Perpetual Smiling Blogger Award and Best Mom Award

It's an honor to received these two wonderful awards. The Perpetual Smiling Award from WindMill

and the Best Mom Award from Melody

I am all smiles and grateful.. thank you so much my dear friends for remembering.

Have a great weekend! :)

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Pink Fridays - Pink iPod shuffle

I'm joining Pink Mama's Pink Fridays Meme. This meme is very easy, all you need to do is post a picture of anything “pink.” And here's a picture of the pink iPod shuffle for my first entry.

I got this iPod shuffle from a Christmas raffle last year.

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Summer tips: keeping your home cool

It’s official: Summer is here. The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) announced yesterday the official onset of the dry season with the end of the northeast monsoon. Weathermen advised Pinoys to wear light clothing, caps and apply sun block for protection against harmful ultra-violet rays of the sun, they say this year’s summer would be hotter than in the past.

As the temperature rises, so does the cost of cooling your home especially if you use an air conditioner. Though air conditioner is the best way to keep our home cool during summer, I guess it’s time to think and find other options that won’t raise your energy bill quite significantly. This summer you can minimize the use of your air conditioner, why not try these environmentally-friendly alternative. Fundamentally, the idea is to minimize sources of heat and remove built-up heat from inside.

A ceiling fan is a great alternative to an air condition, it’s decorative and doesn't make a lot of noise. Ceiling fan can be a great investment for your home, this one appliance can make a room feel 6 or 7 degrees cooler. Use the fan to move cool air in the summer (blades rotate counter-clockwise) and warm air in the winter (reverse the motor so that the blades rotate clockwise). In the summer, the fan creates a "wind-chill" effect, making you feel cooler. In the winter, the rotation of the blades creates a slight updraft which moves the warmer air at the ceiling downward to warm the room. Ceiling fans not only provide that relief from the heat, but also can help homeowners save money and energy all year long.

Always remember that the best way to keep your home cool is to keep the heat out. So to reflect the heat away from the house, install white window shades, drapes, or blinds. Also close blinds, shades and draperies facing the sun (east-facing windows in the morning and west-facing windows in the afternoon) to keep the sun’s heat out and help fans or air conditioners cool more efficiently.

Internal heat- the most common sources of internal heat gain are; appliances, electronic devices, and lighting. Now if you have air conditioning, use it wisely. Don’t put lamps, televisions or other heat-generating appliances next to your air-conditioning thermostat, the heat they produce will cause the air conditioner to run longer. When cooking, use your range fan to vent the hot air out of your house. By reducing the amount of heat in your home, you will have to use less energy to cool it.

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Changing Wordpress theme

What's keeping me busy? Well aside from my regular office works i'm currently scouring the net for the best wordpress theme for my other blog Musings of a Pinay Working Mom. Thanks to Mommy Ruby's help i can finally change my blog's layout. For me changing Wordpress theme is not as easy as changing Blogger's layout since i'm more familiar with Blogger. With Wordpress, FTP is required to upload the new theme and as of the moment i'm still trying to learn how to use it. So this is it for now, will try to finish changing my wordpress theme soon so i could write more sensible posts next time.

Have a great day! :)

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2009 Oscar Award Winners

What’s the latest in entertainment news? Well if you’re a fan of Hollywood Stars and interested in the recent Oscar Awards Night, then take a look at the winners of the prestigious Oscar Awards for this year:

