The sky at night: 50 things you never knew about the full moon

So it's not just a matter of superstition. According to a police study, the lunar event coincides with an increase in hooliganism. Jonathan Brown and Rebecca Bowle shed some light on the celestial phenomenon

Published: 07 June 2007

1 The full moon is a lunar phase occurring when the moon is on the opposite side of the earth from the sun and all three bodies are aligned in a straight line. Viewed from earth, the near side of the moon is fully illuminated by the sun giving it the familiar circular appearance.

2 It is only during a full moon that the dark side of the moon - the hemisphere on the opposite side to the sun - is completely dark.

3 Lunar eclipses - caused by the passage of the earth's shadow across the illuminated hemisphere - only occur during a full moon. However, because of the angle of tilt of both bodies the moon normally passes either north or south of the earth's shadow.

4 The chances of being bitten by a dog are twice as high during a full moon, according to a study at Bradford Royal Infirmary, which reviewed 1,621 cases of dog bite between 1997 and 1999. However, a study at the University of Sydney in Australia concluded there was no identifiable relationship between the state of the moon and dog bites.

5 Gervaise of Tilbury, a 13th-century canon lawyer, was the first to link the full moon with the transformation into a werewolf. Writing in his Otia Imperialia he reports cases in the Auvergne, below. The philosopher Gottfried Leibniz described the popular work as a "bagful of foolish old woman's tales".
6 The full moon occurs every 29.5 days - the duration of one complete lunar cycle.

7 The female menstrual cycle has long been linked to the full phase of the moon. One theory is that prehistoric men were more likely to go hunting during their womenfolk's period because of taboos associated with blood. The most profitable time to hunt was during the full moon and the best way to convince the men to return with food was with the prospect of sex.

8 Neo-pagans, including followers of Wicca, hold a monthly ritual based around the full moon called an Esbat. The term has been linked to the writings of the controversial anthropologist Margaret Murray.

9 The second full moon occurring within a calendar month is called a Blue Moon. The latest was seen on 31st May 2007. Far from being a rare event this phenomenon occurs once every three years on average.

10 "Blue Moon", which was written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart in 1934, became a standard ballad and was recorded by singers such as Frank Sinatra and Bob Dylan. The most famous version was recorded by the doo-wapp band the Marcels, above, in 1961, selling more than one million copies.

11 The world's tidal ranges are at their maximum during the full moon when the sun, earth and moon are in line. Sailors know the effect as the spring tide - a reference to the leap in the water level rather than the season of the year.

12 The only month that can occur without a full moon is February.

13 Farmers refer to the harvest moon, the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox, which normally occurs in September. It is also called the elk calling moon or the wine moon.

14 A full Moon is considered unlucky if it occurs on a Sunday but lucky on Monday or moon day

15 According to superstition a male child is more likely to be conceived at full moon.

16 In October 1939 in Springfield, Missouri, the full moon appeared to fall from the sky. The event was reported in the local newspaper but was later revealed to be a plunging weather balloon.

17 The Gregorian calendar dates Easter as the first Sunday after the ecclesiastical full moon - the first to occur after the vernal equinox. It is also known as the egg moon.

18 The Chinese Lantern Festival, dating back to the Han dynasty, is staged on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month after the new year. Chinese communities celebrate across the world by lighting lanterns and feasting on glutinous rice.

19 The Lunar Society, which included Erasmus Darwin, James Watt and Josiah Wedgewood, took its name from the practice of holding monthly meetings on the Monday nearest to the full moon. Members referred to themselves as the Lunatics.

20 A three-month psychological study of 1,200 inmates at Armley jail in Leeds in 1998 showed a rise in violent incidents in the days either side of a full moon.

21 Scientists have long battled to explain the "moon illusion" - whereby the full moon appears to be larger the closer it is to the horizon. The phenomenon is understood to be caused by human perception rather than the magnifying effect of the earth's atmosphere.

22 Timber harvests in South America and South-east Asia are avoided during the full moon because it causes the sap to rise in trees, which in turn attracts deathwatch beetles which can devastate crops.

23 Thousands of revellers gather each month on the beach at Koh Phangan in Thailand, below, to celebrate the full moon and dance the night away.

24 The native American Algonquin tribes in New England give each full moon of the year a name such as the beaver moon, the sturgeon moon and the strawberry moon.

25 The next full moon will occur on 30 June 2007.

26 The full moon may appear round, but is actually shaped like an egg with the pointed end facing earth.

27 The dark spots on the full moon that create the nursery-rhyme man in the moon image are actually basins filled up to five miles deep with basalt, a dense mineral. Other facial features are actually "seas" of frozen lava and sharp, rugged mountains.

28 In China, the dark shadows forming the man in the full moon are seen as a toad. The toad is considered one of the five poisons of yin. It is believed that eclipses occur when the toad in the full moon tries to swallow the moon itself.

29 The Moonlight Sonata, by Ludwig von Beethoven, left, is probably the most widely recognised classical work associated with the full moon. The name comes not from the composer but from a critic who compared the piece to the effect of moonlight on Lake Lucerne.

30 The innuit of Greenland believe the full moon is a hungry god, Anningan, who is intent on eating his sister, the sun goddess, Malina. Their cat-and-mouse sibling chase follows the cycle of the day, with Malina rising as Anningan sets and the cycle of the moon, with the chase waning when the moon is full.

