Take 1000 and add 40 to it. Now add another 1000. Now add 30. Add another 1000. Now add 20. Now add another 1000. Now add 10. What is the total?
If you thought 5000, it's not.
Answer
4100
The Foreign Office is to risk the wrath of homophobic regimes worldwide by encouraging British ambassadors to do more to support gay communities.
Chris Bryant, the new Foreign Office minister, who is gay, has started writing personal letters of congratulations to British diplomats who show public support for gay rights. He is praising them for such support even if it draws anger from national governments or local homophobic groups.
"It is absolutely vital that the improvement in business confidence is nurtured," said BCC director general David Frost.
A big loser Monday was the pound, which fell 1 percent to $1.6131.
Earlier this year, the pound fell to a near 24-year low of just above $1.35 amid mounting worries about the state of the British economy and the level of government borrowing. It slowly recouped some of the losses since March as the appetite for risk improved, most notably in the stock markets. With concerns about the growth outlook, the early-year concerns may be re-emerging.
"Anecdotal evidence suggests some sterling selling by central banks has already taken place, but the biggest sterling threat comes from private investors turning their backs on Britain due to declining investment opportunities and the rising default risk," said Hans Redeker, global head of FX strategy at BNP Paribas.
Last Wednesday the Striding Man lost his confident swagger. Diageo, the world's biggest drinks manufacturer, announced it was closing the plant with the loss of 700 jobs.
But there are deeper issues.For as long as I can remember Scotland has suffered from the departure or downsizing of well-known companies. Up here, we all know the importance of having locally-based employers. If Johnnie Walker had still been locally-owned would it have left Kilmarnock?
Probably not.
But all those folk who are moaning about profit being put before people are missing the point. Profit is about people. Without profit there won't be any jobs, something hundreds of thousands of "public" sector workers will shortly find out.
"Our focus is not the Taliban," Brigadier General Lawrence Nicholson was quoted as telling his officers before they moved into Helmand. "Our focus must be on getting this government back on its feet. We're doing this very differently," Nicholson said, according to the Washington Post. "We're going to be with the people. We're not going to drive to work. We're going to walk to work."
Two monorail trains crashed in the Magic Kingdom section of Walt Disney World, killing one train's operator. Disney said it was the first fatal crash in the monorail's 38-year history in the park. The transit system, which shuttles thousands of visitors around the sprawling resort each day, was shut down while authorities investigated the holiday weekend wreck.Apart from speed, the paper has descended into tat in the past five years.
1. Burqa beach babe (1) | 4% | ||
2. A rose by any other name (6) | 24% | ||
3. Hospital green (1) | 4% | ||
4. Siberian tigress (2) | 8% | ||
5. Daring revelations (5) | 20% | ||
6. Grey on grey (1) | 4% | ||
7. Total effect (0) | 0% | ||
8. Ninja black (5) | 20% | ||
9. It's all in the eyes (3) | 12% | ||
10. Bearded ladies (1) | 4% |
...Our alliance or the Rite of our Mystic Shrine is ancient, honorable, benevolent and secret. It is devoted to the cause of justice, truth and mercy. It is ancient as the corner-stone of Mohammed's Temple of Mecca; as secret as the Moslem that bound the tribes of Arabia to Allah or their god; as honorable as the Christian, and the tenets to which it is dedicated when once assumed cannot be eschewed or cast aloof. ...We require absolute secrecy and desire all our disciples to hold and interest in our noble cause and a just observance of the tenets of our faith. ...By the existence of Allah and the creed of Mohammed; by the legendary sanctity of our Tabernacle at Mecca we greet you, (p. 17-18)
...and now upon this sacred book, by the sincerity of a Moslem's oath I here register this irrevocable vow, subscribing myself bound thereto as well as binding myself by the obligation of the prerequisite to this membership that of a Knight Templar or that of a thirty-second degree A. and A, Scottish Rite Mason. ... may Allah, the god of Arab Moslem and Mohammedan, the god of our fathers, support me to the entire fulfillment of the same, Amen, Amen, Amen. (p. 22)
This is the place where our brethren stop to sprinkle the Devil's Pass with urine. You will contribute a few drops of urine to commemorate the time and place where all who pass here renounce the wiles and evils of the world to worship at the Shrine of Islam. Only a few drops will do. (p. 28)
The oath of the Shrine A.A.O.N.M.S. (Shriners) concludes as follows: "...in willful violation whereof I may incur the fearful penalty of having my eyeballs pierced to the center with a three-edged blade, my feet flayed and I will be forced to walk the hot sands upon the sterile shores of the Red Sea, until the flaming sun shall strike me with livid plague, and may Allah the God of Arab, Muslim and Mohammedan, the God of our fathers support me to the entire fulfillment of the same, Amen, Amen, Amen."
