The Times They Are A Changing

You’d think in this day and age that lead paint on children’s toys would be enough for consumers to say “No to China.” We know the greedy companies that buy products from China and resell to us are just doing business as usual. And you would think our own government would have checks in place to prevent this from happening. But, apparently the heads of our government are as greedy and in bed with big business. Well, that’s not hard to figure out. Now we have this huge economical crisis. It saddens me to say that all of this is somehow interconnected. I’m just trying to put the puzzle pieces together. And I wonder even if I do, will it make any difference.? Can I or any of us do anything at this point?

Then our pets were being murdered as they found melamine in their food. Food that came from China. What was so surprising was that some of the U.S. brands touted their “better” nutrition value. Then it was found in human food - babies milk. But, China was poisoning it’s own babies as well. 53,000 of them have become sick and 4 have died from the tainted powdered infant product. Does that surprise us very much. After all, China was the country that made a law saying each couple could only have one child. Parents, knowing if they had a girl would have no one to care for them in their old age, either abandoned their baby daughters or in unbelievable circumstances killed them.

The other day, I heard that a well known candy company, Cadbuary, had melamine in their chocolate. At that point I thinking, how does this continue. How does this substance get put in food that is sent over for us to consume and nobody (no U.S. governmental agency) is checking this. Unbelievable.

This morning I read an article about a Lipton tea product that melamine was found in. Gratefully it hadn’t made it’s way to the U.S. yet. But it was found in Hong Kong. And, here is one that I haven’t seen in the news, the King Car Food Industrial Company recalled some of their coffee and tea products sold in the U.S. They contained creamer contaminated with melamine. And White Rabbit Cream candy from Guanshengyuan. The candy has been found to contain melamine from China.

Well, I suppose it’s possible none of us will be able to afford much food as our economy sinks to the bottom of the U.S. bucket anyway. Not exactly a blessing and it probably won’t save us from the Chinese in other ways since much of the money we barrow is from China.

I consider myself a writer, a serious writer. Yet some people almost snicker when I tell them that my living is writing on the internet. I explain that I write for several networks as well as a sort of broker that handles travel articles. The articles are in tern sold to travel web sites. And they say, “Yeah, but what magazines do you write for?” For some reason, in there eyes, I don’t seem to have a real writing job unless I’m regularly published in major magazines. Of course, they know nothing about the writing business or how difficult it is to break into major magazines. Of course, I would love to do just that. All that aside, I do believe that I am a legitimate writer. Sure, I also wish I made more money which can be made selling your writing to major magazines.

Knowing that I am something like a struggling “artist” only I’m a struggling writer, there must be other people out there like me. Or, at least those that would like to be able to make that second income from home or a part-time retirement income. I’d like to share how I make the “part-time income”, in hopes that others will share anything or anyplace else they have found that pays for writing.

I especially like those places that I have an on going writing relationship with so I’m not having to go out and bid on jobs, write articles and sometimes have them stolen with no payment received. Let’s face it there are a lot of unscrupulous people out there.

I started out writing on hubpages.com. They pay 60% adsense received. And remember ad sense doesn’t pay until you have $100 in your account. I think the last time I checked I had $12.47. So, you can see that adsense is really no way to make a writing living. However, this is why I am mentioning them, There are some really good article writers there. So, starting out, I learned a lot by reading their articles, seeing how they were structured and so on. I then wrote articles that I did my best on. Writing these articles was not only like a training ground, but also gave me samples when other employers wanted to see my work on the web.

The second place I wrote was at Helium.com. In my opinion, it’s a waste of time to just pick subjects and write articles. To get more practice, but as I second step to becoming an online writer, you should try joining some of their contests and write articles from their marketplace. As you compete in the contests, you may get lucky and actually earn some money. I won three first prizes and a second prize before I went on to other things. I have also sold 7 paying articles from their marketplace. In fact, an article about social security was the first article I ever sold (what a great feeling) and it was out of their marketplace. Whatever you write there will continue to make money every time someone views the article. It’s not adsense as it’s paid directly from Helium, but it works much the same way. However, I’ve never been able to figure out their system of payment for views.

Since I have been working two other paying jobs, I haven’t done much with Helium, only because of time constraints. And, you never know if what you do at there (in the contest and marketplace areas) will pay off or not - but I know the paying markets I work at will. When you are writing for a living the most important thing has to be money, you have to schedule your time at the jobs that will pay off best.

I know, most of the time, am working for a “broker” of sorts. I didn’t know that they existed until I applied for a job in one of the freelance writing sits online and got the job. I write travel articles for $20 each and he places them in other travel related sites. He wants 1000 word articles. Actually, this is pretty low pay. Not only word wise (.02/word), but the article template is one that takes some time to complete. The other place I write for is Design Studio. They pay from $5 to $15 an article. I have only written the $15 ones as I am used to the template and so now they go pretty fast.

