Writing Effective Content for Your Website

by: Jim Degerstrom

Website owners who offer a product or service have 5 seconds to capture the attention of site visitors. If you do not write effective website content to quickly communicate the benefits of what you do, your audience will bounce to the next website in their search results. This bounce rate is the opposite of stickiness. Is your website sticky? These tips on writing effective content for your website can certainly help.

Content needs to describe as much as possible about who, what, where, when, and why on every page with very specific key words and phrases to connect instantly with site visitors including search engines. Avoid technical terms in your website content writing that only those close to your industry understand.

Key word research is the best way to understand what people really put in the Google search box looking for your product or service. Guess when writing content for your website and your competition may have the edge capturing site visitor attention and converting them to buying customers.

Those key words should be inserted in website content in addition to each page title, description, key word list, and page headlines or subheadings, also. Including photographs or graphics will help convey the message beyond text, so a gallery or showcase can help quickly communicate website content details and create a more positive first impression.

When you use quality photographs to insert in pages, those pictures tell what 1000 words cannot. Your message when writing effective website content needs to be communicated based on real world website visitor behavior. People land anonymously on a website unlike visitors met face to face, so the decisions are different than walking into a brick and mortar business.

People instantly notice graphics and the overall professional look, and then scan headlines and perhaps a few words in the first sentence of website content in each paragraph. The majority will rarely read your text verbatim. Headlines, bullet lists, and graphics attract attention more than narrative, and that critical first impression is what will get them to stay and perhaps buy after they explore details later.

It's important to touch a nerve in the first 5 seconds to convince people to stay on your website. All they care about learning from your website text content is "What's in it for me if I buy here?". Initially, site visitors don't care about the details of features until they are convinced of the benefits, and that message needs to be presented in shorts bits that can be understood instantly.

The strategy for writing marketing material content for consumers is different on the internet, and similar to listening to a joke or reading a novel, people want to know the punchline or ending up front.

Rather than writing website text content that presents your introduction, features, and then benefits in that order like a regular marketing or sales pitch, writing for the web is more effective when you reveal the benefits and outcome first. This writing strategy for online marketing emphasizes the importance of catchy headlines that capture and hold interest quickly.

People will skip over paragraphs on your website that have more than 2-3 sentences, so write content and then edit to eliminate poetic or flowery speech and any unnecessary adjectives. By all means, do not exaggerate.

Keep in mind people go online for one thing: information. Website visitors rarely will buy on the first visit. Most will visit several websites searching for the right mix of content that best answers "What's in it for me?". Present benefits in the introduction, and you can still use the formula of introduction, features, and benefits to enhance your skills for writing effective website content.

Site owners who track visitor statistics probably notice the bounce rate mentioned earlier. The majority of visitors land on a page and leave immediately without fully exploring your site. Stating the benefits twice on each page will strengthen your marketing message. Maintaining a consistent message on every page can result in more business by writing effective content for your website.

Article Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/writing/article_1778.shtml

"The Fire" by Katherine Neville

I just finished this novel of conspiracy, morality, greed and historical fiction. I try, I really do, but can't quite appreciate female authors of thrillers, mysteries, etc. Almost every book I have read, written by a female, has a female lead character, that I being a male have a difficult time identifying with. Then the underlying theme in "Fire" is chess and it's historical role. Many novels have figured historical characters as Masons, Knights Templar, etc...but in "Fire", they all are Chess Masters! I've played chess, but like most board games, I find chess boring. To read an entire novel based on "Chess"....well, all I can say is wake me when it's over.

Meet the Author

I met Cornelius L. Sawyer, author of "Two Voyages I Remember", while eating lunch at the "Elm Court Senior Center. He was chatting up myself and another friend while we ate, telling us about his book and his career in the Navy and then in the Merchant Marine. While I have not yet had a chance to read it yet, it appears to be a more major effort than I had imagined. It may be worthwhile to check out at a local book store, online, or from your Library. I'll put another small ad on the sidebar!

Today, July 22, 2009, I got a copy of this book at the Library. I will post a review upon completion.

Newsweek's 50 Books You Must Read

OK, I'll admit it, I was bored, so I read the July 13,2009 edition of "Newsweek". I once subscribed to this magazine, back in the 1970's. I was amazed it had not changed much in thirty years. With Internet news sites, Kindle readers, cable TV and other media I wondered why anyone would subscribe to such an antiquated format.

The cover and content of "Fifty Books to Read" is what caught my eye and caused me to peruse the entire edition. I was not surprised that I have read only two of those fifty books since high school. In glancing at the titles and brief summaries, I would not even read those two!

Lists, like rules, just turn me off. I'm inclined to do the exact opposite. I never read the "most popular" novel or go by The New York Times best Seller List. I know what I like and find something that fits. After over 300 credit hours of college course work, I have no plans to read "brilliant" non-fiction or reread Plato for the fifth time! But if you like reading from a "list", here it is: Newsweek's Fifty Book List

My Latest Reads

Finished three novels in the last week. "Grey Apocalypse" by James Murdoch, The conspiracy of Aliens and humans for the past 50 years and the Aliens intent on destroying mankind.; "Screen Shot" by John Darrina a novel of a serial killer using computer technology and live video streaming to kill undesirables: and "The Atlantis Legacy" by Thomas Greanias a double novel centered in Antartica and the lost city of atlantis, lost technology and alien civilizations.

Not Noble prize winners for literature, but I find them entertaining and part of the saga that I read on these subjects, better than summer TV!

