The Day Frequency Traders, Institutional Traders, Mayan Calendar, and Day Traders Were All in Sync

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Lance_Winslow]Lance Winslow
It was a Friday, December 21, 2012 and it was a day that changed the world, which happened to coincide with the last day of the Mayan Calendar, traditionally understood by the ancient Mayans as a transitional period, to what, no one in the present period really knew, just that it was to be profound. And, not to burst anyone's bubble it certainly was all of that and more for the US Stock Market. Did that make it any easier for anyone who lost their life's saving that day as nearly 8 trillion dollars evaporated from the market? Certainly not, agreed the guest commentary on CNBC at the Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo.
Well, hindsight is 20/20 as they say, and this day was coming, and nearly 25% of Americans thought that it might be the end of days, apocalypse, or Armageddon. The number of short-sellers had the Dow opening down -303 points, which was bad enough, to make matters worse, most short-term traders were not leaving any money in the market over the Christmas Holidays, things were just too choppy, the volatility index was already at its highest point since the Debt Deal Impasse, S&P Downgrade, and the near collapse of the EU banking system in summer of 2011. With Quadruple-Witching, and end of year tax loss selling, the market was already getting hammered all week.
On what many hoped would be a light trading day due to the holiday weekend, it was rather odd all the short-sellers coming out of the wood-work as they did. After all what's that old Wall Street quote; "Never Short a Dull Market!" Well, it may have been assumed to be a dull-day, however it was anything but. After all, this was the end of the world, the Mayan Calendar had run out, and to make matters worse, there were four X-Flares of extremely high power the weeks prior; 2 of which hit Earth directly, one in November and one just the week before the catastrophic sell-off.
The November solar flare took out the North Eastern US Power Grid, half of AT&Ts network, and many communication satellites used for credit card transactions at C-Store Gas Stations, Restaurants, and even Wal-Mart on Black Friday, which happened to be the biggest shopping day of the year. Online Retailers were zapped too, data centers, cloud computing, all challenged. About half of all the systems were up by the end of the day, but consumer sales for America's largest corporations were now a day late and a dollar short.
With these solar disruptions there was damage to the Space Telescope, ISS, and even military satellites, although the US Military, actually militaries from around the world denied anything had been taken down, pure posturing, but that's to be expected. Folks were on edge, and many had wondered what the Mayans knew, and why now. For all these reasons everyone was shorting the market, and the institutional investors were betting down the market big time, and when the trading started so too did the high-frequency trading or algorithmic computational trading systems.
Europe had banned short selling of their bond markets, currency markets, and just recently; "No High Frequency Computer Trading!" Europe and Asia got hit pretty hard and the US markets hadn't opened yet, but when they did, holy hell, the volume of trading in the US hit a one-day record amount within the first hour, it was all over the place. The market hit the stops, one after another all day long. Wouldn't you know it, Mexico City had a 7.5 Earthquake just 35-miles away at 10 AM their time the same day. Was this really the end? Or was it all an excuse for the computer trading systems to make trillions slamming the market into oblivion?
There had been talk in the US about regulating or banning high-frequency trading all together in the US, and the Franks-Dodds Bill which had passed actually protected the "too big to fail banks," all of which were making money on algorithmic trading, rather than loaning money to small businesses. The President got on TV to tell everyone that it was going to be okay, the world wasn't coming to an end, and to hopefully calm markets, it didn't work, in fact, it may have done just the opposite. Then the new Treasury Secretary got on CNBC, no changes either the market was falling like a rock still.
The Federal Reserve Chairman was in-route back from G-8 Summit, unable to be interviewed, as soon as he landed he gave a question and answer meeting. All the financial media pundits said he was in full-combat crisis mode. That just made things worse, when regular investors heard that. Gold hit a new all-time high. Yes, it was the day from hell on Wall Street one which will go down in the record books, but the world didn't end, and the market gained back a third of what it lost that day during the next two-trading days after the holidays. By the last day of the year, the market had recovered all but 800 points on the Dow, and then the January barometer recovered all that and more.
The US Congress came back from holiday recess, vowing to fix this flash-crash, high-frequency challenge once and for all, but the banking lobby had made 100s of billions by then on both the downside and the upside of all that volatility. Was there a solution to prevent this from ever happening again? Apparently so, and there was a think tank which had a concept of viewing every single global transaction in real-time, using holographic imagery, supercomputers, and the new Intel chip running Oracle software, and IBM's new spectral imaging.
Basically how the system worked is that it was the size of a ping-pong table, and it showed the money flows in different colors transversing the map of the United States. The operator could click on different countries or all the countries at once, or isolate the system for currency trades in any of the major currency and view it in real time. Some of the same high-frequency trading software engineers would help build the system, and it could be controlled just as the Federal Aviation Administration could control the flow of airline traffic, viewing every single individual flight as it occurred.
The system was brilliant, and it worked, not only could it be used for tracking money flows, but it could also be used for watching and predicting the weather, observing the spread of influenza during flu season, and even monitoring our power grid. It was a system to monitor all the flows of civilization using net-centric warfare computational theory X's ten to the tenth power.
Only one problem, the system, plus terminals was going to run in the neighborhood of $30 million. The terminals and systems would have redundancy, and when the markets were not running, the supercomputers would be used for something else, including controlling all the Internet traffic from the major data centers coming into the US to prevent cyber attacks from foreign rogue nations.
The Senate passed the bill unanimously, and there was only one no-vote in the House of Representatives. The president signed the bill within 15 minutes of it reaching his desk, with the promise that Intel, IBM, Oracle, and several other vendors would have the system up and running in less than four months, and that they could only hire Americans to build the system. Apparently, this just proves there is opportunity in crisis, if only the Mayans would've known.
Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the [http://www.worldthinktank.net]Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes writing 24,600 articles by August 26th will be difficult because all the letters on his keyboard are now worn off now..
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Day-Frequency-Traders,-Institutional-Traders,-Mayan-Calendar,-and-Day-Traders-Were-All-in-Sync&id=6517126] The Day Frequency Traders, Institutional Traders, Mayan Calendar, and Day Traders Were All in Sync

Audio Books Pay Homage to Pulp Fiction's Classics

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Fred_Duckworth]Fred Duckworth
Because of a resurgence of interest in the golden age of the pulp fiction stories, various publishers such as Galaxy Press, Adventure House, Sanctum Books and Black Dog Books, have taken to task republishing numerous writers from the 30s and 40s and 50s.
The era of the pulps is unique, a renaissance of sorts that produced a rocket ride for many authors and a thrilling array of stories for the eager public. Much like the color wheel has primary colors that produce secondary colors, the pulps developed genres within genres. The detective pulps like "Sherlock Holmes", is a classic whodunit but the pulps also created hard-boiled detective stories with characters like "Sam Spade". These characters had to be as tough and unyielding as the gangsters they relentlessly pursued. Within science fiction and fantasy came horror and dark fantasy that focused on the supernatural and weird tales. Westerns, air and sea adventures, mystery and spicy pulps were all published in monthly magazines. The pulps were also the birthplace of our much-loved super heroes!
Old-time live radio shows had much of its material from the golden age of pulp fiction. Families would gather in their daily ritual to enjoy an after dinner story told by charismatic voice actors with creative and unusual sound effects. At the precise moment one would hear the crack of the whip, bells ringing, stomping feet and a multitude of other sounds. It must have absolutely joyous to work on these productions.
With the advent of television and movies, the radio era ended as did the pulps. However, the pulps did not completely die out. The story lines and characters appeared in many TV shows and movies. From the pulps came Zorro, Tarzan, Spider-man and Batman, superman, Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, to name a few. Many well-known authors broke into the market and were very successful writers, such as Edgar Rice Burroughs, Dashiell Hammett, L. Ron Hubbard, Isaac Asimov, H.P. Lovecraft and many more.
Audiobooks have become a popular medium for recreating the flavor of old-time radio. When you listen to one of these stories, you really get a sense of the epic and far-flung adventures in exotic lands, the super natural settings, damsels in distress and how life may have been viewed back in the 30s, 40s, and 50s. It creates a theater of the mind and unlike watching a movie in the theater or a TV at home; audiobooks can be listened to anywhere, anytime, even while multi-tasking.
Publishers like Galaxy Press have been recreating pulp fiction in print and audiobooks with cinema quality sound effects and talented voice actors which bring you right into the heart of the action. If you have not availed yourself of these great stories, I highly recommend it.
Fred Duckworth is a passionate advocate of lifelong learning through audio books on CD collections from [http://www.goldenagestories.com/audiobooks]http://www.goldenagestories.com/audiobooks. Galaxy Press, publisher of "The Golden Age Stories" and all genres of pulp fiction stories and novels, offers a convenient subscription service, so you never have to miss an issue. It's a pulp fiction lover's dream!
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Audio-Books-Pay-Homage-to-Pulp-Fictions-Classics&id=6517120] Audio Books Pay Homage to Pulp Fiction's Classics

Thanks to Internet Algorithms They Finally Found Him - Now What to Do With a Super Genius

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Lance_Winslow]Lance Winslow
When LJ Wilson joined a think tank, he did so because he could not carry on a normal conversation. It's not that he had trouble talking to people, he was quite friendly, outgoing, and was a great conversationalist; at least for the first 15 minutes. One thing he wasn't good at was idle chitchat, and any time he was having a conversation, he immediately upped the ante. In fact, one time he was at a Fourth of July party watching the brilliant fireworks, and someone was talking about the foggy weather, and how that was causing a visibility problem in watching the fireworks.
Within 2 minutes, he was talking about offshore breezes and marine boundary layers, El Ni�o effect, and the different types of advection fog. Within 10 minutes he was giving a lecture on the cumulonimbus, funnel clouds, and seasonal variations of the altitude temperature inversion over the LA basin. Within 20 minutes he was discussing supercomputers, weather control, and unmanned aerial vehicles used by NOAA flying in a swarm grid formation to collect the necessary data to track and predict whether. Yes, he was one of those types.
LJ Wilson was perhaps a creative genius with savant tendencies, but he was perfectly stable in every way, and living what appeared to be a normal life. Only his closest friends realized that he was way over the top in IQ, and perhaps as brilliant as anyone they'd ever met. Of course on the Internet, no one knew, and yes he had a blog and he talked about intellectual things now and again, but no one would've suspected his true level of genius. That all changed one day when a startup company at of Silicon Valley was funded by In-Q-Tel.
The startup company had a two-fold business plan. One was to predict the future by watching Internet trends. The other was to locate potential terrorists and disruptors of society by watching online behavior in forums, on blogs, and on social networks. At first the company's success was limited, and produced far too many false positives. However over time their process was getting more refined, and with the help of the Department of Homeland Security, and an elite group of Internet analysts in Tucson Arizona, they were able to refine this process.
Then one day, the startup company was reading an article on the Internet which apparently was posted by a think tank suggesting that it was possible to find the creative genius eminent achievers of our time using a similar method. In other words hunting for geniuses, rather than hunting for terrorists. Looking for the good guys, or the diamonds in the rough, rather than the loan wolves who were ready to strike. The founder of a startup company thought that was a very intriguing idea, although he didn't know if there would be any buyers for such a technology. Boy was he wrong!
It turns out that a headhunting firm, that is to say an employee recruiter company at of Palo Alto California had a similar idea, not because they wanted to make money with such an algorithm to find these creative geniuses, rather because they were under contract to go out and find the superstars of humanity, and present them to the top fast-moving Silicon Valley-based corporations. Companies like Google, Oracle, Apple, Facebook, Intel, IBM, and others. They were looking for top talent, and they were so busy trying to steal each other's creative geniuses, that no one ever thought that they should be looking outside the box or outside Silicon Valley rather.
Apparently the think tank which posted that article, was also looking for geniuses amongst the US population to join them. They wanted to have such an algorithm, or figure out a way to find only the 145+ IQ individuals who might be interested in helping solve the challenges and problems of mankind. Then it occurred to the startup company, that In-Q-Tel would give them a second round of funding, because the US military also needed the super creative individuals and geniuses to help them protect our nation. There was definitely a market, and as before they started out with far too many false positives, folks who had pumped up their resume, but couldn't figure their way out of a paper bag.
Eventually they were able to refine their techniques and algorithms, and use all of the information they were scanning on social networks, Internet forums, and blogs for anyone who was outside the main data points. If they were too far on one side they might be a terrorist and if they were too far on the other side they might be a genius, and then they found something very intriguing. Many of the false positives they had who they thought were terrorists, were actually very pro-Americans who happened to be genius level IQ. And then they found something really troubling; some of the folks who appeared to be genius level were absolutely diabolically scary individuals.
When they took this information to a psychology PhD Proffessor at Berkeley California, he just laughed and said "of course, with brilliance comes baggage, and you may not be looking at this correctly." With his help, and a couple of other psychologists who worked in military intelligence, and had formally done stints at the Rand Corporation they narrowed down the types of psychology which would lead to genius level thinking, but would also lead to strong nationalism, competitiveness, and might give a glimpse into which of the geniuses might most be interested in working on advanced military projects and technologies.
They later broke down the categories, and had learned ways to sniff out the leaders of eco-terrorist groups, neo-Nazi groups, and other rogue cultish organizations. They further broke down the categories based on mathematical probability of which cultures would exhibit which type of behaviors online, allowing them better predictability based on the individuals writing, comments, and Internet activities. And then something really interesting happened; a psychologist from one of the top universities in California and an expert on geniuses, gave them the final clues in tweaking their algorithm. Now they were able to find future military generals, future presidents, and top government administrators.
When they put that to work, and sifted through all the data the same name popping up over, and over, and over again. Who was that person? It was LJ Wilson, and he'd been slipping through the cracks for almost 40-years. But thanks to the new internet algorithm, the start-up company had found the perfect individual to lead our nation into economic prosperity, military strength, and complete unity once again. The results were amazing, within 5-years, LJ Wilson was a top adviser, fast-tracked to be president, and he'd been flawless in his advice. Amazing indeed.
Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the [http://www.worldthinktank.net]Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes writing 24,612 articles by September 12th will be difficult because all the letters on his keyboard are now worn off now..
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Thanks-to-Internet-Algorithms-They-Finally-Found-Him---Now-What-to-Do-With-a-Super-Genius&id=6520027] Thanks to Internet Algorithms They Finally Found Him - Now What to Do With a Super Genius

The Earthquake Weapon Tests Were a Success But Should They Pump Up the Volume?

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Lance_Winslow]Lance Winslow
L.B. Fowler PhD loved his job, and he'd been around the block a time or two on some of the most advanced research on the Planet. He had put in time at CERN, Lawrence Livermore, SLAC, and was now at Los Alamos. About four years ago, some colleagues called him into their lab where they were working on a very interesting project. They were not friends with him personally, as they only knew him through reputation. Apparently their wives were in a nonprofit volunteer club together on the mountain there, and so they contacted him through back-channels. They asked that Dr. Fowler keep everything quiet, realizing he also had the highest of security clearances.
L.B was blown away when they explained what they were doing. They were using pulses of energy to create a magnetic field which was equal to 100 Tesla, the Earth's magnetic field is only 0.0004 T. Well, it turned out that when this beam of energy was pointed towards an earthquake fault line, they could trigger that fault line. So far, they were only able to cause small earthquakes of 1 to 2 magnitude on the Richter scale. However when they showed Dr. Fowler what they were doing, he immediately showed them how their calculations were wrong, and how to trigger almost any size earthquake that they wanted.
After sharing this information with them, he regretted it. In fact, he realized that he just created a weapon, that was equal to or worse than a 500 MT thermonuclear bomb. Immediately he began to remember the words of wisdom that Oppenheimer had uttered once at a seminar he attended as a young man coming out of grad school about his regrets on helping to produce atomic weapons. Of course, now the cat was let out of the bag, and L.B. had just hoped that his estimations of this powerful force were less than he had calculated.
He hoped that his understanding of physics was incorrect, that he was wrong, and it they would not be able to produce large magnitude earthquakes, but alas, he was pretty certain his calculations were correct, but again, also realized it was too late now. His new colleagues were giddy when he explained his new earthquake theory with them, using a new way to deliver the waves into the ground, a wave rider scheme, waves on waves, with proper pulse sequences, all electromagnetic rouge wave theory, simple stuff really, well at least to L.B. Fowler it was. He was concerned about their enthusiasm, and although he respected them as scientists, he worried about what this technology would be used for in the future.
The next day, he invited them over to his home for coffee, and explained his misgivings, and he soon realized that they to shared his thoughts, and although they were happy to make the breakthrough, and thanked him profusely, they realized what they would be creating if they used his delivery system to create larger earthquakes. They assured him that the use of this technology could be used in positive ways, such as for fracking and collecting natural gas and oil from the ground, very focuses energy, at low power. Of course they weren't na�ve either, and they all knew their history, after all they all work at Los Alamos labs.
It was obvious that the military would use this technology, and yes it might come in handy in the future in places like North Korea, Iran, Syria, Libya, or perhaps a future conflict. And yes, it had to be tested at scale, but where? The scientists determined that if they were to test this, they had to test it in an area where there was plenty of rock formations around going miles deep, and minerals where the earthquake could not get away, where the S-waves and P-waves would be stopped, rebuffed, or gathered to finally dissipate. They also needed to set a limit, and needed to figure out the exact amount of pulse power to trigger a seismic event no larger than 6.0 on the Richter scale, in fact somewhere between 5.0 and 6.0.
For this, they chose Mineral, Virginia, and an area right below Trinity, Colorado between there and the New Mexico border, about 30 miles East of the I-25, quite remote actually. They decided they would lower the device onto the ground via a helicopter, and then fly up to 3000 AGL and observe. They decided to do the earthquakes on the same day, or one day apart. A 5.0 magnitude earthquake in an area not known for large seismic events would be the perfect test. They couldn't do it in California, lest they make a mistake, and trigger a larger fault, causing a catastrophic earthquake which could actually kill people.
Nevertheless, they got permission from the military, and the secret black project's coordinators to do this test. The date was chosen; August 24, 2011. The tests went flawlessly, the earthquakes were contained by nearby sediment, and large mineral deposits, blue rock, and protruding mountain ranges, nearby. No one was hurt, and they were "shaken, not stirred" - proof of concept had worked. And these devices could be delivered via a parachute bomb, or even a secondary device following a bunker Buster.
In other words, a bunker buster bomb could go into an underground nuclear facility in Iran, followed up by a secondary guided parachute weapon, or a slower flying VTOL UAV, and then detonated, or rather remotely controlled to discharge the pulse energy firing sequence. Of course, to trigger an 8.0 to 10.0 earthquake event, it would only take a large fault line nearby which let's say ran for 350+ miles long, at the proper time. If done in conjunction with a full moon, harvest Moon, or during a large solar flare event, it would be quite possible that they could trigger an 8.0, 9.0, or 10.0 earthquake depending on the geography of the area.
L.B. Fowler was shocked to learn that his new colleagues and he immediately received over $1 billion in continued research funding from the special secret black projects within the week. He'd never known government to move so fast, but that's how things were done in the black realm, no red tape, no bureaucracy, and no politicians. He had hoped that the politicians would never get wind of this, and now that the military had the ability to play God, he just hoped that they would use it responsibly, and that that technology would never be shared with anyone, including our own allies. He trusted the US, but hardly trusted any of the rogue nations after spending much of his time off studying Nuclear Proliferation reports from 60s and 70s, from the RAND Think Tank.
Dr. Fowler knew the history of nuclear proliferation, and he hated to think what the future of earthquake proliferation might be. Then on the other hand, he realized how valuable this tool could be for breaking rock, mining, or even taking out a killer asteroid headed for Earth. "Well," he thought "this technology will either save mankind, or cause its early demise; I just hope it's the former, not the latter."
Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the [http://www.worldthinktank.net]Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes writing 24,612 articles by September 12th will be difficult because all the letters on his keyboard are now worn off now.
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Earthquake-Weapon-Tests-Were-a-Success-But-Should-They-Pump-Up-the-Volume?&id=6520061] The Earthquake Weapon Tests Were a Success But Should They Pump Up the Volume?

