I was approached by my manager last week who took me aside, into an unused office, saying with a grim expression, "We need to have a chat." So I was wondering what I might have done wrong, where I screwed up, what I should have done but didn't... but it turns out that I did better than I thought!

It seems that the work I've done on the client implementation recently, that I went to Christchurch for, has been noticed as being great work by executive management. As a result, they've requested my involvement on the client implementation for yet another new, MAJOR client, involving lots and lots of users. It'll involve me for some months, rather than some days, and will take a lot of my time.

This is good news indeed! My efforts are being recognised, and I'm being rewarded with more responsibilities, as well as being noticed by people I've never interacted with.

Oh, and my request for a new, work PDA a couple weeks ago was approved. I think it's going to include a cellphone in the PDA. More details coming...

Erin just wrote about George Bush and the fate of our world, and she wrote something which made me laugh and laugh, and inspired this post.

...when George Bush won his first presidential election, I felt what Obi Wan Kenobi might call a “disturbance in the Force.” It was very strange. I had an instant flash, a psychic impression. It was as if the Universe itself was saying, “What just happened? That wasn’t supposed to happen. That’s not what was planned.”

I got the immediate thought that George Bush was a Sith Lord! As I tried to research the qualities of a Sith Lord to include in this post, I found this article: Is Bush a Sith Lord? So it seems I'm not the only one who has this thought.

Sith lords use the powers of the dark side of the force. Jedi knights use the power of the good side. The Jedi are selfless and use their incredible powers to protect the Republic. Sith are evil and crave absolute power.

Erin talks about how the only reason George Bush - Evil - came to power is because Good people are sleeping, and since the universe requires balance, when Good is asleep, Evil awakes.

It was Edmund Burke who wrote: All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

Well, we're seeing a lot of good people do nothing, and so we're seeing Evil triumphing.

There's another saying that I remember, but don't know the exact wording, or who wrote it. In order to fight Evil, one must use the same weapons that Evil uses.

If you don't, you become overpowered, because Evil doesn't worry about morals and ethics and holding back and mercy. To fight Evil, one must become Evil.

It makes you wonder, doesn't it, who are the Good guys. Bush the Sith Lord, or Osama Wan Kenobi? ;-)

I was inspired to write this due to Chancelucky's comment here.

There's a very interesting theory going around, that 6 million Jews died during World War II at the hands of the Nazis. It's a theory that most people believe in, and which is promoted to great effect by the Jews themselves, particularly the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). If anyone doesn't believe the theory, or they find evidence to discredit it, they are labelled a 'Holocaust denier' and either shunned, or imprisoned. Unfortunately, there are a lot of inconsistencies to the story, particularly officially, that brings into question the original theory of what the Holocaust is all about. If you search around, you can find the evidence for yourself, but I'll try to do a bit of it for you instead.

On April 18 1945, The New York Times reported that 4 million people died at Auschwitz. This single peice of newspaper reporting was used as evidence of the Holocaust for over 50 years. However, on January 26 1995, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Auschwitz liberation, both the Washington Post and the New York Times reported that Polish authorities had determined that 1.5 million people at most, of all races and religions, died at Auschwitz of all causes, including natural causes. Official mention is here, where they state that the reason for the inflated figure was to 'demonize Fascism and enhance legitimacy of the Communist regime'.

What that means is that they lied.

Interestingly, reducing the Auschwitz death toll apparently does not change the numbers of Jews killed in the Holocaust. Personally, I'd like to know where the extra 3.5 MILLION came from, if they weren't from Auschwitz. There's no explanation of that.

If we take the original figure of 6 million, of which 4 million were said to have died at Auschwitz, and modify it with the new official figures of only 1.5 million PEOPLE who died at Auschwitz, we have the amazing figure of only 2 million JEWS dying due to the Holocaust.

Is it still a Holocaust at this point?

The death toll of the entire Second World War was 50 MILLION people. This site here has some great figures of the casualties.

Soldiers: 22.0M
Civilians
- In camps, from Fascist terror: 12.0M
- From hostilites, blockade, epidemics, hunger: 14.5M
- From bombing: 1.5M

The country-by-country death toll (for figures over a million) is:

USSR: 20.0M
China: 10.45M
Poland: 5.8M
Germany: 5.5M
India: 2.15M
Japan: 1.9M
Yugoslavia: 1.55M

Who really had a Holocaust? The Jews, or any of the other countries above?

My dictionary defines a holocaust as: An act of great destruction and loss of life.

What gives the Jews the rights to claim ownership of 'holocaust', when it applies to so many other countries, and so many other victims? And especially when the figure of how many Jews died has changed over the years, becoming less and less as time has gone by.

The Jews, however, particularly the Israelis and the ADL, still bandy around the figure of 6 million dead, disregarding how the official figure has dropped to only 2 million. 'Holocaust denial' has become something that is worthy of imprisonment, and it seems that imprisonments are happening more today than in the past 6 years.

Could it be that it serves the purposes of the Jews to be pitied for the Holocaust as they want us to believe it? Could the benefits of being victims be so great to them, that the possibility of being considered liars and opportunists be worth keeping silent those who talk about the truth?

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. If there were no inconsistencies with the figures, we wouldn't be talking about it. If you preach about untruths, then you're considered an idiot. But if you're locked away for speaking those 'untruths', then the authorities show they have something to hide, especially when evidence proving the official story to be a lie is destroyed.

1. Take responsibility

You are responsible for your own life and everything in it, including your own happiness. Do not blame your parents, your childhood, society, others or even life events.

2. Be flexible in your thinking
Beware of absolutist / all or nothing / black and white / rigid thinking, with an over emphasis on the words 'should', 'must', 'ought' and 'can't'. Loosen up your thinking, look at alternative views, avoid perfectionism.

3. Confront rather than avoid difficulties and frustrations
Treat problems as challenges, as useful in helping you to build up a tolerance and experience. Expect change and challenges and for life to be unfair at times.

4. Look after your own needs
Be assertive in identifying and meeting your own needs, whether it be for food, exercise, relaxation, pleasure, work, laughter or love. We all need to have good self-care skills.

5. Express yourself
Express positive feelings of love, joy and excitement, but also negative feelings of anger, sadness and disappointment. Always be willing to 'talk about things', try not to 'bottle things up' or avoid issues.

6. Strive for balance
Feel in control of your life by making active choices and decisions about how you spend your time. Fill your life with a balance of work and play, time alone and with people, and physical and mental activities.

7. Develop and maintain relationships
Value and nurture friendships. Develop a network of social support and confiding relationships as they act as an insulator against stress. Accept others for how they are, rather than trying to change them.

Over here I talked about how I talked online to a Nigerian woman who ended up trying to scam some money out of me. I commented that it's "a sad day when every single contact you have with any person of Nigerian nationality has them trying to scam you of money."

Turns out that I'm not the only one who thinks so. Have a read of this blog's post: Why is it always the Nigerians?

My cat, Eve, decided to give us a small gift yesterday, around 5pm. Or at least tried to. However, she was banished outside, while her gift, a small bird, was rescued and put into a tissue box on top of some tissues. While Eve was outside complaining about being deprived of her carefully chosen gift, I was inside monitoring the health of the bird.

I think it had a broken leg, and it's tail had been ripped out. It was also probably suffering various internal injuries. It failed to pull through, however, and expired around 8pm.