31 The RAF used the moon to launch its first successful attack on a German city when planes attacked Lubeck in 1942.

32 Wesak, the most important of the Buddhist festivals, left, is celebrated on the full moon in May. It celebrates the Buddha's birthday and, for some Buddhists, also marks his birth and death.

33 The full moon is the brightest object in the night sky. It has an apparent magnitude of -12.6 compared with the Sun's of -26.8.

34 The Slovakian psychiatrist Eugen Jonas created a method of birth control and fertility based on the full moon.

35 An analysis of the birthdays of 4,256 babies born in a clinic in France found no relationship between the full moon and fertility.

36 A study by Tübingen University, Germany, claimed that police reports for 50 new and full moon cycles showed that the moon is responsible for binge drinking.

37 A telescopic drawing of the full moon by the English mathematician Thomas Harriot, right, from early August 1609, is the first on record and preceded the Italian physicist Galileo's study by several months.

38 Renaissance artists traditionally depicted the moon as a crescent rather than in its full phase.

39 The full moon is said to be at perigee when it is full at the same moment its orbit brings it closest to the earth. However, the moon appears imperceptibly brighter at this time.

40 The Great Moon Hoax of 1835, above, was perpetrated by Richard Adams Locke for the New York Sun. His story claimed that the eminent scientist Sir John Hershel had spotted furry winged men resembling bats on the surface of a full moon.

41 The full moon is at its highest altitude from the Earth during the winter seaaon.

42 Some insomnia sufferers claim to sleep worse during a full moon; although others say they sleep more soundly.

43 It is a common misperception that the first Apollo landing occurred during a full moon. This did not occur until more than a week later.

44 The moon is 10 times brighter when it is full than when it is in a quarter phase.

45 Pagans believe the most mystical time at Stonehenge is when the full moon wanes leaving the earth to be reunited with her lover, the sun at dawn.

46 The honeymoon is named after the full moon in June. As it fell between the planting and harvesting of crops this was traditionally the best month to get married.

47 The oldest lunar calendar, showing the full moon was discovered in caves at Lascaux in France. It dates back 15,000 years and marks the phases of the moon, with a series of dots depicting the days in the cycle.

48 In 2001, the first test match between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe had to be postponed by one day due to new Siri Lankan government rule, which bans playing sport on a full moon.

49 The Californian grunion only spawns on the three or four nights after the highest tide associated with each full moon. The fish come ashore to lay their eggs.

50 In a study of 1,000 tonsillectomy operations, 82 per cent of post-operative bleeding crises occurred nearer the full moon than the new moon, according to the Journal of the Florida Medical Association.

The genetic revolution

The discovery of genes responsible for seven of the most common illnesses offers hope to millions of sufferers
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
Published: 07 June 2007

A groundbreaking study into the genetic basis of disease has opened the door to new ways of understanding and treating common illnesses affecting millions of people - from manic depression to heart disease.

Scientists have announced the first results of the biggest and most comprehensive investigation into the genes behind seven medical disorders, using a revolutionary approach for analysing vast tracts of the human genome.
The findings have been described as an unprecedented tour de force for British science involving 50 research groups and 200 scientists who pioneered the approach of studying common diseases by analysing the DNA of thousands of people.

The two-year, £9m study took DNA samples from 17,000 people across the UK and built up a database handling 10 billion items of genetic information. It will lead to a new understanding of illnesses as varied as high blood pressure, bipolar disorder and rheumatoid arthritis.
Initial findings from the study released yesterday identified a dozen genes or tiny "point mutations" in the human genome that appear to increase the risk of someone developing a particular disorder during his or her lifetime.

One unexpected result was finding the first genetic link between type 1 diabetes and a bowel condition called Crohn's disease ­ both were associated with a gene known as PTPN2.
Scientists involved in the study said the research promised to open the way to an era of "personalised" medicine in which doctors routinely analyse the DNA of patients to find out which drugs their genes are best suited for ­ rather than the existing approach of "one size fits all".
In addition, the methodology of the study could ultimately tease apart the role of nature and nurture in the creation of a person's psyche, making it possible to understand why some people are prone to developing mental illness such as manic depression or schizophrenia.

"Many of the most common diseases are very complex, part of 'nature' and 'nurture', with genes interacting with our environment and lifestyles," said Professor Peter Donnelly of Oxford University, the leader of the scientific consortium behind the study.

"By identifying the genes underlying these conditions, our study should enable scientists to understand better how disease occurs, which people are most at risk and, in time, to produce more effective, more personalised treatments.

"The new approach works well and reliably. Our understanding of the genetics of common diseases will change enormously over the coming years. I think we are just scratching the surface."

The study, published in the journal Nature, came out of the mammoth effort during the 1990s to decode the entire three billion "letters" of the human genome. It was co-ordinated by the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium, and funded by the Wellcome Trust, the world's biggest medical research charity.
By analysing the smallest differences in the genetic sequences of patients with a disease and comparing them to the DNA of healthy people, the scientists were able to identify point mutations strongly associated with increasing someone's risk of that illness. The scientists found, for instance, three new genes that each appeared to increase the risk of someone developing Crohn's disease by between 20 and 40 per cent, compared with the risk within the general population.
Thousands of people affected by at least one of the seven diseases gave blood samples that were analysed by sophisticated DNA "chips". These can rifle through huge regions of a person's genome to locate point mutations that are different from the general population.
Mark Walport, director of the Wellcome Trust, said: "Just a few years ago it would have been thought wildly optimistic that it would be possible in the near future to study a thousand genetic variants in each of a thousand people.
"What has been achieved in this research is the analysis of half a million genetic variants in each of 17,000 individuals, with the discovery of more than 10 genes that predispose to common diseases."

