For Your Heart's Health-Drink Guinness !

You got to believe this!

It looks like this famous old Guinness slogan has some truth to it after all.

A new study from the University of Wisconsin has reported that a pint of Guinness could have the same heart health benefits as a low dose of aspirin. When tested on dogs, antioxidants in Guinness helped reduce blood clots and slow down deposits of cholesterol on the artery walls. Dogs were chosen not because they love to lap up beer, but because they have narrow blood vessels similar to those of humans who suffer from heart disease. Blood clots and clogged arteries are bad news because they increase a person's risk for a heart attack.

Let me point out that the benefits were found from drinking Guinness, not any other beers. This news doesn't mean you should go on a Guinness drinking binge for your heart's sake, because Guinness still contains alcohol, so limit yourself to one or fewer drinks a day.

CHEERS!

Imagine! Padifield Art!

These padi fields look fantastic from the sky if you are in an aeroplane.

This is crop art, found in Japan. Stunning, don't you think so?

Believe me, this is no alien creation - the designs have been cleverly planted. The farmers creating these huge displays use no ink or dye.





Instead, different colours of rice plants have been precisely and strategically arranged and grown in the paddy fields.As summer progresses and the plants shoot up, the detailed artwork begins to emerge.

In Inakadate, a Sengoku warrior on horseback has been created from hundreds of thousands of rice plants, the colours created by using different varieties. The largest and finest work is grown in the Aomori village of Inakadate, 600 miles north of Toyko, where this tradition began in 1993. Each year hundreds of volunteers and villagers plant four different varieties of rice in late May across huge swathes of paddy fields.The village has now earned a reputation for its agricultural artistry.

In a pair of fields near the townhall in Inakadate town, the enormous pictures of Napoleon and a Sengoku-period warrior, both on horseback, are visible More than 150,000 vistors come to Inakadate (population:8,700 ), every summer to see these extraordinary murals. Created by precision planting and months of planning,the mural of Napolean on horseback can be seen brilliantly from the skies.

Another venue is becoming famous for padi art. This is Yonezawa town. This year the town showcased the fictional warrior Naoe Kanetsugu and his wife Osen from the hit television series Tenchijin.

Smaller works of crop art can also be seen in some other rice-farming areas. This include Doraemon and deer dancers.

How are the art pieces created? To begin with, farmers will plant little purple and yellow-leafed kodaimai rice, along with their local green-leafed tsugaru roman variety. This helps create the coloured patterns between planting and harvesting in September.The murals in Inakadate cover 15,000 square metres of paddy fields.

From ground level, the designs are invisible. So interested viewers have to climb on to the mock castle tower of the village office to get a glimpse of the work.

So, don't you think the Japanese are just wonderfully artistic people?

Phone Book Portraits, Anyone?

Alex Queral is unique. He draws portraits in used phone books.

They are very life-like. Seeing is believing.

Look at some of the samples below. They are of Obama,Jack Nicholson,Dalai Lama and Clint Eastwood and Freda Kaloh.

Another Great Nasi Lemak Outlet.

Eating is believing.

There I was at the Village Park this afternoon. It is beside the Bank Rakyat in Damansara Utama.This food joint served one mean nasi lemak. It is managed by a Chinese husband and wife couple who are Muslims.




I was told on week-ends, you just cannot find a place to sit, much less order. The ex-Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir, was here a couple of days ago; the lady proprietor told me. She was an ex-accountant. People line up to buy the food, selecting the usual nasi lemak but adding side orders like spiced up cockles, fried chicken, prawns, fish, cuttle fish, squids, all assortment of eggs as well as bitter-gourd fried in cumin. The coconut milk rice was very light and tasty.The sambal was sweet and on the spicy side. I thoroughly enjoyed my meal. No wonder, many Muslim Malays frequent this shop.


So if you are heading on your way to One Utama or Tesco Mutiara Damansara in the vicinity of Damansara Utama, do drop by at the Village Park. You would not regret it.

The Wonders of Silhouette Photography.

This is silhouette photography.






To photograph silhouettes,the contrast between the subject and the background has to bee extensive. So the light has to shine from behind of the subject.

Silhouettes are a wonderful way to convey drama, mystery, emotion and mood to the viewers of your photos. Objects silhouetted against the setting sun or a halo of light are breathtaking. Art silhouette pictures are a great way to make your photography portfolio stand out.

So, anyone for silhouette photography?

A RED LETTER DAY for the Family

By lunch time , my daughter phoned back.

She passed her CAT examination and is now formally attending Part Two of the ACCA professional course.

So we had a small celebrations in the evening after dinner. We cut some cup-cakes in celebration of this happy occasion. Its' not everyday that we can have a red letter day. This has been a great red letter day for us!

Now A Royalty supports ENGLISH

So, a royalty is now speaking up for English. Is this a case of better late than never?

At the International Conference on Education for All Raja Dr Nazrin Shah today stressed the importance of the English language. He believes that English is of paramount importance in the twenty first century workplace and said “It is the lingua franca of world commerce and world finance and those who are proficient in the language will enjoy many advantages in global work place.” He added that many employers are using English proficiency as one of the defining factors in selecting workers.As such, he he advocated that every teaching and learning method be harnessed to enhance the English proficiency of every student.

He then lamented that teachers should be better trained and standardised test be introduced at all school level to determine the English proficiency of their students.

“Teachers are the most important determinants of the quality of the education system. The quality of the education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers and yet most education systems do not have the best.

But the best education systems do. In Finland, all new teachers must have a masters degree.

“South Korea recruits primary school teachers from the top 45 per cent of graduates, Singapore and Hong Kong from the top 30 per cent. In these countries, teaching is a high status profession,” he explained.

Raja Nazrin was explaining how English proficiency is one of the four key aspect of the education system which needs to be given special attention if Malaysia is to meet the demands of a knowledge and innovation economy.

It is rather sad that Raja Nazrin’s comment came after the government had already decided in July 2009 to end the policy of teaching mathematics and science in English in both primary and secondary schools effective from 2012. The two subjects will be taught in Bahasa Melayu in national schools and in Tamil or Chinese for vernacular schools.

He also commented that the Malaysian education system needs to reduce the amount of content being taught in classes because this has led to the neglect of the competency skills needed for the 21st century.

“The curriculum is full of teachers and university instructors disseminating information to students who are passive recipients.

“Often times, schools teachers and university instructors lament the fact that they are given insufficient time to complete the syllabus. Educationists fear that reducing the content will deprive learners, not realising that in this case less will, in fact, be more,” he said.

He added that students will benefit more if they learn inquire and gather information by themselves especially with the advancement of the information technology.

Raja Nazrin told the audience that Malaysia must shift from its examination oriented education system because this has led to the neglect of many of skills and competencies needed for a knowledge and innovation economy.

He said that the examination-oriented system has led schools focusing on high achievers at the exclusion of underachievers who unfortunately comes from poorer socio-economic background.

“While the numbers As scored by learners is important, it is equally important to ensure that all students master the knowledge and skills required for them to function effectively and efficiently in the workplace of the 21st century,” he said.

Raja Nazrin added that the current teacher-centered strategies will have to give way to more learner-centred strategies.

Only through this can the required skills be developed for the 21st century, he stressed.

He explained that wealth of a knowledge and innovation economy can only be derived from the exploitation of the intangible assets of its people such as experience, skills and knowledge.

“It could only be achieved if the education system is able to turn out students who are well introduced to the knowledge, skills and attitude to work in a knowledge and innovation based economy,” he said.

Are we too late to change the mind of PM Najib?