My “First” Silly Video

By Bug

Just wanted to play with my new camcorder. My friend Fookem challenged me to make a silly video. He thought that I would not show “myself” in the public. I told him that I can do if I want. He called me “chicken(bleep)! Now, who’s a winner? ME! LOL! 

Having a bad day? If ya need some laughs? No problem…go and get the popcorn then sit back and relax while watching this nonsense video that I made. 

Jimactor’s China Vacation (Part 9)

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By Jimactor

Summary: We went to the Shanghai local restaurant with silk Embroidery Gallery Then went to famous Shanghai Silk Factory

Silk and its Stories:

Tea, porcelain and silk are the three commerical contributions the Chinese made to the world.  Legend has it that Luo Zhu, wife of Yellow Emperor, was taking a nap under a mulberry tree and a silk worm dropped into her tea cup,  she woke up to find out the silk thread dissolved by hot tea; and she saw the worms spinning thread on the tree.  Then she taught people how to raise silk worms and weave sillk.  Recent archeological discoveries prove that history of silk weaving dates back to the Neolithic Period some 4,000 years ago.  As early as 2,000 years ago, silk has become one of government monopolies for foreign trade.  To maintain the monopoly, for some centuries smuggling of silk worms carried death penalty, til one of the princesses of Tang Dynasty was married to a king in central Asia, she hid some silk eggs in her crown to avoid the check, thus brought the secret out of the country.

During the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wudi sent two envoys headed by Zhangqian to the west to seek an ally to defeat the Huns, silk among the gifts to the various kings or tribe leaders; the journey was military failure, the ally was never formed; but of great cultural success, it began the trade between Chinese and west countries.  Merchants traveled back and forth between Xi’an, capital of the empire, and Europe taking Chinese silk out and bringing many other goods into China.  This trade route was later to be known as “the Silk Road”.For centuries China has been taking the lead in production and variety. As early as in Tang Dynasty, silk was categorized into over 40 different kinds.  However, last century saw a total decline of Chinese silk industry; Italy, France and Japan were catching up with China, and at the beginning of this country, Japan has surpassed China as the number one in the world.

Since the People’s Republic, Chinese silk industry has been revived. And from 1970’s, China regained its place as the largest silk producing country.  At present, China produces 60% of world raw silk; it exports 90% of world total raw silk; and its export of silk fabrics accounts for 50% of world silk trade volume.  Up to 1992, all provinces except Tibet and Qinghai have set up silk industry; and there are 1506 silk factories nationwide which employ over 800,000 stuffs.

Coastal region is still the silk producing center in China.  Cities such as Suzhou, Wuxi and Hangzhou are top three silk producers.

LIFE CYCLE OF THE SILK COCOON

It takes a silk cocoon approximately 35-40 days to complete its life cycle.  The four stages of the life cycle are: egg, worm, pupa and moth.  The eggs of silk cocoons are hatched at the temperature of 25-26 degree Celsius (77-79 Fahrenheit), the hatching takes about two days.  Once the worms come out, cocoon farmers will put tender and juicy mulberry leaves beside those worms and they immediately start eating; farmers have to supply leaves every couple of hours as the worms eat 24 hours non stop for 5 days.  In the meantime, the size of the worm grows extremely fast.  After 5 days the worm stop eating and sleep for 1-2 days, and they shed off the old skin.  Then they start eating again for another 5 days and go into the second dormancy and shed off old skin; and this will be repeated total four times, they the worm is 30 days old, it could be as long as 3 inches and then it reaches the stage of pupa.  Then it stop eating and start spinning thread to wrap itself inside; a worm raised in spring time could spin thread as long as 1200 meters while a summer worm only 800.  After two days, the pupa becomes moth and bites through the cocoon.  The moth only lives 2-4 days, it mates and lays 300-400 eggs.

5.4 Magnitude Earthquake Rattles Southern California.

By Bug

At 11:42a.m. on Tuesday, July 29th, 5.4 magnitude earthquake rattled Southern California. One minute later I got an email from my Deaf friend named Gary as “NuttyGuy”, his first message was ” We had a jolt! Earthquake!”. He and his son felt the shaking so they ran outside. They are okay.

