Tony Blair: I read Al Quran Every Day

 

Mantan Perdana Menteri (PM) Inggris mulanya enggan berbicara masalah agama. Namun setelah turun jabatan, ia menyatakan baru menganut Katolik. Kini, ia membaca Al Quran setiap hari.

 

 

 

At first, Blair and former Director of Communications and Strategy for personal, Alastair Campbell, known for their distinctive speech. "We do not do God." Since down as Prime Minister in 2007, Blair slowly changing.

A few months after the fall, he claimed to convert to Catholicism. Now, he claims to read the Muslim holy book, the Qur'an, every day. According to former Labor leader, Al Quran helped literate faith.

 

 

"Literacy faith is very important in this era of globalization. I was reading the Quran every day in an attempt to understand what is happening in the world and because it is instructive, "Blair said in an interview with the Observer magazine.

Blair believes his knowledge of Islam would help his current role as Middle East envoy for the Quartet of UN, U.S., European Union (EU), and Russia. He wants to help solve the chronic Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

 

 

Not only that, Mr Blair also praised Islam as a religion that is beautiful and she was saying of the Prophet Muhammad as a strong figure. In 2006, he never claimed the Koran as a book that continues to reform, practical, and as if made ​​ahead of his time. [nic]

 

 

Oleh Vina Ramitha | Inilah – Sen, 13 Jun 2011 

Skin Wrinkles Alerts Start porous bones?

Want to know the health of bones without the hassle? Check any wrinkles on your face. More lining, the worse your bone density. This is especially true for postmenopausal women.

Bone and skin was built by a group of proteins called collagen. Age will reduce the amount of collagen, making skin elasticity decreases and the skin come into wrinkles. Decrease the amount of collagen will also affect the bone.

 

In his research, Dr. Lubna Pal, reproductive endocrinologists from Yale School of Medicine conducted a study of 114 women in her late 40's and early 50's years. The women are known last menstrual period within the last 3 years and not taking hormones. These women also do not perform cosmetic procedures for skin tightening.

In addition to asking respondents to assess their own levels of wrinkles on their faces, especially the face and neck, the researchers also measured skin elasticity with an instrument called a durometer. The researchers also measured the bone density with X-rays.

 

As a result, women who have wrinkles at most proved to have the worst bone density than women whose skin is still supple. Pal said, more in-depth study is needed to ascertain whether the risk of osteoporosis later determination can be done by looking at the condition of the skin.

 
TRIBUNnews.com – Min, 12 Jun 2011

7 Practical Activities scraper Fat

Many people complain not had time to exercise so that his body fat easily and not powered. In fact, according to Professor James Levine of the Mayo Clinic, in fact they can always energized by doing physical activity daily.

"By replacing some routine habits, you can save money while burning fat. No need to register to the gym," said Levine.

 

Here are some suggested activities that Professor James Levine:

At home
Do not wait until the garbage piling up in the house. Immediately gather them together, then take it out for disposal into the trash. Occasionally, take over some duties of household assistants and home care of itself. Clean-up activities for 40 minutes had to burn about 540 calories! Steal time between commercial breaks. Once the ads interspersed favorite series, do not just sit and wait. Busy themselves with walking around the room, take something and make room, or doing stretching and squatting movements.

At the office
Forget the technological sophistication. Go to your friends directly to his desk, instead of using e-mail, telephone, or speak with a loud voice from a distance. Reduce the use of elevators. Replace with the up and down stairs. If you work in a tall building, stop for a few floors before your office, and continue the journey by climbing stairs. So also when the home office.

 

Anywhere, anytime
Move at least 5 minutes for every hour. If necessary, create an alarm on your mobile. For 5 minutes, do stretching, or walking to the bathroom, or simply fill the bottle to drink. Make sure the 5 minutes it actually used fully. Once again the move, your mind will be more fresh.

Is waiting for a train? If the platform is deserted, you can just walk down it back and forth several times. In addition to dispel the boredom of waiting, you also become more fit!

 
TRIBUNnews.com

Ondel-ondel No Longer Expel Evil Spirit

Ondel-ondel inseparable from the Betawi people since hundreds of years ago. Any procession, like a bride or bride adult circumcision, ondel-ondel almost always displayed. Originally ondel-ondel called Barongan to the sound of musical instruments are used to ward off evil spirits. They believed evil spirits would be frightened by a noisy sound.

