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Saturday, June 25, 2011

STAND UP



STAND UP AND SPEAK UP
YOU CAN'T JUST FEEL THAT IT DOES NOT EXIST
IT WILL COME BACK TO HAUNT YOU
NO MATTER HOW YOU THINK
AND RESPONSE TO IT
STAND UP AND MAKE A STAND
SPEAK OUT FROM YOUR INNER VOICE
GOD IS INSIDE YOU
TAKE YOUR COURAGE TO SPEAK UP
TRUST GOD WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU ALONE
YOU MUST SPEAK WHAT YOU HONESTLY THINK IT'S RIGHT
DO NOT BOW DOWN TO EXTERNAL PRESSURE
OR OPPRESSION
SPEAK OUT WHAT YOU THINK IS RIGHT
YOU ARE NOT HERE TO PLEASE THE PEOPLE

WANT TO SPEAK THE TRUTH
AND LET THE TRUTH SET YOU FREE
NOTHING IS FREE
DO NOT BE AFRAID
DO NOT LET OTHERS MANIPULATE YOU

DON'T BE A PART OF IT
IF YOU DO NOT FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH IT
WHAT IS IMPORTANT IS TO MAKE YOUR STAND CLEAR
WHAT  GOES AROUND WILL COME AROUND
SPEAK UP
EVEN IF YOU ARE STANDING ALONE
LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD
YOU MAY BE RIGHT
IF OTHER CAN'T PROVE YOU WRONG
LET  TIME REVEALS THE TRUTH
THE TRUTH WILL EVENTUALLY SURFACED
NO MATTER HOW STRONG ARE YOUR OPPONENTS
AND HOW MIGHTY THEY ARE




THEY WILL BE WEAKENING AND COLLAPSING
EVENTUALLY THEY WILL DESTROY THEMSELVES
LET PATIENCE AND ENDURANCE COMPLETE THE TASK
HISTORY WILL REPEAT  ITSELF
IS JUST A MATTER OF TIME
DO NOT LET GO OF THIS HOPE
TIME WILL COME
JUSTICE WILL BE DELIVERED EVENTUALLY
WALK BY FAITH 
AND NOT SIGHT 
TRUST THE ONE ABOVE
KEEP PRAYING AND STAY ALIVE WITH SUCH A HOPE
REMEMBER TO STAND UP
AND SAY WHAT IS RIGHT


James Oh

Skype me at james.oh18



Friday, June 24, 2011

WORLD'S BEST UNDERWATER PHOTO 12

A stargazer in Blue Heron Bridge, Florida, by Keri Wilk

Thursday, June 23, 2011

HOW TO PUBLISH EBOOK

Hi!
Some of you may know by now I have intended to publish Ebook with some of my writings. In this connection, I have read the article with so much excitement and hope you will like it too. Who knows, you may have similar interest as mine.


Even if you do not have such an interest currently, it does not mean that you will not have it in the future. Having this in mind, I rather chose to blog it out to excite us as well. I do not have such an experience to comment on it. What I need is perhaps some feedbacks from you especially those willing to share some of their experience here.


Better still, if anyone is willing to collaborate with me to publish an Ebook on any matters which you and I have the common interests. As you know, I always love to hear from you so that we can explore all means to make the proposal feasible and beneficial to both parties.


My experience tells me that through brainstorming and discussion, we can always put the ideas to work. Through constantly shaping and polishing this idea, it will eventually shine so long as we do not give up such a hope. Let our endurance and patience complete the task. We will be able to produce a masterpiece at the end of the day.


I do hope you are by now you feel excited and are willing to give yourself a try, as I do. Please do put forward your comment should you have any other idea, proposal or experience where you like to share here. Thank you in advance.


Have a fruitful day everyday,


Append below please find copy of article, posted by Gary, for your reading pleasure. 


How to Publish an Ebook


Posted by Gary on May 2nd, 2011 / 3 Comments

How to Self-Publish Your Ebook

Every day I receive multiple requests from authors around the world who are looking for assistance or more information on how to self-publish an ebook.


And the answer today is very different than when our Publish Your Own Ebooks website started back in 2003.


Then, your best option was to get your ebook into PDF and start selling it from your own web site. While you can and should still do that today, if you want to be taken seriously as an independent author then you must also make your ebooks available at mainstream ebook stores such as Amazon Kindle Store that have emerged in recent years.


