Gabriel Abed’s Blog

If every time we fell and didn’t get back up, then we will be spending a lifetime on the ground. Life is about challenges and understanding that sometimes we are on top, sometimes we are on the bottom. Our goal is to find that fuel that will help us move forward and continue making the best of this short life. When faced with a problem, don’t run and hide but tackle it head on… And remember, when there’s a will, there’s a hope

Enjoy the pictures and remember to keep your head held up high.

When someone tells you that you cannot do something…

Look around…

Consider all options…

Then GO for it!

Use all the things God gave you!

Stretch your creativity!

In the end, you will succeed and prove them wrong!

Source: Forwarded Email

There is an art, it says, or rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Pick a nice day, it suggests, and try it. The first part is easy. All it requires is simply the ability to throw yourself forward with all your weight, and willingness not to mind that it’s going to hurt. That is, it’s going to hurt if you fail to miss the ground. Most people fail to miss the ground, and if they are really trying properly, the likelihood is that they will fail to miss it fairly hard. Clearly, it is this second part, the missing, which presents the difficulties. One problem is that you have to miss the ground accidentally. It’s no good deliberately intending to miss the ground because you won’t. You have to have your attention suddenly distracted by something else when you’re halfway there, so that you are no longer thinking about falling, or about the ground, or about how much it’s going to hurt if you fail to miss it. It is notoriously difficult to prise your attention away from these three things during the split second you have at your disposal. Hence most people’s failure, and their eventual disillusionment with this exhilarating and spectacular sport. If, however, you are lucky enough to have your attention momentarily distracted at the crucial moment by, say, a gorgeous pair of legs (tentacles, pseudopodia, according to phyllum and/or personal inclination) or a bomb going off in your vicinity, or by suddenly spotting an extremely rare species of beetle crawling along a nearby twig, then in your astonishment you will miss the ground completely and remain bobbing just a few inches above it in what might seem to be a slightly foolish manner. This is a moment for superb and delicate concentration. Bob and float, float and bob. Ignore all considerations of your own weight and simply let yourself waft higher. Do not listen to what anybody says to you at this point because they are unlikely to say anything helpful. They are most likely to say something along the lines of, ‘Good God, you can’t possibly be flying!’ It is vitally important not to believe them or they will suddenly be right. Waft higher and higher. Try a few swoops, gentle ones at first, then drift above the treetops breathing regularly. DO NOT WAVE AT ANYBODY. When you have done this a few times you will find the moment of distraction rapidly becomes easier and easier to achieve. You will then learn all sorts of things about how to control your flight, your speed, your manoeuvrability, and the trick usually lies in not thinking too hard about whatever you want to do, but just allowing it to happen as if it was going to anyway. You will also learn about how to land properly, which is something you will almost certainly cock up, and cock up badly, on your first attempt. There are private flying clubs you can join which help you achieve the all-important moment of distraction. They hire people with surprising bodies or opinions to leap out from behind bushes and exhibit and/or explain them at the critical moments. Few genuine hitch-hikers will be able to afford to join these clubs, but some may be able to get temporary employment at them. — Douglas Adams, ‘The Hitch-Hikers Guide To The Galaxy,’

I refuse to believe we are a lost generation. A generation that will one day be the demise of this earth and humanity. We all can make a difference.
Please watch this inspiring video by AARP.

I don’t want to be the reason in life that anyone is held back from doing what they love. I will only bring resentment and scorn to that person’s life and years down the road I will end up being the one to blame. Sometimes it could be a selfless act where you know you could potentially be hated, but you do it anyway in the hope that you are guiding that person and putting them on the right path. Stopping them from doing what they want to do and pointing them in the direction of what they should be doing. They fight back and they darken your days, but you are driven by the thought that maybe, just maybe that person would see the light and understand what you are doing for them.

In the long run you know that what you are doing is helping that person to reach their highest potential and not settling for the silver medal. Just sit back, close your eyes and wish they see the gold. Stick to your guns and don’t give up. Keep being that big brother and be sure that what you are pushing for is the right thing for them, not for yourself or anyone else in the world.

Dreams don’t come overnight. If you allow the other stars in life to get in your way, then you will never reach the sun. Just because they shine and glitter, doesn’t mean they light up your day.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/28223089#28223089

An Iraqi man at Maliki’s palace threw his shoes at Bush during the appearance.The shoes sailed right past the president’s head. Displaying the soles of one’s shoes is considered a deep insult in much of the Arab world. Bush joked about it, saying, “That was a size 10 shoe he threw at me.” The man was grabbed and dragged out of the room screaming.

Today I read about an article and saw a video of an arab man THROWING his shoes at George Bush at a new conference.

