Advertising Affiliate Advocate

as if I could forget 2008 really ...

2009-01-03T17:44:00.000-08:00

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The week is not over and already it is a new year.

Okay, the week is over, but I wrote that yesterday ... ?

Already it is a new year and the same week still is in progress ...

Today, three days ago is a bygone era for some folks, a time they want to forget, or bury, believe "this year" will be different

... unfolding the same buzz, same complaints, same crying, same bloody mess.

Oh, I want this year to be different too, and I can pretend same as anyone.

This year will be different too, but in how many "same old ways" will it be ?

New Year joy, I feel it too, and could I forget 2008 I would have a truly empty head for all that occured in my life during this past year - as if any of it could be forgot by changing the calendar on the wall to a new set of photos created to tag 12 months of a new year, added to my kitchen like an electric plug-in aerosol freshener.

Ya think ?

I see huge potential and opportunities in the year ahead, but ...

People who make predictions leave me cold.

So many of us are so easily, and sometimes so powerfully, suggestible, so that someone pretending to predict what will happen in the world may cause more harm than anything else, more harm than good to be sure.

I mean, if someone has true psychic ability which is not used for gain, or is able to forecast for a particular individual using the "science" of the Horoscope, that is a good thing and I am not opposed to it; but someone who broadcasts a general "impression" of some catastrophic event, causing unknown people to react in fear, or worse, seeding some warped mind with an idea he may not have come up with on his own, then irreparable damage and harm is done.

Meanwhile, our "analysts" continue to fail us, softening the needed punch with lines like, "Expect a modest recovery toward the end of the new year ..."
- like Roman Senators insisting on maintaining the pomp, post-Empire.

Forgetting the Old Year is like "forgetting" a happy relationship that failed
- to forget would seem to make it less than important, as if it did not matter at all, when had it not mattered, one would not have invested as much energy into it, eh ?

No, this year I am going to work harder at having real conversations with people.

I will work harder at being patient, which is not much of an effort for me as it is, and at same time allow less BS to intrude from without, or interfere from within.

Not starting fresh, I will continue to question whether I am one who, as John says, is "... just sounding gongs, repeating the same old dead mantra over and over," since sometimes I "sound" that way to myself.

The greatest challenge seems to be meeting, or knowing, those who "know what they know" - of which I ain't one, since the more I know, the more I am aware I do NOT know, but having reconstructed what I thought I knew, I am more sure of myself each day, less locked in than at points in my past.

Another challenge for me, almost as large, is listening to someone who does know something, but has not developed an ability to condense what he knows to a form the average person can bear, at least as a way of introducing his ideas; my ability to follow such an individual wanes and however truly interested I am in what is being said seems contradicted by my frustrated body language.

My third biggest challenge this year will be trying to move a little faster, doing things a little sooner, getting more things done, while staying "relaxed" ...

Worth a try, eh ?
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punch through without fear ...

2008-12-31T19:53:00.000-08:00

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Adapted from Chicago attorney Anthony Reeves ...

One of the most horrifying things about pushing your way to success is when you get to that point where you are ALMOST there!

That point is scary as hell!

Not sure what I am saying ? While you are driving towards a goal, you are focused solely on that goal. You are used to being in the trenches, grinding away. You are making new relationships, fine tuning your craft, trying out options and opportunities. You are doing everything you need to do. You are fighting your battles. You take a loss here and there, you lick your wounds and you keep on fighting.

Then one day, it finally happens. You get that opportunity. It is the one that you have struggled, pushed, and scraped for and now it is in your hands. You deserve it. You earned it. You fought for it. It is yours!

Then, it happens! You pull back a bit.

What the hell are you pulling back for now?? You are a warrior. You fought for this moment! This moment is YOURS!

It is time to make work for you, happen for you, produce for you.

The problem is your wounds! You have been beaten down so many times. You have had so many "great opportunities" thrown your way that turned out to be nothing. You have had to 'pick yourself up' after being thrown to the curb. You have been used and taken advantage of too often. You are just at the point where you are just NOT sure if this IS it. So many times, you have told yourself you would know when you reached your goal, but after getting burned so many times, you are not sure any more.

Well, STOP pulling back the reigns. Part of the reason you got THIS far is because you were NOT afraid to jump into the fire. You were NOT afraid to *punch through* when you thought you had hit the jackpot. The simple fact is, there really is NO magical "I have arrived" moment. It just does not happen that way. The *pot of gold* is not at the end of the rainbow. The *pot of gold* is when you started following the rainbow because you were not afraid to get outside and walk in the rain.

There are COUNTLESS stories of individuals who pushed and kept pushing until they got to where they wanted to be, to where they are. If you keep chipping away at the wall, do NOT worry if you cannot put a hole in the wall. Keep chipping away, and the wall will fall down on its own!
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a spammer on the loose ...

2008-07-25T07:57:00.000-07:00

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A Spammer on the Loose
July 24, 2008 by E. Garcia

" According to http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/30231 , notorious Spam King Eddie Davidson and who earned millions through his company, Power Promoters, has escaped from a federal prision [sic] camp and is now on the loose. See http://denver.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/2008/spamking072208.htm

Davidson made a fortune by providing marketing services for companies by sending huge amounts of email spam. The news reads that “the spamming was designed to promote the visibility and sale of products offered by various companies. Davidson utilized the services and assistance of other individuals who he hired as “sub-contractors” to provide spamming at his direction on behalf of his client companies, the DOJ said”

I wonder who these companies and “sub-contractors” really are and when they are going to be held accountable. I also wonder if similar crooks are still behind the scene doing the usual activities (email spam, click through fraud, spamdexing, misrepresentation of products and services, etc).

Not insinuating anyone in particular, but whether you are a traditional marketer, a “bloggeter” (blogger + marketer), or a search engine optimization marketer, think about the consequences of becoming a spam marketer. All of your web trails are under constant watch by the IRS, DOJ, and few others…

Prospective clients: resist the temptation of doing business with such kind of people. You can also be held accountable for being an accessory. "
- http://irthoughts.wordpress.com/

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what is it that you actually do ... ?"

2008-02-16T20:51:00.000-08:00

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This morning a young man kindly asked me:
"What is it that you actually do ... ?"

I have always despised scripts - scripted answers or "responses" - and I believe good Customer Service requires a genuine spontaneity, a word Webster describes first as:
"the quality or state of being"

BEING - not pretending or acting - BEING

In other words, RELAX - say anything you want, but mean what you say, do not make promises you cannot keep, do not lie, and if you must pretend, do not forget that is what you are doing.

I said to him:
_
"Besides being available to answer "any question, any time" (which is not to say I have all the answers, but consistent with my Customer Service background), I am available to referee the seemingly never-ending eruption of disputes between individuals these days, and I struggle every day to maintain a "calm" (thus presentable) irateness at what is going on around us human beings, and what is happening to us as human beings, in a society which seems increasingly focused on detaching itself from the very NATURE which has sustained us as living beings since our creation as living beings.

When asked, we may sometimes have to answer, "I don't know," yet as I see it, that process should stimulate progress toward what is being sought, and people usually do not so much want an answer as they need a workable solution.

In my view, "How can I help you?" ought always be higher priority than "What's in it for me."

I simply seek "enough" and to give back in return for a very fine life, Sir."
_

His question, and my response, touches on something which most days "simmers beneath the surface" - something I would like to discuss more with certain qualified individuals ...

-- advertising --

Advertising can be in your face rude and obnoxious, "stupid making" and intelligence numbing, and it can be so subtle as to be unrecognizable.

Advertising certainly is an art, and one which can cause immense good, and also immense harm.

I advertise every day, and some people "see" it, and most do not.

For the "noticeable" forms of advertising I often find myself too disgusted (as I pointed out to a friend who PMed me about an article on autos which was no more than an advertisement disguised as "information"), and moreso on the Internet for all the "promises" which in no way or form can ever possibly be kept - most of which is written by someone else and simply "passed through" without apparently the "advertiser" giving much, if any thought, to what is being said.

My belief is that GOOD advertising goes unnoticed
- is a message which does not get in the way of what the message is about.

So much talk of abundance, which is truly all around us, and yet so many of us remain focused on "getting mine" and "getting more" with never an apparent thought for what is "enough" - not enough for "me" but enough for US
- all of us, everyone, all deserving of the same.

Oh, I would SO much like to hear what YOU have to say in response to this : )
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her sudden irriation sat me back in my chair ...

2008-01-24T08:01:00.000-08:00

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A friend began a conversation online by asking me what I see in years ahead.

Wanting to be positive, and not having any trouble doing so, as usual, I went with my first thought.

I wrote "Excitement !!!"

A very easy answer for me because I cannot imagine how anyone can make it through a day with all the challenges we face and actually stay "calm"

Everyone wants me to be "more positive" it seems, not quite comprehending how insanely *positive* I am already.

I do try.

Over the next half hour we talked of many things, I explained a complex process she had not thought of, and we mostly agreed on a variety of subjects.

I admitted that I had forgotten it was she who had sent me a certain article which I found extremely informative - too many things coming in here to remember where they all come from

What surprised me after all the things we shared was her sudden irritation.

Yes, I CAN "hear" that right through the little black and white characters feeding into my screen.

"How can you be excited about misery and people dying?" she demanded of me.

I said to myself, "HUH?" and sat back, staring at my screen.

"I cannot think of anything I said that might make you think that I would EVER be excited about people dying," I wrote back.

"Go back and read the first thing you said in this conversation," she said.

Uh ... "That is not what I meant," I said ...
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what constitutes agreement ... ?

2008-01-11T18:00:00.000-08:00

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For me, when someone says, "I agree"
... there is not much to be said in return except, "Thank you."

The statement, "I agree," really does not convey much of itself, and one may do well to take a good look and the person who is "agreeing" to make sure they are in good health.

I do not believe there is ever such a thing as *100% total agreement*

Could happen ...

Saying "I agree" can mean a lot of things, such as:

- I am tired
- I want to go home
- I do not want to argue
- I do not totally agree but I do not want to discuss it

If one wants to talk more, there are ways to signal general agreement, and to at the same time qualify, or characterize that agreement with limits or exceptions.

Silence can also signal agreement, or silence can mean other things, like:
"That makes me SO mad!"
- which might be anything BUT agreement, so we have to learn to "listen" to silence.

Of course we can disagree with each other and be kind in doing so
- we can.

If there is a point in disagreeing with someone, seems to me that is opportunity to offer what light we believe we personally possess - not simply to disagree, or to be, or to be perceived as, simply disagreeable.

If you disagree, smile, and I will understand ...

btw Happy New Year ! - Nice to see you again : )

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no god-damned corporation gets to censor us !!!

2007-09-17T10:33:00.000-07:00

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Okay, so send this message to everyone you know, right now:

“If mothers ruled the world, there would be no god-damned wars
in the first place.”

Attribute that line to Sally Field who had courage last night to say it in front of the entire world.

Whatever is Fixed News' role in diminishing Field's statement is their problem.

We will not accept censorship !
- Americans w i l l n o t a c c e p t c e n s o r s h i p

Whether or not God exists is irrelevant to what Sally Field said last night.

What Sally Field said last night has nothing to do with religion

Wars are conducted every day in spite of religion - in spite of God.

If you believe God is alive, do you really think God approves of WAR ???

Sally Field spoke truth, and no god-damned corporation gets to censor it
- period !!!

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0Ftq9N4fzo

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news from kiva.org ...

2007-08-22T19:28:00.000-07:00

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Dear James,

Thank you for supporting small businesses in the developing world through Kiva.org. Your $100.00 loan to Imongolet Abraham, administered by Kiva's Field Partner, Women's Initiative to Eradicate Poverty, in Uganda has been refunded. $100.00 is now available to you as Kiva Credit. The next time you log into Kiva.org, you'll be able to re-lend this credit to another entrepreneur, withdraw it or donate it to help support Kiva's operations.

Reason for the refund:

As you may be aware, each business on Kiva's website is posted by one of Kiva's 60+ Field Partners in 39 developing countries. A Field Partner is an independent microfinance institution that has a history of lending to the poor for a social purpose. They screen each entrepreneur, post his/her profile on the Kiva website, and administer your loan.

Kiva routinely audits each Field Partner to ensure your loan is being dutifully administered to the entrepreneur you've selected. In the course of auditing our Field Partner, Women's Initiative to Eradicate Poverty (WITEP) in Uganda, Kiva discovered that some entrepreneurs were not receiving the full amount of their loans.

This violates Kiva's policies and we have terminated our relationship with WITEP. All of the loans made to entrepreneurs served by this Field Partner have been refunded. We hope you realize that our audit uncovered a true exception to the norm; the vast majority of our Field Partners administer your loans with the highest integrity. Kiva will continue to audit Field Partners to ensure your loan is being dutifully administered and to make our website a model for transparency in international development.

To help inform your choice of Field Partner as well as entrepreneur, we have launched a new feature on the site which helps you evaluate the Field Partner's performance in your lending decision. See www.kiva.org/about/partners/ for details.

We hope that you give lending to the working poor another chance by re-lending your Kiva Credit to a new entrepreneur on our site.

Sincerely,

The Kiva.org Team

p.s. To re-loan your credit to another entrepreneur, log into
http://www.kiva.org/ pick an entrepreneur and select
"Pay with Kiva Credit" when you checkout.
_______

Frontline/World, April 10, 2007.
"Uganda: A Little Goes A Long Way"
Show synopsis: "A San Francisco company has taken the idea of microfinance and upgraded it for the Web. Radio reporter Clark Boyd... travels to Uganda for FRONTLINE/World, where the first recipients of money collected through Kiva's Web site are building and expanding businesses. Watch the video here:
- http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/uganda601/uganda-601.html?c=3qt

I LOVE IT !!! We cut out the banks !!!

-- Our plan is not to fix the old, but to create the new. --

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when I hear talk of abundance ...

2007-08-09T09:27:00.000-07:00

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Maybe it is only in my own thinking, but more and more, as I listen to other people talk about Internet marketing, and the inevitable talk of "abundance" comes forth, what I hear is only what that person can acquire, can capture and hold, what that person can accumulate for himself or herself, from the "occupation" of Interntet Marketing.

That "occupation" usually requires the assistance of others, an ever-expanding "army" of those who will follow in lockstep to go out and find others who will follow in lockstep some pre-packaged, manufactured, and fully polished version of ... "marketing"

I see no way I am going to write this and NOT be misunderstood by 95% of readers
- many of whom would argue ...

"Why write it at all ?"

Recently I read a plea asking why so many people saying they want to "network" turn out to be "not serious" - written by someone seems to me has coloured in the page in her Network Marketing colouring book to her complete satisfaction so she knows exactly what "networking" looks like, and anything which presents itself as networking which does not fit that image is frustrating to her, deceitful, wasting her time.

Abundance slaps us smack in the face and we do not feel a thing ...

Internet is a marvelous tool, and using it this morning, on my way to accomplish what I had set to do today, the while still procrastinating other tasks (one of my less admirable skills), I was sidetracked with a trip to Burma ...

... after which I was presented with:
"That's Me, Sitting Outside Of My Home In Hawaii. Keep In Mind I Haven't Always Made Over $35,000 Per Week, From My Home... "

Now this is where it gets hard for folks to follow what I am saying ...

I have NO objection to a person making use of the natural abundance which surrounds us all, the same natural abundance that is within us all, to make life for SELF just as good as it can be, and consequently to make life better, and good as it can be for family, and friends ... and why stop there ?

What I do not understand is how thinking is so often limited to "what I can get" - as if Internet Marketing and all the riches promised on all the "hyper" sales pages all over the Internet was "my little secret" that I can only talk about with my "virtual friends" on the Internet, because I know if my REAL LIFE partner knew how much I spend to "get rich" I probably would not HAVE a partner ...

... but it is not just that: What is worse, to me, is that I seldom, very seldom, hear anyone who actually is "making it" - even "in the process" of making it - express any sort of plan to do anything about anything other than to *GET RICH*

I want to ask Mr. Bronze Hawaii, making "Over $35,000 Per Week" ...

"What are you doing with it ?"

Do you pay for everything with cash now ?
- no longer supporting banks with ongoing interest payments ?

Have you equipped your home with solar and wind power generation so you are "off the grid" and feeding back into it ?

What percentage of your income goes to help people who can barely afford a computer, much less a "marketing system" ...

... to get a foothold on a path toward making "Over $35,000 Per Week" ... ?

How much of your "Over $35,000 Per Week" goes to make sure no one in your community is going hungry ?

How much of your "Over $35,000 Per Week" goes to make sure no one in your community has to sleep outside when it is dangerously cold, or go without clean water every day because they have no place to call their own, even to pitch a tent ?

There are some simple things I expect Mr. Bronze Hawaii, making "Over $35,000 Per Week"
... in all his "free" time to KNOW - for instance:
(at least within some country, some portion of the world)

- How many homes were burned to the ground yesterday to drive people off their land ?
- How many women were raped yesterday after their husbands, who defied the local dictator, were murdered ?
- How many children burned to death yesterday, or were shot, because they were born to people who occupy land some government wants ?
- How much of what you pay in income tax (you do pay income tax ?) goes to ...
... help the hungry ?
... help the homeless ?
... help the abused ?
- How much goes to make war ?
... to dispossess free people of their land ?

- What does abundance mean to you ?

What DOES abundance mean to you ?

I am asking, hoping to learn something new today ...

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what do we say to Veterans this day of Independence ... ?

2007-07-04T07:58:00.000-07:00

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What do we say to our Veterans now ?

What do we say to those who served selflessly in World War II or in Korea - even in Viet Nam ?

Those who obeyed all the rules, not knowing how rules had been bent.

Those who did not understand the "game" and how they were being used ?

What do we say to all the men and women who have left parts of themselves in other countries ?

Thinking they were defending their own country in some way while protecting their own freedoms.

Men and women missing body parts - minds permanently altered and souls forever scarred.

Possessed of illness and contamination - treatment for which their government denies them.

What do we say to our Veterans of all ages this July 4, 2007 about why their friends died half a world away from home?

If we, as a people, will now quietly allow "Building a North American Community" to proceed.

North American Union backers have "already declared before our Congress, that our borders are to be eliminated by 2010"

What did our friends and relatives die for ? - what were they defending which now has so little value if it can be given away so easily ?

American's passivity strengthens Tyranny already upon us while we "celebrate" our *INDEPENDENCE*

Hollow victory today for those among us who sell or give away our victories for "inalienable rights" of humans on Earth.

What do we say to our Veterans today about what we are celebrating and the price they have paid ?

What do we say to ourselves for what we have become ?

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Excellence in Television Broadcasting - Finally !!!

2007-07-01T18:07:00.000-07:00

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Mika Brzezinski refused to open with a story about an obnoxious young woman who was recently released from jail.

On being urged to open her CBS television segment with that story, she ripped up the paper it was printed on after attempting to set fire to it on camera.

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VdNcCcweL0

Kudos to Mika Brzezinski !!!

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAcU3HSMKPU

We hope to see a lot more of such sanity "on camera"

PLEASE !

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Internet 'could change beyond all recognition' ...

2007-06-10T22:28:00.000-07:00

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Worldwide: Amnesty warns that Internet 'could change beyond all recognition' unless 'virus of Internet repression' is tackled

Posted: 06 June 2007

" Amnesty International today (6 June) warned that the Internet 'could change beyond all recognition' unless action is taken to stop the 'Virus of Internet repression' eroding freedom of expression online.

The warning comes ahead of a globally webcast event at Amnesty's UK HQ from 6:30 tonight, 'Some People Think the Internet is a Bad Thing: The Struggle for Freedom of Expression in Cyberspace' sponsored by The Observer. Featuring Internet entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and victims of Internet repression from around the world, thousands are expected to watch the event online at www.amnesty.org.uk/webcast

Amnesty International UK Campaigns Director Tim Hancock said:

'The virus of Internet repression is spreading. The 'Chinese model' - of an Internet that allows economic growth but not free speech or privacy - is growing in popularity, from a handful of countries five years ago to dozens of governments today who block sites and arrest bloggers.

'Unless we act on this issue, the Internet could change beyond all recognition in the years to come. More and more governments are realising the utility of controlling what people see online. And major Internet companies, in an attempt to expand their markets, are colluding in these attempts.

'At the moment we turn on our computer and assume we can see all that there is online. The fear is that we will only be able to access what someone wants us to see.'

The human rights organisation highlighted increasing reports of 'Internet filtering' around the world, where governments block access to specific sites or sites featuring particular words or themes. The latest Open Net Initiative (ONI) Report on Internet filtering shows that at least 25 countries now apply state-mandated net filtering including Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Burma, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Thailand and Tunisia.

Amnesty research has also found that companies like Cisco, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! have been complict in suppressing freedom of speech in China by censoring web content, releasing personal data leading to arrest and providing filtering hardware.

But filtering is only one aspect of Internet repression - politically motivated closure of websites and Internet cafes, as well as threats or imprisonment, are reported far more widely, said Amnesty. Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman, a 22-year-old Egyptian blogger, was sentenced to four years imprisonment in February this year for 'contempt of religion' and 'defaming the President of Egypt'. His imprisonment sends a clear message to Egypt's burgeoning blogging community.

The event examines the future of Internet freedom, including governments' attempts to repress freedom of expression and information online - with the help of global IT companies - and how web users are harnessing the power of the Internet to resist them. It also includes contributions from jailed US blogger Josh Wolf and Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software movement.

'Some People Think the Internet is a Bad Thing' marks the first anniversary of irrepressible.info, an Amnesty International campaign to combat the repression of Internet users around the world, launched in The Observer in May 2006. Amnesty is relaunching the new http://irrepressible.info website, featuring a news aggregator that will turn the site into an information hub for anyone interested in the future of Internet freedom.

The irrepressible.info campaign seeks to harness the power of the Internet, mobilising web users to take action against governments who are censoring and blocking sites or imprisoning web users.

Tim Hancock added:

'Web users have been both victims of human rights abuse and successful campaigners against it.

'The Internet is the new front in the battle between those who want to speak out, and those who want to stop them.'

Amnesty is calling for governments and companies alike to respect people's right to freedom of expression online. However the organisation recognises that there are some limits to free speech, such as stopping sites promoting racial hatred, violence or child pornography.

Sami Ben Gharbia, Tunisian blogger and cyber activist said:

"The Internet is a bad thing for two groups: for governments who are realising that they are losing control of information and are trying to restrict the use of the Internet; and for the victims of those governments, individuals who are imprisoned for simply using the Internet to post and share information." "

Sami Ben Gharbia, lives in The Netherlands as a political refugee. His blog 'fikra' (which means 'idea' in Arabic) has been censored in Tunisia since 2003. Sami now works for Global Voices as Advocacy Director.

- http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=17366
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what makes "good television" ... ?

2007-05-27T09:34:00.000-07:00

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Television is inherently boring.

Have you ever watched a televised conversation between two people sitting talking with each other ?

The camera does not move, you see both faces - could you stay awake ?

Even with good speakers, you have to somehow dampen or block out other sounds - another person talking beside you, street noise, a dog barking, etc.

Otherwise, you miss part of the conversation, and the *meaning* of the conversation can get lost - unless you can "rewind"

In real life, in real time, you can ask a person to repeat what they said, but with television, either you get it or you miss it.

Imagine watching a waterfall on a television screen for an hour - could you stay awake ?

What if, while you are watching the water falling, suddenly a boat appears and glides over the edge into the air and down ...

