One blogger recently said on her blog that it’s okay to put up a lot of advertisements on her blog because her readers will turn a blind eye to them.  Is that so?  I find it unbearable to visit blogs, or even web pages that are over cluttered.  On the contrary, I find myself visiting pages which are well-designed with a lot of clean space. 

Maybe she has her readership, but I’m sure she’s turning away a lot of potential readers as well.  Plus the disturbing thing is that I find that the wordpress template she’s using is used by many in her clique.  Where’s the differentiation?

You don’t need to be a designer, but you need to know some basics like:

• Have more white spaces by expanding your margins.
• Don’t have your text run all the way too close to the edge.
• If your story content is rather short, use fully justified format.
• If your story content is rather long, use left-hand justified format.
• If writing a long story without pictures, consider using a divider image to break the section.  Something as simple as ***** can also do.
• Font colours and background should have an appropriate contrast.
• Don’t over do the colours of your fonts by having too many variations.
• Use hspace and vspace coding when placing pictures to give allowance.
• Take away banners and information that do not value add to your content.
• Use <br> to give more spaces in between sections or use <div>.
• If you change your scrollbar colours, make sure they are visible so that your readers can click and drag it easily.
• Have a personalised header whenever possible.

Personally, I dislike headers that are too big, taking up almost the entire page.  I would like to be able to see the heading and some text on the first entry at least. 

Yesterday, I freaked out because I wasn’t able to access one of my blogs.  Dreamhost was down for a good part but my other sites were okay so I couldn’t understand why this particular blog was down.  I waited until this morning and it was still the same.

I figured it must be the same problem with bloglines.  I couldn’t access the site after awhile.  At first I thought it was Bit Defender blocking but today after talking to someone at the company, I established it must be due to our network or something.

So I did a check on the web, stumbled on Ask-Leo and got the answer!  Hooray!  I can now access my blog and bloglines!  The answer was in rebooting the blardy router!  So simple.  Yet, so strange.

Routers are really small computers. As such they have to do things like manage memory and run programs - which can sometimes bog down, and even halt, after a lot of use due to software design issues - most typically internal memory management and memory fragmentation within the device. When that happens, they stop functioning, or they function erratically.

Thanks Leo!!!

For people based in United States and are looking to buy a suitable insurance, the best online resource to check out information would be through Insurance Portal Online, which sells all types of insurance including Life Insurance, Auto Insurance and Homeowners Policies from various insurance companies. 

In fact, you can even get quotes for any of the various policies at no obligations by simply feeling up an online form.  Just feel in brief information, click and compare the best rates from an entire list of insurance companies.  In addition, there is even an Insurance Information Guide which explains the types of policies available in the market in simple terms.  And if that is not enough, check out their Insurance FAQ.

While this is an online insurance resource, they actually have a team of competent insurance specialists who are knowledgeable and can answer to customer needs and put any concerns at rest.

I read in the papers today that many desperately poor Filipinos have been selling one of their kidneys, which is their only asset for as low as S$3000.  One guy who was interviewed said he sold his kidney to reduce his debt and even though he was healthy after the removal, he felt that his energy level reduced considerably. 

I couldn’t bear to read the rest of the article.  This is absolutely saddening.  To think that some people actually need to sacrifice their organs for the very sake to survive.  What an irony. 

The worst is that these poor Filipinos are being exploited by the black market operators because the going price for a kidney is said to be $6500.

And in the same vein that their government is trying to curb such illegal trading, it is said that Department of Health has plans to double the number of foreigners being given kidney transplant in the Philippines as part of the administration’s medical tourism programme. 

Tell me if this isn’t ugly economics?

Yipee!  I received my paypal funds in my S$ account today!  Yay!  It’s only a couple of hundred but this is money I actually made from blogging.  Whoo hoo!  And the great thing is transferring the fund is easy peasy. 

For those in Singapore who have a paypal account and want to transfer to your POSB account, these are the instructions.

First, ensure that your name in paypal is correct as per your bank account.  If yours is a Chinese name like Tan Lee See, then it should be this:

First name: Lee See
Last name: Tan

The above fields is correct even though it shows Lee See Tan in the next confirmation window after you’ve keyed in the details.

Bank Name: DBS Bank Ltd (because POSB is now part of DBS)
Account Type: Savings (to select)
Institution code: 7171
Branch code: 081 (for POSB accounts)
Account no.: 123456789 (just key in the exact 9 digits)

If you transfer less than S$200, there will be a S$1 charge.  And it will take about 7 days for the funds to be transferred.  You also have to check your account as no notification will be sent.

To be very certain, I suggest you call DBS customer service to confirm on the bank code, etc.  They’re now very familiar with paypal transfer so will be able to provide all the relevant information.

Good luck.