Anastasia

Pet Dogs - Man's Best Friend?

The average dog causes three family rows a week - as owners argue over where it can sleep and who should take it for walks, a survey has found.

Arguments over who should walk the dog are among the dilemmas that cause friction Photo: AP

10:01AM GMT 10 Jan 2012

A study shows 'man's best friend' can also be his worst enemy, triggering nearly 2,000 family arguments during its lifetime

Spats range from disagreeing about who should take the dog for a walk, feeding them too many treats and what to do with them when holidays loom.

Nikki Sellers, Head of Pet Insurance at esure, said: ''Owning a dog is not dissimilar to having a baby.

''Round the clock care and responsibility throughout a dog's life can become tiresome for any pet owner but should never be overlooked.

''Maintaining a dog's physical health through exercise plus regular stimulation to avoid them running riot around the house should at least help avoid some arguments.

''A healthier dog may also lead to fewer costly trips to the vet too but for advice on how to look after a dog properly, owners should seek professional help.''

The study also revealed one quarter of owners regularly argue about where the dog should be allowed to go in the house with beds, upstairs or sofas causing most rows.

One fifth of families frequently argue whose turn it is to clean up the mess in the garden, while one in ten disagree who should clear up the carpets should they be soiled.

Disciplining the dog is one of the biggest causes of arguments - as 18 per cent of couples often fall out because one is accused of being too harsh on the dog.

A further 15 per cent of families often row about who should be training the dog, while one in ten people get annoyed if the dog is 'humanised'.

Other arguments about the dog include who chose to buy it in the first place and how much has been spent on the dog.

They're also likely to cause unrest if they damage the children's toys or chew the family's shoe collection.

The study also revealed while the majority of family arguments are more likely to be about the children than the family pet, 14 per cent of owners reckon they row about the dog more than their children.

Incredibly, in 17 per cent of households the dog disputes have got so bad one member of the family has slept in the spare room, while a quarter of those polled have been known to storm off after things got too heated.

In fact, 26 per cent of dog owners have at some point considered getting rid of their beloved dog after a bust-up.

via www.telegraph.co.uk

Haunted Doll

In 1897, a family named Otto lived in a nearby house in Key West, Florida. They owned a plantation and had a lot of servants working for them who they treated very badly. One servant girl gave their son, Gene, a present of a doll. What the Ottos didn’t realise was that this servant girl knew voodoo.

glitter-graphics.com

Gene's full name was Robert Eugene Otto. His parents had always called him "Gene", so he decided to give the doll his real name, "Robert".

Many Strange things began to occur in the Otto household. Many neighbors claimed to see Robert move about from window to window, when the family were out. Gene began to blame Robert for mishaps that would occur. The Otto's claimed to hear the doll giggle, and swear they caught glimpses of the doll running about the house.

Photo Credit

Gene began to have nightmares and scream out in the night, when his parents would enter the room, they would find furniture over turned, their child in a fright, and Robert at the foot of the bed, with his glaring gaze! "Robert Did It".... The doll was eventually put up into the attic. Where he resided for many years.

But Robert had other plans. Visitors that entered the house could hear something walking back and forth in the attic, and strange giggling sounds. Guests no longer wanted to visit the Otto home.

Gene Otto died in 1972.The home was sold to a new family, and the tale of Robert had died ....

But Robert waited patiently up in the attic to be discovered, once again. The 10 year old daughter of the new owners was quick to find Robert in the attic. It was not long before Robert unleashed his displeasure on the child… The little girl claimed that the doll tortured her, and made her life a hell. Even after more than thirty years later, she steadfastly claims that "the doll was alive and wanted to kill her."

Robert, still dressed in his white sailor's suit and clutching his stuffed lion, lives quite comfortably, though well guarded, at the Key West Martello Museum. Employees at the museum continue to give accounts of Robert being up to his old tricks still today....

via www.halloweenishere.com

Have a frightfully spooky Halloween!!!

Premonitions

A great thriller starring my favourite actress - Sandra Bullock

According to the Cambridge Paranormal Research Society, premonitions or its scientific term precognition is the apparent ability to predict future events beyond the normal expectations of chance. Maybe you have had a sense that someone was about to call or a bad feeling that something is going to happen to you or somebody or maybe you have had a dream that comes true at a future date.

