vineri, 9 august 2013

Here's what you need to know:

The White House Friday, August 9, 2013
 

Here's what you need to know

President Obama took Wednesday morning to answer your questions on housing during an online interview, and it's worth a watch. It's part of his push for a more secure foundation for middle-class homeownership.

We want to make sure you've got the facts about President Obama's plan, and the resources that are already available for homeowners.

Here's what you need to know: The President's plan involves simple, commonsense steps that folks on both sides of the aisle agree on. That means making it easier for families to refinance, reforming the system so families aren't on the hook for the bad behavior of certain mortgage lenders, and helping folks who aren't homeowners yet get affordable housing that's right for them.

Click here to find out more about President Obama's plan.

And while  we need to do more, there are some resources we've already helped make available:

  • MakingHomeAffordable.gov is there to help get you mortgage relief and avoid foreclosure. If you or someone you know needs assistance, they can help you find programs that can help -- both online and through a free, 24/7 support line that can connect you with housing experts.

Take a minute to forward this email to your family and friends, so that people who might not know about these resources can start getting help if they need it.

Stay Connected

 

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SEO's Dilemma - Link Building vs. Content Marketing - Whiteboard Friday

SEO's Dilemma - Link Building vs. Content Marketing - Whiteboard Friday


SEO's Dilemma - Link Building vs. Content Marketing - Whiteboard Friday

Posted: 08 Aug 2013 06:50 PM PDT

Posted by randfish

Today's web marketers face a difficult decision: Do they stick with the classic link-building and keyword-marketing techniques they know have worked in the past, or do they opt to spend time on the broader realm of content marketing?
In today's Whiteboard Friday, Rand explores the reasons you might choose one path over the other.

For reference, here's a still image of this week's whiteboard:

Video Transcription

Howdy, Moz fans, and welcome to another edition of Whiteboard Friday. I want to address a dilemma that a lot of SEOs and a lot of marketers face and that is sort of choice between what should I be doing to move the needle on my search traffic? Should I be doing kind of classic SEO, the keyword targeting plus link building, which moves the needle? Or should I be thinking more broadly in terms of kind of a full content marketing spectrum? I'll describe these two, and I'll talk about why it's so tough for these guys who are at this fork in the road.

So, in link building land, we research some keywords to target. We know we want to go after those. Maybe we've already been assigned them by our boss or our team or our client if we're doing consulting. Then we try and go out and find potential opportunities to earn links. Maybe we do a little bit of comparative analysis. We'll run the Keyword Difficulty tool and look at how people who are ranking for that keyword have done in terms of link metrics versus how we're doing, and maybe we'll do a little bit of on-page optimization as well. But mostly it's around this link opportunity stuff.

I think a lot of folks in the classic SEO world do this, even today, and it does work. They go out and get those links. Maybe they do outreach, find competitive links, find open link opportunities around the Web, whatever it is that can move the needle on the links. But it's really about that push-for-direct outreach and direct link building, not kind of passively sitting back and letting the links hopefully roll in.

Then you move up in the rankings. Slowly, but steadily, you will move up because links are still a big portion of the search engines' algorithms, Google and Bing both. Over time, if you are moving the needle on links more than your competition, chances are good that you will be able to outrank them, assuming you are doing other things right.

On the flip side is the content marketing world. In content marketing land, this is a very, very different approach. We kind of take the broad view at the beginning of: Who is the audience that I want to reach? Who are all the people in that audience group? Then, what do they use? What channels do they use to discover content, to share things, to influence one another and to be influenced, and to discover new stuff, like the products, services, mission that I'm trying to fulfill or that I'm trying to sell them?

That could be things like Twitter and Facebook. It could be blogs that they read. It might be influencers that they follow on social networks or through email channels or whatever it is. Obviously, it's going to be a lot of Google searches. Google is still quite a bit of the Web's search traffic. Maybe it's YouTube, people using video to find these things.

