Category Archives: News to use

Useful news for all to advance knowledge of the world and how it works

It’s time To Bet On YOU – Belladonna’s Flashlight

How many times have you counted yourself out of the game?

But then you dared to bet on other people, betting that they would win at whatever they were after.

When you think about that, it seems odd that we will bet on someone’s success over whom we have zero control. But we sell ourselves short and declare the loss before we put forth the effort to win.

It’s time to stop betting on everyone else and snatch our win!

Short Story

The other day, I was listening to four women in their 50s. They were complaining about what their bodies could never do, and they assumed that they for damn sure couldn’t get their body to do anything now.

As they sat there enjoying their brunch, I saw sadness settle into their eyes as a fit lady walked past them. She appeared to be somewhere in her early 30s. She walked with her head high, high heels, fluffy hair, and makeup placed on to perfection.

She sat down as she waited for her friend to arrive for their brunch date.

When her friend walked in, she was equally as beautiful as her friend. She had fluffy jet-black hair, dark-colored jeans, a cream shirt tucked in with a Gucci belt, and low-cut cream boots with a wedge heel.

She was toned and obviously fit, AND she was a new mom of a 6-month-old baby!

The four ladies could not take their eyes off of the other two ladies, and that made me feel, well, I’m not quite sure how it made me feel, but I knew that I needed to talk with my 50-year-old crew. And when I did, they were fired up and ready to take their bodies to a place it’s never gone.

After speaking to them for only five minutes, I knew they had always counted themselves out before they began their fitness journey. Not anymore!

Today, they are betting on them, and it’s now your turn.

It’s time to bet on YOU!

You could have chosen any blog to read, but you chose mine, and I’m honored!

Source: It’s time To Bet On YOU – Belladonna’s Flashlight

Israel denies Turkey’s request to drop aid into Gaza, Turkish foreign minister says | Reuters

Israel has denied Turkey’s request to join air drops of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, and Ankara will take new measures against Israel in response, its Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Monday.
Turkey, which has denounced Israel for its offensive in the densely populated Gaza Strip and called for an immediate ceasefire, has sent tens of thousands of tons of humanitarian aid there since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7.

Source: Israel denies Turkey’s request to drop aid into Gaza, Turkish foreign minister says | Reuters

A hymn no one remembers… [NF 1:7] – Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

we feel its presence
not high up
but on a holy night
in the rustling pebbles under our feet

the hymn sadness
depleting happiness
sounds of muffled bells
like when we’re drunk

in a cursed chamber
rhymes of a traditional poet
dreary and sad
nauseating

in the night
our soul rest
enters a water fountain
the moment we celebrate the farewell of peace
peace as a running stream
makes you weep since it’s
rather deep
rather us
rather apart
rather aching…

oh then we’ll have to learn how to endure
what human beings must endure
endure endure and endure
before it’s no longer possible to endure it
since we’re dead
.
peace! peace!
one day there shall be peace
how many will hold their breath praying
the corpses raising their voice in a hymn

until they abandon their country…


Lê Vĩnh Tài, the poet and translator born in 1966 in Buon Ma Thuot, Daklak, Vietnam. The retired doctor is still a resident of the Western Highlands and a businessman in Buon Ma Thuot.

Source: A hymn no one remembers… [NF 1:7] – Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm