May 30, 2011. U.S. Memorial Day. Remember!

Posted on May 30, 2011 by Howard Martell

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

Let us recall this day and its purpose first by reminding you of one of the most celebrated poems of war, youth too soon ended and of the flower that evokes it all, the blood-red poppy.
In Flanders Field by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, M.D. Canadian Army (1872-1918).
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow Between the crosses row on row, That marks our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.
When I was a boy growing up in Illinois in the late ‘forties and ‘fifties, every school child was expected to take a few paper poppies (made so we knew by wounded and maimed U.S. Vets) and collect some pennies for them from friends and neighbors who never needed to be reminded of what we were doing or why they should contribute, even if it was the widow’s mite. And if it were the widow or mother with a gold star always in the front window, she responded with exultation and alacrity, hugging her student visitor, and tears would soon be shed. While you didn’t comprehend why, you soon found yourself with tears, too — and the adults called you a “good boy” and always looked into your eyes as they said so.
21 in Flanders fields in the midst of war.
I made my first trip to Europe, to the France I was destined to love deeply, not least for her wounds and too frequent miseries; the year was 1967. Vietnam was on the world’s agenda, rending the people and the nations. On this trip I (unlike all my traveling companions who had very different locales on their itinerary) decided to go, taking a bus tour to Flanders fields. I had helped distribute the paper poppies for many years; I knew the famous poem, and I was curious to see what the vestiges of carnage and military butchery looked like.
But I little knew the power of these fields and of the palpable spirit of this place, the spirit that spoke to you, and at once: “Remember, we are your dear departed, your brothers, your fathers, your young boisterous uncles too soon taken; the cheerful postboy and the brilliant medical student. We are here, all of us,in our millions; we wish you to understand the profundity of this place, the purpose of this place, the solemnity of this place… and the gripping tale, certain to impress you, that we tell in our very life’s blood.
This is a place of unsettled ghosts, of too much loss, too much death, too many to remember and an urgent need never to forget a single one.
Then of a sudden the compelling insistence of this hallowed place made itself known to you. Tourists like you, babbling of places where they had found good values and other places where they had not; these tourists now saw the majesty of unending death, too soon, by too many… and their very words stopped… as they saw around them on every side the unmitigated panoply of death…
Our vehicle went slowly through these fields where death had staked its boundless claims, for more limbs, for more blood, for more and still more fragile bodies and of a world of plans, expectations, destinies, ended right here…
You feel all at this tragic place… and are quiet like your fellow travelers; not one saying a single word… the only sound the wheels of your vehicle, now a cortege, and the tears falling fast… while complete strangers take hold of their neighbor’s hand and squeeze; it is all any of us can do… and we all want the warmth of life and seek it now.
What I learned that day, what you must know, is the immensity of these places of eternal rest for a generation. Here and at many similar places this generation abides for the ages, these fields profoundly marked with pristine graves and simple headstones, that show the last day of their life, the first day of their oblivion.
You think, you hope that the end is nigh, but you cannot say so. You cannot say anything; your vehicle goes slowly, the better for you to understand the awe of this place… and your spirit is sorely troubled and challenged.
And still your vehicle rides through more of the unending graves, each for a life unseasonably, unnaturally ended… and one word rises before you and the other travelers: why? What could have justified so much death and confusion, so much ended too soon, the promise of so many lives, and these so young? Why?
After several hours, your tour is ended… but the graves of Flanders fields are not at an end. They are, at tour’s end, what they were at tour’s beginning: a metropolis of the dead, where the great numbers you see are only a tiny fraction of the unimaginable totality.
And at last, from so much pain, so palpable and pathetic, comes a valiant thought. That the acres of Flanders fields, at least in part, are the story of the greatest gift of all, to die for the good of all, to give your life so that the lives of untold others can be lived fully, happily…. having received from these dead their lives, their prosperities, everything that makes life worth living.
Since the inception of our great republic wars, insurrections, riots, uprisings have punctuated our national existence. And each has yielded a generous quota of good people who died that America and all Americans might live.
The danger, my fellow countrymen, is that any part of us, any one of us should live without blessed remembrance and heartfelt gratitude to the dead… all of them expired in the unending service of the nation, our allies, and the troubled planet we aim to sooth and uplift. Every great cause, every event within these causes has called upon the best among us… and has resulted in the greatest sacrifice of all, for so many.
What the dead of Flanders fields and of all America’s far-flung endeavors want is what only we living can give. And that is our full love and devotion to such as these. We can only be fulfilled by giving it… which is what we do today, and gladly so. It is little enough for the sublime greatness of their gift to us.
About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Dr. Lant is also an American historian and author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author’s permission by Howard Martell <a href=”http://HomeProfitCoach.com”>http://HomeProfitCoach.com</a>. Check out Fast Fan Pages ->  http://www.HomeProfitCoach.com/?rd=ij7eb90h

Thoughts about Sunday and our threatened leisure time.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Today is Sunday, May 29, 2011. I shall celebrate it like millions of people worldwide by going to work, leaving me at the end of the day with only a tiny sliver of the leisure time my grandparents had every Sunday for their long lives. This continuing labor is not necessarily entirely beneficial… although many good things do in fact come from the Sunday tasks performed by its workers worldwide.
Today, therefore, I examine Sunday, its uses and, some suggested better uses. The objective, which I set for myself as clearly as for you, is to examine a problem that grows larger for more people every year: cannibalizing Sunday for the time that should be used for your necessary refreshment and revitalization; sadly each year less of it is. In our frenetic times, we no longer, like Ponce de Leon (1474-1521), search for eternal youth. But we, who are prone to think Don Ponce a bit of a fool, are engaged in our version of his odyssey. We know we need more time, and we are engaged in the never-ending pursuit of ways to get it.
We are victims of work creep and leisure drain, two insidious, inter-related conditions that threaten to turn us into drones who use improving their economic condition as their reason for changing Sunday from free time to work time. “We have to,” they insist.
When I hear this, I think of how monkeys are captured, by a very clever and inexpensive method. The hunter uses no guns or bullets; he wants his monkeys in good condition. Instead, he uses a narrow-lipped jar packed with cookies and other primate delights. This jar is placed in an area frequented by the curious creatures; when they see piles of the sweet things they love best they thrust a paw down the jar… and are trapped.
Now here’s the ironic thing: to regain their freedom, all the monkeys must do is open their paw and let the delicious but dangerous goodie fall to the bottom of the jar. Their clenched paw and the goodie inside have made them prisoners; merely opening their paw will free them. But the monkeys will not unclench their paws, for that would cost them the dainties. And so they are well and truly captured by their own avarice and their desire for more.
And so we, too, are well and truly trapped and captured by the work we must do every day, work we call completely urgent and necessary so as to preserve our life style. But at what cost? We are as trapped and baffled as the monkeys, and like them we might have chosen a less perilous way; one above all else preserving our own freedom.
How the concept of Sunday has evolved over the last 200 years.
Since the sweeping success of both the British and American evangelical movements at the end of the 18th century, three distinctly different Sundays have existed.
First was the evangelical Sunday, strictly reserved for God’s Sabbath with absolutely no work of any kind permitted. England’s Lord’s Day Observance Society (founded 1831) epitomized the thinking that lead to strict Sabbatarianism. God had rested on the seventh day; you would therefore rest, and humbly so, whether you wanted to or not.
As the widely believed verities of the evangelicals began to wane at the end of the nineteenth century (later in America) Sunday changed, too. Progressive humanists argued that strict Sabbartarianism discriminated against the poor and laboring classes who had just Sunday and Sunday only to enjoy all the educational and other amenities. Criticism now centered on the people who advocated a strict and unyielding Sabbath, spent extolling God’s virtues, to the neglect of everything else.This new view saw Sunday as desirable and deserved leisure time, not merely the occasion for weary strictness and total biblical focus.
This trend produced what came to be known as the “Continental Sunday”, where leisure, all kinds of leisure, was wanted and indulged, the general sentiment being that the common folks worked hard for this day and deserved its delights and amenities. And delights and amenities they got as the golden days of the Continental Sunday with its laissez fair ways and relaxed conditions freed the nation from stringent rules and restrictions, mostly emanating from churches of an evangelical persuasion.
So matters might have stayed if matters of this kind are ever unchanging. But the leisured, recreational, family-centered delights of Continental Sundays were changed and challenged by such cultural factors as the desire to make more money to acquire the things money can buy. In periods of economic difficulty this factor changed again; in such periods people had to take Sunday and turn it into additional income, never mind the leisure that was thereby sacrificed — and was so desirable and needed.
Now the nibbling process is at work on the grand, happy, burden-lifting Continental Sunday, an institution so needed by the hard-working folk on Planet Earth you might be excused for thinking this new, third phase had to be an improvement on what we already had.
But is it?
It is a sign of the times that otherwise sensible earthlings swap leisure and necessary recreation for money, money, and more money… and mountains of things we (for I include myself) do not need… but must acquire notwithstanding.
This is a deal made with the devil…. and you are one of the prime signatories… as I am.
It is time, here and now, to launch our bid for freedom… our July 4, Cinco de Mayo, Bastille Day… for we are as oppressed, burdened and weary of abuse as they for all that we have done this to ourselves.
We, like our revolutionary brethren of yore, must strike now, not a moment later, whilst we still have the good sense and strong arm to bring back, to all who desire and need it, our beloved Continental Sunday and the necessary leisure and relief we must have to live a life of balance and equilibrium, not killing stress in all its destructiveness.
All this is no small thing, nothing to be considered casually, without your full attention and concern. We humans are so finely crafted that we need leisure to reach our full potential and maintain our health and splendid spirits which are now and will always be the foundation of our success.
So, now, take the pledge.
Pledge! To fight work creep and leisure drain. Pledge!
Pledge! To think whether the work and its emoluments are more important than the revitalizing leisure you give up. Pledge!
Pledge! To resolve to use leisure as a means of strengthening your life, increasing its span and its quality. Pledge!
Pledge! To keep sacrosanct your special time apart from work, your carefree zone. It is essential for life’s highest quality. Pledge!
Now sign and date this manifesto of common sense and resolute purpose. Your life in all its aspects will improve as soon as you do… the very moment you do!
About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Dr. Lant is also the author  of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author’s permission by Howard Martell <a href=”http://HomeProfitCoach.com“>http://HomeProfitCoach.com</a>. Check out Fast Fan Pages ->  http://www.HomeProfitCoach.com/?rd=ij7eb90h

