Just got my new subscription to Fast Company – a great magazine for the entrepreneurial and curious.

I remember when i first got a neighbor’s issue by accident back in 99 in california.

I think i actually saved it for a while somewhere [hey, no pac-rat comments now].

Anyway, this is a fun way to spend an hour or two looking over the International Designers Society of America’s top 150 picks for 2010.

TFT – Terry’s Favorite Things

So many of these are coming out of California – especially the bay area…

Does that surprise anyone?  A place where Art and Tech come together.

There were so many favorites for me, including the JAMHUB for musicians.

Note – if you go to the company’s site, you won’t find it yet, but there is an inflatable guitar that is really cool.

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Yet another skateboard like device that reminds me of a TRON light cycle made by Brooklyn Workshop called the FREE RIDER.

$150 gets you your own ride.

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Great wine glasses that everybody can afford – and you don’t have to worry about breaking these. GOVINO Go Anywhere glasses.

The thumb notch is a nice design touch.  And hey, these are only $3.00 a glass.

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This one by Hyundai Engineering is dear to my passion for vertical farming – this time on a micro scale – for the condo or apartment dweller!

The Kitcken Nano Garden.

EAT YER VEGGIES PEOPLE!

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Other notables – the Laundry POD by RKS – when you just need to wash a few little things.

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A LED light bulb by Panasonic that might simulate the same coverage as our old favorite, the incandescent?

Although I think Process Taiwan has a better design with their T-Tech LED Dimmable Light Bulb.

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If you like motorcycles and going green, there is hope down the road with Mission Motors Mission One Sportbike.

150 mph and 150 miles per charge.

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Like to kitesurf in the arctic circle?  Keep dry, warm and stylish with this outfit.

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Perfect your push up with the Perfect PushUp V2.

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Here’s the first folding bike design that in my opinion is actually a gOOd One. The Ville folding bike

.

The Write? Light! idea is a perfect solution to people like me who start having ideas pop into our heads

just when we are ready to go to sleep and the lights are off.

Combining a pen and a light in one in a new aesthetically pleasing design.

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Here’s an interesting solution to the toilet situation… You know, the one where some guys can’t seem to

contain their #1?  2in1 Toilet concept

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Being a fan of Parkour, here’s a shoe that’s supposed to be better than what PKers usually use.

980 TATOU

Although I have read that many PK enthusiasts aren’t all that impressed with the current offerings for

specialty shoes and besides, true PK would ideally be done in bare feet. OUCH!

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Finally, the Zen Wagon by KaiKu will give the Red Radio Flyer wagon a run for it’s money.

HAPPY TRAILS

Yo, Step away from the Ding-Dong!

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, three-fourths of health care spending now goes to treat “preventable chronic diseases.”  Not all of these diseases are linked to diet — there’s smoking, for instance — but many of them are.

We spend $147 billion to treat obesity, $116 billion to treat diabetes, and hundreds of billions more treating cardiovascular disease and the many types of cancer that have been linked to the so-called Western diet.

Cheap food is going to be popular as long as the social and environmental costs of that food are charged to the future. There’s gobs of money to be made selling fast food and then treating the diseases that fast food causes. One of the leading products of the American food industry has become patients for the American health care industry.

Take for example the market for prescription drugs and medical devices to manage Type 2 diabetes, which the Centers for Disease Control estimates will afflict one in three Americans born after 2000.

So you might be thinking, what about the insurance companies? Where’s the incentive for them to encourage prevention over disease management?

As for the insurers, you would think preventing chronic diseases would be good business, but, at least under the current rules, it’s much better business simply to keep patients at risk for chronic disease out of your pool of customers, whether through lifetime caps on coverage or rules against pre-existing conditions or by figuring out ways to toss patients overboard when they become ill.

Maybe if they made it so you can’t deny pre-existing conditions for new customers and not charge exorbitantly higher fees, then the insurance companies might be enthusiastic fans of healthy lifestyle choices.

The status quo is slow to change and to entertain the idea of expulsion of those currently running the show is a bit ridiculous and likely to cause too much mayhem and chaos in the process.

