Swagapalooza hosts events for “most followed” bloggers
Posted by Michelle Moquin on April 14th, 2011
Good morning!
A few weeks ago I received the following e-mail:
Michelle,
I wanted to invite you to Swagapalooza (www.swagapalooza.com), the first invitation-only event for the most-followed bloggers and twitter users from around the country. 100 of the most-followed bloggers and tweeters are coming to learn about new and interesting products. I’d love to have you attend the event, which takes place the evening of April 12th. We have an excellent lineup of presentations, including talks by the creators of:
TwoDegrees – For every nutrition bar you buy, they give a nutrition pack to a hungry child.
Saboteur Man – The world’s first tailored waterproof blazer.
Transcendent Man – A documentary film about the life and ideas of Ray Kurzweil
Boom Boom! Revolution – A card game you play by performing ‘underground acts of guerilla goodness’.
Grubwith.us – Eat with awesome people!
If you’re able to come then please fill out the RSVP form below.
Feel free to call if you have any questions, and I hope to see you there!
******
How exciting! I knew my blog was popular, but I had no idea that it was in the top 100 most followed! – How cool is that? So…of course not being able to resist the invitation to mingle with a bunch of fellow bloggers, (and why would I?) and judge some of the latest and greatest new products…I RSVP’d “Yes – I would love to come!” The event was from 6-9 PM Tuesday night at the DNA Lounge in San Francisco.
Doug and I had plans already that night in the later part of the evening (One of Doug’s Facebook friends is a singer in a rap band, and was playing at 1015, San Francisco, and he so kindly sent us a few tickets inviting us to see him do his thing), so attending Swagapalooza in the early evening worked out perfect.
We arrived at the DNA Lounge a little after 6:00 PM, fashionably late, not on purpose. It was a windy evening but the small line to get in went very quickly.
While chatting away this young man came up and handed everyone a loaf of bread. On the side of the bag was written “Sour Flour”. For those of you who don’t live in San Francisco or the Bay Area, Sourdough bread is a fave to the San Francisco locals, not to mention a nice departure gift for tourists to take with them on their way back home.
Okay so you’re probably thinking, “Big deal. A loaf of bread.” Ah…but this wasn’t an ordinary loaf. This bread was just removed from the oven steaming hot. I don’t know about you, but whole wheat sourdough, fresh out of the oven, steaming hot in my little fingers, was just what I needed to satisfy my hunger. Next…an icy cold beer.
And that’s exactly what we got. After signing in and proudly displaying my blog name on my chest, Doug and I took our drink tickets, got an ice cold beer, some finger food, and mingled with the bloggers and tweeters.
Around 7:00 PM we all took our seats ready to hear all about these exciting new products. Let me preface that yes, the point of the evening was to get bloggers and tweeters to learn about the products…to judge the products, and HOPEfully be excited enough to blog and tweet about them.
So…Let me be completely transparent. I need to disclose that although we were not paid to brag about the swag on our blogs, each of us were given swag bags of all of the products for free. So yes, I will be talking about these products, not all but some, and not because I received them for free but because some of these products were damn cool. And I have to admit, I was quite excited to receive them then, and I am excited to brag by blogging about them now. Note: If I didn’t take a liking to the product, I won’t be blogging and bragging about it, regardless that I got it for free.
But first…before I get into the swing of telling you about the swag, I have to say that during these product presentations, something cool, and something not so cool was happening. Each presenter presented his product on stage. And on the stage was a monitor that was the size of a large screen television. The cool thing was that during the presentations, the tweeters tweeted about the products so that not only did their followers get to hear first hand about these products, but we got to visually see what was being tweeted in live time, which I thought was a very fun idea.
Now I think it’s perfectly fine for tweeters to tweet their thoughts about any particular product – whether they thought it was a viable product or not. But what was not cool was when some tweeters started tweeting remarking on the looks of a particular presenter, or making fun of the product in a mean spirited way. One tweeter even tweeted referring to a man’s “size”. It was so distracting and rude.
I felt embarrassed and bad that these tweeters subjected these presenters to acts of such a rude and inconsiderate nature. When one of these tasteless tweets rolled across the screen some people would laugh and the laughter would steal the scene. And the presenter, although he could not see the tweets, was left feeling as if he was on the outside of an inside joke. One presenter used those exact words, and sadly, he was exactly right.
Thankfully, the rude tweets only happened a few times, but happening even once was one too many, in my opinion. And for those that were subjected to the rudeness, they were gracious enough to roll with it. And thankfully the bad manners of the tweeters didn’t overpower the positiveness of the evening.
