Nicolas Sarkozy

Queen Elizabeth II

Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy

Vladimir Putin

Barack Obama, Silvio Berlusconi and Dmitry Medvedev pose for a family photo during the G20 summit.

Angela Merkel

George Bush.

Gordon Brown

George Bush and Nicolas Sarkozy

Dmitry Medvedev and Barak Obama

Dmitry Medvedev

Nicolas Sarkozy

Boris Yeltsin

Silvio Berlusconi

Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

Relax, Mr. Sarkozy!

Obama Alter Ego.

Putin’s comments.

Gordon Brown sleeping

Pope John meets Bush.

Vladimir Putin and George Bush

Bush’s Heart.

1.Mossad

The Mossad known in full as the Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations is the national intelligence agency of Israel. “Mossad” is a Hebrew word for institute or institution.

The Mossad is responsible for intelligence collection and covert operations including paramilitary activities. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with Aman (military intelligence) and Shin Bet (internal security), but its director reports directly to the Prime Minister.

The “Mossad Le’aliyah Bet” was a small, unorthodox Zionist organization whose mission in 1938 was to bring Jews to the British mandate of Palestine. This was done to subvert the British quotas on Jewish immigration. The Mossad’s modes of operation, its ideology, and politics resulted in the creation of the intelligence agency for the Israeli government once it was established in 1948. The agency consisted of several of the existing members who had worked to establish Israel as a Jewish state.

2.BND

The Bundesnachrichtendienst (Federal Intelligence Service, BND) is the foreign intelligence agency of the German government, under the control of the Chancellor’s Office. Its headquarters are in Pullach near Munich, and Berlin  (planned to be centralised in Berlin by 2011). The BND has 300 locations in Germany and foreign countries. In 2005, the BND employed around 6,050 people, 10% of them Bundeswehr  soldiers; those are officially employed by the “Amt für Militärkunde” (Office for Military Sciences). The annual budget of the BND for 2009 was € 460,000,000.

The BND acts as an early warning system to alert the German government to threats to German interests from abroad. It depends heavily on wiretapping and electronic surveillance of international communications. It collects and evaluates information on a variety of areas such as international terrorism, WMD proliferation and illegal transfer of technology, organized crime, weapons and drug trafficking, money laundering, illegal migration and information warfare. As Germany’s only overseas intelligence service, the BND gathers both military and civil intelligence. However, the Kommando Strategische Aufklärung (Strategic Reconnaissance Command) of the German Armed Forces also fulfills this mission, but is not an intelligence service. There is close cooperation between the BND and the Kommando Strategische Aufklärung.

The domestic secret service counterparts of the BND are the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, BfV) and 16 counterparts at the state level Landesämter für Verfassungsschutz or State Offices for the Protection of the Constitution); there is also a separate military intelligence organisation, the Militärischer Abschirmdienst (lit. military screening service, MAD).

3.DGSE

The General Directorate for External Security (French: Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure, or DGSE) is France’s external intelligence agency. Operating under the direction of the French ministry of defence, the agency works alongside the DCRI (the Central Directorate of Interior Intelligence) in providing intelligence and national security, notably by performing paramilitary and counterintelligence operations abroad. As with most other intelligence agencies, details of its operations and organization are not made public.

The DGSE can trace its roots back to 1947, when a central external intelligence agency, known as the SDECE, was founded to combine under one head a variety of separate agencies – some, such as the Deuxième Bureau, dating from the time of Napoleon III and some, such as the BCRA, from the Free French of World War II. It remained independent until the mid-1960s, when the SDECE was discovered to have been involved in the kidnapping and presumed murder of Mehdi Ben Barka, a Moroccan revolutionary living in Paris. Following this scandal, the agency was placed under the control of the French ministry of defence. It was restructured in 1981, eventually acquiring its current name (Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure) in April 1982.

In 1992, most of the defence responsibilities of the DGSE, no longer suitable to the post-Cold War context, were transferred to the Military Intelligence Directorate (DRM), a new military agency. Combining the skills and knowledge of five military groups, the DRM was created to close the intelligence gaps of the 1991 Gulf War.

