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I have been trying to figure out some people’s fascination with vampires. I do know that some girls love them even if they can suck them to death . . . or worse. And I have to admit that I don’t know the why yet. But I was reading in the headlines yesterday that the “Fed” is “doing all it can” to prevent a ‘double dip’? (apparently the economy is threatening to collapse again). And I couldn’t help but thinking: “Now, those are real vampires.” They pretend to help you when in fact they are actually causing the problem and draining your blood. Isn’t that what vampires do? I wonder if Buffy the Vampire Slayer could take care of them. But I doubt it. It is going to take some effort on our part.
I found this article in Computoredge magazine about how to protect yourself against Internet fraud. It also has interesting information and misconceptions about apple computers. Here is a brief summary to help you decide if it may be of help:
“Simple precautions help you safely navigate the Internet without losing money to criminals. Also, people criticize Apple without first investigating the facts; InDesign now offers collaborative features; Bento is a deceptively simple yet flexible database program; and a tip on double-clicking on the title bar of a window you want to temporarily hide.”
I went to see Inception, which was recommended to me by alywaibel. Excellent movie! I liked how they changed ‘dreams’ – as Toltecs do in the ‘dreamingattention’, although you don’t need all that equipment to do that. What I liked best, however, was the end of the movie when Cobb after reuniting with his family spins his totem to make sure he is not ‘dreaming’ anymore. But we can’t see the outcome, which implies that perhaps life is but a ‘dream’. . .
Regard this fleeting world,
as a star at dawn, a bubble in a stream,
a flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
a flickering lamp, a phantom and a dream.
–Buddha’s Diamond Sutra
Random thought is a trap. Pay attention! It is a dream.
The dreamed dreams the dreamer.
More about real . . . dreaming (scroll down to second section)
A few weeks ago, I wrote a post referring to the book by Edward Griffin, The Creature from Jekyll Island; A Second Look at the Federal Reserve. I have to admit that I haven’t read it in its entirety yet, but he has a summary at the end of each chapter that gives you a clear understanding of the problem that the Federal Reserves creates, how it does it, and why. It also explains how to proceed to solve the problem, and what can we do as individuals. Since this creature can bring the nation down, I decided to recommend it a second time. Everything is explained in a a way so simple that even someone like me, who is not well versed in these matters, can easily understand.
I also did some research and found the work of Murray N. Rothbard, The Case Against the Fed. “The most powerful case against the American Central Bank ever written”
“Murray N. Rothbard, a scholar of extraordinary range, made major contributions to economics, history, political philosophy, and legal theory. He developed and extended the Austrian economics of Ludwig von Mises, in whose seminar he was a main participant for many years. He established himself as the principal Austrian theorist in the latter half of the twentieth century and applied Austrian analysis to historical topics such as the Great Depression of 1929 and the history of American banking.”
What Griffin has done then is make the Creature from Jekyll Island, (the monster), easy to understand. Recommended! Again! Important!
“On a beach, a fisherman pours his heart into a love song for his wife, taken by the sea. A worn but beautiful woman, at first shy and retiring, sings an unexpectedly passionate welcome. A couple selling trinkets to sun-hungry tourists opens an arresting trove of traditional instruments and plays them with astounding zeal.
On the shores of great tragedy and destruction, the sounds and images of the Laya Project reveal an abundance of life-affirming music made by ordinary villagers, sounds from coastal communities affected by the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, the Maldives, India, and Myanmar (Burma). Recorded on site during impromptu sessions over the course of more than two years in dozens of overlooked areas, the interwoven songs and tunes that became the Project span national, ethnic, and religious boundaries and reflect a unifying triumph of human resilience and creativity.”
Have you ever wondered about skydiving? Here it is. And it seems like a lot of fun. Enjoy the video.
About this video: “My first jump from 13,500 feet with a 1 minute free fall through the clouds at 120 mph, what an amazing experience, Highly recommended !! I made the jump today at Free Fall Adventures in Cross Keys, NJ.
Watch the video, there a short 1 mintue into sales pitch for Free Fall Adventures which I couldn’t figure out how edit out, then it’s my action, please hang in and watch the whole thing, IMHO it’s worth it.”
I was working today feeling tired and numb (Friday), and decided to stroll outside for a break. I found balm in the weather: a clear blue sky, buildings bathed in sunshine, shady trees and a cool breeze. I just stood there for a while, enjoying the moment.
An attractive lady was approaching and I said hello. She answered and asked me how I was doing. Her smile was as bright as the sunshine, so I said, “Much better now that you are here”. She thanked me and I mentioned the weather. She agreed as she sauntered away.
About half an hour later I came back out and there was a change. Same weather but not quite the same feeling — due to the position of the sun perhaps. That moment will never come again, I thought. And I remembered Emily Dickinson’s poem:
That it will never come again
Is what makes life so sweet.
Believing what we don’t believe
Does not exhilarate.
That if it be, it be at best
An ablative estate –
This instigates an appetite
Precisely opposite.
Poets have a way of “seeing” life as it is. Don’t you think?
I had these “books I recommend” on a widget but WordPress doesn’t allow amazon widgets. So I am transferring them to a post. These are books (and movies) that have had an impact on me, and I think you’ll find something special in them.
Gun-control laws do not control crime because crimes are not committed by guns; they are committed by criminals. Criminals will always have guns because they do not obey laws, including anti-gun laws. Those without guns are easy prey for criminals with guns. Gun control encourages crime.
The right to bear arms was included in the Bill of Rights, not to deter crime, but to deter oppressive government. Just governments honor and protect the right to bear arms. Oppressive governments fear and prohibit the right to bear arms.
Guns are dangerous. The only thing more dangerous is not having them.
I was caught by the flu last weekend. It came out of the blue; I had been feeling great and the weather couldn’t have been better. San Diego, CA almost always has a summer breeze.
Isn’t it amazing how a simple virus can reduce a human being to a sniveling, panting heap of pain and discomfort? You can feel miserable enough to see your death staring at you; some viruses do kill. One positive thing about getting sick is that it can give you some perspective; it points out to us the impermanence of all life. All we have is the moment we live.
The flu made me think about the most important thing we can have…
Our actions are frequently affected by worries and influenced by misleading assumptions that stem from our aimless self-reflection. It is our undisciplined and relentless mind that produces irresponsible or base behavior induced by irrational fears, which originate in non-existent sources or situations. Reality is warped by the wandering mind; reality is not what we think (our concepts and ideas). Thus, the most important thing we do is to discipline our minds to focus on reality as it is now. It is interesting to note that human beings have the uncanny ability to ignore the obvious.
Although all sages from the beginning of time have stressed the importance of having presence of mind, we refuse to see the necessity of it. We refuse to see what it can do for us. To try to simplify something rather complex I would say that it does three things for us: Physically speaking, presence can even save our lives by helping us be aware of what is coming at us; mentally, it will eliminate stress because stress dwells either in a non-existent future or a past that we refuse to let go; and spiritually, it will help us to see that we are never separate from the Source–”be still and know that I am God”–psalms 46:10.
Now, it is true that I don’t know anybody that can be mindful at all times, but just trying our best (just our best) makes a big difference. And with a disciplined mind comes equanimity and inner balance whether we have or have not. And bear in mind that “having” and “having not” are always subject to change, so the most important thing we have is our presence of mind.
I know I am digressing in this post, but isn’t everything interconnected? What do you think? About me
I got an email from GDI today. They apologized for not giving us notice before launching the new web builder. They actually seem to be committed to improve on their service. And they are giving us notice about the new webmail system that is coming soon. But the web builder still doesn’t work properly. Amazing! I wonder how the new email system will work.
I am concerned myself about good service, and I am also concerned about the fact that the owners are not communicating at all and they seem to be unreachable. I have been trying to communicate with them to no avail. Is there a CEO or even a manager to talk to? I just sent them another email trying to find out. Decisions…decisions…decisions… I have to make a decision regarding my future with Global Domains International. Any suggestions?
J. R. R. Tolkien was once asked in an interview if his books were allegorical. He responded that they were not, that they were just entertainment. I am convinced that professor Tolkien was pulling the interviewer’s leg. What do you think? Have you read Tolkien?
When I was doing my service in the armed forces (army) I was stationed in Fort Hood, Texas with the first battalion of the 46th infantry division for awhile. It was there that I met sergeant Johnson and sergeant Wolfe. And the reason I remember both of them well is because they stood out as leaders; they knew what leadership was.
As an example, there was a particular week in which my platoon worked really hard doing war games out on the field. It was the month of January; there was snow on the ground and we worked throughout the week facing cold and unrelenting wind. That Saturday night we finished exhausted after cleaning and washing our vehicles and equipment at the motor pool.
On Sunday morning, sergeant Wolfe, the war veteran who was our platoon leader, brought himself donuts and coffee to each and every soldier of his platoon while we were still in bed. He didn’t have to do this at all, believe me, but he understood what a leader was. He was showing his appreciation for a job well done; he was showing he was there for his men. He understood that a worthy leader does not oppress and dominates; he serves and motivates.
Early this morning I was worrying about something I had done when I realized that the past is gone; it can’t be brought back or fixed. Then I saw what the present moment contained; I almost missed it. I almost missed the bright warm sunlight, the shade under the trees where I had stopped to rest, the cool ocean breeze, the quarreling of birds… In the present all our mistakes vanish.
Recommended reading: Buddhism is not what you Think by Steve Hagen
I have joined a couple of social networks and it has proved to be a learning and rewarding experience. But I am seeing a great lack of communication among many of its members. Automated emails and auto responders seem to be the order of the day. It is understandable that we want to promote our products and services. But there seems to be a lack of understanding regarding the importance of personal communication in all our endeavors to foster better relationships. Not only it is very important to communicate with personal messages, we must do so professionally and intelligently.
We should read carefully the message we are responding to in order to reply adequately. (Isn’t it disappointing to read an answer that does not relate to the question you asked? Or an answer that only addresses part of your questions?) And if we don’t know the person, it is also advisable to find out who he/she is (if possible) so that we can address that person properly (at least check their website). And how about using our cell phones? I recently found a couple of programs that would have blended perfectly with my own, but I refrained from joining due to disappointing communication; for the fact is that we don’t do business with companies, we do business with people. About me
Suddenly everything changed! My work is on hold. It is almost like I am starting all over again. And it dawn on me that I wasn’t enjoying the process anymore. I was rushing. My presence of mind was slipping away. I was forgetting that the future never holds a safe haven for us; it only holds change. So all that matters is our inner balance. All we ever have is ”just this” and everything is contained ”here”. Eternity itself is “now”–the absence of time. Enjoy!
In this world of matter everything is temporary, nothing stays. To try to wrestle permanence out of situations and things is not seeing reality as it is. To cling selfishly to anything is the mark of the ignorant. (This is the ignorance caused by an ego that refuses to acknowledge that everything is interconnected) Success comes when we see clearly that when we unconditionally help others we help ourselves, for we are never separate from the Source; to think otherwise is delusion; it is, again, the work of the ego.
Now, to see things as they are, to see the unity of all things, requires presence of mind, which means that your thoughts are not in past or future situations (unless you are using the past for reference or planning a shopping trip) but in what you are doing right now! Remember, you can’t cross the bridge until you get to the river. If you see ‘Reality’ as it is you’ll see that success, like well-being, does not depend on outside circumstances, for we actually have all we need. If you see reality as it is your life situation could change suddenly and drastically without affecting your inner balance because you’ll see that you are part of a whole that is in perfect balance and working perfectly well.
Of course, you will not see this if you don’t discipline your mind and develop presence because the ego will render you blind. And I am afraid that just reading or hearing about it will probably help you little. But if you do just your best and practice, you’ll see it as clear as sunshine. And allow me to quote from “Mindfulness in Plain English” by H. Gunaratana: “Your practice can show you the truth. Your own experience is all that counts.” Recommended reading: The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, Buddhism is not What you Think by Steve Hagen, The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, Journey to Ixtlan by Carlos Castaneda.
They asked me why I was cancelling… I had placed a post in the forum regarding the bad service and the lack of communication. I had sent a letter to the owners that was never answered. I received misleading and inacurate answers to my emails and phone calls; I was told once that a feature was working when, in fact, it wasn’t. As a matter of fact, I checked a few days ago and that web builder was still not working properly after more than two months of launching. But they asked me why I was cancelling. Are they in denial? I also see a lot of people recommending the GDI opportunity. Are they all in denial?
I didn’t feel like going through explanations anymore; so I just mentioned the letter I had sent to the owners that was never acknowledged, and said that I was going to change my direction. They obligued me. My account was canceled immediately.
But you can still find the rainbow; I transfered it to this blog. Just look for “the rainbow” page. Enjoy! And please leave a comment.
I know. I haven’t been writing on my journal lately, but I have been busy. I have been trying also to get a hosting company for my blog to no avail. I tell you, I have so much to learn that when I go to the back office of these hosting companies I am totally lost. And I presume they think that I am an adept pupil because they throw at me all these complicated explanations and technical terms that I don’t understand. In the last month I have canceled two web hosting services because I couldn’t get anything going. I couldn’t even transfer my wordpress blog, and that was supposed to be easy. I guess I need simpler web hosting or a company with outstanding support and simple explanations (beginner friendly). Mind you, they all say that they have excellent support, but I still can’t get anything going with their help. Any suggestions?
A pertinent quote: “The greater the struggle, the more enriching the experience is for your life.”–Daisaku Ikeda, Buddhism for You
I have been a member of Jerky Direct for over three years and I can vouch for their good service. This is one of the best companies I have seen anywhere. If you like jerky I highly recommend it. This is why:
There is really no cost to join. You simply purchase two bags of jerky a month (beef, buffalo or turkey) at retail price ($12.00 plus $1.95 shipping) and you are in. The rest of your jerky you purchase at the wholesale price, and you get a free website.
The jerky comes from animals raised without hormones or antibiotics. It has no MSG and very few additives, so you are purchasing a wholesome product at a wholesale price. If you like beef jerky, join us so that you can enjoy a great tasting jerky at a low price. Jerky Direct has over 25 varieties of delicious jerky.
What role can jerky play in weight loss?
Animal and plant proteins tend to trigger satiety (fullness). It’s difficult to binge on low-fat protein and get too many calories. That’s especially true if you combine protein, like jerky, with high fiber foods like raw veggies or salad. Protein breaks down slower than carbohydrates, so blood sugars enter the blood stream slower. That’s why so many diabetics love low-fat, high protein jerky for mid-morning or mid-afternoon snacks.
Interesting information below about insulin resistance and jerky by Dr. David P. Bowman from Idaho Falls.
“It may surprise you to see how people who are insulin resistant react to food. Those who don’t have insulin resistance watch them with wonder. They think their appetite is out of control. Why? Because those with insulin resistance don’t think about food like you and me. The out-of-balance chemicals in their bodies and their brains literally force them to think constantly about food. Whenever they get close to food, their natural instinct is to devour it. That’s how powerful insulin is in their body.
The advice from most weight loss systems is to snack on many small, healthy meals throughout the day, but the options for insulin-resistant people are limited. Their “small meals” mean a Cup-o-Noodles, donuts, candy…
Insulin-resistant people need slow-burning, high protein food to slow down the sugar conversion in their body and shut off the hunger chemicals. And they need it a half hour before they are hit with intense cravings or the temp-tations of a huge meal or party buffet.
The same thing is true for diabetics and people who are hypoglycemic. They all crave the empty sweets and starches. But these are the worst possible snacks for them. Their choices are very limited. Nuts and jerky are about the only convenience foods that provide the slow-burning natural fats and protein that will douse the hunger chemicals inside their brain.
But here’s a caution. Don’t wait until you’re ready to devour the whole carton of ice cream before you reach for a strip of jerky. Schedule the snack. Keep jerky in your car or desk drawer and reach for it when your brain sends its first message of hunger.
Most of us don’t understand how unreasonable our body’s hunger chemicals can be. They make us react in ways other people would never think of doing. This intense hunger must be controlled with habits that protect us from ourselves.
So stock up on a variety of flavors from Jerky Direct as a great weight-management hedge.”
“Why we don’t use corn-fed meat in our jerky” By Jerky Direct
“For the first time in history, because of cheap, subsidized corn production in this country, millions of animals are now raised in close confinement and fed on diets that are not healthy for them.
In these huge feedlots animals are forced to live mainly on corn, not grass. Why? Because it’s cheaper. Instead of grazing four or five years from birth to slaughter, animals are now brought to slaughter within 14 to 16 months. They are fed tremendous quantities of corn and an arsenal of drugs.
Animals can’t live on such diet for very long. It would blow out their livers and kill them. So they are bred and fed to get to slaughter quickly, and the antibiotics keep them alive long enough to slaughter. They would not survive on this diet without antibiotics.”
The meat from these animals is “definitely not right for your health” And the animals themselves live a miserable life.
“Jerky Direct uses only grass fed and/or certified organic beef not raised in these huge industrialized feedlots. The organic certification states that not only the animal itself, but its mother must have been fed an organic diet free from all the unnatural chemicals and additives.
I heard in National Public Radio, and read in some national weekly magazines that new schemes are now being hatched (and already money being misused) by some of the companies being bailed out by the Federal Reserve. It seems obvious then that the first economic challenge faced by our president elect Mr. Barack Obama and his administration will be to clean house.
Bailing out the institutions that caused our present economic woes with their greedy and unethical behavior may be unavoidable, but if the bailout money is given to the culprits; that is, those who personally caused the problems in the first place, we may be headed for trouble, maybe really big trouble. These individuals could be more dangerous to our country than Osama Bin Laden. They can break and bankrupt America. Apparently, they are creating new and more dangerous situations even as I write these lines. And they should be punished and their licenses revoked or suspended. Besides, if we don’t punish and replace the culprits, are we really changing our direction? Please advise me.
Quote of the day: “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you”–Dale Carnegie
If you are a musician, a songwriter, a singer or a band you might be interested in the services of my friends Michael and Shirley Caron. This is who they are and what they do:
“M&S Public Relations along with Family Values Promotions are growing fast. We invite you to grow along with us, but there are certain rules that you must be ready to follow. First, we do not tolerate filthy lyrics nor lewd gestures in your act. We represent The Entertainer Network which is (The voice of World Wide Music). This means that if you qualify your music will be heard around the world. Our main mission is to help you take your career to the next level. When we introduce you to Big people in the Music Industry we expect you to conduct yourselves in a Professional manner. No matter how Great you are, you are not the best thing to come down the Pike. Once you adopt the attitude that you are, you begin to loose ground and others will leave you in the Dust. We are Not Booking agents, however we will do our very best to help you gain a foothold in various venues. In so doing, we may have to rely on outside help. No one works for free and their fees vary. You are a Vocalists or Band that has gained a lot of local recognition. You are ready to gain much more recognition. That is where we come in.”
“The purpose of our business is to get you, the artist, the best possible resources to take your career to the next level. We work with one of the largest chains in the music industry.”
How they work:
“There is one important thing to understand, many artists have said that they have had promoters offer to represent them free of charge. The LURE of Free has caused a lot of artists to loose everything that they ever worked for. When you are offered Free representation read the fine print, whether you are a poet, songwriter, or vocalist Or music arranger. I have had people come to me and ask what they can do to get the rights to their songs back, their poetry or their musical arrangements, however If they have signed a contract there is nothing that I or anyone can do. When you are offered a Free deal, you are giving up the rights to everything!! We offer a one time sign-up fee of $100.00 to represent you for life. We represent you in Nashville. We are affiliated with Cliff Ayres Enterprises that includes Entertainer Indi-Association, Entertainer Network, (The Music Industry Magazine, Music Town Distribution, Emerald Records and American Sounds Records. Most important, if you sign a Record Contract with Emerald Records and somewhere down the road Warner Brothers or R.C.A. wants to sign you, we can get you out of your contract without penalty!! These are serious things to think about if you have the passion to pursue a career in music. Others can’t do that. We can.”
“Friend, hope for the Guest while you are alive.
Jump into the experience while you are alive!
Think….and think….while you are alive.
What you call salvation belongs to the time before death.
If you don’t break your ropes while you are alive,
do you think ghosts will do it after?
The idea that the soul will join with the ecstatic
just because the body is rotten-
that is all fantasy.
What is found now is found then.
If you find nothing now,
you will simply end up with an apartment in the City of Death.
If you make love with the divine now, in the next life you will
have the face of satisfied desire.
So plunge into the truth, find out who the Teacher is,
Believe in the Great Sound.
Kabir says this: When the guest is being searched for,
it is the intensity of the longing for the Guest that does all the work.
Look at me, and you will see a slave of that intensity.”
—Kabir
Today’s quote: “Drop the “me” and there is Nirvana here and now”–Buddha
Acupuncture and BioMeridian Testing, combined with prescribed supplements, are safe and powerful alternatives for treating thousands of physical, emotional and neurological issues, including:
Arthritis, back pain and carpal tunnel
Allergies, asthma and other respiratory problems
Cancer and chemotherapy support
Chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia
Common cold, flu, compromised immune system
Depression, anxiety, insomnia, stress, migraines and headaches
Detoxification
Food cravings, smoking, alcohol and drug addictions
Gastrointestinal issues
Gynecological problems such as infertility and PMS
What is BioMeridian testing?
Acupuncture points are measured with meridian stress assessment testing
From your meridian data every body system is analyzed
The health of each body system is represented on a graph
Lynn Drittenbas L.Ac. attended Pacific College of Oriental Medicine and graduated summa cum laude with a Masters Degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Her personal interests include yoga, meditation, dance, gardening and cycling. She is married with three grown children.
Location: 2004 Hornblend Street, San Diego, CA. 92109
Yesterday a jet fighter plane, an F/A-18 D Hornet, crashed in a residential area of San Diego about half a mile from where I work in Town Centre Dr. It is said that both engines malfunctioned and the pilot ejected after trying without success to get to the Miramar base. Upon crashing the plane destroyed two houses, damaged three more and killed four people, leaving neighbors to fight the fire amid billowing ominous black smoke until the fire engines arrived.
Yesterday, Death came unexpectedly out of the clear blue sky. And it made me see clearly how true it is that there is no safe haven in this world. Death is lurking at every turn (even when we are “safe” at home) and it is unstoppable. What comes to be ceases to be, sometimes swiftly and suddenly. Nobody here gets out alive.
If we keep Death in mind, however, our life becomes richer and deeper, for we don’t take tomorrow for granted. Death’s advice is to live today, to live now! We must make our plans for the future while ready to die today.
Quote of the day: “Awareness of death is the very bedrock of the path. Until you have developed this awareness, all other practices are obstructed.” –The Dalai Lama
PS The accident’s main victim was not at the crash site. He lost his home, his wife, his two daughters and his mother-in-law. I can’t imagine his pain. The price we pay for our war machine is sometimes too high. Will human beings ever realize how high a price we pay for war itself, or will we always be obtuse egomaniacs?
His disciples said to Him , “When will the kingdom come?”
And The Christ said: “It will not come by waiting for it. It will not come by a matter of saying ‘here it is’ or ‘there it is’! Rather the kingdom of the father is spread out upon the earth and men do not see it.”
“The man that takes to the plow and looks back is not worthy of the kingdom of heaven.” Luke 9:62
“Let thine eye be single and your whole body will be full of light”–Luke 11:34
“We must not wish anything other than what happens from moment to moment, all the while, however, exercising ourselves in goodness.”–St Catherine of Genoa
Jesus said: The seeker should not stop until he finds. When he does find he will be disturbed. After having been disturbed he will be astonished. Then he will reign over everything.”–The Gospel of Thomas
“Pray and you will be condemned…”–Gospel of Thomas (14a)
“…Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty.”–Gospel of Thomas
“The Kingdom of God is within you.”–Luke 17:20-21
To the Scribes and Pharisees: “You who shut up the Kingdom of Heaven in men’s faces, neither going in yourselves nor allowing others to go in who want to.”–Mathew 23:13
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” ~~Matthew 6:25-34
I am a fan of KPBS, which not only provides classical music but also offers American Public Media’s Marketplace with news on business and economics. Recently they were airing a show regarding food stamps; it was about how food stamps could help people who are struggling in today’s troubled economy. A lady was explaining how the government was eager to help. She said that the applicants were treated with courtesy and respect, so people in need shouldn’t be reluctant to apply.
I lost a small business I had in Florida after the hurricanes of 2004; since then it had been an uphill battle. I am still paying bills that I incurred after my business crashed, and nobody is bailing me out (I am not Wall Street or General Motors). I do take responsibility for what I do and I am paying my debts one day at a time. I don’t really care for a bailout, but after listening to this show I figured that maybe food stamps would help a little.
To be brief I will only say that the lady who gave me the qualifying interview was rude and disrespectful. She implied that the information I was giving was fraudulent. I explained why it was not, but she was adamant. She was not talking to me but talking at me and avoiding any actual communication; she never even asked why I wanted food stamps. My application was denied due to the figures on the submitted forms (she said) without considering the actual situation.
As I walked out, I couldn’t help but thinking how inaccurate had been the information I received through National Public Radio. Do they verify their information? Can we believe the media in general? We need to verify ourselves, don’t we?
I have to admit that there may be better and more professional social workers than the ones I met at 1130 10th Avenue on December 16 of 2008 in San Diego, CA. There may be better locations also. Do you know of any? Have you had a better experience than the one I had? If so, please let me know. I’ll post it.
I just got this in an email from my friend and dance partner Lynn Drittenbas (Dragon Acupuncture), and I’d like to share it with you. It is about what will a father do for his son?
Excerpt: “One day the son asked his father, ‘Dad, let’s join the Ironman together?’”
“For those who didn’t know, Ironman is the toughest triathlon ever. The race encompasses three endurance events of a 2.4 mile (3.86 kilometer) ocean swim, followed by a 112 mile (180.2 kilometer) bike ride, and ending with a 26.2 mile (42.195 kilometer) marathon along the coast of the Big Island of Hawaii”.
And I just found the full story of Rick and Dick Hoyt in a post by Reyn Aria. Here is the link:
A friend just sent me an email with an article about Search Engine Optimization. These tips on SEO were compiled by Titus Hoskins and I find them extremely useful. Here is the article:
“No matter how hard some people try to mystify SEO, it is not as complicated as many would lead you to believe. Despite all the techno jargon that many in the field will throw at you: SERPs, SEM, PageRank, Keyword Density, Vertical Search, Algorithms… SEO is really simple to do if you understand some basic concepts and follow some easy steps.
Search Engine Optimization is getting your content listed in all the top positions in Google, Yahoo and MSN for your targeted keywords. When someone does a keyword search in a search engine for your particular subject or niche — you want your site or content to be at the top of the list.