That being said, I HOPE that I didn’t make it sound like the event was a downer because overall the evening was very fun, the products innovative, and the presenters exciting and inspiring. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and it seemed most others did too. But I just had to bring up the rudeness because it was present too. Additionally, you can bet that I will be giving this exact feedback to Swagapalooza, as I feel it is worth a mention, in HOPEs this will deter this nasty behavior the next time around.
Now…onto the fun stuff. Just what was in this fab swag bag? Well let me tell you…it was everything listed above in the e-mail and more! Here’s a few of my faves:
TwoDegrees – For every nutrition bar you buy, they give a nutrition pack to a hungry child.
I love the concept of this company. If you’ve ever heard of Tom’s Shoes, this is the food version of the foot. Buy 1, 1 is given. For a couple of bucks, you purchase a TwoDegrees nutrition bar and one hungry child will get a nutrition pack. All the bars are made locally out of local ingredients, however not organic. – I tasted the chocolate peanut (with Quinoa, chia and millet) and it was delicious. Their mission: To feed 200 million hungry children, one child at a time.” So…how about buying a bar or two…or?
Saboteur Man - The world’s first tailored waterproof blazer
Cool. You’re out having fun, someone spills a drink on you and it just rolls right off. Worth $650 bucks? I don’t know. But getting one of their men’s French-cuff shirts for free was pretty sweet, I thought. I snagged a small size – Love a nice tailored man’s shirt on me. Doug will look so handsome in his too. PS: I haven’t tried it on for fit, nor have I even felt the cotton. But when I do and if I love it, I’ll be sure to tell you.
Flings Bins – Pop-up Recycle Bin
If it’s for the environment, I like it already.
New Flings Pop-Up Bins make trash and recycling easier in your home, at events, parties or on the go. These decorative, portable containers arrive flat for easy storage and pop open in an instant. All Flings Bins have a 13-gallon capacity and feature an easy-to-use drawstring closure. And each Flings Recycle Bin saves 60 cans or bottles from the landfill. Try Flings Pop-Up Bins at your next gathering, big game day party or just around home.
Transcendent Man – A documentary film about the life and ideas of Ray Kurzweil
I’m only blogging this because didn’t somebody, one of my readers, post a comment about this? I don’t remember. Well…I now own the DVD. When I watch it, I’ll blog about it if I think it’s worth it.
Boom Boom! Revolution - A card game you play by performing ‘underground acts of guerilla goodness’.
This was one of my most favorite freebies! No more counting on random acts of kindness. We all know that things happen when intention is the driving force. But sometimes we all need a little inspiration…a little reminder to be kinder. After all random acts are…well…random.
These cards are the answer to intentional acts of kindness, spreading guerilla goodness wherever you go. This is how the cards work:
Original Deck:
Revolutionary acts for work, friends & home!
As cards carrying members of the Boom Boom Revolution! you will perform 26 revolutionary acts of guerilla goodness in your every day life, spreading kindness in your workplace and home, as well as your greater community. Each time you complete a card, you post your experience on the website and then give the card away for someone else to play. The card’s unique ID number enables you to follow your Boom Boom! Card’s journey on the website’s map and witness all the goodness they’ve inspired!
Kit Includes:
- 26 Boom Boom! Cards designed for busy adults who want to make a difference
- Boom Boom! sticky note pad
- Handy carrying sack to keep it all in
Check out their other card kits: “family deck”, “teen deck” and the “green deck”. ( I got this one and I am so excited to start spreading some green guerilla goodness.)
And lastly, I must not forget to give kudos to “Sour Flour” the bread company for providing a little warmth in my hands and comfort food in my tummy.
Yes, writing a daily blog may not pay me, but there are some perks. That’s it. I’m done bragging. Comments? Thoughts? Blog me.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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April 14th, 2011 at 10:29 am
Hafa adai Peter:
You asked me how you can prevent Guam from becoming a lost country to its native people. Here is your answer. Good luck!
Those on your Island with political and economic power and/or respect of the people of Guam should contact the other countries of the world through outside means and through the UN and demand the right to SELF DETERMINATION with The USA and the rest of the international community.
The Calvos have the money and one is the governor now. Speaker Judi Won Pat has the family history. They are the Kennedys’ of Guam.
Insist on the right to determine what, if any affiliation, Guam will continue with the USA. White America is not concerned about Guam’s people, only the strategic location Guam represents to America’s Pacific flank.
If Guam blinks, America’s white power structure will convince the people of Guam to become the 51st state to keep Guam a part of the USA.
