Electricity-Free Living In Gadgets World

The Cancer Survivor Allergic To Modern Life: 
Mother Is So Sensitive To Electric Gadgets She has To live By Candlelight
By Andy Dolan

. Condition is so severe her neighbours can't even have Wi-Fi
. Problems began after chemotherapy for bowel cancer

She cannot watch television, listen to the radio or boil the kettle to make a cup of tea.
So severe is Janice Tunnicliffe's sensitivity to electricity that even neighbours have to stop using wireless internet.
The mother-of-two spends her evenings playing board games by candlelight, avoiding switching on lights or using freezers, computers and mobile phones.

Mood lighting: Janice and her husband Carl use candles at night as she says electromagnetic fields give her chest pains

Mrs Tunnicliffe, 55, claims a course of chemotherapy during treatment for cancer left her with a rare condition called electrosensitivity, which causes severe reactions to the electromagnetic fields given off by electrical appliances.

In the three years since she developed the illness, Mrs Tunnicliffe has suffered headaches, chest pains, nausea and tingling in her arms and legs whenever she is close to any device that emits electromagnetic fields.

Janice Tunnicliffe's husband Carl spent £500 on the Transformer 28 to block electro-magnetic signals but it has failed to alleviate her condition

Her only relief came when a power cut struck her village of Wellow, Nottinghamshire.

The windows of her three-bedroom cottage are shielded by metallic insulation to deflect electromagnetic waves, and she spends weekends camping in the countryside with husband Carl, 43, to give her a 'complete break' from electrical signals.
She said: 'Wi-fi makes me feel like I have a clamp at the back of my head which is squeezing the life out of me.
'It's completely draining and a home hub can totally immorbalise me - I'm left unable to move my arms and legs.'
Mrs Tunnicliffe, a former accounts manager in the cosmetic industry, moved to the countryside from Nottingham after divorcing her first husband ten years ago.
She said her allergy developed three years ago following treatment for bowel cancer.
At the time, Carl, a contract manager, had just bought a photocopier, and the couple had installed their first wi-fi router.

Janice Tunnicliffe uses an electro magnetic field detector. She says modern technology makes her ill following chemotherapy

Mrs Tunnicliffe said she noticed how much better she would feel when walking in the countryside, then quickly deteriorate again upon returning home. 

Bunker: Janice has covered bedroom windows in layers of foil in an attempt to make herself feel better

She also felt fine during a fortnight's holiday in Greece, only for her symptoms to come back on her return.

The couple became aware of electrosensitivity, or ES, when Carl began researching her symptoms on the internet.
Gradually, the couple removed electrical items such as their wi-fi hub, microwave, toaster and kettle from their home in an attempt to reduce her symptoms.  
Mrs Tunnicliffe said she learned to managed the condition by herself after she was shown little sympathy by her GP, and was refused NHS for treatment at a private hospital which specialises in electro-sensitivity.
While authority in countries such as Sweden and switzerland recognise the condition, the UK Health Protection agency says scientific tests have failed to establish a link between radio waves and ill health.
Many doctors believe the condition could be psychosomatic.
Graham Lamburn, from Powerwatch, an organisation which researches the effects of electromagnetic fields, said 3 to 4 per cent of the population report some susceptibility to ES, but few suffers to such a degree.
He added: 'This kind of case is rare, but certainly there have been some people who have had to give up their jobs because of ES.
'With wireless internet and mobile phones, we've got something here that no one really knows about and no one has considered it might be a problem.'

Source: Daily Mail - May 18, 2011

In And Out Of The Immigration (2)

Your Face Could Soon Be Your Passport At Singapore's Checkpoints
by Monica Kotwani

SINGAPORE - Instead of being screened by immigration personnel, travellers at Singapore's checkpoints could be cleared in future by a facial recognition biometric system - which will allow entry into the country at record time.

Called the Flexi Immigration Clearance System, the project is the first of its kind in Singapore and will allow the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) to toggle between automated and manned immigration counters.

It will particularly benefit checkpoints that experience a high traffic, and the ICA plans to implement the technology at the coming International Cruise Terminal.

