kdelik ghost writer

Levi's Dad; bragging

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Leland) — Mon, 11 May 2009 11:06:00 +0000

What Kind of Dad would I be if I didn't brag about my kids once in a while, in a public forum? I'll start with my youngest; Levi. At the risk of embarrassing him, he is a kid who is as modest as he is talented, and at the risk of sitting all my readers down and water boarding them with a two hour slide show of the middle school talent show, here goes:

http://levilionelleland.blogspot.com/

Check out this website I am putting together for him. Right now, it features some of his artwork. He has a bunch more that still need to be posted. We are working on that. Feel free to take any of this work as an avatar. I think the "peeps" water color makes an excellent twitter profile pic. Eventually, I'll get these set up for an easy one click transfer, but until then you'll have to figure it out.

His "Tribesman" designs are an original concept. I like the look of these. These would make a great avatar as well, or a logo for a line of clothes. His other stuff is inspired by Tim Burton. Levi is a huge fan, and knows quite a bit about Mr. Burton's work and career, He looks up to him very much. Johnny Depp is his favorite actor...Levi can do a pretty good impression of him from Pirates of the Caribbean. He does the "Why kill them when you could just let them get married and be miserable for the rest of their lives" spiel. It's a goof.

Levi is also an excellent piano player. He has some music videos on YouTube that I want to re-do and post on this blog I'm putting together for him. He has an excellent instructor that is taking full advantage of Levi's "motivated to learn and practice" disposition, and he is shaping him into one of his best students. Thanks Tim! Check out Tim Anderson's Web site:

http://www.freewebs.com/trippleforte/

Tim was recently teaching Levi about intellectual property. Levi was working at his own rendition of Ave Maria. It turns out that this "church song" has become popular with the video game crowd as it is featured in the game: Hit Man. Tim explained that he can do anything he wants with that song because it is "public domain" meaning that no one owns or controls the rights to use or perform this material.

This is important stuff to know. I have a lot to learn about it myself. For instance, the pictures you see on Levi's blog are all original. Even the ones of Jack Skellington that are not hand drawn are photos that Levi took using a model. He went online and found a really cool, professional pose-able model of Jack Skellington with interchangeable heads. It cost him over $80.00 of birthday cash.

Some of his hand drawn pictures are from Sweeney Todd and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He did an awesome one of Keith Ledger as the Joker...Another great pic with avatar potential. The question is: Is Levi violating any copy right laws by creating and posting these? Even though he is giving them away for free? What if he made money from them, e.g. made prints and sold them, or posted them as avatars for free on his blog where he also got a little AdSense revenue.

Anyone having any knowledge on this, and willing to school us, would be greatly appreciated!Just use the comments to tell us what's what. Okay, slide show over. Now, let me show you my stamp collection!

Factoidz friends: Lizzer, Twitter, and Tiny

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Leland) — Sun, 10 May 2009 13:14:00 +0000

My Blog is a complete mess. It's embarrassing really. I wish it were never born! This kind of attitude could lead to loading a hollow point into the wheel gun, putting it to the roof of the mouth, and pulling the "delete" button. Nah, that's the easy way out! I'm going to get this cleaned up.

My first approach will be this: From now on I'm going to compose my factoids right here, then, copy and paste them to my Factoidz.com account...Starting with this one. This post is going to be a hodge-podge. I want to talk about a few new discoveries I've made this weekend; Lizzer and Tiny. Sounds like the names of a couple Hobbits, but these are tools for blogging. Tiny comes in handy for tweeting on twitter. Twitter is a rediscovery I want to talk about in this post. First Lizzer:

Share Links and Media On-The-Fly With Lizzer « Demo Girl

A beautiful thing. Every factoider knows that while writing, searching is required. With this awesome application, you can search, find, preview and insert your links without even leaving the place you are writing. All with just a few clicks. It's seamless. You can insert photo's from flickr, videos from, where else, YouTube, and links and content from Google and Yahoo. It's easy.

How do I know that it's easy? Because I'm a bit thick between the ears when it comes to fiddling with new applications. I've only discovered this one two days ago, and already I can make it do my bidding. That's how I inserted the Lizzer Demo Girl link above. No problem. If I can get it to work in a couple trys, after watching one quick demo video, it's easy for anyone. Trust me.

Now Twitter:

from flickr

Here is a growing phenom, that I think is a huge life hack improvement to the Internet. It's a tool that helps writers and content producers in many ways, three ways that I want to mention specifically:

1) It is a very efficient, streamlined way to communicate. It seems a bit confusing at first. That's why after discovering it, I abandoned it, and now, just this weekend in fact, I rediscovered it and am now using it as the powerful tool that it is designed to be. My only words of caution: Do NOT get addicted! For many, not me, yet, it can be like crack. Twitter is a great thing, but remember, the only difference between poison and medicine is the dose. If one gets addicted, it defeats the purpose of having a way to bounce around all the vital correspondence required of a writer in cyberspace in an efficient way, and quickly get back to the novel -or the factoid.

2) It trains you, as a blogger, to convey an idea or thought in as few words as possible. Maybe this isn't a required skill set for a print writer, but here online, people read fast. Don't write slow. I know, "slowly" don't sweat my grammar, Mr. Toast (ya jerk) http://www.theblogofinnocence.com/

Read that post for some good advice on how to deal with the occasional jerk that poses as a writing critic with nothing constructive to offer, and doesn't realize that negative opinions are like assholes...Everybody has one, and they all stink. Keep it concealed and don't let it double for your mouth.

3) Because for some reason it takes many more words to criticizeand condemn than to praise and support, you will find a very friendly atmosphere at Twitter. Many people who are into the same thing are all out to help and encourage each other. Same as what we're used to here at Factoidz.com. In addition to the "followers" that you have here, Twitter followers can do wonders for reading and spreading your Factoidz content. Search "Factoidz" from Twitter, and you'll find tons of people who are doing this. I've recently added myself to those ranks, and am now kicking myself for not doing it sooner. I've found quite a few of my peeps here at Factoidz on twitter by using the "find people" tool they offer...I did that all day yesterday! I'll make it easy for those of you looking for me there, here I am, let's follow each other:

http://twitter.com/kdelik

Last ingredient in this hodge podge casserole: Tiny URL

http://www.tiny.cc/

This little tool is essential for tweeting. Because you are only allowed 140 characters to get your point across, sometimes posting a URL a.k.a. link, can eat up a huge portion of that letter count. Simply put, and as simple to figure out how to use, Tiny will shrink a link. Check it out and see what you think. If you have no luck then you must be a dink. That's my opinion, doesn't it stink?

Henna Back Design -Cross

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Leland) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:34:00 +0000

Peeps by Levi...Take as an Avatar for free. Do you LOVE your Peeps?

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Leland) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:09:00 +0000

henna back design -cross

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Leland) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 23:23:00 +0000

Henna foot design

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Leland) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 23:18:00 +0000

Henna Foot design

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Leland) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 23:16:00 +0000

Content Writing and SEO / SEM services

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Leland) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:13:00 +0000

Here is a sample of a run-down that we can do on your Website to point out strengths and weaknesses:

Website Analysis:

A website grade of 86/100 for www.factoidz.com means that of the hundreds of thousands of websites that have previously been evaluated, our algorithm has calculated that this site scores higher than 86% of them in terms of its marketing effectiveness. The algorithm uses a proprietary blend of over 50 different variables, including search engine data, website structure, approximate traffic, site performance, and others.

The website www.factoidz.com ranks 121,131 of the 895,686 websites that have been ranked so far.

The software is constantly being upgraded and the algorithm enhanced. The number of potential recommendations provided by the tool is also increasing frequently. Please check back often.

I. On-Page SEO

On-Page SEO is the process of placing your selected keywords in the right places on your web pages. On-page SEO involves changing page titles, headings, content, and URLs to improve search engine rankings.

A. Metadata

Metadata tags allow you to tell the search engines what your web page is about.

Page Title:	Factoidz \| bite-sized knowledge
Meta Description:	Connecting point for experts and people seeking knowledge. Publish your knowledge and answer questions to generate a ranking in your field of expertise. Ask questions and search our database of factual guides, articles, and answers for the information you're seeking.
Meta Keywords:	experts,knowledge,discussion,advice,social,topics,experttags,tags,expert,qu estions,q&a,community

Meta Description is too long

Your meta description should be no more than 150 characters, your current meta description is 268 characters.

High Number Of Meta Keywords

The web page has 12 keywords in its metadata.

We believe that though the search engines don't weigh keywords as heavily as they used to, they're still important to get right. By using a high number of keywords, it is possible that you are diluting the effect of your most important keywords. We would suggest keeping the keywords to 10 or less. Currently, this page has keywords in its metadata.

Font Tags Found in HTML

We found some HTML font tags on this page. While this is not a critical issue, you should use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to separate your website's content from its appearance.

B. Heading Summary

Similar to how newspapers and magazines use headings and sub-headings to help readers, websites can use special tags in their HTML. These tags not only help human readers read the content, they also help search engine spiders better understand the content on a page and what is most important. It is generally a good idea to use heading tags to help signal to the search engines, what the web page is about.

