Real Power.

One Tsunami, and all our armies,
Seem belittled by their wars,
What Animals fled, and tribesmen read,
Finally Arrives with crushing roar,
Wholesale slaughter, purely by water,
Makes us seem an irrelevance,
Concepts of power, change by the hour,
Faced with primal elements.
Natures dice, thrown in a trice,
In a grotesque game of craps,
Whose final score, is real shock and awe,
And rewriting global maps.
Political reputation, seen by a nation,
Hiding in its cosy hole of choice,
Who promises braille, whilst the real mail,
is delivered via the peoples voice.
And the aftermath is all in its path,
Is gone in waste and grief,
Why does it take disasters wake,
To unite us all in relief.
No discrimination here, just abject fear,
No religion or class escapes unscathed,
No riches or show cheat the undertow,
All submerged beneath the waves.
In modern times, our greatest crime,
Is to have lost feelings and lost touch,
It takes catastrophe, to make you with me,
To make everyone into us.
Faced with apocalypse our planes and ships,
Seem meaningful when not at war,
But as our memory of disaster slips,
Will we revert to squabbling like before.
Maybe we should try, to all get by,
And harmonise more from this date,
Who knows when next the globe is vexed,
Who knows the twists of fate.

Malcolm James Pugh - ex systems programmer/civil engineer.

There I sat, ninety-five degree weather

Outside; the bookstore café, was cool.

An Old Timer stood by me, explaining:

“There were two-hundred of us on the Island,

Near North Korea, back in ‘52

We guarded 16,000-prisners…

“All of a sudden, all hell broke loose

Three-hundred North Koreans came

Over the bob-wired fence, in pursuit

“It all happened in a matter of seconds

The machineguns killed 150-of them

That’s all I saw in the war of ‘52.

(One American wounded one concussion.)

“Now we had to fingerprint them all!”

The old timer said; exhaustedly;

As if he was to do it all over again…

But they were just old memories unearthed;

Resurrected for a moment, from the

Sands of that little horse-shoe island.

“But I guess I’ll never forget,” he said with

No regrets!… as he moved on looking

For his table, where he left his coffee.

#762 7/15/05

Notes: as a War Veteran I used to meet a lot of old timers from an assortment of wars, at one time, WWII seemed to be the one I meet the most from; before that, it used to be WWI (when I was a kid); very few from the Korean War (but now and then I meet one), and a few from Vietnam; where I was. Funny it seems, most of these groups are becoming more scarce, especially WWI, and the Korean War; or so it seems. Now we have three more wars to look at: Persian Gulf One, Afghanistan War and Persian Gulf Two (it seems, all in a matter of a decade); and I should mention, the Bosnian War, which my son was involved with; I guess I will not run out of War Veterans to talk to. It is also funny; we stop the longest war on record, the Vietnam War, only to replace it with the four-wars I mentioned. Oh well, that is life is it not.

Dennis Siluk,a poet and a War Veteran, of Vietnam; his recent book, “Spell of the Andes,” has two sections, one on the Andes of Peru, the other on Rhymes of War, dealing with Vietnam. You can see his books at any of the Internet sites like http://www.bn.com or http://www.abe.com. He lives in Minnesota and Peru

What do creativity managers do?

Replace the word management with the word optimisation.

That’s what creativity managers do: they optimise the quality of the idea pool (creativity) and the implementation process (innovation).

There are many methods of optimisation and the creativity leader must be aware of all of them, in other words, he or she must synthesise them for optimal effect.

Areas [within creativity] that need managing include motivation, organisational culture, organisational structure, incremental versus radical effects and processes, knowledge mix, group structures, goals, process and valuation.

Areas [within innovation] that need managing include idea selection, development / prototyping and the art of commercialisation.

It is worth noting that 4000 good ideas result in 4 development programs, which in turn results in 1 winner.

The industrialisation of Creativity and Innovation

There is an argument that creativity managers attempt to industrialise creativity. The implication is that we attempt to reduce it to a formula, mass produce it, turn it into a process, try and design a universal formula, apply Taylorism and Fordism to it - and that all this detracts from its true essence.

The above perspective is incorrect and implies that creativity should somehow be left untouched. There are shades of analysis paralysis in the argument. There are also implications that the approach is “old.”

As people who produce a lot of creative output ourselves, we state that the aim is to make creativity tangible, measurable and useable in order to optimise the quality of the idea pool [creativity] and the implementation process [innovation]. We follow this approach because we know that this increases our success rate.

In addition, the framework we have developed allows us to apply creativity and innovation universally; it allows us to play with, expand, develop and apply many of the important concepts.