True education and the desire to own and rediscover each of our divine personal power and use our waning ability to think and question for ourselves is a much more long term solution to this epidemic.

The secret to saving the world (assuming that it even needs to be saved)  is to start with yourself first and don’t worry about what the other person next to you is doing.  Get your own house in order. If these words are heeded by a majority, then we’ll be in pretty good shape.

and Hey! Put that Twinkie down!

I’ve seen the Future and Vertical Farming is It

Vertical Farming, or more definitive, Vertical Hydroponic Organic Urban Farming is coming to a town near you.  Or it should be, in my opinion. Yes, I know I’ve been on a farming bender lately with my blog, but hey, after air and water, food is pretty important to staying alive.

Even though I currently reside in a condo and don’t currently fancy myself possessing a green thumb unless it’s from paint, thanks to my mother and grandfather  et al, I’ve got  farmer’s blood  in me. And it is true that I’ve always been into quality food, health and nutrition.

Before I get into the cool pics and advantages of Vertical Farming, I need to bring up something else about our relationship with . . .

FOOD

Now of course, this ties in directly to the elephant in the room many people try to avoid confronting.  And that is the horrendously unhealthy typical American diet and its catastrophic effect on the out-of-control health care in this country.  Wait, we’re still calling this Health Care? More like Disease Management.

It’s the quality of food we eat – mostly processed and devoid of enzymes and basic nutrients in adequate levels. It’s the quantity too – most of us eat way too much food, much of it garbage.

It’s also when we eat.  Too many people skip breakfast or think a cup of joe is a sufficient breakfast. This is followed by eating the biggest meal of the day at dinnertime – often much too late in the evening.

Finally, lack of quality fresh food, effective, bio-available nutritional supplements, and eating while under time stress  and other stresses creates the inability to absorb and digest what we DO end up shoving in our mouths.

Artists Conceptions Gallery

There are a myriad of ‘pie in the sky’ artist conceptions and designs.

Perhaps a smaller model would be more easily created in a shorter amount of time.

Here’s a few interesting ideas:

Advantages of Vertical Farming

	Year-round crop production; 1 indoor acre is equivalent to 4-6 outdoor acres or more, depending upon the crop (e.g., strawberries: 1 indoor acre = 30 outdoor acres)
	No weather-related crop failures due to droughts, floods, pests
	All VF food is grown organically: no herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizers
	VF virtually eliminates agricultural runoff by recycling black water
	VF returns farmland to nature, restoring ecosystem functions and services
	VF greatly reduces the incidence of many infectious diseases that are acquired at the agricultural interface
	VF converts black and gray water into potable water by collecting the water of evapotranspiration
	VF adds energy back to the grid via methane generation from composting non-edible parts of plants and animals
	VF dramatically reduces fossil fuel use (no tractors, plows, shipping.)
	VF converts abandoned urban properties into food production centers
	VF creates sustainable environments for urban centers
	VF creates new employment opportunities
	We cannot go to the moon, Mars, or beyond without first learning to farm indoors on earth
	VF may prove to be useful for integrating into refugee camps
	VF offers the promise of measurable economic improvement for tropical and subtropical LDCs. If this should prove to be the case, then VF may be a catalyst in helping to reduce or even reverse the population growth of LDCs as they adopt urban agriculture as a strategy for sustainable food production.
	VF could reduce the incidence of armed conflict over natural resources, such as water and land for agriculture

As the world’s population has already surpassed 6 billion and billions more on the way, before we know it the traditional soil-based farming model developed over the last 12,000 years will no longer be a sustainable option.

Irrigation of crops uses 70 percent of the fresh water that we use. The excess agricultural runoff, contaminated with silt, pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, is unfit for reuse.

VF food production will take advantage of hydroponic and aeroponic technologies. Both methods are soil-free.  Hydroponics allows us to grow plants in a water-and-nutrient solution, while aeroponics grows them in a nutrient-laden mist. These methods use far less water than conventional cultivation techniques, in some cases as much as 90 percent less.

For every indoor acre farmed, some 10 to 20 outdoor acres of farmland can return to their original ecological state (mostly hardwood forest).

