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Blog Review: The Atma Jyoti Blog
2007-11-30 04:00:00
Swami Tarakananda requested a Free Blog Review of his blog, The Atma Jyoti Blog. This is the blog of the Atma Jyoti Ashram, a small ashram for men in Cedar Crest, New Mexico.

Buck Owens and Don Rich - Act Naturally (1966)
2007-11-29 05:12:00
Here's a video of Buck Owens and Don Rich in a 1966 TV show performing their theme song, Buckaroo and segueing into their hit, Act Naturally. They essentially created the 'Bakersfield Sound', the sound of natural country music with a hint of a rock-n-roll rootsy feel that flew in the face of the smooth, overproduced, 'Nashville' country sound.
More About: Music , Buck Owens

Exercise Your Brain on Happy Neuron
2007-11-29 04:06:00
A fellow computer programmer I used to work with emailed me about this site a few days ago, Happy Neuron. He knew how much I enjoy brain teaser puzzles and the like. I thought I'd check it out and see what it was all about. At first glance it looks like yet another Flash games site, one geared toward brain teaser type games. Plus, it isn't free. So what do you get for your money vs. those 100's of free sites?
More About: Gaming , Exercise , Features , Brain

How To Bust Your Budget
2007-11-28 16:58:00
Many individuals and families try to create a budget. They write down monthly expenses or enter them into a computer program. They make a commitment to sticking with it. But, within a few months, the budget is busted. Why does this happen? Why can't you stick to a budget plan that you've taken the time to commit to either paper or electrons. This article discusses why this happens so often.
More About: Features , Bust , Budget , Budgeting

Is There a Human in the House?
2007-11-27 16:54:00
One of the biggest annoyances of modern life is calling a customer service number and getting a robot. These systems, known as Interactive Voice Response or IVR, are used by most businesses to interact with customers, in some cases exclusively. They can be effective or ineffective way to interact with a company. In this article we will examine the good, bad and ugly of these systems and what you can do to improve your own customer experience.
More About: House , Trends , Features , Human , The House

Is Blogging Becoming Obsolete?
2007-11-26 18:12:00
This is a question that's actually been around for a while now. In researching this article I found articles from as early as 2004 saying that blogging was going to decline in importance. In 2006, Technorati reported that overall daily blog postings fell. Some said that blogging was a passing fad and was at the peak of its popularity. However, we still see new blogs appearing everyday and new bloggers becoming popular, here at the end of 2007. So, what's the real deal? What should you look at and not look at to determine the health of blogosphere? And where is it headed?
More About: Trends , Blogging , Obsolete , Sole

Blog Review: Data-Drop
2007-11-26 04:57:00
Michael Eyers requested a Free Blog Review of his blog, Data -Drop . This review describes what the site is about and how well its theme, navigation and monetization work. It also takes a look at its content and how it could be improved.
More About: Features

Business Opportunity? Software Licensing Consultant
2007-11-26 03:29:00
The BSA, Business Software Alliance, is on the prowl for small businesses who're violating licensing requirements for their software. Often this happens because a company hasn't properly licensed all of the software they're using or haven't kept up with their licensing correctly. Such violations, intentional or not, can result in a substantial fee to settle the case. Smaller companies that can't afford an inhouse IT department are particularly vulnerable. This crack down may be creating a business opportunity for persons skilled in network administration and licensing issues.
More About: Consultant , Opportunity , Licensing

Visiting the Georgia Sea Turtle Center
2007-11-25 05:27:00
The Georgia Sea Turtle Center participates in the rescue and rehab of injured and sick sea turtles that are found along the Georgia coast. The Center opened in June 2007 on Jekyll Island, Georgia. It includes a veterinary hospital with an observation gallery, rehab tanks and an exhibit hall/gift shop. During a visit you can see medical treatment of the turtles, receive lessons in how they care for the turtles and participate in other fun and interesting learning exercises.
More About: Travel , Features

Some Links #10
2007-11-22 05:17:00
It's time for another edition of "Some Link s ", links to blogs of people who've commented on OpTempo.
More About: Love

Is Google Evil?
2007-11-21 18:26:00
Courtney Tuttle wrote this article, RealRank? Doesn?t Solve Anything For Bloggers, discussing the recent wholesale PageRank slaughter of PayPerPost using blogs and IZEA's attempt at creating an alternative ranking system. Of course, the conversation turns to Google 's practices and are they potentially illegal under US and EU monopoly laws. Court and Vic see it as them simply protecting their interest in maintaining an accurate measure for search while others, including myself, see it as an anti-competitive practice in the field of online advertising. So, instead of typing out a post sized comment on Court's blog I wrote my response here.
More About: Features , Evil

Happy Thanksgiving
2007-11-20 18:54:00
I'll be out of town for the Thanksgiving holiday here in the US so my posting may be sporadic over the next few days.
More About: Site News , Features , Happy , Hank

Blog Review: Ivy Online
2007-11-20 05:39:00
Ivy Tan requested a Free Blog Review of her blog, Ivy Online - Marketing Tips For Making Money Through Blogging and here it is...
More About: Features

I?d Rather Go Blind - Dana Fuchs Band
2007-11-20 03:41:00
Excuse me while I whip some blues out on you. Here's Dana Fuchs and her band performing her version of Etta James' I'd Rather Go Blind .
More About: Band

Is Now the Time to Buy a House?
2007-11-19 22:57:00
It’s in the news everyday, the mortgage crisis, house prices falling, credit tightening. Is can’t be a good time to buy a house, can it?Actually, it may be just the right time to buy depending on your location.  The news media has gotten everyone worried with their constant drone of negative news. Bad news sells, it’s a simple fact. ...
More About: House , Time , Features , A House , The Time

