Friday's Odds and Ends

Are we ready for a computer driven car? Google is apparently developing a self-driving car, as are a few other companies, and we can look forward to a time when a computer will handle all the driving tasks that we now perform. Some say a computer will be better at handling the thousands of decisions we make as we drive, such as when to brake or when to turn to avoid an accident, but what if the computer has a glitch? Or heaven forbid it is run by Windows and Windows decides to do an automatic update right in the middle of your trip to the grocery store?

I also wonder how they are going to get all that equipment into the dashboard. (smile)

I agree with those who have railed against the ruling by a three-star general that overturned a sexual assault conviction for Lt. Col. James Wilkerson. Senator Claire McCaskil of Missouri said, "This case has opened a window into what I think are some very weird provisions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and they are the kind of provisions that are offensive to most Americans."

Amen to that.

Now some more news regarding the XL Keystone Pipeline. This press release was sent by "Stop Dirty Tar Sands", an organization lobbying against the pipeline:

 

The largest onshore oil spill in U.S. history, Enbridge’s 2010 tar sands spill in Michigan’s Kalamazoo River, will cost nearly $1 billion to clean-up. The unique chemical properties of dilbit (diluted bitumen) that is extracted from Alberta’s tarsands fields cause the oil to sink in water—rather than float like traditional crude. To add insult to injury, tar sands bitumen carriers are not required to pay into the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund that is used to help pay for devastating leaks, thanks to what can be thought of as an "Irrational Exemption." Enbridge, like TransCanada, gets a free ride that ignores the elevated risks of transporting tar sands crude oil relative to conventional crude.

 

The Keystone XL tar sands pipeline route would cross the Ogallala aquifer, which provides drinking water and irrigation for millions of people in the American heartland, and two thousand miles of farmland. TransCanada has a poor safety record, including thirteen spills, in the United States alone, on its first Keystone pipeline in the first year of operation. And according to a report from Mother Jones today, TransCanada played a part in influencing the flawed State Department report evaluating the environmental risks the Keystone XL pipeline would create. the exclusive story found, "A top expert who helped write the government's latest Keystone report previously consulted on three different TransCanada projects—a fact the State Department tried to hide."

 

A tarsands spill on the two thousand miles of farmland or in the aquifer would have disastrous consequences for generations of farmers and for millions of Americans who get fresh drinking water from the aquifer.

I keep hoping that our political leaders will stop listening to the big oil lobbyists and think about the long-term welfare of our earth.

On a totally different note, I was visiting some other blogs this morning and ran across this neat badge on Tara Tyler's blog:

If you regularly visit blogs, you may have run across these annoying attempts to weed out spammers from the comments. And if you are like me, you probably have given up on trying to leave a comment because you could not even make a wild guess as to what those blurred letters were supposed to be. There are so many other easier ways for human verification on a blog, we really don't need this.

Literary Lessons:

From The Weeping Chamber by Sigmund Brouwer  "It is far worse, is it not, when you can only blame yourself for what is lost? When what you have lost becomes much sweeter because you will never have it again?"

Wednesday's Guest

Instead of my normal Wednesday's Guest where a real live person shares something, I wanted to let some of the organizations and websites that are part of the online protest of SEPA speak up.

This from Google  

Millions of Americans oppose SOPA and PIPA because these bills would censor the Internet and slow economic growth in the U.S.

Two bills before Congress, known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, would censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American business. Millions of Internet users and entrepreneurs already oppose SOPA and PIPA. The Senate will begin voting on January 24th. Please let them know how you feel. Sign this petition urging Congress to vote NO on PIPA and SOPA before it is too late.

To sign the petition use the link to Google that I provided.

This from Forbes Magazine:

The growing anti-SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) support that has swept through the gaming and Internet community found a very big ally today. With websites like Reddit and Wikipedia and gaming organizations like Major League Gaming prepared for a blackout on January 18th – the same day that the House Judiciary Committee hearing on HR 3261was scheduled in Washington, DC – President Barack Obama has stepped in and said he would not support the bill. SOPA has been killed, for now.

This from Wikipedia:

Imagine a World  Without Free Knowledge

For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia.

This from me - a real live person:

SOPA is another example of how government goes to an extreme to deal with an issue. Piracy is a problem on the Internet. I have seen my books being pirated. But to enact such broad restrictions as are in this bill is ludicrous. Go after the pirates, but leave the Internet accessible for people who are sharing but not for profit.

Friday's Odds and Ends

First I want to welcome my new followers. Thanks for connecting with me. I have enjoyed the new blogs I found via followers and love the way we are all finding each other was we crawl along the World Wide Web. Sometimes when I stop and think about the impact the Internet has had on our lives, I am simply amazed. Thank you, Al Gore... Oh, wait. It was really Tim Berners-Lee who invented the World Wide Web in 1991. Sorry Al, you lose again.

And now to our regularly scheduled program....

Howard Marlowe, president of the American League of Lobbyists recently had this to say about the moral quandary lobbyists face in accepting money to devend unsavory Middle Eastern Governments, "Thes kinds of regimes have a lot of money at their disposal, and that's a great attraction… You have to have a strong stomach."

So… Some Americans are making money off despicable mid-east leaders while other American's are dying fighting the terrorists that come out of many of those middle east countries? And just why do they need defending and to whom?

Say it isn't so.... Mark Cuban, the flamboyant owner of the Dallas Mavericks is negotiating with the actor who shall remain nameless because I do not want to add to his Google ranking for a reality TV show. Cuban owns the television station HDNet and said "We always look for interesting programming featuring interesting people doing interesting things.

Hmmm. My definition of interesting does not include someone talking about his addictions, overdoses, and the benefits of sleeping with porn stars.

And now to end on a positive note. Two women in Royse City Texas have walked around the world. Not literally, but the friends who have been walking together since 1978 on a daily basis  for exercise, recently realized they were about to closk mile 24, 901. They decided to hold a parade for their last mile and then hosted a party for friends. 

Way to go, ladies. For several years I walked with a friend several mornings a week. I think our total miles were maybe the distance between Dallas and the Mexico border. I was proud of that accomplishment until I read about these two ladies.

As always, I welcome comments, even if we don't agree on a topic. Getting other points of view broadens our perspectives.

Internet Marketing

More and more authors are turning to Internet marketing for their books. They are doing virtual book tours, blogs, maintaining Web sites, and whatever else they can do to increase visibility on the Web.

This is all well and good, but according to Don McCauley at Free Publicity Group, many authors miss a major component of all this which is making sure that they are consistantly positioned high in search engines.

Some key ideas that he covers in his article are:

1. Over 70% of the population now PREFERS to get their buying information from the engines.
2. However, they do not sit around and wait to get hit with a commercial or an ad. When they go to the Internet, they have ALREADY DECIDED what they might be looking for and intend to purchase
3. They will look for that item using search terms
4. They will only purchase what they are made aware of through these engines
5. If you are not there - for a GENERIC SEARCH TERM, you will be invisible

Remember - your buyers will not Google your name. They will not Google your company name. They will not Google your brand. They will, however, Google words like 'book' or 'kids toys' or some other very generic set of terms.

That's why it is important to use the right keywords and labels on all that we post on the Internet. Anyone have any suggestions as to what has worked well in getting good search engine placement?