his two-year contract with Japan Football League (Division Three) outfit FC Ryukyu.
Yesterday, the winger along with Australia-born Brendan Gan, who was granted a Malaysian passport recently, and Fitri Omar were unveiled as Kelantan's latest signings for the ongoing season.
The trio signed three-year contracts with the reigning FA Cup champions.
Although agreeing that he may never get another opportunity to play abroad again, Wan Zack Haikal believes Kelantan will turn him into a better winger.
"I left Ryukyu because I could not cope with injuries. I played only two games before I got injured last October," said Wan Zack Haikal in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
"Critics are upset but I was frustrated dealing with the injuries. It is seen as a step backward but for me, I believe I've made the right decision."
Wan Zack Haikal, who underwent multiple knee surgeries, will only complete rehab in August, in time for the Malaysia Cup.
"I consulted interim national coach Ong Kim Swee before making this decision. Although the coach was slightly upset, he was open to my decision," Wan Zack Haikal added.
Kelantan FA (Kafa) advisor Tan Sri Annuar Musa said those concerned should not criticise Wan Zack Haikal for joining his team.
"We are not a 'kampung' team....we are one of the best teams in the M-League.
"Critics tend to look down on a player when he returns from a failed stint abroad.
"Wan Zack Haikal did well for Ryukyu but I believe he will become a better winger with us," said Annuar.
In a statement, FC Ryukyu said the move to release Wan Zack Haikal for an undisclosed fee was difficult.
"We did not release the player because of money. We felt it was better for him to be in a comfortable environment at this stage of his career."

Wan Zack Haikal chooses Kelantan


Read more - Wan Zack Haikal chooses Kelantan - Soccer - New Straits Times

Monday 24 March 2014

Gunung Jerai hit by bush fires

Gunung Jerai hit by bush fires

GURUN: The dry spell has triggered a series of bush fires near the peak of Gunung Jerai in the past week.
The latest blaze occurred yesterday morning and affected some 15ha near the mountain peak.
Guar Chempedak Fire and Rescue Department chief Abdul Muin Ayob said a team of firemen was dispatched to the scene after being alerted at 8.30am.
"Seven firemen took more than seven hours to control the fire," he said yesterday.
Abdul Muin said firefighters had to use the fire beater technique to put out the fire as water supply could not reach the spot.
He said firemen were in the midst of containing the fire and preventing it from spreading to other areas.
In Perak, the surrounding areas of Gua Tempurung in Gopeng was given a good clean-up by local celebrities in conjunction with "Perak Hijau dan Bersih Bersama Anugerah Bintang Popular Berita Harian (ABPBH) 2013" programme yesterday.
The presence of 14 celebrities and finalists of ABPBH 2013 added a star- studded feel to the programme which was part of Berita Harian's corporate social responsibility programme.


Read more : - New Straits Times

Sunday 23 March 2014

Four teams share top spot

Four teams share top spot

SUPER LEAGUE: Terengganu, Pahang, Kelantan, Selangor lead the pack with 13 points
THIS year's Super League is leading up to one of the most exciting conclusions as four teams  -- Terengganu, Pahang, Kelantan and Selangor -- share the lead with 13 points each after yesterday's proceedings.
Ten-man Sime Darby recorded the biggest upset of the day by overcoming Terengganu 3-2 at Selayang Stadium but the defeat did not affect the east coast standing as league leaders.
Nazrul Kamaruzaman (sixth minute), Fazrul Hazli Kadri (45th) and Farid Ramli (49th) netted for Sime Darby while Ismail Faruqi (23rd) and Norfarhan Mohammed (71st) replied for Terengganu.
The referee awarded Terengganu a penalty in the 67th minute after sending off Sime Darby's William Mensah for a foul inside his box but Mamadou Barry failed to convert.
At Darulmakmur Stadium, Pahang defeated a resilient Sarawak side 3-1 for their fourth win of the season.
Sarawak defender Ronny Harun gifted Pahang a goal by turning the ball into his own net in the 31st.
Damion Stewart added a second for the homesters in the 60th minute before Hafiz Kamal completed the rout in the 72nd minute. Rashid Aya replied for Sarawak in stoppage time.
Selangor celebrated their return to the Shah Alam Stadium by edging Kelantan 1-0 for their first win in more than a month.
Paulo Rangel scored his eighth league goal of the season from the penalty spot in the 22nd minute.
Two minutes earlier, Kelantan's Forkey Doe had his penalty saved by Selangor goalkeeper Farizal Marlias.
LionsXII bounced back from one-goal down to edge PKNS 2-1 at Jalan Besar Stadium.
Nazmi Faiz Mansor exchanged passes with teammate Karlo Primorac before scoring from a grounder for PKNS in the 31st minute.
However, Lions replied through Zulfahmi Ariffin's free kick in the 44th minute before Faris Ramli added a second in the 60th minute.
Darul Ta'zim needed Safee Sali's last minute strike to earn a 1-1 draw with Armed Forces at Larkin Stadium.
Forces made it difficult for Darul Ta'zim by defending in numbers after Riduwan Maon had put them in the lead in the 40th minute.
At the Sultan Nasiruddin Shah Stadium, T-Team came from behind to record a 1-1 draw with Perak.
G. Mugenthirran scored for Perak in the 79th minute before the homesters replied through Ramzul Zahini Adenan two minutes later.


Read more: New Straits Times 

Saturday 22 March 2014

US student 'produced ricin in dorm'

US student 'produced ricin in dorm'

A university student in the United States has been charged with possessing a potentially lethal amount of the powerful toxin ricin, court documents showed.
Daniel Harry Milzman, from Georgetown University in Washington, told the  FBI earlier this week that he produced the ricin himself in his dormitory room  about a month ago, having bought the precursor materials in local stores.

