How to Build a Brick Barbecue

By Murray Anderson | DoItYourself.com – Thu, Jun 6, 2013 12:36 PM 

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  How to Build a Brick Barbecue

Not many of us can resist the smell of a steak, hamburger or even a hot dog grilling on an outdoor barbecue. It gets even better when that delicious scent is coming from a brick barbecue that you built yourself. A brick barbecue can be a beautiful addition to your yard and it's the kind of project any person who enjoys working with their hands can take on themselves. Here's a guide to building your own backyard brick barbecue.

Step 1 - Choose a Location

You'll want your barbecue to be relatively close to the house, since you're going to be carrying all your food and utensils from the house out to it. Plus, you know you're going to forget something, which will mean more trips back into the house, so keep it close. Also, figure out which way the wind usually blows. You want to put your barbecue somewhere that the smoke won't blow back into the chef's face or directly into the house. Finally, you want to locate it away from overhanging trees, fences and buildings, and on relatively level ground.

Step 2 - Prepare the Base

A brick barbecue is heavy, so it needs a solid base. Some large pavers laid on a bed of sand might be an OK base, but if you really want to make your barbecue something special, you need to prepare a real base for it.

1. To create a solid base, dig down and remove the dirt from an area about 4 feet by 4 feet. Make the hole 4 inches deep, then install 6-inch wooden forms along the insides of the hole.

2. Use concrete mix cement that you just need to add water to and can mix in a wheelbarrow. Pour in about 3 inches of cement and then lay in three pieces of rebar 3 1/2-feet long and 12 inches from each other. Cover the rebar with another 3 inches of cement and smooth the base.

3. It's a good idea to build in a slight slope or grade to the base (say 1/2-inch from back to front) so rainwater will run off the foundation. Now just let the base set up for 48 hours.

While you are waiting for your cement to set up, go and buy your fire pan and barbecue grills, available at barbecue stores or even home centers. You'll need to have these before you begin building the barbecue so you can be sure they will fit. 

Step 3 - Design the Barbecue

There are a few things you need to take into consideration when designing your masterpiece. You want the cooking grills to be at a comfortable height, about 30 inches from the ground, and the firebox needs to be 4 or 5 inches below. (For a brick barbecue, that means 2 brick courses below.) You also want to include one or two shelves at least 16 inches wide so you can keep your cooking paraphernalia close by when barbecuing.

Step 4 - Prep the Area

Lay out the first two courses of bricks dry (no mortar) to get the barbecue placed correctly on the concrete pad. Draw a line around the bricks when you are happy with the positioning.

Since dry bricks will draw the moisture out of mortar before it has a chance to set up properly, spray your bricks with a hose. The Brick Industry Association suggests you do this the day before you want to start laying the brick; that way, the moisture will be right in the brick, but the brick surface will be dry.

Step 5 - Lay the First Course

Make your mortar by mixing 1 part Portland cement, 1/4 part hydrated lime, and 3 parts masonry sand. Mix in enough water to get a consistency like soft mud.

Lay your first course of bricks in a row of mortar, making sure that the mortar stays inside your outline. Put 1/2-inch of mortar between adjacent bricks and make sure the first course is level.

Step 6 - Lay the Next Courses

Continue building up your barbecue walls by working up at the corners for 3 or 4 courses, and then filling in the walls between the corners. Lay 1/2-inch mortar bed for each course and apply enough mortar to one end of each brick so the gap will also be 1/2-inch. Set each brick onto the mortar bed and tap it into place with the handle of your trowel. Scrape excess mortar off the bricks as you work your way up the walls.

Step 7 - Tool the Joints

Every three or four courses, check that the courses are level and the walls are plumb. This is also a good time to tool, or "point," the joints (compress and shape the mortar). Use a short piece of pipe 5/8 or 3/4-inch in diameter and run it over the mortar joints (both horizontally and vertically). This will compress the mortar and give it an attractive concave shape.

