WordPress 2.1 is ready

WordPress 2.1 is ready
WordPress 2.1 is out for download. One of the important changes is in this version is that now it requires MySQL 4. Which means I have to upgrade my servers in order to test drive it. Download WordPress 2.1.

WordPress 2.1 is out for download. One of the important changes is in this version is that now it requires MySQL 4. Which means I have to upgrade my servers in order to test drive it.

Download WordPress 2.1.

YPN vs Adsense
David at his blog posted an interesting findings on YPN vs Adsense. He switched to YPN from Adsense for 10 days and shared his results with a screenshot. Very interesting read, please check it out. Making Money with YPN

David at his blog posted an interesting findings on YPN vs Adsense. He switched to YPN from Adsense for 10 days and shared his results with a screenshot.

Very interesting read, please check it out.

Making Money with YPN

Write a Book and Get Your Book Published: Subscribe to America's Most Successful Book Publicist's Newsletter Today
Sign up for the free HOW TO GET YOUR BOOK PUBLISHED and PUBLICIZED newsletter from Arielle Ford. In case you don't know Arielle by name, she's publicized hundreds of authors and books. 11 of which are #1 Bestsellers. Her clients include Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, Neale Donald Walsch, Dean Ornish, Jon Gordon, Debbie Ford, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. Arielle has compiled a list of nearly every question a first-time or experienced author wants to know about publishing, publicity, building a platform and the book business. Every issue is jam-packed with answers to the questions that get your book published and you booked on radio, television, newspapers and magazines.

Arielle Ford, Publicist biography
Arielle Ford has helped launch the careers and create bestselling books for Deepak Chopra; Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, Chicken Soup for the Soul series; Neale Donald Walsch, Conversations With God; Debbie Ford, The Dark Side of the Light Chasers; and Dean Ornish, Love and Survival and many, many other notable authors.

So which ISP blocks the most permission-based emails?
For many year, I thought AOL was leading the show with the highest email block (permission-based) rate, but boy.. I was so wrong. Return Path, a email delivery firm did a study on this topic recently and published very interesting numbers. They reported that overall, the delivery rate has been increased to 19.2% [...]

For many year, I thought AOL was leading the show with the highest email block (permission-based) rate, but boy.. I was so wrong. Return Path, a email delivery firm did a study on this topic recently and published very interesting numbers.

They reported that overall, the delivery rate has been increased to 19.2% from 21% last year due to sophisticated technology. But considering that almost 20% of our permission-based emails are not getting delivered, I think it is not good enough. Take a look at some stats.

% of Blocked Emails (Permission-based)

Highest Five
Excite - 50.7%
Adelphia - 33.5%
Gmail - 34.3%
Hotmail - 22.7%
MSN - 22.4%

Lowest Four
CompuServe - 11.8%
USA.net - 13.2%
AOL - 14.1%
Yahoo - 15.2%

Gmail has one of the highest % of emails blocked, but they have only 2.87% of false positives (emails incorrectly identified as spam). Which is below an average (3.29% in the US).

If you have a list or send out newsletters, you should educate your list members about properly whitelisting your email address. Also consider using a mailing service company that works with various ISPs to get their emails delivered properly.

How to Get Your Book Published: Quicktime Video
Find out how Arielle Ford has helped launch the careers and create bestselling books for Deepak Chopra; Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, Chicken Soup for the Soul series; Neale Donald Walsch, Conversations With God; Debbie Ford, The Dark Side of the Light Chasers; and Dean Ornish, Love and Survival and many, many other notable authors.

How to Launch Your Career as an Author, Get Your Book Published and Get Book Publicity: MP3 Audio
Find out how Arielle Ford has helped launch the careers and create bestselling books for Deepak Chopra; Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, Chicken Soup for the Soul series; Neale Donald Walsch, Conversations With God; Debbie Ford, The Dark Side of the Light Chasers; and Dean Ornish, Love and Survival and many, many other notable authors. Visit www.EverythingYouShouldKnow.com for more details

Free Stock Photos from Electronic Perceptions
Kathy over at the Electronic Perceptions is a real giver. She’s giving away free stock photos on her blog. You are free to use the photos marked as “Royalty-Free” under the terms defined. Please read the terms before you download them. One thing I would like to see is some free [...]

