Egoist Blog

By Martin Lindeskog from EGO,cross-posted by MetaBlog Have you seen the "banned images" of Muhammad? For more information, read the following: Duke Professor Finishes Yale's Job, Prints Mohammed Images in New Book; FIRE Co-signs Statement of Principle by Adam Kissel. Muhammad: The "Banned" Images: by Eugene Volokh. In 2008, under the glare of the controversy over the Danish cartoons, one of Flemming Rose’s few appearances on an American campus was sponsored by Dr. Gary Hull, director of the Program on Values and Ethics in the Marketplace at Duke University. Dr Hull has for five years taught and supervised the Power of Ideas, one of Duke’s most popular honors programs. In late 2001, he made national news when he posted an article calling for a strong military response to the 9/11 attacks. Duke pulled his website, but reinstated it after the action gained wide publicity. ( About page - MuhammadImages.com) "If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter." — George Washington Related: My post, MUHAMMAD CARTOON CONTROVERSY: ONE YEAR LATER. Related articles by Zemanta Greg Lukianoff: Duke Beats Yale: Censored Images of Muhammad Finally Printed in New Book (huffingtonpost.com) Cross-posted from Metablog

By Martin Lindeskog from EGO,cross-posted by MetaBlog Graphic by Robert Tracy of Illustrated Ideas. In the news: Lady Liberty's crown reopens for 4th of July, 8 years after 9/11 attacks closed her to visitors. Matt Lysiak, NY Daily News. From the Whitehouse: Lady Liberty's Crown Opens on 4th of July. Katelyn Sabochik, Director of New Media for the U.S. Department of the Interior. Read Ari Herzog's post, How @StatueLibrtyNPS Celebrates July IVth. From my post, THE STATUE OF LIBERTY REOPENS: Thanks to Robert Tracy (Illustrated Ideas) for creating this image: Related: My posts, VISIT TO THE BIG APPLE NYC IN 2009 and LIVE FREE OR DIE. Cross-posted from Metablog

By Martin Lindeskog from EGO,cross-posted by MetaBlog I am planning to add a green overlay to my Twitter avatar. For more information, go to www.HelpIranElection.com. Do Not Read This John Cox is in the news: Meanwhile, in Berlin... Mir Hossein Mousavi Related: My post, FROM ZORO TO SHIITE IN IRAN. Cross-posted from Metablog

By Martin Lindeskog from EGO,cross-posted by MetaBlog I am planning to add a green overlay to my Twitter avatar. For more information, go to www.HelpIranElection.com. Do Not Read This John Cox is in the news: Meanwhile, in Berlin... Mir Hossein Mousavi Related: My post, FROM ZORO TO SHIITE IN IRAN. Cross-posted from Metablog

By Martin Lindeskog from EGO,cross-posted by MetaBlog Four years ago I debated with myself if I should vote in the European Parliament election. That time I ended up voting for the new Euro-skeptic party called the "June List." This time I am thinking of voting for the new "anti-Lisbon Treaty" party called Libertas. Do you want to be scared, read the post, Your last chance to stop it, and then watch the video clip. " /> " type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="500" height="405"> I am thinking of following Mark Majzner's advice and spend some time contemplating and then drink a glass of wine... My own advice on what to drink is something sweet, light, easy to swallow, has more fruit than character and most of all has a good looking bottle - just like many of the candidates! (May 18, 2009, Wine Freedom - Vinfrihet / The Local.) Related: My post, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND ITS CRITICS. Cross-posted from Metablog

By Martin Lindeskog from EGO,cross-posted by MetaBlog Listen to my interview with Scott Holleran on Solid Vox (MP3 file.) Jonathan Hoenig and John Cox are next in line... Please stay tuned! Cross-posted from Metablog

By Martin Lindeskog from EGO,cross-posted by MetaBlog I am glad to see that they will arrange a tea party in my old home state, Ohio. In the news: Tax Day Tea Party planned to protest government spending - Dayton Daily News. John Cox Art. "We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle." -- Winston Churchill. ( QuoteDB.com) Great resource: Ayn Rand Center On The Tea Parties. " /> " type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"> Cross-posted from Metablog

