THE WIDER VIEW

THE WIDER VIEW: Taking shape, the new bridge at the Hoover Dam

Creeping closer inch by inch, 900 feet above the mighty Colorado River, the two sides of a $160 million bridge at the Hoover Dam slowly take shape. The bridge will carry a new section of US Route 93 past the bottleneck of the old road which can be seen twisting and winding around and across the dam itself.

When complete, it will provide a new link between the states of Nevada and Arizona. In an incredible feat of engineering, the road will be supported on the two massive concrete arches which jut out of the rock face.

The arches are made up of 53 individual sections each 24 feet long which have been cast on-site and are being lifted into place using an improvised high-wire crane strung between temporary steel pylons.

The arches will eventually measure more than 1,000 feet across. At the moment, the structure looks like a traditional suspension bridge. But once the arches are complete, the suspending cables on each side will be removed. Extra vertical columns will then be installed on the arches to carry the road.

The bridge has become known as the Hoover Dam bypass, although it is officially called the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, after a former governor of Nevada and an American Football player from Arizona who joined the US Army and was killed in Afghanistan.
 
Work on the bridge started in 2005 and should finish next year. An estimated 17,000 cars and trucks will cross it every day.



The dam was started in 1931 and used enough concrete to build a road from New York to San Francisco. The stretch of water it created, Lake Mead, is 110 miles long and took six years to fill. The original road was opened at the same time as the famous dam in 1936. More photos below.

An extra note: The top of the white band of rock in Lake Mead is the old waterline prior to the drought and development in the Las Vegas area. It is over 100 feet above the current water level.
 

The above unique and amazing bridge reveals to me how powerful are our minds. Thank God for giving us these wonderful gifts that lead us to conquer every challenge that comes along our daily life. Similarly, the above bridge began with a thought or dream of its inventor, who eventually translates it into a reality.

No doubt every creation has its own challenges so has this one. However, no matter how tough is the task, the tough will never give up, but it pushes the inventor to find solution to overcome it. As such, it affirms the saying that we are what we think.

Whatever we believe and convinced that this creation is workable, we will attract the positive energy to build it up, bit by bit till it is completed. All we have to do is be persistently working on it regardless of what the next obstacle will be. We are sure that it will ultimately be completed so long as we never give up. 

So friend, do you know that God gives everyone a mind, which is equally powerful so long as that person believes in that way. However, it is equally true if that person believes otherwise, it will destroy him. In short, it very much depends on its beholders whether to use it to empower or destroy. The choice is on your hand. This has been well proven in the Scripture and mankind's history. 

Before we end, we urge you to make the former as your choice and you are also encourage to exercise it with a task; affirm and reaffirm on this line of belief daily. Our mind is just like our muscle, through daily appropriate exercise it will be strengthened. As such, you need to feed it with the healthy stuff and stay on guard not to be tainted by those negative news that happen around you. This is to avoid you being swung along with the other thoughts which are equally powerful.

Thanks so much for reading this article and if you are truly be lifted up by it like the way it did to us.  Then, please pass it to someone whom you think needs this boost. Thank you in advance for your kind action. Bear in mind that we need to stay with the same minded people so as to support us along the journey we choose so that we do not depart from it.

HOW TO LIVE YOUR LIFE TO ITS FULLEST

Dear Friends,


I am sure that some of you may be searching for the answer for the above question like me. This long sought after answer has driven me to blog this post because I have finally found mine, and do not know about you.


However, I prefer to share it out with you so as it will at least help you to find yours as well. Likewise, we always believe that we can only pass back our experience and knowledge to the world which we have benefited from, that is the way to express our appreciation to the world.


As far as I am concern, I would rather take the interpretation that to truly live life to its fullest, one has to truly enjoy every moment of our time. I have to adopt the right perspective so as to stay focus in enjoying every moment, regardless as to what condition, situation I am in. This is critically important that I have to choose whether to stay in control or let the events control me. In other words, if you choose to enjoy every moment, then you have to look at the event at the appropriate perspective so that it does not bring adverse emotion to yourself.


To achieve such a desirable result, you need to break your life into series of events and you have to manage every event in such manner that you stay at the peak at all times. It sounds simple yet it is not easy to manage. Here, you need to put in practice, learnt and unlearnt from it. Through practice, you can then be an expert in handling every situation.


Now, you may able to see why I chose the former. This is because practice reaffirms me and I can learn from it. It will mould myself into a better person so to speak. By constantly put it into practice, it will then become my habit and eventually become part of me. Thank God that I am able to see this clearly and He had implanted in me such a positive perspective, which enable me to see every event that happened in my situation, or people around me so naturally without getting any adverse influence from it. In this context, we must be fully aware that there are so much reported negative news everywhere; online and offline. It is so easy to be influenced by it as people tends to distribute more unhealthy news rather than healthy news. Therefore, you need to stay on guard at all times so as not to be affected by such invisible harm, that can easily spiral from it, if you are not careful.


To me, to achieve the above goal you need to break your life into series of activities and you have to manage each activity, both good and bad as normal people see it, in accordance to your positive perspective. In other words, what you can control is yourself, and not the external factors. To stay in control of yourself, you have to truly discover your true self and let your inward reflection convert into your external behavior. You can't hide this inward feeling as it will leave thorns that people can see it no matter how you conceal it.


By knowing your true self coupled with the appropriate strategy, you will be able to conquer these challenges without any fear and worry. You will be totally free and live your life to its fullest. For instance, you like your favorite team, let say England to win the match against Germany in the recent World cup. However, due to the error made by the referee, as some alleged, you allow your emotion to take the lead that caused you not to enjoy the game immediately thereafter the controversial moment. As such, you feel hurt and painful not only affecting yourself at that moment, but also the rest of your time and the people around you thereafter. However, if you choose to forgive the error made by the referee, as some alleged and you also recognise the fact that no one is perfect. Then, same principle apply to the referee who has a task to decide at that particular moment. Hence, the tendency of making such a mistake is remotely high. It is fair to say that your tendency to spot an opportunity to address this issue is equally high. Do not forget the big picture that the spirit of this tournament is to improve the quality of the game and connecting the world through the ball. Which country wins the game at the end of the day is not so crucial. Hope you can understand what I am trying to raise here.


By having the right perspective, looking at the event in life is very crucial to achieve success as far as I am concerned. Firstly it will not only make you wiser, but you will have a more opened mind in the sense that you are able to look at things in various perspectives and it will eventually sharpen your evaluation and lead you to make better decisions in accordance with your pre set goals. In short, life is the sum of your choices.


Please pass this article to your circle of contacts should you find it useful. In this connection, you may share it online by clicking on the Twitter, Facebook or other social networking button which are available at the right side of this post.


Thanks so much for your precious time in reading this article. Please enjoy every moment of your time thereafter and make it to its fullest.






Wishing you a success,






Your Chief Servant,






James Oh




Skype me at james.oh18