A Father's Love and a Promise to keep to his Daughter

My wife called, 'How long will you be with that newspaper? Will you come here and make your darling daughter eat her food?'

I tossed the paper away and rushed to the scene. My only daughter Sindu looked frightened.

Tears were welling up in her eyes. In front of her was a bowl filled to its brim with Curd Rice. Sindu is a nice child, quite intelligent for her age. She has just turned eight. She particularly detested Curd Rice. My mother and my wife are orthodox, and believe firmly in the 'cooling effects' of Curd Rice! I cleared my throat, and picked up the bowl.

'Sindu, darling,why don't you take a few mouthful of this Curd Rice? Just for Dad's sake, dear. 

Sindu softened a bit, and wiped her tears with the back of her hands.

'OK, Dad. I will eat - not just a few mouthfuls, but the whole lot of this.

But, you should...' Sindu hesitated. 'Dad, if I eat this entire curd Rice, will you give me whatever I ask for?'....

Oh sure, darling'.... 'Promise?'......... 'Promise'.

I covered the pink soft hand extended by my daughter with mine, and clinched the deal. 

'Ask Mom also to give a similar promise', my daughter insisted.

My wife put her hand on Sindu's, muttering 'Promise'. Now I became a bit anxious.

'Sindu dear, you shouldn't insist on getting a computer or any such expensive items. Dad does not have that kind of money right now. OK?' 

'No, Dad. I do not want anything expensive'.

Slowly and painfully, she finished eating the whole quantity.

I was silently angry with my wife and my mother for forcing my child eat something that she detested. After the ordeal was through, Sindu came to me with her eyes wide with expectation. All our attention was on her. 

'Dad, I want to have my head shaved off, this Sunday!' was her demand. 

'Atrocious!' shouted my wife, 'A girl child having her head shaved off? Impossible!' 'Never in our family!' my mother rasped.

'She has been watching too much of television. Our culture is getting totally spoiled with these TV programs!' 

Sindu darling, why don't you ask for something else? We will be sad seeing you with a clean-shaven head.' 

'No, Dad. I do not want anything else', Sindu said with finality. 

'Please, Sindu, why don't you try to understand our feelings?'

I tried to plead with her. 

'Dad, you saw how difficult it was for me to eat that Curd Rice'. 

Sindu was in tears. 'And you promised to grant me whatever I ask for.

Now, you are going back on your words. Was it not you who told me the story of King Harishchandra, and its moral that we should honor our promises no matter what?' 

It was time for me to call the shots.
'Our promise must be kept.'
'Are you out your mind?' chorused my mother and wife. 

'No. If we go back on our promises, she will never learn to honor her own.

Sindu, your wish will be fulfilled.' 

With her head clean-shaven, Sindu had a round-face, and her eyes looked big and beautiful. 

On Monday morning, I dropped her at her school. It was a sight to watch my hairless Sindu walking towards her classroom. She turned around and waved. I waved back with a smile. Just then, a boy alighted from a car, and shouted, 'Sinduja, please wait for me!' 

What struck me was the hairless head of that boy.
'May be, that is the in-stuff', I thought. 'Sir, your daughter Sinduja is great indeed!' Without introducing herself, a lady got out of the car, and continued,' That boy who is walking along with your daughter is my son Harish. He is suffering from... ... leukemia.' She paused to muffle her sobs.

Harish could not attend the school for the whole of the last month. He lost all his hair due to the side effects of the chemotherapy. He refused to come back to school fearing the unintentional but cruel teasing of the schoolmates.

'Sinduja visited him last week, and promised him that she will take care of the teasing issue. 

But, I never imagined she would sacrifice her lovely hair for the sake of my son! Sir, you and your wife are blessed to have such a noble soul as your daughter.' 

I stood transfixed. And then, I wept. 'My little Angel, you are teaching me how self-less real love is!' 

*The happiest people on this planet are not those who live on their own terms but are those who change their terms for the ones whom they love..* 
Love Touch And Inspire your FRIENDS "The life is short, the vanities of world are transient but they alone live who live for others; the rest are more dead than alive. 

