Here is a picture of my bud in Chicago last week the week before last for the Occupy Chicago protest that is most likely still happening and getting even bigger this week. Maybe not in Chicago, but  more widespread across the country and world.

While there are many events that are triggering all this Occupy mentality, I can’t help to wonder how close to an actual revolution we are living in. Dangerous times, desperate folks, unemployed people, all spell one thing – trouble.

Did I happen to mention that the picture that made the FoxNews affiliate is from the week before last? So the current picture which is below, is going to show that Occupy Chicago isn’t stopping, and while I write in advance and post later, this is still relevant and happening.

btw, what do you think “America is a Dying Whore!” – leave a comment if you agree or disagree.

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Image via Wikipedia

Just a casual observation as noted on several blog posts of late.If you have tweet arguments (is that a real term or did I just make it up?) they can come back to bite you. There are other examples we could share here, but don’t want to stir up crazy people from past tweet discussions that seemed to drag on beyond it’s life span.

One recent example of that is right here below. Or you can go to the site to see the original post here:

WhizTechCafe’s social media miss by ericasmith A spat between a local business and one of its residential neighbors turns ugly.

It started with a simple complaint.

“	It sounds like there is some sort of party under my window, what the hell @WhizTechCafe, this is why no one who lives here likes you.
	TabithaKMeyer  October 2, 2011

“	@TabithaKMeyer @WhizTechCafe rent space from time to time.. If u don’t like it or us were not mad it’s about business at the end of the day
	WhizTechCafe October 4, 2011

“	@WhizTechCafe understandable that you rent space. But if you’re going to be a coffee shop otherwise, be open during coffee shop hours.
	TabithaKMeyer October 4, 2011

Then it started to take a turn for the worse:

“	@TabithaKMeyer Its called part of downtown living maybe you should consider suburban living or get a loft that is not on the 2nd floor
	WhizTechCafe  October 4, 2011

Tabitha tactfully tried to end the conversation:

“	@WhizTechCafe Thank you, I’ll take your advice into consideration. Have a fantastic day!
	TabithaKMeyer October 4, 2011

But others already had picked up on the public conversation:

“	@WhizTechCafe Swing and a miss! Come on guys, can’t talk w/ customers like that. At least, it’s a bad idea. cc: @TabithaKMeyer @michaeltomko
	RizzoTees  October 4, 2011

“	@WhizTechCafe if you’re going to call out a customer ( @TabithaKMeyer ) at least use proper punctuation even if you can’t be a good neighbor
	PTtheIslander October 4, 2011

“	Wow, @WhizTechCafe, I think you picked the wrong person to aggravate. cc: @TabithaKMeyer @rizzotees @michaeltomko
	therebirth October 4, 2011

“	@therebirth @WhizTechCafe @TabithaKMeyer @michaeltomko Yes, Tabitha is not to be played
	RizzoTees October 4, 2011

“	@therebirth @WhizTechCafe @TabithaKMeyer @michaeltomko And btw, the wrong person to aggravate is…… your next customer. #justsayin
	RizzoTees  October 4, 2011

Again, that could’ve been the end of it. But it wasn’t:

“	@RizzoTees @michaeltomko talk like what?? @TabithaKMeyer has some sort of personal issue with @WhizTechCafe our REAL customers are all :-)
	WhizTechCafe October 4, 2011

“	@WhizTechCafe how many people were real customers before they got bad customer service from you ? @RizzoTees @TabithaKMeyer @michaeltomko
	PTtheIslander  October 4, 2011

“	@PTtheIslander lol punctuation this is twitter @WhizTechCafe offer 10% discount to printer lofts we r good neighbors but we cant pls every 1
	WhizTechCafe October 4, 2011

“	@PTtheIslander @WhizTechCafe have been open almost 1 yr I have never seen @TabithaKMeyer you have to visit to get bad customer service
	WhizTechCafe October 4, 2011

“	@WhizTechCafe nope, you don’t. This is an extension of your business. And please learn have vs had. Cc @TabithaKMeyer
	PTtheIslander October 4, 2011

“	@whiztechcafe @michaeltomko @TabithaKMeyer With respect, telling someone to move to the county. Just an odd tweet from a business
	RizzoTees  October 4, 2011

“	@whiztechcafe @michaeltomko @TabithaKMeyer Unless you’re a real estate agent, that’s just a weird msg to send.
	RizzoTees October 4, 2011

“	@whiztechcafe @michaeltomko @TabithaKMeyer Again, with respect, you have customers that have expressed confusion at multitude of changes
	RizzoTees October 4, 2011

