Labor Day has been celebrated in America since 1882.

According to the United States Department of Labor, the holiday was first celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, per the city’s Central Labor Union’s proposed plans.  A year later, the Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday.  The Central Labor Union urged other cities across the nation to celebrate the “workingmen’s holiday” and by 1885, the holiday was celebrated in many of the country’s industrial centers.

By 1887, Oregon passed the first official Labor Day legislation. On June 28, 1874, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

The influence of labor unions may not be as strong today as they were years ago.  You can find a list of the most active national labor organizations here.

All Americans, whether they work in organized labor or are self-employed, pay a significant portion of our earnings to the Social Security fund, an “entitlement” we are told are going broke.  Did you know that the Bush administration reached an agreement called the Social Security ‘totalization agreement’  Mexico, which would make hundreds of thousands of Mexican citizens eligible for Social Security?  According to presidential candidate Bob Barr,

“A Mexican citizen could work as little as 18 months in the U.S. and still qualify for a lifetime of Social Security benefits.”

Learn more about Social Security payments to Mexican citizens at Barr’s website.

This weekend, I’m ignoring politics and instead, plan on having a lot of holiday fun.  I have a houseful of friend over and we’ll do a lot of eating and celebrating.  I hope you have as much fun this weekend, as well.

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QDOS beta is a new service that, in its own words, “lets you take control of and manage your digital identity.” You can see what kind of impact you have on the worldwide web by adding in your social profiles (such as Twitter pages, Digg pages, etc.), your home page, your blogs, your websites and more. After you have entered all of this information, the beta software determines your “QDOS” score. I filled in about half of the information and as of August 24, had a score of Q2860. The score automatically updates every week. If you want, you can have QDOS update your score on a daily basis.

Comparing Your Score with Others; My Personal Reservations

I am not sure what kind of practical value this has other than another fun Internet test, but you can compare your score with those of celebrities, politicians, friends or co-workers. The site claims that this will help people “claim their identities” instead of fearing identity theft. I don’t know … I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to place every single website and blog that you own in the profile.

How you make the comparisons is to view your profile. There’s a drop down menu that allows you to compare your score against celebs, body builders, venture capitalists … you name it. On an overall level, out of the 64,000 (+) people who have obtained QDOS scores, mine placed me in the bottom half of people having an impact online, but at least it was near the top of the fold. I suppose if I took the time to add all websites, blogger blogs and social networking profiles, that would change. For now, I’ve decided to delete a bunch of the information simply because I am very uncomfortable with having every single website, social network and blog logged together on a single page. By deleting everything except this blog that you are reading, my score dropped to Q2590, which puts me in the lower third of all participants.

Apparently other people have concerns about placing their entire basket of eggs on one profile page. In the FAQs, QDOS explains:

Does QDOS jeapordise peoples online identity by making their QDOS public?

No. Nothing QDOS does puts anyone at risk of identity fraud or theft – no new personal information is exposed. In fact we firmly believe that if consumers are more aware that they have something valuable to protect called a digital identity, they are more likely to make themselves harder targets for identity thieves.

We are trying to do in a positive way what thousands of scare stories about ID theft and surveillance society have failed to do. We are trying to get consumers to engage with their digital identities.

If you’re curious about your QDOS score, get it here: QDOS.com I’m very interested in what others think about revealing their Internet information on QDOS. Please comment below.

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Here are some absolutely free downloads. I consider them my top four because I’ve used them regularly and they’ve proven to be very good. These are programs that deliver value and utility, not junk that’ll clog up your disk space. In some cases, they are better than paid programs.