Step 8 - Install the Fire Box and Grills

Insert three or four pieces of rebar in between the courses at the proper design height to hold the firebox and cooking grills. Set the box on the rebar and mortar it in place.Set the grills on the rebar, but leave them lose, so they can easily be lifted off for cleaning and to access the box.

Finish the top with a row of solid bricks, then stand back and admire your new brick barbecue. Once the mortar dries, you'll be cooking on that beautiful new addition to your backyard.

A Note on Cutting Brick

Try to choose a pattern that minimizes the number of bricks you need to cut. However, no matter what pattern you come up with, you will have to cut some. You can rough cut bricks using a broad blade chisel and a hammer. Score around the brick and then give a sharp blow on the scored line, and the brick should split. If you need to make lots of cuts, you'd be well advised to rent a brick splitter or get a masonry blade for your power saw.

DIY Solar Lamp: Make Your Own Eco-Friendly Sun Jars

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  DIY Solar Lamp: Make Your Own Eco-Friendly Sun Jars

The principle is simple and seductively clever: solar lights that store energy during the day and release light at night. These can be purchased ready-made in a variety of colors (yellow, blue and red) but they can also be built at home.

A simple, less-technical approach involves buying a conventional solar-powered yard lamp and then essentially harvesting it for key pieces to put in a jar. This is simply a way of taking an existing solar lamp design and appropriating its parts to make something more attractive for display around a house or home.

A more electronically-savvy individual can take the more complex route and built a solar lamp from the ground up using small solar panels - though the aesthetic result may not be as impressive.

Whatever route you choose to go, these are fun and sustainable gadgets that make it easy to go green, automate the process of turning on lights at night and can add some color to your porch, patio, garden or windowsill.

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Finally, INEC Registers APC, Withdraws ACN, CPC, ANPP Certificates

Posted: July 31, 2013 - 13:32

INEC's press release announcing registration of APC

By SaharaReporters, New York

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday confirmed it has registered the All Progressives Congress (APC).
A statement signed by the Secretary to the commission, Abdullahi A. Kaugama, said the applicant-parties: the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), had met all statutory requirements for their merger application.
“The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has approved the application by three political parties –– to merge into one, to be known as the All Progressives Congress,” the statement said.
The individual certificates of the applicant parties were therefore withdrawn, and a single certificate issued in the name of the All Progressives Congress.

TEXT OF THE PPRESS STATEMENT:
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has approved the application by three political parties – the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) – to merge into one, to be known as the All Progressives Congress.
On considering the application, the Commission found that the applicant-parties have met all statutory requirements for the merger, and has accordingly granted their request.
Consequently, the Commission has approved the withdrawal of the individual certificates of the applicant-parties, and the issuance of a single certificate to the All Progressives Congress.

Abdullahi A. Kaugama
Secretary to the Commission

Calving your niche in Blogging? Try These

30 July, 2013

There is no doubt that we are in the information age, an age where everything is influenced by the correct use of appropriate information.  It is no surprise that the currency of this age is information. As expected, the individual that has the correct quantity of information at the right time has the potential to increase popularity and create wealth.

Blogging has taken centrestage with more and more individuals making an effort to drift a blog as one of the ways to establish a digital presence. Most blogs on the Internet are not optimally utilised. However, the few that have been able to stand out have become a resource centre and an avenue for wealth for their respective owners.

Here are a few of the recommendations on becoming a successful blogger -

Find your niche: It is important that you find a niche and be known for it. You could decide to blog about vehicle, health, current happenings etc. It is important to keep your information fresh and relevant.

Keep it short:  In my opinion, you should endeavour to keep each post less than 600 words(depending on your audience/post to be published).  Most readers would prefer a brief post to a lengthy one.

Define your ideal readers: Once you’ve found your niche, you need to know who your readers are. For example, if you write about child care; the ideal readers are child care givers. Tailor your writing to your readers and it would be more meaningful.

Be original: The amount of originality you put into your blog would help establish your blog and make it standout from the numerous others on the Internet.

Be interesting: Find a place for humour on your blog; make your blog interesting enough; give your readers something to look forward to on every paragraph.

