Are You Crazy?: 18 Scientific Quizzes to Test Yourself

There is a fine line between quirky and out-and-out crazy. With 18 scientifically based quizzes, Andrew N. Williams helps readers decipher whether they're "normal," toeing the line, or far past it. 

Developed by psychologists to analyze human behavior, the quizzes allow readers to discover if they (or their friends and family) are: 

- Sex addicts

- Obsessive-compulsives

- Food freaks

- Thrill-seekers

- Hypochondriacs

- Fetishists

- Paranoids

- Imposters 

Plus the book includes descriptions, in layman's terms, of more than 80 specific quirks, illustrated with real life examples. Readers will marvel at stories of people who: 

- Crave dirt-and eat it by the handful

- Are afraid of doughnuts because they can't see what's inside

- Lie about deaths in the family-to collect sympathy cards 

But Are You Crazy? is much more than a party game, offering helpful insights for dealing with other peoples' crazy behavior as well as one's own insecurities and phobias.

Abdel

8:12 ص

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Shaykh al-Mufid

Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Nu'man
al-Shaykh al-Mufid
Born	948
Place of Birth	'Ukbara, Iraq
Died	1022
Buried	Kadhimayn, Iraq

Shaykh ِMuhammad ibn al-Nu'man also known as Shaykh al-Mufid (Arabic: الشيخ المفيد), was one of the first systematizers of Shi'ite law and doctrine and as well as one of the most important Shi'ite jurists and theologians of the 10th century.

Contents 1 Life and Studies 2 His Works 3 External Links 4 References

Life and Studies

Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad b. Muhammad b. al-Nu‘man al-Harithi al-‘Ukbari, known as al-Shaykh al-Mufid and Ibn al-Mu‘allim, was born in Suwayqat Ibn al-Basri near ‘Ukbara in 336/948.^[1] Mufid’s father was a teacher in Wasit—whence his epithet Ibn al-Mu‘allim—before moving to ‘Ukbara. In 347/958, when he was eleven years old, al-Mufid is said to have heard hadiths in the Mansur Mosque, one of the main centers for the study of the Qur’an, tafsir, hadith, and usul al-fiqh in Baghdad. The Mansur Mosque was apparently a Hanbalite locus^[2], although other scholars also taught there. This may be where al-Mufid was initially exposed to Sunnite traditionism, which he criticized sharply.^[3]

In positive law his primary teacher was Ja‘far b. Muhammad b. Quluya of Qom.^[4] In theology his main teacher was Abu’l-Jaysh al-Muzaffar b. Muhammad al-Balkhi al-Warraq, who was Abu Sahl b. Nawbakht’s disciple. He probably studied with Abu’l-Qasim al-Balkhi al-Ka‘bi, leader of the Baghdadite Mu‘tazilites, too.^[5] Mufid heard hadiths from Abu ‘Ubayd Allad al-Marzubani and al-Hafiz Abu Bakr Muhammad b. ‘Umar b. al-Ji‘abi . Although he never visited Qom, he learnt hadiths of Qummite provenance from Ibn Quluya, Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Dawud b. ‘Ali al-Qummi (368/978-9) and Ibn Babuya.^[6] He also studied with Ibn al-Junayd and Abu’l-Husayn al-Nashi’, which is to say that Mufid’s teachers represented each of the major theological and legal tendencies found in the 4th/10th century.^[7]

He taught in the mosque in Darb Riyah in al-Karkh. All the most important scholars of the generation after Mufid’s were his students. These include the Sharif al-Radi and al-Murtada, Tusi, Najashi, al-Karajaki, Salar al-Daylami and Abu’l-Salah al-Halabi. He was expelled from Baghdad during Sunnite-Shi‘ite riots in 392/1002, 398/1008 and 409/1018. In the second instance rioters targeted Mufid personally, an indication of his prominence rather than his involvement in the foment.^[8] He died in Baghdad in Ramadan 413/1022 and was initially buried in his house, then in Maqabir Quraysh in the vicinity of Imams al-Kadhim and al-Jawad. His funeral was a major public event attended by an enormous crowd.^[9]

His Works

Mufid wrote prolifically on a wide range of theological and legal issues. Some of these include:

• Al-Amali
• Al-Irshad
• Awa'il al-Maqalat
• Ahkam al-Nisa'
• Khulasat al-Iyjaz
• Jawabat Ahl al-Mawsul
• Risalat al-Mut`ah
• Aqsam al-Mawla
• Risalah fi al-Mahr
• Iman Abi Talib
• Al-Ikhtisas
• Al-Ifsah fi al-Imamah Amir al-Mu'minin
• Al-Ishraf
• Tashih I`tiqadat al-Imamiyah
• Tafdhil Amir al-Mu'minin
• Risalah fi Ma`na al-Mawla
• Al-Jamal
• Al-Masa'il al-Sarawiyah
• Al-Masa'il al-Saghaniyah
• Al-Masa'il al-Tusiyah
• Al-Masa'il al-Jarudiyah
• Al-Masa'il al-`Ukbariyah
• Al-Nukat al-I`tiqadiyah
• Al-Masa'il al-`Ashr fi al-Ghaybah
• Dhaba'ih Ahl al-Kitab
• Al-Mas'hu ala al-Rijlayn
• Al-Muqni`yah
• Al-I`lam bima ittafaqat alayhi al-Imamiyah min al-Ahkam
• Al-Tadhkirah bil Usul al-Fiqh
• Masar al-Shi`ah
• Al-Nukat fi al-Muqadimat al-Usul

He was especially concerned with the Mu‘tazilites, against whom he wrote over sixteen works.^[10] The subject of these refutations was often a theological or legal position which Mu‘tazilites held, yet which was not unique to Mu‘tazilism, such as their views on the Imamate and fixed-term marriage. Mufid addressed the major theological and legal controversies of his day in refutations of specific Mu‘tazilites, which suggests that he considered them his principle intellectual rivals. The success of Mu‘tazilism in Buyid Baghdad, where it attracted many Hanafites and Zaydites among others, confirms this suggestion. The chronicles of Buyid historians, however, name a Shafi‘ite jurist al-Isfara’ini and Hanbalite mobs as the principal agitators against the Imamites, indicating that the Imamites’ main political rivals were Shafi‘ites and Hanbalites. Consequently, one might expect to find more polemic directed against these two groups in Mufid’s works. The dearth of such polemic may be because Sunnite legal heritage, in the form of Shafi‘ism, was useful to Imamite scholars in building their own legal tradition.^[11] At the same time, faced with Sunnite opposition to Mu‘tazilism, Imamites found it useful to obscure their own rational tendencies and directed their works against Mu‘tazilism and its affiliates. Mufid’s theological views were more akin to the reportedly pro-‘Alid Baghdadite school of Mu‘tazilism which rejected Abu Hashim al-Jubba’i’s theory of states (ahwal), even though the Basran school prevailed in Baghdad at the time.^[12] Mufid wrote a work on the agreement of Baghdadite Mu‘tazilism with Imamic hadiths titled Kitab al-risala al-muqni‘a fi wifaq al-baghdadiyyin min al-mu‘tazila li-ma ruwiya ‘an al-a’imma.

The Fatimid caliphate-imamate also influenced Mufid’s work. The Fatimids’ successes appealed to Shi‘ites’ messianic aspirations, threatening to draw ‘Alid support away from Baghdad. This is evident in al-Sharif al-Radi’s lyric composition bemoaning, “his degraded position ‘in an enemy country’ while his kinsmen the Fatimids,” ruled Egypt, an affront for which the Caliph al-Qadir admonished Radi’s father, the incumbent ‘Alid naqib, and his initial refusal to repudiate the Fatimids’ genealogy.^[13] The Fatimids implemented an astrological calendar so the beginning of Ramadan did not depend on a moon-sighting (ru’ya).^[14] Early in his life Mufid agreed with his teacher in positive law Ibn Quluya that it is not the new moon which inaugurates Ramadan, rather the beginning of Ramadan is based on a fixed calculation. Later, he changed his opinion, holding that the beginning of Ramadan does depend on a moon-sighting, and wrote at least six works to this effect.^[15]Mufid’s later ruling reflects a process in which Imamites sought to draw ideological lines between themselves and the Fatimids, who threatened Baghdad politically, thus assuring their patrons of their benignity and securing a place for themselves within a broader Islamic context.