1. InfranView image and multimedia viewing and editing software – When it comes to working with graphics, Ulead’s PhotoImpact and/or Photoshop take a long time to load. There’s a bit of a learning curve to use them, as well. InfranView is one of the most versatile editors available and does not hog up your system resources. With InfranView, you can work with a variety of popular formats, such as .bmp, .jpg, .gif, .png, .avi and much more. I have a version that is around four years old that I use constantly for image captures because it is so fast. If you need to view image or media files or would like to edit them, get your free version of InfranView.
2. AVG Antivirus Software – I’ve been so impressed with this software that I updated to the paid professional version, but have friends who are still using the AVG Free Edition. AVG will protect your computer against viruses, spyware, adware and identity-theft. Although it is free, it regularly updates to give you maximum protection against the latest threats. Visit Grisoft to get your free security software.
3. MemoriesOnWeb is free download that will enable you to make instructional or slide presentation videos. It includes a YouTube upload feature, making your video marketing a snap. Read the review and get the download here.
4. GroupMail by Infacta – For those times you need to send out a mass mailing, GroupMail is the perfect solution. The free version allows you to email groups of 100 addresses at a time. Get the GroupMail download here.

Wordpress would obviously make the list for website owners and bloggers, but since it is not exactly a download that you operate on your hard drive, I did not include it here. Another open source program that I’ve heard great things about is Open Office, which rivals Microsoft’s Office suite. However, I have not had the need to download and use it, so I did not include it here.

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The following release is so well written, I am just going to publish it verbatim.  The hypocrisy of our supposed democratic election process reveals the bias and strong-armed tactics we, as voters, are faced with if we want to make our own decisions.  It’s no wonder so many people refuse to vote.

— copied release begins here —

As it stands now, Bob Barr is the Lone Candidate in the Lone Star State.

As the filing deadline passed this week, Bob Barr was the only presidential candidate legally certified on the ballot in Texas.

The new Texas law is clear:

A political party is entitled to have the names of its nominees for president and vice-president of the United States placed on the ballot in a presidential general election if . . . before 5 p.m. of the 70th day before presidential election day, the party’s state chair signs and delivers to the secretary of state a written certification of the names of the party’s nominees for president and vice-president . . .

Given that the deadline passed on Tuesday, Senator Obama was nominated on Wednesday, and Senator McCain has not even announced his selection for Vice President, the Republican and Democrat parties in Texas were technically unable to certify their candidates by the deadline.

However, I have a sneaking suspicion that the ballot situation in Texas will magically correct itself.

Since we sent out our release yesterday regarding Bob being the only presidential candidate certified in Texas, a spokeswoman for the Texas Secretary of State’s office stated that, “Upon further checking, both parties filed before the deadline.  We expect their amended filings after both parties finish their nominating process at the conventions.”

Upon further checking . . .

Hmmm . . .

As it turns out, upon further checking , we were able to collect 10,000 more signatures in West Virginia a few days after that early deadline passed.

Upon further checking, we found that ballot substitution is permitted in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

Also, upon further checking, we found that Maine stopped accepting our petitions a week earlier than they had done in the past.

Not to mention that, upon further checking, we do object to the state of New Hampshire insisting that two libertarian candidates for president be listed on the ballot.

Finally, upon further checking, we found that the signature thresholds in Oklahoma are a bit too high.

Will our diligence pay off for us in West Virginia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Maine and Oklahoma where we have active interests?

Do you think that John McCain and Barack Obama’s names will eventually be printed on the ballot in Texas?

I would be willing to make an educated guess and say that we’re going to have to fight our hearts out to get on the ballot in the states above while the Republican and Democrat candidates won’t have to lift a finger to secure their place on the Texas ballot.

. . . that is unless we make a stand in Texas.

And that’s exactly what we’re going to do.

This situation in Texas is a perfect opportunity to highlight the double standard that exists in our nation.

Over the past several decades, Libertarians have spent millions of dollars, filed countless numbers of lawsuits while being sued countless numbers of times over their right to be on the ballot.  Thousands of people have put in their time, energy, earnings and passion in an effort that, in the end, simply allows a voter to see a candidate’s name printed on the ballot.

