Hugo Roberts, writer
Photographs
Photo1, Customs Officer in Paramaribo, Suriname
Photo2, Writer/Psychologist in The Hague, The Netherlands
Photo3, Computer Consultant/Counselor in New York, U.S.A.
Life story
Like his stories the life of Hugo Roberts can be called anything except boring. Below and on the web sites is a biography of writer/editor/psychologist Hugo Roberts with a list of some of his award winning and/or published short stories. A few photos are above.
His interesting life started with his birth during World War II (1942) in a slum of Paramaribo, Suriname (South America; for information on Paramaribo & Suriname click here and under Related Topics). After eight years of school he had to start doing odd jobs to support himself and help support his family.
Love to laugh? Please click here for new jokes every week. |
A few years later he found steady work: in the jungle and finally as a customs officer in Paramaribo.
At the age of 20 he immigrated to The Netherlands (for information on Holland click here and under Related Topics), where he worked as a factory worker, bookkeeper and in the mid-60's as a computer programmer for Philips and ESSO (now EXXON). He started a computer school and service bureau "Systems 2000" in 1970, which was reason two newspapers (one in Suriname and one in Holland) printed his life story. After living in Holland for ten years and his business failed, he moved to the United States where he was a permanent resident, studied, worked in computers, and later as a counselor.
About two decades later, he moved back to The Netherlands where he initially worked as a social worker. He completed a graduate degree and attained the qualifications for a registered senior psychologist (Gezondheidszorgpsycholoog) just a few years before he was eligible for early retirement. In preparation for retirement he decided to seriously pick up his lifelong hobby: writing. He attended more than a dozen writing courses and workshops, such as at the Schrijversvakschool ‘t Colofon (now Schrijversschool) in Amsterdam and the correspondence courses Fiction Writing levels 1, 2, and 3 at The University of Iowa. Beatrijs Nolet, renown Dutch writer of children’s books and teacher of writer’s workshops, was an important teacher, mentor and coach; she taught him the nitty-gritty of the craft.
Because of his interest in people and their cultures he lived on four continents and traveled to 66 cities in 25 countries (see the map below) or visit his page on Facebook for an expandable version.
He was married a couple of times, has four children and three grandchildren. Presently he has a Nepali wife, a stepson and a stepdaughter, and lives mostly in Asia (Nepal, India and Cambodia).
and (final) placements:In 2007 his short story “Gita’s Song” won him a finalist status and a “Certificate of Recognition” in the ABC Words in Action writing contest; for details click: Hugo Roberts writer & editor: ABC Words in Action
The short story "Rise en Shine in de jungle" won him an honorable mention (“Bijzondere Vermelding”) in the annual Kwakoe Literatuurprijs 2005; please click: Hugo Roberts writer & editor: Honorable Mention.
With the short story "Het geheim van de tafel” (“The Secret of the Table”) he won the first prize in the annual Kwakoe Literatuurprijs 2003. News Kwakoe first prize award to Hugo Roberts writer & editor.
He is listed in Literary Prizes Netherlands of the Museum of Literature (Literaire prijzen Nederland van het Letterkundig Museum); for details click: Hugo Roberts writer & editor in Literary Prizes Netherlands. Or you can visit their site; please click: http://www.literaireprijzen.nl Look up by author: fill in the author’s name (Roberts) in the space labeled "zoek" and click "zoek". You can also look up by prize: roll down, select Kwakoe Literatuurprijs, and click "kies".
Do you want to know more about the Kwakoe (or Kwaku) Festival? Please click: Kwakoe Festival/Events Explained in Dutch: http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwakoe_Zomerfestival
| Fun with namesakes Please click: Everything About Names and Namesakes Hugo Roberts About Names & Namesakes |
Published stories:
His short stories are published (in English or Dutch) in the U.K., Suriname, Nepal, The Netherlands, and the U.S.A.
To see a complete list of his prose, please click: Complete list of Prose of Hugo Roberts writer & editor
Placement in an anthology is often based on a competition.
2007: "Highway Jaywalkers," June 24, 2007 in The Kathmandu Post/Fiction Park, Katmandu, Nepal. To read the (edited) story, please click: Kathmandu Post with Hugo Roberts writer & editor's "Highway Jaywalkers" (it's on the modelwatch page featuring Nepalese beauties). The original story “The Jaywalkers” has been changed by the editor to accommodate the readers in Nepal.
