tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-335307852024-03-12T20:08:27.556-04:00Tom FoxTom Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11382119491604433679noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33530785.post-18076555210592778182023-02-26T07:16:00.003-05:002023-02-26T07:16:35.265-05:00Structured data<p> <span style="background-color: #f7f7f8; color: #374151; font-family: Söhne, ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Structured data refers to a standardized format for providing additional information about web content to search engines. This structured data is usually presented in the form of metadata, which is added to the HTML code of a web page.</span></p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: #f7f7f8; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; color: #374151; font-family: Söhne, ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.25em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Structured data is important for SEO because it helps search engines understand the content of a page better. By providing structured data, you can give search engines more context about your content, including what it's about, who wrote it, and when it was published. This can help search engines index your content more accurately, and display it in a more useful way in search results.</p><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: #f7f7f8; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; color: #374151; font-family: Söhne, ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.25em 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some common types of structured data include:</p><ul style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: #f7f7f8; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; color: #374151; display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: Söhne, ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 16px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 1.25em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1rem; white-space: pre-wrap;"><li style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0.375em; position: relative;"><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">Schema.org markup: This is a set of standardized tags that can be added to web pages to provide additional information about the content. For example, you might use Schema.org markup to indicate that a certain section of text is a recipe, or to mark up reviews of products or services.</p></li><li style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0.375em; position: relative;"><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">Open Graph markup: This is a set of tags used to provide information about a web page to social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Open Graph tags can be used to specify the title, description, and image that should be displayed when a page is shared on social media.</p></li><li style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0.375em; position: relative;"><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">JSON-LD: This is a format for adding structured data to web pages in a way that is easily readable by both humans and machines. JSON-LD is becoming increasingly popular for adding structured data to web pages, particularly for e-commerce sites.</p></li></ul><p style="--tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: #f7f7f8; border: 0px solid rgb(217, 217, 227); box-sizing: border-box; color: #374151; font-family: Söhne, ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 16px; margin: 1.25em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Overall, structured data is an important aspect of SEO that can help your content stand out in search results and provide more context to search engines about what your site is all about.</p>Tom Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11382119491604433679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33530785.post-84855104058470706172022-02-10T17:08:00.003-05:002022-04-07T19:11:50.872-04:00Using structured data to boost organic search traffic<p> If you pay attention to Google search results, you have surely noticed how often your searches result in a list of questions, with answers, at the top of the results page. SEO experts have dubbed these "snippets" as<b> search position zero</b>. It's better than a top search ranking.</p><p>There are a few tricks to have Google serve your web page's in their snippet list. The main secret is to implement structured data. </p><p>Structured data is additional code embedded in your page HTML. There are several different methods by which this can be accomplished, as more fully described by Google's Developer's Guide, <a href="https://developers.google.com/custom-search/docs/structured_data" target="_blank">Providing Structured Data</a>. </p><p>I have recently created a blog post, <a href="https://law-fox.blogspot.com/2022/02/basics-of-kentucky-auto-accident-law.html" target="_blank">Basics of Kentucky Accident Law</a>, with a series of frequently asked questions and answers. </p><p>Google recommends using the JSON-LD standard, but I opted for the HTML 5 Microdata format because it produces smaller pages with better performance. With JSON-LD all visible web content must be duplicated in a <script> container, thus doubling page size.</p><p>We'll see how well it works.</p><p><br /></p>Tom Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11382119491604433679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33530785.post-14002814523723999692021-08-15T16:23:00.006-04:002021-08-15T16:24:37.015-04:00Your logo is not your brand<h1 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Your logo is not your brand</span></h1><span id="docs-internal-guid-36d1356c-7fff-843c-1b90-2c276270d8df"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In modern usage, a brand is a combination of factors that specifically identify a company, product, or individual. The aspects that can define a brand may include words, typography, images, colors, sound, music, taste, aroma or feel. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Plop, plop. Fizz, fizz. Oh what a relief it is.”</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A brand may also incorporate wholly abstract concepts.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Nobody ever got fired by buying IBM.”</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A goal of effective branding is to be memorable, unique and meaningful.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The tactics of effective branding require consistency across all media channels.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>If you confuse, you lose.</b></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Logos and slogans are an important part of branding, but they are only a part of a larger marketing strategy. Ideally, logos should be designed with the marketing strategy in mind. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The main factors that go into a logo design:</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Words</b> - usually a company or product name, although a well known slogan may be a substitute. Some logos are just images, without any words. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Typography</b> - a distinctive font style may be an identifying characteristic.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Image</b> - Usually an illustration. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Colors</b> - More subtle than other elements, but still important.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Style</b> - Abstract, stylized, retro, minimalist, etc. The style of a logo affects the typography, image and colors that are used.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A logo may be displayed using a wide variety of methods, sizes and resolutions.. The appearance and ease of transfer among different media and scale is a design consideration.