Where the grass is greener

Cities in Australia and Canada are rated the most livable in the world

With low crime, little threat from instability or terrorism and a highly developed transport and communications infrastructure, Canada and Australia are home to the most livable destinations in the world. Four of the ten most livable cities surveyed by the Economist Intelligence Unit are in Australia, and two of the top five are Canadian. Vancouver is the most attractive destination, with a livability index of just 1.3% (see table).

While livability considers factors of recreational and cultural activity, the "big city buzz" can hamper the scores of some cities, although not to the extent that a city will present significant challenges. Global centers such as New York, Tokyo, London, Hong Kong and Paris may find themselves let down precisely because of their size and attractiveness.

Traffic congestion and higher crime rates associated with large urban centers have, to some extent, offset the obvious cultural gains of living in such locations. This has also been compounded by fears that large centers like London and New York will remain targets for high-profile terror attacks. Despite this, most major centers do not present any significant challenges to livability.

Of the 132 cities surveyed, only nine cities present the worst-case scenario in which most aspects of living quality are severely restricted, reflecting general improvements on a global scale in areas such as education, health care and infrastructure. Four of these are in Asia, mainly South Asia. The other five are in Africa (accounting for three) and the Middle East (accounting for two).

The threat of terrorism and civil unrest is a major contributing\nfactor to the cities that suffer from the worst livability scores, as\nare poor development indicators. Algiers is the least livable\ndestination in the survey, with a score of 64.7%.

The threat of terrorism and civil unrest is a major contributing factor to the cities that suffer from the worst livability scores, as are poor development indicators. Algiers is the least livable destination in the survey, with a score of 64.7%.

Close to Exploding!

There's a week left before the finals, and it seems when I feel pressured, the kids start making more and more trouble.They fight over the silliest things. I really want to kill them right now. Just when you get busy they remember all the questions they wanted to ask you all day, or start some silly argument...
Right now they are singing here over my head, one on my right and one on my left! And arguing who sings the song better??!!! I really don't know what to do... :-((

I'm really fed-up with this stuped education and everything I have to do to study. Mothers with two kids shouldn't be studying like this. So why should a mother with four???
I know at the end I'm not doing it for myself. I'm wasting the time I should be taking some painting course or calligraphy or sewing with my friends. Or doing some arts and crafts with my kids. Or reading a new novel. Or having coffee in the morning with a friend. Yeah those were nice days when I took a semester off...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!

Right now the pressure is high, and it's rising and rising...
tic.. tic.. tic..

Run for your lives!
I'm about to explode!!!...

"Robison Crusoe" and "Friday" Compared

Analysis of Major Characters

Robinson Crusoe

While he is no flashy hero or grand epic adventurer, Robinson Crusoe displays character traits that have won him the approval of generations of readers. His perseverance in spending months making a canoe, and in practicing pottery making until he gets it right, is praiseworthy. Additionally, his resourcefulness in building a home, dairy, grape arbor, country house, and goat stable from practically nothing is clearly remarkable. But Crusoe’s admirable qualities must be weighed against the flaws in his character.

1. Crusoe seems incapable of deep feelings, as shown by his cold account of leaving his family—he worries about the religious consequences of disobeying his father, but never displays any emotion about leaving. Though he is generous toward people, as when he gives gifts to his sisters and the captain, Crusoe reveals very little tender or sincere affection in his dealings with them. When Crusoe tells us that he has gotten married and that his wife has died all within the same sentence, his indifference to her seems almost cruel.
2. Moreover, as an individual personality, Crusoe is rather dull. His precise and deadpan style of narration works well for recounting the process of canoe building, but it tends to drain the excitement from events that should be thrilling. Action-packed scenes like the conquest of the cannibals become quite humdrum when Crusoe narrates them, giving us a detailed inventory of the cannibals in list form, for example.
3. His insistence on dating events makes sense to a point, but it ultimately ends up seeming obsessive and irrelevant when he tells us the date on which he grinds his tools but neglects to tell us the date of a very important event like meeting Friday. Perhaps his impulse to record facts carefully is not a survival skill, but an irritating sign of his neurosis.
4. Finally, while not boasting of heroism, Crusoe is nonetheless very interested in possessions, power, and prestige. When he first calls himself "king" of the island it seems jocund, but when he describes the Spaniard as "his subject" we must take his royal delusion seriously, since it seems he really does consider himself "king.'' His teaching Friday to call him “Master,” even before teaching him the words for “yes” or “no,” seems obnoxious even under the racist standards of the day, as if Crusoe needs to hear the ego-boosting word spoken as soon as possible.

