DonPennington.blogspot.com: March 2011

Mar 31, 2011

Moving Janet and I

Today's a big day for both Janet and I. We're moving into a much bigger house. Just our stuff, between the two of us, justifies the room and space needs. But I'm also planning on getting my kids down here for a month or two, soon. They'll need the bedrooms. You know how kids are, all, “But I don't wanna sleep in a tent in the driveway.” So, we need a bigger place.

Not that there's anything wrong with the landlord and management of the Palmetto Creek Apartment Community of DeRidder, Louisiana. They're nice folks, the lawn stays mowed, and the neighbors are excellent. I'm going to sorta miss this apartment, too. But we won't miss the limited floor space. So readers know, we once had our fridge go on the blink, and they put a brand-new fridge in, within three days. That's just how they are.

Everything's turning on in the am, so the online activity today is limited, but I'm meeting the goal for the A to Z Challenge (see previous posts) tomorrow. I just need to click “edit/publish.” Yo.

Mar 30, 2011

Atheism is not the enemy

Atheists are not anti-church. We atheists, the author being one, wish to convey one simple message both to the world at large, and to the churches of the world which decry us: We, are not your enemy. Non-believers are simply people who no longer choose to go along with any imaginary gods of any brand. We follow nothing with no evidence of existence.

But, in no way are we free-though inclined types against the idea of churches: As they do serve a purpose of excellent community centers. A church with a playground, and competent staff nearby makes for a fantastic place for children to play during the day. So much so, in fact, many churches find themselves opening up as a daycare, to legally and properly operate as such a facility. How can any atheist in their right mind be against a young family, able to access day-care, and both work?

Let's not forget food. Everything about a church screams “Food!” Even volunteer work helping a church, usually involves food. Get-togethers at churches quickly become pot-luck dinners. Weddings become receptions. Even funerals become a meal together, but maybe not everyone eats.

As the third and final point on why non-believers, whether called atheists or not, are not against churches: Emergencies and disasters. How many more tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricane, or other disasters does society need to see how fast a team of church ladies can get organized? Care packages, emergency blanket packs, and boxes of cookies are what some people live to do for the world. Churches allow that type of emergency-prepared mind-set an organized outlet for expression. We atheists deeply appreciate, and often participate with local churches, for this reason.

We non-believers have often availed ourselves of help from churches at times before. The obvious need for society to keep its churches, especially opposed to bigger bureaucracies from government, is due to such obvious needs the local church serves to fill for the community. There are no plans to ever do away with religion. We only ask public policies and laws reflect reason and sound judgment.

Use the Share tool to send a penny to Japan

Simple ideas are best, Tolstoy said. Simple ideas tend to fall in line with what was planned, initially, much more so than the complex. With that thought in mind, I want to help Japan. I'm not a rich man, but I know of a simple way to help. I'll contribute my collected pennies via the Red Cross, and will share the receipts here, as they accumulate.

Every reader of this post who merely uses the add this feature of this post to share it on their Facebook profile, will contribute towards a penny for Japan. A penny isn't much, I know. But, hear me out: All I'm asking is for readers ( that's you) to share this post with just four others, who do the same. You share me to others, and when they do, you get to be a part of doing some good for decent people.

What happens is, you share us with four others, who share us with four others, each, who all share us with four others each, and so on, and so on until we're shared to millions and millions of readers. That's my goal. For helping me to do just that, I'll show my gratitude with a simple act for a number of people in distress. Is that reasonable enough to win your participation, and perhaps a new reader/follower?

Many of you have already given to Japan, and that is good. I'm not asking for a single cent from readers, in any way. (Nobody representing me here, is, either.) In fact, we're the ones offering to send a cent on your behalf, and on behalf of everyone else, too. This will add up to a considerable contribution to the people of Japan. Please be a part. Let us all know, in the comments, if you shared, please. Everybody wants a record, LOL!

Use our Facebook share feature. Thank you.

Who's up for getting paid to share their blog links?

Regardless of how much you might earn on page views to any of your blogs, sites, or links, imagine – just for a moment – getting paid just to share the links themselves! Just picture how cool of a system it would be, to get paid anything just for sharing your links with our community.

By the way, it's worth mentioning our community is active. If the blog links, pics, video, or audio (content, from here on out) you share is truly unique, informational, and otherwise interesting, our community members will click through. So, not only will you be paid for telling us about your content, those resulting visitors will earn you what they will, too!