Here are 10 SEO tactics that have worked and are working for me at this moment in time. I make this clarification because you must understand search engines, especially Google, are constantly redefining how they rank pages. Here are my favorite tactics and strategies:
1. Quality Content is and always will be your number one factor for getting high rankings and keeping them. You must understand search engines are simply businesses who supply a product like any other company. That product is information. They must offer quality results to anyone using their service to solve a problem, answer a question or to buy a product. The more relevant, the more targeted the search solution they return, the higher the overall quality of their product and the more popular their search engine will become. Providing quality content is vital for SEO success.
2. Keywords are your number one tools for achieving high rankings. You must understand keywords and how they work on the web. You must know how many searches are made each day for your chosen keywords. Sites like Wordtracker and SEObook will give you a rudimentary number of searches. Design your pages around your targeted keywords and don’t forget to do some deep-linking to these pages on your site. Find and build backlinks to these interior keyword pages and not just to your home page or domain URL. Picking keywords with medium to low competition has worked out well for me. So too has using the more targeted and higher converting “long-tail” keywords been very beneficial for me.
3. Onpage Factors and site design will play a major role in the spidering and indexing of your site/content. Make sure all your pages are SEO friendly, made sure all your pages can be reached from your homepage and no pages should be no more than three levels away from it – keeping a sitemap listing all your major pages makes the search engines happy. Make sure you have all your meta tags such as title, description, keywords… are all optimized. (Title = around 65 characters, Description = around 160 characters) Remember, your title and description should not only be keyword targeted but these are the first contact/impression anyone will see of your site — make sure you use them to draw and entice interested visitors to your site and content. Also make sure your title and URL are keyword matched for maximum effect. Having your major keyword in your Domain Name also helps, using a pike | to separate different elements of your title has helped my rankings, so too does having your keyword in the first and last 25 words on your pages.
4. Google will send you the most qualified traffic so concentrate the majority of your SEO efforts on Google. Don’t ignore Yahoo! or MSN but Google is king of search so give it the respect it deserves. With its new browser, Google’s influence will only grow stronger so you must optimize your pages for Google. Use Google’s Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics to fine-tune your pages/content for Google. I also use Google Alerts to keep up on my niche keywords and for comment link-building on the newly created pages Google is indexing.
5. Link Building is still the most effective way to boost your search rankings. Make sure you get backlinks from relevant sites related to your niche market and make sure the ‘anchor text’ is related to your keywords but don’t ignore the text and overall quality of the content linking to you. The anchor text is the underlined/clickable portion of a link. Don’t forget linking is a two-way street, make sure you link out to high quality, high ranked relevant sites in your niche.
6. Article Marketing is a well established method of getting quality backlinks and it still works. Writing short 500 – 700 word informative and helpful articles with your backlinks in the resource box is still very effective for getting targeted traffic and backlinks. Longer articles have also worked for me and I use an extensive network of distribution including SubmitYourArticle, Isnare, Thephantomwriters… plus other major online sites. Don’t forget the whole element of blogging and RSS feeds in your article distribution. And always remember you’re also using these articles to pre-sale your content or products. Don’t forget to leverage sites like Squidoo, Hubpages… to increase your rankings and traffic.
7. Onsite Traffic Hubs have worked extremely well for me. These traffic hubs are whole sections of your site devoted to one sub-division of your major theme. For example, if you have a site on Gifts, then wedding gifts could be a separate section. This would be fully fleshed out with extensive pages covering everything dealing with wedding gifts — a self-contained keyword rich portion of your site on wedding gifts. Works similar as a sub-domain but I prefer using a directory to divide it up, such as yourdomain/wedding_gifts. (Most experts suggest always using a hyphen in your urls but underscores have worked fine for me.) Search engines love these keyword/content rich hubs but keep in mind you’re creating content to first satisfy your visitors.
8. WordPress blog software is extremely effective for SEO purposes. WordPress software is easy to install on your site even if you have no experience with installing server-side scripts. Besides search engines love these highly SEO friendly blogs with their well structured content and keyword tagging. I have at least one of these on all my sites to draw in the search engines and get my content indexed and ranked. I also use Blogger (owned by Google), Bloglines and other free blogs to help distribute my content.
9. Social Bookmark/Media Sites are becoming very important on the web. These include a whole range of social sites like MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter… media news sites like Digg, SlashDot, Technorati… you must get your content into this whole mix if you want to take full SEO advantage of Web 2.0 sites. You should be joining these sites and using them. It’s time consuming but it will keep you in the swing of things. One simple thing you must do is to put social bookmark buttons on all your pages so that your visitors can easily bookmark your content for you. You can use a WordPress plug-in or I like using a simple free site/service from Addthis.com which gives me a simple button to put on all my content.
10. Masterplan! Many webmasters and site owners forget to develop or have an overall masterplan/strategy when it comes to SEO. You must have an understanding of what SEO is and what it can do for you and your site. More importantly, you just don’t want SEO; you want effective SEO. In order to achieve effective SEO you must have three things: Relevance, Authority and Conversions.
First, your content/site must be relevant to the topic or niche area you’re pursuing — your content must fit in and be related to all the other sites in your niche. That’s why closely themed sites do so well in the search engines, they give only relevant content to what’s been searched for or discussed.
Second, your content/site must be perceived as an authority site on your subject or niche. Establish this authority position and the search engines will love you and your content. One way is to develop this authority, besides offering superior content, is to form links/partnerships with other perceived authority sites in your field. Always strive to make your site an authority site — tops in your niche — the one site everyone has to check before drawing or forming a conclusion.
Third, conversions should be your main goal of any SEO efforts because you want to convert your targeted traffic into site members, subscribers, buyers or just repeat visitors. If you’re into online marketing, conversions will be the most important element of the whole SEO process because you want buyers, not just visitors coming to your site.
Most of all, you must convince yourself Search Engine Optimization is not difficult, nor is it the equivalent of the online bogeyman as many would like you to believe. Used effectively, SEO can give you the targeted traffic you’re seeking, just follow some of the outlined steps/tactics listed above and you will have SEO working for you and your site in no time at all.”
The author is a full-time online marketer who has numerous websites. For the latest web marketing tools try: Internet Marketing Tools If you liked the SEO tips above, why not check out the author’s blog at SiteProNews: More SEO Tips
I was walking up to the main library at the University of California in San Diego one night, which is a long walk even when you pay for parking, when I noticed my absent minded condition. I had been walking wrapped in thought, pondering. I had been oblivious to my surroundings. Does it happen to you? I am being facetious, of course, I know it does. We are all ponderers. We have so many projects, so many things pending and so many expectations! We believe that our efforts will eventually take us to a safe haven, don’t we?
And it is good that we have projects and goals, that is life! Without action nothing gets done. But there is a hidden challenge in taking action that we don’t see, for no matter how many goals we may have all we ever really have is this present moment. We do think that our goals will take us to a safe haven but there is no such a thing; there can’t be because this is a world of change. After we get to our “safe haven” sooner or later a new challenge will sprout. Besides, in a world where death is waiting at every turn, where can there be safety? Our challenge is to realize that we should act for the sake of the action itself because the challenge at hand is all we ever have. Reality is not what we think! Reality is what is here now. Everything is in this very moment.
Therefore, I decided to focus on the present moment, on what was actually taking place. I became aware then of the things that I was approaching (benches, cars, bus stops…), of the trees that I passed on the wooded trails. Soon I arrived at the last stretch of my walk, the wide walkway lined by tall Eucalyptus trees that takes you directly to the library, and I noticed other pedestrians immersed, as I had been, in self-reflection, oblivious to the world.
I noticed the library in the distance, a huge building that rose like a mushroom, like a giant bird spreading its wings obliterating the star-raddled sky. I wondered how that enormous building could remain aloft in such a narrow base, a feat of engineering. It reminded me briefly of the ship “Nostromo” in the movie “Alien” and for a moment my mind drifted in that direction. I brought it back. I walked on while aware of my surroundings, aware of the seemingly approaching building and the steps that brought it near. And then I was awaken from the slumber of self-reflection completely…I was fully aware of my surroundings.
When I arrived at the Geisel library I was present, and the feeling was such that I felt like prolonging my walk. A quote from The Christ interrupted my concentration once more, “Let thine eye be single and your whole body will be full of light”. And then I realized that prolonging my walk really didn’t matter because regardless of what we are doing presence of mind is always an option. Our attention can always be placed on the action at hand.
It does not matter either how well we do it (to berate ourselves for not being present is also a lack of discipline, an ego problem) our best is enough. To be aware of what the mind does is the key. To see how it worries about past events that can’t be changed or future events that will never happen is the first step. But we shouldn’t force the issue, for the mind’s very nature is to think. Make it play! Watch the mind’s moves!
Nevertheless, we should do our best, for an undisciplined mind can’t avoid misleading us. And having a disciplined mind is the only way to vanquish the darkness of self-centeredness, that ego-induced self-reflection that is usually empty blabber, a blind alley. A disciplined mind is the key to happiness…”Let thine eye be single…”
Titus Hoskins just sent me an email with very useful suggestions on how to turn Google into a very efficient ally. I believe they will be helpful to most of my my readers as well, so here they are:
“Google must be your number ONE ally if you truly want to succeed online. Love it or hate it – Google is fast becoming the dominant marketing force on the web and you must use and exploit it to your advantage.
When most people mention Google, all they think of is the Search Engine. But if you’re marketing or promoting your site on the web – Google is so much more. It has countless programs you can use to further your goal.
Here are some of ones I use:
o Using Google Adsense For Profit & Monitoring
I use Google Adsense on almost all my site, it’s a simple way to monitize your site or sites. Google gives you a simple piece of code which you place on your webpages and it serves up text or image ads marked “Ads by Google” on
your pages.
If someone clicks on your ads you get a few pennies or a few dollars… Google Adsense is great if you have a large content filled site and want to earn revenue from your traffic. I use it in conjunction with my other affiliate
links on many of my pages.
Now, I can get 10, even a 100 times more with an affiliate link/click so I mostly use Adsense where I am not targeting a particular affiliate product with my marketing. However, I have received Adsense checks each month for the last three or four years – always puts a smile on my face to get that check from Google!
But also use Adsense to track and monitor my site’s traffic in ‘real time’ and it gives me a good picture of how my pages are doing. I still use my log stats to monitor my traffic but Adsense is just another way to do it.
If you’re not using Adsense on your sites, I suggest you give it a try.
If you have a website, it’s only natural that you would like to know how your site compares with other similar sites on the web. Now, we are not talking about comparing apples to oranges here – we are talking about comparing your site to others that are the same in size and traffic.
Google Benchmarks which is a part of Google Analytics, lets you compare your site to other sites on the
web that are similar to yours. It will tell you how your site is performing compared to your
competition. This is enormously valuable information because it gives you a clearer picture of how your
site is performing.
I find it extremely helpful in telling me what parts of my sites are not working and where I
have to make improvements. It also tells me what parts of my sites are working or performing above
my competition.
Things like bounce rates, pageviews per visit, time on site… I can see how my sites are doing
compared with others in my area of interest. This is vital if I want to keep my sites competitive
and “in the game”.
If you’re not using Google Analytics and Google Benchmarks, I would strongly suggest you use this free service from Google. It is a great way to track your sites and visitors. It is invaluable for improving your site’s content.
You can also use the Website Optimizer to test which content, headlines, graphics, page design… are best
for converting your visitors into customers or clients. Simply find out what works best and use it.
If you’re not already using Google Analytics I
strongly suggest you start using it. You can
sign-up here:
Another Google program that I use a lot is Google Trends, especially when I am first
developing a site or looking for small niche markets I can make profitable. Google Trends
tells you what things or topics are “hot” or “popular” – ones being searched for by web users.
Google Trends can give you a good overview of of things that may be worth your time and effort,
in regards to marketing. It also lets you compare different items and it gives you a graph read-out
of how popular each one is or is becoming.
For example, if you’re selling electronics on your site, and you want to find out if you should spend more telling selling PCs or Laptops…. you can do a Trend search for each one and compare your results.
What’s even just as great, Google Trends will tell you how popular they are in different countries
or regions of the world. Again, if you’re marketing on the web, this will give you some simple
market research into your area of interest.
Perhaps, one of my most favorite of all Google programs is Google Alerts. This is
simply the most valuable tool for searching for information on your site or topic.
You use Google Alerts to “tag” or “mark” any subject or phrase you want Google to
email alert you – when any new content appears on the web related to your topic or phrase.
These Alerts will give you the links to the new pages so that you can check out
the information. It is a great way to “keep up to date” on all your niche markets
and keywords you’re targeting with your sites.
This is also great for link building since many of these Alerts will be blog links
and you can easily go and add your comments with a link back to your site. Google will
send you email alerts when a new link or page is created on your targeted keyword.
I also use this free service from Google to keep track of my name so that whenever someone
is saying something about me anywhere on the web – I know about it!
I do the same thing for my sites. You can also use it to track your articles, keywords or just
about anything for that matter. Invaluable service for gathering information on the web…
I heard about this free online graphics editor from Design Guru Ryan (The guy who does my
web graphics) and it looks very good. It’s called Pixlr and if you need to quickly
design or fix your graphics, this could be a very good option if you don’t have your
own image editor on your desktop.
Human ignorance shows the most when we take advantage of others; we don’t see that everything is interconnected and that upon hurting others we hurt ourselves. Thieves ignore the fact that their behavior affects society as a whole and therefore themselves; the unrest and distrust they create affects them as much as it affects everyone else … and they also fear theft.
Imagine a city without thieves! You could forget your wallet at the counter of a department store and upon returning you would find it untouched at the lost and found desk. You wouldn’t need locks at the gym or alarms in your car. You would also save money when shopping, for merchants wouldn’t have to raise their price to make up for shoplifting loses. Theft (crime) does not make sense, is the work of the ignorant.
It is interesting to note, however, that ignorant thieves create and develop sophisticated techniques and methods. I came across a video that shows the techniques used to steal the information on credit cards at any automated teller machine. Since the video owner encouraged its dissemination, I decided to share it with you. It may help you avoid identity theft and the consequent headaches. Check the site also for more ways to steal your identity: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOiCufYGH9I
I found an article in “Computor Edge magazine” that I would like to share with you because I found it very interesting. Punctuality is important, and Mr Welch goes to the gist of the matter. I also recommend subscribing to the magazine. It is available online and it is a learning experience.
“Punctuality” by Douglas E. Welch
With our current obsession with time and productivity, you would think that punctuality would be de rigueur for any effective worker. We have our cell phones, our iPhones, our Blackberries, constantly reminding us of what we should be doing, and when.
Even today, though, there is a certain portion of the populace who simply can’t be on time to any event, whether a weekly staff meeting, school drop-off or dinner party. Why is this? What fundamental factor prevents them from engaging the world in this important way?
Why Is Punctuality Important?
Many people who are chronically late are often surprised at the response of those around them. What does it matter if they were late? They just don’t understand why people are so upset?
The problem, of course, is that the late person has wasted one of the most precious resources in today’s world—time. Worse still, they haven’t just wasted their own time, but the time of everyone involved with them. Meetings start late. Medical patients sit waiting in the lobby. Long lines start to form. The actions of one person can end up affecting hundreds of people, and every one of them will feel abused by the waste of time that could have been applied, more effectively, elsewhere. People will forgive you wasting their money, to some extent, but they are unlikely to forgive you for wasting their time.
Think about that the next time you decide to miss a deadline or arrive late for an appointment. Multiply the wasted time, and ill will, by everyone involved, and I think you will quickly see why everyone is so irritated. Your actions do have consequences, regardless of what you might think.
Too Busy?
Whenever someone is late, they will often blame the fact that they are simply “too busy!” Of course, this still means that they are late, and the effects are still the same as previously mentioned. “Too busy” becomes an all-purpose excuse, and we are simply supposed to nod our heads in agreement and understanding.
Wrong! While “too busy” is a convenient excuse, it is also a clear indicator that your life is out of control. We are all busy, and yet many people can still arrange to be punctual. What it truly means is this person has not learned the important art of saying “No!” Often, we are too busy because we allow ourselves to be. We take on too many commitments and suffer from too much optimism that we can complete every project, every task that we are presented.
There is a hint of arrogance here, too. Surely we can accomplish everything, we seem to say to ourselves. Yet, we can’t do it all. Projects are delayed, deadlines missed, and those around you suffer for your inability to act logically.
Control
This leads me to another, more controversial, reason for the lack of punctuality. It has been my experience that many people are not late due to work pressures, time pressures or lack of organization, but simply because being late gives them power. It gives them control over their life and the lives of those around them. They are late because it makes them feel superior.
These people seem to be saying, with their actions, “I am more important than you. You can’t control me. I live my life on my own schedule. You can’t make me do anything.”
Of course, this is folly. Sure, they may feel powerful by showing up whenever they wish, but everyone around them, especially their own family, suffers.
I have seen this concept at work at my son’s school. There are (otherwise wonderful) people who seem incapable of arriving on time for school. When I talk with them, it seems clear that it isn’t issues with preparedness or last-minute problems. They could have easily arrived on time, and yet they didn’t. Of course, it is their children who suffer, though, more than they do. The embarrassment of tardy slips, the loss of education time, the stress involved in rushing about should be reason enough to modify this behavior, and yet it continues. Once you remove all the other causes of lateness, control seems to be the only remaining factor.
No matter how busy you might be, or how much you hate being told when to arrive somewhere, for the sake of your own well being, family, friends and career, now is the time to learn the importance of being punctual about your work and life. You aren’t just harming yourself, but everyone around you. As I said earlier, you are wasting the most precious commodity of all—time.
Douglas E. Welch is a writer and computer consultant in Los Angeles. Career Opportunities is also available as a podcast and is a member of Friends In Tech.
In this post I will be listing sites that are or have been valuable to me in some way. Don’t miss them! I will be adding to the list periodically.
1.This site has a daily sale and sometimes the items are free (you only pay shipping). I have ordered twice from them and they deliver promptly. I was also satisfied with the product. Great deals!www.1saleaday.com
This excerpt from my forthcoming book, The Eye of the Dragon, Stalking Castaneda is about my Arcosanti experience. I figure it will give the reader some perspective. Names have been changed and initials altered to protect identities. Here it is:
… I took Interstate 40, which parallels or overlays the famous Route 66, the road leading to Arcosanti, Arizona, a small community that had been created by the famous architect Paolo Soleri to promote the ‘City of the Future’, that is, a city that would grow upward—no urban sprawl. I had found the concept interesting, perhaps a solution to our pollution problems. I also had an interest in trying life in a rural intentional community, which supposedly meant a group of people with a common purpose and a vibrant community life. I had contacted them by email.
They informed me that a full time landscaping position was available. I decided to give them a try. I could live there part of the year and maybe travel part of the year. On my first interview with KZ (the landscaping director) she said that my traveling plans agreed with Arcosanti.
My first weeks in Arcosanti were fabulous. I loved the place with its rocky desert hills, cliffs, canyons and impressive lightning storms–talk about roaring thunder. And we had monthly concerts, and sometimes dancing at the auditorium. It was mandatory to complete a workshop of five weeks to become a permanent resident and that was a learning experience. It was also fun! We helped in Arcosanti’s construction; we harvested the olives and worked on the vegetable gardens; we did the landscaping: we did woodwork and welding; we worked on the kitchen. On our last week we chose a field to specialize in: it could be woodworking, welding, landscaping, cooking or working at the foundry making the famous Soleri bells.
Consequently, I was surprised to hear from a stone that things would turn sour. It happened that I was out in the desert one day after work, doing the magical passes, when it occurred to me to talk to an interesting stone. I found a shady place behind some bushes and gazed at the stone until my mind was completely focused. The stone talked! Three sides gave me the images of people in great anguish. The fourth side had a man laying down on the ground, perhaps dead. He had long hair and a long, unkempt beard.
The visions were graphic…but I couldn’t believe the stone. It had to be a mistake. Was it lying? Five months later everything had changed. In a meeting in which I expressed my feelings of dissatisfaction toward a negligent and incompetent administration, I saw the distress, the anguish and the tears. All was revolving around the man with the beard (and others like him) who shouldn’t have been there in the first place, for they were disrupting the peace. And I remembered the stone!
I had found the concept interesting. But in practice Arcosanti was not delivering; your vote did not count. I personally delivered to Mr. Soleri a copy of a letter I had written regarding the matter; he never answered–he actually avoided me once when I was entering the swimming pool area as he was leaving..
Arcosanti was run by its founding members and what they said was final. It was to be expected; they had been there since the seventies, and after thirty years they had turned inflexible and possessive. Egomania was as prevalent in Arcosanti as it was anywhere else. Only the architecture was different, and that is not enough to build the city of the future and set an example–a building is just that, a building. Where was the spirit of community? Mr. Soleri and his staff didn’t live in Arcosanti; some of them commuted 150 miles every day to their homes in the sprawling city of Phoenix. Did they really cared about developing a city to conquer urban sprawl? I didn’t think so. Therefore, after maneuvering around its petty tyrants for almost a year, I took my leave. It was the summer’s solstice of the year 2000.
I have to admit that most of my time there was pleasant in spite of the housing shortage, the rattlesnakes and the scorpions. Although I lived in camp, where the crickets and sometimes the loud workshop participants were unbearable during the summer months, I loved the place and was having fun in my landscaping job…fixing trails, pruning trees, building Arcosanti… It was a joy hiking to the waterhole, which was deep enough to dive in from the nearby rocks. I remember a time when returning to town a golden eagle swooped down by me to perch atop a nearby tree facing the Agua Fria River.
I had done the hiking trip with my friends Kelly and Chris, but they decided to take a different route to return to town; I wanted to get to know the main route better. And so it happened that on my way back I stopped in the shade of a huge boulder to get a drink of water and the eagle did not see me. At first I thought it was a turkey vulture due to its huge wingspan. But it couldn’t have been. Then the bird turned its head displaying its powerful beak and piercing stare, the stare of a bird of prey.
I also remember that it snowed one night the winter I was there. And before going to breakfast next morning, I walked through camp enjoying the crunch of the new fallen snow under my steel-toed boots, the crisp cold air and the white desert landscape. I walked to the edge of camp by the river and then retraced my steps in the gently falling snow and headed uphill toward Arcosanti . There wasn’t much landscaping to do that day, other than shoveling snow downtown while snowballing each other.
Hiking on full moon nights with my friend Cristina was a joy, and it strikes me now that we never consider the mountain lions, which were known to roam the nearby desert at times. I did mention to her, however, the importance of staying present: that is, mindful. But I don’t think she cared or understood… maybe she did.
I also enjoyed the huge cottonwood trees along the river, by the campground, with their leaves rustling in the wind, twinkling in the sunlight; and the good friends I made there–men and women who were doing their search: Kelly, Chris, Katherine, Andy, Losaida, Jim, Justin, Pliny, William, Theresa, Cristina, Sparks, Anastasia and John… I wish them well wherever they are. Anastasia was the chef in charge when I arrived and also an experienced dancer. We started to choreograph a dance concert together to perform in the Auditorium. But we were so disappointed at the city of Arcosanti that we lost all interest. We all left.
But I do think I left the place looking much better than I found it; for I also love landscaping and rock work–if you pay attention, rocks will actually tell you were to place them, so they are fun to work with. I also helped them build a fence around the twenty five acres to keep the neighbor’s cattle out. It was exhausting work! We pounded those poles into the hard desert ground, using pick, shovels and cement when the ground was impenetrable, freezing in the morning and sweating at noon through the month of January. But I enjoyed it…in mindfulness! I worked with JG (the man with the beard) and RT; nobody else wanted to work with them on a steady basis, although JG wasn’t a bad guy really. I remember losing my watch one day and he taking some fifteen minutes of his time to help me find it. I actually liked him better than I liked RT (the dysfunctional egomaniac in charge), although JG may not believe that.
Let me tell you a little more about JG. Although not young or big, he was extremely strong and quite a hard worker, a small Paul Bunyan. He would have been at home with the pioneers of yore. You could tell that he knew what hard work was just by looking at his hands. I remember once pointing out to him some blood on the handle of his pick.
“Oh, that’s my blood,” he said matter of factly. He was working with an open blister in the palm of his right hand–no gloves. He never wore gloves.
He was also an activist that stood for what he believed. His picture was on the front cover of one of the main newspapers in the area once due to a face-off he had with some strip miners nearby. He was trying to make them understand how they were harming the environment. The picture, in full color, showed him talking to one of the miners; it was a good picture of him as a defender of the earth.
But somehow JG was off, maybe in need of professional help. He was overbearingly offensive to most people. Wherever he went he taunted and provoked. I guess he felt superior. As James Taylor, the construction foreman, told him one day in our daily outdoor meeting in which we were all trying to make him see his folly to no avail:
“I don’t know why, but you bring out the worst in people.”
I remember that the day I met JG, I was collecting rocks on the slope of a rocky hill for a landscaping project, and he climbed down to talk. I think he was attracted by my old straw hat, which was overly patched with duck tape.
“You look like a survivor”, he said. And we talked for a while.
I can’t remember what we talked about, perhaps about surviving. But although he was friendly (He guffawed frequently), I had to end the conversation, for it was becoming erratic, rather nonsensical. I could tell that something was out of kilt but couldn’t say exactly what; I never could. The ego was partly to blame, but what else? I did not know. There seemed to be a hidden meaning behind anything he said. I heard later that he had been in Arcosanti before in the late seventies, and due to his obnoxious behavior somebody hit him on the head with a 2 x 4. It was said that the guy who hit him went to jail and later jumped bail and fled to Mexico. JG could really upset people.
It puzzles me to this day that he was invited again by the administration–an irresponsible and incompetent move! They put him and everybody else in a most trying situation, and they showed their incompetence and lack of leadership. When I left Arcosanti JG was already gone, but I knew he didn’t like my hat anymore, for I had been openly in favor of his removal. I wish him well anyway…
From Top Left:James Reinhardt, Rio Guzman, Pliny Reynolds, Kelly Schenk
From Bottom Left:Yu Miyamoto, Melissa Andrew, and Christopher Gidley The October 1999 workshop participants
My friend, singer and musician Andrew Perri www.myspace.com/andrewperri , who is doing his due diligence in matters of the Spirit, sent me the following poem written by John Hodgson:
“I will not bask in the light of your celestial glories.
Time has corrupted them.
Ambition has bloodied them.
Greed has twisted them.
Humanity has broken them.
In lazy freedoms my soul finds peace, whilst yours bends under confining redemption.”