But as white people do not want a state that we are not the majority in vote wise, the aim will be to flood Guam with white people.
Think about what we did after the civil war was lost. We imported millions of english, scots, irishmen and italians to insure that whites would have the numbers over the black slaves that out numbered them better that 4 to one right after the war in the South.
The racists who are a significant part of the American power structure know to the voter how many Guamanians there are who feel the way you do. We are experts in the field of “Divide and Conquer.” We will bring in the experts to pit every faction in your society against each other. The vote will be for statehood! If not actually, the count will still say so.
So you have to act BEFORE we convince Guam it wants to be a state in the USA.
First document and show the bigotry and disproportionate way the white US Senate is treating Guam.
You can do this by: 1.Pointing out the dictatorial nature of the Organic Act of Guam and the other Federal Laws affecting the Governmental Structure of Guam ; 2. Pointing out that the status of Guam’s delegate to Congress has had his voting rights stripped of any voting privileges. Only the all white Senate gets to determine what happens to the people of Guam.
It is most likely the white power structure will be more concerned with the rights of the whites they intend to flood the island with than with the concerns of Guam’s native people.
Regardless, Guam’s delegate should have a vote on what happens on Guam. Right now the Organic Act gives powers to the delegates and can take them away whenever the US Senate or House wants to.
Go to the UN and the international community and ask them to help Guam hold an election to allow the people of Guam to decide on an independent Constitution for Guam so that he Guamanian people can determine for themselves as a free and equal people what their relationship will be with the USA and the other nations of the world.
White America will threaten war with anyone that tries to interfere in its internal affairs. But if Guam holds firm you can force us to concede to your demands as long as Guam agrees to remain a part of the US strategic needs.
When you and others feel yourselves being tugged by the American nationalism that we are experts in using against our own people REMEMBER the way we treated Guamanian US soldiers who died, were wounded, and became prisoners of war for that US flag. At the end of the war, we gave the benefits to our WHITE soldiers and NOT the Guamanian ones. It took almost 40 years of fighting for the Guamanian soldiers to get some of the same benefits.
Many were lost to them forever. Like the special benefits anyone who was a prisoner of war gets. None of the Guamanian soldiers, some of who were prisoners of war for 4 years, got lifetime total free medical as our white soldiers did. None got to give their sons the privilege to go to military Universities as our white prisoners’ of war did, etc, etc. Yes, they eventually won the right to those privileges, but much too late for them or theirs to really benefit from them. Only our white soldiers benefited immediately.
Nothing has changed we will continue to deprive you of what we feel we can get away with. Without insisting on self determination for yourselves white America will determine what you get and it will ALWAYS be LESS than what we give to our own race. As a white man I say this with sorrow and pride. I am sorry that as a race we are not decent enough to share. But the pride kicks in when I think about how successful we, as a race, have been in maintaining our superior position of self enrichment, power, and economic supremacy to all the other races of the world.
A part of that pride comes from knowing that telling you all this will change NOTHING. At the end of the day, we will still be on top.
Peter, I do hope that you, or rather Guam will start to turn the tide. I have enough money. Your losing will only force me to enter the game and start competing for my piece of Guam.
When hundreds of billions of dollars are at stake, the urge to compete for the lion’s share is too great. Today I get more satisfaction from the winning not the spoils that come because I win.
That may not be much satisfaction to you. But to me I must play or concede that all the money in the world and the power that comes with it should go to someone who’s morals and goals are suspect at the least, rather than to me.
Anonz
April 14th, 2011 at 10:38 am
wow, Mischa, I’m proud for ya, BABE! Top 100, sweeeet!! I’ll settle for 100 twitter followers – for now : ) I love receiving swag bags, such fun to sift through. Too bad the bars are not organic but maybe I’ll order anyway…
Why is it people think being rude is OK, that scene you described just sounds mean spirited. Those tweeters need to do the ‘I love you’ exercise! When your digging yourself it’s pretty hard to not dig other peeps : ) (or at least ‘live and let live’ with them) that’s just my experience.
Over at ZL site – truth in beauty, beauty in truth or is it all in the eye of the beholder? Click through on my name (I think : )I’ll try it later and let you know. Boy reader, girl reader, getting my computer back soon, pics will be forthcoming ; )
Anonz’s desk, tell the sweet bahinney that fills your chair and the rugged hand that moves the pen across your smooth surface that my ‘desk’ would like an in depth ‘report’ asap – and that’s a newsflash from ZL’s bitty little crapple laptop
Peter, hafa adai, get ready for a lot of skyscrapers and loaded Asian tourists, if Singapore can get casinos/crazy beautiful ‘condos’ ready for an influx of high rollers and do it very very quickly, so can Guam, better rally your forces fast.
