Biggest Business Scandals Of 2008

A compilation from HuffingtonPost regarding millions and billions of dollars loss, evaporated, swindled, overspend, collapsed, defrauding, scammed, bailout ... the nasty ingredients for the biggest business scandals of 2008.

Jerome Kerviel, loss $8billion

Only three weeks into 2008, Societe Generale trader Jerome Kerviel's $8 billion loss made headlines around the world and seemed to set the tone for the year. Kerviel served less than two months in prison and currently works at an information systems and computer security consulting firm.

James Cayne, Bear Steans collapsed

On the weekend in early March that Bear Stearns was collapsing, chairman James Cayne was competing in a bridge tournament in Detroit. And the week before the impending demise of the venerable firm, he closed on a $25 million condo at the newly converted Plaza Hotel in New York City. Also that week, CEO Alan Schwartz went on CNBC to deny a liquidity crisis.

Angelo Mozilo, Countrywide Financial

Permatanned Angelo Mozilo, the CEO of Countrywide Financial, came to symbolize the excesses of the subprime mortgage crisis, especially after it was revealed in June that certain powerful congressmen received favorable mortgages by virtue of being "Friends Of Angelo." In one infamous incident, Mozilo once disparaged a Countrywide customer's plea for mortgage assistance with a simple reply: "Disgusting."

Henry T. Nicholas, Broadcom

In one of the most tabloid-worthy scandals, Broadcom founder and CEO Henry T. Nicholas III was indicted in June for a slew of charges including felony drug possession, conspiracy and securities fraud. He reportedly built an underground sex cave at his California estate where he could indulge his "manic obsession with prostitutes" and "addiction to cocaine and Ecstasy," according to a lawsuit filed by a construction team hired to build the lair.

Raffaelo Follieri

Italian investor Raffaelo Follieri was accused in July of defrauding Bill Clinton and supermarket magnate Ron Burkle out of millions of dollars and misappropriating the assets to spend on five-star lodging, dog care and jet travel for his girlfriend, "Devil Wears Prada" actress Anne Hathaway. As part of his scheme to buy up Catholic Church property, Follieri boasted of his connections to the Vatican, once hiring the the nephew of the former cardinal secretary of state.

Richard Fuld, $75 billion evaporated

While some business observers lament the government's decision to let Lehman Brothers fail in September, headstrong CEO Richard Fuld was widely criticized for earning $240 million between 2005 and 2007 while making decisions that doomed the venerable firm, earning him the dishonor of being named The Financial Times' "Overpaid CEO" of 2008. Most recently, it was revealed that Fuld and his colleagues evaporated $75 billion by not planning for an orderly bankruptcy.

AIG, $124 billion bailout

AIG stirred outrage when, shortly after getting a $124 billion bailout from the federal government in September, the firm's senior managers took lavish trips, including a $440,000 weeklong excursion to the St. Regis resort in Orange County, Calif. and an $86,000 English hunting trip.

GM's Rick Wagoner, Chrysler's Robert Nardelli and Ford's Alan Mulally

The CEOs of the Big Three automakers - GM's Rick Wagoner, Chrysler's Robert Nardelli and Ford's Alan Mulally - were roundly denounced for taking corporate jets to Washington for their first appearance before Congress in November to plead for a government bailout. When members of Congress asked them if they would consider working for $1 a year, Mulally (whose compensation totaled $21.7 million in 2007) responded, "I think I'm okay where I am."

Marc Dreier, Lawyer, fraud $100million

In one of the stranger scandals, lawyer Marc Dreier was busted for the "brazen fraud" of swindling hedge funds of $100 million. Dreier, who represented Strahan, Jon Bon Jovi and Jay Leno, had a knack for elaborate ruses, is accused of impersonating a lawyer in Toronto and arranging for a colleague to pretend to be a real-estate firm's controller as part of his bid to peddle phony promissory notes.

Bernie Madoff, $50billion

Just when we thought we'd seen it all, Bernie Madoff came along in December and confessed to the largest Ponzi scheme in history. Just three weeks before the end of the year, Madoff confessed to his two sons that his powerful firm was a fraud totaling at least $50 billion. The list of Madoff's victims reads like a Who's Who in the worlds of finance, celebrity and philanthropy: Stephen Spielberg, Mort Zuckerman, Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgewick, BNP Paribas, RBS, Credit Suisse, Yeshiva University and French aristocrat Rene Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, who slit his wrists in an apparent suicide attempt.

Motivation Quotes for 2009

An inspirational quotes from Helen Keller:

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow. It's what sunflowers do.

Beyond the above motivational quote:

Always stay positive and in good spirits. When you avoid the shade of pessimism you may then focus yourself in the light of optimism.

As new year 2009 approaches and to some, the prospects for 2009 is bleak and gloomy, so to avoid such outcast and relief yourself for expected difficulties and challenges, keep your head up and be positive. In short, make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you. Make 2009 a better year for yourself.



The sunflower is so named because of the way in which it turns its head from east to west to follow the sun. Sunflowers have great commercial value, yielding products from edible seeds to cooking oil and livestock fodder.

Related posts:
* 2009 Success Quotes
* Motivation Quotes To Inspire You To Succeed

2009 Prospects

New Year 2009 is near, just hours away. Bloggers or Internet users who surf the net are probably busy looking for "2009" celebratory images, 2009 calendar, events for 2009 party, holidays in 2009, downloading 2009 wallpaper and looking for prospects for 2009.

Talking about prospects, the "2009 prospects" keywords is quite general as it may covers sporting prospects for teams, prospect of peace in 2009, 2009 financial prospects, internet prospect in 2009, 2009 economy prospect, 2009 handbook, NFL 2009 and so on.

Below are some top keywords that appeared in Google front page for search on "2009".
1. Calendar USA 2009
2. Job cuts in 2009
3. Conference in 2009
4. 2009 Federal Holidays
5. International Year of Astronomy 2009

In Google Hot Trends, 2009 keyword relates to the following queries:
1. nfl playoffs 2009 schedule
2. 2009 nfl free agents
3. 2009 nfl mock draft
4. nfl playoff bracket 2009

Melamine brothers on trial for tainted milk scandal

Two Chinese brothers, Zhang Yujun and Zhang Yanzhang is at the center for a trial being accused of illegally making and selling melamine that shocked the world on the tainted milk scandal. The tainted milk scandal which started in September 2008 is blamed for killing six children and sickening nearly 300,000 others in China as well as caused Melamine milk panic throughout South East Asia.

Zhang Yujun and Zhang Yanzhang are blamed for illegally manufactured and sold a “protein powder” or "fake protein" composed mainly of melamine and malt dextrin. The powder was added to raw milk to make it appear high in protein content.

If found guilty, the brothers will likely be sentence to death with a bullet in the head.

In addition, Sanlu the major milk powder manufacturer which produced the tainted milk powder is reported to be bankrupt with mountain of debt.

UPDATES
* Jan 22, 2009: Death sentence over fake milk and melamine

-----------------------------------
From TheStar

Two Chinese go on trial for selling melamine

BEIJING: Two Chinese went on trial Friday accused of making and selling the chemical at the centre of a tainted milk scandal blamed for killing six children and sickening nearly 300,000 others.

Police say Zhang Yujun and Zhang Yanzhang illegally manufactured and sold a “protein powder” composed mainly of melamine and malt dextrin, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The powder was added to raw milk to make it appear high in protein content.

An official at the publicity office of Hebei supreme court confirmed that the trial started Friday at the Shijiazhuang Intermediate People’s Court. He refused to give his name or other details.

Sanlu Group Co, the main company in the scandal, is based in Shijiazhuang. The company confirmed earlier this week that it was bankrupt.

Police say they found an illegal workshop run by the two Zhangs on the outskirts of Jinan in Shandong province in eastern China, according to Xinhua. Police say it made 600 tons of the fake protein powder from September 2007 to October 2008 and was the largest source of melamine in the country.

Xinhua reported Thursday that Sanlu has 1.1 billion yuan (RM560mil) of net debt and that a branch of the Shijiazhuang City Commercial Bank was the creditor that applied to a court to have Sanlu declared bankrupt.

It said the intermediate court in Shijiazhuang had accepted the filing. Xinhua said Sanlu owes a creditor 902 million yuan (RM462mil) it borrowed earlier this month to pay for the medical treatment of children sickened after drinking the company’s infant formula, and for compensation of the babies’ families.

