Season's Greetings to Everyone!

Wishing you all the best for the coming New Year! My unending hope for the Filipino people is for them to finally end the culture of impunity in the country by selecting the rightful leaders in the coming 2010 elections. Let us choose a leader who will not throw us back into the quagmire of the old 'trapo' politics. Let us not choose a leader who spends billions in campaign funds just to get elected - he will somehow try to recoup his investments at our expense if he wins! Let us not choose a leader who is willing to cuddle and huddle with both the extreme left and the extreme right just to be elected... it just reflects his greed for power and his resolve to get elected at all cost! Just imagine what he can do once he holds sway of the corridors of power. Cheers!



Hot Glitter Comments @ GlitzHeaven.com

Gift-Giving Season? Don't Buy! - Bid and Win Items at up to 80% Off Retail!

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Bidazzled. All opinions are 100% mine.

You read it right! You can win choice items for gift giving at 80% off retail at Bidazzled - an entertainment auction site. Just take a look at some of the wonderful products currently on bid right now and you'll be wowed by the unbelievable prices they are currently bid on - a Kindle Wireless Reading device (current bid $15), ViewSonic 22-Inch 1080p

LCD Monitor - DVI - Speakers (currrent bid $.20), ViewSonic 22-Inch 1080p LCD Monitor - DVI - Speakers (currrent bid $0.14), Creative Labs Vado HD 4GB Pocket Video Camcorder (current bid $0.18)!....and a whole lot more of other beautiful items for yourself or for gift-giving this season!

Bidazzled is an entertaiment auction site or more popularly known as Penny Auctions or Pay-Per-Bid auction sites where bids are purchased in advance and then used to bid on merchandise. The price increases a few cents with each bid placed and a few seconds are added to the countdown clock to give others a chance to bid. The auction ends when no other bids are placed. So if a new laptop ends at just a dollar, then you win the laptop for a dollar!

What makes Bidazzled different from the other pay per bid sites is the fact that it was designed and created to fund a lung cancer charity (The Ruch Foundation: www.ruchfoundation.com ). You will not only have fun running after your choice bids, you also get to help fund the Ruch Foundation!

What's more, there are no losers here! If you don't win, you receive up to 50 Bonus Bids as a thank you for participating. You can even purchase the auction item you failed to win less the investment you had in the auction. And, if you win, Bidazzled typically makes an offer to buy the item back for either: cash (paypal or check) , cash and bids, bid!  Bids cost $1 at Bidazzled and are available for purchase in bid packs as low as $25. You also receive bonus bids when you purchase a bid pack. The highest cost of a bid when you dilute the cost with the bonus bids you receive is only $.67 per bid and often much lower.

Here's some good news for network marketers! Bidazzled has a lucrative Viral Referral Program. If you refer a friend, you get 5 free bids. If your friend refers another friend, you get another 4 free bids...and so on up to 1 free bid for the fifth referral down the line. So hurry up and sign up now....it's free! At the same time, refer this to your friends. The more referrals you make, the more free bids you get. Who knows, you may win your choice bid items without shelling out a single cent using only the free bids from this referral program. Here's more! Your readers will get 15 Additional Bids if they use the code below until January 15th (all they have to do is enter it on the registration page, there is no obligation or cost of any kind):

* Blog: BBP1202A
* Twitter: BTP1202A

 For risk free bidding, register now at Bidazzled.com - Just click the image below and it will take you to their site!

Noynoy Aquino's Platform Of Government

Many things have been said about Noynoy Aquino having no clear cut platform of governance. This is absolutely not true. One needs to view Noynoy's political orientation in the light of the unfinished tasks of the EDSA Revolution that toppled the Marcos dictatorship. Even her mother, Cory Aquino who served as the transition president for one term after the martial law regime knew that the path to the full restoration of genuine democracy after twenty years of repressive rule by Marcos knew that the path to full recovery will be a long continuing process...and required that the subsequent leaders at the helm of government would have the same spirit, the same unrelenting determination, the same thirst for justice and freedom, the same yearning to cleanse our bureaucracy of graft and corruption, the same drive to curtail selfish political ambitions and promote utmost public interest. History will bear truth to the fact that this did not happen after Cory Aquino's term. Instead a consistently regular pattern of backsliding into corrupt ways evident during the Martial law era ensued...and became more evident and blatant (even wrapped up with unsurpassed level of impunity) during the 9n years of Arroyo administration. Because of this,the need to continue the forgotten tasks of EDSA 1 has become the foremost task which whoever comes out of 2010 election need to face.