This is one of a number of infocomm projects the public sector is embarking on and the Government gave a preview yesterday of an estimated S$1.1 billion worth of tenders it will award to the industry this year.

The ultimate aim is to make infocomm technology a part of Singaporeans' everyday life - at home, at work and during travel.

For instance, centralised remote building technology will be called for to monitor the lighting, lifts and water pumps in public housing blocks.

Meanwhile, the Singapore Police Force plans to acquire systems to enhance road-safety enforcement such as a Digital Traffic Red-Light System and Digital Speed Enforcement Camera System.

The Home Affairs Ministry, Housing & Development Board and National Environment Agency (NEA) were just some of the agencies that presented their coming projects at the industry briefing organised by the Infocomm Development Authority.

Several projects look set to improve public engagement.

The NEA's use of real-time sensors in its Smart Environment System, which is estimated to cost between S$3 million and S$10 million, will leverage on crowd sourcing technologies so the public can submit environmental information, such as the weather, at their location. The NEA hopes to react and deal with environmental challenges as they occur.

The Ministry of Defence, it wants to offer better healthcare services to Mindef and Singapore Armed Forces personnel by streamlining business processes and integrating military healthcare records with national healthcare systems.

IDA chief executive Ronnie Tay said the overall outlook for the infocomm industry remains positive, with increased spending in IT and demand for infocomm services.

"The Singapore Government continues to invest in infocomm to drive productivity and innovation within the public sector," he said.

"This is a strong testament to the Government's commitment to continually improve the delivery of services and information to citizens and businesses, and the important role of infocomm in fostering economic growth in Singapore."

Last year, the Government awarded 647 infocomm contracts worth more than S$1.12 billion, excluding a one-off S$850 million invested in the Schools Standard ICT Operating Environment programme. Two-thirds of the contracts went to local companies.

Source: Today Online - Friday, May 20, 2011

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Driving Into & Out Of Singapore 
Providing you a comfortable and convenient ride in free-flowing traffic

Overview

Before you decide to drive into and out of Singapore, there are a few basic things you need to know, depending on whether your vehicle is a foreign-registered one or registered in Singapore.

Foreign-registered vehicles

If you drive a foreign-registered vehicle, you have to acquire an Autopass Card (a vehicle entry permit) at either Woodlands or Tuas Checkpoint arrival zones before entering Singapore. It is an offence to drive into Singapore without an Autopass Card (a vehicle entry permit) for your foreign-registered vehicle.
For a foreign-registered commercial vehicle (like bus, taxi or goods vehicle), you only need to pay tolls using the Autopass Card, in addition to the relevant permit required for entry to Singapore.
Singapore-registered vehicles
If you drive a Singapore-registered vehicle, you have to pay tolls using the CashCard. Please note that using an Autopass Card that belongs to a foreign-registered vehicle is not allowed.
Only NETS CashCards (for local vehicles) and Autopass cards (for foreign vehicles) are currently accepted for payment at Woodlands and Tuas Checkpoints. 

Singapore Citizens, Permanent Residents, Student Pass Holders & Residents of Singapore 
Singapore citizens, permanent residents (regardless of their place of residence), student pass holders, long term social visit pass holder and residents of Singapore are NOT allowed to use or keep any foreign-registered vehicles in Singapore.

WORK PASSES

Any work pass holder, who is neither a Singapore Permanent Resident (SPR) nor a resident of Singapore, may drive a foreign-registered car and motorcycle in Singapore only if ALL these conditions are met:

a)	he is the registered owner of the vehicle ;
b)	he resides outside Singapore;
c)	the vehicle is kept or used outside Singapore for a total period of 6 hours or more everyday ;
d)	he has a valid insurance certificate and road tax for the use of the vehicle on Singapore roads ; and
e)	the vehicle has an Autopass Card to validate its entry/exit at Woodlands and Tuas checkpoints and for payment of Vehicle Entry Permit/Toll charges.

Please note that a work pass holder who is also a SPR or resident of Singapore is not allowed to drive a foreign-registered vehicle in Singapore.

Visitors to Singapore 
Visitors driving into Singapore in foreign-registered vehicles must use the Autopass Card to make payment for their VEP fees and/or toll charges and/or ERP charges at either Tuas or Woodlands Checkpoint.

