London riots 2011 - my two cents

You surely still remember the London riots in the beginning of this month. Shocking pictures were showed on the TV screen and in the internet.

Questions of how it could occur, and how people can carry so much hate in their hearts that is expressed in such a violent and destructive way, might have come into your mind. Myself, I think about this when I see such things.

I think, there must be a very big portion of frustration and desperation to react like this. They might feel that they don't have or aren't given a perspective in their lives, neither professional nor personal. They might feel not accepted or even isolated in society so they see this as the only way to receive some attention from it.

But instead of doing something about the roots of such despaired reactions, it seems, the only thing the government do is to increase the police assignment for the time of the riots and start a relief fund for the store owners who have experienced a damage! (And what about the damage for the private owners of houses etc.?)

In my opinion, this will not change something about the roots of such civil disturbances and social desperation. What would prevent it, is to give the actors a perspective, organise an education so they could find a job, and start social projects to improve their integration in the society. Such things...

As long as this basis of social and financial security of each person is not given, and as long as there are persons who don't experience any tolerance and acceptance within the society, it is only a matter of time until a new riot in a European or whatever city will take place. Like it had already arrived in Paris 2005.

Make money on Twitter with Sponsored Tweets

I have tried different possibilities to earn some money in the internet and on homepages over time. One is Google Adsense which is also integrated in this blog, another (more profitable, but also more time consuming) are review campaigns from sides like the former Trigami on which I occasionally participated in my German blog. There are other possibilities to make money online with different sorts of advertisement too, such as special affiliate programmes and so on.

But these are not the only occasions. Who - for instance - do not has a homepage or blog (of course also who has and wants to make a little more) also can earn fast some money with Twitter. If you have a Twitter account, you are able to make cash with Sponsored Tweets. You only need to sign up first.

Myself, I already had an account at this website, because I once used the Magpie Advertising Network. As Magpie has consolidated with Sponsored Tweets, all had been transferred to this side and I now can participate on the tweet campaigns offered to me by the advertisers there. What I find comfortable is that I can login via my Twitter account so that I only need my Twitter password and no supplementary.

The first step was to fill in the indications in "my account". There I also can state up to 10 tags which match the items I twitter and from which I want to be offered campaigns to tweet.

Then I can look for new campaigns at "opportunities". If there are some, they are announced in the list "open". After reading the information, I decide and choose the opp I want to take, write the tweet with the stated link and click on the right button. The tweet will firstly be announced as "pending" until it has been verified by the advertiser. Sometimes the post appears on the profile soon after it has been consigned, sometimes at a later time. When it is posted (this goes automatically), I can see at the "complete" list how many clicks it has received. You will see: It's very easy to make!

Payment is regularly done per click and can be ordered via the "withdraw" button up to a total balance of 50.00$. The per click income is paid out 30 days after the posting and is visible as "pending" during this time. The ordered amount will be transmitted to the Paypal account stated. If you (like me) do not are from the United States, Paypal will then transfer the Dollar amount to your own currency.

If there are any questions or problems occuring, I always can click the "feedback" link on the left to ask for help or give my feedback. It can be posted online or sent as private feedback via email. In the latter case, the answer will also arrive by email. In my opinion, the service and support is very great! My questions regularly had been answered within 10 minutes in a friendly manner, but it never took more than half an hour.

Although I of course cannot become rich of that, I think it is a good possibility to gain some pocket money "by the way" and without to make too much for it. And additionally, I - and my followers too - occasionally learn to know interesting websites, shops or special offers.

Here are some examples from campaigns I completed:

YouGoSocial - a new social network
Book my best - a worldwide hotel price comparison website

TweetBig: A marketing service to get more follower on Twitter

A site to create and manage a blogging network and community
Digital Science Fiction - a short story collection available as ebook
An offer for coloured contact lenses, unter other for Halloween

You want to try this too? So don't hesitate to sign up! There is absolutely no risk.

Tips to optimize your success in making money online with that:

• Enable "clickwatch" in your account indications (it normally is activated).
• Try to receive retweets of the sponsored tweets from your followers.
• Choose campaigns which fit really good to the items you normally twitter.
• Write the tweet in your own, pregnant words. Make your readers curious with the text so that they will look further by clicking the link.

Send Seeds for Food

... to help people in Algerian refugee camps and in South India seeding fruits and vegetables for their own food needs.

This UN-project "Seeds for Food" has been created in 2005 by the Belgian Prof. Dr. Willem van Cotthem. Initially, there was a project where refugees (mainly nomads and fishermen) in Algerian refugee camps in the Sahara desert had been taught in making small gardens with the means given to plant fruits and vegetables to feed their families. There had been found techniques to save enough of the rare water for the seeding.

Today, in addition to the named project for the refugees in Algeria who mainly live since more than 30 years in this camps, the project "Seeds for Food" also supports people from the social organization SCAD in the South Indian region Tamil Nadu with seeds.

But the only problem is: Seeds are in general too expensive for this people. So the fundraising campaign "Seeds for Food" has been initiated. They don't ask for money - they ask for seeds so this people could plant them to grow their fresh natural food.

Now in the spring and summer season (from March until August) especially seeds for tropical fruits - like bell peppers, avocados, papayas, melons, pumpkins and eggplants - are required.
In autumn and winter (from September to February) indeed there is the time for vegetables, for example salad, carrots, onions, beetroots and parsleys.

To prepare the seeds you have for shipping, separate them - like you regularly always do it when preparing them for eating - first from the fruit or vegetables, lay them on a dish to let them dry, and then push them in an envelope on which you have indicated the name of the fruit or vegetable seeds. Finally send them to the address on the homepage of the project (see the link above). You can also collect the seeds with others and then send them all together to eventually save shipping costs.

This shows that everyone can act with his or her own means to help to fight the hunger in the world. Do you know other projects like this? So you can state them in a comment if you like it to become more common.