Hound Dog Blog

Egads! The hyperlink

Hyperlinks. Not the golf kind, but the kind that you click to get anywhere on the web are critical to desktop publishing and a certainty of blogging proficiency - certainly, I have no mastery at it, but I do know this. The magic of the hyper link. Of course, we don't consider it magic anymore, just as we don't we find it amusing that one might tweet about something - but the hyperlink is magic.

Try to envision yourself time traveling back to the days when Milli Vanili was a non-stop, chart-topping Casey Kasem, Top 40 sensation, and your friend came up to you dressed in their Fat Shoe Laced sneakers, legwarmers, shoulder pads, Members Only jacket and parachute pants... and asked you to send you a link. If you want to, go one step further. Remember having to learn the Dewey Decimal system and the card catalog... Egads!!! That is like a horse and carriage to kids these days!!!

Jeff Jarvis makes this point repeatedly, as do some of my other favorite authors. The link has changed everything - and Mr. Jarvis eloquently points this out in his recent book.

The hyperlink. Some people take it for granted. Spammers, in particular, think that the hyperlink was created for their self serving garbage which, ironically, has made an actual mess out of their interests and left them scrambling for the new thing to blanket bomb people with.

Others, (and I don't include myself, though I would like to eventually) have embraced the a href code, because it is how we get our information, and how our information is pushed through the series of tubes.

Hyperbole aside, if you write a blog, then link. Always link. Chances are, and they are high,  this is how I got to your blog... and I, at the very least, deserve to be indulged further in my quest for information, being that I spend all day long trying to make sense of this web.

The office with Balmudo

I did come across this amazing Squidoo lens which is very much worth checking out.

The lensmaster links to 2 extremely relevant posts that relate to my life and some of the things that, IMO, are part of the economic trend.

Take the ball and go home was the post that changed my life. Maybe that appears crazy or even ridiculous at first blush, but it's not. It isn't even slightly ridiculous because it was my reality on January 28, 2009. when it was posted. This kind of degenerative degradation happened to me every single day in the office by one bully or another. Not only on Mondays, not only on hard deadlines, but every day - all day.

Yes, I took my ball and went home. It wasn't until I actually got home that I realized that playing the bully's game, on their playground gave them more of an incentive to discourage me and more incentive to whichever interests they were pursuing.

Personally, I don't remember ever having this done to me as a child, so I can't speak from a psycho-analytic perspective, but I know what it did to me all day long - every day - in the office / playground. It made me feel exactly the way they wanted me to feel: miserable.

Yeah but he really knows his stuff... - was in the office / playground as well. For me, this one was more threatening. Not so much to me as to the owners, but it was just as troubling, even if it wasn't personal. It was still a game, and still obnoxious.

Spending 10 hours a day wasn't bad all the time. I've actually written here about some of the wonderful people I was fortunate enough to be mentored by, work with and get to know.

What now? Well, I'm leaps and bounds happier - which is directly transferable to my personal and professional life.

And yes, in case you were wondering. I almost got fired for this blog. Not because it was adversarial, but because it was something that enabled the bullies to push me around.

Another quotation I found the other day, and I wish I could quote it correctly and give proper attribution, but I can't for the life of me find it again..., it went something like this:

Be kind to the generation younger than yours, for they will be the one's who will write about you.

Squidoo and my Element

If you want to learn quickly these days, you don't have to go to school. I went to college, I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I'm only saying that there is so much access to information today, that you should compile information as you learn. Now you can play Rockband. :)

Do you know how Google works or how it derives all the information that is queried? I don't. Not even close. But Squidoo is helping me understand. Quickly. Why is this valuable? What if you're in business and you need people to know about you? Do you advertise? Likely. Everyone has to. So does it not make sense to understand how what people type in the search bar will end up with your business, product or idea? I think so, anyway. If you don't, well I guess you can just ask someone, but it is likely that they may not have time to explain it to you. Or they might even charge you because it does take time to understand.

