Our Maiden Issue

News, Features, Opinions, Stories, Anything and Everything Under the Sun — find it in SchreiberMagazin. We are an online publication which caters to the interests of different readers. The SchreiberMagazin covers an array of topics, with feature articles about children, education, crime, health, information technology, travel, and sports. Plus a variety, of course, of writing-related topics. Welcome, dear reader, and feel free to browse this month's features sent in by various writers. But first, a word from our editor...

From the Editor

Ms. Rosales talks about the spirituality of writing, and the events which have led us to where SchreiberMag is now.

There is Something In It
by Ruel Mayo

An interesting bit of history about Rizal's lamp. Who knew an alcohol burner played such a vital role in giving us our national hero's most beloved poem? There is indeed something in it...

Remembering Saipan
by Apple Rosales

Our editor was recently in the Marianas to cover the World War II Commemoration. But it wasn't all work -- she also found time to sample what the islands had to offer...

This Is The Absolute Best Time To Start Your Home-based, Small E-Biz

by Amy Hewitt

Why this is the best time to start an e-biz, What you need to start a small home based e-biz, How to Brainstorm concepts for Your Site based on one's interests, hobbies and passion, How traffic from Search Engines is crucial to the success of an e-biz, and the Importance of providing information (content) on your theme-based Web site.

Terrorism
by Apple Rosales

With an international perspective, this series tackles the most controversial issues facing people around the world today. This series forms an exciting introduction to the essential skill of separating fact from fiction and will provide useful resource material for current affairs, history, politics and social studies courses.

Some people think that the organization known as the African National Congress, led by black South African leader Nelson Mandela, was a terrorist organization because it called for and used violence against the government regime of apartheid. Others think the opposite, that fighting for equal rights for black people was correct. What do you think?

The Sentence
by Apple Rosales

This series will help you to use and respond to language with greater assurance and skill. Specifically, it will help you to write clear, well-ordered paragraphs and essays as well as read, analyze, and judge expository prose. Learn to think more clearly, since writing necessarily uses words, and most of our thinking is done with words.

About the SchreiberMagazin

Contributors are, of course, always welcome. Get exposure for your work, here and abroad. Just drop us a line. We'd love to hear from you!

The Sentence

The sentence is a writer's basic unit for conveying ideas, the building block of paragraphs and longer compositions. If your sentences are muddy, poorly constructed, or monotonous, you will not convey your ideas effectively. Make sure, therefore, that your sentences are clear and informative, grammatically complete, and varied in length, type, and pattern. The simple sentence is effective for emphasis; the compound sentence for connecting clauses with ideas of roughly equal importance; and the complex sentence for relating two ideas when one is more important than the other. And finally, read your sentences aloud to yourself or to a friend, checking for fragments, fused sentences, and comma splices. The time you spend in composing and revising your sentences will be well spent: if you want to construct thoughtful, persuasive paragraphs and essays, their foundations must be strong.

Unity

An essential quality of all good writing is unity, or singleness of purpose. The paragraph is a unit of thought concerned with the exposition of a single idea, and if it is to communicate that idea clearly and concisely, it must possess oneness. That is, all the detail - the reasons, illustrations, facts - used to develop it must pertain to one controlling idea.

The most important quality of good writing is clarity. To achieve clarity and conciseness in your paragraphs, you must make sure they are unified. The following suggestions will help you write unified paragraphs:

1. Be sure that each paragraph has a controlling idea expressed in a topic sentence. As a check against irrelevancy, it is helpful to place this sentence at the beginning of a paragraph, but occasionally it may be placed elsewhere - at the end of a paragraph, for example, to summarize rather than to announce a topic.

2. Make certain that primary supporting detail focuses clearly on the controlling idea.

3. If the central idea requires more than primary support, make certain that secondary supporting detail explains and clarifies the primary detail.

4. Be especially careful to avoid inserting a new idea in the last sentence of the paragraph.


When your topic sentence is somewhat complicated, you will often have to develop your paragraph more extensively than when your topic sentence is simple. In this case, some of your sentences will contain more important ideas than others. That is, the detail in some sentences will directly support the controlling idea, whereas the detail in other sentences will explain and clarify these direct supporting statements. We can, thus, conveniently distinguish between primary support - detail that relates directly to the main idea of the paragraph - and secondary support - detail that explains and clarifies primary support.

