EigenGraphs

There is a variety of elements used throughout a Japanese garden, but the three most important and basic ones that you will find in every garden design are: rocks, plants and water features. In this article, we are going to focus on rocks, a very visible and useful Japanese garden element that has many viable and practical applications, along with its aesthetic qualities.

1) Large boulders can block unsightly views. For example, perhaps your water hoses and water connection are near an area of your garden and you don’t want it visible to visitors. A large boulder and complimentary bush would hide the out-of-place items, yet allow you access to use them as needed.

2) Interesting rocks can be placed where plants are hard to grow. Sometimes you will find one particular area in your garden where plants just don’t seem to do well, no matter what you plant or what you do to the soil. Maybe it’s too wet or maybe it’s too clay based. Whatever the problem, a nice rock arrangement might do the trick.

3) Use rocks to enhance a water feature. Place near ponds to make the area more natural looking and visually appealing. Next to a water basin, a smooth, flat stone could be used for kneeling down to the basin. A larger stone could be used as a place to sit for a bit.

4) Stones and boulders can help define a pathway. A rock grouping set along a turn in a path provides visual interest and guides the stroller along the proper course. It also encourages them to slow down and contemplate the arrangement, making the walk more enjoyable.

5) Block off a portion of the garden or path. You can use stones to block off an area which you don’t want people to enter. They form a natural barrier, but be sure to make the arrangement interesting as well.

6) Rocks are a wonderful backdrop for plants. An angular, vertical rock makes a unique backdrop for a plant grouping. Place the rock a bit farther back from the plants, so as to provide depth perception and allow the plants to be the focus (or vice versa).

7) Secure slopes and use as retaining walls. Boulders and good-size stones make excellent, natural materials for use in low retaining walls. On slopes, flat rocks work beautifully as steps.

Defining a stream. As in nature, rocks are always found along a streambed. Secure rocks within the banks to help prevent erosion of the earth by the water.

About the Author

(c) 2005 Rose Smith own Gardens From Japan where you will find that there’s more to planning a Japanese garden than planting a few trees and arranging a few rocks. We provide free articles and resources on all aspects of Japanese garden design - from plants to stones to water features and more. Visit www.GardensFromJapan.com today for more information.

If you are writing ads for posting online, there are many factors to consider. What type of site are you posting on - classified, FFA, email mail out? Will the viewer only see the ad headline first, or the whole ad? Who is your audience? Are you trying to make a sale, or get a lead from your ad? Can you hyperlink to your website in the ad?

First and foremost, create a good headline! The headline is the first thing people usually see, and what will make them look further. If it’s an email ad you’re sending out, then the subject line must be attention grabbing. You are competing with other people’s email, and you want yours to be opened. One of the best things you can do is check out other people’s ad headlines and see which ones grab your attention. What makes you open an email from someone you don’t know? Do a search on Google or Yahoo in your subject area, and look at the paid ads to the right. Which ones grab your attention?

Ad content. Describe how your offer can benefit someone. Don’t try to sell your product too much in your ad, create enough interest to get people to visit your website. Your site should do the selling, you just want people to get there. If your site offers a free ebook or download, mention it in the ad. Tell people how they can benefit from visiting your site!

If you are posting to FFA sites or free email safelists, remember to set up a ‘dummy’ email account just for these postings. These sites will send you hundreds of confirmation emails, and you don’t want them going to your real email account because it will just cost you time emptying your mailbox continually. Set up a free email account just for this. Remember to delete the emails once in a while to prevent your mailbox from being full and bouncing emails, as this might get your membership cancelled for email safelists.

Although I believe free advertising has it’s benefits, from my experience it’s good to also pay for some programs that help you advertise, or that advertise for you. Or if you can find a good business or related ezine, try placing an ad and see how it works. Look for where your competitors are advertising. Do you see the same ad repeated in the same place? Chances are they are getting results. Ad writing is part science, and part art. The best thing to do is keep trying new methods, stick with the ones that work and keep improving them.

Robert Borhi is an online marketer who lives in Nelson, BC, Canada. His website is http://www.HugeGrowth.com. For more tips on advertising and home business online marketing, visit his website at http://www.HugeGrowth.com.

intro to the steps of returning to the garden of eden. that perfect place that is self
Return to the Garden of Eden

Everyone has their own idea of what the Garden of Eden was or would be like if only they could see it today. No matter our beliefs, thoughts or ideas about religion we all have some sort of image of what perfection is. And while these thoughts and ideas will be as varied and unique as each of us, the phrase “Garden of Eden” can trigger these thoughts and ideas within us no matter how vague and undefinable they may be.