PayPal Offers PayPal-less Payments
2007-11-19 17:20:00
If you're like me you might get various payments into PayPal and you like the convenience of turning around and using this money to buy something online. But, what if the merchant in question doesn't take PayPal? Well, you could use your PayPal Debit card, if you have one, or you could transfer money around to make a payment on another credit card. Now PayPal is offering another way to do this, the PayPal Secure Card built into a browser plugin.
More About: Paypal , Features , Offers , Offer

BlogRush Still Sucks - Mid November Update
2007-11-19 02:58:00
Yes, Blog Rush still sucks. This is no news to small time bloggers who're still in the program or who were kicked out without a good reason. They know that they get extremely low conversion rates for the widget and, if they take the time to look, they'll find that they're primarily advertising for big blogs or someone else's affiliate offers for Forex eBooks or tampons. Big time bloggers like seem to be shocked by the overwhelming negative reaction by their readers.
More About: Features , Update , Sucks , November

New Audio Feed Via Odiogo
2007-11-19 02:02:00
I added a new feature to OpTempo today, an audio feed courtesy of Odiogo. This service takes your blog RSS feed and converts it to an audio stream that you can listen to online or store to an iPod or other MP3 player. Being able to take blogcasts on the road with you is a nice feature to have.
More About: Audio , Blogging , Feed

Blog Review: MoneyMoose
2007-11-18 16:37:00
MoneyMoose requested a Free Blog Review of their blog, MoneyMoose and here it is… What is MoneyMoose? According to the About page, MoneyMoose is a team authored blog. They say that they’re a “serious financial site” and not a parody site but, a single glance proves that this isn’t true. They’re actually a financial humor and satire ...
More About: Money , Features

Neko Case - Furnace Room Lullaby
2007-11-18 08:06:00
This music video is of Neko Case performing Furnace Room Lullaby from the soundtrack of the movie, The Gift. This is a haunting murder ballad that fits well with the supernatural thriller.
More About: Movies

Spock - The Free People Search Engine
2007-11-18 05:46:00
What is Spock ? In this case it's not a character on Star Trek nor is it a baby doctor. Spock is the name of a new, free, people search engine. You can use it to search for celebrities, politicians, athletes, business person, your neighbors and friends or people you've lost touch with.
More About: People , Free , Search , Search Engine

New Theme Active
2007-11-17 17:54:00
Today I've rolled out a new, magazine look, theme closely based on the Visionary theme by Justin Tadlock. I thought the theme was quite good "out of the box" but I decided to modify it some to fit what I wanted to do here on OpTempo. I've also made some changes to the advertising and widgets being used here.
More About: Features , Theme , Active

The Debit Card Block Trap
2007-11-16 15:36:00
Over at Blogging Zoom, a user reported a problem using their PayPal debit card to buy gasoline. They found that a $76 block was placed on their account. (I’m not linking directly to their blog post since their blog doesn’t allow open comments). This is something that many debit card users aren’t aware of, blocks ...
More About: Card , Trap , Block , Debit Card

Clinton Campaign?s Clever Video
2007-11-16 03:35:00
You may or may not like Hillary Clinton but you have to admit her and Bill are the masters of the political campaign. Check out this video from Hillary’s campaign encouraging Iowa voters to vote for her in the caucuses early next year. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLxtP2UhSL Y Putting Bill on the treadmill facing down a juicy cheeseburger and making fun ...
More About: Video , Politics , Bill Clinton , Campaign

Standard Oil and Google
2007-11-15 18:20:00
The buzz today is that Google is manually slapping a PR penalty on blogs that do PayPerPost advertising. You can read more about it here on the IZEA blog: Google Goes after the Everyday Blogger. What Google is doing smacks of monopoly behavior, using its power in one area to control the market in another. This ...
More About: Standard

Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush - Don?t Give Up
2007-11-15 06:04:00
This is another one of my favorite 80’s pop songs. Sad, but comforting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-p2sbt_C4 w It also speaks to some of troubles of today, such as the mortgage and foreclosure crisis, doesn’t it? This is a newer, updated, video. I liked the original 80’s MTV video better which just had Peter and Kate hugging as the ...
More About: Bush , Music , Give , Peter Gabriel

Blog Review: SEO Blog - Marketmou
2007-11-15 05:17:00
Patricia Skinner requested a Free Blog Review of her blog, SEO Blog - Marketmou and here it is… What is SEO Blog - Marketmou? According to the About page, Patricia wants to use the blog as a way to share what she’s learned about SEO in order to pay back to the online community and as a ...

5 Steps To More Effective Goal Setting
2007-11-15 03:56:00
In viewing some blogs this evening I noticed a few people were bummed out about their inability to reach goals. I thought this information might help. 1. Start With Short Term Goal s If you set a large, long term, goal, for example, making $25,000 a month, without setting small goals you’re likely to become discouraged quickly. Set ...
More About: Advice , Effective , Steps

Dream Authentics Retro Style Gaming Systems
2007-11-14 22:42:00
Back in the days before the XBox, Wii and high speed PC graphics cards you had to go to an arcade to enjoy a great game playing experience. What was great about these big boxes were the controllers and how you could get into the game. Some of this experience is lost in today’s sleek game ...
More About: Gaming , Style , Retro , Dream , Systems

Some Changes Coming At OpTempo
2007-11-14 20:41:00
Sorry about the “site news” post but I’ve got a few changes I’ll be making to OpTemp o during the next few days. New Theme Coming I’ve got a new, magazine look, theme that I’ll be rolling out sometime in the next few days. It’s based on the Visionary theme by Justin Tadlock. While the theme is good ...
More About: Some