The Zen of Life

“Who We Really Are”

We always question life and it's purpose and despite of all that we think we have achieved to understand the meaning and purpose of it, we still find it rather hard to contemplate the dynamics and struggle to find a singularity as to how to be content with the never ending chaos that we created in pursuing acceptable answers in why life goes the way it does. Ever since we learned to think and started to question things that concern our existence, we have looked for answers around and within our minds in why we live life with such turmoil despite advancement in improving our selves as human beings. Most important of all, why we behave so irrational when it comes to understanding our fellow human beings.

With the dawning of the Age of Reason, human society has been brutalized with war and conflict within the foundation of it's culture. It seems that human beings are easily intimidated by its own kind despite coming from one gene pool. No matter how hard we try to understand ourselves in this society we still lack rationality and may have overlooked the simple meaning of “peace” despite devising ways to fully utilize our mental faculties in trying to achieve it. It is so ironic to think that in comparison to all the things we had done to improve the life around us, conflict of war and chaos follows us in the distant,waiting and lurking in the back of our minds just waiting to be released.

Fear is one of the traits that control any living organism and it is fear and inadequacy within its environment that stimulates its need for self preservation. Living organisms are genetically inclined to survive and they automatically veer away from things that may be a threat for their existence. Humans have that same fear amongst themselves and it is this fear that triggers a paranoiac tendency to retaliate against one another regardless of any rational reason bearing any thought of to what it is. It may be rooted from the source of our ancestors...the apes.

Apes have this uncanny habit of looking at each other and leaving a bad impression on their fellow apes that it often ends up in a fight. It is often called “The Bad Monkey Look”, and as the term suggests it, apparently is a predominant trait amongst the great apes including humans. As a specie, we are so egoistic and take pride in what we achieved and done for our own self improvement but that can not be a valid reason to justify such a negatively enforced trait. We hate competition even amongst ourselves that we end up plotting means to eradicate competition as to emerge as a dominant and controlling entity. Leaving it to the predominant specie to take all pertinent resources to ensure its survival.

Despite of this undeniable truth in which we exist, there are still those who believe that this chaotic way of life is just an evolutionary stage in which our society is going through and that the final understanding of what our purpose in life is still in the process of being unlocked in the deepest recesses of our minds. It maybe just a question of acceptance and outlook of how we perceive life all around us and that the complications of this society that we exist upon based on the conveniences that we created to favor us.

Our true biological purpose in this world is to populate it and consume it's natural resources, quite true, but the way that human beings go through about life is such a frightening manner. Compared to other living organisms, we as a species are the only ones that leave a trail of destruction while slowly ravaging the very resources that can sustain our lives. Unlike animals that only take what is proportionally permitted in nature, we on the other hand consume more than what is needed and at the same time dilute our selves with our own residual filth caused by our intentional defiance of nature's divine purpose.

For millions of years even before the emergence of human beings, animals have populated the world without much complication as far as nature was concerned. Naturally living out their lives as intended by instinct dictated them without making not as much of any detrimental unbalance to it's natural surroundings. As far as nature was concerned, nothing can be far ideal than this. Then we came in the world strutting out our egoistic ideologies that drastically changed every imaginable concept of life contrary to its natural precepts.

Since then, life as we know it continued to flourish up to this day to favor our own convenience despite the growing threat of unbalancing the natural cycle of nature which is now clearly being manifested by drastic climate change. Despite the undeniable truth, we still remain remorsefully defiant thinking that we can never be undaunted by such unimportant things that do not concern our own personal conveniences regarding our way of life. Unfortunately nature can never be defied. Human beings have no hold when it comes to the seemingly naive thought that it can in some ways control or go against the natural balance of life despite all the compendium knowledge that man has achieved.

It is now coming out of the clear that we are anomalous to nature as we don't live by the natural guidelines that it intended us to dwell within its natural confines. Continuing to live with a blinded idealistic fervor might lead to the demise of the human species as nature can easily eject us from its own system. Just like when the body ejects foreign substances that knows can be harmful to it's biological system. It is just a matter of humanity making its next step with its dance against nature, to make a fatal step will end the dance in a chaotic reality for us.

“The Zen of Life”

Defiance of nature can be so unfavorable to us as human beings that we tend to forget who we really are. Our own achievements blind the reality around us as to make ways of covering up the ugly reality of the natural truth from which we had been spawned. The life around us contains negative and positive sides of reason both which favor each others justified principalities. Regardless of this obvious truth neither one of both principalities can not exist without the other. As it is a “singularity” as illustrated by the Buddhist symbol of the “yin and yang”.

Buddhism is not a religion but a principality on how to deal with life and all that can be negatively bad for human existence in all aspects concerning nature around us. Be reminded that “Zen” had been derived from the original Buddhist context and was adopted by Shinto monks of Japan. Adding to this, Buddhist do not consider Buddha as a god but rather as a teacher that showed the clear path of enlightenment though the adulation for Buddha is a from a purely human conceptive point of view as stated by followers of the discipline.