“	@whiztechcafe @michaeltomko @TabithaKMeyer changing hours, etc. I don’t make it downtown much anymore, but downtown residents feel this way
	RizzoTees October 4, 2011

“	@whiztechcafe @michaeltomko @TabithaKMeyer If your message to them is, “Just move, you’re not a REAL customer,” then we’re clear.
	RizzoTees  October 4, 2011

“	@whiztechcafe @michaeltomko @TabithaKMeyer I sense you guys are trying hard and want to stick it out, and I’ve had good food there
	RizzoTees October 4, 2011

“	@whiztechcafe @michaeltomko @TabithaKMeyer But respectfully, & last thing I’ll say, this entire Twitter conversation should not be happening
	RizzoTees October 4, 2011

That last tweet, by the way, is the moral of this story. But I’ll go ahead and let it play out.

“	@TabithaKMeyer @pttheislander stay out of this?? WOW!! You are the one who started this if there was a problem our number is listed 241-whiz
	WhizTechCafe October 4, 2011

“	@WhizTechCafe @pttheislander Ok, I was trying to stay out of this. But now you’re lying. I ate a Cobb salad there last week! Never seen me?
	TabithaKMeyer October 4, 2011

“	Is the customer always right? Appears that @WhizTechCafe and @TabithaKMeyer have a difference of opinion. #twitterspat #meantweets
	EvanBenn  October 4, 2011

“	@WhizTechCafe And you could have DM’d me rather than starting a visible argument.
	TabithaKMeyer October 4, 2011

“	@TabithaKMeyer WHO DO U THINK U R?? YOU STARTED WITH THAT IS Y NO ONE LIKES U N THE BUILDING SO DO NOT TELL ME WHAT I COULD HAVE DONE!!
	WhizTechCafe October 4, 2011

About 30 minutes after this story was published and shared, Whiz Tech Cafe deleted all of its tweets related to this conversation.

“	@WhizTechCafe nice strategy to delete all your tweets. Good thing it’s been given the @storify treatment
	PTtheIslander  October 4, 2011

“	@PTtheIslander deleted = non-factor @WhizTechCafe
	WhizTechCafe October 4, 2011

“	@WhizTechCafe Wow. If you think that, you understand social media even less than you let on.
	LoganJames October 4, 2011

By then, this story was trending in St. Louis.

I’m a big believer in learning from mistakes; I hope everyone has.

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Image by blahmni via Flickr

Many moons ago (ok about ~10 years ago) an old drummer of mine was trying to tell me something about a part in a song. He wanted to “semplerfi” it. WTF is “semperlifi”

No idea, as I know what Semper Fi is (thank God we have Marines) and what he really meant was that he wanted to simplify a few passages in a song we were writing as a band. While we never did semplerfi the song, but just worked through it, it did bring up an interesting point.

Quora is a great idea, but I think it’s over thought and not semplerfi enough. Most people need simple answers to basic questions. Not thread after thread of useless over the top information. You can find that by simply using Google. Those answers are available for free, with no Quora involvement needed. What is needed, at least in my opinion (notice how I’ve quit saying humble, as most  opinions are usually not humble to begin with, so why still do people say IMHO?), is that there needs to be a start up that is even more semplerfi than Quora.

Your basic Q&A portal where you could call it “The stupid question I was too afraid to ask on Quora…” Or something of that ilk. It wouldn’t be rocket science, but I bet you it would go over like gangbusters. The stupidest question you think is something too dumb to ask, I can bet you there are thousands that would like the answer, but are too afraid to ask on Quora since that place is for more than your semplerfi questions.

If you are interested in working up the semplerfi answer to Quora, hit me up, as I’d love to work on that as a startup.

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Back in the day I thought what Western Sky advertises was called loan sharking. You know the Italian guy you’d meet at the dark corner bar like a Soprano’s episode. How does Western Sky get away with blatantly advertising their loan sharking business? Just something I’m curious about. They flat out say, if you need money now, we are not cheap, but we’ll get it to you. Now say that in an Italian accent like you are from one of those families of NY or NJ.

Doing a little Googling shows that the Western Sky Rates are pretty much in tune to victimizing the person needing $1500 more than anything else. I guess it’s no different than what I use to hear back in the day of when I was in the Navy of $20 for $40, $50 for $75, etc… I guess the full trick in this game is to write it down as such. If you read the above rates sheet, you can see how easily this becomes a legalized loan sharking business.