One of the crafters ondel-ondel are Bakhtiar, a resident of Rawa Belong, Jakarta Barat. To Coverage 6 SCTV, on Sunday (12 / 6), he said, the current-ondel ondel environmentally friendly, not like before. "Then, ondel-ondel it bercaling because trust him (ondel-ondel) to drive out evil spirits," said Bakhtiar. "Now (ondel-ondel) was cute, nothing like Luna Maya, like Ariel, and cool-cool."

 

To make ondel-ondel two meters and centimeters wide, six colleagues helped Bakhtiar first create a framework of bamboo. For headdress made ​​from coconut flower stem and rib wani color crepe paper bonded with glue. This decoration attached at the head made ​​of fiberglass or wood.

To ondel-ondel man, his face painted red sertaberkumis. While ondel-ondel woman painted her face white. Once completed, the skeleton and the head of the merged and given clothes. Ondel-ondel then ready for use

 .

Barongan first called ondel-ondel by the late Benjamin Sueb who sings the song Ondel-ondel. Now, ondel-ondel no longer used to drive away evil spirits, but became part of the Betawi culture. (Bog)

Foto: Tempo/Eko Siswono Toyudho

'Book of Mormon' wins big at the Tony Awards

The profane and hysterical "The Book of Mormon" took home nine Tony Awards on Sunday including the prize for best musical, a considerable achievement for a pair of first-time Broadway playwrights known more for their raunchy cartoons featuring potty-mouthed kids.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of the Emmy Award-winning "South Park," found a kindred soul in Robert Lopez, who co-wrote the Tony-winning "Avenue Q," and all three found themselves with plenty of awards when they collaborated to gently mock Mormons and send-up Broadway itself.
Collecting the best musical prize, a subdued Parker, who tied Josh Logan of "South Pacific" with four Tonys in one evening — said he'd be remiss if he didn't thank his late book co-writer — Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon religion.

"You did it, Joseph! You got the Tony!" Parker said looking skyward and holding up his award.
The show, which netted honors for best musical, best book, best direction of a musical, best score, best featured actress and four technical awards, came in with a leading 14 nominations and was the heavy favorite for the top musical prize.
"We know what the best musical is — it's like taking a hooker to dinner," comedian Chris Rock said before reading the nominees and announcing the winner.
"War Horse" — a World War I tale about horses told with puppets and actors — won five Tonys, including the best prize award. The revival of "The Normal Heart" and "Anything Goes" both won three each.
Mark Rylance won the best acting award for a play for his powerful role of Johnny "Rooster" Byron in Jez Butterworth's "Jerusalem." Just as he did three years ago when he won for "Boeing-Boeing," Rylance quoted a poem by Louis Jenkins, an obscure poet from Minnesota.

"Unlike flying or astral projection, walking through walls is a totally earth-related craft, but a lot more interesting than pot-making or driftwood lamps," he said to the bemused crowd. When asked later why he had recited the poem, he said, "I don't know. I was getting a little bored."
Norbert Leo Butz won for best actor in a musical. Butz, who plays a frumpy FBI agent hot on the heels of a con man in "Catch Me If You Can" took home his second Tony. His previous win was in 2005 for "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels."
Sutton Foster won for best actress in a musical and gave a tearful speech. "It doesn't feel like a job," she said of the Cole Porter musical "Anything Goes," which also won best musical revival and earned Kathleen Marshall an award for best choreography.