2006: "Bustle in the Bus" in BLINK: Flash Fiction Before You Can Bat an Eye, by Wanda Wade Mukherjee (Editor). Wake Forest, N.C., U.S.A.: The Paper Journey Press; ISBN: 0977315649; for details, please click: Blink with Hugo Roberts writer & editor's "Bustle in the Bus."
2005: "The Rookie Cop and the Thief," September 2005 in: eBook of Secret Attic (chosen as one of the best 20 out of more than 300 stories); for details, please click: Secret Attic with Hugo Roberts writer & editor's "The Rookie Cop..."
2004: "Het geheim van de tafel," January 31, 2004 in: De Ware Tijd/Literair, Paramaribo, Suriname.
2003: "Langszij," in: Het Gevoel (ISBN 90-5974-029-7); for details, please click: Announcing Hugo Roberts writer & editor's "Langszij" a winner and: Hugo Roberts writer & editor in judges' report.
2003: "Moord of doodslag in de trein," in: Openbaar vervoer (ISBN 90-75665-56-3); for details, please click: Openbaar vervoer with Hugo Roberts's writer & editor's "Moord of doodslag..."
2003: "Een kerstcadeau voor de buren," in: Een andere wereld. Gedichten en verhalen, vrije boekenbonus 2003. Amsterdam: Cultureel Centrum de Badcuyp.
2002: "Een bekend gezicht," in: FUGA, verzamelde korte verhalen van Nederlandse en Belgische Auteurs. Roermond: De Vleermuis uitgeverij bv, 2002 (ISBN 90 5757 0335).
2002: "Een kwestie van vertrouwen," in: Poëzie en Proza, Vrije Boekendagen 2002, editie Rotterdam.
On internet you can read more about his stories. Look with a search engine such as Google or Yahoo for “Hugo Roberts”.
| Writer’s resources one click away Please click: The Best of the Web My Favorite Writers Links Hugo Roberts's Writers' Resources |
Web sites
Award winning writer, editor, web designer, and former psychologist Hugo Roberts has three web sites featuring his life story, literary awards, published prose and poems. There are links to: writers' resources, to a page with the author's favorite books, other writers' resources: useful sites for writers, news by or about him, a complete list of his prose, to his namesakes (other people named Hugo Roberts) where you can find out about your own namesakes, a page with Frequently Asked Questions, and one with new jokes every week, and to a contact page for messages, comments, questions, or other feedback . You can also click here to go to Comments or scroll down to it and quickly post remarks or questions. Please help the author find a lost copy of an article or request his services.
| Facts at your fingertips? Please click here for useful questions and answers. |
Recent Additions:
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ),
Hugo Roberts'Travels (there's more useful travel information on this page), and a page with new jokes every week.
Webmaster and Web designer's Tools and Resources
Webmaster/Web designer's, and Writers’ Services / portfolio of sites/blogs created or maintained by us. Meet the Staff: HR RD
NEW! A site in Dutch: http://www.hugoroberts.net
Webtools at your fingertips?  Please click here for useful Webdesigner and Webmaster Tools. |
All sites offer the possibility to find out about your own namesakes and have forms for questions or feedback or to request services as well as an option to post an easy comment on the site.
1. The web site www.hugoroberts.com has the following additional features: links to other writer’s resources (publishers, writing contests, courses, tips, etc.) and the possibility to play the national anthems of Suriname, The Netherlands, the United States, and Nepal. Popular is the news page. To visit the site click:
Hugo Roberts writer & editor.
2. You can also visit Hugo Roberts' renewed site (used to be http://www.geocities.com/writerhugoroberts) by clicking: http://www.hugoroberts-writer-editor-webdesigner.com/. This site features a speaking character/virtual employee, a page Hugo Roberts' Travels with photos, and a handy page to bookmark: Webmaster and Web designer's Tools and Resources.
3. If you like to laugh, you certainly have to visit: www.writerhugoroberts.com/jokes.html for a page with new jokes every week (supplied by HumorMall.com).
Other blogs:
http://writerhugoroberts.blogspot.com. Offers comments, an Inspirational Quote, the latest computer/internet news daily, and a possiblity to search for programs (gadgets and widgets).
http://aboutnamesakes.blogspot.com/ is a blog where you will be entertained and informed about names and namesakes. You’ll find out the meaning, origin, and popularity of your name, Famous Namesakes, statistics, history, etc. The meaning of most names is given, not only of American and Anglo-saxon names, but also of African, Arabic, Chinese, French, Hindi, and Spanish names. You can post questions, comments, or articles or discuss everything about names and namesakes. Feel free to add a link to your site in all comments, essays, columns, and articles posted here or on any of my web sites or blogs. This will increase the popularity of your site (see pagerank, back links, and SEO terms explained also SEO WORK PAYS OFF).
http://anti-aging-wellness.blogspot.com
Fighting cancer takes energy, but also makes you aware of your body and the importance of prevention. So after my victory over cancer, I’m sharing that experience and inviting you to do the same if you’ve conquered a serious ailment. Visit this blog for information on health and wellness, and share or link to it.
