Sunday 6th May  2001
Getting to know our neighbors

During April I traveled to the UK,  Germany and Switzerland and I was astounded how things have changed since I first came to Europe 20 years ago.

During that time a huge influx of refugees and foreign workers has changed these once insular societies into thriving multicultural communities. 
Europe has become a new melting pot for all races, religions and cultures.

The USA has long been the leader and has given many people the chance of a better life. Although the numbers are small in comparison, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are also taking immigrants from all parts of the world.

The recently abandoned borders between european countries has allowed unprecedented movement of people seeking greener pastures. Looking at the big picture one must admit that given time the world can become a peaceful and happy place if we can all learn  to live together in harmony. 

Racism will no doubt continue to slow this process for many years to come. I have found, getting to know people from other countries makes you realize that even though we are all different, most of us still seem to have the same wishes and goals as everyone else.

In my opinion,  education is the key to eliminating racism.  People who have traveled widely tend to be more tolerant of other customs and cultures. Children can learn respect for other cultures at an early age and accept racial differences without question but unfortunately they learn racism from parents and peers. 

Please check out a web site by Neil Walklate in the UK. See the address below. You will find inspiring words of wisdom there...

Dr John K. Flynn B.D.Sc.
The Xerostar Times Editor 
"Caring for creative people"
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This Month's MIDI Music
Now you have a choice if you want to listen to music or not. No more obligatory background music!

Click the play button if like MIDI Music

If the music sounds like it's being played on a Kazoo  then you should read the article in the March edition entitled:
"The 7 essentials to enjoy MIDI music." 
The article will show you how to set up your computer for maximum enjoyment of MIDI music.
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Recommended Web Site
We Are The WorldClick Here
Lyrics

There comes a time when we hear a certain call
When the world must come together as one
There are people dying
Oh, and it's time to lend a hand to life
The greatest gift of all

We can't go on pretending day by day
That someone, somewhere will soon make a change
We're all a part of God's great big family
And the truth you know love is all we need

(CHORUS)
We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
so let's start giving

There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me

Well, send them your heart
So they know that someone cares
And their lives will be stronger and free
As God has shown us
By turning stones to bread
And so we all must lend a helping hand

When you're down and out
There seems no hope at all
But if you just believe
There's no way we can fall
Well, well, well, let's realize
That one change can only come
When we stand together as one

Check out the web site by Neil Walklate  Click Here
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Fostering  Creativity
Enchanted Mind 
Science has speculated that we are using 10% of our brain capacity. If you want to access and cultivate that other 90% of unrealized potential, read on at this fascinating web site.           Click Here
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MIDI-eBooks.com
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Kaleidoscope-Screensaver.com
Discover beautiful patterns!
This program is not just a screen saver. Any of its beautiful patterns can be captured and used in a  variety of ways in art and craft hobbies.
To read more about this charming and useful program and how to capture the images Click Here

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The Xerotron Story
Due to its Popularity
we have decided to extend the FREE offer. 
We only ask that you sign up with 
the free MIDI-eBooks Club first.   Click Here

We hope this MIDI-eBook will be an inspiration to all readers. We would appreciate some Feedback
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The Origin of Chess
by Mohammad Ismail Sloan
An exhaustive essay on the Origins of Chess by this well known expert. 
Tastefully accompanied by a piano concerto and a list of major Chess links.  Click Here
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Xerotron.com News

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The Truth!

Man exists in a balance between risk and safety. 
Pure risk leads to self-destruction. 
Pure safety leads to stagnation. 
In between lies survival and progress ..
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This Month's Quotation
There are no rewards or punishments, 
-- only consequences.
Dean William Inge
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What is Creativity? 
by Anne Johnson

Most women live out their usual days with the creative life a distant dream. Our hours are consumed with responsibilities that seem hopelessly demanding. Most of our creative energy goes toward solving one crisis after another. We certainly don't feel creative, and there is good reason for this. We live in a culture that tends to see only the arts as creative endeavors. Painting a picture, writing poetry, producing a play; these are considered creative acts. Making a quilt, decorating a home or cooking a gourmet meal are questionable. Teaching a classroom of children, planning a sales campaign, or nursing an elderly relative are not even considered. Creativity has come to be defined by the product. 

In truth, creativity is a state of being, a way of meeting the challenges involved in bringing any project to completion. A five-year-old drawing a house can be just as creative as a fifty-year-old designing an office building. A mother feeding her baby while reading to her three-year-old is quite as creative as a director balancing the needs of two actors. Any one of these women might be immersed in the creative flow or they might simply be getting the job done. It all depends on their relationship to the process.

