Personal Log @ Tripod.com

Achievement: 1st Milestone (30 webpages) in 'Mysteries of the World' Website
Mood:

a-ok
Topic: Mysteries

Since 28 February 2008, I have been working on my first Business Website, with my own domain name. That is, "Mysteries of the World" website.

And I have been constructing this website with the help of the Site Build It! (or SBI!) system -- for 28 February 2008 was the day I "signed up" to use (and paid for) the SBI! system.

The site -- "Mysteries of the World" -- is still very much a "work in progress", of course.

And it hasn't got to the Monetization Stage yet -- which is "Day 10" in the SBI! 10-day process of constructing-and-launching a small-small business website.

I am now in Day 7 going on to Day 8.

You will definitely learn PATIENCE with the SBI! way of doing things!

Most others who build business websites tend to think of the monetization models first. But with the SBI! system, you think about building CONTENT first, from Day 6 onwards (although, during Day 5, you have already explored, considered, and planned what monetization models to adopt).

Days 1-4 involved thinking and planning: you get to consider questions such as "What are your interests and passions?", "What kinds of businesses will excite you?", "What kind of business websites will excite you?", "Who are your competitors (competing websites)?", "What are the likely domain names to consider (given the website theme that interests you)?", and so on.

Oh yes, during these 4 days, you also brainstormed and brainstormed, and then brainstormed again and again ... until you've got your "website structure" done up on paper (or in a spreadsheet -- your choice!), with each web page having its own unique "keyword(s)".

Then -- and only then -- do you select a suitable and available domain name (which should be obvious by now!), and register for this domain name in Day 5 (after exploring, considering, and planning the monetization models).

Yes, siree -- definitely, SBI! is quite different from most other website construction paradigm, philosophy, and process.

Moneywise, SBI! had costs US$299 per year (this is my 1st year, of course), including the fee for website hosting ... the cost-price of SBI! includes the entire SBI! "process-plus-tools" system that helps with the website's theme selection, website-structure planning, webpage construction (not just the Look-and-Feel, but also the CONTENT BUILDING; SBI! is not interested in "building a website in 15 minutes" -- what "content" can you come up with, in 15 minutes?), analysis of each web page as it is being built, adding in a blog to the website, etc., etc., etc. ... All with next-to-zero knowledge of HTML and what-not's (so, no geeky knowledge or experience required -- just concentrate on building the CONTENT, what your business website is about).

SBI! also has an interesting online forum (mostly SBI!er-driven, but with lots of input and encouragement also from Ken Evoy, the owner-entrepreneur of the SBI! system) -- as well as online support, of course.

Anyway, it's only this week in July 2008, that I had reached my first 30 web pages, a sort of milestone (!) -- actual construction of the web pages started on 1 May 2008, so that I had spent 9 weeks or so to do the 30 web pages, averaging 1 web page in about 2-3 days (note: I had already spent a previous 9 weeks or so, from end-February 2008 to 1 May 2008 -- as already explained, this occurred during Days 1-5 of the SBI! process -- to brainstorm and select the site theme and the necessary keywords to use for the potential 200-300 web pages in this "Mysteries of the World" website, within a flexible "website structure" (homepage as Tier 1 page; "hub" pages as Tier 2 pages; and the bulk of webpages are Tier 3 pages).

Next stop: for the next 9-12 weeks, I must work faster and smarter (I've already got "up to speed" on the subject-matter, to some extent) ... and I will add at least another 30-90 webpages, while simultaneously working on attracting at least 15-30 unique visitors per day for the website as a whole!!! Only then, will I add in (implement) the "monetization" constructs or models (in Day 10), which I had already initially considered and planned during Day 5 of the SBI! 10-day process.

Anyway, in this (second) week of July 2008, I am taking a break from constructing the webpages for the "Mysteries of the World" website ... but while taking actual breaks, I had also put in a few posts in various of my other -- "hobby-type" (i.e., non-business) -- websites and blogs, including the Yahoo! 360° blog known as "Paul's Blog @ Yahoo! 360°".

