5 reasons for imperialism.

There are 5 reasons for imperialism.

1. Political (nationalism, to be the most powerful country by ruling many other countries). 
2. Economical (to use other country's resources, recieve cheap labor, have a market for their goods. i.e. Africa). 
3. Religious (to spread their religion. i.e. missionaries) 
4. Idealogical (believed that their race was better and had to civilize other people by teaching them. i.e. The White Man's burden) 
5. Exploratory (people wanted to explore new lands for mapping, etc.)

Those are the 5 reasons for imperialism.

3 common misconceptions that people should know the truth about.

At a conference in Philadelphia earlier this month, a Wharton professor noted that one of the country's biggest economic problems is a tsunami of misinformation. You can't have a rational debate when facts are so easily supplanted by overreaching statements, broad generalizations, and misconceptions. And if you can't have a rational debate, how does anything important get done? As author William Feather once advised, "Beware of the person who can't be bothered by details." There seems to be no shortage of those people lately.

Here are three misconceptions that need to be put to rest.

Misconception: Most of what Americans spend their money on is made in China.

Fact: Just 2.7% of personal consumption expenditures go to Chinese-made goods and services. 88.5% of U.S. consumer spending is on American-made goods and services.

I used that statistic in an article last week, and the response from readers was overwhelming: Hogwash. People just didn't believe it.

The figure comes from a Federal Reserve report. You can read it here.

A common rebuttal I got was, "How can it only be 2.7% when almost everything in Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT  ) is made in China?" Because Wal-Mart's $260 billion in U.S. revenue isn't exactly reflective of America's $14.5 trillion economy. Wal-Mart might sell a broad range of knickknacks, many of which are made in China, but the vast majority of what Americans spend their money on is not knickknacks.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics closely tracks how an average American spends their money in an annual report called the Consumer Expenditure Survey. In 2010, the average American spent 34% of their income on housing, 13% on food, 11% on insurance and pensions, 7% on health care, and 2% on education. Those categories alone make up nearly 70% of total spending, and are comprised almost entirely of American-made goods and services (only 7% of food is imported, according to the USDA).

Even when looking at physical goods alone, Chinese imports still account for just a small fraction of U.S. spending. Just 6.4% of nondurable goods -- things like food, clothing and toys -- purchased in the U.S. are made in China; 76.2% are made in America. For durable goods -- things like cars and furniture -- 12% are made in China; 66.6% are made in America.

Another way to grasp the value of Chinese-made goods is to look at imports. The U.S. is on track to import $340 billion worth of goods from China this year, which is 2.3% of our $14.5 trillion economy. Is that a lot? Yes. Is it most of what we spend our money on? Not by a long shot.

Part of the misconception is likely driven by the notion that America's manufacturing base has been in steep decline. The truth, surprising to many, is that real manufacturing output today is near an all-time high. What's dropped precipitously in recent decades is manufacturing employment. Technology and automation has allowed American manufacturers to build more stuff with far fewer workers than in the past. One good example: In 1950, a U.S. Steel (NYSE: X  ) plant in Gary, Ind., produced 6 million tons of steel with 30,000 workers. Today, it produces 7.5 million tons with 5,000 workers. Output has gone up; employment has dropped like a rock.

Misconception: We owe most of our debt to China.

Fact: China owns 7.8% of U.S. government debt outstanding.

As of August, China owned $1.14 trillion of Treasuries. Government debt stood at $14.6 trillion that month. That's 7.8%.

Who owns the rest? The largest holder of U.S. debt is the federal government itself. Various government trust funds like the Social Security trust fund own about $4.4 trillion worth of Treasury securities. The Federal Reserve owns another $1.6 trillion. Both are unique owners: Interest paid on debt held by federal trust funds is used to cover a portion of federal spending, and the vast majority of interest earned by the Federal Reserve is remitted back to the U.S. Treasury.

The rest of our debt is owned by state and local governments ($700 billion), private domestic investors ($3.1 trillion), and other non-Chinese foreign investors ($3.5 trillion).

Does China own a lot of our debt? Yes, but it's a qualified yes. Of all Treasury debt held by foreigners, China is indeed the largest owner ($1.14 trillion), followed by Japan ($937 billion) and the U.K. ($397 billion).

Right there, you can see that Japan and the U.K. combined own more U.S. debt than China. Now, how many times have you heard someone say that we borrow an inordinate amount of money from Japan and the U.K.? I never have. But how often do you hear some version of the "China is our banker" line? Too often, I'd say.

Misconception: We get most of our oil from the Middle East.

Fact: Just 9.2% of oil consumed in the U.S. comes from the Middle East.

According the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the U.S. consumes 19.2 million barrels of petroleum products per day. Of that amount, a net 49% is produceddomestically. The rest is imported.

Where is it imported from? Only a small fraction comes from the Middle East, and that fraction has been declining in recent years. So far this year, imports from the Persian Gulf region -- which includes Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates -- have made up 9.2% of total petroleum supplied to the U.S. In 2001, that number was 14.1%.

The U.S. imports more than twice as much petroleum from Canada and Mexico than it does from the Middle East. Add in the share produced domestically, and the majority of petroleum consumed in the U.S. comes from North America.

This isn't to belittle our energy situation. The nation still relies on imports for about half of its oil. That's bad. But should the Middle East get the attention it does when we talk about oil reliance? In terms of security and geopolitical stability, perhaps. In terms of volume, probably not.

A roomful of skeptics
"People will generally accept facts as truth only if the facts agree with what they already believe," said Andy Rooney. Do these numbers fit with what you already believed? No hard feelings if they don't. Just let me know why in the comment section below.

Artist statement examples. How to become successful at what you love to do.

Nobody wants you to be an artist.

It’s for a lot of reasons. Some come from a good place — they think, hey, we want better for you. The life of an artist is hard. Be a bricklayer, a doctor, a ROCKET LAWYER, something, anything. Art is how you lose. Art is how you die. Don’t be an artist, because we don’t want to see you struggle, starve, and go mad. Pay attention to artist statement examples.

Some of the reasons come from a deeply cankerous place: jealousy (“why do you get to fritter away your hours MAKING ART and I have to sell toilets?”) or misunderstanding (“art isn’t work, it’s just lazy piffle for lazy losers”) or alien menace (“ART GIVES HUMAN BEINGS HOPE AND IT MAKES THEM MORE RESISTANT TO HOSTILE TAKEOVER FROM EXTRATERRESTRIAL FORCES”). Some governments don’t want artists because art is truth, even when couched in illusion or deception. Some schools don’t want art because how do you test art, and everything is about the test, goddamnit. Want to get a mortgage? Tell them you’re an artist and ha ha ha oh shit.

Art is a hobby, art is a waste of time, art is a thing you do when you’re in elementary school or in the retirement home. It isn’t a life. It isn’t a career. FUCK YOU, NO . It’s all bullshit, of course, because nearly everything demands art. Advertisements. User interfaces. Logos. The whole Internet is made of WORDS and IMAGES. It starte ARTING d off looking dog-ugly, like something a self-aware bank ATM would shit into the world — but then it became a thing of elegance and design (er, mostly). It became a thing of art, collectively.

Artist statement examples matter more then you think.

I worry very little about the result of what I’m doing.

Note: what I mean is not that I care nothing for the quality of the result. I care very much about my own level of satisfaction with the thing I’m writing. It’ll never be perfect, but I want it to be good. But the key here is that I want it to be good because I want to be happy with it.

I don’t care if you’re happy with it.