His Tunneling Robot Design Wasn't Made in China After All - Black Project Secrets From Underground

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Lance_Winslow]Lance Winslow
Vern Howard thought he must be the cleverest man around. He'd stolen new technology from China's secret Think Tank Lab, and was blown away with the incredible leap forward, it was simply amazing, yes, and very simple too, simple enough for him to build one in his garage. And so he did, borrowing a bit from his 401k - and although he did have to pay it back or take the tax hit in the next year, he figured he could show his prototype around, maybe even sell it to the military, or get a contract with DARPA.
Vern hated hackers, especially state sponsored cyber attacks to undermine his country. He'd worked for one of the top government data centers, but it had closed down, as the government was moving into the cloud with a new mega-contract. He could very well take a pay cut, and move cities, as the government still needed his computer talents for IT security, but he hoped to start his own business, maybe even buy a franchise, maybe a retail or service franchise working with computers.
He'd been shopping around, looking in franchise guides, checking out the SBA small business loan website, and reading up on how to start a business, but he wasn't trying too hard, thinking he needed some time off from his 80-hour work week in Washington DC, where they truly treated him like crap. So, he headed off to the Las Vegas Defcon Conference. He met some folks he even suspected as being the same individuals that had attempted to infiltrate his systems at work, luckily, he knew all their tricks, well, or so he thought.
Turns out he was talking with some "good guy" hackers, former MIT grads who worked for Microsoft and they explained how it was possible to break through 256-bit encryption. They explained the process, but he realized they'd never have gotten into his old work system that way, he just listened, didn't say anything. Then they said something that really made him think, and he realized that, they were right about their hacking techniques, but clearly didn't understand his protocols. Vern did, and he knew that with that knowledge plus, his insider knowledge of the system, it was more than possible.
Bored out of his mind, he set up a trap for some Chinese Hackers at his home using some dummy routers, and a few old computers, mimicked the set up at work, at least using similar albeit bogus codes and IP assignment schematics. Then he watched how they tried to get in, he realized right away as he watched what they were doing, that he was dealing with a government sponsored Chinese cyber-command team. He noted their techniques, style, and as they attempted to infiltrate his four old computers and garage sale bought routers. The trap was set.
He used this knowledge to try his luck returning the favor, using untraceable IP addresses, skipping through 4-different countries and finally gained access to the computer command system which had hacked him, after he installed a super-cookie, and used some of the interesting code he'd caught them using prior to them shutting down, and exiting his home system. He finally found a way in, around their system and then broke the encryption. He couldn't believe it; "these guys copy everything we do, even our encryption techniques, this is a piece of cake."
He stumbled into a set of files that were quite extensive and he downloaded as much as possible until he was shut out, "damn," he thought, "these guys are smarter than I suspected." He was caught, but he had already downloaded a large chuck of data. He figured the files were booby trapped, but he had to look, so he kept them on one of his throw-away computers and hooked it up to an old bubble jet and started printing away. Four messy refill cartridges later, he noted they were plans for a tunneling robot, and designs for a man-operated underground tunneling system. He thought, "wow, amazing, I can build one of these, although I have no clue what I'll use it for."
The next morning he woke up and it was clear as day. "Payback Time" - as all those years they were trying to break into his IT system at work, now he was on the other side of the game, and he was winning! It felt good, it was an adrenaline rush, "no wonder these hackers can't quit," he thought, "no wonder they come and work in IT security after their juvenile exploits and criminal activities."
Well, six months later, and 100 or more trips to home depot and the junkyard on the other side of town, and borrowed money from retirement, he built the robotic tunneling system, with a capsule for him to control it so he could dig through the underground depths near his home. He had to try it out, so he started studying local geology, sedimentary layers, ground water, and underground pipelines, cable lines, power lines. He had complete schematics of all underground stuff near him. Then he plotted a course to the local Starbucks, figuring he could come up in the field behind the Starbucks next to the trash area.
He drove over there, with some old plywood, so he could cover up the hole when he got there. Sure enough his calculations were right on the money, "thank god for Google street view and GPS," he thought to himself. His calculations were correct well within 12-feet, but he was thinking "good enough for government work," as he smiled, he was happy again, truly energized, as he exited his spaceship-looking tunneling machine and went in for a Frappachino, then returned home, the same way he came.
The next day he contacted the military to see if he could get a contract, figuring his tunneling robot would be just dandy for Special Forces and important missions. He sent them digital pictures of everything. A day later, there was a black van outside of his house, and someone had hacked into his WiFi system, and even broken the passwords, "wow, these guys are good, how on Earth did they break my encryption he thought?"
After a couple of days after that, two gentleman knocked on his door, and asked to come in. "Sure come in, how are you, I suppose you work for the government don't you?" They said "yes, military intelligence, and we realize you have security clearance, and so we'd like to know how you came across this device in your garage."
He explained the whole thing, and they told him that they'd be in touch with him later, "but keep that thing covered up and you never talked to us." Turns out, that the Chinese had stolen the design from a secret project team at S4 near Area 51, and that it was US Technology that they had stolen, and they wanted Vern to now work for them, to find out how they stole those secret designs, and to run their IT Security for all the black projects for the military.
Vern was glad to be back to work, and the benefits and pay raise were great, plus it was a lot more fun than working in the dungeon of the old government data center. Vern loves his new job, and enjoys chasing Chinese spies, and securing our nation's most valuable asset; knowledge.
Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the [http://www.worldthinktank.net]Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes writing 24,612 articles by September 12th will be difficult because all the letters on his keyboard are now worn off now..
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?His-Tunneling-Robot-Design-Wasnt-Made-in-China-After-All---Black-Project-Secrets-From-Underground&id=6520087] His Tunneling Robot Design Wasn't Made in China After All - Black Project Secrets From Underground

Sweet Emma

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Yusef_Black]Yusef Black
"Yusef, you spoke of something earlier that struck me as odd, being content wherever one happens to be, it has occupied me for all the hours since."
At that exact moment, merely an hour after the appearance of the eastern sun, Yusef noticed a band of men on horses lining the top of the nearest dune. Directly facing them, they had obviously spotted Yusef and Saeed.
"Saeed, who are those men?"
A look of shock and fear captured Saeed's face. "Curses on this moment. My dear friend, forgive me."
"For what? Who are these people?"
"For sharing my troubles with you. Although unaware, you are now a co-conspirator."
"What???? What co-conspirator?" Yelled Yusef incredulously.
"Please my friend. You must reach into your cache of any good-will you have done in your lifetime and pray to your God for forgiveness."
"What are you talking about Saeed?"
"Do not move. These men are members of a nearby clan. In short I kidnapped the daughter of what you may call the tribe's chief and fought her brothers. My father has given the other clan permission to enter our territory and search for me."
Yusef lowered his face into his hands, and laughed, at the improbabilities of what is happening to him. "What will they..."
Before finishing his question, Yusef found himself looking up at a man standing in front of him, like a ghost, suddenly appearing before him. Saeed immediately rose to his feet and did not say a word. Yusef turned to look at his friend, before he could manage to stand up, the man in front of him knocked him out with one blow.
Evening has nearly arrived, there was still light. Yusef came about and opened his eyes, "Saeed? Saeed?"
"Yes my friend, I am here."
"Where are we?"
"In a pit, approximately twenty lengths deep. You must be hungry, there is rice and yogurt by the corner nearest you." Distress in Saeed's voice.
"I'm not really hungry." Answered Yusef while looking at his friend, downcast and moving a stick in a repetitive circular motion. "So your actions have caught up with you... well, with us." He added with a hesitant smile.
"Yes. I must apologize. I beg of you, believe me when I say I did not believe they would find me."
"But I don't understand, I thought you had issues with women, you feared them; yet, you just happen to kidnap a chief's daughter?!"
"Yes. Yes. You see, the kidnapping is not the problem. It is that I left her behind, did not complete the ceremony of ties between us, and shaming my father and my clan."
"Ahh, I see, right, commitment issues."
"Something along those lines."
"Well, is she beautiful?"
"Beyond any man's dreams."
"Hmm... not to be a downer or anything, but I have to say that something must be wrong with you. You obviously wanted to be with her, and she was with you, you accomplished that much, but you run away like a pig with his tail on fire."
"I see that you have a need to state the obvious."
"Well, is there something else you would like to talk about?" Asked Yusef sarcastically.
"Again, my apologies. It is your right and your place to speak of what you wish and how you wish. Yes, I ran away, I could not handle the love I had for her. And this is the result, an end to a life as a result of fear."
"End??? You mean they will kill you?"
"Most likely. I expect they are presently debating my punishment, more accurately, our punishment."
"Our punishment!" Said Yusef quietly and slowly, contemplating the surreal thought. After a moment, he continued, under his breath, "There is a reason for everything. I did something to bring me here, to this moment."
Saeed, seated with his legs crossed, slowly turned his face to look at Yusef, as Yusef brought himself to sit in the opposite corner and rest against the earth.
"Saeed, remember earlier this morning," Yusef pausing at the thought of how quickly circumstances and surroundings can change, "you were asking me about happiness, contentment, wherever one happens to be?!"
"Right."
"Well, it is truly simple, although often challenging, as we can now attest." Another pause, Yusef looks down, then continues. "So you see, my sister has a newborn, a baby, Emma, I used to look at her, I would become lost in her smiling eyes, specially when she is quiet and resting in my arms, she would often look back, her fingers in her mouth, her cheeks absolutely adorable."
"Of course you miss her."
"Of course. But there is more. Sometimes I used to find myself thinking about something else, not paying attention to her, this sweet sweet baby. This baby in my arms, somehow, her eyes would bring me back, to her, to that moment, to what is important, that moment, exactly that moment, and nothing else."
"I am afraid I am not quite following."
"Of course I miss her very much. But thinking of her, remembering her is not what this is all about. Thinking of her is reminding me to love the moment, wherever I happen to be, whatever I happen to be doing. Don't you see? No matter what, the moment we are in is the most beautiful gift the world gives us. A moment of life. 'Later' will inevitably come, and whatever it will bring will come whether we like it or not. But this moment, right now, that is the gift."
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Sweet-Emma&id=6511646] Sweet Emma