I wrapped it up in the tissues and carefully placed it into the rubbish bin. There's nowhere really to bury it around here, and besides, it'll only be dug up again by Eve or another cat. So the bird went to the great Bird God of the Rubbish Dump.

I think it's absolutely hilarious that the Bush Administration, allegedly highly focused on security for the country against Middle Eastern enemies, are allowing a number of ports to be sold to a Middle Eastern country, the UAE...

I find it hard to stop laughing.

How many people are likely to die as a result of Middle Eastern interests being allowed to pass into the US by the Middle Eastern owners?

Oh, my sides are hurting from the laughter....

This week David Irving was imprisoned in Austria for 3 years for 'holocaust denial'.

If I stated that men never walked on the moon, would they lock me up for 'moon walking denial'?

If I stated that the earth was in fact flat, would they lock me up for 'globe denial'?

If I stated that inside every kiwi was an aussie trying to get out, would they lock me up for 'kiwi denial'?

If I stated that World War II never happened, would they lock me up for 'WWII denial'?

Then why the frack would they lock me up if I stated that the Holocaust never happened, unless it actually didn't and they don't want the truth to be known?

If you are arguing against truths that are real and factual, then there is no need to lock you up for being an idiot. If, however, you are arguing against a truth that is actually a cover-up, where authorities want you to believe that a lie is in fact a truth, then it is in the authorities' interests to lock you away and prevent you from telling people the truth.

There is no reason that 'holocaust denial' be a crime resulting in imprisonment unless the holocaust story is a lie that they don't want you to know about.


UPDATE: I just had an extra thought. If you can be locked up for simply expressing an opinion, then what's to stop this from setting a precedent and they start locking people up for expressing other opinions?

Americans are already discovering it's a crime to be unpatriotic. The Bush government is working at prosecuting people for sedition, which means: An illegal action inciting resistance to lawful authority and tending to cause the disruption or overthrow of the government. Any comment or action that is designed to disrupt or overthrow the government is a crime under this law. This means all Democrats are guilty of sedition. All anti-Bush blogs and commentators are guilty of sedition.

Freedom of speech is slowly but surely being outlawed, and the world sits back and lets it happen.

Updated: I found this timeline of events regarding the Muslim cartoon outrage. As more events occur, I'll add them to this timeline (latest events will be at the top of the list). It'll be interesting to see how things turn out as time goes by.

2006

19 February: Police use tear gas to disperse demonstrators who stage protest in defiance of ban, in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Tens of thousands of protestors chanting slogans against Denmark, Israel and the United States, rally in Istanbul, Turkey.

18 February: Sixteen people are killed in attacks against Christian targets in the northern Nigerian city of Maiduguri.

The Italian reform minister who wore a T-shirt with the cartoons resigns. Libyan Interior Minister Nasr al-Mabrouk is suspended and referred for investigation into police actions during the Benghazi rioting.

In Pakistan, four protesters are wounded after police reportedly open fire demonstrators in the eastern town of Chaniot.

17 February: At least 10 people are killed and several injured in the Libyan city of Benghazi in clashes during a protest outside the Italian consulate. Pakistan detains more than 100 people to stem protests.

Denmark temporarily closes its embassy in Pakistan because of the security situation. Pakistan recalls its ambassador in Denmark for consultations.

15 February: Three people die in the Pakistan cities of Peshawar and Lahore.

Italian government minister Roberto Calderoli says he is distributing T-shirts displaying the controversial cartoons.

14 February: Pakistani security guards shoot dead two protesters in Lahore. In Islamabad, police use tear gas to disperse students who entered a diplomatic area.

Crowds attack British and German embassies in Iran and Basra city council in southern Iraq calls for the withdrawal of Danish troops from the country.

13 February: A leading Iranian newspaper, the Hamshahri Daily, launches a competition asking people to submit cartoons about the Holocaust, which the paper says is to test the boundaries of free speech for Westerners.

12 February: Denmark's foreign ministry urges all Danes to leave Indonesia over intelligence fears they may be targeted. Indonesia describes the move as "hasty".

10 February: Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi tells a conference in Kuala Lumpur a huge chasm has opened between the West and Islam, fuelled by Muslim frustrations over Western foreign policy. Thousands outside protest over the cartoons.

9 February: Hundreds of thousands of Shia Muslims in Lebanon turn a religious ceremony into a protest over the cartoons.

8 February: French magazine Charlie Hebdo publishes the cartoons along with other caricatures. French President Jacques Chirac condemns decisions to reprint the cartoons as "overt provocation".

7 February: Several hundred Iranians attack the Danish embassy in Tehran as the country announces it is cutting all trade ties with Denmark.

6 February: Protests claim lives - at least five people are killed in Afghanistan, and a teenage boy dies after protesters attack police in Somalia.

5 February: Lebanese demonstrators set the Danish embassy in Beirut on fire. Interior Minister Hassan Sabeh resigns over the violent protests.

4 February: Syrians attack Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus, prompting UN chief Kofi Annan to call for calm.

2 February: The editor of the French newspaper France Soir is sacked for printing the cartoons.

1 February: Papers in France, Germany, Italy and Spain reprint the caricatures, defying Muslim outrage.

31 January: The Danish paper apologises. The Danish prime minister welcomes the apology but defends the freedom of the press.

30 January: Gunmen raid the EU's offices in Gaza, demanding an apology over the cartoons.

26 January: Saudi Arabia recalls its ambassador to Denmark, while Libya says it is closing its embassy in Copenhagen.

10 January: A Norwegian newspaper reprints the cartoons.

2005

20 October: Ambassadors from 10 Islamic countries complain to the Danish prime minister about the cartoons.

17 October 2005: Egyptian newspaper al-Fagr reprints some of the cartoons, describing them as a "continuing insult" and a "racist bomb".

30 September: A series of cartoons, some depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a terrorist, are published by Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.

Here I am, sitting in Wellington airport again, but this time on the way to Christchurch for work purposes, instead of to or from Australia for enjoyment purposes. But it's ok, as I love travelling regardless of whether it's for work or for pleasure. I love sitting in the airport, watching the people go by. I love sitting down and relaxing, knowing that I'm 'working' and that a big part of it is travelling.

When I get to Christchurch I'll be jumping into a hire car and heading off to a new client, to do another client implementation process. This involves getting to know them, helping them get to know the company I represent, along with the service desk that will be assisting them. I'll be getting as much information from the client as I can get, that'll help bring the client into the service desk support process, and allow us to support them as easily as possible.

I really do find this enjoyable, and I've done a few of these processes now. It's great that work is getting me to do more of them. I guess it's also great that I do a good enough job to encourage them to do so. :-)

Today we were leaving Sydney. First, this is the car (a Ford Falcon, good ol' Aussie car) that we hired, which did so well getting us around. It was ok to drive, but I actually think the Mitsubishi we hired in Dec/Jan was much better.


On the plane, about to leave Sydney...


Anyone know what kind of USAF plane this is?

Today we were leaving Sydney. First, this is the car (a Ford Falcon, good ol' Aussie car) that we hired, which did so well getting us around. It was ok to drive, but I actually think the Mitsubishi we hired in Dec/Jan was much better.


On the plane, about to leave Sydney...


Anyone know what kind of USAF plane this is?

These photos were taken at Coogee Beach, where we wandered around a bit with my friend Peter.

Halley and Stephen, the lucky couple who got married today (along with Deidre).


Deidre and I, at the reception.

The reason we came to Sydney was for a wedding between Halley and Stephen. (Halley is one of Deidre's cousins.)

