More Hack Attacks

July 19, 2021June 9, 2021 by Curt Long

I hate these jerks. The newest now is from Jersey where the Hackass hit my site at least 60 times:

Once again, more attempts at my site. Why? Honestly, what could they be trying to accomplish? Well, the newest attack is from the Netherlands! I looked up from exactly where and they are in Brielle, Zuid-Holland Region. It looks like a nice place generally. They are very close to the church (see images below). Learn from the church you jerks and stop attacking my playground!

“country_code”:”NL”,
“country_name”:”Netherlands”,
“region_name”:”Zuid-Holland”,
“city_name”:”Brielle”,
“latitude”:”51.90167″,
“longitude”:”4.1625″,
“zip_code”:”3232″,
“time_zone”:”+02:00″,
“isp”:”No”,
“domain”:”legaconetworks.nl”,
“net_speed”:”COMP”,
“idd_code”:”31″,
“area_code”:”0181″,
“weather_station_code”:”NLXX0015″,
“weather_station_name”:”Rotterdam”,
“mcc”:”-“,
“mnc”:”-“,
“mobile_brand”:”-“,
“elevation”:”2″,
“usage_type”:”DCH”,
“address_type”:”U”,
“category”:”IAB19-11″,
“category_name”:”Data Centers”,

My website has been under attack by proxy IPs again. Not exactly sure where it is originating from, however, a Digital Ocean account, 157.230.230.140, in New York at the intersection of Broadway Walker Street (#396) and Walker Street near the Infinity Shoes may have some information on the attempts. Well, please stop your Hackin Ass. Thanks…

I will just keep updating this Hacker Call Out as it continues.

It seems as if Digital Ocean is offering free for a limited time (see here) a developer cloud that I assume is being used by the Hacking Monkeys and identifies as the following:

ipTRACKERonline.com IP Address Summary Report
Originating IP: 178.128.176.16
Originating ISP: digitalocean.com
City: Santa Clara
Country of Origin: United States of America

This IP is identified as being near the Old Mission Center off Lincoln Street.

After this IP was shut down, the following Digital Ocean from Santa Clara IPs were used…130.185.74.247 – enough is enough you jerks.

Once again from Digital Ocean, the place for learning how to Hack:

ipTRACKERonline.com IP Address Summary Report
Originating IP: 159.89.190.105
Originating ISP: DIGITALOCEAN-ASN
City: Clifton
Country of Origin: United States
* For a complete report on this IP address goto ipTRACKERonline

This geo location is a funeral home? Just wrong.

Well it seems now I am being targeted. The newest hack came from the Netherlands or the UpCloud LTD server – “Thousands of businesses are powered by UpCloud around the world. Our customers run business-critical applications on our enterprise-grade cloud platform. They value our high performance, reliable service, and personal approach.”

Great Eating Right Website

July 15, 2021June 4, 2021 by Curt Long

I found this fantastic eating right website today (see below). It is called Eat This Much. I will try to stay on target with the expectations it applies based upon my reduction calculations.

Scam Artists and the Systematic Scams

June 4, 2021 by Curt Long

Beware the systematic scam going on the InterWebs. A Russian email address (noreply.014652@mail.ru), a call center in India (with the phone number 1 8103758671 ) and then, a transfer to the financial advisor (apparently the one who can talk you out of your checking account number, I did not go that far). These guys are total assholes.

Email received:

“Hello,
We have received your order and your services will be activated within 24hours.Keep an eye on the mailbox or click the link below to check the process on how to active your service.Order (Product ID RE86H1R2F):Product: NORV5DSV13
(USD 395.08)Qty: 1;*Please Note – Product name is same as the serial number.Order placed on: 04-06-2021

Payment Status: Received
Payment Method: Paid via checking account
Paid To: pay@norfast

Thanks,
Warm and regards,
Manager-customer support

Need to modify or cancel your order?
Feel free to contact us at +1 8103758671 (Working hours only)

This is an automated-email, please do not reply to this email.

To check status of your product go to the application or you can check your mailbox for updates.”

Systematic Scams Suck

1-810-375-8671
18103758671
1-810-375-8671
18103758671

noreply.014652@mail.ru

IT’s silent career killer: Age discrimination

June 29, 2021June 3, 2021 by Curt Long

Taken from: https://www.cio.com

By Bob Violino

Contributing Writer, CIO | JUN 2, 2021 2:00 AM PDT

Bob you are scaring me…

“Recent reports that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) found technology company Intel had discriminated against eight older workers during mass layoffs in 2015 have shed light on a topic that often remains in the dark: age discrimination against older workers in IT.

It’s an issue that never seems to go away, and it can hinder career advancement for IT professionals — even at a time when many tech skills are in high demand. Given that a large share of professionals in the workforce are nearing traditional retirement ages, the number of discrimination cases may only rise.

“I am definitely seeing more instances of age discrimination across the board, including with IT positions,” says David Miklas, a management, labor, and employment attorney who regularly works with business owners and CEOs to prevent and defend litigation on all types of employment law matters.

“Age discrimination is a particular problem with the tech industry, because of the tendency for many tech companies to be startups and often run by fairly younger individuals,” Miklas says.

There is a widespread misconception in most industries that older employees are not “digital savvy” and are afraid to learn new things when it comes to technology, Miklas adds. “This assumption often results in decisions that can result in being sued for age discrimination, especially when the older worker is passed over for promotion, not hired, or terminated,” he says.

One issue that arises more in age discrimination claims than other types of discrimination is an employer’s use of selection criteria for hiring, promotion, or layoff decisions that are susceptible to assumptions about age, says Raymond Peeler, director of the Coordination Division, Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

“For example, an employer making determinations about workers based on ‘energy,’ ‘flexibility,’ ‘criticality,’ or ‘long-term concerns’ are susceptible to employer assumptions based on the age of the worker,” Peeler says. The EEOC is responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against job applicants or employees because of a person’s race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, genetic information, or age.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating economic impact on older workers, says Lisa Marsh Ryerson, president of AARP Foundation, a part of AARP, an advocacy group representing people aged 50 and over.

“Research shows that age-diverse workforces have a positive effect on employee engagement, productivity, and the bottom line,” Ryerson says. “Yet older workers continue to face resistance, more often than not simply because they are perceived to be ‘too old’ for the job.”

Individuals can take steps to overcome age discrimination or work around it to achieve their career goals.

Embrace new technologies and work methods

Older employees should embrace newer technologies and methods of working, because many of the organizations hiring IT professionals have either deployed these tools and methods or are planning to do so. For example, being proficient in the use of the latest mobile devices and apps for work is almost a must today, because so many jobs require people to work from wherever they are at the moment.

“Even if you can perform your duties tethered to your desktop, you should learn how to perform them on a tablet or phone,” Miklas says. ”This will open doors and help remove any assumption that you are ‘set in your ways’ or not interested in making changes.”

Learn new digital communications platforms, Ryerson says. These skills have always been important, but now more than ever because of the pandemic and work-from-home model. Familiarize yourself with Zoom and LinkedIn if you’re not already using them, she says. IT professionals should be open to working from home if that’s what a position calls for.

It’s up to individuals to keep themselves current, says Bill Balint, CIO at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. “IT professionals should take ownership of their career path from day one, and consistently forecast skillset and work culture changes that could impact them over the next 12, 18, or even 36 months,” he says. “Remaining connected to IT industry trends in addition to employer expectations are critical.”

Workers not only should stay current on the latest workplace skills, but document their progress in taking training classes, attending seminars, and so on, Peeler says. “Hard data of the employees training on new skills and processes can overcome or refute assumptions about an older employee’s ability or willingness to take on new tasks or technologies,” he says.

Leverage your past experience

Sometimes by sticking to what they know best, IT professionals can succeed at staying in demand later in their careers.

“When you’re in your late 50s and looking for your next gig, it certainly can feel like age is working against you,” says Bryan Phillips, senior vice president of technology and CIO at Alpha Packaging, a manufacturer of bottles and jars.

“In my personal experience, after leaving my previous CIO job it did feel like some of the companies were looking for someone a little younger,” Phillips says. “For me, moving back to manufacturing from a more high-tech commercial software development company felt a lot more comfortable, and I could still showcase my innovative side from my previous job while leveraging my 25 years of manufacturing experience.”

If IT professionals find that their skills are a bit dated, they should consider their niches, Phillips says. “Some skills are hard to find, like RPG, COBOL, PL1, Pick Basic, and many more that are no longer taught in school,” he says. “Many smaller companies often have a mix of older technologies that are in demand for these hard-to-find skills.”

It used to be that people had to be open to relocating because demand for niche jobs could be geographically diverse, Phillips says. “But not now, since work-from-home situations are much more common,” he says. Searching the popular job sites for a particular niche area can turn up opportunities, he says.