Now your attention is focused and you are wide awake - the *unexpected* has happened !

That is what gets our (human) attention ... and that is what makes *good television*

Yet even what happens to the boat, and to the people in it, does not hold our attention for long - not "on television"

Soon, you are right back to watching water fall, or watching two people talking ... and soon you are asleep.

Your body was already inactive - only vision and hearing at work, and your conscious mind "shut off" having given up trying to process a constant series of tiny bursts of light which enter the eye three times as fast as the conscious mind can process them.

Boring, so you either sleep, or turn off the set and do something *real*

How often have you heard someone say, "Let's relax and watch TV" ... ?

What is considered by television producers as *good television* is a stream of technical effects which keep our attention.

Camera focuses on a face, switches to another face, pulls back so both faces are seen, then the image shifts to another room, printed words are imposed over the image, then you are "outside" followed by a scene of people who are on their way to see the people in the previous scenes ... and there is a pause for a "word from the sponsor"

Images with no aura, removed from context of time and space, events and persons reduced to the same "essence" as commodities, "action" we can do nothing about because it is not real, not here, not now.

Maddening, stressful, never sure what is coming next - the "unusual" and unexpected teasing us to "stay tuned" - illusion necessary to overcome what is boring by itself, technical tricks are used 10 or 12 times each minute to keep our attention focused on what is presented on the set, and we wonder why our children are hyperactive and have short attention spans ... and why we do not feel "relaxed" and why we are short-tempered when we have to be around other people.

Or do we already know, somewhere deep in our subconscious ... ?

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true meaning of Memorial Day ...

2007-05-25T21:56:00.000-07:00

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- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WO5tPf9LUC4

_______

Don't stand by my grave

Don't stand by my grave and weep,
For I am not there.
I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond's glint in the snow,
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn's rain.
In the soft blush of the morning light
I am the swift bird in flight.
Don't stand by my grave and cry,
I am not there,
I did not die.

Unknown Native American Author

_______

Last Goodbye - Revised Version

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCKyfhJx-DU

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I have no respect for Jerry Springer ...

2007-05-22T22:03:00.000-07:00

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Jerry Springer profited from people's stupidity.

Jerry Springer viewers enjoyed other people's stupidity, whether it matched or exceeded their own ...

... and that is how Springer profited - not just from his "guests" stupidity.

Exploiting people's weaknesses - their lack of knowledge, their emotions, their willingness to lower themselves for money ...

... is bad enough in itself, but to do it for profit, to profit from doing it - I have zero respect for the man, Jerry.

That fact is of very little relevance.

What is important, what goes by the way, it seems, to those who would market "The Secret" as if it were a secret ...

... is the Law of Attraction - to the society which is so sick it attracts to itself the very worst of itself, and does it again.

Remains blind to itself.

If you are Black or any "colour" other than white and disrespect whites for white oppression of Blacks, you have my respect.

If you are white and disrespect other whites for oppressing minorities or their individuals, you have my respect.

If you are white, please do not wait for me to eulogize you once you have disrespected other whites "just because you can"

If you are stupid, you have the right to remain stupid, and you have the right to be silent ...

... no matter how much some scumbag is willing to pay you to be, or to act, stupid - however economically anemic you are.

No one is improving the quality of anyone's life, regardless of *intention to do good* ... by performing like trained attack dogs.

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what is on your mind today ... ?

2007-05-17T08:34:00.000-07:00

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Who decides what images enter our minds ... ?

A study of television has been my focus lately.

Once images enter our minds, they are there forever.

Images which are real, but not real-world experience.

Selected, pre-determined by someone, somewhere ...

... become our own, alone, in a darkened room.

Apart from others, separate from human interaction.

An artificial world of ... ?

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76BboyrEl48

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What Are You Worth ?

2007-05-14T18:48:00.000-07:00

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If you are like most people, when asked, "What are you worth?", your answer is expressed as an amount of money. Even if you estimate your worth as the total of all the things you own, you still calculate that total by what those things cost, or what you think you could sell them for, right ?

In other words, the amount of money you would get, or that you gave, for those things. You might even have subtracted an amount you owe to someone to arrive at your "total worth." Bet you did. You are honest, I know.

Okay, so next I will ask what may seem at first a silly question:
"How much is your money worth?"

My questions go to the heart of how we think about people, about our country (any country), about our economy - about how we think of ourselves.

What if I said that were you to gather up all the money in the world - all of it yours, in your hands, right now - you would be worth nothing.

Think about it. What *would* you be worth ?

Most of the money we use today is paper money, and all that paper has value - sure - which is to say a dollar bill, or a Canadian hundred dollar bill, or a thousand pound sterling note, all have the same value, the same as any other piece of paper of similar size. They could be used to write a note to your lover, or perhaps some more utilitarian or immediate use - maybe find a bit of warmth on a cold night by burning them.

To explain what I mean about the "value" of money, it might be easier for you to imagine yourself and your family as the last people alive on planet earth, and in your family's possession is all the money in the world.

What would you purchase with all that money ?

Who would you purchase it from ?

Well, on the positive side, you would possess something of value - your family would never have any trouble starting a fire, never run out of toilet paper, and you would have an endless supply of love notes !

There are two fallacies at work when you calculate your *worth* as an amount of money. Oh, I realize it makes communication with others easier to talk about it that way. Nevertheless, money, in and of itself, has no value - the value of money exists in what is *done* with it, what it is exchanged for, the benefits received by both parties in transacting an exchange, and the satisfaction gained in receiving those benefits.

The second, and in my opinion larger, mistake in assuming your worth to be a sum of money, is that in following such "logic," if all money were to disappear, be outlawed, destroyed, then you would be worth the sum of all that money, which would be zero - nothing.

Now that makes absolutely no sense at all to me.

So from this day and for the rest of your life, I hope you will hold on to the images I have given you here, share them with other, and remember that no matter how much money you do not have, you are always worth more. You may be valued as a parent by a child, you may be a child who is adored by a grandparent. You are the light of someone's life and your smile delights others.

Maybe you entertain people, give them something to talk about or help them laugh, or maybe you simply listen as a trusted companion. You might be an able leader, or instead you are skilled at following instructions and making things happen. Your strength may be in learning, so that you may teach others. Whoever you are, you have a purpose and a place, even if you are still searching for it, and above all, you have great value just as you are - a great value that not all the money in the world could buy.

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Happy Mother's Day !

2007-05-12T10:32:00.000-07:00

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A challenge we all face today few of us, I think, see - maybe we do not want to see.

We so easily talk of "others" - creating "ists" and "ers" and "ians" and "izers"

We easily attach a label to a group of people, then no longer see *people* themselves.

That division is partly self-induced, partly encouraged by forces outside our "society"

What any person does as personal choice in no way *includes* them in some group.

What any person does as personal choice has consequences that one must live with.

What any person does as a matter of personal choice is *judged* by natural laws ...

... the very same laws which result in consequences for each of us, for how we live.

-- How we love each other, care for each other, sustain each other - or not --

Perhaps today, this weekend, now and forward, you will stop and think - pause

Before you condemn any other person, before relegating someone so much like you ...

... to a *distant* group apart from you and yours, leaving you and yours apart as well.

I admit sometimes I must pause too - correct my words and actions for my own sake.

I grew up in the United States of America hearing daily admonitions about our enemy.

A primary warning given us then was that our *enemy* would divide us, conquer us.

Today, we all allow forces we neither see nor understand the existence or purpose of ...

... to divide us in so many ways, that we are now divided - vulnerable, conquerable.

Today, stop a minute and draw deeply on your own mother's love.

Ask yourself how Mom would love the one you set apart were that person her own child.

Ask how you will survive where you have allowed yourself to so coldly judge others ...

... those making choices so similar to your own - put yourself in their place each time.

We are caught up in spiritual war - in which we can lose our own souls in wrong action.

At the same time, we are caught in an economic war in this physical world of ours.

Both critical in their separate ways, and both having their "deceivers" at work among us.

Both are tied inseparably, and the Bible is not the only source of that particular truth.

JB

do NOT fall for this sort of thing !!!

2007-04-10T11:41:00.000-07:00

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USA (and) Canada Business Outlet
Assorted Foods Conglomerate Limited.

Dear Candidate,

This e-mail is a response to your Initial listing in the Job search directory, we have decided to offer you a place in our Work from home Job plan. We are an International trading company involved in the sales and cultivation of assorted food types from across 36 countries worldwide.

We act as a medium of goods and services exchange between sellers and buyers (That is we help small businesses to sell their products abroad as well as help buyers receive their goods and sellers get their money in due course).

0.1. WHAT WE DO: We create a product and service exchange between Customers and dealers, we deliver the goods to the buyer, he/she checks and is satisfied with our product and then pays for the product through us. We are Just a middle man company (similar to escrow).

1.0.YOUR WORK SCOPE: We discovered that since we started business in the USA and CANADA,we have been having problems getting payments from our customers as it was very uneasy for them to send payments to our offices, supliers or farmers directly considering the time frame required to process foreign Checks (30 Days and Above). We decided to hire individuals over the internet who will help us receive and process payments and then forward to any of our offices or farmers which we designate.

2.1. FLEXIBLE PROGRAM: Two hours daily at your choice (Day or Evening Time).
2.2. WORK AT HOME: Check e-mails, going to the Bank-part time or full time, professional contact team with very good support and Communication Skills.
2.3. OTHER HIGHLIGHTS: No selling Involved, No Kits to Buy, No Advance fees, we won't charge you anything,you won't spend anything to start.
3.0. SALARY AND WAGES:
3.1. You are entitled to a $450:00 Payment which will come in every two weeks, this amounts to a total of $900:00 Monthly. This payment is Issued to you even if you are not sent any payments within the 2 weeks time frame.
3.2. COMMISSION: 10% of every transaction successfully processed-checks, money orders that is cashed instantly and forwarded to our designated offices within and outside the USA and Canada. "Cash In Hand" or "Cash at counter" is what we request this is to speed up our supply Rate, as well as satisfy our clients.

EXAMPLE: If you receive a check of $1,000:00 your net Income is $100:00 and the balance of $900:00 is forwarded to the company.

4.0. HOW TO FORWARD PAYMENTS: Once you have received and processed payments, we will send you an e-mail with instructions on how to forward payments.
(I)YOU WILL PROCESS 2-3 ORDERS PER DAY.
(II)THE MORE ORDERS YOU PROCESS AT A FASTER RATE, THE HIGHER YOU STAND TO EARN DAILY.
(III)THE MORE PAYMENTS YOU PROCESS ASAP-THE HIGHER YOUR FIXED EARNINGS PER EVERY TWO WEEKS WILL GROW. (IV)YOU MUST BE OVER 21 YEARS OF AGE, WITH A US, or CANADIAN CITIZENSHIP

5.0. WHAT WE ASK: Two free hours daily not including weekends, Internet access for sending and receiving e-mails, available means of cashing money orders/checks at your bank using your existing bank account or a new account which you will make available. If you meet these conditions all you have to do is make contact with us providing the informations as listed below.

(I)Names,
(2)Age,
(3)Sex,
(4)Marital Status,
(5)Contact Address
(6)Phone numbers/fax numbers
(7)Previous or current annual income.

Note: P.O.Boxes are not accepted by the company considering the fact that our partner courier company (FedEx does not allow P.O.Boxes) and these information must be submitted currectly.

Using the contact informations as set below, we'll respond to you within 24-48 Hours with a confirmation if your space is still available and if you will be allowed to continue working with us.

Payments Processing Unit
Contact Person: BENNETH MOORE
E-mail:ben........@yahoo.ca
Time: 24 Hours daily by e-mail

We will never ask you for anything more then that, no bank names, no bank account number, routing number, credit card, passwords, s.s.n # etc.If anyone asks for those on our behalf please do not give out this info. This is to ensure your security and non involvement in cases of Identity Theft.

Thanks,
BENNETH MOORE (USA)
Hiring Coordinator, Human Resources

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UATC USA.

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10 Most Popular Manifesto Proposals ...

2007-03-29T10:54:00.000-07:00

This caught my attention last night - something everyone ought know about IMO

1 OuterHeavens Heroes manifesto

2 The Education Age Is Coming!

3 Give more, Get more! Negotiate your way to a richer life

4 Value Creation: The RIGHT way

5 Recruiting volunteers to change the world

6 Microfinance at the crossroads: reshaping the pyramid

7 Stop trying to beat people into submission - Cause alignment!

8 Romancing the Workplace

9 Manifesto for a Marketing Revolution

10 Can Thoughts Change Your Business, Your Life ... the World?

... and there are more - if you have a passion for any subject here ?

Proposals are ideas for manifestos submitted by others like you.
If you see one you would love to read, vote for it!
If you have an idea for a great manifesto you would like to write, visit this site to contribute:

- http://www.changethis.com

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the centralization of control ...

2007-03-15T20:11:00.000-07:00

"Although television was invented in the 1920s, it did not exist for any practical purposes until after World War II. It is easy to forget that advertising, at least on the scale we have come to know it, barely existed before then either.

In 1946, advertisers spent about $3 billion. For the previous two decades, advertising expenditures had been fairly constant at about that level. By 1975, however, the national advertising budget had grown by 1,000 percent to $30 billion.

Most of the increase went into television advertising. Within only ten years of its effective inauguration, television was absorbing 60 percent of all advertising spending and driving hundreds of newspapers, magazines and radio stations out of the market.

A symbiotic relationship developed. Advertising financed television's growth. Television was the greatest delivery system for advertising that had ever been invented. We could call it love at first sight, except in this case, the match may have been prearranged.

If you are old enough, think back to the days immediately after World War II. Although I was only ten in 1945, I remember the expectant and uncertain feeling of the times very well. Everyone was relieved that the war was over and was expecting things to get back to normal, but what was normal? Memories of the Depression loomed. I remember listening to my parents talk with their friends on those backyard summer evenings of 1945, and I could feel the fear.

Like most ordinary people, my parents knew that the war had alleviated the Depression. During the war, American industrial capacity, lying fallow only a few years before, had actually expanded to build the military machine. My father's own business was an example. Now there were no more uniforms to make, and no more tanks. The war had given men jobs as soldiers and women jobs as factory workers. Full employment had practically become a reality. Now Johnny was marching home again, jobless.

If this was the talk among ordinary people, one can only imagine what was said in industrial boardrooms and at the Department of Commerce. With industrial capacity and capital investment expanded as they were, the consequences of a drop in production could make the 1930s look like golden years. A longstanding criticism of capitalism—that it can stave off cyclic depression only through war—seemed about to be confirmed. "

- http://www.motherearthnews.com/DIY/1978-11-01/Four-Arguments-for-the-Elimination-of-Television-Argument-Two-The-Coloni.aspx

advertising to the group mind ...

2007-03-14T12:38:00.000-07:00

When one finds a reason to turn off the television and think
- really think clearly
... which means an extended break from TV

It is possible to glimpse the mire in which we live out our days.

We think of advertising as something which encourages or compels us to buy *things*

Our vision of those "things" is often limited to appliances and processed (manufactured) food, or entertainment devices such as radios and iPods, DVD players and big-screen TVs, automobiles and snow skis, "holiday recreation" travel packages and airlines, home improvement materials and tools, etc.

Seldom does our thinking reflect that government, politics, elections and such - even religion - have also become "products" sold through advertisements which are presented in the same "time slots" as any other ads.

Election ads or "homeland security alerts" may be presented as PSAs (public service announcements) and we assume the station or network is paying for the time.

Either way, we likely change the channel, looking for a prettier face - male or female ...

... and there it is - even the best of American presidents might not be elected today.

How do we "package" a face like Lincoln's for television "consumption" ... ?

" Given how critical it is to keep the production-consumption process flowing smoothly, advertising obviously occupies a place of considerable importance.

It has been assigned the specific duty of keeping people buying, buying, buying and therefore working, working, working to get the money to do so. It is the system invented to break the skin barrier, as it were, by entering the human being to reshape feelings and create more appropriate ones as need be. "
- Jerry Mander

We spend much of our time arguing among each other which of our "trusted news sources" are biased, and in whose favour (the arguments go both ways) - never reaching any sensible conclusion.

We say that ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, UPN, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Daily News, Time Magazine, Newsweek, People Magazine, US News and World Report and countless other media under report, or fail to report, certain stories, and yet in closer examination we find those "certain" stories WERE reported.

Internet links to those stories my "mysteriously" disappear, but the pattern is almost always the same:

A curious reporter from a major media organization reports a "major, blockbusting" story ... then after the story has "penetrated the media screen" the story is "spiked" by those higher up in the organization before it reaches a wider audience - in some cases through over censorship, but more often the story is simply left to die on its own.

"Constant repetition is the foundation of all successful advertising and marketing," so a story which is only "reported once or twice - no matter how sensational - will quickly fade from the public memory long before it has a chance to leave a lasting impression."

Seldom, if at all, does it occur to us that process is intended to cause us confusion ...

"Didn't I hear it reported that ... ?" you ask, but when you want to read the story again you find:

"This story no longer exists."

... if you find any reference at all.

"If we understand the mechanisms and motives of the group mind, it is now possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing it," Edward L. Bernays argued in "Propaganda" - one of his first books.

"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country .... In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons ... who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind."
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ICANN Update on RegisterFly ...

2007-03-03T10:22:00.000-08:00

March 3rd, 2007 by Domain Tools Team

" ICANN has posted a public update on the RegisterFly situation we reported about earlier and it doesn’t look good. On February 21st, 2007, ICANN issued a letter to RegisterFly [PDF, 101K] indicating a Notice of Breach of its Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) and demanding that RegisterFly act within 15 working days to cure the breaches outlined in the letter. Also on February 21st, ICANN sent a Notice of Audit [PDF, 60K] that required RegisterFly to allow ICANN to inspect and copy its records. In addition they were given notice to submit data to ICANN or a reputable escrow agent regarding registration applications and Registered name holders. Five days later on February 27th, 2007, ICANN sent two employees to RegisterFly’s offices in New Jersey to audit them and obtain the registrant information. RegisterFly did not compile and refused to give ICANN the Information. Two days later on March 1st, 2007 RegisterFly’s lawyers forwarded a letter [PDF, 12K] to ICANN advising that refusal to comply with ICANN’s request “should not be construed as my client’s unwillingness to cooperate with ICANN but as evidence of their continuing efforts to service their customers.” In response ICANN has issued a second letter [PDF, 288K] dated March 2nd, 2007 setting out additional breaches of the Registrar Agreement and in that letter ICANN describes RegisterFly’s refusal to comply which was based on their “continuing efforts to service their customers” as “preposterous“.

It seems that RegisterFly is continuing to breach the RAA is seen as very serious and ICANN is in hot pursued. It is very clear that RegisterFly is about to crash and burn. ICANN’s primary concern is to do what it can to protect registrant and related data. ICANN has provided notice that it will file a suit against RegisterFly in the United States District Court for the Central District of California seeking a temporary restraining order (TRO) requiring RegisterFly to turn over the data requested and to compel an emergency audit of its books and records. In addition to this legal action, ICANN today convened a telephone conference among those needed to implement a plan that will help cease unintended deletions. The participants were registries holding RegisterFly names: Afilias (.info), Neustar (.biz), VeriSign (.com, .net), RegisterFly backend services provider Tucows and eNom (for which RegisterFly was a reseller) as well as representatives of RegisterFly. The Registries involved have agreed to move any RegisterFly names in Redemption Grace Period status into Server-Delete-Prohibited status. This will prevent them from being deleted from the registry and becoming available for re-registration by others. ICANN commends and encourages this example of cooperation to protect registrant data. "

- http://blog.domaintools.com/2007/03/icann-update-on-registerfly/

Registerfly On the Fly in Feud ...

2007-02-15T14:49:00.000-08:00

So who is Registerfly? Are your names safe? How would you like to know the real deal? During a phone conversation between an undisclosed contact and employee of Registerfly, it seems as though the truth is surfacing and it's filtering in from the employees of Registerfly.

Registerfly Partners Feud

There were two original partners in Registerfly. One was Kevin Medina who now lives in Miami Beach and the other was John Naruszewicz.

The two partners began to disagree with how the company was being managed. This disagreement led to the attempt from one partner to remove the other. However, the partner that maintained control over the registry with all the passwords and data, refused to release any of this information to the partner. Therefore, everyone in the company is blocked out of accessing the registry or any of the data.

Registerfly Responds to Customers

The latest... Registerfly sends email to all it's customers making claims. Click on the title or read more to get the latest. Registerfly sent this:

Discontinuation of using reseller services with enom.com

We are aware that enom may have sent a notice in regards to the relationship between enom/registerfly.

RegisterFly Reseller Termination FAQ By now you may have received the formal notice to owners of domains which have been registered by eNom via its reseller, RegisterFly.com. Although you purchased your name at RegisterFly, eNom is the actual registrar of record for your domains. eNom powers thousands of domain name retailers and web hosts worldwide.

Enom - Done with Registerfly - Hooray!

I have some late breaking and Great news for the customers of Registerfly. Enom has officially announced that they are no longer going to be associated with Registerfly. This is big. This is so big in fact that this has put the Registefly server down due to too much traffic. This is such fantastic news I've literally been dancing around the office and getting ready to light up a fat cigar to celebrate.

Our efforts have not been vain and finally someone has heard our complaints and is acting on it. Enom, we commend you for doing the right thing and for taking a stand against the unethical business practices of Registerfly. Please click below to read more!

- http://registerflies.com/

is there information which ought not be shared ... ?

2007-02-08T10:51:00.000-08:00

Very early this morning, we had our second "significant" snowfall here this winter - still nothing to "write home about" ...

Certainly nothing to complain about either - it will be gone (melted away) by mid-afternoon, while parts of this country are dealing with sub-zero temperatures and deep snow, under which in some cities fire hydrants are inacessible under five or more feet of snow.

We will have a drought year, while Washington State to the north has above average snowfall.

Some say time seems to be moving faster, stress is more intense than ever, things seem to be changing and people do not understand why.

Clearly the planet we live on in this physical life is going through some changes, and some of us see those changes as part of something larger, yet something we do not quite understand and for which we have yet no particular proof.

As long as I can remember in this life, I have been possessed of a "feeling" (a knowing, a sense - not sure what is the right word) that I would live to see some "great change" for which I should "be prepared" ...

... but how does one prepare for "something" so unspecific ?

For that reason I have always been interested in the *physical history* of Earth - what it tells us of past events on this planet.

Learning to understand weather patterns was prompted by more immediate concerns when my work was in the woods every day.

Some of us do not rely so much on science, however, as we do on religion - putting our "faith" in being spiritually centered and thus *prepared* for whatever God or Creator has *planned* for us, without seeking to "know the details" as it were.

Religion is thus a refuge for some - a safe place where one does not have to "know the details" or consider them at all: Simply pray for guidance.

Our society as I see it is not polarized as some would have us believe - that is, we do not all live in one or the other of those two "worlds" of science or religion, but most likely the majority of us are somewhere between them, leaning perhaps toward one or the other.

Being neither a scientist nor adherent to any organized religion, I suppose I live somewhere between those two "worlds" in a place where curiousity has continually driven me to find "details" if they can be found at all, to satisfy that "calling" to "be prepared" by better understanding what it is I am preparing for.

That "quest for details" has led me to some strange places, but most of all it has brought me to a point where I have to ask myself (and I share the question with you - not so much for you to give an answer, but to contemplate):

-- "is there information which ought not be shared ... ?" --

Lately I have had occasion to better understand how important that question is to anyone in a position of leadership.

