Saving NPR and PBS Once and for All

If you have any political awareness at all, you know that public radio and TV are under constant attack. I thought this recent email from Move On was worth printing here:

Dear MoveOn member,
Thanks to word of mouth, we reached our goal—over 600,000 people have signed the petition to save NPR and PBS once and for all! That's off the charts.
Congress heard us loud and clear. In fact, the chair of the Public Broadcasting Caucus, Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), reached out to MoveOn members. Here's what he had to say:
"Despite getting rid of Tom Delay and the Republican-led Congress, the Bush administration continues proposing draconian cuts to public broadcasting. MoveOn played an invaluable service in the last Congress to help restore funding, and I hope MoveOn will continue its efforts as I and other members of the Public Broadcasting Caucus work to secure funding for PBS and NPR once and for all."
But the fight isn't over. In reaction to our petition, a right-wing group has launched a petition calling on Congress to eliminate all funding for NPR and PBS.1 This is a real fight, and we hope you're in it for the long haul.
If you like, you can contribute to our efforts here:
https://civic.moveon.org/donatec4/creditcard.html?id=9925-4257346-fFfKsv&t=1
The battle is on—let's guarantee NPR and PBS have permanent funding and independence from partisan meddling. We'll print and deliver this massive petition to every member of Congress. And we'll keep you in the loop on the next steps.
As always, thanks for all you do.
–Noah, Wes, Carrie, Joan and the MoveOn.org Civic Action Team Friday, February 23rd, 2007
Source:
1. "Report Sees Few Funding Alternatives for PBS," TV Week, February 20, 2007http://www.freepress.net/news/21196

On Being Single: A Personal Reflection

I was just googling around this morning and I found this great essay. First I googled "mystic" and found: http://themystic.org/ This site is most fascinating and looks very worthwhile.

Then I googled "spiritual" and found another very interesting website. The following link is to an essay that has the same title as this post. There is lots of other juicy material on this website but especially for the single folk, I direct you to this brilliant short essay: http://www.soulhealing.com/single.htm

Freelance work exchange

I finally took the plunge and became a member of the freelance work exchange. There are lots of useful resources here and lists of legit jobs. I have started to plow through the material and apply for jobs for which I am qualified. We shall see how it goes. My first impression is that this may be a worthwhile investment; only time will tell.


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Article on Circle Pines Center just published on AC

Check out my recently published content on AC:Send Your Kids to Summer Camp at Circle Pines!

Happy 65th Birthday Jan! part 2

I thought long and hard about what kind of gift I could give you that would be appropriate to this milestone birthday. I woke up this morning knowing I wanted to write you an essay and I decided the ideal thing to do would be to publish it to this blog, since the subject is so universal I thought you would not mind if I shared this with the world.

Over the years I have collected a few artifacts related to the subject of aging and the postcard reproduced below that I got from Vera and Leo a few years ago is right at the top of the list of objects that address the subject masterfully. So that is the first thing I share with you. Of course it is especially poignant now that Leo is gone.

Happy 65th Birthday Jan!

How much have you lost from procrastination?

One of the Editors at Judy's book asked this question and I had to respond!

Oh baby, thanks for asking a really juicy question. This is one I am addressing daily!

I could recommend a whole library of books I have read on this subject, putting 1/2 of 1 % of what I have learned into practice! That will give you a hint about my style of procrastination.

Let me just give you a quote from a lovely little flip book written by Ruth Hayes, called the "flip book of the DEAD." BTW, in case you're not familiar with the term, a flip book is a primitive form of animation, where you flip the page ends to view a changing scene. I'm sure you've seen them:

"O procrastinating one, who thinketh not
of the coming of death,
Devoting thyself to the useless doings of this life,
Improvident art thou in dissipating
thy great opportunity;
Mistaken, indeed, will thy purpose be now
if thou returnest emptyhanded from this life. . .
Wilt thou not be acting even as a traitor to thyself?"

Geek Philosopher

I saw this great image accompanying an article on Associated Content. The theme was The Path to True Confidence. Is this not the perfect image for that subject?

