Be the Best of What You Can Be!!

Only principles endure and these I now possess, for the laws that will lead me to greatness are contained in the words of these scrolls.

Principle #1 – Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.
Keep it always in mind and you will overcome seemingly impossible obstacles that are certain to confront you as they do everyone with ambition. Never feel shame for trying and failing for he who has never failed is he who has never tried.

Principle #2 – I will form good habits and become their slave. If I must be a slave to habit let me be a slave to good habits. My bad habits must be destroyed and new furrows prepared for good seed.
Each principle in these scrolls will drive a bad habit from my life and replace it with one which brings me closer to success. For it is another of nature’s laws that only a habit can subdue another habit.
As I repeat the words daily contained in these scrolls they will soon become a part of my active mind. Eventually I will find myself reacting to all situations which confront me as I was commanded in the scrolls to react. Thus a new and good habit is born.

Principle #3 – I will greet this day with love in my heart.
Love is the greatest secret of success in all ventures.
I will laud my enemies and they will become my friends; I will encourage my friends and they will become my brothers. Always will I dig for reasons to applaud; never will I scratch for excuses to gossip.
I will love all manners of men for each has qualities to be admired even though they be hidden.
But how will I react to the adversity of others? With love. For just as love is my weapon to open the hearts of men, love is also my shield to repulse the arrows of hate and the spears of anger.

Principle #4 – I will persist until I succeed.
I was not delivered into this world in defeat, nor does failure course through my veins. I am not a sheep waiting to be led to the slaughter. I am a lion and I refuse to talk, to walk, to sleep with the sheep.
I will remember the ancient law of averages and I will bend it to my good. I will persist with knowledge that each failure to sell will increase my chance for success at the next attempt.

Principle #5 – I will increase my knowledge of the world.
Within me burns a flame which has been passed from generations uncounted and its heat is a constant irritation to my spirit to become better than I am, and I will. I will increase my knowledge of mankind, myself, and the goods I sell, thus my sales will multiply. I will practice, and improve, and polish the words I utter to sell my goods, for this is the foundation on which I will build my career… Also I will seek constantly to improve my manners and graces, for they are the sugar to which all are attracted. I have been given eyes to see and a mind to think and now I know a great secret of life for I perceive, at last, that all my problems are in truth great opportunities in disguise.

Principle #6 – I will live this day as if it is my last.
Yesterday is buried forever and I will think of it no more. Forgetting yesterday neither will I think of tomorrow. Should I torment myself with problems that may never come to pass? No!
I will avoid with fury the killers of time. Procrastination I will destroy with action; doubt I will bury under faith; fear I will dismember with confidence. The duties of today I shall fulfill today. I will maketh every hour count and each minute I will trade only for something of value. And if this day is not my last, I shall fall to my knees and give thanks.

Principle #7 – Today I will be master of my emotions.
All nature is a cycle of moods and I am a part of nature and so, like the tides, my moods will rise; my moods will fall. If I bring joy and enthusiasm and brightness and laughter to my customers they will react with joy and enthusiasm and brightness and laughter and my weather will produce a harvest of sales and a granary of gold for me. Weak is he who permits his emotions to control his actions; strong is he who forces his actions to control his emotions.

If I feel sad I will laugh.
If I fear I will plunge ahead.
If I feel poverty I will think of wealth to come.
If I become overconfident I will recall my failures.
If I feel complacency I will remember my competition.
I will master my moods through positive action and when I master my moods I will control my destiny.

Principle #8 – I will laugh at the world.
I will chuckle and my burdens will be lightened; I will laugh and my life will be lengthened for this is the great secret of long life. And most of all, I will laugh at myself for man is most comical when he takes himself too seriously.
Four words I will train myself to say until they become a habit so strong that immediately they will appear in my mind whenever good humor threatens to depart from me. These four words are: This too shall pass.
And with my laughter all things will be reduced to their proper size. I will laugh at my failures and they will vanish in clouds of new dreams; I will laugh at my successes and they will shrink to their true value.

Principle #9 – Today I will multiply my value a hundredfold.
And how will I accomplish this? First I will set goals for the day, the week, the month, the year, and my life. Just as the rain must fall before the wheat will crack its shell and sprout, so must I have objectives before my life will crystallize.
The height of my goals will not hold me in awe. If I stumble I will rise and my falls will not concern me for all men must stumble often to reach the hearth.
I will always announce my goals to the world. I will always raise my goals as soon as they are attained. Yet, never will I proclaim my accomplishments. Let the world instead, approach me with praise and may I have the wisdom to receive it in humility.


