Handy Hint

Horrible Brown Spots on Your Iron... Try This! Here's a great tip to keep your iron clean. Remove brown spots on the bottom of your iron by rubbing with fine steel wool dipped in warm vinegar; dry it with a clean cloth, and you r ready to go.

A Thought

OUR EYES
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The world in which we live, Allah bestows many favours on us. All the needs of each living being are benevolently met; no detail is forgotten. Let's think about ourselves as examples. From the moment we wake in the morning, we need many things and encounter many situations. In brief, we survive due to the many favours bestowed upon us. We can breathe as soon as we wake up. We never experience difficulty in doing this, thanks to our respiratory systems functioning perfectly. We can see as soon as we open our eyes. The sharp and distant images, all three-dimensional and fully coloured, are perceived by our eyes, and indeed owe their existence to the unique design of eyes.

WHAT IF YOU FIND A WATCH IN THE SAND
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Suppose you find a watch in the middle of a desert. What would you conclude? Would you think that someone dropped the watch? Or would you suppose that the watch came by itself? Of course no sane person would say that the watch just happened to emerge from the sand. All the intricate working parts could not simply develop from the metals that lay buried in the earth. The watch must have a manufacturer. If a watch tells accurate time we expect the manufacturer must be intelligent. Blind chance cannot produce a working watch.

But what else tells accurate time? Consider the sunrise and sunset. Their timings are so strictly regulated that scientists can publish in advance the sunrise and sunset times in your daily newspapers. But who regulates the timings of sunrise and sunset? If a watch can not work without an intelligent maker, how can the sun appear to rise and set with such clockwork regularity? Could this occur by itself?

THE MOSQUE-GOER

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A Mosque go-er wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to Mosque. "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 Lectures. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the Imams are wasting theirs by giving Lectures at all."

This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher.
"I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this: They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to Mosque for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!"

Handy HInts

First Aid:
Any time you cut your hand, finger, or any other part of the body, take a spoonful of sugar and sprinkle it in the cut. If you are bleeding, this will thicken the blood and besides that it will take the pain away. Perfect for paper cuts.

Smile Please

THE TAXI DRIVER
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A young passenger tapped the cab driver on the shoulder to hand him the money. The driver screamed; lost control of the cab, nearly hit a bus, drove up over the curb and stopped just inches from a large plate glass window. For a few moments everything was silent in the cab, then the driver said, "Please, don't ever do that again. You scared the daylights out of me."

The passenger, who was also frightened, apologized and said he didn't realize that a tap on the shoulder could frighten him so much, to which the driver replied, "I'm sorry, it's really not your fault at all. Today is my first day driving a cab. I have been driving a hearse for the last 25 years."

"Page cannot be found"

Q:
I often get the error message of "Page cannot be found" when I visit certain Web sites. What is the cause of this and is there anything I can do to change it?

A:
There are actually several reasons why the "Page cannot be found" (also seen as "404 - Not Found") error message may come up. Here are a few of them explained.

1.) The Web page you're trying to view has been removed or renamed. This is one of the most common causes. In this case, you can try scaling the URL down a bit to see if that helps.
For example, if it's listed as www.worldstart.com/tips/nopage.htm, you may want to try www.worldstart.com/tips instead. Or, you could simply use www.worldstart.com. You can then look for the lost page from there. If you just keep going backwards with the URL, you'll eventually get to the page you want.

2.) Your Internet connection has gone dead. In this instance, simply try logging on again.

3.) Internet congestion during peak hours (this is especially common with dial-up) can also prevent Web pages from loading properly. If it takes too long for a page to be found, your browser may just give up. When that happens, you should just try the page again later (or you can hit the Refresh button).

4.) The Web page you want to see is getting a lot of traffic, so the server is bogged down. All you can really do in this case is try again later.

Handy Hints

Smelly Drains:

Boil 200ml vinegar and pour directly into drain leave for 10mins before using drain.

Do we need to defragment our flashdrives?

Q:
I have accumulated several flash drives over the years and I was just wondering if I should ever defragment them. I know we have to do it for our hard drives, but are flash drives the same? Please explain!