A vertical farm will behave like a functional ecosystem, in which waste is recycled and the water used in hydroponics and aeroponics is recaptured by dehumidification and used over and over again. The technologies needed to create a vertical farm are currently being used in controlled-environment agriculture facilities but have not been integrated into a seamless source of food production in urban high-rise buildings.

High rises aren’t the only structures that could house vertical farms. Farms of various sizes and crop yields could be built into a variety of urban settings — from schools, restaurants and hospitals to the upper floors of apartment complexes. By supplying a continuous quantity of fresh vegetables and fruits to city dwellers, these farms will help combat health problems, like Type II diabetes and obesity.

Vertical farming can finally put an end to agricultural runoff, a major source of water pollution.

City dwellers will also be able to breathe easier – literally. Vertical farms will bring a great concentration of plants into cities. These plants will absorb carbon dioxide produced by automobile emissions and give off oxygen in return

One estimate for proof of concept: constructing a five-story farm, taking up one-eighth of a square city block, will cost $20 million to $30 million.

An actual indoor farm developed at Cornell University growing hydroponic lettuce was able to produce as many as 68 heads per square foot per year. At a retail price in New York of up to $2.50 a head for hydroponic lettuce, you can see how profitable this and other similar crops can be.

Learn more about Vertical Farming @ http://www.verticalfarm.com/

Based on some of these predictions, I think a few of these future jobs are ready to go right now. . . like virtual clutter organizer and personal brander – heck, who couldn’t use that service now?

And in my optimistic opinion, I think with the fast rate of advancement with various technologies today, many of these predictions may come true much sooner, like say, 2020.

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Not so long ago ambitious youngsters dreamed of becoming doctors, teachers and lawyers.
But it seems the toddlers of today will be clamouring for a job in altogether more unusual fields.

Among the most popular professions in 2030 will be body-part maker, according to Government-commissioned research.

The role will use advances in stem cell technology and prosthetics to create replacements for damaged, diseased and worn-out body parts.

Other occupations of 2030 include memory augmentation surgeons, who will boost the brain’s storage capacity, and space architects, who will design accommodation on the Moon and even further afield.

Advances in science and technology mean they are all likely to be part of everyday life within two decades, according to trend analysts from the Fast Future consultancy.

Other future professions include personal branders, who help others look more interesting when using social networking sites such as Facebook, Bebo and Twitter.

If it all goes wrong, there will be social ‘networking’ workers – social workers trained to help those traumatised or marginalised by their computer addiction.

Virtual clutter organisers, meanwhile, will help us organise our electronic lives.

With Virgin Galactic and other companies pioneering space tourism, space pilots, tour guides and architects are predicted to be in high demand, as are those working on underwater and flying cars.

Jobs as climate change reversal specialists – engineers and scientists who try to reduce or reverse the effects of global warning – are also expected to get a flood of applications, the researchers said.

Weather modification police – who control advances in science that allow us to trigger rainfall – and ‘new science’ ethicists will help keep the scientific advances in check.

The big bucks, however, will come from memory augmentation surgery, virtual law and nano-medicine – the use of tiny particles in drugs and medical devices.

Other growth areas include vertical farming, in which lack of space means crops are cultivated in urban high-rises or ‘farm-scrapers’.

Another popular role will be that of narrow-caster, who tailors the TV footage streamed into your home from hundreds of available channels.

But, just like today, the work of the future will not be all fun.

The least exciting jobs include quarantine enforcers, who will prevent the spread of disease, and waste data handlers who will stop us from being tracked by cyber-criminals.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Feeling Overwhelmed Sucks!  I’ve been there many a times and can totally relate to anyone who’s feeling that right now.

Here’s what I’ve learned from a recent Jack Canfield call on how to handle being overwhelmed as well as a great definition for what it means.

Overwhelmed:

Is having lots of options without criteria for sorting them out.

You need to have guidelines and prioritize your options basing them on your passions, interests committments, etc.

How to get out of overwhelmedness.

Grab some 3×5 cards and write everything you have committed to / goals – one per card.