Return to The Garden of Eden is a series of articles that subscribes to the thought that “self” in our orginal form is this perfection. That Creator in his infinate wisdom did actually create us in his own image. And in doing so gave us each our own personal Garden of Eden in which we could dwell. Where everything is perfect and when we live in the state that we were created (as was his intent) are the image of perfection.

Yet somehow we forgot. Somehow we lost sight of this garden of self. We lost sight of just how unique and special we as individuals are. We became human doings instead of human beings. We seek so badly to find peace, yet we run from it as we run from self. We look to outside things to fill up inside needs and we get hurt. For as we look to another to make us whole we become dependent upon their acceptance of us. We seek to find the place where we belong instead of embrasing our individual spirit. Many of us spend a lifetime searching for the right person instead of striving to become that.

What went wrong? When did we get so lost? And does it really matter? In Return to the Garden of Eden we no longer search for rights and wrongs. We no longer try to remember the source of our dysfunctions in order to find the person to blame. Life and our participation in it is no longer a blame game. Its about healing. Its about returning to self. That special and unique spirit you were orginally. In order to Return to the Garden of Eden often times we need to un-learn a lifetime of unhealthy habits and thinking. We need to re-plow our garden that has become infested with dysfunctional thinking and actions. Expose the roots of all these hurts, pains and fears to the sunlight so they may be seen for what they are and then removed as one would who was preparing a vegtable garden for planting would remove the rocks and weeds. Unhealthy actions are like weeds in the garden. They grow wild and fast choking out all orginal thoughts, ideas and any healthy concepts we may have of self.

The first article in this series is “Where to Plant” will address the most powerful gift that Creator has given us. The one gift that is above all others. As special and unique individual spirits we all have our own gifts from creator. These individual special, unique gifts are ours alone to use and share with others on this journey we call life. It is in the Garden of Eden that we find these gifts and the ability to use them. However, there is one gift that was above even those. One gift that was so awesome that it was given to all. No matter your spiritual beliefs, your religious beliefs or lack of them. Each has recieved the greatest gift of all and we use it daily in every single thing we do. Knowingly or not. And it is in the misuse and abuse of this gift that we strayed from our own personal Garden of Eden and it is in the coming to understand its power as a gift from Creator and the proper use of it that we will return.

In “Where to Plant” we will address the gift “Power of Choice”.

About the Author

sevenreader7 is your average spiritwalker. He finds in sharing his adventures on this journey we call life others become willing to share theirs. And it is in this sharing the magic of healing can happen.

‘Who put the boys in the club house? You did, baby, you did.’

The song ‘Keep a Lid on Things’ by the Crash Test Dummies sums
it up. Psychiatric rehabilitation organisations are often there
to simply keep a lid on things (clients’ behaviour) rather than
to get them back in the mainstream of society. Their stated aims
are often vastly different from the actual outcomes.

Does the ghetto keep you sick? So it seems. Last year an
Australian research team interviewed people who had bipolar
disorder, and one of the findings was stunning–people who did
not use psychiatric rehabilitation services tended to stay well
longer than those who did*.

If you’re coming out of a bipolar crisis, perhaps just out of
hospital, it’s worth questioning the value of rehabilitation. If
the only place you go is the mental health clinic, you surround
yourself with others who are sick. It becomes comfortable, you
make friends, there’s no challenge, and you will find over time
that you become nervous about venturing into mainstream
activities, like ringing up about a job, or going back to your
sporting club. The longer you are inside the ghetto the harder
it is to break out. Your confidence disappears. People share
stories of being victimised and discriminated against and this
shores up your growing sense that it’s too hard ‘out there’. You
conclude you should stay in rehab.

The religion editor of my city’s broadsheet wrote this last
month:

‘Victimhood is a bad address. It’s a dangerous and delusory
place and definitely the wrong side of the tracks.
Unfortunately, far too many people live there.

Even if you really are a victim, you have to move out.
Victimhood offers an odd but counterfeit comfort, where nothing
is your own responsibility, where life is something that is done
to you by others, and is beyond your control, yet you can enjoy
the moral high ground… It’s a short step from victimhood to
paranoia.’**

Zwartz was writing about race riots in Sydney, but these words
resonated with my experience of the mental health lobby.
Victimhood leads to a sense of futility, a wariness that
prevents fair assertion of our wishes. Countless so-called
advocacy organizations work in the short term, never daring to
jeopardize their funding by pursuing the big picture, the dream.

