WHY ENGLISH IS IMPORTANT

IF YOU are currently learning English in a school, college or institute of further education, you join approximately one billion other people around the world who are engaged in the same pursuit. However, as you try to memorise proper grammar, and try to avoid the mistakes common to most students of English, you may wonder why you are learning the language in the first place.

So, why is English important?
After Mandarin, English is spoken by more people than any other language, and is the native language of more than 350 million people. More people speak English than those who speak the Arabic and French languages combined.

Moreover, English is the international language of diplomacy, business, science, technology, banking, computing, medicine, aviation, UN & NATO armed forces, engineering, tourism, Hollywood films and arguably the best pop and rock music in the world.
English has plenty of words to choose from. In fact, an English speaker is offered the biggest vocabulary of any language with a choice of 500,000 to 1,000,000 words (including technical and scientific terms).

But don’t panic, most English speakers do very well with a vocabulary of around 20,000 words.

English can be fun too. For instance, the music of such stars as Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Michael Jackson and Madonna has encouraged fans to speak the language of their idols, whilst others have enrolled in English classes to improve their understanding of the dialogue in films and TV shows.

Or perhaps they have embraced English to enjoy the writing of Stephen King, George Orwell or J.K. Rowling. They may even have an interest in speaking English just to converse with travelers from other countries, who communicate by using the English global interlingua while travelling abroad.

Finally, if you are studying English at school, college or university, remember that getting an ‘A’ grade in English is almost worthless, in terms of communication, if you cannot speak the language. Spoken English is used in the best careers, the best universities, and is increasingly being used at job interviews. So like it or not, English is a very important language to learn how to speak.

Being able to read and write in English is not enough!


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EVERY GUY AND GIRL MUST READ THIS

I wish a boy understands this and let a girl live her life comfortably. I wish no one would stare at her body to discomfort her. I wish no one would follow her to know her address. Just a little change in boys' mentality can change the fate of the girl. 
Why do you want to stare? Don't you have your sister, your Mother?? How would you feel if some pervert stares at their flesh with the utmost wrong intentions??? Why is your testosterone always charged? Can't you just live a normal life? Do your work and take care of your family. Why do you always want a glimpse of her body with the most wrong intention...??

There is a difference between a glance and a stare. Even I look at girls. Yes, when I am walking or in a mall and a girl grabs my attention, then I do give her a look but I don’t stare at her because I know staring would definitely make her feel uncomfortable…A gentleman cursory look and a subtle appreciation of her beauty is all she is comfortable with and I give her exactly that. The beauty of a woman is indeed beautiful to look at but staring is indeed bothersome. 

I still don't understand why can't people rise above justifying their perversion is the fault of scantily clad women! Like really??!! Why can't men control their sexual desires..?? When you bloody consider females as the weaker sex, then show them your power by controlling yourself and your desires even if females roam in skimpy clothes or even naked for the matter!! The fault again is mentalities and values, not clothes!! All of it boils down to upbringing.


A guy proposed a girl - she rejected him and he splashed acid on her face to disfigure her permanently. I ask, what is the fault of the girl? Doesn't she has the freedom to choose her potential life partner? How can anyone even think to do such a terrible thing? What if it was your sister?? Proposing a girl is not a crime but when she rejects your proposal, harassing her is a crime! Throwing concentrated acid an her face is a crime.! When she is going about her daily routine, going to college or something, teasing verbally and physically is a crime!!

The most important thing is to respect women. They are not sex objects and males must honor and recognize their decisions and individuality.
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HINDUISM, THE MOST TOLERANT RELIGION

Hinduism is the most tolerant and flexible theism on the planet. 

Unlike Abrahamic religions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam which constantly see each other as nemesis, religion dichotomy from Hinduism, that is, Buddhism and Jainism compliment each other.
Hinduism expounds that all life is precious and so proposes non-violence approach known as 'ahimsa'. Mahatma Gandhi espoused this tenet of Hinduism and launched 'satyagraha' a measure to oust the colonizing British from India and he successfully earned India her independence from the British.

Hinduism doesn't have the goal to proselytize anyone because rather than religion, Hinduism is a philosophy and a way of life, covering every aspect of human life.

Along the lines of the former paragraph, Hinduism is all round flexible - it has no founder and exists from time memorial. In Hinduism, God is formless and has no sex and God is omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent. 
Answering the question on why Hindus pray to so many anthropomorphic deities, it is so because God's attributes are so vast and gargantuan, it is beyond human comprehension. So, God graciously took human and animal forms and other worldly manifestations so that humans can fathom The Almighty.