Next, take two of them and compare which is more important than the other and sort accordingly. Do this with the next on down the list until you have them in order of importance.

Take into consideration the time, money and resources each one will take.  Which ones are most exciting to you. Which are most important for you to accomplish and so on.

Start with one of the goals and decide 3 things of action you can do over the next week.  If it involves something you have no idea how to go about doing, find someone who has already done what you want to do and contact them to see if they will help you in some way – you might be surprised at how often people will help.

How many goals are too many?

It differs from one person to the next. Some people are good at multitasking and delegating or are just natural over achievers.

If you are still feeling overwhelmed by the number of things you want to accomplish in a given period of time then you are probably over doing it for yourself.

It also could be that you have too many SHOULD DO goals rather than WANT TO goals.

A good habit to have is writing down things the night before of what you are going to do the next day.  This allows your subconscious to work on it during sleep and the law of attraction puts it out into the universe to help manifest your goals.

Instead of having a standard TO DO list, add the times WHEN you are going to do each thing. By putting everything in a time frame, you can reassess realistic expectations and reprioritize.

For example, say you have 5 things you want to get accomplished tomorrow. Put them in order of importance. Instead of working in a REACTIVE state, work from INTENTION and CREATION.

Using visualization is key here.  Visualize having the life and BELIEVE you can have it.  Some people find a vision board or book to help focus their intentions and mindset on what they want to be  do and have.

Figure out what you have to give up till you make the transition – maybe TV, movies, dinners out, some sleep.  IT takes a high level of commitment to get what you want – you have to really want it.  And remember, it’s not forever, just until you make it.

With the United States Congress pushing to pass questionable ‘health care’ bill thru the House and Senate, it is crystal clear that the government is clueless and unwilling to go after real POSITIVE CHANGE…

Sure, the president built his whole campaign on the concept of CHANGE… but I never heard it phrased as Change for the BETTER.

For far too long we have had a system of disease management.  Waiting for people to get sick and THEN try to make them well again… Health Care as it is today is mislabeled… IT should be called, Disease Management. Most of the money spent on health care is spent AFTER people are sick.

What we need is to switch to PREVENTION and Proactive healthy lifestyle living. If we don’t, the aging Baby Boomer population will bankrupt our nation.   We need to shift from “wait till you get sick and then try to make you healthy” to “keeping you healthy so you don’t get sick.” This is where Billions of new dollars are going to be spent.

Shaklee’s clinically proven, patented natural products are how you and I can live this new paradigm.

It’s also a phenomenal way to earn a great living and help the world be a better place at the same time.

YOU don’t have to feel excluded from the American Dream… watch this video from Shaklee’s CEO, Roger Barnett and then click on the link to see how You can Take part.

Roger Barnett Shaklee 2010 Highlight

Learn more about how you can be a part of the Shaklee Family.

Master What You Do

My new year’s Gift to YOU. I’m passing on some inspiring thoughts from some of my teachers. . .

In the book, Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D Wattles -he’s always saying to Do Things In A Certain Way.

I’ve translated this to mean MASTER WHAT YOU DO.

Leave everyone you come into contact with, with the IMPRESSION OF INCREASE

Everyone does something well. Start looking for what others do well and bring it to their attention and let them know you notice it. Give them an idea that inspires them.
If you see the best in other people, companies, circumstances – you’ll be in a great vibration and feel good all the time and your whole world will improve.

In other words – make Them feel good because you have come into contact with them.
By leaving each person you meet with the “impression of increase”, you will not only make that person feel better, you will also be enriching your life.

This will, in turn, create an energy that will flow through you towards the person you’re uplifting and it will make you feel better in the process.

Feel empowered to make the other person feel good, because the benefits are endless.

The compensation you get from developing this into your own character, to leave every person with the impression of increase – not talking just money – but everything in your life will grow in abundance.

It’s said you don’t get rich by doing certain things, you get rich by doing things in a certain way. Said another way, you don’t become a real pro in your field by doing certain things, you become a pro by doing them in a certain way – master what you do.

There are laws that govern this universe and you need to understand them – otherwise you’ll just hit and miss – nothing of consequence will come to you.

