Tidbits From The Web #59

Snow...
Take Santa's advice...
Obama's big sellout...
Amazing sand sculptures...
Asleep at the offensive line wheel...
30 years of handheld games...
Sony goes berserk with new controller...
Did you know?
Controlling the masses via mind control...
The Snowman...
The Dubai financial bubble...
Weird 3-D advertisements...
What was that blue spiral in the sky?
Mmmm...could it be HAARP?
10 best Christmas songs ever...
The Dubai financial bubble part 2...
America...land of the dumb and illiterate...
Face-to-face with one of Antarctica's most vicious predators...
CapnTrade=good luck trying to sell your house...
Fort Hood-winked?
A Christmas Carol...in about 1 minute...
World's fattest countries...
Fort Hood-winked part 2?
Introducing artist Ryan Heshka...
Dead All Along...
The dark truth about fluoride...
Twas the night before Christmas...
Anatomy of a failing presidency...
I've got that tune...


Climate change scam...
On October 14, Lord Christopher Monckton gave a presentation in St. Paul, MN on the subject of global warming. In this 4-minute excerpt from his speech, he issues a dire warning to all Americans regarding the United Nations Climate Change Treaty that is scheduled to be signed in Copenhagen in December 2009. Monckton's entire 95-minute speech can be viewed here. A draft of the treaty can be read here. UPDATE: The Copenhagen Climate Summit is over and thankfully it appears to have been largely a flop, falling fall short of the expectations of most global warmists. Learn more at GlobalClimateScam.com

Today's Message

THE ART OF GIVING

by Chris Widener

In the pursuit of the life we dream of, this journey we are on for successful living, the focus is usually on figuring out what it is exactly that we want and then setting ourselves on course for going and getting it. This is very important: Know what you want to get for your life, and then pursue it.

But there is another aspect of achieving the life you dream of that seems, on the surface, to actually be counterproductive, yet is imperative to the successful life. It is giving.

Giving—of yourself, your time, your money, your energy—is something that takes us from simply being successful people in the traditional sense of the term, to being people who lead successful lives.

Giving is what makes us fully human. It is the essence of what we are, people who are here on earth together, not simply people who hope to clamor to the top of the pile in the survival of the fittest. Yes, pursue your life and your success with wild abandon; be responsible for yourself and take ownership of your life, realizing that you cannot be responsible for others, but also allow yourself to become a giving person.

Giving is also what allows us to accomplish things far beyond ourselves, and that is part of what living the life of our dreams is all about, right? Accomplishing great things through ourselves— and others!

How do we do that? Here are some ideas:

Make your giving purposeful. Give to people and organizations that fulfill purposes you believe in. This way, they feel good, you feel good and the work you believe in gets done. Giving purposefully will give you the ability to know that your giving is doing something great.

Make your giving proactive. Take control of your giving. When we control our giving, it becomes proactive rather than reactive. We know we are doing what we want to do rather than what others may manipulate us to do. We can avoid a lot of the wondering about validity that comes when we give out of reaction. Giving proactively will give you a lot of peace of mind.

Make your giving methodical. Every month, my wife and I write out our charity checks before any other checks. We do that on purpose to keep our hearts in the right place. Every month, month in and month out, year after year, we go about our giving. Our goal is to give away $1 million by the end of our lives (and we may have to even readjust that goal as time goes by, since we set it when we were only 24 years old and we are well on our way to that goal). This isn’t done by giving big chunks from time to time. It is accomplished by checks each and every month, methodically. Giving methodically allows you to build up larger gifts over time.

Make your giving generous. Don’t be a tightwad! Loosen up the purse strings a bit. Think of your giving in regard to how you can be generous, not how you can cover your charitable bases. I have found that it isn’t the extra money given to charity that breaks people. It is usually mismanagement. And at the end of your life, you most likely will not know the difference financially, though you will in your heart. Making your giving generous allows you to give even greater amounts over time.

Make your giving increasing. Don’t just give the same amount from year to year—increase your giving. I think there are two good times to readjust your giving: the first of the year and any time your income goes up. Bump your giving up then, if you can. This will keep you on pace with your giving goals, and you will notice the increase less from your bottom line. Make your giving increasing, and your giving will keep pace with your income.

