New Year is the time of a new beginning, that once a year blue moon opportunity to make a real change. A time when many people, make New Year resolutions…but forget them by January 15th.

Here are 9 ways to ensure your success this year and make 2009 your personal year of success, in spite of the doom and gloom around you.

1.    Take a long hard look at what it is you would like to change. Keep it simple and achieve one goal before you attempt another. The biggest key to this is to be brutally honest with yourself.
2.    Take another long hard look at yourself and assess if the benefit of what you would like to change is really worthwhile.
3.    You need to have a really good motivating reason to want to make the change. Without that you will never succeed.
4.    Write down some major and minor goals. Make sure your goals are realistic and achievable.
5.    Make a large sign for yourself, of what you would like to achieve and place it where only you can see it, e.g. “I must learn to be more of a negotiator instead of a confrontationist. (This means having more patience with those around me on a day to day basis.) Because we unconsciously influence those we are in close contact with, I must choose to influence them with my patience, instead of confrontation. This in turn will impact my life in a major way and lead to a greater success in 2009.”
6.    Place your sign where it is private, e.g. your drawer where you keep your underwear.  You alone can keep a check on your progress.
7.    Put some real effort into the sign so you will daily remind yourself how important this is to you. Or write it on a distinctive piece of paper, so it will stand out in its hiding place.
8.    Remember it takes three weeks to make or break a habit, so put a date on your sign. Make yourself a graph of 21 days. At a set time each day pause for a few minutes to note down your progress. Adjust your goals if you need to as you go along.
9.    Your reward will be in the end results. However, there is No Gain Without Pain, that is why it has to be a really worthwhile goal.

My personal Goal: 2009 is not going to be an easy year for anyone. Only those who have learned to bend with the winds of change will succeed in the coming year. Everyone needs space to adapt, be it in business or personal relationships. I need to give others more time to adjust to my ideas, or vice versa. You can gain the whole world, but end up the loneliest person in it.

Good luck in your New Year.  Make 2009 work for you. No matter what the future holds, someone will succeed in it. They always have. Make sure that someone is you.

This started out as a short research on where New Year resolutions came from and has led to the discovery of amazing once in a year Blue Moon New Year whacky traditions.

We all know about the Waterford Crystal ball dropped in Times Square, New York, but how about the lighted strawberry dropped from Hilton Harrisburg and Towers, in downtown Harrisburg, Pennsylvania?

Maybe dropping a 20 foot, 600 pound walleye (fish) from the sky in Port Clinton, Ohio is more your speed, or is the dropping of the live possum in a cage in Brasstown, North Carolina. A giant crab drops in Plymouth.

Raleigh, North Carolina drops a massive copper acorn, while a giant gumbo pot is dropped on the Mississippi.
In Port Royal they will drop a sprint racing car from 130 feet, while in Carlisle, Pennsylvania they drop an Indy car.

A red rose is dropped in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, at a non-alcoholic family night of celebration, while York prefers a white rose.

An 800 pound peach is dropped in Atlanta and a giant 25 pound marshmallow candy dropped in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Then there is a huge cheese dropped in Plymouth, Wisconsin.

How about the 7 ½ foot edible bologna dropped in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, before being donated to local charities? An 18 foot sausage is dropped from the sky in Elmore, Ohio and a three foot high glowing pickle drops 45 feet in Mount Olive, North Carolina. A huge olive is dropped from Price Tower, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, into a huge martini glass.

Now if food and drink is not to your taste you may prefer a pirate ‘wench’ dropped seventy foot from a schooner in the harbor, or the Drag Queen Sushi, dropped in her glittering six foot high heeled shoe, Key West, Florida.

Things will then get a little breezy in the New Year’s panty drop. They didn’t give a location for this one, which is probably just as well.

For most of us we will settle for the usual fireworks, bonfire and maybe a balloon drop or two. Either way, have a great New Year and let’s all hope and pray that 2009 has better things for us all.