You can be an atheist and still be a Hindu.

You can be a humanist and still be a Hindu.

You can be a pantheist and still be a Hindu.

You can be an agnostic and still be a Hindu.

Hinduism birthed all religions that exists today and every Muslim, Christian, Jew owe their fundamental cornerstones to Hinduism.
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TRUE LOVE VS PLAIN STUPIDITY

Falling in love is all beautiful, pure and ethereal and for some of our high school and college going girls and yuppies, their notion on love is narrowed as such.
While some girls are gold diggers or couple up just for time pass, there are many girls banking on true and everlasting love and it is at this point where they lose the ability to use their brains.

I'm not saying that girls should stay away from love and only settle for arranged marriage. It is 2014, not 1914. I am only highlighting for girls to be wary and not be blinded by love to the extent of sending nude photos of themselves to their boyfriends and later sit and cry when the photos get misused by those kind of predators.

I know that this is an old issue - I have heard many horror stories. But, I am prompted to write this because a friend of mine was stupid enough to MMS herself nude to her boyfriend whom she has been dating only for about 6 months.
He had been compelling her to send nude pictures of herself just into 6 months of the relationship. At first, she was aghast and vehemently refused to pander and then the guy uttered the ultimate dialogue a girl in love would definitely succumb to:"

Nee yenneh unmaiya kaadhalikireh na, naan sonnathe sei. Unakku yen mele nambikei ille yah? Ivlo than ah nee en mele vecchi irukere piriyam? Ithe kude nee ennakaaga seiya maatiya? Manasale, nee than di en pondati. Naan ennikum unne kai vidamaten, promise di." 

Translation:  

"If you love me truly, do as I say. Don't you trust me?  You only love me this much? Won't you even do this for me? In my heart, I have fixed you as my wife dear. I promise I'll never leave you dear." 

Classic case of sweet talk and emotional coax bordering blackmail all done in the name of everlasting love.

Yes, my friend now has something everlasting but it is not love; it is fear, mental anguish and humiliation because the next thing that happened after she sent the man she loved her full glory, he just disappeared - he could not be contacted and she never heard from him again. Heavens know what he did to her photos and the girl is fearing the worst. 


While the guy is a 3rd rate criminal, this girl is an educated fool. I pass the buck to the girl. What she did for professing true love is plain stupidity and to think she has known him for 6 months and the amount of trust and love she had for him to pose nude are far from lucid and sensible.

Take Amanda Todd's case for example. She trusted a stranger on Facebook who cajoled her to send him her topless photo and later he circulated it all over the Internet. The poor girl was also subjected to vitriolic bullying and harassment both in real life and on social networks until she ended her own life. 

A guy who loves a girl sincerely and for all intents and purposes wants to make her his better half would never ask for her nude profile or sex at anytime of their period of dating. Girls must understand that first. Don't be so vulnerable and impressionable. Use your brain. THINK!! Learn to tell the difference between love and lust and a gentleman and a s*x maniac. 

No point crying after you got screwed. What you lost will never come back.

Worse cases are where guys talk their girlfriends into sending their nude profiles to them only to threaten them for sexual favors or money in return for them not releasing their nudity on Internet porn sites. Many girls are suffering in silence. I say they deserve it for being anything but wise and unscrupulous.

On a sympathetical note, inasmuch as what has been done cannot be undone, these kinds of cases can be easily solved by the interference of law and order.

But, girls, please know and understand and stay away from such sick guyd who are only interested of getting you laid down and then leave you in a lurch. Prevention is better than cure. Such lechers don't deserve to live, what more love. The next minute your boyfriend asks you for your nude pictures take it as a Danger sign and activate your 'On full alert mode'. And if he coerces you, dump the fellow because he is only in love with your physique, not your character and convictions - believe me, he is not worth it.

There are good guys out there who are cultured and upright so girls do an assessment to the guys who approach you. Besides looking out for the life sustaining 5 Cs, include another C for Character. Be choosy because it is your life which is up for stake. Love a guy who is deserving of your love and don't be blinded by love.
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DID GOD CREATE THE UNIVERSE OR DID THE UNIVERSE CREATED ITSELF?

QUESTION: Since everything in the universe requires a cause, must not the universe itself have a cause, which is god?
ANSWER: There are two basic fallacies in this argument. The first is the assumption that, if the universe required a causal explanation, the positing of a "god" would provide it.

