On a recent visit to Iowa my husband Jim found the gravestone of Russell William Volckmann  that I have written about several times in this blog.  MacArthur Left But Volckmann Remained

The headstone is located in Springdale Cemetery, Clinton, Iowa (FindAGrave location).  There are several Volckmanns buried in the same general area around the General’s headstone.

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I’ve been waiting for this newest MaxBlogPress Plugin for quite a while, and now it’s almost here.  Tomorrow is the big day and I’ll be getting mine, that’s for sure!

Last week I had the great pleasure to download, and test-drive a brand-new plugin from MaxBlogPress creators; it’s called ‘Subscribers Magnet’… perhaps you have already heard or read reviews about it!

Here’s my opinion about it and why I think you should or should NOT buy it!

First of all, ‘Subscribers Magnet’ is a WordPress plugin which will rapidly build your email list by using the technology in some unconventional and unique ways. It’s unobtrusive and highly impactful. Watch this video to see it in action.

You have the option to add your opt-in form all over your blog, and actually ‘seduce’ your visitors to join your list, in a very friendly manner.

You can add your form in your blog sidebar, in the footer bar, within the post itself and even in the comments.

The most exciting part about this little plugin is that you have full control over the look, feel, location and functionality of your forms; the plugin works with AWeber, GetResponse, and all the other major autoresponders out there.

What I don’t like about this plugin is that it’s too EASY to use. You don’t need any html coding or programming skills. And I think with the ease of use, it’ll attract people who will wrongly utilize it, and  just like with any software or method, it’ll decrease its value and effectiveness overtime.

Yet, in the hands of potent and smart bloggers, this is so powerful, it could triple your sign-up rate almost overnight, without you having to get more blog visitors than you’re already getting. For example, if you actually get 100 unique visitors to your blog on a daily basis [on average] and you get a 5% conversion rate, meaning 5 subscribers, then using this plugin, you could get 15 subscribers instead, from the same amount of traffic.

If you’re all about optimization, you’re going to love the plugin — that’s for sure!

For example, imagine your visitors landing on your blog. This plugin will automatically fill the visitors’ name/email in the opt-in form on your blog. They won’t have to type in their email and name anymore. It’s all done for them, on auto-pilot!

Now, please listen closely. You should NOT buy ‘Subscribers Magnet’…

1. If, once you finish reading this plugin review, still don’t see its real value
2. If you receive less than 10 visitors a day to your blog
3. If you don’t plan to actually test-drive it on your blog.

On the other hand, you should BUY ‘Subscribers Magnet‘…
1. If you want to double, triple and even quadruple your subscription rate ‘overnight’ – and do it over and over again, day and night, week after week, month after month!

2. If you are sick and tired of not getting optimum list conversion and want to get the maximum from your blog’s real estate by placing your opt-in form in strategic, non-intrusive locations, where anybody can see it.

P.S. Here are some other mind-blowing features, perhaps not found elsewhere:

A. You can a show footer bar which is highly visible but not obnoxious. Very good for turning first time visitors into subscribers.

B. You can SEND “automatic” and highly-personalized ‘thank you messages’ by email, on the first occasion someone comments on your blog? Think of the possibilities! In that message you can invite them to join your newsletter or rss feed. It’s another “friendly” reason to bond trust with your readers and get them on your list, in a non intrusive way!

C. You have unique tracking available for each subscription method – you will know for sure which forms perform better than others; with this new found knowledge, you’ll be able to boost your sign-up rate like never before!

P.P.S. Download your copy of ‘Subscribers Magnet’ PLUGIN and receive a free copy of “Multiple Hit Strategy” with your purchase. This bonus item is actually a step-by-step manual detailing the multiple hit strategy for rapid list building.

Handwriting Traits In Your Ancestor’s Penmanship

After eighteen months of training, I became a Certified Handwriting Analyst through the International Graphoanalysis Society in 1987.  I had always been fascinated by the quirks I could see in other people’s handwriting, and as always, I wanted to know what it all meant.  Loops, curls, dots and cross bars.  Why did my handwriting look different than everyone else’s.

