This is a post that I did not think I would ever write, because it is quite personal and although I do not mind sharing parts of me with other people, this is a part I would rather not have shared. But I will share it now, in view of hearing calls for 'let's start a war with Iran' or 'let's bomb North Korea or 'blow Japan out of the water'. The reason for these various calls have to do with perceived or real threats to our safety or security or for other reasons, such as barbaric treatment of people or animals in their care. Whatever, the reason is, violence can NEVER be the answer.
Sure, if someone attacks you you have the right to defend yourself, but never ever be the one who starts the violence.
My absolute distate for violence is a result of my early upbringing. I am the off-spring of a mother who was in a Japanese concentration camp for four years, from age 11-15. I know in graphic detail what was done to my mother and other girls and women in those camps, it makes the British t.v. series 'Tenko' look like a holiday camp. After the war my mother moved back with her family to Holland, where nobody at that time was interested in what had happened to them, because the people who had lived in Holland during that time had themselves suffered a lot at the hands of the German occupiers.
I remember a childhood of beatings and walking home from school wondering if I would go home to 'loving mummy' or we would have to play 'Jap camp' again today. I will not bore you with the details, they are not interesting and add nothing to this story.
I want to say that violence done to one generation has lasting results not just for that generation but for the following one as well. And I guess, had I not decided never to have children, I might have visited that violence on the next generation too.
I just wish that when people say 'let's start a war' or 'let's blow them to kingdom come' they would remember that violence never ends well, and that all it does is beget more and more violence.
Saturday, 20 June 2009
Monday, 1 June 2009
How Do You Like Your Surf?
Having decided that I am not going to spend the rest of my life frantically surfing on Traffic Era, I thought it was time to revisit some of the Traffic Exchanges I am already a member of and also join a couple of new ones. I will still do a couple of hours on Traffic Era, but I felt it was time to diversify a bit. This post is about the two new exchanges I have joined this weekend.
The first one is for those who like their surf easy and without frills. Ten second timer, one to one hit ratio, free, easy to use, unlimited URLs and a very good admin. Small at the moment, but that only gives us a better chance to build downlines. It is surfing at its easiest and I think it will give good results because people are not perpetually distracted by things that are supposed to make surfing 'fun'. You can visit Jus-Surfing here. See what you think, I like its pure simplicity. At the moment there is a contest going on to see who has the most points in their account at midnight 15th June UK time, and they will win £15.00 straight into their PayPal account. Nice :)
The other exchange I joined was the long-awaited second baby of Kjell, called Deep Space Traffic, I am sure you have seen the ads over all the exchanges you surf on. It is an interesting exchange, with lots of extras, possibilities to upgrade, win extra credits, lottery tickets and space travel. The design is fantastic and it does make surfing as much fun as it can be. No team surfing so you work for yourself and that can be very refreshing too. The splash pages you can use for advertising are numerous and some are very humorous.
Surfing the two together works very well, both have 10 second timers and they do not conflict with each other - even my little old laptop does not start to shudder every two minutes when I surf these two at the same time. They are as different from each other as they can be, but work extremely well together, so it is an excellent combination as far as I am concerned.
I am very happy with my two latest acquisitions, and have spent a few pleasurable hours over the weekend Just Surfing and relaxing.
The first one is for those who like their surf easy and without frills. Ten second timer, one to one hit ratio, free, easy to use, unlimited URLs and a very good admin. Small at the moment, but that only gives us a better chance to build downlines. It is surfing at its easiest and I think it will give good results because people are not perpetually distracted by things that are supposed to make surfing 'fun'. You can visit Jus-Surfing here. See what you think, I like its pure simplicity. At the moment there is a contest going on to see who has the most points in their account at midnight 15th June UK time, and they will win £15.00 straight into their PayPal account. Nice :)
The other exchange I joined was the long-awaited second baby of Kjell, called Deep Space Traffic, I am sure you have seen the ads over all the exchanges you surf on. It is an interesting exchange, with lots of extras, possibilities to upgrade, win extra credits, lottery tickets and space travel. The design is fantastic and it does make surfing as much fun as it can be. No team surfing so you work for yourself and that can be very refreshing too. The splash pages you can use for advertising are numerous and some are very humorous.
