As we know, social disorder and personal problems exist in human society and in our individual circumstances. We could end up immersing ourselves in negativity about this if we are not careful. Keeping ourselves awake at night with worry. Cursing fate for our plight. We might doubt whether there is any source of goodness around.

Spiritual awareness is rather a vague phrase but nevertheless it can lighten our load. We perceive a deeper side to reality when for example we notice a life force that makes things grow and flourish, whether it be in nature or in one’s personal life. Or when we feel in tune with a higher inspiration for our creative work. Or when we see evidence of a design within the order of the universe.

In whatever way we think of it, we can see reality as something greater than ourselves: as something beyond what is physical. It transcends our bodily experience and material concerns.

Religion

Religious cultures over history have venerated a similar idea envisioned in various supernatural guises.

Today, in western Europe, the churches are declining. However, many non-churchgoers designate themselves as ‘spiritual but not religious’. You may not be committed to a taught faith but do try to figure out what’s true, and what’s good, and then to start living a better life.

Western religion has a word in different languages meaning God. Some people, likewise use a capital for the first letter of their word for what they feel to be beyond themselves. Words used are Being, the Source, the All, the Divine, the Infinite, the Absolute etc. These words may be used slightly differently.

The Source

As I understand it, ‘the Source’ means there is a source of spiritual light and love.

“I am not aligned with a religious belief system but I do have a faith in something bigger, a divinity of some sort. I choose to call it ‘source’.” (Helen Leathers, personal development teacher)

We may sometimes feel separate from this Source. Nevertheless, we may believe we have a continuous connection with it. It is seen as a part of us as we seek wisdom, guidance, intuition, or inspiration. People sometimes say that a focus on this higher energy allows us to remember our mission, our vision, and our reason for being.

If the Source is real and not a figment of the imagination, a question arises. To what extent can we rely on it when times are hard? When we face what is bad in life?

The All of everything

Some speak of the higher reality in terms of ‘the All’, meaning the all of everything. The focus is on the all of life, the all of love, the all of goodness, the all of wisdom. This is a wonderful idea about what can enthuse and move us. However, I notice that the term ‘the All of everything’ also seems to imply the all of disease, the all of selfish desires, and the all of folly.

We are aware of the Holocaust, Stalin’s Gulag, Pol Pot’s Killing Fields. I would argue that we are so horrified by despicable events, as genocide, terrorist killings, and serial murder, that it is insufficient to refer to such atrocities as ‘bad’ or even ‘very bad’. We need to invoke a more basic idea of the ‘evil’ of some actions and of the delusional ideas that attempt to justify them.

The chaos caused by natural disaster, suffering of disease and evil of man’s inhumanity to man, have a very troubling influence on life as we know it.

The question about reliance on the spiritual Source when we face what is bad is a challenging one. What hope and trust can we place in the Source of goodness when we encounter evil? Here are some suggested answers.

Purpose of love

Just as there is a design in the orderliness of nature, so is there not also a creative plan for humanity? An intention within the higher reality to bring about stability and beauty in our lives? If it is love that is the cause of all of what is good, then I would say the Source of love intends our growth and fulfilment.

According to this view there is a purpose of higher reality to bring about human happiness for the sake of love. Love wants the best for who is loved.

“The essence of love is loving others… , wishing to be one with them and devoting oneself to their happiness.” (Emanuel Swedenborg, spiritual philosopher)

This loving purpose might be in the background when we bring on suffering to ourselves. I would say nothing happens by chance. We suffer when we lose our friends, our job, and the good regard of our loved ones. Where is a loving purpose within our unhappiness? Is it not to do with a self-compassion that allows us to learn from our mistakes? Obliging us to face up to the reasons for our loss – perhaps complacency, laziness, and self-centredness.

Power of love

I believe we are all potential channels for the power of love. When we connect wholeheartedly with the Source, love can win if we are faced with scorn, malice or contempt. Its power of healing, through our behaviour can give comfort to those who inwardly suffer from a myriad of various problems. Its power of understanding, through our words can inspire good sense and enlightenment no matter what irrational fears are being experienced.