He wanted to know what I thought it meant. My response was this:
I like it! I think it means that Christianity has been corrupted. It has! The Christ wouldn’t be in the Vatican. Mother Theresa was the closest thing to the Christ in recent times. From what I have seen all religions develop their own commercial agendas to save your soul when in fact you are your own redeemer. In my post “Merry Christmas” I have some quotes from the Christ that show a different Christ than the one usually shown.
Your tax exemptions: Most of us start a home-based business while still working a job. Do you know how much you can retain of what you earn if you have a home based business? A lot! Uncle Sam wants to help you. Please go to this link www.HomeBusinessTaxSavings.com and subscribe to Ron Mueller’s freebulletin“Tax tips you can bank on”. If we don’t educate ourselves and learn about tax laws and exemptions we leave a lot of money on the table. Some people get a home based business just to get the tax exemptions (this is illegal). But it makes sense to have a legitimate home-based business.
Everything is interconnected means that everything depends on everything else and its part of the whole, without the soil the rose couldn’t exist; when the rose dies it turns into soil. It also means that we are never separate from the Source and whether our actions in life are private or public, at work or at play, they interrelate and should be done with integrity and balance.
Do you want an example of everything interconnected? It is right in front of you. Please pay attention.
Sri Ramana Maharshi is one of my favorite teachers, and one of the greatest sages of the last century, a Buddha. Although he was born in India, he was not a member of any particular religion. Enjoy his websites below!
Ramana Maharshi
“It was in 1908 that I first contacted Sri Ramana Maharshi, then in the Virupaksha Cave, when I was a boy of twelve. Had you seen him in those days, you would hardly have taken him for a mere human being. His figure was a statue of burnished gold. He simply sat and sat, and rarely spoke. The words he spoke on any day could easily be counted. He had an enchanting personality that shed a captivating luster on all, and a life-giving current flowed from him charging all those nearby, while his sparkling eyes irrigated those around him with the nectar of his Being.”
T.K. Sundaresa Iyer, At the feet of Bhagavan
“At the age of sixteen Ramana Maharshi left his home, his family, and all he knew. He felt drawn to Arunachula – a small mountain in Southern India. He lived there for the rest of his life. His only possessions were a piece of cloth to cover himself, and a walking stick. Little by little word of a sage living alone on Arunachula mountain became known. Many felt drawn to sit in his presence. He seldom spoke. But occasionally he would respond to questions. This site: http://sentient.org/ is dedicated to the peace and fulfillment toward which he pointed.”
Sentient beings are in essence buddhas
It is like water and ice. There is no ice without water,
There are no buddhas outside sentient beings.
What a shame, sentient beings seek afar,
Not knowing what is at hand. It is like wailing from thirst
In the midst of water.
Our President, Barack Obama, has been making mistakes…and he is acknowledging them. Do we know what that means?
It means that our new President is mature enough to take responsibility for his actions. It means that he is willing to learn…”so it won’t happen again”, and he is growing. It means, and this is paramount, that his ego is not at the helm.
He might well be on his way to greatness. May the Spirit be with him.
I have to say that “The People’s Guide to Mexico” is the best you can get to find your way in Mexico, or if you are planning to visit the country. It is written by Carl Franz and Lorena Havens, a writer/editor team with over 40 years experience traveling, living and learning things “the hard way” in Mexico and Central America. As a matter of fact, in days of yore, while building my hut in Baja California (in the chapter “The Brujo” in “A Vagabond in Mexico”) I followed the instructions of my host, but I also followed tips from Carl and Lorena’s book. No wonder, according to “Outside Magazine”, The People’s Guide to Mexico has achieved mythical status. They know Mexico!
I just finished my first acupuncture treatment and I found it effective. It happened that I recovered recently from a dance injury to the plantar fascia (ligament running throughout the bottom of the foot). So I started practicing again, and apparently I went too fast too soon and sprained a ligament on my right knee. With three acupuncture sessions in two weeks I am walking, and even climbing stairs, without pain. The swelling is about gone. I should be back on the floor in a couple of weeks.
The Experience:
The treatment uses points in the meridian channels to stimulate the flow of energy and blood in your body, disolve the blockage at the injury location and speed the recovery process. The needles are inserted in specific locations. The insertion of the needles is usually painless (or with little pain) unless the acupuncturist misses the location and has to reinsert the needle. After the needles are in place there is no pain.
Each session is about half an hour long. For better results Lynn (my acupuncturist) also uses heat (a heat lamp) and herbs (Mugwort and herbal patches). She also shows you pressure points with which you can help yourself.
According to the Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine:
“In Chinese medicine mugwort, known as Ai ye or Hao-shu is highly valued as the herb used in moxibustion, a method of heating specific acupuncture points on the body to treat physical conditions. Mugwort is carefully harvested, dried and aged, then it is shaped into a cigar-like roll. This “moxa” is burned close to the skin to heat the specific pressure points. It has been used in this way to alleviate rheumatic pains aggravated by cold and damp circumstances.”
“A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported on the successful use of moxibustion in reversing breech birth positions. The study found that 75% of 130 fetuses had reversed their position after moxibustion treatment of the mother. The technique is said to stimulate the acupuncture point known as BL67, located near the toenail of the fifth toe, stimulating circulation and energy flow and resulting in an increase in fetal movements.” Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine by Clare Hanrahan
Like Ramana Maharshi, who was also awake, Kabir did not have a particular religion. He was also very critical of all sects in India, which is probably a reason for his universal appeal. It is said that when he died his Hindu and Muslim followers were quarreling over his remains. They then heard a voice asking them to lift the shroud covering the body. When they did they only found flowers.
Some of his poems:
Do not go to the garden of flowers!
O friend! go not there;
In your body is the garden of flowers.
Take your seat on the thousand petals of the
lotus, and there gaze on the infinite beauty.
************** –Kabir
Hang up the swing of love today!
Hang the body and the mind between the
arms of the beloved, in the ecstasy of love’s joy:
Bring the tearful streams of the rainy clouds
to your eyes, and cover your heart with
the shadow of darkness:
Bring your face nearer to his ear, and speak
of the deepest longings of your heart.
Kabir says: `Listen to me brother! bring the
vision of the Beloved in your heart.’
********************
Are you looking for me? I am in the next seat.
My shoulder is against yours.
you will not find me in the stupas, not in Indian shrine
Interesting information below about insulin resistance and jerky by Dr. David P. Bowman from Idaho Falls.
“It may surprise you to see how people who are insulin resistant react to food. Those who don’t have insulin resistance watch them with wonder. They think their appetite is out of control. Why? Because those with insulin resistance don’t think about food like you and me. The out-of-balance chemicals in their bodies and their brains literally force them to think constantly about food. Whenever they get close to food, their natural instinct is to devour it. That’s how powerful insulin is in their body.
The advice from most weight loss systems is to snack on many small, healthy meals throughout the day, but the options for insulin-resistant people are limited. Their “small meals” mean a Cup-o-Noodles, donuts, candy…
Insulin-resistant people need slow-burning, high protein food to slow down the sugar conversion in their body and shut off the hunger chemicals. And they need it a half hour before they are hit with intense cravings or the temptations of a huge meal or party buffet.
The same thing is true for diabetics and people who are hypoglycemic. They all crave the empty sweets and starches. But these are the worst possible snacks for them. Their choices are very limited. Nuts and jerky are about the only convenience foods that provide the slow-burning natural fats and protein that will douse the hunger chemicals inside their brain.
But here’s a caution. Don’t wait until you’re ready to devour the whole carton of ice cream before you reach for a strip of jerky. Schedule the snack. Keep jerky in your car or desk drawer and reach for it when your brain sends its first message of hunger.
Most of us don’t understand how unreasonable our body’s hunger chemicals can be. They make us react in ways other people would never think of doing. This intense hunger must be controlled with habits that protect us from ourselves.
So stock up on a variety of flavors from Jerky Direct as a great weight-management hedge.”
If you are ready, check it out. Like a diamond, it cuts through concepts and beliefs. You can find it in “A Buddhist Bible” by Dwight Goddard.
Excerpts:
Then Buddha asked Subhuti, “What do you think, Subhuti, has the Buddha arrived at the highest, most fulfilled, most awakened and enlightened mind? Does the Buddha teach any teaching?”
Subhuti replied, “As far as I have understood the lord Buddha’s teachings, there is no independently existing object of mind called the highest, most fulfilled, awakened or enlightened mind. Nor is there any independently existing teaching that the Buddha teaches. Why? Because the teachings that the Buddha has realized and spoken of cannot be conceived of as separate, independent things and therefore cannot be described. The truth in them is uncontainable and inexpressible. It neither is, nor is it not. What does this mean? What this means is that Buddhas and disciples are not enlightened by a set method of teachings, but by an internally intuitive process which is spontaneous and is part of their own inner nature.”
I recently received interesting information from Titus Hoskins about how Google ranks our sites. If you have a website or blog you might be interested. Here it is:
“Lately, there seems to be a lot of information coming from the top search engine on the web. Google is becoming more transparent in how it ranks pages in its index. For webmasters like myself, this is very welcomed news.
Google uses 200 different ranking factors in its algorithm… any webpage that it ranks has to be filtered thru these factors. The more you know HOW Google ranks pages, the better you can prepare your site and marketing to match their expectations.
Google for so long has been very tight-lipped about how it ranks pages… it has been one of the major “beef” webmasters has had with
Google. Is all this now changing???? Maybe. Sometime in the not so distant past, higher board members or CEOs must have made a strategic change in HOW they would treat webmasters… who after all are really Google’s bread and butter!
It’s our products and content they’re dishing up in their SERPs… why bite the hand that feeds you! Maybe Google has finally gotten the “webmaster” issue right, just like have gotten so many other things right.
Those top Google executive members must have decided to deploy the troops in helping webmasters understand how Google ranks
webpages.
So now you Google troopers such as Matt Cutts, Maile Ohye, among others… following orders from on high and opening up about Google and ranking.
Now, Google is not giving away the shop, but they are becoming a lot more open and straightforward in their answers many concerned webmasters have, regarding how their sites perform within Google.
Which can only mean less sleepless nights for webmasters around the world.
Now we are talking all “white hat” by the book SEO techniques here… how to build backlinks, how to optimize your pages, how to link out to
other sites, and the list of SEO methods goes on.
If you’re serious about ranking high within Google – this “Live Chat Q&A” will give you a lot of solid pointers. Check it out here:
Don’t have to tell you, these are very scary economic times no matter where you live in the world. What’s happening with the stock markets,
mortage meltdown, government bailouts…no country seems immune to all these perdictions of a looming recession.
What does an online do and how should you react to these tough times? So far, I haven’t seen much of a downturn in my own online sales yet, although there’s a slight dip in some luxury affiliate items that I sell, but believe it or not, there are still people buying
big-ticket items on the web.
But there has to be a slow-down in online sales…given all this bad news and how reluctant prospective buyers are becoming. So the real question remains – how do you market in these tough times?
Perhaps, you should look towards those industries that are recession-proof to find your answer. Look towards health care, education, renewable energy, environment, security, international business…
these areas the experts say are the most recession-proof.
Keep in mind, when things are tight financially, people look for ways to save money. It not exactly rocket science to understand that Walmart was one of the stores to see an increase in sales lately…
while most others are dropping.
For the online marketer, this could be pointing to areas where there are opportunities. You can look for bargain retailers, discount stores, coupon shopping… as areas where there will be more and not less economic activity.
Then you have all these workers who have lost their jobs looking for new ways to earn more income. You have retired people who will be looking towards the web to supplement their dwindling retirement savings.
Online education could be a major area of activity in the coming months as laid off workers upgrade their resumes.
Even Internet Marketing will probably see a minor boom as many people look for ways to earn a little extra part-time income. We could see major increases in online webinars and off-line seminars as experienced marketers take advantage of this opportunity to
teach others how to sell and earn on the web.
Since many people will be worrying about debts and bills – any financial courses, services and helpful programs will probably be very popular.
So too will software programs that help people cope with all this financial stress and worry. If you look closely, there should still be a
lot of areas for your online marketing could prosper. Just adjust your marketing to suit the times.
Here’s a really good example of what could do well in these harsh economic times.”
I keep finding excellent information that I must pass to my readers. The article below will help you to communicate better. Enjoy!
“Some Simple Rules of E-mail Etiquette”by Dawn Clement
E-mail is one of the more popular forms of modern communication. The important thing to remember here is that e-mail is, at its core, communication. If you want your e-mails to communicate for you, there are certain rules of etiquette that you should follow. Break enough rules often enough, and your e-mails will go straight into the Recycle Bin. Since this week’s theme is e-mail, I thought it was an appropriate time to remind everyone of some simple rules of e-mail etiquette.
E-mail is not the forum for long, drawn-out prose. Reading text on a computer screen can be hard on the eyes. To get your message across, be concise and to the point. If the recipient has to scroll down, then your e-mail is probably too long. If you need to give that much detail, consider a phone call instead of e-mail. (By the same token, however, make sure you include enough detail so that your recipient knows what your message is regarding.) Also, never forget that e-mail is not private. Don’t include information in an e-mail that you do not wish to share with strangers.
An ineffective use of the “Subject” line is one of the things that annoys a lot of people. Many people sort their mail by subject line, or have messages routed to specific folders based on the subject line. Writing an appropriate subject will ensure that your e-mail is received in a timely manner. Some people even set up their mail programs to automatically delete any e-mail they receive with a blank subject line. If you’re going to go to the trouble to send someone an e-mail, make sure they receive it—use the subject line wisely!
By this point, most people know that you shouldn’t write e-mails in all capital letters because it feels like shouting. But how many realize that writing in all lower-case letters is just as bad? When you write an e-mail in all lower-case letters, you come off as uneducated or just plain lazy. Use spell checker, and read your e-mail before you send it off to check for typos and grammatical errors. Avoid stylized fonts and colored backgrounds—they make reading an e-mail difficult, and you probably want your e-mails to actually be read.
You’ll also want to avoid sending e-mails in HTML or Rich Text format. Not everyone can view these formats, and since most spammers use HTML format, a lot of people delete those e-mails without ever opening them. Lastly, resize any pictures you are sending. Large files take up memory in people’s Inboxes, and many ISPs have e-mail size limits.
When you reply to an e-mail, try to address all issues raised. The recipient would like to know that you actually read their e-mail! If there are a lot of issues or topics covered, you can even quote the original e-mail (and edit out the full version) to carry the conversation along. This saves your reader from having to scroll up and down to find whatever you’re referring to.
Speaking of replying to e-mail—do you ever really need to hit “reply all”? Take a few seconds to edit out any addresses that don’t need to get your reply.
Did you ever stop to think that when you put multiple e-mail addresses in a message’s “To” field, you could be violating the privacy of those people? Every address in the “To” field can inadvertently be exposed to strangers who may use those addresses for their own purposes (usually spam). Be nice and use the “BCC” field instead! Put your own e-mail address in the “To” field and everyone else in the “BCC” field.
Let’s talk about forwards for a moment. I get a lot of forwarded e-mails—mostly jokes and chain letters. My least favorite type of forwarded e-mail are the chain letters that tell you to send it back to the person who sent it to you if you’re a “true friend” or some other such nonsense. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about! Most often, the recipient has to scroll down through a bunch of junk to get to the forwarded message, only to find out that they’re not interested anyway.
There are times when an e-mail really does need to be forwarded, but there are a few things to remember before you hit that “send” button. First, edit the forward; remove all other e-mail addresses, headers and commentary from any other forwarders. Next, add some sort of a personal message to the recipient telling them why you have forwarded the message. Let them know why they should bother reading the rest of the forward (especially if forwards are the majority of your communication with the recipient). Never forward an e-mail without verifying the contents first. Use a Web site such as www.snopes.com or www.urbanlegends.com to investigate any questionable e-mails you plan to send to someone else (don’t forget to edit the forward and add a personal note!).
Lastly, can we all please agree to stop forwarding jokes and chain letters? These e-mails are a waste of time and do nothing except bog down the mail servers. Use an anonymous service like www.stopforwarding.us to let people know that their barrage of forwards isn’t entirely welcome.
Dawn Clementis a freelance writer, domestic engineer, and mother of three with a Masters of Arts in Philosophy and over nine years experience in technical support. She wrote this article for, Computor edge. Enjoy! http://computoredge.com
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”–Plato
Although I am not a Buddhist I think the Buddha is one the greatest teachers the world has ever known. And one of the Buddhist authors I recommend to better understand Buddhism is Brad Warner. In the excerpt below he clarifies the usually misunderstood concept of non-attachment. I think it is worth your time.
Brad Warner’s Hardcore Zen: Attached to Non-Attachment
“There is an idea within Zen Buddhist philosophy that’s sometimes expressed with the word “non-attachment.” But it has nothing to do with the weird belief that we should all be completely aloof from everything in life. Dogen, the 13th century monk who wrote extensively about Zen, talks some about not being attached to self and not being attached to views. But this is a completely different thing from cultivating an attitude where a person strives to be an island unto him or herself, loving nothing, caring about nothing and generally just not giving a shit about much at all.
The notion that we should cultivate such an attitude is extremely dangerous. It’s one of those beliefs that cult leaders use to dominate a community. We all form attachments to those close to us. When we’re told to cut ties with family and friends and with the mainstream society, we’ll naturally form ties with the community and its leader. That’s a very slippery slope. Even when the community and its leader start off relatively cool, that kind of power corrupts quickly and thoroughly.
The don’t-give-a-shit attitude cultivated by far too many who proudly label themselves Buddhists is one of those things that people who dislike Buddhism always use to trash it. And rightly so, because it’s a crap idea! Unfortunately for them, the idea isn’t Buddhism at all. It’s a kind of psychosis — what the psychiatric community calls sociopathy. That’s not what Buddhist practice is intended to bring about.
In fact, this bizarre idea of “non-attachment” runs completely counter to the Buddhist worldview. It’s utterly impossible for anyone ever to be unattached in that way. What we call self and what we call non-self are one and the same. Our real attachments to everyone and everything we encounter run so deep and strong we couldn’t possibly break them no matter how hard we tried. We are fundamentally attached to everything. And of course you’re going to form even deeper attachments to those people and things that are more closely related to you, like your family, friends and home. Don’t sweat it.
Non-attachment to self and views is something entirely different. It means not trying to force yourself to be one single solid unchangeable thing forever and ever world without end amen. What you call your “self” is constantly in a state of flux, mutating and metamorphosing at every moment. But most of us fight against that. We try to establish a fixed personality — a “self.” We waste all kinds of energy defining and defending this fiction we’ve worked hard to create. Stop doing that and you’re free to use all that energy in far more constructive and beneficial ways. Personally, I don’t think the word “non-attachment” is a very good way of describing this so I don’t use it (FYI, even in the passages I referred to, Dogen never actually used the word “non-attachment” since he didn’t write in English).
As far as your attachment to the things you ought to be attached to is concerned, the worst that Buddhist practice is going to do is to make you a little less emotionally frantic about that stuff. When my mom died last year, I didn’t sit around all glassy eyed going, “I have no grief for, lo, I am not attached.” I cried. Hard. But at the same time I didn’t hang on to my grief as tightly as I might have.
Let’s take grief as a case in point that’s applicable to the rest of what we might call emotional attachments. The initial wave of grief you feel at the loss of someone you love just happens. No need to dwell on how or why. It’s just there. And you react; you cry or feel sullen or act in whatever way your cultural upbringing has conditioned you to respond. After that, though, is where things get complicated. The habit of latching onto emotions and incorporating them into the sense of self is so strong that we’ll grab on hard to even the most unpleasant feelings that come along. We hang on for dear life lest our sense of who we are should collapse if we let go. We very literally feel like we’ll die if we don’t. Habits like this have us abusing our bodies and minds in ways that lead to all kinds of trouble. But they’re not necessary. You won’t vanish if you stop reinforcing your image of who you are at every moment.
You can’t undo habits this deep instantly. You shouldn’t even try. But once you become aware of them you find that you always have a clear choice whether to respond habitually or not. Not responding habitually doesn’t mean you become cold, robotic and “non-attached” in the sense a lot of people seem to envision non-attachment. It just means you don’t push your body/mind more than it needs to be pushed.
You still love all the people you loved before. You may even hate the same people you hated before. Even hate doesn’t have to be a terrible thing when you don’t latch onto it and call it your self. It arises and fades away like any other emotion and there’s no need to act upon it. But that’s a topic too big to go into here. In any case, the kind of “attachments” the guy who wrote me that letter remain fully intact. You still love your family and your friends and your kitty cat too.
So don’t get all attached to the idea of non-attachment. OK?”
Brad Warner is the author of Hardcore Zen and Sit Down and Shut Up! He maintains a blog about Buddhist stuff and a My Space Page too. If you’re in Southern California and you want to try some Zazen for yourself, he has a group that meets every Saturday in Santa Monica.
Jack Dunning, the publisher of Computor Edge, just wrote an excellent compendium (the original articles were published in Wired Magazine) about the reasons our financial system is in shambles. Something else we have to consider, however, is the selfish greed and the lack of integrity, which caused the causes. We have to consider that a lack of morality can, and will, wreak havoc in our financial system and in our society as a whole.
The Compendium:
“There is an excellent article in Wired Magazinethat goes a long way toward explaining how the financial system became the mess we see today. It seems that there is a formula that was devised for calculating risk for the complex securities being manufactured by financial institutions. It simplified the risk decision-making process. It was used almost everywhere to evaluate complicated packages. The formula was fatally flawed.
The problem is that the risk involved in these complex mixes of financial instruments have too many dependencies on seemingly unrelated events to properly evaluate them. The fact is that the vast majority of people, including the “financial analyst,” didn’t have the math skills to evaluate the paper they were trading. The formula was used as the panacea. While the times were good, it seemed that the financial markets could do no wrong—and the formula seemed to work. But once there was a kink (bad mortgages), the house of cards collapsed. The formula is now useless, and there is nothing to replace it—yet.
Most of the problem paper in the financial markets does not have a value of zero, but banks are reluctant to buy or sell them precisely because they don’t know how much they are worth. The buyers don’t want to pay too much, while the sellers fear getting too little. Part of the complication is the fact that even individual mortgages have been divided between numerous packages. If you tried to track down who actually owns the mortgage on your house (not the bank who collects the payments), you could find that pieces of your mortgage are in hundreds, if not thousands, of different securities.
People are screaming for more government oversight, but there is no evidence that hiring more civil servants will help resolve anything. It’s been admitted at the SEC that once they get information, they often don’t know what to do with it. Nor is the problem the lack of information. It’s been argued that there is so much information available through regular mandated disclosure that the useless boiler plate overwhelms the buried, more vital figures. The government has mandated transparency through disclosure, yet the mountains of disclosed data overwhelm analysis. Who is capable of sifting through it all?
A companion article in the same issue of Wiredargues that the only real requirement for fixing the financial mess is full disclosure of all the data, not to the government, but to the public. Once the data gets into the hands of geeks and nerds everywhere, the process of turning it into useful information begins. No oversight body will ever have the wherewithal, or talent, to provide information that will actually protect the public from the stupidity of financial institutions. There will always be ways for financial managers to beat the government regulations and march down a lucrative, yet dangerous, road.
Last week’s column by Dawn Clement about the massive networks of home computers chugging away in kitchens all over the world working to solve complex problems may demonstrate a model for future financial analysis. If the government tries to do it, it won’t get done—although they will spend billions while not doing it. Plus, the task may be too daunting and expensive a proposition for private enterprise. A distributed system of home computers each doing its piece of a financial analysis problem could provide more computing power than the biggest supercomputer, while offering up true transparency to those who really need it—the people. All that is required is for the data to be made available to everyone. Someone will start doing something with it. Then the oversight of our financial and securities markets will truly come from the people.
Jack is the publisher of ComputorEdge Magazine. He’s been with the magazine since first issue on May 16, 1983. Back then, it was called The Byte Buyer. His Web site is . He can be reached at www.computoredge.com or ceeditor@computoredge.com
Interesting update from Titus Hoskins, an excerpt and link:
For many of the most competitive, profitable (I like to call them moneyed keywords) Google is displaying a whole
range of search results that can be divided into 5 groups, classifications, types of listings… knowing and targeting
these 5 different areas can make a big difference to how well you rank in Google.
These 5 Pillars of Google Search also has many ramifications for webmasters and especially for online marketers. I believe they will be much more importance as Google moves forward and makes more changes to its ranking system and how it displays those results.
Anyway, I have written a very detailed article on this subject and placed it on my site. The piece discusses
these 5 areas and how you should both know and target them in your own marketing or with your website. I believe
it will help you get better rankings for your site or keywords. It’s too long to put here so you can read it here:
Recently, I came across the Public Radio show, A Way with Words with Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett, and I am finding it not only educational but also interesting and entertaining. If you are interested in improving or getting to know your language better, I highly recommend it.
Show excerpts:
“A fish stinks from the head down.” When an Indianapolis woman is quoted saying that, she’s accused of calling someone a stinky fish. She says she wasn’t speaking literally, insisting that this is a turn of phrase that means “corruption in an organization starts at the top.” Who’s right?
Good news if you’ve wondered about a word for recognizable images composed of random visual stimuli—that image of Elvis in your grilled-cheese sandwich, for example. It’s pareidolia.
Dude, how’d we ever start using the word “dude“? The Big Grantbowski traces the word’s origin–it’s over 125 years old. Here’s a poem about dandy dudes from 1883, the year the word zoomed into common use. Ben Zimmer at Visual Thesaurus also has a very good summary of what is known about “dude.”
You can also listen to their recorded shows or subscribe to their pod cast at: www.waywordradio.org
I found this useful article published by Optimal Webworks. I think you will enjoy it too.
Are You Making These 9 Common Business Website Mistakes?
Sep 16th, 2008 | By Optimal Webworks | Category: Web Business Development
A company’s website is the most powerful and inexpensive marketing tool you can possibly use. So why is it that so many businesses pay little attention to making the website function properly? If you operate a website, or are in the midst of creating one for your website, study the following list of business website mistakes and compare these items to your site.
9 COMMON BUSINESS WEBSITE MISTAKES:
1. YOUR WEBSITE IS ABOUT YOU AND YOUR COMPANY Focusing your website on you and your business is no fault of your own. We often want to use our company website to discuss our services and tell our company story. Sadly, our company story isn’t the most sought-after information customers want. You company’s website should take aim at providing for your customers and site visitors. If your website fulfills a need, your audience has the potential to expand, exposing your company to new clients and customers.