We drove to Wollongong to pick up Deidre's mum and take her to the church with us. Almost an hour to Wollongong, and then almost an hour back to the church. And then we were almost late when we thought it was on a particular road, only to discover that we were looking on the wrong road!

After we finally got there we settled in for the wedding service. That was pretty funny. As you know, I'm not religious. Spiritual, but not religious. So there were a couple of times during the service when the minister said something and I whispered into my hand, "BULLshit!" Deidre was the only one who could hear me, and we had a good chuckle between ourselves, with her doing the same.

There was a church singer who was cute... I leant over to Deidre and said, "Will I go to hell if I have lustful thoughts about the religious singer over there?"

Yes, I'm a heathen. *grin*

After the service we went to the reception. It was really nice to have been invited, and Halley (Deidre's cousin) and Steven, the newlyweds, definitely made a lovely couple. I got to meet a whole bunch of Deidre's family that I hadn't met over xmas.

The best part was when we were dancing. Now, Deidre and I have slow danced a few times in our lounge room, but never in public. Not being a good dancer, I've always been hesitant to dance in public, feeling self conscious about it. Tonight however, was different. We slow danced a few times, and we were great! Or, if we weren't great, I was at least comfortable enough to not care. Either way, we had a fantastic night dancing.

David and Celeste's new baby!

We went out to dinner last night at an Indian restaurant called Indian Aroma, where the food was great, and so was the service. So great, however, that they actually gave us more than we asked for, and then expected us to pay for it.

Now, this wasn't actually much of a problem, especially after we spent 10 minutes explaining to one of the owners how the misunderstanding occurred, and how the misunderstanding was due to both them and us. The owner offered a 10% discount, which Dan and I thought was fair.

However, the second owner decided it wasn't fair, especially to him. He then proceeded to spend another 5-10 minutes arguing with us some more, implying that we had colluded to try and rip him off, and various other accusations against our moral characters. He basically proved himself to be an arrogant frack, and we were only too happy to have them end up taking the price off for what we hadn't ordered. The arrogant frack, however, told us we were to never come back to their restaurant. This was just after I'd paid for Deidre's and my share. Dan and I looked at him, and Dan, incredulous, said, "You don't want us coming back?"

"No, do not come back, you are not welcome here."

I, in a rare moment of mildly expressed anger, said, "Your attitude sucks!" and walked out. Dan and Karina spent another few minutes trying to appease the situation, to no avail. Dan told us, as we were walking away, that [the arrogant frack] told him that his INDIAN customers never gave him such a problem, blah blah bullshit blah...

All of this over 2 entrees that we hadn't ordered, grand total = AU$26, on a bill for over AU$150. The arrogant, racist and fracked up service by this tosser resulted in this very bad review of the Indian Aroma restaurant. Do not go there. Your money is more important to them than your satisfaction. Their arrogance is more important than your continued patronage. Well, frack 'em. Now the whole world knows.

There's this little business etiquette that says, 'the customer is always right', even if the customer is wrong. By letting them THINK they're right results in their continued happiness. It results in their continued patronage. It results in them continuing to give you their money. And that is, after all, what you're in business for, right? To make money.

To argue with the customer, calling them liars and cheats, pointing out that your Indian friends don't complain, and telling them they're not welcome any more only alienates them. It prevents you from getting their money again. They are your best friends, helping you succeed in life. If you send a big 'fuck you' to the customer, they're just going to 'fuck you' back. This post is my big 'fuck you' to you. When you alienate your customers, you have no idea who they are, or the resources available to them. Now the whole world can learn about your arrogance.

Indian Aroma Restaurant
527 The Kingsway
Miranda, Sydney

Stay away from these arrogant fracks.

Cronulla Beach, Sydney

Today was quite interesting... We arrived at Dan's place only to find his dogs wouldn't let us in, so we spent all day wandering around beaches, suburbs and shopping centres. That was actually fun, except for it being so hot. But hey, this is the middle of an Australian summer after all.

We had breakfast in a cafe, wandered around the shops, and hung out in a hotel. While there, I checked my email on the laptop via wifi. However, I paid for 45 minutes but got disconnected after 13 mins, and then couldn't get back on unless I paid for more. Frack that!! So I rang the support number on the web page and organised my credit card to be refunded for unused time. It was annoying, 'cause I wanted 45 mins and only got 13. Bastards...

We did more wandering around, window shopping and stuff, before making our way back to Dan's place. Then I fell asleep in the car while we were waiting for him to get home, which was close to 6pm. My first words to him?

"No need to leave a key out, he says. The dogs will let you in after you call out their names, he says. Well frack you, man. Leave a fracking key out next time! Oh, and it's good to see you again." :-)

Commander in Chief is a new tv show that's come out with the US President being played by Geena Davis. That's right, the US President is a woman.

I had the opportunity to watch the first 12 episodes of the first season over the past week. Yep, I enjoyed it enough to watch it to that length. What I learnt was fascinating.

1. The office of the US Presidency is not an easy one. Sure, we all say we understand that, but without shows like West Wing (which I still haven't seen a single episode of) or Commander in Chief, we have absolutely no idea how difficult being a President is. These shows give us a glimpse into that.
   
   
2. I think the US public are being softened up for - and even testing the idea of - the US President being a woman. I understand that Hilary Clinton is planning on running for President in 2008, so this particular show is seeing what kind of public reaction there is likely to be to the President being a woman.

Lets go back to #1 up there, that talks about understanding a bit more about what the most important job in the world is about.

We spend a great deal of our time complaining about things we don't like, things that we would want to be different. A great deal of our energy is spent on wanting our leaders to do exactly what we think is best. The only problem with this is that we don't know what's best for us.

We don't have all the information about various factors of global politics. We don't know that doing one thing will have potentially deadly repercussions in another part of the world. We don't know that upsetting a diplomat over the colour of the tablecloth at an official function could cause the loss of thousands of jobs when that diplomat causes business interests to be ejected from his country.

There are so many things going on behind the scenes that we'll never know about, and yet are extremely important to how the world moves along. It's really quite foolish of us to think that we know all that there is to know, and to place our ignorant judgements on those in positions of power, who usually try to do the best they can under circumstances we can never know about.

I still don't like George Bush. I think he's an absolute idiot. However, I have to acknowledge that he's a person, just like the rest of us, in the most difficult position in the world. We don't know what kind of secret backroom deals are going on in America's favour. We don't know what kind of pressures there are for him to do this, that and the other. Out of an infinite possibility of choices available to him - which we'll never know of either - he can only choose one at a time. Like him, we can only hope that the choices are the right ones for the right occasion.

I'll still feel outrage in the future, but shows like Commander in Chief help me to understand and remember what I already knew. Never judge another man until you walk a mile in his shoes.

Yep, that's right, it's finally reached that time, where we go back to Sydney for a few days. We're going to a wedding. Nope, I won't be the photographer. But I'm sure to have a few photos that I may upload while I'm over there. However, seeing as how I'm only away for 5 days instead of close to a month, I may not upload them too. We'll just have to see.

I'm certain you'll hear from me though.

Next week I'm probably going to be flying to Christchurch, doing another client implementation for work. It's yet to be organised, but if it is, I'll be going almost as soon as I get back from Australia.

I do like how things are going at work, and in my life. :-)

Just a bit of a teaser for you... I'm looking at the feasibility of doing the occasional 'podcast'. This is an audio recording of me talking about... whatever, and putting it on here instead of writing in a blog post. It will be infrequent - if I do it at all, of course - as the priority in here will always be on my writing.

