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This week we have lost an icon in the music world.  While many people have mixed reactions to Michael Jacksons passing, he was truly an icon and made an everlasting impact on culture.  Personally I do remember two different Michael Jacksons; the first being the “King Of Pop” and a legend in the music industry, then there is the last decade and a half.  The last decade and a half was more about Michael and his personal affairs and some strange behavior on the stars part, but its greatly over shadowed by his work in music and dance.

I am appalled by some of the terrible things I hear people say.  Remember in this country that one is innocent until proven guilty and fact remains, prosecuting teams never could get a jury to believe a crime was committed.  Remember Michael Jackson for the music and performer he was, and not the scandal supercharged by the media and rumor.

To pay tribute I wanted to post one of my favorite Michael Jackson songs but most were restricted by the poster.  There is one I found however that I that was really cool, most may have already seen it.  Its thriller done by a 1500 inmates at a correctional facility in the Philippines.  Typically you don’t think of inmates doing anything to constructive in prisons but watching tv, lifting weights and fighting gangs.  This video is about a year old or so but what a tribute… In an unexpected way.  R.I.P. Michael Jackson

Hey everyone, I wanted to post this article for your reading pleasure.  It’s just an overall heartwarming feel good story of one person overcoming challenges.  There is also a link at the bottom for the story on Yahoo.  Enjoy!

Nancy Shute - Fri Apr 3, 12:46 pm ET
Joe Steffy is off to Overland Park, Kan., this week to do a PowerPoint presentation on his business, Poppin’ Joe’s Kettle Korn. He’s a 23-year-old small-business man with a goal of $100,000 in sales by 2012. Joe also has autism and Down syndrome and is nonverbal. When he gives his talk, he will push buttons on an augmentative speech device to deliver the words. His audience will be parents who fervently hope their own special-needs children will be able to work, too.
Joe’s parents, Ray and Janet, didn’t agree with the school district assessment in their home town of Louisburg, Kan., that said Joe would never be able to work or live independently. “I’m one who can easily get ticked off,” says Ray. “That ticked me off. We saw more in Joe than that. We set out to prove to the school that he had capabilities.” They came across kettle corn while on a trip to Alaska and realized that all that popping, scooping, and serving suited Joe’s love of work.
The path to Joe Steffy’s success was not an easy one; Ray Steffy worked closely with Dave Hammis, an advocate for self-employment for people with disabilities in Middletown, Ohio, who trains business owners, government employees, and parents on how to make use of state and federal programs. The Steffys wrote up a business plan and helped Joe secure $25,000 in grants from programs like Social Security Administration’s Plan to Achieve Self-Support program (PASS).
In 2005, Poppin’ Joe’s Kettle Korn was born. Sales have grown from $16,000 in 2005 to $50,000 in 2008, both from selling at festivals and from delivering popcorn to local outlets. Joe has five part-time employees, and his parents help out with driving and other tasks. “Pop and everyone that works with him knows whatever Joe wants to do you let him do, because he’s the boss,” Ray says. “If he wants to pop, he’ll shove Dad out of the way and pop.”
If the business stays on track, it should be grossing more than $100,000 in three years, and the Steffys are seeking a business partner who can work with Joe to manage the business. Joe is no longer on Social Security disability payments; instead, he pays state sales tax and state and federal income tax. He rents his own house and is helped by caregivers who are paid by a state program.
“It’s been hard work, from the standpoint of physical work,” says Ray Steffy, who is 67. “But a parent with a child like Joe has a choice. You can either kick in and do this kind of thing, or you can sit and fret emotionally with the amount of energy, worrying about what’s going to happen to them.”
The payoff for that effort, as far as the Steffys are concerned, has been priceless. They see their son make a local popcorn delivery, accept payment, fold it, and put it in his pocket. When he walks out, his dad says, Joe looks 3 inches taller than when he walked in.

See more here http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnews/20090…nrunsabusiness

Last week I featured a post that was sparked by another bloggers website.  Today it happens again.  Carly has a blog site at www.confoozled.com where she is currently doing some research on blog and site monetization which I felt connected to this site as that was originally “the moneyxperiment”.  You can help her out with her research by taking a survey here.  If you provide a valid email address when doing the survey you will be entered to win a special appreciation prize at the end of March 2009.

Last night here in our area we were treated to a special night sky event.  As I type this post, the space shuttle Discovery is on track to meet up with the International Space Station sometime today.  But late yesterday evening Discovery made a pass through the night sky.  It was estimated to pass at 8:08 pm, and it was right on schedule.  It appeared as a bright light moving from the south west to the north east at a rapid pace, only taking a few minutes to move all the way across the night sky.

About 25 minutes before it passed there was another light that moved across the sky in the exact same path the shuttle took.  I assumed that it was the space station since that was the path the shuttle was currently on but I don’t know, just a guess.  Maybe there’s a reader out there that can answer that question for me.  Although the shuttle only appeared as a moving bright light in the sky it was still a cool experience us just knowing what the light really was.