Wise Words for You

Many hundreds of years ago in a small Italian town, a merchant had the misfortune  of  owing a large sum of money to the moneylender. The moneylender, who was old and  ugly, fancied the merchant's beautiful daughter so he proposed a bargain. He said he  would forgo the merchant's debt if he could marry the daughter. Both the merchant and  his daughter were horrified by the proposal. The moneylender told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an  empty bag. The girl would then have to pick one pebble from the bag. If she picked the  black pebble, she would become the moneylender's wife and her father's debt would be  forgiven. If she picked the white pebble, she need not marry him and her father's debt  would still be forgiven. But if she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown  into jail. They were standing on a pebble-strewn path in the merchant's garden. As they talked,...

Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi Banker, an Economist, founder of Grameen Bank and  the  Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2006, said: "Each of us has much more hidden inside us than we have had a chance to explore. Unless  we create an environment that enables us to discover the limits of our potential, we will  never know what we have inside of us." Since the day a baby is born, it is the responsibility of the parents to mould the character  and future of that child. No matter how we try to hide our behaviour and activity at  home,  children can sense it; either it is positive or negative. The biographies of great human beings, who contributed something in a positive way,  have always been inspiration to many of us. By reading their trials and tribulations, we  can all learn 'what needs to be followed' and 'what needs to be eliminated'. When one is determined and focused to accomplish some...

Each one of us is constantly manufacturing our individual future and the future of the  society we live in. Every action, every thought of each one among us is a thread that  connects us to the future. As I write this and as you read it, we are undergoing a transformation of which we may  not be aware but which is, all the same, consequential. Also, we are organizing into a  cooperative effort that is creative, constructive and multiplicative in its positive output.  It binds us together into a positive force of constructive and creative thought and  generates an energy that destroys evil and darkness --- both within and without us. If you train your mind to constantly perceive how each of your acts and  thoughts  is  manufacturing the future, you will get a sense of direction. You will then develop the  intuitive power to judge the right and the wrong. You will not need to logically decide  ...

1945 : ‘A’-Bomb dropped on Hiroshima + Nagasaki. USA ahead in the arms race. 1947 : Marshall Aid to the west of Europe. Stalin of USSR refused it for Eastern Europe. 1948 : start of the Berlin Blockade - ended in 1949 1949 : NATO established; USSR exploded her first ‘A’-bomb; China becomes communist 1950 : Korean War started. 1952 : USA exploded her first hyrogen bomb. 1953 : Korean War ended. USSR exploded her first hydrogen bomb. Stalin died. 1955 : Warsaw Pact created. ‘Peaceful coexistence’ called for. 1956 : Hungary revolts against USSR. Suez Crisis. 1957 : Sputnik launched. 1959 : Cuba becomes a communist state. 1961 : Military aid sent to Vietnam by USA for the first time. Berlin Wall built. 1962 : Cuban Missile Crisis.    1963 : Huge increase of American aid to Vietnam. 1965 : USA openly involved in Vietnam. 1967 : Six-Day War in Middle East. 1968 : USSR invades Czechoslovakia. 1973 : Yom Kippur War. 1979 : USSR invaded...

Each and every one of us have people in our lives that can be difficult, and sometimes even hard to be around. It could be a spouse, a friend, or a child, a brother or sister, or even a co-worker. Relationships are hard at times, and sometimes very complicated and hard to maintain happiness and structure. They have their ups and downs just like anything else, but it is the way you choose to approach the difficult situation that will define its outcome.  It is all about how you choose to react. Every emotion that you throw into the mix is your choice. If you want to be mean and resentful or even hurtful in this sensitive situation, then that is your choice... I am not sure if it is a very good one, but never the less, it is your choice. You can also approach it with kindness and understanding. You do not always have to have cement shoes on and stay steadfast on your position. You may not agree with the other person, but a calm, soft approach is always better than being ...