Britain is in the process of establishing a vast databank of human DNA called UK Biobank ­ the biggest of its kind in the world ­ which will store the genes of half a million people who will be closely monitored for the rest of their lives for correlations between genes and disease.
Dr Walport said the findings of the latest study were proof that the UK Biobank approach of analysing DNA on such a large scale will work in terms of finding out why some people fall seriously ill. "This research shows it is possible to analyse human variation in health and disease on an enormous scale," Dr Walport said.

"It shows the importance of studies such as the UK Biobank, which is seeking half a million volunteers aged between 40 and 69, with the aim of understanding the links between health, the environment and genetic variation," he said.

The latest findings come just weeks after scientists used a similar approach to identify four new genes that play a small but significant role in increasing a woman's risk of developing breast cancer, and an earlier discovery of a gene that confers a 70 per cent higher risk of becoming obese.

Professor Donnelly said that it was possible to search for the genetic basis of disease in a fundamentally different way than in the past when the emphasis was on finding the cause of single-gene disorders in families affected by disorders such as cystic fibrosis and Huntington's chorea.
"We are now able to effectively scan most of the common variation in the human genome to look for variants associated with diseases. This approach will undoubtedly herald major advances in how we understand and tackle disease in the future," Professor Donnelly said.

TREATABLE ILLNESSES...

Bipolar disorder
Also known as manic depression, it affects 100 million people around the world

Coronary heart disease
The most frequent cause of death in Britain, with 100,000 victims every year. By 2020, it will be the biggest killer in the world

Hypertension
High blood pressure affects 16 million people in Britain. Can lead to stroke, heart disease and kidney failure

Rheumatoid arthritis
Nearly 400,000 people in Britain are afflicted with this auto-immune disease of the joints

Type 1 diabetes
Diabetic condition in which sufferers have to inject insulin. Affects 350,000 people in UK

Type 2 diabetes
Almost 2 million Britons are affected by this late-onset disease, which is linked with the growing obesity epidemic

Crohn's disease
Up to 60,000 people are affected by this debilitating bowel condition which can cause distress and pain for a lifetime

new york new york.....

..................................................................

Massacre on campus: 32 students shot dead at American college

A gunman rampaged across the campus of a large technical college in rural Virginia yesterday, killing at least 32 people in two separate locations before shooting himself in what criminologists said was the worst mass killing of its kind in American history.

The man, who was not immediately identified, began shooting at a dormitory in the early hours of the morning in what authorities at first assumed was a limited domestic dispute. Two hours later, he opened fire again, in a building housing Virginia Tech's engineering school, and this time he created carnage.

"All I saw was blood in the hallways," said Gene Cole, a cleaner at the building who saw a man with a hat on and holding a gun before fleeing along a corridor and down a flight of stairs.
Eyewitness reports suggested the gunman went from room to room, opening fire, seemingly at random. Several students and staff members jumped out of windows to escape. At least two faculty members were shot, one seriously, along with several dozen students. The number of injured is in double figures.

Some students suggested the gunman was a jilted boyfriend who tracked down and killed his former girlfriend first before rounding up his other victims. Many were outraged that they were not properly warned after the first incident. The university administration sent an email at around 9.30am, more than two hours after the incident in the dormitory and around the time of the second, more sustained shooting spree.

Both Virginia Tech's president, Charles Steger, and the head of the campus police, Wendell Flinchum, said they believed the first incident was a one-off crime and that the perpetrator had left campus. "You can second-guess all day," Chief Flinchum told a news conference. We acted on the best information we had."

Mr Steger said his university was experiencing a tragedy of "monumental proportions". Virginia's governor, Tim Kaine, declared a state of emergency, and politicians from President George Bush down expressed shock and offered the condolences.

According to media reports, citing law enforcement officials, the gunman was armed with two 9mm handguns. Chief Flinchum confirmed that the man shot himself at the end of the rampage, but gave no details on his identity or any possible motives. Rumours flying around campus suggested that he was a student of Asian origin, but it was not possible to corroborate this.
Officials said the gunman acted alone. But at one point three people were seen being escorted away from Norris Hall, the teaching building where most of the shootings took place, in handcuffs. That raised at least the possibility of a wider criminal conspiracy.

The university email system buzzed with eyewitness accounts and scrappy footage shot on mobile phone cameras. Amie Steele, editor of the campus newspaper, described the scene as "mass chaos", with students running around in panic and police trying to keep them calm.
Campus police sealed off the 26,000-acre facility, and squad cars jammed streets and car parks. Virginia state police and at least two federal agencies, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, were on the scene.

The violence broke out at about 7.15am on the fourth floor of the West Ambler Johnston dormitory building. At least two people were shot there, according to first reports. Two students, probably fearing for their lives, jumped out of a window and were seen groaning on the ground below. "One kid broke his ankle and the other girl was not in good shape, just lying on the ground," an eyewitness, Matt Waldron, told CNN. "It was kind of scary."