I've been talking about Squidoo a lot lately. Not just because my favorite blogger is the the founder of Squidoo, but have become completely fascinated by the marketing puzzle that is Squidoo.

I literally had modular dreams last night, where I was rearranging modules, adding keywords to lenses, renaming images, coming up with new tags for my Honda Element page and my What makes a 5 Tool Baseball player page.

And, when I awoke, I had another lens I wanted to create. Almost everyone I know that snubbed this blog in its infancy as a waste of time, and mocked facebook and twitter are likely doing the same thing about Squidoo. Here's the thing about Squidoo:

It can make you money. It is actually set up that way. Really. 

Before you go to Squidoo and start spamming people by putting irrelevant gibberish in order to make money, you should understand what the Squidoo founders intentions are.

There are so many ways to use Squidoo to be profitable. By profitable, I don't mean for your Ferarri. I mean across the board. The idea (key word there) is to spread ideas and information. This way, as Mr. Godin says, everyone wins. They get the information they searched for, and your idea benefits because (perhaps and perchance) there was an ad that the user clicked on your Squidoo page... hmm.

So, maybe it can pay for your Ferarri. I wouldn't rule it out.

Squidoo and 500 hats

Squidoo and 500 hats

500 Hats on Squidoo is rivaled only by the great Doctor Seuss in his tale of Bartholomew Cubbins. 

Seth Godin remarks about the problem of free online economy in his post today and how most marketers are missing the point. 

I must confess, I am a novice Squidoo-ite, but I can tell you now that what badmsm has done (aside from being a Giant Squid 100, a Squid Angel, earning a Purple star and a Gold star on Squidoo) is utilized Squidoo, which is free, utilizing the free market to ... well... you look and see... it is quite amazing...

Here is her top lens (again): 500 Hats

What's even more amazing, is she's doing it to avoid foreclosure on her house. A gimmick? Maybe. Who benefits, though? You, me and ... yup... badmsm and her husband, because they get to keep their house... and we get a hand - knitted hat! I don't care who you are, that's way cool! 

And I'm going to get me a skull cap... before it gets cold here in Florida :) 

. 

I've got a golden opportunity

And Squidoo is a world of pure imagination.

I have some sense of kinship to Charlie Bucket of Roald Dahl's masterpiece, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. (not the entire scope of Charlie Bucket's character, though many similarities, indeed).

Here's a quick background can be found here but I'll try to give a quick synopsis:

Charlie is the protagonist. He is a poor kid with honorable, ethical and principled intentions. After all, he does live with his extended family and is one of the main bread winners via his paper route.

The plot unravels through the great Willy Wonka and his chocolate factory. Grandpa Joe tells of the surreptitious nature of the factory and the clandestine agents that worked to uncover Wonka's secret recipe for making such delicious chocolate.

Wonka, who hasn't been seen or heard from in years, starts a promotion. A promotion that set off a world wide media frenzy. He, Wonka, releases 5 golden tickets inside the wrapper of random Wonka bars around the world. And 5 lucky winners were going to have an exclusive tour by Willy Wonka himself. Nobody had ever seen the inside of the factory. In fact, nobody was seen going in or out of it.

As each of the 5 tickets were discovered, a shifty looking character named Mr. Slugworth, whispered into the winner's ear. Mr. Slugworth - as it turns out - was not so shifty after all. He was Wonka's shill, testing the character of each of the winners.

The plot unfolds in whimsical and loony Roald Dahl fashion while Charlie, of course, in the end does the right thing, gives the Everlasting Gobstopper back and passes Wonka and Mr. Slugworth's test.

Back to reality. I didn't get a golden ticket in a candy bar, but I am participating in something that has many parallels Roald Dahl’s story - in my imagination anyway.

Why do I think Squidoo is like Wonka's factory? Because it is a place where magic happens. People, anyone, can make something called a ‘lens.’ A lens is Squidoo-language for a webpage. Why is it magical?

