Your reputation is a priceless asset. A good reputation is only established with time and a track record of activity characterized by professionalism and the highest ethical practices. A good reputation may take years to build – it can, however, be destroyed in an afternoon. The Internet, which is such a useful tool to communicate to multitudes of users all over the world, can be an equally efficient and mindless destroyer of good reputations, in short order. It can happen to anyone at any time. This is the downside of the Internet. All that is required is for some malicious individual representing themselves or a competitor, to leave a strongly negative review, exceedingly critical comment or a strongly negative rating on a web site that evaluates and rates sites for trustworthiness and your reputation may be in imminent danger of total destruction. I don’t want to sound too dramatic nor do I want to scare anyone, but this is the real world in which we navigate and sometimes there are threats and pitfalls to operating in a public venue. I knew this, of course, because I have been blogging for more than two years.  

M—- L—- wrote: “The links it creates all lead to some AD site .” “Not true. There are some Ads and they are linked to the Vender’s site, of course, that is how advertising works- but there are also links to blogger’s pages, and other informational sites and this is not in the least, a questionable practice, it is a standard.” 

U— t—- wrote: “Reason: blackhat SEO tactics, link-farms, zombie-click systems, search engine manipulation attempts, portal spamming, and many more. There is near to nothing this company does not do to break every ethical code on Earth and by doing so, they frequently breach terms and conditions of several online services and portals too. Definitly not a company I want to do business with.”  

For those of you who may not have heard of these terms here are some definitions: 

Black hat SEO tactics - [From Webopedia] : In search engine optimization, (SEO) terminology, “Black Hat SEO”refers to the use of aggressive SEO strategies, techniques and tactics that focus only on search engines and not a human audience, and usually does not obey search engine rules. Some examples of Black Hat SEO techniques include keyword stuffing, invisible text and doorway pages. Black Hat SEO is more frequently used by those who are looking for quick financial return on their web site, rather than having a long term presence on the web or investment in their site. Black Hat SEO can possibly result in a web site being banned from a search engine, however since the focus is usually on quick, high-return business models, most experts who use Black Hat SEO tactics consider being banned from search engines a somewhat irrelevant risk. Black Hat SEO may also be referred to as Unethical SEO or just spamdexing, as spamdexing is a frequently used Black Hat SEO practice. 

Link Farms- [From Webopedia] : There are many service providers who promise to help you boost your link popularity by automatically entering you into link exchange programs they operate, often linking your page with web sites that have nothing to do with your content. …Users should be aware of the repercussions of this action as major search engines penalize sites that participate in “link farming,” thereby, reversing their intended affect. A link farm is a web page that is nothing more than a page of links to other sites. 

On the World Wide Web, a link farm is any group of web sites that all hyperlink to every other site in the group. Although some link farms can be created by hand, most are created through automated programs and services. A link farm is a form of spamming the index of a search engine (sometimes called spamdexing.)Other link exchange systems are designed to allow individual websites to selectively exchange links with other relevant web sites and are not considered a form of spamdexing. 

Other Points to Consider: ( some of these actions will merit unwanted notice and critical attention by Search engines): 

1. A sudden increase in links or a new site obtaining high numbers of links quickly. 

2. The buying or selling of links.

3.cialis Registering your site in link farms and link exchange programs.

4. Building a linking system from a web site you own, especially if hosted on the same server.

5. Reciprocal linking has little value-search engines see it for what it is, a trade, not a good link to high quality content.

Zombie Click Systems - [From Anti Hacking Anticipation Society] : DEFINITION – a botnet (also known as a zombie army) is a number of Internet computers that, although their owners are unaware of it, have been set up to forward transmissions (including spam or viruses) to other computers on the Internet. Any such computer is referred to as a zombie – in effect making a computer “robot” or “bot” that serves the wishes and purposes of some master spam or virus originator. 

Search Engine Manipulation- 

Any means, usually frowned upon by the search engines, to artificially boost your traffic volume. For a clearer picture of what this is, do read this excellent article: 

I was enraged and speechless, at the same time. I admit that, for a moment, I felt awfully discouraged: “That’s it. I am finished. game over!” How could they be commenting on my site? I do not engage in these practices.” Yet, I could not just sit here and let my reputation be so easily destroyed. As I mentioned earlier, I wrote to www.mywot and complained that these comments did not reflect reality nor did they apply to my site. When I finally calmed down, I went back to the evaluation page and made a very important discovery. I realized that what happened on my site was this: The cursor, apparently, hovered over a banner on my page that was linked to a site that helps to promote web sites. This site was the one that did not have a good reputation. It triggered the warning. I immediately removed the link. 

There are a couple of reasons why a blogger might want to use guest posts on his or her blog every so often:  First,  if you like to post frequently but find yourself out of ideas, or too busy putting together a complicated post that won’t be ready for weeks, you might use a guest post.  Secondly, a guest writer on your blog will provide variety.

from an earlier post entitled “The Posting Schedule” I offered some guidelines for using guest posts which I will repeat here:

  “Guest Posts” can be extremely valuable and can help you to keep to a more ambitious (more frequent) posting schedule.  Evaluate which bloggers write in a manner consistent with your theme and purpose and then contact them to offer to publish their posts on your blog.  It is usually a great compliment to have other bloggers ask you to be a guest on their blog; it shows they think highly of your writing.  Arrange to publish the guest blog and be sure to give full credit to the writer.  This is a fair reward to the him or her for writing a post for you in that they are given free promotion of their work on your page.  This is a project that you will probably have to start before you need the posts because, human nature being what it is, writers who are well-intentioned are seldom prompt in fulfilling their promise to you of a post.  Bloggers may be busy with their own blogs and it may be some time before they can send you the promised post, so it is desirable to give bloggers advanced notice and to get as firm a comittment as you can.  Guest posts published on your blog have an added benefit in that such posts bring fresh material and perspectives to your blog.  People always enjoy novelty and a guest post may be just the “seasoning” you need to add this quality to your blog.

Sometimes readers may respond to something you have written and offer their own version.  This happened recently when a visitor to my blog read my post about “Adventures.”  This reader remembered an adventure she had when she was a child and decided to write about it.  She contacted me and told me what she wrote about and I told her I would be glad to publish her account as a guest post.  Before we get into her adventure, I want to add one more thing about posting guest contributions.  I have a sort of template that I use and I offer it here as a suggestion to other bloggers who may want to use guest posts too.  The template is simple:

1.  I write a brief introduction about the writer and the post.

2.  I add a photo of the writer, if available.

3. If there is a URL associated with the writer, I display this

4.  The main body of the post comes next

5.  Sometimes I add some concluding remarks.  I always try to give credit to the writer and promote them as much as possible.

 To tie this all together I would like to give an example by presenting an actual guest post:

“Boredom Turns to Danger” – Guest Post by  T.J.Floyd                                                                                                                                                                                     

I would like to present my next guest, Ms. Thelma Floyd.  Thelma read my posts about my own adventures:  “Blogging About YourAdventures” and “Horse Tales” and she offered her own account of a childhood adventure.   Thelma is a coworker of mine and she is also an accomplished artist and writes poetry as well.  Here is her story:

If you have a traditional journal style blog in which you can write about anything that happens in your world, or a specialty blog with an open topic category (like this one) and you are thinking about what to write for your next post, don’t overlook your own personal adventures.  Somewhere, hidden away in the recesses of your memory, like a long forgotten souvenir that has been on the shelf for years, are the little stories that you may have enjoyed exchanging with relatives and friends at parties or holiday gatherings.  These “adventures” make really good blog posts because they are stories and as I have mentioned in previous posts, people love stories; they love to tell them and to hear them.  This is one aspect of our social nature that “modern” living has not stripped from us.  So what is an adventure?

Dictionary.com offers this:  

Transhumanism is the commingling of genetic information from humans and animals (and even plants) to produce a living organism with characteristics of the donors of that genetic material. The idea is to, ultimately, enhance humans, in some way, by selecting genes that have been identified as representing attributes deemed superior or desirable, and incorporating them into a living being. Transhumanism is just starting to surface in public discussions, as a controversial departure of science into unknown realms, but some writers already believe that this branch of science has been actively experimenting for, perhaps, as long as 20 years.

