Plug your headsets .. and enjoy.

The Day in Ramadan he left us:

If i’d count the number of times i’ve started writing this paragraph and deleted it, i would have filled a room with trashed papers.  I have no words to describe this first video, for the occasion itself is still painful to remember even after 6 years.

Every 19th of Ramadan, we remember our loss as nation.  Many people wrote articles, and books and stood behind podiums and gave their best speeches, but never did i hear a speech or read an article as honest as the video below.  His Highness Dr. Sultan Al Qassimi was awarded the Cultural Personality of last year by Sheikh Zayed Book Award.  He stood there, saying the most heart-whelming speech ever about the day we lost Sheikh Zayed, the 19th of Ramadan of 2004.

p.s. it is in Arabic, and no English translation would do it justice. But…

I Have A Dream:

On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, on August 28th 1963, a sentence changed history: “I have a dream”

Martin Luther King Jr’s Speech “I have a dream” is regarded as one of the historical speeches. And yesterday, it marked 47 years since he marched, stood there in front of more than 200,000 American and said “I have a Dream”:

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

The Monk & The Monkey

from Brendan Carroll

A determined young boy, Ragu, is sent by his master on his final quest to become a monk. A seemingly simple task becomes an unexpected challenge for Ragu as he discovers the real value of his quest.

© 2010 Brendan Carroll & Francesco Giroldini.

A lovely animation, and an sweet inspiring story.

Click here to view from your iPhone/iPad

The Monk & The Monkey

Masr

from Javier Morgade

When i saw this video, i remembered the sounds of the streets in Egypt, the smell of diesel and burnt clay, the sounds of car horns, and people talking and others yelling.  It took me to the real experience i had in Cairo – Masr as the Egyptians refer to it – It took me those narrow unpaved neighborhoods and very very poor yet happy families.. it took me to that house that served us red tea in a very humid cramped room. The real Masr ..

Click here to view from iPad/iPhone

Masr from Javier Morgade on Vimeo.

Smarties Campaign

I loved this Nestlé Australia Smarties campaign called “The 8 Colors of Fun” is targeted to children & parents by pairing a child, an adult & a color to create an artistic piece inspired by the children let it be a song, artwork, or even a story book.

The campaign is online at Facebook and YouTube.  The Smarties Facebook page includes a downloadable how-to guide with instructions for a color-related DIY art project for children.

Sal Khan: Bill Gate’s favorite teacher

When we say that “education has no borders” we mean it.  Sal Khan, a Harvard MBA student sits in his cubicle at home, with his two screens and invests heavily on youtube tutorial videos in teaching students about anything from mathematics to biology

“This guy is amazing,” Bill Gates wrote. “It is awesome how much he has done with very little in the way of resources.” Gates and his 11-year-old son, Rory, began soaking up videos, from algebra to biology. Then, several weeks ago, at the Aspen Ideas Festival in front of 2,000 people, Gates gave the 33-year-old Khan a shout-out that any entrepreneur would kill for. Ruminating on what he called the “mind-blowing misallocation” of resources away from education, Gates touted the “unbelievable” 10- to 15-minute Khan Academy tutorials “I’ve been using with my kids.” With admiration and surprise, the world’s second-richest person noted that Khan “was a hedge fund guy making lots of money.”

source

• Playlist: 1630
• Watched on an average of 70,000 times a day
• Started in late 2006
• The Khan Academy Received 18 million (and counting) page views worldwide
• He reaches out to 200,000 students monthly

www.khanAcademy.org

Delia Smith: French Onion Soup – BBC

She is a Britsh Cook, Television presenter and the UK’s best-selling cookery author, with more than 21 million copies sold.

Smith was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) 2009 Birthday Honours, “in recognition of … [her] contribution to television cookery and recipe writing”. source

This video was released on January 25, 1980 - authentic and original

p.s. the recipe includes white wine which you can substitue with “Water, chicken broth, vegetable broth, white grape juice, ginger ale, white grape juice.”

Teaching Humanitarian Engineering:

There is a trend in Universities nowadays to offer degrees that have not been offered ever before.  Many of them have a societal/sustainability/huminatarian focus.

Stanford’s Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordability program focuses on teaching its students how to design elegant, inexpensive solutions to help people in developing countries. Two of its successful projects are cheap—solar LEDs to replace kerosene lamps and low-cost baby incubators for low birth weight babies

While Colorado School of Mines has offered a new degree called Humintarian Engineering.

The video below explains in details

iPhone applications that fit your style – or find it

The New York Times compiled a list of several iPhone applications which are supposed to either “fit your style or find it”.  There are applications such as

Elle Shopping Guide, Lustr, Ask a Stylist or Lucky at Your Service and many others. You’d find them here

You would need to check if those websites will work outside the US, but in all cases, it is an extra tip to keep you up to date with the latest styles & trends.