At this stage I'm looking at how I'm going to do it, what audio recording software to use, if I can edit it and insert music, where I can store the audio files (I can't store them on here yet), and what I'm going to talk about. If you have any advice for me, please don't be silent.

So much to think about. Including the value of it for me, and for you, the potential listeners.

Let me ask you for some feedback. Please tell me what kind of stuff you'd like to hear about, if I start podcasting, or audio blogging. Do you want short 'posts' about things of interest to me, or do you want me to provide audio 'articles', similar to the articles I write on spirituality or personal development?

This is a view of Wellington Harbour from a friend's place, opposite where I live but all the way over on the other side of the harbour. I live in the hills, just to the left of the part you can see below.
A view of the pink clouds at sunset. This is definitely the land of the 'long white cloud'...

Waitangi Day is a public holiday here, which is a comemoration of the signing of a treaty between the Maori locals and the British, back in 1840.. Here's a few photos of some celebration stuff in a park in the city centre.





Sunrise over the harbour.

Have you ever watched Star Trek shows or movies? There was The Original Series (TOS), The Next Generation (TNG), Deep Space Nine (DS9) and Voyager (VOY). I don't consider Enterprise (ENT) to be part of the actual Star Trek 'mythos', namely because it deviates so much from all the history that was created by all the other Star Trek shows, movies and books. ENT is an 'alternative history' as far as I'm concerned.

Most of the characters in Star Trek have one thing in common. They are working their passion. They don't get paid for what they do. There's no reward for their jobs other than the personal satisfaction of a job well done, of doing something worthwhile and valuable.

Each and every one of them are working their passion, doing what they love the most.

None of them take days off, get bored, whinge about their job or workmates, or sue their employers for whatever reason. They are all excited to be doing what they're doing, and get up every morning wondering what new adventure they'll be part of today.

How many of us are working in an industry we're passionate about? How many of us are doing something that we love doing? If you stopped being paid for your job, would you continue working it? That's the true sign of whether or not you're working your passion - would you continue doing it if you weren't being paid for it.

I'm lucky in that I am working in an industry I'm passionate about. I get up in the morning, happy to go to work. I enjoy what i do, and even the variety that comes my way. And when I come home at night, I relax by doing exactly the same thing I was doing at work - playing with the computer. I rarely call it working, and instead call it playing. I play on my computer. It just so happens that what I play with is what other people consider to be 'work'.

When you love what you're doing, you'll never think it's work either. It's your passion.

So how do you discover what your passion is? The answer is really simple. If you didn't need money, and all your needs were satisfied, what would you be doing? What would occupy your time? What would you get up in the morning for, excited about the new day? What would drive you and excite you?

If you can work out what that is, you've worked out what your passion is.

Now all you need to do is work out how you can find a job doing what you're passionate about. When you do that, you'll be happier than you ever thought you could possibly be, working a job that you love.

Do what you love, and love what you do.

I have a problem. (No, not that kind of problem!) My problem is that a great percentage of the blog audience is American, and Americans spell... well, they spell American English. This is very different to the Queen's English, which most of the rest of the English speaking world speak. As a result of this, a Queen's English blog like mine is not going to be found as much as an American's English blog, due to the differences in the spelling of various search phrases.

For example, what if I write a post that uses a key word of 'organisation', as spelt with Queen's English. American English spells it as 'organization'. In fact, there are many words that the Americans use a z for, instead of an s.

If I do a search for 'organisation', Google finds 'only' 372 million results. However, if I search for 'organization', Google finds over 2 BILLION results. Therein lies the problem... the potential exists for a blog to be missed in a search simply because they use Queen's English instead of American English.

That's what I've been thinking about. In order to maximise the potential audience for your blog, it seems that you're going to have to start typing with American English.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this? Is anyone disappointed that they might have to change how they spell, in order to maximise their potential visitors? Or is it just me, who doesn't want to have to convert to 'Americanism'? *sigh*

Over here I predicted:

...within the next 12 months, we are going to see the introduction of a global network-based operating system (OS) that will allow the provision of all services - and more - that you are currently used to. Storage space, applications, games, multimedia and the internet will all be available via this single OS.

I also referred to a Google OS over here.

Lo and behold, we now have Google announcing that they are bringing out the latest version of Google Desktop, which has a new feature called 'Search Across Computers' (hat tip to TechCrunch). This allows you to search your documents and web pages across any computer, by storing that information on Google's servers.

In order to share your indexed files between your computers, we first copy this content to Google Desktop servers located at Google.

(This copied information is not part of Google's search engine servers, and therefore unable to be found by any random web searches.)

This is the beginning of what I was talking about, allowing the storage of your files on the internet, accessible from any computer.

And only 5 months after I made my prediction...

Sweet!

I was chatting with Liz yesterday via email, talking about our blogs and things in general. Conversation got around to people who cause problems for others via blogs. We talked about an issue she almost had, and the issue that David at problogger.net had. I wrote:

there's something I've come to know about people over the years, from my observations and 'studies'. Most people are screwed up. 'Normal people' are certainly not 'normal', and yet by the very definition of normal - that which most people are - it's obvious that a normal group of people are seriously screwed up.

Most people have issues, which they are usually completely unaware of, but which adversely affects their behaviour.

I've learned to look out for those 'normal' people and stay away from them. I have few close friends, but those I do are just like me - completely abnormal, and I love it.

We then exchanged URLs showing our views about people, finding out that both of us had written of parties: mine and hers.

It's true that most of my friends are 'abnormal'. They generally involve themselves in deep and meaningful discussions about life, the universe and everything. They challenge my thinking, expand my horizons, and make me feel valued. These are abnormal people.

'Normal' people are those who don't like exploring their thoughts or their lives. They are those who have secrets, who are ashamed or insecure about themselves and their life, and they would just rather not share it. They think that no one is interested, or they would experience rejection or humiliation if anyone found out. And so they simply avoid talking about themselves in any great detail. They would rather talk about inane things that have absolute no meaning.

I really can't get close to people like that. Sure, I'll engage in light pleasantries with them when the situation demands it, but deep down (well, not really that deep) I'll know that they don't want to share. They might want a friendship or relationship of some kind, but they don't know how to get it. They are afraid of showing who they really are.

My friends are abnormal. They're the people that are secure in themselves and their life that they don't particularly care what others think about them. They will talk about those things that are important to them, including their emotions and beliefs. They will let someone get close to them by being free and open with who they really are.

How can you know someone unless you let yourself be known first?

You can't. And yet those that are free and open with who they are and what their thoughts are, are those who are abnormal in this society where openness seems to be frowned upon; where shallow thinking and shallow conversations are 'normal'.

If normal means being shallow, then I'm so very happy to be abnormal. Unusual. Rare. A freak. Even an alien, which Liz talked about. I've also used the same reference, that sometimes I think I'm an alien, living in a human body, and one day I'll just 'burst out of my skin'.

(Wow. In my attempt at finding that picture, I also found this article about an invention made in 1889, to combat the apparent threat of alien feotuses bursting out of chests. It seems that the inventor read a science fiction story, thinking it was a report of actual events, and his fear and paranoia drove him to invent an 'alien chest bursting prevention device'. Hahahaha. The things you stumble upon when you do Google searches...)

Anyway, whether I'm an alien or just abnormal, I'll continue to look for other people like me. I'm happier being abnormal than I am being normal, especially since 'normal' is so damned boring.