No Headings Found

C. Image Summary

Images are a great way to enhance a website from a user's perspective. However, it is important to note that search engine crawlers cannot really "see" images. So, if you have lots of images that contain textual content within the image itself, this content will not be seen by the crawlers.

HTML helps address this issue by providing a way to specify the textual content for an image using the "alt" attribute. The alt attribute allows web pages to assign specific text as the "alternative" content for images for those that cannot view the images themselves. This can be search engine crawlers or text-only web browsers.

Total images found: 13.

URL	Alt Text	Repeat
http://factoidz.com/wp-content/themes/gabtheme ...	Missing	1
http://factoidz.com/images/rss.jpg	Missing	1
http://factoidz.com/wp-content/themes/gabtheme ...	Missing	1
http://factoidz.com/wp-content/themes/gabtheme ...	Missing	1
http://factoidz.com/wp-content/themes/gabtheme ...	Missing	1
http://factoidz.com/wp-content/themes/gabtheme ...	Missing	1
http://factoidz.com/wp-content/themes/gabtheme ...	Missing	1
http://factoidz.com/wp-content/themes/gabtheme ...	Missing	1
http://factoidz.com/wp-content/themes/gabtheme ...	Missing	1
http://factoidz.com/expert/avatars/maleah.png? ...	Missing	1
http://factoidz.com/expert/avatars/misterwizar ...	Missing	1
http://factoidz.com/expert/avatars/mandasparkl ...	Missing	1
http://pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-effps-q1jv ...	Quantcast	1

D. Interior Page Analysis: 3 Pages Processed

We looked at a few other pages on your website to see how well they are optimized. This sort of interior page analysis can reveal exciting opportunities for you to target specific keywords or visitors. You can then create landing pages optimized towards converting those visitors into customers.

Page	Keywords	Description
http://factoidz.com/create-account.php	-- missing --	-- missing --
http://factoidz.com/sign-in.php?redirect_to=/	-- missing --	-- missing --
Factoidz \| bite-sized knowledge	experts,knowledge,discussion,advice,social,top ...	Connecting point for experts and people seekin ...

II. Off-Page SEO

Off-Page SEO includes all the things you do to promote your website outside the design of the website itself. Getting more inbound links to your site, registering with directories relevant to your industry, and getting more pages into the search engine indexes are all parts of Off-Page SEO.

A. Domain Info

Most experts agree that you should register your domain for a long time, because search engines factor domain "stability" when looking at your pages.

Domain Age:	9 months, 8 days
Time To Expiration:	2 months, 21 days

The domain for this website is set to expire in less than a year (2 months, 21 days ).
We would suggest renewing this domain with your registrar. Google and other search engines may penalize websites with domains that are set to expire soon. The reason for this is that many spam sites are often registered for short periods of time. Most registrars support paying upfront for several years and the cost is usually only about $10-$20 per year, so it is generally worth it.

B. Google PageRank: 3

"Google PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves important weigh more heavily and help to make other pages important." - From Google

C. Google Indexed Pages: 61

This number is the approximate number of pages on www.factoidz.com that have been stored in the Google index. The Google web crawler will visit the website periodically and look for new content for its index. Generally, the more pages your site has within the Google cache, the better.

D. Last Google Crawl Date: April 12, 2009 @ 07:57 AM (GMT)

Google will periodically crawl websites looking for new and updated content. In general, you want Google to crawl your site as often as possible, so your new content shows up in Google search results immediately.

E. Traffic Rank: Top 0.41 %

Alexa is an online service that measures traffic for millions of sites on the Internet in a similar way to Nielsen television show ratings.

Your website has an Alexa rank of 115,370 which is in the top 0.41 % of all websites.

F. Inbound Links: 806

One of the most important measures for a website is how many other sites link to it. The more links the better. Having links to your website from authoritative resources on the Internet helps you rank higher in search engines since these links are an indication that your website is trustworthy and contains good content.

G. DMOZ Directory: No Entry Found

factoidz is not listed in DMOZ.

DMOZ, The Open Directory Project, is the largest and most comprehensive human-edited directory of the Web. It is constructed and maintained by a vast, global community of volunteer editors.

H. Yahoo! Directory: No Entry Found

factoidz is not listed in the Yahoo! Directory.

The Yahoo! Directory is a web directory which rivals the DMOZ Open Directory Project in size. We recommend that every business have a listing in the Yahoo! Directory.

I. ZoomInfo: No Entry Found

factoidz is not listed in the ZoomInfo directory.

ZoomInfo is a business directory and search engine, with profiles on more than 37 million people and 3.5 million companies.

III. Blogosphere

Blogging makes sense from a marketing perspective. You'll be leveraging the shift from outbound to inbound marketing and interacting with your customers in new ways. A blog lets you meet your customers more directly than sending out brochures or an email campaign. It changes your website from a brochure that most people look at once to something that people interact with and come back to.

A. Blog Analysis

Blogging is a great way to reach your target audience with your thoughts, opinions, and offerings on relevant topics.

Blog Found

Blog URL:http://factoidz.com/best-blogs-and-other-resou ...

B. Blog Ranking: Top 0.19 %

Technorati is a popular blog directory service. It measures the popularity of a given blog as compared to all other sites that have been submitted to its system.

This blog currently has a Technorati rank of 133,852, which puts it in the top 0.19% of blogs tracked by Technorati.

IV. Social Mediasphere

Making sure that your company has an extensive web presence outside of your own website is important. It increases the chances that your prospects will find your company when they are online since there are more web pages that contain information about your company.

A. del.icio.us bookmarks: 14

del.icio.us is a web-based bookmarking site. Delicious users save their bookmarks on the website so they can access them from any browser. A website that has many users bookmarking it is generally popular and will get more traffic.

B. Digg.com Submission Summary

Digg is a social media site where anyone can submit articles, and viewers can vote for articles they like. Very popular articles can make it to the front page of Digg, resulting in more traffic to your website.

The website www.factoidz.com has 313 articles submitted to digg.com. These articles received a total of 212 diggs (votes) and 0 of these articles made it to the front page of digg.com.

V. Converting Qualified Visitors to Leads

Visitors to your site are nice, but you probably want to convert qualified, interested visitors into actual customers. There are a number of ways to increase your conversion efficiency, turning more qualified visitors into prospects, leads, and eventually customers.

A. RSS Feed: Found

An RSS feed was detected in this web page. The feed link was correctly setup so that it can be auto-detected by feed readers and contemporary browsers. The feed URL for this site is feeds/all.php

BlogLines, a leading RSS reader, reports about 0 subscribers to the feed through their system. This is usually a small fraction of the total subscribers to the feed.

B. Score Summary

Section	www.factoidz.com
Website Grade	86
Google Page Rank	3
Google Indexed Pages	61
Traffic Rank	115,370
Blog Rank	133,852
Inbound Links	806
del.icio.us Bookmarks	14

How to get the late fees waived on your Countrywide mortgage.

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Leland) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 01:41:00 +0000

How to get the late fees waived on your Countrywide mortgage.

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Leland) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 01:07:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Leland) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 22:33:00 +0000

How to get the late fees waived on your Countrywide mortgage.

Promoting your Factoids with StumbleUpon

How to link your articles

Targeting the topic and keyword use with explanation of LSI LSA

Vincent "Buddy" Cianci: Douche Bag

I am computer illiterate: Are you learning disabled?

Sola Scriptura? Dead Sea Scrolls, Apocrypha, Gnostic Gospels, Church Fathers

I’m not a Gynecologist. It’s just a hobby.

Poison and medicine: Dosage calculations

Ketubah: Ketubot כתובה

The vegetarian butcher

Step parent Bible story: Mordecai and Esther

Factiodz.com: Shoot the moon proposal

Zechariah, Elizabeth and John the Baptist: The other nativity story

Proverbs 31: The wife of noble character

Conversation Domination sucks

Detox: Marijuana and moderation

Proverbs 31:10-31: A wife of valor.

Factoidz.com: Love-fest and tag suggestion

Dream whispering: Interpretation of apocalyptic language

How to put your diamond in the best light

Diamonds: Jewelry and settings

Diamonds: Understanding transparency and clarity

Diamonds: Understanding fire and brilliance

Internet writing: Keyword use and Web 2.0

How to clean a diamond

Construction stress and AngiesList.com

Wisdom of the Group: Angieslist.com, Factoidz.com, Web 2.0

1010 Main Street: Show me the note!

Diamonds of color

Factoidz: When are they spam?

DIY facial products: Home made in India

Factoidz.com: Internet writing tips for newbies

The diamond and the bachelor: The pebble and the penguin

How to consider a blue diamond

Guide to buying a diamond engagement ring

Life of an Internet Salesman

How to make money buying and selling domain names

Countrywide prize notification: Cheaters sometimes win!

Promo code: discount coupon of Internet shopping

Tough guys with tough girls. Do opposites always attract?

Your Internet career starts with a domain name

Upside down flag: Patriotic sign of distress

Wikipedia: pros and cons for content producers

Resveratrol has the concentrated health benefits of red wine

7 ways to repurpose your own articles

Gourmet mushrooms online from Maine

Confessions of an article spinner

Stairlift: Brainchild of a young inventor

Interview with a New England cheese farmer

How should you invest in infrastructure?

