The History of RSS Feeds

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RSS is an acronym for Really Simple Syndication. It uses a family of standard web feed formats to publish frequently updated information: blog entries, news headlines, audio, video. An RSS document, called "feed", includes full or summarized text, and metadata, like publishing date and authors name. You can read more about it in RSS Feed Definition on Wikipedia and What is RSS?

The first RSS feed was published in March of 1999, and was used on Netscape. In 2002, a new RSS feed application was published removing the type attribute of RSS 0.94. This new software was called RSS 2.0 and after Google Reader shuts down, RSS feeds became extremely popular.

I have used RSS feed before to automatically update my blog with news without me having to update it on a daily basis. It is very simple: just add the feed to the HTML page and voila! I have updated new every day and the page appears fresh and new with the latest news without me having to lift a finger!

Still a bit Drowsy

Have I been sleeping too much? I don't think so. But nevertheless, I am feeling rather drowsy now and writing is a bit slower. My brain is still on sleeping mode and my body just hopes to go back and sleep. But the book of Proverbs says that is you sleep too much, you will surely come to poverty, refusing to lift a finger to work. And literally here, I have to lift a finger to type, no one but 10 fingers. Oh well, after this, I will reward myself and go back to snooze for a while so that my mind will be more alert. Now I am in half awake state. Not a good thing to be in but sleep again, I must

Blogs were First Used as an Online Diary

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When I first started out, my blogs were meant to be a personal online journal or diary to share with close friends and family. From there, they evolved to money making ventures where I can take sponsored posts and earn some revenue. After a while of getting started, you will get regular traffic and this is where you can start to monetize them. This is a win-win situation for me. On top of that, I can also earn advertisement space on all my blogs and this gives me the motivation to continue blogging as a hobby.

You can check out Wiki blogs or watch a video on blogging at Youtube Video on Blogs. These links are interesting and informative. I still recall the year 2006 August which I started my first blog on free Blogger platform and never looked back since then. If you can type well, think on the spot, then anyone can be a blogger. It does not take rocket science to figure out how to be a blogger and what to write.

To get started, you can use your first blogs as an online diary and pen down your thoughts which is easy peasy. Any Tom, Dick or Harry can do this, so can you. With that said, why won't you start your blogs and see how they evolve? Who knows? You might be invited for important functions and blog about events for sponsors to create buzz. This will surely make your blogs stand out from the rest and attract lots of visitors.

My Housing Loan is Just Approved

My second housing loan is just approved after about 2 weeks of application by RHB Bank. I love this bank as it offers lots of free goodies and Chinese new year gifts. I got myself a mug and a notebook when my loan got approved. I plan to pay only 40% of the condo price as I have my fixed deposits to pay the rest. Don't intend to take up too much loan so that I pay less interests rates. The offered rate is BLR - 2.35% as compared to Hong Leong bank which only offered me BLR - 2.25%. So, now I can celebrate and as of signing the Sale & Purchase Agreement, my property went up another 10% due to petrol hike increase.

Blogging Careers

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Do you know that you can make blogging as a career? Well, there are three types of bloggers - self-employed bloggers, part time bloggers and corporate bloggers. I guess I fall into the second category as a part time blogger since I have a full time job to work in a home office as an Information Technology executive. For the record, I love to blog and blogging is one of my hobbies currently, besides getting to monetize it.

There are professional bloggers out there who are self-employed. These are serious bloggers who will attend any formal functions, take lots of photos to create buzz and then go home to blog about it to create awareness of the products or the services of the companies. You will see lots and lots of photos that these self-employed bloggers will painstakingly edit on their computer using Photoshop as an example, and then post into their blog. Blogging is their full time job which keeps them very busy besides traveling around for more content on their blog.

Then there's part time bloggers like yours truly who will blog when there is free time. In the meantime, full concentration is given to my full time job at home. Most of these part time bloggers are also talented and get to leverage on their blogs for a win-win basis between bloggers and sponsors. Even if we don't have any sponsored posts to do, we will still continue to blog and maintain one or several blogs just for the fun of it. We love telling the world about our life, thus keeping an online journal for all to see.

The third category is the corporate bloggers which work for companies or businesses and draw a salary from them. They are the internal staff and their job function is to blog about the corporate products, services and any events. Some staff are hired specially to just blog and create more buzz and awareness of the corporations. With the 3 categories of bloggers, now you can see why blogging careers are possible if you have a computer, basic editing software, digital camera and a blogging platform.

Art is Appealing

Art is certainly appealing. It makes our life more colorful and interesting. Without art, our daily grind of life will be boring with all the busy office work, taking care of kids and attending to your spouse will certainly wear one out. By immersing ourselves in art, we get to appreciate man-made beauty. That is why we have the classics, photography, museum, opera, orchestra, etc.

Art is very much a part of my life when I was small. I used to go for weekly Art tuition, having to eat dinner in the car while my parents rush me to the tutor's house in a rather old small town house near 'Tan kongsi'. In my working life, I get to enjoy Philharmonic Orchestra in Petronas tower in Kuala Lumpur now and then. These are professional musicians playing individual music instrument such as the violin, piano, bass, trombone, flute, drums, etc following the conductor to create harmonious music. You don't see this in Penang other than at E & O hotel when it is advertised in The Star at the end of the year.

I also get to watch ballroom dancing in PISA and marvel at the extravagance of ballroom dance costumes of the women. There's plenty of sequins, feathers, satin, silk, organza of a wide magnitude of vibrant colors. Whenever, there is a chance, I will take the opportunity to purchase ballroom dancing tickets.

MOMA - Museum of Modern Art

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MOMA is an acronym for Museum of Modern Art. I would love to visit this place someday if given the chance. From an initial gift of 8 prints and 1 drawing, the collection has grown to include over 150,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, architectural models and drawings, and design objects. The success of its impressive growth speaks volumes of MOMA. Visitors come and patronize the premise to enjoy art that is collected over time. Art enthusiasts will certainly enjoy their visit to MOMA and slowly absorb the beauty of each art piece.

The Museum of Modern Art is located in Midtown Manhattan on 53rd Street in New York City. Well, I have never been to New York, but my second sister who is pursuing her PhD in South Hampton, UK has been here once to see the various art works during her stint in Singapore. She is the most well-traveled amongst us and gained rich experience.

Well, art is not just a still object, but as an art enthusiast, you will be able to appreciate the beauty and labor of the artist in creating any object of art for the public to admire. For the record, I have won poster drawing prizes before during my school holidays and I recall the time and work taken to create a masterpiece that is appreciate by my classmates! It was pinned up in an obvious place for all students to admire as they pass through the school area every day.

One also need to appreciate the time and effort taken to take a beautiful photo shot by the patient photographer. This is especially so when you are shooting nature and animals in the wild. You must know how to set up the zoom lens, focal point, white light intensity, etc on your manual SLR camera.