The Silver Bot

“They are like children sitting in the market place and calling out to each other, `We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry’” (Luke 7:32).

“Men and women of this generation, you are like discontented offspring who don’t want to dance to another’s tune, but you want others to play your game of criticizing. You were angry with John because he would have nothing to do with your self-indulgent feasts; you disdained Me because I could not abide your hypocritical fasts and your licentiousness.

“What do you want, my perverse and contradictory children? Can you not have both Christian abstinence and Christian participation? Of course! True, I was not an ascetic as was John, but it was my will that John did what he did. But you are not to follow John. You are to follow Me, and I chose to participate in my Father’s good gifts. My Father’s gifts are

1) sanctified with gratitude;
2) controlled with moderation; and
3) beautified with benevolence.”

“Every worthwhile gift, every genuine benefit comes from above,” (James 1:17) so let us not only not forget but also enjoy our Father’s benefits. Jesus and John demonstrate two different approaches to life but with the one aim to do God’s will. John, the last prophet of the old dispensation of law, gave way to Jesus who brought in the new order of the gospel. The one demanded outward righteousness; the other requires inward purity.

John was solitary and Jesus was sociable. It was that simple and delightful and acceptable. It is too easy for us to misjudge another because that person is either one. Our Creator purposely made us different and distinguished. The Pharisees of all ages have trouble accepting this.

Your dog seems to be driving you up the wall lately, exhibiting serious behavior problems — and no amount of verbal correction seems to work. She chews the furniture, gnaws on shoes, turns over the trash cans, howls and barks when you’re not around, or even seems really depressed when you come home.

There could be many reasons for behavior problems such as these, but chances are that your dog just misses you too much, and is showing she’s bored and lonely. This is especially true if you only have one dog in the house and she’s home alone while you work.

One solution to the problem is to try to keep your dog entertained while you are gone. Get a bone or a Kong chew toy, so she’ll have a challenge for when you’re not around. Another tactic is to turn on the radio so she’ll hear human voices. Puppies respond especially well to this; it seems to reassure them much like an actual human presence. Also, if you can lend her a worn shirt, try leaving this in your dog’s bed so that your smell remains even when you aren’t there.

Discourage Destructive Behavior

In cases of destructive behavior problems, it pays to correct your dog immediately when you catch her chewing your furniture or taking out her frustrations on your belongings. Be vigilant at first — instant feedback is much easier for your dog to understand than corrections a minute or two later. When you catch her, rush to your dog’s side, grab her by the back of her neck and give her a firm “No!”

This should let her know she’s done wrong, but if you catch your dog doing it again, some owners may want to roll up 10 to 20 sheets of newspaper and give her a mild whack on the thigh. This won’t hurt her, but the sound will seem threatening and loud.

I used to come home to the remains of a stack of mail, ripped to shreds by my dog. I knew that she’d probably done it hours ago, so to reinforce the memory of the negative behavior, I grabbed some of the mail, put it near her mouth and uttered a firm “No!” She shredded the mail a few more times, but each time I reinforced with “No!” and she soon got the message, to our mutual happiness.

Help Your Pup Feel “Up”

Are you playing with and talking to your dog when you come home? Doing so can make a great difference to her feelings. Just like us, dogs want to be acknowledged and fussed over when we’re around. Dogs being such social animals, it doesn’t work if we merely feed and walk them and ignore them the rest of the time. If we can’t spend some quality time with our pets, we might as well not have them at all.

If you can afford it and your dog is alone, give serious thought to getting another. This worked well for me — after my second dog came into the picture, my first turned into an angel, and has stayed that way ever since — which is to say, I have a happier dog!

If a second dog just isn’t an option for you, you could also spend a little more time bonding with your dog by enrolling both of you in an obedience class. This way, you’ll learn more control and teamwork involving your four-footed friend. You may even find your dog more relaxed and better behaved, as the training puts you in a dominant light and takes the pressure off her to lead the household “pack.” Plus, your dog gets a chance to meet other dogs. You’ll soon notice how eager she is for the next class!

About The Author

Blake Kritzberg is proprietor of Poodle-oo: Fashion for Toy Dogs. Stop by for toy dog couture and home decor, free toy dog postcards and the Toy Dog Blog.

http://www.poodle-oo.com/

Learn more about pet insurance:

http://www.poodle-oo.com/pet-insurance.htm

Landlords and rehabbers take notice - you may soon be focused on the new concepts of “Virtual Real Estate Investing“. There are many variations on what this term means, encompassing everything from using the internet to aid in real estate investing efforts to participating in online games such as SecondLife.