Postscript:
The lists of drops does not stop with the above. A total of 19 states make a drop, with Pennsylvania topping the list with a grand total of 36 cities and towns ‘dropping celebrations’ New Year’s eve.

There is still no explanation as to where all this dropping the last few minutes of New Year’s eve originated, except perhaps the ball dropping in Times Square beginning in 1907.

The list of articles dropped for New Year celebration include:
·    Anchor, Antique trunk and Apple,
·    Bag of potato chips, Beach ball, Bottle of Yuengling beer, Boasted chicken,
·    Canal boat, Carp, cigar, Cigar held by a lion, Coal, Conch shell, Cow,
·    Ford Edge, Frog, Goat,
·    Hard hat, Hershey Kiss, Hog, Huckleberry,
·     Indy car,
·    Lollipop,
·    M&M, Moravian star, Mossbunker fish,
·    Nugget,
·    Orange,
·    Pear, Pine cone, Ping pong balls, Planet earth, Pretzel,
·     Red rose,
·    Sardine, Sled, Sphoctogon, Spring, Star, Steamroller, Sunburst,
·    Ukulele,
·    Wildcat, Wooden duck, Wrench

There seems about only one other whacky drop left they haven’t tried yet…

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New Year, the time of rebirth, is the oldest of all holidays, originating in ancient Babylon around 4000 years ago. Originally it was believed to have been celebrated on March 15th, but Julius Ceasar declared om 46 B.B.,  that New Year’s Day would be celebrated on January 1st.

New Year Resolution
This is a tradition that is believed to have begun in ancient Babylon. The Babylonian’s favourite New Year resolution was to return borrowed farm tools.

Every year thousands farewell the old year with a wide variety of promises. One has to wonder though, why bother.  These are the most breakable promises ever made. Come the end of January most people don’t even remember what their New Year resolution was.

Many of the traditions surrounding the festivity, have grown out of fear and custom celebrations.  Perhaps the most common tradition causes people to be ultra careful what they do on the first day of the New Year. This is said to set the scene for what you will happen for the rest of the year. It is for this reason they gather together with friends at midnight, celebrating the first few moments o f the incoming year together.

United States of America:
The first ball to be dropped in New York Times Square, was dropped in 1907 and was made of iron and wood. Thousands gather every New Year’s eve to watch the one-minute descent. The current ball weighs 1,070 pounds, with a six foot diameter. It is made up of Waterford Crystal, making it the largest crystal ball in the world. Wouldn’t everyone like to know what the crystal ball beholds this year for a troubled world?

Auld Lang Syne
Auld Lang Syne, sung in nearly every English speaking country in the world, is the song with the most forgettable lyrics in the world. Though even if you know the lyrics, do you know their meaning:

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne.

CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup of kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!

And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp,
And surely I’ll be mine,
And we’ll tak a cup o kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!

We twa hae run about the braes,
And pou’d the gowans fine,
But we’ve wander’d monie a weary fit,
Sin auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidl’d in the burn,
Frae morning sun till dine,
But seas between us braid hae roar’d
Sin auld lang syne.

And there’s a hand my trusty fiere,
And gie’s a hand o thine,
And we’ll tak a right guid-willie waught,
For auld lang syne.

It was first published by Robert Burns in 1796, but it was not his song. He published after hearing an old Scottish man sing it.

The song was made popular by Guy Lombardo. Now if you want to really taste tradition, go to the Warldorf Astoria, New York and sing Auld Lang Syne. Lombardo’s version of the song was played there every New Year’s eve from 1930 to 1976. This also included the tumultuous years of the Second World War.

Greek Traditions:
In Greece a baby in a basket is used to symbolize the annual rebirth. A baby is still seen on Greek New Year banners.

Japanese Tradition:
The –forget-the-year party appears to have originated in Japan.  All misunderstandings and grudges are forgiven and the homes scrubbed from top to bottom, alongside sending New Year cards.