External Links

• Lessons from the Lives of our Ulema – Part 9
• The Place of al-Mufid in the Development of Shi'i Kalam and Fiqh, Ayatullah Sayyid Ali Khamene’i
• The Past master: Sheikh Al-Mufid

References

1. ↑ According to Madelung, 333/945 and 338/950 are also possible, though less likely. W. Madelung, “Al-Mufid,” in EI."
2. ↑ Based on the coincidence of dates, Mufid is likely to have heard traditions in the Mansur Mosque from one of two, or perhaps both, of the following Hanbalites: Abu Bakr Ahmad b. Salman al-Najjad (d. 348/960) and Abu Ishaq al-Bazzaz (d. 369/980).
3. ↑ Mufid’s works against traditionists/traditionism include: Kitab fi radd ‘ala’l-Sha‘bi; Kitab al-mas’ala li-Janbaliyya [sic: Hanbaliyya]; and Kitab maqabis al-anwar fi’l-radd ‘ala ahl al-akhbar. This short list does not include the works that he wrote in opposition to Ibn Babuya which were, in all likelihood, critical of traditionism.
4. ↑ Ibn Quluya belonged to the intermediate school discussed above. It is noteworthy that Mufid wrote Lamh al-burhan fi ‘adam nuqsan shahr Ramadan in support of Ibn Quluya against Muhammad b. Ahmad b. Dawud b. ‘Ali al-Qummi in 363/973-4. McDermott, Al-Shaikh al-Mufid, 36
5. ↑ Mufid refuted al-Balkhi in a work titled Kitab naqd al-khams ‘ashara mas’ala ‘ala’l-Balkhi.
6. ↑ Mufid is likely to have learned hadiths from Ibn Babuya during the latter’s visit to Baghdad in 352/963 and/or 355/966.
7. ↑ Modarressi, Shi‘i Law, 40.
8. ↑ Similarly, Imamites targeted the leader of the Shafi‘ites Abu Hamid al-Isfara’ini though it is unlikely that he was personally involved in the attacks on them. Madelung and Donohue corroborated Mufid’s innocence in the matter. Madelung, “al-Mufid,” EI; Donohue, Buwayhid Dynasty, 332.
9. ↑ Muhammad Baqir al-Majlisi, Bihar al-anwar, Introduction (Beirut, 1983), 105.
10. ↑ These include: Kitab al-radd ‘ala Ibn al-Ikhshid fi’l-imama; al-Radd ‘ala Abi ‘Abd Allah al-Basri fi tafdil al-mala’ika; Kitab al-radd ‘ala’l-Jubba’i fi’l-tafsir; Kitab al-radd ‘ala’l-Khalidi fi’l-imama; ‘Umad mukhtasara ‘ala’l-mu‘tazila fi’l-wa‘id; al-Kalam ‘ala’l-Jubba’i fi’l-ma‘dum; Mas’ala jarat bayn al-shaykh wa bayn al-qadi al-bahshami fi’l-imama wa ma‘na al-mawla; Kitab al-mudih fi’l-wa‘id; Kitab naqd al-imama ‘ala Ja‘far b. Harb; Kitab naqd al-khams ‘ashara mas’ala ‘ala’l-Balkhi; Kitab al-naqd ‘ala Abi ‘Abd Allah al-Basri fi’l-mut‘a; Kitab al-naqd ‘ala Ibn ‘Abbad fi’l-imama; Kitab naqd fadilat al-mu‘tazila; Kitab al-naqd ‘ala ‘Ali b. ‘Isa al-Rummani; al-Naqd ‘ala’l-Wasiti; and Kitab naqd kitab al-Asamm fi’l-imama. See ibid. to identify the individuals named in these titles. This list does not include tracts written against the Hanafites and the Zaydites, both of whom were affiliated with Mu‘tazilism in Baghdad. Donohue remarked that the Imamite attack on Zaydite shades of Mu‘tazilism was intended to obscure Imamite rationalism. Donohue, Buwayhid Dynasty, 332.
11. ↑ See Devin J. Stewart, Islamic Legal Orthodoxy: Twelver Shiite Responses to the Sunni Legal System (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1998), 65-9.
12. ↑ See Abu Rashid al-Nishaburi, al-Masa’il fi’l-khilaf bayn al-basriyyin wa’l-baghdadiyyin, ed. ed. Ma‘n Ziyada and Ridwan al-Sayyid (Beirut: Ma‘had al-Inma’ al-‘Arabi, 1979). See also my discussion of Baghdad’s Mu‘tazilites below.
13. ↑ Mafizullah Kabir, “A Distinguished ‘Alid Family of Baghdad During the Buwayhid Period,” Royal Asiatic Society of Pakistan 9 (1964): 52-3.
14. ↑ Al-Qadi al-Nu‘man, Da‘a’im al-islam, ed. Asaf b. ‘Ali Asghar Fyzee (Egypt: Dar al-Ma‘arif, 1370/1951), 322. According to the historian Maqrizi, the Fatimid general Jawhar introduced the astrological calendar when he conquered Egypt (idem, The Pillars of Islam, vol. 1, trans. Asaf A. A. Fyzee, revised and annotated by Ismail Kurban Husein Poonawala (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2002), 339.); however, some evidence suggests that the Fatimid Caliph-Imam al-Mu‘izz instituted it when he adopted Da‘a’im al-islam as the state’s law. See Ismail K. Poonawala, “Al-Qadi al-Nu‘man and Isma‘ili jurisprudence,” in Mediaeval Isma‘ili History and Thought, ed. Farhad Daftary (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 118.
15. ↑ These include: Jawab ahl al-Raqqa fi’l-ahilla wa’l-‘adad; Kitab jawabat ahl al-Mawsil fi’l-‘adad wa’l-ru’ya; al-Radd ‘ala Ibn Babuya/ Fi’l-radd ‘ala’l-Saduq fi qawlih anna shahr ramadan la yanqus/ al-Risala al-‘adadiyya; Kitab ‘adad al-sawm wa’l-salat; Masabih al-nur fi ‘alamat awa’il al-shuhur; and Kitab mas’ala fi takhsis al-ayyam. See McDermott’s list of Mufid’s works in al-Shaikh al-Mufid, 27-40.

