Message From jl

Hi Everyone!

Well, my daughter and new son-in-law were married on the beach in Maui Saturday evening. They'll be back on Thursday and the reception will be held this coming Friday evening.

Meanwhile, I'm running an orphanage. Well, not exactly. Maybe I should call it a Day (and night) Care Center. As I write on Saturday, I have one of Adorable Dora's new ducklings living with ET and me.

This one came wagging in last Wednesday. As of Saturday morning, no more have shown up. Dora is still going back to the nest so, apparently, she still has viable eggs.

I call this one “Peeps” since it spends a lot of time calling, first for its mama, now for me. I'm being very careful not to let it imprint on me since I don't want to walk around the rest of my life with a duck following along at my heels.

I have him in ET's first cage. He sleeps on a soft wash cloth folded-in-quarters, and he cuddles up to a little stuffed duck I bought for ET. It's about three times Peeps' size, but it makes duckling peeps, too.

I hope he isn't imprinting on that! But, if I can just snatch about three of his siblings to join him, I'm sure he'll give up the toy for them.

I have two bird cages that will hold one young duck each - and a very large bird cage that can hold two. I also plan to make a run for them out in the yard, but, right now, haven't the faintest idea how to do that.

I'll tell you my adventures in catching Peeps next week. Now, THAT was a sight! I am DETERMINED that some of these babies will escape that mob of turtles in the lake. I'm not sure, but I think about six weeks of in-home care should do it.

That, of course, is assuming the men in the white coats don't come after me, first. (I had to do what I had to do to catch that baby.) The good news is - I have a plan for catching the rest. I wasn't prepared for Peeps.

We have some catching up to do ...

Twitter Survey Results

45.46% of respondents DO use Twitter

66.66% of users use Twitter for business

37.50% of business users say it has increased their income

Although I forgot to ask for comments (sorry), I got them anyway. So, I learned a couple of things to pass along.

1) Tom Mahoney - www.merchant911.org: Twitter can be a HUGE “canned meat factory.”

2) Ed Hudson - www.HudsonEnterprises.com: Smart use is being very careful as to who you allow to “follow” you. Hand-pick your followers, and never mind trying for huge numbers.

3) Barbara Stark - www.ambersangels.org: Twitter accounts have been hijacked to send messages to the followers which have them visit sites containing malware. More details on that at the URL below.

tinyurl.com/kwovt6

Many thanks to everyone who participated! I leave you to make your own decisions.

Automatic Security Patches

A couple of weeks ago, I alerted everyone to the need for an Adobe Reader patch. Then, I was alerted to what looks like a fabulous service:

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Hi jl,

Now I can save you and everyone ever having to worry about patching and updates of all the AD-ON software we gather, and it's free!

I have been using this for a couple of years now and, for 99% of the time, I don't have to even think about 'all those bits and bits of Software.' I have, over the years, been 100% up to date.

Even though you may select 'Auto Update' on these software downloads, a large percentage of them don't work.

At www.secunia.com if you use the 'simple' interface, everything is done for you. The 'advanced' setup requires you to do all the 'patching.'

Oh by the way, 'Secunia' patched 'Adobe' for me; I didn't even know that there was an issue.

Cheers

Bruce Urlich
www.homehotelnz.com
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That last sentence in Bruce's message settled it for me. It seems to me that, MOST OF THE TIME, we DON'T know patches are needed until it's too late!

Thanks, Bruce!

PayPal Phishing Emails

A reader sent me this helpful hint:

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I use spoof@paypal.com to get rid of paypal spoof emails and, when I do, I always get back a thank you email from paypal.

William Frederickson
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Another Funny for You

I know I tend to play around with this newsletter a lot in the summertime. We all need to play a bit. It helps keep us centered.

BUT - we shouldn't allow the warm weather months to slow us down in business. The smart money takes advantage of those who DO slow down.

It may be difficult to remember now - we may tend to blame business slow-downs on the crappy economy. BUT - things ALWAYS slow down (in the USA) during summer months. Nothing is different this year!

Those who are committed, and intend to, will get through this one, too!

SO ...

I heard an audio last week that really is funny, especially if you know - or ARE - a fully left brained man. In fact, for me, it got even funnier after I heard it, every time it jumped into my mind.

Of course, my best friend, of almost 40 years, is married to a man exactly like the one in the audio. Except she doesn't call him “Left Brain” - she calls him “Sh** for Brains.”

I know - I know - that isn't nice! Sorry. But, ya really gotta know him!

That doesn't mean the guy in the audio is stupid - he's just SO left-brained, it's funny!

Here's the audio:

www.OnlineBusinessTradeJournal.com/LeftBrain.mp3

Have a fabulous week and ... keep on keepin' on!

  jl

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Thank You For Reading!  Have a Terrific Week!

Online Business Trade Journal™ is published solely by dr. jl scott, Director of the International Council of Online Professionals (iCop) and may not reflect the opinion of all iCop members.

Material in the "Leaving You With a Smile" column may be copyrighted by unknown persons.

We accept no responsibility for your use of any contributed information contained herein. All of the information presented in the Online Business Trade Journal™ is published in good faith. Any comments stated in this newsletter are strictly the opinion of the writer or publisher.

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Copyright © 2009 jl scott, ph.d., Director
International Council of Online Professionals (iCop™)
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