To get the facts, I sought out the man generally considered to be the father of virtual real estate investing: Bryan Ellis.

When I began using the term virtual real estate investing in the late 1990s, I did so because I saw clear parallels between the strategies used for profiting from physical real estate and those that would create income in the online world, said Ellis.

One example of the parallels between virtual and physical real estate Bryan Ellis cites is the similarity between the monetization of domain names versus physical property. He points out that control of a domain name or even a specific web page is much like controlling a real estate property ” those assets can be monetized in similar ways: By selling them for a profit, by leasing them, by offering advertising, etc.

The parallels really are obvious. After all, if you own a valuable piece of real estate, it’s “valuable” because other people are interested in that specific piece of property. Likewise, if you own a desirable domain name, others will find value in it because it serves their purposes. In either case, you could sell or lease the asset and turn it into cash.

In our next installment of this series on virtual real estate investing., Bryan Ellis will share the internet analogies to the physical concept of real estate development.

Giving your dog a bath is important, but not as critical as most people seem to believe. If your dog is healthy, he really doesn’t need to be bathed more that once every few months, but most of us put them in the tub or under the hose more often to get rid of that doggie smell and look shinier. Although most dogs do not enjoy getting a bath, it is a good bonding experience. They will appreciate the contact and attention they get from their owner. This is also an excellent time to do some other required “maintenance” tasks that we often forget about, such as ear cleaning, brushing their teeth, and checking for fleas and ticks. It is much easier to do all these things at once since most dogs don’t enjoy sitting through these activities for very long.

Let’s go into further detail about these maintenance tasks to make sure your dog stays healthy and happy for a long time.

To clean your dog’s ears, check your local pet store for special solutions designed specifically for this purpose. It is common for dogs to attract ear mites, which are small insects that live in the waxy secretions. As time goes by, the mite gets larger and you will start to notice a dirty black substance in your dog’s ear. Take a q-tip, dip it in the ear cleaning solution, and gently swab the entire ear. Your dog might squirm, but hold him down, because it won’t take long. And when you’re done, he’ll have clean ears and be much less likely to get earaches or infections.

One of the most overlooked maintenance tasks is brushing your dog’s teeth. Many dog owners only do this once or twice per year. Can you imagine how gross your mouth would feel if you didn’t brush for six months? Your dog feels the same way. It’s never too late to start doing this. You will need a special toothbrush and toothpaste designed for dogs. These are easily found in any pet store for under ten dollars. Be certain to brush the back teeth, and use small circular motions like your dentist used to tell you to do. This task will be easier than the ear cleaning, because the dog toothpaste is made to taste good. Your dog should enjoy the treat.

The last thing to check for is fleas and ticks. Ticks are nasty little bugs that dig themselves into your dog’s skin and live by sucking their blood. Be especially careful if you live near wooded areas where ticks are most common. However, no matter where you live, check for ticks often, because they carry several harmful diseases. Ticks are the transport method of Lyme Disease, which will slowly destroy your dog’s joints and suck out all his energy. Many dogs with Lyme Disease are in such pain that they need to be put down. So check often! Pay special attention to the most common hiding areas, which are under the collar or along the underbelly. If you find one, simply pull it off with tweezers.

Fleas aren’t as potentially harmful as ticks, but they are much more of a nuisance. If you don’t catch them quickly enough, your other pets can catch them, your kids can catch them, and you might have to get your home fumigated. You can find them under the fur, in the same places where ticks hang out. If you see little things that look like specks of pepper, those are flea droppings. The actual flea will be dark in color and about the size of a grain of rice. If you do find one, call your local vet’s office and ask about flea treatments.

About the Author

Eric Shannon is a freelance author who also publishes the Dog Lovers Report, which is a biweekly newsletter with a very large readership. He also runs Beds For Doggies, which carries a large selection of Dog Beds, Dog Couches, and Dog Furniture.

Bodybuilding enthusiasts and athletes looking to gain an inside competitive advantage constantly battle with the temptation to take steroids or not. Deciding to body build naturally is much better than taking the steroid route. There are a number of good reasons to support this statement.

First off, have you ever seen what happens to a bodybuilder when they go off muscle enhancing anabolic steroids? Two words that muscle building enthusiasts never want to hear, atrophy (get small), and strength lose. The fact is a steroid induced bodybuilder should not stay on steroids day in and day out for years on end. It is suggested to cycle your administration, say, 6-10 weeks at a time, and then go off for an extended period of time before starting again. Weeks following going off tend to equal muscle atrophy, decreased strength, and even depression.