Evil as no independent force

Another way, to have confidence in the Source, is to not exaggerate any power of evil. I favour the idea that evil, although real enough in its effects if given reign, does not really exist in its own right. In other words, social injustice, pain, misery have never been inevitable. What is chaotic and disorderly comes about because people at times have chosen to stand good on its head. I see the evil of suffering, and hatred as the tragic rejection and thus absence of orderliness, contentment and compassion. In fact, the inversion of all that is good.

I would like to suggest that the cause of chaos and disorder is not an evil power that some religions have sometimes, and mistakenly in my view, referred to as the Devil. Instead, an atmosphere of evil originates in the way humans sometimes have freely chosen to behave.

“It is human spiritual disorders like lust, vengeance, cruelty and oppression that incubate disease and misfortune.” (Bruce Henderson, Swedenborgian writer)

I happen to hold the view that disease and natural disasters are due to the negative side of this spiritual environment around us. Let us then all try to not feed its influence. We could instead turn towards the spirit of love. This is shown by the outpouring of service and kindness in the wake of disasters. Seeing others suffer can help us to be more sensitive and merciful.

Conclusion

We all have the potential to be a vehicle for both good and evil. In very trying times, putting one’s hope in the Source of love is not easy. But we all have a part to play in turning back towards Love Itself and helping with its plan to bring happiness in the world.

SMD stand for surface mount device and if you repair LCD monitors, you would come across lots of SMD components. CRT monitors rarely use SMD thus it is quite easy to find out the components value. In this article, I’m going to talks about SMD resistor code and how you could calculate the values. This SMD resistor codes is different from the normal resistor color code (color bands) you had seen in the electronic circuit boards. Surface mount resistors is very much smaller in size than the normal carbon film resistor and because of this the numbers and letters were stamped upon or printed on the top side of the component.

Those numbers and letters have a meaning and you could use that as information to find out or calculate the desire resistance values. Sometimes the resistors are designed in a very small size until we have difficulty to read the code. By using a magnifier glass we could easily read the resistor codes.

There are two types of surface mount resistors used in an electronic circuit board-the 3-digit and 4-digit code SMD. The first two digits represent the two digits in the answer. The third digit represents the number of zero’s you must place after the two digits. The answer will be in Ohms. For example: 104 which mean 10 0000 (4 zero’s) and the final answer is 100k. Let’s calculate the 4 digit SMD, 1182 which mean 118 00 (2 zero’s) and the final answer is 11.8k.

3 Digit Example 4 Digit Example 0R1=0.1 Ohm 0000= 0 ohms= link or jumper R33=0.33 Ohm 00R1=0.1 Ohm 8R2= 8.2 Ohm 0R47=0.47 Ohm 220 is 22 Ohm and not 220 ohms 1R00=1 Ohm 331= 330 Ohms 1000= 100 Ohm 473=47000 or 47k 8202= 82000=82k

Measuring surface mount resistors is very easy with the help of digital multimeter. Most of the times when you check directly on the SMD resistors, you would get the right reading even without lifting a resistor lead. But not all digital multimeter can perform this kind of test. Select only the one that has the output voltage (measure at the probes) of less than 0.6 volts so that it won’t trigger any semiconductor devices that can give you a false reading. Once you know how to calculate the SMD resistor code and using the right way to test SMD resistors on board , you could check lots of SMD resistors in the shortest time.

When it comes to writing pop songs, there is a general formula that is used for the song structure. But before we even approach the specific structure of a pop song, it is important to know the purpose of a pop song because it helps in making the most of the structure.

Purpose of a pop song

The purpose of the pop song is to get the song hooked to listeners as soon as possible and to keep the listener stay interested as long as possible in a span of about 3 to four minutes. This is the age of consumerism where people buy, then get bored, then buy again, then get bored again, and so on and so forth. it’s a cycle. The same goes for pop music today. People listen from finding highly ear grabbing music, then get bored, so they listen to new songs, then they get bored again. So the pop song basically needs three things: familiarity, variety, and a hook.