4.SIS

The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. It is frequently referred to in the mass media and popular parlance by the name MI6, a name used as a flag of convenience during the Second World War when it was known by many names. Alongside the internal Security Service (MI5), the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and the Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS), it operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC).

SIS is referred to colloquially within the Civil Service as Box 850, after its old MI6 post office box number. Its existence, or indeed that of its sister organisations, was not officially acknowledged in public until 1994. Its headquarters, since 1995, is at Vauxhall Cross on the South Bank of the Thames.

The Service is derived from the Secret Service Bureau, which was founded in 1909.[1]  It was a joint initiative of the Admiralty  and the War Office to control secret intelligence operations in the UK and overseas, particularly concentrating on the activities of the Imperial German government. The Bureau was split into naval and army sections which, over time, specialised in foreign espionage and internal counter-espionage activities respectively. This specialisation was because the Admiralty wanted to know the maritime strength of the Imperial German Navy. This specialisation was formalised before 1914. When the First World War started, the two sections underwent administrative changes so that the foreign section became the Directorate of Military Intelligence Section 6 (MI6), the name by which it is frequently known in popular culture today. Its first director was Captain Sir George Mansfield Smith-Cumming, who often dropped the Smith in routine communication. He typically signed correspondence with his initial C in green ink. This usage evolved as a code name, and has been adhered to by all subsequent directors of SIS when signing documents to retain anonymity.

5.GRU

GRU or Glavnoye Razvedyvatel’noye Upravleniye is the foreign military intelligence directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (formerly the Red Army  General Staff of the Soviet Union). GRU is the English transliteration  of the Russian acronym GRU, which meaning Main Intelligence Directorate. The official full name translation is II Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Other name, GRU GSh (GRU Generalnovo Shtaba, i.e. “GRU of the General Staff”).

The GRU is Russia’s largest foreign intelligence agency . It deploys six times as many agents in foreign countries as the SVR, which is the KGB intelligence successor. It also commanded 25,000 Spetsnaz troops in 1997.

The current GRU Director is Lieutenant General Alexander Shlyakhturov.

According to the Federation of American Scientists: “…Though sometimes compared to the US Defense Intelligence Agency, [the GRU's] activities encompass those performed by nearly all joint US military intelligence agencies as well as other national US organizations. The GRU gathers human intelligence through military attaches and foreign agents. It also maintains significant signals intelligence and imagery reconnaissance and satellite imagery capabilities.”  GRU Space Intelligence Directorate had put more than 130 SIGINT satellites into orbit. GRU and KGB SIGINT network employed about 350,000 specialists.

6.CIA

The United States of America’s intelligence community is made up of sixteen different agencies. Most notable and recognizable on that list are the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), National Security Agency (NSA), Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). While in the past these agencies operated in mostly isolated states, the sharing of intelligence information has increased considerably since the attacks of September 11, 2001. The CIA is the largest of the intelligence agencies and is responsible for gathering data from other countries that could impact U.S. policy. The NSA is the country’s intelligence agency responsible for intercepting and deciphering foreign signals while protecting the information systems of the United States. The DIA gathers intelligence information that is pertinent to military operations around the world while the FBI is the link between the intelligence and law enforcement communities in the country.

The CIA’s primary function is to collect information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and to advise public policymakers. The agency conducts covert operations and paramilitary actions, and exerts foreign political influence through its Special Activities Division. The CIA and its responsibilities changed markedly in 2004. Before December 2004, the CIA was the main intelligence organization of the US government; it coordinated and oversaw not only its own activities but also the activities of the US Intelligence Community (IC) as a whole. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 created the office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), which took over some of the government and IC-wide functions.

7.MSS

The Ministry of State Security (MSS) is the security agency of the People’s Republic of China. It is also probably the Chinese government’s largest and most active foreign intelligence agency, though it is also involved in domestic security matters.

Article 4 of the Criminal Procedure Law gives the MSS the same authority to arrest or detain people as regular police for crimes involving state security with identical supervision by the procuratorates and the courts. It is headquartered near the Ministry of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China in Beijing.

