Out-side the Box...

It is very encouraging to see my nephew, as a little boy, grow up to be a productive member of the society.

Maged finished dental school and became a dentist. He also started teaching English in the American University in Cairo. Moved to England and obtained a Master's Degree, with distinction, in Intercultural Communication, from the University of Bedfordshire, UK. 

He started his own Blog in Arabic with various great views of life.   He became a fellow of the Higher Education Academy in the UK.
Now what is next?
A song that may just explain his career direction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg1sT4ILG0w

Just a thought.

Young...*!

The song was inspired by an event at the dawn of the psychedelic and counterculture eras in November 1966, of the passage of strict (10:00 p.m.) curfew to reduce  congestion from crowds of young club patrons.

This was perceived by young and music fans as an infringement on their civil rights,  Fliers were distributed inviting people to demonstrate.

Hours before the protest one of L.A.'s rock 'n' roll radio stations announced there would be a rally at Pandora's Box club. The Times reported that as many as 1,000 youthful including Jack Nicholson and Peter Fonda, erupted in protest against the curfew.

Though often mistaken for an anti-war song, it was this first of the "Sunset Strip riots" by Buffalo Springfield  "For What It’s Worth", recorded on December 5, 1966.

Buffalo Springfield - For What Its Worth-Lyrics-HQ 

Worth...

Reports suggest that Ballmer won the bizarre bidding war for the Clippers at a $2 billion. Sterling paid $12.5 million for the Clippers in 1981.

The U.S. stock market is trading at all-time highs, the U.S. bonds' yields are at eye-popping low and the nation’s professional basketball teams are selling for more than most observers previously thought possible. That the U.S. economy shrank in the first quarter of the year is the disturbing backdrop for this stunning surge in asset prices—call it the basketball bubble.

What makes the price as high, twice the funny, inflated price mentioned in Saturday Night Live? no logical reason out there.

We must consider the start of the {Dance}of accusation, till the big celebration of cashing in.

Just a thought

Work till ....

Atlético maintained their intensity, pressing and aggression for most of the game.

At one point, the trophy was adorned in red and white ribbons and Atlético were on the verge of completing one of the great soccer stories.  It was going to take something special for Real to work their way back. The clock was showing 93 minutes when Sergio Ramos’s header took the game into extra time.

Real Madrid played till the last minutes and was able, finally to change the score. 
Soccer can be a brutal business, but the game is on till the end. More to come from Brazil.

Just a thought.

Psycho...?

I am here ......  to take responsibility for what I have done. I would like you to know that I always told Jen she could leave, but don’t threaten me with my daughter. That night, Jen had a knife in her hand and threatened me with my daughter. So I killed her.

I don’t think it’s right when women use their kids against their fathers.

I am the bad apple, and if you ask my family, they’d rather have me dead than her. Jen helped me clean up my act, but the one thing I never stopped doing was my love for drugs, and for that I am sorry. Jen was an angel and always will be an angel.

Jared Remy pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. [Picture is not related to the issue]

Price of Medication-Part 2

High Cost of healthcare gives me headache

The FDA approved over-the-counter Nexium^® 24HR (20mg) providing those who suffer from frequent heartburn broader access.

“Switching medicines, whenever appropriate, from prescription to non-prescription status improves access, empowers consumers to care for their own health and is an important strategy for Pfizer,”

Nexium generated sales of approximately $3.9 billion in 2013, {> 15% of AstraZeneca’s total revenues}. However, the company expects Nexium sales to decline in 2014 due to generic competition, at the end of May. AstraZeneca is entangled in patent litigation related to Nexium with several generic companies.

Analysis:
1- This step is taken as the Patent expires. Not a moment before.
2-Nexium revenue was $3.5 Billions in 2013, but that is not the cost for healthcare in USA. To get this medication, their is $30 Billion cost of obtaining the prescription, doctor visit &copay, Healthcare Insurance premium, obtaining the medicine-copay.
3-Now the cost to healthcare will dwindle to $400 millions at the most.
4-This is repeated with many items as the patent expires, then the pharmaceutical companies file for Over the Counter status. Why couldn't be in the OTC from the start?? It is all about the money.