Feedback: Create a system that allows you to receive comments and feedbacks from readers on your blog. It is important that you provide your audience with an opportunity to participate. Their input would also inspire the kind of content you provide.

Negative criticism:  It is important that you prepare your mind because it is very certain that you would receive some negative criticism. Some individuals will question your motive, your source etc. Learn what you can from them and move on.

Zna Gresham Catches Newborn Baby Thrown From Burning Building

 

U.S. -- As fire engulfed their apartment building, a 10-year-old Georgia girl stood beneath a second-story window and caught a newborn dropped to safety by its desperate mother. Now, Zna Gresham is being hailed as a hero for catching the baby, one of three young children dropped from the window Thursday in the Atlanta suburb of Decatur.

'The lady upstairs, she was dropping her babies,' Zna said in an interview with the local news station. 'I caught the newborn baby from falling; before it hit the ground I had caught it.'

The family upstairs, with three young children, had no choice but to drop the three children. The smoke was rising so quickly to the upper floors, they couldn't make their way outside their upper apartment into the hallway because of the smoke. They just went to a window and they threw the child outside to the people, to the neighbors, down on the ground.

The other two children, ages 2 and 3, hit the ground and sustained minor injuries in the fall, fire officials said. Two adults were also hospitalized, and they were also expected to survive. There were no immediate deaths. 

The blaze appeared to have started in a kitchen in a first-floor unit of the complex, authorities said. The fire destroyed one unit in the building and damaged three others, displacing more than a dozen residents, they said.

Zna credits her aunt with holding a door open and helping her and other relatives escape the fire, allowing her to then go outside and catch the baby.

Zna said she could barely understand what the mother in the second-floor was saying because she is Haitian and speaks a different language. But she understood enough to know that she would need to catch the baby.

'In our family we take care of our neighbors, no matter what,' Zna said.

Born Without Skull: US Doctors on the Verge of Medical Breakthrough For Nigerian Child

28 July, 2013
With much expectation, the world is waiting to see OkikiJesu Olawuyi grab a fitting place in the Guinness Book of World Records. Many across the world want to see this happen. And what that means is that a Nigerian child is well on her way to making history once she scales the mountain of surgeries standing in her path of life.

OkikiJesu Olawuyi was born without a skull but not without a will to live. Bones from her hands are being obtained to construct a skull bone to help her live. Amazingly, she is winning this battle for her life at John Hopkins University in far away United States of America. There, the best hands the world can assemble are with her every passing hour fighting a medical war to give life to a miracle child who has announced to the entire human community that she has something different to offer. First grade surgeons – irrespective of colour, race and tongue are tasking their expertise to see that this wonder of the 21st century lives to tell her story and reports say that they are doing a great job to save her.

OkikiJesu is getting moral and material support from across the world to help her live. An avalanche of support is coming her way. Her parents are carrying the burden of pain and anguish with stoic patience. They are fighting to remedy a medical case they cannot tell how it all started. The child needs a lot more financial assistance to pull through, her father, Mr. Caleb Olawuyi, says. He disclosed that she needed an additional $500,000 to undergo the final operation that would enable her live a normal life. Experts say that is possible and they can achieve that. While appealing for generous support from government, corporate organizations and private individuals to help the baby live, Mr. Olawuyi, has equally urged government to set up funds to assist babies afflicted with critical ailments. Speaking straight from the heart, he noted that one needed to be close to a child in pains to know how it feels.

Since news of the child’s medical condition was disclosed, the world has been aghast. She was born on May 11, 2010 with a rare birth deformity which means over 50 per cent of her skull doesn’t exist. The world has not seen anything of this stuff. In recorded history, Sunday Sun gathered that this medical condition has never been reported anywhere. The child’s condition is one that appears to have turned medicine on its head, having thrown up tremendous professional challenge to the human race. Now, the very best the world has known are fighting a crunchy battle to overcome this, leaving many – particularly those with hearts of stone- wondering if there is nothing they can offer to help.

