If I had a superpower...

'Tunnel' links New York to London

Invisibility cloak edges closer

New gel is stronger than steel

I read the articles mentioned above and for some reason it made me wonder;

If you had a superpower, what would it be and why?

X-ray vision, being able to see further than anyone else, the power of invisibility perhaps a bit like Kevin Bacon in the movie The Hollow Man?

So the question is what would YOU choose?

Scary extremes in society

Tweenbots - I like the idea of these guys wandering around the city with the rest of us.

5 Psychological Experiments That Prove Humanity is Doomed.

Tweenbots are little robots wandering around a big city recording their journey as they go. Surprisingly they found that if the robots got knocked down or stuck somewhere, people would stop to help them. Cute isn’t it?

A little while later, I then read the following article...

Depressing title I know but I was intrigued. Some of the experiments do make you wonder what you would do if you were in those particular situations. But what struck me as odd was how the articles are complete opposites of each other, with regards to attitudes in society. Helping robots – sure; helping people – err, pass?!

So as the article advocates; are we doomed as a society?

(Sorry, I just love being melodramatic sometimes :P)

Too hot to handle

I’ll admit I like my food to be well seasoned food and often it is spicy but not the extreme levels that it would make your eyes water. I found an article that described how the Naga Jolokia is the now the hottest chilli in the world. It originates from Assam in north-western India and is so hot it has to be handled with a chemical mask and gloves. The chilli it is now being grown commercially for the first time by an Australian man named Marcel de Wit, who has spent three years learning how to grow the plants.

Based in Morisset, New South Wales, ’The Chilli Factory' has just harvested its’ first crop of the plant. The chillies which are sold in 100g jars are suppose to last 2 years. Apparently when Marcel tried the chilli for the first time, it was so hot that he to ‘drink a litre of milk and lie down for ten minutes afterwards’ and also people with heart or breathing problems have been warned NOT to eat them. I should think that’s a pretty good indication that maybe eating these chillies is not such a bright idea after all; I mean commercially it will probably be cost effective for food manufacturers but for general home use - well I can already see people daring each other to take a bite!

The Scoville Scale is used to measure the heat of a chilli measured in Scoville heat units (SHU’s). One Scoville unit is equal to a dilution of one part chilli to one million drops of water.

Bromance

Recently I was looking through some review guides, trying to pick a film to watch with girls over the weekend. A recent movie release that caught my eye was “Man I love you” starring Paul Rudd (Phoebe’s boyfriend Mike from Friends). When asked to describe what the film was about, quite a few of the critics bandied about the term “bromance”. I knew what it meant but wanted a proper definition of the term, if it existed. So naturally I googled it... as you do, lol.

Definition: Coined in the 1990’s by Editor Dave Carnie by combining the word ‘brother’ and ‘romance’. Refers to a man-crush; an intimate but non-sexual relationship between two men.

Some further points that sounded interesting have been borrowed from Wikipedia:
Aristotle described a concept similar to the bromance as early as 300 BCE, writing, "It is those who desire the good of their friends for the friends' sake that are most truly friends, because each loves the other for what he is, and not for any incidental quality".

Research into friendship and masculinity has found that recent generations of men, raised by feminist mothers in the 1970s, are more emotionally open and more expressive.

Men are also entering into a first marriage at later ages than they have previously. According to a 2007 study conducted by the Rutgers University National Marriage Project, men are waiting to marry until an average age of 27, up from an average age of 23 in 1960, and men with more education are waiting until their 30s before getting married. The financial pressure of staying single longer may lead to men becoming roommates for extended periods, fueling the bromance.

It got me thinking about the famous bromantic couples that spring to my mind:

Sitcoms –
The most famous one I can think of are Joey and Chandler from “Friends”. It actually is very lovely to see such a strong between two guys and I don’t think that the series would be the same without them. Another couple is JD and Turk from “Scrubs” who are hilariously funny. I think JD cried hysterically when Turk was marrying Carla. Closer to home would be the lovely Ant and Dec, who started off at Byker Grove and now Saturday night TV is just not the same without them :)

Films –
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have got take the number one spot. Those guys started off their careers together and are still the best of friends despite their celeb status and fame. George Clooney and Brad Pitt in the Ocean movies are also excellent example of friendship.

