Sylvia Browne - DEAD WRONG AGAIN

In 2004 Louwana Miller appeared on the Montel Williams show in hopes that psychic Sylvia Browne would help her locate her missing daughter, Amanda Berry.

"She's not alive, honey," Browne told Miller on the show. "Your daughter's not the kind who wouldn't call."
Louwana Miller died a year later from heart failure or perhaps heart break believing that her daughter was dead. Louwana spent three years searching for her daughter and the stress and emotional turmoil took a toll on her mind, body and soul.

On Monday, Berry was found alive after she broke free from a home in Cleveland where she says she has been kept a prisoner for the past decade.

In 2003 Browne famously told the parents of  of missing teen Shawn Hornbeck that their son was dead, and his body could be found somewhere near "two jagged boulders," according to her premonition.  Furthermore, according to Browne, Hornbeck was kidnapped by a very tall, “dark-skinned man, he wasn’t Black, more like Hispanic,” who wore dreadlocks.

In fact, Hornbeck and another boy were found very much alive January 16, 2007, in the home of Michael Devlin, a Missouri man accused of kidnapping them. Hornbeck had been missing for four years, but his parents had not given up hope of finding him despite Browne’s misinformation. Devlin, a Caucasian, is not Black, dark-skinned, nor Hispanic and almost certainly did not have dreadlocks at the time he allegedly abducted Hornbeck.

Sylvia is a carnival fortune teller and not a very good one.  She's predatory grief vulture.  Her narcissistic personality enables her to look into the face of a bereaved or desperate person seeking answers about their dead or missing relative and spin a story to enrich and aggrandize herself.

Fernbank Museum Hosts Butterfly Bash on May 4

Grab your wings and prepare for a soaring good time as Fernbank Museum of Natural History celebrates the giant screen adventure, Flight of the Butterflies, with a family-friendly Butterfly Bash on Saturday, May 4, 2013, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Live butterflies, special activities, crafts and cultural performances will be part of the fun.

Scheduled Activities Include:

Live Butterfly Tent

10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Stand among live butterflies and see these remarkable insects in action.

Specimens courtesy of Jaap de Roode of Emory University.

Day of the Dead Display and Craft

10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Learn about the Day of the Dead and its role in discovering the monarch butterflies’ overwintering grounds, then decorate your own Day of the Dead paper skull. 

Brought to you by the Instituto de Mexico and the Consulate of Mexico in Atlanta.

The Georgia Bubbleman

10 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Butterflies won’t be the only things soaring. Join us outside for big bubble fun.

Butterfly or Moth?

10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Do you know the difference between butterflies and moths? This fun activity will test your identification skills.

Chicahua Yolotli- Aztec Dance Troupe

11 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2 p.m.

You will be immersed in the music, movements and attire as authentic Aztec dancers demonstrate the beauty of this ancient dance tradition.

Brought to you by the Instituto de Mexico and the Consulate of Mexico in Atlanta.

Tissue Paper Butterflies

10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Create your own beautiful tissue paper butterfly.

Brought to you by Macaroni Kid.

Butterfly Tattoos

10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

After you become a butterfly expert, you’ll earn your wings with special temporary tattoos.

Book Signing

10 a.m. – 2 p.m., Museum Store

Meet Vicki M. Fisher, author of Cambio: The Best Blue Butterfly. This children’s book tells the story of a caterpillar trying to discover who he will become. The author will be signing copies of the book, which are available for purchase in the Museum Store.

Butterfly Life Cycle

10am – 2pm, Great Hall

Metamorphosis comes to life! Investigate living examples of a butterfly’s life cycle and discover the important role milkweed plays in caterpillar biology.

Live specimens provided by the Monarch butterfly lab at UGA's Odum School of Ecology

Flight of the Butterflies*

Showing in Fernbank’s IMAX® Theatre at 10 a.m., noon, 2 p.m., 4 p.m.

Enter the enchanting world of monarch butterflies, in this film that follows their annual migration and the moving story of a scientist’s decades-long search for their winter home. Soar a mile high alongside one of the greatest spectacles of the natural world, as half a billion Monarch butterflies head south on an epic journey up to 3,000 miles long between Canada and Mexico.

(*Separate IMAX® ticket purchase required. See Value Pass prices below.)

Fernbank Museum of Natural History is located at 767 Clifton Road NE in Atlanta. Museum admission tickets, which include Butterfly Bash activities, are $17.50 for adults, $16.50 for students/seniors, $15.50 for children ages 3 to 12, and free for Museum members and children 2 and younger. Value Pass tickets, which include Museum admission, Butterfly Bash activities, and IMAX® admission to see Flight of the Butterflies are $23 for adults, $21 for students/seniors, $19 for children, and $8 for Museum members.

Tickets are available online at fernbankmuseum.org or by calling 404.929.6400.

Did The Rape Threat Justify The Means?

