By Roland E. Williams
What question is that I see,
In my reflection in the mirror?
Does it ask if I’m happy?
Can it please answer me?
Would it even know the answer?
What is that sad look I see,
Reflected here in this water?
How I long for an answer
Can he undo what has been done?
Can he at least ease my pain?
Maybe he should do the asking
As he silently looks back at me
By Reim Ossailly
Let’s face it: Playing with a guitar that is not properly tuned will sound like a wailing donkey (no offense to your guitar). We don’t have to keep the truth hidden any longer. If your guitar does not sound right, have you checked if it’s properly tuned? Let us guess, are you scratching your head over what the heck that even means? Well, now that you’re here, don’t worry. We will thoroughly explain to you what tuning a guitar means, and how to tune a guitar.
What is tuning?
If you happen to be a beginner in the guitar field, you may have wondered what the keys on the guitar’s head are. Those keys are called “tuning pegs” that you use to (duh!) tune your guitar. Basically, what tuning does is keep the guitar sound right, and good. Sometimes, the strings may loosen from continually playing the guitar.
But hey, do not go and blindly try to tighten those strings. Believe us, you do not want to do that. The last thing you want is a string or two (or maybe all) snapping in your face.
There are a couple of different ways to properly tune a guitar. But first, there are some fundamentals that you need to be familiar with before you go into the process any further.
Make sure that you are comfortable with the names of the strings. Here is a quick overview of them:
E: The top and thickest string; the 6th string.
A: The second thickest; the 5th string.
D: The 4th string.
G: The 3rd string.
B: The second string.
e: The thinnest string; the first string.
Too hard to memorize? We suggest that you make a sentence with each word beginning of the letters. “Eat All Day Get Big Early” is one example.
Another thing you might want to have is the ability to distinguish between sharp and flat notes.
A flat sound means that the string is loosened more than necessary. Similarly, a sharp sound means that the string is tighter than necessary.
Now that we’ve got the basics out of the way, let’s dive into the tuning process.
As we have previously mentioned, there are different ways to tune a guitar, some of which include:
#1: Tuning with electronic tuners
Tuning using electronic tuners is the most common method of tuning guitar players use, and probably the easiest. Electronic tuners usually range anywhere from $5 to $20.
Basically, the way to use those tuners is by simply picking a string. The tuner will then screen the string name along with indications on whether the string is too high, too low, or correctly tuned. For instance, if the tuner indicates that the string is either too low or high, slowly turn the tuning key corresponding to the particular string accordingly. Keep picking the string so that you can keep track of whether you got the string tuned.
If you don’t have an electronic tuner but are interested in getting one, here are some suggestions (the last one comes with a metronome):
#2: Tuning with apps
If you are short on budget, you can opt for the free version: Tuning apps. There are plenty of them, and they can be as good as electronic tuners. Also, they are used the same way electronic tuners are used.
Note: Make sure that the calibration is set to 440 Hz — the standard frequency.
#3: Tuning by ear
Don’t run away. Although it sounds daunting, tuning by ear is not as difficult as it sounds to be. Once you get the concept behind it, you will probably adopt it as the only method to tune your guitar rather than using any technology.
Tuning by ear does not require anything other than a guitar and your ears. However, you will also need to have a tuned e ( 1st string ) string. This is the only requirement for getting a guitar tuned by ear. Get your 1st string tuned and you can carry on with the instructions.
After you make sure that the low e string is tuned, press the 5th fret on the string and pick it.
Now pick the A string, or 5th string, and tune it to match the note on the 1st string ( 5th fret ).
When you have the A string tuned, press the 5th fret of this A string, pick it and tune the D string ( 4th string ) to match the note on the A.
As for the G string, instead of pressing the 5th fret of the D string, you press the 4th fret of the D string and tune the G string to match them. Don’t ask why. The G string prefers to be different than its neighbors.
Once you have the G string tuned, go back to pressing the 5th fret of the G string and tune the high E string ( 6th string ) to match the sound.
At first, applying all of this may be difficult or confusing, but as you frequently tune by your ears, things will get comparably easier.
Note: Be vigilant of the tuning keys you are adjusting. Make sure they are the right key for the string you intend on tuning.
Which method is the best?
It’s all up to you to choose which method to use. In the end, you will get a tuned guitar. As you get better at distinguishing notes by ear, you will start to be able to tune by intuition without having to rely on any external sources.
As for which method is more accurate, no doubt about it, the first and second methods. Tuning by ear does not guarantee accuracy. You may end up with a string tuned a bit higher or lower than needed. And unless you have extremely well-trained ears, you won’t be able to pick up the difference.
Keep Playin’!
Don’t forget to leave us your opinion!
