Communati.com

In the beginning, there was darkness.
In the middle, there was light.
And the light shone on the coppery dome of the
most dominant building in Three Cheese, Wisconsin.
Yes, the roof of the Westclox Savings and Loan gleamed.

And the people squinted from the glare
as they drove down the gently sloping Main Street.

The sight was pleasing to the richest man in Three Cheese, Wisconsin, for he was the banker, and business was good.

Alas, there came a day of reckoning.
And this day was called Tax day.
The richest man couldn’t pay his taxes.
So he took the money from the bank, to pay the tax man.

Lo and behold! The tax man caught the banker dipping into the till (so to speak).

And the tax man fined the banker the tenth part of every account held in escrow.

This angered the good, law-abiding citizens of Three Cheese, Wisconsin.

And they rebelled.

Yea, they fought back, ripping the copper from the roof and selling it to the smithy.

And darkness fell.

For the people, in their zealotry, had cut off their noses to spite their plastic surgeons.
In so doing, they robbed themselves of the very light that shone like a beacon, anchoring the city to the map that otherwise would have swallowed it whole - with crackers.

It came to pass that the smithy felt shame.
He smote his breast and tore his chest hair.
He vowed to restore the copper roof.

After 40 days, 40 nights and 40 gallons of cheap wine,
the smithy completed his task.

And there was light.

The good citizens were upset. They killed the smithy.

Thereafter, in honor of the courageous smithy,
cities all over Wisconsin celebrated the Time of the Light.
They did this by ripping all the copper from the rooftops, then paying the local smithy to repair them!

Many years later, the Mayor of Baby Swiss, Wisconsin got a bright idea (so to speak.)
Rather than going through the expense of ripping and repairing shiny rooftops, he told his subjects to set their clocks forward.

This simple act forced them out of bed a little earlier, but it also allowed them to see the gleaming glare of coppery rooftops a little longer.

As it happened that this ritual coincided with Tax Day, the compound effect (you should pardon the pun) of the pending Solstice meant longer, sunny days.

Nobody knows how “Savings” got into the mix.

The fact that this all began with a bank is purely a coincidence.

---

This late-night tomfoolery was inspired by Darius, who asked, in all seriousness, no doubt:
Why Do We Have Daylight Savings Time?

Wednesday October 31 – The final day on the October blog tour trail –

Earl Ofari Hutchinson talks about his book - The Latino Challenge to Black America: Towards a Conversation Between African-Americans and Hispanics. Today he is featured at Latino Politics – www.Latinopoliticsblog.com.

A bit more information about The Latino Challenge –

The Census Bureau made it official in 2002! Latinos are now the top minority in the U.S. The news hit black America like a thunderbolt. Many blacks complained that they would be shoved even further to the economic and political margin among minorities in the country. The Census report also showed Latinos were widening their population growth gap on blacks.

But, it’s not just the numbers. Latinos demand political and social issues no longer be framed solely in black and white. That presents another challenge to black America. At times that challenge has been intensified and conflicted by the wildly divergent agendas of African-Americans and Latinos on immigration, political empowerment, bilingual education, and jobs. These are complex and engaging issues.

The Latino Challenge to Black America: Towards a Conversation Between African-Americans and Hispanics examines the hot button issues and problems that conflict and unite blacks and Latinos. It looks at how both groups interpret and see those issues and problems through the prism of their experiences. It’s highly readable, fast paced, cutting edge book that blends the personal and analytical, and ultimately can serve as a guide to navigate race and ethnic relations through 21st Century America. The book will be published jointly in Spanish and English.

Update - Mr Hutchinson has a new book which is being released in January. Its titled The Ethnic Presidency and it offers insights into what part race will play in the upcoming presidential election. The debates are already heating up with the Democrats and the Republicans, as the race progresses, it will only be hotter and more complicated. The Ethnic Presidency will help you understand the part that minorities and race will play in this unusual and critical election.

Nikki Leigh
www.nikkileigh.com
“Coastal Suspense with a Touch of Romance”
Book Promo 101 - www.nikkileigh.com/book_promo_101.htm - E-book AVAILABLE

Is there a reason for daylight savings time?

To me it seems rather senseless to put the clocks ahead 1 hour then change it back again.

The only things that seem to change is sleep patterns in humans and feeding patterns for livestock.

Does changing the clocks actually save daylight or is that just a misnomer?

Why do we as humans think we should alter time, or even could for that matter?

Just some musings from an idle mind.

