Various Personality Test Scores

I put the results of a personality test within this blog, but the resulting pages' format was thrown off so much that I had to remove it.

It now appears on my music related MySpace blog.

Woman Googles Man, Discovers He Is On A Most Wanted List

This story is rich!

I definitely recommend Googling anyone to discover their best and worst if they appear not to have a track record you can easily locate.

Has Anyone Else Heard Prince's New Song "Beautiful, Loved, & Blessed" Yet?

Hello All,

I just heard a new song by Prince entitled "Beautiful, Loved, & Blessed" and it really pleasantly surprised me. 

The song appears as part of a 2-song CD entitled "Black Sweat" and is available for download from most online music stores.

The song is a romantic love song to Christ but I did not hear Christ or Jesus mentioned directly within the song.  But the lyrics include a reference to "the Blood on Calvary".  It contains numerous biblical references as I heard.

It is more like a declaration song as in "I am beautiful, loved, and blessed" to more I listen to it as well as a statement to uplift or encourage someone else.

I heard the song on Napster.  A young sister named Tamar also sings on the song.

The main song "Black Sweat" is traditionally Prince though;)

What are your thoughts regardless of whether you have heard the song or not yet?

Peace,

Roney Smith
http://www.anointedbelievers.tv
http://www.myspace.com/seedoflife
http://blog.roneysmith.com

Firefox Has A Ton of Cool, New Extensions

Last night I downloaded a ton of new extensions compatible with the latest version of the Firefox web browser.

There are so many new extensions available that it is like being a kid in a candy store and I am still trying to get a feel for them all.

Some are related to downloads, various websites often visited, a color picker (or identifier for web design purposes), using Gmail, and a host of other concepts.

I know that I will probably not use them all on a regular basis, but anything to minimize the number of new programs needed in addition a web browser I am for.

Advertising, Consumers, and A New Business Model Appearing on the Radar

I just saw Thomas Hawk's blog entry on Yahoo! asking a question while proposing an offer to people to use their search engine versus Google and receive a potential discount to use Netflix as a reward.

In my household, we have not tried Netflix yet although we have received literature and coupons from them within the mail.

But Yahoo's approach strongly reminds me of my recent blog entry on the autosurf industry.

I saw on yesterday's afternoon news an irresponsible segment done by consumer advocate Clark Howard which made me question his research into autosurf companies individually and collectively since he trashed 12 Daily Pro in yesterday's segment (probably nationwide at a minimum) without mercy.  He did not even mention StormPay whatsoever.

The business model that Yahoo! is proposing has been executed as well by other companies and it is the same identical business model that 12 Daily Pro and other autosurf companies are using.  This same business model is clearly going to grow worldwide and become accepted by consumers and product and service providers worldwide.

Why?

Because this new, global, business model lowers the cost the obtaining, acquiring, and keeping a customer by allowing the customer to identify themselves as being a candidate to use the company's products and services.  The business model also lowers the cost of advertising since it focuses the advertising budget directly to those significantly interested within the advertisers' industry (and products and services) versus spending irrationally (on advertising) without knowing whether the right targets were ever reached.

The business model also has a direct implication for customer service issues because it will rapidly identify which customers are no longer customers and provide companies a fast-response mechanism to find out what has displeased the customer and whether there is temporary or long-term issue that needs to be addressed.

The new business model that I am referring to is the transfer of payments (direct and/or indirect, financial or barter) from product and service providers to consumers.

To a certain extent, this model has already been in existence wherever consumers have been asked to send proof-of-purchases to companies in exchange for rebates, discounts, or any other free offers.

Yahoo! is willing to pay Netflix to send free or discounted DVD rentals to identifiable customers in exchange for the customers using Yahoo! as a search engine.

Why is Yahoo! willing to part with their financial capital in this way?

Because Yahoo! clearly plans to resell access to the customers who accept the offer and in some cases, Yahoo! might even sell its ability to undoubtedly identify such customers.

As a result of this new business model, it will not be Yahoo! who ultimately directly funds or pays the customers or Netflix, but the advertisers that have paid Yahoo! to advertise their products or services.