Kathy over at the Electronic Perceptions is a real giver. She’s giving away free stock photos on her blog. You are free to use the photos marked as “Royalty-Free” under the terms defined. Please read the terms before you download them.

One thing I would like to see is some free high-resolution stock photos. I know she can do whatever she wants to do with her photos, but I feel that she can attract more traffic to her site if she gives away high-resolution versions for some of her photo sets. That would be really awesome.

I highly suggest that you bookmark her blog. New stock photos are posted daily basis. Thanks Kathy!

Samples
Red and Green Tableware

Visit : Electronic Perceptions for Free Stock Photos

Visit the Book Publicity Gallery to see Documents and Photos of Successful Book Publicity Tours and Information.
Visit this link for a whole gallery full of scans from the NY Times and Publisher's Weekly.

10 Witty, Insulting Words You Must Know
Written by Neatorama There is a crisis of insults on the Web. On one hand, the volume of flames is very high yet the quality is poor. Gone are the days of the razor-sharp wit of Oscar Wilde and Winston Churchill*, only to be replaced by a string of four letter words typed in ALL CAPS [...]

Written by Neatorama

There is a crisis of insults on the Web. On one hand, the volume of flames is very high yet the quality is poor. Gone are the days of the razor-sharp wit of Oscar Wilde and Winston Churchill*, only to be replaced by a string of four letter words typed in ALL CAPS by n00bs (the latest of which is “FAIL”, itself a failure of coming up with a more scathing insult, if you think about it).

*For example:

“Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go,” says Oscar Wilde.

George Bernard Shaw wrote to Winston Churchill, “I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend….if you have one.” And Churchill wrote back, “Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second……if there is one“

Well, it’s hard to teach wit - but all of us can learn the next best thing: the approximation of it by obfuscation, i.e. using big, difficult, and obscure words. So, to do our part in improving the quality of insults on teh Interweb, Neatorama has come up with a list of 10 Insulting Words You Should Know:

1. FRENCHIFY (v)

Definition: 1) To make French in quality or trait 2) To make somewhat effeminate, and 3) To contract a veneral disease (a 19th century slang).

Analysis: We have the English to thank for this word. Most people implicitly understand that it means to become more like the French, but not a lot know the second or the third meaning. We’re still not sure which is more insulting.

2. BESCUMBER (v)

Definition: To spray with poo.

Analysis: Actually bescumber is just one of many words in the English language that basically mean “to spray with poo”. These are: BEDUNG, BERAY, IMMERD, SHARNY, and the good ol’ SHITTEN. In special cases, you can use BEMUTE (specifically means to drop poo on someone from great height), SHARD-BORN (born in dung), and FIMICOLOUS (living and growing on crap).

Alternative: If that is too vulgar, you can use BEVOMIT and BEPISS, which meanings should be obvious to you, as well as BESPAWL (to spit on).

Oh, and if you want to say poo without looking like you’re saying it, you can use ORDURE, DEJECTION, and EXCRETA. To mean something more specific, you can use MECONIUM (first feces of a newborn child), MELAENA or MELENA (the abnormally tarry feces containing blood from gastrointestinal bleeding), LIENTERY (diarrhea with undigested or partially digested food), and STEATORRHEA (fatty stool that’s hard to flush down).

Here are some words along the same line that may one day prove to be useful for you: TURDIFY (turn into turd), COPROPHAGIA (eating of feces [wiki]), and COPROPHILIA (Think 2 Girls 1 Cup [wiki - don't worry, SWF], if you don’t know what this is, I shan’t corrupt you any further).

Let’s end entry number two with these two amazing words COPREMESIS and MISERERE, both of which mean fecal vomiting. Yes, fecal vomiting. It’s a medical emergency caused by the obstruction of the bowel (source).

3. MICROPHALLUS (n)

Definition: An unusually small penis.

Analysis: Self explanatory.

Alternative: Insulting a man’s private part is a very reliable way to put him down (if he’s smaller than you) or to get beat up (if he’s larger than you). Usually, even a dimwit can decipher the meaning of this word, after all, it’s just a combination of “micro” and “phallus”.

So, to insult a physically larger opponent, we recommend you use these words instead: PHALLOCRYPSIS (retraction or shrinkage of the penis), CRYPTORCHID (undescendend testicles), and PHALLONCUS (tumor of the penis).

4. COCCYDYNIA (n)

Definition: Pain in the butt.