Throughout every battle that we engage in each election season, we must dot every “I” and cross every “T” or face the consequences of failure for our ballot drives.

Even when we follow the letter of the law, as we did in Pennsylvania, we still face challenges that drain our financial resources and strain our staff.

Should we give Barack Obama and John McCain a pass in Texas and look the other way?  Would they do that for us?

. . . I don’t think so.

If John McCain and Barack Obama want to bend the rules to get on the ballot in Texas, they’re going to do it with the Barr Campaign and tens of thousands supporters looking on and scrutinizing their every move.

If you want to join us and support our efforts in Texas and around the nation, now is the time to do it.

Our campaign is taking off with tremendous opportunity and we’re going to need your commitment to kick it into a higher gear.

A significant gift before the holiday weekend will help us roar into September and face our challenges in Texas, Pennsylvania and many other states.

Please consider a gift of $1,000, $500, $100 or any other amount Also, if you can give up to the maximum, please do so soon as September 4th represents the close of our primary season.

Thank you for all that you do.

In Liberty,

Shane Cory
Deputy Campaign Manager
Bob Barr for President

P.S. A reporter called last night about Texas and asked, “Do you think you’re blowing this out of proportion?”  I literally bit my tongue.   Voters need to know about the double standard that exists within our political system and this case in Texas is the perfect way to get that message out.  Please help us today with your most generous gift.

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If you regularly cruise the Blogosphere, chances are, you’ve seen a good number of blogs featuring a box that has little people walking around saying “Hi,” “Howdy” or whatever. In fact, this blog has one of them (you can see the “live” version in the left column of this page):

This box is what is called a “Stage,” which is an important component of a free service from Scoutle, a relatively new social marketing service.

The Scoutle stage can be embedded on both websites and blogs and enables the site owner to partake in 100% automated social networking.

How Scoutle Works

Once you create your free Scoutle account, you create a “Scout” that is basically a link to your website. Your “Scout” needs to host a “Stage,” as shown in the picture above. Different formats of the “Stage” are offered. For instance, you can have a smaller Stage. Or your Stage can be static, without the people walking around.

As a member of Scoutle, you can join different networks and create “connections” with other members, based on your mutual interests. The more networks and connections you have, the higher your “score” is with Scoutle. A high score means more exposure on other member websites.

Every time you get a visitor to your website (it does not have to be a Scoutle user) the system automatically allows your Scout to walk two times across the “Stage.” As your Scout walks across the stage, it meets another Scout who’s walking in the opposite direction. This is a “meeting” that is automatically recorded through Scoutle. The more meetings you have, the higher your score. As of this writing, the NotGuru Scout has a score of 603.

According to the Scoutle site,

“Scoutle offers a solution by allowing bloggers to create a personal webcrawler, called Scout, which will do all the work for you. He will promote your blog to only interested people but without bothering them, he will search other interesting blogs for you and by comparing results Scoutle will rate all blogs, continuously. All this, without you having to do anything.

“The only thing Scoutle asks you to do is something you already did: just work on the quality of your blog. Only this will help you find interesting blogs and make sure others will find yours. In the meantime, Scoutle will also make sure your blog can be found by people outside the Scoutle network in many different ways.”

The Rationale Behind Scoutle Meetings

Scoutle is a Dutch startup that officially launched in May 2008. Created by Godfried van Loo, Scoutle operates on the premise that in our daily lives, we encounter many different people. Although they may be strangers, we may have common interests that result in our being in the same place at the same time. van Loo believes the same thing happens on the Internet, but with Scoutle, we have an opportunity to “meet” those strangers who share common interests through the Scoutle membership area.

Social Networking Tools

As a member of Scoutle, you can opt to have your Scout activities automatically posted on Twitter or Mobi.

CAPTION: Simply type in your username/password and your Scoutle activities will automatically post to Twitter or Mobi.

You can also see all of your Scoutle activities by RSS feed.

Does it Deliver Traffic?

