What I learned online today: The challenge

So many cool and different things I have learned online recently, you know how I really prefer facebook over myspace, well I have just found even more reason to love it, I have found 2 very good blogging groups there. Also thanks to one of my blogging/facebook contacts-thanks shaz , I have realized the benefits of the Mashable blog site. It is the#1 blog about the most popular social networking sites. I signed up for it sort of by accident before, and really didn't give it much of a second thought, but they actually have very valuable info for utilizing the social network sites to the fullest, as well as keep you informed of all the new applications, and on top of all that gives some good info for bloggers often as well. Facebook has become such a popular social networking site, that Stanford University has designed a course about it . Gotta love the Ivy league schools, "Oh the things you can think, if only you try." Next item- Blog Rush , oh yes people it does work, I find myself scrolling down to the bottom of my page and checking the post titles, I have found 2 really good blogs through Blog Rush already. One of those blogs you can view here and the other is a Piece of Shirt , no that wasn't a typo. A piece of shirt is a blog about...you guessed it shirts, well t-shirts to be precise. The reason I like the blog is because it has links to really cool t-shirt sites. Two of them in particular are Johnny Cupcakes his story about how he started is another inspirational entrepreneur story, for those who have ideas, but are too fearful to give them a try. After you read his story though, be sure and check out the t-shirts! The other really cool T-shirt store is Threadless Chicago they have a really unique approach in that some of their fans are able to design some of the shirts. It goes like this, you have an idea for a cool t-shirt you submit it to them, and they post the ideas for everyone to vote on, if your design is made into a shirt, you get $2000 dollars + a $500 dollar gift certificate, and membership into the alumni club. In addition if your design is reprinted, you get an additional $500 everytime they reprint. If you are not artistically inclined, you can enter an original slogan and possibly win $200 dollars. Some bloggers who I think have the creative aptitude either though their ramblings, or their artistic display are Bent Objects , Kartoen , and The Ranting Monkey , I would mention Basic Instructions , but they already sell their own line of t-shirts. So if any of you happen to read this there is a challenge for you I would be interested to see what you could come up with. Moving on-I was considering moving my blog to another blog format, but I may change my mind after I check out some of the blog layouts that have been graciously formatted for blogger by Blog and Web . I may try to change the layout soon, and this time I hope I do not lose my links, I will take some different precautions this time so hopefully... Finally my new fav. online tool is Sketchcast.com. It is this really interesting widget that you can embed in your blog posts, or send your visitors to your channel, to view you sketches. You can record your voice into it, if you have a microphone, while you draw. Click here to see what I mean. I tried to embed mine in a post, but it did not work for me.

You ever get the feeling that things are not as they seem...

Ok a quick one about Wally World; someone told me once not to blog about Wally World, but I work there, I don't like it, but yet it is a part of my livelihood right now, so it affects me and therefore I will blog about it when I see fit.

