Nope, these aren’t açaí berries. Sorry.

These are good, old-fashioned blueberries. Or, rather they were blueberries. They have since been consumed and are no more.

Why am I posting blueberries? Well, it did seem appropriate for a Monday, plus what I was going to post about isn’t quite ready yet, so I’ve had to make a substitution. But, it is a clue as to what I was going to post.

And I know how you all love it when I drop clues and then keep you waiting for an answer. Teeni, for example, just loves that! Plus, no photo from Pete yet today, so I’m fulfilling an unfulfilled need for a photo this Monday. It’s not a camera phone picture, but it will have to do for you photo junkies out there.

By the way, you did get your free eBook I offered yesterday, right?

Interesting question, isn’t it?

Take John Chow dot Com, for example. No more Top Commentators are listed, reportedly due to “database issues.” No more monthly blog income reports either. And, Friday came this guest post by Bob Jones trying to dissuade newcomers from starting new MMO* blogs.

While it may be true that 90% of the MMO blogs out there are garbage, that’s probably true in just about every niche. There are countless blogs out there and many of them aren’t worth reading.

Likewise, something like 9 out of 10 new businesses fail. Should we discourage people from starting new businesses?

Why discourage people from starting new MMO blogs, unless you’re worried about competition? Could that be the ulterior motive here? It’s anyone’s guess.

If you want to start your own MMO, go ahead! The thing is, though, don’t just try to do what everyone else is doing. Check out the other MMO blogs and figure out how you can do them one better.

To be successful, it helps to listen to those who have already made it, but you also have to follow your own path as well. Finding the right mix of those two things is the challenge! If you want to learn more Secrets of the Rich, download this eBook, which I could sell to you for $37 $27 $17 but am instead offering to you, my loyal readers, for free. Download and enjoy, and don’t say I’m only here trying to sell you stuff.

*MMO = Make Money Online

Well, let’s see how this goes…

Yay! I can actually upload images.

On the downside, the plugin I wrote for putting the Hot Blogs in the sidebar isn’t quite happy with the upgrade. The two just don’t get along, which is why you don’t see any Hot Blogs in the sidebar right now. On the plus side, my other plugin is still working, so those Hot Blogs are still in rotation at the top of the page.

I also had to disable the Popularity Contest plugin. I was kind of waiting on it before upgrading, but it’s beginning to look as though it’s never going to get upgraded (hasn’t been touched apparently since last year) and I decided I really don’t need it anyway. So, I just moved along without it!

Hopefully nothing else is broken that I haven’t noticed yet. It would be hard to downgrade once I’ve gotten a few more posts up and comments in.

(For more wordless posts today, visit Wordless Wednesday.)

Okay, so I cheated a bit. That’s not an actual photo. But the blue sky color is from an actual photo. I just didn’t like how the clouds turned out in my digital photo. But, would you have known if I hadn’t told you?

You may be familiar with the concept of making money using other people’s money to reduce your personal risk, as well as to have more money available to you than you might otherwise.

But, did you know you can make money with other people’s content too?

Don’t worry. I’m not talking about plagiarism. I would never encourage that in any way.

What I am talking about is using other people’s content with their permission.

You might have been curious as to why I chose to review a forex site earlier this week. Besides that being a paid review, I had a secondary motive as well. Go back to my post and check out the forex site. Seriously. Go there and read a couple articles, or at least skim over a few. Pay close attention to the end of the article, where you may see a little author bio of sorts.

I’ll wait…

Okay. Did you notice anything? You probably noticed that the author’s area has a link to another website or blog, usually another forex site.

You see, what those authors are doing is a little article marketing. Andy Crofford wrote about article marketing earlier this week, so check out his post for some background.

It’s a win-win situation. The author gets links to their site when someone uses their content, and a website gets free content to use.

You’ll note that the forex site I reviewed is running AdSense on their site. So, basically, they’re getting their content for free, so any money they make is an extra bonus. Granted, they have to pay for their hosting, but hosting can be cheap these days, so if you have many sites like this, and can get some good traffic, your AdSense earnings should at least cover your hosting, and anything above that is profit.

Of course a strictly Made-for-AdSense (MFA) site isn’t a good idea, especially for long-term growth. If you look at the forex site I reviewed, you see that they’re putting all their eggs in the AdSense basket. But, with a little diversification, you’ve got the potential for a good little money maker.

Certainly, there are affiliate programs for currency trading and other topics in the foreign exchange niche that they could be offering. Put some original content in the mix too. Since these free articles can be used by anyone, if you use only those articles, you are not offering your visitors anything unique. Now, combine the best of these free-to-use articles with your own original content, and you give visitors an experience that cannot be matched elsewhere.

Bear in mind, of course, that these free-to-use articles may have restrictions, so you’ll want to read carefully the terms of use from whatever article directory you download material from. In most cases, it’s a simple matter of keeping the author’s “resource box” intact. After all, they are writing the article in the hopes of getting visitors to their site, so it’s important to them to have their link in there.

Consider how using other people’s content can help supplement the material you write yourself for your blog or website. Pulling your hair out trying to come up with fresh content on a regular basis? Make use of these available articles when you’re stuck with writer’s block!

I know that some of you just can’t get enough of me.

It’s the animated avatar, I know.

But, anyway, if you want to keep up to date with what I’m doing, you can follow me on Twitter.

