A Surfer’s Dream

As we all enjoy the vinyl record revival, there is another aspect to this phenomenon that sometimes gets overlooked: the forgotten 45 rpm records from years past. Sure, there are some mainstream artists, punk rockers and indie musicians who have found this audio medium to their liking, it is a marvelous way to not only give their fans what they want (the music), but also create a collectible as well.

Another medium from the past has gone through some major changes in recent years. Remember when AM radio dominated the air waves? And then another format in the 70′s added even more alternatives for music lovers -FM radio. Now we have satellite radio and another inventive medium, the Internet radio station.

One Internet radio station in particular has been able to combine the aforementioned 45 rpm records and the Internet to form Counter Clock Radio (http://www.live365.com/stations/counter_clock?play) and Counter Clock Records (http://stores.ebay.com/Counter-Clock-Records). The business is the brainchild of the wife and husband team of Jane and Norm Geddis of Mission Viejo, California who have developed a ‘play what we find’ programming style that is very unique and allows their listeners an eclectic array of music genres to listen to. I had the opportunity to speak with the developers of this novel concept, let’s learn more about Counter Clock Records and Counter Clock Radio:

Obviously you have a love for vinyl- what is it about records that make them so appealing to you?

Norm: “They’re round, like wheels. It’s by far the best use of man’s first invention. CD’s never felt quite the same. Downloads are radio plus labor. I’m a decade past being impressed with myself for getting software to work after an evening playing around with my computer.”

Jane: “I like the built-in nostalgia value of vinyl – whether it’s a 1964 Top 40 one-hit wonder or a super rare Private Press Psych LP. It felt like a part of me died and was buried when CD’s became the standard. With downloads, it’s like the moss has grown over the headstones.”

How long have you been online/ selling on ebay and what are your thoughts about the fee changes and the overall operations of this online giant?

Norm: “We started Counter-Clock Records in July of ’07. Or rather, I started selling on eBay about that time, just 45′s that I was done loving on, and then both us created the store and glued these other parts (blog and radio station) to it.”

“As far as those changes everyone talks about, I came into the middle of that and, speaking just for me, I’m a part of Counter-Clock Records. eBay is just the venue, the shopping center where our store is located. No matter where one has their store, there’s not a merchant on this planet, or likely any other, who isn’t complaining about the rents. It’s not a complaint I’m going to pass along to my customers.”

When did you decide to go ‘online’ with the Live365 radio station?

Norm: “The station has been running since March of ’07 which was several months before we opened the store.”

What kind of fan base do you have, what kind of records/music do you play?

Jane: “Our base is our customers who have found our station. The station is very close to exactly how we want it to be, with short music news segments and trivia, so now we have something unique and something we’re proud of. It’s time to let everyone know. We play what we find. I call the programming style Accidental Nostalgia.”

My readers love the “Top 5 vinyl record sales” feature each week. How long have you been doing this? Have you noticed any specific patterns- what sells the best (and who) and what is the most expensive record that you have ever documented on the list?

Norm: “I began the blog about the same time I started the radio station. The “store” so to speak began when I put a few records up on my eBay account in July of last year.”

“The most expensive record I’ve documented was the White Album that sold last week for $30k, which is saying a lot for vinyl collectibles in this economy. Unfortunately I flubbed that one and it got left off that week’s list. The seller had listed it in “Music Memorabilia” and I keep my eyes on the “Record” category. I also didn’t keep an eye on your blog that week, Robert, or I would have caught it – the problem of selling records and writing about them during the holiday season. So I did a mea culpa entry on that one so it makes it on the Record Store Day year-end list.”

I love listening to the station- your format and genres of music are very eclectic. Where do you get the music and how do you decide what you want to play?

Jane: “We buy collections from individuals, closed record stores, from eBay as well. Mostly the 45′s speak to me. By that I mean that when I look through a stack of records I sense what’s interesting, unusual, weird . . . just enjoyable. Norm has an encyclopedia of music history in his head, but if we just went on that alone we’d sound like tons of other stations. So clairvoyance plays its part.”

Do you have any plans to add DJ’s to the mix?

Jane: “A podcast is in the works. But it may not happen unless the Earth starts spinning slower.”

What are the future plans for the station and Counter Clock Records?

Norm: “Next year is going to be about more of everything. We have lots of inventory to love on and get out there to the world. The backbone of vinyl records is the community record store. The Internet cannot deliver that. Counter Clock Records is something to come home to, but not to replace the chill up your spine dirty tile smell of your record store.”

What do you think of the ‘vinyl revival’ and where do you see vinyl in the next ten years?

Jane: “I think the vinyl revival is great! I also think it was inevitable. Tens of millions of us who love vinyl are either retiring or have more time on our hands, and whether you have a little or a lot of money, there’s something for everyone. Plus, it seems that even though they’re not buying “our music,” young adults and teens are discovering that there is something more to vinyl than the downloads. And getting squeezed in the middle are CD’s. It seemed only a matter of time before these two groups converged and the music market opened up to let us back in.”

Norm: “I’m not a money guru and this isn’t investment advice. However, as my grandmother used to say during tough times, “there’ll always be somebody with money.” And, like during the seventies and early nineties, traditional investments are not attractive. Comic book values skyrocketed in the seventies, as with sports cards in the early nineties. I think it’s about to be vinyl’s day in the sun.”

Do you have a Top Ten list of your favorite 45′s and or favorite recording artists?

Jane: “I’ll do artists-Etta James, Grateful Dead, Joni Mitchell, The Band, Bill Monroe, Renaissance, Mazzy Star, Opal, Joan Armatrading, CSNY.”

