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Dear Seth Godin,

I read your blog and I buy your books I like your stuff so much I gave them as Christmas presents to my clients, but when you write this kind of stuff it pisses me off

A quick glimpse at just about any profession shows you that the vast majority of people who succeed professionally also went to college

Really please stop it now, there are very few professions that require a college level education. Doctors, lawyers, accountants and so yep I’m with you, but for everybody else drive, and desire are much more important … really

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On my flight to the SMX Search Marketing Conference the stewardess made this announcement over the PA system …

“Do we have any newlyweds, married couples or lovers on board … (some passengers raise hands) I’d like to remind you that the bathrooms are single occupancy rooms, so please wait till you land and get a hotel room, thanks …”

Untapped Niches and the Mile High Club »

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I’m a member of the Internet Marketers of New York and we meet once a month to talk and chat with some other search people in the NY area. Whenever a conference rolls into town we like to have a little fun, meet new people, and help out a charity who deserves it. So I am pleased to announce we’ll be holding our 3rd annual party March 18th.

It will be at the Black Finn NY 218 East 53rd Street (map) from 8pm-Midnight. The crew from the Best of the Web Directory are picking up the tab so drinks are free all night. There is a $40 cover charge, but the entire $40 will be going to charity who needs it. Here’s the more detailed information about the event.

The event is open to anyone no need to be an SEO Rockstar, so if you’re looking for an opportunity to meet people this is a good place to start. I look forward to seeing you.

Please help spread the word with a blog post, thanks.

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You would think that snow day wouldn’t have much effect on someone who works at home, except that all the other people who usually leave around 9 didn’t and threw off my groove. So while I was eating breakfast I looked at yesterdays mail looked at the Oprah magazine, and had this thought “Do you Lie as Well as Oprah?“

When I say I lie I mean the lies that we as marketers tell. What’s the lie that Oprah is telling … that it’s possible for anyone to be eat foods without watching our waistline, have deeply connected full filling lives with our significant others, spouses and families, not be overburdened by the responsibilities of out jobs put on us, be successful in our careers and be paid handsomely for it, and find a deep level of inner peace and happiness with our lives. Of course we all know it it’s lie, or really more of a fairly tale, and we love to read fairy tales.

If you’re selling something how good is your fairy tale story?

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From the article:

Gray wolves will be fair game for hunters

Should I be worried if Matt invites to the Googleplex next week during SMX?

Heh thanks to everybody, who sent me links to that or similar stories in the past day or two.

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So I’m cruising through my reader this AM and come across this piece on USA Today Hottest shows in Las Vegas. Lots of blah balh copy, but what I really want to see is the list of the 10 shows. Inside the middle of the article I follow the link to the slide show (yes slide show in the anchor text already has me jittery). I’m sent through a series advertising screens and end up here. On top of that I now have to “next” through 10 different screens.

This is where “small” publishers who aren’t tied to “old school” advertising metrics and execution methods have an advantage. Go for usability, give me what I want right away, don’t surround it with fluff, inject advertising interstitials, and try to carry the concept of magazine pages to the web with page views.

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Am I the only one who finds a significant amount of irony in the title of this story:

Changing of the Guard: How Dan Pulcrano Became The Point Man in the Historic March From Old Media to the New World Online

link

If it’s all about new media how about you write a title with a search engine in mind and not a magazine or trade paper. How about you write with some keywords that people might actually search for? How about you stop putting in useless words? How about we stop pretending we are coming up with names like “brisk and misty autumn dawn” for a paint color that’s really orange.

OK fine how would I do it …

Dan Pulcrano Building Domains into Media Businesses

Dan Pulcrano Building a Local Domain Empire

Dan Pulcrano Online Business Entrepreneur

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If you’re into comics please check out Urban Monsters written by one my friends, you can also check out his blog where he talks about storytelling and lore surrounding video games. He also was involved in writing for Bat Thumb.

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You know I speak against the Google machine a lot, sure some of it is good theatre, but deep down our Google overlords and the church of google can get two powerful. Here’s and article from wired that knock it out of the park:

You can see it in comments by government officials: “Privacy no longer can mean anonymity,” says Donald Kerr, principal deputy director of national intelligence. “Instead, it should mean that government and businesses properly safeguard people’s private communications and financial information.” Did you catch that? You’re expected to give up control of your privacy to others, who — presumably — get to decide how much of it you deserve. That’s what loss of liberty looks like.

and remember when Google has done all the leg work they become a very attractive target to government for data mining

In order for cyberspace to be policed, internet activity will have to be closely monitored. Ed Giorgio, who is working with McConnell on the plan, said that would mean giving the government the authority to examine the content of any e-mail, file transfer or Web search. “Google has records that could help in a cyber-investigation,” he said. Giorgio warned me, “We have a saying in this business: ‘Privacy and security are a zero-sum game.’”

scary stuff …

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You all should totally go vote me in SEJ search awards to convince you why I deserve your vote, here are some of the highlights of this year. In January my blog got hacked, February I published a kick ass series of interviews on Local Search, in March I did a video on making wordpress more search engine friendly, in April I did a marketing on myspace and promoting your local business, in May I started my I hope Digg Dies dream (sadly I was wrong) and can you make a living blogging, in June I spent 5 minutes writing a post that brought in 20,000+ views using Google trends, in July I explained to you why your social media stories never go popular, in August I gave the infamous Google is not the Government presentation, in September I used Britney Spears to help show you how to use current events to help your social media efforts, in October I called out Jason Calacanis for bad mouthing SEO’s, in November I showed how Stumbleupon is totally kicking Google Butt in social search, in December I reminded you the thin affiliate site is dying.

