VOTE FOR US!

Hey everyone! Lifzfun, one of our proud affies are having an SOTM and I was hoping that you could vote for us. All you have to do is click on the banner below, and then choose the option that has Aashni's Blog written next to it. I will be really grateful! Thanks.

Yay! Another Award! and an upcoming Agony Aunt site?

Hey everyone! We got another award from Sensai Graphics. Isn't it cute?

Also, there is an up and coming Agony Aunt blog site that you should definatley check out! Here is the link. If you have any types of problems, visit the site, and see what they can do for you!

Uni-Motorbikist.. WTH??

Ok, so I have heard of motor-bikists, cyclists, and even the odd uni-cyclist here or there, but I have never heard of a uno - motorbikist, have you? Well, some genius person decided to make one, and I think its just crazy! Would you ever ride one if you had the chance? Consider these things:

1. You need serious balance so that you won't fall flat onto your face...
2. Normal motor-biking is pretty dangerous, but what happens when we take it up a notch, and turn it to extreme biking?
3. You must be completley insane!

22 Man Fooseball!

I don't know about you guys, but I love to play fooseball with my friends. Normally we have two people on each team, and play until we win, and then we swap partners, to give everyone a chance to play. Well, some crazy people have decided to do things a little differently! They have created a 22 man fooseball table, allowing 22 different people to play at the same time! Won't that be a lot of fun? Here are some pictures for proof. 

COCA COLA

Well everyone, what do you think about this picture? It is showing the different types of bottles that Coca Cola^TM have designed over the years. Which is your favorite style?

What would you like?

Hey! So, I am not sure what you would like me to write about. Please comment on this post, and give your opinion of what you want me to post about, and I will try and write up about it. It can be just about any kind of topic, and if possible, make it as spcific as you can - movie reviews (which movie), current news, celeb gossip, or something else all together. Please comment on this post, and tell me what you would like me to post about.

Thanks.

Through a Rapist's Eyes

This is an email I got a while back. A lot of you might have it as well, but due to the last post I wrote (73 year old man kidnapped and raped his daughter), I thought that I should put it up here for all women to read.

A group of rapists and date rapists in prison were interviewed on what they look for in a potential victim and here are some interesting facts:

1) The first thing men look for in a potential victim is hairstyle. They are most likely to go after a woman with a ponytail, bun, braid or other hairstyle that can easily be grabbed . They are also likely to go after a woman with long hair . Women with short hair are not common targets.

2) The second thing men look for is clothing . They will look for women who's clothing is easy to remove quickly . Many of them carry scissors around specifically to cut clothing.

3) They also look for women on their cell phone , searching through their purse, or doing other activities while walking because they are off-guard and can be easily overpowered.

4) Men are most likely to attack & rape in the early morning, between 5:00a.m. and 8:30a.m.

5) The number one place women are abducted from/attacked is grocery store parking lots . Number two: is office parking lots/garages. Number three: is public restrooms.

6) The thing about these men is that they are looking to grab a woman and quickly move her to another location where they don't have to worry about getting caught.

7) O nly 2% said they carried weapons because rape carries a 3-5 year sentence but rape with a weapon is 15-20 years.

8) If you put up any kind of a fight at all, they get discouraged because it only takes a minute or two for them to realize that going after you isn't worth it because it will be time-consuming.

9) These men said they would not pick on women who have umbrellas , or other similar objects that can be used from a distance, in their hands. Keys are not a deterrent because you have to get really close to the attacker to use them as a weapon. So, the idea is to convince these guys

you're not worth it.

10) Several defense mechanisms he taught us are: If someone is following behind you on a street or in a garage or with you in an elevator or stairwell, look them in the face and ask them a question , like what time is it, or make general small talk: 'I can't believe it is so cold out here,' 'we're in for a bad winter.' Now you've seen their face and could identify

them in a line-up; you lose appeal as a target.

11) If someone is coming toward you , hold out your hands in front of you and yell STOP or STAY BACK! Most of the rapists this man talked to said they'd leave a woman alone if she yelled or showed that she would not be afraid to fight back .

Again, they are looking for an EASY target.

12) If you carry pepper spray (this instructor was a huge advocate of it and carries it with him wherever he goes) , yell I HAVE PEPPER SPRAY and holding it out will be a deterrent.