When disaster such as storm or tidal wave is imminent, a leader has responsibility to warn, and responsibility not to cause panic.

In a larger sense I can see possibilities / probabilities for which *informing* would not as much cause *panic* as it would cause despair.

To explain that, for instance there are things I do not mention to my Dad at all - at 87 there is nothing he can do about them except think about them, worry about them, and I do not see what good it would do him to even consider them.

Likewise, a child needs to be "sheltered" from certain knowledge in order to simply have a *childhood* - might otherwise see no point in "growing up" looking at the future with such dread as to not want to live to meet it (and I wonder how that contributes to teen suicide rates these days).

At the same time, I see any "environment of secrets" as an unhealthy place to live, which leads me to think there is a certain "healthy exchange" of knowledge between individuals, for which we have to be concerned about the effect what we share will have on another individual, while at the same time not withholding knowledge from others which may be beneficial to them.
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Software For the Brain - Instructional Video

2007-02-07T11:22:00.000-08:00

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Well worth your time - please schedule:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8711542767099301869

52 min 21 sec

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Focus Communications robot calling ...

2007-02-02T05:21:00.000-08:00

Today's number is 800-699-3923 which also uses a robot to dial numbers to see what time of day the phone will be picked up.

The company is Focus Communications which claims to be calling on behalf of Qwest, checking to make sure phone service is the best it can be. The real purpose of Focus calls is to sell internet and related services. If you ask them not to call again, do not be surprised if you are told it may take 30-60 days before the calls stop.

The only website I can find for Focus Communications is an Australian site which provides phone to business services.
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Truelogic Financial Corporation - bottomfeeder ...

2007-02-01T05:38:00.000-08:00

866-488-4299 is a particularly nasty nuisance caller, I am told ...

Would not have known about it except yesterday I received a call (did not answer) from that number.

References associate that number with a company called Truelogic Financial Corporation, 7100 E Belleview Avenue, Greenwood Village, CO 80111-1632 telephone: (720) 974-0386

TFC uses a robot dialer to leave a message from "Michele Thomas who provides 866-488-4299 as the number to call for an "important message."

The message includes a "reference" number to submit when responding.

Similar calls come from Truelogic using "Stephanie Jones (1-877-337-3099)" as call back info.
_

Such calls are received from Truelogic even by people who have never had ANY delinquent debt, received by elderly people who owe no past due debts, and some of those people are coerced into paying debts which were never theirs.

How Truelogic decides who to call is unknown, but such calls are outright harrassment, in part because they are meant to be intimidating.

Truelogic is a *bottomfeeder* that buys old debts for pennies on the dollar, referring to itself as a "third-party collection agency" which reportedly even goes after old magazine subscriptions against subscribers who have relocated.

A Truelogic representative has been quoted as saying:

"The secret is to give them lots of information, and they'll give you information back."

In otherwords, if the caller gives you an address, a name similar to yours, a (any) telephone number, a number that sounds like a social security number, and anything else that sounds legitimate - YOU will "correct" the caller by giving them accurate information they can run with. The caller then has something to work with - correct person or not.

One intimidating tactic Truelogic uses is to demand SSN and DOB up front, before the callback can proceed.

One thing I cannot stress enough is NEVER give anyone you do not know your Social Security Number over the phone - careful even if you do know the person. NEVER give your date of birth. DO NOT volunteer your address to any caller. If you MUST verify your SSN, give ONLY the last four digits - NEVER any more than that ... but I do not recommend even verifying your SSN with a caller you do not know.

As I have said in the past, if you receive a phone call which, for instance says it is from your bank (or from any company you DO have an account with), be polite and gather as much information as you can about the purpose of the call, the *problem* alleged to be the purpose of the call, the caller's name and position with the company, location, and a call back number.

Do not be surprised if you cannot collect those details, and DO NOT complain if the caller does not give them.

Instead, once you are satisfied you have gathered enough information for yourself, then politely terminate the call.

Do not tell the caller what you intend to do next, but what you DO next is to call the bank or company, using the normal number(s) you already have for contacting that bank or company. Do NOT use the number you were given in the previous call. Make sure you are talking with a representative of the company you think you are calling.

Again, first get the name of the person you are talking with, write the name down along with the date and time of your call, then tell the person about the previous call you received, what the caller said was the "problem" needed resolved, and verify that problem exists (do not be surprised if it does not exist).

Remember that if your bank or another company through with you have an account in your name has a problem with your account, that business will send you something in reference to the *problem* through the US Postal Service. They will not resort to a phone call or an e-mail - the notice will be sent as a routine part of their automated business processes.
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how can one live without Caller ID ... ?

2007-01-31T12:00:00.000-08:00

I keep the phone line open for emergencies - not for me (though I might need 911) but for others to contact me in a hurry.

Stonebridge Life Insurance is one of the "non-800" callers - apparently wanting to sell me cancer insurance" - most often in late morning now, no longer in evenings - an improvment, but still a nuisance since mornings are when I do my creative writing mostly.

Stonebridge calls come usually not more than once a day, and not every day - just one of about a dozen mostly "800" or 866 or 888 callers I regularly report those nuisances to http://whocalled.us ... adding to their ever growing db

My research shows that Stonebridge uses "an automatic dialer, 9 times out of 10, there is nobody there when you pick up the phone."
... in case you are receiving strange calls in which no one responds when you say Hello - that is why. The purpose of automatic dialers is to first determine at what time of day you are likely to answer the phone, then later an actual person will call you at that time.

Doubt their technology as yet determines what time of day a phone is *active* - that is, the time a person may make the most calls, even if not answering certain calls.

Talking with supervisors in these companies or in their "boiler rooms" has little effect since they are usually trained to deflect complaints; ie "it takes 30 days to be removed" (from the recall list); threatening legal action requires more money than I care to spend for whatever good it would do.

Since I have no policy with Stonebridge, there is no excuse for them to be "servicing my account" - which makes the repeated calls sheer harrassment.

I refuse to do business with any company that puts its needs ahead of its customers.
.

Blue Hippo Funding ...

2007-01-30T12:04:00.000-08:00

" BlueHippo Funding, LLC is an installment credit company for customers with poor credit that offers personal computers, flat-screen televisions, and other high-tech items, typically priced far above market standards. The company has encountered several complaints with the Better Business Bureau; as a result, the Greater Maryland Better Business Bureau issued a consumer alert against the company within eight months of its founding.

Product costs

Their main product is a personal computer system for which they charge a total of $2178.48 including interest, subject to late fees. Radio commercials state that a customer must build a "short credit history" to qualify. The payment is made through a long installment plan. Initially, customers pay a $99 down payment, followed by 13 weekly payments of $39.99. This is followed by 3 to 12 variable payments. Customers then make a final pre-shipping payment, followed by a week-long waiting period, before the system is physically shipped. Post-shipment, customers must do 52 more weekly payments (1 year - see chart below). Comparable computer systems generally cost $400 out-of-the-box.

BlueHippo changed its business practices to include a refund policy in mid-2006. Under the new policy, customers may elect to receive a full refund of the money paid during the layaway period, after paying a $175 early termination fee. The fee is disclosed and agreed to by customers at the time of their order. In order to be eligible for a refund, customers must cancel their purchase contract prior to the computer being ordered. However, the BBB reports : "In November and December 2006, however, the volume of complaints rose again and the BBB has renewed concerns about the effectiveness of the company's efforts to reduce the volume and pattern of complaints. Current complaints allege the company is slow to provide promised refunds and there continue to be delays in delivery of the merchandise." "
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlueHippo_Funding
.

debt validation is your weapon ...

2007-01-29T17:32:00.000-08:00

Are Debt Collectors pressing you for a debt which you are not aware of? Being forgetful is very common nowadays. Consumers often fail to remember debts taken long back. But it is also possible that a third party is trying to impose a false debt on you, either by mistake or intentionally. At such times you feel at a loss. Debt Validation is the weapon to fight against such odds.

Debt Validation: Debt Validation is your legal right to protect yourself from the clutches of deceitful and unethical debt collectors. This puts a check on the Debt Collectors' actions & governs them.

Debt Validation Law: The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA)* 1996 amendment included Consumer Credit Protection Act to prohibit abusive practices by debt collectors. Title VIII, sec. 809 of this act gives legal recognition to Debt validation. The law states that debt Collectors are bound to issue a written notice within the first 5 days of initial communication with a consumer for debt collection, specifying the following:

Specific amount of debt along with the name of the Creditor.
A statement that unless the consumer dispute the validity of the debt within 30 days of receiving the notice, the collector will assume the debt to be valid.
A statement that the debt collector will obtain verification of the debt or a copy of judgment against the consumer in case of debt dispute.
A statement that consumer will be provided with the name and address of the original creditor, if different from the current creditor, on written request by the consumer within 30 days.
A statement that the communication is from a debt collector attempting to collect debt and that information obtained will not be used for any other purpose than this.
A proof that they are assigned to collect the debt by a creditor.
Detailed payment history, starting with the original creditor.
Copy of the original signed debt agreement or credit card application.
Agreement with any of your clients that grants you the authority to collect on this alleged debt.
Restrictions on Debt Collectors: Debt Collectors are not allowed to do the following before providing with Debt Validation:
Collect debt
Contact the consumer about debt
Report under FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act). Violation of this can however take away $1,000 as penalty from the collector. So go ahead and exercise your rights. And pay debts only when it's yours.

_
* http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/fdcpa.html

wanttoknow.info - Spread The Word ...

2007-01-28T07:11:00.000-08:00

Good Morning All

A good friend last night sent me the link to the following site and I have just begun to study it.

I admit I was not previously familiar with the name Fred Burks, and I am more cautious of anyone who has been close to any administration, but I think the quality and content of WantToKnow speaks for itself.

Enjoy ... and let me know what you think !
_______

For those who want to know what goes on behind the scenes in national and global politics, this is essential reading. These articles come from a comprehensive database of nearly 1,000 highly revealing news articles arranged by category. To access the entire, empowering database, click here.
- http://www.wanttoknow.info/indexnewsarticles

The database also includes a number of inspiring articles to balance all of the secrecy and darkness. By educating ourselves and spreading the news
- http://www.wanttoknow.info/spreadtheword

...to friends, colleagues, and to our media and political representatives, we can and will build a brighter future:
- http://www.wanttoknow.info/brighterfuture

With very best wishes to all,
Fred Burks for PEERS:
- http://www.peerservice.org/

and the WantToKnow.info Team:
- http://www.wanttoknow.info/aboutus

Fred Burks is former language interpreter for Presidents Bush and Clinton
- http://www.wanttoknow.info/fredburksresigns

.

Patrick "Armchair President" Fogarty for President

2007-01-19T18:15:00.000-08:00

Button takes you to site:

Patrick "Armchair President" Fogarty 2008 presidential candidate

Do you want a government that is run "By the People and For the People" like our Founding Fathers intended?

Then you need to support Patrick "Armchair President" Fogarty. I am looking for support from individual Americans, ensuring that I can make American Policy for America's interest, instead of catering to special interests and lobbyists like you get with traditional politics.

I am using the Internet and podcasting as the basis for launching a non-traditional political campaign, because it reaches out to you. I want the support of the American individual. That's how it should be and needs to be to get the government back to what our Founding Fathers designed - a government By the People and For the People.

Support Patrick "Armchair President" Fogarty for President.
.

Enormity ...

2007-01-15T12:30:00.000-08:00

" The Fedex woman stopped by my office on Friday. She wanted to know if we were going to be open on Monday.

I explained that our hours really never make sense, but that my team and I would be thinking of Dr. King and his work all day, regardless of what we were doing.

She sighed deeply and said, "Every year, we're supposed to ask if offices are going to be open, and last year it made me so sad, I had to stop asking. I even got written up for not doing it." It turns out that most people either said, "what holiday?" or "oh, we don't celebrate that..."

I've written a lot about worldview, about the instincts and biases and outlooks that shape our lives. It's very difficult to change a worldview as a marketer... but one thing that changes a worldview, not just forever but often for generations, is a truly horrific event.

Why is it so easy and fun for a politician to make fun of French people (the French are arrogant and don't bathe was the joke on the radio on Saturday), but a non-starter to take on rape victims? There are no skits on Saturday Night Live about Darfur. Why does it make us squirm when someone misuses the idea of a lynching for their own selfish motives? If you've been misjudged and mistreated your entire life, of course it has an effect on the way you see the world.

Slavery was the greatest crime of the millenium. Why does it surprise marketers (politicians and otherwise) when so many people have a worldview that has been permanently altered by the legacy of abuse? It's a worldview that doesn't ask for charity for the individual, but one that demands respect.

The lesson of diversity is a simple one, a compelling one, one that's been demonstrated over and over again. Diverse populations solve problems better and faster than homogenous ones. But the selfish value of treating people of all backgrounds in the same way is just part of the Reverend's message. The other part, the part that's easy to forget, is that when confronted with enormity, worldviews change. And if you want to engage with someone, you have no choice but to understand that. You don't have to experience the emotion in order to be able to respect someone who has. "

- http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/01/enormity.html

Spotlight on Christina Hymes photography

2007-01-08T10:17:00.000-08:00

.
The way things come together ...

We needed a better image for our yahoo! group site:
- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/better-life/

... an image representing something more positive than the "skinny piggy bank" of "economic anemia" we were using.

Rather than dwelling on a negativity "being anemic" we would all do better to focus on prosperity
- being or becoming prosperous.

I asked friend and member Christina, whose ability to capture images is unique and creative - someone whose talent I want to encourage - if she had anything appropriate for our site.

We rattled around a while, and I finally settled on the canoers because of what is represented in that image:

- exploring new challenges
- one generation teaching another
- being prepared
- teamwork
- taking risks
- managing risks
- determining direction

Another reason for changing the image on our group site was to have an actual agreement of permission to use the image.

Thank you, Christina !

She also now has her site link displayed with the image:
- http://www.freewebs.com/chymes
... where anyone can see some of her work and get in touch with her.

Chris discovered recently that images she had taken last year of actors in a local play were used by the play's producer on her myspace page :
- http://www.myspace.com/ogelue

... for a group known as:
- http://www.culturemoves101.org/

Even without her name in the credits on that page, it is more exposure for Chris' work, which we extend further by tying it all together here.

Keep up the good work, Christina !

demise of the Minitels ...

2007-01-02T12:08:00.000-08:00

France Telecom Minitel service ended on December 31, 2006
- replaced by Le Compte Achats, for companies only.

The cutoff for new Minitel registrations was May 31st, 2006.

"In 2005 there were 351 million calls for 18.5 million hours of connection, generating € 206 million of revenue, of which € 145 million are redistributed to 2000 service providers (these numbers have a loss of around 30% per year). There are now still 6 million terminals owned by France Télécom, which are left to their users in order to avoid recycling problems. The main uses were bank and finance services because of its security, and professional databases access. France Télécom put the example of the update of 12 millions of the personal vitale health care card."
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minitel

Minitel, a Videotex online service accessible through the telephone lines, was introduced in:
- South Africa - 1986
- Ireland - 1992
- Canada during a brief experimental phase
- Belgium
- Germany
- United States early in 1990's in limited markets

Minitel is a redundant service for anyone connected to Internet ...
... and if one would make the leap to Minitel, why not go all the way ?
.

the Liberty Dollar could become extinct in a short period of time ...

2006-12-28T19:00:00.000-08:00

Liberty Dollar Faces Extinction

" The Liberty Dollar is now under attack from�our bank. On Monday, November 20, the Evansville office received a certified letter from our bank, Old National Bank, which said: "Please be advised that if you do not close the Account within 15 days of the date of this letter (11.16.06), Old National Bank will exercise its right to close the Account."

Had we bounced checks? Nope, not a one. Were we a difficult customer? Definitely not. Had we done anything to warrant the bank to close our account? No, but obviously something upset the banking powers to be. The VP for Bank Security, who ordered the letter, told us that they had investigated our business and said that the "nature of our business" was too risky for them. Of course the bank's action is clearly the result of someone calling the bank and telling them to close our account. Probably the same person who told the US Mint to issue their warning. The same person who told CBS Lies (not worthy of "News") to do their dirty work. The same person who urged the Washington Post to write their propaganda to kill the Liberty Dollar idea. The same morally corrupt person who might even be reading this Newsletter.

The Liberty Dollar is clearly under siege. Quite simply, without a bank account and merchant card services, it is all but impossible to do business in this day and age. We face the real possibility that the Liberty Dollar could die... and put all the ideals it stands for at risk! A very sobering thought I dare say.

Does this alarm you? I hope! It should alarm you that the government can single out a business without any past criminal history, indictment, or even criminal intent and instruct its bank to close its account! As you can note in Article #3 below, the US Mint does acknowledge that the gold and silver paper certificates are 100% legal. So if one form of the Liberty Dollar currency is legal, what's wrong with the gold and silver that backs it up? I hope this latest bank development signals you that we need to find a much broader base of support for the Liberty Dollar. It should alarm you enough to take action. I am urging you to contact your newspaper, the organizations you respect, publications you subscribe to, and any public forums to investigate and report on the Liberty Dollar. We need to develop more awareness about the Liberty Dollar, and we need to do it very quickly. Up to this point the silence from our side regarding the government's attack on the Liberty Dollar has been deafening. That needs to be corrected. "

- http://www.freemarketnews.com/Analysis/26/6482/bernard.asp?wid=26&nid=6482
_
http://www.libertydollar.org/

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Dollar#Pros_.26_Cons_of_Liberty_Dollars

in language of the past ...

2006-12-22T07:47:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's entry brought a "hit and run" comment by "anonymous" ...

Wants stock tips, which I would not give even if I was licensed to do so.

Asked me to "Name one country that hasn't been saddled with a "boom and bust" economy in the last 1000 or so years."

Fair question, assuming "boom and bust" is a natural element of economies.

I think it fair to say that any economy will eventually "bust" ... but I think it also fair to say that any well-planned economy might "boom" for a long period ...

Certainly much longer than the cycles we have lived through in the U.S. during the Twentieth Century.

In saying "America was saddled with "boom and bust" cycles we have all lived through in recent decades" I was of course referring to the manipulation of our economy which has resulted from imposition of the Federal Reserve System - which has nothing to do with federal government.

The Great Depression did not have to be as severe as it was, and could have largely been prevented if it had not been for political motivations.

The United States has had ample opportunity to avoid the coming crash also, but until either the U.S. government regains control of its money supply, or a new government replaces the current one, we will continue to have the sort of "boom and bust" cycles which are unlike anything in previous world history.

Reality is that we can each work to create an alternate economy, or more than one, to help offset the uncontrollable cycles of the larger economy we are subject to.

That is what I intend to explore here - doomsday or no doomsday.

There will be survivors, anonymous, and there is no time like the present to decide how you will live in the future.

I have no difficulty envisioning the future - I just find it awkward to describe future except in language of the past ...

where do we go from here ... ?

2006-12-21T10:52:00.000-08:00

.
I am chided for my absence from these pages, for which I offer simple apology.

My time lately has been spent more toward learning than talking.

One of the biggest challenges for me right now is presenting good news ...

My work currently involves the application of my brain to social and long-term challenges, whereas in the past my work has been more application of muscle to immediate, short-term problems, such as putting food on the family table.

For most who will read this, I suppose the latter consumes your energies.

I applaud your efforts and pray wholeheartedly for your success.

My desire is to support that success any way I can.

Wherever you are located, you are now part of a global economy.

Daily you are offered statistics supporting a position that everything is fine
- is it ?

Most of us do not have the time, patience, or sometimes even the talent, to dispute "everything is fine" reports - most often such reports tell us what we want to hear, and we continue our workday ... not completely reassured.

Knowing the true situation is a burden which personally makes me want to scream warnings.

Such information is not easily communicated because it is simply more than the average working person can deal with.

Warnings cause panic, panic leads to charges of irresponsible behaviour, credibility is lost, the bearer of warnings is ignored.

Just an hour ago I was shown a short video - a composite from two cameras set to watch a railroad crossing.

A semi truck in slow traffic crossing the tracks came to a full stop as the crossing gate closed behind the trailer, which was still on the tracks - its rear wheels on the other side of the tracks from the cab.

An Amtrak train, whistle blowing, unable to stop or even slow enough to avoid collision, obliterated the truck's trailer, leaving the driver uninjured in the cab disconnected from the burning wreckage.

The truck driver later said she never heard or saw the train coming.

I can see and hear the train and I want to scream out to you, the driver, to get out of the way, but even if you heard me, you could only save yourself - too late to save your "truck" ... and it would be unfair to fault you for the immediate concerns with which your mind was occupied while the train was approaching.

Most of us are unaware of the enourmity of the economic trainwreck that is waiting to happen to us - something which most nations dependent on dominance of the American dollar are working hard to delay, because there is no one in the world that will not be affected in some way.

Most of us are right now unaware that certain governments we are led to believe are our enemies, who could easily hasten U.S. economic collapse, are in fact working to delay that collapse.

Notice I said delay, because decrease in value of the dollar cannot be prevented - its current level is artificial while U.S. money supply reporting has been suspended since March, 2006, to hide the true level of decline.

The best anyone can hope for right now is that the dollar's decline will be gradual so that everyone can adjust without panic anywhere.

Economies have been manipulated since long before America was saddled with "boom and bust" cycles we have all lived through in recent decades, but our U.S. economy seems particularly poorly managed by people whose arrogance seems only to grow and conditions worsen; witness increase of reckless spending as national debt grows beyond what can ever be repaid.

My dilemma is in knowing there are things we can do
- at least to ease the pain, even if there are no broad solutions ...

... just one voice looking for a community to bridge the economic divide.

Interested ?

we make our own reality ...

2006-12-20T18:29:00.000-08:00

August 25 I checked the settings for this blog, which had been blocking comments.
- http://adafad.blogspot.com/2006/08/comments-open-to-all.html

Comments, feedback, discussion, and other interaction, are what this blog is about, and there seems precious little of any.

Having said that, another "anonymous" has just deposited an advertisement as a comment to that post.

Such activity is antithetical to what we are about, yet I am thinking to leave that ad, and a previous "comment" (also an ad) in place, as examples of what not to do - if that even makes any sense ?

"We make our own reality" is a truism, the same for "anonymous" as for you and for me.

I vowed ages ago never to buy anything from anyone who spams me.

There is a difference between posting an ad as a "comment" to a blog entry and outright spamming, but such a distinction is not great enough that I would waste my time arguing it.

If you want to sell me something, let me get to know you first.

the hole in the wall ...

2006-09-10T07:29:00.000-07:00

When Indian researcher Sugata Mitra embedded a high-speed computer in a wall separating his firm's New Delhi headquarters from an adjacent slum, he discovered that slum children quickly taught themselves how to surf the net, read the news, and download games and music. Mitra then replicated the experiment in other locations. Each time the results were similar: within hours, and without instruction, the children began browsing the Internet.

Can children -- given only access and opportunity -- really teach themselves the rudiments of computer literacy with no instruction? "The Hole in the Wall" experiment, and the documentary film that chronicles it, show the answer to be a "Yes!" Mitra estimates that, given access to one hundred thousand computers, one hundred million Indian children could teach themselves computer literacy within five years.

- http://www.globalvision.org/program/how/how.html

comments open to all ...