Don’t panic, and be proactive when seeking opportunities

Besides taking ownership of their career paths, Balint advises people who are anxious about potential IT career upheaval or age discrimination to not panic. “Such panic can produce a perceived desperate need to learn a bunch of new technologies, coupled with the fear [professionals] will not be able to learn them well enough and/or quickly enough,” he says.

Instead, veteran IT professionals need to be thoughtful and measured about modernizing their IT skills and knowledge. “They should consider being very proactive in understanding those evolving expectations of supervisors and the organization, allowing skill set modernization to flow accordingly,” Balint says.

For example, when an employer is moving an IT system to either a legacy or retired status, IT professionals operating that system should work to develop specific knowledge and/or new skills needed in the future, Balint says. “Veteran IT professionals who instead fail to be proactive and wait on the employer could make it easier for discrimination to go unchecked,” he says.

Look to be a mentor

One asset that can clearly make older workers attractive to companies is the years of working experience that can be leveraged to help younger workers in the IT field. And mentoring can work both ways, which is even better.

“Older employees should seek out significantly younger — think one or two generations — co-workers to try and create a mutual mentoring arrangement,” Miklas says. “The older worker may be able to help share decades of institutional knowledge to the younger worker, while the younger worker can often share what is ‘hot’ right now for the younger generation.”

For example, a younger co-worker could help the older one get set up on video-sharing platform TikTok and help explain how it works and what type of videos can go viral, Miklas says. “This can allow the older worker to consider whether it is feasible to help the employer’s brand by being on a platform that is designed to reach a younger demographic,” he says.

In general, older workers should make it a point to interact with younger coworkers, Ryerson says. By inviting different perspectives and forging relationships with colleagues of all ages, experienced workers will show that a multi-generational workforce is good for employers and employees alike, she says.

Know your rights

It’s against the law for employers to discriminate on the basis of age, Ryerson says, and older workers should familiarize themselves with the Age Discrimination in Employment Act so they can recognize and respond to discrimination in the workplace.

The act makes it unlawful for employers to refuse to hire or to discharge any individual or otherwise discriminate against any individual with respect to compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of age.

Companies are also forbidden from limiting or classifying employees in any way that would deprive them of employment opportunities, or reducing their pay, because of age. The law also applies to employment agencies and unions. While most people would likely rather avoid legal action, it’s a good idea to be familiar with existing safeguards against discrimination.”

Another article found at theladders.com –

https://www.theladders.com/career-advice/7-industries-where-ageism-is-the-most-rampant?ltm=hXOflTUzXLZCa%2BKGLDwU0Hex2hDYfcOE5lGANJEwEA3qeT9Dy7x5CA9XLgrEMpwE&subscriber_type=member&utm_source=member&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-newsletter&utm_content=dnl-2021-6-19

“Do you want to know what agism exactly is? How to avoid it? Here is everything you need to know about ageism, plus the industries where ageism is the most rampant.

Over the last year, we’ve seen a rapid change in the workforce. Over 1.1 million workers between ages 55 and 70 have left the workforce in the last quarter, which is an incredible improvement from the 2.6 million that left the workforce in Q2 of 2020.

These numbers are staggering. Especially when you think about the fact that many of these workers won’t find a job anymore and are forced to retire with less money than expected.

The high number of people over 55 in the workforce that wants to work, but can’t get a job is increasing. Why is that? We think it’s because of something called ageism, and we’ll tell you exactly what that is and what industries it’s most prevalent in.

What is ageism?

According to AARP, over 61% of employees in America over 45 have seen or experienced age discrimination in the workplace. 38% of people believe it’s common to see ageism.

While older employees are usually more knowledgeable and experienced than other staff members, they are typically discriminated against in favor of the younger and less experienced employees. Like racism and sexism, ageism refers to discrimination against specific staff members based on their age.

Robert Butler coined the term in 1969. According to Butler, ageism is visible at an individual and institutional level. It can include wrong assumptions, stereotypes, dislikes, avoiding contact, and outright aversion at the workplace against employees who are more experienced and considered older.

In 96% of the cases, ageism is also affecting the health of the employees targeted. They are submitted to “stress-inducing negative age stereotypes” that affect their mental and physical health in various ways.

Common stereotypes against workers considered older

Some of the most common myths and stereotypes of workers aged above 55 include:

They resist change.
Are demotivated.
Avoid career development programs.
Are less productive.
Know how to do their work and don’t innovate.
Are taking sick leave more often.
Don’t share their knowledge.
They will leave their jobs sooner.

While there are obviously not true, it’s still what many younger employees think. Employees who are considered older bring their work experience, their life experience, and they overall know how to get the job done. They connect the dots quickly and have deep knowledge of the industry.

Age discrimination in employment act explained

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967(ADEA) offers protection for certain employees and applicants aged over 40 from all forms of discrimination in the hiring, promotion, discharge, and workers’ compensation. The act also prohibits the use of age preference in the hiring process. It prohibits denying benefits to older employees.

According to this act, it’s illegal for an employer to decide to hire or fire an employee based on age. They also can’t base pay on their age and have a policy that negatively affects employees because of their age. Beware of ageist interview questions and know how to respond to them.

While the ADEA act doesn’t protect workers who are under the age of 40, some states have their own law that protects younger workers from ageism.

7 industries where ageism is most rampant

While it happens in all industries, there are specific sectors where ageism is more prevalent.

These industries are known to have a lower median age among employees, and a couple of them have already lost lawsuits with regards to ageism.

Here are the industries where ageism is most rampant.

1. Business and Finance

Many professionals in the business and finance sector attest that ageism is common in the industry. They feel that they aren’t taken seriously in the business and finance sector because of their age. Some are discriminated against because they are too young, while others feel they face discrimination because they are too old.

Employers in the business and finance industry feel that employees who are too young might not stay long enough in the industry. Others face ageism because they lack the same level of experience as their older colleagues. Old employees face ageism in the business and finance sector because employers feel they are too old to learn new things.

PWC, one of the biggest auditing firms globally, was recently sued in the US, where it was alleged that the firm favors younger job seekers. The company focuses on university campuses for their new hires and doesn’t consider older candidates for their entry-level positions. According to a study presented to the San Francisco federal court by the Plaintiff lawyers, younger people have a 538% better chance of getting hired at PWC than applicants aged over 40. The company finally agreed on an out-of-court settlement in the class suit. It is a clear indication that ageism is rife in the business and financial sectors.

2. Technology

The technology industry is one of the sectors that have a terrible reputation for ageism. Employees in the technology industry often prefer young workers instead of seasoned workers. According to a study done by Payscale, only three out of 18 well-known tech firms in the study had a median employee age over 33. The medium age in seven of the companies studied was 30 years or lower. This is in comparison to other industries in America, where the median age is 42.3 years.

Ageism in the technology sector occurs in various forms, from innocuous comments to being overlooked in the hiring process due to age. Employees in this sector face numerous hurdles to prove that they are not yet a “industry dinosaur.”

As a sign of ageism in the technological sector, Tokensoft, a technology platform that issues digital securities, faces an ageism suit. In the lawsuit, a woman says she was repeatedly overlooked for promotion while opportunities were given to younger workers with less experienced. She also claims to be excluded from dinner meetings with key clients and weekly sales opportunities. Her complaints to the CEO were dismissed as “not being helpful.”

3. Marketing and advertisement

Older consumers have high spending power. This might make you believe that advertisers will target them in their marketing and advertisement. However, this is not the case. In fact, not only is this demographic shunned, but they are also caricatured in many marketing images.

While over 30% of the United States population is over 50, this group only appears in 15% of the adverts. Even in adverts, older people are often shown at home and will be depicted as unproductive employees.

According to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report, over 60% of workers in the marketing, advertising, and public relations industry are under 45 years. The median age is 40. With these kinds of statistics, it is clear why older consumers are often overlooked in marketing messages.

Experts believe that younger employees are often associated with a higher level of creativity and technological aptitude. Simultaneously, the older people are often seen as less innovative, less creative, and not able to put out creative advertisements.

4. Hospitality industry

The Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that the hotel industry has workers with a median age that is less than 30. The hotel industry has often been found to be discriminatory in the hiring of older workers in principle and in practice.

Some hotel positions such as waiters and receptionists are often for workers below the age of 35. Hotels and restaurants would hire young and vital people over more experienced and professional older workers.

5. Retail industry

In the recent past, we have seen big retailers get sued for age-related discrimination. Retailers GNC and Anthropologie lost in ageism lawsuits.