Then, I'm going to take from this audience and where they are and what they're doing. I want to create content that will appeal to my target audience, the people I'm directly trying to reach and to their influencers. That might be a webinar, a video, a blog, a free tool, whatever it is.

Now I'm going to go out and do influencer outreach. I'm going to try and do good, smart keyword targeting on Google. I'm going to promote my stuff on social. I'm going to reach out to my community, maybe through email or directly.

Then, I'm going to hope to get the results of a little bit of increased traffic. I'm going to hopefully grow my community. If I'm producing valuable content stuff, more people will follow my social accounts, more people subscribe to my email, more people will be personalized by the connections that they've got to me through Google, so that their Google search results will be biased in my favor. I'll move up a little in SEO because my domain authority hopefully grows some and I get a few links and referring traffic.

Then, I rinse and repeat this model over and over until I feel like, hey, now I need to go target new audiences, and I'm going to repeat this process all over again.

The challenge here is that . . . and I've seen this discussion happening in the SEO world and, in fact, I think it's a very fair discussion to have. There are folks who are kind of in link building land who say, "This works for me; this doesn't work for me." You hear all sorts of reasons why it doesn't work for them. Maybe it's who their client or who their team or what their product is or who they're trying to reach. They say, "Well, they're just not interested. They don't do a lot of content consumption. They're not influenced by social channels and by YouTube and by blogs and by industry news or trade shows and events, or whatever these things are that I can use to amplify my content. I'm not getting value from this, and so I'm going to stick to this. I get some links. I move up in the rankings. I get more visits for the key terms I'm going after. That turns into conversions. This is what I'm after."

Actually, I think it's okay. I know that in the past many folks have kind of assumed that oh, well Rand is really against this, or Moz is really against this world. But that's not actually the case. If this is working for you, I don't have a problem with it.

What I have a problem with is when people don't think holistically and don't make the conscious choice and simply stick to what they have been doing because they've seen it work in the past. Even if it is not working as well or if it keeps getting harder or if something like Penguin comes along and penalizes a bunch of the tactics that you were using to get those links, you just stay on the treadmill. That's where I think things get really dangerous, and I've got some ideas here about how you can choose.

One of the things that I think you should be conscientious about is goals and metrics. Are your goals tied to broad marketing efforts? Are we trying to get lots of people aware of our brand, aware of our product? Are we trying to do some positioning? Are we trying to get people to change their minds about how they solve a problem and come over to our world? Or is our metric just are we ranking well? Are we getting traffic directly from Google for the rankings, for the keywords that we care about, and are we converting them? If that's your whole goal and metric, maybe link building land is the right way to go. Maybe this is a little bit broad.

Secondary, are you thinking long term or short term?

In the long term, one of the things that I do worry about is a lot of these tactics and a lot of Google's algorithm has been getting more and more focused on things that are outside of just how many linking root domains do you have, and does the anchor text include your keywords, and is it pointing to a page that you're targeting?

They're getting a lot smarter. They're using a ton more signals than they were just three or four years ago. They're doing a lot more rich data options, rich snippets, different types of results. The classic 10 blue links, I think Dr. Pete found that was like 15% of search results are ten blue links and that's it. That's not a lot of opportunity. Even if you are moving up, boy, you've got to be pretty hopeful that they stick with this model and that the algorithm doesn't change too much and that links continue to be a huge powering force and that nothing else overtakes those.

Multi-channel versus single. If search, in particular search rankings on primary keyword targeted phrases, are really the only channel that's producing any kind of results and you don't even see that in a multi-channel attribution, that social or that content or email or referring links or something else, long tail searches or whatever, are having a positive influence, then link building land looks a little more attractive and content marketing land doesn't.

Finally, if the breadth versus depth of your skill set, your team, your SEO, your web marketing team is really around, "Hey, we're good at this. You know, we haven't quite figured out this stuff yet. We don't have the people, the staff, the resources, the time, the energy, the buy-in from management to do these things."