It took a couple of hours for most people to realise what had happened. Residents at West Ambler Johnston, which houses 895 students, heard university officials knocking on their doors and urging them to stay put. " We were all locked in our dorms surfing the internet trying to figure out what was going on," one student, Aimee Kanode, told reporters.

However, nobody at that stage was prevented from entering campus or going to labs and classrooms. At 9.30, a student, Hector Takahashi, was in class in a building near Norris Hall where the conversation was all about the dormitory shootings. "Then, all of a sudden, we were like, 'whoa, were those shots?'"

He heard two quick bangs, then a pause, then a fusillade of at least 30 more shots, he said. Police later estimated that the gunman had killed at least 20 people in Norris Hall.

Not everyone was alerted to the danger at the same speed. "It was a little nerve-racking," said David Harris, a worker at the campus's Center for Applied Behavioral Systems. He couldn't hear the mayhem unfolding in Norris, but received first one email and then another announcing a shooting on campus and urging everyone to stay away from windows.

Then the security operation went into high gear. "Swat teams were yelling for everyone to clear the area. I ran across the drillfield," a student, Erin Burdick, wrote by email. Over the university loudspeaker system a voice began to intone, over and over: "This is an emergency, seek shelter indoors immediately."

It took campus police another three hours to give the all clear.
Even without a final death toll, this was easily the deadliest attack on an American university campus, surpassing the events of August 1966 at the University of Texas in Austin, where a deranged man shot his wife and mother, then climbed a tower and opened fire on students milling below. The toll was 15 ­ the same number as died at Columbine High School in April 1999 in what remains America's most lethal mass school shooting.

Experts agreed that the toll at Virginia Tech is a grim milestone. " There is no national precedent for this," said Catherine Bath of Security on Campus Inc, a non-profit group that tracks shootings at schools and colleges.

Blacksburg, the town which hosts Virginia Tech and its 26,000 students, is in a remote part of Virginia sandwiched between the borders with West Virginia to the north and west and North Carolina to the south. This is not, however, the first time it has come face to face with violence, or the prospect of violence. As recently as last Friday, a bomb threat prompted the closure of three campus buildings. A similar, written bomb threat arrived at the university at the beginning of the month. It is not yet known if the shootings and bomb threats are related.

The President's response
Once the scale of the massacre became clear, George Bush issued a statement. He said: "Schools should be places of safety and sanctuary and learning. When that sanctuary is violated, the impact is felt in every American class and in every American community. Today our nation grieves with those who have lost loved ones at Virginia Tech. We hold the victims in our hearts. We lift them up in our prayers and we ask a loving God to comfort those who are suffering today."

He said the federal government would "do everything possible" to assist the investigation. "We would stand ready to help local law enforcement and the local community in any way we can," he said.
Sadie Gray

An idyllic campus
Virginia Tech is one of the better-known US universities, with an excellent reputation for engineering. It ranks ninth in the US in that subject in university league tables, 34th overall. Former alumni include the Home Office minister Tony McNulty and Charlie Byrd, the jazz guitarist. Its 28,470 students enjoy an idyllic location on a campus that sprawls across 2,600 acres of land in the town of Blacksburg in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Founded in 1872, it is one of only two civilian universities in the US with a corps of cadets who undergo military training on campus. Until 1966 it was a requirement for all male students to have received military training.

AT DAVE`S

BEAUTIFUL day in London...Dave just moved into his husband-to-be flat,we payed him a visit.
he lives in the docklands now..nice area..
he also has a terrace,,that where th epics were taken on this sunny day...

Vand D

david`s angels...

Marie-david-ruth

Out again...weird pics..!!!

hehehe...close focus..

cut faces..!!

whos that girl??

trop de blabla

probably the only normal & nice pic taken

Plan B on Saturday!

went to Plan B,in BRIXTON...to celebrate manu`s saturday...whatever that means!!!!

lets get the part started!!!

cheeky girls!

Italia vs Columbia

orlanda and manu

full team

Manu and the girls

last days..

pap et v

art!!??

a l`universite de canterbury

apres un gros "whopper"

pap et vero

papa et la ..fontaine de jouvence..

papa..le chevalier..

DAY 2

London:Day 1 with dad & domi

FIRST DAY in London..sorry I ve started with the end of the night...oops!!!

click here for more photos

BAR SALSA

LONDON `S EYE

CHINATOW

Chinatown-new year eve

The Quote.

Purpose is so Key in life...if not there how do you motivate yourselves ????......

Thousands to police smoking ban

Thousands of council staff are being trained to police the smoking ban in bars, restaurants and shops in England.

Ministers have given councils £29.5m to pay for staff, who will be able to give on-the-spot £50 fines to individuals and take court action against premises.
They will have the power to enter premises undercover, allowing them to sit among drinkers, and will even be able to photograph and film people.

Smokers' groups and industry officials said the plans were a "waste of money".
The smoking ban is due to come into force on 1 July. It covers virtually all enclosed public places including offices, factories, pubs and bars. But neither outdoor space nor private homes will be affected.

The idea of getting public officials to snoop on people is distasteful and disproportionate Simon Clark, Forest

Business owners also have a duty to ensure their customers comply - they are liable for £200 fines if proper signs are not displayed and, potentially, fines of £2,500 if they refuse to enforce the ban.

Local authorities have been given the power to enforce the ban so it does not consume police time.

