As you can see I’m taking a much needed break from blogging tips, seo and other tech oriented articles for a bit to show my many faces in writing. I love writing and I am still working on two books which I hope will be good enough to get me a book deal! My advice to all is never quit blogging, just change your attitude and experiment with new content!My good friend Christy from Christy’s Coffee Break tagged me last week to write a post for her Freaky Friday’s project! Click the link in the previous sentence for the rules. I have a lot of readers that don’t do memes. These memes helped take my technorati authority from 0-500 in 3 months! Are you afraid a meme will make you look unprofessional? I beg to differ.
Archive for September, 2007
If you haven’t been tagged but would like to share 3 of your best posts to raise both your Technorati authority and improve your search engine indexing, leave me a comment and we’ll get you hooked up. Your 3 posts will be listed on my blog and the blogs of all who participate.
Start tag
This seo meme was conceived and designed by Bobby at Revellian .com. This is a new fun seo meme ride for us all. This is based on the seo theory that links to posts inside your blog are more important than links to your home page. I have selected three posts I want to promote along with my site’s name. You will do the same thing. Read the rest of this entry »
THANKS TO ALL
First, I want to say thank you to all the people who have come to this humble site this week and left some awesome comments. I have made several new friends and I say to you all, welcome to my blog! As my good friends here already know, this blog is my passion and my commentators and friends are THE MOST IMPORTANT single thing that drives me.
Doka
What are Doka? Doka are didactic poems used by masters to instruct disciples. These are used in a haiku structure and contain endless depth for all of us to enjoy and learn from. I will show you something I find simply incredible! What I am showing you is from a rare book which is virtually impossible to find. It is called “The Last of The Great Dragonfly Hunters” by Dr. Dan Netherland. Dan is both an Aikido and Jujitsu practitioner whose book has left an indelible mark on my own martial arts philosophy.
This book is about seeing the suchness rather than the illusion of things. I hope you read my post “Tales of Blogger-X” about the illusion in blogging. Also, you may if your interested, want to read “Beyond Thought I” and “Beyond Thought II: Detachment“. These are two of my older posts in which I examine the depths and complexities of human thought. All quotes are from “The Last of The Great Dragonfly Hunters“.
See Through the Eyes of a Warrior
Correct perception of life determines decisions. Decisions determine action… Action determines victory or defeat, life or death. Destiny is not a chance rather a decision fulfilled in action.
As you can see, the suchness of reality is captured so perfectly in this quote, it is something I live by. My new friend Dawn from Antibarbie.net wrote a post entitled “Using Jesus as a Crutch” which sees through illusion. It’s about how the old phrase goes, “God helps them who help themselves“. I wanted give a little shout to her as I think she is a very talented writer who pulls no punches (I like that). And now I present these beautifully powerful Doka:
PLAIN, UNADORNED SWORD
LIKE THE OWNERS OWN SPIRIT
POLISHED AND FEARFUL
CONFRONTING A FOE
BRING ALL INTO SHARP FOCUS
ONE THING HIDES MANY
WHAT A WARRIOR
TO EVADE MY STRONG ATTACK
YELLOW BUTTERFLY
WITH NO SINGLE THOUGHT
I CUT THE CORD OF NEVER
NOW … INVINCIBLE
SEVERING THE EDGE
BETWEEN BEFORE AND AFTER
THE BLADE OF TODAY
NOT MEETING THE FORCE
A WILLOW TURNING THE WIND
A WARRIOR AT HEART
DO WITHOUT DOING
RETURN TO THE BEGINNING
VICTORY IN STILLNESS
TIGHTENING THE STOMACH
ONE HEART, ONE SIGHT WITH ONE BREATH
FEARLESSLY FACING
The Power of the Female
There is much wisdom in these Doka. Read them several times and do not seek deep meanings, for the meanings are simple. If you notice, there is a powerful female trait within the text. Females are powerful. Females really run the world but don’t get the credit. Females are soft. Females encompass all the things that make a warrior a warrior and they do it naturally.