Reflections on Harvard’s 360th Commencement, May 26, 2011.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Today, for the 360th time in its exalted history, a history far older than the republic itself, Harvard will, with all the colorful paraphernalia of the Academy, send a goodly percentage of the brightest young people on earth on their way to kismet.
Some of these people will become heads of state, women too; that is why the address of Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the President of the Republic of Liberia is so important. It proves that even in territories inclement towards women, women may rise high indeed.
Some of these people will head corporations and reap billions, some of which will undoubtedly be given to Harvard in the form of very public generosities.
Some of these people will buck the capitalist trend and found worthy causes of every kind. The world has need for every one of them and the people who give up much, the better able to give more.
Others will rise high in the military, in governments of every nation on earth, in education, science, medicine, the arts… there will even be a movie star or two but, perhaps, no rap musician. Not, however, because Harvard would not welcome one; it would. Rappers, however, may demur; it’s a matter of image…. and no people on earth are as stringent about image as they are.
One more category may well appear: terrorist, revolutionary. Harvard does not go out seeking such people, but Harvard has helped shape many such. Red John Reed, Bolshevik, (class of 1910 ) is buried in the Kremlin wall… a signal honor for a gentleman of Crimson. Like so many Harvard graduates he rose high, though this time for a cause most every other Harvard graduate loathed and disdained. John Reed wouldn’t have cared about that; Harvard graduates are above such trivia. They know that what they do is important, even if no one else on this planet agrees. This profound conviction is part of what the graduates take away today… you can be sure of it. It is one of the best reasons for the very existence of Harvard.
Many of today’s graduates will write about their Harvard experiences; I am one of them. Most will cherish happy memories and say so, fudging the truth on which Harvard prides itself and pruning things not quite happy enough. In truth, their classmates were probably never as bright as they will remember, as bright or as dedicated. The faculty never as welcoming and helpful as they will recall. And the university overall not as profoundly influential. But embroidering your Harvard past is winked at since happy memories beget handsome legacies. And there is no need to remind so many, and in print, too, that their time here was not as sun-kissed as they ardently desire it to be. You were young, vibrant, surrounded by possibilities, and you’d been marked with the most winning brand of all. Under the circumstances, the utmost joy and contentment are understandable; indeed mandatory.
There will be some of course, but just a handful who will write otherwise, telling, years from now, of painful isolation, alienation and the persistent thought that they never were, not for a moment, good enough to have gone to Harvard in the first place, that they were a fluke, a sport of nature. Perhaps. But they will write such sentiments in a ringing style, lyric, too, that shows in its careful refinement and clarity another benefit of a Harvard education.
This day, the most important day in the life of virtually every graduate, save only the day on which they were born, will start early; the ceremony commences in Harvard Yard at 9:45 a.m., but Harvard Square is awash with the camera-totting hours before, even from first light. A sign of the times: persons unable to be present can see it all, and clearer, on the Web. There is not a one who so watches that does not wish to be in Cambridge instead… for all that they see more and better than the audience shaded by the great trees in Tercentenary Theater.
Graduates, at once shy and proud, will move today surrounded by their personal claques, the lucky ones invited to see and venerate. Proud parents, who often dipped deep to make this happen, have been admonished, several times, to be prompt and organized. Graduates have conflicting feelings about these folks. They are grateful, of course, though never as grateful perhaps as they should be. It would not do to slight them, but, this is the last day, the very last day, they can see their classmates and friends, similarly burdened, as they will never be again: present, accounted for, resoundingly young; friends, colleagues, lovers, too. This recognition, this sadness is palpable. The pull of the golden past, slipping away forever, against the dawning future, ardently desired… but not this day. This is why the tears fall today for this must be a bittersweet moment for all. In these precincts the past and future truly collide today, to roil emotions. Parting is indeed such sweet sorrow… and now they truly know it.
It is now just 5 a.m., the dawn of this day of days is nigh. It is a day of memories, memories retrieved, memories born. Parents will recall memories unbeckoned of their beloved graduates and their brief lives. They will have, for themselves alone, moments poignant and keenly felt, the more so if they had, once upon a time, a Harvard Commencement of their own. Then Cambridge becomes the best it can be: an ever- renewing place of reverie and remembrance, a place where you are always welcome, for you are part of what has shaped this special place.
The trickle of early comers, seeking parking spaces more valued than gold, will soon grow into serious traffic. Ladies in hats otherwise known only at weddings and gentlemen in ties they will later shake off as gladly as a noose begin to appear as do the marked men of the day… the sheriff of the county who will ride in on white horse to declare the proceedings open; officials in their always ill-fitting cuttaways and top hats… and of course and always the brightly garbed graduates in mortar boards they never wear quite right. With their gowns a Rosetta Stone clearly indicating just where the graduates have been and where they are going, these players gather together, together to march into the ceremonies where they shall become, so the University’s president will pronounce, members of the company of educated men and women.
This is what every graduate has earned… and everyone has come to hear. And it is a marvelous thing, not just for those present but for the entire world, soon to benefit from the skills, dedications,and hard work of this renewed company, the company we all rely upon so much.
Think of these new members of this company today. They have much to accomplish and many lives to touch and improve. We must all be glad they have such a day as this to start them on their way, for they go forward for us all.
About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author’s permission by Howard Martell http://HomeProfitCoach.com. Check out Massive Auto Traffic -> http://www.HomeProfitCoach.com/?rd=hi76Cl4e

‘…. there’s nothing so good for a pobble’s toes.’ The comfort and friendshipof amiable lavender.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Author’s note. To set the mood for this article, be sure to search any search engine for “Ladies in Lavender”, composer Nigel Hess, violinist Joshua Bell, recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, 2004. It is based on a short story by William Locke (1916), filmed in 2004.

Before starting this music, put aside all the cares of your day, make yourself comfortable, and allow yourself the shear bliss of indulgence in this most lyric and evocative of scores.
There is a famous quotation that one always finds the particular England  one goes in search of. Today we are en route, via the unrelenting power of remembrance, to the most loved England of all…
You are walking in the springtime of May through a woodland dappled with sunlight, repository of ancient secrets and long-ago laughter. Everything about this wood sings of a special place, a place of beauty and serenity, a place where there is peace, and to spare, for the weary traveler… without knowing why, you feel at home here, at once… every step taking you in a direction you now know you have always wanted to go…  you cannot say why, but this is home… the home you have always wanted and cherish.
Every fibre of your being is happy… such is your joy in  this place, a world apart where you are expected, as if everything about this place knows you and has been waiting, forever and patiently, for you…. and now rejoices at your arrival.
You are walking up a hillock… and in a moment you are at the top and then you know, no one needs tell you, why you are happy, at ease, serene…
On every side, you see — and then inhale — the sweet lavender. Fields of beauty! Acres so rich in flower you catch your breath… for there is such abundance that you are sure there is comfort enough here for the world burdened by its dismays and distractions.
You are glad that on such a day as this, glorious in every way,  this last glory, too, has been vouch-safed you, to live forever in your heart..
Lavender has done its healing work again, certain balm for the troubled soul, your soul.
“We shall find a cleanly room lavender in the windows and twenty ballads stuck about the wall.”
Izaak Walton, “The Compleat Angler”. 1653-55.
Facts about lavender.
The lavenders are a genus of 39 species of flowering plants in the mint family. An Old World genus, distributed from Cape Verde and Canary Islands and Madeira, across Africa, the Mediterranean, South-West Asia, Arabia, Western Iran and South- East India. There is some reason for thinking the genus originated in India.
The leaves are long and narrow in most species. In other species they are pinnately toothed, or pinnate, sometimes multiple pinnate and dissected. Flowers are borne in whorls, held on spikes rising above the foliage. Flowers may be blue, violet, or lilac.The calyx is tubular, with five lobes. The corolla is often asymmetric. All  this readies us for the most beloved lavender of all….
Lavandula angustifolia, English lavender.
Those without a drop of poetry in their veins call it “common” lavender, but wiser folk know there is nothing common about our relationship to lavender and the many ways it eases our lives.
Culinary uses.
Flowers yield abundant nectar from which bees, insightful and industrious, make a high-quality honey. Flowers can be candied and are sometimes used as cake decorations. Lavender flavors baked goods and desserts; it pairs especially well with chocolate and is also used to make “lavender sugar”. Lavender flowers are occasionally blended with black, green, or herbal tea, adding a fresh, relaxing scent and flavor.
Lavender lends a floral and slightly sweet flavor to most dishes, and is sometimes paired with sheep’s-milk and goat’s-milk cheeses. For most cooking applications the dried buds (also referred to as flowers) are used, though some chefs experiment with the leaves as well. Only the buds contain the essential oil of lavender, from which the scent and flavor of lavender are best derived.
The French are also known for their lavender soup, most commonly made from an extract of lavender. In the United States, both French lavender syrup and dried lavender buds are used to make lavender scones and marshmallows.
Medicinal uses.
Lavender is used extensively with herbs and aromatherapy.
English lavender yields an essential oil with sweet overtones, and can be used in balms, salves, perfumes, cosmetics, and topical applications. Essential oil of lavender has antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties. It was used in hospitals during World War I to disinfect floors and walls. These extracts are also used as fragrances by bath products.
According to folk wisdom, lavender has many uses. Infusions of lavender soothe and heal insect bites and burns. Bunches of lavender repel insects. If applied to the temples, lavender oil soothes headaches. In pillows lavender seeds and flowers aid sleep and relaxation. An  infusion of three flowerheads added to a cup of boiling water soothes and relaxes at bedtime. Lavender oil (or extract of lavender) heals acne when used diluted 1:10 with water, rosewater or witch hazel; it also treats burns and inflammatory conditions.
More uses.
Flower spikes are used for dried flower arrangements. The fragrant, pale purple flowers and flower buds are used in potpourris. Lavender is also used extensively as herbal filler inside sachets used to freshen linens. Dried and sealed in pouches, lavender flowers are placed among stored items of clothing to give a fresh fragrance and to deter moths. Dried  lavender flowers have become recently popular for wedding confetti.
Our constant friend and solace, humble despite such great gifts.
Ancient peoples were well aware of lavender’s bounty and succor. So well regarded, it was one of the holy herbs used in the biblical Temple to prepare the holy essence. It was a plant, a scent that never intruded. It lifted! Soothed!  Gave respite and release! As such it helped deliver the peace of God.
The magnificent English poet Edward Lear (1812-1888), partaker of lavender’s solace, wrote characteristic nonsense more revealing than lucid prose:
“… his aunt jobiska made him drink lavender water tinged with pink, for she said, ‘the world in general knows there’s nothing so good for a pobble’s toes!’”
This is why when you are weary, sore oppressed, make your way, if only in memory, to the place of these amiable and most hospitable of flowers. Sit down and drink in their beauty, given to you at the moment you most need it, for these are the good Samaritans, offering you in all humility what they most embody –  the enduring comfort of God Himself.
About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc.,  providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author’s permission by Howard Martell <a href=”http://HomeProfitCoach.com”>http://HomeProfitCoach.com</a>. Check out Massive Auto Traffic ->  http://www.HomeProfitCoach.com/?rd=hi76Cl4e