"I hope that within two, or three, or four or five years from now we will be impelled from the wonderful work that has been done, to establish more of these hospitals, in easy reach of all parts of North America, and let it be known that while our friends, the enemy, is now about the only institution that is establishing hospitals and schools and things of that kind for the benefit of humanity, the Shrine is going to do them one better."
No one in Noble Adair's audience had any doubt as to the identity of "the enemy". To allay the fears of the Nobles, another speaker assured them that if the hospital committee did not "do it right and devoted themselves too much to Catholic children or Negro children we can fire them and get another committee."
They claim about 300 Million Dollars a year to hospitals and other institutions, which is good but not that much, considering that if every Mason contributes just 5 Dollars per week, they can collect 1.3 Billion Dollars per year... they are a good way to deceive the outsiders, like its secrecy, it is often a cloak to hide its real teachings and goals, and a good way to obtain propaganda... and even the so called "charity" is a way to get money for the Order: In 1985, "Circuses" of the Shriners generated 23 Million Dollars, and only 2% went to medical care of children. In 1984, out of 17 Million Dollars only 1% went to charity, the rest for the Order!
The American Institute of Philanthropy is one of several national charity watchdog organizations. It recently published its report card on 100 “failing” charities… charities that the AIP would not recommend you donate money to.
And you might be surprised at some of the results. Top failing charities in AIP’s estimation?
1. Research to Prevent Blindness
2. Shriners Hospitals for Children
3. Seeing Eye
4. Guide Dogs for the Blind
5. Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch
6. Diabetes Trust Fund
7. Give Kids the World
8. Southern Poverty Law Center
9. Omaha Home for Boys
10. YWCA of the USA-NO
The Khartum Shriners are worried that sick children in Manitoba could suffer the fallout from a fund-raising scandal after an event for Shrine charities this week was revealed to have included sex acts and sexual fondling of nude performers.
And Canada Safeway, one of the charity's major supporters, will be asking the Shriners for an explanation. Gervin Greasley, public relations director for the Khartum Shrine in Winnipeg, said he's worried about what will happen to the organization's fund-raising.
"It will take a long time to live this down and regain the confidence of the community".
On Thursday night at the Garden City Canad Inn, two Free Press reporters witnessed two female performers climb upon a banquet table, fondle each other, kiss and be touched by as many as eight men at one time. Some of the men were seen to pour beer on the women and put beer bottles between their legs. Patrons performed oral sex on the women in view of more than 100 men. At several points, the women tried to stop the men from fondling them, complaining they were in pain and discomfort...
Elsewhere in the hotel, some patrons visited a guest room where a man at the door told them they could get sexual intercourse for 100 Dollars or oral sex for 75 Dollars. Organizers of the Shriners' Motor Patrol "V.I.P. Gentlemen's Dinner," attended by more than 400 men, told the Free Press on Friday that proceeds from the event would be used to cover motor patrol operations and support Shrine children's charities.
The NYLJ reports that Ronald H. Tills, a retired New York Supreme Court justice, pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court in Buffalo, N.Y., to violating the Mann Act by transporting a prostitute across state lines.
According to the NYLJ, the 73 year-old Tills admitted that he recruited prostitutes to service members of a fraternal club, the Royal Order of Jesters, at gatherings in Pennsylvania, Florida, Kentucky and Ontario, N.Y., in 2005, 2006 and 2007.