He wore goggles and a dust mask when he was extracting the ricin, according  to the court documents, which said he had produced 123 milligrams and stored  the material in a plastic bag secured with hockey tape.

The concentration of the ricin was such that it could have been deadly if  inhaled, the documents said, adding that Milzman had told his residential  adviser on Monday that he had created the poison and showed the adviser the  plastic bag.

He was interviewed by FBI agents the next day.

It was not immediately clear what the student intended to do with the  substance.

But FBI Washington Field Office spokeswoman Jacqueline Maguire told AFP  that “based on investigation, we do not believe there is any connection to  terrorism.”


Read more: US student 'produced ricin in dorm' - General - New Straits Times 

Friday 21 March 2014

MISSING MH370: Largest 'object' sighted is 24 metres

MISSING MH370: Largest 'object' sighted is 24 metres

CANBERRA: The largest object sighted in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is 24 metres (79 feet), with a second, smaller object also spotted, Australian authorities said.
“The objects are relatively indistinct. The indication to me is of objects  that are of a reasonable size and probably awash with water and bobbing up and  down over the surface,” said Australian Maritime Safety Authority official John  Young.
“The largest ... was assessed as being 24 metres. There is another one that  is smaller than that.”--AFP

Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) general manager John Young speaks during a press conference on the search for the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in Canberra, Australia, 20 March 2014. Australian planes have been diverted to the area where 'possibly related' objects have been seen from satellite imagery on 20 March 2014. An Australian Orion maritime surveillance aircraft had been dispatched and was expected to arrive on the site within hours. 'HMAS Success is on the way and equipped to retrieve any object from MH330', Young told reporters in Canberra. Australia has sent HMAS Success to examine and possibly retrieve debris found 2,500 km south-west of Perth, Australia, in the southern search area for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. EPA/DANIEL MUNOZ


Source : NewsStraitTimes

Thursday 20 March 2014

Tomb of Alexander the Great

Tomb of Alexander the Great
















The tomb of Alexander the Great and, particularly, its exact present location has been a recurring conundrum. Shortly after Alexander's death in Babylon the possession of his body became a subject of negotiations between Perdiccas, Ptolemy I Soter and Seleucus I Nicator. According to Nicholas J. Saunders, while Babylon was the "obvious site" for Alexander's resting place, some favored to inter Alexander in the Argead burial at Aegae, modern Vergina. Aegae was one of the two originally proposed resting places, according to Saunders, the other being Siwa Oasis and in 321 BC Perdiccas presumably chose Aegae.The body, however, was hijacked en route by Ptolemy I Soter. According to Pausanias and the contemporary Parian Chronicle records for the years 321–320 BC, Ptolemy initially buried Alexander in Memphis. In the late 4th or early 3rd century BC Alexander's body was transferred from Memphis to Alexandria, where it was reburied.The so-called Alexander Sarcophagus, unrelated to Alexander's body and once thought to be the sarcophagus of Abdalonymus, is now believed to be that of Mazacus, a Persian governor of Babylon.

According to Quintus Curtius Rufus and Justin, Alexander asked shortly before his death to be interred in the temple of Zeus Ammon at Siwah Oasis. Alexander, who requested to be referred to and perceived as the son of Zeus Ammon, did not wish be buried alongside his actual father at Aegae. Alexander's body was placed in a coffin of "hammered gold", according to Diodorus, which was "fitted to the body". The coffin is also mentioned by Strabo and Curtius Rufus (subsequently, in 89–90 BC the golden coffin was melted down and replaced with that of glass or crystal).Alexander's wish to be interred in Siwa was not honored. In 321 BC, on its way back to Macedonia, the funerary cart with Alexander's body was hijacked in Syria by one of Alexander's generals, Ptolemy I Soter. In late in 322 or early 321 BC Ptolemy diverted the body to Egypt where it was interred in Memphis, the center of Alexander's government in Egypt. While Ptolemy was in possession of Alexander's body, Perdiccas and Eumenes had Alexander's armor, diadem and royal scepter.According to Plutarch, who visited Alexandria, Python of Catana and Seleucus were sent to a serapeum to ask the oracle whether Alexander's body should be sent to Alexandria and the oracle answered positively. In the late 4th or early 3rd century BC Alexander's body was transferred from the Memphis tomb to Alexandria for reburial (by Ptolemy Philadelphus in c. 280 BC, according to Pausanias). Later Ptolemy Philopator placed Alexander's body in Alexandria's communal mausoleum. The mausoleum was called the Soma or Sema, meaning "body" in Greek. By 274 BC Alexander was already entombed in Alexandria.

In 48 BC Alexander's tomb was visited by Caesar.Shortly after the death of Cleopatra, Alexander's resting place was visited by Augustus, who is said to have placed flowers on the tomb and a golden diadem upon Alexander's head. According to Suetonius, Alexander's tomb was then partially looted by Caligula, who reportedly removed his breastplate. In 199 Alexander's tomb was sealed up by Septimius Severus during his visit to Alexandria.Later, in 215 some items from Alexander's tomb were relocated by Caracalla. According to chronicler John of Antioch, Caracalla removed Alexander's tunic, his ring, his belt with some other precious items and deposited them on the coffin.
Later authors, such as Ibn 'Abd al-Hakam, Al-Masudi and Leo the African, report having seen Alexander's tomb. Leo the African, who visited Alexandria in 1491, wrote: "In the midst of the ruins of Alexandria, there still remains a small edifice, built like a chapel, worthy of notice on account of a remarkable tomb held in high honor by the Mahometans; in which sepulchre, they assert, is preserved the body of Alexander the Great... An immense crowd of strangers come thither, even from distant countries, for the sake of worshipping and doing homage to the tomb, on which they likewise frequently bestow considerable donations".George Sandys, who visited Alexandria in 1611, was reportedly shown a sepulchre there, venerated as the resting place of Alexander.