VEP fees are calculated on a daily basis. However, there is no VEP fee charged for Saturdays, Sundays and all Singapore Public Holidays.

Ten VEP-free days

From 1 June 2005, all drivers of foreign registered cars and motorcycles can drive into Singapore for a maximum of 10 days in each calendar year without having to pay VEP fees.

After the 10 VEP free days have been utilized, VEP fees for subsequent days are chargeable if you continue to use or drive your foreign-registered car or motorcycle during VEP operating hours.

Please note that toll charges still apply. Toll charges are calculated on a per trip basis. You have to pay toll charges on arrival and departure at Tuas Checkpoint but only on departure at Woodlands Checkpoint.

Fixed ERP Fee

For drivers of foreign-registered cars with no In-vehicle Unit (IU) in the car currently, you can choose not to install an IU. You can pay a fixed Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) fee if you use ERP-priced roads during ERP operating hours , if you do not have an IU in your car. Pls click here for more information on fixed ERP fee.

Here's a snapshot of some of the things you have to remember, depending on the type of vehicle you drive to enter Singapore:

Foreign-registered cars and motorcycles	Foreign-registered buses, taxis and goods vehicles	Singapore-registered vehicles
Use Autopass Card	Use Autopass Card	Use CashCard
Please note that tolls are charged on both arrival and departure at Tuas Checkpoint and on departure only at Woodlands Checkpoint. Pay entry tolls, where applicable, exit tolls, VEP fees, and/or ERP charges (if applicable) upon departure at both Tuas and Woodlands checkpoints.	Pay tolls where applicable on arrival and departure at Tuas Checkpoint and only on departure at Woodlands Checkpoint. Please obtain the relevant permits before entering Singapore.	Pay tolls on arrival and departure at Tuas Checkpoint and only on departure at Woodlands Checkpoint.

Last Updated on 15/03/2011

Source: http://www.lta.gov.sg/motoring_matters/motoring_guide_overview.htm

The Catalyst, Mohamed Bouazizi

A Fruitseller Ignites A Revolution

The Star visits the family and village of Mohamed Bouazizi, a poor fruit seller who set himself on fire to protest against official harassment. The incident triggered a revolution in Tunisia and also sparked off protests against autocratic governments in several Arab countries.
IT was early Friday, just before 8am. After picking olives from a farm, Manuobya looked in on her 26-year-old son Mohamed Bouazizi, who was still asleep and something stirred inside her.
“I felt a kind of love and affection that I never felt before. I said to myself: ‘Mohamed, you are so tired. May God give you a car and another job,’” she tells Sunday Star during an interview at her home in a village near Sidi Bouzid.
Just the night before, Manuobya recounts, Mohamed Bouazizi, who sold fruits from a push cart, was talking about working harder to earn enough to buy a pick-up truck which would make it easier for him to transport his produce. And that night, he gave his mother quite a lot of cash.
“He told me: ‘You know, mother, I’ve never got so much money as I have this week.’

Painful reminder: Manuobya caressing a giant poster of her late son Mohamed Bouazizi who has become a hero in his country and the Arab world.

“He told his sister Leila: ‘If you succeed in school, I will pay for your education.’
“He said to his brothers: ‘If you do well, I will buy you what you want,’” Manuobya relates, looking both sad and proud at the same time as she talks about Mohamed Bouazizi.
Her son, she remembers, was in such good spirits that Thursday night.
And he was teasing, playing and laughing with his eight-year-old half-brother Ziyad a lot more than usual before they went to sleep.
Manuobya says she even ticked them off for making “so much noise” for fear it might disturb the neighbours.
Before he went to bed, Mohamed Bouazizi told his mother of his plans for the next few days.

Where it all started: A view of the Government building in Sidi Bouzid where Mohamed Bouazizi set himself alight on Dec 17.