It’s what all the hip bloggers are doing these days.

Michelle expressed her love for Elvis today.

Unfortunately, her husband found out about it. Here’s what happened next…

Poor Elvis, what hath Michelle caused to be done to you?

Many moons ago, er, two months ago, I came up with this Blogging Schedule:

• Sunday Screening - Short films and animations.
• Mundane Monday - (Click the link for examples.)
• Tech Tuesday - Technical stuff.
• Wordless Wednesday - Pictures. Usually.
• Thoughtful Thursday - Thoughts.
• Photo Phriday - Photos.
• Success Saturday - Tips and stuff on achieving success, making more money, etc.

Well, three out of seven isn’t bad, I suppose. I’ve only managed to do Wordless Wednesday, Photo Phriday and Success Saturday with any regularity. See, I can’t even follow my own rules.

I think it goes back to high school. We had to stay in the cafeteria until lunch was over.* On either side of the cafeteria, there was a hallway. You could not even have your foot stepping over the change in flooring from the cafeteria to the hallway. Not even an inch. The teacher er guard, except on days when there was a substitute who could care less, would make you step back. How stupid is that? I mean, imagine the horror if, after the bell rang, some students got to class an extra 1/50th of a second sooner than everyone else. It would be utter chaos! The very fabric of the space-time continuum that holds the universe together would unravel and kill us all!

Of course, I followed all the rules when I was in school. I stayed out of trouble and didn’t cause any problems.

But, what does that get you? A life of mediocrity?

Some rules are necessary. There’s no doubt about that. You don’t want anarchy. Rules against theft or harming other people are good rules.

But, other rules are just stupid. Seriously, is stepping over an imaginary line on the floor really that big of an issue? What do mindlessly stupid rules teach kids anyway? To be mindless automatons that do whatever someone in a position of authority tells them? That’s certainly not a good idea! Oh, I’m sure the petty little politicians and power mongers just love that idea, but it’s certainly not the way to ensure a free country for the long-term, is it?

Think about it. The people that follow the rules aren’t among the rich and powerful, are they? They aren’t the ones who do great things, make great things or create great things, are they? They are not the ones who change the world, are they?

Sometimes it’s good to break the rules. Even your own rules! At the risk of sounding like the old Apple commercial, Think Different!

*In the eighth grade, we got to visit the high school, probably in an effort to steer us away from the local private schools, and see how wonderful it was. After lunch, you could go outside and play frisbee and stuff. You could eat outside in the bleachers and enjoy the fall or spring air and sunshine. Of course, none of that was the case when we actually got to high school.

It’s only been a little over a week into the month of August, and already people have been finding my blog in creepy and disturbing ways.

buddhist competition - Currently #6 in Yahoo!

hot naked chick - Currently #7 on Yahoo!

obama running mate - Currently #3 in Google. Two Three Four visitors from it so far.

Newton MessagePad - Cuil, the it’s-got-to-be-a-joke search engine, has me on page 2 for this one.

underwear guys modeli - in the Russian Google.

pictures of males without underwear - Because some women are afraid to search for “naked men.” Currently #17 in Google.

women selling there underwear - Currently #5 in Google. So, there is a market for used women’s underwear… Michelle, are you reading?

vintage porn - Again, Michelle, you reading?

pictures of kids in underwear - Which is more disturbing? The fact that people are searching for this, or the fact that I’m currently #4 for this term? Maybe people are looking for inappropriate pictures of Miley Cyrus, for which new ones seem to appear every other day. Seriously, why does this 15-year-old seem to have so much trouble being appropriately dressed in front of cameras? Who wants to bet she’ll celebrate and pose for her 18th birthday at the Playboy Mansion?

smiley face bologna - I’m at #10. Pete is at #2.

guy undies pics - Currently #4 in Google. Maybe there’s a celebrity named Guy Undies? I bet he’s Miley Cyrus’ PR guy.

pics of men in underwear - Currently #3 in Google.

underwear guy - Currently #7 in Google. Maybe I could create a superhero… Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird… It’s a plane… It’s UNDERWEAR MAN! Dut da da daaa!

kids in their underwear pictures - #3 in Google. Sorry, there are no pictures of Miley Cyrus in her underwear here! By the way, you ever notice how even what you would think of as reputable news sources can’t help but actually show the pictures? More Inappropriate Pictures of Miley Cyrus Surface, LOOK HERE! Some don’t even link to a site, they just post the picture right under the headline.

my son wants to be a underwear model - Currently #6 in Google. Seriously? Parents are looking to my blog for advice on how their sons can be underwear models? Seriously? Maybe they should give Miley Cyrus a call…

how to build personal underground shelter wind and earthquake proof - Was on page 3 of Yahoo! Now, nowhere to be found.

You know, on some days, I post a list of links to different interesting sites.

Most of the time, I think you enjoy them. I really don’t know. Sometimes, I don’t get any comments. So, maybe you didn’t like them. Maybe you just enjoyed them too much and you forgot to come back here and tell me that you liked them.

So, today, I share with you but one link. Let’s see what happens.

• Origami Boulder Company

They don’t have an affiliate program, so, you know, I’m not making any money if you buy from them. But, you must read it, even if you don’t buy anything. Read the whole thing. I don’t think it will be a problem because once you start reading, you just won’t be able to stop. Check out the Letters section too.