What would you do if you were granted three wishes? If I were granted 3 wishes and if they were to come true, then you bet your asses that I am making these three wishes:
Every human being is granted excellent health – all pain and illness is gone – and access to easy & heavily advanced medical care that can be kept in all homes and used as easily as say applying deodorant or using a razor and which enhances our bodies and those of our animal friends so much that we stop all illness and even aging so no one dies.
Money is now obsolete and instead everyone is treated equally and has enough and more access to whatever they want & need. Everyone has beautiful homes so that every human being individual or families takes up dogs and cats as pets and can provide plentiful food and drink to everyone using food and drink dispensers that will installed in each house and the dispensers/replicators can also create clothing and other materials for you as well.
So now that we have eradicate hunger, thirst, homelessness, illness and death the third wish is for easily accessible for all intra & inter galactic exploration so we can get down to increasing our knowledge of the universe. My wish is to make the Star Trek era you see in TNG/DS9/VOY and then enhance the technology by a few 1000 years and put all of us humans in that world. I’d like to travel the galaxy and I’m taking my family with me.
Grace Under Pressure is the tenth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released April 12, 1984, on Anthem Records. Following the tour for 1982’s Signals, which came to an end in April 1983, Rush got together in August to start work on the followup. After some difficulty finding a suitable producer who could commit, and deciding not to go with their hitherto producer Terry Brown, the album was recorded with Peter Henderson. Largely considered one of the band’s darkest albums, Grace Under Pressure was influenced by the growing tensions in the Cold War in the 1980s. The album’s running theme is “pressure” and how humans act under the influence of it.
World events inspired the lyrics, especially the Cold War, the threat of superpowers and the nuclear annihilation and all of that stuff, and these giant missiles pointed at each other across the ocean. Distant Early Warning was written about the loneliness of someone who worked the DEW Line – a system of radar stations in the far northern Arctic region of Canada set up to detect incoming Soviet bombers during the Cold War, and provide early warning of any sea-and-land invasion. Afterimage was written about Robbie Whelan, a tape operator at Le Studio who was killed in a car accident a year prior to the album’s release and is about the loss of a friend.The album was dedicated to his memory.
Red Sector A is a song by Rush that provides a first-person account of a nameless protagonist living in an unspecified prison camp setting. Neil Peart has stated that the detailed imagery in the song intentionally evokes concentration camps of the Holocaust, although he left the lyrics ambiguous enough that they could deal with any similar prison camp scenario. The song was inspired in part by Geddy Lee’s mother’s accounts of the Holocaust. Geddy’s mother Manya was a survivor of the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen, while his dad Morris Weinrib, was liberated from the Dachau concentration camp a few weeks after his wife as liberated.
The Enemy Within has this reggae riff and a great bass line that makes it a great song to listen to and chill. Far from the doom and gloom, this upbeat track is rhythmically supreme, especially with Lee’s bass. The Body Electric is both a positive & negative look at the computer age and possible future. No wonder I always associate Rush with Star Trek! Kid Gloves features a staccato guitar riff from Alex Lifeson and is mostly up tempo, is about learning the tough lessons about life, possibly about even school and learning things through trial & error. Similarly Red Lenses, is comparing things that are red and about pressure of war in the horizon while trying to juggle daily lives. Beneath The Wheel is about the dangers of things that can crush you and how you can avoid it but once it can easily crush you and everything can be destroyed.
While staying their rock lane, the band manages to give war embraces to new age, funk & reggae with enthusiasm. Grace Under Pressure reached number 4 in Canada, number 5 in the UK, and number 10 on the U.S. Billboard 200. It was certified platinum in the U.S. for selling one million copies.
The nickname derives from its green valleys, rolling hills and magnificent landscapes. The green flora and fauna are the result of Ireland’s rainy and humid climate. The country has a temperate climate with warm and wet summers and cold and wet winters.
2. There are around 30,000 castles in Ireland
So, if castles are your thing, you have come to the right place! The many castles and ruins of castles in Ireland each have their own medieval story and charm. Blarney Castle, Bunratty Castle and Cahir Castle are some of the castles well worth visiting.
3. Irelands’ Wild Atlantic Way is the longest coastal driving route in the world
The Wild Atlantic Way in Ireland is the longest coastal driving route in the world with a length of 2.500 kilometres. You can start the drive in the north, at Inishowen Peninsula in Donegal, or in the south, at Kinsale in Cork. The route passes nine counties and highlights such as the Cliffs of Moher, Ring of Kerry, Connemara National Park and Achill Island.