It was my mother’s penmanship I was exposed to early on and in great quantity. She signed the report cards, wrote letters to everyone in the family, and always in a beautiful script probably drilled into her in her formative years in grade school and high school.  I believe her form of handwriting might have been called the Palmer method which was developed as a uniform way of writing for business.  

The thing to remember about handwriting is that it is actually brain writing.   Your hand doesn’t do the thinking of course, it’s your mind that controls the way your hand (or any cursive writing method) transfers the information to the paper.

Crossing those T’s and dotting those I’s

Look at how you cross your T’s (lower case or capitals) to see where you put the crossbar.  Is it low, in the middle, high on the stem of the letter, or way above the stem, just kind of ‘floating’ up there?  To a graphoanalyst,  all of those locations mean something: goals.  As you can imagine, the low crossbar denotes low goals; in the middle denotes reasonable ones, high shows the person sets high goals. The one’s floating above…perhaps those are very high and not so reasonable or attainable.

You may not usually pay much attention to how you dot your lower case i, or j, but there are several traits we look for.  A “tick” or almost a check mark look could mean that the person could be quick to anger. The harder the person writes on the paper shows the depth and length of time the person might hold that anger. It could be a small irritation they will get over quickly, or along with several other traits we evaluate, it could mean you need to watch out for someone who could fly off the handle. Do you make a little circle above your dotted letters?  That could mean you have an idiosyncrasy of some sort. Big circles = big idiosyncrasies, with the converse being the opposite trait.  

Writing that looks flowing and with lots of extra loops and curls could mean the person had grown up in an era when life was more flowery (like the Victorian era) and “gilded” where it was all part of the person‘s personae to show good breeding with even their handwriting.

What We Don’t Know or Can’t Tell

The really intriguing thing about handwriting is what you can’t determine from just looking at it. You cannot determine the writer’s gender.  You may be able to tell what their health is like if it’s somewhat ‘squiggly’ if the writers handwriting was once more firm and controlled.  Additionally, you are not able to determine someone’s  age by looking at their writing. Of course, there’s exceptions to that rule, for instance if what you see is just scribbling it could be a very small child, but at the same time it could also be someone who has limited mental capacity.

One of the most scary handwriting is by persons who are serial murderers or other individuals who have committed violent crimes.  Their writing looks very “muddy”, and possibly very heavy or dark, depending on their writing instrument. Many times, an analyst will ask that an exemplar be done using a pencil or a ballpoint pen to get the most clear writing to examine.  Using other types of writing tools like roller ball or felt pen will not give a clear stroke to analyze.

Every single stroke of the pen tells the analyst a story they can picture in their mind and use to compose a personality report for business or even marital compatibility.  

Carol is not currently taking new clients at this time.  
© Carol Yates Wilkerson, 2010. Use of this article is not permitted without permission from the author.

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In my recent family generations we’ve certainly come a long way from only having access to radios to current generations who have  plasma tv.  It’s quite a leap in technology in just the last 100 years, isn’t it?

Grandpa grew up with just the family radio for news and entertainment.  As I write this, his great great grandchildren are sitting here in their living room watching any show on the TV they choose to see.  Even at our house we have all sorts of gizmos to entertain us.  A few years ago when our old TV died we did a lot of research on brands, including Samsung televisions, and ended up buying one of that brand that suited our needs.

By the time my grandpa Will Yates passed away he had his own house with his own TV in his own room.  He could watch baseball games on his little TV by moving really close to it so he could see the action.  My dad, Gale Yates lived to age seventy-six and by that time he’d moved into the remote control and VCR age.  He started out with a “remote” that connected to the TV with a wire, and then eventually to a cordless. Still, the TV’s were big, bulky and took up a lot of room.

Our Samsung TV is only 42 inches wide, but just a few inches thick too. It’s lightweight to handle and has a great picture.  While ours isn’t plasma, I am impressed by the picture quality and ease of use for our model.  I can guarantee that my grandpa and my dad would have loved our TV.  Are your family members quick to accept new technology too?

Compensated post

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Thanks for visiting here today.

iPentimento is on holiday right now and will be back soon.

Carol is taking some much needed time off.

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