He said he was getting nicer fruits and would work on Friday and Saturday, and rest on Sunday to go to Sfax (a town in Tunisia) to see his elder brother Salem.
But a few hours later, things changed forever for Mohamed Bouazizi, his family and Tunisia.
On that fateful Friday of Dec 17, after Mohamed Bouazizi had woken up, dressed and gone to his usual spot in the small of town of Sidi Bouzid to sell fruits from his cart, a municipal inspector, Faida Hamdi, and her three aides came after him.
Manuobya says Mohamed Bouazizi was the happy sort but the “police and the government always want money from him and won’t let him do his job”.
“They say he is selling fruits illegally. They want a rasuah (bribe) from him, so he is always fighting to do his job,” Manoubya elaborates.
When Mohamed Bouazizi refused to pay the bribe, Faida and her aides tried to seize the fruits. He then phoned his uncle, who is also his stepfather, for help.
But this angered the municipal officers even more.
“Faida told him that she would leave the other fruit sellers alone but not him and that she would come after him every day.
“She grabbed the fruits but when she wanted to remove the weighing scales, Mohamed Bouazizi wouldn’t let her because the scales were not his.
“That was when Faiza slapped him on the face, spat at him and said terrible things about his dead father,” relates Manuobya, who heard details of the incident from eye witnesses, including her son’s friends.
She believes the public humiliation – being slapped and spat on by a woman who also insulted his late father – was too much for her son to bear.
“He was so shocked and utterly humiliated. It was so shameful and, to him, a loss of dignity.”
When Mohamed Bouazizi, who wanted to seek justice, knocked on the municipal office door, the people there would not entertain him.
“Nobody would listen,” his grief-stricken mother says.
That was when Mohamed Bouazizi made his desperate and last cry for help.
He drenched himself with petrol and then lit himself up – right in front of the government building.
People rushed to douse the flames with their jackets, and someone even grabbed a fire hydrant but found it empty.
It was too late. Within seconds, Mohamed Bouazizi was charred but still alive. And that was how his stepfather Omar found him.
“I couldn’t recognise him because he was totally burnt. Then he uttered the Kalimah Shahadah (a Muslim declaration of faith).
“And I knew from the voice that it was Mohamed Bouazizi. Those were the last words he spoke,” says Omar, adding that both of them were supposed to have gone for Friday prayers that day.
Mohamed Bouazizi was rushed from one hospital to another because they could not treat the severe burns. He lived on for another 18 days and died on Jan 4.
By this time, news of what had happened to the poor fruit seller who just wanted to make a living spread through Tunisia like wildfire. His town, Sidi Bouzid, was the first to rise up.
Noha Farah left her children at home and went to the government building every day to protest and shout for change and for the president to quit.
She says she knew Mohamed Bouazizi personally.
“I always bought fruits from him. He was a very nice person. I cried when I saw what had happened,” she shares.
Through Facebook and Twitter, word spread and the protests grew all over Tunisia, shocking the world.
Here was Tunisia– an educated, moderate and stable country.
Yet its people, fed up with poverty, unemployment and a rotten corrupt system, spontaneously rose up to kick out their leader of 23 years, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
They wanted to reform their government which made it tough for people like Mohamed Bouazizi to make a living.
And soon, the Tunisian revolution caught on in other Arab countries.
Egypt managed to chuck out its strongman Hosni Mubarak who ruled the country with an iron fist for 30 years.
Libya is still in the process of trying to oust its leader of 41 years, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
The spark for change has also been lit in Bahrain, Yemen, Jordan, Iraq and even Saudi Arabia. And although Manuobya wishes every night that Mohamed Bouazizi’s death is just a bad dream because she misses him dreadfully, she believes what he did was for a greater good.
“It is unbelievable what has happened. I thank God that things are better for all of Tunisia. I’m happy that He has opened the door for a lot of Arab countries. Freedom is a good thing,” she adds.
Manuobya followed the events in Egypt closely until Mubarak fell and her focus now is on what is happening in neighbouring Libya.
She wants the “evil” Gaddafi who has killed too many of his people to be replaced.
“God help Libya,” she says.
A neighbour, Alfiyah, tells how women, including strangers, drop by to visit Manuobya from time to time and offer words of comfort because they know how painful it is to lose a child.
“The women say ‘thank you for your son and for changing Tunisia’. The situation in Tunisia is still not all that we have hoped for but it is still early days yet,” she adds.
Noha Farah, however, feels something is still missing.
“We are happy but our happiness will not be complete until the Libyan revolution ends and the people there are also free,” she says.
Overnight, Mohamed Bouazizi has become a hero in his town, country and the Arab world.
Muhammad Han Zuli, 31, who speaks flawless English and lives in Sidi Bouzid, has tremendous respect for the fruit seller who triggered off a revolution.
“He gave us the best things in the world – freedom and democracy.”