Netherlands Traditions:
The tradition of bonfires found its home in the Netherlands, where the flames purge the old and welcome the new.

Chinese Traditions:
The fireworks home of course is China, where they are designed to chase away the demons and bring good luck. Wander around China on Chinese New Year, (February) and you can’t tell the difference between gun fire and fireworks that continuously crack around the neighbourhoods. Another Chinese tradition is to buy new furniture at New Year. Looking for that new lounge suite, then just take a trip around the suburbs at New Year and help yourself. Old furniture is placed on the footpath, for someone else to pick up their ‘new’ piece for free.

Spanish Traditions:
The Spanish believe that if they eat 12 grapes at midnight, they will have happy months in the coming year.

English Traditions:
While in some parts of England it was believed that you had one prosperous month for every different Christmas cake you were given to eat. Perhaps the Queen should eat more Christmas cakes in an attempt to do away with her “Annus horribilus”.

We have only touched on just a few of the world-wide traditions of New Year. There are a lot of other Blue Moon Opportunities, like New Year traditions, that come our way only once every so often. Take time out to take a look at one that could completely change your life at Win A Resort.

If you see a fat man who’s jolly and cute,
Wearing a beard and a red flannel suit,
And if he is chuckling and laughing away,
While flying around in a miniature sleigh,
With eight tiny reindeer to pull him along,
Then let’s face it Your Eggnog is TOO STRONG!

Have a great Christmas and holiday period and lets keep smiling and pray that 2009 will be a year of better news than 2008.

I know we have some exciting news coming up in the New Year, with great once in a lifetime Blue Moon Opportunities.  Keep tuned to Win A Resort

When Somali pirates chose to board a Chinese cargo vessel flying they received more than they expected.

The captain of a Chinese cargo ship spoke proudly of the efforts of his crew to fight off Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. “Armed only with only beer bottles, fire hoses and homemade incendiary bombs, the crew battled against the pirates  who boarded our vessel. After thirty minutes the pirates called it off.”

Fully aware of the threat to shipping in the area, the Chinese sailors made themselves as prepared as they possibly could, without having access to firearms, in spite of facing very heavy odds stacked against them.
In an incident early in the month, three British ex-soldiers were picked up from the water, after jumping over the side of a ship, because of the intensity of the attack they found themselves under.

A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Liu Jianchao, confirmed, “Over twelve hundred Chinese mechant ships pass through the gulf this year. Seven have been attacked.”

Now the Chinese government will join the other international warships in the gulf in a concerted effort to stem the growing tide of pirate attacks in the area. A Beijing newspaper reported that the Chinese navy was likely to send two destroyers and a supply ship to the area.

It is great to read of some fighting people back against what is nothing less than highly organized high seas robbery and extortion. The renegades have to learn they cannot rule international waters and hold an entire globe to ransom.

To learn more about the author and a genuine once in a life time blue moon opportunity spend a few minutes and take a look at Win a Resort It could be the thing to completely change your life.

It’s official. Laughter is extremely contagious and can  elevate the entire mood of a group of people, with more being achieved through laughter, than any other method. Stress levels are lowered and social interaction and connectivity improved. Laughter is also one of the few commodities left in a world that is in financial crisis, that is free.

Laughter plays a very important role in our society and never more so than when the world is crashing down around our ears. Laughter takes the focus off more negative emotions such as anger, guilt and stress. It is therefore, important that as human beings we learn to embrace both tears and laughter.

Logic is boring, while it is the illogical situations that causes us to laugh. Laughter can make the difference between choosing to look at a situation as a threat, or a challenge and completely alter our perspective.Often it is laughter that can point us to once in a lifetime blue moon opportunities that can completely change our life. into advantages. After all, many a catastrophic circumstance has been turned into gales of laughter as an incident is repeated as entertainment, at a later date, to friends and relatives. It is truly a case of ‘look back and laugh’. It is when we learn to laugh at ourselves that a disadvantage can often be turned into an advantage.