According to Liu Fuzhi, Secretary-General of the Commission for Politics and Law under the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Minister of Public Security, the mission of the MSS is to ensure “the security of the state through effective measures against enemy agents, spies, and counter-revolutionary activities designed to sabotage or overthrow China’s socialist system.”  One of the primary missions of the MSS is undoubtedly to gather foreign intelligence from targets in various countries overseas. Many MSS agents are said to have operated in the Greater China region (Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan) and to have integrated themselves into the world’s numerous overseas Chinese communities. At one point, nearly 120 agents who had been operating under non-official cover in the U.S., Canada, Western and Northern Europe, and Japan as businessmen, bankers, scholars, and journalists were recalled to China, a fact that demonstrates the broad geographical scope of MSS agent coverage.

There are many different types of sailing ship, but they all have certain basic things in common. Every sailing ship has a hull, rigging and at least one mast to hold up the sails that use the wind to power the ship. The crew who sail a ship are called sailors or hands. They take turns to take the watch, the active managers of the ship and her performance for a period.

A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.

The tall ship Elissa is a three-masted barque. She is currently moored in Galveston, Texas, and is one of the oldest ships sailing today.The Elissa was built in Aberdeen, Scotland  as a merchant  vessel in a time when steamships were overtaking sailing ships. She was originally launched on October 27, 1877.

The Elissa was rescued from destruction by ship preservationists who found her languishing in a salvage yard in Piraeus, Greece. She was purchased for $40,000, in 1975, by the Galveston Historical Foundation, her current owners.

The Elissa made her first voyage as a restored sailing ship in 1985, traveling to Corpus Christi, Texas. A year later, she sailed to New York City to take part in the Statue of Liberty’s centennial celebrations.

A full rigged ship or fully rigged ship is a sailing vessel with three or more masts, all of them square rigged. A full rigged ship is said to have a ship rig.

Christian Radich is a Norwegian full rigged ship, named after a Norwegian shipowner. The vessel was built at Framnæs shipyard in Sandefjord, Norway, and was delivered on 17 June 1937. The owner was The Christian Radich Sail Training Foundation established by a grant from an officer of that name.

The crew is 18 all together. It can accommodate 88 passengers. The Christian Radich is well known through the international release in 1958 of the Cinemiracle widescreen movie Windjammer. The Christian Radich sailed to the United States in 1976 as part of the Bicentennial Celebration, and partook in the Operation Sail parade in New York Harbor on July 4, 1976.

She won on corrected time in Class A and overall the tall ship in total in 2007, and became the only class A vessel that crossed the finish line.

USS Constitution is a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. Named by President George Washington after the Constitution of the United States of America, she is the oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat in the world. Launched in 1797, Constitution was one of the six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794. Joshua Humphreys designed these frigates to be the young Navy’s capital ships, and so Constitution and her sisters were larger and more heavily armed and built than the standard frigates of the period. Built in Boston, Massachusetts at Edmund Hartt’s shipyard, her first duties with the newly formed United States Navy were to provide protection for American merchant shipping during the Quasi War with France and to defeat the Barbary pirates in the First Barbary War.

Constitution is most famous for her actions during the War of 1812 against Great Britain, when she captured numerous merchant ships and defeated five British warships: HMS Guerriere, Java, Pictou, Cyane and Levant. The battle with Guerriere earned her the nickname of “Old Ironsides” and public adoration that has repeatedly saved her from scrapping.

The ARC Gloria’ is a training ship of the Colombian Navy.

The history of the sailing ship ARC Gloria begins in 1966, when the Colombian Government, by means of Decree Number 111, authorized the National Navy, with Vice Admiral Orlando Lemaitre Torres as its commander, to acquire a Sailing-Vessel-type three-masted Barque, for the purpose of using it as the Training Ship of the Colombian Navy.

It is said that at that time, in many meetings at work or in social events with the military leadership, the favorite topic of Admiral Lemaitre was always the need for a Training Ship. His enthusiasm and clear ideas encouraged General Gabriel Rebaiz Pizarro, the Colombian Defense Minister at the time, to support the project by taking a napkin and writing on it, “worth one sailboat,” and signing it.

