Your weekly collection of positive tips, hints, and advice offered with humor, inspiration, and other goodies for anyone who is inclined to read. Guidance, mentoring, inspiration, English lessons, editing, proofreading services for entrepreneurs and online marketers.
Publisher: Mary Wilkey
Volume 10 — Issue 12 — June 8, 2010
Published every other Tuesday
Wow ... have these two weeks whizzed by! I guess they do for everyone when they're in the process of moving as I have been. But it's been worth all the fuss and confusion and extra work to have the peace and quiet I'm now enjoying ... no more sounds of constant traffic, screeching sirens, brain-rattling mufflers (or lack thereof), screaming kids, barking dogs, planes, or trains in this serene little country town.
The first night I could not sleep, because I kept listening for sounds ... any sound ... but there were none. Praise God! Beautiful and peaceful, the sound of silence!
Just had to share all that with you, and I hope you enjoy this issue.
--------------------------
In
Remembrance of
September 11, 2001
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If my people, which are called by my name,
shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek
my face, and turn from their wicked ways,
then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive
their sin, and will heal their land.
—2 Chronicles 7:14
Contents:
A Healthier You
Feature Article
Test Your Bible Knowledge
Today's Chuckle
Today's English Lesson
Guest Article
Inspiration
Etcetera
Are your senses overtaking your faith?
Rule your senses; don't let them rule you!
A Healthier You
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Only about two percent of people can work entirely
without supervision. We call these people "leaders."
This is the kind of person you are meant to be.
—Brian Tracy
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Feature Article
Bird Brains ... Fascinating!
God uses birds to teach, if only we will
learn from the birds ... doves .. eagles ...
we can learn a lot from these "bird brains."
Although there are more than 9,000 bird species in the world,
still blue jays do not mate with cardinals, nor do robins mate with sparrows.
Birds have been known to cross breed, but only rarely and then
only under specific conditions, and nearly always instigated by human intervention. All those bird species
are genetically different from one another.
For example, you can find all kinds of different sparrows,
and they look pretty much the same, but there are differences,
so no, they do not cross breed.
All birds have to work for their food, and they
whistle while they work—at least, they start their day that way,
because they cannot whistle and carry worms and insects in their beaks at the same time!
Yes, God provides for their needs, but
they still have to go and find what they need
to build their nests, feed their young, etc.
They care for their own and provide for them.
They don't depend on other birds to do it for them.
Nor do they expect a government hand-out or bail-out!
And all the while they're being good parents,
they have to keep an eye out for predators, and
so they instinctively locate their nests in the
safest places they can find—a lot of human parallels here!
They also have to watch the weather and can tell
when bad weather is in the offing, as they have a
kind of built in "radar." Just as humans can smell rain in the air and
read the clouds, birds seem to be just as sensitive—as are many other animals as well.
As a general rule, it was thought that birds were monogamous beings, but it
turns out that they are not necessarily so.
Even though the romantic rituals of birds has inspired the more poetic among us, including songwriters and ad writers, it was only until recently that it was thought that birds don't cheat on their mates, but it turns out that they also have this human weakness.
Those "bird brains" also are pretty smart. For example, on
a college campus in Japan, carrion crows have learned to
follow traffic lights. They actually walk into the street
and drop walnuts when they have the light. Then they fly
off and wait for the cars to drive over and crack the nuts
when they have the light.
Again they walk out with the light and pick up their freshly
cracked meal and fly away with it!
If the cars miss the nuts, next time they have the light,
they will reposition the walnuts ... or they may even drop
them onto the street from overhead wires.
I hate to say it, but some people do not have the intelligence God gave a crow!
Crows are known to be among the most intelligent of birds.
There are others—along with some primates—which are known
to use "tools" to dig out food. But what is highly unusual
among crows is that, not only do they use tools, but they
make them as well! Yes! With their beaks, which serve as
both snippers and scissors, the carve twigs into hooks and
rakes and even use stiffer, leather-like leaves to make combs.
They are more inventive and self sufficient than a lot of people today!
And after going to all that trouble, they keep the tools they
make and carry them along on their food gathering missions.
They have more sense than a lot of people today!
When were Israelites required to free their servants?
a — In the seventh year of service
b — In the twelfth year of service
c — When the servant produced offspring
d — Never
Scroll down for the answer.
I predict future happiness for Americans
if they can prevent the government from
wasting the labors of the people under
the pretense of taking care of them.
—Thomas Jefferson
Today's Chuckle
If Laughter is the Best Medicine, You are Cured!
As a bagpiper, I play many gigs. Recently I was asked by a funeral director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man. He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper's cemetery in the Kentucky back-country. As I was not familiar with the backwoods, I got lost and being a typical man I didn't stop for directions.
I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch. I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late.
I went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. I didn't know what else to do, so I started to play. The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played out my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. I played like I've never played before for this homeless man.
