My goodness, polygamy club in Malaysia

I just finished reading about a polygamy club in Malaysia in yahoo news.

The news report is at http://sg.news.yahoo.com/ap/20090928/tap-as-malaysia-promoting-polygamy-b3c65ae.html

While polygamy is acceptable for Muslims, since the Quran allows Muslim men to have up to four wives, I doubt there is a need to set up a polygamy club.

Since Malaysia is a Muslim country, polygamy is legal.

The purpose of having a polygamy club is to help “single mothers, reformed prostitutes and women who feel they are past the marrying age.”

I think that it is rather insulting to say that “women” are past the marrying age. Is there such a thing as “marrying age”? I don’t think so. To marry or not to marry is a lifestyle choice.

Once a person has reached adulthood, and can legally marry, he or she can make decision to marry or to stay single. After that reaching adulthood, a person can marry at any age, even at the age of 100. There is no way to pass a law to set a upper limit on marriage.

While there is such thing as childbearing age, there is and never will be “marrying age.”

Love and money will always be the consideration in marriage. There is no way to get two persons to marry without love and marry. Dating is not possible if both are not in love and without money.

Some women may accept polygamy, while others may not. That is again a lifestyle choice. I doubt highly educated Muslim women want to share their husbands with other women.

There is no need to set up a specific polygamy club to woo Malaysians to join and get married.

I wonder what will happen if the Prime Ministers have four wives and bring all the four wives for official visits to other countries. That will probably create enough news to sell newspapers.

I think it’s very cruel to get a man to marry four wives, if he does not have the financial means to support such a big family. It is hard for a husband with one wife to support the family. Polygamy club may have success to get men to marry four wives, however it must find those men who are willing and able to support the big family.

I think the four wives in a polygamy marriage must be rather meek and conservative. I can’t imagine four women who are CEOs in MNC marrying to the same man in a polygamy marriage. I think they will tear the hair of each other out.

Since more and more women are getting highly educated, and holding high salaried jobs, I doubt polygamy is going to be widespread and acceptable to the general population.

I think instead of a Polygamy club to marry women away, it is better to have a self-help groups to help the women to make a living. Once the women learn useful skills, they can support themselves forever.

Polygamy is just a short term solution. Once the husband died, there will be four widows, instead of one widow. If all the four wives in a polygamy marriage rely on the husband for financial support, who is going to help them when this man dies?

Happiness quotations from writers in helium

All these happiness quotations are from writers in helium. The writers in helium are mostly amateurs writers like you and me. All of them have some meaningful happiness quotations to share with us.

If you like to read more about their writings, you can search for their articles in helium.com

Happiness quotations 1 by Phenicia Anderson
“Finally realizing that nothing outside of me was ever going to secure my happiness actually freed me to be happy.”

Happiness quotations 2 by Elena Ryder
“The satisfaction of longing, the appreciation of experiencing, the immense freedom of each embrace.”

Happiness quotations 3 by Celeste Vitello
“Happiness is...
Writing from your heart
Dancing from your soul”

Happiness quotations 4 by Linda Shrigley
“Happiness is walking along the river with someone you love.”

Happiness quotations 5 by Karen Lynch
“Some of us are waiting to be happy, waiting until we lose weight, waiting for that promotion, waiting until our ship comes in.”

Happiness quotations 6 by Ray Marr
“Happiness can be so simple”

Happiness quotations 7 by Rehab Haggag
“Happiness can be felt when you make your parents proud of you”

Happiness quotations 8 by Rayae
“Happiness is a no fee zone”

Happiness quotations 9 by Niteen Borge
“So success is where your happiness lies”

Happiness quotations 10 by Melissa Nykorchuk
“Happiness is marriage”

Happiness quotations 11 by Raphy M
“happiness has to see a lot of people in one day, and sometimes he can't get to everyone.”

Happiness quotations 12 by Erinmarie
“Just savor those moments of happiness you have.
That's all it is.”

Happiness quotations 13 by Mark Berg
“If you rely on anything other than yourself for happiness you never will be”

Happiness quotations 14 by Amina Jackson
“It is not until we are successful and still not happy that we learn that happiness is more complex than success though success can be part of happiness.”

Happiness quotations 15 by native writer
“We can ask God to grant us happiness,but all He grants us is blessings it's really up to us to make our own happiness.”

Happiness quotations 16 by Morbid Gherkin
“Happiness is finding money in your pocket on your way out the door and not looking at the dishes you have to do when you get home.”

Happiness quotations 17 by Fated Eclipse
“Happiness is traveling down a path that you enjoy”

Happiness quotations 18 by vergehentogo
“Happiness is to count your blessings.”

Happiness quotations 19 by Nalin R
“My happiness would come in all the small doses”

Happiness quotations 20 by Jon Dierenfeld
“Happiness is a house that serves as a home rather than an investment”

Happiness quotations 21 by Danette M. Scott
“happiness is being able to live my life in a free democratic society without being constrained by people whose self aggrandizing narcissistic attitudes abuse,use and devalue those around them.”

All these happiness quotations are from life experience or reflections by people who want to be happy.

Does the US Economic Stimulus Package help the unemployed?

While I am not staying in the US, I must say that almost everyone in developed countries are affected by the recession started in US. After all, the financial crisis hit so many people in the world. There are more unemployed people in the world now.

The US government keeps on saying the worst is over, and that the Economic Stimulus package helps, but the thing is: Does it really help the unemployed?

Many people are unemployed for close to a year, and they do not seem themselves gainfully employed in the near future.

The end of the year is always a gloomy period for unemployed who are running out of savings. No job, no money, no meaning in life is a fact for the unemployed. No matter how many motivational books the unemployed read, it does not help the money to flow in.

Everyone can see that the US Economic Stimulus Package keeps the banks afloat, and everyone can see that the bankers are getting big bonus despite the fact that they are the ones causing the economy to crash.

People cannot see how the Economic Stimulus Package helps the unemployed, since more and more people are unemployed. The existing unemployed are not getting job offers. Many unemployed rather have the money from the government goes directly into their pockets.

No matter what the government says, the unemployed do not feel better, because they are still unemployed.

The only way to get out of the current recession is to let the unemployed gain employment. And the government has to take the first step. The best that the government can do is to employ the unemployed.

It does not matter that the civil service is overstaffed. It does not matter that there is no work available in the civil service for the mass of unemployed. The only thing that matters is that the number of unemployed reduces drastically enough for the population to feel confidence.

The US government has to create many positions for the unemployed. Even if most of the positions are not really needed. The purpose is to get money into the hands of the public, and especially into the hands of the unemployed.

It’s amazing how important money is, especially for the current unemployed. Money can keep the family intact. Money can help the unemployed feel useful again. Money can help the unemployed gain confidence.

By providing employment, the government is giving money directly into the hands of the ones who need it most, namely the unemployed. Those rich bankers do not need the money. They want the money. Giving them money does not help the economy at all. Giving them money only helps to make them more greedy, and more than willing to rip money off the innocents again.

Giving the money into the hands of the unemployed by giving them jobs is the only way to pull the country out of recession.

The recent rally in the stock market is not an accurate reflection of the economic situation. The stock market is the reflection of how people feel about the economic situation. As long as the investors can see and feel the desperation of the many unemployed people, the stock market is not hold up.

Reflection: personal philosophy of happiness

Everyone has a personal philosophy of happiness. It is hard to say whether our personal philosophy of happiness brings happiness.

Sometimes the personal philosophy of happiness changes so rapidly that we have to redefine our personal philosophy of happiness.

When we were young, our personal philosophy of happiness was quite simple. At those times, things were much simpler, our personal philosophy of happiness was: play to make ourselves happy, eat ice-cream and chocolate to make ourselves happy, sleep as late at night as possible, and hope we overslept so that we could miss school. That was a very simple philosophy of happiness.

When we were a bit older, but still in primary school, our personal philosophy of happiness included scoring well in examination to make our parents happy. At those days, religion had no influence for determining our philosophy of happiness. We followed what our parents did.

As we reached the teens, our personal philosophy of happiness changed. Acceptance by friends became more important to us than making our parents happy. Rebellious spirit becomes our personal philosophy of happiness. Our friends seemed to admire us for standing up to our parents, rather than listening to our parents.

Personal philosophy of happiness kept on changing. In school days, we tended to think that money does not bring happiness, and our personal philosophy of happiness reflects that attitude. Money does not mean a lot to us yet, since we are not spending our hard earned money.

The moment we entered society, and started to make money, money becomes a prominent part of happiness. Our personal philosophy of happiness includes money. We had the misconception that working hard, and making more money is the key to happiness.

