The Royal Wedding: good but not Wow!

The Royal wedding between Prince William and Catherine Middleton was one of the most followed events on TVs and on the internet. Many sources have cited around two billion people watching and following the events on the 29th of April. But was it really worth it? Waiting for hours to see a car transporting members of the Royal family to the Abbey and then back to Buckingham palace in a carriage, or people following them to the palace to see the kiss or take a photo of them waiving to the crowd!

Prince William and Catherine Middleton after their wedding

Centuries ago, when the world was still ruled by monarchies, this spectacle would have been a solemn event, as people of that time would dream to see a glimpse of the Prince or watch the Queen waving. But in the twenty first century these images seem old-fashioned if not strange, especially when you witness such a large crowd of British marching in the streets of London like an army, reaching finally to Buckingham Palace to watch ten people on a balcony waiving for them for less than a minute! And then just after this moment of ecstacy, going back home.

One can understand that such event has generated good revenues for the British treasury (several  billion of British pounds) from hotel reservations, gadgets related to the events, brodcasting rights etc..otherwise it would have been out of question for the government to shut down the streets of the city and to halt business on a working day in London.

On the other side, even those amazed by the event have began to speak about the bride's dress and her general appearance, which was good but not great. Beginning with the dress, a clear flaw on the brest level was not well seen by fashion designers and critics, as the bride's dress on cameras was giving the impression of a tip on the brest level.

The bride's face was also looking a little fade, probably due to the fatigue from the last days of preparation before the wedding, and many analysts suggested that she looked like a 34-35 years old lady instead of 29. Observers underlined that the bride's general appearance and dressing should have deserved more attention in the preparation for this "wedding of the century".

As for the queen herself, and on the balcony of Buckingham palace, she was seen standing with her hands behind her back, in a bended posture; If this would be understandable for an 85 years old lady, it's rather a very unsual scheme for a symbol like the Queen of England who is considered by many to be the reference for noble gestures and "savoir-vivre".

If by this marriage event the image of the Royal family among people was meant to be improved, it was clear that the majority of the attendees who were interviewed in the streets were clearly not from the younger generation. We have mostly seen fifty and sixty years old people making the celebration. In the future, and with all the major events that the world is witnessing, it is clear that much less attention and interest will be given to royalties and monarchs! 

US aircraft carriers

The United States Navy possesses 10 operational aircraft carriers as of 2016 and it’s the largest and most powerful fleet in the world by all means. All aircraft carriers are named after important personalities or cities of the US and are chosen by the secretary of the Navy. The names of all ships begin with USS which stands for: "United States Ship". The active carriers are (from the oldest to the latest):

USS Nimitz

1- USS Nimitz

2- USS Dwight D. Eisenhower

3- USS Carl Vinson

4- USS Theodore Roosevelt

5- USS Abraham Lincoln

6- USS George Washington

7- USS John C. Stennis

8- USS Harry S. Truman

9- USS Ronald Reagan

10- USS George H.W. bush

The USS Gerald Ford and the USS John F Kennedy are currently conducting sea tests and will be joining the armed forces respectively by the end of 2016 and 2020.

All of the carriers are of the Nimitz class, the largest type of aircraft carriers in the world, having a water displacement above 100,000 tons, with a nuclear propulsion which gives it an unlimited range of action and therefore the ability to navigate for an indefinite period of time, and each one can carry up to 90 aircraft, mainly F-18 Hornet and F-18 Super-hornet and F-14 Tomcat. The new F-35 joint strike fighter jet will start replacing the F-18 starting from 2018.

9 other aircraft carriers have been decommissioned since 1995, the latest being the USS Enterprise, all of them are at dock and awaiting disposal. 

Aircraft carriers give the US military enormous strategical and tactical advantages over any possible opponent, making the US Navy envied by all armies worldwide. An aircraft carrier provides the ability to intervene practically in any area of the world, in a very efficient and decisive way. Each carrier is accompanied by a number of ships called strike group such as guided missile destroyers, frigates, attack submarines, and other ships for logistical support like refueling ships and floating hospitals. Every carrier with its backup and accompanying ships constitute a fleet in itself and has a huge attack/defense capabilities.The ultra modern 90 fighter aircraft embarked on the flying deck, and the latest sophisticated missiles and electronic defense systems installed on board give the US Navy unrivaled battlefield supremacy. 