When you have decided on a topic sentence, then, examine its controlling idea carefully. If it is fairly complex, you will probably need both primary and secondary support to develop it adequately.

(to be continued...)

Terrorism

Terrorism instills fear in the hearts of the oppressors, it brings hopes of revenge and redemption to the oppressed masses. It gives courage and self confidence to the wavering, it shatters the spell of the subject race in the eyes of the world, because it is the most convincing proof of a national hunger for freedom (Baghwat Charan, The Philosophy of the Bomb, 1930).

In December 1985 the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution (No. 40/61) that "unequivocally condemns, as criminal, all acts, methods and practices of terrorism". The seven major economic powers (France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, USA, Canada), meeting in Venice in June 1987, agreed that "whatever its motives, terrorism has no justification".

But what exactly do we mean when we use the word terrorism? British government calls it: "... the use of violence for political ends, and includes any use of violence for the purpose of putting the public or any section of the public in fear" (Prevention of Terrorism - Temporary Provisions - Bill 1989).

But this is too general to be accepted as a definition by all countries. In fact, about 150 different definitions have been suggested by governments, lawyers and terrorism experts, and there is still no agreement.

Murder, kidnapping, arson and other felonious (wicked) acts constitute criminal behaviour, but many non-Western nations have proved reluctant to condemn as terrorist acts what they consider to be struggles of national liberation (North Atlantic Assembly Paper, Sub-Committee on Terrorism Final Report, January 1989).

The political dimension of terrorism bedevils our attempts to study it in a scholarly or systematic fashion. The word terrorism itself is hopelessly loaded and is normally applied only to activities of which we disapprove... Even those who practice terror and who openly seek credit for bombings, hijackings and other such activities prefer to be known by other, less pejorative (insulting) titles. The cliche' that "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" is no less true for being trite (Gary G. Sick, "The Political Underpinnings of Terrorism" in International Terrorism, 1990).

So, we have established the first problematic aspect of terrorism - we can never describe it exactly because countries cannot agree on a definition!

But although people do not agree on whether, in particular circumstances, a group or an act can be called "terrorist", there are certain kinds of actions and activities that are associated with what we commonly call terrorism. These are: bombing; assassination; armed assaults; kidnapping; siege and hostage-taking; hijacking. These actions are not always terrorism in themselves but they will often be called terrorism if they are used as part of a political programme - that is, if they are used to try to influence the political choices of a government or particular group of people. Terrorism does not always involve violence, but it does at the very least involve the threat to use violence.

A "just war"

Most people feel that the use of violence for a political cause is justified in certain situations. The idea of a "just war" implies that people are fighting for freedom, for equality and for democracy. If people are not free, then fighting for freedom is to fight for a "just cause". Our ideas on the "just cause" depend on whether we think the government against which a group is fighting is democratic or not: that is, if we think that people's individual rights and freedom are represented, or that violence is the only effective means to change things.

Terrorism is always reprehensible whenever other means of political struggle exist, and where injustice can be put right by democratic means, or through mass pressure. Legitimacy comes to governments when citizens actively and meaningfully participate in the process of government (Walter Laquer, The Age of Terrorism, 1987).

(to be continued...)

Ref: Jamieson, Alyson. Points of View. England 1991.

This Is The Absolute Best Time To Start Your Home-based, Small E-Biz

By Amy Hewitt

You will never again see such a low risk, high reward opportunity - a true chance to grab the brass ring without betting the farm. If you have any kind of expertise, or hobby that can be turned into a business, or idea for a product to sell... stop thinking and do!

The Internet is the great liberator. It offers people the chance to live the life of passion and independence to earn a living the way Hall-of-Fame baseball catcher Johnny Bench used to earn his. "I still can't believe they pay me to play baseball" he used to say. Thanks to the Net, that life is now within reach of most folks with a passion and the desire to work.

A profitable mom-and-pop e-biz can be up and running for significantly less than $1,000. Of course, if you really want to spend $50,000 to get started, plenty of people will happily take your money! Seriously, you don't need much to begin.

The basics of HTML are simple to grasp. Sharp-looking, effective Web sites are easy to build. Web hosting is becoming more and more competitive. Various third party options are available for credit card processing so you won't need a big bank deposit for your merchant account.

Free "store" software makes selling multiple products a breeze. Cut and paste applications allow even technophobes to simply implement complicated programming feats on their seats. Low cost advertising options are springing up all over the place. All of these facilitate your smooth entry into e-commerce.