Have you ever noticed how infectious a happy person is? In a recent study it was found that knowing someone who is happy makes you 15.3% more likely to be happy yourself.

“Did you know that we often mimic a person we are talking to and mirror their behavior?”says Sophie Scott, a researcher of University College London. Maybe some us should practice talking in front of a mirror, to see what kind of an effect we are projecting and lighten up our general presentation.

“Your emotional state depends not just on actions and choices that you make, but also on actions and choices of other people, many of which you don’t even know,” said Dr. Nicholas A. Christakis, a physician and medical sociologist at Harvard.

It is well recognized that laughter has many healing properties and finding laughter in daily life profoundly enhances healing and the quality of life.  Laughter can help reduce symptoms of allergies, abdominal pain and digestive problems, as well as helping you manage anger and fear. A good belly laugh exercises the diaphragm, contracts the abs and even works out the shoulders, leaving muscles more relaxed afterward. It even provides a good workout for the heart and a good ten minute laugh is considered better than a 20 minute jog.Perhaps the old saying should be changed to: ‘a laugh a day keeps the doctor away.’

Laughter is something you can catch without even asking for it, or even wanting it. Try to stay serious while everyone around you is cracking up with laughter. As a stress reliever laughter is high on the list along with sex, music therapy, prayer and meditation, and progressive muscle relaxation. Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and you cry alone.

Here are some people’s private views on laughter.

Diane Bodein Walters “There is a fine line between laughter and tears I think one can flick into the other. I’m sure that we’ve all experienced that. There’s a quote of Oscar Wilde “Where there’s sorrow there’s holy ground” so we have to be prepared for people to want to cry rather than laugh and for me they come from the same place. They come from a deep place within the heart .”

Bill Beagley, Anglican Priest “I think humour by its nature asks you to look beyond the logical realities. I mean a joke is funny because you suddenly realise it’s impossible.”

Laibl Wolf, Rabbi and educational psychologist “Laughter is perhaps one of the most mystical expressions of a human being. We say laughter takes place when the soul tricks the mind, bypasses it, short circuits the process. True laughter that flows from the intuitive self, is the most beautiful expression of joy and purpose of creation.”

Lama Choedak “Laughter in many ways brings us closer to the basic values of existence. That is to experience happiness.”

Narr “The idea of subverting reality through humour met its ultimate challenge in the horror that was the Holocaust. For Auchwitz survivor Abraham Ckyiert humour was not only a way of enduring the moment but it ultimately became the means of his survival.”

Jenny Thompson Richards (working in a terminally ill hospice) “I think here people do really value laughter because of this very special situation where people are knowing that their life is limited.  The kind of humour that we are interested in is the humour that actually allows people to embrace the deep things and to be connected together with each other. It is still the best barrier breaker in town.”

Dr Fry, a psychiatrist at Stanford Medical School, “Children laugh an average of 300 times per day.” However children cry at least as often as they laugh, if not more. To many people there is no closer link to the innocence of childhood than that evoked by the vision of a clown”

It is definitely time to concentrate on having more fun in your life.

If you would like to know more about the author and a genuine Blue moon Opportunity take a few minutes to check out Win A Resort.

For any business to be a success, particularly on the Internet, you have to put in the long hours.
The problem is that most people overestimate the short term effect of their website and underestimate the long term effect. Therefore they get discouraged and give up just about the time things were ready to get up and run.

The key is, never give up, even when you begin to feel like this picture. Success only goes to the stayers.
Have a great Christmas and New Year and come back in January with lots of wonderful new ideas.

We are going to launch a wonderful new Blue Moon Opportunity product in the New Year. Keep an eye on this space.