The difference between acting creatively and engaging in a routine activity has more to do with the outlook of the woman than the desired result. Creativity involves being open and aware of the task at hand. If our mind is racing with thoughts of what we must do tomorrow or concern about an upsetting incident that happened last week, it is almost impossible to get into the creative flow. In some situations we simply have to accept that something must be done. There is no choice but to get on with it in spite of these distractions. The undertaking becomes a rote occupation while the mind wanders elsewhere. But the soul seeks creative space to thrive. 

Women must find a way to take time to observe, listen, and let in all that our senses can bring us. We need moments when we can assimilate all this information; time for the reverie that allows our intuition to dance with our analytical minds. This process feeds our spirit and we discover that miracles can come of this union. Often in this state we discover a sense of timelessness. How satisfying it is to patiently help a child put a puzzle together or to cut out the pieces for a quilt with full attention on patterns and color. Even planning a staff meeting for the next day is far more productive and satisfying if a businesswoman is fully engaged in the plan rather than dwelling on what she might fix for dinner or wondering if she will make it to the day care center on time.

Creativity may be a joyous experience, deeply moving, or it might touch us with old grief. In the creative state we are fully open and without walls of denial surrounding us, feelings flow freely and are sometimes painful. A memory comes to my mind of helping a troubled boy read a story in a textbook about the last blue whale. The story was on about the third grade level and hardly great literature. When the reading was done there were tears in my eyes. The boy, a fifth grader, was a bit uncertain about my reaction but sympathetic. That memory comes back, time and again.

Fostering your creativity will bring enjoyment in the process of working toward goals and satisfaction with accomplishments. But creativity doesn't promise that there will be no barriers, no frustrations, and no failures. Instead creativity will reach into your deepest self; it will continually press and challenge you. Creativity is a process of transformation and once you seek the truly creative life there is no turning back.
Anne Johnson can be contacted through her web site at: http://womenfolk.com/ Click Here
 

Search Engine Tactics
2 Brand New Search Engine Tactics
by Dr. Roger Wilcox

To carry on in the tradition of the classic e-book "Search Engine Tactics" (as you surely know, written by Mark Joyner in 1995), I would like to propose 2 new tactics in use today.
With all due respect to Mr. Joyner, a lot has changed since 1995.

Here are two brand new tactics that the "search engine optimization gurus" are talking about:

1. New Meta Tag: "Aesop"
If you get nothing else from this article, get this.  This new tag is popping up on sites all over the net and will dramatically change the way people search.  Essentially, this tag breaks all Internet content into 6 useful categories.  The purpose of this is to allow surfers to more accurately and quickly determine if a search result is, indeed, what they are looking for. 
It also allows webmasters to attract more appropriate visits to their sites.  Right now, the only engine that recognizes it is aesop.com, but I have it on authority that others are preparing to start recognizing the tag as well.

For more information, here is the official aesop meta tag site (includes a free tag generator) - if you don't already have this tag on all of your pages, it's critical that you do this right away:
http://www.aesop.com/metatag.htm

2. CSS H1 Spoof

In the early days of the net, search engines were easy to fool. These days, it's quite a bit more difficult, but it can be done.
However, any time you use some type of  "trick" to spoof the engines, you always run the risk of the engine catching you and banning your domain for spamming.
OK, with that caveat, here's the trick.

Some search engines will give words found in the "H1" tag a boost in relevancy.  The H1 tag is used to specify your page's "heading".  The problem is, this heading is just plain ugly.
It's a huge point Times New Roman heading that doesn't look good in anyone's web design book.

Here's the good news: you can get the best of both worlds using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).  With CSS, you can specify that the browser will render text in the H1 tag any way you please.
This is great; because, you can get both a boost in relevancy and get better control of your page's appearance in one step.

Here's the code...
In your head tag, put the following line:
<STYLE> <!--  H1 {font-family: arial; font-size: 12pt; color: black; }  --> </STYLE>
(Note that you can change any of the above variables - font
size, type, and color - as you see fit.)

Then, in the body of your document, where you want you document "heading" or "headline", use the following code: 
<H1>Text for Your Headline Here</H1>
The headline will now appear as you specified in the style code.
This is a great trick - and it's brand new.

Apply these new tactics today for some easy traffic courtesy of your favorite search engines.

Dr. Roger Wilcox is a well-known author and Internet Marketing expert.  Right now, he works as a professional affiliate to prove that anyone can make a generous living on the Internet.
http://www.rogerwilcox.com
 

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The main advantage of this utility is that it allows instant lookup. There are heaps of synonyms or antonyms at your finger tips. It's much faster then getting out your old Webster or Roget's and wasting time, searching for ages.

I can highly recommend this program to anyone who is serious about writing.
It's well worth the tiny price tag of $14.65.

To read more about this useful tool click here
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