Norm: “45′s for me- Mixed Feelings “Sha La La”/”Love Will Find A Way,” Moody Blues “Go Now”/”Lose Your Money,” Small Faces “Itchycoo Park”/”I’m Only Dreaming,” Sandi Sheldon “You’re Gonna Make Me Love You”/”Baby You’re Mine,” Pink Floyd “Point Me At The Sky”/”Careful With That Axe Eugene,” Olivia Tremor Control “California Demise” EP, Hedgehoppers Anonymous “It’s Good News Week”/”Afraid Of Love,” Barbara Lewis “Baby I’m Yours”/”I Say Love,” Denny Laine “It’s So Easy”/Listen To Me”/”I’m Looking For Someone To Love,” The Intruders “Every Day Is A Holiday”/”Old Love” and probably a hundred others.”

So, if you are looking for some great old obscure rock and roll, one-hit wonders and soulful R&B, drop by Counter Clock Radio and Counter Clock Records and give them a spin. Your ears will love what you hear.

Robert Benson
http://www.articlesbase.com/art-and-entertainment-articles/back-in-time-with-counter-clock-records-706264.html

The Secret Science of Divining

(i)

Come with me, I shall reveal
the secret of divining
our ancestors knew.

I shall take you to the hallowed spots
where stand pyramids and astrofields
to show you the rim of the cosmic orb
where existed an observatory for all space.

These hieroglyphs tell of a lost civilization
of those who could commune through signs,
masters of geometric anagrams and schemes.

No thinking pigmies
like the jet-set, computer-brained, robots,
no automatons sans feeling or emotion,
who worship only the machine.

The aborigines possess to this day
the knowledge of invisible paths;
locked in their secret science
the treasury of ancient wisdom.

 

No unfeeling savages
but visionary beings
who knew where to build
the great pyramids.

 

Who knew the unified field
of quadrangles and triangles
that form the invisible grid
encircling the globe.

 

Who knew well the movements
of prevailing winds,
of cosmo-oceanic currents,
of hidden forces of the cosmos.

 

Who knew the spots of magnetic power
to locate the precise spots
for the countless megalithic structures
to predict the rising and setting of the sun;
made the magnetic field retain the sunstones
in the ordained positions.

 

Who had the ability to commune
with beings from far-off constellations
we are still struggling to find.

 

Many a mysterious sign on the ground
be it a bridge over the sea
or an airfield
or the markings of Nasca-
tell of the intelligence
behind the perfect architectural plan
of astroports
for visitors from outer space
to land to consummate
an unknown mission.

 

The mystery of Ande lines too
points to the invisible hand
of the unknown denizens
from far-aff galaxies.

 

(ii)

 

Ancient men possessed
the unerring intuition
to locate the spots
for their minarets and pagodas,
their circles and parabolas.

 

They had the innate ability
to catch supranatural frequencies
a power modern man has lost.
Sensate values have taken a toll
a sure sign of man’s fall.

 

Knew that from coarse erotica
to archetypal myths,
from  racial memory-roots of aborigines
to the consciousness of superman,
dreams span the legendary lore.

 

We sleep to dream,
we dream to sleep
till we are shaken
by a knock at the door.

 

We shuttle from bliss to horror
breaking the sequence of space-time,
hourly undergo a sea change.

 

We leave the corporeal frame
to travel by the astral pathways.
After a spell of relaxation,
go to sleep again.

 

Many a time have I dreamt
in a wakeful state,
seen and thought three-dimensionally,
oblivious of my fourth dimension,
the basis of all creativity
that guides the artist’s insight,
lets him see the hidden beauty
in the darkest night.

 

Sleep is a relaxation
a state of receptive passivity,
for paranormal communication,
for entering a trance.

 

I climb the chestnut,
become the tree,
stand with my peers,
proud of my ancestry.

 

Oblivious of the hallowed past
that gave meaning to my thoughts,
beneath the banyan I lie.
My roots go back in time,
I recollect each one
who stood there.

 

I become the wood,
bound to every one ,
stretching my arms in every direction.

 

I understand the heart
of cyclones and storms,
of creativity and creation,
in my soul’s calm.

 

Travel from trunk downards
far away in space-time,
in my crystal costume
I become all that I see.

 

Breathing the air of new skies
hopping from sphere to sphere,
buffeted by electromagnetic waves,
I cross
many a sound barrier,
many a starlit dome,
winging from the earthly roof
to my celestial home.

 

there I meet my father,
my father’s father
and onto the Father.

 

In His lap I rest a while
to take my place with the pole-star
to guide the stranded.

 

Go back home
to know the source
I strayed from
to live my mortal destiny.

 

(v)
In my trances,
in nine circles of the moon
I unrolled the scroll
of my previous lives.

 

I re-lived the crucial roles
of my previous births,
having a bearing on my present,
as if I were acting in a film.

 

Till my thirties I was a witness
to disjointed episodes
from my previous lives
reflected on a screen.

 

Suddenly, in early thirties,
a strange dispassion entered my being:
I started shunning all men
retreating to lonely spots
for meditations deep and long
till I was summoned to shirdi
by a celestial call.

 

There I met  a realized soul
who transferred the yogic powers
to create and uncreate at will,
to see beyond space-time,
to commune with spirits divine,
to hear the first sermons
of ancient saints and divines
in their original tongues.

 

My precognition in that state
was marked by precision,
my prophecies were fulfilled,
I was the star of the great.

 

I heard  Christ’s golden sermon
in his own sonorous voice
in a language alien to my ear;
its music haunts.