A few minutes later I got another email from my old high school friend Elaine. She wrote, “We just had an earthquake, it shook really hard. I’m shaking in fear…it hit Chino Hills 5.8. ” She is scared to go out for workout at gym. She decided not to go.

At Mt. San Antonio College (Mt.SAC) had cancelled all afternoon and evening classes because of an earthquake. It is a well known college to the Deaf Communities because they have many Deaf and Hard of Hearing students attending for many years. Also, they have the sign language interpreter program. it is located at Walnut not far from Chino Hills where an earthquake hit. Two students suffered minor injuries and as many as 40 buildings sustained damage when Tuesday’s temblor rolled through the campus of Mt.Sac. Nobody said if the injuried students are DHH or Hearing. All classes will open today.

A Deaf teacher Marie from Mt. Sac and South Hills high school sent her wireless email saying that she was on the way home and felt it which she thought it was the wind. She said, ” I was on 71 freeway I felt it but I thought it was the wind. One min later I got home. Neighbor came over told me just had earthquake! Dogs barked so much when I got home one minute after. House was fine…found a small stuffed animal that fell. I have felt no aftershocks so far ….”

Another DHH teacher Karen was in Irvine and said that she got the text messages from her fiance and kids saying they ‘re having an earthquake and a few seconds later her students and aide felt it. “Our building got two slight cracks. OMG! it was strong and felt like a wave.”

My mother was at home when it happened. She called through myiprelay and left her message to my sidekick. She said, ” Hi Eric. This is your mother calling. We just had a big earthquake here in Southern California. I am ok but so far they said it was a 5.8 and it was nerve wracking it seemed like it took quite a big but I was able to get out of my chair and get to a door way and it was still shaking so I think there must have been some pretty good damage around because it expanded quite large uh the only uh my stuff shook but the only thing that it broke my beautiful was those uh remember those glass flowers that I purchased one by one qq it threw them to the floor as far as I am donderned that was the only thing damaged  talk to u soon …….”

The strongest earthquake to strike a populated area of Southern California in more than a decade rattled windows and chandellers, made buildings away and sent people running into the streets yesterday. But there were no immediate reports of serious injuries or major damage.  If the earthquake happens, if inside, stay inside. Many people are injured at entrances of building by falling debris. 

To learn more about the earthquake and the safety rules, check out: http://bepreparedcalifornia.ca.gov/EPO/BeInformed/NaturalDisasters/Earthquakes.htm

Earthquake Hits Los Angeles

By Bug

A strong earthquake struck at 11:42 a.m. (2:42 p.m. ET), it happened in the Los Angeles County, Orange County and other counties. I was alerted when I receieved many emails from many Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and Hearing people saying that they are having an earthquake. One of them reported that a Deaf caller used her video phone to chat with her sister. She noticed her sister’s slide window shaking on her videophone before she realized it was an earthquake hitting there right before it hit her next hometown.  Another report says that Deaf man was sleeping until an earthquake shook his bed and scared him off. He ran down to get his mother out of house. His family is okay.

It is too early to tell if there is any damage but all police are checking overpasses, bridges and tall buildings.

Did you feel any of the shaking? Share the phots and video around you and tell us what the scene is like in your area. Email us at fookembug@yahoo.com

More stories will be coming soon. Stay tuned.

Who first taught a boy born deaf to speak?

Find could end 350-year science dispute

By Jane Elliott Health reporter, BBC News

Alexander was the first person born deaf to be taught to speak

Who first taught a boy born deaf to speak?

The chance discovery of an antique notebook could have solved the 350-year-old British scientific mystery.

Alexander Popham was born deaf in around 1650 but his mother, determined to communicate with her son, hired two eminent scientists, John Wallis and William Holder, to teach him to speak.

Both claimed success in what became a celebrated scientific controversy.