Now from the home sector, help is coming for three-year-old Okiki and her parents. Since the condition of the baby became public knowledge, a non profit organization had stepped in to assist. Global Initiative for Peace, Love and Care (GIPLC) has been doing all it can to give life to the child whose medical condition is not traceable to her parents. With the assistance of the organization’s Coordinator and Project Manager, Mr. Nuhu Kwajafa, the child and her parents were on May 4, 2013, flown to the United States. There, she is currently undergoing skull reconstruction surgery at the John Hopkins University Medical Centre.

Now, the child’s and her father’s cry for help comes ringing through the airways asking Nigerians to help her live. Here is a child the world is interested in. The non-profit organization is doing its best at that level to help her survive. Sunday Sun gathered that while the world was a short while away from screaming uhuru at the wonderful breakthrough, an unforeseen complication arose after over 14 hours of surgery. This followed inconsistencies in her medical history. Besides, her case marked a maiden attempt in paediatric neurosurgery. This, therefore, led to a further accumulation of medical bills totaling over US$500,000. This bill is spiraling every passing day OkikiJesu and her parents spend at the Johns Hopkins facility.

Specialists in the USA have identified the rare birth deformity which OkikiJesu is suffering, as Congenital Cranial Deficiency. Before now, she had been to several hospitals but not cured, but luck flashed on her pathway when GIPLC, which is based in Abuja took up her case. Sunday Sun learnt that since then, the organization has recorded significant success in efforts to get medical care for her. Within just a week, it raised about $234,000, an equivalent of N37 million through kind gestures from individuals and groups for her treatment at John Hopkins Hospital.

Kwajafa , just back from the United States, told Sunday Sun that “prior to the complications which arose, what made a determination of the full cost of Okiki’s surgery difficult is that in modern times, it is an extremely rare (perhaps singular) medical condition with no precedence to draw estimates from.

“This latter fact also means that it is equally difficult to tell what other medical complications may arise. An example are fluids that were retained in her cranial cavity which have posed an unforeseen challenge and may have led to a fatal infection.”

Kwajafa’s worry is that, “OkikiJesu may not be released from hospital until all outstanding bills have been paid. We and her parents are desirous of her condition being fully remedied before she leaves the hospital.” Against this backdrop, he said “We would like to appeal to the global public to support our cause in ensuring that OkikiJesu Olawuyi lives.”

Medical analysts believe she will be a living testimony if she recovers. According to GIPLC, her case remains the only one of its kind in the world.

When OkikiJesu’s father, Mr. Olawuyi spoke to Sunday Sun on telephone from John Hopkins Hospital, he expressed optimism that the girl was doing well and had remained in stable condition. He said “We thank God that she is responding positively to every operation performed on her. The doctors attending to her are also pleased with her present condition. They said she is a miracle child,because she is so far the only child in the world with this kind of health condition.

“They told us that there is no case of her type in medical history at their disposal the world over. There are three renowned doctors attending to OkikiJesu and the experience is so great.

“They keep assuring us that everything will be fine soon. We are also hoping positively and asking God to deliver our child.”

In a voice laden with emotion, he appealed to Nigerians to assist the child to live through their generous donations, pointing out that with money available, the baby was sure to survive.

“But our greatest challenge here is the cost of her treatment in the hospital. It’s indeed a very tough experience for us as parents.

The medical bill keeps increasing daily and has since been piling up. The treatment has over-shot the initial bill that was given to us before we came, because her condition exceeded their estimation.

The major issue is the hospital bill and not really our up-keep, that is, myself, my wife and our 15-month old baby, (Okiki’s younger sister). She is currently at the intensive care unit (ICU). This costs between $6,000 and $10,000 daily. Sometimes, two nurses are stationed to take care of her daily and it costs a lot of money.

“The good thing is that they are not taking any chance. They are all over her all the time. They are monitoring her regularly especially as she is an international patient. The bill is growing higher,” he lamented.