Khawater Season 6:

In its 6th season, Ahmed Alshugairi talks about Islam in his “neoclassical” method.  Nowadays, it is important to understand concepts rather than just taking them for granted.  1+1 has to equal a number.  And this what in my humble opinion i find Khawater is good at.

Being a person who tends to research many topics,  every episode of Khawater reminds of a “wikipedia” but filmed and with an Islamic touch. (which is a good thing btw) The majority of the youth find it touching, inspiring and life changing.

I’ll leave you with an episode which is translated into English -.  I can sum it into one line: Total Quality Management in Health Care System

And if you think of it as a rehab month, then this is the time to enroll into one of the most spiritual rehab months in your whole year.

To some, it is more like new year’s resolution… setting objectives and change methodologies … strategies .. but they fall under one goal.. getting the best out of this month and becoming a better Muslim.

And because we are always “on the go..” or at work, basically: JUST BUSY.. nevertheless, we are never busy to answer our calls, reply to our blackberry messages, check our emails, and send our daily tweets from our mobiles and smart gadgets, i decided that this month’s Ramadan post would be about the applications you can have on your mobiles that will help you and me become a better Muslim.  Being an iPhone person, i found a lot of iPhone applications and tried to get as much sources for Blackberry and Android users… so enjoy and inshallah this month would be the month all our deeds will be accepted and our sins will be forgiven.. at least we shall work hard enough to make it happen ..

p.s. most of the links here are recommended by people from my twitter timeline…

QamarDeen:

QamarDeen is an Islamic behavior tracking app

The intention is that this app will be an effective tool in helping you create and maintain better and more consistent Islamic behaviors.

Features

• Record how you prayed each of the five daily prayers
• Keep track of how much Quran you read every day
• Record when you give any type of charity
• Keep track of your fasts throughout the year
• Rotate the device to enter graph mode
• Visualize your progress over time
• Analyze and improve your Islamic behaviors

Price: Free
Category: Productivity
Languages: English, Arabic
Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, & iPad

Personally – i use it and it is awesome.. Highly recommended

Qamardeen Website

Download from iTunes

Supplications – Dua for every occasion

Features

• Most extensive collection of Duas
• Search for any Dua instantly in English or Arabic
• Email a Dua to anyone instantly or copy and paste a dua into an SMS message or note
• Bookmark your favorite Duas for easy access

Price: $1.99
Category: Reference

Language: English
Requirements: compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, & iPad

Supplication website

Download from iTunes

Guidance App:

Guidance, the premier prayer time app for the iPhone, offers the easiest to use prayer times, push notification adhans, Qibla compass (for the iPhone 3GS) , Qibla Map, Masjid Locator and much more!

Price: $2.99
iOS 4.0 Tested
Languages: English, Arabic, French
Requirements: Compatile with iPhone, iPod touch & iPad

Guidance Website

Download from iTunes

iPray lite & Pro:

Features:

★Prayer times for any city round the globe with Push alert for Fajr (local alert will be supported with official release of OS 4.0)

★ Find and save cities using the powerful built-in database (will work even when there is no internet available). Supports more than 80,000 cities round the globe

★ Displays prayer times for: Fajr, Ishraaq, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, Isha and Qiyam-ul-lail (Last 1/3rd of the night; Tahajjud Prayer)

★ Tap on the time column to display time left to next prayer

★ Qibla direction for selected cities with Sun’s current position in the sky. Find Qibla from wherever you are. NOTE: Lite version does not support Magnetic compass and/or GPS.

★ Islamic Events

★ Multiple Hijri and Prayer Time Calculation method adjustments

★ A unique user experience

Try the full version of iPray for a more richer set of features and options.

iPray lite – Free
languages: English, Arabic
Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, & iPad

iPray
price: $3.99
Languages: English, Arabic
Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch & iPad

iPray website

iPray lite on itunes

iPray on iTunes

iQuran:

* Full Quran with Translation: Potrait and Landscape (Landscape only in Surah Fatiha)

* Translation: Shakir (English)

* Innovative Index Screen: Navigate to bookmarks, chapters, hezb and juzz (para) all from the same screen

* Two selectable themes

* Verse by verse recitation: Sheikh Husary

* Repeat functions in recitation mode

* 5 Bookmarks & Notes

* Audio Bookmark to show you the last heard verse

* Fast Scrolling: Swipe your finger on the left verse column in Surah View to jump to a particular verse quickly

* Full-Text searching of the Quran in English translation

Price: Free

Category: reference
Language: English
Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, & iPad

iQuran website

iQuran on iTunes

Quran Reader:

Features

• High resolution pages in the original Uthmani format
• Read in landscape or portrait mode
• Full text search in English and Arabic
• English translation
• Intuitive paging with no loading time
• Complete user interface localization in English, Arabic and French.
• Create or delete bookmarks for any page
• Rotate the device to enter landscape mode to zoom in and read pages in detail

• Rotation lock button
• Jump to page option
• Jump to Hizb option
• Page slider in the Quran browser
• French Quran translation
• The screen no longer dims while the app is running

Price: $2.99
Language: English, Arabic, French
Compatibe with iPhone, iPod touch, iPad

Quran Reader website

Quran Reader on iTune

Quran Reader HD for iPad:

An amazing interface for iPad users. Very detailed focus

Features:

* Verse-by-verse Recitation *
Use the audio feature to listen to the beautiful recitation of Sheikh Abdelbasit Abdelsamad. If you’re interested in memorization you can set it to automatically repeat each verse as it goes. Quran Reader will highlight each verse as you listen to the recitation, letting you follow along and improve your reading skills.

