Posts tagged "Really"

In Money & Power, The Secret History, Steven S. Sadleir Spills the Beans on What?s Really Going on With the Economy and How to Fix It.

In Money & Power, The Secret History, Steven S. Sadleir Spills the Beans on What’s Really Going on With the Economy and How to Fix It.

Money & Power

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) July 04, 2011

Best-Selling Author Steven S. Sadleir provides an insider’s look at the world of global banking, currency and markets and explains in simple language what went wrong and what to do about it.

Our whole world economy is changing yet very few people understand what is happening or realize the consequences. In Money & Power, The Secret History Mr. Sadleir explains for the layman how money is created and who controls it, the United States internal war against the European banking cartel, who created the credit crisis and why, what the New World Order and Globalization mean, who behind the Federal Reserve, what derivatives are and who is ultimately in control of the world.

According to Steven Sadleir “ignorance is why we suffer.” In Money & Power, The Secret History Mr. Sadleir reveals new information very few people know about TARP, the wars in the Middle East, assassinations of presidents and how information is massaged in the media. The whole book provides the facts and figures to educate the population as to what is really going on, what is not being addressed in the mainstream media and why. “Every student needs to read this book before graduating” says Mark Victor Hansen, best-selling author and visionary.

Steven S. Sadleir studied international banking at the University of Wales, worked as an economist for the United States government, as an international banker for Lloyds Bank in Los Angeles, and later as investment banker and fund advisor and has been writing, lecturing and speaking publically for over 20 years. Mr. Sadleir is also a Kundalini Master and director of the Self Awareness Institute, teaching methods of evolving consciousness to professionals in over 120 countries, appears in two movies released this year, 3 Magic Words and Spiritual Revolution, and is host of Enlightenment Radio.

Money & Power, The Secret History is published and distributed by Amazon.com, paper, 225 pages, $ 12.95. ISBN 978-1461005544 MoneyandPowerBook.com

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How to Win Your Man Back in Order to Have a Making Up Relationship With You?

How to Win Your Man Back in order to have a making up relationship with you?

Did something go wrong between you and your man? If you were well on your way to being a happy couple and then fell off track somehow, don’t give up. You can win your man back.

Steps

Ask yourself these 4 questions: Is the matter important enough to warrant an argument? Is it appropriate to argue about the matter, or at this time? Can anything be changed, made different by prevailing in the argument? Is the issue worth arguing about? If you get a NO answer to any of these questions, there is no point in arguing. Sometimes realizing there is no benefit to arguing is enough to eliminate the temptation to argue. (A mnemonic for this is “not even worth talking to.”) No Use to Me.

Stop caring about how people perceive you. The fact is, it really doesn’t matter. It’s impossible to be yourself when you’re caught up in wondering “Do they think I’m funny? Does she think I’m fat? Do they think I’m stupid?” To be yourself, you’ve got to let go of these concerns and just let your behaviour flow, with only your consideration of others as a filter—not their consideration of you. Act like there is something more important you could be doing at the moment. Find something else to do or to care about: We care about things not by their absolute importance, but by their relative importance in our lives. If you find something else to take front stage in your life, then other things will naturally take the backstage.

Develop and express your individuality. Whether it’s your sense of style, or even your manner of speaking, if your preferred way of doing something strays from the mainstream, then be proud of it. Keep an emotional distance, too. Mentally take yourself out of the situation. Let it be somebody else’s problem. “That’s not my problem” I don’t know that’s not my problem?

Word Power: What you say and how you say it are two very important factors in exuding class. Always speak at a soft to moderate tone. A loud talker can seem too forceful and may make others feel intimidated. If you have nothing good to say then don’t say anything at all – take that to heart! Cursing is also inappropriate and is very unprofessional in a business setting. Speak calmly. This shows politeness. If you talk very loudly, it will seem that you’re desperate for attention.

Act as if the person bothering you was Non-Existent.

Never smile or laugh, this shows that you hear what the person is saying!!!

Behave. It’s fun to be in a party and dance a lot, but that’s not always classy behaviour. If you’re at a party, the classy behaviour is to socialize, but speak calmly, not monopolizing all the attention.

Smile. Classy people must always seem to be in a good mood.  Show life goes on to different shit. Smiling. Learn to recognize when a discussion is no longer a discussion, but is escalating to an argument: Raised voices, flushed face or neck, hairs on the back of your neck stand up, feeling defensive. A good mutual discussion involves both sides listening and attempting to understand each other. Walk away from it not worth the arguing energy, it becomes irrelevant.

Analyse what happened and think about the reasons you still care, then think about the reasons why you shouldn’t care!!!! Avoid desperate behaviour like the plague. This is the kiss of death for the classy person. Only desperate times call for desperate measures. Take a deep breath, be strong, and move through the situation with elegance and grace. You will be the victor for it, no matter the outcome. Try not to listen too much to the content of what they’re saying back to you. Remember, they’re TRYING to push your buttons. Show them your better than them and you really cud care less about it! Say “that’s the thing” I don’t Feel anything it doesn’t have a significant purpose, reason or effect, well to me at least. Your loud, unimportant and your sweating me, like your on my heels.

Take some time to reflect on your own life. What improvements can be made? Be honest with yourself. Have you been selfish? Demanding? Argumentative? Angry? Jealous? Change your ways. Once you’ve figured out what you may have done wrong in the relationship, resist the urge to call the ex and show off your newfound self-realization. Actions speak louder than words. Just BE the new improved self, and word will spread.

Look and feel your best. Get your nails and hair done. Take a nice warm bubble bath, and pick out a nice outfit. Be sure of yourself. Assertiveness and self-confidence are naturally attractive to most people. Showing your guy you’re capable of being happy is appealing and brings a natural desire.

Anger, hurt and insecurity are the root of most insults. If you hurt someone, even unintentionally, they may respond with angry insults. Also, insecure people tend to call attention to the shortcomings of others (even if untrue) in order to cover up for their own perceived inadequacies. Don’t retaliate.

Walk away. If you’ve tried to figure out why this person is targeting you, and can find no reason, tried to joke with them to no avail, and they’re still bent on humiliating and insulting you, just leave. And until they pick a new target (and they will), avoid them. Laugh while you walk away showing that it’s not important to you at all.

Tips

Don’t keep coming back and don’t wait by making yourself available to him. You have a life, so live it! Some one else is out there right now waiting for a person like you. Don’t let your emotions get to you, because then he’ll win. Any performance that he gives is to catch your attention. So just smile and act like it doesn’t bother you if you see him making out with another girl. If your best efforts to take the wind out of their sails fail, warn others to expect random insults from that person.

Don’t take it personally. Some people are just mean. Mean people suck and have no true motives that concern me and everyone knows it. It’s them its not you.

Don’t insult them back. It just adds fuel to the fire. Keep a too positive attitude through everything; it looks like you don’t care about the whole situation. Don’t pass negative comments about what the person is saying, because that shows that you do, indeed, care?

If you’re asked why the guy/girl is acting like that toward you, say honestly that you don’t know. Doesn’t trash talk them to anyone? In that way, they look like (what they probably are) a loony freak, and you look like an innocent, injured person. If you have trouble ignoring drama, imagine you’re sitting in an airplane taking off, watching the cars and buildings get smaller and smaller. You are that small. You’re actually smaller. Your problem is only in your head. Imagine how small your head is compared to one of those cars.

