1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.

3. Follow the three R’s:

Respect for self

Respect for others and

Responsibility for all your actions.

4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.

5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.

6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

8. Spend some time alone every day.

9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.

10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.

12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.

13. In disagreements with loved ones deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.

14. Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.

15. Be gentle with the earth.

16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.

17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.

18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

19. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

–The Dali Lama

They say that the biggest problem with common sense is that it is not too common. This list just makes good sense….

Thankyou Coldisis of stumbleupon for this reminder from the Dali Lama and VaVaVoommm of stumbleupon for pointing me towards this wonderful “cup of love” on Flickr. The photographer was the talented Philippe Franssen of Belgium. Be sure to check out his photo page, he does some amazing work.

Peace , happy surfing and enjoy a jones soda ! ( or your own particular poison )

~ william

Dedicated to the unmentionable person who showed me this application.

Last semester I was conned into downloading Firefox solely to use the StumbleUpon application. The application adds a toolbar to the Firefox browser allowing you to “stumble upon” sites that may be of interest to you. Basically, this application serves as a misuser of time in regards to top priorities. It’s easy to reach out and click a button rather than finish homework.

However, StumbleUpon led me to very enlightening sites, videos and unknown music. There are website styles and layouts out there I had never seen.

Here are two of my favorite indie music Youtube finds:

Oren Lavie, singer/songwriter, director and children’s author, composed around 3225 photo stills with the help of others to compose this video of “Her Morning Elegance”. It’s unique and ingenious.

Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip used repetition to express strong opinions in this unconventional video of “Thou Shalt Always Kill”. I found myself singing repetitively.

I have since stopped using StumbleUpon because I prefer using Safari. It’s much easier to keep favorites and bookmarks on one browser because of convenience. If you are an avid Firefox user, by all means, download StumbleUpon, but beware of wasting precious time.

Ok guys. It’s 7 am, and entirely too early to be operating a computer, but I had an idea last night that I wanted to share.

Has anyone seen or used the website StumbleUpon ?

It’s pretty neat- is a blessing for me when I have loads of time to kill…  You tell the site your interests, and click “Stumble!” and the site will show you a random website that, based on your interests, you should enjoy. After viewing the site, you can either click the buttons “I like it!” or “I dislike it!” to further explain to the website what you want or don’t want to see.

I’m telling you guys, this site can bring up the most random things at times. Out of all the sites I saw, the only one familiar to my, was FML .

With all the sites you visit, the StumbleUpon Toolbar will let you view/add tags, see who else likes it, read info others have shared about the site you’re viewing, and see who “discovered” the site.

Which, brings me to the point of my blog this morning.

You can “discover” new sites to put in the StumbleUpon directory. All you have to do, is click the “I like it!”  button in the toolbar, while you’re viewing the site. If the site isn’t in the directory already, a little box will pop up and congratulate you on your discovery! It then prompts you to tell it a little information about your find. You can add tags to the page to make it searchable, you can type a summary about it, add it to a category, etc.

What I was thinking… is I wonder what would happen, if everyone reading this… would StumbleUpon this blog, their own blog, and then the blogs/websites that they visit daily?

I know a lot of us already use Twitter and Facebook to shamelessly promote our own blogs/causes, and the ones of our friends… but for the most part, we have a little network of blogs that link to each other. Granted, there’s variation, but from my referrals, I get most of my readers coming from Just Believe, or Holding Out For a Hero this seems like an easy way to connect with people we aren’t already reaching.

I know I’ve already ‘discovered’ Laurita’s blog… and I plan on ‘discovering’ the rest of the blogs that I read/link to on here by weeks end. Hopefully, it’ll get them a little more exposure, and maybe reach someone who’d be interested in what they have to say!

Opinions? Discuss…

<3

Edit: All of the sites on my “Links” page have now been “discovered!” Oddly enough… someone had discovered the Hydrocephalus Association already. Nice!

Keanu Reeves: Photo Courtesy of keanu.org

In this week’s premiere of New Communication Technologies (NCT) class, our great lecturer, Ping, showed us Minority Report. I was beginning to think whether it was a coincidence (Ping could have been intending to recruit Keanu Reeves fans like herself) or that there was a more significant agenda – to let the ignorant children trapped in the protective environment of this classroom open their eyes to what could be the future of the universe!

