A Child's Angel

Once upon a time there was a child ready to be born. So one day he asked God,"They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?"

　　God replied,"Among the many angels, I chose one for you. She will be waiting for you and will take care of you."

　　But the child wasn't sure he really wanted to go."But tell me, here in Heaven, I don't do anything else but sing and smile, that's enough for me to be happy."

　　"Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you every day. And you will feel your angel's love and be happy."

　　"And how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me,"the child continued,"if I don't know the language that men talk?"

　　God patted him on the head and said,"Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak."

　　"And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?"

　　But God had an answer for that question too."Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray."

　　"I've heard that on earth there are bad men, who will protect me?"

　　"Your angel will defend you even if it means risking her life!"

　　"But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore,"the child continued warily.

　　God smiled on the young one."Your angel will always talk to you about me and will teach you the way for you to come back to me, even though I will always be next to you."

　　At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from earth could already be heard. The child knew he had to start on his journey very soon. He asked God one more question, softly,"Oh God, if I am about to leave now, please tell me my angel's name."

　　God touched the child on the shoulder and answered,"Your angel's name is not hard to remember. You will simply call her Mommy."　　

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In science, a theory is a reasonable explanation of observed events that are related. A theory often involves an imaginary model that helps scientists envision the way an observed event could be produced. A good example of this is found in the kinetic molecular theory, in which gases are pictured as being made up of many small particles that are in constant motion.A useful theory, in addition to explaining past observations, helps to predict events that have not as yet been observed. After a theory has been publicized, scientists design experiments to test the theory. If the scientists’ predictions, the theory is supported. If observations do not confirm the predictions, the scientists must search further. There may be a fault in the experiment, or the theory may have to be revised or rejected.Science involves imagination and creative thinking as well as collecting information and performing experiments. Facts by themselves are not science. As the mathematician Jules Henry Poincare said:“ Science is built with facts just as a house is built with bricks, but a collection of facts cannot be called science any more than a pile of bricks can be called a house.” Most scientists start an investigation by finding out what other scientists have learned about a particular problem. After known facts have been gathered, the scientist comes to the part of the investigation that requires considerable imagination. Possible solutions to the problem are formulated. These possible solutions are called hypotheses.


In a way, any hypothesis is a leap into the unknown. It extends the scientist’s thinking beyond the known facts. The scientist plans experiments, performs calculations, and makes observations to test hypotheses. For without hypotheses, further investigation lacks purpose and direction. When confirmed, they are incorporated into theories.

Vicious and Dangerous Sports Should be Banned by Law

When you think of the tremendous technological progress we have made, it’s amazing how little we have developed in other respects. We may speak contemptuously of the poor old Romans because they relished the orgies of slaughter that went on in their arenas. We may despise them because they mistook these goings on for entertainment. We may forgive them condescendingly because they lived 2000 years ago and obviously knew no better. But are our feelings of superiority really justified? Are we any less blood-thirsty? Why do boxing matches, for instance, attract such universal interest? Don’t the spectators who attend them hope they will see some violence? Human beings remains as bloodthirsty as ever they were. The only difference between ourselves and the Romans is that while they were honest enough to admit that they enjoyed watching hungey lions tearing people apart and eating them alive, we find all sorts of sophisticated arguments to defend sports which should have been banned long age; sports which are quite as barbarous as, say, public hangings or bearbaiting.
It really is incredible that in this day and age we should still allow hunting or bull-fighting, that we should be prepared to sit back and watch two men batter each other to pulp in a boxing ring, that we should be relatively unmoved by the sight of one or a number of racing cars crashing and bursting into flames. Let us not deceive ourselves. Any talk of ‘the sporting spirit’ is sheer hypocrisy. People take part in violent sports because of the high rewards they bring. Spectators are willing to pay vast sums of money to see violence. A world heavyweight championship match, for instance, is front page news. Millions of people are disappointed if a big fight is over in two rounds instead of fifteen. They feel disappointment because they have been deprived of the exquisite pleasure of witnessing prolonged torture and violence.
Why should we ban violent sports if people enjoy them so much? You may well ask. The answer is simple: they are uncivilized. For centuries man has been trying to improve himself spiritually and emotionally – admittedly with little success. But at least we no longer tolerate the sight madmen cooped up in cages, or public floggings of any of the countless other barbaric practices which were common in the past. Prisons are no longer the grim forbidding places they used to be. Social welfare systems are in operation in many parts of the world. Big efforts are being made to distribute wealth fairly. These changes have come about not because human beings have suddenly and unaccountably improved, but because positive steps were taken to change the law. The law is the biggest instrument of social change that we have and it may exert great civilizing influence. If we banned dangerous and violent sports, we would be moving one step further to improving mankind. We would recognize that violence is degrading and unworthy of human beings.

the choice gets simpler

The time you spend at the office may be the most stressful part of your day, but it doesn’t have to be. You have a greater ugg uk ability to shape your office environment than you may realize.

Take breaks throughout the day. It will help clear your mind and relieve pressure. Something as simple as going to the water cooler for a drink may do the trick

Enroll in a noontime or an after-work exercise class This will give you a chance to unwind and a way to relieve stress.

To help your workday go smoothly, try pacing your activities : Do more demanding work in the morning, when your energy level is higher, and easier work later in the day, when you may be tired.