The autosurf industry does the very same thing but since its usage of the internet is still primarily not mainstream yet, attorney generals of various states and consumer advocates such as Clark Howard are more than willing to improperly classify such companies as fraudulent, illegal, and/or unethical within their operations through their own vested interest of "protecting the public".

There are other companies who have directly or indirectly used the same business model and these companies consist of any company that has used an affiliate or referral based program online as well as any company that has paid someone somewhere directly or indirectly for advertising.

Does this new business model have a name yet?  I do not exactly know and in lack of a clearly, identifiable name, I will call this new business model the PAID CUSTOMER or PAID EVANGELIST or PAID VIRUS or COMPENSATED CONSUMER method.  Take your pick of the various names and let me know which one sounds most accurate.

Within a conversation with my wife Wyteria after Howard's television segment, she used the quote, "If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck..."  To this I simply replied, " This is indeed a different animal because of the presence of the advertisers".

Without the presence of the advertisers (or traditionally the higher parties on the food chain), then the rushed judgments would be absolutely correct.

The upgrade of members simply works to qualify which participants are short-term users (the free, unpaid surfers) or dedicated, long-term participants within the industry regardless of the products or services advertised.

The companies (including the autosurf industry) using the new business model will have to be able to charge their advertisers a high enough advertising rate while delivering to the advertisers the needed reviewers of the company's products and services and have enough funds left over in order to directly or indirectly compensate the customers for their participation within the process.

One interesting aspect of such a business model is that it does require some effort on part of the participating consumers to know which companies are indeed interested in staying open for business for a very, long time versus those companies within the intent of getting rich quick.

Another aspect of the business model which eventually will entice the major financial services to participate within the new business model is that the payment processor or treasurer within the process has to be full of integrity, able to process large volumes of multiple transactions easily, and the ability to keep its doors open regardless of other events going on within the world.

Once these components are in place, you will begin to see compensated consumer business model more rapidly adopted worldwide.  The benefits to each party are clearly visible and attainable while each party must be committed to staying at the table for life.

I am going to participate within this new industry and here is one page that I have created already.  With the power of the internet, the compensated consumer business model experiences less friction than other business models have experienced offline.

Peace!

Interesting Article/Blog Entry on the Future's Impact on the Heart of Today

The following link is to an article/blog entry that reports some interesting but not yet totally foreign news to comprehend that the heart is affected in real-time to events about to occur.

Study Proves that the Heart Responds to Future Events

Personal and Professional Thoughts on the Autosurf Industry

http://www.wysiwysell.com

After reading the latest news from StormPay and 12 Daily Pro, I decided to create a blog entry on my thoughts about the autosurf industry overall.

From a historical perspective, every industry or endeavor faces a moment of truth which is a crossroads between turning back or moving forward. 

As those of us who are participating within the autosurf industry have just recently witnessed, there were some companies that have experienced great and extreme difficulties in even deciding if the stress and pressures of dealing with StormPay or continuing their operations were too much for them to handle.

If we put ourselves within such companies' positions, we too might throw in the towel if it appeared that we were involved in an endeavor that might not withstand the heat of governmental scrutiny or legal actions against us.

We also might feel great stress if we had to find an alternative payment processor when such thoughts were far removed from our daily lives.

With this being said, there is no better time to start participating within the autosurf industry.

Why?

Because the worst is clearly behind us no matter what happens in the future.

With the adjustments and corrections that will undoubtedly occur within the payment processor segment of the industry, the worst is indeed behind us and the various autosurf companies will clearly band together to create and provide some type of industry oversight and lobbying against governmental pressures that are now closer to taking place than ever before.

The governmental pressure that is coming next has already started within North Carolina and Georgia supposedly as stated within the recent StormPay and 12 Daily Pro news release.

Various states and their attorney generals will clearly test the waters to see if the autosurf industry is another derivative of the various ponzi schemes and multilevel marketing plans of the past.

But being that the autosurf industry essentially contains elements of a dynamic business model that ponzi scams and multilevel marketing could only dream about while not being able to execute.