By a Father

hell and heaven -with dog

A man and his dog
were walking along a road. The man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly
occurred to him that he was dead. He remembered dying, and that the dog walking
beside him had been dead for years. He wondered where the road was leading
them.

After a while, at the top of a long hill, they came
to a high, white stonewall along one side of the road. It looked like fine
marble. It was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight.

When he was standing
before it he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like
mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like pure gold. He
and the dog walked toward the gate, and as

He got closer, he
saw a man at a desk to one side.

When he was close
enough, he called out, "Excuse me, where are we?"

"This is
Heaven, sir," the man answered.

"Wow! Would you
happen to have some water?" the man asked.

"Of course,
sir. Come right in, and I'll have some ice water brought right up."

The man gestured, and the gate began to open.

"Can my
friend," gesturing toward his dog, "come in, too?" the traveler
asked.

I'm sorry, sir, but
we don't accept pets."

The man thought a
moment and then turned back toward the road and continued the way he had been
going with his dog.

After another long
walk, and at the top of another long hill, he came to a dirt road leading
through a farm gate that looked as if it had never been closed. There was no
fence.

As he approached the
gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree and reading a book.

"Excuse
me!" he called to the man. "Do you have any water?"

"Yeah, sure,
there's a pump over there, come on in."

"How about my
friend here?" the traveler gestured to the dog.

"There should
be a bowl by the pump."

They went through
the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand pump with a bowl
beside it.

The traveler filled
the water bowl and took a long drink himself, then he gave some to the dog.

When they were full,
he and the dog walked back toward the man who was standing by the tree.

What do you call
this place?" the traveler asked.

"This is
Heaven," he answered.

"Well, that's
confusing," the traveler said. "The man down the road said that was
Heaven, too."

"Oh, you mean
the place with the gold street and pearly gates? Nope. That's hell."

"Doesn't it
make you mad for them to use your name like that?"

"No, we're just
happy that they screen out the folks who would leave their best friends
behind."

phone calls

jOKE OF 2011 SO FAR

John Howard (former Australian Prime Minister), Barack Obama (USA President)
and Vladimir Putin (Russian Prime Minister) all die and go to hell.

While there, they spy a red phone and ask what the phone is for.

The devil tells them it is for calling back to Earth.

Putin asks to call Russia and talks for 15 minutes.
When he is finished the devil informs him that the cost is a million
dollars, so Putin writes a cheque.

Obama calls the US and talks for an hour. When he is finished the devil
informs him
that the cost is 4 million dollars, so he writes a cheque.

Finally John Howard gets his turn and talks for 4 hours. When he is finished
the devil
informs him that the cost is 20 cents. Howard just smiles.

Obama and Putin go ballistic, and ask the devil why Howard got to call
Australia for only
20 cents??

The devil smiles and replies:

"Since Julia Gillard (current Unelected Prime Minister of an
unrepresentative government) took over, the whole country has gone to hell.

It's a local call."

smartest

lady,sceintist,politician, a BOY and a PRIEST were stuck on a plane that is falling fast.
They are 5 but there are only 4 parachutes. GMA said: "I'm a woman, you
can`t leave a woman on a plane to die," so she took one and jumped. FG said:
"I'm the smartest in the world, everyone needs me," he took one and jumped.
BONG blabbed something in Ilocano that no one understood, he took one and
jumped. The PRIEST tells the BOY.. "You take the last parachute, let me die"
the BOY said: "Why? We can both jump." "How is that?" asked the PRIEST. the
BOY replies, "Because the so called smartest man FG, took my school bag and
jumped!!!"

coffee break is over

A man goes to Hell. He's greeted there by a smiling demon-like-creature.
"Greetings, traveler, welcome to Hell! I am Satan. I'll be your care taker
and tour guide."

The man replied "This is unexpected. I thought you'd be a lot harsher!"

"Sir, the things they tell you about me upstairs are extreme exaggerations.
You are going to be tormented for eternity. Why should I make that harder
for you?"

"Well, thank you!" said the man.

