36 Hours

2014/02/03 Writing Practice

The iPod only had two songs loaded. One said "Instruction", the other said "Listen". So Ash placed the ear buds in his ears and pressed play.



"Greetings Capt Ashmun. No doubt you have many questions. Sadly you may not ever find the answers to all of them. However if you cooperate in this little experiment I can assure you that you will be returned to your old life, you are under no immediate physical danger. You won't recall volunteering for this assignment, an unfortunate side effect of the mind wipe procedure. All you have to do is listen to the next track. This room is a verbal room, so if you need to use the facilities simply say so, and the rooms AI will produce that for you. If you would like a bed, say so as well. Meals will be served three times a day. The track you are about to listen to will play for 36 hours. After which time you will be free to go. Thank you for your participation in this process. And now, let us begin..."



*(Maybe he's in here for 5 days... maybe there is no track, because he could choose not to put it in, probably would choose that. So maybe the iPod is ONLY instructions. The sound is coming from the room itself.)



With that, there is a soft click and a slurry of sound comes from the iPod matching the sound that was playing from the roof. It was quite relaxing. Ash walked the perimeter of the room once more checking for any possible sign of escape. Thinking through the instructions is he called out-loud, "Bed", and  a portion of the wall came undone through a small seam, a flat surface the size of a double bed came out of the wall, the top of the surface seemed to be made of memory foam. A small box opened just above holding a blanket and pillow.



(*They probably didn't leave in on the floor if there was a bed. In first setting have him on this bed, and it retracts when he gets up. He can't get it back until it's explained HOW to access the rooms features. Room ends up having a star trek feel? Food Replicators, things being beamed in? That could be cheesy or cool, depending on how you write it... )



Ash didn't take long to catch on, he said out loud "Exit", nothing happened.



"Now, Now Capt Ashmun, you know the rules, 36 hours..." came a voice from the speakers above.

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36 Hours

2014/02/03 Writing Practice

The iPod only had two songs loaded. One said "Instruction", the other said "Listen". So Ash placed the ear buds in his ears and pressed play.

"Greetings Capt Ashmun. No doubt you have many questions. Sadly you may not ever find the answers to all of them. However if you cooperate in this little experiment I can assure you that you will be returned to your old life, you are under no immediate physical danger. You won't recall volunteering for this assignment, an unfortunate side effect of the mind wipe procedure. All you have to do is listen to the next track. This room is a verbal room, so if you need to use the facilities simply say so, and the rooms AI will produce that for you. If you would like a bed, say so as well. Meals will be served three times a day. The track you are about to listen to will play for 36 hours. After which time you will be free to go. Thank you for your participation in this process. And now, let us begin..."

*(Maybe he's in here for 5 days... maybe there is no track, because he could choose not to put it in, probably would choose that. So maybe the iPod is ONLY instructions. The sound is coming from the room itself.)

With that, there is a soft click and a slurry of sound comes from the iPod matching the sound that was playing from the roof. It was quite relaxing. Ash walked the perimeter of the room once more checking for any possible sign of escape. Thinking through the instructions is he called out-loud, "Bed", and  a portion of the wall came undone through a small seam, a flat surface the size of a double bed came out of the wall, the top of the surface seemed to be made of memory foam. A small box opened just above holding a blanket and pillow.

(*They probably didn't leave in on the floor if there was a bed. In first setting have him on this bed, and it retracts when he gets up. He can't get it back until it's explained HOW to access the rooms features. Room ends up having a star trek feel? Food Replicators, things being beamed in? That could be cheesy or cool, depending on how you write it... )

Ash didn't take long to catch on, he said out loud "Exit", nothing happened.

"Now, Now Capt Ashmun, you know the rules, 36 hours..." came a voice from the speakers above.

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Faith IS the Substance! Creation Origins: What Science Can't Answer, and Religion Gets Wrong.

A Child's Video Sparks A Flame

So I'm watching this great little YouTube video series that the kids love, Jelly Telly. In this particular episode the characters portray modern Darwinian Science in it's true light, the emperor with no clothes. However simultaneously reveal that most religious institutions give equally bad answers to the questions of the universe. 

It really hits me in a big way because the answers are plain and simple. But you need to know some things about the Word of God and Kingdom of God that most religion doesn't know, therefore can't answer.

So I thought I'd share this with you to challenge you to think it through with me. No matter which side you came from, you probably need to think again.