By Keith Auerbach
Discussing women’s fashion and attire in the workplace can lead to a discussion with Human Resources, especially in some places with outdated ideas and policies. Still, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to look sharp and professional, regardless of gender. Knowing what to wear when, and how to look good doing it, is a useful trick to know in any business for anyone on the job.
Formal Fashion
Traditional formal fashion between the genders has differed in two specific aspects: ties and skirts. In some realms, women wearing ties is expected, usually in school uniforms. In modern times, both ties for women and pants instead of skirts are generally acceptable. Places where skirts are required for women tend to veer away from proper formal attire. The basics, of course, remain the same. A suit or formal outfit, depending on the job’s requirements, remain excellent options. Always remember, though, that heels are terrible and should feel terrible.
Semi-Dress
Semi-dress, also known as semi-formal, can be tricky to pin down because it can vary on the occasion and, unfortunately, the gender. For women, semi-dress usually means, well, a dress. In modern times suits, just as with men, are often acceptable as well. A skirted suit would work, too, depending on the job. Knowing the job’s dress code is important, though in places where semi-dress is permitted it’s less likely to be a safety issue. Still, it never hurts to check. The main difference between formal and semi-dress is you can reduce the number of layers and take off the suit jacket once you’re at your desk.
Casual
Casual attire at work often depends on the job and whether or not it is Friday. For some places, it means you can wear blue jeans and a sports jersey, especially in the fall or spring. For other locations, it can mean dress slacks and either a polo or buttoned shirt. Skirts and dresses are usually acceptable as well, though, as usual, it depends on the job and the dress code. Generally, casual Fridays tend to allow more leeway than a casual business atmosphere, such as the sports team outfit during gaming season. So while some places might expect slacks or a skirt and polo as general attire, Fridays you might be allowed to wear more or less what you would on a trip to the grocery store, within reason.
Knowing what to wear at work can be tricky for both genders, but women have old-fashioned double standards to shake on top of that. Still, there’s nothing wrong with looking sharp. A suit or formal day dress has a place, as do blue jeans and polo shirts. Wherever you work, be familiar with the dress code, wear comfortable shoes, and keep any jewelry to a tasteful and safe minimum. Watches are almost always acceptable, though smart watch usage might depend on company policy. Either way, make sure to know the codes so that you can look professional and, most importantly, be comfortable for the shift.
Keith B. Auerbach writes for a variety of websites including Fox Hills Mall
By Jovia A. D’Souza
The internet has changed the way we communicate. Emails have replaced letters as the primary means of communication. Each day, there are thousands of new emails being created. But not all of them are genuine as there are a dozen methods to create email addresses. To add, a few more may be incorrect and others non-operational.
It becomes the personal responsibility of the sender to verify emails online. The verification procedure involves identifying whether the email address is valid and deliverable. Every single email address is verified. Here are 4 valid reasons for you to do it.
1. Create a list that delivers
Often, companies request website visitors to provide their email addresses as part of the marketing strategy. It might happen that the id provided is incorrect – a typo or an intentional mistake. If you start sending out emails to such inaccurate addresses, you will only have an equal number bouncing back. If the email account is no longer operational, the message does not get delivered; however, you are under the impression that it has been delivered.
It is a sheer waste of time and effort. You will be sending out mails, but none of them will convert. If you choose to verify emails online, you can fill in this glitch.
2. You won’t be blacklisted
Did you know that your online activity is being monitored? Email service providers such as Gmail, Yahoo! and Hotmail keep track of your mail server reputation. This includes the number of mails reported as spam, the number of bounce back emails and successfully delivered emails. It is as good as saying that you are building your reputation with every email sent.
If you have a negative reputation, there are chances you could get blacklisted.
3. Business image and performance
Business-wise emails are used for a lot of important communication. This includes information about new orders, order confirmations, order tracking etc. If you have the wrong email address, this data does not reach your customers in a timely manner.
4. Peace of mind
As a business owner targeting potential customers, you can be assured that there is an actual person behind the email address, and not some idiot trying to play the fool with you. It is commonly noticed that people who wouldn’t like to receive promotional emails are the ones who provide email addresses with a missing or additional character; very few are a typing error.
This way you can filter high quality contacts from the low quality ones. You know which customers that are genuinely interested in receiving notifications and those not interested. You can prevent yourself from becoming a spammer. You can also keep your list up-to-date.
For all the reasons above, it is necessary for you to verify emails online. A good online email verification service can help identify and remove invalid email addresses and can make your email campaigns successful. There are several free hosted software programs that allow such verification. Choosing the right one can make your work easy. At the end of it, you will have a clean list that you can leverage for marketing and promotional purposes.
If you are a business wanting to verify emails online, before you can actually start sending out your newsletters, VerifyEmailAddress.org is the website service you can use. They are trusted and fast, with the ability to handle bulk email addresses in a matter of a short time.
