Finding Hope in Difficult Times

Hope means "to desire something with confident expectation of it's fulfillment." The state of Hopelessness has been aptly described as a type of "Hell on Earth" filled with endless despondency and despair.

Today, more and more people are finding themselves alone and depressed, and few of us have not at one time or another felt the sting of despondency and despair. But Good news! Help is available, not the kind the world has wherein it wishes for the best. It is one thing to wish, and quite another to have faith based on the promises of God.

ENTERTAINING THE PEOPLE THROUGH MOVIES

One of the latest communications to entertain the people through a media is movies. Movies make us to feel that the incident is happening around us and we are a apart of it. A film produces an illusion of motion by presenting a series of individual image frames in rapid succession. Films are produced by a crew that handles the cameras, sets and lighting. The cast consists of actors who appear in front of the camera and follow a script. After the film has been shot, it is edited then distributed to theaters or television studios for viewing.

Want to retire happily? Then keep working after your retirement.

Retirement is a state which many of us dream when we are working. We think retirement means playing golf, no more boring work and just relaxing. Frankly, if you want to sit back and relax, it's the worst thing that can happen to you. Sitting on the couch, recalling old memories and criticizing how the world has changed in recent years can be extremely boring. Therefore retirement is not about relaxing on a couch and waiting to die, its about doing things that you have always dreamed of doing in your free time, things that will help the community, writing a book and may be write online articles like I do.

Not everyone of us retire with enough money to go on a Euro-tour or play golf as we want. It has been proven that after we retire, keeping our brain and body active helps us to live longer and also keeps our brain sharper. In order to retire happily it is very important keep working after your official retirement.

I actually know of some people who made more money after they retired and started working on a task they love. This friend of mine wrote a book about famous wine tasting and famous wines of America. Even thought its not a number one seller, he still gets some royalties out of it. Another friend voluntarily teaches English to kids of people who are challenged with the language, he has never been happier. One of my friend like to take photographs, he actually discovered his talent recently and now loves to take pictures of wild flowers and insects. Many of his pictures have been published on websites and local newspapers (thankfully he has some contacts too), but he does everything for free. This election I went to door to door campaigning for the presidential candidate I like and it was such a great relaxation for me.

A retirement without motive is nothing more than dying early. In order to retire happily you need to dig inside you all those hidden talents which got lost on your path to retirement.

Within Us Is Everything We Need To Change Our Lives

You have the power to choose how to react AND how to act (if you even choose to act for that matter). If you choose to react negatively to everything around you, then that is exactly what you will bring about in your life. If you choose NOT to act by giving your power away in the form of blame and excuses, your ability to be proactive becomes weaker and weaker as time goes on until you find yourself not being able to do anything at all.

You have the power and the responsibility to react AND to act and the truth is you always had that power within you. You just didn’t know it until you realized the fact that it was this very same power that is responsible for the life you are living today. When that hits us, we tend to focus on the fact that all the bad things in our life were not the fault of others, but the fault of ourselves so we become overly depressed. Never despair because with that being said, it’s leads to this realization.

If you want your life to change, it’s up to YOU to change it and you CAN change it.

Use that same power which has gone out of control that has given you the life today, seize it, and use it to create the life you want. Nobody can change your life except you. Stop pointing the fingers. Start pointing them to yourself. You have the power to act and create circumstances and while you can’t control circumstances and events that are out of your grip, you can control and choose how to respond to them. When we take responsibility for our lives and realize the power that resides in choosing how to react to circumstances and choosing to act in order to create new circumstances, we realize that within us is everything we need to change our lives.

Seven Wonders of the World

1. The Taj Mahal (1630 A.D.) Agra, India
This was built on the orders of Shah Jahan, the fifth Muslim Mugal emperor, to honor the memory of his beloved late wife. It was built out of white marble and standing in formally laid-out walled gardens. Taj Mahal is regarded as the most perfect jewel of Muslim art in India.


2. Petra (9 B.C. - 40 A.D.), Jordan
Petra was the glittering capital of the Nabataean empire of King Aretas IV (9 B.C. to 40 A.D.) situated on the edge of the Arabian Desert. Masters of water technology, the Nabataeans provided their city with great tunnel constructions and water chambers. A theater, modelled on Greek-Roman prototypes, had space for an audience of 4,000. Today, the Palace Tombs of Petra, with the 42-meter-high Hellenistic temple, are impressive examples of Middle Eastern culture.