* Tafseer & Translation *
Increase your knowledge by studying the translation and tafseer accompanying each verse. Simply tap and hold on a verse to access the menu where you can bring up the translation or the Tafseer to allow you to fully understand and appreciate a verse. Quran Reader HD offers English or French translations and Tafseer in English (Tafseer Al-Jalalayn) and Arabic (Tafseer Al-Moyassar).

* Notes & Bookmarks *
Connect with the power of the message by using the notes feature to record your thoughts about a verse. You can also bookmark a page to quickly access it later or mark your progress as you read through the Quran.

* Beautiful Interface *
The intuitive interface is easy to use and lets you engage with the Quran. Turn the pages like a real book, and simply touch to drop the bookmark and save your place. Tap and hold on an ayah to highlight it and bring up the menu for that ayah where you can choose from a myriad of options. Quran Reader HD brings the amazing experience of the iPad to the Holy Quran.

Download from iTunes

The developers website

Bandar.Raffah – for details in Arabic

*Highly recommended if you have an iPad

Hadeeth Lite & Pro:

Features:

Provide the following collection:
•Mowatta Malik.

Browsing:
•Browse each collection in book, chapter and Hadeeth order.
•Text is selectable and could be copied and pasted in other applications.
•Histroical biography of each collection author.

Bookmarks:
•Bookmark each Hadeeth, ability to write comments along with each bookmark.
•Edit and delete bookmarks.

Searching:
•Full text search is supported for one or more collection or the whole set.
•Each search term is saved for later use and could be deleted.
•Easy to navigate search results back and forth.
•Ability to add bookmarks from within search results.
•Search terms are highlighted within text for maximum readability.

Random Browsing:
•Randomly selected Hadeeth by the system is offered, a great and entertaining way to learn about Prophet’s Sayings.
Theme support:
•Several themes are available and could be managed directly from the iPhone setting application.

Hadeeth Lite:

Price: Free
Language: Arabic
Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, & iPad

Hadeeth Pro:

Price: $9.99
Language: Arabic
Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch & iPad

Hadeeth Website

Tafsir:

First ever Complete Quranic Commentary(Tafsir) on the Iphone/Ipad !

Price: $5.99
Category: Books
Language: English
Compatible with iPad, requires iPhone OS 3.2 +

Tafsir on iTunes

Hisn Al Muslim:

The application is based on “Hisn AlMuslim” reference book and contains around 130 title with more than 250 zekr included.

You can browse, search and copy the content with this easy-to-use application.

Price: Free

Category: Reference
Language: Arabic
Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch

Hisn Al Muslim website

Hisn Al Muslim on iTunes

Quran Majeed:

Latest Quran Majeed software for iPhone and iPad Features:

Athkar:

Mesbah:

iSubha

Blackberry Users:

Guided Ways:

From the Blackberry website:

Android Users:

Additional links

No introductions, just go straight to the point.  Remember the following next time you “organize” an event:

Plan: Key to success

“He who fails to plan, plans to fail”

Points you need to focus on, define clearly and tick as a priority:

1. Objective of the event
2. Audience targeted
3. Message to be sent
4. Date of the Event
5. Appropriate Venue .
6. Event duration & timing

Why do you want to have this event, they’ll answer your objective but nevertheless, if you don’t focus on the message you want to reach your audience, then chances that it will be a successful event would drop to “almost zero”.

Deciding on the time the event will take place is EXTREMELY important.  It makes a difference if it was a morning, afternoon, or an evening event.  It affects all your other decisions. Make no mistake that punctuality is important.  If you decide that the event will start at a certain time, then stick to the time.  The maximum delay one could expect is 15 min.  No exceptions.

Once you have decided on those, you can now move to the specifics:

Content: Creativity & Variety

As a rule, one should never place form over content – Manuel Puig

Get into the details of:

1. Event Outline – Any intervals, if so how many?
2. Topics that will be discussed
3. Variety of presenting mediums (presentations, videos, music bands etc)
4. Duration allowed for each speaker

The content is basically the “message put into words and presentations performed by presenters or visual aid”. Don’t compromise the content.