Not so real –
Probably my earliest encounters of bromantic relationship would be from my favourite cartoon at the time – The Flintstones; Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble. Also Sesame Street gets a mention, especially Bert and Ernie. It’s probably where I picked up my first taste of sarcasm, lol.

Family wise, a lot more spring to mind. Numerous uncles and cousins both here in the UK and well pretty much all over the world really. Dilemma - should I name them? Ah I’m sure they all know who they are ;) Personally I think it’s really sweet, lol.

P.S. Just a bit of an afterthought; what's the term for a girl-crush? I'm not sure it even exists, lol. Hmmm, any suggestions?

Fewston Reservoir

I have to say first and foremost what a beautiful place it really is! I really didn’t have any expectations for it. I mean I saw some pictures but I really just wanted to go and spend some time with my family away from all the usual distractions. As usual, other things took precedence for our parents but Saba, Sara, Bilal and I were determined to do something this Easter weekend. So Easter Sunday, I packed a picnic and with the sun shining down on us, we set off on our walk around Fewston reservoir.

A quarter of the way round the reservoir, Sara felt the need to go back and protect the picnic as she heard bears growling. Ahem, bears indeed! Even though they were only four of us, we sort of segregated into two teams. Sara and I ambled along, chit chatting, soaking up the sun and just enjoying the surrounding scenery whilst Saba and Bilal raced up ahead chanting some kind of keeping fit mantra. Ok I jest – there was no mantra being chanted… I think :P. Well I can’t be sure as Sara and I were lagging behind quite a bit, stopping to look at the scenery… and also because I was taking pictures every so often - which gave Saba and Bilal the opportunity to hide behind every tree to try and surprise us, lol. Unfortunately Bilal’s bright blue shoes sometimes gave him away, lol!

One memorable moment during our walk, was an asian couple who were walking towards Sara and I and gave us a weird smile as they passed us by. We thought nothing of it and we walked on further to find Saba and Bilal crouched behind a wall, waiting to surprise us. Apparently the couple had seen them and promised not to tell Sara or I their hiding place, lol. It just goes to show that everyone loves a good game of hide and seek don’t they? Lol. Later on we stopped about two thirds of the way round the perimeter of the reservoir to skim some pebbles across the water. Bilal didn’t join in as he was tired and moody but then again he couldn’t resist. Not realising he had decided to join us, we continued playing when suddenly we heard a huge splash. We all turned to find that Bilal had thrown in the biggest rock he could find and was now laughing like a mad man. None of us three could help but fall about in fits of giggles :)

Other things that spring to mind – Bilal spotting a zebra… which was actually just a regular dalmatian a few feet away! Saba not liking the fact that it was a little crowded at the start (Easter weekend!), with an abundance of dogs. Sara’s fear of dogs, love of antakshiri and her trying to convince me to take a walk in the woods – maybe she murderous intentions, I don’t know :S Also me being a tad bit too enthusiastic about the water “It’s just so blue Sara, look!” – I think I had sun stroke :P

We eventually returned to the car and I can report that the food was safe. The, ahem “bears” must have missed our car! Phew! We sat and ate, chatted, played some ball and as the weather got a little nippy, we decided to get going. On the way back, we bought gifts for our parents. Jasmine plants, some other plant I can’t remember the name of and a cute little model hedgehog were bought from a nice lady at the lavender shop. We returned home to Leeds, where we enjoyed the last few rays of sunshine. I think I speak for all of us when I say that it was a lovely day - fabulous weather, a fun picnic and good company. Our goal for this summer is to explore the different walks and historical sites within Yorkshire – weather permitting of course. Next stop Fountains Abbey hopefully :)

Palestine and Israel

I’m not sure how everyone else feels, but I’m just so tired of the whole thing now. What is wrong with the world? Also it doesn’t help when I get bombarded by chain emails etc. Some are just plain stupid and try to promote feelings of negativity between which will definitely NOT help the situation. Others make you stop and think and do actually have a proper message to convey. Here are a selection of some of the emails that I have received recently, so let’s see what you make of them.