Man is a primitive being despite of all claims of social achievements, as manifested in his primal urge to uncontrollably hate his fellow human beings. A famous ancient saying that goes...” Stop wanting. Less is More” is one of the basic founding teachings of Zen. The more we want, the more our possessions cause confusion for us. This is greed in all of the sense of the word itself which is one of our worst traits as humans. Less is definitely an accurate proportional suggestive word to put emphasis in how we should conduct our lives in a daily basis. The less you bring with you as only the necessities, the faster you travel about your way in life and the lighter it is to make clear cut decisions.

Life is more vibrant and dynamic if we were given clear and tangible choices which have substantiated positive implications that improve our inner thoughts and manifest a positive response from those who we meet everyday. Others prefer a radical way of changing the world, while others prefer a pacifist way of dealing with the chaos. I say change the world according to its natural flow an not adversely change it to suite our purpose. The temptation of taking advantage of one another is bit of a narcissist and egoistical approach and not really well worth the effort as seen on the previous history of past wars that we as a society paid very dearly for our ignorance.

Peaceful coexistence is not one of our strongest traits as humans and that is a given. But the world does not evolve around hate and war and the mere purpose of both are hardly not essential to human existence. One does not understand why people hate each other because of differences in various beliefs and implementation of variances in traditional social beliefs and practices. For others they find violence and hatred a necessary means to answer everything in life, just another proof of us not completely evolving out of our primitive genealogy. Social order favors only those who put inhibiting laws against other human beings in fear of being over run and losing control over others within the same species.

It is so hard to enforce a peaceful means of running the world without critical objections that come from people that fear being taken advantage by servitude. Social equality still remains an elusive state of reality despite claims of actual implementation as to provide a comforting assurance of balance in this world despite the actual chaos that still runs rampantly. Still we are hopeful that man will one day leave all the hatred behind and renew his outlook on life for the betterment of himself and nature. But as of now we still need to find within ourselves to search of the answers individually and not collectively as a species.

Peaceful resolutions of human existence can be achieved unless it is purposely denied. Hate gets the best of us as a society and we incoherently laugh at ourselves enjoying the misfortunes of others while enjoying our own comfortable conveniences as well. Unless we change willingly or wait till nature take on its own hands at changing in how we look at things in life, which will not be very pleasant for us, we as a species must take the first step to have a collective consciousness in dealing with the actual reality that is happening to prevent the unthinkable which will inevitably come for us.

The word “Zen” means “perfect simplicity”, achieving it simply put is just being simple without being complicated. We put the complications in a fairly simple life because we don't want to be bored with its plain simplicity. An “Overdone” life does not have an everlasting way of satisfying society as being perfect, because human beings are easily bored. Simplicity itself is beauty, and the imperfections of life are a testament of the perfection of nature. Simplicity is contentedness and once you are content with the simplicity of things in its natural aspect you will be happy inside,smiling.

The choices we make are the sole reasons that will decide on our fate and no amount of human reasoning contrary to natures divine purpose will ever. Thats why we were made with a conscience, the reason that we decide from good or bad and its not bad to use it once in a while.

  

Ashes to Ashes...Dust to Dust The Last Hurray of Willie Revillame

Stepping back in time to when Willie Revillame started out as a personal roadie for Ronnie Rickets, who was then Philippine cinemas top action star in the 80's, no one ever dreamed that he, (Willie) would become a big success in his present field of endeavor. The years of perseverance and hard work finally bore fruit for him, as he found his first debut in the movies, starting out as an “extra” which was solely attributed to Mr. Ronnie Rickets's own personal commendations.

Ronnie Rickets is a very accommodating celebrity that despite his stellar status in the Philippine movie industry, is also an honorable individual in private life as well. There was hardly any bad things written about him during his stint as an iconic action star even up to this day. It was only natural for him to gain the trust and admirable respect from people in and around the Philippine movie industry as to give in to his favors with no contention of whatsoever.

As to becoming friends with Willie Revillame was concerned, it was a relationship that lasted for years. A genuine yearning to help friends, Ronnie Rickets always recommended Willie Revillame to any opportunities that may come his way in regards to the movie industry, thus landing Willie in a spate of movies as an extra at first and then gradually landing minor parts that require a dialog.

The years eventually passed and Willie Revillame's career soon took flight, eventually landing him co-starring rolls in mostly comedy screw ball films. It was in the late 80's when he was given a big break in his career, that gave him the chance to co-host a noontime show. After the era for “Student Canteen” ended, which spanned three decades, “Lunch Date” soon followed and made it as the second most watched noontime show in the Philippines next to “Eat Bulaga”.