Learn more…

Download the MBA research, learn about this topic at http://www.creativity-management.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, the author’s name is retained and the link to our site URL remains active.

Download the MBA research, learn about this topic at http://www.creativity-management.com/

Having a large family growing up, I learned to cook in a big way. With 5 brothers and 3 sisters plus Mom and Dad, I started out cooking for eleven people by the time I was twelve and most of the time without a recipe. Mom needed help and taught her daughters to cook at an early age. I’ll never forget the first time I fried chicken all by myself. My brothers ridiculed my over-done chicken mercilessly.

I’ll never forget the first meal I cooked away from home. My sister and I moved out together, just the two of us, and, after settling in, prepared our first meal for just us. We cooked like we were taught: 5 pounds of potatoes for mashed potatoes, 2 whole chickens for fried chicken, 2 quarts of green beans. To this day, we still laugh about all that food we had left over.

So needless to say, cooking for a large gathering is no problem for me. I take on the task of hosting my husband’s family for Thanksgiving and while most people worry about having a dry turkey, my biggest dread is cleaning the house.

So what is the secret to cooking large? Like cooking any size meal, the secret is in the planning. You will need extra and larger everything. Take your recipes and list all the ingredients you need to buy. Plan your menu, inventory your serving dishes, pots and pans, plates, forks, knives, spoons, drinking glasses at least a week in advance. Buy everything you need ahead of time, right down to butter for bread and ice for drinks.

Once you have your menu and inventory planned, jot down a time schedule. Have the house cleaned and seating arrangements completed the day before so you can focus on the meal, otherwise you’ll be pulling your hair out trying to get everything done on time. The easiest thing to cook is a one-dish meal, like pot roast or lasagna with few side dishes.

Main dish, Pot Roast w/carrots and potatoes

o cook in roaster, 3-hour oven time, serve on platter

Side vegetable, steamed broccoli

o cook in 3 qt. steamer, 20 min stove top time, serve in blue bowl

Bread, buy brown and serve rolls (or make from scratch ahead of time)

o oven time 15 minutes, last thing to cook, serve in basket, buy new towel

After detailing each dish, make a timetable. Example, for a 6:00 dinner:

2:00 Start pot roast; have in oven by 2:30

4:00 Peel potatoes, slice carrots; add to pot roast by 4:30

4:30 Set tables

5:15 prepare broccoli, start to cook by 5:35

5:35 Prepare rolls for cooking, in oven by 5:45

5:45 Transfer pot roast to platter

5:55 Transfer broccoli to bowl

6:00 Bread’s done, transfer to basket and cover with towel

Sit down to delicious meal and enjoy. And for your test, I now present the world’s best pot roast recipe. It’s my own, passed to me from my Mom.

Pots you’ll need:

oven going roasting pan

10-inch skillet

1 or 2 Chuck roasts (2-3 lbs ea.)

1 large or 2 med. onions, sliced

6 carrots (or more as needed)

6 potatoes (or more as needed)

1 can onion soup +1/2 can water*

Can mushroom soup (or golden mushroom)

1/4 tp.salt or Murray’s Seasoning Salt

1-2 cup mushrooms (optional)

*2 cans for 2 roasts, or substitute

1-2 pkg. onion soup mix, per directions.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

1. In large oven roasting pan, add onion soup and water.

2. Slice onion and add 1/2 to bottom of roaster. Set aside.

3. Heat skillet on high on top of stove. When hot, sear roast on all sides until brown on the outside.

4. Place seared roast(s) on top of onion/onion soup in roaster.

5. Sprinkle with salt.

6. Cover with remaining onion slices and can of mushroom soup, undiluted (optional)

7. Cover with alum foil, sealing tightly and put in oven.

8. Set timer to cook for 1 hour for 1 roast, 2 hours for 2 roasts.

9. Peel potatoes and cut into quarters.

10. Slice carrots.

11. When timer goes off, add potatoes, carrots, and mushrooms. Cover and cook for 1 more hour.

Done when vegetables are tender. Time may have to be adjusted depending on how many vegetables there are. I have filled the pan to the brim and had to cook an additional 1/2-hour.

You can eat this roast with a fork it is so tender. You can substitute a sirloin roast, but chuck works best in my opinion.

Ummm-Ummm Good Comfort food! And so pretty on the plate. I hope you
enjoy this as much as I do!