Affiliates: The Best of the Web and My Favorite Writers Links (They have replaced: http://www.geocities.com/medb101/ and http://www.geocities.com/medb101/campus.html.
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eBooks or Paper Books?
I want to share a comment I wrote on Mr. Warren Adler’s article in The Writer’s Life of THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2008: The E-Book Revolution (click the article title to read it).
Writer Hugo Roberts said...
Dear Mr. Adler,
I enjoyed your article. You’re a veritable visionary. I have two libraries: a collection of paper books (I also love paper books) and a growing collection of digital books (I love them as well).
The digital books are easier to use and enjoy than the paper ones. For example, as a writer I use my dictionaries/thesauri several times a day and my encyclopedias several times a week. They are all a few clicks away. After I began using internet and digital books, I can’t remember the last time I went to a library for research.
We aren't there yet. I have to digitize many books myself that aren’t available that way. Taking notes from digital books is thwarted by the fact that one often can’t copy from digital books. Sometimes I can’t even search the book and have to use the old-fashioned index (if available) while doing my research.
So there’s still a lot of work to be done! I hope to publish a collection of short stories soon. I’ll make sure that it’s available both in paper and as e-Book, so I’ll offer it to publishers like you. If that’s possible let me know at http://www.hugoroberts.com/ where you can also see a list of my stories.
Sincerely,
Hugo Roberts
I’ve posted the news item below on http://www.hugoroberts.com/news.html::
AGAIN: PAGERANK AND BACK LINK INCREASE
April 20, 2009. The home (index) page of the site: http://www.hugoroberts.com/index.html has attained a Google PageRank of 2 and 118 Yahoo back links.
These numbers also increased for practically all other pages of this site; for example, this News page has a Google PageRank of 1 and 15 Yahoo back links.
Those who understand these terms, know that this is good news, for those who don’t, they are explained in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ),
along with a link to find out and increase these numbers for your own site;
please click: Frequently Asked Questions.
The item on my FAQ page is repeated below:
What does PageRank mean? What are back links? What does SEO stands for?
There are millions of web sites on Internet all competing for the search engines (such as Yahoo and Google) to locate them. These terms have all something to do with search engines and the way they find and rate sites.
PageRank: The most important sites are given a Google PageRank of 10 (PR10), while the least important sites are given a PageRank of 0 (PR0). For explanations and a link to find out and increase the PageRank of your own site; please click: http://www.urlpagerank.com
Back links: One of the ways to increase your PageRank is to have sites link to your site. The link popularity of your site increases as there are more links to your site. This you can check for the major search engines Google, Yahoo, MSN, AltaVista, and AllTheWeb, find out your PageRank, and lots of other useful information by clicking http://www.knowmypagerank.com
SEO (Search Engine Optimization): You can read about SEO and marketing in the article “Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Content Relevancy and Link Popularity Explained.” Click http://www.seo-news.com/ By now you must have become aware that there is a lot to this business. In fact, many companies do most or all of their business via Internet. To increase their sales, they may hire consultants like me to do their SEO (Search Engine Optimization). This way their company is found quickly and they are listed first or at least on the first couple of pages when potential customers search for certain products or services. For a free price estimate or to request services, click: Do you need Hugo Roberts’ help or services?
This is another news item I’ve published on http://www.hugoroberts.com/news.html: .
LIFE AFTER GEOCITIES?
April 26, 2009. Yahoo has recently announced that Geocities will be closed later this year. I, and I’m sure many other users, are grieving. Fortunately, Yahoo has given us enough time to prepare. I realize that there are a couple of things I have to do to before the shut down:
1. I have to think up a domain name. It is clear that I will not be able to use the old (Geocities) URL. So far I’ve used one of my domain names writerhugoroberts that Geocities had neatly prefixed to: http://www.geocities.com/writerhugoroberts/ . So I will have to dream up something new or else prefix and/or suffix writerhugoroberts again.