The Iraqi journalist, Muntader al-Zaidi, 28, a correspondent for Al Baghdadia, an independent Iraqi television station, stood up about 12 feet from Mr. Bush and shouted in Arabic: “This is a gift from the Iraqis; this is the farewell kiss, you dog!” He then threw a shoe at Mr. Bush, who ducked and narrowly avoided it.

As stunned security agents and guards, officials and journalists watched, Mr. Zaidi then threw his other shoe, shouting in Arabic, “This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq!” That shoe also narrowly missed Mr. Bush as Prime Minister Maliki stuck a hand in front of the president’s face to help shield him.

First all, nice reflexes there Mr. President! Now onto the serious aspect of the scenario. The truth behind this is that this poor journalist (with integrity and backbone) is going to probably be flown secretively to Gitmo, and he’ll never be heard from again. I am pretty sure before he shot that shoe at George Bush, he knew exactly how much trouble he was in for. The fact that knowing the punishment he would receive (arab cultures have cruel punishments and a horrible legal system) he still threw the shoe displaying fearless honor and paying respect to those that died under the Bush regime.

Now for some corny, yet witty jokes about the situation:

• Reports indicate that the journalist was the sole attacker.
• Man, he dodged those shoes like a Vietnam Draft
• Anyone else see the little smirk on his face after he dodged that first one? I think he was having a little fun.
• When you are as popular as Bush is, you learn how to dodge projectiles pretty quick.
• Well, it’s a good thing they caught the shoe-icide bomber.
• Sources indicate something was afoot before they could tie it together.
• By the time Bush retires.. he will have a HUGE collection of cheap shoes!
• If you can dodge a shoe, you can dodge an impeachment!
• It appears the reporter and Mr. Bush got off on the wrong foot.
• After which he got booted from the press conference.
• I think people are reading too much into this. Maybe his shoes were just really, really uncomfortable and he had to get rid of them immediately. I’m just saying, let’s not cross this possibility out.
• If he caught it, the guy would have been out.
• By the time you read this he is probably already on his way to Gitmo to eat a cockmeat sandwich
• Does this mean America is going to attack Iran now?
• The shoe dude threw it dead-aimed to the face, and Bush dodged it like a super-hero. You can see Bush’s eyes in the CNN video… he’s not even looking that way, and the time between glancing and dodging was amazingly fast, especially when he didn’t even know it was coming. Then he just bobs back up, looking at the guy with a smile on his face, like, “Ha! Your puny throwing arm is no match for my super reflexes!”

We always get caught up in our own little world thinking how cruel life is, and how unfair we have it. Stop it. Stop it right now and go have a look outside. Look at the world around us and realize you are better off than most people.

Someone is HURTING

Someone is STARVING

Someone is HOMELESS

Someone is DYING

Someone is CRYING

It often takes tragedy to wake us up, to make us reevaluate our lives and appreciate what we have. The reason for this is that when tragedy strikes, everything becomes instantaneously prioritized. You realized what matters most and what you care about and anything that is not essential is ignored. Yet when things are going well it can be easy to overlook the blessings in our lives. We can take for granted our health or the relationships we are fortunate enough to have and rather get caught up worrying about our mounting bills or dripping faucet or being stuck in traffic.

Yet each and every day we are blessed with so many things that happen, starting with the fact that we wake up in the morning to another day ahead. And each day, every single one of us has something to be grateful for. Sometimes these things are big, such as getting a wonderful job offer, sometimes they are small, such as the fact that the baby slept through the night. But the more we focus on what we have to be grateful for in our lives, the easier it will be to deal with the challenges and tests that we may face as well.

We need to stop looking at the other side and be grateful for what we have.

There once was a little girl who lived near a stretch of smooth, white beach. Each morning she went there to play because she loved everything about the place: the sights and smells and sounds, the plants, and all the creatures that swam and crawled and creeped. One morning when she arrived, she noticed that the beach was littered with thousands of starfish. Washed up by the tide, their colorful bodies covered the beach as far as the eye could see. She could see that they were rapidly drying out in the sun and headed off down the sand, throwing the fish back into the water where they belonged.

After a while, the girl met a tired old man coming the other way. He watched for a few minutes as she continued with her task. When she approached, he asked her “What are you doing, little girl?”

“Why, I’m saving starfish, mister,” she replied.

The man rolled his eyes and considered how to set the girl straight.

“You’re wasting your time, child,” he advised. “Look up and down the beach. There are thousands of fish out there. It’s already too late for a lot of them. You can’t possibly save them all. Give up and go home. You can’t make a difference.”