Unfortunately, among the presidential candidates, only Noynoy remains to be the only presidential candidate who will be approaching the task of nation building with the correct and proper perspective....to continue the unfinished tasks of EDSA!

Noynoy has incorporated all these into a "Social Contract With The Filipino People", his own platform of government.

AN URGENT APPEAL TO ALL MY BLOGGER FRIENDS IN THE US

 There is currently a Foreign Affairs Resolution in the US Congress to Condemn  the Maguindanao Massacre sponsored by Congressman Howard Berman and Congressman Chris Smith. We are appealing to all of our blogger friends in the US to please contact their US Senators and Congresspersons to ask them to co-sponsor this critical resolution by Congressman Howard Berman Smith. This is absolutely vital if we hope to have any justice in this situation, given the recent imposition of martial law in the region and the culture of impunity in the country as a whole.  Do give them a call, or email them or send them a letter and urge them for their support.

December 10 Is World Human Rights Day! Heralding Arroyo's Human Rights Record

Today marks the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) adopted on December 10, 1948 that set down the basic principles at the very heart of the human rights movement. The UDHR has enabled remarkable progress in human rights, inspiring international human rights standards, laws and institutions that have improved the lives of many around the world.

The day is a high point in the calendar of United Nations and is normally marked by both high-level political conferences and meetings and by cultural events and exhibitions dealing with human rights issues. Many non-profit organizations and human rights activists also schedule special events to commemorate the day. Look out for events in your community!

Forex Market Outlook: Strong Rally in the Cards For US Dollar

The job market, which was bleeding since January 2008, seems to have hit the bottom, with the economy losing very few jobs in November. The retreat of the jobless rate should add to the comfort. In reaction, oil is climbing and the safe haven gold, which has been having a scintillating run in recent weeks, is giving back some ground.

The Labor Department’s monthly non-farm payroll employment report showed that the economy lost 11,000 jobs in November, notably lower than the 111,000 jobs shed in the previous month. . Economists had estimated a loss of 114,000 jobs. October’s job loss was initially estimated at 190,000. At the same time, the unemployment rate edged down to 10% in November from 10.2% in October. Average hourly earnings rose 0.05% to $18.74.

Friday’s Nonfarm payrolls really surprised investors. Analysts were expecting a decline in jobs by 130 thousand while the publication showed only a drop by 11 thousand! The news caused high volatility on the currency markets. The EUR/USD instantly tumbled all the way to $1.4945 and this was the first positive reaction of the dollar to better than expected macro news. Affected were also emerging markets’ currencies including the Złoty, which appreciated very quickly.

The employment situation in the US has been dire since the onset of the worst financial crisis in decades, even as other parts of the economy have shown signs of coming around. With Friday's data suggesting the jobs market may be on the mend, the Fed may be compelled to lift interest rates from near zero sooner than previously imagined. 
 
The Japanese yen was the most hurt currency after these data instead of the greenback this time as the greenback interest rate outlook has improved after the data. USD JPY closed the week well above 90 psychological level and in spite of the European currencies losing versus the greenback they could make new highs of the week versus the Japanese yen EURJPY close the week at 134.34, GBPUSD at 148.82 and CHFJPY at 89 

Related articles by Zemanta

• Dollar soars after unemployment rate drops (sfgate.com)
• October Jobless Rate Tops 10% (online.wsj.com)
• US unemployment rate eases to 10% (news.bbc.co.uk)
• The Jobs Report: Admit It -- It's Getting Better (curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com)

Forex Trading: Today's Dollar Outlook 12/04/09

 The dollar fell to a 14-year low of 84.81 yen on Friday last week. The market continued to extend declines to fresh multi-year lows since breaking below the recent 2008/2009 matched trend lows at 87.15. There is technically no real support now until 79.75 which represents the 1995 historic lows, and a retest of this level can not be ruled out at this point with the overriding trend so intensely bearish .However, daily charts are indicating a possible correction from oversold territories, and the shorter-term risks seems to favor additional upside back towards the 88.50-89.00 area before considering the possibility for another round of weakness below the recent 84.80 trend low. On top of that, after the dollar's decline to 84.81 level last Friday,  Japanese officials mentioned intervention as a possibility in order to weaken the yen. This temporarily put a plug on further dollar declines against the yen.  But this week's action - plans to offer about 10 trillion yen ($115.8 billion) in short-term loans to commercial banks to boost liquidity and maintaining the key interest rate at 0.1 percent - could help weaken the yen without resorting to selling the currency, analysts said.