4. One of the oldest lighthouses in the world is located in Wexford
The Hook Lighthouse is located at the tip of Hook Head in the city of Wexford, in the south of Ireland. It dates back to 1172 and is still in use (since 1996 automatically). As one of Ireland’s favorite attractions, it is definitely worth a visit. From the balcony, you will have a spectacular view of the wild ocean.
5. Halloween originated in Ireland
Halloween, previously known as All Hallows Eve, is originally from Ireland. Over 2,000 years ago Ireland celebrated their new year on the 1st of November. They believed that the night before, the worlds of the living and the death became blurred and therefore celebrated the Celtic festival Samhain during the night of October 31st. They built huge campfires to make sacrifices to the Celtic gods and wore costumes to protect themselves against evil spirits. Nowadays, Halloween is known for trick-or-treating, carving jack-o-lanterns and dressing up.
6. The shamrock is not the national symbol
Although many people think of a shamrock when they think of Ireland’s national symbol, the symbol is actually the Gaelic harp. This makes the country the only one with a musical instrument as its emblem and was prior to the tricolour flag featured in the Irish flag.
7. St. Patrick was not Irish
One of the faces of Ireland, also known as the ‘Apostle of Ireland’, was actually not Irish. This Christian missionary was Romano-British and was sold into slavery by Irish raiders at a young age. One day, he escaped and returned to convert the Celtic polytheists in Ireland. His exact story is a bit mysterious, but we can conclude one thing: he was definitely not Irish.
8. The oldest pub in Ireland is found in Athlone, County Westmeath
If you want to drink in Ireland’s oldest pub, you must travel to Athlone in County Westmeath. Sean’s bar is the oldest bar in Ireland and maybe even in the world, dating back to AD 900. The founder established this bar to act as a guide for travellers venturing across the rapid torrent of the Shannon.
9. Ireland is famous for its Guinness beer
Guinness beer has its origin in Ireland and is still produced at the St. James’s Gate Brewery in Dublin. This brewery can be visited to learn all about the process of how Guinness is produced. A perfect pint of Guinness is poured with the glass held at 45º angle and should rest 119,5 seconds before you drink it.
10. The earliest evidence of humans in Ireland was more than 30,000 years BC
A reindeer bone that was found in Cork, in the south of Ireland, shows that humans inhabited Ireland 33,000 years ago. The hind leg reindeer femur was found in the Castlepook Cave near Doneraile in the northern part of Cork. The bone has chop marks consistent with butchering with a flint or stone tool. The Radiocarbon dating of the femur showed it to be around 33,000 years old.
March 31st is World Backup Day. Huh? Just go back up your blog and computer. Furthermore, share your favorite backup plugin for your blog
Ever since 2010 I have had external hard drives to save a bunch of data. Most of the files that I have backed up are video files – mainly tv series and movies and yes my entire mp3 music collection but I do have images that I have saved from the internet and then photos I have taken on my phones.
I have 3 I TB drives and 2 2 TB drives that I currently use right now. I also have another large 1TB drive that works but because it’s one of those huge ones which needs an external power output instead of being powered by USB, I rarely ever use it plus I am getting updated versions of those tv shows onto one of the 2 TB drives. All the music that I listen to is on my laptop and also saved onto 2 of my disks – one a backup and the other is the backup for the backup. I currently have a little over 60GB worth of music on around 11,000 mp3 files.
As for the backup plugin I use for my blog, I use UpdraftPlus, which is the most popular free WordPress backup plugin available on the internet. It is used by more than 3 million websites. It allows you to create a complete backup of your WordPress site and store it on the cloud or download it to your computer.
Tucked away in the town of Penetanguishene in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada, stands a stunning 19th-century home built by Carl Beck. The Carl Beck House is significant for many reasons, but the most famous reason is that it’s possibly a portal for the supernatural and is considered the most haunted house in Canada. Fun, right? And guess what? The top-floor apartment of the house is available to rent on Airbnb! For brave lovers of the paranormal, this property could be appealing.
While Canada isn’t where one may think a fantastic example of rare Victorian buildings may be (people may think more about Victorian London when it comes to the 19th century), the Beck House clearly makes a case to look to Canada. Constructed in 1885, the Beck House is a stunning example of a Queen Anne Revival structure. It’s one of the oldest houses in the area and features the town’s only slate roof, a growing rarity in Victorian architecture. Beck was actually one of the richest lumber merchants in the province at the time, so he spared no expense in this large house for himself, his wife, and his nine children. Carl Beck served as the mayor of the town of Penetanguishene between 1892-1895, and the Beck Family was considered one of the town’s “founding families.”