Now, all you have to do to start your e-biz is to just find a theme or concept to your Web site: Everyone, absolutely everyone, has a special interest... a passion. Everyone knows something that is of value to others. Something that others on the Net seek.

Passion makes work fun and easy. What is it that you love to talk about? Read about? A hobby? What do you do for fun and games? What are your natural talents?

Don't forget to look right under your nose... What special body of knowledge have you learned from your job? What do you do day after day, without even thinking about it (ex., child-rearing, taking care of sick parents, renovation contractor, customs inspector).

Think about what you do in a typical day, and what you've learned from it. What sections of a book store or a magazine shop do you automatically gravitate toward? What kind of TV shows do you tend to like most? Movies? What activities do you enjoy most about your current occupation? Is it research? Helping customers achieve their goals? Managing other people? Teaching or explaining things to others? Talking/selling on the phone? Organizing things? Making a process easier? Discovering or creating new products or services? Marketing products?

Problems are also a good source for ideas, because problems need solutions! What bugs you? What's tedious? What does not work? We all encounter obstacles, problems, nasty people in the course of whatever it is that we do every day. What are the three biggest problems in your work place? What are your biggest pains as a parent, or as a step-parent, or as a gardener (etc., etc.)?

Write down concepts as they hit you -- make as long a list as you can. Don't censor yourself. Just write down ideas for Site Concepts as they occur. Next, pick the three concepts that you love the most and that you think would have some appeal for others -- this is your "short list" of Site Concepts. Remember... if a concept really turns you on, you won't be working. You'll be playing. So focus on topics that you love.

The key to success on the Net for the small business owner is to master an in-demand niche. With a niche-focused business, your competition will be lower and it will be easier for targeted, interested visitors to find your Web site.

In the offline world, traffic is relatively easy to achieve its all about location. For example, an attractive, nicely merchandised store in a mall or on a busy shopping street usually means instant traffic - and sales, of course!

However, in the online world, no one just happens to walk past, see your product or service and enter. Surfers on the Net are not looking for you or your business. People search for information, for solutions. After all, if they knew you existed, they would not be searching. They would already be customers.

Online, you must generate your own traffic to be successful. Your primary task - well before you make your first sale or contract to a customer (often well before that person is even aware that s/he is shopping!) - is to provide the information (i.e., high value content) that people are searching for, in a way that the Search Engines (SEs) like. SEs are crucial to the success of your e-biz. You must be listed in their databases in order to generate substantial traffic. And traffic is the life-line of your business.

If you do that A higher search ranking at the engines makes your site easier to find. Your quality content (your words!) builds credibility in the minds of your visitors and converts them into warm PREsold customers. From there, you can easily get that click through to your monetization model (i.e., how you generate income). That could be your order page for your product, or your merchants site that you represent as an affiliate, or your contact form for hiring details, or Google's Adsense program, etc. This is what an effective Theme-Based Content Site is all about!

A Theme-Based Content Site is definitely the way to go - the winning formula - especially if you're operating on a shoestring budget and are interested in attracting free qualified traffic from the Search Engines. If you don't own your traffic, you don't own your business.

An effective Theme-Based Content Site will be searched-and-found by prospective customers -- a number that will increase steadily as your site gains in reputation and relevance at the Search Engines. Simply put, you will be building a site that works for you, not the other way around!

There is no need for a computer science degree or years of Internet experience or very deep pockets to pay for highly-priced consultants, reference books or software. Motivation, passion and effort are the key factors for achieving online success... not money.

The Net is still young... we have not yet scratched its surface. Start now, though, while the opportunities are still great. start now, while the savvy competitor is still a rare breed.

In five years, when the typical surfer zooms at a thousand times the speed of today, when Search Engines are no longer free or affordable (SEs are slowly switching to a pay-per-inclusion model.), the entrepreneurial dream will be far harder and more expensive to reach.

You will never again see such a low risk, high reward opportunity - a true chance to grab the brass ring without betting the farm. If you have any kind of expertise, or hobby that can be turned into a business, or idea for a product to sell... stop thinking and do!

Visit following Web page to find how people like you and me turn their hobbies and interests into a successful web business at:

http://www.myss.net/them.html

There is Something In It

By Ruel Mayo

Dr. Jose Rizal had an alcohol burner in his prison cell in Fort Santiago given to him by Pardo de Tavera so that he could use to warm his food. This alcohol burner played a great role in Philippine history for it bore Rizal's farewell and most touching poem "Mi Ultimo Adios."