Codex Sinaiticus

Codex Sianiticus, the oldest Bible ever found, is soon to be online. From the website, the content sounds like an interesting read. It contains many “missing” books not in the current editions of the Bible, and is in a different order.

I have always had an interest in archeology, especially Biblical Archeology (see sidebar), so to be able to read online artifacts like the dead scrolls and the codex sianiticus stimulates that interest.

According to the website, the material will be available in the original text as well as several language translations. Originally it was coming online today July 6th, but when I went online this morning, the site was not yet working. I believe this probably also be downloaded to a Kindle 2 or Kindle DX to read at leisure…yet another reason to buy one. (See Amazon affiliate on the sidebar)

5 Important Things for an Effective Web Content Writing

Web content writing is a very important constituent of the websites and this is responsible to establish communication with the visitor. As a writer you must follow the aforementioned points to write a really effective and appealing content.
These are the words through which a website establishes communication with the visitors.Though, visitors are allured by the visuals but their prolonged stay and interest in the website can only be generated with the prudent use of words. Following are the five important tips you must keep in mind for a winning web content writing.

Write to the context: Always keep in mind that you do not digress from the topic and must stick to write only about the subject. This is because Netizens are people in hurry; they do not have time and neither any inclination to read what is not required. Remember, they won’t stay long at your page praising your English. All they want to gain is some valuable information and they are smart to sense that they are being taken for a ride through literary manipulations.

Refrain from simple mistakes: Remember, simple grammatical or spelling errors act as a repellent to the visitors and in various circumstances they can completely change whatever is your original intent. So, proofread the writing at least twice with high concentration before actually putting it up, at the website.

Do not be afraid to search: The more you search the more information you can embed in the content which will make it a useful and appreciated reading for the visitors. It is only replete information that prepares the ground for a ‘”visitor” to a prospective “customer”.
Author:Stacy Parker


Always try to write interactively: The web content must be interactive in genre as you are trying to establish communication with the visitor and in most of the cases the target is to lure him/ her to enhance the commercial aspect of your website.

Write Simple: The basic aim of web content writing is to establish communication and not all the visitors may have the same vocabulary you as a writer may have. And nothing repels as much as something which is too complex to understand. So, you must write precisely and in simple English.

About the Author: Stacy Parker is expert in seo keyword writing and website content writing for leading online marketing company.

Sudden Rain #3

It was a gorgeous sunny day, with clear azure skies, and mild temperatures in the mid seventy-degree range. It was almost perfect, unless you like rain, along with dark gloomy skies, occasional fog, humidity, and a generally depressing mood.

Jake loved the rain. He killed in the rain. Now with twenty-three days of bright sunshine in a row since the last rain, Jake was getting sort of “twitchy”. He didn’t like the feeling, as he hated the sunshine nor did he understand why anyone in his or her right mind would like bright, warm, dry, weather! The only thing that could make it any worse would be if that obnoxious song “It’s a Small World After All” was playing loudly. Jake was angry, he was furious, he seriously needed to kill someone…no really; he needed to kill someone soon.

Jake often killed for money, being a type of assassin who preferred blades to guns or bombs. He also killed for his own deviant pleasure, picking random victims always in a different city, never twice in the same city. There were a lot of cities.

The TV was tuned to the Weather Channel, the only channel Jake ever watched. Somewhere in the world, even in the good old USA it was raining. In fact, in Venice Italy it was flooding. Oh, if only he could be there, the body count would be very high, very high indeed.

Just then the local weather came on. There was a hint of a thunderstorm that afternoon between 4:00 – 6:00 PM on the west side of town. Which of course was the side opposite the fleabag motel he was staying at. But rain is rain, and death can arrive on the west side as well as any other compass direction. It was now 3:37 PM, so Jake looked out the window that faced west…not a cloud in sight. But not one to forsake an opportunity, Jake, already dressed in his usual black undertaker attire, grabbed his black trench coat and his newly sharpened K-Bar knife and drove out of the motel lot and headed west.

Twenty-five minutes later he was in the “west side” of town, a mixture of light industrial, cheap motels, and equally cheap apartments. Greasy spoon worker-bee diners dotted the streets. Foot and car traffic was sparse for the time of day, the area being more on a three-shift time element than the 8-5 workday of the office types. Jake found a parking spot near a closed, run down building with only a few other cars on the street. The crappy nondescript car he was driving fit right in. He looked at his watch, it was 4:15 PM and growing dark, as Jake grew calm. Then the rain began, heavy at first, then a deluge. Jake left the car and walked over to the alley entrance. He waited in the rain, rain that already in the space of minutes had the street gutters overflowing the curb. He could barely see, and no way in hell could anyone see him.

Splash, splash the sound of running feet sloshing through the torrent, his victim-mark-hit and all those other nouns, ran right to Jake, thinking the alley a brief refuge from the storm. Wrong, it was the end of the line pal, as Jake planted the K-Bar in the victim’s chest right to the hilt. The body actually made a plunk sound as it hit the ground. Die where you lay pal. He felt better as he drove away, the skies unfortunately were clearing, and then a rainbow came out; how ironic, no gold at the end of the rainbow, just a dead body. He left town, headed to the Pacific Northwest. It always rained in the northwest. It sounded like a plan, since he loved the rain.

The Difference One Day Makes

My second wife died on her 21st birthday. I was twenty-four and we had a daughter who was 10 months old. Sometimes, I wonder how my life would have been if that day had never happened. One day would have made all the difference.