[thinking end results]

You do not become the best in your field by doing things in a certain way. Be calm and confident. Know who u are.

Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom. It’s the result of long and patient effort in self control – james allen

Self control is a basic quality of leadership.

Before you can do something you first must BE something.

Bring your mind in harmony with the laws that govern your being. You must understand that

• the thoughts you think control your emotions,
• and your emotions control the vibration that you body is in
• so it controls how you act.

If you don’t spend time gaining an understanding of the relationship of the conscious to the subconscious to the body, then you’re dealing on a hit and miss basis.

Life is very short – it can be a phenomenal glorious ride or it can be miserable pile of shit if you don’t understand how to make things happen.

The law says that what you put out comes back. So we just want to put out our very best. It doesn’t matter what everyone else is doing.

If you’re going to win you have to be courageous. The opposite of courage is not cowardess,  it’s conformity.

It’s just going along with everybody else. Don’t do that – you’ll end up where they end up. Which is nowhere, struggling to get by.
You want to stand out like a beacon on a dark night.

You want to make certain that you are one of the most effective human beings you could ever be.

You and I become what we think about… Not just the ones we consciously entertain. We become what thoughts we take and internalize – the ones we get emotionally involved in – the thoughts we let control us.

Don’t let others control how you think about things.

You don’t become the best at what you’re doing by doing certain things, you become the best by thinking all the way through to end results. Make it a part of your way of life.

Regardless of what you may have done in the past, you are going to be amazing in 2010.

Make up your mind, today, you’re going to do it better than you’ve ever done it before.
Do it a certain way -the certain way is the best way – - – there’s always a better way. What’s best today isn’t best tomorrow – there’s always a better way tomorrow…

Every day – get better at what you do you and give it everything you have… master what you do.

Your stock will go up – if where you are doesn’t recognize it then there is always someone at the door who is willing to pay you more.

Here’s where a lot of what I said came from : personal development teacher, Bob Proctor.

Oh, and for those of you (you know who you are)… I leave with a final word.

F-O-C-U-S

The ‘Gurus’ are NOT Your Friends.

There. I said it.  Unless you were offline buddies before or have met in person and hung out in a non-business way, the guy you are following, learning from and giving your time and money to is NOT your friend and is not out for your best interests unless it suits his or her interests.

Hopefully, they ARE a good teacher and are giving you something of VALUE in the form of knowledge, skills and training know-how in exchange for your precious time.

The people who are most successful in this business work on themselves [personal development], and are constantlylearning new things.  They aren’t afraid to step up and LEAD.  They have good communication skills and can convey their knowledge to others.

Don’t get me wrong, most of these people aren’t egomaniacal sociopaths out to screw everyone else over – although there ARE plenty of them out here and they can be very hard to spot immediately – hell, I’ve come across a few in my time.  But I digress, most of those who are out here trying to make a better way for themselves and their families are honest, decent, interesting people.

Furthermore, although the internet offers massive leverage of your time, each of us still has just 24 hours in a day to live.  Including the ‘guru’s’ who are being inundated by dozens or 100s or 1000s of people in need of their precious time.

So like I said before, unless you are great buddies with your teacher, ‘online business partner’ , marketing expert, guru, whatever label you slap on it, then don’t get your panties in a bunch when they don’t respond to your email, tweet,  or call right away – or even ever in some cases, when it’s obvious to everyone but you that you are just wasting everybody’s time.

After being in this business for longer than most people, I see how things operate behind the curtain, beneath the hype, etc.

There’s always going to be another ‘PreLaunch’… another revolutionary system that’s going to turn the industry on its head. . . another gotta have tool, system, ebook, insider club to join…

Those who get to ‘print money on command’ or ‘get rich quick’ are the ones who’ve already put in the time and money and have finally positioned themselves as an authority with a faithful following.  That’s why you’ll see people who claim (and it’s often legit) that they made $8750 in 14 hours or some other wild claim.  What you’re not getting is that they spent 3 years building up an Email LIST of several thousand people and 5 or 10% of them took him up on whatever offer he sent out.