After this strange “pact,” a formal contract was signed with the Spanish Naval Construction Company of Bilbao on 6 October 1966, and began to be fulfilled in April 1967.

On 7 September 1968, with the vessel moored at the wharf of Deusto Channel, official acts for the official ceremony of the National Ensign were carried out on the ship.

Longship vessels used by the Vikings, with a single mast and square sail, also propelled by oars.

Longships were naval vessels made and used by the Vikings from Scandinavia and Iceland for trade, commerce, exploration, and warfare during the Viking Age. The longship’s design evolved over many years, beginning in the Stone Age with the invention of the umiak and continuing up to the 9th century with the Nydam and Kvalsund ships. The longship appeared in its complete form between the 9th and 13th centuries. The character and appearance of these ships have been reflected in Scandinavian boat-building traditions until today. The average speed of Viking ships varied from ship to ship but lay in the range of 5–10 knots  and the maximal speed of a longship under favorable conditions was around 15 knots.

Ship of the line – the largest warship in European navies, ship-rigged

HMS Victory is a first rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, started in 1759 and launched in 1765, most famous as Lord Nelson’s flagship  at the Battle of Trafalgar. She is the oldest naval ship still in commission, and now sits in dry dock in Portsmouth, England  as a museum ship.

In June 2009 Defence Equipment & Support, DE&S requested Expressions of Interest from industry for the future support arrangements for HMS Victory. DE&S is aiming to award a single 9-year project management contract in time for planned works to commence in April 2010 through to April 2019. The sum total value of the contract award is stated to be worth between £15 million and £30 million depending on the best bidding offer, and which will be spread over the life of the contract. The contract will be funded from the UK defence budget.

Catamaran Vessel with two parallel hulls, usually identical or mirror images, linked by beams and deck or ‘trampoline’, with a central mast or hull mounted in rarer circumstances.A catamaran  is a type of multihulled boat or ship consisting of two hulls, or vakas, joined by some structure, the most basic being a frame, formed of akas. Catamarans can be sail- or engine-powered.

HSV-X1 Joint Venture was the name of a high speed catamaran passenger/car ferry previously operated by the military of the United States of America. Initially operated by the United States Navy, she was later transferred to the United States Army. This ship has served a deployment in Operation Enduring Freedom, spending time around the Horn of Africa. At the end of its service the ship was returned to its builders for further civilian use.

Built by Incat  of Tasmania, Australia, she was a commercial ferry for TT-Line as the Devil Cat before being converted for military purpose. A flight deck was added to accommodate various helicopters in the US Navy arsenal.

Joint Venture was rapidly re-configurable and could perform a variety of missions, principal among them the ability to ferry up to 325 combat personnel and 400 tons of cargo up to 3,000 miles (4,800 km) one way at speeds in excess of 40 knots (74 km/h)

]]> http://www.timeidol.com/different-types-of-a-sailing-ships/feed/ 0 http://www.timeidol.com/7-things-that-should-not-be-done-after-eating/ http://www.timeidol.com/7-things-that-should-not-be-done-after-eating/#comments Mon, 15 Mar 2010 23:28:30 +0000 panta http://www.timeidol.com/?p=2226 Here is the 7 facts that should not be done after a meal.

1. Do not smoking
Research from the experts proves that smoking a cigarette after a meal equal to smoking 10 cigarettes (the possibility of cancer is greater).

2. Do not eat fruits directly
Directly eat fruits after meals will cause stomach filled with air. For eating fruit, do it after a meal 1-2 hours or 1 hour before meals.

3. Do not drink tea
Because the tea leaves contain a high acid content. This content will cause the protein content in foods that we consume is difficult to digest.

4. Do not loosened tie around your waist (belt)
Loosen belt after a meal will cause the intestine twisted and blocked.

5. Do not walking directly
People often say that walking a few steps after eating will prolong your life. In fact this is not true. Walking will cause the digestive system can not absorb the nutrients from the foods we eat. It’s become USELESS !!

