Wall Street Takes a Look at Richard Rosenblatt

Portrait of NGC 281

Who He Is

Demand Media has been in the news lately. Though now the focus is on the CEO, Richard Rosenblatt, who recently was featured in an article by NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) Magazine. As far as the NYSE Magazine is concerned, the main interest is on the innovative style of Mr. Rosenblatt,  for there is no mention of the substantial price drop that occurred right after DS went public.

Nothing But Roses

In fact, the article fails the mention the price drop and instead focuses on the main personality, innovative attitude and business sense of Mr. Rosenblatt. Richard Rosenblatt got involved early in the web and internet with the formation of iMall back in 1994. Later on, he posted his favorite recipe for making a great Marguerita on E-How(please note Rosenblatt use to own a bar) and today he still receives almost 200 hundred dollars a year in advertising revenue. Although small potatoes in today’s finance world, the short piece taught Richard an important lesson in advertising and how the internet can be used to generate advertising revenue – a reality that is very important to the survival of Demand Studios.

Internet Innovation

Throughout the article, the emphasis is placed on “raising the bar” and “a innovative attitude to producing information that site visitors need or wish to know. Coupled with the acquisition of numerous websites, including a partnership with actress-turned-fashion-guru Tyra Banks, Demand Studios now supplies information to a large amount to viewers, whose daily numbers reach the tens of millions. In turn this has attracted many influential investors. So far this has not panned out, but the company only started selling stock back in January.

Google

The article also fails to mention Google’s recent changes in page rankings, an event that has challenged the staff of DS to keep up the rate of profits. Although disconcerting, the slight adjustments made by Google should not prevent long term growth of the company. Perhaps, the release of a substantial number of writers like myself, who came in early on in the development of the company, merely serves as a way of bringing in new blood and keeping the content fresh and interesting. Or it could signal a major move from small journeyman writers towards big-name personalities like the already mentioned Tyra Banks.

Stock

Nonetheless, the DS stock price has declined by 75 percent since it opened. Many investors are aware of this and have shied away from placing money with this company. However, these are the small guys that buy the public stock, not the big Kahunas who fund the operation. According to the tone of the article, the innovative attitude of its CEO should be expected to carry the company through whatever turmoil comes their way. Much of the written piece serves as a window into the world of Richard Rosenblatt, who incidentally was labeled one of Fortune magazine’s “50 Smartest People in Tech” in 2010.

Looking Back At Demand Studios

View from Quebec

Nice Response

Last week I received a very nice response from the description of my departure from Demand Studios. The original material was posted right here on this blog. Anyone interested in the world of content writing ought to visit Demand Studios Review and check out carefully what the staff has to say. They are very helpful in outlining the risks of just working for one client and they even go as far as to carefully appraise other content writing opportunities. I was not aware of the site until one of their staff left a message on my DS Just fired Me post.

Report From Fired Writer

Just as  I have been writing this entry I just noticed that DS Review posted a statement from an ousted writer. As I read her story, I am beginning to realize the cuts at DS may be running much deeper than first imagined. This writer had been active with DS for three years, maintained a high grammar rating and had all three of her samples approved, yet she was still let go. Up until I read her tale, I figured that if only my rejected article had gone through, I would have been OK. Now it appears that this is not the case.

In Conclusion

I’m not really sure what to say at this point, except that I don’t feel so alone as to what happened. The unusual thing about writing for a place like Demand Studios is that there is little personal contact except via e-mail. In the three plus years that I wrote for DS, I only met one person face to face and that was an editor, who I joined at a Japanese restaurant for a Saturday afternoon meetup in Lumberton, NC. Hopefully, something can be learned from this episode that somehow I feel is affecting quite a few people in a negative way.

Water, Rocks and Sky

Russell’s New Challenge

Russell Means in 2007

Inoperable Cancer

It was announced the other day that a great icon of American culture had just been diagnosed with an advanced case of throat cancer. That highly public figure just happens to go by the name of Russell Means. Means who is best known as an American Indian activist and professional actor, was recently diagnosed by the mainstream medical community, as having an inoperable form of throat cancer. In a mover that seems to be right up Russell’s alley, the American Indian activist announced that he fight the cancer using traditional Native American methods of treatment. According to doctors who examined the South Dakota man, he has only several months to live.