Think about why others might be judging you. What must their lives be like? Are they envious of you, or even attracted to you? They might just hate you. Never mind these people; get them completely out of your life. Smirking, acting superior or completely ignoring them is probably not a good idea. Again, react with humour, it usually works best. If the insulter is just being nasty, then you can ignore them. Whatever you do, don’t act like it matters. This will make others think that you are willing to work with them, destroying any chance of being able to not care. It takes two or more to argue. By politely refusing to argue, you stay out of it. Don’t give a damn. Occupy yourself with something you enjoy; if you have a phone or Nintendo DS, play a game or write a message to someone. If you like to do crossword puzzles, do some. Go ahead!

Jealous people will try to bring you down to their level. Don’t let them. Remember you’ve got a lot going for you Period! In order for this to work, you MUST remain calm, cool and collected. Determine some activities you’ll do to help you to remain calm: my music and things that matter like my purposes. Smile! Frowning or looking timid will only draw more “non confidence” towards you. Smile at everyone you know or other friendly looking people. Remember you have just as much right to walk around as any other person. If you want them to know you are relaxed and carefree, glance every now and then at their eyes. Remember that happiness is the key to value. Enjoy your life as much as you can and make the best out of every situation. If you are truly happy, then other people won’t be able to bring you down with their judgements.

Finding happiness is the definition of success in life. Remember that the whole point of this article is to show others you are proud of yourself, and you don’t care what people perceive you as. You will gain high respect for being yourself and not trying to attach yourself to a group. People want a reaction. If you ignore them, they will realize it’s no fun to taunt and make fun of you. Show them you don’t care, and they’ll get the message. There is a difference between maintaining your inner-self and making a “reputation” for yourself. You don’t want be tacky and loud, argrumentative and miserable “SHOW PEOPLE WHO YOU ARE”, if they don’t like it, then who cares. Don’t go try to change yourself because a few people disapprove. Just smile as you walk by and just think if they are mean to me maybe they do it to make themselves feel better which means they’re pretty unhappy and of poor character.

Make fun of yourself in a humble and witty way to acknowledge that you’re not perfect and you don’t care. Replace your worries about what other people think about you with a preoccupation over your own goals, achievements, and progress!!! You mean more to yourself than you mean to others, it doesn’t matter to you. Don’t speak or act submissively – show to others that you are a wild spirit and you roam this good old world with pride, and will do what you want whether they like it or not. Don’t respect someone’s OPINION if that person is unkind and doesn’t treat you with respect – they don’t deserve it. Don’t try to get back at people, which just sink you down to their level. Ignore people who THINK they know more than you. DONT LAUGH, practice not thinking about the thing that bothers you, and take the criticism and humiliation in that’s the key point, DONT OPPOSE AND DONT GET EVEN, THATS THE KEY TO NOT CARING.

Warnings

Don’t get revenge by cheating yourself. Never tell your friends that you are having problems with your man because they’ll just end up interfering! Don’t respond to the content of their remarks. The less you say, the less likely you are to get drawn into an argument. Is it important? Ummm am Still Pretty, I Got Bigger and Better and not even worth talking to. Beneath me, not even onnnnn my level to begin with.

If you become angry, know that you won’t be able to think calmly, and you’ll probably say or do something you might regret. Words, once spoken, can never be taken back. The point is to show that I really don’t care about you, your nothing to me and your unimportant!!!! It not logic. Won’t even give you the time of day shorty, you’re a Nobody and I don’t care!!! Make sure you stress that you don’t care…..

DON’T laugh. When you see this working, you may be tempted to smile or laugh at the excitement of finally finding something that works. Don’t do it. This’ll just irritate the person and make it worse. Wait until you’re alone, and then enjoy the moment. “Have a pleasant look and be like, it doesn’t matter, and that’s it don’t keep going on and on say it and mean it by looking oh so happy and pleasant about it. A classy person is simply one who consistently exhibits classy behaviour. Focus on your behaviour and attitude rather than your feelings.

Don’t lose yourself when you’re with other friends. Be yourself. Don’t be someone else so other people will like you because, in the end, you end up hurting other people and “losing yourself”.

Indeed, life is short. Don’t let another day go by without taking a chance on happiness. You will never know until you try, so remember to make a move today. It can change or affect the rest of your life, therefore, at the very least, you can try to come out something for your ex love partner during your weekend plans. With a little practice, perseverance and patience, I believe that your relationship could be enhanced with the tips that I have shared earlier. If you have faced any problems with your loved ones, do not hesitate to visit this piece of article again.

I really have a strong belief that if you can understand what I have explained and applied what you have learnt from this piece of article, your problems can be eventually solved and your making up relationship can become more stable and stronger. I wish all the best for your making up relationship with your partner. Do always remember to spread word of mouth to your fellow friends for supporting the decision of having making up than breaking up.

Watch a video that shows you exactly what you must NEVER do, what you should do to get your ex back and why at http://hubpages.com/hub/howshouldiwoomyexback

Alternatively, you can visit this website Win Your Ex Boyfriend Back Website.

You will also learn how to reverse the situation if you have already done those things that should NEVER be done.

dhlim88
http://www.articlesbase.com/dating-articles/how-to-win-your-man-back-in-order-to-have-a-making-up-relationship-with-you-591287.html

Is it better to join my local police department or the state police?

I live in texas if that helps at all.Local police being San Antonio Police Department and State Police being Texas Highway Patrol. I really don’t know which one, so im willing to listen to suggestions. All answers are appreciated.(:

join the highway patrol and do this:

http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play?ei=UTF-8&vm=r&fr=yfp-t-701&p=cop+hit+by+car&vid=000154885223&dt=1209094712&l=27&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fyts.video.search.yahoo.com%2Fimage%2F3457b671&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.onlinemindgames.com%2Fswf%2Fcop_hit_by_car.wmv&tit=Cop+Hit++By+Car+-++Online++Mind++Games+-++Free++Flash++Arcade++Games&sigr=11l134mgd&newfp=1&surl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.onlinemindgames.com%2Ffull.php%3Fid%3D3808&sigs=11fs21mhv

“Unquenchable Russia”, or Forbidden Themes in Nabokov’s Prose

“…What I feel to be the real modern world is the world the artist creates, his own mirage, which becomes a new mir (“world” in Russian) by the very act of his shedding, as it were, the age he lives in” . Such an answer Nabokov once gave to an interviewer who was interested in his opinion regarding the modern world and contemporary politics. The book which contains this interview as well as many others, is entitled Strong Opinions, and, indeed, Nabokov is well-known not only for his brilliant fiction but for his original, independent and uncompromising views on creativity, art and the place of artist in the world. Whenever interviewed, he avoided discussion of “general ideas” such as social, political and moral issues and asserted that such global concerns lay outside the realm of art: “A work of art has no importance whatever to society. It is only important to the individual, and only the individual reader is important to me. I don’t give a damn for the group, the community, the masses, and so forth… There can be no question that what makes a work of fiction safe from larvae and rust is not its social importance but its art, only its art . A work of art, for Nabokov, is a world in itself, brought to life by one’s creative imagination. It leads its own independent existence, unrelated to its historical surroundings and realities. In the introduction to his Lectures on Literature Nabokov explains once again: “…The real writer, the fellow who sends planets spinning and models a man asleep and eagerly tampers with the sleeper’s rib, that kind of author has no given values at his disposal: he must create them himself. The art of writing is a futile business if it does not imply first of all the art of seeing the world as the potentiality of fiction” . In this statement, visions of cosmic grandeur and an obvious reference to the story of Adam and Eve reflect a parallel between creator-artist and creator-God. In one of his interviews Nabokov explicitly brings out this comparison: “A creative writer must study carefully the works of his rivals, including the Almighty. He must possess the inborn capacity not only of recombining but of re-creating the given world” .