By Martin Lindeskog from EGO,cross-posted by MetaBlog Check out the Young Entrepreneur Society: Bob Proctor endorses the Young Entrepreneur Society: Find more videos like this on Young Entrepreneur Society Mike Michalowicz, author of the book, The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, is one of the entrepreneurs in the Y.E.S. movie. Find more videos like this on Young Entrepreneur Society Cross-posted from Metablog

By Martin Lindeskog from EGO,cross-posted by MetaBlog "Going John Galt on PJTV.com." " /> " type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"> Cross-posted from Metablog

By Martin Lindeskog from EGO,cross-posted by MetaBlog Stay tuned for the start of a new series of podcast interviews on Solid Vox. I will interview Scott Holleran on Friday, February 27, at 2 PM Pacific Time (Los Angeles) / 11 PM Central European Time (Gothenburg, Sweden) / 9 AM Melbourne time, Saturday. Please feel free to send me questions for Scott Holleran and suggestions for future guests. Cross-posted from Metablog

By Martin Lindeskog from EGO,cross-posted by MetaBlog My first post in 2009 will include several things, e.g., reflections on 2008 and plans for this year, my future blogging schedule and other social media activities. We had to restructure our company and close down the physical meeting place in Gothenburg due to the economical situation. We will continue with the business idea and during these two years we have established plenty of good relationships for the future. We are looking into the possibility to set up a virtual community online so we could keep in touch with our old customers and business contacts and create a new type of network. I have been exposed to a potential big business opportunity in the field of renewable energy. More about this later on... I have received the opportunity to write pieces for Open Forum. My latest one has the title, Will Social Media Tools Be Monetized In 2009? I look forward to your comments and feedback. Reading material: The Meaning Of Friendship by Michael Arrington of TechCrunch. Virtual Water Cooler by Barbarella. I have about 350 followers at Twitter at the moment. I probably follow 400 individuals in the near future. I have started to use Facebook again and I have more than 200 friends there. I will start to use FriendFeed on a regular basis. You could find my feed on the Facebook wall. I am thinking of creating a special room at FriendFeed in connection to my future podcast interviews at Solid Vox. The following individuals will soon be scheduled for an interview: Jonathan Hoenig. John Cox. Scott Holleran. In order to get my work-life more in balance, I have to get back on track with my studies of Getting Things Done and the practical implementation of the system. The GTD-IQ quiz told me that I belong to The Crazymaker/ Visionary quadrant. [Via Lifehacker.] Check out Robert Scoble's interview with David Allen. Related: My post, WRITING DOWN NEW RESOLVING THOUGHTS. Cross-posted from Metablog

By Martin Lindeskog from EGO,cross-posted by MetaBlog At the moment, I am a little overwhelmed by the the flow of information and it feels like the will kick in soon... I would like to see that this post shall continue as a thread in the blogosphere and elsewhere, for example as microblogging tweets and messages at FriendFeeds accounts. I will begin to use Twitter and FriendFeed regularly during this year. But at the moment it feels a bit chaotic. I had a similar feeling when I first started to use ICQ and other instant message programmes and when I visited IRC (InterRelayChat) channels. How much time should you spend on it? What will it give you? How to use filters, in order to reduce the noise level? My basic position is clear and I believe that these tools can be used for both social and business. It appears to be a natural flow back and forth between the social and the commercial. Could this be the work-life mix that it talks about in GTD (Getting Things Done) circles? I see that these tools will enable the exchange of tangible and spiritual things between individuals. Perhaps we can draw parallels to ancient Greece and Aristotle's school, Lyceum, where there was a continuous flow of lectures, discussions and conversations of various kinds. Reading material: Power Twitter: Inline Media, Integrated Search And A Lot More by Michael Arrington. The Last Temptation of Twitter by Ben McConnell. About My Twitter Hiatus by Jeremiah Owyang. Things that I will do in the near future: Clean out some stuff at the "boxes" section on my Facebook profile. I am sorry to say, but I can't keep up with all the games, applications, etc. [Editor's note: That said, I am interested in getting in touch with someone who is creating third-party applications for Facebook and other social networking sites. It is for an idea I have chewed for a long time.] I like the new layout of Facebook with tabs. I think I will add a section for notes and a RSS feed. Please feel free to join my EGO blog network on Facebook. Thanks in advance for showing that you are a loyal reader of EGO! I will try to aggregate as much of my stuff as possible into one place. I think that Scrapplet will be the right tool for this task. Stay tuned for my new start & homepage in the near future... As a end note, I want to quote John Jantsch, author of Duct Tape Marketing: "Social media is a tool, it's not a religion." Cross-posted from Metablog