From a scientific point of view precognition can be simply attributed to coincidence. How many times have we had a bad feeling or have been thinking about somebody when nothing at all has occurred. If nothing takes place then we simply dismiss it from our minds but if the phone rings as we are thinking about someone we put it down to a premonition. On the other hand there is also the chance that you may have a precognitive dream but, as the event does not take place for a few weeks after the dream then you may simply not connect the dream with the event when it occurs.

I don't think I've had any precognitive dreams - the truth is I can hardly ever remember my dreams- but about eight years ago, I had a premonition that something bad was going to happen. It was end of June, the first day of the summer break for us teachers. To celebrate the end of yet another school year, I went out with Alkis. He had arranged dinner for two at my favourite restaurant and I was really having a great time. By 10:00 pm, we had finished dinner. I was beginning to feel a bit worried and uneasy. Alkis asked me if there was anything wrong. I smiled at him and dismissed the thought. I told him that it was nothing but the stress and fatigue soon after the final exams. After dinner, he suggested going to a music bar, but I said I was a bit tired and wanted to go back home. No sooner had he parked the car in the garage than my mobile phone rang. It was my mother. She told me in tears that dad had just passed away - at exactly 10:00 pm.

Have you ever had visions of future events - great or small - but you didn't know how to report them or who to tell?

 

UFO Over China (06/10/2010) Marks 8th Time Since June

via www.youtube.com

I have never seen a UFO or had encounters of the third type - or whatever these encounters are called. However, according to Dr Drake's mathematical calculations, it is a 100% mathematical fact that we are not alone in this vast universe. And I will agree. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is one of trillions of galaxies in this vast universe. Therefore, I think it's very unlikely that living creatures can only be found on Planet Earth. What I can't quite understand is the reason why so many UFO sightings were reported in China within a few months!

Here's what to do if you see a UFO

Photo Credit

The Mutual UFO Network, or MUFON, has compiled guidelines for witnesses to report UFO sightings.

1. Remain calm. But protect yourself from any hazards, real or perceived. Be prepared to take evasive action to get out of the object's way.

2. Be objective. Not every UFO is extraterrestrial; eliminate other possibilities first. Only after that should you consider that what you saw might be a true UFO.

3. Use a camcorder or camera to record the event. Try to keep reference points in the field of view, as this will aid in analyzing the film. If you do not have a recording device, then draw pictures of what you saw.

4. Tape your tale. If you have a tape recorder, record your description of the event as it happens. Include reference points. If you don't have a tape recorder, write down your observations immediately.

5. Get other witness observations. Ask other witnesses to write or record their observations, but do not discuss the event with them until after your observations have been recorded.

6. Leave the area alone. If the UFO left some trace of its presence, do not disturb the area around it and restrict access to the site. Photograph the area around the site before you enter, and note the exact position of everything. Take close-up photos or video of the evidence before touching it.

7. Gauge the size. If the sighting is from a distance, at an arm's length, what would it take to cover the object? A quarter? A penny? A dime?

8. Gauge the distance. Try to judge the distance from you to the object, the object's altitude and its speed. Was it across the street or was it over the next field? Was it treetop level or a few hundred feet up? Did it cross the sky in five seconds or five minutes?

9. Record any encounter. Should you encounter some type extraterrestrial being associated with the craft, be prepared to protect yourself. From a safe distance, in a concealed position, photograph or videotape the being. If you are unable to safely get photos of the being, draw and write down a description as soon as it is safe to do so.

10. Report your experience. Immediately report the event to a UFO research origination for investigation.

www.mufon.com

Déjà Vu

  
You step into your new office for the first time, yet you feel certain you had exactly the same office sometime in the past. You have just met your new neighbours but you are sure you have met these people before even though you can't remember where. You have never been to Italy, so you decide to spend a holiday there. Once in Rome, everything looks familiar as if you have already been there before. This eerie feeling of being certain you have already experienced a new situation in the recent past is commonly known as déjà vu meaning "already seen" in French. It is also known as paramnesia from the greek word para (=near) and mnimi (= memory).