For the startups out there, I wouldn’t recommend them for your VC/Angel funding round needs, but sometimes some money is better than no money at all. Just be sure you can pay it back, as like the Italians, instead of some broken bones, you might find a few arrows slung your way.

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Image via Wikipedia

If you long to get the band back together, that sometimes just isn’t going to be possible. For a gruesome example of that, take a look at any recent death by overdose or otherwise of bands of the past ~20 years or so. They’ll never reunite or get back together. Same goes for some bands I’ve been throughout my life. Due to either distance from where I currently reside, or just bands breaking up badly with a lot of feelings being hurt.

Well at the beginning of 2011 (yes, my new year’s resolution of sorts), I decided that the band would never get back together, but I still loved to play. Due to me not really playing much in the past ~10 years since my last full time band went to nevermore, I figured – “screw it, time to just jam“.

I started that journey by taking it to the top of the mountain and meeting the local yoda of guitar. While he didn’t tell me anything really new that I didn’t already know, he did inspire me to forge on with my quest. He did provide some ideas of theory that I wasn’t too keen on; or rather that I ignored a lot.

I spent time going over the major scale again, as well as other things. Of course I felt stuck in a rut, but things were getting better. Now being it’s September, 9 months later, I can say I have played pretty much every day minus a few. I have jammed with a few other people earlier in the year, that didn’t quite work out. I’m actually a better player than I’ve been. I can actually pick out cover songs rather quickly now.

Of course that has negated a lot of my original writing skills, but lately I find that it’s coming back now that I’ve learned how most songs are structured by figuring out the cover route aspect. Where to from here is anyone’s guess. At least I’ve renewed a kindred spirit and love for just playing. Thanks yoda!

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It really is.

Beatles – Birthday. (Rare)

Technically Speaking, that’s about all I’ve really said today. ;)

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Can you code? Or you do you know someone that does code – php, java, rails, hadoop, etc… Whatever the flavor, not really concerned since I’m not a coder, but need someone that is coder who is also personable and willing to be CTO/Co-Founder in a startup to help people online.

No previous CTO experience necessary.

No previous startup experience or relationship in the past with me personally is needed.

Location isn’t a big factor since we can do this with the available tools in 2011. Would like the person to be USA based however and have a good grasp of the English language (doesn’t have to be that person’s primary language, but should be able to communicate in English so that others can understand).

Ping me directly via Twitter DM or @ – @RexDixon to find out more info or if you know my personal email, drop me a line directly referencing this post.

Technically Speaking, I have ideas that just need to be executed! :)

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Via: Medical Billing And Coding

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pinwUrm is an Albany, NY band / music project headed up by Vance Savage and Igor Rabovsky who are both accomplished musicians.

Their music is in the vein of Ministry, Skinny Puppy, Nine Inch Nails to mention some bands that needs no introduction. In fact they do a great send up cover of Ministry’s N.W.O. which they are dubbing it as Nuw Wurld Urder.

They are concentrating on originals, one of which they recently released and called it: Ta-tata-taa which in their mind was just something fun to do. They have a ReverbNation page located here, but in my last conversations with Vance, he was having to re-encode many of their tracks to be RN compatible.

Since I’ve had the privilege of hearing some of their unreleased tracks already, I can personally let you know that once the completed tracks are done, I believe you’ll be grooving along to the sounds of pinwUrm. Have no fear, as even if you are not local to Albany, NY (I’m NOT either!), I feel some of their tracks will end up in film scores if you don’t have the opportunity to catch them live.

As a side note: I’ve personally known Vance for awhile now, as he is the drum teacher of Fatefully Fallen‘s talented drummer who drives their sonic assault. Fatefully Fallen has a debut self-engineered recordings – What Remains (self-engineered demo).

Make sure to follow pinwUrm on their Facebook page to keep up to date on their upcoming track releases which should be very soon. Look for them live on the Albany, NY scene more than likely in the Fall/Winter of 2011-2012.

Technically Speaking, this has been a new music moment brought to you because I wanted to share this information with you the reader!

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My post earlier this week about Spokeo opened up a door again with someone I had connected with a few years back. That person would be the founder of Spokeo, Harrison Tang. He and I had a nice email exchange this past week post this Spokeo post I wrote. Go give it a read if you missed it.

One thing I would like to make clear before continuing: I did ask his permission to quote him from his email. Harrison, as like I have been, have been the victim of people who think they can just post any email online; damn the privacy of a one to one exchange. But that is the day and age we live in. Still the same, since I have had that done to me before, I always ask permission. It’s just the right thing to do!

