Justin Germino Ramblings

I have told bloggers numerous times the benefits of using BlogEngage to network and help join a blogging community and fast track a blog for receiving traffic, backlinks and more. 

BlogEngage has an RSS Syndication program <- (Check it Out) where automatically every link from your blogs gets submitted and indexed on 6 sites as well as giving you access to the BlogEngage community where you can network and participate to start earning Reward points.

Reward points?

Yep, by being active in BlogEngage you can earn rewards.  Rewards which include cash or featured spotlights in BlogEngage articles which gains you tens of thousands of pageviews to your PROFILE and blog. 

Example of latest Spotlight winner:

BlogEngage has been around for over 2 years now and some of the best bloggers in the blogosphere are members including Ileane from Basic Blog Tips, Hesham from Famous Bloggers, Kiesha from We Blog Better and Ana from Traffic Generation Café.  In fact, there are over 350+ bloggers signed up for BlogEngage right now and you can network with all of them in one place.

The key is you interact with their articles, vote them up, friend them, comment on their articles and in turn you can have a smaller blog gain more attention faster provided of course you write quality articles and engaging material.

Profit from BlogEngage?

Yep, not only do you get traffic and benefits for your own blog by joining BlogEngage but you can profit from joining AffiliateLights and then referring others to join the BlogEngage network.

When they join using your referral link you make a commission not only from the sale but a recurring commission for every month they stay a member of BlogEngage.  So if you refer like 100 people, you can make around $100 per month commission provided they stay members of the BlogEngage RSS Syndication service.

Do you know that I have already earned over $100 from referring people to BlogEngage RSS Syndication and every one of them finds benefit with the service.

PLUS, you can actually earn AdSense revenue on the blog articles you are automatically submitting to BlogEngage.  On some months I have earned over $3 in AdSense from BlogEngage articles, this almost pays for the monthly RSS Syndication just from having my articles submitted!  They have RSS Syndication Plans as low as $4.99 per month, but I highly recommend you get the Platinum membership at the minimum since it comes with a BlogEngage membership as well as syndicating your content.

Ask me any question you want about BlogEngage RSS Syndication and I can answer, I was one of the first BlogEngage RSS Syndication member back in December 2010 and I am have been among the top 20 active BlogEngage community members since it’s inception 2+ years ago.

Give it a test run, and remember if you post 1 article per day you will get 180 backlinks per month just from using the RSS Syndication Program, this isn’t even including all the extra votes, attention and automatic tweets from the BlogEngage Twitter account for your articles that are voted to publication!

-Justin Germino

There is a growing trend in outsourcing American scientific research.

But not to other countries. Gamers and average-guy computer users are helping the research community with some of its hardest queries. And this doesn’t necessarily mean people with connections to academia. We’re talking regular folks who are simply good observers with problem solving abilities.

The trend – where scientists have solicited help from video game enthusiasts and anyone else with a personal computer who is willing – has been building for over a decade. As research questions have become harder to answer, and the amount of data to be sorted and analyzed has grown to a nearly unmanageable volume, scientists have reached out for assistance – often with surprising success.

Research Success

A great example is the announcement in mid-September’s Journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology that teams of computer gamers – using a game specially created by researchers – were able to uncover the make-up of a class of proteins that is believed to be critical to the proliferation of the virus linked to AIDS. And they did it in three weeks. Scientists believe the break-through could lead to the protein being neutralized.

Zoran Popovic, head of the Center for Game Science at the University of Washington in Seattle, and a creator of the “Foldt” game researchers used, told the Christian Science Monitor the intent is to “engage people for an extended period of time such that they actually go from novices to experts.”

In other cases, volunteers have helped analyze reams of data from NASA’s Kepler mission – that seeks Earth-like planets orbiting stars similar to our sun – and in the process discovered two possible planets through a program called “Planet Hunters” which has been ongoing for nearly a year. Through this arrangement, volunteers have classified data that would have taken a single researcher 60 years to complete, Debra Fischer, a Yale University administrator of the Planet Hunters program, told the Christian Science Monitor.

A Growing Public Network

Another approach involves recruiting run-of-the-mill computer users to allow their systems to be accessed as part of a network of public computers powering research efforts. This type of strategy has been growing since the late 1990s when a program called “SETI@home” began. It now has 3 million computers pouring over data from the Arecibo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico in search of alien communications. There are currently more than three dozen similar projects in various stages of work, according to the Christian Science Monitor.

Based on successes already made, economic uncertainty that continues to threaten research budgets, and growing data loads on the horizon, it appears this trend will not slow anytime soon. And with significant advances continually being made in scientific research that sounds like a benefit to everyone.

About Author

Stanley Mann loves anything science-related. If he weren’t a professional writer, Stanley would find great joy as a lab-coat wearing researcher working to solve the world’s important questions. His experience goes beyond writing, recruitment services, financial advice, job tips. He has a bit of everything.