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Abdel

5:52 ص

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Motorola Droid Turbo

After months of speculation and a nearly endless stream of leaks, Motorola and Verizon today announced the latest smartphone in the Droid family, the Droid Turbo. The Turbo takes the place of the Droid Ultra from last year — the Droid Maxx and Droid Mini remain in the lineup at lower price points — and is a genuinely unique device in Motorola's portfolio. It will be available starting on October 30th for $199.99 on contract for a 32GB model or $249.99 on contract for a 64GB version.

The Turbo has the same size display as Motorola's flagship Moto X, which is also offered by Verizon and other US carriers, but the 5.2-inch panel on the Turbo has a much higher, quad HD resolution (the Moto X makes do with a 1080p screen). The Turbo also has a more powerful Snapdragon 805 processor, more RAM (3GB now), a much larger 3,900mAh battery (good for 48 hours of use between charges, according to Verizon), and a higher-resolution 21-megapixel camera. Motorola is also including the Turbo Charger with the Droid Turbo, which offers 8 hours of battery life on just 15 minutes of charging. By all accounts, the Droid Turbo certainly lives up to its name compared to the Moto X, at least on the spec sheet.

THE TURBO LIVES UP TO ITS NAME WITH BETTER SPECS THAN THE MOTO X

The Droid Turbo is launching with Android 4.4 KitKat and Motorola says that it will be upgraded to Android 5.0 Lollipop after that is released. It has many of the same features of the Moto X, including voice control, Moto Display, and launching the camera via a twist gesture of the wrist. The Droid Zap feature that lets you share things with other device owners also makes a reappearance on the Turbo.

Unfortunately, the Turbo's design isn't nearly as nice as the very attractive Moto X, with an awkward shape and the cheesy Droid-signature Kevlar-like crosshatch pattern on its back. The Turbo also has capacitive keys instead of relying on on-screen navigation buttons, making it taller and more awkward to handle than the Moto X. It will be available in metallic black, metallic red, or what Verizon calls a "ballistic" black, which has an even more textured back.