The Devil explained, "Let's go on the tour. Today we have three choices for
your punishment."

"Well, that seems awfully fair. I accept!"

They come to the first door and open it. Inside are people be repeatedly
sliced open with rusty saws. Screams of souls in pain and demons enjoying
themselves filled the room.

"Wow," said the man, "I hate pain. Let's try the next one."

The second room had people being repeatedly melted into vats of acid. Agony
filled the room as clouds of acidic gas bellowed out through the door.

"Oh, I can't take this one either," exclaimed the man.

"I understand. You know, even I can't stand the smell of the acid," replied
the Devil. "So, that brings us to the Third Door. One of my favorites!"

Inside the room, people were standing up to their knees in sewage. Filthy,
fecal-ridden sewage that made stomachs turn. The people in the room,
however, were drinking large mugs of coffee.

The man was surprised! "This is going to have to be it for me. I'm sure I
can get used to the sewage and I just love coffee! If I'm going to have to
do something for eternity, this will be it."

Satan wanted to confirm his choice. "Are you sure?"

"Yes! I just love coffee."

"OK," said the Devil, handing the man a cup of coffee that wasn't there
before.

The man took a few sips as the Devil started to leave the room. Then, just
before the door closed completely, Satan stuck his head back in and said "By
the way, coffee break is over . BACK ON YOUR HEADS!"

coffee break is over

A man goes to Hell. He's greeted there by a smiling demon-like-creature.
"Greetings, traveler, welcome to Hell! I am Satan. I'll be your care taker
and tour guide."

The man replied "This is unexpected. I thought you'd be a lot harsher!"

"Sir, the things they tell you about me upstairs are extreme exaggerations.
You are going to be tormented for eternity. Why should I make that harder
for you?"

"Well, thank you!" said the man.

The Devil explained, "Let's go on the tour. Today we have three choices for
your punishment."

"Well, that seems awfully fair. I accept!"

They come to the first door and open it. Inside are people be repeatedly
sliced open with rusty saws. Screams of souls in pain and demons enjoying
themselves filled the room.

"Wow," said the man, "I hate pain. Let's try the next one."

The second room had people being repeatedly melted into vats of acid. Agony
filled the room as clouds of acidic gas bellowed out through the door.

"Oh, I can't take this one either," exclaimed the man.

"I understand. You know, even I can't stand the smell of the acid," replied
the Devil. "So, that brings us to the Third Door. One of my favorites!"

Inside the room, people were standing up to their knees in sewage. Filthy,
fecal-ridden sewage that made stomachs turn. The people in the room,
however, were drinking large mugs of coffee.

The man was surprised! "This is going to have to be it for me. I'm sure I
can get used to the sewage and I just love coffee! If I'm going to have to
do something for eternity, this will be it."

Satan wanted to confirm his choice. "Are you sure?"

"Yes! I just love coffee."

"OK," said the Devil, handing the man a cup of coffee that wasn't there
before.

The man took a few sips as the Devil started to leave the room. Then, just
before the door closed completely, Satan stuck his head back in and said "By
the way, coffee break is over . BACK ON YOUR HEADS!"

Choice for 2013-14 RI president
Ron D. Burton, a member of the Rotary Club of Norman, Oklahoma, USA, is the selection of the Nominating Committee for President of Rotary International in 2013-14.

family problems of indian and american

Two men, one American and an Indian were sitting in a bar and discussing about their family problems.

The Indian man said to the American, 'We have problem in India we can't  marry the  one whom we love, You know my parents are forcing me to get  married to this so called homely girl from a village whom I haven't even  met once.' We call this arranged marriage. I don't want to marry a woman  whom I don't love... I told them that openly and now have a hell lot of  family problems.'
 
The American said, talking about love marriages... In America We can  marry the one whom we love ......I'll tell you my story.  'I married a widow  whom I deeply loved and dated for 3 years.  After a couple of years, my  father fell in love with my step-daughter and married her, so my father  became my son-in-law and I became my father's father-in-law.
 
