Archive for June, 2010

Sins of the Mind or Spirit

Whatever is constantly on your mind is what you become. To put it another way, you are what you think. Want to become a saint? Then read, study, and take to heart — the New Testament. Want to become a moral degenerate? Then read, study, and take to heart — pornography. We can’t help it. That’s the way we are made. Whoever we associate with, whatever we read, whatever we watch on television, whatever we allow our minds to dwell on, becomes, in time, our character and our destiny.

Paul understood this principle. “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8)

On the other hand, he cautions us: “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14)

And finally he gives us this straightforward warning: “Bad company corrupts good character.” (1 Corinthians 15:33)

Here is what we must reject: anger, arrogance, bitterness, cowardice, deceit, envy, evil thoughts, folly or foolishness, greed, hate, hypocrisy, jealousy, lust, pride, rage, selfish ambition, and worry. If we give anyone of these sins of the mind or spirit, free reign, it will destroy us. Let’s briefly examine what Jesus and his disciples had to say on each of these sins.

Anger

We are to control our anger; we must not allow our anger to control us. Jesus put it this way: Anyone who is angry with his brother is subject to judgment. Anyone who says, “You fool!” is in danger of the fire of hell. (Matthew 5:22)

Paul cautions us: “In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” (Ephesians 4:26-27) Again Paul says: Get rid of anger. (Ephesians 4:31)

And James advises us: “Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” (James 1:19-20)

Arrogance

Jesus condemned arrogance in his repeated statement: “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matthew 23:12) (Luke 14:11) (Luke 18:14) Jesus also addressed arrogance in the Gospel of Mark: Arrogance makes a man unclean. (Mark 7:21-23)

Bitterness

Paul and the writer of Hebrews both speak of bitterness. Paul simply says to get rid of all bitterness. (Ephesians 4:31) In Hebrews we read: “See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” (Hebrews 12:15)

Cowardice

Cowardice is the sin opposite of the virtue courage. Jesus denounced cowards saying they will go to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. That will be their second death. (Revelation 21:8)

Deceit

Deceit is another one of those sins that makes a man unclean. (Mark 7:21-23) Ananias and Sapphira kept part of the money they received for selling their property. They presented the rest of the proceeds from the sale and placed it “at the apostles feet.” Apparently, they claimed their donation was the entire amount received from the sale. Both died on the spot for their deception. (Acts 5:1-10)

Paul condemned Elymas, the sorcerer, for being “full of all kinds of deceit and trickery.” (Acts 13:10) Peter urges us: Rid yourselves of all deceit. (1 Peter 2:1) Also: “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.” (1 Peter 3:10)

And John says: Nothing impure will ever enter heaven, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful. (Revelation 21:27)

Envy

Jesus, Paul, James, and Peter all warn us against envy.

Jesus: Envy makes a man unclean. (Mark 7:21-23)

Paul: Envy is an act of the sinful nature. Those who envy do not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21) Again Paul: “Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.” (Galatians 5:26)

James: Bitter envy and selfish ambition is earthly, unspiritual, and of the devil. (James 3:14-15) And Peter: Rid yourselves of all envy. (1 Peter 2:1)

Evil Thoughts

Jesus tells us that evil thoughts are another one of those things which make a man unclean. (Matthew 15:18-19) And he provides us with this clear insight: “For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks…. the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.” (Matthew 12:34-35)

Paul in a similar vein, says: “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.” (Colossians 3:5-6)

Folly

Jesus rebuked folly. He tells us it is yet another of those sins of the spirit which make a man unclean. (Mark 7:21-23)

Greed

Then there is greed. Jesus condemned the teachers of the law for taking advantage of widows: “They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely.” (Mark 12:40)

Likewise, he denounced the Pharisees for being full of greed and wickedness. (Luke 11:39) Then he warns us: “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12:15)

Paul says plainly: The greedy do not inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:10) Paul continues to caution us against greed. See Colossians 3:5, 1 Timothy 6:6-10, Ephesians 5:3 and 5:5.

And the writer of Hebrews puts it simply: “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have.” (Hebrews 13:5)

Hatred

Closely related to anger is hatred. Paul puts us on notice: Hatred is an act of the sinful nature. Those who hate will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)

John compares hatred to darkness. “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.” (1 John 2:9) And he repeats his injunction: “Whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.” (1 John 2:11)

Hypocrisy

If we go by the number of times Jesus condemned a particular sin, he must have despised hypocrisy more than any other sin. Perhaps he saw more hypocrisy than anything else. We know it’s an easy enough trap to fall into. Hence we have numerous warnings.

