Bookkeeper Information Technology

  Click HERE for a web-clipping report on the publishing industry, updated frequently.

POD… its time has come: it’s green; it’s simple; it’s efficient; and it’s profitable. Independent authors, musicians and artists have a practical means of promoting themselves and their product to a world market. There will always be a place for big business, big publishers and big distribution, but getting there (and them) requires hard work, connections, promotion, and… time – lots of it.

So, while you’re waiting for the phone to ring, get busy. There are many POD options (check out print-on-demand on Wikipedia) and most are virtually free. The “P” has morphed from “print” into “publish” and the type of product is not limited to books and calendars. CDs, MP3s and a wide variety of electronic media can be promoted and sold with no inventory requirement (see POD Demo). Service providers typically charge a fixed price for building the product plus a percentage of the gross profit upon sale, and both of these are at reasonable rates. The product is available to you, the account holder, at manufacturing cost. Sell price and profit margins are totally up to you.

If you can manage a Facebook account, chances are you can manage a Lulu account and a Myspace Artist account too. Creating your profile/image on Lulu is in your control and there are several choices for storefront layouts. In addition to profiling, Myspace offers the songwriter six streamed samples of their tunes. Uploading books, songs, CD covers, MP3s, etc., is simple, menu-driven and logically organized. Linking your URL to a networked storefront/profile/blog creates a practical and powerful marketing package for as little as $10/year.

It is time to get creative with your career. Check out POD demos right here at BIT Services.

  A Kick Bike is a chain-free greaseless alternative to the bicycle. The front tire is mountain bike-style (26 inches) and the back tire is smaller (16 inches). It is equipped with standard front and back caliper hand brakes and weighs in at a mere 25 pounds. There is no seat. There are no pedals. The centre step platform is low to the ground and provides the optimum position for pushing forward with the foot.

Riding a Kick Bike has been described as a cross between cycling and jogging. The pendulum-like leg action (push, swing, swing) is smooth and low-impact, and timing the swing with a light push from the arms creates an efficient forward momentum. Switching feet is done with a quick heel-toe exchange on the platform. The Kick Bike can be used for a full body workout or a relaxing cruise through the park.

I bought one this week and it is cool! My inaugural trip was fourteen miles, from North Toronto to the Beach and back. The Kick Bike is very popular in Europe and new to the North American market, but if the attention and comments gleaned on this first excursion are any indication, the prospects for the bike in Canada are excellent. Mine is black and equipped with upturned racer handlebars; it is a road-bike first and a “scooter-on-steroids” second.

The Kick Bike is easy to use and a lot of fun. It is designed in Finland and sold in Ontario through distribution. For more information, click here…    http://www.kickbikeontario.ca/

  Ontario’s new Green Energy Act improves the return-on-investment for my solar panel project from 15 years to under 10 years. The original 42 cents per kWh payment for directing rooftop solar energy to the grid has been increased to 80.2 cents per kWh.

The Province of Ontario is taking steps to become the North American leader in supporting renewable energy sources.

• “The proposed feed-in tariff program would help spark new investment in renewable energy generation and create a new generation of green jobs,” said George Smitherman, Deputy Premier and Minister of Energy and Infrastructure. “It would give communities and homeowners the power and tools they need to participate in the energy business in the new green economy.”
  “Ontario has made great progress in procuring renewables, becoming Canada’s leading province for wind power,” added Colin Andersen, CEO of the Ontario Power Authority. “This proposed FIT program would build on our success and ensure that more contracts turn into projects sooner.”
  The proposed Green Energy Act (GEA), if passed, would establish Ontario as North America’s leader in renewable energy, drive green investment in the province and create 50,000 jobs in the first three years. Additional changes proposed under the GEA would also make it easier and faster for projects to get connected to the grid. Other countries - particularly Germany, Spain and Denmark - have successfully used FITs to encourage the development of renewable energy projects.
  CNW Group - 3/12/09

If the proposed FIT program leads to 100,000 residential solar rooftop installations, it will amount to one percent of Ontario’s supply mix.

  Today, February 12, 2009, marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth.  Darwin’s theory of natural selection has inspired breakthroughs in everything from financial analysis (genetic algorithms) to cosmos development (galaxy formation). 

There may indeed be a super-being that created this universe 13.8 billion years ago.  And miraculously, as expected, the task was completed on-time and on-budget (no lost energy!).  Like all super-leaders, this super-being delegated much of the operational duties, allowing this universe to unfold under a variety of control parameters such as natural selection and evolutionary due process – God is not a micromanager. 