Speakers: Chose wisely & creatively

Whenever  the speech is corrupted, so is the mind – Lucius Annaeus Seneca

1. brainstorm, list & filter speakers
2. Set a criteria for speaker selection
3. Create speaker database
4. Speaker selection & invitations
5. Speaker agreement

Please don’t stick to friends and “so called prominent figures”. What makes a superb event is the speakers standing on that stage. Make them interesting, with NEW content, Someone with a NEW story to tell, or a NEW idea to share.  The real “figures” are those who no matter how many times they stand on that stage, they still have A LOT to say.

Speaker agreement: before hand you should discuss with the speakers the content, time, duration, visual aids, things they can talk about etc. Those should be agreed upon between both of you. It sets a standard of high quality content later on.

Invites:

“When you invite people to think, you are inviting revolution” Ivana Gabara

Should be divided into

1. Invites for speakers
2. Invites for special guests (if any)
3. Invites for the audience

Show your speakers that you care about them. Do not just drop them a twitter direct message, or send them a normal email. Do it professionally. Call – preferably meet – , and follow up with a formal email. Set a meeting with the special guests to invite and then follow up with the secretary.

Please note: Give the speaker at least two weeks ahead of the event to schedule his/her meetings. Less than two weeks would show that you are not very well prepared.

Audience invites depends on the mean of publicity you plan to undertake.

4. RSVP

5. Reminder emails

An RSVP system is always good as it tells you the number of people interested or not. It shows you ahead of the date what to expect, level of enthusiasm, and expected preparations. It also guarantees you can have a database of people whom you can contact in the long run.

Reminder emails two days ahead of the event will be useful. Don’t spam their emails though.

Venue details:

1. Equipment required:

• Lectern
• Podium
• Microphones
• Projection screens
• Slide projectors if required
• Overhead projectors
• Video Projector
• Flip Charts / markers /
• web-casting material
• wireless connection
• Extension cords
• Monitor
• Laser pointer
• Other

1. Parking space availability
2. Number of people
3. Seating: Auditorium or Conference style seating
4. Ease in direction / maps / signage

A location which is far away, not easy to spot and does not have the right seating arrangement for the type of the event you plan to have is another reason for failure. It should be reachable and comfortable.

Wireless connectivity is extremely important. If you want exposure, then you should give your audience the ability to take your information and send it through cyberspace.

Publicity & Promotion:

“Publicity can be terrible. But only if you don’t have any” Jane Russell

1. Link to the main message and objectives
2. Decide on the medium you will use:
3. Social networking tools: twitter, facebook, etc
4. Media Contact
5. Press Releases

Logo, message, details of speakers and timings should be clear and direct and with a specfici theme.

Nowadays with the social networking tools, a lot rely on twitter, facebook and emailing system. Please use it reasonably.

Time is cruical and so does the promotional material you will use. Position your brand properly and clearly and the rest will roll on.

Food & Refreshment:

1. Choose the right caterer (as a sponsor too)
2. Spend some time on the menu selection
3. Food should be available BEFORE the event starts
4. Decide on the type of service
5. Tables or not?
6. Type of beverages
7. Hospitality of caterers

Please avoid food that causes allergies or those that are difficult to be digested, chewed etc. If you decide on hors d’oeuvres or finger food then do make sure it is “mouth friendly”.  Imagine that the audience is a sloppy one. DO NOT settle for CHEAP food. It says A LOT. A professinal event needs to have quality food.  If you decide to have CUPCAKES pls make sure they are CORPORATE in terms of frosting, packaging and presentation.  It is all about the presentation.

Escorts & Guides:

1. For speakers
2. For special guests
3. For audience

They are important, neverthless, the number of speakers you can have all depends on how big the event is.  But, there should be escorts and guides around. Locate them at the main entrance, and at the venue itself. Presentable, and able to communicate properly and professionally they should be.

Program Agenda:

1. Speakers biographies & photos – in brief
2. List of sponsors – brief about them
3. Enough printed items
4. Placement of the agenda

An agenda is just like a mind-map for the audience.  The question would be, how detailed should the Agenda be. Sometimes you need to keep the timings disclosed in order to guarantee the enthusiasm of the attendence.

Spare your audience the hassle of googling the speakers and write a brief about them.  Few lines is enough.

Audience should be able to read the agenda BEFORE the event.  I believe that it is important to have it posted along with the publicity & promotion material.

Giveaways:

1. Stick to one theme
2. Different; yet not weird
3. Related to the audience
4. To be used not stored.

You will spending on those giveaways however they were.  So spend wisely.  It is always safe to give away pens, agendas etc.  But it amuses me when i see that someone has actually spent an effort on finding the right corporate gift.

Registration:

1.  Method of registering:

1. Online
2. Onsite
3. Tables, equipment, Name badges

2.  Registration form

3.  Registration Fees (if any)

It is important to have both methods available; although try to push your audience to register online.  It will give you enough time to print out their badges.  If not, always make sure that you have your PRINTING options on the spot: fast and professional.

Seperate the registration tables/counters: pre-registered / onsite registration

Sometimes you need to figure our whether to keep the event a free event or to be paid for.  This all depends on how big it is, sponsors availabitiyly, speakers etc.