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For example, a full color logo that works well with digital printing may be impossible to transfer to screen printing methods.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Branding:</b> the active process of shaping the perceptions that consumers have about your brand.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A brand is the perception of a person, company or product in the eyes of the world. Some brands are firmly connected to a specific individual (Michael Jordan), some identify a business (Apple), and others relate only to a product or line of products irrespective of ownership (Pillsbury).</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Branding is the marketing practice of actively shaping a distinctive brand.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Brand identity is the collection of all tangible brand elements that a company creates to portray the desired image of itself to the consumer.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is entirely possible to create a brand identity without having a logo. A name, a face and a reputation are enough. Most businesses, however, do have logos, and they strive for something short, sweet, distinctive and memorable.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A logo is the one image that will come to mind when people think of your company. You see a swoosh on a sneaker or golden arches off the freeway and you are instantly connected to the brand. You want the same for your company.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The form and shape of design elements like your logo can be used to subtly elicit a specific reaction from your customers. A logo that is all circles and soft edges will inspire a very different reaction from a logo that’s sharp and triangular.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Logos serve 3 key functions:</b></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To communicate key information about your brand, like the industry or specific clientele you serve</span></li><li><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To differentiate you from the competition</span></li><li><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To build brand recognition in the market</span></li></ul><p></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>There are seven basic types of logos</b></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lettermarks/Monograms</span></li><li><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wordmarks</span></li><li><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pictorial logo images</span></li><li><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Abstract logo images</span></li><li><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Emblem logo marks</span></li><li><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mascots</span></li><li><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Combination marks</span></li></ol><p></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A lot of thought goes into creating a unique, distinctive, and memorable logo. A first step is to research the logos of competitors in your industry. It should be fairly easy to spot the generic designs that have been overused. Avoid them. Do something else.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Dare to be different.</b></span></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span>Tom Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11382119491604433679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33530785.post-42129449125796851832021-08-02T08:31:00.002-04:002021-08-02T08:31:31.960-04:00Getting indexed<p> My current challenge is to drive traffic to the group of twelve web pages offering personalized Happy Birthday Mugs! that I designed. The hope is to sell a few mugs.</p><p>My first step was to submit a sitemap for these twelve pages to Google Search Console.</p><p>I did this on July 29. As of this morning, August 2nd, exactly <u><b>one</b></u> of these twelve pages were crawled and indexed by Google.</p><p>I want all of these pages to be indexed by Google. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.adverlabads.com/mugs/birthday/birthday_mug-10.php" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank" title="link to BEST DAD Happy Birthday Gift Mug!"><img alt="BEST DAD Happy Birthday Gift Mug" border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--xS3tMhd-TM/YQfhjj6uyJI/AAAAAAAAE3o/Ul7_UBfay7IW_LUbaBFOeGtqnOt1MkqDQCLcBGAsYHQ/w200-h200/09b-birthday_300.jpg" title="BEST DAD Birthday Mug" width="200" /></a></div><p>I'd especially like for this specific <a href="https://www.adverlabads.com/mugs/birthday/birthday_mug-10.php" target="_blank">BEST DAD Happy Birthday Gift Mug!</a> to be indexed by Google next, please.</p><p>Clearly, writing about gift mugs and linking to particular web pages in a blog post about search engine optimization is one small step toward reaching my goal of full index coverage, high placement search results, massive web traffic, and a steady flow of cash.</p><p>The mug image to the left also links to the mug offer page, with key words included in the image alt and title tags. </p><p>I hope it works!</p><p>Only time will tell, and it isn't easy to determine which efforts are effective, and which are not. </p><p>-------</p><p>Tom Fox<br />Graphic Design and Marketing<br />Somerset, Kentucky<br />606-219-6982<br />tomwfox@gmail.com<br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ThomasXFox">https://www.facebook.com/ThomasXFox</a><br /></p>Tom Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11382119491604433679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33530785.post-56800876537614308662021-08-01T11:52:00.007-04:002021-08-01T11:54:39.659-04:00Fine tuning the SEO<p> Now I go back an rethink the use of keywords in this collection of related web pages. </p><p>I generally use a fixed directory for my web sites, so that all related pages with similar content are stored in an appropriately named directory. For example:</p><p><a href="https://www.adverlabads.com/mugs/birthday/birthday_mug-catalog.html">https://www.adverlabads.com/<span style="color: red;">mugs</span>/<span style="color: #04ff00;">birthday</span>/<span style="color: #ff00fe;">birthday_mug</span>-catalog.html</a></p><p>This is a link to my collection of <a href="https://www.adverlabads.com/mugs/birthday/birthday_mug-catalog.html" target="_blank">custom Happy Birthday Mugs</a> <br /></p><p>Directory "mugs" contains a sub-directory "birthday" which contains a collection of page files named "birthday_mug-01 through -10" I'm hoping this is a clear enough indication these pages relate to birthday mugs.</p><p>Next on my list after the file name is the page title. For the purpose of transparency, the page title should reflect the product name, which in turn ought to be an accurate reflection of what the product actually is. We aren't trying to fool anyone about what we are offering, and we do not want any confusion.</p><p><b>If you confuse, you lose.</b></p><p> First: What key words do I wish to promote?</p><p>I generally use Google's own Keyword Planning tool in its<b> </b>Google Ads site.</p><p>Starting with "birthday mug," Google suggests:</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>happy birthday mug</li><li>birthday gift mugs </li><li>birthday coffee mug</li><li>personalized birthday mug</li><li>30th birthday mug</li><li>40th birthday mug</li><li>50th birthday mug</li><li>60th birthday mug</li></ul><div><p><b>SEO steps already taken:</b></p><p>Page title: <title>Custom Happy Birthday Mug - with age and message</title></p><p>Meta tag: <meta name="description" content="Black 11oz ceramic mug with age, custom Happy Birthday wish and name personalization"></p><p>Facebook Open Graph tag: <meta property="og:description" content="Black 11oz ceramic mug with age, custom Happy Birthday wish and name personalization" /></p><p>JSON metadata microformat:"description": "Black 11oz ceramic mug with age, custom Happy Birthday wish and name personalization"</p><p><b>Question:</b> Should these three descriptions, all in the head section of the page, be identical, or should there be some variation?