Where would we be in this world without email? While it is a cliché of a cliché it would be safe to say we would all be in the proverbial dark. After all, without email it becomes next to impossible to keep up to date with our family and friends. Then again, it is also difficult to stay on top of all those cool discount deals that many online sellers offer! (I personally receive a number of excellent discounts from Barnes and Nobles, Amazon, Overstock and several other top of the line merchants. While some may call this spam, I personally appreciated the coupons!) But receiving mail is not the only important aspect. Sending emails is important. (This is why Amazon, Overstock and their ilk strongly realize) So, if you own and operate a blog you would probably want to copy this particular strategy and let everyone know that you have updated your blog. This is why Zookoda is such a brilliant concept. Zookoda allows bloggers to send weekly, monthly and even daily updates and summaries of blog posts. This is performed through sending a number of tremendously designed newsletters via email. Ok, some may be wondering what the cost of all this will be. Well, here is some really good news for the thrift conscious: Zookoda is absolutely free! So, if you are a blogger looking to promote your blog to the widest possible audience then Zookoda is the service you will wish to work with. Again, it is free, innovative and very helpful. So please check it out.

Here is a cool YouTube video clip of an old PBS documentary. This covers some of the fear and confusion felt over the launching of Sputnik. You'll notice that much of the nervousness derives from the unknown. What was Sputnik and what was it capable of?

Recently, Russia announced that it was planning restarting its explorations into space. If this spurs the USA into boosting its space exploration plans then this would be a good thing. It is a shame that the exploration of space has slowed down significantly in recent years. The exploration of space was once a major source of American pride and achievement and re-invigorating the movement would be a hugely positive thing.

Probably one of the most unique aspects of the Cold War was the Space Race. It is doubtful that anything created more wonder in the world that the ability to travel to outer space in a rocket ship. This had been in the realm of science fiction novels and films for decades and these entertainment mediums spawned a number of dreams and fantasies. (There was a silent film based on HG Wells' THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME that may have been the first film of this type) In the 1960's and well into the 1970's, the astronaut had become a mythic figure no different from the Cowboy. Granted, cowboys had the edge over astronauts in the sense that Cowboy hats never went out of style while it never really was sheik to wear an astronaut helmet in public.

Interestingly, the space race began in a world of paranoia. When the Soviets launched Sputnik into space it immediately brought a number of fears to the public consciousness. That is, people understood the potential danger of rocket based nuclear attacks on the United States homeland.  A number of science-fiction films of the 1950's began to echo these themes most famously with THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. 

Then again, there was also the extreme wounded pride felt in America due to the fact that when Sputnik successfully launched, the Soviets had beaten the Americans in the eyes of the world. America would forever be number two in the history books when it came to launching the first rocket into space. The only way America could heal its wounded pride was by succeeding in the space race from there on out. This was most famously achieved, of course, when Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon. (Did anyone else see the BBC broadcast of this event? The BBC hired Pink Floyd to play an instrumental theme as Armstrong landed. The end result was the very trippy "Moonwalk" theme) Astronauts remained pop cultural icons for decades to come and were the subject of a number of motion pictures ranging from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY to Don Knotts' THE RELUCTANT ASTRONAUT. This helped re-enforce th mystique of the astronaut as the last of the great explores. Toys, games, costumes, etc flooded the market and every little boy in the USA dreamed of being an astronaut.

While explorations into space continue today it just isn't the same. The mystique of being an astronaut was forever shattered when the Challenger exploded. This forever linked the space race with a sense of danger and foreboding that it has never recovered from. But, the history – and future – of explorations into space is always something to look at fondly. In fact, we'll be spending quite a bit of time on this blog looking at the space race and some of its more unique moments. Stay tuned.

Here is an interesting news piece from Yahoo News. It covers the prelude to Putin's assuming the role of Russia's Prime Minister. The article suggests that there are certain parallels between the current political climate in Russia and how it parallels the old Soviet Union. The article is somewhat interesting, but it is important to point out that no matter how much the current Russian landscape parallels the old Soviet Union there are huge differences between Russia and the Soviet Union. Russia is not a superpower and it does not have a dominant present in more countries in the world than the United States. Russia can not become a superpower at this stage of the game because it would need a much more powerful economy and military. But, a scaled down localized version of the old Soviet Empire is probably where Russia is headed.

One of the most intriguing aspects of the Cold War was the New Left Student movement of the 1960's. The New Left was formed as a means of opposing the war in Vietnam but also as a means of introducing hard Marxism into the United States landscape. Recently, the history of the New Left has been re-examined and you can read the works of David Horowitz which criticizes the New Left or the works of Weather Underground members which speak of the era with fondness. There is much of interest to be discovered from the 1960's Days of Rage and a few insights into this era will be presented on this blog in the near future.

When looking out at the great open spaces of the blogging world one has to marvel at the volume of readers. What initially started as a "web log" for people in the computer industry has now expanded to include multitudes of people from all walks of life who muse about any number of subjects. This has led to the influx of advertising dollars into the blogsphere and that means that anyone who runs a blog has the potential to earn significant income from their blog advertising. Of course, in order to do this there needs to be a facilitator of blog advertising. This is where a company such as Smorty comes in as it can provide all the means to deliver advertiser to your blog. Smorty is a true innovator in the world of paid blogging and if you are looking to get paid to blog Smorty is the company to check out.

When it comes to the world of finance we can never reach the point where there is too much information. After all, the more that we can learn about finance and making money the better we can take care of our financial future. This is where valuable resources such as the RSS feed of George Lindemann can be so helpful.<< MORE >>

Here is something that came out of the NATO meeting that did not get much coverage. This story from the Moscow Times reports that Putin considered the possibility of splitting the Ukraine into "halves". That way, part of the Ukraine would join Russia and the other half could join the circus for all Putin cared. Ok, the last part was a joke. I am not sure how serious this is because where on earth would you split the thing and how many people would want to be part of Russia's sphere of influence considering the bad blood from the USSR days. Then again, stranger things have happened.

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Perhaps I shouldn't call this odd since it really isn't all that strange but for whatever reason it could my eye so I thought i would pass it along.

From the Moscow Times we have a story about how there is a liquidation of assets in order to provide housing to military officers. In a way, it is odd that there are needs for liquidations since Russia is doing so well in the oil and natural gas business. Then again, if the assets they are liquidating were little more than a drain on finances getting rid of them would make sense. Anyway, the article is a somewhat interesting read since it covers news from Russia that is often overlooked.