TruthyReport 3.0

Version History:

v. 0.1 - basic blog & opinion site.
v. 1.0 - site upgraded with full profile, regular features.
v. 1.5 - blog now follows MNL projects.
v. 1.7 - blog now has regular features & a new layout.
v. 2.0 - blog now focuses primarily on MNL projects - rants are secondary.

What's new in this Version:

v. 3.0:
1. A new layout - archives moved down, mini-profile moved up.
2. New features - "On This Day in History" added for interest sake. There is now a bandwidth speed test at the bottom right, so you can see if your internet connection is as fast as you're paying for!
3. Google AdSense - Every time you click on an ad, it donates $0.10 to The Truthy Report, helping to fund my many MNL projects! For instance, CreationContest.org's costs can be covered if TruthyReport readers click on ads 100 times - that's just ten people clicking ten times each in a month.

Future:

More upgrades are plan for the future, as The Truthy Report continues to adapt and expand!

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ZionData has also been updated with the new layout changes, a link back to The Truthy Report, and Google AdSense.

Also, as more of a footnote to most readers than a major announcement, I have introduced a new blog called CS3Data which will share with readers the many fascinating things that I discover in Adobe CS3 Programs, primarily Adobe Photoshop.

A School Shooting

My first short story of the fall semester, "The Third Gunman" is an intense window into a school shooting motivated by racial hatred, with Jesus' name standing in the middle.

~ Read "The Third Gunman" at Faithwriters.com! ~

As with all of my stories, it is written with a subject-appropriate level of violence, and contains no foul language but one misuse of the word "hell."

Calling All Sane-Minded People!!!

NBC is taking a poll on their website to find out if Americans really want "In God We Trust" taken off the money. Here's our chance as Christians to stand up and tell them how we feel by simply taking a minute to go to their website and voting!

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10103521/

CreationContest.org

My latest MNL creation launched this month --> creationcontest.org.

CreationContest is a FREE online publication. There are no entry fees, no monetary prizes, and no scams. We exist to promote and encourage talented writers such as yourself, both casually and professionally.
- Excerpt from creationcontest.org

Check out the site for more details! Everyone is welcome to enter a short story into one of these two contests, both amateur and professional alike. Once all entries have been received for this round of stories, readers like you can vote on your favorite!

Enter your story today!

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There's a new post on ZionData! Read "What God is teaching me this August."

The Big Day

"The Big Day" is my latest short story, which follows the father of a bride-to-be on her special day. It's not about making a political point, and it's not about expanding the horizons of your imagination. That's what my other stories have been for. No, this story exists merely to place you in the life of the protagonist for a few hours of his life. This story is about real life.

Inspired by my sisters' upcoming wedding (congrats, Jen & Doug!!!), this story strays miles away from our lives in an attempt to write a wedding story that does not in any way reflect upon the one that we're about to celebrate. Which is certainly a good thing because--well, you'll see. Or read, as the case may be.

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In other news today, i've launched a new blog for my personal devotional notes, sermon notes, quotes, and other things that encourage and teach me in my faith. Please feel free to take a look around from time to time, and I pray that it encourages you as well! As with all MNL sites, I will mention any updates to that blog here at The Truthy Report. To see my new blog, check out ZionData (accessible from the right sidebar from now on).

BIG NEWS now regarding my game, Minions of Battle: anyone who pre-registers before the game launches will recieve one free donation level. Click here to learn more about donation levels, and why you really want one. With each donation level (a $5 value), you get more perks and great features that average users don't have access to.
PLUS: e-mail to register at minionsadmin(@)gmail.com (remove the braces) and mention that you saw this notice in The Truthy Report, an you'll get a second donation level FREE. This is a very time-limited offer, so please e-mail us right away if you are interested. Even if you're not sure, why give up free stuff? Please help support this game by signing up. Thanks!

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ZionData has also been updated with a link back to The Truthy Report, the revised layout, and Google AdSense.

UEF Bismark

The fifth short story of the summer is a surprise return to my writing roots - science fiction. Bearing some resemblance to my 2002 story "Diamond Genocide," "U.E.F. Bismark" follows the crew of a warship from Earth, commanded by the warmonger Colonel Brack.
Discover a new world, a new race, and an analogous commentary on violence and morality.

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Your non-word of the day is "drow-non". You can reach your own conclusions about what that's all about. :-)

MOB Affiliates

To drum up support for my upcoming game, MInions of Battle, I am now looking for friends and friends of friends who are interested in exchanging banners or text ads that will cross-advertise with each other's sites.

If you own a website, a blog, a profile to your graphics or writing work online, a fansite, you name it - I want to affiliate with you.

Why affiliate with this site?
Affiliation increases the number of visitors to your site exponentially, in a process know as chaining. When I affiliate with Site1, I start recieving visitors from Site1 and my site. When Site1 is affiliated with Site2 and Site 3, I start receiving visitors from all three sites. A visitor that googled Site 2 can visit Site1 through Site2's affiliate links and then find my site in Site1's affiliates page.