Structure

So with knowing that we want the song we write to hook onto listeners, how does that translate in the structure of a pop song? We have to figure out what doesn’t work first, then lead up to what works and what works well.

Here’s a question. Would a song that was all verses work as a pop song? I don’t think so. Why wouldn’t it work? It wouldn’t work because you would get bored of the song quickly. The verses could be catchy, but if there isn’t anything to change it up, it will get old quick. So what do we do? Add another section.

So the lesson here is to bring variety to the song and stray away from having the song too mundane. But on the flip side, having too much variety wouldn’t work either. For example, if you introduced a new section every time without repeating a section, it would be hard to take in the song. Let’s say I had a song that had the structure A – B – C – D (each letter represents an individual section. In order for the listener to gain some sense of familiarity, he or she will have to hear the song again probably for a couple times even if each section was catchy. But if you had a song that reintroduced sections like A – B – A – B, the listener can gain familiarity within one or two listens. But remember that the song has to keep the listener interested with the hook.

The general structure of a pop song is A – B – A – B – C – B aka verse – chorus – verse – chorus – bridge – chorus. This works so well because not only does it add a sense of familiarity by repeating sections A and B, there is a sense of variety with the addition of section C. Then familiarity is reinforced with keeping a sense of freshness by ending the section with B. This structure of a pop song is effective when the hook is carried in the chorus section where lyrics stay the same each time the section is sung.

You can use A – B – A – B – C – B as the base for your song and add sections to it to add the effects of familiarity and variety. Here are some examples.

A – A – B – A – B – C – B

A – B – C – A – B – C – D – C (This is known as verse – prechorus – chorus – verse – prechorus – chorus – bridge – chorus)

A – B – A – B – C – A – B

There are many options when it comes to the structure of a pop song. Remember that having just the structure of a pop song isn’t what makes a song popular. It needs a hook which is usually in the chorus section of the song. Have fun coming up with your structure!

Teams are used to increase work production, solve problems, develop improvements, and lots more for business organizations. Getting people to work together often requires a different set of rewards to motivate the team to do their best. Here are ten simple ideas for rewards that recognize and motivate team building and work contributions.

1. Put team and individual member appreciation and accomplishment in writing via a letter or some fun certificate of achievement that is given out at a team meeting.
2. Offer team-building, communication, conflict resolution, and meeting training to improve their future working together and give them time away from current work to attend.
3. Vocalize appreciation for the work they do by giving group and individual praise appropriately.
4. Provide rewards and recognition that are specifically tailored to the team and its individual members.
5. Invite team members to celebrate their accomplishments together with a pot-luck lunch, pizza at a meeting, or an after-hours party.
6. Give little office gifts or books to team members or consider a bigger gift idea for the entire team.
7. Provide training and growth opportunities not just for team-building, process improvement, and problem solving, but other skills as well.
8. Arrange occasional times for a fun outing such as short trips like going together to a game, movie, a picnic, community event, or the option of breakfast or lunch in a popular restaurant.
9. Offer bi-yearly or yearly options for a few hours, half day, or full day facilitated team building event or retreat that gets them away from the job but closer together as a group.
10. Use a small amount of meeting time or the team’s lunch time for team-building activities like icebreakers or thought-provoking exercises.

These ten easy to implement ideas for team rewards can be a starting point for recognizing and motivating teams and its members. Appropriate rewards are important for getting people to work together to do their best as a team. This is important to business organizations that want to use their work teams to increase production, for problem solving, and to implement improvements to processes and products.

NOTE: See also article on “The 3 P’s of Reward and Recognition” when designing programs.