I set up my Scoutle Scout for this site on August 11. So far, I’ve received 8 visits directly from Scoutle:

I certainly wouldn’t say this is very much traffic, but then again, it’s a relatively new service and I have not been a “Scout” for very long.

Improvements are Coming

The new Scoutle Version 2 will be released in September, with a lot of enhancements that are based on user input. There is not a lot of information out there about exactly what the new version will offer.

Scoutle may not be delivering a ton of traffic yet, but it definitely is a fun and easy social networking tool. I’ve discovered some great websites through Scoutle and have communicated with some members by email. I’m looking forward to seeing what will come in Version 2. As Scoutle evolves, I think it is going to be an excellent social networking tool. Writes the Washington Post’s TechCrunch:

“We’ve seen various link swapping/ promotional/ blog traffic systems before, however Scoutle’s move into social networking is an interesting mix, sort of StumbleUpon based on a shared interests, profiles and widgets.”

If you’re interested, sign up for a free Scoutle account. Because it is so new, you can jump ahead of the pack and start accumulating “points” for your Scout. Who knows, depending on what is coming out in Version 2 and as more people sign on, those points you earn now might pay off in a big way in the future.

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The main purpose of a “registry cleaner” is to delete keys or to repair broken pieces of registry information associated with software that you may have uninstalled. If your computer was messed up by trojan software or malware, a registry cleaner could be a useful tool in removing the keys associated with the malware. Once those keys are removed, the malware (or trojan) cannot keep reinstalling itself.

Net Framework Has Replaced the Registry

XP and Vista operating systems are based on Windows NT, so invalid keys in the registry are not that big of a deal. Every once in awhile, however, you might have a situation where your anti-virus and anti-malware program tells you that it cannot remove malware and that you have to remove it manually. When this happens, it will usually cite a registry key that has to be removed.

The Free Registry Edit

When you know a specific registry key that should be removed, you can delete it by using the “RegEdit” function that is part of your operating system. To access it, click START and then select Run:

CAPTION: To access the registry editor, click start and then run.

Type “regedit” in the pop-up that appears when “Run” is executed:

CAPTION: From the "run" interface, type in the word "regedit" and then click OK.

You then see the contents of your registry file. If you know exactly where the bad key is located, navigate to the appropriate folder, open it and then delete the bad key. If you are removing a key associated with malware, your security program (such as Norton, McAfee or AVG) should tell you the location of the bad registry key. You should also be able to find it in the security program log.

CAPTION: Here's a partial screenshot of what your registry files will look like.

If you’re not sure where the bad key is located, but know the filename of the key, you can search the registry files by clicking “Edit” and “Find.”

CAPTION: To find a specific item in your registry files, click "Edit", then "Find," and then follow the prompts.

If You Don’t Know What You’re Doing, Get a Reliable Registry Editor

Modifying the registry files can be intimidating, especially for a non-technical person. If you remove the wrong key, it is possible that one or more of your software programs will fail to load correct or work properly.

As tempting as “free” may be, downloading a free registry cleaner may create more problems then you bargained for because some of these have malware in them that will install without your knowledge.

I’ve used some registry cleaner programs that totally messed up my software programs, and some of these were paid programs that ended up having terrible customer support. After years of trial and error, the cleaner that I have found that best is to manually edit my registry file using the operating system’s registry edit function described above. This is followed by a software program published by ParetoLogic called RegCure (all links in this article to RegCure will take you to the free trial so you can test it out).

RegCure Software is a reliable registry cleaner.

What’s nice about RegCure is that you can manually update your registry, using the easy interface provided by the software program. You can also allow the program to clean up your registry automatically. RegCure has a full backup utility, enabling you to backup your registry PRIOR to making any changes. If something is messed up after the registry has been edited, simply click RESTORE and your backup will reinstall and you’re as good as new.