Fascinating news is emerging that the Muslim crisis is a planned psyop (psychological operation) conducted by the US, in order to purposefully inflame Muslims. The reason for this is that with the Muslims on a rampage, it makes it easier for America to begin acting against Muslim-controlled nations, like Iran.

Stratfor also think something similar:

Still, there are two clear beneficiaries. One is the United States: The cartoon affair is serving to further narrow the rift between the Bush administration's view of the Islamic world and that of many Europeans. Between the Paris riots last year, the religiously motivated murder of a Dutch filmmaker and the "blame Denmark" campaign, European patience is wearing thin. The other beneficiary is Iran. As Iran moves toward a confrontation with the United States over nuclear weapons, this helps to rally the Muslim world to its side: Iran wants to be viewed as the defender of Islam, and Sunnis who have raised questions about its flirtations with the United States in Iraq are now seeing Iran as the leader in outrage against Europe.

There's also an article here that says the same thing:

Commenting on the Muslim riots sweeping the Middle East and Europe, Zhirinovsky ... said that the publication of the offensive cartoons was a planned psyop on the part of the US and aimed to “provoke a row between Europe and the Islamic world”.

The violent demonstrations, on the back of last November's French riots, are clearly having the effect of hardening European sympathy towards Muslims, even as the governments of major European countries open the floodgates to mass immigration. This greases the skids for an accelerated invasion of Iran who yesterday announced they were cutting trade with Denmark over the offensive cartoons.

Enough to make you think, isn't it...

If there's war against Iran and Muslims, it's - once again - because the United States has made it happen.

Gotta love America....

I briefly watched the news last night and saw an item about the violence being perpetrated by Muslims against Danish embassies around the world, and Danish people wherever they can find them. The last time I heard about it - which was last night on the news - 5 people had been killed by Muslims protesting against the cartoons published in Danish newspapers.

Now really, it's just getting stupid. Ridiculously stupid. Muslims everywhere are proving themselves to be interested only in hatred and violence. If they don't like something, destroy it. With as much violence as possible.

The actions of Muslims around the world seems to be like this, from another perspective:

Let's imagine that I'm an Australian living in Australia. I heard about a Muslim man in Pakistan making a joke about Australians, about how easy they are to make jokes of. What do I do? I become enraged. I go around engaging in violence against the Pakistani embassy. I throw rocks at it, I scream, I jump up and down, I burn the Pakistani flag, I rage and flail at the air in furious anger. I see a Pakistani person - or who I assume is Pakistani, as they're dark-skinned with features of that region - and I decide to attack them. I decide to kill them. I do. Not only do I kill them, I piss on them, and I burn the house they lived in. And then I hunt for others to do the same. In fact, not only do I decide to hunt down Pakistanis, but I also decide to hunt down Muslims and kill 'em all, because the man who offended me was a Muslim as well as from Pakistan.

Simply because someone in Pakistan made a joke about Australians.

Would you say that's a reasonable response from me? Would you say that I have the right to kill Muslims and Pakistani's because one of them, in another country that i have no interest in, offended me? Would it be reasonable and responsible of me to declare war against all Muslims and Pakistani's?

No, it wouldn't.

So why the frack is it considered reasonable for Muslims to react in this way because of a frackin' cartoon publish in a Danish newspaper? Why are we expected to understand and tolerate the actions of 'aggrieved' Muslims everywhere to this slight against the icon of their religion?

Frack 'em, that's what I say. If they want to engage in war all around the world, in killing and violence, simply because of a cartoon in Denmark, then they are proving themselves to be a threat to global society. They are proving themselves to be the curse on civilisation that the Christians have always said they are. They are proving that Muslims are violent, intolerant and a threat to anyone who isn't Muslim.

What is the resolution to this? Non-Muslims are being asked to tolerate their actions, to respect their religion, and to avoid inflaming their sensitivities.

What about our sensitivities? What about our right to live in peace, free from fracked-up religions that advocate violence?

What is going to happen as a result of Muslim outrage over cartoons?

Well, considering the amount of violence they are perpetrating against people who are completely unrelated to any cartoon, it's obvious they just want to hurt and kill people, and any excuse will do.

They are creating a war, a religious war, and I don't see them interested in avoiding it.

The obvious solution is that the Muslim religion is a threat to the peace and stability of a modern civilisation. Where we want to move ahead into the future, Muslims are only interested in moving back into the Dark Ages.

I'm wondering if we should be supporting American policies against Muslim terrorist states, or if those American policies are the cause of this violence and Muslim outrage at anything and everything?

I see only conflict in the future, and I hope that the Muslim communities around the world can show that peace and tolerance IS important to them. Otherwise a lot of people are going to die.

Steve Pavlina has a new article on Blogging for Personal Growth, which I'll just touch on a few points here. Read the rest of the article at Steve's blog, where he talks about how blogging may be one of the best tools of personal growth.

• Courage - sharing yourself publicly builds courage
  
  
• Giving Hope - what you blog about can give others hope
  
  
• Motivation - helping others can be a better motivation than just helping yourself
  
  
• Self-Assessment - blogging can help you develop a more honest self-assessment
  
  
• Self Esteem - helping others builds your own self esteem
  
  
• Connection - blogging is predominantly a social experience
  
  
• Transforming existing relationships - blogging helps strengthen both online and offline relationships
  
  
• Self-Expression - you can instantly self-publish whatever you want
  
  
• Accountability - you are accountable for the impact of your words on your readers
  
  
• Contribution - you can make a difference in other people's lives
  
  
• Synergy - relationships develop between you, the blogger, and your blog readers
  
  
• Income - monetizing your blog brings you money
  
  
• Marketing - your blog automatically notifies people and websites that it's been updated
  

Please visit Steve's site to read further detail with each point. Well worth the read.

Over the weekend there were a few outages by Blogger, which affected most blogspot.com blogs. This was, naturally, of great concern to many. However, during the outages, I was being kept updated via RSS feeds from Blogger's Status page. I had found this page some time ago, and thought it would be a good idea to subscribe to the RSS feeds, so that I could remain automatically updated of any outages or changes. I was happy to be receiving updates about the outage as they occurred.

Most weren't so lucky, or so happy. Most people didn't know that Blogger has a status page, and therefore were left without any information on the outage (or any outage in the past). In fact, Liz at successful-blog.com had absolutely no idea what was going on. To all intents and purposes, there was nothing produced by Google or Blogger that gave her any information. It was unfortunate that she looked everywhere except the only page that mattered, the status page.

In an open letter to Google, she wrote,

I realized last night that, as a Blogger blogger, I am a guest in your home or should I say a captive visitor. Darn, I thought I was a welcomed customer. What made this clear was when you locked me in my room and forbade me access to my stuff.

While I can understand Liz's frustration, along with many others, I think her analogy is a little too strong. I think the following, based on what I think could be Google's response, may be more appropriate.