Natural bodybuilding may not elicit that huge, rapid spike in muscle growth in a super short time, but illustrate a long term, stable growth curve. It may take longer to develop muscle strength and size, but when you have it, you have it as long as you keep training at an intense level. However, as witnessed many times by former steroid users, a rapid shrink in size and strength occur to levels sometimes below the natural bodybuilders production. How much fun is that?

Take, for instance, a professional baseball player who administers generous amounts of steroids one year and hits 58 home runs, but is only able to hit 16 during his next, steroid free season.

Since we all want instant results, steroids may be attractive, but the medical side effects don’t quite seem worth it.

Is adding ten pounds of muscle more important than increasing heart disease risk, cancer risk, or manipulating your natural hormonal balance? This question is only for you to answer, not me. In my opinion, the risks far outweigh the benefits which are only visible when you are taking steroids. Size and strength quickly decrease after ceasing steroid use.

Steroid users seem to have a greater risk of injury from the muscle tissue growing faster than the, trying to adapt, connective tissue. The workloads are more aggressive, more frequent, and with faster muscle building recovery times. Once again, do you want the injury prone “quick fix,” or the slow, but steady wins the race approach? Just remember, the natural bodybuilder will probably show better results compared to the steroid user who has not used steroids in years. Are all the health risks worth it?

Anabolic steroids are illegal if not administered by a physician. I known people who have died, and even been thrown in jail for using, and selling anabolic steroids. It just doesn’t seem worth it to me.

There can also be a sense of addiction for the non-natural
bodybuilders. The performance enhancing, drug user gets a very good feeling when their bodies are pumped up and buff. However, the opposite happens when they stop the steroids, and the muscle shrinking process begins. Imagine the feeling these athletes get. Their body image quickly erodes, and thoughts of the next muscle producing cycle are rolling around in their heads.

Aside from the health, and legal risks, it also costs quite a bit of money to take muscle enhancing drugs.

Hopefully, I convinced you to not take the performance enhancing pathway, but to use your resources, and energy into training smarter. If you are a natural bodybuilder, and want an advantage, you must train in an intelligent manner. That means providing the proper intensity of muscle producing stimulus, followed by adequate rest. The natural bodybuilder must pay extra close attention to sound training practices, in order to continue that gradual, continuous climb up the muscle development ladder.

Just remember to be patient and think long term results, not quick, short term, hi-risk muscular development. If you make a chart listing all the positives versus the negatives when it comes to natural bodybuilding versus steroid induced training, the natural bodybuilding positives far outweigh the drug induced positives. Therefore, in my eyes, natural bodybuilding is a much better training system than anabolic induced bodybuilding.

***** Attention: Ezine Editors / Website Owners *****
Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety in your eZine, Blog, Autoresponder, or on your website as long as the links, text, and resource box are not altered in any way.

Jim O’Connor- Exercise Physiologist

Copyright (c) - Wellness WORD, LLC

9461 Charleville Blvd. #312

Beverly Hills, CA 90212

1-866-935-5967

Jim O’Connor, a Beverly Hills Exercise Physiologist, and former
competitive bodybuilder, is passionate about promoting natural
bodybuilding. He actively teaches bodybuilders how get
steroid like results through his website
Natural Bodybuilding Info.

The fall is the season that I see very little of my husband. He is an avid hunter. He archery hunts for white tail deer. The archery season opens in mid September. He hunts for ducks and geese, that season opens the end of September. He hunts pheasant that season opens the middle of October and he hunts deer with a rifle in November. Most of the weekend days during this time are filled with hunting trips. Most of the time he is home in the evenings, but a few of his trips are overnights. When he is gone on overnight trips I usually get together with the wives of whom ever he is hunting with. When he is rifle hunting in November I get together with my sister-in-law. Each year we spend this weekend making some sort of Christmas craft item.

The last two years we have made a beaded Christmas ornament. We learned the beading techniques in a community education class. The beaded Christmas ornament is fun to make and they look very nice on the Christmas tree. The church my husband and I belong to has a bake and craft sale each year in December. I thought this year I would donate a beaded Christmas ornament as my craft item and decorated sugar cookies as my baked item. This year my husband and his brother were going to take a few extra days hunting, so my sister-in-law and I decided that we would lengthen our weekend together also. She came to my house after work on Friday. We set up our beads and started, making the ornaments. We have done them often enough that we each completed a beaded Christmas ornament that night. We had the supplies for more so we agreed that we would compete more the next day and would donate them to the church sale.