If this seems to you like the science of man is seeking to seize control of his evolutionary destiny and take matters into his own hands, you understand the transhumanism movement (and it is a movement with many supporters.) There is a well known anecdote of one pivotal moment in European history when the conqueror Napoleon Bonaparte was about to assume power as Emperor. The Pope, believed to be, at that time, the representative of all Christendom, was about to place the crown upon Napoleon’s head- but the impatient and arrogant Napoleon abruptly seized the crown from the Pope and crowned himself (December 2, 1804.)  I mention this because I see a parallel with what is happening in science.

Scientists that have been seduced by this brave new world of transhumanistic genetic engineering are seizing the very power of Life Creation from what was formerly attributed to an Omnipotent Creator – God, to many religious peoples; to others, less certain about the nature of this Power, but certain that it is Intelligent, the driving force of “Intelligent Design.” Others, even the non-religious, cite Nature as the mechanism of evolution and the dynamic which, however mysterious, contains a certain infallible wisdom about what should or shouldn’t materialize in our natural world.

The scientists pursuing and promoting this transhumanistic agenda, must, one might reasonably suppose, by the nature of their activities, disavow any connection or accountability to Divinity or Religious Faith of any kind and, perhaps most troubling, refuse to give any deference to a higher morality.автобазарAll moral judgments would, it seems to me, have to be suspended in the pursuit of this absolutely humanistic agenda. Having no necessity to answer to a Higher Omnipotent Authority, believing only in the supreme authority of Science, the “transhumanists” are definitely going boldly, where no man has gone before - free of all restraints:

Yet, the idea of superior creatures that are some part human and some part inhuman is not new.

One of the first references to transhumanism, although it was not known as such, can be found in the Old Testament of the Bible. There is a cryptic account in the book of Genesis, Chapter 6:

“…the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and took wives for themselves of all whom they had chosen…”

Further on we read that as a result of these unions, giants, called Nephilim were born to the “daughters of men” and these were the mighty men and warriors of ancient times. Who or what were these “sons of God that came “down” to earth to sire giants? Modern writers speculate that these were fallen angels or possibly extra-terrestrials and one of the reasons why God destroyed Life with the great flood of Noah’s day, according to the epic story. If this is indeed a historical event, it is clear that whatever these  beings were, they were not human.

In ancient Mesopotamian cultures there were many beings (gods, goddesses, demons and monsters) Ugallu, is a typical example. The Ugallu, a demon in  ancient Babylonian culture, has a human body with the head of a lion and the feet of a bird. The Assyrians conceived of their gods as being part lion and part man, part bull and part man, or part bird and part man. Extraordinary powers were attributed to these spirit-creatures. The Egyptians too, had their transhumanistic icons; the god Anubis, for example, being part man and part dog. The ancient Greeks, of course had their Fauns (part man and part goat), Centaurs (part man and part horse), Satyrs ( man/goat)and Minotaurs (part man and part bull) and so on throughout many cultures and ages. Even children’s” fairy tales” have examples of transhumans: “Beauty and the Beast” is just one.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Fast forward to the 20th century and we have a remarkable assortment of vintage and recent Hollywood depictions of transhumanistic creatures. So popular was this theme that these movies became a distinct genre -I am referring to “Monster movies.” While many such imaginary creatures were non-human aliens or giant reptiles, there were innumerable movies based on a transhuman theme: “The Wolfman, The Ape Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Robert Louis Stevenson), The Island of Dr. Moreau– H.G.Wells) “The Host” (The X-Files TV Series)etc.

   From Island of Dr. Moreau    -1977 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.    

                                                                                                                                                                                      “The Host”

                                                                                                                                                                                                 1994 episode

                                                                                                                                                                                       TV series “The X-files”

 It is easy to see that, for some reason, the idea of creatures that are part man and part “something else” has captured the imagination of man from the earliest days of his appearance on earth. What is driving this fascination with Man-”Other” hybrids?

Throughout history, all the examples we have examined and many that we have not have one common characteristic: Transhumans are often bigger, stronger, and more powerful than humans. Often they are magical or have some otherworldly characteristics. It seems that man, not content with being just human, yearns for a state of being in which he is more than human and therefore able to transcend his humanity with its limitations and weakness. It is an old story and we are reminded of the account in genesis, in the Garden of Eden, in which Satan appearing in the form of a serpent tempts “man” to eat the forbidden fruit from the tree of Knowledge of good and evil, promising: “…and ye shall be as Gods…” (Wycliffe Bible)

There is another almost iconic story that highlights this human desire to be”More”: Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” a chilling story about a scientist obsessed with the idea of creating life.  Here the inexplicable cosmic temptation to be like “God” is the theme upon which this story is centered –  and the disastrous consequences of assuming that role. Again the idea that man can do anything echoes Lucifer’s misbegotten yearning:
“I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God;
… I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”

-Isaiah 14:12-15

Man in his quest for ever more knowledge, apparently, can no longer find any other reason not to aspire to become “godlike” and has now, with the pursuit of transhumanstic research, many would say, entered the shadowy realm where “Angels fear to tread.”  This is very controversial science and has so recently appeared on the radar of public awareness that it has neither been adequately discussed, nor widely accepted, nor condemned. This is a completely new undertaking for mankind, in which technology has developed to the point where we can mix the genetic material of species to create new life forms. Some critical voices are beginning to be heard saying “just because we can do a thing, doesn’t mean that we should!

Transhumanistic science promises to deliver superior humans free of disease or any defects and with enhanced, one could say, “superhuman” abilities. It is almost certain that funding from “old money” is flowing to research in this field, since many of the scions of the wealthiest families are aging and hope that science can bestow the one thing that they do not yet have – immortality -  in a more perfect body.

 With this promise of “improvement” of our race, also comes unimagined dangers due to the Law of unintended consequences. There is no more explicit and nearly perfect illustration of the potential dangers of meddling with the very building blocks of Life than the movie “Splice” (R)
 in which scientists, trying to develop new Life forms for private industry, create a being that is part human but has wings, can breathe under water and grows very quickly. The newly created species has a tail and a poisonous stinger in the tail and while it can be as endearing and helpless as a new puppy, it can attack without warning and with indescribable, horrific savagery – Unintended consequences.

A coworker and I were discussing the subject of transhumanistic research and he couldn’t see any harm in the development of this branch of science.  He could only repeatedly assert his opinion that if science could deliver cures, or resistance to, diseases, or make man “better” then, why not? I countered with examples from history of the many wonderful inventions of man that always seemed to have dual uses, as if there is always a blessing and a curse attached, depending on the nature of the people using it. You can think of many such inventions, I’m sure, and among them will probably be some of these: Atomic energy, gunpowder, iron, cures for diseases (which were later deliberately rendered more lethal for military use) etc.etc. Such is the checkered history of man. My final argument questioning the wisdom of Transhumanism was simply this:“Who among fallible, imperfect human beings will “own” and control the awesome technology that can produce creatures more powerful and more “superior” to human beings?”

It is rather interesting that all the stories I have read or movies I have seen about monsters in our world, always present the monstrous as a significant threat to man. The stories never extol the virtues of monstrous creatures. ”Monsters” are always depicted as harmful to humankind. Perhaps in the creative imaginations of the authors of such tales, is a natural self-preserving fear-instinct to be cautious.  It is fascinating to think that the most prescient among these writers are trying to warn future generations to “…be careful about what you wish for…”   Indeed, there is an ominous reference in the Book of Revelation from the Bible describing St. John’s vision of some future time in which unidentified Life-forms torment man: 

The LOCUSTS that John saw come out of the “Bottomless Pit” were a kind of “INFERNAL CHERUBIM.” That is, they were a combination of the HORSE, the MAN, the WOMAN, the LION, and the SCORPION, and the sound of their wings in flying was as the “sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.” Their size is not given, but they were doubtless much larger than ordinary locusts, but they were not like them, for ordinary locusts feed on vegetation, but these locusts were forbidden to hurt the grass, or the trees, or any green thing, but they were to afflict ONLY MEN, and they had human intelligence…(from Revelations chapter 9, New testament.)

from “The Book of Revelation: A Study of the Last Prophetic Book of Holy Scriptures-by Clarence Larkhin, 1919.

Regardless of what you believe or do not believe, this is still an intriguing reference in the context of our discussion about Transhumanism.  It presents us with a disturbing speculation about what Science may unleash-  and although the answer will be forthcoming at some future time the question we now ask is : How far will science go?

 Certainly, if man creates anything that is more powerful than himself, whether it is a computer that can out-think him or machines (or new life-forms) that can overpower him, he must be ready to accept that he has made himself less powerful.