This philosophy of happiness is subjected to change. The change can come in the form of meeting our real love or the death of someone we love. At that moment, we realized that money cannot and should not be the key component in our philosophy of happiness. While money is still important, we can see that money cannot buy the real love, and money cannot buy the life for our dead loved ones.

For some of us, we got religious at certain part of our lives, and that has a great impact on our philosophy of happiness. Many people who are deeply religious adopt the teachings of the religion as the philosophy of happiness.

Happiness is not something concrete. Happiness is an inner feeling. Nobody can be happy every single minute. And happiness is very elusive, sometimes the more we seek happiness, the more we are unhappy.

Whatever it is, our personal philosophy of happiness will affect our words and actions. When our philosophy of happiness tells us that money is the most important thing in life, we will spend our time and energy making more money.

When the result proves us wrong, we will change the personal philosophy of happiness.

I love coffee

I am a coffee addict. I love to drink coffee. Coffee is not just a beverage. The love of coffee comes from childhood.

Both my grandmothers loved coffee. In those days when I was young, and my grandmothers were still alive and active, the first thing they did in the morning was made coffee.

I remembered seeing them using the cloth filter to make coffee from grounded coffee. I was too young to handle hot water then. My job was to go to the provision shop and bought the grounded coffee.

The uncle from the provision shop would take the coffee beans, and ground into coffee powder. The grinding sound was horrible, as bad as the sound from the dentist clinic next door.

I cannot remember when I start to drink coffee. I could only remember the cup of black coffee in the morning. That was before the days of instant coffee. Both my grandmothers would make two pots of hot coffee, and poured into the vacuum flask to keep warm. The two pots of coffee would last the family a whole day.

I remembered the sight of black coffee. I remembered the family drinking coffee in the morning. I remembered the family drinking coffee and reading newspaper in the morning. Coffee played a part in capturing the memory of my childhood.

All my grandparents passed away. We will offer prayer and burn hell money to them during the Qing Ming Festival and Hungry Ghost Festival. Coffee is a must in both occasions. I think they would hammer us in our dreams if we forget the coffee. I wonder whether they have coffee in heaven or hell. I hope they enjoy coffee in afterlife. I can’t wonder how any coffee lover, dead or alive, can last a day without coffee.

People of my generation do not make coffee like my grandparents. We used three-in-one instant coffee mix. Those who are better off use coffee machine to make coffee. The provision shop owners do not grind coffee and sell the coffee powder anymore. The powdered coffee sold in supermarket comes in nice tins.

I enjoy my cup of coffee in the morning. This is a life-long habit. Drinking coffee is a way of life. It is one of the rare habits that to remain unchanged through the years.

No matter what the scientific research says, I will still drink coffee. My grandparents were basically healthy, even though they were life-long coffee addicts. They enjoyed drinking coffee, and this habit of drinking coffee did not cause their death. I will continue to drink coffee since I enjoy drinking coffee so much.

I just hope that my grandparents had a chance to enjoy drinking coffee the way we do now. They never had a chance to drink coffee with ice-cream. They probably could not imagine drinking coffee with a scoop of ice-cream on top. That was my favorite way of drinking coffee. I loved to talk the afternoon away with a glass of ice-cream coffee.

My grandparents came from the generation of drinking black coffee. They probably wouldn’t enjoy gourmet coffee. It took a while for me to change the coffee drinking habit of my mother. Until now, she does not appreciate a cup of gourmet coffee from Starbucks. She feels the coffee is awful and she nags at the cutthroat price.

Whatever it is, drinking coffee is as much a part of her life as it is a part of my life. She drinks coffee for so many decades, and she will continue to drink coffee until she departs from this world.

Generate traffic to articles in Associated Content

Associated Content is a writing site that pays upfront to US writers only. The rest of us, as International writers, make money online through the performance bonus scheme in Associated Content.

Performance bonus is means payment for the page view impressions. Since page view impressions come from traffic to our articles in Associated Content, we have to learn to generate traffic to make more money from performance bonus.

It makes sense for us to spend time to learn how to generate traffic to our articles. Writing does not make money for us International writers if we do not know how to generate traffic.

How to generate traffic to our articles in Associated Content?

The first way to generate traffic is by internal promotion.

All writers, including new writers can generate traffic through networking with other writers. When we spend time reading and commenting on the articles by other writers, we generate traffic to their articles. In turn, they will read and comment on our articles, and generate traffic to our articles.

If we generate traffic to fifty different writers every day through commenting on their articles, and they generate traffic to our articles by adding comments on our articles, that will help us improve our earnings in Associated Content.

Generate traffic internally is one of the best ways for newbies to make money online at Associated Content.

The second way to generate traffic is to use Yahoo Answers!

When you can copy and paste the URL of your article in Associated Content as the source of your answer. The readers can click on the URL to read the articles. This is a time consuming but effective method to generate traffic to your articles.

The third way to generate traffic is to use social-networking sites. If you do not join the social-networking sites, you can request your friends to generate traffic for you. It is far better to have ten friends generate traffic to your articles than having to set up an account there. Ten friends from different age groups and backgrounds to generate traffic for you is ideal, since they do not share the same groups of friends.

You can get your friends to create RSS feed of your content and generate traffic to your articles in their social networking accounts.

The fourth way to generate traffic is to make use of the forums. You can start from generating traffic by participating in the forum of Associated Content.

You can generate traffic through other forums as well. Mylot is an example of discussion forum to generate traffic and to network with other writers.

The fifth way to generate traffic is to time the publication of your article. The timing of your articles plays an important role in generating traffic.

When you are the first writer to write world-shattering event, you can expect search engines to generate traffic for you.

If you write an article about Chinese New Year and publish after Chinese New Year, you are too late to generate traffic to the article. You have to write the article about Chinese New Year at least a month ahead, so that the search engines have time to index the articles, and generate traffic for you.

The sixth way to generate traffic is to use the URL of your profile page as signature in every personal email that you send out. I doubt your boss allows you to generate traffic by adding the URL of Associated Content in official email.

Your friends and associates are curious as to what you write about, and will just click on the URL to read the articles. You can ask your friends to forward the email and help to generate traffic for you.

The seventh way to generate traffic is to use blogs or Hubpages and Squidoo. When the readers read your content in your blogs or Hubpages or Squidoo, they may want to read more. By linking your content to articles in Associated Content, you can generate traffic.

The best way to generate traffic is to use seo techniques in writing. You can search for popular keywords using Google Adwords Keywords Tool and write articles with the popular keywords.

Outsouring of HR Functions coursework

The following is part of the coursework I did for my diploma course in human resource management. This particular coursework is on outsourcing of HR functions. It is basically supporting outsourcing, with time and cost savings cited as reasons for outsourcing.

Proposal for outsourcing of HR functions

What is Outsourcing?

Outsourcing means to pay others to do the work that we used to do.

Why Outsource?

Human Resource professionals are involved in the long term business planning, and can be a major factor in the company’s success (or failure). Especially so when the GuangDong manufacturing plant in China will be fully operational in 3 years time. As a result of this demand, there may not always be time to implement every project internally.

What to Outsource?

The 3 HR functions that identified to be outsourced are:
1. Training (Development & Implementation of Training Programme)
2. Recruitment (includes all temporary staff affairs)
3. HRIS

Training (Development & Implementation of Training Programme)

Feedback from the following groups of people has revealed the disadvantages of developing and conducting internal training:
1. Developers - As the developers are managers, engineers etc already burdened with their current workload. They treated development of training materials as extra burden to be offload as soon as possible. Thus the quality of the training programme suffers.
2. Trainers – As the trainers are in fact our employees, such as managers and supervisors, they are not professional-trained to be trainers. They feel that conducting training takes up a lot of their precious time, and they need to work overtime to clear their current workload.
3. Participants – They feel that the quality of internal training programme is inferior to external programme. And the fact that all the participants are in fact their colleagues, increase the risk of inbreeding. They want to network with other professionals in the same industry and to learn the latest technology adopted by other companies.

Due to the above reasons, I recommend to outsource training:
- quality of training programme is better
- reduce the workload of our managers, engineers, supervisors, let them concentrate on their current workload
- enable networking, when our employees train with others- our employees can learn from professional trainers
- variety of training methods
- Trainers with experience in doing business in China can share valuable experiences.

Training Needs Analysis and Evaluation of training programme will remain the duties of HR department.

