Some years ago, several men sat around a table together, united for a common purpose. They met in the dark of night, but were not there for devious purposes. They came from many places, far and wide, leaving behind their family and friends. They traveled from store fronts down by the ocean, from virgin fields that stretched as far as the eye could see, from cities just beginning to thrive to determine the fate of more than just themselves. They didn’t gather because of money. They didn’t get paid a cent to sit at that table. No, their motivation came from much deeper, from within. From a sense of what was right not only for them but for their neighbors as well. They came because they saw a future their children could have, not necessarily one which they would live.
They had a sense of honor and integrity and a love for God that bound them together. And they made decisions that directed the course of America for two centuries. Those men sat down and signed the Declaration of Independence.

Over the years, the men that have followed have made different deci- sions, some good, some not so good. But America is where she is this day, a stumbling giant, burdened with her own ailments, overstretched or untapped depending upon the speaker, because of the decisions of the men and women who inhabit her.

If we as a nation, or as a people, ever want to rise up to new levels of greatness (whether it be as a nation in our world, or as a nation intent on conquering the stars, or as a beacon of prosperity and hope), then there must be better decisions. Often, better decisions begin with a moral fiber that that people adhere to. Morality is something that governs men and women’s actions. It gives them a standard to measure themselves by, a standard to light their way and it draws upon more than just the lusts of the flesh. It draws upon the spirit of a man.

But there must also be sacrifice. Greatness is never achieved through selfishness. In any marriage that lasts and is good and loving, there has been sacrifice along the way. I think many in this nation have forgotten this. I am not talking just a sacrifice of blood, but a sacrifice of selfish desires.

If we want to avert crisis or restore glory, we must first be willing to stand for something more than cold hard cash and the exaltation of ourselves. We must stand with integrity as a people who draw a line in the sand about what is right and what is wrong and stick to it. And we must stand because we are hungry for more than just ourselves.

© Seth Crossman

(originally printed in OG's Speculative Fiction, Issue 25)

by Ryan J. Johnson

Here are ten reasons you should laugh, every single day. I love making people laugh and sharing laughs with others, so hopefully this article inspires you to do the same. With that said, I'll start with the obvious ones and work my way down the list. Read below:

1) Have fun!: Whenever we think of laughter, good times, good memories, and good feelings come right to mind. Everyone could always use some more fun in their lives. I personally think you cannot laugh too much, so look for things to laugh at every day and your day will be enjoyable in that moment.

2) Be healthy: It seems the old adage is true: laughter really is the best medicine. Research shows that laughter increases your immune system, burns calories, and gets your heart pumping which in turn gets more oxygen flowing, among many other benefits.

3) Attract Mates: Many people choose friends who have a sense of humor. In fact, most women list a sense of humor as one of the most attractive features of a potential mate.

4) Boost Productivity: Laughter makes you more productive because it gets oxygen rich blood flowing throughout your body and it puts you in a better mindset to tackle challenges throughout the day!

5) Bust Stress: Laughter is proven to reduce levels of the stress hormones cortisol and epinephrine in the body. So if you're stressed, laugh it off!

6) Look, Stay, and Feel Young: When you laugh, you tone the muscles in your face. The bloodflow also keeps your skin healthy, and you just look more fun and young when you let go and laugh!

7) Fight Depression: This one may seem pretty redundant, but laughter just makes your whole day better. It puts you in a better mood. It makes you sleep better, and people who laugh a lot do not need to rely on anti-depressants.

8) Control Your Blood Pressure: Again, reducing stress hormones reduces blood pressure which keeps you strong and healthy!

9) Feel Amazing: All of the benefits of laughter seem to overlap. Laughter increases "feel-good molecules" called endorphins which give you a sense of euphoria and can alleviate pain in the body.

10) Share: When you share a laugh with someone, there's no other beautiful feeling like it.

