the future of ourwwworld

I started this blog in conjunction with my personal blog in an effort to earn personal online income that I would share with Life in Africa, my favorite cause. I invited others who support Life in Africa to learn to blog with me here, so that they could also benefit from whatever I was discovering about blogging from Africa, and we could raise a bit more social capital for the cause. I believed (and still believe) that a team approach to promoting our blogs would make it easier to achieve visibility and earn meaningful amounts of sharable income - especially for my African friends I invited to participate - within a shorter time period than would otherwise be possible for most on African bandwidth.

Without ever really feeling like we've had a chance to get started on team promotion, I have re-designed this team experiment beyond recognition a couple of times now to try and please participants and potential participants from outside of Africa who have shared their points of view. I have also been asked to share my larger vision for this blog experiment in the context of Life in Africa's future, to which my purpose (stated above) apparently does not offer an adequate response. I am not sure if it's the global team approach, my desire to rally others to use blogging to raise funds for LiA, or my intent to share practical information about earning income through blogging that seems to disturb other Life in Africa stakeholders about this experiment.

The result is that I am currently in a state of confusion over whether or not to continue trying to help Life in Africa in this (voluntary) way. I think that the content created on some of the ourwwworld blogs I helped friends in Uganda to start is extraordinary, as I knew it would be. However, I do not wish to interfere with whatever other plans the Life in Africa team may have for integrating blogs into their activities.

With the holidays approaching, I think for now the best thing to do is to just keep this blog on hold for a while. I will spend some time reflecting on better ways to achieve my purpose without compromising Life in Africa and get back to y'all sometime in January.

If you have any thoughts at all on this subject, it would be really useful for me to hear them. Please post a comment below.

and Happy Holidays!

Why Quantity Matters

Blogging offers a way for you to build a website one page at a time. Anything goes in terms of the content you choose to publish and the purpose you want to achieve. Realistically speaking, however, if your blog doesn't have visitors, then even the most wonderful content you create won't achieve your purpose.

It's equally true - especially in the beginning - that if your blog doesn't have enough content, you won't find it easy to attract visitors. Even your early subscribers and other people you know well will stop visiting your blog if there is nothing new for them to see. (Wouldn't you?)

What's more, there are many promotional tools and income generating possibilities out there that only allow you to participate when your blog has a minimum number of "quality" posts that fit with the description of your blog.

Below are some concrete examples of early quantity benchmarks for new blogs that you might want to keep in mind.

With at least 5 posts you can:

• get your blog listed in search engines
• get your blog approved for listing at blogging communities like Entrecard, BlogCatalog and MyBlogLog
  

With 10-15 posts you can:

• list your blog in most blog directories

With minimum 30 posts you can:

• sell advertising on your blog through systems like ProjectWonderful (and others)
  
• apply to earn money writing sponsored posts to your blog through sites like PayPerPost
  

PLEASE NOTE: I have been waiting for the ourwwworld team blogs to have a minimum of 5 quality posts each so that we can start some ourwwworld contests that could win you some bonus cash for Christmas. Any blog currently in the ourwwworld sidebar that does not have a minimum of 5 posts relevant to your stated topic by 15 November will not be able to participate, and your blog will be deleted from the sidebar until you've caught up with the rest of the team. For those of you who already have reached that 5 post target, congratulations - and sorry for the delay!

Keep an eye out on 15 November (internet willing!) for the contest details.

Promoting your feed

The pic above shows the latest subscriber statistics for our team at feedburner, which is the service that's installed on the ourwwworld blogs to let people subscribe to your feed.

Subscribers are people who have chosen to receive news that you've posted something new to your blog. Your feed is the technical term for the technology that will automatically alert them. Depending on how the subscribers themselves choose to subscribe to your feed, they are either sent an email when you have posted something new or alerted through an RSS reader that updates them on many blogs that they might be following.

Your feed's subscribers are your blog's most important asset. The more subscribers you have who've chosen to follow your blog's feed, the less work you have to do getting visitors. When combined with income generating mechanisms, a blog with 100 subscribers could be well on it's way to becoming sustainable (ie, it can probably pay for itself and earn a little something extra for the blogger). A blog with 1,000 subscribers or more could be worth several hundred dollars per month or more to the blogger.

Growing your subscriber base takes active effort, but it's not very difficult to start. Once a way to subscribe is installed on your blog, the most basic and obvious way to get people to subscribe is to ask them to.

In the beginning, before a lot of people you don't know start visiting your blog, the best place to start asking is among the people you do know, who you also know how to reach online. Here are some very simple ways to start promoting your feed today:

1. Send an email to your family, friends and supporters letting them know you've got a new blog that's ready for subscribers, and ask them to subscribe. Don't forget to include your blog's URL, with the http:// part so that it's clickable (example: http://ourwwworld.blogspot.com)

2. Ask the people closest to you to send an email to their friends and family, asking them to subscribe as well.

3. Use facebook, twitter, ned and/or other communities you participate in to let your online friends know you've got a new blog, and ask them to subscribe. At the very least, mention that they can subscribe so that you put the idea in their heads.

4. Write your blog address on some small pieces of paper or on the back of some business cards, and keep them in your wallet. When you run into a friend who you know spends time on the internet, give it to them and ask them to be sure to subscribe.

A word of caution - do not ever allow yourself to be disappointed or offended when everyone you know personally doesn't subscribe to your blog's feed. Some people will, some people won't. Some might respond to your email request months after you send it, and some might never respond at all. That doesn't mean they don't like you, and it doesn't mean they will never visit your blog. If they've subscribed in an RSS reader, you can't see who has subscribed anyway. So don't worry about how many people don't subcribe. Focus your emotional energies instead on the people who do subscribe, and do your best to make it worthwhile for them to stay subscribed!

Once you also start promoting your blog in blogging communities, directories and search engines, people who don't know you personally will start to visit. You'll have to work a bit harder to get them to subscribe. Some bloggers use contests and giveaways to get people they don't know to subscribe to their feed; others use sneakier tactics that I won't go into here. By far, the very best way to get subscribers from among folks you don't know is to regularly produce unique and worthwhile content, that makes visitors want to come back for more.

If you liked this post, please subscribe to the ourwwworld feed! You can choose how to subscribe in the sidebar, or click here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Ourwwworld. By the way, to find the address for your ourwwworld blog feed if you ever need it, right click on the link in your sidebar that looks like the one below and copy the link location:

subscribe in a reader

One last thing I'd like to ask, especially of those of you with ourwwworld blogs: please visit the other ourwwworld team member blogs and show your support to each other by subscribing today!

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Understanding Google Adsense

The last time we looked at our google adsense report was 1 month ago, at which time there were requests for more information about what it all meant. Now that October has ended, let me finally respond to that with a look at our 2 month results.