I’m very close to releasing a new ebook self-publishing guide but until it is ready I wanted to post a quick overview of the ebook self-publishing process and some of your options.


If you want to publish your own ebook then you need to consider the main online ebook stores where readers are buying and downloading ebooks. The four big stores right now are Amazon Kindle Store, Barnes & Noble Nook Books, Apple iBookstore, and Sony Reader Store. There are a few others to consider, but let’s keep this discussion to these four.


How to Get Your Ebook into these Stores?


Each of the major ebook stores has a portal for publishers to upload and manage their books. Remember as an indie author you are the author and the publisher.


You can choose to go to each store and publish your ebook directly or you can go through a distributor, sometimes called an ‘aggregator’.


An aggregator typically converts your manuscript into multiple formats and distributes your ebook to one or more stores on your behalf.


Some of the ebook aggregators commonly used by authors include Smashwords, BookBaby, and LuLu. They earn their income by a combination of upfront fees and annual fees for each ebook, or a percentage of the sales revenue from your ebook.


The process for publishing directly is different for each store and many authors use a combination, publishing directly to some stores while using an aggregator for the others.


Why Use an Aggregator?


One of the main reasons to use an ebook aggregator is to get assistance with converting your manuscript into the correct format. Amazon sells ebooks in their own proprietary Kindle format, AZW while the other stores use the EPUB format. There are sometimes complications encountered while trying to convert your manuscript from Microsoft Word into the appropriate format.


You may also decide to use an aggregator because you can’t meet the requirements to submit directly. Sony encourages indie authors to submit through an aggregator. Some stores require you to have a U.S. Tax ID or U.S. bank account if you want to publish directly. And in Apple’s case you need to submit from a Mac computer. Using an aggregator is a way to work around these obstacles.


Why Publish Directly?


Generally speaking it makes sense to deal directly if you can because you will save on costs and more of the profit from your ebooks will end up in your pocket.


If you are familiar with HTML you can probably handle the necessary formatting to successfully convert your manuscript to the appropriate ebook formats.


Getting Ready to Publish


Whether you publish directly or through an aggregator you will need to gather some important information for the submission process:


• Book Title


• Book Description – you need a professional-looking book description.


• Ebook Cover – when your ebook sells in online stores it needs a cover image.

• Price – decide on the price that you will charge. Sometimes different prices result in different royalty percentages so choose carefully.


• Territories – you need to know which geographical territories you hold the rights for your ebook. If your ebook is an unpublished work then most likely you still hold rights for all territories.


• ISBN number. You need an ISBN number at some ebook stores but not at others.


ISBNs for ebooks, ebook covers and pricing are all important topics which will be covered in detail in other posts.


As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, this is only a very brief overview of the self-publishing process and some of your options. I’ll go into more detail in future posts and be sure to watch out for our new ebook self-publishing guide which will be available here soon.


Please, if you found this post helpful, take a moment to share the link to it via Twitter, Facebook or your favorite social media buttons below.


About the Author


Gary McLaren is a self-published author and the publisher of Publish Your Own Ebooks. He is also editor of Worldwide Freelance Writer a weekly email newsletter for freelance writers with around 29,000 subscribers.






James Oh


Skype me at james.oh18


PS TO READ OTHER RELATED ARTICLE, PLEASE CLICK AT THE TITLE OF THIS ARTICLE.


Wednesday, June 22, 2011

WE LIKE TO HEAR FROM YOU

A very warm welcome to you here.
Lately, I am wondering how I can take my blog further. It struck my mind to revert to you for your honest answers.


As such, I believe that it is appropriate for me to request you to review my blog in these three areas namely its content, quality and frequency. I fully acknowledged and accepted the fact that content is the highlight of the blog. It’s the reason why you visit my blog and why you keep coming back. As such it’s important for me to have consistency in both the quality of my content and the frequency in which I have been posting all this while. In this connection, your honest feedback is solicited on whether some of tips I know and share is attractive enough.

First thing first, please put a rating from 1 to 10 for the following :-


• Did my content create value. Please give the rating 1( very poor) to 10 (excellent)


Perhaps you may just use another fancy way of asking whether my content is amazingly interesting. All of my posts,which have intention to give readers a worthwhile reason for reading. In short, are you getting something back and at the end of day, are you being lifted up as the name suggested. If not, how?


• Frequently posted.