Of course, after this period of R&R (i.e., "rest and refreshing" as well as "rest and recreation"), I will continue with the CONTENT BUILDING for this SBI! site known as "Mysteries of the World".
Have fun!
Cheers!

Halleluyah (Praise "the LORD our God" / Praise "YAHWEH our Father")!

-- Paul Quek
e: paulquek88@yahoo.com
b: http://www.thoughts-and-things.com
b: http://paulquek888.tripod.com/blog/
b: https://paul-quek.tripod.com/index.blog -- this blog!
w: http://www.mysteries-of-the-world.com
w: http://paulquek.aokhost.com
w: http://paulquek888.tripod.com
w: http://pq.escrapbook.tripod.com

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Blessings or no-blessings -- via the Power of our Tongue
Mood:

bright
Topic: Mysteries

Just two days ago, several of us were in a neighbouring country with the aim of enjoying a sumptuous and delicious meal, when a brother-in-Christ spoke, without thinking (as is his usual style), of the traffic situation.

When reminded to speak only of what is to be called into being (“… God ... calls those things which do not exist, as though they did” -- Romans 4:17, NKJV), he went into a tirade, harangue and diatribe -- that is, speech characterised by strong feeling and expression, as well as uncontrolled bitterness and abusiveness.

If ever there was a display of a lack of manifestation of the Fruit of the Holy Spirit, that was it -- there were clearly zero "love, joy, peace ... patience, kindness, goodness ... faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23).

But then this brother-in-Christ has often displayed (through speech -- AND body language, such as facial expression) an utter contempt for anybody who professes in the faith -- despite having declared himself to be a follower of the Way, the Life and the Truth (i.e., Christ).

As Jesus Himself once explained, it is not what enters into a person's mouth that condemns ("defiles" - NKJV) him -- it is what comes out of a person's mouth that condemns him! (Matthew 15:11)

Hence, the Power of our Tongue!

I fear that, like Jude pointed out in Jude 5, NKJV ("... I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe"), this brother-in-Christ -- while not quite in the same position as "vessels (or objects) of His wrath, marked (or prepared) for destruction", like the Pharaoh and his soldiers, whom God initially raised to power and greatness, with lots of blessings, but whom God had beforehand marked for subsequent destruction, which the Egyptians subsequently experienced -- may be saved but to be destroyed subsequently, like the Hebrews were subsequently destroyed by wandering, without blessings, "in the wilderness (desert)".

That is, the Hebrews were saved from a situation without blessings (slavery, bondage, beatings, persecution, poverty, no wages or gold or silver -- while in Egypt), but because of their subsequent unbelief after having been saved (similar to the contempt that this brother-in-Christ showed, and continues to show, about anyone professing in the faith, despite declaring himself to be a Christian), the Hebrews were condemned to wander in the wilderness (desert -- no blessings!) for 40 years ... until this older generation died off, and a newer generation were raised under the leadership of Joshua and Caleb (the two spies out of ten who believed in God's promise) to take over the Promised Land (i.e., situation of blessings).

In the past, we have been on the receiving end of such expressiveness, from this brother-in-Christ ... let us pray that God in His Mercy, would continue to grant His Grace to this brother-in-Christ. In Jesus' mighty name, God, we claim for this brother-in-Christ, your Promise as written by your Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus ..." (Romans 8:1, NIV).

Before signing off, let us firstly renew our faith by declaring our love for our God, in all 3 Persons of the Godhead. Secondly, let us ask to receive blessings continually from God, by His Grace. Finally, let us recognize that it will be instructive to deepen our understanding of the Power of the Tongue, by reading up on some articles on this topic ... so here are some writings that I have culled from the Internet ... Enjoy!