Recruitment (includes all temporary staff affairs)

Recommend that recruitment (including hiring of temporary staff) of all levels to be outsourced to an employment agency.
The advantages include:
1. Reduced administration work. A lot of time saved if the recruitment is taken over by an employment agency.
2. Free replacement service. When the employee resigns or found not suitable during the first month of employment, the agency will offer a free replacement.
3. When temporary employees are under the agency’s payroll, the agency is responsible for payroll, benefits administration and insurance (if for example, the temporary employee damages company equipment or property).
4. Employment agency with an international network is able to help us tremendously when our China (GuangDong) plant opens.

On the surface, it may seem that outsourcing of recruitment function is more costly, but the savings in time and effort (which translate to cost savings) outweigh the actual monetary costs.

HRIS

The current Human Resource Information System is designed for handling a maximum of 500 employees. The company currently has a workforce of 1100. In 3 years time, when the GuangDong branch is fully operated, the workforce strength will increase to 3500.

In view of this, a new web-based HRIS is critically in need. I recommend to outsource the design and maintenance of HRIS for the following reasons:
1. Our IT department will be outsourced next year.
2. The designer of the system is the best person to maintain it.
3. When the GuangDong branch opens in 5 years’ time, we need the expertise of the software company to implement the system and train the staff to use it.
4. The software company offers a backup system.
5. Higher quality when system is designed by HRIS specialists rather than our IT personnel.

Conclusion

Outsourcing of the 3 functions will enable our HR personnel to concentrate on long term business planning, especially so with the expansion of business to China.

Making money from writing for Associated Content

International writers are at a disadvantage when it comes to making money from writing for Associated Content.

That is because Associated Content does not pay upfront to International writers. The only method to make money from writing for Associated Content is by page view impressions. This scheme is known as performance bonus.

That’s why as International writer, I write primarily to Helium, and resubmit the content as Display Only in Associated Content. At least the articles have a chance to make money from both writing sites.

Associated Content accepts articles, video, photos, and audio. Most of my content there are in the form of articles, but there are a sizable amount of photos.

After half a year of writing and submitting images, I manage to reach Clout 7 level, and on the way to Clout 8.

Associated Content pays $1.50 per 1,000 page view impressions for Clout 1 to 6. The rate for Clout 7 onwards is slightly higher. Clout 10 is the highest clout and pays $2 per 1,000 page view impressions.

Some writers do manage to make more than a hundred dollars from page view impressions. The best I read in the forum is a writer making between $1,500 to $2,000 from page views. I’m still far away from all these experts.

For US writers, they are eligible for upfront payment. The upfront payment makes a big difference in terms of making money from writing.

There is not much difference from giving Exclusive rights and Non-Exclusive rights in terms of upfront payment. Many writers advise giving Non-Exclusive rights, and then repost the articles in Helium for another set of upfront payment.

It is possible to make a full time income from writing just by writing for Helium and Associated Content. If the upfront payment for one article in AC is $5 and the upfront payment for the same article in Helium is $1.50, and the potential passive income is a dollar a month from each site, that article will make closer to $30.

That is one way to make money online from writing. Since most writers can generate four to ten articles a day, the total upfront payments from both sites is between $26 to $65. Add in the passive income, the performance bonus in AC and the ad revenue from Helium, the writer can make at least a thousand dollars from writing online.

Writing is one of the best ways to make money online.

The problem for many new US writers in Associated Content is to understand the upfront payment. Some writers get very low upfront offer. While nobody really knows how the computation for upfront payment works, there are some tricks that the old timers used to generate higher upfront payment.

The first trick to get higher upfront payment is to maintain an average of 400 page views per article. It is very hard to reach an average of 400 page views per article. The trick is to get more fans, and more comments to the articles.

Associated Content encourages writers to support each other. It is best that new writers spend a sizable amount of time commenting on the articles by other writers. The other writers will comment on your articles too. In this case, the writers are helping each other to increase page views.

It is advisable to submit article only when the writers have average of 400 page views per article. Once the new article is approved for upfront payment, and published, the average page view per article is lowered. The writers have to wait for page views to increase before submitting sets of articles.

The second trick is to select high paying keywords in the articles. Associated Content is a commercial site. The purpose is to make money online and to help the writers make money online. High paying keywords make more money for Associated Content, and Associated Content can pay a higher upfront for the articles.

It is best that writers use Google Adwords Keywords Tool to select keywords that are popular and expensive. And then write articles using the Keywords.

This method of using high paying keywords is a method for bloggers too. Some bloggers write using high payment keywords, so that each click on the advertisements by Adsense can generate a few dollars.

Between a keyword that is cheap and generate only one cent in revenue, and another keyword that generate five dollars in revenue, it makes sense for Associated Content to pay low upfront for the cheap keyword and pay probably $20 for expensive keywords.

Every writing site has its computation for payment. New writers have to read the forum more to understand how the writing site works.

Many writers are able to make money online from writing to Associated Content. They have spent time understanding the system in Associated Content, and work out a writing strategy.

Book Review: The Narrows by Michael Connelly

The Narrows by Michael Connelly is another Harry Bosch novels.

I enjoy reading this novel, The Narrows, more than any other series of Harry Bosch books. The story in The Narrows occurs when Harry Bosch is in retirement, so there is nothing much about the politics inside LAPD. Even though politics is part of job in civil service, I hate to read too much about politics in fiction. Many Harry Bosch books are able the politics within LAPD.

The most interesting person in this novel, The Narrows by Michael Connelly, is not Harry Bosch. It is the serial killer, Robert Backus, nicknamed The Poet.

Robert Backus was from FBI. His father was from FBI. Robert Backus had a distinguished career in FBI. He trained many agents before turning into a serial killer.

In The Narrows, the intelligence of Robert Backus was shown through his killings. If he did not want to publicize the killings, nobody would know anything about it. Nobody would discover the bodies.

Robert Backus was leading the FBI team to hunt for serial killers. So he knew all about the tactics that FBI used in investigations. The only unknown factor was Harry Bosch.

It is a pity that Michael Connelly let Robert Backus drowns. I would enjoy another story with Robert Backus and Harry Bosch. The battle of wits between Harry Bosch and Robert Backus was very interesting.

Harry Bosch was able to read the mind of Robert Backus, even though he was not from FBI. He was able to stop Robert Backus from killing his former colleague. Too bad Robert Backus drowned. I think another book where Robert Backus mocked Harry Bosch directly would be more interesting. This book, The Narrows, is about Robert Backus and his former colleague, FBI Agent Rachel.

The Narrows is also about loyalty and friendship. Harry Bosch was loyal to his friend, Terry. FBI agent Rachel was loyal to her retired colleague, Terry. She knew that Terry committed suicide. She did not want to inform FBI about it, so that the family of Terry could continue to get pension payouts.

The Narrows highlights Harry Bosch in his role as a father. He loved his daughter very much. He watched his daughter sleep. He wanted to read to his daughter and put her to sleep. But still, Harry Bosch loved his job. He decided to return to the job.

For most of us who hate our jobs, and who hate Monday blue, the dedication of Harry Bosch to his job (or rather, his mission) is very refreshing.

I find it interesting that Michael Connelly mentions, “A dozen years earlier fire and rain had been the harbingers of both tectonic and social upheaval in the City of Angels.” This is the thought that Chinese believed for many centuries.

The ancient Chinese believed that the Heaven always revealed its anger through natural disasters. The ancient Chinese believed that the Emperor was the Son of Heaven. When Heaven was angry with the Emperor, it would use earthquakes, flood, fire and other disasters to sound a warning. If the Emperor refused to change, the Heaven might remove him from the ruling position.

I was quite surprised to see similar thoughts in a novel by American writer.

I hope Michael Connelly continue to write Harry Bosch series. The Narrows is very interesting and thrilling. Somehow I felt that the serial killer, Robert Backus, kill the right persons. I don’t pity those victims who choose to kill those people who visited the prostitutes.

Reading is my hobby

I love to read very much. Reading is my hobby. I don’t think that I can live without reading books.

I can live without TV, stereo and other entertainment avenues, but I cannot live without reading books.

The best thing about reading books is the reflection after reading. I like to think of “what if” in thrillers. I like to connect the people in paperbacks to the people I know in real life. I learn to understand people from reading books.

Many writers, regardless fiction writers or non-fiction writers, are very perspective in their understanding of human natures. They write about people they see everyday. I get to understand the thinking of people from different parts of the world by reading books.

Some writers, such as PD James, are very good at showing the spiritual and emotional side of their characters. Reading the books of PD James are more like dissecting into the heart and thoughts of the characters.

Some writers get better at writing the more they write. When I read the earlier thrillers by John Sandford, the books are more superficial. I don’t find the characters as alive as the later books.