Best Actress - Kate Winslet (The Reader)
Best Actor - Sean Penn (Milk)
Best Supporting Actress- Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona)
Best Supporting Actor - Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)
Best Costume- Design The Dutches
Best Cinematography - Slumdog Millionaire
Best Make-up - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Art Direction- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Short Film- La Maison In Petite Cubes
Best Original Screenplay - Milk
Best Documentary - Man On Wire
Best Documentary Short Smile Pinki
Best Visual Effect - Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Sound - Slumdog Millionaire
Best Adapted Screenplay- Slumdog Millionaire
Best animation- Wall-E
Best Costume- Design The Dutches
Best Cinematography - Slumdog Millionaire
Best Make-up - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Art Direction- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Music (Score) - Slumdog Millionaire
Best Music (Song) - Slumdog Millionaire
Best Film Editing Slumdog Millionaire
Best Short Film- La Maison In Petite Cubes
Best Short Film Live Action - Spielzeugland (Toyland)
Best Foreign Language Film- Departures Japan
Best Director - Slumdog Millionaire
Best Motion Picture - Slumdog Millionaire

The best foreign language film Japan's "Departures" is a film depicting the esoteric practices of a mortician who works to preserve the dignity of a person even after death.

The best motion picture award "Slumdog Millionaire" is a rags-to-riches drama and a Mumbai-set love story.

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Great weekend

How’s your weekend? Mine was great! Yesterday we had our usual family gathering at my parents’ house. My mom’s youngest brother and his family came also to visit us. Our uncle lives in Manila and we only see them on special occasions, so imagine the excitement and joy in our faces upon seeing each other again after quite sometime.

My kids, nephews, nieces and my uncle’s apo had a great time playing all day, while hubby, my brother, brother-in-law, and cousin enjoyed playing billiard. Hubby was very lucky yesterday he won in their pustahan, he said he did some nice shots something that’s really unexpected.hehe.. well he admits luck is just on his side, he knows my brother is a better player than him. ^_^

While the “boys” and kids are having some good time the “girls” (me, mother, sister and aunt) on the other hand were in the kitchen preparing some snacks. I was looking for a box cutter when my aunt approached me and said, "Elvz could you teach me how to blog? " I was surprised when I heard it from her, I didn’t know she knew about my blogging activities. Later I’ve learned that it was my mom who told her about it. And so i told her everything she wants to know about blogging. She said she’s a good cook and loves cooking a lot so I advised her to make a recipe blog since it’s her specialty. She’s happy and excited, and I’m excited as well i can't wait to see the new recipes she’s going to share in her blog.

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Weekend inspirations: A Box of Kisses

It's time for another weekend inspirations. This weekend i want to share this touching and inspiring story. Hope you'll like it. :)

A Box Of Kisses

The story goes that some time ago, a man punished his 3-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and he became infuriated when the child tried to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree.

Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next morning and said, "This is for you, Daddy." He was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, but his anger flared again when he found the box was empty.

He yelled at her, "Don't you know that when you give someone a present, there's supposed to be something inside it?"

The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and said,"Oh, Daddy, it is not empty. I blew kisses into the box. All for you, Daddy."

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged for her forgiveness.

It is told that the man kept that gold box by his bed for years and whenever he was discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.

In a very real sense, each of us as humans have been given a gold container filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children, friends, family and God. There is no more precious possession anyone could hold.

HAPPY WEEKEND!! GOD BLESS US ALL!

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Shoot out or rubout?

While watching ABS-CBN News last night my attention was focused on the report about the three suspected car thieves killed in a police operation in EDSA Quezon City. A reporter was able to capture on video the final minutes of the operation, which authorities said began in Mandaluyong City when police spotted and pursued a vehicle reported stolen last month.

Police claimed the suspects opened fire on them forcing them to fire back. But the footage captured by ABS-CBN shows several policemen firing their weapons inside the suspects' car at close range! The video footage was to shown Human Rights Commissioner Leila de Lima, who said the police violated rules of engagement.

Now there are allegations that what happened was a rubout case. Well, based on the footage, I also believe those police officers really abused their powers. The operation may be legitimate but it doesn’t necessarily mean they have the right to kill humans like an animal. I just hope the incident will serve as a lesson on both sides, for the car thieves to realize their wrong doings and for the police officers to stop their abuse in power.

