MooPig Site Review :: "Reality Sandwich Social Network"

[Picture LINK] ... an Alex Grey blog...

Reality Sandwich | Evolving consciousness, bite by bite.:

'via Blog this'

I think it is an attempt to give the Internet some meaning. That meaning of course some "class." I don't think the Internet needs anything except freedom to expand, but many who are learned and full of cosmic depth look harder into the goings on of the Net. Hooray for them.

Reality Sandwich plies through gregarious philosophers' contributions, I think, mostly in search of transcendental thought. If this part of the Internet, that is Transcendence, is to exist for us all, it will pop out of this site and other ones like it.

Reality Sandwich uses the social network aspect of the net, collaborative blogging, to find relevance. It can hamper others in some creative acts though. It can become hyper critical of budding creations in the Internet vine of worthiness.

Being grafted into the vine of learning that is the Internet, after all it is 12,000 years of human information and codex's at your finger tips, is to be grafted into that root. The Internet is then a means, not an end. Gathering one's correlations into a site is the gift Reality Sandwich brings.

Reap what is sown in the Internet, oh friends of mine, and be ever swelled up in infinite knowledge.



____________________Reference
http://www.realitysandwich.com/
http://cosm.typepad.com/cosm_blog/page/9/ 

Each a Guardian for One Another

By Patrick Darnell 3/5/2007
Developing Successful Customer Service Plan

Rendering the Grit in Integrity

Introduction
‘I am guessing’ many of the workers at Studio Productions each have a favorite customer service story. I surmise that some parts of situations in each story were not resolved to a satisfactory conclusion. Also, workers in attempt to make the situation cost effective, found that he or she ran out of time, and had to move on to pressing job tickets (Verghis; 2007, para).


Moreover, ‘I will bet many feel a good deal of frustration’ about their jobs these days. That’s a common problem among service and support executives: You are the supposed voice of the customer. Traditionally you oversee a key area of operations, and you ‘hit regularly home runs’ on your Sales/ Service group’s performance metrics. But when big decisions are made, no one listens to you. No one seems to give a hoot. If that’s a problem you’d like to take action to solve, some group evaluations can help.

I realize this letter can only take you partway on a journey toward greater respect and influence for evaluating the customer in us all. Therefore the following is in response to the commonality aspects of ‘learning to serve each other, will evolve into better serving our customers’ (Verghis; 2007, para).

Discussion: Making it Policy
How to make others in the company able to relate to duty of customer service is to encourage others to believe in the commitment of company-wide service obligations. Commitments to each other, as well as to customers: this is the question.

Frontline personnel and managers earn the right to demand respect for their customer service support operations. CS Support organizations in ‘high technology firms and academia provide excellent benchmarks of improved customer service, efficient cyber Servicescapes, and respectable cost savings.’ For others, as has been illuminated for me, it does not take me long to find that integrity and gumption go hand in hand. To succeed, we will have made people we work with, outside our Sales/Service team, listen and take our efforts seriously (Verghis; 2007, para).

The frontline is the decision-makers for what works and what doesn't work in becoming a persuasive advocate for our customers and for our staff. For instance a recent movie/docudrama, The Guardian, features the work of the US Coast Guard. In the end notes special features, one of the real life rescue swimmers who worked in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans said something very pertinent to our situation.

As shown in this DVD special feature, the Coast Guard rescuers receive training that is from top to bottom modal. Modal is a term meaning progressive actions taken respectively while deciding what it takes to successfully save a destitute person. Training in context of knowledge, belief, and obligation, more simply, the rescue mission is made of step-by-step progressive actions to limit probability of failure. Many rescuers claim after the training the tasks of rescuing start to materialize naturally. However, failure to rescue a victim comes when one or more of the elements of rescue dynamics breaks down or is deleted.