Your momma told you if it sounds too good to be true, then it is. What I’m saying is more accurately would be, it may be true, but it’s not the whole true.  There’s the back story that is shoved under the carpet and ignored. Why? Because, the truth isn’t exciting… the truth shows the hard work it took. . . the truth can be ugly and tough.

If you are a successful internet marketer or strive to be one, then you are in SALES… and you have a handle on the psychology of what makes people tick.  What?  They didn’t tell you that?  Well, now you know.

How to not be an idiot at internet marketing.

I’m going to cover 3 critical mistakes to your online wealth creation.  I’ll tell you right away that if you correct the first mistake, then the other 2 will take care of themselves. I’m going to discuss them all anyway so you can see the flow.

How do you know if you are making these mistakes?

CLUE:  You have been busting your butt for months or years and still haven’t made any  [real] money

Here’s what you are probably doing- not because you are stupid or lazy, but just because you didn’t know any better.

Number 1 Mistake:

You are sending leads directly to an affiliate’s landing page and not your own page.

The Fix:

Take control of the list by building your own list. Never send TRAFFIC or LEADS to a site or lead capture page that you don’t control.  Make your own capture page which creates a buffer between you and the ‘gurus’ site.

IF you just send traffic or leads directly to a guru’s site, you are now out of the picture and have no control over what happens to those leads.  The guru has control over those leads and not YOU.

By building a ‘gatekeeper’ capture page to send them to, you then have control over emailing them for LIFE (or as long as they stay opted into your list) which allows you to maintain control of the list and the ability to communicate via emails, videos, blogs, phone, etc.

To get to the guru, you have a simple capture page set up that basically says, give me your name and email and I’ll let you thru to the affiliate/guru site. Do this using your own autoresponder, aka, AWEBER, or getresponse, etc. and then once a lead opts in, have it redirect them to the guru’s lead capture page.

So by not funneling the traffic and leads thru your own lead capture page first, you can’t follow up with emails to your leads – they don’t know who you are, your story, etc. Remember, people buy from those who they feel they know like and trust.  By not being able to do this, YOU ARE SCREWING YOURSELF OVER!

So the proper steps to take are:

1. The prospect sees your ad or email
2. S/he goes to your capture page where they opt in to your own autoresponder  - Aweber, get reponse, etc
3. Once opted in, they are redirected to the guru’s lead capture page.

Once again the 3 mistakes are:

1. not controlling the list. . . which results in -
2. lost upfront income from potential sales. . . as well as -
3. Not being able to follow up with the leads and lost of long term income potential

In case you haven’t heard about the latest Google Slap, you should know that it can wreak havoc on many Affiliate Marketing Review Sites.

Early reports have some very decent sites losing several page ranks while others have actually improved some.

The main idea behind it is to give more weight to quality sites and punish crappy ‘me too’ affiliate sites that are put together by people with little or no interest in offering anything of real value and just in it for a quick buck.

So this tip is only for those Affiliate Marketers who aren’t going to produce garbage sites, ok?

USE REDIRECTS FOR YOUR AFFILIATE LINKS

If you aren’t already doing this, here’s how simple it is to do.  And for those of us who just got forgetful and/or lazy, now’s the time to go back and clean house.  I know, I know, it will involve a lot of time consuming busy body work, but it’s something you should’ve been doing all along.

Here’s what you do in a nutshell:

Use subdomains of your main domain to redirect your affiliate links to the affiliate site.

1. Create a subdomain that makes sense to you for each affiliate link:

• clickbank.hop.net.coolproduct44556 will use the subdomain ‘coolproduct‘

2. in your Cpanel, create the subdomain coolproduct for mydomain.com

3. go to manage redirection of subdomain ‘coolproduct’ and paste your affiliate link in there and SAVE

Make sure to change any preexisting hyperlinks in your blog or website from the old affiliate link to your new redirected subdomain address:

Example –

• original link was: ‘http://clickbank.hop.net.coolproduct44556′
• gets changed to :’http://coolproduct.mydomain.com’

Now you know, future efforts should go smoother and quicker.