BENEFIT to knowing

Meeting Planning

2011-05-17T20:38:00.001+08:00

Not Another Meeting!

That's what many thousands of business people around the world think every day. Time wasting, inefficient interrruptions to your day, with few concrete outcomes - and for many of them, you don't even know why you need to be there, as the things under discussion have little to do with you, or could at least be decided without you having to sit through two hours of boredom.

Meetings Don't Need to be Like That!

Meetings can be efficient, focused, fun(!), and help the business benefit from the full participation of the team as they bounce ideas off each other. It all depends on how the meeting planning is carried out, and how the meeting is run. So here are some key tips on how to plan and run your meetings effectively:

The Meeting Agenda

Most meeting agendas are a scribbled set of notes that someone throws together just before the meeting, if indeed any agenda is produced at all. This is a primary cause of meandering, boring and inefficient meetings.

Creating an effective agenda is one of the most important elements for a productive meeting.

The agenda for a well planned meeting communicates important information such as:

Objectives or intended outcomes - this is more than just topics for discussion - setting the intention up front really helps get the outcomes you want.
Who is leading each discussion topic, or giving the presentation for that section - so that it's not just chit-chat.
An allocated time for each objective and topic within that objective.
Any supporting information relevant to any objective or topic.
An indication of what preparation is required by the participants in order to be ready to fully participate.
Any known follow up tasks and responsibilities (you will be adding to this during the meeting).

With a well defined agenda like this, you will be able to keep the meeting focused and on track, and ensure that the participants know what is going to be discussed and where they can contribute.

When you use mind maps for your meeting agendas, you benefit because:

The overall objective of the meeting is at the center of the Mind Map, and therefore in front of you. You literally can't lose sight of the objective of the meeting.
The first level branches give a clear indication of the intended outcomes. Again, this allows everyone to keep a clear focus on why they are there and how they can contribute.
The second level branches are the topics that need to be covered, with the leader, time allocated, hyperlinks to supporting information, desired outcome for that topic, and any known follow up tasks being standard sub-branches. The participants will soon get used to what is embodied in any topic, and keep to topic and time.
You can see how you are going at a glance and manage the time for the remaining topics based on the objectives and topics to be discussed. This is dramatically better than linear notes where you often lose track of time and how much is really left to be covered.
Everyone can see where they can contribute, and what they need to prepare for before the meeting. With the hyperlinks on the topics, everything is in one place, and when the agenda is emailed out to the participants, everyone can turn up fully prepared.
The Mind Map is used for recording the discussion during the meeting, the decisions and follow up actions, meaning that everyone can have the minutes of the meeting immediately the meeting is over, because there is no "writing up" of the minutes required.

Tips for creating a good meeting agenda

Meeting planning is easy when you follow these simple steps:

Make sure the objectives and topics are identified well ahead of time, and that everyone has confirmed their attendance. Make sure that all the presenters / leaders have an agreed time for their topics. Make it realistic, and only schedule 50 minutes for an hour long meeting.

Make sure that only proposals for topics that are relevant to the overall objectives of the meeting are accepted into the agenda. Keep it tight and focused - everyone will thank you in the long term.

Produce the Mind Map of the agenda according to the structure shown above.

Send the agenda to the attendees again a day before the meeting, reminding them of the date, time and objectives, and what they need to do to prepare for the meeting.

Have some way of measuring whether the meeting has met its intended objectives and outcomes. Envision the meeting as you would like it to happen, and prepare everything (including agenda, attendees, venue, information) in order for the meeting to go as you envision it. Make sure you are aware of the needs, desires and agendas of the participants.

Of course, the most important part of planning the meeting and creating an effective agenda is to follow it during the meeting!

Plan your Meetings so they Stay on Time

Very often meetings start late, and finish later. This punishes the people who are on time and rewards those who are tardy. Hardly the message you want to be giving!

Start your meetings on time, and do not tolerate tardiness. Set an expectation that all your meetings run to time. This sets a behavioral standard for the group, and social pressure to conform.

Here are some things you can do during meeting planning to make sure that this happens:

Let people know ahead of time that the meeting will start "sharp at...", and that all participants are expected to be ready to start at that time. Email them half an hour before the meeting is due to start - especially if you are in the process of breaking some bad meeting habits.

Start the meetings at unusual times - nothing sticks in people's minds like a meeting scheduled to run from 9:07 until 10:03. You will automatically get them policing the time because it is unusual. It breaks through the idea that 9 o'clock means somewhere between 9 and quarter past.

Of course, you need to make sure that you really do start on time. Close the doors when you start the meeting. Again if you are breaking some bad meeting habits, post a note on the outside of the door stating the meeting time. You could even consider a latecomer fine where they have to put a dollar for every minute they are late. At the end of the week, everyone who wasn't late at all gets a treat.

Even if for some reason it is impossible to start the meeting on time, you should still finish on time, so that people don't need to be late for other meetings. It was your responsibility to get through the material on time.

One critical reason why you need everyone there at the start of the meeting is that you all look at the Mind Map together. Briefly go over the major objective from the Mind Map title, and the intended outcomes from the first level branches.

Now of course, you're not always the organizer of the meeting, and you may have someone who doesn't plan their meetings the way you do, and they may turn up late. If this happens consistently, you might like to tactfully ask if it would be better to schedule the meeting for 15 minutes later. If you are an attendee at meetings that go over time at the end, wherever possible excuse yourself at the intended finish time - after all, that is the time that you had been asked for, and you have given that amount of time already.

Keep any discussion (both from yourself and others) strictly on topic, whether you are the organizer or an attendee at a meeting.

How Long Should Your Meeting Be?

If you have regular meetings like weekly sales meetings or monthly business planning meetings, you probably have a pretty good idea of the amount of information that needs to be covered.

Your objective is to make sure that only the things that need to be covered are included in the agenda, and that the minimum amount of time to effectively cover the topics is budgeted for the meeting. You don't want to waste anybody's time. If there is too much to cover in a meeting, or different parts of the meeting require different people present, consider breaking it up into two more focused meetings.

For regularly scheduled meetings, make sure you have the agenda defined half way between the last meeting and the next one. Allocate 1/6 of the time for reporting back on follow up items from last meeting, 2/3 of the time for the current agenda items, and the remaining 1/6 of the time on planning for the next meeting.

Schedule the items with the easy ones first, and the more controversial it is, the later it goes in the agenda.

You need to make sure that there is some significant change in either speaker or method of presentation every 20 minutes at the most apart, and if you are having a longer meeting, you need to have a 15 minute break every 90 minutes. If the meeting starts to go off topic, then it may be that you need a break to re-focus the meeting.

If it's supposed to be a short meeting, you could have a standing meeting - people don't tend to dally long when they are on their feet.

Make sure that everyone has enough information to get up to speed and to know what the issues and possible alternatives are before the meeting. This will mean that you can get through the decision making process more quickly.

Reduce the number of people to only those necessary to accomplish the goal. Reduce the number of issues and tasks to only those necessary to accomplish the goal. If everyone there has a stake in the outcome, they'll be focused.

Plan Interesting Meetings

Corporate meetings can be boring. Whenever possible, include hands-on activities, get people involved in extending the Mind Map for the meeting, brainstorming ideas, giving or being involved in live demonstrations, field trips, games, role-playing, etc. Don't be afraid to mix it up - variety is what keeps people interested.

Encourage a fun, non judgmental, playful creative environment and you'll get better ideas coming out at the end of it. Remember, laughter stimulates blood flow, strengthens the immune system, reduces levels of stress producing hormones, and reduces pain perception.

Organize contests to generate ideas and offer prizes to encourage participation. A little friendly competition can bring great results.

If your meetings tend to be dominated by a few people, you could give "talking tokens" to people, and they only have a certain number per meeting, and each one only gives them a certain length of time to make their point. Or you could use a "talking stick" and people are only allowed to talk when they have the stick - and they must pass it on to someone else within a specified time.

When preparing your Mind Map during your meeting planning, make sure you make it colorful and where possible put some funny pictures in to spice it up a bit.

How can You Benefit From using Mind Mapping in Your Business Planning

2011-04-17T20:24:00.002+08:00

Many people just think of business planning as "writing business plans". Sure, business plans are important, and help you understand the direction of the company, but there are many other plans that you need to put together to keep your business on track and growing on a day to day basis.

There are a number of problems with "traditional" business plans. They are difficult and boring to write, difficult to understand, and most people don't follow them.

Replace them with Mind Maps and the whole scene changes. You now don't need to start at the beginning and work to the end - you can just put in branches for your ideas as you think of them. Your planning efforts are clearly based around your overall goals and objectives, so everything is on topic and focused.

When you give the plans to other people (or get them to collaborate on putting them together), they can see why all the different parts fit together and why they are necessary, and how they can contribute.

So let's have a look at some key places you can use Mind Mapping to make your business more productive.

Mind Mapping Your Vision / Mission Statements

Do you remember the vision or mission statement of the last company you worked for? Did you actually understand all the bits that made up the vision, and why they were there?

If you're anything like me (and everyone else employed at all the places I worked), then you probably didn't really read or understand the vision statement, and it had no impact on what you did in the job or how you did it.

In many businesses, it's like the owner or board of directors had a "planning seizure" one day and produced this document that got pinned to the wall somewhere, and has been steadfastly ignored ever since.

Well that whole scene changes when the vision statement is done using Mind Maps. The visual nature of the Mind Maps means that they are noticeable, colorful and easy to understand. The linkages between the overall company goals and the specific things that the company does to implement the things that lead to achieving the goals is clear. You can see at a glance what the company is all about and how they are going to achieve the vision.

When a group of people get together and create a shared vision, the first thing is to create an appropriate central image for the Mind Map - sometimes this act alone brings clarity to the vision and purpose. Each person will see how he or she fits into the overall picture and will have a better understanding of the organisational direction.

The vision defined in these maps can cover the corporate strategic plan, a one year vision, or a short term project. Too often professionals spend enormous amounts of time working in isolation on their part of a vision statement or project plan while the entire team shares little communication and does not understand the direction, or buy in to it. Taking a short amount of time with the entire group to create this vision will save time, money, and frustration.

Now that's something that the staff can buy in to. That's something you can use in your marketing. That's something that becomes part of the company culture. And that's what a vision statement should be!

Using Mind Maps for Your Task Lists

Whether planning a day, a week, a month, a year or your life, a Mind Mapped task list is a dynamic, interesting and beautiful way to get the use of your time in order.

Begin by creating a new Mind Map and placing the time frame for the tasks in the centre.

Next, conduct a brainstorming session. In most situations, your work will be goal focused, in which case, create branches for each overall goal for the period and then break the overall goal down into a series of smaller tasks. In the case that your tasks are more time based, you may end up putting the tasks onto a day-based planner such as the one shown here, and then put sub-branches for the tasks.

Once you have this, you can create checkboxes on the branches to check off as you complete each item.

You can also add priority markers so that you always know what's most important.

One thing that I have heard recommended over and over again is keeping a journal of all the things you have learned from the tasks you have done and decisions you have made, so you have a permanent reference to it.

I would suggest that a better way of doing your journal is that you create Mind Maps of the things you have learned and the decisions you have made. Using Mind Maps, you can easily refer back to your notes and understand the context, see what the information was, and assimilate it at a glance. And when you create a Mind Map to record the information, you cement it more securely in your brain for easy and quick recall and use in planning future tasks.

Planning and Managing Goals using Mind Maps

Defining, setting and working towards goals is as important for a company as an entity as it is for individuals.

People, be they employers or employees, feel most fulfilled in their work when they feel they are achieving something - using a Mind Map to plot and chart goals, for the company and for individuals within the company, increases staff satisfaction and gives them direction and inspiration. They can see why the goal is necessary, how all the tasks fit together and how they fit in and can contribute.

Mind Maps can even be used as an alternative to the traditional performance review documentation - allowing employees to chart their own career progress in a creative and dynamic format. The Mind Map below shows an example of this, where you can see that the major objective areas are identified clearly, and there is room for recording information relating to each of the topics as the conversation progresses. It can also be used for self assessment prior to the interview. This ensures that the review can be brief and to the point and cover all the required aspects without missing anything.

Performance reviews can be based on KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) that are also written up in Mind Map format. Negotiated KPIs not only give employees a sense of empowerment, they also give managers an interesting insight into the mindset of each staff member. By asking staff to set their own KPIs, you are really asking them to reveal what they think their job is, their confidence level in what they do, how motivated they are and their ambitions within the business.

Have employees brainstorm KPI ideas on a Mind Map. Have them do this by placing their job title or name in the centre and then creating a parent branch for each of the responsibilities that they regularly perform. From here, they should look at each responsibility and add branches that relate how they feel they are currently performing, whether they enjoy the activity, improvements they think they could make and finally, what they believe the KPI should be for each of these activities.

Your Business Plan

How often have you seen business and marketing plans that people have slaved over for hours merely flicked through (if that!) by staff members, investors and sometimes even the business owner themselves? Even investors and venture capitalists who need to understand the business plans in order to make their investment decisions get thoroughly bored looking through boilerplate business plans day after day. That is no way to wow them into investing in your company. It is no way to get your staff to buy into the company direction - they can't even understand all the pages of boring text.

As any good salesperson knows, you have to know everything you can about your products or services in order to persuade someone to buy them. In this discussion, you are the salesperson and your products represent your business. Your customers are potential investors and employees. Since you want your customers to believe in you, you must be able to convince them that you know what you are talking about when it comes to your business.

You must be willing to roll up your sleeves and begin digging through information. Since not all information that you gather will be relevant to the development of your business plan, it will help you to know what you are looking for before you get started. In order to help you with this process, we have developed an outline of the essential elements of a good business plan.

What needs to be in the plan?

Every successful business plan should include something about each of the following areas, since these are what make up the essentials of a good business plan:

Executive Summary
Market Analysis
Company Description
Organization & Management
Marketing & Sales Management
Service or Product Line
Funding Request
Financials
Appendix

Mind Mapping your Business Plan

Using Mind Maps for your business plan is an effective way to ensure the business plan actually gets used. The point of a business plan is not to reach a certain number of pages or to display the size of your vocabulary - it's to map out where your business is, where it is heading and how you're going to get there.

By Mind Mapping this plan, you are forced to be concise. Mind Mapping doesn't allow for long sentences and big words - you have to think of the shortest, clearest way to express the concepts you want to communicate - try limiting yourself to one word, or dispense with words altogether and represent concepts with meaningful graphics.

When setting up a new business it is useful to create a Mind Map to show what your goals and aspirations are and what things you need to think about when setting up your business. Then you need to define your business - where you define your company values, target market, levels of service etc, so you know who you are as far as the market is concerned.

You will also want to create a Mind Map of the entire organizational structure for the "finished" business, including job descriptions, so you can plan ahead for the way the business will be when completed. It may well be that you put your name beside every position to start with, but as you grow, you will be able to take a main branch at a time and hand that off to someone else, and progressively move down to the leaf branches as the company grows.

How to create a Mind Mapped Business Plan

Place the name of your business in the centre and use a picture that you think describes it. This doesn't necessarily have to be the company logo, perhaps it is a picture of what you want to achieve via your business.

Now, from the centre the parent branches will be titled: Marketing, Financial Management, Management, Service and Sales.

Marketing

I recommend that your 'Marketing' branch is a link to an entirely new Mind Map that focuses solely on your Marketing Plan.

Financial Management

For the Financial Management branch, use sub-branches to ask and answer the following questions:

What is our start-up budget?
What is our ongoing budget?
What type of accounting system will we use?
What are our sales and profit goals for the next 12 months?
If you are a franchisee, will the franchisor expect you to reach and retain a certain sales level and profit margin?
What financial projections will we need to include in our business plan?
What kind of stock control system will we use?

Management

Split the Management branch into two sub-branches: 'Management Team' and 'Staff' (if staff is appropriate) and ask and answer the following questions.

Management Team

How does my background/ business experience help me in this business?
What are my weaknesses and how can I compensate for them?
Who will be on the management team and what are their duties?
Are their duties clearly defined?
What are their strengths / weaknesses?
If operating a franchise, what type of assistance can I expect from the franchisor and will this assistance be ongoing?

Staff

What are our current personnel needs?
What are our plans for hiring and training personnel?
What salaries and holidays will we offer?
If you are a franchise, are these issues covered in the management package the franchisor will provide?
What benefits, if any, do we offer?

Do this rapid-fire using what we call "branch storming" where you just add branches as quickly as possible and force your brain to come up with a word for each branch, so that you can capture the essence of your thoughts and feelings.

Remember, this is a brainstorming exercise, so there are no wrong or silly answers. You'll go back later and expand or delete points and ideas as you need to.

Service and Sales

There are four keys to excellent customer service: trust, knowledge, efficiency and friendliness. On your Service branch, answer these kinds of questions:

Why can our clients trust us, our products and our service?
What do we know that makes our clients lives easier?
How do we exhibit efficiency in our dealings with our clients?
How can we ensure our clients think of us as their trusted friends?

On your Sales branch, think about the process that your clients will go through to buy from you - that is from the time they walk in the store (or contact you to enquire about your product or services) to the moment they settle the final bill.

How to Use the Business Plan Mind Map

Mind Mapped business plans are great for presenting information to investors and franchisees, as they allow logical connections between items to become immediately clear - much better than a 60 page text document that nobody reads or understands. At the same time, the Mind Map is also presenting a one-page overview of the business. This allows people to understand the concepts you are trying to explain to them much quicker, making those funding
requests and franchise sales that much easier.

Using software makes the Mind Mapping process a breeze. When dealing with the specifics of the business directions, you'll find it easy to brainstorm the ideas, adding them at the appropriate place and rearranging as necessary, all at the click of a mouse.

Updating the business and marketing plan becomes less of a chore when these plans are put together using NovaMind. The software makes it easy to move ideas around and add and delete ideas as necessary.

You could even turn the Mind Map into a large poster that could be displayed in your offices - one of the many cool things about Mind Maps is that they are appealing to the eye and so become an asset you can be proud of showing to employees, clients and suppliers alike.

Best of all - Mind Mapping makes the planning process fun! The brain is naturally attracted to the process of Mind Mapping. The colours, images and process will ensure you'll never be stuck writing boring plans that you know will never be read by (let alone be of use to) anyone else!

Strategic Plans - What's the Point?

2011-03-17T20:18:00.000+08:00

Strategic Plans - What's the Point?

Some people think that just because they have created a business plan, that they have done everything required to be ready to go out there and take over the world! Not so! There are a number of things that strategic plans achieve which are distinctly different from business and project plans.

A strategic plan:

Serves as a framework for decision making,
Is the basis for accountability to owners, investors and shareholders,
Forms a basis for business and project planning,
Explains the business to others (both external and internal to the business) in such a way as to involve them in the company direction, motivate them to support it, and let them know what the strategic direction is,
Helps with benchmarking and performance monitoring,
Is a stimulus for change in the business, and become the building block for future plans.

Strategic plans are explicitly not detailed - nothing like a business plan. The strategic plan provides the foundation and framework for a business plan.

