Unsecured Business Loans: Creative Financing for Overlooked Innovations

Any time you are staring at the latest gadgets and gizmos that hit the market, you're looking at the product of a creative human mind. All man made objects are exactly that, our ideas made real. Most people understand this intuitively.

But in this day and age of mass production and global distribution, there's something else behind the things made available to us, something very big: money. Whatever new invention it is that you're considering adding to your life in some way, somewhere, at some point in time and in some amount, a person or institution provided the funds to bring that item to the masses. Except in rare cases, that is the only way it happens.

This may give one pause to consider a related question: how many great ideas out there did not get funding to move them forward, thus leaving them in the mind of the inventor and perhaps on a lonely, dusty drawing board somewhere? Unless one can secure funding from private sources, then business loans are the usual route for putting a financial wind in the sails of one's ideas.

But sometimes a business loan can be difficult to acquire, since the lenders who make them frequently require more than just a good credit record: they want a business plan. They want details of your idea, assumptions, projections, charts, and more. Often, one has to first sell their idea to someone who isn't even necessarily going to buy it, just fund it. It is here that many good ideas that we'll never hear of have died prematurely, faced with a banker who may not understand the proposal, who may lack the ability to perceive the impact of a new idea. There's also frequently a problem of scale in that some people need relatively small business loans to launch big things, which many large banks simply won't bother with.

This is a problem with small business loan lending that many have experienced, including several people I'm acquainted with who are, or who aspire to be, small business owners. I have had this experience, too, having fought similar battles in the past with various banks over funding for a retail business that I am part owner of. But there are alternatives out there in the form of unsecured business loan lenders, such as America One Unsecured, who offer smaller business loans to people with good credit histories, but who lack large amounts of equity or do not want to risk what equity they do have. This is an important component of the overall lending industry to have in existence, since many of the inventions that make our lives increasingly comfortable were literally created in the garages of their inventors.

This could be you. We're heading into a new year; perhaps now is the time for you to take your ideas further. If you have been keeping a potential innovation under your hat for lack of the means to turn it into reality, then I encourage you to explore this form of business financing. Who knows? Your idea might end up in every home around the globe.

The Blog Readability Test: Blogging At My Level

This morning I saw a link to something called the Blog Readability Test on Buzz Bop, an online marketing blog. It claims to evaluate your blog and determine what education level is required to understand it. I decided to plug in my blog and see what the results would be.

I'm proud to say that I'm living up to my own qualifications:


See? There is a use for a Master's degree in philosophy!

Now, I have no idea what's in the black box here, how this thing works. I tried some other blogs that I frequent and got a series of "High School" results, which still doesn't give me many clues as to how exactly the gears are turning.

But sometimes fun stuff becomes not when you poke at it too much, so I'll leave it at that and enjoy my M.A. credentials (all real, unlike some out there).

Also, If you have the Blog Readability Test evaluate Hillary Clinton's campaign website (hillaryclinton.com), it comes back with an "Elementary School" level result. They certainly know how to write for their audience over there at the Clinton campaign HQ!

Search Engine Optimization: If An SEO Expert Builds It, They Will Come

One thing that I am definitely not is a seo specialist. Seo is short for "search engine optimization," the process of utilizing web design techniques and careful word selection within a website so as to rank it highly in search results. When going up against The Search Engine Company That Shall Not Be Named, I haven't done this, for two reasons: 1. That particular company's search engine largely ranks sites by the number of links going to it, which is what I am able to exploit to regain the result ranking they took from me, and 2. I don't really know how to do seo. Most people would probably not have problem number one like I do, just problem number two. But that's fine, because you can always call in an seo expert.

TrafiCare is one such seo company that specializes in helping website owners with this process. They offer a wide range of services through their newly designed, attractive website including search engine optimization (with the inclusion of on-going maintenance, a necessity in the ever-changing environment of the internet), traffic targeting, management of Pay Per Click ad campaigns, ad campaign effectiveness evaluation, and more. What is relevant, attention grabbing formating and keywords today may not be tomorrow. This is where it becomes advantageous to hire an expert to do this for you, since they can concentrate on keeping up with these constant changes while you concentrate on what you're good at.

Right Back At Ya!

It seems that I have managed to creep back up into the top result pages of The Search Engine Company That Shall Not Be Named's search results. They can rank my website at 0 to try and censor my efforts at profit (that do not involve them), but they can't keep my name and the URL of this site from appearing at a multitude of other high ranking sites, which puts me right back up there again.

Sergey and Larry... you magnificent bastards! I read your book!

Stuble(d)upon: Some New Toys

I found some new online toys I thought I'd share:

Pandora Radio - This is from something called the "Music Genome Project." Not really sure what that's about since I haven't dug too deeply into the site. What I've done with it so far is fire up their internet radio, which appears to plug you into the artist you want to hear or music from that particular genre if what/who you're looking for specifically isn't available. I wanted to hear some trance/techno stuff, so I searched for "Ronski Speed." His work isn't available, so now I'm being treated to an assortment of music in that vein. Definite browser bookmark, here.

While that's playing in the background, I've also been firing Gonzo out of a cannon. I'm not sure why I find this amusing, but I do.

I found both of these sites by chance through Stumbleupon.

Myndnet: Wii Little Contest

I didn't have very many job orders to complete at work today, so I wrapped up what was left and called it quits for the weekend. Good thing, too, since I'm really tired from this past week.

I'm not too tired to continue exploring all that the internet has to offer, however, so I've been poking around a bit this afternoon. A link for the Myndnet Wii Contest caught my eye, and naturally my first question was, "what is Myndnet?" (No, seriously, the Wii was not the first thing I thought of).


Myndnet has turned out to be a place where you can get paid for information you might have. In this case, the information people are willing to buy from you is leads. There's a few pages of leads requests currently, most of which have to do with potential recruits for various professional positions. In one case, the leads being sought were for people looking to buy or refinance a home in Washington or Oregon - that's me! I'm not sure if I can give my own name as a lead, but I decided to try it since I am looking to buy a home in 2008. If this does work out, then I'll get $16 for the info (cash just for being me - woohoo!).

Right now Myndnet is looking to recruit more users, so they're running a contest. The first two people who refer 1000 new users through their referral link will each receive a Nintendo Wii. I sort of doubt that I'll find 1000 referrals before the contest ends next month, but sometimes you've just got to go Wii (yes, I know that was terrible). I've stuck my referral link off to the side if you want to help me grab my Wii (yes, I know that one was even worse, but you know you like it).

Weekly Vision of Socialism

I'm still a zombie thanks to my little Christmas vacation (I always come back from my vacations way more tired than I was before going on them!). So, to deliver to you your Weekly Vision of Socialism while at the same time not completely frying myself, here's a little something I found at protestwarrior.com:

The Lead Dogs: Teaching Old Direct Marketers New Tricks

Before getting into pest control, I was working with a company that was trying to get its product into the hands of major nutritional supplement retailers. In short, it was tough work. To even get the big guys to talk to you, you pretty much had to get face-to-face meetings with them, and you typically couldn't do that before you already had your products in the pipelines of their big rivals. There was definitely a chicken/egg origination dilemma going on.

The result was that my work involved a lot of frustrating, fruitless cold calling. What we probably needed was an outside agency that specializes in creating sales leads for businesses, someone who could work that particular sort of magic while we concentrated on the stuff we were good at doing. That's outsourcing in a nutshell.

I found Lead Dogs, one such company that does that very thing. Obviously, I'm off doing other stuff now, but these guys could still be useful to my old employer, who I am still somewhat involved in. Lead Dogs appears to be more IT industry oriented and not at all involved in our industry, but with an about page that reads like this...

"The name came about over a pitcher of margaritas where it was determined our former name, "Database Marketing Group," fell far too short in expressing who we are for a company that does so much more. Mike Wallen, the company's founder, remembered seeing a sign that read, "If you're not the lead dog, the view never changes," with a picture of the dog's backside below the copy. Divine inspiration struck (or maybe it was the margaritas -- Mike isn't sure), and a new company name was born."

...we may have to give them a call anyway!

Mythonomics: Too Late For Christmas

I just saw this over at Right Mind:

"Stephen Rose, an economist, is at work on "Mythonomics: Ten Things You Think You Know About the Economy That Are Wrong."