To take a look at a genuine Blue Moon Opportunity take a few minutes out to check out Win A Resort

Olive Riley, from Broken Hill, Australia, the world’s oldest blogger died in July, at a massive 108 years old. Too weak to get up from her bed, she was still able to tap the keyboard of her computer. Olive said “It doesn’t take much exertion to be a blobber”.

The Life of Riley had more than a million hits since its launch last year. Olive was the only resident in the retirement home with a website and a ‘blob’. “Olive was introduced to blogging by and an older friend who had taken up blogging”, says Mike Rubbo, filmmaker of a documentary on the life and times of Olive Riley.

Olive’s fans came from all over the world. Unfortunately Olive did not have the strength to speak on a US talk show, when invited to do so.

Perhaps Olive calling her blog a blob was a lovely accident we can all learn from. Unlike Olive, maybe we all take Google rating and the number of hits we get, and ourselves, all too seriously.

Olive seemed to have found the magic key of doing her thinking just before she dropped off to sleep. Experts (whoever they may claim to be), say our brain works better and clearer at night than during the day. So perhaps like Olive, we could be more successful if we ‘blobbed’ at night. Or at least got our ideas for blobbing, in the night hours (which a lot of us do).

The other point we can all take on board from Olive is that if you are blogging now, how many blogs can you put out by the time you are 108? Olive managed to put out 70 entries on her life experiences in just on eighteen months. Experiences that cover a world-wide depression and two World Wars, being a station cook in outback Queensland and a barmaid in Sydney.

Now you are a lot younger and much more energetic, so say you write 5 blogs a week, for 50 weeks of the year. That is a total of 250 per year, or 2500 in 10 years, 5000 in 20 years, and 7500 in 30 years.

If each blob received just 500 hits that would be a total of 3,750,000 hits in 30 years. If those hits could average you an income of $1 per blog you could become a $3.75 millionaire in thirty years.

The moral of the story is: Hang in there, you never know when your once in a lifetime Blue Moon Opportunity will bring home the bacon, (or is that meant to be the groceries).

Olive found a once in life time Blue Moon Opportunity to make her mark. You can do the same.

If you would like to know more about the author take a few minutes to check out a Blue Moon Opportunity that could change your life, at Win A Resort.

The world’s biggest fraud in history was revealed when Bernard Madoff, 70 year old Wall Street guru and trader and ex chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market was arrested last week. He allegedly masterminded a $US50 billion fraudulent Ponzi scheme. Madoff’s arrest and liquidation of his company adds further fuel to the spiraling costs of a financial world, already in crisis.

Madoff, who was said to be of ‘impeccable reputation’, headed a firm which was supposedly a market-maker for around 350 Nasdaq stocks.

“Madoff’s investors included captains of industry, corporations, (some publicly traded),  that used Madoff ‘s company as if it were a high-yielding cash management account, including endowments, universities, foundations and many high-profile funds of funds,” said Douglas Kass, head of the hedge fund, Seabreeze Partners Management.

A Ponzi scheme is an illegal investment vehicle, that pays off old investors with money from new ones. Like any pyramid scheme it is totally dependent on a constant stream of new incoming investment. Because the invested capital is not able to earn a sufficient return on its own, such schemes eventually collapse under their own weight, as investors are paid with money that isn’t there.

Prior to the arrest, some investors had questioned how Madoff was able to generate annual returns in the low double digits in a variety of market environments, come rain or shine. Many wondered how US regulators were able to ignore the numerous red flags, in regards to Madoff’s operations. However, such niggling doubts were not enough to stop the high-profile organizations, individuals and companies from continuing to take the high return offered by Madoff. A case of grinning all the way to the bank, until you get your fingers burnt.

Continuing in the style of his grandee nature, Madoff is accused, by prosecutors, of wanting to distribute as much as $US300 million to employees, family members and friends, before turning himself in. Just too bad if you are not on the receiving end of such a deal.