 

I was roused
from the sleep of ignorance
to tread the seeker’s path
played in my previous births.

 

Dattatreya and Sai
Gurcharan and Golak
Zen patriarchs and Babaji
wrapped in effulgence,
entered my inmost being;
I was filled with translucent light.

 

They awakened me to my mission,
conferred the mystic sight
to bear the godly light,
to carry the cross of human woes.

 

From the meshes of worldliness freed,
longing to walk by His light
making it burn into a steady slame,
in my dark cavern I dwell.

 

Hear the call
to join my voice
to the choir of God.

 

I sing of the faith,
of the earth as one family,
of unity permeating all,
of  service as love made visible:
the destination of every man,
of soul’s deliverance,
of its merger with the One,
the source supreme.

 

(vi)

 

Ecstasy is a gateway to eternal
from the void of oblivion
to eternities of memory.
It is an invitation
to life divine.

 

The sages of yore
who sing philosophies to redeem,
prophet, poet and philosopher, rolled in one,
to them I look for inspiration.

 

Science has to be a hymn to the Creator,
no more a preserve of godless men
or it will become a device
heaping untold miseries upon men.

 

Reason and spirit interacting mould
the force of personality
that ordains the route mankind will take
when the spirit is caught in a fix.

 

” To be or not be” is not a question
confined to a mythical person
but the haunting obsession of every epoch
in search of a breakthrough.

 

No forecast is possible in reverse,
neither about the past nor the future.
History is a graveyard of all prophecies,
of all ” ifs” and ” buts”.

 

Spirituality is the last retreat
for science and religion to meet;
when clash of creeds alarms,
realization has to drawn.

 

The savage and the scientist share
the same substratum of intelligence,
the same gene,
yet in the chain of natural progression
savage remains the archetypal man.

 

Psychokinesis and clairvoyance
belong to every man
in psychic reservoir locked.

 

What you need is the right intelligence
to attune yourself
to the unified field
of human awareness,
encircling the universe,
hissing for recognition.

 

I travelled to distant lands,
unknown to my physical mind,
in contemplation firm-fixed
yet moving faster than light.

 

A mental falcon following,
retaining the memory of things I see,
of the sights and sounds
that lapped around me;
reviving the ability or remote -seeing,
natural to every one.

 

I have experienced levitation,
materialized out of thin air
sultanas and sacred ash.
Also, solid balls out of nothing,
and let them fall to the ground
without bouncing or making a sound.
Twisted metal spans and knives,
made eerie signs.
Pulled out fires from the walls,
saw flowerpots hanging in midair,
automatic writing on a clean slate,
a shadowy presence in the room.

 

(vii)

 

What we do in this life
determines what we gain
in the next.

 

Good or evil we do
forsakes us not
on our journey to the unknown,
neither in the course of flight
nor on reaching the destination.

 

What we are, we shall be,
all determined by our deeds.
The universe is not a game of dice
but a mathematical paradigm.

 

Each and every step of the design
squares well with the pattern of the theorem.
Everything depends on our actions.
Karma and reincarnations
monitor the cosmic mechanism.

 

Cryptompesia explains
the truth of transmigration,
our turning away from the sun,
our striving for salvation,
an integral aspects of total organism
that inheres in the cosmic unconscious:
the extension of microcosmic self.

 

We cannot explain
the totality of the human person
by physio-neurology alone,
the truth lies in prenatal existence.

 

Many a time
meeting a person,
passing through a situation,
or reading some piece,
the sensation of ” already seen”
haunts us
as if our double had been to the place
and had met the person.

 

(viii)

 

Stuck by weightlessness
I levitate in space in a state of trance.

 

In my upward glide swill,
turning in air itself,
into the tunnel,
cross the little  hill,
to arrive where my father sleeps.

 

I too shall sleep there
after I shuffle off my worn-out coil,
cut the umbilical cord that joins
the causal to the mental-physical sheath,
all over the globe to fly.

 

I follow the music,
cross the astral paths,
the sun and the moon,
cross the river of mortality
needling my way through invisible tunnels,
through inaccessible mountain passes
dotted by sunspots and black shadows,
well-marked by ethereal poles.

 

Out-of-the-body experience is not the same
as the fact of being out of the body
but an altered state of consciousness.

 

(ix)

 

The spirit never dies,
in various incarnations it survives
drinking the bliss sip by sip
till we attain nirvana.

 

I know reincarnation to be a fact
fro sage Bhrigu unfolds the scroll
of my previous births
spanning many aeons.

In one birth I was King Yayati,
the ancestor of the solar race.
I carry with me Brighu’s curse
for my infidelity
to Devayani,
daughter of the mighty sage.

She cried
for restoration of her conjugal rights,
for her son’s succession to the throne,
brought upon my head
decrepitude too soon
and a straw bed.

Twenty-nine births from the present one
I was the sage Madan
and lived
in the Hemkund mountains
absorbed in Sat Chit Anand.

In my last birth
was I a scholar-saint
honoured by courts and kings.

In this life reborn to the one
who was no God-man
but true man of God,
free from the taint of worldliness.
The Jiwan Mukta, by Brighu proclaimed,
the liberated while living
and not to be born again.

Father bade me stop
the out-of-body journeys
to confine myself
to ordained duties and affections,
to quicken the liberation of man,
to imbibe earth consciousness,
to make earth-citizens,
to re-live the religion of man.

Father touched me by chance,
instantly I went into a trance:
neither a sleep nor a dream was it
but the light of bliss.

Through many a secret pathway
I travelled to unreachable realms
shortening distances
of many million light years.

