This is just a quick post about my first Squidoo page. Although I actually started a lens almost two years ago, it wasn’t until I actually had the need to bring it to the final stage of publishing that I finally completed it. I’ve explained the reason for doing that in my Necessity The Mother Of Invention And How It Relates To Blogs where it explains how people find a way to do things when there is a specific need for getting it done. In my case the need was to help promote and market a new venture I was getting into.

I would dare to say that most of you may be familiar with Squidoo, but for those of you who aren’t all that familiar with it I would highly recommend that you check it out. If you take my lens, that’s what they call them, as an example you will see how I’ve used it to promote several of the posts on my blogs. This gives those posts extra link juice, as Squidoo is highly respected by the major search engines, as well as the good possibility of sending targeted traffic to those posts. We all know how important targeted traffic can be.

So, if you haven’t seen my lens yet why not go on over and have a look, if for no other reason than to see how handsome I am

So, go on over there, and if your feeling generous you can rate and fav it for me and I will do the same for one of your lenses. Just leave a link to your lens in the comment.

Scams are rife everywhere on the net so why should it be any different with Twitter. For those of you who are not aware of Twitter I reckon you must have been hibernating somewhere and it’s now time for you to wake up and listen to the Tweets. Be careful who you follow though because it could be sweet music to your ears or it could excruciating babble.

Twitter would have to be the most popular social networking site that allows users to send and read short messages, up to 140 characters, that are known as tweets. Before telling you of an honest and legitimate what in which Twitter users can make money I want you to read this special report depicting a Twitter Scam! It’s sounds like nothing more than a pyramid scheme where you have to pay to get involved and then you make money by ripping other people off by sucking them into the same scheme.

The thing is there are a lot of legitimate ways to make money on the Net, and including Sponsored Tweets!  Sponsored Tweets act as an intermediary between you and the advertisers who will pay you for tweets. There are some who may be worried about losing followers if they start tweeting Sponsored Tweets but there is no need to worry because all Tweets have to be mandatory disclosed, this from their ethics page.

SponsoredTweets.com facilitates an open relationship between our Tweeters and Advertisers. The Tweeters that engage in a sponsored tweets program are required to disclose their relationship with marketers in their communications with other consumers. Our platform programmatically requires disclosure from all participants, applying standards and compliance system wide.

We comply with FTC regulations that state, “When there exists a connection between the endorser and the seller of the advertised product which might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement (i.e., the connection is not reasonably expected by the audience) such connection must be fully disclosed.”

The way it works is, once a member, you get a DM, or email whichever you choose, from an advertiser wanting you to tweet their product or service. You would then decide whether or not it’s one you would promote. If you’re agreeable you would tweet the ad with the relevant prefix letting your followers know that the tweet is a sponsored one. Sometimes the tweet will not be published until the ad is approved, but once it’s out there you will be paid.

As you have complete control over what you tweet you only tweet the ones you are happy with, and as long as you don’t go crazy no-one is going to mind. Some of them may even fit in within your niche adding value to your tweets.

How much does it cost to join? Nothing, it is absolutely free! Anyone can be a member as long as they fulfill the following criteria.

- 60 days on Twitter
- 100 Tweets
- 100 Followers

Most Twitter users would be able to have instant access. If you’re not a twitter member you could be missing out on a lot of fun as well as having the opportunity to make a bit of extra cash. For those of you who are new to Twitter I highly recommend you read 50+ Awesome Twitter Tips To Become A Pro.

I don’t usually start my posts with a banner, but I thought this one was perfect as it draws the attention to what this post is all about. Last Tuesday Oz Lotto had the largest jackpot in history, so much so that more people than usual rushed to buy a ticket. Not surprising when you consider that the prize was a huge $50 million.

What was really surprising was that nobody actually won fist prize and so it has now jack potted to $90 million which is unheard of in our lottery history. This is extremely lucky for me as I completely forgot to buy a ticket last Tuesday but there is no way I am going to forget the up and coming draw.

I have one advantage above everyone else because I don’t have to fight the crowds to buy a ticket. I’m doing it the easy way by buying it online, which gives me the added bonus of checking the tickets online as well. No more having to worry about making a mistake when checking it manually.

If you are not yet a member of Oz Lotteries, the mob I buy tickets online from, now would be a great time to join, not just because of the Jackpot as they are offering a free Oz Lotto game. The beauty about it is that it’s not limited just to Aussies, you Yanks and Poms can play as well. :) Oh, and last time I bought a ticket I was actually able to use PayPal to make the purchase.