</p><p><b>NEXT:</b></p><p>Image searches on Google are a separate category, and it is important that page images be clearly and accurately identified through the use of image alt tags and key words.</p><p>Key words can be associated with links through the linked text or the href title tag.</p><p>Descriptive text in the body of the page can incorporate key words and phrases.</p><p><b>Onward and Upward!</b><br /><b></b></p><p><br /></p></div>Tom Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11382119491604433679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33530785.post-56705167932627964302021-08-01T08:09:00.000-04:002021-08-01T08:09:11.287-04:00How do you know where you are in search results?<p> Achieving a high placement in Google search results is the aim of all search engine optimization efforts. Showing up near the top of page one is pure gold. The more prominent your web site is in search results, the more free organic traffic your site receives.</p><p>But, how do you know how well your site is doing in Google search?</p><p>The short answer is <a href="https://search.google.com/search-console" target="_blank">Google Search Console</a>. </p><p>Once you get your site registered and verified, and you submit a sitemap of your webpages for Google to index, then Google starts to collect data about your site's performance.</p><p>As you can see from this screenshot, once you select a time period (going back as far as 16 months) Google will show you the average search position for all pages during that time period.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5JttmSPeTpw/YQaOQHehcRI/AAAAAAAAE2g/xOSM8zh4e5cqfIRFMv8IdvZG1aNCr4MWACLcBGAsYHQ/s924/Seaech-console-2021-07-31-b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="433" data-original-width="924" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5JttmSPeTpw/YQaOQHehcRI/AAAAAAAAE2g/xOSM8zh4e5cqfIRFMv8IdvZG1aNCr4MWACLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h300/Seaech-console-2021-07-31-b.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Tom Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11382119491604433679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33530785.post-70028998619559965292021-07-31T17:08:00.000-04:002021-07-31T17:08:02.742-04:00The measure of success<p> Peter Drucker once said, more or less, that it's impossible to manage anything that cannot be measured.</p><p>The important measure of success in any for-profit business is whether it made a profit. That is why God, in Her wisdom, invented CPAs.</p><p>But, there's a lot that goes into building a business long before making a profit is a realistic option. These business-building activities also need also to be measured, over time, simply to know if any of our activity is effective.</p><p>My efforts this week to design custom Happy Birthday Mugs, and to make them available on my web site, might have been totally misguided since there appears to be little search traffic for those key words.</p><p>About 400 searches per month for "birthday mugs", according to my research. That's not a lot.</p><p>However, the work has already been done. I've learned a few things with transfer value. And, with such a low demand set of key words, getting onto the first page of Google search might be a realistic possibility. </p><p>That would be better than nothing, yes?</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ts1s8m5s8Bw/YQW3aVOLYOI/AAAAAAAAE2M/V16gESAdSsgrzZtUaCFqxvacfbSZd24hQCLcBGAsYHQ/s900/web-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="849" data-original-width="900" height="302" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ts1s8m5s8Bw/YQW3aVOLYOI/AAAAAAAAE2M/V16gESAdSsgrzZtUaCFqxvacfbSZd24hQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/web-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>This is the general schema for the Happy Birthday gift mug unit on my web site. Eleven individual mugs with their own separate sales page, chain linked to each other, and all cross-linked to a central catalog page.</p><p>There are zero out-bound links. This is a Page Rank sink. </p><p>Each individual <a href="https://www.adverlabads.com/mugs/birthday/birthday_mug-02.php" target="_blank">birthday gift mug</a> page contains verified micro-data entries describing the merchandise.</p><p>Each separate gift mug page uses Facebooks's Open Graph tags and have prominent page share buttons.</p><p>Each page is hand-coded html with minimal PHP or javascript, in an attempt to make them ruthlessly fast loading. </p><p>Each page is designed to be mobile adaptive and accessible. We have not yet attempted key word optimization,but we will get around to that very soon.</p><p>My objective is to generate some organic traffic and to boost the search results position.</p><p>Here is the baseline starting point, taken today from Google Analytics and Google Search Console.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3UYqXWgtLDI/YQW3aVaxilI/AAAAAAAAE2Y/asfsxSHICSUGRMDSHui-UzXACBvG5K7NACPcBGAYYCw/s671/aNALYTICS-7-31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="486" data-original-width="671" height="464" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3UYqXWgtLDI/YQW3aVaxilI/AAAAAAAAE2Y/asfsxSHICSUGRMDSHui-UzXACBvG5K7NACPcBGAYYCw/w640-h464/aNALYTICS-7-31.jpg" width="640" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DX4WnOQBU4s/YQW3aZXVO4I/AAAAAAAAE2c/WhugIMENTqosuRe-c0S5jfOjGQ0GCkVvwCPcBGAYYCw/s924/Seaech-console-2021-07-31-a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="433" data-original-width="924" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DX4WnOQBU4s/YQW3aZXVO4I/AAAAAAAAE2c/WhugIMENTqosuRe-c0S5jfOjGQ0GCkVvwCPcBGAYYCw/w640-h300/Seaech-console-2021-07-31-a.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /> </div><br /><p><br /></p><p> </p><p><br /></p>Tom Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11382119491604433679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33530785.post-68056934835060224182021-07-30T08:25:00.003-04:002021-07-30T10:59:19.337-04:00Something to sell<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> The minimum requirements for a successful business:</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Have something to sell that people want to buy at a price that is profitable.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">People are strange. It's impossible to accurately guess what they want to buy. It's necessary to do research and to do testing to minimize risk.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A useful modern barometer of market demand are online search trends and volume. If folks are searching for something online, it's possible they would be interested in buying it when they find it. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Yesterday, I installed the "Keyword Surfer" extension on my Chrome browser. <a href="https://surferseo.com/keyword-surfer-extension/" target="_blank">Keyword Surfer</a> is a free SEO (<i>Search Engine Optimization</i>) tool that reports monthly keyword search volume, with suggestions.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Since one of my favorite print on demand graphic design projects is coffee mugs, I am looking at custom mugs as a possibility for my "something to sell." </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Keyword Surfer reports there are 74,000 monthly searches for the keyword "mugs" and more than 40,000 searches for "custom mug." This, I would think, is a fairly clear indication of market demand, but it is too broad in scope to be practical. I need something more focused.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Last weekend I launched a project to come up with ten custom birthday gift mugs in ten days, and to build a web structure abound then. I'm almost finished with that challenge, well ahead of schedule, since it's only been six days. I have eleven custom birthday gift mugs installed on Zazzle, and ready to go, and the <a href="https://www.adverlabads.com/mugs/birthday/birthday_mug-catalog.html" target="_blank">birthday gift mugs</a> web pages are almost complete.