HEARD IT AND READ IT

Prepared by Bassam Mechammil 

September, 2013

For comments, please email Mechammil@aol.com

 

بلاد الشام


 سميت بلاد الشام بهذا الاسم نسبة إلى سام بن نوح عليه السلام حيث استقر بهذه المنطقة، وأطلق عليها بلاد سام باللغة السريانية، وفي اللغة العربية تنطق السين السريانية شيناً.
                                                          
يوم الجمعة
 سمي يوم الجمعة بهذا الاسم لاجتماع الناس في الصلاة، وهو اليوم الذي جُمع فيه الخلق وكمل، وهو اليوم الذي يجمع الله فيه الأولين والآخرين للحساب والجزاء. 
 

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من ما قرأت و أعجبني جدا

• من القوي من الناس ؟ قال : هو من يستطيع أن يكبت جماح نفسه .
• ومن الضعيف ؟ قال : هو من تسمع صوته مدويا

... • ومن هو العبقري ؟ قال : هو من يختلف عليه أثنان .

• ومن هو العادي ؟ قال : هو من يتفق عليه أثنان .

• ومن هو العاقل ؟ قال هو من ينحني للعواطف .

• ومن هو المجنون ؟ قال : هو من يدعي العقل .

• ومن هو التافه ؟ قال : هو من يتصور أنه أذكى الناس .

• ومن هو الثرثار ؟ قال : هو من يتحدث دون معنى .

• ومن هو الفصيح ؟ قال : هو من يوجز في حديثه .

• ومن هو العالم ؟ قال : هو من تجد عنده المعرفة .

• ومن هو الجاهل ؟ قال : هو من يدعي المعرفة دون إدراك .

• ومن هو الكريم ؟ قال : هو من يعطي بسخاء دون من و تبذير .

• ومن هو البخيل ؟ قال: هو من يعيش على أرزاق الآخرين باستغلال وتطفل
.
• ومن هو الكاتب ؟ قال : هو من يكتب بإحساسه.

• ومن هو الصادق ؟ قال : هو من يصدق أولا مع نفسه

• ومن هو الكاذب ؟ قال : هو من غره الشيطان بنفسه

• ومن هو الناقص ؟ قال : هو كل إنسان

• ومن هو الكامل ؟ قال : هو الله الذي لا اله الا هو الواحد الأحد
 

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  • How Long Can You Freeze Food?

 
As Food Safety News reports, "Food poisoning bacteria does not grow in the freezer, so no matter how long a food is frozen, it is safe to eat. Foods that have been in the freezer for months may be dry, or may not taste as good, but they will be safe to eat."

Here's a handy list of how long popular foods can be stored in the freezer before their quality suffers. Read it carefully; some times may be longer than you think!

  • Chicken or turkey pieces, uncooked: 9 months
  • Fruit pies, unbaked: 8 months
  • Fruit: 6 to 12 months
  • Steaks, uncooked: 6 to 12 months
  • Butter: 6 to 9 months
  • Lean fish: 6 months
  • Roasts, uncooked: 4 to 12 months
  • Chicken or turkey, cooked: 4 to 6 months
  • Chops, uncooked: 4 to 6 months
  • Shellfish, uncooked: 3 to 6 months
  • Hamburger: 3 to 4 months
  • Bread and cake: 3 months
  • Cookies, baked or dough: 3 months
  • Meat casseroles, cooked: 3 months
  • Fatty fish: 2 to 3 months
  • Soups and stews: 2 to 3 months
  • Ice cream and sorbet: two months
  • Ham, cooked: 1 to 2 months
  • Bacon: 1 month

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12 Most Healing Foods
 
 
The following is a summary of an article from Reader's Digest.  It identifies the best picks of foods to prevent and treat heart disease, cancer, headaches, and countless everyday ills.
1.    Figs:  They are known to prevent the bone loss associated with aging.  Figs are also very high in fiber.
 

2.    Beets:  They produce nitric acid, which helps increase blood flow throughout your body and are known to sharpen your mind.
.
3.    Fresh Cranberries:  These little red berries can help prevent heart disease.  They keep the bad cholesterol from oxidizing and sticking to artery walls.

4.    Orange pith:  A great source of fiber and antioxidants.
Ways to eat it:  Roast thin slices of the pith and serve with whole wheat pancakes.