U.S. non-farm payrolls are will be released today, Friday, December 4, 2009.  It is expected to contract to125K in November, which would be the smallest decline since March 2008, while the annual rate of employment is forecasted to hold at the 26-year high of 10.2%. From  the data, investors will definitely weigh the prospects for a sustainable recovery.

In anticipation of this Friday's data, we have seen a rise in risk aversion yesterday which drove the dollar higher as it continues to benefit from safe-haven flows.

Trading this Friday's data actually favors a bearish outlook for the greenback as economists anticipate the labor market to weaken further however, price action following an enhanced employment report could set the stage for a long dollar trade.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Dollar retreats as U.S. economy grows (money.cnn.com)
• Looks Like We're in a 'Risk Off' Week (blogs.wsj.com)

Cashing In On Twitter With Twitter Hawk!

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of TwitterHawk. All opinions are 100% mine.

 


"Twitterlings"  is what Businessweek collectively call the flock of new companies who are benefiting from the rapid growth of the phenomenal Twitter, the uniquely popular micro blogging platform. These companies create third party applications using Twitter's public api's and codes to build tools that help people search, organize, or otherwise make better use of the millions of brief messages known as tweets sent over Twitter each day.



One of these fast rising  'Twitterlings" is TwitterHawk - Social Media Marketing which was launched not too long ago. TwitterHawk is a real time targeted marketing engine. What it does is to find people who are currently 'tweeting' now about a specific topic or keyword that the TwitterHawk user has pre-specified. And it will even search for users located in the particular place which the same user has preset. TwitterHawk searches other people's tweets for those specific words. Once matches are found, the TwitterHawk user can now send personalized responses to them, or he can opt to send previously drafted responses set to automatically send once matches are found.

As a marketing tool,  TwitterHawk   is the most effective tool which you can use to tap the vast potential that Twitter's ever growing membership has to offer. (Twitter reached 350 million users just recently.) With TwitterHawk, you can target specific users in specific areas and send them promotional leads, product info, etc. when they need it (real time). With TwitterHawk, you will be able to zero in on a targeted marketing niche without a sweat.

For bloggers, TwitterHawk can be used to effectively promote their blogs and increase their readership and following. Here is an example of how it was used by Twitterer 'LiveCrunch':

Here are few ideas I use TwitHawk for:

Branding my blog:

I target keyword “What is the best tech (technology) blog” – My answers

• “http://www.livecrunch.com is one of the best technology blogs
• “You should checkout Livecrunch.com I post about technology every day”
• etc…

Targeting specific audience:
I target keyword: “What is the best antivirus software” – My answers:

• “Not to long ago I posted about best 2009 Antivirus Software here http://tinyurl.com/8hejkz “
• “How about 5 best antivirus software? http://tinyurl.com/8hejkz”

Using TwitterHawk, you can engage other Twitterers on real time by giving them something they are looking for. In the process, you are able to generate traffic to your blog posts or to the products you are promoting. Businesses can use it to increase patronage for their businesses; networking affiliates may use it to increase their following; and it goes on and on. The possibilities of TwitterHawk usage is as vast and varied as the increasingly growing membership of Twitter itself. With TwitterHawk, you can even extend the marketing reach of your business to a global scope without spending a fortune.

And here's the best deal TwitterHawk has to offer - You can sign up for free and get ten credits for free! New users receive 10 free credits on signup. After that each credit must be purchased in advance in packs at the tidy sum of 5 cents per tweet.

As a TwitterHawk user, look at what you'll get:

• Geotargetted marketing
• Advanced, real time searching
• Unlimited twitter accounts
• CPC stats (you can monitor your campaign through cpc link tracking)
  

Try TwitterHawk right now - the first Targeted Marketing System for twitter and start generating those all important leads; get to meet more people in your niche; and increase your following.

Sign up with TwitterHawk, it's easy. I just did and got 10 free credits to get started.