Legally now my daughter is my mother and my wife my grandmother.  More  problems occurred when I had a son.  My son is my father's brother and so  he is my uncle.
 
Situations turned worse when my father had a son. Now my father's son, my  brother is my grandson. Ultimately, I have become my own grandfather and  I am my own grandson."

AND YOU SAY YOU HAVE FAMILY PROBLEMS

 

The Indian fainted........!!!

The Israeli Dog vs. The Arab Dog

The Israeli Dog vs. The Arab Dog The Israelis and Arabs realized that, if they continued fighting, they would someday end up destroying the whole world. So they decided to settle their dispute with an ancient practice: a duel of two, like David and Goliath. This "duel" would be a dog fight.  The Arabs found the biggest, meanest Dobermans and Rottweilers in the world. They bred them together and then crossed their offspring with the meanest Siberian wolves. The negotiators agreed each side would take 5 years to develop the best fighting dog they could. The dog that won the fight would earn its people the right to rule the disputed areas. The losing side would have to lay down its arms for good. They selected only the biggest, strongest puppy of each litter, fed it the best food and killed all the other puppies. They used steroids and trainers in their quest for the perfect killing machine. After the 5 years were up, they had a dog that needed steel prison bars on its cage. Only expert trainers could handle this incredibly nasty and ferocious beast.  When the day of the big dog-fight finally arrived, the Israelis showed up with a very strange-looking animal, a Dachshund that was 10 feet long!  Everyone at the dogfight arena felt sorry for the Israelis.. No one there seriously thought this weird, odd-looking animal stood any chance against the growling beast over in the Arab camp. All the bookies took one look and predicted that the Arab dog would win in less than a minute.  As the cages were opened, the Dachshund slowly waddled toward the center of the ring.  The Arab dog leaped from its cage and charged the giant wiener-dog.  As he got to within an inch of the Israeli dog, the Dachshund opened its jaws and swallowed the Arab beast whole in one bite. There was nothing left but a small puff of fur from the Arab killer dog's tail floating to the ground.  The stunned crowd of international observers, bookies and media personnel let out a collective gasp of disbelief and surprise.  The Arabs approached the Israelis, muttering and shaking their heads in disbelief. "We do not understand," said their leader, "Our top scientists and breeders worked for 5 long years with the meanest, biggest Dobermans, Rottweilers and Siberian wolves, and they developed an incredible killing machine of a dog!"  The Israelis replied. "Well, for 5 years, we have had a team of Jewish plastic surgeons from Boca Raton working to make an Alligator look like a Dachshund."

Somalis waste away as rebels block escape from famine

JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

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The Shabab Islamist insurgent group, which controls much of southern Somalia, is blocking starving people from fleeing the country and setting up a cantonment camp where it is imprisoning displaced people who were trying to escape Shabab territory.

The group is widely blamed for causing a famine in Somalia by forcing out many Western aid organisations, depriving drought victims of desperately needed food. The situation is growing bleaker by the day, with tens of thousands of Somalis already dead and more than 500,000 children on the brink of starvation.

Every morning, emaciated parents with emaciated children stagger into Banadir Hospital, a shell of a building with floors that stink of diesel fuel because that is all the nurses have to fight off the flies. Babies are dying because of the lack of equipment and medicine. Some get hooked up to adult-size intravenous drips — paediatric versions are hard to find — and their compromised bodies cannot handle the volume of fluid.

Most parents do not have money for medicine, so entire families sit on old-fashioned cholera beds, with basketball-size holes cut out of the middle, taking turns going to the bathroom as diarrhoea streams out of them.

Worse than 1992

“This is worse than 1992,” said Dr. Lul Mohamed, Banadir's head of paediatrics, referring to Somalia's last famine. “Back then, at least we had some help.”

Aid groups are trying to scale up their operations, and the United Nations has begun airlifting emergency food. But many seasoned aid officials are speaking in grim tones because one of Africa's worst humanitarian disasters in decades has struck one of the most inaccessible countries on earth. Somalia, especially the southern third where the famine is, has been considered a no-go zone for years, a lawless cauldron that has claimed the lives of dozens of aid workers, peacekeepers and American soldiers, going back to the “Black Hawk Down” battle in 1993, spelling a legacy that has scared off many international organisations.