Nabokov’s position is, to a degree, a reaction to the situation in Soviet Russia, where demands of the state dominated the needs of a human being, where the individual was suppressed by the collective and details by generalities. He asserts once again the power and independence of personal creativity, the ability of one’s imagination to build worlds of its own, and makes a sharp distinction between a work of fiction and everything outside of it, including the personality of its creator. “Literature is invention. Fiction is fiction. To call a story a true story is an insult to both truth and art” .

Nabokov insisted on a specific approach to literature from the readers as well. He renounced the usual tendencies of identifying oneself with a book’s characters, searching for clues to the social and political realities of the time the work was written, or trying to form “general ideas” about a book without absorbing all its specific details. Emotional involvement, he pointed out, could also prevent the reader from objective appreciation of the work “…A wise reader reads the book of genius not with his heart, not so much with his brain, but with his spine. It is there that occurs the telltale tingle even though we must keep a little aloof, a little detached when reading” .

Nabokov avoided formulating his ideas under the famous slogan “art for art’s sake” just as he avoided labels of all kinds, but this well-known phrase can undoubtedly be used to describe his views and attitudes towards literature. In this hierarchy of values, aesthetic concerns dominate all others, and the influence of a great work of art on its reader is limited to a “tingle in the spine”. However, it remains to be seen, to what extent Nabokov’s ideas penetrate his own fiction; whether his novels are entirely a product of his creative imagination or a result of the deep personal experience that saturates them with great intensity.

Nabokov changed countries and languages during his creative life, and it is interesting to analyze whether these changes affected his books. Comparing two of Nabokov’s novels, The Gift, written in Russian mostly in Berlin of the 1930s, and Pale Fire, written in English at a much later date, can provide an insight into these questions.

As Nabokov mentioned in the foreword to The Gift, “the main heroine” of the novel is Russian literature, and the main character is a writer, an emigre author Fyodor Godunov-Cherdyntsev, who shares many autobiographical details with Nabokov. Like Nabokov during his post-Cambridge years, Fyodor lives in Berlin of the 1920s, writes poetry and makes a living by giving lessons in English and French. He leads, for the most part, a solitary existence, devoting his time first and foremost to literature. Happy childhood in St. Petersburg, love of butterflies and chess problems, synesthesia, – all this Fyodor has in common with Nabokov. Description of certain episodes mirrors incidents from Nabokov’s own life, depicted much later in his autobiographical book Speak, Memory, – for example, the story of a childhood illness: high fever, obsession with numbers and a huge Faber pencil, given as a gift by the mother.

Perhaps, the most significant trait that Fyodor shares with Nabokov is passionate love of literary language, faith in the power of the written word: “Since there were things he (Fyodor) wanted to express just as naturally as unrestrainedly as the lungs want to expand, hence words suitable for breathing ought to exist” . Fyodor reflects on his youthful interest in rhyme and meter, analyzing the very mechanisms by which words interact and fit together like pieces of a puzzle to form the harmonious whole of a poem. Fyodor shares Nabokov’s dislike of generalities such as social issues or psychiatry. When he briefly considers the possibility of fulfilling his acquaintance, Mme. Chernyshevski’s yet unvoiced request to write about her son, he explains his aversion to the idea as follows: “I would have become enmired involuntarily in a “deep” social-interest novel with a disgusting Freudian reek” .

Most clearly, Fyodor’s (and Nabokov’s) views on literature are expressed in Fyodor’s (imaginary) conversations with Koncheyev – a fellow emigre poet, the only one whose work he admires and whose opinions he considers valuable. When Fyodor and Koncheyev leave a literary gathering and walk together down the street, a unique, brilliant dialogue, filled with allusions to various works of Russian literature, takes place between them. “…There are only two kinds of books: bedside and wastebasket. Either I love a writer fervently, or throw him away entirely” , – declares Fyodor, and the two proceed to discuss what, in their opinion, is the best and the worst in the works by famous Russian writers. Both are utterly uninterested in “general ideas” or the moral significance of the writings they talk about (aspects which always attracted Russian critics and gained new importance in the Soviet period), and all they do is lovingly point out purely artistic findings of this or that writer. They praise Leskov’s Jesus – “the ghostly Galilean, cool and gentle, in a robe the color of ripening plum” or “the gray sheen of Mme. Odintsev’s black silks” in Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons. Speaking of dismissed Dostoyevski, Fyodor notes: “In the Karamazovs, there is somewhere a circular mark left by a wet wine glass on an outdoor table”, – and that, for him, is the only thing “worth saving” . As for several writers known for their beautiful depictions of nature, Fyodor ruthlessly criticizes them for mistakes in their descriptions of natural phenomena: “My father used to find all kinds of howlers in Turgenev’s and Tolstoy’s hunting scenes and descriptions of nature, and as for the wretched Aksakov, let’s not even discuss his disgraceful blunders in this field” . All these statements obviously echo Nabokov’s own approach to literature, with his love of detail, his insistence on accurate knowledge of the natural world and dismissal of any other criteria in judging works of literature.

Nabokov’s belief in the power of deception and invention in creating fiction frequently finds expression in his attempts to mislead the reader, to establish this or that false move in the development of the plot, which, after a few pages, turns out to be an illusion, a figment of the character’s imagination. The whole exchange between Fyodor and Koncheyev proves to be such an illusion: “Whose business is it that actually we parted at the very first corner, and that I have been reciting a fictitious dialogue with myself as supplied by a self-teaching handbook of literary inspiration?” However, the significance of this non-existent conversation in the novel is not limited to expression of opinions on art and display of Nabokov’s mystification devices. It shows the extent of Fyodor’s loneliness, the absence of interlocutors with whom he could share his extensive knowledge of literature and love of language: the degree of detachment from the surrounding world. In his book Speak, Memory Nabokov describes the way native Europeans were perceived by Russian immigrants in Germany or France: “These aborigines were to the mind’s eye as flat and transparent as figures cut out of cellophane, and although we used their gadgets, applauded their clowns, picked their roadside plums and apples, no real communication, of the rich human sort so widespread in our own midst, existed between us and them” . The Gift recreates that atmosphere of cultural and human isolation in which Fyodor has to dwell. Deprived of his own cultural environment, Fyodor feels nothing but resentment towards the German-speaking world he is trapped in. “The Russian conviction that the German is in small numbers vulgar and in large numbers – unbearably vulgar was, he knew, a conviction unworthy of an artist” , – and still he cannot help it, as he directs all his irrational hatred at a German who pushes him in a bus (and who, ironically, turns out to be a Russian).

Like Nabokov, Fyodor is trilingual, but his French and English in his current situation serve a purely utilitarian purpose, whereas Russian remains the language of his soul and his art. Riding a bus to one of his tedious teaching jobs, Fyodor thinks of himself: “…there he is, a special, rare and as yet undescribed and unnamed variant of man, and he is occupied with God knows what, rushing from lesson to lesson, wasting his youth on a boring and empty task, on the mediocre teaching of foreign languages – when he has his own language, out of which he can make anything he likes – a midge, a mammoth, a thousand different clouds” . This is why there are hardly any examples of word play and language switch in The Gift.