If you decide to charge them for registration, then you need to have an online payment system available, or have a ticketing and money control system figured out.

Theme:

• Consistency in whatever you decide, and one that reflects your message
• Choose the right colors & the perfect design.
• Make sure your graphic designer is in the loop with the theme details in order to be able to reflect it on the promotional items.

People you need to have handy:

Technitians, photographers, IT people, Security

]]> http://www.thelostdot.com/?feed=rss2&p=681 3 http://www.thelostdot.com/?p=667 http://www.thelostdot.com/?p=667#comments Wed, 02 Jun 2010 06:49:01 +0000 dots... http://www.thelostdot.com/?p=667 Some people are not known, except after their death .. history only marks them as heroes and so they shall always be remembered.

Salem Suhail, was born in RAK in the 50s in a small village called al hdebah الحدبة in al menai’i منطقة المنيعي area that was known to be for Ras Al Khaima prior to the union.  He was the youngest of six siblings. His father Suhail Al Dahmani and mother Fatmeh bint Hilal raised him just as any other family would raise her kids at that time: to be able to survive the harsh environment and to defend your land with your heart and soul.

According to the stories, he always wanted to join the Military.  Put in mind that at that time, we were occupied by Great Britian. So that would be the will of every man who had an ounce of love to his land. He joined Ras Al Khaima military forces – prior to the union – and was assigned with a group of 4 (some say 5) other soldiers as guards to Greater Tunb island.

In 1971, and more specifically, Tuesday 30th of November at 5:30 am, the Iranian Military Forces attacked the Tunb islands, it started with the Lesser Tunb and occupied it as there were hardly no forces there, and then attacked the Greater Tunb Island and Salem Suhail was the first of those 5 soldier to die.  Some of the soldiers were taken as prisoners as they ran out of bullets and weapons. They were taken to Iran and later Ras Al Khaima rulers were told that they died due to their wounds.

The Ministry of Interior honored Salem Suhail’s family on March 9th 2010. In Grade 5’s social studies book, there is a section which teaches the students a brief about him.  Abdullah Al Taboor, a UAE writer wrote a novel and named “Suhail” which tells the story of Suhail the father and his son Salem who died on the Great Tonb island defending his country.

The list of soldiers:

• Salem Suhail
• Ali Hassan Mahmood
• Hassan Ali Mohamed
• Mohammed Abdullah Obaid
• Hawash mohammed Abdullah

A Last Dot:

I look a the names above, and remember the other names we have lost in the Gulf War. I still remember Sheikh Zayed welcoming the troops back to the land after the war. I remember my brothers joining the forces as young as 14 & 16 year old boys and seeing them after a month of real training. We remember a lot, but what we should not forget is that we are STILL an occupied country, and we will defend our land just as Salem Suhail and the others did.. with our hearts and souls.

The information in this post is what i managed to obtain from Abdulla Al taboor’s brief of the novel “Suhail” and from other websites online and the Social Studies book of Grade 4. If you have anything to add, email me or leave a comment.

source / arabic

عبدالله الطابور – وراية سهيل

Oil Spill info:

The Mexican Gulf oil spill is one of the most alarming oil spills that has ever happened. Not only is it large, it is also very difficult to contain and stop. This is an interactive website that counts with the second the amount of catastrophe that is taking place right now.

Mother Nature Network has mentioned in one of its articles a list of the 5 worst Oil Spills in the history

1. The Gulf War = 360,000,000 gallons (about 100x the current BP spill)
2. Ixtoc 1 = 138,000,000 gallons
3. Atlantic Empress = 90,000,000 gallons
4. Nowruz Oil Spill = 80,000,000 gallons
5. Exxon Valdez = 10,800,000 gallons

according to the source.

Daimen Walter’s Latest adventures:

How Happy are people in Various Countries – Infographics

(click to enlarge)

source

Stationary of Horor:

The design won several awards.  Yes it is “brutal” in its own way but from a designing perspective and attention to details.. i like it.Details about the work are here

Tylenol Recall:

FDA Found Bacteria in Ingredients for Recalled Tylenol, Benadryl

Bacterial contamination has been found in ingredients used to make the liquid cold and allergy products for children that were recalled Friday by drug giant McNeil Consumer Healthcare, according to a report issued late Tuesday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

McNeil had received 46 consumer complaints of foreign substances in its products, the FDA said.

In mid-April, the FDA began its inspection of the plant and found “numerous deficiencies in the way products were manufactured and the way the manufacturing process for those products was controlled,” Autor said. The inspection process finished Friday.

These deficiencies included poor manufacturing practices and failure to maintain proper facilities and procedures for testing drugs, Autor said.

According to the agency report, some of the raw materials used to make products such as liquid Tylenol, Tylenol Plus, Motrin, Zyrtec and Benadryl were found to be contaminated with as yet-unknown bacteria.