The Google Adsense program connects paying advertisers with webpage creators (like us!) by matching up words that advertisers bid on, with webpages that have those words in them. If you look at the "Ads by Google" boxes on the ourwwworld team blogs, you will notice that many of the ads relate to stuff we've been writing about. Every time you write about another subject, the ads on your page will change. The more content (blog posts) you produce, the more opportunity Google will have to match advertisers with your page content. When the ads become more relevant to the content that's on your pages, people will be more likely to click on them. That's the theory anyway. When the ads get clicked on, we get paid.

The report below specifically and only refers to the "ads by google" on the ourwwworld team blogs that look like the ones circled in red on the screenshots at the beginning of this post.



To help you understand what the report means, here's some definitions:

Channels: understanding that many Adsense account holders have multiple websites with different kinds of content, the Adsense program allows me to set up different channels that keep track of how the google ads I'm running in the various places I tell it to monitor are performing.

Page impressions: this number is equal to the number of times google ads have been viewed on that channel. It counts our own visits as well as the visits of anyone else who views our pages

Clicks: this number tells us the number of ads running on that channel that were clicked on. Always remember you are not allowed to click the ads on your own page. Google will know, and shut the account down - they own both Adsense and Blogger so they have the ability to know a lot about your activity.

Page CTR: this is the number of clicks divided by the number of page impressions to give us an indicative percentage of how many visitors have clicked on an ad. More than one ad is shown on each page, and a visitor might click on more than one ad when s/he visits, so this is only indicative. We are paid for each click that occurs, whether it was clicked by the same visitor or not.

Page eCPM: this is another indicative measure that Google provides us to be able to compare and evaluate the performance of our ads. It refers to what that channel is earning per 1,000 page impressions. Since many of our blogs have not yet reached 1,000 page impressions, for most of us it's only a projection.

earnings: that number is the most significant, because it is real (not just for evaluation purposes). It's the actual amount that the advertisers whose ads were clicked on are paying us (through Google) for the clicks we've received. Some ads pay more, some pay less, and some also occasionally pay just for being shown on our page. The amount paid per click or view depends on the words that actually appear in our pages and how much advertisers are willing to pay for having their ads shown wherever those words appear online.

Interesting to note is that LifeInAfrica.com is currently performing better than all of our blogs combined, even though Ads by Google ONLY appear on the home page right now. Here are those figures from the same 2 month period for comparison:

Channel: lifeinafrica. com
impressions: 1,760
clicks: 65
CTR: 3.69%
eCPM: $11.34
earnings: $19.96

I don't claim to understand exactly why the Adsense earnings at LifeInAfrica.com are so much better than the rest of the channels we're running Adsense on, but I am working on putting the Adsense boxes on more pages there so that we can earn a bit more for the organization on a monthly basis.

Please ask questions if there's anything about this you don't understand!

Import your blog to Facebook

I find it easier to write when I have an idea in my head of who I am writing to. If you already have an audience of friends and colleagues who are gathered at Facebook, that's a perfect starting audience for you to write to as you let your creative juices begin to flow on your new blog.

You can configure Facebook to show a new note on your profile every time you post to your blog. Keep in mind that importing your blog to facebook does not increase visitors to your actual blog pages, but it does offer your friends on facebook a convenient way to interact with you on what you've posted.

To import your blog to facebook, go to your facebook profile and complete the following steps:

1. Near the top, under the tabs, click on "Write Note"

2. A form will open on the page; look below the form and click on "Settings"

3. Find the sentence that says You can automatically import activity from YouTube, Flickr and other services to your profile. Click on the words I've put in in bold.

4. You now get another box with some icons in it. Look for the feed icon and click on it.

5. Paste your feed address where it says "public URL"

The steps above should import your most recent blog post and every future post. If you also want to import up to 25 previous posts, then click "update now" under the feed address.

As a new blogger, your blog needs content. If you're in the habit of posting notes on Facebook, consider posting them to your imported blog instead of at facebook directly so that you kill two birds with one stone. That way, the interesting thoughts, links and other media you post in your facebook notes will also be available to a wider audience that includes folks that are not connected to you there.

2 essential tools for monitoring the growth of your blog

If a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it, then did it really make any noise? How do you know? Similarly, if you write your heart out on your blog but nobody reads your words, have you really used your voice? We've already said you'll need to spend time building an audience by letting people know what you've written is there to read. But how will you know if anyone is reading?

Naturally, the internet makes it simple.

In fact, you absolutely cannot build a sustainable blog that grows in value to you unless you are monitoring your visitor flow. Over time, you will learn and implement many techniques for letting people on the web know that your content is out there and encouraging them to visit. Monitoring your site visitors helps you see whether those efforts are working or not.

This post covers two essential tools for monitoring your blog's traffic growth that we're using on the ourwwworld team blogs: Sitemeter (which you need to install yourself) for monitoring daily visitor traffic, and Feedburner (which I'm planning to install for you) for monitoring the number of those visitors who choose to become your blog's regular followers.

1. Sitemeter

Sitemeter is a free and easy statistics tracking service that I've used for years. Since I personally want to track how much traffic we're getting as a team, I've already installed an ourwwworld team sitemeter on this blog and all of the team blogs at the bottom of your sidebar.

If you click on where it says "xx visitors since October 27, 2008" in the sidebar of your blog, you'll come to the summary page for all of our traffic together. From there if you look on the left for "page ranking" and click on entry pages, you can get a quick idea of how many visitors (out of the last 100) entered the ourwwworld team pages at your site. Referrals is another link I use often, since it allows me to see where on the web our traffic is coming from. If I share a link to a post on one of our blogs at facebook, for example, I can see at sitemeter whether anyone has clicked on it.

Since I'm also interested in seeing information about traffic to my own blog in finer detail, I've installed a second sitemeter at the bottom of my sidebar that's only monitoring my own pages. I would highly recommend that you also install a second sitemeter that monitors only YOUR blog, and the earlier the better. It will take you about 5 minutes to sign up for a free sitemeter account, get the html code for blogger and install it on your blog.

Installing gadgets on your blog is something you need to get used to doing. This one is easy practice (and chances are by the time you read this, sitemeter and blogger will have conspired to make it even easier). When you've signed up at sitemeter, you'll need to find the link in the manager panel to get your html code and copy it. Be sure to get the code that's for blogger. To install the code on your blog, follow the steps below:

1. log into blogger and view your blog
2. click customize at the top right of your screen
3. click on add a gadget in your sidebar
4. a window will open. In that window, choose "html/javascript"
5. paste in the html code from your sitemeter account into the box that appears
6. add a title similar to "christinaswwworld stats" if you want
7. click save.
   