Factoidz.com shows content producers the money

Money for writing articles: What pay to expect

AWSEO: Articles written for search engine optimization

Make money at home as a content producer: Make money at sea as a commercial fisherman

Top 10 web analytics tools for measuring your website's performance

UTI prevention and remedy for children and adults

Progressive keyword targeting: climbing up the long tail of search rankings

The future of SEO and how it will affect content producers

Humor and information for the circumcision decision

7 tips for making a wedding party speech

Seven steps to invoke God’s help in times of financial crisis

SEO marketing campaign: time and energy investment

Black hat vs white hat SEO techniques

Tips on understanding the Hebrew language

A few small things you can do to reduce landfill

My genealogy shows that I am the definition of a Swamp Yankee

SEO: 6 steps to improve rankings

Trichotomy: we are not meat computers

How to fall as safely as possible

How to wrap your baby in swaddling clothes

How to teach kids the difference between slander, gossip and news

Solar energy primer: how different types of solar energy work

Sniper and the watch brainteaser

How to raise and train a Pit Bull

Float a boat in a moat brainteaser

The best approach to SEO

How to fast to strengthen your spirit: Three rules

How to boil water in a paper cup

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Leland) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:25:00 +0000

Are Employers torturing applicants?

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Leland) — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 18:02:00 +0000

Is Craig's List doing a disservice to job seekers?

I applied at a huge company, Senesco, who had a sign out. I did a lengthy online resume, followed up with many follow up phone calls, and finally weeks later, a hand delivered one -to find out (while parked under their “accepting applications” sign) that they were sitting on 500 applications that they barely started going through. How many friggin’ applications does a company figure it needs to collect to find a qualified worker for an $20.00 an hour job? If everyone else had the same time into applying that I did (at least 3 hours) that’s $30,000.00 worth of unemployed peoples time! If everyone else is equally qualified (if their resume is even looked at) that means we may have to apply for 500 jobs to get one…That’s 1500 hours work -to find work. C’mon!

In these terrible times companies offering jobs need to pull their heads out of their asses so that they don’t pile more misery on top of to an already sad situation. Do we really need to legislate common courtesy?

Read this Factoid and comment:

Is Craig's List doing a disservice to job seekers?

Conversation with Naomi Teplow, Ketubah Artist

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Leland) — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 16:12:00 +0000

Naomi, Shalom.

I saw your beautiful piece called "A Woman of Valor" hanging at Miriam Hospital in Rhode Island. I wanted to do an article on this -Proverbs 31. Would you provide an image that I could use, with a byline and back-link to your site on my online article?

Thank You,

Kevin Leland

klleland@gmail.com

Here is an article I wrote about the written Hebrew language. I love to see art like yours, and some of the other pieces at Miriam Hospital that include Hebrew writing. I will also be mentioning Hebrew poetry in this article that I want to accompany your art work.

http://factoidz.com/tips-on-understanding-the-hebrew-language/

Forward

Naomi Teplow

to me

show details Mar 14 (13 days ago)

Shalom to you too, Kevin, your article is very interesting and nicely written, thanks for referring me to it.

Please feel welcome to take the image from my website, I personally have no idea how to do it (my website designer does all that for me), but I know that people constantly do it, so I'm sure you'll find a way. I give you the permission, and am honored you like it.

Good luck, please let me know when your article appears, I'd love to read it.

All the best,

Naomi

- Show quoted text -

Forward

Naomi is not available to chat

Kevin Leland

to Naomi

show details Mar 16 (11 days ago)

Hi Naomi :-) The layout didn't come out the way I wanted it. They are going to help me center the print on top, and align the close up along the left of the proverb.

I brought up the first nine verses in the article. Just to put an edge on it, and not be all unicorns and rainbows!

I want to post some more prints on the page. A few good examples of a ketubot I think. Hope it brings you some traffic!

http://factoidz.com/proverbs-31-the-wife-of-noble-character/

Thank you very much!

- Show quoted text -

Forward

Naomi is not available to chat

Naomi Teplow

to me

show details Mar 17 (11 days ago)

Thank YOU, Kevin, this is very nice, I appreciate it. I like your wiritng. Please just correct the following:

Unfortunately, I don't live in Israel any more, my American husband brought me here in 1979, and I've been here, in Oakland California, like a good Woman of Valor, ever since...:)

Also, in the second paragraph, you wrote Ketubot when you meant Ketubah, the singular form.

Thanks so much, Kevin, keep in touch, send me your other articles as they come along.

All the best,

Naomi

p.s. I can't for the life of me remember who it was who bought from me the print that hangs in Rhode Island, do you happen to know? Probably not... By the way, my daughter, Noa Teplow-Juarez, who went to RISD and draws caricatures for a living, lives in East Providence, RI, of all places...

- Show quoted text -

Forward

Naomi is not available to chat

Kevin Leland

to Naomi

show details Mar 17 (11 days ago)

I'm glad you like my writing. If you sign up at Facoitz.com, you could get an email automatically when I publish something. You would also be able to vote up my articles. That will help it get found more easily on the Internet. I'll get right on those corrections. I guess I live closer to Israel than you do! Do you have a dual citizenship? May I put American-Israeli or do you prefer Israeli-American? I'm on the list with many other "Gentiles" who are fascinated by that country. I'll bet the person who bought the painting donated it to Miriam hospital. Next time I'm there, I'll check.

My youngest, Levi, 14 yrs. old, is an aspiring artist. He took a summer art course at RISD, and also acted in a movie one of the students made. He hopes to go there too someday. I hope to be able to afford it. My construction business crashed and burned with the housing market, so I'm trying to make a come back with Internet writing and marketing, while I work at my new day job RI Blood Center.

It's all in the research and development stages right now. I feel like, and have been told, that I have some good predictions on what the Internet is going to become over the next few years, so I'm trying to line myself up to take advantage of those changes (If I'm right!) I'm searching for interesting people -farmers, artists, etc. who might not otherwise have a lot of Web presence, and trying to get us some exposure.

I hope this all works out for me, my son, and the people like you that I write about! If not, I've been taking vitamins, and exercising. Now that RI became the second state in the country to legalize prostitution, I...Just kidding! -I'm a Man of Valor!

-Kevin

- Show quoted text -

Forward

Naomi is not available to chat

Naomi Teplow

to me

show details Mar 17 (10 days ago)

Hi Kevin, please write that I am an Israeli living in California.

Good luck with all your projects. I'm sorry, all these internet things are a bit confusing and overwhelming to me. I'll check you by googling once in a while.

Thanks very much for your article. If I get any order as result of it, I'll send you a check for 10% of the order.

All the best to you and your family,

Naomi

- Show quoted text -

New Article

Kevin Leland

to Naomi

show details 12:04 PM (8 minutes ago)

http://factoidz.com/ketubah-ketubot/

Hi Naomi!

I've written an article on the Ketubah, and included כתובה in the title and for the search engines as well. This way traffic from Hebrew / English speakers will find it's way to the article. Is your website translated? I hope so. I would like to translate the Factoids but I only know the alphabet, about 24 words and two phrases in Hebrew -could-ya help me out? I would be happy to do some heavy online marketing footwork for 10% of sales. I have access to a community of writers that will team up with me and some SEO people -to get a lot of sales for you. Thank you for that offer.

Your prints are very beautiful, worthwhile items. It would be a shame if thousands of people went without one only because they were not promoted enough on and through the internet. I had only set out to do a research article on the piece you did "A Woman of Valor." The original hangs on a wall at Miriam (after the sister of Moses) Hospital, here in Rhode Island (my house), halfway between California (your house) and Israel.I worked at this hospital a few weeks ago, saw your painting, "Googled" you -how long is it going to be before that phrasing doesn't have a lewd connotation? And, really enjoyed seeing your other work, and hearing all about you -a really cool artist!

I'm not implying that whoever is doing your online work isn't cutting the mustard! In fact your Web store is outstanding. I don't know what you are doing for SEO and SEM now, or even what other online marketing is happening on your behalf. Not being a techie, I don't think that you know either ,-) ...But more in addition certainly won't hurt. All we need to set up tech-wise is a way to determine where the clickthroughs are coming from (writers at Factoidz.com), and our conversions tracking. I.e.; the computerized way of knowing which sales we made, and earned a commission for. A great way to do this is with a "promo code." I can discuss this with your Webmaster if you want, or I will be happy to walk you through whatever jargon might go over your head. It may sound foreign but it's easy. Here is a Factoid that explains a good part of it:

http://factoidz.com/promo-code-discount-coupon-of-internet-shopping/

I'll post this email to the Factoidz.com community, get a team together, and we'll give this a whirl! Maybe we are at the beginning of an amazing story of serendipity!

Shalom,

Kevin

Factoidz.com: Shoot the moon beta test

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Leland) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 19:21:00 +0000

Please visit this site: http://factoidz.com/experts-get-it-wrong/ read and comment on this Factoid, and consider becoming a member of Factoidz.com: A fast growing, especially cool site for anyone who likes to read and write.

