So, I recently ran into this site because I was using another survey site called "UTalkBack" and felt that utalkback was severely lacking and I needed something different. If you don't want to read any further, let me tell you this much: Cashle and Points2Shop appear legitimate after about a month's worth of playing around. Here's a referral to their site: http://www.points2shop.com/?ref=ss0luu Other details follow...
It appears that both cashle and p2s are the same site and that the main difference in the two sites are the payouts. They also appear to be available in the US and UK. I'm not sure yet if they're available in other countries. Anyhow, let's look at cashle first. Cashle pays you pennies to a dollar for you to do surveys. At first glance, the surveys seem to be conducted by third-party phishing sites. In fact, most of them are (ie: myrewardsvault, national survey panel, etc). However, there are a couple of surveys that are sprinkled in that are genuinely used for market research. I did one about cars from AmpSurveys today for instance, and look, no spam mails in my inbox yet. I also have to throw in that it took me circa 40 minutes to complete. Not really worth it for $0.50 USD, it's still better to get a job. I can see though that with time, this could be a side-hobby and a tertiary source of income. If I had to guess, I suspect the most you'll get out of this will be a hundred dollars (maybe a couple hundred for those that are extremely active).
So, onto p2s. Regardless of which site you log on to or register with, your information will be interchangeable with the other. This makes life easy, eh? So let's talk payouts. on p2s, you get points for doing surveys. These points can be racked up and cashed in for any item that is currently selling on amazon. 1 point = $0.01 and 10 points = $0.10 and 100 points = $1.00 and so on. You could even get an xbox 360 if you worked diligently on the site. That aside, you have a little more in terms of stuff you can do on p2s. For one, you can play games against other people and score points if you win. Unfortunately, you have an entrance fee which is about half of the total prize fee. The games are also pretty simple and I fear subject to cheats. However, to the best of my knowledge, these two sites regulate cheaters and potential cheaters pretty intensively. However, I still think they fail because I lost about 500 points to just one individual. Apparently, whatever I played, she followed and I wasn't comfortable with that. Still, the games are only a small subset of what's available. And one game particularly, Number Limbo, gives you an opportunity to win a pot of points which could be a couple thousand on the weekends.
Two more things are left to talk about. First, referrals. Yes, you can refer friends and like a pyramid scheme, you can get a higher payout based upon their activity. Financially though, it makes sense and unlike the infamous pyramid schemes we've seen before in the past, these payouts aren't ridiculous and really, they're still just pennies to a dollar. Next, there are "quests" that you can participate in. No additional energy is required as these are things like, "Do 5 surveys in one day" or "refer 5 friends to p2s" and such. The catch is that quests award you "merits" which are different from points. You can use these merits with other individuals as a team in monthly competitions though, and the winning team is then rewarded a prize (points). Still, you have to then start your own team or be accepted into one. Being accepted into one will require a lot of work though as the individuals here are really dedicated to winning.
If you're seriously that interested in it, I suggest you just go to the site and check it out. There's not much difference in being a spectator and registered user other than that registered users actually accrue points and money. That's all for now, I'll tell you more about UTalkBack.net next time. Cheers!
Monday, February 22, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Happy Chinese New Years!
Well, February 14th is Chinese New Years. So, I just thought I'd wish you all a Happy Chinese New Years! After all, there's only about 1.3 billion people (in one country) that celebrates it. Who knows how many others celebrate, but regardless, wish you all an awesome and great new years! And by the way, 2010 is going to be the year of the tiger.
...And while I'm at it, Happy Valentine's Day!
...And while I'm at it, Happy Valentine's Day!
Monday, February 1, 2010
One Really Messed Up Bad Dream that I Hope to Never Have Ever Again. Ever.
At 2am, my eyes were open and my heart was pulsating. Another bad dream. Nightmare? Yep. The visions in my dreams are entirely apocalyptic but what's worse is that my dreams always find a way to become darker, more insidious, and more disturbing. Yet, despite the seemingly endless nightmares that my mind conjures, what makes it so awful is how it could be real. In fact, all of my dreams are in the context of real life, even if that life is similar to my own. I wonder what this means, I truly do. To say it is due to what my daily activities, well, I live a very dull life. I wake up, brush my teeth, shower, get dressed, eat food, and go to work. At work, I sit in front of a computer all day. After work, I return home, cook some dinner, take another shower and answer questions on Yahoo Answers all night until I get sleepy. That or play online poker (not real money) or read up on new cell phones or technology stuff through a bunch of random blogs. Going to the grocery store is the one bi-weekly activity that stretches beyond my normal routine. And yet, my dreams are so vivid and even realistically horrifying that if I stopped to describe the setting and the people, I'm certain there would be an actual place identical to what my mind saw. I wouldn't be surprised if Hollywood made a horror movie out of what I dreamt! I mean, horror movies have got nothing on my brain. I just hope that the events never happen!