Strategic plans are visionary documents and not intended in any way to be operational plans. Instead, they are conceptual, directional, and long term.

While they are conceptual and visionary, they need to be concrete enough that they can be seen as realistic and attainable, so that you have something solid to hook your business and operational plans in to, and so you can actually tell when you have achieved the stated goals.

Why use Mind Mapping for Strategic Planning?

Every business needs a strategic plan to make sure you know where you are going. Strategic planning is all about setting the long term direction of the company - knowing what your goals, intentions and values are.

Business owners and managers often get so preoccupied with the immediate issues (thinking tactically rather than strategically), that they lose sight of their ultimate objectives.

Having a strategic plan doesn't guarantee your success though. Very often, even when strategic plans are prepared, they are not implemented. Sometimes the employees don't even know of their existence, let alone understand the contents, and "buy in" to the goals and spirit of the company.

So what makes the difference between a plan that is useful and one that is ignored?

Well, when you create a Mind Mapped plan, it is colorful, interesting, easy to understand, and hooks into the full understanding of everyone in the company, whether they are more inclined to logical linear thinking, or more creative and artistic.

Mind Maps are memorable, and make a deep lasting impression - the sort that gets the ideas in your strategic plan implemented throughout the day to day operations of the company.

Mind Mapped strategic plans are also the sort of thing that you can make into a poster and put up on the wall so that everyone can see it - including your clients and business associates. This in itself builds the need for you to be consistent with your stated plans.

These are some very powerful reasons to use Mind Maps for your strategic plans, and as we will see, there are a lot of ways Mind Mapping helps in the generation of strategic plans too.

Developing a Strategic Plan

It can be very easy to be stuck in the rut of firefighting current issues, and thinking tactically or even in short term planning for immediate business goals and projects.

It is therefore a good idea to get out of the office - away from the immediate pressures of tactical things, so you can put together your strategic plan.

When thinking about what should go in your strategic plan, you should be thinking about a 2-4 year time period. Any longer than that seems unattainable, and the business and market environment is likely to change so much that the goals would not make sense anyway. Any shorter and you get back into tactical thinking.

Here are some key points for putting together your strategic plan:

It should be intended for a 2-4 year implementation timescale,
It should be created by the owners and/or directors of the company,
Focus on things that are important from a strategic perspective - this is not operational, tactical, business, project, or marketing planning,
Get out of the office and away somewhere you can concentrate on things of strategic importance,
Be realistic about the expectations, but also detached from the current business, and even critical of the way things are being done now. Look at the competition from a strategic perspective and learn from their approach.

Before you start developing the strategic plan, make a Mind Map of your current status, objectives and strategies. A large part of this can be covered by a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis Mind Map.

Some areas to consider when putting together your SWOT analysis are:

Sales - marketing - distribution - promotion - support,
Management - systems - expertise - resources,
Operations - efficiency - capacity - processes,
Products - services - quality - pricing - features - range - competitiveness,
Finances - resources - performance,
R&D - effort - direction - resources,
Costs - productivity - purchasing,
Systems - organization - structures.

Understanding the Company Vision

As a first step to developing the strategic plan, you need to have a clear vision for the company. In the context of a strategic plan, what you are looking for is something that describes the business in 3-5 years. How big will the business be? What products will you be selling? What services will you provide? What will your position be in the market?

Understanding the Company Mission

The second thing to be clear about is the company mission. This is a statement of what you do. It is very concrete, and states what you will make, sell or provide; whom you will provide it to; who it will affect; what the intended purpose is; what technologies you will use; what sales channels you will use; what makes you unique.

Understanding the Company Values

Now we get into the softer issues: What are you here for? What are you here to do and accomplish? What is the difference that you will make to your clients, suppliers, employees, shareholders, your community, the world?

The Company Objectives

With that background, explicitly state the business's objectives in terms of the results it needs/wants to achieve in the medium/long term. Aside from presumably indicating a necessity to achieve regular profits, objectives should relate to the expectations and requirements of all the major stakeholders, including employees, and should reflect the underlying reasons for running the business. These objectives could cover growth, profitability, technology, offerings and markets.

The Strategies

Well, this is a strategic plan after all, so I guess we need some strategies in here somewhere!

These are the rules and guidelines by which the mission, objectives etc. may be achieved. They can cover the business as a whole including such matters as diversification, organic growth, or acquisition plans, or they can relate to primary matters in key functional areas, for example:

The company's internal cash flow will fund all future growth.
New products will progressively replace existing ones over the next 3 years.
All assembly work will be contracted out to lower the company's break-even point.

Use SWOTs to help identify possible strategies by building on strengths, resolving weaknesses, exploiting opportunities and avoiding threats.

The Goals

Next come the Goals. These are specific medium or long term measurable milestones towards the company's objectives, for example, to achieve sales of $3m in three years time. Goals should be quantifiable, consistent, realistic and achievable. They can relate to factors like market (sizes and shares), products, finances, profitability, utilization, efficiency.

It goes without saying that the mission, objectives, values, strategies and goals must be inter-linked and consistent with each other. This is much easier said than done because many businesses which are set up with the clear objective of making their owners wealthy often lack strategies, realistic goals or concise missions.

Follow Through

The strategic plan should be reviewed on a regular basis - at least annually, and must be written down and communicated to everyone it impacts.

More: http://namecardmy.com/2011年兔年运程
(from 1 Name Card, 1 Malaysia)

Microsoft: 'over 2 million' Windows Phone 7 licenses sold to manufacturers so far

2011-02-27T20:13:00.000+08:00

Microsoft just dropped a few tidbits of knowledge on us regarding Windows Phone 7's performance in the marketplace so far. Here's what we've got:

'Early research' says 93 percent of WP7 customers are 'satisfied' and 90 percent would recommend the platform to others. We don't know details about the research, though -- number of customers polled, time frame, so on.
Average of 100 new apps in the Marketplace per day, and over 6,500 total are available right now.
Most importantly, "over 2 million" licenses have been sold to OEMs around the world.

What does that tell us? Well, let's get the elephant in the room out of the way: the iPhone 4 sold 3 million units in a little under a month after its launch, so Microsoft clearly has plenty of room to catch up -- but that comes as no surprise to us, analysts, or Microsoft itself. Furthermore, selling a license to an OEM isn't the same as selling a phone to a customer, since many of these manufactured devices are sitting on store shelves; it's unclear exactly how many WP7 devices are actually in users' pockets right now, but the number is certainly less than "over 2 million."

Microsoft's earnings call is tomorrow where we expect to get more detail on the platform's performance, but the company is saying today that it sees plenty of reasons to be "bullish about the foundation for long-term success" here -- and considering that they simply can't afford to fail in the mobile game, we hope they're right.

Would your business survive?

2011-02-17T20:44:00.000+08:00

If an earthquake struck right now and flattened your business, knocked out all the power lines, ruptured all the gas lines, and your place of business was wrecked, what would happen? How soon would you be able to get up and running again, if ever?

Most of us tend to be optimists, and believe that these things will never happen to us, but even smaller catastrophes, like the water main bursting and flooding your office, require planning to be able to cope quickly and efficiently and get back up and running with the minimum of disruption of services to your clients.

Why Your Business Needs Business Continuity Plans

Given the impact of even a minor disaster happening, there is a growing awareness that businesses urgently need to develop plans that will minimize the impact of disasters should they occur.

Most business owners are just thinking about major natural disasters when they think about putting together these types of plans, and therefore think that the likelihood of that happening is so low, that it gets pushed aside in favor of more pressing tasks. But the threats can come from a wide range of sources, such as:

Natural disasters, such as earthquakes, hurricanes, floods
Fire
Cyber attack
Utility outage, such as power, internet connectivity, phone etc.
Disease
Terrorism
Other business-specific factors, such as reliance on third party services, government legislation, or business partnerships

Sure, you can buy insurance, but that isn't going to get your business running again, and insurance companies have been known to take a long time to pay out on some claims, and there have even been cases where in large natural disasters, the insurance companies have actually gone bankrupt.

So you need to have the best contingencies and plans in place yourself.

What's Involved In Putting Together Your Business Continuity Plan?

You will find that there is a lot of information available if you search the Internet for business continuity planning, emergency planning, or disaster recovery planning. There are companies that specialize in creating and testing disaster recovery plans.

When you look at it, it seems like a complex (and therefore expensive) undertaking, involving a serious examination of risks and the impact of these risks given different scenarios. Unfortunately for many businesses, this is true - especially as they get larger. It is also complex in that creating a comprehensive plan involves all sorts of contingencies, and lots of dependencies on what is happening in the business at the time, so it all has to be maintained as the business grows and changes, and generates more data. These changes need to be tested and audited to ensure they are still going to be effective.

Many business owners just want to try not to think about it. But like all projects, this one can be managed meaningfully if planners simply have the right tools for the task.

The secret then is to plan, and to plan using tools that can show both an overview position as well as the details in a way many people can absorb quickly. Mind maps make particularly good sense given these sorts of needs. Let's look at why.

Why Mind Maps Are Good For Business Continuity Planning

The best-run businesses have business plans, vision statements, and/or mission statements. So they have a definition of their business. This involves defining things like the company values, target market, level of service, etc.

This level of business planning is essential to create successful businesses anyway, but has the additional benefit of identifying what is most important to protect in your business continuity planning.

In effect, what we are seeing are the main driving factors behind the business, and specific decisions about the direction and nature of the company, then details about what is important in making sure that the required service levels or outcomes are achieved.

Anyone looking at such a visual summary will be able to determine immediately what it is that makes the company unique, and what the most important things are to keep running in the event of a disaster.

So you have the benefit of the clarity of the Mind Map in helping staff, clients and investors to understand and buy into the company vision, but as a side effect, you have the starting point for your disaster recovery planning efforts.

What Needs To Go In To Your Emergency Plans?

For the overall company perspective, you can identify the threats / risks, impact and mitigation strategies, as well as responses should that risk come to pass.

After this, you can identify the main activities and assets that need to be protected and operational, and for each one, create a Mind Map of the threats / risks, mitigation strategies and response plans.

Your Risk Mitigation Mind Map

Different people have vastly different approaches when it comes to risk, but even the most conservative people have some level of risk in their lives, and all business owners have a level of risk in their businesses.

Some people try to avoid risk, but often that means missing out on opportunities you could benefit from, which is in itself risky. It's sort of like the saying "even if you choose not to decide, you've still made a choice".

You can work on reducing the risk that the threat would impact your business by things such as contingency strategies, backup plans, alternate providers, etc. There are two main aspects of this - reducing the risk of the issue occurring, and reducing the impact if it does. For example, if flooding was a risk, you might locate your premises on high ground (reducing risk), or if a particular payment processing system was a critical factor, you may have duplicate payment processing systems in place with different providers (reducing impact).

And you can transfer the risk to other people through insurance (with the caveats mentioned above about large scale disasters and slow payouts), spreading the risk over a whole business or multiple businesses, or contracting disaster recovery companies to be prepared in the case of an emergency.

So for each risk, you identify the risk, note the assessment of the likelihood of it occurring, the severity if it does, and the options for mitigating the risk. The mitigation options normally fall into the categories of: avoidance, impact reduction, and transfer of risk or impact.

Your Response And Recovery Mind Map

Your response and recovery plan must include all aspects of the recovery processes such as:

The command structure for crisis management, along with full contact details and capability profiles
Roles and responsibilities during disaster recovery, along with full contact details and capability profiles
Details of services and equipment available to be utilized during recovery
Details of all the steps in the recovery process, both to get an initial basic operation up and running, and for full restoration of business
Plans for training the staff who would be involved in the process
Plans for testing the systems that are involved in the recovery
Plans for maintaining and updating the recovery system, including maintaining all machinery and computers in a fully operational state.

The plans that you make should be set out in your Mind Map, and if it is a complex business operation, you would probably export it to either Merlin project manager (Mac) or MS Project (Windows) to do full task and resource Gantt charts and detailed plans.

What To Do With Your Plan Once You Have Completed It

Disasters and special contingencies often occur in a climate that demands fast response. If the plan itself is not one that organizational staff are likely to be very familiar with, all the more reason why you need the overview that a mind map provides.

Here are some more tips of important things, some of which may seem so blatantly obvious that you'd wonder why they need stating, but let me assure you that there have been many cases where these simple things have not been followed:

Make sure the plans are where people can get them (not in a safe or locked filing cabinet)
Keep a backup of the plan offsite - preferably a copy at the house of each of the key personnel of the company
Make sure that all supporting data, documents and any equipment required to get up and running again is stored in a safe and accessible place
Make sure that the staff are aware of who is in charge of the implementation of the disaster recovery plans

I sincerely hope that your plans never need to be put to the test in real life, but if they are, I hope you are well prepared and able to recover with the minimum of disruption.

More: http://namecardmy.com/2011年兔年运程
(from 1 Name Card, 1 Malaysia)

What Do TMZ And The Daily Have In Common? Both Are Published On Crowd Fusion

2011-02-16T12:37:00.001+08:00

A couple weeks ago at the debut of The Daily, besides the press and bloggers a few tech CEOs associated with the project were also milling about. One of them was Brian Alvey, the founder of Crowd Fusion, a content management system (CMS) that launched at TechCrunch 50 in 2009 but has been pretty quiet since.

Alvey’s been busy signing up customers at large media sites. Both The Daily and celebrity gossip site TMZ, I’ve learned, are published on Crowd Fusion. For The Daily, News Corp needed a publishing platform that could support its digital newsroom. Crowd Fusion publishes all of the pages in the iPad app (as well as the corresponding Web pages), and powers the social sharing features and voice-commenting. It pulls in photos, videos, articles, and other information from dozens of sources and feeds, which then get assembled into the publication every day. And of course, it also was the first app to work with Apple’s new subscription billing service right out of the gate.

Crowd Fusion had to essentially rebuild the CMS three times for the Daily, as the iPad newspaper hired more people and refined the workflows that would be required to put it out every day. Crowd Fusion was flexible enough to handle that. Plus, it treats content like a structured database, making it easier to surface related stories, videos, photos, and so on.

More: http://namecardmy.com/2011年兔年运程
(from 1 Name Card, 1 Malaysia)

Esui Contest

2011-02-10T12:01:00.001+08:00

For further information, log on to the contest:
http://namecardmy.com/esui/

Testimonial

Cheng Ying Jie (Renowned Theatre Asrtiste)

- Regular users of Esui feminine hygiene products.
- She had been free of vaginal problems for years after the usage of Esui feminine hygiene.

Miss Phoon, 29, married with 2 children.

- Post-partum hormonal inbalance leading to dryness and itchness forvaginal.
- Treatment with ESUI Feminine Hygiene wash for 2 weeks improves her condition tremendously by resuming the vaginal secretion. Continuous usage for the next 2 months eliminates the problem completely.

Mia, 40, Beauty Therapist

- She suffered severe abnormal vaginal discharge which lead to itchiness and intermittent dryness of vagina.
- Within the first week of Esui Feminine Hygiene wash usage, she had increased vaginal discharge owing to the detoxification process induced by the product.

Miss Lim, 31, Housewife

- Slight vaginal discharge and vaginal itchiness prior to the usage of Esui products. 1 month after the usage of Esui Feminine Hygiene, she is free from above mentioned problems.
- She had become regular user of Esui product since then.

Miss Ong, 30, Clerical Worker

- She suffered chronic, mild vaginal itchiness of vaginal which is not reversible with ordinary feminine hygiene wash.
- Her chronic itchiness disappeared after trying Esui Feminine Hygiene wash for few days. She continued the usage of our products and had become normal until now.

Miss Loh, 28, Sales Assistante

- Mild and chronic vaginal discharge which sometimes turned into greenish color owing to infection.
- 5 days after the usage of Esui Feminine Hygiene Wash, her vaginal discharge decreased as much as 50% and fully disappeared in 2 weeks.

Miss Fionne, 27, Computer Programmer

- Increased vaginal discharge before and after the menses.
- No more vaginal discharge during the mensus, cleaner vaginal with much lesser infection.

Sulastri, 23, Domestic Helper

Yumi, 26, Married with 2 children

- Increased vaginal discharge before and after the menses.
- No more vaginal discharge during the mensus, cleaner vaginal with much lesser infection.

Miss Khoo, 32, Married with 2 children

- Excellent toning of vaginal muscle with superb tightening effect.

Miss Ooi, 44, Housewife

- 70% toning effect on vaginal muscle following 1 months of Esui usage

Miss Loh, 33, Hairdresser

- Conduct daily feminine hygiene with Esui products.
- She feel clean of fresh everyday with great toning effect of vaginal muscle.

Miss Tan

- Tried various feminine hygiene products but unable to achieve satisfactory feminine hygiene.
- Esui feminine hygiene let her feel the ultimate cleanliness of the vaginal which make her free of any kinds of infections since then.

Maggie, Beautician

- Take good efforts in feminine hygiene. She conduct individual studies and comparison on various products and choose to use Esui for her feminine hygiene.
- She recommends Esui as the only products that clean, disinfect and revitalize vaginal tissue.

Miss Chin, Housewife

Miss Ong, Housewife

- She used other products for feminine hygiene with unsatisfactory results.
- She turns to Esui feminine hygiene after experiencing its tremendous effects in vaginal cleansing, revitalizing and toning.

Miss Lim, Kindergarden Teacher

- Endorsed Esui as the most creditable feminine hygiene products in the market.
- She said that Esui is the only product that yield cleansing effects in the shortest time.

Dong Li , Radio Programs Regular Guest

- After delivery, I'm troubled by acute vaginal discharge, and it is so embarrassing and uncomfortable. But after my fist use of "ESUI", I almost felt refreshed and cleansed immediately. And after a week, my unpleasant discharge is noticebly reduced. Now I will use it daily to maintain my presonal hygiene.

Zhang Sili , Ex-Miss Singapore

- After trying out "ESUI" few wash, I can feel it resumes my contraction and elasticity, and most importantly, it moisturize and refresh me. ESUI is essential to all women; it should be used daily to replace ordinary shower foam.

For further information, log on to the contest:

http://namecardmy.com/esui/

Android 3.0 Honeycomb SDK preview goes live

2011-01-27T20:16:00.000+08:00

It's still going to be a little bit before you can get your hands on a Xoom, but if you'd like to start playing with the Honeycomb SDK right now -- and hey, developers, we'd encourage you to do just that -- Google's now made it possible. A version of the Android 3.0 SDK billed as a "preview" is now available for download, featuring "non-final" APIs and system images that will help would-be Android tablet devs get their feet wet as they prepare for an inevitable onslaught of these things over the next few months. So go on, get it while the gettin's good.

Among the more delicious promises from Google are tablet-specific UI elements like "richer" widgets and notifications, a built-in GL renderer that permits GPU acceleration of both 2D and 3D visuals, and support for multicore processor architectures. Yay for making the most out of the available hardware.

Microsoft's first Windows Phone 7 update coming this month?

