5 signs the world is coming to an end March 30, 2008

“The world scenarios are very dramatic and painful”, that’s the absolute answer that you will be telling God if He asks you. I heard a lot about the end of the world. I have also read different articles, books, journals and others, all warning mankind that if they will not be careful, the world will come to an end one way or the other. Religious sects and organizations freely ask the Bible about this unsure world phenomenon. Way back in Jesus’ day, the disciples were anxious to know about the end of the world. So it says that they came to Jesus and called Him aside privately and asked Him this question. Matthew 24:3 states: “…Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”

 

Some people think that you are weird if you are talking about these stuffs. But let us face the reality; the term “end of the world” came from the lips of Jesus Christ.

And here are some of the signs that state that the end of the world is nearly coming:

1. The wide or global spread of the Good News. “The Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in the entire world as a witness unto all nations; and then the end shall come” (Mt. 24:14). Jesus Christ foretold that all nations will have the opportunity to believe in Him.

2. Massive weakening of the faith. Close to the end of the world, people will become very pessimistic about heavenly revealed truths and absolute moral values. They will only listen to what sounds interesting or pleasing and this attitude will promote.

3. The doctrine or showing of too many false prophets and false messiahs. These falsely teachers will encourage people to join all kinds of sects and religious groups catering to the low moral standards of the crowd. The Lord warns us about this, saying: “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying I am Christ; and shall deceive many. Do not follow them. For false Christ and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand” (Mt. 24:5, 24; Mark. 13:6).

4. The turning to Christ of the Jewish people. The prediction of apostle Paul; The mass will be falling away from Christianity of many nations will coincide with the conversion of Jews to Christ: “For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that hardening in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel
will be saved, as it is written:`..Zion , And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob’ … Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways paths beyond tracking out!” (Romans 11:25-33).

5. Evil doings and lost of justice will badly increase. As Jesus predicted: “Because iniquity will abound, the love of many will grow cold” (Mt. 24:12). The weakening of faith will lead to further moral decline and in turn, it will weaken faith even more.

So while the end is not yet here, take a quick break, do some reflection and analyze what kind of life you are living. Therefore, make some adjustments, getting yourself ready when the end comes.

 

What does it take to be the next U.S. President? March 25, 2008

Around this time of the year, presidency candidates typically hold a campaign, and citizens of the United States are induced by the candidates to vote them and let them lead the country.

The main question in every candidate is: What does it take to be the next U.S. President?

Even us, citizens, we never outgrow the question: What does it takes to lead a large country with a productive population?

Candidates are asked: “what, or who is a president?” almost daily but never: “What does it takes?”

Absolutely thinking, you are familiar with the technical definitions and qualifications that suggest an answer with the question: “what, or who is a president?”

 

 

Technical Definition

President is a title held by many leaders of organizations, companies, trade unions, universities, and countries. Etymologically, a “president” is one who presides, who sits in leadership (from Latin prae- “before” + sedere “to sit”; giving the term praeses). Originally, the term referred to the presiding officer of a ceremony or meeting (i.e. chairman); but today it most commonly refers to an official with executive powers.

Among other things, president today is a common title for the head of state of most republics, whether popularly elected, chosen by the legislature or a special electoral college. It is also often adopted by dictators.

Qualifications

1. Foreign Policy experience. After all, constitutionally speaking, a president’s main function is foreign policy.

2. Military experience. I admit this looks good on a resume, but I’m not sure how jumping in and out of fox holes while firing a machine gun lends itself to being a good President. Perhaps this should be restated as “military officer experience in a time of war.” Now that is impressive. One with this type of background has probably made life and death decisions that effected people other than himself.

3. Executive experience. Has the candidate actually run anything – a city? A state? A business? But more importantly, were he able to do it effectively?

The problem with this question is that they do not adequately answer the question: “What does it takes?”I guess the answer can be summarized in three words:

Acquire. It takes specialized leadership, political or management experience and education. A president needs to acquire experience and knowledge and be committed to a life long learning and experiencing process; possess far more managing and political knowledge than what is needed to pass existing series of problems of a country.

Voters should consider developing their own style of choosing who should be the one before voting and saying yes and/or serve in the country.

Apply. It takes the ability, capacity, willingness, and autonomy to apply the acquired political and management experience in presidency responsibility.

This is where rallies and protests came from. There are numbers of candidates who have knowledge, leadership, political experience and management experience but who are prohibited from doing so.

Advance. It takes a commitment to advance and apply the acquired presidency practices and procedures. In a real sense, presidents should look upon their work as a public service, never parlaying their position of trust for personal profit. A president has to be willing to advance their interests- not just the citizens of the country – to apply their acquired specialized knowledge regardless of form or amount of compensation.