Important to remember is that on blogger, any new gadget you install will always appear at the TOP of your sidebar. On the customize page, you can drag the elements in your sidebar up or down to reorder them. Once you've moved your new sitemeter code down to the bottom, click save again. Then view your blog to make sure it looks like you want it to, and you're almost done.

If you are usually on the same computer when you work on your blog, it's a good idea to exclude your own visits from being counted. If you are working from webcafes or always changing computers, then this isn't possible. But if you're regularly using the same computer then click "ignore visits" in the sitemeter manager panel. There, you can and should set your account to ignore visits from your browser, visits from your IP address, or both. Now, whenever anyone (including you) visits your blog and clicks on the sitemeter icon you just installed, they'll be able to monitor and analyze the growth of your blog's traffic from people other than you.

(btw - from 15 September until yesterday, I was monitoring all of us through the christinaswwworld sitemeter, where you can still see our history from the past 30 days. As of yesterday, though, that account is now only monitoring traffic to my christinaswwworld blog.)

2. Feedburner

While Sitemeter can tell us a lot about who has visited your blog, feedburner can tell you how many of your visitors are choosing to follow your blog and be alerted whenever you post something new. Feedburner also helps you deliver your content to those people in a number of ways, including by email (which blogger doesn't automatically do), and tries to help you consolidate statistics on people who are following your blog feed through all kinds of websites and services that it can be accessed through.

In the blogging world, the number of people following your feed is a key measure of your blog's financial value. If your blog has many followers, it becomes easier to generate a response to fundraising or income generating activities through your blog. You can even sell your blog if you're ever tired of it someday and earn thousands of dollars if your feed has a healthy list of followers. Of course, your number of followers will grow much more slowly than your traffic, so it's never too soon to offer your visitors as many ways as possible to start following you. In fact, one of my pet peeves is finding a blog that I want to follow, and not finding a way to easily do that. Offering your feed to your visitors is critically important.

Setting up feedburner to work for your blog is a bit technical (which is another way of saying I don't know how to explain it to you well.) The first time I used it, someone else set it up for me. Now that I've learned how to do it myself, I'll be installing it for you on the ourwwworld team blogs this week.

Once it's installed, it will be important for you to know where to find your feed address. It's often asked for when you are signing up for the various blog widgets, communities and directories that you'll come across while building a sustainable blog. Look in the sidebar of this blog, and scroll down until you see a link that looks like this:

subscribe in a reader

I'll be installing a very similar looking link on your blog.

In the future, whenever you are asked to provide your blog's feed address anywhere on the web, simply right click on that link to copy the link location, and paste it wherever you need it. Your feed link will undoubtedly look something similar to this: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Ourwwworld.

I'm going to play for a while with ways that feedburner can help us to promote your content on other websites like LifeInAfrica.com, and at the end of our experiment (more on that in an upcoming post) I'll be transferring the feed's ownership to you for continued monitoring of your subscriber growth. In the meantime, I'll try to post regular screenshots of how all of our feeds are doing that can help you get an idea of how we're all doing on subscriber growth.

Please post any questions, challenges, or comments on any of the above in the comments section below. I'm happy to help further if I can.

Here's to your blog's sustainable growth!

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Go Grace, Go! to Entrecard

Oh my goodness, I've just been reading Grace Ayaa's blog "Awakening." She's posted today about a visit to our friend Fred Kayiwa's project and it's just written beautifully. I want more!

Now that Grace has 5+ quality posts up would be a great time for her to think about joining the Entrecard community. They've recently disabled the income generating aspects of entrecard, and the forums are not that great, but getting my feet wet there has been extremely worthwhile nonetheless.

The number one reason why I like entrecard and wholeheartedly recommend it for any new blogger is because it's the only community for bloggers I've found so far where I am forced to go look at other blogs. The educational value of my journeys around the community "dropping my card" and occasionally commenting at blogs of all shapes and sizes for the past couple of weeks has been worth it's weight in gold.

The traffic back to pArtY @ christinaswwworld has also been good, and there's a few from the EC community who have started to follow my posts and comment. There are also quite a few blogs I've found that I'm now following, and I look eagerly for new posts whenever I log in.

I've made badges for all of the ourwwworld team blogs that you can use as your card that you upload to entrecard. They are all in the sidebar of your blog. You can right click to get the url of your image when entrecard asks for it at sign-up.

Grace, I really think the folks at Entrecard will love what you are doing. Hope to see you (and other ourwwworld team members once you've got 5 quality posts) at entrecard soon. Keep up the great work!

100 EC CREDIT BONUS - I've been building up credits at entrecard so I can share them with the ourwwworld team. If you're a team member, then once you've signed up at entrecard, drop your card at my blog and I'll send you 100 Entrecard credits. That will let you get started advertising on EC member blogs right away.

Becoming sustainable bloggers

There are lots of folks out there who will tell you that they are earning thousands of dollars per month blogging. Many will sell you their secrets, but almost all of the people who are worth listening to will tell you that it didn't happen for them and it's not going to happen to you without work.

Blogging CAN earn some very ingenious people a lot of money within a very short time. For the vast majority of people like me and you who are struggling to keep up with the information overload, however, blogging is not going to earn significant amounts of money without an investment in learning time and energy in doing the groundwork it takes to put the components of a sustainable blog in place.

The good news is, if you're willing to learn how to do the work that sustainable bloggers do, your blog most certainly can develop into a rewarding hobby that not only pays for itself, but also pays you a salary for nurturing it that can increase over time.

There are four basic categories of blog-related work that any blogger concerned with sustainability must be prepared to get done in equal measures:

1. Produce content

2. Let audiences know your content is available

3. Identify, implement, test & manage revenue streams

4. Learn constantly about 1, 2, and 3 by interacting with other bloggers

As I delve into the blogosphere of late in search of knowledge about how it all works, my quest is to find ways that the ourwwworld team can collaborate effectively as a team, to help each other get the 4 main parts of the work involved in sustainable blogging done, and maximize the value of the scarce time we each have to spend online. Ever present in my mind are the language, time and cost constraints that our non-US team members face.

In future posts here, my plan is to offer knowledge, time-saving tips and collaborative ideas for each of the 4 categories of stuff that needs to be done to create blogs that increase in value over time. Though I will certainly share whatever I think I'm learning I honestly don't have all the answers for us by a longshot. I'm thinking about interviewing some guest bloggers who I believe will have some useful experience to share in helping us understand the work involved in all of these areas, and tips for getting it done efficiently. I'll also be pointing you in the direction of bloggers I am learning from in a number of different spheres.

Please let's use the comment space here at the ourwwworld blog to discuss (with each other and other bloggers who will hopefully pass by) the different strategy options available to us as we explore the path to sustainable blogging as a team.