Phantom Prey is one of the later books, and one of the best books by John Sandford. His writings have reached a new level in character development. Now I feel a kinship to the fictional characters in John Sandford’s books. This is the kind of feelings I in reading books. I enjoy reading John Sandford’s books and hope that he can keep on writing.

There are some books worth reading again and again. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill is one such book. The power that comes from reading Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill is beyond description. Think and Grow Rich is so powerful in changing my outlook in life.

If reading is not my hobby, I doubt I will read Think and Grow Rich. This is the kind of book worth reading several times a year.

Since I can read in two languages, namely English and Chinese, there is no way I can run out of reading materials. There are four famous Classics in Chinese, and I have finished reading just three of them. I am now into reading the last one, The Journey to the West. As usual, I can see my weaknesses and strengths magnified in the four Classics.

Reading the Classics lead to reflection. Sometimes I feel so guilty when reading Classics. I can see my weaknesses in the characters.

Ironically, the older I am, the more I love reading children’s books. I learn a lot from reading the Malory Towers and St Clare’s series by Enid Blyton.

When I was young, I did not find the lessons in Enid Blyton’s books so powerful. Reading Enid Blyton’s books was a must in school days, because every student in school was reading Enid Blyton’s books. In those days, reading Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew were much more exciting than reading Enid Blyton’s books.

Reading is a hobby that is as dear as life itself. The enjoyment from reading books is so deep and so personal. It is very hard to share the enjoyment of reading from non-readers. It is also very hard to share the enjoyment of reading with readers, because everyone enjoys differently even from reading the same book.

The fact that I enjoy reading Think and Grow Rich does not mean that other readers will share the same feelings and thoughts as me.

Some people enjoy online reading. I belong to those who prefer reading books that I can hold. I find online reading very tiring on the eyes.

I love reading. I hope to enjoy reading for as long as possible, as long as my eyesight allows. After all, reading is one of the cheapest and most beneficial hobby on Earth.

How to handle a Breakup

After weeks of agonizing, you finally come to a decision. You decide that breaking up is the best, even though painful, choice for you.

How do you handle a breakup?

The first and most important way to handle a breakup is to make a firm decision to breakup. There should be no hesitation. Make sure that the phase of “giving some time” is over. It does not work. You have to acknowledge that the relationship is truly over. Do not breakup if there is a chance to revive the relationship. You should not think about how to handle a breakup if you are not determined to breakup.

Once you have come to a firm decision, you are ready to move to the next step of how to handle a breakup. You have to think about how and when you can talk to your partner. You should not send email or text message to inform your partner. Email and text message are not suitable medium to end a relationship.

The third tip to handling a breakup is to think of a public place where you can meet and talk to your partner. You must have a face-to-face meeting.

You have to respect your partner. Do not let another person informs your partner of your decision. You should not ask a friend or your parent to talk to your partner about it. You are the one in the relationship. You are old enough to handle your relationship problem.

The fourth tip to handle a breakup is to talk to your partner calmly. This is the final date. You do not have to raise your voice. You do not have to quarrel with your partner. Breaking up is painful. There is no need to let the final date ends disastrously.

You have to be very firm. Let your partner knows that you will never change your mind about it. Help your partner understands your point of view. Tell your partner your reasons for the breakup.

The fifth tip to handle a breakup is to be fair to you and your partner. Do not make personal attack. Do not bring out the old grievances. Both of you have faults that leads to the breakup. You should not point the accusing finger at your partner. Do not dwell on the negatives. Talk about the positive qualities in the relationship.

The sixth tip to handle a breakup is to let your partner asks questions. You have to answer honestly. You have to let your partner talks about his feelings. Even if he does not agree to the breakup, you must be firm, and says that it is over. You want to get on with your life. You do not want to dwell on the relationship anymore.

The last tip to handle a breakup is to think about your future. Once you part from the partner, you must have an idea what you want to do. You must know what you want life to be, after the breakup.

You should not call or give any false hope of revival. Let your partner has the time to grieve over it, and to pick up his life.

Quotes from Hostile Witness by William Lashner

I just finished reading Hostile Witness by William Lashner. Even though William Lasher writes Hostile Witness as a thriller, I find that there are deeper meanings to the book. I take the liberty of compiling a list of meaningful quotes.

William Lashner quotes George Santayana in the beginning of the book.

Quotes from George Santayana
“Perhaps the only true dignity of man is his capacity to despise himself.”

The rest of the quotes in this article are from Hostile Witness by William Lashner. I hope you enjoy reading and ponder the quotes given below.

Quotes 1

“What I hated most about the rich was not their money. I envied them their money, I coveted their money, but I didn’t hate their money. What I hated most was the way they pretended it was no big deal.”

Quotes 2

“this woman could pickle cucumbers without the brine.”

Quotes 3

“You can learn everything about a man by learning what he truly wants.”

Quotes 4

“Dreams don’t come true on the cheap.”

Quotes 5

“There are those in the world destined to be names, those who might fight their way to near namehood, and those, like myself, who would give it all up for a handful of change.”

Quotes 6

“If I had any nobility at all it was this: I would not sell myself short.”

Quotes 7

“At last I was starting to learn the secrets of the rich, whenever you have a chance for money, grab it quickly, clutch it to your chest as if it were life itself.”

Quotes 8

“Everything doesn’t got to be done for you, you can do it yourself if you want.”

Quotes 9

“they didn’t rely on gifts bestowed, and no longer would I.”

Quotes 10

“I would make a name for myself and from my name, and no one else’s, would flow my power and my wealth and all my worldly success.”

Quotes 11

“Hell is being surrounded by all that you want without any possibility of getting it: hell is pure wanting without satisfaction.”

Quotes 12

“I threw my head back and laughed at everything I had ever wished for, ever wanted, all my deepest, shallowest desires.”

Quotes 13

“Misery is such a clever excuse for a party.”

Hostile Witness is an exciting thriller. I think in my excitement of reading Hostile Witness, I have missed out on many more interesting and meaningful quotes.

Regulating Spirit Mediums?

In a modern society like Singapore, there are still many people seeking consultation with spirit mediums. Most spirit mediums practicing at home or at the Taoist temples.

Majority of the Chinese spirit mediums do not claim to have psychics power. They are “selected” by some deities who possess their bodies for a few hours a week or for a couple of hours every evening.

Most of the spirit mediums have regular jobs and live like most of us. They are spirit mediums only at certain hours per week. Most spirit mediums also do not practice during the Hungry Ghost Month.

Those spirit mediums who also manage the Taoist temples are able to devote full time to the worship. Even then, the deities only enter the body at certain hours.

I like to watch the drum beating and whatever ceremony before the deity possesses the spirit medium in the temples. Sometimes the deity comes at the dot, and the ceremony is over in a few minutes. Sometimes the deity delays and the drum beating almost makes me deaf.

I don’t have a chance to watch the deity enters the body of the spirit mediums if they practice at home. Most of the times, I stay outside while my family members wait for their turns for consultations.

Since there are so many deities in Chinese religions, there is a need to understand who the deity is that possesses the body of the spirit mediums.

Sometimes it’s possible to guess the deity that possesses the spirit mediums. Those deities that traditionally known for giving good fortunes are the ones that attract great crowd. Many people like to visit these spirit mediums to request for lucky numbers or to ward off the bad luck in investments or lottery. These spirit mediums are the ones receiving very big “angbao” (money inside the red packets).

Some deities refuse to entertain request for wealth. In a temple near my house, there is one such deity. The most common request is for healing of prolong sickness or mysterious sickness.

Most of those seeking help are young parents. Sometimes their children suffered from fever for more than a week. When the doctors couldn’t bring the fever down, and drugs had no effect in lowering the body temperature, those worried stricken parents would seek the help of the deity through the spirit mediums.

Usually the spirit mediums in the temples receive a nominal sum of $10 inside the angbao. These spirit mediums will not ask for more money.

Some spirit mediums practicing at home also do not ask for money. The devotees can give whatever amount they want.

However, some spirit mediums, or rather the deities, want a cut of the lottery winning. If the lottery winner conveniently forgets to donate the requested sum of money, he will be stricken with mysterious disease until he spends all the money in medical consultations.

It is very hard for the government to regulate the spirit mediums. Many spirit mediums claim that they are selected by the deities. And those deities speak in dialects which are quite hard to understand.

Some devotees swear to the accuracy of the spirit mediums. Some people feel cheated after visiting spirit mediums. Some people think that certain spirit mediums are good, and some spirit mediums are cheats. It is very hard for any government to regulate the earnings and practice of spirit mediums.