And the “you” in that equation can be, well, really anybody. The nebulous Audience. Or reviewers. Or publishers and editors. Or other authors. I don’t worry about because I can’t worry about it. I don’t know what you want. (See earlier comment: I am not you.) I don’t know what the market is doing. Chasing the market is like chasing starlight: by the time I find the star that made the light, I remember that light travels slow and that star is already dead. I don’t know what reviewers want. I don’t know what reviewer I’ll get. If I sit down and I go to write and I carry with me the baggage of expectation — if I sit there and try to imagine what every single potential interaction with my book will be like — then I’ll probably freeze up. I’ll soak my shirt with blubbery fear-weeping and sadness-snot. I’ll make a low keening sound in the back of my throat like a ferret pining for its ancient ferret homelands.

The key there is: I cannot be pinned by expectation.

Some people think outlining a book robs the book of its magic. Some people think the business kills the joy of making words and creating art. But for me, the great thing that will siphon the joy out of what I do — the pesticide that murders the butterflies flitting about in the dark shrubbery that is my heart — is expectation. Not my expectation. But yours.

And now we come full circle because once again, I say:

Nobody wants you to be an artist.

Not the people who love you. Not the people who hate you. Not the people who don’t know one whit about you. Nobody wants that for you or your life.

I want you to think about that for a moment.

I want you to focus on that for a moment.

Take the idea like a pebble or a pearl, tuck it in your mouth, swirl it around.

This is what that does for me:

When I sit down and I start to write, I take a secret thrill in what I’m doing. Because this is forbidden territory. This is verboten. Everyone has built a fence of expectation around what I’m doing and yet, here I am, having climbed the fence. I’m making art and the world doesn’t want me to make art. I’m in a secret garden stealing your vegetables. I’m traipsing about someone’s home in the dark while they sleep. I’m mixing potions. I’m making monsters. I’m tap-dancing on the edge of a cliff, and the world can watch me kick off my shoes, pirouette, and lift both middle fingers in the air with a smugly self-satisfied look on my big beardo face.

Let me distill this down for you:

How do I survive my anxiety and the business and the expectations and still make art?

FUCK YOU, that’s how.

(Not you specifically! I’m sure you’re lovely.)

Don’t think I should be making art? FUCK YOU.

Don’t think I can finish this book and do it my way? FUCK YOU.

Think this is a waste of time? FUCK YOU, it’s my time to waste.

My anxiety wants to scare me away? FUCK YOU, I won’t be run off, Mighty Anxiety Snake!

Those two words — FUCK and YOU — form a glorious act of defiance, an empowering gush of confident magma in your chest that you can vomit all over reality’s face. Reality doesn’t want me doing this? Reality expects me to conform? HA HA HA HAVE MY ANGER-MAGMA, AND ALSO, FUCK YOU BIG, SUCKER.

So, when it comes time for you to sit down —

And start to write —

Or start to paint —

Or doodle or design or color or whatever it is that you do —

And you start to feel the Mighty Anxiety Snake coiling in your bowels —

And the weight of expectations pressing the air out of your chest —

And you start to look too far down the road and imagine all the potholes and broken bridges —

And you start comparing yourself to everyone else —

Extend one middle finger.

Then the other.

Scream FUCK YOU in a great profane yawp.

Then get to work.

Forget perfection. You can’t control success. You aren’t anybody else. You are you. It doesn’t matter if anyone believes in you. Let their disbelief charge your batteries. You can believe in you.

Focus on today. Not tomorrow. Not next year. Make something. Create something. Act in defiance of reality’s accord. Spit in the eye of any who expect you to do differently.

Relish in the unmitigated thrill of doing what nobody wants you to do.

Nobody wants you to be an artist.

But you do, so fuck them.

Winning, Losing, and Participating. The hell with a trophy.

Ah, that common refrain.

You shouldn’t just get a trophy for participating.

When everyone gets a trophy, nobody wins.

If everybody is special, nobody is special.

Second place is last place.

And on and on.

It’s a criticism pointed at millennials. Or, wait — Gen Y. No! Wait. Gen X.

SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY SOMEONE DECIDED THAT YOU ONLY DESERVED A REWARD IF YOU ACHIEVED TRUE APOTHEOSIS. YOU ONLY GET THE GOLDEN CUP IF YOU SLAUGHTER THE OTHER TEAM AND WEAR THEIR SKIN AS A CAPE AND TRANSFORM INTO THE GREAT BEAST WHO WILL DESTROY THE WORLD. THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE CHAMPION, HIGHLANDER. EAT YOUR WEAKER FOES. REMAIN STANDING ATOP A HILL OF INFINITE CARCASSES.

Except, that’s kinda horseshitty, isn’t it?

When did we become so cynical about participation?

So sour-faced about people who are doing stuff?

This is usually aimed at children — or the environment around children (meaning, parents, schools and other institutions), and it is aimed very squarely as a criticism, but let me tell you something as the parent of a five-year-old: getting a child to participate in something can feel like a Herculean task. Just getting your kid to sit down and DO THE THING THAT IS PRESENTLY BEING DONE can feel like the completion of an epic quest. You’d have an easier time stimulating the prostate of a galloping bison. Getting children to do the thing is difficult for an unholy host of reasons. Maybe they’re scared of the other participants. Or scared of failing. (Or scared of what you’ll think of them when they fail.) Maybe they’re bored. Could be that they don’t understand what’s being asked of them, or instead that they’re obstinate and would much rather do the OTHER THING instead of THIS THING. This only gets worse as a kid gets older because kids gather a lot of baggage about doing things, and sometimes that baggage is weighted with the (arguably capitalist) rhetoric of success and failure: you either WIN or you LOSE, it’s either PASS or FAIL, you’re the CHAMPION or you’re a SUCK-FACED SHITBABY. And teenagers kinda figure out that game, and they check right the fuck out. They stop participating, in part because it’s not cool, and in part because I think teenagers are actually surprisingly good at smell-testing bullshit. They can detect these cultural shenanigans, and so they cynically give the middle-finger to the entire process and they piss off somewhere to get drunk and grope each other.

But doing stuff? It’s how the world works. It’s what makes the world happen. Participation is pretty much everything. Winning is a narrow selection without much meaning. Most of life is just showing up and doing the work — whether that’s work with family, or school, or friendships, or a proper job. Show up. Do the work. Do the best. Be the best you. And if you do that? That’s amazing. Because most people don’t actually dothat.

So.

When I was a kid, I did soccer afterschool. I hated it. Fuck soccer. Fuck everything about soccer. Fuck practice and the drills and the coach and any of the kids who liked soccer. I was young — this was elementary school — and even then the focus was on leagues and getting better not to get better but getting better to win. It was a competition.

Now, to be clear, there’s nothing inherently wrong with competing. At a certain level, that’s what you’re in to do, and why you get involved. But at that level, at the elementary school level, the purpose is — or should be — different. The purpose is, hey, here’s how you work on a team. Here’s how you follow instructions. Here’s how you exist as a physical being who moves his body around in the world instead of sitting in front of a television. Here is how you participate.

But that’s not how they treated it.

