Useful Websites
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Depending on what website you use, sometimes finding that daily “fix” you’re seeking for online news can be fun.
Try it for yourself and see what I mean. Go to “Yahoo” news or Google news. Type a random phrase into the “search news” box and see what you get.
It always amazes me the stuff that’s online and the stuff you can find that way. Maybe it’s just that “regular” or “normal” news is getting more odd. (I used to go to a site years ago titled “odd news.”) Whatever the reason, when you add so many millions of blogs into the universal mix of online news, you both lower and raise the bar for news. You lower the bar in the sense that a lot of results have little to do with valid journalism (whatever that means online any more). You raise the bar in the sense that whole, vast worlds of information (good and bad) are opening up to the news aggregation sites.
Just now, I went to Google News — my news site of preference — and searched for “adult tricycle.” The second article that came up was a fascinating interview with writer-actor John Leguizamo about his “green limo,” i.e., the bicycle he rides back and forth to theater work in New York City, and the importance he places on saving the environment.
Not earth-shaking news, but fun stuff easy to come by. Whether you’re searching for stories about saving the ecology, apidexin reviews, information on Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West show, or a good place to buy Chinese food in Toronto — you can find it all in the news with a few simple, fun searches.
I still love to read “the papers,” but honestly, I’m turning into an online news junkie, too.
Here’s a useful website where you might make a few bucks
No, this isn’t a massive appeal for new comments to my blog — although I’m always eager for anyone who reads this to also write a comment on what they’re reading.
I recently posted to another of my blogs about a website called Associated Content. That site, AC as they call themselves, has been around a few years now and very simply offers to pay people for writing about anything (within their legal and ethical guidelines, of course) they would like to write about. From arts and crafts to essays and opinion pieces, AC says they’ll consider it all. Have some expertise or a review you’re dying to write about the best weight loss pill you’ve tried in years? AC may well consider it, as they also accept product reviews.
The point of all this, of course, is that you can get paid for writing online even if you’ve never thought of yourself as a “writer” if you submit to AC. They charge no fees to sign up — and, of course, they make no guarantee of earnings. But if you’ve thought about writing about stuff that interests you, or if you already have a blog or website you write stuff for regularly, you might want to give Associated Content a try. I’m going over there later today to sign up myself.
If you’ve used Associated Content and made some money through the site, feel free to leave a comment here and tell all of us about your experience.
Looking for online MBA? Take a look at The University of Scranton
It’s been awhile since I’ve done specific “Useful Website” posts here, but I was looking at some online study options and found an excellent possibility if you are specifically looking for an MBA online: The University of Scranton. They’re located (no surprise here) in Scranton, Pennsylvania, but that really doesn’t matter for an online MBA degree, does it?
What does matter about the online MBA from The University of Scranton is this: They offer superior courses, instructors, and a very fine looking website, all the things you’re looking for in an online degree — and most of all, their online MBA is fully accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). According to information on their website:
“The University of Scranton’s business school, the Kania School of Management, is one of only 7% of worldwide educational institutions offering business degrees that have achieved the distinction of accreditation by AACSB International — The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Our Online MBA is one of the few offered by accredited schools that is available completely online.”
The University of Scranton’s online MBA website further explains in their excellent FAQ that you do NOT need an undergraduate business degree to qualify for the MBA program online, and you can complete the program in about two years — a year less, they say, than other online MBA degree programs. To add to all that, their program has been rated as one of the Top 15 by The Princeton Review, and it seems to me you’ve got a winner.
If you’re looking for an online MBA, I would highly recommend you take a look at The University of Scranton’s online MBA degree.
If you haven’t seen Pausch’s ‘Last Lecture’ — don’t wait another minute
If you haven’t yet seen the YouTube video of Prof. Randy Pausch’s “Last Lecture” — don’t wait another minute. I’ve put it in this post so you don’t even need to locate it on YouTube. You can watch it right here.
Prof. Pausch was a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University who was diagnosed with terminal cancer and told he had only 3-6 months left to live shortly before he did this video as part of a “Last Lecture” program at the university. As it turns out, he lived almost a year after the lecture — and you’ll discover watching this video that he REALLY knew how to live.