I would have taken her to the hospital the night before when she complained of the severe headache. I had kidded her by humming the tune to “Love Story”. When we went to bed, I asked her if she wanted to have sex…she laughed, but said no way in hell! I went to work in the morning and later in the day she called and said she couldn’t feel her legs. I called my mother and asked her to take care of the baby, I would be right home. By the time I got home, she was in convulsions. I called 911, but it was too late. We went to the hospital and I spent the next four hours wondering what was going on. She died. It was a brain aneurysm.

I think about that time and about that day often, as I grow old. I wonder how my life would have been if she had been saved or never gotten ill. We would have been happy. She was the only other person in my life who loved me unconditionally, the other being my Finnish Grandmother. We would have had more children; our next daughter would have been called Sarah. Our son would have been called the same as my current son, by my third wife, a wife I would have never had, nor ever divorced. I think we would have moved to the town my in-laws lived. We would have been close. We would probably have lived in one place for the last 40 years. Our children would have graduated from the same high school their mother did. We would have had roots. It would have been a wonderful life. If only that day had not happened. Thirty-seven years later, I still cry.

Did I mention that little daughter we had? I let her mother’s parents adopt her at age seven. I have not seen nor heard from her since. Thirty seven years later, I still cry.

Deadly Rain #2

The Eskimos or Inuit have over 30 words for snow. He had one for rain…glorious. He loved rain, falling water, moisture, drizzle, deluge, mist, fog, downpour, pouring cats & dogs, and those all those other adjectives. After 73 hours of constant rain, most people would be suicidal by now, or already dead. Grey, dark skies, thunder, lightening, wind, hail, and yet more rain would drive most people to start drinking heavily or overdose on coffee. However, he lived for the rain. He killed in the rain, other people died in the rain. Lately, he had been using the name Jake, not his real name, but it would do for now.

Thirteen years ago, “Jake” was almost killed during a rainstorm in Portland, Oregon. A place that embraced the rain. It was a necessity since it rained constantly from October till April. Rain was Portland’s idea of winter, it’s alternative to the snow and ice of the Midwest and East. Umbrellas, rain coats, and goulashes the coulter dress of the day! One dark wet night, as he came out of a bar on 2nd Ave at 2:30 AM, some asswipe, tweaker, scumbag decided that he was a mark to mug. Armed with a trusty piece of rebar, the mutt played “Wipeout” on his skull. He lived, but the event changed him. He became a hunter, sometimes for pay, more often for his personal enjoyment. Somehow, he found that street trash that beat him like a circus monkey. After he was finished carving on him with an heirloom K-Bar knife, the “victim” became one of Portland’s longest running cold cases.

That was then, this is now, and thanks god or whoever, for this wonderful, glorious rain. He had been waiting for two things, the rain and the victim to finally leave his low rent Section 8 Housing, a flea trap in 12th Ave. Waiting across the street from the “Terrace’ was no problem, street lights being in short supply, even in the so called cultural area. He was unseen, but could see the victim very well. Between the din of the rain, heavy traffic, numerous homeless bums and winos, his presence was not noticed. His favorite blade was at home. Tonight he had chosen an ice pick. Yet another fine killing instrument, that left small or no exit wounds and little if any blood, but killed as effectively as any blade in the hands of an expert killer.

Three blocks he followed the victim, drawing closer each block…well they were small blocks, the smallest in any city. Almost baby blocks, by most standards. The mark turned down the “Park Blocks”, an even more dark, desolate area. At this point, only twenty feet separated the killer and his victim. As they entered the area known as Pioneer Square, filled by the down and out, street punks, worker bees, and tourists wandering in the dark, the killer struck. Faster than many could see, and certainly faster than the victim could react, the ice pick entered and exited his left ear. The victim kept walking two or three paces, but already dead. The few citizens never even noticed the body, assuming just another derelict drunk or tweaked OD, asleep in the gutter. Jake got on a Max Train and left the area, unseen, yet strangely fulfilled. Death and rain, they just seemed to be made for each other.

Tonight’s death in the rain would be written off as gang violence, a random kill, or the homeless mugging each other for dope, statistics that helped Portland’s reputation to become the “Mini-Murder Capital” of the North West. Jake liked to do his part.

How to Write Articles Using Old Blog Posts

by: TJ Philpott


Are you interested in exploring how to write articles by using the same content you've already posted to your blog? If you write articles and also frequently post to your blog to generate traffic you know how labor intensive that can be.

Although these marketing strategies are extremely effective they can also be quite a strain on your time management skills.

What if you could cut your writing efforts in half or to put it differently get twice the results from the same efforts? Well you can and we're going to discuss here how to do just that.

For anybody involved in article writing you know how challenging it can sometimes be to come up with new ideas for content. Posting to a blog on the other hand generally only requires an idea but not much detail.

Let's explore a simple 3 step process you can use to 'transform' your blog post into articles that will decrease your workload while increasing your desired results.

Develop and Organize Your Topics

You'll first want to develop and organize topics upon which you can base your blog posts. Considering that a blog post constitutes a summary of a lengthier thought this shouldn't be difficult. Obviously you'll want the topics to be related in some form or fashion to your niche or blog theme.

Compose Your Posts in Advance

In an effort to focus better on your immediate task you may want to separate composing your blog posts from the time you use for writing articles. This should help you maintain a consistent train of thought making both tasks easier to accomplish.

Instead of composing a blog post then writing an article you'll want to put together a group of posts first. Once this is completed you can turn your attention to transforming these posts into articles.