In the Anthropologie case, an employee sued for what he called an age-based hostile environment as co-workers referred to her as mom despite recording her displeasure at the use of the term. She was also denied a promotion when her manager claimed she didn’t have the stamina for the job, as she was too old. She won the lawsuit from the company.

In the GNC case Santos Anduja, age 57, claimed a manager fired him in his 20s because of his age. He won the lawsuit as well.

These are perfect examples of how the retail industry is equally affected by ageism.

6. Healthcare industry

Five nurses at the former South Peninsula Hospital filed a lawsuit at the Homer District Court alleging that they were fired from their jobs due to age discrimination. All the nurses were aged over 50, and they termed their sacking as an attempt to replaced old employees with younger, less experienced, and cheaper staff. This is even though they were all highly qualified.

In the healthcare industry, ageism is mostly based on productivity concerns. When you get older, people believe that you

7. Energy

Atlas Energy LLC will pay $85,000 in an ageism-related suit against it by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a production foreman aged 52 and over 20 years of experience who a young superintendent sacked.

The production forearm was widely considered as knowledgeable by pumpers and field operators under him. This is an indication that ageism is rife in the energy sector.

Conclusion: Industries with the most ageism

All industries have ageism, however, there are some industries where ageism is the most rampant. Generally, the newest industries will have the youngest workers, making ageism more prevalent.

If you are experiencing ageism at work, you can schedule an appointment at an EEOC office. They will help you with the next steps and they will tell you exactly what you need to do. “

Curt’s Amazoning Development Help

January 23, 2023May 21, 2021 by Curt Long

Hello World! I am here to help amazoningly with your development learning. Just think, in only a short time period, dependent upon your reading speed, you too can become a development expert!

Know About When and How to Enable the WordPress Error Log in an Effective Manner

June 21, 2021May 19, 2021 by Curt Long

While using WordPress, you can experience various error codes. Right from a mistake in the coded themes or custom coding, there’s a long list of errors for which one can get website error codes. For the smooth working of WordPress, you need to fix them immediately.

For doing so, your first step should be enabling the WordPress Error Log. It helps the users in finding the errors that are causing the problems that you are encountering. With the help of this, you can track its source of occurrence to rectify them properly. So, you must first enable the error log to proceed.

When do you need to enable the WordPress error log?

Let’s have a look at some of the situations or problems when you need to enable it:

If you see your entire site crashed.
If you see a blank screen when trying to load the site.
Very slow performance of the site.
When you don’t know which plugins or themes are causing issues in the site’s performance.
If getting a warning code such as error 500, error 404, and many others.
You can also set up a WordPress error log if a plugin or theme isn’t functioning well.

Steps for enabling the error log in WordPress

Two ways can help you to enable the error logging with WordPress. This can be done either manually or with a plugin. Let’s learn about manual ways that you can do with 3 steps:

Accessing the Website’s Files

The first step that you can do is accessing the site’s file. You will need direct access to your site’s files for activating the WordPress logs. For doing this, one of the ways is using the File Transfer Protocol (FTP). With an FTP client, users are allowed to log directly into the site. Once done, you are free to edit, delete or add files if there’s any need of doing so.

Editing the wp-config.php File

Many of you must have heard this term wp-config.php file for the first time. It is a core file in which all the essential configuration related details and database’s credentials are located. When you need to access the wp-config.php file to edit it, just download and use an FTP client. Apart from this, a file manager tool from the host’s cPanel can also help you with this.

Locating the New WordPress Logs

By performing all these steps, The WordPress logs are now ready and can be used. If you want to know about using it them go ahead and read. For the previously occurred errors, you will need to trigger the error again. You can do this by interacting with the element that caused the error previously. The record of this error can be found by logging into your site using FTP.

So, if you see any warning code during your WordPress Admin Login, you can follow these steps as mentioned above to get rid of them.

Source URL:

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

We at WordPressError500.com is offering cost-effective, immediate, and round the clock WordPress maintenance and support services.

Free Site Cleaning & Site Security Audits for K-12 Public Schools

May 18, 2021 by Curt Long

This is great by WordFence:

“We are now expanding this program worldwide to include all public/state-funded schools serving students in K-12 programs (or the like) around the world.

Wordfence, the leading provider of WordPress security software and services, is announcing today that we are, effective immediately, offering free site cleaning and site security audit services to K-12 public schools in the United States who use WordPress as their content management system.

Whether a site is infected with malware, or you are looking for an expert analyst to audit your website security posture, the Wordfence security team is available to help. No credit card is needed, and you have the option to have the free version of Wordfence installed on your website and configured by our analysts.

With more students and teachers remotely connecting for education, the need for security awareness has never been greater. Malware infected websites pose a significant risk to students, teachers, parents and administrators. These risks include the breach of personal information, the risk of threat actors targeting children, and the disruption of learning and online services to students.

Wordfence is committed to helping public schools safely provide education to the next generation. Each Wordfence site cleaning and site security audit is valued at $490. Effective immediately, Wordfence is offering these same services free of charge to K-12 public schools.

The number of security audits and site cleanings that we can provide is limited, and available on a first-come, first served basis. If there is a wait time for an analyst, our customer service engineers will work with each school to ensure you are kept apprised of your position in the queue and when you will be served. We are initially limiting service to 20 websites per week, and we hope to expand our capacity if needed.

Wordfence is the number one choice worldwide for WordPress security. We currently protect over 4 million WordPress websites, with a team of credentialed analysts and researchers who are known throughout industry for our groundbreaking research. The Wordfence team is honored to help keep public school districts in the United States secure, districts that have been under extraordinary pressure to rapidly transition to online learning.

Complete the form on our K-12 site cleaning request page to begin the process. Our team will be in touch shortly.”

I Must of Made Someone Mad?

May 17, 2021May 17, 2021 by Curt Long

I am getting hacked again. They have gotten into my Google Site Kit files and then proceeded to my .htaccess file and inserted a lot of IP denies within it. It included deny from 1.0.1.0/24 to deny from 223.255.254.0/24. As soon as I found the Google Site Kit hack and replaced the original files, I got an email from Delores <~~OlaChatman@cicie.club~~> saying the following;

“So the following stage is off the page optimisation. All major motors like google crawls these Directories almost always. Slowly I mentally told my back, my face, my eyes, my legs to chill as I focused on my own breathing.”

Obviously foreign, and very weird. Anyways, now I have to go through all my playground websites to find where they have created a door. Thanks Delores you *itch.

How to Sell Your Music Online

May 14, 2021 by Curt Long

I found an interesting article by Themeisle republished below. The only thing that I disagree with is using WooCommerce. I would use the solution that I have included into this website. My college roommate and I liked listening to our, what we called, Muzak.

How to Sell Music Online: DIY Guide – Build Your Own Website and Prosper

“Looking to learn how to sell music online? While you might’ve come across dedicated services like Bandcamp, it’s also easier than ever to sell music through your own website.

By setting up your own website, you’re able to not just sell music online, but also have space for a list of your upcoming shows, information about your band, a merch store, and lots more.

In this guide, we’re going to introduce WordPress – a free platform that will make setting up your website simple. Then we’ll walk you through how to sell music online using WordPress. Let’s jam!

Want to sell #music online? Here’s how to create your own music site with #WordPress

CLICK TO TWEET

Why using WordPress is a great way to sell music online

As a musician, there are a number of ways you can get noticed and build your audience online. This includes social media, of course, as well as dedicated platforms such as iTunes, SoundCloud, and NoiseTrade to name a very select few.

However, it’s also crucial to maintain a website for yourself or your band. This will serve as your home base, giving you a place to share information, offer samples of your music, and help fans and potential collaborators get in touch. Plus, selling your music through your own website gives you control over the process, and you won’t have to share the profits with a middleman, music stores, or any other subsidiaries.

When it comes to building a website, you have a lot of options. However, for most situations, WordPress offers the best blend of ease of use and flexibility:

WordPress offers a number of key advantages. For instance:

The WordPress software is free, though you will need to spend a little on your own domain name and hosting.
It’s beginner-friendly and easy to learn, which will help you get your website set up fast.
It’s easy to change how your site looks to find a design that fits your band.
There are a huge number of add-ons you can install on your site, helping you customize it to meet your exact needs.

We’ll introduce you to several of those tools later on. For now, what matters is that WordPress is both simple to get started with, and endlessly flexible.

The essential elements of a musician’s website

Before you put your new website together, it’s important to take some time to plan. While your site doesn’t need to be huge or complex, there are some elements you’ll want to make sure it contains.

