Improper punctuation can be dangerous. Image from Flikr.com.

National Punctuation Day is a holiday like no other. Unlike most holidays that are invented seemingly out of the blue, National Punctuation Day wasn’t created as a business promotion.

It’s sort of like Talk Like a Pirate Day. It doesn’t make anybody any money. It doesn’t spread publicity for a business. It is simply there for people to celebrate something they love. You don’t need an unsecured personal loan or any other form of financing to celebrate National Punctuation Day.

Either you’re in, or you’re out

National Punctuation Day simply exists to encourage writers, editors, other types of wordsmiths and lovers of the printed word to celebrate properly used punctuation, rather than complaining about, correcting and berating others for incorrect punctuation. Of course, they will still do that, too. They can’t help it. But today, we celebrate as well.

You see, some humans are afflicted with a very real condition that causes them to feel extreme anxiety when they see misplaced punctuation. This may manifest itself through a physical reaction, such as tightening of the chest or gritting of the teeth. Similarly, some with this condition will go to great lengths to remove the offending punctuation from their sight or alter it if possible. Others exhibit auditory responses, such as heavy sighs, general angry noises or yelling punctuated with profanity.

Then there is everyone else — the “normal” people. They do not even notice improperly used punctuation and often misuse it themselves.

More manifestations of condition

I have a “friend” who once stopped following her acquaintance’s Twitter account because he purposely misused both “your” and “you’re” in the one tweet. He clearly does not understand the seriousness of this condition. She was so angry she decided to stop following him. She didn’t even tell him.

That friend later realized, as much as she hated to admit it, that apostrophe misuse was not worth ending a friendship over. This same friend once saw a sandwich board sign on the sidewalk that had a misplaced apostrophe. Fortunately for the business owners, the wording on the sign was made of stickers, so she simply peeled off the offending apostrophe and continued in her travels feeling relieved and lighthearted.

Celebrate National Punctuation Day

Some grammarians may choose to celebrate National Punctuation Day in this manner, correcting any improper usage of punctuation they can reach. However, many people who have the above described condition do things like this on a regular basis. The same friend who peeled the sticker off the sign once altered every copy of a poster in her favorite bar because they were missing  apostrophes.

None of these incidents happened on National Punctuation Day. Being offended, angered, saddened and irritated by incorrect punctuation is an everyday occurrence, especially as communication becomes more and more text-based, thanks to Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, text messaging and instant messaging. Thus, I think National Punctuation Day should be a day of celebrating correctly used punctuation, something we grammarians often take for granted.

Celebrating good punctuation

For instance, my friend once wrote a Facebook status that contained a semicolon. In response, one her her friends commented: “Way to go with using a semi-colon. I don’t think I could do that to save my life!”

I think this is an excellent way to celebrate National Punctuation Day. So just for today, pay extra attention to your own punctuation. Also, seek out proper usage of punctuation and give compliments, preferably in a public forum such as a Facebook wall or MySpace comments. Also visit The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks, and have a good laugh.

Click Image to See Drinks on Efusjon.com

Efusjon.com has a great energy drink and compensation plan

I am sure you’ve seen those ads for Acai Berries on your MySpace page or Facebook profile — the ones that say they can help you lose weight.

Although there isn’t a lot of evidence to support the acai berry’s weight-loss promotion, there is no argument that the berry is rich in antioxidants, which promote overall health.

The Efusjon Energy Club, at www.efusjon.com, has harnessed the power of the Acai Berry to promote “healthy bodies and healthy incomes.”

Healthy incomes? Tell me more …

Efusjon.com tweaks sales model

At first glance, the Efusjon Energy Club structure might look like a traditional pyramid sales model, but that’s not really the case.

Efusjon.com says:

Our “Community Overlap” plan rewards you not only for your efforts and your organization’s efforts, but even for the efforts of people beside you and above you! With overlapping support from active Associates from the left, the right and above your organization, you can get paid for the efforts of people completely unaffiliated with you.

So, basically the idea is to make more money for less work. The network marketing structure further breaks away from the pyramid model because once you have signed up three other people, that’s it. No more trying to sign people up. However, your income will still continue to grow.