I wanted to bring this idea to the Factoidz community right away. I’ve noticed a recent spike in the page views on one of my factoids that I had written weeks earlier:

http://factoidz.com/countrywide-prize-notification-cheaters-sometimes-win/

More recently, the same phenomenon is occurring on this article by Aratus:

http://factoidz.com/experts-get-it-wrong/

This “Shoot the Moon” idea is a segment of a factoid I recently wrote:

http://factoidz.com/factoidzcom-love-fest-and-tag-suggestion/

Shoot the Moon: This would be another “rationed tag” like expert tags. Members get only one per day. You would tag up an article that you think would have the best chances of getting a ton of traffic. Factoids getting the most STM tags that day or that week, would get submitted to Stumble, Digg, Buzz up, and so on by Factoidz Admin. The Factoidz.com community, whether it was the piece they voted for or not, would all participate in showing the article some affection. Twitter it, Face Book it, etcetera, and vote it up on Digg, and Buzz up. Then of coarse maybe even apply some other less known SEO magical techniques (Sanya and I would kick ass at that!). We would work together to get “mad love” for the best pieces produced by our community. Imagine tens of thousands of hits in a day. Thousands brought to our site from the outside, which will hopefully join our ranks, or hire us for writing gigs, or check out anything else we might be sellin’

I hereby propose to the Factoidz community that we all get behind this factoid written by Aratus:

http://factoidz.com/experts-get-it-wrong/

It is an excellent example of what Factoidz.com writers can offer readers and advertisers. It has already rung up over 160 views as the most viewed today. It has nine Diggs. I’m going to get over to Digg and vote it up. Please follow me and let’s do a beta on this “Shoot the Moon” idea. It could do a lot for everyone if it works.

Upside down flag: Upside down house

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Leland) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:53:00 +0000

It takes a good amount of moral courage to admit you are struggling financially and you’re pissed at the people who directly or indirectly pushed you into this situation. You want to choke-slam them all, but you are not some douchebag like Rhode Island congressman Patrick Kennedy. Remember when he pushed around the guard at the airport. If that guard was my wife or sister I would have taken a trip to the Cape and punched that twerp in the mouth. We are almost a little ashamed to admit that, as Jason Jarvis put it "I'm angry, I'm frustrated. I'm pretty desperate." Not because you are about to miss your plane, but because you are broke, out of work and in danger of loosing your home -thanks to people like Patrick Kennedy for not doing the job they are paid well to do and not being responsible with the millions of dollars that they possess but didn't earn.

We have enough maturity and self control. It wouldn’t be wrong to bitch-slap some elitist prick who never had a job in his life and then because he is late for a plane puts his hand on a working American woman and shoves her backwards. Was she on time for work that day? Is she making a base of $150 K plus all she can skim on top of a trust puppy fund started from her ancestors’ dirty dealings? What does that take in per year? I guess that we owe you a debt of gratitude Mr. Congressman, you don’t even need a job yet you work hard at being a congressman, for a measly –three RI family incomes per year plus perks and benefits. Thanks. I hope the next girl that you assault empties her bottle of mace in your face while she kicks you in the nuts multiple times -and then makes your lawyer write her a check.

The upside for those of us with anger management issues is that we only need to have enough self control to keep from throwing the first punch, or uttering illegal words. When we are angry with just cause we need to stare without blinking into the eyes of our opponents and with a comfortable smile and a clenched fist, wait for our confidence to diffuse the situation and send it away or cause it to attack –and get it’s lights punched out.

Nobody wants to be a victim any more than they want to become one. That’s why it takes courage to say “I was working hard and doing well enough to be satisfied with having half as much as my parents did at my age, for the same work…and then this economy of the last few years crushed me. I am now a victim of foreclosure, unemployment, under employment, illness without insurance. I can handle about seven debt collector calls, but that eighth one is going to make me punch a hole in the wall, make my wife cry, kill the day’s happy mood, steal some of my family’s smiles.”

There is no shame in distress if it doesn’t cause you to loose two very important things: Hope and honor. A brave gesture made by an unemployed / under-employed couple from Westerly, Rhode Island was of course misinterpreted by some other people including the Westerly police. Responding to some ding-dongs’ complaints, the police came out to “warn” the couple, married 16 years with two teenage sons at home, that this patriotic symbol was upsetting the neighbors. One guy was seen taking pictures of the American Flag that Kelly and Jason Jarvis hung on their porch –upside down; while saying “it just ain’t right!”

No Buddy, it’s right. It’s all good. The Jarvis family was making a brave and helpful statement about their distress. They called attention to the distress of over 56,000 unemployed Rhode Islanders, with the second highest rate in the country, along with the thousands of others in danger of loosing homes they have lived in for years, and maybe even built with their own two hands. The U.S. Flag code states that hoisting a flag upside down is acceptable for announcing that American people or property are in a state of extreme distress. No one should have a problem with that. Keep a light on it at night, and keep your work ethic, character, and hope in the light -until this all turns around, and the sun rises on the horizon of better days.

When certain Americans become more sharing and less greedy, more productive and less lazy, more ambitious and less entitled, more focused on the important big picture and less distracted by egocentric little self serving goals like attaining unbridled wealth, popularity or power...Then maybe the Jarvis family and the rest of us will be able to achieve our humble and more noble goals:

“We’re just small people here. We don’t expect to ever be millionaires. We just want to pay our bills, live comfortably and enjoy our house.”

–Kelly Jarvis

That is all most of us want. I sincerely want to thank this couple for their statement. I will tell anyone how I became a victim of this economy: Read - http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1129460/ill_take_the_blame_for_the_housing.html?cat=54 I try not to sound whiney about it. I try to sound grateful for what I still have, and positive that I will make a “comeback.” I contain my anger. Thanks to Kelly and Jason I’m going to make a more public statement for the benefit of everyone who is in our situation. I will be hanging a flag upside down too. I will do everything in my power to improve the situation. My first and most important step was to vote enthusiastically for Obama. I’m going to continue to support his administration and I’m going to hope and pray for my country. When I’m fully employed, and caught up on my mortgage I’ll hang my flag right side up again.

Source: Article by A. Kuffner. Providence Journal

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/01/29-8

Article Spinning

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Leland) — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 21:18:00 +0000

Forgive me Father, for I have sinned.

When I first broke into the freelance writing business, four months ago -So, let me rephrase that: as I am currently breaking into the writing business, one of the first projects that I found was from a company who hired me to spin articles.

At the risk of sounding all "Yes I did, but I didn't inhale"; I want to state that although I took the job, I couldn't bring myself to actually spin the articles. I ended up using these articles for topic ideas and current jargon of these topics that I would write about: physical fitness, body building and steroids. Coupled with bona fide research; thank you Wikipedia, I was able to produce 50 original articles, in about 25 hours, and at $2.50 per article that totaled a whopping $5.00 per hour.

Because these articles were ghost written, meaning that I also gave up the copy rights to the work, $2.50 was all I was getting for these; no posting them anywhere else. But let's look at some of the pros to this really yucky deal: I now had the...Ahem, bragging rights to truthfully proclaim myself a professional freelance copywriter and content producer, bragging rights, $125.00, and lot's of practice writing 500 word articles. Next I wrote six more for another website, for a little bit more respectful pay of $75.00. Still very low, but more practice, more money...Yep, and more bragging rights.

There are programs to help you spin articles. Don't bother with them, they don't seem to work very well. If anyone has a differing opinion: That's what the comments are for, use 'em. But let me take it a step further: Don't spin articles. The only justified way to do this, and still respect yourself in the morning, would be in the case of doing it to some extent with your own articles. A fourth benefit to those $2.50 ghost written articles: No sin in spinning my own original articles. To do it ethically, and also get a little more practice and education out of it, take away some unnecessary words...You can always find some of those! Add a little info, improve the language a bit: Practice. Don't just try to squeak it through Copyscape: http://www.copyscape.com/

Now you have...What are we up to? A fifth benefit: I discovered the value of "re purposing" an article. As it stands now, it seems that there can be advantages to spreading your articles around. This will start to chill after a while, as the Google bots develop even more discerning tastes, replacing their huge appetites for large quantities of content and backlinks. Watch also for developments in Copyscape that will enable that crawler to sniff out articles that have that spin stank on 'em.

Like any good confession; the moral is usually -do as I say, not as I did. This is no different. Don't spin articles. There are plenty of good opportunities to do what I found to be an even better way to get practice and exposure: Do some pro bono work for websites just getting their start. If they look like they have talent and promise, it makes for an excellent collaboration and a great opportunity for a content producer. When they make it they won't forget you. Post articles on Factoidz.com too, you keep the rights, get some revenue, and exposure with the practice, and I think there is a lot more to come from sites like Factoidz.com.

Here are a couple of links to sites I'm helping out pro-bono wise, that would welcome some some help...

http://www.thefarmguide.net/greenknow.html

http://www.pregnancyplanet.net/

My Factoidz.com Career

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Leland) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 04:17:00 +0000

When I worked on commercial fishing boats, this is how the pay was structured: The captain received a salary, paid by the boat owner who also paid for a slip, repairs and upkeep. One of these particular boat owners also bought the catch at market price. The crew would do a “grub shopping” meaning we would buy all the food for the trip. Next, we bought our fuel, ice and bait. We didn’t take anything out of our pockets for that, but the actual costs were recorded. We only fronted our labor.