Confused?
The short version = affiliating with my site means exponentially more visitors to your site(s), more replies to your blog, more feedback on your portfolio, and more people buying your products & services.

Don't have a banner ad to exchange?
Depending on your site, I will either make one for you for free, exchange text links, or make other arrangements with you.

You can FB message me to reply to this note, or simply e-mail us at minionsadmin@gmail.com.

www.minionsofbattle.com

My Second Fable

It can't really be explained. Read and enjoy, my fourth story of the summer: Beard Brush. Yes, it is a little strange. As explained in the forward, this story is a little more offbeat than I've been writing lately, but I hope that you will enjoy it anyway.

As always, your feedback is appreciated.

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Truthy fact: bananas go bad faster if they are covered and sealed away somewhere. Bananas will last longer if you leave them out in the open at room temperature. Weird.

MOB Domain

A little update for you on the MOB website - some advanced functionality has been implemented behind the scenes. Users won't actually see it for a while yet, but you can feel better knowing that it's there.

In extremely happy news, Minions of Battle can now be accessed via minionsofbattle.com!

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Your non-word of the day is "proregression," [pro-re-gress-tion]. The on-again, off-again pattern of progressing and regressing.

MOB Website Launches!

The year-long wait for a Minions of Battle website is over! Check out our new site at , which features a few new tidbits of information on the game, as well as a link to our game forum.

Check out this link for the official release thread.

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In other MOB news, our second programmer has been hired, and will begin work tomorrow morning. This recent hire should put us back on track for a summer release of MOB's alpha testing version, leading later to a beta testing version, and hopefully a full public version to be fully playable before the end of the year. Depending on ad revenues & donation levels, we may be able to take months off of that timeline. More details will follow, as always!

The Classica Chronicles

My first project at WEbook is "The Classica Chronicles," described on-site:

"The Classica Chronicles" follows numerous classic characters, beginning with Ebenezer Scrooge, in an 18th century world populated by the people and places made famous by such authors as H.G. Wells and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. TCC takes a fresh look at these characters and examines the implications of their personality and life, and even other paths that life might have taken them if only events had transpired differently than in the original accounts.

I wrote this tale off and on throughout early 2008, and this is its first public showing! I hope you enjoy it; I know that I really enjoyed writing it.

MNL on WEbook!

Continuing in my endeavor gain exposure and pursue growth in my writing, I have now joined WEbook, a new site that has great promises for up-and-coming authors. I'll reserve judgment until I find out for myself, but the site appears to be useful. In the future, you may be able to access some of my writings at my WEbook profile.
I am also adding a link to the right side of this page, with my other MNL links.

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Your non-word for the day is "fope" [fo-pe]. A bright look to the future with the understanding that something amazing is on the horizon. ie, "He had much fope despite his current standing."

Bringing MNL Projects to the Forefront

My Geocities page, defunct since 2005 (made so by the advent of my former permanent website) has just got it's first update in 3 years. Several images and links were added, all pointing to various MNL pages that are mentioned in previous posts on this blog, as well as this blog itself.

If you're unfamiliar with this technique: the more websites that you have linking to you, the better you do in the Google search listings. By linking from my old Geocities page, as well as from this blog, several of my sites have leapt up in the rankings. Please link to my sites on your own pages, blogs, forum posts, etc! Your help is greatly appreciated.

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In other news, the Crosswalk.com "Toss a Topic" challenge #10 is currently being judged. "Antipode Avenue" got a less than stunning review compared to "Lady Spring," but it's not out for the count just yet. I'm considering making several key changes for future reprint of the story, mostly revolving around how the characters are identified, and the final action at the end.

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Your non-word for today is spreadiferous. [Spread-if-er-ous] . Something that effectively reaches out to far away corners in an attempt to be noticed. ie, "MNL sites are attempting to become more spreadiferous of late."

MOB Updates

More updates have been added to the "Official Announcements" topic on the MOB forum.

Check back often to see how the game is progressing!

Also, quick links have been added for your convenience on the right side of this page, so you can now access my various project pages directly.

FWD: And you thought spying was easy yesterday

No comments are really necessary - check out this news clip i stumbled upon.

Antipode Avenue

My third short story of the summer is "Antipode Avenue," written as an entry in the Crosswalks.com "Toss a Topic" challenge #10. Please read the story and vote for me at the Crosswalks.com forum!

My second story of the summer is "Captivo," which was entered into the FaithWriters' "Writing Challenge." Click here to read!

You can read my award-winning first story, "Lady Spring" here. Registration is required, but you should join anyway so that you can read my stories!

MNL Design Portfolio

My portfolio has just undergone a thorough work through, and the amount of content has more than tripled. Check it out here!

You can see numerous logos, signs, banners, avatars and much more! To break out of the box a little, you should especially check out the "Bringing Customer Designs to Life" set! To view sets that are not currently visible, click the link below the four visible sets labeled, "[view all sets]."

As always, I am available for hire for all major forms of print & online graphics work.

ATTENTION GAMERS, FACEBOOK, & INSTANT MESSENGER USERS:
I provide free services for all individual avatars, display pictures, and other related graphics. All I ask in return is that you advertise my services to your friends and colleagues.