‘Consumer’ organizations fare no better. Consumer organizations
are beset with ineptitude not because of illness, nor because of
lack of skills and intelligence. The one thing that undoes the
political work of consumer organizations is the prevalence of
victimhood. These organizations include many people who have
been actually victimized, but too many are stuck in the ghetto
and exhibit ongoing ‘victim behavior’. If you cast yourself as a
victim, your requests will never be taken seriously–you’re too
easy to say ‘no’ to.

I believe this is a reason that mental health funding around the
developed world is far lower than funding for the equivalent
level of burden of disease in general health. For example, In
Australia it is only 8% of the total health budget compared with
the OCED average of 12%.

SANE Australia reported last year that stigma was the villain of
the piece, and produced startling evidence to support the view.

In Australia there have been eight State or national inquiries
in the last twelve years. Each time puny progress is made but
the underlying flaw (lack of funding) is perpetuated. As
Einstein supposedly said: ‘Insanity is doing the same thing over
and over again and expecting different results.’ We need to do
something different. Here is my suggestion:

* Get out of the ghetto and into the mainstream. * Do stuff that
doesn’t involve mental health * When you have gotten rid of your
victim outlook, start demanding fair funding for mental health
in your country. Follow up, don’t take no for an answer, and
incite all your friends and relations to do the same. * If your
consumer organisation has a victim outlook, you could try to
change it, but expect resistance. People can be codependent on
their organizations.

*Russell, S J and Browne, J L ‘Staying well with bipolar
disorder’ Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 2005;
39:187-193.

**Barney Zwartz, The Age, Melbourne Australia 15 December 2005

Two Days Ago The Sky Was Falling…

…yesterday, it was on fire, and today it was pale blue like
the color of a seashell’s interior; and, if such a seashell
doesn’t exist….it should! Wow, I was talking to my pal Chet
Thoreau tonight, and he brought up Albert Einstein, and, you
know, how eccentric Einstein was in respect to his clothes,
because, see, Einstein didn’t want to waste thought on such
stupid issues. I feel you Einie! Well, Albert Einstein was, of
course, a genius, and, in addition to his scientific brilliance,
Dr. Einstein also had a wonderful philosophy (weltanschauung…
chalk up a couple pretentious points, but, it really is a good
word…) At any rate, who else would say something like this?

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though
nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a
miracle.” - Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

And, this is quite apropos to the sky, and how it’s falling one
day, on fire the next, and the color of a seashell’s interior
today. I don’t know what it is about out here. I don’t know what
it is about my job, and I don’t know why every time I’m leaving
work at about 4 to 6 on my day shift days, I don’t know why, but
somebody tell me why I feel like I’m seeing the sky for the
first time every time. I mean….somebody tell me why. I mean…
plenty of people are like, “Kemal, why do you write so many
poems about the sky?” Well, that’s the way it is. But, what is
it about out here? I can’t figure it out.

If you find this interesting, please take a moment to visit an
Creative Memories Forum.

A healthy person has no aches, or pain, body odor, bad breath,
foot odor, urine or stool does not smell, he or she sleeps
soundly, has no skin rash, dandruff, and rarely has a cold, flu
or heartburn. Healthy people do not take non-prescription or
prescription drugs.

People are unhealthy; in reality, most have symptoms that
require some type of medication.

Testing the PH balance of the body will give an effective
overview of personal health. Monitoring does not diagnose a
disease or sickness, but the ability of the body to respond to
diet changes and stress.

Knowing if the body is acidic or alkali is inside knowledge of
health improvement. Keeping the body PH balanced is an indicator
of good health. To get the exact PH reading, test saliva and
urine when awaking, before you eat or drink, then add the two
readings together and divide them by two.

PH testing tells of the environment of the bodily fluids, which
surround the cells. Having an alkaline environment will serve as
a buffer. Sodium, calcium, potassium, magnesium, and iron
contribute to an alkaline environment. Testing the urine or
saliva is the easiest body fluid to know if the body has
minerals stored in the fluids. These minerals are found through
out the body. When the PH saliva test is 7.0, the body has the
minerals needed to function smoothly. Normal PH range for saliva
is 6.8 to 7.4 and the normal range for urine is 6.4 to 6.8.

The body becomes fertile ground for some diseases, particularly
arthritis and cancer when it becomes too acidic. Cell will
degenerate and die, thereby causing the body to become more
acidic. The body must maintain the proper balance to utilize the
nutrients, or eliminate collected waste.