The Washington DC Think Tank Debates of 2016

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Lance_Winslow]Lance Winslow
The American people felt a new sense of vigor, a new president would be coming into office, the economy was starting to fire on all cylinders again, and things were actually working in Washington DC. Of course, where would America go with this newfound prosperity, and ever increasing abundance?
That's when the big debate started, and the think tanks on both sides of the political spectrum were drawing battle lines in the sand and organizing their intellectual debating points. But it wasn't just the Republicans and Tea Party, and Democrats and Socialists, this time there was a new player one which was stronger than ever now; the ever present and growing third-party with their libertarian zeal, something that was definitely catching on with the American people.
Scott Klein perhaps started off the debate when he was asked to renew his membership at one of the Washington DC think tanks as a fellow. He didn't like the socialist leanings and posturing that the think tank he was a member of had taken. He was well aware of exactly who the big donors to the think tank were, and the fact that the think tank was really an offshoot of a well connected Democratic law firm. Nevertheless, the group had always stated that it was partisan-politic-neutral, and only wanting true progress for America, but that was a laugh.
Yes, Scott Klein was madder than hell, and that's putting it mildly, he'd gotten tired of taking orders of which research projects to drop, the editing of his reports by staff, and the removal of several of his award-winning papers on the think tank's website. So he fired off an e-mail to the president of the progressive organization; Jonathan Protesta that stated;
Your members are so caught up in their views, that there is no debate left, they won't look at the empirical data, the facts, they enter all discussions at the point of political impasse from their new AGW religion with hyperbolic graphs in tow on down. What's there to talk about? Look Jonathan, we have too many insane environmentalists pitching nonsensical unreliable alternative energy promises such as wind power, who have no clue as to the reality. We have a bunch of old-timers there who don't get it either, have made rotten predictions and now have to live with their miscalculations, their credibility is shot, it hurts the entire group.
Are you not forgetting when I defended our organization after the Foreign Affairs, The Economist, and the Wall Street Journal attacked this organization a few years back. Still, there are too many anti-capitalist members who've seem to have forgotten Hitler was a socialist sending around emails of Republicans with Hitler-style mustaches. Remember FDR caused a lot of economic challenges and unintended consequences, look how those programs have grown today, a 1/3 of the Federal Budget for Social Security, yah, we need more socialism in America, right? Many of our members were big-time vocal supporters of the Obama Administration as well, which just blows me away to no-end, and I cannot believe for the life of me that anyone would fall for such nonsense and teleprompter speeches, especially fellows in this organization.
Any fellow, futurist, or long standing member in this group worth their salt could have seen that coming a mile away - shovel ready jobs, alternative energy, high-speed trains, not on a socialists' watch, not a chance Jonathan. Whatever tools our think tank members are using don't work, judging by their predictions. I wouldn't take any credit for that Jonathan. Here is the deal, we live in the real world, not some fantasy-land, this isn't Harry Potter on holiday, nor is it Wizard of Oz tweeting his meat like Congressman Weiner, or a Comic Book version of Soros making his latest commodity plays to cause world starvation making a cool 100 million in the process, while preaching love for humanity at Davos.
Yes, it's great that the original founder of this think tank met a lot of former Presidents and mucky-mucks here in Washington DC; good for the organization, something to lay a foundation on, prove self-worth and all that, but we can do better. What about in the here and now, today, in the present period? What are you really doing, talking about stuff, promoting member's concept drawings of utopian bubble cities; I don't see anyone building it? Think about it Jonathan.
Okay so, you put out a decent magazine, have an incredible eEzine list of the who's who here inside the Belt Way, yes, and some interesting articles, political research, reports, but really, it's nothing our organizations followers can't find in GizMag, Kurzweil's AI, OECD, UN Habitat for Humanity Program, MIT Technology Review, SpaceWars, DARPA press releases, TED, Industry Technology Trade Journals from TradePubs.com, or listening to on Coast-to-Coast mid-night conspiracy radio. It's the blind leading the blind Jonathan.
Jonathan, I need more, I am underwhelmed. I was really hoping for more. What you have on our website is repetitious, more noise, and the views of our members are not good enough, except for a very few standouts. How does being a member help me, or any of the other dedicated fellows in our group, or those interns we are grooming to blaze the field into the future? Your answer appears to be to give our team the tools we need, but many of us truly dedicated researchers have a system which obviously works better, at least based on the false-positive predictors and our member's predictions. The Hudson Group, CATO Institute, AEI, Heritage Group, and OTH are clearly blowing us out of the water here. They are right, and we can no longer pretend that socialism is good for America, as it's quite frankly been a disaster.
Whose team are we on Jonathan? Are we for America's future and progress or are we trying to turn this place into another economic depression as the Obama Administration did, we need to decide Jonathan. Personally, I am bored Jonathan, bored with being some sort of socialist soldier, censored by the committee, I need more. It's not good enough, why can't we push our organization to greater heights, why are we settling for mediocrity, why Jonathan? We have the opportunity to do great things. We need to stop acting like "flash-mob mentality" socialists and the apologists for humanity's ills. We need to get this show on the road.
Our group is promoting people as consultants who don't have a clue as to what they are talking about and they are mis-advising folks, corporations, and government agencies. You want me to "participate" and yet our website makes it damn near impossible, it's hard to comment even when logged in, even as a member with a log-in code, I can't comment, or set up a blog, not that I'd care too, but all the same. Our organization's secretary had advised me that my reports, comments, and insight is being censored, sentences being modified to established political correctness protocol, may I ask what on Earth that is about? Obviously this isn't a think tank anymore, it's just more Washington DC political punditry.
Our group is no longer functional, the communication systems on the website are hard to use, and as a Facebook twenty-something with an average of 682 friends might say; it sucks. Further, I see many of our members as the folks that are causing bad decision making in government and promoting horrible solutions based on socialist thinking borrowing plays out of the AGW theory alarmists' playbook. Our think tank should probably close and start over, then communicate better with our members. I have some information I'd like to get out too, but I keep getting censored, and quite frankly, I don't need some show-boat promoter, chimpanzee level intelligence, carbon-based organic biped telling me how to think or what to look for when doing reports, futurist studies, or research on this pale blue dot.
If they knew what they were talking about, they could argue or debate their points on the merit of their views, without censoring, plus they would have made better predictions without the stealth trickery we are now using with; brevity, ambiguity, and short Kiplinger style sentences, or ripped off bullet points from Professor Dychtwald's newsletters or the lasted UN message of the week. It's time for us Jonathan to start acting like a Think Tank, rather than dummying down our reader and leaders here in Washington DC with more socialist driven nonsensical material. And Jonathan if you disagree with what I've said here, consider this my resignation, and your new Think Tank competition.
Sincerely,
Scott Klein, PhD
--- --- --- ---
Jonathan did not agree, and Scott Klein made good on his promise. The socialist-based think tank did continue, with global partners, mostly European. It had lost most of its US Corporate based funding and Democrat Political support except for the outright socialists still left in Congress. The US had changed, socialism once again had been rooted out of American Society, well until the next pendulum swing, hopefully decades away.
Meanwhile, the intellectual debate in America was taken to a higher-level, and the political correctness, and noise of socialism had to compete based on reality, not political or media propaganda. America had grown up, and it was thriving once again.
Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the [http://www.worldthinktank.net]Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes writing 24,612 articles by September 12th will be difficult because all the letters on his keyboard are now worn off now..
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Washington-DC-Think-Tank-Debates-of-2016&id=6520613] The Washington DC Think Tank Debates of 2016

