Facebook Is Going More User-friendly

In a great development on social networking arena, Facebook, the second largest social network with an extensive user base of over a hundred and seventy-five million users has widened its user experience by fully handing over the administration to the users.

Founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg said that this will "open up Facebook so that users can participate meaningfully in our policies and our future".

Recent update to the Facebook terms and conditions had created an uproar (See what the Consumerist has to say) among the users who claimed that Facebook was taking over their personal data.

Among the new ideals, Facebook has set clear limits as to the ownership of data. It's hoped that the users will be happy over this new move.

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Five Best Places to Read and Download English Classic Books

Do you know that the books which have their authors dead more than seventy years (numbers vary in various countries) have expired their copyrights? All or most of the English classic books by the greatest of authors, such as Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Aldous Huxley, James Joyce, Jules Vern, and many others are hence available free to download online from various places. Let's check them out today.

1. Project Gutenberg: The Ultimate Place [Gutenberg.org]

It is from the Project Gutenberg that digitizing and cataloging all books that lost their copyright started originally. PG is the oldest digital library, started in 1971, and holds as many as 27,000 books as of now. It is a volunteer-based service, for which thousands of people from worldwide participates. You can too.

Among the greatest of Internet personalities, Michael Hart, the founder of Project Gutenberg, should be counted as one of the first.

You can download these classics, mostly in text format and some in HTML and PDF formats, from the Project Gutenberg website. Or better, you can easily read these books through a free reader, yBook, which can connect to PG online and lookup the book catalog to select any of your choice easily.

2. ManyBooks [Manybooks.net]

This is a digital library that holds classic fiction and non-fiction, with the ability to build the individual books into a format of your choice before download. The available formats span over many popular reading platforms. This is a perfect place for you to download books for devices other than the PC.

3. MemoWare [Memoware.com]

From here, you can download classic books, but it doesn't support several different formats as ManyBooks. Supported formats are mainly for PDAs.

4. Baen Free Library [Baen.com/library]

Here, you will find books that hold their copyright yet. I did find books by such authors as Andre Norton here. Though some copyrighted books are priced, you can read their full versions online. The selection of modern authors seemed, however, obscure to me.

5. The LiteraturePage [Literaturepage.com]

From here, you can read books online, without downloading them. Also there are links provided (Amazon affiliate) for you to purchase the hard copy of the books if you wish.

Conclusion

Now you can enjoy reading the classics, whichever you fascinated reading, online, on your computer, or on a handheld device whenever and wherever. You should also think about volunteering in for the Project Gutenberg work.

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How to write essay topics

It is one of the most difficult tasks to choose an essay topic for the college admission. Most students feel that the essay topics must be extravagant or unusual. Basis this, they choose topics which are not within their grasp or knowledge.



But, actually the admission board does not look into this aspect, they look for the person in you and what are your qualities. The essay topic can be very general, but the quality and content of the essay must reflect your intellect and personality. The essay topic can be general in nature, but must be interesting and captivating at the same time, so that it can garner the attention of the admission board. When you choose the essay topics, think if you can say something interesting through it.

Understand that the admission board will be reading hundreds of essays and they will give attention to your essay if it sounds interesting. Essay topics, in general and especially for the college admissions give insights about your personality and connects you to the board. What excites you? How you have shaped in last few years? What issues makes you think?

These are the few questions that give a personal touch to the essay topic and the essay as a whole. Moreover, essay writing is theme based writing and is depended upon sufficient research and in-depth analysis. An essay topic on the advancement of science is a rather general and factual based essay. However, the essay topic on your experience in the trekking expedition will give an insight about you as a person. The essay will be a way of telling the admission committee about a thing or two about your personality and character, which otherwise will not be reflected from your grade paper or resume.

Essay topics can also be of both literary and non-literary types. The literary essays cover mostly the essays on the literature books, periodicals and journals. As for non-literary type essays the essay topics vary from music, film and photography. AlsoPsychology Articles, can be included essays on visual arts comprising of sculpture or drawing. These essays deal with the artist s creative side. For a photographic essay the scope lies with the series of photographs. Choosing and essay topic and writing it can be a art which can be developed over a period of time. With experience one can make it into a prosperous career path with potential of lucrative income.

Essay Writing Paper | Buy Essay

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Connecting Ideas and Thoughts With Coherence

Writing a good article requires you to connect well with the readers. In case of blogs, this is especially true since they represent more or less colloquial use of language. It is hence very important to connect your thoughts and sentences well without overlapping or interleaving thoughts which go someplace else.

When you write a paragraph, there are often ideas that have relationships with the ones that precede them. Such ideas have to be interconnected with transitional tags. Here are the various connectives you can use for various requirements.

Adding ideas	Use: and, also, in addition, again, and then, besides, further, furthermore, in the first place, moreover, still, too
Comparison	Use: also, likewise, in the same way, similarly, exactly
Contrast	Use: although, however, nevertheless, notwithstanding, yet, at the same time, in spite of that, despite, even so, even though, for all that, in contrast, instead, on the contrary, on the other hand, otherwise, regardless, still, though
Emphasis	Use: Certainly, definitely, terribly, indeed, in fact, of course
Exemplification or Conclusion	Use: for example, for instance, in short, it is true, of course, namely, specifically, to illustrate, thus, truly, all in all, altogether, as has been said, finally, in brief, in conclusion, in other words, in particular, in simpler terms, in summary, on the whole, that is, therefore, to put it differently, to summarize
Concession	Use: granted, of course, naturally, obviously

If you have doubts, please shoot them through comments. You might also like to have a look at Paragraph creation guidelines

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Blog Notification: What Happened Last Week?

By now, all my honest readers have seen that there have been no updates since the nineteenth; here is what happened. It was quite a normal day, the nineteenth of this month. I rather felt that nothing was wrong until I discovered a horrible thing when I started my computer. I had lost all of my software and important blogging data!

I use four partitions on my system to store software and data. They are differentiated for the Operating System, all of the software, some entertainment stuff, and an emergency backup/crash drive. For the time being, let me tell you the sad state of the crash drive; it was full with some downloads, movies, and some of the software setup files. All these partitions are on two hard drives—The OS and entertainment stuff partition on the first, and software and crash drive on the second. The software partition on the second drive had failed overnight, taking with it all of what it contained.

There were quite a few bad sectors, which caused it not be recognized by the OS. But gladly, since the main HDD was in good condition, I was able to start the OS and browse the internet. I immediately started rescue operations to see if I can get back gigabytes after gigabytes of data residing on the lost partition.

At this time, let me tell you that the crash drive was working fine. It had not contracted the bad sector problem on the software drive. In my place, there is a serious electricity problem. Power fails quite often (mostly for two or three minutes to come back and fail again within an hour or two's time), and I don't have a UPS. So, whenever the power fails, the system is killed immediately. This was making issues more serious, as I would have to start recovery operations all over again.

When the power came on, I would start hunting for good data recovery software online. I found quite a few of them and was trying them out. But another issue hit me this time. I lost also the crash partition, which was on the same hard disk. Needless to say how severe the impact was!

I had now to restore almost 40 GB of data, and had no software to think of that works. I fished around forums after forums to find a good application to fix bad sectors and restore the data. Here are some of which I found out: Spinrite (which sadly I couldn't use as I don't have a floppy drive, CD writer, or USB drive), HDD regenerator (which fixed bad sectors taking the whole night only to find in the morning that the fixed bad sectors had come back), Flobo HDD recover (which helped get some fix as the former, but took a full day).

When I used Flobo, I could get the drive be recognized by the OS. That was a welcome thing for me, and I started a partition recovery program, Partition Table Doctor. The PTD had done me a great favor by recognizing and recovering an accidentally deleted partition in the past. Therefore, I had great trust on it. It showed me the lost partitions and offered to recover them on restart. I rebuilt the partition table and restarted the system only to find that the partition was not rebuilt.

Then I ran Flobo and HDD regenerator a couple of times more with the same result. At some occasions it showed slight improvement and hope. I again fished around for better data recovery software and found out Active partition and file recovery. It was seemingly better than the other software and I tried hard to regenerate some more data with it. Active also takes too much time for recovery. With my slow system, not upgraded after 2003, these tasks take entire days. On the top of that, since the partition contained bad sectors, OS ran slower than ever. You can imagine it when I tell you that even the right-click context menus took no less than two minutes to appear.

In the end, with Active File recovery, I could recover a little of the software and some of the files, which were restored back temporarily to the Entertainment drive. It was at this time that the new problems started to emerge.

