The Computer Plays Cupid

Nowadays, millions of people all over the world use online matchmaking service in search of a partner and romance. They typically answer a questionnaire and spend a little cash. If all goes right, the computer will be your Cupid and find your soul mate.

Computer dating began back in 1965 when two Harvard undergraduates were talking on a dateless Saturday night. Jeff Tarr and Vaughan Morrill came up with the original idea of using the computer to arrange dates for compatible couples. And so Operation Match was born. Tarr recalls, “The goal was not to make money, but to have some fun and to meet some interesting ladies.”

The two friends created a questionnaire that asked about one’s ideal partner. The questions asked about

typical things like height and weight but also probed how a person would react in a hypothetical situation. The questionnaire they wrote was both “scientific” and fun to fill out. People who replied paid $3 to participate.

Tarr and Morrill knew nothing about computers. So Tarr paid $100 to a computer science student to write a program code designed to match up questionnaires. All the data from the questionnaires had to be transferred to punch cards. The team rented a room-sized computer and took six weeks to produce a match list. Questionnaire participants then received a letter saying who they were matched to, along with phone numbers. Most were very pleased. One student got 100 possible matches. One of then was her boyfriend!

The concept of using a computer for romance was viewed both negatively and positively in the mid-60s. There was a belief that using computers would take all of the romance out of dating. But the idea of seding computers at that time seemed very modern. Thanks to publicity in Look magazine and appearances on a few television shows, Operation Match continued to grow. In its first year, the service ended up with 7,800 respondents. By 1968, Operation Match had more than a million respondents, and the mail was coming from colleges nationwide. Jeff Tarr and Vaughan Morrill sold the company to investors, who used the technology to match college roommates.

Tarr and Marrill’s computer dating was an idea before its time. When the personal computer became popular, electronic matchmaking became more common. Then the introduction of the Internet also increased the creation of many new dating services with customers numbering in the tens of millions. They all run on essentially the same principles as Operation Match, but the technology is much more sophisticated-and certainly doesn’t rely on punch cards!     

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Is Right, Right

               

Why must you drive on the right side of the road in some countries and on the left side of the road in other countries? Investigate the question, and you find a lot of confusion on right versus left. About a quarter of the world drives on the left, and most of those countries used to be British colonies. In England people drive on the left, but on escalators they stand on the right, so that people who are in a hurry can go up on the left. In Japan, they drive on the left on escalators.

There are different explanations for the use of right versus left. Some people believe that it is a natural tendency to walk or drive on the right. This is because most people are right. This is because most people are right-handed.

We can look back in history for reasons people move on the right or left of the road. Some people say that in Europe hundreds of years ago, people rode their horses on the left. This way, their sword was between them and anyone who was coming toward ready to pull out their sword and fight to defend themselves with their right arm. But there is evidence that people used the right side, too. In 1300, some say that Pope Boniface ordered pilgrims on the way to St. Peter’s Basilica to stay to the right when they crossed a nearby bridge.

Another idea is that in the 1700s, people in France and in the United States started to use wagons with several pairs of horses and to drive on the right side of the road. It was easier for the drivers to sit on the left and control the horse with a whip in the right hand, and it was safer if other vehicles passed on the left so the drivers could see the distance between vehicles. Some people say that in England, people always drove on the right.

In any case, Napoleon, a ruler of France, ordered people to drive on the right side in the early 1800s. France conquered many countries at that time, and so these countries drove on the right. But France didn’t conquer England, so England kept its custom of driving on the left.

In the twentieth century, there was a trend to the right. Many cars were made for driving on the right side of the road. As recently as 1967, Sweden changed its laws. Now people in Sweden must drive on the right.

So right or left? Just follow the customs of the country where you are-and be sure to drive carefully on that side!

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Simple Ideas

Muhammed Yunus, Nobel Peace prize Winner                                                           

Muhammed Yunus, often called “the world’s banker to the poor,” received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his pioneering work against poverty. Yunus said he would use the $ 1.35 million prize money to “find more innovative ways” to help the poor. Yunus founded the Grameen Bank in 1976 with just $27 from this own pucket. the idea came to him while he was teaching economics at Chittagong University in southern Bangladesh, which is one of the poorest nations in the world. He and his students started an experimental project: They lent poor women small amounts of money. The women used the money to their own small businesses, for example, to buy straw to make stools. Until then, the local women relied on local money lenders who charged them high interest rates. Since then, the Grameen Bank model has been duplicated in more than 100 countries. Today, the bank has 6.61 million borrowers and over 2,400 branches in over 80,000 villages in Bangladesh. Recently the bank started a program to give beggars lives of credit of about $9 to purchase small times such as bread, candy, pickles, and toys. Receivers of the loans then resell the goods to supplement their begging. The bank reports that it has lent $6.55 billion over the past 30 years and claims a high repayment rate-98 percent. Nowadays Grameen Banks are also in developed counties. One hundred women in Queen, New York, were among the first borrowers of Grameen America. The total number of borrowers worldwide is 7.84 million 97 percent of whom are women.

   Sabine Werth, Social Worker                                                                             

Hunger is usually associated with developing countries, and not with places like Germany. However, even in a wealthy country like Germany, there are many who live in desperation. At the same time, the country wastes approximately 20 percent of all its foodstuffs. Bread that was baked the previous day, dairy products that are about to expire, and fruit and vegetables with small blemishes are normally taken off supermarket shelves and thrown away. This happens even though the food is in perfectly good condition for consumption.