In case you are wondering about the validity of this site you needn’t worry, as a member I can personally vouch for them, even though all my winnings so far have been relatively small. You may find this quote from their about page of interest…

Oz Lotteries is the exclusive distributor of lottery products via the Internet on behalf of leading Australian lottery exporters, TMS Global Services Pty Ltd and TMS New South Wales.

Operating in excess of 20 years, TMS has serviced more than 500,000 customers in over 40 countries to date. TMS distributes lottery products worldwide via mail-order, as a direct lottery service partner for a number of Asian and South Pacific nations and its industry leading website www.OzLotteries.com

Oz Lotteries operates under strict government supervision and is an accredited sales agent of the following Australia lottery operators:

As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been a member for a couple of years and though my winnings have been small, I’ve been paid on every one of them.

Time is running out! The lottery draw ends tonight Tuesday 30th June 2009! There is still time to get your ticket at Oz Lotteries for your chance to win 90 MILLION DOLLARS!

UPDATE: It’s now 9.30 am. It seems that many people have left buying a ticket to the last moment. It must be absolutely mayhem out there. I can just imagine the line ups. You may be put in a queue even if buying online because of the buying furor. Which is cool, because at least you are in the comfort of your own home with a cup of coffee nearby.

Times Up, I hope you were one of the lucky winners. Check out the lottery results at my latest POST!

Truthfully, I believe that there are two types of people who would answer yes to this question. The first are those who have never tried it and are negative about anything new and so their opinion is pretty well useless. The second are those who joined, didn’t know what the fudge they were doing and so failed miserably, and once again their opinion is just as useless as the first group, although some may listened to them as at the very least they’ve given it a try.

The truth is that eBay is not bullshit, because if you know what you are doing you can actually make money. The truth of the matter is that I have saved hundreds of dollars by buying products on eBay, and every dollar I saved means more money in my pocket, and in essence that is money earned. Here are some simple eBay tricks for safe online shopping.

• You only shop for things that you need, because if you’re going to buy things just because they’re cheap you may as well throw your money away.
• Only buy from those showing a feedback percentage of 98% positive or better. If others are happy with their service then you probably will be too.
• Check to see that their delivery charges are not exorbitant. Some sellers offer cheap goods but slug you with a high postal charge. If you think their postage is over the top then look elsewhere.
• Don’t just look at the item and the price. Check out the seller by clicking on their link to find out how long he’s been operating and what sort of feedback score he’s got.
• Is the product new? Watch out, many people buy something thinking it’s new when it wasn’t and it’s their own fault because they didn’t the product information carefully.

I reckon that I have come across the perfect sister site to this blog and it just happens to be another blog. It even has a very appealing name,Listen To Me Bitch! Isn’t that a killer? It’s almost as good as the title of this blog. The bitching blog is a little different from the norm as it has several different people posting to it, which makes it really fun to read as the style, depending on the blogger, is continually changing.

Honestly, if you love to hear someone rant, or as in this occasion bitch, you simply have to go and check them out. At the moment the current hot post is called The Art Of Shopping Etiquette, and you just may want to chip in.

Oh and whilst I got you here I have something else you may be interested in, especially if you are an up and coming blogger. I have just started a new forum called Wassup’s Bloggers Forum and it is aimed solely at bloggers. The more that join, the more information and tips we can share.

This is a table copied from Wikipedia showing the 15 most populous nations and I noticed that somehow Australia is not listed. Could it possibly be that it’s because as of 2007 (a year after the figures presented in this table) our population was a mere 20,434,176? According to Wikipedia, “as of July 5, 2008, the world’s population is believed to be approximately 6,708,083,942.” That means that Australia represents 0.30% of the world population.

When the present Labor Government won the election last year one of the promises they stood on was the signing of the Kyoto Treaty and true to their word Australia ratified the Kyoto Protocol on December the 3rd 2007, but at what cost to the Australians ? As Aussies we want to do our bit for the environment but what is the point if the rest of the world does not follow suit? When you consider the figures above I would suggest that our ‘carbon footprint’ compared to those other nations is minuscule and any savings made would not be noticed if the other countries did not follow suit.

In todays paper, Kevin Rudd, who is pushing for a national Emissions Trading Scheme to start by 2010, was asked if he was willing to do his part and “Share the pain with the people by picking up his tab for power, lighting and heating bills at The Lodge when the scheme was introduced.” After all, he admits that it would add financial burdens to all Australians so why shouldn’t he and the rest of his political mates pay their share? In response his office said,

The Prime Minister will not be changing the long standing practices of previous prime ministers in relation to these matters. The Prime Minister understands the cost of living pressures that confront Australia’s working families, carers and seniors. He also understands that Australians want the Australian Government to take action on climate change.