I had told you that the crash drive was working fine before it also crashed. But now, the bad sector infection in that drive spread so fast that almost one fourth of the drive was completely lost. Formatting that drive would keep the system dead for hours and hours. I soon abandoned all hopes of data recovery and decided to format the entire drive.

As I said earlier, I had recovered a tiny amount of software and data (some setup files, which I had backed up). I formatted the entire drive and restarted the system to find an entirely new issue. The Internet connection was not working. My system was not recognizing the DSL modem at all. I could find no reason whatsoever for that. Only one conclusion could be made: Viruses! I was running the system without any antivirus all this time, accessing the Net, checking information, etc., were all without any protection.

Without realizing it may be an OS error, I checked the hardware, my network card, and various other things. Troubleshooting drivers also didn't yield any result. In the end, I recognized the source of the error: a Windows process called Network Connections was not running. It was the primary process that enabled any kind of networking between systems. When it doesn't run, PC doesn't connect to any other computer no matter whatever you try. This process can be checked from Start->run->services.msc. Look for 'Network Connections'. Among my services, there was not even any mention of this one.

I understood that the OS itself has to be reinstalled to get it back to working. That was done soon enough, with all drivers and recovered application files installed. By now, I was able to connect to the Internet without difficulty. The first thing I did was install the antivirus and firewall. With this configuration, I started downloading all free and trial software I use to run this blog and my system. I had to make a big list and do it all from the start.

As clumsily the system stumbled, so gracefully it was back in action. This is the story my friends, of the second worst of times I had since I have owned this computer. The worst time, which I hate the most to mention, was when I lost the entire hard disk at a time when I knew nothing about data recovery, about a few months after I had purchased this PC. At that time, I grieved the most for the data rather than the software, as there were a huge number of classic e-books and music, which love the most.

About The Promotional Content

A close reader of this blog, Suresh mentioned recently:

I have been following your blog from more than a year and love it in fact.

From the last two months I noticed a lot of review or promotional content, number of ads (even on the top of header), Info link ads and the thesis ad, felt like they are dominating content.

I do remember you writing that you will be active (each post a day) and hope you will be positive to this criticism that no a days quality of the blog is getting down.

I am saying this because I love this blog and hope you understand.

All the best.

Thanks for the comment. I agree with it very much. I have upgraded the promotional material much on this blog. But it is not without reasons. As you well know, the money that can be made with a blog without a great amount of traffic is trifling.

I have been trying hard to make this blog sustain on its own, but have to admit that there have been only small developments so far. You will find that many blogs have long stopped updating due to the lack of interest or scope for money making. But this blog will not stop until the Google Blogger service itself stops; and I see it's not any time near.

I will be posting useful content every day from now on, with a few promotional materials too interleaved. You have to excuse me on this one. But you can remove subscription from promotional content by simply looking at this post: How to Subscribe to topic-specific posts on Blogger. This post explains how you can subscribe to any of the several topics covered here; now you can easily not read any promotional material. It can go for the search visitors who will gladly help pay my bills.

About the sidebar ads and the top advertisement, I have yet to arrive at a conclusion. I am analyzing the monetization capabilities of each block, and soon enough you can see a serious improvement on them. I have almost reached a conclusion that the top banner has low CTR and so does the sidebar ads. But if there are advertisers, the sidebar is monetizable. It is what I am seeking with Project Wonderful.

So, that's it.

I have a commitment that this blog has to be updated with fresh content every day. It was so since about two months after I started this blog last year. But now, this commitment has not happened since 19th. So, I will be backpublishing more than one post daily in order to fill these days. Bear with me.

You have read this article Blog Notification with the title February 2009. You can bookmark this page URL http://neurotica-exotica.blogspot.com/2009/02/blog-notification-what-happened-last.html. Thanks!

Removing Your URLs From Google Index: A Video by Matt Cutts

Some of our readers recently asked us how they could remove a URL already indexed in Google. This is pretty easy in case of self-hosted blogs, not sadly in WordPress or Blogger free blogs, as you don't have control over the robots.txt file or the .htaccess file. However, this can be effected with the help of Robots meta tag.

In this video, Google engineer Matt Cutts discusses how you can remove an indexed URL from Google.



Hope it helped.

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Sell Your Books Online With Sellbackyourbook.com

'Sell Back Your Books' is a place where you can sell your books online. Go here: Sell TextBooks, and simply enter ISBN codes of the books that you wish to sell to get the prices.

Selling used books online is a great way to dispose of those old books you have been stocking for years. And it is now even easier with Sellbackyourbook.com. Also, this service pays you the maximum available (premium price) for your books. It seems that as the books go older, the prices diminish. This is also one reason why you should be prompt in selling them.

What about shipping costs? You can get it absolutely free if you use the mailing label printed out from the website. In order to pack your books and send them to sellbackyourbook.com, use a sturdy box with newspaper padding, and mention the order number on the top of the box.

Another important thing is sellbackyourbook.com usually doesn't purchase books without ISBN. The ISBN can typically be found on the fourth page of the book (left hand side), where the copyright notice and details of publishers appear. If you don't find it, then you can get the ISBN from online retailers like Amazon, by searching for the book's title (remember, paperback and hardback have separate ISBN).

Also, make sure your books are in good order, without much damage. Books that still retain some market can be sold here. More information on the acceptable levels of damage and other conditions can be read from the FAQ page of the website.

So, don't hesitate, if you got a resource of books you no longer need but believe someone else out there needs, then go ahead and sell them.

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Online Surveys With Zoomerang.com

Free or advanced, online surveys are now pretty easy with this service, Zoomerang. Companies and other institutions use online surveys to estimate which products really matter and which modifications are more marketable for them. In such surveys, companies like Zoomerang, which has over 2 million people ready to opine, will help greatly.

Get to Zoomerang here: online surveys

Zoomerang helps you reach the target audience of your products by helping you get some opinion. This is all you need: first identify the size of the population you need (whether it is 2 million or just 2,000); determine the accuracy of survey (Zoomerang can offer you almost 95 per cent accuracy); estimate how many surveys you need; and send money! That's it.

Zoomerang has three editions: Basic, Pro, and Premium. Basic is the free and limited edition of the power-packed online survey tool. It comes with 30 questions per survey and maximum of a hundred responses.

On the other hand, the Pro edition comes with unlimited surveys and unlimited responses, with all professional survey reporting and analytics tools.

The third edition, Premium is even more advanced with all features, including: mobile support, expert advice, and toll-free phone support.

Mobile surveys: In fact, now, Zoomerang now supports mobile surveying through SMSes, so that the customers can respond whenever and wherever they are.

The satisfied customers of Zoomerang include University of Nebraska, Spain's DuPont, Johnson & Johnson, Los Angeles County Office of Education, Vermont Teddy Bear, United Way of Metropolitan Nashville, Colle + McVoy, and many others.

So, go ahead, and take your market research with Zoomerang now.

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Review of Thoughts.com Blog Community Site

Do you want an unlimited blog, everything included? Then thoughts.com, the unlimited Blog Site is what you should be looking for. Thoughts.com is a free online community that comes with blogs, live discussions, photo and video sharing, and podcasting. This is all free and unlike other blogging platforms, comes with unlimited bandwidth.

Internet entrepreneur, Ben Ogden, created this all-inclusive social network of bloggers and podcasters. However, people older than 14 years only can join Thoughts.com as of now. And perhaps this is the only place you get unlimited free space absolutely free.

Another advantage of thoughts.com blogs is that they are all created as subfolders rather than subdomains as in Blogger and WordPress. In subdomains, the search engine indexing is like that for a separate website and hence takes time, while subfolders are indexed faster. So, you can hope for early search visits.

Also, unlike other social networks such as Facebook we know, you don't need a login to view the profile pages of members of thoughts.com. They are simply available at the URL: http://thoughts.com/username.

What Should You Use It for?

Thoughts.com is only for personal blogging and community building. It is not a commercial product for you to promote your online business. Perhaps this is the only disadvantage of Thoughts.com as the blogs and your work cannot be monetized or be used for promoting your personal business.

Besides community building, thoughts.com has important tie-ups with charities like Amnesty International, National Alliance to End Homlessness, Heal the Ocean, etc.

Go ahead and join Thoughts.com to learn more.

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Frontier Label Offers Digital Label Printing

If you own a company that produces boxed and bottled products, you may need pressure sensitive labels printed to stick on them. Frontier Label is an online digital printer that mass-produces the stickers, as you need them, online.

