Wednesday, September 29, 2010

--Tony Curtis(June 3, 1925 – September 29, 2010)--


Tony Curtis (June 3, 1925 – September 29, 2010) was an American film actor. He played a variety of roles, from light comedy, such as the musician on the run from gangsters in Some Like It Hot, to serious dramatic roles, such as an escaped convict in The Defiant Ones, which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. From 1949, he appeared in more than 100 films and made frequent television appearances.
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~http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Curtis

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

--中秋節...明 月 幾 時 有 ? 把 酒 問 青 天 。 不 知 天 上 宮 闕 , 今 夕 是 何 年 ? 2010--


The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival or Zhongqiu Festival (traditional Chinese: 中秋節; simplified Chinese: 中秋节; pinyin: Zhōngqiūjié; Vietnamese: Tết Trung Thu), is a popular harvest festival celebrated by Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese people, dating back over 3,000 years to moon worship in China's Shang Dynasty. It was first called Zhongqiu Jie (literally "Mid-Autumn Festival") in the Zhou Dynasty. In Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines, it is also sometimes referred to as the Lantern Festival or Mooncake Festival. It is also related to the important Korean holiday of Chuseok.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which is usually around late September or early October in the Gregorian calendar. It is a date that parallels the autumnal equinox of the solar calendar, when the moon is supposedly at its fullest and roundest. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, of which there are many different varieties.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the few most important holidays in the Chinese calendar, the others being Chinese New Year and Winter Solstice, and is a legal holiday in several countries. Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Traditionally on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomelos under the moon together. Accompanying the celebration, there are additional cultural or regional customs, such as:

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~http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Autumn_Festival

Thursday, September 16, 2010

--Malaysia Day Sep. 16th--




Malaysia Day is held on September 16 every year to commemorate the establishment of the Malaysian federation on the same date in 1963. It marked the joining together of Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak, and Singapore to form Malaysia. The formation of the new federation was planned to occur on June 1, 1963, but was later postponed to August 31, 1963, in order to coincide with the sixth Hari Merdeka. Several issues related to the Indonesian and the Filipino objection to the formation of Malaysia delayed the declaration to September 16 of the same year. The postponement was also done to allow the United Nations team time to conduct referendums in North Borneo (now Sabah) and Sarawak regarding the two states participation in a new federation. The formation of Malaysia was made possible through the introduction of the Malaysia Bill to the Malayan Parliament on July 9, 1963, and consent from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on August 29, 1963. Prior to the formation of Malaysia, Singapore and North Borneo unilaterally declared independence from the United Kingdom on August 31, 1963, thus coinciding with the sixth anniversary of the Malayan independence. Beginning year 2010, September 16 is a federal public holiday. It coincides with the birthday of the Yang di-Pertua of Sabah.
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~http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Day

Saturday, September 11, 2010

--Sep. 11th 2001 9years of pain....--




The September 11 attacks (often referred to as September 11th or 9/11) were a series of coordinated suicide attacks by al-Qaeda upon the United States on September 11, 2001. On that morning, 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners. The hijackers intentionally crashed two of the airliners into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing everyone on board and many others working in the buildings. Both buildings collapsed within two hours, destroying nearby buildings and damaging others. The hijackers crashed a third airliner into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. The fourth plane crashed into a field near Shanksville in rural Pennsylvania after some of its passengers and flight crew attempted to retake control of the plane, which the hijackers had redirected toward Washington, D.C. There were no survivors from any of the flights.

Nearly 3000 victims and the 19 hijackers died in the attacks. According to the New York State Health Department, 836 responders have died as of June 2009. Among the 2752 victims who died in the attacks on the World Trade Center were 343 firefighters and 60 police officers from New York City and the Port Authority. 184 people were killed in the attacks on the Pentagon. The overwhelming majority of casualties were civilians, including nationals of over 70 countries. In addition, there was at least one secondary death – one person was ruled by a medical examiner to have died from lung disease due to exposure to dust from the World Trade Center's collapse.

The United States responded to the attacks by launching the War on Terror: it invaded Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, who had harbored al-Qaeda terrorists. The United States also enacted the USA PATRIOT Act. Many other countries also strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation and expanded law enforcement powers. Some American stock exchanges stayed closed for the rest of the week following the attack and posted enormous losses upon reopening, especially in the airline and insurance industries. The destruction of billions of dollars' worth of office space caused serious damage to the economy of Lower Manhattan.

The damage to the Pentagon was cleared and repaired within a year, and the Pentagon Memorial was built adjacent to the building. The rebuilding process has started on the World Trade Center site. In 2006, a new office tower was completed on the site of 7 World Trade Center. The new 1 World Trade Center is currently under construction at the site and, at 1,776 ft (541 m) upon completion in 2013, it will become one of the tallest buildings in North America. Three more towers were originally expected to be built between 2007 and 2012 on the site. Ground was broken for the Flight 93 National Memorial on November 8, 2009, and the first phase of construction is expected to be ready for the 10th anniversary of the attacks on September 11, 2011.

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~http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks
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~http://airtravel.about.com/od/shoppinggiftgiving/tp/sep11movies.htm
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~http://september11news.com/
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~http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFiEgwLQVJk

Friday, September 10, 2010

--Eid ul-Fitr 2010--

Eid ul-Fitr (Arabic: عيد الفطر ‘Īdu l-Fiṭr‎), often abbreviated to Eid, is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting (sawm). Eid is an Arabic word meaning "festivity", while Fiṭr means "break-fasting"; and so the holiday symbolizes the celebration of break-fasting after completing the fasting of the entire month of Ramadan (calendar month). The first day of Eid, therefore, is the first day of the month Shawwal that comes after Ramadan.
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Eid-ul-Fitr Salat (Namaz in Urdu/Persian) is a Wajib (strongly recommended, just short of obligatory) or mandoob depending on which juristic opinion is followed salat of two raka'ah (units) which is generally offered in an open field called Eidgah. This salat should be performed with Jama’at with extra six Takbirs, three of them in the beginning of the first raka'ah and three of them just before ruku' in the second raka'ah. Eid ul-Fitr is sometimes also known as the "Smaller Eid" (Arabic: العيد الصغير al-‘īdu ṣ-ṣaghīr‎) as compared to the Eid al-Adha that lasts four days following the Hajj and is casually referred to as the "Greater Eid" (Arabic: العيد الكبير al-‘īdu l-kabīr‎).
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Muslims are commanded by the Qur'an to complete their fast on the last day of Ramadan and then recite the Takbir all throughout the period of Eid.

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~http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hari_Raya_Aidilfitri