6. Do not take a Bath or Shower
Bath will increase blood flow to the hands, feet and body that causes the amount of blood around the stomach will continue to decrease. This will weaken the digestive system in our stomach.

7. Do not sleep immediately
Food that we eat can not be digested well. This will cause the intestinal inflammation and stomach experience.

And the most important thing is DON’T forget to pay the food (DO NOT OWE) if you eating in a restaur.

The word love can refer to a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes.
As an abstract concept, love usually refers to a deep, ineffable feeling of tenderly caring for another person. Even this limited conception of love, however, encompasses a wealth of different feelings, from the passionate desire and intimacy of romantic love to the nonsexual emotional closeness of familial and platonic love to the profound oneness or devotion of religious love.Love in its various forms acts as a major facilitator of interpersonal relationships and, owing to its central psychological importance, is one of the most common themes in the creative arts.
Love is a deep and complex emotion. It inspires people to heroic acts and drives them to desperate measures. Poems, plays and songs have tried to explain its mysteries and allures. Defining love is a challenge-how can you tell if the feeling you are experiencing is truly love? Love can easily be confused with lust, desire and extreme fondness.

“Love one another and you will be happy. It’s as simple and as difficult as that.”

“Where there is love there is life.”

“Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.”

“Love and work are the cornerstones of our humanness.”

“For one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most difficult of our tasks; the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation.”

“We cannot really love anybody with whom we never laugh.”

]]> http://www.timeidol.com/background-animal/feed/ 0 http://www.timeidol.com/unusual-luxury-yacht/ http://www.timeidol.com/unusual-luxury-yacht/#comments Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:30:26 +0000 panta http://www.timeidol.com/?p=1919 A yacht is a high end recreational boat. The term designates two rather different classes of watercraft, sailing and power boats. Yachts are different from working ships mainly by their leisure purpose, and it was not until the rise of the steamboat and other types of powerboat that sailing vessels in general came to be perceived as luxury, or recreational vessels. Later the term came to encompass motor boats for primarily private pleasure purposes as well.

A famous French shipbuilder ship company and one of Monaco joined hands together to build this yacht with enormous dimensions:    The WHY 58×38. (58meter long and 38 meter wide)

This is a “green” yacht.

Wally et Hermès use green energy to 20 to 30% fuel savings and 40 to 50% electricity consumption on board. Therefore there are 900 m2 equipped with solar panels, producing a daily output of 500 kW.

Equipment

Three decks, a 25 meter pool, a spa helicopterpad a 100m2 with hammam, sauna, gym and massage room,a promenade of 130 meter, a music room, a dining room, a cinema, sun decks, suites, terraces, a lounge, a bibi. The luxury is at the rendez-vous. The decks are connected by stairs but there is also an elevator.

The suite of the owner

With an area of 200m2 and completely covers the third deck. (This is the bedroom) The sea view is great and there is a private terrace of 25 meter long.

A sea of light.

The yacht has the shape of a horseshoe and has a roof so everything is bathed in a sea of light.

The spacious lounge

On the lower deck are the common premises, such as lounge, piano bar and dining area…

Dinning Room

The dining room opens onto the sea view.

Suites for the guests

For the guests, 5 suites with sea views (on the middendek).There is also a reading room equipped.

Sometimes known as Wat Lan Kuad, or Temple Of A Million Bottles, the temple uses the discarded bottles to construct everything from the crematorium to the toilets.
Altogether there are about 1.5million recycled bottles in the temple, and the monks at there are intending to recycling even more.
‘The more bottles we get, the more buildings we make,’ says Abbot San Kataboonyo.

Recycling doesn’t stop at building the temple’s buildings – mosaics around the temple, predominantly of Buddha, are made out of bottle caps.
Besides being ego-friendly, the disused bottles don’t fade, provide good lighting and are easy to clean.

They kept this up until they had nearly one million recycled bottles ready to construct their pagodas and temple.
‘Even though drinking is a sin in Buddhism, this still seems like a positive use of beer and lager bottles.’