You can order their services from here (you will also find the testimonials, samples, instant quote, and other means to connect with Frontier Label such as Facebook page): Stickers.

Frontier Label can print and ship your labels in just one business day if you are prepared to pay a little higher or in five days at normal price.

You can get your stickers printed in paper, plastic, metallic paper, vinyl, etc. Here are a few sample screenshots taken from the site:


While many label printing companies are still relying on the traditional offset printing devices, Frontier Label relies on digital printing, which is the most advanced and cost-effective means to prepare superior labels and stickers.

When preparing your artwork to send to Frontier Label, please check out this page to see the guidelines to get exactly what you need.

Another important thing I learned from Frontier Label is that the company offers 10 per cent of its profits to charity. Hence, working with them is an indirect way for you to serve your community as well.

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My Top Money Making Programs

Here are the advertising and affiliate programs I use to monetize this blog, in the order that they made me money. This is as per the request of my readers, Mike Specht, Rajeev Chopra, Anil Nair, Nicole Spencer, Laura Albridge, Chris Anderson, and Ethan Marshall. Hope it will help you too to monetize your blog. Simply sign up on these services.

1. Google Adsense : Very considerable income
2. DIY Themes affiliate program : Very considerable
3. Clickbank : Very considerable
4. Infolinks: Very considerable
5. Amazon Affiliate : Somewhat good
6. LinkWorth : Lower
7. Pepperjam Network : Still lower
8. Commission Junction : Lowest

Besides these, I work as a freelancer for Constant Content, which has made me a really considerable income over the past few months.

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XP Repair Pro: A Must-have System Utility for Windows PC Users

Today, we look at a piece of software that is a must-have for all Windows PC users. XP Repair Pro, a very popular system tweaking and error-correction utility, is now in the fourth edition. And it is not only for Windows XP and prior versions of Windows, but now also supports Windows Vista.

XP Repair Pro is a great system tool that can correct over 60,000 of different errors that can happen on your Windows system. Normal users don't really understand the depths of these tiny errors and continue using the system without any suspicion. But did you know that some of such errors can give outsiders access to your system and important files, thus confiscating your identity and passwords?

The Need

Correcting troubles may require you to have some deep technical knowledge, such as registry tweaking. But none of the everyday computer users may know what to do in such problems. This is why such a program is necessary.

How do these errors come about? There are a million ways. Errors can happen when you browse and download an application you have never tested or run; while downloading some unknown executable files your friend sent you attached in mail; while looking at unknown websites; etc. Windows PC is a very brittle contraption that can be cracked pretty easily. Keeping it fixed all the time is a real necessity.

The effect of tiny errors can be catastrophic. Many users report that their passwords have been hacked, or their identity stolen, all because of small security and software errors, which help hackers gain access to your important system resources.

The Solution

In such situations, a system tweaker like XP Repair Pro is a must have.

To download the trial version and test it, just go here.

The Features

This advanced software has these features:

• About 11,348 programs from about 6,232 developers which can repair about 60,000 of common and rare Windows problems
• Besides Windows errors, the software can understand and scan 11,000 different application programs
• Registry and system repair tools; XP Repair Pro is the most robust of system repair tools available
• Defragmentation of registry; normal drive defragmentation you use through the Windows-provided utility does not touch registry, remember!
• Manage startup programs more efficiently
• You can revert every change you make through this software
• Anonymous internet browsing

And a lot more…

So, get your copy now. Try and buy.

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Happy Valentine's Day to Readers: Some Love Thoughts

Happy Valentine's Day for all my readers…

Here are some of my beliefs toward love. If you find them interesting, go ahead and post your own views in comment section.

Being Late

Many people alienate their mates simply by being late. For me, this is completely unacceptable.

When you move into a settled life, you may have more responsibilities than just spending time with your lover. You may have unfinished work at the office; you may have a party at your boss's house; or you may just want to spend some more time out. These are perfectly all right as long as you let your lover know of them.

On the other hand, being late without telling your partner is really bad. Every partner knows that there are times when you become late, but you should let him/her know the reason well beforehand. Even if she/he doesn't expect you to be on time, let her know you will be late.

Broken Promises

A Couple:

She: "I got a party tomorrow at my aunt's house. Would u like to come?" He: (In a very relaxed manner) "Yes, I will come." She: (Feeling almost certainly that he will not come, and not much vexed by that) "Are you sure? It will be really nice to have you there." He: "Yeah. No problem. I will show up."

He shows up at the occasion and wins a firm position in her heart. Every time, he answers in a relaxed way 'yes' and he does what he says; she knows this and stops asking 'are you sure', and loves him more and more.

Another Couple:

She: "Dear, can we go for a movie tomorrow? I really love that." He: "That's cool, darling. We can definitely go tomorrow." She: "Wow! Thank you dear." Kisses!

The next day, he doesn't show up. He is busy with some other work, and has even forgotten about the movie. She tried to reach him several times without success, and she feels lonely and sad.

There is a broken promise in this case, which causes displeasure. The guy could simply have said "Sorry dear, I may not be able to come tomorrow as there is some work to do" or "Let me see. If possible, I will give you a call". In that case, there will not be such displeasure. But he gave a firm promise and broke it without any regard.

When you can do something, say 'yes' otherwise, either give a possibility or 'no'. Don't ever give a promise and break it.

New Way to Quarrel

If you are really serious in your relationships, be very discreet with your partner. Care for him/her, read his mind and do as he wishes, try not to quarrel with him. If he/she does something wrong that upsets you, the best way to quarrel is remaining silent for a longer time. Wait until the partner comes to you with apologies for his/her wrongdoing and much more love.

With a third party you may quarrel like a tiger, but inside home, be a playful pet. This will only build love and pleasure. After all, you are not loving her to show that you are a tiger!

Be Soft and Communicative

In your private moments, being soft and communicative is really essential. Every person has secrets he/she doesn't wish to share. But sharing even those intimate secrets will make you only too closer. Talking is a great way to relieve pleasure and getting to know and regard each other.

Knowing your partner will help you get to the most comfortable position in intercourses as well. Some people even like some dirty talk in sex, which can turn them on greatly. And most importantly, don't finish it too quickly. Foreplay should take typically some hours! Decide everything with your partner without enforcing your ideas on him/her.

Regard Him/Her Everywhere

Whenever you are in a healthy relationship, be mindful of your partner's comfort inside out. When you are going out, talking to friends, visiting others, etc., be always watchful of your partner (more than yourself). If he/she feels uncomfortable about anything or any conversation, be sure to give him what he wants (some more attention, change of topic, etc.) It's not rocket science to know what your partner feels from his/her face.

Subconscious Buildup

Now, the greatest way to build your partner's trust and love is nothing but giving care to him/her. This can be done much better through building a subconscious relationship, so that he/she will miss you even for a second you are not present.

The best way for this is remembering all his priorities (even small ones) and working for them. Small things can create a firmer bond. For instance, if you know a particular program your partner loves to watch on TV (but he has never told you about it), put it on yourself thus surprising him.

You can achieve a good subconscious bondage by closely watching what your partner does and loves to do. Examples are: watch your partner's dress sense and buy the one he/she will love the most; give him a surprise by gifting a watch he saw and liked just about a week ago; prepare a dish that he loves to eat but hasn't eaten for a while; show up early with a jewelry that she mentioned only the day before.

Conclusion

These simple aspects have actually helped me in my own life. Once, my parents were watching a new movie song. They liked it so much that when it ended they were sad. I was listening to their sad comments and promptly searched on YouTube to see if I could find that video song. I found and played the song, and they were much surprised to hear it again. Afterward, I had to play the song repeatedly for them until they were satisfied.

These tips and guidelines for lovers are not exhaustive. There are more to love than most arts and sciences. Give your tips and opinions in the comments…

You have read this article Special Posts with the title February 2009. You can bookmark this page URL http://neurotica-exotica.blogspot.com/2009/02/happy-valentine-day-to-readers-some.html. Thanks!

Difference Between Adjectives and Adverbs With Examples

Here we make a comeback to the grammar topic for bloggers, writers, and webmasters. Let's look at a popular topic: difference between adjectives and adverbs. I have received two or three mails from readers asking to post difference between them.

An adjective is any term that modifies a particular noun, such as those italicized in the following sentences; the part in bold are the modified nouns.

Studious John finds it easy to complete his lessons. Tom, who is fast and furious, finds it difficult to make friends. I am happy to learn that you weren't hurt.