Thank You for reading,

Wil

If you are interested in reading more:

Transhumanism

Postscript

 Ken Klein Productions with Thomas Horn have produced a new DVD [Trans-Humanism: Destroying the Barriers] that addresses many of the compelling issues associated with this controversial science. It will be available soon. Here is a synopsis of their DVD and a good summation of our discussion:

Are we being blindly led over a cliff? Have we opened a sealed door; a kind of Pandora’s Box, that was never intended to be opened?

Behind closed doors scientists have breached the genetic codes that separate the individuality of animal and plant species.

In the area of food production, new hybrid plant species have been scientifically engineered, with their derivative products commonly appearing in our supermarket shelves. But quietly, for two decades, scientists have taken the knowledge of genetic engineering to a frightening new level; merging animal DNA with human DNA, creating the potential and unthinkable reality of super human non-human entities.

I like horses.   They are beautiful, powerful, majestic  animals.  They have been an important part of history since their first associations with man thousands of years ago.  Horses and Adventure seem to go together naturally.  There are so many movies and books detailing the migrations, wars, and  pioneering settlements of man in which horses have played a key role that it is difficult to number such references.  While I admire this animal for many reasons I am not an accomplished rider.  Here in the USA, except in posh suburbs, perhaps, we do not practice the English style of horsemanship.   Here, it could be best described as “American cowboy style.”  Although, I am not an expert rider, I have some experience  with horses and two of these experiences  I had intended to describe in the previous post : “Blogging About Your Adventures.”  I did not want to make it any longer than it was, so I will share my two “horse tales” with you here:

After the Alaskan adventure, my destiny transported me, 5 years later to North Carolina.  I went to college at Appalachian State University in Western North Carolina. ASU is located in a sprawling valley between mountains and it is a very nice setting.  There are many activities available to students and visitors alike, including, skiing at Sugar loaf mountain, exploring wild caves in nearby Tennessee and fishing in local rivers.  There is also horseback riding. 

 One day several of my friends and myself decided to go to a nearby horse farm for a leisurely ride in the mountain woodlands surrounding the farm.  There were paths in the woodlands, winding through the gently sloping terrain.  I chose my horse ( or maybe he chose me) and each of my friends were assigned a horse. ” This is going to be fun,” I thought.  I envisioned a picturesque, peaceful journey through the woodlands where I could observe and admire the natural beauty of the surroundings.  The horse had other ideas.

I think these horses knew that we were all inexperienced riders and they conspired to have some fun at our expense.  My horse had one outstanding distinguishing characteristic that I discovered right away:  He wanted to be first.  Wherever he expected to go, it is clear, he intended to be the first to arrive.  I learned about this at the outset because the gal that was riding behind me had a horse with the same characteristic and her horse wanted to be first, also.  Accordingly, as soon as we headed for the narrow woodland path and I made that clicking sound and said “Giddyup”, with two tugs of the reins, both horses immediately broke out into a full gallop.  WHOA!  WHOA!   STOP!  HEY HORSE!  STUPID HORSE!  STOP!  WHOA!!!  I believed it was possible that my horse was deaf.  He was certainly not stupid.  He knew exactly what he was doing and where he was going.  He did not share this knowledge with me.  The horse did not want to slow down.  He wanted to be first. 

 It is really amazing to see how fast a horse can gallop on a woodland path with trees on both sides and branches above making whooshing sounds as the horse continues at full speed.  The branches soon became more numerous and closer to my head so I leaned way down and held on tight as my wild ride continued.  Behind me, always approaching closely but never quite passing by was the other horse.  All the other horses were left far behind.

The horse was galloping very fast now, showing no inclination to slow and was unconcerned by the whip-like branches that always seemed so close that either the horse or myself would be struck by one.  My concern about the branches soon gave way to a more serious concern about the looming “hairpin” turn in the path that was approaching and, particularly, about the open area straight ahead which appeared to be a sharply sloping drop-off ( remember, this was in a mountainous area) – if the horse didn’t negotiate the sharp turn, there was only one place to go- up and over to an uncertain fate.  I thought quickly about what my alternatives were.  There were none (which made things a lot more simple.)  I loosened the reins and held on to the horse and as he approached this dangerous turn I decided to lean into whatever direction the horse leaned into.  I gambled that the horse knew this place and knew what to do. 

In a few harrowing moments, to my great surprise, I reached a broad open area and I was still on the horse.  I then pulled back on the reins and managed to bring the horse to a stop.  The gal was still on her horse and managed to stop as well.   We paused to catch our breath and soon heard the other horses in our group approaching.  They were galloping.  They were not slowing down.  We moved to the side and watched as one horse came galloping by at a very fast pace – no rider.   Soon another horse sped by - also riderless.  We later learned that one friend had fallen off her horse at the turn and another, to avoid the same fate simply jumped off (?)  having had enough of the runaway horse he was riding. 

Eventually, we all arrived in one state of exhaustion or another at the destination.  I decided that I had more than enough fun during this” peaceful mountain horseback riding” event and would try something else next time.   I still admired horses and always thought they were splendid animals but I, apparently, still did not learn that horses can sometimes do what you do not expect them to do.  That lesson, I learned in my next encounter, with not one but 30 horses.

It was a gorgeous day.  Perfect.  The sun was shining and it was high summer in the mountains of North Carolina.  I visited a farm to have a look at an apartment the owners were renting.  Before the owners showed up, I wandered around, as I usually do, looking at the surrounding area.  This place was beautiful.  Behind the house, was a huge pasture of some 30 acres or so.  It was green and lush and weed free- a very well kept pasture.  I was delighted to see “a bunch” of horses grazing contentedly at the top of a grassy knoll about a quarter of a mile away.  I hopped the sturdy fence and started walking in this lovely pasture on this beautiful day in this idyllic setting.  There was an old apple tree to my right.  Just one.  Apple trees always look appropriate in pastures – no apples yet.  I continued my leisurely perambulations and was walking toward the horses.  I stopped and admired them. “What beautiful animals!  What a picture perfect scene; …should be on a calendar.”  As I stood quietly surveying this tranquil picture, I noticed that one of the horses suddenly seemed alarmed and jerked up his head.  He paused and then looked in my direction ( this must have been some kind of “Alpha Horse” .) The other horses stopped grazing too and also looked to see what this horse was looking at .  Suddenly, the horse took off in a frenzied gallop down the gentle mountain slope and all the other horses, some 30 of them, followed him.

  I was pleased to see this drama, it is not often that you can see an entire herd of horses galloping down a mountain slope in such a beautiful setting.  I watch them for a while and they were galloping nonstop.  I was smiling at their beauty and nobility.  Ah, I was so lucking to see this unrehearsed drama.  “They are galloping awfully fast,” I thought.  ” I wonder where they are going?” ” They seem to be heading…..right towards me….I wonder why aren’t they slowing down?  They are NOT slowing down!”  Suddenly the pastoral moment was shattered when I realized they were coming down the mountain straight at me.  I started to run in a panic as I thought what it would be like to be trampled by a stampede of 30 horses.  I didn’t like the idea at all and ran faster and faster.  I could now see that I was in a dangerous situation.  No matter what the reason the horses were storming down the mountain, They might not be able to stop even if they wanted to – and they did not show any signs of wanting to slow down.

  I had wandered quite a distance into this pasture and I was still in great peril because I was too far from the fence.  I was doing simple math: “I have two legs; they have four…  They are horses and run faster than me.”  I started calculating moment by moment how long it would be before they reached me and I got pulverized into the pasture.  I started to hear thunderous hooves behind me getting closer and CLOSER.  I was clearly running out of time…I was clearly running for my LIFE.  I was still too far from the fence but suddenly I had an inspiration.  There was that apple tree.  Maybe I could climb that tree and survive -  But no.  I heard the horses and when I shot a quick glance behind me I could see they were seconds from overtaking me.  This was an adrenalin moment-with a final burst of speed I leaped behind the apple tree and stood up straight as a board behind it.  I reasoned that these horses were smart enough not to collide with a tree and that was sound reasoning.  The herd never slowed for an instant but amazingly,  split into two groups,  as they galloped past the tree, one group going to the left and the other going to the right.  They made a wide semicircle and proceeded to gallop back up the slope to their grassy knoll.  I caught my breath and after a while, quickly sprinted the remaining few yards to the fence, never slowing down to climb it, I simply hurled myself over it.