This sounds like something I must have, and I wish I could have added it to my Christmas list. I'm so sick and tired of hearing reports of economic doom and gloom from the MSM every day, knowing that it's hyped up crap intended to scare people into supporting a particular political agenda (socialism). You may have heard a few of these whoppers before:

1. The middle class's standard of living stagnated while the dot-com boom made the super rich even richer.
2. The middle class is shrinking.
3. The only way people cope with the middle-class meltdown is by falling into debt.
4. With the rise in trade with China and India, the United States has become a nation of low-paid service workers destined for a high rate of unemployment.
5. Companies are walking away from their commitments to workers by cutting pension and health insurance benefits.

You can read more about these myths in the Washington Post article this originally comes from by clicking here. I'd also like to quote the final paragraph of the article, which is exactly what I've said to many people more times than I can remember about how our national experience over the years does not square with such claims:

"Just look at the ever-proliferating suburbs, the high rate of home ownership, and the thriving market for new cars, HDTVs and videogame consoles. Inequality is certainly up, but it's the bottom 20 percent of the population, not the middle class, that's really struggling. Just don't tell the presidential candidates."

We're better off than we used to be, far better off. It's time that a lot of people around here wake up and realize that.

JuiceMetrIQs: Bigger Profits Through Data Integration

In trying to increase my profits from this blog, I use a number of different methods for gathering and tracking visitor data. Compared to a shot in the dark, it's not bad. However, as I have it all operating at present, it might be described as a shot in the fog - not much better.

I have tools hither and yon, which makes their integrated use a bit difficult. In one tool, I can see where people have come from, and in a different one I can see where they spent their time here and how they exited my site. None of the tools I presently have deployed are capable of gathering email addresses, something key to successful online marketing. With all of my tools spread out, it's hard to move between them and create a larger picture from the data without transferring it all by hand to a spreadsheet, meaning yet another piece of software is introduced into the mix.

While poking around for potential solutions to this, I came across the following press release about a company called JuiceMetrIQs [http://www.juicemetriqs.com]:

"Juice Media Worldwide, LLC, a leading provider of on‐demand Marketing 2.0 software services and solutions has moved to new San Diego headquarters at 591 Camino de la Reina on the 11th floor of the prominent Valley Corporate Center building.

Located just 10 minutes from downtown San Diego, the nearly 4,000 square foot state‐of‐the‐art offices are double the size of the previous headquarters. The new office equips Juice Media with enough space for the company to grow its software development and client management staff by an additional 50 percent in 2008.
“Managing rapid growth is always a challenge for successful start‐ups. We evaluated several options for new offices to accommodate our growth and Valley Corporate Center was an ideal location for us,” said Rick Enrico, CEO, Juice Media Worldwide, LLC. ”The office tower’s expansive features and centralized location made it a great solution for our needs as we expand our staff and client roster.”

Juice Media employees have access to a number of benefits with the move including an on‐site deli, gym, ocean view offices, and a park next door. The additional meeting space also enables Juice Media to develop even stronger relationships with its clients with more frequent and productive onsite meetings.

‐more‐

About Juice Media Worldwide, LLC:

Based in San Diego, California, with additional offices in Minnesota, Juice Media Worldwide develops JuiceMetrIQs™, a Marketing 2.0 enterprise marketing management platform that is Software as a Service (SAAS) application. JuiceMetrIQs™ streamlines the marketing process by allowing companies to store customer interaction data (sales transactions, demographics, website data, email addresses, etc.) and segment that information to build relevant targeted marketing campaigns. Customer data is housed in a single data warehouse that is tied to a concise central reporting dashboard. JuiceMetrIQs™ provides seamless integrations with top enterprise vendors from online and offline marketing channels such as Email, Direct Mail, SMS Messaging, and Voice Messaging. JuiceMetrIQs™ empowers marketers with the ability to analyze, maximize, and measure cross channel customer purchase behavior across all distributed marketing channels for greater marketing success.

Juice Media Worldwide is a portfolio company of Petters Group Worldwide, which includes companies such as Polaroid, Sun Country Airlines, and uBid.com. For more information please visit http://www.juicemetriqs.com
Press Contact:

Morgan Witt"

I checked them out and learned that what they offer could basically be used to collect my data in one place and easily manipulate it in ways that could help me generate larger profits around here. I could be wrong, but so far it appears to me that their tools could be scaled to work for what I'm doing. I'm going to give the demo they offer a spin and see how it turns out. So far though, it definitely looks promising!

Back!

I'm back in Pullman after a really long day behind the wheel. I decided that following I-90 through the Cascade mountains was a bad idea, so I drove south to Portland then followed I-84 east for about 160 miles before jumping back across the Columbia river and into Washington state. Last Saturday when I headed over to Bremerton, snow and whatnot in the mountains slowed my transit time to about 9 hours. Taking the long route back I used today, I spent about 8.5 hours on the road. That'll do.

My new toy, my Tomtom ONE gps system, made the trip more fun. For part of the drive I was in completely unfamiliar territory, so I just relaxed and let the Tomtom guide me. I discovered that I can make it display the distance to my destination and an estimated time to arrival, which helped deal with the boredom that sets in when one is not sure how much longer the trip will take.

I also discovered that on dark roads, the Tomtom gives me a unique advantage over slower drivers: I can look at the display to see how straight or curvy the road ahead is, so I can know when it's safe to speed up and pass slow people. I did this multiple times on highway 26, which stretches from near here all the way to the Columbia river. At night, this road is absolutely pitch black, and this evening the sky is overcast, so there is no light at all. But like my own little radar, I was able to get around people who were just puttering along without worry.

This thing rules! Now I'll have to decide if I want to spend the money to install Mr. T's voice on it. I have a feeling that I'd fire it up and hear, "I pity da fool dat spends money on bullcrap!" Oh well.

Christmas Update

Not much to say right now because I'm spending time elsewhere. At the moment, I'm playing around with the latest addition to my collection of toys... wonderful toys!

I got one of these under the Christmas tree this morning: TomTom ONE v3

I'll come back and post when I'm done finding sexy female English and Irish voices for this thing.

Merry Christmas!

New Opportunity: Bloggerwave

I've been having a lot of success on this blog with paid blogging opportunities. At this point, I estimate that I am on track to bring in around $200 per month via this activity. As time goes by, that should increase, since paid blogging is something that becomes more lucrative as you complete more jobs and gain notoriety with advertisers (only if you gain the good sort of notoriety, of course).

Tonight I am adding bloggerwave to the ranks of the paid blogging agencies I go through.


Bloggerwave is a Europe-based service, but that shouldn't stop bloggers from outside of Europe from applying (obviously, or why would I be typing this?). Unlike the other two paid blogging agencies I am a member of, which both require that everything be done in English, Bloggerwave allows Spanish, German, English, Italian, Swedish, Norwegian, and French (this post is one such example, which would be acceptable to them in any of these languages).

The dashboard through which you accept and post job opportunities is very clean and tight, with no confusing or obscure links. So far I've been offered just this one job, but a "top bloggers" widget shows me that down the road there will be quite a few more as evidenced by individuals who are already past the thousands mark.

If you're looking to monetize your blog and you have some creative writing talents, then I highly recommend that you explore this online industry. Bloggerwave can get you started on the road to online income.

In Bremerton

I finally made it to Bremerton this afternoon after about 9 hours on the road. The normally six hour drive became 50% longer thanks to all of the snow and ice on I-90 in the Snoqualmie pass. Despite a broken tire chain (which took some paint off of my car around the wheel well), I made it.

If I am right about where my income is going over the next year, then next Christmas I am flying over here and renting a car. Screw those mountain passes!

On The Road Again

I'm heading out of here for Bremerton, Washington tomorrow morning for Christmas. It's fairly clear outside right now, very cold but no snow. From what I have gathered through online weather reports for various points along my 340 mile route, tomorrow could be very nasty. Snow and ice everywhere.

I hate this weather. I'm not a cold creature, and definitely not a snow and ice creature. I will find somewhere to live one day that is warm all year long. Or at least some place that doesn't get the kind of weather we have here now. That is probably a bit of time off yet though, so I'll have to settle for temporary fixes in between.

One place I'd like to take a trip to again some day is the middle east. I spent some time there with the U.S. Army in 1996, but I didn't get to see much. I was in a hostile region of the area, of course, so this time around I'll try the peaceful and prosperous regions. I think I'll start with a flight to Dubai, which is by all accounts a thoroughly modern gem in that region of the world.

It's my understanding that the majority of people in the United Arab Emirates (where Dubai is located) are not natives nor citizens, which would suggest that it's fairly open to settlement by foreigners. I've no idea what the culture is like exactly so I couldn't be certain of selecting it as a place to take up residence, but I do know that they have many modern shopping centers, a lot of world financial activity is routed through the UAE, and they have their fair share of arts and entertainment (not to mention that they have some of the most beautiful women I've ever seen). I think it would be worth exploring though, simply because I know I'd never see a snow flake there. Christmas under palm trees by the gulf... I think I could do that.

