Okay; so I’m probably what you’d call ‘a believer’. I already was from the stuff I’ve read/seen/people I’ve talked to/etc etc, but recently I had a conversation with a member of my family who basically doesn’t think there’s any decent evidence about UFOs.

Now, before I send him this link, I ponder: will viewing this composite of clips taken from news items from various countries turn a skeptic into a believer? Probably not. However, here is a short’n'sweet collage of what I think is some of the best footage of recent times:

A non-believer might well watch this and say “interesting and quite amazing, but doesn’t prove anything, and could be explained by other means (typically – atmospheric conditions, weather balloons, military crafts, etc etc (the usual explanations given to ‘prove’ it’s not a UFO (let alone anything that originated from non-human origins…) “…

However, if he took the time to watch this next movie, I think he may be quite amazed/gobsmacked. I think this film is by far and away the best and most compelling ‘pro UFOs’ case that I’ve seen; and well made as well:

So what will he think of this? Here’s the thing. Will he will watch it, or Google some review that says it’s a scam and dismiss it without watching it? I get that it’s pretty long, and not everyone has time or is as interested in this stuff as I am. I just find it REALLY REALLY interesting!!! – especially the second video (Out of the blue).

One review of this film says: (James Fox, the filmmaker) … ‘presented facts and occurrences that … the majority of viewing individuals are not aware of and would find extremely interesting…. proof that quality persons of world class authority find the subject of UFOs one whole lot less-dismissible than the hijacked mainstream would have the individual believe, and this by a long shot!’

Could not agree more. The other big problem is (which does not help the pro- case) is that often the original evidence is conveniently whisked away to ‘those that have it’, whoever that may be, never to be seen again.

To me, despite this, there’s enough evidence in here to confirm – for my discernment, anyway – that there is something in this; I find the sources more than credible (I especially love Cooper, and Mitchell). Furthermore, the proposition made in the movie that some non-elected elite have ‘the info’ to me is scarily plausible, given other interlocking theories that any half-assed truth seekers will be more than well aware of.

The movie is from 2008 and so the first video shows more recent footage that’s been on TV since this movie was made.

Enjoy.

UFO Evidence is a post from: Barbara Griffin

Nope. This isn’t the usual ‘how to make money with Google and Facebook’ post aimed at the usual punter who wants to make money online, but rather a couple of ideas I came up with after pondering the thought ‘what would I suggest, if I had Google as a marketing client? Or Facebook? – especially in light of the fact that Google is launching this whole social thing?’

And here’s what I came up with:

I reckon: if Google were smart, they would introduce a status programme to their new social network – why? – to encourage people to switch over/use it. And use it a lot, quickly, and hard!

The reason I think this would work (which is kinda sad but true) – is that in our current social consciousness of 2011, people seem to be unduly motivated by status. Well; that is, maybe it’s ‘males’ that seem to be motivated by status; women perhaps are more motivated by ‘wanting to be liked’. Anyway, with either gender motivation, I think a status programme would work for Google.

They also say that humans are most strongly motivated by fear and greed. Not that we don’t have loftier motivations (Thank God) – but that fear and greed are the equivalent of putting a skyrocket up people’s…. normal motivation levels. (the term ‘sad but true’ again springs to mind)

So, back to status programmes: this is not a new idea (think gaming, who really nailed this knowledge – or frequent flyer programmes, who also did) – but how I envisage it would work with Google Social, as an example, would be:

- if you have over 20 friends, you get *this* feature unlocked.
- If you have over 100 friends, you get *this other* feature unlocked.
- If you have over 1000 friends, you get a badge (I would recommend they make this optional, in case high ‘status’ users want to be high status by stealth – which is possibly another type of status – ‘I’m so cool, I don’t need any badge to say so!’ ) – called ‘Social Expert’ – or ‘Vibemaster’ or ‘Influential’.

- Then, if you have over 10,000 friends, you could get a badge called ‘Authority’….
- over 100,000, ‘Market Leader’;
- 1 Million, ‘Superstar’ – (or whatever, call the labels what you want, or let users define them! i.e. ‘I have no life!’ -

- and for every additional million people you have in your public circle, you would be rewarded with… erm… Special Release Google Shares. 1, 10, I dunno – or anything to acknowledge (by Google) that you were helping create wealth for the company. And also not ‘normal’ shares available to the public; sorta like ‘Special’ shares. (see, there’s that status thing again. “We Here At Google Think That You Are Really Really Special.”)