Tales of love surround us. Popular songs, amorous movies, romance novels, grocery-store tabloids-all sell “love.” Yet do these starry-eyed dramas rife with reckless and chaotic emotions truly portray its ways? Passion and possessiveness, jealousy and infatuation – can these be love? Don’t these actually reduce the expansive love of the Spirit to grasping, grabby desires of the ephemeral flesh?

To truly love, we must discard common notions, dispense with the appearances of love, and discover where true love lives. We will then find that, although true love is freedom, popular styles of love are gilded bondage. I know this from my own experience: When I first fell in love at nineteen, every time my beloved left me in India to return to America, something was wrenched out of my body.

I walked around in a daze for months, bumping into walls and tripping over curbs. In those rare moments when I wasn’t obsessed with my beloved, my thoughts were fuzzy and my actions weak. For four years, I wrote her at least one letter a day, filling it with poetry and romantic thoughts from my heart. I needed to love her, and I needed her love in return; only then did I feel complete. People thought of me as romantic – passionate, loving, and wonderful. But this intense neediness, this desperate desire, was not wonderful at all! It was pure powerlessness.

The emotional frenzy called love is completely alien to true love, the nonpossessive, liberating embrace of another. When we love truly, there are no attachments. We expect nothing back. Love is only joy.

What is this rare kind of love? How do we find it? Are we ready for it? Isn’t it easier to just dismiss this as New Age hoopla and go back to familiar mediocrity, back to the way things were, to passion and pain, fondness and frustration, desire and despair? Yet when we pause, when we listen deep inside, our heart tells us that we are tired of the old game, that there is so much more.

Aadil Palkhivala Copyright 2008

Generally, a hosting provider or a domain name, is not liable for defamatory content that is on the website or the domain name. However, web hosting providers can be liable for defamation in certain limited circumstances.

§230 of the Communication Decency Act of 1996 provides that; “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.”

There are various cases where the court has found that §230 does not apply. For example, §230 does not expand or limit otherwise applicable trademark law. In the case of Hall v. Mindspring, where Gucci sued Mindspring, a web hosting provider to take down content the violated the Gucci trademark, and informed Mindspring that the website hosted by them violated the Gucci trademark on various instances and Mindspring did not take it down, the court found that Mindspring could be sued for assisting the website in violating the Gucci trademark.

This case is a prime example of how hosting providers can be found to be liable for something that is hosted on their network. If the web hosting company is informed about the violating content and consciously and knowingly refuses to take it down, then the web hosting company is not immune from suit merely because of §230 of the Communication Decency Act.

This presents a real concern for users and for web hosting providers. When is it that one knows that particular content on their networks violates someone’s copyright or trademark? Does one merely rule by exception, so to speak? This presents a responsibility on web hosting companies, to responsibly and reasonably police what is on their network and take violating content down. The line is a fine one, a web hosting company is under an inherent motive to take on more customers, even the rogue ones who violate copyright laws, and on the other hand assist and cooperate with people who are owners of trademarks.

The one sure way to avoid the likes of Gucci from going after your hosting company is to not purposefully avail of the laws and protections of the United States. That is, if the US courts do not have personal jurisdiction over the web hosting company, the US courts would be precluded from ordering the hosting company from taking infringing content down. This is an inherent principle from the due process clause of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, as applied to the States.

If you are a user who wants to use a website for such an infringing purpose the sure shot way is to find a non-US hosting company, and use a non-US domain name. The US courts do not generally exercise jurisdiction over non resident people, unless they have purposefully availed of the laws and protections of the US. (See the judgment of the US Supreme Court in International Shoe – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Shoe_v._Washington ).

The problem with finding such a web hosting company (non-US) and a (non-US) domain name is that it tends to be more expensive. The US has great amount of competition between hosting companies, and lots of domain name providers. The industry is very highly competitive.

As a consumer, we are living at a time when our opinion about products is important information for companies. This also applies to the way in which consumers rate a company and its services (product). The problem is that with so many ways for consumers to share their thoughts about a company, it is hard to know how to look at a company’s ratings and know what the numbers, letter grades, number of stars, or thumbs up all mean. At some point, it is easy to wonder whether any of that input matters.