We need to reduce the Healthcare cost and better service as well. It is up to the Legislator or better the Healthcare Insurances to tame the Beast.

Just a [high cost] thought

Some gave all.

Shoes...

It was reported that Vincent bought these workman’s boots at a flea market, intending to use them in a still life. Finding them still a little too smart, however, he wore them on a long and rainy walk. Only then were they fit to be painted.

To him, as to several of his contemporaries, they may have been symbolic of the hard yet picturesque life of the laborer and reference to Van Gogh’s difficult passage through life.

In the desert, the shoes cost a lot, wear off badly and quickly. Showing the sole of your shoe to someone in the Arab world is a sign of extreme disrespect. Throwing your shoe is even worse." 

In Egypt, a Syrian throwing his shoe at Ahmadinejad, after an affectionate welcome from Egypt's new Islamist president. Earlier, an Iraqi journalist throwing his shoes at George Bush.

What a painting. Just an {expressionist's} thought.

Prices...*!

Medicine prices in the United States are the highest in the world. This is why the pharmaceutical industry is the most profitable of all businesses in the U.S.  Pharmaceutical companies argue that the prices are necessary to continue to fund research.

Critics {Me included} point out that only a small portion of the drug companies' expenditures are used for R & D, with the majority spent in the areas of marketing and administration.

Pfizer (as patent expires) is planning to buy Astra Zeneca for $119 Billion for a reason. The Brand name medications and R&D is worth that much in US high prices.

U.S. Customs estimates 10 million U.S. citizens bring in medications at land borders each year or online pharmacies. Yet this is not Legal.

The Law must be changed to allow persons or organization to import medicine (Approved in USA) freely from Canada, Britain, etc. So US citizen pay what the Canadian or British pay for the same medicines.  That is Free Market Prices and Competition.  

Just a [Free Market] thought.

History...

The art of ancient Egypt and the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art come together in this comprehensive resource for educators, which includes summaries of ancient Egyptian history and art, maps, lesson plans and classroom activities, a bibliography, and a glossary. The descriptions of the works and other information are aimed at increasing knowledge and pleasure in viewing Egyptian art at the Metropolitan. The materials can be adapted for students of all ages, interests, and abilities, and can be used to enrich any curriculum.  

So visit Ancient Egypt, just around the corner.

Structure...

Workers at a Volkswagen factory in Tennessee have voted against union representation, a devastating loss that derails the United Auto Workers union's effort to organize Southern factories and in reality to the workers themselves.

VW understands how having a union can boost productivity and allow it greater flexibility in adjusting to downturns. It should know: The rest of its plants are unionized.

The idea is to create a "works council," which are widespread across Europe and enjoy tremendous influence over how plants are run. 

German works councils helped the company reduce hours across the board rather than laying people off, containing unemployment until the economy recovered.

So while the vote was no, the structure is Yes, a lesson to learn from Europe. Just a thought.

Espionage...?!

Anna Chapman

Anna was often suspected at parties of being a prostitute. "She was very sexually aggressive and wore revealing clothing". Although her background remains a mystery, she was perfectly open about having had Russian connections. Anna got caught with others accused of spying for Russia.

The United States indicted five members of China's PLA accusing them of hacking into American companies and pilfering closely-guarded trade secrets. China has long been among the most aggressive collectors of economic secrets, both online and off.  It is an important for China to limit its economic espionage.

US. asked China not to lower the value of their currency. 

Earlier were the Japanese. US and Europe were concerned about japan economic espionage. Now Japan is in economical difficulties for 20 years.

Be careful what you [ask] spy for, you may get it.  China may find a new way of life they can't afford it at this time. It may create China's social unrest.    Just a thought.

To close...???.