Source: The Star - Sunday, March 14, 2011

The Food - In All Midst Of Scarcity Of Source And Finance

The Washington-based poverty-fighting institution said its food price index increased by 15% between October 2010 and January 2011.
It is just 3% below its 2008 peak during the last food price crisis and it thus translates into a 29% rise in food prices over the course of a year.

World Bank data released two days ago showed higher food prices for wheat, maize, sugars and edible oils.
Maize prices soar about 73% over six months, while prices for sugar for fats and oils have risen 20 and 22% respectively, in the past quarter alone.
It cautioned that rice prices needed monitoring given measures by some countries to significantly import more rice to boost domestic stocks. 
The rise in food prices have pushed 44 million more people in developing countries into extreme poverty since June 2010.

Catastrophic storms and droughts have hurt the world's leading agriculture-producing countries, including flooding and a massive cyclone in Australia, major winter storms in the United States, and fires last year in Russia.

Beijing has earmarked 13 billion yuan to combat drought.
The dry spell in northern China's wheat heartland has caused considerable concern abroad and even sparked a UN warning last week about the impact on winter crops, a key harvest for the world's biggest producer of the grain.
Dry spell had affected at least 7.7 million hectares of wheat crops but snow fell over the weekend across much of northern China including major wheat-producing provinces Shandong and Henan had somehow eased some concern.

China has sought to alleviate fears that will affect international food prices.
It has announced measures including diverting water to affected areas and constructing emergency wells and irrigation facilities.
The country is said to have "abundant" reserves of grain that were sufficient to meet the nation's needs.
If China were to buy a large amount of wheat overseas due to a crop failure, prices on world commodity markets would surge at a time when food costs are already causing governments headaches.

Huge swings in prices are characteristic of the latest bout of food inflation.
Asian inflation is amongst the most sensitive in the world to food price shocks, despite the likely introduction of further food subsidies and other price controls.

World Bank chief, Robert Zoellick said global food prices have reached "dangerous levels".
He warned of the impact that could complicate fragile political and social conditions in the Middle East and Central Asia.
The recent food price rises are causing pain and suffering for poor people around the globe.
He warned that a sharp rise in food prices across Central Asia could also have social and political implications for that region.

Although higher food prices were not the main cause leading to recent protests in Egypt and Tunisia, it was an aggravating factor and could become worse.
A World Bank team was currently in Tunisia taking a closer look at the country's transition and assessing possible financing needs, including food assistance.

Egypt to him, may not need World Bank funds because its financing situation "is one that should be able to be managed" over the short term.
He was concerned that countries as Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan address causes of their social upheaval, higher food prices may add to "the fragility that is always there any time you have revolutions and transitions."

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26-year-old Mohamed from Tunisia origin the series of demonstrations.

Since Mohamed could not find a job, he did an honest petty trade, sold fruits as a mobile hawker to feed his family of seven.

Despite that, he was often harassed, intimidated and bullied by the police.

Aspiring Mohamed had a dream, he had always wanted to buy a small van to expand his business, to avoid the police every few days.

However, his wish remained just a dream, an illusion, when on December last year, he was caught by a policewoman - Not only his fruits was confiscated, but his electronic weighing scales too.

To add salt to the already wounded wound, he was present with a slap on his face.

Not only was his business destroyed, he was humiliated too.

In indignant injustice, he protested by committing self-immolation in front of a government building.

The fire took the life of Mohamed, but ignited the flame of dissatisfaction with the government in North Africa. The Tunisian government eventually collapsed.

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The Mohamed flare sparked the demonstration tide spread to Egypt.

Compared with the small country of Tunisia, Egypt has a population of 80 million, nearly half of the population is living on less than US$2 per day.

As many as 90% of the youths are under the age of 30. 

Around 60% of the entire population are unemployed, and many among them are highly educated but... jobless.