Arthur Funkhouser defines three types of déjà vu in an attempt to more clearly delineate between associated, but different, neurological experiences. These are déjà vecu (already experienced), déjà senti (already felt) and déjà visité (already visited). With déjà vecu not only do you remember having done this thing before you even know what will come next. The experience will include seeing, hearing, tasting, sensing, smelling, thinking, and touching; everything that would be present in a real life situation. (excerpt from Yahoo! Health and Wellness)

I personally experienced the feeling of déjà visité when I first visited Cuevas Del Drach in Majorca, Spain, in August 2004. I had never been to Spain or Majorca before and , certainly, I had never visited the Cuevas Del Drach - yet I was sure I had seen that very cave before.

Have you ever felt sure of having already experienced something actually being experienced for the first time? How did you feel? How do you explain this phenomenon?

BMW Headstone for Car Fanatic Steve Marsh

Steve Marsh's BMW headstone in Manor Park Cemetery, East London

- Photo Credit - EASTNEWS

Updated: Friday, 07 May 2010, 12:58 PM EDT
Published : Friday, 07 May 2010, 12:58 PM EDT

(CANVAS STAFF REPORTS) - You can't take it with you when you die. But at one London cemetery, you can keep an expensive replica close by.

The Daily Mail reports that when 51-year-old Steve Marsh died in his sleep last year, his family decided to make a big gesture of it. They got permission to bury him under a granite headstone in the shape of his favorite BMW M3 convertible.

"He was a car enthusiast all his life, he loved cars from a child," his daughter, Kerry, told the Daily Mail . "He always drove BMWs, we've all got them. We couldn't just give him a normal headstone."

She added that the family had to order the roughly $74,000 headstone from China and have it shipped to England, reports the Daily Mail.

"It weighs about a ton and was made out of one piece of granite. I think my Dad would absolutely love it," she said of the former Ford engineer.

Dad, yes, but some locals are wondering how such a display could be allowed.

"You have to admit it's totally different to everything else around it," local resident Rene Dryden, 33, told the Daily Telegraph . "It's definitely not my taste. I think some people will say it's tacky and it could end up as a target to be vandalized.

"It could open the floodgates for anything to be built in a cemetery," she added. "When I walked past it the other day, though, I have to admit it did make me smile."

The privately owned Manor Park Cemetery allowed the unusual headstone after discussions with Marsh's family, reports the Daily Telegraph .

via www.myfoxny.com

Hope Steve Marsh rests in peace.

Don't Say Cheese!

CANBERRA (Reuters) - An Australian woman who ran down and killed a man who threw cheese-flavoured snacks at her car was jailed Thursday for 25 years.

Sydney woman Sarah May Ward intended to injure Eli Westlake for throwing the snacks at her vehicle, judge Roderick Howie told the New South Wales Supreme Court, describing the 21-year-old's murder as "a senseless act of anger."

"She clearly wanted to teach the young men a lesson," the Australian Associated Press quoted judge Howie as saying as he sentenced Ward to jail for a minimum 18 years.

The jury was told Ward, 39, had drunk two bottles of wine and used cannabis, amphetamine drugs and anti-depressants before getting into her car in Sydney's northern suburbs on June 7, 2008.

She decided impulsively to use the vehicle as a weapon after Westlake threw the snacks at her car as a joke while walking home with his brother and a group of friends.

The judge said while there was more involved than Westlake's brother and friends claimed, an "incensed" Ward had driven directly at Westlake after a brief physical altercation with the group, running him over and killing him.

Ward told the court she had been scared of the group and hit the car's accelerator by mistake while trying to get away.

(Reporting by Rob Taylor; Editing by Miral Fahmy)

via uk.reuters.com

Tomatoes and eggs would have probably cost her a life sentence! 

Kissing in Public

(Reuters) - A Dubai court Sunday upheld a one-month jail sentence given to a British pair for kissing in public, media reports said.

Oddly Enough

The British man living in Dubai and a female friend were arrested in November on charges of kissing intimately in public and consuming alcohol. An Emirati mother had complained her child had seen their indiscretion.

The case is the third time in under two years that Britons have fallen foul of indecency laws in Dubai, a Muslim emirate popular with sun-seeking Western tourists and expatriates.

The defendants are consulting their lawyer on whether to appeal Sunday's ruling before a cassation court, the website of the daily Gulf News reported.

The pair, who had been free on bail, are also to pay a fine of 1,000 dirhams ($272) for illegal consumption of alcohol and will be deported after serving their jail term, the website said.

Dubai's foreign population expanded rapidly in recent years as expatriates flocked to the Gulf Arab trade and tourism hub for its tax-free earnings and year-round sunshine.