Surfing the two together works very well, both have 10 second timers and they do not conflict with each other - even my little old laptop does not start to shudder every two minutes when I surf these two at the same time. They are as different from each other as they can be, but work extremely well together, so it is an excellent combination as far as I am concerned.
I am very happy with my two latest acquisitions, and have spent a few pleasurable hours over the weekend Just Surfing and relaxing.
Sunday, 31 May 2009
What Would You Do If...
What would you do if someone lent you $25,000 dollars today to start your own business. That was the question posed to me by Pertuity Direct, who are a Social Lending Company. Unfortunately I probably live in the wrong country but just supposing someone lent you all that money, what sort of business would you start?
At the moment I own a very small but successful Home Care and Home Nursing Agency. I started it just over a year ago, with no start up capital at all, and have managed (at times just about) to keep my head above water, and furthermore also managed to keep the head of my colleague Paul above water for most of that time. But there are so many improvements to be made, a bit of start up capital would make a huge difference.
Firstly, I would use part of the money to pay to have the business incorporated, it makes sense for all sorts of reasons - tax reasons, legal reasons, insurance reasons, and it would enable me to give contracts to the people who work for me, thereby providing them with security for sick pay and pension rights.
The next thing I would do is buy some basic equipment, such as bath boards, a couple of wheelchairs, some Zimmer frames, over the lavatory frames for people who have difficulty with getting into and out of a sitting position. At the moment we rent these pieces of equipment, whereas if we owned them ourselves we could rent them out to our clients, and make a bit of money that way as well, plus we would not have to wait for the delivery company to come and fit the equipment. We would also buy some digital blood pressure machines and blood sugar monitors.
Since communication is a must at all times, I would invest some money in a series of cell phones on the same business contract, obviously with itemized bills. This would enable the business to repay the people who work for us for their work related calls, it would make all calls between those phones free of charge and would mean we would never run out of credit on our phones.
My car is on its last legs, so I would pay a good mechanic to repair the clutch and give it a total check up so that it will hopefully last for another couple of years. Obviously we need to be able to get to patients at all times of the day and night, and it would be great to have transport that is 100% reliable.
Finally, I would give myself a day off. I have not had a day off for more than a year now, and it would be really nice to stay in bed past 9.00 in the morning and then wake, knowing I have a whole day to relax.
I can see my new business now, not a new busines but a business renewed with fresh energy and new hope. Bring it on Pertuity please!
At the moment I own a very small but successful Home Care and Home Nursing Agency. I started it just over a year ago, with no start up capital at all, and have managed (at times just about) to keep my head above water, and furthermore also managed to keep the head of my colleague Paul above water for most of that time. But there are so many improvements to be made, a bit of start up capital would make a huge difference.
Firstly, I would use part of the money to pay to have the business incorporated, it makes sense for all sorts of reasons - tax reasons, legal reasons, insurance reasons, and it would enable me to give contracts to the people who work for me, thereby providing them with security for sick pay and pension rights.
The next thing I would do is buy some basic equipment, such as bath boards, a couple of wheelchairs, some Zimmer frames, over the lavatory frames for people who have difficulty with getting into and out of a sitting position. At the moment we rent these pieces of equipment, whereas if we owned them ourselves we could rent them out to our clients, and make a bit of money that way as well, plus we would not have to wait for the delivery company to come and fit the equipment. We would also buy some digital blood pressure machines and blood sugar monitors.
Since communication is a must at all times, I would invest some money in a series of cell phones on the same business contract, obviously with itemized bills. This would enable the business to repay the people who work for us for their work related calls, it would make all calls between those phones free of charge and would mean we would never run out of credit on our phones.
My car is on its last legs, so I would pay a good mechanic to repair the clutch and give it a total check up so that it will hopefully last for another couple of years. Obviously we need to be able to get to patients at all times of the day and night, and it would be great to have transport that is 100% reliable.
