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StumbleUpon lifts 200 friend limit
2008-08-08 05:24:00
YES… finally Stumble Upon has listened to so many of us complain about this and are planning to allow us to add unlimited number of friends.  If you remember, back in November last year (can’t believe it’s been that long) I blogged about not being able to add my Stumble Upon friends. With just 200 friend limit, you had to constantly ‘clean up’ your ‘friends’ to make sure you get relevant stumbles delivered to you.  This limited you from getting those people’s stumbles who added you as friends but you couldn’t reciprocate.   Not any more.  I will be able to see most of my fans’s stumbles now since I can befriend them. According to Stumble Upon’s blog: Over the next couple weeks we are going to separate the social & content aspects of friendship on SU, so you can subscribe to someone’s favorites without necessarily becoming their friend, and become someone’s friend without necessarily seeing their ...
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How I Manage Multiple Blogs - Part 2
2008-08-03 19:35:00
This is the second part in a two part guest post by Matt of “The Fantastic Site of Lord Matt“.  Read How I Manage Multiple Blogs - Part 1 photo: Nathan Borror About email The one thing I do not do is check my email. I loath email and find it irritating to use. One day I’m going to find the time to write a gateway program that will convert email to something using XML… When I do check my email it can kill half a day. Often there will be people that I should reply to and sometimes a spark for a post idea but mostly there will be sixty million system messages, along with the spam, marketing junk and general **** that email is full of. I maintain a lot of in-boxes which helps to segregate the mail and some boxes have a higher priority than others. For example the mailing lists box is just archived via POP3 into thunderbird unless I need to ask a question and then I’ll check the box for a few days before ignoring it again. Email is your worst enemy. You c...