The body has a deposit and withdrawal system when it comes to
maintaining the proper PH in the blood. If the blood is
alkaline, the PH range is 7.35 to 7.45. A PH upset would
severely affect the organs. The blood has a narrow PH range,
7.35 or 7.45, anything below or above is an indication of
disease. By some researchers, if PH falls below 6.8 or above
7.8, the cells stop functioning and death occurs. By some
researchers, the ideal PH balance is 7.35 and by others, it is
7.4. However, we all agree that alkaline system is best for
optimal health.

Many people believe that starting an online business from home
is difficult. In fact it is quite easy. If you are already
familiar with what product you will sell you will need to create
or hire someone to produce an online website for you. This
website should list the product or products you have available.
If you will be selling your own products, make sure that your
online business has a name that reflects you and what you offer.

After this has been completed, you should inquire in your local
state to learn the guidelines necessary for you to run a
business from your home. Many states require that even an online
business register with them and receive a business license. You
will have to get the necessary forms to request this license.

After you have obtained you license, you should also find out
how running an online business from home will affect you tax
situation. You would still need to report any income you make
from your business, even if you are working at home.

After all this paperwork is completed for you business, it is
important to set up your home office for you new job. It is
suggested that you have a separate space to conduct your
business affairs. A separate phone line that customers can call
is also very necessary and I strongly suggest you get a fax
machine. You will lose customers if you are not able to be
reached by telephone, fax and e-mail. Having a separate phone
line from the rest of the house is essential!

Other than a second phone line, it is also a good idea to buy
the necessary hardware and software for you home office. You
will save lots of money if you have your own fax machine,
scanner, and printer. Also it is probably wise to have the
latest software additions for word processing and accounting.
The accounting software is especially useful for you to keep
track of all expenses and revenue for your online business.

When you have established the business and things are going
well, it is a good idea to consider outsourcing. This would mean
hiring someone to take care of the little jobs that you would
have to do such as email or letter correspondence or creating
marketing brochures. By doing this, you will be able to focus on
the more important areas of making money and marketing your
business, which will be key to your success.

Copyright 2005 Burke Publications All Rights Reserved

Who was born on January 15, 1929? A man who believed in equality
and peace…Martin Luther King, Jr. Here are some ways to honor
this man. NOTE: If you live in a country other than America,
adapt these activities for a significant person in your
country’s history.

1. Draw a silhouette of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s face against a
plain background; then add lines to create a puzzle. Add words
that rhyme with ‘king’ in the spaces of the face and words that
rhyme with ‘men’ in the background. Color the first set of words
brown and the second set of words red. NOTE: Vary the activity
by adding equal math problems in the face and unequal math
problems in the background (ie: 4+6=2+7+1 versus 5+3=2+3+4).

2. Make a Criss-Cross puzzle with these words: Atlanta, dream,
equal, laws, leader, minister, peaceful, and prize.

3. Use the same words in Tip 2 to fill in these blanks:

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in _____, Georgia. Dr. King
received the Nobel Peace _____. MLK worked to change unfair
_____. Dr. King gave a famous speech called “I Have a _____.”
MLK was a great _____. When he grew up, Martin Luther King, Jr.
became a _____. Dr. King believed that all people should be
_____. Dr. King believed in _____ protests.

4. Have older children look up the following words in a
dictionary, encyclopedia, or the internet: segregation,
prejudice, equality, civil rights, nonviolent resistance,
protest, demonstrations, equal opportunity, Nobel Peace Prize,
assassinated, tribute. What does each word or phrase mean? How
can you apply it to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life?

5. As a culminating activity to your unit, have a panel of
‘interviewers’ ask ‘Dr. King’ questions.

6. As an alternate activity, have children write a play.
Different groups of students can focus on various aspects of Dr.
King’s life.

I hope these ideas are useful and have inspired your own
creative thinking.

And remember…Reading is FUNdamental!

(Answers to Tip 3: Atlanta, prize, laws, dream, leader,
minister, equal, peaceful)

It’s always nice to see new World poker Tour Champions. Seeing
the same person win time after time gets old, new people help
spice up the game and broden the competition.

The newly added Poker Champ to pokerstar.com Joe Hachmen won the
last WPT poker tour. Finished beautifully I might add,
aggressive, talented in poker and played like a true champ.