Pay structure

Like any retail business, it does cost money to get it going. The initial startup cost is $120 to get the first order of energy drinks. You then sell your drinks through a web site and collect the profits. Of course the real way to make money is to recruit other distributors. Efusjon.com says:

• Once you have enrolled 3 people as an efusjon energy club Associate, you will be promoted to an Executive. As an Executive you will receive 4.25% of total sales volume for each active, personally enrolled Associate and your personally enrolled Associate’s down lines every month. As your organization grows, so does your income. (See Compensation Plan)
• Add to that the efusjon energy club “Community Overlap” (where you are able to receive 1% of the total sales volume for each Associate enrolled by others that overlap into your community matrix) and you have the potential to increase your income dramatically.

No free paycheck

Making money, of course, takes work. One distributor in Milwaukee explains: “In order to make money at this, you will need to possess sales and networking skills.”

However, if you’ve got the chops for it, now is the best time to get started. To learn more about how to make money selling acai berry energy drinks through the Efusjon Energy Drink company, check out efusjon.com.

Owen Van Natta

This week, social networking giant MySpace eliminated 30 percent of its workforce. Who knew the once-biggest, most well-known and first “major” social networking site would fall victim to the economy?

Perhaps it doesn’t have anything to do with the economy. Maybe the company really did just want to return to a “startup culture” and “restore an environment of innovation,” like MySpace executive Owen Van Natta told the New York Times. Or maybe it was something else.

Facebook is in your face

Facebook crept up on MySpace a bit, I think. It started off only allowing college students to join. Then it allowed high schoolers. Ever since it opened the floodgates to a “come one, come all” guest list, there’s no doubt it has overtaken a huge share of the social networking market. Though Facebook can be used for marketing things like online payday loans, it is mostly a quick, easy way to connect with and keep up with friends, acquaintances and business contacts.

For a while, it seemed everyone had a Facebook account and a MySpace account. As applications and features and news feeds made Facebook a downright addiction for most users, MySpace lost its luster for many. It just doesn’t have the slick design, speedy application downloads and overall classiness that Facebook seems to exude.

He knows the trade

Interestingly, the man who now runs MySpace, Owen Van Natta, used to be an executive for Facebook. At least he has some experience in the field. It seems a little shady that just two months after Van Natta was hired by News Corporation to run MySpace he announced a 30 percent reduction in workforce.

But, business is business. If he already worked for the seemingly more successful social networking giant, he must know a little about the job.

“I understand that these changes are painful for many. They are also necessary for the long-term health and culture of MySpace. Our intent is to return to an environment of innovation that is centered on our user and our product.”

By the numbers

MySpace now has fewer than 1,000 employees. According to the New York Times, Facebook matches MySpace traffic in the United States even though MySpace still has more members:

According to comScore, Facebook recently matched MySpace in traffic in the United States — the one country where MySpace, with 70 million members, still had an advantage.

That statistic doesn’t surprise me at all. Think of all of those MySpace accounts that say “last login 2005.” You know, the ones who are only friends with Tom? If you don’t know what I’m talking about, head to MySpace and just start searching random common names.

More from MySpace

Jonathan Miller, chief executive of Digital Media for News Corporation, which owns MySpace, had some things to say about the big layoffs:

“MySpace grew too big considering the realities of today’s marketplace. I believe this restructuring will help MySpace operate much more effectively both structurally and financially moving forward. I am confident in MySpace’s next phase under the leadership of Owen and his team.”

A Twitter account can be likened to the power of a credit card, everybody seems to have one, and more people are inquiring about getting one. The enormous interest garnered in this simply designed and basic functioning system is mind-boggling. So many of my friends, who haven’t visited Twitter have been talking about it, asking me questions, and making excuses as to why they aren’t quite sure about its effectiveness.

A Few Nice, Easy Stats

In the first 30 minutes that I signed up to Twitter, I had 9 people following me. As far as networking goes, Twitter seems to be on the same level as MySpace, and even YouTube.

These websites allow average Joes to make an impact within cyberspace. Product awareness and public relations in regards to services offered can boost clientele tremendously for a starting or existing business or home based entity.