The farmer appeared shortly and must have seen that I was in some distress.  He greeted me and I told him:  Hey, Your stampeding  horses almost killed me!”  He seemed mildly amused, as most farmers are by outsiders who encounter, perhaps for the first time, the reality of living in the country.  “Nah” he said, still smiling,  They probably thought you were going to feed them.”  I replied, “…your horses eat people do they?”  

It was a risky adventure.  I have always followed a rule since that day.  If a beautiful pasture has a fence around it- there is a reason:  To keep people out – and to keep something else IN.

Thank you for reading this far and I hope all your adventures are pleasant ones 

Welcome to my World

Blog, Blogger, Blogging…These are search terms describing what you are reading, what I am and how I spend a large part of my discretionary time.  The purpose of this post is to provide readers a window into which they can look to see , if they are already bloggers, how the experience of one of their numbers, compares to their own experience - thereby giving definition and attention to our craft ( because, it is most certainly a craft.)  If you are not a blogger, but enjoy reading blogs, my purpose here is to provide you with a window to see what goes on in the blogger’s world and, perhaps, even share with you enough about blogging so that you might want to try it yourself.  In blogging as with the stock market,  sports fans and consumers of goods( especially insofar as business owners are concerned) “the more, the merrier.” 

Blogging has spread across the world like wildfire in a dry season, following the distribution of computers all over the world.   What started, arguably, as a craze in the mid-90′s  is now a well established institution.  This growth has been good for the medium itself because it builds on itself.  Ever expanding, thousands of blogs are started each year and there are already, according to one blog review site, Technorati, over a million in existence.  Why has blogging captured the imagination of so many people all over the world?

The reason is, I think, simple.  Blogging is like a microphone.  It gives voice to individuals everywhere.  It allows people in the media and in public life another way to communicate their truth, but, perhaps more significantly, it gives ordinary people, the same opportunity to be heard, that is available to representatives of  The Arts,  Education, Commerce and Politics.  Anyone can have a blog to share their unique experience with readers everywhere.  Blogging offers a powerful way to communicate and share what is happening in your world.

When I use this word “world,”  I am, of course, referring to the local surroundings of a person and that person’s social environment.  I am also referring to the realm of ideas.  Herein is the basis, I think, of the incredible popularity of blogging among people in all walks of life:  It is a way to express one’s  point of view from one’s unique place in life.  Humanity needs to communicate.  All of the archaeological relics of past civilizations, the cave paintings, petroglyphs, bas-reliefs, hieroglyphics, scrolls etc., (see “The Story”) exemplify this necessity to tell one’s story.  Humanity is also very curious about everything.  People need to know things too.  These two natural characteristics of mankind, the need to tell and the need to know, are together, what drives this popularity of “the blog.”

More particularly, the blog is a communication medium and it is one that anyone can engage in.  It is your online magazine, in which, you are the owner, publisher and writer.  It is your world.  You make all the editorial decisions about what your “online magazine” will include from day to day, week to week and /or month to month.  This is, for the blogger, the rich reward that many seek:  You can be heard.  YOU can be heard.  Among the millions and billions of people on this world, you can weigh in on the events of your day and ultimately, communicate the very essential message you want the world to know:  “I am here.  Here is what I think.”  The blogger will soon discover to his or her amazement and delight, that people will come to read about what he or she thinks.  Some will care enough to interact with you and offer comment, sharing with you what they think.  This conduit of communication allows the sharing of ideas and feelings and gives meaning to our lives in the sense that, as we communicate about life and what matters, we matter.

If you are a blogger, you already know all these things.  If you are not into blogging (yet) here are a few things I can tell you about it which may give you a better idea of what blogging is all about and therefore, allow you to consider whether or not you might like to try it:

1.  Blogging is fun- especially if you like to discuss “stuff” and share it with others.

2. Blogging is mental gymnastics:  It helps you to think and you improve your skills of cognition and expression.  You have to think about everything you write and the more you do this, the better you become at it.  Your communication skills are thus honed to a higher degree.

3. Blogging is satisfying- it is a wonderful feeling to be able to socialize, even virtually with thousands of people from the comfort of your place.  Sometimes it is an illusion.  The audience you think you are addressing is not there.  You are the only one, at the moment, but, eventually, readers will arrive and read what you are sharing with them.

4.  Blogging is lonely.  Even though you are writing to a large audience, you are still, physically alone.  The blogger is in the interesting position of being able to communicate with a crowd, yet, he or she is alone and quite isolated.  The social aspect that is enjoyed in blogging, is in the dimension of the mind.  Day after day, perhaps in the small hours of early morning, long before dawn, or very late at night, the blogger labors away, alone, developing his or her art and polishing the next post for publication in this online magazine/blog.  Usually, for many bloggers who already are engaged in some sort of work during regular hours, the blog is like a second job, worked on before or after one’s regular work.

5.  Blogging is work – I wouldn’t want to give the impression that blogging is so easy that it is almost effortless.  It is often quite arduous and demands a lot of time to research, review, write and rewrite posts, respond to comments and conduct any repair or maintenance required to keep one’s web site running smoothly.  Fortunately, the more you do this the easier such chores become, but at times, it can feel like a lot of work (it is, actually.)

6.  Blogging is easy – except for the usual demands upon the blogger to create, post and maintain one’s blog, the actual process of putting together a blog and maintaining it is not complicated or too difficult.  That is what this blog is essentially about -  From beginning until now, it is about blogging: how to start, develop, manage and monetize our own blog.

7. Blogging is popular – thousands of blogs are created each year and the numbers have escalated since the first weblogs appeared online.  Not only are there over a million blogs out there, but there are millions of people reading them.  This is a very good thing because, bloggers are also readers.  Many of my visitors have blogs.  Bloggers like to visit others’ blogs to see how others manage their blogs.  I like to visit other people’s blogs too.  Since many bloggers are readers and since there are so many bloggers, we know, if we have a blog, our audience is growing.  This kind of growth is good, especially since to be seen on the internet, you need traffic(visitors) and the more visitors you have, the more volume of traffic, the more visible your site will be when ranked by the search engines.  If you have advertising on your page, this gets your ads out in front of the public and you may find that you are also earning money from your blog….an added bonus.

8. Blogging is educational – You may learn a lot from visiting other blogs.  The range of topics you can find is mind boggling.  You may also find yourself in the position of being the teacher, sharing your special knowledge and understanding with interested readers.

9. Blogging is frustrating- sometimes you simply can’t think of enough material to write about to keep your posts as regular as you should.  Sometimes the business of living and working takes more time and you don’t have extra time available to work on your blog.  Sometimes, the people you expect to visit must be busy too because they are not there in your reading audience; the only one visiting your blog…is you.  Sometimes you do not get serious comments – only comment spam.  Sometimes you are just very tired.

10. Blogging is rewarding – it is such a great feeling when someone has left a really sincere and nice comment and they tell you that they enjoyed or otherwise, benefited from your work.  This is appreciation.  Everyone loves to be appreciated and bloggers, especially, because they work in silence and by themselves, delight in knowing that something they have written has resonated with someone out in their audience.  This shows the blogger that the communication conduit is in both directions.  Somehow, this makes the effort worthwhile and the blogger does not feel alone anymore.

Blogging is all of this and more.  It is not difficult, but like anything, does place some demands on the blogger.  Also like anything worth doing, it has its rewards as well.

I wish you good blogging.

Wil

I have added a new category to this blog:  “The Paranormal.”  Some may wonder why, if I have just completed a post about “Higher Learning,” would I decide to write about a topic which is not universally accepted as a legitimate pursuit of knowledge (because there are so many unknowns.)  With so many unknowns, students of the Paranormal sometimes fill in the gaps with speculation and conjecture.  In actuality, “The Paranormal” represents a broad range of investigative approaches that include, folk tales and traditions and superstition at one end of the spectrum to careful and serious scientific inquiry at the other end.  One thing is apparent, “The  Paranormal” has become a very popular subject and this popularity has resulted in a plethora of TV shows, books, movies, web sites, videos and research activity.  It is a topic that is wildly popular with the public and for this reason, it is also a topic that many people will look for when searching the Internet.  It is, therefore, a good topic to blog about.