Oh well I know for us humans it’s impossible, only miracle and God’s intervention will make it happen. I guess what we need now especially for car owner is to do everything to secure our vehicles. Wireless alarm systems and other car security gadgets are already available in the market, so i think it's advisable to have them for our safety and peace of mind.

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We made it!

Yesterday i wasn't able to post anything 'cause i'm loaded with work here in our office, i tried also at home but our computer monitor didn't cooperate with me. Since i can't do anything i promise that as soon as i arrived in the office today i will try to catch up especially on EC dropping, anyway i usually arrive at 6:30 am that's one and a half hour earlier before 8:00 am so i have some spare time to write and drop before my work starts.

But something happened which i thought my kids and I wouldn't able to make it on time to school and office today. Around 5:15 am husband was surprised when he saw our car's flat tire! He immediately get the crocodile car lifts and tools to change it.

Good thing the process went on smoothly, husband finished changing the tires with just a minimal delay on time. I'm glad we made it! i arrived here at around 6:45 am, now i still have time to blog hop and drop again. Oh well, see you guys! ^_^

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Valentine's Love Meme

Windmill of Windmill on the Hill shares his love to all his friends this Valentine’s day by taking part of this special Valentine’s Day Meme.

Thank you so much Windmill for thinking of me, I really appreciate the thought :)

***start copy***

Rules:

1. Once you're tagged, install the corner banner at your blog as a third party html code. (The corner banner need to stay at your blog for at least 2 weeks). Get the banner code here.
2. Post about this meme, Valentine's Love.
3. Add your blog/s with link/s to the Valentine's Lovers list and leave a comment at this post HERE.
4. Tag all your special friends.
5. Please remember to update your list regularly so that you would not miss out anyone in your Valentine's Lovers list.

Valentine's Lovers:

1.A Great Pleasure 2.Time Goes By 3.Listen With Your Heart 4.Glossalicious 5. Wishing on a Falling Star 6. Mariuca's Perfume Gallery 7. Simply Shinade 8. A Simple Life 9. Mommy's Little Corner 10. Ramblings of the Phat 11. 0007 Undercover TAGMEMAWARD CAT 12. Notes by Marvic 13. Maiylah's Snippets 14. Picture Clusters 15. This is a Miracle 16. purplefrogcat 17. Also Mommy 18. Both Sides Now 19. illusionaire 20. Candles, Crafts and Whatnot 21. The Brainy Bimbo 22. Sweet Nothings 23. Turn-u-Off 24. Chopsticks 25. My Views On My So Called Life 26. Gagay 27. Empty Streets 1027 28. Life According To Me 29. Yummy-as-can-be 30. Mom...Check Nyo 31. Everything Under the Sun 32. My Sweet Escape 33. Never Enough Stuff 34. Windmill on the Hill 35. Snapshot 36. Twinkletoe Writing Space 37. A Piece of M.I.N.D 38. Life is too short to be ordinary... 39. Our Journey to Forever 40. What a colourful life!! 41. Oh Fer Cryin' Out Loud 42. My Online Paradise 43. My Life Story 44. Moments of Colours 45. Lynn's Chic Spot 46. Simply The Best 47. The Spirit of Blogging 48. Tales of A Pinay Single Mom 49. Simple Life 50. Hit-or-Miss 51. Show Me Your Interest 52. Soy Wax Candles Blog 53. Night Clicks 54. Housewife @ Work 55. Pretty Firefly56. Straight from the Heart

***end copy***

Now i'm spreading the love to:

Blessings and Beyond
Garden of moments
Girl for all status
Mary Anne's Musings
Midlife dancing
Mommy passionista
My Hideaway
Pinaywahm
Survivor Mom
Tripsey Turvey

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Happy Heart's Day

Straight from my heart :)

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Heart-shaped light bulb

I was looking a for a unique gift to give for my hubby this Valentines' Day, yesterday while we're at SM City Baliuag we went to Ace Hardware to look for car accessories. He's collecting nice stuffs to dress up our car so i just bought him a 7 color windshield washer which he said he really wanted to have. Before we proceed to the cashier i looked around for some other items on sale, I was in the light bulbs section when I spotted a heart shaped plug in light bulb. I find it cute and a unique gift for Valentine's Day so i also bought one for him ^_^