On the other hand, an adverb modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Examples are below.

Joe finished her lessons quickly to move out earlier. The happily married couple has two pet dogs. Eerily disturbing, the night passed much slowly. John creates troubles very easily.

Above, the part 'eerily disturbing' is itself a compound adjective that modifies 'the night'; so is 'happily married'. The last sentence is an example of tiered adverbs, 'very' modifies 'easily' and 'easily' modifies 'creates'.

Though some words such as 'fast' can be used as both adjective and adverb, an adjective or adverb should not be interchanged. Hence, the following sentences are wrong:

It's no surprise that Joe, who walks careless, met with an accident. John seems to talk normal again. They faced a fiercely fight. The bear attacked the dog grisly.

Many adverbs are formed with a 'ly' or 'ily' added at the end of an adjective. This is so universal that many people simply add 'ly' to form adverbs.

But there are certain exceptions, in which the 'ly' forms adjective rather than adverb. Some examples are friendly, early, grisly, likely, miserly, kindly (also adv), leisurely, etc. All these are adjectives and not adverbs.

Some words are used as both adjective and adverb. Examples are: early, kindly, fast, all comparative forms (harder, faster, quicker, better, etc).

If you have doubts, please post them into comments.

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Make Your Blog Post Permalinks More Attractive

A blog post permalink with all your main keywords always ranks better than any normal permalink. You can do this on Blogger as well as WordPress. Simply follow these guidelines.

In Blogger, simply publish your latest post with only the main three keywords (not more than three) in the title. Then edit the post to change the title and content to the original post. That's it.

In WordPress, you can directly edit the post permalink, but I saw that you need to wait a moment before this editing feature is enabled. It comes as a short snippet below the post title. Simply click the 'edit' button and change the permalink to remove prepositions and add any non-appearing keywords.

You have read this article Blogging Tidbits with the title February 2009. You can bookmark this page URL http://neurotica-exotica.blogspot.com/2009/02/make-your-blog-post-permalinks-more.html. Thanks!

The Minister's Black Veil, A Short Story by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Today, we are coming up with a short story by one of the most famed of American novelists and short story writers of the century before the last, Nathaniel Hawthorne. This short story has been selected by his son, Julian Hawthorne in his collection of the best of short stories, published as the Lock and Key Library.

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The Minister's Black Veil
Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne

The sexton stood in the porch of Milford meeting-house, pulling busily at the bell-rope. The old people of the village came stooping along the street. Children, with bright faces, tripped merrily beside their parents, or mimicked a graver gait, in the conscious dignity of their Sunday clothes. Spruce bachelors looked sidelong at the pretty maidens, and fancied that the Sabbath sunshine made them prettier than on week days. When the throng had mostly streamed into the porch, the sexton began to toll the bell, keeping his eye on the Reverend Mr. Hooper's door. The first glimpse of the clergyman's figure was the signal for the bell to cease its summons.

"But what has good Parson Hooper got upon his face?" cried the sexton in astonishment.

All within hearing immediately turned about, and beheld the semblance of Mr. Hooper, pacing slowly his meditative way towards the meetinghouse. With one accord they started, expressing more wonder than if some strange minister were coming to dust the cushions of Mr. Hooper's pulpit.

"Are you sure it is our parson?" inquired Goodman Gray of the sexton.

"Of a certainty it is good Mr. Hooper," replied the sexton. "He was to have exchanged pulpits with Parson Shute, of Westbury; but Parson Shute sent to excuse himself yesterday, being to preach a funeral sermon."

The cause of so much amazement may appear sufficiently slight. Mr. Hooper, a gentlemanly person, of about thirty, though still a bachelor, was dressed with due clerical neatness, as if a careful wife had starched his band, and brushed the weekly dust from his Sunday's garb. There was but one thing remarkable in his appearance. Swathed about his forehead, and hanging down over his face, so low as to be shaken by his breath, Mr. Hooper had on a black veil. On a nearer view it seemed to consist of two folds of crape, which entirely concealed his features, except the mouth and chin, but probably did not intercept his sight, further than to give a darkened aspect to all living and inanimate things. With this gloomy shade before him, good Mr. Hooper walked onward, at a slow and quiet pace, stooping somewhat, and looking on the ground, as is customary with abstracted men, yet nodding kindly to those of his parishioners who still waited on the meeting-house steps. But so wonder-struck were they that his greeting hardly met with a return.

"I can't really feel as if good Mr. Hooper's face was behind that piece of crape," said the sexton.

"I don't like it," muttered an old woman, as she hobbled into the meeting-house. "He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face."

"Our parson has gone mad!" cried Goodman Gray, following him across the threshold.

A rumor of some unaccountable phenomenon had preceded Mr. Hooper into the meeting-house, and set all the congregation astir. Few could refrain from twisting their heads towards the door; many stood upright, and turned directly about; while several little boys clambered upon the seats, and came down again with a terrible racket. There was a general bustle, a rustling of the women's gowns and shuffling of the men's feet, greatly at variance with that hushed repose which should attend the entrance of the minister. But Mr. Hooper appeared not to notice the perturbation of his people. He entered with an almost noiseless step, bent his head mildly to the pews on each side, and bowed as he passed his oldest parishioner, a white-haired great grandsire, who occupied an arm-chair in the centre of the aisle. It was strange to observe how slowly this venerable man became conscious of something singular in the appearance of his pastor. He seemed not fully to partake of the prevailing wonder, till Mr. Hooper had ascended the stairs, and showed himself in the pulpit, face to face with his congregation, except for the black veil. That mysterious emblem was never once withdrawn. It shook with his measured breath, as he gave out the psalm; it threw its obscurity between him and the holy page, as he read the Scriptures; and while he prayed, the veil lay heavily on his uplifted countenance. Did he seek to hide it from the dread Being whom he was addressing?

Such was the effect of this simple piece of crape, that more than one woman of delicate nerves was forced to leave the meeting-house. Yet perhaps the pale-faced congregation was almost as fearful a sight to the minister, as his black veil to them.

Mr. Hooper had the reputation of a good preacher, but not an energetic one: he strove to win his people heavenward by mild, persuasive influences, rather than to drive them thither by the thunders of the Word. The sermon which he now delivered was marked by the same characteristics of style and manner as the general series of his pulpit oratory. But there was something, either in the sentiment of the discourse itself, or in the imagination of the auditors, which made it greatly the most powerful effort that they had ever heard from their pastor's lips. It was tinged, rather more darkly than usual, with the gentle gloom of Mr. Hooper's temperament. The subject had reference to secret sin, and those sad mysteries which we hide from our nearest and dearest, and would fain conceal from our own consciousness, even forgetting that the Omniscient can detect them. A subtle power was breathed into his words. Each member of the congregation, the most innocent girl, and the man of hardened breast, felt as if the preacher had crept upon them, behind his awful veil, and discovered their hoarded iniquity of deed or thought. Many spread their clasped hands on their bosoms. There was nothing terrible in what Mr. Hooper said, at least, no violence; and yet, with every tremor of his melancholy voice, the hearers quaked. An unsought pathos came hand in hand with awe. So sensible were the audience of some unwonted attribute in their minister, that they longed for a breath of wind to blow aside the veil, almost believing that a stranger's visage would be discovered, though the form, gesture, and voice were those of Mr. Hooper.

At the close of the services, the people hurried out with indecorous confusion, eager to communicate their pent-up amazement, and conscious of lighter spirits the moment they lost sight of the black veil. Some gathered in little circles, huddled closely together, with their mouths all whispering in the centre; some went homeward alone, wrapt in silent meditation; some talked loudly, and profaned the Sabbath day with ostentatious laughter. A few shook their sagacious heads, intimating that they could penetrate the mystery; while one or two affirmed that there was no mystery at all, but only that Mr. Hooper's eyes were so weakened by the midnight lamp, as to require a shade. After a brief interval, forth came good Mr. Hooper also, in the rear of his flock. Turning his veiled face from one group to another, he paid due reverence to the hoary heads, saluted the middle aged with kind dignity as their friend and spiritual guide, greeted the young with mingled authority and love, and laid his hands on the little children's heads to bless them. Such was always his custom on the Sabbath day. Strange and bewildered looks repaid him for his courtesy. None, as on former occasions, aspired to the honor of walking by their pastor's side. Old Squire Saunders, doubtless by an accidental lapse of memory, neglected to invite Mr. Hooper to his table, where the good clergyman had been wont to bless the food, almost every Sunday since his settlement. He returned, therefore, to the parsonage, and, at the moment of closing the door, was observed to look back upon the people, all of whom had their eyes fixed upon the minister. A sad smile gleamed faintly from beneath the black veil, and flickered about his mouth, glimmering as he disappeared.