Despite being the wealthiest man in the province in the late 19th century, Carl Beck left his eldest daughter, Mary, only $1. Why? After Carl’s wife’s early death, Mary was tasked with raising her brothers and sisters. She left the family at some point to get married and have a family of her own, a move that Carl did not appreciate to the point where he basically wrote Mary out of his will. Mary evidently stayed mad at her dad– it’s believed that she stuck around at the Beck House after her death because she was snubbed by Carl. Modern visitors and former residents of the house claim to have felt a slight tugging on the blankets and sheets on their beds consistently. Some believe that this is Mary tucking them into bed, while others have claimed to hear female voices shooing them away. Motherly ghost or disgruntled daughter?
The current owners of the house claim that as many as 18 spirits reside within its walls. Visitors have reported all sorts of paranormal activity: doors closing on their own, lingering smells of cigar smoke hanging around the rooms, and dark shadows moving through the halls. While many visitors have attested to the fact that the ghosts are indeed friendly and haven’t necessarily antagonized anyone staying there, some visitors have claimed that the experience of staying there was one of the scariest things they’ve ever done. A female figure is supposedly seen standing ominously in the top floor window, staring down at people. This ghost is apparently angry, whispering hostilely to passersby and even tugging at people’s hair!
The angry female ghosts, perhaps Mary or Carl’s other daughters even, don’t just stay at the house but are said to appear on the adjacent Church Street. Passerby claim to see apparitions of Victorian women strolling along the street, and they assume these spirits are connected to the haunted Beck House. Various internet-famous paranormal researchers have explored the Beck House, conducting ghost hunts and séances for the last several years. Many have experienced the same things that visitors in the past have reported–sounds of voices, steps, and even ghostly tugs and pulls, but here it was all caught on camera!
For about $140-$200 a night, visitors can stay in one of two apartments available for rent on the top floors of the house. The Airbnb listing boasts a “dimly lit winding staircase” that “creaks as you ascend to the 3rd floor.” While renters will have their own fully equipped kitchen with dining space and Netflix available in the living room, visitors are reminded that the building is a quiet one with other adult residents, cats, and ghosts. Way to set the scene!
So we have always had maids in India, since we moved from an apartment in Kuwait to a house in India and then another apartment, then one in which we live in now. However what we call a maid here is someone you hire to both clean and cook. It might vary from cleaning every two days or so but cooking on a daily basis.
So, that is what I would want. A maid who cleans every two days or so but cooks daily. Does the laundry every couple of days – so that way we can alternate between the cleaning and laundry. Now this is when it is the 3 of us – my dad, mom and myself. If it were just me, I would have the maid come in only every alternate day, so 3 days a week.
On the days that she comes, she would clean and do the cooking. I’d ask her to cook enough for me for a 3 to 4 meal and the rest I can order in. That seems like the right balance for me.
Arsenal reached the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time since 2010 after beating Porto in a penalty shootout following a night of tension at Emirates Stadium. The Gunners went into this last-16 second leg 1-0 down but drew level when Leandro Trossard put them ahead on the night four minutes before the interval with a smooth finish following brilliant work by captain Martin Odegaard. A scrappy, fractious encounter failed to yield a winner even after extra time and it was Arsenal who held their nerve to go through to the last eight. Odegaard, Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice were all on target for Arsenal as David Raya saved from Wendell and Galeno to seal victory for Mikel Arteta’s side amid scenes of wild celebration.
Arsenal only trailed to Galeno’s last-gasp goal from the first game in Portugal, but it quickly became clear they would need to pass a stern test of character, temperament and patience against Sergio Conceicao’s streetwise, experienced team. Porto, defensively marshalled and organised by the evergreen 41-year-old Pepe, never allowed Arsenal to play with their usual fluency and Trossard’s goal, created after superb footwork and a pass of precision from Odegaard, was a rare moment of weakness from the visitors’ defence. Arsenal probed but Porto still posed a threat, Raya saving well from Evanilson and Francisco Conceicao. Odegaard thought he had settled Arsenal’s nerves and put them through without the need for extra time with a second half strike. However, it was ruled out when Havertz was judged to have pulled back Pepe.