2011-01-27T20:12:00.000+08:00

It's no secret that Microsoft is anxious to get copy / paste functionality rolled out to Windows Phone 7 users on the double. In his CES keynote last night, Steve Ballmer himself said that it'd be coming soon -- but a little hint on Microsoft's site indicates that it might be coming as soon as this month: the URL Microsoft is using for the update's details page includes "january-update.aspx" in it, which we'd say is pretty telling. Of course, launch dates inevitably slip, and perennial Microsoft guru Paul Thurrott thinks it's tracking for early February before it'll actually reach users' devices... so we wouldn't go canceling vacations you've got scheduled this month just so you can be around to score the update as soon as it's available.

2011年兔年运程

2010-11-12T11:33:00.003+08:00

1) 生肖属兔的人2011年兔年运程

2) 生肖属鼠人的2011年兔年运程

3) 生肖属牛人的2011年兔年运程

4) 生肖属虎的人2011年兔年运程

5) 生肖属龙的人2011年兔年运程

6) 生肖属蛇的人2011年兔年运程

7 ) 生肖属马的人2011年兔年运程

8 ) 生肖属羊的人2011年兔年运程

9) 生肖属猴的人2011年兔年运程

10) 生肖属狗人士2011年兔年运程

11) 生肖属鸡的人2011年兔年运程

12) 生肖属猪的人2011年兔年运程

Embed a Google Form on a Facebook Fan Page.

2010-10-25T20:40:00.000+08:00

Since the start of 2010, Facebook no longer allows you to use an Iframe in the Static FBML app. This change makes embedding many elements into the Fan Page much more difficult. Here is a way to embed the Google Form with out using an tag.

Google Forms are useful because you can embed the form and when a user fills the form out the data is automatically put into a spreadsheet in Google Docs. This saves tons of time having to copy and paste data. If you have not tried out Google Forms you should. When you create a Google Docs Spreadsheet there is a form option in the menu of the spreadsheet, give it a try. So below you will find the step by step guide to embedding the Google form in Facebook.

1. Create a Google spreadsheet. Each column becomes a entry element of your form. Here is a quick video outlining how to make a form. Create a Google Spreadsheet

2. Once you have a Google Form you will need to setup a tab in Facebook to allow you to paste HTML code into it. Here is a good tutorial to set that up. Adding a Static FBML tab to your Fan Page

3. Now that you have these two basic elements setup and ready to go lets get to connecting the two. In the “Forms” menu item on your google spreadsheet there is an option called “embed form in a webpage” click this and copy the code you see, it will look like this.

“Loading…”

4. We need to view the form page itself and not use the iframe tag. Remove the code before and after the webpage URL. It should end up looking like this.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/embeddedform?formkey=dGN6dlJMNkRQT0N6aW81bElQVWdyRGc6MQ

5. Copy and paste this URL into your browser address bar and view the page. It should look like the form and the form elements will be nested against the edge of the page.

6. View the Page Source of this page, you are going to copy all of the HTML of the URL you just saw.

7. Paste this HTML into the Static FBML edit window It should look like the following:

8. Now we have to remove some HTML to allow the form to show on the Facebook Page.
First remove the Doctype, html, head, meta and title tag. ex. “
test”

9. You want to keep the “Change = “

To = “http://spreadsheets.google.com/client/css/1968101144-embedded_form_compiled.css’ type=’text/css’ rel=’stylesheet’>”

10. Now remove the “” tag, and the “”

11. Scroll to the Bottom of the pasted HTML code and remove the “” tags.

12. To make the formatting look a little better I usually add a “
” after each label item to next the box under the box name. ei. “name

“

13. At this point you should be able to hit “save”, make the tab active and test your form.

14. When the form is submitted the user is taken to a confirmation page. To include a link back to your Fan Page simply add the link into the page . To Do this, Go to Your Google Spreadsheet and click “edit form” in the Form menu at the top. It will open a new window with the form and then click “more options” at the top. Choose “edit confirmation” and change the text there. To add the link simply put a URL into the box ex. http://www.facebook.com/yoursite . Using HTML in this box will not work, only the URL

Suggest All Friends to Join on Facebook Fan Page

2010-10-14T22:15:00.002+08:00

Step 1 : After you login to Facebook. CLICK HERE.

Step 2 : Click Suggest to Friends

Step 3: Go to URL address and click to select all.
Replace all selected URL address with the code below then press ENTER. After fews seconds, you will notice that all your friends was selected.

javascript:elms=document.getElementById('friends').getElementsByTagName('li');for(var fid in elms){if(typeof elms[fid] === 'object'){fs.click(elms[fid]);}}

Step 4 : Click the button "Send Invitations"

DONE!

This Ain’t Avatar XXX 3D – Just-About-Safe-For-Work Visuals

2010-10-12T12:16:00.001+08:00

James Cameron’s Avatar is the latest to get the porn parody treatment from the “This Ain’t…” crowd from Hustler.

Out in a two-disc DVD/Bluray set – with both 2D and 3D versions – later this month. Expect a lot of ponytail-on-ponytail action. Probably doesn’t quite have the heart of Vivid’s Batman and Superman productions. But I guess people don’t buy these as much for the heart…

Flooding in Tennessee

2010-08-29T16:26:00.000+08:00

Last weekend, powerful thunderstorms drenched Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi, dumping over 13 inches of rain on the region in two days. Creeks, lakes and rivers swelled with the rainwater, overflowing their banks, washing away roads, and causing the deaths of at least 24 people so far. The Cumberland River, which winds through downtown Nashville, Tennessee, crested Monday at 51.9 feet, 12 feet above flood stage, spilling into the city and surrounding neighborhoods. As the waters are now receding, cleanup and recovery begins, as municipal workers begin to repair power supplies and water treatment plants, and residents return to their homes to recover what they can. (38 photos total)

The Cumberland River floods outside of its banks Tuesday on May 4, 2010 in Nashville, Tennessee. More than 13 inches of rain fell over two days, more than doubling the previous record of 6.68 inches and leaving as many as 18 dead in Tennessee, including nine in Nashville. (Jeff Gentner/Getty Images)

Ira Godsy, who lives in the Knights Motel in East Nashville, wades out to his car, Sunday, May 2, 2010. Most of the cars were underwater due to storms that brought heavy flooding and tornados to the region over the weekend. (AP Photo/The Tennessean, John Partipilo) #

A car is pinned up against a tree by floodwater flowing under a bridge on Sunday, May 2, 2010 in Nashville, Tennessee. Severe storms dumped heavy rain on Tennessee for the second straight day. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) #

Jackson Police and Madison County Sheriff's Department close Airport Road near McKenzie Store to rescue a woman washed off the road by high flood waters during heavy storms in Jackson, Tennessee, Saturday, May 1, 2010. (AP Photo/The Jackson Sun, Morris Abernathy) #

Buildings and city streets are still under floodwater as the sun sets on May 4, 2010 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Jeff Gentner/Getty Images) #

Houses are surrounded by water from Cumberland river after heavy rains from the weekend in Nashville, Tennessee May 4, 2010. (REUTERS/M. J. Masotti Jr.) #

Airplanes sit partially submerged in floodwater at the Cornelia Fort Airpark Tuesday, May 4, 2010, in Nashville, Tennessee. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson) #

Donald Sweat and Sarah Tippett take photos of a railroad bridge that was washed off its foundations when floodwaters swelled the creek that leads to the Lebanon square, Lebanon, Tennessee on Sunday, May 2, 2010. (AP Photo/The Tennessean, Larry McCormack) #

The General Jackson Showboat floats in the Cumberland River as the Opry Mills shopping complex stands in floodwaters from the Cumberland River in Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday, May 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) #

A house is surrounded by floodwater Tuesday, May 4, 2010, in Nashville, Tennessee. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson) #

The loading docks at the Opryland Hotel are flooded and damaged from heavy rains on Monday, May 3, 2010. All of the estimated 1,500 guests were evacuated overnight. (AP Photo/The Tennessean, John Partipilo) #

Michael Bunch wades on a flooded downtown sidewalk in Nashville, Tennessee on Monday May 3, 2010. (Rusty Russell/Getty Images) #

Shipping containers float in floodwater Tuesday, May 4, 2010, in Nashville, Tennessee. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson) #

State vehicles sit stranded in a parking lot on May 4, 2010 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Rusty Russell/Getty Images) #

Floodwater from the Cumberland River creeps into downtown Nashville, Tennessee, Monday, May 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson) #

Residents remove flood debris from their homes Tuesday, May 4, 2010, in Nashville, Tennessee. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson) #

Gabe Gardiner, left, sits with a neighbor on his living room sofa outside his flood damaged home in the River Walk subdivision of in Nashville, Tennessee, Tuesday, May 4, 2010. (AP Photo/Frederick Breedon) #

People paddle canoes down a street in Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday, May 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) #

Lighthouse Christian School teacher Heather Harrell reacts after finding her grandmother's Bible in her classroom that was destroyed by the flood in Antioch, Tennessee on Monday, May 3, 2010. (AP Photo/The Tennessean, Shelley Mays) #

An American flag hangs on a fence to dry as Lighthouse Christian School student Noah Jackson,12, cleans debris from his school athletic fields in Antioch, Tennessee on Monday, May 3, 2010. (AP Photo/The Tennessean, Shelley Mays) #

Cars and other debris are piled on top of each other after flooding on Antioch Pike near Nashville, Tennessee on Monday, May 3, 2010. (AP Photo/The Tennessean, Shelley Mays) #

Kim Shaw and wife Jennie watch floodwaters from the swollen Loosahatchie River encroach on their front lawn in the Waverfly Farms area south of Millington, Tennessee, Sunday, May 2, 2010. (AP Photo/Lance Murphey) #

Messages are written on cabinets outside a home that was flooded, Tuesday, May 4, 2010, in Nashville, Tennessee. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson) #

Clare Baker, right, hugs her friend, Melinda Murphy, as Murphy leaves after helping Baker salvage items from Baker's flood-damaged home on Tuesday, May 4, 2010 in Nashville, Tennessee. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) #

Metro Fire Department Special Operation rescues a Belle Meade police officer off Harding Road in Belle Meade, Tennessee on Sunday May 2, 2010. Police officer Norm Shelton was clinging to a tree for an hour before being rescued. The location of his patrol car is unknown. (AP Photo/The Tennessean, Shelley Mays) #

A sign in River Front Park becomes visible once again as the waters of the Cumberland River slowly started to ebb across from LP Field, Tuesday, May 4, 2010, in Nashville, Tennessee. (AP Photo/(M. Spencer Green) #

A vehicle rests upside down in a sink hole which opened on West Forest Avenue during heavy storms just west of Madison County General Hospital on Saturday, May 1, 2010 in Jackson, Tennessee. The vehicle's driver was rescued and taken to the hospital. (AP Photo/The Jackson Sun, Morris Abernathy) #

Kristi Hellerman walks her daughter Kallie Cox, 3, through their flooded neighborhood near Pleasant Planes, Saturday, May 1, 2010 in Jackson, Tennessee. (AP Photo/The Jackson Sun, Beth Spain) #

The roof of an SUV is just visible, submerged in floodwaters covering downtown streets and sidewalks May 3, 2010 in the Lower Broad district of Nashville, Tennessee. (Rusty Russell/Getty Images) #

A flooded neighborhood in Nashville, Tennessee, is seen Monday, May 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) #

Jennifer Coleman walks down a ditch where a car identified by family members as belonging to Bill and Frankie Rutledge, Coleman's aunt and uncle, was found Monday, May 3, 2010 in Nashville, Tennessee. (AP Photo/Ed Rode) #

Robert Turner describes the rapid rise of water in his home May 4, 2010 in the Bordeaux district of Nashville, Tennessee. (Rusty Russell/Getty Images) #

Cars and trucks sit covered with debris as they wait to be cleared from I-24 eastbound toward Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The wooden structure to the left is the porch of a building that floated down I-24 earlier according to TDOT workers on the scene. (AP Photo/The Tennessean, Tom Stanford) #

A woman wades through floodwaters on a downtown sidewalk May 3, 2010 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Rusty Russell/Getty Images) #

A Nashville Fire Department boat patrols the Cumberland River Tuesday, May 4, 2010, in Nashville, Tennessee. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson) #

The inside of a water damaged car is seen in a severely flooded West Nashville neighborhood on May 4, 2010 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Jeff Gentner/Getty Images) #

Carrie Johnson cleans photographs salvaged from the flood-damaged home of her friend, Clare Baker, on Tuesday, May 4, 2010 in Nashville, Tennessee. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) #

Dover Anthony sings on as he overlooks the parking lot of submerged cars at the Knights Motel in East Nashville, Sunday, May 2, 2010. (AP Photo/The Tennessean, John Partipilo) #

Afghanistan, April, 2010

2010-08-19T16:25:00.000+08:00

A recent Pentagon report on the situation in Afghanistan over the past 6 months gives the impression that while things aren't necessarily getting any worse, they are far from improving. Afghan citizens, when polled, showed only limited support for their government, and a slight majority placed the blame for instability on Taliban forces. There remains a heavy reliance on international forces to provide security, training and equipment. As of March 31st, there were approximately 133,500 foreign troops on the ground in Afghanistan - 87,000 U.S. forces and 46,500 international forces. This month also saw the departure of a U.S. military presence from Afghanistan's notorious Korengal Valley, a small, isolated, patch of difficult terrain where 42 soldiers lost their lives over the past five years. NATO is calling the move a "realignment", focusing efforts on more-populated areas. Collected here are images of the country and conflict over the past month, part of an ongoing monthly series on Afghanistan. (43 photos total)

An Afghan detainee sits in the entrance to a bunker while under guard by US Marines from India Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, inside their base in Marjah, Helmand province, on April 7, 2010. A single Afghan man was arrested by US Marines near the site where a roadside bomb blew up early in the morning, with a false Pakistan passport, two different Afghan identification cards, some wires wrapped on a few batteries, an old rifle and pamphlets of Taliban activities in Marjah. (MAURICIO LIMA/AFP/Getty Images)

A US Marines V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft kicks up dust as it takes off inside a US Marines base of 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines in Marjah. A similar US aircraft crashed in Afghanistan, killing three American troops and a civilian, the military said April 9, 2010. The cause of the incident that downed the US Air Force CV-22 Osprey was under investigation. Photo taken on taken on March 22, 2010. (MAURICIO LIMA/AFP/Getty Images) #

A CAT Scan shows the placement of a 14.5 millimeter high explosive incendiary round which was removed from the scalp of an Afghan National Army solder at the Craig Joint Theater Hospital, Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, March 18, 2010. The injury was sustained during an improvised ordinance device attack. (AP Photo/Staff Sgt. Richard Williams, US Air Force) #

The crew of a U.S. Army helicopter checks an area near Combat Outpost Bari Alai, after firing air-to-ground missiles into a cave, during an extended attack by anti-Afghan forces, at Kunar province, in eastern Afghanistan, April 10, 2010. The event started when an estimated 30 anti-Afghan personnel fired on a dismounted patrol, near Nishigam village, wounding three, and attacked the outpost. (U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Gary A. Witte) #

A mortar team from the U.S. Army's Centurion Company, 2-1 Infantry Battalion, 5/2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team fire a 60mm round from a hand-held tube outside Combat Outpost Terminator in Maiwand District, Kandahar Province April 21, 2010. (REUTERS/Tim Wimborne) #

A US Marine from India Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, performs exercises at an outdoor improvised gym, at a base recently set up in Marjah, Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, on April 6, 2010. (MAURICIO LIMA/AFP/Getty Images) #

Charlotte Fox, center, widow of Sergeant Paul Fox from 28 Engineer Regiment, views the flag draped coffin of her husband during the funeral service at St Ia's Church, in St Ives, England, Wednesday March 31, 2010, with Paul's father, Maurice Fox, second left. Sgt Paul Fox died on February 26 after being caught in an explosion near a checkpoint in Nad-e-Ali, Helmand province, Afghanistan. (AP Photo / Ben Birchall, PA) #

Trucks carrying supplies to coalition forces burn after hundreds of people blocked a main road and set them on fire to protest what they said were civilian deaths in NATO operations in Logar province, west of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, April 25, 2010. They gathered hours after NATO said coalition troops killed several insurgents and captured a Taliban sub-commander. (AP Photo/Mohammed Obaid Ormur) #

A U.S. Marine from Lima company 3rd Battalion 6th Marines patrols the area of Karez-e-Sayyidi in Helmand province April 4, 2010. (REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih) #

Stitch-on patches with blood group types, are seen for sale at the Afghanistan market inside the German army Bundeswehr field camp Marmal in Mazar-i-Sharif April 18, 2010. (REUTERS/Maurizio Gambarini) #

A female Afghan police officer gets paramilitary training April 21, 2010 in the east of Afghanistan. Afghan police are receiving paramilitary training, aimed at cutting the force's rising death rate and strengthening security forces so NATO can eventually withdraw its troops from the country. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images) #

3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, Sergeant Paul Williams, 20, of Fostoria, Ohio, poses to show his tattoos, including two bull dogs (or "Devil Dogs"), and lyrics from the Dire Straits song "Brothers in Arms", at the entrance to a bunker at a base in Marjah, Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, on March 20, 2010 (photo released April 8th, 2010). (MAURICIO LIMA/AFP/Getty Images) #

Soldiers of the German armed forces Bundeswehr stand guard next to wreaths laid down for fallen comrades killed in Afghanistan, on April 21, 2010 at the Bundeswehr memorial in Berlin. (BARBARA SAX/AFP/Getty Images) #

A ground crew member removes a fuel hose from a U.S. Marine Harrier jet from Marine Attack Squadron 231 during operations in Kandahar April 4, 2010. (REUTERS/Tim Wimborne) #

An Afghan National Army soldier prays during a foot patrol with unseen US Marines from India Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines near a poppy field in a stronghold Taliban area of Marjah, Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, on April 5, 2010. (MAURICIO LIMA/AFP/Getty Images) #

Vasiyeh, age 16, shows the scars from burns she inflicted on herself two years ago, April 6, 2010 in Herat, Afghanistan. The issue of female self immolation - attributed to living in poverty, isolation, abusive households, and/or forced marriages - is increasing in prevalence in the region close to the border with Iran, as tensions rise between the traditional subordinate role of women and the increased awareness of women's rights in the wider world. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images) #

A cow pauses in the path of a US Marine from India Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, while patrolling with Afghan National Army soldier after a rocket fired by Taliban insurgents fell just outside their base in Marjah, on April 14, 2010. No one was wounded in the rocket attack. (MAURICIO LIMA/AFP/Getty Images) #

Frances Cottle, widow of Sgt. Maj. Robert Cottle, holds the flag that escorted his remains, during burial services at Arlington National Cemetery April 16, 2010 in Arlington, Virginia. Cottle, a member of the LAPD SWAT team, was killed by a roadside bomb in the Marja region of Afghanistan. (Win McNamee/Getty Images) #

An Afghan de-miner from ECC/G4S-ordnance management hands an artifact to a supervisor as he searches for unexploded ordnance on an old battleground near Kandahar Air Field April 10, 2010. (REUTERS/Tim Wimborne) #