A government-funded course is expected to train 1,200 council officers in the next few months with more expected to follow later.

Councils will use these fully-trained officers to brief other staff on how to enforce the law as many towns and cities will have scores of officers patrolling public places.
The teams will be made up of new staff and existing officers who will be freed up to carry out inspections.

In London, there will be several hundred of the so-called anti-smoking police, with 40 in Westminster alone.

Two approaches

Ian Gray, policy officer for the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health and chief trainer for the government course, said he expected most councils would take a "softly, softly approach" at first.

"But there will be some occasions where action has to be taken and I am sure the compliance officers will not shy away from that," he added.

"These officers do not have to identify themselves when they go into premises and they can even film and photograph people to gather evidence although this may not be appropriate in many cases.

"There will be two ways of doing this, either staff can go in and identify themselves to the landlord, but they don't have to."
We want to make our presence felt from the start Andy Hull, Liverpool City Council
In Nottingham, there will be about 30 officers patrolling the city, comprised of new staff and existing environmental health officers.

But the council is also exploring the possibility of getting street wardens, who currently aid the local police force, to help ensure the ban is effectively enforced.

Steve Dowling, director of environment and public protection at Nottingham City Council, said: "We have about 100 wardens and they could keep an eye on whether people are smoking in pubs as they go about their other duties.

"But it is not just about pubs and restaurants.

"We will also be looking at the likes of car garages and shops are complying as well."
'A sledgehammer'

In Liverpool, there will be a core team of about 20 to 25 staff keeping an eye on public places, although in the first few days after the start of the ban the council is planning to do a mass patrol of the city with 200 staff.

Liverpool City Council official Andy Hull said: "We want to make our presence felt from the start, and while we will probably just issue warnings on the first day, we won't be afraid of making an example of people or businesses if they try to make a stand."

But Simon Clark, director of smokers' lobby group Forest, said: "The idea of getting public officials to snoop on people is distasteful and disproportionate.

"It is like taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Smokers will abide the law so it will be a complete waste of public money."

And a spokesman for the British Beer and Pub Association added the approach was too "heavy-handed and elaborate".

"In Scotland, there have been just 11 fixed penalty notices issued to premises in the last 10 months, with many councils having issued none at all."

HILLSONG VALENTINES` @ PACHA

Valentines` party at the Pacha club in London,we rented the place and threw the best party ever so far this year...it s was amazing....the music was excellent thanks to Tito....the food..miamm...the people marvelous...the smoke...no where to be seen ...everyone I believe had a fantastic night.....

ruthy

THE ROSES`

THE SHOW

?????

THE VENUE

ALL

BYE BYE SMOKING..IN PARIS

Bidding goodbye to the Gauloises

By Caroline Wyatt BBC News, Paris

What could be more French than sitting in a cafe enjoying a coffee and a cigarette, watching the world go by?

Not any more. The plumes of smoke that once wreathed the great thoughts of Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, as they puffed away at the café Les Deux Magots on the Left Bank, have been banished by the chill winds of change.

France has imposed a ban on smoking in public places, so Les Deux Magots is now strictly "non-fumeur": a smoke-free zone.

That famous French chain-smoker Serge Gainsbourg once sang an anthem to the habit, entitled "God smokes Havana cigars".

Well, if He does, He will no longer be smoking them in this cafe nor in many others - and absolutely not in offices or government buildings.

Cafe philosophy
Perhaps surprisingly, the move is backed by a majority of the French, and even by a majority of smokers.
The French writer Olivier Todd was a friend of the late, great smoker, Jean-Paul Sartre, and remembers breathing in his philosophy along with the fumes of Sartre's ever-present Gauloises in Les Deux Magots and Cafe Flore on the Left Bank.
Yet, though he feels a pang of nostalgia for the old days, Olivier Todd believes it is time for France to change.

"Those who smoke enjoy cigarettes after a meal or after making love can still do so. It's just that you won't necessarily be able to do so in a restaurant or cafe any more," he tells me, as he looks wistfully at his packet of cigarettes.

"So the ban in public places will not change things - we can still smoke in private. There will not be a revolution, a May '68 over cigarettes, that's for sure. And it will help people to give up."

French paradox
Monsieur Todd pats the nicotine chewing gum he now keeps in his top pocket as a substitute while in smoke-free areas.
This is supposed to be a place of pleasure where you can relax, and smoking is part of that Gregory Bianchi, teacher

For this is a typical French paradox - smoking in public places such as airports, railway stations, hospitals, offices and schools is now forbidden.

But restaurants, cafes, casinos and bars have until December to allow their customers to get used to the idea of their morning coffee without their "clope" or fag.
Yet the owner of Les Deux Magots, Catherine Mathivat, the great-grand-daughter of its original "patron", says she was keen to ban smoking as soon as possible, and is glad to be getting rid of the smoke.

"It will be good for the employees," she says, gesturing at the smartly-attired waiters.
"They are always in a smoky environment, and they get bronchitis and other diseases because of it.

HAVE YOUR SAY Smoking inevitably affects others, and that's the issue Richard Evans, Leeds, UK

"A lot of writers used to come to Les Deux Magots and they used to drink a coffee or a glass of wine while they smoked, but I think that things have changed. The writers of today are not so addicted to cigarettes."