I hope you enjoyed my article on the beauty of laughter. Try to laugh more and your life will improve and be more enjoyable. It has to! Watch some more comedies, watch silly video clips on YouTube, hang out with funny people, and just look to laugh. I hope you found this article helpful.

Watch free silly videos via email by subscribing to the Laugh Letter at http://www.laughletter.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ryan_J._Johnson

If you needed more evidence that baseball is part of America’s heartbeat, then these past few weeks gave you that.

Armando Galarraga, a pitcher with the Detroit Tigers, was one out from what has only been done twenty times in the past hundred years or so. A perfect game. He had one batter to go, light hitting Jason Donald. Galarraga stared in for his catcher’s sign, got it, wound up and threw. Donald hit a slower grounder to first and Galarraga took off to cover the bag. The ball landed in his glove steps before Donald got there.

Inexplicably, the umpire, Jim Joyce, called him safe. Galarraga just smiled and walked back to the mound to face the next batter. There was nothing he could do to change that call. He could argue, his manager did, but umpires never change their minds. His perfect game was gone. Replays would clearly show that the runner was out, that Galarraga had a perfect game.

Now umpires are not infallible. It is the human element in the game. There are bang bang plays everyday. Runners trying to beat out throws. Check swings. Ninety mile per hour pitches that twist and dart. The plays happen so fast. Judgments have to be made just as fast. And that is all it is sometimes, a judgment call. It is one human’s perspective. Umpires don’t have the benefit of replay like us TV fans do. So sometimes umpires are going to make mistakes.

Jim Joyce’s was a huge one because it was the pivotal moment in what could have been a great accomplishment. It could have been perfection. It could have been a defining moment in one player’s career. But it wasn’t. And apparently everyone was watching.

The following day there was outcry from an amazing amount of people who wanted the call reversed. You would have thought half of America were Detroit Tiger fans and had been at the game. Presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs spoke from the White House. Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm issued a proclamation that it was a perfect game. U.S. Rep. John D. Dingell wanted to introduce a congressional resolution asking that it be called a perfect game. U.S. Rep. Thaddeus G. McCotter, said "only the truth will uphold and honor the integrity of the game; and the truth is that this game was perfect," in a letter he wrote to the commissioner of baseball. Talk shows picked it up as did the news in every major city. America was watching and America cared about that one pivotal play. They cared about Galarraga’s accomplishment and they wanted to see him get what he earned.

Everyone wanted the commissioner to change the ruling.

Matters were complicated, because even the umpire who made the call, later said he blew it. It’s like failing a test only to have your teacher tell you they made a mistake and you actually passed - but the test score still stands.

The commissioner of baseball didn’t change the call though. Galarraga’s career record will never show that he pitched a perfect game, unless he does so in the future.

I think it was the right decision not to overturn that call. It would have set a precedent. What would they have done on the next close call, one that decided a game? Reverse one call, or reverse them all? It would cause an uproar and diminish the purity of the game. A bang bang play and the umpire’s split second decision. Wait, wait, wait. He was actually safe according to the instant replays. Sorry first base ump. Better luck next time? No, the call had to stand even with how unfortunate it was.

All was not lost though. The Detroit Tigers awarded Armando a brand new red corvette. That’s a pretty nice consolation prize, especially for a pitcher who makes the minimum. Does it make up for being robbed of a perfect game? No, but it is something tangible that he can rub his hands along and think, “I earned this. This beautiful piece of machinery is mine.” It’s a story he can tell in airport lobbies as he waits for his plane, or in a hotel restaurant late at night, or to his kids as they play catch out in the back yard twenty years from now. “Did I ever tell you about the time I threw a perfect game?”

The record books may not record the true twenty-first perfect game thrown in baseball history, but then the record books never really do tell the whole story. But Armando can keep playing his career knowing that for one night, when he was reaching for the record books, America took notice and they cared.

© Seth Crossman

Here are a few tips to help you out in these uncertain financial times.