What Science Can't Answer

In this particular Jelly Telly video the conclusion was that science is incapable of telling where life came from. Darwin's theory can only deal with things that are already present and evolving.

In fact, the only observed evolution has been "micro-evolution" within species, like dog breeds, or bird breeds, and never once has any interspecies evolution been observed.

In fact when similar but not same species mate, say Horse and Donkey, they produce offspring, but it is always incapable of producing offspring itself, unless re-mated with another pure breed. It cannot, in any real way, speak to causality for a new thriving species. Observation agrees with Genesis. They were made after their kind.
Without a Big Bang, the raw ingredients of life not only don't coalesce (come together) they don't even exist themselves in the first place. You can follow the Darwinian path, ignore the fact that there is a mysterious absence of "in between" creatures evidenced in gaps in the fossil record. All creatures show up fully developed. You can follow along ignoring the irreducibly complex life forms. You ignore that everywhere science tells us that things have intricate design indicating a designer and you choose to believe that the watch evolved and was not created.

The bottom line is this. Even if you ignore the mounting evidence that Darwinian Evolution is at best an inept baseless theory, even if you took for granted that it was true and followed the origins back to the first one celled organism and took one more step back to a pool of raw material just before life.

Where did the raw material come from? Some scientists realizing this have started to come up with theories that life started on Mars or even in other Galaxies and hitch hiked here on a comet. Let's say that was true.

If you keep following back you are still left with the question...


Where did the Raw Material come from before that?

What Religion Get's Wrong

But secular folks have their right to complain as well. Let's say for a moment that you believe in a creator. What kind? Which one? Religions are always serving up conflicting ideas of who God is. Why is one right over another? Which one provides an answer?

Even within "Christianity" we produce so many convoluted denominations.

While I believe The Bible and Jesus hold the answer... what kind of answer?

The answer this Jelly Telly video gave was the answer I hear often.

"God made the world from nothing." 

But that's just a cop out. Science can't tell us where the raw material came from. So we say God made it... which is basically in their ears saying:

"We can't tell you where it came from either, but my Daddy's bigger than yours."

This violates naturally understood law. One major tenant of modern science if the First Law of Thermodynamics which states:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_law_of_thermodynamics 

The first law of thermodynamics is a version of the law of conservation of energy, adapted for thermodynamic systems. The law of conservation of energy states that the total energy of an isolated system is constant; energy can be transformed from one form to another, but cannot be created or destroyed.

Note the tension in this excerpt from How Stuff Works:

The Latin phrase "creatio ex nihilo" means "creation out of nothing," and it's largely the domain of theology, philosophy and mythology for a reason: the first law of thermodynamics, which is actually a conservation of energy equation. The gist of that equation, as you no doubt remember, is that energy can neither be created nor destroyed.

Resolution between science and religion can be found in the Equation

There IS an answer, it's a spiritual answer, and not easily understood by a natural mind, but it's a simple answer. God did NOT create the world's out of nothing. There is no such thing in science or bible as "Creatio Ex Nihilo", "Creation out of nothing."

Limited understanding of the universe and the bible both, together, created that phrase and idea.

The world's were created by and through Faith. Now, if you thought, as most people do (religious and non religous); that Faith is Belief. You were wrong. So what is Faith?

Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for , the evidence of things not seen . 

Darrell Wolfe Paraphrase:
Faith is the material substance of things that are expected (without doubt), Faith is the physical reality of things not yet perceived by the physical senses. 

Hope is not wishing something were true. That is the modern English use of "Hope". Greek use of the word would say that Hope Is Expectation.

If I got word that someone I trust said they would be here today, I could expect that to be the case. If someone I knew was a flake said they'd be here today I would not expect that. That is Hope. Evidence is that which has been proven or tested. I could have this expectation only after I had proven and tested the one I am expecting.

Faith is the substance of expectation and proof or material reality of that which cannot be seen. It is the title deed to a car that hasn't been delivered yet. Don't loose me here.

Faith is not the expectation. That is Hope. Faith is the SUBSTANCE of the expectation. Literally the thing that is expected. Hope says I'm having a baby. Faith is the baby that is expected.

So why does this all matter and how does it answer the question of where the material world came from?

Hebrews 11:3
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear .

Let's check this verse two ways. There were no punctuation or comas in Greek or Hebrew. I think both of these could be the right way of understanding this verse. 

