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Bichon Frise is "merry" and "cheerful", and the breed standard is "gentle mannered, sensitive, playful and affectionate".
Bred to be companion dogs, the Bichon Frise tends to get along well with both children and other animals.
Bichon Frises are very obedient if training is started early.
Every hair in the dog coat grows from a hair follicle.
It has a cycle of growing, then dying and being replaced by another follicle.
When the follicle dies, the hair is shed.
The length of time of the growing and shedding cycle varies by breed, age, and by whether the dog is an inside or outside dog.
The grooming required to maintain the Bichon Frise's coat helps remove loose hair, and the curl in the coat helps prevent dead hair from escaping into the environment.
The frequent trimming, brushing, and bathing required to keep the Bichon looking its best removes hair and dander and controls the other potent allergen, saliva.
Bichon Frises are suitable for people with allergies, as they are bred to be hypoallergenic.
However, it is important to note that, human sensitivity to dog fur, dander, and saliva varies considerably.
Although hair, dander, and saliva can be minimized, they are still present and can stick to "clothes and the carpets and furnishings in your home"; inhaling the allergens, or being licked by the dog, can trigger a reaction in a sensitive person.
All in all,  Bichon Frises  is  a lovely,  intelligent  pet -- 
We hear,  by the gossipvine,  a Bichon Frise puppy in Paris,  France,  answers to Fina.
Little Fina has grabbed the hearts of father, mother and daughter in one full sweep on the first day Fina,  arrived home !

Why can't we be loved and petted like Fina ?

[[[ one pic saved woman with sword ]]]

by Molly Mayfield Barbee, Executive Director, Peace X Peace

All the bad news won't go away  --  even if I throw myself 110 percent into trying to make it stop.

What I can do right now, though, is take a breath and get centered.

For starters: breathe and breathe deep.

Peace starts within.

Once I've calmed down enough I usually remember that I'm not alone.

Fatima Gailani in Afghanistan and Leymah Gbowee in Liberia are examples of tireless women making substantive changes.

[[[  The full report is here  ]]]

Ya,  man,  Billy Joel said it better in his song -- 

''We didn't start the fire,  it was always
burning,  since world began turning''.

Of course,  changes take place,  and humans adopt and life goes on.

Sometime back world leaders were vociferous of ''Global Warming'',
''Climate Change'' and all that rigmarole.

Some promised to reduce ''Carbon Emissions'' drastically.  

But having left the political podium,  realizing nation's home fires will not burn w/o burning fossil fuel they shut their gab.

Some others magnanimously promised
huge funds to help smaller nations reduce their carbon emissions.

But on reaching home from the conference jaunt they were jolted into real financial world and stealthily stepped aside from their eloquent promises.

The double-tongued politicians may yet again yelp non-stop if some fools are around to listen.

Fools are around by the 10s of 1000s.

Let's look at the history of the planet ''earth'' and see what happened in the past.

For,  some bard or the other,  wrote four centuries back,  ''History repeats''.

Interestingly,  we have the ''Ice  Age''.
And then the shift of ''landscape''.

In the ''Ice Age'' the whole planet was covered under ''Ice''.  This ice began to melt when ''earth'' began to warm up.

Just imagine what would be the position if our dear old globe did not warm up !

Vast changes took place and people adopted to those changes -- And here we are !

When the landscape began to change --
A whole continent broke away and shifted
down under with Aboriginals --

A great cultured city with sewage system of clay pipes went under and 1000s of lives were lost -- Poompukaar  --  yet people adopted and took up their pieces and carried on --

The Roman volcano,  Vesuvius, errupted and buried the large,  ancient city of Pompeii  --  people adopted and life went on as usual --

In the aftermath of anihilation of Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka a group is setting up a Transnational government of Lankan Tamils.

Their basic outwardly expressed cause is to bring justice to the 1000s who lost their lives during the last few months and weeks in and around the coast of Mulaitivu.

In November 1995,  the forces under Gen Hector Kobekaduwa were advancing to capture Jaffna peninsula.

Tigers under Pirabaharan couldn't raise additional 5,000 soldiers and withdrew to Wanni.

A month ahead they dismantled printing presses,  lathe machines and the like and began to transport them to Wanni.

Tigers forced to evacuate those that had no place or relatives or known people in Thenmaradchy area and preferred to stay back and face the consequences.

Tigers shelled Don Bosco's School,  next to ICRC Headquarters,  --   St Patrick's College --  Chundikuly Girls' School (CGS) --  where large number of families were gathered to weather the evacuation storm.

In CGS Tigers used sticks and clubs to assault people to force them to leave Jaffna.

What happened ?

700 odd families with meagre food were found by the forces --

They were well fed and partied by the forces.

In Chava the Tamil Tigers offered free transport to Wanni  --  And warned only a ''shopping bag'' will be allowed later on,  'when things become tight'.