Joshua Bell: The most romantic man on earth.

Author’s note. This is a story you will never understand until you hear Joshua Bell play.  As he is an energetic, prolific artist this will not be difficult. .But what of his vast oeuvre to recommend?

Easy. Caprice No. 24 in A minor: Tema con Variazioni (Quasi Presto) by Niccolo Paganini (1782-1840). It was the last caprice (written 1817), the grandest, the most demanding, unyielding. Go to any search engine now to find it… and listen, enthralled.
This work, one of a bundle of caprices flowing fast from the facile pen of a grand master admired by Bell, must be played at the speed of love “quasi presto” — “almost instantly” for nothing is more capricious than love…
… love can never be patient…. can never wait… is obsessive, thoughtless, bold, cruel and adamant. Love does not ask; it demands instant fulfillment. Love can never be rational, deliberate, cautious and sensible, and you cannot expect these from either Paganini — or Bell either.
They are after you… They are about love, audacious love, a love of boundless energy and daring. They know you want it… and they mean to give you what you want… at the cost of your cozy, predictable, sensible, orderly life. That is the price great lovers, great romantics mean to exact from you for fulfillment… and Joshua Bell is a such a lover, agile, impetuous,  practiced seducer of even the most grounded and careful.
And it all started in Indiana.
Joshua Bell, for all he is the wunderkind of the greatest concert halls in the greatest cities on earth, is in fact a boy of the prairies. I know something about that; I am one myself.  He was born 9 December, 1967 in Bloomington, Indiana. If you are not familiar with this place it is a major research university, the intellectual heart of the nation’s great heartland.  It’s a place of God, country, solid living, of people you like and  trust; a true pastoral idyl that could well lead to humming about the moonlight on the Wabash, when you, now elsewhere, dream of your Indiana home.
The Bells were the kind of people you were glad to have as neighbors, not least because Joshua and his two sisters were so friendly and normal. Joshua was a boy’s boy, handsome, smiling, polite, with a shock of hair falling over his forehead into his eyes, thereby causing local mothers, who could not help themselves to brush it back. Joshua was keen on video games… and sports. He once  famously won fourth place in a national tennis competition without benefit of a single lesson.
But this was only part of the story… for there was genius in this family and genius will out, whether you like it or not. Fortunately Joshua’s genius was noted early and by his two educated parents, both psychologists who gave Joshua the time his special situation necessitated, without slighting his sisters, as could so easily have happened. That was deft indeed, and praiseworthy.
Bell began taking violin lessons at the age of four after his mother discovered her son had taken rubber bands from around the house and stretched them across the handles of his dresser drawer to pluck out music he had heard her play on the piano. His parents got a scaled-to-size violin for their then five-year-old son and started to give him lessons.
Soon Bell studied under Donna Bricht, widow of Indiana University faculty member Walter Bricht. His second teacher was Mimi Szeig. Later still, he switched to the violinist and pedagogue Josef Gingold after Bell’s parents assured Gingold they were not interested in pushing their son but wanted him to have the best teacher for his abilities. Wolfie Mozard’s father Leopold should have been as solicitous of  his famous son’s human needs. Here again Joshua Bell was lucky. Satisfied that  the boy was living a normal life, Gingold took Bell on as his student. By age 12 Joshua was truly serious about the violin, which even as an adolescent he used to deliver magic.
Just 14.
At the age of 14, Bell appeared as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Muti. He studied the violin at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, while managing simultaneously to graduate from Bloomington High School North in 1984. In 1989, Bell received an Artist Diploma in Violin Performance from Indiana University.
Now he was ready to take his place on stage as one of the world’s notable sounds.
In 1985, age 18, Joshua Bell, carefully, thoughtfully tutored, was ready to face the world. His Carnegie Hall debut with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra was the result.  The young man who had been given so much love by so many… was now ready to give love… to the multitudes who needed the healing balm he could so artfully coax from his instrument. This was his truest talent: turning music into solace, empathy, and always love.  For such a man just one thing was needed, the proper instrument… and in due course the instrument appeared.
Stradivarious, the master who accompanies every great violinist.
To  a violinist there is only one human being who made violins capable of touching the deepest part of every human heart and showcasing their talent. That person was Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737).  It is thought that this master crafted 1100 instruments (violins, violas, cellos); of these some 600 remain, many bearing the names of one or more owners so immortalized. Bell was now amongst them; he owned the “Tom Tyler”  Stradivarious… but he desired the 300-year-old instrument called the “Gibson ex Huberman”,  made in 1713. It had been lent him, one memorable day, for a concert; thus Bell knew first hand how extraordinary it was, how desirable.
The owner who lent Bell this instrument jokingly told him the sale price, $4 million. But it was not for sale — yet, and when Bell found out it was, it had already been sold to a German collector. In what can only be described as an act of rare, even unique, generosity amongst owners of these instruments, the new German owner allowed himself to be persuaded to give up what he, too, ardently desired… and so for $4 million the Stradivarious was Bell’s… and the genius of Joshua Bell and Antonio Stradivarious were brought together, enriching lives worldwide from the mingled talents of two musical geniuses,a match truly made in heaven to create the richest and most poignant of sounds.
It was a sound that took the world by storm  in films like Oscar-winning “The Red Violin” (1998), “Music of the Heart” (1999), and “Ladies in Lavender (2004).  And in one recording after another, especially “Romance of the Violin” (under SONY Classical) which in 2003 sold more than 5 million copies and placed Joshua Bell, his boyish smile and colossal talent, among the true masters of his craft.
But amongst all his many honors, his wealth, and celebrity one gift especially touched the heart of the man for whom touching hearts was all in a day’s work. It was a rare silhouette of Paganini autographed by the master. It  was now owned by Bell’s teacher Josef Gingold. Two days before he died, in 1995, this uncommon man of musical knowledge and common sense, called Bell to his bedside and gave it to the pupil he had not released to the world too soon, thereby helping to shape Bell into that most uncommon man of genius, well grounded and equitable, the better able to uplift mankind with his talent.
You can hear all this in Joshua Bell, above all the love that has formed from so many over so long and which now he pours out, strong and constant, to a world that so loves him.
Program note: End this article by searching for Joshua Bell’s rendition of Vincenzo Bellini’s “Casta diva” from”Norma” (1831).  Keep a  handkerchief at  the ready…
About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit,, providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author’s permission by Howard Martell <a href=”http://HomeProfitCoach.com“>http://HomeProfitCoach.com</a>. Check out Fast Fan Pages ->  http://www.HomeProfitCoach.com/?rd=ij7eb90h

Harold Camping said the world would end 6 p.m. Saturday, May 21, 2011. It didn't. It wasn't the first time, he was a false prophet. And it won't be the last!

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

Author's note. To get into the right mood for this article, search any search engine and find the well-known gospel tune "I'm on my way (to Canaan land)". (Written by William M. Golden, 1914) . My favorite is the version by the great Mahalia Jackson.