There is a reason why “The Paranormal” is so popular with the public.  It is, I believe, more than just the relentless search for meaning and truth that characterizes mankind.  There is something else driving this popularity.  I believe that a new openness about paranormal activity has led to more information and reporting about phenomena, being publicly available.  The reason for this popularity is the fact of phenomena.  Regardless of what you may believe is the origin of paranormal activity, it cannot be denied or dismissed.  Paranormal events are a fact.  such things happen and people are talking about it more openly.  For some reason, people who are particularly materialistic and do not profess a faith in man’s spiritual nature, find the thought of paranormal activity to be so distressing that they can only deny that it happens at all.  They may declare that legitimizing the Paranormal makes no sense because such a study is unscientific.  I think refusal to examine something because you do not yet have a framework in which to understand it is what is unscientific.  Paranormal phenomena happens. It is real.  What is causing it is still largely not understood, but the fact of paranormal activity is no longer a matter of belief.  I, myself, have been a witness to a number of paranormal phenomena.  I was not looking for it and if you ask me, I am not particularly excited about it.  I do not want to see or experience anything of this sort because it is a little unsettling; sometimes it is very scary, although I’ve never found what I experienced to be frightening (mostly because I didn’t recognize what I was seeing or hearing at the time.)  Now that the paranormal is, at least, understood to be a phenomena that is more commonplace than was supposed in the past, more people are noticing some of the anomalies that sometimes occur.

A paranormal experience does not have to be dramatic, as was, for example, the case of my experience which I wrote about in a previous post ( Paranormal : Activity I Witnessed was Not Normal in Any Sense of the Word.)   It may be a little thing ;  little occurrences that happen that are so peculiar, they make no sense to our normal way of thinking about things.  Take, for example, the case of my co-workers:  This is a couple who were getting ready to go to work one day last November, and were just sitting in the bedroom talking when suddenly, they distinctly heard the croaking of a bullfrog.  They looked at each other, puzzled.  By this time in November, there should be no “frog activity” and, in any case, they do not live near a pond.  The sound seemed to be coming from somewhere in the room.  The man got down on his hands and knees and searched under the bed for the offending amphibian.  He then searched around the room and could not find anything.  That was odd, but not as odd as what happened next.  Suddenly, there was a very clear and unmistakable sound of a cuckoo clock chiming the hour.  Unfortunately, the Lady of the house does not own a cuckoo clock.  The man, being a man, and a “manly man” at that, went into full crisis management mode, believing there must be an explanation, and  started frantically searching the room again: Under the bed, opening all the drawers and rifling through them, checking all the furniture and peering into every corner.  He was in a frenzy, running from place to place like a man obsessed by his search for the truth and the meaning of life.  The Lady thought it was quite amusing because, the man was panic stricken at not being able to find a logical explanation for what they both, clearly, heard.  This man was never able to find his truth nor his meaning on this occasion: No reason was ever found for what they heard….just one of those “freaky” things that make you say “Hmmmmm” ( or other things…)

I have had a number of personal experiences which I think could very well be categorized as “paranormal.”  Here are a few anecdotes and I leave it to you to decide if you think these occurrences are explainable in terms of normal understanding or something else:

The first experience I will relate happened without any external circumstances to connect with it, as I recall.  I was simply resting in bed writing a letter when suddenly and inexplicably, I looked up from my paper and noticed something very odd.  There, hovering a few feet away in midair was a, filamentous wisp of white smoke- that’s the best way I can describe it.  It looked a little like the filamentous nebulae one sees in deep space Hubble Telescope photos.  Some researchers, I believe might refer to this as an “ectoplasmic mass.”  It looked a little like smoke but it was certainly not smoke.  I watched this floating “ectoplasmic material” or whatever it was, for some time.  Finally, it simply faded as I was watching it and was gone.  It was not like smoke which, when it dissipates, disperses.  This never lost its basic form.  It simply vanished, slowly.  I knew it wasn’t smoke, but like my coworker, I wanted to find a logical explanation for what I had just seen.  I don’t smoke, so, I checked every electrical outlet and lamp for signs that, perhaps there had been a short circuit with accompanying smoke.  Of course, there was no plausible explanation.

The second little anecdote has to do with sound.  I was living in an old farmhouse( circa 1840) in Vermont.  It was Sunday morning and I was resting upstairs, comfortably in bed, enjoying the peacefulness and quietude of the country.  This was a very rural spot and houses were not close together but a “stone’s throw” from mine- throwing it with all ones strength!   It was nice.  It was quiet.  That’s the way Sunday’s are in Vermont. 

In a moment, something  dramatically dispelled the quiet serenity of the morning:  A woman’s voice.  It was a muffled voice and the words were indistinct but, very definitely, it was a woman’s voice, coming from downstairs and briefly speaking in an interrogative way, as if asking a question.  There was no one downstairs at this time.  The doors were locked from the night before.  Reluctantly I got up, put on my slippers and quickly descended the stairs, swiftly making my way up the hall to the kitchen, from which I was certain the voice originated.  I nervously opened the door, not knowing what to expect or who the intruder could be.  It was cold in the kitchen, even though it was July. It was frequently cold in that kitchen.  Nobody was there ( and I mean that literally)-  I cannot even say that there was not a soul around because I don’t know.  This puzzled me.  I know what I heard.  I actually went outside and walked all around the house.  I looked down the road first in one direction and then the other. Nobody was there.  It was completely quiet.  This is one of those peculiar little things that happen for which no logical explanation is known.  Did I hear the voice of a long departed discarnate spirit still lurking on the premises?  Or, was this one of those “rift in time” anomalies ? Perhaps it was a place memory ( a sort of recording imprinted into the very substance of the building.)?  I do not know.

The third anecdote I will share is about a building that is notoriously celebrated as a haunted place.  It was a restaurant at the time I went there  with friends for an evening meal, but it was originally a private home, in which, generations of the same family lived since the mid to late eighteenth century.  It is well known as “the haunted house” and indeed, when driving down Manor lane to the Jamesport Manor in Jamesport Long Island, it is startling when you come upon it suddenly.  Before it was rebuilt in 2005 after a mysterious and disastrous fire destroyed the original structure on the eve of its grand re-opening as a  renovated restaurant, it truly appeared as the quintessential haunted house and was absolutely creepy when viewed in the light of a full moon, after all the staff and patrons went home.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                One of my friends and his girlfriend, and myself had dinner at the Jamesport Manor one dark and rainy afternoon.                                                                                   There were only a few people in the dining room.  We sat in the back of the room next to a doorway that led to the darkly gothic looking stairwell.  All woodwork had aged to a somber brown and the stairs were faintly illuminated by a greenish light that came through the small, sea-green stained glass window.  The reason why we wanted to sit near this stairwell was because I heard from  coworker that his sister-in-law had worked as a waitress here but soon quit after seeing the apparition of a woman on the stairs, dressed in Victorian era clothes.

I sat facing the front of the room and my friends sat facing the back which was a wall behind me.   The stairwell I have just described was to my right.  outside, the weather grew worse and rain pelted the window in the middle of this wall behind me.  It was really a gloomy day but a perfect setting for a ghost story.  I should tell you right now that we did not see a ghost, I am happy to say, but something was about to happen that was very strange. The food was served and we were eating contentedly and talking when suddenly my friend’s girlfriend looked past me and over my shoulder,  her eyes, focused on something behind me.  This is unnerving when you are dining in a haunted restaurant.  She said: “Those curtains…they’re moving.”  She was referring to the beaded curtains that hung in front of a shallow empty closet .  I turned around slowly and…sure enough, the curtains were moving.  They were swaying back and forth, undulating like sea grass in an incoming tide.  The strands were not moving in the way they would move if you brushed them with your hand.  In that case they would move chaotically and not rhythmically as these were moving.  I got up from the table and walked over to the curtains, my nose just inches away and I watched and studied closely.  I expected the curtain’s movement to eventually cease, but as I stood there for some minutes, the curtains continued to move with no visible cause.  My friend called to me and pointed smugly to the circular air conditioning duct in the ceiling.  Because there were so few people in the dining room and they were so intent on their food, I decided to pull a chair over to the duct and stood on it to check for air currents.  There was not a breath of air.  The air conditioning system was not on.  There was no moving air.  I then moved to the window and held out my hand to check for currents there.  No drafts.  The curtains continued to move.  I sat down and continued eating, checking a every few minutes to see if the curtains were moving.