Che Loses Again

My boss gave me this today for Christmas:


They know me well at work. Heh.

It'll be a fun shirt to wear out and about on the town, particularly around the idiot college kids who plaster this murderer's face all over their trust fund fueled college experience, something Che probably would have had them shot for (not to mention professors who do the same, people who really ought to know better). This is one of those lefty sacred cows that you just have to skewer.

Paintball!

I was out in Walla Walla for work again today. It's roughly 120 miles from where I live right now, so as the distance would suggest, the landscape out there has significant differences from this area. One thing Walla Walla and the surrounding area has more of than the Pullman area is woods.

As I drove past one of those wooded areas today, something I haven't done in a long time suddenly popped into my head: paintball!

I have to play again. That's all there is to it.

Exercise, fun, getting to turn people into multicolored works of walking modern art - what could be better?

I think this is an excuse to buy some new toys, too. As my income has gone up, I've felt the tug of toys... wonderful toys! My old paintball gun is a fairly boring looking device, pretty much designed for its intended function and without any window dressings. It's a pump action, c02 cartridge driven marker gun. The latest paintball guns, such as the tippmann m4, however, are worlds apart from what I have now. Sleek ammo hoppers, external c02 tanks, semi-auto fire in some models... these can lay down a lot of paint. I would have put this on my Christmas list if I had been hit with the paintball urge earlier, but I'll have to settle for setting aside funds for one instead.

Man, this takes me back. Better get your face masks on.

Weekly Vision of Socialism

Keep in mind...


...the three on the left all started out with appeals to class envy and encouraged people to blame someone else for their problems, then proposed the seizure and redistribution of assets, and then...

Sound like anyone you've heard speaking lately?

Bonded Contractors: What I Am, I Guess

In my profession, pest control, you won't find many licensed operators who are not bonded. I've seen this term all over the place, as I'm sure many of you have, but I had no idea what it really meant. So I decided to poke around a bit and I found a blog post in a blog that is part of the website of JW Bond Consultants, providers of surety bonds.

From what I've read, it sounds to me almost like I have an insurance policy (provided by my employer, of course), but it's a bit different than that. Unlike insurance which protects you against stuff you don't do on purpose and which alleviates your financial liability, surety bonds pretty much spell out what you will do and they keep your wallet on the hook. I guess it's basically a way to put a lot of your money on the line without having to pay out a lump sum all at once (or ever) - the bond provider will pay any claims clients file against you, then come and get the money from you.

Now it makes sense to me. This is yet another way to leverage one's capital in more effective ways than having it sit idle as a buffer against mishaps. Instead of having a big lump of cash sitting in an account somewhere hardly doing anything, one can pay a small portion of it toward the bond, then use the rest to build up one's business.

Kind of funny that I've had one of these backing me up in several different occupations, and I had no idea what it was exactly.

Spam the Dictator

I found Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's blog this evening:

http://www.ahmadinejad.ir/

I encourage every freedom loving individual to go there and spam the holy living crap out of it. Unleash your inner South Park!

Right Mind: It Was Really a Tax Hike for the Rich

From Right Mind:

"According to the Wall Street Journal:

* For 2005, the richest 1% paid about 39% of all income taxes that year (see chart above).

* The richest 5% paid a little less than 60%, and the richest 10% paid 70%.

* The richest 1.3 million tax-filers -- those Americans with adjusted gross incomes of more than $365,000 in 2005 -- paid more income tax than all of the 66 million American tax filers below the median in income; ten times more.

The WSJ conclusion: “We hate to break up the media's egalitarian chorus with these details, but facts are facts. If Democrats really want to soak the rich, they'll keep tax rates where they are, or, better, lower them some more."

There's more interesting commentary on this in the full post, particularly the increase in the total amount paid by the top tier income earners in the U.S. in 2005 compared to 1990 and 2000. The really eye popping part: the richest 1% of income earners in the U.S. gained 7% more of total income from 1990 to 2000, which then barely increased from 2000 to 2005, but their share of the total income tax burden increased by 14% from 1990 to 2005. And this doesn't even come close to the increase on the top 5% of income earners.

Oh, but they need to be made to pay their "fair share," right?

Purchasing My New Home: Nameyourloan.com

I've been shopping around for the best home loan I could possibly get for my situation (no sub prime, here!). I've tried a few different online tools and services so far and my results have been pretty good. I think I may have found an even better way than anything I've tried so far to get the best deal possible: auctions.

I found a press release for a site called Nameyourloan.com (see below). How NameYourLoan.com Works is by actually making various lenders bid against each other in real time for your business. Most services available that claim to do this are really just lead generation services that sell your info to lenders who are willing to pay for leads, meaning that they don't actually compete against each other to give you the best deal. I've already experienced this with one service that claims to make lenders compete, but all of the offers I received were nearly identical, which makes me suspect that none of them have any idea what other offers I had been given. Nameyourloan.com changes all that by creating a real head-to-head competitive environment.

"NameYourLoan.com Diversifies Current Lending Environment for Borrowers with New Approach to Online Mortgage Loans.

New online mortgage auction site, NameYourLoan.com, has revolutionized the way borrowers obtain mortgage loans online. As a unique and creative online community, borrowers can easily connect with the best mortgage lenders while lenders benefit from a wealth of real time mortgage leads and opportunities for business growth.

(PRWEB) – In today’s tough lending environment, littered with deceitful lenders and cunning tactics, it’s high time for a revolutionary tool that can empower borrowers yet still benefit lenders. NameYourLoan.com has answered the need with the launch of a new online mortgage auction site designed to give consumers access to an increasing mortgage lenders network to ultimately obtain great online mortgage loans.

“For centuries, auctions have been the most efficient and effective way to get the best deals in everything,” says Al Salahi, President and CEO of NameYourLoan.com. “Why not have auctions for all mortgage loan types?”

NameYourLoan.com is an online community where borrowers can easily connect with the best mortgage lenders. Lenders compete with one another in an online auction to win the borrower’s business. As numerous lenders submit loan offers, the site enables consumers to see “apples to apples”, compare mortgage interest rates and achieve the lowest rate mortgage online such as the best home equity loan rate or home refinance loan.

The site’s sophisticated computer system compiles and calculates all the information submitted by lenders (interest rates, points, fees, terms, etc.) and then ranks loan offers, based on their true worth relative to the borrower’s stated preferences (lowest rate, lowest fees or best combination of rates and fees). This simplified process gives borrowers a coherent presentation of information without having to do the math themselves.

Unlike other online mortgage comparison shopping services, only those lenders who come out at the top of the auction with the lowest interest rates and fees get a chance at the borrower’s business. Moreover, borrowers can invite their friend or relative lender to participate in the borrower’s auction quickly and without cost. Lenders who refuse to participate are most likely high priced and not the best mortgage lenders.

“Through advanced technology, we are starting to make haggling and deceptive lending tactics a thing of the past,” explains Salahi. “At the same time, we are transforming a generally stressful and complicated process into a very pleasant and easy experience for borrowers. Our multiple bid auction format, coupled with constant consumer feedback, will make it easy for us to weed out dishonest lenders—and hopefully put them out of business!”

Use of NameYourLoan.com is completely free for borrowers. Borrowers are under no obligation to accept any of the online mortgage loans offered in the auction. To protect against identity theft and fraud, site users are never asked for sensitive information, and lenders that receive multiple consumer complaints will be barred from future auctions.

For more information, visit NameYourLoan.com.

About NameYourLoan.com:

NameYourLoan.com is the world’s first online mortgage auction, designed to advance the lending process by helping honest and competitive lenders grow their business, and at the same time, make it possible for borrowers to instantaneously reach multiple lenders and receive competitive loan offers online, in an auction format. NameYourLoan.com uses a patent-pending concept powered by sophisticated proprietary software that has been developed by a number of technology heavyweights from the Fortune 500 arena."

Kicking The Search Engine Habit: Day 1 Results

Since getting kicked around by The Search Engine Company That Shall Not Be Named and deciding to kick back, it's looking like my efforts are heading to a much earlier than anticipated payoff!