We have the usual adventure story – good guy, righteous and all, wronged by the bad guys hence set out to clear his name… by kidnapping a bald-shaven and pale woman – who can barely communicate well with her stutters, which is good because it prolongs the storyline and the air time.

Alright, who am I kidding?

The crux is this – the technology used and displayed in the show is beyond the present. However, many revolutions have passed through the centuries and the sci-fi in Minority Report could just be the next in line.

And current technology seems to be edging towards the Minority Report reality. Compare the following:

Today’s technology – a man interacting with a projected surface using his fingers:

(click on image for video)

Minority Report – Keanu Reeves interacting with holograms using his fingers:

Keanu Reeves: Photo Courtesy of flixster.com

Aren’t those two most alike? Not forgetting location-based services are personified as the Precogs (ones who are capable of telling the future) in the movie as well. It is indeed amazing to see the human race mingle with science to create possibilities and bring about what seems to be convenience to the society.

However, things appear too perfect. And too-perfect things can be flawed in some way or another.

Think about this – one of some other problems that may surface: what will happen to the privacy of each individual if tracking whereabouts of individuals were as simple as a click on a system – especially with the impending proliferation of location-based services?

Do privacy and convenience with technology possess an inverse relationship? Think about it while you tweet, facebook, plurk, stumbleupon or use that android application.

]]> http://freemarketingwebinars.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/why-how-to-use-social-bookmarking-for-your-business/ Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:57:12 +0000 erscampbell http://freemarketingwebinars.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/why-how-to-use-social-bookmarking-for-your-business/

Host: Vertical Response
Date: 1/22/10
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m, PST

Summary:

The amount of content on the internet is astounding. Use social bookmarking to help you organize, save, share, and promote your business online. Join Danielle Strle, a National Accounts Manager at Stumble Upon and VerticalResponse as we go over the basics of social bookmarking.

Learn:

• The basis of a social bookmarking
• Why you should be using social bookmarking
• Best practices of social bookmarking
• How to integrate social bookmarking into your email marketing and other current marketing practices
• Examples of successful social bookmarkers

Register for this webinar

Every week I post 5 finds from “Stumbleupon”.

Great Holiday Blog (Crafts, Cooking)

5 Things You Didn’t Know About Bob Ross

Alternate Nostril Breathing

Awesomeness

Oddly Specific

http://www.ratedcolleges.com/blog/2009/100-amazing-how-to-sites-to-teach-yourself-anything/

Every things nice with a little sugar and spice. Isn’t it? Ohhh yes, it is. Cowgirl Chocolates can prove it.

When the package arrived from Cowgirl Chocolates, and I opened the box and saw the gorgeous red box inside, I didn’t want to open it! It was so pretty, wrapped in ribbon, adorned with the sweet little star on top. Being the country girl I am, I was in love. Marilyn, the head cowgirl over there, has great taste!

This is chocolate with a kick. Whatever your chocolate need be. Ladies, we all have a need for chocolate at one time or another. How many occasions can you think of? Cowgirl Chocolates creates a “just because” chocolate occasion, sporting the spiced up flavors that’s sure to make your toes curl!

After I finally opened my pretty little red box, my husband walked by and nabbed a piece of candy. He just happened to pick up Buckin’ Hot Habanero Caramel, HA! He ran with it. Straight to the sink for water. That’ll surely teach him to nab my goodies again. Now the mix of chocolate and spices are good, really good! But not all will set you on a running trip to the waterin’ hole. My daughter and I got to taste some of the Cowgirl Chocolates that didn’t have a kick. One of our favorites were Raspberry lemonade dark chocolate, an old cowgirl recipe blended to perfection with raspberry, lemon and deep dark chocolate. And on my “to get” list is Sarsaparilla Milk Chocolate, milk chocolate swirled with sarsaparilla (root beer) from the good ol’ days.

Why don’t you wander on over to the Flavor Guide, and see what you can find that you’ll like. With or without a kick.

I love the keepsake packaging they have.

Head Cowgirl Marilyn Lysohir founded Cowgirl Chocolates in 1997.