But Officer I Took Off Once I Hit the Speed Limit - Flying Motorcycle Ticket

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Lance_Winslow]Lance Winslow
The entrepreneur loved his crotch rocket almost as much is life itself. He often said it was better than sex, and he enjoyed racing his motorcycle through the canyons even more than running the multi-million dollar business he created. One day when racing through the canyons in the hills above Malibu California, he noted it was getting a little hot in the canyons, so he rode back down the windy Latigo Canyon Road, and picked up PCH (Pacific Coast Highway).
From there, he headed west, and was careful to drive the speed limit because his driver's license had been revoked and there were cops everywhere on PCH. He'd often had his license suspended, or revoked, off and on for the last two decades. He definitely had the need for speed. One of his favorite rides was turning onto Mulholland Highway at Leo Carillo Beach, waiting for the second hand on his watch to hit 12, and then gunning the motor and dumping the clutch and racing up to Decker Canyon to see if he could break his all-time record. He was certain he had run that Canyon faster than anyone ever alive.
It was a blast, and an adrenaline rush, that is until one day a baby deer was right in his path, he attempted to swerve around it, started to lose control, recovered, and went into a turn with his knee on the pavement, and his peg scraping. His custom Yoshimura pipe scraped on the ground, and must have caught a rock or something, as the bike started to high-side. Again he was able to recover, and his adrenaline was pumping like he'd never felt before. There was hardly any time left, and he tried to decelerate is fast as he could before he ran out of road.
It would be either the cliff on his right side, or the rocky and jagged mountain on the left, he chose the ladder, and it cost him about $3000 in repairs. He bailed just before he hit the wall of rocks, and was really more concerned with his motorcycle than his sprained ankle, sore wrist rest, minor road rash, and bruised ego. The Kawasaki dealer wouldn't have his GSR 750 out of repairs for over a month, and parts were back-ordered all the way to Tokyo.
Oh well, he had the money, so he went down to the Honda store and bought a new Honda CBR 600 RR, he hadn't had a Honda Hurricane for 10-years now, and he always loved that bike. He bought the latest model with all the bells and whistles, totally raced out. He rode the motorcycle to Las Vegas to break it in, and allow the rings to seat, and the next weekend he went down to Willow Springs Racetrack, took off all plastic, and wired up all the bolts as was required and put it through its paces. Coming out of turn seven, he must have caught a piece of the tire which had not been worn in properly.
He slid his bike into the hay bales at a 135 miles per hour as he pushed his bike away, and hit the hay bale right next door, just shaking his head as he got up and looked at his brand-new motorcycle in a state of disrepair, wondering how he was going to get back home. Luckily, he saw one of his friends from The Rock Store, a biker's hang out in the hills of the Santa Monica Mountains, and his friend helped him load up his mangled bike, and gave him a ride home.
Once he got home and unloaded his motorcycle, he started daydreaming about various modifications he could make. He'd always wanted to build his own airplane, an ultra-light, or an Experimental Aviation Association kit plan. He wondered if he could strap on a set of wings to this motorcycle, rebuild it himself, and make it into an airplane. "I could use fiberglass, and an expandable wing, I can use a rubber gear off the back tire to rotate a propeller," he thought.
The next day, he went down to his business, where he had shop, and he brought back some tools to his garage at home. He built a small nose cone for the motorcycle, and a foldable wing system. As he did this, he also got his old motorcycle back, brand-new, and as good as newer better, while he was putting the final touches on his Flying Motorcycle. He had realized that he needed a longer road way, than his windy driveway to take off, one that perhaps didn't have any major corners and it, for his first test flight. There was a stretch of road not far from his home near Malibu Canyon Road which would suffice.
He made several runs, before he got up the nerve to actually fly the thing away. Everything felt good, the wings were getting lift, it surely felt like it wanted to fly, so, he decided he would use a stretch of road which was slightly sloped downward, and take off from there, and then fly out through the canyon towards the beach area. He figured he could land before he ran out of fuel, near Point Mugu Rock and State Beach where the roadway was very wide on PCH. Then he would merely pull off to the side of the road, fold the wings back up and drive home. At least that was the plan, but as you go plans always change.
Just before he was ready to take off there was a police car up ahead in the distance coming towards him up the hill. He'd already committed to flying away, and he was probably going to fast to make the corner without scraping the wings which he had just unfolded. He didn't want to wreck his contraption, or get a ticket from the police officer for driving a motorcycle with wings on it. He figured that the California Vehicle Code was nearly as thick as a phonebook, and there was probably a law in there somewhere against it.
As soon as he reached flying speed, he leaned back, downshifted, and pulled a wheelie, the Motorcycle leapt into the air, startling him, and he gave it full power taking it to 11,000 RPM, and then he shifted again and gave it more power again, and then twice more. By then he had taken off, and crossed the road in front of him, right over and in front of the oncoming police car. "Oh crap! I know that police officer, and he's going to recognize my helmet." It was too late now and he enjoyed his flight immensely, and just as he had planned he landed on PCH near Point Mugu Rock.
As he was unfolding the wings, a CHP drove by, pulled in behind him, and within minutes had put him in handcuffs. Apparently, the first police officer had turned on his lights after he flew over the car, and called him in for evading a police officer and flying away. He bailed out that evening, and came back two weeks later to go to court. Apparently, the judge was quite a hard nose, and he was constantly after young motorcycle riders for crossing over the double yellow lines in the canyon, calling those actions a; "Malibu Felony" because there have been so many head-on crashes in the canyons in the hills above Malibu.
He tried to tell the judge that, he was already airborne before he crossed the yellow line, and he'd already left the pavement prior to reaching the speed limit, and that the police man didn't turn on his lights that he ever saw. Further he asked if the police officer worked for the FAA too, which obviously he did not, so therefore, he hadn't committed the violations on the ticket. The officer said he had him on radar, and he said; "yes, but I wasn't driving at that point, I was flying." The judge realized that the young entrepreneur was going to bring in the media and make another spectacle out of his courtroom as Paris Hilton, Mel Gibson, Charlie Sheen, Nick Nolte, and Robert Downey Jr. had in the last few years.
The judge was tired of the paparazzi, and media events. He finally said to the crotch-rocket, aerospace designer; "Not Guilty, and now get the hell out of my courtroom, and if you want to fly that thing, get a pilot's license and take it to Camarillo or Santa Monica Airport, or hell, build your own runway up on the hill, but don't pull that stunt again, or I through you in jail, do you hear me son?"
"Yes Sir," he said. The police officer came up to him later, and said, "no hard feelings, hey, I was just doing my job, do you think you could hire my kid for the summer in your company?"
"Sure," he said, "as long as you, don't write me for exhibition of speed or doing a wheelie, I am afraid that charge might have stuck, and I know this judge has it out for me now."
Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the [http://www.worldthinktank.net]Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes writing 24,612 articles by September 12th will be difficult because all the letters on his keyboard are now worn off now..
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?But-Officer-I-Took-Off-Once-I-Hit-the-Speed-Limit---Flying-Motorcycle-Ticket&id=6520694] But Officer I Took Off Once I Hit the Speed Limit - Flying Motorcycle Ticket

Fuel Prices Had Reached Over Twelve Dollars a Gallon in the US, But He Refused to Lose

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Lance_Winslow]Lance Winslow
Well, I suppose it all started in the spring and summer of 2011. Due to high commodity costs of food, manipulation of social networks, and anger among Arab populations several "Days of Rage Marches" had commenced. We watch the governments of Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya fall. We watched the Arab Spring turning to the Arab Summer, and then the Arab Perennial had started, would it ever end? In fact, one commentator on CNN joked and said that maybe the Mayan Calendar was off by a year?
After Tunisia fell, Mubarak knew he was in trouble in Egypt, and Libya's Khadafy and his family were soon taken down as well. Then there was the uprising in Yemen, Bahrain, Syria, Algeria, and even some unrest in Saudi Arabia and Jordan, even though the kings there were wise enough to immediately put forth social reforms. Of course, that is the year that Sudan became two countries after a civil war, Somalia had an exodus of starving Africans into Kenya, and Osama bin Laden was removed from this planet after hiding out in $1 million home and compound in Pakistan.
Needless to say, the price of oil in the US stayed around $100 per barrel plus or minus. Little did anyone know that, that price was extremely low for what was to follow later. Iran never did come clean on its nuclear weapons arsenal, and Hamas and Hezbollah attacked Israel from both sides. India and China couldn't stop their inflation or GDP growth, and they need more oil too. It was as if a rogue wave had hit the oil markets, and Brent Crude prices shot up first. By mid-2012 Brent Crude was trading at $180 per barrel, the graph of oil prices looked more like a Space Shuttle Launch into low-Earth orbit.
Since Khadafy had booby-trapped the oil fields, and let loose of Serin and Mustard gas, along with other biological agents, only robots could work in the oil fields, and the robotic engineers couldn't build them fast enough, but luckily it helped Japan's economy return to full steam after the Tsunami and Earthquake, and they were producing robots faster than Toyotas, Hondas, and Sony Playstations. And then Iran realizing that it was going to be attacked, took the first initiative, preempted, and marched their troops into Iraq, a group of 20 terrorists took over Dubai, as they had in Mumbai India several years before that.
Saudi Arabia moved to help its neighbor Iraq because it didn't want an unbalanced playing field in the region. Iran then shot missiles into the petroleum reserves, ports, pipelines, and refineries in the kingdom. All hell broke loose, and the eco-terrorists were still marching in protest and causing challenges for the pipelines coming from Canada to the United States. It was a perfect storm, and it was made worse by high-frequency traders, and the Chicago crisis/opportunity commodity traders in the oil market.
Gold prices soared new record highs day-after-day, and the US economy started to tank again, as consumer and business confidence went deep sea diving for the rest of the year. Folks couldn't afford to get to work, so they were busy telecommuting. Luckily, the US military had gone to alternative fuels, and they were still running their nuclear submarines, aircraft carriers, but they weren't doing a whole lot of sorties or flying. Hugo Chavez of Venezuela was selling his oil, but at a premium. He stopped offering subsidized oil prices to his own people, because Venezuela was making a fortune selling it to the rest of the world. Mexico ran out of oil, and the Locust plague, and insurgents in Nigeria stopped that oil completely.
By 2013, gasoline prices in the United States were $12 a gallon, and diesel was about equal. But that didn't stop Americans from trying to enjoy their lives, many lost weight and started riding their bicycle, diabetes was on the decline for the first time in three decades. And then there was this inventor, Dr. John Lawrence, an innovator who had built a vertical takeoff and landing remote-control UAV, The Tiltplane. He was flying it to Starbucks to pick up his Frappachino each day. We all remember reading about this in the New York Times, USA Today, LA times, and Wall Street Journal. The YouTube video counter hit some 3-million views one weekend, it went hyper-viral that month.
Apparently, John attached his iPhone to the bottom of this helicopter looking contraption, and used the camera to see where he was going, and also an app on his iPhone to pay for his Starbuck's Frappachino at the cash register. Dr. Lawrence flew it each day to Starbucks, and the Starbuck's employees read the front of the iPad to take his order, and loaded the Frappachino inside of a little cage, and swiped his iPhone at the cash register, and it flew the Frappachino all the way home.
Howard Schultz, founder and CEO of Starbucks, loved the idea, and called it a true innovation. Steve Jobs was interviewed, and he just smiled knowing his apps, and the iPhone and iPad communities had made all that possible with GPS, real-time video feed, and an app which made the iPhone an electronic wallet. The inventor started selling these contraptions, at first to RC modeling clubs, as kits. The RC modeling clubs would build the kits, and then sell them on eBay and Craigslist. It started a whole new industry of garage entrepreneurs, making money at home, without having to drive anywhere.
Other retailers, franchising companies, and service firms were also interested including Godfather's Pizza, Dominoes Pizza, and even Trader Joe's wanted to order larger versions which could take a whole shopping cart, albeit a lightweight shopping cart made of carbon nano-tube technology to keep it as light as possible, full of groceries.
These units ran on an ion-lithium battery which had been modified by a grad student at MIT, who was also making a fortune, as he had invented a way to turn metallic foam into the guts of an ion lithium battery. This made it fast charging, meaning that companies that wanted to deliver things to people's residence, could do so all day long with the fast charge at the base station back at their businesses.
Many folks were saying we don't need Middle Eastern oil anymore, nor will the United States be held hostage to these outrageous prices, or be involved in any more wars in the Middle East. The President got on TV, and made an example of the inventor of this little flying contraption and stated; "This is what I mean about Winning the Future, we have the greatest innovators in human history in the United States," as he pinned a medal on Dr. John Lawrence, the inventor out of Tampa, Florida.
Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the [http://www.worldthinktank.net]Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes writing 24,612 articles by September 12th will be difficult because all the letters on his keyboard are now worn off now..
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Fuel-Prices-Had-Reached-Over-Twelve-Dollars-a-Gallon-in-the-US,-But-He-Refused-to-Lose&id=6520778] Fuel Prices Had Reached Over Twelve Dollars a Gallon in the US, But He Refused to Lose

