The Great Smoky Mountain National Park has been described as “The most magical national park in the United States of America”.
The Smoky Mountains or “Smokies” are part of the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States and the whole area is steeped in history, folklore and is incredibly beautiful to boot!
The Smoky Mountain section of the Appalachians was called “Shaconage” or “Place of Smoke” (hence the name) by the native American Indians.
Like most places on the planet however the Smokies are not without the risk and threat of environmental damage (some of it caused by humans in the strangest of ways*) caused by either industrial Pollution drifting in the from the Industrial eastern seaboard of the United States and at some times of the year exacerbated by the pollution arising from the vast numbers of cars that drive through the National Park on a regular basis.
It has been said that one of the dangers threatening the Smokies is that they could be “loved to death”
*The Park has a problem with Wild Boars and even this was caused by man. In 1920, it was alleged that more than 100 wild boars escaped from a private game reserve in Murphy, North Carolina and they have been causing havoc and tearing up the park ever since. In the early years of the 21st Century nearly 100 years later and the problem of the wild boars still has to be solved!
The National Park Service claim the Smokies attracts nearly 10 Million visitors a year and this makes it the most popular national park in the US.
The most popular time of the year and the busiest is the fall when hundreds of thousands of people drive up through the park to view the spectacular autumnal colours. Though not quite as high profile as “New England in the fall”, the Smokies probably (in fact they do) attracts more visitors.
After the fall, the next busiest part of the year is the springtime. Thanks to the mild mountain air, the wildflowers and other warm weather attractions come into their own. The months of late April and early May are the best times for viewing the wild flowers.
For those wishing to view the spectacular blossoming of the vast amounts of Rhododendrons, then June and July is the time for you. July is statistically the wettest month of the year with sudden and torrential thunderstorms being quite common.
The range of temperatures experienced by visitors to the park is quite wide and it is well worth remembering that the higher you go (you can travel to an altitude of in excess of 6,000 ft) it can get quite cool whilst at the same time lower down (below 3-4,000 ft) the temperatures can regularly reach in excess of 90 degrees.
The park is open all year round and if you plan carefully and well ahead of the busiest weekends then a great and magical experience can be had by everyone.
The Great Smoky Mountain National Park - Just Why It is So Special
Great Hospitality, Great Seafood, Thats Vigo!
With regards to the entire Spanish tourist industry Northern Spain and Galicia especially have been very much a hidden treasure and hidden within lies a further particular treasure called Vigo.
Of all of the autonomous regions of Spain it is understandable given its location that Galicia is considered the most remote and therein lies the charm of Vigo hidden away longing to be discovered.
The traditional concept of Galicia was always that it was supposedly a poor agricultural region and as such the economy would not be the easiest to modernize yet one of the fasted growing sub sectors within the Galician Economy is tourism and it is this very real relationship with its historical past that give the region its particular appeal.
The cultural and language origins of Galicia are very much rooted within the Celtic family of communities found elsewhere in North West Europe and has led to Galicia always having a sense of looking outwards from their regional base as opposed to looking inwards towards the rest of Spain.
Because of its location and partisan traditions Galicia was always fairly inward looking having managed to survive throughout the centuries without ever really been conquered by anybody and this degree of fierce independence has lasted and developed down through the centuries.
In what has been a mountain to climb slowly but surely Galicia is now trying to manage successfully the twin track of its regional lifestyle with a much more modern society and thankfully this appears to have had very positive results with regards to tourism with little sign of negative effects. .
Vigo is the largest city in Galicia and is located on the western coast south of Pontevedra and west of Ourense. Vigo is immensely important with regards to the Spanish fishing industry and alongside Coruna is home to an industry that employs some 61,000 fishermen and 16,000 boats.