Although every case is unique, most music-focused websites should include (at a minimum):

Information about you and/or your band, along with plenty of images and personal bio(s)
A contact form or page, so people can get in touch
Samples of your music that visitors can listen to
A list or calendar of upcoming appearances, tours, or other performances
A storefront where people can buy your work, either in physical or digital form (or both)
Links to your other presences across the web, such as your social media pages

This might seem like a lot, but most of these elements are quite easy to set up. Let’s take a look at how you can sell music online through your WordPress website.

How to sell music online: A musician’s DIY guide to using WordPress

At this point, it’s time to learn how to sell music online. We’ll walk you through the four most important steps, starting with the basics.

Step 1: Purchase a domain name and hosting

There are two things you’ll need to get your website online. The first is a domain name, and the second is a hosting plan. Your domain name is the primary URL for your site, and can be purchased from any domain registrar on the web (including most hosting providers).

As a musician, you’ll almost certainly want to use your own name, or the name of your band or group. If the domain is taken, try adding an additional word or two, such as johndoemusic.com or johndoeonline.com:

Hosting is the engine that powers your site. When you’re just getting started, you should be fine using a basic shared hosting plan. They can be found for $5 or less per month, and will offer plenty of power for a long time.

For example, Bluehost has plans starting at just $2.95 per month and even offers a free domain name to boot.

As your site grows, you can move up to plans with better performance and more space. Just make sure to choose your hosting provider carefully, as some are more reliable than others. In addition, you’ll want to consider signing up for a plan offering WordPress-specific optimization and features.

With your domain and hosting in place, you can go ahead and set up the website itself. How you do this will vary, but many hosting providers provide simple one-click options for WordPress, or even offer plans with the platform pre-installed. If you find yourself needing to install WordPress manually, don’t worry – it’s a simple five-minute process.

Step 2: Choose a theme for your site

Now, you have a basic WordPress site up and running. The next step in learning how to sell music online is to give your site the right look. This means installing a theme – a WordPress add-on that completely overhauls your site’s layout and appearance.

There are thousands of themes to choose from. You can find many for free in the WordPress Theme Directory, along with premium options on sites like ThemeForest. However, not all themes are created equal, so make sure you’re choosing carefully and paying attention to ratings and reviews.

While you can use any theme, you can also look for one specific to your industry. There are lots of music-focused themes to choose from, providing layouts and features perfectly suited to the type of site you’re building. You may even be able to find options geared towards your particular genre or niche:

Of course, once you’ve installed a theme, you can tweak it to better suit your needs. This means replacing the stock imagery with your own branding, and usually changing up the layout, colors, and fonts. The WordPress Customizer will make this an easy task.

Step 3: Set up your music storefront

With your theme in place, it will be easy to start setting up the key pages you’ll need (such as a contact page and a list of events). However, we are talking about how to sell music online – which means you’ll need some kind of storefront.

WordPress doesn’t include e-commerce functionality by default, but you can easily add it using a plugin. Like themes, plugins are add-ons that can be installed on your site. Instead of focusing on visuals, however, plugins provide new features and options.

There are plenty of WordPress plugins to help you sell your music. WooCommerce, for example, is a popular and easy-to-use option:

WooCommerce

Author(s): Automattic

Current Version: 5.3.0

Last Updated: May 11, 2021

woocommerce.5.3.0.zip

90%Ratings5,000,000+InstallsWP 5.5+Requires

This tool helps you set up a storefront in minutes, and sell whatever you’d like. It’s also free, and you won’t need to pay any extra fees on transactions made on your site.

WooCommerce is a strong option if you’re looking to sell physical CDs and merchandise, or a mix of physical and digital items. If you only want to sell downloads of your music, Easy Digital Downloads is also worth a look:

Easy Digital Downloads – Simple eCommerce for Selling Digital Files

Author(s): Sandhills Development, LLC

Current Version: 2.10.4

Last Updated: May 5, 2021

easy-digital-downloads.2.10.4.zip

94%Ratings60,000+InstallsWP 4.4+Requires

This plugin is also free to use, and even more streamlined than WooCommerce. Its focus on digital sales means you won’t have to deal with a lot of unneeded features. Plus, setting up your store and products with Easy Digital Downloads is a quick process.

Step 4: Install additional plugins as needed

By now, you’ve learned how to set up your WordPress site and how to sell music online with it. This may be all you need – but you might also benefit from some additional features.

There are lots of plugins that can come in handy on a musician’s website. Here are just a few options to get you started:

Cue: This plugin provides you with plenty of options for embedding media players on your site, creating playlists, and displaying track-specific artwork.
Seriously Simple Podcasting: Despite the name, this solution offers a range of media-related tools that work as well for showcasing your music as they do for hosting podcasts.
Events Manager: If you use your site to promote performances, this tool will help you set up a calendar and even sell tickets.

With the right plugins, you can add just about any feature imaginable to your WordPress music site.

Conclusion

Learning how to sell music online is a lot easier than you might expect. These days, getting a website up and running is simple. Plus, with the right platform – such as WordPress – you’ll have easy access to all the tools and features you’ll need.

To recap, there are four main steps involved in learning how to sell music online:

Purchase a domain name and hosting.
Choose a theme for your site.
Set up your storefront.
Install additional plugins as needed.”

What Should I Blog About?

May 14, 2021May 14, 2021 by Curt Long

I have been wondering what to blog about lately. Previously, if I found something interesting to me, I placed it here. Unfortunately, I need this blog to make more money, so I started searching for things to blog about that were popular. I found the following, somewhat out dated, article and will test the waters with its recommendations.

Published on JANUARY 15, 2019 on https://www.quicksprout.com/blog-topics-and-ideas/

USE THESE APPROACHES TO DEVELOP TRAFFIC-DRIVING BLOG TOPICS

“Blogging with a purpose increases market share, consumer engagement, revenue growth, and ROI. Of course, you want to do that.

I mean, just look at this:

But once they start the blog, a lot of people I know are still stuck on the fundamental question:

What do we blog about?

Here is a list of 35 types of articles, topics, and approaches that have demonstrated massive success for bloggers in the past and will continue to do so in the future.

1. How To Guides

People generally hate reading instruction manuals. When was the last time you snuggled up with a glass of wine and the instruction manual to your toaster?

How do people figure out how to do stuff?

They Google it.

WikiHow became insanely popular based on how-to articles alone.

You might be surprised to see the kind of things people are Googling.

If you can find your niche audience, cater to their curiosities, and give them some helpful answers, you can’t help but create a popular blog.

2. Politics

Politics are popular during every election year. Whether national or local, find a political topic to discuss, and join this conversation.

Politics can be dicey, however. People tend to get really polarized around political topics, so be prepared to handle some controversy.

3. Bacon

Everyone loves bacon.

Huffington Post is one of the most popular blogs online, and it has an entire archive of bacon articles.

It’s not a trend going away soon, so get on board.

4. Recipes

Recipes are a great way to draw traffic to your blog.

There’s always a new diet fad, e.g., today’s Whole30 is yesterday’s Atkins, so there’s always new recipes to be discovered.

5. Beginner guides

Before you can convince someone that you know the advanced stuff, start with 101 beginner guides.

My own beginner guides have been very popular.

Everyone has to start somewhere. Beginner guides are often the way bloggers build organic search traffic at the start, and they can even be done using infographics like this guide to Sharepoint.

6. Ultimate guides

Subject matter experts, on the other hand, are always seeking out the most credible ultimate guides for their areas of expertise.

The term “ultimate guide,” however, is a bit overused. You can use some alternate terms if you want, such as these from Business Casual Copywriting:

Essential Guide
Complete Guide
Uncensored Guide
Last Guide to ____ You’ll Ever Need

Whenever you’re writing an informative guide, back it up with statistics.

Use data only from authority sources, and give them credit for the information.

Adding data to your guides shows your readers your content is legitimate.

You didn’t just pull ideas out of thin air. You took the time to conduct research and then formed opinions based on your findings.

I use this strategy all the time. Before I take a stance or give advice, I find numbers to back up my claims.

If you are interested in doing original research, consider highlighting your case studies in a blog post.

This will help you get traffic from organic searches as well as through backlinks whenever another site uses your study as a source of information.

If you’re an expert on something, creating an ultimate guide is an ultimately awesome way to do some ultimately popular blogging.

7. Frequently asked questions

Be warned that posting answers to frequently asked questions online won’t stop people from asking anyway.

They do, however, serve as a resource for people, and they are often featured on e-commerce websites—but overlooked on blogs. FAQs are blogging gold in any age.

Google’s algorithm uses FAQs, questions, and other popular topics as part of its Knowledge Graph. If you’re lucky, you might score a top spot in this coveted place.

8. Interviews

The best way to set yourself apart from the ocean of bloggers is to gain insight from industry experts.

Whether it’s with people on your team or from other companies in the industry, set up interviews on websites like helpareporter.com to gain valuable knowledge from a professional.