Aircraft carriers have contributed decisively to end many recent conflicts in the world such as in Iraq, Syria, Libya and others.

Work, employees and 007

On Mondays, more heart attacks occur than on any other day of the week.

An hour of planning saves normally 10 hours of trial.

For the last 3 years, Singapore has been the easiest country where you can start up a new business.

Statistics show that 80% of employees prefer not to go to work on Monday mornings.

The first touristic destination in the world is France. 60 million tourists come annually, as much as the whole French population.

Around 200 billion emails are exchanged on a daily basis. More than 97% of them are spam.

More than 90% of the people attending conferences tend to sleep or day dream. Less than 5% of the attendance can recall correctly the topics discussed.

The Kuwaiti Dinar is the most expensive currency in the world. 1 KWD is equal to 3.62 US Dollars

More than half of the world’s population have seen at least one James Bond movie! The most famous 007 agent remains Sean Connery.

Chocolate, Champagne and strawberries

Watermelons contain 97% of water, lettuce 97%, tomato 95% and carrots 90%


Chocolate was discovered in the sixteen’s century in Europe, people of that time found it to be “as good as sin”


It's champagne only if it comes from Champagne!
Champagne is an agricultural region in the middle of France famous for its vineyards that produce the legendary sparkling white wine!


Carrots contain zero fat, cucumbers contain zero calorie and zero fat.


Strawberry is the only natural fruit that contains zero fat and zero calorie.


Water is the only necessary element for human life, all others can be replaced or substituted.


Coca-Cola is the most consumed beverage in the world after water.


Daily consumption of red wine is believed to be the main reason behind the high longevity of French people which is the highest in the world.


Americans are the biggest consumers of meat worldwide,
They are also the biggest consumers of fast foods.


Avocado is the natural fruit that contains the most fat.

Ohio, Rome and US oil

There are no natural lakes in the state of Ohio, all are man-made.


The driest place on Earth is in the valleys of the Antarctica near Ross Island.
There has been no rainfall there for two million years.


There are more Italians in New York City than in Rome, Italy.


There is a city called Rome on every continent.


The volume of water in the Amazon river
is greater than the next eight largest rivers in the world combined and three times the flow of all the rivers in the United States.


Although covered with ice (all but 0.4% of it),
Antarctica is the driest place on the planet,
with an absolute humidity lower than the Gobi desert.


There are more Jews in New York city than in Tel Aviv, Israel.


The largest country in the world is the Russian Federation. It extends over 11 different time zones;

when the sun rises on Vladivostok in the morning,
It is sunset at Saint Petersburg.


The soil of the USA contains deep oil fields with huge reserves. While the exact quantities are not disclosed, many experts believe that there is enough quantities of oil that would suffice for the consumption of the USA for 100 years, conservatively.

The US, Antarctica and New York City

The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.


The Amazon River pushes so much water into the Atlantic Ocean that, more than one hundred miles at sea off the mouth of the river, one can dip fresh water out of the ocean.


The ice formation in Antarctica represents seventy percent of all the reserves of fresh water in the world.


The water of Angel Falls (the world's highest) in Venezuela
drops 3,212 feet (979 meters).
They are 15 times higher than Niagara Falls.


As strange as it sounds, Antarctica is essentially a desert;
the average yearly total precipitation is about two inches.


Canada is an Indian word meaning ' Big Village '.


There are more Irish in New York City than in Dublin, Ireland.


The deepest hole ever drilled by man is the Kola Super deep Borehole, in Russia.
It reached a depth of 12,261 meters (about 40,226 feet or 7.62 miles). It was drilled for scientific research and gave up some unexpected discoveries,
one of which was a huge deposit of hydrogen,
so massive that the mud coming from the hole was boiling.


If New York city had the same population density as Alaska,
only 25 people would be living in it.

Water is life

An adult human being can stay alive ultimately for 30 days without any food, but only seven days without water.


70% of a human body is made from water.


Lack of water in the human body is the first cause of fatigue during the day.