Traffic to my blog is up quite a bit today thanks to the social networking sites I sought out just this morning. So far, Blog Catalog is proving to be the most active, having brought in several visitors and new online acquaintances. Slash My Search has also done well today, not in bringing in new visitors, but new affiliate sign ups in my downline, which does mean more people using their search engine as opposed to that of The Search Engine Company That Shall Not Be Named

Each of the services I tapped this morning have brought in at least one new visitor, too. Being only day 1 of this project, I can't be sure if this trend will continue, but the initial results are encouraging. Maybe there are enough people out there who are fed up with the antics of The Search Engine Company That Shall Not Be Named that together we'll take a chunk out of 'em. I certainly hope so, since they definitely deserve it.

I'm Afraid of the Cold

Ok, maybe saying that I'm afraid of the cold is a bit of a stretch, but I do actively try to avoid it. One of these days, I'm going to move to some place where I'll never have to experience cold again. Hopefully I won't acclimate and find myself piling on blankets when it's 70 degrees Fahrenheit at night.

Until then, I'm going to have to do my best to bundle up and stay inside where I can control the climate somewhat. Since I don't know what house I'll be buying in Walla Walla just yet, I have no idea what sort of heating devices will be there. A gas fired stove would be nice, since it seems that most municipalities in Washington do not allow any wood burning for home heating anymore. Regardless, I do know what heating system I want outside of my house: something I would really like is to have gas garage heaters installed. Right now I have to store several pieces of my pest control equipment in my house to keep it from freezing overnight, as the garage outside of my present home has nothing to offer in this respect. I'd much rather have my living space be for living and separate from my work, so something of this sort will definitely get an earmark in the budget I'm building for my home purchase.

Online Anonymity: The Ring of Gyges Made Real

Online anonymity is something that people have widely come to assume is a necessary component of freedom online. It is frequently argued that without the ability to speak one's mind online anonymously, or to browse the internet secretly, that freedom would be curtailed. Myself and a growing number of other people think this is only partly correct: unrestricted online anonymity curtails freedom.

When it comes to browsing online, an argument certainly can be made for maintaining total anonymity. One example of the need for it that I've heard is that of people searching for information on such dread diseases as AIDS. If one were not able to search for information about AIDS in secret, many people who suspect they may have the disease might avoid doing so for fear of being discovered by the public (or closer to home, their community); the same would be true of people who do know they have the disease but who need more information and wish to keep their HIV positive status secret.

Typically, people extend this reasoning to posting one's thoughts online. Many maintain that without the ability to speak one's mind anonymously, many will not out of fear of retribution from others. An example often cited is that of whistleblowers, people who report the wrongdoings of corporations, politicians, etc. This is a valid point, and good in practice. But then people extend this consideration too far to cover online speech in general. That's when things go awry with the argument.

Something of this sort has been going on locally where I live for some time, involving the website of a local newspaper, the Moscow-Pullman Daily News. Their site has for a long time featured a comments function that allows the public to respond directly to articles published in the paper. In short, this feature has become a perfect example of why anonymity online does not equate to freedom, but frequently to the opposite of freedom.

On a blog I frequent, Right Mind, an associate of mine, Tom Forbes (founder of Palousitics), wrote about this phenomenon:

Tom: "Anonymity on the Internet does not lead to more free speech in the community as some claim. It leads to less. How many voices did the DN's Town Crier III series lose out on because people did not want to subject themselves to nameless character assassins? How many refuse to write letters to the editor for the same reason? It allows the anonymous few to intimidate the many. That is not freedom. It is tyranny." [Click here for the complete thread]

I posted to the thread an experience I had while teaching introductory philosophy at Washington State University. I was introducing my students to the works of Plato, and on one particular day we were reviewing the story of the myth of the Ring of Gyges:

"For [Gyges] was a shepherd laboring for the then ruler of Lydia and some part of the earth was shattered by a violent thunderstorm developing along with an earthquake and a chasm appeared at the place where he was pasturing. Seeing this and wondering, he went down and the fable says that he saw, among other wonders, a hollow bronze horse having openings, through which, peeping in, he saw that there was a corpse inside, as it seemed, greater than is usual for men, and wearing nothing else but a golden ring at his hand, that he took off before leaving. When time came for the shepherds to hold their customary assembly in order to prepare their monthly report to the king about the state of the flocks, he came too, wearing this ring. While he was sitting with the others, it chanced that he moved the collet of the ring around toward himself into the inside of his hand ; having done this, he disappeared from the sight of those who were sitting beside him, and they discussed of him as of someone who had left. And he wondered and once again feeling for the ring, he turned the collet outwards and, by turning it, reappeared. Reflecting upon this, he put the ring to the test to see if it indeed had such power, and he came to this conclusion that, by turning the collet inwards, he became invisible, outwards, visible. Having perceived this, he at once managed for himself to become one of the envoys to the king; upon arrival, having seduced his wife, with her help, he laid a hand on the king, murdered him and took hold of the leadership." [emphasis added]

I asked my students if they could identify the thing they all owned that gave them the power of Gyges' Ring and how it did so. Almost all of them immediately identified their computers and the ability to do things online anonymously as that device. Since this particular lesson was couched in a unit on ethics, I asked them to consider how the story of Gyges' Ring relates to how many people act online when given anonymity. The similarities were obvious: given the power of anonymity, most people turn into monsters.

And so it is with local goings on. As Tom pointed out in his post, many people are in fact intimidated online by anonymous thugs and free speech is curtailed, not fostered. There is also a tendency toward criminal behavior when given the ability to remain anonymous, as I've experienced personally in the form of someone masquerading as a medical professional for the purpose of defrauding people (who, thankfully, will soon be slapped around by the laws that have been broken). Far from being a guarantor of free speech, online anonymity is too often allowed outside of its truly useful contexts where it becomes a bull in a china shop. It is definitely time that online anonymity be reigned in.

FurnitureFromHome.com: Outfitting My Future New Home

I've blogged previously about my employer's plans for me - they asked me if I would accept a transfer to Walla Walla, Washington, where we presently do not have a full-time technician. I'm the only single guy without kids in the company, so I'm the natural pick. Walla Walla hardly gets any snow, unlike where I live right now, so it's a natural pick for me.

I'm looking to buy a house this time around, having had my fill of renting for now (or possible forever). I'm hunting, talking to lenders and my realtor, and it's coming along about as well and a quickly as is reasonable at this point. There's quite a few options available in my price range, so I'm confident that it's all going to come together right when I need it to.

I am also not going to have roommates anymore. I'm tired of living with other people, or rather, I'm tired of living with other people's habits. Since I have had roommates for so many years though, I've only acquired a partial kit of furnishings since someone else in the house/apartment has usually had the items I lack.

Enter FurnitureFromHome.com, a site I plan to hit up when it comes to time to buy furniture for my new home. They've got a pretty clean interface for shopping through, free shipping, in-home "white glove" delivery (professionals deliver and set up your furniture and take away the trash), and I like their selection, particularly their living room furniture, which is the category I'm most lacking in. I'm thinking that a contemporary sectional sofa would be a nice start for my future living room, since I haven't owned a sofa in years. I need a place to lounge and chill out after a long day of killing vermin while I plot out my strategies for creating a lifetime of weekends.

I'm also considering getting a new bed. The one I have now is reasonably comfortable and large enough for two (gotta think ahead!), but it's a metal frame futon. The places I'm looking at have extra rooms that I wouldn't have much of a use for other than as guest rooms, so I'm thinking that maybe the futon should go to that use while I upgrade to something of higher quality. I've been working my butt off in recent years to make things happen for myself, so I deserve it.

Now then, back to increasing my income and saving so I can afford all of this stuff when I want it!

Breaking My Reliance On Search Engine Traffic

Now that The Search Engine Company That Shall Not Be Named has killed what was my main source of traffic to this blog, I've been forced to explore alternate means of bringing people here. Fortunately, the alternatives abound and I've already activated several of them.

The most obvious one, something that was once a part of this blog but fell away during my last redesign, is Digg. I once had this installed into the previous incarnation of this blog. I never used it much, but then, I didn't have to. Now that The Search Engine Company That Shall Not Be Named has inspired me otherwise, it's back.

Then there are a few social networking sites I've tapped that largely are based around blogging. I've been with MyBlogLog for a while now, but I've not done much with it. Today I fed it some profile and linking info, and I plan to get in there and start joining various communities that pertain to my interests. Another social networking site I've plugged myself into is Blog Catalog. It's very similar to MyBlogLog in its function and I plan to use it the same way. The third service I've joined today is StumbleUpon. This one is a bit different from the other two networking sites mentioned here in that it is not necessarily specific to blogs. It is useful for generating traffic to any sort of website. It works through a browser plug in that is customizable, and basically what happens is that when you click the "stumble" button, you end up at random websites. If you like what you find, you can tag it for future reference. This will be a great thing to have the next time I'm bored and have nothing to do.