I update my blog on a regular basis to give you reason to come back to my site. The plan is to update my blog at least once or twice a week, having in mind that quality is more important than quantity. This is because I believe that taking a couple of days off between posts can help me write a better post in the long run.


• My content is readable.


I am mindful that writing a blog is much different than writing a book or paper. This is because you, as online readers, have relatively shorter attention spans and more specific needs are preferred. Here, what I am trying to say is that I never pick colors fonts that will strain the visitor’s eyes. If I do, I like to apologise for it.


I also always ensure that my writing is easy to read. I prefer short paragraphs, using lists or bullet points, bolding or underlining important text when it is appropriate for me to do so. Do you agree?


Keeping enough white space in between lines and words is my style. Most of the times, I try to avoid typing up huge walls of text. At times, images and videos are included, where appropriate, to give readers something to look at. Here, I believe prosperity through diversity and always looking at new avenues to improve it further.


At last, but not least, I never felt discouraged when I work hard on a post even though no one pays attention to it. I am aware that growing a blog takes time. No one appreciate it now, does not mean that it will not be appreciated in the future. This is because once I grow, more people will look through my older posts and will see my hard work! Alternatively it will give me a chance to improve it further.


Stay tuned and I will work on my design and with my next post, I will discuss blog networking






James Oh





Skype me at james.oh18

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

LANDMARK RAIL LINK IN CHINA

Hi! Everyone,


I am very sure some of you may already be aware of the China's landmark rail link. However, for the benefits of everyone, I humbly report this news in this blog so as to uplift some of you especially those who like to travel to this great nation which has been shining especially in the last couple of years.


The link, is none other than Beijing-Shanghai railway that not only opened a year ahead of schedule, but also will be the world's longest and fastest passenger trains - cutting travel times between China's two main cities by half, 4 hrs 48 minutes be exact and previously 10 hours.


With this, the China CRH380A with its speed of 380 km/hr will be the world fastest passenger train, followed by Siemens Velaro with its recorded speed of 350 km/hr, Japan Shinkansen will be the third with the fastest speed of 330 km/hr. France TGV with its speed of 300 km/hr will be placed fifth after Germany ICE 3 with its speed of 320 km /hr.


The above bullet train, scheduled to open later this month, will offer coach-class tickets for a less-than-expected 555 yuan ($86), causing a threat to local airlines on their busiest route.


One-way trips in the two different premium classes will cost from 935 yuan and 1,750 yuan on 300 kilometers-per-hour (186 miles per hour) services, Vice Rail Minister Hu Yadong told reporters today in Beijing. The line will move about 180,000 passengers a day initially, he said.


Fares on three existing bullet-train lines will also be reduced by 5 percent as the ministry slows trains to 300 kph to pare operating costs and boost passenger numbers, Hu said. The 1,318-kilometer Beijing- Shanghai high-speed line will lure travelers from planes, thus most likely to have adverse impact to the local airlines and airports.


The ticket price is very competitive and thus very likely to attract some passengers from airlines. However the question arises whether the train can retain travelers will very much depends on its service and safety levels. The line will run 90 services a day each way, including cheaper ones traveling at 250 kph. Ticket sales will only begin a week prior to its services, no specific date were given at the time of writing. The 221 billion- yuan high-speed rail link is designed to carry 80 million passengers a year.


Price Pressure


The lower-than-expected ticket price is a positive news to the travelers and make travelling much affordable. However, the operators are facing big pressure to cut prices further in view of steep competition from road, rail and air transportations.


According to Hu, trains will be slowed on the Wuhan-Guangzhou, Zhengzhou- Xian and Shanghai-Nanjing lines from July 1 to pare costs.


The 300 kph trains will travel from Beijing to Shanghai in less than five hours. A flight takes about two hours, excluding travel time to airports and waits for check-in. About 25 percent of Chinese flights also suffer delays.


Air China, the biggest carrier in Beijing, is advertising June 19 flights to Shanghai from 410 yuan on its website. Carriers will offer an average of more than 20,000 seats a day on the route this month, the seventh-highest tally worldwide, based on data from OAG Aviation Solutions.


To ensure safety on the new Beijing-Shanghai line, the operator will undertake at least four hours of inspections every night, Hu said. A train with no passengers onboard will also be run along the line first thing every morning as well, he said.