Read MORE

Thank You Notes:

Leah Dieterich started a blog where she would post “THANK YOU” notes to the most random things that could cross your mind. This is her way of expressing gratitude as she mentioned in her blog. You won’t get bored checking it out.

Install Apps That Aren’t Available in

your Country’s iTunes Store

A step by step tutorial from Digital Inspiration on how to install itunes applications from a different country.  You’d find another link here in Shufflegazine discussing the same thing. Haven’t tried it yet, but will give it a shot.

Levi’s Integrates Facebook’s Like Button On Their Own Site

Now if you shopt at Levi’s, you would find a new plug in integrated which is a facebook “like” option.  Realizing the importance of using social networks, Levis took a smart stand and integrated this plugin in their eshop.

the press release:
The Levi’s® bcbmrand today announced at Facebook’s f8 conference the introduction of an innovative new way to shop for jeans online. With the launch, the Levi’s® brand is among the first companies to integrate with Facebook’s new Social Plugins. The Levi’s® brand will provide shoppers with an interactive, customized shopping experience on levi.com (based on consumers’ “Likes”), information about “Top-Liked” products across consumers’ networks, and an easy way to find and share relevant Levi’s® products.

Here you can find other websites that integrated facebook in their websites

source

Coca Cola Lite’s different designs

Lately as you have read, Coco Cola Lite got its new “haute cauture” design by Carl Lagerfield who designed the bottle

but what is even more interesting is the different designs (& designers) that have had the chance to design for Coca Cola Lite

Roberto Cavali:

Blumarine and Etro

Fendi and Ferretti:

Limited edition Coca-Cola Light bottle by Baum and Pferdgarten that was released exclusively in Copenhagen during the 2010 Copenhagen Fashion Week:

This bottle was masterminded by graphic designer & curator Jiang Hua.  The project was to join “East with West”.  The horizontal red patterns are actually stylized Chinese characters for the world Coca Cola.  A soundtrack was created as well named “Be It All” and was written by the singer songwriter Jes.  She said she was inspired by the maze like quality of the bottle’s design

http://www.coca-cola.com/we8

if it’s hip then it’s here

“Best if used by Freegans” a documentary by St. Michelle students

St. Michael’s college students’ film showcases ‘freegan’ lifestyle.  A one hour documentary that featured freegans “people who rummage through dumpsters in search of discarded, but still edible, food items.”

Carolyn Smith, one of the filmmakers, said that when she took to the streets with freegans in New York City and Burlington, Vermont, she expected to see garbage bins filled with the likes of half-eaten pizzas.

Instead, she was amazed by “the amount of good stuff” that was pulled from the trash, including fresh fruit and vegetables, intact eggs in cartons, and packaged foods (some of it not yet past the sell-by date), all of it tossed out by various food markets and eateries. slashfood

A very interesting read especially thinking of hygeine and safety and issues like that, but then it makes you think twice of the blessings you have in life. The blessing of having clean food three times a day.

What’s most baffling is why anyone would risk getting sick. Freegans say they trust their senses, and they pay attention to expiration dates on packages they pull out.

source

Wheels of Nutrition:

When you have kids, or sometimes when you need to watch your diet, it is very important to remember that food is not just Carbs. A matter of fact, you need to know your portions of the nutrients.

Designers Rui Pereira and Hafsteinn Juliusson, have created a collection of dining plates for HAF, that reminds us of the fundamental values of healthy eating

Explanatory, made of ceramic, and colorful. Hopefully they will do the job in maintaining the right nutrients in your bodies

source

A Last Dot:

Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

After watching this video, we’ve come to one conclusion: Apple needs to learn how to take a joke.

What is Eyjafjallajokull:

pronounced [ˈɛɪjaˌfjatlaˌjœːkʏtl̥], translated as “island-mountains glacier”) ( listen (help·info)) is one of the smallerglaciers of Iceland. The icecap of the glacier covers a volcano (1,666 metres or 5,466 ft in height) which has erupted relatively frequently since the Ice Age.^[1]

The volcano, which has a crater 3–4 kilometres (1.9–2.5 mi) in diameter, erupted in 920, 1612 and again from 1821 to 1823 when it caused a fatal glacial lake outburst flood.^[2]Most recently it erupted twice in 2010 – on 20 March and 14 April. The March event forced a brief evacuation of around 500 local people^[3][4], but the April eruption was ten to twenty times more powerful and caused massive disruption to air traffic across Northern Europe.

Wikipedia

What do we mean by “volcanic ash cloud“:

volcanic ash cloud: dailymail

Volcanic ash is released into the atmosphere along with molten lava and smoke during a volcanic eruption. It is a grit or fine dust of abrasive, corrosive glass and rock, with each particle less than 2mm in diameter. When thick in the atmosphere, volcanic ash darkens the sky and can cause lightning storms.