• Headline: Corruption at Wally World! I have mentioned before how people steal alot from Wally World. They steal just about anything, toothbrushes, pencils candy, condoms, you name it. Although majority of this comes from the customers, some items prompt you to believe that it is an inside job, such as the theft of electronic items, computers, televisions etc. Yes I did just say computers and televisions lol. Well we had had a couple of laptops stolen within the past few months, and the other day they believe they have caught the culprit. I was greeted at work Saturday night by my co-worker who told me that our suspicions as to why they were locking our trash compactor; which was causing the stockers the inconvenience of having to call out in vain (they rarely respond to your plea of help) for a member of management to come open it, were true. I had told her not too long ago that they must have their eye on someone who they think is stealing, because they were locking the compactor. Lo and behold she informed me that one of our co-workers was escorted off the premises for stealing a laptop. Wow I never would've guessed that that particular person was doing that. But it doesn't end there. At Wally World gossiping is notorious, especially in the break room (which is why I usually steer clear of the place), so of course there was more to the story. Apparently the accused named 2 other accomplices--none other than a lead associate and an assistant manager! The assistant manager who the rumor pinpoints, does not show any sign of being reprimanded from the co-manager or anything, so I do not know if they have not informed the 2 individuals that the accused mentioned their names, or if they are just watching them and waiting to catch them somehow, or my real theory is the lead associate who is new, was a mole. I think maybe they have implanted him there as a decoy to lure out some suspected thieves. At any rate I think there is much more to this story, for example there are 2 associates who work back in the electronics area overnight, and these laptops which are locked up, are being stolen under their radar? They do not take a break a the same time, one has to wait until the other comes back. But conveniently everytime a laptop is stolen they are not even able to know what happened? I have never really trusted one of the associates from the very beginning, it has always been something peculiar about that person to me, even most people don't see it. I think someday more to this story- the truth and not just rumors and gossip, will come about. Incidentally now we really feel like a criminals at work. I am afraid to take my mobile phone [which I use to keep on vibrate does not matter now; no service :( ] in and out of my pocket just for fear that they are looking at me and assuming I am putting products in my pocket lol. Another coworker commented that it was so tense that it even had some of us second guessing ourselves. How true....

I am blogging today

Ha ha so much so much. Well I am blogging today... first thing:

• I have a new store ( cick here to visit it), well it does not actually sell my stuff, it is more of a consignment deal, I suggest and sell products for other websites. So we will see how that goes trying out new things. etc. There are some really good books on blogging in the books & manga category.
• Next I have found a host for my site, but I am in the process of tweeking it and of course I need to hurry along and finish some bags so that I can list them.
• I have been trying to check out all the blogs in my link list. I have deleted a few that I don't read enough, and have added a few. arrggh many good blogs out there.

There is so much going online I will have to write about it in another post, new topic and all.

Gain More Traffic to Your Site for Free

Yet another blog community, and hopefully the last for me- Blog Rush Seems that it can be pretty helpful for anyone who is looking for more traffic to their site. So if you are interested and don't already have it, check it out, it's free so you don't have anything to lose.

Fluff

On a lighter note..............................................With the exception of today's post, I plan to continue my I.VAC. and will be focusing on other things, so I may not post here for about a week, except maybe to respond to any feedback. Also, I am hoping to have a Contest Give-a-way (GOD-willing) coming up soon....details later.

Controversial Topic

Well I really had not planned on interrupting my I.VAC. but I was inspired to write this after something I heard at work last night. Many employees were wearing purple and black ribbons. Another associate who was passing them out asked me if I wanted one, well I am not the type to just blindly support something I don't know about, so I wanted to know what the ribbon was for. Another co-worker asked me if I had heard about the 6 black teenagers in Louisiana who were on trial for beating a white student, and was looking to face sentences of 20 to more years in jail. These students are dubbed as the Jena 6 . I don't watch the news as much as I used to (too much negativity and biased sources) so I told her oddly enough I had not. I had only just recently found out about another case in West Virginia, where a young black woman was held captive for a week, tortured, sexually assaulted, and maliciously wounded, through another blogger. So I was somewhat familiar with that story, but had not heard of the Jena 6 . Many protesters, majority of whom are black have gone to Louisiana to demonstrate against what many are calling a disparity in the law. I don't want to go into too much detail as you can read the basic background info by clicking on the keywords in this post. But the gist of it is this: black students sat under a tree that was coined as the "white tree" where mainly white students sat, and the next day 3 nooses were hung on the tree. When the principal recommended that the students responsible be expelled, the school board overturned it calling it a "harmless prank" and the local prosecutor said they were too young to be charged with a hate crime. This led to a series of riffs between the white and black students, and in the end of all this, a white student was beat up by several black students and sent to the hospital. He was treated and sent home that day, and later attended his highschool's Ring Dance. The black students were later charged with assault, and then it was increased to attempted second degree murder a charge of which incited many people to object to the severity of the possible punishment. On the first day of the trial for one of the boys (Mychal Bell) the prosecutor reduced the charges to aggravated second degree battery-a charge of which requires the use of a deadly weapon; the shoes were argued to be the deadly weapon-this charge can still carry a sentence of 22 years. He was found guilty, by an all white jury, one of which was the friend of the victims father. This sparked even further outcry from the public and Mychal Bell was given new attorneys and a chance to make an appeal. A protest led by Al Sharpton, is taking place in Louisiana....................................................... Now in the case of the West Virgina woman, Megan Williams , in which she was subjected to far greater atrocities, and was more than likely eventually going to be killed by her tormentors, police and FBI are "investigating" if this was a hate crime; even though the victim gave a statement that, one of the accused said "this is what we do to niggers around here."