A:
The simple answer to today's question is: you should never defrag a flash drive. Does that surprise some of you? Well, let me explain! Let's first talk a little about hard drives. The files you have stored on your hard drive are usually saved in several little pieces, often in groups of 512 bytes. Now, those chunks of data are usually never placed next to each other or even remotely close to each other. Therefore, your files are generally spread out all over your hard drive, which is why defragging is so important.

The whole defrag process is done through a read/write head that rearranges your files and places them back together for you. That way, when you need to access a certain file, everything is put back together and your computer doesn't have to work as hard to find what you're looking for. Defragging simply helps speed up your system when you need to open a certain file. Yep, that's why it's so vital that you defrag on a regular basis (at least once a month or so).
On the other hand, flash drives do not have a read/write head, so if you were to defrag one, you wouldn't get any extra performance benefits from it whatsoever. Basically, without a read/write head, flash drives don't have to work any harder to find your files. Your files can be laid out in any order and your flash drive will still be just as fast when finding them for you. Still not convinced? Then keep reading!

Another reason why you should never defrag a flash drive is because flash memory wears out over time. Basically, the more you write (saving files, etc.) to your flash drive, the shorter its lifespan will be. And since defragging is a huge write process, every time you do it, you're adding thousands of extra writes to your device that just aren't necessary. So, if you've been continuously defragging your flash drives, you should stop. If you want your flash drive to last you a long while, simply stop the defrags. You won't get any benefit from it and you'll just end up with a broken down flash drive for no reason at all. Go and defrag your hard drive instead!

Taken from - www.worldstart.com

Israeli Missiles Silence Baby's Laughter in Gaza

By Sami Abu Salem writing from the occupied Gaza Strip

29/02/08 "Electronic Intifada" -- - The innocent laughter of six-month-old baby Mohammed al-Bor'i stopped forever on Wednesday night when shrapnel from an Israeli missile and rubble struck the infant in the head, minutes after he enjoyed his last meal.

"The baby sucked milk, he was playing with his mother; I was reading a book when a rocket hit the Ministry of Interior," said Nasser al-Bor'i, the baby's father.

With the first missile, the electricity was cut and darkness filled the ill-fated house. Stones and pieces of the asbestos ceiling fell onto the head of the laughing child. The explosions continued as two other missiles hit the building.

"I looked for my baby in the darkness between the rubble; I did not know where he was. When he cried once I followed the direction of his voice," Nasser al-Bor'i said. "My hands touched my baby who was breathing hard; I felt warm liquid on my two hands and realized that he was wounded."

Al-Bor'i carried his son to the nearby Shifa Hospital as the blood streamed from his tiny head. In the hospital, al-Bor'i became hysterical when he realized that his only child had been killed.

Tears poured from al-Bor'i's eyes when he saw Mohammed's shoes. "After five years of treatment for sterility, [my wife and] I had a baby. I can't imagine that I lost him in a second."

Toys, a plastic bike, a crib and clothes were covered by the heap of rubble inside Mohammed's bedroom. Cutout magazine pictures of laughing babies decorated the walls, a sad reminder of the joy lost in the strike.

Mohammed's mother sufered shock and fell unconscious when she realized that the child had died. She laid on a hospital bed while her baby was in the morgue. On Thursday morning she cried when she returned home from the hospital to see Mohammed's empty crib.

Mohammed al-Bor'i was not the only child to be killed in the series of Israeli air strikes across the Gaza strip on Wednesday. In the northern Gaza Strip town of Jabalia, three other children, Anas al-Manama, 10, Bilal Hijazi, 11, and Mohammed Hamada, 11, were also killed in an Israeli air strike, Palestinian medical sources reported.

At least 19 Palestinian civilians and militants were killed and dozens wounded by the continuing Israeli air strikes on Gaza in the last two days.

Sami Abu Salem lives in Jabalia Refugee Camp and works as an English news and features writer at the Palestine News Agency (WAFA). He has also worked at the International Press Center of the Palestinian Authority State Information Service, and works as a freelance writer for local newspapers, focusing on literature and arts. This article was originally published by Ramattan News Agency and is republished with the author's permission.