13) If someone grabs you , you can't beat them with strength but you can by outsmarting them If you are grabbed around the waist from behind, pinch the attacker either under the arm (between the elbow and armpit) OR in the upper inner thigh VERY VERY HARD . One woman in a class this guy taught told him she used the underarm pinch on a guy who was trying to date rape her and was so upset she broke through the skin and tore out muscle strands - the guy needed stitches. Try pinching yourself in those places as hard as you can stand it - it hurts.

14) After the initial hit, always GO for the GROIN . I know from a particularly unfortunate experience that if you slap a guy's parts it is extremely painful . You might think that you'll anger the guy and make him want to hurt you more, but the thing these rapists told our instructor is that they want a woman who will not cause a lot of trouble. Start causing trouble and he's out of there.

15) When the guy puts his hands up to you , grab his first two fingers and bend them back as far as possible with as much pressure pushing down on them as possible . The instructor did it to me without using much pressure, and I ended up on my knees and both knuckles cracke audibly.

16) Of course the things we always hear still apply. Always be aware of your surroundings , take someone with you if you can and if you see any odd behavior, don't dismiss it, go with your instincts!!!

You may feel a little silly at the time, but you'd feel much worse if the guy really was trouble.

1 . Tip from Tae Kwon Do : The elbow is the strongest point on your body. If you are close enough to use it, do!

2. Learned this from a tourist guide in New Orleans . If a robber asks for your wallet and/or purse, DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM . Toss it away from you....chances are that he is more interested in your wallet and/or purse than you, and he will go for the wallet/purse. RUN LIKE MAD IN THE OTHER DIRECTION!

3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car, kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like crazy. The driver won't see you, but everybody else will. This has saved lives.

4. Women have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping, eating, working, etc., and just sit (doing their checkbook, or making a list, etc.) DON'T DO THIS! The predator will be watching you, and this is the perfect opportunity for him to get in on the passenger side, put a gun to your head, and tell you where to go.

AS SOON AS YOU GET INTO YOUR CAR, LOCK THE DOORS AND LEAVE. a. If someone is in the car with a gun to your head DO NOT DRIVE OFF, repeat: DO NOT DRIVE OFF! Instead gun the engine and speed into anything, wrecking the car. Your Air Bag will save you. If the person is in the back seat they will get the worst of it. As soon as the car crashes ba il out and run. It is better than having them find your body in a remote location.

5 A few notes about getting into your car in a parking lot or parking garage:

A.) Be aware: look around you, look into your car, at the passenger side floor, and in the back seat.

B.) If you are parked next to a big van, enter your car from the passenger door. Most serial killers attack their victims by pulling them into their vans while the women are attempting to get into their cars.

C.) Look at the car parked on the driver's side of your vehicle, and the passenger side. If a male is sitting alone in the seat nearest your car, you may want to walk back into the mall, or work, and get a guard/policeman to walk you back out.

IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY. (And better paranoid than dead.)

6. ALWAYS take the elevator instead of the stairs. (Stairwells are horrible places to be alone and the perfect crime spot. This is especially true at NIGHT!)

7. If the predator has a gun and you are not under his control, ALWAYS RUN! The predator will only hit you (a running target) 4 in 100 times. And even then, it most likely WILL NOT be a vital organ. RUN, preferably in a zigzag pattern!

8. As women, we are always trying to be sympathetic: STOP! It may get you raped or killed. Ted Bundy, the serial killer, was a good-looking, well-educated man, who ALWAYS played on the sympathies of unsuspecting women. He walked with a cane, or a limp, and often asked 'for help' into his vehicle or with his vehicle, which is when he abducted his next victim.

9. Another Safety Point: Someone just told me that her friend heard a crying baby on her porch the night before last, and she called the police because it was late and she thought it was weird. The police told her 'Whatever you do, DO NOT open the door.'

The lady then said that it sounded like the baby had crawled near a window, and she was worried that it would crawl to the street and get run over. The policeman said, 'We already have a unit on the way, whatever you do, DO NOT open the door.' He told her that they think a serial killer has a baby's cry recorded and uses it to coax women out of their homes thinking that someone dropped off a baby. He said they have not verified it , but have had several calls by women saying that they hear baby's cries outside their doors when they're home alone at night.

Please pass this on and DO NOT open the door for a crying baby ----This should be taken seriously because the Crying Baby theory was mentioned on America's Most Wanted this past Saturday when they profiled the serial killer in Louisiana.

