-This post is sponsored by PayPerPost-

So most of y’all who have been following me for some time will know that I used to blog for money. And it was good money! I made enough to buy myself a nice handbag, some random little gadgets from online deal sites, and because they paid me directly into Paypal, I didn’t have to worry about hitting withdrawal targets, unlike with some other advertising agencies *ahem*.

So IZEA, the company behind PayPerPost, has launched a new version of their blog advertising network. Before this, it was SocialSpark, which never really worked for me – I just wanted to blog for money, I didn’t want to “be friends” with strangers from halfway around the world.

PayPerPost v4.0
has a much cleaner interface than either SocialSpark or the old PayPerPost. There are only 2 tabs on my page – opportunities offered by advertisers, and my account. And now that advertisers directly pick bloggers for opportunities, it means no more trawling the site for an opp for which I’m eligible.

There’s no mention of page ranking anywhere – this used to be a big bugbear of mine because my page ranking was low, so advertisers tended to just pass me by. On the other hand, the advertisers have all the choice now, while us bloggers just sit here and wait for opportunities. I preferred the more pro-active method of the old PayPerPost, at least you felt like you were doing something to earn your money. Sitting and waiting is kinda anathema to the current Web 2.0 zeitgeist.

Also, the new v4.0 (which is still in alpha mode) has a 50-dollar minimum before you can withdraw your earnings. Withdraw to where? And why the minimum? As I said, previously they paid you straight into your Paypal account, so I didn’t have to wait even for small transactions like 5-dollar payments. I don’t like accruing sums and then cashing out, because until I cash out, the money isn’t mine.

Still, for those of you looking to monetize your blog, PayPerPost is still one of the better networks out there. They probably just need to iron out the kinks in this new system, and then we’ll all be happy campers once again. And for all you ppl who follow the little bluebird, PayPerPost has a twitter account you can follow.

I usually leave work after dark, so on my way home I get to pass by a whole lot of houses and condominiums and admire how they’re lighted. The residences with warm, welcoming yellow lighting are the prettiest, which is why I use yellow lighting myself in my room. I have 2 floor lamps and one table lamp, which is all a bit excessive considering my room is only 15 square metres and already has ceiling fluorescent lights.

I can’t help wanting pretty lights, because they make such a huge difference to the ambience of a room. And if you’re looking to make that difference in your own home, you probably should check out BackBayLighting for the widest selection of lights I’ve ever seen online. Trust me, once you’ve seen their selection, you’ll be spoilt for choice. You may think “oh, I’d like a chandelier”, to which the site offers: “Small, medium or large ones?” No way you can’t find something to suit you.

No way you can’t find a price to suit you, either. BackBayLighting orders its selections by price range, and they’re so confident of their competitive prices that they offer a 125% price match guarantee. That’s 125% of the difference between their price and the competing price. They’ll match the lowest price you can find, and then some!

Thanks to their free shipping policy on all orders to all 50 states, the price on their site is the price you pay, period. So, stop living in the dark or under the harsh glare of fluorescent tubes, and light up your life now!

Some of you might already have told me what you think about my early SocialSpark opportunities, namely the rickrolling and the sponsored ads. Well, it’s all in the name of blog monetization. I got on the bandwagon early with a special invite, since I’m also on the PayPerPost network.

Well, now everyone can jump on board, because SocialSpark is open to the public. So if you have a blog, and are looking to earn money from it, or are looking at more active streams of revenue such as paid blogging, SocialSpark is worth checking out.

It’s different from PayPerPost on several levels. Firstly, after Google laid the smackdown on paid posts, SocialSpark developed a different format of paid blogging. The code of ethics is strictly enforced, so there’s no lying to you readers: this is a paid post, and it’s categorized as such. If you have a SocialSpark account too, you can check the list of bloggers who took this opportunity, and one of them will be me. It’s all legit, folks.

And Google won’t lay the smackdown on my page ranking this time, because any links will have a no-follow tag, so that search engines won’t pick it up and have their results skewed. Plus, the bloggers write their true opinions. We’re not their press machines, if you ask for a review you get it. If there’s something I don’t like about the product, truth in advertising takes precedence.

So far I’ve been talking about sponsored posts, but SocialSpark brings in the social aspect by offering sparks, which are link-trades. You don’t get money for these, but you get a link from someone else’s blog in exchange for a link on your own blog. Simple way to build traffic, and maybe friendships too. There’s a feature that allows you to add friends on SocialSpark – and yes, you can add me too.

Okay, so now we know SocialSpark works great. But does it look great?

