Learning To Blog pt 2

Robert W Cain — Sun, 17 May 2009 15:06:40 +0000

The adventure continues…..!

Now, I left part one, having made a post on Twitter, with a link to the article and a request to reply. The first lesson I gained from inviting the world to comment is, try to have more followers, 500, although brilliant, and thanks all you lovely people for taking the time to follow me! – well, its a long way short of the world..Ha!..Ha!… Mind you, I have only had a presence on Twitter for just over a month.

The second lesson came via a comment from @mikecj. Mike is a professional blogger, who very kindly took the time out to have a look, and guess what?, he encountered a problem with the ability to post a comment, it appeared that the comments php code was incorrect, consequently, the display boxes required to make a post were a bit of a mess. Mike knew where to type from previous experience, and managed to warn me, coupled with a few complimentary observation to cheer me up. Many thanks to Mike, you can visit his site (always worth a visit), from here http://www.mikeslife.org/

I scratched my head a couple of times, then had a look at the php code, Oh! dear, or words to that affect, what do I do now!…I couldn’t make much sense of it all, I checked out a few forums, to no avail, and then contemplated the prospect of having to install a new theme….. “Why don’t you use a comments php from another theme” my wife said, whilst beating a hasty retreat, in case I thought she was mad!….Guess what, she was so right!

We found a suitable theme by previewing a couple, then downloaded it, next we uploaded the new theme to WordPress and pressed activate. Now, with the new theme loaded, we then went to Dashboard/appearance/editor, and located the comments php, copied it to an open notepad page and saved. Hope that makes sense.

OK, now we re-loaded the original theme, and returned to the editor, again we took a copy of this php, and bravely pressed delete. next we copied the new php code into the open, but now blank php, from my original theme, and pressed save. Done…. We checked that we could post…. all worked….. magic!

Unfortunately, this little mishap did indeed, rather spoil my intended objective, I did however, receive a few kind remarks via my Twitter account, so it worked, albeit, in a small way.

Creating an Ad!

This was fun, I discovered this week that my Host WebHost.uk.net, run an affiliates program, where by, any referral traffic earns me a small commission. So, leaning on the old adage of ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained, I decided to create my first ad.

With the aid of ‘Snag it’, a useful piece of software that enables selective screen capture, I created a small image of their website. I then looked for a suitable widget plug in, that would enable me to display the image and link it to a website. To this end, I discovered a plug in called ‘ Blogwell’s Simple Image Link Widget‘ Cool!, and the clue was in the name.

Using the widget was a very straight forward affair, and the result is most pleasing, now all I need is a couple of hundred clicks a day and I will be made….Ha!….Ha!.

Be warned, the ad to the left actually works.

So that concludes this weeks adventures in Learning to Blog, I wonder what goodies await. “Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section provided below”, He say’s optimistically!

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‘Life, the Universe and Everything’

Robert W Cain — Tue, 05 May 2009 16:10:39 +0000

Comic Strip

Since the dawn of Human kind, man has sought to explain his purpose in life; mainly I think to quantify his existence.
I don’t mean to speak in the third person but I am sure you understand what I am getting at
I also, have wondered and dwelt on this subject from time to time. What’s it all about, why are we here, where are we going.
If I were a religious person still, I guess I would not need to ask the question, as the teachings of the Bible, in my interpretation, simply state ‘that we are here to serve the purpose of God’
That, therefore raises another question, if you are a man of God, then you will not need to ask, and if you do ask, then perhaps you need to rethink your basic beliefs
Having set myself free of the need, to worship a deity, I have the right mindset to ponder the question without conscience.
Imagine, if you will, the Guru, who sits at the mouth of a cave, high up in the mountains, as he sits cross legged, looking out on his view of the World. His mind would be quite empty of distraction. His eyes would only be taking in the scene before him, probably consisting of more mountain peeks, ice or snow, subject to the time of the season. The slow drift of the clouds overhead, a glint of the Sun as it winds its way across the sky in pursuit of its daily routine.
Just for a second, he is momentarily distracted, as an eagle drifts into view, in search of his daily meal. His heart, missing a beat, as his brain scans in the new information. And then, back to the view, and his form of normality.
Would you seek out this man, to ask his advice on a life changing decision?
Well people did, and may still, to the best of my knowledge.