Finally, I would give myself a day off. I have not had a day off for more than a year now, and it would be really nice to stay in bed past 9.00 in the morning and then wake, knowing I have a whole day to relax.
I can see my new business now, not a new busines but a business renewed with fresh energy and new hope. Bring it on Pertuity please!
Saturday, 25 April 2009
Is On-Line Love Possible?
When I was a small child, there were certain 'aunties' I would not kiss goodbye. We were about to leave, and my mother would prompt me 'kiss Auntie X goodbye' and I would absolutely refuse. This led to great anger and embarassment for my mother, who would later question me about why I would not kiss Auntie goodbye. I clearly remember telling her the reason was that Auntie did not 'smell' right. This was the best description I could give at the time, even though Auntie did not have horrendous body odour, there was something about Auntie that did not smell right and I did not want to kiss her. I now think that it was one of those indefinable things that make us either like or dislike people, but as a child I always associated that with 'smell'.
I only recently thought of that again when I heard that one my old 'smelly'Aunties had died. It led me to speculate about why we like or dislike some people,and what it is that makes us fall madly in love with people. I once thought I was in love with someone based on the quality of his voice over the telephone. When I actually met him, it was a great shock. He was so absolutely not the person I thought he was and I was no longer in love with him from the moment of first meeting.
I also like the way people move their hands (I find hands intensely fascinating) and have fallen in love with people for the way their face moved when they smiled. Of course I have only ever fallen in love with them if they 'smelt' (for want of a better word)right. I am sure that everyone falls in love with people on the basis of things of which we are not aware, maybe a type of chemical reaction or the scent of their pheromones.
I have written somewhere else about the man who hideously murdered his wife because he thought she was having a love affair on-line and he had become insanely jealous. It now appears that the woman was a member of Second Life, a virtual worldwide community. Since in that community you give yourself a new name, and can make up any qualities you like,the way you dress, the way your hair hangs, everything about yourself, it would appear then that if you were to fall in love with someone on Second Life you might not be falling in love with that person, but you are falling for an idea that the other person wants you to have about him/her.
But suppose you are in a community where people do not make up an avatar but post real photos of themselves and you chat with them a lot. Maybe you even speak to them via Skype. You now have a face and a voice. Two real things. But is that enough to fall in love? What happens when you meet that person and they 'smell' wrong? What if you have abandoned your previous family and friends for that person and then they are not who you thought they were? What if they eat with their mouth open and you have just lost everything you had before, for them? What if the person who was so witty on-line was really only witty because they had access to a book of clever quotations and Google search facilities?
My grandmother always said 'never buy anything until you have had a chance to test the goods', I think maybe in the case of on-line falling in love, she may have been right.
I only recently thought of that again when I heard that one my old 'smelly'Aunties had died. It led me to speculate about why we like or dislike some people,and what it is that makes us fall madly in love with people. I once thought I was in love with someone based on the quality of his voice over the telephone. When I actually met him, it was a great shock. He was so absolutely not the person I thought he was and I was no longer in love with him from the moment of first meeting.
I also like the way people move their hands (I find hands intensely fascinating) and have fallen in love with people for the way their face moved when they smiled. Of course I have only ever fallen in love with them if they 'smelt' (for want of a better word)right. I am sure that everyone falls in love with people on the basis of things of which we are not aware, maybe a type of chemical reaction or the scent of their pheromones.
I have written somewhere else about the man who hideously murdered his wife because he thought she was having a love affair on-line and he had become insanely jealous. It now appears that the woman was a member of Second Life, a virtual worldwide community. Since in that community you give yourself a new name, and can make up any qualities you like,the way you dress, the way your hair hangs, everything about yourself, it would appear then that if you were to fall in love with someone on Second Life you might not be falling in love with that person, but you are falling for an idea that the other person wants you to have about him/her.