The new line will contribute to a 9.6 percent increase in China’s railway passenger capacity from July 1, Hu said. Cargo capacity will rise by 6 percent, he said.


The ministry also reiterated plans to spend 2.8 trillion yuan on railways in the five years ending 2015. That will boost the total network to about 120,000 kilometers, said Hu. The China economic growth appears to be able to sustain with his assurance that the Investments would not be reduced and the pace of development would not be slowed, which is also in line with their long term target of 9 percent. Thus it will not only give hope of a better global economy but also spur the global economy as a whole.


Stay tuned and we shall bring you more uplifting news.


James Oh

Monday, June 20, 2011

TWO CHOICES

Hi Friends,



Hope you all have a good Fathers' day. I have received a very touching story from a distant friend whom I have not met before. But the most important thing, I truly appreciated dearly is his generosity to share this with me. After reading it, I thought of an idea, which I decided to blog it out through my blog so as it is permanently there for the reading pleasure of everyone at large. By doing so, I also will return his favour, which he did not expect from me. As such, what you have benefited is from him. It is the way I learn to be caring of society, so I hope that everyone can be better off and create a better world for us to stay.


Please continue to read the great story that provoked me a lot and hope you like it too, which I received from George.


Two Choices


What would you do?....you make the choice. Don't look for a punch line, there isn't one. Read it anyway. My question is: Would you have made the same choice?


At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves children with learning disabilities, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question:


'When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does, is done with perfection.


Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do.


Where is the natural order of things in my son?'


The audience was stilled by the query.


The father continued. 'I believe that when a child like Shay, who was mentally and physically disabled comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child.'


Then he told the following story:


Shay and I had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, 'Do you think they'll let me play?' I knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but as a father I also understood that if my son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.


I approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, 'We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning.'


Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. I watched with a small tear in my eye and warmth in my heart. The boys saw my joy at my son being accepted.


In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three.




In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as I waved to him from the stands.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again.


Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.

At this juncture, do the others let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game?

Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact.

The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed.


The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay.


As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.


The game would now be over.


The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman.


Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates.

Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, 'Shay, run to first!

Run to first!'

Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base.

He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.

Everyone yelled, 'Run to second, run to second!'

Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base.

By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball. The smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team.

He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head.

Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.

All were screaming, 'Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay'

Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, 'Run to third!

Shay, run to third!'


As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, 'Shay, run home! Run home!'

Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team


'That day', said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, 'the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world'.

Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making me so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day !

AND NOW A LITTLE FOOT NOTE TO THIS STORY:

We all send thousands of jokes through the e-mail without a second thought, but when it comes to sending messages about life choices, people hesitate.


The crude, vulgar, and often obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion about decency is too often suppressed in our schools and workplaces.

If you're thinking about forwarding this message, chances are that you're probably sorting out the people in your address book who aren't the 'appropriate' ones to receive this type of message Well, the person who sent you this believes that we all can make a difference.


We all have thousands of opportunities every single day to help realize the 'natural order of things.'

So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice:


Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up those opportunities and leave the world a little bit colder in the process?


A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats its leastfortunate amongst them.


You now have two choices:


1. Share
2. ignore


May your day be a Shay Day! You choose!


James Oh

Sunday, June 19, 2011

My Utmost for His Highest





My Utmost for His Highest: Traditional Updated Edition (My Utmost for His Highest)



by Oswald Chambers




No surprise to me that this book has received a remarkably high score of 4.36, out of 5.00 from 1,625 ratings and 191 reviews .


With humor and humility, Chambers speaks plainly to the common man struggling with devotion to Christ in daily living. Worldly cares and self-serving desires begin to lose their appeal as Chambers aides the reader in transforming his mind by viewing life through the instruction of God's Word. Richard Halverson, former chaplain of the United States Senate, attests to this: "no book except the Bible has influenced my walk with Christ at such deep maturing levels." This is Chambers's chief desire, directing the reader to "shut out every other consideration and keep yourself before God for this one thing only--My Utmost for His Highest... determined to be absolutely and entirely for Him and for Him alone." --Jill Heatherly


With the brief introduction and attestments from others, I strongly suggest this book be read especially for those who seek soul searching journey to excel in work for His Highest, as the name of the book suggested.


At last, but not least, I would like to throw the ball to your court for you to revert your feedback after you have read this book. Happy reading and look forward to your feedback.





Together we work together to serve His highest.


To your success,


James Oh