A cloud formulates after the eruption of a volcano consists of small tephra, which are bits of pulverized rock and glass

• Tephras are less than 2 millimetres (0.079 in) in diameter.
• Volcanic ash can lead to breathing problems, malfunctions in machinery, and from more severe eruptions, years of global cooling.
• Ash deposited on the ground after an eruption is known as ashfall deposit.
• Ashfall can lead to the immediate destruction of most of the local ecosystem, as well the collapse of roofs on man-made structures

volcanic ashes effect

source

How does it affect the airspace:

• It is very harmful due to the extreme problems caused to the aircraft and the safety issues:
• Reduces visibility for pilots
• Causes partial or total damage to the engine power loss
• Damage aircraft ventilation and air data system

What happens if an aircraft passed in a volcanic ash cloud:

• If volcanic ash particles are ingested into a jet engine, they accumulate and clog the engine with molten glass.
• Causes sandblast to the windscreen and clogs the engines
• Blocks the ventilation holes that bleed in cooling air
• Pilots need to throttle back and loose height to drope below the ash cloud. Clean & cold air will shatter the glass and unclog the engines

Any Previous Incidents:

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is your captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are all doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress.”

That was the public address (PA) announcement made by Capt. Eric Moody to the 247 passengers of British Airways Flight 9, 22 years ago on June 24, 1982. It was made a few moments after losing all four engines on the B747 from a penetration into a cloud of volcanic ash at 37,000 feet. source

The flight was from Kuala Lumpur to Perth in Australia.

Engines stopped for 14-15 minutes and he glided the aircraft about 80 nautical miles and went down 37,000ft to about 12,000ft.

Future Threats:

The fear that Katla, a neighbouring larger volcano in Iceland could be “stirred to life”.

“There is a historical and geological linkage of Eyjafjallajokull erupting together with Katla, but we don’t see any measurable evidence that a larger and more hazardous eruption is due,”Matthew Roberts, a glaciologist at the Iceland Meteorological Office said.

How long would it last:

Unidentified, they need to monitor the movement. It could be weeks, it could be months.

Cost:

The disaster is estimated to be costing airlines $200 million a day, but the economic damage will roll through to farms, retail establishments and nearly any other business that depends on air cargo shipments. Fresh produce will spoil, and supermarkets in Europe, used to year-round supplies, will begin to run out. source

Neil Morris, from Deloitte’s aviation team, said: “We estimate that the cost to British and Irish scheduled airlines from the closure of British airspace is likely to be between £26m and £28m per day. source

Hotel cars were charging $5,600 to drive to Paris, according to Reuters, while journalists were being offered a bus ride to Brussels. source

The International Air Transport Association, or IATA, said that at current levels of disruption, its initial and conservative estimate of the financial impact on airlines is in excess of $200 million a day in lost revenue.

Prior to the eruption, IATA had forecast that the airline industry would incur a $2.8 billion loss in 2010, down from the $9.4 billion loss the industry suffered in 2009. It had trimmed its forecast for this year from $5.6 billion previously as emerging markets of Asia-Pacific and Latin America experienced a recovery in passenger numbers and cargo volumes.

source

Precautions & what to do:

There is a long list, but i’ll just put few important points:

• If there’s an ash fall warning, leave work and go home.
• Avoid driving. If you must drive, make sure your car has an air filter (even a dirty one), and drive carefully, leaving plenty of clearance between your car and the ones ahead of and behind you.
• Protect your lungs and eyes. Wear a mask, remove contact lenses, wear goggles.
• Make sure your water is clean and so are the containers you are using.

Read more info on precautions here

Random links:

Iceland’s disruptive volcano – Boston’s Big Picture – PICS

Volcanic Ash Forces Obama to Cancel Poland Trip

Hollywood vs. The Volcano: Ash disrupts celebs

UK Airspace Ban Extended To 1pm Sunday

Sources:

Airline Industry Starts Counting the Cost of Volcano Ash

Volcanic Dust Cloud: All You Need To Know

Iceland Volcano: Why a could of ash has grounded flights

Volcano continues to ground flights as ash cloud spread over Europe

How to Protect Yourself from a Volcanic Ash Fall and Its Health Hazards

So far, Icelandic volcano isn’t likely to cause a cooler summer

Consequences mount as volcano ash lingers

Shrugging off the remainings of winter.. facing up towards the sun…indicating the beginning of a new season.. & inviting hearts to love.. this is the daisy.. the flower of the medieval ages..the flower of this month: April.

Daisy, gets its name from the old Anglo-Saxon language “daes eage” which means “day’s eye” because it is a flower that opens up during the early morning up until sunset. Some call it “thunderflower” as it blooms in Spring when thundershowers are common.

In addition, the daisy is believed to keep away lightening. For this reason, it was also kept indoors. A common name in England for the flower is bruisewort since the crushed leaves could be used for soothing bruised or chapped skin.

Daisies represents purity, innocence, loyal love, beauty, patience and simplicity. All in one simple flower. Therefore, daisies were used in the medivial ages very commonly.