2. YOUR WEBSITE DOES NOT SOLVE A PROBLEM Web users seek out businesses that can solve problems for them, not tell them what problems they have. Your customers know what problems they have. They want solutions. When writing about a service your business offers, rethink the content and instead write about the problem your service or product targets. In your content, explain possible solutions to the problem, including explaining how your product can help. But remember what we learned in mistake No. 1: Your website should NOT be all about YOU!
3. VISITORS NEED MORE THAN 4 SECONDS TO UNDERSTAND YOUR WEBSITE Are you a company that sells soups or soup bowls? Your website visitors won’t wait to find out. Website users often judge a website’s usefulness within a matter of seconds, and if you’re not ready, you may not get a second chance. Your business’s website must explain its purpose clearly and quickly.
4. YOUR WEBSITE DOES NOT TELL SITE VISITORS WHAT TO DO What is the purpose of your website? Why do you want people to visit? A better question is “What do you want visitors to do?” If the reason for your website is to get new customers to contact you, make sure your website leads users to the contact form. TELL VISITORS to contact you. Don’t make them guess what you want them to do. Obviously, we don’t want to order all of our new friends around, but we do want them to know exactly what they should do to get the most out of our website. Know what you want out of your website and help visitors perform accordingly.
5. VISITORS MUST LEARN HOW TO NAVIGATE YOUR SITE Website users don’t want to spend time learning how to use your website. Navigation must be intuitive, otherwise, new visitors may not be able to find what their looking for. Imagine that you have the perfect content on applying your wood sealer to an outside porch. However, a user must navigate through a number of pages just to find your “deck care” page. If your navigation isn’t intuitive, how many clicks do you think a new user will make before deciding to click back to Google?
6. WEBSITE DESIGN TAKES PRECEDENCE OVER CONTENT We all love great looking websites. We enjoy bright colors, sharp images, fancy text. It’s where business websites get into style over substance that they get into trouble. Building an website with an interesting design could get people to pause on your website a second longer. That’s true. But if a website visitor doesn’t understand what your site is about because content is overrun by distracting images and the visitor fails to find how your website addresses their problem, that visitor will likely think to themselves ‘that’s a good looking site’ and then return to Google to find another site that can fulfill their needs.
7. YOUR WEBSITE IS BUILT ENTIRELY IN FLASH Flash is GREAT! It’s really an amazing technology. But it’s not one that should build your website. Flash creates a number of problems, one of them main hindrances being that search engines have a tough time navigating your website. Flash also depends on users to have Flash plugins enabled in their browsers. Websites built in HTML and utilize CSS play much more nicely with search engines and increase your chances of being indexed. The better you rank in search engines, the higher your potential traffic. Building your website entirely in Flash greatly limits your website’s potential traffic.
8. YOUR WEBSITE IS OPTIMIZED FOR ONLY ONE BROWSER About 30 percent of all web users use the Mozilla Firefox browser. If 100 people visit your site in one day, potentially 30 of those visitors use the Firefox browser. If your website isn’t optimized to display properly in that browser, that’s 30 people that could likely be turned off by your website right off the bat. Already, we’ve seen a number of factors that can work against your website, from visitors’ short attention span to poor navigation to the wrong content. Make sure you website designer tests your website for proper display in all the recent browsers.
9. YOUR WEBSITE IMAGES CONTAIN TEXT Images are for visual accents, not text. And not search engines, because they can’t read text in images. Text is for your readers, and it helps search engines understand the purpose of your website. If any of your important text lies inside an image, search engines likely won’t be able to read your text and add any value to your page for keywords you may be targeting.
There is a tiny book out there that can fit in anybody’s shirt pocket. It is titled, the pocket Buddha reader. It was edited by Anne Bancroft; and it has outstanding selections of the Buddha’s teachings. Below, I am adding an interesting excerpt (pg 33) to give you an idea.
“…the infinitely varied forms of this world, in all their relativity, far from being a hindrance and a dangerous distraction to the spiritual path, are really a healing medicine. Why? Because by the very fact that they are interdependent on each other and therefore have no separate self, they express the mystery and the energy of all-embracing love. Not just the illumined wise ones but every single being in the interconnected world is a dweller in the boundless infinity of love”. –Prajnaparamita (The perfection of Wisdom)
A note from Wikipedia: “The Perfection of Wisdom Sutras or Prajñāpāramitā Sutras are a genre of Mahayana Buddhist scriptures dealing with the subject of the Perfection of Wisdom. The term Prajñāpāramitā alone never refers to a specific text, but always to the class of literature.” www.wikipedia.com
“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.”–Mohandas Gandhi
I was just listening to Marcome’s music…the piece titled, Yeku. Since I couldn’t do her justice with a description I want to encourage you to visit her site.
About Marcome (Marko-may):
” Marcomé blends lyrics with a wordless language that creates a soothing and ethereal world. Marcomé is a master at blending the manydifferent sounds of her voice in orderto create vocalharmonies that are richly textured. Marcoméincorporates dreamy keyboards, fretless bass, jazzy guitar riffs, traditional world beat percussions and instruments, while layering her ethereal voice into hercompositions. Presently, quality New Age music is making a strong resurgence in global popularity; as music lovers are searching for a type of uplifting, spiritual music that is a companion for their everyday lives.
Marcomé is a gifted independent, female recording artist who will grab your attention after one listen (I can vouch for that).”
Maria Eves sent me this video on Twitter. Need I say more?
A quote: “Mentoring… is why you should get up every day–to teach and be taught. Every time you greet the grocery store checker with a smile, or pick up a piece of litter or pat someone on the back, you very well might be mentoring someone that is watching you.”–Coach John Wooden
“In the last issue of ComputorEdge, Digital Dave gave one of his readers (and us subscribers) some interesting advice on keeping our computers safe. You too may find it educational.
Here it is:
“Since you are a “security nut,” I assume that you have antivirus and anti-spyware software running on your computer. In addition, you should have some sort of firewall protection for your Internet connection. If you haven’t already done so, put in a router between your DSL modem and the computer. The firewall in the router will give you added protection, plus it makes it easy to share the connection with trusted friends and family. This will make it harder for intruders to get onto your network and your computer.
By default, the drives on your computer are not shared. That means that even if someone is on your network, they cannot access the drives on your computer. If you do have reason to share a drive on the network, be sure to add password protection with a strong password.
Generally, your firewall software and the protections built into Firefox should do a pretty good job of blocking outside intrusions. However, once someone gets inside the wall to your computer, either through a virus or spyware, there is little to protect your drives.
Most viruses get in through trickery and our own lapses in judgment. There is no software that will protect us from ourselves. The most important steps to take are in preventing yourself from allowing something nefarious into your system.
• Never download (save) an unverified attachment in an e-mail, link on a Web page, or from a pop-up at a Web site. If it’s an unexpected e-mail from a friend, talk to that friend under separate cover to verify the document sent.
• The Internet browsers have built-in protections to prevent the Web sites from accessing your computer. If you are merely surfing the Web, you are in little danger of being infected. However, if you click on a link, then allow something to be downloaded, the risk begins. There are some add-ons for browsers, such as Adobe Reader and Flash, that can enhance the Web experience and need to be downloaded. Rather than downloading the software from any site that may determine that you need it, you should go directly to the parent site for the software.
• Be suspicious of everything, especially windows that pop up offering to solve your virus problem.
• Only install software that you know comes from a legitimate source. Even then, be cautious. If you are downloading software, be sure that it’s coming from the correct site.
• If you are not sure about something, do a Google search for reviews on the questionable item.
• If reading files is a concern, to further protect your files, you can encrypt files or entire drives to make them unreadable for people without the proper key, which can be kept on a thumb drive. This should stop reading, although not deleting or altering.
The best protection is to prevent problems from ever getting on your computer in the first place.”
I just received a letter today (resembling a bill) from Domains Renewal Group. As soon as I read it I knew they were not a reputable company; they don’t host my domain.
Sure enough! I goggled their name and the first five pages (I didn’t have to continue) gave me entries reporting the company as unethical and deceptive. There is no need to write another detailed post regarding their behavior–most of what I read was well explained and documented. But if you get a letter from them (resembling a bill), asking you to renew your domain name for only 30.00 dollars a year, I recommend you to toss it in the garbage and do a google search … or vice versa.
“The only thing more powerful than all the armies in the world is an idea whose time has come.”–Victor Hugo
Be advised. The information contained in this post will make you think twice before ordering your next steak. By the way, chickens are treated the same way.
“Why we don’t use corn-fed meat in our jerky” By Jerky Direct.
“For the first time in history, because of cheap, subsidized corn production in this country, millions of animals are now raised in close confinement and fed on diets that are not healthy for them.
In these huge feedlots animals are forced to live mainly on corn, not grass. Why? Because it’s cheaper. Instead of grazing four or five years from birth to slaughter, animals are now brought to slaughter within 14 to 16 months. They are fed tremendous quantities of corn and an arsenal of drugs.
Animals can’t live on such diet for very long. It would blow out their livers and kill them. So they are bred and fed to get to slaughter quickly, and the antibiotics keep them alive long enough to slaughter. They would not survive on this diet without antibiotics.”
The meat from these animals is “definitely not right for your health” And the animals themselves live a miserable life.
“Jerky Direct uses only grass fed and/or certified organic beef not raised in these huge industrialized feedlots. The organic certification states that not only the animal itself, but its mother must have been fed an organic diet free from all the unnatural chemicals and additives.”
On my last visit to the YMCA gym this past week, I found a note on the shower room refering to the fact that new shower heads had been installed which reduced the flow of water in order to conserve it.
I am trying to figure out why in San Diego, CA , a city famous for its beaches on the Pacific Ocean we are having a water shortage. We do have the technology (desalinization) to treat seawater and make it consumable, don’t we? I have asked around but nobody seems to know. Any ideas? Do you know?
Thanks for your input.
“Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement.” ~ Alfred Adler
I had heard people talk about the movie Door to Door and recently came across a post at the Mawhinney blog, reviewing the movie. I was impressed! Bill Porter was born with cerebral palsy and against all odds became the top salesman for the Watkins company. So I did a search in Wikipedia to corroborate the facts and this is what I found:
“Porter had been told for many years that he was not employable, but he threw all of his effort into working as a salesman for Watkins. Despite the pain of his medical condition, he would walk eight to ten miles a day to meet his customers. Porter has been able to support himself, and continued to work as a salesman at the age of 69 at the time of the film’s showing.”
At the age of 76 Mr. Porter is still working; you can visit him on the web.
The season of failure is the best time for sowing the seeds of success.– Paramahansa Yogananda
I recently realized that I had wasted over $1500.00 in storage space due to my attachments and I gave notice. We get attached to things that we don’t use (and maybe will never use again). They have been with us for awhile, and we plan to use them again eventually…maybe!
If I would have gotten rid of everything I had in storage for over two years instead of putting it in storage, I would be able to buy three times what I had stored. Everything I had in there was not worth more than $500.00
Does it makes sense to use storage? Maybe sometimes. Most of the time, however, we are just wasting money due to meaningless attachments. What do you think? Are you using storage space?
Quote: “A man can succeed at almost anything for which he has unlimited enthusiasm”.–Charles Schwab
In a simple way, The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz show us how human beings distort our reality, trapping ourselves in negative beliefs that we never challenge. In the book don Miguel, also a Toltec shaman, gives us four agreements to help us break free from our limiting belief system:
1.Don’t take anything personally,
2.Don’t make assumptions,
3. Be impeccable with your word and
4. Always do your best.
It is interesting to note that if practiced consistently, each of the first three agreements would take us to inner silence. The fourth one refers to doing your best, just your best, with the other three.
“All paths, Arjuna, lead to me.” Krishna—The Baghavad Gita (4:11)
After I left Arcosanti, Arizona, I eventually reached The Sycamore Ranch in New Mexico. I worked there as a ranch hand for a little over a year. At the ranch I started working on the manuscript for The Eye of the Dragon, Stalking Castaneda.
It was by chance, while digging some facts about the ranch for my book, that I found these pictures on the web. Here they are. Enjoy!
This is the entrance and the Cactus Garden.
This is the main house and my pad to the right:
The Forest. Animas Creek runs through it.
Amazing place! It is right in the middle of the Chihuahuan Desert.
These two quotes from two different Buddhist teachers are quite helpful. One explains the problem that we face, the source of our discontent. The other tells us how the problem is solved.
“Lack of vigilance is like a thief, who slinks behind when mindfulness abates.
And all the merit we have gathered in. He steals, and down we go to lower realms.”
–Shantideva, The Way of the Bodhisattva
“The more I doubted, the more I meditated, the more I practiced. Whenever doubt arose I practiced right at that point. Wisdom arose. Things began to change. It’s hard to describe the change that took place. The mind changed until there was no more doubt. I don’t know how it changed. If I were to try telling someone, they probably wouldn’t understand.”
I have been receiving website magazine for a few months and I find it enlightnening. They have educational articles on just about everything: blogging, marketing, search engine optimization etc. Here is a short article as an example:
The Importance of Your Twitter Image:
“As Twitter continues to sweep the Internet, it only makes sense that users are adding more and more followers each day. And while services like TweetDeck can help manage all those incoming tweets, not everyone is using them. That presents a problem for those using Twitter to market their brands. How do you stand out amidst all the noise?
Twitter is an excellent tool for finding breaking news. As such, many users scan their Twitter accounts quickly to find something of interest. Pay attention to how you scan Twitter, and you might find yourself looking at users’ images more than the actual list of tweets. That’s because as you become accustomed to the value of a particular user’s tweets, you look for them specifically. It’s much easier to pick out an image of value rather than the entire tweet. Therefore, it’s important, as a brand, to have an image that is instantly recognizable – one that stands out. That way when users are scanning a long list of tweets, the chances increase that they will stop and read yours. That all depends, of course, on the value you are providing with each and every tweet associated with your image”.
“You can learn new things at any time in your life if you’re willing to be a beginner. If you actually learn to like being a beginner, the whole world opens up to you”.–Barbara Sher
I visited Mission Bay Park today…in mindfulness. People walking… seagulls flying…sailboats,…kayaks.
People fishing, a crow flying by and shitting…a fisherman looking up.
Girls and boys running…a man in crutches.
Wind blowing…palm trees swaying…rustling leaves.
Blue skies…jumping fish…people having lunch…lifting weights…
Beautiful day!
We are building an incredible new fence. Is that the solution?
Mexicans cross the US border illegally in search of work because they don’t earn enough money in their own country to sustain themselves. I can vouch for that. Is a fence going to stop them? I don’t think so.
We have to address the problem not the symptoms. They need a decent minimum wage. They need schools and libraries. They don’t need a fence; they need a supportive government. If they would have that they wouldn’t even think about the United States. They have a beautiful country and a deep cultural background.
We applauded when the Berlin Wall fell. Are we building another one?
What do you think?
“Be Kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”–Socrates
“One day the son asked his father, ‘Dad, let’s join the Ironman together?’”
“For those who didn’t know, Ironman is the toughest triathlon ever. The race encompasses three endurance events of a 2.4 mile (3.86 kilometer) ocean swim, followed by a 112 mile (180.2 kilometer) bike ride, and ending with a 26.2 mile (42.195 kilometer) marathon along the coast of the Big Island of Hawaii”.
“No man is an island, entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were. Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”–John Donne
“As a product of the Renaissance, Donne was filled with certain ideals and the passage he wrote in “Meditation XVII” reflects this. He believed that all people were connected by community bonds as well as spiritual bonds. Every event in the life of one man had some influence on the life of all others. The very influence Donne had on authors that came after him is some evidence of the truth of his axiom”.
“When Donne writes of the tolling bell, he is, of course, speaking of the funeral bell. It was traditionally rung three times for a man and two times for a woman followed by a pause and then a toll for every year of age for the deceased. It is a solemn sounding bell as can easily be discerned from the descriptive poetry of Poe’s”
“Ultimately, the point of Donne’s “Meditation XVII” is more uplifting. Even though we all die a bit when someone else dies, the interconnectedness of humanity means that some part of us lives on even after we die”.
When I worked at the Sycamore Ranch in New Mexico. I had to relocate a rattlesnake once. And it is really an easy job; you just scoop them up with a hand net. It is also safe if you are careful. But they grow big in Texas. I don’t know how I would have relocated this one: ( 9 Feet, 1 inch, 97 pounds)
They are supposed to be a good source of protein.
Recipe below
DEEP-FRIED RATTLESNAKE1 medium-sized rattlesnake (3-4 lbs.), cut into steaks 1/2 cup flour 1/4 cup cornmeal 1/4 cup cracker crumbs 1/2 cup milk 1 egg 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (not garlic salt) 1 teaspoon salt dash pepperMix dry ingredients. Whisk milk into beaten egg and use to dip snake steaks. Then coat them with dry ingredients. Fry, uncovered, in 400 degree oil until brown.
This net is all you need (to relocate)
Clarification
Claim: Photograph above shows a 9-foot rattlesnake caught in Texas. (9 feet,
1 inch – 97 lbs.)
Status: Undetermined.
The proportions seem impossible. A nine foot snake weighing 97 pound would be ten pounds per foot and the appearance of the snake in the picture doesn’t seem to be that hefty. It also seems unlikely that the pole could support the weight and the man holding it could hoist 97 pounds so casually. After some further investigation I found a page from a zoo that gives a formula for the length-weight relationship of rattlesnakes which states that a seven foot wild rattler would weigh about 15 pounds and an eight-foot snake would weigh 23 pounds. According to this formula nine-foot snake could not possibly weigh 97 pounds. Posted by google answers –czh-ga
Anyway, it is still quite a rattlesnake.
“Things turn out the best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.”–John Wooden
I found this website: http://www.hinduism.co.za/ and a really good interview with Sri Ramana Maharshi on reincarnation. Excerpt below: (The site is hard to navigate: Go to “Hinduism and Quantum Physics” and look for “Reincarnation”) Sri Ramana Maharshi: Reincarnation exists only so long as there is ignorance. There is really no reincarnation at all, either now or before. Nor will there be any hereafter. This is the truth.
[Note: Comments by David Godman: Most religions have constructed elaborate theories which purport to explain what happens to the individual soul after the death of the body. Some claim that the soul goes to heaven or hell while others claim that it is reincarnated in a new body.
Sri Ramana Maharshi taught that all such theories are based on the false assumption that the individual self or soul is real; once this illusion is seen through, the whole superstructure of after-life theories collapses. From the standpoint of the Self, there is no birth or death, no heaven or hell, and no reincarnation.
As a concession to those who were unable to assimilate the implications of this truth, Sri Ramana would sometimes admit that reincarnation existed. In replying to such people he would say that if one imagined that the individual self was real, then that imaginary self would persist after death and that eventually it would identify with a new body and a new life. The whole process, he said, is sustained by the tendency of the mind to identify itself with a body. Once the limiting illusion of mind is transcended, identification with the body ceases, and all theories about death and reincarnation are found to be inapplicable]
Question: Are the past and future mere imagination?
Maharshi: Yes, even the present is mere imagination, for the sense of time is purely mental. Space is similarly mental. Therefore birth and rebirth, which take place in time and space, cannot be other than imagination.
Memorable quote: “You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.”–Woodrow Wilson
My friend Andrew Perri sent me the 45 lessons life taught Regina Brett, the senior metro columnist of The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio. Some of her columns have been nominated for the Pulitzer Price. She has a book based on her 50 life lessons coming out in April of 2010. She is not 90 years old. She is a wise spring chicken.
“To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I’ve ever written.”–Regina Brett
1. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
2. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.
3. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
4. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
5. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
6. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
7. Forgive everyone everything.
8. What other people think of you is none of your business.
9. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
10. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
11. Your children get only one childhood.
12. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
13. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
14. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
“A holy man was having a conversation with God one day and said, ‘ God , I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.’
God led the holy man to two doors.
He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in. In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew, which smelled delicious and made the holy man’s mouth water.
The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished.
They were holding spoons with very long handles, that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful.
But because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.
The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering. God said, ‘You have seen Hell.’
They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one.
There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the holy man’s mouth water.
The people were equiped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking. The holy man said, ‘I don’t understand..’
It is simple,’ said God . ‘It requires but one skill.
You see they have learned to feed each other, while the greedy think only of themselves.’”
A loving heart is the truest wisdom.–Charles Dickens
Excerpt from my forthcoming book: The Eye of the Dragon. Stalking Castaneda, Prologue
In erstwhile days (not fully aware of what I was doing, I must confess) I left everything behind in search of The Eye of the Dragon. At the beginning of my journey, I came across the teachings of the ancient Toltecs of Mexico through the books of Carlos Castaneda. The wisdom of ‘don Juan’, a Mexican Yaqui Indian shaman, was a beacon, but in 2001, I came across derogatory information about Castaneda, which cast a shadow on his credibility and proved conclusively that many of his claims, (and to a great extent his work with don Juan) were fraudulent. At the time, I had verified a lot of what he had written about, and the new and discrediting facts greatly puzzled me. They also forced me to question my findings and convictions, and to look in other directions to take new bearings.
Furthermore, it had been claimed that Castaneda had left this world in full consciousness taking his body with him, and the turmoil and utter disappointment that Castaneda’s ordinary death (due to cancer of the liver) caused in many of his closest followers, made me realize how blind human beings can be; and how ready we are to miss a point and become either judges or victims. I am writing these notes with a double purpose: to help me get a better perspective and a new direction, and to maybe help a few others do the same.
And in case you don’t know Castaneda, I’ll tell you a little about his work as I go along, for it was a great help in my search for the eye of the dragon. I will also be comparing it with other works that have also been helpful. I won’t delve into any of these works; that is unnecessary. I will just say that their main and recurring theme is our destructive egomania, and I’ll let my own experience illustrate. It behooves you to do your own research and confirm the damaging effects of the ego, for being the bane of humankind its study is worthy of our consideration. Consider this:
In an article I once came across in a monthly magazine, I read about a six-year-old boy who died after breaking his neck under an extremely heavy load, too heavy for the child to carry. The article also said that he had been a slave all his life. The author knew this because archeologists are trained to read bones. And the child’s bones, together with other bones (a mass grave for slaves) had been found while excavating somewhere in New York City (of all places) to lay the foundation for a new building. His bones not only told this archeologist how he had died but also how he had lived. They told him that he had been overworked all his life, that he had been malnourished, that he probably never had a loving arm around him. His bones told him that that heavy load killed him at the tender age of six years old.
Should I ever feel sorry for myself? But actually, a more pertinent question would be, should I ever be sorry for that little boy? For just like that little boy I am going to die, and although longer, my life might well end up being much more miserable than his was. For only by reducing my self-importance to the lowest can I claim to be different from his captors and murderers; there is such a thing as a collective responsibility, a social contract. We all endorse a social contract that thrives in egomania, an egomania that causes the suffering of humanity.
Carlos Castaneda is dead now, but his controversial legacy remains.
Spammers abound in most social networks and Twitter is no different. Only a few of my contacts actually communicates. Should I stay or should I go? I found an interesting article about Twitter and here is an excerpt. To see the whole article go to www.computoredge.com
Should I Stay or Should I Go?
“Some call Twitter a “fad,” and it’s uncertain how the model can turn a profit. An April 2009 Nielsen report, “Twitter Quitters,” found that “more than 60 percent of U.S. Twitter users fail to return the following month.” In a June 10, 2009 blog post, Nine Inch Nails lead singer Trent Reznor announced that he’s “out” of the social networking game. Reznor said that the noise outweighs the benefits. Since that post, Reznor continues to contribute, but no longer accepts RTs (return tweets).
While there is some obvious fall-off, Neeman said that the audience is there, and the high amount of active users proves it. “If the audience is well read, technologically savvy and connected to the social media,” Neeman said, “Twitter is great.”
While there may be some changes in store for Twitter, Toliver thinks the concept will remain. “All these sites will evolve. I don’t think there’s any going back, though,” Toliver said. “Now that it’s here, we’re all too curious to see what other people are doing at any given time. I know several people who admit to being addicted.”"
“For all thoughts the source is the ‘I’ thought. The mind will merge only by Self-enquiry ‘Who am I?’ The thought ‘Who am l?’ will destroy all other thoughts and finally kill itself also. If other thoughts arise, without trying to complete them, one must enquire to whom did this thought arise. What does it matter how many thoughts arise? As each thought arises one must be watchful and ask to whom is this thought occurring. The answer will be ‘to me’. If you enquire ‘Who am I?’ the mind will return to its source (or where it issued from). The thought which arose will also submerge. As you practise like this more and more, the power of the mind to remain as its source is increased.”
What is the nature of the mind?
What is called ‘mind’ is a wondrous power residing in the Self. It causes all thoughts to arise. Apart from thoughts, there is no such thing as mind. Therefore, thought is the nature of mind. Apart from thoughts, there is no independent entity called the world. In deep sleep there are no thoughts, and there is no world. In the states of waking and dream, there are thoughts, and there is a world also. Just as the spider emits the thread (of the web) out of itself and again withdraws it into itself, likewise the mind projects the world out of itself and again resolves it into itself. When the mind comes out of the Self, the world appears. Therefore, when the world appears (to be real), the Self does not appear; and when the Self appears (shines) the world does not appear. When one persistently inquires into the nature of the mind, the mind will end leaving the Self (as the residue). What is referred to as the Self is the Atman. The mind always exists only in dependence on something gross; it cannot stay alone. It is the mind that is called the subtle body or the soul (jiva).
Author Steve Hagen invites us to experience the truth that lies before us, but eludes the thinking mind.
Interview by Lisa Schneider
Excerpt: On Reincarnation:
“Reincarnation implies the persistence of a self. And this goes to the very heart of the Buddhist insight. There isn’t any persistence of any kind whatsoever. Everything is fresh, new in each moment. Already you’re not the person who called me a few moments ago. Already your mind is different, new thoughts have entered into it. Your feelings and emotions have changed.
Within a few months virtually all the material of our bodies will be exchanged with other material that’s now disbursed in the environment. This is a continuous ongoing flow. Even the electrons, the electrical exchanges between the materials in our bodies and the cabinet, the floor, or anything else that’s around you is in continuous flow and flux and change. Nothing is holding still.
So within this kind of world of total impermanence, where do we find permanence? We don’t find it anywhere. But that’s what would be required for the standard understanding of reincarnation: that there’s something called me, an “I” that will persist.
Well we can believe this and of course this would be one of those form things: something that we think, something that we believe. But as I understand the Buddhist teachings, the awakened wouldn’t buy this. They would go with what is actually experienced directly. What is experienced directly? Total flux and change, impermanence. So impermanent that we actually don’t find a thing there to be impermanent, such as a self.”