Check Your Lines – Some years ago I was fishing for bass and had tossed out my line shortly after arriving at the shore. I waited for hours for a bass to bite. By the end of the night the line hadn’t even jerked once. Yet, when I reeled in my line to go home, I had a giant sunfish on the end of it. I had sat all night not knowing what was on the end of my line. Well most of us have fish on our lines, we just don’t know it. Our closets are full of things we have forgotten, things we spent a considerable amount of money on a long time ago. Sell those things you don’t want or need anymore.

Give Yourself a Raise – Most people think that the key to financial freedom is getting a raise or a job that pays more. That certainly is one way. However, there is another way that most people overlook. You can give yourself a raise by paying off a loan you currently have. Let’s say you pay off your car loan. Well, that’s three hundred dollars a month more you are going to have in your paycheck to use how you want. Start targeting your loans. Pay them off quicker than the term of the loan.

Sitting Savings – Most working Americans have at least a thousand dollars sitting in a savings or checking account that they do not collect any interest on. Reallocating that money to a savings account with a good interest rate can earn you enough money in a year to go out to dinner. Who would say no to a free dinner at their favorite restaurant? I certainly wouldn’t. Take the time to research better accounts or banks that will make your money work for you.

Savings vs. Interest – Now that I have encouraged you to put your savings to work, I also am going to tell you to spend your savings, but for a good reason. A reasonable safety fund in a good interest bearing account is good as I mentioned above. However, the interest rate on a loans is often more than the interest rate on savings accounts. This means that if you have a loan with a 5% interest rate, it is better to pay it off than put away money in a savings account that is earning 2%. There is no sense earning interst at 2% when you are losing it at 5%. Pay off that loan first.

Know What You Earn - One trap some people can fall into is spending more than they earn. It’s not that they consciously try to, it is often because they don’t realize they are spending more than they earn. For most it is because they don’t keep track of how much money is coming in and how much is going out. Test yourself. Write down everything you spend your money on for the next two weeks. You will be surprised at how much money spend. And don’t forget to add in the bills that only come once or twice a year, like Christmas or that car insurance payments. Forgetting to add those in can fool some into thinking they have more money to spend than they do.

© Seth Crossman

by AW Thomas Jr.

Next to the King of Spices, Black Pepper, Ginger is perhaps the most frequently used, widest spread and overall most successful of all the spices.

Interestingly, for such a common food, we have no idea where it actually originated.

Black pepper was first discovered, and is still grown, in the mountains of Southern India. Cloves are claimed by the Spice Islands and Zanzibar. But no one knows where exactly ginger first appeared.

Farmers Have Become Ginger’s “Wing Man”

Wild ginger, as it might have been found by some lucky caveman or woman – or maybe a Neanderthal – tending their small plot of veggies, no longer exists. It has been grown by humans for so long that it no longer produces seeds and has become totally dependent upon man to continue.

By the way, corn is another plant that is in a similar situation. It totally depends upon man to open its seed pods (the ears) and spread the seeds. If man stopped shucking and shelling the kernels, it has been estimated that corn would be extinct inside of three years.

Ginger is propagated by splitting the root. This is the reason that it is so hard to determine exactly where it started from.

Historic Evidence in Languages

Six thousand years ago the Austronesians, who lived around the area that is today Southern China, migrated westward. Eventually, over several thousand years, they populated vast areas all around the Indian Ocean as far south as Madagascar.

Through “linguistic detective work,” we know that this movement took place and we also know that one of the things they took with them on the journey was ginger. The word “ginger” is remarkably similar in the many languages of the lands around the crescent bordering the Indian Ocean.

The Spice of the Common Person

Part of what made ginger so widespread was the fact that it never became a superstar in the spice world.

While the holds of the early Arab and later European trading ships would be full of black pepper or cloves, up top the sailors would have ginger growing in wooden troughs for their own use.

Ginger was, and still is, eaten to aid indigestion, help circulation and prevent scurvy. It also just tastes good – something a sailor on a years-long sea voyage would especially appreciate.

