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The gong is one of the oldest musical instruments in the world. Archaeologists have unearthed gongs built almost four thousand years ago. No wonder when we hear a gong we feel like we are being touched in our soul.

The earliest written mention of the gong was in China in the 6th century. In these ancient documents the Chinese claim that another culture from Central Asia introduced it to them. While we can’t be certain which culture created the gong, it’s safe to say the sound resonated with the Chinese and that they made the gong their own.

The Chinese used gongs for many ceremonial functions. They were struck to announce when the Emperor or other important political and religious figures arrived. Military leaders also used gongs to gather men together for battle.

The gong and its music then migrated from China to Java — the term gong is actually Javanese in origin — and became established in Indonesia by the 9th century.

The Javanese made their gongs in a new way that was much different from the large flat Chinese gongs; they used deep turned-down rims with a raised knob in the center. The Indonesians also developed a style of playing many of their gongs at once, in a percussion orchestra known as a gamelan. In gamelan, the gongs are usually different sizes, with each one tuned to a different specific pitch.

Gongs migrated slowly from Asia to Africa — they didn’t have the Internet and airplanes to speed things along back then — and finally arrived in Europe in the eighteenth century.

The style of gong that Europeans first saw and heard was the big Chinese gong of indefinite pitch that you have probably seen in the back of orchestras.

Though now a regular part of the percussion section in Western orchestras, the first symphony to include one was Mirabeau, written by the French composer Francois Gossec, in 1791. Debussy became the first major composer to incorporate the sounds into his symphonies.

Andrew Borakove is a media writer and a gong aficionado. He is also the proprietor of Gongs Unlimited, the only internet store devoted solely to gongs. http://www.gongs-unlimited.com

Those of you who have been reading my site JoelComm.com (and that’s all of you, right?) will know that my mom has just started blogging. I’m so proud of her. You can see her blog at www.travelswithsheila.com, and most importantly you can see how she’s optimized her ads.

That’s a great case study for anyone wondering where to put their ads on their blog. They’re beautifully optimized and they’re already bringing in money.

Now, my mom has never been much of a tech-head. She’s only now thinking of buying a laptop. But what’s impressed me is how fast she got up and earning with a blog.

I think that sometimes those of us who have been building sites and uploading content for years forget how frightening dealing with servers and finding domains can be for newbies.

Blogging is the ultimate solution. You can have your own blog in minutes and plugging in the ads is an absolute breeze. Heck, Blogger practically throw the ads at you.

The only possible concern with blogs is how you can get the maximum income from them. Once you’ve got the ads blended and positioned, all that’s left to do is play with is content. You’ve really got two choices here. You can either keep writing about the things that interest you and hope that those topics are interesting enough to interest lots of other people. Or you can focus your writing on products to bring up targeted ads with expensive keywords.

I think that the best strategy is to do both at the same time.

The reason that people read blogs is that they feel they have a relationship with the person behind the page. They like them. They trust them. And they’re interested in what they have to say. Create a blog that’s focused solely on bringing up high-earning ads, and you’ll get those ads. But you won’t have anyone to click on them.

Create a blog that interests you and others and use it to mention topics that are going to bring up good ads and you’ll get the best of both worlds. Again, my mom’s blog is a great example of this. When she writes about her travels, she creates some great stories that are really fun to read. But she also might mention the equipment she uses when she’s hiking down a mountain or skiing down a slope. That provides good information for her readers and good ads that pay for her blog.

Know which products you can work into your blog?

Joel Comm is The Internet Revenue Expert. Online for over 20 years, Joel teaches people how to make money in the digital age. The recognized authority on Google AdSense, Joel teaches how to multiply your AdSense income at The AdSense Code. To ask Joel Comm a question about making money online, visit http://www.AskJoelComm.comYou can read his mother’s blog at http://www.travelswithsheila.com

Copyright 2005 Juanita Bellavance

Picture your life as a trip to a global amusement park. The opportunities surrounding you in life are the “rides.” At any popular amusement park, there is often a line at almost every ride or event, your learning curve. How do you handle the waiting?