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Valentine Linky Love Part 2

= Start Copy Here =

VALENTINE LINKY LOVE
SPREADING LOVE ALL OVER THE WORLD

‘For God so loVed the world,
That He gAve
His onLy
BegottEn
SoN
That whosoever
Believeth In Him
Should Not perish,
But have Everlasting life.’John 3:16

Master List: 1. Pinay Mommy Online 2. Small and Simple Things 3. Heartnet02 4. Aha Mama! 5. A Simple Life 6. Walking Newspaper 7. Debugging My Life 8. My Piece of Paradise 9. Kizuna 10. Rose’s Obstacles and Glories 11. Ylan’s Adaptation 12. Mommy’s Gossip Corner 13. Life is What You Make It 14. My Wonderful Life 15. My Life’s Journey 16. Christinchen’s Soapbox 17. Survivor Mom 18. The Artist in Me by Twinks 19. Live Love Laugh 20. Straight from the Heart 21. Your next…

Rules:
1. Post this tag in your blog if you believe in the message. Please don’t forget to copy from = Start Copy Here = to = End Copy Here =. If you want, please include your own thoughts about LOVE.
2. Tag as many friends as you want to help spread the message to the world.
3. Comment with the link of your post here so that you will be included in the master list.
4. Don’t forget to come back to the master post once in awhile to check and update your own blog’s master list.
5. Please don’t delete this tag or out no follow tags. Let’s spread love and so as linky loves. Thanks!

= End Copy Here =

I'm tagging Musings of a Pinay Working Mom, My beach wedding in mauritius, and Made Me Glad

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Mother changed her mind

Yesterday we dropped by at my parents place to visit them, when we arrived I saw my mom in her small garden fixing her potted plants. I’ve learned that her dog chased a stray cat right there in her garden causing the pots to fall and her plants to scatter. Because of the incident her pvc fence installation plan one month ago would likely push through. At first she was hesitant to install the pvc fence thinking it’s not important but after what happened she finally changed her mind.

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Yesterday..

This morning my heart leaps with joy when I learned that a fellow blogger find my post Valentine's Day Trivia an interesting article. I’m referring to Windmill the author of Windmill on the Hill (read his post here, he also shares interesting thoughts about Valentine).

He’s right when he said the article is too short, if only I had the luxury of time yesterday I could have made my article longer. Well it’s because I have allotted some of my time searching for Austin jobs, I’m helping my brother who’s in Dubai right now. We had a chat the other day and he told me his employer has started to layoff some of his co-workers. And since his status in the Company is uncertain, he already decided to look for another job in Canada or US. He asked for my help since I always have access in the Internet unlike him. I just hope he could find a new job, he has two kids to support back here and loosing his job will make life difficult for him and his family.

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Valentine’s Day Trivia

Few days from now we will be celebrating the most romantic day of the year- Valentine’s Day. Ever wondered how February 14 became the day on which we celebrate Valentines Day?

There are different stories and opinions on how Valentines Day started. One story say that during the Roman Empire a festival every February was held in honor of the God of Fertility and during this time young Roman men and women would pair off as lovers. However Roman Emperor Claudius II outlawed all marriages thinking unmarried soldiers would be more likely to enlist in the army. But couples in love and still wished to marry took their desires to the Catholic Bishop Valentine who performed secret marriages. When Claudius found out, he had Valentine arrested and ordered put to death. While in jail waiting for his execution, Valentine began exchanging letters with the jailer’s daughter and soon had fallen in love with her. The day he was to be beheaded, he wrote her one last note and signed it: From Your Valentine. Bishop Valentine was executed for his “crimes” on February 14th.