Verizon has long used the Droid brand to differentiate itself from the other carriers, and Motorola has been its partner for a couple of years now. For the Turbo, Verizon is offering trade in promotions as well as complimentary insurance for one screen breakage. The Droid Turbo may not have the visual appeal or the customization options of Motorola's own Moto X, but if you're looking for an ultrapowerful smartphone with exceptional battery life and are a Verizon customer, it should fit those needs well. We'll have more impressions of the Droid Turbo along wth a full review in the near future.

Update, October 28th, 12:00PM ET: We've had a chance to briefly use the Droid Turbo and feel a bit underwhelmed by it. It's a very similar experience to Motorola's own Moto X, but without the nicer design and better materials. The quad HD screen is nice, though it didn't get bright enough when outdoors, and we didn't notice the Turbo to be any faster than the Moto X in our brief tests. The ballistic nylon finish is definitely unique, providing a bit of grip and a different feel than a plastic or metal phone might. We still prefer the leather or wood options on the Moto X, but could see where the nylon would appeal to a certain customer. Of course, the biggest story with the Turbo is its proclaimed battery life, which we'll be putting to the test in our upcoming review. Until then, check out the gallery of images below and the video above.

Abdel

5:34 ص

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What Is Love ???

Cavan Images/Iconica/Getty Images

Poets and authors have tried to define love for centuries, whereas scientists have only recently started. Many of us know intuitively that love is a major purpose for living; that connection is inherent in all that we do, and without love, we cannot survive as a species.

But what is love, and how do we know when we're in it? First, let's start off with what love isn't.

It Definitely Isn't...

• Manipulation. "If you loved me, then you would..." isn't love, but rather infatuation.
• Compromising who you are. If someone asks you to do or say something that isn't in your nature, that isn't true love. Although love does involve compromises between partners, someone who is in love with you will never ask you to change who you are in order to be loved.
• Violent. Passions can definitely become inflamed with someone you love, but a relationship with physical or emotional violence isn't true love. (More: Dating Violence)e
• Just lust. Yes, chemistry and physical attraction are important, but true love also includes commitment, trust and respect. (More: Is It Lust... Or Love?, Test Your Chemistry)

So then, what exactly is love?

True Love Is...

• Caring: The ancient Greeks had many different names for different forms of love: passion, virtuous, affection for the family, desire, and general affection. But no matter how love is defined, they all hold a common trait: caring.
• Attractive: Attraction and chemistry form the bond that allows people to mate. Without this romantic desire for another individual, a relationship is nothing more than lust or infatuation.
• Attached: Like the mother-child bond, attachment comes after the initial attraction. Attachment is the long term love that appears anywhere from one to three years into a romantic relationship (sometimes sooner and very rarely after), and you'll know you've found it when you can honestly say, "I've seen the worst and the best you have to offer, and I still love you," while your partner feels the same way.
• Committed: When it comes to affairs of the heart, commitment is more than just monogamy. Its the knowledge that your partner cares for you and has your back, no matter what the circumstances. People who are strongly committed to one another will, when faced with seemingly negative information about their partner, see only the positive. For example, a friend comments that your partner doesn't say a lot. "Ah yes, he's the strong, silent type," you reply. People with less commitment to their partner would instead say something like, "Yeah, I can never have a conversation with him. Its annoying."
• Intimate: Intimacy is a crucial component of all relationships, regardless of their nature. In order to know another, you need to share parts of yourself. This self-revealing behavior, when reciprocated, forms an emotional bond. Over time this bond strengthens and even evolves, so that two people merge closer and closer together. Intimacy by itself if is a greatfriendship, but compiled with the other things in this list, it forms an equation for true love.

Abdel

7:56 ص

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What is Google Glass?

Google's project program for developing a line of hands-free, head-mounted intelligent devices that can be worn by users as "wearable computing" eyewear. The first product release from Project Glass, Google Glass, was available for beta testers (U.S. residents only) to purchase in 2013, for $1,500 plus tax.

Interactive Glass Features

Google Glasses look like a pair of eyeglasses, but the lens of the glasses are an interactive, smartphone-like display, with natural language voice command support as well as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity. Google Glass is powered by the Android mobile operating system and compatibility with both Android-powered mobile devices and Apple iOS-powered devices is expected.