“Lunch Date” lasted for a few years until in the early 90's, when GMA Television Arts finally pulled the plug on the show eventually ending it. No sooner than a few months have passed, Willie was back again in the limelight. ABS-CBN Channel 2 had taken in the former cast of “Lunch Date” to do a new noontime show that was to directly compete, head to head with “Eat Bulaga”, as the former noontime show is now rating in as the most watched noontime show in the Philippines.

“Magandang Tanghali Bayan” (MTB) as it was known then, was now competing head on with “Eat Bulaga” as ratings were almost at par with both the networks. The show consisted mainly of Randy Santiago, John Estrada and Willie Revillame. Their combination of hosting seemed to be the perfect formula as each hosts individual charisma became evidently complimentary to the shows theme. It enjoyed a prime in network ratings until ABS-CBN decided to cancel the show due to managerial issues that ended the shows glorious run in the early years of 2000.

Latter on, in the middle of 2006, ABS-CBN offered Willie Revillame a stint to do a noontime show, but Willie agreed to do it with one condition and that was that he should have a major input on how the shows format will be to his liking. Eventually, ABS-CBN agreed to do so in Willie's own term as Charo Santos-Concio was heading Programing Management during that time. Willie Revillame was now in total control over the programming of his own show as he planned a glamor filled format that would entice audiences and “Wow Wow Wee” was born.

The show enjoyed rave reviews during its first few years until tragedy struck. It can still be remembered to this day as the “ULTRA Stadium Stampede” incident which involved more than a crowd of 7,000 people, waiting in line for almost 2 days, just to get a chance of entering the stadium, hoping to get a chance to win any minimal amount of money that the show was more than generous to give. It left a few hundred injured and claimed more than enough lives to question the managements safety policy that involved ABS-CBN in the matter.

It was just one of several spates of bad luck that has befallen the show, as latter on, Willie Revillame was once again criticized in dishonoring the funeral rite of former Philippine President Corazon C. Aquino, as he somewhat berated sarcastic commentaries on how it was conflicting the shows “Happy Theme” as he said, “Wag nyo munang ipakita yan!...Nag sasaya kami dito eh!” ( Please don't show that now...We''re trying to have fun here! ). That unmindful remark had become an evident sign of Mr. Revillame's bloating ego as it was not to be his last unmindful remark as yet.

After a souring of relationship with the management of ABS-CBN, Willie Revillame's show was put on ice, permanently as his irrational way of managing the show to reflect his personal agenda slowly became unfavorable to the networks ideals. Instead of incurring more bad press and collateral damage from Mr. Revillame's unmindful brash approach to network entertainment, ABS-CBN finally broke ties with him to end the bad spate of fate that was evidently doing more harm than good.

In 2010, ABC TV 5, under the new managerial hands of Manny Pangilinan, sought ought to create its own noontime show to fill the void in its noontime slot and got Willie Revillame to host it, as always, it included that Mr. Revillame have total control to all of its proceedings. Thus “Wow Wow Willie” was born and on its maiden telecast, the production was never short of the grandeur that was personified with Willie Revillame. As usual, the masses flocked and fought the elements of the harsh weather just to get inside and bask in the opulence of the shows glitz and staggering prizes that was the center of anyone who would come to see and blindly hope that Willie would grant them his good graces in giving it away.

Unfortunately, ABS-CBN was preparing charges against the show for using its copy righted name brand that was clearly used by Willie Revillame in his show in ABS-CBN, thus forcing the management of ABC TV 5 to change the name of the show to “Willing Willie” as to not further agitate the ongoing court case against Willie. All seems to be going well after that until another spate of bad luck struck the show which involved a little boy that performed on the show as a contestant that gained the irk of people. The “Jon-Jon” incident was one of the most unforgeable moments of the programs seemingly distasteful to most who have remembered it.

It can all be recalled that Willie Revillame let Jon-Jon dance the “macho dancer” routine can be overlooked and simply pass it off as a sort of comical interlude, but what was bothering about it was Mr. Revillame let it be prolonged for too many times, as the boy started to cry and the crowd started to laugh in ridicule at the boy's own expense! After that incidence, ABC TV 5 was forced to change the programs name to “Will Time, Big Time” in order to avoid any more untoward issues that may be related to that certain folly, which was clearly Mr. Revillame's decision.

Unfortunately, Manny Pangilinan decided to pull out from ABC TV 5 as he clearly stated that the network was “not making any tangible earnings as a company”, that led to Manny Villar to come into the rescue. Things were now surely becoming distraught for the programing as ratings on the programs time slot continued to dip despite rigid marketing campaigns to alleviate advertising sales. It can be clearly seen as the big gap of advertisers on the time slot can be counted as being too few which is evident for its almost 4 hours of running. The programs segment would continue for a straight 10 to 15 minuets without a single advertiser, which proves Manny Pangilinan's statement.

