Khamis, 6 Januari 2011

So called 'God-Given-Gift-Of-A-Great-Voice'...


Homeless man with golden radio voice







An interview with The Early Show CBS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWG6zNf4xY0&feature=player_embedded




‘Golden-voiced’ homeless man lands dream job, house




Video MSNBC
YouTube video sensation draws attention of Cleveland Cavaliers 


TODAYshow.com
updated 1/5/2011 10:28:47 AM ET



An Internet video of a homeless man showing off his self-described “God-given gift of a great voice” has landed him a spot on a local radio show, a dream job with the Cleveland Cavaliers and a house. “The Cleveland Cavaliers just offered me a full-time job and a house! A house! A house!” Ted Williams said while appearing on a morning radio show in Columbus called “ Dave and Jimmy.”

Williams was offered the job and free home by a caller to the show who said she represented the Cavaliers, the New York Post reported. 


Williams will also appear on NBC's TODAY on Thursday, Matt Lauer said Wednesday.

A reporter from the Columbus Dispatch came across Williams while he was panhandling near Interstate 71 recently. A sign he carried explained that he was a former radio announcer who had fallen on hard times. 


“Any help will be gratefully appreciated,” the sign read.

The roadside interview with Williams that appears on YouTube shows that he isn’t exaggerating: His delivery is as smooth as that of announcers heard on radio or television. The popularity of the “the voice” video has soared on the Web, attracting coverage in the Post and on television news.


Williams said he grew up in Brooklyn, and at 14 took a field trip to a radio station. While there, he was struck by the fact that one of the on-air announcers looked nothing like he sounded. “Radio is defined ‘theater of mind,’ ” the announcer told him.

Williams was hooked. He said it took years to develop his voice, and he also went to school for training.

“Alcohol and drugs — and a few other things — became my life,” Williams admitted, but added that he has “been two years clean.”



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Selasa, 4 Januari 2011

Bank Note : 100 Trillion Dollar!!



Visitors snap up 100 trillion Zimbabwe bank notes


Angus Shaw, Associated Press, On Monday January 3, 2011, 8:22 am EST

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- Western visitors to Zimbabwe are looking for zeros. They're snapping up old, defunct Zimbabwe bank notes, most notably the one hundred trillion Zimbabwe dollar bill, as an economic souvenir.


The one hundred trillion Zimbabwe dollar bill, which at 100 followed by 12 zeros is the highest denomination, now sells for $5, depending on its condition. That bill and others -- among them millions, billions and trillions, were abandoned nearly two years ago, when the American dollar became legal tender in the hopes of killing off the record inflation that caused all those zeros.


"I had to have one," said Janice Waas on a visit to the northwestern resort town of Victoria Falls. "The numbers are mind bending." She got her so-called "Zimdollar" in pristine condition, from a street vendor who usually sells African carvings.

"It's perfect if you like puzzles, calculus and things like Rubik's Cube," she said.

Janice's husband Thomas Waas, a physicist and engineer from Germany, said if the population of the world is 7 billion people, every single person could be a given thousands of old Zimbabwe dollars from this single 100 trillion note.

Janice Waas said Westerners were buying the bills for their curiosity value. An Australian wanted one to display in his local bar back home.

Street vendors said visitors had been so intrigued by the Zimbabwe bills that they were now running out of them, two years after a power sharing deal between longtime ruler President Robert Mugabe and the former opposition leader, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, made the old currency redundant.

Visitors from countries familiar with hyperinflation, such as the Congo and other impoverished states in the region and in South America, showed less interest in the highly marked bills. Instead, most bought curios and artifacts, said vendor Lloyd Phiri, speaking on his mobile phone in Victoria Falls.

At the height of Zimbabwe's economic meltdown in 2008 when Zimbabwe's world record inflation was running into the billions in percent annually and prices were climbing each hour, the 100 trillion bill scarcely bought a cart of groceries.

Teachers reported the printing of bank notes from millions to billions and then trillions skewed their pupils' sense of numeracy, making them fail to grasp the realities of numbers.

On one geography field trip, students scoffed at being told granite rocks swept over Zimbabwe by ancient glaciers were 700 million years old. That time frame seemed insignificant.

Back then in 2008, 700 million Zimbabwe dollars bought a loaf of bread.

Scientists and physicists estimate the number of atoms in the universe at 10 to the power of 80 -- 10 followed by 80 zeros.

During the worst of Zimbabwe's economic meltdown and hyperinflation, Zimbabwe's highest money denominations were logged at 10 to the power of 25 -- 10 followed by 25 zeros.

