Dutch Jaffna and the Rise and Fall of the VOC, the World’s First Multinational Company!

Writen by Rajkumar Kanagasingam

During the Dutch period in Asia, all Dutch colonial operations were overseen by the VOC, the “Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie” or the Dutch East India Company.

When the Estates-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia, the VOC, the first multinational corporation in the world and the first company to issue stocks entered its acitivities in Asia in 1602.

The VOC employed not only Dutch nationals, but also enlisted men from Belgium, Friesland, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Austria.

Jaffna had been a busy trading town and the most important city in the North of the Island.

Jaffna was the last remaining important stronghold of the Portuguese, when it was conquered by the VOC in 1658.

The VOC had eliminated all its competitors in the Island.

The Dutch-Portuguese War prompted the VOC to establish its headquarters in Jakarta, Indonesia with other colonial outposts in Asia and forcibly maintained a monopoly over nutmeg and mace by violent suppression of the native populations and mass murders.

In Dutch times Jaffna was a centre for the pearl fishery, textile industry and the trade in elephants with India.

The VOC traded throughout Asia. Ships were coming from the Netherlands carrying silver from Spanish mines in Peru with copper from Japan, and trading with India and China for textiles.

The VOC was also instrumental in introducing European ideas and technology to Asia.

The Company supported Christian missionaries and traded modern technology with China and Japan.

The VOC was the richest private company the world had ever seen, with over150 merchant ships, 40 warships, 50,000 employees, a private army of 10,000 soldiers, and a dividend payment of 40%.

In the surroundings the VOC tried to spread the protestant religion, but the difference between the protestant and Catholic religion was not quit clear to the local people.

Jaffna was a busy trading center and the most important commodities of Jaffna were cotton, ready made clothes, pearls and elephants in the Dutch era.

Indian maharajas bought the elephants to use them in warfare.

The animals were caught in a trap and afterwards were taken out one-by-one and tied up and sometimes even baptized!

After being tied up for eight days the animals became tame and then the training could begin.

In Jaffna, the VOC had great power.

This situation was quite unique in Jaffna for an organization to control the affairs as a de facto ruler.

One of the consequences of this VOC rule was the collection of taxes, which were much higher than that of the Portuguese.

In 1676 the population revolted against the VOC, but the VOC broke the rebellion and the tax collection continued.

After the fourth war between the Netherlands, then as United Provinces and Great Britain in1780-1784, the VOC got into financial trouble, and in 1798, the company was dissolved and the legacy of the first multinational company which was an important trading concern for almost two centuries in Asia finally came to an end and was awarded finally to the Kingdom of the Netherlands by the Congress of Vienna in 1815.

George Soros

Writen by Mark Crisp

Today, as a 70% owner of $2.1 billion Quantum, the world’s largest offshore investment fund, Soros and the other six managing directors split 15% of the annual profits.

He spends most of his time in his home in England and helping fellow Hungarians and other Eastern Europeans reacquaint themselves with capitalism. To bankroll that effort, he created the Open Society Fund in 1979 and the Soros Foundation-Hungary in 1984. Known as “an alternate ministry of culture,” the foundation helped establish a management training center in an old castle outside Budapest.

Now there are foundations in 10 Central and Eastern European countries aimed at cultural and economic revitalization. Soros, 59, is the author of The Alchemy of Finance, published in 1987, in which he outlines, somewhat circuitously, his “theory of reflexivity,” which holds that perceptions change events which in turn, change perceptions.

This is not his first attempt at writing. Soros did extensive work several years earlier on a philosophical book that was never completed. His new book, Opening the Soviet System, is due out this month.

Financial World
The Wall Street 100
By Stephen Taub and David Carey with Alison M. Smith
July 21, 1992
Page 40

No. 1 GEORGE SOROS
Soros Fund Management
At least $117 million

Despite the fact that Hungarian-born George Soros spends much of his time these days touting capitalism in former East Bloc countries, he was still able to find a way for his $3.2 billion offshore Quantum fund, which rose around 63%, to outperform most managed porfolios and market indexes.