Chances are over the last few days you've heard of a zealot named Harold Camping. He's the originator of Oakland, California based Family Radio... and he's got a bee in his bonnet for sure.

He's a man so fervently longing for the world to end, so that righteous rewards and punishments can be meted out, that he's willing to risk (over and over again) the public ridicule and mockery that inevitably follow when his specific world-ending predictions fail to occur.

Today he'll be especially busy explaining to his discombobulated flock just why he goofed on this occasion and why his absolutely precise prediction for the end of terra firma -- 6 p.m. May 21, 2011 -- was erroneous... but not, he'll aver, wrong,really.... in fact perfectly reasonable once you understand the minute horological calculations and Biblical truths he will be, today, explicating a mile a minute, without apology, embarrassment or any excuse whatsoever.

For you see, divinely appointed prophets like the egregious Camping are never, ever wrong. In Camping's case when he seems to be in error, it is rather that he, for an instant, misunderstood God and His purpose. But shortly and with prayer, God corrects his misapprehension and gives him yet again, total clarity, complete understanding, and a vision which cannot be doubted of how and when rapture will occur -- this (next) time for sure. Eternal damnation and total perdition will come to those who doubt... never mind the muddle that just occurred and the complete chaos and disruption to the lives of the disappointed True Believers who were certain today they would awake to eternal bliss in the bosom of the Lord... but instead heard nothing but the insistent assurances and renewed certainties of the prophet they trusted... the prophet who mislead them, again.

Camping's legacy: lives high jacked, disrupted, shattered without compunction or remorse.

When one is a prophet, with a speed dial to God, one has better things to think about and deal with than the tiresome, annoying but essential realities of life. Those are beneath the notice of the Elect of God. The job of such is to seize your body and soul; to prepare you for revelation, exaltation, rapture, for total immersion in eternal God. These prophets, with the stern message and visage of their ancient prototypes, are masters of agitation, fulmination, damnation and submission.

They -- and Camping is very definitely one of them -- tell a parent whose children are not believers that they shall not be together in the infinity of Paradise, because the children are on Satan's path. Prophets want total submission.... and so, obsessed by their mission, they are happy to spread fears, terrible fears, and profound anxieties, the better to achieve their objective. Believers in a household have an obligation to cause pain to those still at risk... if by so doing they can capture the soul and shepherd it to Heaven and bliss. They are under a moral obligation to do this... and they must act promptly since their leader and prophet has revealed God's specific date when personal choice ends...

And so, with the complete support of Harold Camping believing wives tell still disbelieving and unsaved husbands that they shall be separate through eternity if the husband will not submit. Day and night this argument is made, made again, insistently made, made with sincerity and profound belief, disrupting everything until it is resolved and the soul garnered....

Believing children turn the tables on non-believing parents and, speaking of eternal love and togetherness, work their will on them... and so, worn down, these parents announce, for love of child, their born-again belief. Hallelujah!

And so it goes as each family member using the potent threat of eternal loneliness and isolation, of alienation, despair, profound miseries and the unspeakable pain of Hell fire work tirelessly to capture the souls of the people they most care about. For so important are these people, that the pain Camping encourages you to give must be the greatest pain of all; you love them so and must, therefore, do everything, anything to harvest their souls. And the date, the date when you will be irrevocably placed throughout eternity is coming, coming... a God-given certainty, Prophet Camping says so... and he is a goodly man.

About Harold Camping

Harold Egbert Camping, born July 19, 1921, is a Christian radio broadcaster and president of Family Radio, a California-based religious broadcasting network that spans more than 150 outlets in the  United States as well as website. Educated at the University of California, Berkeley, he earned a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering in 1942.

Camping early saw the potential of using media to establish a ministry without walls. His first acquisition was station KEAR in San Francisco; his mission to broadcast traditional Christian Gospel to conservative Protestants. During the 1960s, Family Radio acquired six additional FM stations and seven other AM stations under guidelines established by the Federal Communications Commission (FTC).

Camping went on the air at once and made an impression with his deep, sonorous voice coupled with a slow, emphatic cadence. Right from the start he was fascinated by and often broadcast about Bible-based numerology to predict dates for the end of the world.

Central to Camping's teaching is the belief that the Bible alone and in its entirety is the Word of God, absolutely trustworthy. However, he emphasizes, this does not mean that each sentence of the Bible is to be understood only literally. Rather the meaning of individual Bible passages also need to be interpreted in the light of two factors. The first is the context of the Bible as a whole. The second is its spiritual meaning.

With these guidelines, Camping has moved step by step towards ever more radical beliefs, including his oft broadcast assertion that the date of Christ's second coming can be worked out to a precise moment of time.

He regards three factors as essential to this precise determination:

1) Jewish feast days in the Hebrew calendar, as described in the Old Testament, 2) the lunar month calendar (1 synodic month = 29.53059  days), and 3) a close approximation of the Gregorian calendar tropical year (365.24219 days, rounded to 365.2422.)

He projects these into modern times and combines the results with other information in the Bible. His predictions, based as they are on the infallible Word of God, follow as a matter of course, including both his original prediction that the Lord's return would be in 1994; then when that failed, he lay low for a while, before announcing the amended prediction that this return would be May 21, 2011 with the entire world destroyed in a fiery inferno, October 21, 2011.

Nothing that Harold Camping has predicted with such absolute assurance and ringing certainty has come to pass. But hundreds of people revere him anyway and still pay credence to what he says, no doubt his reassuring voice assisting.  But I say this unto these poor souls. Is what you are being asked to do truly what a loving God would ordain? Thus I admonish you:

"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves". (Matthew 7:15).

About the Author

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling  business books. Republished with author's permission by Howard Martell <a href="http://HomeProfitCoach.com">http://HomeProfitCoach.com</a>. Check out Passive Portal Profits ->  http://www.HomeProfitCoach.com/?rd=dg42wbEF

False prophet — again. How Harold Camping’s miscalculations failed to predict the end of the world. May 21, 2011. And why he’ll certainly try again, disrupting many lives.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Author’s note. To get into the right mood for this article, search any search engine and find the well-known gospel tune “I’m on my way (toCanaan land)” (Written by William M. Golden, 1914) . My favorite is the version by the great

Mahalia Jackson. Chances are over the last few days you’ve heard of a zealot named Harold Camping. He’s the originator of Oakland, California based Family Radio… and he’s got a bee in his bonnet for sure.He’s a man so fervently longing for the world to end, so that righteous rewards and punishments can be meted out,  that he’s willing to risk (over and over again)the public ridicule and mockery that inevitably follow when his specific world-ending predictions fail to occur.Today he’ll be especially busy explaining to his discombobulated flock just why he goofed on this occasion and why his absolutely precise prediction for the end of terra firma — 6 p.m. May 21, 2011 — was erroneous… but not, he’ll ever, wrong,really….in fact perfectly reasonable once you understand the minute horological calculations and Biblical truths he will be, today, explicating a mile a minute, without apology,embarrassment or any excuse whatsoever.For you see, divinely appointed prophets like the egregious Camping are never,ever wrong. On occasions when they seem to be, it is simply the case that they have, for an instant, misunderstood God and His purpose. But now, God has corrected their misapprehension and given them, yet again, total clarity, complete understanding,and a vision which cannot be doubted of how and  when rapture will occur — this (next) time for sure. Eternal damnation and total perdition will come to those who doubt… never mind the muddle that just occurred and the complete chaos and disruption to the lives of the disappointed True Believers who were certain today they would awake to eternal bliss in the bosom of the Lord… but instead heard nothing but the insistent assurances and renewed certainties of the prophet they trusted… the prophet who mislead them, again.Camping’s legacy: lives high jacked, disrupted, shattered without compunction or remorse. When one is a prophet, with a speed dial to God, one has better things to think about and deal with than the tiresome, annoying but essential realities of life. Those are beneath the notice of the Elect of God. The job of such is to seize your body and soul; to  prepare you for revelation, exaltation, rapture, for total immersion in eternal God. These prophets,with the stern message and visage of their ancient prototypes, are masters of agitation,fulmination, damnation and submission.They — and Camping is very definitely one of them — tell a parent whose children are not believers that they shall not be together in the infinity of Paradise, because the children are on Satan’s path. Prophets want total submission…. and so, obsessed by their mission, they are happy to spread fears, terrible fears, and profound anxieties, the better to achieve their objective. Believers in a household have an obligation to cause pain to those still at risk… if by so doing they can capture the soul and shepherd it to Heaven and bliss. They are under a moral obligation to do this…and they must act promptly since their leader and prophet has revealed God’s specific date when personal choice ends…And so, with the complete support of Harold Camping believing wives tell still disbelieving and unsaved husbands that they shall be separate through eternity if the husband will not submit. Day and night this argument is made, made again, insistently made, made with sincerity and profound belief, disrupting everything until it is resolved and the soul garnered…. Believing children turn the tables on non-believing parents and, speaking of eternal love and togetherness, work their will on wayward parents… and so, worn down, these parents announce, for love of child, their born-again belief. Hallelujah!And so it goes as each family member using the potent threat of eternal loneliness and isolation, of alienation, despair, profound miseries and the unspeakable pain of Hellfire work tirelessly to capture the souls of the people they most care about. For so important are these people, that the pain Camping encourages you to give must be the greatest pain of all; you love them so and must, therefore, do everything, anything to harvest their souls. And the date, the date when you will be irrevocably placed through eternity is coming, coming… a God-given certainty, Prophet Camping says so… and he is a good Lyman. About Harold Camping Harold Egbert Camping, born July 19, 1921, is a Christian radio broadcaster and president of Family Radio, a California-based religious broadcasting network that spans more than 150 outlets in the  United States as well as website. Educated at the University of California, Berkeley, he earned a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering in1942.Camping early saw the potential of using media to establish a ministry without walls.His first acquisition was station KEAR in San Francisco; his mission to broadcast traditional Christian Gospel to conservative Protestants. During the 1960s, Family Radio acquired six additional FM stations and seven other AM stations under guidelines established by the Federal Communications Commission (FTC).Camping went on the air at once and made an impression with his deep, sonorous voice coupled with a slow, emphatic cadence. Right from the start he was fascinated by and often broadcast about Bible-based numerology to predict dates for the end of the world. Central to Camping’s teaching is the belief that the Bible alone and in its entirety is the Word of God, absolutely trustworthy. However, he emphasizes, this does not mean that each sentence of the Bible is to be understood only literally. Rather the meaning of individual Bible passages also need to be interpreted in the light of two factors. The first is the context of the Bible as a whole. The second is its spiritual meaning.With these guidelines, Camping has moved step by step towards ever more radical beliefs, including his oft broadcast assertion that the date of Christ’s second coming can be worked out to a precise moment of time. He regards three factors as essential to this precise determination:1) Jewish feast days in the Hebrew calendar, as described in the Old :Testament,2) the lunar month calendar (1 synodic month = 29.53059  days), and3) a close approximation of the Gregorian calendar tropical year (365.24219 days,rounded to 365.2422.)He projects these into modern times and combines the results with other informationin the Bible. His predictions, based as they are on the infallible Word of God, followas a matter of course, including both his original
prediction that the Lord’s return would be in 1994; then when that failed, he lay low for a while, before announcing the amended prediction that this return would be May 21, 2011 with the entire world destroyed in a fiery inferno, October 21, 2011.Nothing that Harold Camping has predicted with such absolute assurance and ringing clarity has come to
pass. But hundreds of people revere him anyway and still pay credence to what he says, no doubt his voice of certainly assisting. But I say this unto these poor souls. Is what you are being asked to do truly what a loving God would ordain? “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves”.
(Matthew 7:15).
About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author’s permission by Howard Martell <a href=”http://HomeProfitCoach.com“>http://HomeProfitCoach.com</a>. Check out Massive Auto Traffic ->  http://www.HomeProfitCoach.com/?rd=hi76Cl4e