After which came Willie Revillame's promotion of his “Wil Tower Mall”, a high rise condominium unit mall, which he proudly promotes on his program. But to a certain aspect of it seems like an insult to look at as Mr. Revillame's prized possession of exotic sports cars are displayed on the lobby. One observer was quick to comment, “Are we in the lobby or are we in the parking area?”. What is the deal of showing off such brash full opulence when you profess to be a man of the masses? Long before Willie Revillame's rise to fame, there was already Tito, Vic and Joey, who were already entertaining the masses with their brand of noontime show. Despite of their long decadence in show business, the trio never bought airplanes or yachts or built towering buildings with their names to be remembered.

It just shows that some people yearn for respect in society and that they will go to great lengths in order to be recognized for their hardships in life. There is absolutely nothing wrong with respect and adulation just as long as you are not fooling your selves and others as well as to letting people to believe that you genuinely care for them. Fortunately, the intangibility of idealistic principles can not conquer the reality of life that people have problems and there are people in this world that will take advantage of an individuals precarious state of misery in life. On the coming weeks, as September 2013 draws to a close, so will Willie Revillame's show “Will Time , Big Time” on ABC TV 5 as the curtain will finally come down.

To that, ABC TV 5 has clearly stated that it will consider Mr. Revillame in its future plans of new shows, but that is a doubtful notion as the dark shadow of past misfortunes seem to follow Willie Revillame on all of his enterprising endeavor, like a lurking sign of bad luck bestowed upon him for some unexplainable reason. This misfortune has a name and it is called “Karma”.

Good luck Willie, you will truly need it as it seems that you have exhausted the trust and complacency of all the people around you as the road ends, inevitably to where you started...Nothing.

Plight of the Filipino Overseas Contract Worker

The labour force of a country is the backbone of its social progress, quite true. But in some countries especially in the Philippines this remains an ironic melancholy of sorts. The Philippines is one of the world’s top provider of cheap labour to countries which need such workers ranging from house hold help,entertainment and medically related fields.


The country earns from this and is an integral part of its economy in a point that the country’s educational system is veering away from old and obsolete traditional methods integrated almost a century ago into a more simplified and straight forward educational system solely for the purpose of processing the whole Filipino society into a labour ready commodity.


Strange as it may seem, some educational institutions even advertise on mass media about these so-called educational institutions concerning job assistance programs for students that enrol and undergo their educational programs and give the public an impression of complacency regarding employment guarantee.



As a country that was once colonized by the United States, the country has one of the highest literacy rate in the South-east Asian region. But even though it is true, the Philippines are still facing a plight within its own domestic employment problems. Local unemployment rates are growing at a statistically uncontrollable rate despite of government programs to induce alternative measures to provide a temporary solution to this problem.


The government has already instigated an educational reform program adding 2 more years in both the primary and secondary levels of the school system. This ratified implementation aims hopefully to help those who go through the program acquire a certain degree of proficiency geared towards a higher chance of employment possibilities that are available in the present economic system.




Even though there are countries that employ the Filipino work force there are still undeniable hurdles that have to be considered. One such issue is that of the European Union’s ongoing warning to the schools that are offering seafarers courses in the Philippines. It is said that in the coming years, the European Union will cease to employ the services of Filipino seafarers unless that the said schools that teach such courses meet the European Union standards that are required on all European Union flags carrying vessels.


The said sanctions will be implemented in the next 3 years and unless the Philippines meet the standards imposed by the European Union, a great number of Filipino seafarers will lose their jobs because of a faulty substandard educational system.


The cost of sending children to school in the Philippines is quite high despite being a third world country and despite of government claims of economic growth and stability, the inevitable is still very obvious! One cannot deny that such adverse claims of social prosperity not be fully manifested in this society. An average child would be allocated an amount to almost a little bit more than 1,000,000 pesos just to acquire a decent college education but the guarantee of a stable job opportunity is not as directly proportional to the value of acquiring it.


We might say in a reserved manner that it is quite a gamble to invest in your children’s future, and thus the emergence of the informal educational system which consist of an educational program aimed to develop basic skills implementation which is in demand at the moment and  that it requires only the basic skills set intended for the international labour requirements.


In short, the economic labour growth is directly proportional to the global labour needs of the international labour market, and the Philippines have started to follow with the demands of the world in regards to labour. The Filipino people have become a world commodity not as to dehumanize the term but the fact of the matter remains, third world countries such as this, have no choice but to follow unwittingly and choice less or be left out in the cold reality.


As Filipinos, we are a hard working class of society never ever questioning the purpose of adverse labour despite the for the obvious reasons of servitude to others. This condition of a hard-working mentality goes back to about 400 years to the infancy of this Asian society.