He understands but is not willing to share the burden? This from a man who earns $370,000 per year, not including perks, like a paid butler and a tax payer funded nanny for his youngest child. Not to forget that his wife, Theresa Rein, owns a company that turned over $260 million last year. This from the man who after signing the Kyoto Protocol said “We must all share the burden.” So much for leading by example.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

I think its about time we stop bullshitting around and try a little humor to clear the air a little.

It all began because the Jones were unable to have children and as a last resort they had decided to use a proxy father. On the day that the proxy was to arrive Mr. Jones kissed his wife and told her not to worry as the man would be there in a little while and it would all be over soon.

About an 15 minutes later a door to door baby photographer happens to ring the doorbell. Mrs Jones answers the door and is greeted with, “Good morning madame, I am here to….”

Before he could go any further shes nervously says, “Thats OK, there is no need to explain, I have been expecting you, you know.”

The photographer is a little shocked but isn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth and says, “Thats good as I have made a specialty of babies.”

“Thats just what my husband and I had hoped as it is very important to us that everything goes just right. Please come in and have a seat.” She sits him down and then blushingly asks, “Just where do we start?”

“Don’t worry madam, leave everything to me. Just to make sure everything goes OK I try two in the bathtub, one on the couch and maybe a couple on the bed. Heck some have even found the living room floor to be quite good as it allows you to really spread out.”

“Bathtub, living room floor? No wonder it never worked for Malcolm and me.”

Well, to tell you the truth, no-one can really guarantee a good one every time, which is why its best to try different positions, especially as it allows me to shoot from different angles.” He winks and says, “I’m sure you will be pleased with the results.”

Getting really nervous by now, she stammers, “I do hope we can get this over with fairly quickly.”

“Madam, we can’t rush this if we want to get the best results. One needs to take ones time and as much as I would love to be in and out in 5 minutes or so, I am sure that you would be disappointed with the results.”

“Oh I know all about that she says.”

The photographer starts to open his bag and pulls out his portfolio of baby pictures. “This one was done on the top of a bus in the middle of Adelaide”, as he points to a photo of a cute baby.

“Oh, dear me” she claims, while biting her nails.

“As for these twins, I am surprised how well they turned out considering that the mother was so difficult to work with.”

Mrs Jones looks at the photo and says, “Difficult?”

“Oh, immensely so, I had to take her to a national park to get the job done just right. We had people crowding around four or five deep and there was much pushing and shoving as they all tried to get a good look.”

“Four and five deep?” as she starts to perspire a little.

“Yes indeed, and for more than three hours too. The mother kept screaming and yelling so much I found it very difficult to concentrate. Then it started to get dark and so I had to rush my last few shots, and had to finally pack it all in when the roos started nibble on my equipment.”

Mrs Jones leans over aghast and says, “They were actually nibbling on your equipment?”

“They sure did, but I think we had better get started, so if you just wait there a moment while I get my tripod.”

“You need a tripod? she asks, getting really worried now.

“Oh yes, its absolutely necessary to rest my Canon on. It’s way to big for me to hold while I’m getting ready for action!”

Upon which Mrs. Jones fainted.

The next spam filter I checked out worked along the same lines as Cloudmark Desktop in my last review except that they do have a version that is completely free. The differences between the free and the Pro version of SPAMfighter Pro can be found here. Unfortunately if you want the Pro version you have to renew it at AU$43 / year.

My only problem is that I feel if I pay for software I should own it unless I need to pay for an update or something.

So my search continued until I found ella for Spam Control. This is a nifty little program and if you are happy to use Outlook it is completely free. Unfortunately I prefer Outlook Express and I decided to own it outright at only $29.95. It is truly a smart piece of software as it actually learns which emails to reject. So far I am 100% satisfied.

So as far as I am concerned ella supplies more value for your buck. Why? because it works and it’s a once only outlay. Another plus is that it is easy to set up using the wizard and it integrates easily with Outlook or Outlook Express.

I am absolutely pissed off at the amount of email spam I have been getting that I have decided to do something about it. You must admit that over 400 spam emails is a little over the top and so begins my search for a decent ‘Email Spam buster’.

The first one I am trying was found in this blog’s very own Google Adsense and is called Cloudmark Desktop and I must admit it is pretty damn good. So far it has caught almost every single spam and the few that it didn’t I just blocked them for future reference. Every time this is done those particular emails are added to the database so that they will never bother anyone else.

You get a 15 day free trial and it works on Outlook, Outlook Express and Thunderbird and after that it will set you back $39.95 which isn’t all that much for a spam free life, but I want to see if I can get a freebie first before parting with my hard earned cash.

Update: I’ve just noticed that the $39.95 is renewable every year and therefore it has lost it’s appeal for me.