Credit for the image was the Geek Philospher, a very cool website worth exploring. Among many other things, they have an excellent selection of free stock photos, each one of which is a gem. Check 'em out:

Associated Content

For all you folks who are aspiring writers who want to make some $ online, I just found a very promising outlet for your talents. There are bunches of these kinds of places online now, but this one looks the best of the ones I have found. They pay upfront for text articles, video and audio.

Check em out, join up, produce some content, have some fun, make some $:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/join.html?refer=32602

Please let me know how it goes; I will do the same!

grid

The Secret

I saw an amazing movie the other nite at a free showing given by Transitions bookstore. Thanks Transitions! http://www.transitionsbookplace.com/ The movie was "The Secret." Make a point of going to see this movie in a theatre if you can find a showing of it. If not you can view it online or buy the DVD. The secret is what will bring you what you want in this life. Very worthwhile. Check it out:

http://www.whatisthesecret.tv

Gore>Scallion?

I took another look at the matrix institute site yesterday: http://www.matrixinstitute.com/ Gordon Michael Scallion has created these amazing maps of what his visions have shown him the future earth will look like, based on rising water and other earth changes.

Having seen Al Gore's movie about global warming just a week ago, it is like a potential before and after.

Of course I still like to question the after! I think it is a bit irresponsible to publish a map like this which makes a negative prophecy very concrete. It does not take into account the possiblity of change based upon the human element. It is the human element that has been responsible for global warming and it is certainly within the realm of possiblity that the trend could be reversed if enough people wake up and take the appropriate action. Am I being naive? What do you think?

CB Mall

I finally took the plunge and invested in a CB Mall. CB stands for click bank. This is a website with a huge inventory of click bank's best selling ebooks. It is run by Jeff Mulligan who does a great job of promoting it and providing all sorts of tools for the newbie affiliate. It is sort of a plug and play small biz, your own little storefront online that is ready to go. You can buy in at two levels, $97 and $47. The higher price comes with some guaranteed traffic. Since I am on a budget and have time to work on building traffic, I chose the lower priced model.

The following link takes you to a site that tells 15 ways to make money with the CB Mall: http://www.cbmall.com/15ways.asp?storefront=huzone

I just got off a great teleconference with Rosalind Gardner and Anik Singal on the subject of Blogging. It reminded me why I had created this blog in the first place so I translated their inspiration into the action of writing this post.

I have a list of clients who have particiapted in my gambling market research gig, who I was hoping to invite to join a newsletter I am starting. The other thing I purchased recently was an AWeber autoresponder. What I found out is I have to construct what is called a squeeze page to invite my list to opt-in to my newsletter.

AWeber does not want me to write to my list from their site until everyone has opted in. This is so that they cannot be accused of spamming. So I will have to write the folks from my various email addresses and send them to my soon-to-be-built squeeze page so they can properly opt in, or at least a percentage of them will do this.

So my learning curve continues to be steep. I guess this is what it take to become a sucessful internet marketer!

Online gambling in USA outlawed?

I mentioned in an earlier post my little gig promoting an opportunity to participate in a market research project on internet gambling. I got word this morning that there has been a big sea change due to some recent gov. legistlation that has apparently outlawed internet gambling in the USA. So my program has switched its focus to English speaking countries outside of the USA.

I would guess that because of the huge amounts of money involved, the US based casinos will certainly challenge this in the courts. Not everyone is going to be willing to move off shore.

Al's Inconvenient Truth

I just got back from watching a free screening of Al Gore's film, "An Inconvenient Truth", put on by a local Unitarian church. Have you seen it? I missed it when it was in the theatres. Even though the outline of the story is well known, the graphic images and the piles of data Al presents really bring the reality of global warming home; it's the mother of all wake up calls. It is sobering, but ends on a hopeful note. We have the means to reverse the trends, now all we need is the will. I guess if Al is willing to keep going and not give up, we have no excuse!

DC wisdom

Someone whose judgment I really trust recommended a book awhile back. This was one of those books that has been around a long time, sold zillions of copies, etc. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. Based on his recommendation, I picked it up and am almost finished reading it. Wow. Talk about lessons!

