As you have probably realised i have been a bit quite for the last few days. I have been feverishly preparing to return back to Ghana, the place where I was born.

I intend to continue Blogging from Accra (the capital city of Ghana). It is going to be challenging but not impossible,  Accra has one the Largest Internet centres in Africa, BusyInternet. I know because I used to work there before travelling to the UK. That's where I developed my love for the Internet.

Accra is a lovely place.

I will be posting Photos of my trip in my Picture Journal So make sure you have a look. But my blogging will continue as usual but with an African twist. Akwaaba!

1.Do Not Comment On Other Blogs.

Why would you want to do that anyway? He/ she never comments on your blog, and you want to add more comments to make theirs look good? never. Big mistake. Just Keep up the fake comments, no one will ever know.

2. Stumble & Digg your own Posts.

You have been waiting forever. Nobody is going to thumb up anything from your blog if you don't do it yourself. You will remain in the dark  chasm of forgotten blog's forever and nobody will know what a fine blogger you are. So what are you waiting for? If you don't "Digg" it, nobody will.

3. Socialising/Connecting with other blogger's in your Niche.

This is an absolute No NO!. Knowing how well other blogger's are doing will only make you panic (jealous). Connecting with other blogger's will mean at some point they might ask how you do it. Now remember This golden rule. Never share your secrets with other blogger's ever. This is counter productive, and only produces herds of copycat blogger's always writing the same stuff and using the same services, selling the same Ads, etc, etc...

4. Litter your Page With Adverts & Adsense.

Everyone is doing it. Just visit the next Blog (don't stay too long), you will see tons of 125 x 125 ads on the right and on the left. Its the cool thing to do these days. Put some Adsense code in between the text (like I used to do) you never know when someone might mistakenly click on the odd link. Pop up ads and peal backs are to be used liberally. And don't forget to play a nice loud song in the background so users can enjoy your excellent taste in Music.

5. Copyright Infringement

When your creative juices are running low, and you don't have time to do any research or even think. Just visit another blog right click on your favourite post select copy and then just paste it in your own blog don't even bother to do your own links they will all be included. No one will ever know. The blogosphere is a huge place, and no one ever reads your blog anyway except mum of course, and she won't mind.

6.Taking this Post seriously.

I don't  do any of the things I wrote about today, and if you are actually contemplating doing any of these things, you are on the fast track to becoming the worlds worst blogger, which is actually quite a good thing. No publicity is Bad publicity.

At the top of the Internet food chain we have the content developers, a very self centred and self righteous bunch who like the scent of their own farts. Example, Blogger's, marketers,retailers and some researchers just to mention a few. These guys are the lifeblood of the Internet. They are probably responsible for 90% of web content. And 100% of Net attitude.

Content Re-developers

These are the cloners and copy cats of the Internet. They will steal your idea and clone your site. They will copy posts from your Blog word for word. Why? Because they are normally too lazy or simply lack any creative ability of their own whatsoever. These guys normally own 2 to a hundred blogger sites littered with Adsense. They believe strongly that people will actually come in their numbers and click on their Adsense ads and they will earn thousands a day. They are a seriously deluded bunch with no understanding of the true nature of Internet money making, responsible for 90% of useless content that slows down the Internet.

Geek's

These guys know everything. They normally congregate, around Slashdot and Digg, feeding on the big stories and burying the little ones. These annoying types actually believe they run the Internet (big joke). They are actually the reason why ordinary Joe's stay away from the Internet, lest they get swallowed up in their techno-dribble.

Weirdo's

Mostly male. These deviants seem to think that the Internet was made for Porn (probably true). They Trawl the Internet 24hrs searching for obscenities. They come from a wide range of backgrounds, from horny chief execs, to randy Teenagers, Holy Fathers, to Cabinet ministers. They are seriously hooked to the Dark side of the Internet, these annoying types continuously search for more and more lurid material until they are eventually caught with Child porn.

Spammers.

Without a doubt this group of Internet users are the scourge of the earth. They have attempted to sell Viagra to everyone on the planet, including old ladies and Toddlers. They almost destroyed confidence in email and the Internet in general until Google invented Gmail, virtually stopping them dead in their tracks.

The Internet is a Haven for people who love to dis-associate themselves from reality. On the Internet you can be whoever or whatever you want to be. Which type of user are you?