Jenna Robinson, writing as the 'Bible Basics Editor' @ BellaOnline -- her article is entitled "The Power of the Tongue", quoting both the Old Testament and the New Testament -- reminds us that:

The Power of the Tongue

Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue; and they that love it shall eat of the fruit thereof.” As Christians, do we plot the ‘demise’ of our dreams, [our] visions and our blessings with what we allow to come out of our mouth? Are we seriously watching the things that we say, not just about ourselves but also about our circumstances, situations and others?

Even more so today ... we [must] closely critique the things that we say before we say them. If it was ever a time to ‘think before you speak’ truly it is now! Many times we are speaking things that have put delays on our prosperity, promotions, blessings and we haven’t even realized it. When we fail to speak ‘continuous strengthened faith’ about what we are waiting on for others or ourselves, we delay their route to the manifestation realm.

Often times we are too quick to say the things that come into our mind without evaluating if they are edifying or not. There’s a process to speaking mature strengthened faith on a continuous basis to your situations. First, you must have firm and solid faith; next your attitude must exemplify your non-wavering faith and thirdly, you must stand strong in your conviction to believe beyond all doubt. When all these things are in spiritual sync then your mindset parks in the ‘critique mode’ for the things your mouth tries to utter.

You will begin to arrest your thoughts and frisk them thoroughly to see if they are carrying doubt of any kind. II Corinthians 10:5 says, “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing captive every thought to the obedience of Christ.”

If the thought in your mind is not supporting your faith, ‘you don’t speak it!’

What we must continually remind ourselves about faith is that, it's what we do ‘not’ see naturally, so no matter what we see visibly, faith sees the opposite and it is on this sight we process our belief. As we believe what we see through our faith, we speak only those things that promote, support and encourage the forward progress of the blessing of the manifestation to us [and others]. We must talk faith to our circumstances at all times -- just as it says in Romans 4:17, “… Even God, who quickens the dead, calls those things which be not as though they were.” If we wait until we ‘see’ the visible results of what we are asking for, this is not faith!

We have to do something with the span of time between when we have it in mind and when it tangibly becomes ours. If we don’t ‘speak’ strengthened faith to ourselves, the thoughts in our mind will keep us on an endless emotional roller coaster .... We must always ‘choose’ to speak life to everything that is of a concern to us [and others] and believe what we say until complete manifestation.

(Adapted by Paul Quek, for this Blog ... thanks to Miss Jenna Robinson! May God's Grace be upon her ... and everyone else.)

Here is another piece, with less biblical (and more contemporary) language -- from Chris Widener (URL -- http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Power-of-the-Tongue&id=10319):

The Power of the Tongue

There is an old proverb with a lot of wisdom. It says, "The tongue has the power of life and death, and whoever loves it will eat its fruit."

It is so true. What we say has the ability to create situations, emotions, and thoughts in others. A kind word helps people, negative words hurt - sometimes for a very long time.

Most of the time we think of this concept in relation to how we treat others and that is good. In fact, I wrote an article in the last month or so called "The Power in Praising People." If you missed it, you can get it at the website. [URL -- http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Power-in-Praising-People&id=10310]

But here I want to talk about this concept in relation to ourselves. How does what we say affect us? Tremendously. There is a simple principle here. Only say things that will create in you positive emotions, thoughts, feelings, and ultimately, actions.

Let me give you a good example. We do not allow the words "I can't" in our house. Why? Because we CAN! The very minimum is "I'll try." We ask our kids to say "I'll try." If we allow our kids, or ourselves, to fall into the trap of saying "I can't," guess what? We won't! And that's not good, is it?

Do you tell yourself negative thoughts during the day? Most of us can fall into that temptation, can't we? I was working the other day and I was brewing over something bad that had happened and I was just getting bent out of shape. So I stopped, realized I had the power to choose what I was saying to myself and began to think about and tell myself good things. And my day changed for the better.