But suppose you are in a community where people do not make up an avatar but post real photos of themselves and you chat with them a lot. Maybe you even speak to them via Skype. You now have a face and a voice. Two real things. But is that enough to fall in love? What happens when you meet that person and they 'smell' wrong? What if you have abandoned your previous family and friends for that person and then they are not who you thought they were? What if they eat with their mouth open and you have just lost everything you had before, for them? What if the person who was so witty on-line was really only witty because they had access to a book of clever quotations and Google search facilities?
My grandmother always said 'never buy anything until you have had a chance to test the goods', I think maybe in the case of on-line falling in love, she may have been right.
Sunday, 19 April 2009
Man Learns Something New
This story really goes back to my previous post, about the man who was arrested for having a porcelain pig in his back garden. This story is not set in England, but in New Zealand. It was sent to me by a good friend of mine, who thought the previous story was funny and this might be the ideal follow-up.
The story is about a 22-year old man, who was arrested by police because he appeared to be under the influence of alcohol. He started hurling abuse at the police during the course of the arrest and amongst other things he called them 'pigs'
He appeared in court and the Community Magistrate ordered that the man should be sentenced to spend a day working at a pig farm and furthermore that he had to write an essay on his experience whilst working at the pig farm.
So the man did his day at the pig farm and wrote an essay about it.
According to the newspaper, he wrote: "I was very, very drunk. I have stopped drinking because of what happened. I have wasted the police's time and my time."
He maintained the word pig could be found in the Oxford dictionary and was often used to describe police.
But added he had learned 'that there is nothing at all in common with a pig and an officer'
My question is really simple, how does he know that unless he also works a day at the Police Station?
The story is about a 22-year old man, who was arrested by police because he appeared to be under the influence of alcohol. He started hurling abuse at the police during the course of the arrest and amongst other things he called them 'pigs'
He appeared in court and the Community Magistrate ordered that the man should be sentenced to spend a day working at a pig farm and furthermore that he had to write an essay on his experience whilst working at the pig farm.
So the man did his day at the pig farm and wrote an essay about it.
According to the newspaper, he wrote: "I was very, very drunk. I have stopped drinking because of what happened. I have wasted the police's time and my time."
He maintained the word pig could be found in the Oxford dictionary and was often used to describe police.
But added he had learned 'that there is nothing at all in common with a pig and an officer'
My question is really simple, how does he know that unless he also works a day at the Police Station?
Friday, 17 April 2009
Do Not Call Your Next Door Neighbour A Pig
I read this story on-line today and had to really laugh, because it exposes beautifully people's sensitivities and a society gone absolutely mad with Political Correctness and becoming more and more fond of curbing people's liberties.
A man in a small village in England, near to Oxford, used to have a pig farm on his property. These used to be kept at the bottom of what is now his garden. In the last six years or so the man decided no longer to keep pigs, and painted a sign on what used to be the pig sty saying 'No Pigs'.
In memory of his previous lifestyle and his pigs, he placed a porcelain pig in his garden. The pig has been in his garden for six years now.
He got a new neighbour four years ago. Apparently there were arguments between the man and his new neighbour about who has the right to use a footpath that runs between the two properties.
So far so good. Just another story of suburban England. Now the story becomes funny. The neighbour is a police constable. One night Mr. Robin Demczak, 57, (the former pig farmer) was dragged off to the cells and held for more than 6½ hours as the constable’s colleagues grilled him about the porcelain porker. Apparently his PC neighbour stated that the pig had been deliberately placed there to taunt him and the the notice saying 'no pigs' on what was formerly the pig sty was also there to insult him.
Mr. Demczak has been cleared of the charges after being in custody for several hours. A Thames Valley Police force spokesman said: “We can confirm that a man was arrested on suspicion of harassment in relation to the incident. He has been released without charge. But the investigation is still ongoing."
Mr. Demczak has been ordered to take the porcelain pig out of his garden and to take down the notice from the former sty. So much for an Englishman's home being his castle.
A case of PC (in both senses) madness I think. PC Ablett was unavailable for comment
A man in a small village in England, near to Oxford, used to have a pig farm on his property. These used to be kept at the bottom of what is now his garden. In the last six years or so the man decided no longer to keep pigs, and painted a sign on what used to be the pig sty saying 'No Pigs'.