Long Island College Hospital will officially close next week, part of the SUNY system.

Hospitals represent one of the largest employers and economic drivers in the area.

The average American worker costs their employer $6,000 annually for health care benefits. U.S. businesses at a disadvantage globally at this level of spending on healthcare. Other countries' healthcare cost is one third and with far better services. 

Many hospitals closed recently, St Vincent's [7 hospitals], North General, Rockaway Hospital.  Sandy Storm caused NYU, Coney Island, and Bellevue hospital to be evacuated and closed for months as a result.

The healthcare system adjusting its excess number of beds.  Efficiency and quality of care to increase, while the cost to decrease.   This is not a bad thing.

Just a [calming ] thought.

Got it allright.

Many years ago I moved to the States with my eye on the progress of my family back home. Here is the young child, now a young man living in Germany working as a computer programmer for the past few years. Ready to take the next big step with our love and blessing.

Here is a song "I choose you".

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooiLP_zqnFs

AT&T-The DEA.

Every Google search performed is stored on the search giant's servers. Data is cross-linked to your search data from YouTube, Google Maps and any other Google services you use.  Google can tell where you live, your hobbies, age, health problems, religion and more.

AT&T maintains an enormous database of phone metadata records [New York Times] stretches back for the past 27 years.  This includes call time and length, who calls who and location data of cell phone users.

The phone company has been helping the DEA’s “Hemisphere Project” by providing easy access to its massive database. Many drug dealers got caught though changing the cell phone frequently.

Personal information is collected, stored and available by many mega companies. The questions is what is the proper usage of it. Advertisement, drug enforcement, fighting terrorists or what?
This must be cleared.

Just a thought

Carrie Mae Weems...

Carrie Mae Weems is an American artist who works with text, fabric, audio, digital images, and installation video but is best known for her work in the field of photography. More recently however, she expressed that “Black experience is not really the main point; rather, complex, dimensional, human experience and social inclusion . . . is the real point.”

Collected...!

Terrorists are a different type of enemy.  They could be anyone, anywhere in the world. To find them, the NSA has to look for individual bad actors swimming in a sea of innocent people. This is why the NSA turned to broad surveillance of populations, both in the United States and internationally.

NSA access information collected from the servers of nine major American internet companies: Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, and Apple, as well as mass-intercepting data from the fiber-optic cables.

The surveillance program opened our eyes to how our privacy been reduced by the daily gadgets we use.   NSA is putting all these information collected together, and  create organized loss of privacy.

The crucial thing is what are we using this information for? Now if the government release/Use information not related to terrorism, that is a violation of privacy.

Terrorist will do any thing once they get the chance or find a weak point. It is happening around the globe. If not caught/punished immediately, the loss would be beyond privacy, but life itself.

Just a [private] thought.

Contrast...!

He is a German impostor, moved to U.S and lived under a succession of aliases moving repeatedly from one location to another. Claiming to be an art collector, a physicist, a ship's captain, a negotiator of international debt agreements, and an English aristocrat. He was quite plausible, and at one point was hired to work in a brokerage firm.

In 1995, using the name "Clark Rockefeller,"  he married Sandra Boss, a high-earning McKinsey senior executive who had graduated from Stanford University and Harvard Business School, in a Quaker ceremony that had no legal status. Boss "he was charming and she believed the stories he told her at the beginning of their relationship".  Boss earned all of the family income, while he had complete control of the family's finances and other aspects of her day-to-day life for 12 years.

Boss hired a private investigator, who found that "Clark" was not who he claimed to be. She changed her child's surname because he refused to provide proof of his identity. 

What makes a successful woman believed his stories?    Something is missing here.   Just a thought.

Knight's Art-

 

 

Daniel Ridgway Knight's works represent so many aspects of Nineteenth Century painting, including history, genre, landscape, portrait, and floral themes. In each work, all that is aesthetic is recorded with fine detail and skill.  Born on March 15,1839 in Pennsylvania. He studied and exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He was a classmate of Mary Cassatt and Thomas Eakins. 
Here is a link.
http://www.rehs.com/virtexdrk.htm 

The Man...*!

