Business and Society Articles

Biological vs. environmental influences in a person’s makeup. If we walked in another person’s shoes, how different would we be from them? The old adage asks an important question; one that may have more than one answer. The crux of it is related to the psychological discussion on what is the most influencing factor in a person’s personality and psychological makeup: biological vs. environment. I think the prevailing belief among the masses leans toward the biological side, yet the truth leans toward the environmental side. Both are important in the ultimate makeup of who and what a person is and how they behave and think. It makes sense that the environment a person is around will have the most impact on their makeup. Who their parents were, if they had both parents, siblings, etc. The factors are endless, yet their culmination is a uniquely influenced person, a societal creation, a manifestation of social mores. The main factors are: Parents/guardians Siblings Friends/acquaintances F...

Considering drones in our future. Drones are remote-controlled, battery-powered flying machines basically. Usually controlled by a human, sometimes automated by bots. They have become popular in recent years for their use in the Ukraine/Russia war. Drones in a Future Dystopian World I’m not an expert on drones, nor have I researched the technology or uses in-depth. Exploring the potential they offer with a larger perspective doesn’t require this expertise, rather, it requires a knowledge of revisionist history more so. I realize the average person doesn’t have much say in the proliferation of drone technology, any more than we do with wars started for reasons unknown. With this said, consider the potential of drones being used to control people in a future dystopian world. Drones powered by AI and smart technology, used for surveillance and enforcement with weapons; with heat-seeking sensors, long battery life, and hooked up to the internet and apps. Think about it, drones built in var...

Writing as an art provides valuable expression for society. While everyone has different reasons for writing, true artists shouldn’t write what others want. Some say, “Write what people want to read according to the trends,” which might expedite making money, yet isn’t a true artistic expression. What Art Is Art is an expression the artist wants others to understand or experience. True art expresses a unique and original message or meaning to others, as this is the artist’s work and contribution to society and community. Writing can be an art form, expression through the written word; an article is a piece of art, expressing the artist’s unique creation to others in society and humanity. Notes on AI Art Some may specialize in AI art as though it were written word art, yet without human expression, it can only be AI art at best. The imitation of art by robots doesn’t express what a unique human would, rather, it expresses the culmination of all human information and knowledge — see the ...

They have never been in a society or world without smartphones. Is it a coincidence that the names of generations have just reset and begun again? From Z to A; have we as humans changed to a new alphabet and a new definition in sync because of the smartphone? Generation Alpha are the first humans to never know a time before the smartphone. They were or will be born from 2010 until 2025 . At most, they are 14 years old. Coming from someone who was around before the internet was in the public sphere, I would say the smartphone has changed people and our lives more than any other technological advance, compared to the radio, television, cable TV, and household internet. Memory has the rollout of the smartphone to the masses around 2008. My wife and I got our first smartphone around 2010. So, younger Gen Z, all of Alpha, and those coming have never known a society or world without smartphone technology. It just happens that the new alphabet distinction started right at this technological t...

Original content with your byline. There are 6 basic ways to make money from your content. I will call them content articles, but they can also be videos, photos, podcasts, and artwork. Affiliates Writers can market affiliates on their websites or add links to their articles or posts on writing platforms or social media. Affiliate marketing isn’t as easy as it seems, yet it can work if the product or service is relevant to the article. These products and services can be sourced through broker platforms like ClickBank or just found individually by the writer. Most products or services have an affiliate program. Ad/Membership Revenue Revenue-sharing platforms like NewsBreak and HubPages give writers a cut of the ad revenue; the amount depends on how many views the piece gets. Membership revenue gives writers a cut of the money coming in from people subscribing to the platform, like Medium and Vocal. Vocal gives a certain amount per view while Medium gives according to membership engageme...

Our success is up to us. Success, as a general term to describe the results that constitute a success in a writer’s mind, as it meets or exceeded our expectations. And volume is how many articles/content pieces it takes for each writer to succeed with various levels of quality involved. Each writer will have their personal goals and ways to measure the results achieved through writing an article. Each writer has differing perspectives on what constitutes quality with a finished product. With these important variables in mind, let’s explore how many articles it might take with a theoretical estimation based upon experience and what I’ve seen in my decades-long online writing journey. Most writers can’t expect to attract a lot of views when writing only one article a month, or 12 a year. They may be able to stay in the game at the base line level and maintain some trickle of income, yet it isn’t the volume needed to reach that level of success to maintain. Still, we must first appreciate...