Simply put, the autosurf industry allows every participant the opportunity to benefit without being the first one in line.  The last person to upgrade their membership has the same probability of improving their financial position as the person who either created or joined the autosurf company first.

Within no other multilevel or network marketing company have I observed or been a part of has this characteristic been truly and consistently possible.

As a result and just as soon as most autosurf companies determine which payment processor they will be using most consistently, it will time to fully dive head first.

The newly discovered confidence and potential of the autosurf industry will never be higher.

In addition to the people who are already on the internet every day, the autosurf industry has great appeal and potential for people who have participated within multilevel and network marketing in the past.

Why?

Because the autosurf industry completely fulfills the promises that many had witnessed to be broken in their past by the network marketing companies and the upline sponsors intentionally or by circumstances beyond their control.

The autosurf industry may even be more appealing to those who have failed at network marketing in their past because those who were successful within network marketing may not be able to make the adjustment to doing business in a way that everyone can truly succeed. 

Their past success more than likely will completely blind them or not allow them to see the autosurf industry as being anything other than a ponzi scheme.

This is where I stand and from this position will I move forward.  There is no greater risk than what has recently happened.

I still cannot get over my feelings to leave StormPay out of the equation no matter what 12 Daily Pro can possibly say going forward.  StormPay's recent desire to be the only payment processor is a completely broken, systematic mindset in my opinion.  The mindset was first broken by PayPal in my opinion.

Every Autosurf company will have to choose multiple payment processors even if a single payment processor is more effective and cost-efficient.

The risk is too great otherwise.

The autosurf business model is one that requires either blind faith (without trying to understand it at all) or an absolute trust within the system in order to make it work.  This is only because the business model is more complex than witnessed within any other industry without years of secrecy, private club gestures, and handshakes.

Even with my MBA degree and work history, I could not have been able to fully comprehend how an autosurf company could actually succeed for itself and its members without the months I spent studying the forex industry on my own.

Even though some autosurf companies do not invest within the forex markets, the same skill set and mindset is required to invest within the forex markets as well as some of the financial derivatives and shrewd strategies available to those investing within other financial markets.

Some strategies were first learned through the studies required to pass the series 7 exam by the NASD.  The months spent in 2004 are now only able to bear fruit it seems.

But American Express Financial Advisors did not expand the new understanding or allow its advisors to apply any of the lessons learned whatsoever.

I will end this message while looking forward to preparing a message for the type of person that will most quickly benefit from the autosurf industry with the lowest learning curve time frame.

I also now realize that everyone does not want to really be successful or financially abundant.  Or I should better say that everyone does not get into the water to play and/or swim or get on the dance floor at the same time.

There are different levels of risk-taking and I already had a spreadsheet years ago entitled (Set It Off) to express the differences.

With the water and dance floor examples given, you will already begin to get the overall idea of what I mean.

It will take the observation of the fruits of our new success to loosen and break the conservative nature of many people or get them over the hump of forgetting or moving in spite of about their past failures.

As a result, it is my recommendation that we keep our enthusiasm limited to sharing the URL of our websites and pages to publicize our participation within the autosurf industry.

Word of mouth, phone calls, and most other ways of promoting and advertising will simply not work because the autosurf industry is too new out of the gate for most people to get their minds around.

I do love Terry's suggestion of putting our URL on business cards and I will expand the idea by including the URL within my signature within any e-mails that are sent.

Other than showing your new car or other purchases or new ability to make money, you will be wasting your time, effort, and energies trying to get people to understand and/or participate within the autosurf industry.

http://www.wysiwysell.com

Coretta Scott King Homegoing Program PDF Online

Hello All,

The physical copies of the homegoing funeral for Mrs. Coretta Scott King are limited and probably have already run out.  But you can download the digital file of the beautiful program online:

http://alt.cimedia.com/ajc/pdf/kingfuneral/funeralprogram.pdf

Forward the link to anyone that may be interested in this piece of history.

Peace,

Roney Smith
http://blog.roneysmith.com

SuprGlu Seals Up Numerous, Potential Loose Ends!

I just discovered a new Web 2.0 application this morning and it is totally super cool to use in conjunction with any online activity that features XML/RSS feeds in a more digestible format for viewing.