Wang Jianguo, spokesman for the Shijiazhuang city government, said the money was given to the Dairy Association of China for medical care and compensation fees for victims, according to a transcript of a news conference he gave Thursday.

A woman who answered the phone Friday at the association refused to answer any questions.

The issue of compensation for the families of the children sickened or killed has become a sensitive one, with courts so far not accepting any lawsuits filed by the families.

The Legal Daily newspaper reported that Tian Wenhua, Sanlu’s chairwoman and general manager, would go on trial Wednesday in Shijiazhuang for “selling fake and shoddy products.”

Sanlu, like a number of major Chinese dairies, had been exempt from government inspections because it was deemed to have superior quality controls -- until high levels of the industrial chemical melamine were found in its baby formula and other products in September. Several other dairies were also found to have sold tainted goods.

Melamine poses little danger in small amounts but larger doses can cause kidney stones and renal failure.

Sanlu is 43%-owned by New Zealand daily cooperative Fonterra Group. -- AP

-----------------------------------

From TheStar

Chinese dairy in milk scandal faces $160M debt

BEIJING (AP) - The dairy at the center of China's tainted milk scandal has about $160 million in debt, state media reported Thursday, a day after the company confirmed it was bankrupt.

Xinhua News Agency said Sanlu Group Co. faces 1.1 billion yuan ($160 million) of net debt and that a branch of the Shijiazhuang City Commercial Bank was the creditor that applied to a court to have Sanlu declared bankrupt.

The Intermediate People's Court of Shijiazhuang, a city in Hebei province where Sanlu is based, accepted the filing, Xinhua said.

The report quoted Wang Jianguo, city spokesman, as saying that as of Oct. 31, the company's total assets were valued at 1.56 billion yuan ($227 million) while its total debts were 1.76 billion yuan ($256 million), the report said.

Xinhua said Sanlu also owes a creditor 902 million yuan ($132 million) in funds it borrowed earlier this month to pay for the medical treatment of children sickened after drinking the company's infant formula, and for compensation of the babies' families.

Calls to the spokesman's office of Shijiazhuang city government rang unanswered while a bank clerk who answered the phone at the Shijiazhuang City Commercial Bank said the bank's director was unavailable for comment. Sanlu's officials could not be reached.

Sanlu, like a number of major Chinese dairies, had been exempt from government inspections because it was deemed to have superior quality controls _ until high levels of the industrial chemical melamine were found in its baby formula and other products in September.

Several more dairies were also found to have doctored their goods in a scandal that was blamed for killing six babies and sickening 294,000 children.

The dairy scandal highlighted the widespread practice of adding melamine, often used in manufacturing plastics, to watered-down milk to fool protein tests.

Investigations also discovered it was being added to animal feed after finding melamine-spiked eggs.

Melamine poses little danger in small amounts but larger doses can cause kidney stones and renal failure.

Sanlu is 43 percent-owned by New Zealand daily cooperative Fonterra Group.-AP

SEO: Sanlu bankrupt | Sanlu | Zhang Yujun | Zhang Yanzhang | fake protein powder |

World vs Somali Pirates

China Navy has joined the World Team to fight the scourge of Somali piracy. There have been more than 100 pirate attacks and in the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest sea lanes. Even if the mighty US Navy join the piracy fight, Somali pirates would still win.

I could not believe it when it was reported that in one incident, the German Navy disarmed 6 Somali pirates only to set them free. An utter stupid move. Why join the fight and still give chance to the pirates. No wonder the Somali pirates are laughing. To add salt to the wound, the Somali pirates are laughing all the way to the bank.

It's totally an easy path from the Somali pirate to make money from piracy at the expenses of the over generosity western countries.

So, what you do you think? Is there an potential to become a Blogsphere pirate and make money hijacking the bloggers? Maybe HuffingtonPost can answer this.

------------------------------------------------
From BBC

China begins anti-piracy mission

Three Chinese naval ships have set sail for waters off Somalia to protect Chinese vessels from pirate attacks.

Two destroyers and a supply ship left the port of Sanya on Hainan island to join warships from other nations already patrolling the area.

It will be the Chinese navy's first operation beyond the Pacific.

There have been more than 100 pirate attacks this year off Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest sea lanes.

On Thursday, the German navy said it had foiled an attempt by pirates to hijack an Egyptian cargo vessel off Somalia.

Six Somali pirates were captured by sailors of the frigate Karlsruhe in the Gulf of Aden. However, the pirates were immediately released on the orders of the German government, officials told the BBC.

Japan's prime minister also indicated that his country was considering sending ships to help combat piracy.

"Each nation is taking measures. So, Japan should also take its own steps," Taro Aso said.

'International scourge'

The commander of China's South Sea Fleet, Rear Adm Du Jingchen, said his personnel were prepared for a complicated and long-term mission.

"Acts of piracy in the Gulf of Aden and coastal waters off Somalia have been increasingly rampant since the beginning of this year, posing a severe danger to the safety of ships and members from many countries, including China," China's Defence Ministry spokesman Huang Xueping said.

"Apart from this, pirates have also been threatening ships delivering humanitarian relief items to Somalia by international organisations. Piracy has become an international scourge."

The Chinese military says there have been seven attacks this year on Chinese vessels in the area.

It says its forces will board and inspect suspected pirate ships, try to rescue those who are attacked and mount a vigorous defence if they themselves come under attack.

However, defence ministry officials insist that China's doctrine of non-interference in other nations' affairs has not changed, the BBC's Chris Hogg in Beijing says.

The Chinese will work with other members of the international task force in the area.

China has no bases in the region so keeping its forces well supplied during what is expected to be a lengthy deployment is a major challenge, our correspondent adds.

-----------------------------------
From BBC

Germans release captured Somali pirates

The German Navy says it has released six pirates that it apprehended as they tried to hijack a ship off the coast of Somalia.

The German Navy spokesperson based in Djibouti said all six Somali pirates who attacked the Egyptian vessel were captured by sailors of German Navy frigate Karlsruhe, which was operating in the Gulf of Aden.

He said the Somali attackers were disarmed by German sailors but then released immediately.

He said the decision not to detain or arrest them was taken by the German government in Berlin.

This comes just days after the UN Security Council passed a resolution giving member states extra powers to deal with pirates on the high seas, including the power of detention and arrest.


Somali flag - unrecognized


Somali pirate flag


Somali flag

SEO: القراصنة |海盗 |mandarambong | Piraten |海賊 | 해적 |пират |pirata | hijacking traffic | pirates make money

Merry Christmas

As we all know, Christmas is a busy time. Less blogging, less tweeting, but no less style! Have a great jolly Christmas, do whatever makes you happy - keep smiling, keep eating, keep drinking…. until you fall asleep in front of the fire.

How to make money according to Google.com.my - Series #1

If you search for the keywords "make money" using Google.com.my, you'll notice that Iklanduit.com (with PR1) as being listed in the first page of Google search result. Visiting Iklanduit.com however reveal a total opposite on what Google preach, i.e, to link you to a website or blog have have quality contents and contents that is beneficial to bloggers or Internet users.

In this example, Google got it all wrong. Iklanduit.com page is full of affiliate links and does not have any pages that describe how to make money or any useful resources regarding making money online.

The index page of Iklanduit.com merely list a series of copy-and-paste ads text from their affiliate programs. You won't learn anything from Iklanduit.com. By the way, Iklan is a Bahasa Malaysia word for advertisement. And it is very odd of Google to list them in their front page.

Maybe the owner of Iklanduit.com play some tricks on gaining the top position in the result page of "make money". Maybe Google search engine has been overloaded with the make money keywords copied from the affiliate programs.

In this article, I am not preaching about how to make money. Rather, I am rambling about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques or tactics on how to gain the top spot in Google search page with "make money" as any example.

Let's see what make Iklanduit.com so special to Google.com.my:

Iklanduit.com Meta Keywords

meta name="Keywords" content="autosurf, investment, affiliate, cash, make money, affiliate, home-based, MLM, internet, marketing, HYIP, retired, swisscash, swiss mutual fund"

Important keywords at Iklanduit.com which relate to "make money"

On make money - Some of the best baiting keywords I have selected from Iklanduit.com index page are such as best make money programs, make money automatically, how you can make more money, make money fast, make money with clickbank and doubling your money.

On getting paid - get paid, paid each and every month and you will be paid.

On profit - generating profit everyday.

On cash - cash producing power, instant cash, earn that extra cash and cash back rewards.

On revenue - revenue, increases the revenue and income is residual.