What does it take to be a president? It takes a person who is well-educated, experienced, and well traveled. It should be someone who can apply their specialized knowledge, not to be burdened by regularly structure, committed to rising to the top of their profession and mastering the management of a country.

Top 10 Most Beautiful Women In The World March 25, 2008

Try to think over the past seconds, minutes, days, weeks, month and even a year! Which women really made your underwear fall? Many women continue to make our hearts skip a beat, year after year.

With absolutely so many beautiful women in this world, only a selected few have something special that make them stand and rise above the rest. It’s often magical and fantastic and that you can always have a tongue out of your mouth.

Over the past month, I have been looking on the internet for the most luxurious and priceless faces from far off places of the world (i didn’t have to look very far).

I based my rankings largely on the tremendous amount of searched faces, searchers, and opinions and comments from all.

Some of my selections will receive a whole-hearted compliance, others may come as a surprise, but no doubt you’ll enjoy knowing them as much as I enjoyed putting it together.

Top 10 – Cindy Crawford

She never goes out of style, after all these years she still remains a sex symbol for the fashion world.

Top 9 – Elizabeth Hurley

The ultimate forgiving girlfriend is also the ultimate woman. Her sex appeal and charisma is what sets her apart.

Top 8 – Maria Grazia Cucinotta

Representing everything that is good about Italia, Maria makes us want to be a better man.

Top 7 – Angie Everhart

She is the best looking redhead to come along since Rita Hayworth. How could Sly Stallone dump such a beauty?

Top 6 – Elsa Benitez

Can she make a more beautiful girlfriend, or what? She epitomizes sophistication as much as a woman can.

Top 5 – Catherine Zeta-Jones

Catherine, more than any other actress in a long time, has entrapped what it means to be a glamorous movie star.

Top 4 – Heidi Klum

We are always at a loss of words when coming to the topic of Heidi Klum. What can we possibly say that you don’t know already? That she likes German sausages?

Top 3 – Elle McPherson

The Australian beauty more than any other, captures the essence of being a super model. We know we can look, but we can never touch…

Top 2 – Pamela Anderson Lee

Aside from the bombardment of e-mails from fans, no one can deny that Miss Pamela is as deserving of such a high honor as anybody, being one of the most downloaded women ever.

Top 1 – Laetitia Casta

Why? Really, do we have to answer? Just look at the picture, it speaks a thousand words. Laetitia is like a gift from God, someone that we should praise for capturing the hearts of so many men.

RELATED LINKS:

- 10 Tips to Stay Pretty

- 4 Quick Roads to Weight Loss

Secrets of the 12 American Idol Finalists March 14, 2008

As American Idol glitters into its seventh season, the cultural craze just gets more complex. With the Hollywood writers’ strike wiping out scripted prime-time programming, the reality series may be an even greater ratings juggernaut than in the past seasons. On the other side, the idols are showing how famous and talented they are. Considering their talent, idols still have weird and odd secrets that were revealed. Here are some!

 

 

Amanda Overmyer

American Idol, Amanda Overmyer revealed that the worst thing that happened in her life was when she was pleaded guilty to DUI back in October 2006 near her hometown of Mulberry, In. She received a suspended sentence of 60 days and was placed on 180 days probation, which ended in August 2007.

Brooke White

Brooke White told and revealed to us that her most embarrassing moment was when she was in the church and she hugged the wrong person! “That was really embarrassing! I thought he was my dad! But he wasn’t! All I’m doing was pleading and telling him to go home because I was hungry and when he looked back, he wasn’t my dad! Haha, too embarrassing.”

Carly Smithson

When we asked Carly about her secrets of winning, she just simply told us, “Try to be a good person to others, to be well-traveled and educated, and make Ireland proud”.

Chikezie Eze

Chikezie told us that he had a favorite comfort room in high school, but he only found out it was a women’s comfort room when one day the door was closed! His secret in winning is he totally stole his entire performance from Elliott Yamin.

David Archuleta

David told us about his feelings in American Idol and here it is! “I’ve definitely feel like there are things that can happen this year. And the show just opened so many doors for me and even if it’s not winning American Idol, you know that’s what I’m hoping for, but even more just hoping that I will be able to make a career.”

David Cook

“I guess I should not say my secret!” said David, but we pleaded him to say his secret and he told us that word “Nerd!”

David Hernandez

His secret: “in the 80s, I spent a bit of time as Mary Lou Retton.”

Jason Castro

According to him, his recipe of winning is he hates doing interviews, basically anything that is not music stuff.

Kristy Lee Cook

Surprising us and probably you too! Kristy told us that her horse saved her life twice!