The Egyptian Supreme Council for Antiquities has officially recognized over 140 search attempts for Alexander's tomb.Mahmoud el-Falaki, who compiled the map of ancient Alexandria, believed Alexander's tomb is in the center of Alexandria, at the intersection of the Via Canopica (modern Horreya Avenue) and the ancient street labeled R5. Since then several other scholars such as Tasos Neroutsos, Heinrich Kiepert and Ernst von Sieglin placed the tomb in the same area.In 1850 Ambroise Schilizzi announced the discovery of alleged Alexander's mummy and tomb inside the Nabi Daniel Mosque in Alexandria.Later, in 1879 a stone worker accidentally broke through the vaulted chamber inside the basement of that mosque. Some granite monuments with an angular summit were discerned there, but the entrance was then walled up and the stone worker was asked not to disclose the incident (the image on a Roman lamp in the National Museum of Poznań and others at the British Museum and the Hermitage Museum are interpreted by some scholars as showing Alexandria with the Soma Mausoleum pictured as a building with a pyramidal roof).In 1888 an attempt to locate Alexander's tomb within the Nabi Daniel Mosque was made by Heinrich Schliemann, but he was denied permission to excavate.
In 1995 Greek archaeologist Liana Souvaltzi announced she identified one alleged tomb in Siwah with that of Alexander. The claim was put in doubt by the then-general secretary of the Greek Ministry of Culture, George Thomas, who said that it was unclear if the excavated structure is even a tomb.Thomas and members of his team said that the style of the excavated object was not, as Souvaltzi contended, Macedonian, and that the fragments of tablets they were shown did not support any of the translations provided by Souvaltzi as proof of her finding.
According to one legend, the body lies in a crypt beneath an early Christian church.
In 2011, in a TV series named Mystery Files, episode "Alexander the Great" aired on National Geographic Channel in the UK, 21st century experts believe that Alexander's tomb disappearance is related to the rise of Christianity in the pagan Roman Empire including Alexandria, Egypt. The theory suggests that Alexander's body was unintentionally stolen from Alexandria by a pair of Venetian merchants, taken to Venice, mistakenly renamed and venerated as St. Mark the Evangelist in Basilica di San Marco (Venice, Italy).

Source : Wikipedia

Wednesday 19 March 2014

Could vital info be Down Under?


Could vital info be Down Under?

A CRUCIAL piece of the puzzle in the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 mystery could lie somewhere in the barren Australian heartland.
As recovery efforts for MH370 continue into the 12th day, the one element that could swing the odds in favour of search-and-rescue (SAR) teams -- a super-secret installation just outside Alice Springs -- remains cloaked in secrecy.
Aviation Week news portal has accused Canberra of being unwilling to disclose whe-ther its Jindalee Over-The-Horizon Radar (OTHR) system had tracked the flight.
While it said the super radar had an official range of 3,000km, the Royal Australian Air Force system is reportedly able to reach further into the South China Sea.
It claimed that the facility could even pick out the type of aircraft taking off from Changi International Airport in Singapore.
Bloomberg, in a recent report, had asked whether Australia had picked up any signals consistent with MH370 on its Jindalee Operational Radar Network.
An Australian Defence Department spokesman said it "won't be providing comment" on the military surveillance system.
Conventional radars are limited by range and the earth's curvature. The OTHR solves this problem by shooting a radio frequency up into the atmosphere. The radio frequency bounces off the ionosphere and returns to earth, where it interprets the radar picture.
Another installation that may provide a clearer picture of where MH370 is would be Australia's Pine Gap satellite tracking facility, 18km southwest of Alice Springs.
News.com.au said Pine Gap was operated by Australia and the United States. Officially, the facility is called the Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap and is partly run by the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency.
It added that Pine Gap's primary function was to control US spy satellites, as they passed over one-third of the globe.
It is believed that these include China, parts of Russia and the Middle East oil fields.
The facility is dotted with between 14 and 18 radomes protecting sensitive antennae. These act as a ground control and processing station for satellites in geosynchronous orbit engaged in signals intelligence.
Among the data processed are telemetry from advanced weapons development for arms control verification, signals from anti-missile and anti-aircraft radars, and transmissions for communications satellites.
However, it is believed that of particular interest in the search for MH370 is Pine Gap's ability to track microwave emissions, such as long-distance calls.
Kuala Lumpur has sent diplomatic notes to 11 countries that lie within the northern and southern corridors, where MH370 is believed to be.
Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein had, for two straight days since the notes were sent out, said the international investigating team was banking on crucial radar and satellite readings from key countries.
Yesterday, he was specific in saying Malaysia would appreciate it if the US could provide investigators with data from its facilities in Australia.
Although he did not mention the two facilities by name, the New Straits Times believes that he was alluding to the Pine Gap and Jindalee facilities.
Hishammuddin, who is also defence minister, said in the same breath that Malaysia was aware that each country's radar and satellite data were privileged information, but was hopeful that nations would come forth.
He reiterated yesterday that Malaysia had put aside its national security by disclosing raw military data, which had allowed SAR forces to narrow down the search area to the northern and southern air corridors. The search area now covers 2.24 million sq nautical miles.
The Department of Civil Aviation told the NST that at the material time of MH370's disappearance, commercial radars of countries that the aircraft could have passed over revealed that "there were no stragglers".
It would not comment on the theory that the aircraft, which was carrying 239 people, could have shadowed another Boeing 777 jetliner to escape radar detection. Additional reporting by Tasnim Lokman and Aliza Shah

Source : News StraitTimes

Monday 10 February 2014

Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen

Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen

Freddie Mercury wrote the lyrics, and there has been a lot of speculation as to their meaning. Many of the words appear in the Qu'ran. "Bismillah" is one of these and it literally means "In the name of Allah." The word "Scaramouch" means "A stock character that appears as a boastful coward." "Beelzebub" is one of the many names given to The Devil.