Agnosticim may not be as provocative as the Invisible Pink Unicorn or Flying Spaghetti Monster, but the year 2009 marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species; perhaps a return to basics is needed in this too-crowded battlefield.   In the words of Charles Darwin, “I for one must be content to remain an agnostic.”

  “The sky is falling! The sky is falling!” screamed Chicken Little as the acorn dropped from the tree above and bounced off her head. Not satisfied with the ensuing round of indifference, Chicken Little struck out in search of the King and a grander audience to share her story of horror.

Depending on the published version (there are many), the cast of characters, including Ducky Lucky, Turkey Lurky, Foxy Loxy, etc., are affected differently by Chicken Little’s rantings. The moral of the story varies: The happy, less tragic versions suggest that one should not believe everything one hears; the darker, more sinister versions depict an unscrupulous and opportunistic fox manipulating hysteria for personal gain.

Year 2012 predictions of disaster are steeped in misinformation. From Mayan calendars, religious prophesies and random revelations, to pseudo-science interpretations of galactic positions, planetary alignments and cooling cores, the 21st century Chicken Littles have an abundant supply of fodder to propagate tales of horror. The forecast of Armageddon on December 21, 2012 at 11:11am is a numerologist’s wet dream, and the computer-like binary overtones (111112212012) keep the techies up at night searching for the holy grail of digital catastrophe.

In spite of the momentum this movement seems to be accumulating, the forecast can only be as good as the facts upon which it is built: Religious prophesies are founded in revelation, the self-serving ulterior-motivated visions of individuals and organizations; Nostradamus predictions are vague and without merit, the rantings of a 16th century outcast in need of income; scientific and historic data must be analysed in the context of reality, not forged or extrapolated to support misguided musings and false conclusions.

As the date approaches and religious organizations continue to promote their varied versions of disaster and redemption, the only danger looming in our future is the self-fulfilling prophesy; Chicken Littles are everywhere and the foxes, in the form of the lunatic fringe, are salivating.

  Here is your FREE ticket to success. Alright, the URL is about $10, and you will have to do a lot of work, but it is your time and it is, after all, all about you. Everything else is FREE.

• Step one, obtain/start the following:
  - A URL in your name (www. yourname .com)
  - A blog at http://www.blogger.com/ to talk about stuff
  - A profile page on http://www.myspace.com/ to brag about you
  - A business image page at http://www.linked-in.com/ to act professional
  - A social network page on http://www.facebook.com/ to act unprofessional
  - A publish-on-demand site at http://www.lulu.com/ to sell your wares
• Step two, link them together
  - Connect them all under your personal URL

This sounds too simple but with the tools available on the internet today, it is amazing what can be accomplished with little or no money. Linking the various freebies together is key and sometimes embedded html links are required in the less-than-smart webpage editors, but with a bit of fooling around, the end result is a professionally networked marketing package of you, complete with an on-line publish-on-demand storefront to sell your stuff.

Need help? BIT Studio

  Swim Vacation offers distance swimmers, triathletes and people in search of a sunny-good-time the opportunity to plunge into the pristine waters of the British Virgin Islands. In December, Michèle and I stayed one week aboard the Promenade, a beautiful 65 foot trimaran sailing yacht based in Tortola, BVI.

At 7:30am led by our fearless leader, Hopper, our group of six began each day swimming along coral reefs, rocky shoals and sandy beaches, stopping every once in a while to watch the majestic motion of giant sea turtles, rays and tarpon. By 11:00am after a large (and deserved) breakfast, we were under sail relaxing and enjoying the sights headed toward the next island and anchorage in a calm leeward-side bay. At 4:00pm we were back in the water for workout #2, typically a bit shorter and a bit less rigorous. After the swim we were treated to a few rounds of exotic drinks in preparation for dinner.

Not your average sailboat soup-kitchen, the daily feasts included treats such as seared tuna, beef fillet grilled to a perfect medium-rare, homemade ice cream and deliciously baked non-dietetic goodies. Kudos to Kerry (boat owner and master-chef) for the superb culinary creations. After a day of sun, fresh air, swims, amazing food and copious drink, it was not a surprise that the boat was quiet well before 11:00pm each night. Swim Vacation’s slogan is “Swim Relax Repeat”; we swam 15 miles in 6 days.