Michael Johns

Michael told us that his secret of winning is he’s a bit of a jock. Sometimes just to take his mind off everything he play a sport. His sport is killing hobos.

Ramiele Malubay

“If I don’t become the next American Idol, I don’t think I’m going to get all discouraged or anything like, “Oh no, I’m never going to sing again.” I mean like, of course it’s a big experience, you learn all this until the point you get taken off and you just take what you’ve learned and learn from it. I’m probably going to go back to school for nursing ’cause I had to stop.”

Syesha Mercado

One of the secrets that Syesha is keeping is when she was in high school and she was overcoming a house fire! This story makes her cry every time she is telling it.

 

Islands you can buy even if you’re not on Forbes’ list March 7, 2008

Let’s just say, you won the lottery or you promoted from being just one of the managers to being the AVP for some department, or got a big break at a movie or a tv series, or inherited millions?, may sound outrageous, but still very possible, what would you do with the big bucks?I know there billions of ways to spend millions but if you want to flaunt how rich you are without being featured in Forbes and in turn be the target of kidnap for ransom groups, buying an island is certainly a very good option.

And you don’t have to be one of the Middle East crown princes, Hollywood actors and Fortune 500 CEOs to own your island paradise. But of course, you don’t only have to possess the money, you’ve got to learn a few things before buying an island. Also, you have to know which ones are worth your money and yet will truly be a private haven. So, here are the isles on the block:

Romblon Island, Philippines - this is a 4.5 hectare island which is 90 minutes away by boat from Boracay island. This island in the south has a house with a separate guesthouse which has both power and a sewerage system. One small glitch is that there’s no desalination plant, though there are two rainwater storage tanks that can provide up to four month’s supply of water.

TAG PRICE: US$900,000

Temptation Island, Thailand – this is just off the coast of Phuket which consists of two islands of the coast of Ko Samui and houses a three-star resort. A setback you might encounter here is that it badly needs renovation and upgrading, with a desalination plant needed. Also, the islands off Ko Samui aren’t all that so private, you can walk to them from the mainland during low tides.

TAG PRICE: US$23 million

Pulau Rusukan Besar, Malaysia – it’s approximately 2 kilometers off the island of Labuan located off Sabah State on Borneo. This island is ideal for a diving resort due to the four shipwrecks. But the catch is that is doesn’t have any buildings or desalination facilities.

TAG PRICE: RM 10 million

Malaysia is one of the countries that do allow foreign land ownership. What better here is that it offers foreign buyers local financing and 10-year visas after a fixed deposit up to RM 300,000.

But you still have to do your homework as most Asian countries have strict regulations, except Malaysia. As a rule of thumb, foreigners can only invest in islands through long-term leases or by forming a corporation. A good step will be renting the island first before buying it. Through this, you can get a real feel for the environment.

Buying an island is a good way to spend your millions. If ever I’ll earn millions, I’ll add a private yacht, a fleet of convertible sports cars or spend the holidays in the Carribean. How ’bout you? What would you do if you’re given millions to spend?

Top 3 things you’re not likely to save in your work email March 5, 2008

Admittedly, we spend most of our time at work rather than at home so we treat our office spaces as the extension of the house. And by making ourselves cozy at our cubicles or our own separate offices can sometimes let us do stuff that are actually better off at home.

The bosses seem to notice that too so now there’s this growing trend by both small and big companies to closely monitor in-house correspondences by their employees so as to see if they’re REALLY doing what they’re supposed to do at work.

Companies invest on email monitoring software, which are actually spyware to be brutally honest and even employ IT experts to keep a close watch at the email usages of the employees. This has been an issue for sometime now but at the end of the day, it’s their policy and they give us work and we need to work and the lawmakers are too busy campaigning and bashing each other out in the White house to work on privacy issues.

So, just to be on the safest side and to keep your jobs, here are stuff that you shouldn’t save in your work email or in your work computer.

1. Emails to friends and family – this really isn’t that bad but when it becomes too frequent, then there lies the rub.

2. Newsletter subscriptions - they may see these emails as spam and will affect the storage memory of the emails. Let’s admit, when at work we do think of going on a vacation so we subscribe to a newsletter about vacation spots or Oprah’s book club selection for the month. But, better safe them sorry, let’s just leave this at home.

3. Applications to other jobs - I know this may seem to be contained to be in the inbox of your work emails but it actually does happen, it is but natural to be scouting for better positions but just be careful for they might be offended especially if you’re corresponding with the competitor and  you might end up sacked.

This current of monitoring work emails may tend to bore things at the office a little but I guess they’re just fully utilizing the working hours. You wouldn’t want to be kicked out from the job because of a simple non-work related email, right? We would always like a graceful exit.