Who says bigger can’t also perform better? After he claimed a chunk of Quantum’s 15% incentive fee and the fund’s entire 1% management fee, Soros’s personal take computed into 9 figures. Not too shabby, considering how much time the 61-year-old globe-trotter spends away from home. One of his more recent pet projects has been the establishment of the Central European University in Budapest and Prague. In the past year or so, he still found time to launch three spin-off funds - Quasar International Partners, Quantum Emerging Growth and Quota.

Financial World
The Wall Street 100
By Stephen Taub, Nanette Byrnes, and David Carey
July 6, 1993
Page 40

No. 1 GEORGE SOROS
Soros Fund Management
At least $650 million

How do you make $650 million in one year if you are not Mike Milken? Simple. First, start the year with about $800 million of your own money and other $4 billion of other peoples’.That is nearly $5 billion in all under management. Then hire crack managers and traders who rack huge returns trafficking highly volatile currencies and derivatives instruments. Finally, charge hefty management and incentive fees. Result: Last year 62-year-old George Soros’s Quantum Fund was up 68.1% after fees; Quantum Emerging, up 57%; Quasar International, 55.7%; and Quota, 37.4%. Quantum and Quasar charge 1% management fees and 15% of the appreciation while the other two funds charge 1% plus 20%.

Moreover, Soros invests a big portion of his assets in currencies and index-linked derivatives but never for long. He flits in and out of these instruments incessantly, rarely holding a position for more than a few days. As a result, he realizes capital gains on the vast bulk of the nominal returns he generates in a given year. Do the arithmetic and you’ll see that at a bare minimum, Soros extracted more than $400 million in profits from his personal hoard.

A conservative estimate of his share of his firm’s incentive fees tacks on another $200 million or so to the total. Finally, Soros awards himself all his firms management fees, which netted him about $50 million. Presto: $650 million, although his take might have been much higher. Today, Soros’s clutch of five offshore funds boats assets well over $7 billion, including a $525 million real estate fund he recently formed in partnership with Paul Reichmann, a former controlling shareholder with bankrupt Canadian real estate developer Olympia & York.

This is not to be mistaken for Soros’s new $775 million partnership with British Land to invest in properties.

Mark Crisp
The Momentum Stock Trader
http://www.stressfreetrading.com

Humor Quotations - Top 35 Funny Quotations by Famous Comedians

Writen by Danielle Hollister

1. “Education is worth a whole lot. Just think - with enough education and brains the average man would make a good lawyer - and so would the average lawyer.”
   – Grace Allen (Gracie)

2. “It’s foolish to bet on a horse without talking to him first. I know it seems silly to ask a horse who’s going to win a race - but it’s no sillier than asking anyone else.”
   – Grace Allen (Gracie)

3. “Build a better mousetrap than your neighbour and Kraft Cheese will beat a path to your door.”
   – Grace Allen (Gracie)

4. “First you forget names, then you forget faces. Next you forget to pull your zipper up and finally, you forget to pull it down.”
   – George Burns

5. “Actually, it only takes one drink to get me loaded. Trouble is, I can’t remember if it’s the thirteenth or fourteenth.”
   – George Burns

6. “For forty years my act consisted of one joke. And then she died.”
   – George Burns

7. “Happiness is having a large, loving, caring close-knit family in another city.”
   – George Burns

8. “Nice to be here? At my age it’s nice to be anywhere.”
   – George Burns

9. “Anytime four New Yorkers get into a cab together without arguing, a bank robbery has just taken place.”
   – Johnny Carson

10. “Democracy means that anyone can grow up to be president, and anyone who doesn’t grow up can be vice president.”
    – Johnny Carson

11. “Happiness is your dentist telling you it won’t hurt and then having him catch his hand in the drill.”
    – Johnny Carson