Have you ever been in your backswing on the golf course and said to yourself, "I am going to shank this one." What happens? You shank it. This actually happens to me. So what do I do? I stop my backswing, reset myself, and tell myself I am going to hit it straight down the fairway. What happens? About half the time I hit it straight, the other half, I shank it .... At the very least I increase my chances of performing better. Bad thoughts almost guarantee my failure, while good thoughts increase my chances for success dramatically.

A salesman may see someone walk through his door and say to himself, "I'm not going to be able to make this sale." I can't. I won't.

Some of us aren't even aware that we talk negatively to ourselves. Take some time today to think about what you say to yourself. Maybe ask a close friend if you have this habit. If you find yourself doing this, it is time to change!

Now, don't get me wrong. Self-talk is not a substitute for effort and ability, but it is a strong helping factor. Find some simple phrases that will help you get through the day with more success. Whatever your situation or work is, I am sure there are specific things you can say that will build you up and stick you on the road to success!

The words that you use and the conversations you have with yourself create things in you. They can create positive things or negative things. It is our choice. The tongue has the power of life and death. This is why it is so important to be diligent in using the power of the tongue to create a positive force in our lives.

Remember, your tongue has power. Use it!

(Adapted by Paul Quek, for this Blog ... thanks to Mr. Chris Widener)

There are numerous other writings, of course ... such as MAKING YOUR MOUTH A SHARP SWORD, from "MESSAGES OF WARNING - From The Loving Heart of God", by Rev. Archimandrite Fr. Eusebius A. Stephanou, Th.D., Brotherhood of St. Symeon the New Theologian, Miramar Beach, Florida. You may want to delve into his ARCHIVE to see whether his "pastoral messages" are useful to you -- if nothing else, to receive blessings from the Lord! Amen! (So be it!)

Have fun!
Cheers!

Halleluyah (Praise "the LORD our God" / Praise "YAHWEH our Father")!

-- Paul Quek
e: paulquek88@yahoo.com
b: http://www.thoughts-and-things.com
b: http://paulquek888.tripod.com/blog/
b: https://paul-quek.tripod.com/index.blog -- this blog!
w: http://www.mysteries-of-the-world.com
w: http://paulquek.aokhost.com
w: http://paulquek888.tripod.com
w: http://pq.escrapbook.tripod.com

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Unsolved Mysteries of the World
Mood:

chatty
Topic: Mysteries

What's with the most mysterious, mystifying, unsolved -- or unexplained satisfactorily -- mysteries, myths, legends, folktales, fables, enigmas, crimes, unusual events, and the like ... of this world?

It's now the eighth year into the 21st century ... and -- despite all the modern technologies with respect to exploration, aerial surveillance, analysing, forensics, historical research, higher criticism, lower criticism, textual criticism, and whatever-tools-you-care-to-name -- I believe we are not that much closer to solving, or putting a definitive answer to, many of those mysteries, etc.

I mean ... listen, we still don't know what's happening, if anything is really happening, within the so-called "Bermuda Triangle" and in similar areas or regions of mysterious disappearances, events, and phenomena.

unsolved mysteries of the world, bermuda tirangle, bermuda_triangle.jpg

And we still can't say for sure whether the apparently-mythical land of Atlantis and the enigmatic "Loch Ness Monster" in Scotland really exist -- or don't exist.

For sure, we are nowhere near to any satisfactory solution, even among the so-called experts, with regards to such matters as the rather awkward-looking statues on Easter Island, or the equally-awkward looking megaliths of Stonehenge.

And, yes ... the die-hard mystique of the Egyptian pyramids as well as the Sphinx, still remains with us today ... perhaps, the mystique may never go away -- unless some aliens or ETs (extraterrestrials) arrive from or through their "Stargate(s)", and announce to us that they had been visiting us for centuries before humankind even had a civilization to speak of ... and that these aliens were in fact responsible for those pyramids and the like -- which, of course, on the face of it, sounds a bit insulting to the Egyptians (you mean, the ancient Egyptians couldn't have managed to carry out all those monumental works, with just sheer ingenuity/mental-muscles as well as lots of sinewy muscles?) Sigh! How little we think of ourselves -- or of our past achievements!