The central bank then sliced off several zeros, but large transactions were still calculated in quadrillions (15 zeros) and quintillions (18 zeros) until the demise of the local currency.

If you are delayed at an airport during your Zimbabwe trip, play the numbers game, advises Waas, the physicist.

He posed this challenge.

"If the pyramids in Egypt are 5,000 years old, there are 155 billion seconds in 5,000 years and 1,000 billion make a trillion. So how many years are there in 100 trillion seconds?" he said.

Waas said he was still waiting for the correct answer from friends and fellow visitors in Zimbabwe.




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Isnin, 3 Januari 2011

Kuasa tanduk seladang

Kuasa tanduk seladang


Oleh KU MOHD. RIZDUAN KU ABDUL RAHMAN


SEBAHAGIAN peralatan yang digunakan Pak Jang dan Roslan ketika mengurut pesakit yang dibeli dari Indonesia dan China malah ada yang dihasilkan sendiri.



RAWATAN urut tradisional merupakan amalan turun-temurun di kebanyakan negara di Asia malah kemampuan teknik itu kini mulai diterima di negara Barat berikutan keberkesanannya yang diiktiraf sains perubatan moden.

Urutan juga merupakan satu daripada cabang perubatan cara Islam manakala segelintir masyarakat menganggapnya sebagai perubatan alternatif.

Secara amnya, ia sesuai bagi merawat apa juga penyakit, sama ada penyakit baru atau sudah lama dihidapi, yang ringan mahupun yang kronik.

Selain mengatasi masalah terseliuh, kebas atau membetulkan perjalanan darah, teknik urut turut dikaitkan dengan rawatan mengembalikan kesihatan dan tenaga seksual lelaki terutama bagi wanita selepas bersalin.

Bagaimanapun, urutan yang menggunakan tangan sepatutnya dilakukan oleh mereka yang mahir dan profesional kerana jika tidak mengikut prosedur, urutan boleh memudaratkan.

Namun, urutan menggunakan tangan sahaja tidak mencukupi kerana sentuhan itu kemungkinan kurang berkesan serta pesakit tidak merasa puas walaupun teknik yang digunakan betul.

Justeru, bagi seorang pengamal urutan tradisional dari Utara tanah air, Baharom Yunus berjaya mengenal pasti kaedah lebih berkesan bagi tujuan mengurut. Yunus yang mesra dikenali sebagai Pak Jang menjelaskan, penggunaan tanduk seladang betina serta beberapa peralatan lain.

Khasiat tanduk seladang

Pak Jang menambah, urutan menggunakan jari-jemari sahaja kurang praktikal berbanding penggunaan peralatan khas yang dibuat sendiri atau dibeli.

Katanya tanduk seladang betina yang diperoleh dari Indonesia digunakan dalam teknik urutannya yang dikajinya sejak 20 tahun lalu.

“Sebelum mengurut saya akan menggunakan jari-jemari yang bertindak seperti alat 'pengimbas' untuk mengenalpasti anggota badan yang mengalami masalah urat.

Selalunya bahagian yang mempunyai banyak benjolan merupakan kawasan yang perlu diberi perhatian.




TANPA menggunakan peralatan seperti yang ditunjukkan, proses urutan kurang berkesan dan tidak puas


“Peralatan seperti tanduk seladang betina yang dibentuk seperti sudu digunakan bagi memecahkan bahagian saluran tersumbat yang berpunca daripada darah beku, lemak dan angin dengan bantuan minyak khas.


“Selagi terdapat permukaan tidak rata maka selagi itulah urutan dibuat. Apabila saluran bermasalah dirungkai dengan betul, aliran darah akan mengalir secara normal kembali,” katanya sambil mengurut seorang pelanggan menggunakan teknik tanduk seladang betina di Pondok Rawatan Nusantara (PRN) di Sungai Petani, Kedah.


Namun, bagi mereka yang tidak mahir dengan teknik berkenaan, dia menyarankan agar tidak sesekali mencubanya kerana khuatir boleh memudaratkan pesakit.

Paling penting katanya, urutan mesti sesuai dengan kaedah, tempat, kemampuan serta sensitif pada bahagian yang tidak boleh diurut.


Jelas lelaki yang kini menjangkau usia 63 tahun itu, teknik urutan yang diamalkannya seakan-akan terapi guasa dari China tetapi ia tidak terlalu ekstrem sehingga boleh meninggalkan garisan merah pada tubuh pesakit.


“Bagaimanapun, bahagian paling sakit dalam teknik ini apabila saluran darah tersumbat ditekan, tetapi kesannya selepas itu memang tidak sakit malah ada pesakit yang dipimpin sebelum rawatan mampu berjalan sendiri selepas diurut,” katanya.