Vigo is a city that displays a rather remarkable and healthy geographical and sociological schizophrenia in that it very much falls into two halves. You have the old part of the town which is very much a working port, very down to earth and full of traffic problems, urban decay, poverty are all present and evident all over the place. However to counter this there are still memories of a golden heritage as an important port full of passengers all bound for London, South America and other parts of the New World. You have architecture and buildings that have obviously seen better days and down in the harbour you’ll find fresh seafood available that is as good as any you’ll find anywhere else in Europe. Contrast this with the new part of town around the Marina which is full of trendy restaurants and cafés and the difference is remarkable and you could very much think to yourself that you had possibly just walked into some extremely rare Space Time zone!
Vigo as a town is centred round a natural harbour and has existed for centuries. The harbour as we know it had been used by Phoenician and Celtic sailors long before the city as we know it was settled by the Romans. As a city Vigo’s fortunes have waxed and waned to a variety of degrees depending on what was happening at the time, ranging from rapid expansion during the 18th and 19th centuries and corresponding stagnation during the “Franco years” when Spain as a whole became rather insular and isolationist.
A city very much full of contrast and another place are well worth a visit.
Cable TV is Great, But so is Satellite TV for Pc
It’s great common knowledge that nearly most of citizens of America and even people living overseas expend their time viewing the television. by fact, most living bodies apparently spends nearly 20% of his or her daily time viewing the TV. Multi-millions amounts of Americans and people living around the world flatly spend half his or her daily schedule entertaining themselves on the computer or eyeballing the television! It’s a powerful decision for you to select the ultimate category of television to amplify your TV watching experience!
You have to achieve the ultimate alternative out of the 3 different varieties then you understand which one will be the ultimate for you or your family. It can be Satellite television on your personal computer or laptop; it has it’s benefits and drawbacks just like anything else. Do you need Television on Antenna?
The moment when you need a conversion tool is coming soon; in fact, people without cable, satellite or conversion tool won’t be able to entertain themselves with television.
Will you watch Cable Tv? Sure it’s great, but it can be rather steep in price.
Here are some things you should consider before buyingThe Costliness of UseThe Costliness of Use is constantly a considerable circumstance when it comes to selecting the ultimate TV service.
Analog, antenna TV is apparently no cost for the for the present time, however, in the month of February 2009 you may have to fork some money to gain a converter receiver. There may be free alternatives when it comes to Antenna television and converter boxes in the future.
Standard Cable TV tends to be much more overpriced than Standard Satellite for a series of proofs. Firstly, Cable Television apparently expects the furnishing of cables. Some cable companies have established over 100,000 miles of cable under and over ground all in the U. S and even internationally; it’s apparently going to be more than Satellite –that only uses a dish like object in order to send invisible to a satellite in space. Also, one can also speculate about the government taxes when it comes to installing cable, the amount of money it takes to pay for it can be extra more than you wallet can handle; which is why the cable services have to charge tons of money.
Satellite TV for PC is a grand alternative for TV watchers who do not want to spend way too much money simply because there is a fee for one-time only, no recurring fee; something that many cable services and Satellite TV services are badly known for. One of the bad things about it, if you refuse or are unable to pay the satellite or cable bill, the company will absolutely refuse your any kind of service!TV Program Selection
Hey, cable users get a huge amount of seeable informative and entertainment channels; however, there are so many payperview shows, pay for important events, and pay-on demands, that you may be nickel and dimed to death before you get to watch the true quality television you want. Satellite TV gives you a vast amount of watchable satellite shows simply because it receives signals in the sky and not via the limited signal reception area of cable. Another detail that must be pointed out is the simple fact there are families living in all parts of the world who depend on satellite to get their quality television!