One of the main things that he stated was in this day and age of valuations of companies going through the roof, you really don’t need millions of dollars to make something from nothing. Another successful serial entrepreneur, who I just linked, I know loves to say that as his calling card. Here now are some quotes from Harrison.

As you’ve noticed already, Spokeo.com has changed quite a bit.  The
team, however, is still the same small team that you knew since 2006
(we do have more than 15 people now though, as opposed to 6).  We
haven’t taken any VC funding, and no, we do not have an outsourcing
staff in India.  Everything is designed and built in USA.  A lot of
people are surprised by how such a small team can operate a site like
Spokeo.com.  Well … the truth is that you don’t need millions to
start a company anymore.

Surprised anyone? The truth is that you don’t need millions to start a company anymore. I suppose in defense of companies taking on the millions these days, it’s for scale once you get past that startup mode. The funny thing is, is that Spokeo has been around plugging away since 2006 when I first came to know of them.

We’ve done more than one “pivoting” (I guess that’s the buzz word for
startups nowadays) not because we like to pivot, but rather because we
need to pivot in order to survive.  Building a technology does not
always translate to building a business.  As we’ve learned from the
hard way, people do not pay for social network aggregators even though
it’s a cool concept and a very hard technology to build.

That is surely something to think about. Building a social aggregator is cool – but guess what – no one really will pay you to do it! For anyone contemplating on building the next Facebook/Twitter aggregation engine, you might want to think about that further before you execute it!

Why did they pivot and do the change from social aggregator to a more in demand product? It’s the users. It’s always about the users of your product.

It takes visions and creativity to create something different, but it
requires execution and discipline to turn that thing into a business.
Without vision, we could not have build something as innovative as
Spokeo’s underlying technology.  That said, without practical
execution, we would still be building a social network aggregator that
only technical people use, as opposed to tailoring our technology for
the larger target audience.  At the end of the day, we changed
Spokeo’s direction because our users wanted us to change, and they
voted for the new direction with their own wallets.

This goes back to the days I was playing actively in bands. One thing I always tried to relay to people is that not everyone will like you. But in the same token, you have to sometimes swallow what you want to do for the better of the whole. In other words, building the social aggregator was fun, but it was also not a true business that would succeed or gain any traction.

What about all the criticism that Spokeo was receiving in regards to the whole privacy issue, etc.

We are receptive of all criticisms
(constructive or not), and we try our best to address them one-by-one.
This explains why we’ve been constantly updating our website and
technology, making it more accurate and friendlier.

Going back to an earlier comment about one of my former companies, who Harrison even was nice enough to remember, what about the competition? Does it mean you shouldn’t do it?

There are hundreds of online directories out there (we are actually
not the biggest one), but since most of them don’t work that well,
Spokeo is the first people search engine that most people have ever
seen. Because Spokeo offers a lot better user experience than
traditional directories, we leapfrogged past the early adopter crowd
relatively quickly. We don’t have much time to fine-tune our product
and business model with the early adopters before going mainstream, so
we’ve had couple stumbles here and there. That said, if you’ve been
following the evolution of Spokeo.com, you can see that we’ve been
making constant progress in addressing all the issues.

Oh and to be clear, I don’t think I was doing anything crazy back in the day, but maybe we were. It’s nice to hear how some people see you from the outside.

Image via CrunchBase

The last time we talked you were doing crazy stuff at Lookery. Sounds
like you are even busier nowadays and doing well :)

One of the things that I realized back in the Lookery days was that most of the people in that company were engineers. Or very tech oriented people and very startup veteran. To illustrate what I mean, the one item that sticks out is the last thing Harrison said in our email exchange.

Anyway, we are engineers here, not marketers and philosophers, so we
know our most convincing argument is our product itself. With
millions of searches every single day, people are finding Spokeo
useful. This encourages us to keep innovating and making Spokeo
better for everyone.

With regards to that statement. It sort of bodes well for people like me as well as other people type of people. Every startup needs someone besides the engineers to scale well. While the product does matter, if you can’t win over the people, eventually you’ll be the startup with no one using that fantastic product. Just like back in the band days, while your material might be excellent, if you can’t put butts in the seats to listen, you’ll be playing for bartenders and barmaids only.

Technically Speaking, Harrison had a lot of great stuff to share, and I’m glad he gave permission for me to share it with everyone reading this. And one last item – Harrison is an Apple fanboy or maybe just a Steve Jobs fanboy! :)

We are fans of Steve Jobs here at Spokeo, and we will keep simplifying
Spokeo until every grandma on the planet knows how to use it.