To read the complete interview please follow the link below:
I received some Caregiver Survival Tips by Dr. Steven H. Hodes that I consider excellent. Here they are:
Caring for Others Helps You Grow Spiritually
When you’re caring for a loved one too ill to care for himself or herself, it is also important to save some time and energy for yourself.Here’s how.
By Steven E. Hodes, M.D.
When you go through a caregiving experience, it can seem odd and even unreal. Dealing with physicians and “hospital speak” may make you feel as if you’re in some bizarre alternate world. It may help you to realize that this is a universal human phenomenon. You are not alone in the experience or in facing these challenges. Here are some insights to help you survive and, yes, spiritually grow.
Assume the Role of Caregiver
You are now the advocate. Make sure your loved one is getting the best medical care possible. Your job is not to “play doctor,” but to find the most competent and caring physicians you can. Work with medical professionals you can trust to guide you and your loved one through these difficult times. As you find strength you never knew you had, make sure you save some for your own life. One of the hazards of caretaking is sacrificing yourself in the process.
Deal with One Thing at a Time
During times of actual crisis, don’t project or worry about the future. Deal with the immediate only. Pick out the closest goal or target. Don’t begin to worry about what will or might occur down the road. Don’t dwell on how traumatic these events are for everyone in the family. This will only increase your anxiety and distress. Pick the next step and place one foot in front of the other; concentrate fully on that. Your worry about the future is a waste of your energy during times of crisis. Furthermore, your predictions may be entirely erroneous.
Acknowledge Your Emotional Distress
Fear is the most basic of emotions. When a parent or loved one is ill or incapacitated, it can make you feel like a child again. The shocking awareness, in childhood, that we are separate beings whose parents cannot protect us is a feeling that never truly dissipates. The fear of being alone rushes back precipitously when we are reminded of our loved one’s mortality. It is important to know that you will have moments of deep sadness and hopelessness when you see your loved one suffering, and that is a natural reaction.
Face Your Deepest Fears and Pain
Most psychologists and spiritual leaders recognize the need to experience, rather than suppress, these feelings. The universality of death and transient nature of life are realities for us all. Knowing this from a spiritual perspective can help you dialogue and deal with the intense feelings of the heart. This is not easy—but it is necessary and ultimately healing.
See Crisis as an Opportunity for Healing
Many individuals have had fractured and painful relationships with their parents or loved ones. Seeing your loved ones as vulnerable and wounded may offer new opportunities for healing. Rather than repeating this cycle of generational pain/anger, this can be a transformative time for all concerned. Look for ways to put the past behind you and be present and loving.
Honor Your Loved One’s Spiritual Journey
Honor what is going on with your loved one on a spiritual level. In addition to the physical emergency, there is a higher truth. The physical brain/body is constantly changing and ultimately deteriorating. Spiritual forces will ultimately determine the outcome of this life, as well as its ending. This is not something you can control, although you can provide comfort, support, and care.
Share Your Worries with Others
Don’t try to deny your own pain and frustration. And don’t try to hold it in. It is important to find outlets to ventilate your own distress and tell the truth about what you are going through. Don’t be afraid of frightening off others. Those who care will be there for you.
Experience the Power of Love
Soak in the love. Let the love and prayers of others uplift you. On your journey, remember that love heals. Your presence in your loved one’s life is a healing presence. Let others replenish you with their love and compassion along the way.
Let Caretaking Transform You
When a loved one is in a crisis, we change our priorities and notions of what is important in life. The pursuit of material wealth, professional recognition, and ego gratification are easily shed. Unfortunately, after a while, time and again we forget these healing lessons and return to our prior state of consciousness. Make an effort to allow the life lessons of caretaking to help you on the road to self-improvement.
Know When to Let Go
When it comes to decisions regarding end of life or continued treatment, be sure to make the judgment based on the best interest of your loved one. Too often there are unnecessary tests, procedures, and surgeries performed on individuals who are in the process of actively dying and who have no realistic hope for recovery. Rather than allow relatives to die peacefully, some people insist that “everything be done.” This causes unnecessary pain and suffering. Often the motivation is guilt or the inability to let go. In such situations this can be a selfish, rather than a loving act. Know in your heart when it is time to let go.
Take Care of You
Here is the most important advice: Take care of your own physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. Although we may be focused completely on our loved one’s suffering, we need to be strong in order to be there. Withdraw yourself mentally from the crisis for short periods, and do not feel guilty. Maintain your nutrition, exercise, and rest. Whether meditation, exercise, or prayer are your personal modes of finding strength, don’t abandon them now. Remember the universal statements regarding the use of oxygen masks on airplanes: “When flying with children, always place YOUR mask on first.” You have to be strong and conscious in order to help others.
Google Wave Combines E-mail with Instant Messaging
In my last issue of Computoredge I received interesting news about Google’s exciting new wave. Coming soon! Excerpt below:
Google’s Next Wave
Before launching a new project, Google believes in rethinking how things should have been done in the first place. The company is every bit as innovative as Apple, but without the let’s-own-everything-ourselves culture. Google will develop a new product or system while seeming to have no idea how it can ever make money. Its goal always appears to be, “Let’s build that new system now. We’ll figure out the financial part later.” This is the case with Google Wave, one of the latest new projects from Google.
Google Wave, planned for initial release later this year, could be the future replacement for both the current e-mail system and instant messengers. By rethinking the 40-year-old e-mail system and integrating instant messaging techniques, Google has combined the functionality of both while opening it up to collaboration. Although it is not a totally new way of viewing Internet communications, Wave does pull together the concepts underlying e-mail, instant messaging and network meetings.
Google Wave is open source. That means Google is making it freely available to developers for building their own apps. While Google will be offering Wave accounts hosted on its own servers, anyone will be able to host their own Wave server, which can either be inside a private network or connected to the wider Google Wave community—your choice. Google Wave is more a protocol for developing communications systems than it is an end product.
I learned a few things about Wi-Fi Security in this explanation by Dave in Computoredge Magazine. It may help you too.
When you are using a Wi-Fi connection, or for that matter, anytime you are communicating over the Internet, the only time your information is secure is when you are using a secure (encrypted) connection. In Web browsing, an encrypted connection is accomplished through TLS (Transport Layer Security), previously SSL (Secure Socket Layer). Rather than using the standard port 80 for Web connections, TSL uses port 443. The browser knows this and looks for a valid Security Certificate from the Web site.
In most Web browsers, you can identify a secure TSL page by the “s” in https:// and the “closed padlock” icon on the end of the address field. See the figure below. Anytime you are sending private information over the Web, make sure that these appear. When you log on to the connection, it should be through a secure page. Also, any online business (purchases, banking, etc.) needs to be done through encrypted (TSL) Web pages. (Not all browser versions will display the “closed padlock” icon.)
Figure 2. See the https on the left and the “closed padlock” on the right for a secure (encrypted) Web site.
These browser indications (https and the icon) are not foolproof. If you want be sure that you are at the right Web site, then examine the Security Certificate. (Click on the “closed padlock” icon and select “View certificates.”) The URL, or address, should match the address line. Browsers will give warnings if a Security Certificate doesn’t look right.
You need to understand that most Internet communications are not encrypted and therefore not secure. E-mail is particularly vulnerable since it is rarely ever encrypted. As it bounces from e-mail server to e-mail server on its way to its destination, it can be intercepted. You should never put confidential information (credit card info, Social Security numbers, etc.) into an e-mail.
If you don’t know that you are using an encrypted connection, then you should always treat the Internet communication as vulnerable to public viewing. Plus, none of this protects you from the person looking over your shoulder at the coffee house.
“When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal.”–Napoleon Hill
“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson
I found Maria in Twitter and I was impressed by her work; maybe there is hope for twitter. Enjoy! Her website is below.
I have been painting and drawing since childhood, using various techniques , going from pencil and graphite to pastels , watercolors and finally oils which I like the most. There is no complicated philosophical explanation about my paintings , the whole sense of my work is to communicate an emotion to you by watching a painting .
My work is a celebration of life, inspired from things I see every day , things that most of us do not pay much attention to.
My daily experiences: watching the sky , a bird , conversations, media, photos, television, memories, are reduced to abstract shapes and colors which allow me to show what I feel is important and beautiful. Abstraction is the way I come closest to representing the world around.–Maria Kitano
“ When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall, always.”– Mahatma Gandhi
I found a really interesting article on Computoredge magazine about reliable (free) antivirus programs. The article also has a link to another excellent article on computer higiene to keep your computer healthy. There is an excerpt below and also the links to both articles. Don’t miss them:
Do Free Antivirus Programs Work as Well as Commercial Versions?
Many people insist that the commercial (paid) antivirus programs easily outperform the free programs. They say that since the program is free, it couldn’t possibly get the support needed to keep the protection up-to-date.
While there is no doubt that you will get more features in the paid versions of antivirus software, it is difficult to say that the free versions of the highlighted programs are not as effective as the other commercial programs. All three of the programs listed here have a paid upgrade available for their professional-level software. While each of the companies would like to give an incentive for people to upgrade to the paid version, it would be counterproductive for them to offer a less-than-effective free version. It would hurt their reputation. Since the goal is for you to upgrade to the commercial virus-protection software, each company must offer an effective free product to protect their good name.
Why Not Use All the Best Free Antivirus Programs?
Unlike Web browsers, you don’t want different antivirus programs running simultaneously. They will interfere with each other and probably generate numerous errors. Based upon the nature of how antivirus software works, it’s necessary to choose one. You may want to store the better programs available on your computer, but only one should be active. Then, if you do run into a virus problem that one program can’t resolve, you can deactivate the first while trying a secondary program. Pick only one for your active program.
Lately, I have come across several posts from people requesting information on Ameriplan USA (they sell discount dental plans) because they are thinking of joining. Below is my experience with them; it happened about four years ago.
Ameriplan ”withheld” my earned commissions using the pretext of a “persistence reward” program, whatever that means. There is no excuse for not paying you your personally earned commissions, that is what you work for. I also lost a customer due to bad service.
I wrote two letters regarding the matter (one to each of the owners: Dennis and Daniel Bloom); they never answered. My advice is to stay away from them; it is a network marketing company to avoid.
What is (or was) your experience with Ameriplan USA?
“I’d rather be able to face myself in the bathroom mirror than be rich and famous.”– Ani DiFranco
A few months ago, after a plane crash that claimed four lives in the neighborhood, I wrote a post about the inevitability of death (Death as an advisor). There was a survivor whose pain I found unimaginable. Through www.beliefnet.com I received an excerpt from a book on how to deal with such a devastating loss. The authors went through a very similar experience.
How to get through grief and loss.
By Allison Daily, with Art Daily
Many years ago, I lost a brother to suicide. Fourteen years ago my husband lost his wife, Kathy, and two young sons, when a boulder fell from a canyon wall and onto their car and killed them. Art who was driving, wasn’t injured. He was left, instead, with an empty heart. While we know the heartbreak of loss, we also know there is a way to honor loved ones as your heal your own heart. Here are 9 healing insights to get you through your loss and grief, and onto the path of healing.
Step Gently on the Road to Healing
When you lose someone you love, it will seem like grief has total control of you. The road to true healing is a tough one and there are no rules when it comes to healing your grief. Most days you’ll wonder if you will ever feel good again. Early morning and late evening are often the hardest. The good news is that you can get to a place of peace, healing, and even happiness after you have lost a loved one.
Be Easy on Yourself
Give yourself a lot of space. When you lose someone you love, parts of you go crazy. Your emotions go on a roller coaster. Let them go crazy. Cry when you need to cry, laugh if you share a funny memory. Listen to your body and let your emotions take you where you are.
Communicate Your Needs
Let the people around you know what you need. If you want visitors, say visitors are okay; if not, post a note outside your door asking people to come back another time. It can be helpful to leave a paper outside so people can leave notes for you saying they’ve stopped by. In the first few hours or days of a loss, it is helpful to ask someone to man the phones and take messages. You may want to have someone leave a message on the answering machine explaining that there has been a death in the family and that you will return phone calls when you can. If you need to be touched, ask for it, if you’d like space, ask for it. During times of loss, people are often at a loss of what to do for the one grieving. Know that you are most likely going to want different things each day—sometimes each hour, and that is okay; it’s part of the process. Communicate.
Find Extra Help
A counselor you respect or feel comfortable with can be invaluable. He or she is your partner in grief. One of their jobs is to give you a safe place to just grieve, where no one expects or demands anything of you. They can help you decide the steps that will begin your healing and the timing of them. Medication may be helpful for sleep problems or to prevent grief from turning into severe depression. A therapist can help you sift through the choices, and decide what’s right for you. Maybe most importantly, a therapist can help you understand that your thoughts and feelings are not wrong, or crazy, and that you will survive them. Let them and others in as much as you can. There are also many support groups that meet the different needs of different kinds of loss.
Rediscover Exercise
If regular exercise has always been a part of your life, please go back to it as soon as you can. I can’t stress enough how important it is to get your body moving, and for those who don’t have an exercise routine, try something small even if it is a walk around the block. Grief, when trapped in the body, has the potential to create sickness and push you into a deeper depression. Movement of the body helps “unstick” your grief.
Give Your Heart A Break
Losing someone you love is the hardest thing to experience in the world. Grief needs to be distracted because it is so all consuming. Try to allow yourself times of relief by doing something you enjoy…even laughter. Watch a movie, go on a picnic, listen to music…when you are ready, go back to work. Check in with yourself, see what feels okay. There is also something healing about trying new experiences, when you are vulnerable because it can bring a form of diversity that helps you focus on something besides your pain. It won’t take away the pain away, but it will give your heart a break and give you a taste of peace amidst the storm.
Honor the Memory
There are many ways to honor the memory of someone you loved and lost. It’s important to create a place in your life that allows you to fully express or share your love for the one you lost. A woman who lost her eighteen-month-old child lovingly created two large picture collages of her child. Another friend who lost her mother, created quilts for each of her siblings from some of her mom’s favorite clothes. My husband, Art, took his lost son’s stuffed animals to his son’s classmates; it was a way for him to reach out and give them something to hold on to. The parents of Christi, a high school friend of mine who was killed by a drunk driver, started a support center, “For the Love of Christi,” which has helped over 70,000 people around Austin, Texas.
Read About It
There is a lot of good literature written about loss from many different perspectives. Some offer accounts of how others have handled their own grief. It’s comforting to read about someone who understands what you are feeling. A friend of mine who lost her baby at birth has found it helpful to read books written by women who shared the same experience. Some books are written from a more psychological perspective and have practical tips for coping. Books written by members of your faith or, books that contain daily affirmations or meditations can often ease your morning or help you go off to sleep. You don’t always have to read the entire book to be able to gather a few helpful ideas.
Celebrate The Life of Your Lost Love One
It’s an important part of the grieving process to look back at the things that meant the most to the one who is gone and define what they were to you and to others. This can be an annual or one-time event, like first-year anniversary remembrance. For example, one family lost their son when he was in his 20s. He loved the outdoors and hiking and was always conscience and protective of the environment. To honor their son’s memory, his parents send out reminder postcards right before the anniversary of his death to ask friends and relatives, near and far, to pick up trash on this day. My husband, Art, created and administers an annual Sportsmanship Award to junior hockey players. This event, in some ways, provides a kind of healing for the whole town. Whatever you choose, from the small and intimate, to the large and communal, the important thing is that it should represent a meaningful connection to the one you lost.
I recently finished my manuscript. The Eye of the Dragon, Stalking Castaneda is now going to the ‘fridge’, meaning it will not be worked on for a few months. I will get back to it later with a fresh mind to do the last draft. Your feedback would be appreciated. You can find it at: http://authonomy.com/ViewBook.aspx?bookid=11044 The cover art is below:
According to Wikipedia: The Perseids (pronounced /ˈpɜrsiː.ɨdz/) is the name of a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle. The Perseids are so-called because the point they appear to come from, called the radiant, lies in the constellation Perseus. The stream of debris is called the Perseid cloud and stretches along the orbit of the comet Swift-Tuttle. The cloud consists of particles ejected by the comet as it travels on its 130-year orbit. Most of the dust in the cloud today is around a thousand years old. However, there is also a relatively young filament of dust in the stream that was pulled off the comet in 1862. The rate of meteors originating from this filament is much higher than for the older part of the stream.
The Perseid meteor shower has been observed for about 2000 years, with the earliest information on this meteor shower coming from the Far East.
I just found an article that sure throws some light on the subject of netbook computers. I think you’ll find it interesting and here is an excerpt:
The Rise of the Netbook “Small enough to fit in a purse, powerful enough for computing.” by Dawn Clement
I’m using Google Documents to write this article on my newly acquired Acer Aspire One. These are important facts because five years ago I never would have deigned to use a computer that didn’t have an internal optical drive of some sort. These days, I’m not so sure I need an optical drive at all on a regular basis. You see, the Aspire belongs to a new class of computers called netbooks. These computers are ultra-portable laptops designed specifically for wireless communication and Internet access. They don’t need optical drives because it is assumed that the user will be accessing online services (i.e., Google Documents) instead of locally stored programs. Eliminating the optical drive and the PCMCIA slot results in a much smaller, much cheaper computer.
My Aspire has an Intel Atom N270 microprocessor with a speed of 1.6GHz, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB SATA HDD, came pre-installed with Windows XP, and cost $299. For comparison, my Dell Inspiron 9400 (yes, the same shiny new Dell that had the nasty malware problems and is now a Linux box) has an Intel Core 2 Duo processor with a speed of 2GHz, 2GB of RAM, a 120GB SATA HDD, also came pre-installed with Windows XP, and cost $1,700.
To all lovers of Pizza in San Diego: City Pizzeria has moved from 1125 6th Ave. (Between B & C) to 675 B St. (corner of B & 7th)
Downtown San Diego’s Finest Pizza
“Enjoy New York-style pizza, calzones, and salads, as well as exquisite catering services, from our pizzeria in San Diego, California. City Pizzeria offers dine-in, carryout, and delivery of our New York-style pizza, salads, and subs. Our San Diego pizzeria offers catering services for any special occasion.”
I just came across a health and fitness site with useful information and tips. It is called Physio Scene. Below is an example of one of their articles (about the Swine Flu) and a link to the site:
“Well, it has come to my attention that the more I read news articles and watch the news on the television, it seems that the swine flu isn’t going anywhere. I figured I’d write a little educational post here regarding the symptoms, things you should be aware of, if you’re worried about catching this H1N1 virus that has been going around.
First let me explain to you guys and gals that the reason the swine flu is a little different from the normal seasonal flu is because it also has components of bird and pig influenza viruses in it.
So let’s get down to what the basic symptoms of this swine flu are, shall we?
* High fever, which can sometimes be absent, in other words hidden. Normally this fever runs around 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit.
* Aches in your body, generally everywhere
* Runny and/or stuffy nose
* The chills (Normally associated with high fever)
* Headaches
* Being fatigued and/or overly tired
* Excessive coughing
* Sore Throat
* Vomiting/Diarrhea
If you feel that you personally are experiencing some or most of those symptoms, than there could be a small chance that you are infected. I am NOT a doctor however, so I would definitely get yourself to one”.
If you are a writer (published or not) I think you should check authonomy.com They are ”on a mission to flush out the brightest, freshest new writing talent around.”
So far I am finding it helpful. The only drawback is the race to the editor’s desk, which has people asking you to shelve their book because they shelved yours so they can get a higher ranking and get picked for a review by the editors of HarperCollins. This practice beats the purpose of the site which is to get the best manuscripts to the editors. I shelve books only if they grab my attention and hold my interest; it is irrelevant if the authors shelved my book or not. By the same token, I want them to read and shelve my book only if my writing is good, they have a real interest in it and they see its value. Having said that I think the site is great for new authors and this is their link: www.authonomy.com If you write, it behooves you to check it out.
“Don’t measure a man’s success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom.”– General George S. Patton
I am sharing this article that I found informative. Enjoy!
How To Appear Techno-Savvy at a Party “Feel more comfortable talking to geeks.” by Jack Dunning
While I’m sure that most ComputorEdge readers are familiar with the language of the Web and computers, it’s something worthwhile to review. Maybe you have friends who want to feel a little more comfortable with the jargon that is commonly being tossed around by people in the biz. There is nothing worse than listening in on a conversation between technical people (or people pretending to be technical) with nothing more to offer than a blank stare.
What follows is a helpful guide to some of the more used (or overused) terms and concepts currently making the rounds. Some of them are virtually meaningless, while others have not yet come into their own. In any case, an understanding of the words and how they are used will make you more comfortable talking to almost any geek. Or, if you want to appear pretentious (and particularly geeky), you can throw these terms around in front of your non-technical friends, although they are likely to stop inviting you over.
On a more positive note, understanding what these words actually mean will help to separate honest opinion from commercial blather. It’s useful to be able to see through the nonsensical verbiage that extrudes from our television sets.
I invite anyone to add to this partial glossary of current terms. Merely insert your comment by clicking the comment link at the top or bottom of this article.
3G and 4G in Cell Phones
All of the cell phone companies tout their 3G service. One of the reasons 3G is such a powerful term is because the “G” is easily confused with gigabyte (or gigabit). Currently the best in everything in computers and the Internet comes in gigabytes (or gigabits). That includes computer memory, hard drive capacity, and the one-gigabit network speed. G is great—and the more G the better. Therefore, when we see 3G, we think power and speed.
However, the G in 3G stands for third generation. It is slightly better than the second generation (2G) (which I’m not sure ever existed), but not as good as 4G, which is coming—maybe. The obvious next steps will be 5G and 6G, but by that time, computers will be onto T for terabytes (or terabits).
Everyone has 3G. Only Sprint has 4G—I think in Baltimore. 4G will be a faster digital cellular network than 3G—once it gets here. However, it takes tremendous capital investments to build an acceptable 4G network. Therefore, when someone asks you why you don’t have an iPhone, you can say, “I’m waiting for a comprehensive 4G network. I can’t deal with the slow speeds on 3G.”
Chrome Is Anything Google
Remember the old days when the chrome on your car wasn’t made out of plastic? Me either. Now that no one else needs the term “chrome,” Google has claimed it for itself. If the discussion turns to the Internet, the mere mention of Chrome will solicit knowing nods. Of course, it’s helpful to know what Chrome is.
Chrome is two things, both of them from Google (and free). The first is its Chrome Web browser. Competing with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and Opera, at first it appears that Chrome is a redundant entry into an already crowded browser market. This is not the case.
Google doesn’t need to compete with Internet Explorer because Microsoft is doing a pretty good job of killing IE off itself. Google gives a ton of money to Firefox, which doesn’t make sense if it wants Chrome to be the new Web browser. Google isn’t building a new browser, but actually building a Web operating system. The Chrome browser is designed to be the platform that will run Web applications. Once this is understood, it becomes obvious why Google also named its new Linux-based computer operating system Chrome. For Google, everything that will be running applications, whether on the Web or on a computer, is Chrome.
To show you’re with it, when someone mentions Google’s Chrome, you can knowingly ask, “The browser or operating system?”
Note: Google also has a free cell phone operating system called Android. If someone ask you if you’re going to get an Android cell phone, you can say, “No, I’m waiting for a nationwide 4G network.”
Also, look for Google Wave (coming soon to conversations everywhere) to vie for the latest position as a combination social network, instant messenger and e-mail program. “I’ll send you a Wave!”
OLED—the Television of the Future
Forget plasma and LCD. Anyone talking about buying one of those is talking old technology (although they are pretty much the only thing you can buy right now). Forget the fact that the only OLED television you can buy today costs about $2,000 and only has an 11-inch screen. If you’re still watching a tube or rear-projection television and don’t want to spring for a new high-definition model, then you can use the coming OLED technology as your excuse for not buying right now.
OLED stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode. OLED screens are brighter, use less energy, look good from any angle, and ultimately (three to five years) should be cheaper to produce than the current LCD and plasma displays. The downside includes the difficulties in making big displays and the relatively short screen lifetime. These problems will be worked out. (For more information on OLED, see the July 10 Edgeword.)
OLED screens are produced with a process similar to that of inkjet printing. They can be made extremely thin and draw very little power compared to other technologies. That makes the technology suitable for everything from cell phones to T-shirts.
The truth is that if you want a high-definition television screen today, you will be buying the current technology. It will be a few years before OLED will take over, but in the meantime, it makes for good conversation.
Web 1.0, Web 2.0, Web 3.0, and the Cloud
There is something terminally boring about naming generations of Internet development as if each is a new version of a computer application. Apparently, everything up until Facebook and MySpace was Web 1.0. (Who knew?) Web 2.0 was next—and, I guess, a financial disappointment. Web 3.0 is either on the way or already here. It doesn’t really matter because nobody, except for the techno geeks who want to get their names in Wikipedia, can remember any of the definitions. If you hear anyone using one of these Web X.0 terms, quietly retreat while mumbling something about cloud computing, or the “cloud.”
The “cloud” is the latest analogy for the Internet. It refers to using applications and storing your files at a remote location somewhere in the cloud—the Internet. If you want to sound informed, whenever you hear “cloud computing,” mention Google Apps, Windows Live, or any form of remote backup. The cloud has had legs (good visualization) as a marketing term, because it is easier for us to understand clouds than Web 4.0. All we need to do is look up into the sky. Up next, fog computing and all of its implications.
Bing
Bing is easy to remember. It’s short, to the point, and named after a type of cherry. Microsoft has put out plenty of commercials, so we know that Bing has something to do with making decisions. However, I should point out that Bing is actually just another Web search engine. I couldn’t find any decision making. Maybe I didn’t look hard enough. I can’t decide.
If my mother-in-law, God rest her soul, ever heard anyone mention Bing, she usually said, “Ah, good ol’ Bing.” Then she would break out into song.
Watch for the Leopard
If you overhear people talking about Leopard (or lately Snow Leopard), they are talking about Macintosh computers that come from Apple. Leopard refers to the Apple operating system. To drop your two cents into an Apple conversation, memorize the statement, “The Mac OS is run by FreeBSD (pronounced free-bee-ess-dee), which is very similar to Linux, only different.” Be sure to display a disapproving look if anyone mentions Microsoft—or Windows.
Windows XP Good, Windows Vista Bad, Windows 7 Good Again
With different Windows versions, you need to maintain a proper approval level, rather than understand the differences. Soon Windows 7 will be released, which in a couple of years will relegate most of the other versions to oblivion, as is the case with Windows 98. If anyone mentions XP, nod approvingly. If Vista comes up, show sympathy. If it’s Windows 7, give a thumbs up.
The problem with Windows 7 is the name. It’s perfectly respectable to abbreviate it verbally, as in XP, Vista, or “seven.” However, when writing, proper decorum requires us to use the full Windows 7 name, rather than just 7. The digit 7 by itself on the Web or a printed page just looks wrong.