Paraphrase One:Through Faith, we understand that, the world's were framed by the Word of God...

 God created the World through His Faith...

Paraphrase Two:Through Faith we understand that the world's were framed by the Word of God...

Our Faith is what helps us understand that God framed the World's (created their materialness) by His Word. What is God's Word?

John 1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

God's Word is Jesus. Jesus is God's Word. Jesus is Light. God is Light.

Jesus=Word=Light

Now anyone who has heard the word "Solar Energy" should know that Light is basically, for layman's purposes, a form of energy. (Can be converted into it).

Einsteins theory of Relativity: E=MC²

Simply put, this equation tells us that mass and energy are two forms of the same thing. In the right condition, mass can turn into energy and energy can turn into mass. Here, ‘right condition’ refers to near-to-light-speed.

So if God is Light, is Energy, is Mass, is the Word, is Jesus...(Leaving out discussion of the trinity for now so we can grasp one thing at a time.)

1st Law of Thermodynamics states that there can never be less or more of energy, only different forms of it.

So then, God releases himself through Faith into the universe. THAT is where matter came from. God, who is energy which cannot, not exist, created matter by releasing himself through Faith.

Going Deeper into the 1st Law

Then the 1st Law of Thermodynamics reveals something about the 1st Law of Genesis.

God is light. Energy. Mass. They are all Him in different forms.

Note the order of creation in light of this. Notice in Genesis that God says "Light Be", releasing light/energy/mass into the void, on day one. But it's not until day four that he creates sun, and moon. Why? Because he was releasing HIMSELF into the void. He was converting energy into mass at the speed of light!

E=MC² is a discovery of how earth was created by God! It also explains his infinite timelessness. Because energy cannot ever not be. The story of creation isn't a story of the begging of all things. It is the story of the beginning of Earth and Mankind. There are plenty of hints throughout the bible that Angels were created long before mankind.

In fact some believe that there is a gap between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 of possibly billions of years where angels ruled before man, and possible other civilizations that we know nothing of because it's not our place to know about those right now. If the universe is as infinite as it is, who is to say there are not other creation stories besides ours?

I'm not saying there is. But I cannot rule it out. The bible simply doesn't make some of the conclusions that religion likes to make. I like what CS Lewis said of God in his Caricature of God as Aslan. "After all He is not a tame Lion." "No, but He is good."

So: How has religion affected you? Leave a comment to chat about it. 

______________________________________________


By Darrell Wolfe

www.DarrellWolfe.com

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Disclaimers:

FOR MY FULL DISCLAIMER: See my "Start Here About" page. Click Here

* Information here is As-Is. These are the opinions of a fellow traveler and seeker of truth. I am not a doctor, lawyer, licensed financial advisor, tax preparer, etc, etc... I'm just one guy, sharing what he's learned. As such, the information may be as true or faulty as the guy on the buss stop giving you directions. If you need accurate information I encourage you to seek the help of a professional in your field. 

* I do make money from this blog. 1 Tim 5:18 says the worker is worthy of his wages. I do earn affiliate commissions or freebies from some of the products I discuss at various points on this blog. Regardless I only suggest things that have personally helped me, or someone I know. If you click on an "Affiliate Link" and you buy something I'll get a cut. Thanks for your support! 

* I am a conservative Christian. I write from a bible-centric point of view. I welcome people from other points of view to jump into the conversation. If you don't like bible-centric writing: I encourage you not to read my posts.... Unless you want to learn something new. 

* In all you do: Live Long and Prosper, with GOOD SUCCESS! 


Thank you, Darrell Wolfe

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Injury

Fiction Writing Practice 2014/01/27

The bombs are exploding around him. Joe can hear the bullets slam into the roof of the structure, another plane raid. He should be brave, strong, he should be out in the fray attacking back, like all his fellow soldiers. He doesn't understand this. He is paralyzed, he can't move. It's not like him to be this afraid. The rain is leaking through the holes in the roof and soaking him from head to toe. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath...



When Joe opens his eyes the building is gone. He's laying in his bed, back home in Joshua Tree, CA. There is no raid. It's just a dream... or is it a memory... He's not sure anymore. It's the same one he's had every night for two years now. The rain was just night sweats. The feeling of not being able to move is because he cannot, in fact, move. Gunshot wound to the spine paralyzed him from the waste down. This dream was more vivid than his usual dreams.