SuprGlu compiles all of your feeds in a very easy to use, graphical centralized website from multiple websites and their competitors (or coopetition) such as Flickr, Digg, Del.icio.us, Blogger, and Last.fm among a few others that I am currently not using.

If you have control of the content and its respective feed, then you can add to your free pages within a SuprGlu account.  Otherwise, you risk losing your account if a copyright holder objects to you syndicating their content without their permission.

Since I feel that I generate enough content on my own from multiple sources, it will not be necessary to add any other feeds at the present time.  Therefore SuprGlu will essentially help a person write or speak with a single voice in a centralized location online.

What makes SuprGlu cool in my opinion is that it removes needing any detailed knowledge about XML/RSS feeds out of the equation just like Apple has done with the iPod and other devices.

Check SuprGlu out and my SuprGlu page is already online and automatically constantly updated.

Interesting Wiki entry regarding potential activities that support conspiracy theories

The Wiki entry on Operation Northwoods is enough to make anyone a conspiracy theorist.

I never heard of some of the events that happened before I was born in 1965.

"Who gave the order?" asked Wyclef on his "The Preacher's Son" CD.

9-11 Things That Make You Go Hmmmmmmm

If there was ever a story to break the silence within an empty room, then the press release which appears on Yahoo via PRWeb from various experts who claim that the events leading up to and after 9-11 are a hoax fulfills the bill.

I have always felt that the day itself was a little too clean cut and clearly convenient in spite of the lives that were lost.

Read it for yourself and any comments for or against are welcome.

Teaching An Old Dog A New Trick: Making Money Online

A few weeks ago, a good friend turned me on (or more accurately returned me on) to an internet concept that I had initially ignored for probably a couple of months or years.

The concept was so different when I first heard it that I could not see any real value in doing it.  I could not understand why somebody would pay for the service as well.

The missing link was actually observation since both reading and hearing about it did not increase my understanding at all.

But once I saw the simple steps involved and got myself into the daily habit of making the right moves, there is no turning back;)

The process is so simple that I now have been keeping it as one of the first things that I do whenever I get on the internet daily.

The fallacy of thinking that I know it all was probably picked up when I started working at AT&T in 1990 and everyone can see where such thinking has gotten them (acquired by a former regional Baby Bell--SBC who then assumed the AT&T company name as its own).

But one thing that I have gotten sharper at with additional age is knowing when to turn around.

So as a result, pride gets shown the door very often.  I am still a work in progress though.

In the meantime, if you would like to see and learn how others are making money online without buying the kits, without the meetings, and just earning money then click on the link below and get some cash in your pocket for yourself:

http://www.wysiwysell.com

Peace!

Notified of Data Theft That Included My Personal Information

Yesterday (Wednesday, January 25th) I received a letter from AmeriPrise (formerly American Express Financial Advisers (AEFA)) that my personal information was included on a laptop stolen from an employee in December.

I was a financial adviser in 2004 before the company was divested by American Express and my noncompete agreement ended in mid-December 2005.

AmeriPrise is offering a free year of credit monitoring and the story is making worldwide news today.

So I now I know that the situation is worse than anticipated.

One piece of news given between the lines on Yahoo! is :

Ameriprise said it has alerted 68,000 current and former financial advisers whose names and

Social Security numbers were also stored on the same computer. About 158,000 clients had only their names and internal account numbers exposed. The company says it has more than 2 million customers and about 10,500 current financial advisers.

This means that there are 57,500 former financial advisers whose information was stolen.  The AEFA attrition rate is deplorable and I knew weeks before leaving AEFA that it would be put up for sale or on the chopping block altogether.

But Yahoo! did not include the same news that Reuters is reporting that the only reason that the information was contained on the laptop in the first place is that the clients were transferred to new financial advisers when the former financial advisers left the company.

This is clearly a case of reaping what you sow for AmeriPrise.  First you lose the brand of American Express, the logo, the ability to contact card-carrying AMEX customers, and now you further alienate the customers whose trust was gained by the former advisers by monitoring them and/or the former financial advisers to see if any non compete agreements were violated.