Afghan women work on doll clothing at a workshop sponsored by a Malaysian NGO called Mercy that seeks to help local females to empower themselves. 80 women participate in every workshop despite rising tensions between an increasing Taliban presence in the city and the extensive NATO presence. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images) #

An Afghan man enjoys a sunny day, diving into a swimming pool in Kabul on April 28, 2010. (MAURICIO LIMA/AFP/Getty Images) #

Afghan National Army soldiers march near piles of derelict tanks and armored personnel carriers which were destroyed during the Soviet occupation and civil war, during training exercise in Kabul, Afghanistan on April 24, 2010. NATO hopes to grow the Afghan National Army from about 97,000 troops to 171,600 by the end of next year, and the Afghan National Police from about 94,000 officers to 134,000 during the same period. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin) #

An M-4 rifle and a crucifix hang on the wall above the cot of a United States Army soldier with 2nd Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division, Monday, April 5, 2010, at a combat outpost in the Arghandab Valley of Kandahar province in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson) #

A soldier from the U.S. Army's 20th Battalion, 584 Mobile Augmentation Company (MAC), Route Clearance Patrol, has an early morning cigarette before a patrol in Kandahar April 2, 2010. (REUTERS/Tim Wimborne) #

Security personnel keep watch from the rooftop of Kabul's sport stadium during an official ceremony marking the 18th anniversary of the defeat of the communist regime in Afghanistan, April 28, 2010. (REUTERS/Ahmad Masood) #

Members of the Afghan National Army stand at attention during a ceremony to commemorate the anniversary of the fall of a Soviet-installed regime on April 28, 2010 in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images) #

Veteran U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Dan Nevins, who lost his legs due to an injury in Afghanistan, stands on the runway during the "Dressed To Kilt" charity fashion show in New York April 5, 2010. Proceeds from the show will benefit the Paralyzed Veterans of America, the Erskine Hospital of Scotland and the Wounded Warrior Project. (REUTERS/Lucas Jackson) #

An afghan woman arranges cow dung cakes as she works in a field in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, April 4, 2010. The dried dung is used for fuel. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin) #

A US Marine from India Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines uses a red-colored headlight to read a book at a joint combat outpost with Afghan National Army soldiers, in a stronghold Taliban area in Marjah, Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, on April 6, 2010. (MAURICIO LIMA/AFP/Getty Images) #

Afghan bodybuilders compete in a regional bodybuilding competition on April 19, 21010 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Bodybuilding is a very popular sport in Afghanistan. An affordable activity for most Afghans, its popularity is now growing in many provinces. (Majid Saeedi/Getty Images) #

An elderly Afghan farmer signs a paper at a meeting with US Marines of India Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, before receiving a sum of money for damages to his residence caused during the ongoing US military offensive against Taliban insurgency, in Marjah, Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, on April 12, 2010. (MAURICIO LIMA/AFP/Getty Images) #

A soldier from the U.S. Army's 2nd Platoon, Alpha Troop, 2-1 Infantry Battalion, 5/2 Striker Brigade Combat Team questions an Afghan man about a SIM card he found hidden during an operation in the Arghandab River Valley in Kandahar Province April 16, 2010. (REUTERS/Tim Wimborne) #

An Afghan photographer develops portraits on a street on April 15, 2010 in Kandahar, Afghanistan. (Photo Majid Saeedi/Getty Images) #

Taliban insurgents and civilians stand in front of a destroyed German military vehicle in Isaa Khail village of Char Dara district of the northern Kunduz Province April 3, 2010. Three German soldiers were killed and five others seriously injured in fighting in Kunduz, the German Army Command in Potsdam said on Friday. (REUTERS/Wahdat) #

U.S. Army Sgt. Tiffany Dalagelis, Farah Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) civil affairs member, smells some mint leaves given to her by locals after a meeting with the Kineske Council about the completion of a canal project in Kineske, Afghanistan on April 8, 2010. Members from the PRT met with leadership from Kineske to visit the canal where local Afghans completed a self-sustained cleaning project aimed at improving the agricultural development of the area. (ISAF Photo by U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Rylan K. Albright) #

Senior Airman Carlos Cortez stands near a transfer case containing the remains of Army Pfc. Jonathon D. Hall Thursday, April 15, 2010 at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware. According to the Department of Defense, Hall, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, died while supporting Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark) #

An Afghan boy approaches a car as the rain starts in central Kabul, on April 26, 2010. (MAURICIO LIMA/AFP/Getty Images) #

US Marines anti-explosives squad team of 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, blow up a roadside bomb after being found by a sniffer dog, during a 48-hour operation in attempt to hold back insurgency activities in a stronghold Taliban area in Marjah, Helmand province, southern Afghanistan. A single Afghan man was detained with a scratch map and a mobile number written on his hand nearby the site where a roadside bomb was found. (MAURICIO LIMA/AFP/Getty Images) #

Nadiya, an internally displaced Afghan girl holds her sister outside a shanty dwelling, in a refugee camp in Kabul, Afghanistan on Tuesday, April 27, 2010. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin) #

U.S. Army Spc. Greg R. Kenshalo, of Fresno, California, a rifleman with 2nd Platoon, Troop C, 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, Task Force Destroyer, fires an automatic grenade launcher during a small arms attack on Combat Outpost Bar Alai on April 5th, 2010. Multiple insurgents with automatic machine guns opened fire about seven hours after a sniper also shot at the base. Neither Afghan National Army personnel nor International Security Assistance Forces were injured during the attacks. (U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Gary A. Witte, 300th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment) #

In this photo taken on Sunday, April 25, 2010, an Afghan National Army soldier poses for a photograph during training session in Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin) #

U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Chris Spadaccini, a squad automatic weapon gunner with 3rd Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, holds up the bullet that was removed from his shoulder at the 451st Expeditionary Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron's contingency aeromedical staging facility at Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, April 13, 2010. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Manuel J. Martinez) #

Illuminated by the flashlight of an M4 rifle, a blindfolded and handcuffed Afghan detainee crouches in a corner after having a meal given to him by US Marines of 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines at their combat outpost, formerly a Taliban headquarters in Marjah, southern Afghanistan, on April 1, 2010. (MAURICIO LIMA/AFP/Getty Images) #

Oil spill approaches Louisiana coast

2010-08-09T16:24:00.000+08:00

Late on the night of April 20th, 50 miles from the shore of Louisiana, a fire broke out aboard the Transocean Deepwater Horizon oil rig under lease by BP, with 126 individuals on board. After a massive explosion, all but 11 of the crew managed to escape as the rig was consumed by fire, later collapsing and sinking into the Gulf. Safeguards set in place to automatically cap the oil well in case of catastrophe did not work as expected, and now an estimated 5,000 barrels (over 200,000 gallons) of crude oil is pouring into the Gulf of Mexico every day - and could possibly continue to do so for months as complicated efforts are made to stop the leak. Collected here are several recent photos of the developing situation along Louisiana's Gulf Shore - one with the potential to eclipse the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in scope and damage. (32 photos total)

Two brown pelicans and a flock of seagulls rest on the shore of Ship Island as a boom line floats just offshore Thursday, April 29, 2010 in Gulfport, Miss. Several hundred yards of boom line has been set up on the north side of the island to try and contain the oncoming oil spill. Crews are placing the boom in different areas on Coast waterways to help protect against an approaching oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico. (AP Photo/The Sun Herald, William Colgin)

U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies respond to the Deepwater Horizon oil rig fire in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20th, 2010. Original here. (Otto Candies/US Coast Guard Press / CC BY) #

In this aerial photo taken in the Gulf of Mexico more than 50 miles southeast of Venice on Louisiana's tip, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig is seen burning Wednesday, April 21, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) #

Firefighting boats spray seawater onto the burning Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 21, 2010. The oil platform burned for 36 hours after a massive explosion, then later sank into the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, April 22, 2010, the U.S. Coast Guard said. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) #

Thick smoke rises above the burning Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico on April 21, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) #

A spreading plume of smoke (lower right) from the burning Deepwater Horizon oil rig is visible in this image of Louisiana's Gulf Coast, captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite on April 21. The distance from the rig to the shore is approximately 80 km (50 mi). (NASA Earth Observatory/Jesse Allen/University of Wisconsin SSEC)#

A candlelight vigil for missing oil platform worker Adam Weise was held at the Yorktown Presbyterian Church, Friday evening April 23, 2010 in Yorktown, Texas. A family friend comforts Arlene Weise, Adam's mother. (AP Photo/The Victoria Advocate, Frank Tilley) #

A boat makes its way through crude oil that has leaked from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico on April 28, 2010 near New Orleans, Louisiana. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images) #

This image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard Saturday April 24, 2010 shows oil leaking from the drill pipe of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig after it sank Thursday. (AP photo/US Coast Guard) #

This April 22, 2010 photo provided Sunday, April 25 by the US Coast Guard shows the arm of a robot submarine in an unsuccessful attempt to activate a shutoff device known as a blowout preventer (BOP) to close off the flow of oil at the Deepwater Horizon well head. (AP Photo/US Coast Guard) #

Weathered oil from a leaking pipeline that resulted from last week's explosion and collapse of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig is seen on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico near the coast of Louisiana Tuesday, April 27, 2010. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) #

A crew boat is seen past workers on an oil skimmer assisting in the cleanup of a leaking pipeline that resulted from last week's explosion and collapse of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico near the coast of Louisiana Tuesday, April 27, 2010. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) #

Birds fly over a band of oil in this view of the Gulf of Mexico, south of Louisiana, where oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead continues to spread in this photograph taken and released to Reuters on April 28, 2010. (REUTERS/Sean Gardner/Greenpeace) #

The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Mississippi Responder is pictured during cleanup activity in the Gulf of Mexico south of Louisiana where oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead continues to spread April 28, 2010. (REUTERS/Sean Gardner/Greenpeace) #

A dispersant plane passes over an oil skimmer as it cleans oil from a leaking pipeline that resulted from last week's explosion and collapse of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico near the coast of Louisiana Tuesday, April 27, 2010. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) #

Oil, bottom right, is seen approaching the Louisiana Coast, top left, in this aerial photo taken 8 miles from shore, Wednesday, April 28, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) #

A Louisiana National Guard helicopter flies over Breton Sound off the coast of Plaquemines Parish in Louisiana Thursday, April 29, 2010. Containment booms have been deployed along the Louisiana coastline as oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion approaches land. (AP Photo/Liz Condo) #

A workboat with oil booms is seen next to a lighthouse at the mouth of the Mississippi River in advance of the looming oil spill from last week's collapse and spill of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in Port Eads, Louisiana, Thursday, April 29, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) #

An April 25, 2010 satellite photo provided by NASA shows a portion of an oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico, with ships visible at bottom left. (AP Photo/via NASA) #

A Louisiana Heron rests in the fragile wetlands near the town of Venice, in the path of the oil spill that is creeping towards the coast of Louisiana on April 29, 2010. (MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images) #

A Hurricane Katrina-damaged car still sits half-submerged near cypress trees in Venice, Louisiana on Thursday, April 29, 2010. A region still recovering from the 2005 hurricane season is bracing for a growing oil spill that resulted from last week's explosion and collapse of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico near the coast of Louisiana. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) #

Workers move containment booms to a smaller vessel on the Mississippi River at Port Eads, Louisiana on Thursday, April 29, 2010. A huge effort is underway to help mitigate the effects of an oil spill caused by the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig. (AP Photo/Bill Haber) #

In this Wednesday, April 28, 2010 photo provided Thursday, April 29 by the Coast Guard, a high volume skimming system skims oil from the Gulf of Mexico near Venice, Louisiana. (AP Photo/US Coast Guard, Petty Officer 2nd Class Prentice Danner) #

Louisiana fishers sign forms offering their fishing boats and equipment to aid in protecting the coastal wetlands as they gather at the St. Bernard Parish Council Chambers in Chalmette, Louisiana Thursday, April 29, 2010. They met in an emergency meeting Thursday to see how they can use their resources to help fight the oil spill spewing from from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster that is threatening the Louisiana and Gulf Coast coastlines and the estuaries. (AP Photo/The Times Picayune, Ted Jackson) #

Birds fly over oil on the water near Breton Sound Island, on the southern most tip of the Chandeleur Islands in the Gulf of Mexico, south of Louisiana April 29, 2010. (REUTERS/Sean Gardner/Greenpeace) #

A boat makes its way through crude oil that has leaked from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico on April 28, 2010 near New Orleans, Louisiana. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images) #

An oil rig near the Deepwater Horizon wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico on April 28, 2010 near New Orleans, Louisiana. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images) #

Captain Michael Nguyen stands near his fishing boat in Venice, Louisiana, Thursday, April 29, 2010. Local fishermen are worried about how their industry will withstand a growing oil spill that resulted from last week's explosion and collapse of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico near the coast of Louisiana. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) #

Birds fly above and sit on a shoal surrounded by oil booms on Breton Sound Island on the southern most tip of the Chandeleur Islands in the Gulf of Mexico south of Louisiana where oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead continues to spread on April 29, 2010. (AP Photo/Greenpeace, Sean Gardner) #

An oil containment boom is swamped by waves along the Louisiana coast at South Pass of the Mississippi River Thursday, April 29, 2010. (AP Photo/Bill Haber) #

A satellite image taken on April 26, 2010, shows an airplane (upper left) flying over part of the oil slick resulting from the explosion of the Transocean Deepwater Horizon oil rig, in the Gulf of Mexico. (REUTERS/DigitalGlobe) #

The growing oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico is captured in this image from NASA's (MODIS) instrument aboard the Terra satellite. This natural-color image acquired April 29, 2010 shows a twisting patch of oil nearly 125 km (78 mi) wide. (NASA Earth Observatory/Jesse Allen/University of Wisconsin SSEC) #

Yushu Earthquake, 12 days later

2010-07-29T16:21:00.000+08:00

Wednesday, April 21st was a national day of mourning in China, for victims of the magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck remote Yushu County on April 14th, 2010 with over 2,200 confirmed dead and many thousands injured or homeless. The response on the ground has moved from search and rescue to recovery and care, hampered by geography and weather. The political response is also complex, as official Chinese coverage has emphasized solidarity in crisis despite a long-troubled relationship with the ethnic Tibetan residents. Buddhist monks who had been assisting with relief efforts were asked by Chinese authorities to halt their work last week, some monks complaining it was for political motives, officials claiming it was for safety reasons. The bodies of hundreds of victims were cremated on April 17th, necessity forcing local Tibetans to break with a tradition of leaving their dead out for vultures. (33 photos total)

A Tibetan monk gestures as other monks lay corpses for a mass cremation of earthquake victims in the town of Gyegu in Yushu County, Qinghai province, China on April 17, 2010. (REUTERS/Alfred Jin)

Ethnic Tibetans search for belongings amid the debris of collapsed houses in the earthquake-hit town of Gyegu, China on April 16, 2010. (REUTERS/Carlf Zhang) #

An overview of the earthquake-hit township of Gyegu in China's northwestern province of Qinghai on April 19, 2010. (LIU JIN/AFP/Getty Images) #

Tibetan monks attend a mass prayer for earthquake victims in the quake-hit Gyegu town on April 22, 2010. (REUTERS/Kevin Zhao) #

A man carries his son as they make their way back to their tent at a makeshift camp during a snowfall in Gyegu, Yushu county, China on April 22, 2010. Fierce winds and heavy snow hit China's quake zone, state media said, complicating relief work and bringing more misery to survivors camped outside after their homes collapsed. (AFP/AFP/Getty Images) #

Buddha statues are wrapped up after they were salvaged from a destroyed Tibetan monastery in Gyegu, China on April 20, 2010. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) #

Ethnic Tibetans injured in Wednesday's earthquake rest on a plane bound for medical facilities in Xining, at the airport in Gyegu town, China, Saturday, April 17, 2010. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan) #

Ethnic Tibetans queue to receive supplementary materials at the earthquake-hit Gyegu town of Yushu County, Qinghai province on April 22, 2010. (REUTERS/Kevin Zhao) #

Four-year-old girl Cairen Baji is carried by a rescue worker after she and an elderly woman were dug out from a collapsed mud house near Gyegu town on Monday, April 19, 2010. Relatives had kept Wujian Cuomao, 68, and Cairen Baji alive for five days by sending them food and water through gaps in the rubble with the help of bamboo poles, state broadcaster CCTV said. (AP Photo) #

Children mourn for victims of the April 14 Yushu County, Qinghai province earthquake, during a photo opportunity at a kindergarten in Jinan, Shandong province, April 20, 2010. (REUTERS/Stringer) #

People use a generator to charge their mobile phones after a blackout in Yushu County, China on Saturday, April 17, 2010. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) #

Rescuers work to remove dead horses buried under a collapsed stable in Yushu County, China on April 17, 2010. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) #

A young quake survivor uses a mobile phone in an attempt to reach relatives in Gyegu, Yushu County, on April 18, 2010. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images) #

A medical staff member disinfects religious figurines at a destroyed monastery in earthquake-hit Yushu County April 19, 2010. (REUTERS/Stringer) #

The Dalai Lama, Tibetan spiritual leader, speaks during a press conference in Dharmsala, India, Saturday, April 17, 2010. The Dalai Lama said Saturday that he would like to visit western China's quake-hit Yushu county, which is overwhelmingly Tibetan. He also said that he was born in Qinghai province where the earthquake was centered. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia) #

A sick woman is helped by her relatives as the walk towards a temporary clinic set up to up quake victims in Gyegu on April 17, 2010. (LIU JIN/AFP/Getty Images) #

Tibetan monks walk past destroyed houses in Gyegu town on April 19, 2010. (REUTERS/Stringer) #

Chinese President Hu Jintao, (center right, facing left), is greeted upon his arrival in a temporary hospital at Gyegu town on Sunday, April 18, 2010. Hu flew to the remote, mountainous Tibetan region devastated by an earthquake as the flow of rescue supplies picked up pace. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) #

Rescuers stop work and observe three minutes of silence at 10:00 am (0200 GMT), in silent tribute to the quake victims, in Gyegu, China on April 21, 2010. China observed a day of national mourning for victims of its killer quake, with newspaper front pages bathed in black and flags lowered to half-mast around the country. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) #

People sift through earthquake devastation in Gyegu, China on April 17, 2010. (LIU JIN/AFP/Getty Images) #

Children huddle together as they take shelter from strong winds in the quake-hit Gyegu town on Monday April 19, 2010. (AP Photo) #

Locals take bottled water provided by a monastery in quake-hit Gyegu town on April 18, 2010. (REUTERS/Stringer) #

Tibetans attend a mass prayer for the earthquake victims in the quake-hit Gyegu town on April 19, 2010. (REUTERS/Kevin Zhao) #

Tibetan monks throw a body onto a large pile of bodies of earthquake victims, in preparation for a mass cremation in Yushu County, on Saturday, April 17, 2010. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) #

Tibetan residents sit on a hillside to observe a mass cremation of victims of the massive earthquake in Yushu County on April 17, 2010. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) #

