God's Masterpiece

YOU ARE GOD'S MASTERPIECE.

Priceless we are before His sight; we are purchased by His blood.
We are precious, beloved of our Father, the apple of His eye.
You are of great value! Love yourself!*

The song playing is a medley of All I Need Is You  & You Are My World by Hillsong Kids
In the song, the following verses are read:

 13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body

      and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

 14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!

      Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

 15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,

      as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

 16 You saw me before I was born.

      Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

      Every moment was laid out

      before a single day had passed.

 17 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.

      They cannot be numbered!

 18 I can’t even count them;

      they outnumber the grains of sand!

      And when I wake up,

      you are still with me!

Psalms 139 (NLT)

Hope you are encouraged by this word!

*A healthy self-esteem, not narcissism :P

An eye to the future of the world in 40 years time

Hey, hello to everybody! Hope all of you are having a great start to your week so far? No?? Oh, thats sad but I'm sure tomorrow will be a better day for you :)

Anyway, I came across another interesting article online today. Its about the future of the world in 40 years time. Wow, thats certainly newsworthy. I mean, wont you like to find out how the world would be like in 40 years time? No?? Then maybe u should just hide yourself in the storeroom till you age away then, haha.

Ok, cut the jabs and lets go straight to the article, shall we?

*Qm gives crystal ball a turn*

Study predicts women in power, Muslims heading West

In the next 40 years, an unprecedented number of women will be in positions of power, Muslim immigration to the West will rise, and office workers will be unchained from their cubicles, a report released last week says.

South America will see sustained economic growth and the Middle East will become "a tangle of religions, sects and ethnicities," says the report by Toffler Associates, a consultancy set up by the author of the 1970s blockbuster "Future Shock."

Toffler Associates released its predictions for the next 40 years to mark the 40th anniversary of "Future Shock," in which author Alvin Toffler studied the 1970s to see what would happen in the future.

His prognosis 40 years ago was that technology and science would develop at such an accelerated pace that many people would be unable to process the enormous amounts of new information available and would disconnect from life.

Some of "Future Shock's" prognoses have come true, including that news would travel around the world instantly, that same-sex couples would wed and raise families, and that violence and environmental disasters would increase and have broad consequences -- like the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Qm's sidenote: At this point, i have decided to list the other predictions in point form to save all of u the 'pain' of reading the entire article.

• Larger container ships used to meet increasing demand for faster, cheaper delivery of goods
  
  
• Suez and Panama Canals being "improved."
  
  
• More people to grow their own food, thus reducing their dependency on large manufacturers and distributors
  
  
• Proliferation of high-speed Internet and low-cost video-conferencing freeing office workers from their cubicles and working from anywhere in the world
  
  
• Only a very small number of states will continue to behave as "rogue" nations, namely North Korea and Iran
  
  
• China will position itself as a global economic power,allying with Brazil and India to influence currency use, and with Venezuela and African nations to ensure its energy needs are met.
  
  
• The United States to depend on China for 17 rare earth metals that are essential to produce everything from weapons components to radars to wind turbines and hybrid cars
  
  
• The development of alternative energy forms will create "losers in a post-petroleum world" including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, several Gulf states, Russia and Venezuela
  
  
• Christianity will rise rapidly in the global South, while Muslims will migrate in increasing numbers to the West, where their presence will reshape public attitudes and government policies
  
  
• Climate change will fuel conflict as melting sea ice exposes mineral wealth and oil fields in the Arctic and as rising sea levels force large populations from their homes.
  
  
• An aging population will cause spending on long-term care services for the elderly to nearly quadruple by 2050
  
  
• As for women, they will take on leadership positions around the globe at a never-before-seen rate
  
  
• Information-gathering will speed up even more as the world enters the Petabyte Age,measuring data in petabytes will become the norm, and so will data saturation

Qm's footnote: As you can all plainly see, i think my summary skills need brushing up, lol. On the other hand, i hope the article made good reading for everyone. This may not be a 100% accurate but it certainly pays to know the things that may be coming in the long future, winks*

Till the nxt time you hear frm me again, this is Qm signing off.

To infinity and beyond!!!

Monopoly Deal: Bridge

If you think Monopoly Deal is fun, wait till you try this rockin' cooperative version!

Caspia, Jeremy Lee, Joanne and I invented this kewl 2 vs 2 variety of the card game:
collaborate with a partner to eradicate your enemies from the property market! Muahahaha!

It's kinda like Bridge. Thus the title.

This cooperative play opened up a great deal (no pun intended) of jian strategies and tactics, of which you may apply to own your opponents together. Now 2 players get to savour victory. Woot.

I think the other 2 would probably feel good losing anyways.

Alright, now that you're interested (I hope), here's how to play it:

This game requires:
- 4 players (who know how to play standard Deal).
- 1 Monopoly Deal deck of cards.
- Starbucks Coffee.

Objective 1: Form 6 full property sets with your partner.
E.g. You have 2 full sets while your partner has 4.
Objective 2: Accumulate a combined wealth of 30M with your partner.
E.g. You have 25M while your partner has 5M.

Rule #1: Your partner is the dude/dudette seating opposite you. (Just like Sequence)

Rationale: Each team has a equal chance of winning/stopping the other team from winning.

Rule #2: Rules are the same as normal/standard Monopoly Deal.
What do I mean?

a) Rent (all players), It's Your Birthday cards applies to your partner.
Yep. Your partner has to celebrate your birthday too.

b) You CAN use Force Deal, Sly Deal, Deal Breaker, Rent (Wild) on your partner.
Can be very useful to transfer cards, form full sets, transfer cash, etc.
Once, I used Deal Breaker on my partner to win.

c) You CANNOT use Just Say "No!" to save your partner.
In the standard game, you can't use Just Say "No!" for another player, so the same applies here.
You CAN, however, use Just Say "No!" if your partner attacks you...

d) Pay the right Rent.
Renting can be used to transfer property to your partner for safekeeping, or to help him out of a barren bank account. But don't overpay.

E.g. If your partner rents you partner 2M, you can give him a 2M, 3M, 4M, 5M or even 10M card. You can also give him two 1M cards, or the equivalent amount in property.
But you can't throw him two 3M cards to bolster his bank account.
You can't give him a full property set with each property having a value of 2M.
You can only give one of those property.

e) You can only shift your property cards on your turn.
Same as standard MD.

E.g. It's your turn and your partner can form 4 complete property sets, but he split up the sets to avoid being "Deal Broken". You can complete 2 sets right now. But you have to wait until your partner's turn before he can rearrange his property to complete those 4 sets to win.

f) 2 complete sets of the same color counts as 1
You can have 2 complete set of the same color, but they count as 1.
Unless, of course, you pass it to your partner....

Rule #3: You can communicate with your partner openly, but not in secret.
a) You can hint or tell what cards you have to your partner, but in the presence of everyone.
E.g. "Do you have ahem? Maybe you rent me and I pass you this...then you can... (raise eyebrows)"
You could be very open: "I have Deal Breaker and Just Say No. Just pass me all your property when I rent everyone 8M."
Or you could use hand signals.
But no whispering, texting, etc.

b) You cannot ask your partner to come over to see your cards, or show him your cards when no one else is looking.

In standard Monopoly Deal, it's not fair if you communicate secretly, so the same rules apply :P

Rule #4: Have a rockin' good time!

To summarise:
It's exactly the same as standard Deal, except you must get a total of 6 full property sets and 30M with your partner.

Well that's all, have loads of fun and ask me if you have any questions! :)