There was no commitment to both the financial adviser and/or the niche markets that have gone traditionally under served in my opinion.  Even home office personnel responsible or that should have known if such resources were available did not have a clue.

When I left the company after receiving some supposed advice that was either unethical or possibly illegal (since it clearly violated any company's implied or expressed code of conduct) I knew that if it was the best advice that could be offered, then my ladder was clearly leaning against the wrong building.

The end result would be the same regardless of the choice made so I chose to leave versus being forced out otherwise.

I now have to make the telephone call to former clients whose phone numbers I may have (to rediscover or relocate) to apologize for putting them in a situation that I never imagined.

The worst part of the handwriting on the wall was that the company expressed that it owned the relationships with the client above all when flesh and blood had established the relationships in the first place .  This is the reason that I did not or could not contact anyone while the non compete agreement was in effect.

I did not want to take the risk of making such a jealous company angry.

Now that the cat is officially out of the bag for worldwide viewing, my loyalty is completely disintegrated.

The moral of this story is to more heavily screen companies that you work for since they are already screening you.

2006 Breakthroughs

2006 has started off with an unexpected series of deaths of friends' loved ones.  As a result, I have not been as consistent in creating new entries as I was in 2005.

But clearly I feel the need to be there within each situation and as a result, there have been a release of both blessings, breakthroughs, and a deepening of relationships with people that I have known for decades and with people that I have just met within the past couple of months.

I thank God for the opportunities that have been presented to me and my first focus has been to reduce the pain and provide comforting words as much as possible.  Just being there does more than words can express.  I know because I have been there myself.

Already I have been continuing to write songs and produce music.  With the recent hard drive space increase within our primary computer system, I have been starting to use Cakewalk again after getting away from it due to the hd space limitations.  The return to active music production has been fun.

Maybe it has not been a return, but more of an aggressive push to release more music to the world.

Another great tool that I have been exposed will become a part of our household and efforts as well within Apple's GarageBand program and an Apple Mac Mini itself.  Crossing this bridge will be relatively easy since Apple's Macintosh applications are much easier than anything within Windows.

So 2006 is going to be a very musical year.

Get ready and if you hear any noise, it's just me and the boys gettin' down, gettin' loose, and gettin' funky in praise of my personal Lord and Savior Christ Jesus with no brakes and no restraints.

Fishnets are being created and would you like to dance?

You can stay up to date on my musical progress at:

http://www.myspace.com/seedoflife

88 Drums of spiritual warfare shall be released indeed.

Peace!

Instant Wishlist Item: USB Turntable

I just saw the coolest device imaginable for those of us who still have a vinyl collection of records that are still enjoyable.

ION has the iTTUSB and finally there will be an easy way to digitize vinyl records.  It is available for both the PC and Mac.

The turntable is supposedly available in multiple major stores both offline and online.  I did not see any pricing information though and if it is available for less than $150 and actually closer to being under $100, then it will be a no-brainer decision to buy one.

But I cannot immediately imagine anyone buying one who does not have a vinyl collection though.  There are many 12-inch singles from house, techno, and dance artists, but otherwise it might be overkill.

The ability to import the sound straight through the USB port has really caught my eye most of all even though I have the necessary cables to connect a turntable otherwise.  I really hope that this product is USB powered as well.

This turntable also has line level output for connecting to any home stereo with CD or auxiliary (AUX) inputs, so I now slightly find it hard to believe if it can be completely powered by the USB port.

Regardless the concept of an USB turntable is very cool for music lovers in a new year.  I might have to break out my old gold DJ name and take it out of storage.

The DJ name that I have used most while in high school and as a bedroom DJ was "Chocolate Marshmallow".  I laugh to think about it now:)

But I might use a fraternity nickname used in college which still sounds slightly better is Charter Polemarch Ice.  Both are still hilarious though:D)

Hard Drive Space Just Added Again

I have been fighting a losing battle to keep enough HD space for the past several years and no matter when I would upgrade or add more space, more space would be needed.

I just added another HD drive to replace my main master drive and the company that I bought it from transferred the data to the new drive at no charge.  While the upgrade was being considered, I added a DVD with burning capability since I have never had the capability to burn CDs or DVDs consistently.