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Keyword Surfer shows only 480 monthly searches for the term "birthday mugs" and zero searches for "birthday gift mugs."</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I should have done my research first, before spending effort on birthday gift mugs.<br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></p>Tom Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11382119491604433679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33530785.post-62604956196057880642021-07-29T22:51:00.001-04:002021-07-29T22:51:48.642-04:00How to make money with Print on Demand (POD)<p> I started in layout and design for print at the dawn of the digital print age, in the early 1990s</p><p>The revolution began with desktop publishing. Then digital photography.</p><p>Full color printing became affordable, and there was plenty of work opportunities if you had a computer and knew how to use it.</p><p>Today, it is possible to print anything on anything, and nearly anyone can do it. But, if everything is possible and anyone with a phone has the tools to make it happen, the value of experience and ability is not actually cheapened any.</p><p>But it is a lot more difficult to sell.</p><p>The beauty of print on demand is the ability to produce a single unique artifact, whether it's a coffee mug or a washcloth, at an affordable price. </p><p>It is still not as inexpensive as the per unit cost of a mass produced artifact, but the overall cost is substantially less. If you only need one or two, and have no need for a thousand, print on demand provides the means.</p><p>Herein lies the business opportunity.<br /></p><p><br /></p>Tom Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11382119491604433679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33530785.post-20415560177534628942019-04-23T23:10:00.003-04:002019-04-23T23:10:42.003-04:00Photos of Old Louisville Landmarks - St. Louis Bertrand Catholic ChurchWhen Carmen and I lived in Old Louisville a few years back, one of my favorite things to do on nice days was to walk around the neighborhood taking snap shots with a digital camera. I do love digital photography for a number of reasons. No film, no processing and no delay. Plus, things were possible with digital photos that wold have been impossible, or very difficult, with old film photography.<br />
<br />
One of the challenges of photographing Old Louisville landmarks, like churches and mansions, is the large size of the buildings and the lack of space within which a clear shot was possible.<br />
<br />
Getting the entire building in one frame was often simply impossible, and stitching together half a dozen photos was frequently necessary. Then, there were telephone and power wires to contend with.<br />
<br />
Anyway. I did it, and now I have put my photography work in Old Louisville on postcards and t-shirts. Here is <a href="https://www.zazzle.com/st_louis_bertrand_catholic_church_shirt-235566777155999562" target="_blank">St. Louis Bertrand Catholic Church</a>.<br />
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<div style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.zazzle.com/st_louis_bertrand_catholic_church_shirt-235566777155999562"><img alt="St. Louis Bertrand Catholic Church Shirt" src="https://rlv.zcache.com/st_louis_bertrand_catholic_church_shirt-r6886fd041c954ad8b52d6549efe51c82_k2gm8_1024.jpg?max_dim=325" style="border: 0;" /></a><br />
<a href="https://www.zazzle.com/st_louis_bertrand_catholic_church_shirt-235566777155999562">St. Louis Bertrand Catholic Church Shirt</a><br />
by <a href="https://www.zazzle.com/store/tomwfox">Old Louisville</a></div>
<br />Tom Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11382119491604433679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33530785.post-63723045061167439452019-02-27T16:59:00.002-05:002019-02-27T17:05:56.233-05:00<h2>
Seven miracle angels - art by Carmen Cameron</h2>
This angel artwork was created by Carmen Cameron from 2004 to 2006, while she was living in Louisville, Kentucky. We combined the art with text in 2008 and put the resulting angel images and inspiring miracle sayings on a variety of clothing and merchandise, including coffee cups and baby apparel, through CafePress, at <a href="https://www.cafepress.com/angelicvisions/3422228" target="_blank">Angels and Miracles Angelic Visions</a>. This is just a small sample.<br />
<span style="display: inline-block; height: 350px; padding: 5px; text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="https://www.cafepress.com/angelicvisions/3422228" target="_blank"><img alt="Your mid is capable of creating worlds" border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="350" div="" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0E9y-NdSSMI/XHahyWg-w1I/AAAAAAAAENA/2xPMn3QXXwQx7tTBwYxBFBgszq7dTiJ9ACLcBGAs/s320/acim-sayings-create-worlds.jpg" width="266" /></a><br />
<br />
World creation angel<br />
</span><br />
<br />
<span style="display: inline-block; height: 350px; padding: 5px; text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="https://www.cafepress.com/angelicvisions/3422228" target="_blank"><img alt="Child of God you were created to create the good the beautiful and the holy" border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-n3rdhyFeGTQ/XHalfnTAd4I/AAAAAAAAENM/BfY3b_YtxaI9BbpheTTWZtXZ7rtDvdM5QCLcBGAs/s320/acim-sayings-dance.jpg" width="266" /></a><br />
Child of God angel<br />
</span><br />
<span style="display: inline-block; height: 350px; padding: 5px; text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="https://www.cafepress.com/angelicvisions/3422228" target="_blank"><img alt="The truly helpful are Gods miracle workers" border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rJlWZw5J4O8/XHapQZw7UcI/AAAAAAAAENY/PXQQRygqpksqQo6TFvsEvWs6AbEZoDzNQCLcBGAs/s320/acim-sayings-helpful.jpg" width="266" /></a><br />
Truly helpful angel<br />
</span><br />
<span style="display: inline-block; height: 350px; padding: 5px; text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="https://www.cafepress.com/angelicvisions/3422228" target="_blank"><img alt="Offer each other the gift of lilies" border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6yLkXizCvIU/XHar4HVFu8I/AAAAAAAAENk/XccpfEd_vOoK06aFTDl748fjnAhJ_TmLwCLcBGAs/s320/acim-sayings-lilies.jpg" width="266" /></a><br />
Gift of peace angel<br />
</span><br />
<span style="display: inline-block; height: 350px; padding: 5px; text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="https://www.cafepress.com/angelicvisions/3422228" target="_blank"><img alt="God created every living thing and loves it" border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BjsumcRRDpU/XHasuBkuIQI/AAAAAAAAENs/6_VpMmV7Ito6oYttfu_ykw1sSPOge8kfgCLcBGAs/s320/acim-sayings-living-things.jpg" width="266" /></a><br />
God's creation angel<br />
</span><br />
<span style="display: inline-block; height: 350px; padding: 5px; text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="https://www.cafepress.com/angelicvisions/3422228" target="_blank"><img alt="Love is what you are" border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kZ-sLkl4WNI/XHati2ceb3I/AAAAAAAAEN4/i_g6gDovxMooNMNoA-GpJM19iw2Q-QMWACLcBGAs/s320/acim-sayings-love.jpg" width="266" /></a><br />
Love angel<br />
</span><br />
<span style="display: inline-block; height: 350px; padding: 5px; text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="https://www.cafepress.com/angelicvisions/3422228" target="_blank"><img alt="Gods will for you is perfect happiness" border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7IzFxtME5YU/XHat6TEWNVI/AAAAAAAAEOA/NEuPevjyGS8I3j2aiIUKEfAp_jTU5hJMQCLcBGAs/s320/acim-sayings-perfect-happin.jpg" width="266" /></a><br />
Happiness angel<br />
</span><br />