When writing an article as opposed to posting to a blog you are actually using completely different writing styles. By dividing these two tasks you now only need to focus on just one particular writing style. This in turn will increase the ease and efficiency of your overall writing process and save you time.

Base Your Articles Upon Your Post

Blog posts by design are short summations of a more detailed thought pattern. Upon these summations you can base a more in-depth article. By using the post for your writing ideas you now cut down on the overall time involved in the writing process itself.

As you know every article starts with an outline and your blog post supplies that outline for you.

So now you can see how to write articles easily if you also already have a blog that you post to on a regular basis. Even though both blogging and writing articles are excellent marketing strategies attempting to do both can put quite a strain on your time management skills. By further developing any writing ideas you can get from your own blog posts you're essentially bypassing the additional time needed for more article research. By following this simple 3 step approach and streamlining the writing process you're getting twice the results for little more than a one time effort!



About The Author

TJ Philpott is an author and Internet entrepreneur based out of North Carolina.

For additional online success tips and a free guide that demonstrates how to find both profitable markets and products visit: http://affiliatequickstart.com


Visit the author's web site at:
http://affiliatequickstart.com/



Article Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/writing/article_1731.shtml

Killer Rain#1

It was raining. A steady, almost misty drizzle; gray foggy tendrils wove their way through the shadows. Gusty breezes rocked tree branches, cutting the infrequently spaced streetlamps glare. He loved the rain. He killed, only when it rained. He carefully followed the person he was going to kill tonight. Victim, person, the mark, subject, prey, the noun didn’t matter. He liked people who used umbrellas when it rained, or wore their hats bent low against the wet, which resulted in tunnel vision. They didn’t notice anything or anyone except that which was directly in front of their water soaked faces. Falling drops and wind also made noise, along with shaking tree branches that all but obscured the footsteps of anyone who followed someone, hiding craftily in the shadows. The occasional car or taxi splashing through the water draining to the curb, also helped drown out any footsteps.

The victim walked on one side of the dark street, the killer the opposite, and a hundred paces behind, when one stopped, so did the other. The victim, the prey, did not notice anyone behind them. The mark's mind was only set on one goal, getting out of this eternal rain to a warm dry room, with an old radio, and a few shots of single malt. Perhaps read a book form their meager collection, wrapped in a terry cloth robe.

The killer, assassin, hit man, reaper, and taker of life: those nouns didn’t matter either. He was humming a show tune in his head, “Singing in the Rain”. He closed the distance to about 5 yards, yet the victim failed to notice. The killer liked death up close and personal, the preferred method being the use of a bladed weapon. Silent but deadly, the rain-washing away most of any evidence possibly left behind, not that evidence was likely. The killer was a professional. He killed for money, as a career, and for his own pleasure. The blade, a personal heirloom, was a blackened K-Bar knife, hung handle down in a nylon shoulder rig, under the black trench coat. A black fedora, black jeans, and black athletic shoes made the killer blend into the shadows; no it made the killer a shadow!

Finally the prey arrived home, soaked and fatigued; the 27 blocks feeling like 127. The lonely entrance light was burned out again; a derelict building in the center of a dark block, the nearest streetlamp hundreds of feet away. Fumbling with the keys, trying one after another in the dark. Dropping the whole ring on the wet, dank stoop, then starting to try the keys all over again. It didn’t matter. The killer drew his blade, at the same time wrapping his left arm around the victim’s neck. Not one sound was made. Blood streaked down the steps, washing away in the increasing downpour, following the killer down the sidewalk. The tendrils of fog making him seem to vanish suddenly, until another rainy night and another victim.

Tick Toc, Tick Toc

A true story

It was a crisp, cool early March morning in Northern Colorado. I decide to hike up the Cache La Poudre River canyon, about a 40-minute drive from my house. I was going to hike a side canyon that I had not been in before. The snow had melted, even at that altitude. The sky was cobalt blue, and air very still.

Pulling well off the road, I enjoyed the quiet, before starting out with my daypack. The side canyon, called Pinion Gulch, angled fairly steeply from the road, rising about 500 feet in elevation after about a mile in. Chickadees, and Jays tweeted in the scrub brush; the red rocks, glowing in the early morning sun. A small herd of Big Horn Sheep skittered rocks on a far slope. The ravine had no trail, but was mostly small bushes, a few cacti, and dried grass.

After hiking North about 2 miles and about 1000 feet in vertical elevation, I spied a waist high boulder and decided to rest, eat a sandwich and drink some cool water from my canteen. As I sat there admiring the beauty of that spring morning, I felt something crawling on my leg, beneath my jeans. I pulled up my pant leg and was shocked to see about a dozen deer ticks scooting about. In Colorado these pests carry Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, a disease a friend in college managed to catch from just one tick in his bed.

In loathing and disgust, I undid my belt and pulled down my jeans , horrified to see dozens of these foul creatures all over my legs. I pulled up my shirt, they were also on my chest…feeling no shame alone in the canyon, I took off all my clothes piling them on the rock. I lost count at over one hundred ticks. I picked and shook them from my clothing, put on my pack and literally ran downhill to my truck.

Once back, I was not surprised to find dozens more all over me. Heedless to traffic, but on the side of the truck, I disrobed again, de-ticked, and drove home. All the way down the canyon, I picked the little demons from my arms. March is tick month…never again did I hike off trail in the spring, and never again in that canyon. I truly hate ticks.

If I Die Before I Wake

“Time for bed”, shouted Billy’s mom. It was 8:30 PM and a normal, rainy Tuesday evening. Billy finished brushing his teeth, put on his Spider Man pajamas and came into his room, a very clean & organized room, a factor due to his mom’s fetish for neatness, not Billy’s.