In the third Doka you notice the yellow butterfly. How pretty and soft yellow butterflies are! The most powerful martial art I have ever felt was in Aikido. Aikido is a martial art which uses no physical strength. Yet when you are slammed on the mat by a skilled Aikido practitioner, especially a female one, you will know POWER. A man cannot be a real man until he comes to embrace his female half. Yin and Yang, female and male; all life is both and neither at the same time.
I hope that you can develop your inner warrior and understand what focus and total commitment are all about. “To raise the sword and die” is not a fatalistic choice, but is a choice for life.
Final Words
I have come down hard on the conduct of many top bloggers and for that, I make no apologies. I would do my readers a disservice by fluffing things up. I especially want you to read the 1st Doka. Plain unadorned sword; what does this mean? If a “Karate Master” wears a uniform with all kinds of fancy patches, and on his uniforms back there are big letters that say “Undefeated Champion and Master of Karate”, does this mean he’s really a master? Of course not. He probably has 2000 students and makes a ton of money. How similar he is to many of the top bloggers.
I leave you with one final Doka. Please let me know which of the Doka you like best! Lets discuss it. Have a great weekend.
ALL LOOK
FEW SEE
THE SUCHNESS OF THINGS
Read my good friend Seiche’s post “The Belts Matter” for a look into the true suchness of martial arts. What I like about Seiche the most is when it comes to martial arts, he defines “suchness” in it’s purest of forms.
Breaking News!
I just read a post from my friend at Adsense Tracker. I have been reading her truly amazing blog and was shocked to see she has the story of the year! She would not reveal how she got this information but if this is true, she broke it FIRST! Here is an excerpt:
In a nod to Web 2.0 and in an effort to make the Google experience more user-centric, Google will end the system of assigning each web page a Page Rank based on an algorithm of links, quality and popularity. Instead, each page will have a Page Rate assigned by the readers.
Have you read her blog? This girl is simply amazing and I love the fact that a female has the STORY OF THE YEAR in my opinion (provided of course that it is true).
Read this breaking news here: Google Announces End of Page Rank
Adsense Tracker ROCKS!!!!!
Next we can discuss why this is the worst decision Google has ever made!
Tales of Blogger-X
Sep 25
Who Are You?
Are you a leader or a follower? Are you a little of both? Do you project a fabricated image to psychologically manipulate the masses into believing your site is professional? Do you accept yourself for the person you really are, letting it shine through in every post? To have great blog in my humble opinion, it must be honest and full of heart!
We live in a world of images, reputations, money and lack thereof. All of these things are heavily reflected in the blogosphere and our daily lives. My good friend Karen from the philosophical blog Waterlearner asked me if I would write a post on self acceptance. Read the post that inpired me, Spiritual Facial. My good friends at NAFASG also helped inspire this article. Read their fascinating post, Don’t Just Watch, Observe! (make sure you watch the incredible video, you have to see this!) It’s been a while since I delved into the depths of the self and I couldn’t tell Karen no!
I will start by using this concept as it applies to blogging and how I perceive it from a multi-faceted detached state of consciousness. To see things for what they really are is one central idea in the structure of my blog. I use what I think of as motivic blogging improvisations. This is based on my life long studies of Jazz musical theory, Taoism and martial art philosophies.
When most of us start blogging, often it is a personal blog. That’s how I started. Other people have a reason for starting a blog like for instance, to make money or support a business. I have noticed some interesting things about the A-list blogs that most have in common. Let’s take a look at a basic time line in the life of a blogger. We’ll call him Blogger-X. This is a specific model to show you my point. It may or may not apply to you, but within, there is a lesson for us all. I am playing a bit of devil’s advocate to make my point, so don’t take it personally if you think of yourself!
The Tale of Blogger-X
Blogger-X starts out writing about his life and and his job. Then he meets some blogging friends. He participates in his first blogging meme and is no longer a web virgin. He gets tagged and re-tagged and triple tags all his buddies having all kinds of fun. He then gets a blogging award and starts thinking about making money on line.
Now that his on line cherry has been popped, he realizes through studying how the A-listers became successful, he wants to be one himself. He notices that A-listers don’t do memes or have friends like the rest of the bloggers.