Spamming yourself is not allowed?
2008-08-01 17:21:00
You can see the most wonderful spam catcher Akismet has caught more than 31 thousand spam comments on this blog and needless to say blogging would have been a nightmare if all the bad comments had not been caught at the entrance but when my own comment got caught as spam, I got a bit worried. Have the spammers got so good that Akismet cannot distinguish between a legitimate vs spam anymore?  And that too from the blog author? del.icio.us Tags: Akismet,Spam ©2008 . All Rights Reserved.. Share and Enjoy:
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Who do you trust more?
2008-07-31 02:12:00
Your Doctor? Pharmacist? Hair Dresser Attorney? Maid? Friend? OR Mother-In-Law? (trusting “myself” is not a choice) Update:  If you came here earlier after seeing this post in your feed reader, I apologize… the format kept getting all messed up for some reason and I had to delete the post!   I’ve been writing posts from either Windows Live Writer or BlogDesk and am so not used to the dashboard of this new version! photo: OiMax Technorati Tags: opinion, fun, interesting ©2008 . All Rights Reserved.. Share and Enjoy:
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Read the latest content of my blog at your convenience
2008-07-26 20:49:00
I was surprised the other day to learn that my brother, who is a veterinarian by profession and oversees his own web site, had no clue about what RSS was. So, how do you explain to someone why they should ’subscribe to your feed’ when they have no idea what you are talking about?  This is what I told him and fortunately, he got it the first time. Oh, the RSS… well, lets see:  Its a way to read new content of any website on a single page, so you don’t have to remember each website’s address! There are many companies who let you do that… Google does it through their application called Google Read er. Its fairly simple to have a Google account and then click on Reader option and start adding sites that you want to see the newest content from.  Also see here: A Quick Tour of Google Reader I personally prefer Blog lines - another company that also lets you read your favorite sites on a single page - after signing up with them of course… you...
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3 Crucial Things That School Never Taught You
2008-07-18 01:26:00
This is a guest post by Jacob Share of JobMob Are you one of those people who say they never learned anything in high school? Me neither. I learned a lot in high school, but there were some critical topics that never appeared on the blackboard. 1) Parenting Carrying an egg around for a week isn't parenting. The sad thing is just doing that class assignment would have already put you "in the know" compared to most other high school graduates. Looking at how you were raised by your parents will rarely prepare you for the real thing, which is why so many people agonize before having kids and then get stressed out when they do. Or worse, they become bad parents. 2) Financial Literacy Can you read a company's financial statement? Could you read one when you finished school? Let's try another example- do you know what the difference is between an asset and a liability? Most people aspire to buying their own house for when they decide to settle down. Seems like a...
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What do you think of the new theme?
2008-07-15 20:35:00
Well, as you can see, Fresh Perspectives gets a new theme couple of days ago.  The previous theme BloggingPro worked fine for some time but I used it for too long, more than a year and I needed a change.  This theme, Options by Justin Tadlock as you can see, displays a lot more content for you to browse through and I'm loving the navigation.   I had tremendous help (truck loads of it I should say) from my dearest friends Mig from Online Public Relations and Deborah from Life In The Fast Lane.  So, although I was a bit afraid of the change,  I'm starting to really like it.  There are some features that are not working right now and we are trying to fix them but in the mean time, would love to hear from you guys.  Please let me know in the comments if you find something broken or not working.   If you are seeing this post via RSS, you'll definitely have to come out here to see it. One of the things that's not working and it h...
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If you were to describe yourself in few words,
2008-06-28 03:42:00
How would you do that? Okay, here’s the constraint, try to describe yourself in just 2 or 3 words. Don’t think about your whole life because that gets confusing. Just concentrate on your state of mind at this very moment, NOW, and see what you come up with. And of course let us know in the comments what you thought of, or else we’ll never know Above is a picture of Michael’s daughter from Flickr. I do not know Michael but when I came across this picture on Flickr while browsing, I instantly added him as a ‘contact’. Michael’s entire collection is great and there are tons of inspirational shots in his sets but this one touched me the most because of his explanation below this picture. It took me back to my childhood. And I instantly felt sad, happy and calm at the same time. I was sad because every time I think of my dad, I yearn to see him, talk to him and sometimes I listen to his messages on my cell phone voice mail. I felt happy...
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Create Professional looking logos
2008-06-26 04:53:00
Have you ever wanted to have a logo for your blog? I have thought of it many times but now that I am actually thinking of re-designing this blog, I also started to look into the possibility of making my own logo. And that's when I came across this Logo Design software from The Laughing Bird. The Logo Creator can create professional logo designs that look as good as created by Photoshop. The software comes with a professionally developed collection of glossy, stylish logos that you can choose to edit and customize to your taste and save tons of money that you'd otherwise pay a graphic designer. This software is great for any website owner who does not have huge budget to spend on graphics or doesn't have a flare for art. I don't even have Photoshop so for me, this is a godsend. If you look at the kind of logos that are included in it, you'll definitely be impressed with unlimited choices available. When you buy The Logo Creator, you'll get a colle...
More About: Logos , Professional , Create