Thankfully, you don’t have to be in the same room as your interviewee to talk to them. Come up with a list of questions your audience would be curious about, and email it instead. You could also post the questions via Twitter or another social media channel.

9. Personal stories

While personal stories may not be the keyword-filled anchor pieces you want, they’re still valuable additions to any blog.

Through sharing personal stories, you give readers a chance to relate to your business on a personal level, which helps build brand affinity.

Learning how to tell a story is an art. Once you master this skill, the quality of your blog posts will improve.

A great story will keep your readers on the edge of their seats.

You need to understand the impact storytelling has on our brains:

storytelling

When readers have an emotional response to your story, dopamine gets released from their brains.

Use this information to your advantage. The best stories are written to elicit some type of emotion, whatever that may be.

The choice is up to you. Maybe you want your readers to feel sad or angry while they’re reading your posts. And some of you may prefer to evoke joy, surprise, or love.

If you can make your readers feel emotions, they’ll be more likely to continue reading the blog.

As a result, they’ll come back to read more in the future.

Depending on the nature of your story, it can also generate traffic based on curiosity alone. For example, if I saw a blog post that said something like “How I Caught a Shark With a Pair of Jeans,” I would be very inclined to click on it to find out what happened.

10. Charity and activism

Any type of charitable actions, events, or activism you support should be blogged about.

Crowdfunding sites such as KickStarter, IndieGoGo, GoFundMe, and the like appeal to the good in people, and showing you’re active in these communities can build your readership. Even an occasional Change.org petition can help the brand image.

11. Product reviews

Reviewing products and services is another great way to drive traffic to your blog. Not only are product reviews a trusted resource online that will draw traffic, but they are also a revenue stream for bloggers.

If you want to monetize your blog instantly, this is a smart move.

By linking to product pages through affiliate links like Amazon Affiliates, you can monetize a blog almost entirely on product reviews. Make sure you go niche, since this provides the greatest platform for credibility and expertise.

Here’s an example of a recent blog post from TechRadar that reviews multiple products in the same post:

There are a few different ways to decide what products to review.

For starters, you could review items your company sells. The only issue with this strategy is that people will know your opinion is biased. You won’t post an unfavorable review about something you’re selling.

But if your blog covers a specific industry, you can review new releases. Make sure the reviews are relevant.

Refer back to the example above. The article is reviewing the most recent iPhone products. It wouldn’t make sense to review models released five years ago.

If you decide to review products on a regular basis, establish a flow to such posts so your readers know what to expect.

Start with a product overview, and explain what the product does. Then, you can discuss specifications and other details. List the price and where it can be purchased.

The review should have some form of a pros and cons list. Reviews should ultimately express your stance on the item. For example, you can explain which people would benefit most from the product.

12. Breaking news

Use your blog to discuss breaking news topics.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you should try to compete with actual news outlets. But you can still write about recent events.

When it comes to breaking news, timing is everything. Being the first one to break a story isn’t always the best.

Sometimes you’re better off waiting to publish your content until all the facts are straight. You don’t want to get a reputation for posting unreliable information.

Here’s an example of a news story published on the TechCrunch blog:

Make sure your news story is relevant to your business.

For example, let’s say you run a fashion blog. A breaking news story about a technological advancement isn’t related to your brand, so don’t write about it.

13. Myth-debunking

Every industry has facts and fiction, which is why shows like Mythbusters got so popular.

We love learning what we’ve been doing or thinking wrong this whole time, so popular bloggers debunk myths.

What are some common misconceptions or myths regarding your industry or niche? Compile a list, and then use it to create a really fascinating post for your audience.

Make sure you back up your claims, though. Otherwise, readers will lose their interest when they realize they’re reading the rants of someone who really doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Approach writing such an article with the intention of providing as much useful and usable information as possible.

14. Automation

For B2B businesses, automation is the buzzword of the day, so any posts regarding ways to automate something is Internet gold.

Automation, of course, is broad. You’ll need to select a type of automation in order to drive truly valuable traffic.

15. Troubleshooting guides

I’m always on the lookout for reliable troubleshooting tips.

Troubleshooting guides speak to the pain many content seekers are looking to eliminate. They want to solve a problem, which is exactly what a successful troubleshooting guide will do.

16. Contests

A great way to draw interest in a blog while rewarding readers is by holding a contest.

Contests once got a bad rap as being scammy or cheap, but they are on their way back as a valuable traffic-driving technique.

17. Advice

Both Lifehacker and Lifehack rose to prominence by featuring valuable advice to readers on just about every subject.

Life advice, regardless of the subject matter, is a valued commodity.

18. Productivity tips

People want to do more faster and are always on the lookout for tools, technology, or tips to help them get more done. Productivity tips are the bread and butter of many online blogs.

If I told you I could make your days longer and you’d be able to finish more work, make more calls, etc., you’d be interested, right?

Of course, you would. Time is important.

It makes sense then that we’re attracted to content focused on gaining more time.

In your upcoming blog posts, incorporate interesting productivity tips, whether showing how your product or service increases productivity or sharing which productivity tips and tricks are working for you.

If you’re familiar with Michael Hyatt’s blog, you’ve probably seen this work. Michael Hyatt is a leadership development expert, but he publishes a lot of productivity-related titles.

In fact, when I look back on his blog’s social sharing metrics over the past 12 months, two of his top five are on productivity:

This isn’t an accident. Hyatt knows that productivity topics get shared.

People love sharing practical content that they can vouch for and others can use.

19. Travel

No matter how connected we get, travel will always be a popular topic for online searches.

With 126 million passports in circulation in the U.S. today, you know people are traveling—or at least they want to.

We all want to travel somewhere exotic and new. Any advice on how to do it cheaply is always appreciated.

Start thinking about what you would want to read.

Depending on the season, you can write about physical locations your audience might search for, say, Jamaica.

If you’re a company that has this information on Jamaica on your blog, take advantage of that. Take control so your blog becomes a frequent destination.

What kind of blogs would benefit from travel-related articles? It might not be that hard to find a connection.

Take ToDoIst for example. They sell a productivity app.

But they blog about travel:

Even a camera maker such as GoPro can get away with publishing some interesting and super shareable travel articles:

Evernote knows that travel is a shareable topic, and its blog features plenty of travel articles:

Give travel a try, fitting it in however you see appropriate, and you’ll likely get some social sharing among an interested audience.

20. History

History lessons are a great way to fill a blog with useful information.

Long-time bloggers often get caught up on current events, so occasional forays into history help create consistent content.

21. Gifs and memes

It wasn’t just listicles that made Buzzfeed so popular.

Memes and gifs are widely used on the site too.

Gifs give people the experience of a video and usually provide a ton of entertainment.

22. Funny stories

There will always be a place for humor in this world.

Posts that make people laugh get shared on social networks. There’s a reason why Buzzfeed, The Onion, Clickhole, and BoredPanda are among the world’s most popular websites.

23. Parenting tips

There will always be parents around, and any parenting tips are appreciated.

Blogging moms have conferences and conventions around the country, teaching people to follow in their footsteps and growing a sustainable industry.

Dad bloggers are also coming into their own as popular and respected places of information.

24. Upcoming events

You can always tell when an event is coming up by the buzz in the blogosphere. Whether it’s global events like the Olympics or local events like a concert or book-reading, events saturate many of the most popular online searches.

25. Internet stars

Partnering with and featuring the biggest Internet stars helps grow your following, so many content creators are partnering up in order to stay competitive. If you don’t know who PewDiePie and The Fine Bros are, it’s time to do some homework.

26. Tech support

Companies that offer technology services, hardware, or software will often include technical support within their blogs.

Microsoft, Google, and Facebook have extensive knowledge bases online, and they’re only growing along with everyone else’s.

27. Gift ideas

Right about now, blogs around the Internet are preparing holiday gift guides to help guide consumers to the right presents to buy for their colleagues, friends, and family during the holiday season.

Affiliate links can help create revenue for these cornerstone articles.

28. Best-ofs

The best ____ of 2019, the 2000s, this century, and of all time are all great articles to read.

WatchMojo built an entire business on top 10 lists, and many others are following suit. Including best-of lists focused on everything within your industry is a great way to draw reader attention.

29. Respond to readers comments

People have always been interested in getting advice from publications, whether it’s from old-school advice columnists such as Ann Landers or new-school ones such as Dan Savage.

Responding to readers makes you a real person having a real conversation and allows you to address individual concerns to prove you care.

30. Lists

Lists are another common type of blog post.

I use lists all the time. In fact, what you’re reading right now is one of my lists.

One of the reasons why list posts are so popular is that your readers know what to expect. They can scroll through each point on the list without having to read through the entire thing.