A female liberal blogger and radio host at the University of Wyoming Meg Lanker-Simons, has been accused by police of fabricating a rape threat against herself.  It appears that Ms. Lanker-Simons posted an obscene message on a college “crush” Facebook page earlier this week.

The message appears below:

At first glance if this post had actually been written by some anonymous individual there is no wonder that such a post would ignite outrage as it is clearly disgusting and vile.  A demonstration and protest against rape culture, spurred by the UW Crushes Facebook incident, happened Monday on the UW campus.  Lanker-Simons was a speaker at the event, where she called out the the anonymous poster.

Then in a surprising twist,  Ms She was cited for interference with a police investigation for making false statement to UW Police. You see the threat actually originated on Ms. Lanker-Simons' computer, while the computer was in her possession.”

I'm certain Ms. Lanker-Simons originally felt that the accusation against this unknown individual served her purpose.  She became the "victim" in the eyes of her supporters of an obviously misogynistic conservative and therefore a hero.

I find this EXTREMELY despicable   As a rape survivor I denounce people who falsely claim rape or even a threat of rape as it makes it even more difficult for women who have been raped to come forward.  Did Ms. Lanker-Simons ever once give thought to the fact that every false rape claim diminish the integrity of every legitimate rape claim.  Ms. Lanker-Simon if you really cared about violence against women, why would you manufacturer such a blatant lie?

Now we discover that this hero has her very own Facebook support site claiming that Meg Lanker-Simons is not only innocent but they believe that what she did was justified.  Furthermore, they believe that Lanker-Simons deserves not to be held accountable for her accusations.  In other words, the ends justifies the means.

What do you think?

10 Top Ways to Win Using Pinterest for Business - Review

Pinterest is a social bookmarking site that allows users to create a visual, online pinboard with images they love organized around topics of their choice by category.  it's the fastest growing social media site in history, the third-largest network after Facebook and Twitter and has over 25 million members and 10 million unique visitors a month.

The most recent studies incidate that nearly 20 percent of women using the internet are on Pinterest, 72 percent of Pinterest users are female, and 66 percent of those are age 35 or older, and the average amount of time visitors spend surfing the Pinterest site is an hour.  

Karent Leland, author of the new book "Entrepreneur Magazine's Ultimate Guide to Pinterest for Business," has created a comprehensive and easy-top-use guide to hitting the road running and quickly making Pinterest into a valuable source of prospects, promotions, and profits.  

"Great business brands are about telling compelling, congruent stories,and Pinterest s at its core about storytelling in pictures," says Leland.  "Pinterest has tapped into this visceral lover of visuals, and no small business, entrepreneur, or corporation can afford to miss the boat on bringing what they offer beyond words and into images."

Taken from her new book "The Ultimate Guide to Pinterest for Business," Leland offers these top tactics for achieving maximum performance in business on Pinterest.

1.  Strategize  First and Pin Second:  Consider your objective before you pin.  Are you trying to: drive traffic to your website  boost your brand awareness, promote new products or service, educate your customer base  enhance customer understanding and enthusiasm increase prospects and sales or improve customer service   Depending on your strategy  you will want to pick the images that best support your objectives.

2.  Manage and Balance Your Percentages:  Create inviting boards by making 40 percent of your pins motivational and inspiring, 40 percent instructional and educational and only 20 percent about your brand--including products, services, sales items, pofiles, specials, and contests.

3.  Make Your Website Pin Friendly:  Install the Pin It Button on your website and give every page and blog post a featured image that can be pinned automatically.  In addition put a social media "Follow me on Pinterest button on your home page.

4.  Share With, Engage and Promote Others:  Build your brand by engaging with others through re-pinning, commenting on and liking other pins.  You can also tag @ another pinner you are following in one of your pin descriptions.  Engaging with others in these ways generates flow back to your Pinterest.

5.  Establish Your Expertise:  Craft keyword-rich pin and board titles and descriptions to boost y9ur Google ranking and be found for your expertise.  Use hashtags # to highlight key words and phrases your customers search for.  In addition, emphasie pins with a focus on problems and solutions you specialize in.

6.  Integrate Pinterest With Your Other Social Media:  Connect with your other social media by creating a Pinterest tab on Facebook, tweeting your pins, and embedding pins in your blog posts

7.  Organize You Pinboard:  Research shows that pins place front and center receive the highest percent of viewers and capture the most attention.  So place your most important pins near the middle of the top or second row of the board.

8.  Give Away Value- Added Information:  According to Pinerly, pins that have a call to action see an 80 percent increase in engagement.  Post pins that focus on free reports, e-books, videos, and podcasts you offer.  Be sure to add a live link to each of those pins' descriptions.

9.  Leverage the Power of Multimedia:  Make your Pinboards more interactive by sharing videos, webinars, teleclasses, screencasts and podcasts.  Good multimedia pins include:  presentations, expert tutorials, product demos, behind-the scenes tours and experts from live recorded interviews, courses and trainings.

