Things to Remember If You Change Your Template

Google recently introduced their new Template Designer functionality in Blogger in Draft.

After reading about this, I eagerly changed the templates of two of my blogs. I loved the way it looked and it was fun choosing a background and layout.

However, after a few days, I realized that my statistics were missing in Webmaster Tools, Analytics, and Quantcast.

So I examined my HTML (under the Layout tab) and realized that the snippets of code that were in my original blog were not ported to the new template.

If you decide to migrate your Blogger layout to one of the new Templates, remember to do the following:

1. Save a copy of you original template ( I used a word processor for this purpose ).
2. Select a new template and apply it to your blog.
3. Once done, edit your blogs new HTML.
4. Look for all code that you may have added just before the < /head > and < /body > tags in your original template. Cut and paste the original snippets into your new HTML template.
5. Save your template.

Blogger recommends that if you are going to add snippets, you should place the code in one of their HTML/JavaScript gadgets instead. By doing this, all your code will then be ported.  But since I am old-fashion, I prefer to do this by hand.

JL................

Obama's alienation of Americans

This morning as I was driving to work, I listened to a John Gambling radio clip of President Obama making fun of those who were opposed to the government cutting funding of NASA. In it, he referred to the image of Bruce Willis saving us from a monstrous meteorite.

Then I remembered the speech he gave a few weeks ago in Portland Maine (shown below), where he criticized the people against Health Care reform.

What I realized is that our President is not only making fun at his Republican opponents, but he is ridiculing all true, red-blooded, Americans who don't agree with his decisions. While this type of behavior works well in an election campaign, I don't think it is appropriate for the elected leader of the country.

After all, these are the people who pay his salary, housing, transportation, health care, entertainment, retirement, security and other benefits.



Mr. Obama is adopting this conduct because the November 2010 elections are not far away. While it helped him win the nomination and the presidency, I'm not sure it will work in the Fall.

Why? Because the voters are not running for office. They are the ones who cast their ballots and choose their representatives. If the President continues to alienate the US citizens, the results may be disastrous for the Democratic Party.

Enhancements to Google Webmaster Tools

During the past several months, Google has released several important enhancements of their Webmaster Tools suite. The item that I find most significant is the addition of:

• Malware diagnostics found under the Diagnostics menu.

And, Google has added a comlete Labs menu, which includes:

• The ability to view you site as Googlebot sees it.
• A Sidewiki
• And, a Site performance review.

For any of you who are familiar with Webmaster Tools, these are all available for each site you have registered.

But, if you are new to the Blogging World and still discovering the ins and outs, I highly recommend that you register your site or blog, verify your ownership, and begin to visit it daily.

In addition to these new additions, you will easily find a wide range of articles and guidelines that will help your site become successful.

JL.............

Followup - Yes! Blogging Contest are for Real - Thanks Pehpot

In an earlier post from February, we questioned:

Are Blog Contests Real?

To be honest, this question was posed as a response to an invitation to enter the Kaye And Pehpot Blogversary Contest!!!

While we had no doubt that this was a valid contest, we were hesitant to enter because we wondered whether an entrant from a location other than the Philippines would have a fair chance of winning. But, we entered anyway and followed all the rules by: Writing Blog Reviews and Comments. Even still, we didn't think we had a chance of winning.

Well, the contest ended and the winners were posted in:

It Ends Here

As expected, we didn't win the big prizes, but, we did win:

$5.00 as a Random winner for Posting About the Contest!

From this, we learned that some contests are indeed real and worth the effort to enter. We highly endorse contests operated by Pehpot and Kaye and encourage those of you in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and other places to consider spending the time to enter.

Not only did we visit some very interesting blogs, but we had a chance to learn about: How to Write a Blog Review. We enjoyed the commenting interaction, and liked the anticipation of winning (kinda like hoping to winning the lottery - plug, plug).

Lastly, we wish to thank both Kaye and Pehpot (and the other sponsors) for hosting the contest; and, we look forward to being invited to enter new ones they host.

Lastly, we wish all of you around the world, a very:

Happy Easter!

Christ Is Risen

Indeed He Has Risen

JL..........