Naturally, as some of them decided to leave the ship and settle in these foreign lands, they took their ginger with them. And unlike many spices, ginger will grow almost anywhere.

And it has.

I hope you enjoyed those facts. I am AW Thomas. I’m a chef. And I love hot foods and spicy cooking.

If you do too, check out my new website all about Kitchen Spice Racks and the way cool Magnetic Spice Rack.

There is more to them than you think and choosing the right design for your kitchen and your style of cooking can turn a dreaded task into a daily pleasure.

Okay, maybe that’s a bit much – but really, what do you expect from someone who just wrote about the history of ginger?

Visit http://kitchenspicerack.org/, won’t you.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=AW_Thomas_Jr.

In some respects, being an athlete is one of the hardest things a person can do. Sure there are those days when you hit a winning a shot or when you hit a walk off homer or when you throw a pass into the end zone that they will play on Sports Center for the rest of time. On those days, the game comes easy and the fans love you. You enjoy waking up every morning and playing five games in a row because you are in a groove.

The money is certainly good too for even the guys that sit the bench. For instance, in baseball, the minimum salary for a player is $400,000. That is a lot of cash for most people. It is life changing kind of cash. And these players make it in one year.

Let’s not forget that most ballplayers, whether it be Derek Jeter or Lebron James or Brett Farve, are getting paid for something they love to do. They get paid to play a game. Phil Linz once said “Baseball is a fun game. It beats working for a living.” It is so true. I work a lot with young boys and it seems like half of them dream of being some kind of professional sports athlete in the future (even a few girls have this dream). They want to be ballplayers not always because of the money, but because they love playing the game.

Yes, it certainly seems like athletes have it good. However, most ballplayers have a short window to play the game they love. If they are good they might have twenty years in the sport. If not, they might only get a year or two.

Michael Jordan was one of the best basketball players ever. When he joined the Washington Wizards after his second retirement, it was often painful to watch him play. Not because he couldn’t play the game, but because he was so much less than what he had been. He looked slower. He no longer dunked the ball with authority or gravity defying aerobatics. On defense, younger players blew by him and he could no longer carry his team to victory seemingly at will. Each new day robbed him of his ability to play the game.

I have loved watching Derek Jeter play the game of baseball. But each year I wonder if this is the year that his batting average is going to sink to mediocrity. I wonder if this is the year that his range becomes so limited that they move Jeter (the Captain) away from shortstop. And every year I know that I am one day closer to the day that he will step up onto the dugout steps and wave his cap one last time, just the way Cal Ripken Jr. did a few years ago.

If it is hard for me, a fan, to watch a player fade from glory, how much harder must it be for them? They have to wake up in the morning knowing and even worse feeling like it might be the last day they can play the sport they love. I have experienced it myself. I used to play basketball and baseball. Now I can barely throw a ball overhand, my shoulder is so worn from pitching. In basketball, I used to be able to tear up the court in Japan, but now I can barely reach the backboard and my knees start hurting after a couple jogs down the court. Don’t even ask how I feel the day after a game. I feel like an eighty year old man. So I know what it must have been like for Lou Gehrig to walk away from the game and I know what it must have been like for Joe Montana to walk into the locker room one last time.

Its not like being a doctor or a lawyer or writer, where you can get better with time and age. In those professions, you determine when you call it quits. But in sports, time steals away your ability and eventually your profession.

© Seth Crossman

I am just about to own my own home and it has made me realize a few things.

As a boy I did all sorts of things to earn money. I collected soda cans along the side of the road. I did odd chores. I mowed lawns. When I did earn money, I was something of a saver and a spender. I liked the idea of having a bin full of coins. It made me feel good. I would throw all the coins and dollars into that bin and every so often take it out and count up all the money, feeling a bit like Scrooge in Duck Tales or a bit like a Monopoly Boss, slowly building an empire. But inevitably, my saving mentality would dissipate and I would spend those hoarded coins and dollars on a pack of baseball cards or a new video game. Then I would have to start all over saving up coins.