Catch you later, Zen Lill
April 14th, 2011 at 10:43 am
Click through on name works. Misch, you grew your following organically -or maybe aliens were/are an attraction, whatever, you deserve it. I’m going to post your recipe manana…though today, women of MM blog, teres an organic facial recipe for you. Use it, skin tightens, your thilled and love me long time : ) or maybe you’ll just tweet me sweet things?! – ZL
April 14th, 2011 at 10:46 am
Sorry, hope you understand my compliment? omg, I’m just so excited for you that I’m makin’ no sense…luv u, ZL
PS where are you Ruth, Evelyn and Harris? Babies ok?
- ZL
April 14th, 2011 at 2:02 pm
I wanted to share some info I found motivating (its a little long, sorry). We all get frustrated at times and ask ourselves, what can we do to make a change? Well, it really does start with one person. And we really can come together to make a difference. Proof below.
—
Earlier this week Change.org, the world’s fastest growing online activism platform, celebrated the 100th victory of 2011 in as many days (actually we had 103 victories in 100 days)… Change.org is now winning social change campaigns on average more than once a day!
The argument that online organizing is defined by weak connections which lead to minimal real world impact simply doesn’t hold water when compared to the myriad, diverse and impressive real world victories activists have been able to drive over the last 100 days alone.
Yes, some of these victories signaled structural changes while others were moments of symbolism. Some were directly the result of innovative and risky online and offline organizing by activists in the Change.org community, while others were milestones in larger movements of which Change.org is one small cog.
But taken as a whole, it’s a testament to our power as a set of organizing communities that we have been able to use an organizing platform like Change.org to regularly drive real world change in such a diverse set of situations across such a wide net of causes.
They opened 2011 with a massive victory in a human trafficking campaign in California, as then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger granted imprisoned child sex trafficking victim Sara Kruzan clemency. Forced into prostitution at just 13 and enslaved for three years, Sara snapped one night and shot her trafficker. For a crime committed as a traumatized child, she was sentenced to life in prison without parole. But over the course of a year, more than 60,000 Change.org members joined many groups calling on Schwarzenegger to grant Sara clemency, participated in social media organizing, and even sent holiday cards asking for her freedom. Sara followed the Change.org campaign closely, telling us that she was deeply grateful for the work of so many Change.org supporters.
Sara’s win was closely followed by a victory in a campaign calling on the online marketplace Etsy to remove an offensive “rape congratulations” card from the site. After 17,000 Change.org members called on Etsy to remove the card, the site not only did so but agreed to change its terms of use to prohibit products that disparage people based on gender, sexual orientation, and disabilities.
February opened with the stirring story of Bridgett Wright, whose two cats were killed by a man named Russell Swigart in 2008. Swigart, who had a history of using violence against animals to threaten women, became the first person in Kentucky charged with felony animal torture. But less than 2.5 years into his sentence, Swigart was up for parole. Wright, refusing to live in fear, started a campaign on Change.org, hoping to gather 1,000 signatures of support to keep Swigart behind bars. Only a few weeks later, she walked into her victim’s hearing with more than 15,000 signatures. The parole board honored Wright’s request and denied Swigart’s parole with the maximum 2-year deferment.
Then came the inspiring story of grassroots activism around the Borneo Scraps coal-fired power plant. It’s hard to think of a worse place to build a coal-fired power plant than in Borneo, an island with rich rainforests, pristine beaches, and a tourism economy. In mid-February, after three years of activism against the plant, the Sabah government officially scrapped the plans. A strong grassroots coalition involving activists all over the world, including more than 3,500 people who took action through Change.org, prompted the reversal.
Late that month North America’s largest wholesale club, Costco, gave into a massive campaign by Change.org and Greenpeace and agreed to implement a sustainable seafood program. After 100,000 people (18,000 of whom came from Change.org!) petitioned CEO Jim Sinegal, the wholesaler agreed to activists’ terms and immediately stopped selling 12 species of red list fish.
In early March, more than 5,000 Change.org members got 20-year-old Regina Husman and her mother, Eveline Rahardja, released from an immigrant detention center. Eveline fled religious persecution in Indonesia and settled in the United States with her daughter over a decade ago. Regina’s boyfriend of six years, Benjamin Young, used Change.org to recruit supporters from all over the country to demand Regina and Eveline’s release.