He stops doing all memes, replaces his blogroll with one that only points to the big blogs, and ignores all the incoming links that don’t have page rank. He no longer cares about all those great friends he made because he is so much more important now. He fears that his newly manufactured and heartlessly fabricated reputation could lose it’s edge if people see a silly meme on his site. He is now a professional blogger who wants money and his blog is a business.
He no longer gives out links or cares about anyone unless they have a pagerank of 5 or better. If you want a link, he will sell you one. The public masses are now his sheep-like customers. Every post he writes is maximized for his niche as he rises higher in popularity . Tons of people trackback and link to every post he writes so that they too can be just like Blogger-X. And so on and so on.
His reputation and fabricated image are an illusion, using very similar mass-mind control and mass-hypnosis techniques that Adolf Hitler and Napoleon Bonaparte used. Yes indeed, he now makes a truckload of cash and works it hard, optimizing for every cent he can milk from whoever! Things are often not what they appear to be in the blogosphere! Watch Nafa’s video to see some real illusion.
I say phooey on you Blogger-X. I will never stop doing memes and I most certainly will NEVER remove my friends from my blogroll. Can you make money and have friends at the same time? Of course you can. One thing I truly cannot stand is having an A-list blogger (or someone who thinks they are) not reply to my comments. If I take 15 minutes to write a very meaningful comment and you snub me by replying only to the other high ranked commentators on your post, I will never read your blog again. Hire someone to answer the damn reply! There’s an image for you to fabricate! Create the illusion that you care! Of course we will all see through that and you’ll lose all readers who aren’t your sheep!
Honest Blogging Begins With Self-Acceptance
I accept all people from all races and religions and when I make a friend, I keep that friend! I met 2 new bloggers who happen to be incredibly high-ranked who impressed me by taking the time to give me attention and call me by name! Hey, that is what good blogging is all about! These 2 incredible bloggers are: Garry Conn and Tim Nash. Both of these guys are in my opinion, true experts and cool guys. I just met them both and will be studying their blogs. Garry is a master who has so many blogs it will make your head spin. Tim is just plain brilliant.
I want to thank Mark from MeAndMyDrum for introducing me to Garry (please go checkout Marks new header and logo, talk about sweet! Mark has a fantastic blog and has me hooked with his most refreshing approach!). I met Tim because I kept seeing his face in my MyBlogLog widget and wanted to see who he was! I was thinking, “Wow, Tim Nash reads my blog! How cool is that?”
A side note: Have you seen Paula, from Polliwog’s Pond, new look? (she is now an incredible redhead, oh baby!) She looks so beautiful, I just had to give a shout-out to her! I was floored when I saw her new avatar on mybloglog. I haven’t done my long overdue awards post Paula, but I thank you for the award! It’s coming and all of you who have given me an award, I have not forgotten!)
IMPORTANT UPDATE: Garry Conn has written something about me that is one of the most awesome things anyone has said about me. While most bloggers out to make (we all need money) completely ignore me and NEVER take the time to pay any attention, Garry has been given the Revellian dot com seal of approval for fantastic business integrity and blogging ethics! Read the great post he has written here: The Power of One Blog Reader. Thank you Garry Conn for being a class act and I look forward to a lasting friendship filled with happiness and success!
I was tagged by Speedcat Hollydale on his post Desktop Madness! Look at mine and others
then again by Rolando on his post What’s on your Desktop? and yet again (I love run-on sentences and breaking all grammatical rules) by the Genie Princess (Mariuca) on her post What’s on your Desktop?
PLEASE: WHEN YOU LINK TO THIS POST, USE THE ANCHOR TEXT:
Revellian Dot Com|Desktop
[TAG STARTS HERE]
My Desktop Free View Instruction:
A. Upon receiving this tag, immediately perform a screen capture of your desktop. It is best that no icons be deleted before the screen capture so as to add to the element of fun.
You can do a screen capture by: [1] Going to your desktop and pressing the Print Scrn key (located on the right side of the F12 key). [2] Open a graphics program (like Picture Manager, Paint, or Photoshop) and do a Paste (CTRL + V). [3] If you wish, you can �edit� the image, before saving it.