The people that lived ''on''  Tamil Tigers --
those that spurned the 'stay behinders' as ''adi vaudihal''  went over to Wanni with Tamil Tigers.

The obstinate attitude of Tamil Tigers leadership prevented the people from escaping to safer zones 'when things became tight' indeed !

And the determination of the government forces to destroy Tamil Tigers once and for all   -- 

This brought about the unwanted and unneccesary deaths of 10s of 1000s innocent civilians who were living off the Tamil Tigers.

And many more are languishing in camps and newly settled areas without even the basic facilities not yet provided by the foot dragging government officials. 

Most of them are disabled with loss of limbs to anti-personnel mines and mortar
shells.

Ah !  The ''fund raisers''  have built their own houses in foreign lands and are leading a comfy peaceful lives !!

To excape the Tamil Tiger vengence they are forming governments in foreign lands while common people hven't proper food,  clothing or shelter in their own land !!!

Who is to be blamed ?

Blame us --  We select our leaders !

President Obama addressing West Point cadets,  eight years after President George W. Bush,   set a new vision.
vowing no retreat against enemies while seeking “national renewal and global leadership.”

“Yes, we are clear-eyed about the shortfalls of our international system,” the president told graduating cadets. “But America has not succeeded by stepping out of the currents of cooperation. We have succeeded by steering those currents in the direction of liberty and justice, so nations thrive by meeting their responsibilities and face consequences when they don’t.”

Mr. Obama said the United States would “be steadfast in strengthening those old alliances that have served us so well,” while also trying to “build new partnerships and shape stronger international standards and institutions.” He added: “This engagement is not an end in itself. The international order we seek is one that can resolve the challenges of our times.”

The president’s address was aimed also at an international audience that in some quarters grew alienated during the Bush era.

While the president never mentioned his predecessor’s name, the contrast between Mr. Bush’s address in 2002 and Mr. Obama’s in 2010 underscored the ways a wartime America has changed — and the ways it has not.

At home, Mr. Obama attributed the failure of efforts to blow up an airplane over Detroit and a car packed with explosives in Times Square to the intense American pursuit of radical groups abroad.

The speech offered four principles: to build strength abroad by building strength at home through education, clean energy and innovation  -- 

To promote “the renewed engagement of our diplomats” and support international development  ---

To rebuild alliances --

To promote human rights and democracy abroad.

This is indeed a statement of a Statesman and not that of a racist cowboy like George Bush.

Imagine a country where your mobile phone is taken from you at the airport with no explanation or apology, where there's no access to the internet, where your minders watch every move and you're reported if you try to leave your hotel alone.

A country which has not been at war for half a century but has one of the largest standing armies in the world and where people are expected to worship a president who died 16 years ago.

It's the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in 2010.

I visited model farms, model villages, model factories and model schools, though, at the school, even my government minders looked faintly embarrassed when I asked a model pupil in an English language class who he admired most among modern world leaders and he answered: "Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong."

A confused old woman pushing a shopping trolley along the road, a factory worker wearing an old jacket at work, and random street vendors were, all hastily removed from in front of the camera, lest they tarnish the sanitised version of their country that officials wanted us to film.

My cameraman almost wept when a group of children playing spontaneously by the side of the road were abruptly shoved aside. "We want to see ordinary people," we begged, day after day.

But spontaneity is not allowed in North Korea.

Immortal president
   
What they allowed me to film proves that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is truly the most bizarre country in the world

That evening we were taken to the theatre to watch a ballet devoted to the triumphant building of a hydroelectric dam. The next morning, we were removed to the safety of Pyongyang's model kindergarten.

As I approached each room in the vast, palatial building, children rushed out and grabbed my hand to take me to watch another carefully rehearsed performance.

Little girls smiling widely and dancing in perfect formation, little boys in smart red suits and painted faces singing praises to the country's Great Leader.

It started off faintly charming. But with mask-like faces and rigid grins, even children become rather sinister.

More children are employed to sweep the steps leading up to the 60ft bronze statue of the Great Leader, which dominates Pyongyang.

Kim Il-sung died 16 years ago but he's still the country's president.

Women sweep the steps in front of the Kim Il-sung statue

There are over 500 statues of Kim Il-sung in North Korea

"He's immortal," a 24-year-old-guide explained. "We don't believe he passed away."

When I tried to bring the conversation back to reality, to talk about the modern world, she revealed that she had not even heard of Nelson Mandela.

This lack of connection with the modern world is unbelievable.

I had sent a "wish list" to Pyongyang via the North Korean embassy in London of the things I wanted to see and do while in the country.

I thought it might be polite to ask to film the country's football team which has, for the first time since 1966, qualified to play in the World Cup.

I was given the impression before I left that this, along with my other requests, had been agreed.

At my first meeting with my minders in Pyongyang, they put me straight. Not only was the football team out of bounds, but, they claimed, there was not a single football match taking place in the entire county during my nine-day stay.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is truly the most bizarre country in the world.