Remembering The American Indian Movement

It seems odd that I should be writing this post from Minneapolis, Minnesota, the city where Russell Means, Dennis Banks and a handful of other dedicated activists launched a movement and attitude that vastly improved the conditions of American Indians. Several days ago I even walked down the street that currently supports several Native American culture centers and other similar resources. I am old enough to have remembered well the Indian uprising that came on the heels of the Vietnam War and Civil Rights Movement. Even though I was living in upstate New York at the time, their efforts signaled a new age of toleration and challenges. It was a remarkable time that also saw many other issues, such as environmental action and woman’s rights, come to the national forefront. The Los Angeles Times once labeled Russell Means as the most notable Indian since Crazy Horse or Sitting Bull. More than one admirer has suggested that somehow Means is channeling the spirit of Crazy Horse.

Quotes

Like many Native American orators that came before Means has had a remarkable way with words. Here are some of his words that definitely stand out, at least in my mind.

“I hate the word Native American. Its a government term, which was created in the year 1970 in the Department of the Interior, a generic term that describes all the prisoners of the United States of America.”

“”Indian policy” has now been brought down upon the American people, and the American people are the new Indians of the 21st Century.”

“The one thing I`ve always maintained is that I`m an American Indian. I`m not politically correct. Everyone who`s born in the Western Hemisphere is a Native American. We are all Native Americans.”

“All European tradition, Marxism included, has conspired to defy the natural order of all things. Mother Earth has been abused, the powers have been abused, and this cannot go on forever. No theory can alter that simple fact. Mother Earth will retaliate, the whole environment will retaliate, and the abusers will be eliminated. Things come full circle, back to where they started. That`s revolution.”

Best Wishes

I hope this post does not sound too much like an obituary, for I am hoping than Means beats the odds and survives the doctor’s prognosis. However, if the news reports are true his condition is severe, but I do hope he survives.

100 Posts At Illustration Friday

Graphite drawing for the theme of swell.

About Illustration Friday

Illustration has been going strong for about a half dozen years or so. It is the brainchild of Penelope Duggan, who is an illustrator who quit her day job to freelance. The creation of  Illustration was the first step in a successful transfer from employee to self-employed. The best way to learn about Illustration Friday is to visit the site, but in a nutshell, Illustration Friday cab best be described as a “participatory art exhibit for illustrators of all skill levels where new topics are posted each Friday to challenge participants creatively“.

Imaginary Century-eyeball plant posted for the topic, perennial.

How It Works

Every Friday a new topic is posted on the home page of the Illustration Friday page. Contributors have one week to post a drawing or illustration inspired by the one word topic. The image is posted on your own personal blog and then linked to the main page of Illustration Friday. A small 50 pixel X 50 pixel thumbnail is then uploaded to the main page and the thumb is linked to the appropriate blog page. Viewers can then cull through the hundreds of thumbs and then visit the blog pages of those images they particularly enjoy or admire. Once at the artists site, the viewer is free to leave a message or comment. Since Penelope started her site, many simular venues have sprung up around the web.

Two bluebirds sitting on a weather vane used to illustrate the topic of "duet"

My Site

My blog link to Illustration Friday is called Illustrate Friday. It is used solely for posting drawings and paintings for Illustration Friday. Over the past several years I maybe average one or two posts per month. Creating illos for IF has not gained me any freelance work, but has served as a positive creative outlet that produces a minimal amount of feedback. If you like to sketch and draw, then check out this website and participate. For some, IF is a very interactive place.

The Bob Dylan Way

The Bob Dylan Way in Duluth

“Go melt back into the night, babe
Everything inside is made of stone”     Bob Dylan from “It Ain’t Me Babe”

What Is the Bob Dylan Way

The Bob Dylan Way has nothing to do with troubadouring around the country, playing in smoky coffee houses or finding the right rock’n roll agent to market your songs. It is actually a street in downtown Duluth, named after one of its most famous citizens, who was born here in the year of 1941.  The avenue runs downtown not too far from the picturesque waterfront, which sits on the edge of Lake Superior. To the east is an aquarium, a lakeside boardwalk and some popular restaurants. Heading west, the landscape ascends sharply forming a high ridge along the northwest side of town. This city has an attractive mix of an industrial waterfront, set on the edge on one of the world’s great freshwater lakes.

Duluth Drawbridge in raised position

Not Hibbing 

Duluth should not be confused with Hibbing, Minnesota, the small town in the Iron Range of Northern Minnesota, where Mr. Dylan spend his younger years eventually graduating from high school. Hibbing is located 50 or so miles west of Duluth in a region that supports many iron mines. Besides nurturing the poet-folksinger, Hibbing is the birthplace of Greyhound Busline and features a museum honoring the transportation giant. I have no idea whether there is a such a place dedicated to the life and times of Bob Dylan.

