tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242237432024-03-13T16:05:26.130-04:00Cranial SoupPeas, carrots, green beans, and gray matter.Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-87207244999226656652010-12-24T13:27:00.001-05:002010-12-24T13:27:00.285-05:00A full year’s worth of blog post ideas<p>I got this <a href="http://www.whiteleyenterprises.net/shopping-at-the-mall-inspires-the-best-blogging-i-have-ever-had" target="_blank">brilliant idea</a> from Chris Whitely a few years ago. You can literally buy 365 fantastic niche-specific blog post ideas, in a single pack. All you have to do is tear off the top page and write about whatever it says, each & every day. Don’t copy them word for word, just use them as your springboard to get you started.</p> <p>And if you know a blogger that is struggling with ideas for what to write about, it would make the perfect holiday gift. Just be sure to point out that it’s a blog-post-idea-a-day pack, because it might not be that obvious to them to use it for that purpose.</p> <p>To make it easier for you, I dug up these from amazon.com. If you have a blog related to any of these topics or want to start one, these will be perfect for you.</p> <p> </p> <p align="center"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/TRTl3NJHd8I/AAAAAAAABF4/MzbvS6gezu8/s1600-h/61RQw%2BrBBsL._SL160_%5B2%5D.jpg"><img style="display: inline" title="61RQw rBBsL._SL160_" alt="61RQw rBBsL._SL160_" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/TRTl3lgzaQI/AAAAAAAABF8/R5rU9jwUSeY/61RQw%2BrBBsL._SL160_%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="160" height="160" /></a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004819MVK?ie=UTF8&tag=freeprogeboo-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004819MVK" target="_blank"><img style="display: inline" title="61etVgXFYML._SL160_" alt="61etVgXFYML._SL160_" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/TRTl33qBO2I/AAAAAAAABGA/vRjk18pM2ts/61etVgXFYML._SL160_%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="160" height="143" /></a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003WRPYM2?ie=UTF8&tag=freeprogeboo-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B003WRPYM2" target="_blank"><img style="display: inline" title="61RnuX137vL._SL160_" alt="61RnuX137vL._SL160_" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/TRTl4G-HfLI/AAAAAAAABGE/ZtS6tp-ym2U/61RnuX137vL._SL160_%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="160" height="160" /></a> </p> <p align="center"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003VI31K4?ie=UTF8&tag=freeprogeboo-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B003VI31K4" target="_blank"><img style="display: inline" title="51sC67dlIyL._SL160_" alt="51sC67dlIyL._SL160_" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/TRTl41CQocI/AAAAAAAABGI/eNLgllLGrxA/51sC67dlIyL._SL160_%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="160" height="160" /></a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003WRMB3M?ie=UTF8&tag=freeprogeboo-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B003WRMB3M" target="_blank"><img style="display: inline" title="51MtwdHcgaL._SL160_" alt="51MtwdHcgaL._SL160_" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/TRTl5a8Hn-I/AAAAAAAABGM/ZgxXHdkiP6w/51MtwdHcgaL._SL160_%5B6%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="157" height="160" /></a> <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/TRTl5qCKsmI/AAAAAAAABGQ/QZA7dXMK65Y/s1600-h/51GnGh2Wh4L._SL160_%5B3%5D.jpg"><img style="display: inline" title="51GnGh2Wh4L._SL160_" alt="51GnGh2Wh4L._SL160_" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/TRTl58YRLBI/AAAAAAAABGU/FJTCx41o934/51GnGh2Wh4L._SL160__thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="147" height="160" /></a> </p> <p align="center"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0043X6SWO?ie=UTF8&tag=freeprogeboo-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0043X6SWO" target="_blank"><img style="display: inline" title="517yB80S2nL._SL160_" alt="517yB80S2nL._SL160_" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/TRTl6IjOFPI/AAAAAAAABGY/O7Yk-hmC36A/517yB80S2nL._SL160_%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="160" height="135" /></a> <a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/TRTl6lUE9mI/AAAAAAAABGc/8T347CCOdXo/s1600-h/51ikRDND8AL._SL160_%5B3%5D.jpg"><img style="display: inline" title="51ikRDND8AL._SL160_" alt="51ikRDND8AL._SL160_" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/TRTl6_bNCHI/AAAAAAAABGg/7IPhvbuHwTk/51ikRDND8AL._SL160__thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="160" height="160" /></a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003V1JD30?ie=UTF8&tag=freeprogeboo-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B003V1JD30" target="_blank"><img style="display: inline" title="517 rVA6hkL._SL160_" alt="517 rVA6hkL._SL160_" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/TRTl7JOWE_I/AAAAAAAABGk/Xw7n7GDUC0A/517%2BrVA6hkL._SL160_%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="160" height="155" /></a> </p> <p