As he comes to he realizes there is storm outside today. As he picks up his legs with his hands and swings them over the bed, lifeless. The crackle on the roof alerts his suspicion. The white bumpy blanket outside the window confirms, ice storm, bad one this time. He's facing a battle, but it's a battle of another kind.



Funny thing is, this battle didn't start in a war. He would love to say that his spinal injury was from fighting enemy soldiers in a war in Afghanistan, but instead it was some punk 14 year old kid who didn't know what a good thing he had in America, stealing a wallet with $20 and some closed credit cards.





dw

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Injury

Fiction Writing Practice 2014/01/27

The bombs are exploding around him. Joe can hear the bullets slam into the roof of the structure, another plane raid. He should be brave, strong, he should be out in the fray attacking back, like all his fellow soldiers. He doesn't understand this. He is paralyzed, he can't move. It's not like him to be this afraid. The rain is leaking through the holes in the roof and soaking him from head to toe. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath...

When Joe opens his eyes the building is gone. He's laying in his bed, back home in Joshua Tree, CA. There is no raid. It's just a dream... or is it a memory... He's not sure anymore. It's the same one he's had every night for two years now. The rain was just night sweats. The feeling of not being able to move is because he cannot, in fact, move. Gunshot wound to the spine paralyzed him from the waste down. This dream was more vivid than his usual dreams.

As he comes to he realizes there is storm outside today. As he picks up his legs with his hands and swings them over the bed, lifeless. The crackle on the roof alerts his suspicion. The white bumpy blanket outside the window confirms, ice storm, bad one this time. He's facing a battle, but it's a battle of another kind.

Funny thing is, this battle didn't start in a war. He would love to say that his spinal injury was from fighting enemy soldiers in a war in Afghanistan, but instead it was some punk 14 year old kid who didn't know what a good thing he had in America, stealing a wallet with $20 and some closed credit cards.


dw

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How to use Blogger to set up your own domain name for less than $10 a year!

A step by step guide to setting up a hosted top level domain name on Blogger. 

Wanting my own domain:

I've always wanted my own domain name. I kept thinking it would be too expensive to host a full website on my starting budget. So I settled for using Wordpress and Blogger subdomains. And that wasn't bad. But it wasn't great either.

Have you ever wanted your website, non profit website, business website, or blog to have a more professional web address or domain name? But you just don't want to pay the big bucks for a "real website". At least not yet.

Maybe when you become more successful, but you are still trying to keep the rent/mortgage paid. Therefore you must keep costs down. So you came to Blogger because you tried Wordpress.com and you got tired of them stopping you from entering your own html and affiliate links. In the end, whether you chose Wordpress or Blogger  or both, you settled for a subdomain.

So instead of getting that cool "MyAwesomenessOfASite.Com" site you wanted, you settled for "MyAwesomenessOfASite.wordpress.com" or "MyAwesomenessOfASite.blogspot.com".

But what if I told you that getting a real domain name doesn't have to mean hosting a website yourself!? That's right! Blogger will host your domain name for free, and wordpress.com, will do it for just a few dollars a year.

In fact, although this post is about using Domain.Com and Blogger.Com, you could use these instructions to understand Domain.Com better and use Wordpress.Com's instructions for their part of it, which is really the smaller part anyway. That is, if you are still using Wordpress.com... for some reason.

The only thing you will pay for, if you use Blogger, is the domain name itself. Which for most people will be about $9.99 per year. It can be less and more depending on what name you choose. More on that in a moment.

Just in case, you don't want ALL the details and blow by blow screen shots, here are the steps right up front.

The Steps:

1. Buy a domain from Domain.Com (or you favorite place)
1. Buy from Domain.com! 
2. In Blogger, Settings, Basic, Publishing, +Add a domain name
1. Type in the name you bought.
2. Make sure to include the "www"
3. Expect an error message. You WANT the error message.
3. In Domain.Com set up your CNAME using the instructions Blogger gives.
1. Enter the www and ghs.google.com as well as the 12 digit and 21digit numbers as mentioned above. 
4. WAIT for it....WAIT for it....
1. After an hour or two, once the system has had time to reset things for you...
5. Go Back to Blogger and type in the new domain name.
1. Make sure to include the www.
2. Hit SAVE
3. This time there should be no error! 
6. You are basically done. 
7. You should also, go back and set up A Name listings as well. See my whole post for more on that. 