Duluth Today

Duluth is a hill town in a flat prairie state. In fact, some of the states several ski resorts are located here, despite a very short vertical drop. I was in town passing through on my way south to the cities. I was just ahead of the Duluth Blues Festival, an annual musical event that occurs every August on the waterfront. From what I could hear of the opening event from the downtown library, the quality of music is quite good. I would have liked to have stayed and caught the whole show, but ticket prices were high and all the the rooms were booked solid on account of the festival, so I had to move on – not to different from a line from a Dylan song.

Duluth Freighter

Buffalo Symbol in Manitoba

Manitoba Buffalo Road Sign

Buffaloes Are Everywhere

The Canadian province of Manitoba has adopted the animal silhouette of the American bison as its official symbol. All across the prairie province, visitors and travelers will find signs like this. If perhaps you are wondering why the use of this symbol came about, then perhaps a short look into the survival and near-extinction of this large grazing animal is in order.

Electrical towers now cover parts of the Manitoba prairie.

Prairie History

While its true that the Southern Canadian prairie was once covered with large herds of Buffalo, today the large herbivores are also gone and in their place visitors will find large areas of agricultural growth or sometimes, just a long stretching network of metal towers. However, since the Winnipeg area did once support one of the few surviving herds of bison, the symbol of the animal on the highway signs are definitely apropos. During the 1870′s large hunts nearly wiped out the prairie bison. According to General Sheridan, the attrition was a premeditated effort to bring the Plains Indian onto reservations and civilize him.  So successful were the buffalo hunters that by 1870s only a few score of the once populous animal remained. One of these places was Winnipeg, where two ranchers, James McKay and Charles Alloway maintained a small heard. As it turned out this group of rescued calves turned out to be one of the major surviving gene pools.

Manitoba Today

Today agriculture is more important than ranching in Manitoba. Traditionally, wheat and other grains have been grown here, but a new product, canola beans has come into its own. All across the southern end of the province,the yellow flower comes out during the summer months and turns the fields to a brilliant hue of yellow. At first glance, the plants appear to be mustard, but it is the legume from which a cheap oil is made that provides the bright hue.

Canola fields in Manitoba

High Water In Winnipeg

High water in Winnipeg

Red River

Here’s a picture of the Red River as in flows northward through the city of Winnipeg on its way north to Lake Winnipeg and eventually the Hudson Bay. This picture was taken at the beginning of August and as you can see the river is quite high. FYI the Red River flows north from western Minnesota, North Dakota and even bits of South Dakota, where its watershed butts up against that of the Mississippi and Missouri. By the way this not the same Red River that forms the boundary between Oklahoma and Texas. That river flows south into the Atchafalaya Basin of southern Louisiana.

Why So High

Actually, this is the remnants of spring flooding that occurred back in March and April of this year. The excess water seems to be the result of intense and early spring rain that came on top of a heavy winter snowpack. And the Red River is not the only part of the province to be worried about excess water. Excess water at the edge of Lake Manitoba is still high and scientist expect this situation to remain in this state right up until winter arrives and freezes the lake. Major problems could occur if events unfold in this manner. When I departed the prairie city, Provincial officials were considering building a drainage ditch to relieve water pressure.

Glass reflection in downtown Winnipeg

Here’s a reflection on a glass building that just happens to look a lot like water.

Winnipeg, the City

The city of Winnipeg does not attract a lot of foreign visitors, though the downtown area is quite modern and visually appearing. Trees grow in many places, though once you leave the city, the prairie predominates. Most visitors to the provincial capitol, use the place as a rest stop on their cross-country journey, especially those headed west for the Canadian Rockies. Still the library is very nice and anyone who enjoys modern architecture or public parks can enjoy a day or two within the city limits. As you can see in this mural, the popularity of the old Brtain waxes a little bit here.

Winnipeg Wall for Britons

And finally the night life of the city helps make the place more liveable.

Sonus Musica

Farewell To Demand Studios

Sunset on Ice Covered River

Misdirected Anger

I really want to be mad at Demand Studios, but  in all honesty, they have done nothing more than try to save the company from all the curve balls that Google has been tossing them lately. The latest one is called Google Panda, which I can’t really explain, but I know it has something to do with algorithms and page rankings. P.S. if you want to learn about an algorithm, all you have to do is watch the Social Network or look up the term online. You might find that it has something to do with algebra and a Persian mathematician, named a al-Khwārizmī.

How It Happened To Me

A week ago Tuesday (August 2) I was sitting in the Winnipeg Public Library (yes, that’s in Canada) working on my slew of assignments, when I decided it was time to take a break and grab a sandwich at Tim Horton’s. (What else do you do when in Canada) When I returned to the library and went to the DS website, I discovered much to my surprise that DS had removed all my claimed assignments and placed me in the “Writer Development Program”, three words that I have now come to loathe. My work in progress was retained, but everything else went poof!! Gone forever never to be seen again. Instead, I was faced with the task of choosing three new assignments and submitting them to the senior editors. Once this was accomplished, I would simply sit back, relax and wait for my new work to filter through the system.