align="center"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0761157816?ie=UTF8&tag=freeprogeboo-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0761157816" target="_blank"><img style="display: inline" title="51tSamEgtDL._SL160_" alt="51tSamEgtDL._SL160_" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/TRTl7Tg-DDI/AAAAAAAABGo/qJR0vOcwDhY/51tSamEgtDL._SL160_%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="160" height="160" /></a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0761157700?ie=UTF8&tag=freeprogeboo-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0761157700" target="_blank"><img style="display: inline" title="61p5SsQzpmL._SL160_" alt="61p5SsQzpmL._SL160_" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/TRTl7iBQeqI/AAAAAAAABGs/uo39OcqVeGY/61p5SsQzpmL._SL160_%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="160" height="160" /></a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0761157360?ie=UTF8&tag=freeprogeboo-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0761157360" target="_blank"><img style="display: inline" title="51xfeh 01iL._SL160_" alt="51xfeh 01iL._SL160_" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/TRTl71_r3-I/AAAAAAAABGw/275GTrotm14/51xfeh%2B01iL._SL160_%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="160" height="160" /></a> </p> <p align="center"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0761158057?ie=UTF8&tag=freeprogeboo-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0761158057" target="_blank"><img style="display: inline" title="51HYRYjz6gL._SL160_" alt="51HYRYjz6gL._SL160_" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/TRTl8AFloxI/AAAAAAAABG0/V7xc3-rFJVY/51HYRYjz6gL._SL160_%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="134" height="160" /></a> <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/TRTl8lhSHxI/AAAAAAAABG4/sfnlYUKrQBU/s1600-h/51hEYGjCQlL._SL160_%5B3%5D.jpg"><img style="display: inline" title="51hEYGjCQlL._SL160_" alt="51hEYGjCQlL._SL160_" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/TRTl87cFRkI/AAAAAAAABG8/n467khQKt9s/51hEYGjCQlL._SL160__thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="160" height="160" /></a> </p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> Yes, they are affiliate links and Amazon will throw me a few cents if you buy through my links, but it won't cost you any more than if you had just gone to the site and found the calendars on your own. And if none of these calendars interest you or you don't like the prices, you are free to look elsewhere. <div class="zemanta-related"> <h6 style="font-size: 1em" class="zemanta-related-title">Related articles</h6> <ul class="zemanta-article-ul"> <li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://blog.valuebookshop.com/2010/2011-blogging-calendar/">2011 Blogging Calendar</a> (valuebookshop.com) </li> <li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.blogworld.com/2010/12/14/12-writers-writing/">12 Days of Blogging 2010: 12 Writers Writing</a> (blogworld.com)</li> <li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.webmanmarketing.com/blogging-on-the-brain/">Blogging On The Brain</a> (webmanmarketing.com)</li> </ul> </div> <div style="margin-top: 10px; height: 15px" class="zemanta-pixie"><img style="border-bottom-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; float: right; border-left-style: none" class="zemanta-pixie-img" alt="" src="http://img.zemanta.com/pixy.gif?x-id=a7b1aee6-3be4-4603-a1a6-a9d21deaa774" /></div> Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-87571890880146222072009-03-16T23:10:00.001-04:002009-03-16T23:10:21.572-04:007 Reasons Not to Direct Link to a Developer's Download Files<p><img style="margin: 0px 10px 30px 0px" height="169" alt="downloads" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/Sb8UnKwWemI/AAAAAAAAAsk/36AprmLCk78/downloads%5B27%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="240" align="left" /> As a developer, I can't help but be more than a little bit bothered by the fact that some bloggers chose to direct link to application download files (.zip, .exe, etc) in some of the articles they write, rather than the page on the developer's site, in which the download links can be found.</p> <p>If this is how you do things when you write articles & reviews, then I'd like to inform you that this isn't a very nice thing to do, for the following reasons: </p> <ol> <li>You are depriving the developers of the full credit they deserve for the work they have done. If the application is worth writing about, it's also worth giving the developer full proper credit. </li> <li>Some freeware authors have Paypal donate buttons on their sites, and your readers will never see them, therefore never click them. This deprives some developers of their only income and maybe their only incentive to keep making freeware/donationware. </li> <li>Some freeware authors have advertising on their sites, and additional page impressions or clicks generated from the traffic you send them means an income for them, and your direct linking to the files