A Tibetan cries during a mass cremation of victims of the recent earthquake in Yushu County, China on April 17, 2010. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) #

Praying Tibetan monks seen through flames, distorted by the heat shimmer above the mass cremation of victims of the earthquake in Yushu County on April 17, 2010. (AP Photo) #

A Tibetan monk conducts a ceremony at the site of a mass cremation in the town of Gyegu on April 18, 2010. (REUTERS/Alfred Jin) #

People inspect earthquake damaged buildings in Gyegu, on April 17, 2010. (LIU JIN/AFP/Getty Images) #

A young Buddhist monk makes a face while he cooks food for quake survivors at Gyegu town in west China's Qinghai province on April 17, 2010. (AP Photo) #

Tibetan children sit inside their temporary makeshift school as they wait for their class to start in Yushu county, China on Monday, April 19, 2010. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) #

Asian artists including Hong Kong movie star Sammo Hung, Andy Lau and Jackie Chan perform during a charity show "Artistes 414 Fundraising Campaign" for the victims of the earthquake in Yushu county in northwest China's Qinghai province, in Hong Kong Monday, April 26, 2010. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) #

A girl rests on a couch amid ruins in Gyegu town, China on April 18, 2010. (REUTERS/Stringer) #

Shanghai's Expo nearly ready

2010-07-19T16:19:00.000+08:00

Organizers of Shanghai's World Expo have been holding trial runs this week, before the official opening this Saturday, May 1st. About 70 percent of the nearly 200 participants participated in the trials, and visitors were already encountering long lines. Officials now estimate the 6-month event, themed "Better City, Better Life", will attract up to 100 million visitors, 95 percent of them Chinese. Shanghai has spent 400 billion yuan (58.6 billion US dollars) preparing for the Expo, according to state media - more than was spent on the Beijing Olympics. Collected here are photographs of last-minute preparations in Shanghai as they prepare to welcome the world this weekend. (37 photos total)

Visitors gather in front of a huge animated baby mannequin displayed in the Spanish pavilion at the site of the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai on April 25, 2010. Expo organizers gave members of the public a preview of the largest-ever World's Fair as they tested facilities and public transportation before the official start on May 1. (PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

A visitor stands at the South Korea Pavilion at the World Expo site on the trial day Friday, April 23, 2010 in Shanghai, China. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) #

Visitors walk past the illuminated Expo Axis of Sunshine Valley on the first day of the trial run of the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, China, on Tuesday, April 20, 2010. (Qilai Shen/Bloomberg) #

Visitors stand outside the U.K. Pavilion, known as the "Seed Cathedral," at the site of the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, China, on Wednesday, April 14, 2010. (Kevin Lee/Bloomberg) #

A man takes a picture inside the British pavilion at the World Expo 2010 site in Shanghai on April 14, 2010. (PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP/Getty Images) #

A visitor examines a seed encased in acrylic inside the U.K. Pavilion, known as the "Seed Cathedral," at the site of the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, China, on Wednesday, April 14, 2010. (Kevin Lee/Bloomberg) #

A night view shows the Serbia pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo site April 23, 2010. (REUTERS/Stringer) #

A general view of the panorama of Shanghai and the Huangpu River from the top floor of Shanghai World Financial Center (492 meters high) in the Pudong Lujiazui Financial District on April 17, 2010 in Shanghai, China. (Feng Li/Getty Images) #

Workers attach a logo in Chinese characters meaning the United States at the USA Pavilion at the World Expo site on the trial day Sunday, April 25, 2010 in Shanghai, China. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) #

Journalists gather at the US pavilion for a press preview at the site of the World expo 2010 in Shanghai on April 7, 2010. (PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP/Getty Images) #

A worker stands at the wall of the South Korea pavilion at the World Expo site in Shanghai, China, Wednesday, April 28, 2010. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) #

In this April 11, 2010 photo, Shanghai Automotive Group Co., Ltd. (SAIC) debuts the Ye Zi or Leaf concept car at the World Expo in Shanghai. (AP Photo) #

Fireworks explode over the site of World Expo during a rehearsal for the opening ceremony in Shanghai, China on April 27, 2010. (AP Photo) #

Visitors outside the Danish pavilion take photos of Denmark's iconic Little Mermaid statue after it was unveiled at Shanghai World Expo site April 25, 2010. (REUTERS/Aly Song) #

Denmark's famed Little Mermaid statue is displayed after it was unveiled in Denmark Pavilion at the World Expo site on the trial day Sunday, April 25, 2010 in Shanghai, China. The 5-foot (1.5-meter) statue honoring Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen left Copenhagen Harbor for first time in 97 years for Shanghai's Expo which opens May 1. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) #

Lead architect of the Danish pavilion, Bjarke Ingels rides a bicycle on its roof at the site of the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai on April 25, 2010. (PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP/Getty Images) #

Workers assemble a wall part of the Latvia Pavilion at the World Expo site on the trial day Sunday, April 25, 2010 in Shanghai, China. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) #

A night view shows the Russia pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo site April 23, 2010. (REUTERS/Stringer) #

An aerial view shows vehicles traveling on newly-lit intersections at night in Shanghai in this March 28, 2010 photo. (REUTERS/Shanghai Pacific Institute for International Strategy) #

Riot policemen take part in a swearing-in ceremony at a security meeting for the upcoming Shanghai World Expo 2010 in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province April 10, 2010. (REUTERS/Stringer) #

Paramilitary policemen take part in a drill in preparation for the security of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, in Nanjing, Jiangsu province April 26, 2010. (REUTERS/Stringer) #

Two performers practice at the World Expo site in Shanghai, China, Wednesday, April 28, 2010. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan) #

Performers dressed as traditional Chinese Terra Cotta Warriors march during an event as part of the Shanghai Expo to promote tourism to Xi'an, Shaanxi province, in Shanghai, China, Saturday, April 10, 2010. (AP Photo) #

A man walks past the Polish pavilion at the site of the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai on April 27, 2010. (PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP/Getty Images) #

An aerial view shows the French Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo site in Shanghai March 28, 2010. (REUTERS/Shanghai Pacific Institute for International Strategy) #

A performer prepares for a rehearsal in Beijing on April 26, 2010 for their performance in the first week of the upcoming Shanghai 2010 World Expo. Along with daily parades, fireworks and other festivities, the Shanghai World Expo's 192 participating countries are contributing to a six-month calendar of music, dance and stage shows. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) #

A Chinese worker stands on the top of the pavilion of Iceland at the site of the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai on April 7, 2010. (PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP/Getty Images) #

Farmer Wu Yulu, 48, operates his walking robot near his home in a village at the outskirts of Beijing April 14, 2010. Hobby inventor Wu, who started to build robots in 1986, has invented 47 robots that can perform different functions like jumping, painting, drinking, pulling carts, massaging and helping with cooking. He will display more than 30 of his robots during the Shanghai World Expo 2010, where he hopes to promote the practical uses of his robots. (REUTERS/Petar Kujundzic) #

A child poses for her mother in front of the China Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo site April 25, 2010. (REUTERS/Aly Song) #

An aerial view shows Shanghai's new financial district skyline along the Huang Pu river at night in Shanghai in this March 28, 2010 photo. (REUTERS/Shanghai Pacific Institute for International Strategy) #

Visitors walk past the Shanghai Corporate Pavilion, known as the Dream Cube, in Shanghai on April 26, 2010. Multi-nationals are seizing on the six-month event beginning May 1 to build their brand presence in the market of 1.3 billion people, but also the business and government connections - or "guanxi" - crucial to making money in China. (AFP/AFP/Getty Images) #

A visitor takes photos of a 3D-projected image of a ~~Terracotta Warrior~~ jade burial suit in the Aurora Pavilion as organizers of Shanghai's World Expo gave members of the public a preview of the massive event in Shanghai on April 26, 2010. (AFP/AFP/Getty Images) #

A project model shows a possible future transport system in the Pavilion of Future as organizers of Shanghai's World Expo gave members of the public a preview of the massive event in Shanghai on April 26, 2010. (AFP/AFP/Getty Images) #

Visitors walk past the "Information and Communications Pavilion," built by China Mobile Ltd. and China Telecom Corp., in Shanghai, China, on Monday, April 19, 2010. (Qilai Shen/Bloomberg) #

The North Korean pavilion is seen, next to the Iranian pavilion (right) at the site of the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai on April 27, 2010. (PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP/Getty Images) #

Elevated highways are illuminated by LED lights on April 18, 2010 in Shanghai, China. (Feng Li/Getty Images) #

A Chinese worker peers from behind a wall surrounding the UK pavilion at the site of the World expo 2010 in Shanghai on April 7, 2010. (PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP/Getty Images) #

Vietnam, 35 years later

2010-07-09T16:15:00.000+08:00

Last Friday, April 30th, was the 35th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War, and last Tuesday, May 4th, was the 40th anniversary of the shooting of protesting students at Kent State University. The Vietnam War and America's involvement in it affected the lives of millions for well over a decade, exacting a massive human cost with millions of deaths and countless injuries - both physical and mental - that plague many of those involved to this day. United States military involvement and troop strength grew rapidly after 1964 - at its highest level in 1968, with over 500,000 troops on the ground. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. now bears the engraved names of 58,267 of those troops. It's nearly impossible to encapsulate an event of such scale in a handful of photographs, but here, 35 years after the end of the conflict, is my attempt. (47 photos total)

Hovering U.S. Army helicopters pour machine gun fire into a tree line to cover the advance of South Vietnamese ground troops in an attack on a Viet Cong camp 18 miles north of Tay Ninh, northwest of Saigon near the Cambodian border, in Vietnam on March 1965. (AP Photo/Horst Faas)

An M41 tank of the South Vietnamese Army advances on enemy positions in Saigon, Vietnam in May of 1960. (US Department of Defense) #

Injured Vietnamese receive aid as they lie on the street after a bomb explosion outside the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, Vietnam, March 30, 1965. Smoke rises from wreckage in background . At least two Americans and several Vietnamese were killed in the bombing. (AP Photo/Horst Faas) #

A U.S. Marine CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter comes down in flames after being hit by enemy ground fire during Operation Hastings, just south of the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Vietnam on July 15, 1966. The helicopter crashed and exploded on a hill, killing one crewman and 12 Marines. Three crewman escaped with serious burns. (AP Photo/Horst Faas) #

A young Marine private waits on the beach during the Marine landing, Da Nang, Vietnam, August 3, 1965. (U.S. Marine Corps.) #

A napalm strike erupts in a fireball near U.S. troops on patrol in South Vietnam in 1966 during the Vietnam War. (AP Photo) #

A Vietnamese litter bearer wears a face mask to keep out the smell as he passes the bodies of U.S. and Vietnamese soldiers killed in fighting against the Viet Cong at the Michelin rubber plantation, about 45 miles northeast of Saigon, Nov. 27, 1965. More than 100 bodies were recovered after a human wave assault by guerrillas. (AP Photo/Horst Faas) #

Sgt. Ronald A. Payne, from Atlanta, Georgia, Squad Leader of Company A, 1st Bn, 5th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division, checks a tunnel entrance carrying a flashlight and a sidearm, before entering it to search for Viet Cong and their equipment during Operation "Cedar Falls" in the Ho Bo Woods, 25 miles north of Saigon on January 24th, 1967. (US Department of Defense/SP5 Robert C. Lafoon, US Army Sp Photo Det Pac) #

An aerial port bow view of the Forrestal Class Aircraft Carrier, USS Forrestal, underway approximately one month after fires and explosions damaged the ship leaving 132 crewmen dead, 62 injured, and two missing and presumed dead while on duty in waters off Vietnam in July of 1967. (U.S. Navy/PHC H.L. WISE)#

A UH-1D helicopter from the 336th Aviation Company sprays a defoliation agent on a dense jungle area in the Mekong delta. (US Department of Defense/Brian K. Grigsby, SPC5) #

Buddhist nun Thich Nu Thanh Quang burns to death in an act of suicide protest against the government's Catholic regime at the Dieu de Pagoda in Hue, South Vietnam, May 29, 1966. (AP Photo) #

Paratroopers of the U.S. 2nd Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigade hold their automatic weapons above water as they cross a river in the rain during a search for Viet Cong positions in the jungle area of Ben Cat, South Vietnam on Sept. 25, 1965. (AP Photo/Henri Huet) #

(1 of 3) South Vietnamese forces escort suspected Viet Cong officer Nguyen Van Lem (also known as Bay Lop) on a Saigon street Feb. 1, 1968, early in the Tet Offensive. (AP Photo/Eddie Adams) #

(2 of 3) South Vietnamese General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, chief of the national police, fires his pistol into the head of suspected Viet Cong officer Nguyen Van Lem on a Saigon street, on Feb. 1, 1968. (AP Photo/Eddie Adams) #

(3 of 3) South Vietnamese General Nguyen Ngoc Loan holsters his gun after executing suspected Viet Cong officer Nguyen Van Lem whose body lies on a Saigon street Feb. 1, 1968, early in the Tet Offensive. (AP Photo/Eddie Adams) #

Demonstrators in Berkeley, California march against the war in Vietnam in December of 1965. (AP Photo) #

Anti-war protesters gather by the Reflecting Pool with the Washington Monument in the background, in Washington D.C. on Oct. 21, 1967. (AP Photo) #

A Viet Cong base camp is torched near My Tho, Vietnam on April 5th, 1968. In the foreground is Private First Class Raymond Rumpa, St Paul, Minnesota, C Company, 3rd Battalion, 47th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division, with 45 pound 90mm recoilless rifle. (US Department of Defense) #

An Air Force F-100D Super Sabre aircraft fires a salvo of 2.75-inch rockets against an enemy position in South Vietnam on January 1st, 1967. (US Department of Defense) #

During Operation "Bushmaster", a member of Company "L", (Ranger), 75th Infantry, wearing camouflage makeup sits alone with his thoughts while waiting to participate in an assault mission against North Vietnamese Army (NVA) forces in Vietnam in August of 1971. (US Department of Defense/SP4 John L. Hennesey, 221st Sig Co) #

Women and children crouch in a muddy canal as they take cover from intense Viet Cong fire at Bao Trai, about 20 miles west of Saigon, Vietnam on Jan. 1, 1966. (AP Photo/Horst Faas) #

The body of an American paratrooper killed in action in the jungle near the Cambodian border is raised up to an evacuation helicopter in War Zone C, Vietnam in 1966. (AP Photo/Henri Huet) #

U.S. Marines emerge from their muddy foxholes at sunrise after a third night of fighting against continued attacks of north Vietnamese 324 B division troops during the Vietnam War on Sept. 21, 1966. (AP Photo/Henri Huet) #

Members of the 101st Airborne Division take photographs during the Bob Hope Christmas Show at Camp Eagle in Vietnam on December 23rd, 1970. (US Department of Defense/SP5 Joel M. Shanus, USA Sp Photo Det, Pac) #

Entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. performs for members of the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) in an undisclosed location in Vietnam during February of 1972. (US Department of Defense/SP4 George Gibbons, USA Sp Photo Det, Pac) #

A supply helicopter comes in for a landing on a hilltop forming part of Fire Support Base 29, west of Dak To in South Vietnam's central highlands on June 3, 1968. Around the fire base are burnt out trees caused by heavy air strikes from fighting between North Vietnamese and American troops. (AP Photo) #

A marine helps his wounded comrade to cover despite North Vietnamese fire during battle on May 15, 1967 in the western sector of "Leatherneck Square" south of the demilitarized zone in South Vietnam. (AP Photo/John Schneider) #

Supporters of the Vietnam moratorium lie in the Sheep Meadow of New York's Central Park Nov. 14, 1969 as hundreds of black and white balloons float skyward. A spokesman for the moratorium committee said the black balloons represented Americans who died in Vietnam under the Nixon administration, and the white balloons symbolized the number of Americans who would die if the war continued. (AP Photo/J. Spencer Jones) #

Demonstrators tend to fallen student John Cleary after he was shot and wounded by the Ohio National Guard on the campus of Kent State University May 4 1970. He survived. Four students were killed and nine wounded during a demonstration against the expansion of the war in Vietnam into Cambodia. (KSU Photo by Doug Moore/REUTERS) #

(1 of 3) Bombs with a mixture of napalm and white phosphorus jelly dropped by Vietnamese AF Skyraider bombers explode amidst homes and in front of the Cao Dai temple in the outskirts of Trang Bang, June 8, 1972. In the foreground are Vietnamese soldiers and news and cameramen from various international news organizations who watch the scene. The towers of the Trang Bang Cao Dai temple are visible in the center of the explosions. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) #

(2 of 3) South Vietnamese forces follow after terrified children, including 9-year-old Kim Phuc (center left), as they run down Route 1 near Trang Bang after an aerial napalm attack on suspected Viet Cong hiding places, June 8, 1972. A South Vietnamese plane accidentally dropped its flaming napalm on South Vietnamese troops and civilians. The terrified girl had ripped off her burning clothes while fleeing. The children from left to right are: Phan Thanh Tam, younger brother of Kim Phuc, who lost an eye, Phan Thanh Phouc, youngest brother of Kim Phuc, Kim Phuc, and Kim's cousins Ho Van Bon, and Ho Thi Ting. Behind them are soldiers of the Vietnam Army 25th Division. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) #

(3 of 3) Television crews and South Vietnamese troops surround 9 year old Kim Phuc on Route 1 near Trang Bang after she was burned by a misdirected aerial napalm attack, June 8, 1972. A South Vietnamese plane targeting suspected Viet Cong positions dropped its flaming napalm on the civilian village. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) #

Side view of an HH-53 helicopter of the 40th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron as seen from the gunner's position on an A-1 of the 21st Specialist Operations Squadron. (USAF Photo by Ken Hackman) #

Dak To, Vietnam, First Sgt. Benjamin Reynolds and 1st Sgt. Robert M. Baker, both of Co. B, 3rd Bn., 12th Infantry, 4th Infantry Division, raise the American flag on Hill No. 927 on December 5th, 1967. (US Department of Defense/Spec. 4 R. Abeyta) #

D. R. Howe (Glencoe, MN) treats the wounds of Private First Class D. A. Crum (New Brighton, PA), "H" Company, 2nd Battalion, Fifth Marine Regiment, during Operation Hue City on February 6th, 1968. (US Department of Defense) #

Unaware of incoming enemy round, a South Vietnamese photographer made this picture of a South Vietnamese trooper dug in at Hai Van, South of Hue, Nov. 20, 1972. Camera caught the subsequent explosion before the soldier had time to react. (AP Photo) #

A Viet Cong prisoner awaits interrogation at the A-109 Special Forces Detachment in Thuong Duc, Vietnam, (25 km west of Da Nang), 23 January 1967. (AFP PHOTO/National Archives) #

On May 7th, 1968, near Tan Son Nhut Airbase outside Saigon, Vietnam, the bodies of three North Vietnamese Army (NVA) soldiers lie in the street just off Plantation Road in an area which was devastated by air strikes and fires during a battle in and around the Old French Cemetery. (US Department of Defense/SP5 J.F. Fitzpatrick, Jr., 69th Sig Bn (A)) #