12. “I know a man who gave up smoking, drinking, sex, and rich food.”
    – Johnny Carson

13. “The only thing money gives you is the freedom of not worrying about money.”
    – Johnny Carson

14. “Always end the name of your child with a vowel, so that when you yell the name will carry.”
    Bill Cosby

15. “”Don’t worry about senility,” my grandfather used to say. “When it hits you, you won’t know it.”"
    Bill Cosby

16. “Fatherhood is telling your daughter that Michael Jackson loves all his fans, but has special feelings for the ones who eat broccoli.”
    Bill Cosby

17. “Having a child is surely the most beautifully irrational act that two people in love can commit.”
    Bill Cosby

18. “I wasn’t always black… There was this freckle, and it got bigger and bigger.”
    Bill Cosby

19. “Immortality is a long shot, I admit. But somebody has to be first.”
    Bill Cosby

20. “I love being married. It’s so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.”
    – Rita Rudner

21. “I love to shop after a bad relationship. I don’t know. I buy a new outfit and it makes me feel better. It just does. Sometimes I see a really great outfit, I’ll break up with someone on purpose.”
    – Rita Rudner

22. “I think men who have a pierced ear are better prepared for marriage. They’ve experienced pain and bought jewelry.”
    – Rita Rudner

23. “I want to have children while my parents are still young enough to take care of them.”
    – Rita Rudner

24. “I wonder if other dogs think poodles are members of a weird religious cult.”
    – Rita Rudner

25. “Men hate to lose. I once beat my husband at tennis. I asked him, “Are we going to have sex again?” He said, “Yes, but not with each other.”"
    – Rita Rudner

26. “I always did well on the essay questions. Just put everything you know on there, maybe you’ll hit it.”
    – Jerry Seinfeld

27. “No face, mouth open … that is how the drug companies see the public.”
    – Jerry Seinfeld

28. “On the side of box of my superman costume it actually said - ‘Do not attempt to fly!’”
    – Jerry Seinfeld

29. “People who read the tabloids deserve to be lied to.”
    – Jerry Seinfeld

30. “The Four Levels of Comedy: Make your friends laugh, Make strangers laugh, Get paid to make strangers laugh, and Make people talk like you because it’s so much fun.”
    – Jerry Seinfeld

31. “Everywhere is within walking distance if you have the time.”
    – Steven Wright

32. “I bought some batteries, but they weren’t included. So I had to buy them again.”
    – Steven Wright

33. “I stayed up all night playing poker with tarot cards. I got a full house and four people died.”
    – Steven Wright

34. “If a word in the dictionary were misspelled, how would we know?”
    – Steven Wright

35. “Someone sent me a postcard picture of the earth. On the back it said, “Wish you were here.”"
    – Steven Wright

Resource Box - © Danielle Hollister (2005) is the Publisher of BellaOnline Quotations Zine
- A free newsletter for quote lovers featuring more than 10,000 quotations in dozens of categories like - love, friendship, children, inspiration, success, wisdom, family, life, and many more; plus freebies and links to related resources. All new subscribers get one free ad. Read it - http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art8364.asp

Rumsfeld No Media Maven; Admits Terrorists Better At Manipulating The News

Writen by Tom Attea

My, my, in what nation does Donald Rumsfelf reside? Here he is, a privileged citizen in the land that created modern mass persuasion, aka advertising, bemoaning that terrorists are more adept at “manipulating the media” to influence Americans and other Westerners than the Pentagon, and he went on to confide, “That’s the thing that keeps me up at night.What bothers me the most is how clever the enemy is.”

Donaldo, time for a wakeup call. Know he’s not a bad guy; saw him in a restaurant a while back and exchanged a few lightly witty words with him.

So here’s free advice. Jump on the phone and make a call to any politico who knows how to put in a persuasive appearance in his TV commercials and ask who his ad guys are. Then bring them onboard to wage an all-out advertising war on terror.