10.  Analyze You Metrics:  Sign up for access to Pinterest Web Analytics via you settings page and pay attention to which of your pins generate the greatest response and interest.  The info will help you see which of your pinning efforts are paying off and shape your future strategy.

About the author

Karen Leland is the best-selling author of nine business books and the President of Sterling Marketing Groups, where she works with entrepreneurs  small business an Fortune 500 companies around the globe on building stronger personal and business brands.  Her clients have included AT&T, American express, Marriott Hotels, apple Computer and Johnson and Johnson, among others.

She is a  regular speaker for business groups and has spoken for the Young Presidents' Organization, american Management Association, and Direct Marketing Association, among others.  Karen is a frequent guest of the media and has been interviewed on "The Today Show," CNN, CNBC, and "Oprah."

Se writes a regular branding and marketing column for Entrepreneur.com and has been published on Woman's Day, Self The Los Angeles Times, and others.

Disclaimer:  In keeping with the FTC 16 CFR Part 255 I would like to inform you that I received no financial compensation for this post.  I received a copy of the book Pinterest for Business for review purposes.  All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own and have not been influenced in any way.

The Shake It Up: I Love Dance CD - REVIEW

The Shake It Up: I Love Dance
 CD is perfect for kids, teens and even Mom.  It's hard to find music that is appropriate for the whole family.  This CD packed with music designed to make you want to get up and dance without any worry of offensive song lyrics. 

Shake It Up: I Love Dance is the third soundtrack for the Disney Channel Original Series, Shake It Up. The album features musical artists associated or popularized by Disney Channel like Bella Thorne, Zendaya, Bridgit Mendler, McClain, McClain Sisters, Caroline Sunshine, Roshon Fegan, Selena Gomez and Coco Jones. 

Tracks include:

1. Contagious Love (Zendaya and Bella Thorne)

2. This Is My Dance Floor (Bella Thorne and Zendaya)

3. Beat of My Drum (Zendaya)

4. Blow the System (Bella Thorne)

5. Afterparty (Roshon Fegan and Caroline Sunshine)

6. Holla at the DJ (The DJ Mike D Remix) (Coco Jones)

7. These Boots Are Made for Walkin (Olivia Holt)

8. Sharp as a Razor (McClain Sisters)

9. Future Sounds Like Us (Dove Cameron)

10. I Can Do Better (Young LA)

11. Shake It Up Theme Song (Cole Plante Reboot Remix) (Selena Gomez)

12. We're Dancing (Alex Ghenea 3.0 Remix) (Bridgit Mendler)

The Shake It UP: I Love Dance CD was a big hit with this younger set at the Thrifty house and we give this CD resounding hands up like the ceiling can't hold ya, four stars!  

Disclaimer:  In keeping with the FTC 16 CFR Part 255 I would like to inform you that I received no financial compensation for this post.  I received a copy of the CDThe Shake It Up: I Love Dance   for review purposes from the people at Child's Play Communications

#Kindwords Letter Writing Week

Kicking off today through April 28th, KIND is partnering with More Love Letters to cook up thoughtful words of kindness and deliver them anonymously into spaces within our communities that are in need of inspiration. Given recent events in Boston and West Texas, our #kindwords are needed more than ever.

Join the KIND Twitter Party on Tuesday April, 23rd from 8-10PM EST– Follow KIND on Twitter and join them as they tweet live from our #kindwords Letter Writing Party. KIND has all the materials you need to get started – click here to access the #kindwords Letter Writing Kit.

Deliver, Snap and Share: Throughout the week, snap a photo of your letters in their secret spots and share your images and instagrams on Twitter with the hashtag #kindwords.

Need more inspiration?  Check out this album created by the  KIND team to get your creative juices flowing. Let's spread #kindwords across the map! 

Please Help Identify These Suspects In The Boston Marathon Bombings

The FBI has identified two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, releasing photos and video showing them and asking the public to help locate them.

The FBI has identified two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, releasing photos and video showing them and asking the public to help locate them.

The suspects, both of whom wore a backwards white ballcap and the other who wore a dark cap, were captured on footage near where one of two explosions killed three and injured 176.

"Through the last day or so, we developed a single person of interest," said FBI Special Agent Rick Deslauriers. "Indeed though that process we have identified a second suspect. We believe they are associated."

If you have visual images, video, and/or details regarding the explosions along the Boston Marathon route and elsewhere, submit them on https://bostonmarathontips.fbi.gov/. No piece of information or detail is too small. 

The FBI stresses that these men may be armed and dangerous.  DO NOT try to apprehend  

You can also call 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324), prompt #3, with information.

All media inquiries should be directed to the FBI’s National Press Office at (202) 324-3691.

- Boston FBI 
- Boston PoliceDepartment