"We provide you with a free service. At no cost to you we provide the hardware, maintenance and even personnel to allow you to do mostly whatever you want, and even make money from it should you want to. We charge you nothing for this. We do not provide our house to you, and therefore you are not a guest in it. Neither are you a captive visitor in this place. You're free to go elsewhere should you want to. If you paid us for this service, you would be considered a customer, but since you do not pay us anything, you are simply a user of our free service. Since you get this from the kindness of our hearts, we reserve the right to upgrade or provide maintenance of our free service at any time that is suitable for us. We will try to provide you with as much advance notice as we can. We understand that you created the content in your blog, however because you use our servers, for free, all content is legally ours. We just allow you to keep it there. That's why we can shut it down if we don't like what you're doing. We do thank you for your feedback, and we will do what we always do, which is use our experience to make our services better. However, we hope you will understand we aren't perfect, and neither is our hardware. We will do the best we can for you, but you need to understand that you get what you pay for. We will, however, do our best to make that worthwhile for you, as your continued usage of our services is obviously to our long-term benefit. Thank you for your time, and we do apologise for any inconvenience."

That's not only what I think Google would say to us, but what I think is a reasonable response from them. I have no high expectations of supreme quality from a service that I pay nothing for. I believe in the adage that you get what you pay for, and I'm eternally grateful for getting a high quality service for nothing. And yes, I do believe it's a high quality service, considering the work that they put into making sure millions of blogs are accessible every hour of every day. Except for outages and maintenance.

I work in IT, and I know that even services that are paid for are not infallible. I also understand the biggest issue in Liz's post was that she couldn't find anywhere that notified her - and the world - of what was happening. I can certainly appreciate that it wouldn't take much work to add the Status blog's link in obvious places, like the Blogger Dashboard, and I believe that Google should do that asap. I also think all Blogger blog authors should subscribe to the RSS feed, just in case.

Just my two cents worth. :-)

Scot wrote about his son becoming an American soldier, something which I thought was good writing, 'capturing' me and dragging me into his perception of the events. It made me feel like I was there. In one of his comments he wrote, "When it comes to teaching young people etiquette, the armed services wins hands down."

This is something I agree with wholeheartedly. However, not just with etiquette, but also with respect and discipline. The young people of today, the teenagers and the early 20-somethings, they generally and mostly have no understanding of respect, or with the discipline that is needed to become successful adults. Successful in becoming valued members of society.

The politically correct societies of the western world, particularly America, have created a society where self responsibility doesn't exist, where blame is assigned to anyone and anything except oneself. When the politically correct society tells you that you're not at fault, that it's the fault of the education system, your parents, your friends, your peers, your government, and any other thing they can blame, then this same society is teaching the young to avoid self responsibility.

When you have no responsibility for your actions, you have no understanding of respect, which is the essence of 'good manners'. Respect only comes when you understand the repercussions of your actions, and you know that doing something bad or wrong will result in bad things happening to you. Respect is about 'self preservation', about making sure that you look after yourself and others, in order to be looked after by them in return. If you fail to be respectful, then you will reap the consequences of your actions. This adds an incentive to be respectful.

However, the young people of today are being shown that generally there are no consequences for their actions. When they are not responsible for their actions, then other people are made to suffer the consequences. There's too much 'hand slapping', etc, in society, and encouragement to avoid responsibility.

Being in the military teaches responsibility, and teaches that irresponsible actions have serious consequences. It encourages self-responsibility, discipline and respect.

I've had the opinion for a long time that in order to create a better society, compulsive military service should be enforced for all able-bodied people from the age of 18. This would have positive effects on society by teaching them respect, discipline and self-responsibility. It'd be teaching them effective management skills as well, which is positive for employment and new businesses. The economy benefits due to low unemployment and related costs, and society benefits due to less crime. It's only those people who have no respect, no discipline and often no hope who become criminals.

While compulsive military service wouldn't solve all of society's ills, it would certainly improve it. And for those who aren't aware, I've also served in the military from 18 - 21. I understand the value of it, and speak from experience.

Deidre and I saw King Kong last night, the second time for me. An absolutely hilarious event happened for me... but not for Deidre. There was a scene when Ann Darrow was being checked out by a giant centipede... Deidre hates bugs. Really hates them. Hates them so much that seeing a giant centipede with its giant feelers touching Ann's face had Deidre almost hysterical. So while she's screaming - literally screaming - with horror, disgust and whatever else, I was laughing at the fact that she was screaming. I've never seen her screaming like that before in a movie, so it was quite amusing.

I'm glad we didn't go to the cinema to see it, as we probably would have been thrown out. As it was, I was afraid that the neighbours might call the police, thinking I was murdering her or something. *grin*

There's quite a few different blogging tools out there, some of which are extremely good. So why have I gone with the free, and not-so-good blogger?

I have a lot of faith in Google as the 'next best thing' since Microsoft, and since they own blogspot.com, I'm hoping for a lot of good things to be coming from them in the future.

There's a lot of people out there who don't like free blog hosting, who suggest that your blog or site will have extra value to visitors if it has its own domain name.

I say that those who advocate having your own domain are elitists, who think that the name or address is more important than content. I say that if you have content that is of value to people, then the domain doesn't matter. And finally, I say that I have faith Google will make it all worthwhile when they integrate blogspot blogs into their Google OS.

That's why it's blogspot for me.

All the content that I transferred over from my old websites and journals was done 'rushed', and as a result I never really gave the entries any titles other than the dates that they were entered. One of the interesting things about them is that as a result of improper titles, they've never been 'search engine optimised'. None of the archived items turn up in anyone's search terms.

So I'm going through them now and giving them titles. I'll then see if I can index them again with Google. And then I'll tag them with del.icio.us. Then I'll finish bringing across old content into this blog and do it properly. So far I have only done 4-5 years worth of content, up to 2003. I still have to transfer the content across for 2003-2005. Oh joy....

Once completed, however, my entire life since 1998 will be on this one blog.


UPDATE 7 Feb 06: I'm very happy that already, the posts that I've created titles for, are turning up in people's searches. Yay! It means that Google/Blogspot automatically reindexes those blogs based on them being titled. Let that be a lesson to you. Use titles in your posts - and content-related titles - so that they get indexed properly and thus bring more traffic to your blog.

Have you ever wanted something that will help you remember which blog you commented on, and what you commented? Have you ever wanted something that will help you keep track of your conversations on the web? Not only that, would you like to subscribe to an RSS feed so that you're automatically updated of new comments on those blogs that you've posted your own comments on?

Well, there's a new tool that's been developed called coComment. Follow the link for more information. Sign up for an invitation code. I got one within 10 minutes.

In the meantime, you can access my conversations on the web by clicking 'My Conversations' above. It shows the comments I've made, and where I've made them.

More information about Web Conversations here.

I was talking with my friend Garry last night, and conversation turned to the perception of reality. The question was asked, is there one true reality?

I suggested that there isn't, and even if there was, there would be absolutely no way to determine what that 'one true reality' was.

What is reality?

Reality is what you perceive it to be, isn't it? Reality is defined by your perceptions. What you see, feel, hear, touch, taste and think all make up what your reality is to you.

Since every single person on this planet perceives things differently to everyone else, we can't really say for sure that there is one true reality. There are as many realities as there are people to perceive it, with each person perceiving that reality differently.

There have been some throughout history who have said that if reality is determined only by our perception of it, then if there is no one around to perceive it, there is no reality.

If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound? If no one heard it or saw it, it may as well not have happened at all. How can we know if a tree fell unless we observe it?

There is no reality until that reality is observed.

Schrodinger's cat is another example of thhe paradox of reality and observation. It thoerises about a device placed into a box with a cat, and then the box is sealed. The device may or may not cause the death of the cat due to whether or not an atom decays, and yet the result is not known until the box is open and an observation is made on the condition of the cat.

It suggests, using the term 'superposition', that all possible states of being exist simultaneously - as long as we don't look to check. It's the observation, or the measurement thereof, that brings about only a single possibility.