The anxiety and anger even reached the technical area, with Porto coach Conceicao an agitated, animated figure throughout, and it threatened to boil over with frustration after their fate was sealed by Raya’s flying save in a chaotic conclusion. At the end of a nervous night, it was Arsenal who were celebrating with Arteta finally ending his European curse at home, having managed five Europa League ties at Emirates Stadium without winning any. It also felt like a psychological barrier had been crossed by the Gunners after losing at the last-16 stage in each of their past seven appearances in the Champions League. And having reached the last eight, Arsenal might just feel they have learned enough from this tough experience to take their journey deeper into the competition.
Famous session bassist and solo performer T.M. Stevens has passed away, aged 72, after a long illness. Thomas Michael Stevens was born in New York City. He first studied biology in school before accepting his professor’s suggestion to drop out to focus on music. He practiced his musical craft by playing after-hours clubs around NYC. Being a virtuoso bassist with a unique style encompassing elements of funk, rock, jazz, and soul, Stevens was a highly-sought-after player and session musician and has recorded and toured with many artists, including James Brown, Nona Hendryx, Dan Hartman, Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper, Little Steven, Tina Turner, Narada Michael Walden, Taylor Dayne, Stevie Salas, Steve Vai and Billy Joel.
Thomas Michael Stevens was born in New York City. He first studied biology in school before accepting his professor’s suggestion to drop out to focus on music. He practiced his musical craft by playing after-hours clubs around NYC. Stevens truly began his career in the ’70s by playing with several funk bands in Minneapolis and recording albums with Narada Michael Walden, Yoshiaki Masuo, and many more. In 1981, he moved to L.A., where, with time, he became well-known on the scene as a session musician. Stevens began playing bass in the group Space Cadets, with whom he released a self-titled album in 1981. Between 1986 and 1987, he was a member of the Pretenders, recording the album Get Close with them in 1986.
In 1993, he joined Vai, a short-lived group formed by Steve Vai to record and promote his third studio album, Sex & Religion. Besides his session work, Stevens released several solo albums. The bassist recorded “Boom” with Out of Control, followed by “Sticky Wicked” a year later. In total, he created seven solo recordings. In 1997, he produced and arranged the album Black Night – Deep Purple Tribute According to New York, performing on seven of its eleven tracks. In 2000, Stevens recorded the album International Telephone with German drummer Marco Minnemann’s group Illegal Aliens. The same year, he released Boomparty 2000 with the Boombasstics and in 2008, he issued Brothers in Arms with the group Temple of Soul.
On September 16, 2017, Stevens’ fellow musician and friend Ronny Drayton announced on his Facebook page that Stevens had advanced dementia and was living in a nursing home. Stevens died March 10, 2024, at the age of 72.
Singer-songwriter Eric Carmen, known for hit song All By Myself, has died aged 74, his wife has announced. The US star rose to fame with the power pop group the Raspberries before establishing himself as a solo artist. From a family of Russian Jewish immigrants, Carmen was born in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, and grew up in Lyndhurst, Ohio. He was involved with music since early childhood. He took violin and piano lessons as a child and the arrival of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones influenced him to become a musician.
Though classically trained in piano, Carmen became a self-taught guitarist. At 15, he started guitar lessons, but when his teacher’s approach did not fit with what he wanted, he decided to teach himself. He joined a band named Cyrus Erie, which recorded several commercially unsuccessful singles for Epic Records. In the 70s when his old band broke up, some of the members formed the Raspberries & Carmen was the lead singer of the group, and wrote or co-wrote all their hit songs. In 1975, after the breakup of the Raspberries, he started his solo career, de-emphasizing harder rock elements in favor of soft rock and power ballads.
Hungry Eyes, one of his huge solo hits, featured in 1987 cult movie classic Dirty Dancing. Among the solo tracks he is most well-known for is All By Myself, which later became one of Canadian singer Celine Dion’s most iconic hits when she covered it. The song also featured in the opening scene of Bridget Jones’s Diary. As a songwriter, Carmen had hits including Almost Paradise from the Footloose soundtrack, as well as Never Gonna Fall In Love Again and Make Me Lose Control.
Carmen married three times; first to Marcy Hill (October 31, 1978 – August 3, 1979, divorced). He shared two children, Kathryn and Clayton with second wife Susan Brown (May 22, 1993 – 2009, divorced). He was survived by his third wife, former newscaster Amy Murphy, whom he married in 2016. Carmen moved from Los Angeles back to Gates Mills in northeast Ohio in the 1990s.