On the way to yet another hateful lesson Fyodor becomes completely immersed in the memories of Russia and his past life there, – memories ”swift and senseless, visiting him like an attack of a fatal illness at any hour, in any place” . The warm, sunny vision of the Russian countryside after a short summer rain stands out in such a sharp contrast with the surrounding colorless reality and the upcoming encounter with a hopeless pupil, that Fyodor ends up skipping the lesson and going home to his writings. This is another theme expressed in The Gift with great emotional power – the theme of nostalgia, longing for the lost homeland. Whenever faced with the question about Russia during his interviews, Nabokov gave replies such as “all the Russia I need is always with me” or “exile means to an artist only one thing – the banning of his books” . Sometimes, however, he speaks of Russia quite differently: “In the first decade of our dwindling century, during trips with my family to Western Europe, I imagined, in bedtime reveries, what it would be like to become an exile who longed for a remote, sad and (right epithet coming) unquenchable Russia, under the eucalypti of exotic resorts. Lenin and his police nicely arranged the realization of that fantasy” .

References to Russia in Nabokov’s novels, particularly The Gift, bear a trace of an overwhelming and bitter sense of loss, coming, undoubtedly, from personal experience. Like Nabokov, Fyodor transforms his inner world into art, and his poetry, born out of childhood memories, justifies, as he says, the years spent in exile. But even creative fulfillment in literature cannot fully relieve Fyodor of his nostalgia, which sometimes becomes almost a physical sensation: “For a long time he had wanted to express somehow that it was in his feet that he had the feeling of Russia, that he could touch and recognize all of her with his soles, as a blind man feels with his palms” . Again and again, he imagines an impossible return to his familiar and changed country: “And when will we return to Russia? What idiotic sentimentality, what a rapacious groan must our innocent hope convey to people in Russia. But our nostalgia is not historical – only human- how can one explain this to them?” Immediately following these lines is one of Nabokov’s central thoughts expressed through the words of his character and given a somewhat ironic ending: “It is easier for me, of course, than for another to live outside Russia, because I know for certain that I shall return – first because I took away the keys to her, and secondly because, no matter when, in a hundred, two hundred years, I shall live there in my books – or at least in some researcher’s footnote. There; now you have a historical hope, a literary-historical one…”

In this passage, there are two distinct perspectives on Russia, two different ways of perception – that of an artist and that of a simple human being, and it is the more independent, proud and detached position of an artist that Nabokov prefers to present to the world. He always vigorously protested against being identified with his characters, and, perhaps, it was his way of concealing that part of himself, which contained his own human feelings and dreams, often painful, often helplessly irresolvable. Nevertheless, just like in one of Fyodor’s childhood memories colors leak into his vision of letters and irrevocably affect his perception of language, this private and forbidden world of Nabokov inevitably enters his fiction in various guises and through different characters. Besides the theme of nostalgia, there is another highly personal development of the plot in The Gift, and it is Fyodor’s relationship with his father. Konstantin Godunov-Cherdyntsev is an explorer who is also very absorbed in his occupation and uninterested in the major upheavals that occur in Russia. In 1917, despite the troubled situation in Russia, he departs on one of his expeditions and never returns. It is another loss that haunts Fyodor: even though there is hardly any hope of seeing his father again, he keeps dreaming of his return, imagining that one day he would meet his father on the street, or hear a phone call… In one of the most poignant episodes in the novel, the phone rings, after all, in the middle of the night, and Fyodor rushes to the house of his former landlady along the streets of Berlin which suddenly become transformed into a beautiful, mysterious world somewhat reminiscent of St. Petersburg in a white night. Fyodor enters the room and sees his father. “With a moan and a sob Fyodor stepped toward him, and in the collective sensation of woolen jacket, big hands and the tender prickle of trimmed mustaches there swelled an ecstatically happy, living, enormous, paradisal warmth in which his icy heart melted and dissolved” . And again, almost unbearably this time, the whole scene turns out to be one of Nabokov’s false twists, and Fyodor wakes up from yet another dream to a cold and empty morning.

Nabokov denied a work of art any kind of “truth” aside from artistic one, but the episode with Fyodor’s father radiates with human truth: warmth, longing, vulnerability, the void of shattered hopes… One just has to remember the tragic death of Nabokov’s own father, to understand where all this is coming from.

In The Gift, covers are often transparent, and its hero is presented from multiple angles. He is not just a writer who “treats life as a possibility of fiction”, he is a human being who sees the world through the prism of his own experience, his own joys and sorrows.

The Gift was the last novel Nabokov wrote in Russian. In 1940, he immigrated to the United States and, since then, wrote his major works only in English. The change, as he said, was not easy: “My complete switch from Russian prose to English prose was exceedingly painful – like learning anew to handle things after losing seven or eight fingers in an explosion” . Pale Fire, one of Nabokov’s English novels, was written partially at the end of his stay in America, partially in Switzerland, where Nabokov spent his later years. The novel has important structural and thematic similarities to The Gift. Like The Gift, where a whole separate chapter is devoted to Fyodor’s biography of Chernyshevsky, a book on its own, Pale Fire contains a work of literature within it – a long poem written by an American poet John Shade. The rest of the novel is a commentary, which for the most part has nothing to do with the poem itself. It is an elaborate story of remote Zembla, whose king has been swept off the throne by the revolution and fled the country. Gradually, it becomes clear that Charles Kinbote, Shade’s neighbor and the author of the commentary, is himself the fugitive king. Therefore, as in The Gift, there is a theme of exile and a theme of creativity, though in Pale Fire they take quite a different development.

As Kinbote explains, “the name Zembla is a corruption not of the Russian zemlya, but of Semblerland, a land of reflections, of “resemblers” . Zemblan language resembles several European languages at the same time. There are obvious traces of Russian in it, and some words are borrowed almost unchanged: for example, there is a picture of bogtyr (bogatyr’ in Russian) in a Zemblan history book, and there are “stone-faced, square-shouldered komizars” (Russian: commissar) maintaining order on Zemblan streets after the revolution. Besides, French and German can be vaguely discerned in other phrases. “Minnamin, Gut mag alkan, Pern dirstan (my darling, God makes hungry, the Devil thirsty)” , – a Zemblan nurse says to Kinbote, and one hears, besides the Russian “alkat’” and, possibly, the English “pernicious”, “mon amie”, “Gott”, and the first person of the German “mochten”.

Nabokov in his interviews stressed that Zembla is not Russia, and, indeed, there is another Russia in the novel, a totalitarian state that contributes to the Zemblan revolution. Kinbote talks about “the tainted gold and the robot troops that a powerful police state from its vantage ground a few sea miles away was pouring into the Zemblan Revolution” . Kinbote’s constantly talks about Zembla, but his memories of it lack that depth of human feeling, which marks Fyodor’s nostalgia. Even though Kinbote repeats again and again “my Zembla”, “dazzling Zembla” , tenderness that shines through the best pages of The Gift, is missing from his story. It is essentially a story of himself and his escape from the country. For a king, Kinbote shows a remarkable lack of interest in the revolution that struck his country and the possible causes which led to it. He is more preoccupied with aesthetic and literary pleasures and calls the whole business of politics “a tiresome subject” . As for the revolution, all he can say about it is that it was “tedious and unnecessary” . In Kinbote’s attitude, there is some of Nabokov’s own indifference towards social and political issues. On the whole, the theme of exile is treated in the novel with certain coldness and detachment, but there are passages, which by their warmth and profound lyricism can be compared to The Gift. For example, Kinbote comments on his roommate who gets up early in morning and plants flowers with a very curious name: Heliotropium turgenevi. “This is the flower whose odor evokes with timeless intensity the dusk, and the garden bench, and a house of painted wood in a distant northern land” . Even aside from the reference to Turgenev, it is clear that this land, for Nabokov, is no other than Russia, – not the monstrous police state in the vicinity of Zembla, but the real, immortal, beloved Russia of Nabokov’s memory. And this short passage retains more emotional freshness and power than colorful descriptions of Zemblan mountains that have no counterpart in the author’s childhood recollections.