What's the point?

What is the point of all this in the real world? What does it matter to your life and how you live it?

If you can understand that your reality is based on your perception of it, then you can understand that the effect it has on you is always by your choice. No one makes you perceive something in a particular way. No one forces you to believe something is the way it is. It's entirely up to you how you see something, and how you feel about it, and how it affects you.

Reality, by being valid only because of how you perceive it, can be changed by changing your perceptions.

Your perceptions are based on your beliefs about how things should be. Something causes you happiness or sadness, anger or frustration, because of how you believe you should perceive it, interpret it, or react to it.

If your reality is filled with bad things happening to you, it's because of how you're interpreting the events around you. You can choose to react negatively, and your reactions, based on negative beliefs, are themselves negative.

You act on what you believe.

Change what you believe, and you begin to change how you act. When you change how you act, you change how others react to you. You have it in your power to change your life around from one that's negative, for example, to one that's positive.

How you perceive things determines your reality. Changing your perceptions is entirely within your capacity, by understanding that it's your choice.

You might think that your perceptions, your beliefs, are simply how things are. But they've been created by how you've interpreted past experiences. The things that have happened to you or around you have resulted in you thinking about them in a certain way. What other people have told you or taught you, or even what you've told yourself, has had an effect on how you interpret and perceive things from that point on.

As an example, what if your teacher, when you were a child, told you that you deserved to fail at a particular subject because you never applied yourself? What if they told you that you would never be any good at it? What if you chose to believe them?

That single event of choice is what changed things for you. From that point on, you were never any good at that subject, and you had all kind of frustrations around it for the rest of your life. Your reality from that point on was determined by a perception of how things should be.

This is exactly the same for everything in your life. You act and react according to what you believe is right, and yet your beliefs are results of choices you made.

What if, in the above example, you decided to disbelieve them? Your reality would have been completely different, as you go to great lengths to prove them wrong. You would have studied that subject, passed all the exams, and possibly gone on to be incredibly successful in a career based on that subject. All because you chose not to believe them when they said you would always fail. Because you chose to believe something different when they said you weren't good enough.

Near the beginning of this article I described reality as 'what you see, feel, hear, touch, taste and think'. While reality is based on your 5 senses, so is it based on how you think about things. And when you can change how you think, you change your reality.

Since your reality is really all in your mind, you can actually change your reality by changing how you think about it. No one can do this for you, it's up to you. Those beliefs that you have had for most of your life which limit you in one way or another, can be changed. You can create new beliefs for yourself that allow you to achieve your potential.

You can create them simply by telling yourself - and believing it because you now understand it's your choice - that you are worth a better life than what you have now. Tell yourself that you can get what you want, and that you're the one who decides what your reality is.

Take back the power of creating your reality. Don't give that power to other people to tell you how your reality is or should be. Make the decisions yourself.

Your reality is in your mind. You can make it what you want.

Have you ever seen the movie Pay It Forward? Go watch it, it's very good.

The premise behind 'paying it forward' is that if someone does something nice for you, don't repay them. Instead, repay their favour by doing a favour to someone else. Instead of paying them back, you're paying them forward. And tell the person that you've paid forward to not pay you back, but also to pay forward.

Very cool concept. But how often do we actually pay it forward? How often do we do something nice for someone else, simply because we're in the right place at the right time to do something nice for them?

There are people in our lives who have done something special for us, but that we just haven't gotten around to 'paying them back' for. How about paying it forward instead.

Do something nice for someone else, simply because someone has been nice to you. Give something to someone, simply because someone has given you something.

When you have something that could be better used by someone else, give it to them. When you can do something for someone else, do it for them. Ask them to pay it forward, not to pay it back.

It's a very small gesture of kindness, but with incredibly positive repercussions.

Sometimes, when I've had more than enough change and I've had to pay for a car park, I've given the attendant all the change, and told them to use the remainder for the next person. Sometimes, when I've been given something I don't want from a service station or shop, I tell them to give it to the very next person instead.

Overall, however, I know there's so much more I could do for others, to pay forward what has been done for me in the past.

What could you do? Will you do it? Try. Don't pay it back, pay it forward. And if you feel like sharing, tell us about those times you've paid it forward.

It seems that in Denmark recently, a series of cartoons were published that depict the Prophet Mohammed. I'd heard about it, but I didn't know bloggers were discussing it in such great detail. And yes, I know it's rather silly of me to not think they would be.

Anyway, it seems that the Muslim world is in outrage at the fact that their Prophet has been depicted in cartoons.

Is there any bunch of people that take things more seriously than the Muslims?

Well, apart from the Christians, I guess, but their seriousness is diluted by the fact that most people who say they're Christians only pay lip service to it. As my dad used to say, "Sunday morning Christians." They were only Christians when they went to church. Every other day of the week, they were sinning their arses off.

I digress. The Muslims are getting up in arms about the depiction of their Prophet. Threatening violence, riots, all kinds of things. For Christ's/God's/Allah's/whatever's sake, let it go! It's a frackin' cartoon!

So frackin' what that some people don't like the Prophet, or don't care about the Prophet. It's not the frackin' end of the world!

Stop taking yourselves so seriously that you'll go to war and kill innocent people simply because someone drew a cartoon of the Mohammed.

Get over it.


UPDATE 6 Feb 06: Good comment over here on Not PC.

Here's a few tips for those of that want to write a bit better. In order to provide interesting and engaging content for people to read, you might find the following useful.

1. Write conversationally

The best writing speaks to the audience in a casual and conversational tone. A big benefit of blogs are their ability to speak to readers in a way that is personal, candid and straightforward. Write the same way you'd speak, face to face, and your audience will be able to relate to you more. This will ensure they keep coming back to read what you write.

The best blogs show the interests, opinions and personality of their author. Your perspective, your opinion, is unique. Let it be seen, and your blog will automatically be unique as well.

2. Be a storyteller

If you tell engaging stories relating to you or others, in the context of the content of your blog, you will create interest and loyalty. Personalise it with stories that are uniquely you.

3. Make it personal

Write about your interests, your experiences, your knowledge. Draw from everything that you know and do. Make impersonal topics more personal by framing them with your own impressions and insights. Letting people in on the details of your life will make them feel a part of your life, and a part of your blog. This increases the chances of them coming back and being regular visitors.

4. Update frequently

Offer new insights frequently, to keep people coming back. Not only do the regular and frequent updates encourage people to come back, it also increases the content on your blog. This is important, because the more content you have, the more it's likely to come up in search engines under all kinds of different keywords, and the more people are going to visit your site as a result.

It also shows you're interested in what you're doing. An infrequently updated blog shows a distinct lack of interest by the blog author, and visitors won't be interested either.

5. Be respectful

Respect the rights of others. Do not make personal attacks or use your blog to petty complaints about people. You're above all that, and visitors will respect you for it. Observe copyright laws, and even copyright etiquette. Link to those blogs or sites where you obtain information you use in your posts. Don't alienate yourself from the blogging and internet community (the blogosphere) by violating this rule.

6. Check for typos and grammar

Remember, what you write is a reflection of who you are. Even though blogs are usually relaxed in tone, it's definitely inappropriate to be relaxed in standard English. Find and fix any potential embarrassing grammar and typing mistakes. Make sure the image you present is the best you can make it.


Your blog is an excellent place to display your opinions, your articles, even your products or services. The tips above will help you increase traffic and interest. Good luck!

