Chillin To Some Tunes

GoAnimate.com: Chillin' To Some Tunes by Rabedela

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free and fun!

Your Digital Fingerprint

Almost everyone has a digital imprint, but how aware are you?


Something new happens on the net and you're curious, so you jump on the bandwagon. This is what happened to me and I found myself establishing a virtual me without even knowing it. It started with Myspace, then Facebook, and before I knew it when I googled my name there was a digital me that I did not recognize.


My awareness arrived prior to my last year of undergrad when I realized I would re-enter the professional world of work and I needed to delete the digital me that I'd unknowingly created. I deleted most of my online social network files, enabled custom privacy settings on any sites hosting family photos, and googled my name daily to make sure I did the job right.

Next, I made plans to re-invent my digital imprint. I studied the way we communicate throughout the internet and chose a form of communication that would work for me. Web writing offers less restriction to freelance writers as well as a wide selection of opportunities. 

I google my name in all sorts of variations on a weekly basis. I closely monitor all of my social networking accounts, write on a daily basis, and continually search for new software or techniques to improve the scope of my print. 

Be careful of the photos you post online because anyone can "save your image to desktop" and use the photo for their own purposes. Also be careful about what you say online because what you say now may come back to haunt you later. 

Be aware of your digital fingerprint because you might not recognize what you see.

IRS Refuse Tax Break on Breast Pump, Why?

Article first published as IRS Refuse Tax Break on Breast Pump, Why? on Technorati.

The IRS has decided that breastfeeding doesn’t make the cut when it comes to our pre-tax health spending accounts. According to an article in The New York Times titled “Acne Cream? Tax-Sheltered. Breast Pump? No.” the I.R.S. believes that breast milk falls under the food category and doesn’t qualify for a tax break.

The article goes on to talk about how many mothers started breastfeeding and how acne cream is covered. The real question is why won't the I.R.S. allow a tax-break on breast pumps? 
 
The USDA’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (called W.I.C.) purchased tax-free baby formula for over 2 million infants in 2009. W.I.C. spends $100 per month each on over 2 million infants.
 
The formula companies give the W.I.C. program an 85-98% rebate on the formula that skyrockets the price of baby formula for mothers who live within an area where W.I.C. participation is high.

Let's think about all of the costs now associated with breastfeeding. How much does a breast pump go for nowadays?
 
So I checked out two major retailers (Target and Wal-Mart), a random shopping search in Google, and a rental site. The most expensive pump I could find cost $379.99 at Target and $203.54 at Wal-Mart. The rental site wants a $200 working deposit and $3/day for at least 7 days. 

When you factor in breastfeeding accessories you're looking at about $500, but now some people want the help of a lactation consultant. The $500 rises into uncertain territory and this may answer why breastfeeding support groups keep losing in Congress.

Since when did you need someone to tell you how to get milk out of your breast when it falls freely as soon as a child latches on? I can see why the I.R.S. dithers over lactation consultant fees, but a pump costs under $500. What’s the problem?

How much tax revenue were they expecting to lose from $500 health spending accounts, whereas they already support $200 million nutrition amounts through W.I.C.  per month? Either the I.R.S. needs to redo their number crunching or someone needs to inform the two agencies (I.R.S. & USDA) of a major irony. 

As for the I.R.S. believing that breastfeeding has not been proven to be medically necessary. Research exists regarding breastfeeding and obesity, breastfeeding and cognitive development, breastfeeding and lower respiratory tract infection, and breastfeeding and development of allergic disease. 
 

The Craigslist Experiment

Trying to get page views on a blog heralds an interesting assortment of marketing. One dives head first into the world of SEO, digital marketing, social networking, forums, meta tags, and HTML leading to becoming a first-rate graphic web designer before you figure it all out.

I decided to perform a little marketing experiment through Craigslist to see if something so simple would actually work. The idea came to me via the significant other who suggested using the rants and raves listing (found under personals) as a marketing tool. I would write anti-supportive comments about my blog and post the link underneath the comments.

I used two Craigslist areas, one out-of-state and the other in my nearby region.  Next, I made my postings. The first posting I titled "This Blog Sucks" with no specified location. The contents were the following:

"Damn cashier writing crap about customers. She's probably rude as hell."

and underneath I placed a link to my blog Regaling Retail. My next posting titled "stupid cashier" went a little bit deeper into the rants and raves model. I wrote:

"i hate when i give my money to the cashier and she can't count stupid cashier had to look at the screen to figure out how much change to give me i read this stupid blog about retail from a cashiers eyes she probably cant count either"

and of course I placed a link to my blog beneath this posting too. I checked my page stats to monitor the views and sure enough my trafficking popped up with the referral URL's from the two postings. 

In under twenty-four hours I received eleven views from my region and twelve from out-of-state. Granted theses are not big numbers, but the fact that the views keep coming says something about digital marketing, no? 

I could not believe that people were actually reading my postings in rants and raves. I thought someone would try and flag my posting or at least make some sort of reply, but it seems we have gotten so used to being scammed that we walk in and out of it with no issues. 


I did not receive one reply nor did I receive any comments on my blog whatsoever. I hope I found new followers or someone enjoyed my work.

Introducing: Digital Dictators

We have all become accustomed with the internet and even depend upon the net to run everything in our economy creating a Digital World occupied by increasing numbers daily. Now we have a new generation that depends upon the net to survive.

Introducing The Digital Dictator

Digital Dictators are establishing themselves within the net and taking over at a rapid pace. Children accessing the net before they can walk, while retirees join the internet for the first time. 

What and who is a digital dictator?
Yours, mine and ours: the children. My nine-year old can type faster than her father, while my thirteen-year old manages several conversations all at once. Our digital world has generated an interesting social dynamic amongst our children.

I first came across this notion when I witnessed a child threatening his mom with Facebook friendship. An entry written in my other blog Regaling Retail called Kids Threatening Parents. The child told his mom that he would unfriend her if she didn't by him the skinny jeans. 

Now he could of been joking around with his mom, but the very fact that he used such a tactic put my mind to wonder, "Could it be true in some families?" Are parents truly allowing their children to run roughshod over their parental authority through digital dictation?