Jesus tells us not to criticize others when our habits are worse than theirs. (Matthew 7:3-4) We are not to give to the needy, pray, or fast to impress other people. (Matthew 6:2, 6:5, 6:16) And Jesus repeatedly condemns the teachers of the law and the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. (Matthew 23:13, 15, 23, 25, 27, and 29)

Notice the colorful imaginary and biting humor Jesus employs in ridicule of the Jewish religious leaders. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” (Matthew 23:27-28)

And: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.” (Matthew 23:25)

Paul and Peter also denounced hypocrisy. See Romans 2:1, 2:21-23 and 1 Peter 2:1.

Jealousy

Paul criticized the Corinthian church because of their jealousy and quarreling. They were, he said, acting like “mere men.” (1 Corinthians 3:3) Jealousy is still another act of the sinful nature. Paul warns that those who act that way will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)

Lust

Lust is another sin of the mind or spirit. We reviewed Jesus’ quote on the topic when we addressed the sin of adultery. “Anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28)

Paul adds his own warning: “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.” (Colossians 3:5-6) And he commands us to control our bodies and not to give in to lust like pagans who know nothing of God. (1 Thessalonians 4:4-5)

Malice

Malice is a desire to harm others. Jesus included it in his list of sins which make a man unclean. (Mark 7:21-23) Both Paul and Peter tell us to avoid this sin. (Ephesians 4:31) (Colossians 3:8) (1 Peter 2:1)

Pride

Pride is an overestimation of oneself. For many of us, this is the strongest temptation we face. Ironically, the more we have of it, the more we notice it in other people. The writer of Proverbs, Jesus, Paul, and James all warn us against yielding to this deadly sin.

“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18)

Jesus: “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matthew 23:12) (Luke 14:11)

Paul: “What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift?” (1 Corinthians 4:7 NLT) The apostle encourages humility rather than pride: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.” (Philippians 2:3) Also Paul warns us against becoming conceited: “Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.” (Romans 12:16)

And James quoting Proverbs 3:34: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6)

Rage

Another iniquity of the mind is rage. Paul reminds us not to indulge in this error in three passages. In Galatians, he says that fits of rage are acts of the sinful nature. Those who act that way will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21) And twice Paul tells us to, “Get rid of rage.” (Ephesians 4:31) (Colossians 3:8)

Selfish Ambition

Ambition in our culture is a highly admired virtue. We associate it with hard work and contrast it with laziness and sloth. But we are put on notice that ambition must not degenerate into what biblical writers call “selfish ambition.”

That strikes many of us as a strange concept. Selfish ambition seems to be a natural, even a reasonable way of looking at life. After all, didn’t we earn the money. Why shouldn’t we spend our earnings as we please? God, however, demands a higher standard. He does not tolerate selfishness in any form. We are reminded to keep our perspective.

Jesus graphically illustrates God’s disgust with stingy people in the Parable of the Rich Fool. A rich man’s land yielded a good harvest. So good, he didn’t even have room to store all his grain. To solve his problem, he decided to tear down his barns and build larger ones to hold his grain. After that, he thought he could take life easy — eat, drink, and enjoy himself.

But God said: You fool, tonight you will die. Who will get all that you have hoarded for yourself? That is what happens to those who selfishly keep everything for themselves. The wise share their riches with God. (Luke 12:16-21)

Paul lists selfish ambition as another act of the sinful nature. Those who act that way, he says, will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21) In Philippians he writes: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.” (Philippians 2:3)

And James adds his own warning: Bitter envy and selfish ambition are earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. (James 3:14-16)

Worry

Some people seem to be natural born worriers while others don’t seem to be bothered by anything. So what? The problem with worrying is that it betrays a lack of faith in God. Both Jesus and Paul caution us against worrying.

In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus tells us that the seed which fell among thorns stands for those who hear the gospel, but over time they are choked by life’s worries, riches, and pleasures, and do not mature. (Matthew 13:22) (Luke 8:14)

Jesus says in another passage: “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?” (Matthew 6:25) (Luke 12:22) Then he follows that with this penetrating question: “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life ?” (Matthew 6:27) (Luke 12:25)

And Paul offers us this guidance: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)

The biblical prohibitions on sins of the mind or spirit can be summed up in one simple bit of advice: Be careful what you think, for that is what you become.