“If this were Haiti, we would have dozens of people on the ground by now,” said Eric James, an official with the American Refugee Committee, a private aid organisation.

But Somalia is considered more dangerous and anarchic than Haiti, Iraq or even Afghanistan, and the American Refugee Committee, like other aid groups, is struggling to get trained personnel here.

“It is safe to say that many people are going to die as a result of little or no access,” Mr. James said.

This leaves millions of famished Somalis with two choices, aside from fleeing the country to neighbouring Kenya or Ethiopia, where there is more assistance. They can beg for help from a weak and divided transitional government in Mogadishu, the capital. Just the other day there was a shootout between government forces at the gates of the presidential palace. “Things happen,” was the response of Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, Somalia's new Prime Minister.

Or they can remain in territory controlled by the Shabab, who have pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda and have tried to rid their areas of anything Western — Western music, Western dress, even Western aid groups during a time of famine.

Areas declared famine-striken

Much of the Horn of Africa, which includes Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti, has been struck this summer by one of the worst droughts in 60 years. But two Shabab-controlled parts of southern Somalia are the only areas where the United Nations has declared a famine, using scientific criteria of death and malnutrition rates.

People from those areas who were interviewed in Mogadishu say Shabab fighters are blocking rivers to steal water from impoverished villagers and divert it to commercial farmers who pay them taxes. The Shabab are intercepting displaced people who are trying to reach Mogadishu and forcing them to stay in a Shabab-run camp about 25 miles outside the city. The camp now holds several thousand people and receives only a trickle of food.

“I was taken off a bus and put here,” said a woman at the camp who asked not to be identified.

Several drought victims who have succeeded in making it to Mogadishu said that the Shabab were threatening to kill anyone who left their areas, either for refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia, or for government zones in Somalia, and that the only way out was to sneak away at night and avoid the main roads.

On immunisations

A few years ago, the Shabab began banning immunisations, deeming them a Western plot to kill Somali children. Now countless unvaccinated children are dying from measles and cholera as tens of thousands of malnourished, immunity-suppressed people flee the drought areas and pack into filthy, crowded camps. The other day, Kufow Ali Abdi, a destitute herder who lost all his cattle, trudged out of Banadir Hospital, gently carrying a small package in his arms wrapped in blue cloth. It looked almost like a swaddled newborn but it was the opposite. It was the body of his 3-year-old daughter, Kadija, who had just succumbed to measles.

“I just hope they can save the others,” he said, referring to his two remaining children, down to skin and bone.

The magnitude of suffering could shift the political landscape, which has been dominated by chaos since 1991, when clan warlords overthrew the central government and then tore apart the country. The Transitional Federal Government — the 15th attempt at a government — is trying to assert itself and beat back the Shabab, and the famine and attendant relief effort could mean an enormous opportunity.

“It could be a face-lift for them, an opportunity to deliver services and show they are committed,” said Sheik Abdulkadir, a militia leader. “But if a lot of people die here, people will say it's the government's fault.”

The famine could affect the Shabab as well, deepening the fissures in their organisation. Shabab leaders are now beginning to cut their own deals in the face of mass starvation. Unicef recently delivered a planeload of food and medicine to Baidoa, a Shabab stronghold. In Xarardheere, another Shabab-controlled town and a notorious pirate den, a Shabab commander said in an interview on July 30 that he would welcome Western aid organisations despite the anti-Western policies imposed by his leadership, which has been hit by the deaths of several prominent figures recently.

Sheik Yoonis, a Shabab spokesman, said in an e-mail that the declaration of a famine was “an exaggeration.” He said that Shabab fighters were not imprisoning people in the camp, but that the people were attracted to it by “this sense of serenity and security.” He also denied that the Shabab were diverting river water or scaring away aid agencies.