Conversations Part 1 In the near future, a middle-aged man (Seth), from America, found himself talking with his mentor in a dystopian land full of deception. His mentor was a gray-headed and bearded man just past middle-aged called Pastor Nick. Seth had many questions for his mentor and the ongoing conversations are what ensued. What is the purpose and direction of humanity? Seth asked. Well, Seth, the obvious answer involves technology, as it is the main purpose of modern man. See, the so-called progress of humanity is culminating with a technological tyranny, giving the elite total control over everyone within the system, which is built and controlled by technology. Everyone involved in the system, as it is transitioning into this hive mind, is helping to build and support the reality of this technological future. They perceive it as progress, yet it is being built for only one reason — to control every human within the system. Is everyone going to be within the system? Seth asked. N...

              Will we ever see one again? Conservative-minded Oregonians might be curious to know the last time Oregon had a Republican governor. For those 37 years and younger, they might wonder if Oregon ever had a Republican governor considering the last year a Republican served in the office was the first 12 days of 1987. The last Republican governor for Oregon was Gov. Victor G. Atiyeh who served two terms from January 8, 1979 — January 12, 1987. Victor was born on February 20, 1923, which means he was 55 when he first became governor and 63 when he left. Victor passed away at the age of 91 years old on July 20, 2014. In all the years since he left as Oregon’s governor until he passed, he never saw another Republican governor serve his home state again. Even until now in 2024, we have yet to see any other political party besides the Democratic Party as the governor of Oregon — that means we’ve had a Democrat as governor for 37 years consecutively....

You don’t understand what’s going on. You are my people, I’m familiar with our shared culture and history, at least what’s left worth sharing. Still, I must say, the vast majority of you simply don’t get it, you don’t understand what is going on in the slightest. The measure of conditioning is well beyond the average person’s perception, and even those that catch on are mostly caught in a controlled wake-up zone full of lies and deceit, as though stuck in a hedge maze in the middle of nowhere with the “nothing” coming close like a hurricane of chaos. Will my fellow American caucasian people figure it out, what’s really going on? Will they search for the hidden history books and evidence that explains the alternative view of the establishment? I wonder. Some do, they are the remnant of believers, those who have searched for the truth out of a sincere love for it. They are honest and value the truth over lies, and they will not let anyone stop them from finding the truth and living truth...

The days of our lives are getting interesting. Realizing politics has tangible results for regular citizens, questioning the authenticity of politics is relevant considering the holistic factors involved. For instance, wondering if the political frontrunners for key positions in the U.S. government are playing a part, acting a character that has been scripted in correlation with their sincere personality underneath. The implications are far-reaching if this is the case, yet isn’t the question relevant in our deep fake technological world? Considering that the divide between fantasy and reality has been clouded with deception and virtual reality, doesn’t it seem plausible in some measure to think that the U.S. presidential race is scripted to control the population according to a certain agenda? Is it naive to think the powers to be would allow the citizens to direct the government when they could get away with not doing so? Is it cynical to think otherwise or practical common sense? Es...

Gaining Context I opened my account at Vocal around two years ago when I published my first article. It was a syndicated article from my golf blog, which surprisingly has done better than all other articles since. Around three months ago, I decided to give Vocal a real chance with a renewed effort and by becoming a Vocal Plus member. They enticed me with half off a year’s membership ($50 for a year, usually it is $99 annually or $10/month). Since this renewed effort, I have published nine articles; six were written originally at Vocal (four were for Vocal Challenges), and the other 3 were syndicated from elsewhere. The plan for Vocal was to publish my creative writing there originally, which meant I had to switch from HubPages where these were published originally before. The distracting ads and lackluster RPM helped make this decision, although I’ve been writing on HP for over a decade. After three months of “working” Vocal, I’ve realized it isn’t worth paying the $10/month. I’ll expl...

In a highly controversial case, an Oregon mother was sentenced to 90 days of jail and 3 years of probation for essentially making health decisions for her now 17-year-old daughter that the state didn’t like. The details are found in an Oregon Live article by Noelle Crombie on Feb. 27. The article explains that the mother, Christina Gale Dixon, 39, decided to treat her daughter with CBD and other homeopathic remedies instead of chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery (conventional treatments for cancer). This wasn’t always the case, as her daughter, Kylee Dixon, was first diagnosed with liver cancer in 2018 and underwent three rounds of chemotherapy. The article explains that the Oregon Department of Human Services got involved in late 2018 when the mother wasn’t allowing her daughter to be treated according to the allelopathic physicians. The state then took custody of her daughter, yet allowed her to live with her mother until Christina fled with her daughter to Las Vegas to avoid a sch...

