--Meditation from Thais...Sarah Chang--

Thaïs is an opera in three acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Louis Gallet based on the novel of the same name by Anatole France. It was first performed at the Opéra in Paris on March 16, 1894, starring the American soprano Sybil Sanderson, for whom Massenet had written the title role.

In 1907, the role served as Mary Garden's American debut in New York.
Set in Roman Egypt, the story concerns a Cenobite monk, Athanaël, who attempts to convert Thaïs, a courtesan of Alexandria and devotée of Venus, to Christianity, but discovers, too late, that his obsession with her is rooted in lust.

It has been described as bearing a kind of religious eroticism and has spawned many controversial productions. Its famous Méditation for violin, an entr'acte played before a closed curtain between the scenes of Act II, is among the most frequently performed concert pieces and has been arranged for many different instruments.

After Manon and Werther, Thaïs is one of Massenet's most performed operas, but it is not part of the standard operatic repertoire. The role of Thaïs, similar to another Massenet heroine also written for Sybil Sanderson, Esclarmonde, is notoriously difficult to sing and is reserved for only the most gifted of performers. Modern interpreters have included Carol Neblett, Anna Moffo, Beverly Sills, Leontyne Price and, most recently, Renée Fleming.

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~http://www.reference.com/browse/Meditation+from+Thais&

~http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObxzdawhM-8

~http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1OgwqqgVmo

--LOVE is the only thing REAL in LIFE--

SPEND ALL YOUR TIME WAITING

FOR THAT SECOND CHANCE

FOR A BREAK THAT WOULD MAKE IT OK

THERE'S ALWAYS ONE REASON

TO FEEL NOT GOOD ENOUGH

AND IT'S HARD AT THE END OF THE DAY

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I NEED SOME DISTRACTION OOH BEAUTIFUL RELIEFS

MEMORIES SEAPTH FROM MY VAINS

THAT MAYBE UNTO AND WEIGHTLESS AND MAYBE

I FIND SOME PEACE TONIGHT

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CHORUS~~

IN THE ARMS OF THE ANGELS

FLY AWAY FROM HERE

FROM THIS DARK COLD HOTEL ROOM

AND THE ENDLESSNESS THAT YOU FEEL

YOU ARE PULLED FROM THE WRECKAGE

OF YOUR SILENT REVERY

YOU'RE IN THE ARMS OF THE ANGEL

MAY YOU FIND SOME COMFORT HERE

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SO TIRED OF THE STRAIGHT LINE

AND EVERYWHERE YOU TURN

THERE'S VULTURES AND THIEVES AT YOUR BED

THE STORM KEEPS ON TWISTING

KEEP ON BUILDING THE LIES

THAT YOU MAKE UP FOR ALL THAT YOU LIKE

IT DONT MAKE NO DIFFERENCE

LETS GIVE THEM ONE LAST TIME

IT'S EASIER TO BELIEVE

IN THIS SWEET MADNESS

OH THIS GLORIOUS SADNESS

THAT BRINGS ME TO MY KNEES

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CHORUS~~

YOU'RE IN THE ARMS OF THE ANGELS

MAY YOU FIND SOME COMFORT HERE

SOME COMFORT HERE......

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~http://www.blueyze.us/armsoftheangel.html

~http://www.metrolyrics.com/in-the-arms-of-the-angels-lyrics-angelis.html

--10 Richest people in The World--

No. 1: Bill Gates / $40 billion / Microsoft

Software visionary regains title as the world's richest man despite losing $18 billion in the past 12 months. Stepped down from day-to-day duties at Microsoft last summer to devote his talents and riches to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Organization's assets were $30 billion in January. Dedicated to fighting hunger in developing countries, improving education in America's high schools and developing vaccines against malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS. Gates remains Microsoft chairman. Sells shares each quarter, redeploys proceeds via investment vehicle Cascade; more than half of fortune invested outside Microsoft. Stock down 45% in past 12 months.
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No. 2: Warren Buffett / $37 billion / Investments

Last year America's most beloved investor was the world's richest man. This year he has to settle for second place after losing $25 billion in 12 months. Shares of Berkshire Hathaway down 45% since last March. Injected billions of dollars into Goldman Sachs, General Electric last fall in exchange for preferred stock. Admits he made some "dumb" investment mistakes in 2008. Son of Nebraska politician delivered newspapers as a boy. Filed first tax return at age 13, claiming $35 deduction for bicycle. Studied under value investing guru Benjamin Graham at Columbia. Took over textile firm Berkshire Hathaway in 1965. Today holding company invested in insurance (GEICO, General Re), jewelry (Borsheim's), utilities (MidAmerican Energy), food (Dairy Queen, See's Candies).
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No. 3: Carlos Slim Helú / $35 billion / Telecoms