See my WHOLE post for more tips and extra advice. Now to a blow by blow explanation!

Buy your domain name and website from two different places:

So the only cost to you is to go buy a domain name from one of the many "registrars" out there. Eventually you will probably want to get a fully hosted site, maybe. If you do here is a thought about why you do NOT want to buy your domain name from the place that you may eventually host. 

I don't know all the details exactly... but here is what my friend Mark said to me, who has run websites for his own businesses for decades. He assures me that you do not want to buy the domain name from the same place you host your site. Something about the site you host on getting mad at you and shutting your site down and locking you out and making life difficult for you and you loosing the domain name in the process.

If you buy your domain name from one service and host with a different service and the host service causes you problems, you just go to your domain registrar and point the domain name at the new service you set up with someone else.

If you were, (*just for example not saying either of these places are good or bad), but let's say you went to Go Daddy and had problems but bought your domain name from Domain.Com. Well, just go to Blue Host, set up the new site and point the domain name to Blue Host instead.

You are up and running in hours while you work out the issues with Go Daddy. Again, just examples not saying either of those is better than another. I have no idea which fully hosted site is best, obviously I still use Blogger.

What Domain name should I buy?

When choosing a domain name make sure it fits what you want. I wanted DarrellWolfe.Com because I want to operate under my own brand. But for my food reviews site I chose lifeinfortworth.com because it fit the niche market I'm looking to serve there. Because of that, as I build it, the site should start to rank higher in search hits for things around fort worth just because of the domain name I chose. The domain name actually plays a part in your search hits. 

Please check these articles out before paying for anything, check them out in this order:

1. http://michaelhyatt.com/website-name.html
2. http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/a-checklist-for-evaluating-a-worthy-domain-name/
3. http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/domain-names-audience-youtube-blackboard-adsense-earnings/
4. http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/niche-site-duel-2-branding-domain-names/

I use Domain.Com

I use Domain.Com because I have had great experiences with them. Their website is clean and easy to use. They make things very simple. Really nice interface. Nothing much more complicated than that. Plus the very fact they own the rights to "Domain.Com" seems pretty sound to me. To read more "About" them click here. There is really nothing more to it than that. I like them. I've used them for several other websites for years. I will continue to use them because they make it so easy to do business. They have a host of services I haven't used yet, but probably will when I get more money coming in to do so. 

Now, as of today I am an affiliate. Which means I'll get paid if you sign up for a domain name through them by clicking the this link: Host your website with Domain.com!

But I would have written this anyway, even if I wasn't. I wrote most of this post before it occurred to me to see if they have an Affiliate Program, and they do! And it's free to join. So by the time this post goes live, I'll be a Domain.Com Affiliate. For more information about what it means to be an affiliate click here.

Setting Up Your New Domain Name:

You Will Need:

I thought it would be helpful to set you up for success. Here's what you will need to get started.

• Internet
• Web Browser (I use Opera)
• Note Pad 
• (Either real paper or electronic, doesn't matter but electronic would be easier to copy and paste).
• Three Tabs Open
• Blogger.Com
• Blogger Instructions
• Domain.Com
• Chosen Domain Name(s)
• You will have wanted to take time to consider what domain names you want to try to buy, come up with some alternatives. Choosing your domain name, depending on what you want and what's available may be the longest part of this task. 
• It took all of ten seconds to find that DarrellWolfe.Com was available. 
• But my LifeInFortWorth.Com was originally going to be TexasLiving.Com and it was taken. In the end I liked LifeInFortWorth.Com WAY better! Just hadn't thought of it.
• It probably took me an hour to figure out that domain name and choose it. I was happy with the end result, and very happy that I took my time and prayed about it before locking in my choice. 

Using Domain.Com and choosing a domain name:

First go to my favorite place to buy Domains: Domain.Com. Just search for the domain you want and when you find one available buy it, on Domain.com!

Now keep this window open because you are going to do some work on Domain.Com after you have done some work with Blogger.

+Add a domain name in Blogger:

In Blogger, on the left panel, last option, click on "Settings"

Then the first option "Basic" will have several options to the page on your right. One section, seen below, is "Publishing". Simply click "+Add a custom domain..."

You will then see the screen that has "Advanced Settings". Make sure to open the "Settings Instructions" because it gives you more details you need to do the following procedures.