2. I have to find a place to host the site. I’m pondering over the question whether to use a gratis site again or not. Although free hosts offer a small monetary advantage, the disadvantage is that something like this may happen again. No matter how small a hosting fee one pays, it constitutes business that the host may want to retain or sell, instead of discontinuing it (even “After careful consideration...”). One of the tools I used is: Web Hosting Reviews
Thousands of web hosting USER reviews. Don't sign-up with any web host before checking out the web's biggest web hosting reviews site first, available at WebHostingReviews.com.
3. My biggest problem is the loss of SEO work (PageRank & back links, see the above comment on PageRank or click: Frequently Asked Questions for an explanation of these terms). The reputation and popularity of the site will vanish when Geocities does.
4. I also have to recapture the links from other sites by asking everybody to link to the new site. It’s to their benefit, since they will otherwise end up with a broken link.
5. Then comes the actual move, you’ve guessed it: I hate moving.
All in all, I think I’ll opt for a host who’s charging for the services. I don’t want to put myself and my friends through this again.
If you still have to go through this, I'll be happy to ease your pain by taking your Geocities sites through these five steps for a small fee. As a bonus I'll throw in a SEO tune-up that may inclease your PageRank and/or back links. For a free price estimate or to request my services, please click here for
Help or Services.
This is the last news item I’ve published on http://www.hugoroberts.com/news.html:
ON DOMAIN NAMES AND FREE HOSTING
May 18, 2009. In my previous news column, I argued against free hosts. Running into an outfit called a Dime a Dozen (“Web service providers are a dime a dozen, so why pay an arm and a leg?”) caused me to change my mind. The free hosting of a Dime a Dozen is like most others: ad supported. Yet they do it in a way that makes me feel more comfortable with it. For one thing, the ads are small and non-intrusive (go see for yourself at http://www.hugoroberts-writer-editor-webdesigner.com. This site is going to replace http://www.geocities.com/writerhugoroberts when Geocities discontinues its free hosting services later this year).
The other thing is that the free hosting is given as a reward when one registers a domain name with a Dime a Dozen. That gives me the idea that I’m their customer. Registering with them is a feat by itself. For the price of only registering my .com domain elsewhere, I could register all these domain names: hugoroberts.org, hugoroberts.net, hugoroberts.info.
Why would anybody want to do that? Most registration outfits will try to sell you those TLDs (TLD stands for top-level domain, it’s the letters following the dot, like the "com" in: mydomainname.com. For more/better explanations, see Note *). They argue that by owning them, your competitors can’t take away your business because of a typo or another mistake.
I have a more important reason. I looked up those domain names: THEY WERE AVAILABLE!
Then I began to imagine (I’m a writer, remember?) that ANYBODY could become owner of those names and use my name for God knows what seedy business. No way! If any disreputable business wants to use my name, they have to pick one of the more obscure TLDs like .ws, .cc, .cn, .gs, .jp, .me, and .mobi (the two last ones are also more expensive than the popular ones I own).
I then continued to imagine the businesses I wouldn’t like to bear my name. They are (in alphabetical sequence):
0 a bank (President Barack Obama--the man with four A's in his name--is working on restoring our faith in them, but for now: no thanks)
0 a racist (Obama is having a positive effect on those as well, by just being himself)
0 a terrorist (Obama is helping us to become less paranoid than we’ve been before President Bush left office, but still…)
0 a thief or other blue-collar crook (I haven’t figured out what effect Obama is having on those, but I suppose he’s watching them).
Back to the domain names. I urge you to claim the most popular TLDs for your web sites: .com, .net, .org, and .info; like I did. Check them out, they’re not available anymore, click: http://www.adimeadozen.com. Fill in a domain name (for example, hugoroberts.org) where it says Start Domain Search.
* Note
If you're interested in (registering) domain names, (free) hosting, or other things about the web and Internet, you can read more about these subjects by clicking: Frequently Asked Questions on Web Sites or by visiting: http://www.hugoroberts-writer-editor-webdesigner.com/webtools.html.
I would like to share with you a news column I’ve recently posted on: http://www.hugoroberts.com/news.html.
WARNING: YAHOO! 360° IS CLOSING! May 30, 2009. After I’ve shocked some of my friends and readers by announcing that Geocities will be closing later this year, today I came across stuff that’s even scarier: Yahoo! 360° is closing on July 13, 2009. After July 1, 2009, you will no longer be able to add or edit posts since your blog pages will be frozen. You have to act fast and even consider getting some help.
