Look out !!!

Always be carefule before taking a step

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Who makes a difference in your life

Please give yourself a few moments to take the following quiz:

Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.
Name the last five winners of the Miss America contest.
Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.
Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.
Name the last decade's worth of World Series winners.

How did you do?
See the correct answer on 03-08-2006.
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Effects of War On Terror on Pakistan as a Nation

Almost 5 years after 9/11, the scars of the American-led war on terror are fast becoming visible in Pakistan. Backlash from Pakistan’s over-generous support to the US has radicalised society and placed the nation on an uncharted political course.

Contrary to western reports, most militants are not madrassah students. Unfortunately, the western media has as usual resorted to stereotyping nations and individuals, giving rise to the misleading belief that every act of terror is masterminded by a Taliban or mullah. But the reality is quite different.

In late 2005, the interior ministry compiled an investigative report on the identity of suicide bombers in Pakistan. The report reveals that 9/11 produced 22 suicide bombers. Of these, only 3 were madrassah students.

The pre-9/11 era spanning more than 50 years in Pakistan saw hardly any suicide bombers.

Hundreds of suspected militants have been detained without any charge. Their families have not been informed about their whereabouts. Many Pakistanis were handed over to the US clandestinely on unproven charges of connections with Al Qaeda and the Taliban. This has generated a wave of public sympathy for them.

The media provides youngsters with graphic text, videos and images of US carpet bombings and air raids in Afghanistan and Iraq. They see the devastation and humiliation wreaked on ordinary Muslims including those who have suffered physical and mental agony at the hands of US forces in Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo Bay. These images are not easily forgotten and remain etched on the minds of hundreds of millions of Muslims around the world silently watching the rape of Muslim nations by the world’s lone superpower.

Another part of the problem is the frequent compromises the government makes with regard to Pakistan’s sovereignty. There have been incidents of direct commando operations by the FBI that has whisked away citizens in league with Pakistani security agencies. Similarly, repeated incursions of US forces in the bordering northwestern region with Afghanistan have incensed tribesmen who see the Pakistan army as an extension of US forces on the other side of the border.

Lack of democracy, institutional instability and the resultant breach of sovereignty have compounded the problem. The government lacks a political and democratic face to effectively achieve its long-term vital geo-strategic interest.

These are excerpts from an article by Mr Javed Rana “Effects of 9/11 on Pakistan” published in Dawn on July 17, 2006
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Games I played as a boy

In my childhood and boyhood I was rarely interested the game boys in the street used to play. Except for Gilli Danda which I played several times when I was 13 to 14 years old, I flew kite only once when I was about 9 years old and I never played marbles / glass balls or the like. Apart from Athletics, Hockey and Badminton, my games were drawing sceneries with black or coloured pencils. Drawing flowers, creepers and other coloured patterns for doing needle-work / thread-work on cloth, especially, bed sheets.

After appearing in the F. Sc (Intermediate) examination, I worked on making mathematical riddles. Couple of days back, I was searching for a humorous poem that I wrote during 1986 when I was attending a course on Operations Research and Quantitative Techniques. I was unable to locate that but in stead I found a paper with some of the above mentioned riddles designed by me. Here are 3 of them.

7 X 7 + 5 = 54
77 X 7 + 5 = 544
777 X 7 + 5 = 5444
7777 X 7 + 5 = 54444
77777 X 7 + 5 = 544444
777777 X 7 + 5 = 5444444
7777777 X 7 + 5 = 54444444
77777777 X 7 + 5 = 544444444
777777777 X 7 + 5 = 5444444444
7777777777 X 7 + 5 = 54444444444

These are ten. More can be written the same way.

For a less literate person

To find 89 X 67 = ?

Write the two numbers in a line but fairly apart.

Divide 89 by 2 and write the result under 89 ignoring fraction of 1. Then divide the result by 2 and proceed in the same way till the result is 1

Multiply 67 by 2 and write the result under 67. Then multiply the result by 2 and repeat the procedure as many times as was done for 89.

Cross the results of multiplication which are in line with even numbers of results of division of 89. Add the remaining numbers in the multiplication column. 89 X 67 comes to 5963

89 . . . . . 67 . . . . . . . 67
44 . . . . .134 ?
22 . . . . .268 ?
11 . . . . .536 . . . . . . .536
. 5 . . . .1072 . . . . . .1072
. 2 . . . .2144 ?
. 1 . . . .4288 . . . . . .4288
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .--------
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5963

Counting in 4 fours

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Americans! Do You Know ?

THE "TAPS"

Day is done ... Gone the sun.
From the lakes ...From the hills ... From the sky
All is well Safely rest ... God is nigh.

Fading light ... Dims the sight
And a star .. Gems the sky Gleaming bright
From afar ... Drawing nigh … Falls the night.

Thanks and praise ... For our days
Neath the sun ... Neath the stars... Neath the sky.
As we go .. This we know ... God is nigh.

In 1862 during the Civil War, when Union Army Captain Robert Ellicombe was with his men near Harrison's Landing in Virginia. The Confederate Army was on the other side of the narrow strip of land. During the night, Captain Ellicombe heard the moans of a soldier who lay wounded on the field. Not knowing if it was a Union or Confederate soldier, the Captain decided to bring the stricken man back for medical attention.

Crawling on his stomach through the gunfire, the Captain reached the stricken soldier and began pulling him toward his encampment, he discovered it was a Confederate soldier but the soldier was dead. The Captain lit a lantern and was to know that it was his own son who had been studying music in the South when the war broke out. Without telling his father, the boy enlisted in the Confederate Army.

The following morning, despite his son’s enemy status, Captain Robert Ellicombe asked permission of his superiors for a group of Army band members to play a funeral dirge at the funeral. The request was turned down since the soldier was a Confederate but, out of respect for the father, they allowed him only one musician.

The Captain chose a bugler and asked him to play the musical notes he had found on a piece of paper in the pocket of the dead youth's uniform. This is now known as "TAPS" used at military funerals. The words of it have been written in the beginning.
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Where to make an effort

A giant ship engine failed. The ship's owners tried one expert after another, but none of them could figure how to fix the engine. Then they brought in an old man who had been fixing ships since he was a youngster. He arrived with a large bag of tools and immediately went to work. As he inspected the engine top to bottom, two of the ship's owners were watching him.

After looking things over, the old man gently tapped something with a small hammer.
Instantly, the engine lurched into life. So, the engine was fixed.

A week later, the owners received a bill from the old man for $ 10,000"What?!" the owners exclaimed. "He hardly did anything!"So they wrote the old man a note saying, "Please send us an itemized bill."

The man sent a bill that read:
Tapping with a hammer ......................... $ 2.00
Knowing where to tap ............................. $ 9,998.00

Effort is important, but knowing where to make an effort in your life makes all the difference!
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The Four R to Remember

* Respect for self
* Respect for others
* Responsibility for all your actions.
* Remembering that silence is, sometimes, the best answer.
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Life's Blessings

I cried because I had no shoes till I saw a man with no feet.

I was very critical of food which I had of large variety and in abundance till I saw children picking food pieces from garbage bin and eating.

Life is full of blessings.
Sometimes we are just too blind to see them.
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You Never Know ! ! !

Over 40 years back in America, in the rain one night, at 11:30 PM, an older black woman was standing on the side of an Alabama highway trying to endure a lashing rain storm. Her car had broken down and she desperately needed a ride. Soaking wet, she decided to flag down the next car. A young white man stopped to help her, generally unheard of in the conflict-filled 1960's. The man took her to safety, helped her get assistance and put her into a taxi cab. She seemed to be in a big hurry, but wrote down his address and thanked him.

After a week a knock came on the man's door. To his surprise, a giant color TV was delivered to his home. A special note was attached which read: "Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway the other night. The rain drenched not only my clothes, but also my spirits. Then you came along. Because of you, I was able to make it to my dying husband's bedside just before he passed away. God bless you for helping me and unselfishly serving others." Sincerely, Mrs ۔ ۔ ۔ ۔
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