It’s all Web2.0 glossiness and rounded corners. But it’s not just form over function. On that one page I can see at a glance how many transactions I’ve taken, if there are any notifications for me, and any attractive posts I might be interested in. Perfect for all you information junkies out there.

Once more, let’s recap: Make money, make friends, and all these with a clear conscience because of the 4 ethics rules:

-100% Audit-able In-Post Disclosure
-100% Transparency
-100% Real Opinions
-100% Search Engine Friendly

Now it’s your turn to be friendly, so sign up and add me as a friend!

Several semesters ago, I had to take a module on “Living With Chemistry”, and one of the topics covered was plastics. You might think plastic is just plastic, but there is a huge variety of plastics in this world, thanks to the genius of petrochemical engineers. A few molecules here, a branch chain there, and voila! New material generated.

One of those new materials is HDPE, which stands for High Density Polyethylene. It’s all around you, but you just didn’t know its name. Did you just buy a bottle of juice from Giant? Chances are, the bottle was made of HDPE. When you do laundry and you pour in some Dynamo, look at the bottom of the bottle where they stamp the plastic category. Yup, HDPE again. HDPE has a very high resistance to chemicals and water, so it’s commonly used for these purposes. There are even HDPE Nets, which is just one form that scrap HDPE can take. Contrary to popular belief, HDPE is actually a reusable material.

So please be a responsible Earthling, and separate your trash as much as possible so that it can be reused and recycled.

If you have a UK-registered vehicle and would like Personalised Number Plates for it, Northumbria Numbers has the solution. Their revamped website now features an advanced search engine that allows you to input the letter-number combination of your choice.

Tabs at the top make navigation easier, and you can now offer your own license plate for sale through the company. If you would really like your name (or some variant of it) on your car number plates, the company has a selection of clever combinations that spell it out.

While Western wear in the Asian context may conjure up images of cowboys and Brokeback Mountain, it is a perfectly acceptable style for everyday wear in parts of America. A cowboy hat isn’t just a nifty novelty item, it’s probably standard headgear in some parts of Texas.

So if you’re going to buy any Western clothes, you might as well buy from a top online retailer. Cavender’s even offers free ground shipping on all orders over US$50, as well as free returns on their footwear, such as cowboy boots.

If you’ve ever wanted to build a PC instead of buying it from a dealer, Easy As My PC has the answer.

It’s not hard to screw together things and plug in cables. It’s mixing and matching the components that’s a problem for those who want to build their own rig. To solve that, Easy As My PC offers PC-building kits that come with an illustrated guide, to make sure that your assembly experience is a painless one. The components in their supplied kits are guaranteed to be compatible. You can choose from a variety of kits to suit your needs, whether you need a simple barebones PC or a superpowered gaming rig.

For those who just need to upgrade one component – usually the CPU or RAM – the site offers upgrade kits as well. All components come with full warranties from the manufacturer for peace of mind. If you’re not afraid of screwdrivers, and relish the opportunity to save money by putting together your own machine, Easy As My PC kits would be right for you.

It is a common misconception that cardiac arrest and heart attacks are different terms for the same medical condition. However, the cause behind each is different. Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) is characterised by an Irregular Heartbeat while “heart attack” is the common term for a myocardial infarction, or death of the cardiac muscle resulting from blockages of the blood vessels.

The website InsideCardiacArrest.com provides more information on SCA, the early symptoms of an attack, as well as a risk assessment to determine if you are at risk. You can also obtain more information on emergency treatment in case of SCA as well as therapeutic treatments to prevent further occurrences of SCA.

Given the suddenness of cardiac arrests, it is always prudent to stay well-informed on this condition, and the website is a good resource.

Besides the traditional stocks and hedge funds, art pieces can also be a form of investment. For those looking to start a collection, Park West Gallery is a good place to begin as it houses the largest fine art collection in the world. They hold art auctions throughout the United States and Canada, which is sure to interest those looking for a pretty picture by a famous painter.

The rest of the world is not left out either, as Park West at Sea, an affiliate company, conducts cruise ship art auctions worldwide. Now instead of heading to the casinos, wealthy travellers can admire and perhaps purchase a piece of art.

*Paid Post*

Lots of websites have polls to gauge readers’ opinions on a variety of issues. If you’re into social networking, you could even have myspace polls and see if your hundreds of fans/friends liked your new hairstyle/clothes/musical experiment.

Easy-Poll provides free polls and other website components, and they look good as well. They guarantee stability and 24-hour access to your own account. All it takes is a very simple sign-up process.

You don’t need to know any back-end architecture as Easy-Poll will handle everything and even host the poll data on their servers.