Akuinya, setakat hari ini teknik berkenaan hanya boleh didapati di PRN sahaja malah dia menggunakan kira-kira 15 peralatan mengurut lain mengikut kesesuaian pesakit.

Antaranya, batu marmar yang dicanai khas, tanduk kerbau, tanduk seladang jantan, rotan, batu sungai dan tumbang kambing.


“Urut sepatutnya dilihat sebagai satu perubatan pencegahan dan sepatutnya dilakukan secara kerap. Ia sangat baik mencegah penyakit daripada menjadi lebih teruk seperti migrain, strok, lemah jantung, kebas, sengal-sengal selain bertujuan penjagaan kesihatan,” katanya.

Urut auta

Tegas Pak Jang, urutan yang dipraktik sejak sekian lama bukannya ‘auta’ kerana ia betul-betul teknik mengurut dan sentuhannya memang sampai ke urat malah mendapat pujian daripada pelanggan kerana teknik yang sememangnya berbeza dengan urutan dengan hanya menggunakan tangan.


Lebih menarik, Pak Jang yang sebelum ini pernah menderita penyakit jantung kronik mampu berulang-alik dari kediamannya di Permatang Pauh, Pulau Pinang ke PRN, Sungai Petani setiap hari kecuali Jumaat.

Sementara itu, bagi pengasas PRN, Roslan Mat Isa, 41, memberitahu, penggunaan kira-kira 15 peralatan mengurut itu lebih berkesan dan mampu menyembuh bahagian bermasalah secara terperinci.


BATU marmar yang dibuat khas turut digunakan dalam proses mengurut.


“Kalau menggunakan tangan semata-mata, keupayaan mengurut adalah terbatas kerana kekuatan manusia ini bukanlah kuat sangat. Kalau nak tekan dengan jari sahaja memang tidak terasa dan jika terasa sekalipun mungkin sekejap sahaja lepas itu kembali tidak selesa,” ujarnya.


Bukan itu sahaja, di PRN mereka menggunakan pelbagai minyak bagi tujuan urutan. Antaranya, minyak kelapa dara, minyak bijan, minyak matahari, minyak zaitun dan minyak yang dimasak dengan ramuan sendiri.

Jelasnya, dengan bantuan Pak Jang serta tujuh orang tukang urut secara sambilan konsep urutan yang diperkenalkan PRN kini semakin berkembang dan diterima orang ramai kerana ia memberikan kepuasan maksimum.

Selain pendedahan ilmu urutan daripada Pak Jang, Roslan terlebih dahulu mengikuti kursus pelbagai jenis rawatan di Lembaga Kemajuan Wilayah Kedah (Keda), pusat perubatan swasta serta beberapa tempat lagi.

“Sebelum khidmat Pak Jang di pondok rawatan ini, saya juga mempunyai alat mengurut sendiri. Bagaimanapun, dengan kemasukan Pak Jang ke sini menjadikan rawatan lebih kemas,” katanya yakin.

Seorang pelanggan, Harun Hussain memberitahu, walaupun pertama kali dirinya membuat rawatan urut di PRN, tubuhnya begitu segar malah masalah di bahagian bawah lututnya semakin pulih setelah diurut menggunakan tanduk seladang betina.

Memang apabila urat ditekan pada ketika itu terasa sedikit sakit, tetapi dalam tempoh beberapa minit kesakitan itu beransur hilang,” katanya.




Pregnant Robot Helped Train Medical Students

Pregnant Robot Helped Train Medical Students (Robot Bersalin?)







One of the most critical chapter of a woman's life is pregnancy, because she's caring not only for her own life but of the unborn child as well. Medical specialists ensure complete health care are provided for both the mother and baby.

However, during delivery complications may arise, such as pre-term/unscheduled delivery, cord coil, displacia and preeclampsia or toxemia. All of these require special attention from the doctors. That's why hospitals and health providers are well trained to avoid such high-risk complications.

At John Hopkins hospitals a robotic birth simulator named Noelle has just been hired in order to provide actual delivery training to medical students. Noelle has all of the necessary vitals, even breathing and a pulse. She even has the proper anatomy which is functionally correct. Therefore she is able to simulate a wide variety of delivery situations to train those who deliver babies.


She is an interactive female with one birthing baby and one interactive neonate, the neonate also interacts in a way that it changes color with positive pressure ventilation (PPV). The whole simulator package is equipped with the necessary stuffs needed for a life-like actual birthing to happen.

The idea of a birthing simulator is conceived by Florida-based Gaumard Scientific Company in order to provide actual training to medical students and doctors as well.



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