Steve's blog

Transferring Domain Name

I put in the request to transfer my domain name from Yahoo webhosting to Cloudaccess.net.  I am pretty tired of Yahoo's lackluster webshosting, and I have found Cloudaccess to be very helpful with their support tickets. 

The last couple of months I have been learning how to use Joomla a free content management system to redesign my website.  It has taken me a long time much longer than I had anticipated actually, but I have finally finished learning most of the ins and outs of Joomla and have finished rebuilding my website basically from scratch although there was a lot of copying and pasting.

Now I am looking forward to improving on my new site and really using some Web 2.0 cabalities like comments, user reviews, social sharing, and much more that would have been impossible for me to due at Yahoo's webhost.

I really wished I had done this one year ago.  I had been talking about switching over to a CMS design with a friend of mine, but that fell through, and I never really looked into doing it myself until Google implemented it's massive Serp changes in October 2011.  Google's modifications showed me that it's time to embrace change, and I need to stay on top of how websites are designed if I wanted to stay at the top of the rankings. 

Hopefully after my domain name is transferred I can start building up my credit card site's reputation and more people will find it helpful and useful.  Only time will tell if this venture is on it's way to being successful or a complete failure.

Down Twenty Percent

I am filing this under cats even though it has nothing to do with cats.  I just thought it would be funny.  But now that I have cats in the first two sentences I believe the search engines will think this post is about cats. 

I almost hit the alarm. I feel like my hand is hovering over it, wanting to slam down. May and June of 2011 were the greatest yet for my sites. After a horrendous February, March really started to take off traffic wise and is probably my best month.

During March and April I felt I was getting great traffic but my earnings weren't as high as they should be. I then implemented two ads per page instead of the usual only one. This caused May and June explode in earnings. But the second half of June was starting to lose traffic. These leads to a twenty percent drop in traffic over July, and then I hoped that my traffic bottomed out.

 Unfortunately this isn't the case and August's traffic is down roughly four to five percent from July. August's first week was great, but after that it has dropped dramatically. Bing and Yahoo are down 25 visitors a day that is more than ten percent from them. Google has been great since July and has carried August.

A couple of urls that could use a boost; walmart credit card and shell credit card.

Fourth of the July with Wife's Family

This year my wife and I will be spending the Fourth of July with her family.  It’s not that I hate my In-Laws, it’s we just don’t gel that well together.  Our family’s come from very different backgrounds and it kind of feels like I’m traveling to a different world when we visit although it’s only to Michigan.

The drive up there is pretty brutal as well.  Let’s just say that a solid three and a half hour minimum with two little kids in the back of the car can get very tiresome.  We have two daughters ages; three and one and a half.  If they aren’t happy or sleeping the trip can pass very slowly.  Especially if we hit traffic then it can take much longer.

At least the gas prices have been lowering in the last couple of weeks.  I know I will be able to save so money if I use my Exxon Mobil card.  I really like the discount I get every time I hit the pump for a fill-up.

There is a huge Bass and Pro shop on I-75 outside of Toledo that we always pass by.  I really wish it was a Cabelas store instead that way I could use my Cabelas Visa and get some good deals.  It would be pretty cool to go on a fishing trip with my in-laws.

The Science Behind a Brain Freeze

The bad thing about ice cream headache is very painful. The good thing about ice cream headaches is that they are usually more in seconds, or at most a couple of minutes.

For me, it always seems to develop slowly, with pain from a 3 and working your way up to 8 or 9 almost instantly. But usually disappear as fast as they come, and thank God for that.

And ice cream headaches do not come only Ice cream - that can come from eating any food or drink very cold. Like Slurpees. In fact, in 1994, 7-Eleven, even recorded Brainfreeze term to use in conjunction with its delicious cold drink.

So what causes ice cream headaches in the first place? It has to do with nerve receptors above the roof of the mouth. When you take a bite of ice cream, part of it touches the top of the mouth, also known as the hard palate. That in turn triggers the nerves above the mouth to cool - and fast. Nerves send an emergency message to the brain is about to get cold up there, and the blood vessels constrict in the brain to adapt. When the warm blood flowing through blood vessels again - ready! Headache throbbing like a migraine. Ouch! But do not worry, however, this type of headache does not mean a serious problem.