I didn’t get an award for participating even though that’s the whole point of me being there. Everyone should’ve been hopping up and down because HEY HOLY CRAP YOU’RE HERE ON THE FIELD AND YOU’RE SCARED AND YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING AND THAT’S EXCITING AND DAMNIT IF IT’S NOT A VICTORY JUST FOR SHOWING UP AND PUTTING IN THE TIME. Doing a new thing! Being present! Partaking in the task at hand! I wanted to feel good for that, not for enduring an onerous afterschool program driving me to be an elementary school soccer champion and by the way did I mention I fucking hate soccer. I would’ve been happy with a participation trophy — and no, I wouldn’t have gotten confused thinking that somehow it was equal to actually being the winner, because winning still feels like winning. Kids aren’t confused by participation trophies. They’re not idiots. Yet we disdain participation because it is expected.

The disdain of participation is tied in with our disgust surrounding failure. Participation is barely above loserdom, and many associate the two (remember: second place is last place). But that’s not how the world works. Or, more importantly, it’s not how the world needs to work.

As a writer, I meet lots of aspiring writers who want to write but are, for various reasons, afraid to do so. They’re afraid they’ll get it wrong. They look so far ahead they see a world where they won’t be able to accomplish the thing, so why bother? They have the desire to do the thing but are somehow afraid to participate for fear offailing and not winning.

Except, there is no winning.

There exists a sliding scale of various milestones, sure — cascading victory conditions that open up, but this is less like WIN THE GAME AND GET THE GOLDEN TROPHY and more like PLAY YOUR CHARACTER IN THE RPG SO YOU SECURE MORE EXPERIENCE POINTS TO BUY COOL UPGRADES TO YOUR LIFE. Writing doesn’t come with a golden cup. It’s not like once a year one writer gets to shed her carapace and emerge as J.K. Rowling to become the temporary headmaster of Hogwarts’ School of Storytelling Magic. Further, failure is an essential part of what we do. I wrote five books before I got the sixth one published. I wrote countless unfinished books in and around those first five. Life is constant failure. I’m sure I fucked up the first sentence I ever tried to write. I’m sure I shitted up the first paragraph. I have one of the first stories I ever wrote in elementary school, and newsflash: it is about as entertaining as watching a turtle fuck a hot jockstrap. (Actually, that might be pretty entertaining.) Failure is a critical state. My son does things all the time, and most of those things he does poorly — then he does them better, and better still, until he succeeds. And you might say, THERE, TA-DA, HE WON, and that’s true.

But I didn’t chide him for trying all the while until he got there.

Every time he tried and failed to write his alphabet, I didn’t play a fart sound buzzer and boo him from the bleachers. I did not merely champion him upon success, I cheered him for trying. For doing. For participating. Because that’s how you get there. And it’s the hardest part!

My writing career has been all about participating. Participating when it was hard. Participating when I did not know what the floppy fuck I was doing. Participating when other people told me not to bother because I was going to fail, because it was an impossible career, because I would make better money if I just dug ditches instead. Why try when you might fail? Doesn’t participation just lead to failure anyway? Why bother at all?

Participation has been my everything. And rejection has been vital to that. Rejection is a battle scar. It’s proof I’m in the arena. It’s some Viking-level shit. It’s two gladiators showing off their injuries: “I GOT THIS ONE WHEN I FAILED TO UNSEAT THROMGAR THE INCONTINENT FROM HIS WYVERNOUS TIGERWOLF. I LOST THE FIGHT THAT DAY, BUT I HAVE THIS COOL-ASS SCAR TO SHOW FOR IT. AND I LIVE TO FIGHT AGAIN.” Rejection is a sign of doing the thing and surviving. You know who doesn’t ever get rejections? People who don’t participate. Most people write a novel once every never, and if you’re writing a novel — or doing whatever the thing is that you wanna goddamn do — then that is a victory worth celebrating.

Here’s the thing: we say, we shouldn’t reward people for the bare minimum, and when we say that, we mean participation. But participation is not the bare minimum. Observing? That’s the minimum. Watching instead of doing is about as low as you go. The kids on the field kicking the ball? They’re doing shit, man. That’s awesome. Good for them. The parents in the stands decrying the trophies those kids will get for participating? They’re fucking spectators. They’re only bystanders, not doing a good goddamn thing except placing their own proxy hopes and dreams on their little genetic champions.

I cheer my kid when he tries a new food. I cheer him when he draws, or reads, or does something he’s afraid to do. I cheer his participation in life, because that’s what matters. That’s all we have. Winning is hollow. Getting to the end of the road only happens by walking it. Participation is its own special victory, and fuck anybody who says different. Double-fuck you if you hate on your own kids for not coming home with the win. Huzzah to adults for participating, too. You vote? Good for you. You participate in a charity? Fuck yes. You DO THE THING THAT MUST BE DONE? Have a lollipop, you wonderful person, you.

Get shut of the illusion that winning is everything, participation is nothing, failure is the end.

Perfection is the enemy. Failure is more important to us than victory. You will fail a lot more than you win, and you learn a lot more when you lose — you don’t improve through victory. Victory is a plateau. You improve by capitalizing on your loss.

Be present.

Participate.

No, it isn’t the only victory. Yes, it’s only a small one.

But it’s a victory just the same.

We all die. Nobody wins that contest. Life is not The Hunger Games, man.

But we are all here. We can all chip in. We can all do the thing.

Participate, and don’t be made to feel small for doing so.

GO DO THE THING. And celebrate doing it.

The 5 most important traits of extremely creative people.

Creativity geeks are…

ACTIVE LISTENERS: Look, I like to talk. I’ve been guilty of waiting for the other person to stop talking so I can talk again, and forming what I’ll say while the other person is talking. That is not active listening. But it seemed to me that when attendees were in conversation, they focused intently on whatever was being said by another, and then taking a moment to process that input before responding in a way that directly addressed that input.

OPEN TO POSSIBILITY: If one is to encourage divergent thinking—unexpected leaps that are a cornerstone of creativity—then one must be open to the unexpected. But as I observed conversations among attendees with varying backgrounds, I sometimes heard someone say something that clearly didn’t jibe with the other’s experience. We are all human, and I could see on the listener’s face a moment of “Now, wait a minute.” But what would follow that was a face of reflection, and then usually the response reframed in the form of a question, such as “That’s interesting. So are you saying FGH is really like PQR?” It allowed the possibility to discover common ground and have both parties grow from the conversation.

PRECISE COMMUNICATORS: “Words have power” is a mantra in the creativity community. Words can empower, and they can constrain. For example, in brainstorming sessions, individuals are encouraged to ask “What might I do with XYZ?” instead of “What could I do with XYZ?” A minor difference, perhaps, but “might” goes beyond limits toward possible action. Another example: In my workshop I made the mistake of referring to brainstorming “rules.” “Guidelines!” a creativity veteran said from the audience. I had at the start of my workshop encouraged audience members to add their own wisdom, and she did so. And she was right; the last thing you want to do when brainstorming is impose limits, and rules are, by definition, limits.

GENEROUS: I don’t mean just in terms of money, although a number of people participated in the silent auction that funds scholarships to allow college students to attend. And I don’t just mean in terms of time, although everyone there had other responsibilities they had put aside to be there. What I really mean here is generosity in terms of sharing personal wisdom. In conversations between sessions and over meals, I frequently saw veteran creativity geeks volunteering insights to others that they clearly are paid to deliver in their day jobs.

EMPATHETIC: I’m not a mind-reader, so I can’t say for certainty that my fellow conference attendees were practicing empathy, i.e., actively putting themselves in another’s metaphorical shoes and walking their path. But the fact is that while most of the presenters were leading workshops they often conduct for Fortune 500 businesses and enterprising start-ups, many of the attendees were there for far more personal reasons, seeking to self-actualize or resolve a life problem. The degree of sensitivity I saw from the workshop leaders in these situations was admirable. But that fits with the broader philosophy of generating a creative environment; you aim to create a place of complete trust.