Blog Action Day 2008: ourwwworld roundup

Awakening, by Grace Ayaa (East Africa)
"...When I look at Africa, most of its land is fertile and very good for any kind of agriculture , but there are the people who are going hungry and have to live on handouts. It puzzles me a lot. So I feel that the agricultural sector should be the most looked at area. lots and lots of food should be grown by a family to feed themselves and then the surplus sold ." full post


Darkness2Light, by Norbert Okec (East Africa)
"If a child in a poor nation gets infected with some disease but the parents, friends and neighbours are all convinced that the child is sick because he/she climbed a mango tree belonging to the local traditional healer/spirit medium.... and the poor child dies do we say that the child died because of the disease or because of lack of correct information?..." full post


In Search of Mindfulness, by Linda Nowakowski (S.E. Asia)
"...There is enough food in the world to feed every person. That is a distribution problem. If you look at the wealth in the world, I suspect that there is enough wealth in the world to eliminate poverty as well. It's a distribution problem." full post


Kireka Concerns, by Peter Ndelo (East Africa)
Remember I mentioned we're all learning to blog? Well, Peter posted his thoughts at the Blog Action Day website instead of on his blog :-) "poverty is lack of knowledge, ability, cooperation and spirit of helping each other to come out from this problem. No body wants to be poor but how can one come out of this?" You can see the full comment here, and as soon as Peter gets it moved to his blog I'll edit this bit and put a link here.


Shawnstudio, by Shawn Kelly (North America)
"...bottom-up strategies seem to me the only way to create real change, as it has now been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that top-down economics leads only to disaster. The battle is exponentially more difficult in Africa, where government corruption is the norm and enriching oneself at the expense of the citizens has been the prevailing leadership strategy for decades." full post



pArtY @ christinaswwworld, by Christina Jordan
"Please join me in welcoming the ourwwworld team officially to the blogosphere!" full post

Welcoming new global voices to the blogosphere

from http://christinaswwworld.com: It's Blog Action Day today - bloggers around the world are asked to post about poverty. I tend to write about poverty quite a bit anyway, so instead of trying to synthesize all of my thoughts on the subject into one post, I've been working on something a bit different today.... I've pulled some new voices from my world into the dialogue.

read more | digg story

Sustainable blogging, from and for Africa

Just in time for Blog Action Day 2008, we've redesigned the ourwwworld team blogs to have our say about poverty, and to start using our blogs to raise money for a poverty-related cause.

The ourwwworld team is a small global group of people who are learning to blog together. More than half of our team is blogging from East Africa, where poverty is rampant and the costs of blogging are very high. The ourwwworld team blogs are monetized with the double intention of raising money for Life in Africa - the cause that binds our team together - and sharing revenues with the bloggers to offset their costs. Ideally, we'll develop a way that can make it financially feasible for more people who are affected by poverty to participate actively in the online world, and possibly even some extra income.

As we begin on this blogging journey, the ourwwworld team revenue sharing plan is as follows:

Team revenues will be earned through adsense, the sale of electronic books related to sustainable living, and other jointly promoted income generating mechanisms to be introduced at a later date. All team funds raised though the end of December 2008 will be subject to the following split:

• 20% to the blogger who raised the funds
• 20% for the bloggers' monthly cash prize fund
• 20% for ourwwworld site administration & promotion
• 20% to Life in Africa USA for overhead and admin support
• 20% to Life in Africa USA for disbursal to community projects in Africa

(Donations made directly to Life in Africa and/or craft sales made through ourwwworld team blogs shall not be subject to the split above.)

In order to make this revenue sharing model meaningful, the ourwwworld team blogs will need broad exposure to audiences that will read, click, purchase and resonate with the social message that each of the blogs has to offer. This blog will explore promotional and cross-promotional techniques that others in the blogosphere are using to develop their audience, and post regular round-ups of content created by the team. Cash prize contests designed to encourage team members to cross-promote each other will be announced at the ourwwworld blog monthly. The first round of ourwwworld team promotion contests will be announced on 1 November 2008.

Until then, the focus is on content! Ourwwworld bloggers must make at least 4 new posts between 16 and 31 October in order to participate in the November contests.

Blog building communities: MyBlogLog, BlogCatalog, Entrecard

Ourwwworld players, we'll be altering our game soon. Over the past week I've been exploring a number of communities for bloggers. I'm excited about what I see and would love for you to take a look

read more | digg story

COMMON THREAD: acai berry, arginmax, burundanga

Digg 1: Talk2Me: paul newman cancer update
Digg 2: State of California Warning: DO NOT Flush Pharmaceuticals

I see an interesting common thread in the number of natural nutritional supplements people are looking up today. At least people are looking for natural remedies, but the reasons we're seeking these remedies are disturbing. It's amazing to me how people today look for quick external fixes in every aspect of their lives.

First, there is the acai berry diet. The acai berry is known as an elixir that provides an antioxident and gives energy. A friend of my grandfathers swears by the virtues of monavie, which is a drink made from the acai berry. People who drink acai juice and eat the acai fruit extoll it's benefit to the joints. But now some folks are claiming, in what's very likely a scam, that acai in pill form can make you lose weight too. Can't we just be happy with what the acai berry does do, instead of trying to overclaim it's benefits?

And then there's arginmax, whose manufacturers claim that it helps improve sexual performance in both men and women. I wonder if people take this because their intimate lives are really ailing, or because they are - like so much of society - addicted to the idea of attaining "more." Either reason makes me sad.

By far the most disturbing natural "remedy" that's on people's fingertips today is burundanga, a drug made from the plant called either cacao sabanero or borrachero. In some parts of the world it is used to drug foreigners in order to rob them. In other parts of the world, recent reports of date-rapes, thefts, kidnapping and other crimes have been attributed to it. Frightening!