Learn How To DRIVE Massive Traffic Quickly To ANY Website NOW! | Jackson Phinditt | Classified Ads in Services | Biz opps

Learn How To DRIVE Massive Traffic Quickly To ANY Website NOW! | Jackson Phinditt | Classified Ads in Services | Biz opps

It’s so nice to have a man around the house”. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s double life up close and really personal.

Smart Tips For Your Personal And Business Success Today……….”It’s so nice to have a man around the house”. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s double life up close and really personal.


by Dr. Jeffrey Lant Author’s note. To get the most from this article, go to any search engine and look for the recording of “It’s so nice to have a man around the house”.Eartha Kitt’s is the best; she was the mistress of steamy insinuations and wanton sensuality, implied, but never quite stated. Every word of her version takes on a whole new meaning when the subject is Arnold Schwarzenegger and his carefully calibrated infidelities.Admit it. You would have liked to have been a fly on the wall the day the governator spilled the beans to the woman he cheated on for such a large chunk of his”perfect” 25-year marriage.  But we can imagine, can’t we? Arnold: “Umm, Maria, have you got a minute?”Maria: “Sure, hon, be right with you…. now what’s up?”Arnold: “Darlin’, I’ve got a little confession to make. Something I’ve been meaning to tell you for a while.”Maria: “Oh, really, sugar babe. What’s that?”Arnold: “Well you see, it’s like this. For the last, er, 15 years or so I’ve been bonking the maid, yeah Patty… and I’ve got a 14 year old son. Yah, funny isn’t  it? He’s just about aweek older than my other son, I mean your son, I mean our son, I mean Christopher. Can you believe it? I kinda thought you’d like to know.”But Maria, who has her lawyer’s number on speed dial, is already on the phone,faster than you can say “community property”. Arnold’s double life ain’t a secret any more.What’s a guy (with a once gorgeous body) gonna do?Have you ever heard of “Pumping Iron”? It was both a (1974) book and (1977) docudrama about the run-up to the 1975 Mr. Olympia bodybuilding competition. The film focuses on Franco Columbu, Lou Ferrigno and, above all, on Schwarzenegger. It gave him just what he most wanted in life: fame, recognition, esteem and — love. These were just the things he didn’t get at home…..Spurned by his father.Schwartzenegger was born in the small village of Thal, Austria, July 30, 1947. His father was local police chief, a tough man who fought with the German army in World War II as a Hauptfeldwebel of the Feldgendarmerie. In 1945 (then 38) he married Aurelia, 23, with a son named Meinhard. Gustav showed a strong bias in Meinhard’s favor, which stemmed from unfounded suspicion that Arnold was not his child. Arnold, then, grew up in an atmosphere of suspicion and lack of fatherly love. Such things reverberate for a lifetime. What goes around comes around…His parents’ aspirations for him were not high. Gustav wanted him to be a police officer;his mother recommended trade school. But Arnold had something bigger in mind; he went to the pictures to see Reg Park, Johnny Weissmuller and his true idol, Steve Reeves.And so at age 14, he started weight training. He was assiduous, dedicated, obsessed in the way of all true champions, so obsessed that, at 18,  during his one-year of compulsory military service in the Austrian army he went AWOL so he could attend a bodybuilding competition. He went to prison for a week…. it showed just how serious he was.At age 20, he had the first great triumph of a life that was to be filled with triumphs. His assiduity paid off and he won the Mr. Universe title.  He had the drive, the beautifully sculpted body, the goofy “boys will be boys” smile and the shaggy do… he had acclaim…but only in the very marginal bodybuilding world. What he needed was what Steve Reeves had:a camera that would love his body and project it, larger than life, on movie screens worldwide.He needed “Pumping Iron”, the film that had ” heart, soul, blood, guts, perspiration and plenty ofmuscle”. To achieve his objective, he needed to keep winning the bodybuilding competitions that kept him in the limelight… and he needed to learn English. He knew these were critical aspects of his success, and he did what was necessary. That is the way of all champions…and Schwarzenegger proved to be one of the best.He pumped iron… and, with the help of such trainers as Joe Weider, Ric Drasin, and”Superstar” professional wrestler Billy Graham… won the big titles, including in 1970,age 23, the first of his seven Mr. Olympia titles.While he pumped iron, he took English classes at Santa Monica City College and earned a B.A. degree by correspondence from the University of Wisconsin — Superior where he graduated in Business and International Economics, in 1979. Oh, yes, and very much as an afterthought, he had women… a lot of women.He liked them… and they, knowing every curve and sinew of that magnificent body…liked him… and wanted a piece of what male perfection could be. He gave… he enjoyed for the moment… but such women were never a part of his grand plan.”I’m going to become the greatest actor!”Despite one bodybuilding title after another (and he bagged them fast and convincingly),he wanted something else, something more lucrative, something that would make hima household name. And at last, in 1982, his wish came true with the sword-and-sorceryepic “Conan the Barbarian”. It was a box-office hit, immediately followed by “Conan the Destroyer” (1984), not quite as successful as the original but keeping the unpronounceable name and very pronounced body before the public while looking for the next triumph.In due course, after a number of unmemorable moments (can you say “Red Sonja”, 1975)he lucked out (in 1984) with the first of three Terminator films, which placed him exactly where he had always wanted to be: at the top of the tree, rich, famous, desired… and finally, fervently  loved by millions worldwide.Maria Shriver, the perfect wife for the man who had everything… and wanted more.On April 26, 1986 Arnold Scwarzengger married one of the beautiful and talented princesses of the Kennedy dynasty, Maria Shriver, niece of President John F. Kennedy. This made him a member of the most famous family in the land. They have four children. But Arnold, being Arnold, was not satisfied… though one didn’t know how unsatisfied until just the other day in May, 2011. Then it was announced that  Conan truly was a barbarian, furtive (like all cheating husbands) but audacious, too — for he never left the confines of his palatial11,000 square foot home in Brentwood, California for his adulteries. He did them under his own roof with the family maid, Mildred Patricia Baena (“Patty”).There for some 15 years he made suitable excuses to the old ball and chain (“honey,I’ve got a little paperwork…”, striding down the corridor… to his mistress Patty’s room.Then right back to the arms of his Maria. With careful  logistics, without much effort but with great audacity, the man renowned for pumping iron and governing ungovernable California (2003-2011), produced a boy by each woman, the births just a week between.Those boys, particularly Patty’s, are the ones needing special attention and care now.Maria will get half of everything, or at least $100,000,000. She and Arnold are separated now. When they divorce Maria will again be a very desirable heiress indeed. Patty won’t do as well, of course; unmarried mistresses never do. But Arnold helped her get a loan from the Federal Housing Administration and ponied up at least some of the $219,224 down payment.But it’s Patty’s son we should worry about. Schwarzenegger has called him an “accident”.We can well believe it. But Scwarzenegger, who grew up under a cloud, his father questioning his legitimacy, Schwarzenegger should have been more empathetic, more kind,considerate.Instead in his most important role as father he proved to be nothing more than a cad who once pumped iron
About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author’s permission by Howard Martell <a href=”http://HomeProfitCoach.com“>http://HomeProfitCoach.com</a>. Check out Massive Auto Traffic ->  http://www.HomeProfitCoach.com/?rd=hi76Cl4e

