PLASTICIZED CAT

My brother took this photo of Morris some years ago, printed it and laminated it. I had it on a wall during my time in America. I will bring it with me when I am returning to the Land of Opportunity.



Do you see The Stars and Stripes pin on the bulletin board? I look forward to listen to Yaron Brook's speech during the 09/12/09 March on Washington D.C.


Morris the cat.

9/11 8 YEARS LATER

Image via Wikipedia

I will update this post during the day. Please read and remember. I wonder how I will react when I visit Ground Zero in New York City.

• My post, BLACK THURSDAY: REMEMBER 20010911.

• Better a Day Early Than a Day Late by Dan Edge.

• Eight years later, what have we accomplished? by Elan Journo. I have to get his book, Winning the Unwinnable War: America's Self-crippled Response to Islamic Totalitarianism.

UPDATE:

• Four Important Articles for this God-Awful by Craig Biddle.

• MY Blue Sky by Gus Van Horn.

[Editor's note: Please give me tips on reading material so I could continue to update this post.]

DONATIONS

I will follow the example of a good friend and send an extra donation to The Ayn Rand Institute on September 11, 2009. Read Elan Journo's op-ed, America fights self-crippled war on terror.

Talking about donations, I have removed TipJoy's micro-donation service from the template due to the fact that they had to shut down. From the post, So long, and thanks for all the fish:

When we evaluate why there's been so much hype about payments on Twitter, and yet so little traction for us (and even far less for our competitors) it is clear to us that the reason is that a 3rd party payment service doesn't add enough value. We strongly believe that social payments will work on a social network, provided that they're done within the platform and not as a 3rd party. "Simple, social payments" is *the* philosophy needed to do digital payments right, but once a service groks that, they need only to implement it on their own. We've been the thought leaders in this space, we see the hype and excitement, and yet we know very intimately the difficulties in gaining actual traction. The only way to get around this is for the platforms themselves to control payments - then all people wanting to operate on that platform would have to play along. We believe that a payments system directly and officially integrated into social networks such as Twitter and Facebook will be a huge success.

Thank you to everyone who has supported and helped us along the way. (tipjoy.com :: our 2 ¢, August 20, 2009.)

If you value reading EGO and want to support my blogging, here are some ways you could do it:

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the "Donate" button. You will be directed to a secure page [ https://www.paypal.com ] PayPal. You don't have to have a PayPal account in order to send a donation. You could use your credit card if you want.

If you want to show your gratuity in a more public way, you could use ScratchBack. If you send a donation of $10, you will get listed on the top list. You add a link URL and a describing text of the site you want to promote on my blog. [Editor's note: If you are curios about position #3, "x", read Damon Hougland's post, The Story Behind PayPal X. In this instance, someone tipped me, but didn't complete the payment. I went in and approved it anyway in order to test the system. I think I will get a response from someone at "PayPal X", sooner or later... I want to send a thank-you note to BizSugar and Small Business CEO for their donations.]

If you want to give me stuff instead of money, please check out my wish list on Amazon. You are welcome to give me suggestions on things you think I need in my worklife as a blogger and a social media enthusiast.

Here is an excerpt from my post, SPONSOR AND SUPPORT EGO BLOG:

If you want to become an EGO "ambassador" and walking "billboard," feel free to purchase stuff from my online stores. If you want to spread the good word, buy an EGO stamp and send a snail mail to a friend. (EGO, 02/01/09.)

You are welcome to come up with more ways to support my blogging. I look forward to hear your feedback and read your comments. Please spread the good word! Thank you! John Cox's post, AUCTION!: How Would You Like To Have....., could give you some ideas...




Blogger's Cycle

NEW FEATURES ON EGO BLOG

Image by luc legay via Flickr

I have added a couple of new features in order to "kick it up a notch" and to align the two right columns a bit. I look forward to your comments and feedback. I have seen that the Firefox browser doesn't always load all the elements of the template in the correct way. I don't use Internet Explorer so much at the moment, but it seems to work fine. The Chrome browser doesn't have all the bells and whistles, so I don't count on getting all the stuff displayed in the right way. I haven't tested how it looks in Opera. As I said before, if you want a simple and basic version of the content, please subscribe to EGO RSS feed (posts and comments) or read the blog on your mobile phone.

Spread The Good Word! - I have added a badge by Uprinting.com. Look out for giveaways, discounts on business card, brochures, posters and other printing material.

About - See my vCard powered by Card.ly for contact details.

Amazon - I have added a favorite section on Amazon. I am thinking of recommending books, videos and other stuff on a regular basis. If you are interested in my suggestions and want to support my blogging, please consider to check out my recommendations on Amazon. Please feel free to give me tips on books and other things that belong to the good life category.

Featured Video - The new video is titled, Why Businessmen Love Atlas Shrugged.

Video Bar - Four videos by The Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights.

TwitPic - My photos.

Search EGO - Use Google search engine on EGO blog. Find stuff on "This Blog", "Linked From Here", "SUPPORT EGO! SHOP @:", "My Blog List", "Blogroll", "Top Tabs" and "From the archives". The search results will appear on the top of the page.