And, unless you are absolutely dogmatic about it, what about the Shroud of Turin? Is it a fake, by Leonardo da Vinci or someone else? Or was Jesus Christ -- aka Yahshua ha Mashiarch -- really the cause of the apparently-discernible "image" on the Shroud?

Who in the world, anyway, was Jack the Ripper?

And, who were the Freemasons, Illuminati and similar so-called "secret organizations or societies" ... and what are some of their symbols (such as the all-seeing eye, reminiscent of the Eye of Ra or Horus) doing on apparently unrelated stuff, such as on the bank/currency notes of the USA and certain plaques in certain public places?

And, what in the world were those pygmies -- the aptly-named "hobbits" -- of Flores (Indonesia) doing in our world? They shouldn't have existed ... but they did. How embarassing -- or exciting? (I tend towards the latter!)

Come to think of it ... it's not just "ancient mysteries" or "prehistoric mysteries" that we are nowhere near to any satisfactory solutions. In the previous, or 20th, century, there were some really famous, exciting but unsolved cases or scandalous events, such as the JFK assassination (not everyone thinks the case is done and over with) and the sudden death of actress Marilyn Monroe (real name: Norma Jean).

What about the disappearance of the aviator Amelia Earhart?

And did we really catch the real culprit(s) behind the kidnapping and death of the firstborn infant of the Lindberghs?

The long and short of it all is ... I am quite disappointed at the apparent lack of progress in solving all these -- and many, many more -- mysteries. But they make for interesting, fascinating and relaxing reading, right?

Especially if you want to really stretch your mind's eye or imagination a little more than usual in order to get the creative juices flowing ...

So, dig it and explore away ...

Have fun!
Cheers!

Halleluyah (Praise "the LORD our God" / Praise "YAHWEH our Father")!

-- Paul Quek
e: paulquek88@yahoo.com
b: http://www.thoughts-and-things.com
b: http://paulquek888.tripod.com/blog/
b: https://paul-quek.tripod.com/index.blog -- this blog!
w: http://www.mysteries-of-the-world.com
w: http://paulquek.aokhost.com
w: http://paulquek888.tripod.com
w: http://pq.escrapbook.tripod.com

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Myths & Legends Are Not Trivial - But Are Very Useful
Mood:

chatty
Topic: Mysteries

"Every human society maintains its sense of identity with a set of stories that explain, at least to its satisfaction, how things came to be." So says Vine Deloria, Jr., in Red Earth, White Lies (1997), with a subtitle Native Americans and the Myth of Scientific Fact.

Continues Deloria, Jr., as follows:

A good many societies begin at a creation and carry forward a tenuous link of events, which they consider to be historical -- which is to say actual experiences of the group that often serve as precedents for determining present and future actions.
Sometimes these stories incorporate moral teachings and what we have come to call religious traditions, the actions of the higher spiritual powers or invisible forces that were important actors in the more spectacular and memorable events of their history.
A good many societies speak of catastrophic events or of the movement of their people from one planet to another.
Monsters and strange creatures also appear in stories and beg credibility when these tales are recited.

For me as a Charismatic Christian, what Deloria, Jr. writes next is more than interesting and fascinating, for Christianity's basic foundation is from the people known as "Hebrews" and "Israelities":

Of those societies that found a way to create a written record of the past, the Hebrews have been most influential, since it was the adoption of the Hebrew version of ancient events that came to be accepted, through the spread of Christianity, as the valid and incontestable explanation of how this planet came to be.
Arguments about the great flood of Noah and the presence in geological strata of skeletons of animals not seen today opened the floodgates of controversy about the age of the Earth and directed the attention of Western thinkers toward the proposition that our planet might have a different past.
Eventually, the believers in biblical accuracy were put to rout by secular thinkers who substituted infinite amount of time during which everything "evolved" in place of the shorter time scale of creation and religious history as it was represented in the Bible.