After all, when people run out of option, and their loved ones are dying, it is very natural for them to look for spirit mediums.

Even though the earnings of spirit mediums are unregulated, I doubt spirit mediums make big money. Most of the spirit mediums stay in public apartments. Those spirit mediums in the temple have high costs of upkeeping the temple. I don’t see the spirit mediums becoming the richest person in Singapore.

If spirit mediums can get rich, I bet many people will want to become spirit mediums. I bet they will offer their bodies for the deities to possess.

I doubt tertiary education can eradicate the practices of spirit mediums. In fact, the more we studies, the more we understand how insignificant we are. There are times when doctors give up on us, and the only option is to seek divine intervention. Seeking the help of spirit mediums is often the last resort and a desperate resort.

As long as there is demand for spirit mediums, there will be supply of spirit mediums.

And this is an industry that is hard to control. There is no way that the government can test the knowledge of spirit mediums. There is no certification course for spirit mediums. Many spirit mediums live a normal life, except when they are possessed by certain deity. And nobody dares to challenge the authenticity of the deity, in case he offends the deity and suffers untimely death.

I think that the government should let the demand and supply plays the role in monitoring the activities of the spirit mediums. As long as the spirit mediums do not violate the law in any way or asks the devotees to violate the law, the government should leave the spirit mediums alone.

The only thing that the government can regulate is the venue of the practicing spirit mediums. The government can request the spirit mediums to practice in the temple or other commercial premises.

If the government allows the spirit mediums to practice at home, then certain form of licensing is required. If the government takes action to license the spirit mediums practicing at home, then it should license those Bible study groups or prayer groups using their homes for Bible study or prayers. Since both are forms of worship, there should not be any bias in treating members from different religions.

Quotes to inspire

I love to read quotable quotes since young. I think the Quotable Quotes in Reader’s Digest is one of the best features of the magazine.

There are many outstanding quotes heard so often that I don’t know who is the original author or speaker. Some quotes are from books I read when young, and stay forever with me. I hope you enjoy this selection of quotes.

Quotes Number 1
“Only the person who risks is free.”

Quotes Number 2, from Thick Face, Black Heart by Chin-Ning Chu
“During the period of chaos, when everything you attempt to do to remedy a situation backfires, or you have to undo everything that has been done and start all over again, stop immediately and do nothing.”

Actually I like the part about do nothing. That is the best part of the quotes.

Quotes Number 3, from Tom Clancy in one of the Jack Ryan’s books
“It’s not what you say, it’s what people hear.”

Quotes Number 4
“Gravity and time have no effect upon the truth!”

Quotes Number 5 comes from a newspaper article long ago. The reporter asks a lottery winner, “How do you intend to spend the money?”
The lottery winner says, “Spend wisely.”

Quotes Number 6
“The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work”

Quotes Number 7, by Victor Hugo
“Envy is an admission of inferiority”

Quotes Number 8, by Georg Bandes
“It is useless to send armies against ideas”

Quotes Number 9, by Mark Twain
“When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.”

Quotes Number 10 from Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
“After all, tomorrow is another day.”

Quotes Number 11
“No one has ever died, from an overexposure to education”

Quotes Number 12
“Those who matter, don't judge me. Those who judge me, don't matter.”

Quotes Number 13
“Prepare for the worst. Hope for the best.”

Quotes Number 14, by Dorothy Parker
“The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity”

Quotes Number 15, Fifth Fomers of St Clare’s by Enid Blyton
“imitation is not always the sincerest form of flattery when you make yourselves look such silly little sights”

Quotes Number 16, by Oscar Wilde
“I am not young enough to know everything”

Quotes Number 17, by Henry David Thoueau
“As long as possible live free and uncommitted”

Quotes Number 18, by E. Joseph Cossman
“If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today.”

Quotes Number 19, by Henry Ford
“Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right on both counts.”

Quotes Number 20, from conversations I had all over the years.
“Does it matter?”
This is the best of all quotes, because the answer always is: No, it does not matter.
Ultimately nothing matters because we all will die one day and fade away.

Quotes Number 21, by John Wooden
“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are”

Quotes Number 22, by Frank Outlaw
“Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny”

Quotes Number 23, from an incident in the bank long ago. I witnessed two tellers quarrelling, without knowing what it was about. After that, I overheard the teller who was serving me murmured under her breathe.
“Crazy! Waste half an hour quarrelling over ten cents.”

Some quotes are outstanding in that the more we think about them, the more they mean to us.

Yin Yang Philosophy

Yin Yang philosophy has penetrated into different aspects of Chinese culture.

Yin Yang philosophy influences the Traditional Chinese Medicine. The Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner will explain that the cause of sickness from the Yin Yang philosophy.

For example, a person has a high fever. According to Yin Yang philosophy, that is the result of too much Yang element in the body. The Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner will give herbs that are Yin in nature, to balance the Yin and Yang in the body. The Yin Yang philosophy emphasizes on balance. Too much Yin is not good. Too much Yang is not good.

Yin Yang philosophy is apparent in the design of the architectural of ancient buildings in China. The Dragon and Phoenix depiction is an example of Yin Yang philosophy.

Yin Yang philosophy is the theory behind the Chinese martial arts. The Chinese Martial Art master will explain Yin Yang philosophy in his teaching of martial arts.

Yin Yang philosophy informs us that there is no absolute in everything. There is a cycle in everything. When Yang peaks, Yin is at decline. However, Yin will increase its influence.

If you apply the Yin Yang philosophy to the economy, you will notice the same cycle. When the economy peaks, the recession will follow. When the recession bottoms out, economic boom will follow. When the day is at the hottest, it will cool down.

Yin defines softness, feminine characteristics. Yang defines hardness, and masculine characteristics. Yin Yang philosophy is about striking a balance between Yin and Yang element in everything.

The application of Yin Yang philosophy in life:
Yin means the moon, and Yang means the sun, since the moonlight is mild and the sunlight is powerful.
Yin means Darkness, and Yang means Light
Yin refers to the Winter season and Yang means the Summer
Yin refers to the North, and Yang refers to the South
Yin refers to even numbers, and Yang means odd number
In terms of speed, Yin means slow, and Yang means fast
Our inner feelings is Yin, and our outward appearance is Yang
Yin refers to female, and Yang refers to male
A gentle smile is Yin, and roaring laughter is Yang
Cold is Yin, and hot is Yang
Sadness is Yin, and happiness is Yang
The light from the candle is Yin, and the forest fire is Yang

Yin Yang philosophy affects the writing of many ancient Chinese writers. They use Yin Yang philosophy to describe personality is common. They refer to those who backstab others as Yin people (cunning and sly). They refer to those who scold you in front of others as Yang people (forthright and hot-tempered).

When you are able to convince others to do something, you are making use of Yin action. When you point a gun at someone, and force her to act, you are taking Yang action. That is one application of the Yin Yang philosophy.

When you are talking a leisurely walk round the lake, you are taking Yin action. When you are rushing for your bus, you are taking Yang action. This is another application of Yin Yang philosophy.

The study of Feng Shui is about Yin Yang philosophy, plus the five elements, namely, fire, wood, metal, water, and earth. All the five elements have Yin Yang application. Feng Shui is in fact a study of living in harmony with nature, meaning living in harmony with the five elements and Yin Yang philosophy.

One example of Yin Yang philosophy and the five elements concept is to describe fire in terms of Yin and Yang.
The light from the candle is Yin Fire, and the light from the destructive forest fire is Yang Fire.

In term of Yin Yang philosophy and water element, we can say that the slow and meandering stream is Yin Water, and the thundering waterfall is Yang Water.

So folks, how can you incorporate the usage of Yin and Yang in your daily activity? Instead of asking “head or tail” after you toss a coin, you can ask “yin or yang”. That is another application of Yin Yang philosophy.

Choosing walking shoes

Walking is a good exercise. Walking is suitable for most people. Walking do not need expensive equipment. Walking is an activity for enjoyment in all kind of terrains and under all weather conditions.

A good pair of walking shoes can enhance the walking experience.

Before you decide to buy a pair of walking shoes, you have to consider where and when you want to walk. You have to consider the intensity of the walking as well. Walking for ten hours in the forest is different walking half an hour in the shopping district.

If you want to walk in the shopping mall, you probably do not need a waterproof walking shoes. A pair of comfort shoes is good enough for walking purpose.

If you intend to walk in uneven terrain, such as national parks, you need a proper pair of walking shoes. This pair of walking shoes must be waterproof.

If you intend to walk on the treadmill machines, a pair of running shoes may be more suitable. In this case, you can alternate walking and running.