The Search Engine Company That Shall Not Be Named has taken away my traffic as a punitive measure for making money online without them by ensuring that my pages no longer appear in their search results anywhere near the top. I used to appear on the first page quite often, and thus I had many visitors daily. That is the point then of linking in to all of these different sites, to generate traffic by making people aware of me without relying on search engines at all. Ultimately, I may even work my way back onto the first page of The Search Engine Company That Shall Not Be Named's results by appearing on a multitude of other sites. I guess I could call that revenge.

Slash my Search: Forget That Other Search Engine Company

To follow up on my initial hits against The Search Engine Company That Shall Not Be Named, I'd like to recommend to you an alternative: Slash My Search.

Slash My Search is a search engine almost like any other. The key difference is that Slash My Search returns to you, the user, part of the value of your traffic. Unlike The Search Engine Company That Shall Not Be Named, the folks behind Slash My Search realize that 1. they do not own the internet, and 2. YOU are the real source of value behind internet marketing. Their plan is to treat you fairly by sharing with you some of the revenue generated from your activity.

There are other features to Slash My Search that make it rather handy, such as a browser tool bar, email services, and more. I plan to use it from now on and leave The Search Engine Company That Shall Not Be Named in the garbage bin.

"Do No Evil?"

It seems that a certain massive search engine no longer ranks my blog. They've done this because I tried to make some money with this thing through means other than their own channels. I'm not the only one they've done this to.

I'll not name this company. I think everyone knows who I am writing about anyway. I'm not afraid of having the indexing and ranking of my blog further reduced (it's hard to go lower than zero!). I'm writing this post and doing things from now on in a way that will reduce their traffic. Their ads are gone from this blog and will be forever; the recruiting tools to get more people into their networks are gone from this blog and will be forever; and their search tool is gone from this blog and will be forever.

Massive search engine company: you can get away with this for now, but the beautiful thing that is the free market is already moving to shift the sand under the monopolistic house you've attempted to build upon it. Alternatives are already in the works and they will become widely adopted. People are dropping your ad network left and right, and the rate of that will only increase. I have stopped using your search engine, as have many others. Your tool bars do not infest my browser. I should short sell your stock.

I'm not going to quit trying to make a little money with my blog. Like everyone else, I'm adapting to these changes, this new environment. The two would-be tyrants who sit on top of their multi-billion dollar search engine empire once started off small, and they beat the odds and rose to the top. It's astounding then that they would be so naive as to think that they could keep little guys down forever. They should know better. I guess school is about to be in session.

Kiva.org: First Loan Paid Back and Lent Again!

A few weeks ago I blogged about Cesar Heriberto Medina Torres, a grocer in Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico who I loaned money to through Kiva.org. I'm happy to report that Cesar paid off the loan, the first person to do so in my portfolio of loans.

When a Kiva loan is repaid, the money lands in your Kiva account. It can then either be loaned out again or withdrawn via PayPal (without any fees!).

It has been my plan since making my first loan through Kiva to build up a portfolio of loans such that at least one would mature each month, at which point I loan the money back out again, in perpetuity. It will take a while longer before I've funded enough loans that they are repaid at that rate, but this is a start.

I have elected to loan these funds to Magdalena Molina, Elutria Padilla Lopez, and Evangelina Arizmendi Lopez, three entrepreneurs in Teopisca, Mexico. All three of them deal in consumables: health and beauty products and baked goods. These are goods that are typically in constant demand, so I expect these three women will do well with this loan.

I encourage you to check out Kiva.org. If you're like me and you are suspicious of aid organizations that just want money and promise to help people (mostly I suspect that they line their own pockets), microlending is the way to go.

Weekly Vision of Socialism

Since everyone who thinks voting DNC is such a good idea also seem to be wild about socialized medicine, I thought I'd bring us a bit north of Venezuela this week, back to sunny, happy Cuba!


Michael Moore didn't show everyone this side of Cuban health care, but he meant to! Really, he did, 'cause Michael Moore never lies.

[This photo comes from The Real Cuba.com]

Payday Loans: A Way To Protect Your Credit

I've written here before about Payday Loans and their usefulness to people of modest means and income. Payday lending has received a lot of negative attention in recent years and has been made into a convenient political scapegoat. I've written before about why I think this is wrong, but I realized that I missed one counter-argument that I think is very effective in answering the criticism this industry has been subject to.

Briefly stated, my argument is this: many claim that payday lending is harmful to the credit standing of the borrower because the loans can get them into trouble, but the truth is that when used correctly, payday loans protect the credit standing of people who use them.

The reason I think that payday loans can actually protect one's credit is simply that a properly used payday loan can prevent a person from being late with payments to other obligations they have. Sometimes, this becomes an issue because of other unexpected expenses, such as hospital bills or car repairs. When things happen that require an immediate expenditure of funds, a person can find herself short of money to settle regular expenses. When pay day is still a week away, there must be something to bridge the gap if savings are not available. Without payday lending, many people would find themselves unable to handle such emergencies, leading to their credit being damaged. In this way, the "solution" some propose of severely restricting or even banning payday lending actually brings about the very problem they think they are solving.

Though I'll admit that I'm not sure the actions of the U.S. Federal Reserve on interest rates affect payday lending rates, that could be the case right now. This might be an advantageous time to make use of payday loans if you need to, so check into it if you are facing a financial crisis due to no fault of your own. This sort of lending is there for you now, and it ought to always be there for you to use responsibly.

Chicane: Saltwater

I haven't posted any music in a while. Therefore, I will.

This is Saltwater by Chicane. Enjoy!

Ballistics Experiment and Bird Behavior

After my last bit of field time chasing bird snacks, I got to thinking that I might need to change up my equipment a bit. In particular, the shot I took at a stationary pheasant had me thinking that maybe my shotgun isn't choked well enough.

"Choke" in terms of shotguns refers to the diameter of the muzzle (the bit where the projectiles come out). Shot scatters when it leaves a shotgun in an expanding cone shape. The tighter the exit point, the longer it takes to spread out and therefore the tighter the shot pattern remains at greater distances. Many shotguns have threaded muzzles that allow one to screw in a more narrow (or wider) tube inside of the barrel to change the density of the shot pellets as they exit.

I've purchased and installed a "full" choke for my shotgun. Many pheasant and quail hunters I've spoken to have advised against this, but they all have dogs. In my case, I have no early warning that the birds are present and I typically only know of their presence when they take off. That's where I hope this new choke will come into play.

Basically, at 40 yards, my shotgun will produce a pattern roughly the size of a softball with this choke installed. By the time I spot a bird taking off from a hide position, it will typically already be at least 20 yards out. If I spend the time between 20 yards and the bird reaching 40 yards aiming my gun, then I should be in the ball park. When the bird is a bit farther away, 50-60 yards, when I pull the trigger, it should get caught in my shot pattern. The choke I was using before would have spread the shot out so far apart at that point that I might as well have just thrown a rock instead.

We'll see. I'm hoping to go out again this weekend, weather permitting (damn you, snow!).

New Life Church Shooting: What You're Not Quite Hearing About Jeanne Assam

By now, you've no doubt heard about the shootings that took place yesterday, December 9th in Arvada and Colorado Springs, Colorado. If not, then briefly: a 24 year old man named Matthew Murray fatally shot four people, two in each location. He was killed by Jeanne Assam at the New Life Church campus in Colorado Springs.

Most articles, broadcasts, and reports on television about this incident keep referring to Jeanne Assam as a "security guard." This partly true. However, very few accounts of this incident contain this information:

"Assam had several years of experience in law enforcement and is licensed to carry a weapon. She attends one of the morning services and then volunteers as a guard during another service." [emphasis added]"

[Full article here]

There seems to be a deliberate effort here to obfuscate the fact that Assam is an armed private citizen, first a foremost. The media appears to be trying to create the impression that Assam was a hired professional, not a gun owner who volunteered to guard her church. This would imply that it is not individuals who save the day, but police forces of some sort; it is implied that civilians should not defend themselves, that they should instead run, hide, and wait to be rescued.

It's a good thing that while the media has been running around for years promoting that suicidal notion, Assam wasn't listening. Murray is reported to have had over 1,000 rounds of ammunition. Dozens, maybe hundreds of people are still alive today thanks to Jeanne Assam.