Pres. Theodore Roosevelt

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.      Just a thought

Benghazi....a new opinion !!!

Libyan rebels asked EU for "military assistance without direct military intervention,"  and to impose a no-fly zone over Libya to empower people fighting.

The rebellion began with poorly trained young men drive pick-up trucks, mounted with jerry-rigged heavy weapons.

But with time, and foreign training, the rebels became a reasonably effective military force.

NATO, along with its Qatari partners, began bombing Libya, coordinating operations with fighters on the ground.

The regime collapsed as a result of the assistance of US and EU which without it the rebels would be defeated.

The same request came from Syria. The rebels requested the same, assistance, no fly zone, weapons, training, etc.

Many of  US Senators [Republicans] had the same talk to repeat what happened in Libya. Desired US to give weapons, support to the rebels, meet with representatives, make their cause a reasonable cause.

Now they are back and forth on Benghazi, just in case to make Hilary's position weak for the coming presidential election.      Not going to happen.

Just a thought.

Ridley Howard-Artistic view

In paintings ranging from jewel-like to large-scale, abstract to figurative, Ridley Howard explores the nuances of color, shape, and composition with exquisite sensitivity. All of his works—whether precisely composed geometric abstractions, land- and cityscapes, portraits of individuals, or scenes of couples making love—are, at their core, color studies. Howard strips his subjects down, forgoing narrative and visual details, transforming them into pristine, velvety planes of pigment and collections of shapes

https://www.google.com/search?q=who+is+ridley+howard&newwindow=1&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=p1lsU-jaL5OVyASKyYGQDg&ved=0CDMQsAQ&biw=1366&bih=673

Oil cost/price.

GDP component

Personal Consumption Expenditures  [$11.501 trillion].

Durable goods, [autos-furniture], financial and health care services.

Business investment includes purchases to produce consumer goods and business equipment.

New Construction in Real estate. 

Government spending added $3.125 trillion to the economy in 2013.

U.S. imports a lot of petroleum,   International trade deficit subtracted $569 billion from GDP. 

The indirect economic impact of foreign oil includes major U.S. Defense Depart. spending on troops, ships, weapons and equipment deployed around the globe to protect the free flow of oil.

When  $330 million [was $700millions in 2007] exits the U.S. economy each year, that’s equivalent to roughly three million jobs lost. Paying for gasoline at the pump serves as a regressive tax on lower-income families,  especially the 40% of Americans at or near the poverty line.

An increase in US oil and gas production, and reduction of consumption will create a boom in the economy, less inflation and less international problems.

Prices of oil will collapse by 2017.  OPEC will reduce quota of production of oil and reduce prices in order to make US production cost more than buying for $35/Barrel.

Just a thought

Syria.. Update.

Syria... Update

Exhausted and worn out from a year-long siege, hundreds of Syrian rebels left their last remaining bastions in the heart city of Homs under a ceasefire deal with government forces. 1,200 fighters mark a de facto end of the rebellion in the battered city nicknamed "capital of the revolution." Now the civilians may have some sense of security and peace in their home town as the foreign fighters leave.

 

"We are very sad for what is happening today. We kept urging the international community to lift the siege but there was no response," al-Homsi said. "We have lost more than 2,000 martyrs in nearly two years of siege."

 

Had these foreign fighter realized no one would help them, the problem in Syria would have been so much smaller. Let us not flirt with the availability of assistance. Not in this region.

 

Just a thought.

 

Nigeria's..Girls

More than 300 teenage girls were abducted from a school in Nigeria. The leader of a militant group took responsibility describing the girls as “slaves” who would be sold.

Hillary Clinton called the kidnapping “abominable”, “criminal” and “an act of terrorism.” 

GDELT’s data shows that the number of kidnappings in Nigeria has risen from just two in 1983 to 3,608 in 2013.