I also write for Today.com. They only pay $1 per article per day plus so much for unique (one time) visits. But, I like it because it gives me a more creative outlet where I can write about what ever I want and they are quite often opinion orientated.

I have tried to give myself the goal of making an extra hundred dollars each month. This is my $700 month and it’s going to be really close - keeping my fingers crossed that I make it with only a couple of days left.

So, please be generous and write me a message about any writing locations that you have found that might offer a fair wage.

President Kennedy is the first president I remember. I still remember the somber feeling when my teacher told us he’d been shot and killed. I thought to myself, things will never be the same again. And, in fact, they weren’t. A blackbird singing in the dead of night is like an omen. It makes you shiver with the feeling of premonition. I also wondered, would this be the worst thing to ever happen to our country?

Blackbird singin’ in the dead of night.

The Viet Nam war divided the young and the middle aged and above. Americans were used to feeling proud of their country. They believed we were the best and we made no mistakes. Younger people were confused by all the body bags they saw on the news every night. In those days, the president didn’t get to say that the American people wouldn’t see all of the dead soldiers, like Bush has now. Out of sight, out of mind. He’s right, you know. It’s worked out just peachy. But, in those days we all stood up and raised out voices, raised our fists, “Hell no, we won’t go.” I wondered, would this be the worst thing to ever happen to our country?

Blackbird singin’ in the dead of night.

Finally the war was over. We finished school and joined the establishment. I guess most people forgot about the war, forgot about what it felt like to stand up for what we believed in. I wondered what happened to all of our conviction as I looked around and saw men and women in suits and in meeting rooms at work. I thought long and hard and decided that most of them had been followers - there really were very few leaders. And some of the leaders such as Bob Dylan even denied they were ever leaders. It turned out we were all just sheeple after all. I wondered, would this be the worst thing to ever happen to our country?

Blackbirds singin’ in the dead of night.

I’ve heard whispers from here and there for a good part of my life about the “one world government.” Silly, I thought. People talked about the “frog in the boiling water” theory. Now I’m not so sure and have started thinking about the whole proposition seriously. After all, weren’t we totally bamboozled into the Iraq war? They sold us a bag full of lies all tied up with a red ribbon of fear. Of course that was after the towers were destroyed. How convenient to take the fear and anger we all felt, bottle it into an “I love America” slogan and sell it to us. You haven’t forgotten how many times they changed the reason for the Iraq war, have you? Just slip slidin’ away. Trillions of dollars and who knows how much more it will cost us. Crooks in the Whitehouse. Well, it wasn’t the first time. Surely I thought this is the worst thing to ever happen to our country.

Blackbird singin’ in the dead of night.

Things are starting to crash around us. Rock-solid mega huge banks and investment firms are folding like houses of straw. And Bush, McCain and Obama are selling desperation and fear. We must bail out these companies now or we’ll go right into a depression. Now, the thought of the “one world government” comes to mind again.

*Trillions borrowed for a war we should have never been involved with. In fact, when has it been part of the U.S. way of doing things to go and attach another country when it has not harmed us?

*A housing mortgage crisis that, excuse me, no one saw coming? Very hard to believe. But, those in charge of the mega companies should not have to take any responsibilities. Let’s just bail out their asses and put the American people in billions of dollars more debt.

So, what do you think is coming next. I know it will be something way bigger and badder. I know, because I’ve learned that it’s not the worst thing that can happen to our country.

Blackbird singin’ in the dead of night. Take these broken wings and learn to fly.” Paul McCartney

The great depression of ‘29, as they called it, was just a practice run for the economical devastation we are about to undergo. At least, that’s my opinion. Let me say, first, I am not a gloom and doom person by nature. In fact, several years ago I made myself a promise that I would never make any decision out of desperation ever again. So, when I predict a fall of this country in which I do not think we will recover, it is not out of an innate need to think the worst and try to rile others into making rash decisions. After all, isn’t that what our governmental heads are doing just this moment as they tell all that we must act quickly to bailout these failing institutions?

The desperate appeal and scare tactics of Bush, McCain and yes even Obama are unforgivable as far as I’m concerned. We already owe (and continue to rack up the bill) trillions for the Iraq war that was sold to us with a bag of lies. What will it take for us to ever be able to pay back that money? I certainly don’t have the answer to that question, but I do know when someone one comes up with the answer, it won’t be good for us in middle class America. Now, these idiots want to bail out these huge firms. Sure, I understand people, lots of people, will loose their jobs. So, lets deal with that now rather than make mistake by racking up trillions more debt that we can never pay back.