What labor it was! Some days were 20 hours long. None were under 16 hours. We did this for up to 10 days straight. Baiting, gaffing, butchering…on long liners. On lobster boats, it was all about hauling, baiting and stacking traps AKA pots, putting bands on the lobster claws, handling miles and miles of rope AKA line. All this makes writing seem like a cake walk! But producing content is still time and labor in its own right. I have had plenty of 16 hour days, on my ass, on my couch, laptop on my lap. This is known as “Dad making love to his computer all day” by the wife and kids. This is no where near as grueling and dangerous as fishing. No danger of getting tangled up in line and dragged over board and drowned. No danger of falling overboard and getting eaten alive by sharks…That makes drowning or hypothermia preferable. The only danger I am faced with is this laptop having an electrical malfunction and shocking my ding-dong.

But, let me reiterate: Writing is work and that labor has value. Like fishing, you don’t know the value of it until it is brought to the dock and weighed. After that, the captain and crew gets their “share of the catch” this is how that is divvied out: Value of catch: $20,000.00. -$500.00 grub, -$500.00 ice, -$1,000.00 fuel, -$2,000.00 bait = $20,000.00 - $4,000.00= $16,000.00. Boat (owner) gets 50%. Captain gets one share on top of his salary. Each deck hand gets one full share unless he is a newbie AKA green-horn, then he gets a fraction of a share. So, $16,000.00 -$ 8,000.00 (50% boat share) = $8,000.00 divided equally between the captain and two deck hands comes to $2,600.00 each.

For 8-10 days work, though less than $20.00 per working hour -not a bad paycheck…Even though you are risking your life to earn it, that kinda washes out by the fact that there is adventure and excitement and personal challenge in being 200 miles off shore in the wilderness of the ocean: wild dolphins swimming along side the boat tilting their bodies to get a good look right into your eyes, whales scaring the piss out of you when they jump up out of the water in front of you while you are on watch staring at it silently for hours, 360 degree sunsets, no ground light dimming the ultra-bright 360 degree star-scapes, while taking no comfort in the fact that even though you are 200 miles from shore, land is only a mile or two away -straight down!

My wife and I have had a running joke since I’ve been unemployed for the first time in many years, pursuing a new line of work as an online content producer. When I began this quest, I realized that pursuing a writing career isn’t about penning the next New York Times Best Seller…It can be spending a day; writing a product review, then composing a “brain teaser”, and later putting philosophical or religious thoughts in writing thus making a day’s pay. So I said to my wife, before I got accused of delusions of grandeur or thinking too big; accusations I’ve been guilty of in the past -even though on a couple of rare occasions I have “made it big”…”Writing isn’t a glamorous job”

I was serious, and that made it all the more funny -after 250 hours at it in my first month, earning a whopping $200.00, when she calmly replied, with a barely visible smirk on her face “no shit”

Now I have been at it for three months, and the hourly wage is getting no better. I’ve spent close to 1000 hours at it, half the time writing and the other half trying to figure out how to make a living wage from it. I finally think I’ve come up with some answers…

(1) Learn what SEO is, was, and what it is becoming. No one is an authority on this subject except those few who write and change the algorithyms that control the spiders, bots, and crawlers…And they keep this secret. I wouldn’t call myself an authority, but with the help of good friends, Sanya and Sunil Harika, coupled with that 500 plus hours of study I mentioned…I think the summary of what I have learned is worth a read:

http://factoidz.com/the-best-approach-to-seo/

http://factoidz.com/the-future-of-seo-and-how-it-will-affect-content-producers/

http://factoidz.com/seo-6-steps-to-improve-rankings/

http://factoidz.com/progressive-keyword-targeting-climbing-up-the-long-tail-of-search-rankings/

http://factoidz.com/seo-marketing-campaign-time-and-energy-investment/

http://factoidz.com/black-hat-vs-white-hat-seo-techniques/

http://factoidz.com/top-10-web-analytics-tools-for-measuring-your-websites-performance/

(2) Write. Write a lot. Write well. Write what you know, research thoroughly what you don’t.

(3) Submit it. Publish it. Promote it. ( Go to back to step one for promotion methods, and stay tuned for more factoidz from us on the subject)

We will be writing the next few factoidz on the subject of producing content. This will be much more of a “how to do it” than a “what to do.” The what to do -is up to you! So, get your creative juices flowing. Don’t think that you have to produce content that will appeal to millions of people. Sometimes, if you focus a good effort on the more “long tail” topics, you can enjoy much success and find and make friends with others with a deep interest in, say: “An ictheologist’s studies in the diverse mating habits of Piranah in the Amazon River”

Write your own Factoid like this one now.

Factoidz is a knowledge community for experts. Publish your knowledge, promote your writing, develop a following of readers. Learn more, or create an account.

More Factoidz written by kdelik

View all kdelik's Factoidz >

For a do-it-yourself Detox Home Remedy: click this title

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Leland) — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 14:51:00 +0000

How to Pass a Drug Test

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

How to pass the standard drug tests required by many employers. The easiest way to pass such a test is not to take the drugs being tested for. But if you have so indulged and are willing to risk the consequences of tampering with a drug test (which at best, means keeping the job or at worst, breaking the law in some states) then this article will be of assistance..

= Steps

Video

Urine Testing

Avoid spiking or masking the urine sample. This is a method used to throw off testing equipment from seeing certain results. Commercial and OTC chemicals containing nitrats were once used to mask THC but are now commonly tested for. i.e. Mary Jane Super Clean 13 (liquid soap), Urinaid (glutaraldehyde), THC Free (acid), Klear (nitrite), Urine Luck (pyridinium chlorochromate), TestKlear, Golden Seal, Terminator Gold, Stealth, Clean-X, and Instant Clean. These products are all detectable, and will result in a failed drug screen.
Dilute the sample itself. Dilution is the process of reducing the concentration of drug or drug metabolites in the sample.This is accomplished by adding fluid to the sample. Be sure to use warm water, as the temperature of the sample is recorded. Most facilities will put you in a room with no sink, and where the toilet water is tinted.Diluting a sample will lower the specific gravity and creatinine level.(creatine is used by muscles and creats a waste product called creatinine) Drug testing laboratories all routinely test samples to detect dilution.[1]
Internal dilution or "flushing". Many people assume that drinking excessive amounts of water will accomplish a negative result,However is it dangerous (people have died from water intoxication) it is also risky because colorless urine arouses suspicion, possibly flagging the sample and causing Them to run the sample at a lower CONFIRMATION level of 15 ng/mL (15 nanograms per milliliter) instead of a STANDARD test screen level of 50 ng/mL (this example is of THC). When the UA is run before the screen it will read that the Specific Gravity is low and it will be flagged, this also will cause a lower level test to be run [2]
Substitute the sample. Substitution is a method that involves substituting your urine with that of another persons or a synthetic sample. Synthetic urine comes in two basic forms, the liquide type found in smoke shops that is simular to what is used to calibrate lab equipment or vials of a powdered concentrate that can be added to a few ounces of warm water.Both are kept in a delivery devise with a temperature meter. This method works on every employment urine test,(provided some conditions are met such as controlling the temperature (92 -100)and delivering the sample in 4 minutes or less). A liquide crystal thermometer with 2 degree offset like the ones used on the collection cups is ideal and a properly sized organic warmer as a insulating source as it is the body that is the regulator. [3]
- The liquide premixed urine has a couple of drawbacks as it doesn't have a head or small layer of bubbles on the surface and it has no smell.Powdered synthetic urine does.
- You can substitute someone else's urine. You will want to test it with a reagent panel strip available at wall-greens. Collect urine fresh and keep it in a sealed, refrigerated container and use within the 48Hrs. as urine will darken and bacteria will grow, when deterioration becomes noticeable the lab may suspect something. A UTI or Urinary Tract Infection will be suspected if a micro UA is run as stale urine becomes like ammonia and the ph will change.[4]
- standard employment Drug tests do not determine male or female, pregnancy, or age.

Hair Testing

Understand how the hair testing process works. So how does hair drug testing work?, Let's delve into this a bit for better understanding. We'll use marijuana for our example since marijuana drug testing is by far and away the most popular test. When marijuana (THC) metabolites are in the blood, they'll end up in the blood vessels, including those in the head, and get filtered through the hair. In basic terms, at least, this is how hair drug testing comes about. The marijuana THC metabolites will remain in the hair as a permanent record of drug use for months. A hair drug test involves cutting 50-80 strands of hair from the base typically at the crown of the head.Minimum length of 1 inch is necessary or body hair such as face chest or underarm hair can be used. Hair drug testing can go back months, showing the toxins a person may have used in a time-line fashion.Masking hair is not realistic as the sample is washed to remove left in products or external contamination such as second hand smoke.
Know what to expect in the test. Hair Collection Procedure:
- Testing requires a swatch of hair about one eighth of an inch in diameter and an inch to an inch and a half long, cut close to the scalp and at the crown of the head if present. If the donor has no head hair or 1/2 inch or shorter the collector may use chest, underarm, leg, or face hair in that order of preference.
- Find an appropriate spot for hair collection, then twist a bundle of hair making sure the tightly twisted hair is more than 1/4 inch in diameter. This is almost always done in middle back of head
- While holding the tightly twisted hair in one hand, spread open the hair collection tube with the other hand, then enclose the twisted hair in the collection tube as close to the donor's scalp as possible
- Place the twist tie around the hair below the plastic collection tube. This keeps the hair intact during shipping and also indicates the root end.
- Cut the hair bundle as close to the scalp as possible. Do not remove the collection tube from the cut hair.
- Return the collection tube holding the hair to its original position in the hair collection tube holder. Do not remove the twist tie.
Lower toxin levels in your hair. This can be much harder if cocaine or synthetic drugs are used by dark haired people as it is the melanin (hair color)that is the carrier as apposed to keratin (hair) in a THC screen. Treatment with Toxin Removaland a professional Consultation from a laboratory technician providing the know how in Hair Structure are crucial to increasing your success.
- Cocaine which binds to black hair far more than blond or red hair as it is the melanin in hair that is the carrier of cocaine.So repeated use in dark hair people is almost impossible to reduce below detectable levels.[5]
- Regular smokers should use a clarifying shampoo regularly to remove toxins that are excreted daily from scalp.