Fun Benefits

In most cases, it’s just relaxing and fun to be surrounded by fellow friends, who are making it a daily goal to enjoy themselves while marketing their products or services. To visit a celebrity’s Twitter page, and see that another popular celebrity has left a Tweet just sends chills up your spine. I’m sure that individuals who’ve had an account for over 2 months have tired of the constant craze of celebrity users, but a newbie is bound to be star struck within the first few minutes!

Professional Benefits

There are professional benefits to setting up and using a Twitter account: You develop a following. How great is that? Hundreds, if not thousands, of people will know what you are doing each second of your life, simply because you’ve added an update to your profile. Concert events, sales dates, and product launches are all sure to receive some recognition based on the quantity of members following your Twitter account.

Too Much Play & No Work

For business owners, and even celebrities and experts, I believe that the line between playing and working can get confusing. The beautiful thing about using a self PR system as powerful as Twitter is that you can jump-start any project with a tad bit on networking savvy.

Let’s face it, some of the most popular Twitter accounts have updates consisting of celebrities stating when they’re going to the studio, eating lunch, or playing with their dogs. Of course, a non-celebrity Twitter user will have to embed more pertinent information in their Tweet updates, but the leverage one receives from utilizing a Twitter account is awesome. I don’t see many successful Twitter users applying for cash advance loans, but they are using their credit cards without fear or hesitation.

A Plan

Knowing when and how you’ll use your Twitter account is vital to your success. Try and follow other people’s accounts and get an idea of what the system entails. There are plenty of creative ways you can promote an event, non-profit or for profit, a cause, or a service and attract many more followers in your pursuit to engage future clients in networking with you.

Though this is the last selling point I’ll use within my article, owning a Twitter account is free, so you don’t even have to use your credit card information to sign up. What could be better than developing friends and having a grass roots PR system working on your behalf to strengthen your position in the market? Plus, you’ll have a great time while signed in to your account.

There is a whole lot of money to be made in the music industry, and young Justin Bieber just might be in line to get a piece of it. Famous R&B singer, actor and recording artist Usher discovered the 15-year-old singer, and Usher’s phenomenal popularity will likely be enough to drive this teen to the top in no time.

Album release on the way

Justin Bieber’s career has taken off quickly, and it’s no wonder considering Usher has been quoted saying “He’s definitely a priority for me and Island Def Jam.”

The vocalist and musician already has a single, “One Time,” which you can listen to on Justin Bieber’s MySpace page. Island Def Jam plans to release his album, to be titled “My Way,” later this year.

Moneymaking machine

Usher’s popularity guarantees that he’ll never need a payday loan. In fact, he should probably be handing out personal loans and debt relief to the rest of us. Usher’s second album, “My Way,” went multi-platinum. The single from that album, “You Make Me Wanna,” hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts.

His popularity has only gone up since then. According to Wikipedia:

Usher won a Grammy for ‘Best Male R&B Vocal Performance’ for “U Remind Me”. The next year, he won the same award for “U Don’t Have to Call,” making Usher the only artist aside from Luther Vandross and Stevie Wonder to win this award consecutively.

Following footsteps

Justin Bieber’s budding career very closely mirrors Usher’s beginnings. Bieber took second place in a local singing competition when he was 13. Videos of his performance were posted on YouTube, and former So So Def marketing executive Scooter Braun discovered them. Braun is now Bieber’s agent.

Usher competed on Star Search when he was 13. That’s how an A&R representative discovered him and set up an audition for him with L.A. Reid, co-founder of LaFace. Usher released his first album when he was 16, about the same age Bieber is as he anticipates his record release this year.

A little help from his friends

Sean “Diddy” Combs produced Usher’s first album, which sold more than 500,000 copies. The album, “Usher,” made the top 25 on Billboard.

With Usher’s help, Justin Bieber is destined to be another instant success.

(CLICK HERE if you missed the beginning of this article)

For $10 per month, My Mobile Watchdog and programs like it document SMS messages and other data sent via smart phones that can be used in court in cases of predation. Hardly personal loan or credit card material, right? It can also prompt your children to lose trust in you and faith in themselves. Why? Let’s put it this way: How many of you parents out there will abstain from reading your kids’ messages? Just this side of none. If you’re shaking your head, you’re kidding yourself.