I think these characteristics often can be found in practitioners of creativity, i.e., the artists and inventors with whom I interact in my professional and personal life. But one can be a talented painter and also, well, a selfish jerk. That’s their prerogative; their art is their own, as is their manner of interacting with the world.

But I don’t think a jerk would last very long in the creativity community. The lessons they teach–active listening, positive reinforcement, forming trust–are also how they choose to live their lives.

There are many paths to creativity. These creativity geeks have collectively settled on a set of rules—sorry, guidelines­—that couple with a common language to facilitate creativity for their clients and readers of their books. That wisdom reflects their personalities. And individuals with those personalities make for delightful company over a three-day weekend in sunny Florida.

Do you have someone in your life who geeks out on creativity? Do you? What characteristics am I leaving out?

Jesus following Christians need to listen up

You may have heard that a bunch of born-again idiots tried to sneak a gay-hating app into our App Store, and we pulled it, and now the wingnuts are protesting. See coverage on Catholic News Agency and Newser and ABC. Katie says I should just say nothing and let the whole thing fade away, which is what we usually do whenever organizations try to use our popularity to stir up “controversy” and attract attention for their causes. (Yes, I’m talking to you, Greenpeace.) But this time I just can’t hold back. I’m sorry, but there are a few things I’ve been wanting to say for a long time now, and this trumped-up “spat” gives me a chance to say them.

Dear faux Christians,

First of all, it’s my store, and I’ll sell what I want, and I will not sell what I don’t want to sell. That’s my definition of freedom — I’m free to do whatever the hell I want with my store.

Second, your “religion” is a myth. It’s bogus. Jesus did not die and rise from the tomb and ascend into heaven. Okay? That. Did. Not. Happen. God did not take the form of a little bird and fly down and impregnate an unwed teenage virgin girl so that she could give birth to a half-human half-divine man-god. Immaculate conception, virgin birth, raising people from the dead, walking on water, loaves and fishes — great stories, but correctly filed under “fiction.” The sad fact is, what you call “faith” is a form of mental illness. It’s amazing enough that so many of you are running around in your mental case dream world. But it’s simply unacceptable when you start trying to impose your delusions upon the rest of us. Cynical politicians may feel the need to humor you and kowtow to your demands. I, however, do not.

Third, while Christianity is completely a myth, it would be useful if you actually understood the myth that you purport to be building your lives around. The sad fact is that you do not even understand the philosophy you claim to espouse. I do not know if you are intentionally misunderstanding the myth, or if you are just stupid and/or poorly educated. But your beliefs are not, in fact, Christian. Heck, if you’re a Roman Catholic, your entire organization is not Christian. It’s Roman paganism with the name of Christ grafted onto it. Ever seen the Vatican? Please explain how that jibes with anything Christ ever said or taught. Or here’s a fun exercise. Go to Rome, and visit the Forum, then walk across town and visit the Vatican. Wait for the bells to start going off in your head.

Protestants moved in the right direction when they figured this out and broke away from Rome. But over the centuries they too have been corrupted, and in the last fifty years the nutso born-agains have twisted everything up and what they call their “religion” no longer has anything to do with anything Christ ever said or taught — it’s about using Christ’s name to gain secular power. Let me explain. Jesus Christ did not preach hate. He did not tell people to oppress other people. He did not ever say that he hated gay people. He did not tell his apostles to run for political office after he died so they could change the laws of Rome.

I’m not even a Christian, and even I know this stuff. So let me take a moment to explain some of it to you.

There was a story about a Good Samaritan. Have you heard of it? Do you understand it? The message isn’t that you should help strangers. That story is about violating taboos. The Samaritans and Jews weren’t strangers to each other — they hated each other. Like, seriously hated. Like, Jews weren’t supposed to talk to Samaritans or they’d be unclean and need cleansing or something. But wait, there’s more. One of the guys who wouldn’t touch the beaten Jew was a priest. The other guy was a Levite — meaning, a big deal super-duper high-class extra-holy Jew. You know why those two guys walked by the injured Jew and didn’t help? Because it was considered unclean to touch a dead body, and they figured that if they tried to help the guy and the guy turned out to be dead, they would be defiled. So they walked by.

Do you get it now? Jesus, your big hero, was saying that if you have some rule or conventional wisdom that causes you to do harm to people, violate the goddamn rule. You probably cannot understand how shocking this story was when Jesus told it. Because this was really, really shocking. First, he’s saying that the priests and Levites are jerks; and second, he’s saying that Samaritans, the skankiest, nastiest, grossest, most reviled people in that part of the world, were better than priests and Levites.

Continuing in this vein, check out the story about Jesus asking a Samaritan woman to pull him a bucket of water from her well. Again, total taboo breaking. First of all, he’s not supposed to talk to a woman in public. Second, he’s definitely not supposed to discuss theology with a woman. Third, he’s not supposed to drink water from a well that belongs to a skanky old Samaritan. Fourth, the woman is described as being a bit of a whore. Fifth, oh yeah — did I mention that she was a Samaritan?

Taboo breaking happens all over the place in the Jesus myth. (And let’s be clear. This is all a myth. But it’s actually an instructive myth, if you understand it.) Jesus heals a woman who’s suffering from menstrual flow; she touches his robes. This makes him unclean. Does he get pissed off? No, he blesses her and calls her “daughter.” He heals the son (or possibly servant) of a centurion. He heals people on the Sabbath.

Or let me digress to the story of the Prodigal Son, which you presumably also do not understand, despite your claim to be Christians. The point of that story is not that it’s great to forgive sinners like the younger son who asks for his inheritance, leaves, squanders it, and then returns in shame after tending pigs (a Jew tending pigs — get it? ) and falling on hard times. No, the point of that story is the older son. He’s the dipshit who thinks he’s such a great, obedient, law-abiding, straight-arrow goody-goody, and who gets all pissed when Dad celebrates the return of the younger son, and complains about this, because — pay attention — he’s a hypocrite. He follows the rules, and does everything he’s supposed to do. But you know what? He’s the bad guy in this story.

So let’s move on and return to our discussion of hating the homos. Let him who is without sin cast the first stone? Ring any bells? Or how about this: Judge not, lest ye be judged?

Oh, and here’s one that you even put on your own Manhattan Declaration document, which is ironic because you don’t seem to understand what it means and in fact what you’re doing is the exact opposite of what this statement intended: Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s. In other words, do not become entwined with the state. Focus on the next world, not on this one. Or, to be more blunt: Stay the hell out of politics, you boneheads. If a state or federal government wants to marry gay people, that’s their decision. Leave it alone. Go say some prayers.

Yet somehow you’ve twisted this around and interpret it to mean that you should impose your will onto others by passing laws that would force other people who do not share your beliefs to be bound by the rules of your Bible, even though (a) your Bible is fiction and (b) you’re not even interpreting the fiction correctly.

It’s bad enough that you’re hateful bigots. But to dress up your hate and bigotry as an expression of Christianity? That, my friends, is pure evil. If you want to go around hating people, fine. Go for it. It’s stupid, and pointless, but whatever. Go hate people. Just don’t go around saying Jesus told you to do it.

So, listen up. You can’t put your bullshit in my app store. I’m sorry. But I won’t let you use my store to spread your hate. I don’t want any part in the spreading of your phony religion, either. There is no God. There is no heaven. There also is no hell, which is too bad, because if hell did exist, you would surely be spending eternity there, with red-hot pokers up your butts. And nothing would make me happier.