The Flash Mob Came for Them - They Were Killing People Because They Were Rich

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Lance_Winslow]Lance Winslow
Indeed, I guess it started around January 2012 as the US finally slipped into a double dip recession. The government tried to put forth better than realistic unemployment figures, and economic data. Of course, the stock markets on Wall Street, the economic analysts, and even our foreign trading partners told a completely different story. Their shipments to the US have fallen off drastically, and it was obvious that with consumer, small business, and CEO confidence in a tailspin something was amiss in the economic data.
Of course, the Obama Administration did not make things any better by insisting that the rich folks in America should be paying more in taxes causing the class warfare to get out of hand. If my recollection is correct, I believe it was in August of 2011 that the CBO or Congressional Budget Office put out a prediction that unemployment would be at 8.1% through 2014. It's too bad they didn't know the reality, but maybe it's good they didn't add the 10% to that figure to make it more accurate at the time. Of course, hindsight is 2020 and we don't live in a perfect world, and predicting the future is just as hard for the CBO, as it is for the World Future Society members, whose predictions are most always wrong.
Oh well, when it comes to economics, no one really ever gets it right anyway. The flash mob riots really started kicking in around February of 2012, all the Christmas labor had been laid off, and unemployment had hit 15%, it came out of nowhere, of course 15% was much better than it was later at nearly 19%. First it was the United States Post Office laying off 220,000 people, then it was every major company in America, 500 here, 1000 there, and occasionally 5000 or even 10,000 jobs were lost, it seemed to be the headline in the newspaper every single day for the rest of the year, no one knew who would be next, or even if they themselves would lose their job.
The Obama Administration called for more stimulus and unemployment money to be given to the states, but things were pretty bad off, and the government's tax base had also driven off a cliff. Apparently, all of the socialist programs, the stimulus, and all the rules and regulations which were piled onto small businesses and corporations were the death-nail of the economy throwing us into a double dip. As the class warfare continued, and as more riots, and flash mobs were witnessed across America, the wealthy folks started hiding their money, and finding ways to protect themselves.
The police were often overrun by the mobs, and they were still learning how to deal with the social networks which often allowed the instigation of these events, but also gave the authorities at least a little heads-up warming. Then there were the vigilante groups, neighborhood watch groups which started arming themselves, monitoring social networks, and meeting flash mobs head-on with thousands of people. At first, the good guy flash mobs came with their iPads, iPhones, androids, and digital cameras. They took pictures of everyone who was looting, and the police would around them up the next day.
That worked great for a while, unfortunately all the jails filled up, and that was a huge cost in and of itself. The Federal Reserve said it would keep printing money, to pay for food stamps, inmate services, and to protect the American people. FEMA started taking the criminals to camps. The Obama Administration had one crisis after another, and put forth executive orders to forgo the debt ceiling law, or the new balanced budget amendment. Martial law was declared more than once in 2012, and that was before all hell broke loose in mid to late 2013.
James W. Smith and his wife lived in a gated community, in a very well-off neighborhood, but they certainly didn't feel safe after watching on TV and seeing that several gated communities in some rather high rent districts in and around the suburbs of the Los Angeles had been attacked with thousands of people hopping over fences, overpowering security guards, and invading homes. In some cases wealthy individuals were shot by the unruly mobs of people. Mr. Smith and his wife had considered moving to Maui, as many of the billionaires had done, but they were really only multi-millionaires so they still had to watch their money carefully. The billionaires had reasoned that they could better protect themselves on an island, as it was more defensible against the radical mobs. Perhaps they should've gone too in hindsight.
A few months later, James and his wife heard gunfire in their gated community, and several single shots, they realize that people were being killed, probably some of their close friends. James helped his wife into the attic where he'd laid some steel plates and old Kevlar vests to lay on. He got out his weapon, and secured himself in the best defensible position he could. He was prepared, and he'd been a former Marine when he was younger. He wasn't afraid of being rushed by 100 people, hell in Vietnam they defended base camp delta against the Vietcong and there were 1000s of them. He'd been to the target range several times that month just in case.
He looked at some of the gangs of people running up the fairway a few hundred yards on the gated community golf course. He thought to himself how unfortunate that he might have to shoot some of those folks, as some of them didn't look much older than teenagers. He also thought to himself at least some of them are wearing baggy pants, and they won't be able to run very fast, giving him the advantage.
That's what he wanted, always take the advantage. He was in full-combat mode, Sempre Fi. He didn't really want to shoot anybody, especially any fellow Americans, but he decided he would defend his property, and protect his wife. After all, if they were going to come after an older couple like that, well, how American were they really?
He heard some broken windows, and apparently, some of the people of the mob had brought forth Molotov cocktails, and there was already one house ablaze. Others were busy looting, trying to carry off large screen flat-panel TVs and the like, made him sick to his stomach to see it, as it reminded him of the Hurricane Katrina footage of the looting at Wal-Mart in New Orleans. He heard a familiar sound he hadn't heard in years, it sounded like two National Guard he we helicopters, or was it three, yes, it sounded like three, flying overhead. He thought good, reinforcements, but then he worried that if they were going to take out the mob with 50 caliber machine gun, they were going to do a lot of damage to the golf course, and his neighbor's homes in the process. "War is hell,' he thought, "oh God, not again, he deja vu a flash-back," he hated war.
Nevertheless, he was locked and loaded, and ready to go. He also had a sniper rifle, and he was getting it up and mounting it on a sandbag on top of his small retaining wall he'd built for his home garden, as his wife only wanted to eat organic vegetables. He waited there and took aim as he watched one of the hoodlums raise a weapon towards one of his neighbors. As he was ready to take the shot, all of a sudden he saw a stream of bullets across the ground coming from one of the helicopters. "Good shooting he thought, it saved him from having to waste a bullet, these damn rounds cost $1.28 for this rifle," he thought to himself. The price had gone up lately, the gun shop owner told him he was sorry; "it's supply and demand these days."
He worked all his life to live in a gated community, and he wasn't about to give up his property, or his life for a group of criminals and thieves acting like barbarians in a mass mob of humanity. Luckily, he wasn't alone, there were folks across the nation that felt the same way. Eventually after the riots, protests, marches, and mobs of people learned their lessons, things got back to normal. He thought to himself later; "don't these people study their history, socialism doesn't work!"
Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the [http://www.worldthinktank.net]Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes writing 24,612 articles by September 12th will be difficult because all the letters on his keyboard are now worn off now..
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Flash-Mob-Came-for-Them---They-Were-Killing-People-Because-They-Were-Rich&id=6520839] The Flash Mob Came for Them - They Were Killing People Because They Were Rich

The New Classroom Technologies Were Out of the World And About to Get Even Better