Well then, I understand going after link building land. I think that what's important is that we have a conscious conversation and we understand the dichotomy and the different reasons we might choose one of these paths, not that we always pick one or we always pick the other.

In fact, there might be times when you are in content marketing land and you're right here in and doing some SEO and you really move over to doing this cycle a little bit continuously because that is the focus of your efforts right now. It could be that you're over here and you do some analysis. Maybe you're doing your analysis around your keyword targeting and you say, "Boy, we've got good links to our page, but our domain authority just doesn't help us. We need a broader set of influencers and of links and of people using our stuff. We really need to boost our overall domain and brand awareness. Maybe we want to get into content marketing land for a little while.

So, this choice is certainly up to you. I'm sure there will be a great discussion in the comments, and I look forward to that. Thanks for joining me. Take care.

Video transcription by Speechpad.com


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Go Behind the Scenes This Week

Here's What's Happening Here at the White House
 
 
 
 
 
 
  Featured 

Go Behind the Scenes This Week

It's been a busy week at the White House. The President embarked on a two-day trip to lay out his plan to protect responsible homeowners, visit service members at Marine Base Camp Pendleton, and sit down for an interview with Jay Leno. Back in Washington, President Obama met with the Prime Minister of Greece, the outgoing class of summer interns, and former Negro League baseball players.

Click here to watch a behind-the-scenes look at the President's week.

Watch the latest installment of "West Wing Week."

 
 
  Top Stories

We the Geeks: “Robots”

Join us on Friday, August 9th, at 2:00 pm EDT for a “We the Geeks” Google+ Hangout on “Robots” – where pioneering scientists will discuss how robots can help transform everything from school classrooms to the factory floor and operating rooms to the way we explore the Solar System.

READ MORE

President Obama and Robots – Our 5 Favorite Moments

Before you tune in to this afternoon's "We the Geeks" hangout, take a look at some of our favorite pictures of the President and robots.

READ MORE

President Obama on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

President Obama stopped by The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Tuesday, part of his two-day West Coast trip to discuss housing and the economy.

READ MORE

 
 
  Today's Schedule

10:00 AM: President Obama receives the Presidential Daily Briefing

2:00 PM: President Obama signs the bipartisan student loans bill, cutting student loan interest rates

3:00 PM: President Obama holds a press conference WATCH LIVE

4:15 PM: President Obama meets with Secretary of State Kerry

 

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Implement Penguin-Proof SEO for Your Site

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Seth's Blog : Choosing to be formidable

 

Choosing to be formidable

You've met people who are an accident just waiting to happen. What's the opposite of that?

What we're looking for in a boss, in a CEO to invest in, in a business partner, in a candidate, is formidability. Someone to be reckoned with. Not someone with all the answers, because no one has all the answers. No, we want someone who is magic about to happen.

This is the electricity that follows the star quarterback around. We aren't attracted to him because he's a stolid, reliable, by-the-book playmaker. No, it's the sense that he has sufficient domain knowledge combined with the vision and the passion to create lightning at will. Sarah Caldwell was the same way, bringing a sense of imminent possibility to the work she gave us.

They don't teach formidable in school. They teach compliance and rote and perhaps spin. They teach us to be on the alert for shortcuts and for ways to get away with less. Not surprisingly, the formidable leader takes the opposite tack in every respect. She's willing and eager to take the long way if it gets to the elusive destination. She doesn't need to spin because the truth as she knows it is sufficient.

There might only be two critical elements in the choice to be formidable:

1. Skill. The skill to understand the domain, to do the work, to communicate, to lead, to master all of the details necessary to make your promise come true. All of which is difficult, but insufficient, because none of it matters if you don't have...

2. Care. The passion to see it through. The willingness to find a different route when the first one doesn't work. The certainty that in fact, there is a way, and you care enough to find it. Amazingly, this is a choice, not something you need to get certified in.

Formidable leaders find the tough questions, and then, instead of being afraid to ask them, eagerly decide to seek out the answers. They dig in deep to the details that matter and ignore the ones that merely distract. They bite off more than others can chew but consistently avoid biting off more than they can (because they care so much, it hurts to admit that you've reached the end).

It's not a dream if you can do it.

Paul Graham gets full credit for coining the term. "A formidable person is one who seems like they'll get what they want, regardless of whatever obstacles are in the way." A must-read for startup CEOs.

       

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joi, 8 august 2013

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis


Reflections on "Paper Reserves" of Central Banks; Gold and the Tapering Disconnect

Posted: 08 Aug 2013 01:48 PM PDT

In Fed Balance Sheet vs. Stock Market; Will QE Cause Inflation? I posted an interesting chart by reader Tim Wallace of the stock market vs. Fed asset holding (repeated below for convenience).

Fed Balance Sheet vs. Stock Market



But what about foreign central bank assets, especially China and Japan?

Reflections on "Paper Reserves" of Central Banks

Hugo Salinas Prices covers the topic in an excellent article Some Thoughts on 'International Reserves'
International reserves, excluding gold, as reported by Bloomberg, courtesy of Doug Noland at www.prudentbear.com on July 26, 2013, stood at $11.167 Trillion dollars.

International reserves, excluding gold, are mainly made up of dollar and euro holdings.

On August 1, 2011, holdings amounted to $10.063 Trillion dollars. One year later, holdings had increased to $10.450 Trillion dollars, an increase of $387 billion dollars.

In the most recent twelve months, holdings have increased by $717 billion dollars, to the present level of $11.167 Trillion dollars.



International reserves increase when importing countries cannot pay for their imports with exports; in other words, when the importing countries have "trade imbalances" and make up the trade imbalance by sending (mainly) either dollars or euros to the exporting countries.

The increase in "International Reserves Excluding Gold" from 1971 to the present - 42 years – has been spectacular.

It is important to note that "International Reserves" are invested in diverse Bonds, prima facie evidence that trade imbalances have not been settled since 1971. Settlement happens when a debt is paid. If a country owns Bonds, it is a holder of debt and has not been paid. Had the trade imbalances been settled, International Reserves would be not much different from what they were in 1971.

"International Reserves" thus represent credit which the exporting countries of the world have granted to the importing countries which use dollars and euros as money; when these countries tender dollars or euros in "payment", they are not settling any debt; they are simply running up more debts with the exporting countries. $11.167 Trillion dollars and counting. The Reserves earn interest – they are invested in Bonds – and so the Reserves must also grow, as interest earned accumulates.

When and how will this increase in the debt of the importing countries to the exporting countries find a limit?

10 days, 10 weeks, 10 months, 10 years – nobody knows. But this game is going to end, someday, and its ending will be painful. When the dust settles, a whole new world will replace the present one. We have no idea what it will look like, but it will be here, populated by humanity who will not cease to wonder: "What were they thinking?"
Gold and the Tapering Disconnect

It should be crystal clear this "game" cannot possibly continue forever. Yet, the doves on the Fed, notably Janet Yellen (who amazingly is even more dovish than Bernanke), act and talk as if it can.

Is any "tapering" is going to occur? Certainly the Fed is not going to hike rates, even if some small amount of tapering does occur.

This setup should be good for gold, but it sure hasn't.

Curiously, the stock market acts as if no tapering is coming, but gold acts as if the Fed is actually about to tighten, not just taper.

As with perpetually rising trade deficits, this disconnect will not go on forever, but I cannot say when it ends, and nor can anyone else.

For more on the balance of trade problem and how to permanently fix it, please see Hugo Salinas Price and Michael Pettis on the Trade Imbalance Dilemma; Gold's Honest Discipline Revisited.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

300 Tons a Day of Nuclear Waste from Japan's Fukushima Nuclear Plant Pours Into Ocean

Posted: 08 Aug 2013 03:48 AM PDT

Officials in Japan hid the fact that the Fukushima nuclear plant has been pouring hundreds of tons of nuclear waste water into the ocean every day and that a containment barrier has been breached.