I’ve outlined the steps you have to take in my news column of April 26, 2009 (see LIFE AFTER GEOCITIES? see the above). If you can’t do all that by yourself, consider getting some help from site movers like me (with or without tattoos). You can contact me by clicking Quick Comments, or work via email: click here for a Question/Feedback/Contact form or the next link for a Service Request form.
Yahoo states that they will make “…it easy to download your posts and comments in a format that can be transferred into another blog tool. Please visit the Yahoo! 360° blog export page to begin moving your blog now.
For more details on this change and options for your blog, please visit the help center."The first link said that you could move your blog to your profile and start blogging there.
When I clicked the second link. I came into contact with the help center. I didn’t have a question about the move, but I had one troubling me for months. I’ve posted it everywhere (at least once), except here. The question is: will clipart be available after Geocities has discontinued its services later this year?
Explanation (optional): Later this year Geocities will close down. I've used scores of artwork that I got from http://pic.geocities.com/clipart/ (this link leads to Geocities' control panel). Will this service be still available after Geocities HOSTING services closes down? I’ll be grateful if you could tell me the answer a.s.a.p. If Yahoo also closes this service down, I'm in for a lot of work.
Of course there are other good sources of artwork on Internet. Find out about them and everything else you need to know in order have and maintain your own site; please click: Webmaster and Webdesigner's Tools . Meanwhile, good luck with the move (if you have to, like I do).
DIGITIZATION: CURSE OR BLESSING?
June 11, 2009. What I wrote on March 16, 2009 in reaction to Mr. Warren Adler’s The E-Book Revolution, stirred lively discussions among my readers, my friends, and me. It was also posted on http://www.hugoroberts.com/news.html.
In my comment (eBooks or Paper Books?) I wrote that “…digital books are easier to use and enjoy than the paper ones... [also] for ... research.” This interesting discussion is going on for a long time; read, for example, THE END OF BOOKS by John H. Lienhard, or Coover, R., The End of Books. The New York Times Book Review, June 21, 1992.
These discussions stimulated me to write the following sequel.
For me digitization is not progressing fast enough; for others, it’s like an approaching tsunami. Washington Post published a letter to the editor expressing fear that “…Google will be privatizing our libraries."
It turns out that Google was the only one willing to invest in the gargantuan project of digitizing millions of books held by libraries. A response to this op. ed. letter stated that “...the print works of the 20th century will be searchable, findable, readable and generally usable online, with large parts of the text readable online for free. [And that...] publicly owned library and others will keep print and digital copies safely in not-for-profit hands.”
Wikipedia states that Google Book Search is a tool from Google that searches the full text of books that Google scans, converts to text using optical character recognition, and stores in its digital database. The service was formerly known as Google Print when it was introduced at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2004.
Google has been working on digitization and book search since 1997 and was sued repeatedly for copyright infringement. Despite all this resistance progress is being made. In the second letter to the editor I quoted from in the above, the author declares: “As the steward of one of those libraries, a library that has had some 3 million of its works digitized by Google, let me assure readers that Google will not have a monopoly on the information that we hold.”
Three million sounds like a lot, until you realize that it’s estimated that there are 300 to 400 books published every day. Digitizing them is an ongoing and necessary chore, but there is more...
As you already know, computers and Internet have changed the appearance of text drastically. No more drab pages and pages of black on white text, but colorful, moving, text that seems to be alive. Text that’s often integrated with other media. These are exciting times. Let me leave you with a quote from Hyperizons that boggled my mind. I understand that since the early nineteen-nineties, authors, scholars, and technicians have been working on expanding the appearance and function of literature with
“...hypertext fiction (aka hyperfiction, interactive fiction, nonlinear fiction) [it] is a new art form that while not necessarily made possible by the computer was certainly made feasible by it. Its creators make use of hypertext--of which the Web is only one widespread albeit limited incarnation--to create fiction with many features uncharacteristic of print fiction: multiple paths through the same text; multiple endings (and beginnings); questions posed to the reader which, once answered, influence what the reader will read; audiovisual attachments; navigable maps; and so on and so on. Readers seeking more extensive definitions of hypertext fiction are invited to browse through the Theory and Criticism section or, better yet, simply start reading a few works--artists always outstrip their would-be definers.”
I’ve posted the following item on my web site http://www.hugoroberts.com/news.html
and on my blog http://writerhugoroberts.blogspot.com
CLOSING DATES
July 17, 2009. This week Yahoo has given us a couple of firm dates:
“Yahoo! 360° closed on July 13, 2009. You can still move your blog posts from 360° until August 19.”