These guys, like all of our first-rate businessmen, are not abhorrent but part of the national treasure of talent that allows us to compete and succeed in the worldwide marketplace.

So turn them loose. Let them advertise peace and freedom as well as they can promote Coke and Pepsi.

Given the stolid, camera-never-moves, pre-Orson-Wells production values of al-Qaeda’s vaunted videos, with their persistenly questionable and offensive product claims, how can we lose?

Smoke ‘em If You Can Afford ‘em

Writen by Tim Knox

I was talking with my young friend, Heywood, recently, when the conversation veered from professional wrestling and last week’s episode of Seinfeld to global politics and matters of international trade.

“If I were president, I’d make friends with Cuba and tell China to take a hike,” Heywood said seriously. “I hate Chinese food, but I’d love a good Cuban cigar.”

“How much does a good Cuban cigar go for these days?” I asked.

He shrugged. “If you could get them, twenty, thirty bucks apiece.”

“You’d pay thirty bucks for one cigar?”

Heywood’s affirmative response involved the betting of a certain part of my anatomy, so I didn’t protest when he changed the subject back to wrestling. Too bad, I didn’t get a chance to tell him about the latest warning from the Surgeon General concerning cigars. The warning reads:

While cigars have not been proven to cause cancer in laboratory rats that smoke them, one thing is clear: anyone who pays more than five cents for a good cigar, Cuban or otherwise, should immediately have their head examined. Thank you and have a nice day.

I know, these days five cents wouldn’t buy you the paper ring off a really lousy cigar, much less a really good one. Still, if you’re willing and able to pay thirty bucks for one cigar, I want you to stop and turn an ear toward Heaven. Hear that voice? That’s God talking to you. He’s saying, “Hey, you make too much money! Give some to Weinstock.”

For Heywood and countless other young, single, successful men AND women (Yuppies, Part Deux, I call them), cigar smoking has become the latest trendy thing to do, on par with wearing sunglasses at night, cruising around in the winter time with the top down, and eating sushi without battering and deep frying it first. Cigars are the bell bottoms of the nineties. Smoke ‘em if you can afford ‘em.

I can remember when cigars weren’t so in vogue, when the only people smoking them were crooked politicians and gas station attendants who had names like Buck and Del sewn into their shirts. Mafia bosses smoked cigars, as did sleazy Hollywood producers and lowly fight promoters. Cigars were greasy, nasty things and only greasy, nasty men smoked them. Men like my Uncle Buddy.

Uncle Buddy was a grease monkey by trade, which is what people used to call the greasy, nasty guys who worked on their cars. Uncle Buddy was never without a burning Tampa Nugget cigar stuck in the corner of his mouth. His teeth were a lovely shade of brown. Dried spots of brown drool decorated his chin. And he was always spitting, spitting, spitting. A truly lovely man, he was. A real treat to be around. He had no idea that he was ahead of his time. Every bar he went into was a cigar bar. And when he died it took the man at the funeral parlor ten minutes to pry the cigar from his jaw. Would Uncle Buddy have paid thirty bucks for a really good cigar? Sure, if it came with a six pack of Old Milwaukee and the keys to a ‘63 Impala.

Cigars have changed a bit since Uncle Buddy’s day. It used to be that you could toss aside a chewed nub of a cigar, then come back four or five months later and smoke the rest and still get that full-bodied taste. These days, however, cigars are delicate things that must be babied and pampered like fine wine. According to Heywood, modern-day cigars should be properly stored in something called a humidor, which is like a fancy cigar coffin, and kept at 70 degrees Fahrenheit, with 70% relative humidity. As he was telling me this, I thought of another friend who is a TV weatherman. I wonder if he’s ever thought of giving nightly humidor reports. The ratings would be phenomenal!