It seems that, to Kinbote, being in exile means not so much the loss of the homeland as the loss of his name and title (which he now has to hide), and thus partially the loss of his identity, and in this way his isolation and detachment is more complete than that of Fyodor in The Gift. One of the critics of Pale Fire interprets his behavior as follows: “…he is trying to get the poet John Shade to confirm his identity, to validate the Zemblan reality which is his hope of salvation by turning it into a poem” . With maniacal persistence Kinbote keeps talking with Shade about Zembla: “I mesmerized him with it, I saturated him with my vision, I pressed upon him, with a drunkard’s wild generosity, all that I was helpless myself to put into verse” . Kinbote calls his relationship with the poet “friendship”, but, in fact, he cannot care less about Shade as a human being with his own hopes and sorrows. While commenting on the poem, he utterly neglects the parts about Shade’s wife and daughter. Sybil Shade, who protects her husband from his neighbor’s intrusions, for Kinbote, is just as annoying obstacle in the way, and to him, the tender lines that Shade devotes to his wife are nothing but “embarrassing intimacies” . Kinbote haughtily deals with the theme of Shade’s daughter, Hazel’s, suicide, obviously a very painful and personal subject for the poet, as if it was merely a stylistic device: “The whole thing strikes me as too labored and long, especially since the synchronization device has been already worked to death by Flaubert and Joyce” . When Kinbote feels lonely and afraid in his empty house, he wishes that Shade had a heart attack, – just to have an excuse to come over and escape loneliness and fear. At the end of the novel, when Shade has been mistakenly shot by the assassin, his “friend” is in no hurry to call for help: instead, he rushes to hide the poem, which, he thinks, contains the story of his own life.

In comparison to Kinbote, John Shade appears to be a much more appealing character, and he possesses some traits that bring more human warmth into his image: he can be lazy, he likes hearty meals, brandy and wine; he loves his wife and daughter and is generally more tolerant towards people who are not as bright and talented as he is. Nabokov gives his character some of his most cherished thoughts. For example, Shade, who is also a teacher of literature, expresses his views on teaching: “First of all, dismiss ideas, and social background, and get the freshman to shiver, to get drunk on the poetry of Hamlet or Lear, to read with his spine and not with his skull” . However, since Shade’s personality is seen in the novel only through Kinbote’s uncaring eyes, his inner world is more or less concealed from the reader. It is only through Shade’s poem that one can glimpse into the questions, which preoccupy the poet. The poem, on the whole, is a painful, difficult search for meaning, an attempt to make sense of the whole puzzle of human life and death, to find a way of transcending one’s mortality. No human thought or emotion can relieve one from being trapped in one’s own finite world. Everything fails except art: art for its own sake, art that contains a unique, perfectly harmonized inner reality, which can be perceived as a reflection of a greater pattern:

I feel I understand

Existence, or at least a minute part,

Of my existence, only through my art,

In terms of combinational delight…

“Combinational delight”, indeed, is important not only in Shade’s poem but in the whole novel. As in The Gift, artistic detail is a focus of concentration in Pale Fire, but here attention is focused on an even subtler level where language itself is analyzed. Pale Fire is an example of extremely dense prose where individual words are more than just carriers of meaning: they become, in a way, themselves a subject of the novel. One of Shade’s warmest images of his family together is a memory of the evenings when both he and Sybil helped their daughter to understand really obscure words from her English textbook. A difference of one letter in the words “mountain” and “fountain” becomes crucial in the story of Shade’s attempt to penetrate the mystery of the hereafter. The book is filled with examples of word play, often involving several languages, and references to numerous works of literature (some of which are likely to be Nabokov’s own inventions). In Shade’s poem, there are such peculiar combinations as: “Fra Karamazov, mumbling his inept all is allowed” , which is a mixture of Alyosha Karamazov, Raskol’nikov, and, perhaps, Italian painter Fra Angelico with his intensely spiritual religious art. But nobody in the novel is more involved in digging into words than Kinbote. He is constantly preoccupied with deciphering literary allusions, musing over interplay of words, meanings, rhymes and sounds. Nabokov mentioned in his lectures that a dictionary should be a necessary attribute of a good reader, and, ironically, Kinbote, who can hardly be called a good reader, dutifully follows the lines of Shade’s masterpiece with his dictionary. For the most part, he is obsessively searching references to Zembla and his own life story in the poem, but sometimes he simply takes aesthetic pleasure in certain lines of it:

“Lines 131-132: I was the shadow of the waxwing slain by feigned remoteness in the windowpane.

The exquisite melody of the two lines opening the poem is picked up here. The repetition of that long-drawn note is saved from monotony by the subtle variation in line 132 where the assonance between its second word and the rhyme gives the ear a kind of languorous pleasure as would the echo of some half-remembered sorrowful song…” Shade’s commentator genuinely enjoys the magic of words, and so does Nabokov, whose multilingualism, artistic sense and incomparable mastery of language found full expression in the creation of the truly marvelous poem, as well as other parts of the novel.

Perhaps, the refined world of literature allows Kinbote a way of escape from his troubled personal reality, and so it does for Shade, and, to a degree, for Fyodor in The Gift, and, ultimately, for Nabokov. In his commentary, Kinbote recounts an episode when someone in the presence of Shade tells a story of a mad railroad worker, who “thought he was God and began redirecting the trains”. “That (“mad”) is the wrong word”, – he (Shade) said. – “One should not apply it to a person who deliberately peels off a drab and unhappy past and replaces it with a brilliant invention” . Still, comparison of Nabokov’s novels shows that the most “brilliant invention” becomes truly alive only if the light of one’s own human experience, however “drab and unhappy”, illuminates it from within. In Pale Fire the walls sheltering Nabokov’s private world of memory and feeling are thicker than in The Gift, and the novel follows more closely Nabokov’s ideas of art as elegant deception, an entirely invented world which should be approached on aesthetic rather than emotional grounds. This is the major difference between Pale Fire and The Gift.

Time is likely to be one of the factors behind this change: Pale Fire was written almost twenty years later than The Gift, as greater and greater distance separated Nabokov from his Russian past with which he had stronger emotional bond than with the years spent abroad. Another important factor is, probably, language. Nabokov was very proud of his English works and repeatedly called himself an American writer, but sometimes he provided his readers with unexpected revelations such as: “My private tragedy, which cannot, indeed should not, be anybody’s concern, is that I had to abandon my natural language, my natural idiom, my rich, infinitely rich and docile Russian tongue, for a second-rate brand of English” . In another interview, when asked which language he considered the most beautiful, Nabokov replied: “My head says English, my heart, Russian, my ear, French” . It is possible to say that for him Russian conveyed emotional power, while English had more of an intellectual appeal, and this is one of the reasons why Pale Fire, written in English, appeals to the brain more than it does to feelings.