PS. Use those leftovers: This is not a recipe, per say. It’s a throw-it-all-in-a-pan type thing. Get some beef stroganoff soup mix and dry egg noodles. Cook the soup, cook the noodles and combine in large skillet. Chop up left over pot roast, vegetables and all, and add to skillet along with left over juice. Heat thoroughly and enjoy!

Debbie Boynton has been cooking and sharing recipes for many years. She shares more information on this topic at: http://www.infodepot.biz/recipes-and-cooking

You may use this article freely on your website as long as this resource box is included and this article remains unchanged! Copyright © 2005 Debbie L Boynton

How light is light? Lightweight backpacks weigh less than three pounds, a standard I just invented. There are good packs under three pounds for almost all types of trips. My own Golite backpack weighs just 14 ounces, and has a capacity of 2900 cubic inches, plus 1000 more in the extension collar. It’s more comfortable than any frame pack I’ve used, but then I don’t carry more than 20 pounds in it.

The mesh outer pockets are a great idea. I stuff my wet tarp in the large one in the morning, where it’s easy to take out to dry later. I’ve had my GoLite for ten years. I’ve used it from the rain forest to glaciers at 20,600 feet on two trips to Ecuador, as well as in the Rockies, the Smokies, and in Michigan. Packed right, it qualifies as carry-on when I fly (I don’t like to check luggage).

My next pack will probably be the tougher GoLite Gust, which weighs 20 ounces. I just read seven reviews, all of them praising the pack. One reviewer used it for the weekend with a 27-pound load, so a lightweight backpack doesn’t have to be light-duty.

Using Frameless Lightweight Backpacks

Like mine, many lightweight backpacks don’t have frames. I use a sleeping pad for a frame, as is recommended. Some backpackers just put the pad in the backpack loosely rolled, with everything inside it. I’ve found a better way.

Take a closed-cell pad, like the cheap blue ones, and cut it across, halfway through the foam, on opposite sides. You can accordion it into a three layer thick (2 cuts) or four layer thick (3 cuts) back-padding frame. The “hinges” thus created last a long time. Put the pad in the pack, (against your back) and load everything in behind it.

Other Backpack Options

If you want lightweight AND cheap backpacks, start experimenting. I’ve used an old aluminum pack frame and large duffle bag, to create a full-suspension pack that weighs just two pounds. Though it carried loads well in the mountains of Montana, it wasn’t the most convenient to use. By the way, it is lighter than any frame pack I’ve ever seen advertised.The 8-ounce duffle works okay as a backpack by itself too.

I recently bought a lightweight backpack at Walmart. It weighs six ounces, and it is actually comfortable. It’s a daypack, but large enough for overnight hikes, since I travel really light. It cost just four dollars. Lighweight backpacking gear isn’t always expensive.

Steve Gillman is a long-time backpacker, and advocate of lightweight backpacking. His advice and stories can be found at http://www.TheUltralightBackpackingSite.com

Over the last decade, the number of companies selling their products and services on the Web or sharing information online with their target market has exploded.

It’s no longer frowned upon to conduct your business on the Web, and huge numbers of people are making a healthy living doing just that. Others, however, are not. For every great website out there that grabs its customer’s attention and holds it, there are hundreds more bad ones that don’t. Despite their best efforts, many businesses are losing money daily due to the poor performance of their company website.

Contrary to popular myth, what constitutes a great website is not just fantastic design, but also the quality of the online copy that accompanies it. If you pay equal attention to both sides of this equation, you’ll end up with an amazing site that drives traffic where you need it most, bringing excellent sales or driving great interest as a result. But if you ignore the necessity of simple, effective and clear-cut Web copy, evidence has shown your site will suffer as a consequence.

In a 2002 Stanford University “Web Credibility” survey of over 4,500 Web users in Europe and the US, findings are unequivocal. Whilst recognising the benefits of good design, the report also states:

“Our data suggests that integrity of content has considerable impact on how people evaluate the credibility of a website. Study participants gave some of their lowest scores on credibility to sites that fail to separate advertising from editorial content, run too many ads on a page, or display ads through pop-up windows. At the same time, users gave strong marks to site content that identified its sources and provided its authors’ credentials.”

Along with effective design and navigation, the report concludes that: “As for writing style, (websites should) be clear, direct, and sincere.”

(Source: Stanford-Makovsky Web Credibility Study 2002).

So you have to ask yourself, is the writing on your website ‘clear, direct and sincere’? If not, then you could be losing sales. Nobody wants a lame duck website that leaves its visitors confused or disinterested, or worse still, a site that makes inflated and unrealistic claims. What people want to find on your site is a credible and well thought out approach to their requirements, they want answers to the questions that drew them to your website in the first place - because it’s then that they are more likely to make a purchase. Hitting just the right tone to do this is the job of a really good copywriter, and the time and money you take to get this right with a professional writer will ultimately be reflected in increased business for you and your company.