Recent research, however, shows that while getting a 100% accurate assessment of a company’s worth may be difficult to get, a company’s rating do matter. The responsibility falls on the consumer to be willing to put the work in when trying to figure out how these ratings allow them to make the best decision they can.

As a consumer, it is important to look at basic ways to break down information such as company ratings, regardless of the rating system employed. If a rating shows 5 out of 5 stars, for example, but has had only three reviews submitted, that rating might not be the most reliable. Maybe a rating system allows reviewers to give a “thumbs up” if they are a fan. This seems fun and easy to use, but is there an easy way to give a “thumbs down”? Without being able to appeal to all types of reviews, the result of the ratings are now not as clear.

Ratings are a very subjective thing, and as a responsible consumer, it is important to keep this in mind when reviewing a company’s ratings. At times, humans may not use the best reasoning in their assessment of a company. For example, when reading through online ratings & reviews, a product/service receives a 1 out of 5 stars but when you read the actual review, you may find that the reviewer is generally unhappy with products/services like the one being reviewed but not necessarily that specific product/service. Not only does that provide an inaccurate view of this company’s product/service, but the company is now seeing its overall ratings slump.

Consumers are quick to react when they do not care for something, and they will let their opinion be known. Take the time, though, to look at the review. If someone decides that a restaurant cooked a steak incorrectly and gives them a negative rating & review, does the review indicate whether the reviewer asked for a new steak? If someone wants to return items to a department store without a receipt but feels that they should get a full refund, does the review outline the company’s return policy and other options in the event that a receipt is not present? In other words, are companies being allowed to remedy a situation that isn’t ideal before it becomes a mark on their overall record?

In short, yes, a company’s ratings do matter. While there are times you as the consumer have to sift through reviews to get to the bottom of things, a company’s ratings do usually give a pretty reliable view of how well the company performs. These numbers create a sense of trust and confidence in a company, and with so many review platforms available, the consumer has the advantage of being able to find what products and services they need.

The ancient Hindu sages or ‘rishis’ used the sound for attaining higher status. They have understood the power of sound and effectively used it for healing various mental and physical diseases.

The mantras which are basically sound waves aligned and arranged in a mysterious way resulted in bestowing whatever one wants. In order to get rain, invoking rain God through mantras which is called as ‘Varuna Japa’ was performed. Similarly each and every mantra, when recited properly for obtaining a particular result resulted in the specific intended benefit.

The wonders of sound was scientifically researched for the past two hundred years. Ernst Florens Friderich Chladni, (birth 30-11-1755 death 3-4-1823) a German physicist and musician carried out very many experiments.

When a violin bow was drawn vertically across the rim of a metal plate the sound waves produced certain patterns in sand sprinkled on the plate. Different musical tones would cause the sand particles to move into geometric patterns.

In recent years, further research on this was carried out by Fabien, a musician, along with French scientist Joel Sternheimer. He discovered that elementary particles vibrate according to musical laws.

The vibration of sound make forms. These musical vibrations as well as forms produced by them can be made visible to the eye by ingenious experiments, by throwing the images on the screen.

Sound is defined as any pressure variation in air, water or some other medium that the human ear can detect.

The number of pressure variations per second is called frequency of the sound. This is measured in cycles per second or Hertz (Hz).

The range of human hearing extends from approximately 20 Hz to 20000 Hz. Just for comparison sake, it may be noted that the range of lowest to highest note of a Piano is 27.5 Hz to 4186 Hz

The speed of sound is 340 meters per second. There is one more scale used to measure the sound – the decibel. An average man can hear zero decibel and consistent noise above 80-90 decibels in an 8-hour workday is considered hazardous.

Sound can build forms and can also destroy or disintegrate them.

The ancient sages of India have very clearly analyzed each and every letter and the corresponding sound. They have given the specific color, form and characteristics of the basic 51 letters in Tantra books.