prevents that from happening. This is how some software can remain free, rather than the author resorting to making it payware (or even worse, adware). If you would like things to stay free and clean, you have to do your part to help the developers keep it that way. </li> <li>A blog linking to a page on a small developer's site can mean a big boost in Page Rank, making their software easier to find through search engines. This helps the people searching for the perfect tool to do the job they need, as well as the software developer that created it. </li> <li>You are depriving and cheating your readers of the chance to browse around the developer's site, and perhaps the opportunity to discover more useful software they might be interested in. And in the case of the applications that come from sites like <a href="http://donationcoder.com/" target="_blank">donationcoder.com</a>, you are preventing them from discovering a wonderful software enthusiasts community that they really would enjoy, and can even request custom made freeware, made to their specifications. </li> <li>In some cases, you may also be making it more difficult for your readers to find the info necessary to submit bug reports and get support, not to mention application updates and upgrades. </li> <li>You may also be depriving your readers of important information related to installing or using the application, that they may need to know. </li> </ol> <p>So, could you please be a really nice person to us poor freeware/donationware developers, and your readers, and fix your links to point to the pages and not the file downloads? And in the future, always link to the pages, instead. </p> <p>Your readers and the software developers would really appreciate this.</p> <p>Thank You.</p> Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-87234204167103763462008-08-23T09:33:00.004-04:002008-12-11T02:24:10.271-05:00When Grandma died, she took her Christmas cookies with herAfter reading <a href="http://wassupblog.com/2008/08/14/why-so-many-people-choose-to-blog/">a post on WassupBlog</a>, it got me thinking again about this issue, and I feel that you should take a moment to think about it, too. You have a will and life insurance to take care of the big details, but are you overlooking another big one that needs taking care of and preparing for?<br /><br />In just about every family I know, there has occurred a similar situation, where a loved one has died and all of the recipes that person was responsible for, that became an integral part of that family's culture and traditions, were lost forever.<br /><br />When a death occurs in a family, it is hard enough to deal with the loss of that person without adding the loss of family culture and tradition on top of it.<br /><br />Sure Christmas will never be the same without Grandma, but now you don't even have her cookies to help keep her memory alive and feel like at least that part of her is still here.<br /><a href="http://momscookbook.blogspot.com/2008/06/16-bean-soup.html"><img style="margin: 20px 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; width: 158px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/SFPxdkPXuzI/AAAAAAAAAVw/PCNaGfOwpPw/s400/16-bean-soup.jpg" alt="My 16 Bean Soup" border="0" /></a><br />I would like all moms, grandmas, and anyone else that has ever cooked any food for their family, from holiday dinners to Friday night pizza, to take a moment to think about what would happen to your recipes if anything ever happened to you. If you are a newly wed, and don't really have many yet, think about what could happen in the future when you have plenty.<br /><br />Are all of your recipes written down and all in one place? Does your family know where to find them? What would happen if your house burned down, taking your paper copies of your recipes with it? Do you have any of Grandma's recipes that need to be protected so they can be handed down to future generations?<br /><br />Consider publishing all your recipes to a blog, maybe including photos of the prepared items, or even better, photos of your family members enjoying them. Make sure every member of your family has the URL bookmarked.<br /><br />You might want to create this recipe blog on a free service like <a href="http://blogger.com/">Blogger</a>, so there will be less risk of them being lost by being deleted by a hosting company, just in case something happens to you and the hosting bill doesn't get paid.<br /><a href="http://momscookbook.blogspot.com/2007/04/easy-mexican-vegetarian-enchilada.html"><img style="margin: 20px 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; width: 206px;" src="http://appsapps.info/blog/EasyMexicanVegetarianEnchiladaLasagna_A719/EnchiladaLasagna013.jpg" alt="My Enchilada Lasagna" border="0" /></a><br />The bonus you will get for doing this, besides peace of mind, is that while you are still alive, all your recipes will be in one place, easy to share with family and friends, protected in case a fire or flood destroys your home, and you will be introducing others to creations that could possibly become part of their own family culture and traditions.