If there was no Satellite, however pricing is always a factor. Cable companies around the nation obviously know their quality TV is usually flawless, so they charge it to your wallet. Satellite TV is known to perform bad – especially when the conditions are very windy outside. Satellite TV for PC is not know to be affected by bad weather, in fact; the quality and expectations from Satellite TV is as high as the best around the nation
Government Bailout & the Second Great Depression
How To Protect Yourself Let’s face it; we are now entering the Unites States of America’s Second Great Depression. It will have devastating effects on the American people, businesses, and what is left of our growing economy. This is not a minor problem that might limit your shopping sprees or your Starbucks coffee addiction. It is a major economic meltdown that will affect everyone and for those who are unprepared my find yourself unemployed, bankrupt, homeless, etc. What do we have to do to protect ourselves in a crisis like this?Follow these simple steps to reassure your survival in this bad economy. 1. You must find a means of making a secondary income or a full-time income that is worldwide, not just local, and has little to no overhead. Having a home-based business will create an income that is separate from your local economy with the advantages of having the worldwide market place at your finger tips. 2. You must watch closely at which bank you decide to put your money in; find a bank that has world wide locations or that is smaller with sound financial statements. At this moment the FDIC has exhausted its coverage abilities and may not have the funds to replace your savings if it was lost. 3. If you are getting ready to buy a new home, make sure that you could sustain the mortgage for up to 6 months with out a paycheck. Many people have already bombed this suggestion and their actions have created the housing crisis. 4. If you are a business owner or self employed, make sure that you are getting paid on time. If the payment is late, you should be implementing a more aggressive collection system. The last thing you want to do is let someone get a month or more behind, to find out that they just went broke. 5. If you are buying services on a regular basis from a company or person, make sure that they are delivering the services or product with the same quality. If any aspect of their service has changed it could be a sign of them going broke, and you do not want to be the person that paid for something and did not receive it. 6. If you rent an apartment or home, it would be an excellent idea if you watched for leans or signs that the landlord is not paying the mortgage. In repossession, you will be removed from the home when the property is taken back by the bank. This could leave you and your family without a home costing you several thousands of dollars; all while paying money to a landlord for months that he was just pocketing until the bank repossessed the building. 7. If you are an employee, beware of losing your job. If you are seeing sales decline there is a good chance that many people will be let go with no chance of returning. If you feel that you are irreplaceable and that somehow the business can not run properly with out you, think again. When a company is loosing money and needs to find a place to reduce expenses in order to continue conducting business, it is the employees who are cut first. It is best to be prepared and learn how to protect yourself during times of economic trouble. Those take action and are prepared with fair best in the long run. By Jason Allen Millerhttp://www. jallenmiller. com/find
Writing An Ebook - How To Select A Great Topic
It couldn’t be easier to select a topic for an ebook. People are hungry for information, and people are looking to the Internet to feed their hunger. After you’ve read this chapter, you will feel confident enough to choose your own topic, or you can literally pull your ebook topic directly from this ebook and use it! How’s that for a deal?
Observe what’s going on around you
If you’re smart enough to read this book, you’re smart enough to look around you and determine what interests you and those around you. Think of what problems you’ve recently solved, and what kinds of problems others have had and solved. Any problem that has been solved in your world could easily be the subject of your next book. People love to read how other have solved a problem that they currently have.
So, brainstorm a list of problems in your life and in the lives of those around you. Your friend Bob lost his job? Your sister’s child had chicken pox? How did they cope or find solutions?
While you’re at it, start another list of unsolved problems evident in your corner of the world. Write down problems you wish you had solved. Aha! These are subjects that people will really be interested in! How to lose the last ten pounds. The truth about UFOs. The straightest path to becoming a millionaire. From your personal corner, your step-granddaughter is pregnant at age 14? Your grocery bill is double what it used to be? Your roof leaks? These are problems waiting for ebook solutions!
These unsolved problems would also be great ebook topics. Remember, you don’t have to know the solution, just the topic. You’re going to get someone else to do the research and write the book for you. You will not actually be writing one word.
Spend a few minutes Googling
The Internet is a great way to find out what people are looking for at any given moment. You can search for almost anything. Google is a popular search engine you can use, or you can try any of the others like Yahoo! or Mamma. Type in phrases like “top concerns of Americans,” “best-selling nonfiction topics,” or “popular how-to manuals. ” Common worries of 2005.
There are groups of people who are willing to buy nonfiction ebooks: hobbyists. At any given time, these people are looking for ways to spend their money on their hobbies. Their passion is your financial gain.
What avid hobbyists want will always make great ebook material. Note that I did not say what hobbyists need. You may have certain opinions on what exactly certain people should need or should read. But those are not necessarily good topics for immediate ebook profit. Those topics may be areas for you to dabble in at your leisure. However, if you want to make money at this, find out what niche groups want, and hit those groups with your ebook.