The 14th of February has been set apart as the special day to remember St. Valentine. This was one day before the Roman Feast of Lupercalia, a pagan love festival. In 496 A.D. Pope Gelasius changed Lupercalia from the 15th to the 14th to try and stop the pagan festival. The church realized that there was nothing wrong with celebrating love, only the pagan elements were wrong. And so Valentine had become known as the patron of love.

The tradition of sending Valentine’s Day cards likely originated in 1415 when Charles, duke of Orleans, sent several rhymed love letters to his wife in France while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. In 1537, St. Valentine’s Day was declared an official holiday by England’s King Henry VIII. Over the years, people began to send Valentine’s Day love letters using poems copied from booklets of verse. The first commercial valentine appeared in the early 1800s.

Other trivias and romantic fun facts:

The first American publisher of valentines was printer and artist Esther Howland. In the 1870s, her elaborate lace cards were purchased by the wealthy, as they cost a minimum of 5 dollars with some selling for as much as 35 dollars.

The first photograph of a U.S. President (President James Polk) was taken on February 14, 1849 by Matthew Brady in New York City.

In USA two cities was named after St. Valentine in honor of the patron saint of lovers- Valentine, Nebraska and Valentine, Texas.

Approximately one billion Valentine’s Day cards are exchanged annually. One-fourth of Valentine’s Day cards are humorous.

More than half of shoppers spend more than $3 for a Valentine’s Day card. Gifts accompany one-third of all Valentine cards.

Sweethearts are last on the list when it comes to receiving Valentine’s Day cards. Teachers are first, children come next, followed by mothers, wives and sweethearts.

Candy comes in second next to cards in popularity for Valentine’s Day. Chocolate is the favorite. Men prefer to give or receive dark chocolate. Women favor milk chocolate.

Around three percent of pet owners give Valentine’s Day gifts to their companion animals.

Valentine’s Day ranks No. 1 among holidays when it comes to fresh flower purchases. Men buy Valentine’s Day flowers for romantic reasons in contrast to women who purchase flowers for their mothers, daughters and friends, as well as sweethearts just to say they care. 110 million roses, the majority red, will be sold and delivered within a three-day time period. And 15% of American women will send themselves flowers on Valentine's Day.

That’s it I hope you enjoyed these trivia that surrounds the International Sweethearts Day.

Advance happy heart’s day!

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My Lola's birthday

Hello everybody how’s your weekend? I hope you had a great time like us. Yesterday we celebrated my grandmother’s 87th birthday at her residence, it also serves as our yearly family reunion. Each of her ten children was assigned to bring something for lunch and snacks. While all the working “apos” were asked to contribute cash money to use as prize for party games.

Everybody was very happy, young and old participated in the games. My son, nephew and nieces prepared a dance number for their Lola Inang.

We know that Grandma wants to enjoy her special day but she’s already sickly and weak so from time to time she has to rest inside her bedroom.

We left at around 5:30 pm, before we go home we drop by at my parents place to have dinner with them. By 8:00 pm we safely arrived in our place. But we were surprised when we saw our pet dog outside the gate. Though it didn’t escaped because it was tied inside we’re clueless at how it managed to get out. The gate has small grills below but we doubt if the dog can slipped in between or under the gate since the dog is bigger than its spaces.The thought of someone entered our house suddenly popped in my mind. The dog possibly managed to get out when somebody opened the gate. We immediately checked everything inside and outside of our house if something is missing, luckily there’s none. Thank God! Well that experience serves as a warning to us, so now we’re thinking of changing our simple door locks with the best door hardware products.

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Weekend Inspirations

This is my first entry to my Weekend Inspirations. I thought of sharing inspirational quotes or Bible verses every Saturday since i can't blog on Sundays. I want to leave something that will inspire you over the weekend. Hope you'll like it. :)

"When we're weak and despair,
Our mighty God is near;
He'll give us strength, joy and hope,
And calm our inner fear."- Sper

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. - Romans 15:13

It's when we can't do anything that God does everything.. Happy Weekend, God bless!