Conclusion

While the newer Windows operating systems rely on Windows NT, some software programs haven’t made the migration and you may encounter registry problems from time to time, making the software load slowly or not work properly. Cleaning your registry can enhance computer performance, but I don’t feel that registry cleaners are essential for XP or Vista users. They become essential if malware is installed and you’re not sure how to remove the malware keys from your registry.

If your computer is running sluggishly, you might want to (1) scan it for trojans, malware or spyware and if that comes up blank, (2) run your system defrag. It might be that almost all of your hard drive space is used up, in which case you might want to consider getting an external hard drive. If these options aren’t working, try cleaning your registry. RegCure (try the free trial) will do a good job in cleaning up unnecessary garbage out of your registry.

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For the woman interested in parenting, relocation, photography, travel, adventure, sports, and most of all, kids, Jo will entertain and inform you.  Self-described as a Canadian by citizenship, a Chinese by blood, and a Filipino by birth and at heart, Jo is married to a hubby who she confesses is not a handyman.  Because  home improvement projects aren’t his thing, Jo’s family has purchased a brand new home, not an older, fixer-upper.  Throughout the blog, you can see the construction phases of the house, from ground up.

CAPTION: Watch Jo's home get constructed.

A digital photography buff, Jo shares a wealth of photos.  There are a lot of travel photos featuring both  kids’ activities and scenery.  If you’re considering a family holiday in Canada, you might get some good ideas where to travel by taking a look at Jo’s blog.

Jo’s been blogging since 2004, so not only wil you see her house getting constructed through pictures, but the digital photos will also show her kids growing up.  Many people “give up” on blogging within the first year, so Jo’s persistence is an inspiration to all of us who are working at creating established blogs.  In the sidebar, you’ll see links to some of Jo’s other blogs that are almost as aged.  I’m impressed — consistent blogging is a lot of work, no matter what topic you’re writing about!

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Although your mom and pop business may have been around for the last couple of decades, your website might make your business look like a fly-by-night amateur to the global Internet community. When designing your website, here are some things to avoid:

• Dark, heavy backgrounds with hard-to-read fonts – For a business website, it’s best to use a plain white background and black text so that your visitors can read it easily. Some first timers are tempted to have “fancy” backgrounds with different colored text. Not only is this hard to read, but if you have a product line, it is difficult to make pictures of your product line blend in with the background.
• Pages that are larger than the browser screen – There’s nothing more irritating that trying to read a web page that scrolls across the screen. The majority of web users use 1024 x 768 as their desktop resolution. Try to stay within those confines.
• Sound effects – Everyone has different tastes when it comes to music, but even if you discovered music that appeals to every single person alive, don’t make it automatically load on your site. If you have a music site, you can create a jukebox that allows the user to click play if he or she wants to hear it. The same goes with audio advertisements or other background sound effects — have a pause or “off” button.
• “Cool” effects – About 8 or 9 years ago, it was real “cool” to have a flash presentation on the index page. Everyone was doing this. This does nothing to establish your online reputation. Flash introductions take forever to create and many of them are just downright stupid. These introductions take a long time to load and most people will not view them. Another thing that beginners think is “cool” are page fading effects, animated images and scrolling text. When I first started designing pages, I added these things, thinking it made me look like I was adept with web design. However, the cold reality is that these effects are a waste of time and a turnoff. I’ve seen some sites, designed by supposed design specialists, where the links scroll by really fast and you have to “aim and shoot” just to be able to click a link. Don’t bother adding these effects. People are visiting your site for information or products, not a bunch of movement that’ll give them a headache.
• No clear navigation scheme – Many people enter a website by the interior pages, not at the home page. You need to give them a way to easily navigate through your site. Left and top menus are the most popular and are therefore familiar to your visitors. Regardless of where you place your menu, make sure it’s consistent throughout your entire site. A lack of a clearly defined and consistent navigation menu is a sure fire sign of an amateur web design.
• No search feature – Particularly if you have a large product line that you are selling or if you have a content rich site, always include a search box to help your visitors. If you don’t know how to do this, try Google’s free search box or FreeFind. This makes your site “user friendly” and shows that you care about your visitor’s experience on your site.
• “Secret” prices – If you’re selling products, include the price. Don’t try to force your visitor to go through the shopping cart process to find out what the cost will be — many of them won’t do it, anyway.
• Policies – An amateur site will not include privacy policies, terms of use and, when selling products or services, returns and shipping policies. These are critical and as a matter of fact, attorney Shawn Casey says that by not providing a policy statement, you run the risk of being shut down by the FTC (Federal Trade Commission). In this vein, you should also provide contact information, particularly if you are selling products or services.
• Under construction pages – “Under construction” or “coming soon” pages are a surefire way to announce that you’re an amateur. If you haven’t finished a page yet, don’t bother linking to it. Add a link to your menu and sitemap once the page is completed and uploaded.
• No online shopping cart – If you are selling a product, provide a way for people to purchase your product online. When people are looking to buy something online, they want to be able to buy it immediately. Chances are, they don’t want to mail a check or money order. If you don’t have a merchant account, consider Paypal or, in the case of digital products, consider using a service such as Clickbank. If you have a merchant account and are struggling with setting up a shopping cart, try Mals-e.com, which provides a free and secure shopping cart service.