On income - earn an income and guaranteed income every month.

On commission and compensation - direct commission, residual commissions, % commission, enhanced compensation and compensation plan.

On other powerful keywords - winner, free, $, sponsoring, massive spillover, bonus, re-entry bonus, launching, forex market, forex trading, leverages your work, paying you, levels of connections, earn double, bonus pool, total growth of the company, sales, paying every month, without any referral, multi-level payout, instant buyers, prospects, earn as much as you want to earn, alternative to google adsense, advertising system and earn in your system.

So friends, if you intend to conquer the top spot in Google search page for keyword "make money", use the above keywords in your articles. Over a time, your blog will gain the desired spot.

Related posts:
* How to make money according to Live Search

How to get traffics from AlphaInventions.com

Prior to this post, I have mentioned about AlphaInventions traffic trick as well as AlphaInventions not bringing flood of traffic to one's blog.

However, for those still holding hope of getting constant traffic from AlphaInventions.com, read the following three tips:

Tip 1 - Get in contact with AlphaInventions

To get your blog listed in AlphaInventions.com's Reading Cycle, email your request to AlphaInventions at services@alphainventions.com. Once in their Reading Cycle, you will get some traffic from AlphaInventions.

Tip 2 - Write about AlphaInventions

Another method is to blog anything under the sun about AlphaInventions but to secure more traffic, be creative with your post.

Tip 3 - Bump off traffic at AlphaInventions

If you are not keen to contact AlphaInventions or reluctant to write about them, the least you could do is to bump off other blog in their Reading Cycle and insert your blog URL (and click "Notify Readers About My Blog", so that your blog will get an instant exposure. Bumping off other blogger's blog will however, not guarantee traffic volume.

UPDATES:
* Dec 23, 2008: How to get traffics from AlphaInventions.com - Make real money ... This post was picked up by AlphaInventions and appeared on their page. See the image below with the red box.


Related posts:
* Site similar to Alphainventions autobump

AntiVirus QuickScan Trick- Fake security software

If you ever prompted with a message that your computer is stuck by the spyware from antivirus-quickscan.com, beware. It's a nasty trick. Do not click OK. Do not click Cancel. Clicking OK or Cancel will instruct antivirus-quickscan.com to download their malware. Instead, click the Close button.

UPDATES:
* May 07, 2009 - another clone, antivirusquickscanv1.com is Fake AV

According to Dancho Danchev's A Diverse Portfolio of Fake Security Software - Part Four, antivirus-quickscan is one of the fake security software that prey on unsuspecting Internet users. Antivirus-quickscan.com is also one of the site that peddled the infamous fake anti-virus software called "Antivirus Pro 2009".


Click the X to avoid malware from antivirus-quickscan.com

The fraudulent antivirus-quickscan.com is operated from Russia. And if you have been infected with the fake anti-virus Antivirus Pro 2009, go to removal instructions page.

WHOIS information for: antivirus-quickscan.com:

Domain name: antivirus-quickscan.com

Registrant Contact:
Privat person
Andrey Repalov tvdomains@lycos.com
+74956541487 fax: +74956541487
ul. Chernikova 87-23
Moskva Moskovskay oblast 112471
ru

Administrative Contact:
Andrey Repalov tvdomains@lycos.com
+74956541487 fax: +74956541487
ul. Chernikova 87-23
Moskva Moskovskay oblast 112471
ru

Technical Contact:
Andrey Repalov tvdomains@lycos.com
+74956541487 fax: +74956541487
ul. Chernikova 87-23
Moskva Moskovskay oblast 112471
ru

Billing Contact:
Andrey Repalov tvdomains@lycos.com
+74956541487 fax: +74956541487
ul. Chernikova 87-23
Moskva Moskovskay oblast 112471
ru

DNS:
ns1.managehostdns.com
ns2.managehostdns.com
ns3.managehostdns.com

Created: 2008-12-14
Expires: 2009-12-14

For more info, check the suspected domain name at DNS-BH - Malware Domain Blocklist.

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* AVG Anti-Virus Falsely Detects User32.dll As A Trojan

How to make money according to Live Search

According to Microsoft Live Search query result on "how to make money", How to make money on the Internet | Internet Business, from South Africa occupied the top spot. The site is so simply (with PR1) yet it sit on the number result page of Live Search.

There is hardly enough keywords in that page to suggest it is really an authority in how to make money. The only possible advantage it had over other sites is its domain name of "howtomakemoneyontheinternet.co.za" which matched the query of "how to make money".

Howtomakemoneyontheinternet.co.za basically explained it as

This "how to make money on the internet" website aims to bring you the following:

* Showcase ways in which people are already being successful in online business, where they are really making money on the internet
* Present fresh ideas which the average user can user to establish a business which can make money on the internet
* Highlight money making scams which are to be avoided
* Present unbiased evaluation by third parties, which will assess ways in which people try to make money on the internet
* Create many wealthier people through this online site

One thing for sure, the site did not have any show of proof on who are already being successful in online business, there is certainly no fresh ideas on the site, no article on scam on the site or any evaluation page except for a short article on Google AdSense and advertisements.

So if you have overhauled your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) technique to try to be number in Live Search page for "how to make money", you are totally wasting your effort. However, don't be despair as there are millions of surfers who used Google search and as far as Google is concerned, good SEO techniques and placement of keywords are an important factors to be considered by their search algorithm.

How to make money online with Twitter

Are you are a serious Twitter user but not getting a single cent from Twitter? The only satisfaction you get from Twitter is that you can shout to your friends of your current status, like closing a sale or your blog just got hit by 1,000 visitors.

Ever think of earning from Twitter while you tweeps (or tweets) your status to the whole world? Try Be a Magpie and earn some money. You will have better opportunity to earn more from Twitter is you have large number of followers.

How do you make money from Be-A-Magpie?

Once you signed up, Be-A-Magpie will send an ads tweets to your followers after every 5 tweets. The ads tweet can be as frequent as 1 ads after each tweet or as slow as 1 ads after 200 tweets. Of course, the more ads tweeted by Be-A-Magpie, the more money you make.

Cash out from Be-A-Magpie

You must have collected at least €50.00 to cash out. You need a PayPal account to transfer your commission to your account.

Advertisers can also leverage on Be-A-Magpie

Advertisers can spread their ads to million of Twitters users for faster response. Allocation of ads campaigns is based on context-matching and automated bidding. The advertisers set a maximum CPM (cost per thousand) for each campaign.



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Showing off your Twitter followers

This post help to explain how to show off your number of Twitter followers (or fans). The TwitterCounter code allows you to add a daily updating TwitterCounter to your blog so everybody can see how popular you are. Yeah, show off.

As the post title suggest, it 's purely use to show off the number of your Twitter followers and maybe to lure new followers. Does the big number of Twitter followers reflect that your blog is popular? Not exactly. Even with big number, you may not get traffic from Twitter.

In addition, some fans followed other people's Twitter just for the sake of following. In return, they might get a reciprocal follower but doesn't means their followers will follow their post.

In fact, the whole idea of joining Twitter is to publish or tweet your short status to your bunch of friends. It is also one of those macro-marketing tool that you can leverage to gain more exposure for your blog.

Sadly, unless your friends are nosy, they will likely visit your blog thus increasing your blog traffic. However, followers who are total strangers to you will not bother with your status update or visit your blog. Thus, total followers are just number. As of this post, my Twitter followers has reach 234. (It is really 234 followers).

Back to the subject of adding a Twitter Counter, just visit their Button Code page to copy and paste their code to your blog element. It's very easy to implement the code. And after that, don't forget to follow my Twitter status and leave a message in this post's comment with your Twitter user name -- I will follow you back. Yes, you follow me and I follow you.

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* No Backlink Viagra From Twitter

Pop culture of Hadaka Matsuri - Naked Man Festival

Where else can you go to see thousands of loincloth-clad men soaking wet and frolicking around in the wintry night? Not America but Japan.

The Naked Man Festival (aka Hadaka Matsuri) takes place in Saidaiji, Japan. Men from all over the world flock to this small town to consume copious amounts of sake and run around in the middle of winter in their underwear.

They form small groups and run around the neighborhood chanting “Washoi! Washoi! Washoi!”