Exciting discovery

The story was lent additional interest because the boy was the grandson of the notorious Judge Popham, who sentenced both Mary Queen of Scots and Guy Fawkes to death.

Now a yellowing, leather-bound notebook, found in a butler’s cupboard in Littlecote House, Berkshire, a former home of the Pophams, appears to some experts to indicate that the methods of Mr Wallis were the key.

He was a renowned mathematician, deciphered enemy codes for Cromwell during the English Civil War and was also an expert linguist.

Up until now we have not been in a position to assess the validity of either claim Philip Beeley

Philip Beeley, researcher in the faculty of linguistics and philology at the University of Oxford, and a world expert on John Wallis, said he had been fascinated by the book, which shows how Mr Wallis taught his charge.

“William Holder claimed to have been successful, but when you go into the method that he used, it was quite outlandish.

The diagrams in the notebook show how to position the tongue

“He investigated the structure of the ear and worked on the hypothesis that the problem was the ear drum itself that had become relaxed.

“He felt that only when it was tight could it facilitate hearing and he set about an experiment beating a loud drum.

“Holder found that when he beat a loud drum near Alexander, he could hear other sounds, including people calling his name.

“He convinced a lot of people that he was successful.”

‘Evidence’

When Mr Holder was called away to take up another post, Mr Wallis took over.

“We have not known an awful lot about the approach John Wallis took,” said Mr Beeley.

“All we do know is that he wrote a little bit about it and later on it became the topic of a grand dispute within the Royal Society, with claim and counter-claim.

“Up until now we have not been in a position to assess the validity of either claim.

Alexander was taught sentences

“This find is potentially able to do this for us.”

Mr Wallis’s approach was to start by looking at how the tongue, palate and lips looked when certain vowel sounds were made.

He drew diagrams and used them to show Alexander how to form sounds.

From there, Mr Wallis used the same method to help him form words.

Mr Beeley said: “He starts out with a modern technique showing him how to produce sounds, and then he moves on from that to basic language constructions, with nouns and conjunctions.

“Having looked at the notebook, I am fairly sure this is a book that would have been on the desk while John Wallis and Alexander Popham were sitting together.

“We have evidence from his descendants that this instruction was successful.

“It helps solve one of the grand disputes of the Royal Society, and is quite unique.”

‘Strong stuff’

Sentences learnt by Alexander and detailed in the notebook include “I have a knife in my hand” and “I have mony (sic) in my pocket” as well as “I have a hat, on my head” and “I have a band about my neck”.

Dr Beeley said he had no doubts that the notebook was genuine.

“I have to admit that before I had the notebook in my hands I had my doubts,” he said.

“There have of course been occasions when people have been deceived, but I was very happy to see the notebook.

It is about applying scientific method and whether you think Wallis was first or Holden was first doesn’t really matter Keith Moore Royal Society

“And now I have no doubt. I know John Wallis’s hand and style and can say without any doubt that I am certain it is genuine.”

Keith Moore, head of library and archives at the Royal Society, said the notebook was a fantastic find.

“It adds historical detail and any manuscript of this period is interesting,” he said.

“This is dated 1662 and right at the beginning of what we would call modern science.

“The Royal Society was founded in 1660 and this is an early example of the practical applications of scientific methods.”

But he said it was unlikely to settle the dispute about who taught Alexander to speak, adding that the most important detail was the science itself.

“Holden virtually accused Wallis of stealing his ideas and that smacks of plagiarism in science. It is pretty strong stuff,” he said.

“It does not matter whether it solves it – the Popham case was the beginning of a more scientific approach to therapy.

“They were thinking about language and grammar, about the physiology of how people spoke and that is the important thing really.

“It is about applying scientific method and whether you think Wallis was first or Holden was first doesn’t really matter.”

Dr Beeley hopes that the book is stored in a library like the Bodleian, but the hotel chain, Warner Leisure, which now owns Littlecote, is deciding whether to keep it on display in the house.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7511446.stm

Deaf Vlog/Blog Word Search Game

Created by Bug

Feel Free to print out as many copies of this Deaf Vlog/Blog game page as you like. Do you need the key answer? Please contact us at fookembug@yahoo.com . Write ” Key Answer” in the Subject when you e-mail. Enjoy!