The hokey title did not appeal to me at all. I love to read but I was never interested in winning friends and influencing people. I just wish I had been taught a course based on this book back when I was a young youth:) The grief I could have saved myself!

I will spend the rest of my life working on applying the things I have just read. This is not a book to read. This is a book to absorb and practice; the skills learned make for graceful living, mastery of human relations. I love it. Even though some of the stories and language are a bit dated, the wisdom is timeless.

I would love to hear what your experience has been with this book. If you haven't read it and integrated its wisdom into your daily practice, I think you are missing something. Am I overstating?

your humble author

Gambling gig

For months now I have been receiving a trickle of income from an online gambling gig that I stumbled upon. Most people think it is too good to be true when they first hear about it; you get $ to gamble in online casinos and poker rooms. Usually the amounts are around $50; the casinos normally give you matching amounts just for joining.

You submit a very short mostly multiple choice report after you are done, which means you either lost or won some $. If you win you get to keep your winnings but must return the stake.

That's it! It is fun if you like to gamble, and there is a chance you can actually win some $ although the casinos do not make that easy. Because they usually match your deposit with their own money, they require you to win a minimum amount before you can withdraw anything. The amount is large enough that you have to be really good or really lucky or both to actually get to the point where you can withdraw winnings.

For me the $s have come from the folks I have referred to weekly wager, the company sponsoring the project. They have been very reliable about paying for each person that I refer that completes at least two casino reports.

It has been an easy and fun gig. Mostly it has wetted my appetite for more professional online marketing efforts. I love the idea of establishing multiple sources of passive income online. How about you?

Internet Marketing Center seminar

I attended a seminar this weekend sponsored by the Internet Marketing Center, one of the older and more established online marketing centers. They are based in Vancouver, Canada.

A $97 deposit was required, which they did return as promised at the end of the seminar. Of course they did pitch their products while they were providing information, but they did not overdo the sales pitches, and in fact their software and consulting services are so obviously worthwhile that I did not feel offended.

I mean, come on, you get invited to a "free" seminar you know there is going to be some strings attached. But on balance, it was well worth. They presented a lot of juicy, useful information.

There were 250 people there; it was held at the Sheraton in Arlington Heights, IL. They gave out nice free goodies too; a tote bag, notebook and pen, and plastic drinking cup, all plastered with their logo of course.

We were even given a chance to present our little enterprise on stage to the group.

They had a large number of staff on hand too, maybe a dozen mostly young folks with various areas of expertise who were very friendly and available for help.

Derek Gehl, the pres. and CEO did most of the presenting, but there were other very competent folks including Brandon Dupsky, a eBay hotshot who provided all sorts of useful hints.

There were plenty of opportunities to network and set up joint ventures, etc. Altogether a very worthwhile weekend. In fact, I was so impressed with the IMC that I decided to become an affiliate.

Finding balance

My wife passed in '02 and it really knocked the wind out of my sails. I pretty much lost interest in living myself and just really struggled and got myself into real trouble until I finally got on social security in the middle of my 62nd year. This provided enough to at least pay the rent but not more.

I have been a professional driver most of my working life but I really wanted to make a change now so I have been writing and working at making a living online. It is an adventure; it ain't easy but the carrot being dangled in front of my nose still beckons and it still seems like the way to go for me.

Although I am not a gambler, I stumbled onto this company called weekly wager that will give you $ to gamble in various casinos and poker rooms online. When you are done you submit a simple short report, and you can do this once a week.

Then I found out they would pay you a referral fee for anyone you sent their way who wanted to participate in the program. So I started referring people and this has provided a trickle of income for me.

Anyway, this post is about finding balance. What I have discovered is that my free time is much more valuable to me than $. Even though I am still pretty broke, I don't want to go back to driving. I would rather just work at what I want to, and live simply.

Having been involved in the spiritual life for most of my adult life helps. You realize how little stuff you really need to be happy. In fact, my focus has been mostly on getting rid of things to even further simplify my life.

I have also been repeatedly reminded how my thoughts create my reality. I have become very conscious how I can perpetuate poverty if I am not careful about what I am thinking. Gotta remember to thing about what I want, not what I don't want! So simple, but not so easy to overcome bad mental habits. Onward!