Ididn't know: laura bush killing a man in texas,

ayaaswwworld (east africa): I didn't know that almost everyone attached to the White House has to have some kind of background, if you look at laura bush killing a man in texas, this is not very far from the would be new president MCain's background

read more | digg story

I WONDER :xbox live update september 29,

ayaaswwworld (east africa): I WONDER if the 29th day has some kind of bad omen or is attached to some misfortune, look at what is taking place xbox live update september 29, stock market crash 1929, and this bailout rejected . As for the stock market issue, looks like the great depression is where we are heading to again. This is sending really very bad signal to the world.

read more | digg story

My Own Way: halloween costumes, master of disguise, goonies cast

grandmaswwworld: Halloween is coming and I intend to celebrate and enjoy it My Own Way. I remember when it was such a fun night. Trick or Treaters coming to the door in all kinds of costumes, passing out candy treats, and watching the clock for 10pm when I could turn off the lights and relax again.

read more | digg story

I Wonder: presidential polls after debate, face the nation

grandmaswwworld: I Wonder sometimes what our news media is thinking. We have a presidential election coming up, the economy is at an all time low, people are losing their homes and we are losing our soldiers on a daily basis in a war that we should not be in. And yet, I click on the news and the top stories are heather locklear arrested

read more | digg story

TALK2ME: roll call bailout vote, 1929 stock market crash

kellyswwworld: today, of course, everyone is talking about the economy, so TALK2ME: What happened this morning in the United States House of Representatives? How did my congressman vote in the roll call bailout vote, and why? Will we experience another 1929 stock market crash-type event?

read more | digg story

Talk2Me: paul newman cancer update

Talk2Me about why we who of a certain age (I refuse to say old) start becoming obsessed with illnesses and death when we should be enjoying living life instead. I checked the online news this morning and was greeted with the headline about the paul newman cancer update.

read more | digg story

I Wonder: babies r us

grandmaswwworld: I Wonder sometimes how any of us "older generation" parents raised our kids without all the fancy gadgets and equipment that are deemed necessities today.

read more | digg story

I DIDN'T KNOW: airtel call home, free international calling cards

digg1: Talk2Me: Did you call your Grandma lately?

digg2: Free Country Codes for International Calling & Area Codes

I didn't know that Airtel is offering special prices on calls this september. Airtel call home offers cheap calling cards and cheap international calling rates. I wonder if people living in my country can also take advantage of the free and cheap international calling cards they are offering, but I somehow think it's only for customers who live in other countries.

In my country, the cell phone network works with prepaid talktime as well, but we only have 4 cellphone companies to choose from. Last I checked, airtel was not one of them, though we have many people here who would surely love to use it.

Hmm, I also see that "Airtel subscribers who will visit Singapore from September 25th to September 29th, 2008 can now enjoy uninterrupted communication while on the move." How very exciting! It seems the cellphone network in that country is very expensive, and airtel offers cheaper rates.

I WONDER: homecoming hairstyles online

digg 1: I did not know: happy birthday google

digg 2: Dying Boy Named Homecoming King Thanks to Kindness of Fellow Students

I wonder at the number of websites today that have pages and pages of homecoming hairstyles. Are hairstyles for homecoming really so different than prom hairstyles or party hairstyles or bridal hairstyles for weddings? Has homecoming taken on it's own hairstyle identity?

I am seeing links for Homecoming Hairstyles, Homecoming Updos, and Beautiful Homecoming Hairstyles Recommendations. Not to mention homecoming dresses, homecoming games, homecoming kings and homecoming queens. Quite an industry!

When I was in high school, I organized the homecoming festivities 2 years in a row (what was I, nuts?) We didn't have websites then, so we had to rely on hairstylists, our friends or hair fashion magazines for suggestions on homecoming hairstyles.

I wonder if girls who go to homecoming look better today because they have the internet? I also wonder if my colleagues where I live now even know what homecoming is!!

I did not know: happy birthday google,

ndeloswwworld (east africa): I did not know: happy birthday google this a very important tool both to learners and experienced internet users. my first internet lesson was Google search which I find it so useful and easy to use. it gives solutions and is a kind of short cut as a mater of searching for some thing. congratulations Google founder!!! I

read more | digg story

I wonder: dream dinners, nick carpenter

ndeloswwworld (east africa): I wonder,dream dinners this was good luck to them! having dinner is one other interesting thing in a community where people like to share. in this family get together and enjoy and also discuss other family matters, But I wonder what kind of dream

read more | digg story

MY OWN WAY: fall begins, fall leaves, first day of fall 2008

kellyswwworld (southern california): As fall begins, my own way of celebrating is to enjoy the fact that I don't have to turn on the air conditioner anymore.

read more | digg story

I DIDN'T KNOW: ephelides, mabon

kellyswwworld (so cal): I didn't know that there are two types of freckles. The first is ephelides, the light-colored kind that come and go with sun exposure.

read more | digg story

I didn't know : phalloplasty, model behavior, four brothers

ayaaswwworld - east africa - I really didn't know that people could go to this extend , phalloplasty, model behavior, to achieve what they think was meant for them and by mistake not given . why really can't we appreciate what nature has bestowed unto us, isn't this undermining who/whatever has tried their best to make us what we are?

read more | digg story

I wONDER : abby and brittany hensel, conjoined twins,

ayaaswwworld (east africa) - I wonder if these are scientific problems abby and brittany hensel, conjoined twins, I do believe that they can be natural happenings / god's creation or it just came to be, but for scientists , they have their own ways of thinking. It could be a metabolic action or an evolution,if not an atomic problem, there goes the list, whatever they all mean,

read more | digg story

I didn't know. Frosted butts, daylight savings time 2008

nobsoswwworld (east africa): Solar powered cooling and ice-making without photo-voltaic panels and batteries. This is how to keep us cool without having to choke the planet. Green Cold beats anything out there and can be set up in remote locations.

read more | digg story

ourwwworld pilot game: week 2 update

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

I did'nt know: facebook down, without a trace

ndeloswwworld (east africa): I didn't know: facebook down, I have not logged in for the past three days and I was only having problem with yahoo for four days! perhaps its a general problem.

read more | digg story

I wonder: upside down rainbow, gun, big brother 10 winner

ndeloswwworld (east africa) I wonder: upside down rainbow, this is scaring! perhaps the world is coming to an end but according to the covenant God made with man related to rainbow was that if it appears would mean terrible rain that would strike the world again like in the time of Noah! I wonder what would happen if that kind of rain comes again?.

read more | digg story

COMMON THREAD: stock market crash,washington mutual bankrupt

ayaaswwworld (east africa): stock market crash, washington mutual bankruptcy, wamu bankrupt , if this is happening in such big companies in very a developed world like America, how about we who are just developing and relying on funds from the more developed.

read more | digg story

I WONDER: 500 internal server error, youtube down,

ayaaswwworld - I wonder if the computer era is also coming to an end like everything else in the world. 500 internal server error, youtube down, We are experiencing a lot of natural disasters right now , this makes me wonder if it's part of the situation.Yet thousands of people are still struggling to be part of this technology, how to get the old facebook back .

read more | digg story

TALK TO ME: saturday night live, levy bonaduce fight

nobsoswwworld - Will someone talk to me about the hype associated with saturday night live boxing? I am almost convinced that like wrestling the whole thing is fake.

read more | digg story

MY OWN WAY: the day the earth stood still, another universe,

nobsoswwworld - Some random thoughts on the things we do when we attain the unattainable. Is it possible to have without causing another to not have? Why do I see best with my eyes closed as when in deep meditation?