• First and foremost, it is magical because of its goal.
• Second, its business model.
• And third its no-spam policy.

These, you would agree, are unlike most co-ops or any other profit sharing endeavor. And, anyone that knows me or has read this blog, knows that I have a passion for all three of these things.

In the Squidoo's about page, they define their mission:

Squidoo's goal as a platform is to bring the power of recommendation to search. Squidoo's goal as a co-op is to pay as much money as we can to our lensmasters and to charity. And Squidoo's goal as a community is to have fun along the way, and meet new ideas and the people behind them.

There is more to Squidoo than what I’ve already put forth. It’s worth noting that Squidoo is one of the top 500 visited sites in the world, and is run by a small group of absolutely astonishing and brilliant people.

That’s just scratching the Squidoo surface. For me, the opportunity akin to Charlie Bucket's came in the form of a roving internship. This opportunity to explore Squidoo with these amazing and inspiring people is literally a dream come true.

Change is good and so is conviction. So is believing in something when there isn’t an immediate financial reward. That’s how great music is composed, that is how great books are written, and that is how great ideas spread.

If Charlie Bucket didn’t have such strong beliefs and convictions, he never would have given the Everlasting Gobstopper back.

You can't afford not to

Today I did an impromptu search for blogs (and the Florda Gators were ranked #1 in the AP polls - but that has nothing to do with this post). It was for an endeavor that I am working on that I will outline a bit more later.

All I can say is this: blogging, or a blog written by someone who actually cares about the entity, should be absolutely mandatory for any startup, fledgling business, or a company that has survived the Great Recession of 2008 and 09 (I made that up).

The reason why: you can't hide from a blog. And, you can't manipulate one. For 2 reasons:

• Search engines (whichever flavor: google, youtube, flickr, squidoo, facebook - they are all search enginges nowadays) know now when you are doing it. It doesn't take a genius to figure out when someone is typing specifically for a 'search engine' and financial or rank.
• The real blogs that are composed by humans will always trump the splogs. This is because people that believe in a cause, a belief, or a set of corporate ideals will likely be doing it because they are rewarded commensurate with this passion.

I spent about 8 hours today researching this today because of this chance of a lifetime I have been given.

Here's my suggestion: Don't hire a blogger. Don't blog. Don't even think about doing it... unless, of course you believe in what you are blogging about. Why? Because when I go to your blog, and the last post about your company is dated in April of 2007, you're late.

It appears as if you don't care about my search. This makes me want to go somewhere else and find what I'm looking for. All the adwords, SEO pros, meta tags and content can't compete with a person blogging on the side of your competition.

What does your company blog say about your company? Does it read like a press release? Does it tell me that I am liable to get a 15 minute automated computer when I call your business? Does it tell me that you are into 'get-rich quick' schemes? Or does it help me identify your company or cause?

The reason I ask is this is why people search. And, (this is my least favorite cliché) in this economy you can't afford to be a phony. People have learned how to click their mice - fast.

Thank you Squidoo ! ! !

I could list all things I have failed at in the past 2 years, but I won't because today I am proud.

Fill you in later as I know more :)

I could write another silly post about how 'blogging is therapeutic' or some sort of 'muse' for me, but I won't.

I could could go on and on about The Beatles, Widespread Panic, The Black Crowes, the election, facebook, twitter, email etiquette, John Lennon or Seth Godin (which I should - wink, wink) but I won't.

Instead I am just going to say thank you to Megan at Squidoo. I am literally bursting with excitement at this opportunity... 

So, in a few words: Thank you. 

And please check out this Squidoo page: 

Feeling musical

Do you think that The Beatles were such a phenomenal success because they were all relatively the same height?

I think that is part of it.

John actually said in an interview, after they had to stop touring, that the greatest thing about The Beatles was their live act. It's really hard to imagine. To think back of all those clips of the mop-tops in their 'Beatle' suits and 'Beatle-boots.'