Every ride or opportunity has a fantastic appeal. You ultimately want to ride everything in an amusement park, except rides you may think are too risky or too boring. Imagine yourself in line waiting for the ride you came upon first. In line you have progressed forward some and have a long time more to wait. You look up and see right over there is another ride that looks even more exciting so you go over there and get in line for it. You move forward a little in that line and just outside the que you notice the most exciting show! There’s not too much of a line for it yet so you can be near the front and get in fast, “ground level.” That is when you notice show time arrives in about 30 minutes. While you’re waiting for show time you have lots of time to think. You realize you have just spent a few hours at the park already and have not ridden even one ride. You decide it was a mistake to leave the first one and change so you go back to the first one. While you are in the first line again, you realize why you changed to the other line in the first place and you really wanted to ride the other ride more so you change “just this once more.”

Can you see how with a strategy like that you will never get to ride any ride? You could have ridden EVERY ride if you would have just seen the first one through, then had gone to the next one and the next. When you entered the park you were probably handed a map. If you had the patience to sit down and create a plan, connecting the dots for velocity of doing all or in order of favorites and stuck to that plan, you would have had time to do every single thing in the park and with no stress or frustration. You would have certainty that you would get around to each. Then, as you went along, if you did notice one ride taking way too long because of its popularity, you could have skipped it if necessary to get the most variety or you could stay all day in that one line if it were worth it.

Opportunity is like that. You MUST look around you and see the niches available. And you MUST know the niches that match your deepest core passion. If you’re like me, you can see something you like in just about any opportunity. But does that opportunity match your core passion? The first opportunity or “ride” you take on must be the one that is the most deeply matching you to make sure you are fulfilled by the end of the “ride,” the results. Having done this first, you will be able to ride the less compelling fun rides as well and with more joy since you are fulfilled in your deepest core of who you are.

There are people who just seem to know themselves well and know what they want very early in life. Most people don’t. They graduate from high school and even go on to college having no idea what they want their lives to be about. Are you one of those people? If so, you could wait in a lot of long lines getting almost to the mark and then falling short because you skipped the basic step of knowing yourself . Then how to move through the line with the most velocity possible to the result. You may not even know for sure what “ride” or opportunity you even want in the sea of opportunities available.

Find the one key element to who you are first and then find the opportunity that most quickly gives you an access for expressing yourself. Then, you will save many years of “waiting” and will live a life of untold joy and wealth if you wish from this point forward. You are your own guarantee.

About the author:

Juanita Bellavance, the author of this article is known for understanding what a client needs to succeed. She can look at what’s missing and lead a client into seeing for themselves their own power over it. Because of this realization of their power, people have a shift in belief level. And that shift ignites them into action! Find your core passion with her Power Vision Writing Guidebook at http://www.powervisionwriting.comor contact her at: Success@assuredsuccesslifecoach.com Visit Juanita’s website at: www.assuredsuccesslifecoach.com

The credit industry if rife with pitfalls. If you have ever owned a credit card you probably already have learned this the hard way. If you have not owned a credit card previously you should definitely learn all you can about these convenient little suckers (literally) before you commit to any contract.

While not all credit cards are the same many do have similar things in common. For instance they will all charge you interest on your purchases. The only difference there is the amount of interest and how long after you make your purchase that you begin getting charged the interest.

Most people assume that they will not be charged interest for at least a month. This is called the grace period. The thing is that not all credit cards have the same length of grace period. Some companies have 15-day grace periods and others have none at all. This is the kind of thing that you need to find out before you ever make a charge on your card.

When you apply for a credit card you may be offered a lower interest rate. This “introductory rate,” as it is called, is most likely only temporary. Once you have owned the card for a few months your interest rate will go up substantially. And the thing is that credit card companies can change their interest rates whenever they feel like it. Did you know that? It’s true.

There is a clause in most credit card contracts that allow for the lender to up their interest rates at any time as long as they give you 15 days notice. No matter what rate is quoted in your contract they have this right.

One of the common myths people succumb to when using their credit card is the belief that paying of your balance every month is a good thing. Well, surprise, it’s not. People who do not carry a balance on their cards are considered to be “deadbeats/” That’s right the responsible, conscientious people are the bad guys. Creditors don’t like them because by paying off their balance all of the time they are not letting the lenders make any money off of them. The interest is why they give you credit in the first place, that is their bread and butter. If you were not paying interest why would they want to bother with you?