• My issues

1. What is there to investigate? Clearly the West Virginia case is not only a sick crime, but a racial one as well. There is no question about it. It seems to appear that when ever there is a crime concerning a white defendant, the justice system goes to great lengths to make sure that the accused are not being tried for anything extra and are being fairly treated, but in the case of non-whites, it seems everything that could possibly be thrown at them, is. These people who did this to Megan Williams; whom all have prior criminal records-Frankie Brewster was charged with 1st degree murder in 1994, and after pleading guilty to manslaughter, served only 5 years in prison, deserve to be denied freedom for many, many years to come. Are these people going to be given their just desserts? Even though this case is still new, I do not believe they will really get what they deserve. In the end they will probably be freed earlier than they should be, as was the case with Frankie Brewster.
2. In the case of the kids in Louisiana, it is because of the prejudices and favoritism that was given by the school board that helped escalate the whole situation. If the school board had supported the Principal's original ruling, or at the very least gave the boys who hung the nooses more than 3 days in-school suspension, then it would have helped a little to cool the tensions between the students. Several Black students even went to the school board to try and discuss the matter, but were refused the chance, because the school board felt that it had handled the matter adequately. Also, since when does hanging nooses from a tree, after black students "crossed the line" and sat under the tree, constitute as a prank? I wonder if say for example, this school had a significant amount of middle eastern kids in its student body, and a few of them decided to wear t-shirts with the twin towers, showing the planes crashing into them and a big smiley face on the shirt, saying we support amateur pilots, or something bizarre like that, would this be considered just a silly prank? Of course not! These students would be reprimanded with much more than 3 days of in-school suspension.
3. While I agree the black teenagers should be punished for beating up the white teenager, I think it is clearly a case of racism. In highschool kids get into scuffles all the time, and hardly ever is it treated with such severity. I have even witnessed, in middle school no less, where students have beat up other students, with the same type of force kicking etc. this involved a multitude of races, and not necessarily a race thing, per se and these students may have suffered expulsion, and detention time, but never to be charged as adults for attempted murder. That is absolutely absurd. I do not, and I am quite sure many people would agree, believe that this is a case of attempted murder. They beat him up (just as some of the black students had been beat up by some whites); were they wrong? yes. Did they attempt to murder him? I seriously do not believe so.

Overall does racism still exist in America? I think so, heck it still exists around the world. What I hope is that the number of non-racists can outweigh the number of racist people in the world, so we can have a little more harmony...

• Note: please take the survey and watch this video at Youtube which shows how Fox News once again establishes themselves as a discreditable news source.

No purses yet, but some other things I have for sell for anyone interested.

• Update: If you click on the word sell it will take you directly to the listings.

Lines Overheard......My Journey

I went to the sun...and I survived.

Spanish Phrase of the Day

Eres un tiquis mis quis--You are really fussy.

Online Learning; the good, the bad and the severely disturbing

I think if I were to retake the blogging test now I would not score as low as before :S I really will try to take a few days off. On another I.VAC. I have much work to catch up on with the production process of the bags. But before I go....

• Things I learned today are: 1. I Really Love Widgetbox.com! Not only can you get some really cool widgets, and make widgets, but you actually find alot of cool websites through them as well. The site is so User-Friendly as well. I have listed them in my flash box (flash box to the right side of page) of my favorite things because I really, really, like their site.