The United States assembled a special team to help that country’s rescue kidnapped schoolgirls before they are sold into slavery or killed.

It is a sad story for these families who live in fear of these criminal acts. It is time for Nigeria to pay attention to safe guard remote areas and free the kidnapped.

Now the Americans helping, militants will be arrested and sent to death raw. Their co militant will deny all activities and cry for their own human rights. See it unfold.

Just a thought.

The other...*!

Garvin reported his wife "disappeared" while vacationing in Key West. In reality she didn't arrive with him to Key west at all.

Florida Investigators, use Finger prints, dog search, credit card reviews, restaurant employees interviews, hotel cameras, toll both Camera, telephone communications, computers search, and a GPS monitor on his car. They tracked him to his wife's body.

Garvin agreed to a life sentence.

With the death of his wife, he is in prison, and his other woman is no longer.

There is no perfect crime.  Only ignorant persons think they can do that.  Just a thought.

Little guy...*!

              In a game dominated by millionaires and billionaires, this was a victory for the little guys. Owners Perry Martin and Steve Coburn bred an $8,000 mare to a $2,500 stallion to win the world's most famous race with their one-horse stable.

California Chrome made his move on the final turn in tandem with Samraat. It looked like those two would decide the outcome, until California Chrome sped away, winning by 1¾ lengths. A potential buyer offered $6 millions for 51% ownership was rejected.

So if you are the little guy, don't have much resources, and trying to achieve your goals, take it "straight from the horses mouth" work hard, train for it, be patient and you can do it". Then buy smaller Hats for the ladies.

Just a thought.

Identity Theft- Aereo....

A mother stole her daughter's identity to be a cheerleader[Listverse]

Much is at stake in the Supreme Court's decision in this case with Aereo. Broadcasters invest billions of dollars to create, acquire, and distribute the most-watched video programming in the country, and in the world. 

Aereo grabs broadcasters' signals from the airwaves without paying for them, stores user-specific copies of that programming in its servers, and then delivers that programming over the Internet live or on-demand for a fee. Aereo would prefer that everyone just focus on that second function (storage) but disregard the other two (theft and transmission). It is an illegitimate, unlicensed streaming service.

For that, the Supreme Court of USA will Ban Aereo completely.

For Aereo to survive, they must pay for the contents or merge with Broadcasters to provide contents to remote areas "the American way". Can't just take something that doesn't belong to you.

Just an [honest] thought.

Myself...*

NY City

Police arrested Christian Morales who, with a group of around 20 young men, made anti-Muslim statements and then began punching Mr. Singh, a Columbia University Professor, in the face.” The attackers dispersed after a call to the police.

"I think it’s critical to see that this is not the community we expect, and certainly not the country we expect,” Singh said.

Kansas City

Frazier Cross [73 years old] was a member of the KKK movement and someone who has repeatedly expressed hatred for Jewish people.

Cross a suspect in the killing of three people at two Jewish facilities near Kansas City could face the death penalty on state murder charges filed, prosecutors said. None of the people he is accused of killing were Jewish.
“Holding anger is a poison...It eats you from inside...We think that by hating someone we hurt them...But hatred is a curved blade...and the harm we do to others...we also do to ourselves.”

Remember...!*

Around the corner I have a friend, in this great city that has no end. Yet the days go by and weeks rush on, and before I know it, a year is gone. And I never see my old friend's face, for life is swift and a terrible race. He knows I like him just as well, as in the days when I rang his bell. And he rang mine, if we were younger then, and now we are busy, tired men. Tired of playing a foolish game, Tired of trying to make a name. "Tomorrow" I say," I will call on Jim"... " Just to show that I'm thinking of him". But tomorrow comes and tomorrow goes, and distance between us grows. Around the corner!- yet miles away, "here's a telegram sir" "Jim died today". And thats what we get and deserve in the end. Around the corner, a vanished friend. by: Henson Towne.