Taken from - http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19441.htm

Grasp your youth before you become old

Youth

The Holy Qur’ân states:

“O Allâh! Grant that our spouses and offspring be the coolness of our eyes and cause us to be a model for the righteous.”

"Say (O Prophet) "Come so that I may cite to you what Allah has forbidden for you: that you do not associate partners unto Him, that you be kind to your parents, …., and approach not any indecency…"

The Holy Qur’ân speaks of the youth who opposed a value system based on kufr and vanity, in the following words: "Behold, the youth betook themselves to the Cave, they said: "Our Lord, bestow on us mercy from Thyself and dispose for us our affair in the right manner … Indeed they were a group of youth who believed in their Lord, and We increased them in guidance".

The Prophet Sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said:

- “Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) said, "Grasp five things before five others: your youth before you become old , your health before your illness, your riches before your poverty, your leisure before your work, and your life before your death."

“There are seven whom Allah will shade in His shade on the day on which there is no shade except His shade: a just imam, a youth who grows up worshipping Allah, a man whose heart is attached to the mosque when he leaves it until he returns to it, two men who love each other in Allah and meet for that and part for that, a man who remembers Allah when he is alone and his eyes overflow with tears, a man who refuses the approaches of a noble, beautiful woman, saying "I fear Allah," and a man who gives sadaqa and conceals it so that his left hand does not know what his right hand gives.' "

Nabî Sallallâhu 'alayhi wasallam ‘Every child is born on Fitrah (a natural inclination towards Islam). It is his parents who turn him towards Judaism, Christianity or fire-worship’. (Mishkât). Every child is born in a state of pure innocence. It is his social upbringing, the values that his/her parents display that impact and influence his identity.

Parents thus have an enormous responsibility in moulding the character of their children. If they build a strong, trusting, and loving relationship with their children before the teenage years, their children will be less likely to go astray.

As with all blessings of Allah, children can be either a joy or a source of grave concern, a blessing or a curse – depending on how we mould and guide them. Children can be a source of enormous tranquility and self -fulfillment yet they can become the root of the greatest heartbreak, pain and sorrow. The very child that provides joy and happiness can also produce the greatest hurt and sorrow. Our great dreams for our children could suddenly turn into unimaginable nightmares. One of the most challenging and daunting tasks parents face today is that of developing a meaningful relationship with their children, especially teenagers who often rebel against their society and parents. According to a recent survey, 20% of children living in western society have not had a 10-minute conversation with a parent in a month. Their conversation is with TV, which acts as their mother, father, baby-sitter, and teacher. By the time they are teens, they have seen an estimated 18 000 violent murders on TV.

Alcohol, drugs, frequenting of movie houses and rave clubs and illicit sexual activity are but some of the hazards youth encounter in their quest for independence, joy, and adventure.

Teenagers are idealists, they want to change the world, and make it a better place. These are not bad ideals, and it is a great pity that adults have forgotten their own ideals in the rat race of daily life. It is up to the parents to point them in the right direction.

If we get teenagers involved in helping those in need, community projects, participating in Islamic programmes and camps and in working for important causes, their zeal could make a tremendous impact on their future and the shape of the world to come.

Youth have great potential. Remember:

• That the resistance of the youth served as a catalyst for the eventual demise of the oppressive regime in South Africa,

• That the youth of Afghanistan liberated their country from the Soviet Union and the Taliban have yet again revolted against corruption and civil strife,

• That the lonely defendants of Masjidul Aqsa are no more than the youth of Palestine,

• That the archenemy of Islam, Abu Jahl was killed by two youths barely in their teens.

• That the first male to believe in Nabi sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam was a ten old boy named Ali bin Talib Radiyallahu ‘anhu

• That Nabi sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam assigned a number of positions and responsibilities to the youth. He appointed a young man of twenty-one, Itab Ibn Usayd as the first governor of Makkah.

• That Muhammad ibn Qasim conquered Sind in India when he was only seventeen.

• The Prophet sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam appointed Zaid ibn Harithah as the Amir of a Jamaat that included Abu Bakr and Umar Radiyallahu ‘anhu.

-Taken from Jamiatul Ulama Online Newsletter Vol: 3 No.: 08 - http://www.jamiat.co.za/newsletter/online_newsletter_0308.htm