Settings Instruction take you: HERE

Add in the domain name you bought. When you add the domain it must be a "Top Level" domain. Which means you must add the "www" to the front or it won't work. For example, put in "www.darrellwolfe.com" NOT "darrellwolfe.com". Now hit save and you will see an error message. This is what you want to see!

Now that you have your error message you can do the next steps. You should see two sets of data. One will say "www" and "ghs.google.com". The next set of data will look like a complete mess of numbers and letters. The first set may be about 12 digits, the next will be about 21 digits followed by "...googlehosted.com" These are the four sets of data you need for Domain.Com.

Now the www and ghs.google.com is going to be the same for everyone. The 12 digits and 21 digits are specific to your blog. If you have used Blogger to set up 20+ blogs, for example, each of them would have different digits that pop here, specific to this particular blog.

On Domain.Com Under DNS choose CNAME Alias

Go to your DNS section under your new domain name on Domain.Com...(*Note: NOT your nameservers, leave those alone.). There will be a drop down box next to "Modify:" Select the option that says: "CNAME Alias".

Now on the CNAME Alias you will need those four pieces from Blogger.

You will type in the www under host and ghs.google.com under points to. Then do the same for your specific info. Click "Add" and enter your 12 digit under the host section and 21digit.googlehosted.com under Point To.

Now we wait...

...no really... we wait... You can leave these screens up if you want, but walk away, for at least an hour or two. Go watch Captain America. Or better yet go read Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World.

Once domain.com has had anywhere from 10 minutes to two hours to update, you should be able to proceed by going back to Blogger.

Note: Don't use the "Nameservers" section. Use the DNS section and choose CNAME Alias from the drop down.

Going back to Blogger you will now hit save.

If you recall we started this adventure in Blogger hitting save and getting an error message. That error message was telling us that the domain name didn't recognize Blogger. If you waited the hour I told you to, and you did the other steps right, you should NOW be able to hit save. If you closed your screens that's perfectly OK!

Just go back to settings, basic, publishing, +add a custom domain name, type in your newly set up domain "www.mynewdomain.com" and make sure you use the "www" in front. Now hit Save. it should work this time with no error message.

If you did everyting right so far, you should now see under Publishing a note that mydomin.blogspot.com redirects to www.mynewdomain.com

If you go ahead and go back in and edit there will be a little button you can click that will tell "mynewdomain.com" (without the wwww) to forward to "www.mynewdomain.com". But only after it recognizes the top level version with the www. You will see a small check box followed be "Redirect example.com to www.example.com". Then hit save. 

There are a few other things to talk about if you want to make sure things are working to their best ability for you.

Extra Credit; things you should also do or consider. 

Set up your A Records:

You will also want to set up your A Records. This will be done back on the DNS Tab. Simple use the drop down again and click on "A Record". This ensures that if someone types in your website without the "www" in front they still get to you instead of getting to an error message.

There will already be many A records there. But you will want to set up four additional ones.

Pasted from Google Bloggers Instruction Page:

1. Optional: You can also enter A-records, which links your naked domain (example.com) to an actual site (www.example.com). If you skip this step, visitors who leave off the "www" will see an error page.
2. Optional continued: After completing Step 8, enter your domain name in the format example.com, and list the I.P. addresses shown below in the "A" section. You'll need to create four separate A-records which point to four different Google IPs.
   

   216.239.32.21
   216.239.34.21
   216.239.36.21
   216.239.38.21

   End of optional section

So, simply type in your website without the www under host. "example.com" and then paste one of the four numbers from blogger 216.239.32.21 under Point To. Repeat for each of the four, notice they are all the same except for the (32, 34, 36, 38).

Choose a personalized Email:

One last thing you could do, not required but it's worth doing, especially since you paid for the domain name. Use your personalized email. example@example.com. Me@DarrellWolfe.Com and Darrell@DarrellWolfe.Com are mine. Feel free to email me if you found this article helpful. Also comment below.

Now under the Overview Tab find the link that says Mail and click on that.

Simply click on the the Plus (+) Button on the right.

Click on Forward to another mailbox. Select the email you want @yourdomain.com and then what email address you have set up with one of the free providers that you want it forwarded to when someone emails you. You probably are using GMAIL because you have to have a google ID to access blogger because Blogger is a google product. Therefore, you could use that email. But you could also use your free yahoo, hotmail, live, outlook, aol, or any other such thing and no one would ever know you've been using those services because they emailed you at "Example@yourdomain.com".