How to write a blog that will be great. Basic things you have to do to succeed.

So you want to write a blog?

That’s wonderful, nowadays it’s very easy to get a website up and running in a matter of a few hours. Which can also be a bad thing.

If you are serious about becoming a successful blogger, then you need to get started on the right path. A wrong move now, can become a serious issue later on.

We’ve laid out a Blogging roadmap for you.

Blog 101: Setting Yourself Up for Success

Becoming a professional blogger is not going to happen over night. However, someone who has drive and is focus will find it a lot easier to build a blogging career.

You don’t need to reinvent the blog.

The rumbling onion is full of useful well written information.

It will take you some time, but all you have to do is read and take action.

What To Blog About

Your blog niche is going to be the most important part of your new journey. You don’t just want to write about anything.

Just writing won’t make your blog successful.

Your writing needs to be great.

The easiest way to set yourself up for remarkable content… is to pick a topic that you are truly passionate about.

If you are not passionate about your topic… you will be fighting a difficult battle. You won’t give your blog a chance to be successful.

Once you have a good topic… you’ll next need to find a domain name.

Your domain name is extremely important, since most of the time it will be the first point of contact that your audience will have with you. So you should put thought into this before you even write a blog.

Your name needs to be memorable, easy to spell and it should give people an idea of what your website is about.

Most importantly, try to include one of your keywords in the domain name… so it you are blogging about guitars. Your domain name could be something like AmericanMadeBluesGuitars.com.

I want you to read this post, Your Options for Grabbing a Good Domain Name it goes into detail on how to grab a good domain name.

You’ll even learn a few insider tactics that will insure that your domain name isn’t a dud, we’ll tell you which types of domain names to avoid and how to find premium domain names.

Once you are settled on your new domain name, your next step is to register it and to grab yourself a hosting package.

WordPress Hosting: Do It Right, From The Start

The hosting game is extremely competitive… when you have heavy competition, you as the consumer win.

If you are new and really want to understand hosting make sure to hosting check out our hosting guide which will show you the difference between Shared Hosting, VPS hosting, and Dedicated hosting.

If you are Lazy we also have reviewed the top 3 hosting companies. You’ll find what we discovered, before you buy your domain and pay for hosting.

This guide will save you from future headaches, and show you that hosting for your new WordPress site is actually very affordable.

Once your hosting situation is set… your next move is to actually install WordPress.

Installing WordPress

Not too long ago, installing WordPress was somewhat of a pain.

You had to configure files, upload folders, generate passwords… and so on.

It took awhile.

But fast-forward till today, and installing WordPress is just a click away. Especially if you picked one of our top 3 recommended WordPress hosting companies.

If you need some hand holding… that’s okay. We all do at some point. I want you to take a look at this post: WordPress Installation : What to Expect.

You’ll learn a few different ways to install WordPress.

Once you’ve installed WordPress, you’ll see that have access to a dashboard. It can get a little overwhelming.

WordPress Beginners Guide

You’ve installed WordPress, and you are staring at it’s backend… or the dashboard.

The dashboard is the command center of your WordPress blog. You’ll be able to manage everything from here.

Right from the start, let’s get your blog set-up correctly. I want you to read this post: Installing WordPress and Setting Permalinks and set up your permalinks correctly.

This will help you out in your SEO efforts… because your post title will use keywords instead of the default numbering system that the default instillation of WordPress uses.

Then visit our handy guide: WordPress Guide For Beginners.

This guide will show you the ins and outs of your dashboard. You’ll learn specific WordPress terminology and most importantly… how to write your first a post.

Once you are familiar with how the WordPress backend works, you’ll want to make sure you are using WordPress Pages Like a Pro.

Now that you know how to create content for your site… let’s get to the fun part.

We are going to talk about WordPress Themes.

WordPress Themes

Your WordPress theme is very important… you’ll get to express your self-creativity. But more importantly, if your theme is poorly coded it will harm you.

The search engines have many factors that they take into account when they are ranking websites and some themes just flat out miss most of these factors.

Free Themes

Many people when they are just starting out decide that they want to use a free theme instead of a premium theme.

While free themes can be great lots are junk.

If you are planning on going with a free theme, we suggest you check out this two column theme called: A Dream to Host.

A Dream to Host has all the features you would expect in a high quality free theme including, custom background, custom header images, custom menus, and even Google analytics support.

Premium Themes

Now if you plan on taking your blog to the next level you may want to look at getting a premium theme such as Thesis, Genesis, or Headway. Each of these premium themes are much more robust than any free theme you will find but that comes with a price tag.

Each premium theme has a loyal following and their own pros/cons. Do make sure you do your research before you buy below you will find our reviews of each.

Thesis Theme ReviewGenesis Theme ReviewHeadway Theme Review

We also went into a ton of detail comparing Thesis Theme vs Genesis Theme a while back.

Premium Theme Quickstart Guides

Wrapping your head around what each theme can do can be confusing so make sure you check out our quick start guides.

Thesis Theme Quickstart GuideGenesis Theme Quickstart GuideHeadway Theme Quickstart Guide

If you still trying to figure out what theme is right for you check out this post we did on: Blog Design – Where to Get the Best WordPress Themes.

Now that you are up to speed on themes let’s talk about your logo.

Logos: Getting A Good One

Logos are important… the better they are, they more memorable your brand will be.

Just think about the golden arches, or the swoosh… I don’t even have to say the brand names. You instantly recognize them from their logos.

In How to Get a Good Logo we talk about the different options that you’ll have, from the free route to hiring a designer.

You’ll learn a simple way to find free artwork and options on customizing it. It’s a pretty cool way of designing your own WordPress Header.

Did you know that you can actually have a crowd of professional artist competing to create your logo?

In CrowdSPRING Offers a World of Artists at Great Prices, we review a creative method to having a group of artist submit their logo ideas for you.

Logos are fun, along with your sites design it showcases your brand personality.

Now let’s talk about reach… we’re talking about social media.

Social Media: Grab Your Name Before It’s Gone

Picking up your name across the Social Networks is something that you must do. Not only will it protect your reputation, shady marketers have been know to look for unused brand names.

Everyone can be a target, not just large multi-national brands.

But the other reason, is to expand your brands reach. If you have a presence where your target audience hangs out, then it’s only reasonable to think that they have a greater chance of finding you.

We show you the social media properties to register, and how to go about doing it on: Register Your Username on Social Media Sites.

Don’t forget to also take a look at KnowEm Review: How Much is Your Username Worth?

This service let’s you check to see if your user name is available across a multitude of social networks… a time saver in anyones book.

Once you’ve registered your social media accounts — make sure you empower your community to share your website with their friends

Content Is King

Your content, your writing is what is going to give you a fighting chance over the big boys.

If what you write is just blah… then don’t expect to actually make a living from blogging.

Copywriting 101 Series:

To bring you up to speed we created a 7 part Copywriting 101 Series.

Bad content… is bad for everyone. Make sure your content doesn’t stink.

Copywriting 101: Essential Tools of a CopywriterCopywriting 101: Writing With AuthorityCopywriting 101: Repetition is Not a Bad ThingCopywriting 101: Thinking StrategicallyCopywriting 101: Be PersuasiveCopywriting 101: 7 Deadly Traps Copywriters Fall Into

 

Beef Up Your Writing:

If you are still looking to take your writing to the next level make sure you check out these other popular copywriting articles.