Principle #10 – I will act now.
My dreams are worthless, my plans are dust, my goals are impossible. All are of no value unless they are followed by action. I will act now. I will act now. I will act now. Henceforth, I will repeat these words again and again each day until the words become as much a habit as my breathing and the actions which follow become as instinctive as the blinking of my eyelids. Only action determines my value in the market place and to multiply my value I will multiply my actions. I will walk where the failure fears to walk. I will work when the failure seeks rest. Success will not wait. If I delay she will become betrothed to another.


Credits: Og Mandino

When Ska erupted, it was only another offspring of the tropical music scene. In the ways of James Brown sounds it was a reflecting the enthusiasm, energy and hopes of the newly independent Jamaica (1962).The fabulous Ska stays a strange mix of R&B and Jazz, an out of space boogie-woogie that never really made it in England. Millie, Prince Buster and Skatalites have not really impacted the beatles eara. The Rocksteady took over in the mid sixties, but then again only Desmond Dekker could reach European audience with 007 (Shanty Town). The Rocksteady was the Soul for Caribbean musics and was appreciated only by a few european aficionados. But using electric bass, burning vocalists such as Alton Ellis or the Paragons and taking influence from James Brown, new rhythms were preparing the path for Reggae.

Rocksteady:
Bass suddenly was on the foreground, a caracteristic signature of Jamaican music that can be found in the kalimbas, kind of traditional xilophones made of pieces of metal fixed on a box.
For the Rocksteady, the major beat is the third, a touch that neighbour Americans will never understand nor play properly. The Rocksteady ala Studio One is slow, round, quiet. Very different from the already aging happy ska. Then when the reggae was born in the end of the sixties the tempo went back up again.

Reggae:
The unprecedented explosion of creativity in Jamaica after that time is yet unexplained.
Of course the whole population still sings Gospel on Sunday, and in this poor country, all the music that one can hear on the dancefloors and the sound systems stays the main form of culture. Singers, DJs and producers are leaders and teachers.
Like in Brasil and Africa (of which reggae takes most of its inspiration), the whole country is vibrating with music 24hours. Nevertheless, this passion for sound and beat don't explain it all.
More is to come. The frantic side of the first reggae tunes disappears and in the beginning of the 70s, the One Drop style (that is commonly called Roots Reggae) starts to settle.This irresistible style with its fundamental simplicity, originality and essensiality, goes back to the African roots. Albums are always more creative and hundreds of fantastic artists take on the stage: Burning Spear, Jimmy Cliff, Lee Perry, Dennis Brown, Toots & the Maytals...

DUB:
In 1969, King Tubby, a genius sound engineer, has the idea of remixing songs. It is a flaming success and many follow. Tubby had the guts to remix pieces without the vocals. He drops modified slices of them here and there. The bass and the drums are the back bone of the mixes.
experimenting echo and reverbs, rough cuts... Tubby with his basic equipment invents the Dub.is a flaming success and many follow the new wave in Jamaica. It is only later that the rest of the world gets ready to follow King Tubby's techniques and in the mid-eighties apprear the House, then Trip hop, Jungle, drum & bass...

DJs:
Since the 50's Jamaican djs, British bred but American influenced, hold the mic and warm up between songs, fire during, trying to avoit to step over the original vocals.
Singing, rapping or bursting sounds, they perform on any kind or the island's music: Jazz, Rhythm & Blues and of course ska and rock steady. Then one day, King Tubby gives a Dub tape to the DJ of his tiny sound system. Very few vocals, wicked beats, massive bass, the DJ has every thing he was dreaming of to let his skills flow. His name was U Roy. The audience recognises the music because Tubby chooses only major hits, the DJ fires them up. U Roy creates new versions. U Roy has huge success. His style half sung - half spoken is copied by all the DJs in town, and King Tubby's remixes are worth gold. When U Roy is finally recorded, he takes all the top spots of the charts. Rap was then born in 1970. King Tubby's work is the latest craze. On many of the 7" the remix is printed on the B side. The idea is followed by every producer. Lee "Scratch" Perry will push the limits of sound and mind experiments. Other names such as I Roy, Dennis Alcapone, Big Youth will achieve success.
At that point a mysterious vibe shakes the big book of history: Rastafari.