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That spammers target for your e-mail!

Most of the readers of this blog are well versed in the world of internet marketing. I figured that since the weekend is again upon us, I should share what I have seen as the top business e-mails you should be wary of when you log back in on Monday (or Sunday evening).

While these are quite obvious, and most are caught by spam filters, some may skirt by. A good rule of thumb to follow is when you are checking your inbox from the weekend or holiday, it’s probably a good idea to be extra vigilant on some of the top 5 innovative business targets of spammers.

1. Pharmaceutical or Drug Mail

Viagra is probably the number one mass marketed item out there. If not specifically Viagra, some type of male enhancement drug is pushed into your inbox. Some make it to your inbox, while most perish in the spam box you have set up. Lately male enhancement isn’t the only drug of choice that is pushed into your inbox. Cheap pain killers are another top choice to be pushed.

We have seen an uptick in other drugs that are not widely available without a prescription. That is the root cause of why this is a popular business to be in. Sites are turnkey to set up. Domains are cheaply bought and disposed of. Obtaining legal prescriptions means you have to have insurance to go to a real doctor.

In one of my spam warning posts, I outlined how the industry was now using the .ru or Russian domains. Plenty of those are available since most of the .com, .net, and .org top level domains probably have been taken. or already used and disposed of.

2. Diet or Weight Loss

While the diet and weight loss industry could be looped in with the pharma mass marketing business, it’s still it’s own profitable niche. With television shows like The Biggest Loser pushing weight loss and healthy living, it’s no surprise that this innovative business has taken off like gang busters.

Haven’t seen a lot of this yet, but with the gaming industry getting in on the act such as the exercise games you can find with the Nintendo systems of games like the DS and Wii, this innovative market will only continue to grow. My expert forecast is that while the pharma industry remains strong, the diet and weight loss industry will only continue to expand and grow once the marketers see that pharma isn’t the big pay day like it use to be.

3. Swiss Watch and Rolex Clones

The watch industry is quite the unknown commodity. Most people that I know fore-go wearing a watch these days. Maybe in the circles of the rich and famous, people still wear watches. Maybe if you are attending one of those high priced muckity muck functions, you wear a watch. It’s pretty safe to say that since most people carry a cell phone, most use it for their timepiece.

Why you would even consider buying a fake or knock off item to wear to an event where wearing a watch is the standard is beyond me. If you are going to wear a Rolex, you should probably buy it from a reputable jeweler. I mean would you go to an event and show off your fake Rolex to people?

Nevertheless, this has become quite the popular piece of marketing e-mail that you might see make it through your spam filters to your inbox. It’s not like watches raise a great deal of flags out there, but it should. I seriously doubt that many jewelers market in such a fashion such as mass marketed e-mails, but they might.

4. Insurance

This one can be quite dangerous. Maybe it should have topped the list at #1, but being that drug and pharma spam is the most common type of marketing you will see, I’m hoping you are still reading. These last two innovative businesses that are marketed fall more into the phishing and virus type of marketing. Quite dangerous and something you should really be careful of before mindlessly clicking that link.

Why is the insurance type of scam one of the two most dangerous?

Just this past week, I saw and let readers of this blog know, a phishing scam that involved USAA Insurance company. While insurance may not be where you keep your money, I’m sure you have possibly paid via credit card or check and used the online services that we all enjoy.

5. Banking and Brazil

While many of you probably are reading from the United States of America, there are other countries out there. One of them that has a big internet population and consequently feel they should be considered a major player online is the country of Brazil. With that of course comes all the entrepreneurs from that country that want to mass market and make their millions.

Why did I lump the two together? Because there has been a surge of fake bank phishing scams that originate from the country of Brazil. Most of them are easily identifiable as they have the .br domain tacked on at the end such as wellsfargo.com.br – so pay attention before haphazardly clicking that Wells Fargo link. Make sure it is what it appears to be.

Technically Speaking, most of the mass marketed spam and phishing can be avoided through a little education on the topic as well as knowledge on what might be just another piece of junk mail marketed to you only because they are a top 5 innovative business. Hopefully this post has provided a bit of background and insight on this thriving industry.

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UPDATE: Be care of the new Google Shortener – lot’s of fake/spammy http://goo.gl urls are starting to show up. Most of them are related to free iPads so far.

It’s been a few weeks since I did a spam report, but figured I’d do one this morning. The AngelFire spam is pretty steady still, as well as the Blogspot spam – but both are easy to spot.