Try listening to music recordings, such as a pounding surf or songbirds , to help you relax. Such tapes are sold commercially. Use headphones if you’ll be listening to them in the middle of the workday.

Get to work early or stay late once a week. You may be able to accomplish more when you vary your routine.

If your stress comes from job insecurity, take stock of yourself. Update your resume, and remind yourself of your skills and strengths. Also, make sure you keep up with new developments in your field. This will make you valuable to employers.

Don’t let work rumors, which are usually false, cause you worry. A co-worker may just be thinking out loud about worst-case scenarios Ah, summer in Europe. It’s when everyone takes advantage of their 35-hour workweeks and seven weeks of vacation and holidays, and everything slows down or shuts down. Meanwhile, Americans toil in envy.

But in less time than it takes to get a tan, four powerful European companies have demanded their employees work longer hours. The trend is expected to spread as Western European companies strive to boost productivity and as employees try to keep their jobs from moving to Eastern Europe and beyond.

“At some point, workers have got to choose. They can’t have high pay and long holidays,” says Richard Jackman, a professor at the London School of Economics.

The tipping point, Jackman says, happened on May 1, when the European Union, a trade and regulatory alliance of 15 Western European counties, added 10 members, including Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. New immigration restrictions are designed to prevent a flood of cheap labor, but companies in the West are now threatening to move their production east.

The math is persuasive: Wages in the ugg boots uk Czech Republic, for example, are 40% less than in France, and employees work five more hours a week and get 11/2 fewer weeks of vacation.

Workers vote for longer hours That’s why workers at a Robert Bosch car parts factory in France voted almost unanimously last week to work an extra hour a week without pay, to stop the car components company from moving the work to the Czech Republic. The French finance minister is also pushing to relax the law, which took effect in 2000, that mandates a 35-hour workweek. The law’s intent was to encourage employers to add workers, which in theory would reduce the jobless rate while maintaining productivity.

The trend is even stronger in Germany, which shares borders with the Czech Republic and Poland and has rigid laws about hiring and firing.

Among the converts:

? 4,000 employees at two Siemens plants ended a bitter dispute in June and agreed to work 40 hours a week, instead of 35, for no extra money. The engineering giant had threatened to move production of its cellular and cordless phones from a plant in northern Germany to Hungary.

? Employees at Thomas Cook agreed last week to postpone a pay increase and accept a 40-hour workweek, up from 381/2, in an effort to put the tourism company back in the black.

? DaimlerChrysler struck a deal Friday that lengthens the workweek for research and development staff from 35 hours to 40 hours; employees at its Sindelfingen, Germany, plant, which makes the Mercedes C-class car, will work 39 hours. The company had threatened to move the production to South Africa. As part of the deal, top managers will take a 10% pay cut.

There is little doubt the pact will influence union bargaining for thousands of Volkswagen employees later this year.

“I am certain that after DaimlerChrysler, the negotiations at Volkswagen over cost cuts and job security will lead to a successful agreement,” German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said in a statement from his vacation villa in Italy.

The changes could not come soon enough for many corporate directors and politicians. Europe’s economic recovery, which started at the end of 2003, is again trailing the USA’s. For the 12 Western European countries that use the euro currency (including Germany, France and Spain), gross domestic product grew at a 0.6% annual rate between January and March, compared with an annualized 3.9% in the USA. The results for the April-June quarter, which are not available yet, are expected to show a similar gap.

The No. 1 reason Europe’s growth lags the USA’s might be that Europeans spend more time on the beach and less at their desks.
Work less, earn less
In Western Europe, output per hour worked was 91% of U.S. levels in 2002, up sharply from 65% in 1970. But in seven of the most advanced European countries (France, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands and Belgium), workers are just as productive as in the USA, according to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, which published its 2004 employment outlook this month.

“We could confirm the popular perception that Europeans work less than Americans; in fact, they work about one-third less. But we also found that average incomes in Europe were also about one-third lower, because output per hour was essentially the same,” says Paul Swaim, economist with the OECD.

“Obviously, the next question is: Who has it the best, on balance? Is it better to work less and live with less income?” he asks.

Judging by the demonstrations and walkouts at companies such as Siemens and DaimlerChrysler, Europeans want to work to live, not live to work, as the saying goes. But with unemployment rates averaging 8% in Europe, and cheap labor in Eastern Europe, the choice gets simpler, if not easier.

“The corporate sector has had enough, and it is now Cheap ugg boots in a better position to start demanding things from its workforce,” says Richard Prior, European Economist for HSBC in London. The recent cases “are symptomatic of structural changes that can only continue.”

! ...An' 'En

An' 'en an' nou
The time wis 'en
But whan wis 'at
Whan time wis 'en?

If 'en wis whan
An' time wis 'en
Than time is whan
As weel as 'en

Yit time is time
An' nae a pairt
We dinnae ken
Whan time daed stairt

Whit does nae spick
O' nou an' next
It seems oor time
Is some wey hexed

and then (translation)

and then and now
the time was then
but when was that
when time was then?

if then was when
and time was then
then time is when
as well as then

yet time is time
and not a part
and we don't know
when time did start

which doesn't speak
of now and next
it seems our time
is somewhat hexed