Okiki’s father further stated that for “every parent of a child with this critical health challenge, one only manages to sleep and to wake up hoping that the next day would be different. We have gone through this trauma all this while. Though, we have faith in God but every passing day, we are afraid for her life. Here in the hospital, as critical as her condition is , we are living and sharing her pains more so that the bills pile up every moment.

“ We appeal to Nigerians not to give up on Okiki. With their support, God will not disappoint us because she keeps improving daily. All the operations have been very critical. They took bones from her hand and leg to construct her skull. And she is doing fine.

“We appreciate efforts by all Nigerians including individuals, groups and corporate organizations. Everybody has been very supportive. We thank the Nigerian government, the National Assembly, and particularly the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Aminu Tambuwal and other kind-hearted people and members of our family for their support

“On behalf of our daughter Okiki, and other children and parents in this condition, we urge government to institute a Special Trust Fund to take care of such rare and critical cases in the country. This fund should be adequately funded to cater for such critical needs.

“For us, Okiki’s parents, we are in this condition but hope that one day God will deliver us.

“In this situation, we repeat our appeal for quick intervention from the government and other Nigerians. Our wish here is that others should be spared this experience. We plead further with government to establish a fund to cater for such children in this condition.”

The Prince of Cambridge is Born

Prince William’s wife Kate on Monday gave birth to a baby boy who will one day be heir to the British throne, Kensington Palace said in a statement.

Kate William

“Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge was safely delivered of a son at 4:24pm (1524GMT),” said the statement. “The baby weighs 8lbs 6oz. (3.8 kilos).”

The baby will be third in line to the throne and in the direct line of succession after head of state Queen Elizabeth II’s eldest son and heir Prince Charles, and then his eldest son William.

“The baby weighs 8lbs 6oz. The Duke of Cambridge was present for the birth.”

The boy’s name was not revealed, but he will be known as Prince of Cambridge.

The former Kate Middleton was admitted to the private Lindo Wing of St. Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, central London, at around 6:00 am in the midst of a summer thunderstorm.

The birth was later officially announced to great cheers on a golden easel placed in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace.

US President Barack Obama’s spokesman had earlier said that he and the first family were “waiting with anticipation” for the birth and “wish the family and all of Great Britain well on this pending momentous occasion.”

William, at his wife’s bedside, has been on annual leave and will take two weeks’ paternity leave from his military job as a Royal Air Force search and rescue pilot.

Both mother and son were “doing well” and will remain in hospital overnight while the queen was “delighted with the news”, according to the palace.

The birth came later than widely expected, adding to the sense of anticipation that has built up ever since William, whose mother Diana died in a Paris car crash in 1997, and the former Kate Middleton married with huge fanfare in April 2011.

Bookmakers had largely backed a girl baby, after Kate had said they did not know its sex.

The fact that it is a boy relieves the need to rush through new succession laws across the 16 Commonwealth realms, which would mean that a girl could no longer be overtaken by any future younger brothers.

The royal couple used a back entrance to the hospital when they arrived at 6:00 am (0500 GMT), missing the ranks of international media who have camped outside the hospital for three weeks.

The prince was born in the same hospital wing and media from across the globe are hoping for a repeat of the scene in 1982 when Charles and his first wife Diana brought out the baby to show him off to the world.

Royal fanatics gathering outside the hospital also took their excitement to a new level.

“I’m so excited. Like in a washing machine. Never been so high!” said John Loughrey, who has slept outside the hospital for seven nights, wrapped in a British flag.

The new arrival is Queen Elizabeth’s third great-grandchild, and a first grandchild for Charles.

It ensures that there are three generations of heirs to the crown of the United Kingdom of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland — a nuclear-armed UN Security Council permanent member and the world’s sixth biggest economy.

The queen was seen arriving back at Buckingham Palace from Windsor Castle, just outside the capital, in mid-afternoon but other royals went about their usual business.

Charles, the current heir, was visiting York in northern England, where members of the public shouted “Congratulations!”.

Smiling, he replied: “Do you know something I don’t?”