Can China call in a loan? I’m just wondering, because isn’t that what happens in our country when we don’t stay true to the conditions of a loan. And isn’t that what they are telling us is the whole debacle of these collapsing institutions, too many loans that had to be called in. What happens when we renege on our agreement to China regarding our loans. Does China get to take over America? It’s a strange and unconceivable thought isn’t it? I can’t help it, that’s how my brain works.

It was unheard of twenty years ago, but today all of us know at least one person on antidepressants or some other drug to preserve mental health. And, most of us know more than just one person. So, how many people at your workplace, the checkers at the grocery store or in the doctor’s office, unknown to you, are on these kind of medications?

In the age we live in, especially just lately, it might be called the era of “the sky is falling in.” People are getting more and more freaked out. What is really shocking, is that we are hearing more and more that young children have been put on some of these same drugs.

Five-year-old Henry Quant was put on antidepressants and stayed on them for two years. They were first prescribed when Henry was sick in bed with a chronic fever condition. Apparently his health care professional felt his anxiety and depression over the situation required drastic measures.

The medication always made his mother a bit nervous and worried about what the drugs might do to Henry in the long run. So, over the summer, working with his physician, he was slowly weaned off the drugs with vitamins and stress relieving exercises. And although both mother and doctor continue to keep a close eye on Henry, he seems to be doing better every day.

One would think that no five or even seven-year-old should be on antidepressants. It even seems shocking that a doctor would suggest it. It seems our western medicine has no use for asking the question “Why?” only let’s cover up these symptoms. If a particular drug causes side effects the are happy to prescribe another drug to take care of those. It’s about time we started figuring out how to “fix” things instead of just covering them up, don’t you think?

More mother’s like Henry’s should stand up and say, no more. There are plenty of natural medicines such as herbs, vitamins and natural therapies to try with young children before filling their bodies with happy pills

Some of the people of Taos are asking where the low-frequency humming is coming from, to no avail. Even though not everyone can hear the hum, it’s prevalent enough that Wikipedia and other sources have reported on it. Some, have even tried to guess what the hum is and where it comes from. Yet, no government agency has responded with an answer to the ongoing and annoying sound.

Although, this sound has become known as the Taos Hum, this New Mexico city is not alone. The hum is heard in other parts of the world especially in Northern Europe, the UK and the Big Island of Hawaii. Back in 1977 UK people complained of dizziness, loss of breath, anxiety and loss of sleep due to the hum there. In fact, a major newspaper received 800 letters in complaint of the maddening noise.

Those that hear the hum describe it as a distant idling diesel engine. However, they also say it is not the same all of the time. It switches between a constant sound to the volumn changing up and down and sometimes going to a sort of “Morse Code” beat. What is really strange is that they say it is louder indoors than outside.

As far as other locations in the U.S., there is at least one person that reports hearing a humming sound in every state. Although, hum hearers have traveled to locations where they don’t hear the hum. Some have speculated about the cause of this ongoing annoyance:

Industrial machinery
Pulsed microwaves
HAARP - ionosphere heating system
Submarine communication
Meteor electromagnetic waves
Geologic or plate tectonics
Navy ELF communications

The U.S. government has taken the hum serious enough to try and detect it’s origin. Scientists, some of whom also hear the hum, were directed to find the cause of the hum. The team was unable to find any seismic events or acoustic signals that could account for the humming. The mystery continues and the study for an answer is on-going.

As Bush waits to get an “OKAY” on $700 billion bill (to buy out bad mortgage debt) he’s sent to Congress, the Dow Jones continues to drop with 370 points down on Monday. Investors seem to be running scared and others are just “waiting to see” how this financial crisis out country is in plays out. Meanwhile, at least, the smaller investors such as those with 401-K retirements are sweating bullets as they watch their retirement plans spiral.

Canada has been affected and it shows in their market. Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index showed it down 274 points Monday which was a turn-around from Fridays increase of 848 points. Their dollar is at 96.77 US (up 1.53 cents).

China and Japan, on the other hand, are both up with China’s stock market climbing up 8 percent and Japan’s gaining more than 1 percent in their early trading.

Just recently, the Federal Bank granted requests by Morgan Stanly and Goldman Sachs to change their status to bank holding companies. This means these establishments will now be considered just regular retail banks. Another crisis occurred for Ameribank, becoming the 12th regional bank to go insolvent on Friday. It’s business largely relied on the construction industry which has greatly dropped with the housing market.