A simple reduction of 2% of the water in the human body may cause short term memory incoherence, lack of concentration, writing and typing errors.


According to the university of washington, a glass of water in the evening helps to reduce the feeling of hunger for persons who are on diet.


Five glasses of water per day can reduce the risk of colon cancer by 45%, breast cancer by 79% and vesica cancer by up to 50%.


Some studies reveal that 8 to 10 glasses of water per day may significantly reduce back and articulation pain for up to 80% of those who suffer such symptoms.


Drinking water at appropriate times during the day can maximize its positive effects on human body:


Two glasses of water in the morning help activating the internal organs,


One glass of water before any meal helps digestion,


A glass of water before bed reduces the risk of heart attacks.


At last but not least, water would be the only proof of a possible extra terrestrial life on any planet.

Rome, Siberia and Minnesota

The smallest island in the world having the status of “Country” is Pitcairn Polynesia, at just 1.75 square miles/4,53 square kilometers.


The first city to reach a population of 1 million people was Rome, Italy in 133 B.C.


Siberia’s famous forests: Taiga & Tundra represent more than 25% of the world's forests.


The smallest sovereign entity in the world
is the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (S.M.O.M).
It is located in the city of Rome, Italy, has an area of two
tennis courts and, as of 2001, has a population of 3 people.
It is a sovereign entity under international law, just as the Vatican is.


In the Sahara Desert, there is a town in Algeria named Tidikelt, which has not received a drop of rain for ten years.


The word Spain literally means 'the land of rabbits'.


St. Paul, Minnesota, was originally called Pig's Eye
after a European man named Pierre 'Pig's Eye' Parrant
who lived and set up the first business there.


Ninety percent of the world's ice can be found in Antarctica .


The chance to find an unpaved road:
in the U.S.A. : 1%
in Sudan: 97%

Did you know!

More than half of the coastline of the entire United States is located in Alaska.

The Amazon rainforest produces more than 20%
of the world's oxygen supply.

Antarctica is the only land on our planet that is not owned by any country.

Brazil got its name from the nut, not the other way around.

Canada has more lakes than all the rest of the countries in the world combined together.

Next to Warsaw, Chicago has the largest Polish population in the world.

Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, carries the designation M-1, so named because it was the first ever paved road in the world.

Istanbul, Turkey, is the only city in the world located on two continents.

Los Angeles' original name is: El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula (The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of the (river) Porciuncula). It is now abbreviated to 3.63% of its size: L.A.

The term 'The Big Apple' was coined by touring jazz musicians of the 1930s who used the slang expression 'apple' for any town or city. Therefore, to play New York City is to play the big time: The Big Apple.

The importance of the family

The role of the family is prominent for the future of humanity. In today’s world families are facing many difficulties resulting from the changes of culture, poverty, conflicts, immigration and the new false cultural myths. Today’s media is playing a big role in promoting new ways of life implying that sexual conservatism is naiveté while free and casual sex is modernism and freedom. A recent study in the United States has revealed that more than twenty percent of American women have children from more than one partner.

Another plague regarding marriage between people of the same sex constitutes a dangerous attempt by man to counter the laws of nature and therefore sends another blow to family which is the only righteous and natural way for mankind to live and progress. Selfish ways of life are becoming dangerously common and individual’s physical pleasures or unnatural sexual orientations are being harshly defended in today’s world. Being responsible and showing respect for others is enforced by law, but unfortunately being responsible and showing respect to oneself and his body is largely lacking, thus extending inevitably to one’s descendants. In fact children always endure the emotional and social burden when they recognize being the fruit of a passing relationship and not belonging to a real family, or when they belong to an abnormal one with parents of the same sex.

A lot of courage and honesty are required to favor the plan conceived by nature for human beings.

Today’s society needs to work hard to succeed in promoting family as being a very strong union between a man and a woman and therefore offer help for this family to carry out its sacred mission as the core of human life, a lesson of responsibility, the symbol of coexistence and peaceful life, the example of sacrifice for each other, the school where life is welcomed and generously embraced. Love and peace inside families will then certainly shine to society and clear the way for better future generations where peace and fraternity prevail between men.