Here are a few links.

On Tuesday the BBC reported Fukushima Radioactive Leak a New Emergency
Japan's nuclear watchdog has said the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is facing a new "emergency" caused by a build-up of radioactive groundwater.

A barrier built to contain the water has already been breached, the Nuclear Regulatory Authority warned.

This means the amount of contaminated water seeping into the Pacific Ocean could accelerate rapidly, it said.
Last Friday, Energy News reported "Contaminated underground water may have moved above ground" at Fukushima plant
NHK, August 3, 2013: [...] TEPCO admitted during the [Friday] meeting that contaminated underground water may have moved aboveground along seawalls that were solidified to stop leakages. TEPCO's proposals include construction of a new facility to gather underground water flowing toward the seaside of the plant and begin pumping water in late August. Experts in the group urged TEPCO to implement the measures ahead of schedule, citing the seriousness of the problem. [...]

Asahi Shimbun, August 3, 2013: [...] The immediate concern is radioactive water seeping along the seaward side of the No. 1 to No. 3 reactors and spilling into the sea. [...] the water level in observation wells has risen sharply to about 1 meter from the ground's surface, [...] the walls can only be built with their tops at 1.8 meters beneath the surface. That means the water levels in the observation wells have already risen above the top edges. If such a situation continues, the completed barriers will be unable to prevent the water from reaching the ocean. In addition, calculations show that if the water levels continue to rise at the current pace, contaminated water will flood the surface in about three weeks. [...]
300 Tons a Day of Nuclear Waste Water Per Day

On Wednesday, Reuters announced Japan says Fukushima leak worse than thought, government joins clean-up
Highly radioactive water from Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is pouring out at a rate of 300 tonnes a day, officials said on Wednesday, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ordered the government to step in and help in the clean-up.

The revelation amounted to an acknowledgement that plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) has yet to come to grips with the scale of the catastrophe, 2 1/2 years after the plant was hit by a huge earthquake and tsunami. Tepco only recently admitted water had leaked at all.

The leak from the plant 220 km (130 miles) northeast of Tokyo is enough to fill an Olympic swimming pool in a week. The water is spilling into the Pacific Ocean, but it was not immediately clear how much of a threat it poses.

As early as January this year, Tepco found fish contaminated with high levels of radiation inside a port at the plant. Local fishermen and independent researchers had already suspected a leak of radioactive water, but Tepco denied the claims.

"We think that the volume of water (leaking into the Pacific) is about 300 tonnes a day," said Yushi Yoneyama, an official with the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, which oversees energy policy.

Tatsuya Shinkawa, a director in METI's Nuclear Accident Response Office, told reporters the government believed water had been leaking for two years, but Yoneyama told Reuters it was unclear how long the water had been leaking at the current rate.

Shinkawa described the water as "highly" contaminated.

Tepco and the industry ministry have been working since May on a proposal to freeze the soil to prevent groundwater from leaking into the reactor buildings.

Similar technology is used in subway construction, but Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said that the vast scale of Tepco's attempt was "unprecedented in the world."

The technology was proposed by Kajima Corp, , a construction company already heavily involved in the clean-up.

Experts say maintaining the ground temperatures for months or years would be costly. The plan is to freeze a 1.4 km (nearly one mile) perimeter around the four damaged reactors by drilling shafts into the ground and pumping coolant through them.

"Right now there are no details (of the project yet). There's no blueprint, no nothing yet, so there's no way we can scrutinise it," said Shinji Kinjo, head of the task force set up by the nuclear regulator to deal with the water issue.
Fukushima Nuclear Plant Video, Slide Show

The Huffington Post Has additional details as well as a video and slideshow in Fukushima Leak Is An 'Emergency,' Watchdog Official Says
Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the plant's operator, admitted last month that contaminated water from Fukushima had leaked into the underground water system and reached the sea. The company gave its first estimate of the extent of the leak this weekend.