In memory of his previous lifestyle and his pigs, he placed a porcelain pig in his garden. The pig has been in his garden for six years now.
He got a new neighbour four years ago. Apparently there were arguments between the man and his new neighbour about who has the right to use a footpath that runs between the two properties.
So far so good. Just another story of suburban England. Now the story becomes funny. The neighbour is a police constable. One night Mr. Robin Demczak, 57, (the former pig farmer) was dragged off to the cells and held for more than 6½ hours as the constable’s colleagues grilled him about the porcelain porker. Apparently his PC neighbour stated that the pig had been deliberately placed there to taunt him and the the notice saying 'no pigs' on what was formerly the pig sty was also there to insult him.
Mr. Demczak has been cleared of the charges after being in custody for several hours. A Thames Valley Police force spokesman said: “We can confirm that a man was arrested on suspicion of harassment in relation to the incident. He has been released without charge. But the investigation is still ongoing."
Mr. Demczak has been ordered to take the porcelain pig out of his garden and to take down the notice from the former sty. So much for an Englishman's home being his castle.
A case of PC (in both senses) madness I think. PC Ablett was unavailable for comment
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
Just In Case You Missed This
Ok, I will be the first one to admit that I do not always read e-mails I receive from Traffic Exchanges. This is a fault of mine, because I am not really that interested usually and in too much of a hurry to pay them much attention. I did however partially read the e-mail from Traffic Era about the clock rain, and I thought 'wow, let's get in there and get a few tokens'. This means that I did not read the entire e-mail. Today I received a PM from another member on another team entirely who said that from next month on they would not afford to keep their Club Upgrade. I wondered what the hell they were talking about. As I had already deleted the e-mail about the Clock Rain, I had to ask my team whether they still had the mail. Luckily someone did and forwarded it to me. This post is for the unlucky person who wrote me the PM.
At the end of their e-mail about the Clock Rain (which was a Great Thing) they put in a bit about a change to the logibucks and selling rates etc as from the 9th May. I have only looked at it today, and I urge everyone to look at this carefully.
How will my rate be calculated starting on May 9th, 2009?
rate (per 5,000 credits) = [base rate*] + [$1 for each upgraded referral] + [$0.50 for each complete star**]
*base rate will vary between $0.25 and $1.00 depending on network demand
**Stars are achieved based on the following LPV (Lifetime Personal Value):
1 star @ 100,000
2 stars @ 250,000
3 stars @ 1,000,000
4 stars @ 2,000,000
5 stars @ 5,000,000
Weekly selling limit
Silver Membership: max 15,000/week
Gold Membership: max 20,000/week
Platinum Membership: max 25,000/week
Club Membership: max 30,000/week
Max selling rateSilver Membership: $1.00 / 5,000 credits
Gold Membership: $2.00 / 5,000 credits
Platinum Membership: $2.50 / 5,000 credits
Club Membership: $3.00 / 5,000 credits
You do the math.
At the end of their e-mail about the Clock Rain (which was a Great Thing) they put in a bit about a change to the logibucks and selling rates etc as from the 9th May. I have only looked at it today, and I urge everyone to look at this carefully.
How will my rate be calculated starting on May 9th, 2009?
rate (per 5,000 credits) = [base rate*] + [$1 for each upgraded referral] + [$0.50 for each complete star**]
*base rate will vary between $0.25 and $1.00 depending on network demand
**Stars are achieved based on the following LPV (Lifetime Personal Value):
1 star @ 100,000
2 stars @ 250,000
3 stars @ 1,000,000
4 stars @ 2,000,000
5 stars @ 5,000,000
Weekly selling limit
Silver Membership: max 15,000/week
Gold Membership: max 20,000/week
Platinum Membership: max 25,000/week
Club Membership: max 30,000/week
Max selling rateSilver Membership: $1.00 / 5,000 credits
Gold Membership: $2.00 / 5,000 credits
Platinum Membership: $2.50 / 5,000 credits
Club Membership: $3.00 / 5,000 credits
You do the math.
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