I remember my friends who were my neighbours as well. When my family lived in Kuwait they and their parents lives right opposite our apartment for many, many years – 11 of which I was alive. The girl was a year older than me and the boy was 2 years younger than me. Along with the other kids in the building we played a lot of games together and spent a lot of time watching tv together; like cartoons and tv shows.
One particular afternoon sticks in my mind about the 3 of us in their apartment playing the games we did. After having watched the Amithab Bachchan & Hema Malini starer Satte Pe Satta we decided to play out some of the scenes in the movies. What I especially remember is me and the sister lip syncing to one of the songs and walking around like in the movie while her brother, played several characters spying on us and hiding behind the furniture.
I dunno why but this scene played out in my memories when I was lying in bed this weekend and for some reason I was thinking about my childhood. I haven’t seen them since 1990 and am barely in touch with the brother on Facebook. But I do miss my childhood fun days.
Kai Havertz spared Aaron Ramsdale’s blushes as Arsenal earned a statement win over Brentford which puts them top of the Premier League before title rivals Liverpool and Manchester City meet on Sunday. Arsenal, looking to lead the table for the first time since December, went in front through Declan Rice’s flicked header. The home side continued to dominate possession and Havertz skewed wide their best opportunity to go further ahead. But, out of nowhere, the good work in an assured first-half performance was undone by Ramsdale’s error. The England keeper, playing because David Raya was ineligible against his parent club, dallied over a clearance and allowed a sliding Yoane Wissa to score.
Arsenal pushed for a second-half winner without much luck until Havertz popped up in space to head in Ben White’s cross. Havertz, who Brentford argued should have been shown a second yellow card for diving before he scored, netted in his fourth consecutive Premier League game to put Arsenal a point clear of Liverpool and two ahead of Manchester City. It led to joyous celebrations at Emirates Stadium, although the Gunners know their title rivals have the chance to go back above them at Anfield on Sunday. What has been so impressive about Arsenal’s sparkling run to the summit is the way they have torn their opponents apart. Thirty-one goals in seven league wins at the start of 2024 was indicative of their attacking quality, while their refusal to show any mercy once in command demonstrated a ruthless mindset.
But their eighth win in a row required a different type of mentality. Before the visit of struggling Brentford, Gunners boss Mikel Arteta talked about his side playing with the “same energy, determination and character” as they had in blowing away the likes of West Ham, Burnley, Newcastle and Sheffield United. Arteta stressed how they needed to earn the right to win the game – and that is eventually what they did. It was a completely different performance to the type Arsenal have produced in recent weeks – needing to dig in, stay patient and take the big opportunity when it arrived. The wisdom in signing Chelsea’s deep-lying forward Havertz instead of a more recognised striker has been regularly questioned, but the German proved his worth once again.
Havertz, who also scored a late winner in Arsenal’s 1-0 victory at Brentford, continued to answer any lingering critics with another goal which could prove vital when the champions are decided in May. What had been a tense atmosphere inside the Emirates instantly became celebratory, with the home fans eventually feeling confident enough to sing “We are top of the league” in the eighth minute of stoppage time. The sight of Ramsdale cupping his ears towards the Brentford fans after Havertz’s winner was a clear indication of his relief. The 25-year-old has been considered unfortunate by many to have lost his place as Arsenal’s first-choice goalkeeper following Raya’s arrival last summer.
With the on-loan Spaniard unavailable against his parent club, Ramsdale had the opportunity to demonstrate why he should not have been discarded by Arteta. However, the monumental error which led to Brentford’s equaliser only serves to further justify his manager’s stance. Arsenal were in utter control when Ramsdale allowed Brentford back into the game, dawdling on a backpass under little pressure and taking an extra touch which allowed a sliding Wissa to block the attempted clearance. Ramsdale could only watch aghast as the ball looped back into his goal, leaving him looking distraught and stunning the 60,000 home fans into silence.
Sympathetic team-mates comforted Ramsdale when he returned to the dressing room at the half-time whistle, and he showed after the break what he can bring to the team. Ramsdale had to be alert to push over an audacious long-range effort from Ivan Toney, and reacted quickly to deny Nathan Collins with a free header, to stop Arsenal falling 2-1 behind. Those saves laid the foundations for Arsenal to go on and nick a late winner, with Ramsdale eventually able to smile after the final whistle.