by <a href="https://www.cafepress.com/angelicvisions">Angels and Miracles</a><br />
Find more <a href="https://www.cafepress.com/angelicvisions/15876770" target="_blank">Healthy Baby Angel baby clothing</a><br />
and <a href="https://www.cafepress.com/angelicvisions">unique angel gifts</a> at CafePressTom Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11382119491604433679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33530785.post-21838630603382072142019-02-26T17:41:00.003-05:002021-03-12T23:15:59.795-05:001971 - One Hundred Years of Rex, King of Carnival1971 - One Hundred Years of Rex, King of Carnival<br />
<br />
Mardi Gras Centennial Ball celebrating one hundred years of Rex on Shrove Tuesday, February 23, 1971 in New Orleans, Louisiana.<br />
<br />
Invitation and envelope postmarked February 9, 1971.<br />
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Tom Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11382119491604433679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33530785.post-45427348500618733042014-10-23T11:10:00.001-04:002014-10-23T11:10:30.189-04:00In admiration of violetsViola is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants with over 500 species around the world. The Common Blue Violet (<i><b>Viola sororia)</b></i> is the type best known here in Kentucky as an early spring wildflower. Not everyone likes violets in their lawn, but their heart shaped low growing leaves can be an attractive ornamental yard feature when grown in clumps, borders or as a ground cover.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ECI97ExXEPg/VEkYMB5e1uI/AAAAAAAACdQ/63XbBC2nSrI/s1600/01-IMG_0117-600px.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ECI97ExXEPg/VEkYMB5e1uI/AAAAAAAACdQ/63XbBC2nSrI/s1600/01-IMG_0117-600px.jpg" /> </a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aC3lffg6BIE/VEkYW9jtlSI/AAAAAAAACdY/rV3gROxBs48/s1600/02-IMG_0119-600px.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aC3lffg6BIE/VEkYW9jtlSI/AAAAAAAACdY/rV3gROxBs48/s1600/02-IMG_0119-600px.jpg" /></a></div>
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These Midwestern wild violets generally bloom in the Spring and produce seed pods in the Fall. The violet seed pods can be gathered before they explode. Store the seed pods in a paper sack while they dry out and pop open. Listening to the seed pods pop in a paper bag is like listening to microwave popcorn . . . in slow motion.<br />
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Tom Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11382119491604433679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33530785.post-81469314054820602912013-08-18T12:17:00.002-04:002013-08-19T08:14:32.331-04:00Little Leather Library Identification GuideFor the history of the Little Leather Library and a list of published titles,<br />
see the <a href="http://tomwfox.blogspot.com/p/little-leather-library.html" target="_blank">Little Leather Library Page</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>There are different types of Little Leather Library books</b><br />
<br />
The details of Little Leather Library publications were not well documented at the time. The publishers did not seem to have much concern for the curiosity for those of us who come poking around some one hundred years later. The publishers were busy adapting to changing times and experimenting with new marketing and printing technology. It now seems odd to think of what they did as ever being "new," for now, to us, it is all very old. The publishers were busy making money and did not give much thought to the fact they were also making history.<br />
<br />
The big watershed event of the early Twentieth Century was World War I, and the impact of that global cataclysm is reflected in the changing face of the books produced by the Little Leather Library over ten short years. There are the pre-WWI Little Leather Library books made with genuine leather and the post-WWI books made with imitation leather.<br />
<br />
Seeing the different types of Little Leather Library books side-by-side, it is easy to notice the difference between the real and the fake leather covers, However cheesy the early fake leather covers are upon close examination, the fakes are still good enough to fool people today. Either people don't bother to look closely or the power of the name, Little <b>Leather</b> Library, is enough to make many see what isn't there.<br />
<br />
I've been watching people buy and sell Little Leather Library book on eBay for about ten years, I still see folks who describe the fake leather books as "genuine leather" and I laugh to myself.<br />
<br />
The Little Leather Library Corporation of New York started off in 1915 making real leather covered books. When World War I caused serious leather shortages, the switch was made to imitation leather-like book covers. My research suggests the imitation leather was an early cellulose-based plastic impregnated canvas fabric that was embossed with a texture on one side and a flocking on the other. This synthetic leather was produced by DuPont and it was further embossed and printed over by the publisher.<br />
<br />
I have seen five clearly different types of Little Leather Library books with one minor variation. The first two types have genuine leather covers and predate WWI and the last three types have the DuPont fake leather covers after WWI into the 1920s.<br />
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<b>Before the War - Genuine Leather</b><br />
It's hard to know for sure which came first, Type I or Type II. Based upon the general scarcity of the Type I volumes in the marketplace, and for other reasons, I believe Type I came first in time before Type II. That is why I names it Type I. I have no doubt that both the real leather Types I and Types II were manufactured before World War I.<br />
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<img alt=" photo 01arabian-a1.jpg" border="0" src="http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r613/tomwfox/Little%20Leather%20Library/01arabian-a1.jpg" style="float: left; margin-right: 25px;" /><br />
<b>Type I</b><br />
Distinguishing marks:<br />
<ul>
<li>Soft suede real leather covers.</li>
<li>Leather dyed different bright colors. Blue, green etc.</li>
<li>Book title and "Little Leather Library" embossed on front cover</li>
<li>Pages sewn into signatures with end papers glued to inside front and back covers</li>
<li>Limited number of titles.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<img alt=" photo 01arabian-a1.jpg" border="0" src="http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r613/tomwfox/Little%20Leather%20Library/02Shaw-a1.jpg" style="float: left; margin-right: 25px;" /><br />
<b>Type II</b><br />
Distinguishing marks:<br />
<ul>
<li>Soft polished leather covers.</li>
<li>Natural leather color.covers</li>
<li>Book title embossed on front cover</li>
<li>"Little Leather Library" embossed on back cover</li>
<li>Pages sewn into signatures with end papers glued to inside front and back covers</li>
<li>Expanded number of titles.</li>
</ul>
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b>
<b>After World War I and Into the Roaring Twenties - Fake Leatherette</b><br />
<br />
<br />
<img src="http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r613/tomwfox/Little%20Leather%20Library/Type-III-450px.jpg" /><br />
<br />
<b>Type III</b><br />
Distinguishing marks:<br />
<ul>
<li>Red leatherette covers.</li>
<li>Book title and "Miniature Library" printed on front cover with gold ink.</li>
<li>"Little Leather Library Corporation New York" on title page.</li>
<li>Pages sewn into signatures but no end paper.</li>
</ul>
<b>Type IIIa</b> and <b>Type IIIb</b> differ mainly in that:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Type IIIa is one-eighth inch taller than Type IIIb, </li>
<li>The two types are different shades of red,</li>
<li>The<b> Type IIIa</b> cover.has only the texture of the underlying canvas fabric whereas <b>Type IIIb</b> covers are embossed with a granular-pebbly texture . </li>