That was not the only curious thing that happened.  Every so often, the door to the ladies restroom, across the dining room, would partially open by itself and remain open for a few moments.  It was one of those spring loaded doors that you must push to open ( I checked.)  While our attention was focused on the door, the curtains stopped moving, apparently, but the door continued to open and close every few minutes.   We speculated that perhaps a strong current of air created a vacuum in the room that somehow opened the door.  This theory was not very sound, however, because there was an identical closet next to this door with beaded curtain in its opening, just like the one behind me and it never moved at all.  Any current of air strong enough to open the door, would certainly move the strands of beaded curtain.  Towards the end of our meal, the door opened particularly wide and I decided to try an experiment:  I looked toward the door and called out in its direction, “WOULD YOU PLEASE SHUT THE DOOR?”   INSTANTLY, as soon as the words were uttered, the door shut abruptly.  we promptly asked for the check and so concluded our dinner at the haunted restaurant.

These are all strange and remarkable occurrences; nothing too dramatic, but simply, highly unusual.  They prove nothing, except that there are some things which happen during the ordinary course of our lives which are outside of our “normal” everyday experiences.  These events or manifestations are not ordinary or normal.  They are paranormal.  I do not claim to believe in ghosts nor disbelieve, but I certainly and definitely believe that there is real phenomena which is not easily explained.  How can I disbelieve my own senses?

Wil

For further reading:

http://www.shelterpop.com/2009/10/30/haunted-beauty-great-design-scary-details/

If you are new to blogging or you have already launched your blog on the Internet some time ago and still haven’t taken advantage of the exposure the Social Networks can give you, you are neglecting a very useful resource.  Social Networking, the practice of forging online associations for friendship, idea promotion(politics), finance(advertising), romance  and other similar relationship building motivations has become a really”big thing” and people all over the world are using it in many different ways.

Social Networks such as Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Linkedin  and numerous country-specific sites all over the world have been shown to contribute substantially to the traffic-building strategies of bloggers and other site owners.  Essentially, how they work is this:  You register and enter your personal details in a “profile.”  It can be as detailed as you like, but, it is prudent in this age of identity theft and online mischief to be discreet with what you are sharing with thousands of strangers whom you  have never personally met.  Your profile is posted.  You add friends and business associates (if you have a business) and you can invite people to be your friend or “follow” you.  Eventually, you build a huge network of friends whose posts or announcements  you can read.

The advantages of belonging to a social network site is at least threefold:  You can exchange useful information with your friends; you can receive feedback about whatever you need to find out about and it is free;  you can make announcements about a new post you have written in your blog or a new product you are promoting and the announcement goes out to as many connections as you have forged.  Google recognizes this advantage and has expressed this idea in this way:

If you have A blog post on your own site letting your visitor base know that you added something new is a great way to get the word out about new content or services.

Social Networking Sites-

 Here is a good place to start looking at what is available:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites

 Here is a very extensive list of social networking sites, compliments of Wikipedia.  It is not exhaustive but it is a long list.  You may want to explore several of these and sign-up.  Social Networks can give a blogger, new or established, more exposure to help build traffic volume to your blog.

We can use a metaphor of a great edifice supported by four pillars of knowledge to represent the sum total of Man’s Useful Knowledge. The major areas of human knowledge, since it is now, at our point in history, so extensive, can be divided up and organized in countless ways. There is no absolute canon of knowledge. Many Universities use a division that includes Humanities, Arts, Social Science, Math, Technology, and Science. Some of these disciplines may be combined because they are closely associated, for example, Arts and Humanities, or Science and Math or Science and Technology. There can be some redundancy; crossover applications and overlap of specific types of knowledge do sometimes occur. It is not critical how these disciplines or fields of knowledge are divided as long as the student understands that there are distinctions between different kinds of knowledge and he or she draws broadly from the knowledge contained in each of these divisions.

Different Formal Institutions of learning may emphasize specific disciplines according to the importance of the focus of learning taught in such an institution. A school of engineering will concentrate on mathematics.  An Institute of Art would naturally focus on the Arts and so on. For our purpose, the student needs to learn from all the disciplines and, as mentioned above, it doesn’t matter how you organize and distinguish between them as long as you learn from all of them.

In this discussion, I am going to use the following sort plan:

I. Humanities

II. Science

III. Mathematics

IV. Technology

Before discussing specifically what subjects fall into each of our four categories, I want to first, mention a more basic way of categorizing areas of knowledge from which the “four pillars” are derived: Essentially, man’s intellectual pursuits can be divided into two basic types of knowledge, corresponding to the kind of information processing which characterizes the Left Brain and the Right brain. The left brain can be described as “Logical, sequential, analytical and objective. ” Calculation, statistics and mensuration are functions of left-brain thinking and are associated with the types of subject matter found in the fields of mathematics and math-based sciences such as physics, astronomy and technology (engineering.) The Right brain is described as being random and intuitive, “holistic,” synthesizing and subjective. The Right brain is formatted to record perceptions, awareness and responsiveness to beauty, emotions, spirituality and social engagement. Such study topics are found under various courses of study within the category of “The Humanities,”  which we are going to identify in a moment.

Both sides of the brain and its complementary styles of reasoning are fully engaged in practical use, as in the case of manufacturing where mathematics is critically important to an accurate design of a working product and is applied simultaneously with ergonomics and aesthetics to make a functional product that appeals to the market.

The following descriptions of the knowledge contained in each of these “four pillars” will help you to get an idea of what one needs to learn to attain the highest level of education. The major divisions are fairly distinct. For our purposes of making sense of everything that is worth studying in order to attain the ideal of a higher education, the divisions I have selected, based on several actual university models, is useful and workable:

HUMANITIES

Classics-The classics in the western academic tradition, refer to cultures of classical antiquity, namely the Ancient Greek and Roman cultures. The study of the classics is considered one of the cornerstones of the humanities and the study of Greek, Hebrew and Latin languages was one of the hallmarks of a learned person in the previous centuries, particularly,  in the Western Tradition of learning.

History- There are many specific studies of history including World History, Western Civilization, Ancient history, European History, American History, the history of India, China, Japan and other Asian nations and so on, in which all aspects of culture religion, social studies and invention are included for examination.  Archaeology and Anthropology can be filed under this heading.

Social Science/Social Studies: Interaction between members of society, the dynamics of societies in various cultures and during different historical periods.  Sociology, Social psychology, Industrial psychology and Anthropology are often studied under Social Science.

Languages- linguistics and communication. One’s native language and foreign languages fit into this category. In many college language courses, literary works produced in a particular language are included.

Law- Simply speaking, law means a rule which (unlike a rule of ethics) is capable of enforcement through institutions. The study of law crosses over to different disciplines: Laws are politics, because politicians create them. Law is philosophy, because moral and ethical considerations shape their ideas. Law is a historical record, because statutes, case law and codifications build up over time. And law is economics, because any rule about contract, tort, property law, labor law, company law and many more can have long lasting effects. The History of Law would necessarily include an examination of lawgivers and philosophers in ancient Greece and Rome.

Business and Commerce- Accounting, Marketing, Advertising, Sales. Management.  Finance, Business Math.

Literature - including of course great literary works produced throughout history and in different cultures. The study of literature can include an overview of ancient literature, such as The Gilgamesh Epic from Mesopotamia, The Egyptian Book of the Dead, The Vedas and Upanishads of India and various writing of Confucius and Lao Tse in China. Continuing through history to Chaucer in the Middle Ages in England and reviewing the works of English writers and poets such as Samuel Pepys, Alexander Pope, John Milton, William Shakespeare, and notable writers through the Romantic period including such names as Charles Dickens, Sir Walter Scott, Byron, Keats, Shelly, Tennyson, Robert Louis Stevensen, and later, Rudyard Kipling,  G.K Chesterton, George Bernard Shaw, Thomas Carlyle, Matthew Arnold and John Ruskin, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ,James Joyce etc. The French writers and poets would also be studied including: François Rabelais , Lamartine, Chateaubriand, Victor Hugo, Alexander Dumas, Nerval, Nodier, Musset, Gautier, Vigny, Flaubert, and others.

American writers would include, the earliest political essayists: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay (Federalist Essays); Thomas Jefferson,  Thomas Paine,  Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville ( a Frenchman whose exeedingly relevant and  monumental two-volume work,” Democracy in America,”  has earned him a place in this section) and other eminent writers including Washington Irving, Nathanial Hawthorne, James Fennimore Cooper et al, continuing with Henry David Thoreau, Mark Twain,  Walt Whitman, Herman Melville, Emerson, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Ezra Pound,Henry James, Ernest Hemmingway, E.E. Cummings, F.Scott Fitzgerald, T.S.Eliot, D.H.Lawrence, Upton Sinclair, Erskine Caldwell,C.S. Lewis, John Steinbeck,Jack London and many other celebrated writers.