The girl paused for a minute and thought about what the man had said. Then she bent down, picked up a starfish and threw it into the ocean with all her might before turning to look the man in the eye.

“I made a difference to that one,” she said

I figure I am more fortunate than a lot of people around the world. I am currently educating myself in Canada and I am doing a Bachelor of Information Technology (4 year program). I have a great family and an amazing fiance. I am blessed and I want to make a difference.

Ten minutes ago, I sponsored a child in Columbia suffering from starvation. Her name is Aura Viviana and she is six years old.

I used World Vision:

Your child sponsorship will help provide Aura Viviana with things such as:

• clean water
• nutritious food
• health care
• access to education

Your support will help fund development work in Aura Viviana ’s community, such as digging wells, improving sanitation and building health clinics.

This work ensures that the community will be able to provide children with the basics they need to help them grow up in a healthy environment and have a chance for a better, sustainable future.

I hope I made a difference to Aura’s life and I gave her a better future.

p.s. I wanted to put a picture of her up here, but according to World Vision’s Terms and Conditions, I am prohibited from doing so.

Reliving the death of Brandon Vedas aka Ripper, a 19 year old american male killed himself live on webcam on justin.tv with 1200 onlookers, many from the 4chan community egging him on. Once laying motionless for 6 hours police and paramedics broke through his door to try and save him, with no avail. He died on the 19th November 2008 due to overdose.

He was 19 with a new born child.

Before anybody says it is fake, the end of the video shows police smashing through his door (a peice of wood hit’s his body and he doesn’t move at all), and a paramedic checking his pulse then finding the webcam and knocking it over.

The dude had been laying there for 5 hours without moving, before taking the pills he showed no emotion accept repeating who he loved, what he was doing it and why. He layed himself on his bed and appeared to stop breathing. Several hours later the medics and police come in and moved his webcam while the stream was still live.

Original Thread.
Ask a guy who is gonna OD (again) tonight anything, - Bodybuilding.com Forums

The death has been confirmed by his best friend.
RIP CandyJunkie - Bodybuilding.com Forums
My best friend (CandyJunkie) *Updates* - Bodybuilding.com Forums

http://www.64.vg/files/1.png
http://i35.tinypic.com/15yx3jd.png
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-150666

The suicide note he left:

To Whom It May Concern,
I am going to leave this for whoever stumbles across my bookmarks later on.
I hate myself and I hate living. I think that if someone who knows me
reads this they will know who I am. So I will leave this unsigned. I am
an a@#hole. I have let everyone down and I feel as though I will never
change or never improve. I am in love with a girl and I know that I am
not good enough for her. I have come
to believe that my life has all been meaningless. I keep trying and I
keep failing. I have thought about and attempted suicide many times in
the past. I used to think of my failure as some mystical way of telling
me that I was really meant for something meaningful. The only thing I
dread, besides the pain, is the way my family will suffer. I do not want
my mother or father to think that it was anything they did that lead me
to kill myself. I never really had any plans of leaving a note. I
thought that I would not be able to describe why I want to do this and I
am right. There is no way to tell you or anyone else why I dread every
new day. My father had such high expectations for me and tried to give
me every opportunity to improve upon myself. I let him down. I think
that I am a major disappointment to him. I have a job but I?m always broke
and I am in college but barely, I show up to class but that?s about it.
I want my life to end. I am tired of f@#$ing up everything. I
am tired of people always telling me that they do not like me. I am
tired of trying to be decent. I hope that someone finds this post and I
hope that my parents know that I f@#$ed up not them. It is my fault I
screwed up my own life.
The hate that rages within me, rages not for those I love so dearly or
those who have crossed my path.
This hate rages full force towards me and only me.
I have long forgiven those who’ve hurt me, but I have not and cannot
come to terms to forgive myself for the things I have done to myself, and
the things I’ve done to hurt those in my life.
You have all touched my life in one way or another,
especially those whom I call family.
I cannot tell you how sorry I am for ending my life the way I did. I
hope that you can all find it in your heart to see it as way for me not
suffering anymore and that I am finally at rest with myself, for being at
rest with the guilt that constantly ate at me for so long.
Please forgive me all for taking my own life so early. I tried so hard
to fight against this strong battle. I have reached out for help so many
times, and yet I believe, I was turned away because of the things I did,
that it is a punishment I am willing to take, for I know that being who I am
has only brought myself and others pain.
I love you all and will forever live within the memories we created.
Forgive me.
Love always and forever,
As for my signature I will leave you with a quote so that if anyone
reads this they will know it’s me, “Can’t feel pain if your dead? Just Saying”

RIP CandyJunkie. It is a cruel world.