Billy automatically knelt beside his bed, next to his mother. Prayers before bed was another of mom’s heartfelt nightly rituals. Tonight, he figured it was his 300,000 nightly prayer…or at least it felt that way to 4-year-old Billy.

Folding his hands, just like mom, he recited the prayer:

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep;
If I should die before I wake
I pray the lord my soul to take

Lately Billy was starting to wonder about what that prayer meant. What was a soul? Why would he die during the night? What would kill him and take his soul? He kept these doubts to himself. He didn’t think his mom would like the questions, let alone provide an answer. So Billy thought in silence. He was starting to get a little worried about that prayer, maybe even a little scared.

Billy lay in bed, in the dark, wondering, worrying, and getting nervous. He had just remembered something Grandpa told him weeks ago when he broke a vase, by accident, at Grandpa’s cabin. Grandpa had told him the “Boogie Man” would come in the night to take bad little boys. Yeah, that was it, the “Boogie Man”. Maybe he came to kill you and take your soul?

The old house creaked and settled, making familiar, but still scary noises. Billy could not sleep. He imagined “Him” waiting in the dark, perhaps hiding under the bed? Or maybe in the dark closet, whose door Billy was sure, was closed only a moment before.

His soul, where exactly was it? If he could hide it, or protect it during the long dark nights, maybe he would be safe. Perhaps he would not die or have his soul taken by the ”Boogie Man”. A tissue dislodged from the headboard bookcase by an errant breeze, fluttered down and landed on Billy’s face. It felt like the caress of bony dried fingers, the fingers of “Him” coming to take his soul! Billy screamed. He screamed like his life depended on it. He screamed until his mother rushed into the room and turned the light on. The light saved him. That was the key, light! Light to drive out the darkness and the fear. Light to keep the “Boogie Man” at bay.

From that night on, wearing his Spider Man pajamas, and safe with his Spider Man Night Light illuminating the shadows, Billy was no longer afraid for his soul, of dying in the night…nor of that stupid, scary prayer.

Yes, Billy is safe….safe until the power goes out during a thunder storm, or the bulb in his Spider Man Night-Lite stops working! Good night Billy, “Sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite!” Bed bugs?

Various Types of Ghosts

by: Sean M.Clarke

You have read volumes about ghosts and have browsed hundreds of websites to devour more information on ghosts, but have you ever wondered how many types of ghosts there are? The fact is that there are various types of ghosts out there and all these are minutely described and documented by the Spiritual Science Research Foundation (SSRF).

The Spiritual Science Research Foundation has undertaken extensive research on ghosts in order to demystify this widespread phenomenon and help people in recognising and treating the adverse effects caused by ghosts through proven methodology according to the science of Spirituality.

At the outset, it is important to note that while we use the phrase ghosts (demons, devils, negative energies, etc.) as a collective noun to cover the entire gamut of negative energies, there is a vast difference between the lower order ghosts and higher order ghosts such as subtle sorcerers (maantriks) from the sixth and seventh region of Hell. They differ according to their spiritual strength. Ghosts primarily use their spiritual strength to harm humanity.

The generic types of ghosts as identified by the Spiritual Science Research Foundation in ascending order of hierarchy as well as power and strength are:

• Common ghost
• Demons
• Black serpent
• Female goblin
• Jaakhin
• Witch
• Spirit
• Subtle sorcerer

The Hierarchy among Ghosts

There is a hierarchy among ghosts which is based on their spiritual power or strength. Ultimately all ghosts are controlled by subtle sorcerers (maantriks).

Basic shape and form of types of ghosts

The spiritual principle that word, touch, form, taste, smell and its associated energy coexist is also true with ghosts. Depending on their type of energy, they take up generic forms. These forms can however change, depending on what the ghost is trying to achieve. For example, if the ghost is trying to intimidate, it will take up an intimidating form, whereas if it is trying to fool a spiritual healer it may take a form of an angel or a positive energy. They can also take the form of our departed ancestors thus misleading psychics and the people who come to psychics to enquire about departed relatives. This is true in almost all cases.

How does one become a Ghost in the first place?

When a person dies only his physical body ceases to exist. His subtle body however continues to exist and moves on to the other regions of the Universe. Some of these subtle bodies become ghosts. Most ghosts have unfulfilled desires such as cravings for sex, alcohol, revenge, etc. or derive pleasure out of exerting control over and tormenting humans and other subtle bodies. The subtle body of a person after physical death is defined as a ghost if their characteristics and intentions match the above. There is no special process as such which they go through to become a ghost.

How does a Ghost become a particular type of Ghost?

The main reason behind a person becoming a certain type of ghost is due to their predominant personality trait and their predominant thought at the time of death. For example people involved in adversely affecting humanity at large are more likely to become subtle sorcerers (maantriks). On the other hand excessive worldly desires and constantly thinking ill about others may culminate in one becoming a Common Ghost (Bhoot) after death.

Summary

The most reliable way of reducing the risk of being affected or possessed by the various types of ghosts, is undertaking spiritual practice as per the 6 basic principles of spirituality. Spiritual practice and spiritual healing remedies, coupled with personality defect removal and eradication of ego are the tools to access supreme protection from God that insulates one from the attack of ghosts as well as helps us proceed to higher regions in the afterlife.