2006-08-25T09:00:00.000-07:00

My apologies - a friend notified me that comments here has been restricted to blogspot registered members.

Was my intention that comments be open to all, as they now are again.

I am going to make a friend mad ...

2006-08-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

This morning I received a question that just baffled me - not that I was unable to provide an appropriate answer.

What is baffling to me is that I have provided a hundred different "appropriate" answers to that same question over so many months, and yet, after having such ample opportunity to decide for herself from among all those possbilities ...

One of those moments I stifled a scream, it was.

After thinking about the question for an hour, I decided to make my friend mad today.

Not because I want her to be mad at me, but ...

I have faith that our friendship will endure - that because of what I say today, because of what I do today, and what she does in turn as a result, will bring rewards in her life later, even after I am gone, that she will pass on to her children, and to their children.

Recently, I wanted our new site to have a favicon - not a *necessity* but a little sign that we care enough about our website to add that feature.

If you do not know what is a *favicon* (favorite icon) - google "favicon" and learn about it ... very easy to do, and I will not take up extra space here telling you all about it when I know how easily you can find that information.

Required work on Franklyn's part to figure out how to install favicon on our site and forum site (you can see it before the address in the address bar), but as usual, he figured it out.
How does it look ? Do you like it ?

Back on track here: I asked my friend to make a favicon for us, in exchange for receiving $50 cash (which I knew she needed), and she agreed to do the job.

I could have done it myself, though I had never made one before.

Four days later, she sent me an e-mail requesting that I show her how to make a favicon ... and honestly, I do not recall that I replied to that message.

I think it was day 8 or 9 she sent me a message to say that she could not figure out how to make a favicon, could not do the job, so I thanked her and let it go ... and went directly to google, entered "favicon" and I think it was the third entry I selected

I had our favicon ready within 30 minutes of receiving her message.

... because I want my friend to get really, really mad enough to act in her own behalf !

I KNOW she can and will succeed !
I am willing to stake my life on it !
~

searches traceable back to you ... ?

2006-08-22T21:00:00.000-07:00

By now you are probably aware that AOL (AmericaOnline service provider) recently released a "small portion" of keyword search information for about 658,000 anonymous AOL users in a move that "ignited a firestorm of criticism on the Internet amid calls for tighter protection of the privacy of users' Web searches"

- http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/0,39020336,39280573,00.htm
__

This morning I was shown a couple of alternatives you can use you would like your searches not traceable back to you:

Mess up the db with: http://lostinthecrowd.org/

... or try: http://mrl.nyu.edu/~dhowe/TrackMeNot/

re: 12Dailypro

2006-07-18T08:03:00.000-07:00

July 18, 2006

Re: Securities and Exchange Commission v. Charis Johnson,
LifeClicks, LLC, and 12Daily Pro; USDC, Central Dist. of CA, Case No.
CV 06-01018-NM(PLAx)

This letter is being sent to you to provide information
about this case. On April 21, 2006, and May 20, 2006, Thomas F.
Lennon, the United States District Court appointed Receiver sent
e-mail letters to a large number of e-mail addresses derived from 12
DailyPro and StormPay databases. The Receiver has now recovered
additional e-mail addresses and is using them, as well as all the
previous e-mail addresses, to send this e-mail. The previous letters
as well as this document can be viewed at
www.tlennonfor12dailypro.com. In addition, the Receiver's website
contains his e-mail address and a list of Frequently Asked Questions
with recent updates along with other case information.

As previously noted in the letters sent to
investors/members, investors who used credit cards for a credit
transaction are not prohibited from initiating a charge back through
their credit card issuer. Investors that used checks, electronic fund
transfers and debit cards are prohibited from initiating a charge back
by the Orders issued by the Court. The Orders are also posted on the
web site. Please note that in many situations the period within which
you could have initiated a charge back may have passed. The rules of
the credit card issuer determine the time allowed. The rights of
consumers to dispute electronic transfers are limited to unauthorized
debits or errors in the amount of debits, but do not provide a right
to reverse a transfer because the consumer has discovered that the
recipient was perpetrating a fraud. Moreover, all investors and
creditors are enjoined from initiating any legal action against
12Daily Pro, LifeClicks or Charis Johnson.

The Receiver realizes that the investors have many
questions and concerns. The web site referenced above and the FAQ will
answer many of those questions in more detail, but some of the answers
to your questions can be summarized as follows:

All investors, foreign and domestic will be treated
equally under the law. Investors who used EMO and E-Gold as payment
processors will be treated the same as investors that used StormPay.
Any distribution plan proposed by the Receiver will be done on an
equitable basis. The length of time an investor was invested in the
program will not be a considered in distributions. If you received
this e-mail or the first e-mail sent on April 21, 2006, or the second
e-mail sent on May 20, 2006, you are on the investors list. The
Receiver will be providing the Court and all interested parties
Reports on the status of the case as required and when otherwise
appropriate. These Reports will be posted on the Receiver's web site.
While queries to the Receiver by phone and e-mail will continue to
receive a response, it is not the Receiver's practice to provide
updates to individual investors because of the prohibitive costs
associated with trying to communicate with thousands of investors on
an individual basis. Please minimize these costs by checking the
website and the FAQ before calling or e-mailing the Receiver. The
Receiver realizes that this is an extremely frustrating situation for
investors, but please understand that he is working as diligently as
possible to reach a fair and equitable result. Please check the
website for updates and further information including answers to
Frequently Asked Questions.

reaching out ...

2006-07-05T19:38:00.000-07:00

The last half of 2006 will be a transition from what I have been used to the last four years. Whether I will relocate out of Central Oregon or stay remains to be seen.

I am free to go, while others are not ...

Today I reached out through kiva.org to someone not "free to go" and in that way I hope I will be helping someone to prosper.

By contributing the last $100 needed, I hope Abraham will be enabled to help others in his community have shoes they need, and that his four children will have enough to eat.

As I receive updates from kiva I will share them here.
_

Location: Mbale, Uganda

Activity: Retail

Loan Amount: $1000.00

Loan Use: Buying leather materials.

Loan Repayment Term Range: 6-13 months

Start Date: Aug 07, 2006

Status: loan has been raised

Partner Rep: Kevin Abago, Abbo Yedidah

Partner: Women Initiative to Eradicate Poverty

Abraham is a married man with four (4) Children. He started as ripes hawker, after, became a shoe hawker, now he has got a stall at the market, where by he got a loan of $200 from WITEP at first, next got a loan of $300. Uganda is among the third world country with poorest of the poor people.

It is very difficult for these poor people to go out to buy expensive shoes from the shoe dealers.

For this reason, this business stands a very high opportunity to sell cheap shoes to the people of the community. He has customers all around him who wants to be different by wearing shoes.

He is capable to increase his stock to meet the high demand of shoes in the community.

He has been faithful in paying back. When given a loan of $1000 it will help him have a large stock and generate enough money as well to improve the standard of living.

- http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=500

Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) on net neutrality ...

2006-07-03T09:00:00.000-07:00

These are the people legislating technology...

By Mauricio Freitas, in Technology, posted: 4-JUL-2006 10:51

Just behind our own New Zealand parliament showing the need of an update in technology matters, here comes the American Senate, as reported by Wired. This is the speech by Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska):

" There's one company now you can sign up and you can get a movie delivered to your house daily by delivery service. Okay. And currently it comes to your house, it gets put in the mail box when you get home and you change your order but you pay for that, right.

But this service isn't going to go through the interent and what you do is you just go to a place on the internet and you order your movie and guess what you can order ten of them delivered to you and the delivery charge is free.

Ten of them streaming across that internet and what happens to your own personal internet?

I just the other day got, an internet was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday. Why?

Because it got tangled up with all these things going on the internet commercially.

So you want to talk about the consumer? Let's talk about you and me. We use this internet to communicate and we aren't using it for commercial purposes.

We aren't earning anything by going on that internet. Now I'm not saying you have to or you want to discrimnate against those people [...]

The regulatory approach is wrong. Your approach is regulatory in the sense that it says "No one can charge anyone for massively invading this world of the internet". No, I'm not finished. I want people to understand my position, I'm not going to take a lot of time. [?]

They want to deliver vast amounts of information over the internet. And again, the internet is not something you just dump something on. It's not a truck.

It's a series of tubes.

And if you don't understand those tubes can be filled and if they are filled, when you put your message in, it gets in line and its going to be delayed by anyone that puts into that tube enormous amounts of material, enormous amounts of material.

Now we have a separate Department of Defense internet now, did you know that?

Do you know why?

Because they have to have theirs delivered immediately. They can't afford getting delayed by other people.

[...]

Now I think these people are arguing whether they should be able to dump all that stuff on the internet ought to consider if they should develop a system themselves.

Maybe there is a place for a commercial net but it's not using what consumers use every day.

It's not using the messaging service that is essential to small businesses, to our operation of families.

The whole concept is that we should not go into this until someone shows that there is something that has been done that really is a viloation of net neutraility that hits you and me. "

- http://www.geekzone.co.nz/blog.asp?blogid=1&postid=782

... and more about click fraud ...

2006-06-28T06:52:00.000-07:00

Is Click Fraud A Big Deal?
by: TheLilCrusader

You've probably seen a lot of PTR sites spring up over the last several months that pretty much offer nothing but search ads. Maybe you've joined some because of their high link values and fast payouts. If you've done enough searches at any one program, you may find yourself in the position of receiving up to 50 of these emails per day from that one program....Wow - kewl beanz, right? Wrong.

Sure, you're earning money quickly and likely receiving it quickly too - but is that all that matters - I mean really matters? Does it bother you that the only reason you've gotten these extra emails is because you've shown the PO of that program that you're more than willing to commit click fraud?

I know, I know...you're thinking, "I didn't do anything wrong" and on the surface maybe it seems that way. But the reality is, every time you click a keyword on a search portal page and then go to a website based on that keyword, just to keep your number of valids up so the big number of daily emails will continue and the pennies will keep rolling in, you're stealing from someone else. Did you know that?

Admit it - nobody really has to search for anything hundreds of times a day so you usually just pick a keyword - right? Where do you think the list you get from picking that keyword came from? That list of sites is only there because somebody paid to be listed. And the reason they did that is in hopes of generating traffic to their website - traffic that might result in a sale, which would help offset the cost of being listed on that search engine and maybe give them a profit. Those businesses didn't pay to be there to help you earn a penny....they paid to be there to earn money for themselves - that's called business!

So every time you click a keyword and go to a website because you've been told that's what you need to do to earn your penny, without having any actual interest in the site at all - you're stealing from the person who paid for that listing to be there because you've become "bad traffic" - something the advertiser did NOT pay for.

That, my friend, is click fraud and yes, it is a very BIG deal...maybe not to you or to the owner of the program, but that doesn't matter. The most important person in this equation is the SE advertiser and they don't appreciate having their advertising dollars stolen by you in exchange for a penny. When an advertiser realizes his money is being thrown away, he's not going to keep advertising with that SE, and if this happens enough times to enough businesses, eventually the SE will have nothing left.

Yes, click fraud is a very big deal, and if you're part of it, it's time to stop.
TheLilCrusader's recommended site: OurPtr2.com

what is considered click fraud ... ?

2006-06-28T06:42:00.000-07:00

Is Clicking A Search Result Considered Click Fraud?

by: Rod Baker

There has been much debate over this question. Many think clicking a
search result is the honest thing to do for the advertiser that paid
the Paid To Read site money, while others say you are helping that
advertiser commit click fraud.

Who is right in this debate?

Good or bad, right or wrong, there is one easy way to determine this
(and you will need to ask yourself this each time you are ready to
click on a search result):

Am I truly interested in learning more about this advertisement?


If you click on a search result for Viagra, are you sincerely
interested in learning about that product?

How about attorney at law? Are you, or someone you are researching
for, needing to find a good attorney?

Car Insurance ... Is it fair to say that if you click on one of these
results and don't own a car or happy with your current car insurance
and won't be persuaded to change your current car insurance, that you
are an uninterested viewer and are not of any value to this advertiser?

This is where the whole notion of click fraud comes into play. Where
do you think the money comes from to pay you to click on that search
result?

From the advertiser/member who pays the PTR webmaster cash to run
their campaign? Technically, the answer would be yes, that is where
the money comes from to pay you.

That sounds like a legitimate and fair money making venture right? If
it were that simple, the answer would be yes.

Unfortunately, its not that simple. We must now think a little deeper.
Who paid that search portal advertiser for those valid searches?
Correct, a search engine. Many times, these search engines feed off of
other search engines that are larger or higher up the advertiser food
chain. Eventually, they all lead to one place:

...the actual advertiser that inserted the link that you just clicked
on: car insurance quote, medicines, webhosting, etc. and those
advertisers were led to believe that any viewer who actually clicked
on their link was at the very least, somewhat interested in their
advertisement (this is the selling pitch of the search engines).

The PTR sites who beg, demand, coerce, threaten or even say they'll
stop sending you search mails if you don't perform valid searches, are
forcing you, the member, in making uninterested searches ... searches
you would never have made under normal circumstances.


That is what click fraud is all about. Ignore the demands and coercion
tactics from these webmasters and truly ask yourself ONE question:

Is this search ad something I may be interested in?
If so, perform the search.
If not, DON'T!

If the masses could hold true to this one question, not only would
click fraud be virtually eliminated, but those advertisers that are
paying you to view their ad would have a much higher conversion ratio
due to the fact that only interested viewers are viewing their ads and
absorbing the ad budget.

Logically, these advertisers could then afford to pay more for their
search position and each of you could actually earn more per click at
your favorite PTR site.

Think about it ... less work, more pay if everyone played honestly by
the rules.

We ALL must do our part and start somewhere. Can you proudly say you
did YOUR part to improve our situation?

death throes of a payment processor ...

2006-06-27T18:47:00.000-07:00

StormPay sent an interesting message to all members today:

StormPay announces no registration necessary!

June 27, 2006

" Sellers - no longer do your customers need to register for a StormPay account to purchase your product! Now your buyers can click your “Buy Now” button, fill in their information, and submit their payment to you!

You asked for this feature, we listened, you got it!!

No more frustrating registration for buyers...

No more waiting to validate account info…

No more missing spontaneous purchases..

This new feature should easily allow you to convert shoppers into buyers! Because this new feature allows your customers to make purchases without registering, all payments received by you, from a NON registered StormPay account holder, will go to a “Pending” status. Payments will remain pending for a period of 7 days at which time payments received will convert to a “Complete” status. Once the payment status is “Complete”, you may withdraw or send funds as normal. Payments received by you from senders who ARE registered account holders instantly go to a completed status.

Special note: All customers wishing to use StormPay Auctions, StormClix, or register a subscription will be required to register a FREE StormPay.com account. "

StormPay.com
_______

Now why would I be so desperate to wait 7 days to be paid by a customer who is most likely one of the many thousands who was ripped off by SP in February of this year, and therefore will not trust SP enough to register ...

There are plenty of other processors I can use to be paid "instantly"

... and then again, why would I "value" my own business so highly as to have a StormPay button anywhere on the site anyway ? If potential customers think anything like I do, I would just be driving them away.

I predict StormPay will finally close up shop before September, 2006.

What do you think ... ?

the coming war ...

2006-05-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

Charis Johnson is hard at work, way behind the curve still ...

CJ means well, and I do not mean to slight her in any way.

If you have not kept up with Ms. Johnson since her run-in with the SEC, you might want to visit her blog and new site ...

http://www.charisjohnson.com/
- http://iiii.eponym.com/blog/_archives/2006/5/21/1974662.html

Once you have read what is there as of today's date, you will not be surprised to see a reactionary shockwave run through the entire autosurf industry - terms changing, new "disclaimers" and advisories ... a general melee all around.

The SEC would very much like to extend its heavy hand as far as possible to prevent "financial anarchy" in America. Put another way, the government some of us have grown to love so dearly over so many years would dearly love to keep us dumb and poor. In other words, we are not supposed to know there is any other way of doing business than what is sanctioned by U.S. government, which allows us to make a certain amount only ( and no more than that legally ), in order for the banking system some of us have grown to love so dearly over so many years can make 10 times as much or more ( legally ) so there will be no bank failure.

Now if you really think about that you will realize that I am not anti-American or anti-government ... but as most anyone who is able to think something through to some degree, that does not mean I agree with everything Americans are or do or say these days, nor with everything the government might do, or wish me to do. Truth of the matter is that for what I know, I am having a very hard time deciding whether to stay in the U.S. - again, NOT because I am anti-US, but because I am aware the COST of staying here is unecessarily HIGH.

The main problem with "sound banking" for most of us is accumulation of wealth among the few, while the many are left to scrabble - which is what dependably drives our overall economy after all. Not to say there is no better way of doing business though, is it ?

The real difficulty is that such a scenario assumes we are rather stupid self-flagellants - a not unreasonable argument as long as benefits provided us as American citizens are relatively equal to our cost of purchasing those benefits ... but more and more, our reasons for needing some of those benefits are less and less ...

In a sense, it could be said the actions of agencies such as SEC cause the very "financial desperation" which makes promises of "unrealistic returns" so appealing.

CJ is fighting to save herself, and who can argue against that. She started out knowing not enough, and hardly has had opportunity to catch up since. Instead, she must "set an example" for others as penance. Still would like to have a face-to-face sitdown talk with her ...

... because there is much more happening here. Any website or program owner who wants to avoid SEC intrusion will most likely follow the "guidelines" CJ posted to her sites today, but that is the easy part. Those owners know that heaviest concentration of money to keep their sites going is from the U.S. market. Most non-US Internet operators would not be in business long on the Internet if they depended solely on what they could collect in membership fees, advertising profits and other monetary input from their own country by itself. Without U.S. input, most of them cannot profit.

Some autosurfs will simply close. Others will "run the risk" and maybe pay a price (maybe not), for which a lot of innocent people will lose, and for which ultimately SEC and the like will have more ammunitiion to back up their case. Scams will continue, and probably to increase.

Some honest program owners will do a very smart thing: They will "close" their membership from U.S. participation. There are plenty of folks outside the U.S. who can benefit from a successful autosurf not subject to SEC regulation. Any autosurf positioning itself properly will do very well helping to redistribute wealth in an innovative way. Although that process will be somewhat slowed without so many American dollars flowing in, that "obstacle" may serve as improvement to such programs - keeping overall growth more manageable.

Do not be deceived, however, to think that because honest programs close to Americans that Americans will not find ways to participate. What you are seeing is one of the opening battles of a "war" in which big governments are already reacting to loss of power to dominate; in which cost of extorting their own citizens through taxation will increase as revenues decrease. In turn, services provided by government will become more efficiently delivered or disappear. As big government withers, it is less able to extort (demand taxes in greater proportion than services provided in return). Sovereignty will become commercialized as individual humans "vote with their feet" realizing they can find "protection" from another provider for less cost, for which governments will have to become more efficient facing competition for revenue.

In the short term, there will be increased pain for all. Rather than serving interests of American "consumers" at it was intended to do, SEC "heavy-handedness" either forestalls the inevitable, or brings it on faster. Desperation has a certain smell to it - moreso as it becomes fear. The major difference between the industrial age we are now "living out of" and the Information Age we are already part of, is that until a few years ago, a back was more valuable than a brain. Anyone could operate a "dumb" machine with no more than a couple hours "orientation" - hardly a "skilled" position, though often thought of as such ( encouraged by union leaders ).

Now, what you know makes all the difference. Anyone in any country who KNOWS how can DO with no regard for physical location; ie. they do not have to live within driving distance of the "factory" because they can be, or already are, connected via Internet. Which means if that person can do the job for less, that person gets the job. Hope that helps you understand "outsourcing" ... : )

Unfortunately, I will likely have more to say about all this ...

Scarcity amid Abundance ... ?

2006-05-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the way we think about a thing makes not much sense. We live in a society which has produced "too much" for a long time - longer than some of you have been on the planet. My parents did not grow up with the wealth of things I have taken for granted. Even the way our society produces things has changed since it began producing so much. Used to be things lasted longer - now they are "programmed to self-destruct" so they can be replaced ... and in turn we have come to expect that we will replace something we paid enough for that it should have lasted years.

We throw away things that almost anyone elsewhere in the world would salvage and be perfectly happy to own - only because it is scratched, or cracked, or just "used" as in NOT NEW ... and god forbid we should be seen as so impoverished as to not be able to afford BRAND NEW !

In that way we do not recognize value of a thing once it has passed on to being used - even somewhat used, or slightly used, makes a thing "valueless" to us, and so we continue the hunt for more, for NEW, better, faster, louder things that will very quickly also have no value to us.

Nothing much there seems odd compared to what most of us seem to want most of all: MONEY. We want all the money we can get, and we do not care if it is real or virtual, crisp or wadded from the washer (or from a sweat soaked pocket), clean or germ-laden or drug saturated, new bills and coins or old are all the same to most of us - just never ever enough MONEY.

The things we throw away to replace with brand new often retain more VALUE than the money we cherish more than anything else.

If all the precious things which have been manufactured in the six decades of my life had been cared for properly, not replaced so quickly, and precious skills of repair been maintained, we would all have enough of those things to last decades to come WITHOUT making ANY more of any of them ... if people took more care and let go a lot more pride, they would not wreck so many cars and give up what still works just not quite as well as it did yesterday ...

... for which we would all have more, or at least enough, and not be driving so hard to get more and more, but that is the way our stupid economy works.

Not because there is not enough of a thing its price is high, but because we figure out how to make it harder, or seem harder, to get, or to keep. So we pay more and assume we will get more, and have more to pay for more - until we run out of time. While we still have time, we create artificial needs, and find ways to fill them while we find ways to pay for filling them, and in so doing we lose sight of what we have, or who we are and of what we are capable.

We have enough already. We do not value what we have. We have good health, which we use to work ourselves to death so we will have more time to enjoy our good health. We have good skills which we set aside to concentrate on maneuvering to get more money in exchange for our skills which eventually go unused because no one will pay enough to utilize them. We have a good team which, if encouraged and nourished, could do anything, but we impoverish and stifle it by focusing on how many dollars we can stuff in our own personal bank account.

Who factors into GNP the number of skilled hours which go unused every day ... ignored because a worker is "scratched, or cracked, or just "used" as in NOT NEW" - even though such a worker likely brings more dedicated knowledge and experience to a task, and could sometimes be employed for less than one "brand new" ... ?

Were we to stop and count up what we have among us, we would likely find we do not have enough money, but we have everything we need. We can do anything we need to do with the skills combined in our community, and one of those skills is matching the "haves" with the "needs" while another is the ability to keep records.

Poverty is generally a measure of having too little money, yet just about anyone you could point me to as being "in poverty" can do something, whether digging in the earth or pounding a nail, changing a flat tire or threading a needle, making a better soup or soothing a sick child - and for every one of those "haves" there is a "need" to be filled ... so is poverty no more than an artificial product of a monetary system ?

I ask you to put your own mind to work now in the post-industrial time and think whether the way you think makes as much sense as it could ?

are you destitute ... ?

2006-05-16T09:00:00.001-07:00

destitute
Pronunciation: 'des-t&-"tüt, -"t(y)üt
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin destitutus, past participle of destituere to abandon, deprive, from de- + statuere to set up -- more at STATUTE
1 : lacking something needed or desirable [a lake destitute of fish]
2 : lacking possessions and resources; especially : suffering extreme poverty [a destitute old man]

Is there perhaps a mental switch in some minds that says,
" If I associate which a group that seems to have no $$, how will I be viewed by others ? "

That very notion is "sold" and fortified on the Internet constantly.