More photos at: Hadaka Matsuri: The Naked Man Festival

A hadaka matsuri hadakamatsuri (裸祭り, hadakamatsuri?) (lit. naked festival) is a type of Japanese festival, or matsuri, where participants wear a minimum amount of clothing; usually just a Japanese loincloth (called fundoshi), sometimes with a short happi coat, and very rarely completely naked. Whatever the clothing, it is considered to be above vulgar, or everyday, undergarments, and on the level of holy Japanese shrine attire. Naked festivals are held in dozens of places throughout Japan every year, usually in the summer or winter.

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Japan World Sex Record

Japan has successfully set a new world record. Having 250 men and 250 women who commenced to have sex in the same place at the same time, completing the world biggest one-on-one orgy ever! That feat was accomplished in 2003 before Yuka Osawa made the famous Charity Porn.

The one-on-one Orgy was held in a warehouse with a professional camera crew taking pictures and recording the entire event, which was pretty hot and sticky. The film will be produced into a DVD but I not sure if the 250 couples will get any sales royalty from it.

Imagine what it must be like to come stumbling across a room filled with 500 people having oral sex and screwing their brains out. Not to bad a way to end your day huh?



More steamy photos here: World Record in Japan: Largest Orgy

It all seemed a little too organized for our personally liking but leave it to the Japanese to accomplish a goal. Especially if it had anything to do with naked women and sex. Hooray Japan. Only in Japan.

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How to measure life - by George Carlin

Isn't it amazing that George Carlin (who recently died) - comedian of the 70's and 80's - could write something so very eloquent...and so very appropriate. If you have not read it take the time to read it now. If you have read it take time to read it again! And don't forget to pass the link.

A masterpiece message by George Carlin:

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways , but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...

Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.

Remember, to say, 'I love you' to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

Another variation on how to measure life:
"The measure of your life will not be in what you accumulate, but in what you give away." - Wayne Dyer

Secret formula for blogging success

What is the secret formula for blogging success? The secret's secret formula for blogging success is .. no secret. It's all about hard work. However, there are two different formula that you can use depending on your own preferences.

Talking about blogging success, some individual aimed to have the most popular blog in this planet. While others may aimed to make truckloads of money from their blogs. So success in these sense are measured in either monetary success or satisfaction success.

For a blogging satisfaction, the formula for success is Blogging Success equals Massive Traffic + Good Visitor Experience. Meaning, your blog is visited by lots and lots of visitors daily and your blog generate interaction between yourself and your visitors and between visitors themselves. Don't blog if you don't appreciate visitors. There is no point blogging (or write article) when there is no one to read it. It would be a total waste right.

For monetary success, the formula for success is similar to the above with an additional ingredient i.e, Blogging Success equals Massive Traffic + Good Monetization Technique + Good Visitor Experience. You need tonnes of traffic, you need an effective technique to maximize your money making tactic with your blog, and you need to ensure there is a good visitor experience when they visited your blog.

Let's go through the ingredients for blogging success.

Massive Traffic

Quality blog content is important. So is traffic. Combined the two and you will have the right infusion and you are already mid-way to blogging success. Research on how to gain traffic to your blog. Learn how to target the traffic. Learn how to get free traffic. Learn what is the factor behind an effective way of maintaining a constant level of traffic. But don't stop there. Master new tricks on boosting the traffic and taking it to the next level higher.

In short, always equipped yourself with the latest technique in attracting visitors to your blog. Think of the best way to attract them and how to promote or market your blog.

Good Monetization Technique

If you are into blogging for money (nowadays, who doesn't), getting big volume of visitors to your blog means you can capitalize your blog into a constant income stream.

To make more money out of it, you need to learn how to maximize your earning and how to take advantage of the situation. Upon joining certain income network such as Google, Yahoo, AbBrite, Adgitize Publisher, Bidvertiser or other affiliate network they will teach you on how to increase your profit and what is the best practice to adsorb into your blog.

You must also bear in mind on how to take advantage over your competitors and the keyword here is niche. Don't overcrowded among other bloggers rambling about the same thing. Be different, be the first. Improve your niche monopoly. Remember leader lead, followers follow.

Good Visitor Experience

Okay, once you have sustained a good amount of traffic to your blog and you have the right technique in squeezing your blog to generate steady stream of money, you need to stamp your feet on the ground and make a firmer stand.

By saying that, I am referring to further improving your blog in other areas such as outlook and user experience. Research on how to make your visitor experience a good one when he or she visit your blog for the first time so they he or she will return and become your follower or fan.

Consider other elements to make sure that your blog is in tip top conditions, like it load faster, nice looker layout, pimp with fancy but helpful widgets and so on. The objective at the end of the day is to make sure your visitor stayer longer on your blog and that he or she will return for your next posting.

Related posts:
* What you need to succeed
* Four Fatal Fears Failing For Success
* Motivation Quotes To Inspire You To Succeed
* Mistakes You Maybe Making With Your Blog

Soliciting for backlink affect your blog PageRank?

Does soliciting for backlink affect your blog pagerank? Most experts claimed that too many backlinks or outbound links is not healthy for your blog pagerank. Those experts also claimed that Google awarded better pagerank to blog with fewer outbound links and more inbound links.

Outbound links are links on your blog pointing to other sites whereas inbound links are other sites referring link to your blog or website. By the way, PageRank or PR is Google's proprietary way of determining which site have better authority in certain topics or keywords.

Typically, bloggers fear that giving away to many links (even if those links are not paid for) are better avoided. However, some daring bloggers have proved that myth as just a myth. One of those daring bloggers is Michael Wong who owned BigMoneyList.BlogSpot.com (UPDATES: Jun 05, 2009 - the mentioned blog has been removed by the owner). His site BigMoneyList indeed has literally tonnes of outbound links and believe it or not, his site is ranked with PR 5 ! Google must be crazy.

When it come to soliciting for backlinks, Michael Wong method of doing the backlink solicitation is to link to your blog and then he will write to you (either to your email or made a post at your blog) with the following message:

Hi there, a while ago we had talked about exchanging blogrolls links.

I was supposed to get back to you after I linked to your blog so you could link back.

I linked to your blog already. When you have some time, please link back ok?

cheers, michael wong at:

http://bigmoneylist.blogspot.com

His attempted to secure backlinks from strangers probably have a success rate of 50/50. Some feel awkward due to the phobia of getting lower PR if you have too many outbound links. Some are picky and only willing to trade the backlink if both blogs have the same topics.

Anyway, when you received the message from Michael Wong and check his BigMoneyList blog, you will actually see your link listed under his Blog Rolls. However, I also noticed that if you did not response, Michael will remove your link from his Blog Rolls. There is no free lunch after all, huh.

My hunches say that the Blog Rolls at BigMoneyList is probably not permanent. Maybe after your link has been listed, it will be replaced by newer links after a period of time. Only Michael can ascertain this.

The only way to make money online

The only sure way of making money online is to sell your time. Other methods of making money online maybe profitable but it is at the same risky and required some form of capital.

Selling your time is the only way of making money money without investing (or without spending a dime). In fact, selling your time is the most conservative form of earning money. That happen in the offline world and also in the online world.

Everyone else want earn big money in the fastest way in the shortest time possible. They may have most things to run a successful business. What they really don't have is time. That is when you can sell time to help them achieve their goal. Maybe in the future, it will be your turn wanting to earn faster with little time. By that time, you wouldn't mind paying someone else to do the stuff for you.

How to you sell time in the Internet and get paid for it ? Well, to make that money, you will be required to sell your time by performing certain task(s) for example, paid to read, paid to browse, paid to click, paid to post, paid to review, paid to promote and so on. In fact, these earning scheme are also known as Get Paid To ... or GPT.

More reliable earning would be selling your time to get paid to make a review or get paid to make a post. This job required you to write a short article about something that the advertisers intend to promote, market or exposure. Basically, you must have good English and basic knowledge on the advertiser's products or services. Once you get the hang of it, writing articles for the Internet audiences can be lucrative.

Forget about getting paid to click advertisements. The dreaded PTC are usually associated with scammers who make quick bucks from their members. Once you joined a PTC site, you will be exposed to things like referrals and referral commission. That's their trick trying to convince you that referrals make money for you. Soon, the PTC site owner will start to sell a package of referrals at a price. But most often that not, a PTC closed shop just a few months into operation. Thus, you wouldn't be surprise if PTC come and go.

So, if you have no money to invest or no money to start a business in the Internet, a better chance for you to make real money online is to sell your time. Monetary return can be small but that's what you get for something not risky.