The Filipino mentality toward labour has a funny history for that matter. It can be seen in the ordinary household where it takes place early in the morning as the day is about to start. Parents would often wake up their children very early to do menial   household work such as cleaning, cooking, laundry and all sorts of things. Laziness has no place in the household and everybody does their share in all work done within.


This idealistic principles are passed down from generation to generation and is considered one of the most sought after aspects of Filipinos that landed them a niche in the international labour market. Where does this all lead to? Let's go back to the time where the Spanish colonizers took reign over the country and enforced a slave labour mentality to the point of enforcing it to the natives of the country.


The Spanish master would come down and forcefully wake their Filipino slaves and order them to serve them without any humanitarian considerations. Added to that enforcing strict methods of labour sanctions including rationalizing everything including the distribution of food!


To tell you the truth, 400 years of enforcing such methods have a huge psychological effect upon a society that up to this day, the Filipinos have suffered a sense of psychological inferiority towards foreigners. Which explain why as a nation, the Filipino people are so accommodating to foreign principalities!


And even though they thrive to achieve a sense of self-worth we still fall short on many aspects considering acceptance as equals in a world that perpetuates social equality but in fact we are led to make-believe that we serve and that we as a nation have a purpose! Yes, we do have a purpose and that is to be slaves of the system of the World.

 
Purpose? To serve. Bred to a point where all social aspects of a positive outlook in life to mould us into doing what the World wants us to do.Conspired by governments and systems integrated by conglomerates with just one purpose….. Lambs to the slaughter.

The Dooms Day Clock

Our World today is changing fast beyond our our wildest dreams. We have reached new heights on the level of Science and Technology with an astonishing pace. We owe it all to our selves for attaining such marvelous achievements in regards to improving the Society that we had founded since the time that we learned to make use of fire.

For the past 100 years, we had seen how drastically we had sought to improve every aspect of human life around us. We have created magnificent edifices that culminate our glorious exuberance. We went faster than the speed of sound, have escaped the clutches of gravity and have ultimately reached the fringe stellar boundaries of the Moon itself! It seems that the possibilities are endless.

We always had, as a specie, an amazing way to overcome all sorts of adversities that stand in the way of our progress beyond our limitation and capacity to which through able thinking, could always devise ways and means in dealing such obstacles. The Human mind is such a fascinating mystery as it can conjure solutions as instinctively as to adapt to its environment and when put in a position to make decisions in regards to survival and self preservation, the Human mind is the only reason that we have gotten this far in regards to our evolution as a specie.

 

We,amongst all of the other species that thrive on this Earth, are the only ones that are endowed with the ability to think beyond our primal instinct and from this ability we had created technology that is way too far to be conceived and achieved by other similar groups of species. We are categorized as belonging to the family of “The Great Apes”. Included in this family are the Gorilla, the Orangutans, the Chimpanzee and us, the Human beings.

Within this group, we share 90 percent of all anatomical and behavioral characteristics that just goes to prove that we are indeed related to each other, although for centuries now, scientists are still trying to find a common denominator to link our distant relatives with a genetically evolutionary explanation which up to this day has no definite acceptable answer. We might have evolved differently from our Ape relatives in terms of anatomy but we differ with our way of thinking and intellect.

Man had ascended on top of the hierarchy of being the most predominant creature on this Earth, not because of a superb physiological ability to adapt to its environment but because of his ability to create a system in which he can maintain a indefinite place in the cycle of life through the technology that he created for himself and for no other reason beyond that. Despite of this Man still remains as fragile as the day he started to learn to walk upright on his own two feet.

True to the sense that we, as a species, have developed means of defying the numerous laws of nature and its many facets. Still, we have many things that even our technology can not resolve including the adept intuition of occurrences that most animals have a keen sense of knowing it. It may be irrelevant at this point to concede to complacency and rely solely to the knowledge that we posses that had preserved our way of life on this planet.

Most animals on the other hand have a strong sense of intuition that has helped them survive most of the time through natural genetic instincts. A good example for this are the aviary species of Birds that migrate across vast distances due to the changing of the seasons in order to escape the clutches of a frigid death bought on by the onset of Winter. What is really amazing is the manner in how they migrate to more temperate climates in order to maintain the survivability of their species, specifically considering on how the manage to navigate long distances and not getting lost without using any form of visual markings but instead only using the magnetic field of the Earth!

There are also other species of animals that can detect natural impending dangers such as storms or earthquakes even before they occur. Others, such as Bears, can sleep through a long winter through hibernation which helps them survive the icy cold winter and emerge thereafter. Thinking of this, one can not help but wonder if we as Human beings are truly the most predominant in all of creation? Man made technology is not in any way “unnatural” with the way of Nature! Impossible you say? I beg to differ.

Everything in the realm of Nature is natural by origin including the technology that we brought on to this world, why you ask? Simply put that Man has evolved from Nature itself and obviously all things that have come from nature are natural in origin, including the technology that we made for our selves. It was natural for us to evolve out from our primal beginnings and was only natural to develop technology for our own survival, hence, Man made technology is a natural occurrence in Nature.

