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Friday, November 7th, 2008 18:09:00 GMT ▲ Top ▼ Bottom ↓ Down |
| Site Update |
My apologies for updating this site mostly only slowly and sporadically. Sometimes (or actually, even quite often), I just really don't enjoy posting things to the internet. I'm just too shy... :-/ Which is a big problem if I want to make a large amount of money from this website somehow, someday.
Anyhow, I added a new page to the Self-Help section - About Steve Pavlina's Book Personal Development for Smart People. It's basically a review, with some astrological content thrown in.
I actually first uploaded that page at 4:10 PM on Oct. 31st, but, I didn't get around to announcing it until today. The last minor change I made to it was uploaded at 11:36 AM today.
To summarize my review - I highly recommend Personal Development for Smart People by Steve Pavlina, which I found to be quite brilliant and well worth reading, as is Steve's website, StevePavlina.com.
I also removed my site's Project Wonderful ads, an action I explained in an earlier blog post.
Some minor updates were, I finally fixed the SSI header and footer over on the MagnaMural pages, which must've been messed up since probably mid-October at least. Oops.
| I Quit Project Wonderful |
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Friday, November 7th, 2008 17:31:33 GMT ▲ Top ▼ Bottom ↓ Down Up ↑ |
| Astrology Minor Events |
As of 10:26 AM today, I quit Project Wonderful. This was because they sent me an annoying message saying that my ad box was in danger of being delisted in a week due to low performance, and suggesting all kinds of annoying things I ought to do to prevent this.
Somehow, that message just really caught me at the wrong time, in the wrong mood. As if I really needed to be reminded of how pathetic the traffic at this website is - a fact of which I'm already well-aware. I also hate feeling pressured to do anything.
So, I decided to just get rid of the ads entirely. I had only made 25 cents from them since last August (which I told them they could keep). It's a relief to have quit, now I'll feel a little less guilty about neglecting to update my site and get more traffic over here.
I also won't have to answer to any future annoying nags from them. The last thing I want to do is get dependent on something that might try to annoy and pressure me in the future - that's one of the reasons I never used Google AdSense. And, another benefit is, my visitors will get a break from having to be annoyed with ads.
Interestingly, Pluto is conjunct the ascendant, and the midheaven is near my natal Pluto at 21°32' Libra - all of which seems rather appropriate for the chart of the final, conclusive ending of something in my life.
I guess that's all I can think of to say about this chart. But that's OK, it's only the chart for a minor event anyhow.
It was a rather rash, impulsive decision, but overall, I just feel relieved about it. Project Wonderful is still probably not a bad option for many people, but, not for me. Being nagged to change the layout of my ads, or run ads of my own, or somehow increase my amount of traffic in only a week, or else face the delisting of one of my few (albeit tiny) revenue streams, just annoyed me too much.
It's actually the first time they've really annoyed me, but, that was quite enough for me to just call it quits. I didn't even give them a chance to talk me out of it. I'm surely overreacting a bit, but, whatever. At least it led to the above slightly amusing astrological coincidences, and gave me something to blog about... :-)
Out of curiosity, after I quit Project Wonderful, I looked at the astrological chart for the minute I sent the email declaring I had quit.
-qa Nov 7 2008 10:26 EST 80:34W 41:09N
Location: Hubbard, OH
+-------<11>15Sco36----<10>19Lib39-----<9>15Vir16-----------+
| Sun 15Sco36 | Mer 4Sco49 | | |
| Mar 23Sco49 | | | |
| | | | Cer 1Vir11 |
| | | Sat 19Vir14 | Ver 7Leo56 |
<12> 6Sag37----|-----------------------------|----- 3Leo57<8>
| Lil 23Sag39 | | |
| Ven 24Sag00 | Astrolog 5.40 chart | |
| | Fri Nov 7 2008 10:26am | |
| | ST -05:00, 80:34W 41:09N | |
<1>26Sag16-----| UT: 15:26, Sid.T: 13:12 |-----26Gem16<7>
| Plu 29Sag23 | Placidus Houses | |
| Jun 1Cap45 | Tropical / Geocentric | |
| Jup 17Cap53 | Julian Day = 2454778.1431 | |
| | | Pal 19Gem38r |
<2> 3Aqu57-----|-----------------------------|----- 6Gem37<6>
| Nod 13Aqu50r | Ura 18Pis54r | | |
| Chi 16Aqu08 | For 13Ari10 | | |
| Nep 21Aqu29 | | | |
| Moo 2Pis30 | | Ves 4Tau37r | |
+-----------15Pis16<3>-----19Ari39<4>-----15Tau36<5>--------+
| Alternative Candidates for President |
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Monday, November 3rd, 2008 18:13:25 GMT ▲ Top ▼ Bottom ↓ Down Up ↑ |
| Humor |
Tomorrow (Tuesday, Nov. 4) will be Election Day here in the United States.
If you haven't considered an alternative candidate, you're missing out. Why not consider this guy,
or this guy?
| Rabbit Season |
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Thursday, October 30th, 2008 13:58:13 GMT ▲ Top ▼ Bottom ↓ Down Up ↑ |
| Humor Video |
Here's another darkly funny YouTube video I found: The Murphy Sector Episode 1: Rabbit Season
If creepiness and dark humor really bother you, maybe you should avoid it. But if not, enjoy!
| Dracula Gets a Puppy |
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Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 02:04:22 GMT ▲ Top ▼ Bottom ↓ Down Up ↑ |
| Humor Video |
Here's a funny YouTube video I found which has surprisingly few views - only 3,145 views as I write this: Dracula gets a puppy
Be warned - while it is funny, some of the humor is rather dark. But, since Halloween is coming up, I figured this might be an appropriate time to post this.