Related articles by Zemanta

• What you need to know about Twitter (opencircle.co.za)
• The advantages of Social Media (opencircle.co.za)
• Twitter Marketing Secrets " How to Unlock the Power of Persuasive Marketing on Twitter (wealthyways4you.com)

My Top Entrecard Droppers For November

A big thanks to all those who have dropped their cards on Traders' Hub. This time around, instead of rewarding only 20 of my monthly top droppers, I am increasing it to thirty because for this month, 30 carders did not miss a single day to drop their cards on my blog. I know they do not expect any form of reward for what they did, but for whatever it is worth, I am sending each one of them 500 EC's each as a token of my appreciation.

They are all dyed-in-the-blood drop-a-holics. Include them in your daily droplist and they will surely reciprocate every visit you make on their blogs!

(Find out who they are here.)

IS ENTRECARD INJECTING CPC ADS INTO OUR INBOX?

Early this year, in March 9, 2009 to be specific, I posted a blog entitled "Entrecard, Hacked?" In that post, I exposed the attempt by someone who injected a CPC ad into our inboxes.  I discovered the ad  when, in the course of making my daily drops, I clicked on the EC card and the landing page led me to a site which happens to be a cpc ad on Social Sparks. I raised the impropriety of the matter with Entrecard and Social Sparks, both of whom denied any knowledge of the matter. Social Sparks immediately promised to ban whoever was behind it while Entrecard apparently pulled the plug on it. I never saw the ad again in my inbox.(Read my post on this!)


Today, it is happenning again...and this time, it appears it is with the blessing of the Entrecard Administration if not done by themselves. For the past two days, an EC card which uses an image of a sexy girl, has been appearing on my drop inbox several times in one day ( 2 times so far on November 28 and 4 times on November 27). The landing page of this EC card goes to "Blog Production:Software" which is clearly a network marketing site and has a lot of cpc and cpa ads on it. I checked the site out on Entrecard and it does not exist. That is probably the reason why the site does not display an EC widget.

The most disturbing thing is the ad can appear more than once in your drops inbox. Legitimate members of Entrecard can drop only once on any EC member's site. So apparently, this can only be done by EC Administrators or with their blessings.

This is my inbox on November 28: (Notice the ad appearing twice)

This is part of my Inbox for November 27:(notice the ad appearing 3 times)  It appeared again on the next page of my November 27 inbox for a total of 4 appearances in one single day.

The suspicious EC card leads to this landing page which is a network marketing site:

There are network marketeers who are legitimate members of Entrecard. There is nothing wrong with that. They drop on your sites and we reciprocate the drops they make. But for a non-member's link to appear on your inbox, and more than once at that.....something is terribly wrong. If this link is a cpc (cost per click) ad, then whoever placed the link must be making loads of money from the clicks made by unsuspecting EC members who merely wanted to reciprocate the drops made on them. If this is a cpa (cost per action) ad, then it is getting free advertising. And if any unsuspecting EC member happens to subscribe to any product or service in the landing page, then whoever placed that link will be making loads of money!

I recieved a lot of flak from some of my Entrecard friends when I defended Entrecard in the issue of sposored ads before. My contention then was Entrecard needs to earn revenue for the upkeep of their servers and other maintenance work and services. But to hoodwink its members by slipping cpc and cpa ads into the inboxes is totally unacceptable.

I am prepared to be banned by Entrecard because of this expose. Never the less, I am exhorting all Entrecarders to be vigilant against this scrupulous scheme and expose all Entrecards which are mere cpc ads!

For now don't click on this card when you see it on your inbox:

If you come across others like this, please let me know and send me the details so I can expose it here. Better still, expose them yourself by making a similar blog post like this. Help me expose this Entrecard scam. Email this post to every Entrecarder you know.  Spread the word around.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Traders Hub, Great Idea For Bloggers (man-over-board.com)
• Display Ad Clicks Drop 50%, Marketers Cringe (revenews.com)
• Let's Kill The CPM (techcrunch.com)

9 Trading Tips To Become A Successful Forex Trader

9 Professional Trading Tips You Need To Know! (From eToro)


To help you get more out of your trades we've put together a few insights to help you avoid the common trading mistakes people make when they start trading Forex. Taking just a few minutes to read through this list could help you learn to sidestep crucial trading errors which can stand in the way of your trading success and cost you money.