Suddenly I see something flicker
with a pair of eye-glasses
in a far-off gloom,
my sense of discernment returns.

I retrace my steps ;
a black dog,
tucking at my knees,
coaxes me home.

http://mysticinfoun.blogspot.com/2008/12/mystic-signs.html

yayati madan g gandhi
http://www.articlesbase.com/spirituality-articles/mystic-signsan-invitation-to-life-divine-707354.html

June 29, 2006

Shortly after my arrival in Montreal, right around 1 pm, I met Carole, a licensed professional tour guide from Guidatour in the lobby of the Holiday Inn and she was going to be my local expert on a driving tour through the centre of Montreal. I had only been in Montreal once before 10 years ago, so I really needed a quick overview of the city to familiarize myself with its layout. And although Montreal’s downtown area is very compact and walkable, a driving tour would give me a great introduction to this metropolis.

From my hotel we drove south on St. Urbain Street and our first big sight was one of Montreal’s key tourist destinations: the Place d’Armes and the exquisite Basicilica of Notre Dame, Montreal’s largest and most beautiful cathedral. From there we passed by Montreal City Hall and then made our way up the Boulevard St. Laurent, also referred to as “The Main”, for generations the traditional path of successive waves of immigrants as they made their way north the port area to settle permanently in other neighbhourhoods of the city. We passed by the Hotel Godin, a former garment factory that has recently been converted into a boutique hotel, one of many revitalized historic buildings that has been turned into a modern hotel.

Prince Arthur Street further north is a pedestrian street featuring a variety of reasonably priced restaurants with outdoor patios. This area was a hotbed of hippie culture in the 1960s and today provides a great selection of family restaurants. A little further west we decided to have lunch at Chez Gautier, one of Montreal’s most well-known bistros, established in 1978. Chez Gautier’s Parisian-style décor features beautiful woodwork and a magnificent handcrafted glass dome ceiling in the bar area.

Right next to Chez Gautier and under the same ownership is la Patisserie Belge, a pastry shop offering a wide selection of beautifully designed cakes and baked goods. Carole and I sat down on the beautiful terrace where I satisfied my cravings for an authentic French onion soup as well as a salad with warm goat cheese and toast. It was a delicious light lunch that reenergized me to continue with my explorations.

Our driving tour continued with a trip further north, passing by the Parc des Ameriques, a park that celebrates the city’s Latin American immigrants, until we reached the Mont Royal neighbourhood, just to the east of famous Mont Royal. This whole area is referred to as the “Plateau”, a reasonably flat area just east of St-Denis that is subdivided into several smaller neighbourhoods. This is one of Montreal’s trendiest neighbourhoods.

West of the Plateau is Outremont neighbourhood which covers the area adjacent to the mountain. The mix of ethnic groups was evidenced by the coexistence side-by-side of a synagogue and a Chinese church. Carole pointed out that some of the best bagels can be had on Fairmont Street. Cote St. Catherine is the main boulevard of Outremont and surrounded by a variety of parks and stately homes. Outremont is one of the most desirable areas in Montreal and used to be a Francophone stronghold, while Westmount, the neighbourhood on the southwest slopes of Mont Royal, historically used to the bastion of English speakers.

We passed by the University of Montreal, one of Montreal’s four universities, two of which are geared to Anglophones and two towards Francophones. The UOM is primarily French speaking and its campus was designed by famous architect Ernest Cormier who was one of the first to introduce Montreal to the Art Deco Style. We continued on Cote des Neiges, a multi-ethnic neighbourhood of recent immigrants.

The big attraction on the northwest side of Mont Royal is Saint-Joseph’s Oratory, topped by the second largest dome in the world after St. Peter’s in Rome. The oratory was built as a result of the efforts of Brother André (1845 to 1937), a man of very humble beginnings, who used to be the doorkeeper at the Collège Notre Dame across the street. Many miracles are attributed to Brother André and he was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1982. In 1904 Brother André started construction on a small chapel on the mountain side, facing the college. This chapel became too small, so in 1917 a church with 1000 seats was built. In 1924 finally the construction of the basilica started and was finally completed more than 40 years later in 1967. St. Joseph’s Oratory is a magnificent building and one of Montreal’s major landmarks. Driving into the city from the west you can see this glorious structure for miles.

Right around the corner is the …cole Polytechnique where a deranged Marc Lepine killed 14 women in December of 1989 in what has become known the “Montreal massacre”. A permanent memorial has been erected to commemorate this infamous incident and to keep the memory of all female victims of violence alive. The Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery, begun in 1855, is Montreal’s largest cemetery and holds many of the city’s most prominent citizens. More than 800,000 people are buried here and many exquisitely carved gravestones bear testimony to many prominent residents. While Notre-Dame-des-Neiges is the city’s largest French catholic cemetery, the Mount Royal Protestant Cemetery right next to it is the last resting place for many of Montreal’s most prominent Anglo residents.

Mount Royal is Montreal’s highest point at 223 m and presents a huge green space for the city dwellers. The park dates back to 1870 when local Westmount residents were concerned about deforestation on the mountain due to the cutting down of firewood. Famous landscape designer Frederick Law Olmstead, the creator of New York City’s Central Park and many other American public green spaces, was commissioned to design the Parc du Mont-Royal.

Our first stop in Parc Mont-Royal was at Castor Lake, an artificial lake created in 1958 in what was formerly a swamp. The lake is surrounded by meadows and trees and used as a skating rink in the winter. We then parked our car just a bit further up the mountain, right next to the Maison Smith, the last remaining former farm house on Mont Royal which today offers various exhibits and activities. The basement of this building houses a very large gabbro rock which is an example of the igneous rock that makes up Mont Royal and several of the mountains in the Monteregie region of Quebec. Contrary to popular belief, Mont Royal is not an extinct volcano but the result of magma intrusions.