Charles, who turns 65 in November, joked: “I’m very grateful indeed for the kind wishes for my rather slowly-approaching grandfatherhood.”

Prime Minister David Cameron sent his best wishes to the couple and the “whole country is excited.”

The pregnancy was announced in December when Kate was admitted to hospital with severe morning sickness.

At the Lindo Wing, a standard room and normal delivery — which Kate is hoping for — costs £4,965 ($7,600, 5,800 euros) for the first 24 hours, plus consultants’ fees which can reach around £6,000.

The duchess is being tended by a top medical team led by the queen’s gynaecologist Alan Farthing and his predecessor Marcus Setchell.

On the pavement opposite the hospital entrance, around 30 presenters lined up in a row delivering live broadcasts and clips, with photographers and journalists filling out the scene.

There has been a betting frenzy on the name of the royal newborn with bookmakers favouring a George and James for the top boys’ names.

World’s cheapest computer - Raspberry Pi

“The theory of computer science is maths, but the practice is a craft, like carpentry.”

LONDON (AFP) – It’s a single circuit board the size of a credit card with no screen or keyboard, a far cry from the smooth tablets that dominate the technology market.

But the world’s cheapest computer, costing just $25 (£17, 19.50 euros), has astonished its British creators by selling almost 1.5 million units in 18 months.

The Raspberry Pi is now powering robots in Japan and warehouse doors in Malawi, photographing astral bodies from the United States and helping to dodge censorship in China.

“We’re closing in on one and half million (sales) for something that we thought would sell a thousand,” said Eben Upton, executive director of the Raspberry Pi Foundation.

“It was just supposed to be a little thing to solve a little problem.

“We’ve sold many more to children than we expected to sell, but even more to adults. They’re using it like Lego to connect things up.”

The device, which runs the open-source Linux operating system, was designed as an educational tool for children to learn coding.

But its potential for almost infinite tinkering and customisation has fired up the imaginations of hobbyists and inventors around the world.

– Ways to play –

Tokyo inventor Shota Ishiwatari has created a small humanoid robot run by a Pi, which can tell you the weather, manage your diary and even make coffee.

“I wanted to create something by using a 3D printer and the Raspberry Pi – two cool items,” he told AFP, adding that he also wanted to demonstrate the potential of the microcomputer.

“Many Raspberry Pi users did not know how to have fun with the chip. I wanted to present practical ways to play with it.”

Upton and his colleagues first thought of creating a cheap computer suited to programming when they were teaching computer science at Cambridge University.

They noticed that children of the wired generation lacked the day-to-day experience of coding that was so formative for the computer geeks who grew up in the 1980s.

“They didn’t have the grungy familiarity with the dirty bits, the hacking,” Upton told AFP.

“The theory of computer science is maths, but the practice is a craft, like carpentry.”

Upton reminisces happily about his childhood coding on a BBC Micro, a rugged early personal computer from 1982.

Back then, you had to know a computer “language” in order to use one at all. But home computers are now so complex that parents often ban children from interfering with the underlying code.

Upton and his colleagues saw that developments in technology meant something like the Micro could now be created for a fraction of the cost, in pocket size, with the capacity to run multimedia programmes.

The team behind the Pi grew as the project developed; it now includes David Braben — the designer of a classic Micro game, Elite — and tech entrepreneur and investor Jack Lang.

By 2012, with Upton now working for a chip design firm, the Pi was ready to launch.

Demand for the device, assembled in Wales, was so high that the websites of its distributors crashed.

– Raspberry jams –

User groups called Raspberry Jams now meet monthly in cities from Manchester to Singapore to share ideas.

A Raspberry Jam brought together the team behind a Pi camera that will photograph rhinos and other endangered animals in east Africa, generating data on their habits and on poaching.

The Instant Wild system, backed by the Zoological Society of London, already operates in several countries, beaming images via satellite to park rangers and to an app that crowdsources identifications of animals.

But by replacing expensive purpose-built equipment with cheaper Raspberry Pis, Instant Wild hopes to vastly expand its work.