Find hobbyists and niche groups by searching the web for “popular hobbies,” “enthusiasts,” or “what America is buying. ” Or, you can search specifically for forums and discussion groups for hobbyists. In the forums, people talk with each other to share ideas with one another. Often, they will exchange testimonials for equipment, upcoming events, and books.
Your Great Plains Programmer
If you have plans to implement Microsoft Dynamics GP in your organization, or need to customize existing ERP application, first thing is to analyze customization tools, scenarios and who can do the development job. Historically Microsoft Great Plains is Dexterity application, if we are talking about GP client interface and some architectural feature in Dynamics and company databases. In our opinion your GP customization partner should be comfortable and professional with the following technologies: Great Plains Dexterity, eConnect, MS SQL Server Stored Procedures, SRS and Crystal Reports design. Plus, eConnect development requires moderate MS Visual Studio. Net programming skills: C# and VB. Net
1. About Alba Spectrum. We are Microsoft Dynamics GP MRP full service company with specialization in GP modification, custom logic programming, advanced reporting, data conversion and migration. Our slogan is – we recover GP projects where other consultants give up. Alba Spectrum Group has offices in Chicago and Houston as well as software development facility and support call center in Manila Philippines. We serve GP projects USA and Canada nationwide and internationally: Australia, Oceania, New Zealand, South Africa, Mexico and South America, UK. Plus we do support non-standard GO implementations in such countries as Russia, East Europe, Brazil, where GP is not localized
2. About Microsoft Great Plains Dynamics GP. Current version of this MBS ERP is 10. 0 as of December 2007. In late 1990th Microsoft Great Plains was known as Great Plains Software Dynamics. Currently GP is available on MS SQL Server 2005 and 2000 platforms only. GP architecture is Great Plains or now Microsoft Dexterity. You should be able to recognize Dex traces in Dex. ini, DEX_ROW_ID, Dynamics. dic and Dynamics. set files
3. About Microsoft Dynamics GP eConnect. This SDK and development tool was designed initially to eCommerce programmers to enable GP ERP back office as e-commerce backend. eConnect is the set of SQL Server encrypted stored procedures, where you, as MS Visual Studio developer have several interface programming options
4. About Microsoft Dexterity. At this time MBS promotes eConnect and MS Dynamics GP SDK programming, where Dex is deemphasized. However, if you need real GP customization, Dex proofs to be key player in modifications. Dexterity was archtectured in earlier 1990th as the shell, written in C programming language. Dex scripting language is Sanscript.
The Great Reptiles
WHEN you stand on the edge of the Red Deer River valley, just south of the town of Drumheller in Alberta, Canada, you stand on the edge of two different worlds. At eye level, in every direction, are the endless wheat fields of the Alberta prairies. But looking down the cliffs into the dry and barren valley, visitors can imagine another world far removed from their own the world of the dinosaurs. In this valley, with its steep canyons of multicolored sedimentary rock layers, hundreds of dinosaur bones have been unearthed. Some people in this area call the barren canyon “the badlands. ” But visitors, young and old alike, are filled with astonishment as they view the fossil legacy of some of the most amazing animals that ever lived on earth. Discovering Dinosaurs Before 1824, dinosaurs were unknown to man. In that year the bones of several kinds of fossilized reptiles were unearthed in England. British paleontologist Richard Owen called these animals Dinosauria, from the two Greek words deinos and sauros, meaning “terrible lizard. ” The name remains in common use to this day, although while dinosaurs are reptiles, they are not lizards. Since 1824, dinosaur fossils have been found on every continent. The fossil record, left in layers of sedimentary, or water-laid, rock, indicates that there was an extraordinary abundance and variety of dinosaur types at a time in earth’s history called the Age of