“If this concept of Natural Technological Evolution is true, then why is the whole World going out of control because of us?'

Good point! There was a point in our evolution and conception of how we should define the use of the technology that we created to help ourselves live our lives to the best of what we can do for the most of what we can do for each others benefit, however, in the midst of our haste in developing beneficial technology for general use, we accidentally stumbled upon the dark side of the technology that we created.

Atomic energy and Synthetic chemical compounds are just a few things that were accidentally discovered that in the first early concept of its infancy were thought to bring about a drastic change to our lives for the better. Unfortunately, we misused these as weapons that eventually became an eminent threat for our survival as a species. Sad to think that the same technology that we created could possibly be the last and ultimate reason for our demise!

Though it is a frightening thought, there is still hope and it comes from those individuals who advocate a more peaceful and natural means to ensure our survival on this planet by means of quantifying deductible and logical reasons slowly changing to a more viable means of natural living. Advocates of Natural Healthy Living recommend that we should slow down in technological development because we already have much more than enough to support our society and any more added, sometimes non-essential technology could be the prime devastating factor that may destroy the social structure of our society.

It could be rightfully called “The Green Revolution”. Since its conception in the early 1960's people had been advocating this for too many a good reason because it will decide on our species survival for the next thousand years. This advocacy is about returning to the threshold of Nature and renew our point of view on how we would deal with all the technological mistakes that as of now are slowly emerging as a global problem.

We must have a clear mind in implementing this and a choice to abandon all unnecessary social conveniences which we had come to rely on. A first step is in the way we eat, which for some obvious reasons contribute as a general health problem in our society today. Our unmindful diet intake decides our health status and forgoing health condition and ample care should be put in mind while considering this.

Crumbling from Within: The Microsoft Dilemma

As the acquisition of Nokia underwent well towards the inevitable integration with Microsoft Corporation, investors of Microsoft came around with the notion of uncertainty as this move by the company can be a sign of growth. A manifestation of a growing fear of insecurity to attain a world wide dominant foothold on the changing market habits of people who prefer alternative products from alternative sources.

Finalizing the $7.2 billion Nokia acquisition next year, Microsoft hopes an added 30% product capitalization to it's already oblivious product inventory, sometimes criticized as an unsafe corporate move considering that Microsoft has already have it's hands full in managing a broad range of businesses and a compulsive means of spreading its brand definition rather than focusing on brand reinforcement development.

There were past disappointments and opportunities regarding investments of the company in the last ten years, including that of tablets, smart phones and search engines that has veered away from focusing on building a steady foundation rather that trying to collect unnecessary product establishments that are slowly corroding its integral foundations. It clearly shows that Microsoft's insecurity towards emerging technology which has slowly redefined its consumer base preference.

Despite being a stable Technological Conglomerate which has on it's laurels a game console, an operating system that holds 80% of all operating systems in the world, a number two Internet search engine (Google being the number one), a business software solution which include numerous applications suite and a major Web portal, it seems that it can't get enough. Some see this as not a clear sign of stability but that of uncertainty as Microsoft tends to invest on all things it “perceives” as a potential product.

As of lately, Microsoft has become some sort of “Frankenstein's Monster”, as it tries to emulate characteristics of all that is currently considered a primary substantiated element of the Internet such as Google, Yahoo, Oracle, Apple, Sony and Nintendo. Microsoft is trying desperately to be one step ahead of all of these companies in the hopes that it can favor its own existence as many have started to veer away from its products. As of date, its present CEO, Steven A. Ballmer, has extended his notification of retiring from his post as CEO within a year from now due to the “undaunted” pressure exerted by its investors to “strengthen” its business interests in all of its products, which is too many for one man to handle.

Microsoft's “trembling knees” regarding its growing uncertainty of coming times can be clearly stated as Steven A. Ballmer announced a “reorganization” to “improve” its product movements. Business experts feel that Microsoft is putting more emphasis on its corporate business focus rather than its consumer focus where Microsoft's humble beginnings came from, added that corporate and consumer interests don't mix and has contributed to the company's present state of dilemma. Since Microsoft is extremely protecting it's corporate market, it can not do admirable changes to favour its consumer market, as the problem lies within Microsoft itself.

Microsoft is not willing to split up its company from within, say, each category of product represented by individual CEO's, and if in any eventuality the worst comes, it will surely lead to its downfall as a whole. Microsoft is trying very hard to have a stronghold on the world but people's habits and preference towards product evaluation and perception have gone to radical changes over the last fifteen years or so, giving individual changes that have broken the Microsoft tangibility.