The changes have challenged the Emirati population, now vastly outnumbered by foreigners, raising concerns that the rapid pace of growth is a threat to their social and religious identity in what remains a deeply conservative region.

In 2008, a British couple narrowly escaped jail after a court found them guilty of engaging in drunken sexual activity out of wedlock and in public on a beach in the emirate.

They were sentenced to three months in prison followed by deportation, but had their jail terms overturned on appeal.

In another case this year, a British couple who shared a hotel room managed to escape trial in Dubai for having sex out of wedlock by producing a marriage certificate.

(Reporting by Firouz Sedarat)

via www.reuters.com

Be careful if you ever travel to Dubai! Don't kiss in public or you might just as well end up in prison!!!

Ninjas Service with Swords and Fires!!

Waitresses wield swords and flare flames at diners, who have to get past a moat before sitting at their table in the dimly lit dining hall.

The same customers are also encouraged to take photos with the warrior-like waitresses, who dress in black or red to look like ninjas in keeping with the theme of a dark but lively restaurant that opened last month in Taiwan's capital. "The ninja is mysterious," said Ou Chia-wei, owner of the restaurant simply named Ninja, explaining why he chose that theme for the Japanese-style restaurant. "On that premise, we can do magic tricks and light up the food."

Waitresses working the barely lit dining room floor burn speciality menus, which vanish without a trace of ash, and send flames snaking across tables as customers watch. A moat and screen of cascading water just past the front entrance make customers wait a few minutes until the drawbridge goes up, leading to a dark stairwell toward the dining hall. There are professional magic shows, as well as cabarets, for those who walk in at the right times.

Ninjas were mercenaries who resorted to unusual warfare strategies such as espionage, sabotage and assassination from as far back as 700 years ago in feudal Japan. They remain a common, enduring theme in Japanese folklore. Ou, who also owns a hospital-theme restaurant in Taipei, and his wife put the three-storey Ninja eatery together on their own without hiring a designer, said his landlady Ting Tsui-lan.

The overall investment was T$15 million ($470,000). "The owner had already liked ninjas and figured that would be a pretty obvious, visual theme for the restaurant," said restaurant sales manager Hsiao Dai. Ninja competes with restaurants that specialise in airliner, dinosaur and toilet decor in a city teeming with theme diners.

Owned and staffed by Taiwanese, it serves Japanese food priced for office workers who frequent it at its location in a congested part of town. Japanese cuisine and culture are popular in Taiwan, where Ninja has seen steady full-house crowds of 150 since opening in late January. Customers are intrigued by the theme, with a 26-year-old woman say ingshe might rather work than eat there. "We make friends with the customers," said waitress Tu-tu Lin, laying her sword aside to explain to the woman the tricks of her trade.

via timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Not sure I'd love this kind of restaurant, however much I love sushi, but I'm sure my friend Telis will love it!

My Car and a Cat!

I got up early  today looking forward to my body pump class at 10 am. Having prepared all my gym gear , I got into the car and ... something weird happened! I inserted the switch key into the ignition and the engine started causing the car to move ...backwards or ...forwards. But on no account would it turn left or right ! Something was definitely wrong with the steering wheel !

Cnsidering that I am far from being mechanically minded - especially as far as car engines are concerned - I called hubby in tears - this time, they were not crocodile tears !! He told me that I might have locked the steering wheel and  all I had to do was to move it left or right so that it would unlock ! So I did ...but it wouldn't. Then I called my mechanic who repeated the same thing ! I didn't think it was important to mention that the engine would start none-the-less.

I did as he said , more or less exactly the same thing as hubby said ! ( I wonder why men are so self-confident as far as car engines are cocerned ! ) But no result ! I called the mechanic back .. and asked him to come and see what was wrong with the car ...  So he did ...

Believe it or not ...a cat had niceley settled into my engine just below the steering wheel mechanism. When I started the car , the cat was most probably  scared and leapt away causing the round rubber band (whatver it's called!!) to  slip off its place.... The mechanic found it ... lying on the pavement of my garage. I had seen it , of course, but thought it was part of little Tony's old bike ! Luckily ... curiosity did not kill the cat !! I don't think I could stand the sight of a dead cat in my car engine !

I was quite annoyed to miss my body pump class, but I made up for it tonight and went to the body attack class - my favourite !