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AGB	AIDAN	AMY
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DEAFHOOD	DEAFJOKES	DEAFMUTE
DEAFREAD	DEAFVIDEOS	ELLA
FOOKEMBUG	FREEDOMCRUISE	GALLAUDET
GARY	HOVRS	ISEVENONEONE
JOEY	MARLEEMATLIN	MATT
NAD	NTID	RIDOR
SEANBERDY	SPRINT	TERI

DeafRead Guidelines Follow-Up

By JFLMad

Summary: Talk about DeafRead Guidelines Follow-Up

Fookem’s vacation trip: Southwest of Colorado

The hawk circled and got my attention. I picked up my camera and took a few pictures of hawk.
By the way, I don’t have any food for you, hawk. Sorry. (Mesa Verde National Park)

Photos by Fookem

Note from Fookem: If you have not read my first story, ‘I am backkkkk’. I am going to leave put the link here in case you missed. ( http://fookembug.wordpress.com/2008/07/01/i-am-backkkkk/ ).

Anyway, we left our friend, Bug’s house and drove to Mesa Verde National Park. Mesa Verde National Park is located in the Four Corners Area, which has one of the highest concentrations of archeological sites in the United States and borders the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation. Mesa Verde National Park was established in 1906 to preserve sites built by “Pre-Columbian Indians” on mesa tops and in canyon alcoves.

This is Cliff Palace which is the largest cliff dwelling in North America!

The Spruce Tree House is the third largest cliff dwelling at Mesa Verde!

Before entering the site of cliff dwellings and canyon, we were stunned to see burned forest on 52,000 acres.

We later found out that Mesa Verde has been the site of numerous fires. In fact, between 1996 and 2003, five large wildfires burned over half of the park’s 52,000 acres. The bottom line is that we really enjoyed ourselves about their historical sites. If you plan to go and visit there, we recommend you, it’s a MUST with no doubt.

We went to the four states corner right after visiting Mesa Verde National Park. Four Corners Monument is a granite marker, southwest of Cortez, which marks the spot where Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado meet. The first marker was placed in 1912 and then replaced in 1992. It is the only place in the United States where four states intersect at the same point.

We were thrilled to touch the four states at the same time.

To be continued….

DeafRead: Do Something

By JFLMad

Summary: Talk about Deafread’s guidelines.

Deaf Dancers of the World

By Bug

Can the Deaf people dance? Sure! We have many Deaf Dance Instructors, Deaf Professional Dancers, Deaf Dancing actors/actresses everywhere in the world. Plenty videos of Deaf dancers can be found at youtube.com I picked a few of them and post in here (see below) so you can enjoy watching. I used to be a tapper when I was a kid. Also, I enjoyed the Russian dance. It was fun. My mother used to be a dance instructor. She danced for Helen Keller when she was very young. Helen Keller said to her, ” Your dance is beautiful. I feel your tap dance”

Dance can be fun. Time on the dance floor flies past. Dancing can bring any wedding, office party, family reunion to life, school party, etc. You move to great music, spin, dip, and grapevine, and when you take a break, people come and tell you how great you look. Cute strangers suddenly want to dance with you. You are having a great time being social, isnt what parties are about? And no hangover in the morning …what a deal! Also, Dance is a workout…one with extra benefits.

Belly Dancer

Salsa

Deaf Dance Arabic

Dance like Michael Jackson

Soulja Boy

Thousand Hands of Buddah Performance

Deaf Hispanic Dancer

Deaf Children Dance

The Deaf Child Ballet Dancer

The Deaf Rav

Deaf Russian dances and Song Sign Language

Deaf Russian

Tibetan Cultural Deaf Dancers

Deaf children dancing, in Oshakati, in North of Namibia

Australian Deaf Queen

Chinese Dancers

Hide & Seek at EEMED

Gallaudet Dance Company

Rathskellar