With no job and no income, yet the cost of living keeps escalating, they are living under great pressure, and staying afloat to survive is becoming more crucial.

But the government remained indifferent.

Resentment and bitterness accumulated.

This is one of the factor that aggravates their dissatisfaction with the 30-year reign of President Hosni Mubarak.

The sacrificial death of Tunisian hero Mohamed has inspired the Egyptians to rise, mobilise and organise to fight for changes in their country.

The current situation in Egypt has caused concern around the world.

When times are good, housing, food and clothing are not the cause of worry, maybe official corruption, government mismanagement, and the existence of authoritarian regimes, could at least be tolerated.

But once daily needs are at stake and there is insufficient food on the table, people will rise against their government. 

Many citizens in the Middle East countries have almost similar destiny with the Egyptians and Tunisians. They are now expressing solidarity. 

Perhaps, the Mohamed flame is not just spreading in North Africa and the Middle East, but may spread all around the world - There are just too many Mohameds worldwide.

Regardless of any race, language, religion or ideology, Mohameds or not, as long as there is insufficient or no food at all, on the table, the grumbling of the empty stomach is all the same, all over the world.

If the government does not respond or pay heed to the voice and needs of the people, they will be condemned and more often than not, ousted.

The World Bank chief said the international community needed to be aware of such risks and should not exacerbate problems by imposing policies, such as export bans or price fixing, that would push global food prices even higher.

Global security is now about food security issue as he said, "There is no silver bullet to resolving the potent combination of rising and volatile food prices."

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Unlike the 2007-08 food crisis, higher prices have not yet affected all regions of the world.
Across Asia and in some parts of Latin America, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, costlier food is pushing up inflationary pressures.
"Central Asia is a region where these good prices have increased substantially and given the poverty level... there is a real stress point that could have social and political implications," The World Bank chief, Zoellick said.

Meanwhile, good harvests in Sub-Saharan Africa have so far spared that region from rising prices.
There was less margin for error in Africa because of high poverty rates across the region, although in Burundi and Cameroon where bean prices, an important food source, have risen by more than 40%.

The bank said that the price rise swelled the ranks living in extreme poverty, which it defines as under US$1.25 (S$1.60) a day per person, forcing poorer people to eat less and often less-nutritious food and increasing malnutrition.
The poor spend more than 80% of their total disposable income on basic foods.
If prices keep rising, poor families have lesser and less nutritional food to keep them healthy.

Rich donor countries needed to focus food aid on Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia, which face acute food price spikes.
Countries with limited farming space and low international foreign exchange reserves in their budgets, yet import commodities in large quantities may need funding help.
These countries are urged to scale up social programs to protect the nations.
Jittery commodity markets should be made calm by all international community.

Whether or not there is food on the table is no more a mere personal problem, but an issue of dire consequences, affecting even the survival of a government.
The tidal wave after wave of demonstrations in the North African countries is a wake-up call, and its revolutionary echo is reverberating around the world.

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However, as in Egypt and Tunisia, technology is playing its part.
Technology keeps Africans informed about what they are owed.
With more than 500 million mobile phones in Africa, compared with around 50 million a decade ago, African governments risk unrest of their own citizens.

The continent is facing as many as 17 elections this year against the backdrop of seismic political upheaval in the Middle East.
Voters might take to the streets or using the ballot box to demand what is supposed to be due to them.
Many African countries are due to have elections within the next two years.
The nation wants a decent share of what belongs to them - The continent's wealth.

The continent  is home to 90% of the world’s platinum reserves and a large chunk of world's gold.
It is said, Africa has about 30% of the world’s mineral resources yet it only produces about 10% of the world’s minerals.

How great is the wealth sitting beneath Africa’s soil?

Doesn't the wealth waiting for calls?

Will it continue to be preserved?

Benefiting no citizen who should deserve?

Will it be evenly shared by all?

Or just by a family despite the nation's fall?

Extreme Weather Pushes Food Prices Higher - February 2, 1011

Extreme Weather Events Helps Drive Food Prices To Record Highs - January 6, 2011

The Train Is Coming (To Mecca)

A Makkah Metro train during a test run. (AN photo)

30-Day Test Run For Makkah Metro
JEDDAH: The newly established Mashair Railway, which links the holy sites of Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifa with Makkah, will have a 30-day test run before opening to transport domestic and GCC pilgrims during the upcoming Haj season.