All my usual spammers are welcome to Comment on this article as well.

Monday Madness brings that human touch to your blog that helps readers to identify with you.

The rules: you have to answer the question with only ONE WORD and tag 4 people.

1. Where is your cell phone? Desk
2. Your significant other? England
3. Your hair? Wavy
4. Your mother? Ghana
5. Your father? Ghana
6. Your favourite thing? Sex
7. Your dream last night? Ex-girlfriend
8 Your favourite drink? Water
9. Your dream/goal? Singer
10. The room you’re in? Cosy
11. Your hobby? Singing
12. Your fear? Women
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? England
14. What you’re not? Gay
15. Muffins? Juice
16. One of your wish list items? Laptop
17. Where you grew up? everywhere
18. The last thing you did? Hugged
19. What are you wearing? Jeans
20. Favourite gadget? Microwave
21. Your pets? none
22. Your computer? Advent
23. Your mood? Disappointed
24. Missing someone? Nope
25. Your car? Astra
26. Something you’re not wearing? Underwear
27. Favourite store? Ikea
28. Like someone? Mavis
29. Your favourite colour? Red
30. When is the last time you laughed? Yesterday
31. Last time you cried? 1857

I would like to Tag; Frank, Chato, Suzanne,Ty,

99% of Internet content is provided for free by Blogger's, Researchers, Educational institutions, and government organisations and the media. Yet one Organisation has benefited immensely by using our content to furnish it's customers search results.

Google not only uses our content without our permission, it actually uses our content to power its own cut throat advertising machine. Adsense.

Do not be fooled by the fact that we all join the Adsense program by choice. I want you to be upset that Google and Google alone determines the price it puts on Keywords.

Google is just another website like mine or yours. Would you allow my site to come and index your site, and use your content to sell advertising to my visitors? No.

So why do we allow Google to get away with this blatant infringement of our intellectual property rights?

What is the way forward?

Its time we stood up to this Monster. Its time for us to ask Google to spread the wealth around. It is unfair for Google to use our content to power its advertising. And It doesn't even  stop there. Google is even scanning our emails to use that to bring us more advertising for free. Ask anyone who uses Gmail (by the way I think Gmail is very good).

When is this love affair with Google going to stop? How can we get this multibillion dollar company to pay us when it uses our content to line its own pockets, then pays us next to nothing when we use their service.

I don't know about you but I strongly believe it's time blogger's unite against Google, and ask for our fair share of the bounty. We have overhead costs to cover too you know.

If you are not told what to expect with this movie you might just switch it of within the first 10 minutes. The whole movie is filmed from the perspective of an amateur camera.

This Guy is given the camera to film a surprise send off party for his friend. First ten or so minutes is just extremely boring party stuff. I am am beginning to wish i had not borrowed the movie. Just when i am about to reach for the remote to switch it off. Kaboom! The aliens Invaded.

Suddenly i realise the sheer brilliance of the movie. Suddenly you stop feeling like you are watching a classic alien flick (with Will Smith running around trying to save the world) and begin to get the feeling like you are watching some viral video that you got of Youtube.

The use of the camera in that movie is truly groundbreaking, and makes a rather simple plot come alive, as you can virtually feel the pain and the shock as you watch the movie through the camera mans eyes. you don't even realise the monsters are probably CGI, they look more real than anything i have ever seen.

My Verdict

A must see movie.Completely different, and ground breaking its like the Blair Witch Project on steroids.

This new toolbar is brilliant! another useful tool that will get us clicking through Entrecard Blogs at lightening speed. I don't need to click from one Ad to another to get to the next Entrecard blog. Down go the Ad clicks across the network. Now we can browse them 10 at a time who cares about what the blogs say on their site's? not me I am too busy these days to read other blogs.