French identity
Her customers agree. Some 70% of the French support the ban, and, in these health-conscious times, customers at Les Deux Magots are appropriately philosophical about the change.
"People have started accepting the fact that smoking is not the thing to do. They have lost so many of their friends to lung cancer that they know that it means something," says Yves.
"I think it's a good thing - too many young people smoke. The ban is good for everyone," insists Rene, himself a smoker.

But in a cafe across the river, the Sarah Bernhardt on Place du Chatelet, there is one last Frenchman willing to defy the ban.

Teacher Gregory Bianchi looks around, rolls a cigarette and defiantly lights up.
"I believe in the right to fresh air, but I believe that it's also a right to smoke in a public place," he says.

"This is supposed to be a place of pleasure where you can relax, and smoking is part of that. They should have smoking restaurants and bars, and non-smoking restaurants and bars. That would be fair."

From today, thousands of French police will have the right to stop and fine smokers they catch flouting the ban, with a penalty of 68 euros or just under £50.

Nearly 16 years after his death, Serge Gainsbourg may be turning in his grave, as a little spark of French identity is finally extinguished for the greater good of the Republique's health, as France finally ends its long love affair with the cigarette.

Ma petite Maman cherie..

Pour Ma petite Maman cherie..

ne t inquietes pas...tout va bien dans le plus laid des monde..haha

j aime bien de temps en temps faires des petites ((ou grandes)) refelctions sur la vie etc....et comme je suis de temperament melancolique c est toujours un peu dramatique.....

L avie a ces hauts et ces bas et surtout un vie avec le Seigneur est toujours tres tulmuteuse et pleine de rebondies auquelles ont ne s attends pas toujours...tout cela pour nous rappeler que Jesus etant Dieu il est souverain..mais franchement je dois dire qu il m`a vraiment surpris la annee derniere...

et comme d habitude je me suis "enguelee" avec lui ( mais cela c est une de mes mauvaise habitude)..ce que je n aurais pas dut faire du tout..et je ne voulais pas parler a Jesus pendant quelques temps( j faisais la "gueule") et bien sur resutat je n etais pas bien du tout puisqu`il ne mais pas possible de vivre sans lui ...

et Voila...ma petite maman....j epere que je t ai un peu rassurer...

bisous plein d amourrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

vero

Ps: sorry to my english-speaking bloggers..I had to do it in french is addressed to my mum...just needeed to reassure her after she had the previous post translated..she panicked...

xxx
vero

I took contentment for granted.....

I took contentment for granted .........and it was almost fatal.

2006 was the worst year ever in my life ( fom what I remenber of it anyway..)

I rhink that if I was to single one reason why it was so..it would be because,...( see the title..)//

what do I mean by taking contentment for granted...taking unspeaknle joy for granted...happyiness for granted...

all of that was mine but I decided that it was nothing and and on a journey to blame God for not having more..belittling these...

the result : frustation..un-happyness..misery...things I was used to even though I though I was...

it s when things are taking away from u that u realised that u had them..that they were so present in ur life...and so crucial..

I went on a journey( sparing"u" the details) a journey to deny all of that ..a journey of being of doing and not being...oh dear it was awful...

where before I could spend so much time just being with "Him" and chilling out...also spending time in my own comonay was all fien...but then .......everything changed...

I couldnt anymore do that it had become realllyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy hard...

I couldnt stand his voice anymore..and was running away fromHim...helped by all kinds of"means"...

trying to fill up my thoughts with all kinds n sorts provided it was not of Him...

in the process inventing ways to hurt Him because I was upset at Him...

anyway...little by little I lost this "explainable"peace .lost this Joy from above...

After trying everything else and after everyhting ran out of effect...( work-hobbies-friendship..etc..)

I was back to square one...

like 13 yrs ago before I got to know him...peaceless...joyless...everyhting-less.....

Oh dear I felt weird..

I had been so used to being happy...with trials Yes ..but nevertheless very happy..very content..

it was a weird state of heart...

I couldnt stand work anymore...I got bored at everyhting very quickly....I didnt even like to watch "bollywood movies"..anymore..now I coul relate to my friends who found these long movies boring...( that was quite a revelation to me..)

I hated to listen to worship music...

I think the worst of all..Is that I couldnt stand the reading the book of life anymore..that was sth ..it had become completely irrelevant to me...I just couldnt .....

Anyway...

A relationship with the King of Kings is really something full of suprises///

I really wouldnt have thought getting that low in my relationship with him...

but Once thing I know is that I cant live without Him////

that`s for sure...

I dont care how much I don`t understand him...or how much I do..

hopefully no way ..Ill try again....

when uve tested the gift of Heaven ...nothing tastes better....Nothing...

and the "little " we take for granted are the biggest things in life...the more precious...

this life is so hard that one needs this peace,joy,contentment from Heaven..to make it through...

So what can I say I am not figthing it off...anymore...

Bring it on ....

Party at Dave`s...

SATURDAY NIGHT ...PARTY...

The chineeeeese boys

Relaxing time..

wonder what happened there!!(me.suja.ruth)

dont ask!!!

the party crowd..

FUNKY NIGHT with RUTHY

TWO PEOPLE WHO DONT HAVE ANYHTING ELSE TO DO ON A SATURDAY NIGHT...

MODELS -WANNA-BE

SCARY SPICE

MORE PICS HERE..