A grid of 100 Pi cameras will be set up in 2015 on a Kenyan ranch, while another Pi will make its way to Antarctica to record penguin behaviour.

“It used to be very expensive — you’d have to run a laptop, with a huge car battery to power the thing. This saves countless power and it’s easy for it to send out alerts automatically,” said Alasdair Davies, technical advisor to the project.

Upton, however, is focused closer to home.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation is nonprofit and the design freely available, so he and his team will not be retiring on the proceeds of their success.

Instead they are working on software to make the Pi more accessible for children without expert help, and Upton remains intent on improving computer education.

The foundation is in discussions with the British government on a new IT curriculum.

For the country that invented some of the earliest computers, Upton feels that teaching coding should be a matter of national pride.

“The definition of computing is being reworked to be less about PowerPoint and more about computer programming — the useful stuff. The real stuff,” he said.

Queen Elizabeth Hopes the Birth of the Royal Baby Does Not Interrupt Her Vacation

17 July, 2013
Foreign

All hail the Queen … just don't interrupt her vacation while doing it.

While at an event in Cumbria in northern England this week, Queen Elizabeth was asked by a child if she is hoping Kate Middleton gives birth to a boy or a girl.

"I don't think I mind," the 87-year-old replied, adding: "I would very much like it to arrive. I'm going on holiday. No sign yet."

The Queen is scheduled to head to her Balmoral estate in the Scottish highlands next week for her annual summer break.

While Queen Elizabeth is clearly hoping the royal baby comes sooner rather than later, Prince William's stepmother Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, is predicting Kate will give birth this week.

"We are all just waiting by the telephone," she said during a visit to Little Harbor Children's Hospice in Porthpean on Monday. "We are hopeful that by the end of the week he or she will be here."

No official due date was ever given for Prince William's wife, although Kate herself revealed that it was mid-July (CNN reports it was July 13).

The media frenzy outside St. Mary's Hospital in London where the Duchess of Cambridge will give birth is getting more and more wild by the day.

Call it a hunch, but we have a feeling Queen Elizabeth will get her way. Anyone else predicting the royal baby comes before the end of this weekend? 

NASA Finds Message From God on Mars

Posted: July 6, 2013 in World News

NASA announced today that its Curiosity Rover has found an unambiguous message from God written on tablets in a Martian cave.

According to an official press release two giant stone slabs the size of small elephants were located deep inside a cavern abutting Aeolis Mons, a large mountain.

Upon one tablet is a copy of the Ten Commandments and the text of John 3:16 written in 12 languages – including English, Spanish, Chinese, Basque and Hebrew. On the other tablet is a simple message in English reading “I am real.”

According to top scientists who have studied the discovery extensively, these findings may have definitively established Christianity as the one true religion.

“This is amazing,” says Syms Covington, an Australian researcher working for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program. “We went into the cave looking for water, and we found proof of God’s existence instead.

“I mean how else did those tablets get there? I can tell you one thing: there’s not a single atheist inside NASA’s control room now. What we saw was jaw-dropping.”

Genesis 1:1

NASA’s Curiosity rover arrived on Mars in August of last year with a mission to explore the Martian climate and geology for signs for habitability.

Thus far the mission has been a success, with the discovery of an ancient seabed and chemicals needed for life suggesting that Mars was once suitable for life.

However the tablets, both of which are signed “Peace and Love – Yahweh,” represent the rover’s most significant find to date, and is perhaps the most important scientific event in history.

“When people find out about this, they will demand change in our society,” explains a political scientist at Georgetown University. “Democracy will have to give way to theocracy. We’re gonna have to build more churches and reintroduce prayer into schools. Abortion is defiantly going to be illegal within a few months.”

Despite its potential significance, Covington fears that the Earth-shattering discovery may not make the impact it should.

“Unfortunately, the mainstream media is so anti-Christian, they might not even pick up this story,” he explains. “But God is real. We have proof. And everyone deserves to hear the truth.”