But let’s wipe the ire from our slickers for a moment and see how this might be good. Once a child’s phone is equipped with the software, a list of safe contacts is created. Only those are allowed to message the minor’s phone. All activity is stored in an online file parents can view to their lurid pleasure later. Oops, sorry… I’ll try to hold my opinions in check.

Nope, can’t do it

Give your children your time and your love from the very beginning. Nothing is more important. Not a career, not religion, not beer-soaked entertainment – nothing. Teach them. If they know you love and trust them, they will be well on their way to becoming stable, loving people who make appropriate decisions for themselves. I’m not saying this is easy. I’m saying you must fight the good fight and be emotionally available to your kids.

If you want to understand why this is important, here is a fantastic book to consider. Throw in some Dr. Sears (minus the ideas that are clearly influenced by dogma) and you may just learn something.

Now back to our program

Keep in mind that if you have an iPhone, My Mobile Watchdog may or may not keep track of everything that a child does on social networks like MySpace and Facebook. And if you have a tech-savvy child, there may be ways around the “security.”

Also consider that this service could be considered digital eavesdropping. Then think about whether you share the opinions of one North Carolina mother and business owner who was quoted in Pontz’s article. Interestingly, she asked that her name not be disclosed…

I monitor my employees at the workplace. And this is my son. So to me it’s not like I’m wiretapping him. Besides, privacy in my house is earned.

Earned, huh? Hope your son likes your regime, madame. For me, privacy is a human right. Engender trust and teach your children out of love. The “guilty until proven innocent” road America has been headed down will lead it straight off a cliff.

Related Video:

Everybody does it online. But few will do it as annoyingly as TheFoxNation.com. CLICK HERE if you missed part one of this article or you need a cash advance to buy child safety software to block FoxNation.com from your browser.

Seriously. The community forum Fox Nation intends to offer may be a haven for conservatives who need to vent their frustration over increasing liberalism in America, but it certainly won’t be therapeutic. The world outside is liberal socialism, Fox Nation. Strap yourself down for a bumpy ride.

Title

Apparently inspired by Facebook’s drive to infringe upon the privacy of its users past and present, Fox Nation wants to connect with its faithful via online social media. This comes as no surprise, considering that Rupert Murdoch owns MySpace.  Columns, blogs and videos from fair and balanced talking heads like Bill O’Reilly, Greta Van Susteren and Sean Hannity are intended to tie it all together.

“I don’t think this is going to be limited to die-hard Fox News fans,” said Cheatwood. I beg to differ, sir. According to reports, FoxNews.com trails far behind MSNBC.com (41 million visitors in February 2009) and CNN.com (36 million). Your 16 million gives me and the rest of the world a clear indication that only die-hard fans care.

A liberal response?

Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post is making moves of her own. She is teaming with Atlantic Philanthropies to launch a “$1.75 million investigative fund” to hire 10 reporters. According to the Washington Post, the focus of this investigative team will be the economy -  for now.

Atlantic’s aim is “bringing about lasting changes in the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable people,” which includes journalists. Huffington said in a statement that “the importance of investigative journalism cannot be overstated — especially during our tumultuous times.” Project head Nick Penniman told the Associated Press: “We care about democracy, not Democrats.”

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What happens on Facebook, Stays on Facebook?

Think again.

A new phenomenon is sweeping the world and once again it’s thanks to the internet. According to a leading global headhunter, online social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, to name just two – and known as a person’s “network reputation” or “net-rep” – are becoming almost as important as one’s Curriculum Vitae and employment references.

Don’t end up naked in front of the whole world

Debbie, the managing director of and executive headhunting outfit, says a person’s online profile, possibly featuring risqué happy snaps and other professionally inappropriate bits of information, has the potential to extinguish that big corporate job you may be rooting for.

Even outside the headhunting profession, ‘googling a person’ can bring surprising results especially through his or her entries in Facebook and MySpace.