- Russia (.ru) seems to be the top sources of spam over the past week or so. Viagra, pills, drugs are a hot commodity to peddle.

- Fake news sites such as CNBC22.com and CNBC22.info are very popular. Also Taiwan appears to get in on the act as in CNBC22.tk – I don’t believe that CNBC has affiliate sites, and if they do, I wouldn’t click them as it seems to be too dangerous at this point as most of these news places are phishing sites.

- The dot info domain as a whole, mostly nothing but spam domain if you ask me. I don’t know of many (if any) .info legit domains

- Anything that seems to be a Facebook “learn more about your friends”, See who is “following you” on Twitter, etc…etc… Most if not all of them are nothing more than another phishing scam.

Technically Speaking, if you need some viagra, best to go to your doctor to get a script for it. If you are looking for news, CNN.com is easy to type and remember. And if you want to know more about your friends on Twitter or Facebook, why not just strike up a conversation with them to learn more about them? I guarantee it will be a heck of a lot easier to do the above then to find yourself another victim of spam-phishing reality this week.

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Working inside of the startup world,  as I have for a few years now,  gives me an entirely fresh perspective on how poorly fact checked most blogs and blog posts are. If there is a hot on the top of the minute story, you can bet you’ll read ~10 articles before you read the whole truth. Sometimes all you will read are nothing more than un-fact checked, mis-informed facts to resemble some sort of truth in that writers head. Most of what is published, even some of the sites that have the gall to be related to a media company, are full of what data is available at the minute. ie: if someone else wrote it first – well it must be the truth.

Nothing could be further from the truth. While the first post starts going viral, everyone wants to jump on the wagon train. No one fact checks, no one puts in an e-mail or call to the companies they are talking about. They in fact won’t even note it in their post, which they should as in ie: “we e-mailed the company, and the company has declined a response“, at the very least. No need, they are a blogger and therefore they must retrieve part of that pageview pie.

The thing that gets me the most, is that the readers who flock to the sites to give their money to the sites in pageviews, and higher monetization of their content, believe each and every post that is published there. Once any story of the moment reaches global reach, or when the time zone in the Pacific reaches past 8am in the morning, everyone is writing or re-writing the same story and linking to the same main story. That original story by now is totally viral and over half the time, the site is down due to the overload.

Everyone is quite happy and there is a pageview spike that has the republican trickle down effect we all love to be abused by. The hilarious thing is that the truth is still never even uncovered, or in the case of the blogger or site – covered. No story wraps it up, as the next pageview spiker is on the burner and the story needs to be churned. And even funnier from the perspective of someone who has been there, are stories that are splinter stories from the main story that even the person writing it has no idea that might be the real story!

Damn the truth. Lie if it causes your pageviews to jump. It’s the blogger way, and I don’t see any changes anytime soon.

Technically Speaking, just because you read it online, doesn’t necessarily mean you read the truth. After all the items I have read online about the different startups I have worked for, it pains me to say this (it doesn’t, but sounded good to say that) – I’m so glad I don’t rely on my blogging, pageviews, and the general white lie to get ahead. I guess I was never cut out to be a page view cut throat blogger, but it does give me a good laugh to read what some people call journalism.

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Good article on how bounce and conversions work:

There is some overlap between what your customers want and what your web page exists to do. But the overlap is not very much, only the most dedicated (say your mom) will put up with the pain required to complete the task.

I land on your site to buy QuickBooks Simple Start but you have it very well hidden because you want me to buy the $400 QuickBooks Premier product.

Technically Speaking, I know you now want to read more.

This would actually be interesting to try some time. Capturing the logos you see every day online and this guy did it in 33 minutes, with 33 logos.

Here follows 33 logos / labels seen in the first 33 minutes after I wake.
The original idea was to include logos that appear throughout an entire day, but that would leave you with A LOT of scrolling.

Technically Speaking, this person did this before he was even dressed for the day, read the entire post.

Found this list that is suppose to be a freebie Friday post or something like that: 15 Collections of Useful Freebies For Everyone – and it’s Monday! Enjoy that law breaking video after the jump!

Who doesn’t love freebies? Many people (designers, software creators, etc) release helpful freebies from time to time to the internet community. These freebies are not only useful, they also give exposure to the people who give them out. So, for the benefit of our readers, we’re starting a new series on freebies. This is the first post. Enjoy!

Technically Speaking, I’m pulling a Judas Priest, it’s Monday!