Which Firefox extensions are you currently using?
2008-06-20 21:39:00
There are a lot of sites talking about top 10 or top 30 Fiefox extensions, but here are the ones I’m enjoying at the moment.. AdBlock Plus: get rid of those ads on any web page Answers: quick definitions, references of words, you just need to hold the Alt key and click on the word to get your answers BetterGmail 2: is an add-on by Gina Trapani of Lifehacker, it’s a must for any Gmail lover - uses greasemonkey scripts to enhance its functionality and appearance CoolIris Previews: this one is pretty cool as it lets you view pages without even clicking on the links or leaving the current page Delicious: view all your delicious links via your browser, or tag pages as you browse Digg Firefox extension:  Lets you submit, digg your friends’ recent submissions, view their comments, top stories,  or recently popular stories and even lets you view the information about the page you are currently viewing in firefox Digg Sidebar:  Shows stories in being dugg in real time F...
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Interesting Posts Around the Web - June 7th
2008-06-08 00:33:00
Simplified Niche Research - I should have read this post before diving into domain buying frenzy I went through some time back. Steven talks about ways to use Commission Junction for finding profitable niches How to Make an Affiliate Store with Affilistore and Datafeeds Because of Simonne’s step by step instructions on how to set up affiliate stores and niche sites, I ended up buying a few domains and honestly it has given much needed motivation to continue The Amazing Power of Encouragement Laura Spencer’s article holds so true for me that I had to share it with you all. I am able to come back to blogging because of all the encouragement I have received from you all over the last few months. So, thank you. Five Tips to Turn Setbacks into Success over at Alex’s blog is an article everyone should read. In Shilpan’s words: “Even the best among us have seen their share of setbacks. Unfortunately, we seldom find their failures in the pages of history...
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How I Manage Multiple Blogs - Part 1
2008-06-05 12:48:00
This is a guest post that Matt had written for me in early May but I was not in the right state of mind to post.  At the time Matt was running a project to help bloggers and had asked what he could do for them.  Hi, my name is "Lord" Matt - some of you might know me from the oddly named "The Fantastic Site of Lord Matt" or any number of other blogs that I maintain. Pearl has challenged me to write about time and productivity and how I manage all those blogs. The fact that I am doing so will give my wife quite a good chuckle when I tell her. While I do manage to keep a lot of blogs afloat some of my other work can occasionally suffer a little - even I could be more efficient. What I am going to do, then, is break down my practices and comment on how strong or weak I think they are with examples. My back story My first blogs where experiments on blogspot that I long ago abandoned but they proved to be a great learning tool but useless blogs. For example...
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Britain’s Got Talent - Michael Jackson
2008-06-04 05:30:00
For a change, I was sent this video by someone today and it sure changed my mood so thought of sharing it with you guys for smiles.   Also look for a guest post in a couple of days here.  Enjoy! ©2008 Interesting Observations. All Rights Reserved..
More About: Michael Jackson , Michael , Jackson , Talent

little things that give us hope
2008-05-28 08:08:00
It’s been over two months since I’ve updated this blog and even though I browse through the web and meet/talk and socialize with many of you on various networking sites, I have to be honest that something inside me is not the same as before. The months after my father’s passing haven’t been easy on any of us in the family but it’s been even tougher on our mother who is often hears him calling her name out for something. His presence in every room is still felt and even though we are comforted in the thoughts that he is around us and amidst us, the helplessness and not being able to see his physical self is just beyond any words could explain. For me, there have been sudden and unannounced crying bouts at odd times and odd places, more so in my car while going home after work, which automatically disappear after some time. They are like spasms that come fast and make you feel like nothing in the world matters any more. All kinds of emotions, anger,...
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In Loving Memory of My Father
2008-04-05 03:56:00
  My dad passed away on March 17th. I was not able to say anything at the funeral because of the disbelief and shock. When I saw a lot of my family men in suits walking around at the funeral, it was so unbelievable and for a few seconds, my eyes were looking around the room to find my father. How could it be that he was not amongst us? He was right there, but not walking, resting with a smile on his face. In the new suit that he had just bought and gotten custom tailored, as if he knew. It felt like he would wake up any second. I cannot believe it’s already been over two weeks without him. I am not able to express in words the intensity of my sadness but if you were here dad, I would like you to know that you truly are my hero. I love you dad and I really miss you. ©2008 Interesting Observations. All Rights Reserved..
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Does Prayer Really Work?
2008-03-04 01:33:00
I haven’t been able to update this blog for a couple of weeks and I thought I owed you all some explanation.   Some of my blogging friends know by now that my dad has been in ICU for the last couple of weeks.  At times, his health seems to be improving but at other times we get terrified.   This is how it all started.   One day out of the blue he started having severe headache that wouldn’t go away for a few days.  He’s never had headaches all his life so that was alarming but he is of the type who never asks anyone for any help.  He wouldn’t let our mom tell any of us siblings saying he didn’t want to bother any of us.   But then one day, he had a vomit and was taken to emergency.   You would think the doctors would have done the cat-scan of the head right away but they took two full days to review his symptoms - which included lower back pain, intense weakness and pain in the thighs.  T...
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Networking - Necessary Investment for Small Businesses
2008-02-19 23:13:00
You know that the success of your online business is based on how much volume of targeted traffic you attract to your website, blog or online e-commerce store. One of the easier ways to do that is to master a few of the social media sites available, since social Media sites have exploded all across the web over the last year or so. With literally millions of websites and thousands of them probably selling almost similar products and services as yours, it’s difficult to use traditional means to promote your products and even your website. Attracting customers to your home based business by using social media sites sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? It is easy once you learn the how these networks work but many people running home based small businesses are still completely unaware of this method of reaching out to the world. Social Media Marketing is the fastest growing phenomenon on the internet today, for its unique advantage of being able to tap into the latest and ...
More About: Investment , Networking , Small , Small Businesses , Businesses