Economic downturn and plunging peso shaved $25 billion from the fortune of Latin America's richest man. Son of a Lebanese immigrant bought fixed-line operator Telefonos de Mexico (Telmex) in 1990; now controls 90% of Mexico's telephone land lines. Would be a billionaire based on his dividends alone. Biggest holding: $16 billion stake in América Móvil, Latin America's largest mobile phone company, with 173 million customers. Buying up cheap media, energy and retail assets. Last year took stakes in New York Times Co., former billionaire Anthony O'Reilly's Independent News & Media and Bronco Drilling; also increased position in Saks. Baseball statistics aficionado, art collector.
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No. 4: Lawrence Ellison / $22.5 billion / Oracle

Database titan continues to engulf the competition; Oracle has racked up 49 acquisitions in the past four years. Bought BEA Systems for $8.5 billion last year. Company still sitting on $7 billion in cash. Stock down 25% in past 12 months. Chicago native studied physics at University of Chicago; didn't graduate. Started Oracle in 1977. Company went public in 1986, a day before Microsoft. Owns yacht Rising Sun; built a smaller leisure boat because the 453-foot yacht is hard to moor. Squabbling in court with Swiss boating billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli over terms of next America's Cup. Recently unveiled hulking 90-foot trimaran he intends to use to win it.

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No. 5: Ingvar Kamprad / $22 billion / Ikea

Peddled matches, fish, pens, Christmas cards and other items by bicycle as a teenager. Started selling furniture in 1947. Opened first Ikea store 50 years ago; store's name is a combination of initials of his first and last name, his family farm and the nearest village. Retired in 1986; company's senior adviser still reportedly works tirelessly on his brand. Discount retailer now sells 9,500 items in 36 countries, prints catalog in 27 languages. Revenue up 7% to $27.4 billion in fiscal 2008. Three sons all work at the company. Thrifty entrepreneur flies economy class, frequents cheap restaurants and furnishes his home mostly with Ikea products.

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No. 6: Karl Albrecht / $21.5 billion / Supermarkets

Germany's richest person owns discount supermarket giant Aldi Sud. Retailer faring well amid economic downturn; analysts expect its 2008 sales to be up 9.4% to $33.7 billion. Sales in the U.S. up estimated 20% last year to $7 billion. Company plans to open 75 U.S. stores in 2009, including first in New York City. With younger brother, Theo, transformed their mother's corner grocery store into Aldi after World War II. Brothers split ownership in 1961. Retired from daily operations. Fiercely private; little known about him other than that he apparently raises orchids and plays golf.

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No. 7: Mukesh Ambani / $19.5 billion / Petrochemicals

Oversees Reliance Industries, India's most valuable company by market cap despite stock falling 40% in past year. Merging his Reliance Petroleum with flagship Reliance Industries. Late father, Dhirubhai, founded Reliance and built it into a massive conglomerate. After he died, Mukesh and his brother, Anil, ran the family business together for a brief time. But siblings feuded over control; mother eventually brokered split of assets. Has yet to move into his 27-story home that he's building at a reported cost of $1 billion. Ardent fan of Bollywood films. Wife, Nita, oversees school named after his father.

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No. 8: Lakshmi Mittal / $19.3 billion / Steel

Indian immigrant heads world's largest steel company; ArcelorMittal was formed via hostile takeover three years ago. Stock in company makes up bulk of his fortune; shares at a four-year low, with steel prices down 75% since last summer. Company forced to pay heavy fines after a French antitrust investigation found 10 companies guilty of price-fixing in European steel markets. Arcelor posted $2.6 billion loss in most recent quarter. Started in family steel business in the 1970s, branched out on his own in 1994. Initially bought up steel mills on the cheap in Eastern Europe. Holds substantial cash; owns 12-bedroom mansion in London's posh Kensington neighborhood.

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No. 9: Theo Albrecht /$18.8 billion / Supermarkets

Runs discount supermarket group Aldi Nord; company holding up amid economic downturn. Sales expected to hit $31 billion in 2008. After World War II, he and older brother Karl transformed their mother's corner grocery into Aldi. Brothers split ownership in 1961. Theo got the northern Germany stores and the rest of Europe. Unable to operate Aldi stores in U.S., Theo developed discount food store Trader Joe's; now has more than 320 U.S. stores. Also owns stake in Supervalu. Became a recluse after being kidnapped for 17 days in 1971; said to collect old typewriters, loves golf.