Television itself, advertising and print media, help condition us to think those who *have* are motivated and those who do NOT have are NOT motivated (else they would have ). Such perverted logic says little or nothing about how those who *have* got what they possess; does little to gauge honesty of those with less. Most often what is produced by "big advertising" dollars has not much to do with how the world actually works.

Being "destitute" is not necessarily a financial condition.

Could be a spiritual condition, an ethical dilemma, or a mental deficit ...

"Extreme poverty of the mind" perhaps.

Someone may be extremely wealthy and live in a community which is in poverty - in which case it will be more expensive to "contribute" to the *need* of the community, whether through taxation to maintain law and order (government protection), cost of other personal protection; more expensive in what is lost through theft and extortion when protection measures fail ...

Which leads to a simple choice as I see it:

- Devote assets to building walls, maintaining a "security" force, fortifying assets against loss, or ...
- Enable and encourage prosperity of others by means of available resources (assets) by funding education and facilities, employment, and more

Taking the first route ensures a community in which resources are devoted to building more and more walls - when anyone acquires something, to "protect" their assets, they do as they have been taught - demonstrate a need to fortify their property. People are more and more separated.

In a healthy community, all members, at whatever level of ability or acquisition, learn the value of sharing and teaching, contributing to success of others, so that others also become healthy individuals, prospering the entire community. The more we teach, the more we learn.

is it a scam ... ?

2006-05-15T09:00:00.000-07:00

From Webster:
Pronunciation: 'skam
Function: noun
Etymology: origin unknown
: a fraudulent or deceptive act or operation

Talking with some folks, I hear "scam = Internet" ... and in too many ways, I cannot argue with them : )

The Internet is the new "Wild West" - governance is not fully formed.

Who should "govern" the Internet ?

" In the beginning, there are no rules. " ... save for those basic ethics and morals given each of us by our mothers, and sometimes by fathers ...

... assumes everyone honors those gifts and lives by them, which they do not.

Add to that common sense and survival skills, which in my view are less than evident within some individuals.

A new movement online states as its aim to " ... educate key groups of the community about the true nature of illegal internet investments in order to help eradicate these programs and protect as many people as possible" - good idea as far as that goes, and I do not mean to abuse anyone personally so I will not here give a link or more info about that "movement" ...

... because I see that statement as short-sighted. Aside from the fact that the particular website is "penance" (for which I cannot gauge its sincerity), an underlying view seems to be that the SEC [United States Securities and Exchange Commission] governs the Internet. Certainly the SEC has a role to play - particularly in regard to proliferation of scams on the Internet, and SEC has answers for Americans ( who pay for its existence ). Having said that, SEC has no jurisdiction outside the U.S. SEC does NOT *govern* the Internet. The Internet is a phenomenon which crosses / disregards ( not outside of, but beyond ) all physical geographical borders.

What is best for the U.S. government is not necessarily what is best for the human beings of the world ... and before you think I am lapsing into politics here, realize that my focus is on what is best for people - everywhere. If the SEC truly has answers for the entire world, then perhaps it would find "within its jurisdiction" opportunity to say or do something in regard to the $400 million ($400,000,000) retirement package given to Lee Raymond at a time when Katrina survivors are still in a daze, when children are being orphaned every day in so many places around the world ... when so much misery could be at least moderated in some way.

In fairness to Mr. Raymond, I do not know what charities ( if any ) he makes contribution to.

Short of yet deciding what is *legal* on the Internet, I believe it relatively easy for you and I to decide what is a SCAM on the Internet. Just because an idea does not fit tidily within some law book does NOT make the idea a scam, nor mean it is illegal. If an idea reveals itself to be fraud [specifically : intentional perversion of truth in order to induce another to part with something of value or to surrender a legal right b : an act of deceiving or misrepresenting : TRICK] then the perpetrator is revealed and will be dealt with.

New ideas, different ways of doing things, are not easily understood when they come to us outside of our usual frames of reference. The tendency for some of us is to not trust, not get involved, and nothing wrong with that - "wait and see" harms no one.

Innovation [1 : the introduction of something new 2 : a new idea, method, or device : NOVELTY] can make significant difference in quality of life and how systems operate, but innovation needs a place to begin to grow. The Internet must be maintained as such a place. In a free environment, market forces will decide success or failure.

Those clever enough to perpetrate "cyber violence" - deceive and steal from you - will exist wherever there is sufficient return from such violence. Others will ferret them out - no reason for you to tolerate such activity any more than you would a physical assault. It is up to us to inform each other to dry up a crooks profit.

In this "Information Age" Kusum in India can know the same thing I know in Oregon at the same time the rest of you know that same thing wherever you are, with no distortion from any agency which might wish to deflect us from knowing.

You do not yet realize how much you are a formative part of a new age in human existence. It will be a century or two before someone will boldly proclaim the "old era" has gone, and for now most of us will deny that what we have known is passing away - too much for most of us to wrap our minds around just yet ...

virtual disappearance ...

2006-05-13T09:00:00.000-07:00

Well, where have I been ... ?

One of my most trusted advisors is in absence - his entire blog consisting of dedicated work over many months pulled down as of yesterday ...

He had not posted new since April 22, nor responded to my e-mails for most of that time - just after encountering major interference with his project, for which he was paid nothing other than satisfaction of providing a much-needed service to others ... a service for which I would gladly pay subscription ( in case he might read what I am now writing ).

As you know, I have repeated, "Conspiracy theories do not thrive in the open."

His absence leaves me to wonder:

- Was his life ended prematurely ?
- Was he offered employment he could not refuse ?
- Was he accused of being "unlicensed" to inform others ?
- Was he threatened in some other perverse way ?
- Is he so disgusted with things as they are that he decided his information would do no good ... ?

... or maybe he met someone and fell in love.
That still happens, does it ... ?

lmaorofsbmysh

2006-03-27T15:56:00.000-08:00

Rarely am I one to use such "net" symbolism - not spell things out - but in this case ...

Not room enough in subject line

lmao = "laughing my ass off" in case you just turned on a computer for the first time

Add whatever you like to these things, assuming your friends know you ...

rof = "rolling on floor"

I added "sbmysh" = shaking because my sides hurt

Here is why:

A former favourite autosurf admin just sent an update saying, "Starting April 1st we are going to implement membership dues of $1 per day."

He also said, " ... go back and re-read our business model that we posted a few weeks ago. There, if you actually read it, we gave you upfront knowledge that this was coming." May be, but I would not know. You see, when SEC took 12DP offline, this particular autosurf went offline same day - temporarily, without any explanation. Explanation came three days later ...

Since I liked the service earlier, even if it did "copy" too much of 12DP ( as I recall there was even a complaint about its site content from Charis Johnson ), soon as the new "plan" was announced, I signed up again. Problem is ( not really a problem ), I never received my confirmation e-mail to complete the new registration.

I still get e-mails from the service every day just as if I were a full-fledged member ... even though after waiting 10 days I sent this man a polite note letting him know I would not be continuing with his service.

Too bad his admin messages show frustration much more than needs be, but worse, they remind me of some former PTS owners who disappeared without any warning. There is an attitude displayed by some folks that just says " Watch out ! " ... not to say this guy is a scammer. He IS still trying to make a go of it after all - just that his approach is "unilaterally" equal to that of Storm(trooper)Pay ...

Not even sure what the return is for his new site since he will not show it except to members, but a little calculation ...

If the site pays 2% per day, then a member would have to upgrade more than $50 to start out just to make any profit, paying $1 per day as membership fee ... and that means you would have to surf EVERY day even to make that ! Have to wonder what he is smoking, because his bright idea is about sensible as Congress continuing to tax government employees when the court ruled against it ... for which Congress decided too much paperwork - reduced employee salaries instead.

Bye, bye now ... wish you success !

who'd she think she was messin' with ... ?

2006-03-26T09:00:00.000-08:00

could happen to me I s'pose ...

No one reads this blog anyway ... do they ?

During time I have recorded nonsense here, two have sent me an e-mail to comment - a positive response.

Thank you Dan and Bob

I know a few friends visit now and then ...

There is another blog you can find on the list at blogspot.com which I have made reference to as an excellent investigative source, but I will not name it just now because ...

Seems someone who knows English as a third or fourth language decided to send out a bulk mailing containing his blogspot URL as if it were some rank HYIP she was promoting ... which coincided with his blog appearing on at least one PTS site that same morning - something of which he was unaware until I told him.

What the spammer WAS unaware of is that she messed with the absolute WRONG guy. Anyone with a First Grade education could recognize that if he can post background details of a list of Ponzis and other ripoffs, explaining in detail how and why they are scams, where they are located, who is running them, not to mention his abilities at literary forensics with which he is able to support valid arguments linking current scams and those which have already relieved some of us of too many dollars ...

... but, Ooooh ! I bet she is aware now !

Take the Last Train to Clarksville

2006-03-25T09:00:00.000-08:00

Take the Last Train to Clarksville

A Rendition for The StormPay Scam

Take the last train to Clarksville,
And I'll meet you at my race track
You will see all the improvements made
From the frozen funds at Charis'
Twelve Daily Pro. Ha, ha, ho, ho,
He, he, ho, ho!

Cause I got this dirt track fever,
I got Crate Racer disease -
And I'm takin' funds from everyone
Just you read my T & C, I can do a charge back
I can suck you dry!
And NBC's behind me all the way.

Take the last train to Clarksville.
I'll be wasted in my Hummer.
We'll have time for cavier & cognac
And a bit of ponzi talk.
I thank you so, Twelve Daily Pro,
Oh woah, oh woah!

Take the last train to Clarksville,
Now I must hang up the phone.
It's the BBB & the FBI
They want to know about.
Twelve Daily Pro, Ho, ho, ho, ho!
Ha, ha, ho, ho!
And you know that I would never tell a lie!

Take the last train to Clarksville,
Take the last train to Clarksville,
[repeat and fade]

http://surfersteve.info/

limiting loss ...

2006-03-24T09:00:00.000-08:00

Previously I asserted that money was missing from StormPay accounts - that some money had disappeared with no accounting.

I hope that is not true. At this point, I am aware that my calculations were in error.

I have no "evidence" to support the "missing money" assertion at this time.

There remains to be answered the charge that new monies, never previously associated with PTS industry, were taken from StormPay subscribers whose accounts had been zeroed out by chargebacks. StormPay accounts were used by people all across the Internet, for purchasing standalone products, to set subscriptions for services rendered by many different types of websites other than PTS, and for simply exchanging funds with friends and associates.

StormPay allowed an option of having one's StormPay account linked to a personal bank or checking account, so it would be "bottomless" - that is, so that when returns of profit were not sufficient to cover ongoing expenses, the StormPay account would automatically draw from the attached bank account.

The attached bank account had to be in the same name as the StormPay account. Once set up and verified, an account with SP or PayPal is complex to change, as for instance changing PayPal from adroundup.net to jamonbotrading.com would be easier for me to set up a new PP account than try to change the old one.

On the other hand, when your online business receives large amounts of $$ from the public and your processor account is in your personal name as is your bank account, then you may be accused of transferring those funds to personal use when they are withdrawn to your checking account even if it is for business purposes - something which occurs too late to some business owners.

Not everyone put trust in a "bottomless" system because it is too easy to have one's bank account raided when fraudulent transactions are made against an individual SP account. If one chooses to link a bank account to an online processor, such as StormPay or PayPal, a separate bank account in which limited funds are deposited should be used as a way to limit potential loss.

Sadly, not many StormPay subscribers anticipated that StormPay itself would create fraudulent transactions by taking money from outside the PTS system and applying that money to shortfalls created by SP's reducing PTS payout amounts as it deducted its own fees - 3 to 7 % per transaction.

Hopefully we have seen and end finally to StormPay's scummy practices.

Important StormPay Policy Change

2006-03-23T09:00:00.000-08:00

Important StormPay Policy Change:
23-Mar-2006 14:21

"Dear Valued StormPay customer,

Effective immediately StormPay Inc. will no longer accept payments for sales made outside of StormPay Auctions. If you are an online seller who wishes to sell your product or service through the StormPay system, your item must be sold using the StormPay Auctions feature. Listing in the StormPay Auctions is FREE of charge unless utilizing our inexpensive upgraded listing options.

Q: Why has StormPay implemented this new policy?

A: StormPay has rendered certain policy changes to insure a safer online experience for both buyers and sellers. This policy change allows StormPay to more closely monitor the products/services sold, insuring that sold items are within StormPay's acceptable use policies.

Under these new policy guidelines, customers may no longer log into a StormPay account for the purpose of sending money to another online user, or "offsite" website sale. All "spends" and "receives" are and only can be for the specific purchase of a user's auction listing and successful purchase of.

Subscriptions (recurring billing) is no longer supported by the StormPay system. All current subscriptions have been cancelled. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

We appreciate your business. As always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact us.

StormPay Inc."
_______

Unless I am misreading this Policy Change, StormPay seems to be effectively taking itself out as an online payment processor. I am not sure how popular is SP auction - have never used it, nor will.

I am very curious what back room deals are being made regarding SP.

American ingenuity ...

2006-03-20T21:00:00.000-08:00

What could have been a "cannot do without" service for the Interet, StormPay offered "Internet payment processor, free auctions, cheap isp, free email, and the option of making pennies by clicking on advertiser links. An all in one convenient service ..."
- http://www.xenacarpenter.info/2006/02/stormpay_to_be_.html

... has become the butt of jokes Internet wide:
http://humorvideo.blogspot.com/2006/02/stormscams-ceo-addresses-public.html
- http://www.stormygear.com/
http://surfersteve.info/

... which in turn becomes big business all over again.

Peek-a-boo - deja vu !

American ingenuity at work !

profit motive ...

2006-03-18T09:00:00.000-08:00

The "profit motive," speaking broadly, means a man's incentive to work in order to gain something for himself — in economic terms, to make money. By Objectivist standards, such a motive, being thoroughly just, is profoundly moral. Socialists used to speak of "production for use" as against "production for profit." What they meant and wanted was: "production by one man for the unearned use of another."
- from Leonard Peikoff's Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand
_______

As defined by The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy:
- Profit Motive: The ability to earn profits as the reason = for producers to make and sell goods. 1
‡ The profit motive is often called a great good or a great evil in society. On the one hand, it is said to represent selfishness; on the other, it is said to drive the free market system. (See invisible hand.)
_______

Profit defined by Webster:
1 : a valuable return : GAIN
2 : the excess of returns over expenditure in a transaction or series of transactions; especially : the excess of the selling price of goods over their cost
3 : net income usually for a given period of time
4 : the ratio of profit for a given year to the amount of capital invested or to the value of sales
5 : the compensation accruing to entrepreneurs for the assumption of risk in business enterprise as distinguished from wages or rent
_______

Missing from all those definitions is what is in the mind of an Entrepreneur [one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise].

For example, an enterprising young woman recently, in our nation's history, most likely discovered ways to make substantial returns from her investments. She could have accumulated those returns and lived quietly - modestly or perhaps purchased expensive items for herself and family if she chose to do so. Instead, I believe she had a bigger, and maybe better, idea - one possibly similar to my own.

Might be she grew up always wanting to run a business of her own - I do not know, but I believe quite likely she did. I know I did. With her own good mind then, she conceived an idea that would benefit the larger community - the world itself: an autosurf service in which anyone could earn an "unrealistic" (as defined by her own government) rate of return in exchange for performing a few simple tasks each day.

Some bright and well-meaning folks observed the young lady's progress and her not-so-well-defined business model and questioned how she could support payouts as high as she was offering. Most folks are tuned to the rise and fall of the stock market and know little about other strategies, not realizing how much their "caution" is based on history. By now, many of those whose parents lived through Depression years have grandchildren of their own, so quite a number of people are a generation or two removed from "hand-to-mouth" subsistence living - now take for granted much of what their grandparents had to live without while they were growing up in the '20s and '30s and through the '40s in our country.

The nation is now in a time of comfort and societal largesse in which individuals can be more creative with their time than practical as they had to be six or five or even four decades ago. So many of us are still engaged in short-term thinking, however; not connecting to values of history, not seeing future impact of current events ... such as an online payment processor exploiting its position for profit which is purely greed ... while some on the Internet apparently cheer them on.

It should begin to dawn that "profit motive" is not the same for all of us capitalists - that some of us are not motivated by what we can accumulate personally, but instead are driven to explore how we can use our minds for the benefit of others, sharing profits with a wider community. That is what I think motivated the lady who is now accused by the SEC of running what it describes as "almost purely a Ponzi" and I think her downfall is really one common to many innovative entrepreneurs: bookkeeping practices.

Curiouser and curiouser ...

2006-03-15T09:00:00.000-08:00

W are getting something of an education about "all this Internet stuff" as we watch the parade ...

EMO has Deposits of $7,000,000, a reported Net Worth of negative $1,100,000

According to Texas AG office, EMO's shortfall is somewhere between $1,100,000 and $2,400,000 - a figure which is unclear apparently because no audit has been done as yet.

Insight: " An undisclosed source ... who has had direct contact with an EMO Corporate Officer has learned that EMO has been working cooperatively with Texas State Regulators to resolve the licensure issue. As for mismanagement or misplacement of funds, it is apparent that the recent influx of funds to EMO has caught the curiosity of the Texas AG. But, what is an unknown cause to the Texas State Government is something with which those of us in the arena are all familiar: EMO took on many new customers and new funds, largely set off by 12DP-related events. Also, assets that are frozen in EMO's Accounts ($1.5 Million) are not regarded as assets because they are frozen, but as a liability, contributing the observation that EMO is "insolvent".

" Also, according this EMO Officer, no audit has been performed by the state, and so the numbers reported on the Texas AG website appear to be calculated without any basis in fact. EMO is working out an agreement with a bank who will provide credit card processing solutions, in order to obtain proper licensure. If, for some reason, the agreement doesn't not work out, EMO will take up the matter in court: in any case, a hearing is scheduled for next week, March 21st , 2006.

" Both this EMO Officer and a email we received directly from EMO CEO Todd Tredeau (as a response to our email we sent to him yesterday) reflect a relaxed, yet professional attitude toward the situation, confident that whatever audits and other investigative measures the Texas Government performs will prove that EMO's business practice has been legal and ethical, with all funds account [sic] for in their accounts. "

Curiouser and curiouser ...

http://whois.sc/emocorp.com
Administrative Contact-
t tredeau:
EMO Corporation Mesa Drive Austin, TX 78731
US Phone- 512-637-1220 Fax-

http://whois.sc/intgold.com
Administrative Contact-
Gold, Internet
3931 Joe Ramsey Blvd Suite C Greenville, TX 75401
US (903) 454-8556 Fax: (214) 292-9685

I looked at the whois info because of a suggested link between Todd Trudeau and IntGold, which does not seem to prove out - only an international customer service number links the two entities as I can find.

There is a message at emocorp.com website today after the site was down for two days.

What is clear is that EMO has been operating, possibly since 1999, in Texas without having a money services business license.
- http://www.freewebs.com/internetincomeforyou/whatisemo.htm

What is not clear is how or why StormPay continues to operate in Tennessee without having a similar license ...

EMO™ - Electronic Money Orders ... insolvent

2006-03-13T09:00:00.000-08:00

Posted on Mon, Mar. 13, 2006

Court order against unlicensed online payment service
Associated Press

AUSTIN - Texas has secured a court order for a receiver to take over
operations of an unlicensed online payment service based in Austin
[Texas].

[Texas] Attorney General Greg Abbott today announced the state has
obtained an order to freeze the assets of E-M-O Corporation.

Abbott says the company can't fully account for more than
five-point-four (M) million dollars consumers had in their accounts.

He says E-M-O documents show only three (M) million dollars -- in cash
-- on hand.

Abbott also says the company isn't register [sic] with the Texas
Banking Department and never obtained a license as a money services
business -- as required by law.

Company officials didn't immediately return a call to The Associated
Press for comment.


http://www.oag.state.tx.us

- http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/business/14089392.htm

anatomy of a scam ...

2006-03-11T09:00:00.000-08:00

In the Wall Street Journal article I have referenced previously, one line still stands out:

"A key figure in spotlighting the site [12DailyPro] was Barry Minkow, a former carpet-cleaning executive convicted of running a Ponzi scheme in the 1980s who has turned to helping regulators and investigators unravel fraud." I have questioned since the beginning of this mess how the connection was arranged between this felon and an attorney - wondering what plea bargain StormPay must have made to have stooped to such a strategy, and what StormPay was accused of.

When the WSJ article appeared, it was easy to respond to the author of that article, which I did. Never got a response - no indication that any information I provided Mr. Maremont was received by him, WSJ has become "subscription only" now ... : ) - no Internet access without registration.

Mr. Barry Minkow, who is not an attorney but is a convicted felon, and author of "Cleaning Up" - the story of " ... America's most celebrated teenage business hero, his secret world of fraud and corruption, prison, redemption, and a personal crusade to pay back the millions he stole. "
- http://www.barryminkow.com

"Raised in a culturally Jewish family inside a modest Reseda house within the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, Minkow learned his business manners from his mother's job as a telemarketer. At the age of 15 while a high school sophomore he started his own carpet cleaning company, Zzzz Best, in his parents' garage in Reseda. From its humble beginnings in home carpet cleaning by a few employees, in four years it had 1,400 employees and had begun to specialize in insurance restoration business. His frequent television commercials in the Los Angeles market during 1986-7 featured the then young entrepreneur in business suit with tie, confidently extolling the superiority of Zzzz Best."

Minkow worked hard to form dozens of business contacts. His most important contact was Tom Padgett of Interstate Appraisal Services, an insurance claims adjuster who could get large restoration contracts. He was presented as a business success story in magazines and TV shows. Mayor of Los Angeles Tom Bradley declared a Barry Minkow Day. He lectured in business schools and contributed to Narcotics Anonymous. He had a Ferrari Testarossa and a mansion in Woodland Hills. Zzzz Best' stock rose to $18 (USD) a share on Wall Street, valuing the company at more than $280 million (USD).

However, behind the scenes his company was nothing more than a front to attract investment for a Ponzi scheme. Zzzz Best did not clean anywhere near as many carpets as claimed but generated a plausible paper trail to fool potential investors. Interstate Appraisal Services was formed as a separate company to support this fraud. Minkow raised money by factoring his accounts receivable for work under contract. One of the first contracts he received was from the Genovese Mafia family. He hired reputable accountants and lawyers to boost his image. Later, upon indictment, he claimed that he had intended to form a legitimate business empire and pay back everything, nobody being the wiser."

This is the same guy who called Charis Johnson's attorney from his Los Angeles "office" representing himself to be an attorney. No one at 12DP was aware at that time that StormPay had any office in Los Angeles, so 12DP attorney declined to give the caller any information on 12DP. Most often cited by StormPay as cause for freezing 12DP account was that 12DP would not disclose its business plan.

The anatomy of sleaze. How admirable that someone can pose as a redeemed crook, on a "mission" to pay back "the millions he stole" and do it by stealing more millions, or at least being complicit in the theft ? Only in America, eh ? Minkow may now be a private investigator, but he cannot be an attorney or teacher unless the rules have changed. At least now I understand why the SEC filing against 12DP was in Los Angeles.

