Petey's
Pipeline E-zine
Issue #50
April 16, 2007
Contents
Business
First What
Are Your Chances?
Random Ramblings & Miscellaneous Musings
National Security—Safe
or Sorry: Economic and
Environmental Security (Postponed)
Write Thinking Rules of Capitalization
(Part I)
Business
First (Editorial)
What
Are Your Chances?
by Phil Hanson
What
are your chances of making a fortune on the Internet? To be
completely honest, I'd have to say not very good. That doesn't
mean you can't do it, only that it's unlikely that you will.
Of the millions of people trying to hit the Internet jackpot,
relatively few will succeed. There are more obstacles to success
than those who have already succeeded want you to know about.
For
every e-Bay, every Google, and every Amazon.com, there are thousands
and thousands of chagrined Internet entrepreneurs who have quietly
folded their tents and gone on to do something else. Virtual
businesses conducted online require all of the things that their
brick-and-mortar counterparts need in order to succeed.
Business
success starts with a great idea to satisfy a hungry
market followed by a sound business plan implemented
by substantial financing. Promotion and advertising
help spread the word about your business to potential customers,
and strong ethics and a good customer service policy
help retain customers after you get them.
It
takes knowledge, time, energy, and money to build a profitable
business. Lacking money, you will need a superabundance of the
other key ingredients, but even then your success is not guaranteed.
Conversely, if you have a superabundance of money, you can purchase
enough of the other key ingredients to make success a near certainty.
In business, it's possible to buy your way to success.
In
business, it's always about the money.
Copyright
© 2007 by Phil Hanson
All rights reserved.
• • •
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Random
Ramblings & Miscellaneous Musings
National
Security—Safe or Sorry: Economic
and Environmental Security
by Phil Hanson
Due
to unusual and unforeseen circumstances that kept me away from
the computer for much of the past two weeks, I'm delaying the
planned article until the next issue, scheduled for publication
on May 7th.
In
the meantime, read
my latest blog post about unintended consequences
for a sneak preview of an expanded version that will appear
in an upcoming issue of Petey's Pipeline E-zine.
Coming in issue #51: Economic and Environmental Security:
Striking a Balance
Copyright
© 2007 by Phil Hanson
All rights reserved.
Write
Thinking
Rules
of Capitalization (Part I)
Capitalize:
•
The first word of a sentence
In
the last seconds of the game, the team managed to snatch defeat
from the jaws of victory. The Portland Trailblazers have
successfully used this strategy in recent years to avoid getting
a spot in the NBA Championship playoffs. It's rumored
that next year the team might actually play to win.
•
Proper nouns (specific persons, places, or things)
Elvis
Presley, Graceland, Grand Canyon,
Columbia River, Statue of Liberty,
Golden Gate Bridge
•
Proper adjectives (formed from proper nouns)
American
cheese, Chinese food, Spanish rice, Russian
roulette, French cuisine, Southern hospitality,
Draconian laws, Pavlovian responses
•
The first word of a direct quotation
She
said, "Wait until the guys see this."
"Wait
until the guys see this," she said. "They'll
be so impressed."
Except
when the second part of a split quotation doesn't begin
a new sentence.
"When
the guys see this," she said, "they'll be so
impressed."
•
The first word of a line of poetry
Do
not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
—Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night, by Dylan
Thomas
"My
scalp crawled, I felt a hot breath on the nape of my
neck, I detected a foul smell, I knew this was
irrational fear, a reaction to the creepy condition of Brother
Timothy and to the disturbing strains of theremin-like sound,
but I turned anyway, I turned, chagrined that
I was so easily suckered by my imagination, I
turned boldly to the looming Trickster." —From
Brother Odd, by Dean Koontz
•
Days of the week, holidays, months of the year, and special
observance days
Thursday,
Easter, July, Labor Day
•
Names of corporations or specific institutions or organizations
Nike,
Microsoft, International Business Machines,
American Civil Liberties Union,
American Medical Association, Union of
Concerned Scientists
•
Titles of literary and artistic works, including books, stories,
poetry, art, and music
The
Mona Lisa, East of Eden, Stranger
in a Strange Land, The Rime of the
Ancient Mariner, The Golden Apples
of the Sun, Got to Get You into
My Life, A Walk on the Wild
Side
(Do
not capitalize articles, conjunctions and short prepositions
except when they're the first word.)
•
Names of government entities
Social
Security Administration, House of Representatives,
the Senate, the Supreme Court, the President
of the United States
Copyright
© 2007 by Phil Hanson
All rights reserved.
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