For my nephew Kyle Patrick Burleson, now B.A. and for all the graduates of the class of 2011, well meant advice and counsel.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

Dear Kyle,
Without even a by-your-leave I am taking upon myself one of the most pleasant duties of aging: advising others how to live a better life than one has had oneself. Such advice giving may be a form of expiation for sins we were strenuously urged (by our self-selected guides) not to commit… but did, along with many other happy paths to perdition we found all by ourselves and enjoyed immensely.
First of all, please accept my apology for not attending this important event in your young life. The truth is, travel, which was once my unadulterated joy, is no longer such a pleasure. I am too old to relish the employees of Homeland Security asking me to divest myself of my clothes in the interest of American security. I appreciate their zealousness in pursuit of terrorists, but I look what I am: a well-heeled gentleman of refined taste, without a balaclava or hand grenade to my name. Homeland Security no doubt sees the obvious as the perfect cover for conspiracy.
In any event, my physical presence will not be present at your Commencement, and I regret this, especially the moment when your university president, or comparable big-wig, declares (as they do at Harvard) that you are now a member of the company of educated men and women. That is a magnificent achievement and deserves to be noted by all who love and care about you. With the great world growing increasingly uneducated… and with such standards upon which we prided ourselves… now reckoned elitist and archaic, I want you to know that entry into that company is and always will be one of the chiefest achievements of your life, no matter how long you live and what you achieve hereafter. You belong amongst these people and they will constitute the pool from which you draw your friends, your professional colleagues, the woman you eventually marry and, of course, your relations. You understand these people; they understand you and these things become more and more valuable as time goes on.
Know thyself, the complete self.
You have just completed a term of years in which you had ample time for the study of yourself; who you are, where you come from, where you wish to go and why.. Now, upon what is aptly termed commencement, this study will accelerate and will never conclude. However, to know yourself, you must know the people from which you came and who created you, a mosaic of them and their far-flung lives.
Amongst your relations, you number the most important Chief Justice of the United States, John Marshall; also Harold Macmillan, Earl of Stockton, sometime Prime Minister of England. You are also the scion of cosmopolitan European aristocrats; indeed in the fullness of time, you will become a prince with an ancient title and a host of other titles of nobility. Your history is also replete with clergymen, pioneers, educators, business people, and many who arduously tilled the soil and planted carefully and well.
I tell you these things because in this day and age it is unfashionable to speak of the manifold genetic strands that produced — you. Our day and age celebrates the so-called common man. But we, Burlesons, Burgesses, MacMillans, Lants, Lauings and all the rest believed in constantly striving to go beyond, well beyond, the common; the better to achieve unstinted excellence. You are the product of excellence; we all hope and know that you will give us more of it…and so instruct your children to come in how to achieve it, too.
Now some practical advice.
You are a sensible fellow, good looking, intelligent, agile. This is all to the good. But these suggestions will enhance these attributes.
1) Be friendlier, more affable, the exemplar of the best of manners.
You are of a withdrawn disposition, tending to keep your counsel. This is admirable, but it is insufficient for living well amongst the other members of our species. Many of these people have not had your many advantages; they therefore look to you for the words and gestures of welcome and hospitality, commonly called manners, which make living amongst humans as pleasant as our species of carnivores and raptors allows.
You have come from leaders; leadership is in your blood. In no way does such leadership manifest itself better than with superior manners, for what are such manners after all than kindness and making others feel always comfortable around you, no matter what the matter at hand.
Good manners do not mean that you necessarily agree with people, but it means you respect them and wish to learn, sincerely, their dispositions and points of view. Good manners are the emoluments by which civilized people ease the lives of those they encounter and so ease their own lives.
2) Thank the people who help you, never forget their services and affection.
You are an able young man, able to do many things for yourself… but never all. Every person of insight and intelligence comes, inevitably, to agree with British poet John Donne (1572-1621) that “no man is an island unto himself”. You are the product of a variable army of good, decent, hard-working people who gave of themselves to shape you and make you the man you are today. These people deserve and should be amply given acknowledgement, recognition, thanks and, above all else, kindness. This is your responsibility now and for the rest of your life. Never wait for these people to contact you… contact them and be lavish in your expressions of thanks, for they have all worked to a single purpose, to craft, mold and improve. Your graduation makes it clear they succeeded.
3) Never forget, always remember, and always honor family.
This is a world where we are all vulnerable, endangered. Thus we must always consider how to preserve ourselves and flourish. In this equation there is one variable that never varies; the fundamental importance of family, the people who are of you, for you, by you. In this regard I have a paradox for your consideration. Now that you have graduated leave home as soon as possible, the better to come to know, understand and appreciate your immediate family as well as members of its branches.
The longer you stay at home, the longer you will be treated as an adolescent, not a man. Clashes under such circumstances are inevitable and will both pain and exasperate everyone. My cordial advice therefore, transforming Horace Greeley’s famous exhortation, “Go anywhere, young man, go anywhere.” Distance will not only make the heart grow fonder; it will enable you to see all the principals, in a new, more humane light, and so move into a more productive and affectionate phase with all.
One last request: communicate better and oftener with your scribbling Uncle Jeffrey. He always means you well and understands the importance of tangible affection. A small congratulatory check is herewith enclosed. Uncles understand the importance of providing funds towards the noble objective of more profound communications and understanding.
Remember this, thy college graduation day.
Do not miss a single part of the ceremony; take photos liberally; see the scene as it is, a pageant celebrating you and your classmates all over this land beset by high challenges and often enfeebled visions. We need you, all of you. And so if this day, a la Winston Churchill, is not yet the beginning of the end; it is most assuredly the end of the beginning… and is replete with hope, sorely needed, its limited supply now to be rectified by you, all of you.
About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc. , providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses.
Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author’s permission by Howard Martell http://HomeProfitCoach.com. Check out Massive Auto Traffic -> http://www.HomeProfitCoach.com/?rd=hi76Cl4e

Thoughts on the historic visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Ireland, May 17, 2011. We salute the lady and her courage.

Please read and enjoy our articles. Turn off the T.V. the radio, lock the door, and take the telephone off the hook . Give yourself a bit of quiet time to enjoy the full flavor of emotions, ideas, and inspirations you will get from these articles. Occasionally Dr Lant will suggest going to the search engines for music to go along with the article, I will will do the search myself and post the video(s) below the article for you
Come on in at BestBiz5000.com Meet and chat with the renowned Dr. Jeffrey Lant himself! He will be there at 2.15 PM EST Mom – Fri & Sundays , On Saturdays 12.15 PM EST and will be reading one of his New York Times Quality Articles .
Let us add you to our VIP list for our DAILY LIVE WEBCAST! FREE now to the first 20 comments. I will GUARANTEE you 50,000 visitors to the website of YOUR choice! However, you do need to come on in and visit us, if you want to take advantage of this spectacular offer!
Important:
We would like to hear your story, or what you think about the topic. So please comment in the comment box. All REAL COMMENTS will be replied to. Please include some kind of commentary, Now keep in mind only posting “Thanks for posting” is not considered a comment on my articles! It will be helpful if you put something ABOUT the post in it. That way I know the comment was posted by a human not a robot.
JUST FOR VISITING MY WEBSITE GET A FREEBIE : Click Here
 