The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter (Latin: Basilica Sancti Petri), officially known in Italian as the Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano and commonly known as St. Peter’s Basilica, is located within the Vatican City. St. Peter’s Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world, holding 60,000 people. It is the symbolic “Mother church” of the Catholic Church and is regarded as one of the holiest Christian sites. It has been described as “holding a unique position in the Christian world” and as “the greatest of all churches of Christendom”. In Catholic tradition, it is the burial site of its namesake Saint Peter, who was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus and, according to tradition, first Bishop of Rome and therefore first in the line of the papal succession.

Tradition and some historical evidence hold that Saint Peter’s tomb is directly below the altar of the basilica. For this reason, many Popes have been interred at St Peter’s since the Early Christian period. There has been a church on this site since the 4th century. Construction of the present basilica, over the old Constantinian basilica, began on April 18, 1506 and was completed on November 18, 1626.

To the east of the basilica is the Piazza di San Pietro, (St. Peter’s Square). The present arrangement, constructed between 1656 and 1667, is the Baroque inspiration of Bernini who inherited a location already occupied by an Egyptian obelisk of the 13th century BC, which was centrally placed, (with some contrivance) to Maderno’s facade. The obelisk, known as “The Witness”, at 25.5 metres (84 ft) and a total height, including base and the cross on top, of 40 metres (130 ft), is the second largest standing obelisk, and the only one to remain standing since its removal from Egypt and re-erection at the Circus of Nero in 37 AD, where it is thought to have stood witness to the crucifixion of St Peter.^[32] Its removal to its present location by order of Pope Sixtus V and engineered by Domenico Fontana on September 28, 1586, was an operation fraught with difficulties and nearly ending in disaster when the ropes holding the obelisk began to smoke from the friction. Fortunately this problem was noticed by a sailor, and for his swift intervention, his village was granted the privilege of providing the palms that are used at the basilica each Palm Sunday.

Notre Dame de Paris (‘Our Lady of Paris’ in French), also known as the Notre Dame Cathedral, is a Gothic, Roman Catholic Cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. It is the cathedral of the Catholic archdiocese of Paris: that is, it is the church that contains the “cathedra”, or official chair, of the Archbishop of Paris, André Cardinal Vingt-Trois. Notre Dame de Paris is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture in the world. It was restored and saved from destruction by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, one of France’s most famous architects. The name Notre Dame means “Our Lady” in French, and is frequently used in the names of Catholic church buildings in Francophone countries. Notre Dame de Paris was one of the first Gothic cathedrals, and its construction spanned the Gothic period. Its sculptures and stained glass show the heavy influence of naturalism, unlike that of earlier Romanesque architecture.

Notre Dame de Paris was among the first buildings in the world to use the flying buttress (arched exterior supports). The building was not originally designed to include the flying buttresses around the choir and nave. After the construction began and the thinner walls (popularized in the Gothic style) grew ever higher, stress fractures began to occur as the walls pushed outward. In response, the cathedral’s architects built supports around the outside walls, and later additions continued the pattern.

Saint Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal, (French: Oratoire Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal), is a Roman Catholicbasilica on the northern slope of Mount Royal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

In 1904, Blessed André Bessette, CSC, began the construction of a small chapel on the side of the mountain near Notre Dame College. Soon the growing number of visitors made it too small. Even though it was enlarged, a larger church was needed and in 1917 one was completed – it is called the Crypt, and has a seating capacity of 1,000. In 1924, the construction of the basilica was inaugurated; it was finally completed in 1967. The Oratory’s dome is the third-largest of its kind in the world after the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro in the Ivory Coast and Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome, and the church is the largest in Canada.

The basilica is dedicated to Saint Joseph, to whom Brother André credited all his reported miracles. These were mostly related to some kind of healing power, and many pilgrims (handicapped, blind, ill, etc.) poured into his Basilica, including numerous Protestants. On display in the basilica is a wall covered with thousands of crutches from those who came to the basilica and were healed. Pope John Paul II deemed the miracles to be authentic and beatified Brother André in 1982.

The Guadalajara Cathedral or Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady (Spanish: La Catedral de Guadalajara or Catedral de la Asunción de María Santísima), located in Guadalajara, Jalisco-Mexico, is the Roman Catholic cathedral of the Archdiocese of Guadalajara and a minor basilica. It is built in the Renaissance style, with neo-gothic towers.