Make your giving from the heart. Don’t just let your giving be a mind issue. Let it be a heart issue. This is what gives us our humanity. What causes make your eyes tear up? What causes really mean something to your heart when you are honest with yourself? Start giving to these causes! Let your checkbook be a reflection of your heart! Make your giving from the heart, and you will allow your heart to grow.

Make your giving spontaneous—sometimes. Allow yourself to be spontaneous with your giving. Do allow yourself to react sometimes. Will you get taken advantage of? Yes, sometimes. But you will also be doing something within yourself that will keep you from becoming cynical. Sometimes, as life has been good to you and you find yourself blessed, let yourself be the blessing to someone else. Make your giving spontaneous (sometimes), and you will battle the disease of cynicism about charity that can creep in.

These are just a few ideas that you can implement right now to begin the art of giving in your life. The key is to decide that you will become a giver and not merely a taker. You will choose to leave something behind in this world and not merely try to get something out of it.

And as we all commit to that, our world will be a better place and we can all live the lives that we dream of.

The History Of Toys And Games

'Tis the season when toys are on most youngsters' minds and also on those of their parents as they read those Christmas lists. With all this emphasis toys and games, everyone will want to brush up on the history of these playthings. "Discover the origins of your favorite toys and games, from chess and checkers to Barbie and Atari. Find out how many crayons are produced each day, who invented Lincoln Logs (hint: he's the son of a world-famous architect), and which classic toy truck is the brainchild of a group of Minnesota school teachers. Plus: Learn more about the industry's most successful inventors, including Milton Bradley and the Parker brothers. Also, take our special quiz to test your toy smarts!" Here's your opportunity to see that there really is more to toys than just play!

World Wide Words

Michael Quinion, the creator of World Wide Words, is a researcher of words for the Oxford English Dictionary. In his spare time, he runs this interesting site 'about international English from a British viewpoint,' in which he focuses on identifying and defining new and bizarre English words. Mr. Quinion's World Wide Words is fun to explore, allowing one to search for words or phrases, returning the definition and the origin of the word or phrase. Each week, he profiles certain words of particular interest. (Do you have anyone you'd like to 'unfriend;' it's not as antisocial as you might think but, alas, our world might just be becoming too complex!)

ATC5K Waterproof Action Cam

		The ATC5K is the latest self-contained, hands-free digital video cam from Oregon Scientific. One major upgrade from the ATC2K is a built-in 1.5" color LCD to help ensure you get the shots you want. And it's built for abuse: it's waterproof to 10 feet as well as shock resistant. A wide variety of mounting options won't limit your creativity, whether you take it cycling, kayaking, skating, scuba diving -- at the end of the day, upload up to 4GB of video (with an added SD card) to the web and share your adventures.

Insight

LOVE


Love is the final end of the world's history, the Amen of the universe.

Novalis


Truly loving another means letting go of all expectations. It means full acceptance, even celebration of another's personhood.
Karen Casey

Fun

Entrance
Three men die on Christmas Eve and go to heaven, where they're met by Saint Peter. "In order to get in," he tells them, "you must each produce something representative of the holidays."

The first man digs into his pockets and pulls out a match and lights it. "This represents a candle of hope." Impressed, Peter lets him in.

The second man pulls out a tangle of keys and shakes them. "These are bells." He's allowed in too.

"So," Peter says to the third man, "what do you have?"

The third man proudly shows him a pair of red panties.

"What do these have to do with Christmas?" asks Peter.

"They're Carol's."

Today's Quotes

TIME MANAGEMENT

“Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful, lest you let other people spend it for you.” —Carl Sandburg

“Time is a finite resource, and we all place infinite demands on it. I view time as an opportunity, as a chance to make choices about how I spend that resource—because it is our choice. And that’s something people often forget.” —Maggie Wilderotter

“Time never stops to rest, never hesitates, never looks forward or backward. Life’s raw material spends itself now, this moment—which is why how you spend your time is far more important than all the material possessions you may own or positions you may attain.” —Denis Waitley

“Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them, and their value will never be known. Improve them, and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

Open your mind Quaid...open your miiiiiiiiiind...

By asking for the impossible we obtain the possible.
-- Italian Proverb

The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
-- Arthur C. Clarke

Peace, love and happiness until next time...