If you master these concepts and the associated terminology, you will be comfortable mingling with the digerati anywhere. If you hear a term that’s not familiar, there is no shame in saying, “Excuse me. I’m not familiar with that expression.” They probably just made it up.
Jack is the publisher of ComputorEdge Magazine. He’s been with the magazine since first issue on May 16, 1983. Back then, it was called The Byte Buyer. His Web site is . He can be reached at www.computoredge.comceeditor@computoredge.com
“Those who do not know how to weep with their whole heart don’t know how to laugh either.”– Golda Meir
I was checking some of my keywords on Google recently when I came across an excerpt from my book “The Eye of the Dragon, Stalking Castaneda” which had been copied almost word for word without giving me credit. A few words had been clumsily changed (to try to hide the fact that it was plagiarized, I presume), but the only result of the changes was the distortion of the meaning of some sentences; it is obviously plagiarism.
After having tried to contact the support team of the website to no avail, I was wondering how to proceed when I came across Glenn Hefley who has been a free lance writer for years and has experience with these Internet thieves. Not only he explained to me how to proceed, but he also sent me a link to an article he had published on the subject of what to do about plagiarism. Since this is greatly needed information for all of us, I am including it all here for your convenience:
Freelance Writer Tip #2 : What to do about Plagiarism
By Glenn Hefley
So, you were out there on the web, engaging in a little harmless narcissism by searching for your name, or some favorite phrase of yours, and you come across someone who is publishing your articles, on their web site, without credit to you, or a how-dee-doo … no nothing – Just blatantly using your work for their profit. Well how about that?
Next : People who do this type of stuff, generally have ads on their pages, which means, they are making money on your work, without paying you. If there is a Google Adsense ad on there, there will be a link at the bottom of the ad you can click on, which will take you to a Google Adsense Report page. At the bottom of this page, is a form you can fill out, to make a DMCA complaint against the owner of that web site.
Google is famous for not messing around with this type of thing. Someone stealing content, will generally have their Adsense account closed in 48 hours. They will not be able to get it back once it is closed. There are far too many people and companies out there on the Internet willing to run ads on their web site, for Google to risk the possibility of being pulled into a DMCA related law suite. They remove the account.
Most other ad companies, affiliate programs, and the like — do exactly the same thing. If you can find out which ad/affiliate companies the bad-man-site is using, then send them off an email as well.
It is a simple thing to ask permission to use an article. People ask me all the time. If it is an article which is on one of my web sites, I generally say yes, as long as I get a link back. Why not? It is even a little flattering. In fact you will find on most of my web sites I have a function which allows for exactly this type of co-sharing.
However, most of the time this occurs with my work, it is an article that I’ve sold to a client.
Clients don’t like the value of their investments undermined like this, and they will appreciate your effort in keeping their investment in good health. This doesn’t mean you are obligated to play watch-dog for their content (it is thier content once they have purchased it), but if you see this happening, let the client know, at the very least, and send them the information in this article, so they can respond in the most efficient manner.
– you have my permission to do so…
You might even pick up a few more projects from the client that way.
“It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us…Bring love into your home for this is where our love for each other must start.”– Mother Teresa
I recently came upon an article in computoredge magazine by Dawn Clement about the usefulness of webcams; it also has a lot of interesting links. The only thing that I was missing in the article was the “how to”. I was wondering how do you go about installing the webcam when I came across another article by Jack Dunning explaining just that. So I am including the first article and a link to the second just in case you are wondering about webcams yourself.
Webcams: More Useful than You Think “From video calls to visiting outer space, have fun with Webcams.” by Dawn Clement
A Webcam is a video-capture device connected to a computer. Originally, small cameras that attached to a computer via a cable, they have become increasingly popular. These little cameras are so ubiquitous that most modern laptops come with built-in Webcams. You may already have a Webcam and not know it! Why would you want a Webcam, you might ask? Well, they’re actually kind of fun. You can make video calls to faraway friends, play games in a whole new way, visit places you would never otherwise get to see, and create art.
There is a certain cool factor to using Webcams for video telephony. In the late 19th century, Alexander Graham Bell predicted that “the day would come when the man at the telephone would be able to see the distant person to whom he was speaking.” That prediction came true less than 100 years later. The first video telephones hit the market in the 1960s, and there are still video telephones available today. They are, however, a niche market due to their high cost. Webcams offer an inexpensive (nearly free) alternative to traditional video telephones.
Any computer with Internet access and a Webcam can be used to make video calls. All you need to do is install some software. Most messenger programs (i.e., Yahoo Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, Skype, etc.) have built in support for video calling. Video calls (actually chat sessions) are easy and fun, but there are other things you can do with your Webcam.
Use your Webcam to catalog your books, CDs and DVDs. Between my husband, myself, and our three kids, we have thousands of books, hundreds of CDs, and bookshelves full of DVDs. It gets hard to keep track of everything, and we occasionally purchase an item only to realize after the fact that it’s a duplicate. There is an easy way for us (and you) to organize everything in a convenient manner. Webcams can be used to scan barcodes and create databases of books (or CDs or DVDs), which can then be used to make informed purchases. Of course, you will also need some software. Check out MediaMan and Delicious Monster.
Did you know that you can use your Webcam to play motion-controlled games online? Motion-controlled games are not new (think Wii), but the idea of using a Webcam as the control mechanism is. Who knew that simple flash games could be transformed into technological wonders? You can find free games at My Live Cam and Motion Games.
Create art with your Webcam. Performance artists the world over have adopted the Webcam as another medium to play with. For example, Noah Kalina has been taking a picture of himself with his Webcam every day since 2000. You can view all of the pictures as a slide show and see how he’s changed over the years by checking out his Web site. James Kuhn is a face painter who filmed his creations in action and posted them online. Japanese rock band Sour has created an incredible music video from Webcam clips of their fans enjoying their music. It’s definitely worth checking out. These artists’ work is truly inspiring! You can create your own art pieces with special-effects software from sites such as waves.tv and cameroid.com, or even participate in a group project at www.flickaday.com.
You can also use your Webcam for video surveillance. All you need is your computer, your Webcam and some software, such as DeskShare or Softpedia. You never know when this will come in handy. Last year in New York, when Kait Duplaga’s laptop was stolen, she used the built-in Webcam to take a picture of the thief, who was subsequently apprehended.
If you’re camera shy or don’t have a Webcam of your own, you can always watch somebody else’s. There are literally millions of Webcams out there, and some of them are actually pointed at something interesting. See active volcanoes. Watch penguins play at the Monterey Bay Aquarium or catch cute cheetahs cavorting at the National Zoo.
Visit outer space from the comfort of your own home. There are several good Webcams in space—there’s more than one on the International Space Station, there’s one on the Tate Satellite (with some great shots of the Earth) and the European Space Agency even has one on Mars.
More than likely, you’ll find certain Webcam feeds online that you want to watch regularly. To make it easy on yourself, why not consider installing a Webcam aggregator to organize your favorite feeds? Free software is available online at sites such as Ksourcerer.
Dawn Clement is a freelance writer, domestic engineer, and mother of three with a Masters of Arts in Philosophy and over nine years experience in technical support. You can find her at www.computoredge.com
I find authonomy.com to be a useful site to showcase your work to your friends and acquaintances in search of constructive criticism. In the future we may even have a site in which the members would do the same for each other. What I have found at the moment in many authors is a willingness to praise your work and shelve your book if you reciprocate, so that they eventually will get enough points to get to the editors’ desk. This is a dishonest practice that actually beats the purpose of the website; that is, to get the best manuscripts to the editors’ desk.
It is interesting to note how human beings sacrifice our integrity in pursuit of our goals. We miss the point; for success is an inside job. We should also consider that as authors we are also teachers who are setting an example and building a reputation. What kind of writers do we want to be?
And guess what? My book, The Eye of the Dragon, Stalking Castaneda is becoming less and less popular on the site. But, like I say, I can always refer others to the site to get feedback; and perhaps the site will improve in the future.
“The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but to reveal to him his own.”– Benjamin Disraeli
Gandhi at home next to a spinning wheel, which looms in the foreground as a symbol of India's struggle for independence
Mohandas Gandhi: His philosophy of nonviolence changed the world.
“Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi: (2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and spiritual leader of India during the Indian independence movement. He was the pioneer of satyagraha—resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience, firmly founded upon ahimsa or total non-violence—which led India to independence and has inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. Gandhi is commonly known around the world as Mahatma Gandhior ‘Great Soul’, an honorific first applied to him by Rabindranath Tagore, and in India also as Bapu (Gujarati: બાપુ bāpu or ‘Father’). He is officially honoured in India as the Father of the Nation; his birthday, 2 October, is commemorated there as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday, and worldwide as the International Day of Non-Violence.”–Wikipedia
“I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before any one even at the cost of your life.”–Mahatma Gandhi
I just received an email from Loral Langemeier. She says she is a millionaire maker. I guess she forgot me.
A few months ago she sent me a postcard offering one of her books for free; all I had to pay was shipping. I called her staff to order the book which never arrived. I called then to inquire about the whereabouts of the book and they behaved as if I had enrolled on her course. I explained that I had only ordered the book.
Then I received the following email:
Dear RIO GUZMAN
***DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL***
“Our records indicate that we still have not received your automatic payment of $32.42, on your VISA credit card ending in last four #3807, which is now past due. No response has been received on our previous attempts to reslove this matter.
Be advised that this is your final notice regarding your account being past due in the amount of $32.42. Consequently, if payment of the above past due amount is not brought current, we will have no alternative but to turn your account over to our collection agency.
Enforced collection on this obligation could (as allowed for by contract and/ or operation of law), result in additional costs, fees and expenses and could also result in a negative credit report. We hope that this will not be necessary. If a problem has arisen that we should be aware of, please call us immediately to avoid any further actions at 1 800 608 0508. We want to assist you in resolving this situation as quickly as possible.
Sincerely,
Loral Langemeier Billing Department”
Luckily, after the phone conversation, I became suspicious and called my bank, fearing that they would charge my credit card for a course that I didn’t want. They advised me to cancel that card and get a new one. It turned to be very good advice. A couple of weeks later I received a call from a collection agency telling me that if I didn’t pay for the course “I had ordered” they would have to take action.
I explained to them that I had not ordered such a course and they said that I had to call Loral and cancel the order (an order I never placed) I called her staff again explaining that I never placed an order. They pretended that I had done so and proceeded to “cancel” my order. I concluded that the book offer was just a ruse to get me to enroll in her course. They were deceitful and unethical, to say nothing of their coercive tactics — a collection agency! Amazing! Is she a millionaire really? Is this how she did it? Please be aware!
My friend Carol (http://mermaidology.blogspot.com/) is being smothered by second hand smoke. And she is rightfully upset; second hand smoke is a killer. Are you smothering your neighbors inadvertently? This is the explicit letter she wrote:
“Dear Unit XXX:
Please be advised that all your nearby condo units are now suffering from ALL the smoking coming from your unit. Second & Third floor units can smell the cigarettes/cigars all day/night long. We have closed our vents; it still comes through & our units NOW reek due to your habit. We cannot sit in our units watching tv or reading without inhaling the fumes. Give us back our clean air.
It is hazardous, toxic, noxious, & detrimentally affecting our health. The fumes from your unit have exacerbated in just the past few months with nearby units suffering from the excessive smoke inhalation. Your smoking has created allergies, headaches, nausea, respiratory conditions to nearby condo owners costing OUR health with doctor visits because of your choice of habit. Please do something ASAP.
Please get help & call 1.800 no butts. Please do your smoking far from the unit or tightly close & seal ALL your vents, windows & doors & inhale the toxicity yourself: Not US! It constantly seeps & permeates & lingers in the walls & floorboards. You are killing us with second hand smoke while you enjoy a cigarette/cigar at the risk/hazard of everyone around you. Live & let live & let us all breathe in peace & high quality air index which we once all enjoyed.
This letter will be sent to the Management for further action in one week’s time along with our doctor visits documenting the truth of this situation.
Thank you for understanding your health habit is not just about you – it is affecting all of us. We live in a community. Please restore our freedom to breathe clean, fresh air 24/7 day and night.
Thank you for keeping our air index quality environment clean & clear for everyone.
Today a woman threatening suicide on a bridge slowed traffic on I-5 (almost to a halt) for miles. My car overheated due to the fan failing to operate, and I had to ask for coolant from passers-by to be able to get off the freeway. I was late to a dentist appointment. How many series of events were unleashed by the incident? Who knows? There are many consequences to each and every one of our acts. What brought the woman to that bridge?
And I heard that Derivatives are back in the game of the big banks with insufficient regulation in place, and we haven’t recovered yet. How many series of events will be unleashed by another stock market crash? Again, who knows? But selfish greed seems to be unstoppable. Our biggest enemy is our own unchecked ego.
Read more about Derivatives by following the link below to an article by Gretchen Morgenson
I just received an email from Andrew Perri www.myspace.com/andrewperri enclosing an article by Dr OZ on how to prevent the swine flu effectively. Here it is (blue underlining is mine)
“The only portals of entryare the nostrils and mouth/throat. In a global epidemic of this nature, it’s almost impossible to avoid coming into contact with H1N1 in spite of all precautions. Contact with H1N1 is not so much of a problem as proliferation is.
While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of H1N1 infection, in order to prevent proliferation, aggravation of symptoms and development of secondary infections, some very simple steps, not fully highlighted in most official communications, can be practiced (instead of focusing on how to stock N95 or Tamiflu):
1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications).
2. “Hands-off-the-face” approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (unless you want to eat or bathe.)
3. *Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine or Hydrogen Peroxide if you don’t trust salt). *H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/ nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation. In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don’t underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.
4. Similar to 3 above, *clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water, or hydrogen peroxide. *Not everybody may be good at Jala Neti or Sutra Neti (very good Yoga asanas to clean nasal cavities), but *blowing the nose softly once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.*
5. *Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C (Amla and other citrus fruits). *If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption.
6. *Drink as much of warm liquids (tea, coffee, etc) as you can. *Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.”
Self-discipline is when your conscience tells you to do something and you don’t talk back.
– W.K. Hope
PS Apparently this list was actually compiled by a layman and attributed to doctors to give it credibility. The tips are helpful anyway. Please see comments below!
See about the safety of the vaccine with fast check .org:
This is what I found in Glenn Hefley’s blog www.glennhefley.com who used to work at Google: “Google is famous for not messing around with this type of thing. Someone stealing content, will generally have their Adsense account closed in 48 hours. They will not be able to get it back once it is closed.”
But I have reported this site, www.athop.com/tag/absolved for plagiarism (“An Addition to the Eye of the Dragon – Stalking Castaneda – An Extract. Introduction…”) three or four times since last month and nothing has been done. Is Google slacking? Is that site interfering with my communication? Anybody knows? Most probably, everything they have in the site is plagiarized.
This lack of honesty and integrity shouldn’t be tolerated. Wake up Google!
Life is what we make it. Always has been, always will be.– Grandma Moses
I found a really interesting site for my readers to explore. Not only it has articles on how to do just about anything, but you can also make money writing the articles. I have not started writing for them yet, but what I have found about them is positive so far. Your feedback is welcome!
This is their address: www.ehow.com
“Dance like no one is watching, Love like you’ll never be hurt, Sing like no one is listening, Live like it’s heaven on earth. ” — William Purkey
It was in the locker room at the Gym the other night that I overheard a conversation about the speech that got President Kennedy killed; so I did a search in YouTube. If you pay close attention to what he said you’ll be amazed at the courage of the man.
And keep in mind that corporate and government corruption are propped by our lack of awareness and improper actions.
“I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before any one even at the cost of your life.”–Mahatma Gandhi
Hello everyone! I just found a blog with excellent educational content that I feel obligued to share with you. Lots of tips on blogging etc… I hope you find it instructive; let me know what you think. This is the address:
I am in the market for a new computer (Notebook or Netbook) and the last issue of computoredge is hot. I will give you the link here for a few specific educational articles; there are more.
Picking Computer Hardware by Pete Choppin
How much computing power do you need?
Whatever your specific task, the computer you buy should be suited for that task, requiring an understanding of the basic hardware components and what functions they perform.
Picking Operating Systems by Pete Choppin
Making a decision on your computer’s basic configuration.
Your choice of operating system determines to a great extent the applications you can run. What are the pros and cons of today’s common operating systems?
Marketing Mythologies about Macs and PCs by Barry Fass-Holmes
Cupertino and Redmond have it all wrong.
Cupertino’s and Redmond’s competing advertisements are simply wrong because the dualistic view of computers (and their users) is wrong. Rather, Macs are PCs.
EdgeWord: How Much Computer Memory? by Jack Dunning A Minimum-Memory Recommendation
You don’t know what you will be doing with your computer in the future, so you should always get the optimal amount of memory for almost any possible use.
Plus, an original Jim Whiting Cartoon
And a dangerous email spam to be aware of:
Spam of the Week: Your Photo Is on the Web by ComputorEdge Staff
The latest in annoying and dangerous e-mail currently making the rounds.
When someone tells you there is a picture of you posted on the Web, who doesn’t want to look? Of course, when it comes from a stranger, we should be suspicious.
Christmas is upon us. How many Christians do actually know the Christ? A few quotes below from the Sermon on the Mount:
26 Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns ; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value than they ?
27 And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit unto his stature ?
34 Be not therefore anxious for the morrow: for the morrow will be anxious for itself.
7:5 You hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of your own eye; and then shall you see clearly to cast out the speck out of your brother’s eye.
*******************
“…Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty.”–Gospel of Thomas
“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”–Mohandas Gandhi
“Bloggers can now directly publish articles on Technorati.com. This provides a unique opportunity and yet another way for authors to present their content to a larger audience, directly by presenting articles to millions of readers and indirectly by receiving traffic from links back to their own blog or site. Conversely, it also provides the audience yet another way to discover great content and new authors. Down the road, we envision further opportunities for some participating authors who may choose to also join Technorati Media. As this is a totally new feature, we want to stress that this is additive to the discovery process: readers will still be able to search algorithmically selected content, browse the directory for blogs in favorite categories and now read a selection of in-depth articles.” Find out more at: http://blog.technorati.com/
“Be on the alert to recognize your prime at whatever time of your life it may occur.”– Muriel Spark
Free Day of Dance on Saturday, Dec. 26 beginning at 8 a.m. at Malashock Dance!
Malashock Dance & The Malashock Dance School
2650 Truxtun Road, Suite 202, San Diego, CA 92106 (Point Loma) (Call for more information.) Phone: 619.260.1622 – Fax: 619.523.0603 – info@malashockdance.org or www.malashockdance.org
Okay, I admit, I have to correct some information I posted before referring to the way Google handles plagiarism (to see all related posts please do a search on plagiarism in this blog).
First of all, do not expect an answer in 48 hours when you complain to Google; it takes weeks. And this is the procedure that Google wants you to follow, and that I will follow as soon as I get a chance. I expect the information will be useful to many.
“Hello,
It is our policy to respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the text of which can be found at the U.S. Copyright Office website: http://www.copyright.gov/) and other applicable intellectual property laws. In this case, this means that if we receive proper notice of infringement, we will forward that notice to the responsible web site publisher.
To file a notice of infringement with us, you must provide a written communication (by fax or regular mail, not by email) that sets forth the items specified below. Please note that pursuant to that Act, you may be liable to the alleged infringer for damages (including costs and attorneys’ fees) if you materially misrepresent that you own an item when you in fact do not. Accordingly, if you are not sure whether you have the right to request removal from our service, we suggest that you first contact an attorney.
To expedite our ability to process your request, please use the following format (including section numbers):
1. Identify in sufficient detail the copyrighted work that you believe has been infringed upon. For example, “The copyrighted work at issue is the text that appears on http://www.legal.com/legal_page.html.”
2. Identify the material that you claim is infringing upon the copyrighted work listed in item #1 above. You must identify each page that allegedly contains infringing material by providing its URL.
3. Provide information reasonably sufficient to permit Google to contact you (email address is preferred).
4. Include the following statement: “I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials described above on the allegedly infringing webpages is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.”
5. Include the following statement: “I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.”
6. Sign the paper.
7. Send the written communication to the following address:
Google, Inc.
Attn: AdSense Support, DMCA complaints
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View CA 94043
I want a Kindle 2. In fact, I’ve wanted a Kindle for almost a year now. The fever reached its height right around the holidays when I thought I’d buy my wife one. My attempts failed, but my techno lust for the device did not. When I heard about the new Amazon Kindle 2, I tried to ignore it. I was still smarting from Amazon’s rejection. Of course, in the days leading up to the Amazon Kindle 2 announcement, you couldn’t turn a virtual corner without stumbling over leaked information about the second-generation e-book reader.
Now, sitting at my desk after my first lengthy encounter with the new device, I realize just how much I want a Kindle 2, and you should, too. No, I’m not blind to the issues surrounding this product and the technology it uses. I still want it. To be fair, let’s look at all that’s good, bad, and ugly in this elemental, 21st-century device:
It’s too expensive. In talking to friends and followers on Twitter I found that more than one would prefer a sub-$299 e-book reader. One even suggested a price of $199 (in yer dreams, buddy). Sony’s starts at $299 and it has a touch screen. I’m not sure why Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos insists on selling the Kindle for $359. Perhaps the funniest part of the press conference (which was pretty short on laughs) was when Bezos said that Amazon had a deal for Kindle 1 owners: If they ordered within the next 24 hours, they could jump to the front of the queue. There’s no discount or even an upgrade price, just the privilege of spending $359 a little bit faster. Gee, how thoughtful. Thing is, the Kindle really isn’t too expensive. Have you looked at the price of books lately? I’m talking about new books and best sellers. They’re still pretty expensive at Barnes and Noble. Even on Amazon, you’ll pay $15.39 for the Malcom Gladwell bestseller Outliers. Most e-books are $9.99 or less.
Where’s the color? For now, commercial e-ink is still limited to gray scale. Amazon did bump up the technology from 4 to 16 shades of gray, which makes the photos a lot more detailed, but no amount of gray can turn a black and white face into flesh.
The five-way joy stick is simply replacing one bad navigation metaphor (the scroll wheel) with another. I tried out the five-way navigation (it’s like what you find on some smartphones) and found it pretty intuitive though not perfect. The joystick felt a bit stiff under my thumb and because of the idiosyncrasies of e-ink, it’s not always obvious where you are on the screen. I wasn’t sure, but there also seemed to be a momentary delay between moving the joystick and the screen highlighting the next item. I actually wish Amazon would replace the joystick with something like a BlackBerry track ball (or glowing pearls).
It only does one thing. One Twitter follower called the Kindle 2 “monotasking hardware.” I don’t mind single-purpose gadgets. My favorite digital camera really only does one thing very well. Yes, I also like the point and shoots that add video, but ultimately, I want a good camera that can help me take excellent photos. Video recording is just a nice extra. Plus, the benefits of the Kindle 2′s do-one-thing status—even at $359—are pretty significant. You’re not sharing storage for all kinds of content, so you can store 1,500 books on it. You’re not multitasking (watching for calls, downloading maps, mashing in GPS, etc.), so the hardware can apply all its processing power to your reading activities. The network, which is free to use, is dedicated to helping you download more content. If you finish a book, you simply download another one (as long as you’re within 3G wireless access, which you usually are). Also, the Amazon Kindle 2 may have one broad purpose—reading—but it lets you read a number of different content formats: books, newspapers, magazines, and blogs.
It doesn’t always tell you what it’s doing. The Kindle 2 is easy to use. During the presentation, Bezos showed a video where one beta user said he never read manuals (who does?), and he had no trouble using the Kindle 2. I agree, for the most part. However, I did notice that the Kindle never tells you what it’s doing. When I selected the new Text-to-Speech feature, I waited about 20 seconds for the computer-generated speech to start. In that time, there was no visual indication of what the Kindle 2 was doing. I kept flipping over the device, and pressing my ear to the stereo speakers to see if maybe I just couldn’t hear it. When the speech abruptly started, it almost blew my ear out. If Amazon really wants to replace books with Kindles, there should be no surprises.
It’s still too slow. Amazon sped up the Kindle 2′s page turning by 20 percent. I noticed the difference. The screen flash—a function of the e-ink refresh—was much faster than in the previous version. But, it’s still a bit slower than I would like. Plus, loading books and navigating menus was, in my opinion, at times too slow.
It’s too fragile. This is a tough one. Nothing can replace the durability of a good-old-fashioned book. You can drop it, kick it, soak it (but not burn or tear it), and it will still be readable. The Amazon Kindle 2 is a complex piece of technology. Yet, it doesn’t feel flimsy at all. The screen is, of course, the primary concern, and I can understand that. I jam a lot of books and magazines into my backpack, along with my laptop. There’s a lot of pressure in there. Could a Kindle 2 hold up to that? I don’t know. However, if I had a Kindle 2, I’d be carrying half as many magazines and books. Problem solved.
I can already read books on my laptop and iPhone. True. In fact, this past weekend I downloaded a $0.99 novella to my son’s iPod touch. The iPod book reader has gesture-based page turning and is pretty easy to read. However, it really doesn’t fit enough text on the page and I could feel my eyes strain as I stared too intently at that backlit screen. Likewise, I stare at a computer monitor all day. I really want my leisure reading to be far less visually stressful.
Why no touch screen? As I held the Amazon Kindle 2, I had to fight the impulse to touch the screen and navigate and turn pages with gestures. This, too, is something the Sony Reader offers, as does, as noted, the iPod touch and iPhone. While my hope is that Amazon will address this shortcoming in the Kindle 3, this isn’t a deal killer. The Kindle 2 provides ample hardware controls on both sides of the screen—you can operate it right- or left handed (usually with just one hand).
E-books will kill books, publishing, and reading. Bezos’s presentation featured testimonials from Kindle 2 users, saying that they read now more than ever. I buy this. I often leave heavy books and past issues of my favorite magazine (The New Yorker) at home because I simply can’t carry all of them. Plus, I only read what I have on hand. In addition, I tend to end up in the same sections at Barnes and Noble, buying the same kinds of books over and over. I can imagine that the Kindle, with its instant access to a vast number of books (over 230,000) would expand my reading horizons. As for the Kindle killing books or publishing, I think I have to side with author Stephen King (who gave a reading of his new Kindle-inspired novella at the event). He said, “E-books and books are not in conflict. They’re like peanut butter and chocolate. When you put them together, you have a whole new taste.