World's biggest banks fallen victims to Ponzi Scheme

BBC Business reported that some of the world's biggest banks have revealed they are victims of an alleged fraud which has lost $50bn (£33bn). Bernard Madoff has been charged with fraud called a Ponzi Scheme in what is being described as one of the biggest-ever such cases.

Among the banks which have been hit are Britain's HSBC and RBS, Spain's Santander and France's BNP Paribas. Banks and financial institutions across the world had investments with Bernard Madoff, but not all have yet confirmed what their potential losses might be. Maybe there are scared to lose their reputation instead of revealing the truth to their customers.

Among the largest potential losers so far is Spain's largest bank, Santander, which also owns the UK High Street banks Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley.

Royal Bank of Scotland said it could potentially lose about £400m ($601m) if all its investments had to be written off.

The French bank, Natixis, a subsidiary of Caisse d'Epargne and Banque Populaire, said it could potentially lose up to 450m euros (£402m; $605m).

One of the world's biggest investment groups, Man, said it had invested about $360m through its RMF institutional fund of funds business, representing 0.5% of its total funds.

MAJOR POTENTIAL LOSSES CAUSED BY MADOFF PONZI SCHEME
- Santander, Spain - $3.1bn
- HSBC, UK - $1bn
- Natixis, France - $605m
- Royal Bank of Scotland, UK - $601m
- BNP Paribas, France - $460m
- BBVA, Spain - $400m
- Man Group, UK - $360m
- Reichmuth & Co, Switzerland - $325m
- Nomura, Japan - $303m


Obvious reaction to this mess:
The collapse of Madoff is likely to accelerate the disappearance of hedge funds - Robert Peston.

Emerging news:
BBC Business: Banks hit worldwide by US 'fraud'
Sydney Morning Herald: HSBC joins top banks with huge losses in US 'pyramid' fraud
USA Today: Victims of alleged Wall Street scam spread to Europe

Blog about Huntsman Spider and Poisonous Millipede

More than 1,000 species – spiders (including a species that is a big as a dinner plate), mammals, snakes and a hot pink, poisonous millipede - have been discovered in the Greater Mekong region of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, creating an urgency for environmental groups that fear widespread destruction of the land.

This include a threat of a full-blown was between Thailand and Cambodia in their current dispute of a temple ruin, called Preah Vihear Temple. Read Preah Vihear border tense continue and Preah Vihear fighting claimed fatalities.

Incidentally, those above mentioned creatures have been hovering on the top spots in Google Hot Search Trends. So, for those that have similar topics, expect some traffic love from Google in the coming hours.

The Star: 1,000 new jungle species discovered: Spiders, mammals, snakes among Mekong region finds.

The Inquisitr: PHOTO GALLERY: More Than 1,000 New Species Discovered In Greater Mekong

Recommended photos:
* Common Huntsman Spider - Series #2
* Tropical spider - Series #1
* Giant Asia millipede - Archispirostreptus gigas
* Flat-back Tractor Millipede - Polydesmid


SEO: largest huntsman spider, dragon millipede, spider as big as a dinner plate, laotian rock rat, world's largest huntsman spider, laotian rock rat, huntsman spider, pitviper, green pitviper, largest spider, Hetero maxima photo

Tags : desmocytes purpurea, desmoxytes purpurosea, desmoxytes purpurosea photos, desmoxytes purpurosea pics, desmoxytes purpurosea video, First Contact in the Greater Mekong, greater mekong, heteropoda maxima, heteropoda maxima photos, heteropoda maxima pics, heteropoda maxima video, huntsman spider, laonastes aenigmamus, laotian rock rat, laotian rock rat photos, laotian rock rat pics, new species, new species discovered

How to promote and build website traffic

Ever wonder how to promote and build your website or blog traffic ? Well, it quite easy to perform. And with persistence in practicing the methods below, you will get the result.

Keywords: Make sure your website includes keywords that target your particular market. When the search engine "spiders" come to index your site, they'll boost your site higher in the rankings for those keywords. Ideally, you want your site to show up on the first or second page of search results. In addition, practice the principle of "Content is King" and as such, make sure your website or blog are updated as frequent as possible (at least once a week). People like to visit a website or blog if they see that the content is fresh and beneficial to them.

Buy pay-per-click traffic: One of the fastest ways to drive additional traffic to your site is by advertising with pay-per-click search engines, like Google AdWords and all that means is that your link shows up in the section for paid advertisers. Then every time someone clicks on your link from a search engine results page, you pay a pre-determined amount. Be prepared to spend your money to get these kind of traffic.

Use ClickBank To Multiply Your Sales: If you have the money, Clickbank.com is one of the best ways to get more traffic and sales all at the same time. Just let other publishers sell your product for you. Some affiliates have benefited from this program when they just started selling products online. Leverage over 100,000 affiliates to find customers for your digital products and subscription services. Customers can pay by all major card brands, and PayPal. However, take note that ClickBank is only effective if you are from North America due to their limited payment preference.

Build a list of visitors' email addresses: This allows you to contact your visitors again with valuable information that will lure them back to your website. Or, you can even promote affiliate products directly by email. It's a great way to build relationships and trust, which translates into more sales over time. Once you've got these tricks working for you, it is much easier to start making money online with affiliate programs. Learn about how to convinced your visitor to subscribe to your blog using their email.

Write An Article: Writing an article to promote your site or product is a great way to get more traffic. Traffic will not be immediate but once your article get into the mainstream circulation, you will get passive traffic.

Search Engines: Thousands of search engines exist on the Internet. But, you should only be concerned with the top eight or ten. You should manually submit to the top eight: Alta Vista, Excite, Yahoo, Hotbot, Lycos, Northern Light, Infoseek, Webcrawler, and use one of the FREE automatic submission services to handle the smaller search engines.

Directories: List your site here too. Directories organize sites into categories. Good examples of Directories: BlogCatalog, Yahoo, Magellan, LinkReferral.com & FreeViral.com.

Free Classifieds: You will have to submit to a ton of FREE classifieds to get any significant traffic. Why? You are competing with thousands of other Ads. Remember to work on your Ad copy and make it attention grabbing. Go to one of the popular search engines, type in Free Classifieds, and surf to the top 20 classified sites for beginners.

Often, these sites will lead you to several other Free Classified Sites. In response you'll get a stack of e-mail thanking you for listing your site while barking their promo. Best to get one of those free email accounts to keep the expected junk mails. Hotmail is a good one. So is Yahoo mail.

FFA Pages: Free For All's are worth a try. Be prepared for a avalanche of e-mails from FFA web site owners. If your title is attention grabbing you will get a few clicks. Good Attention grabbing headlines, FREE, Limited Time, Limited Offer, Proven, Secrets, and many more if you brainstorm. Check out the sales literature delivered to you by regular mail. Check and see what headlines grab your attention. And why? Incorporate them into your Online Ads.

Tell Friends And Family: If your friends, family, acquaintances, have an Internet Connection, e-mail them telling them about your new website or blog, and ask them to visit often. Offer a FREE incentive if they tell a few friends to surf over. Perhaps, a FREE Ad (or link) in your e-zine.

Leave Business Cards or Flyers: Leave these promo pieces with small businesses in your community. All relevant contact information; email address, URL, telephone number, should be included. Offer a freebie to anyone who visits your site. A free e-book, report.

Site similar to Alphainventions autobump

There have been queries looking for site that is similar to AlphaInventions. Probably the queries are from those who think that Alpha Inventions will not bring flood of traffic to their site.

Firstly, what is AlphaInventions and how does it works ? AlphaInventions is a free service that will published your blog on their site once you have posted a new post. Their members or visitors will preview all newly updated blogs (maintained in AlphaInventions Reading Cycle bin) including yours, thus bringing visitor traffic to your blog. Another way is to barge yourself into the their Reading Cycle bin by inputting your blog URL into their Notification box. Your blog URL will bumped off the previous blog in the Reading Cycle, giving your blog an exposure to visitors of AlphaInventions.

How effective is the traffic redirect from AlphaInventions ? If your blog has been registered in their Reading Cycle, your blog will received some traffic whenever you posted a new post. By the way, to get your blog listed in the Reading Cycle, email your request to AlphaInventions at services@alphainventions.com. If not, you have to bump off other people's blog to get into the preview spot. The so-called AutoBump feature in AlphaInventions will not give your the desired traffic because everyone else want to bump off each other. That's what you get for a free meal.