I once read a comparison between negativity and cancer on how negativity like a cancer can spread, infect other thoughts and decay your well being over time if you let it fester untreated.  Negativity can destroy morale, eat at someone’s personality and if left untreated can literally hollow out a person’s soul.

Life is a culmination of lessons, experiences and trials.  Life is also finite and I truly believe the only way to really make it through and keep sanity intact is to find the positive in as much as possible and try to keep negativity to a minimum.  The proverbial “If life hands you a lemon, make lemonade” saying is not such a bad saying after all.

When you find yourself dwelling on difficulties, negatives, or stresses that are affecting your happiness level to the point where you are miserable it is time for a change.  A change maybe in your way of thinking or looking at the situation, standing back and taking a different point of view may be in order.

In some cases it may require changing up the situation and this could be minor changes where the sum is greater than the parts (small changes here and there) or a life altering change that dramatically shifts the landscape.

In general though I try not to dwell or let even the most negative of situations drag me down, or if they do I find a way to climb my way out as quickly as possible.  Life is too short to bury yourself with negativity and stress.

Find something, anything that you think of as a positive and share it with someone. Broadcast it on social media if you have to.

Shout “I really like that _____________________ “ and just fill in the blank and share it on your profile wall.  Tell someone what you like about them, respect about them.  Share something positive you think about someone or something.

If that doesn’t work then hit the gym, hard and work out for about 1 – 2 hours non-stop until you can barely breath and your muscles are all quivering and in pain from the working out.  Typically this makes me feel better in a few hours as a last resort.

-Justin Germino

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I finally received my Beta code to test out the new GameFly Unlimited PC Game play.  This is basically the ability to rent PC Game downloads and play the game as long as you want on your PC, removing it when you are finished.

The content initially is limited, but the best game by far in the RPG department would be Drakensang: The Dark Eye which is a great game if you haven’t played it and if you have a Gamefly account you can download and play the full game right now for free if you have a BETA code.

Like STEAM Gamefly also gives you the ability to purchase new and old games through their Gamefly client which will give rise to potentially really cheap deals and sales.  I am curious how Gamefly negotiates deals with game companies to allow users unlimited game play without costing more than the regular gamefly subscription membership and they must kick back a % or some other based on # of downloads/installs/plays or something of that nature.

Again, the Gamefly unlimited PC game reminds me of Netflix in that it has older titles but some are pretty good and if you missed the chance to play them back in 2008/2009 then you can spend hours playing games of a few years past on Gamefly with their unlimited PC Game play feature which is available to Gamefly members.

I think this is an excellent choice as less people are using gaming handheld’s and clients and for Gamefly to stay competitive they need to over client downloads and rentals for people who don’t have physical consoles or want something extra.

Buy One Month, Get One FREE!

Right now I can tell you that I wouldn’t get the GameFly subscription just for the Unlimited PC Gameplay, but if you already have a Nintendo Wii, 3DS, DSi, Xbox360 or Playstation 3 this is a welcome addition and yet additional game access that you can combine with your existing account.  I currently use Gamefly to get DSi, Wii and Xbox360 games that I play with my family, I mostly get multiplayer games, but now with the PC Downloads I can play some games I didn’t get a chance to play previously.

Drakensang: The River of Time and Assassins Creed would be my first two downloads with the Unlimited PC Play feature of Gamefly.

-Justin Germino

My wife is a mastermind when it comes to space saving ideas and some of the furniture she found for our small place just blow my mind at how functional and efficient they are at saving space.

The first would be a small table that folds flat against the wall, when you are ready to use it you just unfold it and voila the kids have a place to eat their breakfast or lunch.  It is ideal for two people to eat off of and doubles over as a computer desk for my son when he is using his computer in the living room.

The other is a dining table that we use on the Patio, the table when folded up is less than 18” narrow but unfolds 2 sides to fully seat a party of 6 if you need to.  This combined with nice wooden folding chairs makes for an extremely space saving patio dining set.

Note, in the 2nd picture only 1 of the sides is extended making it a 4 top.  But that 2nd side can extend for a full 6 top table.

There are tons of ways to save space when you use furniture that can compact/fold when not in use.  We have a couch that folds into a bed (not a pull out bed) but the back actually folds down so the entire couch becomes the bed which is another great space saver.

Most of these items honestly were found in Ikea and some were very time consuming to assemble.  That table above weighed over 80lb and had like 40 wooden pieces to assemble.

-Justin Germino

Don’t have an Ikea near you, here are the two closest models I could find on Amazon that are essentially the same.

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I am used to living in hot locations being the fact that I am a resident of Southern Arizona for over 16 years.  I was however not prepared for how few places on the pacific coast have air conditioning.  I mean they all have heaters but there is no A/C and though opening the windows and letting a beach breeze come in is nice the temperature still can reach 82-85 degrees inside a home where it feels like an oven when cooped up inside working.