read more | digg story

Talk2Me: hurricane carla, japan earthquake, hurricane ike evacuations

ayaaswwworld: Talk2me , Could a spy satellite identify any of us from our shadow?,and if this was so how could elizabeth smart,end up like this?.Please also talk2 me about all these calamities,hurricane carla, japan earthquake, hurricane ike evacuations.Are we heading towards the so much talked about end times ?

read more | digg story

Talk2me: liverpool vs manchester united,

ndeloswwworld: Talk2me: liverpool vs manchester united, For all the time man u has taken to build this popularity, its a bit disappointing to see that man u has started performing badly! however man u fans don,t loose hope.

read more | digg story

I wonder: michaels crafts,trailor park boys,

ndeloswwworld: I wonder: michaels crafts, how he does the from these stores, there seems to be lots of markets out there because here in my country even just one stall isn't easy to market.I wonder how he recovered the lost so fast in spite of the huge lost! I wonder: where does your favorite artist rank,

read more | digg story

I didnt know: brennan s restaurant,how do you make cupcakes,

ayaaswwworld: I dint know: brennan s restaurant,that this kind of place was existing until this mis fortune of the fire outbreak!for such a legendary place fire fighters could have come in early enough to save at least part of it, this being in a more developed world. Because in my country even the next house could have been burnt down.

read more | digg story

Common thread: Oxymoron - Bush Doctrine Wiki, Cheap Gas

lindernswwworld: A new look at oxymorons

read more | digg story

I WONDER if there's a happy housewives club,

ayaaswwworld: I wonder if happy housewives club, would be good news for work at home moms. I also wonder if what natalie cole, has any similarity with what right now is killing hundreds of people in my country. Here it's said to be Hepatitis B. I wish there was a cure , because it has taken so many lives.

read more | digg story

I Wonder: Fannie mae freddie mac interest rates, women in red racers

nobsoswwworld - Will the lower interest rates help borrowers keep their homes or will we see more women in red races?

read more | digg story

I WONDER: hbo entourage, under the yum yum tree

kellyswwworld - At my house, we all love movies, and hbo entourage, a show that goes behind the scenes of the movie business, is one of our favorites.

read more | digg story

TALK2ME: tax policy center, fannie mae and freddie mac

kellyswwworld - Obama's plan "would provide the greatest tax relief to middle-class families, while the McCain plan provides the greatest tax relief to the wealthiest families." Pretty much what ALL of the other studies done in the last few months have concluded.

read more | digg story

COMMON THREAD: nfl scores, nfl fantasy, hello kitty jewlery

kellyswwworld - Again today, as others have noted before, the COMMON THREAD on the google trends list is football. Everything from nfl scores, dallas cowboys schedule, and nfl cheerleaders to myfantasyleague and nfl fantasy. So I had to laugh when, buried among all of these testosterone-loaded search terms, there at number 21 sat hello kitty jewelry.

read more | digg story

My Own Way: evans the atom is old yeller

party at christinaswwworld - Since my life is currently like a make-your- own-flavour ice cream parlour of opportunities, and what's next is the current topping of the month, I've decided to have a party. At christinaswwworld, I am I leaping off the tops of the rocks I've been hiding under, to fly online with the winds of global change once again this fall

read more | digg story

I WONDER: earthquakes today, white plague,

nobsoswwworld - I wonder if earthquakes today and the white plague will be anything when honey bee populations continue to decline at the catastrophic rate they are

read more | digg story

I Didn't Know: miley cyrus dead,miley cyrus car accident

gransmaswwworld - I didn't know that people on the internet could be so cruel. Today there is a rumor on the net declaring miley cyrus dead. It is said that there was a miley cyrus car accident resulting in her death. But in reality, did miley cyrus die? The answer is NO!

read more | digg story

I WONDER: when in the course of human events; declaration of independence, magna carta

lindernswwworld - Musings on the values of freedoms and what we do with them.

read more | digg story

I WONDER: Palin Slashed Funding for Teen Moms

ndeloswwworld: I wonder why Plain slashed the funding for teen moms! in my country teen moms are the most cared for because they could have given unplanned birth or most of them don't have jobs yet. slashing fund for the teen moms means slashing fund for the babies!!I wonder if this will make sense to the people!

read more | digg story

I DIDN'T KNOW: In a More Diverse America, the GOP Convention Mostly White

ayaaswwworld: I DIDN'T KNOW that In a More Diverse America, the GOP Convention Mostly WhiteHow then would Obama stand any chance of winning in such a situation, where whites dominate in everything. I wish he could step down and let the white rule.IDIDN'T KNOW that things could turn this sour obama o reilly, protesters at rnc ,

read more | digg story

MY OWN WAY: caribou barbie, walter reed middle school, heart

kellyswwworld: It seems the photo behind McCain was supposed to be the military hospital, but was instead the middle school (in North Hollywood, CA) of the same name. OOPS!

read more | digg story

Talk2Me: Did you call your Grandma lately?

grandmaswwworld: As mothers, we grandmas were the ones to nurture and care for our kids. We kissed the boo boos, cooked the meals, did the laundry and raced to the school when they left half their science project at home. Then the kids are grown and we take on a new role as mentor, spoiler, and lover to a pack of wonderful grandkids.

read more | digg story

Common Thread: Woods

lindernswwworld: Who is Sam woods you are asking!

read more | digg story

Talk2Me - This is intelligent politics?

lindernswwworld: Is this what American politics has come to?

read more | digg story

COMMON THREAD: mccainpalin bumper sticker, palin speech video

christinaswwworld: A common thread of republicanism is washing over google-land, as repulican party-related search terms take over at least 25% of googlers' top 100 searches today. Or is it republicanism? You decide.

read more | digg story

ourwwworld how-to: DIGG TWICE

1. go to the ourwwworld blog at http://ourwwworld.blogspot.com

2. find any play that you haven't dugg before

3. click on the read more link.

4. digg that story

5. go anywhere else on digg and digg something unrelated to the ouwwworld game

6. now go to your digg profile. find the links you just dugg at the top of your recent activity

7. drag your cursor over one of the links, right click to copy it

8. go to your blog and open a new post

9. paste the link you copied into the new blog post as your digg 1 or digg 2.

10. go back to your digg profile and repeat steps 7 and 9.

a post with 2 digg links in it can be saved as a partial play.

You can now either:

• publish and come back later to COMPLETE YOUR PARTIAL PLAY, or
• continue to BLOG YOUR WORDPLAY

ourwwworld how-to: COMPLETE YOUR PARTIAL PLAY

1. when you are logged into blogger, get to your dashboard. To get to the dashboard, click on any link that says dashboard or click on the small blogger logo in the top left of your blog.

2. at the dashboard, find the name of your ourwwworld blog. Click on the edit posts link below it.