But, this was what made them what they were. They were a gritty, working class rock band. And, they were very talented - together.

That is the point. John wasn't The Beatles. Nor was Paul. I always question someone's ability to reason when they tell me that Ringo is goofy (arguably, he is - but so are the others).

Also, George... well, he wrote a song that Frank Sinatra sang for years in Vegas showrooms without giving him attribution: Something. He used to say, "Here' s a song by Lennon and McCartney" ... wrong. George also wrote While My Guitar Gently Weeps and Here Comes the Sun. My opinion, those are 3 of the finest Fab Four songs ever - hands down.

And Ringo... well Ringo was the Beat in The Beatles! It is said that because he was a sick child, and frequently hospitalized that he was not a very strong man. There is a lot to be said about this. If you've ever heard of Led Zeppelin, the guitars are very loud because the drummer, John Bonham, was notoriously loud. Ringo, because of his inherent weakness, could only bang the drum so loud. As opposed to other drummers, who could knock the drumstick right through the skin. . . This is said to play a significant role to The Beatles' sound from the mop top days to and Sgt Pepper days.

I wonder. Do you think a kid playing their Wii is going to have any clue what inflection to put on the cadence that flies across the screen? I don't. Even if the kid (or adult) could - they aren't going to learn how to feel music through a video game.

And what happens when they're grounded? Do they have to actually play a guitar?

Rock band?

On 09/09/09 The Beatles: Rock Band is to be released for video games. I'm unsure how I feel about this. 

For the most part I think it is because it is a video game. I did see a demo of it while I was in Blockbuster the other day, and I have to say, the graphics were absolutely beautiful and the game itself is certainly better than shooting aliens - so it probably is a good thing. 

What concerns me is the kids who are learning this music through video games. It just seems that learning music is something of an aural experience that needs to be pedagogically imparted. Perhaps this is my age showing, though I wasn't even around when The Beatles were still a band. I can't figure out why I am still so nostalgic about this.

I guess maybe it is that I have fallen behind the video game world. I remember video games being Frogger, where you had to get he frog across the road before it got smashed by a car or Space Invaders, where you shot endless aliens over and over until your hand hurt. I suppose the 'new' video games are more cerebral.

Dan Pink's book, A Whole New Mind makes a large overture to video games and tomorrow's leaders. I can't really relate in this instance. I understand his point about video games and the new generation, but here is where I have to disagree. 

The Beatles were so much of a cultural anomaly that it might be worth having your child sit down and learn how to tune a guitar, put a capo on it and finger the different parts to George Harrison's Here Comes the Sun.

But that's just me being old school. Maybe I'm just missing the yellow submarine on this one.

P.S. There's more to the 9/9/9 than meets the eye. It was John Lennon's admitted lucky number.

On the bright side, maybe this will inspire kids to actually learn actual hand crafted guitars the way The Fab Four performed them.

33 things that make me wonder

I want to know more about stuff. Here's a short list of some of the things I'd like to know more about:

• Combustion engines
• Carpentry
• Buddhism
• Dachshunds
• Drywall
• Jazz progressions - specifically on guitar
• Scott Joplin
• The Vikings
• Manifest destiny
• St. Valentine
• Incas
• Mayans
• Easter Island
• Constellations
• Geomagnetic reversal
• Why psychics don't all just play the lottery and retire
• NASCAR
• Rugby
• soil
• interment
• Candle making
• Radio waves
• Nuclear power
• Zamboni operators
• What makes a Stradivarius such
• Why my watch has rubies in it for timekeeping
• Sailing
• Tides
• The Edmund Fitzgerald
• Jet propulsion
• Quantum physics
• Why I can't find Allgood in google anymore. This is Train Song - take a listen.

and last but not least: Time. Time fascinates me. Perhaps that is why Dalí fascinates me so. Time is so precious, but we always seem limit it so. Why? What is it about it?