You could have further status points able to be earned by users who share lots of information. (hmm; then again that could be spammed, so there might have to be a qualifier there.)

So yeah; if I was a marketing consultant for Google, and they hadn’t already thought of having status tiers, I would build that into their business model right now. So that they would reward users posting content and interacting in their network with STATUS.

And if I was a marketing consultant for Facebook, I would consider a sort of reverse damage control (as Google is the bigger fish, and if the Goonami catches on and people jump ship, it could actually kill Facebook. I think Facebook already thinks Google is trying to kill them. Which it may be) … and immediately implement some sort of status tier for facebook users with a lot of friends (to encourage them to have a lot of friends… which of course is the key to Facebook’s growth, right?) – and/OR implement an affiliate scheme, where FB users can monetize their page.

How Facebook could do this:
Users could voluntarily opt in to allow FB to use more of their page as advertising real estate, in return for a cut of the action. Like adsense.

Yeah, sure, you’d get a massive spike in the ‘teenage’ market (who have no money) but they’re gonna grow up and be tech savvy earning adults soon enough, right?

And my doing this, you’d sort of have users’ implicit co-operation and even a bit of ‘understanding’ (shock! horror!) of the business model. Which I think would lead to less negativity about it (a good thing).

Sort of like ‘share the love, Marky Z!’

I reckon that would be quite good for facebook to do (and hurry up about it.) ‘Facebook Rewards’ (let’s say they called it) could have a much higher takeup than (say) Google Adsense; because Adsense is sort of complicated and tricky to use, and ‘not everybody has a website, but everybody has a facebook page’.

And of course you’d get the millions of people who already try and monetize their websites with Adsense signing up for FB rewards instantly, because they already ‘get’ the business model, and would jump at the chance to also monetize their Facebook page.

Gee: I just had an idea. if FB or Google don’t implement this, someone should start off a new social site – ‘the first social media site that rewards you for the content you post, and makes you a shareholder in the business!’

Of course; the business model of such a new site would that it would make more profit than it was paying out to affiliates, but there it is; a multimillion dollar business idea for free for anyone who’s reading.

Oh; and a free marketing tip for Google and Facebook.

It is possible that they are already planning to roll this out; and I could have just picked up something that already exists as a standing hologram in the quantum field (or something! – but hey. I reckon it makes sense and they should totally do and if they don’t then someone should and they might make a lot of money.

‘Why don’t you do it, Barb?’ – well the thing is, I have these sort of ideas quite often, but I reckon that my next project that I am going to put my time into is actually a book I have felt moved to write recently (which may start as a blog) – which if you are interested in knowing more about, you should contact me and put ‘book’ in the subject line.

Also if you would like me to come up marketing ideas for your business and have a brainstorming session with me, please get in touch, as I consult professionally. I don’t only come up with ideas, but I can also implement them for you. contact me

Marketing Tips For Google And Facebook is a post from: Barbara Griffin

I just defined a new word in the urban dictionary. Wonder if it will get approved?

Goonami is a post from: Barbara Griffin

Hey guys, this has just started happening in the last couple of days. But if Skype is crashing for you on your Mac, try this fix.

Find the folder called Library in your Users folder. Open it.
Find the folder called Application Support, and open it.
Find the Skype folder, and open it.
Look for a file called shared.xml and delete it.
It will be recreated once you re-open Skype, so don’t panic; and it shouldn’t affect your history or contacts.
Empty the trash.

now try and restart Skype and it should work!

If that doesn’t work, go to Skype.com and download and install the latest version of Skype.
Then try and launch it.
If that doesn’t work, repeat the steps above and it should work.

cheers!
Barb

PS tell me how you go!

Skype Crashes: Skype Crashing on your mac? here’s the fix is a post from: Barbara Griffin

New! – To purchase ‘Just Like Your Smile’ from the ABC3 ‘Smile…It’s Summer’ Promo, as featured in the programme CJ the DJ, click here for instant download!