To posit god as the creator of the universe is only to push the problem back one step farther: Who then created god? Was there a still earlier god who created the god in question? We are thus led to an infinite regress the very dilemma that the positing of a " god" was intended to solve. But if it is argued that no one created god, that god does not require a cause, that god has existed eternally then on what grounds is it denied that the universe has existed eternally?

It is true that there cannot be an infinite series of antecedent causes. But recognition of this fact should lead one to reappraise the validity of the initial question, not to attempt to answer it by stepping outside the universe into some gratuitously invented supernatural dimension.

This leads to the second and more fundamental fallacy in this argument: the assumption that the universe as a whole requires a causal explanation. It does not. The universe is the total of that which exists. Within the universe, the emergence of new entities can be explained in terms of the actions of entities that already exist: The cause of a tree is the seed of the parent tree; the cause of a machine is the purposeful reshaping of matter by men. All actions presuppose the existence of entities and all emergences of new entities presuppose the existence of entities that caused their emergence. 
All causality presupposes the existence of something that acts as a cause. To demand a cause for all of existence is to demand a contradiction: if the cause exists, it is part of existence; if it does not exist, it cannot be a cause. Nothing cannot be the cause of something. Nothing does not exist. Causality presupposes existence; existence does not presuppose causality. There can be no cause "outside" of existence or "anterior" to it. The forms of existence may change and evolve, but the fact of existence is the irreducible primary at the base of all causal chains.

Existence not "god" is the First cause. Just as the concept of a causality applies to events and entities within the universe, but not to the universe as a whole so the concept of time applies to events and entities within the universe, but not to the universe as a whole. The universe did not "begin" it did not, at some point in time, "spring into being." Time is a measurement of motion. Motion presupposes entities that move. If nothing existed, there could be no time. Time is "in" the universe; the universe is not "in" time.

The man who asks: "Where did existence come from?" or "What caused it?" is the man who has never grasped that existence exists. This is the mentality of a savage or a mystic who regards existence as some sort of incomprehensible miracle and seeks to "explain" it by reference to nonexistence.

Existence is all that exists, the nonexistent does not exist; there is nothing for existence to have come out of and nothing means nothing. 

If you are tempted to ask: "What's outside the universe?" recognize that you are asking: "What's outside of existence?" and that the idea of "something outside of existence " is a contradiction in terms; nothing is outside of existence, and "nothing" is not just another kind of "something" it is nothing. Existence exists; you cannot go outside it; you cannot get under it, on top of it, or behind it. Existence exists and only existence exists: There is no where else to go.
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RAPE: SHE ASKED FOR IT! OH REALLY?

After one year of Nirbhaya's brutal gang rape case that riveted the world but now forgotten, this is what I have to ask and say to the Indian society.

Society- Oh. She was raped? Must have enticed them.

Me- Enticed them? How?

Society- Well. She must have looked at them seductively.

Me- No. She was dragged and beaten up. She did not look at them seductively or otherwise.



Society- Ok. Then it must have been her clothes. Western culture has ruined us all.

Me-Nope- She was in salwar kameez, all covered up.


Society- Ok. Then she must have been wearing bright lipstick and mascara. You know how girls are these days. They like to dress up as sluts.
Me- Sluts?

Society-Yeah. Sluts.
Me- Nope. She was returning home from work. She was not wearing any make up whatsoever.

Society- Ok. Then she must have gone to a completely deserted location. Serves her right.
Me- Nope. She was standing at a bus stop when a car stopped and people pulled her inside. There were many people around.

Society- Ok. Then she must have gone out alone. She should have been accompanied by a man.
Me- She was actually. The guy was beaten up and thrown by the roadside.

Society- See. This is what is wrong with girls. Why was she hanging out with a guy? What kind of a girl would do that? And then you blame men for rapes. Huh. Sluts.
Me- Ok.

Society- Hey what are you doing?
Me- Oh this? This is a steel rod.

Society- What? Why?
Me- I am gonna ram it in your butt.

Society- You crazy? Aahh! Stop!! Why are you beating me with this rod?!! Aaahh!! No no not my pants!! Not the rod in my butt!! No, no, no!!!!!!!
Me- Relax. Not doing that.

Society -You moron, how dare you beat me and threaten me with that rod? I am going to kill you.
Me- Why? What wrong did I do?

Society- You... you...

Me- Yes?

Society- Oh... I ... I ...