One of the most striking confessions that bridges Nabokov’s inner world with his public self exists in a poem. An Evening of Russian Poetry, written in English in 1945, is a rhymed presentation of a public lecture which Nabokov gives to an audience of American students, predominantly female. Russian poetry is the theme of the lecture, but Nabokov approaches it in the way typical for him: he does not talk about schools, trends and periods. Again, he speaks of letters, shapes, individual intricate details, and hidden tenderness shines through his words, staying invisible for his listeners. They ask him questions about his favorite trees and stones, echoing that insensitive critic from The Gift, whose “discussion of Koncheyev’s book boiled down to his answering for the author a kind of implied questionnaire (Your favorite flower? Favorite hero? Which virtue do you prize most?)” In Nabokov’s discussion of Pushkin and Nekrasov everything merges and melts together: the sky and the grass, the beauty of verse and human feeling, – and inevitable theme of exile. Nabokov speaks of memories, saying openly: “I must remind you in conclusion that I am followed everywhere and that space is collapsible” . His private tragedy is lost on his young listeners, whose innocent inquiry prompts what becomes the most remarkable ending of a poem:

How would you say “delightful talk” in Russian?

How would you say “good night”?

Oh, that would be:

Bessonnitza, tvoy vzor oonyl i strashen;

lubov moya, otstoopnika prostee.

(Insomnia, your stare is dull and ashen,

my love, forgive me this apostasy.)

All of Nabokov’s carefully hidden private world that, he insists, “cannot, indeed should not, be anybody’s concern”, is suddenly revealed in these poignant lines: long nights, loneliness, the feeling of guilt over abandoning one’s language and nostalgia for inaccessible, unforgettable, “unquenchable Russia”.

Bibliography

1). Kernan, Alvin B. “Reading Zemblan: The Audience Disappears in Nabokov’s Pale Fire”. Vladimir Nabokov (Modern Critical Views). Ed. Harold Bloom. Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. 101-125.

2). ???????, ????????. ???. ??????: ??????, 1990.

3). Nabokov, Vladimir. The Gift. New York: Capricorn Books, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1970.

4). —. Lectures on Literature. Harcourt Brace & Company, 1982.

5). —. Pale Fire. New York: Quality Paperback Book Club, 1993.

6). —. Poems and Problems. McGraw-Hill International, Inc. 1970.

7). —. Speak, Memory. New York: Quality Paperback Book Club, 1993.

8). —. Strong Opinions. McGraw-Hill International, Inc. 1973.

Elena Koutcherova
http://www.articlesbase.com/fiction-articles/unquenchable-russia-or-forbidden-themes-in-nabokovs-prose-204030.html

Aren’t Liberals and Conservatives both guilty of Empowering the Government to Tyranny?

Conservatives empowered the Government with the Patriot Act.
Liberals like Obama resign it.

Liberals empowered the Government to Force people to buy Health Insurance
I can safely bet Conservatives won’t repeal this.

Conservatives surged in Iraq and Liberals disagreed.
Yet Liberals support the surge in Afghanistan.

This Liberal/Conservative nonsense isn’t all that different, they both do the same thing and are weak in opposition. They never really take power from the Government, they just empower it. Who else feels that we are on the road to Tyranny? Read quotes of Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson.

Yes it is the exact same in the UK. Both political parties have played their part on the road to tyranny. I think this is proof that it is the same people behind the scenes and we are getting closer to an evil one world government.

Have you ever seen just how deep the rabbit hole really goes?

Have you ever felt like all that you see is an illusion and a something much grander is going on something they don’t want us to know about. Something that many of us fear but in truth is not scary. Have you ever wondered if reality is fantasy and fantasy is reality? Could we be living on a prison planet.

Did you ever wonder why there are so many endless contradictions in the judeo-christian bible? Do you want to know why? The reason for this- is its nothing but a book of false promises. Although, most Christians are taught to be good sheep of the pasture and not to question. One thing about sheep though is they can easily be driven off a cliff. The bible was and is nothing more than a tool to remove spiritual knowledge from the populace, and to enslave you. Here is an interesting quote made in the 16th century (1475-1521) by Pope Leo X of the roman catholic church: "It has served us well, this myth of Christ". I think that pretty much sums up everything in the Christian religion; it’s nothing more than a HOAX!

Everything in the judeo-christian bible has been stolen from the Ancient Pagan religions that predated it from a few hundred to several thousands of years. The bible is full of spiritual allegories that were stolen and corrupted into real places with real beings, this was done to deceive you and keep the truth hidden. Additionally, EVERY major story in the bible was STOLEN (derivatives or copies) from the Ancient Sumerian and Ancient Egyptian cultures. Here are some examples: The story of Adam and eve, the great flood, the story of moses, the story of Mary and Jesus, this was STOLEN from Isis and Horus in Egyptian culture. That fictitious Nazarene is about the biggest joke there is, and a slap in the face to the human race. That Nazarene isn’t real at all; in fact it was stolen from some 18+ crucified pagan gods, such as Odin who hung from a tree and was born again

This knowledge has been deliberately withheld from the populace, to keep you enslaved and living in a total lie. Those at the top (the Jews, and the catholic leadership) know the truth, and they DO NOT want you to obtain this knowledge, but to remain servile. If you are interested in learning much more than you ever thought possible as a human being, the TRUTH that has been deliberately withheld from you and STOLEN from the original religions- then go to these websites that are listed below. I must tell you though; once you know the TRUTH you can never again be deceived by the LIE of Christianity. Stop the LIE with me, pass this on;

http://www.exposingchristianity.com

http://www.joyofsatan.org

Are We Really One World? German Au Pairs and Cultural Differences

With the rising costs of childcare, American families are hosting au pairs in staggering numbers.  There has been an increase in the number of au pairs with nearly 22,000 young women residing in the USA last year, up 44% from 2004!  This is a dramatic increase and the trend appears to be growing despite the weak economy.

The French term, au pair, denotes a young woman who “lives as an equal” with her host family. Au pair agencies recruit young women from over 55 countries, with China as the newest “hot” placement for sophisticated American families seeking to expose their children to Mandarin.

Despite global connections between countries and the politcally correct phrase “we are all one world” cultural differences exist across Europe, Asia and South America - top areas au pair agencies recruit from. These cultural differences add flavor and spice to the host family’s year with their au pair and both benefit from cross-cultural experiences.

Knowledge of cultural differences is critical to a host family’s success with their au pair -American behavior may be viewed as rude or insulting to an au pair, and Americans can often misinterpret an au pair’s interactions with their children, etc. 

One of the more popular countries that Americans prefer when hosting an au pair is Germany.  Let’s take a look at why this is true:

The idea of traveling to the United States to become an au pair is a very familiar concept in Germany.  These young women are motivated by several factors including a desire to become more independent, to improve their English skills, and to experience American culture.  German youth are fascinated with American music, TV programs, Hollywood stars and movies.  In addition, young German women know that a year abroad that improves her English is a significant plus on her resume, greatly increasing her job potential once she returns home.  Therefore, the au pair program continues to be a highly popular gap year for young women who usually return to Germany to continue at University.  Approximately 37% of all au pairs who arrive in the United States are from Western Europe and 23% of that number are from Germany (although in recent years, that trend seems to be declining).

