Petey's Pipeline E-zine

Issue #55

July 2, 2007

Business First A Link Strategy that Works
Random Ramblings & Miscellaneous Musings Vanishing Car Culture
Write Thinking Symbolic Language

Business First (Editorial)

A Link Strategy that Works

Building link popularity is always a concern for Web site owners who operate online businesses. Online sales depend on visitor traffic, which in turn depends largely on link popularity and page rank. But how does one go about getting the link popularity and page rankings that help to lure precious traffic to one's Web site?

One school of thought dictates that one simply spends money to get the job done. Invest in essential software, and engage the services of online professionals who specialize in various aspects of Web site development, including Web content writers, search engine optimizers, links exchange strategists, et al.

Another school of thought suggests a more moderate approach, which is used by virtually everyone who's constrained by a tight budget and doesn't mind do-it-yourself as a means to an end. This works well for people who have more time than money and no pressing need to achieve immediate results.

A strategy that I recently began using for links exchanges is to look for popular Web sites that have blogs attached to them. The only criteria are that the blogs must allow you to post comments, and provide fields in which to enter your name and your Web site's URL (if you have one). So far, I've obtained links back to the Perfect Text Web site from Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams , soon-to-be best-selling author Timothy Hallinan, and bikeportland.org, a popular bicycle transportation news and advocacy blog run by Jonathan Maus, a Portland bike enthusiast/advocate and blogger.

Granted, the number of links at this point isn't terribly impressive, but hey, this is only the beginning.

• • •

For an occasional dose of insight and opinion, read Petey's Pipeline Blog.

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Random Ramblings & Miscellaneous Musings

Vanishing Car Culture
by Phil Hanson

Getting people into or onto other modes of transportation is a critical part of curing our oil addiction, containing environmental destruction, averting an energy crisis, and developing sustainable communities. But how do you encourage an automobile-dependent culture to abandon the cars it loves and take up less convenient, albeit less destructive, transportation alternatives?

A system of incentives (rewards) and disincentives (penalties) may be the answer. Hold polluters accountable for the pollution they cause. Make them pay for the privilege of being wasteful.

Disincentives

Raise the legal driving age to 18. All drivers must pass a physical, and be able to demonstrate advanced driving skills under a variety of light, weather, and traffic conditions prior to obtaining or renewing a driver's license. Drivers of high-performance vehicles would be held to a higher standard of skill.

Higher fuel prices and fuel rationing would discourage unnecessary or frivolous driving, encourage more people to make car purchasing decisions based on economy and practicality rather than ego gratification, and almost certainly encourage some people to abandon cars altogether.

Taxes, surcharges and user fees levied against vehicle owners/drivers would also discourage over-reliance on driving and excessive fuel consumption, and place the true costs of motor vehicle usage where they belong. A list of the various types of taxes and fees, and a brief overview of each, follows:

• A Resource Extraction Tax takes into account all costs attributable to bringing a given resource to market, including the cost of negating environmental damage caused by the extraction process.

• An Energy Consumption Tax takes into account the total amount of energy used in the manufacture, and delivery to point of sale, of a given vehicle, and is assessed as a percentage of the energy cost.

• A Carbon Tax addresses the total amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere during a given vehicle's production, distribution, use, and recycling (actual and estimated).

• A Vehicle Emissions Tax covers environmental damage caused by noxious engine emissions other than carbon dioxide.

• An End-of-life-cycle Disposal Tax covers the environmental costs of recycling or disposing of various vehicle components and materials.

• A Mileage Tax imposes penalties on gas-guzzling vehicles beginning at 40 m.p.g., increasing as mileage decreases.

• An Excess Weight Tax would apply to vehicles weighing in excess of 2000 pounds, increase by 10% for every 500-lb. increase over the basic weight limit.

• A Luxury Vehicle Surcharge applies to cars with a retail price exceeding $25,000, increasing by 5% for every $5,000 increase in price.

• A High-performance Vehicle Surcharge would apply to cars producing more than 100 b.h.p., and light trucks producing more than 150 b.h.p.

Incentives

People who commute to work on foot or by bike accrue one hour of additional vacation time for every day they commute that way. People who commute by public transportation (light rail or bus) accrue I/2 hour per day. On days that people drive to work, they receive no additional vacation time.

Those who own cars but commute to work other than by car should qualify for lower insurance rates. It doesn't make sense for part-time drivers to pay full-time rates. Better yet, implement a single-insurer system and tie the cost of insurance to the price of motor fuel. That way, no driver is uninsured, and every driver can escape paying for insurance if they want simply by not driving.

A fuel-efficiency credit for owners of high-mileage vehicles (over 40 miles per gallon) could be applied to fuel purchases at point of purchase.

High fuel prices, high vehicle costs, and high taxes on excesses, plus low costs for alternative transportation methods, will encourage people to build communities that are truly sustainable. Locating homes close to workplaces makes sense. Locating outlets for goods and services close to the consumers who use them makes sense. Localizing production of consumer goods to the greatest extent possible makes sense. Basing local economies on local resources makes sense.

We've known these things since at least the early '70s. What doesn't make sense is the amount of time it's taken us to get started making the needed changes.

Write Thinking

Symbolic Language

Of all of mankind's many achievements, language is indisputably the most important. Language makes possible the sharing of ideas, a means of recording, preserving and retrieving our most important thoughts, the telling and retelling of history. Without language, none of mankind's other achievements would have been possible.

The English language consists of more than half a million words, each of which has a specific meaning or degree of meaning. Each word is made up of an arrangement of letters; each letter symbolizes a sound—or, perhaps, several different sounds, depending on its relationship with, or juxtaposition to, other letters.

Often, the sounds represented by some letters change when those letters appear adjacent to or in conjunction with certain other letters. For instance, the letter A has a different sound in each of the following words: baby, bath, ball. Vowels have both "long" and "short" sounds; some consonants have both "hard" and "soft" sounds. In certain circumstances, some letters have no sound at all.

Spoken words are the audible representations of thoughts and ideas. Written words are visual symbols representing spoken words. All cohesive, coherent communications, whether spoken or written, depend on the logical arrangement of the words (or symbols) used within those communications. A system of rules, which include syntax, grammar, and composition, dictates how the words are arranged. A random arrangement of words does not allow for effective communications.

In writing, words, clauses, phrases, sentences and paragraphs constitute a definite hierarchy of progressively complex parts that enable writers to express a broad spectrum of ideas. Writers who get it right adhere to pre-established grammatical and syntactical rules, although they may, from time to time, bend those rules in creative ways to develop an original piece of work.

Next up in Write Thinking, we'll further our understanding of proper sentence construction by examining the parts of speech. Until then, fellow writers, write on. Right on!

Disclaimer

The articles appearing in Petey's Pipeline E-zine are based on information believed to be true at the time of publication. Neither Perfecttext.com, Petey's Pipeline E-zine nor their publisher assume any liability or responsibility as to the accuracy or efficacy of any information, products or services that are submitted, advertised or rendered by contributors to Petey's Pipeline E-zine. While we make every effort to screen out scam artists and bogus offers, you should still do your homework. Caveat emptor!

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