Never having been much of a cigar smoker myself (my cigar smoking experience has been limited to the “It’s a girl!” variety), I won’t pretend to understand the subtle nuances that make one cigar worth a quarter and another worth thirty bucks. However, for the sake of journalistic integrity (Can you believe I typed that with a straight face?), I did a little research on the subject. I visited the website of Cigar Aficionado magazine, which bills itself as the cigar smoker’s bible. While I didn’t discover what makes a thirty dollar Cuban superior to a fifty-cent Swisher Sweet, I did learn a few very interesting things.

For example, have you cigar smokers ever wondered why some cigar ashes are gray and flaky while others are white and solid? According to the helpful, online Cigar Aficionado answer man, it has to do with the amount of magnesium and other nutrients found in the soil where the tobacco was grown. As a general rule, a flaky, gray ash indicates tobacco with low magnesium content, while a solid white ash indicates high nutrient content.

In laymen’s terms, that means if the contents of the cigar you’re puffing on was fertilized with high-quality cow poop, you can bet a certain part of your anatomy that your ash will be white. Maybe that’s what makes a cigar worth thirty bucks. The tobacco grower is probably spending a fortune on One-A-Day Vitamins for his cows. Remember that the next time you get a good inch or two of white ash on the tip of your thirty dollar cigar. Take a moment to thank the cows that made the fertilizer that made that cigar taste so good.

The thing that puzzles me most of all about the cigar craze is why are so many women joining the club? Is it because cigars leave their breath so minty fresh? Is it because they can’t do a decent Cosby impression without a cigar in hand? Or is it something deeper within their social psyche? Do they achieve a feeling of empowerment by having a smelly cigar clenched between their teeth (you’ll notice that women never let their lips touch the cigar, probably because they’d realize what they’re doing and puke their guts out)? Perhaps it’s the misguided ideal that to be a man’s equal a woman has to smoke a man’s smoke.

If that’s the case it’s a good thing Uncle Buddy’s no longer around.

He’d have driven the girls wild.

Can You Hear My Secret Calling

Writen by Carole Fawcett

A true love story

“So, was it an eyes-meet-across-the-room-thing and you knew you were destined for each other instantly?” I asked my Mom. “No,” she laughed, “it was a swinging-door-thing and once we met, then we knew it was destiny.”

It was 1946 when my parents met in postwar Oldenburg, Germany while working for British Intelligence. Dad (a.k.a. Peter Russell) had survived WW II after being in many challenging battles. He was a “frightfully English chap” who grew up in the south of England. Mom (Blanche Moore - a.k.a. Pat Russell) had experienced the war in a different way. One of the many bombing raids on Belfast, Northern Ireland had demolished her family home.

It only took Dad one week after he saw Mom going through the now infamous swinging door into the Intelligence Offices, to make sure he was introduced to her. Once they met, they were inseparable and spent many hours dancing at the Officers Club in Oldenburg. Mom and Dad were known for being fabulous ballroom dancers and other dance participants would frequently stand aside and watch them together as they swirled around the dance floor, eyes locked on one another.. Dad was a lean, good-looking man of 6′ and he was handsome in his British Intelligence Uniform. Mom was and still is a petite 5′ 2″ pretty Irish woman with twinkly eyes and a penchant for laughing a lot.

As they danced together, Dad would sing (in German):

“Do you remember the precious time when we came together for life, My heart sang a little melody for you day and night. Do you remember that beautiful time?

Even though youth will fade, songs of love will always stay. Should fate ever darken your happiness, My song will always light it up for you.”

They were the first British couple to be married in Oldenburg after the war. They were transferred to the village of Brake on the Weser River in Germany as a husband/wife team with British Intelligence specializing in political and counter intelligence. Dad had a network of agents under his supervision. He and his agents contributed to the break up of the Communist party in that area of Germany. “Peter and Pat’s” cover for being in post war Germany was the interrogation of returning prisoners of war from Russia.

But at night their real work would begin. Dad would direct and rendezvous with various agents in the field. Another agent, would cautiously make his way back to Mom with stolen documents. This home rendezvous would usually happen after midnight with Mom waiting nervously for the agent to arrive. She would then translate and type the information immediately, so that it could be sent to the head office of British Intelligence in London, England. It was a tense and nerve wracking time.