As Microsoft tries to cope with these changes, so does the corporate bigwigs that try to steer Microsoft after the post Bill Gates era has ended. Too many products to handle with too many divisions to over see proper managing. As of late, Microsoft has already announced the end of it's product support update for Windows XP. This came into light as a decision to further strengthen its support for the widows 7 and 8 OS. this clearly tells the truth of it's deteriorating management dilemma.

The Aspect of Fine Dinning

There is no other comparative pleasure in this world to that of eating and may I say not just eating in a contextual gesture but that of fine dinning. Fine dinning is an art and a ritualistic way of acknowledging the absolute finery's of what life can offer which you so choose to partake as a means of compensating your hard earned endeavors in life. Now, some people, and I must say, some do disregard such appropriations as deemed insignificantly bland to common tastes, but as far as common knowledge is concerned, nothing beats a good reason not to indulge in some of the finner things that life can offer!

Good dinning restaurants and I mean really good dinning restaurants are hard to come by. So, as not to falter in choosing the right ones and make the most of a seemingly simple task of eating a most memorable time in ones own experience, the right choices are often the most difficult choices that should be made. Careful detail should be always put in mind when making such adverse choices in regards to food, beverage, service and total consideration to the whole idea of leaving behind a sense of euphoric satisfaction. A perfect combination of the blends of chasms in tastes of recipes that offer a vivid adventure of gastronomic pleasure.

Food review guides can more or less give you an idea of what a certain establishment catering to fine food recipes have to offer in which patrons can view with certainty of what they have to offer. Good fine dining restaurants are most sought after by connoisseurs and mostly highly recommended for various points of interest concerning the quality of food and service that an establishment has to offer. At often times, it is highly recommended to seek out information individually prior to making reservations for an occasion, thus it should be planned accordingly.

5 star restaurant recipes are one of the most sought after foods by people with discriminating taste. Often times these establishments offer a wide variety of menus ranging from Continental preparations that suit the savory fits of most common food adoring mongers, to the rich aromatic taste of herb filled European cuisines that spark an incendiary moment of lush playful flavors that paint the palette with utmost content. Nothing speaks more louder that the silent solitude of an individual as they nimbly partake in small quantities of a savored delight and slowly melt it away inside their mouths to savor every little bit of zest and tangy interludes of flavors playfully on their palettes. 

Recipes for 5 star restaurant that are served in certain establishments do usually come with an often premium price but though this is quiet true, It still does present itself the reason and the right to do so, for premium quality does has its price and a price well worth to consider by. It often falls on the question of how you would like to give a response to a person of their importance of their time of being there with you as you enjoy the company of each others presence. Nothing is more important than to give the right reserved respect to a persons standing than to give them the rightful decorum of a perfect night of leisurely dinning. 

The absolution of life can only be celebrated in a manner that all of us can consider proper in splendor and taste, and with that nothing is more descriptive but that of a gastronomical adventure. Especially when we consider the daunting effort that has been put just to satisfy a happy eater beyond their expectations. Years of consideration are put into making and refining a single yet simple recipe from its humble origins. Considering the value of a sought after food because of primarily its unique blend of taste and texture, as it is always the palette that should be considered as the authoritative judge of what we long for a certain food recipe. 

Good fine dining restaurants are already well known for a certain specialty in food services and people who vie just to make reservations know that aspect of fine dinning is worth its weigh in gold. There are others however, some obscure establishments that serve a comparative quality to like that of those well known ones but only cater to the most smallest number of clientèle. Not nearly as known as others but nevertheless are regarded with high recommendations through word of mouth and suggested to be tried for comparative reasons.

Sometimes good value comes in small and surprisingly obscured places not frequented by regulars. If we take in consideration actual commentaries of fine dining food reviews, we will be given a multitude of choices depending on or preference as to how much we are willing to go the extra added effort to please ourselves in finding the ultimate dinning experience. It can never be put to such a simple term that pertains to a common simplicity to the everyday eater in regards to the idealism's that an experienced connoisseur that has regarded the simple task of eating to elevate it to a recognized art deemed only to be understood by those indulge in it. 

Fine dinning is not a simple gesture of putting food in your mouth and just simply digesting it, more than just the average perception would see it fit as a way to improve and refine our respect for the food we it as we celebrate it in a way befitting it as it is a ritualistic fervor for it's sustaining empowerment of our lives. Food is not a simple thing to ponder about, it is life giving and earns more than our respect. Rightfully we celebrate this respect with uttermost splendor and what more adept way than fine dinning! Bon Appetite!

Video Marketing: The Swiss Knife of Internet Sales and Distribution

Ever since the beginning of the conception of movies and television, society has always been making the most out of this concept of entertainment and communication to effectively create bridges of information while entertaining people at the same time. Regardless of any given time or situation, someone, somewhere is watching a video. It is such a common place these days to see streamed media almost everywhere at any given time whether that be television, public advertising media billboards, Internet and mobile.