Her two favorite things in the world are art (she has a notable career as a ceramic sculptor) and chocolate. In fact her first job was working in a chocolate factory in
Pennsylvania. Marilyn mingled some favorite memories
with some new ideas to create an American original,
Cowgirl Chocolates.

Cowgirl Chocolates has won a total of 16 product awards
and 2 packaging awards and is located in Moscow, Idaho
USA.  It has also been featured on the Food Network
on “Unwrapped” and “Extreme Cuisine” and in the New
York Times and Toronto Star among others.

Cowgirl Chocolates is kindly offering one of our readers a 1/3 pound sampler package of their chocolates! Don’t want to wait to see if you win? Then you can purchase the same sampler for $12.95.

WIN IT

MANDATORY Entry – Visit Cowgirl Chocolates, and tell us what flavor(s) you would like to try the most.

Extra Entries: The mandatory entry MUST be completed or no extra entries will count. They can, and will be deleted, 1 entry unless specified otherwise below. You MUST leave a separate comment for each entry, otherwise it will count as one entry.

EXTRA Optional Entries

~ Sign up for Cowgirl Chocolates email updates, and specials. (very bottom of the site.)

~  Subscribe to our rss Feed (1 entry)

~  Subscribe AND confirm to our Email (2 entries)

~  Follow Networking Witches , WinterWitch and/or RedNeckWitch on Twitter (1 entry for each followed) And please send the below tweet.

~  Twitter this giveaway feel free to copy and paste this:  (You can tweet daily But you MUST leave the link to your tweet) NetWorkingWitches.com is giving away Cowgirl Chocolates http://wp.me/ppVmm-Nm Chocolate with a kick! Ends 12/05 Great for #snowdays

~  Grab our button and post the link where we can find it. Copy and paste the code from the right hand side.  (2 entries)

~  Fave us on Technorati and let us know your user name. (2 entries)

~  Add our text link to your blogroll and leave us a link to it. http://www.networkingwitches.com

~ Blog about this giveaway linking to Networking Witches and the sponsor. Come back and leave us the direct link.  (3 entries)

~ Stumble this post, not the site.

~ Digg this post, and leave a link to the Digg, and your username.

This giveaway will end on 12/0509 at 11:59 PM CST.

I was sent Cowgirl Chocolate samples for review, I was not paid any monetary compensation for this review. This post is my opinion and should be taken as just that. Having received samples has no impact on my personal use, experience, or like for any product.

http://2010.newsweek.com/video/decade-in-seven-minutes.html

Have you ever got a chance to drive a supercar? If yes you have had one of the best experiences you will ever have in your life.

Now imagine and co-relate what is the most common thing between social media and a supercar, See most of these dazzling cars have 2 seats same goes with Social media as here no matter what you are a brand or an offline/online influencer when you engage with people you have to do it individually so you are the driver of this supercar and the other guy is the co-seater.

Its simple if you are a good driver and don’t give bumps in the ride, you will get recognized for your skills very soon as your partners would spread the word for you, This is the nature of social media as well as if you are adding value by what you share, your personal brand has to spread further.

Hey we are talking about supercars right, am sure most of you have your own favorites so before going for a ride you need to make sure that you have chosen the car which suits you the best, here a few suggestions Porsche aka Twitter, Lamborghini aka LinkedIn, Ferrari aka Facebook, Bugatti aka Digg, Aston Martin aka StumbleUpon and the list goes on and if you have super rich knowledge you can drive more than 1 car.

Its very important to understand which social media channel would work out the best for your brand and that can be decided your approach towards people if you prefer a traditional way of talking LinkedIn makes it for you,if you have an attitude of a blogger its a major possibility that you choose twitter.

Whatever you drive make sure you understand this -

“It takes 8,460 bolts to assemble an automobile, and one nut to scatter it all over the road.”  ~Author Unknown

Just one important lesson out of this no big deal, you have to be consistent in your performance.

So we got into the social media supercar and we are listening an awesome sound of the viral buzz created around it, lets get on with the gears and cruise through.

• 1st Gear »

This has to be one of the best things in social media in the first gear it gives you a chance to trace your niche as what is that you really want to do with it, do you want to measure social analytics thus your influence, do you want to make friends, do you want to become a social media rock star or you just want to be a student of a particular subject and gather and share information on that.

