Petey's Pipeline E-zine

Issue #56

August 6, 2007

Business First A Message for Newbies
Random Ramblings & Miscellaneous Musings Moving Toward Sustainability
Write Thinking Parts of Speech (Part I, the Noun)

Business First (Editorial)

A Message for Newbies
by Phil Hanson

Like the majority of small-time Internet entrepreneurs struggling daily to maintain an online presence, I've found that the more money one has available to invest in an online business the easier the task of running that business becomes. Still, I've resisted the impulse to spend large sums of money to take Perfect Text to the next level. After all, my primary goal, when I founded Perfect Text in the fall of 2002, was to either prove or dispel the notion that a successful commercial Web site could be built and operated for a ridiculously small amount of money. (It can, but unless you have a profound love of learning, boundless energy, infinite patience, and a penchant for living at or below the poverty level, I don't recommend you try it.)

All 'Netrepreneurs rely, to a certain extent, on search engines for a percentage of the traffic visiting their individual Web sites. An important part of how a Web site is discovered, perceived, and received by Web surfers depends, for good or for ill, on the status conveyed upon it by the various search engines, but disproportionately so by Google. Despite its many shortcomings, Google is still the "go to" search engine for many Web surfers, the "Big Kahuna," as it were.

At the beginning of my second year in business, by virtue of diligence and hard work, Google placed Perfect Text in the #1 and #2 positions for results returned for selected keywords—not bad for an amateur seeking professional status. Then, everything changed.

For reasons I don't fully understand, Google saw fit to change its page rank algorithm; suddenly, Perfect Text didn't even show up among the top hundred. According to the first ten pages of search results, PT had ceased to exist.

Maybe it's just me, but I think that someone who played by the rules that Google established and maintained a Web site to the same high standards that Google defined deserves better treatment from Google than that.

Flash forward to early 2007. Perfect Text rated a PR 4 (up from PR 3 for all of 2006 and much of 2005). It was gratifying that my hard work was finally paying off. But it was a short-lived victory; in June, when next I checked Perfect Text's page rank, I was dismayed to see that it had fallen to PR 2. Once again, Google had changed the rules mid-game. What's up with that? Google Rewards for more hard work?

Often, newbie 'Netrepreneurs assume that getting a favorable Google page rank is easy, that effective Web site promotion is inexpensive, and that in no time they'll be filthy rich. In reality, few things are farther from the truth.

The most important lesson I've learned about entrepreneurship and self-employment is that under the current form of corporate capitalism, those who already have money find few obstacles to acquiring more. Those who lack wealth and struggle to obtain it must struggle all the harder. The rich get richer, and the poor stay poor.

If you're among the many that have fallen victim to the "Instant Internet Wealth" delusion, get a grip. If you're thinking about selling the farm to finance your impossible dream, my best advice to you is don't! Hang onto that farm. If you want to keep on eating, you're probably going to need it.

• • •

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Random Ramblings & Miscellaneous Musings

Moving Toward Sustainability
by Phil Hanson

Despite numerous ominous warning signs, a large segment of society still clamors for more highways, improved roadways, bigger, more powerful SUVs, and cheaper gasoline. They cling to their mini-mansions in the suburbs and their hobby farms in the country, and they grouse about the cost of funding public transportation systems, complain about any efforts to develop bicycle-friendly infrastructure, and generally show utter disregard for the consequences of business as usual.

In light of peak oil, looming energy shortages, environmental destruction, and a burgeoning population, it makes no sense to fund car infrastructure, exclusively, at the expense of alternative transportation methods.

Sustainability must be the driving force—and the limiting factor—in all that we, as a society, work to accomplish for ourselves and for our posterity. Unrestrained population growth is not sustainable. Nor is unrestricted economic growth, unbridled resource consumption, nor many of the things that we've taken for granted over the past hundred years.

Our car culture is dying (rightfully so) and the best thing we can do for it, and for ourselves, is to let it go. Every car taken off the road produces a bundle of rewards, among them reduced energy demand, cleaner air, less noise, better health, greater safety for cyclists and pedestrians, and more incentive for others to consider transportation alternatives.

Transportation alternatives include trains, buses, light rail, streetcars, bicycles and other human-powered modes. The sooner we fund the infrastructure needed to support them the sooner we can make the transition from that which in not sustainable to that which is.

We need a new vision of what it takes to build a sustainable society, and to then focus our efforts on bringing that vision to realization. A continuation of car culture is not a realistic approach to curbing traffic congestion, ending urban sprawl, or reversing environmental destruction. Building bicycle infrastructure and funding public transit alternatives provide some of the solutions necessary for achieving the long-range goals of energy independence, transportation, and economic development.

Most of the things we did in the last century that worked so well have little chance of working in this one. Now is the time for a new vision, a new plan, and a new commitment to sustainability. Concentrating our efforts on the wrong things will only waste time, money, and opportunity.

Write Thinking

Parts of Speech ( Part I)

Each word used in a sentence has a specific grammatical function. The eight parts of speech into which various words are classified are noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pronoun, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. Grammatical function, position within a sentence, and inflection (if any) all help determine how a word is classified.

The Noun

A noun is a word that names a person, place, or thing. Nouns are typically used in sentence construction as the subject of a verb, as the direct or indirect object of a verb, as the object of a preposition, as an indirect or retained object, or as an appositive, objective complement or predicate nominative.

A proper noun names or identifies a specific person, place, or thing to create a unique identity or to make a distinction between it and others in the same group or class of persons, places, or things.

Nouns can be made plural by adding an s (or es) to the word. Car becomes cars, box becomes boxes.

Nouns can also show possession simply by adding an apostrophe + s ('s), or an apostrophe only (') for plural nouns or nouns ending in s.

In the English language, nouns are often used as adjectives by placing them before other nouns that they modify or describe. Hedge fund, quality control, computer programmer, and bike rider are just a few examples among many possibilities.

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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