Friday
Probably the first nonwhite character to be given a realistic, individualized, and humane portrayal in the English novel, Friday has a huge literary and cultural importance. If Crusoe represents the first "colonial" mind in fiction, then Friday represents not just a Caribbean tribesman, but all the natives of America, Asia, and Africa who would later be oppressed in the age of European imperialism.

1. At the moment when Crusoe teaches Friday to call him “Master” Friday becomes an enduring political symbol of racial injustice in a modern world critical of imperialist expansion.
2. Aside from his importance to our culture, Friday is a key figure within the context of the novel. In many ways he is the most vibrant character in Robinson Crusoe, much more charismatic and colorful than his master. Indeed, Defoe at times underscores the contrast between Crusoe’s and Friday’s personalities, as when Friday, in his joyful reunion with his father, exhibits far more emotion toward his family than Crusoe. Whereas Crusoe never mentions missing his family or dreams about the happiness of seeing them again, Friday jumps and sings for joy when he meets his father, and this emotional display makes us see what is missing from Crusoe’s stodgy heart.
3. Friday’s expression of loyalty in asking Crusoe to kill him rather than leave him is more heartfelt than anything Crusoe ever says or does. Friday’s sincere questions to Crusoe about the devil, which Crusoe answers only indirectly and hesitantly, leave us wondering whether Crusoe’s knowledge of Christianity is superficial and sketchy in contrast to Friday’s full understanding of his own god Benamuckee. In short, Friday’s exuberance and emotional directness often point out the wooden conventionality of Crusoe’s personality.
4. Despite Friday’s subjugation, however, Crusoe appreciates Friday much more than he would a mere servant. Crusoe does not seem to value intimacy with humans much, but he does say that he loves Friday, which is a remarkable disclosure. It is the only time Crusoe makes such an admission in the novel, since he never expresses love for his parents, brothers, sisters, or even his wife. The mere fact that an Englishman confesses more love for an illiterate Caribbean ex-cannibal than for his own family suggests the appeal of Friday’s personality. Crusoe may bring Friday Christianity and clothing, but Friday brings Crusoe emotional warmth and a vitality of spirit that Crusoe’s own European heart lacks.

Naples...

Naples (Italian: Napoli, Neapolitan: Nàpule, from Greek Νεάπολη < Νέα Πόλις Néa Pólis 'New City')

Capital of the Campania region and the Province of Naples. The city has a population of about 1 million. By one count the metropolitan area of Naples is one of the largest in Italy, with more than 4,400,000 inhabitants. The inhabitants are known as Neapolitans, napoletani or poetically partenopei in Italian (napulitane in Neapolitan). It is located halfway between the volcano, Vesuvius and a separate volcanic area, the Campi Flegrei, all part of the Campanian volcanic arc.
It is rich in historical, artistic and cultural traditions and gastronomy. Neapolitan ('o napulitano) is the colourful, rich dialect that has been a trademark of southern Italy ever since the period of the Kingdom of Naples and the Two Sicilies. This history, coupled with its size, has given Naples the unofficial status of being the Capital of the South (in Italy).
The city is served by Naples International Airport at Capodichino.

History

Naples was founded between the 7th and 6th centuries BC by the Greeks and was given the name Neapolis.During the period of Roman domination, the town preserved its Greek language and customs. Following the Roman period, the city was dominated by many different groups of people (Byzantines, Lombards, Normans, Swabians, Angevins, Aragonese, Spaniards, Austrians, Bourbons and revolutionary French). Nowadays one can see the traces of all those rulers in the monuments, in the culture and in the habits of the town. In 1266 the Angevins moved the capital of the Kingdom of Sicily from Palermo to Naples. Sicily soon parted and formed an independent Kingdom of Sicily. After the Congress of Vienna Naples became the capital of the united Kingdom of Two Sicilies. After a long period of decline following the creation of the Italian State over 100 years ago, the city is making strides in recovering its eminence as a center for culture.

Climate
Naples has a typical Mediterranean climate. This means mild winters and hot summers. Rains concentrate during November and December and between March and April. Average temperature during the coldest month is 8° C. (48 F. ) whilst average temperature in July is 24° C. (75,2 F.). The mild climate and the geographical and morphologic richness of the bay of Naples made it famous during Roman times when emperors chose the city as a favorite holiday location.