The first gear is noisy as you would receive advice from a lot of people on what to do with social media but you need to follow your heart and then listen to people who really make sense.

• 2nd Gear »

Now as you have chosen what do to try your best to get yourself fully loaded with knowledge from sources which you feel trustworthy from your heart,Read blogs not specifically from your niche but of your mindset as in if you are a marketing guy you can get great ideas from a Food or a wine blog.

• 3rd Gear »

In the third gear you are at a stage where in you have all the knowledge required to create stuff for your community here am talking about things like blogs, podcasts, presentations which can easily add value to your relationship with the people you are networking.

• 4th Gear »

Now you are well aware of what you are doing and its fun driving now, But whats the most important thing to get this fun going? its consistency in everything which you do in the world of social media yes everything, the things which you learn, share and create should be consistent and representing your personality as you established it from the starting.

When we have talked about the acceleration here we have to understand the fact that there will be circumstances where you have to slow down a bit and thus get back to second or third gear and its almost the same for social media as well because you have to go back to learn and to understand what other people in your community are talking about no matter how good you are at creating stuff.

So for most of you who still have not tasted a supercar drive try social media and you would love it once you try to relate them.

Today’s society is very dependent on the online network Web 2.0. In despite of the fact that the internet isn’t existing for so long, many people are really ‘addicted’ to the internet. Their computer is running day and night and they need to get in contact with others whenever they can.

Most of the contacts between people are made possible via the internet, for example by personal sites, company sites or even online phone calls all around the world.

Almost everyone uses the Web in some way, because almost everybody has access to the internet as long as you have a network connection. There are more and more ways to make this connection possible in a lot of different ways, like your computer at home, your portable laptop, your mobile phone, at internet cafes and even on some of the mp3 players.

Does that also mean that we can’t live without this social network via internet? Of course we can! But today’s society is getting more and more individualistic. Some people crawl behind their computer to upload and download everything they can find.

Due to the fact that the Web keeps on changing and modernizing, the possibilities on these kind of networks are growing faster than ever. They are even talking about a Web 3.0, the so called Semantic Web. This means the Web will be more intelligent and will think more for the webuser. Does this also mean the network-society will be more individualistic as it is nowadays?

Resources:
http://www.wikipedia.org
http://www.youtube.com
http://www.commoncraft.com 
http://www.marketingportaal.nl/artikel/592/wat-is-web-30

A mi me encanta encontrar cosas raras, interesantes y diferentes en Internet… Al final, para eso es buenísimo la red de redes!

Una buena herramienta para encontrar cosas es StumbleUpon, que te enseña los “findings” de otros navegantes de la red, entonces, te permite ver cosas que otros consideraron interesantes, así como votar si te gustan, ponerlo como favoritos, o añadir lo que encuentras en la lista de StumbleUpon.

Yo lo uso desde hace como un año y he encontrado páginas, fotografías, juegos, ideas, que son muy buenas.

This blog's WordPress Dashboard statistics

One of the most enjoyable aspects of virtual events blogging (for me) is the ability to observe which postings “work” and which postings don’t work.  I’ve come to learn that my intuition is often off – postings that I think will generate a lot of traffic don’t, while postings that I thought were marginal become very popular.

For instance, I wrote a posting on the concept of applying Web 2.0 to webinars – it was one of my better pieces of work, but the blogosphere voted with their mouse clicks and (unless we had an issue with counting / undercounting of votes) it didn’t even scratch the Top 10 list of posts [over the past 3 months].

With social media sharing these days, I found that the biggest factor in which posts receive traffic (relative to others) is how and where a given posting is shared.  All it takes is a few retweets from prominent Twitter users (i.e. with 20,000 followers each) to drive a lot of page views to a particular blog posting.  Or, someone posts your blog entry to a sharing site, such as StumbleUpon or digg - you’ll see traffic spike when that occurs.

Another factor is search engine optimization (SEO) – with some of my blog postings, I referenced people, places, certain virtual worlds, etc. – and received search engine traffic from users searching on those terms.

Examples include: Gregory House, My Little Pony (they have a virtual world), Online Dating, Club Penguin.  Some of those blog postings were marginal at best – but they continue to draw traffic to this day – by virtue of having common search engine terms in their content.