Record Number of Ex-Muslims Celebrate Christmas this Year

[Excerpts]More Muslims converted to faith in Jesus Christ over the past decade than at any other time in human history.
A spiritual revolution is underwaythroughout North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia.

As a result, arecord number of ex-Muslims are celebrating Christmas this year, despiteintense persecution, arrests, assassinations, and widespread churchbombings.Iraq: more than 5,000 new Muslim converts to Christianity have beenidentified since the end of major combat operations, with 14 new churchesopened in Baghdad, and dozens of new churches opened in Kurdistan, some ofwhich have 500 to 800 members.

Also, more than 1 million Bibles shipped intothe country since 2003, and pastors report Iraqis are snatching them up sofast they constantly need more Bibles. [Update: Iraqi Christians CelebrateChristmas, 12/25]Egypt: some reports say 1 million Egyptians have trusted Christ over thepast decade or so.
The Egyptian Bible Society told me they used to sellabout 3,000 copies of the JESUS film a year in the early 1990s. But lastyear they sold 600,000 copies, plus 750,000 copies of the Bible on tape (inArabic) and about a half million copies of the Arabic New Testament."Egyptians are increasingly hungry for God's Word," an Egyptian Christianleader told me. Last Christmas, I had the privilege of visiting the largestChristian congregation in the Middle East, which meets in an enormous caveon the outskirts of Cairo. Some 10,000 believers worship there everyweekend.
A prayer conference the church held in May 2005 drew some 20,000believers.Afghanistan: only 17 Muslim converts to Christianity before 9/11/01, but nowmore than 10,000. Dozens of baptisms every week.Kazakstan: only 3 known Christians in 1990, but now more than 15,000.Uzbekistan: no known Christians in 1990, but now more than 30,000.Sudan: more than 1 million Sudanese have converted to Christianity justsince 2000, and some 5 million have become Christians since the early 1990s,despite a radical Islamic regime and an on-going genocide that has killedmore than 200,000. Seminaries are being held in caves to train pastors to shepherd the huge numbers of people coming to Christ.

Why such a dramatics piritual awakening? "People have seen real Islam, and they want Jesus instead," one Sudanese evangelical leader told me.

Iran: in 1979, there were only 500 known Muslim converts to Christianity,but today Iranian pastors and evangelical leaders tell me there are morethan 1 million Iranian believers in Jesus Christ, most of whom meet inunderground house churches. [Update: Iranian authorities arrest 8 leaders ofhouse church movement.]

December 2001, Sheikh Ahmad al Qataani, a leading Saudi cleric, appeared ona live interview on Aljazeera satellite television to confirm that, sureenough, Muslims were turning to Jesus in alarming numbers. "In every hour,667 Muslims convert to Christianity," Al Qataani warned.

"Every day, 16,000Muslims convert to Christianity. Every year, 6 million Muslims convert toChristianity."Stunned, the interviewer interrupted the cleric. "Hold on! Let me clarify.

Do we have six million converting from Islam to Christianity?" Al Qataani repeated his assertion. "Every year," the cleric confirmed, adding, "a tragedy has happened."

MILK in TEA..NO GOOD!!!

Milk in tea 'blocks health gains'

Adding milk to a cup of tea can destroy its ability to protect against heart disease, according to research.

A small German study found drinking black tea significantly improved the ability of arteries to relax and expand to keep blood pressure healthy.

But the European Heart Journal paper also found proteins in milk, called caseins, blocked this effect.
It is estimated as many as 98% of UK tea-drinkers prefer milk in their favourite cuppa.
The researchers tested the effects of tea in 16 humans and on rat tissue.
They showed molecules in the tea called catechins helped dilate the blood vessels by producing a chemical called nitric oxide. The caseins in milk prevented this effect by reducing the concentration of catechins in the tea.

Our results provide a possible explanation for the lack of beneficial effects of tea on the risk of heart disease in the UK Professor Stangl

Senior researcher Dr Verena Stangl, professor of cardiology at the Charite Hospital, in Berlin, said: "Our results thus provide a possible explanation for the lack of beneficial effects of tea on the risk of heart disease in the UK, a country where milk is usually added."

However, June Davison, cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation (BHF), said: "It is difficult to say from this small study the impact of adding a drop of milk to your tea can make.

"The tea break is a great British tradition which provides time to relax with a cuppa in hand.

"Leaving milk out of your tea is far less likely to help protect your heart health than other measures, such as taking regular exercise, avoiding smoking and eating a healthy balanced diet."
Tea benefits

But Ms Davison also said the study highlighted the importance of not just thinking about one food in isolation but the effect of the actual interaction between different foods.
Prof Stangl said the study was very complex and so could only be performed on a small number of people.

Professor Andrew Steptoe of UCL's department of epidemiology and public health, who has previously carried out research into the effects of tea on recovery from stress, said that as such studies were very difficult to carry out he was not surprised that this study had been very small.
There are benefits for both black tea, with or without milk, so keep on drinking Catherine Collins
On the results of the study, he added: "We would be interested to know if that sort of effect persists long-term or if it is just an acute effect of tea."

Prof Steptoe also said that as there were about 200 bioactive compounds in tea the apparent effect of milk of vasodilation "does not necessarily mean milk negates the other effects of tea".
Catherine Collins, a dietician and spokesperson for the British Dietetic Society, agreed that tea was a "very healthy drink" and pointed out that drinking it with milk in would boost calcium intake.