In his plea agreement, Tills also acknowledged arranging for women to attend a meeting of the Buffalo chapter of the Jesters in 2001 in Dunkirk, N.Y., to have sex with members of the club. He faces from 27 months to 33 months in prison during sentencing, which is scheduled for Jan. 12.
On September 1, 2006, both Shriners charitable and fraternal corporations filed a complaint alleging defamation against Shriner whistleblower Vernon Hill and Charity Watch Center, an online watchdog site, owned and operated by Paul Dolnier, a former IRS agent. On November 6, 2007, the Clerk of the Thirteenth Circuit court of Hillsborough County, Florida, filed a "Notice of Intent to Dismiss" the Shriners v James Vernon Hill and Charity Watch Center (CWC) lawsuit because of "lack of prosecution." (1)
This means that for the past ten months, the Shriners have not pursued the case. Noting this, the clerk of the court sent out the "Notice of Intent to Dismiss" to all parties, letting them know that a hearing was scheduled for January 18, 2008 at 9 a.m. before the honorable Judge Charlene E. Honeywell.
"Goddess of Reason, The. The central figure in an attempt to supersede Christianity during the French Revolution. The first Feast of Reason was held on 20th Brumaire [November 11], 1793, when the 'goddess', Mlle Candeille of the Opera, was enthroned in Notre Dame Cathedral, which became the Temple of Reason.
She was dressed in white with a red Phrygian cap (liberty cap) and the pike of Jupiter-Peuple in her hand. Mme Momoro, wife of a member of the Convention, was later installed at St Sulpice. Goddesses of Liberty and Reason were soon set up throughout France, one allegedly wearing a fillet bearing the words 'Turn me not into License!'
Saturnalia of an uninhibited kind accompanied these installations." [Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable, 15th Ed. Revised by Adrian Room, HarperCollins, 1995]
For 3½ years, beginning November 24, 1793 to April 1797, religion was banned and a substitute put in place. They even changed the calendar.
Beginning with that period (November 24, 1793 or 3rd Frimaire in Year II), the churches of Paris were closed and the public reading of the Bible forbidden. Immediately, almost all parts of the town renounced religion, closed parish churches and reopened them as temples of reason.
In these temples, a prostitute, Désirée Candéille, was installed as the Goddess of Reason after she paraded naked through the streets of Paris. The goddess, after being embraced by the president, was mounted on a magnificent car, and conducted, amid an immense crowd, to the cathedral Notre Dame, to take the place of Deity.
There she was elevated on a high altar, and received the adoration of all present.
Of course, maritime law had a totally different development than did tort law. The fact that the captain of a ship was liable for the negligence of all members of the crew had never been (and has never since been) applied to any other area of the law of negligence except medical malpractice. It is somewhat easy to see how a court was drawn into the simile of Captain of the Ship.
In 1965, a cruise liner called the Yarmouth Castle caught fire in the Caribbean and began to sink. A nearby ocean liner, the Bermuda Star, sent lifeboats to help. When the sinking ship's captain was one of the first people rescued to climb aboard the Bermuda Star deck, the Bermuda Star's captain was so incensed that he forced his colleague to return to the burning wreck until all the passengers were accounted for.
Most operators of luxury liners tell ship captains "to insure the safety of everyone else before their own," said Priscilla Hoye, a spokeswoman for Cunard Line Ltd., operator of the Queen Elizabeth 2 and other vessels. But she acknowledged that in the heat of an emergency, ship commanders are allowed flexibility.
"When I order abandon ship, it doesn't matter what time I leave. Abandon is for everybody. If some people like to stay, they can stay."
'Goddess of War', 'Mother of prostitutes ', 'Mystery Babylon', 'Mother of Harlots', 'Goddess of Freedom', 'Goddess of Liberty', 'Our Dear Lady', 'The Scarlet Woman', 'The Lady of the Lake', 'The Queen of Heaven', 'The Queen of the World', 'The Queen of the Underworld', 'The Illuminatrix', 'Goddess of Love', 'The Weeping Virgin', 'The Black Virgin', 'The Celestial Virgin' and 'The Queen of the Sea'.
