What christmas is about...

i realised christmas is about happiness family and faith ... it's not the gifts or santa or whatever you think ... it's about this:

Merry christmas

Here we are: merry christmas everyone... May this year be special and full of amazing surprises that will blow you mind!

Christmas spirit...

How to Get Yourself Into the Christmas Spirit

So i was surfing down the internet and though: where is that christmas spirit we used to have? What happened to it? Sometimes it's hard when you grow older, because you lose the touch of the wondrous Christmas Spirit. Maybe you're not too old--you felt it last year--but this year with money being tight, you can't make your house feel the way it did, you feel a sense of loss, and you can't feel that special feeling. I'll tell you one thing, EVERYONE deserves to feel that special Christmas feeling, nothing can compare to it, so read this article and with time you will begin to feel it, like you once did before.

1Turn on some Christmas music. Great songs such as "White Christmas" by Bing Crosby, "O Holy Night" by Josh Groban and "Believe" by Josh Groban are great examples, and they will help you lift your spirit.

2Make a batch of Christmas cookies; make sugar cookies, and decorate it your own way with frosting, sprinkles, etc., to bring out the Christmas fun.

3Hang up Christmas ornaments. When you focus on the ornaments, and just on getting it done, it's not fun. But when you have fun, dance with the Christmas music, put a garland up, put little trinkets of Santa Claus, angels and whatnot. You will see, you will have fun.

4Get out of the house. Go to special stores like Macy's and Target and shop in the Christmas aisles, and have fun picking out what stuff you could possibly need. When you see other spirit around you, you're more likely to have that special feeling once again.

5Learn a Christmas song, one that you've never heard before, or one that is your favorite. Print it off the internet and sing the verses quietly to yourself at work, or at the store.

6Put up your tree early. It doesn't matter if you put it up after you read this article, or in a few days, just get it up early. That way, you can decorate the tree and have fun with it, expressing your creativity and feeling like your really into the spirit.

7Give a gift, it doesn't matter to who. But take time with the gift, wrap it, and make your own card, add a special poem.

8Spend time with family and friends. This probably is the most important way to feeling happy. Make some cookies, and invite a few over, and watch a Christmas movie such as "White Christmas".

tree of jewels!

11-million-dollar Christmas treeDUBAI (AFP) - Christmas has come in extravagant fashion to the Muslim desert emirate of Abu Dhabi as a glitzy hotel unveiled a bejewelled Christmas tree valued at more than 11 million dollars. It is the "most expensive Christmas tree ever," with a "value of over 11 million dollars," said Hans Olbertz, general manager of Emirates Palace hotel, at its inauguration.The 13-metre (40-foot) faux evergreen, located in the gold leaf-bedecked rotunda of the hotel, is decorated with silver and gold bows, ball-shaped ornaments and small white lights. But the necklaces, earrings and other jewellery draped around the tree's branches are what give it a record value.An Emirati man walks past an 11-million-dollar Christmas tree at the Emirates Palace hotel. AFPIt holds a total of 181 diamonds, pearls, emeralds, sapphires and other precious stones, said Khalifa Khouri, owner of Style Gallery, which provided the jewellery. "The tree itself is about 10,000 dollars," Olbertz said. "The jewellery has a value of over 11 million dollars -- I think 11.4, 11.5.""Probably, this will be another" Dubai entry into the Guinness book of world records, Olbertz said, adding that Emirates Palace planned to contact the organisation about the tree which is to stay until the end of the year.Asked if the tree might offend religious sensibilities in the United Arab Emirates, where the vast majority of the local population is Muslim, Olbertz said he did not think it would. "It's a very liberal country," he said.Like other hotels in the United Arab Emirates, it has had a Christmas tree up in previous years. But this year, "we said we have to do something different," and the hotel's marketing team hatched the plan, said Olbertz.The tree is not the first extravagant offering from Emirates Palace -- a massive, dome-topped hotel sitting amid fountains and carefully manicured lawns. The hotel, which bills itself as seven-star, in February introduced a package for a seven-day stay priced at one million dollars.Takers of the package have a private butler and a chauffeur-driven Maybach luxury car at their disposal during their stay, as well as a private jet available for trips to other countries in the region.And in May, the hotel opened a gold vending machine, becoming the first place outside Germany to install "gold to go, the world's first gold vending machine," said Ex Oriente Lux AG, the German company behind the machine.

Handicaps

Disability is the consequence of an impairment that may be physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, developmental, or some combination of these. A disability may be present from birth, or occur during a person's lifetime.

Intellectual disability (ID), once called mental retardation, is characterized by below-average intelligence or mental ability and a lack of skills necessary for day-to-day living. People with intellectual disabilities can and do learn new skills, but they learn them more slowly. There are varying degrees of intellectual disability, from mild to profound.

What is intellectual disability?

Someone with intellectual disability has limitations in two areas. These areas are:

• Intellectual functioning. Also known as IQ, this refers to a person’s ability to learn, reason, make decisions, and solve problems.
• Adaptive behaviors. These are skills necessary for day-to-day life, such as being able to communicate effectively, interact with others, and take care of oneself.

IQ (intelligence quotient) is measured by an IQ test. The average IQ is 100. A person is considered intellectually disabled if he or she has an IQ of less than 70 to 75.