So the first tip for choosing a pair of walking shoes is to consider the timing and area of your walking preference.

The next tip for choosing a pair of walking shoes is to consider when to buy shoes. The best time to buy shoes in a day is in the afternoon. The cheapest season to buy a pair walking shoes may be the after-season sales. You have to consider whether you want to buy a pair of second-hand walking shoes or a new pair of walking shoes.

You need time to break in a new pair of walking shoes. You should not buy a pair of walking shoes the day before you set off on a walking tour.

The third tip for choosing a pair of walking shoes is to choose a reliable brand of walking shoes. Walking shoes, especially waterproof walking shoes for walking holiday, are not cheap. You want to buy a pair of walking shoes that can last for ten years.

You have to choose a shop that sells specifically fitness shoes. The sales persons will have the expertise to find a good pair of walking shoes for your walking needs. The sale persons can help you evaluate the pros and cons of different pair of walking shoes.

The last tip for choosing a pair of walking shoes is to understand your feet and walking style. You may find it hard to understand the shape of your feet. Some obvious factor is that one foot is bigger than the other foot.

Other than that, most people do not think seriously about their feet. They do not know whether they have flexible feet or rigid feet. They do not know whether their feet turn inwards or outwards or stay in the center. It is best to seek the expertise of the sales persons in the shop to find a pair of walking shoes.

Try to go when the shop is relatively empty and the sale persons can pay more attention to you. You can try on different pair of walking shoes, and walk around the shop.

Instead of waiting for the sale persons to ask you, “how is it?”, you can ask the sale persons to comment on your walking style, and recommend the most suitable pair of walking shoes for you. Do not forget that they are the professionals. They spend more time observing the walking style of shoppers, and they receive more trainings on the walking shoes than you.

You should tell the sale persons on your intention to buy a pair of walking shoes. You should tell the sale persons where and when you go for walking. If you want to go for a walking holiday in the Himalayans, you should inform the sale persons. They can recommend the best pairs of walking shoes for your needs.

Walking is a good exercise. For many busy people, walking may be the only regular exercise they enjoy every day. Walking may be the only way for them to maintain healthy body. A good pair of walking shoes is a must to prevent injuries in walking.

The benefits of having your own blog

In the last blog post, I talk about the benefits of writing for writing sites. In this blog article, I will discuss about the benefits of having your own blog.

Since I write for writing sites, and I have my two dear little blogs. I can see the benefits of writing for writing sites, as well as having your own blog.

I started this blog in February, without knowing a single thing about blogging. I figured out that I could learn as I make mistakes. Of course as time goes on, I learn more about how to blog, and how to generate traffic to my blog. Now I am learning about how to make money from blogging.

The only thing I know is that I love to write. Writing is not a problem, much as gossiping and talking nonsense are not a problem for me.

Writing is a pleasure. However, writing for writing sites means that I am restricted in what to write and how to write. Helium is very explicit about the kind of articles they will pay upfront, and the style of writing for marketplace articles. Writing in first person point of view, as in using “I” is not acceptable in many writing sites.

The benefit of having my blog is that I can blog about whatever I want, knowing that the words will exist in cyberspace for the world to read. Blogging means freedom in writing style. I can write a blog post using first person pov. I can switch to third person pov in the next blog post. I can use second person pov in another blog post. Nobody is going to set the blogging guidelines for writing style.

The next benefit of having my own blog is that nobody can delete my blog posts, with the exception that Google closes down the blogging platform. Writing sites can delete an article or delete an article without telling you the reason. Writing sites can terminate writers’ accounts without explanation. When Helium banned Indian writers from joining the writing sites, and terminating the account of many Indian writers, many of them were very upset.

In my own little blog, nobody can kick me out of the blog. Nobody can terminate me for blogging whatever I like. As long as I do not plagiarize, as long as I do not spread untrue gossips, and do not cause scandal, nobody can stop me from blogging to my heart’s content.

Many writing sites have certain restrictions in term of word counts and category. I do not have to worry about minimum word count in blogging. I start blogging as I please, I end the blog post at my pleasure. Nobody is going to tell me that I need a minimum of four hundred words, and reject my article for having only three hundred and ninety-nine words.

Blogging is fun. Blogging is freedom of speech. In my own blogs, which are the playground of my heart, I can write happy blog post. I can write sad post. I can discuss politics and economic outlook. I can rant about the cost of living. I can rant about the bad treatment I receive as a consumer. I can’t do all this in many writing sites. They are not interesting in all these.

The third benefit of having my own blog is that I can decide on how I want to make money. Most bloggers sign up for Google Adsense to make money out of a blog. That is one method of making money. Other than Google Adsense, there are many different ways of making money from blogging.

In Hubpages, a revenue sharing platform similar to blogging, there are a few more ways to make money, such as Amazon Affiliate, Ebay Affiliate, Kontera and Google Adsense. Hubpages allow linking, so many writers make use of Hubpages to promote Clickbank products.

I can do all these in my own blogs. I can set up the widget from Amazon since I am an affiliate of Amazon. I can provide the link to Clickbank, since I cam also an affiliate of Clickbank. I can provide referral link to mylot discussion forum. I am very passionate about mylot discussion forum, since this is the place where I learn all about writing sites, and blogging and affiliate marketing. I can make minimum payout of $10 every month just for ranting, starting discussion, joking with friends about article writing and all that. You can join mylot by clicking the link here http://www.mylot.com/?ref=scheng1

I can also choose to write sponsored reviews to make more money from blogging, however I am very unwilling to kill the page rank of my blogs. It takes so much time and effort to build up my blog to a PR2 site. It is a waste to kill the blog just for the sake of making a few dollars from writing sponsored reviews.

Having say that, I know that it is very hard to make money out of blogging. Compared to the income from writing sites, the income from blogging is extremely slow in building up. The effort put into blogging, and promoting the blog is much more than writing to writing sites.

I have to remember to ping my blogs, submit to blog directories, and wait patiently for readers to come. Traffic is almost non-existence in the beginning. I was very tempted to use traffic exchange to generate traffic to my blog, and I did use it for a very short while, until the horror stories of Google terminating the Adsense account stopped me from using traffic exchange.

However, the love of blogging overrides all the concern about generating traffic and slow earnings. There are many successful bloggers in the world. There are many bloggers making a living out of blogging. I have not reached that stage.

I only know that I love to blog. I love blogging. I hope that this little blog will survive indefinitely in cyberspace. I hope that Google will continue on even after we all depart from this home. I hope this little blog will outlive me, and entertain the future generations.

Having two personal blogs is enough for me to write, and rant and do whatever I want. When I write for writing sites, I have to follow their submission guidelines. When I write for my two little blogs, I am the queen of my blogs. I set the rules for what to write, and what not to write.

Blogging is fun. Blogging is fun only when you are willing to take care of your blog. If you do not think that you can talk as much as I am, you may not want to start a blog. If you do not think that you can write at least a hundred posts a year, and write for another five years, I advise you not to start a blog. You can make much more money by submitting articles to writing sites. There are many writers making a full time income from writing articles to writing sites. Some writers are making as much as six thousands dollars from writing articles every month.

Even if you use PLR articles for your blog, you still need to rewrite sufficiently to make it unique. Search engines do not like duplicate content.

Let us enjoy blogging!

I love to walk

I love to walk. I love to click on the pedometer and walk.

We have a few pedometers at home, but I find that Omron is still the best brand for pedometers. The best thing about Omron pedometers is the durability. I have a few different Omron pedometers, and all are very durable. Even though dropping the pedometers a few times, the pedometers are still functioning well.

I have the Omron pedometers for a few years. Whenever the battery flats, I will bring them to the shop selling watches to put in new batteries. The shop owners are very curious, they never seen pedometers before.

When I told them that pedometers are for keeping track of the number of steps, and the calories burnt, their facial expressions told me that they thought I am crazy. They couldn’t understand why anyone wants to keep a record of the number of steps walk in a day.

I find that having a pedometer enhances the walking experience. At the very least, pedometers motivate me to walk more.

Some days I’m just plain lazy to walk. On those days the sight of the pedometers on the table make me guilty. In the end, I would just click on a pedometer and take a short walk.

Usually the short walk turns out to be an hour walk. Because I don’t like to see the number of steps in the pedometer show just 1,000 or 2,000. I prefer to see more than 10,000 steps.

Yesterday was a good day. I managed to walk more than 19,000 steps. I split the walking into different stages. 19,000 steps is about three hours of walking. If I need to spend three solid hours just walking, I doubt I have enough motivation to continue walking.