• 2. I usually don't see all the Internet-hype videos until the last minute because....usually I'm just not that interested, I don't watch alot on TV and I really do not like watching the majority of the trash that people post at Youtube. One of my contacts suggested that I see this particular video on Youtube and I relented today. The video I saw today was the Brittney Spear's Plea video. (I had seen the buzz about it online, but really was not interested in watching it) I must say it is completely annoying and yet funny. I agree that we are a society in which we are too engrossed in "celebrity" life and that many magazines viciously attack and invade the personal lives of individuals in the limelight. At the same time a "celebrity" should also expect that that type of thing comes with the territory. Personally I could care less what most celebrities do, I have my own life to deal with. But that is not why the guy made the video, he made it for his own personal agenda. What makes the video so annoying is the fact that the guy is clearly either crazy and obsessed, or an attention seeking overreactive person himself. Which after watching it once more, I came to the conclusion that it was both. This guy is clearly out for attention, and he is getting it, because many people are viewing his video and making parody videos in response thereby giving him increased ratings on Ytube. Which is giving him the attention he so strongly craves. Proof of this is the follow-up interview he did with Jimmy Kimmel--- pretty disturbing . I think after seeing the video, I may have nightmares now :(

• Finally the last thing I learned today (relating to online that is) was that there are alot of blogs out there that are pretty interesting, but I think I have enough in my link list, I don't want too many more as I will not have time to keep up with reading all of them all the time. So I will try to only add a few if I come across any more good ones. I may post a link to another blogger's site from time to time, but I can't add too many more to my link list, as it will take up more space. So when appropriate I will still give linkage, just not a permanent place in my links list.

Aaahhh The Joys of the Internet

One more for the road: The Internet can be a very cool place and yet scary at the same time. You can network and meet new people, play games watch videos and T.V., do research, and even start your own business or expand a current one. But there are also things to be concerned about on the net as well, such as predators, identity thieves etc. But the ones that annoy me are the users (or should I say losers) who post at forums and comment on websites and blogs, in the most negative and offensive way. You know the type I mean; the person who not just leaves their feedback, but incites and lures others into a name-calling match and all out trashing and bashing of someone they've never met. I find it very childish and wonder if these people have nothing else better to do with their time than play these games. It is easy to throw insults and threats around so freely behind a computer screen. But I ask, "What's the Point?" Also of annoyance are the extremely needy people who think they are your instant BFF because you belong to the same online community, or they have visited your website once or twice. I ask, "do you not actually get to know a little about a person before you declare them BFF?" If that is what you do in real life, then online should not be an exception. Chat with them in the chatroom a couple of times, or exchange messages or e-mails, before you call that person your BOF Of course the people who are this anxious for you to buddy them are never the sane people either, who maybe if you met in real life you could see yourself being BFF, nooo these are the slightly loony folks. Over at Thoughts, Reflections and More Ramblings e-mino has an interesting, yet funny and all too familiar topic for one of his posts. I think many people can relate to this.

New widget alert

I love fun gadgets and widgets for the web and I just found a new one; you can see a list of some of my favorite things on the left even if you do not earn any commission from this it is a nice way to let your buddies know the things you like or would like to have--almost like a wishlist ;):

Poetry

True Love

How do you express in words the love you have for the creator of all; the one who knows?

Love from a cup in which affection and devotion continuously flows

How do you explain such feelings of admiration that extends far beyond any category or class?

If you attempt to describe it you would not complete your spiel until you breathed your last

He guides and encompasses everything that is

He receives no assistance from anyone; the ability is unique and it is only his

This he does without ever making an attempt

It is beyond all humanly capacity; a skill from which we are exempt

We are the orginal creation of "The One Who Creates"

A talent of which we can never relate

If you try to pursue the task of describing him, you will be left in awe of the only "All Knowing King"

For he is true beauty, he is most powerful, and merciful; he is everything