3. find any post you've named Partial Play

4. click on the post title to preview what's in there

5. click on edit at the left of the post title to open the post for editing.

continue to BLOG YOUR WORDPLAY

ourwwworld how-to: BLOG YOUR WORDPLAY

With a post that contains your two diggs open for editing, you can now blog your wordplay.

1. open the google trends page in a new window and look at what is there.

2. select your play approach (I wonder, common thread, talk2me, i didn't know, my own way)

3. Start writing

4. drag your cursor over the links on the google trends page to copy them

5. paste the links from the google trends page into your text as you write.

6. create a title that starts with the name of your play, followed by any 1-3 of the google trend search terms you included in the text, separated by commas.

7. Publish your post

8. View your blog

Continue to DIGG YOURSELF

ourwwworld how-to: DIGG YOURSELF

1. View your blog

2. click on the title of the post you want to digg

3. find the Digg! submit link above the google ads. right click on the submit link to open the digg submission process in a new window.

4. drag your cursor to select and copy the title of your post.

5. Paste your post title into the digg submission page

6. Drag your cursor to select and copy some of the text you have written

7. Paste your text blurb into the digg submission page.

8. click submit and complete the digg process.


Help!! When I click on the title of my blog post everything looks the same
If you are digging the most recent post you've made, the top part is supposed to look the same. When in doubt about where you are, scroll down, look up to the URL that's showing in your browser, or do both. If you scroll down to find yourself on a page with that post only and no other posts below it, then you are in the right place to digg. When you look up to the URL address in your browser and see yourwwworld.blogspot.com/2008/xx/the-name-of-your-post.htm then you will also know you are in the right place to digg.

If that's not where you are finding yourself, then try clicking on the title of the post again.

HELP! Digg says my post might be a duplicate! What do I do?
Just scroll down to the bottom of the list and click "totally original, I swear"

TALK2ME: boeing strike, boeing strike vote 2008, machinists

christinaswwworld: Without even knowing what the boeing strike is about, it's clear that more pressure of any kind is not going to do the airline industry much good in the near future. It's pretty amazing to think about how much control those boeing machinists have over my global lifestyle.

read more | digg story

MYOWNWAY: tropical storm hanna, sarah palin bikini, dive in underwear

christinaswwworld: fema.gov is asking for donations at www.fema.gov to help shelter those displaced from the hurricanes; james whitey bulger is an even more wanted man today; and I'm going to blog this MY OWN WAY because.......

read more | digg story

I DIDN'T KNOW: amantadine poisoning, house

christinaswwworld: I DIDN'T KNOW what amantadine was before today. Google is showing related searches for amantadine poisoning, huntington, huntington's disease, house, wilson's disease. I couldn't find anything at digg. So I decided to look up amantadine using goodsearch .

read more | digg story

I WONDER: bristol palin drinking, sarah palin legs, secession

christinaswwworld: What on earth were the Republicans thinking?

read more | digg story

ourwwworld pilot game: player welcome

Dear ourwwworld players,

it's been a blast getting your game blogs and sample plays ready. Thanks for agreeing to try out this concept. Now get ready for a wild ride in cyberspace! I'm very excited to watch what happens when your creativity moves into action with this unusual fundraising game.

Remember: Digg twice, blog your wordplay, digg yourself.

The players with the most diggs win!

To dig, in my dialect of the english language, means to enjoy. So log-in and start digging around at Digg.com. Take a look at today's google trends, and get ready to enjoy this game. I think it's going to be alot of fun!

Here are some useful links to posts I've been making over the past few days here at the ourwwworld blog, to get you started playing the game:

• How to play
• Player rules
• Points, scoring and winning
  
  
• Allowable plays:
• I WONDER
• COMMON THREAD
• I DIDN'T KNOW
• TALK2ME
• MY OWN WAY
• PARTIAL

As you will undoubtedly notice, I've refined and added some rules since I wrote your invitation, to give us all more structure to work with in competing to be creative.

Your game blogs are listed below. By now you should have received an invitation from blogger to have authoring permissions on your blog, so you can log in whenever you want and start posting plays or partial plays.

• LIVE: kellyswwworld for mme. kelly in l.a. (or is that la-la land?!). ms. kelly is playing this game because she believes in her cousin, and because she wants to help.
  
  
• LIVE: grandmaswwworld for our global grandma in the pacific northwest. grandma is playing this game because her daughter on the other side of the world asked her to, and because she is excited about the funds it can raise for her favorite cause.
  
  
• LIVE: nobsoswworld for mr. nobs in the solar heart of east africa. he's playing the game because his girlfriend designed it, and because he'd like to raise capital for more of his solar energy projects.
  
  
• LIVE: ndeloswwworld for mr. ndelo in east africa. he's playing because he wants his blogging and clicking skills to finally turn into some cash. he also wants to see his organization move forward.
  
  
• PENDING PLAYER CONFIRMATION: ayaaswwworld for ms. ayaa in east africa who really needs to check email more often.
  
  
• PENDING PLAYER CONFIRMATION: lindernswwworld for mama linda n., whose heart, body and mind are divided between africa, asia and america right now.
  

Please don't miss the announcement about the first week's posting requirement.

If you have any questions, we can chat about those at ned.com, where I will be starting an ourwwworld game pilot project discussion within the coming days.

Keep it global, make it fun, and don't forget to enjoy yourselves!

Most of all, thanks for agreeing to help pilot the ourwwworld game concept.

ourwwworld pilot game: start up announcement

Confirmed ourwwworld player pilot game blogs will be made live on 1 September.

For the first week of play only (1 - 8 September 2008), the minimum 2 play per week requirement will not be strictly enforced.

Players must, however, have a minimum of 4 plays completed by 15 September 2008 (two weeks from now) to remain a player for the rest of the September's game. The normal weekly requirement of min. 2 plays per week will apply after that. Please also note that if we do not have 5 players with 4 posts each by 15 September, the game will be discontinued.

Please always remember that 2 plays per week is just a minimum. You are welcome and encouraged to play (and have fun with the ourwwworld game!) as much as you can.

ourwwworld pilot game: how to play

Digg twice, blog your wordplay, digg yourself.

1. Digg Twice

Once you've been digging around a bit at digg.com, the 2 digg links you need to paste into your post appear in your digg profile as soon as you have dugg them.

Start your play by clicking on "new post" at your player blog.

digg 1: paste the digg link for any completed play you have dugg that you found here at the ourwwworld blog. Any post appearing at the ourwwworld blog (including this one) is open for you to digg and play on once.

digg 2: paste a new digg link for any other (non-ourwwworld game related) page you have dugg on digg.com

A reminder - the 2 digg links you need to paste into your post appear in your digg profile as soon as you have dugg them. Drag your cursor across a link in your digg profile to copy and paste it into your blog.