You, A Three Letter Power WordBecause, a Power Word Because It Says So!Why – A Simple Power WordHow to Make Your Writing InterestingWrite Like You TalkTransparency in Copywriting

Timeless Core Content

The main goal of your writing should be that it will become more and more valuable as time goes on.

Most blogs are about the moment… they focus on fashion, breaking news, gossips and the such.

Unfortunately that type of writing becomes old news, pretty much as soon as it is published. We don’t want that to happen to us.

Don’t focus on that type of writing… focus on creating something with substance.

Take a look at Core Content Defined and Examined. We go into detail about what core content is, it’s importance and specific strategies to develop it.

Read What’s in It for Me: 7 Types of Timeless Core Content… and reread it.

This is important… this will make your site and writing remarkable.

Remember, your content is going to separate your from the rest of the pack.

While you are working on creating your core content… you should also think about your writing style.

Checkout this great guide on Typography: Typography Basics – Some Fundamentals for Body Copy.

You’ll also want to learn how to keep your readers attention… with so many distractions popping up online today you won’t want to passup on this important subject.

Grabbing Your Readers Attention.

It’s important to write what your readers want. Once you learn what your audience wants and expects from you… everything becomes much easier.

Make sure and read What Readers Want: A Guide to Converting Readers With Short Attention Spans.

Put the tactics to use… remember we are moving towards your goal of becoming a pro blogger. Learn how to do it right, from the start. How to write a blog is not hard as you may think.

Follow these 3 ways to see your blog explode with traffic.

If you want your blog to find its way out of obscurity, we have to fight for our own audiences. We have to earn our authority.

You won’t build authority by copying another writer — even a very good one — but you can improve your influence by following these 3 proven practices.

1. Act against your own self-interest

When you have an agenda, people take what you say with a grain of salt. It’s like a mother saying her boy is the smartest child on the block.

You can dissolve some of this skepticism by, at times, acting against your own self-interest.

This was the objective of the 1960s ad agency Doyle Dane Bernbach when selling the world’s ugliest car: they flaunted its dysfunctions.

When you mention weaknesses before strengths, you lower resistance to arguments and generate more belief.

2. Try the “convert effect”

Consider these two different people:

An all-star high school and college athlete who grew up thin and confident, raised by Olympic-caliber parents. A timid soul who struggled with obesity his whole life and grew up in a family more interested in barbecue than barbells

If both people tout the same fitness program based on eating french fries and sprinting up a 40-foot ladder for 7 minutes every day, who would you believe?

No question you’re going to choose the second person. He is more persuasive because he didn’t start out as a fit athlete — he converted to that status after starting life as a coach potato.

3. Play hard to get

Most customers expect you to say things to please them. They may even sense a little desperation. A little bootlicking. And they blow you off.

This is one of the reasons I don’t suggest you say “I’m flexible”when in negotiations.

Say that, and your opponent will suspect you’ll do anything for money. She’ll suspect you don’t care about quality or integrity. In other words, you can be bought … cheaply.

You do your prospects and customers a greater service when you maintain your independence and integrity, defending your hard work and turning down requests.

People will see that you actually have their best interest in mind because you’re not falling over yourself to kiss their bottoms.

Fascinating headline selection process that will take your blog to the top.

Establish Trust with supporting facts and figures, or maintain a consistent (yet engaging) style your readers can count on.

When you have a solid structure, it’s easy to include fascination triggers and connect with your audience emotionally.

A focused strategy for your first 50 words and a cohesive outline for the rest of your content will not only make it easier for you to write, they’ll help you create engaging content that’s easy to read.

Humans are drawn to problems. They attract our attention, but they also produce stress and anxiety. That’s an important benefit for you when you develop your content because it positions you to present a solution.

But, you need to go beyond identifying a problem and get your readers to connect to the emotions behind the problem.

Brian Clark demonstrates this with his post, Site Sensor: Website Monitoring for Content Marketers and Online Entrepreneurs.

The problem of “website downtime,” by itself, isn’t so compelling, but he agitates the problem by demonstrating that website downtime leads to lost sales and cranky customers calling you out on Twitter and Facebook.

What’s the emotional focal point? Alarm, fear of conflict, and loss. The emotional connection is the trigger.

Our emotions are fluid. Robert Plutchik’s famous wheel of emotion shows us how multi-faceted emotion really is. Alarm may simply start as apprehension. As the emotion intensifies, it leads to fear and then terror.

You don’t usually admire others unless you already accept and trust them.

First, you accept their opinions are valuable. Then you trust them as an authority, which leads you to admire them for their accomplishments.

It’s no different if we’re talking about developing trust in a product or service. I accept that your product or service will help me with my needs, I trust you to provide a useful product or service, and I admire you or your business when you meet my expectations.

As you create content that matches the problem with the emotion, you trigger interest through fascination cues and build a relationship through emotional connection in your writing.

Each emotional step your audience takes with you is a little “yes.” This is essential in the process of building any relationship.

So, how do you find the emotional trigger behind the problem? Look at the feelings the problem produces:

Alarm: You’re afraid of losing customers.
Prestige and Alarm: You’re afraid of losing a coveted award.
Trust: You want to convince your customers with stats and social proof.

Once you’ve identified the emotional focal points behind your problem, you’re ready to write a compelling headline that will tap into the appropriate fascination trigger.

the solution mirrors and resolves the problem.

If your content doesn’t deliver the solution and resolve the problem you present, you’ll start to fascinate but end up falling short and frustrating your audience by not completely resolving the problem. the solution mirrors and resolves the problem.

If your content doesn’t fully deliver the solution and resolve the problem you initially present, you’ll start to fascinate but end up falling short and frustrating your audience by not completely fixing the problem.

Let’s take another look at Brian’s Site Sensor example:

The problem: Your site has been down.
The agitator: More than an hour has passed, and you don’t have a clue until you hear from cranky people on Twitter and Facebook.
The solution: When your site is down, you’ll get an instant notification via email, SMS, or iPhone app.

Even if you’re a customer, you may not be familiar with the extent of potential website hosting issues. You know sites go down sometimes, but Brian shows you just how bad it can get.

Once you’re aware of the danger and seriousness of the problem, he swoops in with the solution, relieving your fear, stress, and anxiety.

If the solution doesn’t mirror the problem, there’s no stress relief.

You can test your content to see if the solution you offer matches the problem. It’s as simple as holding them side-by-side and asking yourself, “Do they match? Does this solution directly resolve this problem?”

Want more traffic on your blog? Guaranteed proven traffic driver.

In this post I’m going to show you how to get more traffic to your blog.

Let’s dive right in…

The #1 Struggle Online Business Owners Face Today…

Traffic…

I probably don’t need to tell you that traffic is the lifeblood of any online business.

No traffic, no leads.

No leads, no sales.

No sales, no business.

Even if you already get “enough” traffic, I can guarantee you that you have the potential to boost your traffic by 2x, 3x, or even 10x from where it is today.

The Right Content is:

Content that generates traffic, leads and sales.

Content that gets you traffic from Google.

Content that establishes YOU as an expert.

Because when you do that, everything changes…

When I discovered how to create The Right Content, everything in my life and business changed.

Whether you own an e-commerce site, run a digital marketing  agency, sell software, or if you are a full time blogger, you need content that brings in targeted traffic.

In other words, traffic that will convert into leads and sales.

you need to rank for keywords that your customers search for every day.
Most content published today isn’t designed to maximize shares, traffic and customers.

And, yes, that even includes most “great content”.

Because there’s a BIG difference between “great content” and The Right Content.