“GeoCities is closing on October 26, 2009. On October 26, 2009, your GeoCities site will no longer appear on the Web, and you will no longer be able to access your GeoCities account and files.”
If you’re not sure about what to do, read my above posting “LIFE AFTER GEOCITIES?” or on my other blog: http://writerhugoroberts.blogspot.com.
I’ve posted the following item on my web site http://www.hugoroberts.com/news.html
and on my blog http://writerhugoroberts.blogspot.com
USING GEOCITIES’ CLIPART AFTER SHUT DOWN
August 1, 2009. In my piece "LIFE AFTER GEOCITIES?" of April 26, 2009
(see the above) and http://writerhugoroberts.blogspot.com), I expressed my concern that the clipart I (and many other clients) obtained from GeoCities wouldn’t be available after GeoCities closes down on October 26, 2009. We got the pictures from http://pic.geocities.com/clipart/ (this link leads ominously to GeoCities' control panel). Yahoo has emailed me what I could do to keep using their clipart. They wrote:
“With your pages and images saved offline, you can re-create your site
with any hosting provider, including Yahoo! Web Hosting. Learn how to
move to Yahoo! Web Hosting (http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/geocities/close/close-06.html).
The simplest way to download your published pages and images is to visit your GeoCities web site...”
However the steps given do not download images (only HTML). To learn how to do that, visit:
How to Download a Picture From the Internet.
By the way, make sure you bookmark the http://www.ehow.com site. They not only have useful information on how to do things on Internet, but on virtually everything. There are tips from Arts & Entertainment, Business, etc. all the way up to Travel, and Weddings.
DOES BARACK OBAMA DESERVE THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE?
On October 16, 2009, I have posted the following piece in The New York Times’ Blog. Please feel free to refer to it, or better, link to it. It is also posted on:
http://www.hugoroberts.com/news.html,
http://writerhugoroberts.blogspot.com , http://www.oprah.com/community/blogs/writerhugo.
Of course many Americans feel that President Barack Obama did not deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. There are a couple of reasons for that:
1. He is only nine monthe in office and has many years to go; nobody knows what will happen in those years.
2. He has inherited a lot of problems that are screaming for an immediate solution.
Why I think he deserves it:
1. He has already changed the way the world sees the United States: from bully to a much needed strong friend able to bring peace and other changes to the world.
2. He has set the tone and changed the culture in which the world views peace, the environment, and many other issues.
3. Anybody with such a track record (after only nine months in office) and such an ambitious agenda needs to be encouraged. Only timely encouragement will do any good.
Why is he experiencing such strong opposition in his own country?
1. People do not like changes: it is difficult for them to change the way they think and act. This president requires that.
2. The change that seems to bother most people is that from viewing Ameica as a strong, independent nation, to an interdependent part of a greater world.
3. There are no immediate results for America’s pressing problems.
I already see changes in the attitude of other countries: Russia and China, for example. I’m convinced that this prize will stimulate President Obama to continue on the path he has envisioned and I hope he will succeed. It is not for nothing that he has four A's in his name.
I’ll be happy to continue this discussion here or on my web site/blog:
http://www.hugoroberts.com/news.html or http://writerhugoroberts.blogspot.com, or http://www.oprah.com/community/blogs/writerhugo.
On October 26, 2009, I have posted the following piece on: http://www.hugoroberts.com/news.html and http://writerhugoroberts.blogspot.com .
GEOCITIES CLOSED DOWN TODAY
October 26, 2009. Those who read this news page regurarly have seen it coming and were fully prepared. That means: they have found themselves a new host and have moved their site to that new host.
There is one more thing that needs to be done: everybody who linked to your GeoCities sites have to link to your new site. If they don’t make that change, they and their visitors—and what is worse, the search engines, will run into a broken link.
Good luck on your new site (if you had to move, like I did). My new site is: http://www.hugoroberts-writer-editor-webdesigner.com. This site replaced my GeoCities site.
Another site I moved over from GeoCities is now hosted under the name www.hugoroberts.info. Please visit this interesting site by clicking: The Best of the Web and My Favorite Writers Links.
WHO DESERVES A NOBEL PEACE PRIZE?
Part 1 of 2
On October 26, 2009, I have posted the following piece in The New York Times’ Blog. It is also posted on: http://www.hugoroberts.com/news.html and http://writerhugoroberts.blogspot.com .
For the first time Americans find themselves in a position the rest of the world population always occupies. Usually, Americans determine who is going to be the most powerful person in the world. This time, five Europeans have decided that this most powerful man is also the most peaceful. Much to the chagrin of many Americans who would like to have waited with accolades till there are more tangible results. However, this is not one of the requirements.