Analysis: It’s a real medical term: coccydynia is pain in the coccyx or tailbone. Most people simply call it “buttache.”

Similar: PROCTALGIA, PROCTODYNIA, PYGALGIA and RECTALGIA all mean pain in the butt.

Alternative: CERVICALGIA (pain in the neck), PHALLODYNIA or PHALLALGIA (both mean pain in the penis), and PUDENDAGRA (pain in the genitals).

The word “butt” is highly versatile in its vernacular use - you can say “butt face” or “hairy butt” - dem are fightin’ words - but it’s much better to use these instead: ANKYLOPROCTIA (stricture of the anus, the state of “tight-assity”), STEATOPYGOUS (fat-assed), DASYPYGAL (having hairy buttocks), and CACOPYGIAN (having ugly buttocks).

nbsp;

5. NINNYHAMMER (n)

Definition: A fool or a silly person.
Analysis: The word “fool,” unless you’re Mr. T, is sometimes woefully inadequate to express the stupidity of the person you’re talking about. So use Ninnyhammer. Or at least NINNY.

Alternative: The English language is chockful of colorful words meaning stupid person, such as: DUMMKOPF, IGNORAMUS, JOBBERNOWL, GOWK, and WITLING.

For mental retardation, eschew the ubiquitous ‘tard - rather, use AMENTIA (extreme mental retardation because of inadequate brain tissue), CRETINISM (mental retardation associated with dwarfism, caused by the deficiency of a thyroid hormone, a person with cretinism is a CRETIN), and MORONITY (used to mean mild retardation of having a mental age of 7 to 12 years, now it’s an obsolete term though we still use the word moron).

6. BUNCOMBE (n)

Definition: A ludicrously false statement. Basically it means bullshit or nonsense.

Analysis: Actually, you probably already know this word by its more common spelling: bunkum.

The origin of this word is fascinating. In 1819, a North Carolina congressman, the Honorable Felix Walker, was giving a rambling speech with little relevance to the current debate. He refused to yield the floor, and claimed that he wasn’t speaking for Congress but instead “for Buncombe” (a county in North Carolina he represented). That’s all it took.

Over time, the spelling changed to “bunkum,” and the meaning strangely changed to be “excellent.” Then it changed back in 1870, when a San Francisco gambler introduced a new game “banco” played with dice that were later found out to be loaded. Sure enough, BUNCO became known to mean swindle or cheat, and bunkum reverted back to its original meaning. (Source)

The word DEBUNK came directly from this: it’s just bunk(um) with the prefix de- (meaning to remove).

7. HIRCISMUS (n)

Definition: Offensive armpit odor.

Analysis: Hircismus comes from the root word “hircus” which means goat in Latin. Someone must have thought smelly pits smelled like goats. Actually, this word combines two sources of great insult potential: smelly and armpits. Why this is not used more often in the discourse of hateful communication is beyond me.

Alternative: As we’ve mentioned, armpit is an untapped goldmine for insults. Here are some examples of words you can use: MASCHALEPHIDROSIS or MASCHALYPERIDROSIS (excessive sweating of the armpits). MASCHALOPHILOUS (sexual attraction to the underarms) and AXILLISM (the use of armpit for sex).

Smelling like goats is also a good source of insults (especially since goat is also a slang for a lecherous man). Try CAPRYLIC and HIRCINE (smelling like a pungent goat), and CAPRIC (resembling a goat).

8. CORPULENT (adj)

Definition: Very fat.

Analysis: Good ol’ fat is a reliable insult word. After all, nowadays, no one like a fatty … except Mauritanian men. That’s right: in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, fat and Rubenesque women are sexy and desirable. So much so, that instead of the crash diet of the West, they have a similar but opposite program: crash feeding or “gavage,” where girls as young as 5 years old are force-fed milk, cream, butter, couscous and other calorie-rich food:

Girls as young as 5 and as old as 19 had to drink up to five gallons of fat-rich camel’s or cow’s milk daily, aiming for silvery stretch marks on their upper arms. If a girl refused or vomited, the village weight-gain specialist might squeeze her foot between sticks, pull her ear, pinch her inner thigh, bend her finger backward or force her to drink her own vomit. In extreme cases, girls died. ( Source)

Interestingly, the ideal man is skinny (Mauritanians view portly men as womanish and lazy).