Just to clarify. By doing this. It simply forwards your email. So they send an email to me@darrellwolfe.com and the email is forwarded to example@gmail.com. I still use gmail to access my emails, but I get to use a nifty email address!

Pretty neat huh?!

Lock Your Domain

As an added precaution it would be good to go ahead and now travel from the DNS tab to the Security tab and "Lock" your domain so that it cannot be transfered. You can undo this later if you ever need to transfer ownership of the name.

What the?! Why did I get an error asking if this is my domain? 

Best laid plans often have set backs. I set everything up. It worked. My site said the new domain. Then an hour later I went back and it looked like this:

Why did THAT happen? Well it takes time for the servers all over the Internet to figure out what to do with your new domain. Go to bed and figure it out tomorrow. Sure enough. I went to bed and the next morning all was well. In fact, my darrellwolfe.com without the "www" worked too, because I set up my A Records last night before going to bed!

Conclusion I now have a Top Level Domain:

Hurrah! I'm set up with a new name for an old blog. I never moved the blog, changed it, imported anything. I just gave the web address a facelift, and I only paid $9.99 for my domain name!

Review the Steps:

1. Buy a domain from Domain.Com (or you favorite place)
1. Host your website with Domain.com! 
2. In Blogger, Settings, Basic, Publishing, +Add a domain name
1. Type in the name you bought.
2. Make sure to include the "www"
3. Expect an error message. You WANT the error message.
3. In Domain.Com set up your CNAME using the instructions Blogger gives.
1. Enter the www and ghs.google.com as well as the 12 digit and 21digit numbers as mentioned above. 
4. WAIT for it....WAIT for it....
1. After an hour or two, once the system has had time to reset things for you...
5. Go Back to Blogger and type in the new domain name.
1. Make sure to include the www.
2. Hit SAVE
3. This time there should be no error! 
6. You are basically done. 
7. You should also, go back and set up A Name listings as well. See my whole post for more on that. 

If you found this to be helpful, feel free to try it yourself. Blogger is FREE and they charge nothing to host your domain name. So it's only going to cost you the going rate for a domain name at domain.com. Which can be anywhere from just a few dollars if you use a lesser used one like .info or .biz or something like that.

It may cost about $9-$15 for a more common one like .com or .org. You may even pay hundreds or thousands for popular domain names. So start with something that works well for you and doesn't cost you a bunch. After all. If you are using this method, it's because you didn't want to fork out hundreds a year for a self hosted site yet anyway... not that you won't, but you aren't ready.


Host your website with Domain.com!

Do you have any other powerful tips to help with setting up, using, or choosing a domain name? Please share by commenting below! 

______________________________________________


By Darrell Wolfe

www.DarrellWolfe.com

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Disclaimers:

FOR MY FULL DISCLAIMER: See my "Start Here About" page. Click Here

* Information here is As-Is. These are the opinions of a fellow traveler and seeker of truth. I am not a doctor, lawyer, licensed financial advisor, tax preparer, etc, etc... I'm just one guy, sharing what he's learned. As such, the information may be as true or faulty as the guy on the buss stop giving you directions. If you need accurate information I encourage you to seek the help of a professional in your field. 

* I do make money from this blog. 1 Tim 5:18 says the worker is worthy of his wages. I do earn affiliate commissions or freebies from some of the products I discuss at various points on this blog. Regardless I only suggest things that have personally helped me, or someone I know. If you click on an "Affiliate Link" and you buy something I'll get a cut. Thanks for your support! 

* I am a conservative Christian. I write from a bible-centric point of view. I welcome people from other points of view to jump into the conversation. If you don't like bible-centric writing: I encourage you not to read my posts.... Unless you want to learn something new. 

* In all you do: Live Long and Prosper, with GOOD SUCCESS! 


Thank you, Darrell Wolfe

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In a hurry

2014/01/25 Writing Practice

An orange sits on a table. The shine of it's shell picking up the light of the morning sun through the window. Next to it, coffee and a donut. Earl left this morning without taking any of them, because he was late... again.









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Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I may also have received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” A Big Thank You to Michael Hyatt for helping us Bloggers with these new legal disclosure requirements.

    

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