For MAC users: Press [ Apple] [ Ctrl ] [ Shift ] and [ 3 ]
B. Post the picture in your blog. You can also give a short explanation on the look of your desktop just below it if you want. You can explain why you preferred such look or why is it full of icons. Things like that.
C. Tag five of your friends and ask them to give you a Free View of their desktop as well.
D. Add your name to this list of Free Viewers with a link pointing directly to your Desktop Free View post to promote it to succeeding participants. For me, I just hit the printscreen button and it generates mine (I used Gadwin Printscreen freeware for the screenshot)
List of those who have participated: Francine of La Place de Cherie Chez Francine Bloggishi Unchained Melody LadyJava’s Lounge Mariuca Revellian Dot Com|Desktop iRonnie Rebecca Jon Rolando Speedcat Spiff The Spaceman Brown Baron Ordinary Folk
The Kat House,Aaron Cook Dot Com,Erina,Janice Ng,NoDirectOn Max Elena�s Photos Comedy Plus MeAndMyDrum,TwistedSister,Pink SEO,Blur Ting,Waterlearner
add yours here after doing this tag.
[TAG ENDS HERE]
I tag the following bloggers! Janice, Aaron Cook, Menopauseprincess, BrownBaron, Emila
Now, let me take a peek at your desktop background! When you’re done with this meme, don’t forget to leave a comment on this post so I’d know to add you to my list here.It might be a good idea to participate. With Marzie (she has magic powers) involved it might generate you a truckload of links. Her Magic carpet ride meme has generated a massive load of links for me and is still growing!
Ezine.org Link Scam Exposed
Sep 22
When I think of Ezine, I think of a reputable site(s). Don’t you also think of E-zine as being on the up an up? I was unethically tricked into writing a post, Ezine Link Love, to help improve my page rank. I hate to see them involved in internet scams.
Andrea from A Circle of Women and BeachBum, both pointed out to me that Ezine.org has a page rank of 0. I already knew that but assumed the links would come from one of Ezine’s other sites.
Here is the url of the scam site: http://www.ezineblog.org/?page_id=95
I didn’t add a link to them because I didn’t want to give them anything else. It states clearly on the site, you will receive a Page Rank 5 linkback and Technorati Top 100 linkback. I have sent 7 unanswered e-mails to the address listed on the site. My post came out on September 1st. To date, I have not received either of the links they promised and neither has anyone else I know who has participated.
Is Ezine.org actually affiliated with ezinearticles.com? If you know please tell me. I am not the type of person to write a negative post about anyone. However, it is just low-down to lie to innocent bloggers and take advantage of their desire to move up in rank! If they come clean, or give me the promised links, I will publish a post of apology to them.
It’s not nice to use people, especially if your site is supposedly reputable! I demand an answer and explanation from these people as I find it inexcusable! Answer me or you will suffer my endless wrath. I mean it and my word counts! Help me to get this scam some exposure!
Rolando from RPlayground has given me support:
http://www.rplayground.com/archives/208/
NAFASG has written a fantastic post:
Tips On Identifying And Avoiding Internet Scams
IMPORTANT UPDATE: Andrea from A Circle of Women has uncovered that Ezine.org is not affiliated with ezinearticles.com! Read her post here: AC Associates: Link Scam Exposed
Content is not King
I hear it all the time, “Content is King”. Wouldn’t that be nice if it were? We would like to think it’s king, but unfortunately it is isn’t. Maybe it’s good it isn’t. What exactly determines if content is good? What is the criteria by which you judge “good content”?
The truth is, there are many variables that determine whether content is good or not. If you are a money blogger, you may think personal blogs aren’t worth linking to or reading. If you are a real writer (story author, deep introspective expressions, progressive philosophies, etc.) you may think money blogs are a disease. Maybe you don’t care one way or another, you are here for friendship and fun!
Search Engines Don’t Care About Content
That’s right, search engines could care less about website content. There is only one factor that determines good content to a search engine, that is money! Do you think I’m wrong?
Read the rest of this entry »