Me- You get my point now? You were trying to justify rape with all sorts of excuses. I showed you how it probably feels when a perfectly normal day becomes an unexpected nightmare. The pain and the trauma of getting physically and psychologically violated is something that society like you do not understand. Your wounds will heal soon, just temporary bruises. But I hope your lesson will be permanent. 


DEDICATED TO ALL OF YOU WHO BLAME THE RAPE VICTIM AND GIVE THE RAPIST THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT.

Related articles: 

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DOES BELIEVING IN GOD MAKE YOUR LIFE BETTER?

Does belief in God offer the believer any benefits? A good way to find out is to compare highly religious countries with less religious countries. 

In order to draw a result, lets take 10 most religious countries in the world and compare them with the 10 least religious countries.

The 10 most religious countries (alphabetical order):
Bangladesh
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Djibouti
Indonesia
Malawi
Mauritania
Morocco
Niger
Somalia
Sri Lanka

The 10 least religious countries (alphabetical order):
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
Hong Kong
Japan
Netherlands
Norway
Sweden
United Kingdom

Religiosity is measured by the proportion of adults who agree with the statement, “My religion is important in my everyday life.” 

Across the 10 most religious countries, 98.8% of people said religion is important. In the 10 least religious 21.7% agreed that religion is important. So, you could say, the 10 most religious countries are around 4.5 times more religious than the least religious—a very significant difference.

DOES BELIEVING KEEP YOU SAFE?
One measure of safety is the number of road traffic fatalities.

Most religious: 4,123 deaths/year/100,000 motor vehicles;
Least religious:  12.

The most religious countries have 343 times more road traffic deaths than the least religious. Believing does not keep you safe.

DOES BELIEVING MAKE YOU BETTER OFF?
We can measure income as gross domestic product per capita (average income per person). 

Most religious: $2,565USD per year;
Least religious: $40,639USD.

The least religious countries are 15.8 times better off. Believing does not make you better off.

DOES BELIEVING MAKE YOU LIVE LONGER?
If some god(s) answer prayers we would expect believers to be healthier and to recover better when they are sick or pregnant. Average life expectancy is a good aggregate measure of this.

Most religious: 62 years (male and female at birth);
Least religious: 80 years.

This gives the least religious 18 years of extra life on average (29% longer lives). Believing does not make you live longer.

DOES BELIEVING MAKE YOU BEHAVE BETTER?
One way to assess behaviour is to compare crime rates. For simplicity, I’ve compared intentional homicide rates. This is only one crime but it is the most serious crime.

Most religious: 10 homicides per year per 100,000 inhabitants;
Least religious:  1.

The most religious kill their neighbours at 10 times the rate of the least religious. Believing does not make you behave better.

DOES BELIEVING MAKE YOU HAPPIER?
Most years the World Happiness Report is published. This uses a range of data known to be correlated to individual happiness. It ranks 156 countries according to their happiness score. So a score of 1 corresponds to the happiest country in the world and a score of 156 corresponds to the least happy. (Togo ranked 156 in the 2013 report.)

Most religious: average rank = 110 out of 156;
Least religious: average rank = 26 out of 156.

So the most religious countries ranked 84 places below the least religious. Believing does not make you happier.

CONCLUSION
On these measures, believing in God does not deliver any practical benefits, having reviewed many different measures and found a consistent pattern—the higher the level of belief in God, the more human well-being declines.

Data is available for unemployment, maternal mortality, neonatal mortality, infant mortality and many other measures.. 

But are there any disadvantages to belief? There are some obvious disadvantages.

Believers typically associate themselves with a church or any other place of worship and spend time attending services and functions. Attending such places costs money and anecdotal stories suggest that poorer people tend to give money they can ill-afford in the hope that God may improve their poor condition when all it does is make them poorer. Tithing (giving 10% of salary) is common is some countries. So believing costs time and money.

Believing in a supernatural God leaves people open to believing in other supernatural agents—some of which are thought to be malevolent. The fears so created leave believers vulnerable to exploitation by unscrupulous pastors and others.

Even children can suffer when a pastor declares they are infected by demons and offers to exorcise them for a fee. Some such exorcisms can be brutal and sometimes even result in death of the child.

Religious communities can live side-by-side quite happily but conflicts can arise and when they do, they cause disharmony and can escalate into wholesale bloodletting. This is happening today in several parts of the world and was a persistent scourge during the 20th century.

SEEMING BENEFITS FOR BELIEVING
There is one benefit for believers—they become part of a mutual help community. This is undoubtedly a genuine practical and psychological benefit albeit one that could be achieved on a secular basis at far less cost and without all the baggage and disadvantages of religion.