After a brief hike through a forested pathway system we arrived at Montreal’s famous lookout, the Belvédère Kondiaronk (named after a Huron chief) overlooking the downtown skyscrapers. Incidentally, Montreal’s skyscrapers are not as high as those in some other cities, since according to local stipulations, none of the buildings is allowed to be higher than the mountain. The view from this lookout is astounding and I wish every city had a lookout point like that. Just beside the lookout is the Chalet du Mont Royal, a large structure built in 1932 that houses concerts and special events.

Our brief tour of Mont Royal concluded with a tour of the Westmount residential area, an independent city of about 20,000 residents fully enclosed by the City of Montreal. Westmount has long been the traditional residential area of Montreal’s Anglo-Saxon elite and many Neo-Tudor or Neo-Georgian residences attest to the wealth of this area. Greene Avenue is one of the commercial streets in the area and features many of Westmount’s trendiest shops.

Further east along Sherbrooke Street, one of Montreal’s thoroughfares, is the Golden Square Mile, once the enclave of the Canadian upper class between about the 1850s and 1930s. Most of the residents were of Scottish descent and acquired their wealth in the furtrading business. During that era about 70% of Canada’s wealth was concentrated among the residents of the Golden Square Mile. Today only a few of the Victorian houses remain and many of the buildings house retail stores. Part of the Golden Square Mile is McGill University, Montreal’s oldest university, founded in 1821 as a result of a generous donation by Scottish-born fur trader John McGill. On our way back to my hotel we also passed UQAM, the Université de Quebec à Montreal, the city’s youngest university, founded in 1979 and a thoroughly modern addition to the city.

No doubt this was a whirlwind tour, but at the same time these 3 hours were a great introduction to this fascinating city. Something I would be able to mull over during my dinner at Modavie, accompanied by a little jazz….

For the entire article including photos please visit
http://www.travelandtransitions.com/stories_photos/montreal_driving_tour.htm

Susanne Pacher
http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-articles/hello-from-montreal-part-3-a-driving-tour-as-a-great-introduction-to-a-fascinating-city-92825.html

Beginners Guide to Developing your psychic abilities. You can be your own psychic!

As a teacher, I hear people constantly saying they don’t have any psychic abilities, yet invariably when I start to question them about their life experiences, they always have stories about hunches, thoughts or ideas they’ve had. Some will mention getting butterflies in their stomach when they think about about certain things.

They don’t seem to realize that these hunches and things ARE psychic abilities. Everyone has psychic abilities. You may not know HOW they work and it may seem they don’t work for you, but that is another story entirely and it does not change the fact that you are psychic..

The first step to developing your psychic abilities is to accept you already have the ability. You may not know exactly how to use it, or you may not be using it to its fullest capabilities, but it is there. You MUST accept the fact that as long as you deny your psychic abilities, they will not work for you.

Chances are pretty good that you really don’t mean to say you don’t have any psychic abilities. You may suspect you do or hope that you do, but you haven’t seen enough to feel 100% comfortable admitting you have them yet. Probably because our society is so into wanting to see proof.

People tend to think that if a person admits they have psychic abilities, it automatically means they should be able to immediately tell you what is going to happen tomorrow. Rarely will you find someone with their psychic abilities that finely tuned.

As a comparison, think about cooking. Just about everyone can do some basic cooking even if it is nothing more than heating up a can of soup. But few people are capable of cooking a gourmet meal. If a teenager tells mom, “we learned to cook today”, mom is not going to expect the girl to cook a 6 course meal for supper tonight.

The vast, VAST majority of people are in the heating up a can of soup stage with their psychic abilities. They are not capable of telling you what is going to happen tomorrow, but that does not mean they don’t have psychic abilities.

How Psychic Abilities Work

No one can 100% for sure say exactly how psychic abilities work. We have ideas but our current level of scientific knowledge is not able to verify (test and measure) what we think is happening. Technology is getting closer and closer to being able to test and measure it, but we are not there yet.

To understand psychic abilities, you have to get down to basic science. Mainly two rules. 1) Everything is composed of energy. 2) Energy never dies. It may mutate, but never dies.

Our thoughts are energy, we use energy when we move our fingers over the keyboard. When we breathe out we move the air around and moving air is another form of energy.

How do we measure energy? Different types of energy are measured in different ways to make them easier for our human minds to understand, but when you get it down to the basic level, energy flows in waves and it is those waves we can measure.

Some things put out huge waves of energy and others put out tiny waves. Think about the electricity that flows through the wires in your home. As long as it is in those wires nothing happens. It’s when they electricity comes out of the wires that things get interesting.

If we have a machine of some sort hooked up to the electricity, it powers the machines and things are fine. But what happens when a human being is touching the end of the wire where the electricity comes out of it? To simplify it let’s just say electricity puts out BIG waves that are easily measured by todays technology.

How much energy do you produce when you blow air out of your mouth? You can probably easily create enough energy to blow out the candles on your birthday cake, but can you, by yourself produce enough energy to turn a wind turbine? Of course not, and obviously the waves of energy you produce when blowing out those candles is not nearly as strong as the waves electricity causes but we are technologically advanced enough that we measure the energy you produce.

