A Barrel of Benefits...

...When you participate in our New Comment Community!

1. Specific, targeted focus on one aspect of your blog.

2. Increase the number of New Comments on posts you select.

3. Submit posts that have been overlooked or submit any post you'd like. You focus the reader’s attention.

4. Learn from giving thoughtful feedback. Build credible comments in your name on other blogs. Comment on any post, all posts or no posts.

5. Learn from receiving thoughtful feedback. Build credible comments on your blog.

6. Only comments with substance that give useful feedback to the blogger are allowed (not necessarily lengthy).

7. Save time by not receiving comments on blogs and topics you're not interested in.

8. Save precious time by limiting group invitations and messages to no more than once per week, except under special circumstances.

9. Using a specific Format For Submitting Posts, allows members to browse posts quickly and find essential information only, in consistent locations.

10. Newbies, experts and writers should use this group in conjunction with other marketing efforts; but most of all, you and your visitors will enjoy the exchange of New Comments!

The goal of New Comment Community is to take a consistent, turtle approach while building a foundation of credible comments. Small steps. Our goal is to be a community not a country; beneficial, not big. Our goal is for members to participate mainly out of true interest in the content this community will share.

Understanding Underwriting

What is underwriting? Is it some other dimensional place where personal documents are sent to have spells cast over them using bones, shiny things and marbles? From these cipherings comes a single word like “approved.” For this privilege, they add rates, fees, phrases and clauses using an intergalactic calculator and language where points and premiums are not in your favor.

What are they really doing that takes several days of seclusion? Calling our employers, creditors and former neighbors or chanting incantations to the loan document wizard like “Show me the mortgage! How much can we charge? How many ways? and Create another form containing the same information!” The term underwriting just sounds shady doesn’t it. There’s no way humans can double-check the results from their elaborate ceremonies of wheel spinning, button pushing and lever pulling. Underwriters make odds makers look like newbies on the block.

The real question is whether underwriters really exist. Maybe they’re the mutant offspring of the financial and insurance industry weaned on calculating postage, shipping & handling, gas prices and author royalties before graduating to mortgages and insurance policies.

If anyone has actually seen an underwriter, let me know. I’d like to tag it electronically to monitor its behavior in its natural habitat. I’ve met more ghostwriters than I’ve met underwriters. I’ve seen more comets than I've seen underwriters. I’ve met nearly everyone who’s ever flown over the cuckoo’s nest but never once in my travels or networking have I met an underwriter.

My quest for understanding the elusive underwriter continues. Next time I need to convince some corporation to take my money, I’ll walk in demanding, “Take me to your underwriter” or that at least they make subterfuge a quicker process. Until I get better explanations than, “They’re writers from Australia” or “Ancient Chinese secret,” you’ll find me trying to catch a glimpse of an underwriter in action by following anyone carrying all of their personal information.

Technorati Tags:
mortgage, personal information, satire, underwriting, writers

Blogging For Babies - Part I

Writing, plus marketing yourself and your writing, is enough for a small volunteer army. Blogging need not be so intense and complicated for the uninitiated. I‘ve been in basic training for a few weeks so, from a rookie to a newbie:

1. Save any text such as your blog description and your profile on your computer and removable media. Perform the same backup for your template.

2. Compose profile sections and posts in your word processor, then add to your blog. This will help you catch mistakes. Reading posts aloud also helps.

3. Create and post at least three to four posts before trying to create traffic. You’ll get practice and have time to fine-tune your blog and its description. When visitors come, they’ll see several posts and your format will be more static.

4. Each post's title and labels are the keywords and phrases used by search engines. Also, what you post as comments on other blogs and in Groups can be found during internet searches.

5. Read The Ten Commandments For Bloggers.

6. Submit to the main search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN and MSN Live Search. If asked, select the “add meta tag” option, it’s easier. The latest search engine is Megaglobe.

7. Pinging is like an insect landing on a spider’s web. When you ping, the search engine spiders come to your site to see what new information you have on the web. Sign up for automatic pinging at Autopinger.com. This will ping dozens of search engines automatically at intervals or you can ping them each time you post by going to Autopinger.com and quickly pinging all sites at once.

8. Feed item footer text can be found during internet searches and is attached to the end of each post once you setup your RSS feed. My feed item footer includes blog description, copyright notice and feed URL. Subscribe to this blog in the sidebar to see an example.

9. Setup your RSS feed at Feedburner.com and then subscribe to your own feed to see what other are seeing.

10. Subscribe to Blogger Tips and Tricks and Dummies’ Guide To Google Blogger.

Finally, for now, add your blog’s URL to your email signature and join me in the wading pool of the World Wide Web. Jump in blog first!

Technorati Tags:
beginners, blogging, newbie, tips and tricks

Basic Needs & The 'N' Word

This is a special post due to recent national events surrounding the N-Word. A positive approach to using the 'N' Word.

Newborns nursing chocolate milk. Black Widow name brand suits of silk. Natural selection. When the name of the game is a nation's election, an African on a white elephant, is incredibly nightmarish and negligent. I have a question. Are we in the black or out-voted? Like white on rice, sugarcoated? The use of polishing and refining as a disguise has been duly noted. We hold this truth to be self evident and prevalent! And another thing! While we paraded, were we sedated? This may explain why, although we can’t, we still wait to fully integrate. Precious Lord, wake us when we’ve made it. Uh, rather traded ourselves for next-door neighbors who hate it. The electricity of, Power! to my peoples has been grounded through steeples. Natural rebirth means unity outlasts net worth. Speak native code, nurture its might, before it’s sold outright. A colorfolk display of freedom. Unh, unh, unh! Without proper home training, whose child will lead ‘em? Whitewash can be neutralized with silt. Actually, whitewash can be annihilated with silt. In other words, bathing in the Nile removes all guilt. I’ve seen the night! And it always rises! If only on stilts. Our language, our beliefs, our clothing, our food -- blacklist of Negritude. From Eloquence: Rhythm & Renaissance, ISBN 13: 978-0-9794450-0-2

Real Pursuit of Happiness, The

The real pursuit of happiness occurs mostly in isolation, spaces and places where the only accompaniment is the confidant, inner voice, and faint footfall of foot soldiers advancing slowly, but surely, digging into trenches beyond front lawns. Fortifying themselves with faith-infused will and giving no regard to turning back.

This does not advocate withdrawing from the natural world and its inhabitants. However, happiness is not based on the sum of outward experiences.

Since the real pursuit of happiness is an internal experience, nothing fulfilling comes from a mind, set on feeding itself with a status quo of average, normal and common thoughts or actions. This is a sure way to want for freedom in the safety of our mental DMZ, because as long as individual identities and standing ground are battered by the ramifications of bartering beliefs, the real pursuit of happiness is not possible.

Technorati Tags:
faith, freedom, inner voice, isolation, pursuit of happiness