The above are just a few points to consider if you want a professional business site and not one that looks like it was crafted by a beginner. As a mom and pop business owner, your website might be the first way that someone discovers your business. First impressions count — Generally speaking, a visitor to your site will form an opinion within the first 20 seconds. That’s why it’s important to have a clean, easy-to-navigate and informative site straight away. Don’t waste your time or your potential customer’s time with javascript, dhtml, flash or other gimmicks.

To create a stunning web site that complies with all of the “professional web design basics” and will also enhance your chances of being listed in the search engines, I highly recommend that you use xSite Pro. Among its many user-friendly features is a search function, automatically updating menu (so when you add pages, your menu updates without your having to manually add a page and link), and “advisor” that will tell you if your page will take too long to load, will let you know if there is too little or too much text, and more.

There are free web authoring programs available or you could try Dreamweaver or other commercial programs. Quick frankly, compared with xSitePro, all of these will waste your time and money. xSitePro will have you create a professional site the first time around. Time is money. Check it out.

You’ve spent time creating a good business. Don’t screw it up with a terrible website.

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This weekend, Zogby published its presidential poll results for the ten “battleground” states and found that McCain is beginning make gains. The polls revealed another trend: The “dark horse” candidate, Bob Barr, is making strides. As a matter of fact, the Libertarian has double digits in two contested states:

• Nevada – 10%
• New Hampshire – 11%

Barr also has some impact in Ohio and Colorado, where he receives 8% support.

New Government Seal

A friend of mine sent this along in one of those viral emails that is circulating around the globe:

New U.S. Government Seal

The government today announced that it is changing its emblem from an Eagle to a red, white and blue condom because it more accurately reflects the government’s political stance. A condom allows for inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of pricks, and gives you a sense of security while you’re actually being screwed!

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Jane’s blog, Life is What You Make It”, is one of the most interesting personal blogs I’ve come across in a long time. Originally from the Philippines and now living in Seattle, Jane blogs daily about a variety of topics.

In August, for instance, she writes about some interesting statistics concerning obesity. She cites research indicating that “The rate of obesity increases as neighborhood home value decreases” and reveals in another post why marriage makes people fat. She gives advice about how to get better sleep and how to “unGoogle” yourself.

The “Life is What You Make It” blog delivers practical advice, such as how to save on your grocery bill or how to build your own WIFI antenna. Sprinkled within the articles and advice are Jane’s family photos and personal stories.

Jane’s blog is not some spiritual, New Agey “think positive” blog. Her “Life is What You Make It” theme revolves more around the practical aspects of life.

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