Sometime between the night of the 29th and the 30th of December prior to his execution at Bagumbayan, Rizal wrote his poem. The fact that anything entering or leaving his cell was minutely examined, Rizal took the greatest precautions. After writing the poem, Rizal secreted it inside the fuel tank at the bottom of the burner.

The alcohol burner was among the last letters and books delivered to Narcisa's house later in the day of the execution. That night someone in the grief stricken family remembered the words of Rizal about the burner: "There is something in it." At first they were unable to see how there could be anything hidden in it. After some moments they found the hidden recess at the bottom, and with a hairpin managed to retrieve the carefully folded slip of paper.

It was a moment of combined anguish and excitement when the Ultimo Adios was read for the first time by the family. Each person made a copy then dispatched to their brother's friends abroad, to close friends in Manila, and to the rebels in Cavite province.

Today the alcohol burner is in the possession of Francisco Herbosa, grandson of Lucia Rizal Herbosa. A replica of this is displayed at the Rizal Shrine in Fort Santiago. Without this burner, we wonder where and how Rizal could ever kept his poem. What we certainly know of today is that the ever exalted poem continues to warm our hearts.

Remembering Saipan

Hafa adai!

Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, USA, is one of the must-see places in the globe stretching northwards from Guam. Formed by a rising coral reef, Saipan is a tropical paradise with magnificent white sand beaches, crystal clear blue water, and a natural abundance of fresh clean air. Saipan has about 70,000 inhabitants, wherein the natives are called the Chamorros and the Carolinians. Golf courses and resorts have popped up everywhere, being horded with Japanese tourists who flock to its shores.

There is native dancing, nightclubs, bars, several discos, fine international cuisine, modern shopping malls and plenty of duty free shopping. The island also boasts modern technological communication, and plenty of recreational facilities including five 18-hole golf courses. I went to Saipan to cover a national event, the 60th Anniversary Commemoration of the World War II Battles of Saipan & Tinian, last June 2004. Saipan is rich with historical landmarks.

The Last Command Post still has its tanks, cannons, war relics, and natural limestone cave fortress. The cave is where the Japanese hid when the bombs were dropped by the Americans to end the war. The cave leads to an exit at the back where the Japanese made their escape. The Banzai Cliff is what they call the death cliff, aside from the Suicide Cliff, which offers a spectacular view of the Philippine sea and the north shore of the island. These are the cliffs where hundreds of civilians and soldiers committed suicide by jumping from these rugged heights while futile banzai charges by Japanese soldiers attempted to stop the US invasion in June 1944, not wanting to surrender to the Americans. They'd rather jump off the cliff with their families and claim their lives.

The Bird Island is also a must see with its breathtaking view of a secluded emerald bay and provides a spectacular view of the surrounding coral reefed bay. It is an island in the midst of the waters with so many birds flying around. The scene is so serene, a good solace. It's just like a plain huge rock, but it's so amazing why the birds made it their habitat. And the black birds called the Noddies fly in groups, showing their prowess.

The Grotto Sanctuary is a huge limestone cavern connected to the open ocean by underwater passages - a super thrill for advanced scuba divers. It is the diving point that goes through a tunnel that leads to the ocean. It is a hundred feet down, and the stairs leading to the ground will give you a hard time climbing up again ;) unless you have very good athletic legs. Many Japanese and Korean groups came to dive, but its quite scary because the divers said you'll be dragged down to the middle of the ocean just like two tourists did some time ago, and they just had to float till the rescue team came!

I went to the American Memorial Park where I met Chuck Sayon, the National Park Ranger. The American Memorial Park honors the American and Marianas people who gave their lives during the Marianas Campaign of World War II. At the Park's Court of Honor and Flag Circle, the American flag proudly flies, flanked by the flags of the U.S. Marine Corps, Army, Navy, and Air Force. Surrounding the flags is a memorial containing over 5000 names of those who made the final sacrifice for freedom.