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Lance_Winslow]Lance Winslow
Stan was a high-school French teacher, he liked to teach, and he was good at it, he'd better be after nearly 15-years. Thankfully, he'd been a teacher that long, as even teachers with 10-12 year tenure had been laid off recently with all the budget cuts, scary stuff. Luckily, he was still working, because he had a daughter who'd cost him a pretty penny in the next 4-6 years. Yes, he enjoyed the world of education, but he also liked being a father, but was somewhat apprehensive of his daughter going away to school in Palo Alto, CA at Stanford University.
That was pretty far away from home, his daughter was not a party type, never did drugs, and she had a knack for computers amongst other things. His daughter was a lot like his wife, sassy, commanding, but smart as a whip, and she had all his attributes as well; hard work ethic, perfectionism, respect for authority, athleticism, and was totally goal oriented, so she'd do fine, which of course, was the "only option" because those student loans would have to be paid back, and daddy wasn't going to slave away, deplete his savings if his daughter wasn't serious.
Of course, he wanted his daughter to be able succeed on her own, even if she'd probably find a wealthy Silicon Valley startup millionaire to marry along the way. Although, she wasn't too into social networking, she certainly could be if Facebook wanted her to intern there next summer. She was leaving all her options open. She loved Apple, and Google, and well, things were beginning to hop again in the Valley at IBM, Intel, as well. Just about everywhere along the 101 corridor, and First Street in San Jose was hiring too.
Meanwhile, across the street from the University, the old Venture Capital crowd was back hanging out, making plans, and yes, making money too. This second life for Silicon Valley was good, in the real world, academic domain, and in the virtual one as well. Stan wished he was in on the next new thing, he very much missed being in on the action, but he was far away from Silicon Valley, and was doing okay, perhaps even living through the eyes of his daughter, wanting her to succeed where he hadn't. Oh sure, he was successful, for a French Teacher, but he had really hoped for more.
Stan and his wife got their daughter into her dorm room at Stanford and headed back, for Stan school started in less than a week. The school was brand new, built on the same property, just all new buildings. The old ones were still there too. On the new buildings he lamented; "the paint isn't even dry yet, literally," as he stopped in at Starbucks after a round of teacher meetings, on-going education, and familiarization with the latest in school technologies. The new school was state-of-the-art, digital blackboards, WiFi enabled, digital text-books, you name it, they had it.
"Wow," he thought, "this is going to be really cool indeed," and it was all of that and more as the school year started. It was easier to keep the kids' attention with all the multi-media, easier to present class lectures, power-points, use the Internet. What a difference. Still, he felt, it was an experienced teacher that would really be able to make use of all this, as it takes teaching experience to make it all work. As he got extremely proficient, half the school year was already over. His daughter couldn't come home for Spring Break, as she'd taken on a job at IBM as an intern and would be going to orientation over the holiday.
That's okay Stan thought, he missed his daughter, and so too did his wife, but he was very excited for her success, and now with the new iPhone App, they often text-messaged back-and-forth and did video feed family phone calls too. Turns out his daughter scored so high on the IBM intern tests, they put her on the research team working on Holographic Spectral Imaging, for none other than classroom applications in education, and she'd be working on the testing phase, using the technology. She was so blown away by the technology that she called her dad and asked if he'd like to try it in his French Class?
"Absolument, je veux l'essayer," he said, and since she was heading up the intern team and they'd decided to try it out in various parts of the country, she made it so. She told her father, "Dad, I don't know about the rest of the world but IBM is winning the future, I mean they are bringing the future like, des mainenant!"
As her dad was using the system, he made several recommendations, and even re-wrote the manual in French for IBM, which was so impressed they hired him as a part-time consultant at $100,000 per year. Now he was making a difference again in Silicon Valley, bringing the virtual world into the academic world, while planning the future in the real world. IBM donated more gear to his high-school as well, every classroom, and he won "Teacher of the Year" for the entire district, "imagine that," he thought, "a lowly French teacher." Stan never lost his sense of humor.
He got with the computer science teacher and they came up with a new scheme, the computer science teacher also got a $100,000 per year consulting contract and four of the kids in each of their classes got partial scholarships to Stanford, with intern opportunities at IBM of course. In fact, IBM named their new virtual teacher assistant, 3D Stanley, a pun on the old "Flat Stanley" 2D avatar, as well as a tribute to Stan.
Stanley 3D was soon teaching French and English all over the world. Some 400 million Chinese Students are learning from English from Stanley, the VR assistant hologram of Stan's image, in China. In India, there were already 200 million students watching him every day and learning English, and he lost count of the total number of countries learning either French or English from his virtual self, and contributing royalties to IBM and his retirement account, the whole family was smiling now.
At Thanksgiving, his daughter, said, "Dad, I hope you are proud of me, I am working so hard, Stanford is really tough," and Stan just looked at her and said, "you are greatest daughter in the world, you did good, Je suis fier de vous."
Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the [http://www.worldthinktank.net]Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes writing 24,612 articles by September 12th will be difficult because all the letters on his keyboard are now worn off now.
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?The-New-Classroom-Technologies-Were-Out-of-the-World-And-About-to-Get-Even-Better&id=6520972] The New Classroom Technologies Were Out of the World And About to Get Even Better

A Light In All Darkness 2

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Tiffanie_King]Tiffanie King
CANDIDA
"Thank you very much Doctor..."
"I am Dr. Richard Weiss."
"Thank you...thank you so much Doctor Richard, I'm sorry if I will be a burden. I accept your kind offer. I need your help to regain my memory and to find someone who knows me."
"Yes dear, do not worry. We will do our best to find your family as soon as possible.
Dr. Richard is a very nice and kind person. He has a big heart to help everyone who are in need of help, just like me. He is now in his late 40's. Their family owned this Samaritan Hospital. His late great- grandfather who was an excellent and famous surgeon built this hospital for the poor.
Dr. Richard never gave up on me. He helped me recovered from my bruises and lifted my heart not to ever lose hope. He gives me a visit every day. He has been helping me with the recovery of my memory too. He felt sad though because he wasn't able to save my eyesight. But he assured me that if we would find a donor, I can see again.
The nurses are kind too. They are helping me out to find somebody who knows me by posting a picture of me at the missing people's bulletin. Nancy is one of them. She has been assigned to look after me. She helps me in my bath, prepares my food and my bed. She said, she lost her younger sister and her parents in a car accident. She was the only survivor. The authority had placed her in an orphanage and was adopted by a couple who could not bear a child. She grew up with love and care from this couple. She promised herself to become a nurse one day and help others too, who are in need. And now she fulfilled her dream. She really took good care of me during my recovery period.
I hope that someone kind and gentle would soon come and claim to have known me. I really wish that there is someone looking for me. Or do I have a family? They must be very worried for me by now...
It has been three months since I woke up in the dark here at the hospital. They won't let me help them work because the doctor said that some of my wounds are not yet healed, and besides I am blind so I can't work as well. So I'm just talking to some other patients and making friends to be comfortable with the others. But I'm feeling miserable and a burden to these very kind people.
"Candida!" that's what they named me because they saw a handkerchief with that name embroidered to it when I was found. - - "Someone is here looking for you. I think he knows you, and he is a very handsome man by the way," Nancy said to me with full of excitement.
I choose to pour out the love I have to shine on everyone that I meet and inspire them with my writings and/or short stories of encouragement and enlightenment. We just only started. Journey with me and experience the joy of adventures of giving love unconditionally and enjoying the life we experience in this universe we live in.
Your love for fun and for keeps...
Tiffanie King
A day in the life of Me...all my travels, adventures and all kinds of writings... You are all welcome. Feel free to follow me here: http://raffleberry.weebly.com http://lovebytesonair.blogspot.com
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?A-Light-In-All-Darkness-2&id=6505610] A Light In All Darkness 2