Discussion: Knowledge, Belief, Obligation
The rescuer said that she was rushed in to Louisiana, and ‘did not know her team mates in the helicopters over New Orleans.’ She did not even have time to ‘review procedures with the pilots, flight mechanic, or ground support personnel.’ Thrown into the aftermath of multi-survivor scenario, she went through each air-to-ground rescue with unfamiliar team-mates. By using the procedure so ingrained in training of all rescue personnel in context of low probability failure, she said each element of each rescue could be carried out with confidence.’ Could this knowledge benefit SPInc in developing their new century CS paradigm? (The Guardian; 2006, para)

The US Coast Guard is a service organization with its contingency strongly believing in their obligation to serve, protect and save. The customer is I and you, in the event of helplessness to save ourselves. “Rescue swimmers often encounter survivors who are confused and scared. Their flailing arms and legs can be dangerous. [Rescues Swimmers] develop ‘Techniques’ to defend against inadvertent attacks while helping subdue victims in need of rescue” (The Guardian; 2006, para).

Though, much less dramatic, employees and customers of Studio Productions often need rescuing. Without superior customer service procedure as policy with the guard-rails learned in tough training, you the employee and your customer likely would suffer untold horrors. Why? The hope of being rescued when you are destitute is supplanted with terror that maybe the rescuer is incapable. When you see the first-hand failure of the rescue procedure, there is tension, anxiety and fear.

Internally displaced antagonized employees circulating around Studio Productions are no different from the needy dependents saved by the Coast Guard.

If we are to improve Service in the company, our jobs as managers no longer allow us the refuge of doing the front counter tasks. Rather we managers now support our frontline workers by supplying all the experience, information and knowledge they need for successful, decisive, efficient customer co-relational service. The first item on our agenda should be to hold a caucus on substantiating Customer Service Modeling: “The Customer Service Model... Customers... Strategy... Systems... People” for the new millennia (Swartzlander, Anne; 2004 para)

Studio Productions does not need simply an extra motivational event. We will have made a scalable plan to have in-house workshops that are interactive, often intense, experiential events. Group discussions will be guided in clear focus of practical, hands-on problems that frontline personnel, managers and Studio Production’s executives face every day. The stage will have been set to encourage internal support for our obligation to serve our customers fittingly:

• Tactics and insights that will make for a more effective frontline leadership
• Emphasis in ways to earn more respect from each other
• Examples of ‘When’ do we all need to be more aggressive and pound the table?
• Real influence comes from real accomplishments
• By the end of the day, a notebook filled with ways to make every aspect of Studio Productions noticeably better (Ingram, T N and Assoc; 2006, para)

Conclusion
Customer Service at Studio Productions is not a failure today; it just doesn’t work anymore in our modern multi-task business environment. In context of addressing internal customer service policy changes, I have heard some comments already making rounds in the corridors of Studio Production’s:

“Excellent. It validates some things I was thinking about. Some things I am already doing. But more importantly it inspired me about some new directions, and even some cost saving ideas.”

“How do we make it easy for us [employees] to understand concepts that may take us beyond comfort zones?”

“I want pithy presentations, loads of interactive pushy exercises, questions, and shared ideas. I feel it is needed to re-think and re-tool our present approaches and methods.”

“Very real world examples, is necessary to start communication, style and content well-targeted for this group.”

“I have written down many notes and many Personal Action Plans to share with others.”

“Reminds me of the longest running TV show in England BBC’s ‘Are you being served?’” (Verghis; 2007, para)

I am confident real-world stories and world of work real-life cases will continue to capture the mind’s eye of the entire work-force. Trusting in the frontline workers' ideas and imagination is added value, because minds are at maximum exertion at Studio Productions. I sincerely hope we all join in and have extended discussions with each other adding to our customer service knowledge base. Each worker has pertinent momentous feedback about our toughest career issues, and work-a-day customers who we toil with. Let’s take advantage of our good fortune.

References
CTU (2006) Colorado Technical University Online, MKT430-0701B-03 Course Materials, retrieved February 28, 2007 from Mainframe Content Frame
Guardian, the; (2007) Walt Disney Internet Group, WDIG, A- School, intense five week training program for Coast Guard rescue swimmers, retrieved 3/07; video movies go the guardian
Hussey, Gardner, (February 28, 2007, 3:27:33 PM) Personal Selling and Customer Focus, of Studio Productions... Customers Perceptions, retrieved 3/5/07, Week 1 Live Chat Session 1 Personal Selling and Customer Focus ppt
Ingram, T N and Assoc (2006) Professional selling: a trust-based approach, 3rd Ed, Australia: Thomson South-Western
Swartzlander, Anne; (2004) Serving Internal and External Customers, 1st Ed, 2004, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ
Verghis, Phil (2007) the Verghis Group, All rights reserved, Retrieved 3/4/2007; verghisgroup workshop clid, www philverghis, the Ultimate customer Support Executive, Unleash the power of their customer Aug/2005