Keep the faith.

Yep that’s my opinion and I am going to stick with it. After all only a woman has the right to change their minds, ask if they look fat in something and then get upset when you say the truth and are the one species on this planet that you can never work out how their mind works.

Google’s like a woman
As fickle as can be
Use all The SEO you can
She’ll crush you like a flea

You real all the SEO tactics
You apply it to your blog
Then those Google pricks
Give your Rankings a flog

Women like to change the rules
And Google is just the same
She acts as if all bloggers are fools
For trying to play the game

On minute your feeling happy
Your PR is pretty good
Then you’re feeling crappy
And you wish you understood

Yeah, Google is no lady
The way she treats her fans
Her actions kind of shady
Ruining many bloggers plans

We all don’t rort the system
Yet she treats us all the same
Yeah, we’re not all like them
Spammers should wear the blame

Bloggers have to live too
Paid posts are just a job
Oh Google if you only knew
You’re acting like a slob

We can’t use rel-nofollow
As then we won’t get paid
Your rules are hard to swallow
Us bloggers all feel so betrayed

Well I say stuff you wh0re
I removed your stupid toolbar
Though my rankings may not soar
My content you cannot mar

Hell, who am I kidding
Please give my PR back
Your Praises I will sing
Just cut me some slack!

Yesterday morning (Monday) I got a rude awakening, by a phone call from my daughters school principal.

Apparently my 11 year old had flipped the bird to her bus driver on Friday afternoon.
Punishment was decided that she had to give a written apology to the driver or she would be suspended from the bus today (Tuesday).

Being half asleep (this call came in the middle of my normal sleep period) I said “OK you deal with your end and I will reinforce the punishment at my end”.
Not the smartest response I found out as soon as my wife and I talked about this, as she had been dealing with the school on this matter.

She was cheesed first that the school had ignored her input and second they had now involved me.

As it turns out this driver has been constantly deriding my daughter on her bus to the point, she doesn’t even look elsewhere when there is loudness or any other disturbance,she just yells at my daughter.

My daughter is fairly sensitive and mopping for several weeks until she finally confided in her mother about this treatment 2 weeks ago (I was not informed until yesterday).

So now I’m a little upset myself, off to the school I go.

I had what I thought was an understanding ear in the school principal, when I told him how my daughter was treated and therefore no apology letter would be given by my daughter unless an apology was also given to her by this driver.

I would accept the one day suspension because it would be me driving my daughter to school for that day.

When my daughter came home and found out that I had been to the school to support her, she gave me a big hug and started crying.

From now on I think she will come to us quicker and be a little more trusting, which is a good thing.

But I still have a problem, what do I do about a principal that went against my express wishes, and forced my child to act in a more mature manner then an adult (authority figure)?

My daughter gave an apology letter to this abusive person to get the response “I’ll give you a second chance”.

No recognition of the cost to my daughter or her own culpability or immaturity.

Keep the faith.

Today I had to go do banking.
The 2 banks that we deal with are across the street from each other but unfortunately they are about 15 miles from my house.
Well what on earth are you talking about then, you may be asking?
I decided to just bum around, wearing a hockey jersey and track pants with no pockets and a fall coat.
So my wallet gets put in my coat and into the first bank I go to get out money, that gets taken across the street to be deposited in the other bank to pay the mortgage. This all went as planned, then off to Mc Chokes for a burger, pick up the kid from school and back home. Whew now I can sit and relax, wait for my game later, do some writing, nope! as soon as I sit down at the computer,phone rings.
Oops I had a Brainfart at the bank, my wallet was left on the counter, right where I had put it, so back to the bank I have to go immediately, because they close in half an hour.
OK so I had a moment how about you, do you ever have a Brainfart?

Keep the faith

When I first started getting together information about stevia; I thought this would be a very simple topic. Instead I found out that there is a LOT more to stevia than most people realize.

Popular belief is that stevia is a “non-caloric natual sweetener with no side effects that is great for diabetics and for political reasons the FDA will not allow it to be used in foods and beverages in the US only as a supplement.”

Actually, there is a whole lot more to it than that. There is so much information about stevia and it does so many different things that I will be breaking the stevia topic down into three posts: This post about what stevia is; a second post about the benefits of stevia; and a third post about the DANGERS of stevia. That’s right, stevia does have some side effects that it’s proponents either do not know about or choose to overlook.