<br /><br />But more importantly, should anything happen to you, your family will still have that part of you kept alive. And it will be a big comfort to them to still be able to have that. It will be like you coming back every once in awhile to give them a big hug when they really need it most. All of the good memories that go along with the foods will be well preserved in their hearts & minds, when the taste is still on their tongues.Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-37599158472633653982008-07-15T01:57:00.006-04:002008-12-11T02:24:11.803-05:00Bloggers With Comment Forms That Suck a Chunk of Your Life Into a Black Hole<img style="margin: 20px 10px 0px 0pt; float: left;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/SHxASAbNBBI/AAAAAAAAAXA/aq_1ucvUNr8/s400/black+hole.jpg" alt="Black Hole" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5223120345938854930" border="0" /><br />Listen up, <a href="http://johnchow.com/">John Chow</a>, <a href="http://www.jackhumphrey.com/fridaytrafficreport/">Jack Humphrey</a>, <a href="http://blogaboutyourblog.com/">Matthew Henrickson</a>, <a href="http://andybeard.eu/">Andy Beard</a>, and the rest of you lazy and/or inept bloggers out there:<br /><br />I am tired of wasting my time on broken comment forms, screwball captchas, lazy moderation, and bad site design.<br /><br />Too many times in the past 2 weeks, I have tried to make comments on blogs that ended up sucked into cyberspace and never making it to its destination, which is the post in which I was commenting on.<br /><br />On three blogs, after taking the time to formulate an informative, relevant, quality comment (one of them was at least an hour of work), it was just sucked away after clicking the submit button, with no indication that it made it to where it was supposed to go, or it being held for moderation, or anything else. Will I ever grace those blogs with another comment again? No!<br /><br />On another blog, after almost the same amount of work and hitting the submit button, I was informed that commenting on that post was closed. Why was there a comment form then? And why was there no visible indication that commenting was closed that I could see,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> before</span> I wasted my time putting together a comment? Will I ever grace that blog with another comment? No!<br /><br />On another blog, after I took the time to make a comment thanking the blogger for his post and tell him how useful it was to me and why, and how I was going to send him some traffic because it was that damn good, his captcha informs me that I must have flunked math in school because 4+3 does <span style="font-weight: bold;">not</span> equal 7. Don't insult me like that. I try to compliment you and thank you, and this is the thanks I get? A screwball captcha that calls me an idiot? Will I ever comment on your blog again? No!<br /><br />On another two blogs, my comment was being held for moderation. Now I can understand the need to do that in order to keep spammers at bay, but don't you think you should check your queue to see if any comments were made, at least once a week, if not more often? Maybe even check it when you are making a new post, at least. Will I be commenting on those blogs again? No!<br /><br />I am tired of wasting chunks of my life trying to comment unsucessfully on your blogs.<br /><br />So to all you bloggers out there, please check to make sure your comment forms and captchas <span style="font-weight: bold;">work</span>, when commenting is closed that it is visibly closed to your visitors <span style="font-weight: bold;">before</span> they waste their time (remove the form if possible), if comments are being held for moderation that <span style="font-weight: bold;">commentors are told this</span>, and process your comment moderation queues <span style="font-weight: bold;">on a regular basis</span>!<br /><br />And if you have no clue what you are doing or how to fix things, <span style="font-weight: bold;">ask someone to help you</span>!Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-9475443609859417032007-10-11T13:41:00.002-04:002008-08-27T06:08:53.650-04:00Online Privacy Policy Generator<p><a href="http://www.the-dma.org/privacy/creating.shtml" target="_blank"><img style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px" height="147" alt="online privacy policy generator" src="http://lh6.google.com/omgplzstfukthx/R3GwvdifrJI/AAAAAAAAAHI/TmXH9YYw4q8/SNAG-0063%5B5%5D" width="158" align="right"></a>Constructing a privacy policy for your website can be a complicated task, but it doesn't have to be any more.</p> <p>With this generator it is as easy as checking off some boxes and filling in some blanks. </p> <p>They give you the choice between generating an HTML page which you can just save, or emailing you an HTML or plain text copy.</p> <p> </p> <p><a href="http://www.the-dma.org/privacy/creating.shtml" target="_blank">http://www.the-dma.org/privacy/creating.shtml</a></p>Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com0