GI, Going International

By Patrick Darnell
Your presentations were very well received. Yet, having no previous work experience with moving into international markets, you think it might be best to contract with an external service to research international markets. In the discussion board, meet with your marketing team and discuss the following challenges ahead of you. (CTU, Task Detail; Dec 2006). Consider and discuss the following:

Title: Going International, GI (SAP; 06/01)

1. What are the key considerations in choosing such a partner?
Key consideration: Is it profitable and will it add value?
Most USA based companies go forward in international markets because costs of materials, components, assemblies and real estate often is less than in US. In JavaJoy desire is to “look” at international opportunities and risks. Could it turn out that the firm has a high “ratio of outsourcing?”
Paul Strassman says, “A company’s outsourcing ratio [is] defined as purchases divided by sales...” The worksheet Strassman provides “only indirectly computes amounts a company purchases.” For most company decisions to Going International, GI, effort is related to “basis for decreasing taxation” liabilities (Strassman, Paul A; March 2005).
Without more contextual information, reasons for owner Hank Sanchez’s brainstorm to go international is assumed to “add value via tax savings... and that includes payroll, depreciation, cost of interest and taxes, plus all profits”(Strassman, Paul A; March 2005).
2. What would you expect of them?
Key consideration: “What portion of its internal business controls” is JavaJoy willing to give up for international growth (Para. Strassman; March 2005)?
Strassman warns “Unfortunately, none of generally accepted accounting or financial reports reveals how much a company has placed its business functions in hands of suppliers.” I find international expansion to be a natural evolution for JavaJoy GI. I also believe there are numerous suitors vying for opportunity to share in risks, costs and profits of the coffee brewer.
Would the future partner be very willing to divulge annual expenses and its debt or litigation, in transparency as known in negotiations? Transparency on JavaJoy’s side is “labor and directly related expenses, depreciation costs, interest costs, non-op costs minus expenses, special income, subtracted losses, income taxes, and other income” (Strassman, Paul A; March 2005).
Costs divided into the net sales will give a ratio: if it exceeds 50% the ratio will have meant JavaJoy GI releasing greater portions of control to suppliers international or otherwise.
Determination by using risk aversion ratios is the best way to approach an outsourcing market research partner. It will set the grammar of negotiations when expectations are reviewed with prospects.
3. How would you go about finding such a partner?
Key Consideration: Where does coffee come from?
The “innovations in global commerce have lowered costs and expanded the reach of purchasing transactions” means JavaJoy GI probably has already trans-national pipelines (Strassman, Paul A; March 2005).
Chief Information Officers are key personnel for deciding on an international research partner. Innovation in information technology is a major indicator for merging with any other company. To be a “strategic” partnership, JavaJoy GI will be obliged to look at costs of “intra-organizational matters from those that deal with suppliers to customers” (Strassman, Paul A; March 2005).
Once biggest and best, and most efficient supplier is found, JavaJoy has opportunity to find out if they are involved in international market research or have it in their sights. Outsourcing market research is a very good item for opening up vertical markets with their new prospect. Also cost reductions can be realized as the relationship becomes more transparent.
4. What would your selection criteria be?
Key consideration: So far high price of JavaJoy Inc products has limited growth.