Mercury's parents were deeply involved in Zoroastrianism, and these Arabic words do have a meaning in that religion. His family grew up in Zanzibar, but was forced out by government upheaval in 1964 and they moved to England. Some of the lyrics could be about leaving his homeland behind. Guitarist Brian May seemed to suggest this when he said in an interview about the song: "Freddie was a very complex person: flippant and funny on the surface, but he concealed insecurities and problems in squaring up his life with his childhood. He never explained the lyrics, but I think he put a lot of himself into that song."

Another explanation is not to do with Mercury's childhood, but his sexuality - it was around this time that he was starting to come to terms with his bisexuality, and his relationship with Mary Austin was falling apart.

Whatever the meaning is, we may never know - Mercury himself remained tight-lipped, and the band agreed not to reveal anything about the meaning. Mercury himself stated, "It's one of those songs which has such a fantasy feel about it. I think people should just listen to it, think about it, and then make up their own minds as to what it says to them." He also claimed that the lyrics were nothing more than "Random rhyming nonsense" when asked about it by his friend Kenny Everett, who was a London DJ.

The band were always keen to let listeners interpret their music in a personal way to them, rather than impose their own meaning on songs, and May stated that the band agreed to keep the personal meaning behind the song private out of respect for Mercury.
Mercury may have written "Galileo" into the lyrics for the benefit of Brian May, who is an astronomy buff. Galileo is a famous astronomer known for being the first to use a refracting telescope.
The backing track came together quickly, but Queen spent days overdubbing the vocals in the studio using a 24-track tape machine. The analog recording technology was taxed by the song's multitracked scaramouches and fandangos: by the time they were done, about 180 tracks were layered together and "bounced" down into sub-mixes. Brian May recalled in various interviews being able to see through the tape as it was worn so thin with overdubs. Producer Roy Thomas Baker also recalls Mercury coming into the studio proclaiming, "oh, I've got a few more 'Galileos' dear!" as overdub after overdub piled up.
Queen made a video for the song to air on Top Of The Pops, a popular British music show, because the song was too complex to perform live - or more accurately, be mimed live on TOTP. Also, the band would be busy on tour during the single's release and thus unable to appear.

The video turned out to be a masterstroke, providing far more promotional punch than a one-off live appearance. Top Of The Pops ran it for months, helping keep the song atop the charts. This started a trend in the UK of making videos for songs to air in place of live performances.

When the American network MTV launched in 1981, most of their videos came from British artists for this reason. In the December 12, 2004 issue of the Observer newspaper, Roger Taylor explained: "We did everything we possibly could to avoid appearing in Top Of The Pops. It was one, the most boring day known to man, and two, it's all about not actually playing - pretending to sing, pretending to play. We came up with the video concept to avoid playing on Top Of The Pops."

The group had previously appeared on the show twice, to promote the "Seven Seas of Rhye" and "Killer Queen" singles.
The video was very innovative. It was the first where the visual images took precedence over the song. It was based on their Queen II album cover, with the four band members looking up into the shadows. Directed by Bruce Gowers, it was shot in 3 hours for £3,500 at the band's rehearsal space.

Gowers got the gig because he was one of the few people who had experience working on music videos - he ran a camera on a few Beatles promotional clips, including the one for "Paperback Writer." The two big effects used in the video were the multiple images that appear in the "thunderbolts and lightning section," which were created by putting a prism in front of the camera lens, and the feedback effect where the image of the singer travels to infinity, which was done by pointing a camera at a monitor (like audio feedback, this is something you usually tried to avoid, but when harnessed for artistic purposes, was innovative). At the time, the video looked high-tech and futuristic. It was also the first music "video" in the sense that it was shot on video instead of film.
This was Queen's first Top 10 hit in the US. In the UK, where Queen was already established, it was #1 for 9 weeks, a record at the time.
This got a whole new audience when it was used in the 1992 movie Wayne's World, starring Mike Myers and Dana Carvey. In the film, Wayne and his friends lip-synch to it in his car (the Mirth Mobile), spasmodically head-bobbing at the guitar solo. As a result of the movie, it was re-released as a single in the US and charted at #2. "Jump" by Kris Kross kept it out of #1.
At 5:55, this was a very long song for radio consumption. Queen's manager at the time, John Reid, played it to another artist he managed, Elton John, who promptly declared: "are you mad? You'll never get that on the radio!"

According to Brian May, record company management kept pleading with the group to cut the single down, but Freddie Mercury refused. It got a big bump when Mercury's friend Kenny Everett played it on his Capital Radio broadcast before the song was released (courtesy of a copy Mercury gave him). This helped the single jump to #1 in the UK shortly after it was released.