John McConnell was quoted in the Leaf Chronicle saying, "McConnell said their records indicate the last payments from 12DailyPro operator Charis Johnson to members was Jan. 8." I received three payments from Charis on January 26 - says so right in my StormPay history. John continued, "When complaints of nonpayment came to StormPay later in January, company officials began to suspect something was wrong after Johnson was unable to answer questions about her business." ... while on another page, Leaf Chronicle reported: " ... Payments to 12DailyPro members continued through the end of January."

The Chronicle might be forgiven for being such a small community paper - not a large staff, focusing on community events. I have wondered how it came to report anything about StormPay. Tennessee state government's apparent reluctance to "enforce" laws and regulations on StormPay might be due to StormPays' having outsourced some of its functions to another country where Tennessee has no jurisdiction. I am following up on that now ...

new WSJ article ...

2006-03-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB114117720115886022-lMyQjAxMDE2NDAxMTEwNzE3Wj.html

... and my response:

My head is fuzzy this morning, and my vision was harder to focus, even though I slept a little longer ... and my gut is still in a knot over the StormPay fiasco. So it is with the human condition. We can try to confine our decision making to our "good" days, yet even on "bad" days we still have to drive to work, when maybe someone else should be in the driver's seat, for safety of all concerned ...

A new Wall Street Journal article about "Online 'Autosurf' Scams" today made an attempt to cover the "legal angle" by saying :
"... some of which are legitimate businesses." As much as WSJ is trying to do us good service with a little CYA included, clearly focus is still on labelling the online autosurf industry as something to be avoided entirely.

Mark Maremont, author of the latest WSJ article, launches right into who was Charles Ponzi and how he became "famous" - yet Mr. Maremont has apparently still not done real research into what makes any autosurf (or any online business for that matter) a "legitimate business" any more than has Brent Hunsaker of Salt Lake City's ABC4 as far as I can determine.

Mr. Maremont focus is on " ... the recent collapse of one of the biggest paid autosurf sites, 12DailyPro.com" ... and I want to be fair to Maremont same as anyone else, but he does not mention that 12DP never failed to pay its members on time until StormPay.com froze 12DP's account(s) [January 28, 2006] Instead, he says "many investors in the site have turned their ire on StormPay." To me, that is biased reporting.

Maremont said, "A key part of 12DailyPro's operation relied on a small PayPal rival, StormPay Inc. of Clarksville, Tenn. Payments to and from the Web site were made via StormPay and a couple of other small online payment processors."

StormPay was only a "key part" of 12DP because StormPay, which had soaked up generous fees from the entire PTS industry for over two years, attempted to "corner" the PTS market by requiring PTS owners to do business with NO other payment processor, or not do business with StormPay.

Why no mention of that, Mr. Maremont ? Why no mention of the "small PayPal rival" purchasing commercial and private Real Estate and funding a local race track ? Is that fair reporting ?

One of the "small online payment processors" Maremont mentions happens to have gold reserves greater than some small countries. Is that informed reporting ?

"Amanda Pires, a PayPal spokeswoman" says, in regard to PTS sites, " ... these are "a new type of business we are just starting to see on the Web." " Another shuffling fabrication, since PTS activity has been supported by PayPal for over two years. Robert L. FitzPatrick is at least honest when he says PayPal is "trying to narrowly define a pyramid scheme because PayPal makes money every time there is a transaction."

Maremont continues, "Some investors put in as much as $6,000 every 12 days" but he says nothing about how much those "investors" took out (were paid) every 12 days (by 12DP), leading his readers to believe that no one got paid. Hello ? Again I ask, is that fair reporting ?

To say that 12DP "defrauded more than 300,000 people of more than $50 million" is utter nonsense which only serves to show how great is the divide between the Mark Maremonts and Randall Lees compared to the great majority of people worldwide looking to make alternative income - online or elsewhere. Most of those I know involved in "autosurf" do not have $6,000 to put at risk - not even once - but instead are working hard just to make a few dollars profit from what they can afford to spend. Those who do suddenly "jump on the PTS wagon" and deposit the maximum amount ($6,000 for 12DP) without even knowing what they are involved in have nothing to advertise and are, in fact, just greedy people looking for easy money.

Mark Maremont's so-called "reporting" is designed to support (at least not contradict) the so-called "findings" of SEC, suggesting that every 12DP member deposited the maximum amount, as anyone who can do simple math can see by the $50 million figure. That $50 million dollar figure has only one purpose in my opinion - to indict the entire autosurf industry.

Maremont again: "The agency last week moved to freeze funds controlled by the Charlotte, N.C., company that operated 12DailyPro, saying it had defrauded more than 300,000 people of more than $50 million." What he glosses over here is that 12DP's funds had been frozen since the end of January - by StormPay. Maremont does not mention (probably does not know) that StormPay, in fact, did not really freeze the funds in the sense that StormPay operators continued to move funds in and out of frozen accounts (not only autosurf accounts) throughout the whole month of February, at a time when, if there actually was legal action underway, NOT ONE CENT should have moved.

There is no mention in the article that every time StormPay moved funds, apparently as a unilateral StormPay decision, StormPay collected from 3% to 7% of amounts transferred. Again, simple math reveals that if StormPay illegally moved only one fifth of the "$50 million" then StormPay collected somewhere between $300,000 and $700,000 in fees for no reason other than that Mr. John McConnell and / or Mr. Steven Girsky DECIDED to move that $10 MILLION ... and we do not know how much they actually did move !

Yet apparently Mr. Maremont, and Mssrs Hunsaker and Lee still CANNOT see the real theft that has occurred while they are busy chasing their Pulitzers and whatever else motivates them to do what they do. The difference between $300,000 and $700,000 (or a lot more) collected by StormPay lies in how many people purchased NetIBA "certification" at $20 each - all proceeds from which, again, went to Girsky and McConnell.

Maremont's "Ponzi talk" seems to be based on sketchy "evidence" provided by SEC's Randall Lee which says very little of how 12DP actually operated, so Maremont has no basis for equating 12DP with Ponzi - once again, convicting by perception. Is this the way free and proud Americans must live now ?

Now maybe the truth is that 12DP was "almost a pure Ponzi scheme." I submit that none of us really know, and until it is decided in a court of law, as an American I am quite disgusted with an atmosphere of "guilt by association" that is being spread so that we, as Americans, can be kept under collective control - control which allows an entity like StormPay.com to quietly and "legally" collect money in a manner that is no more than outright THEFT from American consumers.

Some of us are questioning whether that theft, after StormPay's attempt to "corner" the market, was not "theft by design" - in other words, not just opportunity to take advantage of a bad situation created by SEC action, but a conscious move by StormPay owners to create the very situation in which such an "opportunity" would arise. If 12DP was even in part a Ponzi, then it would have failed on its own. If StormPay owners thought that was the case, all they had to do was to inform 12DP that StormPay would not act in processing 12DP exchanges, and StormPay could in that way have cleared itself of any wrongdoing.

If I am wrong about StormPay, then please, somebody show me the court order on which StormPay acted to move money - money that should have been FROZEN - from one account to another for an entire month, and in process, "lose" some of those tens of millions of dollars, for which StormPay has yet to show disposition.

So I leave it to you, the reader, to decide whether I am just spitting in the wind, or whether I have good reason to have a knot in my gut for trying to get StormPay shut down, and thouroughly investigated. I sincerely hope you will file a complaint against StormPay if you have losses there, and join us in class action against StormPay.

btw, by the time Mark Maremont does his third article on this mess, since he has opportunity to read what I write, do you think I should be sharing the byline ?

theoretically speaking ...

2006-03-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

Let us theorize that I was an attorney, and the firm I worked for had requested my departure. Why ... ?

Well, because as an enterpriseing young lawyer, I had assisted my law partners in solving a problem - purchasing a piece of real estate.

Specifically, the building their practice was in.

Some time later, one of the other partners discovered the approach I used to raise money to purchase the building was not only highly unethical, but possibly very illegal ...

... and every partner's name was already on the documents. Messy situation ... but, everyone would keep their mouth shut, if I would just go away.

Now, let us say the old law firm had removed all indications I worked there.

Let us say that the building the law firm occupies now happenes to be owned by a real esate company.

Oddly, the initials of the RE company are almost identical to that of the law firm, except the real estate company has an extra letter at the end, which happens to be the first letter of my last name ...

The RE company does not seem to own any other property ... and the name of the RE company does not seem to appear in any state register ...

... which makes everything I have said just speculation, Your Honour.

Would you agree ? Just theory ?

My question is, would such a "theory" be sufficient motivation for an online entity to knowingly break the law if that "theory" had been discovered by someone who would "sing" about it ?

fairpatton.com on credibility ...

2006-03-02T21:00:00.000-08:00

Today I remembered I still had a NetIBA banner on one of my sites, and I immediately removed it.

Rather than duplicate excellent work already done by John McCallum at fairpatton.com, I will quote from his site here:
.

" Is NetIBA really what it is cracked up to be, or is it a SCAM ???

When NetIBA first came on the market, I was of the firm opinion that here was a program which offered the consumer the protection they were so desperately seeking. I therefore joined the program and acquired a verified email address, I was also given a link to add a signature to my e-mail account. Here is a copy, for obvious reasons I have deleted my email address:

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx is a NetIBA validated email address. Certificate #568539E. Protect yourself against Internet fraud by downloading the FREE Consumer Protection Tool at www.netiba.com/?641.

Having received this signature I then contacted NetIBA to ask some questions as I could not find the answers on their web site.

I asked, in the event of a verified NetIBA Auto Surf web site obtaining monies by deception, would NetIBA assist NetIBA members who had become victims of a SCAM or FRAUD, and would NetIBA bring pressure to bear on Processors to help stop the fraudulent activities of the few.

NetIBA still has not answered my letters. In desperation I also posted a similar worded question on the NetIBA forum, to which I received no response. I will now outline why I believe “NetIBA is not what it is cracked up to be”.

As NetIBA has seen fit to ignore me as a member, I feel it is right to expose NetIBA for what I believe they are.

I have one web site and two e-mail addresses which are NetIBA certified. (I will NOT be renewing my membership with NetIBA, until NetIBA answer the questions I have asked. If and when NetIBA responds to the questions asked, fairpatton.com will most assuredly publish their reply) The only advantage that I see being a NetIBA subscriber is, I would be able to obtain a debit card from Stormpay as it is the requirements of Stormpay to be NetIBA certified, and receive the reduced fees that Sormpay have just introduced.

NetIBA advertised in the very beginning that they were strongly committed to stopping FRAUD. Well, words are cheap, actions determine credibility."

Please visit: http://www.fairpatton.com/stfrpa/nibasites.htm

Consumer Protection

2006-03-01T09:00:00.000-08:00

Since I still see no indication that authorities on any level are investing the activities of StormPay, et al ... this morning I sent the following letter to my Oregon Congressman, Greg Walden, and to both Tennessee Senators, Lamar Alexander and William H. Frist:
_

Without ever once providing evidence of a court order to do so, StormPay.com based in Clarksville, Tennessee, has unilaterally declared whole classes of online businesses illegal, and thus frozen the accounts of those businesses. It is my understanding that StormPay is not legally registered to do business in the State of Tennessee, and in fact, the owners of StormPay.com are under an order to cease and desist prior illegal activities regarding TymGlobal.com

Worse, StormPay zeroed out the accounts of many of its subscribers - even those who were not associated with targetted business classes. Subscribers' earnings from targetted businesses were sent back to the business' frozen account(s). Still worse, some subscriber's own funds, deposited to StormPay, which were never associated in any way with targetted businesses were also sent to the frozen accounts of targetted business in cases where the subscriber may have had a prior association with a targetted business.

No one other than StormPay currently has access to those funds.

Worst of all is that some funds belonging to StormPay's non-US subscribers are not accounted for at all - no record of those funds having been "charged back" or having been sent anywhere - no accounting for those funds at all, just an account balance of zero.

StormPay actions are now affecting many who are not nor ever were StormPay subscribers and who have no association with targetted businesses.

An associated business, NetIBA, claims to be a "third-party" verification service. A number of businesses "certified" by NetIBA have disappeared, taking massive funds with them.

I join those who demand all of StormPay, Inc activities and affairs, along with those of the associated business NetIBA, also based in Clarksville, Tennessee, both registered to Mr. John McConnell, be immediately placed in receivership to prevent any further theft from unsuspecting victims. Thank you.

biggest theft in online history ...

2006-02-28T09:00:00.000-08:00

Received a notice this morning regarding an action against a group I was a member of in 2004 - letting me know the trial is now scheduled for October, 2006 ...

I really do not want to write any more about StormPay, but is unavoidable.

What is already the the biggest theft in online history is an event that will drag on for years, just like the one I mentioned above.

To my knowledge, no court order has yet been presented by StormPay to justify it continued actions against hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.

Paid-to-surf (PTS) has been in existence online for about three years, since the beginning of CasHits.com

Through most of that time, StormPay has offered its services to allow PTS members to purchase advertising and to "upgrade" their PTS accounts - all the while collecting fees each time money was received in a StormPay account.

StormPay fees from its opening were set at 6.9% plus 69 cents
https://www.stormpay.com/stormpay/user/about_us.php?v=f

NetIBA** Certified accounts are charged 2.9% plus 39 cents in exchange for the $19.95 "certification" fee

NetIBA is registered to the same person, John McConnell, who heads up StormPay ... so of what value is a NetIBA certified StormPay ?

The only apparent advantage that I can see to anyone anywhere being "NetIBA Certified" is to save on SP fees.

Suddenly one day late in January, 2006, Mr. McConnell and / or Mr. Steve Girksy decided that all PTS were being conducted illegally ... after StormPay had already collected huge profits from PTS.

Right now, StormPay is continuing ( without evidence of court order ) the following unilateral actions:

- freezing SP accounts belonging to owners of businesses *suspected* of fraud
- returning PTS member payouts to the company that paid them, into a frozen account
- taking money out of SP subscribers' bank accounts to send to frozen PTS accounts
- charging SP subscribers' credit cards to send more money to frozen PTS accounts
- taking personal money deposited by SP subscriber accounts so they could pay others for services and sending that money to frozen PTS accounts

... and most incredibly, all of that seems to be done with the blessing of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, which is in the process of "regulating" the PTS industry, to protect the American Consumer from FRAUD !

... yet each time StormPay sends money to a frozen account, StormPay receives at least 3% of whatever it sends as it takes its fees. SEC itself estimates there has been about $3 million collected by 12DailyPro, and certainly not all that money is now tied up in this mess, but it gives you a look at the "tip of the iceberg" ...

How many PTS and how much money in total is being shifted around by StormPay today is easily in the millions of dollars any way you look at it. Each million that is moved into a StormPay account is at least $30,000 new dollars in StormPay's bank account, so why would StormPay want to stop churning the money ?

"Auto-Surfing: What You Need to Know"

2006-02-27T09:00:00.000-08:00

�Auto-Surfing�: What You Need to Know

In the world of marketing, people often get compensated — with cash or free products and services — for doing fairly easy things, like sampling new ice-cream flavors, filling out surveys, or allowing a firm to monitor the television shows you watch or the websites you visit. While some “money for nothing” opportunities may be perfectly legitimate, others can turn out to be frauds.

“Auto-surfing” is a form of online advertising that purportedly generates advertising revenue for companies that want to increase traffic to their websites. The premise behind auto-surfing is that companies that advertise on the Internet are willing to pay to increase traffic to their web sites. These companies hire an auto-surf firm or “host,” which in turn pays individual web surfers to view certain websites on an automatically rotating basis. The more sites the individual visits, the more money he or she stands to earn.

While auto-surfing may sound easy and appealing — and risk-free — there can be a hitch. Some auto-surf programs require their surfers to pay to participate, although perhaps not initially. When you first sign up to auto-surf, the firm might assign a limited number of sites for you to visit and pay you accordingly. Once you’ve made a modest amount of money, the firm might encourage — or even require — you to purchase a “membership” so that you can maximize your earnings. The program will promise high — often double or triple digit — returns on your investment in the program, often within days or weeks of joining.

The line you’ll hear is that the more you click, the more you collect. But the reality is that any scheme that requires you to pay to participate — and promises handsome rewards in no time at all for little to no effort on your part — bears many of the hallmarks of a “Ponzi” or pyramid scheme. These schemes look deceptively legitimate because the fraudsters behind them typically use money coming in from new recruits to pay off early stage investors. But eventually the pyramid will collapse when it gets too big. It’s simply not possible to “rob-Peter-to-pay-Paul" forever.

The SEC warns investors to be wary of any sort of “get rich scheme quick” scheme — and to be especially leery of opportunities that require you to pay to play. Before you pay a dime to make extra cash in your spare time, be sure to do a little due diligence:

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Compare promised yields with current returns on well-known stock indexes. Any investment opportunity that claims you’ll get substantially more could be highly risky — and that means you might lose money.
Check out the company before you invest. Contact the secretary of state where the company is incorporated to find out whether the company is a corporation in good standing. Also call your state securities regulator to see whether the company, its officers, or the promoters of the opportunity have a history of complaints or fraud. If a supposedly upright business lists only a P.O. box, you'll want to do a lot of work before sending your money!
Steer Clear of Testimonials. Watch out if the company’s promotional materials, contain “testimonials” from supposedly satisfied customers, especially if all the “testimonials” are full of praise.
"Guaranteed returns" aren't. Every investment carries some degree of risk, and the level of risk typically correlates with the return you can expect to receive. Low risk generally means low yields, and high yields typically involve high risk. If your money is perfectly safe, you'll most likely get a low return. High returns represent potential rewards for folks who are willing to take big risks. Most fraudsters spend a lot of time trying to convince investors that extremely high returns are "guaranteed" or "can't miss." Don't believe it.

For more information on investing wisely and avoiding costly mistakes, please visit the Investor Information section of the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov/investor.shtml.

http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/autosurf.htm

Prepare to Unlock Reality

2006-02-18T09:00:00.000-08:00

What is the "Unlock Reality" about?

Here is some information about the manuscript "Unlock Reality":

Point One:
Unlock Reality is a book in manuscript form that is just over 100 pages long.

Point Two:
It does not have an author listed though it is widely rumored that five main people are involved with its production. Two are reported to be monks of some sort, one a Meta physics professor working in a British University and two other gifted people with no specific qualifications.

Point Three:
Unlock Reality has been briefly descried as ‘one of the most unusual publications on the planet, with the potential to produce a shift in perception that could change the course of history and guarantee the survival of the human race. It explains the Construction of the Universe in simple terms that anyone can understand.

Point Four:
It is being prepared for world release by a group called I.S.D.T. and there is also a group trying to prevent it getting out who go by the name of The Brotherhood of the Eternal Light.

Point Five:
Those preparing it for world release have been affected
strangely, and been inspired to follow childhood dreams (please see the bookseller article). These include going to the Himalayas, taking up skydiving and starting websites.

Point Six:
All those concerned with proof reading and the production have had to sign confidentiality contracts. Which has resulted in there being no quotes appearing
anywhere.

Point Seven:
50 copies were released via Bookcrossing.com and it now has it's own email address unlockreality@care2.com

Point Eight:
Many people are involved in an international treasure hunt for the 50 copies. Including those on the Prepare to Unlock Reality care2 website who would like as much help as possible in finding copies, which they will auction of for charity.

If you have a copy they can have, their contact is unlockreality@care2.com

Point Nine:
There is a project to place copies permanently in key locations around the world, including the Grand Canyon, and Tower Bridge. (There is meant to be a copy being held by Tibetan Monks for safekeeping).

Point Ten:
There is quite a storm over whether or not Unlock Reality is real or not; ironic for something that has sparked much debate over the nature of reality.

Please join our group!!!

http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/unlockreality

ABC4 won't tell its audience I met with Jeff Johnson!

2006-02-17T09:00:00.000-08:00

Interesting that ABC4 started this entire trip with Jeff Johnson under the guise of him getting answers. But last night, with Jeff Johnson nowhere in sight the entire story, they ended by saying they didn't get what THEY came for.

But what they also conveniently didn't say was that Jeff Johnson got his answers. But they will never say that because it doesn't fit into their manipulated and revisionist version of history.

I want to inform everyone that I spoke with Jeff Johnson in person yesterday evening at my office WITHOUT ABC4.

It was the first time he had been to my office and was never there with ABC4 as they made it appear on the the news report.

Mr. Johnson also never came to my old apartment.

I also learned from Mr. Johnson that in an interview with them yesterday he told them repeatedly about his negative opinion of StormPay but that the edited out all of the audio and only showed his picture. They had no interest in anything negative he had to say about StormPay. They were only interested in manipulating the broadcast.

Mr. Johnson also broke company with the newscrew yesterday when they set out on a quest to ignore my attorney as contact and hunt me down like a dog at places where they already knew I wouldn't be because I had told them so.

Mr. Johnson and I had a long conversation in my office and I answered every question he had to ask. I believe Mr. Johnson now has a very clear picture of the reality of this situation.

I understand now that Mr. Johnson has been trying all along to help us and to have the truth be told about us, but ABC4 continued to use and manipulate him in order to get sensationalistic footage that will get them ratings.

But now that Mr. Johnson spoke with me, they refuse to tell their audience. They'd rather show my house and talk to ancient neighbors instead of showing that I cared enough to sit down one on one with Jeff.

That's real responsible journalism.

BBB Reliability Report - StormPay

2006-02-16T09:00:00.000-08:00

Customer Service Contact

Mr. Steve Girsky is the complaint contact person for this company and should be contacted at (931) 647-8750 before filing a complaint with the BBB.

Customer Experience

BBB Interim Report

BBB Definition:

Report - A summary of activity reflected in a company's BBB file. Includes basic business background, BBB membership information, and Bureau complaint activity over the previous three years. Also reports may include any known government actions, advertising issues


	BBB Definition: advertising issues - Claims alleging print or electronic media advertised claims or practices misrepresent the service or product offer.

or other information that results from activity conducted by the BBB.

Dated February 16, 2006

From January 1 through February 16, 2006, the Better Business Bureau has received 812 complaints from consumer stating that the company has frozen their online accounts and will not make available the funds in those accounts. While the company has been notified of each complaint filed with BBB, it has not answered or resolved

BBB Definition:

resolved - The company resolved


	BBB Definition: resolved - The company resolved the complaint issues.

the complaint issues.

them.

On February 16, 2006, BBB discontinued processing complaints with the company due to the company's failure to respond to complaint volume.

Customers with complaints may continue to file them with BBB. BBB will forward all complaints to the appropriate regulatory authority.

This company first came to the attention of BBB by means of consumer inquiry in September 2002 and was operated by John R. McConnell, Jr. From September 2002 through May 2005, the company received 44 customer complaints concerning the company's failure to allow customers to withdraw available funds, poor customer service and failure to provide laptop computers per the company's computer matrix program. These complaints were closed by BBB as unanswered and unresolved


	BBB Definition: unresolved - The company failed to resolve the complaint issues.

.

On May 13, 2005, BBB received a telephone call from Steve Girksy indicating that he was the new CEO and customer contact. At that time, Steve Girsky requested all unanswered and unresolved


	BBB Definition: unresolved - The company failed to resolve the complaint issues.

complaints. Girsky provided the company's position on the previous complaints. 17 of the 44 complaints were closed as unresolved


	BBB Definition: unresolved - The company failed to resolve the complaint issues.

.

From May 2005 through December 2005, the company received 18 complaints concerning the company's failure to inform and follow up with its customers when it suspends accounts, failure to release funds in a timely manner and failure resolve complaints directly with its customers. The company had responded to these issues by providing an explanation, releasing funds or by making refunds.