Your thoughts also produce waves of energy. Our current technology can measure the thought waves inside our head, but we have not reached the point with our technology to be able to measure a persons thought waves from across the room. The waves are there, we just don’t have the technology to measure it yet. Does the fact that we can not measure the waves from across the room mean they don’t exist? Of course not!

Psychic Abilities Pick up those waves

Every thought we think, every sound we make, every movement we make, everything we do is constantly putting out little amounts of energy and we know that energy never dies so all these thoughts etc., etc., are still there, but our currently technology does not allow us to scientifically measure all this energy.

But the Universal Power that designed and built us and everything else built within us the fantastic ability to pick these energies. I tend to look at it like this. The energy being put out by our thoughts, movements, actions and everything else that makes life so wonderful could be called the “music of the Universe”.

Our bodies, the magnificent machines that they are, were designed to be a receiver of that beautiful music.

As you realize, different brands and models of machines work differently. Some work better than others. Some get damaged over time and some simply break down from lack of use or even over use. How well you receive that beautiful music depends on the shape your receiver is in.

Repairing your Psychic Abilities Receiver

The question then becomes how do you personally repair your receiver? There is no doubt you were designed to be able to receive the Universal Music of life, but somewhere along the line your receiver got broke. It may be off channel and we just need to turn the knobs a little. Or you may have blown a few fuses someplace in the machinery and we’ve got to dig around till we find and replace them.

Rest assured however if you are willing to work at it, you can develop your psychic abilities.

The next step, Learning to Listen

If you are still reading at this point, I hope you have accepted the first step to developing your psychic abilities, believing you have psychic abilities. If not, don’t go any further. Go immediately to our forum http://sotall.org/smf/ and ask for help. If you can not accept you already have psychic abilities, you will never have psychic abilities and there is no reason for you to go any further.

If you have accepted the fact that you are psychic, then the next step to increasing your psychic abilities is to “Learn to Listen”. How often to you stop and just listen to the world around you? If you listen intently enough, you can hear many wondrous things.

You can hear the winds voice foretelling the rain is on it’s way. You can heard frogs and crickets off in the distance and if you get really good, you can hear and feel the rhythm of the earth itself and the sounds of the Universe can flow like water across your skin.

In my local classes, I always make my students take 10 minutes every day to stop and just listen. I don’t care if you live in the noisiest city in the world, all the man made noises can be tuned out and you can hear the rhythm of the earth with a marching band going down the street if you try hard enough.

If you are not willing to give 10 minutes a day to listen, then please drop out of any classes or group I am teaching because you are waisting my time and your time.

You will find that the little 10 minutes a day will be something you soon start to look forward to and almost crave on a regular basis. That little 10 minutes will calm your nerves, de-stress your body and start opening your psychic abilities up more than any one thing you will ever do. But it MUST be on a regular basis. It can not be done just occasionally.

I take a little time each night (I try for 30 minutes when possible), go out on my back deck and just sit and look at the stars. If there are any noises around that bother me, I start mentally shutting them off, one by one until all I can hear are the sounds of nature.

Once nature has relaxed me, I start expanding my hearing to the sky. Listening to the stars and the moon, letting my receiver zero in on the energy a specific star is sending out. Feeling it pulsate within my very being.

Practice Makes Perfect

Once you have the two basic first steps down, it is all a matter of finding out how you personally receive information. You may find you are great at psychokinesis and suck at ESP (or visa versa). Some people have one skill that will bloom this week and next week something else comes to the forefront and they never know exactly which skill is working the best at any one time.

The only way to figure out your personal abilties is to practice. Exercises your abilities. They are much like muscles that get weak from lack of use and must be exercised to make strong.

If you don’t have anyone to work with and help you practice, consider joining one of the free psychic abilities groups that are available on the internet. Choose one that holds various types of practice exercises with it’s members so you can strengthen as many abilities as possible.

You may well be surprised how quickly your psychic abilities start to bloom when you begin regular exercises and who knows you may well be the next John Edwards.

Pamela Freeman
http://www.articlesbase.com/self-help-articles/beginners-guide-to-developing-your-psychic-abilities-127827.html

Emulated but never duplicated, Bob Dylan’s influence on popular music is truly incalculable. As a songwriter, he pioneered several different schools of pop songwriting, from confessional singer/songwriter to winding, hallucinatory, stream-of-conscious narratives. As a vocalist, he broke down the notions that in order to perform, a singer had to have a conventionally good voice, thereby redefining the role of vocalist in popular music.

Bob Dylan began performing in coffeehouses, and his rough charisma won him a significant following. In April, he opened for John Lee Hooker at Gerde’s Folk City. Five months later, Dylan performed another concert at the venue, which was reviewed positively by Robert Shelton in the New York Times. Columbia A&R man John Hammond sought out Dylan on the strength of the review, and signed the songwriter in the fall of 1961. Hammond produced Dylan’s eponymous debut album (released in March 1962), a collection of folk and blues standards that boasted only two original songs.

Over the course of 1962, Bob Dylan began to write a large batch of original songs, many of which were political protest songs in the vein of his Greenwich contemporaries. These songs were showcased on his second album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. Before its release, Freewheelin’ went through several incarnations. Dylan had recorded a rock & roll single, “Mixed Up Confusion,” at the end of 1962, but his manager, Albert Grossman, made sure the record was deleted because he wanted to present Dylan as an acoustic folky.

The permissive and unrestrictive Bob Dylan made a huge impact in the U.S. folk community, and many performers began covering songs from the album. Of these, the most significant were Peter, Paul & Mary, who made “Blowin’ in the Wind” into a huge pop hit in the summer of 1963 and thereby made Bob Dylan into a recognizable household name. On the strength of Peter, Paul & Mary’s cover and his opening gigs for popular folky Joan Baez, Freewheelin’ became a hit in the fall of 1963, climbing to number 23 on the charts.