Nobel Peace Prize Committee’s head Thorbjoern Jagland said they followed the guidelines: "Alfred Nobel wrote that the prize should go to the person who has contributed most to the development of peace in the previous year." Jagland added, "Who has done more for that than Barack Obama?" The committee mentioned Obama's: "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," his efforts to ease U.S. conflicts with Muslim nations and to strengthen the U.S. role in combating climate change. Finally, they attached "special importance to Obama's vision and work for a world without nuclear weapons".
The prize has been awarded to many "undeserving" Nobel Prize laureates, most of which are long forgotten. For example:
1. Bertha von Suttner (1905) who corresponded with Swedish philanthropist Alfred Nobel about the peace movement.
2. Henri La Fontaine (1913) Belgian professor of international law and senator.
3. Ludwig Quidde (1927), a pacifist of the early 20th century. Quidde shared the Nobel Peace Prize with:
4. Ferdinand Buisson (1927), a French educator.
5. Norman Angell (1933), English author and economist.
6. Arthur Henderson (1934), British politician and trade unionist.
7. Eisaku Salto (1974), Japanese statesman.
8. Alva Myrdal (1982), for her work on behalf of disarmament; she shared the Nobel Peace Prize with:
9. Alfonso Garcia Robles (1982), Mexican diplomat who devoted himself to the cause of nuclear disarmament.
10. Joseph Rotblat (1995), who founded an organization that works to eliminate nuclear weapons.
As far as results of the Nobel Peace Prize are concerned, we still have no nuclear disarmament, no peace in the Middle East, but instead we have scores of wars and armed conflicts raging throughout the world.
Continued on next comment.
Continued from previous comment.
WHO DESERVES A NOBEL PEACE PRIZE?
Part 2 of 2
In an interesting article posted on Internet: “Obama Not First Surprising Nobel Peace Prize Winner: Seven Controversial Recipients,” David A. Graham mentions:
Elihu Root (1912), former U.S. secretary of state, who formulated the U.S. policy in the Philippines. “The brutal American occupation there resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Filipinos—some estimates range as high as 1.5 million—between 1899 and 1902.”
Woodrow Wilson (1919) “had brought the world's states together under the umbrella of the League of Nations,” and was instrumental to the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, that could not prevent World War II, while the “…league, for its part, was impotent to stop the rise of Hitler, the militarization of Germany, and Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia.”
Henry A. Kissinger (1973) “…was implicated in the escalation of America's Vietnam War strategy and accused of supporting right-wing dictators to advance American Cold War policy, at the expense of democracy and human rights in their countries.”
Anwar al-Sadat (Egypt) and Menachem Begin (Israel) shared the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize.
James Earl (Jimmy) Carter (2002) for whom “…the finest moment of his career was overseeing the Camp David accords that produced Begin and Sadat's treaty.”
Earlier Graham wrote in his article that “Obama [is] closer to Woodrow Wilson than Yasir Arafat on the "Wait, seriously?" spectrum of winners.” Nevertheless the 1994 prize went to: Yasir Arafat (Palestine), Shimon Peres (Israel), and Yitzhak Rabin (Israel).
Six winners who have yet to produce tangible results.
Another questionable recipient Graham labeled “seem beyond dispute” Mother Teresa of Calcutta (India) (1979). In my opinion, she did not do much to promote world peace. She didn’t even make a big difference to the poor of India besides working with and for them (Obama’s specialty) and discouraging the use of birth control in a country that needs it the most.
Still I feel that the Nobel Peace Prize Committee serves a useful purpose, not in the least because it keeps peace on our minds by awarding the prize to “undeserving recipients.” Perhaps this may cause Americans to be more thoughtful about electing the most powerful person in the world.
I’ll be happy to continue this discussion here or on my web site/blogs:
http://www.hugoroberts.com/news.html , http://writerhugoroberts.blogspot.com , or http://hugoroberts.blogspot.com.
You’re invited to partake in the lively discussion on
http://www.oprah.com/community/blogs/hw_roberts.
A NEW STAFF MEMBER AND A NEW BLOG
December 22, 2009.
New Staff member
Recently Rajendra Dhami joined our full-time team as a web designer, he was a part-timer for over two years. There are now two full-time web designers and two freelancers on our staff (along with one full-time writer/editor and two freelance writers/editors). Rajendra will be focusing on PHP and HTML for forms, etc. You can read his resume by clicking: Resume of Rajendra Dhami.