There was a single version released only in France on a 7", cut down to 3:18, edited by John Deacon, but beyond the initial pressing of this French single, the only version recognized is the album version, at 5:55. This little-heard French single started right at the piano intro, and edited out the operetta part. Brian May admitted that there may have been additional parts for the song on Freddie's notes, but they were apparently never recorded. (thanks, Ryan - Eaton, IN)
Brian May recalled recording "Bohemian Rhapsody" in Q Magazine March 2008: "That was a great moment, but the biggest thrill for us was actually creating the music in the first place. I remember Freddie coming in with loads of bits of paper from his dad's work, like Post-it notes, and pounding on the piano. He played the piano like most people play the drums. And this song he had was full of gaps where he explained that something operatic would happen here and so on. He'd worked out the harmonies in his head."
In 1991, this was re-released in the UK shortly after Freddie Mercury's death. It again went to #1, with proceeds going to the Terrence Higgins Trust, which Mercury supported.
Elton John performed this with Axl Rose at the 1992 "Concert For Life," held in London at Wembley Stadium. It was a tribute to Freddie Mercury, who died of AIDS the year before. In 2001, Elton John got together with Eminem, who like Axl Rose, was often accused of being intolerant and homophobic. They performed Eminem's "Stan" at the Grammys.
When this was re-released in the US, proceeds from the single went to the Magic Johnson AIDS Foundation. Johnson and Freddie Mercury were two of the first celebrities to get AIDS. Rock Hudson, who succumed to the disease on October 2, 1985, was another.
Thanks to this track, A Night At The Opera was the most expensive album ever made at the time. They used 6 different studios to record it. Queen did not use any synthesizers on the album, which is something they were very proud of.
In an interview with Brian May and Roger Taylor on the Queen Videos Greatest Hits DVD, Brian said: "What is Bohemian Rhapsody about, well I don't think we'll ever know and if I knew I probably wouldn't want to tell you anyway, because I certainly don't tell people what my songs are about. I find that it destroys them in a way because the great thing about about a great song is that you relate it to your own personal experiences in your own life. I think that Freddie was certainly battling with problems in his personal life, which he might have decided to put into the song himself. He was certainly looking at re-creating himself. But I don't think at that point in time it was the best thing to do so he actually decided to do it later. I think it's best to leave it with a question mark in the air." (thanks, Callum - Bendigo, Australia)
A Night At The Opera was re-released as an audio DVD in 2002 with the original video included on the disc. Commentary from the DVD reveals that this song had started taking shape in the song "My Fairy King" on Queen's debut album. (thanks, nathan - l-burg, KY)
In 2002, this came in #1 in a poll by Guinness World Records as Britain's favorite single of all time. John Lennon's "Imagine" was #2, followed by The Beatles' "Hey Jude."
The name "Bohemian" in the song title seems to refer not to the region in the Czech republic, but to a group of artists and musicians living roughly 100 years ago, known for defying convention and living with disregard for standards. A "Rhapsody" is a piece of Classical music with distinct sections that is played as one movement. Rhapsodies often have themes. (thanks, George - Dusseldorf, Germany)
Roger Taylor (from 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh): "Record companies both sides of the Atlantic tried to cut the song, they said it was too long and wouldn't work. We thought, 'Well we could cut it, but it wouldn't make any sense,' it doesn't make much sense now and it would make even less sense then: you would miss all the different moods of the song. So we said no. It'll either fly or it won't. Freddie had the bare bones of the song, even the composite harmonies, written on telephone books and bits of paper, so it was quite hard to keep track of what was going on." Kutner and Leigh's book also states that, the recording included 180 overdubs, the operatic parts took over 70 hours to complete and the piano Freddie played was the same one used by Paul McCartney on "Hey Jude." (thanks, Edward Pearce - Ashford, Kent, England)
Ironically, the song that knocked this off the #1 chart position in the UK was "Mama Mia" by Abba. The words "Mama mia" are repeated in this in the line "Oh mama mia, mama mia, mama mia let me go." (thanks, James - St Albans, England)
Weird Al Yankovic took the entire song and sung it to a Polka tune, called simply "Bohemian Polka," which is on his 1993 album Alapalooza. (thanks, Steph - SoCal, CA)
The story told in this song is remarkably similar to that in Albert Camus' book The Stranger. Both tell of a young man who kills, and not only can he not explain why he did it, he can't even articulate any feelings about it. (thanks, Bob - Santa Barbara, CA)
You can make the case that the song title is actually a parody, and a clever one at that. There is a rhapsody by the composer Franz Liszt called "Hungarian Rhapsody," and "Bohemia" is a kingdom that is near Hungary and was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Furthermore, "Bohemian" is an adjective for something unusual or against convention, and the song is just that.

So, "Bohemian Rhapsody" could be a clever title that not only parodies a famous work but also describes the song. In a nod to the Liszt composition, Queen would go on to release a live DVD/CD package in 2012 titled "Hungarian Rhapsody," featuring their famous shows behind the Iron Curtain in Budapest on the Magic tour in 1986.
This song was covered by Constantine M. (featuring the cast of We Will Rock You) and also by The Flaming Lips for the 2005 Queen Tribute album Killer Queen. Another popular cover is by Grey DeLisle, who did it as an acoustic ballad for her album Iron Flowers.
Queen fans, and also Brian May, often colloquially refer to the song as "Bo Rhap" (or "Bo Rap").
The name "Bohemian Rhapsody" makes many appearances in popular culture:

Session 14 of the popular anime series Cowboy Bebop is named "Bohemian Rhapsody."

The Jones Soda Company has a drink named "Bohemian Raspberry" in honor of this song.

In one of the episodes of the TV miniseries Dinotopia, a character cheats on a poem project by using the first part of the song as his entire project. The inhabitants, having never heard the song before, are amazed at the sound of it. (thanks, Jonathon - Clermont, FL, for above 2)
Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett used some of the lyrics in their book Good Omens. The main character (Crowley) plays it in his car all the time. They also refer to other Queen songs, but mostly "Bohemian Rhapsody." (thanks, Bella - Pretoria, South Africa)
The Spanish group Molotov sampled the chorus for their Spanish-language Rap version of this song called "Rap, Soda and Bohemias." It appears on their 1998 album Molomix. (thanks, Juan - Brownsville, TX)
In 2009, The Muppets Studio released a video featuring the Muppets performing this song. It was first web video for The Muppets, and it was extremely popular: the video was viewed over 7 million times the first week it was up. The furry ones changed the song a bit, omitting the lyrics that begin, "Mama, just killed a man" with Animal screaming "Mama!"
In an interview with Q magazine March 2011, Roger Taylor was asked if this seemed like a peculiar song when Mercury first suggested it? He replied: "No, I loved it. The first bit that he played to me was the verse. 'Mama, just killed a man, dah-dah-la-dah-daah, gun against his…' All that. I thought, 'That's great, that's a hit.' It was, in my head, a simpler entity then; I didn't know it was going to have a wall of mock Gilbert and Sullivan stuff, you know, some of which was written on the fly. Freddie would write these huge blocks of mass harmonies in the backs of phone books."
The song is one of Freddie Mercury's great mysteries - according to everyone in the band, only he knew truly how it would come together, and according to some sources, its genesis could have come many years earlier. Chris Smith, the keyboard player in Mercury's first band Smile, claimed that Freddie would play several piano compositions at rehearsals, including one called "The Cowboy Song," which started with the line, "mama, just killed a man."
In sharp contrast to the rest of the song's recording and composition, Brian May's signature solo before the opera section was recorded on only one track, with no overdubbing. He stated that he wanted to play "a little tune that would be a counterpart to the main melody; I didn't just want to play the melody."