There were lots of other good posts during the year but those were the one that brought in the most traffic. For a look at some other post check out my top posts page, and don’t forget to vote for me, thanks

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Cigna Sucks

Cigna Healthcare Sucks »

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You know I really try and stay away from things like this, but when I see people use a widely read medium to spread misinformation, without doing their research first, it makes my blood boil. What did Christina Warren say here’s a look:

There’s lots of talk within the tech community, especially the blogosphere about using SEO and how it’s GOOD for bloggers and doesn’t negatively affect readers/searchers/regular users. This is a lie. Instead of Search Engine Optimization, SEO should really stand for Search Engine Opportunism, because that’s what it really is.

Hey Christina Warren you don’t tar and feather an entire industry because a few people in it happen to be bad. Are all car mechanics rip-off artists because one over charged you a few years ago? Are all doctors scammers because one submitted an over inflated bill to the HMO? Obviously not, every profession has it’s bad apples, but we don’t condem all mechanics or doctors because of a few who are bad. Christina Warren goes on to say:

we do object to gaming the system and using loopholes

Hey Christina do you have an accountant? Does that accountant look for “loopholes” to save you money you would otherwise have to pay in taxes to the government? With your logic I might as well say “All accountants are Cheaters” or maybe even “Christina Warren is tax opportunist looking to get out of paying her taxes”. However both of those statements would reveal that I actually had no idea what the hell I was talking about and should step away from the keyboard.

Perhaps you are one these “content purists” who looks to Google with the respect usually reserved for a deity, and assumes all you need is good content and they will “magically” figure it out. Perhaps you should look at this post where I pointed out some technical errors on a sister site of your Engadget.

Please feel free to link to this post or write your own post about how Christina Warren needs to research and learn the facts before she brings her uninformed prejudices and biases to the blogging world at large. Perhaps she might learn something before she opens her mouth with an uniformed opinion next time.

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I’m sure the answer to this exists on the web however my lack of proper terminology makes it difficult for me to find it, so I’ll describe what I’m trying to do.

I have a windows XP computer on my home network, I want to configure it only to accept internal network traffic over the network card. I need to be able to connect to the computer via remote desktop. After I log into the machine any browser or external traffic should be routed through the modem. I will be controlling the computer via remote desktop over the internal network and browsing external traffic on the modem. Don’t ask why … lets just say … it’s complicated.

Any one have any suggestions or can nudge me in the right direction.

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Ok doing a few upgrades site may be a little wonky for a little while today.

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Probably pretty high on the list of pictures you never thought you’d see but there’s a picture of me with Jason Calacanis last night after dinner.

Jason Calacanis & Michael Gray »

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I’ve been looking to upgrade from my Motorola Razr to a smart phone since July and here’s the tail of how my BFF’s help me get there

My BFF’s and My Smartphone »

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Hi, this is a cellphone Jott.
Click here to listen

Powered by Jott

Last week I was reading Steve Rubel’s turning Gmail into your personal hub and nerve center. If you haven’t read them I suggest that you do they are actually very helpful and insightful ways of thinking and using many of the tools available to you today. The problem is however many of his solutions include third party apps and workarounds that they qualify as bubble gum and duct tape for an online Rube Goldberg experiment. What’s really missing is the seamless integration of different parts.

Creating the Ultimate Personal Hub and Nerve Center »

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AT&T and Cingular I’m a present customer and I have to say your 3G coverage sucks. Also the bricking of iPhones is a crappy way to treat customers. If you are going to come after me or shut off my service for breaking your new TOS section 5.1 100% of any and all communication in any format voice/digital/electronic or otherwise will be reprinted in it’s entirety on this blog.

let’s see what happens

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So what seems like years ago when I was at SES San Jose one of the session I went to was on analytics (see Lisa’s coverage Issues In Analytics). Which wrinkled a few eyebrows, and got a few questions like “hey I didn’t know you were interested in analytics”, however I was reminded yesterday of why you need to have a basic understanding of how and why these things work.

Why Analytics Drives me Insane »

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I’ve been reading about Blogrush all weekend, and sorry I’m gonna call it as I see it. This looks like a late night informercial combined with an Amway pyramid scheme, complete with “but wait there’s more …” taglines. Don’t believe me check out the video below …

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You can learn lots of things reading the SEOMoz Blog, I do and it’s one of the few SEO blogs I still subscribe to, but this weekend I was reminded of two things I thought I share with you.

What You Should Learn from Rand Fishkin »

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A couple weeks a G-Man who many of you may know from SEOMoz dropped me note asking to mention the Compute for our Children Project. If you’d like to help you can go to http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/ sign up for the download and help the cause, thanks.

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I just got an email from a company I like and have been using for years. The email Tells me that I have a new personal account representative. However not giving me the persons last name anywhere in the email they just sent me, is somehow less than believable. The only thing that does is make me think you got a high paid consultant to tell you can with this idea. Be real and be genuine, or don’t bother me at all.

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So it’s iPhone day and the only way you can get it with a Cingular AT&T deal. I know lots of people will call me crazy but I think using AT&T instead of Cingular was really stupid. iPhone & AT&T - Older Brands are Not Always Better Brands »

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Blank Blog Post »

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I was reading two posts yesterday that you would think were completely unconnected, however were really amazingly close in concept.

Blogging and Paper Clips »

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One of the often overlooked aspects of social media i