Then from the townships of Cape Town, came a tiny group of lesbian activists who started an international fight against ‘corrective rape’, whereby men rape lesbian women to ‘turn’ them straight. In less than a month, their call for South Africa’s justice minister to take action on ‘corrective rape’ became the most popular Change.org petition of all time, taking ‘corrective rape’ from an unspoken epidemic to a national discussion. In mid-March, those same township activists walked with Change.org into the halls of South Africa’s Parliament and convinced some of the most powerful officials in the country to agree to research, develop and implement a national action plan to tackle ‘corrective’ rape.
Then our Gay Rights community won a remarkable campaign against tech giant Apple, which had refused to remove an application which advocated “curing” gay people of their sexual orientation from it’s App Store. After 150,000 emails from Change.org members, and considerable pressure from the nonprofit Truth Wins Out, Apple pulled the app, agreeing that it was offensive and in violation of their editorial standards.
For the big win – 2011 Victory #100 – two campaigns simultaneously ended in victory on the same day:
First, a student movement for religious tolerance scored 2011 Victory #100 when it was announced that UCLA’s Islamic Studies program will re-open this fall after being frozen since 2007. Students had rallied, demonstrated, and attracted more than 5,400 signatures of support from the Change.org community.
Then a massive social media, press and adbusting campaign tied for 2011 Victory #100 when Fiat and Lacoste agreed to pull their advertising campaigns from an Argentine magazine publishing rape threats.
Last but more certainly not least, long-time Change.org member Kenniss Henry pulled through at the 11th hour (just before the 100 day deadline) with a victory in the Maryland General Assembly. The death of Kenniss’s only child, killed on her bicycle last year in a hit-and-run accident, led the mother to become a major force in the passage of an important bill that enacts stricter penalties for reckless drivers who cause road fatalities. The legislation had been stalled in the House of Delegates for six years straight. But after Ms. Henry recruited more than 5,000 Change.org members to push for the legislation, the bill passed in a last-minute vote.
There is more to come, and so much more we can do, but let’s take a minute to just say ‘YES YES YES!’
Thanks to everyone who took action on the Change.org campaigns
April 14th, 2011 at 5:42 pm
misch, thx 4 heads up on my site comments. Fixed now. All my tech is fubar except my crackberry until late 2nite I hope? I see Anonz stopped by instead of his desk : )-ZL
April 14th, 2011 at 7:48 pm
ZL the comments option on your blog wouldn’t click for me
April 14th, 2011 at 10:08 pm
Beautiful Social Butterfly. I know that if we commit to work together we can accomplish anything.
April 14th, 2011 at 10:23 pm
Hafa Adai:
Looks like someone is listening.
==================
All Guam voters would be allowed to express their preference for Guam’s political status under a new bill proposed in the Guam Legislature.
Sens. Tina Muña Barnes and Frank Blas Jr. yesterday introduced Bill 151, which would allow all Guam voters to choose one of three options for Guam’s political status: independence, free association or statehood.
The outcome of the non-binding vote would be used to inform participants in what Barnes called a “Chamorro-only” vote authorized under Guam law.
“I support a Chamorro-only vote as required by law, but listening to our neighbors is the Chamorro way,” said Barnes. “If we had that vote today, the many people who have made Guam their home for decades would have no way to democratically express their political desire for Guam.”
In 1997, the Commission on Decolonization was created and given the task of creating a registry of Chamorro voters — defined by law as those living on Guam who were made U.S. citizens by the Organic Act in 1950 and their descendants — and holding a non-binding plebiscite vote on political status.
The plebiscite hasn’t taken place, however, as efforts to fulfill a required 70 percent of those who can trace their ancestry back to those who were on island in 1950 have consistently fallen short.
As of this week, the decolonization registry has 1,134 names on it. A law passed recently in the Guam Legislature allows Chamorro Land Trust applicants to be counted in the registry, which would add more than 10,000 more people to the list, Sen. Ben Pangelinan said.
According to Pangelinan, based upon birth and death rates since the passage of the 1950 Organic Act, that means 70 percent of 45,000 people — or 31,500 people — would have to be on the registry.
Round-table
During a round-table discussion last week, Gov. Eddie Calvo said he was committed to seeing the long-awaited status question resolved and would push for a vote as soon as next year.
Barnes said in a press release she wanted to see an education campaign on political status fully funded in the next government of Guam budget.
========================
As you can see Anonz, the factions are being pitted against each other already.