It is one of his finest examples of creating a solo in his mind before playing it on guitar; something he did many times throughout Queen's career. His reasoning was always that "the fingers tend to be predictable unless being led by the brain."

Sumber : Songfacts

Fun Facts 2235

Jesse Owens and Hitler - WTF fun facts

Source : WTF Facts

Sunday 9 February 2014

Heart Attacks and Heart Disease

Heart Attacks and Heart Disease

More than a million Americans have heart attacks each year. A heart attack, or myocardial infarction (MI), is permanent damage to the heart muscle. "Myo" means muscle, "cardial" refers to the heart, and "infarction" means death of tissue due to lack of blood supply.

What Happens During a Heart Attack?

The heart muscle requires a constant supply of oxygen-rich blood to nourish it. The coronary arteries provide the heart with this critical blood supply. If you have coronary artery disease, those arteries become narrow and blood cannot flow as well as they should. Fatty matter, calcium, proteins, and inflammatory cells build up within the arteries to form plaques of different sizes. The plaque deposits are hard on the outside and soft and mushy on the inside.

When the plaque is hard, the outer shell cracks (plaque rupture), platelets (disc-shaped particles in the blood that aid clotting) come to the area, and blood clots form around the plaque. If a blood clot totally blocks the artery, the heart muscle becomes "starved" for oxygen. Within a short time, death of heart muscle cells occurs, causing permanent damage. This is a heart attack.

While it is unusual, a heart attack can also be caused by a spasm of a coronary artery. During a coronary spasm, the coronary arteries restrict or spasm on and off, reducing blood supply to the heart muscle (ischemia). It may occur at rest, and can even occur in people without significant coronary artery disease.

Each coronary artery supplies blood to a region of heart muscle. The amount of damage to the heart muscle depends on the size of the area supplied by the blocked artery and the time between injury and treatment.

Healing of the heart muscle begins soon after a heart attack and takes about eight weeks. Just like a skin wound, the heart's wound heals and a scar will form in the damaged area. But, the new scar tissue does not contract. So, the heart's pumping ability is lessened after a heart attack. The amount of lost pumping ability depends on the size and location of the scar.


Heart Attack Symptoms

Symptoms of a heart attack include:


  • Discomfort, pressure, heaviness, or pain in the chest, arm, or below the breastbone
  • Discomfort radiating to the back, jaw, throat, or arm
  • Fullness, indigestion, or choking feeling (may feel like heartburn)
  • Sweating, nausea, vomiting, or dizziness
  • Extreme weakness, anxiety, or shortness of breath
  • Rapid or irregular heartbeats
  • During a heart attack, symptoms last 30 minutes or longer and are not relieved by rest or nitroglycerin under the tongue.


Some people have a heart attack without having any symptoms (a "silent" myocardial infarction). A silent MI can occur in anyone, but it is more common among people with diabetes.

Source : WebMD

Mourinho: I'm all mind games

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Mourinho: I'm all mind games

Manipulator: Chelsea manager happy to mess with rivals as title race hots up
 JOSE Mourinho is happy to play mind games with Chelsea's title rivals because he believes it can help his side win the Premier League.
Mourinho raised eyebrows last week when he claimed Chelsea were the "little horse" in the title race and should be regarded as third favourites behind leaders Arsenal and second-placed Manchester City.
The Chelsea manager stuck firmly to that line when asked if he had changed his verdict on his third-placed team's title chances following their impressive 1-0 victory at the Etihad Stadium on Monday.
But Mourinho's comments could be seen as a bid to take the pressure off his players and increase the scrutiny on Chelsea's main competitors in the fight for the title.
And the Portuguese coach conceded that his reputation as a clever manipulator of the media meant many of his public comments would be taken as mind games, regardless of whether that was his intention.
"Everything I say is mind games. Everything I do is mind games. Everything is mind games," Mourinho said on Friday.
"The only thing that is not mind games is the results. That's not mind games.
"Do we dream to win the Premier League? Of course. If we don't, we don't play.
"If we have the chance to win we are not going to say we don't want to, but we have not the same responsibilities (as Arsenal and City), that's for sure."


Read more: Mourinho:  New Straits Times 

Letter of Prophet Muhammad to Negus (Najashi) Calling him to Islam

Late in the six year A.H., on his return from Hudaibiyah, the Prophet Muhammad , decided to send messages to the kings beyond Arabia calling them to Islam. In order to authenticate the credentials of his envoys, a silver seal was made in which were graven the words: “Muhammad the Messenger of Allâh” [Sahih Al-Bukhari 2/872,873]

The following letter was sent to Negus (Najashi)

islam on Letter of Prophet Muhammad to Negus (Najashi) Calling him to Islam

islam on Letter of Prophet Muhammad to Negus (Najashi) Calling him to Islam

“In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

From Muhammad the Messenger of Allah to Negus, king of Abyssinia (Ethiopia).