“Do you hear my secret calling Open up your sweet loving heart, When you have longingly thought of me tonight. Then I will be with you in your dream Let me look at you once again Show me your much loved face Then turn off the light My heart will not forget you Please go to sleep”

Dad died in 1989 in Salmon Arm, seven years after retiring as a Special Agent for the Canadian National Railroad Police in Prince George. As well as being named Citizen of the Year in 1972, he was also the recipient of the Governor General’s award for his contribution to the youth of that city.

In the years since his death, Mom had searched for their special song. She wrote to CBC radio, and she had asked people she met who were of German descent if they had heard of the song. She was nearly ready to give up until eight months ago. She was in “Styles on Mane” in Vernon having her hair done, when a gentleman came in to have his hair cut. As he had a German accent, Mom asked him if he had heard of the song. He said he hadn’t, but promised to look into it for her. (His name is Julius and he is the neighbour and good friend of the owner of the shop, Cynthia Robertson)

One month later, Mom went to her weekly hair appointment. As she sat down, Cynthia turned to her friend Julius who was in the shop and said, “Julius, I forgot to turn on the radio today. Would you turn it on for me please?”

Soon the beautiful words of the song “Do You Hear My Secret Calling” were being played throughout the salon. Julius Topf had contacted friends in Germany and with the help of a popular newspaper columnist the song had been found on a CD of hit songs from 1934 to 1943. Mom was completely overwhelmed with happiness when she heard the song again after 50 years.

My parents shared the special kind of intense and enduring love alluded to in this lovely song. It was their heart song. Now she can close her eyes as she listens to the music and from her memory bank, imagine that she is back on the dance floor, being tenderly held in the arms of her beloved as he sang to her.

“Just as autumn and spring will always be, So will sorrow and joy forever change the earth. Every hour of sadness is followed by a day of sunshine, Every parting is followed by a new embrace. Storms in life will pass as long as we will understand each other. When your heart fills with sorrow, quietly sing my song again.”

Carole Fawcett is a published free lance writer and owner of a stress management and laughter therapy business. http://www.afunnybusiness.ca She is the founder and trainer of therapeutic clowns in the beautiful Okanagan Valley, in B.C., Canada

The Miracle of Splenda - It’s a Gas!

Writen by Ted Thompson

Has anyone else tried that sugar substitute called “Splenda?”

My wife, Roxanne, read about it, and with me being on a diet for the past few weeks, she decided to buy some for me. I’ve had it twice now, once a couple teaspoons on a bowl of Grapenuts, and another time as the sweetener in some so-called dietetic ice cream.

Let me tell you something, folks, calling the results of eating Splenda “having gas” is like calling the Space Shuttle an airplane. (Well, it would be like calling it an airplane if the damn thing could fly.) It’s like calling a stick of dynamite a “partypopper.” (No, wait. In the crowd I party with, dynamite is the partypopper of choice.) OK, fitting comparison escapes me. Let’s get down to the issues.

Although I suspected Splenda the first time it happened, I didn’t have enough empirical data then to blame the artificial sweetener. The second time, however, removed all doubts, as well as most of the wallpaper. I sat on the couch and blew holes in the cushions. I cleaned all the dustbunnies out from under the sofas and beds, in my own house as well as the one next door, and I blasted the doors right off their hinges in the living room.

My home lifted off its foundation, like Dorothy’s in The Wizard of Oz. I could have stuck a fan out the back door and a trumpet up my butt and flown my house to Dallas, playing a rendition of The Lonely Bull that would have made Herb Alpert eat his own heart.

Smoke alarms were going off six houses down, windows rattled the next county over, and strange lights can still be seen in the sky over most of North Arkansas. Roxanne went around turning off all the pilot lights and electrical appliances in the house, for safety reasons. Some guy downtown lit a cigar and his head exploded, burning down the hardware store, the flower shop, and the newspaper office (which is probably why you haven’t read about this before now.)