Here’s a listing of the Top 5 blog postings (on this blog) over the past 3 months – as measured by the number of page views:

1. How To Promote Your Virtual Event On Twitter – the key point in this posting – to be able to best leverage Twitter, you need to work hard to build the right “following” first.  This posting received top billing (of traffic) by virtue of tweets/retweets, along with some postings to digg.
2. Virtual Tradeshow Best Practices: Top 10 Exhibitor Tactics – written back in May, this is always a popular one – it has a fair number of in-bound links and also gets a lot of search engine traffic.
3. The Advantages Of Virtual Meetings – I provided commentary around a Forbes Insights piece that presented the case for face-to-face meetings.  This gets a lot of its traffic via inbound links.
4. Virtual Worlds: Where We Were, Where We’re Going, What Does It Mean to YOU? – a guest post by Linda Holroyd, CEO of FountainBlue.  Linda may not have known it at the time, but her posting is an SEO hotbed – it contains lots of relevant terms related to virtual worlds – and, lists the names of many industry executives and entrepreneurs (and their companies).  So this blog posting receives traffic when users search for those individuals’ names or company names.
5. Hey Kids! I’ve Got a Virtual World For You – it’s like a boomerang (it keeps coming back) – I wrote this back in January and the posting can still make this Top 5 list of the past 3 months.  The reason?  It’s rich in search-friendly terms (Club Penguin, Webkinz, My Little Pony, Cabbage Patch, Beanie Babies, etc.) – I suppose I’ve managed to extend the reach of this blog to parents, who are performing searches on children’s toys!

So there you have it.  I’d love to hear from you – what’s been your favorite blog posting?

http://obama-weather.com/

If I meet more than your eye
I guess you’re right
If I wake up in your mind
I guess you’re right

Song of the day:
“I Guess You’re Right” by The Posies

I feel creep’d.
I submitted my site to StumbleUpon… Really stupid move. 110 views in one day. And back to normal 
(a solid 7) today. It just feels like a huge statistics jack. whatever. I think it’ll slow down after yesterday. TOO MUCH TRAFFIC CREEPS ME OUT. Who’s reading about my life? Osh.

I also downloaded a huge-ass playlist. It’s large.. and I have to go through all the songs. And get the data? osh. What a pity.

Note to self: Never let Dad touch your computer.
I just spent fifteen minutes deleting some weird program scam thinger from his computer… Because he’s too.. ugh… to be able to tell the difference between a popup and a real windows alert. Faiiillll. Ah, the woes of the boomers left behind in the technological era…
He also has all this weird random useless stuff on there. You know the “Free screensavers” things that pop up, and you wonder, “Who even downloads those?”       Do you really want to know? huh? My dad does.

I really can’t wait until Louise gets back. twitch. I was fine for the first three/four months. I don’t think I can handle living alone with him anymore. Aghhhh. Yesterday he asked me if I needed anything from the store… I said. “Toothpaste and shampoo.” SIMPLE REQUEST. he even asked me what kinds. I told him, “errr… Crest I guess. and Dove shampoo.”
Later he comes back and hands me.. orange-flavored crest toothpaste.. and dove conditioner. And he was so pleased with himself, I just couldn’t bring myself to correct him.
So please forgive me if my breath smells like oranges for the next two months.
My friend Ben told me.. “Never trust your father with buying you personal hygiene products”. Those are incredibly wise words. Adhere to them well.

Yep. I was happy this morning… I had jazz band, and we got SWING CHRISTMAS SONGS. Whatt. I love jazzy christmas tunes…. Just not Feliz Navidad. Ugh. And we also got James Bond, which I played in grade 8 with Jonathan.. and I got to save him on the high notes… It brings back memories, ok? I just wish we could play “Georgia” again. I really want the solo in that. Lalala. I feel like such a first-part and solo hog. But they just always GIVE them to me!
And I finished all my homework last night, actually.. It was awesome. I was surprised at myself. So yep. I was pretty good… I guess until Drama class. Second block of the double, mostly.