Awards, Accolades III
2008-02-18 05:58:00
I’m happy to say that Awards , Accolades has become a series in itself..  Check out Awards I and Awards II to see what I mean.  I can’t begin to thank all the wonderful people I have met ever since I started blogging.  These fellow bloggers who have become good friends make my life better each and every day.   So, once again, I thank these shining stars, who have become part of my life, from the bottom of my heart. You have heard me talk about the most generous soul,  Mig, who not only comes up with the original posts (like 10 reasons why she loves pearl), but also continues to bestow me with numerous beautiful awards and accolades.    And what can I say?   Sue from Sueblimely and Kuanyin from Blog Pond and Colin from Free PC Security made me blush by calling me their Blogging Mentor, the award created by Sue.    How can I thank these beautiful people making my world ever so exciting?  Kim the beautifu...

On Writing and Getting Un-Stuck
2008-02-16 06:51:00
Today when I was logged in this blog, I noticed that I have written 186 posts which generated 2676 comments. I was surprised at how much I had written especially when at the time I started this blog, I had no intention of keeping it up. It was fun to write and it was fun to see comments on what I had written. It still is fun to see comments. But now I am much more self-conscious for some reason. This is also becoming one the reasons for the decline in my posting frequency. Oh, writing that word, self-conscious reminds me of a brief conversation I had with Liz Strauss once and I had said I couldn’t write anything (apparently, this has been the case for some time now) and do you want to know what she said? Her answer was “Pearl, There’s no pressure. Doc Searls says “A blog is just an email to the world.” ” And that gave me a much needed push and I was fine for some time. Isn’t that so profound? Liz always writes such beautiful and inspira...
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Spread Love with Your Comments
2008-02-14 06:22:00
Wishing all my readers, fellow bloggers and friends on all of the networking sites, a very Happy Valentine’s Day!   If you have befriended me on one of the social media networks and we haven’t had a chance to exchange a hello, please feel free to say a hi in the comments and I’ll definitely visit and comment your blog.     Remember,  Valentine’s Day is for spreading love.  You comment here and get a link with CommentLuv ©2008 Interesting Observations. All Rights Reserved..
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Did you think English was an easy language?
2008-02-12 15:13:00
Can you read these right the first time? The bandage was wound around the wound. The farm was used to produce produce. The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse. We must polish the Polish furniture. He could lead if he would get the lead out. The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert. Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present. A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum. When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes. I did not object to the object. The insurance was invalid for the invalid. There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row. They were too close to the door to close it. The buck does funny things when the does are present. A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line. To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow. The wind was too strong to wind the sail. Upon seeing the tear in the painting, I shed a tear. I had to subject the subject to a series of tests. How can I intimat...
More About: English , Language , Easy