How It’s Gone

The good news has been that I found three assignments without much difficulty that I felt I could write with ease. I did this and submitted the three pieces within a few days. All three came back for rewrites with some rather complicated instructions, so I took my time and resubmitted each one. Yesterday, the first rewrite was rejected and I have not heard from the other two. So unless my rejection is overturned (highly unlikely) my time with DS is kaput. In fact, they have even removed my ability to look for new assignments. All I anticipate right now is to have the last two articles pass through, so I can at least collect a small bit of money.

Looking Back

Despite some of the bad press Demand Studios has received around the web, I have enjoyed my stint with DS and have learned much about writing content and  Search Engine Optimization. At times the writing task has been very frustrating, but I have enjoyed being able to complete a short article and see the finished results online. My writing has improved and providing  content for DS has encouraged me to jump in and tackle other writing tasks. In fact, I have been at the point for a while now, where I need to put more effort into other types of writing. My complaint concerns the way in which the writing ended, but my problems are small potatoes to the challenges that Demand Studios faces now that they have gone public.

Sunset Over Water

Roadside Butterflies

Monarch Butterfly By the side of the Road

Unexpected Delay

My journey took an unexpected delay, when I found out there was no bus service from Winnipeg to Minnesota. My response was to hoof it. This took a quite a long time because I decided on a rather untraveled route that lead Southeast to the American town, called Warroad and the nearby Lake of the Woods. The one benefit of this lengthy journal, was that I had lots of time to examine things left along the side of the road. It was remarkable how you could sense the presence of a nearby town by the great increase in of certain types garbage such as beer cans, soft drink bottles, coffee containers and plastic wrappers. And then the opposite effect would occur, as you passed through town and headed back for the wide-open rural spaces. And sometimes vehicular traffic has the habit of creating its own objects at the edge of the highway.

Common sulphur butterfly of Minnesota

Roadkill Insects

There is a lot of beauty and tragedy expressed by these flying insects that lie motionless along the side of the road. Though I doubt they amount to a significant portion of the butterfly population, it still seems a loss to find just one of these flying beauties sitting on the road shoulder. The marvelous little insects seem frozen in time, for their delicate bodies are so well preserved. Most likely these insects are not the result of a direct collision, but instead, they were probably overwhelmed by the heady winds created by larger vehicles. In fact, quite a few could be seen still fluttering the wings and very much alive, but unable to fly.

The Arctic Fritillary is associated with the peat boglands of extreme northern Minnesota

Different Varieties

Interesting species such as this arctic butterfly dwell in the bog areas of Northern Minnesota. Here, just south of the border this colorful Lepidotera is at the very southern limit of the range. Still the northernedge of this state sits very near the Great Plains and the northern birch-maple woods, so the diversity of habitats is significant. Pictured below is a butterfly of unknown identification.

Another roadside butterfly

The Armchair Traveler

Woman Who Fell From The Sky by Jennifer Steil

The Premise

This summer I got a chance to be an armchair traveler and visit the ancient city of Sana’a, Yemen. The journey was relatively cheap, for all I had to do was purchase the book and soon I was transported to place on the Arabian Peninsula that was billed as the oldest inhabited city on earth. This trip was courtesy of a young woman, who went there as a newspaper editor and ending up staying much longer in an event that she describes as the most challenging year of her life.

The Book

In the capitol of Yemen, Ms. Steil was asked to help coach a young group of Yemeni English language reporters into a professional cadre of journalists. Against very overwhelming odds, the writer tackles the tough assignment, learning a lot about herself, the Yemeni culture and language in the process. Her ability to bond with the woman reporters and lift the veil off of this section of the Muslim world is remarkable. It drives story and helps turn the book into a very remarkable read.

Recent History

Jennifer just happens to be in Sana’a, when events surrounding the Danish cartoon depiction of Allah broke. The newspaper and reporters all survived in tact, but one poor soul ended up in jail, just for reporting on the story. Despite this unfortunate event, the book is about undertaking a big challenge and trying to make things happen. The writing also reveals a stunning portrait of an old, old city and a beautiful and surreal landscape of an arid country. Check out the book, you’ll enjoy it; but be warned it may ignite a hidden desire to travel to strange, foreign lands. However, the story does not deal with current events that began this year in Caro and quickly spread throughout the region. But the book might provide a few insights into why this is going on today.