As I played "Amazing Grace," the workers began to weep. They wept, I wept, we all wept together. When I finished I packed up my bagpipes and started for my car. Though my head hung low, my heart was full. As I opened the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, "I never seen nothin' like that before, and I've been putting in septic tanks for twenty years."
Apparently I'm still lost ...
Government's view of the economy could be
summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it.
If it keeps moving, regulate it.
And if it stops moving, subsidize it."
—Ronald Reagan
Today's English Lesson
Seeing the same elementary mistakes over and over again has prompted this publisher to write an English lesson each issue. Look for some of these lessons to be repeated, because the mistakes are!
Once again, just when I think I've run out of fodder for this feature ... someone has cross-bread an animal. I wonder if the animal knows that!
Reminder: We have a reasonably priced editing/proofreading service for articles or even entire ezines. Just email: adm@elfexpressionsezine.com
The Way of Heaven does not compete,
And yet it skillfully achieves victory.
It does not speak, and yet it skillfully responds to things.
It comes to you without your invitation.
—Lao-Tzu
Guest Article
Don’t Make These Mistakes When Creating Brandable eBooks.
by John Thornhill
Brandable eBooks are fantastic. For resellers they offer a
means of generating an affiliate income, as you are allowed
to "brand" certain links within the eBook. This is usually
an affiliate link to one or more of the author's products
and can also be a link to your website.
As an author it also gives you a chance to make your eBooks
more appealing to your resellers, as they know they have a
chance of making further income after the initial sale of
your eBook. As an eBay eBook seller, I am always on the
look-out for brandable eBooks I can sell, as I know after the
eBook has been sold it can go viral with my affiliate links
embedded.
However, with all that said, many authors are making some
critical mistakes when creating their brandable eBooks. If
you get things wrong at the creation process, your eBook may
never go viral, and this is your ultimate goal. Here are a
few tips to help your brandable eBook go viral.
1 — Make sure you include a well-written sales page with
your eBook. Most people simply don't have the time or
inclination to write a sales page for your eBook, so include
a well-written sales page, and mention that the page can be
edited.
2 — Include quality graphics. A good sales page will have a
banner, a footer and an eBook cover. The cover is the most
important, as people really do judge an eBook by its cover.
Try to include variations if possible, so your reseller can
personalize the page.
3 — Make it worthwhile for your reseller. Don't just allow
your reseller to brand one link at the end of the eBook.
Let them brand as many links as possible. The more money
they can make, the more they will distribute your eBook. And
ultimately this means you will earn more money.
4 — Don't have a re-brand message in the eBook. This is the
biggest mistake of all, and I will explain why. Let's say I
buy your eBook and brand it so I can resell it. After
branding, I check the eBook and in the opening statement, it
says something like "Brand this eBook and make money—go
here." What do you think will happen there?
Well, first of all, anyone looking at that eBook now knows it
is full of branded affiliate links. But most importantly,
anyone buying the eBook from me with the intention of
reselling will brand the eBook with their own links first,
so all my hard work has gone to waste. If I see an eBook
like this, I simply won't resell it.
What you should do is have a separate PDF document in the
same folder as your eBook explaining that the eBook can be
branded. Have a step-by-step process explaining how to
brand your eBook. Once the eBook has been branded, your
resellers can delete your branding instructions and any
branding tools, thus removing any evidence of branding. Now
they have a true incentive to distribute your eBook as much
as possible, as they know it can't be branded further.
So next time you create a brandable eBook, be sure to reward
your sellers by letting them brand as many links as possible,
and make sure all evidence of branding can be removed. Also
include as many tools as you can to make reselling your
eBook as easy as possible.
John Thornhill is an eBay powerseller and trades on eBay
under the username planetsms. He earns $1000s every week
selling info products on eBay. If you really want to
succeed on eBay with information products, visit
http://www.auctionprofitstreams.com/
Newspaper keeps weeds away.
Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers, put layers around the plants overlapping as you go, cover with mulch, and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic; they will not get through wet newspapers.
Answer to Bible trivia:
a — In the seventh year of service
Inspiration
Clay Balls
A man was exploring caves by the seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake. They didn't look like much, but they intrigued the man, so he took the bag out of the cave with him. As he strolled along the beach, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could.
He thought little about it, until he dropped one of the clay balls and it cracked open on a rock. Inside was a beautiful, precious stone!
Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure. He found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left.
Then it struck him. He had been on the beach a long time.. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands, but he had just thrown it away!
It's like that with people. We look at someone, maybe even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel. It doesn't look like much from the outside. It isn't always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it.
We see that person as less important than someone more beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy. But we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person.
There is a treasure in each and every one of us. If we take the time to get to know that person, and if we ask God to show us that person the way He sees them, then the clay begins to peel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth.
May we not come to the end of our lives and find out that we have thrown away a fortune in friendships because the gems were hidden in bits of clay. May we see the people in our world as God sees them.
Appreciate every single thing you have, especially your friends!
Life is too short, and friends are too few!
Do not ask the Lord to guide your footsteps if you are not willing to move your feet!
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