"How strange," said a lady, "that a simple black veil, such as any woman might wear on her bonnet, should become such a terrible thing on Mr. Hooper's face!"

"Something must surely be amiss with Mr. Hooper's intellects," observed her husband, the physician of the village. "But the strangest part of the affair is the effect of this vagary, even on a sober-minded man like myself. The black veil, though it covers only our pastor's face, throws its influence over his whole person, and makes him ghostlike from head to foot. Do you not feel it so?"

"Truly do I," replied the lady; "and I would not be alone with him for the world. I wonder he is not afraid to be alone with himself!"

"Men sometimes are so," said her husband.

The afternoon service was attended with similar circumstances. At its conclusion, the bell tolled for the funeral of a young lady. The relatives and friends were assembled in the house, and the more distant acquaintances stood about the door, speaking of the good qualities of the deceased, when their talk was interrupted by the appearance of Mr. Hooper, still covered with his black veil. It was now an appropriate emblem. The clergyman stepped into the room where the corpse was laid, and bent over the coffin, to take a last farewell of his deceased parishioner. As he stooped, the veil hung straight down from his forehead, so that, if her eyelids had not been closed forever, the dead maiden might have seen his face. Could Mr. Hooper be fearful of her glance, that he so hastily caught back the black veil? A person who watched the interview between the dead and living, scrupled not to affirm, that, at the instant when the clergyman's features were disclosed, the corpse had slightly shuddered, rustling the shroud and muslin cap, though the countenance retained the composure of death. A superstitious old woman was the only witness of this prodigy. From the coffin Mr. Hooper passed into the chamber of the mourners, and thence to the head of the staircase, to make the funeral prayer. It was a tender and heart-dissolving prayer, full of sorrow, yet so imbued with celestial hopes, that the music of a heavenly harp, swept by the fingers of the dead, seemed faintly to be heard among the saddest accents of the minister. The people trembled, though they but darkly understood him when he prayed that they, and himself, and all of mortal race, might be ready, as he trusted this young maiden had been, for the dreadful hour that should snatch the veil from their faces. The bearers went heavily forth, and the mourners followed, saddening all the street, with the dead before them, and Mr. Hooper in his black veil behind.

"Why do you look back?" said one in the procession to his partner.

"I had a fancy," replied she, "that the minister and the maiden's spirit were walking hand in hand."

"And so had I, at the same moment," said the other.

That night, the handsomest couple in Milford village were to be joined in wedlock. Though reckoned a melancholy man, Mr. Hooper had a placid cheerfulness for such occasions, which often excited a sympathetic smile where livelier merriment would have been thrown away. There was no quality of his disposition which made him more beloved than this. The company at the wedding awaited his arrival with impatience, trusting that the strange awe, which had gathered over him throughout the day, would now be dispelled. But such was not the result. When Mr. Hooper came, the first thing that their eyes rested on was the same horrible black veil, which had added deeper gloom to the funeral, and could portend nothing but evil to the wedding. Such was its immediate effect on the guests that a cloud seemed to have rolled duskily from beneath the black crape, and dimmed the light of the candles. The bridal pair stood up before the minister. But the bride's cold fingers quivered in the tremulous hand of the bridegroom, and her deathlike paleness caused a whisper that the maiden who had been buried a few hours before was come from her grave to be married. If ever another wedding were so dismal, it was that famous one where they tolled the wedding knell. After performing the ceremony, Mr. Hooper raised a glass of wine to his lips, wishing happiness to the newmarried couple in a strain of mild pleasantry that ought to have brightened the features of the guests, like a cheerful gleam from the hearth. At that instant, catching a glimpse of his figure in the looking-glass, the black veil involved his own spirit in the horror with which it overwhelmed all others. His frame shuddered, his lips grew white, he spilt the untasted wine upon the carpet, and rushed forth into the darkness. For the Earth, too, had on her Black Veil.

The next day, the whole village of Milford talked of little else than Parson Hooper's black veil. That, and the mystery concealed behind it, supplied a topic for discussion between acquaintances meeting in the street, and good women gossiping at their open windows. It was the first item of news that the tavern-keeper told to his guests. The children babbled of it on their way to school. One imitative little imp covered his face with an old black handkerchief, thereby so affrighting his playmates that the panic seized himself, and he well-nigh lost his wits by his own waggery.

It was remarkable that all of the busybodies and impertinent people in the parish, not one ventured to put the plain question to Mr. Hooper, wherefore he did this thing. Hitherto, whenever there appeared the slightest call for such interference, he had never lacked advisers, nor shown himself averse to be guided by their judgment. If he erred at all, it was by so painful a degree of self-distrust, that even the mildest censure would lead him to consider an indifferent action as a crime. Yet, though so well acquainted with this amiable weakness, no individual among his parishioners chose to make the black veil a subject of friendly remonstrance. There was a feeling of dread, neither plainly confessed nor carefully concealed, which caused each to shift the responsibility upon another, till at length it was found expedient to send a deputation of the church, in order to deal with Mr. Hooper about the mystery, before it should grow into a scandal. Never did an embassy so ill discharge its duties. The minister received then with friendly courtesy, but became silent, after they were seated, leaving to his visitors the whole burden of introducing their important business. The topic, it might be supposed, was obvious enough. There was the black veil swathed round Mr. Hooper's forehead, and concealing every feature above his placid mouth, on which, at times, they could perceive the glimmering of a melancholy smile. But that piece of crape, to their imagination, seemed to hang down before his heart, the symbol of a fearful secret between him and them. Were the veil but cast aside, they might speak freely of it, but not till then. Thus they sat a considerable time, speechless, confused, and shrinking uneasily from Mr. Hooper's eye, which they felt to be fixed upon them with an invisible glance. Finally, the deputies returned abashed to their constituents, pronouncing the matter too weighty to be handled, except by a council of the churches, if, indeed, it might not require a general synod.

But there was one person in the village unappalled by the awe with which the black veil had impressed all beside herself. When the deputies returned without an explanation, or even venturing to demand one, she, with the calm energy of her character, determined to chase away the strange cloud that appeared to be settling round Mr. Hooper, every moment more darkly than before. As his plighted wife, it should be her privilege to know what the black veil concealed. At the minister's first visit, therefore, she entered upon the subject with a direct simplicity, which made the task easier both for him and her. After he had seated himself, she fixed her eyes steadfastly upon the veil, but could discern nothing of the dreadful gloom that had so overawed the multitude: it was but a double fold of crape, hanging down from his forehead to his mouth, and slightly stirring with his breath.

"No," said she aloud, and smiling, "there is nothing terrible in this piece of crape, except that it hides a face which I am always glad to look upon. Come, good sir, let the sun shine from behind the cloud. First lay aside your black veil: then tell me why you put it on."

Mr. Hooper's smile glimmered faintly.

"There is an hour to come," said he, "when all of us shall cast aside our veils. Take it not amiss, beloved friend, if I wear this piece of crape till then."

"Your words are a mystery, too," returned the young lady. "Take away the veil from them, at least."

"Elizabeth, I will," said he, "so far as my vow may suffer me. Know, then, this veil is a type and a symbol, and I am bound to wear it ever, both in light and darkness, in solitude and before the gaze of multitudes, and as with strangers, so with my familiar friends. No mortal eye will see it withdrawn. This dismal shade must separate me from the world: even you, Elizabeth, can never come behind it!"

"What grievous affliction hath befallen you," she earnestly inquired, "that you should thus darken your eyes forever?"

"If it be a sign of mourning," replied Mr. Hooper, "I, perhaps, like most other mortals, have sorrows dark enough to be typified by a black veil."

"But what if the world will not believe that it is the type of an innocent sorrow?" urged Elizabeth. "Beloved and respected as you are, there may be whispers that you hide your face under the consciousness of secret sin. For the sake of your holy office, do away this scandal!"

The color rose into her cheeks as she intimated the nature of the rumors that were already abroad in the village. But Mr. Hooper's mildness did not forsake him. He even smiled again-that same sad smile, which always appeared like a faint glimmering of light, proceeding from the obscurity beneath the veil.

"If I hide my face for sorrow, there is cause enough," he merely replied; "and if I cover it for secret sin, what mortal might not do the same?"