Beneath Naples
Subterranean Naples consists of old Greco-Roman reservoirs dug out from the soft tufo stone on which, and from which, the city is built. Approximately one kilometer of the many kilometers of tunnels under the city can be visited from the well known "Napoli Sotteranea" situated in the historic centre of the city in Via dei Tribunali. There are also large catacombs in and around the city and other visits such as Piscina Mirabilis, the main cistern serving the bay of Naples during Roman times. This system of tunnels and cisterns cover most of the city and lies approximately thirty metres below ground level. Moisture levels are around 70%. During World War II these tunnels were used as air raid shelters and there are inscriptions in the walls which depict the suffering endured during that time.

Food and drink

Naples is by tradition the home of pizza. It is the birthplace of the Pizza Margherita, which traditionally is made with mozzarella cheese, pomodoro (tomato) and basil -representing, respectively, the red, white, and green of the Italian flag. The pizza was named when it was served to Queen Margherita during a visit to the city. La vera pizza ("true pizza") is made in a wood-burning oven similar to a Tandoori oven. There is a certification body that issues recognition to pizza places around the world that have been deemed to make true Neapolitan pizza.
Melanzane alla parmigiana is a bake of layers of fried slices of eggplant (aubergine, very often coated in egg and flour, or in a light batter), alternated with mozzarella, tomato sauce and parmesan (parmigiano) cheese (a less common version does not include mozzarella).
Naples offers several kinds of unique pastry, the most famous of which is perhaps the Pastiera, a cake prepared for Easter. The babà (also known as savarin) is a mushroom-shaped piece of leavend sweet pastry, soaked with an orange flavoured mixture of ruhm and water. Choux is a small "bubble" of leavened pastry stuffed with light cream, usually coffee or chocolate flavored. The Pastiera is a cake with a complicated recipe, varying by the county in which it is prepared. The ingredients are typically annealed grain, eggs, and sometimes cream (it is sometimes made with boiled rice instead of grain in the area of Salerno), in a sort of short crust pastry with strips of pastry on the top making a sort of grid. Another typical Neapolitan pastry is the Sfogliatella (riccia or frolla).
Naples is also known for its ice cream (in Italian gelato).
Neapolitan food forms the basis for much Italian-American cuisine.

Studying, Studying...

Studying with marriage and kids is the hardest thing a woman can do.

I've been studying since I got married and it's not getting easier. I finished high school with my two daughters and then I had my son. I entered the university with three kids, which was O.K. at first. As the kids got older, their demands became bigger. I went to lectures sometimes and "showed my face" as much as I can so the teachers would remember me and not give me "F"s I didn't deserve. When I moved to Madinah, the university here didn't accept me (on hearing the word "external" they will treat you like a roach) so, I stayed with K.A.U. in Jeddah as an external student and here starts the nightmare...

• The external student's schedules come out 2-3 weeks after the regular students.
• After fixing our schedules, it takes 2-3 weeks to find out who is going to teach us that so-and-so course and where to get the books for that so-and-so teacher. Of course this takes hours of useless phone calls to some grumpy people who have our futures in their hands, the secretary of the European Languages department, and the old man at the photocopying maktabah.
• I'll go to check on something and I find out, two weeks before the finals, that the teacher changed the poems and stories she wants us to read!
• Once someone gave me the wrong times to the exams and I missed an exam by 30 minutes. I went to the uni just to make sure she got it right. Al7amdu Lillah the teacher was very cooperative and gave me the test right away at her office.
• Once a teacher changed the time of the exam and I found someone to call her majesty and she said to come the next day.
• If you check the website www.kau.edu.sa you will NOT find that the course descriptions have not been posted until now. We are half way through the semester.
• I have to put up with all these things and take care of a husband and kids.
• I have no one to explain anything to me accept by searching www.sparknotes.com and www.monkeynotes.com.
• Our finals are from 100 and the whole book must be covered. No chapters are cut out like regular students, and our exams are not easy.
• They say external students don't get jobs easily!

I have 4 kids now, and two very difficult semesters are ahead of me.

Although he thinks I'm not doing what I really want (painting, reading) and should do (tarbiya), my husband helps a lot, Al7amdu Lillah. He teaches my older daughter (11 years) all her subjects and that's the biggest relief.

and since we external students study the whole book in very short periods of time and take one final exam from 100, and since we go through so much suffering, I think the Uni should give us special degrees when we graduate. It should say:

"Student Suffered Enough, Give Job Right Away."