Auto surf traffic exchange may be the answer

To really get substainly traffic that is similar to what AlphaInventions is capable of doing or maybe better, is to join an Auto Surf Traffic Exchange such as SmileyTraffic. Joining SmileyTraffic is free and to get traffic credits, you need to preview other blogs or website. Once you have accumulated enough credits, use the credits that you earned to advertise your blog or website URL and watch the traffic piled up into your blog.

Auto bump traffic vs Auto surf traffic

Auto bump traffic will earned you traffic until someone else bump you off. This is because there can only be one blog in front of the queue. On your lucky day, you can get a lot of traffic. On busy day, there will be little traffic as there will be too many people bumping each other off.

Auto surf traffic meanwhile guaranteed the amount of traffic that you want provided that you have enough traffic. To earn the traffic credit, just auto surf and minimize the browser page.

Both AlphaInventions Auto Bump and other Auto Surf Traffic Exchange may not validate the URL so there is potential risk of exposure to harmful site or attack site.

UPDATES:
* Dec 22, 2008 : How to get traffics from AlphaInventions.com

Related posts:
* Alpha Inventions traffic tricks

How to get massive visitor traffic for free

Are you part of the 40 million webmasters, worldwide, who are desperate for visitor traffic... but until now you have been unsuccessful in getting any? If you're like the others, you've spend a good hunk of cash on marketing courses, ebooks, and "guru" audio interviews.

I have great news for you. But first, let's take a short quiz. Just one question: If you double a penny every day for a month and what do you get?

Answer now: $1,000 $10,000 $10 million

The correct answer is: Over 10 million dollars! That's the power of exponential growth, and the Internet is the one medium that can harness that power... for FREE!

FreeViral.com fully exploits this phenomenon to help generate MASSIVE VISITOR TRAFFIC for your website!

How does this system work? How does my ad spread virally? How much FREE traffic can I expect? Sign up for FREE to have a GUARANTEED MASSIVE VISITOR TRAFFIC TO YOUR SITE !!

How do I get guaranteed traffic?

When someone signs up from your site, they must first click on your classified ad which will open a new window leading to your main website. They will have to wait a few seconds for the code to appear on a separate frame at the top of the screen.

While they wait, they will have time to read what you have to offer! This can equate to more sales, downline members, affiliate sign-ups, ezine subscribers, etc.! Each classified ad will have to be clicked on to retrieve a unique code meaning that you will receive FREE Traffic throughout all 6 levels!!!

Remember, once you have signed up, promote your affiliate link to ensure that the system work on your side.

How to get more website traffic with Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Affordable Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for individual blogger, small and mid-size business means generating more website traffic − of a targeted nature - to your website. Targeted traffic is the key to success; if your website is not what your visitor is searching for, than your business will receive no benefit.

It is estimated that only 2-5% of all websites today have been properly optimized. With a growing number of websites being launched by businesses and individuals every day, the only way to stay visible on the World Wide Web is through effective SEO. Strategic Optimization helps your site to obtain top rankings and thus enjoy more website traffic.

High level, professional website optimization is not inexpensive; in fact, it requires many hours of analysis and investigation by qualified experts. However, the end result can be astounding. Your website visibility and productivity will increase dramatically, saving enormous sums of money that would have otherwise been spent on various advertising campaigns, promotion and strategies that will often be dwarfed by a productive website.

Remember SEO is not using trickery to fool the search engines to produce more website traffic. It is not using spamming techniques that will only increase your chances of being eliminated from search results altogether. It does not involve the use of throwaway domains or shadow domains. Such tricks will cause your company to be removed from the search engines completely and at best it may only work for a short time anyway. Ultimately, it is not worth the risk of using trickery or shortcuts in this arena!

The SEO Process

The first step in SEO is researching the keywords for which your potential visitors will search. Keywords are generally the goods and services your company offers or important wording in your blog post. People search for solutions, not a company or a person. For example, if someone is looking for help with their business, they will generally search for "business consulting" much more often than "business consultant."

Choosing the Right Keywords

Look for phrases rather than individual words. Phrases are more specific and incur more accurate results. For example, someone is very like to search for "how to make money" rather than "money". Use phrases that accurately describe the products or services you offer. Phrases that are less competitive - meaning fewer websites are using the same phrase - will generally gain search engine traction quicker than a more competitive, widely used phrase. Select keyword phrases that generate more website traffic through search engines. The best phrases meet all four tests. Read also Secret keywords on how to make money online

Once the best keyword phrases have been chosen, they must be worked into the website. Use these keywords and phrases with the right prominence and frequency throughout the body text. For best results, you can use these keywords in the domain name, page names, in Meta tags, hyperlinks, and alt tags. Read also How to choose a good blog name

Before building up the pages with these keyword phrases, you need to fix any structural problems that exist within your site. Several common problems include websites constructed in frames, sites built with an online website builder, and websites built with large, slow loading graphics. Debug the HTML code to remove invalid code. We recommend checking your page(s) using http://validator.w3.org

It is very important to get other websites to link to your own. Getting other websites to link to your site has been one of the key elements of SEO for many years. Much like a popularity contest, if your website has many other websites linking to it, then it must be very important and will receive more website traffic. If these links are from highly ranked, major websites then your website must be even more important.

Now you are ready to let the search engines know your site exists. Today, a single submission to the major search engines is usually enough.

Now comes the hardest part... you wait. How do you know if what you did is working? You monitor your site for more website traffic and search engine spiders through a website statistics package offered by high end hosting companies. You should monitor your actual rankings on at least a quarterly basis with all the various engines.

Link Management

Having a solid link exchange campaign is a crucial part of any search engine optimization project to promote more website traffic on a site. Google places their greatest weight on link popularity because on-page elements can be manipulated quickly and easily. Both Yahoo and MSN also place importance on the anchor text and the quantity of incoming links, but not nearly to the level of Google.

Convincing quality, relevant sites to link to your site can be tedious, time-consuming and yes, very frustrating. Link building must be done carefully to avoid link spamming. When you are building links to increase your link popularity and increase online traffic, to whom do we link? The question of where should we link to effectively increase our ranking can be a daunting and confusing task.

The quality of each potential link partner must be analyze to ensure the topic complements your website to achieve the utmost in link popularity in a natural and search engine friendly way. The bottom line is that your link building campaigns get results.

Bernard Madoff sure made lots of money

Bernard L. Madoff, was arrested at his Manhattan home by federal agents who accused him of conducting a multibillion-dollar fraud scheme (also known as the Ponzi Scheme) — perhaps the largest in Wall Street’s history.

Regulators have not yet verified the scale of the fraud. But the criminal complaint filed against Mr. Madoff on Thursday in federal court in Manhattan reports that he estimated the losses at $50 billion. Yes, Bernard did Madoff a lots of money from his Ponzi Scheme. Maybe we should called it Madoff Scheme.

Starting today, expect some keywords intensity in the search engines. Those keywords are likely to be Ponzi Scheme, Madoff Scheme, Madoff Fraud, Madoff Cheat, Bernard Madoff and it will rise in popularity in Google search Trends. I expect bloggers will be busy composing posts on Bernard Madoff (his life, his photos, his activities) and his massive fortune siphoned from investors.

UPDATES:
* Mar 11, 2009 - Bernard Madoff To Plead Guilty

Related posts:
* How to make money with Ponzi Scheme

SEO: madoff, ponzi scheme, bernard madoff arrested, madoff arrested, bernie madoff, madoff fraud,

How to make money with Ponzi Scheme

I thought of giving this post a title of "The Biggest Ponzi Scheme ever" but ended up with "How to make money with Ponzi Scheme".

What is Ponzi Scheme

First of all, Ponzi schemes are a type of illegal pyramid scheme named for Charles Ponzi, who duped thousands of New England residents into investing in a postage stamp speculation scheme back in the 1920s. Ponzi thought he could take advantage of differences between U.S. and foreign currencies used to buy and sell international mail coupons. Ponzi told investors that he could provide a 40% return in just 90 days compared with 5% for bank savings accounts. Ponzi was deluged with funds from investors, taking in $1 million during one three-hour period—and this was 1921! Though a few early investors were paid off to make the scheme look legitimate, an investigation found that Ponzi had only purchased about $30 worth of the international mail coupons.

Decades later, the Ponzi scheme continues to work on the "rob-Peter-to-pay-Paul" principle, as money from new investors is used to pay off earlier investors until the whole scheme collapses.