Early Versions and Beta Testing

Early versions of Google Glass were  titanium-framed glasses (that fit with your prescription or no prescription at all) to show communications from your smartphone or Google accounts in the display. Google Glass was designed to take phone calls, send texts and also take photos and video and deliver search results. The wearable computing device is also keyed to voice commands, for example to take a picture you simply say "take a picture" to capture what is in your view.

App developers, working with Google, are currently developing software that will be incorporated into the consumer version of Google Glass in 2014. Google also offers the "The Glass Explorer Program" for people who want to get involved early and help shape the future of Glass. The program is open to U.S. residents, over 18 years old, and the beta tester must purchase the eyewear.

Google Glass Criticism 

Early reports from testers suggest users can expect "curious stares" from those around them and several incidents of fights and verbal disagreements have been reported between the Glass wearer and people around them who did not wish to be recorded in a public place. One person in particular, Sarah Slocum, alleged she was harassed and attacked for wearing Glass in a Lower Haight bar (Source: SF Gate). Since then, a number of bars and restaurants in San Francisco and other cities have implemented a "no Glass" policy to prevent customers from recording other patrons.

As the Glass devices receive some serious criticism, Google's response was to offer this list of 10 Google Glass Myths to try to counter the concerns:

Myth 2:  Glass is always on and recording everything: Just like your cell phone, the Glass screen is off by default. Video recording on Glass is set to last 10 seconds. People can record for longer, but Glass isn't designed for or even capable of always-on recording (the battery won’t last longer than 45 minutes before it needs to be charged). So next time you’re tempted to ask an Explorer if he’s recording you, ask yourself if you’d be doing the same with your phone. Chances are your answers will be the same.

Abdel

6:56 ص

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Cleopatra computer house: she can changed your life to good life

The real treat is how you’re greeted when you step into the entryway. You’ll find it’s not such a strange place for a plasma monitor, after all. Photo by Tom Henscheid.

View this slideshow

View Automated Avatar Is Home’s Personal Electronic Greeter

What can you expect from an Electronic House Home of the Year grand prize winner? For starters, it has to be a great house—one whose occupants don’t like leaving and always look forward to returning. It must have innovative home technology. In fact, it should have high-tech conveniences throughout, including great audio and video; a home theater or two; lighting, heating and ventilation control; and quite likely, a control system that allows for easy operation of anything by anyone from anywhere.

Of course, all that has to enhance the owners’ lifestyle and not overwhelm the decor. The simpler and less obtrusive the better. Naturally, we received many Home of the Year entries detailing large homes—estates, really—with dozens of rooms and audio and video zones, hundreds of lighting fixtures and pages upon pages of electronics accoutrements. And these places were certainly impressive. Some even came with attendants who greet their occupants whenever they return to their sanctuaries.

We didn’t pick one of those as our grand prize winner. Our first Home of the Year isn’t some compound for the rich and famous. Our Home of the Year is a more modest 4,500 square feet in size. As far as we know, it does not sport a massive wine cellar or an entire entertainment wing or separate guest houses and pavilions and other over-the-top amenities. In many ways, you could say this house is much more average than some of the other homes we considered.

However, this home does have an attendant that will always greet you at the door. And this is what really separates this high-tech house from all the others. That’s because its home attendant is electronic.

Cleopatra’s Reign
When any member of this home’s family of five returns to the three-story, Seattle-area contemporary house, they receive a warm greeting. That comes from Cleopatra, an attractive and articulate presence who is employed at the house as an avatar, or an electronic personality.

Cleopatra appears on a 42-inch Panasonic plasma screen that faces the front door. She greets each resident by name and announces any events of interest that have occurred during the person’s absence, such as visitors, phone calls, voice mails, emails and deliveries. Displayed next to Cleopatra is a summary of other information, including who else is at home, pictures of recent visitors at the front door, home activity and alerts, the local weather forecast, stock market changes, even the national security level.

Cleopatra isn’t just a sentinel for the foyer, however. She can roam throughout the house, appearing on other screens and numerous wireless PC tablets. She announces visitors, provides information on any high winds in the area—the house sits on a bluff overlooking Puget Sound—and gives status reports on the home’s electronic systems. Microphones built into the home’s ceilings allow the family to interact with Cleopatra by requesting information and controlling any aspect of the house.