Dinosaurs. Some made their home on land, while others lived in swamps. Some perhaps even lived in water, much like the present-day hippopotamus. Large quantities of dinosaur remains including such nonskeletal evidence as tracks have been unearthed in the Great Central Plain of North America. The prairies of central Alberta have yielded many dinosaur remains, including nearly 500 complete skeletons. In the 1920’s, expeditions discovered dinosaur bones in the Gobi Desert of central Asia. In the 1940’s a Soviet expedition in Mongolia discovered a dinosaur skeleton some 40 feet [12 m] in length. In 1986 Argentine scientists discovered the fossils of a plant-eating dinosaur in Antarctica. Until then, Antarctica had been the only major land area where dinosaur fossils had not been found. Just before that, an American researcher found dinosaur bones on the North Slope of Alaska. Throughout the last hundred years, deposits of dinosaur bones have been uncovered in so many places that it has become apparent that dinosaurs were widespread in the remote past. When Did They Live? Dinosaurs played a dominant role in life on earth during their age. But then they came to an end. The rock layers containing human fossils consistently occur above those layers containing dinosaur fossils. Because of this, scientists generally conclude that humans came on the earthly scene later. In this regard the book Palaeontology, by James Scott, states: “Even the earliest species of Homo sapiens (man) lived long after the disappearance of the dinosaurs . . . After tilting (through earth movement) has been allowed for, rocks containing fossil men consistently occur above those preserving the bones of the great dinosaur reptiles and it follows that the latter belong to an earlier age than the human remains. ” In the Red Deer River valley, there is a layer of sedimentary rock that contains dinosaur bones. Just above this, there is a purplish-brown layer that follows the contour of the hillside. On top of the purplish-brown layer is a layer of brownish siltstone containing fossils of subtropical ferns, indicating a hot climate. Above this, there are several layers of coal. Farther up the hillside are coarser-grained layers of earth. There are no dinosaur bones in any of the higher layers. The book A Vanished World: The Dinosaurs of Western Canada states that “all of the 11 major kinds of dinosaurs . . . ceased to exist in the western interior at about the same time. ” This, and the fact that human bones have not been found with dinosaur bones, is why most scientists conclude that the Age of Dinosaurs ended before humans came on the scene. However, it should be noted that there are some who say that dinosaur bones and human bones are not found together because dinosaurs did not live in areas of human habitation. Such differing views demonstrate that the fossil record does not yield its secrets so easily and that no one on earth today really knows all the answers. Characteristics Scientists have concluded that east of the North American Rocky Mountains, a great shallow sea once existed. This sea was hundreds of miles wide, extending from the present Arctic Ocean to Mexico. Along the flat shoreline were lush, marshy forests. Fossils suggest that many types of dinosaurs flourished in this ecological setting. The edmontosaurus, a duck-billed dinosaur about 30 feet [9 m] long, apparently browsed in herds in cow fashion through the swamp. Well-preserved three-toed footprints and the fossilized contents of the stomach led paleontologists to this conclusion. Other evidence suggests that some dinosaurs displayed social habits. They likely herded together, perhaps in groups of hundreds or more. Discovery of successive layers of nests and eggs in the same place indicates that some dinosaurs returned to the same nesting sites year after year. Skeletal remains of infant dinosaurs near the nests, states Scientific American, ‘strongly suggest sibling social behavior and also imply the possibility of parental attendance on the young after their hatching. ’ The fossil evidence thus demonstrates that there were vast numbers and varieties of dinosaurs. But just what did they look like? Were they all fearsome, gigantic monsters “terrible lizards”? Why did they seem to disappear so suddenly?