Question to Consider:

Are the people you associate with, the books you read, and the entertainment you enjoy building up your character, or tearing it down?

“Question: Why are we Masters of our Fate, the captains of our souls? Because we have the power to control our thoughts, our attitudes. That is why many people live in the withering negative world. That is why many people live in the Positive Faith world. And you don’t have to be a poet or a philosopher to know which is best.” Alfred A. Montapert (1906 – ) American author

Note: All Scripture References are taken from the New International Version unless otherwise stated.

NLT – New Living Translation

Jerry Richard Boone
http://www.articlesbase.com/religion-articles/sins-of-the-mind-or-spirit-133602.html

Scams Involving Credit Repair

It is a sad reflection of the world that we live in today that so many different people are not only able but actually willing to profiteer at the expense of other people, and seek to make a quick buck from other people’s misfortunes. The so called credit crunch has really caused a massive global recession meaning that more and more people are finding it difficult to obtain credit and loans and worse yet, are finding that poor or even less than perfect credit ratings are coming back to haunt them. Such people will either find their applications rejected outright, or if they are extremely lucky will be granted a loan with rather excessive interest rates attached to them.

A person’s credit rating/score is used as by financial institutions to determine the level of risk that the applicant poses, and whereas previously money lending was a boom industry with rather lax criteria, now the financial organizations are seriously tightening the net so to speak. With loans with affordable repayment schedules becoming ever increasingly hard to come by many people are going to rather extreme lengths to try and salvage their rather poor credit score.

A rather sad effect of all this is that whilst the legitimate finance sector has declined, the illegitimate one has expanded rapidly and among all of the scams that crooks will subject victims to, one of the most increasingly common and popular is the credit rating repair scam. This scam involves a company purporting to help repair a poor credit rating and in some cases (if their own overblown, bombastic hyperbole is to believed) actually resurrected from the dead.

Consumers, please note that there is an entire wealth of information provided for credit agencies, the federal government and through citizen advice bureaus. This information is readily available in the public domain and is totally free and so if a credit rating repair company should ever demand a fee for their services then walk away very quickly.

If they happen to require a fee to be paid upfront before any sort of advice or counseling is provided then be prepared to never see your cash again. Such companies that engage in such practices tend to have a rather nasty habit of mysteriously disappearing never to be found usually within an extremely short time frame.

These fraudulent companies prey on human weakness and peoples desperation and so they often make offers that are incredibly tempting. One such example is where credit repair companies will offer their clients an opportunity to create an entirely new credit account which will allow for the client to quash all their outstanding debts, and start afresh to deal with creditors as they so wish. Think about this logically for a second. If every consumer were able to do that, then how on earth would the finance sector have any guarantee that people would be able to afford the repayment schedules? How could banks determine beyond reasonable doubt that a prospective client is who they purport to be? Exactly.

While this offer sounds tempting, there is a very simple word for it: fraud. The government takes a very dim view on this particular form of credit repair, and the law makes no real distinction between the credit company that instigated the idea and presented as a valid and legal option and the unsuspecting consumer who was an unwitting part of this criminal conspiracy.

Ignorance of the law is not a legitimate legal defense, and so you may find it a hard sell trying to convince the judge that you did nothing wrong.

Poor credit ratings is a major concern and because of the significant potential for abuse and criminal conduct, the government has founded a number of different initiatives each of which are intended to help educate consumers as to their rights. Being creditworthy, paying bills on time and being a responsible consumer is a big requirement but a necessary evil. The government has no wish to see consumers struggle with debt and poor credit ratings and so will be more than happy to advise consumers as to the best possible course of action to take for any given situation.

Nicholas Boler
http://www.articlesbase.com/credit-articles/scams-involving-credit-repair-734732.html

Birth Control – a Natural Solution Without Pills – Condoms or Steralisation

If you are with a constant partner, and wish to have really satisfying sexual experiences, but not interested in the birth of a child, you must solve the dilemma of birth control here we will look at a NATURAL method.

Medical Birth Control

Medical birth control are the methods and devices (or medicines) employed to prevent pregnancy.

These are birth control pills (and patches, and injections), condoms, diaphragms, male and female sterilization, and abortive techniques (day after pills).