Municipal and Rural Affairs Minister Prince Mansour bin Miteb will inspect the railway (also known as the Makkah Metro) on Tuesday to make sure the facility is ready to transport the guests of God. The railway will bring about a dramatic change in pilgrim transportation between the holy sites.
Established at a cost of SR6.5 billion, the new railway will have a capacity to transport 72,000 pilgrims in an hour. Nine stations have been constructed in Arafat, Mina and Muzdalifa, each having three stations. This is the second largest project implemented by the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs after the SR4.5 billion high-tech Jamrat Bridge project in Mina.
Habib Zain Al-Abidine, deputy minister of municipal and rural affairs, said the railway will have 10 trains in the first phase, each with a length of 300 meters. “Each train will carry 3,000 passengers.”
He said Saudi authorities have not yet fixed the fare. “The matter is in the hands of Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior Prince Naif, chairman of the Supreme Haj Committee. Once the prince gives his directives, we’ll announce the fare,” he said.
The time for transporting pilgrims from Arafat to Muzdalifa will be reduced to five minutes on the 9th of Dul Hijjah when the faithful will move together from the plain of Arafat to Muzdalifa. And another five minutes will take them from Muzdalifa to Mina on the 10th.
Zain Al-Abidine said the railway would operate throughout the year.
The second phase of the project will link Mashair Railway with the Grand Mosque in Makkah with a station on Umm Al-Qura Road. It will also be linked with the Haramain Railway that connects Makkah with Madinah and Jeddah.
The trains will have a test run covering 6,000 km each before starting regular operations. The first test run took place last Thursday. The railway will have 20 trains in the next stage, each with 12 carriages and each carriage holding 250 passengers. About 20 percent of passengers will be seated while 80 percent will be standing. Trains will have a speed of 80 to 120 km/hour.

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A 'Train' Of Thoughts 
In Singapore, I saw the most intelligent and safest train in the world. It runs underground without a driver. It has 29 stations above ground.

The length of its track is 33.3 km and its speed 90 km per hour. This train is electronically controlled from an operations room, whose director says controlling the train is like playing a Playstation.
There are of course other examples. Let us go to Iran. A news item says China and Iran have signed a $2 billion deal (approximately SR7.5 billion) to construct a railway line from Iran to the city of Khisrawi in Iraq, passing through a number of other cities. The story was covered on Sept. 11 by a number of newspapers, including the Egyptian publication Akhbar Al-Youm.
Now let us go to an Arab country, Libya, which has a project for two railway lines with the total length of more than 1,152 km and costing SR9.75 billion.
This means that the cost of a single kilometer of rail is SR8.5 million. These two lines are being constructed by a Chinese company.
In Saudi Arabia there is Al-Mashaer (Holy Sites) Metro, which runs on track that is only 18-km long. It is also being built by a Chinese company. Its cost is SR6.6 billion, which means that the cost of a single kilometer is SR369 million.
Let us, without any prejudice, try to understand the high cost of this metro. It is a traditional historic tram. From the pictures that were leaked, it seems that in terms of decor its cars could compete with Van Gogh’s Opium Flower painting (which was recently stolen from an Egyptian museum). The cars are painted with 24-carat gold. The floors are encrusted with jewels and precious stones. Its seats are made of silver. It incorporates state-of-the-art technology and has an intercom system, which talks to each pilgrim in his or her own language guiding on the correct methods of performing Haj.
If need be, these cars will complete the rituals for the pilgrims. All the above is no more than hypotheses and theories. The truth lies in the hearts of the officials. I asked a friend why the Singaporean train is more intelligent and cheaper? He answered: “Because you are stupid!”
— aaljamili@yahoo.com

Source: Arab News

Living Ever After

Source: Wikipedia

Several teams of American researchers have identified gene patterns linked with extreme old age.