ERP for Small Business: Sap Business One Vs. Great Plains Dynamics Gp
If you are small of mid-size business, and you are in the corporate ERP and MRP selection process, please read this small publication. We would like you to concentrate on your Business Processes automation requirements in trying to understand which small business accounting package will fit the best for your enterprise 1. Database Platform. There are several reliable and relatively inexpensive SQL oriented DB platforms on the ERP market: MySQL (good option if you are making custom programming in PHP platform), Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Select (also consider Microsoft SQL Server 2008 for Small Business Server 2008) – also you can get scaled down version from Oracle, which is outside of the scope for this paper. SQL compliance is in our opinion critical, and it is not recommended to choose proprietary DB, typically coming together with such accounting applications as MYOB, Peach Tree, Quick Books 2. Words of respect to Linux and other free Operating Systems. We recommend you to review such Linux platforms as Suse, for example, where you can get software free of charge, and where you pay per customer support case only as you go. We would like to keep reservations at this time to recommend ERP selection on Linux, however we encourage you to make your own ERP market discovery 3. SAP Business One. This ERP and MRP application for Small Business comes from SAP and we trust this ERP brand. SB1 is available on Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and with version SAP Business One 2007A it is now pretty reliable and localized for United States: 1099, Sales Tax, Barcode, Warehouse management, Credit Cards Processing, eCommerce module, CRM. SAP Business One SDK allows you to customize user interface as well as Database transactions: EDI, Integrations with legacy systems: Microsoft CRM, Lotus Notes Domino, Oracle 4. Great Plains Dynamics GP. This solution is coming directly from Microsoft Dynamics subdivision. If you are one-person-operations, we would like you to review Microsoft Small Business Accounting – both SAP BO and Dynamics GP would be probably too expensive for you. Current Dynamics GP, belonging and supported by Microsoft Business Solutions had long small business accounting trace: Great Plains Accounting for DOS: 9. 2 and 9. 5 were the most popular versions, Great Plains Small Business Financials 7. 5, 8. 0 and 9. 0 were dedicated to small business scaled down versions of Microsoft Great Plains. Current trend in SBF is upgrade and migration to Dynamics GP Business Ready 5. MRP. Both SAP Business One and Great Plains Dynamics GP offer discrete Manufacturing and MRP modules. SAP Business One is closer to small business in our opinion, where you can do intuitive Production Module self discovery. Great Plains, however has Bill of Materials module, which could cover small business manufacturing and assembly 6. Great Plains eConnect versus SAP Business One SDK programming. Both SDK packages are targeted to custom ecommerce applications and software developers. We would like to treat them with the same respect and recommend for deployment 7. Corporate ERP reporting. In both cases we recommend you to consider Crystal Reports. In the case when you are tight with the budget, try to consider Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services or SSRS, as this extension is coming free with Microsoft SQL Server 2005 or 2000 Standard or Enterprise 8. Legacy accounting data conversion and migration. If you company deployed such proprietary accounting packages as PeachTree, MYOB, QuickBooks, we recommend you to consider printing modules reports and saving them in Text tab or comma delimited files, Excel also is good option 9. ERP for International Business. Even Small Business could be involved in international operations, such as purchasing your merchandise from China, India, Philippines, Brazil, Mexico, Russia. If this is your scenario, please try to make the research of Microsoft Business Solutions ERP products support internationally. At this time Dynamics GP is supported in English Speaking countries, and SAP Business One is localized for major nations: Latin America, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Brazil, Israel to name a few
Taking Baby Steps to Reach Your Goals and Achieve Greatness like Earnhardt and Trump
Ask any famous person that achieved greatness what they did that was different. They would tell you they mad their goals realistic and took action. The rest is history. Napoleon Hill stated “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. ” He used a positive mental attitude and the use of small, realistic steps to achieve greatness. He went from a poor beginning in a log cabin to one of the best selling authors and an advisor to congressmen, presidents and so on. W. Clement Stone took $100 and with this same use of creating realistic steps and taking action he built one of the largest multi million dollar insurance companies in America.
They may not have the current publicity or notoriaty of Donald Trump, Dale Earnhardt or similar, but they came from much humbler starts. Donald Trump was born into a real estate magnate family. Dale Earnhardt was born into a established race car family in Kannapolis North Carolina. Now thats not to say that Donald Trump and Dale Earnhardt are not great people (Dale Earnhardt formed one of the largest and winningest Nascar teams and was very philanthropic and helped a lot of people through his charitable activities). What I am getting at here is that most of us don’t have magnates or millions in our families, but that in no wy means we cannot achieve greatness, riches beyond our wildest dreams, etc. . . Napoleon Hill and W. Clement Stone actually started with much less and in worse times and conditions than we have ever known (the great depression era).