God and science

The Scientific Legacy of modern times has been undoubtedly marked with achievements and major advances. Nevertheless the image of scientific progress is sometimes divided into two different views. On one hand, science is considered to be the answer to any question and the remedy to any problem, in fact the numerous recent scientific achievements in the last decades appear to be confirming the theory that science could ultimately answer all the questions of man’s existence; On the other hand, science is sometimes believed to be a threat to man’s existence and a way of self destruction, notably because of the use of sophisticated armaments and nuclear weapons .

It is obvious that the scope of science is far from both extreme theories. Its purpose has been and will remain to be the continuous quest for the truth about space, nature and all aspects and phenomenon’s surrounding human life. This relentless search has conducted to many successes and has contributed to change the way we live, and has also created a sort of frustration as many other phenomena apparently trivial are still remotely understood though. Nonetheless, provisional conclusions constitute a good foundation for future understanding of the world we live in.

The scientific progress made in the last century in many disciplines has resulted in a much better understanding of the earth, center of all experiments which continue to be the main “laboratory” to discover and learn. In the last five decades, practically since the end of the second world war, the scientific and technological progress realized by man has outpaced by far all what we have learnt, discovered and invented in our entire history! It would be interesting to note that man’s knowledge about God remains the same throughout the centuries and not a single leap has been achieved in that direction. .

If mankind owes a lot to science and to the continuous scientific will of going further and deeper, scientists often question themselves about this secret hand that puts everything in order and makes our world function in perfect harmony. In fact scientists do not create, they only discover facts and truths, put them together and try to visualize their conclusions in man-made theories and inventions. Therefore man has always watched, experienced, learnt and tried to elaborate mathematical patterns and models in order to acknowledge, and to the best extent possible any natural phenomenon surrounding us. It is good to note that any scientific formula is only a good and close approximation of a natural event or phenomenon, and no theory in the world has ever claimed expressing an exact explanation of any event or phenomenon.

This reality leads us to admit the existence of a greater reason beyond man’s understanding of things, which sustains and controls our world, and this is the crucial point where science and religion converge. The result is that science can be the place where man encounters the creator of this world and therefore leads to a better and true understanding of this world.

As we are witnessing daily scientific achievements, we also discover the complexity and mysteries of our world, therefore the need for a new approach is imminent where morality shall be observed in scientific researches in order to reach better conclusions. Scientific achievements should always obey the imperatives of ethics and preservation of human rights and dignity, and deploy scientists efforts in the right direction for the good and the future of mankind. The evolution of our way of life will largely depend on our ability to use science for what is moral, just and good for humanity.

Japan and Libya overshadow a major crisis

With the war in Libya and the tragedy in Japan grabbing all news headlines, the world seems to be overlooking a very grave situation that has been unfolding in Ivory Coast. In fact more than one million citizens have fled their homes in the African nation, a country that seems to be slowly drifting towards a full-scale civil war. This is the reality of the situation facing this West African country and its population. Many calls have been made so far urging dialogue between the opposing parties. Very little attention is being paid by the international community and media to this worsening humanitarian crisis, which is causing massive exodus of people, many of whom have crossed the border into neighboring countries like Liberia and Ghana. Reports from Ivory Coast confirm that the situation is dramatic and is not getting the appropriate attention from the International community, and the events occurring in the African Nation are still being under-reported. Huge lack of funding also contributes to the worsening of the humanitarian situation.

The seriousness of the situation comes basically from the sharp political division in the country that is inevitably leading to a civil war in Ivory Coast. People are fleeing in all directions running for their lives with very little in hand or even nothing at all! Therefore the needs are huge and range from food, drinking water, to blankets and mattresses.

Why is the international community and the United Nations overlooking this crisis! Is it because Ivory Coast is a poor country or because it has no oil or natural reserves? The answer to this sad query remains unknown but what is sure is that hundreds of thousands of people are suffering and are in a desperate need for help.

Many observers are expressing regrets over the brewing civil war in a country that has been known for decades as being the “benchmark” for political stability in western Africa. The emergency funding in response to the crisis is yet far from seeing the light. Unfortunately we will only witness another big human tragedy unless the decision makers decide to make a move and contribute to the halting of such a tragedy.