5.    Eggs:  A great source of protein.  They contain zinc and iron to promote healthy hair and strong nails. 

6.    Sesame seeds:  Eating a few spoonsful as day dramatically decreases LDL (bad cholesterol).
Ways to eat them:  Sprinkle on oatmeal, steamed veggies or make hummus with tahini, a sesame seed butter.

7.    Mustard:  Helps protect against cancer, prevent cardiovascular disease, defends cells against damaging free radicals, and gives your immune system a boost.
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8.    Lamb:  A good source of omega-3 fatty acids that can protect against heart disease and strokes.

9.    Frozen broccoli:  Frozen varieties contain up to 35% more beta-carotene by weight than fresh broccoli.  Helps the body fight off infections that inflame the lungs and arteries.

10.    Chiles:  May help prevent the blood clots that lead to a heart attack and stroke.

11.    Kiwis:  They help fight free radicals that can lead to cancer.
Ways to eat them:  Don't peel them, the skin is very high in fiber and vitamin C.  Eat like a peach or chop them and add to salads.

12.  Celery leaves:  Contain more calcium, iron, potassium, beta-carotene, and vitamin C than the stalks.
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1. A Tax on Flavored Vodka
President Obama wants to tax your Stoli Razberi.

Distilled spirits currently get a tax break if they include flavors, but the president's budget proposal does away with that. Spirits are taxed at $13.50 per proof-gallon (a gallon of 100-proof liquor), but if distillers add flavorings, they can roll back some of that tax: Up to 2.5 percent of the alcohol in those flavoring mixtures is exempt from the spirits tax.

It doesn't sound like much, but the Treasury claims this tax break gives an unfair advantage to flavored liquors, particularly foreign producers whose flavor quotients aren't restricted, as they are for U.S. producers. Heavily-flavored, foreign-made spirits can be sold cheaper, and consumers might be more likely to buy them than they otherwise would, Treasury argues.

The new rule would be good for Jack Daniel's, bad for Absolut Citron.

Higher Tax on Cigarettes

President Obama smokes from time to time, but he proposes hiking the tax on cigarettes to pay for early-childhood education.

Cigarettes have been taxed at just under $1.01 per pack, to help pay for the 2009 expansion of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). In his budget proposal, Obama suggests raising that to $1.95 per pack.

The administration's rationale is, essentially, that cigarettes are harmful.

Citing statistics on smoking-related deaths, Treasury writes, "Excise taxes, levied on manufacturers and importers of tobacco products, are one of the main ways that policymakers can affect tobacco production and consumption."

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A 280,000% Mark Up For... Water? A Look Inside The Bottled Water Industry

 
Imagine there was a time when bottled water didn't exist in our catalog of popular commodities. Perhaps the trend started in 1976 when the chic French sparkling water, Perrier made its introduction. There it was seductively bottled in its emerald green glass amongst the era of disco and the spectacle of excesses... who could resist right?! What could be more decadent than to package, sell and consume what most consider (in the western world) a common human right easily supplied through a home faucet! It’s absurd that the cost of designer water is at a "280,000% markup" to your tap water and it's reaching record heights in consumption.

It wasn't until the 1990s when bottled H2O became an everyday common sight and a symbol of our cultural desire towards fitness and "health-consciousness". Even today health enthusiasts claim drinking water often helps to "detox and boost the metabolism!"

There have been controversies about chemicals leeching into the water from the soft plastic material of bottles, but the FDA determined the containers "do not pose a health risk to consumers." IBISWorld reports that the "U.S. is the largest consumer for bottled water in the world, followed by Mexico, China, and Brazil".

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Your Genes Can Tell You

 

 

 

 

you can now determine your genetic risk of getting things like heart disease,

I we’re learning more about the genetic factors that influence our likelihood of getting heart disease or other common diseases including mental illness. And if people wish they can learn about the probability of their getting some of these issues so that they can take proactive measures in order to live a long and healthy life.

How does it work? Well, it’s amazingly simple.

There are already consumer genomic companies such as 23andme, Navigenics, Pathway Genomics in San Diego that for as little as a few hundred dollars allow people to spit in a cup, send their saliva sample to these companies and they can then prepare the DNA from those cells, send it back to you through a secure website. I can go to my computer today and pull up my probability of getting a whole slew of different diseases.