If you don't know what Radaman is , here is a brief description about it .

What is Ramadan ?

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is a time of fasting for the Islamic people. Each day during this month, Muslims all over the world abstain from eating, drinking, smoking, as well as participating in anything that is ill-natured or excessive; from dawn until the sun sets. Fasting is intended to educate the Muslim in spirituality, humility and patience. It is a time to cleanse the soul, focus attention on God, and put into practice selflessness. Ramadan is a time for Muslims to fast for the sake of God and to put forward more prayer than is customary.

Fasting is one of the Five Pillars of the Islam religion, and one of the main types of Islamic worship. Restraint from everyday enjoyment and curbing wicked intentions and cravings are considered as an act of compliance and obedience to God, as well as amends for sins, faults, and mistakes. Ramadan is also called Ramazan. During Ramadan, Muslims request forgiveness for sins in the past, pray for direction and assistance in abstaining from everyday troubles, and endeavor to cleanse themselves through self-control and great acts of faith.

The name "Ramadan" had been the name of the ninth month in Arabian tradition prior to the onset of Islam; the word itself originated from an Arabic root “rmd”, in words like "ramida" or "ar-ramad” which means severe heat, burnt ground as well as shortness of provisions. Individuals say it is named Ramadan because it burns out the sins with good deeds, as the sun scorches the ground. In the Qu'ran, God declares that "fasting has been written down upon you, as it was upon those before you". In accordance with the first hadith, this is in reference to the Jewish custom of fasting on Yom Kippur....

IMPORTANT! This is not my own text about Ramadan, this description was copied from Google with the main idea of giving those who doesn't know the meaning a brief description about it.

* Wishing you all a HAPPY RAMADAN * Carpe Diem

I hope you'll like it , share this mascot with your friends from MyEC and let's have fun .

*Leave a comment below and share your thoughts!

Carpe Diem

                 Which is worse, failing or never trying?

Well, all of us at some point in the many journeys we go through in our lives, we get to the part where we feel like giving up. Sometimes we give up before we even start to pursue what we want our dream about because we are afraid of making a mistake, or failing, and that's something that's always keeping us from making our dreams come true.

But if we never try, how will we know the outcome? So many people worry about what will happen if they fail, but they never think about what could happen if they succeed.

You don’t want to be known as someone that is weak and gives up. Go out there and prove to yourself and to the world what you are able to do. You can, and if you're determined to achieve your goal, will achieve it. The only time you fail is when you give up . The chance of mastering something the first time you try it is almost impossible. Everything takes time to learn and you will make mistakes. So the better thing you could do is learn from them, and always improving.

Which is worse for you ?? Failing or never trying ?? 

Carpe diem© 

If I had to invite anyone over for a dinner party, I would invite a hero of our time , Nelson Mandela. Just a brief story about him, Mandela was a fighter instead of bowing down to an unjust system of government, he became a lifelong warrior in the battle to free South Africa. He started out as a leader of an underground political movement against the apertheid regime. Therefore, nothing better than inviting a leader for a dinner party .

Needless to say, a dinner party must be a gastronomic delight. But it must also have some dash and originality about its presentation, and there should be no "clichés" anywhere , in the menu, in the recipe or, we hope, in the conversation. Every hostess owes it to herself and her reputation as an “operator” to give at least one “all-out” dinner party every winter. I mean a kind of “no-holds-barred” performance, where you forget the cost, the trouble, or whatever you usually use as the excuse for not entertaining in the grand manner.

I would have a fish course first, one preferably that could “wait.” So I conjured up a platter of lobster medallions and Belgian endive, simple to prepare, delicious when chilled. I could present it when I had everything under control. Let’s call this "Shellfish Elegante".

I would invite Eiichiro Oda, Kozaki Yusuke, Jim Lee, Bruce Timm, Nate Maurer, and Nargyle to join and dine with us. All of the previously mentioned are artists that I do admire. For example Oda created a personal favorite comic of mine, One Piece, Bruce Timm had a great hand in developing the DC animated universe as well as that he has a very distinct art style, Nate Maurer draws and writes a fantastic and hilarious fan comic of a animated show that I love and Nargyle has a very unique and flowing art style. I personally would do dinner, in order to get to know each other and spend time at a art studio. I would not know were to go for dinner, there are a few options I can think of though. I can’t really say how will this meeting would go down, but judging on there personalities that I have seen, I do think they would get along.