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Let’s not delude ourselves. The Queen’s visit to Ireland is not only a political statement of the first magnitude. It is also an act of great personal courage for which the 85-year-old sovereign deserves the highest praise.
There are at this very moment people in Ireland who have determined that the British monarch die in Ireland in the most violent and heinous way.
Item: On Easter Monday 2011, a representative of the splinter sectarian group called the Real IRA appeared in a video statement wearing a balaclava and military clothing and referred to the visit (which begins May 17, 2011) as “the upcoming insult” and the government invitation as “unrepresentative” of the wishes of the Irish people.
He said, “The Queen of England is wanted for war crimes in Ireland and not wanted on Irish soil. We will do our best to ensure she and the gombeen class that act as her cheerleaders get that message.” (“gombeen” means corrupt.)
This statement also included a threat to kill more Northern Irish police officers just weeks after the murder of Catholic police officer Ronan Kerr in Omagh.
Item: The republican group Eirigi (Rise Up) has placed a countdown timer on its web site, calling for the Queen’s visit to be met with “widespread opposition and protest”. The group is asking those against the visit to occupy the Garden of Remembrance, a memorial park in Dublin dedicated to those who fought for Irish freedom, which is part of the Queen’s official itinerary.
She will also go to Croke Park Stadium, the headquarters of Ireland’s two national sports, Gaelic football and hurling. It is the site of one of the bloodiest days of the War of Independence, infamous as “Bloody Sunday” , November 21, 1920; 14 civilians were killed by British forces retaliating for the killing of British undercover agents earlier in the day. In a land where symbolism is potent and sharply etched it takes just a little to imagine some terrorist or other planning for the death strike at this place.
The Irish authorities are taking these and the hundreds of other threats and maledictions with the greatest possible care and concern. This visit is now Ireland’s biggest (and most costly) security event. Up to 10,000 police and military personnel will be deployed at a cost of some $42 million. “Safety first” was British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin’s slogan; it would be apt, too, for Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny. As for where the Irish government (mired in debt) will find the money to pay these costs that is quite a different matter…
But this very practical question is of minor interest to Irish President Mary McAleese who was insistent that this visit occur… and occur during her presidency. McAleese, like so many of the Irish, has been directly and personally touched by what locals, with stunning understatement, call “The Troubles”. She grew up in Northern Ireland during some of its worst days. Her brother was nearly beaten to death for the crime of being Roman Catholic. She is feisty and unapologetic about why this visit is so important at this time:
“It would be the culmination, a celebration, of the efforts that both countries have put into bringing peace.” Peace… so desirable, so elusive… now with the Queen’s visit officially at hand. I wonder if McAleese knows this famous speech by the Duke of Burgundy in Shakespeare’s “Henry V”?
“That face to face, and royal eye to eye, You have congreeted, let it not disgrace me If I demand before this royal view, What rub or impediment there is, Why that the naked, poor, and mangled Peace, Dear nurse of arts, plenties, and joyful births, Should not in this best garden of the world, Our fertile France, put up her lovely visage? Alas! she hath from France too long been chased….”
Change the single word “France” to “Ireland” and you have the very reason why McAleese has been so exigent on this subject. She and millions of storm-touched Irish wish in the catch-phrase of this moment, to “move on”. They want peace and its bounties, not the traditional delights of murdering innocent people because they choose to address God the Father in their own way. For generations people worldwide looked at Ireland and its unending, always bloody, always painful troubles and wondered why a nation of culture, civilization, hospitality and charm could still be chained to the blood sport of human murder… At last the overwhelming majority of the Irish, both northern and southern, too, have arrived at this point as the rationale for mayhem and murder has lost its persuasiveness. But not for all…
… which is why the visit of Elizabeth of England is so important and why this Queen of England can justifiably lay claim to one of the greatest speeches of her predecessor. Here is what Elizabeth I said as the galleons of the Dons of Spain moved on England in the Great Armada of 1588:
“We have been persuaded by some that are careful of our safety, to take heed how we commit ourselves to armed multitudes, for fear of treachery; but I assure you that I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving people. Let tyrants fear, I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good-will of my subjects; and therefore I am come amongst you, as you see, at this time, not for my recreation and disport, but being resolved in the midst and heat of the battle to live and die amongst you all; to lay down for my God, and for my kingdom, and my people, my honour and my blood, even in the dust. I know I have but the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too”.
And so she does…
For, you see, Queen Elizabeth II has been profoundly and personally touched by the sea of Irish troubles. In 1979, the Irish Republican Army planted a bomb that killed, in his boat, the Queen’s cousin Lord Mountbatten of Burma, a distinguished theatre commander of World War II. Mountbatten was killed instantly along with his daughter’s mother-in-law Lady Brabourne, his 14-year-old grandson, and a local boy, age 15, who was piloting the boat. Prince Charles wept that day for the death of his mentor… and the good people of two nations wept with him. Thus have sovereigns and princes been afflicted along with the rest, so desiring peace as fervently.
Never forget, there is danger in this visit. There are those who prefer the grisly past. And they will move mountains, or at least attempt to, to wreak havoc and dismay. That is why in Dublin today, specialists will complete their second or third reconnaissance of the city’s sewers and all such places where bombs and other devices of death and disfigurement could be planted. Over these her majesty will travel starting tomorrow in Dublin. Thus does a queen do her duty… and demonstrate the valor which has always been one of her sterling qualities, doing the job no one does better. God Save The Queen.
?About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc. , providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Dr. Lant is also a world recognized historian, an expert on the British Royal Family and author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author’s permission by Howard Martell http://HomeProfitCoach.com. Check out Massive Auto Traffic -> http://www.HomeProfitCoach.com/?rd=hi76Cl4e

The day the world began to turn upside down. March 5, 1770, Boston,Massachusetts Bay Colony.The day the world began to turn upside down. March 5, 1770, Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Please read and enjoy our articles. Turn off the T.V. the radio, lock the door, and take the telephone off the hook .  Give yourself a bit of quiet time to enjoy the full flavor of emotions, ideas, and inspirations you will get from these articles. Occasionally Dr Lant will suggest going to the search engines for music to go along with the article, I will will do the search myself and post the video(s) below the article for you
Come on in at BestBiz5000.com Meet and chat with the renowned Dr. Jeffrey Lant himself!  He will be there at 2.15 PM EST Mom – Fri & Sundays , On Saturdays 12.15 PM EST  and will be reading one of his New York Times Quality Articles  .
Let us add you to our VIP list for our DAILY LIVE WEBCAST! FREE now to the first 20 comments.   I will GUARANTEE you 50,000 visitors to the website of  YOUR choice!  However, you do need to come on in and visit us, if you want to take advantage of this spectacular offer!
Important:
We would like to hear your story, or what you think about the topic.  So please comment in the comment box.  All REAL COMMENTS will be replied to. Please include some kind of commentary, Now keep in mind only posting  “Thanks for posting” is not considered a comment on my articles!  It will be helpful if you put something ABOUT the post in it.  That way I know the comment was posted by a human not a robot.
JUST FOR VISITING MY WEBSITE GET A FREEBIE : Click Here

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Author’s note. To get the most from this article, you should listen to the words and music for a tune called “The World Turned  Upside Down“. It’s an English ballad first published in 1643 as a protest against the policies of Parliament relating to the celebration of Christmas. Parliament under the Puritans believed the holiday should be a solemn occasion and outlawed the more raucous celebrations beloved of the English.  There are (as with many protest songs) many versions of the lyrics. It is sung to the tune of another ballad entitled “When the King Enjoys His Own Again.”

You will find several recordings of the music and the various lyrics in any search engine.
A day like every other, a day like none other, March  5, 1770.
Imagine you are in Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony. It is March 5, 1770 a typical late winter day, cold, frosty, where the  bone-chilling winds off the Atlantic go right through you, the streets (such as they are) byways of grit and mud making travel hazardous to man and beast… and to the soldiers of the king, George III.
Men beginning to call themselves patriots were affronted by these soldiers, aggravated by their presence, eager to see the back of them. They had been sent to help local officials enforce the Townshend Acts, a series of laws passed by the British Parliament with a special eye on the always vociferous Bay Colony residents. The Townshend program was to make colonial governors and judges independent of local control, to create a more effective means of enforcing compliance with trade regulations, and to establish the controversial precedent that Parliament had the right to tax the colonies. Then, as now, the very thought of dipping into their pockets turned many otherwise law-abiding men from Loyalists to oppressed, mistreated, ranting, canting “patriots”, clothed in righteousness and outrage.
Colonists objected that the Townsend Acts were a violation of the natural, charter, and constitutional rights of British subjects in the colonies. The Massachusetts House of Representatives, headquartered in Boston, began a campaign against the Townshend Acts by sending a petition to the king. It also originated what came to be called the Massachusetts Circular Letter to the other colonial assemblies, asking each and all to join the resistance movement.
In Great Britain, Lord Hillsborough, recently appointed to the newly created office of Colonial Secretary, blinked. He was alarmed… and he showed it, ordering colonial governors in America to dissolve the colonial assemblies if they responded to the Massachusetts Circular Letter. He also directed Massachusetts Governor Francis Bernard to have the Massachusetts House rescind the Circular Letter. The House indignantly refused to comply. Loyalists were adamant that the colonies comply; “patriots” were adamant that their rights as freeborn Englishmen were being trampled,  It was not time yet for revolution, but farseeing gentlemen in the quiet of their homes considered the options and revolution (once unthinkable) was one of them…
The Townshend Acts were so unpopular in Boston that customs officials requested naval and military assistance. In May, 1768 the 50-gun HMS Romney arrived in Boston Harbor. Many colonists, even the most loyal to the crown, saw this as a provocation as they did the June 10, 1768 seizure of the Liberty, a sloop owned by Boston’s richest citizen and leading merchant, John Hancock. He was charged with smuggling. He probably was… but that didn’t stop colonials from being further outraged. To make matters even worse, the captain of HMS Romney impressed local sailors into the King’s Navy, a proven way of augmenting a ship’s complement and infuriating the colonials.
The atmosphere was deteriorating rapidly and the word “revolution” could be heard under the breath of aggrieved Bostonians.
Then things got far worse, fast. Lord Hillsborough again was the culprit. Seemingly intent upon fomenting real trouble, his lordship instructed General Thomas Gage, British Commander-in-Chief for North America, to send any force he thought necessary to pacify the good people of Massachusetts. On October 1, 1768, the first of four regiments of the British army began disembarking in Boston. Relations deteriorated despite the fact that two regiments were removed in 1769. Such was the state of affairs that leaving even a single soldier would have been regarded as brute force, completely unacceptable.
Predictably each side (for now there were defined adversaries) looked for ways to trip up the other, while claiming complete innocence and superior morality. Clashes, incidents, fiery language, claims and counter claims were the order of the way. It was just a matter of time until Something Happened. It did, March 5, 1770.
The Boston Massacre.
A young wigmaker’s apprentice named Edward Gerrish brought matters to a head. He claimed that British Captain Lieutenant John Goldfinch had neglected to pay his overdue bill. Such was the poisoned environment in Boston that this trivial accusation was the match required to light all the combustible elements at hand. The irony is that Goldfinch had paid the bill the day before…
Mere facts, however, were irrelevant. The colonials were angry… and the British certain to defend themselves if needed. As the evening of  March 5 progressed, a crowd grew, becoming restive, belligerent, harassing the soldiers with snowballs and small objects. Private Hugh Montgomery was knocked down and when he recovered his feet, he fired his musket…
In the next few seconds, three Americans died instantly — ropemaker Samuel Gray, mariner James Caldwell, and a mixed race sailor named Crispus Attucks. There were other victims, too. And so the patriots had what every revolution must have: innocent victims… and in sufficient quantity, too, to incite revenge and even more outrage.
In due course, the British commander, Captain Thomas Preston, his men, and four men who were in the Customs House and allegedly fired shots were indicted for murder. No one could be found to defend them…. until the leading patriot of all, John Adams, made the difficult and unpopular decision to defend them. And so he did to his everlasting glory. Adams either got them acquitted or else (in the two cases where it was clear they had fired point blank into the crowd) lower sentences.
Eleven years later, in 1781, at Yorktown, the  British surrendered and so lost their last  opportunity to keep their American empire whole and intact. As the troops under Lord Cornwallis marched out, the American musicians played “The World Turned Upside Down”. And so it was…
And it all started in Boston, with what the British called a “riot” and the colonials a “massacre”. Yes, that was the event that started it all. And at last local officials, including the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, are cleaning up and rehabilitating this historic site where colonials, in Massachusetts are least, stopped thinking they were anything other than Americans ,thereby ensuring the king never did get back his own…
About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses.Dr. lant is also a historian and author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author’s permission by Howard Martell <a href=”http://HomeProfitCoach.com“>http://HomeProfitCoach.com</a>. Check out Massive Auto Traffic ->  http://www.HomeProfitCoach.com/?rd=hi76Cl4e