What do you think? Have any other helpful tips for me to add onto here? They could save someone's life, so why not read them, and pass them on to a friend.

73 Year old man kidnapped and raped own daughter

This story has been circulating the news for the past few days. It is extremly sad, and hard to believe that the 73 year old man could actually commit such a heanous act. I hope that nothing like this ever happens again. Below is a copy of the story taken from CNN NEWS. Please leave your comments about this inhumane action.

73-year old Josef Fritzl taken into custody.

Photo of Elisabeth Fritzl, seen before she wen't missing 24 years ago.

AMSTETTEN, Austria (CNN) -- A 73-year-old man accused of holding his daughter captive underground for 24 years often spent entire days and nights in the cellar where he kept a secret family imprisoned, his sister-in law said in an interview published Thursday.

Police say Josef Fritzl confessed to keeping his daughter Elisabeth in his basement for 24 years, where he repeatedly raped her and fathered seven children with her -- six of whom survived.

"Every day at nine in the morning Joseph would go into the cellar. He said he was drawing engineering plans that he would sell to companies," Fritzl's sister-in-law -- identified as Christine R. as told Austria's Oesterreich newspaper.

"Often he would stay there all night" and his wife was not even allowed to bring him coffee, said the woman that the newspaper identified as Christine R. She is the sister of Fritzl's wife.

Austrian authorities said the imprisoned children, who for years had not seen the light of day, were slowly adapting to sunlight. Officials also debunked reports in a few British newspapers that some of the children could not walk or speak in sentences.

The story of the family's imprisonment began to unravel a week ago, when Elisabeth Fritzl's oldest daughter, Kerstin Fritzl, fell seriously ill with convulsions and was hospitalized.

The 19-year-old girl, who was locked in the basement along with her mother and two brothers, remains in an artificially-induced coma in an Amstetten clinic. She is suffering from a kidney ailment that worsened because she did not receive medial treatment sooner, authorities said.

"We cannot expect any dramatic changes in her condition in next few days," Dr. Albert Reiter said. "We will make every effort to help as best as we can, perhaps in a few weeks we hope some positive change for the better."

Fritzl has yet to be charged, but he can be held by police for 14 days without formal charges while the investigation is under way. That amount of time can be extended by a judge.

A spokesman for the prosecution, Gerhard Sedlacek, said Fritzl had stopped talking to police since making his initial confession. Investigators intend to begin questioning him again next week, Sedlacek said.

Austrian police spokesman Franz Polzer said the investigation would likely last a couple of months. Police plan to interview at least 100 people who lived in the same apartment building as the Fritzls over the past 24 years.

"Investigation officials will go back as far as they can in order to discover what his behavior and actions were at that time ... but it is not very easy to reconstruct 24 years," Polzer said.

Authorities are also looking into media reports that Fritzl may have had a prior rape conviction in the 1960s, but have no information because criminal records are expunged after a certain number of years under Austrian law.

However, Austrian police spokesman Franz Polzer denied reports that authorities were looking into Fritzl's ties to the unsolved murder of a young woman more than 20 years ago.

During the time Fritzl owned a hotel and restaurant at a lake in Austria, a woman was found murdered at the other end of that lake, Polzer said.

Police are aware of the media reports and may investigate possible links in the future, but at this time, Polzer said, there is no investigation.

The investigation will also examine whether any accomplices were involved in the case after police revealed they had received an anonymous tip-off that Fritzl had imprisoned his daughter. But Polzer said there were "neither technical nor biological traces of any other person in cellar" other than Fritzl.

On Sunday, Elisabeth and her two sons, ages 18 and 5, met the three children who were raised by Josef and Rosemarie Fritzl, unaware that their mother and siblings were kept prisoners in the basement.

"It is astonishing how easy it worked, that the children came together and also it was astonishing how easy it happened that the grandmother and the mother came together," clinic director Berthold Kepplinger told reporters Tuesday.

Authorities are looking into the possibility of giving new identities to the Fritzl family. District Governor Hans Heinz Lenze said Tuesday that the Fritzl name had been "muddied" by the case.

On Wednesday, a German tabloid released video of Fritzl, laughing on a Thai beach and receiving a massage -- apparently as his daughter and three of their children remained locked up in his basement.

The newspaper Bild posted the video on its Web site, and said it was taken and provided to the newspaper by Fritzl's friend, a retiree from Munich.

---

Timeline

1977: Elisabeth Fritzl claims she was first abused by her father Josef when aged 11.