Hotel Reservations.com: I Feel Like Getting Out of Town

There's a great deal of snow on the ground outside right now. This is not my time of the year!

In the Southern hemisphere right now, however, it is my time of the year. One of these days, I will live on the equator and just settle this problem for good. Until then, I'm going to have to do some traveling if I want seasonal relief (rather, relief from seasons). I found a link for Hotel Reservations when I was thinking about this that turned out to be much more.

Originally, I was just thinking ahead to room reservations for my counsin's daughter's Bat Mitzvah later next year. I like to plan travel and lodging well in advance, because doing that kind of stuff last minute is just awful. On this particular site, I discovered flight reservations, cruises, even condos. Mexico, anyone?

If you like snow, maybe we can work out a geographical trade. Until then, I'll be looking over this website and doing a bit of dreaming.

Right Mind: Positive vs. Normative Economic Statements

I saw this over at Right Mind the other day. I haven't heard this distinction of economic terms before, but I've started looking for them in the various financial publications that I read and I'm seeing it all over the place.

Right Mind: "A positive economic statement is a statement about what is, and it contains no indication of approval or disapproval.

However, a normative economic statement expresses a judgment about whether a situation is desirable or undesirable. It usually contains verbs such as “should” or “must” in the statement."
...
"When reading economic commentaries, watch for “should” and “must” statements. And especially watch for them starting with positive statements and then making normative statements that do not necessarily follow."

This is definitely good info to have as the socialists ramp up their election year promises of loot for votes, using emotional appeals as a cudgel. Tell people what to watch out for, and you can defuse a lot of stupidity.

[Click here for the full article.]

Personal Loans: One Way To Repair Damaged Credit

I've known more than a few people in my lifetime who have trashed their credit (and if you've ever served in the military, you no doubt know tons of these folks, too). Damaged credit makes many aspects of life much more difficult than they would be otherwise. It is therefore a good idea to get to work repairing your credit as soon as possible, should you find yourself in this situation.

When your credit score is in the dumps, you will find yourself in the "sub prime" lending class (it isn't just about home loans!). Loans are much harder to come by when you find yourself in this category, but they do exist. The type of loan that will most likely be available to you at this point are Personal Loans. These are loans that require no collateral; in other words, you - your capacity for future earnings - is the "collateral." If you take out a few small personal loans and pay them back on time, your credit will begin to heal. You can even take out the loans simply for the purpose of paying them back. Just put the cash into a high yield savings account and pay the loan back out of that account, plus the difference (interest charged on the personal loan) out of your own pocket. You won't make any money doing this - in fact, you'll spend some money - but you will be well on your way to rebuilding your credit.

Typically, people with damaged credit also find themselves unable to get credit cards. This, too, creates a host of disadvantages, but these problems can largely be circumvented with Prepaid Credit Cards. Prepaid "credit cards" are essentially debit cards that you load with your own cash. This type of card typically cannot help much with repairing your credit, but it does render your money into an electronic form that is more easily (and securely!) spendable online. For someone on a tight budget due to the costs involved in repairing damaged credit and settling debts, online shopping is an indispensable source for making life in general more affordable.

Finally, some words of encouragement: if you are in debt and your credit is bad, don't give up. It can be a daunting task reversing a situation like this, but hundreds of thousands of people have done it. If that many people have gone before you and pulled it off, then you can, too. Just create a budget, seek opportunities and grab them wherever and whenever they appear, and use the tools detailed here to your advantage. You will fix your situation and enjoy the brighter days that are ahead.

Agloco: Definitely Dead

I've just now received this email from Agloco:

"Dear Paul,

We would like to update you on the status of AGLOCO's operations. We continue to believe in the AGLOCO concept, but our revenue is currently not sufficient to give Members a meaningful distribution. And though there are increases in membership, the resulting revenue is not enough to support operating costs. As a development team we are unable to continue to use our savings to fund the operations. If any Member would like to pursue continuing the operations of AGLOCO, you may contact us at agloco1@live.com .

We would like to thank every Member for supporting our effort to bring a piece of the Internet directly to the user. We hope that we can find a way to keep the operations going.

AGLOCO Development Team"

You heard it here first. Agloco is toast. I'll be removing them from this blog now.

Back From The Field

It was yet another good day of hunting, but alas, I returned home empty handed.

Well, not totally. I seem to have a talent for finding perfectly good shot shells that others drop in the field. I added a 12 gauge 2 3/4" #7 1/2 shell to my ammo pile. That's the second time this year I've found one of those.

I saw maybe half of a dozen quail, all tucked in behind a bush that I never could have fired through, giving them plenty of lead time when they took flight. I also spotted a pheasant creeping through a grove of trees next to a stream. I fired at him, but I think the low tree branches were too dense to get any shot through. He took off looking none the worse for wear.

It started snowing where I was, which inspired me to leave early. It's a fairly low elevation spot relative to where I live, so I figured I should get moving before everything "up top" got snowed in. I was probably half right on that call, as we've got a dusting outside but nothing major, but it is always a "better safe than sorry" scenario when it comes to snow.

Next weekend, I'll do it again. I have until January 21st - that's when the season ends for both birds. There's a particular pheasant recipe that I want to try, so I'm not giving up!

Field Time

I'm about to hit the road and go hunt some quail, with perhaps the odd pheasant thrown in (kinda hard without a dog). My roommate and I had some good luck last weekend at a particular spot on the Snake River, so I'm heading down there today on my own to try again.

This has me thinking about buying a digital camera. I had one a few years ago, but my cat knocked it off of a table and screwed up the lens. I haven't bothered to get another since a work phone I had for a long time had one (that's gone now) and I don't take many pictures anyway.

This blog might prompt me to change that behavior, however. I think it would make this place a lot more interesting to my readers if I could provide photos of these outings I go on. I know many would disagree (deluded animal rights activists, i.e. people with too much time on their hands), but I think a shot or two of whatever success I have today in the field would be a lot nicer to look at than just a written description it (that'll have to do for today though, sorry).

Anyway, time to find out if the money I saved buying #8 shot shells instead of #7 1/2 shot is worth it (the clerk in the sporting goods section of Walmart where I bought my latest box of shot shells seemed to think so, but I'm a bit skeptical).

Bet365.com: Another Thing Some Politician Won't Let Me Play With

Last night I brought up the topic of internet gambling and the ban that has been placed on it for people in the United States by the U.S. government. At the time, I wasn't sure of the status of that ban, having heard about it well over a year ago, but not the outcome. The website I was looking at did seem to indicate that U.S. players could get in on the games, but it was a bit ambiguous. Maybe we can, maybe we can't.

Today I was taking a look at Bet365.com, an online casino that offers card games, video slots, sport betting, and other games of chance. I couldn't find an FAQ that stated whether or not people in the United States could become members and play, so I tried clicking on the button to set up a new account. In the drop down menu of countries in the sign up form, guess what country was not there?

The truth is, I'm not all that interested in gambling, online or otherwise. I've been to Vegas before and I did play the video slots, but they were nickel slots and I was just there for the free drinks (not including tipping the waitress so that she would come back!). I buy state lotto tickets from time to time, but that's about the extent of it when it comes to me rolling the dice.

What makes me angry about this situation is that I'm being told that I can't gamble online. It doesn't matter to me that I don't really want to in the first place, it's the fact that some politician thinks he (or she) knows what is best for me.

It is not the government's place to direct our lives in this way. The only time the government should be involved in our lives is when someone initiates force or fraud against us. That's it. This does not include protecting us from ourselves. That there are some people who have a compulsive addiction to gambling is true, but frankly, I do not. I cannot hurt myself with gambling because if I ever do engage in it, I am fully capable of stopping when it is time to. I am well aware that there is no guaranteed winnings in games of chance, so there is no fraud. No one is forcing me to play, so there is no coercion. All of these things being true, what business does the U.S. government have waving a finger in my face and telling me, "no!" All they're accomplishing is taking away yet another thing that could be a source of amusement and enjoyment for adults. This isn't about seeking the greater good, this is about power and control.

Rank 1: Such Is Life (Live at Sensation 2001)

Here's one that has been in my play list for quite some time. I love what can be done with light these days (not to mention sound!)

Do It Yourself Debt Consolidation

Debt has certainly been in the news a lot lately. In the United States these days, it seems like everyone is in debt. I don't doubt that the mainstream media is sensationalizing the problem, feeding us constant horror stories, but there is a problem with consumer debt that cannot be dismissed. It simply comes down to a problem of we Americans losing our capacity for delaying gratification. Why wait and save up cash for the latest whizbang gizmo when you can apply for a credit card and have it right now, right?