Email 1:
The Palestinian Representative's Speech at the UN

'Before beginning my talk I want to tell you something about Moses. When he struck the rock and it brought forth water, he thought, 'What a good opportunity to have a bath!'
He removed his clothes, put them aside on the rock and entered the water.
When he got out and wanted to dress, his clothes had vanished.
An Israeli had stolen them.'
The Israeli representative jumped up furiously and shouted, 'What are you talking about? The Israelis weren't there then.'
The Palestinian representative smiled and said:
'And now that we have made that clear, I will begin my speech.'

I actually like this one. Just goes to show that some people out there do still have the ability to think clearly.

Email 2:

“The biggest robbery of the 20th century. Is it Gold? Is it Diamonds? Is it money? Is it Oil? Can you guess???”

That may not be an accurate map but it makes a huge impact on the reader regardless of it being genuine or not.


Email 3:

Reasons why the Muslim World is so powerless!
The situation in the Muslim world is still sad as it was 500 years ago since we relaxed our quest for knowledge. Because of that influence and power shifted to the Christian world - and have remained there ever since. The figures are speaking themselves very loudly but we refuse to listen.

Some thoughts and extracts of speech by Hafez A.B. Mohamed. Director-General, Al Baraka Bank.

Demographics:

And yet the 14 million Jews are more powerful than the entire 1.5 billion Muslims... WHY? Here are some reasons… (Clue: they are all Jewish)
What do you conclude? No need to tell... The figures are speaking themselves very loudly but we are unable to use the ears Allah gave us to listen and eyes to let us see...

Advice

Please educate yourself and your children. Excuses like lack of money, ability or opening are nothing more than that - excuses. Always promote education, don't compromise on it. We hate to be weak, illiterate and poor but are we too weak to give our children the opportunity to break the curse?

Don't ignore your children's slightest misguidance from education... and please, for Allah's sake, don't use your personal contacts to promote your children in their education. If they fail, let them because it will make them learn the sweetness of success. Remember... if they can't do it now, they can't ever.

With knowledge comes power, and with it even the small can rule over the big. We are world's biggest but sadly NOT strongest nation.

All we need is to identify and explore our inner selves. Insha-Allah, our weapon to victory, our duty to spread God's words and our opportunity save all humankind is best through knowledge, creativity, literacy... And nothing else.

Wake up O khalifahs of the land ... Please remember the people of Palestine in your prayers.

This one was a bit long due the abundance of so many facts and figures. Although they sound very convincing, I wonder how accurate they really are. Also after reading it, I didn’t feel any hatred towards the Jewish or Christian population, but instead I just thought wow, these guys really have achieved such a lot and then I thought, God the Muslim world should really try harder. “Come on guys, make an effort!”

It’s my baby’s birthday!!!

My blog is 3 years and I honestly didn’t think I would get this far. It started off with it being a thing of a curious mind. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about and why everyone was so keen to have a blog of their own. For me it then developed into an online journal of sorts where I shared my thoughts and feelings and talked about the people that I had met or things I had seen. In recent times however, I’ve started adding more things related to my career and my areas of interest. Reading back through my old posts, it was nice to step back and see how my blog has changed over the years. My writing style, the topic of conversation and the people who read posts and left comments – it all changed and my blog evolved. Good changes or bad changes, still undecided :)

Quarter life crisis anyone?

A recent article I was reading described how the mid life crisis may be a common thing for many people but now it seems that it is coming to us earlier, as more and more people are experiencing what is known as a quarter life crisis. It is described as feelings of failure and a sense of loss over their exuberant youth, commonly experienced by women in their mid twenties, following the major changes of adolescence.