According to AFP, TEPCO estimates between 20 trillion and 40 trillion becquerels of radioactive tritium have spilled into the ocean.

UPI explains a becquerel is a unit of radioactivity, "the quantity of radioactive material in which one nucleus decays per second."

TEPCO long denied radioactive water had been leaking into the ocean, the AP notes, despite reports that biologists had found traces of radioactive cesium in fish. The operator eventually admitted to both the leak and having postponed acknowledgment the crisis.
There is no credibility from TEPCO or the Japanese government on the extent of the real disaster, its effects, the ultimate cleanup costs, or how many years fish in the area will be contaminated. In addition, contaminated fish may turn up anywhere within their normal swimming range with obvious implications.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

Damn Cool Pics

Damn Cool Pics


Legendary Monsters of American Folklore

Posted: 08 Aug 2013 10:35 AM PDT

The Skunk Ape

The Skunk Ape, also known as the Swamp Ape, Stink Ape, the Myakka Ape, and the Myakka Skunk Ape, is a hominid cryptid said to inhabit Florida, as well as North Carolina and Arkansas. Reports of the Skunk Ape were particularly common in the 1960s and 1970s. In the fall of 1974, numerous sightings were reported in suburban neighborhoods of Dade County, Florida, of a large, foul-smelling, hairy, ape-like creature, which ran upright on two legs




The Hodag

The Hodag is a folkloric animal of the American state of Wisconsin. Its history is focused mainly around the city of Rhinelander in northern Wisconsin, where it was said to have been discovered. It had "the head of a frog, the grinning face of a giant elephant, thick short legs set off by huge claws, the back of a dinosaur, and a long tail with spears at the end". The group that found it stated they needed to use dynamite to kill the beast.




The Hugag

The Hugag is a huge animal of the Lake States. Its range includes western Wisconsin, northern Minnesota, and a territory extending indefinitely northward in the Canadian wilds toward Hudson Bay. In size it may be compared to a moose and in form is somewhat resembles an animal. Very noticeably however are it's front joint less legs compel the animal to remain on its feet, and its long upper lip, which prevents it from grazing.




The Hidebehind

Hidebehinds are nocturnal creatures from American folklore that prey upon humans that wander into the woods and was credited for the disappearances of early colonial loggers when they failed to return to camp. As its name suggests, the hidebehind is noted for its ability to conceal itself. When an observer attempts to look directly at it, the creature hides again behind an object or the observer and therefore can't be directly seen: a feat it accomplishes by sucking in its stomach to a point where it is so slender that it can easily cover itself behind the trunk of any tree. Early accounts describe hidebehinds as large, powerful animals, despite the fact that no one was able to see them.



The Pope Lick Monster

The Pope Lick Monster is a legendary part-man, part-goat and part-sheep creature reported to live beneath a Norfolk Southern Railway trestle over Floyd's Fork Creek, in the Fisherville area of Louisville, Kentucky. According to some accounts, the creature uses either hypnosis[1] or voice mimicry to lure trespassers onto the trestle to meet their death before an oncoming train. Other stories claim the monster jumps down from the trestle onto the roofs of cars passing beneath it. Yet other legends tell that it attacks its victims with a blood-stained axe. It has also been said that the very sight of the creature is so unsettling that those who see it while walking across the high trestle are driven to leap off.



The Sidehill Gouger

Sidehill gougers are North American folkloric creatures adapted to living on hillsides by having legs on one side of their body shorter than the legs on the opposite side. This peculiarity allows them to walk on steep hillsides, although only in one direction; when lured or chased into the plain, they are trapped in an endless circular path. 


Wampahoofus

A Vermont variation of the sidehill gouger is known as the Wampahoofus. It was reported that farmers crossbreed them with their cows so they could graze easily on mountain sides. 