Alternative: ABDOMINOUS (potbellied), STEATOPYGOUS (fat-assed), and FUSSOCK (a very fat woman).

9. FEIST or FICE (n)

Definition: 1) A small dog of uncertain ancestry, a mongrel. 2) A person of little worth or someone with a bad temper, and 3) Silent fart.

Analysis: You actually already know this word: feist is used throughout the Midland and Southern United States to mean a snappy, nervous and belligerent little dog. The adjective feisty which means “full of spirit or spunky,” comes from this word. But that’s not why it’s on this list (hint: #3!)

What you may not know is the true origin of the word. Feist comes from the Middle English fisten, which means to break wind (fist originally also meant flatus or fart). Feist is a special type of fart: the silent (and often deadly) type. Oh, and the word “fart” itself comes from another Middle English word farten or ferten, which in turn is from the Old English feortan.

Feist is the type of word that, if introduced to young adolescents, no doubt would spark a lifelong interest in learning new words.

Alternative: Fart is another one of those goldmines of insults. To obfuscate what you really mean, use instead: FLATUOSITY (fart). Other gems: EPROCTOLAGNIAC (someone aroused by flatulence, his own or someone else’s), CARMINATIVE (something that makes you fart), and BDOLOTIC (prone to farting).

10. CACAFUEGO (n)

Definition: A swaggering braggart or boaster.

Analysis: Cacafuego literally means “shit fire” in Spanish. Anyone who boasts their new knowledge of insulting words from this article can be called a cacafuego.

That’s not the only interesting thing about it:

Cacafuego is also the nickname of a 16th century Spanish galleon captured by Sir Francis Drake (El Draque or The Dragon as he was known to his Spanish victims). The ship’s original name was Nuestra Señora de la Concepción (Our Lady of Conception), but for some reason it’s called by her sailors as “cagafuego” (fireshitter) or “cacafuego” (shitfire).

It was Drake’s biggest plunder: it took his crew four days to transfer the cargo from the Cacafuego. In all, Drake got 80 pounds of gold, 26 tons of silver, 13 cases of silver coins, jewels, and more.

Synonym: BLATHERSKITE, BRAGGADOCIO, FANFARON, GASCONADER, and RODOMONTADE (English is full of this kind of word, though I think caca “shit fire” fuego is in a class of its own!)

REFERENCES

- Depraved and Insulting English, a marvelous book by Peter Novobatzky and Ammon Shea. Highly, highly recommended.
- The Free Dictionary by Farlex
- Free Thesaurus by DonationCoder (based on Grady Ward’s Moby Thesaurus)
- Miriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (it’s behind a paywall)

ShareThis

Podcast recommendation
I recently found a great marketing podcast whi is better than some of the paid seminars that I’ve listened to. Make sure to add this podcast to your bookmark! Enjoy! Internet Business Mastery

I recently found a great marketing podcast whi is better than some of the paid seminars that I’ve listened to. Make sure to add this podcast to your bookmark! Enjoy!

Internet Business Mastery

How to Get Your Book Published: Windows Media Video
Find out how Arielle Ford has helped launch the careers and create bestselling books for Deepak Chopra; Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, Chicken Soup for the Soul series; Neale Donald Walsch, Conversations With God; Debbie Ford, The Dark Side of the Light Chasers; and Dean Ornish, Love and Survival and many, many other notable authors.

The new MarketingSyndrome.com
Thanks for visiting MarketingSyndrome.com. Over the last 3 years, I’ve been blogging about niche marketing and I had great time doing it. It was a great learning experience for me. I’ve learned great deal of blogging and communication skills along the way. Last year, I moved the main blog to a [...]

Thanks for visiting MarketingSyndrome.com. Over the last 3 years, I’ve been blogging about niche marketing and I had great time doing it. It was a great learning experience for me. I’ve learned great deal of blogging and communication skills along the way.

Last year, I moved the main blog to a subdirectory so I can do something else with the main domain. But I didn’t find a great use of the domain since. Just last month, I came up with an idea that I can transform it into a blog that talks about blogging :)

Because the niche marketing I do for living is closely tied to blogging, I’d talk about blogging as well. That way, I can finally fulfill the purpose of MarketingSyndrome.com. Now, my niche marketing blog will continue, but the main page will be transformed into a new blog. Old contents are already updated and I recycled as much as I could.