My bottle of Beano melted in the medicine cabinet like the nuclear core at Chernobyl. Average global temperatures warmed four degrees, the polar ice cap broke into several pieces and floated south, and ocean levels rose three inches. Under some mountain in Montana, lights flashed, alarms sounded, and the nation went to Defcon Three. When paratroopers landed to cordon off and quarantine our little town, the lame excuse they used was “anthrax.” We know better, don’t we?

Sugar, my dog, is no longer my best friend — I no longer have a best friend, or any friends at all, for that matter. I’ll have to have the roof re-shingled, and most of the siding replaced. Everything in the garden is dead, dead, dead.

Now, I’ve eaten beans and I’ve eaten cabbage and I’ve even chased it all down with sour beer, but I’ve never been turned into an actual human wind tunnel like happened with Splenda. So being the curious sort, now I’d like to know: Is it just me and my particular metabolism?

For experimental purposes, I think you all should try it. Eat some Splenda, then we can take a survey. (For that matter, I think you all should try it anyway, survey or not, just so you can brag about the survival experience. I’ll make T-shirts to sell, and later, much later, we will all have a big laugh.)

Meanwhile, looks like I gotta go. There’s some guys at the door flashing Homeland Security credentials.

A sidebar on the Splenda story:

My daughter, Trista, called a few days after our granddaughter, Jaden, had returned to her home from visiting with us for about a month. She told me that she had been giving the 3-year-old a bath when the little scamp pooted in the tub, blowing bubbles in the bathwater.

She looked up at her mom with a rascally smile and a twinkle in her eye, and stated matter-of-factly, “Doggy did that.”

“Now where did she get that, Dad?” my daughter demanded to know, “We don’t even have a dog.”

Ted Thomnpson is a Freelance Writer living in Harrison, Arkansas. You can see more of his works at http://www.phfft.com

Lactose Intolerant? It could be a good thing

Writen by Lance Winslow

Lactose Intolerant Individuals may prove a bonus in Space Missions. Lactose intolerant individuals have huge problems with gas from the inability to process certain dairy products and foods. Therefore such an individual after eating will create gas, methane, which could be used as fuel. There are methane based fuel cell units available and a few companies, which have such portable devices now. And some will be online soon;

http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/MSD-fuel-cells.html

http://www.mtpc.org/2004dev/cleanenergy/cells.htm

Hydrogen can be generated from methane. That lactose intolerant individual maybe much more valuable than once thought. By using this gas as a source needed to run a fuel cell we may also help keep batteries charged in space craft for explorers, army communications personal and for survival situations. The human body has the ability to generate waste and if properly monitored, stored and re-used it may just be enought to keep them alive and powered up.

As NASA explores ways to power up space colonies and allow ways for explorers to survive the deep of space, all options must be left open and maybe some body orfices too? Currently scientists and researchers are trying to figure out ways to recycle and reuse body fluids, human waste and water for long-term space travel? Some day you may wish you were lactose intolerant, but for now keep the hot air coming. Just sit next to the other members of the crew.

Lance Winslow

Painting Philosophy of Peruvian Artist

Writen by Ernesto Apomayta

Life

I paint with an emphasis on expressing LIFE (the spirit and the soul) which is the expression of my love for the natural world and its creatures. From the heart of my Incan cultural comes my love and respect for nature. I honor my love of nature and man by painting with a balance of rhythm, harmony, and movement. This is the tradition of my people the Incans Indians of Peru, and the Chinese Philosophers which I studied at the Central Institute of Fine Arts of China. Thus, when I paint, the animals have a voice, the spirit of nature speaks, and man travels in harmony with nature and God.

