Author Archives: Scott M. Stolz
No, it is not a wasted vote for many reasons: 1. It Influences the Major Parties It lets politicians and political parties know which way the electorate is leaning. Part of the reason why Democrats and Republicans are able to maintain a two party system is because they are so broad in their base. If they see some of their voters are straying from the party, they will adjust their… Read More »
There are several reasons why you should vote: There are local officials being elected in the same election, and these officials affect you as much, if not more than the President would. You might not be able to get the President you want, but maybe you can get the Governor, Mayor or Sheriff you want. Even if your candidate doesn’t win the election, political parties note who is voting and… Read More »
Maintaining three pen names means three different brands, with three different marketing efforts. It takes a lot of work. Before you decide, you would want to consider the following: Will any of your audiences react negatively if they find out you also write for the other audiences? For example, will some people devalue your business advice if they know you also give dating advice? Will certain people reading your more… Read More »
Some signs include: A sudden shift in priorities to things that make the numbers look good, especially the financial numbers. Suddenly efficiency, revenue and profit become the number one priority, while everything else gets neglected. They are trying to make the company more appealing for a buyout. The owners or founders of the company suddenly take less interest in running the company and let their lieutenants run it for them. … Read More »
Part of it has to do with people’s perceptions of you vs. who you really are. For example, I’ve been in IT for a long time and so have many of my associates, and we all have our specialties. Yet people assume all sorts of things about our skills, and we often get asked to do things tech related that are not related to our specialty simply because we’re computer… Read More »
What is interesting is that pure socialism and communism has failed everywhere it has been attempted, but so has pure capitalism. Most large modern countries today are hybrids, with a combination of capitalist and socialist principles. Some countries lean more one way or the other, but none are pure socialist or pure capitalist. And that’s a good thing. Socialism appeals to the compassion and desire to help their fellow man,… Read More »
It is possible to generate an income from a blog, and there are a number of ways to do it. It is best if you have a niche blog about a specific topic or interest. Personal blogs that are general in nature are harder to grow an audience for since there is little focus on a particular topic, and unless you lead a very fascinating life, not everyone will want… Read More »
I found an interesting tidbit on the FCC website about the regulation of the internet. It says: The FCC does not regulate the Internet or Internet Service Providers (ISPs). You may contact your state consumer protection office…. If that is the case, why are we contacting the FCC and the federal government about Net Neutrality, when the power to regulate it is already in the hands of the states we… Read More »
In the current Net Neutrality debate, cable companies and internet service providers are claiming that they deserve more money from Netflix and YouTube and other content providers because they supposedly “create” the most traffic on their networks. But that is simply not true. Do you know who really creates the most traffic on the internet? The end users requesting content and visiting websites. Think about it. Netflix and YouTube only send… Read More »
As governments get more strapped for cash, they seek out new ways to get revenue. Unfortunately the laws they have on the books are not suitable for taxation of internet commerce. There are several government initiatives to redress that, such as the Marketplace Fairness Act in the U.S., being considered now in Congress, and the Thirteenth VAT Directive already on the books at the EU. The problem with these laws… Read More »