A North Vietnam ese 122 mm shell explodes in a direct hit on a U.S. ammunition bunker of 175 mm cannon emplacements at Gio Linh, next to demilitarization zone between north and south Vietnam, Sept. 1967. (AP Photo) #

A wounded U.S. paratrooper grimaces in pain while waiting for medical evacuation at base camp in the A Shau Valley near the Laos border in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Photo taken by then AP photographer Hugh Van Es on May 19, 1969. (AP Photo/Hugh Van Es) #

Released prisoner of war Lt. Col. Robert L. Stirm is greeted by his family at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, California on March 17, 1973, as he returns home from the Vietnam War. (AP Photo/Sal Veder) #

South Vietnamese marines line beaches and swim out to ships, fleeing from the northern port city of Da Nang on March 29, 1975 before its fall to the Viet Cong and north Vietnamese. This picture was taken as some marines successfully fled, abandoning scores of weapons, vehicles and even a helicopter. In the foreground, men on LSTs (Landing Ship, Tank) prepare to throw rope to marines coming up on inner tubes. Only a fraction of the city's 100,000 defenders were evacuated before its fall. (AP Photo) #

A refugee clutches her baby as a government helicopter gunship carries them away near Tuy Hoa, 235 miles northeast of Saigon on March 22, 1975. They were among thousands fleeing from recent Communist advances. (AP Photo/ Nick Ut) #

North Vietnamese troops run across the tarmac of Tan Son Nhat air base in Saigon as smoke billows behind abandoned U.S. Air Force transport planes April 30, 1975. The taking of Saigon marked the fall of the U.S.-backed south and the end to a decade of fighting. (Vietnam News Agency/REUTERS) #

Mobs of Vietnamese people scale the wall of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, Vietnam, trying to get to the helicopter pickup zone, just before the end of the Vietnam War on April 29, 1975. (AP Photo/Neal Ulevich) #

A North Vietnamese tank rolls through the gate of the Presidential Palace in Saigon, signifying the fall of South Vietnam on April 30, 1975. (AP Photo) #

A young South Vietnamese woman covers her mouth as she stares into a mass grave where victims of a reported Viet Cong massacre were being exhumed near Dien Bai village, east of Hue, in April 1969. The woman's husband, father and brother had been missing since the Tet Offensive, and were feared to be among those killed by Communist forces. (AP Photo/Horst Faas) #

Animals in the news

2010-06-29T16:10:00.000+08:00

With the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico still unfolding, concerns over threats to wildlife have brought animals into the news quite a bit lately. From the oil spill, to preservation efforts, to zoo developments, pampered pets, harsh environments, invasive fish, a surfing alpaca and more, collected here are a handful of recent photographs of animals and our interactions with them, as companions, caretakers, observers, and stewards. (40 photos total)

A bear cools down in the water at the zoo in Gelsenkirchen, western Germany, Thursday, April 29, 2010 as Germany faced the hottest day this year so far, with temperatures up to 28 degrees Celsius (82 Fahrenheit). (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Molly the Flat coated Retriever undergoes an eye test at the on site vet during the fourth and final of the annual Crufts dog show at the National Exhibition Center on March 14, 2010 in Birmingham, England. During this year's four-day competition nearly 28,000 dogs and their owners will vie for a variety of accolades, ultimately seeking the coveted 'Best In Show'. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) #

Kenya Wildlife Ranger Mohamed Kamanya seen in front of a herd of elephants in the Tsavo East national park, Kenya on March 9, 2010. Beginning this weekend, the international community will debate proposals from Tanzania and Zambia to allow a one-time sale of ivory to clear out backlogs of stockpiles that often come from elephants who die naturally, or those that are killed. Kenya has seen elephant deaths from poachers shoot up seven-fold the last three years, after a similar sale was allowed in 2007. (AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo) #

A 3-year-old toy poodle Mizuho sits in "Dog Wash Machine," for shampooing at a pet shop named Pet World Joyful Honda in Tokyo, Japan, Tuesday, March 16, 2010. Inside the closed machine, a dog receives a service that includes tear-free shampoo, rinsing and blow dry in the 30-minute course. It costs 1,000 yen (about US$11). (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye) #

Bill Rothschild looks at his crayfish, Cray Aiken, on Tuesday, April 27, 2010, at his home in Granite Springs, New York. (AP Photo/Mike Rice) #

One of four neglected zoo tigers from Germany arrive at the Dutch shelter for predators in Nijeberkoop, on March 2010. The animals (two 15 year olds and two 6 year olds) come from Tierpark Kalletal zoo, which closed earlier this year. (Koen van Weel/AFP/Getty Images) #

The Scottish highland cow "Berenike" stands in a garden in Neunkirchen, western Germany on March 18, 2010, after escaping from a field of a hobby-farmer. The police chased the cow into a garden where it was anesthetized by a veterinary surgeon. (TORSTEN SILZ/AFP/Getty Images) #

A baby whitecoat harp seal is pictured after being washed up on the shore of Prince Edward Island in this handout photo from the International Fund for Animal Welfare, released March 25, 2010. The worst ice year on record in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada, means thousands of harp seals are expected to die this year. (REUTERS/Stewart Cook/IFAW) #

A zoo keeper holds the beak of a Caribbean flamingo at Chester Zoo in northern England March 29, 2010. The zoo's 87 flamingos are being measured, weighed and microchipped for the first time in a decade as part of a health check. (REUTERS/Phil Noble) #

Tom Richardson rescues his cat from his flooded home in Freetown, Massachusetts on Thursday, April 1, 2010, which has been severely flooded due to the rising waters of nearby Long Pond. (AP Photo/The Standard-Times, Peter Pereira) #

London Zookeeper Laura Childs poses for a picture with a spiny stick insect as she takes part in a photocall to promote London Zoo's annual stock take of animals on January 5, 2010. (CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images) #

An oil soaked bird struggles against the oil slicked side of the HOS Iron Horse supply vessel at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana Sunday, May 9, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) #

A nine-day-old gorilla lays in the hand of its mother Kijivu at the Prague Zoo on May 3, 2010. (MICHAL CIZEK/AFP/Getty Images) #

A policeman tries to divert a female moose into a net during an organized catch after she accidentally entered the suburbs of Lublin, Poland on May 4, 2010. The moose was later released back into the forest. (REUTERS/Rafal Michalkowski/Agencja Gazeta) #

Male crocodile "Rex", five meters in length and estimated to be 30-40 years old, thrashes the water while holding a chicken in his mouth during the first public feeding session in his new Kakadu Gorge enclosure at Sydney Wildlife World in Australia on March 29, 2010. Rex, a so-called 'rogue' crocodile, who was captured and placed into a crocodile farm near Darwin in the Northern Territory several years ago, was moved to Wildlife World in mid-December 2009 and will be the only croc housed in the enclosure. (GREG WOOD/AFP/Getty Images) #

Horses run wild near wind-damaged trees after after a tornado swept through the area on Saturday, April 24, 2010 in Holmes County, Mississippi. Gov. Haley Barbour told The Associated Press there was "utter obliteration" in parts of Yazoo County. About 15 other counties were also damaged, he said. (AP Photo/Clarion-Ledger, Chris Todd) #

A Don Sphynx cat sits during an international cat show in Bishkek March 20, 2010. (REUTERS/Vladimir Pirogov) #

Farmers use camels to transport their watermelons across the river Ganges at Neevna village on the outskirts of the northern Indian city of Allahabad May 6, 2010. (REUTERS/Jitendra Prakash) #

An Andalusian horseman washes his Spanish thoroughbred horse before their performance during the Sacab Andalusian Horse Show in Coin, near the southern Spanish city of Malaga April 9, 2010. (REUTERS/Jon Nazca) #

A policeman looks at an elephant which was knocked down by a train at the Deepor Beel Wildlife Sanctuary, on the outskirts of Gauhati, India, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2010. The female elephant was killed and another pregnant elephant was seriously injured by a train when they searched for food at the sanctuary. The pregnant elephant later gave birth and fled the site, leaving the baby which was rescued by the forest guards and sent to Assam State zoo for treatment. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath) #

Sylar, an 8-week-old male red fox is seen among his toys at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, California on Wednesday, May 5, 2010. Federal wildlife officials discovered a litter of nine kits near Paso Robles, after a trapper had killed the mother. Because the red fox is not native to California, these offspring could never be returned to the wild. Six Flags Discovery Kingdom was one of several wildlife facilities adopting a kit to raise for educational purposes. (AP Photo/Nancy Chan, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom) #

Picture made available on April 29, 2010 shows Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (right) and scientists examining a polar bear on the island Alexandra Land, part of the Franz Josef Land archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. Putin expressed concern for the fate of Arctic polar bears threatened by climate change. "The polar bear is under threat. Their population is currently only 25,000 individuals," Putin was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying. (ALEXEY NIKOLSKY/AFP/Getty Images) #

Birds fly over the Gulf of Mexico where oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead continues to spread south of Venice, Louisiana April 30, 2010. (REUTERS/Carlos Barria) #

A dead shark is seen on a sandy shore of the Gulf of Mexico on May 4, 2010 on Ship Island, Mississippi. It is unknown if the shark died due to the oil spill. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) #

A Przewalski horse jumps next to a wisent (European bison) in their new wilderness region "Sielmann's natural landscape Doeberitzer Heide" on May 3, 2010 near Berlin, Germany. (MICHAEL URBAN/AFP/Getty Images) #

Volunteer Cara Bround holds a ten-day-old baby Sykes Monkey being taken care of at the Colobus Trust rescue center near Mombasa, Kenya after its' mother was electrocuted, March 23 2010. According to the Trust, the population of Sykes Monkeys have gone down from 800 three years ago to 600. (REUTERS/Joseph Okanga) #

An elephant sticks its trunk out of its container after arriving at the zoo in the southern German city of Neunkirchen on April 30, 2010. Two elephants arrived at the zoo after a 4-days trip from Benidorm in Spain. (TORSTEN SILZ/AFP/Getty Images) #

Calvin Borel rides Super Saver to victory during the 136th Kentucky Derby horse race at Churchill Downs Saturday, May 1, 2010, in Louisville, Kentucky. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) #

Illinois River silver carp jump out of the water after being disturbed by sounds of watercraft in early December of 2009. The Supreme Court decided on Monday April 26, 2010 not to get involved in a dispute over how to prevent Asian carp from making their way into the Great Lakes. The justices turned down a new request from Michigan to consider ordering permanent closure of Chicago-area shipping locks to prevent the invasive fish from threatening the Great Lakes. (AP Photo/Illinois River Biological Station via the Detroit free Press, Nerissa Michaels) #

Four-year-old Garrett Mullen watches three-day-old pinto stallion named Einstein in Barnstead, New Hampshire on Sunday, April 25, 2010. The diminutive horse born in New Hampshire could lay claim to the world record for lightweight foal. The pinto stallion named Einstein weighed just 6 pounds and measured 14 inches in height when he was born Friday in Barnstead. (AP Photo/Jim Cole) #

"Manhattan" (left) and "Altesse" fight during the final of the annual "Battle of the Queens" of the Herens breed cows fight on May 9, 2010 in Aproz, Switzerland in the Alpine Canton of Valais. During the combat the cows simply push, forehead against forehead using their horns. The competition continues until the new queen has forced all the other leaders to retreat. (FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images) #

Scuba diver Charles Ang from Singapore approaches a school of jack fish off the Malaysian island of Layang Layang in the South China Sea April 4, 2010. (REUTERS/David Loh) #

Battsetseg, 45, holds a one-month-old calf, one of several young animals that are living inside the small home for protection against the extreme cold weather on March 15, 2010 in Zuunmod in Tuv province, Mongolia. The family lost 50% of their herd and many are weak from lack of feed and the continued cold. Mongolia recently experienced one of the worst winters in 30 years, with 68% of provinces affected. The government declared an emergency requiring foreign aid to alleviate the impact of the "Zud" (a multiple natural disaster) caused by bitter cold and thick snow. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) #

An Emperor Tamarin monkey, native to the Amazon rainforest, experiences its new home in the living rainforest enclosure at ZSL London Zoo, in London, on March 25, 2010. 'Rainforest Life', built inside a bio-dome, is a breeding facility for free-roaming monkeys, sloths, tree anteaters and birds. It includes, real rain, living trees and tropical climates in what is hoped to be a love nest for a host of endangered animals. (BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images) #

A mounted Kyrgyz man falls from his horse as he took part in a traditional central Asian sport 'Kok-Boru (Ulak-Tartysh)' in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on March 21, 2010 during the annual Nowruz (New Year) celebrations. (VYACHESLAV OSELEDKO/AFP/Getty Images) #

Masai bachelor Giraffes Bo, 5, and Mac, 4, housed at the Racine, Wisconsin Zoo, engage in a necking duel on Friday, April 23, 2010. Giraffe necking is a type of sparring in which each giraffe swings its head or neck toward the other to demonstrate dominant behavior. (AP Photo/Journal Times, Scott Anderson) #

Peruvian surfer Domingo Pianezzi rides a wave with his alpaca Pisco at San Bartolo beach in Lima March 16, 2010. Pianezzi has spent a decade training dogs to ride the nose of his board when he catches waves, and now he is the first to do so with an alpaca. (REUTERS/Pilar Olivares) #

Officers from California Fish and Game secure a bear after it was hoisted from a tree by firefighters from the Oxnard Fire Department at Santa Clara Cemetery in Oxnard, California on Tuesday, May 4, 2010. Firefighters fitted the groggy 200-pound bear with a harness before using a ladder truck to lower it to a grassy cemetery grave site at 9:10 a.m. Tuesday. Fish and Game experts bundled the bear in a tarp, and police say it will be released in Los Padres National Forest. (AP Photo/Ventura County Star, Rob Verela) #

Black rhino, Baraka (Swahili for blessing), blinded by disease, feeds on a branch during a visit to Ol-Pejeta conservancy at Nanyuki, Kenya by Japan's Crown Prince, his Imperial Highness Naruhito on March 12, 2010. (MOHAMED DAHIR/AFP/Getty Images) #

A dog is seen through bars as it is herded to a metal container euphemistically called a "dream box," where stray dogs are asphyxiated with carbon dioxide gas, at an animal welfare center in Tokushima,Japan on March 11, 2010. In Japan a canine that ends up in the municipal pound is far more likely to be put down than to find a new home. While in some other industrialized countries the idea of "saving" a pet from a shelter is well-established, in Japan animal welfare activists say strays often fall foul of an attitude that prizes puppies and pedigrees as status symbols. (REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon) #

Your income tax 2009 - 2010!

2010-06-21T16:03:00.000+08:00

For your update, below please find Budget 2010 Income Tax Changes that is relevant to individuals :

1) Maximum Tax Rate for chargeable income exceeding RM100,000 be reduced from 27% to 26%

Effective Date : YA 2010

2) Personal Relief be increase from RM8,000 to RM9,000

Effective Date : YA 2010

3) Relief on Contribution to EPF & Life Insurance be increase from RM5,000 to RM6,000

The Additional RM1,000 relief is given soly in respect of annuity scheme premiums paid to insurance companies contracted with effect from 1 January 2010.

It is also applicable to additional premiums paid on existing annuity schemes where payment commenced from 1 January 2010.

Effective Date : On or After January 2010

4) Individual who pay for their own broadband subscription fees be given tax relief on broadband subscription fees up to RM500 per year.

For those who wish to claim the RM500 Broadband Relief, please make sure the Broadband's billing is under the Taxpayer's name and the payment made is either by Cash or If it is by using Credit Card,

it must be charged to the Taxpayer own credit card.. Otherwise it would not be allowed for deduction.

With the knowledge of above Income Tax Changes, you may start doing your Tax planning for Year 2010 in order you may fully utilize the Tax Relief given.

For those who are not really clear on Personal Relief entitlement for each individual, below please find the list of Personal Relief which is applicable for YA 2009 :

- RM8,000 Personal Relief

- RM5,000 Medical expenses for Parents

Parents medical bills or receipt to keep (even accepted Pharmacy Receipt)

- RM5,000 Medical expenses for taxpayer, spouse and children on serious diseases

* RM500 Complete Medical Examination Expenses (RM500 Limit sharing the RM5,000 Limit for serious diseases Medical Expenses)

- Disable Person (further deduction)

* Own RM5,000

* Spouse RM2,500

- RM5,000 Supporting equipment for Disable Person, spouse, children or parent

- RM3,000 Wife/Husband Relief if she has no source of income or elects for combined assessment

- Child Relief (claimed by either husband or wife)

* RM1,000 per child (below 18 years of age)

* RM5,000 per disable child (unmarried)

* RM4,000 per child (above 18 years of age who is studying full time)

@ Overseas University, colleges or similar establishments

@ Local University , colleges or similar establishments

- RM6,000 EPF & Life insurance premium

- RM3,000 Education or Medical premium

- RM1,000 Annuity premium on annuity purchased through EPF Annuity Scheme

- RM5,000 Fees for acquiring technical, vocational, industrial, scientific, technological, law, accounting, Islamic financing, skills or qualifications at tertiary level or any course of study at post graduate level

- RM1,000 Purchase of books, journal, magazines and other similar publications (excluding newspaper or banned publications) for the use of taxpayer, spouse or children

To keep receipt for the purchase of any book or magazines except newspapers

- RM3,000 Purchase of Computer (Given once in three years)

- RM3,000 Net amount deposited into Skim Simpanan Pendidikan Nasional for child

Instead of saving in normal Kids Saving A/C, you may save in SSPN A/C in order to utilise the RM3,000 Relief. You may start to save now but before 31 Dec 2009 in order to qualify for the Relief.

- RM300 Purchase of sports equipment (Not include attire and shoes)

To keep receipt for the purchase of sport equipment

- RM10,000 Interest paid on housing loans for 3 Consecutive Years (S&P signing between 10 Mac 2009 to 31 Dec 2009)

Hope the above is helpful to you All.