On a personal note, my wife and I watched this hour-and-a-quarter-long video for the first time just this afternoon. We procrastinated even though we’ve had more than one friend and family member tell us it was truly “life changing” for them. I don’t know if it was exactly life changing for us — but it was one of those events that will have a lasting impact on me and the way I approach life in general.
But don’t waste your time listening to me explain what’s going on, get started with the video and find all that out for yourself:
How cool is this — ‘Allio’ is an all-in-one HDTV with built-in, quality computer
How cool is this — I just ran onto an All in one HDTV / PC: a 32-inch or 42-inch LCD HDTV television with a “Intel Atom 330 Dual Core processor, 2GB of high-speed DDR2-800 memory, and a massive 250GB SATA II hard drive” computer built right into it. It comes complete with USB ports and an ethernet or wireless Internet capability. It also has surround sound, home theater speakers — and the unit is wall mountable.
This beauty sells for between $1,299-$2,799.99, depending on the size and quality of the screen, the options you choose, etc. This could just be the REALLY absolutely perfect home entertainment center and combined computer workstation. Although I don’t — yet, anyway! — own one of these beauties, the Allio is carried by Visionman, an online merchant I’m familiar with and which has been in business supplying great deals in computers and electronics for 15 years.
You’ll be impressed and amazed at all the features in the Allio and the multitude of options and price options available. If you’re considering replacing a home computer and/or home entertainment center, you owe it to yourself and your family to go take a look. Go ahead. I’ll be here when you get back.
Now, if I can just convince my wife that we really DO need to replace our television — actually, we really do — and our old desktop computer (okay, maybe the current desktop will have to stay for now), maybe, just maybe …
RUN — don’t walk, RUN! — to find Uncle Jay
RUN — quick, don’t just walk, RUN! — over to Uncle Jay’s website to find out what’s really going on in the news.
I don’t know who “Uncle Jay” really is. I don’t know that, because his website has a brief “About Uncle Jay” page, but it really says little about him. When I get the time, I’ll Google around and see what I can find out.
I owe my newly found fun with Uncle Jay’s website and videos to one of our regulars here, Judi, a friend of mine from some affiliate marketing forums I go to and waste far too much time hanging out there.
Anyway, take a look at Uncle Jay’s latest YouTube selection and you’ll understand why I’m raving about the guy. Here you go:
Time for a memory upgrade? No, I don’t mean your computer
Ever have one of those days when you think you really need a memory upgrade — I don’t mean more RAM in your computer, necessarily, but a real-life “memory upgrade,” is what I’m talking about.
Cheer up. Such situations happen even more as you get older. I was thinking about memory and how I may be losing mine after a conversation I had yesterday with my wife. It involved some freelance proofreading she’s doing this week. I was sure this particular company paid her in the past at a rate that was $10 an hour more than what she’s getting for this gig.
I mean, it was one of those details I was absolutely sure I was right about. She showed me where I absolutely was wrong. (She’s much better at keeping detailed work logs than I. I call it obsessive.)
Each year I put on my Old Guy mind always makes me a bit more concerned when I mess up on such details. A buddy used to tell me I had a mind like a steel trap. Of course, he then followed his comment with “Full of rats.” I’ve always known, of course, that he meant my Big Brain was skilled at grabbing details and never letting go of them.
Uh, well, maybe that ability to hold onto details really has turned into something closer to a rat trap. Excuse me for now. Gotta run … it’s just about time for my meds.
Useful holiday gift ideas for real coffee lovers
Having just posted about the wonders of “real man’s” coffee and made fun of “hoytee-toytee” specialty coffee, I hasten to add that I drink espresso and an occasional latte when I can find a good one. It’s just that where I live the espresso and lattes I find are mostly poor and watery. Unlike the wonderful, heavenly shores of Seattle, Boulder, or even Denver — it’s really hard to find great specialty coffee here in good old Springfield, Missouri. My apologies to all in this town who THINK they offer good specialty coffee, but they just need to get out more to discover the truth.