Aid workers reluctant

Still, many aid organisations are reluctant to venture into Shabab areas because of the obvious dangers — the Shabab have killed dozens of aid workers — and because of American government restrictions. In 2008, the State Department declared the Shabab a terrorist group, making it a crime to provide material assistance to them. Aid officials say the restrictions have had a chilling effect because it is nearly impossible to guarantee that the Shabab will not skim off some of the aid delivered in their areas.

Even United Nations contractors have been accused of siphoning food aid, resulting in extensive investigations and cuts in life-saving assistance.

Western aid agencies are now trying to work through Islamic and local organisations as much as possible, but the Somali partners do not usually have as much technical expertise. And heavy fighting has erupted in Mogadishu again, making it dangerous even for Somali aid workers.

“Somalia is one of the most complicated places in the world to deliver aid, more complicated than Afghanistan,” said Stefano Porretti, who heads the World Food Progammes's efforts in Somalia and recently worked in Afghanistan. (Mohammed Ibrahim contributed reporting. ) — © New York Times News Service

Seasoned aid officials are speaking in sombre tones because one of the continent's worst humanitarian disasters has struck one of the most inaccessible countries.

BEER HISTORY

BEER HISTORY

Ancient History

Historians speculate that prehistoric nomads may have made beer from
grain & water before learning to make bread.

Beer became ingrained in the culture of civilizations with no
significant viticulture.

Noah's provisions included beer on the Ark.

4300 BC, Babylonian clay tablets detail recipes for beer.

Beer was a vital part of civilization and the Babylonian, Assyrian,
Egyptian, Hebrew, Chinese, and Inca cultures.

Babylonians produced beer in large quantities with around 20 varieties.

Beer at this time was so valued that it was sometimes used to pay
workers as part of their daily wages.

Early cultures often drank beer through straws to avoid grain hulls left
in the beverage.

Egyptians brewed beer commercially for use by royalty served in gold
goblets, medical purposes, and as a necessity to be included in burial
provisions for the journey to the hereafter.

Different grains were used in different cultures:

a) Africa used millet, maize and cassava.

b) North America used persimmon although agave was used in Mexico.

c) South America used corn although sweet potatoes were used in Brazil.

d) Japan used rice to make sake.

e) China used wheat to make samshu.

f) Other Asian cultures used sorghum.

g) Russians used rye to make quass or kvass.

h) Egyptians used barley and may have cultivated it strictly for brewing
as it made poor bread.

1600 BC Egyptian texts contain 100 medical prescriptions calling for
beer.

If an Egyptian gentleman offered a lady a sip of his beer they were
betrothed.

Early brewers used herbals like balsam, hay, dandelion, mint, and
wormwood seeds, horehound juice, and even crab claws & oyster shells
for flavorings.

Romans brewed "cerevisia" (Ceres the goddess of agriculture & vis
meaning strength in Latin).

55 BC Roman legions introduce beer to Northern Europe.

49 BC Caesar toasted his troops after crossing the Rubicon, which began
the Roman Civil War.

Before the Middle Ages brewing was left to women to make since it was
considered a food as well as celebration drink.

23 BC Chinese brewed beer called "kiu"

500-1000 AD the first half of the Middle Ages, brewing begins to be
practiced in Europe, shifting from family tradition to centralized
production in monasteries and convents (hospitality for traveling
pilgrims).

During Medieval times beer was used for tithing, trading, payment and
taxing.

1000 AD hops begins to be used in the brewing process.

1200 AD beer making is firmly established as a commercial enterprise in
Germany, Austria, and England.

a) German's preferred cold temperature lagers (bottom-fermentation)
stored in caves in the Alps.

b) English preferred mild temperature ales (top-fermentation) stored in
cellars.

1295 King Wenceslas grants Pilsen Bohemia brewing rights (formerly
Czechoslovakia, now Slovakia & Czech Republic).

1420 German brewers develop the lager method of brewing.

1489 Germany's first brewing guild, Brauerei Beck, was established.

1490's Columbus found Indians making beer from corn and black birch sap.

Renaissance History

1516 Bavarian brewing guilds push for the Reinheitsgeobot purity laws
make it illegal to use any ingredients but water, barley, and hops in
the brewing of beer (they didn't know yeast existed).