By Martin Lindeskog from EGO,cross-posted by MetaBlog How did you commemorate the 235th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party? [Editor's note: I had a cup of tea and sent a mental thank-you note to the Sons of Liberty.] Here is an excerpt from kempite's post, 235 years later and all that the tea party was about is forgotten: Our freedom and individuality has been the key to our greatness but unlike the people of colonial America, today, Americans are giving up their freedom and relinquishing their individuality to a controlling authority that they want to give greater control to. Instead of demanding "no taxation without representation" we are accepting of the practice. (NJ Voices Public Blog, December 16, 2008.) Next time I am visiting Boston, I will go to the Old South Meeting House. I have been to the Boston Tea Party Ship & Museum before. I will also go to the statue of Samuel Adams and then have a beer with his namesake. [Editor's comment: Have you had Samuel Adams Hallertau Imperial Pilsner?] Related: My post, SEATTLE ESPRESSO PARTY? Cross-posted from Metablog

By Martin Lindeskog from EGO,cross-posted by MetaBlog I am still trying to figure how to use Twitter in an optimal way. Feel free to follow me on Twitter. At this moment, I have a Twitter grade of 87 (#41,527 overall rank, out of 563,695). Read Using Twitter... 'The Smart Way' by Mark Ramskill. [Editor's note to self: Check out SubHub's online publishing platform later on.] Check out the video, Twitter in Plain English, by Lee LeFever. " id="VideoPlayback" width="320" height="260"> " /> You could follow an interesting comment thread to Anita Campbell's post, You Should be Looking for Small Businesses on Twitter. I have added Randa Clay's Twitter graphic to my section with the latest five "tweets" (Twitter Updates). In the news: Twitter: Secret Business Model On Track For Q1 - Silicon Alley Insider. I think that the following quote from Evan Williams's post, What Blogger Should Do, is right on target and I hope to see this feature mentioned at Blogger Buzz blog sometime in the future... Become the Aggregator: One possible answer to the question to what role does the stand-alone blog live in the age of a million-and-one generalized and specialized participatory web experiences is as a personal aggregator that reflects back the other stuff one does on the web. Yes, I'll load all that stuff into FriendFeed, but that's not my "online presence" as we used to say back in the day. Everybody (or at least a lot of people) needs an URL -- and one without a ? in it. I want my tweets, and my photos, and my whatevers to show up on evhead.com (hosted by Blogger) in an attractive way. (Evhead.com, December 3, 2008.) Related: My post, TWITTER. Cross-posted from Metablog

By Martin Lindeskog from EGO,cross-posted by MetaBlog Follow John Cox's instruction on how to draw Barack Hussein Obama II. Related: My post, DRAW BUSH IN SIX SIMPLE STEPS. Cross-posted from Metablog

By Martin Lindeskog from EGO,cross-posted by MetaBlog A new study by James H. Fowler and Nicholas A. Christakis, in the British Medical Journal, concludes that your happiness can be spread through degrees of separation within your social networks. I think that it could be easier to stay in a good mood and be a "happy camper" if you interact with individuals that are advocates of the benevolent universe premise. I think a general positive attitude outlook could spread to others, but it has to start with you, the individual. Therefore I can't agree with the following statement from the study: Conclusions People’s happiness depends on the happiness of others with whom they are connected. This provides further justification for seeing happiness, like health, as a collective phenomenon. ( BMJ 2008;337:a2338, December 4, 2008.) [Editor's note: I have empasized the word, collective, in the quote.] Related: My post, PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS. Cross-posted from Metablog

By Martin Lindeskog from EGO,cross-posted by MetaBlog I have tried to give several reasons for why America is a great place to run a business on Open Forum. Cross-posted from Metablog