Anna
April 14th, 2011 at 11:43 pm
The Best Stock-Picking Secret Ever
Bill Staton, CFA
Don’t talk to Bill Staton about newfangled investment strategies. His approach to maneuvering through the new decade is no different from what has worked for him and his clients for three decades.
At the heart of that approach are dividends, the cash that a company pays directly to shareholders out of its annual earnings.
To be a successful investor, you need to focus not just on big dividends, but on dividend payments that rise every year, which Staton considers an unparalleled predictor of stability and growth. How best to invest in dividend-paying stocks today…
SEEK LOW RISK, HIGH GROWTH
Despite a terrible past decade for stocks, they are the place to be in the next 10 years if you want to make decent investment profits.
I expect that tight credit markets and rampant inflation in this decade will be awful for people holding cash and bonds. In fact, during any 10-year period of high inflation (10% or higher), stocks returned an average of about 6% annually, while bonds and cash both lost value.
The trick is finding the best all-weather stocks, because there will be lots of volatility in the years it takes our current economy and financial system to recuperate.
The best way to find these companies is to look for businesses that raise their dividends year after year.
Rising dividends usually indicate not only that a stock is relatively low risk but also that it has strong growth potential.
That’s because the company needs an exceptional track record and robust balance sheet to support ongoing dividend payouts.
Of course, in recent years, some companies, especially financial institutions, suddenly found that they could no longer support generous dividends, and their stock prices plunged as much as, or even more than, the overall market.
So I am wary of companies that seem uncertain whether they will raise dividends in the coming year.
Even after the 2009 rally — in which stock prices rose 65%, on average, from the low point in March to December 31 you still can find leading high-quality, dividend-paying stocks at reasonable prices, because they underperformed more speculative, lower-quality stocks.
If the stock market rally fades, which is very possible, dividend-paying stocks will reduce the pain because they keep providing income.
HOW TO CREATE A GREAT PORTFOLIO
Here are the seven steps I suggest for perfecting your portfolio…
Choose companies with a record of raising dividends for at least the past 10 years in a row.
Only about 240 companies with publicly traded shares meet this stringent requirement. In 2008, for instance, I had to drop some wonderful dividend-paying stocks from my list, including Bank of America, Harley-Davidson and Wells Fargo, because these companies didn’t increase their dividends that year.
Look for a “wide business moat.” That means the company has some competitive advantage, such as a valuable patent or a trusted brand name.
Buy at a bargain price. I wait for the stock to be at a price I consider undervalued. Look for companies trading at price-to-earnings ratios (P/Es) below the S&P 500 average (recently 14.7 times the next year’s earnings).
For some diversification, select at least a half-dozen companies in different industries. Attractive dividend-paying stocks don’t have to just be stodgy stalwarts, such as utility companies, which provide the traditional route for dividend seekers.
My portfolio includes industries such as technology and telecommunications.
Invest the same dollar amount into each company. This helps ensure that you have ample diversification in case some industries suffer setbacks.
Reinvest dividends quarterly. Buy more of what you already own as long as a firm keeps raising dividends.
Sell only when a company fails to raise its dividend in a given year or you need to raise cash. This keeps you from turning over your portfolio unnecessarily and paying more taxes on gains than you need to.
SIX OF MY FAVORITE STOCKS TODAY
Over a period of several years, only a few large-cap stocks meet all my requirements and can beat the overall stock market’s returns with less volatility while providing substantial income.
Consider building your 2011 core portfolio around these six stocks, which I find especially attractive today…
Becton, Dickinson and Company (BDX) is one of the world’s largest makers and distributors of surgical and laboratory products, such as needles, blades and syringes.
It has raised its dividend annually for the past 37 years. A new federal government mandate aimed at reducing infections among hospital patients will help drive sales growth. Recent share price: $75.37. Yield: 2%.
International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) offers systems hardware and software in more than 170 countries.
It is well-positioned to take advantage of the advent of “cloud computing,” using distant servers over the Internet for data storage and management to save money for businesses and make them more efficient. Recent share price: $161.60. Yield: 1.8%.
McDonald’s Corp. (MCD). The world’s biggest food chain, McDonald’s dominates the recession-resistant fast-food industry.
Its stock actually gained 8% in the 2008 meltdown, and it has been the best-performing Dow industrial stock for the period since 2002, up about 300%. In the next decade, the company’s expansion in high-growth foreign markets such as China, coupled with a weak dollar, will lift the stock price and support the healthy dividend. Recent share price: $76.38. Yield: 3.5%.
Nucor Corp. (NUE). One of the dominant steel producers in the US held up far better than competitors during the global slowdown over the past two years.