Just Like Your Smile – CJ The DJ – Barbara Griffin is a post from: Barbara Griffin

Well well, how about that, my own personal UFO sighting. Must say I’m pretty chuffed! The mp3 pretty much gives the run-down, I hope you enjoy the footage.
Audio Commentary

Video

UFO is a post from: Barbara Griffin

Have you been infected by the Mac Google Redirect Virus? Have you like me also googled it and found nothing but confused and overcomplicated forum posts? Well here’s your answer – and FIX!

okay, so if you noticed that some pages in your browser are redirecting where you didn’t mean to go, you might be infected. You probably first noticed it on google search results, and then you might have noticed it on sites that you regularly visit.

You may have thought it was something wrong with your browser, and tried another one – maybe even re-downloaded a browser or tried a totally fresh one – and are still getting the same weirdness.

Did you also google ‘mac virus’ and came up with the inconclusive advice that I got, ‘so far there’s never been a mac virus yet’ – which doesn’t help at all when you know you’ve got ‘something!’ -

Okay, so maybe the whole V-word is a technicality.

So what about trojans, malware, IP hijacks and so on?

Cause I think that’s what I’ve got. an IP hijack.

The best conspiracy theory, from reading a bazillion mac forums, is that whatever you’ve got (the mac version of swine flu?) has been invented by someone pimping “software XYZ”, which they then upsell you as a ‘cure’.

So after downloading and trying every single software recommended (by google, and the aforementioned mac forums, etc) on various mac ‘support sites’ but then finding most of them linked to software for PC only –

basically a bunch of bogus advice that didn’t work, from inept people who didn’t know shit posturing as experts on Mac forums –

I consulted Actual Experts I know In Real Life.

IT Guru Steve got me to log in to terminal over skype screen sharing, and after typing a bunch of commands in, confirmed that my IP address and .local address have been hijacked.

Instead of being called myusualcomputername.local, it was called DaShiz.local – and with no way of changing it in system preferences –

(Scary shit!)

So I guess I had my diagnosis, but still no solution.

I then thought to call my local Mac hardware repair guy, Mark, to ask him if he’d ever heard of a Mac virus, and if he had, did he think that reinstalling the system software from my DVD would help?

Now; what Mark told me was the first thing that makes sense.

When I tried it as per his advice, it immediately worked.
But I will go one better on what Mark told me and tell you the free/lazy solution.

Prior to speaking to Mark and Steve I’d figured out that if I used hidemyass.com and went to sites that usually wouldn’t load, that they’d load.

This of course just confirmed my suspicions that my IP address had been hacked – but wasn’t a solution.

Ok, so here’s what Mark said.

“Sounds like your user account has been hacked at the root level. Probably malicious software. You would have to delete that user (back it up first) and then manually move the data you want over to a new user you create.’

I immediately tried to test this theory. I created a new user, logged out of the old one, connected to the net, started up safari – and bingo! – everything worked!

So, planning to move everything over as Mark suggested, later, I just thought I’d try one last thing and I google something like ‘malicious software removal mac’ and found something called Kaspersky Anti Virus.

FREE. I downloaded it. It found something suspicious hiding as a Quicktime kxt or txt or something, which of course Iet it ‘disinfect’. And then, guess what?

It worked. Virus gone! Computer name back to normal. Didn’t even have to create new user and transfer over files!

so my hats off to Kapersky Anti-Virus for being the only thing on the internet that worked, but if you don’t fancy using any software, then just do Mark’s solution cause that will work too.

(Just be careful about Quicktime….)

I hope this helped somebody out there. I am writing this post because I literally could NOT find this on the internet!

Barbs

Mac Virus Malware Trojan Redirect CURE is a post from: Barbara Griffin

Or should that read ‘Confessions of a Music Producer’. Any writer/producer who’s ever had an A&R meeting will be able to relate to this! Any resemblence to anyone I’ve actually ever had an A&R meeting with is entirely coincidental. Disclaimer, for entertainment only. Blah blah hope I don’t get sued.

Confessions of a Songwriter is a post from: Barbara Griffin

The World’s Most Professional Sales Pitch: I made this video (which went viral) to show…my stuff… but also in a low key way I could be comfortable with. Enjoy!

World’s Most Professional Sales Pitch is a post from: Barbara Griffin

Archery is my new fave thing. I made this video after the recent ‘Clout’ – a re-enactment of a medieval archery battle – at the Sydney University Archery Club. So much fun! Enjoy.

Video by the Video Marketing Queen

Sydney University Archery Club Clout is a post from: Barbara Griffin