By Nirmal Patel
Artificial Intelligence has been recently making big waves in media over the recent past with Elon Musk’s OpenAI beating professionals at DOTA 2 or Artificial Intelligence recreating the periodic table within hours. It is impossible to go through your day on the internet without coming across at least one article that talks about a new feat achieved in the field. In fact, Artificial Intelligence is not just some distant dream now but is well integrated into our lives and many online apps and services we use examples include YouTube and Facebook. This makes it important for us to understand what Artificial Intelligence is and how it works if we use apps and services so very frequently that make use of AI to better our experience.
Simply put, Artificial Intelligence entails creating computer systems that are perfectly capable of performing a number of tasks that are usually associated with human abilities like thinking, understanding, analysing and more. Think about OpenAI beating professionals at a game of DOTA 2. It’s a complex game that requires you to adapt to the situation that arises as and when it does. Now imagine pitting a computer against a human in such a scenario where the combinations are endless. How does this happen?
The way computer codes have always worked is that humans define everything for the computer and simply feed it to the computer which can then perform a very limited number of tasks based on the information it was fed. Here, it is a human who is defining all the possibilities. But with Artificial Intelligence, humans can simply develop a system that can teach itself to define any further possibilities that humans might not have thought of.
For example, instead of giving a computer 10 photos of an apple and then asking it to select one of those apples from a pool of photos, you feed all possible examples of an apple into a computer, irrespective of size, shape and colour, and “teach” it to recognize patterns and decide for itself if something is an apple or not. Facebook uses a very similar technique when it suggests tags on photos you upload.
Artificial Intelligence uses enormous amounts of data, figures out patterns in that data and then figures out a way to use the data to solve a given problem further. It can be extremely useful when it comes to increasing efficiency and be saving time mainly because it is a lot faster than human beings and does not get tired, it can add a lot more to existing intelligence by finding new patterns and solutions, it is a lot more accurate than human beings and one of the most important factors is that it learned and grew by itself – that is, it is capable of teaching itself from existing and new data.
Artificial Intelligence has been growing at an enormous pace penetrating a number of fields including Human Resources, Finance, Law, Education, Security and Healthcare. This has mainly been possible because of huge developments in hardware (imagine the processing power required to analyse all that data) and subfields like Machine Learning, Deep Learning and Natural Language Processing.
There have been quite a bit of debate making rounds about the ethical aspect of Artificial Intelligence, particularly about the methods of data collection, and about the safety aspect of it. But the fact remains that it is one of the most amazing discoveries or developments that mankind has ever achieved, and it is revolutionising each and every sector. Being cost effective and a lot more efficient, we can definitely hope to see massive advancements.
Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Nirmal_Patel/2545723
By Roland E. Williams
You can hear the whales out there,
When you lay in bed at night,
The old woman said, and smiled.
They play freely while we sleep.
And so, I listened, and heard
The sound of the whales at sea,
Just out there right off the coast
Not for long. And then I slept
The rich have come once again.
You can hear them partying
Until late, even till dawn,
The officer said, and sighed.
And so, the young are pulled in.
Warning them has never helped.
Yeah, sinning comes so easy.
And so, too, come death and jail.
Now, numerous years later,
I no longer hear the whales,
I cannot see her smile now,
For she’s no longer with us.
The officer has retired,
His words still remain empty.
And even sinning has changed,
It is, now, so much easier
By Roland E. Williams
He’d once been a true man of God
And had stood on the preaching side
Now un-firm on the praying part
He’d had a golden voice, they said
Way back before it all began,
Way back, when innocence was trump
He’d preached a lot, prayed too little,
And soon his apostasy neared,
An outcome he had never sought
By Roland E. Williams
I opt reading your words again
Out of love,
Not ignorance
Nor complexity
You wish to tell all your story
Yet refuse many
Means to understand
You teach us words greater than life
For this we hope, yet,
May let your voice die
Our voices find to whom they speak
Be they a few souls
Or the greater mass
By Roland E. Williams
You are the man
That is what you feel
But she is not your punching bag!
She listens, yes
For the man has said
His piece, but she is not a piece!
She is quiet
The way you demand
Until she is silenced to death!
You spoke of love
That only you give
The lies never cease to exist!
Now kneel you down
Receive this sentence
For it is the way of the Lord!
By Roland E. Williams
From far this contraption has flown you and your emptiness
You exit to streets so new, yet they are the same old ones
The faces that had grown pale in your mind by your absence
Are once more defining their colors as they warm your heart
Now you recognize faces and places and lost kinships
Greetings multiply, leaving you with an abundant smile
Your emptiness fades, making way for this new sensation
That you are home again, at last
In The SpotLyght Global Feature Magazine 