New Blog
The staff has been occupied with SEO and other task to improve the sites. Recently only one new blog has been added: http://aboutnamesakes.blogspot.com/. On this blog you will be entertained and informed about names and namesakes. You’ll find out the meaning, origin, and popularity of your name, Famous Namesakes, statistics, history, etc. The meaning of most names is given, not only of American and Anglo-saxon names, but also of African, Arabic, Chinese, French, Hindi, and Spanish names.
You can post questions, comments, or articles or discuss everything about names and namesakes. Feel free to add a link to your site in all comments, essays, columns, and articles you post here or on any of my web sites or blogs. This will increase the popularity of your site (see pagerank, back links, and SEO terms explained).
SEO WORK PAYS OFF
December 31, 2009.
Below are the results of six months of Search Engine Optimization Work
The work we've been doing on SEO (Search Engine Optimization; see SEO, pagerank, and backlink explained) is paying off. Below is a comparison between the Google Page Ranks (PR) and the Yahoo Backlinks (BL) by the end of June versus these numbers by the end of December 2009. The level of June was attained in the preceding six months, as you can read below in AGAIN: PAGERANK AND BACK LINK INCREASE.
Because of the closing of Yahoo! 360° and GeoCities, the pageranks may only show a slight increase. Nevertheless, the Google Page Ranks have increased significantly.
Site/Page/Blog June PR & BL Dec. PR & BL
www.hugoroberts.com 2 190 3 192
www.writerhugoroberts.com 1 178 2 191
www.writerhugoroberts.com/faq.html
0 16 2 25
www.writerhugoroberts.com/jokes.html
0 22 2 25
www.hugoroberts-writer-editor-webdesigner.com
0 18 1 30
www.hugoroberts-writer-editor-webdesigner.com/webtools.html
0 13 1 24
www.webmasters4design.com 0 0 1 29
www.webmasters4design.com/HugoRobertsHomePage.html
*) *) 1 22
www.hugoroberts.info 0 4 1 26
www.hugoroberts.info/resources.html
0 1 1 24
http://writerhugoroberts.blogspot.com
0 0 1 28
http://aboutnamesakes.blogspot.com/
*) *) 1 22
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Note: *) Did not yet exist.
April 17, 2010
KOLKATA (CALCUTTA) FIRE
The items below caused an enormous increase in our number of visitors (along with our Webring subscriptions), not only where they appeared (see: Kolkata (Calcutta) fire of March 23, 2010. but also to the sites they referred to Fickr for photos and YouTube for the 8 videos (total 20 minutes):
Firefighting and Rescuing,
Onlookers and Firefighters Help
Heroic Rescue Effort,
From Victims To Onlookers,
Park Street at night,
Top Floors Demolished
Ruins On Park Street,
and Remains and Onlookers.
April 19, 2010
MORE VIDEOS ON YouTube
Because of the success of placing the videos of the Kolkata (Calcutta) fire of March 23, 2010 on YouTube, I’ve uploaded a few more Cambodia videos. Please click below for the 6 videos (total 5 minutes):
Cambodia’s 32 story tallest building,
Sea monsters in the display window,
More sea monsters in the display window,
Once more my favorite sea monsters,
Phnom Penh Hotel a beauty. and
Child laborer, tuk tuk, traffic light, and rickshaw.
EGYPT AND ISRAEL
The sites and blogs of Hugo Roberts have attracted visitors from over 75 countries.
Egypt was the 75th and Israel the 76th country to visit us. You can see these countries
with top 10 and top 20 ratings. For the list, click: FAQ. You will also be able to look up all countries on the map below this list.
HUGO ROBERTS’S LIFE STORY RANKED
33 OUT OF 767
In a couple of recent postings, for example, “The best 768 websites about Cultures,” AboutUs listed Hugo Roberts’s life story number 33 (the version on the site http://www.writerhugoroberts.com; the version on http://www.hugoroberts.com, ranked 36). Both sites are featured in more than 4 other lists: they are number 42 and 43 on the list The best 861 websites about Literary - AboutUs Ranked Websites, and 128* and 129* on Poems- Written Works Straight From the Heart. In a more obscure list these sites were even ranked number 2 and 3 (see The best 59 websites about Computerschools - AboutUs Ranked Websites) .
* If you don't see what you're looking for on the list, click 50 or 100 at the bottom of the page (where is says Show up to 20 50 100 more) to see the rest of the list.
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