Performing Arts -

You may not want to perform on stage in plays or Opera, but you will want to be aware what sort of entertainment art forms are represented.

Music- Includes Performance, Musicology, Music Theory and Composition.

Theatre- is a branch of the Performing Arts which includes Opera and Ballet. Again, you will want to be aware of what it is about.

Dance- All forms of Dance, all over the world.

Philosophy- Literally, “The Love of Wisdom” is generally the study of problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, justification, truth, justice, right and wrong, beauty, validity, mind, and language. Much of philosophy has its foundations on the works of ancient Greek philosophers, particularly, Plato and Aristotle, and later, Rousseau, Hume,Adam Smith,  Kant, Diderot and others. Today Philosophy is divided into four fields: Logic, Ethics, Metaphysics and Epistemology (the nature and limitations of knowledge-What is knowledge? How is knowledge acquired? How do we know what we know?

Religion- The sweeping Religious beliefs that have dramatically shaped ethics and culture for thousands of years: Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism (India), Zoroastrianism (Persia), Taoism, Legalism, Confucianism, Judaism, Christianity, as well as an examination of Religious beliefs of more restricted distribution such as Shintoism, Tribal Animism ( South America and Africa); and various Native American Beliefs.

Visual Arts-

Including an overview of the great artistic developments through the ages (Art History) including an examination of primitive Art as exemplified by Cave drawings in Lascaux, France and other sites and Petroglyphs found at various locations around the world continuing to the artistic traditions of Ancient Japan, Greece, Rome, China, India, Mesopotamia, and Mesoamerica. The History of Art throughout Europe and the Middle east in the Byzantine, Gothic and Middle ages. Elizabethan and Baroque Art and so on up to modern times including The Great Painters’  : Michelangelo, Durer, Rembrant, Rubens, Pieter Brueghel ,Botticelli, Bosch, Titian,  Van Gogh –  and French Impressionists; Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Manet, Monet, Lautrec, Gauguin, Chagall; Constable, Gainsborough and many many others. [ I do have to make mention of my favorite American painter: Grandam Moses and Norman Rockwell. }

The so called “Plastic Arts” using different media types and methods – Graphic Arts: Painting using various binders and pigments, Drawing (charcoal, pencils etc.); carving in stone and wood, sculpture in clay, stone, wood, metals and plastics. Etching, pottery, producing decorative textiles through spinning, weaving, Batik and other methods. Some artists will argue for the inclusion of architecture and digital art. These may be included also. When you consider that everything which is designed for aesthetic satisfaction is art, you can see that just about everything mankind produces that satisfies these aesthetic instincts is “Art.”

SCIENCE

Science is, of course the study of the natural world and its processes but includes a review of the ways in which man has been able, through an understanding of natural processes, to find innovative and practical applications for scientific discoveries, to create useful products and solve problems.

Here is a basic enumeration of various fields under the “science heading:  History of Science and Scientific discovery,Chemistry( Inorganic, Organic and Nuclear ), Physics,  Astronomy, Geology, Mineralogy, Paleontology, Biology( including Marine biology, Microbiology,Paleobiology, Bacteriology, Virology, Zoology, Cryptozoology, Botany, Ecology, Entomology, Invertebrate biology and so on.) Many of these can be subdivided into specialized fields of study such as, for example, Entomology, in which, one can specialize in some group of insects such as Coleoptera or Lepidoptera; Marine biology too, can be divided this way into, for example, Malacology (mollusks), Ichthyology (fishes) etc., Genetics (closely associated with biology as are several fields from the study of Medicine.

Medical Science is a distinct and specialized branch of science and includes many overlapping disciplines in other areas of knowledge. You may not want to be a Doctor, Nurse or Surgeon, but as a well educated individual, you should be somewhat familiar with what is included in this important branch of Science. I will not define these medical specialties here, (that will be done elsewhere in a future post,) for now, I want to show the number and diverse ways in which medical science is practiced and studied:

Surgery: Cardiac surgery, Cardiothoracic surgery, Colorectal surgery, General surgery, Neurosurgery, Ophthalmology, Oral and Maxillofacial surgery, Orthopedic surgery, Hand surgery, Otolaryngology, Pediatric surgery, Plastic surgery, Transplant surgery, Surgical Oncology, Thoracic surgery, Trauma surgery, Urology, Vascular surgery.

Internal medicine: Allergy/Immunology, Andrology, Angiology (Vascular Medicine), Cardiology, Endrocinology, Gastroenterology (Hepatology), Geriatrics, Gynaecology, Hematology, Infectious Disease, Nephrology, Oncology, Pulmonology, Rheumatology.

Diagnostic: Healthcare Sciences( Clinical chemistry, Clinical Immunology ), Cytopathology, Medical microbiology, Transfusian medicine, Radiology ( Interventional radiology, Nuclear medicine), Pathology ( Anatomical, Clinical), Clinical neurophysiology.

Other specialties: Addictive medicine, Adolescent medicine, Anesthesiology, Dermatology, Disaster medicine, Emergency medicine, Family medicine, General practice, Hospital medicine, Intensive care medicine, Medical genetics, Neurology, Obstetrics, Occupational medicine, Pain management ( Algiatry), Palliative care, Pediatrics (Neonatology), Physical medicine and rehabilitation, (Physiatry), Preventive medicine, Psychiatry, Radiation oncology, Reproductive medicine ( Reproductive endocrinology and infertility), Reproductive surgery, Sleep medicine, Sports medicine, Transplantation medicine, Tropical medicine(Travel medicine), Urogynecology, Dentistry, Podiatry, Veterinary medicine, History of Medicine.

MATHEMATICS

Mathematics-Elementary arithmatic, algebra, Intermediate and advanced algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Calculus, Vector Calculus, Differential Calculus, Integral Calculus, Statistics, quantum mechanics, Fractals etc.  You may not aspire to become a mathematician but it will be very useful to know about these different types of Math and learn what is the purpose of each.

TECHNOLOGY

Technology is everywhere around us today. I have designated technology as a “Pillar” of knowledge because it has influenced every facet of our lives from our leisure activities, to our work and daily living to being used in military and political applications. Technology is the branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means ( pertaining to special techniques of applied Art and Science) to enhance or otherwise affect life, society, and the environment, drawing upon such subjects as industrial arts, engineering, applied science, and pure science. Technology is Innovation and Invention. It is concerned with using invention to control or regulate the environment: It is the generation of Power to do work; it is about machines,  various contrivances , devices and complex electrical systems, management of fluids, gases, or other materials and the movement of anything that has to be moved from one place to another (including humans!) Technology, perhaps more than any other of the three pillars of knowledge we have previously discussed uses knowledge from everywhere. In Technology, we see the practical reasons for mastering knowledge: To create, to build, to design to manufacture, to supply mankind with whatever is needed to achieve his many objectives. Technology, therefore can be good—or very bad, depending on what we do with it. Moral questions aside, Technology is here and we should know something about it. Here are some of the many forms of Technology:

Biotechnology, Manufacturing Technology, Information Technology (Computers/Internet.) Also associated with technology fields are Telecommunications, Chemical engineering, Chemurgy, Architectural engineering, Electrical engineering , Mechanical engineering, Medical technology, Hydraulics, Fluid dynamics, Mining Technology, Nuclear Technology, Space technology and so on. Whether you are interested in pursuing a career in any of these fields or not, you should know what they are all about.