It feels like we all need to stay tuned for the next episode as we all try to go about our day to day schedules. We have to keep putting one step in front of the other. What else is there to do. As individuals, we feel helpless. Yet, “helpless” is not a good place to be mentally or emotionally. It is important that we all keep our mental attitude in control of our lives. If you can make changes in order to prepare yourself if finances continue to spiral down, all the better as it put’s you in “control” of parts of your life. But, I implore you to not be “desperate” about anything as you will only make mistakes in your choices. We all must remain calm and think smart.

Fall has been in the air, here in Central Oregon, all week. So, it seems fitting that it has begun. With fall comes the end of daylight savings time which will end November 2. “Fall Back” has much more appeal than “Spring Ahead.” Most of us still ask, “why do we have to change the time back and for the again?” It seems like we never get a straight answer. It starts to feel like some conspiracy to keep our body clocks off balance.

There are still some rebel areas out there in the U.S. that refuse to adopt this silly ritual. Hawaii and most parts of Arizona do not use daylight savings time. Indiana just changed their policy in 2006. You have to wonder if they just got tired of explaining why they were all leaving work at 4:00pm instead of 5:00pm to out of staters.

The reason heard most often, if you ask a sampling of people, is that the time change is to help the farmers. I always wondered what it helped the farmers do. After all, why do they have to be watching the clock when they are doing stuff out in the fields. Can’t they pretty much just go out and do their work whenever?

Apparently, daylight savings time actually began during World War I in order to reduce the use of lighting fuel by taking advantage of sunlight. It seems some states continued the practice thereafter, while others picked it up during World War II. Okay, but both wars have been over for quite some time and I’m not sure how it pertains to today’s world. And even so, Congress waited until 1966 to enact the Uniform Time Act which gave us the framework for changing our clocks back and forth. And references to the whole idea of “saving daylight” goes back to 1784. Because Congress can’t seem to leave these kinds of things alone, they changed the time period to increase it in 2007 by starting it 3 weeks sooner and extending it by 1 week at the end.

Sorry, but there still seems to be no definitive answer to why we have continued with this strange practice. If it is to save energy, then why aren’t we just staying on daylight savings time year round? Personally, I’m leaning more towards that conspiracy of messing with our body clocks. Someone with an evil mind who keeps this practice going is snickering at all of us every year. After all, we just follow along like sheeple (sheep people).

In my effort to find the “secret” to getting hundreds of visits to my blog site as top bloggers do, I recently came across the term “traffic exchange program.” I became a member of Click Voyager and thought all was well. However, after a few days, I am realizing that the exchange is not for other bloggers to view my page/site as I’d thought. It would seem that a group of visits is sent via one address. This is not at all what I thought was going to happen. So, on goes my search. If anyone would like to share the location of other bloggers that will individually view my blog and if enticed to do so leave a message - wonderful.

I did take a short look at a site called Entrecard. Through the next week or so I am going to take a closer look to make sure it is the kind of site that is more on the social side yet there is an agreement to visit each other’s site. After all, we are all consumers that not only love to write, but also are enticed by what others are saying, thinking and doing.

I, in no way, want to be involved with a traffic exchange site that only offers empty hits to my site. I will be following up on future blogs as to how this works out for me. As I continue on my search, I will share what I learn. I, in no way, intend to keep any secrets from you. Please be patient and I ask that you share any knowledge you gain in this area with others by leaving me a message/discussion. So, we are not quite there, as I thought.

It was worth the time I took this week to find out how top bloggers get hundreds, even thousands of hits to their pages. If you’ve been following along, you know that first I tried using top Google words. I had some success with certain words, but really not enough to make up for the amount of hits some people get on their blogs. Next, I tried famous people. That brought some success. But, still not the amount of hits I was looking for.

While searching around this week, I accidentally read a post where someone mentioned traffic exchange programs. Actually, I had not heard this term before so off I went in search. I found that there were some that required you to download programs in order to join their “club.” That wasn’t for me. But soon I found one that didn’t require a download, Click Voyager. After doing some signing up and doing some surfing on the site I’d racked up some visit credits. I put all 14 into my blog, but couldn’t find where they had come in. At first I was suspicious of the web site.

After a bit more patience, I have to say that the blog hits started to come in. I haven’t reached thousands or even hundreds of hits on my blog page yet. But, I did get more than I’d ever gotten before in one day, 55. So, I have to take all of my doubts back about Click Voyager. It does seem to be working just fine.

After figuring out this “big secret” I do wonder why it is a secret. Is it because the practice is frowned upon. Or is it okay as long as it’s not mentioned. It’s still a mystery to me. However, I hope that a few people will read these posts and put these visit trading sites into good practice.

I am so glad that I can go back to writing about the things that interest and matter to me rather than having to insert certain words. Or worse yet have to write about things that don’t I have little interest in. So, Next post will be about gardening, cooking or traveling or maybe something entirely different.