Interesting Posts Around the Web - Feb 11
2008-02-11 07:54:00
I have a couple of things to ask you today.   1) Am I the only one writing link posts on a Monday? 2) Do you always link to articles that were written in the preceding week? Here are a few articles that I am sure you’ll enjoy reading and feel inspired as you start your Mondays.    Go read them and let these guys know where you heard about them.   Clone and Migrate WordPress Blog to New Server @ Make Tech Easier I Assure you, Your Interest was Not Peaked @ The Article Writer The Small Fish Eats the Big Fish Paradox @ Ewriting Pamil Visions Alternative Search Engines to Google @ Sueblimely Are Audio Ads the Next Big Thing? @ SuperBloggingTips Caroline Middlebrook and I Just Disagree @ Making Sales Making Money How to Get More Bookmarks and Better Links @ Chris Garrett’s Blog What to Post? When to Post? @ Datmoney I’ve really loved reading this 3 Part Crash Course on Organizing your Home Office Paper Series @...
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Text Links With a Difference - TNX.net
2008-02-10 00:52:00
Have you been seeing this pretty image around the web lately? I noticed it on many many blogs and was thinking what this new thing was. Then one day last month when Vladimir contacted me to ask if I could review this site, I was really excited. My posting frequency in the last few months has really slowed down but Vladimir has been really patient with me, so my thanks go out to him. I am still new to the system but what I read from the site it looks quite interesting. TNX.net is a newer system of buying and selling links for both publishers and advertisers and a way to promote their sites. From the website itself: “With the help of TNX System you are able to get large amounts of non-reciprocal links from thousands of relevant websites: In just few minutes you can order thousands of links from high quality Internet resources. Links can be placed on main pages as well as on individual, deep pages of websites that either have few other outbound links or no links at all. &r...
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New Blogs, New Opportunities
2008-02-08 07:29:00
In the past couple of weeks, I missed my ‘most interesting posts around the web’ feature although I came across many interesting posts that I wanted to share with you. I hope to continue with it soon but today I want to share with you some very interesting and useful blogs that some of my dear friends have started. These are experienced bloggers who have accumulated wealth of knowledge in one or more areas of blogging and are nice enough to share their expertise with us. I recommend checking these out, because I am sure you are going to love these blogs. Steven Snell of Vandelay Design, who, in addition to maintaining a superb blog, also writes regularly at Blogtrepreneur, Daily Blog Tips, Daily Bits and Pure Blogging, has started a blog called traffikd. This blog is all about Internet Marketing and social media. Steven already has a huge list of over 400 categorized Social Media and Social Networking Sites that you definitely want to check out. My talented friend ...
More About: Blogs , Opportunities

Measure your productivity to keep up with goals
2008-02-07 06:49:00
The picture above depicts exactly what happens at my job almost every day.  The big meetings are scheduled, by the time the last person enters the conference room, it’s already 5 minutes over the start time.  By the time we are finished, it’s already half hour into the lunch hour.   Just like many others, I also set my 2008 goals at the outset of the New Year. I have to confess though that I have been awfully busy at my work these days and after getting home in the evenings, I hardly feel like writing anything, let alone write something good and interesting.  That doesn’t mean I haven’t spent hours on StumbleUpon and Digg and Mixx and chatting to people online.   Although, all along, I am aware that I could be writing a post, but for some reason,  I am not able to.   It is just too easy to spend aimless time on the web when you could really be resting and getting ready for your next blog post. During this t...
More About: Productivity , Goals

How the movie Groundhog Day can lead to a happier and more productive life
2008-02-04 00:18:00
February 2nd was Groundhog Day in North America. And as Punxsutawney Phil, the one and the only official Weather Forcasting Groundhog declared that there will be six more weeks of winter, I had started to lose hope to get back in the swing of writing. But then, came this guest post by Paul Hannam, the author of The Magic of Groundhog Day, the book that is based on the movie Groundhog Day. Author Paul Hannam believes that watching the movie, Groundhog Day, will teach you more about life and work than anything else you can do in less than two hours! He has taught thousands of people on personal development, and taught management and organizational psychology at Oxford University and in his new book, The Magic of Groundhog Day, he explains why the movie is so inspirational and life-changing. I have found the movie so invaluable because it helps me see each day as a unique opportunity to improve the way I think, feel and act. We all feel stuck at times in our life. The differen...
More About: Movie , Life , The Movie , Lead , Happier