Peace be upon him who follows true guidance. Salutations:

I entertain Allah’s praise, there is no god but He, the Sovereign, the Holy, the Source of peace, the Giver of peace, the Guardian of faith, the Preserver of safety. I bear witness that Jesus, the son of Mary, is the spirit of Allah and His Word which He cast into Mary, the virgin, the good, the pure, so that she conceived Jesus. Allah created him from His spirit and His breathing as He created Adam by His Hand. I call you to Allah Alone with no associate and to His obedience and to follow me and to believe in that which came to me, for I am the Messenger of Allah. I invite you and your men to Allah, the Glorious, the All-Mighty. I hereby bear witness that I have communicated my message and advice. I invite you to listen and accept my advice.

Peace be upon him who follows true guidance.”

When ‘Amr bin Omaiyah Ad-Damari communicated the prophet’s letter to Negus (Najashi), the latter took the parchment and placed it on his eye, descended to the floor, confessed his faith in Islam and wrote the following reply to the Prophet :

“In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

From Negus Ashama to Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah.

Peace be upon you, O Messenger of Allah! and mercy and blessing from Allah beside Whom there is no god. I have received your letter in which you have mentioned about Jesus and by the Lord of heaven and earth, Jesus is not more than what you say. We fully acknowledge that with which you have been sent to us and we have entertained your cousin and his companions. I bear witness that you are the Messenger of Allah, true and confirming (those who have gone before you), I pledge to you through your cousin and surrender myself through him to the Lord of the worlds.”

Source: [Za'd Al-Ma'ad 3/60, 61] by Ibn Al-Qayyim

According to Sahih Muslim, the Prophet [s.a.w.s.] had asked Najashi to send Ja‘far and his companions, the emigrants to Abyssinia (Ethiopia), back home. They came back to see the Prophet [s.a.w.s.] in Khaibar. Najashi later died in Rajab 9 A.H. shortly after the battle of Tabuk. The Prophet announced his death and observed prayer in absentia for him. Another king succeeded Negus to the throne and another letter was sent to him by the Prophet (s.a.w.s.) but whether or not he embraced Islam is still a question not answered yet. [Sahih Muslim 2/99]

– End

Source : Iqrasense

Saturday 8 February 2014

Two dead, 90 injured as heavy snow hits Japan

Two dead, 90 injured as heavy snow hits Japan

TOKYO : Heavy snow and severe weather struck Tokyo and other areas across Japan on Saturday, leaving two dead and around 90 injured, reports said.
More than 600 flights were grounded as the weather agency issued a severe  storm warning for the capital.  
As much as 12 centimetres (4.8 inches) of snow was recorded Saturday  afternoon in Tokyo, with a rapidly developing low pressure front heading toward  eastern Japan, the meteorological agency said.  
Public broadcaster NHK said at least 89 people were injured in snow-related  accidents only in eastern Japan, including 17 serious injuries.  
It also said two female passengers, aged 88 and 90, died on Saturday in a  car accident on their way to a nursing home in Ishikawa, central Japan.
Police  suspect one of the cars skidded on the icy road and caused the head-on clash.  
Further snowfall is expected Saturday afternoon and early Sunday in Tokyo,  with up to 20 centimetres of snow expected, the weather agency said.  
The agency issued a heavy snow warning for Tokyo, the first such warning  for the capital in 13 years, calling on residents not to go out unless  necessary.  
The agency also warned of strong winds and high waves in eastern Japan.  
Japanese airline companies have cancelled at least 615 flights on Saturday  due to heavy snow, NHK said.
Airports in the western cities of Hiroshima and Kagawa were closed as  operators were removing snow from the runways.  
Television footage showed hundreds of passengers queuing for reimbursement  or a change of flights at Tokyo’s Haneda airport with departure boards  indicating the cancellation of many flights.  
Employees were hurriedly removing snow from the pavement in front of their  shops and restaurants in Tokyo’s bustling Ginza district.  
Railway operators temporarily suspended services of Shinkansen bullet  trains in western Japan, NHK said.  
Some 3,400 households lost power in Tokyo and its vicinities “because of  the heavy snow and other reasons,” a Tokyo Electric Power spokesman said.  
Some sections of expressways mainly in central Japan were also closed due  to the snow.  
In Tokyo, several universities delayed the starting times of their entrance  examinations for the new academic year starting in April.


Read more: New Straits Times 

Songfacts : I Am The WalrusbyThe Beatles




John Lennon wrote this song. As stated in the DVD Composing the Beatles Songbook, John was throwing together nonsense lyrics to mess with the heads of scholars trying to dissect The Beatles songs. They also mention that it's John's answer to Bob Dylan's "getting away with murder" style of songwriting. Lennon told Playboy years later that "I can write that crap too," which is rarely mentioned in relation to this song.
Lennon explained the origins of this song in his 1980 Playboy interview: "The first line was written on one acid trip one weekend. The second line was written on the next acid trip the next weekend, and it was filled in after I met Yoko. Part of it was putting down Hare Krishna. All these people were going on about Hare Krishna, Allen Ginsberg in particular. The reference to 'Element'ry penguin' is the elementary, naive attitude of going around chanting, 'Hare Krishna,' or putting all your faith in any one idol. I was writing obscurely, a la Dylan, in those days."
Lennon got the idea for the oblique lyrics when he received a letter from a student who explained that his English teacher was having the class analyze Beatles songs. Lennon answered the letter; his reply was sold as memorabilia at a 1992 auction. (thanks, Emery - San Jose, CA)
The voices at the end of the song came from a BBC broadcast of the Shakespeare play King Lear, which John Lennon heard when he turned on the radio while they were working on the song. He decided to mix bits of the broadcast into the song, resulting in some radio static and disjointed bits of dialogue.