Readers like it when content is straightforward and organized.

Vary the formula for writing titles of list posts. Here are some examples to show you what I’m talking about:

21 Ways to Prepare Chicken
the Top 6 Types of Bicycle Tires
How to Travel on a Budget with These 13 Tips

The list goes on and on, pun intended. But you get the point.

Changing the position of the number within the title of your list ensures your content doesn’t appear stale. If someone looks through your blog and sees that each title starts with a number, they may not be interested in reading it.

Switch up the numbers as well. While top ten lists may be popular, they can get boring too.

Google the topic before you start writing. Try to come up with a list longer than other lists in the search query. This will give you an advantage over your competitors.

31. Infographics

As I’ve said before, you need to incorporate visual content into your blog posts.

But you can take this strategy to the next level by publishing blog posts that are almost exclusively infographics.

You probably have plenty of facts and statistics about your niche and industry at your disposal. Put relevant ones together, and use them to create an eye-catching infographic to share on your blog.

Other websites are always looking for content that will help improve their blog posts. If you can come up with relevant, accurate, and visually appealing infographics, these sites will use them in their blogs.

As a result, you’ll get credit for the image source.

People who see your infographics on other sites may be inclined to click the link to visit your website. Furthermore, these links will also improve your SEO ranking, which I’ve previously discussed.

If necessary, hire someone to create it for you. Include it in a new blog post, and then provide commentary about the facts and statistics within the body of the post. Encourage sharing by providing an easy link for people to use.

32. Fitness

Face it, there are mobs of people out there (myself included) who would love to just wake up with six-pack abs. That’s why there’s always something new to help get you there.

As long as science continues to discover new things, there will be new breakthroughs to talk about—perfect fodder for shareable blog posts!

Blog posts about fitness have historically been one of the most shared genres of content on the web.

Buzzsumo, the social sharing giant, reported this about 2015 content popularity:

Who doesn’t want to get healthier? Health was a popular topic in 2015. Interestingly, three of the most shared posts on BuzzFeed this year were about health, as seen below.

They explain that the viral element of these articles was the topic of the content: health, diet and fitness tips.

Buzzfeed knows a thing or two about shareable content, and they were the clear leader in the socially-shared fitness topics.

A quick search for “buzzfeed fitness” produces over 800,000 results:

There are tons of shares on each one of these.

Depending on your industry, blogging about fitness can work well.

Begin this process by searching Google for the top fitness blogs, and scour them to find out what the fitness industry is talking about. Write a post from this, relate it to your business, and that’s it. Simple.

The fifth and arguably most successful blog topic is money and finances.

The Internet is chock full of people looking to improve their finances, get out of debt, plan for the future, etc.

James Clear, for example, typically writes about health and productivity, but he knows that money topics will hit a social sharing streak. Take this super-popular article he wrote for Business Insider:

It’s garnered 58K+ shares since it was published!

This is a great topic to blog about, and it’s excellent for highlighting the potential financial benefits your product or service provides. It’s a no-brainer.

33. Share your secrets

No, I’m not telling you to give away all your secrets. Rather, connect more deeply with your audience by giving them information about your business practices and processes “from the horse’s mouth.”

It’s all about transparency and authenticity, and it resonates strongly with readers. People enjoy feeling like they are privy to special knowledge.

I do this as often as possible, e.g., by updating my audience on the $100,000 challenge, showing all the relevant data, metrics, and revenue numbers, and sharing the lessons I’m learning from my experiment.

Maybe it’s time to pull back the curtain, and share your secrets in a blog post.

34. Start a series or a regular feature

Some topics are so extensive that they can’t be covered adequately in a single post—not even a long-form one. When you run across one of these, consider breaking it up into a series for your readers. Create cliffhangers at the end of each one to keep them coming back for more.

You could also come up with a weekly or monthly feature for your blog. For example, you could highlight happenings regarding your niche in social media every Monday, or you could feature a new product or service every month.

35. Share customer success stories

With any luck, satisfied customers will occasionally contact you to express their appreciation. When this happens, ask them if you can feature their comments in a blog post for your business.

In this type of post, begin by describing the problem the customer was facing. Describe the product or service they used, and then explain how they were able to solve their issue by using it. If possible, include additional comments from the actual client to make the post especially engaging.

Conclusion

China China China or Echo Echo Echo

May 7, 2021May 7, 2021 by Curt Long

Some hackers from Shanghai China or Los Angeles, California (Global Frag Networks) are irritating me beyond end. I tracked their IP (see below) and it leads to a river near the Wangxin Supermarket or the middle of Lake Echo off Echo Park Avenue. Not exactly sure what they have against me? Anyways, please stop those of you that own IP 23.228.109.147, I would appreciate it.

From: Scamalytics: “We consider Global Frag Networks to be a potentially high fraud risk ISP, by which we mean that web traffic from this ISP potentially poses a high risk of being fraudulent. Other types of traffic may pose a different risk or no risk. They operate 9,106 IP addresses, almost all of which are running servers and anonymizing VPNs. They manage IP addresses for organisations including Valvps LLC, ELIDC, and Root Networks LLC. Scamalytics see low levels of web traffic from this ISP across our global network, some of which is, in our view, fraudulent. We apply a risk score of 53/100 to Global Frag Networks, meaning that of the web traffic where we have visibility, approximately 53% is suspected to be potentially fraudulent.”

Free, Free, Free

May 6, 2021April 9, 2021 by Curt Long

This is a good FREE audio book about “freeconomics”.

It’s Not How Smart You Are – Advice from the World’s Most Famous Genius

April 7, 2021 by Curt Long

by: Cory Galbraith

He had a terrible memory, used music to stimulate his thinking, and told his university teachers that their classes were boring.

Albert Einstein – thought to have mental disabilities as a child, became known as a genius – yet attributed his success, not to his intelligence, but to his character.

Love, curiosity, imagination, balance and determination were the values he embraced.

He did not see himself as smart. Just more curious and persistent than the average person.

Einstein’s view of his own success carries powerful lessons for us today in enriching our careers, relationships, and well-being.

“Try not to become a person of success, but rather, try to become a person of value.”

We all want success. But Einstein knew the emphasis has to be on creating value first. What can we bring to the table? What unique qualities do we possess that can be leveraged to help others? Selling our value does more than fuel our career. It attracts key relationships and gives us purpose. A life which is directed toward the fulfillment of personal desires only, said Einstein – will always lead to bitter disappointment.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”

To Einstein, imagination is paramount. His experiments all took place in his mind. Today – imagination is in short supply. Often, it is discouraged. Yet it is only when we see beyond the confines of conventional thinking can breakthroughs occur. Our careers and relationships need not be limited, stagnate or die. We can imagine better things for ourselves and do as Einstein had done – bravely following the trail of our unhindered thoughts.

“I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right.”

Most of us give up too soon. A friend of mine abandons his plans at the first sign of difficulty. Einstein didn’t see obstacles as reasons to quit, but rather, reasons to work harder. His theory of relativity did not come, he said, from his intellect – but rather, his dogged persistence. He was more stubborn than any problem. We can be too.

Albert Einstein had a secret weapon to stimulate his thinking: music.

He played Mozart on the violin to put him in the correct “zone.” A few notes on the piano would ignite his creative juices. Music, in fact, is what made Einstein tick. And there are some historians who speculate that Einstein, had he not been a physicist, might have become a professional musician.

In his later years, he would say that music, above all else, is what made him happy. His doctor once remarked that while other violinists likely played better than Einstein, nobody played with more emotion.

Albert Einstein was multi-faceted. He loved music, both for the sheer joy of it, but also as an aid to relax his mind. He considered himself good enough to perform in public, which he did on many occasions, but oddly, no known audio recordings of Einstein playing the violin exist.

According to family legend, Einstein’s imagination first emerged at a young age when he was introduced to his baby sister. The little Einstein looked at the girl and asked “where are the wheels?” believing her to be a toy.

But his parents developed doubts about his overall mental capacity when, as late as age seven, he kept slowly repeating the same sentences over and over, struggling to learn language. In school, his teachers were also concerned, but for a different reason. Einstein was rebellious and didn’t appreciate the demand for discipline.

When he first tried to enter university, Einstein flunked the entrance exam.

He had a poor memory, unable to remember names. It’s said that he couldn’t remember his own phone number.

Despite these apparent deficiencies, the mind of Einstein was in full swing.

As early as 16, he practiced what he called “thought experiments” always asking “What if?” In one such experiment, he wondered what would happen if he chased a beam of light. Could he ever catch it? He concluded that you can’t slow down light, but you could catch it if time itself had stopped. (An idea which later transformed into his special and general theories of relativity).