If dark humor really bothers you, I recommend that you stop watching at 3 minutes, 2 seconds.
By the way, here's some funny historical trivia I recently heard related to the word "puppy". Apparently, hundreds of years ago, being called a "puppy" was considered an insult worthy of fighting a duel over! Here's an article about that: You better not call me a puppy
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Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 01:34:39 GMT ▲ Top ▼ Bottom ↓ Down Up ↑ |
| Site Update |
Here are the most notable recent site updates. I added an expanded table of contents for Steve Pavlina's wonderful book Personal Development for Smart People. I also made a printable HTML/CSS version which is more readily printable (probably best printed in Firefox), and can be customized in case you'd prefer to print it with a different font or font size or something; and a printable PDF version, which should almost certainly print correctly.
I also made a JavaScript random generator for the names of the 66 personal effectiveness habits on pages 149-157 of Steve's book. I uploaded this stuff to the Self-Help section at 8:07-8:08 PM.
Thanks to Steve for the permission to share this stuff, and for writing his brilliant book and website, etc. If any of you out there have somehow had the misfortune of never having heard of Steve Pavlina, I highly recommend you check out his stuff, and also the website and blog of his very gifted wife, the psychic Erin Pavlina. Both of them, through their wonderful websites, writings, etc., have had a very positive influence on my life. Thank you to both of them.
By the way, the last two tips at the bottom of the Watching Videos in Opera section are highly useful for anyone using any web browser, and in fact, I should probably put them on a separate page sometime.
I also made some minor updates in the past couple days. I added a bit to the About This Site page, uploading the update on 10/25/2008 at 4:03 AM. And, on 10/26/2008 at 2:46 AM, I updated the Opera Web Browser Tips page a bit.
| Bay at Innsmouth |
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Monday, October 27th, 2008 03:53:46 GMT ▲ Top ▼ Bottom ↓ Down Up ↑ |
| Wallpaper Second Life |
Ordinarily that area would appear to be lined with buildings, but, when I turned my Second Life client's draw distance down, they vanished. Overall, a pretty wallpaper, though the reflections in the water could look a bit better and maybe ought to be photoshopped a bit. Looks fine in the thumbnail image, at least.
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A Second Life screenshot I took on Saturday, August 9, 2008 at 9:24:02 AM at the Innsmouth roleplaying game section of the October Country sim.
| Top of Innsmouth Church |
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Saturday, October 25th, 2008 08:22:22 GMT ▲ Top ▼ Bottom ↓ Down Up ↑ |
| Wallpaper Second Life |
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A Second Life screenshot I took on Saturday, August 9, 2008 at 9:33:16 AM at the Innsmouth roleplaying game section of the October Country sim.
| Oct. 24th: Take Back Your Time Day |
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Friday, October 24th, 2008 07:43:04 GMT ▲ Top ▼ Bottom ↓ Down Up ↑ |
| Finances |
Today (October 24th) happens to be "Take Back Your Time Day". I first heard about this a few days ago when I ran across an interesting article called Working to Live has Been Overtaken by Living to Work by Barbara Sumner Burstyn.
That article contains plenty of interesting info. According to it, Take Back Your Time Day (Oct. 24th) is the day when "the average American will have worked the equivalent of a full European work year." And, apparently, Americans "spend nearly nine full weeks more a year on the job than their counterparts in Western Europe."
The article also states that "Americans work more now than they did in the 1950s," (...) "more than medieval peasants did, and more than the citizens of any other industrial country."
I knew things were bad, as far as how much people have to work just to scrape by, but I didn't know things were that bad! I wonder if things have gotten even worse since that article was released - it's a bit old, dated September 22, 2003.
Here's another interesting article: PBS.org - Livelyhood - How the Weekend Was Won, by Joe Robinson, editor of Escape magazine.
I found this quote particularly interesting: "Opponents of a mandated vacation law always trot out the myth that it would hurt productivity. While the United States does rule in productivity, it's not by much compared to Germany, for instance. The difference in output per hour is almost negligible and Germans manage to do it in two months less work. Think about that one."
Lastly, here's the most official-looking website I was able to find related to Take Back Your Time Day: TimeDay.org.
| Sun Now In Scorpio |
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Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 22:18:04 GMT ▲ Top ▼ Bottom Up ↑ |
| Pictures Second Life |
This is a prim sculpture of Scorpio, the sign of the scorpion (with part of Taurus, the bull, visible to the left of it).
You can visit the shop of the artist, Madcow Cosmos, at the Lie sim.
Update, 10/24/2008, 2:10 AM: I recently found out from this blog post at the Shengri La: Utopian Micronation blog that Madcow's zodiac sculptures are on display at the Shengri La Peace sim until Nov. 23rd. There, you can even purchase them for delightfully reasonable prices.
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3/11/2008 5:15:50 AM
As of October 22, 2008, 9:09 PM EDT, the sun has begun its transit of Scorpio. So, here's another screenshot I took last March in Second Life at a fantastic exhibit of prim sculptures by Madcow Cosmos.