1984: Elisabeth is allegedly lured into house cellar, drugged and handcuffed by her father. She is forced to write letters saying she has run away.

1988: Her first child, Kerstin, is born.

1989: Elisabeth gives birth to her first son, Stefan.

1993: Nine-month-old Lisa is left on the doorstep of the Fritzl house.

1994: Another child, Monika, arrives and is adopted by the Fritzls.

1996: Elisabeth gives birth to twins, but one dies after three days. Josef allegedly burned the body.

1997: Alexander, the surviving twin, joins the children upstairs.

2003: A letter from Elisabeth arrives saying she had a second son, Felix, the previous year. He is raised in the cellar.

2008:

April 19: Kerstin is taken to that hospital after falling serious ill. Doctors discover that her grandfather is her father.

April 20-27: Josef releases Elisabeth, Stefan and Felix and tells his wife they are returning.

April 26: Police pick up Josef and Elisabeth near the hospital where Kerstin is being treated.

April 27: Josef admits his guilt after Elisabeth's statement.

April 28: Police search house and discover cramped cellar with special security door.

April 29: Josef appears in court.

Fritzl had told his wife that Elisabeth, who is now 42, ran away from home aged 18, police say. The Fritzls adopted three of the children who Josef said were left on his doorstep as infants by his runaway daughter. Fritzl has confessed to incinerating the body of the infant that did not survive, according to police

Friendship

Friends. A word that you use on a daily basis. You are surrounded by them, and you have some that you dont even know about! But what exactly are friends?

Friends are the family you choose for yourself, a famouse quote that is written across one of my hot chocolate mugs! But what does this mean?

Family are the people that you are stuck seeing everyday. You can never truly run away from them, and are bound to have fights and quarels with them (especially your annoying younger siblings!!!) But you still love them. Friends are the people that you get to choose to see and talk to everyday. They are the people you choose to surround yourself with, and they are the people that your rely on to help you when you are stuck, and to trust you no matter what.

If you have a good friend, do whatever it takes to hold onto them, and show them that they mean the world to you! Show them that you are really happy that you guys are friends, and when the going gets tough...Remember the good times, and get through them! If you have a really close friend, keep them as close as possible, because if they ever leave, you will miss them...

To all of my great friends out there, just wanna say thank-you for being such good friends, keeping up with all my "crap" and staying by me when the going went tough...Just wanna say that i love you guys, and you mean the world to me!!!

Facebook - Watch Out!!!

Warning! There are some facebook hackers about. My account, as well as a couple of my friends accounts have been hacked into. It might have something to do with us being careless, and logging on from random computers in school or something, but still. A lot of bad things happened because someone hacked into my facebook account.


When you finish using your facebook (no matter where it is) make sure that you log out of it properly. Dont save your password, unless its your computer, and even then it still isn't a wise choice.
Check and change your password regulary, this makes it harder for someone to guess your password, and try and make it complex, using numbers as well as letters.
Check your email address. The person who hacked into my account had changed the email address. Fortunatly whoever it was hadnt changed my password yet, and I managed to change the email back. You might be thinking why is this important, but if the hacker changed your email and password, then you would have no way of getting your account back.

I hope none of your accounts get hacked into! Just thought that I should warn you guys - when mine got hacked, it made me and a few people fight (because things were being said about the hacker, and msg's were being sent by the hacker to my friends, as if they were from me), and it was just really bad.

One Universal Language

Well, a few weeks ago (ok, maybe it was a week and a half ago) our school had a Speech competition, and everyone had to take part in the first few rounds... I some how made it throught to the finals (even though i didnt win). There were only three people for each grade group. I chose the topic One Universal Language, and managed to say the speech without too many mistakes. Here is a copy of my speech (even though I might have changed a couple of the lines and stuff while I spoke...) Please leave some feedback as to what you thought about it. Thank-you.

**It has the bibliography and parenthetical references...just ignore the stuff in the brackets if they dont make any sense... **

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Bonjour, Ciao, Angyong, Kemcho, Hola, Jambo, Saluton, Hello. What are these you may ask? Well, they are all the same greeting said in different languages. But why do we have so many languages? Why can’t we all just talk in one language? Does it make us cooler to talk in all these different languages? The definition of language is “communication by voice in the distinctively human manner, using arbitrary sounds in conventional ways with conventional meanings;” (Language – Definition from dictionary). Language is supposed to aide communication, not complicate it. So there should only be one language that we speak in, making the communication aspect of this easier.

