Money In the Ancient Egypt
From the earliest times, from the very inception of organized government, rulers and their officials have attempted, with varying degrees of success, to
control thei reconomies. The notion that there is a "just" or "fair" price for a certain commodity, a price which can and ought to be enforced by government, is apparently coterminous with civilization.
For the past forty-six centuries (at least) governments all over the world have tried to fix wages and prices from time to time. When their efforts failed, as they usually did, governments then put the blame on the wickedness and dishonesty
of their subjects, rather than upon the ineffectiveness ofthe official policy. The same tendencies remain today.
Centralized planning regularly appears in every generation. and is just as readily discarded after several years of fruitless experhuentation, only to rise again on a subsequent occasion. Grandiose plans for regulating investment, wages, prices and production are usually unveiled with great fanfare and high hopes. As reality forces its way in, owever, the plans are modified in the initial stages, then modified a little Inore, then drastically altered, then finally allowed to vanish quietly and unmourned.
Human nature being what it is, every other decade or so the samee old plans are dusted off: perhaps given a new nalne, and the process is begun anew.
IN THE LAND OF THE NILE
In the ancient world, ofcourse, authority over the most hnportant economic commodity, foodstuffs, was power indeed. "The luan, or class of lnen, who
controls the supply of essential foods is in possession ofthe suprelne power. The safeguarding ofthe food supply has therefore been the concern ofgovernlnents since they have been in existence," wrote Mary Lacy in 1922. And asfar back as
the fifth dynasty in Egypt, generally dated about 2830 B.C. or earlier,. the Monarch Henku had inscribed on his tOlub, "I was lord and overseer ofsouthern grain in this nOlne."
For centuries the Egyptian governlnent strived to luaintain control of the grain crop, knowing that control of food is control of lives. Using the pretext of
preventing falnine, the governlnent gradually regulated luore and Inore of the . granaries; regulation led to direction and finally to outright ownership; land becaIne the property ofthe Inonarch and was rented frOln hiIn by the agricultural
class.
Under the Lagid dynasty (founded by Ptolelny I Soter in 306 B. c.) "therewas a real olnnipresence of the state. . . .The state . . . intervened by elnploying
widely all its public law prerogatives . . . all prices were fixed by fiat at all levels." According to the French historian, Jean-Philippe Levy, "Control took
on frightening proportions. There was a whole anny of inspectors. There was nothing but inventories, censuses of Inen and aniInals . . . esthnations of harvests to COlne. . . . In villages, when fanners who were disgusted with all these vexations ran away, those who relnained were responsible for absentees' production... [one of the first effects ofharsh price controls on fann goods is the abandonlnent of farlns and the consequent fall in the supplies of food]. The pressure [the inspectors] applied extended, in case of need, to cruelty and
torture.
Egyptian workers during this period suffered badly froln the abuses of the state intervention of the econolny, especially from the "bronze law," an
econOlnic theory which Inaintained that wages could never go above the bare necessities for keeping workers alive. The controls on wages set by the governmentreflected the prevailing econolnic doctrine.
"After a period ofbrilliance, " Levy concludes, "Egyptian economy collapsed at the end of the third century B.c., as did her political stability. The financial crisis was a pennanency. Money was devalued. Alexandria's commerce declined. Workers, disgusted by the conditions iInposed on them, left their lands and disappeared into the country.
Mistakes a new affiliate marketer makes
1. Minimal keyword research.
You wonder why you get no clicks. Do the work to create a kick butt keyword list!
2. Way too high keyword bids.
This drains your budget. Thus, you declare the campaign a failure. Starting high bids can work, but you must watch your campaigns closely. Then, adjust your bids.
3. Test ONLY ONE thing at a time.
This is a controlled experiment. When starting, test different ads using one landing page. Work to get a good ctr, and possibly, a good conversion rate.
4. After finding a performing test different landing pages.
This helps you find the best converting one.
5.Continue keyword research by looking through your weblogs.
There are some diamonds in the rough. Use the same technique to find negative keywords. These are terms you don't want to see with your ad!
If you have a big list of negative keywords, it could mean the difference between a success and failure.
Beyond web 2.0
I'm wary of using Web 2.0 stuff to predict Web 3.0. I think the focus on video and stuff like Ajax or Second Life are really 2.0 things.
One thing I've noticed for Web 2 stuff is people MUST REGISTER. As others have mentioned, it's a bummer. Personally, I'm sick of registering for everything. I just want the experience, no strings attached.
In a way, if one figures out a way of letting users interact with stuff without uber-tracking analytics, user account, or forcing content contributions, their could be a way for 3.0 to upgrade 1.5 (Post 2001 Web, focus on conversion).
Part of me still thinks the entire economic model is as shaky now as in 2000 and eventually it will crumble.
One problem for search engines, is people are looking for stuff. Some sites, like Yahoo Answer or Wiki Web 2.0 stuff, lets users get the answer they want quickly, rather than through search engines. I think it's a popular model.
However, usually the content is user generated and a certain quality. How about predicting the contents people search for and generating it before they look for it? How about guaranteeing a respectable quality and serious entertainment and educational value?
succeeding with affiliate marketing and PPC
Consider your keywords and the information contained in them.
Does a keyword indicate a consumer has done some product research and knows what they want to buy? Does it indicate familiarity with a certain type of product(s) and are prepared to purchase?
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The "long tail" idea has some merit, which involes lots of upfront investment. However, it really depends on the info or research. Also, there is the purchase intent contained in the keyword. This is regarless of the characters or words in it.
Does the merchant have a website designed for conversions? Or, is it an online brochure which causes people to leave quickly. Also, you need the ad copy to be right, too.
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Headlines
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What highlights make an impression? Is it huge selection, free shipping, buy 1 get one free. These need to be on the website landing page. There is lots to consider and many variables to think about.
video games today
I am a video game tester, and do this for a living. This means playing every single xbox and xbox 360 game to come to the market (and many which never made it).
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Let me tell you something, video games are not getting harder. Instead, they are getting easier. The trend, for video games, is to make them like an interactive movie.
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The biggest video game money makers are sports games. Second are titles based on movies. One time, when testing Ninja Gaiden, I realized this. There was one attack button which let you hit over and over during combat. The game, in response, did all kinds of cool-looking moves. This included decapitations and wicked slashing combos. As the player, you did nothing but hit the button and watch.
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Another game which was an interactive movie was the King Kong game for XBox. It is an extremely linear game. The combat was based on learning a gimmick. Once you knew it, you do not die.
There was little difficulty finding your way around the King Kong game. This is because the game resembled a tunnel. All the fights were really easy. You simply watch a movie and your controller was along for the ride.
the true "myths" of today
It is nice to think at least today we KNOW today's TV entertainment myths are make-believe. However, there are many who insist they are real, actual historical events! - Think of UFO religions, Scientologists, or heaven's gate.
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Our current mythology is fiction, we know this. Star Trek and similar are at least sci-fi. They are not based on the supernatural. Rather, they come from the testable, and currently tested, theories and ideas of today.
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It is amazing. With our supposedly culturally advanced society, as we like to think of ourselves, we still retain the ancient urges to believe in the fantastic. Maybe it's because so much in this universe is really fantastic. In fact, it is far more than we ever imagined.
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It reminds me of a quote from Dr. Feynman. He said, "Far more marvelous is the truth than any past artists imagined. Why do poets of the present not speak of it? What men are poets who speak of Jupiter as if he were a man, rather than as an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia must be silent?"
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