"Masonry is a search after Light. That search leads us directly back, as you see, to the Kabalah. In that ancient and little understood medley of absurdity and philosophy, the Initiate will find the source of doctrines; and may in time come to understand the hermetic philosophers, the Alchemist, all the Anti-Papal Thinkers of the Middle Ages and Emanuel Swedenborg." [Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma , p. 741]
"Our records inform us, that the usages and customs of Masons have ever corresponded with those of the Egyptian philosophers, to which they bear a near affinity. Unwilling to expose their mysteries to vulgar eyes, they concealed their particular tenets, and principles of polity, under hieroglyphical figures; and expressed their notions of government by signs and symbols, which they communicated to their Magi alone, who were bound by oath not to reveal them." [Thomas Smith Webb, PGM, The Freemason's Monitor Cincinnati: The Pettibone Bros., 1797, p.39]
"Not only were many of the founders of the United States government Masons, but they received aid from a secret and august body existing in Europe which helped them to establish this country for a peculiar and particular purpose, known only to the initiated few." [Manly P. Hall, The Secret Teachings of All Ages, pp. XC and XCI]
Q. Why do your 'obligations' contain hideous penalties? For example, it is the penalty for an offence, in second degree in Masonry, to have your chest torn open and your heart taken out.
A. They no longer do contain such penalties. When the Masonic ritual was developing in the late 1600's and 1700's, it was quite common for legal and civil oaths to include physical penalties and Freemasonry simply followed the practice of the times.
The much publicised "traditional penalties" for failure to observe these promises were always symbolic, not literal and refer only to the pain any decent man should feel at the thought of violating his word. After long discussion, they were removed from the promises in 1986.
Question: "What makes you a Freemason ? Answer: My obligation."
[question and answer from the Entered Apprentice/First Degree]
".. binding myself under no less penalty that of having throat cut from ear to ear, my tongue torn out by its roots, and my body buried in the rough sands of the sea, a cable length from the shore where the tide.."
[ from the oath of obligation Entered Apprentice/First Degree ]
".. binding myself under no less penalty than having my left Breast torn open, my heart plucked out, and given to the beasts of the field and fowls of the air as prey."
[from the oath of obligation, Fellowcraft/Second Degree]
".. binding myself under no less penalty that of having my body severed in twain, my bowels taken out and burned to ashes, the ashes scattered to the four winds of heaven.."
[ from the oath of obligation, Master Mason / Third Degree ]
" .. in wilful violation whereof may I incur the fearful penalty of having my eyeballs pierced to thru center with a three edged blade, my feet flayed and forced to walk the hot sands upon the sterile shores of the red sea until the flaming Sun shall strike with a livid plague, and my Allah the god of Arab, Moslem and Mohammedan, the god of our fathers, support me to the entire fulfilment of the same."
The Shriners are committed to community service and have been instrumental in countless public projects throughout their domain.
[ from the oath of obligation, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine ] ("Shriners")
"You must conceal all the crimes of your brother Masons... and should you be summoned as a witness against a brother Mason be always sure to shield him... It may be perjury to do this, it is true, but you’re keeping your obligations." [Ronayne, "Handbook of Masonry" p. 183 ]
"To you, Sovereign Grand Instructors General, we say this, that you may repeat it to the Brethren of the 32nd, 31st and 30th degrees: The Masonic religion should be, by all of us initiates of the high degrees, maintained in the purity of the Luciferian doctrine."
"As Weishaupt lived under the tyranny of a despot and priests, he knew that caution was necessary even in spreading information, and the principles of pure morality. This has given an air of mystery to his views, was the foundation of his banishment....If Weishaupt had written here, where no secrecy is necessary in our endeavors to render men wise and virtuous, he would not have thought of any secret machinery for that purpose."
On Saturday, the statue, closed above its base since the terror attacks, will reopen to visitors — a relative few, in small groups, specially ticketed, carefully screened and escorted by a park ranger. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar seemed to encourage these ideas this year when he said reopening the crown "would proclaim to the world — both figuratively and literally — that the path to the light of liberty is open to all."
In officially announcing the move on May 8, Salazar called it "a new beginning, restoring confidence in the American people, in their government and in our place in the world."