“The JavaJoy product line is very well known and highly respected in coffee industry but, due to its high price JavaJoy has had limited success” (CTU, Task Detail, 2006). Selection for a GI partner is based on the vision statement Hank Sanchez, JavaJoy Owner, has developed. Marketing forecasts will have included research into these categories:
· Company must grow
· How can this growth be accomplished
· What are possible alternative approaches
· Which are best strategy/ approach
· What growth can be anticipated
· What are threats to growth
Moreover, ultimate decisions concerning “how to grow” constitute strategic planning; providing accurate and timely information, and supporting strategic planning process. To provide the answers, the potential partner must appear willing and able to provide and deploy control for gathered data and developed information about:
· Current market size
· Growth potential
· Buying habits
· Distribution channels
· Competition
· Cultural diversity
· Costs versus added value
5. Is marketing research process you have learned applicable partly or wholly in this JavaJoy GI effort?
Key Consideration: With his new market growth vision as the driver, Hank wants to “recast his 5-year strategy to take advantage of expanding markets,” and has decided international incursion is a remedy (CTU, Task Detail; Dec 2006).
Discussion: Learn > Plan > Deploy
Learn >> we have been learning frameworks of market research, and those lessons will provide structure to facilitate as we search for an international research partner. The firm is not looking for another middleman partner, as JavaJoy GI is already high priced. The method then is in applying what has been learned to what will be international strategic planning with all contingency. Define general research areas as primary and secondary. Qualify proposed questions for each area with qualitative research. Apply 6 stages of the marketing research process in extensive research.
Plan >> Clarifying the Research Question ~ Proposing Research ~ Designing the Research Project ~ Data Collection and Preparation ~ Data Analysis and Interpretation ~ Reporting the Results ~ (Cooper & Schindler, 2006, p. 86)
· Can JavaJoy survive in international high-end coffee brewing markets?
· What are trends in coffee consumption?
· How will competition measure up in international markets?
Deploy >> thus, JavaJoy GI will have found a partner who will have capacity in delivering:
• Product acceptance
• Coffee consumption
• Competition
• Regional analysis
• Global partnerships
• Financial
Marketing campaigns
• Primary Research
• Secondary Research
• Qualitative Research
• Quantitative Research
• International Research Companies
• e-commerce transactions
• Automated marketing campaigns
• Full reporting capabilities
• Surveys
• Interviews
• Internet Research
• Analyze
• Reduce
• Interpret
• Develop Website Catalog
• Recommend (CTU, DB; Dec 2006)
6. Is it more cost effective to do research yourself?
Key Consideration: Core Competency of JavaJoy Inc...
“Because of the ease of use of [International Financial Reporting Standards, IFRS] software, even students who lack technical expertise can work with the system in a structured way, and I can finally concentrate on my core competence as a physician, says Gerhard Polak, Manager and Publisher, on Going International”(SAP; 06/01).
JavaJoy GI can learn from every GI industry some fundamental lesson. JavaJoy is not an international marketing firm. Historically, JavaJoy takes bean and grinds and brews it to perfection.
I am certain that rummaging around for a suitor to partner up with is the only answer that will have most positive impact toward implementing growth and expansion visions of Hank Sanchez and JavaJoy GI.
Once its immediate business-system needs are satisfied, JavaJoy GI will investigate additional ways in which it can benefit from hiring consulting groups. The result will be praises for its professionalism and responsiveness to global outsourcing. JavaJoy GI will continue in its role as partner exploring how the solution can further improve its global markets doing business overseas.