Reflections on the seeming complexities of love. When reflecting on the seeming complexities of love, contrasting the nemesis of love seems appropriate. Offending or being offended is not something one can do with love. It challenges our love and tempts us with unforgiveness and bitterness. When offense rears its ugly head, love gets stuffed down into forgotten compartments within ourselves. When we get offended, emotions like anger, wrath, and hatred come forth, as we seek to protect and get vengeance for ourselves and loved ones. What is Love? It takes a special person to not get offended when others do. They have learned to overcome the temptation of anger by passing over the offense. Most of us get offended somewhat easily. When this happens we realize how conditional the love we give is. Are we only loving those who love us back? That seems to be the natural reaction for most people. What is love then? Is it simply a conditional behavior we extend to those who love us back? Is it ...

Focusing Distractions with Complexity With all of the options writers and content creators have now, finding the right one for each system sometimes takes experimentation. Flops and failures often come with such brimming efforts of zeal, yet the glimmer of hope remains in pictures of automated simplicity. In the beginning, things were simple; then came the expansion, the maintenance, building, creating, researching, and other such effort and time into what can only be called a writing system. Organizing this complex miasma of disparate platforms, the writer (insert content creator as needed) has become a blogger, marketer, promotor, maintenance tech, and organizing master. The actual writing is pushed to the side. Finding Balance Each writer organizes their system differently according to their needs and abilities. I’ve always admired someone who focuses on one platform and doesn’t get stretched too thin. We can get distracted by constantly expanding and trying new things. What’s neede...

Writing online entails considering how many impressions, views, visitors/reads, comments, shares, and reactions each article gets. These digital assets symbolize the money made from each article. How many views did that article get — that poem, story, blog post, picture, art piece? The number will determine how much money the article made. While most writers appreciate even one single read, this doesn’t pay much. On the high end, this might bring .02 cents. Usually, around half a cent, or $5 RMP. Different Writing Platforms and Efforts At Medium views don’t turn into a specific amount of money, rather they are merely an indication of possible money — reads are more important at Medium, as they correlate closely with any money made. Each read at Medium this month made me around that .02 cent mark! The reads at Medium might not be from members, so may not make us money. Still, on average, both views and reads equal a certain estimated amount for each Medium writer. At Vocal, they make it...

I started writing on NewsBreak around the end of Dec. 2022 with my first published article on Dec. 25 (an unintentional date, but isn’t it fitting). It was about the renewal of the Christmas Valley Golf Course and it has accumulated 129 views up until now. The renewal of the Christmas Valley Golf Course in Eastern Oregon | NewsBreak… Although I started writing in Dec. 2022, I didn’t start making money until February because I had to apply and be approved. This entailed having 100 registered followers, writing ten articles, applying, and waiting around for a month. Here are the details of my journey if interested. Approval Time for NewsBreak Monetization Being a seasonal golf course greenskeeper, I have 4 months in the off-season to write more on NB, writing around 10–20 articles a month. During the other 8 months, writing is just a part-time effort — I usually write 1–2 articles a month. The theme for all of my articles at NewsBreak is #Oregon. Here are my stats for the last 13 months:...

With all the snow already here and coming, some will wonder where to go downhill and cross-country skiing, snowboarding, or tubing in Oregon. This list rates ski resorts by their acreage, lifts, trails, and vertical rise (ft. from the base to the peak). There is great information about ski resorts in Oregon online; the data included is from Ski Central , which has current snow reports and other helpful info on its website. #1. Mt. Bachelor: base 6300 ft, vertical 3365 ft, summit 9065 ft, annual snowfall 387 inches, 71 trails, 3685 acreage, 1.5 miles is longest run, regular adult lift ticket $155/day, lifts 13. Mt. Bachelor has grown into a very popular ski resort with the rapid population boom in Central Oregon over the last 50 years. It offers beginning to advanced lifts and all the trails your freezing hands and feet can handle. Mt. Bachelor started in 1958 and had its first chair lift in 1962. The closest city is Bend 21 miles away. #2. Mt. Hood Meadows: base 4523 ft, vertical 277...

Being the son of two musicians, music plays an important role in my life. I became a musician as well, although not to the level they were. Parents would play on the weekends at evening hotspots in Bend, OR in the early and mid-80s. They would play cover songs from the 70s and 80s, maybe an original here and there. They went on to have respectable careers in music until this day. Here is my mom’s music website: Maxie Kinney Music The Music Journey of a Country Gal from Oregon I started playing the guitar around 21 years old. I played the keyboard and piano when I was younger. Here is my music website in progress: Robbie Newport Music Original Christian Folk Music Storytime I remember a time when I was around 11 years old in a music shop (in the late 80s and early 90s there were mostly cassette tapes for sale) and I had the choice between Bachman Turner Overdrive (BTO) or New Kids on the Block — I chose BTO and have always been proud of that decision. I have good taste for genuine music...