The first cathedral was built in 1541 on the site of the present Templo de Santa Maria de Gracia. This primitive church was built with adobe and a thatched roof. On May 30, 1574, during Mass, neighbors fired shots into the air. Some of these fell onto the church and caught fire, severely damaging the church. Work began on a new cathedral designed by master architect Martin Casillas, but progressed slowly because of scarce funds. The new cathedral was completed in February 1618. Finally in April of that year, the blessed sacrament was moved from the former church to the new one. In 1818, an earthquake shook the city, causing the towers and the dome to collapse. These were replaced, but the new structures were destroyed by a subsequent earthquake in 1849. The new towers were designed by architect Manuel Gomez Ibarra. Construction took three years and cost 33,521 pesos. The new structures were completed in 1854. PopePius XII elevated the cathedral to the rank of minor basilica.

The cathedral of Seville, Spain

The cathedral of Seville – in English die Kathedrale Sevillas – auf Deutsch La Cattedrale di Siviglia – in Italiano La cathédrale de Séville – en Français De kathedraal van Sevilla – in het Nederlands La catedral de Sevilla – en Español
It is one of the last Spanish Gothic cathedrals, and the Renaissance style is already evident there. Its impressive size makes it the third largest in the Christian world, after Saint Peter’s in Vatican city and Saint Paul’

The exterior shows off particularly well the artistry of the unknown architect in playing with volumes and spaces. You enter by the Pardoner’s door, formerly the majestic entrance of the old mosque and you will see another vestige: the peaceful Orange tree courtyard.

Inside the cathedral of Seville you will be struck by the size and richness of this universe of stone, stained glass windows and wrought iron work. The lightness of the columns accentuates the height of this hall-church with five spaces and lateral chapels. The simple crossing ogive vaults cover the nave except for the transept crossing where the flamboyant vaults stand 56 m tall. A mirror in the floor lets you appreciate the superb carving.

St. Mary Major, Rome

The Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore is the only Roman basilica that retained the core of its original structure, left intact despite several additional construction projects and damage from the earthquake of 1348. It is one of the five ancient basilicas of Rome. Pope Liberius Pope from 352 to 366. Liberius was pope during the turbulence caused by the rise of Arianism—a heresy teaching that Christ was not truly divine but was rather a created being. commissioned the construction of the first Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore circa 360. The night between August 4th and 5th 352 the Pontiff dreamed that the Blessed Virgin Mary invited him to build a Basilica where on the next day he would have found snow. According to legend, the outline of the church was physically laid out on the ground of the miraculous snowfall that took place on August 5, 358. Dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of the Snows, local Roman Catholics commemorate the miracle on each anniversary by dropping white rose petals from the dome during the feast mass.

Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Newark, New Jersey

The Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, is an impressive French gothic cathedral with intricate sculptures, bronze doors, and over 200 stained glass windows.  It’s about the size of London’s Westminster Abbey – only in Newark, New Jersey.
Following nearly 95 of planning, building, planning some more, and changing plans, the cathedral was finished in 1954.  The Cathedral was elevated to the status of a Basilica by Pope John Paul II when he visited in 1995.
Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart is located at 89 Ridge Street, in Newark, New Jersey.  In addition to the Mass schedule, the cathedral is open to the public Monday – Saturday, 9 am – 7 pm, and Sunday 1-3 pm.  Concerts and other musical performances are offered throughout the year.
Sacred Heart is the fifth largest cathedral in the United States, and holds the largest pipe organ ever built.  To fully appreciate the power and magnificence of a pipe organ, you really must hear it in person.  But until you can, here’s a wonderful taste of what’s to come.

Grace Cathedral, San Francisco

Grace Cathedral is home to a community where the best of Episcopal tradition courageously embraces innovation and open-minded conversation, where inclusion is expected and people of all faiths are welcomed, where beliefs are put into action and where people are encouraged to seek God and progress on their own spiritual journeys. The cathedral itself, a renowned San Francisco landmark, serves as a magnet, where diverse people gather to worship, celebrate, seek solace, converse and learn.