All of the above are effective, but also have real drawbacks to their use. Birth control medications have side effects, and some of them are quite unpleasant.

Condoms are effective, but reduce significantly the satisfying part of sexual relations.

Female uterine dams are a bit messy and reduce well the spontaneity of the sexual act.

The radical solutions like sterilization are also having great drawbacks in case of a change of mind or partners.

Natural Birth Control

There is a wonderful method, highly effective, of natural birth control which can indicate when the woman

partner is ovulating, and thus at risk. This is accomplished in two ways:

Learning Your Partner

Taking a daily temperature reading (from the vagina) daily for two months, tracking the results, can show when and how long the woman partner is ovulating.

This method is generally used for women who wish to become pregnant; indicating to them on which days there are mostly futile.

Learn about your partner’s body, and find out when she is ovulating. There are other indications, such as uterine pain in the middle of the menstrual cycle (which a German doctor termed, mittle schmertz.

This is also a very good indication of when the woman is ovulating.

Another interesting and almost unbelievable factor is that some women ovulate twice.

That is, if the full moon falls closely to her natural ovulating event, she can release another ovum. So, you must track also the cycles of the moon. Learning about your partner will have collateral benefits you will

reap later.

How to Use Natural Birth Control

Once you have discovered well about your partner’s menstrual events, you can then chart which days are acceptable for unprotected sexual union.

As a rule of thumb, you may have unprotected sexual union for at least 10 days leading to the ovulation event.

Then, using the above information, or even some ovulation tests one can buy at the pharmacy, you refrain from unprotected sexual union for one week three days prior to ovulation, the day of ovulation, and three days after ovulation.

Thereafter, you have another 10 to 12 days of free sexual activity.

he event of conception is not as easy as couples may think. The arrival of sperm to a released ovum has

The short window of about a day or two.

Thereafter, conception will not generally take place.

Some couples will practice unprotected sex during the one week conception segment of the menstrual process, but indeed with withdrawal at the moment of ejaculation.

This is highly ineffective and can and result in an unwanted pregnancy.

In this case, either abstinence during the one week “danger period”, or use of a condom is advised.

Birth control can be naturally practiced, and with some good common sense, some research into the woman partner’s conceptual time zones, can result in highly satisfying sexual relations.

Sacha Tarkovsky
http://www.articlesbase.com/sexuality-articles/birth-control-a-natural-solution-without-pills-condoms-or-steralisation-107551.html

The Why of SEO – a Thermal Lifejacket for the Economic Ice Age!

Despite the many and varied articles written on how SEO is done, most people have only a vague appreciation of WHY it is absolutely essential. As the economic downturn bites into revenue streams, can you afford to ignore a key website business strategy?

That includes a depressing number of website designers, some of whom actually tell their clients that SEO is a waste of time and money, and that it’s quite unnecessary these days because Google is smarter than ever before… Au contraire – it becomes more and more critical every day, as website numbers expand exponentially! Lack of knowledge is not confined to website designers, it also includes a number of wanna-be SEO firms who make outrageous claims about their special relationship and affinity with Google etc, but have little idea of what it takes to consistently succeed in attaining Top 30 rankings.

There are many articles written on the HOW of SEO, covering the many and varied aspects of the art of improving your site’s position in search engine ranking pages (SERPs). Whilst most people have heard the term “search engine optimization” and have a vague appreciation (or apprehension) of the hoped-for outcome, surprisingly few people seem to really understand WHY it is absolutely essential.

Be very aware that in most cases website design is taught as an Art, not as a Business discipline. Website designers are rarely taught anything about search engine optimization, and few are interested in mastering the skills required to produce optimal results. That’s all very fine and dandy – but it leaves a lot of website owners desperately disappointed in mediocre results! You’ve probably heard the analogy about building a shop in the middle of a forest too, I bet? Seriously, it really does not matter how beautiful the site is – if no one finds it, then it’s just a gorgeous waste of virtual space.

Content is Still King

Regardless of the various conflicting opinions, Google conspiracy theories and misinformation, it comes down to a very simple concept – content quality, and accurate content classification. Content is where many sites fail dismally! The sites that thrive are those with well written, well organised original, interesting and useful content. Don’t copy other peoples stuff. Aside from being illegal, at best it immediately downgrades you to second best… As a general rule, from an SEO perspective, bear in mind the most fundamental issue – Google loathes duplicate content!