How on Earth could/Why would any content producer of any site, blog, or affiliate program anywhere pass on such an incredible arrangement, right? Well, for starters, there are some folks we'd want to keep out. We don't want to let porn spammers in, and gambling is definitely out. Along with those categories, we'd also want to block all sorts of pyramid scheme bullshitters, also. Oh, and sign-up is easy, quick, and 100% free-with-no-commitment, of course. In a perfect world, there wouldn't even be an email newsletter.

So, knowing what you know now, would you like to share your content with such an arrangement? Of course you would! All that's left now then, is for such a site to exist. It'd rock if there were already thousands and thousands of other members already. Sitting there, waiting for me to join and start earning right away.

So then, were such an opportunity to exist, there wouldn't be much reason to not join immediately, right? Passing on a deal like this is akin to walking past found money on the ground, and not bothering to pick it up. We call this opportunity RedGage.com. We have been improving. Come try us on for size. See how we can help you make more money, online.

In case you missed it, sign up with our referral link.

Mar 29, 2011

If Perez Hilton can do it, what's holding me back?

It seems, the only thing holding me back is, me. I see a guy like Perez Hilton running a popular and successful blog. I see “Mommy Blogs” nearly everywhere. There are people running successful blogs and forums on topics I'm not even familiar with yet. I'm not even aware of how much I don't even know. Y'know?

Still, a blogger like Perez Hilton comes along, and mad page views happen for him. He says something, and folks everywhere share him all over Facebook, or MySpace, or whatever. Somehow, somewhere, some way, I will find the secret to being shared like that. Could the trick be, to be even less intelligent than Perez Hilton, only in my posts? Maybe if all I do is speak in even more ignorant terms, the better of a chance I have to be shared, compared to, and laughed at! Whatever it takes to get the page views from the correct demographics.

If a guy like Perez Hilton can do it, come on! What in the world am I holding back for? My secret might just be to be even more ridiculously pointless. Perhaps even a few cases of running off the point, onto a tangent, every now and again. That's what will keep readers involved. Or, not. Would/Could you just share me on Facebook, please?

Image of Eva Longoria Miraculously Appears on my toast!

Notice, there is no boring look of imagined guilt on Eva Longoria's face. A toast miracle!

Most people are amazed when they imagine an image which, if you twist it just this way and that - and get it in just the right light – you might see a bit of extra toasted area of bread that might look like the edge of the side of someone's nose, and then say it's “Jesus,” or “Mary.” Well if people can get excited over those deals, I should flip over my piece of toast, which has a picture of Eva Longoria.

Not only can you see in the undeniable evidence above, the image is that of Eva Longoria, it is in full color. Apparently, before color, there was black and white. And before there was black and white, everything was in "toast." So, the only pictures we may have of Jesus or Mary come in either “toast and white,” or “paneling.”

Were our miracle an image of Charlie Chaplin, we'd have black and white. Fortunately, our miracle-on-bread is an appearance of a recent celebrity, and being Eva Longoria, we get a full-color miracle, with background. Next, we can only hope for Johnny Depp on a grilled cheese.

Notice also, our vision of the lovely Eva Longoria. Since she was born after the invention of “cool,” we enjoy her striking a rather lovely pose, and looking good. Since Jesus was born before “cool” was invented, all he really does in his toast and white pictures and post-cards is just stand there, looking at you, and tasting delicious. But an Eva Longoria miracle might be worth keeping.

There's no way Ebay is getting anything other than prints of my appearance-on-toast. If, for any reason, the photo isn't visible at the start of this post, see it here!

What Would it be Like to be ReTweeted by @50Cent on Twitter?

Only those of us who've had the good sense to read “The 50th Law” will understand why a writer would even ever dare dream of such a thing as to be retweeted by someone like @50Cent on Twitter. Obviously, with over 4 million followers, if a man like @50Cent tells people to follow my blog for a month, they'll follow my blog.

What on Earth can I offer Curtis Jackson, aka @50Cent? Some fun reading. A recipe or three. Stories about my kids. That's really about it. I hope he'd enjoy reading them, too. This would be an easy way for someone as influential as @50Cent to give back. Much like how he saw the music industry out of a bad situation, I see my blog.

Here's to future readers helping me ask @50Cent to retweet me me just once as a fan, and allow me the chance to write for the people's entertainment and education. All I need is one chance. From there, I make it or break it, on my own.

Nihil timendum est.

A Hat-Tip to my fellow bloggers in the April A to Z Blogging challenge

So far, there are already 740 total blogs being promoted with the Second Annual April A to Z Blogging challenge. I'm in there, too. But, right now I only want to give proper respect to the other participants, too. I highly recommend readers do take the time to see all of them once, at least.

DonPennington.blogspot.com