What drove Napoleon Hill and W. Clement Stone to greatness was two things. (1)They planned realistic steps to reach attainable goals (baby steps). They didn’t just wake up one day and say my only goal is to be rich and retire tomorrow. They made plans and kept slowly raising the bar every time they would attain one of their goals. (2)They took action. You wouldn’t believe how many times I hear people state all the things they are going to do or would like to do. I recently attended a young Cornell Alumni meeting where the talk was mostly about grand future plans, or what they would like to do but they don’t have time, the conditions aren’t right, etc. . . You have to start somewhere. If you take too big of a step you will probably become defeated and not continue. It is better to take small attainable steps. Each time you attain one of these steps or your goal raise the bar a little. It will slowly move you closer to your dream and give you a great boost in self confidence. You have to plan out little baby steps and then you have to take action. This will seperate you from everyone else - the majority of people live life day to day, pay check to paycheck with little or no action or planning. You can always find these people complaining about how bad the economy is, taxes are too high, etc. . .
The best thing you can do is find a mentor and surround yourself with positive achievers and realize it will take a lot of effort. Lance Armstrong didn’t win the Tour de France 6 times by accident and battle cancer at the same time. He was driven, set goals, and took action on a daily basis. He also realized greatness would not happen overnight. Greatness didn’t come overnight for Dale Earnhardt either. He raced hard for many years, suffered crashes that would have kept most people off the track and faced fear head on. With his tanacity, fierce vigor and drive he became the greatest Nascar legend of all time. Now his son, Dale Jr. , continues his racing legacy and awesome philanthropic and charitable activities. If you take the effort to take action, use baby steps to attain goals and make realistic goals you cannot and will not fail. Failure will not be a word in your vocabulary.
Now you know how to achieve greatness. Set goals for yourself. Make them realistic and take realistic baby steps to achieve them. Take action - this will seperate you from 99. 9% of everyone else. They are afraid to take action and will never attain greatness. What do you think Lance Armstrong said when critics said he could not win the Tour de France, or that he could not do a repeat win of it? What do you think Dale Earnhardt said when the critics stated he could not overcome his fathers shadow in racing? They went on to become the greatest of their time. What will you do? It is never to late to decide to take control of your life and make something great of it. Look at Sam Walton. He didn’t like working with a Ben Franklin franchise and their rules. So he started his own retailing company and became the largest retailer in the world. If you make attainable goals, take action, and lay out baby steps to achieve these goals there is no way you will fail and there’s no telling what you can or will achieve. Some of our greatest achievers have come from the most humbling positions. I wonder what greatness you can and will achieve.
Greatness
Great achievements arise only with our great challenges. As a nation and as individuals, we are going to be challenged greatly. How well we do depends on our willingness to “dare to be great”; to take the challenges and run with them, rather than be overwhelmed by them. Some pessimists think that we have reached our breaking point — that America’s finest hour has long since passed. I reject this notion completely. This nation of free people hasn’t begun to show its true greatness. This may well be our time. It may be the time when we will be great enough to leave behind a destructive war and win a just and lasting peace. It may be the time when we devote enough of our resources and sacrifice to the poor, the downtrodden, the handicapped and the retarded. It may be the time when we stop thinking bigger and faster and begin to think better and cleaner — about the air we breathe, the water we drink, the land we inhabit, the thoughts we think. It may be the time when we make life so pleasant, so creative, so fulfilling that no one has to turn on with drugs and turn off with violence. It may be the time when black and white, old and young, rich and poor, Arab and Jew, East and West, decide that success is within their reach —- if they use the power of love, not the power of arms. The problems we all face demand greatness. My wish is that everyone looks within them self and finds the greatness that God put there and use it to build a better world. This was an article written ahead of it’s time, and yet it is ageless. Because as these conditions existed in 1971 with the war in Vietnam, they exist today we have the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sadly the prejudice still exists the only thing that has changed is the direction in which it points. By changing one mind at a time for a more positive and loving world we can be taking a step in the right direction. Are you ready to start with that step?