And with this gentle, but unconquerable obstinacy did he resist all her entreaties. At length Elizabeth sat silent. For a few moments she appeared lost in thought, considering, probably, what new methods might be tried to withdraw her lover from so dark a fantasy, which, if it had no other meaning, was perhaps a symptom of mental disease. Though of a firmer character than his own, the tears rolled down her cheeks. But, in an instant, as it were, a new feeling took the place of sorrow: her eyes were fixed insensibly on the black veil, when, like a sudden twilight in the air, its terrors fell around her. She arose, and stood trembling before him.

"And do you feel it then, at last?" said he mournfully.

She made no reply, but covered her eyes with her hand, and turned to leave the room. He rushed forward and caught her arm.

"Have patience with me, Elizabeth!" cried he, passionately. "Do not desert me, though this veil must be between us here on earth. Be mine, and hereafter there shall be no veil over my face, no darkness between our souls! It is but a mortal veil-it is not for eternity! O! you know not how lonely I am, and how frightened, to be alone behind my black veil. Do not leave me in this miserable obscurity forever!"

"Lift the veil but once, and look me in the face," said she.

"Never! It cannot be!" replied Mr. Hooper.

"Then farewell!" said Elizabeth.

She withdrew her arm from his grasp, and slowly departed, pausing at the door, to give one long shuddering gaze, that seemed almost to penetrate the mystery of the black veil. But, even amid his grief, Mr. Hooper smiled to think that only a material emblem had separated him from happiness, though the horrors, which it shadowed forth, must be drawn darkly between the fondest of lovers.

From that time no attempts were made to remove Mr. Hooper's black veil, or, by a direct appeal, to discover the secret which it was supposed to hide. By persons who claimed a superiority to popular prejudice, it was reckoned merely an eccentric whim, such as often mingles with the sober actions of men otherwise rational, and tinges them all with its own semblance of insanity. But with the multitude, good Mr. Hooper was irreparbly a bugbear. He could not walk the street with any peace of mind, so conscious was he that the gentle and timid would turn aside to avoid him, and that others would make it a point of hardihood to throw themselves in his way. The impertinence of the latter class compelled him to give up his customary walk at sunset to the burial ground; for when he leaned pensively over the gate, there would always be faces behind the gravestones, peeping at his black veil. A fable went the rounds that the stare of the dead people drove him thence. It grieved him, to the very depth of his kind heart, to observe how the children fled from his approach, breaking up their merriest sports, while his melancholy figure was yet afar off. Their instinctive dread caused him to feel more strongly than aught else, that a preternatural horror was interwoven with the threads of the black crape. In truth, his own antipathy to the veil was known to be so great, that he never willingly passed before a mirror, nor stooped to drink at a still fountain, lest, in its peaceful bosom, he should be affrighted by himself. This was what gave plausibility to the whispers, that Mr. Hooper's conscience tortured him for some great crime too horrible to be entirely concealed, or otherwise than so obscurely intimated. Thus, from beneath the black veil, there rolled a cloud into the sunshine, an ambiguity of sin or sorrow, which enveloped the poor minister, so that love or sympathy could never reach him. It was said that ghost and fiend consorted with him there. With self-shudderings and outward terrors, he walked continually in its shadow, groping darkly within his own soul, or gazing through a medium that saddened the whole world. Even the lawless wind, it was believed, respected his dreadful secret, and never blew aside the veil. But still good Mr. Hooper sadly smiled at the pale visages of the worldly throng as he passed by.

Among all its bad influences, the black veil had the one desirable effect, of making its wearer a very efficient clergyman. By the aid of his mysterious emblem-for there was no other apparent cause-he became a man of awful power over souls that were in agony for sin. His converts always regarded him with a dread peculiar to themselves, affirming, though but figuratively, that, before he brought them to celestial light, they had been with him behind the black veil. Its gloom, indeed, enabled him to sympathize with all dark affections. Dying sinners cried aloud for Mr. Hooper, and would not yield their breath till he appeared; though ever, as he stooped to whisper consolation, they shuddered at the veiled face so near their own. Such were the terrors of the black veil, even when Death had bared his visage! Strangers came long distances to attend service at his church, with the mere idle purpose of gazing at his figure, because it was forbidden them to behold his face. But many were made to quake ere they departed! Once, during Governor Belcher's administration, Mr. Hooper was appointed to preach the election sermon. Covered with his black veil, he stood before the chief magistrate, the council, and the representatives, and wrought so deep an impression, that the legislative measures of that year were characterized by all the gloom and piety of our earliest ancestral sway.

In this manner Mr. Hooper spent a long life, irreproachable in outward act, yet shrouded in dismal suspicions; kind and loving, though unloved, and dimly feared; a man apart from men, shunned in their health and joy, but ever summoned to their aid in mortal anguish. As years wore on, shedding their snows above his sable veil, he acquired a name throughout the New England churches, and they called him Father Hooper. Nearly all his parishioners, who were of mature age when he was settled, had been borne away by many a funeral: he had one congregation in the church, and a more crowded one in the churchyard; and having wrought so late into the evening, and done his work so well, it was now good Father Hooper's turn to rest.

Several persons were visible by the shaded candlelight, in the death chamber of the old clergyman. Natural connections he had none. But there was the decorously grave, though unmoved physician, seeking only to mitigate the last pangs of the patient whom he could not save. There were the deacons, and other eminently pious members of his church. There, also, was the Reverend Mr. Clark, of Westbury, a young and zealous divine, who had ridden in haste to pray by the bedside of the expiring minister. There was the nurse, no hired handmaiden of death, but one whose calm affection had endured thus long in secrecy, in solitude, amid the chill of age, and would not perish, even at the dying hour. Who, but Elizabeth! And there lay the hoary head of good Father Hooper upon the death pillow, with the black veil still swathed about his brow, and reaching down over his face, so that each more difficult gasp of his faint breath caused it to stir. All through life that piece of crape had hung between him and the world: it had separated him from cheerful brotherhood and woman's love, and kept him in that saddest of all prisons, his own heart; and still it lay upon his face, as if to deepen the gloom of his darksome chamber, and shade him from the sunshine of eternity.

For some time previous, his mind had been confused, wavering doubtfully between the past and the present, and hovering forward, as it were, at intervals, into the indistinctness of the world to come. There had been feverish turns, which tossed him from side to side, and wore away what little strength he had. But in his most convulsive struggles, and in the wildest vagaries of his intellect, when no other thought retained its sober influence, he still showed an awful solicitude lest the black veil should slip aside. Even if his bewildered soul could have forgotten, there was a faithful woman at this pillow, who, with averted eyes, would have covered that aged face, which she had last beheld in the comeliness of manhood. At length the death-stricken old man lay quietly in the torpor of mental and bodily exhaustion, with an imperceptible pulse, and breath that grew fainter and fainter, except when a long, deep, and irregular inspiration seemed to prelude the flight of his spirit.

The minister of Westbury approached the bedside.

"Venerable Father Hooper," said he, "the moment of your release is at hand. Are you ready for the lifting of the veil that shuts in time from eternity?"

Father Hooper at first replied merely by a feeble motion of his head; then, apprehensive, perhaps, that his meaning might be doubted, he exerted himself to speak.

"Yea," said he, in faint accents, "my soul hath a patient weariness until that veil be lifted."

"And is it fitting," resumed the Reverend Mr. Clark, "that a man so given to prayer, of such a blameless example, holy in deed and thought, so far as mortal judgment may pronounce; is it fitting that a father in the church should leave a shadow on his memory, that may seem to blacken a life so pure? I pray you, my venerable brother, let not this thing be! Suffer us to be gladdened by your triumphant aspect as you go to your reward. Before the veil of eternity be lifted, let me cast aside this black veil from your face!"

And thus speaking, the Reverend Mr. Clark bent forward to reveal the mystery of so many years. But, exerting a sudden energy, that made all the beholders stand aghast, Father Hooper snatched both his hands from beneath the bedclothes, and pressed them strongly on the black veil, resolute to struggle, if the minister of Westbury would contend with a dying man.

"Never!" cried the veiled clergyman. "On earth, never!"

"Dark old man!" exclaimed the affrighted minister, "with what horrible crime upon your soul are you now passing to the judgment?"

Father Hooper's breath heaved; it rattled in his throat; but, with a mighty effort, grasping forward with his hands, he caught hold of life, and held it back till he should speak. He even raised himself in bed; and there he sat, shivering with the arms of death around him, while the black veil hung down, awful, at that last moment, in the gathered terrors of a lifetime. And yet the faint, sad smile, so often there, now seemed to glimmer from its obscurity, and linger on Father Hooper's lips.