And once you know what that difference is, and how to leverage it, you’ll be ahead of 90% of your competitors.

Unless you describe your target customers as “influential bloggers and journalists”, your target audience isn’t going to share your content.

And if they don’t share your content, you’re not going to increase traffic to your website.

Using the power of fascination to drive explosions of traffic to your blog. Seo optimization

Online content marketing is mostly about making a connection with your target audience and building worthwhile relationships with others in your niche. Seo is needed. Since the fact is you invest time and effort into your writing, you want to see tangible results.

what if your posts aren’t getting the engagement you need to take your digital media platform to the next level? How can you create content that deepens your connection with your readers?

The answer might lie in the reason why we take in certain information, while overlooking other content.

Emotions overpower intellect when we make decisions

Emotions almost totally control our decisions and experiences. For instance, when we run into trouble or experience a strong emotion like fear, we tend to obsess over it. We can become irrational or worse.

our fear overshadows and prevents logical thought processes. When the problem is relieved, we’re free from the constraints of our emotions. We’re more open, agreeable, and compliant. We’re able to think rationally again.

Everything starts with emotion. Memories affect our thoughts and opinions; feelings affect our moods and behaviors. The human limbic system is the gatekeeper for all higher thought processing and evaluation.

To build relationships with your audience, you have to first connect with readers on an emotional level.

Because when emotion is missing, we’re not really engaged.

If readers aren’t interested and engaged, they’re not likely to keep reading. And even if they do read your content, they’re not likely to digest it; it’s less likely to make an impact on their lives.

You don’t want them to eat your content without absorbing the nutrients, so how do you get readers to absorb your writing?

You need to fascinate them.

Fascination is a magnetic force

Fascination has the ability to produce intense focus — that feeling you’ve lost track of time since you’ve been completely drawn in to one activity. Fascination enables you to get the emotional response you want.

Bestselling author, brand consultant, and Authority Rainmaker keynote speaker Sally Hogshead, commissioned The Kelton Fascination Study and found there are seven basic facets to fascination.

Alert (or Alarm) creates urgency. It screams consequences, danger, and loss. It’s the screeching tires that flood your body with adrenaline, the Hells Angel parked next to you, and the police sirens behind you. It focuses on what is most feared, not what’s most likely to happen.Mystique arouses curiosity with unanswered questions. It’s bait pieces, limited access, and unsolved mysteries. Alien abductions and D.B. Cooper. The Bermuda Triangle and Taman Shud.Passion ignites sensory pleasure or experience. It’s emotional, expressive, and animated. Passion uses all five senses. It’s the food blog with photos making your mouth water, the Occupy movement, and divisive issues.Power exercises authority and control. It’s a command over people, circumstances, and self. It’s the man with the gun, people with leverage, and military might.Prestige says, “I’m better than you.” It’s one-upmanship, using symbols of hierarchy, rank, and achievement. The luxury car signaling affluence, your coveted award, and the backstage pass. Innovation (or Rebellion) defies absolutes. The bat suit and the first horseless carriage.Trust builds loyalty with repetition and reliability.It’s about the familiar and predictable — the safety and comfort of routine. It’s a pristine track record and consistent performance. Warren Buffett and Amazon 1-Click.

Anytime we’re drawn to something, fascination cues are at play. For writers, using these cues may make the difference between forming an emotional connection with your readers and your content falling flat.

Is it time to legalize marijuana? The honest truth on the issue.

Marijuana used to conjure up the image of a strung out, spacey hippy, saying “Wow, man, that’s cool”. But, the times are indeed rapidly changing.

Millions have died from cigarettes, yet they're still freely sold at stores. Alcoholhas been the root cause of countless deaths due to liver disease, diabetes anddementia with almost 10,000 killed from drunk driving alone in 2011, yet it can still be purchased. Every 19 minutes, someone in the US dies from a prescription overdose. Who has died from marijuana? No one. There is not one confirmed case of someone dying strictly from pot.  Twenty states and DC have legalized medicinal marijuana, while Colorado and Washington state have legalized it for recreational use as well. More states are soon expected to follow suit.

Consider that over 100 million Americans have smoked pot once -- that's 41 percent of the population. Twenty six million or 10 percent, claim they've used it during the past year and fifteen million or 6 percent claim to be regular marijuana users.

Here are four popular misperceptions:

Marijuana is addictive: No, it is not for the vast majority of smokers. I discuss that in detail here.

Marijuana causes brain damage: A meta-analysis of 15 studies found that moderate, daily use does not cause brain damage. Heavy long term use does cause a “very small impairment inmemory and learning”. But any drug can be abused with resulting negative sequelae.

Marijuana makes you lazy and unmotivated: If someone is lazy and unmotivated before using weed, they will remain lazy and unmotivated after. The so called “amotivational syndrome” ascribed to pot smoking has never been proven.

A guide to updating your old blog posts. You can triple your traffic instantly.

One of the first steps to creating adaptive content is becoming aware of the content you already have. This is why we encourage you to audit your site.

But before you dive into a full-blown comprehensive content audit, it might be possible to make your job a little easier by first dealing with all of the expired content.

What exactly is expired content?

It’s those old sales pages, obsolete product pages, and other outdated content. The pages you’ve forgotten about in your archives that desperately need some attention.

You’ll know where some of this content is off the top of your head. To properly attend to other pages, you may just have to walk through your archives.

Now, this might take an afternoon or longer, but as Sonia said in her article on content audits, there are a number of benefits to knowing what’s in your archives.

Why should you fix old, broken content?

There are a number of good reasons why you shouldn’t ignore old, broken, and neglected sections of your website.

Here are three benefits of attending to expired content:

Keeps your site light. True, the more pages on your site, the wider your reach in search engine traffic. But search engine bots will also require more bandwidth to crawl your site. As Stephanie Chang writes, “You don’t want to risk wasting your crawl allowance having bots crawl pages that are thin in unique content and value.” Keeps your site fresh. Expired and old information communicates to search engines (and your audience) that your site is stale.

Enhances the user experience. A well-groomed site enhances a user’s experience because he won’t stumble across inaccurate information or waste time reading two blog posts when one would suffice.

What exactly should you do with this content? You have four options for fixing each piece:

Leave it alone. If it’s still accurate and necessary information, then you might find good reasons to leave it alone. Did it earn a lot of inbound links? Continues to drive traffic? Then it might be worth keeping. However, the big disadvantage with this option is that traffic to stale content often bounces — and bounces hard — which ruins the user experience. I would suggest you leave expired content alone if it can’t be fixed with one of the options below. But more than likely you can find a way to improve it.Redirect it (301). This is the most sophisticated option, but it has to be done right. Do not redirect to your home page. Google hates it, and it drives visitors nuts. The goal with redirects is to point the expired page to another page that is as close as possible in style, intent, and category. You want to match the original user intent as much as possible with the new page. A redirect preserves any link juice, too. This process, however, can be labor intensive.

Delete it (404). This is the lazy man’s way to deal with expired content — and it’s a horrible idea. It wastes any incoming links, irritates the search engines, and upsets users (even if you do have ahip 404 page). Remember, 404 pages are appropriate for people who mistype a URL. They are not a way to deal with expired content.Improve it. This is hands down the hardest approach, but also the best. Look at a page and ask yourself, “How can I make this page better?” You might need to update a page if the information on the page is no longer accurate, or consolidate it with another page if you see an overlap in content between two pieces. Perhaps you need to update an outdated event or obsolete product page, instead of deleting them.

