Archive

Archive for March, 2010

Create Dummies Book for Dummies

March 15th, 2010

After a couple of book reviews, let me now present to you my very own book cover.

Yes, only the book cover.
I wouldn’t reject the idea of writing a book, but not exactly right now.

I recently read a Dummies ebook titled HPC for Dummies. It was just a marketing gimmick, making it looked like a Dummies series book as the ebook was actually more like an indirect sales material instead of the usual for Dummies book.
That’s a fairly effective Internet Marketing to me, but not really good for long term though. I might not be downloading their future ebooks anymore. What do you think?

Anyway, that ebook brought me the idea of looking for a Dummies template and a book cover generator.
Couldn’t really find one as near as the actual, but this online Dummies book cover generator is quite cool if you like mine.

Good To Know, Gossips, Internet Marketing , , , , ,

GIMP – a free photo editing software and Photoshop alternative

March 11th, 2010

People are now taking photos more than before and there are many times one would like to edit the photos taken to make them look better and impressing.

I recently recommended a free image editing software to a friend – GIMP.

Usually the first image editing software that comes to mind is Photoshop.

How often do you hear :

Just photoshop it!

This photo has been photoshopped?

Photoshop itself has become a noun.
So popular that it can demand a price of $699.

I am not a professional graphics designer. Although I know that Adobe Photoshop is a very powerful graphics tool, more often than not, I am unable to utilize all the features or stretch the limit of Photoshop.

GIMP is a very good alternative, as most of the functions that I like to use in Photoshop is there. Just like using any new tools, you might need to get some getting used to, but all in all everything looks familiar and it’s easy.
Most of all, it’s open source.
Ok, so you’re not interested in getting the program source code, but that actually means it’s FREE!

Try it yourself.

GIMP is available for installation (not only source code) on Windows and Mac OS X too.

You might also want to follow some tutorials provided for free and then teach me how you accomplished some impressive tasks. ๐Ÿ™‚

Open Source, Software , , , , ,

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari – Robin S. Sharma

March 1st, 2010

The book title is catchy isn’t it? My first thought when I caught the book title was the book must be on self-improvement, probably someone who came from riches and finally realized the importance of living well spiritually. That exactly is what this book is about.

I didn’t actually pick up the book from The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari title, but from the name of the author, Robin S. Sharma.

Robin Sharma is a celebrity of sorts, a worldโ€™s famous motivational speaker and author of 10 major international bestsellers.
Attending his talks will cost thousands of ringgits. ๐Ÿ™‚

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari has 13 chapters, and it’s not an autobiography, although Robin himself was a lawyer. The book started with the story of a lawyer named Julian Mantle who was extremely stressed out with his work, had a near-fatal heart attack in a packed courtroom and then disappear only to come back looking younger and wealthy spiritually.

This book is a narration of the conversation between Julian and John, who is another litigator who joined Julian’s company and was his best partner in work. Julian saw John as himself, and thus returned to share his knowledge that he gained from the spiritual teacher he met in the Himalayas, Yogi Raman of Sivana.

Spending months learning from Yogi Raman and the people, Yogi Raman of Sivana finally shared with Julian the 7 timeless virtues of enlightened living in the form of a fable. (Hence ‘A Fable About Fulfulling Your Dreams And Reaching Your Destiny‘).

  1. Master Your Mind
  2. Follow Your Purpose
  3. Practice Kaizen
  4. Live With Discipline
  5. Respect Your Time
  6. Selflessly Serve Others
  7. Embrace the Present

Initially I felt boring just after reading the first few chapters, because it was really slow, as it was written in a form of conversation with details explaining each virtues.

If you like motivational and self improvement books, like Chicken Soup for the Soul series, this book is for you.

However, for the business type of person where efficiency and priority is of importance, I got a feeling that you might just put it off after the first few chapters. You might probably just skim through it.

The good side though, it has a lot of very valuable quotable quotes, and for those who are working extremely hard accumulating wealth but not happiness, this book should be well enlightening for you.

Some of the quotable quotes:

Willpower: It is willpower that allows you to hold your tongue when a less actualized person insults you or does something you disagree with. It is willpower that pushes your dreams forward when the odds appear to be insurmountable. It is willpower that offers you the inner power to keep your commitments to others, and perhaps, even more importantly, to yourself.

When you learn to take control of your thoughts and vividly imagine all that you desire from this worldly existence in a state of total expectancy, dormant forces will awaken inside you. You will begin to unlock the true potential of your mind to create the kind of magical life that I believe you deserve.

Most of us sleep far more than we need to. The average person can get by on six hours – and remain perfectly healthy and alert. Sleep is really nothing more than a habit and like any other habit, you can train yourself to achieve the result you want; sleeping less in this case.

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams & Reaching Your Destiny

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