• First I have to Stumble through my friends stumbles on Stumbleupon - 1-3hrs
• Then i have to drop my card on all those in my  EC Inbox. 1hr
• I want to be a good blogger so I comment on those guys that  write short posts that i can read quickly and understand well enough to leave a comment. 30mins.
• I need to think of what to write on my own blog 2-3hrs (sometimes all day),
• I need to write something for my blog (panic) - 1 hr.
• Writing something for my Blog. 1hr
• Read through my article- 5 mins =).
• Get it Dugg Stumbled and all the do da's. - 1hr
• Twiddle my thumbs -  As i wait in vain to see if my article will hit critical mass and make the front page of Digg. - 1hr
• Dealing with depression as reality sets in,  and another one of my works of art gets buried in the cynical bowels of Digg.I realise how futile blogging can sometimes be. - " 2hrs

Now back to the tool bar. Its cool. As is everything EC does. Its beginning to feel like Stumbleupon, that cant be Bad? throw in a voting system and you have a winner! we will call it Entreupon. We could even have our own Entrecard search engine where we could search through Entrecard Blogs exclusively. We would call it um... let me see. Googlecard no, Entroogle. Brilliant.

Here is my lame attempt at poetry using only social book marking sites. Don't let it upset you =). take the opportunity to familiarise yourself with weird and wonderful world of social book marking.

I Digg up the story's you Stumbleupon,

You bury the stories I Digg,

When I find something Delicious,

you Complore it and then Dotnetkicks it away,

I went to Technorati and seriously Reddit,

But you just want to Spurl it,

You   Google me in the shadows,

so Yahoo! to you my Buddymark boo,

   your  Backflips make me delirious.

By Alfred Opare Saforo

After Squarespace announced it was upgrading its software to make it more powerful and intuitive, i decided to redesign my blog using the new interface. this would enable me to be one of the first Squarespace blogs to use the new interface for a complete overhaul.

The Good

There are lots of fantastic improvements in Version5. I couldn't  possibly talk about all of them since i have not used half of them yet. However, one feature that has been lacking was the inability to use multiple columns. In version 5 we can not only do new columns, we can put them any where we bloody well like! (sorry about the language).

You can do all the work behind the scenes without affecting the actual design and then with one click change everything instantly.

One of the things i have always loved about the Squarespace publishing Platform , is that its entirely web based. You don't have to download any weird software (like word press). You can blog from anywhere in the world and from any computer and still have all the features you need at your fingertips.

Squarespace design uses WYSIWYG. And is probably the finest example of what is possible even if like me you don't know a shred of HTML, XHTML, YHTML, ZHTML, Java, Pearl, Ruby, Diamond, Gold or any other strange contraptions that geek's and nerds can dream up. You can maintain your sanity and integrity as a blogger, and design a kick ass Blog like mine without all the stress.

Who cares about HTML these Days anyway, and all those silly programming languages. Mark my words, a day is coming when you will not need to know a programming language in order to write a aerogramme trust me!

The Bad Good.

I couldn't find any issues with the Squarespace Platform. Um... Maybe it could use a few more exiting themes. As soon as i start finding issues i promise to be the first to blog about them.

The Ugly. The Gorgeous.

Squarespace themes are fantastic. the few that are available at the moment are really good, next week i will produce an index of Squarespace blogs so you can sample some of the themes that other users are using in their blogs. Until then,

Dear Blogger, drop Wordpress, and the lethargic Blogger, and give your blog the opportunity to be a bit more than just a blog. its free to try what are you waiting for?

Untidy Is The Name Of The Game!

This is what my wife talks about everyday. She has no issues with my blogging, its just my desk that sets her of. Personally I don't think its that bad. Its been worse trust me! I read somewhere that the state of your desk is an expression of your state of mind. Scary.

What is on my desk And why.

• Sponge Bob and the Discovery Shuttle are Just the remnants of the last struggle of my three year old before he went to bed last night. He was trying to get me to play with him (at 11pm!). Bless him.
• The Sky TV Remote is there so I can control the TV even while I am blogging.
• The Bible is there because I am a Christian And a worship leader, so I am expected to read it ever so often. it keeps me sane.
• 41p change I got from last nights Chinese Takeout.
• Sony Eriksson w600i mobile phone, I don't know why it's there.
• The Vitalio Body fat manager, is there not because I am keeping tabs on my weight, but because my son thinks its some kind of game controller.
• Xbox 360 Game controller I use to entertain myself when I am suffering from writers block (which is pretty often).
• Essex Police complimentary slip, What i got when i went to report my missing passport.

If you seriously think your desk is more interesting than mine, feel free to join me and display your desk just as it is the moment you read this post. Then drop a comment here with your link let me see yours.

Have a great weekend.