Visit SSRF’s website to explore more on the salient features of the various types of ghosts, view subtle drawings and pictures of various types of ghosts and discover how they can affect our lives:

Link

“Ghost Radio” My Review

I finally finished “Ghost Radio”, a very disturbing book of altered states of consciousness and reality. Perhaps of a spirit world or at least a parallel universe, where focus changes and your past may not be real. In the last five years I have often been made aware of such things by family members scoffing at my very clear memories of an event, which they claim never happened or at least not that way. After dozens of such episodes, who would not question their own reality?

Many times, what I confess are very real dreams, occur to me to be possible memories. If this can happen in dreams, perhaps one’s reality awake is merely an altered state…a dream. At least the dead don’t come to visit. I think I have had only one dream where I was “visited” by the dead…good old dad. He looked like a zombie, and left when I told him he was dead and to go away. Of course I have always stayed away from dark things like Tarot Cards, Ojai boards, séances and the like. No dead people I want to speak to! Why would you? It is enough to make one shudder!

And yet, writing this makes me remember another personal ghost story. I stayed at my maternal grandmothers house two weeks every summer, when I was little. The summer after my grandpa died, I am pretty sure he came to visit. I liked sleeping on the screened porch, where it was cool. Before going to sleep, I always locked the screen door, and yet when I got up to use the bathroom or just awoke, it was always unlocked. Finally, getting a little nervous, hey I was about 9 yrs old; I went inside to the bedroom to sleep. Even then I could “feel” someone nearby. I assumed then, and now, it was my grandpa watching over me. I can’t remember ever telling my mom or grandma that story. I guess I have more ghost stories than I thought. Uh huh.


The real "Ghost Radio", give a listen:

Do you like scary stories? Here is my scary story!

My scary story!

I am currently reading a novel called “Ghost Radio” by Leopoldo Gout. It is a spooky story of voices in the static of radio waves on dark lonely nights. It made me think of this genre. I have read Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and several others, but normally don’t view scary stories as entertainment. I am not sure why, perhaps I am scared. Perhaps I have experienced a dark scary moment or two!

Herein follows a true story. When I was about 21 or 22, a college senior, going through my first divorce, dreading the military draft and other stressful thing of a young life, it happened.

One night I had a dream, the first of many in the decades to come. I was in a disturbing dark place in my dream, a basement, graveyard, woods, etc. “It” began to come after me, darkness, deeper and blacker than the night. A maligned presence, that scarred me to wake up screaming. After a few episodes, my landlady, a nurse, who I also woke up, told me to ask it what it wanted. Huh? I could only imagine it pointing a bony finger at me as shouting “You!” in a gravely voice! What if it was Death, the Reaper? No way.

After a year of widely spaced and increasingly urgent yelling, ”It” kept getting closer to catching me. By then I had moved on, graduation was almost upon me. The draft had been settled by “winning” a high lottery number, never to be called up. I had met a wonderful girl, who eventually became my second wife and mother of my eldest daughter.

Before those nicer times, however, the strangest nightmare of all transpired. Once again, I woke in a cold sweat, strangling in my screams, my girlfriend tried to comfort me. Now fully awake, I noticed I was blind. I could not seem to see my hand in front of my face in the chill, dark room. This was even stranger because the streetlight was just outside my apartment, and normally my room was fairly light. The real strange part was that my now wide-awake girlfriend, also couldn’t see in the pitch black either. OK, I was beyond scared here; it felt to me like a “thing” was taking the light, life, and air from me. I yelled for it to go away and leave us alone. I told my future wife I loved her. Almost instantly the darkness and smothering feel was gone, the streetlight came through the windows. We never spoke about that night much after that. While many dreams of the dark shifting “thing” continued, three or four times per year, for the next 40 years, I never had one quite like that, ever again.

I graduated from college, we moved to Colorado, got married, had our daughter and was happy. On my wife’s 21st birthday, she had a sudden, fatal aneurysm and died. I became a single parent and the loneliness of those days can still be felt. I often wonder to this day, if “It” chose her instead of me. I will always wonder.

Do You Know The Benefits Of Drinking Black Tea?

In 1827 "theine" was discovered. It had close to the same effects as caffeine in coffee and we actually know it as black tea caffeine. As time went on it was discovered that it was actually tantamount to caffeine and so the term has been dropped.

By drinking black tea caffeine a person can receive relief from fatigue. It has been shown to be a stimulant, to increase speed in reaction time, increase alertness, and to improve concentration.

There are also some physical effects. It stimulates the digestive juices, the kidneys, and the metabolism. This means it could help the body eliminate toxins. It also helps the person have an increase in mental alertness, shortens reaction time, and it improves how efficient our reaction time is. Our muscle action is improved, the heart and respiratory system is stimulated, and more oxygen is brought through the body.

A very new study indicates that caffeine can improve brain power performance, reduces the risk of heart disease and many other diseases. Since this is a new study it will need to be confirmed by others before others will jump on its band wagon but for now it looks promising for caffeine. There are still some known bad effects of caffeine if consumed in large quantities. It can lead to heart palpitations, shortness of breath, and insomnia.

There is a difference in the caffeine found in black tea as in comparison to the caffeine found in coffee. That is because there is a lesser amount of caffeine found in black tea. There is about a half or a third as much in black tea as there is in the same amount of coffee. In this way then, you are a lot more unlikely to get too much caffeine when drinking black tea as in comparison to coffee.

There is a confusing aspect in black tea though. When measured in its dry form coffee actually contains less caffeine than tea. When prepared though, coffee contains more caffeine.