So what to do? Well, if your ice cream headache has started, chances are it will be faster. To speed things up a bit, you can touch the tongue to the roof of your mouth and keep it there, warming the palate and soothe the brain's reaction.

To keep from getting frostbite in the first place, try eating cold foods more slowly than usual and keep the ice away from the roof of the mouth if possible.

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Inflation is Peaking

 The Fed can deny it, but Americans know that prices are rising.

"I can not eat an iPad." This could go down in history as the line that launched the great inflation of the 2010s.

In March, the president of the New York Federal Reserve, William Dudley, was trying to explain to the people of Queens, NY, why had no reason to worry about inflation. Dudley, a former chief economist at Goldman Sachs, put it: "Today you can buy a IPAD 2, which costs the same as an iPad one that is twice as powerful. You have to look at the prices of all things" Fast like lightning came a voice from the audience: ".. I can not eat an iPad"

Dudley chief, Ben Bernanke, was more discreet in his press conference for the first time on Wednesday of last week. But did not succeed in reducing the gap between the Fed's view of inflation and the public.

I respect Bernanke. As an expert on financial history of the 1930's, was one of the few people in power in 2008, he realized how close we came to another Great Depression. But if we avoid rerunning the 1930 to end with a repeat of the 1970, the public will judge what went wrong.

For ordinary Americans, however, is not an online price IPAD that matters, but food prices on the platform and gasoline at the pump.

For this, the Fed has a stock response. Notes that the price index for all urban consumers (CPI-U) and notes that it was only 2.7 percent in March over the same month last year. Strip of food and energy costs, and "IPC," the Fed's preferred measure, is only 1.2 percent. When Google releases its new online price index is likely to have a similar story.

For ordinary Americans, however, is not an online price IPAD that matters, but food prices on the platform and gasoline at the pump. These, after all, are the costs are more often. And with gas prices hit average of $ 3.88 a gallon last week, filling is now twice as painful as when President Obama taking office.

Detecting a threat to their hopes of reelection, the president last week called on Congress to eliminate the "unwarranted" tax breaks for oil companies and created a task force of the Department of Justice to investigate fraud and price gouging oil markets. Give me a break. Rising gasoline prices is the result of Fed policy, which has increased the monetary base by three in as many years, and a geopolitical crisis in the Middle East that the president and his advisers have not yet reached handle.

And the reason that the CPI is losing credibility is that, as economist John Williams tirelessly points out, is a false index. The way inflation is calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics has been "improved" 24 times since 1978. If the old methods were still used, the CPI would actually be 10 percent. Yes, folks, the double-digit inflation is back. Very soon you will find out the real inflation rate by simply moving the decimal point in the core CPI to the right place.

BLS is not just speaking with a forked tongue. Members of the Council on Foreign Relations last week heard the Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said: "Our policy has been and will always be a strong dollar is in the national interest." Fact: the dollar has depreciated against other currencies by 17 percent since 2009. European vacation that will cost nearly a fifth more than expected when you have booked flights a year ago.

I grew up in the 1970's. My first publication of the story, when he was 10, was a letter to the Herald of Glasgow lamenting the high price of school shoes (I really thought my feet were growing too fast). I wrote my doctoral dissertation on the German hyperinflation. So maybe I'm hypersensitive. Maybe in June when the Fed stops QE (its program of cash injection for the purchase of government bonds), inflation will decrease. Maybe the high fuel prices will, as Goldman Sachs predicts slow the economy and revive the specter of deflation.

Maybe. Or maybe inflation expectations began to change when the type of Goldman, Marie Antoinette of our time seemed to say: iPads eat!

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Food Prices Skyrocket

Americans are noticing higher prices at the grocery store, and it's about to get worse.