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No. 10: Amancio Ortega / $18.3 billion / Fashion

Railway worker's son started as a gofer in a shirt store. With then-wife, Rosalia Mera, also now a billionaire, started making dressing gowns and lingerie in their living room. Business became one of world's most successful apparel manufacturers. Today Inditex has more than 4,000 stores in 71 countries. Sales: $12.3 billion. Ortega is chairman. Stock up 1% in past 12 months, but fortune down because of weak euro. Also has personal investments in gas, tourism, banks and real estate. Shuns neckties and fanfare. Daughter Marta works for Inditex; recent speculation suggests she is being groomed to eventually replace her father.

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~http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banking/Advice/the-10-richest-people-in-the-world-slides.aspx?slide-number=10

--Funny Miscommunication...--

--Terror crackdown: UK--

Travellers face price hikes and confusion after the Government unveiled plans to take up to 53 pieces of information from anyone entering or leaving Britain.
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For every journey, security officials will want credit card details, holiday contact numbers, travel plans, email addresses, car numbers and even any previous missed flights.
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The information, taken when a ticket is bought, will be shared among police, customs, immigration and the security services for at least 24 hours before a journey is due to take place.
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Anybody about whom the authorities are dubious can be turned away when they arrive at the airport or station with their baggage.
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Those with outstanding court fines, such as a speeding penalty, could also be barred from leaving the country, even if they pose no security risk.
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The information required under the "e-borders" system was revealed as Gordon Brown announced plans to tighten security at shopping centres, airports and ports.
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This could mean additional screening of baggage and passenger searches, with resulting delays for travellers.
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The e-borders scheme is expected to cost at least £1.2billion over the next decade. ~
Travel companies, which will run up a bill of £20million a year compiling the information, will pass on the cost to customers via ticket prices, and the Government is considering introducing its own charge on travellers to recoup costs.
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~http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-493912/Terror-crackdown-Passengers-forced-answer-53-questions-BEFORE-travel.html

--Real Heroes--

--Somaly Mam--Cambodia--

Somaly Mam (b. 1970 or 1971) is a Cambodian author and human rights advocate, focusing primarily on needs of victims of human sex trafficking, and has garnered official and media acclaim for her efforts.

She was born in the Mondulkiri province of Cambodia. Mam was sold into sexual slavery in her childhood. Beaten, raped and tortured as a child, at the age of 30 she became a spokeswoman for women and children tortured in the brothels of Cambodia. She, with her husband Pierre Legros, created the AFESIP (Agir pour les Femmes en Situation Précaire) NGO in 1997 in Cambodia. Since then, this international NGO has developed in Thailand, Vietnam and Laos. Its goals are to save and socially reintegrate people who are victims of these kinds of hardships. Despite threats against her, Somaly Mam has been able to help thousands of young girls and teenagers who have been coerced into prostitution.
She has three children.

Mam's family struggled through poverty and limited opportunities. Although she did/did not receive formal schooling, she was later trained to be a midwife after the genocidal regime. However, Somaly was sold many times by her grandfather as a slave and coerced into prostitution.

She was forced to work in a brothel with many other young girls that were treated horrifically through torture, manipulation, and scare tactics. One night she watched a close friend murdered by a pimp. At this moment, Somaly realized that she was trapped in a dangerous and desperate world. She made it her mission to escape and later find a way to stop this vicious cycle. Her past is a major contributing factor regarding her passion and effort to help young children and women involved with human trafficking.

Because of poverty and the adversity young women face in Cambodia, Somaly Mam worked diligently to overcome the traumatic background in her life. She has very diverse experiences that helped build her work ethic and job skills. At the age of 21, Somaly became a midwife at Choup district Hospital in Cambodia.

A few years later, Somaly traveled to France and began to learn its language. She became the Director of Personnel at a European Restaurant in 1992-93. However, her most rewarding experiences related to social work, such as her earlier days at the Maison the Retraite in France. Somaly also met her former husband, Mr. Pierre Legros, who is also dedicated to social causes, such as victims of human trafficking.

Somaly later returned to Cambodia to bring back some of her experience and ideas to her homeland. She began establishing an NGO in French called “Agir Pour les Femmes en Situation Précaire (AFESIP),” translated in English “Acting for Women in Distressing Circumstances.” She became co-founder of AFESIP and President of AFESIP Cambodia in Phnom Penh. This organization’s main cause is the rescue, rehabilitation, and reintegration of girls forced into prostitution.

~http://www.somaly.org/

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

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

~https://www.development.somaly.org/activities/