</ul>
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It's anybody''s guess which came first.My guess is that type IIIa came first.<br />
<br />
<img src="http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r613/tomwfox/Little%20Leather%20Library/04-error-a1.jpg" style="float: left; margin-right: 25px;" /><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Type IV</b><br />
<br />
Type IV is the common Redcroft Edition with the familiar brownish-green covers. Millions of these volumes were printed and mass-marketed in the early 1920s, before 1924 when ownership of the Little Leather Library changed hands.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Distinguishing marks:<br />
<ul>
<li>Brown leatherette covers.overprinted with green ink.</li>
<li>Book title and author embossed on front cover.</li>
<li>"Little Leather Library" and "Redcroft Edition" embossed on back cover.</li>
<li>Leather-like "grain" embossed onto cover material</li>
<li>Unfortunate tendency to stick together due to green ink overprint</li>
<li>Pages sewn into signatures but no end paper.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<img src="http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r613/tomwfox/Little%20Leather%20Library/05-tempest-a1.jpg" style="float: left; margin-right: 25px;" /><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Type V</b><br />
<br />
Ownership of the Little Leather Library changed hands in 1924. The next new edition bore the name "Little Luxart Library" and was published by Robert K.Haas, Inc.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Distinguishing marks:<br />
<ul>
<li>Bright red leatherette covers</li>
<li>Book title and author embossed on front cover</li>
<li>"Little Luxart Library" embossed on back cover.</li>
<li>"Robert K. Haas, Inc. Publishers, (Formerly Little Leather Library Corporation)" printed on inside title page</li>
<li>Pages sewn into signatures but no end paper.</li>
</ul>
Tom Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11382119491604433679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33530785.post-26387469251135470712013-08-05T16:09:00.001-04:002013-08-05T16:09:05.942-04:00Zenit-122 SLR Camera User's Manual - EnglishThe Zenit 122 is a 35mm SLR film camera with a through-the-lens light meter and split-screen manual lens focus. It was made in the U.S.S.R.<br />
This is the Owner's Manual, in English, that came with the camera from Russia.<br />
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<div style="-x-system-font: none; display: block; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 12px auto 6px auto;">
<a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/158285374/Zenit-122-SLR-Camera-User-s-Manual-English" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="View Zenit 122 SLR Camera User's Manual - English on Scribd">Zenit 122 SLR Camera User's Manual - English</a><br />
scanned by <a href="http://www.scribd.com/tomwfox" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="View Tom Fox's profile on Scribd">Tom Fox</a></div>
<iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" data-aspect-ratio="1.375" data-auto-height="false" frameborder="0" height="600" id="doc_74251" scrolling="no" src="http://www.scribd.com/embeds/158285374/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-2owmxamexo2lwvydtevi&show_recommendations=true" width="100%"></iframe>Tom Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11382119491604433679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33530785.post-13538139848288619452013-07-14T08:17:00.004-04:002013-07-21T19:08:35.345-04:00Charles H. Bradford, silversmithCharles H. Bradford (1821-1903) was a 19th Century American silversmith, jeweler and watchmaker from Westerly, Washington County, Rhode Island, who went west in his middle age. Bradford advertised his related trade crafts in the 1860 <u><i>New Albany Directory, City Guide, and Business Mirror</i></u>, in Indiana, where he settled for several decades.<br />
<br />
Charles H. Bradford is also listed in the 1871-1872 edition of <u><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=-kTWAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank">William's New Albany</a></u> Directory at 93 Pearl Street, for watches and jewelry.<br />
<br />
Bradford is documented online in William Erik Voss's <a href="http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~silversmiths/makers/silversmiths/8260.htm" target="_blank">American Silversmiths</a>.<br />
<br />
Surviving examples of Bradford's silversmith work seem to be sparse. A single <a href="http://museumcollection.winterthur.org/single-record.php?resultsperpage=60&view=catalog&srchtype=advanced&hasImage=&ObjObjectName=&CreOrigin=Cincinnati&Earliest=&Latest=&CreCreatorLocal_tab=&materialsearch=&ObjObjectID=&ObjCategory=&DesMaterial_tab=&DesTechnique_tab=&AccCreditLineLocal=&CreMarkSignature=&recid=1984.0005.345&srchfld=&srchtxt=&id=c14d&rownum=1#.UeKPntJON7u" target="_blank">silver teaspoon crafted by Bradford</a> was donated as part of a memorial to his wife by prominent Cincinnati attorney Vincent H. Beckman to the duPont Winterthur Museum near Wilmington, Delaware.<br />
<br />
This Bradford teaspoon was but one piece in a larger silver spoon collection donated by Beckman to the Winterthur Museum.<br />
<br />
Other than that, there is hardly any mention of Bradford or his work online.<br />
<br />
Here are two samples of Bradford's silversmith work: A berry spoon and a butter knife. Since these are family pieces from the general New Albany, Indiana area, I assume they were crafted by Bradford when had his shop there during and after the Civil War.<br />
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The hand-tooled decorative design on the butter knife is distinctive.</div>
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<span id="goog_1730320829"></span><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UNdibRi1wzI/UeKWGu2yoPI/AAAAAAAACME/wwEku6iesks/s1600/DSC_6530-500px.jpg" /><span id="goog_1730320830"></span></div>
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Bradford's mark. "CHAS. H. BRADFORD."</div>
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<br />Tom Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11382119491604433679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33530785.post-77596705420819334832013-02-23T08:22:00.000-05:002013-02-24T13:21:53.433-05:00Flea Club Mardi Gras DoubloonsAs I recently heard the story, some time ago the Elks of Olreanians started a populist Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans so that ordinary people who were not part of the exclusive establishment krewes could get in on the fun too. To the best of my understanding, each truck float in this parade was created and manned by its own mini-carnival crew, each truck float had its own theme and decorations, and each even had their own Mardi Gras doubloons.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
" . . . . I can remember growing up that still have a presence in Elks are the Goodtimers Carnival club and FUNtastic Carnival Club. Back in the heyday of Doubloons each of these carnival clubs would mint there own doubloons. Some of these clubs would parade for years others would come and go in the blink of an eye. But because the floats were put together by neighborhood friends or coworkers there is not an official information on each truck float . . . ." John Ray from LA</blockquote>
Information about these truck float doubloons is hard to come by, and this is the little bit of it that has come my way. It seems "The Flea Club" Mardi Gras doubloons were minted by one of these Elks truck float krewes in the 1960s and 1970s. When they started and when they ended ... I don't know.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PoylkjO4Yeo/USjXpZF5rkI/AAAAAAAACHg/DyuRxOOmEkY/s1600/No_date-G-300px2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PoylkjO4Yeo/USjXpZF5rkI/AAAAAAAACHg/DyuRxOOmEkY/s1600/No_date-G-300px2.jpg" /></a></div>