"Why do you tremble at me alone?" cried he, turning his veiled face round the circle of pale spectators. "Tremble also at each other! Have men avoided me, and women shown no pity, and children screamed and fled, only for my black veil? What, but the mystery which it obscurely typifies, has made this piece of crape so awful? When the friend shows his inmost heart to his friend; the lover to his best beloved; when man does not vainly shrink from the eye of his Creator, loathsomely treasuring up the secret of his sin; then deem me a monster, for the symbol beneath which I have lived, and die! I look around me, and, lo! on every visage a Black Veil!"

While his auditors shrank from one another, in mutual affright, Father Hooper fell back upon his pillow, a veiled corpse, with a faint smile lingering on the lips. Still veiled, they laid him in his coffin, and a veiled corpse they bore him to the grave. The grass of many years has sprung up and withered on that grave, the burial stone is moss-grown, and good Mr. Hooper's face is dust; but awful is still the thought that it mouldered beneath the Black Veil!

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Thanks to The Project Gutenberg

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Increasing Traffic Through Purchasing Multiple Domains

Let's say you have a primary domain which you have built content on. But you can increase the visibility and reach of your content by purchasing multiple domain names and making them show the same site. Here are some tips and guidelines in that.

1. Domain Name Topic and Keywords

When purchasing new domains, always look for the ones with related keywords. Don't just choose a domain name that is not related to your primary site at all. For instance, if your original website is "flowersandfruits.com" then you shouldn't purchase "armsandweapons.com" and point it to the original domain.

Choose domains that have related keywords and topic, so that you get maximum search visibility.

2. Do 301 (Permanent) Redirect

Never purchase a domain and point it directly to your content. This is as good as content duplication and search engine will easily penalize all your sites. This issue is severe when you have a few hundred domains purchased and all are made to point to the same content.

So, always point only one domain to your original content, and point all other domains with a permanent 301 redirect to your primary domain. Learn how to set up a 301 redirect. Look at the image below; this is how you should point your domains.

3. Link Building for Each Domain

Always build links for each of your domains separately. Otherwise, they are as good as nothing. Also, you can get maximum exposure and benefit by building links from the most keyword-relevant sites.

For instance, if you have "flowersandfruits.com" as your primary domain and you are purchasing "roseflowers.com" to point to the primary domain, then build more links for it from sites that talk about rose flowers than fruits or just flowers.

Also, you are far better off if you point the new domain to a more topic-specific page in your main domain.

Conclusion

Besides these, before purchasing any new domain, always make sure you follow these domain purchase guidelines.

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Enabling Individual Meta Tags on Your WordPress Blog

Yesterday, one of my friends put forward a doubt. She wanted to have individual Meta description tags for her WordPress self-hosted blog. There is an all-in-one SEO plugin that helps in it, but her description says she couldn't get it to work. Well, here is what you need to do to manually enable the Meta descriptions on your WordPress blog.

First, go to the theme editor, and look for the header file (which would be named header.php).

Now, simply insert the following PHP code right before the </head> tag.

<?php if (is_home()) { ?> <meta name="robots" content="index, follow" /> <meta name="description" content="Enter the description for the blog home page here." /> <meta name="keywords" content="Generic keywords for the entire blog here." /> <?php } ?> <?php if (is_single()) { ?> <meta name="robots" content="index, follow" /> <meta name="description" content="This page contains details of:<?php wp_title('',true); ?>" /> <?php } ?> <?php if (is_archive()) { ?> <meta name="robots" content="noindex, follow" /> <meta name="description" content="This page is of the topic:<?php wp_title('',true); ?>" /> <?php } ?> <?php if (is_page()) { ?> <meta name="robots" content="index, follow" /> <meta name="description" content="This is a page about:<?php wp_title('',true); ?>" /> <?php } ?>

Edit the descriptions to match your blog.

That's it. You should now see individual Meta tags and descriptions for your pages. The robots Meta tag is completely optional and only if you don't want your category and tag pages be indexed in search engines, use the noindex attribute. Otherwise, leave it out.

Here is a related post on individual Meta descriptions on a Blogger blog.

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Subject Verb Agreement With Examples

Here are a few examples:

My cat seems in need for milk. My friends and I were walking by the park when we saw Jim sitting in. Joe as well as her friends is very playful. Either Sally or her cousins are afraid of dogs. Neither Sally's cousins nor she is afraid of cats.

In all of these sentences, we have used appropriate verb forms. The subject verb agreement rules that the singular subject needs a singular verb and plural subject, plural verb.

This rule is pretty obvious in simple sentences like the first two above, but the others seem to need some more clarification.

1. As Well As

When combining any two subjects with as well as, always agree the verb with the first subject. Examples:

Jim as well as his friends is a good swimmer. Jim's friends as well as Jim are good swimmers. Emmerich's films as well as Spielberg's are interesting to me.

2. Either (Neither) Or

When combining subjects with 'or', always agree with the subject nearest to the verb.

Either Bill or his family members have to approve it. Neither his dogs nor his cat has any disease.

3. Agreement Related to Person

First and second persons always takes plural verb, except when using 'was' with first person.

I take it you granted the permission for the play? I have found it interesting. I was having my meal when you came in yesterday. I was there but missed your performance. Were you in college yesterday? You are a good student.

Third person subjects always take the verb according to the number.

He is a good student. Jim and Harry are good in singing. They were talking about the latest movies. These cats are mine, and that is Joe's.

4. Take the Actual Subject When Considering Verb Type

Some sentences such as the following may be misleading to most.

The apples bought by Joe, afterwards washed by Sarah, and eaten by Jim, are responsible for his illness.

Here, the subject of the verb is 'apples' and not Joe, Sarah, or Jim.

Carefully consider which is the subject before applying the verb. Here are a few such examples:

The rules set forth by the Indian Constitution don't allow internal transfer of money not done through any RBI approved authority. The viewpoint of hundreds of members of the opposition reflects that of less than fifty per cent of the public. The success rate of more than fifty schools and colleges in my state seems to be high.

5. Certain Collective Nouns Take Singular Verb

Certain nouns, which always have come together, may take singular verbs. Examples:

Bread and butter is what he takes in the morning.

That's it folks!

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PPC Web Spy by Brad Callan: Top New Keyword Research Tool for You!

You have seen the successful SEO software, SEO Elite by Brad Callan. It is one of the most successful and useful software out there for doing perfect SEO work for your blogs and websites. But on the top of that, if you need to work on your PPC keyword campaigns in Adwords, then there is not a better tool than this one by Brad Callan himself, PPC Web Spy.

You can get this software free now from here. Simply register and download.

The idea of Web Spy is simple. It is used to spy into the keyword lists of other marketers in your competition or other niches. This is tremendously advantageous as you will be able to get a list of keywords the other person uses to promote their products and make profits. You can use them or a better list to win over the competition.

The tool works as a small browser add-on that works from your favorite browser. When you search in Google for your keyword, you will find the competitor websites on the sponsored listings. On switching on the Web Spy tool, you will also see a small button with each sponsored listing that tells you the details of the keywords the particular advertiser is using to get rankings.

The list contains all the keywords the person is using, with the number of clicks, daily expenditure, and maximum cost per click. You can also do a deeper research into this by suggesting your own keywords and getting a bigger, more optimized keyword list from Google.

This research data is so important for your Adwords and other advertisement campaigns that you will be able to pull in great profits through it.

With this tool, pretty much all you do is find a successful advertiser, take his keyword list, and use it into your own campaign, and sit back and get paid a profit just as the advertiser. Too little work and great earnings.

So, go ahead, fill in the details in the website, and download PPC Web Spy free now. One more thing: don't simply ignore this tool because you get it free. Use it and find its great power. This is perhaps the one tool that will bring you your most coveted first thousand dollars.

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Download All Games, Movies, Wallpapers, and Software for PSP

Do you own the ultimate gaming console's portable edition, PlayStation Portable (PSP)? Are you looking for games to download, new and old? Then look no further. AllPSPGames is a website which gives you access to all the content you ever need for the console.

The importance is that there are no limits whatsoever. There are about a hundred million downloads available at AllPSPGames.com and they are all available without any fee per download.

Also with transferring software, conversion and transfer of the downloaded content to the gaming console is rather easy.