John R. McConnell, Jr. is also identified in BBB files as the registered agent of NetIBA on which BBB maintains a separate file which is available at your request.

On August 7, 2003, the Tennessee Securities Division of the Department of Commerce & Insurance issued an "Order to Cease and Desist" (file number 03-020) with TymGlobal, Inc., StormPay, Inc. and John R. McConnell, Jr.

The order states that TymGlobal and StormPay are under common ownership and/or control. TymGlobal operates an internet website which is registered to StormPay. On the internet website, respondents are operating a pyramid and/or Ponzi scheme promising large returns on investments for participating in the scheme. The order further states that TymGlobal has not registered any securities offerings with the Division pursuant to Tennessee Securities Act of 1980. Nor has the company registered with the Division as a broker-dealer, agent of a broker-dealer or investment adviser. Also, the respondent StormPay has not registered any securities offerings with the Division nor has the company registered with the Division as a broker-dealer, agent of a broker-dealer, or investment adviser. John R. McConnell, Jr. has not registered with the Division as a broker-dealer, an agent of a broker-dealer or as an investment adviser.

Potential investors were given the opportunity to invest in both partnership shares as TymGlobal as well as to participate in various Ponzi schemes. Respondents promised a high return. The offering of participation in the schemes sold by the respondents is an investment contract and thus, a security under the act.

The Division ordered the respondents TymGlobal, StormPay and John R. McConnell, Jr to cease and desist the conduct of a broker-dealer in the state of Tennessee until such time as it effectively registers with the Division. The order did not intend to prohibit lawful conduct of the respondents.

For additional information concerning this order, please contact Daphne Smith, Assistant Commissioner for Securities, State of Tennessee, Department of Commerce and Insurance, Suite 680, 500 James Robertson Pky, Nashville, TN 37243.

http://data.middletennessee.bbb.org/commonreport.html?bid=2146166

show us the money Mr. Girsky ...

2006-02-15T09:00:00.000-08:00

We have seen pictures of the remodelling of StormPay offices in
Clarksville, Tennessee ...
http://www.theleafchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060208/NEWS01/602080337/1002
... and we know that Steve Girsky and John McConnell are helping their
community as primary sponsors of the new Clarksville Speedway ...
( clarksvillespeedway.com is offline right now )
... and those are good things - I applaud them. The Clarksville economy needs to grow as anywhere and I have no objection to that.

The renamed Clarksville StormPay.com Speedway is "a clay-oval dirt track on Needmore Road" according to William Scogins, who shares ownership of the speedway with his wife Tammy Scogins.
- http://www.tennesseeracinnews.com/Clarksville_1-20.html

" StormPay.com’s interest in auto racing was initiated after it was approached by a Nextel Cup team looking for sponsorship. Girsky met with Purvis, who spent nearly 20 years racing on the ARCA, NASCAR Busch and then-Winston Cup series, to learn what would be involved in sponsorship. "
- http://speednetdirect.com/news.php?id=3248
-
While all that has been developing, a friend of mine has been on a mission. My friend is a young lady who lives outside the United States, and some of you will know of whom I speak here. When I met her almost two years ago she had her plan firm in her mind, and she had an old computer borrowed from her brother, and sheer determination.

Since then, my friend received a number of gifts, mine included, and some loans, most of which she has paid back. Her mission is to build a new house for her mother, whose current home is in very bad condition, and will not withstand a hurricane when one next comes to their island.

By the end of January this year, my friend's earnings from PTS were paid into StormPay when StormPay demanded that PTS services using StormPay drop all other payment processors if they would continue doing business with StormPay. Since a majority of members in some PTS were paying with StormPay, those autosurf sites complied with StormPay's demands.

Within a week, Mssrs Girsky and McConnell decided that ALL PTS were Ponzis, and they froze all the PTS accounts associated with StormPay. For about a week not much happened, and then StormPay.com began to show all its account holders a zero balance, leaving everyone wondering where the money went ...

My StormPay account had received about $146 a week previously. StormPay sent the $81.47 remainder from that back to 12DP, leaving my account balance at $0

Not a big loss for me - not monetarily anyway ...

My losses are in the extreme amount of time I have had to devote to the StormPay fiasco during the last two weeks.

For my young friend it is a different matter entirely. She had received four payments from two PTS in the two weeks prior to StormPay's "storm" - a total of $11,127.10 from which StormPay deducted $543.92 in fees, leaving my friend $10,583.18 in her StormPay account.

Following advice, and following her own heart, she decided to use a portion of that to continue earning with the two PTS, including the very legal 12DailyPro which is registered in the State of North Carolina, so she upgraded a total of $ 3,622.00 to continue earning.

She wanted to withdraw a portion of her earnings also, and requested that StormPay issue her a check for $ 4,112.39

What happened next is stunning. StormPay worked through all of its member accounts and sent PTS earnings back the the PTS service that paid them. In my friend's case, the amount that shows as "chargeback" include three payments, totalling $ 4,112.39

That is why StormPay told my friend that the check she had requested was cancelled.

Now my friend has $ 3,622.00 on deposit with two PTS, neither of which can access its own StormPay account, because StormPay has those accounts frozen while purportedly there is an investigation under way to determine the legality of the owner's businesses, although we have no evidence of such an investigation.

For those reasons, that $ 3,622.00 is not earning any new $$ since neither PTS can run without access to its funds.

The $ 4,112.39 she had requested to withdraw is also tied up in those two PTS accounts because StormPay sent that $$ back to the payers - but remember, those payers cannot access those funds right now.

My friend's StormPay account, like mine, now shows a ZERO balance ...

Now you being the sharp reader will ask:
So where is the other $ 2,849.79 ... ?

That is the question I am asking, having reviewed her account today and seeing gross receipts, after StormPay fees, of $10,583.18 from which she sent $ 3,622.00 back to PTS to continue earning and StormPay sent $ 4,112.39 back to those same services for reasons of their own, the other $ 2,849.79 is nowhere to be seen - no explanation for its disappearance.

It is time to show us the money Mr. Girsky.

who is Registered Agent for 12DP ... ?

2006-02-10T09:00:00.000-08:00

From:
http://www.autosurfcentralcafe.com/view_topic.php?id=2909&forum_id=10&page=11

"Ok, Charis says her attorney when 12daily started was/is Brett Hubbard.

Lets talk about Brett Hubbard. Brett Hubbard in the last 3 years has filed incorporation papers for 18 companies. Him being named as the agent and his address being the prinicpal address on all said coporations. Life clicks is one of those corporations. But he is just acting agent/lawyer for said companies. Who owns them? Kevin Wessell.

Kevin Wessell and Brett Hubbard are listed on all 18 of those companies as the agent, and Kevin as the organizer. So if the info Ive checked and read is correct, then kevin wessell is the sole owner all 18 companies and brett hubbard is the acting agent for all 18 companies including lifeclicks.

Lifeclicks is the parent company or said OWNER of 12dailypro. Brett hubbard is the acting/registered agent/lawyer for lifeclicks. Kevin wessell owns them both. Lifeclicks and 12daily. This would put charis as some frumpy gal with a background of being scandalous, appointed *admin* of 12daily. With the background ive read on charis johnson, it would have been easy to throw a dollar sign in front of her face and appoint her as admin to take the blows for 12daily.

Lifeclicks did not exist when 12daily started. Lifeclicks was formed on sept 7th 2005. 12daily was in operation well before that. So we need to figure out BEFORE kevin wessell and brett hubbard came on board and provided 12daily with a *shield* from prosecution, who owned and started 12daily in the beginning? Im thinking the same people. They just hadnt expected such huge growth with 12dailypro. But when it did start taking off, they knew. They all knew oopsie, we had best get an LLC company filed and going as a shield and position ourselves on the tiny island of nevis because this will end eventually. So charis johnson, kevin wessell and brett hubbard have a long standing relationship. They all were together in starting 12daily, yet just didnt start up lifeclicks until they knew they were going to have a problem in the future.....why? Its huge growth. The fact they probably knew with this kind of growth they would eventually face scrutiny from the authorities. AND wouldnt you know it.....on the very same island of nevis is the address for the same guy who OWNS egold. The very same payment processor 12daily dropped. But here is where its funny.......egold payments possibly in the millions are still owed to members worldwide. Guess who has that money? The owner of egold and lifeclicks/12daily. All 3 of those entities have your supposed monies that you havent been able to get back since december. And guess what? from what ive read with the laws of nevis, which the merchant accounts seem to be really at, you wont be able to. The laws of nevis say specifically that ANYONE who wants to file a lawsuit against anyone in nevis needs to put down a payment of $25,000 to start proceedings, and most of us dont have that do we. That $25,000 is also non refundable given you lose your case which we would because of the laws of nevis to BEGIN with protecting the merchant accounts. Hence off shore banking and living. Even tho the BBB has documents showing lifeclicks and 12daily as *american based* it doesnt seem to be they are. Those documents only show an address, a physical address that brett hubbard has in the USA as registered. So lifeclicks and 12daily are only registered in the USA to do business. It seems their actual accounts are actually overseas. Untouchable.

So the bottom line I suppose is we are screwed period. There is really nothing anyone can do. Even if they FBI gets involved, they are federal, meaning us as the United States. Nevis isnt in that arena. Which is exactly why its all offshore to begin with. Nevis is in a totally seperate country.

Im thinking we need to focus on finding mr. wessell and mr. hubbard for any answers. Charis doesnt mean squat at this point. Im also curious as to what bank/financial organization on the island of nevis is holding lifeclicks/12dailys merchant accounts. That is who and where the money is. These guys at lifeclicks specialize in keeping all this moola out of the United States. And where the laws cant touch them.

Here is a recent post in talkgold by a guy who did alot of this info finding.
http://talkgold.com/forum/r64722-.html"

Source:
http://www.autosurfcentralcafe.com/view_topic.php?id=2909&forum_id=10&page=11

recourse for StormPay subscribers ...

2006-02-09T09:00:00.000-08:00

StormPay subscribers who want to contact StormPay's bank and credit card processing company due to funds missing from your account(s):

Bank: Legends Bank of Tennessee, Clarksville Branch
310 North First Street
Clarksville, TN 37040
Phone: (931) 503-1234
Fax: (931) 920-0099
Telephone Banking: 1-866-367-6708

Credit card processor: NextDay Funding.
Phone: 800-422-5005 ext401
Fax: 443-283-2600
E-mail: relations@nextdayfunding.com

to file complaint against StormPay ...

2006-02-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

To contact the Tenn-Tucky Branch of Middle Tennessee Better Business Bureau:

Tenn-Tucky Branch
214 Main Street
P.O. Box 1456
Clarksville, TN 37041
Phone (931) 503-2222
Fax (931) 503-2324
Email BBBClarks@aol.com
Found here: http://www.gobbb.org/contact.html

Middle Tennessee Better Business Bureau website is:
http://www.gobbb.org/complaint.html
... but do not waste your time trying to file a complaint there - not against StormPay anyway.
StormPay does not even show up in the Middle Tennessee Database Search
http://data.middletennessee.bbb.org/complaintsearch.html
... which is interesting because ...

"The Better Business Bureau of Middle Tennessee alerts the public to the business practices of StormPay.com of Clarksville, Tennessee. During the first six weeks of 2006, StormPay.com has generated more complaints to BBB than any other Middle Tennessee or Southern Kentucky business.

In the past seven days, BBB has received 18,926 inquiries from consumers around the world checking on the reliability of StormPay.com.

Complaints filed by consumers from around the world state that StormPay.com has frozen their online accounts and will not release funds due. StormPay.com is an online payment processor which acts as an intermediary in the processing of funds between a web site and a customer. .Since the end of January, BBB has received over 180 complaints from users of StormPay.com. says BBB President/CEO, Kathleen Calligan. .A review of complaints filed by users indicate that the company is holding in excess of $460,000. explains Calligan.

An email sent to at least one complaintant by StormPay, states in part ..should you choose to attempt to recover your funds through other means, that conduct will result in the forfeiture of any refund..

The majority of complaints filed with BBB, concern StormPay.s freezing of accounts from users who participate in .auto-surfing. programs. An .auto-surfing. program reportedly generates money to the user every time a user visits a participating web site.

It is the position of the Better Business Bureau that auto surfing programs can post [sic] a financial risk to participants. Often .auto-surfing. programs are thinly veiled pyramid schemes cleverly devised to participants.

Due to the complaint volume, international scope of participants and amount of money involved, BBB is requesting the assistance of federal authorities for further investigation."
_

Editor's Note: The inclusion of a line warning that "auto surfing programs" can pose financial risk to participants is made in good faith by BBB, I am sure, even though BBB does not likely understand the difference between legal "auto surfing programs" and those which are not. However, that line has a chilling effect on the general population, thus limiting the nuber of complaints which will be filed against StormPay. A significant portion of the PTS industry membership is comprised of people who do not report their income. Filing a complaint would only draw attention to them personally.
_

Do not expect anyone to answer the phone at StormPay if you call ... : )

StormPay contact info:
http://www.stormpay.com
StormPay, Inc.
931-647-8750
http://www.stormpay.com
1690 Golf Club Ln
Clarksville, TN 37043 USA

Urgent Advisory regarding StormPay

2006-02-07T15:12:00.000-08:00

StormPay subscribers are not only seeing their StormPay
account balance at $0.00
... StormPay is also accessing subscriber's bank accounts.

If you have a StormPay account and have authorized
withdrawal from your bank account, contact your bank
immediately to bar any withdrawals by StormPay, Inc.

renegade payment processor ...

2006-02-07T09:00:00.000-08:00

My StormPay balance today has been reduced from over $80.00 to $0.00

Everyone I know with a StormPay account is currently reporting the same $0 balance.

Checking my account history shows no entry regarding the absence or removal of money from my account.

As regards the PTS industry, StormPay has denied access for PTS site owners across the board. PTS owners are unable to make payouts at all, much less on time. Reactions vary - some sites decided to close, while others continue as best they can, or wait to decide what to do next.

Some PTS members, as they will often do in such a situation, immediately asked for refunds of their PTS upgrades or advertising purchases when they realized there was a problem. Many people generally do not affinity with either the site or the payment processor, but instead only want their money.

One of the most bizarre elements of this situation is that StormPay seems to decide which of its subscribers is due a refund ( and why ), without informing the site owner(s), which means the site owner has no way to know whether its member has been paid back or not. It might be possible for a site owner to read a member's address in SP account history - a tedious task of matching to members deposits ... but that check might not be available to a site owner for up to 180 days according to StormPay TOS.

If the site owner refunds its member directly without knowing the member has already been paid, the site may not recover that loss since many people are not so generous as to admit such a mistake, preferring to keep the windfall. Such losses can quickly put a site out of business.

Since it appears that all StormPay balances are currently set to zero dollars, the outlandish actions of StormPay are affecting much more than just the PTS industry. Any online business that depends to a greater extent on StormPay, having a significant portion of operating capital on deposit with StormPay, is effectively shut down right now.

Not many sites can continue running for six months with a majority of its earnings and funds held hostage by a renegade online payment processor.

This story is a major battle and getting worse.

Cease and Desist order against StormPay

2006-02-06T09:00:00.000-08:00

http://www.xenacarpenter.com/TymGlobal08072003.pdf

portrait of greed online ...

2006-02-05T09:00:00.000-08:00

In my family, as an American, I was brought up with a standard
of "innocent until proven guilty" and I always like to give benefit
of doubt to everyone. While some actions are clearly beyond
the law, I believe it is always important to understand someone's
motives, even when they decide to break the law.

StormPay came online as a needed alternative to PayPal, which
then dominated online money transfers with increasingly heavy-
handed tactics. My 3-digit SP member number shows I joined SP
very early. My SP account has never been in trouble, but neither
have I had it connected to my checking account most of the time -
concerned about having my bank accounted raided.

When I joined StormPay I was aware of connections to shady
practices by those behind StormPay. I believed SP principals
would recognize an opportunity ahead of them to run a much
needed business that would serve everyone around the world.
Engaging in "experimental" money-making ventures would seem
foolish in face of the task ahead of them as a solid competitor to
help moderate PayPal activities.

Now, the history of StormPay seems to show something different.

We are aware of recent investigations into operations of IntGold
and e-Gold, and my understanding is that those services work in
cooperation with law enforcement when criminal enterprises are
using them. Criminals can "use" any service - unless they are
identified and barred. IntGold and e-Gold have integrity enough
to call for inspection of questionable activities.

StormPay integrity is compromised by its priority on collecting
fees over recognizing credit card and other fraud. As much
as I can determine, StormPay has yet to call for investigation
into activities of its subscribers, or of subscriber businesses
which SP claims are operating illegally.

The connection between StormPay and the preceding "TymGlobal"
Laptop Matrix, closed down by Tennessee State authorities in
2003 seems clear:

Stormpay: Administrative Contact: Inc.,
StormPay info@stormpay.com
1690 Golf Club Ln Clarksville, TN 37043 US 931-647-8750

http://www.tymglobal.com/laptop
TYMGLOBAL.COM - Administrative Contact: com, Allresell
info@beaverpay.com - Pmb 211
1960 J Madison St. Clarksville, TN 37040 US 931-647-8750

BEAVERPAY.COM - Administrative Contact: Gregi, Jim
easypay@mail.com - PO Box 211
160 Madison St Nashville, TN 37049 US 931-647-8803

Registration data from three years ago shows tentative
connections, but does not prove ownership.

"Consumers should be aware that the address used by this company
[TYMGLOBAL.COM] of 1960-J Madison Street is that of a private
postal service and not the physical location for the company. "
http://w3.ripoffreport.com/view.asp?id=77406&view=printer

The address StormPay is using in 2006 is also that of a private postal service, but ...

Nashville Better Business Bureau makes reference to TymGlobal and John McConnell it is Reliability Report:
http://data.middletennessee.bbb.org/commonreport.html?bid=2146166

A typical fraud StormPay has allowed is a so-called "chargeback
scam" which does not require use of a credit card. Let us say you
contract me to do some work for you online - build a website or do
research. Maybe I do not charge you up front, but soon as the
work is completed I submit my invoice to you for $400 and you
transfer $400 to my SP and we are straight. I receive about $370
after SP fees are subtracted (I already factored that into my price)

Although my StormPay account is verified and is "attached" to my
checking account, my practice is to keep only a small minimum in
my StormPay account - concerns about online theft, etc.

Two days after you make your payment to me, you decide you do
not like the work I did for you, so you file a complaint with
StormPay, accuse me of some failure to perform; in essence,
fraud, though I fulfilled my obligation to you on time. StormPay
reacts by removing $400 from my SP account - EVEN THOUGH
the balance in my SP account is only $375.00 (I had a previous
balance of $5) The other $25 StormPay takes from my checking
account - an automatic debit.

Now suppose I had made an equipment purchase and so am over budget for the month - my checking account with only a few dollars in it - and the $25 StormPay takes incurs an overdraft charge of $35. Now my StormPay account is empty and my checking account is overdrawn. My "customer" has gotten the work I did for FREE. Meanwhile, StormPay collected fees on both the original payment AND on the chargeback ... ... and my "customer" is free to steal from another merchant.

Researching StormPay recently, I have found a number of comments indicating one reason for StormPay popularity is its failure to go after those who use SP to steal - fraudsters are happy to make payments with StormPay because they know how easy it is to get away with bilking honest merchants.

Even worse, StormPay has used the Patriot Act to steal from
people around the world. I will write about that separately.

In the Spring of 2004, StormPay could not do business legally
with Tennessee residents:

" SORRY: We cannot accept any transactions to/from TN residents
at this time, due to State laws. However, StormPay is working
feverishly to correct this situation and hopes to have the matter
resolved very soon. "
http://www.sowpub.com/cgi-bin/forum/webbbs_config.pl/read/25534

The same was true in the Spring of 2005, and as of this writing I am not aware that limitation has been lifted. StormPay apparently cannot legally do business in its own state - "feverishly" or otherwise.

one American response ...

2006-02-03T09:00:00.000-08:00

StormPay.com issued a letter to all its members today. That letter can be viewed at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/better-life/message/278
_

StormPay is an online payment processor - a service upon which we should be able to rely to conduct legitimate business worldwide on the Internet or offline.

Instead of focusing on performing that primary function, it seems StormPay is now acting as an ad hoc agency of the United States Government, deciding what is and is not legitimate business or business practice.

Most of us are well aware that the PTS [paid-to-surf] industry, which is a little over three years old ( please correct me if I am wrong ) is rife with fraud in that many so-called PTS are in fact no more than Ponzis. Many PTS are "business" in a marginal sense, operating with no means of profit, but instead recycling member upgrades to make payouts. Such practice is unquestionably illegal, at least in the U.S.

www.autohits.dk is a Danish autosurf site ( not PTS ) where I agree you can see how " a true auto-surf works " - in fact, since I have been a member almost since autohits.dk opened, I can personally vouch for that service as one of the best if you want worldwide exposure for your website. On the other hand, some of the content there you might find offensive whether you are an American or not.

Maybe next month StormPay will decide to freeze autohits.dk on the basis that content displayed there is objectionable to TOS.

I personally want to thank StormPay for educating us on what is PTC and PTR ("Paid to click", or "Paid to Read"); however, such discussion is beyond the realm of the issue at hand regarding StormPay.

The simple fact of the matter is that NOT all PTS are Ponzis - not any more than all Americans are criminals. One PTS in particular is registered in the State of North Carolina, which means that state's authorities are already aware of how that company operates, and has approved that company's operation. Would the North Carolina State Attorney General's Office approve the operation of a Ponzi Scheme within the state borders ? Beyond which, that PTS has its own legal staff, which will now be bringing another lawsuit against StormPay.

I personally will back any action taken again StormPay.

It is time, past time really, that we, as Americans, take a stand to stop the intrusion into our personal decisions. Granted, the public needs a remedy for online fraud. That remedy does not need to come in the form of an online business acting as if everyone is guilty until proven innocent, nor does it mean we need government to intrude into our affairs and privacy. What is needed quite simply is that those government agencies we have commissioned to investigate fraud do their job within the framework of the Constitution, which is what those of us who are American taxpayers expect of them.

My primary e-mail address is now "certified" by NetIBA - a simple transaction which cost me $19.95 - a test, but what does it mean ? All it means really is that it has been confirmed by the United States Postal Service that I actually receive mail at the physical address I registered. Whether I am an honest, law-abiding citizen is unknown to anyone at NetIBA as far as I know. Of course, it is easier to find me if I do break the law ... is it not ?

NetIBA (http://www.whois.sc/netiba.com) is registered to the same man as is StormPay (http://www.whois.sc/stormpay.com):
Mr. John R. McConnell of Clarksville, Tennessee.

What does it mean then that StormPay is "certified" by NetIBA ? ... and just what sort of "Internet International Business Authority" is Mr. McConnell ? Another question is why has Mr. McConnell recently removed his name from the registration pages of both sites ?

I do not read, nor have I, as some have suggested, that StormPay requires its "subscribers" to register with NetIBA, but there is clearly an incentive to do so when subscribers are told they will save 4% [Four Percent] on their transactions fees when they are NetIBA certified. That to me is a Red Flag immediately.