Well, I think my cable modem overheated last week while working in this condition as it became so hot it literally felt like it was burning my skin to the touch.  I had to unplug the device and put it in front of a fan to cool it off for a bit before I tried it again.

The connection was intermittent and the online light solid, my laptops all got pretty toasty as well.  Fortunately the iPad always seems to run cool no matter what temp it is in the house.

I may need some type of cooler when I work out of CA, the fans don’t seem to do well enough to combat the heat build up that occurs inside the bedroom I use as an office.  Unless of course the cable modem is faulty and defective and just overheat on it’s own.  It could be fluke, because it gets to be like 81 inside my 2nd floor office in AZ as well because even with my A/C running it can’t fight against the rising heat.

-Justin Germino

The end of a busy working vacation, where the family and I spent at our Encinitas cottage (1st visit with family since we closed) and I worked most of the days remotely.  There were a ton of things to do and my week consisted of hammering out the following chores.

• Replace Window Screen
• Replace Screen Sliding Door
• Replace locks on 2 doors
• Build Gas Grill
• Build Metal Utility Shelf
• Build Patio Table (Not as easy as it looks, tons of parts)
• Build Wall Table
• Landscape Side Yard 1,000lb of rock (20 x 50lb bags)
• Landscape Backyard (mostly leveling, adding stepping stones, hose area)
• Install 6 curtain rods and curtains
• Replace Shower Head

Yeah, was a crazy hectic week with many of my first days prepping the final touches on this place.  All in all we think we are set and future trips should be more relaxation and less work.

-Justin Germino

Fall Break ending and I return back to AZ after spending 11 days in CA on fall break but working most of those days remotely.  The kids enjoyed the vacation but when you have two kids under 10 years old a vacation doesn’t really feel like a vacation for parents, just parenting in a new location.

We topped the trip off with visiting Legoland last night for their Brick or Treat special right now which is a really great deal.  Normally taking 3 adults and 2 kids to Legoland will cost you over $300 in tickets but the Brick or Treat special has you go from 4pm to 9pm and only pay $25 per ticket (adult and kids the same).  This means you get 5 hours at Legoland for 1/3 the price of a normal day admission and you get all the Halloween activities as well.

Carlsbad was also only 7 minutes away from our CA cottage so was a quick drive and were able to arrive without issues or too much traffic along the way.

I will miss the smell of the ocean which permeated everywhere as well as the cooler temperatures at night and morning, it did get a little warm at over 80 degrees during mid day without any A/C however but was still preferable to the over 100 degrees back in AZ.

Probably will go back and stay in CA in two weeks just for a weekend and then the family is probably going to do Thanksgiving in CA instead of AZ this year for the first time.

-Justin Germino

Awesome innovative technology developed by PaveGen showcased on CNN last week for being able to convert the kinetic energy of a footstep on a tile into power.  Though each step creates enough power only to light an led bulb for 30 seconds this really adds up when you consider the amount of tiles and the amount of footsteps in a high traffic area.  Each footstep tile also contains it’s own battery which can store the unused power for up to 3 days so a backup can exist.

This really adds up and in a high traffic area just 250,000 footsteps can fully charge 10,000 mobile phones!  The initial testing was done at a school were over a thousand kids were jumping over these things for 8+ months and they had mechanical devices stepping on the pads constantly for quite a long time.

Provided the technology becomes cost effective this could be a fantastic way for subways, airports, and high traffic tourist and downtown area’s to help augment their power sources. 

I personally think this technology is fantastic and can imagine something like this around shopping malls across the states or in busy NY downtown streets which help power the street lighting at night or in metro stations providing the power to plug and charge your mobile devices while waiting for transport or more!

Read the article source for more details.

Okay as my readers and friends know I have two Boston Terrier dogs named Porky and Donut.  Donut is an 8 year old female Boston Terrier we adopted just over a year ago and she made a fine addition to our home.  Porky we adopted about two years ago and he is around three years old now. 

Porky is an abnormal dog in that he doesn’t do walks, at least he walks just fine but you can’t get him to do his business during a walk.  In fact the dog refuses to go to the bathroom ever if anyone is around and near him.  My other female dog like most will mark, crap or do whatever during a walk at the most inopportune times, but Porky will literally hold going to the bathroom for hours and hours waiting until he can be put out in the yard alone where nobody is around him.

I have never seen a dog who is so shy about going to the bathroom, the good thing is he can do a 5 1/2 hour car ride without ever going to the bathroom even though we make multiple stops for our other dog to use the restroom.

It does become inconvenient though in the middle of the night when one of us has to let the dog out and he won’t go, I get half tempted to leave him out there until morning but he would bark his brains out and disturb the neighbor.  Fortunately he hasn’t had an accident yet in the CA home and at one point he went over 8 hours without going to the bathroom which was the longest I think I ever have seen a dog not go to the bathroom.

He is just so shy he can’t go to the bathroom around humans, odd huh?

-Justin Germino