Food prices at the wholesale level rose last month by the most in 36 years. Cold weather accounted for most of it, forcing stores and restaurants to pay more for green peppers, lettuce and other vegetables, but meat and dairy prices surged, too.

The big questions are how long food prices will keep rising and how high they'll go.

The impact is already visible. Wendy's, paying higher prices for tomatoes, now puts them on hamburgers only by request. Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts have raised prices because they pay more for coffee beans. Supermarkets warn customers that produce may be of lower quality, or limited.

"It has thrown the whole industry into a tizzy," says Dan Bates, director of merchandising for the produce division of grocery chain Supervalu Inc.

Food prices rose 3.9 percent last month, the most since November 1974. Most of the increase was because harsh winter freezes in Florida, Texas and other Southern states, which damaged crops.

At the same time, global prices for corn, wheat, soybeans, coffee and other commodities have risen sharply in the past year. That's raised the price of animal feed, which has pushed up the cost of eggs, ground beef and milk.

Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics, says his firm has warned since last summer that spikes in commodity prices would eventually work their way down to wholesalers and consumers, "and here it is. There is plenty more to come over the next few months."

Crop prices began to increase last summer, after droughts slammed harvests in Russia and several other countries. Sharp growth in new world economic powers like India and China has also increased demand.

Overall, the producer price index, which tracks price changes before they reach the consumer, rose 1.6 percent in February, the Labor Department said Wednesday. That's double the rise from the previous month and the biggest increase since June 2009. The index is adjusted to account for seasonal variations.

More expensive food means people have less money for the casual spending that helps the economy grow and create jobs. And it adds to growing concerns about inflation down the road, still a worry two years after the Great Recession.

Another is the weak housing market, which most economists say is years away from a full recovery. The government said Wednesday that home construction plunged in February to the lowest level since April 2009 and the second-lowest in more than a half-century.

The stock market dropped sharply on the disappointing U.S. economic reports and growing concerns about Japan's nuclear crisis. The Dow Jones industrial average fell by more than 240 points, or 2 percent.

Hints of steeper food prices will likely show up in the government's report on consumer prices, due out Thursday. The consumer price index is forecast to rise 0.4 percent, the same as the previous two months, but the wholesale report caused several economists to warn it could be higher.

Many economists expect food prices to keep rising through the end of the year. Consumer food prices will be about 5 percent higher this fall than the previous time last year, according to RBC Capital Markets. That's up from the current annual pace of about 2 percent.

Food prices are already the highest since the U.N. began keeping track in 1990.

Corn prices have almost doubled since last summer, although they did dip this week after Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami.

The harsh winter took a toll on restaurants, grocery stores and consumers. Normally if there is a shortage of one product in Florida, such as green peppers, companies can turn to Mexico or Texas. But all the major vegetable producing regions were harmed. That has led to everything from smaller heads of lettuce to higher prices for bananas and scarred fruit.

"This year was basically a perfect storm," says Supervalu's Bates, who hopes things will improve now that the spring growing season is almost here.

Ashley Sewell, who works three part-time jobs in Fort Worth, Texas, says she sees the difference when she goes out to eat or shop for groceries. She's an avid cook who used to wander the grocery-store aisles looking for inspiration. Now, she takes a list.

"I used to cook for my friends and neighbors. I can't do that anymore," she says.

Americans are also being hit by the highest gas prices in more than two years. The national average price Wednesday was $3.55 a gallon, up 42 cents from a month earlier, according to the AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge.

Still, the U.S. is mostly insulated from more devastating impact of higher food prices around the globe. Last month, the World Bank estimated that higher prices for corn, wheat and oil have pushed 44 million people into extreme poverty since last June.

Americans spend a much smaller portion of their budgets on food -- about 14 percent -- compared with 40 percent to 50 percent in developing countries. Labor makes up a bigger portion of food prices in the U.S., while in developing countries people are more likely to buy items like wheat to make their own bread, making them more susceptible to swings in commodity prices.

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Wisconsin Dems Flee State

A Wisconsin state senator says the 14 Democratic lawmakers who are boycotting a vote on a controversial anti-union bill have left the state.