The statement in StormPay's latest letter:

"It has recently been brought to the attention of StormPay Inc. that the current rash of new Auto-Surf and Paid to Read accounts are NOT operating in the traditional manner."
... is pure malarkey. Even if Mr. McConnell had been off the planet for the last three years, since he OWNS StormPay, someone would have told him. To believe otherwise is not possible ... which leads me to the question whether I should believe anything in today's "Important message from StormPay Inc."

Lawsuits against StormPay for freezing accounts are not new. There is even reference to such actions on a site meant to bash StormPay's biggest competitor:
http://www.paypalsucks.com/forums/showthread.php?fid=19&tid=9777&old_block=0

Quoting again from the StormPay letter today, " StormPay has asked the 'Merchant(s)' to provide a detailed explanation of the workings of these programs including how profit margins and customer payments are made. These questions were asked point blank by StormPay while on a conference call with the owner/operator and their attorney. The requests for information from the 'merchant' were simply denied leaving StormPay no choice other than to report those findings to the other organizations who required the information from StormPay. These findings and reports caused the seizure of funds of the merchant(s) StormPay accounts until all legal matters are resolved. Please be reminded that this could have been avoided if the merchant(s) could have, or would have provided information proving no illegal pyramid or ponzi activity. "
... I will offer that information is not straightforward or honest.

What is said in that passage may very well be true in the majority of cases, but I would submit that even an honest business owner, when put in that position, might choose not to reveal "inside information" without first consulting his or her attorney or CPA. Granted, the attorney could be present, except there is no way to know when StormPay might make such a call, and most of us cannot pay consultant fees to wait for a phone call. At the same time, StormPay then uses such "non-disclosure" as proof of guilt, with no further recourse.

When illegal activity is proven against a StormPay subscriber, I believe StormPay has every right to freeze the subscriber's funds until the matter is settled; however, freezing an account only on basis of "assumption of guilt" will not stand up in court. StormPay is not a regulatory arm of the United States Government, nor can StormPay accurately "calculate" the bottom line of any business when it does not have access to the company records.

Another line from the StormPay letter, " Get Rich Quick schemes include any type of self-employment, start-up businesses, or investment opportunity where the claims of profit or returns on investment are unrealistic or unsupported. " does not wash either. Who defines "unrealistic" ... ? Who determines what is "supported" ? There is a stranglehold on Americans by our government and banking industry desperarate to have us believe that "what the bankswill pay" is "realistic" - even though the very same banks ise money we deposit in them to reap huge DAILY dividends, for which they could return to us for our deposits far more than the measly single-digit YEARLY interest rate they allow us.

The accusation of Ponzi when applied to a legitimate business is for no other reason than to scare away would-be participants who are capable of engaging in a legal and moral activity that can actually do some good for the general population. It is wholly unreasonable that honest Americans must work in an atmosphere of distrust, under an assumption that whatever we do will be dishonest; therefore we must be constantly watched and "protected" from ourselves.

JB

AV Firms Falling Behind ...

2006-02-02T09:00:00.000-08:00

AV Firms Falling Behind: Eugene Kaspersky, head of virus
research atthe Massachusetts-based Kaspersky Lab, believes
that AV software companies are on the losing end of the
"virus arms race" against new malware. In a recent paper,
he called the Net "a breeding ground for criminal activity."
He goes on to say anti-virus vendors are not keeping up
with the hundreds of hacker groups are stealing hundreds of
millions of dollars from PC users each year.

"The majority of products are unable even to guarantee 90
percent protection," he said, noting that his lab receives
between 200 and 300 new samples each day.

Kaspersky did not offer any specific recommendations, but
you can avoid being scammed by most threats if you follow
four best-of-breed pieces: anti-virus, anti-spyware,
host-based intrusion prevention and a personal firewall.
Kasperski's paper is long, but very interesting.

You may want to check it out. After all, education is the
best way to protect yourself.

http://www.firestarteam.com/archive/06/01-31-06.shtml


JB

If you're a blogger, this website is for you

2006-01-31T09:00:00.000-08:00

EFF: Fighting for Bloggers' Rights

If you're a blogger, this website is for you.

EFF's goal is to give you a basic roadmap to the legal issues you may confront as a blogger, to let you know you have rights, and to encourage you to blog freely with the knowledge that your legitimate speech is protected.

To that end, we have created the Legal Guide for Bloggers, a collection of blogger-specific FAQs addressing everything from fair use to defamation law to workplace whistle-blowing.

http://www.eff.org/bloggers/

Internet serves as 'social glue' ...

2006-01-27T21:00:00.000-08:00

The internet has played an important role in the life decisions of 60 million Americans, research shows.

Whether it be career advice, helping people through an illness or finding a new house, 45% of Americans turn to the web for help, a survey by US-based Pew Internet think-tank has found.

It set out to find out whether the web and e-mail strengthen social ties.

The answer seems to be yes, especially in times of crisis when people use it to mobilise their social networks.

New community

In the past, it has been suggested that the internet and e-mail could diminish real relationships.

But the report, entitled The Strength of Internet Ties, found that e-mail supplements rather than replaces offline communications.

"The larger, the more far-flung, and the more diverse a person's network, the more important e-mail is," said Jeffrey Boase, one of the report's authors.

TURNING TO THE NET

21 million Americans use it to get additional career training

Helps 17 million when dealing with major illness

17 million use it for choosing a school for a child

16 million use it to buy a car

16 million use it for a major financial decision

10 million use it for finding new place to live

8 million use it when changing job

7 million use it to cope with family illness

Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project

"You can't make phone calls or personal visits to all your friends very often, but you can 'cc' them regularly with a couple of keystrokes. That turns out to be very important," he said.

The old cliché that times of crisis reveal who your real friends are seems to hold as true in cyberspace as it does in the offline world.

"When you need help these days, you don't need a bugle to call the cavalry, you need a big buddy list," said John Horrigan, associate director for research at the Pew Internet Project.

The internet is providing Americans with a path to resources, whether it be dealing with family crises or finding a new job.

The reliance and accessibility of the web is creating a new social phenomenon according to sociologist Barry Wellman.

Co-author of the report, he identifies what he terms as the rise of networked individualism - where users of modern technology are less tied to local groups and increasingly part of more geographically scattered networks.

"This creates a new basis for community. Rather than relying on a single community for social support, individuals often actively seek out a variety of appropriate people and resources for different situations," he said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4644666.stm

google flunks a big test ...

2006-01-26T09:00:00.000-08:00

JAY AMBROSE: Google sells out
Scripps Howard News Service Associated Press

January 26, 2006
" (SH) - Google sometimes seems like half my life. I start my days looking at Google News on the Internet, and often spend hours using the Google search engine to learn more about subjects I am going to write about. Little did I know I was dancing with the devil.

It's true, though. For the sake of this very rich company getting still richer, it has agreed to collaborate with China in subverting the promise of the Internet as an extraordinary means of liberation and in keeping the Chinese people in a state of abject subjugation.

More specifically, it is reported, Google will practice Chinese-style censorship, making sure that none of the 100 million Web surfers in China will be able to use Google to find anything by typing in such words as "democracy" or "human rights," or by trying to locate non-government information on such topics as Tibetan freedom, Taiwan independence, the Falun Gong religion or atrocities committed by their own officials.

In return for thus blocking entry to more Web sites than there probably are books in a dozen major libraries, as well as pulling the trigger on blogging and e-mail, Google gets a grin, a handshake and a have-at-it agreement from Chinese autocrats who had previously done their best to censor the search engine themselves.

Now Google will do financial battle in this major Internet market - second only to the United States - with Yahoo, Microsoft and Chinese firms as it tries to stack more money on top of the Everest-high pile it has already accumulated. As my columnist friend Thomas Lipscomb has reported, Google's stock value is in excess of $80 billion, more than that of the entire newspaper industry.

All of which means it's time to make excuses, and they have not been long in coming.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin, as quoted in a Reuters news accounts, says he "came to the conclusion that more information is better, even if it is not as full as we would like to see." No longer will Google have to confront "the Great Firewall" of censorship erected by Chinese officials, he said.

"France and Germany require censorship for Nazi sites," he is also quoted as observing, "and the U.S. requires censorship based on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. These various countries also have laws on child pornography."

Yes, the best can sometimes be enemy of the good, as Brin suggests, but the leaders of these high-tech companies have something to offer China that it needs, and by standing firm, by being tough, could conceivably have bent China more in the direction of responsible, civilized behavior as it moves ahead to superpower status.

Google - along with Yahoo and Microsoft - is abetting a crime against humanity while making it seem more or less OK.

The agreement to keep French and German Internet users from Nazi sites is a regrettable abridgement of free inquiry, but does not begin to compare to siding with some of the world's most devoted enemies of freedom in their iniquitous mission.

As for calling the protection of copyrighted movies and music censorship, that's blather, and to liken laws prohibiting child pornography to what the Chinese are doing is laughable.

Google's motto, as any number of news accounts and commentaries have noted, is, "Don't Be Evil." That's not exactly the world's highest standard. It's about like saying that a new mother's chief obligation is not to throw her baby out a second-story window. The startling fact is that Google now has done something evil, has tossed the baby out the window, and has put itself in a position of doing greater evil. Yahoo - which had earlier made Google-style compromises - says it was just going along with Chinese laws when it then helped identify a Chinese journalist who had written an e-mail about the Tiananmen Square revolt of 1989. For that deed, the journalist is spending 10 years in prison.

I am among those who have argued that the Internet could be the most powerful instrument since the printing press in disseminating information and ideas that will empower and free people, but what I left out of the calculation was the need for those in positions of corporate authority to cling to their integrity, no matter how much the almighty dollar tugs at them. I haven't given up hope. I still believe in the Internet. That belief would be strengthened if Google would become a respectable dancing partner by renouncing its China deal. "

Jay Ambrose, formerly Washington director of editorial policy for Scripps Howard newspapers and the editor of dailies in El Paso, Texas, and Denver, is a columnist living in Colorado. He can be reached at SpeaktoJay@aol.com.

Copyright 2005 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.

Create an e-annoyance, go to jail ...

2006-01-09T09:00:00.000-08:00

Perspective: Create an e-annoyance, go to jail
By Declan McCullagh
Published: January 9, 2006, 4:00 AM PST

Annoying someone via the Internet is now a federal crime.

It's no joke. Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity.

In other words, it's OK to flame someone on a mailing list or in a blog as long as you do it under your real name. Thank Congress for small favors, I guess.

This ridiculous prohibition, which would likely imperil much of Usenet, is buried in the so-called Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act. Criminal penalties include stiff fines and two years in prison.

"The use of the word 'annoy' is particularly problematic," says Marv Johnson, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. "What's annoying to one person may not be annoying to someone else."
It's illegal to annoy

A new federal law states that when you annoy someone on the Internet, you must disclose your identity. Here's the relevant language.

"Whoever...utilizes any device or software that can be used to originate telecommunications or other types of communications that are transmitted, in whole or in part, by the Internet... without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any person...who receives the communications...shall be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than two years, or both."

Buried deep in the new law is Sec. 113, an innocuously titled bit called "Preventing Cyberstalking." It rewrites existing telephone harassment law to prohibit anyone from using the Internet "without disclosing his identity and with intent to annoy."

To grease the rails for this idea, Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, and the section's other sponsors slipped it into an unrelated, must-pass bill to fund the Department of Justice. The plan: to make it politically infeasible for politicians to oppose the measure.

The tactic worked. The bill cleared the House of Representatives by voice vote, and the Senate unanimously approved it Dec. 16.

There's an interesting side note. An earlier version that the House approved in September had radically different wording. It was reasonable by comparison, and criminalized only using an "interactive computer service" to cause someone "substantial emotional harm."

That kind of prohibition might make sense. But why should merely annoying someone be illegal?

There are perfectly legitimate reasons to set up a Web site or write something incendiary without telling everyone exactly who you are.

Think about it: A woman fired by a manager who demanded sexual favors wants to blog about it without divulging her full name. An aspiring pundit hopes to set up the next Suck.com. A frustrated citizen wants to send e-mail describing corruption in local government without worrying about reprisals.

In each of those three cases, someone's probably going to be annoyed. That's enough to make the action a crime. (The Justice Department won't file charges in every case, of course, but trusting prosecutorial discretion is hardly reassuring.)

Clinton Fein, a San Francisco resident who runs the Annoy.com site, says a feature permitting visitors to send obnoxious and profane postcards through e-mail could be imperiled.

"Who decides what's annoying? That's the ultimate question," Fein said. He added: "If you send an annoying message via the United States Post Office, do you have to reveal your identity?"

Fein once sued to overturn part of the Communications Decency Act that outlawed transmitting indecent material "with intent to annoy." But the courts ruled the law applied only to obscene material, so Annoy.com didn't have to worry.

"I'm certainly not going to close the site down," Fein said on Friday. "I would fight it on First Amendment grounds."

He's right. Our esteemed politicians can't seem to grasp this simple point, but the First Amendment protects our right to write something that annoys someone else.

It even shields our right to do it anonymously. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas defended this principle magnificently in a 1995 case involving an Ohio woman who was punished for distributing anonymous political pamphlets.

If President Bush truly believed in the principle of limited government (it is in his official bio), he'd realize that the law he signed cannot be squared with the Constitution he swore to uphold.

And then he'd repeat what President Clinton did a decade ago when he felt compelled to sign a massive telecommunications law. Clinton realized that the section of the law punishing abortion-related material on the Internet was unconstitutional, and he directed the Justice Department not to enforce it.

Bush has the chance to show his respect for what he calls Americans' personal freedoms. Now we'll see if the president rises to the occasion.
Biography
Declan McCullagh is CNET News.com's Washington, D.C., correspondent. He chronicles the busy intersection between technology and politics. Before that, he worked for several years as Washington bureau chief for Wired News. He has also worked as a reporter for The Netly News, Time magazine and HotWired.

http://news.com.com/Create+an+e-annoyance,+go+to+jail/2010-1028_3-6022491.html

A word about Hype

2006-01-05T09:00:00.000-08:00

Do you get caught up in the hype machine? Do you drop everything you're doing and sign up immediately when you see the word's PRE-LAUNCH? Or LIMITED TIME ONLY?

What you should do when you see these word's is run like hell!! If it is a program, product or service that is TRULY of value. It won't matter whether you get in today or in 6 months, you will be able to learn or earn from it.

The net is overrun with HYPE, what HYPE means to me is that the product or service won't sell on it's own so they have to make it seem more important by creating a false sense of urgency to join or buy. Usually these programs/products are of no special value other than the value created for the person who starts or creates them. What's usually in it for you is another product you'll never use or a service that is of no real value.

Well, how do I select a program or product you ask? Simple, through the network you've developed, ask around. Really do some networking, ask your group that you communicate with what they use or promote. What's working for them? What's not working for them? This is another value of the list that you build for yourself is the sharing of information. Keep an open line of communication with everyone you make contact with in your online venture's.

I know about the HYPE machine ohh too well. I have been caught in the hype of several programs over the last couple of years and have lost and or wasted my fair share of money doing it. I have made more money with the tried and true programs that have been around for years than I ever did with a pre-launch hype machine. Riding the HYPE machine causes you to bounce from program to program and in doing this, you never know what works and what doesn't because you never stick with a program long enough to TRULY know it's value. It's called Leapfrogging and it is the quickest way to fail in your online ventures. Leapfrogging should be left as the game you played in grade school on recess. Not how you try to create an online business or income.

Communicate with your network and find out what is working for them. Then, create a plan of attack to make it successful for you, using the information you've gathered from the people in your network.

Remember, the list you build is for more than just selling to. It's also for learning from and sharing with!!

Avoid the HYPE machine and stick to the NETWORK machine you're creating!!

http://weeklynetworker.com/issue/13a/word.shtml

10 Paradoxical Commandments

2006-01-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

1. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

2. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

3. If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

4. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

5. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

6. The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.

7. People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

8. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

9. People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.

10. Give the world the best you have and you will get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.

There is a whole world we can influence, but we cannot control.

What we do control is our own inner life.

We get to decide who we are going to be and how we are going to live.

What does it mean to live a paradoxical life?

It means you focus on loving and helping people and becoming part of something larger than yourself.

Go and Grow !

Canned Spam

2006-01-03T09:00:00.000-08:00

You know, if it works for you, I want to be the very last one to
discourage you ... and then would prefer to remain silent anyway.

Just got a call from "Out of Area" and answered as I sometimes will, just to see who is there.

From Joyce. I picked the spelling of "Joyce" because I do not know
Joyce. Her message was recorded, inviting me to call back a number included in the recording if I would be interested in "making thousands of dollars a day returning phone calls"

Of course I would love to think that just by calling someone back after they have called me that I would be paid thousands of dollars a day ... hardly even having time to run to the bank, maybe have to hire someone to make my deposits for me, eh ?

Whew !

I like Joyce's message - simple, short, easy question. Either I have
time available to return phone calls or I do not - easy to decide.

Her message does not insult me the way a caller does in saying " Don't
worry, James. I am not calling to sell you anything ... " duh " Then
why are you calling me ? " is what I usually am too polite to respond
with ...

Or callers who start with " James ! I hear you are interested in
starting a home-based business ! "

Hello !

What is remarkable is that such trolling really does get some bites,
even if it is canned audio spam.

Also remarkable foolishness - mining for that "one gem in a thousand prospects" ... not doing the math - failing to realize if you are buying leads from your "opp" and 10 or 20,000 others are buying their leads from the same source, a FEW of you will be delivering the same message to the same people to the point that the "same people" start saying, even YELLING - " Enough "

latest gotcha ...

2006-01-02T09:00:00.000-08:00

First problem comes when your computer's alarm bells and
whistles start going off, after which you smack yourself.

Second problem ...
_______

First thing this morning I searched for news of e-Gold closing,
because ...

Last night I received a message:

Subject: **Notification E-Gold Ltd. CLOSING**

Please tell me you did not click on the link in that message.
_______

There is no news of e-Gold closing - would be BIG news if it were
so. Only found reports dated this time last year when someone was
spreading rumour that e-Gold and eBullion would be closing soon ...

" ...sources assure us that these rumours are false and designed to
unsettle the industry (for reasons unknown at this time). "

Wishing you enough ...

2005-11-25T09:00:00.000-08:00

Anyone who complains to me today of having eaten too much yesterday ...

I will smile and listen, sympathetic : )

Just remember:

If you are in that condition today ...

You had enough. You have enough.

You chose to eat more than enough.

Not everyone in this world has enough ...

Happy Thanksgiving

it is us

2005-11-24T21:00:00.000-08:00

I visited them to say Happy Thanksgiving to all, but did not ...

Following several threads there I was saddened at what I read.

So I thought, well, I will leave a greeting and a comment or two ...
... but my spirit darkened thinking of what I must write to them.

Then I quietly closed the door and went to share festivities with others.

In thankfulness I will share with them what I share with you here now:

" And now it is us. We are the ones they spoke of long ago.
They say to be alive; to come into creation and to live upon
the earth at this time is a great honor.

In the cycle of time, from the beginning to the end, this time
we are in now will change the purification of all things.
They say this is the hardest time to live, but it is also the
greatest honor to be alive and see this. "

http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=38

wasting time ...

2005-11-23T09:00:00.001-08:00

How often do we have a chance to help someone, yet let it slip away ?

A young man called to me at CSC, wanting to know if he would be "wasting his time" to wait, since there were so many people ahead of him in line ...

It was already on my mind that it seemed a lot of people waited until the last hour this week, but there must have been a reason they could not arrive earlier.

The man seemed to relax some when I assured him we would not run out of food.

Later, when his order was packed, he wanted someone to deliver it to his home. I offered to do that as I often do, but then he wanted to ride along - something I would allow except that I already had food to deliver to others, leaving no room for a passenger.

He made his disappointment clear enough, saying that he had ridden his bicycle to CSC, so I suggested that he ride home and I would meet him there.

At that point he said he had an appointment in town but could not get to it in time if he had to ride home first, then back ...

I began to back away then because it was clear to me that he expected an increasing amount from someone else - anyone else I suppose.

Something more I need to learn from this exchange I am thinking now, but not seeing it yet. Right now I am only seeing a missed opportunity to help another human being ...

someone will get caught ...

2005-11-21T09:00:00.000-08:00

The latest outbreak of virus laden e-mails is the heaviest I have seen for months.

Messages warning "you have been caught visiting illegal websites" are made to appear sent from fbi.gov or even CIA

Other messages warn that your e-mail account is being reviewed for spamming complaints, or that an e-mail you sent cannot be delivered.

A "problem with your account" or unauthorized access to your account - any sort of message intended to get you to panic.

Almost every one of those messages has an attachment.

Opening that message will put your computer system at risk of infection

Delete those messages immediately.

American Ingenuity

2005-11-17T09:00:00.000-08:00

Common complaint now is transfer of American jobs "offshore" ... What seems to escape - even defy - our imagination, is the rate at which new industries are created in the United States. I still remember old loggers "elevated" to sawyers trying to wrap a weary head around "computerized saws" in the mills. Some just would not learn a relatively easy process. The word "computer" seemed enough to baffle some : ) Lately I keep seeing "cord blood" until I had to see what it is ... another new industry: google "cord blood"

A Recipe For Life

2005-11-05T09:00:00.000-08:00

The Mayonnaise Jar and 2 Cups of Coffee

When things in your lives seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous "yes."

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things-- your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions---and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter, like your job, your house and your car.

The sand is everything else---the small stuff. "If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

"Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Praying and asking God to help. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled.

"I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."

Biorhythm

2005-11-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

If you think watching your biorythm is silly, that is okay : ) Biorhythm is not something I obsess over, neither something I ignore.

For me, knowing about my biorythm is like knowing there is a "normal" temperature for my body. I must maintain a certain body temperature to survive. If my body gets too cold, or too hot, there is danger for me. For the most part I need not do anything except be aware of my surroundings - dress warmer when it is cold, not over-exert when it is too hot outside.

Bioryhthm charts measure Emotional, Intellectual and Physical cycles (and "secondary" cycles). Those cycles are not equal - their spans are different.

Usually checking your chart will show that you are maybe high in one cycle, low in another, and could be in middle of a third - no particular order. In each of those three areas, your cycle regularly runs from high to low and then back up again. Sometimes you are more emotional, sometimes more intellectual.

Once in a great while - and what you need to watch for - is that your E I and P will all converge - either high or low. It happens rarely. I do not see those points as necessarily dangerous, but they are days when you should be more aware.

In other words, when all 3 cycles converge at low point, as is happening with a friend today - emotions drained, physical low, and maybe not thinking too clearly - one is more vulnerable to accident or illness. Again, not something to obsess about, but prudent to be aware, maybe slow down for a couple days, take it easy, get plenty of rest, observe your body's workings more closely ...

Easy for us to think that when all 3 cycles converge at peak we might feel like we are "on top of the world" and that is a good feeling. Again, I would be a little cautious though, because in my view, that may be a day in which a person takes chances otherwise avoided. Not accident prone but too "cocky" overconfident maybe ... could lead to accidental injury.

A fun site to check your biorhythm is http://www.care2.com/biorhythms/

google "biorhythm" for more sites including http://www.facade.com/biorhythm/

Star Anise

2005-11-03T09:00:00.000-08:00

" a Chinese spice hitherto associated with the pleasures of aperitifs has suddenly assumed key medical significance "

http://english.people.com.cn/200511/01/eng20051101_218166.html

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=255412&area=/insight/insight__international/

http://www.ellinghuysen.com/news/articles/24207.shtml

http://www.todayonline.com/articles/81508.asp

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