So, if I explain what I dreamt last night you'll understand. Things began with a small man-made creek behind a woman's house. It was a small farm-town in the heart of America. A sleeper town, if you will. The woman was a young and beautiful researcher who had been studying fish and fish behavior for all her life. As part of her studies, she filled the creek behind her this house with pirahnas. Her perspective was that pirahnas were capable of sentient thought if they could just get enough food. The fact that they were extremely active and had high metabolic rates was just due to their active lifestyles further fueling their hunger (please note that I do not know if this is true or not, but it was a hypothesis that was discovered while I was dreaming). Unlike dogs who could never stop eating, pirahnas knew when enough was enough but could never achieve that state due to their level of activity. Furthermore, the environment for which they live in require them to be together in groups, much like schools of fish. Once all of them were full, they would all be able to communicate with the human world. Therefore, as a scientist and as a researcher, she figured she would prove her theory.
In my dream, it began respectably. She threw in meat purchased from grocery stores and observed the fish. Nothing new. Then, she moved on to larger quantities. Nothing. The other thing that was growing was her obsession to prove her theory. She began to go around and steal animals like horses and cows and then threw those into the creek when she ran out of grant money. I could feel my body break out in a cold sweat. These were still living and breathing creatures! And when they were thrown into the creek...
I snapped awake at this point. It was still dark out and I thought, "Man, I don't want to go back to THAT dream again. I think I'll go eat something." Leaving my room, I poured a glass of milk and had some toast with butter. Finishing relatively quickly and washing the empty plate and glass, I returned to my bed expecting to dream of something new and different. 45 minutes have since elapsed but it wasn't even 3am yet. So, I returned comfortably to my bed and before long, was out cold.
As if my dream were reality and could not be stopped by being awake, things picked up and continued right where they left off. By this point however, the woman completely lost sight of her theory and developed an obsession with just seeing things thrown into the creek. Living things. She even abducted people and threw them into the creek! The thing that made it scary was that I could feel the fear, frustration, angst and pain of each person she abducted and threw in. I could even feel each pirahna's bite in my skin and the eery warmth of my blood when it entwined with the water in the creek. Upon dying, I became a spectre that took over the next victim's body the second after it hit the creek. A painfully infinite loop...
At first, she would bound and gag me. Then it escalated into drugging me into a comatose state and then she ultimately just gave up on that, smacked me in the head with some blunt object and just threw me. All the while, I wondered where her strength came from. I always felt like she had help but could never see...
Once when I fell in the water while conscious, I thought, "This must be a dream! This can't be happening! Surprisingly, I didn't wake up. The pain, the hurt, everything felt so real. And I felt so powerless. I even thought somebody would eventually come and save me. No such luck. In one such death, I saw that the local townsfolk came by to be an audience to my killing. It was as an endorsed event as if this killing was punishment for a crime... though whether or not I committed it as the victim (not suspect) was not essential. Still, never once did the person thrown into the creek do anything bad or unlawful. They were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Since I was conscious this time, I even thought, "But... wait... the sheriff's supposed to be helping me and arresting her... Not watching as I drown and die..."
Then one day, it started to rain. It rained extremely hard. There was thunder, clouds, and all things dark. I was a new and different person but was now bound to a pole in a barn before I was to be thrown into the creek. Looks like it's turning into a flood! I saw water rising quickly from my feet to my waist. Within seconds, I was engulfed entirely in water and drowning. I was panicking but was still tied down. Was it really raining that hard?The door of the barn then gave way and I could see a dark horde come bolting straight at me like a swarm of locusts. And they were singing! They were singing an operatic tune acapella! But... they were the pirahnas! So... the doctor woman was right? Having fed on human flesh for generations, did they evolve?! Maybe I was delusional from asphyxiation but the second their razor sharp teeth pierced my skin, I realized that even if they could interact with humans on the same level understanding, they would not be able to control their desire to consume. The time of humans was coming to an end and all things aquatic, especially these fiercely intelligent pirahnas, would come to dominate the world. And though I'm dying inevitably, I wonder if the townspeople already went or if they are still scrambling to surivive above the flood of the rain. Still... what beautiful singing.
And during this epiphanous death, I was awakened by my operatic acapella tune coming from my phone. Thank all religions and deities and all things wonderful that the nightmare could finally come to an end! My heart was still beating quickly, my head was beneath my pillow and I could barely breathe because I was entangled with blanket.
Whew... But what's up with that anyways? What a weird dream! I mean, I know that I sometimes continue dreams when I awaken in the middle of the night and go back to sleep, but they rarely continue on the same path. Furthermore, I am (strangely enough) usually aware of when I am dreaming so I can usually control it. This night however...
Needless to say, I was a zombie when I arrived to work and remained a zombie regardless of how many cups of coffee I had throughout the day. Everything seemed so real, yet so much like a dream. I don't even know how real this is right now. I'm half-way expecting some really crazy-strong but attractive woman with long hair to barge into my house, drug me, and then throw me into a creek out in the middle of nowhere. Man... I think I should pick up jogging or something... My brain is obviously trying to make up for all of my inactivity and coming up with exercises of its own. Why it can't dream of the next awesome invention that'll help people on this planet though... Sheesh.