Classification

There are literally millions of websites, each competing for viewers in a particular niche. Reasons for their existence vary across the A to Z spectrum – advertising, entertainment, comedy, educational, humour, informational, music, news, promotional, sports, wine, video, zoos… you get the picture, right?

In the world of books we have the Dewey decimal classification system. Every published work is assigned an ISBN number, and libraries classify all books under a rigid hierarchical subject classification system. It’s not perfect, but it works pretty well because every one uses and understands it! Erudite people write insightful book reviews, which are sometimes included in advertising and promotions. Hold this thought, its relevant to a following section. You want to find a book on a particular topic, or by a specific author, you do a search and Eureka! You’ve found it, there’s a list, even! The best books are reviewed multiple times, and take pride of place in the “best sellers” rack.

Relevancy Ranking

Using different terminology, search engines are trying hard to do the same thing – to give their searchers the most accurate list possible, containing exactly what they want, so they can pick and choose from it! Unfortunately, there is no Dewey classification system on the web. The closest thing to a hierarchical subject listing is the Open Directory, Yahoo, or one of the thousands of other web directories – all of which are inconsistently organised into completely different illogical structures!

So, here we have Google and other search engines trying valiantly to index and categorize the billions of pages on millions of websites, in hundreds of countries in a multiplicity of languages. Then, they have to calculate each page’s relevance to specific search queries…

Are You Helping or Hindering?

That’s where YOU come into the picture… It’s a big, big task – have you made any effort at all to help Google to help you? Or is your website fuzzy and unfocused, with no clear statement of content or purpose? In most cases, sites are constructed with vague intentions to do SEO as an optional extra sometime in the future… What, you want Google to do everything for you?

Done Any Homework?

Do you have any idea how your primary audience searches for the information, products or services you offer? Do the pages on your site describe your content using terms your clients use? Because that’s the only way Google can match searchers with relevant content! What? You actually forgot to do any market research before launching the site? You have no accurate, researched, hard data on the keywords your potential clients would use? You asked your friends at work for ideas? Absolutely incredible!

Let us pretend you’re looking for clients for your small bed & breakfast business in Christchurch, New Zealand. You are optimistic that potential customers in New Zealand, Australia and the UK will be able to find your website amongst the millions of competing B&B pages on the web, be convinced by your persuasive advertising copy and elegant pictures… you’d also like them to come and book directly with you, to avoid hefty commission payments on the dozens of B&B Advertising Directory sites who also want you to pay to advertise! Dream on!

So You Want Google To Work For You?

You’d really like Google et al to help connect your potential clients to your business via Search Engine Results Pages by making your site No.1… And you certainly want “qualified” traffic from Google, visitors who are specifically looking for exactly what you offer!

Anyone who thinks they can survive online without Google, Yahoo and MSN is either a thoroughly well-rounded idiot, or is a household name who does not need to advertise to generate qualified traffic. There is no middle ground.

But here’s where it gets hard! How will Google do that? What solid information have you provided Google in your on-site content, and in the off-site links to your site? Have you got a Domain Name which encapsulates your business type and location; Bed-Breakfast-Christchurch.co.nz? Or a cryptic name, like; BnBChChNZ.com? Of the two, which is most likely to give the SE its first clue as to what your site is about?

What is On-Site SEO

Think about it this way… Does your home page have an explicit and accurate Title that provides a direct and unequivocal statement of the site’s business purpose in 70 characters? Does the Title say “Bed & Breakfast Accommodation, Christchurch New Zealand” or does it say “Welcome to Dusty Lodge” or something equally asinine?

Does your home page have an explicit and accurate Description that provides a brief outline of your business purpose, unique selling proposition, and call to action, encapsulated in 150 – 200 characters? Or does it contain some vague warm and fuzzy drivel about beaches and sunsets?

Keep the book analogy in your mind, and take a look at your Home page, particularly the first heading and first paragraph… “Welcome to my website” is not a productive approach! What does it tell your visitors about you? It tells me that you are at best naïve and both you and your website designer need SEO counselling! And think about that first paragraph… is it an accurate summary of the site’s reason for existence? Eliminate that fruity, cheesy, fluffy verbiage immediately!

If your website is required to deliver a return on investment, particularly by selling products or services, or delivering customer service, informing or entertaining, your really need to accurately describe your website’s content, and allow it to become visible online. What’s that I hear? Oh, you want it to make you rich as well? But you don’t really want to make a serious commitment or effort to do the job properly? Right… good luck with that! And remember that old GIGO acronym – “Garbage In, Garbage Out!”