The reason for this is somehow related to the processing. It also has something to do with where the tea leaf is grown, the particle size that is used in the tea bag, the way that the tea leaf is cut, and the method and length of brewing or steeping.

It has also been shown that the amount of caffeine per leaf has something to do with where the leaf is located on the plant. The lower the leaf is on the plant the more caffeine it contains. This is because the lower the leaf the more mature it is and the more phytochemicals and substances that naturally occur in the plant.

Black tea has a higher caffeine level than other teas. It is believed to be caused by the way that it is processed. It undergoes full oxidation which does make it have a stronger taste than other teas as well.

Source: http://www.articlecircle.com/ - Free Articles Directory

Apocalyptic Literature

Weather or not you may believe in the End Times, Armageddon, the Apocalypse, or the prophetic date of 12-21-12, many others do. As that prophetic date approaches, there exists a genre of Literature for folks to explore for entertainment and perhaps critical knowledge.

The entire genre of literature is as old as literature itself, for example “The Bible”, full of prophecy, doom & gloom, and hope! I have read hundreds of books in this subject area in the last four decades, and can always find some new, interesting point that differs from the rest.

Forty years ago the themes centered around nuclear war, asteroid strikes, alien invasion, etc. Since the late 1990’s terrorism, war of the worlds, ageless conspiracies, etc. have been added to the mix.

While entertaining, both as books and when made into films with lots of special effects, the themes also bring to light certain skills about survival.

Two of my favorites, “Malevil” and “Farnham’s Freehold” explore core survival skills following a nuclear war. With N Korea, Pakistan, and Iran saber rattling, such a scenario isn’t that far fetched.

Regardless of the “catastrophe” involved, the will to survive and survival skills necessary to accomplish the act are similar. These attributes are the main importance, at least to me, when reading this type of literature. Perhaps it is because I pride myself in having many of these skills.

Here are just a few books I have read in the last forty years, there are many more.

Farnham’s Freehold
Malevil
Lucifer’s Hammer
Alas, Babylon

Why reinvent the wheel, here is a great list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_apocalyptic_and_post-apocalyptic_fiction

All you wanted to know about copywriting

Writing,Copywriting,Career


It is not uncommon to see copywriting related assignments flooding online market these days. There are no prizes for guessing the reasons behind it. In this age of fast moving life, knowledge and technology sells like hot cakes. In a way, copywriting is one such aspect that combines knowledge and technology very well. You may ask how? In a layman term, copywriting can be defined as a process of writing texts that are often used to publicize a person, business, an opinion or an idea. The content thus written has to be real and not available across other mediums.
These days, copywriting tasks are available online too. One look at popular freelancing sites like Scriptlance and GetAFreelancer will give you an indication as to how these jobs are taking bulls by horn in the virtual market. Whichever medium you find a copywriting task; the purpose behind them would be to create a text that in a way will persuade a section of audience in buying a viewpoint, service or even a product. They can also be used to divert an audience’s view point or notion to a particular belief. Copywriting texts are widely used in website content, jingle lyrics, mail advertisements, slogans, press releases, taglines and so on. What’s more, they can also be manifested in emails, letters, commercials, billboards and other types of advertising mediums.

Can copywriting be rewarding?

Copywriting can be one most lucrative career one can pursue either online or otherwise. If you are a fresh copywriter, you can grow from being an assistant earning around $25,000 to being a creative director commanding a price of $175,000 a year. Copywriting being a creative and a dynamic field requires you to be on your toes most of the time.

Even if you are an online copywriter, opportunities are plenty. A number of well known freelancing websites including GetAFreelancer and Scriptlance posts copywriting jobs in hundreds everyday. Here too, you can expect to make lots of money. You can work on them either part-time or full-time. It is also not necessary for you to have a high qualification. However, if you have flair for writing and are creative will help. Many individuals are already pursuing their online careers in copywriting and the list includes home based housewives, corporate professionals and so on. Though the price you can command for your work could be low to start with; it is bound to increase substantially as you gain experience and good reviews.

If you are planning to enroll yourself in one of these or both sites to embrace copywriting as a career, do so without any delay. With little persistence, hard work and dedication you can achieve success even beyond your imagination. The amount of money you could end up making will not even help settle your past dues but also enable you to make a living out of it. You can easily support your family through the income you make by doing online copywriting tasks. While few of the sites on the internet require you to pay a small upfront fee, GetAFreelancer and Scriptlance are free to join.

Praveen Pai is an expert online writer: http://www.amazines.com/view_author.cfm?authorid=70857&#AuthorArticles

God is God

Strangely after two years of not having this video function, on this "Good Friday", I am proud to show my first flash video, "God is God". Enjoy.

Eulogy Writing: The Origins of Funeral Eulogy Poems

People almost exclusively associate a funeral eulogy or elegy with the passing of a friend or loved one. While it is true that the modern versions are indeed most often used to lament someone's death, the two distinct literary styles have a long and surprising history.

A Eulogy is used to describe nearly any speech or writing that pays tribute to a person or people that have recently passed away. The word is derived from the two Greek words for "you" and "word." Eulogies can also be used to praise a person that is still alive; this type of eulogy is often used at birthdays and other special occasions. While eulogies are considered appropriate in most funeral situations, some cultures and religions, like Catholicism prefer not to include them in services.

The elegy dates back to classical Greek poetry. The elegiac meter contains two lines, known as a couplet and combines many of these couplets to create the funeral poem.