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Here are some other hi-res photos of the Flea Club doubloons on Photobucket.com:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://goo.gl/JXwqa" target="_blank">1974 - gold tone aluminum - 10 Ga.</a><br />
<a href="http://goo.gl/pXz1h" target="_blank">1974 - silver tone aluminum</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://goo.gl/tS4kM" target="_blank">1976 - gold tone aluminum</a><br />
<a href="http://goo.gl/85BFC" target="_blank">1976 - silver tone aluminum </a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://goo.gl/ZiRcG" target="_blank">No date - gold tone aluminum</a><br />
<a href="http://goo.gl/3l2kU" target="_blank">No date - silver tone aluminum </a><br />
<br />
The <a href="http://library.uno.edu/specialcollections/inventories/292.htm" target="_blank">inventory of the Charles V. Booth collection at the University of New Orleans </a>shows one 1968 Flea Club doubloon as being part of the Elks Krewe of Orleanians.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/mardigrasdoubloons/" target="_blank">Mardi Gras doubloons on Facebook</a><br />
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New: Thanks to Bob, an excerpt from the old Bayou Product catalog showing Flea Club doubloons.<br />
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<br />Tom Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11382119491604433679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33530785.post-7429937127219183082010-09-28T17:39:00.002-04:002010-09-29T07:51:17.219-04:00Kill the lawyersMany before me have written about the possibility of eliminating lawyers. It was Shakespeare who wrote in Henry VI, "<i>The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers</i>."<br />
<br />
It's an impractical goal in an age of specialization, and in which the lawyers have insinuated themselves into every aspect of modern life. The necessity of lawyers is bonded to our national ideals, as a nation of laws and not of men; or a nation of laws and not of church authority. Lawyers are indispensable artifacts of the way we live and what we value. Looking on the bright side, it is lawyers and the judicial system which allows us to resolve disputes without bloodshed. Not like the old days.<br />
<br />
But, giving lawyers their due does not require total capitulation. There are, in fact, many lawyers who are interested in noting more than to line their own pockets at anybody's expense. That is just a fact, and it is not intended as an indictment of all honest hard-working lawyers. But, the ancient question, "How many lawyers does it take to skin a client?" has always been answered, "Two. One of whom is supposedly working <b>for</b> the client."<br />
<br />
Lawyers are expensive, and paying for lawyers is a game for the affluent. The less affluent suffer, or do without. Win or lose, it is always expensive in one way or another.<br />
<br />
Just as you don't need a doctor for every little cut or scrape, you don't actually need a lawyer for every trifling legal matter. This is assuming you can tell the difference between when you do need a lawyer and when you do not, but there is an inherent danger in any system that is structured so that defending one's own vital interests is dependent upon pricey outside assistance.<br />
<br />
The legal self-help movement has a long history, going back at least to 1845, when Thomas Wooler published his <u>Every Man His Own Attorney</u>. Wooler wrote,
<br />
<blockquote>
"When attorneys are employed, they must be paid; and their charges are not always regulated either by their abilities, or their service to a client, but by their own desire to make as much as they can. This evil can only be remedied by making their clients well informed on common subjects, and able to see what course they are taking in matters of more intricacy."</blockquote>
The lawyer's Code of Professional Responsibility and the Model Rules of Professional Conduct reflect an idealistic goal of the profession pursuing legal education of the public, but the extent of what education that actually happens does not go beyond pointing out the need to hire an attorney. The Canadian legal system recognizes that Lawyers "share responsibility for ensuring that broader society has a knowledge and understanding of the law and an appreciation of the values advanced by the rule of law." <a href="http://www.advocates.ca/assets/files/pdf/education/Symposium-on-Professionalism/Duty_to_Court.pdf">Robert Bell & Caroline Abela</a>
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"The question of whether lawyers have an ethical duty to perform public service--and, in particular, whether the obligation requires that a percentage of time be devoted to providing free legal services to the poor has a disjointed and uneven history. Leaders of the bar, espousing various and often conflicting views of morality, compassion, noblesse oblige, and individual autonomy, have contributed to this state of affairs, creating a complicated web of vague ideals that today jeopardizes the legal profession's sense of its own public obligations. On the one hand, the legal profession remains dedicated to the traditional view that public service is a matter of personal charity, to be performed at the discretion of the individual attorney. And yet, despite the prevalence of this dominant notion, an undercurrent of thought rejects the relativistic approach to public service, arguing instead that lawyers have a professional responsibility to help assure that legal services are available to all, including those who cannot afford to purchase representation on the open market. The Code of Professional Responsibility and the Model Rules of Professional Conduct reflect both notions of public service, sending mixed signals to members of the bar as to whether their professional duties include the obligation to render free legal services to those in need." - <u>The lawyer's duty of public service: More than charity?</u> - 96 W. Va. L. Rev. 367, Winter, 1993/1994</blockquote>Tom Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11382119491604433679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33530785.post-45358110252247549492010-09-23T16:29:00.001-04:002010-09-23T22:43:52.919-04:00A note to novice bloggersSeth Godin has advocated writing blog entries every single day as a means of confronting and overcoming inner resistance, at least in a small way. To all outward appearances, this is what Godin himself has done for the past few years. There was a time before that when he skipped a day or two nearly every week.<br />
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It is a useful exercise, but there comes a point when the resistance shifts from opposing doing it every day to opposition to skipping a day. This is reminiscent of fiction writer Stephen King following his encounter with an automobile as a pedestrian a few years back. While laid up in the hospital in traction and on pain killers, he insisted on keeping up his usual habit of writing every day. This is what successful writers do. They write every day, and by any measure Stephen King is a successful writer.<br />
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But Stephen King's daily writing had a focus. He was writing horror stories.<br />
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With blogging it is possible to write about something every day and have no continuity from one blog post to the next, and to have no overall focus. Seth Godin generally writes within a definite range of business and marketing topics, with recurring themes.<br />
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When writing blog posts just for the sake of writing blog posts, there is a risk of writing about the wild hare du jour, which is continually shifting. Whatever comes to mind or is triggered by the big news story of the day, that is what gets blogged. Writing every day for the sake of discipline is good, writing every day to improve your writing skills is also good. Even better is limiting your writing to a semi-focused topic.<br />