So, yes, there are many reasons to dislike the Amazon Kindle 2, but as I see it, the benefits still far outweigh the disadvantages. Trust me, you’re going to want a Kindle 2.
Have you ever seen this message when working with Internet Explorer? “Internet explorer cannot open this page etc…” Then you open Firefox to look for the page and guess what? There is the page right in front of you.
An article by Michael J. Ross at Computoredge will tell you more about Firefox’s competitive edge. Excerpts below:
“Of all the Web browsers that are challenging the multiyear dominance of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE), the one that has the best chance of unseating IE from its throne is Mozilla Firefox. Like the other alternatives, Firefox continues to eat away at IE’s market share.
According to the Mozilla Awards page, Firefox has garnered no fewer than 38 awards. In contrast, it is difficult to imagine Internet Explorer winning any awards, aside from such hypothetical categories as: The Most Egregious Violator of Web Standards, or perhaps The Biggest Security Headache Since Outlook, or, my favorite, The Ultimate Shortener of Developer’s Lives. Fortunately, the latest version, Internet Explorer 8, is apparently much better than its predecessors, and is intended to rectify most of the types of damage it has caused in the past. (If only Microsoft could return to designers and developers everywhere their countless lost hours wrestling with IE’s idiosyncrasies.)”
What is really expected to happen in December 21, 2012 is an alignment of planets that according to Mayan folklore (and Hopi tradition) will mark the beginning of a new age; a different energy will reach our planet with positive effects. The Hopis foretold that the change would start when a large blue star appeared. And on the year 2007 comet 17/P Holmes shocked the scientific world with a spectacular eruption which made it the brightest (blue) object in the sky.
If there is a physical polar shift due to a gravitational pull, a major physical catastrophe could occur but the Hollywood film 2012 is just Hollywood stuff; it is only good to watch for its special effects. I am sure they are betting on good profits coming in for the next ten years, totally unaware of any inner changes.
I recently received an email from Andrew Perri http://myspace.com/andrewperri with the following story:
This is really a remarkable little dog and a fascinating story!
This dog was born on Christmas Eve,2002. He was born with two legs and of course could not walk when he was born. Even his mother did not want him.
His first owner also did not think that he could survive and he was thinking of ‘putting
him to sleep’.
But then, his present owner, Jude Stringfellow, wanted to
take care of him. She became determined to teach and train
this little dog to walk by himself.
She named him ‘Faith’.
In the beginning, she put Faith on a surfboard to let him feel the movement. Later she used peanut butter on a spoon as a lure and reward for him for standing up and jumping around. Even the other dog at home encouraged him to walk. Amazingly, only after 6 months, like a miracle, Faith learned to balance on his hind legs and to jump to move forward. After further training in the snow, he could now walk like a human being.
Faith loves to walk around now. No matter where he goes, he attracts people to him.
He is fast becoming famous on the international scene
and has appeared on various newspapers and TV shows.
There is now a book entitled ‘With a Little Faith’
being published about him.
He was even considered to appear in one of Harry Potter movies.
Jude Stringfellow has given up her teaching post and plans to take him around the world to preach that even without a perfect body, one can have a perfect soul.
In life there are always undesirable things, so in order to feel better
you just need to look at life from another direction.
I hope this message will bring fresh new ways of
thinking to everyone and that everyone will appreciate
and be thankful for each beautiful day.
Faith is the continual demonstration of the strength and wonder of life.
A small request:
All you are asked to do is keep this story circulating.
I am glad to be able to keep the story circulating.
To see a similar story about an amazing man who was
born without limbs please do a search on “Nick” right
on this blog.
I guess human beings are not that different from animals.
Everything is interconnected; everything is “That”.
I don’t know if when I joined ATT Universal Card they belonged to Citibank; I never saw the name ‘Citibank’ or their logo in any statement or communication. If I would have known I wouldn’t have taken the credit card in the first place; Citibank never appealed to me due to a disagreeable encounter I had with one of their pushy sales representatives. When I found out they were the same, I had been with ATT Universal Card for years and they were one of my favorite credit cards, so I figured I would keep it anyway.
Then, recently, a few months after having paid my balance in full, Citibank sent me a letter telling me that my account would be closed because I wasn’t using the card and apparently “it didn’t fit my needs” or something to that effect. I didn’t object, although I was getting ready to use it; this was the sort of thing I could expect from Citibank and I didn’t really want to do business with them.
But there was never any agreement that I had to use my card at any given time. There was never any warning either, just the letter closing my account “even if I used the card before closing date”. It was unethical behavior that verified that I had been right about Citibank; it is the kind of institution that we should boycott to get our country going in the right direction. Why should a credit card company tell me when I or how often I should use my credit card?
By the way, weren’t they subprime lenders that required a 25 billion bailout?
To prop my case I quote from Wikipedia: “In August 2008, after a three year investigation by California’s Attorney General Citibank was ordered to repay the $14 million (close to $18 million including interest and penalties) that was removed from 53,000 customers accounts over an eleven year period from 1992-2003. The money was taken under a computerized “account sweeping program” where any positive balances from over-payments or double payments were removed without notice to the customers.”
An interesting site to visit for more information on Citibank and similar institutions:
Beware of the new phishing schemes. A fake American Express phishing scheme is making the rounds.
Spam of the Week: American Express Online Form “The latest in annoying and dangerous e-mail currently making the rounds.” by ComputorEdge Staff
“The Facebook spam scams (“Spam of the Week” October 30 and November 6) have reemerged this week, possibly taking a shot at new Facebook users. More recently, there has been a fake e-mail that appears to be from American Express. (It’s not!) Most have a subject line of “important information” or some variation of that…
Titus Hoskins’ blog is one of my favorites because he mixes common sense with expertise, and leaves all hype out. I subscribed to his newsletter and always learn something new. Recommended! Here is a post on his top marketing tactics for 2009; it makes sense!
avatar |ˈavəˌtär|: noun chiefly Hinduism, a manifestation of a deity or released soul in bodily form on earth; an incarnate divine teacher. • an incarnation, embodiment, or manifestation of a person or idea: he set himself up as a new avatar of Arab radicalism.
And also, • Computing a movable icon representing a person in cyberspace or virtual reality graphics
I guess the movie “embodies” the last definition; in the trailer the main character is told referring to his transformation, “that is your avatar”. And he will actually be acting in a sort of cyber space (Pandora) where everything is a computer animation. Nothing is real. The plot: The tailed, blue natives have to be “relocated” (sounds familiar) so their land can be mined for something or other.
Yet, the fact is that in Brazil and other parts of South America, where the natives are brown and tailless, that is the actual situation; their land is getting stolen and ravaged in the name of greed, something which eventually may put us all in a place like Pandora. But I guess making a movie about what is actually happening wouldn’t require special effects or produce a blockbuster movie. Let’s hope that it will make people aware of what is actually taking place.
Should I go see it? Maybe for the special effects? What do you think?
PS I saw the movie. Excellent! It should have a positive effect. But be advised; it won’t let you go to the restroom. Please scroll down.
Excerpts and pictures from an article by Michael Hanlon in MailOnline
Human nature: One man points at the plane. Others ready their weapons
Hidden homes: The tribe's tent-shaped dwellings deep in the rainforest
“Contact is usually a disaster for these remote tribespeople, who live a life probably unchanged for more than 10,000 years. Even if the loggers do not shoot them (which they often do) or force them off their land, diseases against which these isolated humans have no resistance typically wipe out half an uncontacted tribe’s numbers in a year or two.”
“Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilized by education; they grow there, firm as weeds along rocks.” -- Charlotte Bronte
At the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. When notified of his selection, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.
In 1954, Martin Luther King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Always a strong worker for civil rights for members of his race, King was, by this time, a member of the executive committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the leading organization of its kind in the nation. He was ready, then, early in December, 1955, to accept the leadership of the first great Negro nonviolent demonstration of contemporary times in the United States, the bus boycott described by Gunnar Jahn in his presentation speech in honor of the laureate. The boycott lasted 382 days. On December 21, 1956, after the Supreme Court of the United States had declared unconstitutional the laws requiring segregation on buses, Negroes and whites rode the buses as equals. During these days of boycott, King was arrested, his home was bombed, he was subjected to personal abuse, but at the same time he emerged as a Negro leader of the first rank.
On the evening of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of that city, he was assassinated.
Is that time of the year again. And remember, if you have a home based business Uncle Sam wants to help you, your tax exemptions can make for a hefty return, which can greatly help your business. This site will help. www.HomeBusinessTaxSavings.com The tax tips newsletter is free.
And I found this article by Jack Dunning on computoredge, which helps you find free ways to do your taxes.
Excerpt :
“If your taxes are relatively simple, there is no reason why you should pay to calculate your federal taxes. The tax-preparation software companies understand this. The money is not in the federal returns. There is too much competition offering free tax preparation to make much money off the easiest of federal returns. It’s the complicated federal returns, plus state return preparation and state tax eFilings that are the target for increased company earnings.”
This is from ‘The Catcher in the Rye’, the first sentence, I believe:
“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.”
But if you really want to know about his “death”, I found this:
“J. D. Salinger, who was thought at one time to be the most important American writer to emerge since World War II but who then turned his back on success and adulation, becoming the Garbo of letters, famous for not wanting to be famous, died on Wednesday at his home in Cornish, N.H., where he had lived in seclusion for more than 50 years. He was 91.”
“Our real enemies are not those living in a distant land whose names or policies we don’t understand; The real enemy is a system that wages war when it’s profitable…” Check Video, amazing speech!
Apparently Google Buzz is something to handle with care (or stay away from) for a while. Here are some of the concerns raised by MIGUEL HELFT in the NY Times.
“… what Google viewed as an obvious shortcut stirred up a beehive of angry critics. Many users bristled at what they considered an invasion of privacy, and they faulted the company for failing to ask permission before sharing a person’s Buzz contacts with a broad audience. For the last three days, Google has faced a firestorm of criticism on blogs and Web sites, and it has already been forced to alter some features of the service.
E-mail, it turns out, can hold many secrets, from the names of personal physicians and illicit lovers to the identities of whistle-blowers and antigovernment activists. And Google, so recently a hero to many people for threatening to leave China after hacking attempts against the Gmail accounts of human rights activists, now finds itself being pilloried as a clumsy violator of privacy.”
The new edition of A Vagabond in Mexico is available at: Create Space
The book was originally published in 1993, and it is as timely today as it was then. Although it is not a travel guide anyone traveling in Mexico will find it useful. And anyone who thinks that the new border fence is anything other than a waste of taxpayer’s money will find it instructive.
The “Search Inside” feature will be available in about 8 weeks, but you can see excerpts and reviews right on this site: A Vagabond in Mexico
In 1387 (at the age of 61), as Bassui was sitting in zazen meditation among his followers, he turned to them and shouted twice, “Look directly! What is this? Look in this manner and you won’t be deceived!”. He then died.
As a young man Bassui had many questions, ones like “What is a soul?” and “Who is this that hears, sees and understands?” These are questions he would struggle with for a good portion of his life. He would pursue this style of inquiry in meditation, one day realizing that the soul is ungraspable due to its inherent emptiness.
Several weeks ago a heard author Vivian Gussin Paley on National Public Radio. She was talking about her book, You can’t say you can’t play.
You can’t search inside the book here but you can at: Amazon.com Widgets
From the interview I got the feeling that Ms Paley was liberating her children (students) from the ego’s dominance. I guess her method is something that we need in all schools. You can’t say you can’t play.
The video in the link below is sponsored by Toyota. Learn the proper procedure for bringing your vehicle to a safe stop.
It is basically a simple procedure (common sense). Apply steady pressure on the brakes and put the motor in neutral (you can turn it off, if you must, but the power assisting your systems will be lost). Please visit the link below.
PS According to what I heard last, you may have to use the emergency brakes in addition to applying pressure with both feet on the brake pedal. (These instructions were given by a police officer through his megaphone while driving alongside a runaway vehicle. It worked!) Good luck!
The latest in annoying and dangerous e-mail currently making the rounds. This week has seen an attack on bloggers, with hackers looking for new victims. Bloggers beware; they are phishing for your account information.
From ‘Alice in Wonderland’: They had not gone far before they saw the Mock Turtle in the distance, sitting sad and lonely on a little ledge of rock, and, as they came nearer, Alice could hear him sighing as if his heart would break. She pitied him deeply.
“What is his sorrow?” she asked the Gryphon, and the Gryphon answered, very nearly in the same words as before,
“It’s all his fancy, that: he hasn’t got no sorrow, you know. Come on!”
From Paradise Lost: “The mind is its own world, and, in itself, can make a hell out of heaven and a heaven out of hell.
Since the beginning of the so called “Operation Gatekeeper” more than 5,000 immigrants have died trying to cross the border to find work in the United States of America. This documentary film by John Carlos Frey exposes the folly and inhumanity of the 800 mile wall along the Mexican border. Excerpt:
“From 2007 to 2009, I followed the construction of what is now close to 800 miles of border security infrastructure along the U.S.-Mexico international boundary. What I found was a mess. Dozens of environmental laws were being waived in order to acquire land to build the new border walls. New technology for border security enforcement was over-priced and non-functional. The natural landscape was permanently scarred to ‘protect’ us from migrants. The assessment from scholars, government agencies and even the border patrol was that this multi-billion dollar effort was not going to solve America’s immigration problems. All of these details on their own would have made a compelling documentary. But there was something even more conspicuous and tragic than the blunders and cost overruns: increased border security was proving to be a massive killer.”
To see the whole article and video follow the link below:
John Carlos Frey is an award-winning director. His directorial debut, “The Gatekeeper,” was lauded for its realistic depiction of illegal immigration in the United States by Amnesty International, The Anti Defamation League, Human Rights Watch, National Immigration Forum, National Center for Farmworker Health, The League of United Latin American Citizens, The National Council of La Raza (NCLR), The Joan B. Kroc Institute of Peace and Justice as well as the Hispanic Congressional Caucus.
An Interesting book, and a different perspective on autism.
“As a child, Temple Grandin could not speak. Her silent existence was broken only by rhythmic rocking and occasional fits of screaming and thrashing. Diagnosed with autism, Temple’s many caregivers eventually helped her contradict her doctors’ morbid predictions and go on to become one of the autism community’s most beloved success stories. Temple Grandin, PhD, is a popular international lecturer on autism and the author of Emergence: Labeled Autistic, Thinking in Pictures, Animals in Translation, and Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships. One of the world’s leading experts in livestock facility design, over half of the cattle in North America are handled in facilities designed by her. She credits her visual thinking and her systemizing mind, both characteristics of autism, for her ability to be “the woman who thinks like a cow.” Temple continues to be an inspiration and role model to millions.”
If you receive a notice in the mail that looks like a bill and urges you to renew your domain name, it is a scam. A ruse from Domain Registry of America to get you to switch. Please do a search on Google to verify this. I quote from Wikpedia:
“In 2003, the Federal Trade Commission reached a settlement with the company for practices such as transferring domain registrations to their service under the guise of domain renewal, a practice known as domain slamming, and having hidden fees. Despite this action, the company still sends mass direct mail to consumers resembling invoices with “domain name expiration notice” in bold print. Targets for the company’s mass mailings are known to be in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States with information obtained in violation of their ICANN registrar agreement.”
This video is a really good documentary about the situation in Chiapas, Mexico. It also shows how an undisciplined ego and greed turn human beings into duplicitous and contradictory beings; watch the ending carefully. It is rather long because the Canadian reporter interviews all sides involved, but that is what helps you to get a clear picture of the situation. In Youtube you can find it in segments if you are pressed for time.
Am I about to be banned from the most popular search engine? If so please Yahoo me. I love a lot of the services that Google provides but the truth should be told. Their communication and service are not up to par; they are terrible – please correct me if I am wrong. The fact is that I have submitted all requirements that were asked for (more than two months ago), and still nothing has been done about the delinquent website. They are still there and plagiarizing my content. Any lawyers out there who are willing to advise?
This letter was faxed on Jan. 27 of 2010:
Attn: Adsense Support, DMCA Complaints
January 26, 2010
Fax: 650-618-8507
Dear Sir/Madam,
1. My work at http://rioguzman.com/stalking-castaneda-excerpt-the-eye-of-the-dragon/ is being plagiarized (The Introduction) They are obviously altering the article and not giving due credit.
2. By http://www.athop.com/article/89036-An-Addition-to-the-Eye-of-the-Dragon-Stalking-Castaneda-An-Extract
3. My email is: rsgguz@gmail.com
4. Statement: Ihave a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials described above on the allegedly infringing webpages is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
5. And I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
Sincerely,
( I did not forget my signature and I have no clue why the small print – can’t correct at the moment.)
“When Zhuang-Tzu’s wife died, his friend the philosopher Hui Shih went to his house to console him and found him not weeping and wailing as one might expect, but laughing and singing. Asked how he could be so ungrateful to his wife, the sage replied :”When she has just died, I could not help being affected. Soon, however, I examined the matter from the very beginning. At the very beginning, she was not living, having no form, not even substance. But somehow or rather, there was then her substance, then her form and then her life. Now by a further change, she has died. The whole process is like the sequence of the four seasons – spring, summer, autumn and winter. While she is thus lying in the great mansion of the universe, for me to go about weeping and wailing would be to proclaim myself ignorant of the natural laws. Therefore I stop.” From this story we learn that the key to happiness is non-attachment, and the secret of ono-attachment is right understanding.”
“METHOD OF PRACTICE A common method to help the student lessen his attachment is the koan method of Rinzai Zen. The koan is a philosophical topic given to a Zen student for meditation by the Zen master. It may consist of a single word, a phrase, a sentence or a short passage. A most famous koan is called “the sound of one hand clapping.” Everybody knows what the sound of two hands clapping is like, but what it the sound of one hand clapping ? That is the koan. The student meditates on it until he can hear the sound of one hand clapping. Many of us have heard the sound of silence. If we can hear that sound, then we can hear the sound of one hand clapping also. This koan does not stop with hearing of not hearing, but goes further. If we can hear the sound of one hand, why can we hear it, and how can we hear it ? If not, why not ? Where does the sound come from, and where does it go ? What is the nature of the sound, and what is the nature of the sound, and what is the nature of hearing ? If their koan is solved, the meditator may consider that he has experienced kensho.” Source : Zen Philosophy, Zen Practice, Dharma Publishing, College of Oriental Studies, 1975, PP104-112.
These excerpts are from Non attachment, an excellent article in non-attachment.
I saw the Studio Series: On the spot at Malashock Dance last Sunday. I thought it was interesting that he was having the dancers in their own space and unaware of each other, just as most of us go through life: unaware in self-reflection. I wonder if they’ll finish the piece in awareness. He doesn’t know yet. I guess I’ll have to stay tuned.
If you missed it, there will be another Studio Series showing next month (May 15-16) to show the work in progress, and the full performance will be next spring at the San Diego Museum of Art. They will have some videos and photos posted on their blog between now and then to show how things are going. Please check: www.malashockdance.org/blog
In the May issue of Website magazine I found an interesting article on blog comment spamming as an outdated SEO tactic; it was doubly interesting since I get a lot of comment spamming.
It says that a lot of webmasters still aggressively pursue this method as their primary link building strategy, when in fact Google introduced “nofollow” link tags (signal to search engine spiders to ignore a link) and is known to devalue links in blog comments.
The reasonable and legitimate alternative, says the magazine, is to write interesting , well-written and thought-provoking content, which will generate editorial links — naturally occurring links from other blogs and news sources that search engines value far more than comments in blog posts.
If you wonder about Twitter as I do sometimes, check this interesting article.
“Is Twitter the Next ICQ?” by Jim Trageser
If you’re tech-savvy enough to be reading ComputorEdge, (www.computoredge.com) then you’ve most likely heard of Twitter.com—the current hot topic in tech media. In early April, CNN and actor Ashton Kutcher held a contest to see who could get to 1 million Twitter followers first.
The actor won. It seems that everyone is on Twitter—you can twit or send tweets. Little applets let you put your Twitter updates in your MySpace or Facebook or blog pages.All of which is very impressive, as is the growth in the number of people with Twitter accounts.
But what does it mean? Not much if some compelling reason to use Twitter doesn’t emerge.
What It IsTwitter is simply a broadcast of your “status”—like what MySpace and Facebook already offer on your profile, but untethered to a specific site.You type in what you’re doing, or whatever else you want to share with your subscribers—a news headline, a new YouTube video—and then they are notified based on their own preferences (e-mail or text to their cell, or simply an update the next time they log in to Twitter.com). It’s sort of a centralized version of texting on your cell phone or instant messaging on your PC. But I still have to ask: So what?
Where’s the Beef?
Look at the example of instant messaging. Five years ago, IM was hot hot hot. It seemed like everyone was jumping on the IM bandwagon—AOL had AIM, Yahoo had its own, so did Netscape and Microsoft—and the big buzz was whether Google was really going to issue its own IM client. And a small company named ICQ was among the IM leaders simply by virtue of being among the first to have an IM client and protocol.
The fact that none of the above clients were compatible with one another even had members of Congress threatening to pass laws compelling interoperability—the fear being that if we weren’t all able to chat with one another on our PCs that, well, I’m not really sure what the fear was.Whatever it was, it didn’t come to pass, because instant messaging is utterly passé. Sure, there are still people IMing each other. Heck, for that matter, some people still write letters to each other. In longhand. And mail them, with stamps and everything.
Whatever.
The reality is that the proliferation of cell phones and the drop in price for text messaging on those phones doomed instant messaging as a ubiquitous (and thus, perhaps, massively profitable) means of communication. Nobody IMs anymore because instant messaging isn’t nearly as universal as texting. Let’s face it: No matter how sleek your laptop, it’s a heck of a lot more cumbersome than a cell phone.
The MySpace Model?
And now Twitter is all the rage—we even had a seminar on using Twitter at my place of employment recently. The woman who led it covered all the bases and gave a very nice, comprehensive presentation on how to use Twitter to strengthen our business—but at the conclusion, I was left wondering if we weren’t putting the cart before the horse. By a couple miles.
More recently even than IM, MySpace.com was the hot tech app. Designed to make it easy for bands to share their music and tour schedules (and thus build up fan bases independently of the record labels), MySpace exploded in popularity. Until just a couple years ago, it was the most popular destination Web site (trailing only Google and Yahoo in total visitors). Everybody had a MySpace page.
And you know what? MySpace is still a hugely popular site—but it no longer has the all-valuable cachet of the Next Big Thing. Facebook took that away, and—until Twitter sprung on the scene—was the media darling of the Internet.Long-Term Success. So the point of all this meandering is to say that I wouldn’t wager too heavily on Twitter’s long-term financial potential.
Success is fleeting, and never more so than in the tech world.Particularly when the value of your brand isn’t immediately evident. MySpace’s basic design remains geared toward helping bands build a following. My Space may not be the dominating one-size-fits-all social network it once was, but it remains a robust online community due to its strength at connecting musicians to fans.
Facebook may be the more dominant generic social network now, due to the fact that it is designed to help friends and family connect and stay in touch. But it’s not quite as good at helping bands promote themselves—so MySpace still has that niche. But with its online games, polls and other entertainment, Facebook is probably the more fun way to spend an evening. So both sites could end up being here to stay indefinitely.
But what does Twitter offer?
A way to let your friends know what you’re doing? To share a link to another Web site? You can do all those things with your friends on MySpace and Facebook already. There just doesn’t seem anything particularly unique or compelling about Twitter. It’s interesting (sort of); it’s got the media buzz going. But will it last?As we’ve seen with IM, and with Linux before that (remember when Linux was going to replace Windows as the operating system of choice on PCs?) and MySpace after (and tons of other examples, from WinAmp to BeOS), the media is a fickle mistress.With a particularly short attention span.
Jim Trageser can be reached via his Web site. Jim is the Publisher/Editor of Turbula.net, an odd little online publication to which truly talented people seem strangely compelled to send interesting works for others to enjoy. Visit www.turbula.net.
This is an excerpt from an article by Titus Hoskins:
“Actually, some online marketers don’t even have a site of their own and instead they promote other affiliate sites and products with their marketing. While I don’t personally recommend this route, many successful marketers have taken it and are quite happy with not having to bother with the whole business of running an online site of their own.
But you should have at least one main site, your flagship, your address on the web where people can find you. This also gives you an online identity. It tells everyone this is the area or subject matter you’re promoting…
For years I had one main site which kept me extremely busy and earned me a modest online income. I still have this site and yes it still keeps me busy and it is still profitable.
So why build more sites?
Mainly because as you proceed with your online marketing, you will find niches that require their own sites. You have to expand and branch out from your main site. The new sites are connected and supported with your old one. It is a very effective way of building more quality traffic and business.
But the main reason to build new sites is to prepare yourself for the future. You must stake your claim in all those “keyword domains” that still can be had at the moment.”
A few days ago I received an email, which supposedly came from Google, asking me for my account information and password in order to do some sort of upgrade so that I could continue my service. I smelled phishing and proceeded to delete. Here is an article from computoredge about a variety of Internet scams.
“Con artists have expanded their reach.”
by Wally Wang from www.computoredge.com
“If you’re an experienced Internet user, you’ve probably heard of the Nigerian 419 scam. This is where you get an unsolicited e-mail from a stranger overseas, claiming that they need your help in releasing millions of dollars. In exchange for your help, this benevolent stranger is willing to pay you part of the money, which you can claim by paying an initial fee, ostensibly to bribe an official or pay bank fees.
If you send this unknown person money, they’ll keep dangling the promise of millions of dollars awaiting you, but only if you continue sending additional cash to overcome an inevitable barrage of problems. Each time you send money, you’ll be more inclined to send more to avoid losing the “investment” you’ve already made in this incredible offer. The con artists will happily keep up this pretense as long as you keep sending money.
Fool Me Twice
If victims ever wake up to the fact that they’ve been conned, they’ll have to face the shame of being duped for several months along with whatever amount of money they sent out while getting nothing in return. And now the con artists often circle back a second time around.
Suddenly, you may find another unsolicited e-mail, stating that a special antifraud division has tracked down the con artists who have scammed you. If you want this government agency to recover your lost money, you’ll need to fill out some official-looking documents along with paying a processing fee.
Needless to say, many victims are so angry at the con artists and lusting for revenge that they’ll eagerly fill out this bogus document and send in the processing fee—only to have the vicious cycle repeat all over again.
Supposedly, this antifraud government agency needs to bribe more officials or pay additional fees to keep the con artists in jail so they can be brought to court. Once again, you’ll need to keep sending money to these con artists, who are very likely the same con artists who bilked you initially. (After all, how else would they know that you were conned in the first place?)