What is Off-Site SEO?

This may surprise you, but some people are dishonest about their site content. Frankly, some people handle the truth in a very awkward fashion indeed… Telling Google that your site is about Pamela Anderson, when its actually selling Bart Simpson comics, is deuced annoying to the people who visit it! Therefore, Google and other SE’s decided long ago that some external verification of every website’s content would assist their efforts to deliver the most relevant SERPs to their clients. Makes perfect sense to me…

How is this achieved, I hear you ask. Well, you’ve heard of links, right? Back to the book analogy – think of good links as being like a series of book reviews! What if lots of people are writing positive things about your site? What if multiple, external, widely distributed sites are all saying that your site is about “Bed & Breakfast Accommodation Christchurch NZ” huh? The balance of probability that your site is relevant to such a search is positively impacted by this external confirmation! A coincidence of keywords in on-site content and off-site links reassures Google immensely! Those keywords in the off-site links are referred to as anchor text, and should form the link title.

No, Its Not Rocket Science

Frankly, search engine optimisation, in the pure sense of the term, is not particularly difficult to understand, or to do. The aim of the search engines is to provide their customers with the content most relevant to the search they are making. Therefore, your salvation lies in making your content relevant to the known searches! Do some thorough keyword research, learn and understand your target audience’s searching behaviour. Plan pages that target specific, high-volume, low competition search phrases.

Don’t be vague, don’t waffle, and help Google to help you!

When the economic gravy pot is bubbling merrily, and there’s ample business gravy slopping over, even the mediocre get a share. But when the economic ice age casts midnight shadows at noon, and credit wolf packs softly pad the empty streets, howling balefully at the waning moon… then, when you’re sucking the last congealed streaks of business gravy off your tarnished website spoon, ask yourself… Can you afford your website to be second rate, disorganised and drifting ever further into the icy wastes of mediocrity?

With a better understanding why SEO is so important to your website’s success, will you continue to ignore it?

Ben Kemp
http://www.articlesbase.com/online-promotion-articles/the-why-of-seo-a-thermal-lifejacket-for-the-economic-ice-age-729218.html

New Big Screen Documentary Exposes Pat Tillman Cover-Up

A new documentary set to hit the big screen this summer lifts the lid on the cover-up behind the death of Pat Tillman, the pro-football star who gave up a lucrative career to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq before preparing to return to the U.S. as an anti-war icon, at which point he was killed in a so-called friendly fire incident that more closely resembled a deliberate assassination.
Read more…

Does Lady Gaga put mind-control or hypnotism stuff in her songs?

I feel like when I listen to her songs, the more I listen to them the more I like them. For most pop songs it’s the other way around. Now I keep listening to them and I get more and more addicted. I always have her songs stuck in my head. Does she put like, hypnotism or mind-control stuff in the background of her songs or something?

You may be referring to the idea of a "hook" – a repeated musical pattern that makes a song "catchy". There are about 4 or 5 of them that all songs borrow from – yes, "all songs sound the same" as parents of every generation like to say.

One very popular hook is Pachelbel’s Canon in D – it was used in the Blues Traveler song "Hook" (it was about musical hooks, not TV addiction as shown in the music video)

-HOWEVER-

There are conspiracy theorists who claim that images and symbols used by Lady Gaga are similar to those used in the CIA mind-control projects in the 1960s.

Report: Toronto police rough up journalists, arrest peaceful protesters at G20

Reporters covering the G20 summit in Toronto say they were the target of police violence overnight, as riots blamed on anarchist groups left four police cars burning in the financial district and resulted in the arrests of some 150 people.
Read more…

The Real Truth About BP and What is Happening in the Gulf

BP is engaged in criminal negligence. It only pretends to clean-up its mess when government officials arrive for photo-ops. BP and its employees have given more than $3.5 million to federal candidates over the past 20 years, with the largest chunk of their money going to Obama.
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Conspiracy of the century? Hackers ‘expose’ climate change

Hackers have tried to prove global warming researchers are massaging the figures – after stealing sensitive emails from one of the UK’s leading climate research centres. The documents were then made available to the public from a Russian server.

Duration : 0:4:22

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Noam Chomsky on 911 conspiracy par1

Noam answers conspiracy claims

Duration : 0:3:15

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