Generate Extreme Amounts Of Traffic And Create Massive Profits For Any Business At NO Cost!

Limited To First 20 People Only - 50,000 Real Visitors PLUS...

Everything YOU need to know about online traffic to skyrocket
your business.

"Learn The Secrets To Generating A Stampede of Traffic!"

...And How To Maintain It For Long-Term Profits!

=> Concepts of Turbo Traffic Generation
=> Affiliate Marketing
=> Blogging
=> Distributing Press Releases
=> Using Facebook and Twitter
=> Using Hubpages and Squidoo

Completely F R E E to first 50 lucky people!

==> http://www.HomeProfitCoach.com/?rd=ek9tznz6

Super BONUS: Find out how we GIVE OVER 1,000,000 Ad Credit To EVERYONE...

Yours In Success,
Howard Martell
Webmaster
http://HomeProfitCoach.com   

My site where you can get daily updates
> http://www.twitter.com/mentorsforlife

what is the currency of the future?       
> homeprofitcoach.mysundanceglobal.com

The best training for attraction marketing
> http://mentorsforlife2006.alphanetworker.com

Ask the Homeprofitcoach how you to can write award winning articles!
> http://blog.homeprofitcoach.com/

Earn money from home for free by tagging license plates.
> http://www.homeprofitcoach.com/?cp=gq3Trea3

How Homeprofitcoach.com help automate business: What to do when your computer crashes. It will yo...

How Homeprofitcoach.com help automate business: What to do when your computer crashes. It will yo...: "Smart Tips For Your Personal And Business SuccessToday……….What to do when your computer crashes. It will you know! Please read and enjoy o..."

What to do when your computer crashes. It will you know!

Smart Tips For Your Personal And Business SuccessToday……….What to do when  your computer crashes. It will you know!
Please read and enjoy our articles. Turn off the T.V. the radio, lock the door, and take the telephone off the hook .  Give yourself a bit of quiet time to enjoy the full flavour of emotions, ideas, and inspirations you will get from these articles. Occasionally Dr Lant will suggest going to the search engines for music to go along with the article, I will will do the search myself and post the video(s) below the article for you
Come on in at BestBiz5000.com Meet and chat with the renowned Dr. Jeffrey Lant himself!  He will be there at 2.15 PM EST Mom – Fri & Sundays , On Saturdays 12.15 PM EST  and will be reading one of his New York Times Quality Articles  .
Let us add you to our VIP list for our DAILY LIVE WEBCAST! FREE now to the first 20 comments.   I will GUARANTEE you 50,000 visitors to the website of  YOUR choice!  However, you do need to come on in and visit us, if you want to take advantage of this spectacular offer!
Important:
We would like to hear your story, or what you think about the topic.  So please comment in the comment box.  All REAL COMMENTS will be replied to. Please include some kind of commentary, Now keep in mind only posting  “Thanks for posting” is not considered a comment on my articles!  It will be helpful if you put something ABOUT the post in it.  That way I know the comment was posted by a human not a robot.
JUST FOR VISITING MY WEBSITE GET A FREEBIE : Click Here
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
It happened yesterday…  “it” being the most frustrating thing that can happen now adays…”it” being the one eventuality absolutely certain to throw off your day and ensure you fall behind…”it” being the event guaranteed to change you from someone calm, reasonable,the nicest of people, to a mad person whose words could make a sailor blush.Your computer crashed… and you wondered what in God’s green acre you had done to warrant such a malady and imprecation. It just wasn’t fair…That’s what the computer crash does… and certain too. One of these days you are going to have “the crash”… the only real question is: will you be ready for it?What every boy scout knows… be prepared.Cambridge satirist Tom Lehrer  wrote a song (1953) when I was in first grade,a million years ago. It was called “Be Prepared!“. I thought of it forthe first time in years  yesterday as I surveyed the most important machine in my life just sitting there, non functional, turning me from an acutely productive member of society to drone, in an instant.”Be prepared! as through life you march along. Be prepared to hold your liquor pretty well,Don’t write naughty words on walls if you can’t spell”. Yes, I thought of Lehrer and his rollicking, rather sophomoric, school boy humor yesterday… as my world came to a screeching halt. Lehrer at least made me smile… Lehrer, that is, and the knowledge that I was prepared for The Crash.  Here’s how you can be prepared too and actually smile as you resolve one of life’s most aggravating and irritating problems.1) Make sure you copy your files.The most avoidable problem when  you work with computers is to lose files because you have not copied them in an organized, consistent fashion. This must be done completely, regularly — not intermittently, casually, whenever you getaround to it. That’s the wrong way for sure, completely unsystematic. Instead,  as I write articles like these, I make a copy of each paragraph as I write it; to do less would be to turn me from copywriter into gambler. And there is absolutely no need for that. To write is silver;  but to copy is gold.2) Print out details of key data you will need when (not if) your computer crashes. For instance, I have in my computer a list of vital telephone numbers. That’s just the thing you’ll need when your computer crashes. Make sure to print out a copy (from time to time, too, so that you have readily available the most current details) and have it easily accessible.3) Get an external hard drive. You just plug it in, back up your data, and then continue with the work at  hand.  It’s affordable. Most people and businesses can get by for one in the $100 price range. That’s peanuts compared to the actual and psychic costs of replacing data lost because of inadequate protection and preservation. Oh, yes, it’s light weight and portable, too;easily connected to any computer where you have data to be copied.4) Peruse notes of previous computer crises. You do have them, don’t you? Problems occur; the same problems may recur. Are you ready to solve them? You are if you wrote down the problem last time and clearly indicated what youdid to solve it. These notes are vital, given the fact that  the problem you have today may not recur for months, even years. Your notes, therefore, are necessary. Never assume you will remember the problem and what you did to solve  it.As soon as you have a  free minute after your computer is up and running,record the solution. This solution should not be left in the computer alone where some future crisis renders it inaccessible; you must print this and keep it in an off-computer file.5) Don’t sit in front of your computer and fret. That won’t help.One of my father’s favorite expressions was “a watch pot never boils.” Now I know what he meant… to sit in front of a non-functioning computer will only increase your unhappiness and discontent. Instead, if your computer remains on the fritz, turn your attention to other useful things you could be doing while you’re waiting for help (see below).If you spend as much time as I do on your computer (easily a consistent  12 hours a day), some other things in your life are bound to be neglected. Make “crash day” productive in other ways. I used the extra time to research a future article and while the computer on which I planned to write it was down, I made considerable progress, there by infusing some necessary uplift into this “what a revolting development this is” situation. 6) Have a trusted computer consultant at the ready.As soon as I knew yesterday’s computer crisis was beyond my admittedly limited technical skills, I placed the necessary call to my computer consultant Justin Lyttle of Help Desk Services, Hanover, Massachusetts. I received whatI have always received from Justin for many years: his prompt, full attention and (despite the fact it was Friday afternoon) the promise he would solve my problem promptly. This he did… arriving at about 6:00 p.m., getting down to business at once, solving my multi-part problem. Within an hour the problem was solved, and I was back online and Justin was on his way.People like Justin Lyttle are a find. A critical component of what makes youand your business (including your computer operations) successful is ensuring you have just the right competent and sympathetic people like Justin on your team. Neverwait to find them until  you are frantic. Remember your Tom Lehrer and be prepared; ask business people from your  neighborhood who they use… then call up to introduce yourself. Do ALL this before the pressing need arrives. Last words.Days of computer crisis are never pleasant, especially if you are technically challenged like I am. Still, if you follow these recommendations you’ll get through them as comfortably as possible.  Oh yes, just one more suggestion: keep ice cream in the refrigerator. Ithelps while away the time and makes you feel better until reinforcements arrive. Icecream is like that.
About the Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses.
Dr. Lant is also a Royal Historian and author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author’s permission by Howard Martell <a href=”http://HomeProfitCoach.com“>http://HomeProfitCoach.com</a>. Check out Passive Portal Profits ->  http://www.HomeProfitCoach.com/?rd=dg42wbEF