We were playing this improv game thing, and the (lame) sub was choosing people randomly. Two people went up at a time. With my luck, she chooses the ONE person in the class who I have beef with. (That’s the second time that’s happened, actually… the only two times we’ve had random pairings…)
His name is Jeff and he’s a douchebag. He’s extremely funny, and nice, but… idk. He’s afraid of me, I guess?
Basically, last year I liked him and he found out and said some pretty nasty things about me (I don’t know what, they wouldn’t tell me,) and he hasn’t talked to me since. And I have been completely willing to forget that he was such a dick, and move past it. But he still refuses to talk to me… I find it quite funny, actually. Pathetic. lol. Maybe he’s still afraid I’m going to jump him, everyday?
Anyhow, so Jeff gets chosen to go up and perform with me, and I go up like a big girl and make conversation with the teacher, waiting for him. And you know what he does? He goes up to Ben and asks him to go up for him. (It was kind of ironic, actually. In many many ways.)
Just because it was me. CHICKEN.
Anyways, so in the end, me and Ben rocked the stage. NBD.

Hm… That’s my life for the day. Yup. pretty cool. Signin’ out.

If I were Oprah, you would be really excited. Sorry, I’m not, but I would like to share with you some of my favorite things. Just stuff, things, I don’t know how to put it!

www.StumbleUpon.com

It is definitely the best way to surf the internet. You can sort by the categories you want to see and just push the magical “Stumble” button and it takes you to amazing places

Jelly Battle

Duh I’m so addicted to this game (Jelly Battle)! My sn is Kristinstien because I’m a monster killer that could not possibly have been naturally conceived.

Kristinstien dominates!

I won that battle by the way against a Field Marshall. Just saying.

The Science of Sleep

A cool movie about a guy who confuses his dreams and reality. If you liked Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind then you will like this.

Free on iTunes

If you didn’t know this, then I hope this makes you happy. Every Tuesday the people who run the iTunes store update the free on iTunes selection. There is always a Single of the Week, Music Video of the Week, Discovery Download, and a bunch of other random free stuff. All of which can be found in the convenient little bar at the bottom. I have the latest version of iTunes, so it might be different for you if you have a different version.

Also, for all you Facebook users, there is a Free on iTunes application that you can use to get codes for whole samplers, which include about 15-20 songs each. It gives you codes for each. I love these samplers because they usually highlight indie music!

That’s a short list, eh. I’ll add more later…

StumbleUpon was founded in 2001 by Garrett Camp, Geoff Smith, Justin LaFrance. If Facebook is not enough to consume time online, now you have Stumble..

Great website used by Nerds Know to find interesting posts.

Hit jump to visit website: StumbleUpon

This week’s edition of Sunday Stumblers.

If you aren’t familar with Stumbleupon, I highly recommend checking it out: StumbleUpon. It allows you to “stumble” through the internet and discover random websites within interests/topics that you specify. Its fun & addicting.

101 Thoughts on How to Lose 100 lbs

Hunt for Hidden Letters

Measuring Intelligence with Google Suggest

Most Amazing Cake Ever

Family Tree of the Gods

Fun & Addicting

Hmmm. Let’s see, I’m wondering, what should I blog about?

I’ve been researching several topics recently with the help of Addict-o-matic and here are my options:

1. Page Rank
2. Netvibes
3. StumbleUpon
4. Forums
5. Commenting

Page Rank

Unlike most bloggers, Page Rank is not a huge concern for me.  For example, this post from Shel Holtz: ABC, principal of Holtz Communication + Technology, tells why Technorati rank USED to be important.

Despite a wealth of channels for searching the blogosphere, Technorati remains important because it’s the only tool that offers a clue about the reputation and influence of each blog. By evaluating a number of factors, including inbound links on a rolling six-month basis, Technorati is able to assign a rank and an authority level for each blog. When identifying bloggers for outreach, these metrics have proven invaluable. You can’t find anything comparable on any other blog search engine, including the popular Google Blogsearch.

But like any tool, Technorati’s usefulness vanishes if it’s broken. And Technorati has been broken in a big way for some time. What’s more, they don’t seem to be very interested in fixing it.

via What the hell is up with Technorati?.

Alternatives for using Technorati and other tips, can be found in this post from Timethief. You can check your page rank at this site and check page rank alongside Alexa rank at Bulk Page Rank Checker.

Let me add that while I don’t care much about Page Rank, I realize that a good number of you do, so I feel better now that I have provided you with some resourceful links.