If you wish to read further on this controversy, go read the Deloria, Jr. book.

Even without the above controversy between the religionists and the secular scientists, interest in myths has been generated by a greater awareness of their importance. Richard Cavendish (ed.), in Mythology (1992; 1999) -- sub-title: An illustrated Encyclopedia of the Principal Myths and Religions of the World -- wrote in the "Introduction" that:

Interest in mythology has grown steadily throughout the last hundred years, powered by the realization that myths are not childish stories or mere pre-scientific explanations of the world, but serious insights into reality.
They exist in all societies, of the present as well as the past.
They are part of the fabric of human life, expressing beliefs, moulding behaviour and justifying institutions, customs and values.
It is consequently impossible to understand human beings without an understanding of their myths.
...
Myths are imaginative traditions about the nature, history and destiny of the world, the gods, man and society. They ... deserve serious attention, for what they mean to those who believe in them and as statements about fundamental issues of life.
One of the disadvantages of the old-fashioned derogatory use of the word myth, to mean a foolish story or a false idea, is the implication that myths are trivial.
The reality is the reverse.
It is the things which people regard as important that find a place in their mythology.

The investigation of myths is no longer a theoretical exercise, having move from the cosy drawing-smoking rooms of the gentry philosophers and historians, to the harsh, dirty and often wet and sometimes dry, environment of the fields and hills, of the excavations and extant villages.

The anthropologist John Beattie, in Other Cultures (1964), observes that "only in the modern era -- specifically, only since the second half of the nineteenth century -- have ... theories [of myths] purported to be scientific". Thus:

... it was the reports of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century missionaries and travellers in Africa, North America, the Pacific and elsewhere that provided the raw material upon which the first anthropological works, written in the second half of the last [19th] century, were based.
Before then, of course, there had been plenty of conjecturing about human institutions and their origins ...
But although their speculations were often brilliant, those thinkers were not empirical scientists; their conclusions were not based on any kind of evidence which could be tested; rather, they were deductively argued from principles which were for the most part implicit in their own cultures. They were really philosophers and historians of Europe, not anthropologists.

Despite the scientific foundations in which the study and investigation of myths, legends, folktakes, fables, and so forth, have been placed, sometimes to such an extent that these myths, etc. began to be treated as so much 'dry, dull stuff', there is one set of myths that I have always found enjoyable ... and these myths are what Moyra Caldecott calls Mythical Journeys, Legendary Quests (1996), sub-title The Spiritual Search -- Traditional Stories from World Mythology.

From Europe, based on the Judeo-Christian traditions, we have the quest for "the Holy Grail". From the Hellenistc, Graeco-Roman traditions, we have Jason and the quest for "the Golden Fleece".

Earlier civilisations and cultures gave us Gilgamesh and his quest for Immortality (Sumerian myth), and the journey of Merytamun to the hall of Osiris (Egyptian myth).

And, from Arabia, we have tales about the seven voyages of Sindbad the sailor. India gave us the journey of Nala and Damayanti.

These and many other quests and journeys are quite enjoyable to read and contemplate, to give your creative juices a much need "oomph", in case you need them.

In closing, we can conclude that myths, etc., are quite useful and not trivial at all ... and you don't have to feel threatened by them.

Have fun!
Cheers!

Halleluyah (Praise "the LORD our God" / Praise "YAHWEH our Father")!

-- Paul Quek
e: paulquek88@yahoo.com
b: http://www.thoughts-and-things.com
b: http://paulquek888.tripod.com/blog/
b: https://paul-quek.tripod.com/index.blog -- this blog!
w: http://www.mysteries-of-the-world.com
w: http://paulquek.aokhost.com
w: http://paulquek888.tripod.com
w: http://pq.escrapbook.tripod.com

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