References

Cooper, D and Schindler, P; (2006) Marketing Research New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies

CTU Online, (Dec 2006) Small Group Discussion Board, MKT350-0604B-03, JavaJoy Inc

CTU Online, (Dec 2006) Task detail, MKT350-0604B-03, JavaJoy Inc

SAP 50 077 808; (06/01) GOING INTERNATIONAL Business One Promotes Medical Training, sap com contact sap

Strassman, Paul A; (March 2005) Outsourcing: what ratio is right, Baseline, 2001-2006 Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc, baseline mag international

RiskStorming
By Patrick Darnell
11/19/2006 Managing Project Risk and Opportunities

Introduction

According to Kotter and Cohen, “Sending clear, credible, and heartfelt messages about the direction of change [is].... Establishing genuine gut-level buy-in that shows up in how people act. Use of words, deeds, and new technologies to unclog communication channels [will have prevailed to] overcome confusion and distrust” (2002).
Project management is a liaison career, where the Project Manager is collecting information from stakeholders in the company he represents, and translating that into tasks to assign his subordinates and contractors to execute and take a project to completion. As projects roll along, the informed PM is responsible to inform his customer who hired his company in first place of how things are going. Customers will have suggestions, and upgrades, and second thoughts for pieces to drop and parts to add. Essentially, stakeholders will have last word input as to what fits core competency of their own company.
There is complexity to measure. It is implicit value our Project Manager adds as leader in his or her ability to handle divergence of strategies and risks. All core focus topics, including risk, are augmented by weighing and learning of the Project Manager. Thereby, the endorsed role, of Project Manager in charge of reserves of information to be doled out to various involved groups, is well defined.
Even when the Project Manager “brings up risk management and sees questioning looks in [the] eyes” of his project team members; his project knowledge intuition tells him that “all will soon realize that risk management means different things to different people” (Task Detail; 2006).
This discussion paper tries to pull together several layers of very comprehensive and lengthy bodies of information, to summarize the blending of many secondary resources for reason of illuminating some of the thinking behind management of risk.
Anticipating Risks
George Jucan in his review of PMBOK Third Edition “provides a comprehensive classification through knowledge area definitions.” This is useful because “...One of the main reasons to estimate project complexity is to be able to compare projects” (Jucan; June 21, 2006). For example:
In some cases, maybe the human resources aspect of the project needs special attention because of high turnover or labor unrest in the specific department. For fixed-price projects, maybe the cost dimension is more important, while the first project for a new customer might have an increased focus on scope management to fully satisfy the client (Jucan; June 21, 2006).
Project Manager’s role in defined terms is; he will be able to “summarize the above considerations, and apply [to] project complexity ...as project integration management [using] indicators that:”
· Consolidate indicators of other eight knowledge areas: scope, time, cost, quality, human resources, communication, and procurement.
· Ask: Is it objective at organization level, to be valid for any undertaken project?
· Ask: Is it subjective at project level, to account for the unique characteristics of each project? (Jucan; June 21, 2006)
Chapter Eleven of the Project Management Body of Knowledge, PMBOK, identifies risk management as one of the nine most important awareness structures. Using simple scales with three choices each for “probability and for impact” we can turn the confused facial expressions to concentration on responses to early warnings of risky business (PMBOK, 2004).
Risk Management is not the act of going through the proposals and pointing out why every task has a high potential to fail. No, that is not the higher purpose for understanding risk. Truer intention rises above this single-minded intuition; rather risk identification means to remove masks of risks inherent in all projects. A risk managed is a resource conserved.
Risk is Iterative
Risk management fits the iterative processes of project management like keys unlocking closed doors to opportunities that have doors to other opportunities. “Many processes are fashioned in response to critical cost areas, and to redundancy” that indicate and rectify risk (Krajewski, L J, & Ritzman, L P; 2005). A template for qualitative risk analysis might take a form like the one in Dick Billows article.


Achievement-Driven Project Management
Risk Event
Probability of Occurrence
Magnitude of Impact