Thanks again for visiting my new blog and I hope to see many ideas evolve from my blog.

FilePub - free file hosting service
FilePub is a free file hosting service where you can upload any files up to 500mb per file. Allowed file types include : jpeg, jpg, png, gif, bmp, mp3, txt, avi, wmv, mpg, mpeg, doc, rar, and zip. It comes in handy when you need to share a big file or a big image on [...]

FilePub is a free file hosting service where you can upload any files up to 500mb per file. Allowed file types include : jpeg, jpg, png, gif, bmp, mp3, txt, avi, wmv, mpg, mpeg, doc, rar, and zip.

It comes in handy when you need to share a big file or a big image on your blog. You can save bandwidth and the web space if you host these big files outside of your web hosting server. FilePub is perfect for that. Read their terms of service before you upload your files.

How to upload a file
Click “Browse” and choose a file. Once the file is selected, just click “Click to Upload” That’s it!

Once the file is uploaded, you will be redirected to a folder. From there, you can either view the full version of the image or download it.

By the way the screen shots used in this post are hosted at FilePub. Here is another example of a uploaded file (2.16MB).

Visit: FilePub.com

Don’t make this Adsense mistake
One of the common mistakes that Adsense publishers make is using wrong labels above Adsense units. People think it’s a hot trick, but it’s really not. Google doesn’t like to see wrong labels right above Adsense ad units. let’s review Adsense’s TOS. Publishers may not label the ads with text other than “sponsored [...]

One of the common mistakes that Adsense publishers make is using wrong labels above Adsense units. People think it’s a hot trick, but it’s really not. Google doesn’t like to see wrong labels right above Adsense ad units. let’s review Adsense’s TOS.

Publishers may not label the ads with text other than “sponsored links” or “advertisements.” This includes any text directly above our ads that could be confused with, or attempt to be associated with Google ads.

TOS clearly states that publishers may not use labels other than “sponsored links” or “advertisements”. But as you may have seen already, people become creative when it comes to labeling their ad units. I’ve seen people putting, “Articles, Navigation, Books, and Latest News” as the title of the ad unit.

Usually Google sends out warning letters first if they think you are using a wrong label. Just be careful of what you are doing with it.

The Launch of WordPress MU
Have you heard the news? WordPress MU 1.0 is officially available to public at no charge. WordPress MU is a blog script that let you run a blog hosting service like WordPress.com. This is a great news for us the niche marketers. Things you can do with this powerful script is [...]

Have you heard the news? WordPress MU 1.0 is officially available to public at no charge. WordPress MU is a blog script that let you run a blog hosting service like WordPress.com. This is a great news for us the niche marketers.

Things you can do with this powerful script is up to your imagination. You can make a blogging hosting service for a particular niche market and use them to attract traffic to your main site. I’ve already registered a few domains around a couple of niche markets I’m involved in.

If you are technically challenged, ask for help at our niche marketing forum. I will help you there. I see great opportunities here. Don’t be late.

WordPress 2.5.1
Upgrade your WordPress immediately.  WordPress just announced its version 2.5.1 today.  It includes a very important security fix and more than 70 bug fixes.  Here are some highlights of improvements : Performance improvements for the Dashboard, Write Post, and Edit Comments pages. Better performance for those who have many categories Media Uploader fixes An upgrade to TinyMCE 3.0.7 Widget Administration fixes Various [...]

Upgrade your WordPress immediately.  WordPress just announced its version 2.5.1 today.  It includes a very important security fix and more than 70 bug fixes. 

Here are some highlights of improvements :

• Performance improvements for the Dashboard, Write Post, and Edit Comments pages.
• Better performance for those who have many categories
• Media Uploader fixes
• An upgrade to TinyMCE 3.0.7
• Widget Administration fixes
• Various usability improvements
• Layout fixes for IE

One of the most annoying bugs in WP 2.5 was the media uploader bug.  It just wouldn’t work for me.  Uploading works fine, but once it is uploaded I can’t retreive it using the gallery menu.  WordPress 2.5.1 fixed some of the media uploader problems, but from my testing, it still needs improvements.  I can now upload and view the file fine, but I still can’t insert images to my posts.  I hope they get fix it quickly. 

If you want to learn more about WordPress 2.5.1 go to WordPress Blog.