Rastafari:
British colony, Jamaica has been the back bone of the slave trade and shows the scars. Now independant it is taken in the iron grasp of American economic rule. Nevertheless, the colonial British ways are still anchored in the minds. But young Jamaicans want to resemble Americans now and want to forget their past African past, heavy with humiliation. Since the start of the 20's, a Jamaican is fighting for equality of rights in the United States. The black community is starting to undertand the fact that Africa is the motherland of mankind and that pride more than shame should inspire their tone of skin. MarcusGarvey is the first of the few great Afro-American leaders. (amaising how the real ones died early... hip hop bwoys gonna live older that that soon u see). He proposes to read the bible again. African history has been sensored and modified. Not a thing to say in a colony in 1930. But it is a fact. According to Ethiopian litugy, Abyssinia is fist official nation of Judaism, ruled by the first Jewish king, Salomon. If Judaisme comes from africa, then the first jewish were black, so were then the King of Kings, direct ancestor to Haile Selassie the First, King of the Kings of Ethiopia and great statesman of the 20th century. He is God for the Rastas since he is a descendent of King Salomon, and the world has to know this reality. Men of african roots must take pride in it. They mus reject the capitalist society, racist, colonialist and consuming, and stand up through Reggae. U Roy is the first Rastas to have a great success on the island. Rastas take the stage. They have the star of David as symbol, and the colours of the Imperial Ethiopia for flag, green yellow and read with the lion of Juda in the Center. The young rebels rush in the studios Reggae spreads their message. This music becomes the one of revolt, of the angry who dare question the core of the organisation of society: the Christianisme overpowering America. Serious deal, their rejection is even more violent.

International Reggae:
In 1972 the movie "The Harder They Come" shows the world the harsh reality of Kingston's Gettos. And soon will errupt the only true forever-superstar from a poor country: the great Bob Marley. Bob Marley: no other man has ever been such an absolute music star while being the natural speaker of oppressed people, universal symbol of freedom, not forgetting the dimension of prophet for a recognised Judeo-Christian religion. Peter Tosh who was performing with Marley among the Wailers since 1961 quit Marley in 73 to follow his own path into an international career. With the support of HaileSelassie, men question the established order and slowly dig up their own past with their identity and spirituality. For many, return to natural state is the key. Meanwhile, independent producers such as Lee "Scratch" Perry, King Jammy ... start a studio war of ingenuity. Kingston becomes a music laboratory. Gregory Isaacs, Gladiators appear. In England the young Jamaican generation also takes the mic on Reggae: Steel Pulse, UB 40 Aswad, LKJ make Reggae truly consistent on the international pop scene.

The Heritage:
Since the disparition of Bob Marley the 11th of May 1981, Reggae has spread worldwide. Symbol of freedom and equality, it spreads through the world like the arrow of the just. (then follow Africa with Alfa Blondi, Lucky Dube, Majek Fashek... more recently Ticken Jah Fakoly... The wave will finally hit Japan that is today at the avant-garde of Reggae with names such as Minmi, Ryo da Skywalker, Pushim, Jumbo Maach...). The Jamaican innovations have marked the world. Even the mighty Rock is shaken and during the 80's when ska infiltrates most of the popular bands and artists: Police, The Clash (with Mickey Dread), Boy Georges, Gainsbourg... Since the 70's, the Jamaican community in Brooklyn has spread the vibes that assisted the rise of Hip Hop in New York While in Kingston digital sounds appeared during the 80s'. With the mystic and rebel dimension of Rastas, the Dub and the Rapping of DJs, the volume of the base and cuttin of the Drums, Reggae has definetely set the base of today's music. And it did not stop there. After having reset the grounds of music Jamaica has gone forward and reggae moved on to become Dancehall, Ragga riddims, and whether you like it or not, it is still called Reggae in Jamaica. In opposition to Roots Reggae, new Dancehall MCs such as Antony B, Sean Paul, Capleton, Sizzla, Elephant Man, Ninjaman, Beenie Man... have made the top of the charts and one again the world has felt the vibe. These artists are frequently called to feature on big names of Hip Hop, and their riddims have moved on to become Drum and bass.


Credits: www.rootsreggaeclub.com

Blogging - not a common word to me, all through my days online, I have been hearing a lot of it but never been putting too much attention to it. Well, this is something new, at least for me. The fact that it is already 2010 (guess, blogging started around 2000 or ealier), and I am just starting, is really not a good deal. And another fact that I am not good with words, and that I am too "pressured" to have a blogging account (or is it just "blog") as a certain requirement to an online job, is really not a good way to start. But if this is what it takes for me to earn extra cash, then this will have to do, for now.

Don't get me wrong, though. I may not be enjoying this yet, but with time and experience, I might learn to like it, hopefully. I might as well ask from you experts, what I need to know about blogging, like, mind sharing any tips, or whathaveyous, in blogging? A newbie to this kind of stuff, such as myself, would really appreciate any word from you.

And oh, by the way, have I already reached 200 words? Now, that is me thinking outloud. And I need nine more posts for me to pass the said requirement. So, until next "blog" (not used to saying the word). Ciao!

Money is one of the most essential needs on every people worldwide. Without this stuff, life wouldn’t complete. To make your life complete, you must open your wide imagination and think what are the different techniques or methods in order to have money in your pockets. Making money is difficult to have unless you are lazy to do things. However, if you the courage and strong belief that you can have it. There’s nothing impossible. You must avoid the attitude of being lazy; it will not help you in achieving all your goals. Be energetic and thinks positive always. Success will be yours.