How Ganesha Won The Race

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Diane_Carol_Mark]Diane Carol Mark
Heavy mist from a summer shower settled over tufts of river grasses and hid them from us that afternoon in Paradise. Then, a breeze peeled back those golden shards, leaving beads of dew dancin' off the tops of those wavin' stalks. They were the tiniest of glass ornaments. The riverbank was just damp enough so that when you ran barefoot across her shoreline, your toes left prints that would surely be seen a week later. Miles across the valley glittered a towerin' palace of white marble that we all knew so well. Rose quartz canyon walls cradled that immense city as if the arms of a divine woman held it to her breast. Lights twinkled below her buttes, an' we were all beckoned toward her magic once again.
There was gonna be a competition that day. The Supreme Lord challenged his friends the demigods, the spiritual souls, the evolved spirits, the devoted ones and the child spirits to a rousing contest with a plum an' sweet prize that would be an eternal blessin' upon them. What was that prize? Well, everyone gathered round his white marble dais to hear it. And, once they did, they couldn't get enough of the idea, and they couldn't get it out of their heads either. Imagine... being selected to hold such an honor for all eternity. Well, I guess I didn't say what it was that the good Lord announced that day. It was an honor above all else. The winner of the competition would be known as the wise one, the one to be prayed to first. That soul would remove all obstacles in your path, or if need be, would put troubles there so as to discourage you from walkin' that way. But, they only knew what the prize was. What they didn't know was what they had to do to win it.
After the announcement, everyone scrambled up from his seat on the black and white marble floor and sprinted toward the blue carved gates as if the sun had splashed them with hundreds of energy sparks. They dreamed they was gonna be honored as the great one. They thought how they'd shine and imagined how they'd feel privileged and significant to always and forever be prayed to first.
Now, the elephant child Ganesha, one of the evolved spirits, he strode out of the courtyard swinging his short tail with his mind off in the distance, watchin' the sun shimmer as it settled on the rose quartz canyon walls. He felt relieved that he still had plenty of time for a game of soccer in the forest clearin' near his home. He knew the game would calm any worries he had about all the other great ones who would be challengin' him in the competition the next day. As soon as he cleared the gate, he sprinted across the valley determined to reach the forest long before sunset.
A Rosy Sunrise
At dawn the next mornin', the sky was mostly blue with a thin rosy cloud cover from the sunrise that had just brushed the canyon walls. Your skin felt pretty warm. So, you didn't even wrap a shawl over your shoulders. Everyone jammed into the Supreme Lord's courtyard with a riot of voices. They clamored for a good spot in the hall that stretched as far back as a body could see and then some. Granite pillars were scattered throughout the hall under an immense flat roof that shaded them from the intense sunshine. The roof was segmented into carved squares, each one painted golden. Crystal chandeliers dangled from many, makin' the inner courtyard a sight so bright that a body felt enthusiasm pull him straight up.
There was a hush all over the crowd's heads as the Supreme Lord wrenched open the silver doors on His balcony to greet them that mornin'. It got so quiet that even the noisiest songbirds stopped chirpin' in the magnolia trees that bordered the plaza. He cast His eyes over the crowd, smiled and waved before He spoke. That elephant child was crammed in on all sides. Behind him one of the demigods edged in for a closer look. He shoved Ganesha forward with a fist in his back. Ganesha nearly fell over, but one a his friends grabbed his arm, an' he straightened out okay. Just in time, too, 'cause the Lord started in on His announcement.
"This is gonna be an easy contest," He says from His balcony that swooped the sides of the temple. "The winner will be the one we will always pray to first. He will be the revered one."
Everyone listened without a murmur, but inside was already one-step ahead, believin' that they'd win for sure. They all were itchin' to know what they's gonna have to do to win this contest. It was stillness and silence when the Lord spoke again.
"The first soul who travels around the whole universe an' back again three times, an' who returns first will be the winner."
Now, everyone wanted to be respectful an' all, but that's not what happened. There was a buzz in the courtyard an' then there was a thunderous roll, a clappin' an' a bangin' as everyone spoke up at once. Heads turned and folks shoved each other on all sides as they scrambled outta their seats. But, it weren't over yet. The bell rang, the bronze bell that usually only chimed at the end of ceremonies. Everyone froze up. Time stopped an' no one breathed.
In the silence the Supreme Lord he said, "The competition will start at 11:08 a.m. today and will end when our victor arrives back here on these steps." He turned round, strode through the silver balcony doors and was out of sight just that fast.
Well, there was a frenzy now. They all rushed the gates, stormed outta the courtyard, an' scattered all over the plaza. They gathered in groups, spun 'round, grabbed their brothers, an' chattered fierce as songbirds in the magnolia trees. But, Ganesha he didn't even fidget. He cozied up on the marble floor and closed his eyes deep in thought. And, with the stillness of the moonrise over a river, he relaxed for a long time. His friends tore out an' were fixin' their vehicles, gettin' ready for the race.
They had all kinds a sophisticated vehicles in those days. Some had flyin' machines carved outta gold, some had chariots hooked up to majestic horses, some had mystical birds like eagles only they was bigger an' could carry a man on their backs. But, the elephant boy, he didn't have a vehicle at all. His dad, Lord Siva and his mom, Goddess Parvathi, had always said that when it was time for him to start travelin', he'd have to design and construct his own chariot. Well, on the first count, he really liked playin' soccer with his friends, an' on the second count, he hadn't yet thought too much about acquiring wealth.
The Grand Assembly
By and by the crowd glided into the courtyard grounds on their vehicles anxious for the bell to ring and feelin' nervous knowin' it was gonna be a tough race. Some of them felt hopeful, but by now, many of those high souls trembled. There was a few, however, who felt overly confident and didn't care any which way about how fast their vehicle was. They knew they were smarter than the rest and they'd win for certain. Imagine bein' the wise soul who would be prayed to first forever. That was all they thought about.
The crystal chandeliers that covered most of the ceilin' were all lit up. There was an arc of mustard yellow flowers strewn across the top of all the gates. Blue festoons, orange umbrellas and metallic sparklers decorated the courtyard. With all the color and lights the palace shimmered; it was a festival like no other.
By this time, Ganesha crossed his legs and sat heroically on the cool marble floor in the front row. He never left at all; he only got up a couple of times for some water that mornin'. He sat like an owl on a tree branch who keeps his eyes open, but is listenin' an' watchin' everythin' all around him. That owl doesn't miss even a leaf turnin' over on the forest earth. Then, Ganesha straightened up prepared to stand.
The crowd was pretty unruly. They pushed and shoved from all sides. As they tried to squirm through the back gate at the last minute, some got crushed. Then, there was the spectators. They was the most disruptive when ladies screamed as the competitors rushed in and nearly trampled them.
The men's side was total chaos. Hands flailed through the air from side-to-side when men shouted an' shoved from all directions as they rushed toward the front, hopin' for a sterlin' view of the Supreme Lord once He appeared. When He strode into the hall from his palatial residence on the right side of the courtyard, everyone thought He floated across the marble. As He reached the dais, they counted the last seconds before the bell would ring without even breathin'. And, just as planned, at 11:08 a.m. sharp, the gong rang out across the land. For a moment, no one budged. And then, as if an earthquake split the grounds, the crowd sprinted for the exits. From the back, spectators stampeded forward like cows with their hooves slammin' against the marble floor as they rushed to grab the competitors open seats.
But, a group of service folks formed a chain hand-by-hand and shielded the competitors from the spectators. The Supreme Lord watched the spectacle as He swayed in His red velvet rocking chair on the veranda. He chatted with his friends who stood next to him on each side. A few boys ran in and out of the temple grabbin' boxes and carryin' them back outside. Pretty soon there was an awful tall stack of boxes that leaned against the powder blue temple walls. Everyone guessed they was filled with sweets to be handed out as soon as the race was won and the celebration began.
A Hero's Insight
Then, that small elephant child Ganesha, he just rose up an' stood in his spot in the front row. Nobody noticed him at first, until he started to spin round and round. A few of the service coordinators couldn't take their eyes off him. His head glittered under light that streamed from the crystal chandeliers. His ivory tusks sparkled in a rainbow of colors, an' his elephant trunk swung gently from side-to-side as he twirled 'round.
After he spun around twice, he had the attention of the Supreme Lord. All the Lord's friends on the veranda stopped talkin' an' observed the elephant boy as he glowed with light, growin' brighter as he turned. The boys who hauled boxes onto the veranda froze up, and for the next few moments nobody even breathed.
That elephant boy, well he turned round in place just one more time. And, then Ganesha stood there real quiet like. He was a statue just gazin' at the Supreme Lord who by that time rose and strode toward him.
The Lord's robe swished gently in the mornin' breeze as He drew closer. Ganesha blushed and looked down when the Lord reached his side. Then, that elephant boy fell to his knees to kiss His Feet an' touch His robe.
"Tell me, are you back from your journey?" the Supreme Lord asked.
Ganesha drew in a deep breath an' his eyes became moist he felt so much energy bein' close to the Lord. "The universe is everywhere," he said. "It's here as much as there, Lord. So, I just turned round three times... it's the whole universe, Lord. I never had to go nowhere else."
Well, the smile that broke across the Lord's face that mornin' was one that none who saw it would ever forget. His eyes glistened an' His lips stretched that grin clear across His cheeks. You could tell by lookin' in His eyes how happy He felt, an' that His Love flowed ever so strong toward that elephant boy.
Surely, the wisdom of the ages was embodied in that small child. As the legend goes, the Lord selected Ganesha as the winner of the contest that day. And, ever since and forevermore, we all pray to him first to honor and to respect the wisdom he learned us that day, that early mornin' in Paradise when he gave us the idea that the universe is all and one everywhere. An' we need not go anywhere. But, we step in our own space and that's our holy ground.
Ganesha, that small elephant boy, will always be there for us as the aspect of the Lord who will remove obstacles or who will place stumbling blocks in our way if that way is not our path. We are grateful and humbled by his sagacity, his innocence and the love that he showered on us that mornin'. Praise be.
An ancient legend from the Puranas retold by Diane Carol Mark.
Diane Carol Mark brings a personal touch to her writing from fourteen years of extensive Asian travel. In addition to writing as a career for over ten years, Diane is a professional fine artist who lives in the Pacific Northwest. Dailey Swan Publishing has scheduled her novel Gold: The Zen of Dr. Shu Li for publication in July 2012. She has studied in an Intensive Individual Writers Program with author and teacher, Tom Bird. Her editor is the renowned Paul McCarthy, New York editor of nine #1 New York Times and international bestselling authors.
See her blogs at http://oracleofthewest.com
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?How-Ganesha-Won-The-Race&id=6523804] How Ganesha Won The Race

Finding Free Stories Online

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Tom_D_Gnagey]Tom D Gnagey
It isn't difficult to find stories online. It is a bit more difficult to find free stories online. To find high quality free stories on line is not such an easy task. Here are some things to keep in mind while you search for stories that will enhance your reading for fun.
Reading for fun has always been one of the most inexpensive forms of entertainment. I remember when the first 25 cent paper backs hit the market. It was a real bargain for a poor boy who spent lots of time reading for fun. There are free public libraries that have always facilitated free reading for fun. Presently, web sites offering free stories online have popped up by the thousands. That has both an up-side and a down-side. Many use the 'free' as a come on - giving away a few and offering a lot more for sale. We all understand how advertising works and recognize that it has long brought us free radio and TV. So, we can certainly put up with a few advertising ploys on the web in order to find some free stories and books to support our addiction to reading for fun.
When you search a browser (Google, Bing, Ask, etc.) for a 'free' site, enter key words such as, 'free short stories', 'free fiction', 'free mystery stories', 'free romance stories', 'free humorous stories', 'free historical stories', 'free stories for children', 'free books for teens', and so on. (Sometime ago I even found one under, 'free stories for grandpas!)
Another approach is to search by author: 'Free stories by Poe', '... by Hemingway', and so on depending on your taste in authors. When searching by author for free stories online, most will not be current authors but instead will be drawn from pieces that are old enough to be in the public domain (no copyright restrictions). When reading for fun, that probably really doesn't matter and often provides excellent quality.
Here are a few well received modern authors some of whose work can be found here and there as free stories online: Stephen King, Tom Clancy, Garrison Flint (mystery), Marc Miller (ghost stories), Gary Hutchison (mainstream fiction), Bonnie Brewster (family romance), Grampa Gray (fun for seniors), David Drake (kids and teens).
When reading for fun, remember there are also very inexpensive stories and books available online. With the coming of the technology to download digital files it has become possible for sites to offer full length books for as little as 99 cents. In this day and age, that is a bargain. They are downloaded to your computer or other reading devices (usually as PDF files) and can be read on the screen. Typically the purchaser is permitted to print one copy for personal use. That, of course, adds to your cost and you need to figure whether or not it would still be a bargain. Short stories are almost always a bargain when printed off.
Free stories online can greatly enhance your reading for fun. Encourage the young people in your life to search for their kind of free stories online. (You may want to preselect a few websites that you know are kid-safe.)
Tom Gnagey is a successful, long time, writer with more than 100 original books and 350 stories in his personally published bibliography (seven pen names). He has rewritten dozens of manuscripts for others. His education includes degrees in psychology, education, and philosophy. Tom is a nationally known speaker and creative writing teacher. For FREE SAMPLES of his stories and information about his Writing Rx services go to http://www.TomsBookNook.com now.
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Finding-Free-Stories-Online&id=6541400] Finding Free Stories Online