Carpe Diem©

Last year's Confederations Cup, a World Cup dry-run, was marred by massive, nationwide protests over perceived misuse of public funds, and many observers had predicted demonstrators would take advantage of the spotlight of the World Cup to air their grievances before an international audience. But so far, World Cup matches have attracted only a scattering of demonstrators, who have consistently been wildly outnumbered by security forces and haven't led to any disruption of matches.

I think that the pessimists who were betting on a failure need to revise their positions. In my point of view what was expected in terms of public transit, lodgings in the host cities, the ease of getting to the matches, from the point of view of the interactions between fans and of Brazilians' hospitality, what we're hearing is that it's been very positive.The expectation that I have is that Brazil is able in the coming days and weeks to keep up the same level of service that they've had, with their services functioning satisfactorily, and tending in a calm, tranquil manner the Brazilians who are traveling throughout the country, as well as the foreigners.

What do you think about the World Cup in Brazil  ?? Leave a comment!!

    I notice that a lot of English learners struggle with the verb suggest, so I want to explain how to use it properly.

The verb suggest (to mention or recommend something to think about or something someone should do) is an unusual English verb. It is not used in a sentence the same way that other verbs are.

For example, these sentences are NOT correct:

The company suggested us to take an extra day off.
I hope you suggest us a good hotel.

This is the most common way that English learners try to use the verb, but it is incorrect. Why are these sentences incorrect?

Suggest is never followed by an indirect object pronoun (me, us, you, etc.), and it is never followed by an infinitive.

Here are 3 ways that you CAN use the verb suggest:

1. Suggest that someone do something
Suggest is most commonly followed by a that-clause in which the subjunctive is used:

subject + suggest + (that*) + subject + subjunctive

More example sentences:

- She suggests (that) we go out for dinner after the movie.

- My parents suggested (that) I get a job after school.

- Her brother suggests (that) she study harder so she can get into a good university.

IMPORTANT! In the subjunctive tense, the verb DOES NOT change depending on the subject. The subjunctive is just the base form of the verb.

Negative:

- The teacher suggested (that) we not waste time playing video games after school.

2. Suggest doing something

        suggest + gerund

An infinitive is never used after suggest. If you use a verb after suggest, the verb must be in the gerund form. The meaning of the sentence is the same as using the subjunctive.

We can rewrite sentence #1 from the top of the post:

The company suggested us to take an extra day off.
The company suggested taking an extra day off.

3. Suggest something

This is the form to use when you are talking directly TO someone! However, you do not need to say who you are talking to.
Let’s rewrite sentence #2 from the top of this post. You want someone to tell you about a good hotel:

I hope you suggest us a good hotel.
I hope you can suggest a good hotel (to me).

Hopefully this blog post has helped you to better understand the verb suggest!

Carpe Diem©

Cognitive computing

Cognitive computing systems learn and interact naturally with people to extend what either humans or machine could do on their own. They help human experts make better decisions by penetrating the complexity of Big Data.

The future of cognitive chips

Scientists are trying to build a neurosynaptic chip system with ten billion neurons and hundred trillion synapses, all while consuming only one kilowatt of power and occupying less than two liters of olume. It is fantastic, Isn't it ??

As the time going on these neurosynaptic chips will be complementary to cognitive systems like Watson, namely, the right-brain and left-brain of cognitive systems. Watson, the left-brain, focuses on language and analytical thinking - the cognitive chips address senses and pattern recognition. Over the coming years, IBM scientists hope to meld the two capabilities together, just as the human right-brain functions are combined with the left-brain functions, to create a holistic computing intelligence.

Humans are not part of the equation, yet in cognitive computing, humans and machines work together. To enable a natural interaction between them, cognitive computing systems use image and speech recognition as their eyes and ears to understand the world and interact more seamlessly with humans. It provides a feedback loop for machines and humans to learn from and teach one another. By using visual analytics and data visualization techniques, cognitive computers can display data in a visually compelling way that enlightens humans and helps them make decisions based on data.

What do you think about artificial intelligence suprassing humans ?? Leave a comment! 

- Carpe Diem© -