German Culture

• Young people in Germany have much more freedom from their families to socialize and date compared to their American peers.  Socializing with friends is very important and German youth go out to pubs from the early age of 16.  If your German au pair likes to go out and socialize, do not misinterpret this as ”party girl” – she will most likely be sitting in a Starbucks talking with other German au pairs or visiting our nation’s famous sights to expand her knowledge of America.
• Curfews are not common and there is generally a relaxed and accepting attitude between parents and their adolescent children. 
• German youth are generally open-minded, well mannered and tend to be ambitious regarding their careers.
• Germans take family life very seriously and most German families eat together for all meals, including lunch.  Government rules allow all shops and businesses to close each day for from 12 noon to 2 o’clock so the family can come together for lunch.  No one is late for meals.
• Germans are very private people and greatly value their time alone. It would not be unusual for your German au pair to keep her door shut while she is on her time “off” and during these times you should make sure the children are not barging in and bothering her. She may interpret this behavior as  very rude and intrusive.

Childcare

• Discipline techniques include talking to the child, taking sweets away, taking away television or video privileges, or sending the child to their room.
• Corporal punishment is forbidden in Germany
• German au pairs tend to be highly organized and responsible and catch on quickly to the family’s routine.
• Applicants obtain their childcare experience through formal training (in kindergartens, etc.) and babysitting for friends and family.
• German parents (either mother or father) typically stay home with their young children at least until they are old enough to attend kindergarten. Working at home is very common for German parents.
• Your German au pair will expect the children to treat her with respect, to comply with her instructions and to follow the house rules.  Unruly or bad behavior is a sign of disrespect and a child who is overly indulged by parents (with toys, sweets, privileges not earned) is considered spoiled as result of poor or failed parenting.

Driving Skills

• Most West German au pairs are excellent drivers.  They receive their license at age 18 and the test is much more demanding and time consuming compared to their American peers.  Most driving pupils need 20-30 lessons in order to pass the test and there is an hour practical driving test!  If any German fails the test more than 3 times, a psychological test is then required by the state.
• Most parents have a car for the teen to practice on and they support their teenagers in getting the license and becoming good, safe drivers.
• German au pairs are exclusively sought out by host parents for their excellent driving skills making them one of the most popular au pairs.

English Skills – West German Au Pairs get an A+

• English is a compulsory subject at the age of 10, but many children start as early as kindergarten.  As a result, German youth have competent English skills with many having no or a very slight German accent.
• German au pairs are popular with host parents for their English skills. Host parents typically expect them to help the children with homework and German au pairs are generally very competent in this area.
• West Germans’ proficiency in English is generally better compared to Germans from East Germany – East Germans get a C- in English!

  Health

• Germans are typically very healthy.  They have good medical and dental insurance.
• Most young women are not inoculated or tested for TB (tuberculosis).
• Eating disorders are not very common in Germany.
• Most young people in Germany eat meat and lots of vegetables and fresh foods are preferred to fast foods/processed foods.  A  growing number of German youth are becoming vegetarians and you should ask your au pair if she eats meat.

Religion

• The two most common religions in Germany are Catholic and Protestant
• Most young people in Germany do not practice their religion on a regular basis

 Other Useful Information

• Most German families have at least one computer with access to the internet and most young Germans have their own cell phones; contacting prospective au pairs is relatively easy during the interviewing process
• Family members usually speak English and can take messages from you if the au pair is not home which is a great plus for you as a host parent.
• German students end their academic year in June and most of the young women apply to arrive in the USA during the summer months but before our school term starts here in the USA so plan to have your German au pair arrive in early or mid August so she can sign up for fall courses at your local college.  
• German au pairs are typically serious students and will expect to sign up for courses immediately upon arrival. German au pairs will expect flexibly from her host parents so she can attend her classes without interruption.
• West Germans are generally more educated, are more experienced drivers and possess better English skills compared to East Germans.
• Generally, German au pairs have less trouble assimilating into American culture and do not generally suffer from culture shock.  They genuinely like American culture and look forward to their year abroad.
• Most Germans will not extend beyond the 12 months – they will return home to continue their education, start a business or look for a professional job.

With the growing trend of using au pairs as their #1 childcare option, American families are competing with one and another for au pairs who are responsible, mature, good drivers and who speak good, competent English. German au pairs generally meet all of these criteria while adding old world charm mixed with a youthful and modern perspective.  Germans are proud of their culture and are usually delighted with our America experience – a wonderful combination for any host family!

Edina Stone
http://www.articlesbase.com/parenting-articles/are-we-really-one-world-german-au-pairs-and-cultural-differences-712711.html

Why Your Next Job May Be A Mistake! The Non-Job Alternative

If you’re in the job market, don’t risk making a big mistake! Check out the non-job alternative before you make a move.

OK. So you’re looking at finding another job. But have you ever considered that this may me exactly the right time for a non-job alternative? Let me show you what I mean.

First of all, just exactly what is a non-job alternative?

Well, the easiest way to look at it is as a work activity which replaces or enhances your job-related income. For example, getting into business for yourself.

Now, before you click to something else, just consider this. The opportunities for making good money in a business of your own, full-time or part-time, are astronomical right now. And, if you narrow your thinking only to a business you can run from you home . . . well, things really begin to get interesting.

But let’s narrow the non-job alternative focus either further. Today, without question, the most unique and lucrative opportunities are the ones where you use you computer to run an online e-business. Why is this such an exciting option?

Because you can get into without fuss, quickly and with a modest investment of time and money. In other words, if you can use your computer for browsing, emailing or gaming, you’ve already got the technical skills to run an e-business successfully.

Part of the reason for that is because of the tremendous advance in e-business technology–just in the past couple years. For example, there are turnkey programs that have done all the programming you need. These amazing internet resources can have you up and running in a matter of minutes because all the hard work is already done for you.

And the variety of non-job alternative e-business opportunities is incredible! In fact, I’ve never seen anything like it. But you have to be careful.

Unfortunately, there are scams out there. So you need to explore your non-job alternatives with intelligence. Don’t jump into anything without checking out the business plan carefully. Make sure it can verify what kind of money you can make. And that it has a long-term track record of success.

Be sure the e-business plan you’re considering has a money back guarantee. In other words, you want the chance to try it on for size say for a month. And if it’s not working the way you expected, you can get your money back.

However, you also must be realistic. Nothing is going to happen if you’re unwilling to invest some time and energy, especially learning how to market and sell your product or services. After all, we’re talking about a business here. A stagnant business is no business.

On the other hand, if you never consider a non-job alternative, you’ll be missing out on one of the great movements of the 21st Century!

Paul Megan
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-business-articles/why-your-next-job-may-be-a-mistake-the-nonjob-alternative-98081.html

Travel to Indonesia – A Country of Thousands of Beautiful and Exotic Islands

Indonesia, a Country of thousands of beautiful and exotic Islands, that spark off your imagination with thoughts of fine sandy beaches, huge temple complexes, great diving and the giant dragons of Komodo. The islands of Indonesia are spread over a vast expanse of ocean and technically speaking is divided by two Continents.

Some parts of the Country can be as different from each other as black is from white. The hustle and bustle of the modern capital Jakarta is like another planet when compared to the traditional Papuan tribes of the Baliem Valley. Jakarta – Not only is it the largest City in the Country, Jakarta is also the heartbeat. Indonesian’s from all over the archipelago come to the City to try and find their fortune or just to survive. The face of the City is constantly changing due to the construction of new skyscrapers, shopping malls and hotels.

Jakarta is mainly a business and political City and not really a tourist destination, but the older colonial parts of the City are very interesting and the museums have a lot of fascinating exhibits.