The National Cathedral in Washington DC

This Cathedral is officially known as The Cathedral Church of St. Peter and St. Paul. It had its beginning in 1803 when Congress incorporated the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation. The Foundation was laid in 1907 in the presence of President Theodore Roosevelt and the Cathedral was completed in 1990 in the presence of President George W.H. Bush. Built of Indiana limestone this is the 6th largest church in the world. It is built in the Gothic Style.

Cathedral  ST. Gerhard ,Vrsac, Serbia

It is located on the site of the former church which had been dedicated to the same saint and it existed until 1860. The new church, which today represents one of the most representative buildings in the town, was built between 1860 and 1863, using the projects of a certain architect from Vienna, whose name was not recorded. His project was made in detail, according to the medieval Gothic culture. The building is composed as the basilica with three naves with strongly made transept in the east, wich gives the base a shape of a Latin cross. On the west side is a small porch with two thin, high bell-towers, covered with sharp-pointed roof. The lavish decoration of the facade is the most beautiful on the portals, windows, rosettes, counterfores and bell-towers.The interior of the church is richly equipped with the carved furniture, decorated with wall and altar painings, stained-glass windows and sculptures. The main altar was painted by Peter Johan Geiger, a professor of the Vienna Academy, in 1863.

The birth of Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell, caused extensive media and public interest and continuing debate. In the light of this debate it is necessary to clarify what the event actually implies. First, scientifically it shows that in mammals it is possible to re-set the genetic programming that occurs during development. Secondly, it facilitates the exact reproduction of valuable transgenic animals or of elite lines e.g. of cattle.The main ethical implications however – the ones that excited the public and the media – relate to possible applications in the reproduction of humans. Leaving aside the safety issues – which remain very significant – the strong consensus is that it would be unethical to deliberately create a child in someone else’s genetic image. However, the use of cloning to generate stem cells to treat certain degenerative diseases is a potential application that many

Cloned animals:

What  are  the  risks of cloning?

When we hear of cloning successes, we learn about only the few attempts that worked. What we don’t see are the many, many cloning experiments that failed! And even in the successful clones, problems tend to arise later, during the animal’s development to adulthood.Cloning animals shows us what might happen if we try to clone humans. What have these animals taught us about the risks of cloning?Some scientists, however, say cloning animals can have a lot of benefits for humans.The question of human cloning is even more controversial. Perhaps a few people–the adventurous types!–would clone themselves.We need to be careful.Of course, this is a crazy idea because we do not know about the consequences of cloning experiments. I believe that cloning might have benefits for our society, and attempts to clone humans may help us to survive. But, who knows? Maybe new cloning techniques will create more problems than they will solve. Stability is the most important thing for most human beings, and many people want to ban cloning because they think it could be dangerous. The results could be unpredictable.We need to be careful. We don’t want to do it the wrong way and have to admit we made a mistake. There is no question that cloning experiments must be controlled.

Designing babies

A new form of cloning has been developed that is easier to carry out than the technique used to create Dolly the sheep, raising fears that it may one day be used on human embryos to produce “designer” babies. Scientists who used the procedure to create baby mice from the skin cells of adult animals have found it to be far more efficient than the Dolly technique, with fewer side effects, which makes it more acceptable for human use. The mice were made by inserting skin cells of an adult animal into early embryos produced by in-vitro fertilisation (IVF). Some of the resulting offspring were partial clones but some were full clones – just like Dolly.
Unlike the Dolly technique, however, the procedure is so simple and efficient that it has raised fears that it will be seized on by IVF doctors to help infertile couples who are eager to have their own biological children.

The experiments on mice demonstrated that it is now possible in principle to take a human skin cell, reprogramme it back to its embryonic state and then insert it into an early human embryo. The resulting child would share some of the genes of the person who supplied the skin tissue, as well as the genes of the embryo’s two parents. These offspring are chimeras – a genetic mix of two or more individuals – because some of their cells derive from the embryo and some from the skin cell. Technically, such a child would have three biological parents.