Some common “uses & beliefs” of daisies, (check those you know):

1. Used to predict true love: He loves me, he loves me not – i bet every girl did this once upon a time. Another way of saying it was: “Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief, doctor, layer, banker, chief” or “Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief, merchant, tailor, banker, chief”

2. It was believed that English daisies were a cure of hysteria because of how the petals were compacted together. Used to believe that daisies create a calm atmosphere in the house in times of crisis or excitment

3. In the old ages, women would reach out and with her eyes closed would pull out a group of daisies. Each daisy represents one year. Total would be the number of years the woman would have to wait till she gets married. (the smaller the bunch, the better it was)

4. Symbol or rebirth. Daisies would still be placed on graves.

source

5. Farmers believed that if they were able to step on 12 daisies with one step, then Spring is “fully there”. If they managed to step on seven daisies with one step, then Summer is fully there. (regardless the shoe size)

6. The daisy family consists of about 2000 specie some of which are Artichoke, lettuce, sunflower and many others.

7. Daisies were used as a political advertisement for President Lyndon B. Johnson

8. Characters such as Princess Daisy in Super Mario & Daisy Duck (Donald’s Girlfriend)

Does of Daisy Inspiration:

Perfume:

Centerpieces:

Weddings:

Fashion:

Hair Accessories:

Gadgets:

Yellow Daisy OfficeMate Itune Application:

Daisy Kitchenware:

Personally, i am not fond of daisies. But flowers speak a story. They are not just a group of petals together, they can be the dot that brought a smile to some hearts..

A Last Dot:

]]> http://www.thelostdot.com/?feed=rss2&p=622 6 http://www.thelostdot.com/?p=607 http://www.thelostdot.com/?p=607#comments Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:51:57 +0000 dots... http://www.thelostdot.com/?p=607 Would you ever call a solitaire ring “football ring” ? One might think that diamonds need to have a poshy name just as Van Cleef’s collections for an example.  But who would have imagined that an in-line of diamonds would one day be called “Tennis Bracelet”.

It was in the US Open in 1987 that those diamond bracelets have been “renamed” to Tennis Bracelets when the famous tennis player Chris Evert the former World No. 1 woman tennis player and the winner of 18 Grand Slam singles titles, was wearing an in-line diamond bracelet created by George Bedwi. While playing the bracelet broke and the match was interrupted to allow her to recover her diamonds.  Ever since, not only was the bracelet popular as a jewelry item, it was renamed to be the Tennis Bracelet. source

Serena Williams was one of the tennis players as well who was known for her tennis bracelet. She wore a Harry Winston’s $29000 bracelet in the US Open 2002.  It was custom designed to fit her 7 1/2 inch wrist, it had an extra inch of length to accomodate her wrist measurment according to her swing.  It contains 242 colorless diamonds, and a total of 12 carats set in platinum. Her Tweleve to Twilight tennis bracelet had an extra safety clasp to ensure safety. source

Girls before buying a tennis bracelet, always remember the following:

Four factors make a tennis bracelet distinct: stone shape, stone choice, type of metal, and stone setting.

Stone Cut: most popular is the round cut, emerald, baguette and princess cuts are used too oftenly

Stone Choice: the most common is diamond, some go for their birthstones, or other gems.

Type of Metal: You can either choose between white gold, yellow or rose gold. Platinium is used commonly as well. It wiill add an extra bit to the bill though.

Platinum is thirty-five times more rare than gold and is silvery-white in color. It is mostly mined in Russia and South Africa and because it is scarce, it is more expensive. Platinum is more pure and durable compared to gold.

Stone Setting: There are several stone settings, the most commonly used for tennis bracelets is “Four-Prong Setting” as it puts emphasis on the stones and lessens the visable metal. Another setting that can be used too is the Bezel Settings.

Things to look for when buying a tennis bracelet:

Decide on your Cs: Cut, Clarity of diamond, Color & Carat: Rule of thumb, the more carats, the expensive it is. The clearer the diamonds, the better they are (and the more expensive too).

Never buy diamonds without certificate of authenticity. Make sure that it is a stamped one.

Always try the bracelet on your hand.

Look around,  compare prices and quality of diamonds before purchasing your bracelet unless you trust your jeweler.

Make sure that the bracelet has a safety latch to secure the pieces.

Check the measurment. The bracelet should be flexible. The ideal gap between the bracelet and the wrist should be a finger wide.

Enjoy the blings on your wrist gorgeous !

A Last Dot:

]]> http://www.thelostdot.com/?feed=rss2&p=607 5 http://www.thelostdot.com/?p=601 http://www.thelostdot.com/?p=601#comments Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:57:55 +0000 dots... http://www.thelostdot.com/?p=601 If the World Wide Web was a planet, and we were to track the places we have “travelled to in this planet” then i guess in the last few months i must’ve travelled to many countries…

But now i am back..

New makeover.. new stories.. and more updates..

stay tuned