The Fearless Blogger

Today I discovered what just may be my favorite e-cards ever!

As I was nosing around the CDC website, perusing the latest H1N1 information (isn’t that how everyone spends their evening downtime?) I noticed they’ve included an H1N1 social media page.

Awesome sauce! Not sure if you know this about me but:

PANDEMIC + CDC INFO + SOCIAL MEDIA(!) =
IRRESISTIBLE TO FARYL

I happily clicked away.

That’s when I noticed this section:

No Way! Excellent!

I’m not sure what I was expecting to see, but the CDC didn’t let me down.  Caring friends and family can select from a variety of “occasions” ranging from Autumn to College Health to Disabilities to Halloween to Salmonella to STDs and more.  They even have “Congratulations on Your New Pet” and Valentine’s Day cards!

This is a small sample of the selection the Flu category has to offer:

My particular favorite is the Father’s Day card:

Not impressed?  Just wait – there are animated cards as well.

How many times has this happened to you? Your best friend is getting married tomorrow. Here you are, a bridesmaid, and what with sharing all the joy and festivities and excitement – you forgot to buy a card.

I’ve totally been there.

Well, fear not, my friend – the CDC to the rescue!!

This Wedding Card even features a soundtrack (one that bears a bit of a resemblance to the Tonight Show theme)!

There are too many options to post screen shots of them all here.

Some of my other favorites:

• Wishing You a Seizure-Free Day
• I Got Tested – Did You?
• Here’s to an Alcohol-Free Pregnancy!

The list goes on and on . . . You’ll just have to visit the site yourself so you can choose the one that’s the perfect fit for your special day.

Feeling down because no one’s ever sent a CDC card to you?

Well turn that frown upside down!  Because I care!

That’s right! I created a card just for you!
View it here!

As a blogger, I’m always happy to find new resources for free/royalty free images. I thought I’d pass this info along to those of you who feel the same:

Crestock.com has released a new WordPress plugin called Freebie Images:

Spice up your blog with professional, high quality, free stock photos & images! With an amazingly simple Drag and Drop interface, blogging has never been this easy!

(The following information is from the Crestock.com blog)

What is it and what does it do?
The Freebie Images Plugin gives you a micro format search interface inside your WordPress Admin where you can search for and add images to your blog post – free of charge. The images are perfectly sized for blogs – between 300px and 400px width.

How does it work?
The plugin uses Crestocks existing search algorithm, so the search results – and images – are the same as on Crestock.com.After doing an image search, youre presented with the search results.

Adding the images to your post couldnt become much easier – when youve found the image you want, simply drag & drop it into your blog post, in the position where you want the image, and thats it.

You also get access to most of the advanced filtering options on Crestock.com with a single click, for example:

• Number of images per page
• Image Orientation
• File type
• Pagination

Where can I get it?
The plugin can be downloaded from Freebie Images.com – the Plugin home page.

Please Note
I should caution you that Crestock.com is describing this as a “public beta”. In other words, don’t expect perfection (or in other other words – use at your own risk!). From a quick glance at Crestock.com’s blog post, it looks like people have reported some bugs  (it wasn’t clear if they were issues with the plugin or from lack of documentation for proper installation).

I’ve not yet had a chance to give the plugin a try, but will report back once I do.  In the meantime, feel free to share your experiences in the comments below.

For More Details
Launching Freebie Images WordPress Plugin | Crestock.com Blog.

This post at speckboy.com crossed my radar today.  It was too good to keep to myself and didn’t want to wait until I have time to put together my own WordPress resource list together to share it, so it gets its own blog post:

 63 Essential WordPress Hacks, Tutorials, Help Files and Cheats

thanks to @mayhemstudios & @minervity for posting the link

Barack Obama‘s inauguration is less than a week away.

In the past, I don’t know that I’ve even watched replays of Inauguration Day ceremonies or ceremonies on the evening news.

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This year, I want to celebrate.

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I won’t be in Washington, D.C. I’ll be watching on TV with friends, cocktail in hand to toast to our new President and usher in a period of hope in our country.   read more

 

To celebrate her birthday, Tamar Weinberg has gathered the mother of all lists of internet marketing posts for 2008. It’s a list you don’t want to miss – it’s one you’ll want to bookmark and save with your very most special and favorite-est bookmarks. Click over to that list immediately and see for yourself.

Be sure to wish Tamar a happy birthday while you’re there!

Tamar Weinberg is a social media enthusiast with a passion for all things tech and productivity. She provides consulting in internet marketing and blogs for numerous online publications, most notably Real Simple Magazine, Lateral Action, Search Engine Roundtable, and Mashable. She is also a former Lifehacker contributor.

From Tamar's About Page