Fix your profile

“Cyber-vetting” is an easy way to find out more about potential employees and/or the girl you met at a party. I have edited the profiles I hung up in those sites more than once when I wanted a particular person or company to see more or less of me. And I am very careful about putting up any photographs. Pictures show how old you are! But, as many hopefuls have found out on dating sites, the photo doesn’t always belong to the candidate. Anyone can look like George Clooney!

There’s more…

Recruiters have learned to cyber-vet potential candidates either to find confirmation that the job seeker is in fact the expert in the field they claim to be, or to access other general details. A rather frightening truth about the Internet is that whatever is posted generally stays there. How does one remove an old posting from the web?

An angry ex-girlfriend’s blog outburst or an innocently posted revealing photograph that may have found its way onto Flickr or Facebook is potentially trouble. Once it’s out there, it’s there to stay and it will be accessible indefinitely. All of this may appear next to professional endorsements and expert commentary that the job seeker has been cited for, providing a view of a candidate that is much more ‘revealing’ than one might desire in the professional context.

It may also show the candidate to be the expert he claims to be or an absolute fake. It’s easy to flip through a person’s personal pages and put together a perception of the candidate which may not be entirely accurate, depending on what’s accessible.

It’s not harmless fun

People regard networking sites as harmless fun, but you should be very aware of what you and your friends post onto public spaces on the Internet. Anyone and everyone can see them and there are criminals out there who use computers.

From a corporate perspective, the information can be quite detrimental as clients or employers could become privy to images of alcohol abuse, a lack of respect for one’s job or colleagues, or other evidence of inappropriate activities that don’t fit the ethics of the company.

Is your boss a computer freak?

If he is, remember that there is nothing to stop your current employer from conducting a little ‘cyber investigation’ of their own. Take control over what you put out there.

Companies are getting creative, too. As I scoured the internet today in search of some unexpected tidbits in the midst of all the expected headlines, here are some things I found.

A vacation from getting paid

Newspapers across the country are facing declines in advertising revenue, rising costs for printing and dropping circulation numbers. Most papers have responded to this by laying off employees, cutting sections and reorganizing their business models.

But one of the largest newspaper conglomerates in the country, Gannett Inc., has come up with an idea that I think is, quite frankly, brilliant. The company is ordering all employees to take a week of unpaid leave this quarter. This edict applies to everyone, from part-time workers to the CEO.

Like most newspapers, Gannett went through extensive layoffs last year. I highly doubt you will hear grumbling from employees if one week without pay means they get to keep their jobs. Because they will still be officially employed, employees can always get payday loans if an emergency comes up.

Going green to the extreme

There has been a lot of advice out there on how to save money on groceries and food in general. We’ve all heard about cutting coupons, buying in bulk, cutting out restaurants and investing in basic staples.

One commenter on a MySpace money forum reminded me that buying canned fruits and vegetables instead of fresh ones saves money. This makes sense because you don’t run the risk of produce going bad and ending up a waste of money.

Another MySpace poster brought up an idea that I honestly had never thought of. “Buy books on foraging!” he urged. It sounds a little extreme, but a quick search of books on Amazon revealed that there are indeed many books out there on how to identify wild plants that are safe to eat. They even have instructions for how to prepare them. Some of these books were as little as $8.

School of scavenging

Another idea occurred to me as I was reading posts by starving college students. Web sites geared toward young people attending school are all over the place and have been around for years. The starving student is a master of frugality.

The same advice aimed at individuals looking to be able to buy text books as well as Ramen Noodles can apply to families and individuals who are out of work or just plumb out of luck. I Googled “money saving tips for college” and got 14.5 million hits. You’re bound to find some applicable information in one of them.

Misery loves company

Many of us are struggling to keep our budgets and our debts under control. In times like this, it can be humbling to read about people who are going through — or have gone through — worse. Thus, I leave you with a collection of quotes from a MySpace forum titled “What Was The Poorest Moment in Your Life?”

“I remember asking the gas station attendant to pump a dollar in gas for me and I paid him with quarters.” – So Fly

“Eating condiment packages from McDonald’s,” – MG Sales.