If you are a deadbeat there is a better chance of your credit card company raising your interest rate or even eliminating your grace period. You might even begin to be charged annual fees for your card. Credit is not free after all.

Credit cards are a great tool to have at your disposal. They can help you get out of a jam quickly and easily, but don’t let yourself get carried away by the convenience that they offer. Try to keep your credit card spending to a minimum and you will find in the end you are much better off.

Martin Lukac, represents, #1 Loans USA, a finance web-company specializing in real estate/mortgage market. We specialize in daily updates, rate predictions, mortgage rates and more: http://www.1LoansUSA.com

When reading an article where some term is used often, it is useful to make sure the author of the article and you mean the same. Not surprisingly for those who still remember English lessons at school, every noun ending with “ware” is a mixture of objects having something in common–usually used for similar purposes. So it tends to be when “ware” is short for “software”; sometimes it’s pretty tricky to define exactly what kind of software it includes and what these programs do.

If the terms “adware” and “spyware” are used in an article as synonyms (sometimes even experienced journalists make such a mistake), readers will just wonder why there are so many words for the same stuff. Since computer programmers and gurus don’t read these articles at all, an average user feels bewildered when he finishes reading. Too many terms with too vague meanings…it’s nothing more than my own impression, because I am not a programmer or a guru–just a linguist. I’m still trying to make a head and tail of it.

Spyware, adware, malware, what else? - trackware, trapware, crapware, junkware, snoopware… Readers have heard a lot about browser hijackers, dialers, keyloggers, cookies, BHOs, Trojan horse programs, viruses, worms…What a motley crew! Is it possible for the average non-tech person to memorize their numerous definitions and knotty relations with one another? What is a part of which? If one looks trough several definitions of “spyware” given in some articles, he is going to find muddle and confusion instead of clarity.

Well, let’s use common sense. Fortunately, it is sometimes easy to guess from the type of a program what such programs actually do–so, let’ try.
A browser hijacker is software that hijacks browsers (and does some other nasty things). Correct.
A keylogger is software that logs keystrokes (ditto). Exactly.

Adware is software used for targeted advertising. Well, yes. There must be as many types of programs as there exist methods of advertising. Pop-up flood is also method of advertising.
Is hijacking a browser also an approach to advertising? If it is so, creators of those annoying browser hijackers have somehow perverted logic.

And what about tracking potential customers? It is exactly the point where “adware” and “spyware” meet. People also tend to call all unwanted software “spyware” because these programs are installed without users’ consent. But…nobody has ever wanted any advertising in print or on TV. Will you watch an ads-only channel? Will you buy an ads-only magazine? Online advertising just follows the tendency (sometimes going too far) to get exposure, to make a user notice ads– at all cost.

Is spyware software used for spying, as one may deduce from the name? Yes and no. If software collects information and transmits it, such a program is automatically called “spyware” no matter how valuable this information is. That is why keyloggers (programs specially created for capturing key strokes) and cookies are both called “spyware”. Well, if cookies and BHOs are kinds of spyware– then a unicycle and roller skates are vehicles. When calling some kind of programs “spyware” we should at least consider what they “steal” and how this information is used.

Other terms are also pretty indistinct, though sometimes amusing.

Terms like ” crapware” and “junkware” aren’t very good, they just show attitude to such software instead of meaning anything clear.

“Malware” is too broad and too general. If one hears that some software is called malicious, he has no idea about what kind of software it is. Dividing software into malicious and benign is like dividing all, say, plants just into eatable and uneatable.

As for viruses, worms and Trojan horse programs, this fauna (not paying a slightest attention to the laws of biology) has already made up such hybrids with one another that no genetic engineer could probably dream about. Programmers say that there are almost no such viruses, worms or Trojans as they used to be only several years ago. These terms might become obsolete pretty soon because of this “evolution”.

“Trojan horse” is pretty elegant term, by the way — there is a clear idea of something benign-looking with some potentially dangerous core inside. Makes people remember history, Ancient Greeks and Homer.

All these may seem amusing for a philologist and make a good material for a linguistic study, but for an average PC user who would like to know what exactly his anti-spy software protects against, it is still a confusing mess of terms.

Alexandra Gamanenko currently works as a PR manager at the Raytown Corporation, LLC–an independent software developing company.
website
http://www.anti-keyloggers.com