Thanks, and enjoy!

1.5 Years Later

It feels like just yesterday that I was pouring out my soul onto the open road of cyberspace, but alas, it has in fact been nearly a year and a half. They say that time flies when you're having fun, so I must be having more fun than the entire cast of The Office, because time has eluded me with great haste.

So, what have I been doing with myself over these past months? Well, i'm happy to say that i'm not a Junior at Liberty University, and I have plenty to say about my various projects. In case you are a long-time reader, i'll start with projects that you may be familiar with:

1. MikeLovdal.com - my long-held website was in a period of undisturbed slumber... that is until my provider decide to forget that I owned the domain. We'll see what happens with that, but for the time being, there is no website.
2. The Cyst List - TCL, as well as all other TruthyReport features went down with the MikeLovdal.com mothership, and is not more. Try not to sob too openly, but alas, there she blows.
3. The ECW (Emerging Christian Writers) - after a long period of inactivity and server problems, our glorious group petered out into nothingness. Much to my dismay and chagrin, but such is life.
4. Fused #1 - my first book has been completed! I'm just picking a publisher, and will soon be taking pre-orders! Fused #2 is now in the early planning stages. We'll see what happens with that.
5. Song Lyrics - long-time readers will know that I used to host around 40+ song lyrics on my site before it went down. Well, my number of songs is upwards of 200 now, so expect a book of song lyrics to be released sometime in the future.

Now, projects that you may not be as aware of:
1. Short Stories - I have been entering numerous short story contests lately, and i've been posting them on my FaithWriters.com and Writing.com profile pages. Please check them out and leave your feedback! Feedback has been exceptional thus far, so i'm very pleased.
2. MOB (Minions of Battle) - my massively multiplayer RPG / strategy game is well on it's way! Please register at our temporary forum and start posting as we keep you informed with game developments!

A special note regarding all projects, especially MOB - we are always looking for volunteers to work with us on a number of these projects. If you are interested in getting involved, please reply to this thread with a means of contacting you. Remember that any information that you send will be public, so avoid using phone numbers or other more personal means of communication.

Thanks, and welcome back to the TruthyReport!

Truthy Be Told

Welcome back, loyal Truthy Report fans, and welcome for the first time, ye wandering nomads!

As you can see, the Truthy Report has had a few minor aesthetic changes. That's not all that's changed:

my website, MikeLovdal.com is in a period of hibernation as I go through university. Also,

the ECW forum has moved to http://ecw.jconserv.net/index.php

Christian writers and readers are encouraged to join up, and get in on what's going on.

You'll also start seeing more actual blog entries here, so keep checking back!

The Real Matrix

Morpheus: What is the Matrix? Control. The Matrix is a computer-generated dream world built to keep us under control in order to change a human being into this.
[holds up a Duracell battery]
Neo: No, I don't believe it. It's not possible.
Morpheus: I didn't say it would be easy, Neo. I just said it would be the truth.

Although The Matrix has a more confused theology than Tom Cruise, it raises a very interesting point about life. Where The Matrix postulates that the real world is the illusion, I would use this famous quote to describe a different beast altogether. We know that reality is exactly that - real. The Matrix is entertaining fiction. Entertaining, but fiction. That world that was built to keep us under control - that isn't nearly as fictional as we would like to believe. There are no machines sucking our bodily fluids (unless you're recovering in a hospital), and there are no vicious programs trying to conquer humanity - but there is a virtual world that is trying to suck you into it.

If you don't know what I am referring to just yet, don't feel bad. Up until today, neither did I. Have you ever lost contact with a friend or family member because they don't use e-mail? I know that I have. I said to myself the slogan of progress, "If you're not online, you don't exist". The world gets smaller with every advancement of technology - and yet... something's missing.

I discovered why the world seems smaller now. It is. No, i'm not suggesting that the Earth is like a cotton shirt being washed for the first time - i'm suggesting that those of us that are not able to join the new world are left to die in the old one, making our new world nice and small. The virtual world is the Gentleman's club of the 21st Century. It is the Hall of Lords and the Order of the privileged. It is also an extremely ignorant and narrow view of a world largely unassociated with the rest of existence.

I am not suggesting that the internet is inherently evil. If I were anti-technology, I wouldn't be wasting my time typing blogs that nobody reads. I'm saying that we have to be extraordinarily careful not to loose touch with the world that matters - that vast world that hasn't grown smaller. That sea of faces that aren't able to access the world-within-a-world.

Surf, e-mail, poke, re:, Skype - but most of all, LIVE. Befriend the human beings that live around you, and don't worry so much about that dude that you met on MSN or AIM. mIRC, chat sites, Yahoo and MSN groups - all this is meaningless if you use them to replace what is real.

Today I unregister from my forums, and I delete my "hey", "hey" contacts. If you don't know what I mean by that, consider yourself blessed.

God bless you, and may He reveal his creation to you in a new and powerful way. There's a whole world to explore out there - don't just read about it!