Make money with a giant Ponzi Scheme

Bernard Madoff, a trading veteran of Wall Street for almost half a century, was on Thursday arrested by federal agents a day after telling two senior staff that his wealth advisory business was "a giant Ponzi scheme", according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Filing a civil complaint, the Securities and Exchange Commission said it was an ongoing $50bn (€37.5bn) fraud, and urged a judge to seize the firm and its assets. More at Veteran Wall Street broker arrested over ‘giant ponzi scheme’ ...

Madoff - The master of Ponzi Scheme

Bernard Madoff, former Nasdaq Stock Market chairman and founder of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, was arrested and charged with securities fraud Thursday in what federal prosecutors called a Ponzi scheme that could involve losses of more than $50 billion.

Madoff, 70, of New York, was charged with one count of securities fraud, according to a statement from the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint in federal court in Manhattan seeking an asset freeze and the appointment of a receiver for the firm run by Madoff. More at Madoff arrested in alleged Ponzi scheme ...

U.S Government running the biggest Ponzi Scheme

The U.S. Treasury has not been able to keep up with the monetary demands from the Fed which lead them to request the authority to print their own debt. In what has to be considered a ridiculous run up in the national debt of late, this move just compounds the potential problems. This is leading some people to question the validity of U.S. sovereign debt. Is the U.S. government running the biggest ponzi scheme in history? It sure seems like it. More at U.S. Debt Offerings: The Biggest Ponzi Scheme In History? ...

The biggest Ponzi Scheme in history

Hedge funds, already heading for their worst year on record, may lose at least $10 billion from investing with a New York firm that founder Bernard L. Madoff called “a giant Ponzi scheme.”

The biggest loser may be Walter Noel’s Fairfield Greenwich Group, whose $7.3 billion Fairfield Sentry Ltd. invested with Madoff’s eponymous firm, three people familiar with the matter said. Another client was Kingate Management Ltd., whose $2.8 billion Kingate Global Fund Ltd. invested with Madoff, they said.

Investors, ranging from hedge funds that depend on outside managers to wealthy individuals, entrusted their money with the 70-year-old Madoff, who told employees before his arrest yesterday that his firm was “one big lie” and may have cost clients as much as $50 billion. His confession comes with hedge fund assets poised to fall as low as $1.1 trillion by Jan. 1 from $1.9 trillion in June, reflecting market losses and customer redemptions, analysts at Morgan Stanley estimate.

“If the losses were $50 billion or even half that amount, it would be the biggest Ponzi scheme in history,” said Mark Schonfeld, the former head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s New York office, who is now a partner at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP. More at Bloomberg - Madoff ‘Big Lie’ Hits Fairfield Sentry, Kingate Funds ...

Ponzi Scheme in India

Ponzi schemes are not new for India’s financial sector. The country’s first mutual fund scheme — US64 managed by UTI — which ran into a crisis in
mid-2000 was seen as being operated like a Ponzi scheme. So is the employees pension scheme.

The Indian mutual fund industry, which has made considerable progress over the past four years, appears to have improvised on this as the recent experience of fixed maturity plans (FMP) show. Mutual fund houses were almost running a quasi-Ponzi schemes through FMPs, whereby investors of the older FMP schemes were being repaid with the money invested by the investors in new schemes, as a fund manager admitted. It was this practice that the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) wanted to put an end to, when it revised rules to ensure that close-ended schemes cannot have assets with a maturity beyond that of the scheme. More at SEBI's measures in MFs could lead to orderly growth of FMPs ...

UPDATES:
* Mar 11, 2009 - Bernard Madoff To Plead Guilty
* Dec 12, 2008 - Bernard Madoff sure made lots of money

SEO: Ponzi Scheme | Pyramid Scheme | Charles Ponzi | Making money with Ponzi Scheme | bernard madoff | madoff | madoff arrested | ponzi | bernard madoff arrested | Madoff Fairfield| Fairfield Greenwich | Madoff Kingate | Mutual fund ponzi |

How to make money with Cialis pills

How do you exactly make money with Cialis pills ? Peddling it online of course. Okay, I'm not peddling Cialis pills per se but I'm trying to overkill the keywords "How to make money" with "Cialis pills".

Anyway, the above idea all started when a few bloggers started to comment on my post and paste a long article about Cialis and ED (that's Erectile Dysfunction) and impotence, Russian boatwoman (??), cheap Cialis, fleshly commerce and other nonsense. All the article are similar except those translated from Russian to English which is badly translated (I hope it's not from Google Translate) and all have common links. URL links pointing to their affiliate store called "www.onlinepharmacy.vg". When I visited OnlinePharmacy.vg site, it look like they are a drug pusher, but of course peddling legal drugs.

Some of the popular drugs peddled by OnlinePharmacy on their online catalog

ED Trial Pack Mens Health Generic Cialis Generic Propecia Generic Cialis (Soft Tabs) VIAGRA (Soft Tabs) VIAGRA (Jelly Pack) Womens Health Arimidex Clomid Duphaston Evista Parlodel Premarin Provera Allergy Allegra Atarax Baclofen Clarinex Claritin Elimite Cream Flonase Periactin Rhinocort Zyrtec Anti Biotics Amoxicillin Augmentin Bactrim Biaxin Ceclor Ceftin Chloromycetin Cipro Cleocin Doxycycline Duricef E-Mycin Floxin Imuran Levaquin Maxaquin Minomycin Myambutol Noroxin Rulide Sumycin Suprax Tegopen Tequin Vantin Zagam Zithromax Anti Fungal Diflucan Fulvicin Lamisil Nizoral Sporanox Anti Viral & HIV Combivir Epivir Famvir Viramune Zerit Ziagen Zovirax Asthma Beclovent Pulmicort Turbuhaler Singulair Baby Care Blood Pressure Adalat Calan Cozaar Diovan Hyzaar Inderal Lotensin Lozol Microzide Norvasc Plavix Tenormin Generic Viagra Vasotec Zestoretic Zestril Cancer Arimidex Casodex Cytoxan Eulexin Hydrea Methotrexate Nolvadex Trecator-SC VePesid Cholesterol Crestor Lipitor Lopid Pravachol Tricor Zetia Zocor Diabetic Actos Amaryl Avandia DDAVP Nasal Glucophage Glucotrol NovoNorm Precose Rocaltrol Diuretics Aldactone Hytrin Lozol Microzide Generic Levitra Zestoretic Ziac Gastro Intestinal Aciphex Albenza Biltricide Carafate Colospa Flagyl Motilium Nexium Prevacid Prilosec Protonix Reglan Hair care Propecia Nausea & Vomiting Zofran Skin Care Bactroban Benzac Differin Thyroid Synthroid Urinary Tract Infections Urispas Weight Loss Ayur Slim Hoodia

What is Cialis

Cialis or Tadalafil is an orally administered drug for treating impotence (erectile dysfunction), that initially was developed by the biotechnology company ICOS, and then developed and marketed world-wide as Cialis, by Lilly ICOS, LLC, the joint venture of ICOS Corporation and Eli Lilly and Company. Cialis tablets, in 5 mg, 10 mg, and 20 mg doses, are yellow, film-coated, and almond-shaped.

In December 2003, the Food and Drug Administration approved tadalafil (as Cialis) for sale in the U.S. as the third impotence prescription drug after sildenafil (Viagra) and vardenafil (Levitra). Cialis's 36-hour effectiveness earned it the nickname, "The Weekend Pill"; like sildenafil and vardenafil, tadalafil is recommended as an 'as needed' medication. Cialis is the only one of the three that is also offered as a once daily medication. Moreover, besides impotence, tadalafil currently is in Phase 3 clinical trials for treating pulmonary arterial hypertension.

How to make money with Cialis

Search from the Internet on which drug manufacturer or regional dealers are selling Cialis and offer to become their affiliate.

NOTES:
* Stay away from illicit drugs.
* Get doctors or real pharmacist to prescribe the medicine to you.
* Get medical help before considering buying legal drugs from online store.

Blog about Barack Hussein Obama - BHO

Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is the President-elect of the United States, and the first African-American to be elected President of the United States. Obama was the junior United States Senator from Illinois from 2005 until he resigned on November 16, 2008, following his election to the Presidency. His term of office as the 44th U.S. president will begin on January 20, 2009.

The news has been out indicating that Obama will sworn in as the next president of United States with his full name as Barack Hussein Obama. However, having an Arab middle name doesn't mean Obama is a Muslim as he is a devoted Christian.