Use of Color & Patterns

I render an emotional tone of the rhythm of the Incan Indian life through my vibrant use of color. I use bright and radiant combinations of reds, turquoises, purples, and oranges, which characterize the textiles and ceramics of the Peruvian Andean. It is believed that the colors appease the spirits so that they will be happy and will not bring forth darkness. I employ simple swirling patterns to transmit a sense of the peace and harmony that radiate from the Incan Indians close interrelation to the land. It is this sense of the sacredness in nature that comes from deep within my works.

Calligraphy

What has fascinated me about traditional Chinese painting when I studied it was the use of colors and lines from calligraphy. Calligraphy in Chinese tradition expresses feelings, harmony, rhythm, movement and balance. The Chinese say, “Let’s see how you write to see how you paint!” If you do not write calligraphy, you don’t paint. The Aztec, Mayans and Incans (symbolic writers) say the same in their philosophy, “to write is like painting and painting is like writing.” Thus from the writing come the discipline and precision of the trained artist, along with the rhythm, harmony, and movement that expresses the fragile side of human life and nature as they exist in a delicate harmonious balance.

Feng Shui

I stay true to the Chinese ancient philosophy of nature, Feng Shui in most of my paintings. Feng Shui is mainly concerned with understanding the relationships between nature and ourselves so that we might live in harmony within our environment. Feng Shui is related to the very sensible notion that living with rather than against nature benefits both humans and our environment. Most of my paintings honor the traditions of Feng Shui.

Materials Used

My western paintings demonstrate the themes, stripes, techniques and the use of natural colors and inks. I paint with natural inks, water colors, acrylics, and oils on rice paper, cotton paper and canvas.

My eastern paintings use techniques and materials that span several dynasties, such as the Song, Tang, Yuan, Ming, and Qing. They are painted on rice paper, different color silks using natural Chinese inks and colors.

Copyright: © 2004 by Ernesto Apomayta

Publishing Guidelines: You may publish my article in your newsletter, on your web site, or in your print publication provided you include the resource box at the end. Notification would be appreciated but is not required.

About The Author

Ernesto Apomayta

Born and raised in Puno, Peru, Ernesto Apomayta was identified as an artistic prodigy at the tender age of five. As a boy, Apomayta was first influenced and inspired by the natural marvels surrounding the humble home he shared with his family. In close proximity to shimmering Lake Titicaca, the striking beauty of the Andes and the awe-inspiring Incan ruins of his ancestors, Apomayta was spiritually compelled to express his wonder visually through his paintbrush. A direct ancestor of the legendary photographer, Martin Chambi, Apomayta derived inspiration from the same native influences and his legacy that encouraged Apomayta to fulfill his own artistic destiny.

To view many of Ernesto Apomayta’s pieces of artwork please visit www.apomaytaart.com for full information on Mr. Apomayta.

apomayta@hotmail.com

What if We Limited the Human Population on Earth?

Writen by Lance Winslow

What if we could limit the number of humans on the Planet? What if we could stop the over procreation of the African Continent? What if we could keep the number of people at a balance or limit families to one offspring per family? What if we don’t? What if we really do have 40 Billion people on the planet by 2025 and 60 Billion by 2050? Are those numbers really sustainable? Will Mother Nature step in an limit us due to water supplies, droughts, Earth Cycles or plagues? Will we end up limiting ourselves due wars, protectionism or failure to pony up to the escalating potential calamity of over population of the Human Race? Can we seize the day and prevent wars over water, pandemic Bird Flu and dwindling world water supplies? Are the predictions correct that six and a half million humans will be living with less than 4 gallons of fresh water per day? Are we genetically conditioned to deal with this? Can we build the dams, desalination plants and water reservoirs fast enough to stave off the world water crisis of epic proportions? Who is paying for all this? Can the wealthy nations afford to build these infrastructures for free? If so is the World Bank capable of managing it all and if so how will these monies be paid back? And water is only one problem what about food? Where will be grow the food to feed 60 Billion humans? Here on Earth and who said the humans will not keep reproducing at 60 Billion, what about the 120 Billion human population predictions of 2095? Think on this.

Lance Winslow