Not a Smart Decision by This School

Probably not the smartest performer to have at a Middle School Event. Imagine the hormones goin through those students! I would hate the be the teacher that has them next hour!

The kids even have their cameras out and I-Phones. Hilarious! Wonder if someone got fired over that one!

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Managing dyke repairs before Kharif season

THE cash-strapped Sindh government has not been able to fully restore damaged irrigation network despite passage of almost six months since the devastating floods hit the province last year.

Irrigation experts are worried that if the damaged river embankments are not rehabilitated and breaches plugged before the coming monsoon season in June, the problem may worsen.

The federal government has agreed to release Rs2.5 billion on an urgent basis.

A senior official in the provincial irrigation department, meanwhile, told this scribe that the Sindh government had released a sum of Rs2 billion from its own resources to re-start the rehabilitation work. The work would gear up once the promised funds start flowing in from the federal government.

The provincial irrigation secretary Rafique Memon said that he had already told the meeting of the Federal Ministry for Inter-provincial Coordination held in Islamabad few weeks back that Sindh urgently needed Rs8 billion for repairing river dykes.

He warned of far-reaching implications on the province’s agricultural economy, if the required funds were not released before mid-February.

Irrigation officials said the Sindh government was now waiting for immediate release of Rs5 billion for rehabilitation of dykes and canals to their original shape for its Kharif sowing.

If the provincial government will not manage the daunting task of rehabilitation in a short span of three months, the Kharif sowing that starts from April 15, will suffer.

“The Sindh government is very much aware of the dangers the broken river dykes and breaches pose to the provincial economy, but it is handicapped by the financial constraints,” said a senior official in the department.

After approval of the Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP), the provincial government had submitted 76 schemes worth Rs16 billion to the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) for its approval. But, only Rs14 billion were approved in the CDWP meeting held on January 22 for implementation of 64 schemes of urgent nature.

After the modus operandi for the release of the funds was being considered by the ECNEC, the federal government announced on February 2 to give Rs5 billion for priority projects .

Officials in the provincial irrigation department said that undue delay in the release of the approved amount of Rs5 billion was further delaying the rehabilitation work.

Sindh Irrigation Minister Jam Saifullah Dharejo said Tori Bund and Kot Almo breaches were not plugged with conventional irrigation department methods. These were plugged initially on emergency basis by stone-dumping to halt floodwater flow from there.

He also said that these breaches were still open and efforts were yet to be made to plug them properly. But it was not possible until the centre released the approved funds.

According to reports quoting official sources, around 1,946 breaches out of a total of 2,515 that occurred in different waterways, had been plugged at a cost of Rs1 billion.

Irrigation expert Idris Rajput said that floodwater enters Sindh in June. Therefore, rehabilitation of dykes and plugging of breaches should be completed before it, or else, the province would face yet another devastation.

The provincial chief minister has issued orders to the irrigation department to immediately kick off the strengthening of all damaged embankments and plugging of breaches by May this year. For, which he has released Rs2 billion from province’s own resources.

Irrigation experts doubt whether the hefty amount of Rs5 billion, released in installments by the centre to the provincial government, would be utilised efficiently and in a transparent manner.

“There is also a deep suspicion in the federal government about the Sindh government’s inability to efficiently utilise Rs5 billion before May this year for the quality rehabilitation work,” said Fazullah Qureshi, a former federal secretary planning and development.

Conceding to such doubts, he said that spending such a huge amount in a span of just three months was really a great challenge for the irrigation department in view of lack of capacity and efficiency.

He suggested: “If the government wants to restore the irrigation network in such a short span of time with transparent utilisation of funds following release of more funds by the federation, then it should first start plugging all breaches immediately and simultaneously, launch dykes repairing and strengthening work on them.”

He said that the government’s top priority should be quality work on the damaged irrigation network, with focus on monitoring of the rehabilitation work. Otherwise, the next possible flood would sweep away the irrigation system again and cause more massive damages than it caused last year.

Riddles: What am I?

No legs have I to dance,
No lungs have I to breathe,
No life have I to live or die
And yet I do all three.
What am I?
Answer:
I am a fire.

*******
I have three letters, and I read the same forward and backwards. I rhyme with a word that is important to everyone. What word am I?
Answer:
Eye (rhymes with ‘I’.)

*******
With pointed fangs it sits in wait,
With piercing force its doles out fate,
Over bloodless victims proclaiming its might,
Eternally joining in a single bite.
What am I?
Answer:
A stapler

*******
A box without hinges, key, or lid,
Yet golden treasure inside is hid.
What is it?
Answer:
An egg

*******
I walk on,
Four legs in the beginning,
Two legs in the middle,
Three legs in the end.
What am I?
Answer:
Man — four legs as a baby, two legs as an adult, three legs as an elderly with a cane.