1.Accept that a part of successful trading is knowing when to cut your losses.Every trader sees the market go against them sometimes. Successful traders know that profits are achieved  by owning up to your mistakes quickly in order to keep your losses in check. Dropping your failed trades will free you to focus your attention on looking for the next successful trade to let run.

2.Focus on money management.  Only enter a trade once you know how much of your margin you are willing to risk from the trade and how much you're hoping to profit. Figuring out this calculation will help you develop your very own risk/reward ratio for your trade, the first step in a successful trading plan. Over time, the difference between successful traders and unsuccessful ones is that the former always enter the market with a trading plan and the latter never do.

3. Take personal responsibility for your trades. Great traders accept personal responsibility for everything they do. Remember that you're the one who is pulling the trigger. Great traders know that they are responsible for all the trades they make, either good or bad. Blaming the market or bad luck can cause a trader to lose focus on their ability to learn from their trading errors and apply their lessons to improve their trading in the future.

4. Don't become greedy. When traders have an open trade that is making them profit they often forget their pre-determined target for the trade, as they are sure that the trade will continue to make them profits. Remember that the markets are dynamic and that no trend lasts forever. If the price reaches your target, bank the profits or move your stop-loss forward to prevent a loss.
Most of the really dramatic moves in the Forex market occur around important news events. Trading volume increases in advance of news releases and the resulting moves are normally significant: allowing traders to grab pips from rapid market movements. News-traders will often make only one trade a day due to the large potential profits involved by correctly trading important news releases.

7.Never trade on wishful thinking. If you place a trade and it's not working out for you, get out! Don't compound your mistake by staying in and hoping for a reversal.

8.Psychological Factor.  Uncontrolled emotions are the number one cause of trading losses. Don't let your emotions sway you, stick to your trading plan and remember to set (and stick to) your Stop Loss orders

9.The Trend is Your Friend"  -When trading in the direction of a trend you're trading with the majority in the Forex market. As a result you're trading results will generally improve.

Follow these guidelines and you should start to see an improvement in your trades immediately. But remember, the key to becoming a successful trader is discipline and the ability to stick to a set of rules.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Money Management Principles in Forex Trading (Part III) (mt-soft.com.ar)
• How To Invest in Foreign Currencies (howcast.com)

Earth,Wind, and Fire..Live in Davao!

Yup! For the first time in the history of that famed city of the south, residents there got the thrill of their lives when a band of known international fame and caliber, the highly popular Earth, Wind and Fire did a live performance at the sprawling parking lot of SM Davao City.
The city celebrates its famous annual thanksgiving festival called "Kadayawan Festival" at about this time of the year. It is a yearly festival to celebrate and showcase the bountiful harvests and other blessings that the almighty has bestowed on the residents. Aside from the regular colorful street dancing competitions, this year's celebrations will be the most remembered because the undying and truly adored group that has entertained the world for decades now, the Earth, Wind and Fire, joined the festivities and performed live in the city.

But hey, I have an even better scoop for you. There were fans who could not afford the stiff Php2,500 ticket per head for the concert, so they settled (and at least they were allowed) to watch at the back of the walled venue. Since the stage was elevated, the ecstatic fans were still able to get glimpses of the night's highly anticipated concert. And you know what, the band members took notice of the poor fans at the back portion of stage who were yelling, and dancing, and singing along as the group performed on stage. So, they would occasionally turn towards them all throughout the night's performance, to the satisfaction and delight of this backstage crowd. My whole family and some of our neighbors were there with that crowd to try to get a free view of the concert. They got more than what they expected!
Here now is the biggest scoop of the night!
What must have been a planned picture taking session with the fans after the concert was botched...but not after a concert staff made a call for some of the backstage fans to come in for some pics... and hey, not after my youngest daughter, Carlota, on hearing the call, made an immediate bee line to where the band members where standing. It was too late for anyone to stop her 'coz she was already hugging no less than Philip Bailey, one of the lead singers of Earth, Wind, and Fire. And guess what? She got her picture taken with the guy! Out of the thousands of fans who were there that night, Carlota was the only fan lucky enough to get a picture taken with Philip, also the only photo session of the group that night at the concert venue. This is one memory thread that my daughter will be so proud to recall for the rest of her life. On coming home, she got into the computer and excitedly sent me these pictures via ym photoshare.