Don’t Let Someone Else Claim Your Blog
2008-01-28 20:59:00
Photo stealing, content theft, RSS scrapers, people hacking into your blog - we have heard about it all, but have you ever thought your entire blog could even be claimed by someone else? But that is exactly what had happened to Ramkarthic some time ago at MyBlog Log. Someone else had claimed Ramkarthik’s blog back in August of last year and I remember freaking out about it! Talk about dishonesty on the net.  Ramkarthik was able to get the blog ownership back but I can imagine how he might have felt at the time. So if you have an account with MyBlogLog but hardly ever log in the service, at least now you should go there and claim your blog, just like I am doing right now. There are a couple of methods to claim your blog, either by Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification by writing a post about it or by adding a Meta Tag to your website. And God forbid, if you are the one whose blog has been claimed by someone else, go here to find out how you can get it back. ©2008 Inte...

Delete or Edit Comments?
2008-01-25 16:15:00
When I first started blogging, I remember not getting even a single comment and it hurt real bad. I kept writing and slowly people started reading and commenting and then some also started linking to my posts and the blog which brought more people to read and give feedback and I felt part of this wonderful community. I LOVE getting comments and hearing different takes on what I write and I LOVE discussions taking place here on the blog. I have gotten to know so many people by their first names and remember their blogs that now when I see them on some social media site, I can immediately tell who this person is and remember to go to their blog and leave a comment on their post of the day or just say a hi via comment form etc. But what do I do when some inanimate object like Sofa, Dining Tables, Swimming Pools, Stock Trading Software, Printed Circuit Boards or Ghillie Suits leave a comment and I have no way of knowing who this person is? Clicking on the links they leave gets y...
More About: Comments , Edit , Delete

Mixx, Propeller or Squidoo? Social Media Mega Project
2008-01-21 06:50:00
Are you a fan of any particular social media site for networking or bookmarking? If yes, then this is the project you want to pay close attention to for the next month. Vivien of InspirationBit has organized a Mega Social Media Project that is being hosted by multiple bloggers for multiple social media sites. As you can tell from the post title, I will be hosting this project for Mixx, Propeller (formerly Netscape) AND Squidoo . Here are the rules to participate in this project: Write a post on your blog and share with us how do you integrate this social media site (Mixx or Propeller or Squidoo) into your blogging or work and tell us about your good or bad experience(s), how would you compare this social networking site with others, what do you like or don’t like about it, how did you benefit from becoming a frequent user of this site, what secrets have you learned about it, what tips or warnings would you like to inform others about? Contact me with your name, email and a perma...

Interesting Posts Around the Web - Jan 19
2008-01-19 03:52:00
the easiest way to make your community happy @ muhammad.saleem Top 10 Tips for Briteny Spears and anyone who is feeling lost in life @ LifeLearningToday Test your web design in different browsers @ Browser Shots 20 Reasons to go to SobCon08 @ Confident Writing More Stumble Upon Articles @ Robdogg Push Beyond Fear and Bust Down the Door to a Successful Life @ My Tropical Escape 5 Simple Ways to Get More Blog Traffic in 2008 @ Shoemoney Send email to a person in the future @ Sizlopedia Justice Regins: Stumble Troll BANNED by SU @ Collective Thoughts - a must read for anyone who loves SU Digg’s Top 100 Users @ chrisfinke Remember Randy Pausch and his Last Lecture?  Check out this post which talks about Randy being offered a role in the upcoming Star Trek movie. And if you are short on time and cannot read all the great articles yet, check out this contest for an easy 100 bucks. ©2008 Interesting Observations. All Rights Reserved..
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