Saliva / Oral fluid-based screen

Saliva / oral fluid-based drug tests can generally detect use during the previous few days. Saliva or oral fluid based drug tests are becoming more prevalent because of their convenience,low cost and the recent adaptation of the FDA approved Intercept test can be given in-house on the job for pre-employment and random screenings, random, post-accident, reasonable suspicion, or return-to-duty testing.

Detection Times
Detection in saliva tests begins immediately upon use:
Marijuana and hashish (THC): An hour after ingestion, and up to 24 hours depending on use.
Cocaine (including crack): From time of ingestion up to 2 to 3 days.
Opiates: From time of ingestion up to 2 to 3 days
Methamphetamine and ecstasy (MDMA, "crank," "ice"): From time of ingestion up to 2 to 3 days.
Benzodiazepines: From time of ingestion up to 2 to 3 days

Testing Avoidance
If one is being tested and has used in the past 3 days you will need to overcome the saliva collection. To do this you will have to avoid submitting saliva and perform the steps requested of you by the instructor.

Instruct the donor to remove the handle and remove the collection device from the packaging sleeve.
Instruct the donor to place the collection pad between the lower cheek and gums and gently rub the pad back and forth along the gum line until the pad is moist. (you will fake this movement and rub pad on teeth)

Once moist, leave collection pad between cheek and gums for a full two (2) minutes(again hold between teeth)

After 2 minutes, have the donor open the specimen vial in an upright position, with the tip pointed downward, by gently rocking the cap back and forth to avoid spilling the contents. Instruct the donor to push the collection pad into the specimen vial as far as it will go.

The instructor who a employee can not touch the paddle in any way until you place it in the vial screw it closed and seal it in a tamper proof bag.

Stay clean from marijuana at least 72 hrs before the test.

Urban myths

Secondhand smoke.. cut off levels are set so as to keep one failing from casual second hand smoke .
Poppy Seeds.. the current SAMHSA recommended cutoff level used in the NIDA 5 test, which was raised from 300 ng/mL to 2,000 ng/mL in 1998 in order to avoid false positives from poppy seeds You would need to eat a whole Loaf of poppy seed to register for even one day.[6]
Adding bleach to nullify sample. BLEACH will change the ph and flag the sample as being tampered and you will fail. Drinking bleach will blind you and maybe kill you. [7]
Aspirin.... taken before test covers THC by creating a false negative.. THIS IS ONLY UNDER IDEAL CIRCUMSTANCES and only for the EMIT test and not a gc/ms.[8]

Legal

Only a court ordered test or one who is on probation or parole can be observed, basically those who have no rights.
Know your rights. They are very important. The employer is paying for the test so it belongs to them. If you pass it will say no detectable amount found. If you fail it will usually say what your levels were, however you need to ask for the cut off levels.
If caught by surprise and you need to stall it is better to go to the lab and fail to show your I.D., refusal will get you fired but if you misplaced your ID you will have to come back or the sample is invalid [9]
At least ten states (Arkansas, Illinois, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia and Texas) have outlawed the sale of synthetic urine or adulterants for the purpose of passing drug test however obtaining one on the Internet is easy.
Workplace Testing: employers are currently allowed by law to require that workers submit to urinalysis or saliva screening to be considered for employment and/or to retain their employment. states have laws which often limit how and when testing can be done, such as requiring that the company have a written policy, that 'random' testing not be used this is more common in certain unions. [10]
Hospital Testing: In the US, some states have required pregnant women to be tested for illegal drug use as part of their prenatal care. The US Supreme Court ruled the secret testing of women unconstitutional in the case of Ferguson v City of Charleston, in March 2001.But women who arrive to deliver in a hospital have there blood tested and if dirty you can bet you will be talking to some people.A delivering mother could face endangerment charges or even murder if ANY traces are found in her blood.[11]

Drug Testing Law

Federal Law - Drug testing falls under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which includes several key features:
- The ADA makes it illegal for any employer to test a prospective employee without first making a conditional offer of employment.
- The ADA also says you can´t discriminate against prospective employees on the basis of past drug-related problems. Then again, you may refuse to hire people if you have reason to believe they will return to substance abuse or endanger the safety and health of your workers. If you aren´t sure how to proceed with an applicant who has a history of drug abuse, consult an attorney. The ADA doesn´t prohibit asking a person with a history of substance abuse to enroll in a rehabilitation program before joining your firm.
State Law - Laws vary from state to state and change frequently. You can find out the details of your state´s drug testing laws by contacting a trade organization, your state government or an employment lawyer. Your right to test workers for drug use depends on several factors:
- The job itself. If a job has the potential to place the employee, coworkers or the public in danger, there may be stronger legal justification to test for drugs.
- Evidence of a drug problem. Some states require you to show probable cause to suspect employees are impaired before testing them for drugs.
- Whether the worker is already on staff. Once applicants are hired, your rights to test them for drug use may diminish. Some states require visible evidence of substance abuse such as an accident, a visible decline in work quality or the discovery of illicit drugs in the workplace before you have the legal right to test a current employee. Testing current employees at random or without prior notice is also illegal in many states.

Related wikiHows

Sources and Citations

How to Detox for a test.

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Pass a Drug Test. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

A Vegetarian's Experience with Butchering Animals

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Leland) — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 23:59:00 +0000

The first time I saw an animal slaughtered, I was 14 years old. My Great Uncle Henry lived next door and kept about 200 rabbits. He sold them, and used them, for pets and food. That is until a tragic case of mistaken identity caused him and his wife to make a stew out of Bobo, the one they set aside as a pet, and even taught a couple tricks. They were so upset that I thought they might quit butchering bunnies all together. They ended up quitting making pets out of them instead.

Uncle Henry used to clean the fish I caught. I hated doing that, even though I enjoyed fishing and my Gramps liked eating the fish I caught. After I watched him a few times it stopped grossing me out too much, and I was able to do it myself…Still didn’t like it though. He asked me if I wanted to learn how to dress a rabbit. From context, after reading his sign: “Rabbits For Sale Live or Dressed” I knew “dressed” meant the opposite if “live.” I’ve always been up for learning new things, especially farming stuff, and this was a farming skill…So I showed up at his picnic table early one Saturday morning to see what this was all about. I was wondering how he was going to kill it, and if I would be able to watch, and if I would feel bad for the animal. I was nervous.

After he selected a big albino with smallish ears, we walked up the hill back to the picnic table. Even though my uncle picked up his rabbits by the scruff of the neck, he didn’t carry it that way. He held it in his right arm, and scratched the bunny’s head and petted him during his last few moments of bunny consciousness. Uncle Henry switched the rabbit to his other arm, and reached for a 1” by 2” flat club about the length of a night stick. After setting the rabbit on the table to take a different hold on it, he quickly picked up the rabbit by the scruff of its back and in less than a second, thwap, right on the top of it’s furry little head: Lights out. As I stood mildly horrified, bracing my self for the gore yet to come, the limp rabbit bled from his nose and ears. My uncle made a cut from between its back legs up to the bottom of the rib cage, and then with a quick bare hand, scooped out the guts.

What would have happened if I didn’t prepare my self so well for this blood and guts lesson in “Where Do Bunny McNuggets Come From?” I’m proud to say; I didn’t pass out when, still a bit quezzy with that thwack sound echoing in my ears, I watched steam rise up from the warm innards into the cold, New England autumn air. I barffed -after I had gotten several steps away from the food preparation area. Then I barffed a little bit more, composed myself, washed my hands again, sucked it up and went back to the table to see this lesson through to the end. Thoughtfully, I guess, my Uncle held off the skinning until I returned. Surprisingly, that wasn’t so bad. I expected that skinning an animal required knife work like skinning a fish filet. Instead, after he cut off the feet –what ever happened to those brightly colored dyed lucky rabbits feet on the dog tag chains?-He cut down the inside of each back leg from the bottom of the cut in the stomach, making a “Y.” Then he pulled the skin back toward the head and it came off the rabbit like a sweater. At that point he cut off the head; it made for a much less repulsive sight with the skin covering its face and eyes.