Disaster unfolds slowly in the Gulf of Mexico

2010-06-19T16:05:00.000+08:00

In the three weeks since the April 20th explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, and the start of the subsequent massive (and ongoing) oil leak, many attempts have been made to contain and control the scale of the environmental disaster. Oil dispersants are being sprayed, containment booms erected, protective barriers built, controlled burns undertaken, and devices are being lowered to the sea floor to try and cap the leaks, with little success to date. While tracking the volume of the continued flow of oil is difficult, an estimated 5,000 barrels of oil (possibly much more) continues to pour into the gulf every day. While visible damage to shorelines has been minimal to date as the oil has spread slowly, the scene remains, in the words of President Obama, a "potentially unprecedented environmental disaster." (40 photos total)

Seawater covered with thick black oil splashes up in brown-stained whitecaps off the side of the supply vessel Joe Griffin at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill containment efforts in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana Sunday, May 9, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

A tugboat moves through the oil slick on May 6, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. (Michael B. Watkins/U.S. Navy via Getty Images) #

Oil burns during a controlled fire May 6, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. Coast Guard is overseeing oil burns after the sinking, and subsequent massive oil leak, from the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil platform off the coast of Louisiana. (Justin E. Stumberg/U.S. Navy via Getty Images) #

Dark clouds of smoke and fire emerge as oil burns during a controlled fire in the Gulf of Mexico, May 6, 2010. The U.S. Coast Guard working in partnership with BP PLC, local residents, and other federal agencies conducted the "in situ burn" to aid in preventing the spread of oil. (REUTERS/Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Justin Stumberg-US Navy) #

The crew of a Basler BT-67 fixed wing aircraft releases oil dispersant over parts of the oil spill off the shore of Louisiana in this May 5, 2010 photograph. (REUTERS/Stephen Lehmann/U.S. Coast Guard) #

A pod of Bottlenose dolphins swim under the oily water Chandeleur Sound, Louisiana, Thursday, May 6, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) #

Winds cause ripples to form on the water of grassy marsh wetlands in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, as work continues to try to protect it from the massive oil spill on May 9, 2010 in Gulf of Mexico. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) #

A worker with one of the shoreline clean-up crews deploys a snare boom on the west side of the South Pass near Port Eades, Louisiana May 11, 2010. (REUTERS/Sean Gardner) #

A man holds a plastic bag with seawater and oil from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill south of Freemason Island, Louisiana May 7, 2010. (REUTERS/Carlos Barria) #

An oil-stained cattle egret rests on the deck of the supply vessel Joe Griffin at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill containment efforts in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, Sunday, May 9, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) #

Oily water is seen off the side of the Joe Griffin supply vessel at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill containment efforts in the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday, May 8, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) #

A helicopter takes off from the helipad of the Development Driller III, which is drilling the relief well at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, in the Gulf of Mexico on May 11, 2010. (REUTERS/Gerald Herbert) #

Oil washes onto the sides of a 100-ton concrete-and-steel pollution containment chamber as the mobile offshore drilling unit Q4000 lowers it into the water at the Deepwater Horizon site on May 6, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico . The chamber was designed to cap the oil discharge that was a result of the Deepwater Horizon incident. (Patrick Kelley/U.S. Coast Guard via Getty Images) #

The single cable supporting the 100-ton oil containment device being lowered to the sea floor disappears into Gulf waters off the side of the Q400 mobile drilling platform on Sunday, May 9, 2010. Efforts to contain the leak with the device were unsuccessful due to ice crystals forming in its domed roof. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) #

One of the New harbor Islands is protected by two oil booms against the oil slick that has passed inside of the protective barrier formed by the Chandeleur Islands, as cleanup operations continue for the BP Deepwater Horizon platform disaster off Louisiana, on May 10, 2010. (MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images) #

Workers attempt to secure an oil boom into place in an effort to protect the coast line from the massive oil spill near Hopedale, Louisiana May 10, 2010. (REUTERS/Sean Gardner) #

Blobs of oil from the massive spill float on the surface of the water on May 5, 2010 in Breton and Chandeleur sounds off the coast of Louisiana. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) #

Crews build a sand berm to protect the island from the potential of oil washing onshore, on Dauphin Island, Alabama May 10, 2010. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder) #

Unemployed commercial fishermen and their families wait in line to receive handouts from New Orleans Catholic Charities on May 5, 2010 in Hopedale, Louisiana. Many local fishermen have been temporarily shut down but have been hired by British Petroleum (BP) to lay oil booms in sensitive areas. (Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images) #

Captain Johnny Bourgeois and deckhand Chris Crappel (left) of Venice, Louisiana retie netting for shrimp trawling as they wait for the shrimp season to reopen in Venice, Louisiana May 9, 2010. Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) Secretary Robert Barham announced that the shrimp season in the territorial seas of the central coast of Louisiana from Four Bayou Pass to Freshwater Bayou were closed effective sunset Saturday. (REUTERS/Sean Gardner) #

Louisiana National Guard Private Dallas Bacon guides a dump truck as they use dirt to create an earthen barrier as they try to protect an estuary from the massive oil spill on May 10, 2010 in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) #

Louisiana National Guardsmen use Blackhawk helicopters to build a dam to protect the fragile wetlands known locally as "Bayou" near the town of Grand Isle, as work continues to protect the coastline from oil after the BP Deepwater Horizon platform disaster off Louisiana, on May 11, 2010. (MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images) #

Mississippi River water (left) meets sea water and an oil slick that has passed inside of the protective barrier formed by the Chandeleur Islands, off the coast of Louisiana, on May 7, 2010. (MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images) #

Oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill makes its way to shore on Chandeleur Islands in Louisiana on May 7, 2010. (AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, Vernon Bryant) #

An aerial view of the northern Chandeleur barrier islands shows sheens of oil reaching land, Thursday, May 6, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. The islands rest 20 miles from the main Louisiana coastline. (AP Photo/David Quinn) #

Heather Neville of Tristate Bird Rescue and Research rinses off an oiled brown pelican which was captured on a barrier island off the fragile Louisiana coast on Tuesday, May 4, 2010 at a triage center in Fort Jackson, Louisiana. (MIRA OBERMAN/AFP/Getty Images) #

This image provided by NASA shows the Mississippi Delta (top right) and the growing oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico on May 5, 2010. Photo was taken by International Space Station Expedition 23 flight engineer Soichi Noguchi. (AP Photo/NASA - Soichi Noguchi) #

Oil and oil sheen are seen moving past an oil rig, top right, in the waters of Chandeleur Sound, Louisiana, Wednesday, May 5, 2010. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) #

Steve Henne, of Marine Spill Response Corp., heads back to the Premier Explorer after a controlled burn in the Gulf of Mexico May 6, 2010. The U.S. Coast Guard working in partnership with BP PLC, local residents, and other federal agencies conducted the "in situ burn" to aid in preventing the spread of oil following the April 20 explosion on Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit Deepwater Horizon. Picture taken May 6, 2010. (REUTERS/Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Justin Stumberg-US Navy) #

An aerial view of the oil leaked from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead, May 6, 2010. (REUTERS/Daniel Beltra) #

Dark clouds of smoke and fire emerge as oil burns during a controlled fire in the Gulf of Mexico May 7, 2010. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Justin Stumberg/Released) #

Bruce Padilla, left, and Adam Shaw, Louisiana oilfield divers, return through blackened seawater from watching a controlled oil burn in the Gulf of Mexico May 7, 2010. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Justin Stumberg/Released) #

Boom to protect Louisiana's fragile wetlands is put into place on Lake Machias on May 9, 2010, following a massive oil spill that is threatening the state's coastal islands. (Alex Ogle/AFP/Getty Images) #

Oil, scooped up with a bucket from the Gulf of Mexico off the side of the supply vessel Joe Griffin, coats the hands of an AP reporter at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, May 10, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) #

Shrimp boats are used to collect oil with booms in the waters of Chandeleur Sound, Louisiana, Wednesday, May 5, 2010. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) #

Sunset, seen over wetlands outside of Venice, Louisiana on May 5, 2010. (REUTERS/Carlos Barria) #

Risers, the outer casings of oil drill pipes, are seen on the deck of the service vessel Joe Griffin as it prepares to head to Port Fourchon at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on May 11, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) #

Capt. Demi Shaffer pilots the Joe Griffin as it enters the Gulf of Mexico carrying the containment vessel to the rig collapse site which will be used to try to contain the Deepwater Horizon oil, Wednesday, May 5, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) #

The Viking Poseidon lowers a new leak-containment device named the "top hat", at the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, May 11, 2010. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) #

First of the last Space Shuttle launches

2010-06-09T16:01:00.000+08:00

First launched twenty-five years ago in October of 1985, NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled for its 32nd and final launch this afternoon (at 2:20pm ET). This launch - one of only three remaining missions left in NASA's Shuttle program - will deliver an Integrated Cargo Carrier and a Russian-built Mini Research Module to the International Space Station. Collected here are a series of photographs of Atlantis' recent activity, as it descended from orbit last November, landed, and was processed and prepped for today's final launch. (42 photos total)

At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Atlantis is outlined by spotlights at the Vehicle Assembly Building as it rolls along the crawlerway to Launch Pad 39A. Atlantis' first motion on its 3.4-mile trip was at 11:31 p.m. EDT April 21. The shuttle was secured on the pad at 6:03 a.m. April 22. (NASA/Amanda Diller)

Late last year, near the end of Atlantis' previous expedition, a member of the Expedition 21 crew aboard the International Space Station photographed this view of Atlantis soon after the shuttle and station began their post-undocking relative separation, and the shuttle headed toward re-entry. (NASA) #

The space shuttle Atlantis glides towards a landing on Kennedy Space Center's Runway 33 Friday, Nov. 27, 2009, in Cape Canaveral, Florida The shuttle completed an 11-day mission to the international space station. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) #

With its drag chute unfurled, space shuttle Atlantis touches down on Runway 33 at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida after 11 days in space, completing the 4.5-million mile STS-129 mission on orbit 171. In the background are the 525-foot-tall Vehicle Assembly Building and a crane being used to construct a new mobile launcher to support the Constellation Program's Ares I rocket. (NASA/Tim Terry) #

STS-129 Commander Charles Hobaugh reaches out to the nose of the space shuttle Atlantis after the orbiter landed safely on Kennedy Space Center's Runway 33 Friday, Nov. 27, 2009, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (AP Photo/Scott Audette, Pool) #

Soon after landing, Atlantis was moved to the Orbiter Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Here, in Bay 1, one of three main engines has been removed using a specially designed Hyster engine lift. Inspection and maintenance of each main engine is standard procedure following a shuttle mission. (NASA/Glenn Benson) #

In Orbiter Processing Facility 1, United Space Alliance technicians complete the inspection of window #8, removed from the top of space shuttle Atlantis' crew module. (NASA/Jim Grossmann) #

In Orbiter Processing Facility 1, technicians prepare to install the orbiter boom sensor system, or OBSS, into space shuttle Atlantis' payload bay. The OBSS' inspection boom assembly, or IBA, is removed from the arm every other processing flow for a detailed inspection. After five consecutive flights, all IBA internal components are submitted to a thorough electrical checkout in the Remote Manipulator System Lab. The 50-foot-long OBSS attaches to the end of the shuttle's robotic arm and supports the cameras and laser systems used to inspect the shuttle's thermal protection system while in space. (NASA/Jim Grossmann) #

In the Space Shuttle Main Engine Processing Facility, a space shuttle main engine is lifted from its work stand toward a transporter for its move to Orbiter Processing Facility-1, the hangar in which space shuttle Atlantis is being processed for its upcoming STS-132 mission. A main engine is 14 feet long, weighs approximately 7,000 pounds, and is 7.5 feet in diameter at the end of the nozzle. (NASA/Troy Cryder) #

In Orbiter Processing Facility-1, workers guide a space shuttle main engine into position for installation on space shuttle Atlantis for its upcoming STS-132 mission. (NASA/Troy Cryder #

In Orbiter Processing Facility-1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, two of three space shuttle main engines have been installed on space shuttle Atlantis for its upcoming STS-132 mission. (NASA/Troy Cryder) #

United Space Alliance senior aerospace inspector Ray Cox verifies that no foreign object debris or contamination was introduced inside the window cavity conditioning system manifold before it is installed on space shuttle Atlantis. Obstructions or contamination could cause damage to the system's filters and check valves or change the airflow in the system. The manifold stabilizes the pressure between the shuttle's window panes during ascent and descent and prevents condensation from forming on them during flight. Atlantis is being prepared for its upcoming STS-132 mission. (NASA/Kim Shiflett) #

The Pegasus barge carrying External Tank-136 arrives near the turn basin at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, from NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans. ET-136 will be used to launch space shuttle Atlantis on the STS-132 mission to the International Space Station. (NASA/Rusty Backer) #

At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, External Tank-136 emerges from the Pegasus barge docked in the turn basin near the Vehicle Assembly Building. (NASA/Troy Cryder) #

In the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, an overhead crane lifts the external fuel tank for space shuttle Atlantis' STS-132 mission, from its test cell. (NASA/Jack Pfaller) #

In Orbiter Processing Facility-1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, members of space shuttle Atlantis' STS-132 crew participate in training activities during the Crew Equipment Interface Test, or CEIT, for their mission. Here, Commander Ken Ham familiarizes himself with the layout of the shuttle's cockpit. CEIT provides the crew with hands-on training and observation of shuttle and flight hardware. (NASA/Kim Shiflett) #

A media event was hosted by NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, to showcase the Russian-built Mini-Research Module-1, or MRM-1, in the Astrotech payload processing facility at Port Canaveral, Florida. Supplies and other cargo have already been installed into the MRM-1. The module is on display for the media before its transport to the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The six-member crew of space shuttle Atlantis' STS-132 mission will deliver an Integrated Cargo Carrier and the MRM-1, known as Rassvet, to the International Space Station. The second in a series of new pressurized components for Russia, MRM-1 will be permanently attached to the Earth-facing port of the Zarya control module. Rassvet, which translates to "dawn," will be used for cargo storage and will provide an additional docking port to the station. (NASA/Dimitri Gerondidaikis) #

At the Astrotech payload processing facility at Port Canaveral in Florida, Sergey Kireevichev, right, of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, instructs members of the STS-132 crew on the design and operation of the docking mechanism for the Mini-Research Module during their crew equipment interface test, or CEIT. From left in the blue flight suits are Mission Specialist Piers Sellers, Commander Ken Ham, and Mission Specialists Michael Good and Garrett Reisman. (NASA/Troy Cryder) #

Space shuttle Atlantis' rear landing gears are extended during processing of the shuttle. Changes to the thermal protection system tiles on the periphery of the landing gear doors necessitate that the gears be extended to ensure the doors open properly without obstruction. (NASA/Gianni Woods) #

Astronauts Michael Good (foreground) and Garrett Reisman, both STS-132 mission specialists, use virtual reality hardware in the Space Vehicle Mock-up Facility at NASA's Johnson Space Center on January 28th, 2010, to rehearse some of their duties on the upcoming mission to the International Space Station. This type of virtual reality training allows the astronauts to wear a helmet and special gloves while looking at computer displays simulating actual movements around the various locations on the station hardware with which they will be working. (NASA) #

In the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a Japan Manned Space Systems Corp. scientist prepares the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's ferulate formation experiment for its flight to the International Space Station aboard the STS-132 mission. Expedition crew members aboard the station will test whether microgravity modifies ferulic acid in rice seedlings, thereby decreasing the mechanical strength of cell walls. (NASA/Jack Pfaller) #

Astronaut Mike Good, STS-132 mission specialist, uses an extravehicular activity (EVA) camera during a spacewalk training session in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) near NASA's Johnson Space Center on September 30th 2009. (NASA) #

At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Atlantis approaches the Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB, on its move from Orbiter Processing Facility-1 where it was processed for its upcoming STS-132 mission. (NASA/Jack Pfaller) #

In the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Atlantis is lifted above its transporter during its move from the transfer aisle to High Bay-1. In the bay, Atlantis will be attached to its external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters in preparation for the upcoming STS-132 mission. (NASA/Cory Huston) #

Space shuttle Atlantis is lowered alongside its external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters in High Bay-1 of NASA's massive Vehicle Assembly Building. (NASA/Jack Pfaller) #

At the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, STS-132 Commander Ken Ham gets settled in the cockpit of a Shuttle Training Aircraft to practice touch-and-go landings. The Shuttle Training Aircraft is a Gulfstream II jet, modified to handle like the space shuttle. (NASA/Troy Cryder) #

At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, STS-132 Pilot Tony Antonelli takes his instructor, Battalion Chief David Seymour, at left, for a ride in an M-113 armored personnel carrier during driving practice. Also along for the ride is Mission Specialist Steve Bowen. An M-113 is kept at the foot of the launch pad in case an emergency egress from the vicinity of the pad is needed. (NASA/Kim Shiflett) #

NASA astronaut Tony Antonelli, STS-132 pilot, attired in a training version of his shuttle launch and entry suit, is pictured during an ingress/egress training session in the Space Vehicle Mock-up Facility at NASA's Johnson Space Center on April 8th, 2010. (NASA) #

Water stands on the crawlerway outside the 52-story Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where space shuttle Atlantis awaits its move to Launch Pad 39A. Thunderstorms that passed over the center around 4 a.m. made the crawlerway too wet for the massive crawler-transporter to carry Atlantis the 3.4 miles from the VAB to the pad. (NASA/Kim Shiflett) #

A crawler-transporter begins to roll space shuttle Atlantis out of High Bay 1 on its 3.4-mile journey to Launch Pad 39A. (NASA/Amanda Diller) #

At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the six-million-pound crawler-transporter is illuminated as it carries space shuttle Atlantis from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39A. (NASA/Amanda Diller) #

At Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, work begins to install the newly arrived space shuttle Atlantis on the pad. (NASA/Amanda Diller ) #

The sun rises over the Atlantic Ocean near Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Space shuttle Atlantis was transferred from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the pad overnight for its upcoming launch. (NASA/Jack Pfaller) #

Space Shuttle Atlantis astronauts fly over the shuttle landing facility in their T-38 jets at Kennedy Space Center, May 10, 2010 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Atlantis crew were preparing for their launch, scheduled for launch May 14, to the International Space Station. (Matt Stroshane/Getty Images) #

A family of Osprey in their nest outside the NASA Kennedy Space Center Vehicle Assembly Building in Cape Canaveral, Florida on Thursday, May 13, 2010. (AP Photo/NASA, Bill Ingalls) #

A worker carries a hose from from the top of the space shuttle Atlantis Thursday, May 13, 2010, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (AP Photo/Terry Renna) #

Space Shuttle Atlantis sits on launch pad 39-a in preparation for launch later today from Kennedy Space Center to the International Space Station May 14, 2010 in Cape Canaveral. (Matt Stroshane/Getty Images) #

Space Shuttle Atlantis astronauts pose for a photo in front of their transport vehicle May 14, 2010 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images)#

Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off of launch pad 39-a at Kennedy Space Center for its final scheduled launch on May 14, 2010, in Cape Canaveral. Atlantis is scheduled for a 13-day mission to the International Space Station. (Eliot Schechter/Getty Images) #

The space shuttle Atlantis lifts off for the last time Friday, May 14, 2010, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) #

The Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off May 14, 2010 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. With more than 40,000 spectators watching, the space shuttle Atlantis blasted off Friday on its final journey. (DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images) #

Photographers take images as the Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off May 14, 2010 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images) #

Protests turn deadly in Thailand

2010-05-29T15:53:00.001+08:00

The Red Shirt political protest in Bangkok, Thailand has been active for nearly two months now, and has entered a new, deadly phase in the past week, with at least 36 of the total 60 deaths occurring in just the last few days. Anti-government protesters have barricaded themselves against government troops and the Thai army has declared certain protest areas to be "Live Fire Zones". A state of emergency is in effect, covering 17 provinces in the country, as protesters have refused orders to leave, and news just emerged that a renegade general who supported the Red Shirts, Khattiya Sawatdithol, died today from a gunshot wound he suffered on May 13th. Collected here are photos of the recent turmoil in central Bangkok. (39 photos total)