1553 Beck's Brewery founded & still brewing today.

Late 1500's Queen Elizabeth I of England drank strong ale for breakfast.

1587 the first beer brewed in New World at Sir Walter Raleigh's colony
in Virginia--but the colonists sent requests to England for better
beer.

1602 Dr. Alexander Nowell discovers that ale can be stored longer in
cork sealed, glass bottles.

1612 the first commercial brewery opened in New Amsterdam (NYC,
Manhattan) after colonists advertised in London newspapers for
experienced brewers.

1620 Pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock because the beer supplies were
running low.

1674 Harvard College has its own brewhouse.

1680 William Penn (founder of Pennsylvania) operated commercial brewery.

1757 Washington wrote his personal recipe "To Make Small Beer."

1786 Molson brewery is founded in what is today Canada.

George Washington and Thomas Jefferson had their own private brewhouses.

Samuel Adams operated commercial brewery.

Soldiers in the revolutionary army received rations of a quart of beer a
day.

1789 James Madison proposes that Congress levy a low 8-cent duty per
barrel on malt liquors to encourage "the manufacture of beer in every
State in the Union."

Beer and bread were the mainstays of the ordinary person's diet for
centuries.

Yeasts during this time were exactly the same as those used in bread.

Modern History

Before the 1800's most beer was really "Ale."

1810 Munich establishes Oktoberfest as an official celebration.

1830's Bavarians Gabriel Sedlmayr of Munich and Anton Dreher of Vienna
developed the lager method of beer production.

1842 the first golden lager is produced in Pilsen, Bohemia.

In the mid-19th Century (1850's) German immigrant brewers introduced
cold maturation lagers to the US (Anheuser-Busch, Miller, Coors, Stroh,
Schlitz, and Pabst roots begin here).

The modern era of brewing in the US began in the late 1800's with
commercial refrigeration (1860), automatic bottling, pasteurization
(1876), and railroad distribution.

1870's Adolphus Busch pioneers the use of double-walled railcars, a
network of icehouses to make Budweiser the first national brand.

1876 Pasteur unraveled the secrets of yeast in the fermentation
process, and he also developed pasteurization to stabilize beers 22
years before the process was applied to milk.

1880 there are approximately 2,300 breweries in the US.

1890s Pabst is the first US brewer to sell over 1 million barrels in a
year.

1909 Teddy Roosevelt brought over 500 gal. of beer on safari in Africa.

1914 commercial competition drives the number of operating breweries
down to 1,400.

1933 Prohibition ends for beer (April 7).

1935 only 160 breweries survive Prohibition.

1935 the beer can is introduced (American Can Co. & Kreuger Brewing).

1938 Elise Miller John heads Miller Brewing for 8 years as the first and
only woman ever to run a major brewing company.

1965 Fritz Maytag purchases Anchor Brewing Co.

1966 Budweiser is the first brand to sell 10 million barrels in a year.

1976 New Albion is the first in the rebirth of brewpubs and
microbreweries in the US opening in California.

1988 Asahi Super Dry (Japan) introduces new beer category (soon to
follow is Michelob Dry).

1991 the US produces 20% of the world beer volume (world's largest).

1992:

1) The US beer industry produced & sold 2.62 billion cases of beer.

2) Estimated per capita consumption was 22.7 gallons (ranked 13th
worldwide).

3) Beer drinkers consumed 5.89 Billion gallons, enough to fill the
Houston Astrodome over 12 times or 330 oil tankers.

4) Five brewers produced 89.4% of domestic product:

a) Anheuser-Busch (A-B), 44.5%

b) Miller Brewing, 21.8%

c) Coors, 10.4%

d) Stroh, 7.4%

e) G. Heileman, 5.3%

5) The world's largest combined-site brewer was A-B, at 1.166 Billion
cases.

6) The world's largest single-site brewery was Coors Brewing, Golden,
Colorado, at 272 Million cases.

1993 US retail beer sales exceed $45 Billion.

First half of the 1900's beer was associated with men, blue-collar
workers, college students, and mainstream sports enthusiasts.