Situated on 133 acres (54 hectares) of land along the western side of Saipan, the Park commemorates those who fought in the Marianas campaign of World War II. The Park's concept of a "living memorial" offers activities enjoyed over half a century ago by American service men and women. Visitors to the Park can enjoy similar activities today, including water sports, tennis, softball, jogging and bicycling. Bordering the Park is Micro Beach, one of Saipan's finest white sand beaches, beckoning windsurfers, snorkelers, sunbathers and picnickers. A photographer's fancy, Micro Beach provides a breathtaking view of Managaha Island and dramatic evening sunsets. The park has a 1.5-mile walking path along its scenic and historic length. For the tennis enthusiast, the Park offers four tennis courts with night lighting for evening sets. The Park's modern 1,200-seat Amphitheater is a popular stage for a wide variety of local events such as the annual Liberation Day Celebration, arts and craft festivals, concerts, and graduations. The local government operates a public marina which is integrated within American Memorial Park.

American Memorial Park features a Court of Honor and Flag Circle, where the names of more than 5,000 American soldiers, seamen, and airmen who died in "Operation Forager" (the World War II battles for Saipan and Tinian islands) and in the Battle Of The Philippine Sea are inscribed. The Court of Honor and Flag Circle was dedicated in 1994, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Operation Forager. Over 100 veterans of the Marianas and Iwo Jima campaigns of World War II returned for the 50th Anniversary Commemoration ceremonies to pay tribute to their fallen comrades.

A carillon belltower in the park tolls every half-hour. At certain times of the day, bells chime the American and the Marianas Anthems, a selection of patriotic tunes, hymns, and songs of hope and cheer. The carillon plays Taps each evening to honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the fight for freedom.

American Memorial Park is managed by the National Park Service, in partnership with the Government of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).

I also got the chance to enjoy the Marianas feast, where there were lots of booths and a band playing at the park. I looked around and found out that many Filipinos were working and touring too. I actually never felt away from home. Most of the booths had Filipinos serving the food, and I asked one guy, and he said, "Yes, mam I'm a Filipino." Cool! And he gave me a feast for 4 tokens only, the nose tingling roasted squid, as in SQUIDDDD coz its real big, two large slices of roasted spare ribs and a red rice. Wow, I couldn't finish it so I had to take it back to the hotel.

There was a booth of shell accessories, and I looked at it, it was just like the same ones we have here in the Philippines. I bought one big shell pendant, with a nicely woven necklace. At a later day, I went at another souvenir shop buying accessories, with dolphin pendants. Saipan is known also for the dolphins of their beautiful ocean.

I stayed 3 nights at the Hyatt Regency Saipan, and 4 nights at the Saipan Koreana Hotel. Both are nice hotels, with the Kili Restaurant at Hyatt serving sumptuous buffet, and the Filipino cook at the Saipan Koreana serving a very luscious beef steak. The Hyatt has a very nice landscape, a park inside the hotel, reaching to the shores of the ocean. And there were fishes which look like baby sharks in their pond. I had dinner at Tony Roma's, with grilled signature Baby Back Ribs for over 30 years. Tender, juicy ribs with award winning signature sauces like Original, Carolina Honeys, Blue Ridge Smokies, Red Hots or our new Honey Chipotle and Dixie sauces.

When I came back to the Philippines, I had to admit that I missed the no traffic streets of Saipan, the cozy breeze, and the courteous motorists that stop if you have to cross a street, even if there were no stoplights.

(Ref: www.nps.gov.)


by Apple Rosales

From the Editor

We all read for so many reasons -- to escape, to entertain ourselves, to learn, and to understand the people and the world around us, to transcend our struggles. This issue of SchreiberMag offers a little bit of all of that. This issue is a provocative memoir about the spirituality of writing, the events which have led us to where SchreiberMag is now.

The power of words is what we always strive to celebrate as writers. I hope in this issue you will find the SchreiberMag not just one of the typical emags, but at the same time that we're giving you lots of info, you will find authors and articles you haven't read yet, and some knowledge you didn't have before. We want to shine a spotlight on a number of talented writers, even amongst student writers. Be among the first to read their impressive works.

Thank you for reading the SchreiberMagazin, and enjoy!

Apple Rosales
Editor

The SchreiberMagazin

The SchreiberMagazin is an online magazine featuring writers of all ages and interests. It covers an array of topics such as children, education, crime, health, information technology, travel, and sports. Plus, a variety of course, of writing-related topics. Feature articles offer information and inspiring articles of people around the globe.

It is also a venue for writers to freely express their ideas and communicate to a wide base of readers.


SchreiberMag is actively seeking writers who can contribute articles for the above-mentioned topics.

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