From this survey, the bias of risk is in two areas: 1. the probability of occurrence, and 2. the magnitude of impact.
The language of Project Management is “intensely combed through for every project in iterative trials of cause and effect to cleanse to acknowledge best practices for each project. The work is amazingly correlated as simply: Realization >> Strategic Choice >> Tactical Contingency... Moreover, sub-processes today also employ sophisticated feedback tools developed to help in cost control;” the major indicator of risks: cost overruns (Bredillet, Christophe N; 2002).
Risk is beat down by frequent reporting, and auditing of changes in iterative vernacular. A risk identified and scoring high in both “probably will occur, with high magnitude of impact” is a risk that needs further study. And to make sure the additional study will be done with controlled experiments that provide quantitative results.
Conflict is an unavoidable pretext in project context, as each entity has unique and differing thoughts, ideas, and opinions. Therefore, it is important to learn ways to minimize and manage this difficulty, in order to ensure “efficient and harmonious iterative interactions during the project’s life-cycle” (CTUOnline, Live Chat; Nov 2006).
Risk Management
Dick Billows, PMP, GCA of 4PM says, “We can do a few minutes of risk management on even the smallest project and get good return for the effort. Dealing with risk does not have to be a paperwork jungle.” Project managers run the risk of “fighting fires for the rest of the project... [When] even a small project can under-take a simple risk assessment process,” at the first team meetings, says Billows. “Because the sponsor wants to start quickly without wasting time on things like risk management, Project Managers often skip the risk assessment process” (Billows, Dick, 2006).
The handiest way to “prioritize our risks in terms of their significance” (Billows) for the project -- “Automated Mobile Defense System, AMDS,” -- is to use qualitative techniques like the survey template above to pre-qualify certain risk areas for higher costing quantitative techniques of risk analysis. This team and project manager have been assigned to “lead Project X, which will design, develop, test, demonstrate and deploy 10 AMDS units to a location to be determined by the DOD assuming a successful demonstration” (CTUOnline, Task Detail; 2006).
The PMBoK framework provides the fundamentals of project management in respect to the type of project to be completed and is structured around 5 basic progression placeholders. Those progressive process groups are Initiate, Plan, Execute, Control, and Close.
George Jucan in his article Complexity Matters describes time savings is “at the start... Taking your time to measure before you cut is always good advice. In a Project Manager's world, spending the time to plan the project and open up probable risks is proven to dramatically increase the chances of success” in:
· Planning: defining the scope of the project risk and putting a value to it makes the necessary campaign to carry it out.
· Executing: Now that we have identified our project risk and planned for its purpose, our next step is to put our plan into action by adjusting and...
· Controlling: we monitor all aspects of the project risk. We review and check the integrity of all inputs and outputs in respect to the project threats.
· Closing: we make sure the final product has the quality and completion that was originally planned and that all risks are conserved in documentation and covered monetarily.
Therefore, the project starts with half a day of teams “risk-storming” to identify, and qualify risks in each of the sub-processes. After that they will determine the risks most impacting the life-cycle and put some heavier tools of quantitative analysis to work. This will have unlocked potential for increased probability and impact of events positive to the project.
Conclusion
The beauty of project management is that with knowledge and learning, the wheel doesn’t have to be re-invented each time a project begins. Project Management Body of Knowledge, PMBoK, is a compilation of processes and knowledge areas generally accepted as best practices in context of Project Management discipline (pmi org, 2006). Each new project gives rise to opportunity to re-visit honesty and integrity. In a lifetime of projects, a little reliability goes a long way to satisfy all risks in projects.
References
Billows, Dick; (2006) Risk management & analysis prevention not lots of paperwork, 4PM Project management training and certification, Denver, CO, The Hampton Group
Bredillet, Christophe N; (2002) PMI July 14 2002, Seattle, International Educational Network, PPT, founding principles for the development of a value added network for global education
CTUOnline (November 2006) Live Chat, MPM450 03 0604B Managing Project Risk and Opportunities
CTUOnline (November 2006) Task Detail, MPM450 03 0604B Managing Project Risk and Opportunities
Encarta MSN online dictionary; (2003) English: American 2003
Jucan George, MSc, PMP, OCP, SSGB (June 21, 2006) Complexity Matters, [Gantt head]>home>departments>Project Portfolio Management, retrieved 10/10/06
Kotter, John P and Cohen, Dan S; (2002) the Heart of Change: Real-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations (Hardcover) HBS Press Book, Pub. Date: June 17, 2002, 208p
Krajewski, L. J., & Ritzman, L. P. (2005) Operations Management Processes and Value Chains, 7th ed, Upper Saddle River, NJ, AK: Pearson Prentice Hall
PMBOK; (2004) A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, PMBOK Guide, third edition, 2004 project management Institute, 4 Campus Blvd, Newton Square, PA 19073 USA
Pmi org (2006) retrieved from web, Nov 15 2006 Project Management Institute (PMI) The Largest Project Management Association. Retrieved October 19, 2006, from pmi org info default asp