We spent Saturday morning shopping and then had lunch together and shopped some more. Our other sister-in-law called us and we met for happy hour late in the afternoon. After a few drinks we went home and started to make the beaded Christmas ornament for the church sale. We were laughing and having fun as we beaded. We also had a few more drinks.

We laughed when we looked at the ornaments the next morning. The beads were not straight and the Styrofoam form underneath was showing. We had to spend over an hour trying to repair the ornaments so we could donate them. We both agreed that we should not drink and try to bead ornaments at the same time. We will try less complicated crafts when we are having a few drinks.

The fall is the season that I see very little of my husband. He is an avid hunter. He archery hunts for white tail deer. The archery season opens in mid September. He hunts for ducks and geese, that season opens the end of September. He hunts pheasant that season opens the middle of October and he hunts deer with a rifle in November. Most of the weekend days during this time are filled with hunting trips. Most of the time he is home in the evenings, but a few of his trips are overnights. When he is gone on overnight trips I usually get together with the wives of whom ever he is hunting with. When he is rifle hunting in November I get together with my sister-in-law. Each year we spend this weekend making some sort of Christmas craft item.

The last two years we have made a beaded Christmas ornament. We learned the beading techniques in a community education class. The beaded Christmas ornament is fun to make and they look very nice on the Christmas tree. The church my husband and I belong to has a bake and craft sale each year in December. I thought this year I would donate a beaded Christmas ornament as my craft item and decorated sugar cookies as my baked item. This year my husband and his brother were going to take a few extra days hunting, so my sister-in-law and I decided that we would lengthen our weekend together also. She came to my house after work on Friday. We set up our beads and started, making the ornaments. We have done them often enough that we each completed a beaded Christmas ornament that night. We had the supplies for more so we agreed that we would compete more the next day and would donate them to the church sale.

We spent Saturday morning shopping and then had lunch together and shopped some more. Our other sister-in-law called us and we met for happy hour late in the afternoon. After a few drinks we went home and started to make the beaded Christmas ornament for the church sale. We were laughing and having fun as we beaded. We also had a few more drinks.

We laughed when we looked at the ornaments the next morning. The beads were not straight and the Styrofoam form underneath was showing. We had to spend over an hour trying to repair the ornaments so we could donate them. We both agreed that we should not drink and try to bead ornaments at the same time. We will try less complicated crafts when we are having a few drinks.

Today I want to share with you a beautiful Taoist meditation/Qigong visualization practice … So to begin, please find a comfortable place to sit, either on a chair with your spine up-right and your feet flat on the floor; or in a comfortable cross-legged or “hero” position on the floor. Take a couple of deep, slow breaths, filling your lungs completely and then saying (either out loud or to yourself) “aaah” as you exhale. Let go of any tension you find in your neck, face or shoulders. Feel your energy descending, filling your legs and hips and belly. Smile gently, and close your eyes.

Now, imagine that you’re sitting outside, at dusk, on the shore of a beautiful mountain lake. The air is pleasantly warm, and perfectly calm. As the sky darkens, stars begin to appear. Soon, the entire night sky ~ visible above the silhouettes of the mountains ~ is filled with them: golden-white points of light, millions and millions … Let yourself be filled with amazement at the vastness of it all, its quiet mysterious beauty.

And then, in your imagination (still sitting there on the shore of the mountain lake), notice one of those stars moving toward you (kind of like a “shooting star,” but slower). As it moves closer and closer it “grows” in size, becoming ever more bright, and ever more beautiful. Closer and closer … larger and larger.

And as it draws even closer to you (hovering now somewhere above the lake), what you notice is that it’s not a star at all, but rather it is an infant: a beautiful newborn, naked and shining like a star. And as this newborn, golden-white, moves even closer, what you notice is that it’s not just any newborn … but rather it is YOU as a newborn!

And now, imagine that beautiful newborn, who is you-as-a-newborn, floating even closer, until s/he is hovering directly above your head. See and feel his/her Presence there, golden-white, shining like a star. And now, allow the crown of your head to soften, as though it were the dome of a temple, which you were slowly opening … And as you do this imagine that the newborn who is floating above your head is beginning to descend, toward the opening at your crown.

Now imagine the newborn entering that opening at the crown of your head, as though entering a temple … and continuing to float downward, along the central channel of your body (just in front of the spine), until s/he is floating in your heart center. Feel the Presence of the newborn, shining like a star, in your heart-center.