Why is a birthday so special? You share the day of your birth with MILLIONS worldwide. What is special about that?
The irony is you are celebrating a day you were born as a “special” day, but truthfully, isn’t it as special as right now, tomorrow, or next week? Every single day of our lives should be equally weighted, because every single day is another day of experiences and another day of LIVING life.

Who is society to tell me that I must make this day special? The corporations market this idea to push their products and society being parrots follows it. A tradition that will never die. What if today wasn’t so special to some, for example, September 11th. Are we still allowed to have our special day while others are mourning the loss of loved ones?

Over the years, I have stopped liking my birthday because people seemed so much more fake about it. It started off with getting special treatment on my birthday, just because it was my birthday. People were nicer, more talkative and generally more generous. Then after the day was over, the asshole factor reappeared. Facebook is another tool that helped me dislike birthdays even more. People who never talk to me, all of a sudden wish me happy birthday and then crawl back into their cocoon for another year before they whisper a word to me again. What is the sense of that?

I wanted to know if it was me just being a little pessimistic by thinking like this, so I wanted to understand the history of birthdays.

History of Birthdays:
Before humans had a way of keeping time, no one paid much attention to the anniversary of important events, such as birthdays. Only when ancient peoples began taking notice of the moon’s cycles, did they pay attention to the changing seasons and the pattern that repeated itself over and over. Eventually, the first calendars were formulated in order to mark time changes and other special days. From this tracking system came the ability to celebrate birthdays and other significant anniversaries the same day each year.

Evidence of birthday observances dates back before the rise of Christianity. In pagan cultures, people feared evil spirits - especially on their birthdays. It was a common belief that evil spirits were more dangerous to a person when he or she experienced a change in their daily life, such as turning a year older. As a result, birthdays were merry occasions celebrated with family and friends, who surrounded the person of honor with laughter and joy in order to protect them from evil. Instead of gifts, most guests brought positive thoughts and happy wishes for the upcoming year. However, if well-wishers did bring gifts, it was considered an especially good influence for the birthday person.

Although historians are certain that people have observed their birthdays for quite some time, there are few records of such celebrations that still exist. Of these few descriptions, only those birthdays of kings, high-ranking nobility, and other important figures have been documented. Common people and especially children never celebrated their birth when the idea came about. This trend has been explained by a theory that nobility were the only people wealthy enough to throw such celebrations, and quite possibly were the only ones deemed important enough to have been written about or remembered. Some historians believe these early birthday bashes resulted in the custom of wearing birthday “crowns” as time went on. The first children’s birthday parties occurred in Germany and were called Kinderfeste.

Eventually, birthday celebrations became a tradition around the world with young and old, rich or poor. Although birthday customs are quite similar in some countries today, not everyone celebrates in the same way. Different people have incorporated their own rituals into the birthday celebration, based on spiritual beliefs and ancient cultural traditions. While you may find some of them odd, or even humorous, each one is unique.

SWEET. Makes perfect sense. Birthday were used as a day to ward off “evil spirits”!! Great!!! All birthdays are, is a tradition, nothing less, nothing more. A tradition that has no basis other than ancient, uneducated, lack-of-science meaning to it.

As much as I want to say do not tell me happy birthday on my birthday, I am not going to. The sad reality is I feel forgotten when people do not remember my birthday and I am not given that special treatment (<– Society and socialization win again).
I do however wish that people would just be nice to me everyday and say happy day, happy minute or happy second. Be glad for today and be glad to be alive.

An infinite number of mathematicians walk into a bar. The first one orders a beer. The second orders half a beer. The third, a quarter of a beer. The bartender says “You’re all idiots”, and pours two beers. ”

— Randgruppenhumor cont’d

Explanation of this joke to those of you that do not understand:
The first mathematician orders a full beer, the second orders a half, the third orders a quarter, the forth orders an eighth. Theoretically what they are doing here is splitting the unfilled portion of the cup in halves and “filling” it, then repeating the step with the remaining unfilled portion. The bartender understands that even with an infinite amount of splitting in half and filling that cup will never ever reach 100% full because its always going up by half of whats left to fill even if poured infinite times. So therefore he just gives them 2 full beers which would be the easy way out of the problem, but also an incorrect outcome. It will go to an infinite amount of decimal places and never reach 100% capacity.

The reason it is a joke is because the sum of all their beers will never be two beers. Infinity is not a real number and has a sequence of continuation that never ends.
1 + Σ(1/2^n) = 2

Side Tracking:
Obviously this scenario is not possible due to the fact that it assumes you can split beer infinitely which you CANNOT. Once you are at the molecular stage you are done. If you split a beer molecule you no longer have beer.
http://www.maurysart.com/main.php?g2_itemId=195

Another reason why this scenario is not possible is because you will need an infinite number of mathematicians, which just isn’t possible. Just enjoy the joke and stop trying to think why it is not possible. We know it is not possible, we just want to enjoy the theory behind it. Thanks!