One of my favorite ways to earn money was cutting coupons. On Sunday I went not for the comic strips, but for the coupon pages. I would cut out every single coupon that I even remotely thought my mother would use. She graciously agreed to give me all the money those coupons would save her. More often than not, those coupons were not for things we normally bought as a family, but I would persuade her to use them anyway. I could always convince her that we might like Healthy Choice meals or Betty Crocker stuffing or Hamburger Helper. Or perhaps she knew all along that those foods would pile up in our cupboards, uneaten for months.

The best thing about coupons was that our local grocery store doubled them. That meant those one dollar coupons were saving us two dollars, or earning me two dollars as I looked at it. On a good grocery day I would make over twenty dollars, a veritable fortune for a ten year old boy. Inevitably it made me want to go grocery shopping every day.

But we didn't go grocery shopping every day and the grass only grew so quickly and the cans took months to find their way back to the side of the road. I quickly learned the value of money, because it was so hard to earn and took so long to accumulate.

That is why taking out loans really bothers me. They take seemingly forever to pay off and by the time I do, I end up paying far more than I originally thought. If I buy a car for say $15,000 with an interest rate of 5% over five years, then I am actually paying $17,000 for that car. When I buy a house for $100,000 dollars, over a thirty year mortgage at today's interest rates I will actually pay $200,000 for that house.

Since I have been house shopping these past ten months I have not looked at a single house that was selling for $100,000 dollars and thought it was worth $200,000. Yet, that is what I would really be paying for that house, before I even made any repairs or updates. This make me think twice about taking out a loan. I know that they are often the only way of owning those big ticket items, but they seem to really stick it to you.

I can't help but think of the cost of that house in terms of soda cans along the side of the road. That's four million soda cans. That's a lot of cans. Or maybe it is time to think of new ways to pay for that house.

© Seth Crossman

Every year the baseball season starts with a homerun from someone. It doesn’t always come in the first at bat, nor is it always the first hit. But in some stadium across the United States (and a few times in Puerto Rico or Japan) there is that inevitable moment when someone hits the first homerun of the new season.

That’s the thing in sports, there is always a new season. The New York Yankees won the World Series last year, and while that was a lot of fun when it happened and there were parades and lots of media attention and a World Series’ ring to show for it, a new season came. A new season always comes. Players have to lace up their cleats and pick up their bats and run out on the diamond all over again. It’s a fact of life; champions can never rest comfortably. There are always new seasons and new opponents.

I know something about this. This past year was my first full year playing softball. I have unfortunately passed from the age of playing baseball to the age of playing softball. I suppose they think us elder folk will have more fun with a ball that moves a lot slower and is sure hard to miss at the plate. I still love to get out on that diamond and whip the ball around and swing away though, so if it means moving from a baseball to a softball, I will do it.

Anyway, in my first full year we won the championship in our league. It was a heady moment. There wasn’t any champagne or World Series rings, but we were jumping around like little boys just the same. We passed the trophy from one to another with glee, posing for the first time all season on the mound with grins as big as jack-o-lanterns.

Our season as champions came to an end this spring, as we laced up our cleats and headed out to the practice fields to begin preparing to defend our title. There are some new faces and a few familiar ones that have disappeared, but we are still united with the same purpose. We love the game of baseball (er…softball) and want to be champions once more.

Baseball has been immortalized in movies like Field of Dreams and For the Love of the Game and I have to heartily agree with the sentiment. Baseball will always be more than a game for me. Walt Whitman once said “I see great things in baseball. It's our game - the American game. It will take our people out-of-doors, fill them with oxygen, give them a larger physical stoicism. Tend to relieve us from being a nervous, dyspeptic set. Repair these losses, and be a blessing to us.”

Indeed, baseball is a blessing, one I am glad I have been the given the grace to play these past years.

© Seth Crossman