So, if I explain what I dreamt last night you'll understand. Things began with a small man-made creek behind a woman's house. It was a small farm-town in the heart of America. A sleeper town, if you will. The woman was a young and beautiful researcher who had been studying fish and fish behavior for all her life. As part of her studies, she filled the creek behind her this house with pirahnas. Her perspective was that pirahnas were capable of sentient thought if they could just get enough food. The fact that they were extremely active and had high metabolic rates was just due to their active lifestyles further fueling their hunger (please note that I do not know if this is true or not, but it was a hypothesis that was discovered while I was dreaming). Unlike dogs who could never stop eating, pirahnas knew when enough was enough but could never achieve that state due to their level of activity. Furthermore, the environment for which they live in require them to be together in groups, much like schools of fish. Once all of them were full, they would all be able to communicate with the human world. Therefore, as a scientist and as a researcher, she figured she would prove her theory.
In my dream, it began respectably. She threw in meat purchased from grocery stores and observed the fish. Nothing new. Then, she moved on to larger quantities. Nothing. The other thing that was growing was her obsession to prove her theory. She began to go around and steal animals like horses and cows and then threw those into the creek when she ran out of grant money. I could feel my body break out in a cold sweat. These were still living and breathing creatures! And when they were thrown into the creek...
I snapped awake at this point. It was still dark out and I thought, "Man, I don't want to go back to THAT dream again. I think I'll go eat something." Leaving my room, I poured a glass of milk and had some toast with butter. Finishing relatively quickly and washing the empty plate and glass, I returned to my bed expecting to dream of something new and different. 45 minutes have since elapsed but it wasn't even 3am yet. So, I returned comfortably to my bed and before long, was out cold.
As if my dream were reality and could not be stopped by being awake, things picked up and continued right where they left off. By this point however, the woman completely lost sight of her theory and developed an obsession with just seeing things thrown into the creek. Living things. She even abducted people and threw them into the creek! The thing that made it scary was that I could feel the fear, frustration, angst and pain of each person she abducted and threw in. I could even feel each pirahna's bite in my skin and the eery warmth of my blood when it entwined with the water in the creek. Upon dying, I became a spectre that took over the next victim's body the second after it hit the creek. A painfully infinite loop...
At first, she would bound and gag me. Then it escalated into drugging me into a comatose state and then she ultimately just gave up on that, smacked me in the head with some blunt object and just threw me. All the while, I wondered where her strength came from. I always felt like she had help but could never see...
Once when I fell in the water while conscious, I thought, "This must be a dream! This can't be happening! Surprisingly, I didn't wake up. The pain, the hurt, everything felt so real. And I felt so powerless. I even thought somebody would eventually come and save me. No such luck. In one such death, I saw that the local townsfolk came by to be an audience to my killing. It was as an endorsed event as if this killing was punishment for a crime... though whether or not I committed it as the victim (not suspect) was not essential. Still, never once did the person thrown into the creek do anything bad or unlawful. They were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Since I was conscious this time, I even thought, "But... wait... the sheriff's supposed to be helping me and arresting her... Not watching as I drown and die..."
Then one day, it started to rain. It rained extremely hard. There was thunder, clouds, and all things dark. I was a new and different person but was now bound to a pole in a barn before I was to be thrown into the creek. Looks like it's turning into a flood! I saw water rising quickly from my feet to my waist. Within seconds, I was engulfed entirely in water and drowning. I was panicking but was still tied down. Was it really raining that hard?The door of the barn then gave way and I could see a dark horde come bolting straight at me like a swarm of locusts. And they were singing! They were singing an operatic tune acapella! But... they were the pirahnas! So... the doctor woman was right? Having fed on human flesh for generations, did they evolve?! Maybe I was delusional from asphyxiation but the second their razor sharp teeth pierced my skin, I realized that even if they could interact with humans on the same level understanding, they would not be able to control their desire to consume. The time of humans was coming to an end and all things aquatic, especially these fiercely intelligent pirahnas, would come to dominate the world. And though I'm dying inevitably, I wonder if the townspeople already went or if they are still scrambling to surivive above the flood of the rain. Still... what beautiful singing.
And during this epiphanous death, I was awakened by my operatic acapella tune coming from my phone. Thank all religions and deities and all things wonderful that the nightmare could finally come to an end! My heart was still beating quickly, my head was beneath my pillow and I could barely breathe because I was entangled with blanket.
Whew... But what's up with that anyways? What a weird dream! I mean, I know that I sometimes continue dreams when I awaken in the middle of the night and go back to sleep, but they rarely continue on the same path. Furthermore, I am (strangely enough) usually aware of when I am dreaming so I can usually control it. This night however...
Needless to say, I was a zombie when I arrived to work and remained a zombie regardless of how many cups of coffee I had throughout the day. Everything seemed so real, yet so much like a dream. I don't even know how real this is right now. I'm half-way expecting some really crazy-strong but attractive woman with long hair to barge into my house, drug me, and then throw me into a creek out in the middle of nowhere. Man... I think I should pick up jogging or something... My brain is obviously trying to make up for all of my inactivity and coming up with exercises of its own. Why it can't dream of the next awesome invention that'll help people on this planet though... Sheesh.
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