Cleopatra is the brainchild of homeowner Brian Conte, president of Fast Track, a company that produces “greeter” software for the home market. “I’m into technology, and with three kids, we wanted something easy to use and comfortable,” Brian says. “We wanted to keep track of the kids and make it friendly for them.” As the house was being built, a whole-house Motorola Premise home control system, a Russound audio distribution system, an HAI security system and an OnQ Home lighting system were put into place as well. There’s also a home theater and some video distribution. Much of the wiring runs behind removable baseboards for easy access.

Brian’s wife, Patti, needed some convincing to live in this high-tech residence. “I was a little skeptical about the whole notion of home automation,” she says. “I wasn’t sure what it could do for me that was truly useful, and I was worried that the ‘fuss factor’ would outweigh the benefits. So far it’s been pretty smooth because the focus has been to create useful, fuss-free features.”

“I really like the features that help with the kids,” Patti adds. “Our 3- and 5-year-old daughters tend to go to sleep relatively early, while our 8-year-old son is a big reader. Lots of evenings, I fall asleep reading to the girls. I’ve come to depend on Cleopatra to tell our son that it’s time to go to sleep if his light is still on at 9:45.” As if that’s not enough, during the morning rush, Cleopatra issues reminders about what time it is and lets the kids know they need to get in the car so they won’t be late for school.

“In effect, Cleopatra provides a home personality and a friendly interface to the home’s automation system,” Brian says. The Premise system operates over a home’s IP (Internet Protocol) network, much like a computer network used in office environments. That way, everything can operate off Microsoft Windows-based PCs. Motion sensors alert the system if someone is in a room or has approached the front door. Cleopatra even knows which family member has entered or departed by scanning tiny RFID (radio frequency identification) chips on their key fobs or other personal items as they pass the door.

The system monitors room occupancy, intelligently switching on and off the lights, music, and heating and ventilation systems when appropriate. It detects who is in bed and will turn off the lights, lower the shades, turn off the music and set the night alarm. The house will also wake up residents at requested times and provide them with weather forecasts and reminders of important appointments or events that day. “Patti’s favorite part is when she wakes up in the morning and the fire is already going downstairs,” Brian says.

“I especially like having the alarm system tied into it and it being so easy to use,” says Patti. “At our previous house, we hardly ever used the security system because it was such a hassle to set down the kids and their stuff, turn it on, rush to get out in 60 seconds and all that rigmarole. Now I just swipe my key fob as I leave, and if I’m the last person out, the system is automatically armed.”

Finger on the Music
If you think the home assistant and all that automation is cool, check out how the 18-zone whole-house audio system works. The kids don’t have to type or press anything. All they do is place a finger on a scanner that reads who it is and then allows easy access to their personal playlists. “The system knows their preferences,” Brian says.

The kids also have a common play area—with a real tree—and there’s a clubhouse on top of their rooms that’s accessible through trapdoors.

The entertainment systems throughout the house are fairly low-key, with a slew of in-wall SpeakerCraft speakers and a few hidden video projectors in the office and media room. “Everything we do is through the computer, even watching the DVDs [in the media room],” says Brian. In fact, the media room screen often doubles as a computer screen. A PC-based video server can record shows to a hard drive, record them to disc or play them through any of the other PCs in the home.

This futuristic house even has robots. There’s a Roomba robotic vacuum, a Scooba robotic floor sweeper and a robotic lawn mower. (We’d especially like to get one of those!) Not everything in this tricked-out home has run smoothly, however. Sensor pads installed to detect who was sleeping didn’t work reliably. So switches by the bed that Brian and Patti flick when they retire for the evening set the house to sleep mode. “And while we have had some luck with voice recognition software and querying and controlling the house with that, we are still working to improve the recognition rate, especially for the kids,” Brian says.

Unfortunately, there’s also a debate about the avatar’s good looks. “Cleopatra reminds me of Angelina Jolie,” Patti says. “I keep telling Brian that I would much rather have an avatar who brings Brad Pitt to mind. But he keeps telling me that is technically impossible.”