The law prohibits employers from firing, refusing to hire or 

rehire, or otherwise discriminating, against a “qualified” person 

with a disability on the basis of disability. To be “qualified”, a 

person must be able to perform the essential functions of the 

job, either with or without a reasonable accommodation. 

Examples of work-place reasonable accommodations that 

may be appropriate include: a flexible work schedule, 

providing a reader, providing ergonomic or technological 

equipment, or transfer to an office in an accessible location. 

Employers are not required to provide an accommodation that 

would eliminate an essential function of an employee’s job or 

would pose an “undue hardship” for the employer. An 

accommodation is provided at the employer’s expense, unless 

the employer can demonstrate that it would pose an undue 

financial hardship. The law applies to employers with 15 or 

more employees. 

Section 501 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act governs direct-employment by the federal government. This section of the law prohibits discrimination and requires adoption of affirmative action plans for hiring, placement, and advancement of individuals with disabilities within federal agencies and the U.S. Postal Service.

Section 503 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act prohibits 

discrimination based on disability and requires affirmative 

action in hiring persons with disabilities when the employer 

has a contract or subcontract with the federal government in 

excess of $10,000. 

Why dogs and cats?

"Eat cats and dogs", imam tells starving Syrians!

An imam in a rebel-held district of Damascus has issued a fatwa allowing residents to eat cats and dogs, in a desperate bid to ward off starvation after months under siege by the Assad regime.

Salah al-Khatib, the cleric who issued the edict, said he had been left with no choice but to lift the usual restrictions under Islamic law, after government forces and pro-regime militias choked off food and medical supplies to three rebel-held suburbs of Damascus and to a camp housing Palestinian refugees.

This is "not because it is religiously permitted, but because it is a reflection of the reality we are suffering", Mr Khatib told AFP on Tuesday.

Tens of thousands of civilians remain trapped in these areas, some of them living under siege for more than a year. Residents have told The Telegraph that as food has run out, they have been forced in recent weeks to survive on stray dogs, rotting animal carcasses, tree leaves and weeds.

"I have watched the poorer families eat stray dogs because they have nothing else," said Ehab, a resident of the Yarmouk camp, speaking to The Telegraph via Skype. "There is no food here now."

Everyone must eat in order to live. Most of us think that what we eat, and the way they eat it, is the normal or correct pattern. Therefore anyone who eats different things is considered odd. Until relatively recently, human societies were localised and had their own localised eating habits. In the 20^th and 21^st centuries, globalization has led to culinary conflicts as one culture's delicacy is another culture's taboo. To some the cat is a legitimate food source. Others find the concept of cat-eating abhorrent. Is it right for cat-loving countries to impose their cultural values on cat-eating societies?

Over the last 10 months Syrian government troops have been steadily reducing the amount of supplies allowed into these areas.

Some years ago, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation show "Witness" explored the exploitation of animals and the great love of pets, especially in western countries. The show documented the worst and the best that people mete out to animals. Many Canadians and Americans were most horrified at the segments showing how cats and dogs, companion animals in the west, were raised for slaughter and food in certain South East Asian countries.

Previously a British TV programme had shown the preparation of cat at restaurants in part of China. The diner selected a cat and observed its preparation. The conscious cat was thrown into boiling water then dumped in a pail of cold water. This made skinning easier. Some "boiled" cats were alive and moving feebly when dumped in cold water. Some were still moving during skinning and would ultimately have bled to death, perhaps during evisceration. The Chinese place great emphasis on freshness of food hence the live skinning of food animals. I spoke to a Chinese colleague who said that the word for "animal" in his native tongue translates as "moving thing" - animals are considered no more sentient than vegetables.

Why not using the solar energie...?!

Solar energy, radiant light and heat from thesun, is harnessed using a range of ever-evolving technologies such as solar heating,solar photovoltaics, solar thermal electricity,solar architecture and artificial photosynthesis.[1][2]Solar technologies are broadly characterized as either passive solar or active solardepending on the way they capture, convert and distribute solar energy. Active solar techniques include the use of photovoltaic panels and solar thermal collectors to harness the energy. Passive solar techniques include orienting a building to the Sun, selecting materials with favorable thermal mass or light dispersing properties, and designing spaces that naturally circulate air. One such innovation in solar technology that has home and business owners excited is the use of shingles that are actually adapted photovoltaic cells made into roof shingles. They are normally black in color and blend in beautifully with the look of your home.In closing, consider this…solar energy is abundant and if we can save 75 – 90% of the energy we use, we could use that money to transition to a renewable-based economy. A project like this could provide decades of employment, increased national security and a way to invigorate some of our rural economies.People everywhere are opting for a greener lifestyle, and in time the reduction in utility bills will make the investment of a solar energy system pay for itself. Our economy will improve as a result of our conversion to wind or solar energy. If home and business owners received help from the government in the initial expense of the transition, more people would be excited to jump on the “green” bandwagon. Misconception #3: Solar Energy is Too ExpensiveWhat’s expensive are power plants…and we all know who absorbs the majority of those costs! In reality, it’s less expensive to install a solar system than to connect to the grid if you are more than 500 yards from the connection. If we got wiser about our energy usage, the money we’d save would pay for our transition to a solar-based energy system. Each year our country continues to spend more on research for conventional energy s than on renewable ones.