What would happen if today, we could push aside modern life’s distractions and engage in thought experiments?

When Einstein finally entered university, he told his professors that their classes were dull. As a result, none would give him a letter of recommendation.

He couldn’t get a job in academia, ending up as a patent clerk. In his free time, the 26 year old clerk worked feverishly on his theories, producing the now famous theory of relativity which changed the world of science forever.

Up until Einstein, the universe was viewed as three dimensional. Things could go up and down. left and right or forward and backward – no matter where you would happen to be looking. But Einstein said the universe is actually four dimensional, because things are “relative” depending upon your perspective, and also depending upon gravitational pull. For example, a ball rolling down the floor of a moving train may seem slow if viewed from inside the train, but very fast, if seen from outside.

Essentially, Einstein determined that depending upon where you are in space and time, natural occurrences will behave differently.

Major inventions, including the smart phone, television and remote control technology – all became possible because of Einstein’s theory – each taking into consideration the differences between how things work at a certain point in location and timing.

Einstein’s well-known formula E=mc2 in which the mass of any object is a measure of how much energy is contained within it, led to a more sinister invention – the atomic bomb. (Einstein was in favor of the bomb as a way to put a quick end to World War Two, but he would later fight against the proliferation of weapons).

Einstein’s general theory of relativity would indicate that light could bend. Astronomers put this idea to the test during a solar eclipse in 1919 in which the moon covered up the sun. Even though the sky was darkened, stars around the Sun could still be seen – proof of the fourth dimension. Einstein was shown to be correct, and the news made him famous.

Albert Einstein married twice. First to Mileva Maric, another physicist-in-training he met in university. Before marrying, the couple had an illegitimate daughter who was never spoken about by Einstein. Her existence was discovered in the late 1980s through Einstein’s private papers. What happened to the girl is unknown. Mileva was considered almost as brilliant as Einstein and some historians believe she helped him create his theories of relativity. She grew lonely in the marriage as Einstein spent time on his work. Mileva died in 1948, largely forgotten.

The second wife was Elsa, Einstein’s cousin. Einstein had numerous affairs during the marriage, which Elsa knew about. She accepted the affairs, but demanded Einstein put her first, which he did. In return, Elsa spent much of her time protecting the great scientist from unwelcome visitors and an army of people who wanted to meet him.

Fame was not something Einstein enjoyed. He was often stopped on the street, but when asked if he was the real Albert Einstein, he replied that he just looked like him.

Einstein’s major work was accomplished in his younger years. He spent the rest of his life teaching, working with other scientists, and supporting various causes, including civil rights. When he ran out of problems to solve, he continued to study, for what he called “the pleasant occupation of thinking.”

It was 62 years ago this month, in 1955, that he suffered from a ruptured aneurysm at age 76. Even on his deathbed, he was working – writing a speech for television. Einstein refused surgery, saying he did not want to prolong life artificially. He had done his share, explaining: “It is time to go.”

The scientist with the crazy hair once said he feared technology would eventually surpass human interaction and create a generation of idiots – a prediction some believe is now coming true.

Albert Einstein, remembered today for his genius, will go down in history as someone who believed that character is as important as intelligence, and that every life has a purpose.

Einstein won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1921. Later, in 1933, he visited the United States but, being Jewish, chose not to return to his home country of Germany due to the rise of Adolf Hitler. (He became an American citizen in 1940). Einstein had 3 children by his first marriage, one of whom was diagnosed as schizophrenic. The mind of the genius was so special that when he died, the pathologist on call, Thomas Harvey, decided to steal it. The brain traveled with Harvey, and at one point, his wife threatened to throw it in the garbage. It would not be until 2010 that Harvey’s heirs turned over the brain to the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Maryland.

Today, there is a resurgence of interest in Albert Einstein. A ten-part drama entitled “Genius” starring Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson is appearing on the National Geographic channel.

How Much $ To Rank

April 8, 2021March 19, 2021 by Curt Long

I found this tool recently and decided not to spend advertising money for digital solutions due to the overall benefit versus cost that digital solutions has in Tampa Bay. The frame below is from How Much to Rank.

What Is Your Emotional Intelligence

March 12, 2021 by Curt Long

Jus playing around with other’s and found something that is quit appealing to me. Below is an out of the box one that I will enhance or replace when I get the time.

WordPress Web Design For Dummies

April 16, 2021March 9, 2021 by Curt Long

from: https://www.dummies.com/web-design-development/wordpress/wordpress-design/wordpress-web-design-for-dummies-cheat-sheet/

WordPress Web Design For Dummies Cheat Sheet

By Lisa Sabin-Wilson

Combining the power and flexibility of the WordPress content management system (CMS) with design and development skills (such as HTML, CSS, and graphic design programs) gives you the tools you need to create unique and dynamic Web sites.

Finding WordPress Resources and Tools

If you use WordPress as the platform for your blog or website, you can use any or all of the many tools WordPress offers. The following list helps you find some of these helpful resources.

Name	Description
WordPress Plugin Directory	Find thousands of plugins to download that let you do almost anything you can imagine — and you can imagine quite a lot, can’t you?
Themes Directory	Choose from hundreds of themes to manage the look and functionality of your home page.
WordPress Codex	Try the Codex page to tap into the encyclopedia of WordPress knowledge.
WordPress News and Updates	Get the latest news and notes on all things WordPress.
WordPress Support forums	Post your questions and obtain answers from the vast WordPress community for users of the WordPress software.

Basic HTML and CSS Markup for WordPress Themes

When you work with WordPress themes to create web designs, you use basic HTML, combined with CSS styling, to accomplish the formatting and styling you desire for your website. Here’s a rundown of some basic HTML and CSS markup.

Name	Description	HTML Markup Example	CSS Example
<head> </head>	Indicates the header portion of a web page that contains invisible, but vital, information about the page, such as the title and keywords.	<head> <title>My Web Site</title> </head>	N/A
<body> </body>	Defines the content area of your web page that’s visible in your visitor’s browser window.	<body> <p>This is my content</p> </body>	body {background: white; color:black}
<a href=”..”> </a>	Inserts a hyperlink for either a word or an image.	<a href=”http://google.com”>Google </a>	a {color:blue}
<img src=”..”>	Inserts an image in a web page.	<img src= “http://yourdomain.com/image. jpg” />	img {padding 4px; border: 1px solid silver}
<p> </p>	Defines groupings of text in paragraphs.	<p>This text is treated as a paragraph</p>	p {margin: 1.2em; line-height: 1.2em; color: red}
<h1> </h1>	Defines a first-level heading, usually a title or menu heading. You can also use h2, h3, h4, h5, and h6.	<h1>This is a title</h1>	h1 {font-size: 18px; color: blue; margin: 10px 0;}

Image-Editing Software for WordPress Web Design

When you work with graphics (including digital photographs) for Web design, you work with two file types: raster and vector. When you create, edit, or manipulate those files, you use graphic- or photo-editing software to accomplish the job. Here’s a list of some software that you may want to consider.

Software Program	File Types
Adobe Photoshop	Raster-based image-editing program used to create PSD layout files and to work with raster image file types and photography
Adobe Illustrator	Vector-based image creation and editing used to edit vector image files, such as AI and EPS files
Corel PaintShop Pro	Raster image and photography editing program
CorelDRAW	Vector image creation and editing for AI, EPS, and CDR file types

About the Book Author

Lisa Sabin-Wilson is the co-owner of WebDevStudios, a development company specializing in custom WordPress plugins, themes, and deployments. She is a popular conference speaker and bestselling author of WordPress For Dummies and WordPress All-in-One For Dummies. Find her on Twitter @LisaSabinWilson.

Atoms and Molecules

March 5, 2021 by Curt Long

By Jisha Jamal

Sugar is sweet and the sugar granules are small. Can we cut the smaller sugar granules? Yes! we can. Imagine the size of the smallest sugar particle that can retain the sweetness when you cut it. If you keep cutting, you will reach a particle that cannot be divided again without losing sweetness. That smallest particle of the sugar that retains all the qualities of sugar is the molecule of sugar. The sugar molecule again can be divided, but it will not be sugar again. Dividing molecules again into smaller particles is possible. The smallest particle of matter when we divide molecule is known as an atom. That means molecules are formed by the bonding of two or more atoms. Thus atoms are the building blocks of molecules. Sugar molecule contains 12 carbon atoms, 22 hydrogen atoms and 11 oxygen atoms. Many such sugar molecules join together to form a sugar granule.