The company has established itself as the low-cost provider in the steelmaking industry. The urbanization of developing countries will provide robust export revenues in the future. Recent share price: $40.80. Yield: 3.5%.
3M Co. (MMM) manufactures some of the world’s greatest consumer products, such as Scotch Tape and Post-it notes, as well as dozens of other items from liquid-crystal display film to respirator masks. It has been increasing dividends for 51 consecutive years. Recent share price: $92.58. Yield: 2.5%.
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) owns industry-dominating brands, including Otis elevators, Pratt & Whitney engines and Sikorsky helicopters.
It currently is kept busy filling a backlog of $60 billion in orders. Recently, it made a key acquisition, picking up General Electric’s security business. Recent share price: $83.03. Yield: 2.3%.
Bottom Line/Personal interviewed Bill Staton, CFA, a money coach and economic historian based in Charlotte, North Carolina.
He is founder and chairman of Staton Financial Advisors, which manages $65 million worth of stock portfolios for wealthy private investors. His model portfolio returned 9.4% annualized over the past decade, versus a return of -1% for the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index.
He is author of six books on financial topics, including Double Your Money in America’s Finest Companies: The Unbeatable Power of Rising Dividends (Wiley). http://www.StatonFinancial.com
April 15th, 2011 at 12:07 am
Hafa adai Anonz:
It is almost 5 pm Friday here in Guam and the island is buzzing from your comments. As always you are blunt but honest. I appreciate both. Thank you again for your help and advice.
For those of you Chamorros who want to participate in your own self determination here are the qualifications:
DETERMINING GUAM’S POLITICAL STATUS
• Who can register: Registrants must meet the definition of Chamorro — those who were made U.S. citizens by the Organic Act of Guam in 1950 and their descendants — and be at least 16 years of age.
• How to register: Registrants should bring a valid photo identification, and will be asked questions about family lineage.
• Where to register: The Guam Election Commission or the Office of Sen. Ben Pangelinan at Suite 101, Quan Building, 324 W. Soledad Ave., Hagåtña, Guam, 96910.
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Anonz:
As Anna mentioned, the instigators and dividers are already at work pitting various factions against each other.
I also find it disingenuous that whites always want to insinuate their way into societies or cultures that they entered by way of force. They are so quick to claim that that they had nothing to do with the whites that forced their way into our lives, but NOW that they are here they have a RIGHT to remain here.
This is the same white race that in their countries of origins they attempt to force, discriminate or murder the OTWs who by no fault of their own were brought to their countries by white slavers.
Your race accepts no responsibility for their evil past, but is so quick to claim association with the whites that did anything good.
The one word besides racist, and bigot that is synonymous with your race is HYPOCRITE. And boy do we have a shit load of them here on Guam.
Peter
April 15th, 2011 at 3:41 am
For those of you who haven’t filed your taxes yet…don’t worry you have until Monday. April 15th is normally the deadline however, because of a holiday in the nation’s capitol the IRS has extended it until Monday the 18th.
Laurie
April 15th, 2011 at 3:54 am
It looks like the aliens were correct again when they told us weeks ago that the Japanese were lying about the true danger their reactors posed to the rest of the world.
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TOKYO — Japanese officials struggled through the day on Tuesday to explain why it had taken them a month to disclose large-scale releases of radioactive material in mid-March at a crippled nuclear power plant, as the government and an electric utility disagreed on the extent of continuing problems there.
Multimedia
David Guttenfelder/Associated Press
A policeman watched colleagues prepare to transport a body by van in Minamisoma, Japan, on Thursday, inside a deserted nuclear evacuation zone.
Readers’ Comments
“I live about 30 min northwest of Tokyo – scary day today. My wife and I felt no less than 6 earthquakes … And with every earthquake, the question hovers in the air: Did the nuclear plants get through it, or do we need to shelter from radiation in our apartment for the next few weeks?”
Mark, Tokyo
The government announced Tuesday morning that it had raised its rating of the severity of the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station to 7, the worst on an international scale, from 5.
Officials said that the reactor had released one-tenth as much radioactive material as the Chernobyl accident in 1986, but still qualified as a 7 according to a complex formula devised by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Japan’s new assessment was based largely on computer models showing very heavy emissions of radioactive iodine and cesium from March 14 to 16, just after the earthquake and tsunami rendered the plant’s emergency cooling system inoperative.
The nearly monthlong delay in acknowledging the extent of these emissions is a fresh example of confused data and analysis from the Japanese, and put the authorities on the defensive about whether they have delayed or blocked the release of information to avoid alarming the public.