Charged with one count of securities fraud, Madoff could face up to 20 years imprisonment and a $US5 million fine. The US Securities and Exchange Commission have filed separate civil charges.

A hearing was scheduled for Friday afternoon in US District Court in Manhattan on the SEC’s request, in order to grant powers to the court-appointed receiver to oversee the entire operations of the advisory business known as Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securites LLC.  It is believed that at least $15 billion has totally disappeared before the firm’s assets were frozen.

“The hearing was cancelled after the matter was resolved,” said a deputy for US District Judge Louis Stanton. No other details were immediately available. Madoff was released on $US10 million bond.

Billions of dollars were entrusted through the firm’s clients by high-profile organizations and individuals. Believing it to be a once in a lifetime Blue Moon Opportunity,  such charities as set up by Hollywood director Steven Spielberg used the company’s services and invested money with Madoff.  Other victims were a foundation set up by Mort Zuckerman, one of the world’s richest media and property magnates in the US, Frank Lautenberg’s foundation, besides dozens of Jewish organizations, sport team owners and a senator from New Jersey. The tragedy is that those charities will now suffer along with everyone else’s financial misery.

US authorities are presently liquidating the company.

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It has been revealed that the Somali Pirates operate a world wide information gleaning network. In particular they look for illegal cargo, such as the 33 tanks being carried on the MV Faina, hijacked a few months back.

A  Somalia expert at Purdue University in Indiana, Michael Weinstein says “The huge Somali world wide diaspora (200,000 living in Canada alone), have taken to piracy as they would to any other business enterprise. Just as you would buy shares in any syndicate, you get a cut of the ransom dollars, when you buy in.”

The world piracy capital, Eyl, an outback, run down fishing village in Somali, where numerous hijacked ships are docked, receives only a small portion of the millions being paid in ransom.

Suleyman, one of the pirates  said, “We have negotiators, translators and agents in many areas of the world.” Acting as money changers and agents for the pirates, they earn a percentage of the ransom payments. Many are Somali expatriates.

They have agencies in Mombasa, Piraeus, Naples, and Rotterdam.  Information is received through spies working at shipping and marine insurance firms in the Gulf, East African and European ports. Anywhere the merchant vessels heading for the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean dock.  The pirates are briefed on the number of security guards and weapons available on board the vessel, a well as the cargo.

Though the pirate leaders are known by sight and by name, rather than exposing themselves and their exact location, they use their proxies to negotiate the ransom and terms for releasing hijacked vessels. These front men also are the buyers of the latest in navigation equipment, GPS, speed boats, communications gear, food, fuel and any other supplies needed by the pirate community.

As Somalia is a bank-failed state, only cash and an informal transfer network, called ‘hawala’ is used. In ‘hawala’ an operator receives the money at one end and then instructs a relative, friend or another agent to hand a like amount to someone else. This has created a paperless system, based merely on trust and oral agreements.

More and more however, the pirates are opting for cash settlements, in an attempt to bypass government surveillance. They warn strongly against anyone using false money on them. Early in the year the pirates asked for money delivered to the Gulf. Strangely, no one would volunteer to carry it.

The ultimatum for the ransom payment of $25 million for the MV Sirus Star, the Dubai owned oil tanker, taken on Nov 18th, carrying $100 million in crude oil, is drawing to a close. “We do expect a favourable reply,” said the leader of the group Mohammed Said.

Armed private-security agencies from Dubai see this as a once in a lifetime Blue Moon Opportunity to make a score. They are now offering their highly paid services to protect vulnerable shipping. However in a recent brazen attack on a Liberia-flagged oil and chemical tanker, three men jumped overboard and were fished out of the water by a German helicopter. They were former British soldiers providing security for the MV Buscagalia.

Crew aboard the MV Faina line the ships rails. Somali Pirates surround them.

To learn more about a genuine, once in a lifetime  Blue Moon Opportunity that may change your life take a quick visit to Win A Resort.