If you save your post at this point, give it the title PARTIAL PLAY. You can come back to edit the post and blog your wordplay later. Uncompleted partial plays earn 1 point in the end of month score tally.


2. Blog your wordplay

a. Visit the google top trends page, to choose at least 2 search terms (or search term variations) to include in your post. Drag your cursor to select the search terms and their links from the google trends page, and paste them into your post as you incorporate them into your text.

b. Select one of the following 5 allowable plays, and model your post after the provided sample.

1. TALK2ME
2. COMMON THREAD
3. I DIDN'T KNOW
4. I WONDER
5. MY OWN WAY
6. PARTIAL play

c. the first sentence of your wordplay text must include the name of the allowable play you choose, as shown in the sample plays

d. The title of your published post must include the name of your play followed by 1-4 of the google search terms included in the post, like below, or it won't be counted as a play:

COMMON THREAD: football scores, football schedules
I WONDER: ordinal, revelation generation, federalist papers
I DIDN'T KNOW: matsunichi photoblitz 7” digital picture frame
etc.


3. Digg yourself
submit your completed play post to digg.com. A self digg of a correct play adds two points to your end of month play point tally. Your completed play will be posted for others to digg at the ourwwworld blog

ourwwworld pilot game: points, scoring and winnings

A completed play is worth 3 play points

A post that only includes two diggs can be saved, published and counted as a partial play (1 play point). A partial play should not be submitted to digg until it has been edited to include your wordplay. A partial play that has been edited to include the wordplay but not yet self dugg will not yet count as a completed play.

The cash bonus pool (20% of the ourwwworld pilot game ad revenue, plus revenue shares forfeited by players who fall out of the game) is distributed among the winning players at the end of each monthly round as follows:

• 25% to the player with the most play points
• 25% to the player with the most diggs received on all completed plays.
• 25% to the player with the highest digg score on a single play.
• 25% to the player whose blog content generates the most advertising revenue

Partial plays die at the end of each monthly round.

ourwwworld pilot game: player rules

The pilot ourwwworld game will run under my stewardship as moderator and financial manager from September 1 - November 30 2008. This is a private, invitation only game that players agree to play for 3 months only. When the pilot game has ended, you get to keep your blog (and 100% of any income it continues to generate), and do whatever you want with it.

During the pilot game period, we all get a share of advertising revenue generated by the content of our own wordplays; plays and diggs earn us points in competition with each other for extra cash; and 40% of everything the pilot game earns goes to Life in Africa.

During the pilot game period, we agree to play by the following general rules:

1. Two correctly completed plays per week keeps you in the game, but you may play as often as you can. You may skip a week and stay in the game as long as you completed at least 2 more than the required weekly plays during the previous weeks. If you fall out of the game by falling behind in your weekly completed plays (ie, week three is over and you only have 5 plays completed), you forfeit your revenue share for that whole month to the cash prize pool.
   
   
2. No post may include the word “click” or verbally encourage visitors to click on any link in the post or on the game blog page. Players also agree not to ever click on any of the advertisements appearing on any ourwworld game blog.
   
   
3. Keep it global. Players may not mention the name of ANY country or continent in their game posts. City names may be mentioned.
   
   
4. Players agree to only discuss game rules, procedures and strategies with each other in public, at a ned.com discussion thread established for that purpose.

Any violation of these 4 simple rules (or any other abuse of the digg.com, blogger or adsense terms of use) will result in your being eliminated from the game for the rest of the month, with your revenue share forfeited to the bonus pool for winners.

PARTIAL PLAY: ourwwworld pilot game sample

The ourwwworld pilot game brings a small global group of good citizens together in a world wide wordplay competition to benefit our favorite cause. This post illustrates a sample PARTIAL PLAY in our game.

read more | digg story

ourwwworld pilot game sample: the I WONDER play

The ourwwworld pilot game brings a small group of intelligent global citizens together in a world wide wordplay competition to benefit Life in Africa. This post illustrates a sample play

read more | digg story

TALK2ME play: ourwwworld pilot game sample

The ourwwworld pilot game brings a global small group of good citizens together in a world wide wordplay competition to benefit our favorite cause. This post illustrates a sample TALK2ME play in our game.

read more | digg story

COMMON THREAD play: ourwwworld pilot game sample

The ourwwworld pilot game brings a global small group of good citizens together in a world wide wordplay competition to benefit our favorite cause. This post illustrates a sample COMMON THREAD play in our game.

read more | digg story

MY OWN WAY play: ourwwworld pilot game sample

The ourwwworld pilot game brings a small global group of good citizens together in a world wide wordplay competition to benefit our favorite cause. This post illustrates a sample MY WAY play in our game.

read more | digg story

I DIDN'T KNOW: ourwwworld pilot game sample play

The ourwwworld pilot game brings a global small group of good citizens together in a world wide wordplay competition to benefit our favorite cause. This post illustrates a sample I DIDN'T KNOW play in our game.

read more | digg story

Longevinex resveratrol supplements - why not just drink more wine?

The health-food industry is claiming that resveratrol is the wine component responsible for the "French Paradox:" ie, that in spite of high levels of saturated fat in their diet, the French aren't very bothered by heart disease. Some go further and to claim that resveratrol has anti-aging effects.

Longevinex offers resveratol supplements, but some folks think there's not enough active ingredient in them to make a significant anti-aging impact, or heart protection. And while taking resveratrol pills sounds safer than heavy consumption of red wine, supplementing with unproven substances is generally unwise. At this point, occasional use of red wine seems far more prudent.

Resveratrol was originally isolated by Takaoka from the roots of white hellebore in 1940, and later, in 1963, from the roots of Japanese knotweed. However, it attracted the wider attention only in 1992, when its presence in wine was used as the explanation for cardioprotective effects of wine.

Wikipedia says that in general, wines made from grapes of the Pinot Noir and St. Laurent varieties show the highest level of trans-resveratrol, though no wine or region can be said to produce wines with significantly higher resveratrol concentrations than any other wine or region.

Why not enjoy some peanuts with your wine? Apparently boiled peanuts rival wine in resveratrol content, ounce per ounce.

Fan Brands to decorate your barbecue grill

Here's something different for your next BBQ: brand your steak, chicken or pork with the logo of your favorite sports team. Whatever will they think of next?!

But actually, fan brands are not new. After a successful initial launch in 2002, Fan Brands Logo Branding Irons came under new management in summer 2005 when purchased by leading sports manufacturer Fan Mats.

Luckily, there's nothing as hot and unwieldly to handle as a traditional branding iron; just lay your meat on the grill where the fanbrand logo is already heating. Fan brands are available for NFL, MLB, and select collegiate logos at major retailers in America.

Somehow I seriously doubt this is a product that will be popular in Africa or Europe any time soon.