And now the newborn-who-is-you continues to float downward, along that central channel inside of your body, until s/he is resting in your low belly, below the navel. See and feel that newborn, warm & bright as a star, floating there in your belly. As you breathe, send waves of love and appreciation to this infant, this newborn-who-is-you, resting now comfortably in your lowest belly. Let yourself feel delighted by his/her Presence there, inside of you … as though you had within you a secret treasure, which you had just now discovered.

And now, keeping a portion of your attention here with that new-found treasure … open your eyes.

To end (this post, and begin the rest of your day), a poem about the Kahmiri yogini Lalla (written by Frithjof Schuon):

Lalla

When Lalla Yogishwari found Atma
Within herself, the outer world became
Her sole garment, a web of dreams;
Thus she went naked beneath the vault of Heaven.

And as she entered from the outward to the Inward,
So did the Inward enter her body’s fullness;
And thus she went naked and dancing through the land -
In Lakshmi’s ecstasy and in Atma’s stillness.

Elizabeth Reninger holds a Masters degree in Chinese Medicine, is a published poet, and has been exploring Yoga ~ in its Taoist, Buddhist & Hindu varieties ~ for more than twenty years. Her teachers include Richard Freeman and Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. To read more of her yoga-related essays, please visit her website: http://www.writingup.com/blog/elizabeth_reninger

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.

There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas.

There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly, distinct processes that enhance idea selection, development and commercialisation. Whilst there is no sure fire route to commercial success, these processes improve the probability that good ideas will be generated and selected and that investment in developing and commercialising those ideas will not be wasted.

Knowledge gains in Innovation

New knowledge is arguably the most fundamental aspect of innovation:

a) Radical shifts result from incremental movements when new knowledge is added.

b) Solution finding, one of the most successful forms of innovation, is the result of utilising existing knowledge in new areas.

c) Eliciting tacit knowledge is one of the most useful methods of generating rich ideas.

d) Intellectual cross pollination is the raw material of the idea generating process.

e) Knowledge of components and the combination of them in unique ways.

These and other topics are covered in depth in the MBA dissertation on Managing Creativity & Innovation, which can be purchased (along with an Innovation Bible, Creativity and Innovation DIY Audit, Good Idea Generator Software and Power Point Presentation) from http://www.managing-creativity.com/

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

Kal Bishop, MBA

**********************************

You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author’s name and site URL are retained.

Kal Bishop is a management consultant based in London, UK. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached on http://www.managing-creativity.com/

“Today is life - the only life you are sure of. Make the most of today. Get interested in something. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby. Let the winds of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto.”

Hobbies and pastimes are most often done purely for enjoyment and pleasure. Pursuing a hobby can not only be rewarding for its own sake but also lead to acquiring new technical skills and specialist knowledge. Personal fulfillment is usually the aim of most hobbies rather than financial reward.

An important determinant of what is considered a hobby, as distinct from a profession (beyond the lack of remuneration), is probably how easy it is to make a living at the activity. It is very hard make a living at coin or stamp collecting, but many people find it is enjoyable nonetheless; so it is commonly regarded as a hobby. It is generally accepted that a person who does something for pleasure rather than remuneration, is called an amateur or hobbyist.

But that should not preclude a person with a passion for a particular hobby from making money from his or her hobby. What if I told you that you could make a substantial income doing something you love? Traditionally people made money from their hobbies by selling a finished product (such as pots of jam!) or by providing a service such as furniture restoration in their spare time. Many people find that making money with a hobby is more like fun than a job.

Money for Jam!

Nearly everyone has a hobby of some sort. There are so many different types of hobbies such as arts and crafts, bird watching, collecting coins / stamps, cookery, DIY, furniture restoration, model making, rock-climbing, painting, photography or remote controlled cars. Not only are these hobbies are highly rewarding but they also offer an opportunity for the person to share their specialist knowledge to others and make a profit in the process.

Here is how it works. Lets say that you are interested in cookery as a hobby. You spend many hours in your spare time creating wonderful dishes and even sell the odd cake or pot of jam down the local market or at a community fete. But what if you could pull together some of your favorite recipes and put them into a downloadable e-book that people would be willing to pay for and could be sold even while you were asleep! Rather than making a bit of pocket money on the side you could have people from around the world paying a premium for information on a subject that you know and love.

This is something that anyone can do regardless of whether you are a teenager interested in games or a grandparent interested in furniture restoration. There are many smart people (who do not necessarily have any technical skills) turning their passion and hobbies into a lucrative business. You could be doing the same.

Copyright 2006 - Declan O’Reilly

Visit my website below to discover how I turned my passion into a business which turns over tens of thousands of dollars in my spare time.

Anyhoodles