There is support not only for PSP, but also for Super Nintendo, Gameboy, Saga Genesis, Neo Geo Pocket, Neo Geo CD, Turbo Grafx 16, Windows PC, etc. So, you get a complete cool entertainment here.

Check out AllPSPGames.com now.

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Check Your Site's Internal PageRank Visually With iWebTool Here

Here is the iWebTool visual tool for internal PageRank checking. Point it to any page with links (such as archives of a blog) and it will visually show you all the PageRank details as well as links with NoFollow attribute.

Enter a domain name below: http:// Show links with rel="nofollow"  () Show external links ( )

Powered by iWEBTOOL

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Playing Mob Wars in Facebook? Join Me!

Mob Wars is a multi-million dollar business now. It's come out of all the limits a Facebook app can go and is now being crazily played by millions of Facebook users worldwide. There is also the little legal issue surrounding Mob Wars, which was settled in December last year. Here, we will see more about this cool game.

Mob Wars is an interactive game that goes through different levels. In this, people organize into smuggling groups called mobs and do various illicit jobs and fights to control areas in the city and build their mobs.

There are various features like City, Hospital, Stockpile, Fight, etc. Besides these, there is one unique feature called the Godfather, who gives you favor points and various options to upgrade your game playing. You have attributes like money, health, stamina, and energy, which enable you to purchase, fight, and do jobs.

Mob Wars is an infectious game that can keep you interested once you know the ways of it. If you wish to join my mob, simply add me into your Facebook friends list and invite me here.

Mob Wars Tips

Cash Flow Generation

Sustained cash flow is the most important aspect of any business. So is it with this game. You can make money by purchasing various plots in the city and upgrading them into buildings, which generate an hourly income. Once purchased, the value of the building goes up. So, it is always good to purchase them in groups of five or ten.

Purchasing is different from selling. On selling anything, plot, building, or stockpile item, you won't get the purchase price back (as in the real world). So, it is always best not to sell anything, unless absolutely necessary. When selling buildings too, sell in groups.

Mob Size

Your mob size is very important when you go up in levels. In order to increase your mob size, check out the Mob Wars forum, which have members asking you to add them to your list. Invite them and you will increase your mob size overnight. At higher levels, some jobs also require you to have a higher mob size.

Jobs

Doing jobs quite often gives you enough money to purchase and deploy weapons. In certain jobs, you get a weapon as well in reward. Tactical shotgun on doing drug dealing by the sea is one such example. My advice is that you do such jobs as often as possible, as you not only get some money, but also get a very good weapon that doesn't require upkeep.

Use Skill Points

On going up in every level, you get three skill points, which can be used to increase your fighting strength, stamina, energy, defense strength, etc. It is very important to use these points well. In higher levels, when you have a great number of weapons, use these points to increase your energy level and stamina (which requires 2 points). In lower levels, if you feel that you may be prone to attacks, use the skill points to increase defense strength.

Fighting & Banking

Fight more often in the beginning to build a very good fighter profile. Find as many small and less-equipped mobs as possible to fight and win. This makes you look more aggressive in the first few levels, and people may fear to fight you. In higher levels, this advantage will be beneficial to you as you will stay immune and will get enough time to make create a healthy cash flow.

Use your bank very intelligently. If you fear that overnight people will attack you and take your money away, do use the bank to safehouse your money. This however involves a 10 percent fee, which is significant for high amounts. If you have a good fighter profile, however, people will attack you less often and you can keep money out of the bank.

Hitlists

People always get into hitlists. They are attacked by mobs of enormously higher levels when they are in hitlists. When you fight someone more often and take away a lot of money from them, they may well add you to hitlist with their residual money. It is not possible to survive the hitlist; so, the best advice is not to irritate anyone during your first days.

Stockpile

Every mobster in your gang can equip one of the weapons, one of the special equipments (bulletproof vest or body armor), and drive one vehicle. This means, you need to have as many weapons, body armors, and vehicles as the number of your mobsters: If you have 13 mobsters, have 13 guns, 13 body armors, and 13 vehicles ready.

Your mob always equips with the best of the weapons they have. So, you don't need to sell off low-end weapons out of fear that mobsters may equip with them rather than the best weapon you have and thus lose fights.

Using Godfather Favor Points

Godfather awards you favor points every time you advance a level. These are very important, rare, and should be deployed well to your advantage. When you reach hundred favor points, you will be awarded a unique honor called Mob Wars insider, which lasts for thirty days. With this, you get faster regeneration of energy, health, and stamina. Your sole aim should be to achieve this level. Don't use up favor points on some cash, weapon offers, or any other. Keep it safe and request to be a Mob War insider once you reach hundred favor points.

Conclusion

If you wish to join my mob, please add me as your Facebook friend and please visit here.

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How to write college essay topics

Admission papers are usually very broad and difficult to tackle. Therefore, choosing a topic can be the most difficult aspects of the entire admissions process. You have to look for a topic that you can write about most passionately and effectively. However, even the most reflective writers are left wondering: How am I supposed to know the one event that has changed my life or the one thing that represents my entire personality. In all likelihood there isn't just one. But there probably is one that you can write about most passionately and effectively. The most important part of your entire essay is finding this one subject. Without a topic you feel passionate about, without one that brings out the defining aspects of you personality, you risk sounding like most of the applicants who will write boring admission essays.



You might be surprise as the college essay topic the you choose can reveals much more about yourself than you can ever imagine. Your admission topic can reveal your preferences. Are you an arts person or a hard-facts science type? There is an obvious different between the way a person talking and a science students talking.

The choice of your admission paper topic can also reveals how you perceive yourself. Are you a cat person, or the person who drives a beat-up, rusty, 1971 Volkswagen is making a statement about how she wants to spend her money and what she cares about. In choosing, you indicate what matters to you and how you perceive yourself.

Your admission paper can show how you think. Are you whimsical, a person who chooses on impulse? Or are you methodical and careful, a person who gathers background information before choosing? Questions about you and about career and college reflect these choosing patterns. Even a question about a national issue can show your particular thinking style, level of intelligence, and insight.

As the admission can be the first impression that you will give to your admission officers, you must be able to think thoroughly before you start writing on your paper. You must also constantly review your paper, to make sure that your topic drives with what you are writing about.

At the same time you must also be absolutely sure that you have answered the question asked in your essay. Some students would get so carried away with what they want to write that they sometimes, running away from the focus of the college essay that requires them to answer some questions. Therefore, after you have make up your mind of the college essay topic, you have to start doing a proper organizing of your essay outlineFind Article, so to make sure that you have answer the questions required.

Essay Writing Paper | Buy Essay

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Directory Submission Made Easy: All Submitter Is a Software You Need to Check Out

Too few people know the importance of submission to directories in SEO. There are thousands of directories out there in different topics that you can submit your site to. This can not only give you some instant traffic, but also build a long-term search-engine-optimized traffic. I needn't stress how important it is for your site.

Submitting manually to each directory is a tedious process indeed. But of course for the DMOZ, you must submit manually (check out why). For other directories, you really need a software solution. That's our topic today.

The product in review is All Submitter by WeblogAnalyzer. Check out the site here.

If you wish to try the software, please download the trial version now.

Arguably Number One

All Submitter is lauded and promoted by many people as the number one software for directory submissions. It is a complete package that includes automated and semi-automated submission process to thousands of directories.

An interesting aspect of this software is that it can break the captcha (the image verification you see when signing up on web services). For captcha, usually software cannot interpret the letters. All Submitter, arguably, has come up with some technique to break this captcha system, but of course, it is not fully error-free. In such cases, there is manual captcha, in which, you are shown the image in captcha and you can type in the letters yourself. Everything else is done by the software itself.

In order to see examples of the submission, please visit and watch the videos.

Loads of Features

AllSubmitter is designed to save you time. If you have begun a new blog, you may need to spend days and days visiting different web and blog directories, manually submitting your information everywhere. Otherwise, your blog may remain unknown all through its life.

I needn't stress how tedious this process can be to you. But with All Submitter, this has become a simple process of running a software, and of course occasionally manually inputting the captcha.

This software allows you to include any directory you have that is not already in it.

Another important reason to use this software is keywords. Manually doing, you may not know which keyword is the best for building traffic (organic) to your blog, but All Submitter knows! Also, with its search engine ranking checker, you can get all information about how your sites are ranking.

Besides these obvious primary things, there are a lot more to check out. Get all features from the All Submitter site itself.

Click here to order the software now from Plimus.
Click here to get the trial copy free.
Click here to visit All Submitter website.

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