While Dylan’s 1969 album was a hit, spawning the Top Ten single “Lay Lady Lay,” it was criticized in some quarters for uneven material. The mixed reception was the beginning of a full-blown backlash that arrived with the double-album Self Portrait. Released early in June of 1970, the album was a hodgepodge of covers, live tracks, re-interpretations, and new songs greeted with negative reviews from all quarters of the press. Bob Dylan followed the album quickly with New Morning, which was hailed as a comeback.

Bob Dylan’s hugely successful 1974 Planet waves world tour was the beginning of a comeback culminated by 1975′s Blood on the Tracks. Largely inspired by the disintegration of his marriage, Blood on the Tracks was hailed as a return to form by critics and it became his second number one album.

At the conclusion of his 1978 tour, Bob Dylan announced that he was a born-again Christian, and he launched a series of Christian albums that following summer with Slow Train Coming. Though the reviews were mixed, the album was a success, peaking at number three and going platinum.

In 1988, Bob Dylan embarked on what became known as “The Never-Ending Tour” — a constant stream of shows that ran on and off into the late ’90s. That same year, he released Down in the Groove, an album largely comprised of covers. The Never-Ending Tour received far stronger reviews than Down in the Groove, but 1989′s Oh Mercy was his most acclaimed album since 1974′s Blood on the Tracks. However, his 1990 follow-up, Under the Red Sky, was received poorly, especially when compared to the enthusiastic reception for the 1991 box set The Bootleg Series, Vols. 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased), a collection of previously unreleased outtakes and rarities.

It was followed in 1993 by another folk album, World Gone Wrong, which won the Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album. After the release of World Gone Wrong, Bob Dylan released a greatest-hits album and a live record. Dylan released Time Out of Mind, his first album of original material in seven years, in the fall of 1997. Time Out of Mind received his strongest reviews in years and unexpectedly debuted in the Top Ten.

Another album of original material, Love and Theft, followed in 2001. Soon after its release, Bob Dylan announced that he was making his own film, to star Jeff Bridges, Penelope Cruz, John Goodman, Val Kilmer, and many more. The accompanying soundtrack, Masked and Anonymous, was released in July 2003. Today, Dylan continues to define his legacy, proving that his tremendous talent, unwavering courage to be different, and extraordinary musical prowess will continue to challenge and change the face of the music industry for years to come.

Cameron Morrison
http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/bob-dylans-infamous-legacy-125949.html

Are you looking for a great time, with long walks on the beautiful beaches of the Grand Strand and relaxing by the warm Atlantic as you feel the steady breezes of the Ocean? This is what my ideal vacation was focusing around, so I decided to take a trip down to Myrtle Beach, SC. I have always heard that Myrtle Beach was one of the most popular and enjoyable vacation destinations.
As I was entering the beautiful South Carolina, I could only help to notice the natural beauty of this state. When getting closer to the Myrtle Beach, SC I began to see many billboards with all sorts of attractions, accommodations and Myrtle Beach Resorts.

Finally, in North Myrtle Beach and now on Ocean Boulevard, I roll my window down and I can see the Atlantic Ocean, hear the waves splashing on the sandy shore, and feel the breeze in my hair and the smell of salt in the wind. As a recommendation, I was looking to stay somewhere in the North End and preferably The Prince Resort. I pulled up to 3500 North Ocean Blvd, and was extremely lucky because I was able to book a condo at this beautiful Myrtle Beach Resort. I was given at option of 1, 2, or 3 bedroom condo, with an option of ocean view. On the way up to my room, I passed outdoor pools, Jacuzzis, and a lazy river. As I entered my room, I noticed how clean and refreshing it felt and looked.

I jut couldn?t wait to relax after a five hour drive. My condo had lots of designer furniture, high speed internet, very nice televisions in living room and bedroom, garden and a private balcony. When I noticed the balcony, I quickly ran to see the view. It was so beautiful. The beach was filled with sunbathers and surfers because of the perfect summer weather. The beach was lined with the most beautiful tropical looking Palm Trees, giving some shade along its coast. I then noticed a pier that also only steps away from this Myrtle Beach Resort. After settling in, I decided to check this pier out, come to find out, it is the Cherry Grove Pier, which is 985 feet. I walked down the pier and noticed all sorts of fisherman, catching all sorts of fish. I saw families, couples, and friend scrolling along the pier or enjoying the tiki bar. During the three days at Myrtle Beach, I would have to say it?s all you imagined and more?

Gen Wright

You might have faced several problems while starting the online business and it might have been difficult to transform you vision into reality. There are many other related factors like inefficient technical skills and financial problems which can impede your online business growth. Therefore, it becomes essential to meet these problems with effective solutions that can make your online business yield maximum profit.

There are many software companies which are involved in ecommerce software development. Software companies use various techniques in the course of ecommerce software development that help in empowering the conversion rates online, managing inventory, processing credit card and other functions related to online marketing. Many companies have successfully improved by implementing ecommerce software. If you want to improve your business or retain your customers it is advisable to seek for software companies for an effective ecommerce software development.

Today, the customers find it more comfortable to log-in to various online marketing websites and place orders. This also enables them to know the status of their order and eases the way to carry out any business action. The customers now do not have to wait in long queues to receive their orders or for any business transaction. The ecommerce software has probably made it more convenient for the customers as well as businessmen.