Then he “quartered” it; that is he cut the carcass in half, leaving an upper and lower section. After he cut each of those halves in half again, and washed them really well we were done. He stewed it with wine and carrots and potatoes in thick gravy and we ate it for supper. The meat itself tasted like turkey dark meat. I didn’t have a lot of trouble eating it, but felt about the same way as I do now when on rare occasions I eat meat after 16 years of being a vegetarian. I have a rule that if someone serves me meat, without knowing that I’m a vegetarian, I’ll eat it so I don’t insult or offend them. That has only happened 2 or 3 times though. And then, not to sound like Jessica Simpson, but I once ate a chicken salad sandwich, thinking it was tuna.

When I was in my thirties, I did some commercial fishing. It only takes about two days out in the wilderness of the high seas, working 44 hours in two days with about 4 hours of sleep- before the survival instincts kick in. By the time we started pulling in 100 pound sword fish and tuna I was having no problem sawing off the heads and scooping out the guts, on my hands and knees, sloshing around in three inches of blood and guts and seawater-for the next seven days. This really strengthened my stomach, and made it so a year later I was able to field dress and butcher my first deer. I can’t say I killed it, someone else did- in fact, it was the car in front of me that hit it. I took its last breath right as I walked up to it: Oh well, it was road kill, but it was fresh! I have just enough Swamp Yankee in me to not be too proud to pack it in my freezer. I grilled the heart and liver, and cubed it up for all my dog friends, and my human friends ate the rest of the more choice cuts. I’m still a vegetarian, and phew, a very rare and kind of weird one!

But think about it, how many people do you know, yourself included, who could never kill and butcher an animal, yet they eat at least one serving of meat every day? What, they have henchmen for that? I once had a woman chew me out for dressing a deer in a closed up garage, telling me how just the thought of what was going on in there horrified her –while I could smell the bacon she was frying for her breakfast. That’s probably weirder even though it’s more common.

Wedding Party Speeches -Affordable, Personalized Coaching

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Leland) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 05:42:00 +0000

Here are some tips on making your wedding speech. For a more customized, personal approach: Get in touch with us for a "no-obligation" consultation on how we can help. We'll help you prepare the text, as we personally coach you through to delivery - for a very reasonable, starving writer price, usually around $50.00. Just contact me at klleland@gmail.com -We'll get started right away.

1) Prepare! Reading this article is an excellent first step. Hiring a coach is an excellent second step.

2) Don't thank the bride or groom for choosing you as their Best Man or Maid of Honor, they didn't nominate you for Class President - it was an expression of affection. When someone says "I love you" the customary response is "I love you too" not "thank you very much." Honoring you on their most special day, singling you out as their most special person, shows that they love you. Now use your well prepared words to love 'em back.

3) Don't start waltzing down Memory Lane and forget to turn back. It's good to include a memorable anecdote, but one or two is enough. Remember, this day is about the bride and groom's future, not their history. Don't make it sound like a eulogy by describing all of the individual's great attributes and single-life shining moments.

4) Make sure the special memories that are recounted this day are appropriate for the general audience. "Remember that night when we stole your parents' Cadillac and went skinny dipping at the quarry with those two strippers" is only going to anger the parents, make the new bride's stomach turn, and if they were invited to the ceremony, probably embarrass the strippers.

5) Be careful that you don't make the common mistake of directing the entire speech to the person who bestowed this honor on you. You don't have to include both the bride and the groom in your funny anecdote from yesteryear, but when you shift gears into the present speak about both of them; their love for each other, their made-ness for each other, and their strength as a couple. If you want to slip in a quip now is a good time. "You may be in for a lot of sleepless nights Charlie. I went camping with Donna a couple times when we were in the Girl Scouts. I don't know about now, but back then she snored like a lumber jack." Or, "I know you will want to be by Charlie's side every minute Donna...Until he takes off his shoes. I got you a lifetime supply of Dr. Sholes Odor Eaters for your wedding gift Buddy!" Don't get carried away with this, saying something like: "I don't know how you are going to stand waking up every morning to a face that looks like it got beat with an ugly stick."

6) Make sure you wax serious when it comes to blessing their future. Express confidence in their character and true love for each other that assures you and everyone else present that their love will stand the test of time.

7) You prepared well so you were able to maintain your composure. Your trembling was barely detectable. Your careful and well thought out words didn't sound too rehearsed, even though they were. You honored the new Mr. and Mrs. and encouraged them as well. You didn't embarrass yourself or them, to your credit. You set the stage for all the festivities. Now go get drunk and make a complete fool of yourself!

To see some more good advice read this article written by Heather, one of our other coaches: How to Overcome the Jitters: Heather's Wedding Party Speech Advice

Original Songs

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Leland) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 03:52:00 +0000

Here are some original songs that I would like some help with. Any Christian bands out there interested? Leave a comment with contact info. Respond with a video on You-Tube....

Son of God Son of Man ~ Lyrics:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1124725/son_of_god_son_of_man.html?cat=34

Video:

Open the Door ~ Lyrics:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1124747/open_the_door.html?cat=42

Video:

(under construction)

Find a Way to Get Through ~ Lyrics:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1243985/find_a_way_to_get_through.html?cat=10
Video:

(under construction)

Come back soon. I will be working on this until I have all the scores and tutorials. Let's work together with this to make something fresh and original for worship teams and music ministries everywhere!

A Cute Story about the Stairlift: Brain-child of a Little Girl

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Leland) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:04:00 +0000

Have you ever come up with that brilliant invention, one that you just know will help thousands of people better their lives? Maybe this invention will even help someone that you know personally. If you are a good inventor, a professional, then helping your fellow man is the main objective…The money you harvest from the idea is only secondary.

This is a story of an inventor that I know personally. She is a professional; with these kinds of honorable intentions along with a really good idea. This idea was going to help her beloved Grandmother get around more easily. After watching her Grandma struggle to climb up and down the stairs, time after time, the wheels in this little lady’s mind began to turn. She imagined the escalator at the Mall. She thought of how Grandma would hold her hand as they just stood, and let this fascinating machine do all the work required to make the ascension to the upper levels. How cool it would be to have one of these installed at Grandma’s house. And how much better would it be if she could even sit down for the ride?

Allow me to brag about my wife. She developed the concept for the seated Stairlift long before I even knew her, when she was merely eight years old! Unfortunately, she hit the same brick wall that smashes up the aspirations of many professional inventors. That is; the idea at that time was not original art. Someone, probably a grown-up, had beaten this young inventor to the patent office. She realized this sad fact and even the significance of it when she first saw an ad on the telly showing some other happy Granny seated in a chair, being mechanically chauffeured to the top of the stairs in her own house. Undaunted, although disappointed, her job now was going to be getting Grandpa to have one installed!

“Grandma just had to have one of these”, she thought. This already available invention could be installed at her grandparent’s house…Their very own escalator, just like at the Mall.
Her secondary efforts were met with some resistance. “Could we afford it?” her Grandfather asked.
“Sure, that lady on the telly didn’t live in a palace, and she had one” she answered.
“Will they be able to install one on our type of stairs?” was the second question Grandpa posed.
“Just have the company come here and look at your stairs, they’ll tell you if they can do it and even how much it will cost” she intelligently and convincingly advised.

The man took his Granddaughter’s advice, and soon found out how possible and affordable it really was. In no time the Stairlift was installed, and has been used ever since to safely transport Grandma, up and down the stairs. Even Grandpa on occasion uses it, like the times when he had the flu and for those few weeks after he took a nasty fall, slipping on some ice in the driveway. This caring little girl may not have bettered the lives of thousands of people by inventing the Stairlift, but convincing her Grandparents to have one installed directly improved the quality of life for two people she loves very much.

Vasectomies and Christmas Trees: When Balls are Just for Decoration

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Leland) — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 17:40:00 +0000

Because my article about circumcision was so well received I was encouraged to stay on the subject of male genital mutilation, and write about another common procedure: Vasectomy. My goal is not to try to scare men away from this drastic form of birth control. After all, I think just the thought of someone coming at this precious part of a man’s anatomy while brandishing needles, scissors, and knives is enough to send most guys into a duck and cover posture. According to studies, about 5%-10% of men regret following through with this operation. Half of the guys who have been sterilized keep it a secret. That being stated, my readers only had a one in fifty chance of getting this article out of me; a man who regrets having this done, and isn’t afraid to admit it. So, read on.