For example the text, ‘Kamadhenu Tantra’ gives the description of the letter A.

‘A’ means Krishna, Siva, Brahma, Indra, Soma, Vayu, Agni, a happy man, a tortoise, a court yard etc.

By aligning the letters properly and assigning the correct intonation one could gain very many benefits. These sonic wonders were given in the form of hymns to the humanity by the sages. Hindus recite these mantras till this day.

Science also throws more light on sonic wonders.

Now Sound Therapy is being advised for speed healing. Dr Jason W. Busse, of Ontario has found that using ultrasound waves will speed up the healing process.

The wonders of sound is an interesting subject and one could learn a lot by studying it deeply.

A death of a loved one is one of life’s most heartbreaking moments. A time where emotions run high and shared memories could not compare to the gravity of the situation. Someone from their life has gone unto a better life, and they can never get them back.

Unless you have encountered the passing of someone close to you, your mom’s sudden death, or perhaps your best friend’s fall from life’s rope, you can say you can imagine the pain, but the reality of the loss can never be truly felt by anyone else other than the closest family.

Being in their presence during these trying times is one of the best things a friend or a relative can extend. Surrounding them with heartfelt condolences, love and gestures of affection surely make them feel a little less alone.

During these times, a simple and traditional gesture of sending sympathy flower arrangements can help ease the dark and grave mood of the funeral parlor. Having flowers would make the room a bit brighter, almost like an unspoken symbol of hope and beauty.

Tradition and history have proven that flowers have played an instrumental part in a person’s passing and rebirth. An archaeological dig by Dr. Ralph Solecki had concluded and found that even before Christ was born, it has been a practice among individuals to lay down flowers in a grave yard or funeral.

Flowers are always compared to the sheer vigor of life. That in its splendor and beauty, its growth is measured in intervals and possibilities. Like men, flowers are subjected to consequences, fail to shower the flowers with enough water and sunlight, they will inevitably die, just like men will wither and fall if they are not fed and taken cared of.

Give the gift of hope and promises; send a bereaved family or friend sympathy flowers during their most trying time.

Properties are of two kinds, tangible and intangible. Intellectual properties are those intangible properties which arise by virtue of the creation of human mind and intellect.

It includes rights relating to literary artistic work, invention, scientific discovery, industrial design, trademark etc.

Industrial Property includes the invention of a new solution to technological problems and designs i.e. aesthetic creation to present the appearance of an industrial product.

Patent grants monopoly status to its holder to regulate production, supply, and price of a patented product.

Trade Mark consists of a word, letter etc which distinguishes goods of one producer from similar goods of another manufacturer.

Copyright gives the holder exclusive right to reproduce or distribute goods. Particularly it is related to print, sound, films etc.

Industrial Design is some pattern for the manufacture of a product, like the design of particular bike or bottle of beverage.

To ensure that the originality and uniqueness of the product are maintained, it is essential to follow the path of brand and trademark registration. Such registration protects against the threats of piracy and dilution.

Brand Registration

Branding is necessary for every manufacturing or service providing business. A brand could be a business name, domain, logo, product name, or tagline. In other words, it is a feature that makes the product, entity or services differ from other competitors. Brand registration involves multiple processes; for startups, the branding process starts with the selection of a business name.

It is advisable to have a business name that is similar to the brand name. Law firms can offer assistance in terms of determining whether your brand name is suitable, and can distinguish your mark from the marks of other entities.

Trademark Registration

For a business, a registered trademark is an important asset. It is vital to protect one’s company’s investment in the brand or symbol. A trademark is any mark that distinguishes the goods and services of one entity from the goods and services of another, including a symbol, logo, word, tagline, or label.

In India, patents, designs, and trademarks are registered under the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks, under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India. Though registration under the Trade Marks Act, 1999 is not necessary, it is highly advisable as it helps secure your mark, and protect it. The process can be considerably eased through the assistance of law firms which provide necessary resources and expertise in the registration process. Such law firms are present all over India.