So, what is stevia? “Stevia” is actually a total of 150 different varieties of plant with leaves which are 7 times to 30 times sweeter than table sugar. The most common type of stevia and the one which is raised commercially in South America and Asia is stevia rebaudiana.

You can actually try raising this plant yourself, both from seed and seedlings. It is hardy to Zone 8. People in colder climates will need to either bring their stevia inside for the colder months or just grow it inside or in a greenhouse.

After the plant has grown and is ready to have the leaves harvested; there are several ways that it is processed and/or marketed.

1) Leaves are cut and sold as “green leaf stevia”. In this form it is 10 - 30 times as sweet as table sugar. This form will not “dissolve” into liquids.

2) Leaves that have been cut and cleaned can be “steeped” in either water or alcohol. The resulting liquid can be used “as is” or it can be boiled down to a “syrup”. The “syrup” can be concentrated to a level that is 250 times sweeter than sugar. The actual level of sweetness will vary depending on the manufacturer of the syrup or “liquid stevia”.

3) The leaves can be processed to remove the “steviocide” which is a concentrated white powder. This form of stevia is highly concentrated and can be as much as 300 times as sweet as table sugar. This form of stevia is so concetrated that many companies “cut” the stevia with maltodextrin or silica so it is easy to use and measure. “Individual packets” of stevia HAVE been cut/diluted. A toothpick that has been dipped into PURE stevia powder will sweeten an 8oz cup of coffee.

Some people find that stevia has a “bitter” or “licorice” taste. This “flavor” is the result of the leaves not having the large veins removed before processing. Stevia has other natural chemicals in the plants and the veins contain a sap that is bitter and/or licorice flavored depending on soil and stevia variety.

The concentrated sweetness of stevia is the reason it is considered to be non-caloric. The amount of stevia required to yield even one calorie would be enough to sweeten an entire pie or pitcher of lemonade.

Now, you have some idea what stevia is; next post will be about the benefits.

I Started five blogs this summer, to help the students of my course ‘make $1000 a month blogging wat writersonlinecourses.com’ learn the ropes and actually see that the claims in the course are true.

Paid Blog Posts and Page Rank

This blog now has a PR2. That is good enough to get started, but it does bring up some good questions. Will blogging for pay lower the site’s PR. The simple answer is no.

One reason it does not lower the page rank is because paid blog links almost always lead to a page with a higher PR than the blog post. So, in fact, the opportunity to increase the PR of the blog is real.

Communati mentioned that I helped increase the Page Rank of this site. In a real way, I did, by linking back and forth from this site to web pages and blogs with PR3 and PR4. This increased the value of the communati page.

Understanding Page Rank

Now, if the blogger were using heading titles, and were ‘breaking’ their posts every 150 words. If the blogger were building ‘keyword anchored’ links to a specific post, then yes. There may be an argument that the blog is being degraded by the paid ads. But, as there are few blogs in a site like communati that meet the criteria:

-No more than 10 keywords which are repeated through the entire blog
-Staying on topic
-Using proper coding and H1/H2/H3 titles

Then the effect of paid blog posts is minimal and on the ‘plus’ side of the scale, as apposed to the minus side.

Not everyone is intrested in writing for pay. This is totally acceptable. For others, the concept is a natural progression from hobby writer to professional blogger status. Will it offend your readers? I will talk more on this later, but the answer is basically - no, not if done right.

I spend a lot of time writing about travel. My bloggerparty blog has focused recently on a proposed trip to England that I expect in the next two years that is necessary for the publishing business. However, I have friends in Australia that I would love to visit. Even meet some of our authors.

One thing I’ve often wondered about was a trip to Hawaii. I know a lot of people go there on a honeymoon, but I’ve never met anyone who actually went there.

I spend a lot of time behind the computer, and I’ve often thought about travelling. Maybe it is because my children are growing older and I have more freedom. Maybe it is because the Internet is expanding, so I can move around the globe and still work.

If I did go, I wouldn’t stay in one of the cookie cutter franchise hotels. You might as well go to Miami or Vegas if that is what you want. I recently found a Kauai Travel Blog. I think that I would like to start one of my own. Of course, I can’t write about Hawaii, but I do live in a tourist area.

But then, maybe some day I will be writing from a small hotel in Hawaii. Who knows.

This is a big thankyou and a boast. Thanks to gracepub and whamwriter for all their great advice and information on page rank and blogging.

Having tried to follow this advice I discovered today that my blog Writing Rambles has a pr2 and my blog creative writing has a pr1.

Thanjs to both of you