The idea of this procedure was born in the mind of a man named Sir Ashley Cooper who experimented on dogs and rabbits, most likely because when it comes to sexuality, these particular mammals are most similar to human males. The feminine first name of this pioneer of the vasectomy makes me suspicious that it was actually a woman-in-disguise who pioneered this operation, in light of the fact that having this procedure performed is more times than not the brain-child of “Wifey.” The rest of this article will include some strategies and defensive dialog tips that will help you protect yourself when she confronts you with this brain-storm more accurately defined as a brain-fart. Around the world, tubal ligation is five times more likely to be the chosen method of surgical sterilization. Although, in England where a woman rules, vasectomies also rule. My wifey, an American woman, is of English decent: Coincidence? I don’t think so…The deck was stacked against me from the start. Here is a plan, my fellow man…To turn the tables:

Preemptive Strike- You have only one shot at this once-and-for-all solution to getting yourself and your balls off the hook. Because it is very simple, especially when a woman has a Cesarean section, to have her tubes tied immediately after child birth, if there is any chance that this will be your final round of procreation, then prepare your wife to give her doctor the green light to seal up the rest of those eggs in the basket…Keeping them out of the incubator. Be the first to say “C’mon Hun, there’s really nothing to it.” If that train has already left the station; too bad. There is no way you will be able to convince her that it is easier for her to be sterilized than it is for you, once she has left the hospital. Men can get a vasectomy in about twenty minutes, with a local anesthetic. It is a much bigger deal for a woman who would need general anesthesia, and a lot more time for this more invasive surgery. You missed this golden opportunity? Well, this crucial battle to save the lives of billions of innocent sperm isn’t over until the fat lady sings; “You Rolled Out Your Tanks, But They Only Shoot Blanks” Study this script and you may come out in tact:

Wifey- C’mon you baby, there’s really nothing to it. The Doctor will prescribe some Vicadin. You won’t feel a thing from the operation, or from the abrasions on your neck from the cone you’ll have to wear, only for a few days…If you think you can keep from licking the sutures.

Fertileman- Yeah, unless I fall into the 10%-35% margin of men who end up with Post-Vasectomy Pain Syndrome. That can go on for a lifetime after the pain pill script runs out. It varies in intensity and duration, but can be brought on by intercourse, or physical exertion. Would you rather make love or shovel snow?

Wifey- I’m willing to take my chances with that. But, if I knew there was no chance of getting knocked up again, and I didn’t have to bother with any of those other inconvenient forms of birth control, I would definitely be into doing it a lot more often.

Danger Will Robinson! – The promise of more action in the bedroom can convince a man to shave the hair off his ass with a dull razor, breaking the skin in some spots, and then soaking it in rubbing alcohol. Stand your ground on this; it’s her most effective attack…Your answer should be:

Fertileman- Sounds good in theory, but what happens if like the majority of men that have vasectomies, I end up losing my sex drive? (This is a blatant lie, there are no reports of any loss of libido after this operation, but if you think she has any intention of paying off on that bribe with more nookie, then you are as dumb as she thinks you are. Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire.)

Wifey- That’s BS! No one looses their sex drive after a vasectomy. (Damn it! She’s not as dumb as you think she is.)

Fertileman- What if we change our minds and decide we want another baby?

Wifey- Well, for about seven grand you could have it reversed. They’ve even invented a “valve” that can be placed in the vas deferens and turned on and off.

Fertileman- I think the only thing that could be more asinine than letting someone slice and dice my genitals, is paying someone $7,000.00 to do it again. Besides, if I go too long before a reversal, I can develop a sperm killing antibody so I wouldn’t even be a candidate for this procedure that is only 60%-70% successful anyway. Not to mention, a vasectomy causes problems with the sperm that could lead to birth defects should we conceive after the reversal operation. I would rather freeze some sperm first. Or better yet, adopt a child. What’s so great about my DNA anyway?

Wifey- Nothing; so you’re a lunatic if you think I’m birthing any more of your rug-rats. If you can’t do this one little thing for me, after all I’ve been through with pregnancy, and labor and delivery, bringing our children into the world, then your selfish ass can spend the night on the couch.

Fertileman- Fine then.

So go ahead, you and your sperm spend a lonely night or two on the couch. Before you know it she’ll be at the drugstore refilling that birth control prescription and the next argument will be over whose turn it is to change the baby’s diaper. Just hold out until she goes through menopause. If by then your selfish stubbornness in combination with her anger and depression for nature’s act of making HER sterile, which is not only known to happen to women at this time in their lives, but can actually be a similar psychological side effect occurring in men soon after a vasectomy, causes her to no longer want you or your DNA. When she gives you the boot then at least you will still be able to join the ranks with men like Tony Randall, Rod Stewart, and my Great Grandfather who have sired children in their past-fifty years.

Web Site and Blog Start Up: Basic Info

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin Leland) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:44:00 +0000

To: Bleu at The Farm Guide

I just know that your site is going to be a huge success! Until it starts making some revenue, don't worry about keeping everyone, me included, on a "pro-bono" status. Sometimes, for people like us, the few hundred dollars for the time and work invested amounts to nothing compared to the value of...Bylines and backlinks!

The byline on a newspaper or magazine article gives the name, and often the position, of the writer of the article. Bylines are traditionally placed between the headline and the text of the article, although some magazines (notably Reader's Digest) place bylines at the bottom of the page, to leave more room for graphical elements around the headline.

Backlinks (or back-links (UK)) are incoming links to a website or web page. In the search engine optimization (SEO) world, the number of backlinks is one indication of the popularity or importance of that website or page (though other measures, such as PageRank, are likely to be more important). Outside of SEO, the backlinks of a web page may be of significant personal, cultural or semantic interest: they indicate who is paying attention to that page.
In basic link terminology, a backlink is any link received by a web node (web page, directory, website, or top level domain) from another web node (Björneborn and Ingwersen, 2004). Backlinks are also known as incoming links, inbound links, inlinks, and inward links.

Because I'm trying to make a new career as a writer, my name on my articles can get people who read them interested in hiring me to write for them. The knack to writing for blogs, and the Internet in general, is that you have to:

a) Use common language, and make content short and sweet; 500-700 words. This is good for my style of writing, because I'm not an English major or a novelist. Including pictures is crucial, and also including some video - again, less is more, of a 2-10 minute duration is important. A strange paradox is that literacy is at an all time high...yet hardly anyone reads that much anymore!

b) Utilize Key words. These are words that search engines pick out of the articles, to determine the relevancy of your content to the searcher, and by Google algorithmic magic, returns your content on it's list -preferably on the first page as close to the top as possible. It's important to have the right keywords, especially in the title. It's also important to have them in the right concentration throughout-not too many or too few. How do you know what those best keywords are? There is a look up you can do online that will tell you how many times "cranberries" for instance, is searched on Google.

c) Tell a story. When people search for information, they can find it on Wikipedia, Wiki how, etc. This info is complete, and ultra informative, and usually comes up first in the search results. So, why would a person go to your website instead? That's where content writers and producers, affiliates, Ad Sense, and the interactive process of discussion groups and comment posting play an important part.

Content writers and producers- (that's me) offer information with a style that is more of a first person account, or story. Wouldn't most people read a story before an encyclopedia? These "stories" can link to places where the searcher can find the "thing" they are looking for, instead of just the information about it or definition of it. For example, my article about the Heyden's mushroom farm not only includes information about cultivating Shiitake mushrooms, but also links up to the Oyster Creek Mushroom Company web site where the searcher can do what they can't do on Wiki -buy 'em and try 'em. Another link I included is to a site where someone can purchase the spores to grow their own. Here is where everyone cooperates for a mutual benefit. We link to OCMC, and they link back to The Farm Guide. I link to both of you, and both of you back to me. Hence, backlinks...We keep traffic flowing through our sites, and some convert into sales of all kinds: I sell some writing services, OCMC sells some mushrooms, TFG sells some advertising, for example, by becoming an affiliate, or by publishing AdSense ads.

Affiliates- On my blog, you will notice advertisements for Amazon.com. I am an affiliate, which means I am signed up with them, so that if someone comes to their site, by clicking the link on my blog, and subsequently makes a purchase, I receive a small commish, about 75 cents on a book for example. Every company out there, big and small, offer some kind of affilliate program, with a cut of the potential sale.

Adsense- This is a type of affiliate deal, but differs in this way: If a person clicks on this link, and goes to the site that link draws them to, you get a "per click" payment, around 30 cents, even if they don't purchase anything at the site. There is also a type of adsense ad that just displays while the person is on your page, and again, you get a little money for that. Just DON'T click on your own ads! Google catches on to this, as well as other scams in nano seconds, and will drop you post haste.

Like television and radio, a web site is supported and driven by advertising during your show (of content), on your network (web site or blog). What is revolutionary, and so much better about this type of advertising, is that unlike TV, where everyone has to sit through ads about everything from hemorrhoid cream to tampons, on the Internet the ads are targeted right at the individual whom by the content he is looking at, it can be determined with great specificity that the ad applies to him. For example, I have suffered from hemorrhoids only a few times, but in 41 years have not once gotten a period. It is almost scary how the Google robot can read what is on the page, and quickly post an adsense ad that applies. One time I was in the dog house, and from there was e-mailing my wife. The robot read our e-mails and returned results that showed it knew what we were saying. One advertised a book titled "Ring or Fling Decide Which Finger to Give Him!"

The confidence I have in "The Farm Guide" being a success is founded in the fact that this type of site is what is referred to as a "niche" site. Let me explain by example. If you were going to develop a web site that was going to take orders and deliver books and dvd's, I would laugh at you, and say good luck with that! I would be thinking that you wouldn't stand a snowballs chance in Hell of competing with Amazon.com. But a site that sells mushroom spores, hydroponic equipment, fish emulsion fertilizer, and so on...I'm on board for that. Why? Because there is no such thing as "The Fish Shit Depot". Niche means less competition with huge conglomerates and therefore more payoff.

I hope this was informative. Thanks again for including me in this venture of yours. I'm sure that none of us will be disappointed.