Ancient lore is filled with stories of The Spade.  We see the Spade every time we play a card game. At this symbol page, they suggest that “The spade represents a leaf of the “cosmic” tree, and thus life. Along with its companion suit, clubs, spades represent fall and winter and the power of darkness. In the Tarot, they symbolize intellect, action, air, and death.”

But here the stories only begin.  When we ask What Is The Symbolism Of A Spade, we need to dig deeper!

We find many phrases including the word Spade.  Black as the Ace of Spades is commonly used to refer to dark objects such as the sky at night or a person of color. In fact, the darkness of the symbol resulted in a racial epithet being used, referring to people of color as “Spades.”

We find a great history of the word Spade on Wikipedia. In war, the word Spade was used on several occasions. In World War II, the soldiers spray painted the word Spade on their helmets for luck since the Ace of Spades is the best card in the deck.

In the Vietnam war, the Spade was used as a psychological symbol. Since the spade is the “death card”, the US Soldiers would place it next to the bodies of killed Vietnamese soldiers intending to use the card to frighten the enemy.

At Wikianswers What does a Spade Stand For? , we learn the importance of which way the spade is actually facing. In the answer, they claim,

1) When the Apex or point of the Spade points up in the reading it means a conclusion, an ending. Considered the Death Card, meaning the death of circumstances, not people, 90% of the time. Remember, with death, there is always a new beginning. Death in reading cards is a door offering a new beginning. 2) Apex pointing down: The card is telling you about someone or something at a distance, not in this location, usually quite far away.

The spade comes into play a lot in cartomancy. Cartomancy is the art of divination using a common deck of playing cards. Here, you can read the playing card symbolism of a spade. And in the article Tarot Reading With The Suit Of Danger And Troubles, we learn more of the darkness of spades. This article also teaches the art of cartomancy.

And in church symbolism, we even learn that Adam–biblically referred to as the first man in the world–had the symbol of spade.

The symbolism of a spade is clearly not light. It’s not for summer. It is dark and powerful.

One thing is clear–The Spade demands respect!

Kurt Warner is an inspiration for us all.

Having lived in St. Louis, Mo for many years, I was a fan of Kurt Warner when he brought the Rams to the Superbowl.  Success could not have happened to a better, more humble person.

His is a story of belief in himself in spite of what all those around him said.  He wanted to play football and everyone told him to give up.  He didn’t.  He went from stocking grocery shelves to leading a team to the Superbowl in just a few years.

After a couple of bad seasons, he was traded and left for dead in the NFL for the better part of 5 years.  Once again, he believed in himself and kept himself sharp and ready.

The opportunity arose and now he is bringing another team to the Superbowl.

Everytime I see his story, I am inspired by his resilience and belief in himself.  His is truly a story of unique success, unique belief, and unique comebacks.

Enjoy the videos below on the career of Kurt Warner.

I was having some difficulty finding the right match for what I wanted.  Each of the Unique Gift Ideas for Women sites were turning up gifts that were not geared to my taste.

I suddenly discovered why this was.  All of the Women’s Gift Sites are created by women and women do not always recommend gifts that guys will like. Women recommend gifts that other women will like.

And so, it was a pleasant surprise when I came upon a site called Unique Women’s Gifts.  Well, truth be told, I thought it would be another site written by women and, again, I would be introduced to gifts that I was less than enthusiastic about.

However, the site Unique Women’s Gifts appears to be written by a guy with great appreciation for women.  The subtitle of the site is Extraordinary Gifts for Women.

This site recommends gifts for women that men find sexy.  And the author is not shy about saying that women dress for women and not men.

I thought that I would be lost in finding a Valentine Gift for My Wife.  But this site opened my mind.

The last two articles I read were called:  The Tank Top: A Natural Look and The Anklet: Highlight Your Beautiful Legs.

These are truly great Unique Gift Ideas For Women that highlight their beauty.

After buying my wife Roses for Valentines, I think might have to go buy her and anklet and a tank top!

I’ll keep checking back to Unique Women’s Gifts for great Unique Gift Ideas For Women!

 I always thought I was pretty good at this game, usually getting to Kevin Bacon within a few movies.  But, I cannot beat a calculator!

 This website is fantastic.  It is called The Oracle of Bacon.  Like google, it is a simple search box on the main page with a 6 Degrees To Kevin Bacon Calculator.

 For instance, I just typed in Elvis Presley to see what the results would be.  Did you know that Elvis Presley can be connected to Kevin Bacon through just one person:  Suzanne Covington. 

 For each person, the website has a Bacon #.  A Bacon # of 1 means that the person has appeared in the same movie with Kevin Bacon.  For example, Bill Paxton has a Bacon # of 1 because he appeared in Apollo 13 with Kevin Bacon.  A Bacon # of 2, like Elvis Presley has, means that the actor is only one movie removed from Kevin Bacon.

 The idea of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon started innocently enough.  Kevin Bacon, at a premiere for a movie, jokingly said, “I think I have worked with every actor in Hollywood.”

 Well, this idea took off in Entertainment circles and quickly spawned the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon which eventually led to the  6 Degrees To Kevin Bacon Calculator. 

 But is it true?  Is Kevin Bacon actually the Center of Hollywood Universe?  The answer is actually “NO!”. 

 As we see on this page of the Oracle of Bacon, Sean Connery has more links to other actors and actresses than does Kevin Bacon.  In fact, more than 1000 people in the business have better Bacon factors than Kevin Bacon himself. 

 You can view a list of the 1000 best centers of the Hollywood Universe!

 But the game just wouldn’t be the same if it were called Six Degrees from Rod Steiger!

 So, without further ado, here is a list of 10 Unique Speech Topics.

Unique Speech Topics

1. Materialism in Society
2. Reasons to Live Abroad
3. Are We All Victims of Marketing
4. Why Male/Female Relationships Are So Challenging
5. How Technology Compromises Progress
6. Why Stress Is Worse Than Smoking
7. Foods That Let You Live to 100
8. What Your Posture Says About You
9. How Texting Destroys Communication Skills
10. Does More Sex Lead to Happier People

To enhance your speech, you may want to visit How-To Become a Great Public Speaker.  This page is filled with video presentations on how-to improve your public speaking skills.