Found this article about what the person believes is the Top 5 Internet Home Business :

Image by rolands.lakis

MLM (multi level marketing) is a form of marketing most companies use as a strategy to advertise their business or increase their sales.  MLM is network marketing, direct selling and referral marketing to generate business leads.  It is based on relationship referrals.  There are several types of MLM opportunities that are highly recommended and very affordable to start.

Local Surveyed Leads are one of the best MLM opportunities.  They are usually screened leads that let you find out if the candidate is serious about starting their own home based business. You will need information such as their location and phone number.  You will also have to ask their reason for wanting to work from home, and what the earliest they can be available would be.  Often times you will have to ask how much money and time they are willing to invest in their new business.

Email Auto Responder Leads is another good MLM opportunity.  This email marketing method of MLM lets you contact prospects using email.  These leads have the candidate’s email address, their name and their internet IP address.  Email auto responder leads are from all over the United States.  Email auto responder leads are usually fresh leads.  When contacting these leads it’s best to “personalize” your email most of the time to gain the candidate’s trust.  The best time to send your emails out to these leads would be from Sunday night thru Thursday night, with most emails going out in the evening or night time.

Pre-Screened Verified Phone Leads are leads that have already been verified and are serious about starting a home based business.  You will still be provided the same information with these leads: candidate’s name, phone number, address, internet IP address and the reason they would like to start a home business.

Technically Speaking, you should always read more …

Found this over here:

No Justice Breaks Lone Star State Border with “Second Avenue” out July 6

After Seven Top 10 Hits and Two No. 1 Singles in Texas, Collective Soul’s Dexter Green Produces the Band’s New Album
LOS ANGELES, CA – They say everything is bigger in Texas. What, then, is to be said of the band that is bigger than Texas itself? After dominating the Texas and Oklahoma music scenes-from live shows to radio hits-No Justice will release its Carved Records debut, “Second Avenue,” on July 6.

Since 2005, No Justice has conquered Texas stages and radio waves with hits including “Never Come Back” and “Don’t Walk Away.” A rigorous touring schedule, which takes the band across the United States for more than 200 dates a year, has created a national swell leading into the summer release.

No Justice worked with music producer Dexter Green (Collective Soul) on the new release, using the group’s many musical influences, including metal, ‘80s rock, jazz and also Red Dirt rock, something band Cross Canadian Ragweed has embraced. No Justice front man Steve Rice explains the group’s Red Dirt rock focus as not just a genre, but a way of performing and interacting with the environment and the audience.

“[With Red Dirt] there’s no competition, for the most part, between each other,” Rice says. “We got popular in this area because of our peers, helping us out, taking us in, letting us play their shows.”
With the fusion of various genres to create No Justice’s unique sound, Rice says that’s how his group sets itself apart. His own musical prowess stems from his love of rock staples like Elvis, the Rolling Stones, U2 and Van Morrison.

“All these guys [in the band] have such different influences and do their own thing, and we blend together and make No Justice.”
Rice describes the album’s lead single, “Love Song,” not as a fairytale, but as a story of love lost. “It’s written from a small-town perspective-having missed out on a special opportunity with someone and wanting it back.”

NO JUSTICE – “LOVE SONG”
“Love Song” balances melancholy lyrics-”How about one more dance / A second chance / To ease my mind … Come on and take my hand”-with an upbeat musical backdrop: rhythmic drums and blazing Red Dirt riffs. The contrast both excites and tugs at the heartstrings, exemplifying the proven radio-ready quality of the band’s songwriting. Rip-roaring album opener, “Going Nowhere,” tells the tale of young summer nights, with Rice recounting the nostalgia of a simpler age brimming emotion and void of responsibility: “Lost in the moment, but we didn’t care / We were running wild and going nowhere.” “Second Avenue” is out Tuesday, July 6, 2010 on Carved Records. NO JUSTICE – “2ND AVENUE “

About No Justice and Carved Records:

No Justice has managed to rise to the upper echelon of the Oklahoma and Texas music scenes with seven Top 10 Hits and two No. 1 singles in Texas, all without a major label release. Hailing from Stillwater, Oklahoma, and led by singer/guitarist/songwriter Steve Rice, No Justice mixes a Red Dirt-rock sound into the traditional heartfelt lyrics that Texas music is known for.

Growing up on the countryside and surrounded by Southern music, members Steve Rice, Jerry Payne, Joey Trevino, Armando Lopez and Cody Patton combine many musical influences in their music, which is also evident in the group’s previous releases, “Live at Billy Bob’s,” “Far From Everything” and the self-titled “No Justice.”