Late 1900's beer had a different image and cultural function, with
growth in popularity among a more diverse share of the population.

KNOWLEDGE IS AMUSING
[1] FORTNIGHT comes from 'Fourteen Nights' (Two Weeks).

[2] POP MUSIC is 'Popular Music' shortened.

[3] MOPED is the short term for 'Motorized Pedaling'.

[4] BUS is the short term for 'Omnibus' that means everybody.

[5] DRAWING ROOM was actually a 'withdrawing room' where people withdrew after Dinner. Later the prefix 'with' was dropped..

[6] NEWS refers to information from Four directions
N, E, W, and S.

[7] AG-MARK, which some products bear, stems from 'Agricultural Marketing'.

[8] QUEUE comes from 'Queen's Quest'. Long back a long row of people as waiting to see the Queen. Someone made the comment Queen's Quest..


[9] JOURNAL is a diary that tells about 'Journey for a day' during each Day's business.

[10] TIPS come from 'To Insure Prompt Service'. In olden days to get Prompt service from servants in an inn, travelers used to drop coins in a Box on which was written 'To Insure Prompt Service'. This gave rise to the custom of Tips.

[11] JEEP is a vehicle with unique Gear system. It was invented during World War II (1939-1945). It was named 'General Purpose Vehicle (GP)'.GP was changed into JEEP later.

[12] Coca-Cola was originally green.

[13] The most common name in the world is Mohammed..

[14] The name of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with Asia, America, Australia, Europe

[15] The strongest muscle in the body is the TONGUE.

[16] TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.

[17] Women BLINK nearly twice as much as men!!

[18] You can't kill yourself by holding your breath.

[19] It is impossible to lick your elbow.


[20] Wearing HEADPHONES for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times.

[21] It is physically impossible for PIGS to look up into the sky.

[22] The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language.

[23] Each KING in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history.


Spades - King David
Clubs - Alexander the Great,
Hearts - Charlemagne
Diamonds - Julius Caesar.

[24] What do bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and laser printers all have in common?

Ans. - All invented by women.

[25] A CROCODILE cannot stick its tongue out.

[26] A SNAIL can sleep for three years.

[27] All POLAR BEARS are left handed.

[28] BUTTERFLIES taste with their feet.

[29] ELEPHANTS are the only animals that can't jump.

[30] In the last 4000 years, no new ANIMALS have been domesticated.

[31] STEWARDESSES is the longest word typed with only the left hand.

[32] The human HEART creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.

[33] RATS multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over million descendants.

[34] People say "BLESS YOU" when you sneeze because when you sneeze, your heart stops for a millisecond.

[35] If you SNEEZE too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die. 

So good to bless  sneezing person

good bye daddy

A father put his three year old daughter to bed, Told her a story and listened to her prayers which she ended by saying "God bless Mommy, God bless daddy, God bless grandma and good-bye grandpa." The father asked, "Why did you say good-bye grandpa?" The little girl said, "I don't know daddy, it just seemed like the thing todo." The next day grandpa died. The father thought it was a strange coincidence. A few months later the father put the girl to bed and listened to her prayers, which went like this: "God bless Mommy, God Bless daddy and good-bye grandma." The next day the grandmother died. Oh my god, thought the father, this kid is in contact with the other side. Several weeks later when the girl was going to bed the dad heard her say, "God bless Mommy and good-bye daddy." He practically went into shock. He couldn't sleep all night and got up at the crack of dawn to go to his office. He was nervous as a cat all day, had lunch sent in and watched the clock. He figured if he could get by until midnight he would be okay. He felt safe in the office, so instead of going home at the end of the day he stayed there, looking at his watch and jumping at every sound. Finally midnight arrived, he breathed a sigh of relief and went home. When he got home his wife said "I've never seen you work so late, what's the matter?" He said "I don't want to talk about it, I've just spent the worst day of my life." She said "You think you had a bad day, you'll never believe what happened HERE. He asked "What"?????? She said "This morning our neighbor James suddenly died."