BACK TO NON BENEFITS BY BELIEVING
All this does raise the question why? Why are there no benefits when believers so clearly believe there are? It is interesting that the 10 most religious countries include mostly Christian, mostly Muslim and mostly Buddhist countries. So none of these belief systems nor their supernatural agencies actually provide any protection from the perils of life. And why do countries, who seek little or no help from gods do so well?

The simplest explanation is there are no benefits for believing countries because no Gods exist. The countries that do well do so because they have the resources and have developed infrastructure and political systems that are effective - instead of building towering places of worship and religion, these countries concentrate on building towering people. An exception may be Israel but it would be wrong to say that the Jews are holding the reins of some of the most successful global ventures only by praying to Yahweh.

No doubt there will be contrary opinions as to why there are no practical benefits in believing but the facts are crystal clear. Believing in God will not help you--unless you are a pastor or cleric or priest or mullah!

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THE TWO RIVALING FACES OF ISLAM

Traditional Al Azhar Vs Saudi Wahhabi Scholars

Question. Should a husband or wife stay in a marriage if their partner no longer prays? 


Wahhabi: Fatwa from Sheikh Ibn al-Uthaymin (a prominent 20th-century Saudi scholar) By abandoning his or her prayers, a person leaves Islam. It is forbidden, therefore, for a Muslim to remain with a husband or a wife who no longer prays. 



Al-Azhar: With a single stroke of the pen, this fatwa declares a vast number of Muslims to be unbelievers. In fact, it means that millions of people are now no longer Muslims. We do not know why the authors are so keen to exclude crowds of Muslims from God's religion.


Question. Is free thought and faith a positive attribute? 

Wahhabi: Sheikh Ibn al-Uthaymin Whoever argues that a person is entitled to complete freedom of faith is an unbeliever, guilty of the major sin of disbelief.

Al-Azhar: Allowing people freedom of faith does not mean that we consent to people forsaking their religion. However, we are dismayed by insistence on charging Muslims with acts of apostasy for the smallest of reasons. 
Question. Is it wrong to say the Earth moves around the Sun? 
Wahhabi: Sheikh Ibn Baaz (Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia 1993-99) "The person who maintains that the Sun does not move should be condemned to death after being called upon to repent, as his denials of the motion of the Sun constitute a denial of God's Word.

Al-Azhar: Matters which are not explicitly indicated in texts revealed by God should be referred to experts in these fields, such as astronomers. Such fatwas as this one sadly distorts the image of Islam worldwide. 
Question: Is it allowed for a Muslim to live in a non-Muslim country?

Wahhabi: Sheikh Ibn Baaz It is illegal to live in such countries for work, trade or even for study, except when engaged in proselytizing in the name of Islam. Islam must dominate the world. That is the will of Allah and infidels must be killed for they are a major threat to Islam. 

Al-Azhar: It is a Muslim's duty, whether living within Muslim or non-Muslim communities, to benefit other members of those communities through teaching religion, calling for the good and opposing the bad.

Question. Are Muslims allowed to study secular law?

Wahhabi: The Permanent Committee for Islamic Research (Saudi Arabia's most senior school of Islamic jurisprudence) It is not permitted to teach secular law as a general course in higher education. This subject should be limited to specialists, who are able to show how secular law deviates from the truth [of Muslim law]. 

Al-Azhar: There is nothing wrong with studying secular law providing that one's study is guided by a legitimate interest, such as co-operating for the general good of society and fighting legal oppression.
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AMERICA, FROM AN ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE

United States of America is supposed to be one of the most advanced countries in the world. 

Yeah right! It has one of the highest rates of rape in any country in the
world - according to a FBI report, in the year 1990, every day on an average
1756 cases of rape were committed in U.S.A alone. 

Later, another report said that on an average everyday 1900 cases of rapes are committed in USA. The year was not mentioned. May be it was 1992 or 1993. May be the Americans got ‘bolder’ in the ensuing years.

Consider a scenario where the Islamic hijab is worn by every woman in America. 

Then, whenever an American man looks at an American woman donning the hijab and any moody fantasy or unashamed thought comes to his
mind, he would lower his gaze due to the woman's modesty.

Every woman who wears the Islamic hijab, has her body completely covered,
except the face and the hands up to the wrist. After making all the women in America wear the Islamic hijab, make the penalty for rape the capital punishment.

I ask you, in such a scenario, will the rate of rape in America increase, will it remain the same, or will it decrease?

PRO BONO?
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