Carved Records is based in Dallas and Los Angeles. Its first signed artist, Texas Hippie Coalition (or THC), will release a debut album this summer. No Justice marks the first country music act signed to the label. Carved Records consists of Founder and CEO Tim Porter, VP of Operations Phil Thomas (formerly of UMG Distribution/Fontana, RED Distribution) and Label Director Jenn Littleton (CO5 Music, former Sr. Marketing Director/A&R Geffen Records).

More information in No Justice: http://www.nojustice.com

More information on Carved Records: http://www.carvedrecords.com

Press Contacts for No Justice

Mary Beth O’Toole Transfer Media Group 908.872.2501 mb@transfermediagroup.com

Mandy Rodgers Transfer Media Group 770.402.8270 mandy@transfermediagroup.com

———-

Mandy Rodgers

Transfer Media Group

Los Angeles, Calif.

mandy@transfermediagroup.com

No Justice Official MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/nojusticeband

No Justice Homepage: http://www.nojustice.com/

No Justice Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/No-Justice/15044649162

Tour Dates

6/11 DALLAS, TX @ GILLEY’S
6/12 HOUSTON, TX @ FIREHOUSE SALOON
6/17 MIDLAND, TX @ THE RANCH
6/18 WEATHERFORD, TX @ PARKER COUNTY RODEO
6/19 BROWNWOOD, TX @ TEQUILA NIGHTS
6/25 DECATUR, TX @ BONOS SALOON
6/26 CLAREMORE, OK @ CHEROKEE CASINO
7/1 CORPUS CHRISTI, TX @ BREWSTER ST ICE HOUSE
7/2 ROCKWALL, TX @ SOUTHERN JUNCTION NUGHTCLUB
7/3 GUN BARREL CITY, TX @ GUN BARREL CITY PARK FESTIVAL
7/4 GRAHAM, TX @ POSSUM HOLLOW
7/7 FT. WORTH, TX @ 8.0 RESTAURANT & BAR, THE RANCH MUSIC SERIES
7/9 OKLAHOMA CITY, OK @ WORMY DOG
7/10 STOCKDALE, TX @ KOSCIUSKO HALL W/ WADE BOWEN
7/14 FORTH SMITH, AR @ RIB ROOM
7/15 FAYETTEVILLE, AR @ GEORGES MAJESTIC
7/16 LINCOLN, NE @ UNCLE RON’S
7/17 RIVERTON, IL @ OLD 36 INN
7/19 STILLWATER, OK @ ESKIMO JOES
7/22 CHICAGO, IL @ JOE’S BAR
7/24 DIAMOND, MO @ LUCKY MAGGIES
7/28 COLLEGE STATION, TX @ HURRICANE HARRYS
7/29 ABILENE, TX @ LUCKY MULE SALOON
7/30 FT WORTH, TX @ BILLY BOBS
7/31 WHITE DEER, TX @ WHITE DEER RODEO
8/5 NACOGDOCHES, TX @ BANITA CREEK
8/6 WICHITA FALLS, TX @ THE CRAZY HORSE SALOON
8/11 BURLESON, TX @ OVERTIME – STEVE RICE, RANCH ACOUSTIC SERIES
8/12 DENTON, TX @ ROCKIN RODEO
8/13 TERRELL, TX @ SILVER SALOON
8/14 DAVIS, OK @ THE ARBUCKLE BALLROOM
8/20 AUSTIN, TX @ MIDNIGHT RODEO
8/21 PLANO. TX @ LOVE AND WAR IN TEXAS
8/27 JUSTIN, TX @ THE MULE BARN
9/10 AMARILLO, TX @ MIDNIGHT RODEO 9/11 LUBBOCK, TX WILD WEST
9/25 BORGER, TX @ HOPE CRUTCH RANCH W/SAWYER BROWN

Technically Speaking, go read more ….

This was a comment left on one of the more popular blog posts - The Top 50 Work-at-Home & Make Money Online Blogs. The person left this comment:

Awesome list! And thanks for the green light on including links.
We developed an app that let’s your boss see your screen while you’re working so you don’t need to be there anymore. You can then pause the monitoring whenever you want some privacy, which also pauses the time tracker. No more cubicles!!! Check it out – Peerdrum launches in August 2010.

Technically Speaking, to find out more go visit their site.

For those of you that can sing, give this karaoke $25,000 in prize money competition a shot:

Technically Speaking, now that is a karaoke contest worth some money, but go read more …