Seiji Shiroya, a commissioner of Japan’s Nuclear Safety Commission, an independent government panel that oversees the country’s nuclear industry, said that the government had delayed issuing data on the extent of the radiation releases because of concern that the margins of error had been large in initial computer models. But he also suggested a public policy reason for having kept quiet.
“Some foreigners fled the country even when there appeared to be little risk,” he said. “If we immediately decided to label the situation as Level 7, we could have triggered a panicked reaction.”
The Japanese media, which has a reputation for passivity but has become more aggressive in response to public unhappiness about the nuclear accident, questioned government leaders through the day about what the government knew about the accident and when it knew it.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan gave a nationally televised speech and press conference in the early evening to call for national rebuilding, but ended up defending his government’s handling of information about the accident.
“What I can say for the information I obtained — of course the government is very large, so I don’t have all the information — is that no information was ever suppressed or hidden after the accident,” he said.
“There are various ways of looking at this, and I know there are opinions saying that information could have been disclosed faster. However, as the head of the government, I never hid any information because it was inconvenient for us.”
Junichi Matsumoto, a senior nuclear power executive from the plant’s operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, fanned public fears about radiation when he said at a separate news conference on Tuesday morning that the radiation release from Daiichi could, in time, surpass levels seen in 1986.
“The radiation leak has not stopped completely, and our concern is that it could eventually exceed Chernobyl,” Mr. Matsumoto said.
But Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy director general of Japan’s nuclear regulator, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, said in an interview on Tuesday evening that he did not know how the company had come up with its estimate. “I cannot understand their position,” he said.
He speculated that Tokyo Electric was being “prudent and thinking about the worst-case scenario,” adding, “I think they don’t want to be seen as optimistic.”
Mr. Nishiyama said that his agency did not expect another big escape of radiation from Daiichi, saying that “almost all” the material that is going to escape has already come out.
He said that the rate of radiation release had peaked in the early days after the March 11 earthquake, and that the rate of radiation had dropped by 90 percent since then.
The peak release in emissions of radioactive particles took place following hydrogen explosions at three reactors, as technicians desperately tried to pump in seawater to keep the uranium fuel rods cool, and bled radioactive gas from the reactors in order to make room for the seawater.
Mr. Nishiyama took pains to say — and other nuclear experts agreed — that the Japanese accident posed fewer health risks than Chernobyl.
======================
If those guys aren’t aliens, they must be the greatest bunch of clairvoyances ever assembled.
Ralph
April 15th, 2011 at 4:04 am
You’re welcome Peter.
Another unexploded bomb has been discovered on Guam.
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Guam – The ALL CLEAR was sounded just after 2 pm this afternoon [Friday] after the Navy’s Emergency Ordnance Disposal team safely removed an old 2-foot long World War II Japanese artillery shell.
The shell was uncovered just after noon today during ongoing construction at the Ylig Bay Bridge.
Both north and south bound lanes of Route 4 across the bridge were closed. The roadway was reopened just after 2 pm.
Guam Civil Defense Spokesperson Alyssa Benito says the shell was transported to Naval Magazine for safe disposal.
It was a “live” shell, meaning it had a fuse in it. Benito described it as being a 124 pound “land bomb” Type 97 # 6. An artillery shell.
====================
Be careful out there. I’m going to a party it is 9, I like to make a 9:30 entrance.
Hafa Adai
Anna
April 15th, 2011 at 4:10 am
Michelle, I knew you were big. But I didn’t know that you were that BIG!
Congratulations!
I surf continuously, looking for good web sites. I always come back here because frankly, the others censor. They do it by content or length.
You let the individual vent, tell his/her whole story, or just exhaust their rage at being helpless before the world.
Thanks
Robert
April 15th, 2011 at 4:49 am
February 13, 1866=========Liberty, Missouri. Another wholly new crime was perpetrated today by an unidentified band of former Confederate “guerillas.” At 8.00 am, nine or ten howling riders galloped into town, and four dismounted at the bank. Inside, cashier Greenup Bird and his son William found themselves gazing down four revolver barrels.
The robbers forced the Birds into the vault, and swept the contents into a sack. Then they locked the Birds in and rejoined their companions to ride away.
But as they left town, one of the bandits casually shot 19-year-old college boy George “Jolly” Winmore, who was preparing to go to class with a valentine for his sweetheart.
This cold-blooded murder following open robbery of a bank by men who made no effort to disguise themselves, speaks volumes for the lawlessness of the central south western states since the disruption brought about by the late war.