NetVibes

I was totally prepared to do my next screencast on NetVibes when I received an email inviting me to check out the new Wasabi Edition. 

You cannot imagine how disappointed I was to find that the “Test Wasabi” link turned out to be a page where I could sign up for the wait list for Wasabi beta invites.   Four days later I have not received the invitation. Even the site review from highly regarded TechCrunch added to the tease, us by using this title Netvibes Delivers A Potent Stream Reader With Wasabi (Beta Invites).

StumbleUpon

I first addressed the topic of Social Networking Resources back in the middle of August. I only began to scratch the surface of the topic. Since then, I’ve learned about social bookmarking sites and my two favorites at the moment are Diigo and StumbleUpon.

Please don’t confuse Diigo with Digg because they are too very different entities. My Mother always used to say, if you don’t have something nice to say then don’t say anything at all . So this is how I feel about Digg (silence).  On the other hand, I like Diigo so much that I started a group for WordPress.com users to share articles featuring tips and techniques for our blogs. Read more about it here.

I was so excited when I learned the benefits of using SU and the Su.pr link shortener, that I quickly published an article on Posterous called StumbleUpon Demystified and a review on Shvoong of the using the Su.pr link shortening site.

Forums

1. Website Babble
2. Blog Engage
3. Bevy Host

These are the three forums that I joined and for me, they are in that order of preference. I could go on telling you how fantastic the Website Babble and Blog Engage communities are. Or I could tell you that they have different rules and guidelines so be sure to read them before you join. Hey, I could even give you their Alexa Rank (just kidding). But, I’m not. You will have a different experience than I’m having, so why should I try to convince you how great they are? Just simply join them and see for yourself.  As for Bevy Host, I think I told you already what my Mother used to say…

Commenting

Over the last three weeks, if I wasn’t tweeting, stumbling, participating in forums, or bookmarking articles on Diigo I was commenting on other blogs. I made some new friends and heck, I know that I even made quite a few bloggers feel pretty good (they told me so). I made myself feel good too.  I also learned a lot and I hope you’ve learned something from this post as well. Now it’s your turn to speak. Go ahead, make my day!

Smooches!

The best thing you can do for yourself is become an expert in your field.People do not care how much you know all they are concerned is how much you care for them.One of mentors have taught me that the best thing you can do for yourself is to serve others.The person who serves the most people will be rewarded abundantly.

Zig Ziglar once said -”You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.”

How do you go about serving more and more people these days is to use the power of the internet.What we know nowadays that the best way to meet more people is through social networks.Yes, what I am talking about is Facebook, Twitter, Stumbleupon etc etc etc.

This is all well and good however what I am going to show you is how you can generate more leads and gain more friends from these social networks.

An Abenaki Legend

The Great Spirit, in a time not known to us looked about and saw nothing. No colors, no beauty. Time was silent in darkness. There was no sound. Nothing could be seen or felt. The Great Spirit decided to fill this space with light and life.

From his great power he commanded the sparks of creation. He ordered Tôlba, the Great Turtle to come from the waters and become the land. The Great Spirit molded the mountains and the valleys on turtle’s back. He put white clouds into the blue skies. He was very happy.He said, “Everything is ready now. I will fill this place with the happy movement of life.”He thought and thought about what kind of creatures he would make.

Where would they live? What would they do? What would their purpose be? He wanted a perfect plan. He thought so hard that he became very tired and fell asleep.

His sleep was filled with dreams of his creation. He saw strange things in his dream. He saw animals crawling on four legs, some on two. Some creatures flew with wings, some swam with fins. There were plants of all colors, covering the ground everywhere. Insects buzzed around, dogs barked, birds sang, and human beings called to each other. Everything seemed out of place. The Great Spirit thought he was having a bad dream. He thought, nothing could be this imperfect.

When the Great Spirit awakened, he saw a beaver nibbling on a branch. He realized the world of his dream became his creation. Everything he dreamed about came true. When he saw the beaver make his home, and a dam to provide a pond for his family to swim in, he then knew every thing has it’s place, and purpose in the time to come.

It has been told among our people from generation to generation. We must not question our dreams. They are our creation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGS9TBNAeW4

http://www.mritechnicianschools.org/100-youtube-videos-to-instantly-improve-your-mood/