Sen. Jon Erpenbach says the group wants to force negotiations over the Republican-backed bill, which would strip most public employees of their collective-bargaining rights.

Erpenbach told The Associated Press that he and his colleagues had left Wisconsin, but he would not say where.

He said the plan is to slow down the bill because it's "tearing the state apart."

Senate Republicans can't vote on the bill unless at least one Democrat is present. Police could be dispatched to retrieve them, but it was unclear if they would have the authority to cross state lines.


Walker said he wouldnt lay them off...whats the damage then? Dems, we dont have the money to pay you, we are broke and I still find it in my heart with walker not to lay you off. C'mon, come back to us, were hurting bad here as a state and country. Do you even care? Where are your answers on cutting your spending? Were in this together right? Or do you feel that you have to control my bank account or something? I worked hard for what little I have without all the benefits you guys get off of my tax dollar.
Get off your ideology and see that we are human beings trying to make it without being over spent by you.

This is unbelievable (almost). The people voted in representation. The representatives are doing what the majority of people asked for. That's what democracy is all about. It is absolutely unacceptable what the Dems are doing.

Wisconsin should schedule new elections for the districts that all of these Democrats are from. I'm guessing that the Democrats will come home then.

The article says it is unclear how Wisconsin will pursue legal action to return these Democrats to Wisconsin across state lines, I wouldn't use legal action, I would send the state police or national guard or state bureau of investigation in plain clothes to round these traitors up and return them in the back of a van with dark windows.

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Generation Y Home Shoppers

Here's what Generation Y doesn't want: formal living rooms, soaker bathtubs, dependence on a car.

In other words, they don't want their parents' homes.

Much of this week's National Association of Home Builders conference has dwelled on the housing needs of an aging baby boomer population. But their children actually represent an even larger demographic. An estimated 80 million people comprise the category known as "Gen Y," youth born roughly between 1980 and the early 2000s. The boomers, meanwhile, boast 76 million.
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Gen Y housing preferences are the subject of at least two panels at this week's convention. A key finding: They want to walk everywhere. Surveys show that 13% carpool to work, while 7% walk, said Melina Duggal, a principal with Orlando-based real estate adviser RCLCO. A whopping 88% want to be in an urban setting, but since cities themselves can be so expensive, places with shopping, dining and transit such as Bethesda and Arlington in the Washington suburbs will do just fine.

"One-third are willing to pay for the ability to walk," Ms. Duggal said. "They don't want to be in a cookie-cutter type of development. ...The suburbs will need to evolve to be attractive to Gen Y."

Outdoor space is important-but please, just a place to put the grill and have some friends over. Lawn-mowing not desired. Amenities such as fitness centers, game rooms and party rooms are important ("Is the room big enough to host a baby shower?" a millennial might think). "Outdoor fire pits," suggested Tony Weremeichik of Canin Associates, an architecture firm in Orlando. "Consider designing outdoor spaces as if they were living rooms."

Smaller rooms and fewer cavernous hallways to get everywhere, a bigger shower stall and skip the tub, he said. Oh, but don't forget space in front of the television for the Wii, and space to eat meals while glued to the tube, because dinner parties and families gathered around the table are so last-Gen. And maybe a little nook in the laundry room for Rover's bed?

In his presentation, KTGY Group residential designer David Senden showed slide after slide of dwellings that looked like a cross between a hotel lobby and the set of "Melrose Place."

He christened the subset of the generation delaying marriage and family as "dawdlers."

"A house in the suburbs is not for them," Mr. Senden said. "At least not yet."

Places to congregate are more important than a big apartment, he cautioned. He showed one layout of a studio apartment-350 square feet, as big as Mom and Dad's Great Room. Common space has migrated to "club rooms," he said, where Gen-Y residents can host meals and hang out before heading to a common movie-screening room or rooftop swimming pool that they share with the building's other tenants.

The Great Recession and its effects on young people's wages will affect how much home they can buy or rent for years to come.