Labels - Same thing as Categories. This section is listed as a "cloud". For example, "template" is placed on the list according to how many times (47) I have tagged a blog post with the "template" label.

What Do You Read? - A new poll. I want to get a sense of what you like to read during the week. You are welcome to come up with new daily items. I am thinking of starting with the "book of the moment" series again.

• Monday: Open thread post.
• Tuesday: Tuesday Tech.
• Wednesday: Midweek wrap blogrolling.
• Thursday: Venting with Thor’s hammer.
• Friday: T.G.I.F. good life post.
• Saturday: Carnival blogging.
• Sunday: Future podcasts. Workflow review.

I want to keep a weekly schedule of some sort in order to have a rough guideline and structure for my blogging.

Support EGO By: - I am conducting this poll one more time.

• Checking out ads?
• Placing your ads?
• Sending donations?
• Sponsorship?
• Shopping @ EGO stores?

More about donations and how you could support my blogging in my next post.

Wibiya toolbar - I have added an interactive toolbar at the bottom of the page. You could search the site, translate the page, read a random blog post, share a post in different ways (Delicious, Stumbleupon, Digg, etc.), connect with Facebook and become a member of EGO community. [Editor's note: I had to remove ShareThis due to layout problems in the post. Maybe I will add it later on again. I will create an EGO fan page on Facebook at some point in time. I have a network on Facebook called NetworkedBlogs.] You could also join the conversation and jump on the Twitter dashboard.

IPHONE 3GS AND FILOFAX

Image by six steps  via Flickr

I have problem with my smartphone at the moment. About a year ago, I had similar "bugs" with my mobile phone. Maybe it is time to look into a new type of phone. I must say that iPhone 3GS seems to include several features that could be very useful for my worklife.

Talking about mobile phone, I am glad to see that some of my readers have started to read EGO blog on a mobile device. You could see a MoFuse counter at the bottom of the page. It says "29 mobile by MoFuse" at the moment.

I must say that I have plans to start using my old Filofax again... Maybe an iPhone together with the Evernote application could be the perfect fit when I am on the move. My physical hands-on backup system could be my Filofax calendar and the to-do note cards with symbols for different places. [Editor's note: Called "contexts" in GTD lingo.]

Reading material:

• Passport to prosperity by Nicholas Bannister.
• Why a Filofax? by David Mackay.
• Putting Off Procrastination by Nan (Inky).

UPRINTING BLOG SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM

I have joined a blog sponsorship program by Uprinting.

A Brochures Printing Company

I am ready to join BNI (Business Network International) in the near future, so I need to get more business cards. Have you bought stuff from Uprinting?

MENTAL NOTE ON LABOR DAY

How did you spend Labor Day? From my post, OPEN THREAD ON LABOR DAY:

Image by daliborlev via Flickr

How are you spending Labor Day? The members of the "working class" and the labor unions are taking a day off on May 1st in order to wave red flags and shouting proletarian slogans.

Feel free to write a comment on your career and work, today's weather climate, or something else that you think could get the conversation and the open thread going... (EGO, 09/01/08.)

Read Celebrate Mental-Labor Day and listen to The Meaning of Labor Day.

Talking about mental work, I will finish reading Making It All Work: Winning at the Game of Work and Business of Life by David Allen during this week and then publish my anticipated draft post on the evolution of my workspace.

In Defense of The Glory of America

Bill Whittle, over at PJ TV, has some good videos up.

1. "Bill Maher, Barack Obama and the Truth About American Exceptionalism" (14 min, 59 sec).

I don't know about the truth of his facts, but they sure are plausible. His evaluation of America as the best country that has ever been is demonstrably and theoretically correct. If Mr. Whittle knew more about art, he could have improved his cultural section with mention of some American painters (e.g., that at Cordair Gallery), movies ("This Land is Mine," "Ninotchka," "Executive Suite," "The Sound of Music," etc.), philosophy (Rand), politics (the Founding Fathers), etc. He is correct, though, to focus on art and other products created in the last two hundred years. Otherwise, we'd be talking about completely different countries, times, and people, who no longer exist and have not for millennia.

Upate (9-7-09, 7:30 AM Houston Time): And what about jazz and swing music, and swing and tap dance?

2. "MSNBC & The Great Liberal Narrative: The Truth About The Tyranny of Political Correctness" (12 min, 56 sec).

What do you think about the videos and ideas in them?

Of course, Mr. Whittle's commentary is not as good as there can be. As good as there can be would have to be provided by someone like Leonard Peikoff or Ayn Rand.

Happy Bacon Day!!

Saturday, September 5, 2009 is International Bacon Day.

EGO IS NOW MOBILE FRIENDLY

You should now be able to read EGO blog on your mobile phone. EGO is mobilized and powered by MoFuse. [Found via TJMcue's post, 19 Mobile Apps to Put You in Front of More Customers on Small Business Trends.]



What kind of mobile phone are you using in order to browse the net? Here is a an iPhone preview of EGO.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

My post on the evolution of my workspace will be published tomorrow, Friday, September 4. It has taken a long time to get it ready. I had to spend plenty of time to "chew" stuff and to upload several photos of my workspace. I am thinking of upgrading my Flickr account to a pro version.