The "Why" is more crucial than the "How" - Blogging

A friend of mine asked:

"You may have heard of a recent trend called "blogging". My wife wants to start one and has the following goals:
1 - use a feature set such as is offered by WordPress
2 - control/eliminate/sell the ads on the blog
3 - use her own domain name
I know WordPress offers a Premium package but good luck finding the price. Any quick pointers for my research?"
-Your friend"

There are definitely some very cool features on Wordpress. I have just used the free google service they bought years ago called, "Blogger". I set it up my blog about 4-5 years ago, and called it: www.TheMichaelHulmeProject.com . 

(Incidentally, I'm sorry for all my up-and-coming typos. I'm responding from my phone.) ;-)

I also have my Blog site setup with adds through Google's AdSense; however the most I have ever earned in a month was just a couple of bucks. (Takes a long time for those Nickles to add up.) 

What I like about the Blogger route, is it is freeeeee (with or without adds), and my current ability to just create a Google Doc, using the online version of "Word", Google provides for all sorts of editing; then I just hit "Publish to Blog", and it automatically throws it up to the Blogger blog site for me.

I will admit, every blogger needs an "editor" or serious proof reader. I don't hardly ever do that, and I desperately need to. I just selfishly started blogging because doing so FORCED me to seriously research other areas of the American experience, besides my own focus of almost exclusively technology & religion. My mom always told me, "never put anything in writing, you may one day regret." 

Therefore, I initially proceeded VERY cautiously, before I ever hit the "publish" button.  In time, and soon after I finally realized the shameful differences and motivation between the reporting of real News, versus "editorialized", News cloaked, programing; I became more and more inspired to hit the "publish button" as soon as I was made aware of actual facts; rather than after I had read and re-read dozens and dozens of varied positions, including those editorialized, add mongers.  Knowing full well - I would never end up selling adds with factual opinions or reports.  Just not the stuff that keeps us Americans compelled and coming back for more.  That and the fact my writing skill, hardly warranted repeat readers.  Plus I never publicize the fact I post anything to a blog site.

It was a cool platform for a lot of good exchanges for me and a few other folks, prior to the crash of 2007. And one of the main inspirations I had for realizing I needed to get behind Romney's level of expertise. (Even though I knew no Southern voters would back a Mormon.) 

Thanks to Blogging on Blogger, I knew well prior to the Nov 2007 "election season" (by late 2006) through my Blogging research, what everyone seemed to later get, about 3-10 months before Bush left, and then oddly blame anyone they could find in the months that followed his departure. Blogging re-mined, taught and forced me to maintain a truer time-frame, cause and perspective since I had actually personally documented the same findings, far in advance of others in the "News" media, once the damage was done and our pride was unexpectedly swallowed.

Point being, blogging unexpectedly opened my eyes to a whole new world of knowledge, positions and interactions, I just wouldn't have otherwise known. Simply because I refused to type and publish anything I had not thoroughly researched myself. My mom's life long warning was the driving force to growth threw my Blog. This is also when I really became aware of what drives our 24hr "News" media outlets. (Wasn't my mom's motto!)

I highly recommend Blogging to anyone wanting to learn and grow - it is a very humbling and stretching experience if used as such. Truth is, I'll end up publishing this (e-mailed) thought as well, since I don't think I've ever admitted this "humble Pie" or facts on my own site in any previous entry. (Since I use G-mail, I simply hit two buttons, "convert message to Google Doc" and then "Publish to Blog". (Goto: www.TheMichaelHulmeProject.com in a few minutes to view.)

If there is an exquisite Word Press app on the iPad, then I'm sure that would work great! I don't pay a dime for Blogger, it is just free, but probably not as spiffy as Word Press. Google just recently announced their ability to perform editing with Google Docs tools on the iPad. Not sure if it is out yet, but was announced last week.

Lemino what she ends up calling it? I just reserved a URL and pointed it (via a permanent forwarding) to my actually "Blogger" site name... I'll be excited to read it!

The "Why" is more crucial than the "How" - Blogging

Independence of the spoiled

"No morn ever dawned more favorable than ours did; and no day was every more clouded than the present! Wisdom, and good examples are necessary at this time to rescue the political machine from the impending storm." - George Washington, letter to James Madison, November 5, 1786

Always inspiring to consider how progressive, out-of-the-box, pragmatic, brave and creative our founding fathers were! their actions represented true innovative and originality! I often imagine they would hate the notion of any derivation our era of American politics and the resulting government represents in relation to their historic efforts. These days it is easy to hide behind party loyalty and blame one another, rather than challenge ourselves to consider true solutions. Relying on such laziness and cowardly notions never would have founded a Nation capable of sustained success and growth. 

Here we all sit, for literally decades of our lives, with historically unoriginal challenges, being met with far less risk and creativity. Rather than finding inspiration from our own founding father efforts; thereby applying even more inventive spirits and intellect, given all that has been a stake for so many years. Instead we choose to expend our energy blaming one another! Bolstering nothing more than our own ego's, while seemingly determined to prove we are our own worst enemies.

No wonder we find so much pride in claiming to have founding "fathers". We are all really just children in ageing bodies and minds! We are like the spoiled, undeserving children of parental figures who understood and made clear the lengths it took to earn what they reaped. However, we have been so busy enjoying the spoils of our parents riches, we have failed to consider the character and continued innovation we would ultimately have to represent in order to sustain a vision of freedom, equality and prosperity far beyond the 21st century.

Shameful to think how unoriginal any founding father would view this "evolved" democracy of now 360,000,000 free people, acting as if there are a whopping, two schools of thoughts; or offering nothing more than an insistent on determining which of those two parties are "right" and condemning those whom they have determined are "wrong". Quite a reduction of a once broad and inspired "Declaration of Independence" spawned from men willing to revolutionize the governance of people! We the people! All "we" have turned out to be is ignorant, prejudice, greedy, and determined to spend more time and energy convincing one another which side of "the issues" they should join or stand behind. It has become a soap-opera of embarrassing bickering, rather than any thing producing or capable of revolutionary thinking in the face of challenges or defeat.

It is now as if we've forgotten we were all born into a democracy where EVERYONE is culpable and spend more time these days making sure no one from our side of the camp is accountable. Sad state of affairs. To have simply found "identity" and comfort were our founding father strove for originality, revolution and Independence. We don't deserve to claim loyalty to such a group of wise men, as long as our most original thought is to blame another side or condemn those who don't think as we do.

"The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by obvious realities. We need men & women who can dream of things that never were . . . " John F Kennedy.

Independence of the spoiled