Server Problems

So how could a man, living as a recluse and surviving on the handouts of his followers, have the vaguest notion, on how to advise on such matters?
Quite simply, his only take on the World is what he sees, therefore he has no distractions. His mind, his brain, his capacity for thought, is unhindered by life’s many distractions.
He is free to apply all his powers of logic, to whatever proposition, that’s set before him, and therefore, quite likely to come up with the right conclusion.
I find this a reasonable and believable situation, and fully understand the faith people would place in his answer.

Why!

Well, imagine again that you have to make a life changing decision. Now take into consideration the distractions of everyday life, the conversations going on around you, the noise of traffic and clutter, and the input from your immediate vision. Its no wonder that we often say ‘I shall need to go away and think about that’.
We don’t hop a plane, and make base camp at the foot of Everest. We probably go down the pub and sit and stare into space, trying to muster the ability to clear our minds.
It’s human instinct to search out a place of seclusion to think, we cannot use our powers of imagination and image making, to arrive at life’s decisions, without this peace of mind.
It’s important to understand the way the Human brain works, to allow us to draw any conclusions as to ‘The Meaning of Life’.
You cannot ponder on such a quandary as this, with the interruptions afforded by 21st centaury life. You therefore, need to find a way to escape in your mind, from the, hear and now.
Well, it can be done, with the aid of meditation or, and, the aid of natures natural herbs.
But, I digress.

Confusion

What’s it all about

We appear to have come about, by some fantastic paradox in the thread of the Universe. Of which, I have no desire to dwell upon, at this time.
So, accepting our existence blindly, we are left with the question of ‘Why’.
We are a part of, ‘The wonder of Nature’.
And in Nature, the rule of thumb appears to be that, everything living, serves a purpose, be it, as a part of the food chain, or as a subsidiary, to the co-existence of another living thing.
Therefore, we do have a reason, and purpose to exist, or we would have been eradicated long ago.
Great! We have established our right to be here, by using the power of logic.
So now, all we need to do is discover our purpose.
I personally do not think it is to make as much money as we can, and drive gas guzzling cars around the delicate environment, that we live in.
WE, as humans, appear to be, the superior species on our Planet, armed with the power of communication and reason. And as we have already established, this is by no means an accident, but a requirement of Nature, to maintain the natural balance.
Now it’s all falling into place, we do have a purpose, and a very important one. We are here to maintain the ecological balance of Natures creation.
‘Excuse me!’
‘Did I hear that right?’
‘Afraid so’ We are supposed to be the ‘Caretakers’ of the Planet.
We should be busying ourselves making sure that all living things are looked after, and maintained, to the best of our ability. We should be instructing our children to respect and love our environment, and all the wonders Nature has provided. Not just for our pleasure, but for the good of all living things.
‘Now that makes sense’

The Meaning of Life

At last, now we can all busy ourselves doing what we were meant to.
Ha! Ha! Some hope.
Now where was I, ah! Yes, just about to declare war on some one or other.

In Conclusion

You have to see the logic, and simplicity, in this answer, and after all, isn’t life supposed to be simple.
Why do you suppose, we get so much pleasure from tending our gardens. Is it not stamped in to our genetic make up? We all have, deep down inside us, the urge and desire to be self sufficient, to run off to the country side and grow our food and live in peace with Nature in idealic surroundings.
So, basically, we have made a complete and utter mess of that one, have we not?
And, unfortunately, short of the annihilation, of at least half of the Human race, and massive re-indoctrination of the remaining population, we don’t have much hope of ever putting that one right, do we.
These are my thoughts on ‘The Meaning of Life’ and I think, I put forward a good, and well rounded argument, for this to be the fact of the matter.

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Learning To Blog pt 2

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‘Life, the Universe and Everything’

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