I will conclude this post with a final thought or two. First, thank you very much for staying with this and reading to the end. This has been a long post, but, necessarily so. I want you to know why I even bothered to provide these detailed descriptions of what is included in the “Four Pillars of Knowledge.” I know very well that almost everyone reading this knows that knowledge can be grouped in different ways when it is studied, especially, in University. My point is not to show that there are many subjects that can be learned. I have a very specific reason for listing all of these various fields of learning. It is not to bore you, but for those of you who are really determined to become highly educated, despite disadvantages or poverty, or whatever reason, this post has important information for you. You cannot become knowledgeable in anything before you know what you can learn. It makes it much easier when you have a name for a specific type of knowledge. This is an overview of the kind of specific knowledge that you will need to learn to become highly educated (I am also addressing those of you who already have a college degree, but who may want to learn much more than you were supposed to learn in College.)  Some may ask, and it is a fair question: “Who is this guy(meaning me) to presume to tell everyone what is an educated person?  I’ll tell you.  I did not formulate or invent the high standard of Education to which I constantly refer.  I have tried to point out in my previous post about education – So What IS An Educated Person?

that Our traditions of learning, our schools, Universities and our Educators have all contributed to our notion of what it is to be a highly educated person.
The point of this post is to show you some of the building blocks you will be able to use when you build your own curriculum. What I want to do in the next and final post about educating yourself is to examine ways: Specific techniques in which you can assemble your own University Curriculum. Then, I want to explain some useful techniques for actually learning everything that you want to learn. That is for a future post, because it will also be a long one and I am working on that now. I hope to have it ready next month, so if you have an interest in the prospect of being able to learn everything we just discussed, please come back from time to time and join us here on Bloggasaurus again.
Just because someone does not have any money, or social standing, or connections or even good grades in the elementary grades or secondary school, is no reason to be denied the opportunity to be a highly educated person.

I love the NIKE Slogan:

JUST DO IT

I look forward to your next visit,

Wil

The title of a post is more important than many would imagine.  Think about it: It is the very first thing that readers see when they click on your post.  It’s somewhat like the wrapper of a product package.  It contains (or should contain) some element that meaningfully describes what the post is about.  It must be a brief encapsulation of your topic.  It must attract attention, hold the interest of visitors and provide enough intrigue to make readers want to keep reading.  Your title represents the first opportunity to attract readers and inspire them with enough curiosity to read your post so it should be carefully thought out and crafted and not just haphazardly or carelessly added to a post as an afterthought.

The title, because it is relatively short, is often underestimated as an element that can captivate readers, yet, it can make all the difference between a visitor who just glances over your page, (quickly clicking away to someplace else) and the visitor whose interest and curiosity is piqued enough the spend several minutes reading (possibly even interacting with your content by leaving a comment or clicking on an Ad.)

If a title is so important, it would be reasonable to ask: “What distinguishes a really good, “killer” title from one which is vague,  boring, bland and lackluster?  A related question would be “What are some of the ways we can write “winning” titles?  The remainder of this post will answer these questions about “title technique.”

How do you come up with an effective, attention grabbing title that fulfills all the requirements of your purpose?  Start by thinking in terms of  brief, pithy, succinct, terse, and compact.  Try to pack as much meaning into your title using as few words as possible.  It is said that the very first sentence in every piece of writing is critically important because it sets the whole tone and tempo of the a piece.  A title, well-chosen, can also do exactly this.

There are two approaches to selecting a title:  You can choose your title first, based on the topic you intend to write about.  Sometimes it is possible to write an entire post from the meanings contained in the title when the title is specifically and narrowly focused on a key element derived from the topic.  I do this often.

Sometimes a title may not be so obvious and you may find it easier to write your post first and then go back to find a phrase or idea that suggests a prospective title that most accurately expresses the sense of what you want to say.

When using either approach above, you may find that your imagination is galvanized by restricting yourself to a one word title.  See http://bloggasaurus.com/writingblog-content/one/  .  This is a challenging and fun way to go about choosing a great title.  You can, of course, choose a longer title,  several words in length if it suits your fancy, but whatever title you choose, every word should be weighed for its efficacy in conveying the purpose of your post.

If you prefer a multi-word title, there are several devices you can use to facilitate your choice.  You can use Tripartite Division.  Tripartite Division is simply the  “Rule of three.” According to Joan Detz, author of How to Write and Give a Speech, “For some mysterious reason, the human mind is attracted to things that come in ‘threes’.  Throughout history, speakers (and writers) have known that Tripartite Division is a powerful mnemonic device.”  Consider these well known examples:

The three wise men and the three gifts.

In children’s fairy tales:  There are the three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Three Blind Mice etc.

Julius Caesar: “Veni, Vidi, Vici”  “I came, I saw, I conquered.” 

General Douglas McArthur’s farewell address at West Point: “Duty,  Honor,  Country !”  Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be and what you will be.”

Tripartite division delivers impact.

Another helpful device is to write something that can be divided into many suggestions or parts, in which case, you can write titles like these:

6 Things that I learned when I…

3 Things you need to…

5 Things you cannot afford to be without…

7 Simple Ideas That Will Help You to…

12 Suggestions to help you…

The most potent phrase you can use in a title consists of two little words: “HOW TO…”  If you want to see how relevant “how to” topics are, just Google that phrase and you will see how popular this search term is. People have problems.  All kinds of problems.  They want to know how to solve them.  Whether it is how to do something or find something, or be something, people are looking for answers and if you offer a solution to something people want to know about, using “How to” in a title, it will absolutely give your title  irresistible appeal.

Would you like to create titles with powerful hypnotic appeal?  Do you already know the Secret to choosing an irresistible title?  I have just demonstrated it.  Find a compelling question that makes readers want to know more.  You can ask a question or you can leave out a key word so that the reader mentally tries different words.  In this way, a reader is guided to focus on finding the meaning of the title or answering the question;  you now have the reader’s attention and they will probably read your post with interest to find the answer to the question posed by your title.   A variation of this technique is to write your title so that an important part is left out.  You can replace the missing part with a reference to something that suggests that the reader can find the missing part that completes the thought, further down in the post or article:

Example:  What Should You Blog About? – To Find Out, Answer This One Question…

Example:  “Why A Good Writer Is Like A….A What?”

Example:  “The Hidden Challenge to Bloggers That No One Wants to Talk About”

This sort of device works to motivate readers to read further because people are curious and love riddles, puzzles and enigmas.  I cannot resist this kind of title either and I need to  read on to find the answer to the question which has been planted in my mind.

Use “supercharged-superlatives,” i.e., “buzz words” in your titles.  Buzz words are those widely popular words used extensively in marketing campaigns and commercial, promotional venues that have been demonstrated to resonate with the general public.  Buzz words are different than more banal words in that they are exciting, emotionally appealing  and have special significance for many people.  Such words include active, vibrant words like  Powerful, Stunning,  Amazing,  Irresistible, New!  Free!  Secret.  These words are charged with meaning that touches the emotions and can, therefore, add irresistible appeal to your title.

Use Alliteration for emphasis.  Alliteration, of course, is a series of words that repeat the same sound.  Incorporating alliterative words into your title can ”pack a punch” that can render an ordinary title more  striking and  memorable;

Example:    ”Reputation: Repair, Recovery, Renewal, Re-establishment”

Example:   “Princess Prunella and Purple Peanut “

Example:  ” Six Creepy Sheep”

Example: “Some Smug Slug”       etc.

Use Irony in some of your titles:  Irony is the use of words to convey a meaning that is opposite of its literal meaning; an odd twist that is unexpected (the result is sometimes amusing.):

Example:  ”Expose Yourself- by Listing Your Blog in Directories”

Example:  “The Write Stuff: 5 Ways to Improve Your Writing Skills”

Example:  “Understanding Stupidity”  

 Irony, as you can see from these examples,  can often employ various figures of speech to achieve its effect, including word play, homonyms, puns, etc.  Here are a few more examples from Book Group Online  mentioned in a discussion about bizarre titles:

The Romance of Cement 1926
Illustrated History of Gymnastics by John Goodbody
Punishment by Robin Banks
Motorcycling for Beginners by Geoff Carless
Care for Your Kitten by Anna Mews

You can create ironically amusing titles, in some cases, by simply rewriting a familiar quote.  Here’s an example:  Spam is not highly regarded and is considered, waste.  There is a popular, if cynical, observation that I modified to describe Spam which resulted in the title of one of my previous posts:  Spam Happens 

Another example of how you can use Irony: Perhaps you want to write about your travels in Wine country and your visits to various vineyards. You could use a quote by “Hamlet” in which he mocks Ophelia with the words “Get thee to a nunnery!” (Shakespeare’s Hamlet, of course,)- by modifying the quote and substituting a word, you could have your new title: “Get Thee to A Winery!“ Popular conventional notions suggest that literary / literature-loving people and wine seem to happily harmonize so this would be a meaningful title for many.[ To be fair, Art lovers, Music lovers, food lovers and lovers of anything that is "fine" all seem to share this same affinity for wine...but, moving on...]

Spend some time carefully crafting your titles.  Make them distinctive and interesting and enigmatic and alluring so they stand out like the flashing lights on a Marquee, pulsating and insisting :  READ ME.

Good luck and have fun with your titles.

Wil