If your business is not supporting ecommerce technology then you are surely on the losing grounds as compared to your competitors. There are many vendors who are cashing on the technique provided by the ecommerce software. By displaying their services and products online in various marketing portals, they can globally reach to large volume of customers as compared earlier. This method also proves to cut your costs down while reaching the customers. Easy to install, a business person can benefit from the well-developed ecommerce software by meeting various needs of both customer and vendor. Vendors ensure that the customers visiting their online stores have a great experience of ordering items.

Roberto Luongo
http://www.articlesbase.com/software-articles/ecommerce-software-making-waves-in-online-marketing-676127.html

I heard about the Gratitude Rock on the movie The Secret. It’s been a powerful, life transforming story that has literally changed the lives of millions of people form every country, creed and background. For those that haven’t heard it, let me tell you the “Readers Digest” version of the Gratitude Rock, including the story behind the story.

Lee Brower is the businessman who initiated the gratitude rock movement. One of his daughters was struggling with substance abuse. Together, they found the best facility to treat her, and after an emotional parting at the facility, he flew to California to be alone for a few days and write. Walking along the beach, he discovered a butterfly shaped rock. In his own words:

“As I slowly strolled along the edge of the foam, breathing in the fresh morning breeze tumbling off the waves, my gaze was drawn to a dark colored rock. It actually seemed to be glowing and I couldn’t resist picking it up. As I examined this gray rock, I turned it over and there in black was the image of a butterfly in flight!

My heart stopped.
My throat tightened.
Was this a message to me to focus on the beauty of the flight?

I knew it belonged to my daughter.
I pocketed it and sent it to her.

When she received this little rock in the mail sent priority FedEx, she was anxious to call me and find out what this was all about. I told her to keep it close to her and every time she touched it, to think of something that she was grateful for. I told her I was going to hunt for my own rock and I would do the same.

Every morning when I get dressed and reach for my wallet, there is my rock. It immediately reminds me to drop to my knees and express gratitude for the many incredible relationships, experiences and blessings in my life. I actually visualize those things I am grateful for. I conclude by visualizing the day and the outcomes I desire for the day. During the day, each time I touch the rock, I am again reminded of my vision and gratitude. Then, at the conclusion of the day, as I take the rock out and place it on its special place on my bed stand, I capture the experiences and once again take time to express my appreciation.”

When I heard this story, I was immediately impressed to get my own gratitude rock. I did carry a small rock in my pocket for a while, and it was a great experience for me to every day feel thanks and gratitude every time I touched the rock in my pocket.

Shortly after starting this habit, my dad was visiting from Canada, and gave me a silver dollar. He told me he got the dollar as change one day, and noticed it was minted in my birth year. So the dollar made him think of me. He carried it in his wallet for several years and felt it was time I carried the coin.

So I made it my “Gratitude Coin,” and have put it in my pocket every day since. So it has even more meaning for me as it was a great gift from my dad. Whether you have a gratitude rock, coin, or anything else doesn’t matter. The exercise is 100% internal. Use whatever works best for you.

Cicero said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, it is the parent of all others.”

Try carrying your own Gratitude Rock, it will help you focus on all you have (most people focus on what they DON’T have!), it will help you appreciate more who you are, and could be one of the most powerful  habits you develop in your quest for success.

Dave

In my textbook, it says that infrared waves are "waves of radiant energy that transfers heat energy."
And radiant energy is "energy transferred rom a heat source by waves."

So infrared waves carry radiant energy. Does that mean without infrared waves there’s no radiant energy, and vice versa?

No. Electromagnetic waves are produced by all objects that have a temperature above absolute zero. The total energy emitted by electromagnetic waves (or photons) is proportional to the fourth power of the temperature expressed in degrees Kelvin above absolute zero. Infrared waves (or photons) are only part of the spectrum of radiant energy from a thermal source.

Today, the market is full of cheap broadband packages and the demand is constantly increasing among the users. Thus, it has led to the competition among different broadband providers. Big players like Reliance Broadband, British Telecom, 3 mobile broadband, Orange, Talk talk, Toucan, Demon, Tesco, AOL, PlusNet, Direct Save Telecom, Namesco, Sky, Vodafone, BSNL, T- Mobile Phone and many others are competing against each other. They are coming with very cheap broadband deals. This is a win-win situation for both Internet users as well as service providers, because both benefit from each other. Service providers can increase their sale and Internet users can get good services at cheaper rates.

No doubt, broadband is an innovative way of connecting to the Internet. One can stay connected onto the Internet all the time and also need not dial a connection every time to surf the Internet. With broadband, one can access Internet via telephone line, Mobile phone, Cable TV, Satellite etc. Broadband is highly advanced as compared to the traditional method of using Internet. It allows faster and easier access to the Internet. It is very cost effective and time saving.

To get cheap broadband packages, one needs to undergo lots of research. This is because different service providers come up with different offers. So one needs to compare benefits and prices of these broadband deals and finally select the offer that suits him or her the most. With these broadband services, the users can get relief from heavy monthly bills. They are not required to worry about extra charges for using Internet, because there are fixed charges for using broadband Internet services.

Nowadays, it is quite easy to find the most attractive deals as there are number of cheap broadband packages available in the market. It is because of the growing competition among the service providers. Some cheap offers of mobile broadband would permit you to save huge amounts of money and surf your preferred web pages at a very steady pace.

The easiest way to lay your hands on the attractive broadband services would be by seeking the support of Internet. On Internet, one can find complete guide about these deals and choose a suitable broadband service after comparing the benefits of different available deals.

Andrew Peterson
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/cheap-broadband-packages-creating-waves-in-the-market-710559.html