The original Nigerian 419 scam has ripped off people for thousands of dollars and continues duping people to this day. This added twist of ripping off the same people a second time, by masquerading as a government antifraud agency, is another development designed to catch victims off guard and steal their money before they realize what’s happening.
Spear Phishing on Facebook
As more people wise up to unsolicited e-mail scams, con artists are resorting to something called spear phishing. Where phishing involves sending out mass e-mails with the same scam letter, knowing that a small percentage of people will always take the bait, spear phishing involves targeting specific people. One of the most popular ways to spear phish is through social networking sites such as Facebook.
Like other social-networking sites, Facebook lets you reveal details about yourself, which any stranger can read. Plus, you can link to your friends and read personal details about these people, which a stranger can also read.
Now con artists will target a specific individual, using personal information found on that person’s Facebook page and any of their friends’ Facebook pages. If you suddenly receive an e-mail containing information that only you and your friends know about, suddenly that unsolicited e-mail sounds far more credible. Of course, the con artist is simply using your own information against you.
Even more insidious is that con artists will often contact you through Facebook and provide a link, which leads to an error message and an official-looking Facebook login page. When you retype your password and account into this bogus page, the con artist now has the information needed to hijack your Facebook account and masquerade as you.
Using your Facebook account, the con artist can now contact all of your friends with a frightening story of how you traveled overseas and lost your wallet and passport or some other sob story. Since your friends are receiving these messages directly from your Facebook account, they have no reason not to believe it isn’t you. More than likely, they’ll wire the necessary money to the overseas account that the con artist provides, and never see their money again.
Trust No One
The simplest way to protect yourself from online scams is to trust no one online, not even your own friends and relatives. If a con artist hijacks an e-mail or Facebook account, receiving a message from a trusted source is still no guarantee that you aren’t being scammed.
If you do receive a message from a friend, asking for money, contact that person through another method, such as by phone. Try asking your “friend” a question that only your real friend could possibly know.
Besides not trusting anyone on the Internet, a second golden rule is to never send money to an unfamiliar recipient. Even if you recognize the bank’s name, don’t follow the instructions given to you in an e-mail message, but contact the bank by phone or in person. Circumventing the con artist’s communication channel can identify a scam by asking a bank official to verify the information you received.
Con artists are never going to go away. With the Internet, con artists have just expanded their reach.
For further protection, keep yourself educated about the variety of online scams out there by visiting OnGuard Online.
To really protect yourself, never give money to anyone. That will protect you from con artists along with isolating you from most of your relatives, who can often be the biggest scam artists of them all.
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In the early days, before Wally became an Internationally renowned comedian, computer book writer, and generally cool guy, Wally Wang used to hang around The Byte Buyer dangling participles with Jack Dunning (http://www.computoredge.com/) and go to the gym to pump iron with Dan Gookin.
Wally is responsible for Microsoft Office 2007 for Dummies, Breaking Into Acting for Dummies, Beginning Programming All-in-One Reference for Dummies, and Mac All-in-One Reference for Dummies from www.dummies.com, as well as, Steal This Computer Book 4.0, Visual Basic Express 2005: Now Playing, and My New Mac from www.nostarch.com. He is also the co-author of Strategic Entrepreneurism from www.selectbooks.com.
I am still learning about RSS Feeds. Below is an excerpt from an article by Mr. Michael J Ross about “Real Simple Syndication”. I found it very useful.
RSS on Your Web Site
“Share your site’s updates quickly and painlessly.”
by Michael J. Ross
Some people use the Internet simply for checking their e-mail messages or visiting one or two favorite Web sites. But for the majority of “Netizens” out there, visiting dozens of sites every day is the norm. Admittedly, some of these sites are visited not because they offer fresh content updated daily, but rather because they offer a frequently used service, such as online banking. But these utility sites are certainly outnumbered by “discretionary” sites that serve up the latest news from the worlds of finance, politics, sports and more.
For all of us who hop from one well-worn site to another, it can easily become tedious and time-consuming to have to visit each one of these sites, determine what content we have not seen before, and filter out content on topics that are of no interest to us. Most if not all of these news junkies must sometimes wonder, “If only my computer could do this for me.” Well, it can, if those favorite sites of yours are packaging up their content in RSS format and not just as Web pages. More of them are doing so all the time, and in this article we will discuss some ways that you can do the same for your own site.
But first, for the benefit of those readers who may be unfamiliar with RSS, let’s consider what it is and how it can be spotted in the wild. When it first emerged on the scene in 1999, and during the following few years, RSS was an acronym for a couple of different names. But nowadays, just about everyone has agreed that it stands for “Really Simple Syndication.” In basic terms, it is a standard and highly structured format for publishing online content, designed to be read by computer programs.
Just as a newswire service will distribute its journalists’ contributions as “syndication,” any Web site can syndicate its own news. This stream of content is known as an RSS feed. As a result of using a standardized form of organizing the content, each RSS feed is thereby made easily readable by Web-based and desktop applications, known as RSS readers or aggregators. Google Reader and BlogBridge are examples of each category, respectively. All newsreaders, including these two, allow you to specify all the sites whose RSS feeds you would like to subscribe to, and how you can filter and combine the content to suit your needs.
To determine if any one of your favorite sites is offered in RSS format, go to the site’s home page and look for the standard RSS feed icon. It usually is located at the bottom of the home page or up in the right-hand corner, oftentimes close to the entry fields for searching the site or logging in.
All of the major Web browsers—including Firefox, Opera, and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 7—will display the RSS icon in or near their address bars.
Major news sites, probably without exception, make their content available globally to all RSS users. You may be wondering if you could do the same, and what methods would be available for doing so. It depends upon the source of the content that you want to share with the world.
Michael J. Ross is a Web developer, writer, and freelance editor. He creates Web sites that help entrepreneurs turn their ideas into profitable online businesses.
This is a great article by Titus Hoskins. You can add the “press release”to the list below.
Creating Simple Online Marketing Systems That Work!
When I started with my first website around 10 years ago, I foolishly thought all I had to do was create some great content and people would flock to my site. Sometimes that does happen but most times it does not. 10 years later I now know the difference. I know I really have to work the Internet if I want my sites to be successful. These are marketing systems that I put into place to promote my sites and gather quality traffic in order to produce the sales. My marketing systems take into account countless strategies that produce the quality traffic. It’s not just one method of getting traffic but many. I use many marketing tactics to build up a complex, yet very simple marketing system that works.
It all comes down to promotion. You have to promote your site in numerous ways. Some of my favorites are:
Article marketing - writing simple how-to articles on the topic of your site and distributing them all over the web. Over the years this simple technique has brought in the most quality traffic to my sites.
I use keyword marketing to get my chosen keyword phrases to the top of the search engines. I concentrate most of my efforts on Google because it brings in the most traffic. Achieving top rankings will give you interested visitors and buyers.
I use blogs and RSS feeds to connect my sites to all the media sites and online bookmarking communities. Don’t underestimate the important of these media sites in your marketing. I just read in WebProNews that Facebook can drive more traffic than Google to many sites.
I use link bait like free ebooks, free reports, free ecourses... if you give out valuable content that people want – they will link to your site, bringing in more visitors and customers. I also use the PPC programs such as Google Adwords which can produce quality traffic to your sites.
I use follow-up emails to produce repeat traffic to my sites. This is one essential marketing tactic every online marketer must use if they want to fully benefit from their traffic. The concept here is not to directly sell to potential customers but give them valuable information that they need and want.
Weekly newsletters and/or ezines are another good way of building relationships with your site’s visitors. It is also an excellent way of getting repeat traffic to your sites. Another marketing tactic is to establish your site or yourself as an expert on the topic of your site. People will look and come to you for information on your topic. Building online credibility is often overlooked by many marketers but it is essential to your online success. If people respect your opinion,they will seek you out.
Participating in online communities and forums is one obvious way to establish your expertise in a given area. These forums are also an excellent source of quality traffic to your sites. As you can see from above, creating a successful web site or business takes a lot of promotion and work. Don’t just sit back and wait for things to happen – instead become pro-active and make things happen.
Write articles and distribute them. Write viral ebooks and special reports. Do PPC advertising. Start building your contact lists. Do a regular ezine or newsletter.
Participate in forums... Create a simple, yet complex system, of connections all over the web. These links/connections will draw in quality traffic that will make your site successful. Build up a whole combination of traffic sources for your site and you will create a marketing system that works.
Recently, I came across an article in a well known Los Angeles Yoga magazine. It had the picture of a young lady in terrific shape doing the scorpion pose with total ease. The article said she was kicking ass. If she was, she was a gymnast not a Yogi.
The Sanskrit word Yoga means, literally, ‘union’. Yoga has nothing to do with competition; it is a way to unite with the Spirit. The pose you are adopting do have health benefits, but its main objective is to help you concentrate, to help you silence your jabbering mind and touch the ‘One’, unite with ‘It’.
Yoga is something you can do while washing the dishes, so don’t worry if you can’t do the scorpion pose, let alone kick ass with it. Just do Yoga!
TodayI have the pleasure of introducing you to an exciting blog: World Music News Wire. It is a door to travel around the world with music:
“World Music News Wire provides high quality feature articles on world music artists and recordings to newspapers, magazines, websites, and other media outlets.”
An excerpt from one of their articles below:
“Israeli bassist Avishai Cohen is an alchemist at heart. Finding inspiration in musicians ranging from Bach to Stevie Wonder, Avishai can transform a tired Israeli school tune back into poetic gold. He can take the Sephardic melodies his grandfather sang in prayer, or his mother hummed while washing dishes, and make them groove. He can take a sinuous and spontaneous jazz bass line turn it into a top forty hit.”
He says:
Avishai Cohen
“When I was really young, Bach’s music fascinated me. He sustains two melodies at the same time, and one supports the other: Without one, the other can’t exist,” Avishai notes. “It’s like a fifth dimension that comes into play when I’m listening to and creating music.”
There is no law or wall that is going to solve the illegal immigration problem. The Mexican Border Fence is a waste of taxpayer’s money; both, the new fence and the law, will only create friction between the countries. The only solution to the problem is social justice. The pressure should be put on social reform in Mexico (and in the US).
There is hunger in many parts of Mexico. If the child below was yours would you risk your life climbing any wall? Of course you would. Erecting fences and implementing anti-immigration laws just show our ignorance, incompetence and immorality. This is morality: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Apparently, there was no such a thing as coup in Honduras. According to an article I read in Turbula. It seems that the guy had been ordered out by higher powers. Excerpt:
“So now that both the United Nations and the Organization of American States have voted to condemn the “coup” in Honduras, could we spend a few minutes and review just what a coup actually is?
A coup d’etat is generally recognized as a military overthrow of a civilian government.
Which never happened in Honduras. Instead, acting on an order from the Supreme Court – issued on a request from Congress – the Honduran military removed the president after he ignored both Congress and the Supreme Court and scheduled a referendum designed to make him president for life.”
“And the military never took control – they simply arrested and deported Zelaya, and returned to their barracks.”
Google recently sent me a letter thanking me for using adsense. And offering me a deal in Google Adwords. But the fact is that I had cancelled all my ads, and I had seven blogs of which six had been deleted and the other is on its way. Maybe Google is totally unaware. Perhaps they are nothing but a gigantic computer running amok. Have you ever thought of that? The only email I have ever received from them was totally devoid of warmth and rather intimidating, it could have been computer generated.
That is why I am posting this useful feedback; I figure their spiders have to index it, and if there are human beings behind the scene somewhere, they’ll get it. I don’t know. I really don’t know how it all works. All I know is that they are allowing plagiarism, which is tantamount to being plagiarists themselves; and in that case I don’t want to do business with them. I really don’t. They can keep their coupons.
But I understand; if you are making hundreds (or thousands) of dollars (I wasn’t) with Google Adsense you wouldn’t want to do that. You couldn’t! One thing you can do, however, is start looking for alternatives, as I am doing. There are alternatives to Google, you know. And let’s face it, why would you want to do business with someone who allows the plagiarizing of your work? It shows a lack of integrity, doesn’t it?
Another thing you can do is pass this on to Google; if you think there are human beings behind the computers and the spiders.
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Rudyard Kipling’s prophetic words at a Rhodes dinner, Oxford, June 1924:
“For you will be delivered to life in a world where, at the worst, no horror is now incredible, no folly unthinkable, no adventure inconceivable.”
“Parked next door to a sandwich truck sits a hand-built, mule drawn “Gypsy wagon,” like an apparition from a bygone era, in the driveway of a contemporary hillside home in Hollywood, California.”
“Belonging to Fishtank Ensemble, it embodies the wild and wooly journeys of the band’s eclectic and eccentric members—vocalist Ursula Knudson, violinist Fabrice Martinez, guitarist Doug “Douje” Smolens, and bassist Djordje Stijepovic—who share a vibrant passion for unbridled creativity and music with Roma roots. The quartet with a quirky name blazes new musical trails on their new album, Woman In Sin due out May 11, 2010.”
I recently read Razor-Wire Dharma, and found a true practitioner of Buddhism. Calvin Malone found Buddhism in jail, and through his practice released himself (and others) from the bondage of the ego-mind.
My favorite chapter is the one about the apple, in which, through mindfulness he sees the Whole in an awakening moment. It is similar to what Brad Warner experienced while eating an orange in one of his books (Hardcore Zen?).
What makes Mr. Malone’s book so remarkable is his position; he is practicing under adverse circumstances, and under extreme pressure at times. He is being a guide to cellmates who sometimes even steal from him. He is practicing compassion and balance in a place in which a wrong move can cost you your life, and obscene, offensive language is the norm.
Recently, I came across a derogatory blog about Mahatma Gandhi. One of the things it pointed out was that he drank his own urine. It is interesting to note how unethical people can twist facts for their own purpose. I just discovered a book written by doctor Billy Goldberg with Mark Leyner, and it says that amaroli (urine therapy) is an important technique in yoga practice. And the Chinese Association of Urine Therapy says that urine is sterile, antiseptic and nontoxic.
I have to admit that I am sticking to orange juice for the time being. But I will keep in mind that urine properly prescribed can be used to treat cancer and other illnesses. And you can certainly clean a wound with it if nothing else is available; it contains hormones and enzymes but no viruses or bacteria.
For some time now I have had the nagging suspicion that the reason we haven’t found a cure for cancer is because there is lots of money to be made in cancer research. Why find the cure? Let’s make money. Then I found this article by Jamie Reno with information that is related.
“Imagine, if you will, that there is a remarkably safe and effective treatment for one of the nation’s deadliest and most common cancers that works better than any other available treatment. Now imagine, if you can, that doctors aren’t telling their patients about this treatment because they don’t make as much money administering this drug as they do other, less effective, more toxic drugs. This eerie scenario couldn’t possibly be happening anywhere outside a sci-fi screenplay, could it? Yes, it could.”
At last, I saw The Matrix. I liked the analogies (the Wachowskis must have read Carlos Castaneda) and implications. For although The Matrix is not produced by artificial intelligence (machines), it actually exists. It is here, limiting human beings, holding us in bondage, and rendering our intelligence useless − it creates a petty and cruel species that preys on its own kind.
What actually pulls the wool over our eyes, however, and forces us to take reality for what is not (and act like nitwits) is our own reflection − that is the part the movie misses. But, of course, being science fiction it is entitled to. I wonder, however, if it will help us realize that we are boundless beings trapped in a crippling system. And we can actually fly!
The Matrix is indeed everywhere, we are trapped in a bubble of perception, but so is the way out, the eye of the dragon, the knowledge to destroy our chains. We have a challenge in our hands, a challenge worthy of us.
There comes a moment in our lives when we are struck by a gut feeling that something is wrong, something is out of kilter. From that moment on it is our responsibility to accept the challenge and take action, do our search. Not doing so will extract from us an extremely high toll.
Be advised.
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Morpheus: … you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind.
Buddha: Regard this fleeting world, as a star at dawn, a bubble in a stream, a flash of lightning in a summer cloud, a flickering lamp, a phantom and a dream. − The Diamond Sutra
Morpheus: I’m trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You’re the one that has to walk through it.
For me there is only the traveling on paths that have heart, on any path that may have heart. There I travel, and the only worthwhile challenge is to traverse its full length. And there I travel, looking, looking breathlessly. –Don Juan
“This sound, the hidden hum of the desert, was instantly picked up on by dubstepper Solar Lion. He added a sitar and brought the desert buzz front and center on his remix of the film’s “End Titles.” “You listen to this track and all of a sudden, you can hear it,” Von Koerber smiles; “the tone of the desert.”
Tuaregs
“Instead of simply writing a check to charity, von Koerber is using her close ties to Tuareg community leaders to improve wells and purchase covers and new pumping systems as part of the Nomadic Villagers Clean Water Awareness Fund. This collaborative charitable initiative between KiahKeya Productions, the Indigenous Cultural Educational Center, and local Tuareg leaders featured in the film will make simple yet vital changes to improve daily life, yet not alter it radically from its traditional nomad roots.
Along with helping the bold and hardy people who captured her imagination years ago as she backpacked through her native Africa, von Koerber, herself a global trans-cultural nomad, feels the Tuareg have something valuable to give the world. “The Tuareg are nomads, and freedom is their music,” muses von Koerber. “The album awakens you to the nomad in every one of us. It brings you to that joy you feel in the desert, by getting you out on the dance floor. That joy is like water: we all need it.””
I found an informative article by Michael Dillon, on computoredge magazine, about how to protect yourself in social networks like Facebook and Tweeter. Here is an excerpt and a link:
“Israel Hyman was very excited about his upcoming vacation from his home in Arizona to Kansas City. So excited, in fact, that he broadcast details of his trip to his 2,000 Twitter followers, including when he and his wife were leaving their house, where they were on the road, and when they arrived in K.C.
Someone, one of Mr. Hyman’s followers on Twitter, took a great interest in Mr. Hyman’s trip; when he returned home he found someone had broken into his house and stolen thousands of dollars in video equipment used for his business. Hyman is convinced the thieves monitored his feed to see when he would be gone, and then robbed his house. Similar incidents of thieves using Twitter to plan and execute robberies have also been reported in Florida and California.”
The drug war in Mexico is escalating. President Calderon is not giving up, and Hilary Clinton our secretary of state is promising to help. But are they barking at the wrong tree. President Calderon has a point when he calls the US a drug addict; we comprise 5% of the world’s population and consume 33% of the drugs produced. We may well be the primary cause of the problem.
Lets examine the facts: The recent economic collapse (just like the great depression) was caused by greed and lack of ethics in Wall Street and the Big Banks; BP is still trying to fix the oil leak they caused in the Gulf of Mexico due apparently to irresponsible and reckless behavior, and which is causing untold ecological damage and heavy financial losses in many areas of Florida and Louisiana. And now our drug addictions are fueling a war that is killing thousands. It seems like our religions are owned by our collective ego; we really don’t trust any God; we only trust money and power, and want them at any cost. Lets face it, spiritually speaking we are a third world country. Porfirio Diaz an infamous Mexican President once said: “Poor Mexico, so far from God, so close to the United States.” He may have been right.
As a temporary solution (improving our morals and our inner balance will take a while) we could legalize drugs as a way to destroy the mystique surrounding their purchase, and as a way to be able to offer help to whoever buys them. Is this too farfetched? We would be also collecting taxes, which would help our economy. And there would be no reason for drug wars. Implausible? Please advise me.
“Started earlier this year, the Roots Factory has grown exponentially in the short five months it’s been active. It hosts daytime, family-friendly events that teach attendees everything from screen-printing to DJing—all for free as part of its School of Guerilla Arts (donations are highly encouraged). There’s also spoken word, music events and more.
“We open the shop to the community and give kids and our friends a little hands-on in what it is that we do,” says Ana Brown, another founder and local artist. “It’s also a place for everybody to get together, and it’s all-ages. There’s kids, grandparents, moms—a little bit of everything.””
Maggie just sent me information about the coming Jewish Music Festival. There is an excerpt below that might make you feel like reading the whole article.
“The Festival’s mission has always been to present music that both celebrates Jewish experience in innovative ways and engages the broader community,” Shapiro reflects. “The outdoor events really explore what it means to be Jewish in the multicultural world and embrace what the Bay Area is about, as a hub of multicultural life.” This hub is home to a rich mix of local artists who will be performing in the park and are shifting the boundaries of what it means to participate in Jewish culture.
Artists like Middle Eastern percussion master Dror Sinai or artists like singer Kat Parra, who was mentored by Patti Cathcart of Tuck and Patti but who dove into the salsa scene, opening for major acts like singer Celia Cruz. At the same time, Parra began uncovering her family’s Sephardic roots, which she discovered worked beautifully with the Afro-Latin rhythms she had come to love. “It feels to me like a natural next step as the Sephardic music can be so vibrant and infectious in its melodies,” Parra explains. “The melodies actually easily fit within an Afro-diasporic rhythmic context, as does the timelessness of the lyrics.”
I was aware of this in a way. I had read about it. But politicians are so good at deceiving us, aren’t they? I heard President Obama talked about bailouts, and the federal reserve system, and how they would solve the recession problem, and I believed him. It made me feel that the federal reserve system was real. But I guess we have to face it; we are being conned.
I just came across the book by G. Edward Griffin, The Creature from Jekyll Island, A Second Look at the Federal Reserve. And although I haven’t finished the book yet it seems to be very well documented, a must read for all Americans. It seems that our own government in association with a banking cartel (it is not federal and there is no reserve) is financially murdering the middle class and leading the world into chaos. It may be time to change our course. A country that leaves the control of its money supply in the hands of a few bankers is not a free country.
It is interesting to note, however, that the con-men are also being conned. The ego makes us believe that we can profit by deceiving others, but everything is interconnected. At the end they will also be swallowed by the maelstrom they are creating. It is unavoidable.
If you follow this link, http://www.bigeye.com/griffin.htm, and scroll down, you will find an excellent excerpt from the book. Be aware and awake.
I just received a spam email from someone I know. She doesn’t communicate at all (although she should); she just sends unwanted, advertising email, which are even lacking in taste at times. Since this is a good way to lose friends fast, I am posting these two simple rules to help you keep them.
1) Do you regularly communicate with the person? If not, your offer is spam, don’t send it.
2) Make sure that your friend (or acquaintance) will accept or is expecting the email.
And remember that spamming doesn’t say much for you.
This website I found lets you visualize the spill if it was in your area, and keeps you informed of what is going on and what can you do to help.
About The Spill
“An explosion on the BP operated Deepwater Horizon oil rig killed eleven crew members on April 20, 2010, sparking the greatest environmental disaster in United States history. In combination with the Texas City Refinery Explosion and the Prudohoe Bay Oil Spill, this marks the third serious incident involving BP in the United States in the last five years. Current estimates put the amount of oil being discharged from the broken well at above 1,470,000 US gallons per day! There are over 400 different species of animals living in the area affected by the spill. 450 sea turtles and 57 dolphins have been found dead within the spill area (NOAA). BP is operating oil skimmers and other cleanup tools to try to remove oil from the water and Louisiana is building oil containment berms to halt the spread of oil. Experts are uncertain what effect, if any, these efforts will have.”
Tony the Vet is planning to walk from San Diego to New York. He will start on September 11, 2010, and is planning to arrive Sept. 11, 2011. He will be promoting and raising funds for SOVA (Support Our Veterans Association).
But while getting in shape he is inviting you to join him in a mini walkathon this coming Sunday, July 18, 2010. Details below:
“Homeless Veteran Walkathon”
Departure: 7:00AM Sunday 7/18/2010
Mt Soledad Veterans Memorial
Soledad Park Road
La Jolla, CA
Arrival: 12:00 Noon – 1:00PM Sunday 7/18/2010
Veterans Village San Diego (VVSD) Stand Down
San Diego High School (Athletic Field)
1405 Park Blvd
San Diego, CA
To know more about Tony the Vet and his coming walkathon please visit:
Wartime Vet Launches Walkathon Across America With A Skydive
Anthony A. LoBue, wartime veteran and founder of Support Our Veterans Association, is making a skydive from 13,000 over San Diego to launch his fundraising walkathon across America. LoBue will be making his skydive at Skydive San Diego on Friday, August 13, 2010 to help generate awareness about the Walkathon. The SOVA Walkathon across America will begin on 9/11/2010 in San Diego, traveling through Phoenix, Austin, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and ending in New York at Ground Zero on 9/11/2011.
For more info, check out his website at www.tonythevet.org or contact him directly at 619 806 2075.
My friend, singer and musician Andrew Perri 
Today I read the Diamond Sutra.
There is a tiny book out there that can fit in anybody’s shirt pocket. It is titled, the pocket Buddha reader. It was edited by Anne Bancroft; and it has outstanding selections of the Buddha’s teachings. Below, I am adding an interesting excerpt (pg 33) to give you an idea.
I visited Mission Bay Park today…in mindfulness.
We are building an incredible new fence. Is that the solution? 
We applauded when the Berlin Wall fell. Are we building another one?
When I worked at the Sycamore Ranch in New Mexico. I had to relocate a rattlesnake once. And it is really an easy job; you just scoop them up with a hand net. It is also safe if you are careful. But they grow big in Texas. I don’t know how I would have relocated this one: ( 9 Feet, 1 inch, 97 pounds)
The Wisdom of Seeing
I received some Caregiver Survival Tips by Dr. Steven H. Hodes that I consider excellent. Here they are:
I have been painting and drawing since childhood, using various techniques , going from pencil and graphite to pastels , watercolors and finally oils which I like the most. There is no complicated philosophical explanation about my paintings , the whole sense of my work is to communicate an emotion to you by watching a painting . 
To all lovers of Pizza in San Diego: City Pizzeria has moved from 1125 6th Ave. (Between B & C) to 675 B St. (corner of B & 7th)
Which never happened in Honduras. Instead, acting on an order from the Supreme Court – issued on a request from Congress – the Honduran military removed the president after he ignored both Congress and the Supreme Court and scheduled a referendum designed to make him president for life.”
Outdated Seo Tactics | Website Magazine | Blog Comment Spamming
In the May issue of Website magazine I found an interesting article on blog comment spamming as an outdated SEO tactic; it was doubly interesting since I get a lot of comment spamming.
It says that a lot of webmasters still aggressively pursue this method as their primary link building strategy, when in fact Google introduced “nofollow” link tags (signal to search engine spiders to ignore a link) and is known to devalue links in blog comments.
The reasonable and legitimate alternative, says the magazine, is to write interesting , well-written and thought-provoking content, which will generate editorial links — naturally occurring links from other blogs and news sources that search engines value far more than comments in blog posts.
To read about more outdated SEO tactics visit: Website Magazine
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