American fear of communist attack * Truman’s dislike of Stalin * USSR’s fear of the American's atomic bomb  * USSR’s dislike of capitalism * USSR’s actions in the Soviet zone of Germany * America’s refusal to share nuclear secrets * USSR’s expansion west into Eastern Europe + broken election promises * USSR’s fear of American attack * USSR’s need for a secure western border * USSR’s aim of spreading world communism This feeling of suspicion lead to mutual distrust and this did a great deal to deepen the Cold War  

"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." --- Frank Outlaw   "Thought is at the bottom of each progress or retrogression, of all success or failure, of all is desirable or undesirable in human life. The type of thoughts we entertain both creates and draws conditions that crystallize about it, conditions exactly the same in nature as is the thought that gives them form, thoughts are forces and each create of its kind, whether we realize it of not. Like creates like, and like attracts like. And it is continuously working in every human life." --- James Allen Wallace What we think, believe and imagine about ourselves determines exactly our personality and the security with which we cope with life. All  thoughts  we retain in our minds influence our personality and motives. The mo...

The Cold War is the name given to the relationship that developed primarily between the USA and the USSR after World War Two. The Cold War was to dominate international affairs for decades and many major crises occurred - the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, Hungary and the Berlin Wall being just some. For many, the growth in weapons of mass destruction was the most worrying issue. A clash of very different beliefs and ideology - capitalism versus communism - each held with almost religious conviction, formed the basis of an international power struggle with both sides vying for dominance, exploiting every opportunity for expansion anywhere in the world. Note that USSR in 1945 was Russia post-1917 and included all the various countries that now exist individually (Ukraine, Georgia etc) but after the war they were part of this huge country up until the collapse of the Soviet Union (the other name for the USSR). Logic would dictate that as the USA and the USSR fought as allies during ...

The historic Sunday evening chart show on BBC Radio 1 will be no more from this Summer as the programme moves to Friday. And there’s a change in presenter too, with Greg James dropping his usual drivetime format for a Top 40 countdown between 4pm and 6pm. The changes are being made because the worldwide music industry decided to change the day new music is released from Sunday to Friday. No announcements have been made as yet on the future of the Vodafone Big Top 40 – commercial radio’s Sunday evening chart show. The drivetime countdown will endeavour to play at least the top 20 in full, but won’t have time to play the entire top 40 so will choose selected songs instead. Greg says: “The chart must feel like it’s providing news, not just confirmation of something the listeners already knew.” Former BBC Radio 1 Chart Show host Bruno Brooks told RadioToday: “Shame that Clara could not establish a style however Greg has the chance to change the Sunday perception and crea...

Fear and not having a clear idea of what we want are two of the main reasons we fail in life. Our relationships are mainly affected by our fears and insecurities, along with the lack of respect, honesty, responsibility and appreciation. Experiences are acquired through our journey in life; we choose and create our beliefs, fears and opinions based on all our experiences in life. Even though things and life are the way they are, mainly, we all have different opinions and beliefs about everything and everybody. Other people have opinions about us too. They may demean or limit our capacity and intelligence but what really matters is the opinion we have about ourselves. You either choose to accept and follow what other people believe or you decide to be yourself and live according to the reality of life. By living life as it is and being yourself, you create an image about you. It is extremely important to understand how this image, created by your beliefs and imaginatio...

Susan Beacham, founder of the Money-Savvy Generation and author of The Millionaire Kid$ Club created a program to help parents and educators teach basic personal finance skills to children and teens. Using her Money Savvy Pig piggy bank, kids learn they have four options for their money: save, spend, invest and donate, and the basic building blocks for good financial decision-making. Susan shares her top five money lessons to teach kids, starting when they're young: 1. Put Skin in the Game It's important to give children hands-on interaction with money from a young age. Let them earn it, spend it, save it, donate it and invest it, so they can learn to respect money. "All day long, children will be able to spend your money, but there's a very special thing that happens when they have their money in their hands," she explains. Children will think twice about spending their own cash. 2. Look in the Mirror Parents need to see what kind of role model they ...

March 21 marked nine years since the first tweet was sent on  Twitter . Co-founder  Jack Dorsey  probably wasn't aware how big the microblogging site would become when he posted on March 21, 2006. Twitter was also founded by Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Noah Glass and originally went by the name of twttr. The service didn't launch fully to the public until July 15, 2006. Marking the occasion, Twitter wrote in a  blog post : "At our nine-year mark, we continue to say that Twitter is what it is because of the people who use it. "After all, it's because of you that we have product features like hashtags and best practices like live-Tweeting. Today, these are deeply rooted elements of Twitter and part of mainstream cultural vernacular." The company also highlighted some of its biggest moments, including early user Chris Messina who proposed the use of a hashtag on August 2007, NASA announcing that the Mars Phoenix Lander found ice on Mars in June 2008, as well ...