Abdel

5:32 ص

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NanoTechnology

Truly revolutionary nanotechnology products, materials and applications, such as nanorobotics, are years in the future (some say only a few years; some say many years). What qualifies as "nanotechnology" today is basic research and development that is happening in laboratories all over the world. "Nanotechnology" products that are on the market today are mostly gradually improved products (using evolutionary nanotechnology) where some form of nanotechnology enabled material (such as carbon nanotubes, nanocomposite structures or nanoparticles of a particular substance) or nanotechnology process (e.g. nanopatterning or quantum dots for medical imaging) is used in the manufacturing process. In their ongoing quest to improve existing products by creating smaller components and better performance materials, all at a lower cost, the number of companies that will manufacture "nanoproducts" (by this definition) will grow very fast and soon make up the majority of all companies across many industries. Evolutionary nanotechnology should therefore be viewed as a process that gradually will affect most companies and industries.

So what exactly is nanotechnology? One of the problems facing nanotechnology is the confusion about its definition. Most definitions revolve around the study and control of phenomena and materials at length scales below 100 nm and quite often they make a comparison with a human hair, which is about 80,000 nm wide. Some definitions include a reference to molecular systems and devices and nanotechnology 'purists' argue that any definition of nanotechnology needs to include a reference to "functional systems". The inaugural issue of Nature Nanotechnology asked 13 researchers from different areas what nanotechnology means to them and the responses, from enthusiastic to sceptical, reflect a variety of perspectives.

Human hair fragment and a network of single-walled carbon nanotubes )

It seems that a size limitation of nanotechnology to the 1-100 nm range, the area where size-dependant quantum effects come to bear, would exclude numerous materials and devices, especially in the pharamaceutical area, and some experts caution against a rigid definition based on a sub-100 nm size.

Another important criteria for the definition is the requirement that the nano-structure is man-made. Otherwise you would have to include every naturally formed biomolecule and material particle, in effect redefining much of chemistry and molecular biology as 'nanotechnology.'

The most important requirement for the nanotechnology definition is that the nano-structure has special properties that are exclusively due to its nanoscale proportions.

Abdel

5:24 ص

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God Allah_ Does it Mean God?

The word "Allah" is the perfect description of the "One God" of monotheism for Jews, Christians and Muslims!

Is "Allah" only for Islam and Muslims?

[No! It is for All Three Abrahamic Faiths.]

"Allah" is the same word used by Christian Arabs and Jewish Arabs in their Bible, centuries before Islam came.

On page one [1] of Genesis in the Old Testament, we find the word "Allah" seventeen [17] times.

Every hotel and motel has a Bible. Next time you see one look in the introduction, you will find samples of the different languages they have translated. For Arabic they have translated the verse in the New Testament in Arabic from the famous verse in the Gospel John 3:16 -

"For God so loved the world..."

- and the word the translators used in Arabic for "God" is the very same word used by Muslims around the planet, "Allah."

Where Does the word "Allah" Come From?

"Allah" comes from the Arabic word "elah"a god' or something worshiped. - (Arabic) means '

This word (elah) can be made plural (gods), as in "aleha" and it can be male or female just as the word in English can be "goddess."

"Allah" comes from "elaha" but it brings more clarification and understanding.

Allah = Has no gender (not male and not female)

 "He" is used only out of respect and dignity - not for gender

Allah = Always singular - Never plural

 "We" is used only as the "Royal WE" just as in English for royalty

Allah = Means "The Only One to be Worshipped"

Abdel

3:13 م

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Solar Power : What is solar energy

	Solar power is energy from the sun and without its presence all life on earth would end. Solar energy has been looked upon as a serious source of energy for many years because of the vast amounts of energy that are made freely available, if harnessed by modern technology. A simple example of the power of the sun can be seen by using a magnifying glass to focus the suns rays on a piece of paper. Before long the paper ignites into flames.
This is one way of using the suns energy, but flames are dangerous and difficult to control. A much safer and practical way of harnessing the suns energy is to use the suns power to heat up water.
A magnifying glass can be used to heat up a small amount of water. A short piece of copper tube is sealed at one end and filled with water. A magnifying glass is then used to warm up the pipe. Using more than one magnifying glass will increase the temperature more rapidly. After a relatively short time the temperature of the water increases. Continuing to heat the water will cause water vapour to appear at the top of the tube. In theory, with enough patience, several magnifying glasses and very strong sun light enough heat should be generated to boil the water, producing steam. This is one way of harnessing solar power.

Abdel

3:02 م

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