Social worker Sabine Werth saw this waste and started the Berliner Tate (Table) organization in 1993, in order to give the food to those who needed it. The problem was collecting all the food, which also included “remains” from parties and buffets, and distributing it to needy men, women, and children. Sabine organized groups of voluteers with ars and vans to do this work. At first, the Berliner Tafel provided food only for homeless people, but mowadays anybody in need can pick up a bag of groceries for a low price-the symbolic price of one euro. Today, Berliner Tafel feeds up to 15,000 needy people a day, and there are approximately 800 food banks all over Germany.     

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Why should Cambodian youth protect their traditional and cultural heritages?

                Cambodian youth should help to protect their tradition and culture heritages, because of traditional is an identity of Cambodia and cultural heritages can help to develop county but they are almost eliminated by foreign culture.

            The world knew Cambodia by its identity that showed by traditional and cultural. Cambodia has had this since a long time and until now those tradition and culture are becoming more and more deteriorate. Moreover many of people didn’t care about them. They even get interesting with foreign culture that is a chance leading foreign culture flow into a county and even some of TV’s program announces only other foreign culture into Cambodia. These tradition and culture will lose if no one helps to protect them and when they are disappeared Cambodia will lose also. Therefore Cambodian youth should be a strong power to protect and conserve them. Other hand if our culture has more development our country will also. If youth can do this Cambodia will be stronger and have more interesting in the world. So these are the reason youth should help to protect their tradition and cultural heritages.

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The Graceful One

Her name means “Woman full of grace” in Arabic, and, gracefully, she has danced and sung all the way to

the Grammy and MTV Awards. In 2008, her creative talents earned her a nomination for a Golden Glob award for writing the best original song for a film. In short, she has become one of the most popular Latin pop stars-and an international sensation.

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll was born in Barranquilla, Colombia, on February 2, 1977. She is the daughter of a Colombia mother and a Lebanese father. Shakira’s love for music was evident early on, and she wrote her first song at the age of 8. She learned belly-dancing from her Lebanese grandmother, and she used to love to perform-dancing and singing. According to one story, Shakira was kiched out of a choir because her strong voice drowned out the other singers.

When Shakira was 10, she won he first national talent contest, and she went on winning other talent shows singing and playing the guitar. In 1990, she signed a deal with Sony Music in Colombia and recorded her first album Magia (magic) with songs she wrote between the ages of 8 and 13. As a result, she was chosen to represent her country at the International OTI Song Festival in Spain, allowed to participate. So instead, Shakira recorded a second album of original material, Peligro (Dange) back in Colombia. Then she took a break from music and went back to school.

Two years later, in 1995, Shakira recorded Pies Descalzo (Barefeet), a smash hit, which sold four million copies worldwide. She went on a world tour and performed to sold-out audiences. In 1998, she abandoned the light-pop and rock. The result was another hit: D’onde Est’an Los Ladrone? ( Where Are the Thieves?). The idea to do songs in English first came up during Shakira’s partnership with producer Emilio Estefan and his wife, singer Gloria Estefan. Together they produced Laundry Service. The most extraordinary thing about the album is the way Shakira was able to translate her Latin American sensibility into a new language.

Shakira is the most exciting singer/songwriter to come out of Latin America in years. For the millions that buy her albums, she is already the voice of a new generation. In 2003, she became the youngest ever UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) Goodwill Ambassador. Shakira also runs a foundation to help poor children in Colombia called Pies Descalzos (Barefeet).

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What Are Your Dreams Telling You?

“Last night I had an unusual dream. I dreamed that I was flying. When I moved my arms up and down, I moved higher and higher into the sky. I felt as free as a bird.” Marianne, age 35

“I had a bad dream – a nightmare – that kept coming back. I walked out of my bedroom, and a monster came out and chased me. One night, when the monster was chasing me, I turned back and said, ‘Leave me alone! ’I haven’t had the dream again since then.” Jason, age 14

What do these dreams mean? For thousands of years, people have tried to interpret the meanings of dreams. The ancient Egyptians believed that dreams predicted the future. The ancient Greeks believed that they were messages sent by the gods. Freud believed that they were a window to your subconscious. Many modern dream researchers have come up with many theories about dreams. They consider that dreams tell us what is going on in our lives.

Usually flying is a positive symbol in a dream. Flying in dreams means success, control, confidence, and “being on top of it all.” So Marianne, the person who had the first dream, may be in love or may have success at work.

Monsters in dreams often represent fears. For Jason, the monsters may represent the adults who control his life. Or, they may represent his fears about growing up. But Jason showed that he was able to conquer his fears.

Here are some common symbols in dreams:

Snakes: If you dream about snakes, there will be good changes in your life. For the ancient Greeks, dreams with snakes were the most positive ones. And dream interpreters still say the same today.

Teeth: If you dream that your teeth fall out, you may be worried about your appearance. Or it might mean that you have dental problems!

Big waves: Water in dreams often means emotional concerns. A big wave probably means an emotional worry. If you can guess the problem, you’ll be able to solve it and be happier.

Falling: If you dream that you are falling, you may feel that your life is out of control. Slow down, and figure out how to solve your problems.

So what are your dreams telling you?

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