Joe Hachmen earned his seat, like Chris Moneymaker did, through
a pokerstars event. both gentleman played a tourney with in
pokerstars.com and gained a chance to compete in the World poker
Tour and beat out some of the best poker players in the world.

These two pokerstars.com Chanpions proved that with the right
skill’s and strategies they could take the tournament home with
first place.

there are quite a few poker associations creating since the big
TV debut of No Limit Holdem. The poker rooms have grown in
quantities and you now see there ads running on Cable
Television. It has become a profitable market for offshore
business owners.

There is a endless number of poker sites online to choose from,
but there’s a lot of garbage to, so be careful as to who you
decide to choose as your main playing site. every site has it’s
feel and some of them are muck thereselves before you even start
to look through them.

A few good online poker sites are pokerstars.com,
pokerhost.com, doylesroom.com. These are my personal online
gambling favorites. Pokerstars.com is where i’ve blown most of
my money, but i’ve made some good chunks of cash as well. They
have a user friendly navigation system, they always answer any
questions you have when questions are sent to online support.
The minimum for real play online is a $25.00 minimum deposit.
Many merchants to choose from to transfer your funds. Atmosphere
is kind of mixed. Lot of young folks online who all-in all the
time. Trash talk and haven’t one slightest clue of playing
online poker, let alone hearts for the matter.

Poker Stars has plenty of free online tourney to play, with
chances to win your way to real cash prize through online
tournaments. A good Site for other poker related articles is WSOP-CAFE.

Pokerhost.com has a glamour look to it. The graphice could be
toned down a bit, they over take the whole site, but don’t take
it in the wrong way. It still has many good features.
pokerhost.com has online freerolls that cost nothing and make
you eligible for cash prizes if you place well. The tourneys
cost nothing to enter and a real goodtime.

Doylesroom.com is by far, the most simplest online poker site.
All the game play seems to be of real poker players and people
willing to learn online poker to accomplish there goals.
Deposits for real cash poker is a minimum of $25.00 they have
small blind rooms and bounty tournaments where you have doyle
brunson, his son todd brunson and another poker legend. If you
can take one out or two or even possible all of them, it pays
out a big cash reward and pretty heft. if it’s all three you
cash out with $10,000.00 pretty spectacular for a cheap buy in
of a couple bucks.

Doyles poker Room is a realgood online poker players site I
think. No trash talk, no ego’s that i’ve seen and a online chat
system seperate from the main table. You can close it out and
forget chat exsist.

These are a few of my personal favorites, but I encourage you to
try them if your a online poker player as myself. There simple
sites, Well known and have produce some top level online poker
champs. our governement may not like online gambling, but it’s
yur money wheres our freedom to spend it the way we see fit.

Have a good time playing, be courteous and don’t get a big
inflated head, if you don’t abuse the poker rooms and there
chats things run smoothly and everyone has a great time.

Poker Related Content

Virtual Private Networks (VPN) 101
As the VPN market approaches maturity at a brisk pace, vendors have been forced to rethink the tradition identity of their IP Security-based technology for letting users securely access enterprise resources via the Internet. Most large companies in need of linking their offices together have done so on frame relay networks. Although frame is still a useful product many users have found that the reduced cost of VPN gives them an attractive alternative.

During the last 18-24 months, vendors have pushed VPN technology into different devices, have lessened the distinction between VPN and firewall products, and have demonstrated a strong willingness to deviate from standardized technology to meet corporate remote access requirements. VPN services now come bundled with many dedicated services and several service providers are using VPN products as a loss leader so they can sell circuits. When investigating the use of VPN products make sure you speak with a professional who can guide you through the strengths as well as the weaknesses of the product. While it is a cost reduced alternative to frame….it is a different product and should be thoroughly researched.

One of the advantages of a VPN is that internet access is not based only on the hub and spoke layout. The users away from the hub are able to access the internet through their own connection rather than going through the hub and creating a bottleneck. Users will only need to connect through the hub if they need to access information from the central database. When researching alternatives such as VPN, like always, consult with a professional and not just a salesman for a VPN company. Make sure the individual you speak with is unbiased and will give you the strengths and weaknesses of each product.

About the Author

Michael is the owner of FreedomFire Communications http://ld.net/mscprez and http://DS3-Bandwidth.com …….delivering choices to both residential and business consumers for voice and data broadband services. Michael also authors BroadBand Nation http://BroadBand-Nation.blogspot.com where you’re always welcome to to drop in and catch up on the latest BroadBand news, tips, and ramblings for the masses.