Yesterday I took a few short twenty minutes walk in the morning and early afternoon. Then I took a 45 minutes walk before dinner, and a thirty minutes walk after dinner.

The walk before dinner was the best. That was the time many dog owners taken their dogs out for a walk. Those dogs were so funny. They kept on walking and stopping to baptize the trees. No wonder those trees managed to survive even without rain.

I like to swing my hands while walking at a steady pace. Somehow the hands and legs coordination make me feel so good about myself. I have to stop myself from checking the pedometers every few steps. I think those people walking on the road will think I am mad. Anway, I am proud to walk nearer 20,000 steps. My highest record is slightly more than 35,000 steps a day.

Walking is such an enjoyable and relaxing exercise. In fact, it is the only form of exercise for me. I love to walk.

Stomach Gas

Recently poor me suffered from stomach gas. I don’t know how I manage to suffer so badly from stomach gas. The first few days were rather bad. I cannot eat and sleep well because of the stomach gas.

I do not want to visit the clinic. The doctor will probably charge thirty dollars and give me a few ultracarbon tablets. I might as well buy the ultracarbon tablets from the pharmacy.

I don’t even dare to drink water because of the stomach gas. I manage to sip some water on and off to keep hydrated.

I think I sit too long at the computer after a full meal. But then most office staff sit very long at the computer, but they do not suffer from stomach gas.

Anyway, I start to take action to get rid of stomach gas. It’s not very successful at first.

I try to go for a long walk after meal to avoid sitting. I feel much better since the food can digest. But then, when I reach home and start sitting down, the stomach gas haunts me again.

I take the Ultracarbon tablets a few times a day. It sort of provide relief from the stomach gas. However, ultracarbon tablets are not that effective to cure the stomach gas. I rubbed the nutmeg ointment on the stomach, and managed to sleep a bit better despite the discomfit of the stomach gas.

Next, I boiled a pot of ginger water. Ginger water does help to relieve the discomfort from stomach gas. But this time, ginger water does not cure the stomach gas. It just helps to relieve my suffering from stomach gas.

I guess I lose a ton of weight suffering from stomach gas for a week. I dare not eat rice or eat too much. I’m afraid the stomach gas will get worse if I eat too much.

I think I should not drink coffee when suffering from stomach gas, but I am a coffee addict. I simply cannot quit coffee, stomach gas or not, coffee is so much a part of life.

I remember suffering from cold and altitude problem in Hong Yuan in China. That was the time we visited Sichuan, and traveled a day from Chengdu to Hong Yuan in a day. That day we went up from 500m above sea level to 4,000m above sea level. The worst is that it started to snow. We were suffering very badly.

The staff in the hotel was very experienced in dealing with altitude sickness. They boiled a kettle of Coke with ginger. That was a miracle combination that saved us from further misery.

I bought a few cans of Coke and made that miracle combination of ginger and Coke. It was really effective in relieving stomach gas. I never felt so much alive in a week since suffering from stomach gas.

I boiled the ginger, and let the ginger water simmered for a few minutes to get the ginger taste. Then I poured a bit of Coke into the boiling pot of ginger water. The gas from Coke foamed and evaporated. The combination of Coke and ginger took the sting out of ginger.

If I remember correctly, Coke was initially invented as a cure for headache. So Coke does have medicinal property.

I should have tried Coke with Ginger to cure stomach gas right from the beginning. Then I would not have to suffer so much from stomach gas. Anyway, that is the most effective relief from stomach gas.

Caring for Patent leather shoes

Patent leather shoe, especially black patent leather shoe, looks nice and classy. Wearing a pair of black patent leather shoes to a dinner is sure to attract attention, especially when the pair of black patent leather shoes shine in the dazzling light.

Patent leather shoe is also very expensive. Many people pay attention to the care of patent leather shoe. They do not want the patent leather shoe to crack. Patent leather shoe looks so awful with the visible crack.

How to take care of patent leather shoe?

It is actually quite easy as long as you treat patent leather shoe as part of your skin.

You can use skin care products to take care of patent leather shoe. Don’t forget, leather was skin for some animals.

For example, you can clean the black patent leather shoe with facial wipe, Vaseline, or cotton wool. After that you can use baby lotion to moisturize the black patent leather shoe. This will keep the black patent leather shoes in good conditions, and prevent cracking.

While there are many specialized products in the market for taking care of patent leather, it is not necessary to buy all. The baby lotion and Vaseline work very well on patent leather shoe. As long as you can consistent in the cleaning and moisturizing of the shoe, you can keep them in glossy and clean condition for a long time.

You should not put the black patent leather shoes in direct sunlight. The strong ray from the sun will hurt the leather texture of the shoe.

You can stuff the patent leather shoe with newspaper or old but clean socks before putting them away. The newspaper or socks will absorb the moisture and prevent the leather from getting moldy.

Patent leather shoe can last a long time if you pay attention to it. Some people are able to keep a pair of patent leather shoes in good condition for ten years. It is worth spending money on a good pair of black patent leather shoes, and spend time keeping them in good condition.

The benefits of writing articles for writing sites

After spending a couple of months writing for writing sites, and blogging at my two blogs, I can see the benefits of writing articles for writing sites, as well as writing blog post for my two blogs.

In this part, I will share the benefits of writing articles for writing sites and some tips for making money from article writing. The next part, I will talk about benefits of having your own blogs.

I joined Helium and Associated Content a few months ago.

I post my articles at Dailyarticle.com and Topicwrite.com too. Strictly speaking, Dailyarticle.com and Topicwrite.com are not writing sites. They are article marketplace, where writers post the articles for sales, and buyers buy the articles. Many buyers are actually PLR (private label rights) articles sellers.

They buy the articles, and compile the articles into a PLR article pack. Then they will sell the PLR article pack to a hundred or two hundred buyers.

Helium is a writing site that pays upfront for international writers, and does not require exclusive rights. As of now, Helium has banned the writers from a few countries from submitting articles to the writing site. India is one of the countries that Helium does not accept contributions anymore.

Associated Content is a writing site that pays upfront only to writers from the United States. All international writers can make money from page view impressions only. The page view payment is from $1.50 per 1,000 page view impressions to $2 per 1,000 page view impressions.

Associated Content allows writers to post articles, slideshows, and videos. From personal experience, articles make more money than slideshows. I have not posted any video.

Since Helium pays upfront and does not require exclusive rights to the articles, I repost the articles to Associated Content, so that I can make long-term passive income from both writing sites.

There are many benefits of writing articles to writing site over having personal blog.

The first benefit of writing article to writing sites is that I do not have to worry about marketing. The writing sites will market the articles, and provide more earnings opportunities.

Helium is very outstanding in this area. Helium will get publishers to place orders in the Marketplace, and writers can write to the titles. When the publishers select the articles, the writers will make money. Some publishers pay as much as sixty dollars for a piece of article.

Publishers who choose to purchase our writings for usage will have to pay Helium a sum of money, and Helium will pay us a stock content purchase price. The price is usually five dollars. That is on top of the upfront payment, and the long term ad revenue sharing income.

The second benefit of writing article to writing sites is the pool of readers. Many writing sites have high Google page ranking, and have millions of readers flocking to read articles per day.

The internal linking ensures that when the readers read an article of similar topic to my article, he will see my article on display by the side. So if the readers read about article writing by another writer, my article about article writing will be linked to that article.

For personal blogs, nobody even know of their existence, accept me! I have to spend time promoting the blogs, and attract readers. All these are the problems I do not have in writing sites. Based on the page views impressions of my articles in Associated Content, I know that there are many readers reading my articles, even though they may not leave comments to tell me.

The third benefit of writing article to writing sites is that it is easy to make money from writing site than from blogging. All writers want to make money out of article writing. Writing sites have very clear rules about payment.

I am a three writing stars writer in Helium. As a writer with three writing star, I know that the upfront payment per article is $1.50. When I am the first writer to submit article to a title without any article, I will make another $1 as empty title bonus.

I can suggest many titles, and be the first to write to the title. In this case, I will make $2.50 for that article. If I want to make at least a hundred dollars, I have to write forty articles in a month to empty titles. On top of this, I will make money out of existing articles due to the ad revenue sharing scheme.

Making money from writing article to writing sites is easier than making money from blogging. Since I cannot control the number of readers to my blog, and I cannot control the number of clicks that readers click on the Google advertisements.

Many bloggers take a few months or a year to reach the minimum payout of a hundred dollars from Google Adsense. If they have submitted articles to writing sites, they will make a hundred or more per month.

