The B5 Blog Off and Shameless Self-Promotion

This week, B5 Media is hosting a Blog Off. My personal finance blog on that network, Yielding Wealth, is participating. Head on over and look at some of the posts. They're personal finance tips that you might find helpful. And, if you can, make a donation to Accion. A great charity that provides microloans to impoverished entrepreneurs.

Other blog stuff this week from my world:

1. Who's going to help your health care? Barack Obama or John McCain? My post on AllBusiness take a look at the presidential candidates and their health care plans.
2. You're self-employed. But you can still get a mortgage. Lending Leaves looks at what it takes to get mortgage financing when you work for yourself.
3. Mortgage rates continue to rise. I look at why over at LoanShak.
4. Are you telecommuting? Have you thought about. You can work for The Man and still work from home, as I point out on WorkShak.
5. Help your retirement account with these ideas from the Banks.com investing blog.
6. At the Banks.com mortgage blog, I issue a warning about scams involving the economic stimulus payment.
7. On ThePanelist, I take a very brief look at the latest offering from Honda: A hydrogen fuel cell and electric hybrid. No gas needed.

Tags: Barack Obama, John McCain, health care, health care plans,
economic stimulus payment, retirement account, mortgage rates

Summertime, and the living is [not] easy...

My mom loves the song "Summertime" from Porgy and Bess. However, unlike the song implies, summertime is not easy. The living is actually rather chaotic. I want The Boy to have the same happy memories of summer that I had -- swimming lessons, camping, trips. But my mom didn't work. And even though I work from home, I still work. And stuff has to be done. So I try to fit it all in.

But the fun doesn't stop there.

Josh doesn't keep any sort of a regular schedule during the summer (he just has to get his hours in), so I have NO IDEA when I'll have time to work. Add that to the fact that I've been on "babysitting standby" for my brother's three-month-old this week, and things are downright silly. It hasn't been easy, and things are shifted about constantly.

As I write this, The Boy is eating lunch and The Baby is in her carseat, drinking from a bottle propped up by a pillow (a trick I learned from Josh while he was a stay-at-home dad after The Boy was born).

So, between the realities of working from home with one (sometimes two) kids, planned trips, and various what-not sure to come up, things are a bit manic.

But at least I'm getting done what needs to be done.

For now.

The AP Doesn't Want Blogger Traffic. That's Fine. I'm Sure Reuters Would Love the Additional Traffic

As a blogger, I rely on other sources of information beyond myself. I link to others, and if I quote someone, I properly attribute it -- making it clear it's a quotation and clearing stating where I got it.

For the Associated Press, this isn't good enough. Nope. They don't even want LINKS from bloggers to their stories. Forget about quotes. (Hat tip for this information: Susan Gunelius at Marketing Blurb.)

And they've begun suing, most notably over at the Drudge Retort. Most of us bloggers, of course, don't have deep enough pockets to fight the likes of the AP.

So I say we oblige. Bloggers are becoming a force to be reckoned with. Instead of sending traffic to the Associated Press, let's send it elsewhere.

Internet ad revenue is based on traffic, and what happens if the AP doesn't get as much traffic? Right. Their revenue drops.

But I'm sure that the Associated Press can keep making money from newspapers that pay to use their wires. After all, newspapers represent the main source of information in the future, right?

Tags: bloggers, AP sues bloggers, Associated Press, blogging,
Associated Press blogging

Battle of the Bills: O'Reilly v. Moyers

This video is great (hat tip: PR Junkie). Using O'Reilly-esque tactics, one of the producers for Bill O'Reilly's show springs on Bill Moyers. This unedited footage is great. The producer repeatedly bombards Moyers about his lack of "courage" to appear on Bill O'Reilly's show. Moyers repeatedly points out that he asked O'Reilly to come on his show first, and that he would be happy to go on O'Reilly's show, provided O'Reilly accepts Moyers invitation. (Which is only fair. Moyers did issue the first invitation. And O'Reilly rarely goes anywhere where he is not in control to pummel and badger guests that disagree with him.)

THEN, the camera crew follows the producer and does the exact same thing to that producer that he has been doing to Moyers. And treats the producer to the same kind of pugilistic punditry (I would never call it journalism) that is common on Bill O'Reilly's show.




Tags: Bill O'Reilly, Bill Moyers, journalism, reporting,
producers

Do You Think Barack Obama Will Help Or Hurt The Economy?

I've posted over at Yielding Wealth: Will Barack Obama Be Good For Your Personal Finances?

Have a read and leave your thoughts. Why? Because this is something to think about. The middle class has been voting against its economic interest for years. Could it be time for a change?

Professional Blogging Roundup, June 6, 2008

It's been an eventful week. I am happy to say that I have a brand new computer, and it is significantly helping my work speed. Niiiiice. Without further ado, this week's professional blogging highlights:

1. Paying down debt as a way to boost your credit score over at LendingLeaves.
2. A rant about having to pay to see your credit score over at YieldingWealth.
3. Microfinance offers a creative way to pay for college at the AllBusiness Personal Finance Corner.

Tags: personal finance, credit score, improve credit score, pay for college,
pay down debt, debt

Helping Those Who Are "Left Behind" After the Rapture

I was going to write about John McCain and his rather, um, interesting (read: ironic, hypocritical) speech in New Orleans.

But this is better.

BoingBoing has brought to my attention a special service for the righteous who expect to be caught up in the Rapture:

You've Been Left Behind is a company that stores electronic documents for later delivery to your heathen loved ones after you get swept off to heaven during the Rapture. The idea is that there will still be time to save them too.

Additionally, it is possible to send encrypted information about bank accounts, etc. that your Left Behind relatives can use during the time between the Rapture and the End. That way the Government of the AntiChrist won't have access to it.

Nothing says "I love you" like caring for your loved ones after you have been saved from damnation.

Lego Indiana Jones

We buy very few things when they first come out. Mainly because by showing patience for a few months, we can save a great deal of money on things that we don't actually need (mostly electronics). We do this for movies -- we rarely see something in the theater. We do this for computers and TVs. And even for the PS3. (Josh had a buddy who had to get the PS3 when it came out. He paid $700 for a 20 gig. By waiting a few months, we got a 60 gig for $450 with a rebate.)

At any rate, one of the exceptions is entertaining stuff that we really like. We liked Lego Star Wars so much that we decided that we would buy Lego Indiana Jones yesterday when it came out. (We also got a movie for $5 with purchase of the game.)

While the game is fun, it isn't as fun as the Star Wars game. But it great that there is a more interactive environment, and the gameplay is smoother. But I do miss the variety of cool characters. Why would you want to be anyone but Indiana Jones?

Despite the mild letdown with Lego Indiana Jones, though, I am still looking forward to the autumn release of the Lego Batman game.

The Friend Magazine and Energy Efficient Light Bulbs

It took me forever to notice this (maybe because I haven't been looking at The Friend), but I was tickled yesterday by the fact that the light bulb in the lamp on the front cover of the May 2008 issue (illustrated by Elise Black) is an energy efficient light bulb.

Now, the LDS Church has been encouraging us to behave in an environmentally friendly manner for the better part of three decades (or more). But I was still excited to see this depiction. It sends the message that energy saving light bulbs are "normal."


Tags: energy efficient light bulbs, energy efficient, LDS Church, The Friend magazine,
environmentally friendly