We are what we do repeatedly,
Excellence, therefore, is not an act,
It is a habit.
– Aristotle

The concept of practice applies to any skill that you want to cultivate. If you take up a new musical instrument, you will need to practice a while before you’re ready to give your first concert. In Aikido, the martial art I study and teach, we get on the mat many times each week to practice and perfect our technique.

Improving our communication habits also requires practice. The problem with holding difficult conversations is we often find ourselves in performance mode before we have the chance. It is important to learn the skills of effective communication and to take the time to practice them.

There are many excellent books, teachers, and workshops that will teach the skills, then help you to practice and improve. Seek them out. Make a commitment to read one book or attend a workshop every few months.

You can also learn from your successful conversations as well as the ones that don’t turn out as expected. By bringing awareness to what you did well and what you might have done differently, you gradually become more proficient. Here are some ways to bring that awareness to bear in the moment, and to continue to practice communicating more clearly and purposefully:

• Increase Awareness. Notice whether your communication style is accomplishing your goals. If not, try something different.

• Acknowledge. What is your positive hope for the communication? What is theirs? Recognize that you are both doing your best, and give yourself and your partner the benefit of the doubt.

• Keep it safe. Maintain a calm, centered attitude, a respectful demeanor, and a positive purpose.

• Cultivate curiosity. Develop an open, curious, and interested frame of mind. Regardless of what your conversation partner says, try to see their centered intent and respond appropriately.

• Practice, Practice, Practice. Try new techniques and learn from them. If you tend toward a passive and accommodating style, try offering a different opinion on occasion. If the opposite is true and you are on the talkative side, stop yourself and listen more. Ask questions. Try being curious.

A tourist stopped a New Yorker on the street and asked: “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” The New Yorker replied: “Practice!” An old joke, but a good one. The point is that change takes place gradually over time. Try one adjustment today. Review the suggestions above, and pick one. Let me know what happens. Take time to enjoy your newfound power. And most of all - have fun!

About the Author: Judy Ringer is the author of Unlikely Teachers: Finding the Hidden Gifts in Daily Conflict, containing stories and practices on turning life’s challenges into life teachers. Judy is a black belt in aikido and nationally known presenter, specializing in unique workshops on conflict, communication, and creating a more positive work environment. She is the founder of Power & Presence Training, and chief instructor of Portsmouth Aikido, Portsmouth, NH, USA. To sign up for more free tips and articles like these, visit www.JudyRinger.com.

Goal setting, action plans, to-do lists and schedules will all combine to help you make the most of your time. But there is something else you need to do…

You must commit.

What does commitment mean? It means that you WANT to take charge of your time. You value the hours in a day and you want them spent in the most productive way possible. It means that you will get your work done early and produce better quality results. You will spend your time as YOU decide, and your personal life will be spent with focus on your family and friends instead of your work.

Here are some ‘Success’ Secrets…

Value Time:

Don’t waste your time or others. Don’t wait around or pursue time consuming activities that give you little benefit. Don’t let phone calls and visits interrupt your work flow.

Prepare and Plan:

Nothing wastes time like lack of direction. Plan your goals and activities and prepare others for your expectations. Expect delays and plan to have extra time to accommodate them.

Know Your Work Habits:

Find out when you work best. What activities affect how productive you are? Watch for and get rid of habits that are unproductive. Delegate or remove tasks when needed.

Be a Problem Solver:

Complaining wastes time. Find a solution or find help and get it done.

Get the Hard Work Done First:

Don’t procrastinate. Start with the difficult work first so you can relax with the easy tasks. Work that remains undone will drain you of energy and slow your progress.

Review Your Progress:

Compare what you have done with what you planned to do. What worked? What made you feel good? What could have been done better?

And lastly, remember that busy does not equal productive. You don’t just want to get the work finished; you want to have it done right. You don’t need to complete EVERY task, just arrange that they be dealt with by someone, or decide that they do not need doing. Ultimately you will be judged on how well and timely your work was done, not by how many hours you worked.

The marital aid industry has been ever changing since it all started in the 80s. The martial toys attainable get better every year and the sexy toys for this year are incredible. If you have not got into sex aids yet then this year is a great time to try. There are countless benefits of using sexy toys, the toys can often help to spice up a marriage, help to give ladies a better time in the bedroom and help guys to release stress.