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A useful practice is to go back after a few months of blog posting and read what you have written. Do the daily accretions add up to anything? Then comes the time to face the possibility of embracing a purpose greater than overcoming old self-defeating habits.Tom Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11382119491604433679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33530785.post-14631387172752178962010-09-16T11:20:00.000-04:002010-09-16T11:20:59.715-04:00The dirty secret of organic foodsThis is a secret I've kept for over ten years now, but not because it's much of a secret or because I want to keep it. It is a bit of information that is difficult to convey with an appropriate sense of importance. Maybe someone else will pick up the ball and run with it, and forgive me my lack of evangelical zeal.<br />
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture has generated and accumulated data on the nutritional composition of grains and produce since well before WWII, and the data is all publicly available. If you compare the nutritional contents of various farm products from 1950, you will notice the major vitamins and minerals were present at about twice the concentration as they were for similar food items in the year 2000.<br />
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There's not much to argue about with this observation. Look a the data and you can easily see for yourself that the nutritional composition of commercially grown food is one-half now compared to what it was fifty years ago.<br />
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My explanation for this is simple, and it may even be accurate. Traditional farming practices were quickly abandoned after World War II when cheap nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK) fertilizers became available due to surplus chemical factory capacity after the national need to produce high explosives abated. Industry switched from making chemicals for bombs to making chemicals for fertilizers.<br />
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Although NPK fertilizers are very good for growing plants, they do nothing to replenish other chemical and elemental components of soil that are very good for human health. Every growing season the crops sucked iron, calcium, chromium, selenium, and magnesium out of the soil, and no thought was given to replacing these and other minerals.<br />
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Elemental minerals, however, are the essential building blocks for the more complex vitamin compounds. In the right conditional and with the right minerals present in the soil, plants produce an abundance of chemical compounds that are good for people to eat, but don't seem to be necessary for the plant's own survival. If the basic elements needed for producing a certain vitamin are lacking in the soil, the plant simply does not produce as much of that vitamin. <br />
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The plant itself does not seem to suffer from these mineral shortages.<br />
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There seems to be some vague sense which nags us that there's something not quite right about the food supply, when we stop long enough to think about it. The organic food movement is a symptom of this foreboding, but I think they threw out the baby with the bathwater when "organic" is defined to exclude NPK fertilizers. <br />
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Doing that makes organic foods much more expensive without making it more safe or more nutritious. Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are about as natural as it gets.Tom Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11382119491604433679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33530785.post-54142957479908138732010-08-25T17:10:00.001-04:002010-08-26T08:53:44.584-04:00Permission marketing trademark evaporationI see this morning that Facebook.com is suing Teachbook.com for trademark infringement. I understand how and why the Facebook lawyers justify protecting the name by this means, even if I consider it to be a gross misuse of trademarks law as it ought to be. But I happen to think the whole idea of 'intellectual property' leans toward the oxymoronic.<br />
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The best laugh I've ever enjoyed from a good trademark joke, and those are very rare, was yesterday evening when I researched the trademark registration on the phrase "Permission Marketing." Seth Godin invented that phrase at least thirteen years ago, and he literally wrote the book on it. It was a 1999 book titled <u>Permission Marketing</u>.<br />
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At Infoworld's July, 1997 Spotlight conference, where "Silicon-Valley-Meets-Hollywood," Seth Goden spoke and is quoted in the <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=VDwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA103&dq=InfoWorld+Seth+Godin&hl=en&ei=mX11TMyxFML98AbSyOCYBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false">Aug. 4 1997 issue of InfoWorld, p. 103</a>, as saying in interactive internet markets customers, "will give you 'permission' to market to them."<br />
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Godin's company Yoyodyne Entertainment, Inc. filed an application for a Federal trademark registration for "Permission Marketing" on September 3, 1998. Yahoo! announced its acquisition of Yoyodyne on Oct. 12, 1998, at the same time Godin's book <u>Permission Marketing</u> went to press for release the following May. Yahoo! received technical ownership of the Federal Trademark Registration on "Permission Marketing" with its purchase of Yoyodyne, but Godin retained a license to use it. He had a nearly published book with that name on the cover coming out soon.<br />
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But, partly due to the fact of the books great success, if you ask anyone that is familiar with the idea of permission marketing, "Who do you associate with the phrase 'Permission Marketing'," nine out of ten will answer, "Seth Godin." Under those facts, it is nearly impossible for Yahoo! to retain even technical ownership of the trademark. I suppose it would be called trademark dilution, but that idea doesn't quite fit.<br />
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On April 4, 2008 Yahoo!'s trademark claim to 'Permission Marketing" died. It was cancelled. I have seen nothing to suggest there was any litigation or dispute of the matter, so I conclude its cause of death was the sober realization at Yahoo! that there are some things you just can't buy. I laughed.Tom Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11382119491604433679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33530785.post-15369953694751886472008-08-25T12:56:00.004-04:002021-08-01T19:55:51.610-04:00People and pigs - Kentucky State Fair<div style="border: medium none; float: left; margin-right: 7px; text-align: center;">
<img border="0" height="160" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5236645028329276322" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2YJ5t71DnSY/SK7G222nwQI/AAAAAAAAAd4/TenGr0JQNfI/w640-h160/Pan-1A-500px.jpg" width="640" />
<p class="img_txt"><i class="img_txt">People and pigs
Kentucky State Fair
Wednesday, August 20, 2008 </i></p>
</div><p><br /> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The total sensual impact of walking into the State Fair hog barn on a hot August day cannot be described. It is not the least bit offensive, but it is overwhelmingly earthy and powerful. I walked ten paces into the barn and had to stop. I was surrounded by hundreds of huge pigs everywhere. This panorama photo is the best I can do to share the experience. </p>Tom Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11382119491604433679noreply@blogger.com