Jakarta, like you would expect, is the most expensive place in Indonesia, as well as the most polluted and most congested. It can be very hard to cope with all of the hustle, dirt, crime and cost, but if you can you will find an exciting City with plenty to offer.

Kota – This is the old Town of Batavia, which was the capital of the Dutch East Indies and the best example of the colonial era in Indonesia. Though much of the old town has been destroyed or demolished over the years, some of the old Colonial buildings are still in active use, and the area has a definite Dutch feel to it.

The centre of the old Town is the pebble stone square known as Taman Fatahillah and this is the key to being able to orientate yourself around the sights of the old Town. The canal of Kali Besar is one block to the west of the square and runs alongside the Ciliwung River.

This was a very prosperous area and on the west bank are some of the high class homes that date from the eighteenth Century.

The Chicken market bridge is the last remaining drawbridge from the Dutch era, it is at the north end of the Kali Besar. Buses always come by on their routes and the city train also has a stop here.

Jakarta History Museum – This museum is housed in the old town hall of Batavia, which is on the south side of Taman Fatahillah. It is a well built building, which was originally constructed in 1627 and added to in the early 1700s. It was from here that the Dutch administered their colony, and the cities law courts were also here as well as their main prison compound.

It contains plenty of heavy, carved furniture from the colonial, as well as other memorabilia from the Dutch period. Open, 9am till 3pm, Tuesday to Sunday. Admission: 1,000Rp Wayang Museum – This museum is also on the Taman Fatahillah, and has a great assortment of Wayang puppets. It also has examples of puppets from other Countries like Cambodia, China and India.

This building was formerly the museum of old Batavia and was built in 1912 on the site of the former Dutch church which was demolished in 1808 as the
Dutchman “Daendels” plan to rid the City of its unhealthy areas. In the downstairs courtyard, there are memorials to previous governors who were buried on site. Open, 9am till 3pm, Tuesday to Sunday. Admission: 1,000Rp

Fine Arts Museum – Built in the 1860s, the palace of Justice building is now the Fine arts museum. It has a nice collection of contemporary paintings from prominent artists. They also have some ceramics on show from Chinese items to Majapahit offerings. Open, 9am till 3pm, Tuesday to Sunday. Admission: 1,000Rp

Gereja Sion – This church was built in 1695, and is the oldest Church in Jakarta. It is on Jl Pangeran Jayakarta near the Kota train station. The exterior of the Church is actually pretty plain but inside copper chandeliers, the original organ and the baroque pulpit makes it very appealing. Though thousands of people have been buried here there are very few tombs left remaining.

Sunda Kelapa – Just a 10 minute walk from the Taman Fatahillah, the old City port of Sunda Kelapa is full of wonderful Macassar schooners and the brightly coloured sails of these boats make for great viewing. The ships are still a vital means of transporting goods to outlying Islands.

Guides hang around the docks and for a few thousand rupiah will show you around and tell you some insightful stories. You can also take a ride out to the offshore fish market for around 5,000Rp. Admission, 250Rp to the dock area.

Maritime Museum – This is an old VOC warehouse that was built in 1645 and is by the entrance to the Sunda Kelapa. It has examples of Indonesian crafts from around the ages and has photos of the voyages from Europe to Jakarta. The building itself is well worth the visit and the lookout posts are part of the old City wall.

Just before the entrance to the museum proper, is the old watchtower that was built in 1839, it has brilliant views over the harbour. Opening hours are hit and miss, so try to find the caretaker.

National Museum – This museum, constructed in 1862, is considered the paramount museum in Indonesia, and one of the finest in South East Asia. It has a huge ethnic and relief maps of Indonesia on which you can track your travels. The museum has a variety of different cultural displays that show a diverse collection of clothing, instruments, model houses and religious items. In addition the museum has a fine collection of Chinese ceramics that even date back to the Han dynasty of the third Century.

The museum is sometimes known as the Elephant house due to the giant bronze elephant that was a gift from the King of Thailand, and that now stands outside. Open, 8.30am till 2.30pm, Tuesday to Sunday. Admission: 750Rp. Guides are around who can conduct tours in various different languages.

National Monument – This 130 metres high monument stands over Merdeka square and is Jakartas chief landmark. The construction was started in 1961 but was not finished until 1975, when it was officially opened by President Soeharto. At the base is the National History Museum which tells the story of the Indonesian struggle for independence. On national holidays and at the weekends the queues can be long. Open, 9am till 5pm, daily. Admission: 600Rp or 3,100Rp which includes a ride to the top.

Lapangan Banteng – Just east of Merdeka square is this nineteenth century colonial square. It has some of the best examples of Dutch colonial architecture in the whole of Jakarta. The Catholic Cathedral was built at the turn of the twentieth Century, and is opposite the principal place of worship for Jakartas Muslim community, the Istiqlal Mosque. To the east of the square is the Supreme Court that was built, along with the Ministry of finance, in 1809 by that man “Daendel” to replace those buildings torn down.

Martin Kleis
http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-articles/travel-to-indonesia-a-country-of-thousands-of-beautiful-and-exotic-islands-72013.html

Blue World Pools Just Relaxes your Body and Mind

Why would you work continuously and do not give time to indulge yourself in giving a complete relaxation to your tired body? Nobody can work 24/7 and everyone requires time for themselves and relaxation time so they can decompress from life’s day to day stress. After all, your health is of paramount importance to you and you cannot make any compromises with it. Blue World Pools is a renowned name in the matter of installing pools and hot tubs at your premises, so that you get to explore new ways of leisure in your home. You need activities at your home that promote health and wellness you can not just watch TV and eat at your home. You need to give yourself time where you can be outdoors and get some exercise so that you can stay mentally and physically healthy. Purchasing a pool from Blue World Pools provide an enjoyable way of doing something different.

As the name suggests, blue world pools is meant to refresh the body and mind of everyone. You work so hard during the week and only on the weekends do you get time to spend with friends and family members. Having a pool or hot tub by Blue world pools, you can enjoy a pool bath or spa with them in the convenience of your own house. What you can do is call some of your close friends, arrange snacks and drinks for them, and enjoy quality time with you in the comfort of your own above ground pool and hot tub. You need relax time nobody can work all the time, everybody needs to recharge their batteries.

You may find it difficult to install hot tubs or pools on your own. You don’t have to worry about this issue because blue world pools will undertake the entire responsibility of installing hot tubs and pools in your residential complex. All you have to do is place the order with them telling them what kind of pool or tub you want to get installed. Blue world pools will get the bets quality material for you, so that you don’t have to do anything yourself.

Imagine yourself relaxing in the pool by Blue world pools with your eyes closed and your favorite drink in hand. Nothing can be more relaxed feeling than this. After all, you need time to indulge yourself leisurely is a fun activity. Besides just relaxing alone, you can also train your children in swimming. It is great to teach your children to swim at a young age also the having a great activity for your kids in your own home makes your life simpler. Spending time in your own hot tub and spa really relaxes you and enables you do so in the comforts of your home.

It is quite natural that when you think of purchasing from a hot tub, spa or above ground pool from Blue world pools that you think the prices are high. But there are so many affordable options to purchase from them and best of all there are many financing options from Blue World Pools which enables you to get the pool or hot tub of your dreams without paying much up front. Make sure that you deal with a reputable dealer like Blue World Pools not some fraudulent

Eric Wills
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/blue-world-pools-just-relaxes-your-body-and-mind-121477.html