She said: "There are benefits for both black tea, with or without milk, so keep on drinking."

Bill Gorman, chairman of the Tea Council, also said the study was "another very positive piece of research for tea as it's clear that the researchers recognise that tea has significant health effects".

Saving Souls in Quebec

With interest in spirituality on the rise and church attendance in a freefall, a week-long National Post series considers the state of Canadian Christianity and whether the way forward may in fact be the way backward.

JOLIETTE, Que. - When Francois Verschelden envisions the focal point of the thriving Baptist ministry he is trying to build in this small community, he has his building already picked out.
It is an abandoned government building in the centre of town, just up the road from the century-old Roman Catholic cathedral -- a location with a symbolic significance that is not lost on Pastor Verschelden, a bespectacled minister who grew up as a Catholic in this province and who knows that his life's work is all about supplanting the dominant religion here.

"In Quebec, if you change religions, they have the impression that you are rejecting the culture, the two are so intertwined," he says.

"And they don't consider evangelical churches as credible, simply because they have no knowledge of what it is."

The 43-year-old is the rancophone church planting co-ordinator of the Canadian Convention of Southern Baptists, an organization whose mission is "1,000 healthy reproducing churches by year 2020."

The goal is certainly daunting on a national scale but sounds particularly improbable in a region that remains Catholic at heart, if not in practice, and where many consider evangelical churches on a par with cults.

So alien is the U.S. version of evangelism to people in this area that the kindly- looking father of two, who became a born-again Christian when he was 19, has been ridiculed, threatened and even had parents warn their children to stay away from him for his proselytizing since returning to his home province.

So how can a single Baptist preacher turn around the prevailing attitude toward the evangelical movement?
The answer is that Pastor Verschelden has some big American backers in his campaign for religious conversion, who for a range of reasons have settled on this small Quebec community of about 50,000, about 75 kilometres northeast of Montreal, as the unlikely focus of their efforts to boost the presence of evangelismin Canada.

The movement has already had some quick success: In just four years, Pastor Verschelden has founded a church in St. Felix, north of Joliette, called Eglise du Rocher Vivant, and another, Renaissance Bible Church, in Rawdon, northwest of Joliette, and has recently started what is known as a "kitchen-table church" in the town proper.

But those, along with regularly handing out Bibles at a local flea market and putting pamphlets on car windshields, are modest ventures compared to what is planned for the new year.
Beginning in March, six successive waves of Baptist mission teams -- the largest, a group of 50 --from Texas, Kentucky, the Carolinas and British Columbia will roll into Joliette and proselytize in God's name.

By then, the first of four one-hour DVDs explaining the gospel, hosted by Pastor Verschelden in his native tongue, will have been mailed out to each of Joliette's 18,000 homes.
He says this kind of multi-media mass blitz is an entirely new way of building a church where none existed before.

"It's the largest population and target, and most expensive piece we've ever put together," says Pastor Phil Young, director of Global Reach Foundation, the south Florida Baptist ministry that is backing Pastor Verschelden in his efforts.

The foundation is an off shoot of The First Baptist Church at the Mall, a megachurch so named because it has a 37,000- square-metremall as its home.

Its congregation is 7,000 people strong, which provides the fundraising base that allows Global Reach to finance the US$100,000 cost of Pastor Verschelden's DVDs, in addition to his salary and the lease on the new building.

Its aim is to embark on what it calls "a worldwide church planting effort" that in a five-year period would establish at least 30 new evangelical congregations in "the most un-reached places on Earth" -- or what Pastor Young describes in an interview as a mission to "prayerfully hunt for places that we consider dramatically under-churched," a criteria that puts Quebec alongside such places as Albania, Moldova and Tanzania.

The decision to focus on Joliette (one of six ministries to be established by the group in 2007, bringing the total to 27 in only four years,) came after Pastor Young and a team of student missionaries toured eight areas in Quebec that they deemed statistically to be dramatically in need of an evangelical church.

After a day of walking and praying through town, the American pastor and his team experienced an "unusual spiritual experience," he says.

"It was a place where the seeds of the gospel had never been sown, at least in a long time. There was desperate void."

The irony, of course, is that the Catholic Church colonized Joliette long ago.

But by the year 2000, when weekly church attendance in Canada had dropped to around 20%, the decline was particularly pronounced among Roman Catholics, especially in Quebec.

By 2005, in another survey of monthly- plus attendance of religious services by leading sociologist Reginald Bibby, Quebec was the lowest in the country, at 22%, compared to the highest attendance by those in the Atlantic region (50%) and Manitoba/Saskatchewan (49%).

NEW YEAR EVE` PARTY

Have a Blessed Happy Clappy Year to U ALL...

Love u very much...

Here are some pics of how I spend my NY night...

ENJOY!!!

the Guys are leading...with David,Dany,Rohit..

David,Me

Party people

Ruth ,Daniel and Me.

Visitors from Paris...

My little brother ( Zaka)and 3 of my cousins( Mael,Magalie,Malika) have come to London for 3 days..

we had a little stop over at Bar Salsa,where they took a salsa class and then decided to show people from London what is dancing about..(!!!??)

WARNING:Ames Sensibles s`abtenir

The West Indians have taken over Bar Salsa...

malika,mael magalie and zaka showing those caraibean moves,,,

Zaka salsaring the lady...

Mael.Magalie and Zaka