This speech is being spoken in English, but what if I were to speak in Kiswahili? Una fahamu wile ame aleziwa? Maybe a little French? comprenez-vous ce que je dis ? Or maybe gujurati? Thune Kuburche hu su keyuchu? Unless you already knew these languages, you would have no idea what I was trying to say. I just asked, in all three languages, Do you understand what I am saying?

There was actually an attempt at creating a Universal Language. L.L. Zamenhof, later known as Dr. Esperanto, spent many years creating the artificial language of Esperanto (Harold, Donald J.). He learned the rules and laws of many European languages, like French, Spanish, English, German or Italian, and then had to understand the common roots in order to create newer versions of the words for Esperanto. This took many years of research, but eventually he was done. In Esperanto, Esperanto means “One with Hope” (Harold, Donald J.). This was a good way to describe Dr. Esperanto, as he was a hopeful man in believing that everyone would pick up on his idea for Esperanto, the Universal Language (Harold, Donald J.). Unfortunately, he was wrong. The idea of this language did not pick up as well as hoped, and only a mere two million actually speak the language (Harold, Donald J). Esperanto failed because by the time it had been created, many schools were being taught in English, or the native language in that region (Harold, Donald J.). The two most common languages are English and Chinese Mandarin, with more than a billion speakers for each, and so it was impossible for Esperanto to compete with them.

But where did all these different languages come from? No one is sure, but there is a very interesting bible story. It is called the “Towers of Babel” (Tower of Babel – Genesis 11). Many of God’s people were gathered at one place, and so they all started to talk, and through talking with one another, they came up with the decision to build a tower that was high enough to reach god, and where he stayed (Tower of Babel – Genesis 11).. God came down to see the tower, and thought that if these people could build a tower because they could speak the same language, then they could do anything they want, because they can speak the same language (Tower of Babel – Genesis 11).. God didn’t like the idea of them being able to do whatever they wanted, and so he gave each and every one of them a different language, and put them in their own part of the world to live in (Tower of Babel – Genesis 11).. This is just one theory as to why there are so many different languages in the world. Another theory is that because many people lived in different locations, they had to learn how to communicate in their own way (Tower of Babel – Genesis 11).. Because they didn’t have Internet, or telephones at this time, and so they had no idea what other people were saying (Tower of Babel – Genesis 11).

This obviously led to problems in the later years. Once people started to interact, there were many communication problems. People had different meanings for different words, and sometimes when they tried to say something nice, they would be insulting another tribe, and vice-versa. A good example of this is when Bob wanted some eggs in Nairobi. He went to the kiosk down the road, and asked for some. Here I should mention that Bob speaks English, and no Kiswahili, while Mwangi (the man who runs the kiosk) only speaks Kiswahili. Bob went up to Mwangi and asked “Please can I have some eggs?” Mwangi had no idea what he was saying, and so ignored Bob. Bob kept asking Mwangi for some eggs, and after half an hour of trying, he gave up and went home. The next day he came back and asked for eggs. Again Mwangi didn’t understand what he was saying, and ignored him. The next day, Bob decided to try shouting at Mwangi, and Mwangi did not appreciate this. He punched Bob in the eye, and then laughed at him. In all of Bob’s pain, he could only shout out “My Eye! My Eye!”. In Kiswahili, “Mayai” means eggs. Mwangi then said “Oh, na taka mayai?” and gave him some eggs.

What do you think? Wouldn’t it just be easier if we had one language, instead of the thousands that we currently do? If we could all speak the same language, and not have any problems with communication. Everyone could be understood, and like Bob, no unnecessary pain will have to be felt. Dr. Esperanto had a great idea of trying to create a universal language for all of mankind to communicate in. Unfortunately his plan did not work as the leading languages were English and Chinese Mandarin with more than one billion people speaking each of them (KryssTal). Compare this to the world’s total population of six billion, and you can see that the numbers are very high. There is still a long way to go if the whole world were to adopt one universal language, and now the ultimate question, is this possible in our lifetime?

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So...honestly, tell me what you thought about my speech.

AWARD :)

Hey everyone... Sorry for the momentary lapse of posting...

We got an award from our proud affie Kristy from Glamo Designs! Here it is:

Hopefully I will be able to post masses of messages again :) Thanks to all the people who kept on checking back on my blog :)