And I totally understand what they mean. I mean I haven’t had a full blown crisis… yet. But sometimes I do have those thoughts from time to time, very fleetingly might I add. I know you may be thinking that that sounds ridiculous as I’m still in my early twenties and still have another 2 or so years to go before I even hit my mid twenties. But a fair few of my friends, who have already reached that age of 25 and above, do have these moments on a regular basis. I sit and listen to them tell me their worries and let me tell you, it sounds quite scary! Nothing actually changes physically, but it is more a state of mind. One day you think life is great and the next day you wake up and think, “Oh my god, what have I got to show for it?” Quoting the article I was reading, it is as if someone has adjusted the pair of (rose-tinted) glasses you were wearing and now nothing seems to fit anymore. You feel like a failure in your mind. In a mid life crisis, people look back and mourn the loss of their youth or regret the opportunities that they didn’t take up. Now research shows that women (average age between 25 – 35) are starting to have this point of reflection much earlier on in their lives. Apparently it’s very common and I accept that, but somehow how it still feels a bit strange. I mean with a mid life crisis I understand it, you’ve lived about half of your life span therefore you have less time. Also physically you may not be at the level as you were in your youth and so this may hinder you in what you want to get done. It’s a sense of loss and I understand that. But in your 20’s and 30’s, if you do have those feeling, what’s stopping you from going out there and getting things done? You still have the majority of your life ahead of you and numerous opportunities.

The article suggests that it might be the change in society and the media play which play a huge part in influencing your thoughts and society nowadays places great emphasis on women having a great career, a good income, a perfect body, lasting friendships, a life partner, married, a nice house and hopefully children… all by the time they are 35. Phew! I’m tired just reading that list. It’s like a mental checklist and I’ll be honest, I’m already ticking off the things I’ve done and re- prioritising what’s left on the list with regards to how it fits into my life. I understand how it must feel to not have the mental image you have of your life match up with the reality of your life. To put it mildly, it is pretty de-motivating. The choices that you’ve made may make you feel unsure of future decisions that you need to make and it can be pretty daunting. In all honesty, I think that balancing that mental checklist can be pretty stressful for even the most accomplished woman. So how is it that some people seem to cope better than others? Perhaps they’ve mastered the art of being able to step back and to shut out all those messages that we get thrust upon us by society. It may sound a bit hippy-ish, but if you just take a moment to think what it is that YOU want from life rather than what others expect… well, life will seem a lot simpler. Taking the time to find out what is right for you and not the rest of the crowd - a change of career in later life, a guy that's different from your normal type, the not so size zero body – being different from the norm is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s what suits you and your lifestyle and personally I think our individuality should be celebrated. Who knows, the changes that you make might help you to uncover something great for your future. By shedding those old mental images, you may be happier for it. Perhaps you’ll realise it wasn’t what you really wanted at all in the first place.

I suppose the thing is to look at what you’ve done so far as an achievement and be proud of that rather looking at what you haven't done so far. Be proud of the foundation that you've built and hopefully everything else will fall into place eventually. You’ll be back on the right track… whatever the right track may be for you. So if you feel like you’re heading towards the crisis zone, just take the time to chill out and take stock of what’s really important to you :)

Barack Obama visits the UK

Yea! President Obama’s first official visit to the UK! Though I’m not sure he’s quite there with the gift giving yet, lol. This is the guy who gave Gordon Brown a gift of 25 DVD’s when Brown visited the USA last month. Ok so we’ll over look that. Imagine it’s your first time going to the UK as the president of the US. What would you give to the woman who can have anything she wants? Well Obama thought he’d give the Queen an iPod. What the hell?! Can you imagine how the conversation must have gone? - “Oh my god, yes that’s it. An iPod! That’s what she needs.” Hmm… I wonder what songs he upload for her? Did he get it engraved especially? lmao

The real reason for the visit – the G20 summit of course.
Barack Obama + Gordon Brown + leaders of other large economies…
Will they save the world? I certainly hope so.

Superman!

Smiling man?!

P.S. Shocked to find a picture of Gordon Brown smiling. Actually on second thoughts, I think I prefer his miserable look more!

We're related? I think not...

I found this email sitting in my inbox this morning - received it twice in fact. Well it made me chuckle, what with it being April fool’s day and all. I wonder how many other people got the same email? :)

 Also Easter is on it's way, can you tell?

Very random!