I hope to burn a lot of our photos to DVDs and CDs as well as share them with family members.

When I turned our computer on after the upgrade, it was as if no changes were visible other than seeing the huge increase in HD space.

I was already keeping precious data on an external drive like yourself and now have at least 120 GB free.

When will it ever end?

Regardless, I know now that I will be adding a Mac Mini to our arsenal very soon and will try to add another computer at least every 6 months to a year versus holding on to dying technology (all manmade items are decaying or dying as soon as they are purchased) for at least 3 years as was done in this case.

Hopefully with a network available, the value of one computer will not place us into a sink or swim or feast or famine situation ever again.

The IBM ThinkPad that I bought several years ago has enough Purple Hearts to go down in computing history since it was bought in 2001 or 2002 (which is light years ago in computing time).

So my technology lifestyle and adventures continue;)

This photo best represents how I feel about 2006

Vavavoum
Originally uploaded by Hermosdef.

If a photo can represent 1000 words, then this photo tells the story how I feel about experiencing 2006 and leaving 2005 in the history books;)

The photo comes from one of my contacts on Flickr named Hermosdef @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/hermann-deza, so check out his other photos and you will be amazed at his UK flavor!

Peace!

Gospel Hip Hop Online Radio Stations

I have a collection of Gospel Hip Hop songs discovered on SoundClick that I will continuously add more songs as they are discovered:

lo bandwidth:

http://www.soundclick.com/player/stations_player.cfm?q=lo&folderID=282133&ref=7

high bandwidth:

http://www.soundclick.com/player/stations_player.cfm?q=hi&folderID=282133&ref=7

Peace!

Controversies Aside, NBC's "The Book of Daniel" Is Just a Bad Show

Last night I saw a portion of the new NBC television program "The Book of Daniel" and saw the handwriting is already on the wall for the show.  It will need a miracle to survive its first season.

Recent news about the show being controversial and causing an uproar among the believers around the world clearly raised the level of awareness that I had about the show.  As the saying goes, "There is no such thing as bad publicity" and getting the attention of people cannot be considered the home base for scoring successes.

The show is not on the level of FX's Nip / Tuck and although it may try, I doubt that viewers will drool over the letterbox format that should bring a sense of drama to the program.

The priest named Daniel has a son named Peter, a daughter named Grace, and an adopted Asian son named Adam.  Within the portion that I saw, Daniel's wife is an alcoholic, Peter is gay, Grace was selling drugs to buy computer equipment to produce Manga (a Japanese animated art form), and Adam gets around with the ladies like a modern-day Casanova.

The show seems like people threw possible situations for characters into a hat and what was pulled from the hat was given to third string writers to create a script.

The show cannot be possibly compared to 7th Heaven which appeared on the WB network even during a flashback episode.

The hour that the show has received thus far should be reserved for something more entertaining, educational, or placeholder technical difficulty visual.

This is just how bad the show itself (and not just the one episode) is.   Viewers would rather see a version of MTV and VH1's "The Surreal Life" with deceased celebrities thrown together via old footage only.

Chicago SunTimes: Dorsey's music likely destroyed

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-pilg07.html

Dorsey's music likely destroyed

More than memories were lost in the blaze that destroyed Chicago's Pilgrim Baptist Church -- the birthplace of gospel music.

During his four-year tenure as Pilgrim's pastor, the Rev. Hycel B. Taylor, who left the pastorate about seven months ago, worked with students from the Illinois Institute of Technology to catalog and store sheet music belonging to Thomas A. Dorsey, the church's longtime musical director better known as "the godfather of gospel music," he said.

"I had boxed all his music to preserve it," Taylor said Friday, adding that he believes the music was in the church at the time of the fire.

"That's a great loss."

Before his death in 1993 at the age of 93, Dorsey wrote more than 400 gospel songs. His most famous, penned in 1932 after the death of his wife and infant son, is gospel music's unofficial anthem: "Precious Lord, Take My Hand."

"Through the storm, through the night/Lead me on to the light/Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home. . . ."

Cathleen Falsani