“I invented … chili with tomato paste and corn, taco seasoning and baked beans,” -spam

My favorite “poor” story:

“My poorest moment was at a Korean store … I was short just 12cents for a can of Similac for my son. … I asked a person there if he could let me 12cents and I promise to give him back – (he) said no. Then I asked a man (homeless) that always hang-out around the store there and he gave me the 12cents. I treated him to Zippy’s 1/2hr later, gave him $50, and Thanked him!”

Just goes to show you can find help and hope in the most unexpected places. There also seems to be the message there that if you share what little you do have you’ll be rewarded.

This article was provided by your payday loans source.

According to Compete.com, average stay is an engagement metric. Going beyond the traditional measuring statistic of Web site effectiveness – page views – PersonalMoneyStore.com brings in users and keeps them interested in the large variety of financial information the Web site has to offer.

Keep in mind, average stay can be interpreted in different ways. For instance, a content-based site like MySpace will strive to keep people on their site as long as possible. Alternatively, search engines like Google will want to help their users find what they want quickly. For the latter, then, long stays aren’t necessarily desirable, as they could indicate that the search engine is cluttered and/or inefficient.

For a content-based financial Web site like Personal Money Store, the significant advantage of longer average user stay grants users greater opportunity to move from article to article, learning more about financial matters of interest to them. For the business itself, it also increases the potential that customers will be converted into sales of their affiliated products and payday loans.

What is “Sexting”?

You know your kids use text messaging to communicate with their circle of friends.

Sexting Experts

Instead of passing notes like when you were in school, kids these days send text messages. Unlike the notes of your childhood, which were mostly harmless, the text messages kids are sending each other are extremely explicit. The newest teenage technology trend is sex texting, better known as “sexting.” Teens are sending sexually explicit messages to each other. With the camera capabilities now built-in to most cell phones, adolescents across the country are also sending nude photos of themselves to their peers.

The Sexting Appeal

To teens, sexting is just another way to flirt with the opposite sex. Unfortunately, the line between flirtatious and salacious is quickly crossed. If teens thought sexting was a big deal, they would be much less likely to do it. The problem is that teenagers are attracted to the false sense of security offered by text messaging. The average sexter assumes her dirty message or revealing photo is only going to be seen by one person–the recipient. What kids don’t understand is the rate at which that photo can be shared. A nude photo can be forwarded to hundreds of people or even uploaded to the Internet on their peer’s MySpace page.

OMG! Naked Cheerleaders

The most recent sexting incident in the news involves high school cheerleaders from the state of Washington. Two cheerleaders from the Bothell High School Cheer Squad were suspending from the squad for sexting nude photos of themselves to their boyfriends. The school and the school district learned of the pictures in August. One of the pictures was taken over three years ago. The parents of these cheerleaders are now suing the school district for mishandling the photos. Anyway, the photos that those two girls thought were harmless and private, found their way into the hands of the school district, and ended up in suspension. Hopefully, those Bothell High cheerleaders learned their lesson, and hopefully, teens across America will begin to realize that texting is not as harmless as it seems. Not only is sending nude photos inappropriate, those photos can and will find a way to resurface and haunt you when you least expect it.

Vanessa Williams’ Resignation as Miss America

It was a long time ago, but everyone remembers Vanessa Williams. Now a successful actress and singer, Vanessa Williams was a pageant girl in her younger years. In 1983, Vanessa Williams was crowned as the

first African American Miss America. Ten months into Williams’ reign as Miss America, nude photos she had taken prior to the pageant resurfaced. Long story short: Penthouse magazine published the nude photos of Williams without her consent, and Williams resigned as Miss America. The photos that Vanessa Williams thought were harmless and private came back to haunt her and cost her the title of Miss America.

The Pros and Cons of Technology

Vanessa Williams learned a valuable lesson that year—a lesson that the young kids of America need to pay attention to. The children of America have limitless potential, and it would be a shame if expllicit photos came back to haunt them and rob them of their dreams, because those photos are not harmless and private. Controlling your children and their use of technology is a daunting task. In that sense, technology is a menace. However, technology has also come so far along that you can call or apply online for no fax payday loans, and you can have money electronically wired to your bank account when you need it most. Technology has made it a dangerous world for our children, but it has also added conveniences to our lives like getting hassle-free no fax payday loans.