Being culturally and geographically limited, I therefore have come to prefer just a really good, strong cup of home brewed coffee to any of the coffee shop stuff around here. (Although I DO frequent a place for coffee and bagels many mornings for breakfast. Won’t say which place. Those who know me know they can find me there. LOL!)
With all that in mind, I found a wonderful website which sells some intriguing Capresso coffeemakers and coffee supplies. I am not real familiar with Capresso, but the goodies they offer look wonderful. Go over to that website right away, find something nice, and get it for yourself or all your coffee loving friends.
Just a thought. Just a possibility to help with your holiday shopping and gift giving. Especially if you’re a coffee devotee like me! (Now excuse me while I put on a new pot myself.)
Don’t fall for this folder or any similar email voter scam — it is vile!
Don’t fall for any folders, flyers, brochures, or email or any other information you get from ANYONE telling you you must vote on November 5. That is an extremely vicious, VILE fraud and your vote will not be counted if you fall for it.
I just saw a report on CNN that says voters in Virginia have been getting flyers left at their homes telling them that heavy voter turnout requires Republicans to vote on November 4 and Democrats to vote on November 5.
THIS IS AN ABSOLUTELY FALSE, VILE, DECEPTION. IT IS NOT TRUE. DO NOT FALL FOR IT.
Given the way emails are believed by so many gullible people, and given the way this printed notice which people have found stuck on their porches, inside screen doors, etc., looks as though it’s an official notice from the Commonwealth of Virginia, there will be some folks who think it’s real.
IT IS NOT REAL. It is someone’s bad idea of a joke or someone’s effort to negate as many Democratic votes as possible. I heard on the CNN report that the State Police in Virginia have begun investigating this matter and looking to arrest whoever is behind it. I know also from that CNN report that Republican and Democratic Party officials have denounced the brochure and/or any emails or other messages with this lie.
Please, good readers, don’t be someone duped by any such scams. Go to the polls on Election Day (or during the allowed early voting period if your state has one) and let your vote count. Don’t be duped into trying to vote AFTER November 4. No state in the U.S. is allowing voting or requiring voting or anything like that on November 5 or ANY date AFTER November 4.
Now I’ll sit back and wait. Sadly, I predict that someone somewhere will be duped by such lying scammers and fall for it. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!! How horrible is that!!!!!!!
Amazing presidential campaign, isn’t it? What happened to the issues?
Am I the only one — of course I’m not! — who thinks both the McCain and Obama campaigns have veered off the issues and started flinging mud, trying to deal political “death by innuendo” blows at each other?
To hear McCain’s bunch, especially the lovely pitbull-with-lipstick Sarah Palin, Obama lives somewhere near the deepest fire pits in Hades — after all, he “pals around” with known domestic terrorists, doesn’t he? (Insert your own Big GROAN here!!) And, in what I think was somewhat out of character for most of Obama’s campaign to the present, Obama fired back some shots at McCain and his “Keating Five” days.
For the record: Obama was 8 or 9 (I’m not sure which) years old when his “friend” the domestic terrorist (to be honest, I don’t even recall his name) was active in the 1960s radical group, Weather Underground. From what I’ve read, even the legitimate news organizations that have investigated the whole matter conclude there is no “friendship” or “palling around” as our chuckle-faced Alaskan governor puts it. On the other side, and I heard this explained in some detail this morning on CNN, McCain was cleared of any formal ethical and legal misdeeds by the Senate as one of the Keating Five — BUT (and I see this as a very BIG but), McCain demonstrably DID delay regulations and hold private meetings with regulators to buy time for his buddy Charles Keating at the time the S&L fiasco Keating was responsible for defrauded and lost MILLIONS of dollars for those common people McCain’s always harping about.
Ah, phooey! Makes me sound like a bad 1950s cartoon character, I know. But “phooey” is the only word that comes to mind for both campaigns.
Here’s a clue, Senators, THE NATION’S JUST ABOUT FINANCIALLY BANKRUPT. Quit taking potshots at each other and deal with the issues. Especially YOU, John McCain and Sarah Palin. Quit slinging mud and twisting your lies and start facing up to the issues, please.
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