"Not too many college grads can afford a lot of space in the city," he said. "Think lots of amenities with little tiny units-and a lot of them to keep (fees) down. ...The things these places are doing is constantly coordinating activities. The residents get to know each other and it makes for a much livelier and friendlier environment."

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Living in a Cat Paradise

Craig Grant didn't like cats. But that changed when his son moved out, leaving his cat, Pepper, behind. And just when Craig was getting used to having one cat, he found out Pepper was pregnant.

Five kittens later, Craig was ready to adopt them out until his son said they must stay with their mother for 8 weeks. "It wasn't long before the kittens were swinging from my curtains," he notes on his website.

The cats started to be a problem for Craig. Not only were neighbors complaining but the cats were being harassed, like being shot with B.B. guns. A newspaper advertisement led him to a tree farm 100 miles away from his Jacksonville condo.

He immediately loved the tree farm and bought 30 acres where he quickly erected an office trailer as a cat shelter. It had pet doors and padded shelving for long cat naps. The sanctuary is in the middle of 100 acres of wildlife.

 Craig moved there himself in 2003. By that time he had 11 cats -- he had adopted strays and abandoned cats. By 2004, he had 22 cats. As you can tell by these pictures, he now has quite a few more than 22.

"We [currently] have 660 cats, we have barely touched on the first 5 acres of the 30 acres of land," says Craig. But that many cats in one location comes with serious concerns. Outdoor cats definitely affect bird populations to the measure of being an invasive species.

"Whenever you host a large number of domestic animals in one place, responsibility is key," says Jenny Powers at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "You don't want to run into unexpected environmental impacts like high amounts of animal waste in waterways or negatively impacted vegetation or critters." She points out that looking for sustainable solutions before a problem begins is the best way to ensure there's no unintended consequences associated with a good deed.

Craig's website says: "Caboodle Ranch has the seal of approval from the Tallahassee Humane Society and the Tallahassee/Madison County Animal Control. Representatives from both have been to the ranch and both have liked what they've found."

The expenses for the nonprofit sanctuary come out of Craig's pocket and donations from the public. Each cat costs about $550 a year to tend to, and that is without extraneous vet bills. All the cats are spayed or neutered, and their shots are kept up to date.

And while Caboodle Ranch is beyond cute, it is also hard work. Craig puts in 14-plus hours a day. The ranch's biggest challenge is finding dedicated volunteers. The novelty of the sanctuary surely attracts visitors, about 30 or so each month, but they don't always stick around.

But don't go to Caboodle Ranch looking for a pet. The cats are not up for adoption. "The reason the cats are there in the first place is that there were not enough homes [for them]. The cats at the ranch have their forever home now. We prefer people adopt cats from humane societies, animal control, etc., where those cats are on death row and are in desperate need to be saved," says Craig.

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Nintendo on Trademark Frenzy

The Nintendo label sports many popular catchphrases, including Super Mario 64's "It's a-me, Mario" and the "Wii would like to play" phrase from the Nintendo Wii's advertisement campaign. Now, the company is seeking to lock down a trademark for a Donkey Kong saying.

Nintendo sent word today that it has filed a request with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to secure the phrase "It's on like Donkey Kong." The phrase has multiple meanings depending on context and is a transmedia phenomenon.

It was uttered by the loudmouthed Steve Stifler in American Wedding and was also used in a commercial featuring the Williams sisters and Manning brothers of sport fame. Rapper Ice Cube also popularized its usage with his 1992 track "Now I Gotta Wet'Cha," off the Predator album.

"It's On like Donkey Kong" isn't the only phrase Nintendo has sought to trademark. Most recently, the publisher filed an application to trademark "Gotta Catch 'Em All," a phrase made famous by its popular Pokemon franchise.

Donkey Kong Country Returns is being developed by Retro Studios, the outfit behind the Metroid Prime series. The 2D platformer sees Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong return to action with many of the DKC series' familiar trappings, from mine-cart racing to being shot out of barrels. It hits shelves on November 21.

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