Before moving to know how these atoms are joined, we will understand what elements like oxygen, hydrogen, carbon etc are. In order to learn it, we should realize one more thing: an atom is made up of subatomic particles namely protons, neutrons and electrons. Each atom has a positively charged nucleus that keeps attracting negatively charged electrons. The nucleus is the permanent seat of protons and neutrons, whereas electrons keep revolving around the nucleus. An atom with only one electron and one proton is hydrogen(H) and Atom with 2 electrons and 2 protons is helium(He), 3 each with Lithium(Li), 4 each with Beryllium(Be) and son.Thus, atoms are differentiated on the basis of the number of subatomic particles. In that way carbon has 6 electrons and oxygen has 8.

Formation of molecules

Electrons are like small children. They do revolve around the nucleus in various shells and energy levels. These energy levels are called sub shells and are denoted by the letters s, p, d and f. The S subshell has the capacity to hold 2 electrons. If we are considering the formation of hydrogen molecule by hydrogen atoms, the only one electron of hydrogen atom is filled in the first S sub shell. Filling one electron in a subshell where 2 electrons can be kept creates imbalance and thus the atom looks to share its electron with another atom. So, it undergoes a mutual sharing of electrons with another hydrogen atom to form a hydrogen molecule.

Electrons thus are really like small children. They develop stress within the home and find friendship with neighboring electrons to become happy and stable! Isn’t it fun. This fun behavior of electrons is the reason for all the development we see around us. Learning about it also is really fun!

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Jisha_Jamal/2553088

http://EzineArticles.com/?Atoms-and-Molecules&id=9973396

Why Not-for-Profits Benefit from Web-Based Membership Functionality

March 5, 2021March 5, 2021 by Curt Long

If you look around the non-profit world, you might have noticed some significant changes over the past 5 to 10 years around how organizations are acquiring, maintaining and strengthening their membership bases.

Something that The Red Cross, The Humane Society and many other non-profits have in common is their successful online membership programs. They have all built global customer bases by creating a form of online communities among their members, and the potential is limitless.

Now, once they have these successful membership programs, they need a convenient and visually attractive way of presenting these programs on their website.

This creates a hub: a central space for admin and staff to access members’ information and showcase their offerings

The time, energy and resources non-profits are saving by having their membership programs on their website is significant. They’re easy to access, paperwork is not scattered across multiple laptops or offices and making updates is easy.

This is something that is often overlooked among the non-profit sector, when it really shouldn’t be. It’s vital for online membership programs to stay organized. By doing this, their members, donors and social impact will remain strong.

Here are more benefits for non-profits who add an online membership program to their website:

One significant benefit of a membership website for non-profits is they can grant their members access to areas of the organization that most people would never normally see. For example, The Council To Reduce Elder Abuse allows members access to meeting recordings, reports and even grant proposals.

Everyone wants to be in the know, and to understand what is happening within all these seemingly secretive organizations we interact with. This works so well for CREA, one of our clients who helps their donors understand where their money is going.

This saves the back-and forth communication staff might have to go through on these topics as info is displayed prominently on their website.

I think we can all agree on the phrase “Give credit where credit is due”, and that is exactly what the BC Farmers’ Institute is doing through their innovative way of creating a non-profit website.

All the members are growers around the province of British Columbia, and there is a special section on their website that highlights where the growers are located, a blurb about them and their unique logo.

This provides much-needed marketing for these growers in a hyper-competitive market, while also showing all visitors to BCFI’s website just how many farmers the Institute is supporting.

This provides a significant amount of credibility when you have 20+ farms featured. Also, having all your members visually displayed like this creates organization and cohesion like none other.

Content Creators Websites for non-profits are hard to maintain, and we understand how resources can be stretched thin most days.

Finding content that is fresh, exciting and industry-relevant to keep your website up to date can be a struggle. So, wouldn’t it make sense for your members to give you a helping hand on your website?

That’s exactly what Abbotsford-based FarmWest has achieved. With news and updates on their website that members can contribute to, they generate a very community-based feel about their non-profit online membership, as well as sharing an interesting website!

Members will feel like they are genuinely contributing to their industry and that goes a long way for the reputation of a non-profit. Not to mention, it’s a lot less maintenance for the hard-working employees.

READ: Competitive Positioning for Nonprofits Competitive Positioning for Nonprofits

Does your nonprofit have a positioning statement? It’s an important question every organization must ask themselves: what sets you apart from the competition?

Competitive positioning for nonprofits is more focused on the “why”: what is your mission? Your product is the good you’re doing.

Read this article for tips on how to create a non-profit positioning statement for your organization.

Your Retirement Can Be Enhanced By Technology

March 5, 2021March 5, 2021 by Curt Long

By J M Conner

Your retirement can be enhanced by technology. There is no better time to be retired and part of the reason is the increased capability brought about by the technology that is all around us. One of the ways to keep your mind sharp in retirement is to learn new skills and you can’t find a better subject than learning about all of the technological advances being made every day. If you can master the internet, a computer or a smartphone, you can open up your world in a way that would have been impossible just a decade ago.

The pandemic the world has struggled through has shone a spotlight on the advances that have been made with video technology and faster broadband speeds. It has also highlighted one of the ways that retirement and technology are perfect for each other. There are dozens of applications that will enable you to have not just a phone conversation, but an onscreen chat with just about any person in the world. It has been a blessing during this time of social distancing, but it has also brought a new focus on how important it is to keep up with technological advances.

downloading matrix upload binary — Contact Curt

Video conferences have been around a few years but, up until about three years ago, they were more of a problem than a solution. Long delays, poor sound quality and people speaking over each other marred the experience and, in some cases, resulted in a complete waste of time. Recent advances and better broadband capability have helped resolve these problems and it has not just helped the business world but has added greater fulfillment to the lives of many seniors.

If you’ve watched television lately, nearly every show now has a guest who is speaking from a remote location and, while there are occasional glitches, the technology has become amazing. If you have relatives halfway around the world you can basically do the same kind of connection and have them appear on the screen before you. Is it the same as being there? Of course not, but it can be a wonderful experience just the same and it can help you keep track of your grandchildren by checking in more often.

With the higher internet speeds, we’ve also seen the content available on the internet go forward by leaps and bounds. Almost any topic you can name and any course you ever wanted to take is now available somewhere. Virtual tours of cities and landmarks are quite easy to find, and you can find a tutorial for learning any skill you ever thought of developing. Do you want to learn how to bake bread or fix a leaky faucet? A quick search on the internet will give you all the information you need to get started.

And, if you’re not sure how to use the internet to its fullest capability, taking the time to learn is one of the smartest things you can do because it can literally change your world and how you get your information. There are courses for that as well but one of the most enjoyable ways to learn these skills is through the eyes of a young person. It’s especially rewarding if it’s one of your grandchildren but a child from the neighborhood will probably be more than happy to give you a quick course on the internet and upgrading the technology in your home. Technology can provide enhanced experiences that are so amazing you’ll wonder why you didn’t act sooner. It’s a great way to learn something new, expand your social circles and to make sure you continue to Enjoy Retired Life.

J M Conner is a writer and publisher who specializes in online information marketing. Newly retired, his most recent articles are on the art of enjoying Retired Life to the fullest. Areas of specialization are guiding future, new and seasoned retirees onto a path of emotional fulfillment and financial reward and making the most of their retired years. You can visit his website at https://www.EnjoyRetiredLife.com.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/J_M_Conner/103607

http://EzineArticles.com/?Your-Retirement-Can-Be-Enhanced-By-Technology&id=10427094

Happiness Frequency

March 4, 2021 by Curt Long

Just allowing credit for the YouTube video that I am using on the home page of my website. I also put an embedded version so you can hear the music – Serotonin, Dopamine, Endorphin Release Music, Release Negativity.

Jason Stephenson – Chakra Healing Music

Beautiful music to boost your happiness frequency! Boost levels of serotonin, dopamine, and release endorphins – release negativity. For the best sleep ever download your FREE meditation! https://www.empoweredsleepformula.com/

I also wanted to share my Patreon website at https://www.patreon.com/user?u=23737311&fan_landing=true

And finally from https://getpocket.com/ which I frequently read, these days we’re all about things being faster. That’s why this advice is invaluable: When you really need to remember something, concentrate on it for at least 8 seconds. That can seem like a long time when you’re running around trying to get a million things done, but it is worth it. Studies have shown that 8 seconds is the minimum amount of time it takes for a piece of information to go from your short-term memory to your long-term memory.

In addition, we’ve all walked into a room and suddenly realized we can’t remember why we needed to be there in the first place. Don’t worry, you’re not getting more forgetful—chances are it was the act of walking through a doorway that made you go completely blank. Researchers found that participants in both virtual and real-world studies were far more likely to forget what object they had just placed in a container if they were asked right after walking through a doorway than if they carried the object the same distance in a single room. Scientists have yet to figure out why, but something about entering a new place seems to restart our memory.