MSN says: Blog it and they will Come

Blog it and they will come (retrieved entirely from http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA012240831033.aspx , November 17, 2006) Others aspire to write may find this muy interesting!!!
"So is the hope of every blogger — or Web diarist — out there. Because everyone, whether they admit or not, wants to be heard, and a blog offers the perfect environment for just that.
Several of my readers have written to ask me what blogs ("Web logs") are all about. To be frank, I hadn't really been a big reader of blogs. But once I decided to delve deeper into the world of online Web logs and do some research, I discovered a brave new world out there. And sure, while I found some blogs to be pointless, others narcissistic, and yet others downright weird, I also discovered that there are many people out there who are interesting writers with unique perspectives on the world around them. In other words, I was pleasantly surprised, and it sucked the crabbiness right out of me — although my editor doesn't think so. (Regardless, don't worry; there are plenty of opportunities all around waiting to refill my crabby heart.)
You see, when the Internet first became a part of our common lexicon and people got a tiny amount of technical knowledge, personal Web pages became all the rage (and bane) of the Internet. I don't know how many of these are on the Net but I think I can safely say too many.
Blogs are a little different. While a blog can have many of the same qualities as a personal Web page, a blog is usually seen as more of a diary or a commentary, a core upon which a virtual community can form. (At least, that's my take on it, and from what I've read, there are as as many definitions for blog as there are bloggers.) Bloggers write about whatever is on their minds, be it personal, philosophical, or political. All of a sudden, their opinions are out there, for all to read, and their audience may just join them and create a community around one of their entries or ideas. And while personal Web pages were pretty much only for those who knew how to code a Web page, blogs can be created by anyone with an Internet connection since those who host blogs often provide the simple software and design choices that enable non-techie types to express themselves on the Web.
So what blogs are out there? There are blogs about hairless cats, blogs about politics, blogs extolling the virtues of nudist colonies, and blogs that serve the close-knit community of scientists studying the mating habits of paramecium. In other words, there are almost as many blogs as there are reasons to blog. And, according to comScore Networks, a company that provides information regarding consumer behavior in various industries, nearly 50 million Americans, or about 30 percent of the total U.S. Internet population, visited blogs in the first quarter (Q1) of 2005. That is a lot of people reading, interacting, and listening to what you have to say.
A blog by any other name is still a weird word
As I mentioned at the beginning of the column, as human beings, we have this need to express ourselves, and a blog is the perfect place to do that. Now, expression, as we know, comes in many forms, and so do blogs. Some blogs are strictly text based: the writer — or "blogger" — writes an entry every day, week, or however often he decides. If he develops a following of sorts, the audience expects to see his entries at certain intervals, and so a sort of community is formed. Some blogs incorporate photos, video clips, and lists, such as a list of links to other blogs or any other kind of sites. Sometimes readers of blogs can even provide comments, thereby enhancing the feeling of community.
So you can see why this type of communication is really catching on: If you nurture and pay attention to your blog, you can create a community out of thin air around yourself and your interests. For example, consider the blogs that gained notoriety during the last national election: Many of these bloggers became somewhat famous as their communities grew, and they were granted entry into the circles normally reserved for mainstream journalists.
Blogs can also be oriented toward business; they can perform such duties as exposing new products, or acting as forums to talk about everything from new inventions to changes in business practices. Remember that number of 50 million blog visitors in Q1 2005? Imagine the countless ways in which you can reach, connect, and correspond with your current — and prospective — customers.
You can see why blogs are growing more popular: It only takes a few minutes to set up a blog and it doesn't require that you be a computer geek.
Everyone else has one; I want one too
...and so now I have one. That's right: Crabby has her own blog. And while my blog isn't really where I post commentary and opinions, it is a place to read my column. But even better than that, you can access my blog (and therefore my column) using RSS, or Really Simple Syndication. RSS allows you to subscribe to "feeds," or content, from several sources and automatically combines the information into one list, a list that is contained in an RSS reader. You can quickly browse the list without visiting each site to search for new information of interest to you. It's ingenious, really; you don't have to bookmark all your favorite sites (such as my archive page); you just check in with your reader, see what's new and read what you want. When you subscribe to my blog on MSN Spaces via RSS, the moment I publish a notice that I have a new column, you can go and read it. Or, you can just read the intro and decide the content isn't for you right now.
More information about Crabby's blog
Get the latest Crabby columns with RSS.This article explains what RSS is
Crabby's Corner on MSN SpacesThis is my actual blog
Crabby RSS feedThis is a link to the place that explains how to subscribe to my RSS feed
Now, if after reading this column you're all hot to create a blog of your own, visit MSN Spaces. They make it nice and easy to get started and make your voice heard." (November 17, 2006)

Building a Small Business in Spectacular Times

• Correlations and Questions: WAG for Nags, things to ponder while building your business
  by Patrick Darnell
  PIGGYBANK is actually an acronym for the frustrated academician who has been left behind by those who pander the reality found in hard statistical analysis.
  P.I.G.G.Y.B.A.N.K.
  “Patterns in geometric gain yield bountiful academic nosegays of knowledge.”
  Or,
  “Probably, investigation gives geographic yields to bolster against ineffectual knowledge.”
  