Some writers in Associated Content managed to make more than forty dollars per day from page view impressions. That is more than a thousand dollars per month. With the upfront payment, they will make more than a few thousands dollars per month. Article writing is easy. Some writers can write ten articles per day. Assuming that all the ten articles make ten dollars upfront payment in Associated Content, they will make a hundred and forty from both upfront payments and page view bonus in a day.

Obviously, they put in much effort to build up two thousand articles for the past two years. Even then, most bloggers with more than two years blogging experience do not make this kind of money on a monthly basis.

Writing articles for writing sites, such as Helium, Associated Content, Ehow, Triond, Textbroker and others are much easier way to make money from article writing than blogging.

I have made a few hundred dollars from Helium, and not even twenty dollars from blogging. My Google Adsense earnings still a long, long way to the first hundred dollars. I hope I will see the check for the first hundred dollars from Google this year.

The last benefit of writing article to writing sites is the community of writers. The staff of Helium, and the community of writers in both Helium and Associated Content are very supportive.

All writers share the same hatred for plagiarism. The most horrible experience must be the time when someone plagiarized my article. I brought out the issue in the forum in Associated Content, and the community of writers stepped in to help. They managed to shut down the site that plagiarized my article, and many articles by other writers.

The community of writers shares writing experience and writing tips, without them, I will not learn the trick of using seo techniques in writing. Web writing is easy. Drawing readers from search engine is easy, provided the writer knows how to use seo techniques in writing article correctly.

If you do not have a blog, and do not know anything about seo, I suggest that you spend time writing article for writing sites, and learn from the community of writers, before starting your own blog.

Reflection on Education: Getting a Degree

Getting a degree is the ultimate goal of students. To many students, and their parents, education means getting a degree.

The implied meaning of getting a degree means that the student has completed formal education, and is ready to make big money in the real world.

The reality is that, education does not mean getting a degree. Education is more than getting a degree. A degree is just a piece of paper. Even though getting a degree means completion of formal education, it does not mean that the student is educated.

Many degree holders do not make a success out of life. Many degree holders do not understand the meaning of education. Many degree holders are educated in textbook knowledge, and not in knowledge of living a satisfying and happy life. Many degree holders do more harm to society that those without formal education.

White collar crime is more dangerous than crimes in the street. White collar crime is committed by people who graduated with a degree in formal education, but fail to understand right and wrong.

While getting a degree is necessary in many cases to get a good job, and to progress in career, it does not mean the end of education. Education is more than getting a degree. Education means to know right and wrong, and able to differentiate good and bad.

Many highly educated people are victims to online scams and other scammers because they have not learnt to control their greed. Lack of self-control and letting uncontrollable greed control them is a sign that they lack education. Their degrees cannot help them to control greed. Their degrees cannot stop them from yielding to temptations. Their degrees cannot stop them from foolish act. Their degrees cannot guarantee a happy family life for them.

Education does not stop with degree. Degree is not the end of education. Education is life-long quest. We think that older people are wiser, and yet they fall victims to strangers. Many older people lose their life savings to strangers knocking on their doors.

It is dangerous for older and educated people to think that they do not need education. They need education. They need education from life experience. They need to learn from the life experiences of their peers.

Everyone needs education, regardless formal or street education. Education never stops with getting a degree. In fact, getting a degree is just a part of overall education.

Buy annuities: what questions to ask before you buy annuity

Many people buy annuities to secure a financially stable retirement. They want to enjoy a worry-free retirement in financial sense. That is the main purpose for choosing to buy annuities.

However, there are many different types of annuities. It is best to understand the different types of annuities before making annuities purchases. Many people ask these questions before they buy annuities.

What are some questions to ask before they buy annuities?

The first question they ask before they buy annuities is to find out about death benefit to the family members, especially the surviving spouse.

Some annuities pay higher amount every month, but it terminates when the annuitant dies. The annuities do not pay a single cent to the family members.

Some annuities pay lump sum to the family when the annuitant dies within a period from the commencement of monthly payout. Some annuities continue paying as long as the annuitant and/or spouse are alive. This protects the spouse as well. It is best for breadwinners to buy annuities that protect the spouse as well.

The second question they ask before they buy annuities is to find out the guaranteed minimum payout. If they use a hundred thousand dollars to buy annuities, they want to know the guaranteed minimum payout. They will not buy annuities without guaranteed minimum payout, since they know that there is a chance of pre-matured death. Sometimes there is a gap period between annuities purchase and monthly payout. The period can be as long as five years.

The third question they ask before they buy annuities is whether the annuity is tax-deferred. They want to buy tax-deferred annuities. They want to pay tax only when the annuity payments are received.

The fourth question they ask before they buy annuities is when to buy. Anyone with money can buy annuity. Some younger people buy immediate annuity when they receive a windfall. They buy annuities to prevent themselves from using up all the money.

When to buy annuity is the most basic question to ask, since many people have a retirement age in mind. They buy annuities only when they do not need the money for large purchase, such as a house. They buy annuities when they are ready for retirement, and want the security of a monthly payout.

The fifth question they ask before they buy annuities is the cancellation and refund policy. Some annuities do not offer cancellation and refund while the annuitant is still alive. Some annuities offer cancellation and refund for a limited period of time, usually before the commencement of the monthly payout. Some annuities offer cancellation and refund with penalty fees.

Many people buy annuities with the intention of having an income for life, and do not have the intention to terminate the policy. However, unforeseen circumstances may arise and they need a huge sum of money immediately.

The sixth question they ask before they buy annuities is the types of annuity plan. They want to find out the different types of annuities plan before making annuities purchase decision.

Many conservative people buy fixed annuity because they want income stability. They want to have fixed amount of money every month. They do not want to receive less money when the economy is in recession.

The last question they ask before they buy annuities is the stability of the company. They do not want to buy annuities from a company that may close before they die. They want to buy annuities from company that will last longer than they live.

Especially when they are younger, and they have a windfall. They are likely to live for another sixty years before they die. They want to buy annuities from company that will pay them until their death.

People need to fork out a lump sum of money to buy annuities. That is why they have to think carefully before parting with their money. They do not want to think that they make big mistake when they buy annuities. They do not want to buy annuities just because they like the first insurance agent to sell them the annuity plan.

Reflection: blame culture and responsibility

We know that we are imperfect. We know that we will continue to make mistakes until the day we die. The knowledge that we will make mistakes does not help us to take up responsibility for our mistakes.

We tend to shift the blame to others, and want others to bear the responsibility of our mistakes.

Why are we so reluctant to admit our mistakes?

One reason is the blame culture. Blame culture does not happen in corporate world only. Blame culture starts at home.

When we were young, we learnt that by blaming others convincingly, we would escape punishment. As a result, we learnt not to take up the responsibility of admitting mistakes. We learnt to argue convincingly so that our siblings and friends shoulder the responsibilities of our mistakes, even though they might shoulder the responsibility unwillingly.

As a result, we learnt that every wrong thing is not our fault. We convince ourselves that we can never go wrong, and we do not need to shoulder responsibilities for our mistakes. That is the greatest mistake we can ever make.

Fortunately the influence of religions and moral education shows that the danger of pushing away the blame. And our bitter experiences are good teachers. They teach us the value of admitting mistakes and shoulder the responsibility for our mistakes.

The world is a better place when we assume responsibility for our mistakes. We sleep better knowing that we are responsibility for our mistakes, and are forgiven for our sins. We can never sleep well if we let others shoulder the responsibility of our mistakes.

When we blame others, we always feel guilty later. We know that we are partly to blame for our mistakes. We know that we should not let others assume full responsibility for our mistakes.

If the mistake is a costly mistake, and can result in job loss, our normal tendency is to push away the mistake. Our first thought is to save our job, and let others take the responsibility for the mistake that will cost them the job.

No matter how we manage to convince ourselves that we are not to blame, we can never forgive ourselves for making our colleagues jobless. We will always run the scenario over and over, and hope that we will have a way to atone for the sins.

We will keep on reviewing our mistake, and kick ourselves for lacking the courage to admit mistakes, and assume responsibility for the mistakes. Somehow we know that we will pay dearly for the mistakes in the future, in some ways.

It is best to avoid making mistakes. Since we are not perfect and cannot avoid making mistakes, the second best is to take responsibility for our mistakes, and find ways to correct the mistakes.

We should never push the blame to others. We should never make others jobless because of our mistakes. God knows, Heaven can see, and will melt out punishment accordingly.

Blame culture is part of the culture in society. That does not mean that we have to adopt blame culture. We can take up responsibility for our mistakes. We can admit the mistakes, find ways to learn from mistakes, and get on with life. Our conscience will be clean. We can face society and life a happy life.