They have found a pattern of genes that predicts with more accuracy than ever before who might live to be 100 or older - even if they have other genes linked with disease.
They studied more than 1,000 people who lived to be 100 or more and matched them to 1,200 other people to identify the genetic patterns more common in the 100-year-olds using an approach called a genome-wide association study.

To their surprise, the longest-lived people had many of the same genes linked with diseases as everyone else. Their old-age genes appeared to cancel out the effects of the disease genes.

"A lot of people might ask, 'Well, who would want to live to 100 because they think they have every age-related disease under the sun and are on death's doorstep, and certainly have Alzheimer's', but this isn't true," Dr Perls told reporters in a telephone briefing.

"We have noted in previous work that 90% of centenarians are disability-free at the average age of 93. We had long hypothesised that to get to 100 you have to have a relative lack of disease-associated variants. But in this case, we're finding that not to be the case."

They identified 19 patterns among about 150 genes and said these patterns predicted with 77% accuracy who would be in the extreme old-age group, as reported by Reuters.

Their findings, published in Friday's issue of the journal Science, offer the tantalising possibility of predicting who might hope for a longer life.
The researchers led by Paola Sebastiani and Dr Thomas Perls at Boston University say, their research provides the best accuracy.

They also cast doubt on the accuracy of tests being marketed now that offer to predict a person's risk of chronic diseases such as Alzheimer's.

******

Mr Innokenty Osadchy, a 35-year-old investment banker in Moscow is ready to pay a small fortune to freeze his brain until future technology allows him to continue his life - after being transplanted into a new body and resuscitated.

He is certain he has found a loophole out of death.

"I don't ever want to die... It wouldn't suit me," he said .

"Why do I have to die in a couple decades? I don't see any logic in this,"

"It won't be another life, it'll be the continuation of my life. "I don't ever want to die ever. Not in a year, not in a million years." Mr Osadchy told AFP.

Mr Osadchy and other clients of Russian cryonics company KrioRus believe the brain operates like a computer hard-drive and its contents can be frozen and stored for the future.

 

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  Danila Medvedev (L) and KrioRus customer Innokenty Osadchy (R) looks inside a low-temperature human brain storage unit just outside Moscow. (Photo courtesy: AFP)
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  Head of Russian cryonics firm KrioRus Danila Medvedev looks inside a low-temperature human storage unit just outside Moscow. (Photo courtesy: AFP)
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"We know that the personality is stored in the brain. So when a person's body is old, there's no reason to keep it," said Danila Medvedev, who runs KrioRus, the first cryonics outfit outside the United States.

Ms Medvedev, a smart executive sporting a suit and an iPad said to AFP, "We tell our clients it's cheaper, safer and probably better preservation just to freeze the brain."

Head of Russian cryonics firm KrioRus Danila Medvedev looks inside a liquid nitrogen filled human storage unit just outside Moscow. (Photo courtesy: AFP)

***Should the American gene researchers work together with the Russian team, will these 'immortals' be staying in Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and beyond...?  

Losing The Human Essence

A guy, standing in the sardine-packed MRT with his feet firm to the floor but his head buried in a hand-held screen.

Most likely he will still be in his stationary position - Even when the train switch track or stop for outgoing and incoming passengers.

Most likely he's not aware of himself being accidentally knocked at or he knocked at others - It is as if nothing ever happened.
He's in his own world - Do not expect an apology - Just move away from him.

Technology has drawn many users and dependents entangled in its web - At home, doing office-work, while walking down the streets, waiting for train, in between meal, everywhere except the physical world.
Trees, lush greens, babies, advertisements and grand landmarks are camouflaged by almost all evolving device and apps.

This 'symptom', retreating oneself from the natural world is fast becoming pandemic - It is most evident in our own home, neighbourhood and society at large.
Has technology change the human essence?
Will information be solely depended on the Internet?
Will our ways of thinking and flows of idea be programmed then?

With roughly 1/3 of our lives spent interacting with screens - Be it computer, tv, handphone or devices, we are all stepping into becoming digital zombies, partnering with digital technology which we depend on and will eventually determine our lives (See one's reaction when losing just a small phone).

If... One day, by GOD's will, every computer system go bust, catastrophic?
Will humans blame themselves for being too dependent on it?

Can we then, walk upright and realised how we've lost touch with the real world?