  P (Platonic’s) What may make the oriental culture so good at math, is the formidable task of learning the complexity inherent in their pictographic, written languages. Correlation: The number of pictographs in a language, or pictorial iconography may determine the height of that particular culture’s logic system.
  
  I (Interest) Tee shirt cotton & Denim, total sales and the advent of European Union for a one world uniform. Correlation: Just who makes all the denim, anyway? I want to buy stock in that company.
  
  G (Greed) Need for Casual Friday vs. the advent of the 32 hour work week. Correlation: The fewer hours worked in the week, the more hours one must spend doing side work, while others enjoy leisure-tronics.
  
  G (Gas Planets) Does the lag time in the Judicial system define its demise? Correlation: does the number of years the Judicial system lags behind technologic advances, relate to the number of years of stagnation in the US economy?
  
  Y (Yellow/Green Politics) What if possible to introduce a variety of aardvark into Texas to rid the prairies of red ants? Correlation: What quantity of aardvarks is needed to thrive in Texas to deter the spread of the red ant, by half?
  
  B (Bureaucracy). Why is Fiber-optics about the beginning of non-regulation of communications? Correlation: Do Communications ever return to the hands of the general public, who are party to size of optic bandwidth, available to communication moguls.
  
  A (Angst). What is the dollar amount per newborn child, with all variables of mortality figured in, that each innocent human owes on the US national debt at birth? Correlation: The inverse relationship of the interest payments on the national debt, to the increase in US population will make a pool, of how many taxpayers to pay into the coffers in the next twenty years.
  
  N (Nitrogen based fuel) How many carbon atoms are used in ignition of total SUV’s internal combustion engines throughout USA? Correlation: One SUV in a hundred will be outside the normal operating standards for air purity, and what is the ‘straw that will break the Ozone’s back? Is this true?
  
  K (Pawn to King) Yes, and, how many roads must a man walk down, before others will call him a man?
  
  Summary
  I have determined that while I have a crude knowledge now of the world just outside my understanding, that it is just that, a glimpse. I would stake much on the exponential increase in knowledge, as the middle ground of human’s wakes up to the expanding knowledge bases of every enterprise. Can an explosion of this magnitude be under-studied by, for example, me, the frustrated academician?
  
  Consider the decade in which we are living:
  
  Ahead of schedule, the statistics community has mapped the human genome.
  Before even a 386 could be decidedly put into a garbage dump legally, statisticians have put a Pentium Four in a package the size of a gnat’s eyebrow.
  My child’s Neo Pet has more processing power than the Mercury rocket program, of the 1960’s.
  There is an international space station orbiting the earth.
  I have forgotten more word processing than my children will ever know.
  
  Just a reminder, I will be there if you need a friend, only I might not have up to date information. Maybe that is also a disclaimer, if you later find a hole in my logic. Ciao.
  
  _______________________________________References/ Notes/ Links
  Why You Really Ought to Want to Love Your Work
  Part 1: Are You Working Long Hours on the Right Career?
  You Work Long Hours
  http://humanresources.about.com/od/motivationrewardretention/l/aalove_work.htm
  “The average American manager works 42 hours per week, but a substantial number of managers and professionals - three in 10, or 10.8 million people - work 49 or more hours per week. Of male managers and professionals, four in 10 work 49 hours. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2000 report, this number of working hours is substantially unchanged since 1989. More managers and professionals are working over 49 hours, but more are also working less which keeps the number steady.”
  
  “Comparatively, the hours that people work in non-supervisory or production jobs have steadily declined since the early 1960s in all categories except manufacturing, construction, and mining. In these jobs, hours have increased, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics Monthly Labor Review, July 2000. While the overall trend in working hours is down, with the average non-supervisory or production employee working 34.5 hours in 1999 as compared to 38.7 in 1964, this figure is skewed by workers in services and especially retail, who are working substantially fewer hours.”
  
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