3. Machu Picchu (1460-1470), Peru
In the 15th century, the Incan Emperor Pachacutec built a city in the clouds on the mountain known as Machu Picchu "Old Mountain". This extraordinary settlement lies halfway up the Andes Plateau, deep in the Amazon jungle and above the Urubamba River.

4. Christ Redeemer (1931) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
This statue of Jesus stands some 38 meters tall, atop the Corcovado mountain overlooking Rio de Janeiro. It was designed by Brazilian Heitor da Silva Costa and created by French sculptor Paul Landowski. It is one of the world’s best-known monuments. The statue took five years to construct and was inaugurated on October 12, 1931. It has become a symbol of the city and of the warmth of the Brazilian people, who receive visitors with open arms.

5. The Great Wall of China (220 B.C and 1368 - 1644 A.D.) China
The Great Wall of China is the largest man-made monument ever to have been built and it is disputed that it is the only one visible from space. It was built to link existing fortifications into a united defense system and better keep invading Mongol tribes out of China. Many thousands of people must have given their lives to build this colossal construction.

6. The Pyramid at Chichen Itza (before 800 A.D.) Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico
Chichen Itza, the most famous Mayan temple city, served as the political and economic center of the Mayan civilization. Its various structures - the pyramid of Kukulkan, the Temple of Chac Mool, the Hall of the Thousand Pillars, and the Playing Field of the Prisoners – can still be seen today and are demonstrative of an extraordinary commitment to architectural space and composition. The pyramid itself was the last, and arguably the greatest, of all Mayan temples.

7. The Roman Colosseum (70 - 82 A.D.) Rome, Italy
This great amphitheater in the centre of Rome was built to give favors to successful legionnaires and to celebrate the glory of the Roman Empire. Its design concept still stands to this very day, and virtually every modern sports stadium some 2,000 years later still bears the irresistible imprint of the Colosseum's original design. Today, through films and history books, we are even more aware of the cruel fights and games that took place in this arena, all for the joy of the spectators.

The negative effect of rock music on youth

Music has an uncanny power to transform the life of people all over the world irrespective of their race, culture or gender. Music unarguably enjoys the position of the most influential universal language. Music forms a separate culture group spread across the world in its variety of forms. The different genres of music constitute these various forms of music. Like any thing in the world, music can also be disastrous if it falls in the hands of the wrong section of the society.

Rock music is a genre of music that uses guitar, drum and bass, which contribute to its noisy music. It was originated in the western world, but took little time to gain fans all over the world. Within a short span of time, youth across the world were madly in love with rock music. In the modern age rock music has turned out into a prominent factor that decides the style of dress, language and fashion of the younger generation. Many studies have proved that rock music negatively affect the mental framework of its listeners quite unconsciously.

The most negative part of rock music is its heavy metallic sound, which unconsciously makes its listeners violent. Rock music can cause a phenomenon called nerve jamming which is similar to hypnosis. It has been pointed out that the younger people who is under the mesmerizing influence of rock music lose conscious control of their mind and succumb themselves to the pessimistic messages conveyed by most music bands. Thus, rock music is spiritually, mentally and physically harmful to the people, especially the youth.

An often-cited example in this case is that of a sixteen-year-old boy in Texas, U.S.A who was taken into a trance like state while listening to rock song that he became violent and unconsciously murdered his aunt. Thus, music even has the weird power to transform the common person into murderers and social nuisances. Unlike rock music, Classical music has a soothing effect on the mind.

"Way to Heaven"

According to polls a surprising number of people believe there is more than one way to Heaven. Even more surprising is that some of our modern day Christian churches are not confronting this issue.

The only reliable information concerning the "way to Heaven" can be found in God's written word, not in the opinions of men. We must rely only upon His way. "The Way" was a designation for early Christians. It was "The Way to Heaven" then, and is "The Way to Heaven" now.

Christianity itself rests upon a "plan of salvation," so easy that even a child can understand. This perfect plan must be maintained, else those who follow the wrong teachings will spend eternity in Hell.

God's written word say's the way to Heaven is through what Jesus did on the cross.

Metallica Sparks

Metallica was easily the best, most influential heavy metal band of the '80s. Responsible for bringing the genre back to Earth, the bandmates looked and talked like they were from the street, shunning the usual rockstar games of metal musicians during the early '80s. Metallica also expanded the limits of thrash, using speed and volume not for their own sake, but to enhance their intricately structured compositions. The release of 1983's Kill 'Em All marked the beginning of the legitimization of heavy metal's underground, bringing new complexity and depth to thrash metal. With each album, the band's playing and writing improved; James Hetfield developed a signature rhythm playing that matched his growl, while lead guitarist Kirk Hammett became one of the most copied guitarists in metal. To complete the package, Lars Ulrich's thunderous (yet complex) drumming clicked in perfectly with Cliff Burton's innovative bass playing.