The section of King Lear used came from Act Four, Scene 6, with Oswald saying: "Slave, thou hast slain me. Villain, take my purse," which comes in at the 3:52 mark. After Oswald dies, we hear this dialogue:
Edgar: "I know thee well: a serviceable villain, As duteous to the vices of thy mistress As badness would desire."
Gloucester: "What, is he dead?"
Edgar: "Sit you down, father. Rest you."
The idea for the Walrus came from the poem The Walrus and The Carpenter, which is from the sequel to Alice in Wonderland called Through the Looking-Glass. In his 1980 Playboy interview, Lennon said: "It never dawned on me that Lewis Carroll was commenting on the capitalist and social system. I never went into that bit about what he really meant, like people are doing with the Beatles' work. Later, I went back and looked at it and realized that the walrus was the bad guy in the story and the carpenter was the good guy. I thought, Oh, s--t, I picked the wrong guy. I should have said, 'I am the carpenter.' But that wouldn't have been the same, would it?"
When Lennon decided to write confusing lyrics, he asked his friend Pete Shotton for a nursery rhyme they used to sing. Shotton gave them this rhyme, which Lennon incorporated into the song:
"Yellow matter custard, green slop pie, all mixed together with a dead dog's eye.
Slap it on a butty, ten foot thick, then wash it all down with a cup of cold sick."
The song's opening line, "I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together" is based on the song "Marching To Pretoria," which contains the lyric, "I'm with you and you're with me and we are all together." (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France, for above 3)
The choir at the end sings "Oompah, oompah, stick it in your jumper" and "Everybody's got one, everybody's got one."
This song helped fuel the rumor that Paul McCartney was dead. It's quite a stretch, but theorists found these clues in the lyrics, none of which are substantiated:
"Waiting for the van to come" means the 3 remaining Beatles are waiting for a police van to come. "Pretty little policemen in a row" means policemen did show up.
"Goo goo ga joob" were the final words that Humpty Dumpty said before he fell off the wall and died.
During the fade, while the choir sings, a voice says "Bury Me" which is what Paul might have said after he died.
During the fade, we hear someone reciting the death scene from Shakespeare's play "King Lear."

In addition, a rumor circulated that Walrus was Greek for "corpse" (it isn't) in Greek, so that is what people thought of Paul being the Walrus. Also, in the video, the walrus was the only dark costume. (thanks, Reg - Pottstown, PA and Tommy - flower mound, TX)
The BBC banned this for the lines "pornographic priestess" and "let your knickers down."
This was released as the B-side to "Hello Goodbye," which Paul McCartney wrote. This angered Lennon because he felt this was much better.
In The Beatles song "Glass Onion," Lennon sang, "The Walrus was Paul." He got a kick out of how people tried to interpret his lyrics and figure out who the Walrus was.
Lennon got the line "Goo Goo Ga Joob" from the book Finnegan's Wake by James Joyce. "Semolina Pilchard" was Detective Sergeant Norman Pilcher, head of the Scotland Yard Drugs Unit. He led the arrests of both John Lennon and Brian Jones et al, before being investigated himself for blackmail and bribery in the '70s. (thanks, Matt - London, England)
Eric Burdon (of Animals and War fame) stated in his biography that he is the Egg Man. It seems he told John Lennon of a sexual experience he was involved in where an egg played a major part. After that, John called him Egg Man.
ELO's song "Hello My Old Friend" has an identical form to this - almost the same tune and orchestration but different words. No wonder Jeff Lynne is sometimes referred to as the 6th Beatle.
In the Anthology version of this song, they experiment with 4 octaves in the intro. Also, just before Lennon says, "Sitting in an English garden waiting for the sun," Ringo does 2 hits on snare and floor tom before hitting crash. (thanks, Riley - Elmhurst, IL)
In an episode of The Simpsons, "The Bart Of War," airing May 18, 2003, Bart and Milhouse break into a secret room in the Flanders' household to discover that Ned is a Beatles fanatic. Bart takes a sip from a can of 40-year-old Beatles-themed novelty soda and quotes this song: "Yellow matter custard dripping from a dead dog's eye," while Milhouse takes a trip and sees various Beatles inspired hallucinations. (thanks, Ashley - Moncton, Canada)
Styx covered this song in 2004 and made a music video for it with a cameo from Billy Bob Thornton. They performed it at Eric Clapton's Crossroads benefit that year, and incorporated it into their set lists. Their version appears on their One with Everything DVD. (thanks, Caitlyn - Farmington Hills, MI)
After John Lennon went solo, he wrote a song called "God" where he sang, "I was the walrus, but now I am John." (thanks, Webspin - Daytona, FL)
Artists to cover this song include Guided By Voices, Jackyl, Phil Lesh, Love/Hate, Men Without Hats, Oasis, Oingo Boingo, Spooky Tooth and Styx. The Dead Milkmen recorded a completely different song with the same title in 1987. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)
Frank Zappa and the Mothers Of Invention performed the song as part of their late '70s - early '80s live repertoire, giving it their own comic treatment. It was a favorite of the fans. (thanks, Dan - Milwaukee, WI)
See the Beatles "Sitting in an English garden" in Song Images.
Bono sings this song in the movie Across the Universe, a film centered around the music of The Beatles. In the film, he plays Dr. Robert, also a reference to another Beatles song. (thanks, Jordan - Brooklyn, NY)
This was the first song the Beatles recorded after Brian Epstein's death. Engineer Geoff Emerick recalled, "the look of emptiness on their faces when they were playing."
John Lennon's "I'm Crying..." lyric came from the Smokey Robinson & the Miracles song "Ooh Baby Baby," where Robinson sings that phrase in the refrain.

Source: Songfact

The Human sigh acts as a physiological reset buttom

The Human sigh - WTF fun facts

Source : WTFFacts