Frances McDormand was declared the best leading actress in a play for portraying a South Boston blue-collar woman who reconnects with a high school boyfriend in David Lindsay-Abaire play "Good People."
The best direction of a musical award went to Casey Nicholaw and Parker for "The Book of Mormon." Parker — as well as co-writers Stone and Lopez — later returned to the stage to accept the Tony for the best book of a musical.
The top directing prize for a play went to Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris for the weepy British import "War Horse." "We quite like it when people cry," Morris cracked backstage.
Nikki M. James, who plays a potential love interest to the pair of missionaries who travel to Uganda in "The Book of Mormon," dedicated the award to her dad, who died while she was in high school, and to her nephew Ozzie, who was born with kidney problems.
The show is one of the hottest in town and James said even cast members are having trouble getting tickets for their friends and family. "It's amazing to know you're going to walk out there every night and know you're going to see a house full of people," she said.
Larry Kramer's "The Normal Heart" won the best revival prize and two actors from the AIDS drama — Ellen Barkin and John Benjamin Hickey — also won. Barkin, making her Broadway debut, was declared the best actress in a featured role in a play, while Hickey took home the male equivalent honor.
"It's the proudest moment of my career. Being involved in something this important is I think a once-in-a-career opportunity," said Barkin. Hickey warned his family in Texas that they'd better not be watching the Heat-Mavericks game instead of the Tonys.
Kramer's historic play about the beginning of an epidemic that has killed millions won the Tony 26 years after it was first mounted at the Public Theater. "Learn from it and carry on the fight," he said. "Our day will come."
John Larroquette, in his Broadway debut, won the award for best actor in a featured role in a musical for "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying." He thanked his co-star Daniel Radcliffe, who was not nominated, saying that without the "Harry Potter" star he'd be "home, sitting in my underwear, watching this on television."
Away from the television cameras, "The Book of Mormon" won for orchestration, sound design, scenic design of a musical, score and book of a musical. "War Horse" won for best sound design of a play and best scenic design of a play, and "Priscilla Queen of the Desert" got the costume award for flamboyant fantasies created by Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardiner.
Host Neil Patrick Harris began the show at the Beacon Theatre with an exuberant, facetious song about how Broadway isn't just for gay people any more. The number featured a bevy of dancing nuns, sailors, flight attendants and Mormons: "Attention every breeder, you're invited to the theater!" He later mocked "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark," sang with Hugh Jackson and rode one of the puppet horses of "War Horse."
The ceremony was rolling along fine until Brooke Shields had to be bleeped after forgetting the lyrics and flubbing an opening song with Harris. "I can do eight performances a week but I can't read a TelePrompTer," she joked.
This year's Tonys were on Manhattan's Upper West Side after the ceremony was forced to leave its longtime home at Radio City Music Hall because Cirque du Soleil moved in. Tony producers picked the 3,000-seat Beacon Theatre, which has only about half as many seats as Radio City.
___
Online:
http://www.TonyAwards.com
___
AP Television Writer Frazier Moore and National Writer Jocelyn Noveck contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

 

By MARK KENNEDY, AP Drama Writer

6 Driving Tactics to Save Gas This Summer

 

Gas is near $4 per gallon, but you don't need to buy a new car to get better mileage on your road trip this summer. PM put fuel-sipping advice to the test by outfitting an ordinary ten-year-old car with an extremely accurate fuel economy gauge and trying out all the gas-saving driving tactics we could think of. We bring you the six strategies that work, plus more quick tips for better MPG.

Tactic No. 1: Coast to a Stop

Brakes are necessary (duh!), but they're inherently wasteful: They take the kinetic energy of a moving car—energy it took pricey gasoline to generate—and turn it into heat that's lost to the air. Everyone knows that accelerating until the last moment then braking hard to stop is less efficient than slowly coasting to a red light. But PM's test data (illustrated above) prove what a huge difference coasting makes. The lesson: Whenever possible, anticipate that a light will turn red and ease off the gas. Generally, the less you have to brake, the better your fuel economy.

Tactic No. 2: Avoid Slowly Crawling Up to Speed

• 
   
• By Mike Allen | Popular Mechanics
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Conventional wisdom says that jackrabbit starts consume more fuel. But it turns out that nursing your speed up to the limit too slowly also lowers mpg. How can that be? Cars get poorer fuel economy in lower gears, and accelerating too slowly prevents up-shifting at an efficient rate. The best acceleration rate varies with the vehicle, gear ratios and weight. But in our testing we found that taking 15 seconds to accelerate to 50 mph used less fuel than taking 30 seconds to reach the same speed, because the car entered its top, fuel-​saving gear sooner.

Tactic No. 3: Close Windows and Use A/C at High Speeds

It's a fierce efficiency debate: Open the windows in summer to avoid running your energy-intensive air conditioner, or keep the windows closed and the a/c on to preserve your car's aerodynamic profile. (We'll leave aside the option of sweating it out.) PM's testing settled the issue. Driving at 55 mph with the a/c running, we got 24 mpg; turning it off bumped us up to 28 mpg. Then we opened all four windows, one at a time, and lost 1 mpg per window until we were back at 24 mpg. So at that speed, it's a wash. But aerodynamic drag rises exponentially with speed­—the faster you go, the more the open windows hurt efficiency. The answer? Below 55 mph, open the windows and leave the a/c off. But at 60 mph or higher, keeping them closed and the air conditioning running will burn less fuel