After releasing their masterpiece Master of Puppets in 1986, tragedy struck the band when their tour bus crashed while traveling in Sweden. Burton died in the accident. When the band decided to continue, Jason Newsted was chosen to replace Burton; two years later, the band released the conceptually ambitious ...And Justice for All, which hit the Top Ten without any radio play and very little support from MTV. But Metallica completely crossed over into the mainstream with 1991's Metallica, a self-titled effort that found the band trading in their long compositions for more concise song structures. Peppered with hits like "Wherever I May Roam" and "Enter Sandman", it resulted in a number one album that sold over seven million copies in the U.S. alone. To support the record, Metallica launched a long tour that kept the musicians on the road for nearly two years.

Happy Birthday Sheet Music Saves Lives!

Okay, maybe not literally; but consider the following. No serious musician would want to admit that he couldn't just play Happy Birthday off the top of his head; but suffice it to say, that has been known to happen. Even a three chord song can thwart you if it catches you off guard; and if you've ever had to pick up the devastated heap of a musician wrecked by the inability to anticipate that pesky seventh on the first chord of the third phrase (What the heck is that, anyway? A secondary dominant? Short little "easy" songs aren't supposed to have those!), then you might want to invest in some Happy Birthday sheet music. Think of it as an insurance policy.

For the player of any skill level who doesn't hold himself to that level of expectation for memorization or picking up a song by ear, Happy Birthday sheet music can also be quite helpful. It isn't just pianists who might want to accompany a group rendition of the song, but rather anyone on any instrument might want to play along, or perform alone. You are likely to be able to find versions of Happy Birthday for any instrument from alto sax to tuba, and in many cases, duets with piano accompaniment as well.

You may be able to find some really fun digital sheet music arrangements of Happy Birthday. While some will be the bare bones chords and melody so that anyone can easily sight-read, other arrangements can be quirky, jazzy, or in a classical or pop idiom. You haven't explored the full potential of Happy Birthday until you've browsed some of the versions that you can find online.

Real-World Antidotes to Feel-Good Education

1. Life is not fair. Get used to it. The average teen-ager uses the phrase "It's not fair" 86 times a day.
2. The real world won't care as much about your self-esteem as your school does. This may come as a shock.
3. Sorry, you won't make $40,000 a year as soon as you get out of high school. And you won't be a vice president and have a car phone, either. You may even have to wear a uniform that doesn't have a designer label.
4. If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss.
5. Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping. They called it "opportunity."
6. It's not your parents' fault if you mess up. You're responsible. This is the mirror image of "It's my life" and "You're not my boss."
7. Before you were born, your parents weren't boring. They got that way by paying bills and listening to you.
8. Life is not divided into semesters. And you don't get summers off. Not even spring break. You are expected to show up every day for eight hours, and you don't get a new life every 10 weeks.
9. Smoking does not make you look cool. Watch an 11-year-old with a butt in his mouth. That's what you look like to anyone over 20.
10. Your school may be "outcome-based," but life isn't. In some schools, you're given as many chances as you want to get the answer right. Standards are set low enough so nearly everyone can meet them. This, of course, bears not the slightest resemblance to anything in real life - as you will soon find out.
Good luck. You are going to need it. And the harder you work, the luckier you will get.

Are Woman Smart?

For her first wish, she wanted to be the most beautiful woman in the world.

The frog warned her, "You do realize that this wish will also make your husband the most handsome man in the world, an Adonis whom women will flock to".

The woman replied, "That's okay, because I will be the most beautiful woman and he will have eyes only for me."

So, KAZAM-she's the most beautiful woman in the world!

For her second wish, she wanted to be the richest woman in the world.

The frog said, "That will make your husband the richest man in the world. And he will be ten times richer than you."

The woman said, "That's okay, because what's mine is his and what's his is mine."

So, KAZAM-she's the richest woman in the world!

The frog then inquired about her third wish, and she answered, "I'd like a mild heart attack."

Moral of the story: Women are clever. Don't mess with them.

Attention female readers : This is the end of the joke for you. Stop here and
continue feeling good.

Male readers : Please scroll down.