Drinking tea harms health?

THIS is with reference to a TV commercial urging children to drink tea. The advertisement hints that tea is good for health and young children. I would like to draw readers’ attention to potential drawbacks and effects of tea on our health.

All tea leaves contain fluoride; however, mature leaves contain as much as 10 to 20 times the fluoride levels of young leaves from the same plant. High fluoride intake (daily intakes over 2mg for children, 4mg adults) increases the risk of osteoporosis and fractures.

Also caffeine is an addictive drug and overuse of tea may result in harmful side effects, such as an increased likelihood of certain sleep disorders. Moreover, tea contains oxalate, over consumption of which can cause kidney stones, as well as binding with free calcium in the body; other minerals may be bound as well. It has been suggested that chemicals known as tannins may increase one’s risk of esophageal cancer, with some studies having found that tea drinking may in fact be negatively associated with risk of oesophageal cancer.

Also, hot tea consumption has been linked to a higher risk for oesophageal cancer. There is a potential effect of milk on tea as well. A study at the Charité Hospital of the Berlin University showed that adding milk to tea will block the normal, healthful effects that tea has in protecting against cardiovascular disease. This occurs because casein from the milk binds to the molecules in tea that cause the arteries to relax, especially EGCG.

DID YOU KNOW THAT............

A Bad Practical Joke

A mother passing by her daughter's bedroom was astonished to see the bed was nicely made and everything was picked up. Then she saw an envelope propped up prominently on the center of the bed. It was addressed, 'Mom.' With the worst premonition, she opened the envelope and read the letter with trembling hands:


Dear Mom: It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing you. I had to elope with my new boyfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with Dad and you. I've been finding real passion with Billy Joe and he is so nice-even with all his piercings, tattoos, beard, and his motorcycle clothes. But it's not only the passion Mom, I'm pregnant and Billy Joe said that we will be very happy. He already owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter. He wants to have many more children with me and that's now one of my dreams too. Billy Joe taught me that marijuana doesn't really hurt anyone and we'll be growing it for us and trading it with his friends for all the cocaine and ecstasy we want. In the meantime, we'll pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so Billy Joe can get better; he sure deserves it!! Don't worry Mom, I'm 15 years old now and I know how to take care of myself. Someday I'm sure we'll be back to visit so you can get to know your grand children.



Your daughter, Judith



PS: Mom, none of the above is true. I'm over at the neighbor's house. I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than my report card that's in my desk center drawer. I love you! Call when it is safe for me to come home.

BEST Joke of the day: Four Asian Leaders

General Musharraf, Dr Mahathir, Gloria Arroyo & Lee Kuan Yew were sitting in a train.

The train goes through a tunnel and it gets completely dark for the next 8 seconds. Suddenly there is a loud kissing sound and then a slap!

The train comes out of the tunnel.

Arroyo and Musharraf are seated across each other, both looking perplexed.

Mahathir, seated across LKY, is bent over holding his face, which is very red from an apparent big slap. 

All of them remain diplomatic and nobody says anything

Musharraf is thinking : ' These Malaysians are all crazy after Arroyo.   Mahathir must have tried to kiss her in the tunnel.  Very proper that she slapped him ! 

Arroyo is thinking : ' Mahathir must have moved to kiss me, but kissed Musharraf instead and got slapped. 

Mahathir is thinking : ' Damn it, Musharraf must have tried to kiss Arroyo ; she thought it was me and slapped me instead. Shit !! '

Lee Kuan Yew is thinking : ' If this train goes through one more tunnel, I could make another kissing sound and slap Mahathir again !! 

Singaporeans will love this one..
 

 

General Musharraf, Dr Mahathir, Gloria Arroyo & Lee Kuan Yew were sitting in a train.

The train goes through a tunnel and it gets completely dark for the next 8 seconds. Suddenly there is a loud kissing sound and then a slap!

The train comes out of the tunnel.

Arroyo and Musharraf are seated across each other, both looking perplexed.

Mahathir, seated across LKY, is bent over holding his face, which is very red from an apparent big slap. 

All of them remain diplomatic and nobody says anything.

Musharraf is thinking : ' These Malaysians are all crazy after Arroyo.   Mahathir must have tried to kiss her in the tunnel.  Very proper that she slapped him ! '

Arroyo is thinking : ' Mahathir must have moved to kiss me, but kissed Musharraf instead and got slapped. '

Mahathir is thinking : ' Damn it, Musharraf must have tried to kiss Arroyo ; she thought it was me and slapped me instead. Shit !! '

Lee Kuan Yew is thinking : ' If this train goes through one more tunnel, I could make another kissing sound and slap Mahathir again !! '

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