I predict that Barack Hussein Obama will soon become a blogging trend when more people are curious on how he get his Hussein middle name. Lefty bloggers, in full Obama rapture, point out that Hussein means "beautiful." One conservative observer insinuated that Obama, as a Christian with a Muslim name, might be marked for death by even our allies in the Islamic world, if they think he converted from Islam (for the record, he was never Muslim).

Related posts:
* A Guide For Dorky White People In Obamamerica
* TIME: Why Is Obama's Middle Name Taboo?
* Slate: Malice in the Middle - Barack Hussein Obama and the history of bad middle names in politics.

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From AFP

At inauguration, it will be Barack Hussein Obama: interview

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Barack Obama said in an interview with a US newspaper he will follow tradition and be sworn in as US president using his full name, including his middle name Hussein.

During the presidential campaign, some of Obama's political opponents referred to his middle name in an attempt to portray him as a secret Muslim with alleged ties to extremists.

But Obama, a lifelong Christian, told the Chicago Tribune that he would adhere to custom for the inauguration ceremony.

"I think the tradition is that they use all three names, and I will follow the tradition," Obama told the Tribune, which posted the interview on its website late Tuesday.

"I'm not trying to make a statement one way or another. I'll do what everybody else does."

His Republican rival John McCain reprimanded a supporter at one point during the campaign for referring to Obama by his full name, saying it was "inappropriate."

When endorsing Obama in October, former secretary of state Colin Powell criticized those spreading false rumors claiming Obama as a Muslim, saying it reflected religious prejudice.

SEO: Barrack Hussien Obama | Hussein Obama | BHO

How to make money online with Facebook

Many of us already understand to some degree the importance of using social media as a key element of your business marketing; it’s great for search engine marketing, making your website highly findable and getting in front of your potential market. Facebook is, arguably the most successful social networking website to date, but can it be used to promote your business, increase awareness of what you do and, in short, make you more money?

Facebook is a tool any business can and should use to grow their fan club, sell more and stay connected to your target market. Even Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, the ex-Prime Minister of Malaysia has a Facebook account. In fact, some politician in Malaysia are also into Facebook so that they can interact with their followers.

The great news about Facebook is that the service is free unless you choose to participate in the paid ads. With over 100 million members you might find a few within your target market.

Facebook describes itself as a “social utility that connects people with friends (or lost friends), relatives and others who work, study and live around them. People use Facebook to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet.”

Let's look at the top 5 reasons you may want to move your business to Facebook and increase your profits.

Finding business contacts

Facebook allows you to connect with prospects, clients, competitors, potential partners and the gate keepers for your prospects. This tool allows you the opportunity to open up land et all of your contacts get to know you. Building relationships in a very non threatening fashion where people are open to your invitations to connect. A positive strategy is to accept all friend requests. Allow the growth to be viral through participating in conversations and offering help when you can.

Create expert status

Facebook is the perfect place to create visibility and become recognized as the expert in your field. A strategy that includes consistently showing up and providing relevant postings around your area of expertise. But this required you to commit your time to be active with your Facebook activity. Using group and fan pages can help with the visibility. Additionally, using the events function with Facebook will allow you to promote your business events and if you ask your fans to promote to their network, most will. Not only will you expand your reach it is a silent recommendation of your business to their connections.

Target marketing

Members of Facebook share demographics, psychographics, and technographics about themselves that in the past you would have paid a pretty penny for. Through mindful interactions with your target market you can determine where their problems are that you can help them solve. An incredible way to get real market feedback before spending a lot of money. With that said you can also use paid ads on Facebook that allow you to only market to your target market and promote your Facebook pages and/or your products and services.

Get yourself visible, get your blog seen

Just like Ecademy, the best way to get visibility is by being active in the community on a regular basis, so your network and your contacts see you regularly. And again, as with Ecademy, the difference that will make the difference is constantly adding value to the community, being open and honest, transparent and congruent in your presence. Recently, Facebook allow cross update between your Facebook status and Twitter. Meaning, if your post your status at Facebook, it will appeared on your Twitter dashboard. It's like killing two birds with one stone. Your status will be seen by one group of friends in Facebook circle and another group of friends in Twitter circle.

Search Engine Optimization

Facebook is indexed for the search engines. Pages are used for business profiles and should be shared with your fans. Profiles are for personal information. Both pages are indexed for SEO. As a side note Pages allow you to accumulate as many fans as you can and then you can send messages to all of your fans. Just think about the implications of the messaging services for your business. Facebook has an Alexa rating of 5 which means it is the 5th highest traffic website on the internet. Can you say SEO?

Anytime you expand your reach into your target market you can and should increase your profits. The key is to be consistent without coming across as spamming. If your intentions are always to help others that should not become an issue. Include Facebook into your daily or weekly marketing campaigns and as in any marketing strategy the more touches the quicker the results and profits.

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7 steps to earn money with Facebook

Step 1 - Setup your Business Facebook account. If you already have a Facebook account, you only need to select a business name. This will give you a separate profile to work with.

Step 2 - Add your profile information. dd your business logo or screenshot of your site for the image, include a URL back to your main site, and add any necessary information to distinguish your profile from the rest.

Step 3 - Add interests. Add interests that other Facebook users can find you with; think of keywords that apply to your business, site, blog or industry.

Step 4 - Add your RSS feed. You can enter an RSS feed to the "Notes" section. Click on "Applications" on the left hand side of the page and follow the steps to add an RSS link.

Step 5 - Sell items in the Marketplace. If you're already selling products on your website, add the same listings on the Marketplace section. You can also list items with your affiliate links here.

Step 6 - Increase traffic by linking to quality content. Create pages and notes on your Facebook account that link back to websites with a high Page Rank. Google and other search engines can increase your own PR after they crawl your Facebook profile and find your main website linked to it.

Step 7 - Network with groups and members daily. Maintain an active presence on Facebook so that people can identify with your business, blog or website and keep up with your notes and postings.

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5 ways to make money on Facebook (monetized Facebook application)

1. SELL. Develop applications solely for the purpose of selling them to interested parties. Several applications have already been acquired in this fashion; the most recent example is that of Mozes’ purchase of TextMe.

Actually, I think trying to make an applications is a bad idea ...

* There's too much false hype about applications - There’s a lot of people talking about getting rich with Facebook applications, but I would bet that 99% of those same people have never made their own application. Why not? Because...

* Applications are very expensive to build - I’m not a programming guru, and most likely you’re not either. So if either of us wanted to make an application, we would have to hire a programmer. Even programmers in India are not cheap. Trust me, I’ve seen prices quoted in the thousands, and that’s the low-end! And...

* Most applications fail miserably - You have to invest a lot of money up front and risk losing it all. Over 75% of applications started by ordinary people end up failing. The successful ones are usually developed by companies that have millions of dollars of funding already.

2. DEVELOP. An indirect source of funds: develop applications under contract for third parties. A number of companies have been posting contract jobs over at the Facebook’s developer forums. There exists a large gap in the supply and demand of available Facebook application developers; as a result, finding potential clients to charge reasonable rates should not be a hassle.

3. ADVERTISING. Use advertisements, cross-promotion schemes and affiliate marketing. It is not feasible to use Google Adsense for this since Facebook does not allow JavaScript embedding. Adsense may be embedded through iFrames, which despite being popular among Facebook developers, is against Google’s TOS. Affiliate marketing is a great alternative to advertisements; my own source of income on Facebook is generated through Amazon’s affiliate marketing.

4. MICROPAYMENTS. Sell services within Facebook through micro-payment transactions. PayPal payments made for accessing premium services could potentially yield reasonable income depending on the application’s purpose, size, and prospective users.

5. GET INVESTMENT. If you think you have something big on your hands and lack the funds to scale it, apply for investment through Bay Partners and others who have expressed interest in funding Facebook apps. This would be the likely course of action for a startup with plans to expand globally within and beyond Facebook.

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Facebook Has A Money-Making Opportunity That Few People Know About

Did you know ... of the over 70 million active Facebook users, less than 30,000 are using it to make money. That's less than .0005% of the entire Facebook population! *** Registered Facebook users is estimated to be about 100 million.

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Avoid this (make-money-with-facebook hosted at an Attack Site)

If the search engine lead you to "make-money-with-facebook" page at VirtualMarketingBlog, watch out as the web site at www.virtualmarketingblog.com has been reported as an attack site. Enter at your own risk.

Avoid this (How To Make A Million Buck In a Week From Facebook by JohnChow)

It's a total crap. No one make a million buck in a week from Facebook, unless you are a marketer with a big capital. I mean, there is no way to earn million without investing.