 

 

 

Tactic No. 4: Cruise at a Slower Speed

Since the power required to overcome aerodynamic drag is a function of the velocity cubed (in other words, it shoots up quickly), a car's jump from 40 to 60 mph requires less fuel than the increase from 60 to 80 mph. (The hit to fuel efficiency is roughly twice as severe in the higher range.) So go slower, right? Well, yeah, but fuel efficiency isn't the only thing that matters. Some studies suggest that the old 55-mph limit saved fuel but cost us more in terms of lost work hours. Then there's safety: Going 55 mph when traffic is cruising at 70 can be dangerous to everyone. Just don't go 80. That will drain your tank quickly—and the costs add up if you also have to pay for a speeding ticket.

Tactic No. 5: Climb Slowly (When It's Safe)

Imagine driving on a flat highway and approaching an overpass. From a fuel-efficiency standpoint, the best strategy is to turn off cruise control and forget about maintaining a constant speed up and down both sides of the grade. The theory predicts that, and our data prove it. The physics work like this: Lifting off the accelerator while traveling up the hill and allowing your speed to decay trades some kinetic energy (related to speed) for potential energy (related to the car's tendency to roll downhill). You regain the kinetic energy—and get better gas mileage—on the backside. While hyper-milers—who are obsessed with getting the best possible gas mileage—claim significant economy benefits from this technique, our results showed only modest gains. Two things did happen, though: (1) We drew the wrath of a lot of drivers following us, as evidenced by their single-​finger salutes; (2) We were nearly sideswiped by an impatient 18-wheeler. Yes, the method does work. But we'll save it for lightly traveled roads.

Tactic No. 6: When Coasting Downhill, Leave the Car in Gear

There are those who refuse to be shaken from the practice of coasting downhill in neutral to save gas. This is a bad idea no matter how you look at it. Let's set aside fuel economy for a moment. Coasting downhill in neutral is illegal in most states. And it's dangerous in all states. In neutral, you have no way to accelerate to avoid a hazard, and if the engine stalls, you have no power steering or vacuum boost for the brakes. If the hill is steep enough to call for hitting the brakes to keep you from gaining speed, they're more likely to overheat—and overheated brakes lose effectiveness until they cool off. They'll probably do that right around the time the police show up to take the accident report.

Here's the surprise: There's no trade-off between safety and fuel economy in this case. Leaving the car in gear while coasting downhill actually is more efficient. Why?

Most fuel-injected engines today use computer-controlled Deceleration Fuel Cut Off: When you lift your foot from the gas while leaving the car in gear, injectors shut off automatically, and the car's rotating tires—which are connected to the engine via the transmission—keep the engine turning and the accessories running. So, the engine consumes no fuel at all while the vehicle is coasting downhill.

In contrast, the fuel-consumption rate for an engine idling in neutral falls between 0.2 and 0.4 gallons per hour (gph). Splitting the difference and using 0.3 gph for our example, idling in neutral down a ½-mile-long hill consumes fuel for 30 seconds, for a total of about 0.32 ounces of gas. Popping the car into neutral actually wastes gas.

This may seem counter-intuitive, but that's what data are for—replacing good guesses with solid facts. Watch the data, and over time the savings will take care of itself.

Fuel-Sipping Basics

Monitor Tire Pressure
Keep your tires properly inflated, because low pressure increases rolling resistance. Few drivers check and adjust their tire pressure often, but it's a good idea to do it once a week.

Plan Errands Carefully
Reduce the miles you drive by running all your errands in one trip. Making a run to the dry cleaner and then picking up the kids after soccer practice? Don't make separate outings. A little bit of foresight will stretch your fuel economy.

Warm Up the Engine
Cars get better fuel economy when the engine is warm. So if you have a three-stop run, hit the farthest destination first, then work your way back home. A fully warmed-up engine will remain at an efficient temperature even if it's parked for 30 minutes.

Make Right Turns Only
FedEx does it, and the MythBusters proved it works: When city driving, make as many right turns as possible, even if it means going a few hundred yards out of the way. Reducing loiter time—or idling while waiting for traffic to clear—saves gas.

Avoid Ethanol When Possible
Gasoline that has been cut with 10 or 15 percent ethanol, called E10 or E15, is an mpg killer. Why? Gasoline stores more energy than ethanol (119,000 Btu per gallon vs 80,000). So it takes more ethanol than gasoline to go the same distance.