Can You Resist Clicking These 3 Headlines? (One is So Good I Had to Copy it Right Away)

Your headlines are the tentacles that pull people into your blog. More then your content itself, your title is what brings browsers to your content.
Without a compelling, thought provoking, and interesting headline even the best content is likely to go unnoticed. Meanwhile a great headline can bring popularity to even subpar content.
You should be aiming to envoke emotion with a headline. Ask a question that will inspire further thought. For instance, Are u making the mistake of not planning for retirement is going to perform better then how to plan for retirement. You have to remember the importance of interpersonal relationships in the online world. Many great possibilities are created by the advent of the internet. You just have to be savy, smart, and interesting.
As far as blog posts go, anyone can publish one so its important that you understand that in order to become popular you have to stand out by creating useful or entertaining content that engages your readers. When people are reading they want to know what's interesting before they lose focus on the issue.
Don't give up on your dreams just understand and accept that if you know your good enough then you have to work enough. If you don't enjoy writing then blogging is probably not for you. It takes passion mixed with knowledge to make a blog a success. If you put effort into making the best content that you can while using effective promotional techniques that success is almost a certainty.

Headline 1.) the best content for your blog. If your struggling to generate traffic you need to read this.
Headline 2.) why are you not building an audience for your blog? 2 common mistakes your probably making.
Headline 3.) Why you need to plan your future early. Don't put it off too late.

As you can see all three headlines envoke emotion and further thought. Which is essential if you plan to gain readers.

How to generate targeted traffic to your blog

If you have a blog and you plan on growing it to produce an income, well, your going to have to produce quality, well written content that helps people with something or entertains them.
You need to know how to generate targeted traffic to your blog.
One way is to make YouTube videos and add annotations that link back to your blog. Also add a link to your blog in your description area.

6 reasons to be addicted to Marijuana

First off just let me say that I'm not advocating addiction. However, I do think that it would be much more beneficial to individuals, as well as society, if more people were addicted to marijuana and not crack or heroin.
Weed is illegal due mainly to political propaganda.

1.) You can't die from a marijuana overdose. This reason is a good one with everyone who is succumbing to opiate overdose.
2.) Marijuana improves your mood.
3.) It stimulates appetite.
4.) It boosts creativity.
5.) It eases pain.
6.) Its widely accepted today without a stigma attached to it.

There you have it. Six quick reasons why you should be on the weed.

How to create good content for your blog.

Get Readers Involved 
As you get more readers, you'll also get more comments and questions, of which you should definitely respond. In fact, ask your readers for their feedback. This engages them and involves them in the blog, though few may truly understand it.

It allows them to "buy in" to what you're doing. Sports teams are very successful using this tactic. When was the last time you heard a team announcer say: "And now, the starting lineup for for YOUR ...." People then call the team "us" instead of "them".

Later, you may see a reader that is very knowledgeable (judging by the comments they leave and questions they ask). This reader is a good candidate to contribute a guest post on your blog. This reader, who may or may not have his own blog, has the opportunity to become known by more people just by doing this and providing good content to your blog.

Update Old Posts 
As time goes on, you'll accumulate more articles on your blog. Don't ignore old posts. Update them with fresh, relevant and newer information. The early readers may have read them, but newer readers haven't. These articles then greatly expand the experience for new readers, and they'll be encouraged to return.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2245880

How you get high on weed

Use:
"catching a buzz" or the invitation "wanna catch a buzz?" (It CAN BE elusive, so you have to 'catch' one when you can)

Practice:
Limited to taking only two or possibly three hits (tokes, inhales, etc.)

 

Effect:
This is the first level experienced in getting high on pot. You catch a nice, calm, enjoyable, floaty, buzz.  First time users may claim to be stoned. This buzz practice is good for the daily user who begins their day with a buzz (not to be confused with "wake & bake" - see Stoned).  Catching a Buzz is not enough to get burnt out, and yet you have not truly reached the Level of High (so to speak).  You can revisit your joint or pipe later and refresh your buzz by taking a couple more hits.  This can be continued through-out the day with few (if any) ill effects.

Explanation: 
Depending upon the potency of your pot, any one of these effects could be enhanced or non-existent in your personal experience.  It may take only one hit on the bong with your Hawaiian to catch a buzz, or it could take more than 10 hits of a joint to catch the same buzz based upon the quality of your weed and your friends.

Warning:
These examples take into account the use of good to excellent grade reefer.  A nice buzz can last from 30 minutes to 2 hours.  The effects of getting high on marijuana can be different from one person to the next.  Marijuana is not a physically addictive drug.
 

See more at www.weedsthatplease.com

Man arrested after breaking his leg having sex with a horse!?

A man has been arrested in Texas after breaking his leg while having sex with a horse. It is not the first time Cirilo Castillo Jr has been arrested for sexual behavior with a horse, as he has served two previous sentences, but it is the first time that the horse has got its own payback.

Emergency services were called to a barn in Edinburg in February this year after Mr Castillo suffered the injury. He initially said that he had been hit by a car and had crawled into the barn for shelter, but police officers believed he was kicked by the horse while trying to have sex with the animal.

Castillo was taken into custody on June 2nd and charged with trespassing, he could face up to 180 days in jail if found guilty.
Castillo has been in trouble with the law for sexual incidents with horses. In 2012 he served 270 days for public lewdness following an incident with a horse, and in 2013 he was given five years’ probation on a charge of cruelty to animals.

Shocked shoppers watch in horror as man pees in grocery store freezer!?

The behaviour of some people takes a lot of believing at times, but what shoppers witnessed at a Morrisons Store in Stockport stretched the imagination beyond belief. According to witnesses, not content with his disgraceful performance at one of the freezer cabinets, he also went around the store breaking wine bottles whilst wandering around.

An onlooker saw the urinating incident and captured it on his mobile phone, this shows a man dressed in a white t-shirt and jeans, he was swaying around as he stood in one of the aisles on his own close to a freezer cabinet. The man filming could not quite believe what he was seeing and is heard exclaiming to the children he was with, “he’s p*****g in the freezer!”

Well as you could expect the video has been posted online and has been seen by thousands of people. It would appear that he was not satisfied with his performance as some other witnesses thought that the man was also seen vomiting into another freezer, although this is not seen on the video footage.

Commenting about the man’s behaviour, a spokesman for Morrisons said: “The store team were quick to respond to the incident, the Police were called and the individual was escorted from the store by police officers.” They also went on to say that they had thoroughly checked out the freezer in question and were quite satisfied that he had not urinated into it.

Black water helps you live 25 years longer!?

There’s a water beverage on the market that can actually help you to live longer, and it comes from deep below the earth’s surface and is black in colour (yes, BLACK!) – no joke!

The human brain and heart are composed of 73% water, and the lungs are about 83% water. The skin contains 64% water, muscles and kidneys are 79%, and even the bones are watery: 31%. Pretty much, you need water to survive. But are you drinking the proper H20?!

FulHum, also known as EarthWater is a black-coloured water that has been mined from a multi-million year old preserved deposit. The company state that the fulvic humic product is extracted without the use of damaging chemicals, while those other water companies using riverbeds and lakes, can be contaminated by acid rain, polluted air, and chemical runoff. The beverage also has no chemicals, carbohydrates, sugar and is non GMO. Additionally, they use High Pressure Pasteurization (HPP) to create a perfectly balanced product with a consistent +9ph.

Because of all this, and the natural, organic items found within FulHum, recent studies have shown that drinking the black-coloured beverage, can actually help you live longer, while staying much more refreshed