When I write articles it's often because I'm inspired by something in my life, some event or conversation that makes me think, "Yeh, that makes me want to write about [insert subject here]!" It was the same with 'Fear of failure'.

Over the past... year, Deidre's been discovering a number of 'trigger points'. These are those things which 'press your buttons'. When someone does something or says something that infuriates you, or brings about any kind of extreme emotion, they've 'triggered' an emotional reaction in you. The particular topic which has brought about the emotional reaction is a 'trigger point', a point that is very sensitive.

I have this habit of finding people's 'buttons' and pressing them, triggering emotional reactions in them. I'm not really sure how I do it, I just do. When people get close to me in some way, I often find their trigger points, those things which set off extreme emotional reactions (hi Shawn :-). It can be interesting for me to observe, but I've often been caught up in the trigger myself. This means that the event is inspiring an emotional reaction in me as well. I guess you could call it an 'argument'.

My interest and excitement at starting various businesses to supplement my income have triggered various reactions within Deidre. These have mainly related to various fears of bad things happening, or that my pursuit of business ventures might keep us in New Zealand longer than we would like. We've had a number of 'discussions' (which, to the ignorant observer, might appear to be arguments, but really, they're not :-) about it, and it's ended up with us having a large discussion about it two nights ago. We talked about her issues, and we talked about my issues, the buttons in me that are pressed by how she reacts to various things. It was a good night, with many things discussed and realised and understood by both of us.

It brought us closer, helped us understand more about each others trigger points, and helped us empathise more with each other. The discussion continued last night, where we talked about the fears that each of us has, especially the fears that are behind her trigger points related to my business interests.

At one point I said, "The fear of failing is not going to hold me back from trying." As soon as I said it, I had an article appear in my mind. I didn't know how it would turn out, but I knew I was going to write about the fear of failing, and how 'easy' it is to not worry about it and try anyway.

Just thought I'd share a bit of my life that's led to what inspired me to write it. :-)

Please visit this article's new location. Thank you.

How many people have issues that hold them back from doing things? How many people are unable to move forward on their ideas, goals, dreams, desires and hopes, because of the fears that they have surrounding them? How many people are so paralysed by fear that doing nothing is safer for them than actually facing their fears?

I think it's most people.

Most people are paralysed by fear of some kind, which holds them back from doing what they really want to do. Fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of embarrassment, fear of change, fear of shame, fear of being wrong, fear of dying, fear of pain, fear of losing something, fear of gaining something, and even fear of fear itself. There's so many more fears out there, but I don't have the time or inclination to fill a book full of them. I'm sure you get the picture.

It's just so much easier to go through life avoiding those things that cause fear. The problem is, however, that when you spend so much time avoiding fear, you never actually do anything worthwhile. You miss out on your potential. You miss out on achieving your dreams, your desires, and all those things that would give you happiness, because you're afraid to do what it takes to get them.

And that's really the basis of it. You're afraid to do what it takes to get what you want, because the fear of failing - for whatever reason - is so strong that it's hard to shrug off. When you think about what might happen to you if you fail, it overshadows what might happen if you succeed.

This results in your fear of failing. You're so afraid, you don't do anything to move forward towards success. You stay exactly where you are. Sure, you might make a few token gestures, to appease yourself and those around you, but you know the truth. You're not going anywhere! In your mind, the pain of failure is simply too great.

Well I have some bad news for you. You've already failed.

There. I said it. You're a failure. You haven't achieved what you wanted to achieve, because you haven't done what you needed to do. You've failed. FAILED.

How does that feel?

Does it feel any different to how you felt only 5 minutes ago?

Now that you know you've failed, is the fear of failure really worth anything? Has it given you a heart attack, to know that you've failed? Have you been banished by your family, forever cast out? Have you been hit by a lightning bolt from heaven?

Has anything really changed in your life?

No, it hasn't. You've failed at achieving your goals. You realise that now. It's the very act of not acting that has resulted in your failure. And yet life goes on!

So really, failing isn't that bad, is it? The pain of failure isn't that bad.

So now that you know failing doesn't really change anything, how about trying to succeed? If you fail, it doesn't matter! The difference to failing by doing nothing, and failing at attempting something is zero. Zilch. Nada. There is no difference. You're a failure if you don't do anything, and you might be a failure if you do something!

But what if, in the attempt at achieving your goals, you actually succeed?

Wow, that's an interesting concept, isn't it. Actually succeeding at something. Is that possible?

I don't know. You don't know. No one knows! The only way to know is to attempt it. And if you fail at the attempt, as you've just worked out, there's absolutely no difference to your life and your feelings than how you are right now.

Failure brings nothing more than what you have now.

Do you understand that? If you fail in your attempts at achieving your goals, you are simply back in the place you're at right now. Nothing changes.

Well, something changed. You tried to do something! You took a step, or even a number of steps, at achieving those dreams you have. You're actually those few steps closer to achieving those dreams.

Why? How are you closer if you failed?

Because you took the steps to get there, that's why. Taking the steps has gotten you closer to your goals, even if you've failed along the way.

When you walk along a path and you trip and fall down, you learn what to look out for. You learn to look out for the tree roots or logs that are on the path, so that you can step over them. The more you trip, the more you'll learn about what to look out for.

The more you fail, the more you learn about why you fail, and the more you learn about what not to do.

Failing is actually a blessing in disguise, because it's helping you change your approach to something else that will succeed. Every time you fail, it's teaching you about what you shouldn't be doing.

Learn from your failures so that you can use them to get to your successes faster. Don't be afraid of failing. Be afraid of never trying.

By following these principles you'll find that after a few failures you'll have a few successes. You'll be amazed at your good fortune! And then you might fail again. Don't let it bother you. Just remember it's teaching you how to succeed.

Use the fear of failure to drive you to succeed, by knowing that if you don't try, you've truly failed. And you don't want that, do you?

So go out there and fail. Go on. I dare you. I double dare you. Keep on trying to fail! The only difference between trying to fail and doing nothing is that trying to fail will accidentally give you a few successes. Doing nothing will give you nothing.

So happy failing!

'Evolution of Blog'... sounds like some kind of horror movie or something, doesn't it.

Anyway, I've been moving this blog forward, over time, to become simpler and yet better. The best blogs on the net, in my opinion, are those blogs which have only two columns. A main column for the content, and a sidebar for links to the rest of their stuff. There's so much that I've wanted to include in my sidebars though, that I felt I needed two of them. But then I was getting the problems that it looked cluttered. And then there were the problems for those working only with a resolution of no more than 800x600.

My site wasn't as user friendly as it could have been.

There's this saying that I've been aware of for some time: "We teach mostly what we need to learn."

I've been reading about blog design, blog promotion, blog marketing, blog optimisation, blog monetisation, and... well, I've got blog stuff coming out of my ears. As I've been learning, I've been starting new blogs to impart some of what I've learnt and what I come across. Blogging Guide and Blogging for Businesses are cases in point.

How can I help others succeed and be the best (or at least be good) if I'm not doing the same thing?

So I've been working on making my site into something that looks good, is simple, and yet still functional.

Today, I think I've done that. I've gone for only a single colour in the banner. I've got only one sidebar which still has all the features that I had before, but it's now 'minimised' by being out of sight. If you want to see something,m click on the link and it'll open up so you can see more.

I like how it's become. It's been an interesting ride to get here, and an interesting path of blog evolution. I hope you like it too.