Media has always been a very big if not a huge social catalyst in influencing the way we perceive the world around us, that it has become a powerful tool to which can help mold awareness and opinions. Video marketing in particular has come a long way since television that it is now the predominant mode of visual information most suited for Internet marketing distribution. Entertaining, informative and persuasive, all the key elements needed to ensure a good marketing platform to effectively bring a clear message across to the potential consumers.

Why should anyone that's involved in Internet marketing, consider video marketing and promotion an important aspect for optimizing content distribution? Consider the following pointers as a clear method of an over all marketing package:

Streamed on line videos are a “one step” method of explaining all aspects of a product or service that is being offered to consumers. Videos are self explanatory visual representations of any aspect of on line product marketing. Well made and compiled videos with high quality streaming value offer almost every aspect of information that a potential customer would like to know about the company and the product that it offers along with other services that potential consumers would like to know of.

“Extended Frequency and Demographic Reach”

Considering that the whole world is now 80% connected to world wide web (www), it is not so uncommon for people regardless of what part of the world they come from, have access to the Internet and all allied media that are related to it. Since the Video Marketing was first used, there has been a resurgence of increase influx of sales thanks to video advertising which had a tantamount effect in product to buyer influence.

“Media Stability and Longevity”

Video formats are far more lasting than web pages and it is this reason that advertisers nowadays prefer to bring their featured products and services to the limelight using video as a preferred medium. Websites that host videos are far more resilient than most web pages and even far more traffic responsive compared to ordinary websites. Videos don't loose their luster and maintain the high quality of content compared to that of conventional websites that sometimes close down without any reason.

Life Insurance: A Long Term Investment for Retirement

A question that always comes to mind is if Life Insurance is a need or a necessity or a want. Some prefer to describe it as a financial fall back in times of old age, something to keep ends meet and a way of pulling out the needed financial support to manage daily existence as that of basic needs, medical maintenance and medical health. It can also be considered as a form of financial shield, a well configured financial long term plan that we put ample time and effort in investing while we are still capable of paying the premium cost, though it may be hard for most average earning people who can barely suffice the needed funding to fulfill their payments, It is still an very practical and well worth long term investment that can make a very big difference when the time of need arrives.

Life Insurance Investment is real time economic protection that provides our families with the much needed financial back up in the event of unsuspecting and unexpected adversities such as death. Anyone who is anyone can avail of these Life Insurance plans as they come in various categories ranging from comprehensive life plan coverages to retirement benefits. As compared to the olden days of Life insurance, today's Insurance Providers have aptly devised ways and means to customize their clients investment portfolios to cater to their needs. Besides pre-needs and post-life insurances, Life Insurance can also be applied for the continuity of a certain business to operate in the event of the demise of its primary owner or business operator, or aptly called Estate Insurance or Estate Planning.However, Life Insurance must not be considered as an investment contrary to some Insurance providing company's marketing pitch, Which makes some companies adverse packaging of their plans to woo in people who want to put up policy investments for retirement purposes.

“How Does Life Insurance Work?”

Life Insurance is often offered to high income earning individuals, professionals and people who have their own stable income generating business. It is a way of setting aside additional earnings or extra disposable income which is more aptly meant as a secure way to confirm their own financial security when the time for retirement arrives. Even though the person might have already bought existing Insurance policies from other providers or other than any such insurance or retirement plan such as the 401 (k). 

 

The Insurance Provider will usually indicate how your Policy will work for your advantage:

It usually starts when you purchase a Policy that includes underlying investment plans that will self-generate the needed cash up to the time that your Policy “ripens” or “matures”. This means that the amount of money that you put in by paying your Monthly, quarterly or even annual premium will exponentially multiply by the time of your account with them matures. Maturity means that once you had met all premium payments needed to complete your Policy requirements, there will be no further need for you to pay anymore as you can just sit back and relax.

At some points that the adversity of the situation requires you to seek financial help, you can always turn to your Insurance policy and ask for a loan, though other companies can provide this post premium service to their policy holders. Premiums require you to pay certain amounts that will last a certain period and once you completed all requirements needed by your insurance provider, you are pretty much in the home run.

Eventually, your premium payment will grow as your time of payment progresses onwards to your maturity date, and when such time that you have reached your date of retirement, you can now utilize your invested money guaranteed by your policy as a loan, tax free. The amount that you loaned can be disregarded as your Policy provider will not oblige you to pay it back. The catch comes as a surprise for most policy holders as they find out at the end that the consequences of taking out a loan under the coverage of your plan that is a provided privilege of all policy holders means a consequential reduction of death benefits! Now this is an accepted Insurance Provider practice that has been instigated since the conception of the Insurance Industry. If you feel obligated to use your own insurance money because you have no obvious choice, chances are your final policy benefits that you signed up with your Policy provider will be debited on your account, therefore reducing your original expected benefits!