Eww, Valentine’s day tomorrow, also known as international act like a sheep day. Who let the dogs out?

I had to do that.

Now, onto serious business. Can you remember the last argument (debate) you had? If you don’t remember, go on and have one right now. You can debate the existence of the abominable snowman, thought by some to stalk the Himalayan Mountains. See if you can prove or disprove his existence to one of your friends/family members.

If you do remember the last argument you had, are you familiar with these terms: “Argumentum ad Ignorantiam” and “burden of proof?” If you are, good for you. : ) But if you’re not (sometimes even if you were), you might have used them to defend your claims. Used them the wrong way, don’t get your hopes high.

Did you ever think about where all the stuff that you buy comes from, or where it goes after you’re done with it? Ever wondered if this system was efficient? Of course you did, you’re not a chimp! Who came up with this kind of introductory lines anyway… h/she should be forced to watch ‘Pledge This!‘ 100 times, with no breaks other than vital ones — watching that film is more painful than watching paint dry. (Paris Hilton stars in it, now do you believe me?)

OK, so you probably have a pretty good idea what the story of your stuff is, from resource extraction and production to consumption and disposal. What you may not know (not very well at least) are some of the facts and connections between the environmental and social issues that our planet is facing. And that is where “The Story of Stuff” kicks in to help you.

… the page about great green hosting?

Reading “The Principal Doctrines of Epicurus” (Κyriai Doxai in Greek) I found his “four-fold cure for anxiety.” Its simplicity and potential are impressive, something that can’t be said about most of what the new age self-help gurus preach in this regard. And talking about self-help, how is it self-help if people need someone to tell them what to do and guide them? But that’s a question for another time.

As you’ve probably found out from news, radio, Twitter, Facebook or your Australian friends, the state of Victoria in southern Australia has recently been hit with hundreds of bush fires during a record-breaking heatwave. The fires are the deadliest in Australian history, with the official toll currently standing at 173 dead and more than 750 homes destroyed.

The events have left hundreds of people homeless, affecting an area of more than 3,000 square kilometres. Entire towns were wiped off the map within about 24 hours at the weekend.

To make things clear from the beginning, in case anyone doesn’t know exactly what marketing or a marketer are, I will define the two.

Marketing is the set of commercial processes involved in promoting, selling and distributing a product or service. A marketer is the person in charge of designing and executing marketing campaigns.

These days more than ever, at least online, you can see that a very large number of people are marketers (more or less successful) or aspiring to be. The aspiring online marketer usually reads the blogs and webpages of the relatively successful marketer trying to learn new tricks and be just like him. But the successful marketer is 80% of the time marketing to him and 20% of the time teaching him.

“There is no duty more indispensable than that of a returning a kindness. All men distrust one forgetful of a benefit.”
— Cicero