I'm not here to rail against credit cards, which I have and which used properly are very effective and efficient cash flow management tools. And I don't want to beat anyone over the head who is in debt with constant reminders of their mistakes - they already know that. Instead, I'm interested in talking about solutions.

I came across a non-profit debt consolidation website today that carries a very unique statement amongst online debt consolidation service offerings:

"No one will eliminate your debt (credit card debt, student loans, auto loans, etc) for you, but yourself. It's as simple as that."

They don't promise to "eliminate" your debt, cut your monthly payments by outrageous, impossible amounts, or bring your interest rate down to impossible levels (i.e. 0%). As it is pointed out on this site, many such claims are the identifying marks of scams, scams meant to ensnare desperate people who are looking for some hope.

What this site does do is serve as a directory of debt consolidation companies around the country that are reputable. This accomplishes two things: 1. it puts people into contact with agencies that are not out to scam them, and 2. it underscores another point made on this website, that the power to reign in one's debts and retire them is entirely within every individual's hands.

Your two hands dug the hole you're in, and your own two hands can fill the hole and get you back out of it.

If you are reading this because you have been looking for a solution to your debt woes, I encourage you to visit this site. I know it may not sound as attractive as an "instant solution" to your problems, but it is a realistic solution. The other ones, the ones that sound too good to be true... they're traps.

Hillary Clinton: Don't Call Her A Horse's Ass

"A tourist driving along the highway decides to stop at a bar. There, he sees Hillary Clinton being interviewed on the overhead TV. He shouts "Hillary is a horse's rear end!" Immediately, three patrons start punching him.

As he gets to his feet, he says to the bartender "wow, this must be Clinton country!"

And the bartender replies "Nope--horse country."

Found over at StopHerNow.com.

Smorty: Better Than Pay Per Post?

As I'm sure many of you have noticed, I've been doing a bit of blogging for Pay Per Post, a paid review service. It has certainly helped to kick up my income on this thing a bit in recent days.

The experience with Pay Per Post has lately become... frustrating (speaking diplomatically, here). After another round of battling with their reviewers last night and this morning, I decided to look farther afield at who else might be out there.

Poking around the 'net for companies offering to pay bloggers to advertise on blogs, I came across several references to Smorty.com. I went to the URL and found something that may very well bump Pay Per Post from these pages.

Basically, the problem I have been having with Pay Per Post is their reviewers, the people who check your submissions to see if they're up to the requirements for the opportunity in question. Several times I followed their instructions exactly as stated only to discover after submitting my articles that they actually wanted something else. After complaining to their supervisors, I was told on more than one occasion that "so and so is new." It seems that they're hiring people who assume that their role is to play goal keeper rather than facilitator. Describing this as frustrating doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of how it made me feel.

My brief experience with Smorty thus far has shown me that this will be a very different experience. They appear to be much more free-form in their requirements, not calling for articles to be slanted in one way or another for the most part, and requiring only one link (Pay Per Post frequently requires several and with inconveniently phrased anchor text). Smorty's submission review time is also much, much faster than Pay Per Post, as is their payout schedule. I think I may find myself doing much better here.

I'll probably still use Pay Per Post occasionally, but considering that the only opportunity they're presenting to me right now is for an article on lap band surgery centers, I think I'll pass.

Check out Smorty if you're interested in monetizing your blog. If you enjoy writing, I think you'll enjoy Smorty.

YouTube: Dick Armey on Senator Hillary Clinton's Mortgage Fix

Mr. Armey brings up several million dollar questions in this brief debate, namely his points on creating moral hazards in the market via government intervention and the ramifications of the proposed bailouts (in any form, from any party) for contract law. These are not things to be ignored at whim.

Gambling Online: OK in the U.S.?

The full title of this post would continue, "If Not, It Should Be." More on that later.

I came across a website, Pro360.com, a review site of online casinos. One of the things that caught my eye right off was the icons declaring various online casino sites as accepting of U.S. players or otherwise. This interests me a great deal.

I'm not much of a gambler, but I do think people who want to should be able to, and that includes online. Previously, I was under the impression that our government had decided to "do the nanny" on us all and prohibit people in the U.S. from playing online. As I recall, they sighted all of the usual justifications for reducing us all to children: protecting us from ourselves, fighting crime, stopping the exploitation of the poor, etc. etc.

And like so many things our government does, I could find in none of it a real problem. Yes, there are some people who have problems with gambling, but that does not mean that gambling is in and of itself a problem. There are a great many people out there who enjoy gambling and who know when to stop. They approach it rationally, recognizing it as a form of entertainment and not as a way to make a living (save for a very, very small number of professional poker players). They do no harm to themselves, nor do they do harm to anyone else. But in the game of scoring political points, politicians were falling all over themselves to cut us all off from online gambling. I know my limits without needing some meddling bureaucrat stepping in to tell me what my limit is, and I'm certain that the vast majority of people are the same way. They're not saving us from anything, they're just taking away a little more of our right to exercise our own rationality and conscience.

I tried doing a google search on the topic, but I didn't come up with much (at least not within only about 10 minutes of searching). I hope what I've found tonight at Pro360.com is an indication of a thaw, but I don't know enough at this point to call it one way or the other (so I guess you could say that I'm not putting any money on it - Hah!).

Hillary: Planting Questions For the Fall 2008 Harvest

Let's hope her crops go bad.

Mortgages: The "Good Debts" That Are Sometimes Not

I had to drive from Pullman, Washington to Walla Walla, Washington for work today. I was on my own, so I had plenty of time to listen to the radio as I drove. I mainly listen to talk radio since terrestrial radio doesn't play the sorts of music I like (I have satellite radio for that).

There is lots of talk about mortgages these days, particularly since sub prime mortgages are expected to cause so much distress in the next few years. This worries me, too, not as a home owner who might lose his house, but as a buyer who may lose his opportunity.

See, unlike a lot of people who ran out and bought more house than they could afford (when a home loan becomes a bad debt), I've done my research and followed through on my planning (i.e. saving and investing). I haven't just gone out and grabbed the first mortgage that came along, but instead I've compared mortgages to find the best of the cheap mortgages that fits my situation. Certain things happen when one does this, one of those things being the discovery that the cheapest mortgage available is not necessarily the one with the lowest price tag in the near term, but that a presently more expensive mortgage can become the cheapest compared to other options over the long term.

I don't know where the current "solutions" being proposed by various politicians is going to take the market, but it has me considering the possibility that I might be better off continuing on as a renter and investing my money instead. Then again, in a few years, maybe rates will be even lower and I'll be able to remortgage whatever home I buy, or even sell for a gain if rates allow someone to purchase my home from me.

Weekly Vision of Socialism

It's that time again! Here's your Weekly Vision of Socialism:


That's right! This week it's George W. Bush!

Why? Well, as the Wall Street Journal recently said, "don't cry for us, Argentina!"

Thanks to Bush and his new bailout plan for idiots who bought more house than they could afford (not to mention idiot lenders that gave them the money), the U.S. has taken another step down the path of socialism by using government to coerce investors into adjusting contract terms (and don't forget the Treasury dept. wanting municipalities to float bonds to bail out sub prime mortgages, meaning responsible folks get to pay higher property taxes to pay the interest on those bonds).

As I've said on these pages before... if we wanted Democrats, we would elect them.

Auto Loans: When Are They "Good Debts"?

Following on my previous post about the current November 2007 U.S. jobs report, which saw another 189,000 jobs added to our economy, I thought it pertinent to write a bit about one tool that many newly employed people may be needing to stay employed: an automobile.

A car, a truck, a SUV, it doesn't really matter. The point of this piece is that, for the most part, workers in the U.S. must commute to work. We typically don't live very close to our employer's offices these days, making transportation a necessity.

Cars and trucks are expensive things, however, so for those who have just reentered the workforce in recent months, this can be a problem. What can make matters worse, people who have been out of work for a while may have bad or no credit. Auto Loans Financing can be difficult to get sometimes. Fortunately, there exist lenders who can work with people that find themselves in this tough situation.

You may have heard it said before that there are two types of debts: good debts and bad debts. Good debts are typically considered to be mortgages and student loans, things that one owes on now, but that will generate a higher return in the future. "Bad debts" are debts owed on things that lose value over time. Generally, autos are put into this category.