There are a broad range of sensual aids available on the market and the biggest sellers have always been vibrating dildos. Luckily if gents become embarrased about acquiring sexy toys women might now note reputable sensual aid shops online. And the sexy toys are dispatched next day usually. When girls are playing with marital aids it can help to use sexual lubricants to help ease martial toys in. Guys can buy fruity lubes in all yummy flavours. My fav is apple. One must forever make sure that after playing with a sex aid that you clean it. By cleaning your sex aid you make sure you keep bacteria levels low. The wonderful thing about sexy toys is females can use them by themselves and with their boyfriend. Get a great bargain with Dildos from Sex Bomb.

This will make some people angry as hell, but it’s time to debunk the myth of ‘Time Management’ while sharing the real secret of the super successful.

Let’s face it, many so called “business gurus” tell us to ‘manage time better’ or to become ‘ruthless with time’ if we want to achieve their level of success.

What rubbish!

You cannot manage time itself. It continues along happily doing its thing, whatever you do.

I read countless systems on ‘time management’ and the majority take so long to implement and keep track of, you get even less done than you did before!

If it’s impossible to manage time then manage your actions instead. This is the key to launching new projects, completing existing ones and to at least doubling your current profits without having to do any more work.

Self-improvement guru, Tony Robbins, said “Action is destiny.” He’s spot on. If you start managing your actions, the impact on what you get done will amaze you.

*** Your 5 Simple Steps To Action Management ***

(1) Write down a master list of actions you need to do which directly lead to income generation.

- I suggest having at least 6 items on your daily action list. Write this up the day before you use it. Depending on how many of these you complete determines whether you need to add more items to the list or whether you need to break the items down into smaller chunks instead.

(2) Set aside between 1 and 5 ‘Prime Action Hours’ every day where you will do nothing except the most important income generating activities. Refer to your master list and immediately cross each item out once it’s done.

- During your prime action hours you do NOT: take phone calls, check your email, break for meetings, chat with fellow office workers or read the mail. You need to get current outside distractions to support your new routine. If you run a home office get agreement from your family to only interrupt you in an emergency during your prime action hours.

(3) Get Yourself a Timer and set it to 50 or 55 minutes.

You work without distractions for this long during each prime action hour.

- This gives you more efficiency by making you accountable for what you do in each prime action hour. It also lets you know when to take an important quick break.

(4) Carry a pen and paper or a voice recorder with you during your breaks between any prime action hours.

- During the breaks you’ll find new ideas, thoughts and strategies will surface in your mind. The brain often makes new connections as you relax after a very focused session. Make sure you jot them down to record them. You’ll find them invaluable. Don’t neglect to do this, an unrecorded idea is usually lost forever.

(5) Set yourself a weekly income target. When you reach it, reward yourself how you like. You don’t need to do any more prime action hours for the rest of the week. Revise your weekly income target upwards at least every 90 days.

- Having a weekly target gives your prime action hours a specific goal to achieve. Purpose is the most important ingredient when it comes to action.

Remember you need to concentrate on other aspects of business like meetings, staff interaction, emails and phone calls etc. In some businesses it’s realistic to do a maximum of five prime action hours each day without impacting too much on the other necessary parts of the business.

Some people will only manage one prime action hour each day. That’s okay. Over a year this will still amount to an enormous difference in income generation.

Don’t make the mistake of dismissing or forgetting what you just read. There’s real power in this quick and easy 5 step action management system.

In fact I urge you to start right now. Get out a piece of paper and write down your master list for tomorrow. It doesn’t matter if you can only manage one prime action hour to start with. You can increase the number as you create more focus for yourself.

You can also get your hands on an excellent CD today which will give you the correct action mindsets of the super wealthy. These insights will enable you to use this action management system to your full potential.

This wonderful resource is by Mike Litman, the No 1 best selling author of “Conversations with Millionaires”.

Here’s the best part, it’s currently still free. (there’s only a small shipping charge to cover)

Warning: I do feel Mike starts the CD with a little too much motivational hyping, however what followed blew me away. I consider these insider tips from the super wealthy equal to pure gold when it comes to kick starting yourself and your business.

Obviously Mike won’t continue giving his CD away forever so I strongly advise you to get it now to avoid having to pay for it in the future.

Grab it from here -> http://www.greatness-held-hostage.com

It gets my highest recommendation.

Copyright 2004 Clifford Mee

About The Author

Clifford Mee is an author, internet marketer, hypnotist and success life coach. If you want to discover little known ‘battle tested’ strategies to persuade more customers to spend more money more frequently, then please visit his main website at http://www.marketingpersuasion.com