A "Red Shirt" anti-government protester kneels down as he runs away from gunfire as the violence in central Bangkok continues on May 16, 2010 in Bangkok, Thailand. (Athit Perawongmetha/Getty Images)

Thai soldiers stand off with a crowd of Red Shirt protesters, Friday, May 14, 2010 in Bangkok, Thailand. (AP Photo/Wally Santana) #

Red Shirt protesters fire home-made rockets toward Thai soldiers on Sunday May 16, 2010 in Bangkok, Thailand. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit) #

Renegade Thai major-general Khattiya Sawasdipol, only moments before being shot while being interviewed by Thai and foreign reporters in Bangkok on May 13, 2010. Khattiya, better known as Seh Daeng, a rogue soldier and de facto military chief of Thailand's red shirt protest movement later died from the wound. (REUTERS/Cyrille Andres) #

Renegade Thai major-general Khattiya Sawasdipol slumps on the ground moments after being shot in the head while being interviewed by Thai and foreign reporters in Bangkok on May 13, 2010. (REUTERS/Cyrille Andres) #

A Buddhist monk prays for peace on the anti-government red shirt protesters main rally stage on May 16, 2010 in Bangkok, Thailand. (Getty Images) #

A demonstrator uses a slingshot against security forces during clashes in Bangkok on May 15, 2010. (PEDRO UGARTE/AFP/Getty Images) #

A demonstrator, wounded during clashes with security forces, is carried to an ambulance in Bangkok on May 15, 2010. (PEDRO UGARTE/AFP/Getty Images) #

A burning tire rolls toward the line of Thai soldiers moving to disperse Red Shirt protesters on Friday, May 14, 2010 in Bangkok, Thailand. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn) #

A Red Shirt demonstrator taunts Thai soldiers in downtown Bangkok, Thailand on Friday, May 14, 2010. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) #

Red Shirt anti-government protesters crouch on the ground after several gunshots rang out and stuck two men, as hundreds of protesters gathered under the highway bridge on Rama 4, during clashes between demonstrators and security forces in Bangkok on May 16, 2010. (NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP/Getty Images) #

A person peers out from behind the shutters of a shop during violent clashes between Red Shirt protesters and the military on May 14, 2010 in Bangkok. (Andy Nelson /Getty Images) #

Red Shirt protesters create a burning barricade on Rama IV road to stop army soldiers from advancing in Bangkok May 15, 2010. (REUTERS/Adrees Latif) #

Red Shirt protesters add to a burning barricade in the streets on May 14, 2010 in Bangkok, Thailand. (Andy Nelson /Getty Images) #

Red Shirt demonstrators watch Thai soldiers from behind their makeshift barricades on Friday, May 14, 2010, in Bangkok, Thailand. (AP Photo/David Longstreath) #

Thai soldiers in riot gear rest under a bridge outside the fortified camp of the Red Shirt movement in downtown Bangkok on May 13, 2010. (NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP/Getty Images) #

An intoxicated Red Shirt supporter lies against a barricade made out of tires during clashes at Rama IV Street in Bangkok May 16, 2010. (REUTERS/Jerry Lampen) #

A Red Shirt supporter walks toward a barricade of tires which were set ablaze between army soldiers and protesters near Bangkok's Victory Monument May 16, 2010. (REUTERS/Adrees Latif) #

Thai Buddhist monks gather Sunday, May 16, 2010, at Victory Monument in Bangkok, Thailand to chant prayers for peace. (AP Photo/David Longstreath) #

A Thai man believed to be a Red Shirt demonstrator lies dead in the street after being shot by an unidentified sniper Saturday, May 15, 2010, in Bangkok, Thailand. (AP Photo) #

A broken window in a burned out shop is seen as a Red Shirt protester runs by as violence continues on May 16, 2010 in Bangkok, Thailand. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) #

Anti-government Red Shirt protesters carry the body of their dead comrade who was believed to have been shot by a sniper during clashes with Thai soldiers Saturday, May 15, 2010 in Bangkok, Thailand. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn) #

A Red Shirt demonstrator fires a homemade firecracker toward Thai security forces as the violence in central Bangkok continues on May 16, 2010 in Bangkok, Thailand. (Athit Perawongmetha/Getty Images) #

A photographer takes a photograph as soldiers clash with anti-government Red Shirt protesters in Bangkok May 17, 2010. (REUTERS/Kerek Wongsa) #

A demonstrator shoots a pistol during clashes with security forces in Bangkok on May 15, 2010. (PEDRO UGARTE/AFP/Getty Images) #

A Thai man removes a can from a burning barricade in a main avenue of Bangkok during clashes between demonstrators and security forces on May 16, 2010. (PEDRO UGARTE/AFP/Getty Images) #

Anti-government demonstrators are arrested by Thai soldiers in downtown Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, May 14, 2010. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) #

A Red Shirt protester who was wearing a fire-fighter's helmet lies on the sidewalk next to a flag with a red cross after being shot by army soldiers during clashes at Rama IV Street in Bangkok May 15, 2010. (REUTERS/Jerry Lampen) #

Red shirt protesters try to put out a fire as the violence in central part of the city escalates on May 15, 2010 in Bangkok, Thailand. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) #

Thai soldiers help each other to take position on a flyover during an operation to take control of an area around the fortified Red Shirt protesters' camp in Bangkok on May 14, 2010. (PEDRO UGARTE/AFP/Getty Images) #

Thai security forces fire toward Red Shirt protesters during a street clash on May 14, 2010 in Bangkok, Thailand. (Athit Perawongmetha/Getty Images) #

A Red Shirt supporter rallies with a Thai national flag from a "tuk tuk" after the Red Shirts secured parts of Rama IV from army troops with a burning barricade of tires in Bangkok May 15, 2010. (REUTERS/Adrees Latif) #

Pedestrians pause near posters on a Bangkok street to watch smoke rise from burning tires in Thailand on Monday, May 17, 2010. (AP Photo/Wally Santana) #

A soldier keeps watch near the perimeter of the barricaded anti-government Red Shirt encampment at Bangkok's shopping district May 15, 2010. (REUTERS/Caren Firouz) #

A man stands in front of a burning bus during clashes between Thai soldiers and anti-government protesters near Lumphini park in Bangkok's financial district May 14, 2010. (REUTERS/Damir Sagolj) #

Guests and hotel staff sit in dark in the basement of the Dusit Thani hotel after they were evacuated following an explosion and gunfire being heard around the hotel early on May 17, 2010. An explosion nearby rattled the hotel room. Bullets hit the wall outside, then their telephones rang: "Come down you are under attack," the voice from reception warned. (MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP/Getty Images) #

Red Shirt protesters set tires ablaze in front of a stand off with Thai military, Sunday, May 16, 2010 in Bangkok, Thailand. (AP Photo/Wally Santana) #

A Thai soldier runs to take cover during a clash with Red Shirt anti-government protesters in Bangkok on May 14, 2010. (NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP/Getty Images) #

Dark smoke rises above Bangkok, Thailand as Red Shirt protesters burn tires at a main road downtown on Sunday, May 16, 2010. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) #

Mount St. Helens, 30 years ago

2010-05-19T15:41:00.000+08:00

On May 18th, 1980, thirty years ago today, at 8:32 a.m., the ground shook beneath Mount St. Helens in Washington state as a magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck, setting off one of the largest landslides in recorded history - the entire north slope of the volcano slid away. As the land moved, it exposed the superheated core of the volcano setting off gigantic explosions and eruptions of steam, ash and rock debris. The blast was heard hundreds of miles away, the pressure wave flattened entire forests, the heat melted glaciers and set off destructive mudflows, and 57 people lost their lives. The erupting ash column shot up 80,000 feet into the atmosphere for over 10 hours, depositing ash across Eastern Washington and 10 other states. Collected here are photos of the volcano and its fateful 1980 eruption. [Editor's note: I lived in Eastern Washington at the time, and have strong memories of this event, the dark skies, the strangeness of it all. I can't believe it's been 30 years. -Alan] (37 photos total)

Ash billows from the crater where the summit of Mount St. Helens had been only hours earlier during a huge eruption on May 18th, 1980. (USGS/Robert Krimmel)

Mount St. Helens on the day before the eruption, May 17, 1980, as viewed from what came to be known as Johnston Ridge, about six miles from the volcano. (AP Photo/USGS, Harry Glicken) #

USGS vulcanologist Dave Johnston collects samples from Mount St. Helens crater lake on April 30, 1980. Two months of earthquakes and minor eruptions brought many observers and scientists to the volcano for study. (USGS/R.P. Hoblitt) #

In this May 17, 1980 photo, 30-year old vulcanologist David Johnston is shown in the evening at his camp near what is now known as Johnston Ridge near Mount St. Helens. At 8:32 a.m. the next morning, Johnston radioed a message to the USGS headquarters: "Vancouver, Vancouver, this is it!", shortly before he was killed by the massive eruption of the volcano that also killed 56 others. (AP Photo/USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory, Harry Glicken) #

Mount St. Helens in eruption on May 18, 1980 showing the violence of the eruption in contrast with the apparently quiet countryside, Mount Adams in background, right. (USGS photo) #

Ash and steam billow from the crater of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980. (USGS photo) #

Thick hot mudflows begin to move downstream from the blast material deposited in the North Fork Toutle River valley downslope from erupting Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980. This mudflow took nine hours to build in size sufficient to reach through the blasted material and move downstream to the Cowlitz River valley. The mudflow on the South Fork Toutle River arrived at Castle Rock, Washington, about 45 miles from the volcano, three hours after the eruption. (Harry Glicken) #

Bob Brown (right), John Brown and two other unidentified people are shown May 19, 1980 climbing onto a railroad car and heading down the train. The would-be horse rescuers gave up their efforts as they fled for their lives as flood waters from the Toutle River begin a sudden rise. All four people reached safety but the horses were presumed to have drowned. (AP Photo/Gary Stewart) #

Mount St. Helens in eruption. Aerial view of upper part of volcano and the eruptive column on MAy 18th, 1980. (USGS photo) #

Mount St. Helens sends a plume of ash, smoke and debris skyward in this May 18, 1980 photo. The ash plume is being carried eastward by prevailing winds, depositing ash across several states. (AP Photo/US Geological Survey) #

A satellite image shows the eastward spread of the ash plume across Washington state from the May 18th, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, approximately one hour after the initial eruption. (NOAA) #

Ashen clouds from the Mount St. Helens volcano move over Ephrata airport in Washington on Monday, May 19, 1980. (AP Photo/Mike Cash) #

A car is shown submerged in ash in this May 20, 1980 photo from Mount St. Helens eruption in Washington State. (AP Photo) #

This aerial view shown May 23, 1980 from a search and rescue helicopter shows the new crater on Mount St. Helens formed by Sunday's massive eruption. Scientists described St. Helens' new horseshoe-shaped crater as about 5,000 feet deep and about 2 1/2 miles wide north to south on the north side of the mountain. (AP Photo/Gary Stewart) #

A splintered stump is all that remains of a tree that had grown on a now-desolate ridge near the North Fork Toutle River near Mount St. Helens. (USGS/S.W. Kieffer) #

Massive blowdown of trees in the Green River valley seen on June 2, 1980. The flattening of the forest resulted from the May 18 eruption of Mount St. Helens. (USGS/J. DeVine) #

For weeks volcanic ash covered the landscape around the volcano and for several hundred miles downwind to the east. In this photograph, a helicopter stirs up ash while trying to land in the devastated area on August 22nd, 1980. (USGS/Lyn Topinka) #

Army National Guard helicopter pilot Harold Kolb rescues two men and their sons from the devastated area around Mount St. Helens. One man's hands had been burned from his tent melting around him. (Washington National Guard) #

A pyroclastic flow rushes down the side of Mount St. Helens on August 7, 1980. (USGS photo) #

The melted Dashboard of pickup truck located on ridge top about 14 km north of Mount St. Helens demonstrates the powerful heat generated by the volcanic blast. Photo taken on June 18, 1980. (USGS photo) #

An aerial view of a bridge in the North Fork Toutle River valley that had been battered by logs and rocks, then partially buried in a massive mudflow. (USGS photo) #

A helicopter rests near measuring instruments on Harrys Ridge on September 30, 1980, five miles north of Mount St. Helens' crater. (USGS/Lyn Topinka) #

A camper containing two victims of the Mount St. Helens eruption sits amidst the gray landscape about 8 miles from the mountain. Marks in the volcanic ash in front of and behind the camper were left by a helicopter and a seacher who found the victims on Tuesday, May 20, 1980. (AP Photo) #

An aerial view of blowdown and Fawn Lake, inside the blast zone on October 28, 1980 (note Mount St. Helens in the background). Note also the USGS scientists in a small boat in the middle of the lake taking water samples. (USGS/Lyn Topinka) #

Blowdown wraps around a hillside, showing how the lateral blast of the eruption followed the countours of the landscape, seen on August 22, 1980 near the North Fork Toutle River. (USGS/Lyn Topinka) #

A mudflow deposit covers Washington State Highway 504 near the town of Toutle, northwest of Mount St. Helens, to a depth of 2m (6 ft). Geologist for scale. (USGS/R.L. Schuster) #

Nearly 135 miles (220 kilometers) of river channels surrounding the volcano were affected by the mudflows of May 18, 1980. A dirty line left behind on tree trunks shows the depth reached by the mud. A scientist (middle right) gives scale. This view is along the Muddy River, southeast of Mount St. Helens on October 23, 1980. (USGS/Lyn Topinka) #

A vehicle is seen wrapped around tree due to the force of the mudflow on the North Fork Toutle River on July 11, 1980, near Camp Baker, northwest of Mount St. Helens in Washington state. (USGS photo) #

A wrecked logging truck and crawler tractor are shown amidst ash and downed trees near Mount St. Helens on May 20, 1980, two days after an explosive eruption. (AP Photo) #

Thousands of trees in the North Fork Toutle River drainage area are shown blown down by the force of the May 18, 1980, eruption of Mount St. Helens, seen on Aug. 22, 1980. (AP Photo/USGS, Lyn Topinka) #

The streets of Yakima, Washington are dark at 3:00 PM after an eruption at Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980. Light gray volcanic ash covered the streets and passersby wore masks to avoid breathing the ash. (AP Photo) #

In this 1980 photo, a worker at an auto dealership in Moscow, Idaho used a blower to remove ash from the eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington state, more than 350 miles away, from a car. (AP Photo/Moscow-Pullman Daily News) #

On the slopes of Mount St. Helens, colorful ponds dot the debris avalanche, their chemical composition varying wildly and affecting the color of the water. Photo taken on August 8, 1981. (USGS/Lyn Topinka) #

Mount St. Helens spews smoke and ash skyward as the volcano erupts once more on October 17th, 1980. (AP Photo/Jack Smith) #

When Mount St. Helens erupted, the preceding gigantic landslide actually displaced all of the water in nearby Spirit Lake, which washed up hillsides, then splashed back down, dragging debris and fallen trees into its new lakebed. This March 29, 2007 photograph shows just a portion of the thousands of trees that remain floating in a giant raft on the surface of the lake to this day. (USGS/Cindy Werner) #

The distinctive bloom of a Fireweed, a hearty pioneer plant, is seen with Spirit Lake in the background on September 4, 1984. (USGS/Lyn Topinka) #

In this May 7, 2010 photo, a timed exposure brings out Mount St. Helens against a backdrop of stars and the risen moon at left, in Washington state. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) #

男士腹部减肥方法

2010-05-04T18:27:00.000+08:00

男士发胖，从肚子开始。开始这种微小在变化只有自己能观察到，但到了后来，就成了司空见惯的特征。那么，男士将军肚怎么办呢？一起来看男士腹部减肥方法吧！

男士腹部减肥方法，涂抹摩脐法

肥胖者仰卧，家属站其旁，在施术部涂上凡士林或食用油以增加手法疗效。用手掌和掌根在腹部做按揉2~3分钟，再用双手掌根顺时针从升结肠、横结肠、横结肠、降结肠、乙状结肠部位做按揉法，约3~4分钟，手法以泻为主；与可兼用平补平泻，此法可调节胃肠蠕动功能，健脾利湿，加快皮下多余脂肪分解。同时可在中脘、气海、水分、关元、子宫、天枢穴，反复点、按、拨，以泻为主，从而达到减肥目的。

男士腹部减肥方法，腹部按摩减肥法

此法是简单有效的方法。它同时还适合于消化系统、神经系统和泌尿生殖系统的许多疾病，又可作为消除腹部脂肪、强健身体的一种方法。这种操作方法有简单易学，并感觉舒服、见效快等优点。操作时肥胖仰卧于床，解开扣和裤带，腹部只穿一件薄衣服。让家人面对肥胖者坐于左侧床边上。首先用波浪式的推压法从上腹移到小腹3-4遍，然后依次用三指叠按于腹部上中下部，每部按2-3遍。但饭后或特别饥饿时不宜操作。慢性病在按摩一个月后，休息几天再按摩。按的轻重以手下有脉搏跳动和病人不痛为宜。

另有一法即将两手手指并扰，向前伸直，左手掌置于右手指背上，右手掌指平贴腹部，用力向前推按，继而左掌用力向后压，一推一回，由上而下慢慢移动，似水中的浪花。

男士腹部减肥方法，下腹部脂肪指压法

腹部是脂肪堆积的主要部位，而男性在肚脐上方聚焦的居多，女性则以肚脐下居多，若指压下腹部时，要稍用力使手掌充分弯曲，垂直下压15秒钟；若指压侧腹部点时，须将手掌充分弯曲分别置于左右侧腹上，沿水平方向稍用力缓慢按压15秒钟。

男士腹部减肥方法，进行有效的锻炼

为使腹部减少而采用无限制节食、裹腹的方法不仅达不到强健腹部肌肉的作用，反而会影响人的健康。应多参加体育锻炼，如跑步、爬山、骑车、游泳、打球等，可使腹部脂肪减少。

男士腹部减肥方法，适当节制饮食

少吃糖、淀粉、动物脂肪等，以吃七分饱为度，这样可促进体内脂肪的消耗。

男士腹部减肥方法，多做腹部健美操

盘腿而坐，手握一重物置于脑后。举起重物至头上，同时呼气收腹，上臂放松、将手放回脑后，同时吸气，放松腹肌。反复做8-12次。两足踝靠紧，平躺在垫子上，双脚固定住。手伸直在头顶处，用力坐起，手触足尖，然后上体缓慢后倒。反复做10次。双手握在门框上，使身体悬空，然后用力收腹，双腿伸直上举，使腿与躯干成90摄氏度，停留片刻再缓慢放下复原。反复做5~10。自然站立，左手轻按腹部，右手放在脑后。慢慢吸气收腹，同时左手向内压腹部，憋一会气，再呼出，使腹肌逐渐放松并向前拱起，反复做10次。