By Martin Lindeskog from EGO,cross-posted by MetaBlog From Robert Tracy's post, Word Press Upgrade Easy?!: I’m an image man, and a trader. Anyone out there who can do the upgrade for me without losing what I’ve got, I propose a trade. You do the upgrade for me. I make a graphic or any other image of your desire for you. As long as my image doesn’t require creating a traditional drawing or painting in the traditional manner. I rarely take commissions on my traditional work, and besides it takes too long. I know I have few viewers of my blog. Of these I ask to spread the word on my offer. (Illustrated Ideas, December 6, 2008.) I think he needs help with his RSS feed too. I have his feed on my Blog List, but I don't get his latest posts listed on my blog. It looks like this at the moment: Illustrated Ideas Introducing Brian Faulkner, Poet. - I’ve found a living poet who seems to possess an unlimited imagination. I find delight, inspiration and encouragement in his works. Find him at: Brian Faul... 9 months ago Cross-posted from Metablog

By Martin Lindeskog from EGO,cross-posted by MetaBlog I need to follow Nozbe's 10 steps to productivity. First I have to clear my desk and "clear" my head. I will take some time this Thanksgiving weekend to go through paper stuff. I have promised myself to get a fresh start in 2009, cleaning out my email inbox, sort my papers by setting up the "right buckets" and then stick to a "getting things done" system. I got inspired by quickly browse through the first issue (November) of the Productive! Magazine. I have to check if I could start to synchronize my mobile phone with my computer and then doing a test with a web-based productivity system called Nozbe and add it to the email program and Netvibes start page. Mashable has compiled a list of 40 great resources for making lists. I must say that I like "low tech" tools like my Field Notes memo book for taking notes. I wonder if it could be a good idea to get some kind of digital voice record (dictation machine) for my "notes to self" popping up. [Editor's comment: Have you used any mind mapping program?] I have ordered the book, The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play. Cross-posted from Metablog

By Martin Lindeskog from EGO,cross-posted by MetaBlog After Larry Genkin's comment on my post, BLOGOSPHERE VERSUS MSM, I had to check out the Blogger & Podcaster Media Network. Here is an excerpt from Jason Kincaid's article, Blogger And Podcaster Media Network Looks To Turn Long Tail Blogging Into A Full-Time Job. Larry Genkin, the founder and editor of Blogger and Podcaster Magazine, is looking to help the long tail of bloggers turn their hobby into a lucrative job. He has started the Blogger and Podcaster Media Network, a consortium of bloggers and related companies looking to help bloggers of all sizes effectively monetize their sites without having to worry about having a relatively small audience. The site is currently open for signups, but won't go live until early next year. At launch the BPMN is a rollup of companies including Genkin's magazine, Fuel My Blog (A bloggers' social network based in the UK), Podcast Pickle (a podcasters' social network), and SocialRank, a company similar to Sphere that monitors blogs for related and popular content. Each of these companies will help promote the new network, and will also offer technology to help bloggers build out their site (for example, they'll be able to use SocialRank's technology). The BPMN will also try to partner with large media companies to help give blogs more exposure. To help each blog get started, the company has partnered with PR NewsWire, which will offer each blogger a promotion package Genkin says is worth $2000. (Washington Post / TechCrunch, October 28, 2008.) For more on The Long Tail, read Larry Genkin's post, The Must Know Business Principle of The Digital Age and his article, Power (and a Six Figure Salary) to the Blogosphere's "Little Guys". I have signed up for a free membership to the Blogger & Podcaster Media Network. You are welcome to write my name in the "referred by" field, if you sign up too. I said in July that my podcasting show would start again in September. I am waiting for further updates on the situation from Prodos. I intend to keep my radio station on BlogTalkRadio, as a test laboratory, but I am not sure how much time I will spend on it. The same goes for my channel on LiveVideo. I haven't had a show yet and I am not sure if I will use this platform in the future. I will check out Ustream.tv and see if this site could be my future live video broadcasting home. Cross-posted from Metablog