Tailypo

Tailypo is a creature of North American folklore, particularly in Appalachia. The Tailypo is usually described as being the size of a dog. Depending upon the native culture of the storyteller, the Tailypo is said to have either yellow or red eyes. The Tailypo also has pointed ears and a long tail. The creature is covered in black or dark brown fur and as it appears only during the night, it is even harder to see. The Tailypo usually only ever uses its sharp claws to attack, suggesting that the Tailypo is merely a powerful animal, and not a demon or spirit.



While probably not sapient, the Tailypo does speak, demanding the return of its tail. "Taily-po, Taily-po...all I want is my Taily-po..."



Piasa

The Piasa is a Native American dragon depicted in one of two murals painted by Native Americans on bluffs (cliffsides) above the Mississippi River. In 1673 Father Jacques Marquette saw the painting on the limestone bluff and stated this "While Skirting some rocks, which by Their height and length inspired awe, We saw upon one of them two painted monsters which at first made Us afraid, and upon Which the boldest savages dare not Long rest their eyes. They are as large As a calf; they have Horns on their heads Like those of a deer, a horrible look, red eyes, a beard Like a tiger's, a face somewhat like a man's, a body Covered with scales, and so Long A tail that it winds all around the Body, passing above the head and going back between the legs, ending in a Fish's tail. Green, red, and black are the three Colors composing the Picture. Moreover, these 2 monsters are so well painted that we cannot believe that any savage is their author; for good painters in France would find it difficult to reach that place Conveniently to paint them. Here is approximately The shape of these monsters, As we have faithfully Copied It."
 


The Squonk

The Squonk is a legendary creature reputed to live in the Hemlock forests of northern Pennsylvania. The legend holds that the creature's skin is ill-fitting, and covered with warts and other blemishes, and so it hides from plain sight and spends much of its time weeping. Hunters who have attempted to catch squonks have found that the creature is capable of evading capture by dissolving completely into a pool of tears and bubbles when cornered.


A hunter once claimed to have coaxed one into a bag, which, while he was carrying it home, suddenly lightened. On inspection, he found that the bag contained only the liquid remains of the sad animal.




The Jersey Devil

The Jersey Devil is a legendary creature or cryptid said to inhabit the Pine Barrens of Southern New Jersey, United States. The creature is often described as a flying biped with hooves, but there are many different variations. The common description is that of a kangaroo-like creature with the head of a goat, leathery bat-like wings, horns, small arms with clawed hands, cloven hooves and a forked tail. It has been reported to move quickly and often is described as emitting a "blood-curdling scream." 


The Mothman

Mothman is a legendary creature first reportedly seen in the Point Pleasant area of West Virginia from 15 November 1966 to 15 December 1967. The first newspaper report was published in the Point Pleasant Register dated 16 November 1966, titled "Couples See Man-Sized Bird...Creature...Something".
 


Some ufologists, paranormal authors, and cryptozoologists believe that Mothman was an alien, a supernatural manifestation, or an unknown cryptid. Now the mothman has made its way into popular culture. Point Pleasant held its first Annual Mothman Festival in 2002 and a 12-foot-tall metallic statue of the creature, created by artist and sculptor Bob Roach, was unveiled in 2003

Russian Brides Meet Their New Foreign Husbands

Posted: 08 Aug 2013 09:57 AM PDT

















10 Ways to Find True Love With Customers [Infographic]

Posted: 08 Aug 2013 08:42 AM PDT

There are many differences between business relationships and personal ones, but there are surprisingly a lot of similarities when it comes to being successful in either. Whether you're looking for a long term relationship with a loved one (or potential loved one), or having a successful business; being able to nurture a relationship in just the right way is key to achieving that goal. Here are 10 rock solid tips to live by if you're looking for true love in your personal life, or building a strong business relationship with your customers.

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Via Desk.com


Interesting Facts About The River Thames

Posted: 07 Aug 2013 08:24 PM PDT

Welcome to England.















Awesome Pet Owners

Posted: 07 Aug 2013 08:09 PM PDT

This is what it takes to be a great pet owner.