One of the most influential early elegiac writers was Callimachus whose writings had dramatic impact on such classic Roman poets as Catullus, Propertius, Tibullus and Ovid. Catullus' 85th poem is one of the better know Latin elegies. Written for his lover, Lesbia, the poem expresses conflicting emotion of both love and hatred:

"odi et amo. quare id faciam, fortasse requiris?
nescio, sed fieri sentio et ecrucior."
"I hate and I love. Why do I do this, you might ask?
I know not, but I feel it happening and I am tortured"

The feeling of helplessness express here is still very prevalent in modern elegies.

Elegiac poetry was originally championed as simply a way to express the beauty and grandeur of what we consider a classic roman epic poem in a shorter but equally noteworthy manner. Eventually, Roman authors also began to use the elegiac form to express strong emotion as well as tell stories. The use of elegiac poetry is evidenced in some of the works of Ovid, Propertius and others who used it to tell stories like the origin of Rome and the Temple of Apollo.

It was some of the English poets like Lord Tennyson and Thomas Gray that gave the elegy the characteristically somber tone we are now accustomed to. "Lady of Shalott" by Tennyson retained the elegiac tone and paired the praise it offered with a very mournful tone. Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Courtyard" inspired many poets of the time to take up the elegy. Most of these other poets used the format to express solitude and mourning in a very general way.

Poets of the Romantic era attempted to use elegiac poetry in a lyrical way. Samuel Taylor Coleridge claimed the elegy was "most natural to the reflective mind." After the Romantic period, however, the elegy became more and more synonymous with lamentation. Eventually, the form settled into its common modern use as a way to mourn and celebrate the dead.

The eulogy and elegy both have a long, varied history that has led them to become the most popular poetry form for expressing loss, love and sorrow. Though they differ in origin, age and versatility, both forms of funeral lamentation can be a touching and heartfelt tribute to a newly departed loved one. These memorial poetry formats can be used as a farewell or a way to help the bereaved find comfort and closure in incredibly difficult times. Whether used in a speech, obituary or epitaph, eulogies and elegies are beautiful ways to find the beauty in sadness, the laudation in mournful observance.

~Ben Anton, 2008

Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com

About the Author:
We invite you to read more about finding a meaningful funeral service poem for a eulogy or memorial service. Visit our site to learn how you can use eulogy poetry and life stories to help a loved one with grief.

Spring 2009 in Portland, OR

Write Around Portland

Anthologies

Write Around Portland is proud to publish the powerful, engaging writings of our workshop participants at the end of each network in high-quality and unique and anthologies. Our anthologies are professionally designed by Precious Bugarin. Proceeds from anthology sales support Write Around Portland workshops.

Our new anthology, Now/Past/Future, featuring writers from our fall 2008 workshops is now available!

Anthologies are available for $12 through our office (plus postage and handling, if you would like them mailed) - please us at 503.796.9224 for details. Anthologies are also available at the following bookstores for $12:

http://www.writearound.org/index.html
Broadway Books – 1714 NE Broadway, Portland
In Other Words – 8 NE Killingsworth, Portland
Looking Glass Books – 7983 SE 13th, Sellwood
Powell's City of Books – 10th & W. Burnside and powells.com
Powell's Books on Hawthorne - 3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland
Reading Frenzy – 921 SW Oak, downtown Portland
St. John's Bookseller - 8622 N. Lombard, Portland
Talking Drum Bookstore/Reflections Coffeehouse – 446 NE Killingsworth at MLK, Portland
Wallace Books - 7241 SE Milwaukie, Sellwood
In spring 2009 (date TBA), can also be checked out at the following Multomah County Libary branches:

Capitol Hill, Gregory Heights, Gresham, Holgate, Midland, North Portland, Rockwood, St. John's, Woodstock and Central. You can also request a copy at the branch closest to your home.





Previous anthologies may also be purchased directly from Write Around Portland for $12 each (plus postage and handling). Please call our office to place an order - 503.796.9224.




Now/Past/Future (Fall 2008)
And We Flew (Summer 2008)
A Rare and Necessary Time (Spring 2008)
See the Water Rise/Ver Las Aguas Subir (Fall 2007)
Unexpected Metaphors (Summer 2007)
Called to Speak Stories/Inspirado a Contar Cuentos (Spring 2007)
Echoes (Fall 2006)
City. Night. Sky. (Summer 2006)
When You Were 15 (Spring 2006) - in partnership with Reclaiming Futures/Multnomah County - download at whenyouwere15.org
Behind Me the Sun (Spring 2006)
The Sparkle in the Grit (Fall 2005)
I Feel This Truth (Spring 2005)
Everyday Revolutions (Fall 2004)
Walking on Slant (Spring 2004)
Stillness is the Opening (Fall 2003)
All & Sundry (Summer 2003)
Gifted with a Twisted Verb (Spring 2003)
The Roots of All the City's Lamps (Fall 2002)
Where the Mirror Explodes (Summer 2002)
I Say What Is Real (Spring 2002)
Your Body And Warm Earth (Fall 2001)
To Pay My Way With Stories (Summer 2001)
The Silence Underneath All Sounds (Spring 2001)
The Pedestal of Everything Wonderful (Fall 2000)
Finding The Formula (Summer 2000)
A New Garden (Spring 2000)
A Light to Reach (Fall 1999)
A City of Words (Summer 1999)
Reflections in Ink (Spring 1999)

"Burn the Floor"

"Burn the Floor"..........I got to see this in person back in Detroit, Michigan at the Fox Theater! I got this music and recognized the dance tune from this show. It was one of the best live shows I've seen. If you get a chance to see this in your town, please do, or it is also on DVD. This is the finale!