By Martin Lindeskog from EGO,cross-posted by MetaBlog What is your take on the article, Oh, grow up, in The Economist? The author states the following: "Blogging is no longer what it was, because it has entered the mainstream." The rest of the world may well have missed the unfolding of his tragedy. Behind it, however, is a bigger trend. Blogging has entered the mainstream, which—as with every new medium in history—looks to its pioneers suspiciously like death. To the earliest practitioners, over a decade ago, blogging was the regular posting of text updates, and later photos and videos, about themselves and their thoughts to a few friends and family members. Today lots of internet users do this, only they may not think of it as blogging. Instead, they update their profile pages on Facebook, MySpace or other social networks. They may also “micro-blog” on services such as Twitter, which recreate the raw, immediate and intimate feel of early blogs. Twitter messages, usually sent from mobile phones, are fewer than 140 characters long and answer the question “What are you doing?” Tellingly, Evan Williams, the co-founder of Blogger—an early blogging service that is now owned by Google, the Wal-Mart of the internet—now runs Twitter, which he regards as the future. As for traditional (if that is the word) blog pages, these tend increasingly to belong to conventional media organisations. Nearly every newspaper, radio and television channel now runs blogs and updates them faster than any individual blogger ever could. (The Economist, November 6, 2008.) A part of the blogosphere has transformed into blog networks with individual bloggers gathered at a specific place, e.g., Pajamas Network. I don't think it is a contradiction to both be an individual blogger, writing and publishing blog posts and at the same time belonging to a network of other bloggers. As I said in my post, THINKING IN WRITING: I will try to follow some kind of weekly schedule, but now and then I will take a break from my EGO blog, concentrating on other assignments, for example writing pieces for other sites and preparing interviews for my podcasting show. I want to get into the right flow and start to microblog on a regular basis. (EGO, November 11, 2008.) [Editor's note: I will write a short Twitter message on this blog post later on...] Cross-posted from Metablog

By Martin Lindeskog from EGO,cross-posted by MetaBlog I have a new post on Open Forum. The piece is titled, Contrarian View Versus Mainstream Opinion, and it is covering business magazine covers as a contrarian indicator for making investing decisions, Alan Greenspan's "shocking" statement and a real defense of speculators on the financial market, and a golden book tip. Please feel free to spread the good word and submit a "yes" vote if you find the post useful. You are of course welcome to write a comment. Cross-posted from Metablog

By Martin Lindeskog from EGO,cross-posted by MetaBlog Are you in a voting dilemma? Check out the election edition at The Rule of Reason. Both presidential candidates are talking against individualism. McCain is putting "country first" and Obama is explicitly attacking selfishness. Here is an excerpt from Alexandra Marks's article, Sacrifice theme returns to US politics. Both McCain and Obama cite the need for selflessness and service. Not since President John Kennedy urged Americans to “ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country” has the rhetoric of sacrifice sat this well with the public. Concern that the US confronts a huge crisis in the form of a global financial meltdown, plus an untapped desire since 9/11 to help the nation more, makes the public more receptive to the idea that sacrifice can be noble instead of just inconvenient. (The Christian Science Monitor, November 2, 2008.) I recommend you listen to Dr. Leonard Peikoff's podcasting show of October 20 and his answer to the question regarding the election and watch Marina "Hot For Words" discussing the origins of some political words on the O'Reilly Factor show. Related: My post, MTV CHOOSE AND LOSE ON MYSPACE. Cross-posted from Metablog

By Martin Lindeskog from EGO,cross-posted by MetaBlog Have you heard about classical pianist Yuja Wang? Here is an excerpt from Lawrence A. Johnson's article, The restless, intellectual life of 21-year-old Wang. [Via Randex.] In addition to a voracious appetite for music, the depth of Wang's taste in reading is impressive in an age when The Da Vinci Code is considered classic literature. ''Right now I'm reading The Idiot by Dostoyevsky,'' she says. ''And I read Nietzsche's Thus Sprach Zarathustra and Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. And I love Victor Hugo. I read no trash,'' she laughs. (The Miami Herald, October 10, 2008.) http://ObjectivismOnline.com/archives/004248.html

By Martin Lindeskog from EGO,cross-posted by MetaBlog How do you celebrate Columbus Day? Here is an excerpt from the article, Columbus was a hero by Dimitri Vassilaros. [Via Randex.] Columbus essentially was an explorer and discoverer bringing Western civilization's cures, science and technology, he says. The philosophical legal process was another gift the Europeans gave to the Indians, he says. "Indians got all that for free." Columbus' critics should fall down on their knees and thank the Founding Fathers for creating a nation based on the moral principle of the individual's right to life, liberty and, Bowden stresses, the selfish pursuit of happiness. (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, October 10, 2008) Related: My post, COLUMBUS AND LEIF ERIKSON DAY. http://ObjectivismOnline.com/archives/004249.html