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Life is Grand

Windmill on the Hill gave me the Life is Grand award. Thank you very much Windmill!

I am supposed to list 5 reasons why life is grand and here it goes:
1. Blessed with a second life after a car accident.
2. Despite the economic crisis I am blessed with a stable job.
3. Everybody in the family has been fairly healthy.
4. Offline and online opportunities are coming.
5. I am blessed with a loving and supportive parents.

I think this award is for everybody so i hope you guys grab it. Happy weekend! ^_^

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Adapting to changes

My parents own a small trading business, they sell assorted goods to wet markets and small grocery stores in nearby towns. Last week my sister informed me that they are now required to adapt the bar code system since some of their client has started using barcode scanners. She managed to get some help and was able to get the application forms from GS1 Philippines Inc. A few days after the forms were submitted, my sister finally received the documents bearing the assigned bar code number.

Everyday we see bar codes everywhere and i believe each bar codes are unique for every manufacturer/seller nationwide. I wonder how they came up with each of the codes and figures like the one shown here. Oh well my sister will attend a seminar at GS1 Philippines Inc. this afternoon, maybe after that seminar she can answer all the questions i have in mind.

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Treasured Award

Nanay Belen of Survivor Mom gave me this Treasured Award.. Nay thanks so much po, i'm honored to be considered as one of your treasured friends :)

Now I would like to share this award to my friends that i also treasure: Arlene, Aeirin, Ruby, MaryAnne, Zriz, Rechie, Windmill, Gen, Nedeckir, Pearl, Tricia

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Breaking news: Iran launches first home-built satellite

Iran has launched its first domestically manufactured satellite into orbit which raised fresh concerns among world powers already at odds with Iran over its nuclear drive. The Omid (Hope) satellite was sent into space on Monday evening carried by the home-built Safir-2 space rocket, Iranian news agencies reported.

The launched coincides with the 30th anniversary of Islamic revolution. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on a state television said, "Dear Iranians, your children have put the first indigenous satellite into orbit, with this launch the Islamic Republic of Iran has officially achieved a presence in space."

US President Barack Obama has offered to open a dialogue, but White House spokesman Robert Gibbs expressed disappointment with the Iranian move following the overtures made by the new US president. "This action does not convince us that Iran is acting responsibly to advance stability or security in the region," Gibbs told reporters. "All of this continues to underscore that our administration will use all elements of our national power to deal with Iran and to help it be a responsible member of the international community," he said.

In London, British Foreign Office minister Bill Rammell voiced "serious concerns" over the launch. "This test underlines and illustrates our serious concerns about Iran's intentions," Rammell said in a statement, adding that Britain was still carrying out technical analyses.

The launch comes at time when Iran is ignoring repeated UN Security Council demands to freeze sensitive nuclear work. The West suspects Iran of secretly trying to build an atomic bomb and fears the technology used to launch a space rocket could be diverted into development of long-range ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

Iran vehemently denies the charges, saying its nuclear program is for peaceful energy purposes only and that it has the right to the technology already in the hands of many other nations including archfoe the United States. Ahmadinejad said the satellite carried a message of "peace and brotherhood" to the world and dismissed suggestions that Iran's space program had military goals. "We have a divine view of technology unlike the dominating powers of the world who have Satanic views," he said.

Reza Taghipour, head of the Iranian space agency, said Iran would launch another satellite carrier by the end of the Iranian year on March 20, Fars said.

This news is a serious matter and for me there's a reason to be alarmed. So we should pray and seek God's divine intervention. I hope the leaders of Iran government really meant what they said: the satellite carried a message of "peace and brotherhood" to the world.

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dNeero-ites in Asia

Here's another interesting survey at dNeero, and this time the subject of their research are Asians like me. They want to reach out to many dNeero-ites in East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia thru dNeero convos. Join now and let's help dNeero and their clients to know what we would like to see in dNeero convos!

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