This overlooks something I discussed previously, that cars and trucks are now (most of the time) the means by which one is able to get to work to earn money in the first place. A car or truck purchased with a loan for this purpose is then more similar to a loan taken out for education; it is purchased as a tool that will enable one to generate a higher return than one would have been able to without borrowing the money. The auto can be used for other purposes, of course, but if this is the primary reason for buying it and not some poor reason like "status," then the other uses are just gravy.

It's like I've said before on this blog: there are no good or bad loans, there are just loans taken out for wise or unwise purposes. As long as you've considered and measured the costs versus benefits, and if you find that the benefits outweigh the costs, then you can't go wrong.

U.S. November Jobs: 189,000 New Jobs

One of my investment brokers has an awesome news ticker service. The numbers on November jobs just hit the wires, and we're up 189,000 more jobs. Additionally, it has been reported a few minutes ago that productivity is up while labor costs are down.

But then I found this paragraph in the jobs article:

"ADP, a national payroll processing company, estimates private-sector jobs only. Adding the average 19,000 government jobs created monthly over the last year, suggests a total payroll jobs increase of 208,000 in the Labor Department report due out Friday." [emphasis added]

Ugh. So does that mean we might as well roll the private sector jobs number back by 19,000? Those new little governmuggers are paid out of taxes, so their jobs "added" to the economy are really just an accounting trick.

I wonder if maybe (hopefully) that 19,000 includes new enlistees in the armed forces, as well as people reenlisting?

Daily Evergreen: Our Forgotten Holiday

Most of the time, the newspaper put out on the Washington State University campus is something that I don't consider worthy as something to wipe my butt with.

Once in a great while, however, probably during planetary alignments or something, a great article appears out of the cesspool of angsty, cynical, douchey-lefty college mantra crap that passes as journalism. Today, one such article appeared:

"Our forgotten holiday: Celebrate the anniversary of the end of Prohibition

-- Dominick Bonny

It’s just about that time again, time to celebrate the greatest day in American history. You may think that it’s Independence Day, or Victory in Europe day, or even the day President Nixon resigned. You’d be wrong though, it’s Dec. 5, National Repeal Day. The glorious day in 1933 when President Roosevelt signed a law repealing the Volstead Act, ending one of the U.S.’s stupidest laws ever – the prohibition of alcohol.

As college students, we reap some of the greatest benefits of alcohol, especially in Pullman. Think about what WSU would be like without the nurturing comfort of booze. Scary thought, isn’t it? Without alcohol, we would just be going to college in a tiny town nestled in the Palouse. Sure we would still have a good vet school and great sports, but what about the people? What would a football game be like without Jack Daniels? Why, Greek Row would just be a set of mostly dilapidated, run-down houses with many sad frat boys playing regular old ping pong. I shudder at the thought.

I don’t even want to think about what the dating scene would be like without that little edge that liquor gives us all. Only the very best-looking people in Pullman would ever have dates. The conversations would be just as boring, but without alcohol we would actually realize how boring they are. Not only would our personal and social lives suffer immensely, but so too would Pullman’s economy. Dissmore’s and Safeway would have to cut costs by firing students who work for them. Without beer, would we really eat as much pizza?

If alcohol were still prohibited, there wouldn’t be crowds of people pouring out of the bars and stumbling down the street to enjoy Munchy'z famous hot dogs and hookahs. Dare I go as far to say another repeal of alcohol could usher in a new Great Depression? Yes, I dare. Without the mind-numbing effects that the nectar of the gods gives people, there would be almost no market for the morning after pill. How would we make all of our bad decisions? And then after making all those bad decisions we wouldn’t have anything to blame them on other than ourselves, and that is a truly depressing thought.

True, Pullman would be a quieter place, with a more peaceful attitude. But we have the rest of our post-college lives to enjoy peace and quiet. Booze is helping all of us to make the memories we will enjoy and embellish for the rest of our lives, not to mention the regrets.

Ah, the regrets. So many regrets, we owe many of those dumb decisions to alcohol, but would you really change them if you could? Alcohol is that double- edged sword that – when used properly – can make you funnier than you really are, better looking than you actually are, more interesting, and way more talented. But it can also come back to bite you, hard, if used in excess. But all in all, as Americans and as Pullmanites, most of us enjoy alcohol – just try to enjoy it responsibly.

So this Dec. 5, join me wherever you are in raising a toast to FDR, to the death of the Prohibition and in celebration of National Repeal Day. And if you see me out on the streets Wednesday night, feel free to buy me a drink."

I may have to go out tomorrow night and raise a glass to the memory of H.L. Mencken.

Cat Wake Up Call

A reader, Monk, sent this to me following my post about my cat's early morning antics.


That about fairly sums it up!

Thanks, Monk!

AP: National debt grows $1 million a minute

I saw this article on the growth of our national debt this morning while updating my personal accounting (talk about timing). This is a sore spot subject for me since in my own life I am able to follow the simple rule of spending less than I make. But that's just it - that's my money that I'm minding. Politicians, for the most part, could care less. It's not their capital being burned! It's yours that's being pledged away to decades and decades of government debt and interest payments on that debt.

In particular, there's a startling bit of honesty about all of this debt buried in the article:

"Over the next 25 years, the number of Americans aged 65 and up is expected to almost double. The work population will shrink and more and more baby boomers will be drawing Social Security and Medicare benefits, putting new demands on the government's resources.

These guaranteed retirement and health benefit programs now make up the largest component of federal spending. Defense is next. And moving up fast in third place is interest on the national debt, which totaled $430 billion last year." [emphasis added]

You know all of those people you hear screaming about how the government doesn't spend enough of your money on social programs because of the defense budget? Bull. You already lose most of your taxes to wealth redistribution programs like Social Security, Medicare, and others. And unlike defense spending and the costs of funding wars, which could end within the next decade, that expanding pool of retirees won't end for many, many decades (not to mention the fact that national defense is a necessity while wealth redistribution is not)!

The numbers are here, they don't lie. Politicians of every stripe and party have been screwing us for decades. What we have to do going forward is not vote for and remove from office those politicians who are openly promising to screw us even harder (see also here and here for recent examples).

Optics Planet.com

Speaking of my cat (see previous post), I think I might start putting a bit of money aside each month to save up for some night vision equipment from Optics Planet.com. Basically, Figaro has developed this game that I like to call "4am wakeup." He makes me get up and let him out of my room for food, and on my way to my bedroom door, he usually runs between my legs and trips me.

With a set of night vision goggles, his little game will be history. In fact, I might invent a game of my own: From Out of Nowhere Squirt Gun (I'm working on the title, but you get the idea).

The Amazing $800 cat!

My cat's bill this time around came out to around $531, $81 more than my guess yesterday morning. This was still close the low estimate my vet gave me for everything, however, so I wasn't bothered by it.

It got me to thinking about how much I've spent on this cat. Excluding food, this makes Figaro about an $800 cat so far. That's quite a chunk of change!

However, for all of the enjoyment my cat gives me, what's money? I think this is something that has to be filed under the "priceless" category.

Reasons to Save: Your Cat

My cat, Figaro, recently developed bladder stones. This can be deadly to a cat if not treated, so I took him to the vet.

He's fine now, and I am to pick him up this morning. As far as I know at this point, this will cost me about $450.

I have that all in savings, however, so my living expenses in the near-term will not suffer. This is why it is best to save at least a little out of every bit of money that you make. When you hit a bump in the road, savings are like a shock absorber.

Related but slight off-topic question: why do Brits refer to cats as "moggies?"

Iron Maiden: The Lonlieness of the Long Distance Runner

This is my song.

It pains me that there were days when I forgot.

But that is the long course. It has up's and down's. You can't pick and choose. I'll accept it! I'll do it! It IS what I do! What else am I to do?

"The tough of the track
With the wind
And the rain that's beating down on your back
Your heart's beating loud
And goes on getting louder
And goes on even more 'til the
Sound is ringing in your head
With every step you tread
And every breath you take
Determination
Makes you run never stop
Got to win got to run 'til you drop
Keep the pace hold the race
Your mind is getting clearer
You're over half way there
But the miles they never seem to end
As if you're in a dream
Not getting anywhere
It seems so futile!

RUN ON AND ON!
RUN ON AND ON!
The loneliness of the long distance runner!

I've got to keep running the course!
I've got to keep running and win at all costs!
I've got to keep going... be strong!
Must be so determined and push myself on!

Run over stiles across fields
Turn to look at who's on your heels
Way ahead of the field
The line is getting nearer but do
You want the glory that goes
You reach the final stretch
Ideals are just a trace
You feel like throwing the race
It's all so futile!

RUN ON AND ON!
RUN ON AND ON!
The loneliness of the long distance runner!"