Sorry for any confusion, but infinity as a mathematical concept is not necessarily what you heard as a five year old. As a five year old, you probably just thought of it as the biggest possible number, but mathematically, infinity is never reached.

The best you can do is to talk about outcomes as a number “approaches” infinity.

For example, 1 / ∞ = 0 is a simplistic way of noting that the larger the denominator in this equation, the closer the number will be to zero. But mathematically speaking, no matter how large the number is, the result will be greater than zero.

That is why we understand infinity using the concepts of limits. You can accurately say of the above equation that as the denominator approaches infinity, the result approaches zero from above.

From above just means that it is always greater than zero. In the original question (about 2 beers), you are approaching from below.

Another example is the Leibniz formula for pi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leibniz_formula_for_p …

It is an infinite series that after an infinite number of expressions will exactly represent pi/4. As you can never technically get to infinity, you can say that this series approaches pi/4, but it converges on pi/4 from both above and below.

PS: Yes, all numbers are concepts, but they are concepts representing tangible things. Infinity is a concept of a number, just like ‘i’ (√-1). It is something that may be helpful to describe concepts, but not a real number.

p.s. I know I am a geek and I embrace it!

Want more jokes?
The bartender pours the second-to-last atom of beer, then they split the last atom of beer and the whole bar explodes (splitting atoms can be a bad thing, U235 example).
Now for an actual joke:

A biologist, a physicist, and a mathematician are eating lunch at a patio cafe. All three of them observe 2 persons enter a building across the street. A few moments later, three persons exit the same building.
The biologist postulates that they reproduced and the third person was their offspring.
The physicist thinks that one slapped the other so hard that he/she split bringing their total to three.
The mathematician simply says that there are now negative one people in that building.

What is the meaning of life?
So many of us spend each day of our life searching for, or seeking the simple life answers to this question.’ Its a wonderful life ‘ is not simply a movie. If you have the answers you seek to make this wonderful journey you can actually have one. For all its ups and downs and good and bad days, life truly is a wonderful journey, if you understand it is more about the trip then where it inevitably takes you. Along the way however there are “direction aids” that make the meaning of life a far more beneficial, spectacular, creative and pleasant journey. Don’t spend a half life learning what the phrase ‘ its my life ‘ really means. Bring life and its meaning into your heart, mind and soul. The mistake most people make about finding the meaning of life is searching for the answer instead of living it. Hopefully the answers here will help you find what you seek and more importantly live the meaning or life to its fullest.

The true meaning of life is not trying to find out what life is about, it is enjoying every second you have in this world. Making the best of the worst and letting the wind blow through your hair as you smile looking towards the sun. Appreciate everything you have do not envy anyone because they always have it worst off than you can imagine. People are not glass, you cannot see through them and therefore you shouldn’t wish to be them. Be happy for what you have and don’t let the seconds waste.

To answer your question. The meaning of life is living life.

People from different places, different cultures and of different ages come closer getting to know each other through music and “strange” collaborations. It’s universal, you don’t need to know the language to understand music and it moves you. Music and drama can underscore moments, they can draw people together. People usually sing when they’re happy. I just think back about all the nice friends I have made through music, how I met them and what beautiful times we spent together listening to music and no matter what will happen in the future, there will always be the music and friends left in my heart!

Whether or not there’s any real purpose or reward in such a moment of sentimentality, I still have it. It is little bit of obsessive curiosity that my heart and mind goes into whenever a piece of music or drama arouses old memories. Some tune or other blows a little air across a few old embers, bringing out fresh feelings, and it’s always a little bit of surprise just how much they resonate like new each time, just for a moment.

Dean Martin plays “That’s Amore”, and as I listen to his classical rendition, I hear my mother’s voice in my head, singing “When the moon hits your eyes like a big pizza pie”. I am brought back to a time when she is looking at my dad singing it as he mocks her and attempts to join in. The share humor as they are both out of sync, but both having a great time.

It’s like I need something to connect myself to these people - to have something, anything in common with them. I want to have a sense of connection with people. “We all like music” or “we all sang that song together” - something like that. A feeling shared by so many throughout the world. A feeling that makes us connected when we share that music with others.

Today, I get the same feelings when I hear those songs - like a time capsule has been opened in my mind, and there they all are inside, my friends and family, sitting and waiting for me to join them.