As the token Canadian passengers, Michèle and I were exposed to some of our southern neighbour’s strange rituals, including national Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day, for which no part of the country seemed willing to accept responsibility. But, argh, we sailed unscathed through Blackbeard’s bay and were treated to some tall tales from our captain. Our fellow-swimmers were eclectic and interesting and included an architect (arghitect), an English professor, an engineer, a male “homemaker”, a medical doctor, a freelance free-diver and a talented underwater photographer with vast experience in marine biology and deep sea diving. What a great group!

Much congratulations and thanks go to Hopper and his team for providing so many wonderful memories and facilitating such a world-class holiday event. See the links below for more information.

http://www.swimvacation.com
http://www.heatherperryphoto.com/Heather_Perry_Photography/Home.html

  Web Clippings…

http://bitpublishers.com                 A weekly update on activity in the publishing business community.
www.bitreports.com/unbelievable    A look at the Armageddon-like misinformation surrounding Year 2012
www.bitreports.com/energy            Energy: Technology, finance and renewable resources
www.bitreports.com/swimming       Swimming, fluid dynamics, fast twitch muscles and Respighi

  INTERNET Reports - Spiders and search engines are used to examine industry activity and provide news clip summaries to trade magazines, associations, professional groups and independent businesses.  The reports can be presented in weekly or monthly broadcasts via internal/external newsletters, company emails to customers/suppliers or internal memos to upper management.

  INTRANET Reports - Programs such as Microsoft SharePoint or BIT Intranet can be used to present many types of documents using only a local area network and a web browser. Customized reports (sales, inventory, etc.) can be generated and written to the intranet automatically throughout the day. Data can be assembled and linked from various sources (spreadsheets, SQL databases, supplier reports, etc.) into reports, charts and graphs and viewed on demand.

  Although the term “fast water” is often used jokingly by swimmers to deflect personal performance issues, it has its roots in science. 

Fast water is calm water free of waves and sub-surface turbulence.  Pools with surface gutters (wave catchers) and good quality buoy lines are faster than open surface pools with hard and high vertical walls.  Deeper pools allow the vortices to dissipate before being reflected back to the surface.  Swimming close to a wall will increase reflected turbulence.  While racing, leading the pack has a distinct advantage because the water will have less wave motion from competitors.  The fastest and most worthy racers are typically assigned the middle lanes to more evenly distribute wave activity to opponents.

Two leading scientists in the field of fluid dynamics are Dr. Raul Arellano (Faculty of Physical Activity and Sport Science, Granada University) and Dr. Jun Zhang (Physics Department, New York University).  Dr. Arellano has spent decades studying water propulsion and how the resulting vortex activity affects speed and motion.  His filmed experiments using tiny air bubble delivery mechanisms on the feet and hands are a unique method for visualizing flow.  Studying swimmers passing through and along his “bubble wall” revealed a variety of vortex activity at each phase of the stroke.  Among many revelations, his 1999 paper on “Vortices and Propulsion” states that “the size and movement characteristics of the vortex seem related to propulsion obtained by the hand and foot movements.”

Dr. Zhang and his team are studying filament activity in fast moving soap film mediums to gain insight into the relationship between “flapping phases” versus “stretched-out phases” and how this vortex activity might apply to swimming and gliding.  In Dr. Zhang’s words, their “ultimate goal is to better understand how fish swim and why they are so efficient.”  Some of his tests suggest that a swimming fish produces an “inverted von Karman” vortex street which could have implications on swim stroke style and movement.  Both of these scientists recognize the overwhelming importance of vortex management while swimming.

  Lulu.com is a great website. I am not sure where the name came from, but I speculate that it has something to do with the past tense of the French word for “read” – Lu.

The service they provide is self-publishing. The really cool thing is that the old “print-on-demand” has evolved into “publish-on-demand” and almost any kind of product (books, documents, music, art, etc.) can be promoted and sold on-line in an independent and free environment.

Where most publishers seek to have 100 authors selling one million books each, Lulu’s strategy is to have one million authors selling 100 books each. They’ve targeted their market well because much less than one percent of all independently published books sell more than 100 copies each.

“To be clear, Lulu is not a publisher. It’s a digital marketplace guided by a vision of empowerment and accessibility, and built on a business model that has proven wildly successful. The rapid growth of Lulu, which is being driven by over 15,000 new registrations a week and more than 100, 000 unique visitors everyday, is built on its proven ability to grab hold of the long tail of user-generated content and provide an empowering outlet for creators of all types.” – Lulu.com, Corporate Profile

Lulu.com is one of the self-publishing industry leaders and provides a solid return on investment for time and effort. Check it out at http://www.lulu.com/.