I love chatting with my old friends; many of them are back home in Hattiesburg, or are from Hattiesburg, grew up with me, and live in other parts of the country (or world).  facebook is like a barometer. It tells me where I was three to five decades ago, and real life and even Twitter tells me to a certain degree “where I am now”.

By Londons Times Cartoons (Click To Enlarge)

I love hearing of my friends both old and new successes, overcoming obstacles and illnesses, falling in love, and sometimes even out of love because they may have found themselves with the wrong mate. It happens, and it is not a failure (to break up or divorce); in fact I imagine it is a failure not to, if one is in the wrong relationship and makes it the status quo and surrenders to unhappiness.  That saddens me.

Divorce by Londons Times c2011 (Click To Enlarge)

But nothing saddens me more than running into old friends who I know to be very bright who have gotten stuck in some political dogma and it is basically all they can discuss.  I know they don’t mean it.  I know they do not even know they are more or less in a cult.  It can be “on the far left” or “far right”.  They are so predictable.  It is like being in a physics 101 class.  You can say one thing and they say the opposite. You can agree with them, and they’ll find a way to disagree and find a monster under the bed and describe it in rapid detail because it is only seconds away from taking over America.  Usually it is somehow connected to The President, some senator or congressman, a tv network, or you name it.  The conspiracy is as real to them as the glass of bourbon they have just downed to fuel it and keep it alive.

Osama Bin Banana In His Birthplace Of Lemon

I make light of it, but it is not funny at all. I have lived and worked all over this great country and I know the ending of people who are like old 45 records that get stuck because of a big scratch.  They talk about it and as the years go by the conspiracies get more real (they find real researched blogs and books to back it up) and they describe it louder and louder.  In Los Angeles, I was at the death bed of a man who I admired but he was like that.  He told me at the end he knew he was wrong but it was “like a gang”. There was no way out.  He would have become persona non gratis in his small town. He commuted to L.A.  I told him he had enough open-minded friends in L.A. who didn’t care what he believed and he could be who he wanted.  It was too late. He died while I was there.

by Londons Times Cartoons

It was a lesson for me; one of the most valuable lessons I would ever learn.  Though I was then in my 30′s, it was time for me to get educated. I mean really educated.  That meant re-evaluating everything I learned from my teachers, my parents, my Sunday school, my college, and my experiences. It did not mean they were all wrong. It meant it was important for me to write them down and study them closely. Many of the ideas of which I hung onto are ideas I formulated decades before. Did they still serve me? Some did but most didn’t.  But that left “the great unknown”. If I let go of a lot of this political, religious and educational dogma that was no longer valid, but of which I identified myself and bonded me to my friends, and dropped it, what then.

I wasn’t getting any younger nor any happier. Nor were my friends. It was mandatory that I be honest with them.  I was changing. They may or may not like the changes but that was their issue, not mine. It took some bravery on my part, bravery I didn’t think I had.  But I had it, which led me to believe that most if not everyone has it if need be.

Nobody needs to die in their own toxic dogma.  They can change midlife.  The average college student is now in his/her 40′s and when I went back to college at 51, many of my colleagues were in their 60s-80s. As I got to know them, and my professors, I discovered they were going through healthy mid-life changes, as opposed to mid-life crises.

By Londons Times Cartoons

We never quit learning. If all we are doing is teaching, we might as well be dead.  Socrates and Aristotle even knew that.   Perhaps rethink your ideas.  Many of them may work for you, but many may no longer serve you well.  You can learn new things.  My wife and I do almost every day.

God gave us this beautiful planet to enjoy.   Yes, life can be a struggle but if all your doing is struggling, fighting, arguing, fighting, etc., I can almost guarantee you, its time to rethink your life.

Dance a bit, sing a song even if you’re alone.  Do something nice for yourself and/or someone else.  Smile.  Be yourself.  Experiment being your new self.  That does not mean letting go of  your moral or ethical principals. It is understanding and celebrating others opinions that might be different. It is re-learning tolerance. It is re-learning understanding.   It is celebrating life.  And do it often, even, no especially when you get the urge to flex your political muscles and “show them the light”.  We’ll never get perfect at it.  But we will make progress; and with that progress, love ourselves and others a lot more for it.  It’s scary at first..no absolutely frightening….then so sacred and positive, there’s really no going back.

Shirley Temple Of Doom by Londons Times Cartoons c2011 www.LondonsTimes.us

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I am a mountain man from rural Arkansas. I founded Londons Times Cartoons in 1997 and it has been Google and MSN’s #1 Offbeat Cartoon since 2005. I founded numerous stores that sell over 1/4 million funny greeting cards, tees, mugs etc.  I design unique shoes and clothes at shops like Shoes That Amuse that sell the world’s only famous love quotes shoes & Shoeshies.com which sell Sushi Shoes, Clothes & gifts.

Click To Enlarge This Is Me

I bet I read 200-300 or more (mostly self-serving articles designed to get the readers to follow the author), but I started getting the idea of how it worked and as William Wordsworth once said, “To begin, begin”.  He always put a guilt-trip on my system of procrastination.

On the first day I think I managed to round up eight followers and I may have even doubled that my second.  People were posting messages to me, and I felt like I knew them; or at least the icons they portrayed to be them next to their name. I was told later most persons icons were ten to twenty years old and a lot of senior citizens were still tweeting away with their college sophomore yearbook pics.  That turned out to be true.

I also discovered that though many of Twitterers were interesting, and I still believe that, I was not only out of my league, I was out of my category, and a lot of that was my fault.  Though I had been posting for several months as an offbeat cartoonist who loved animals, that was about as much as I had in my profile.

When someone presents oneself in such an unfocused way, they are bound to attract a lot of unfocused people with unfocused agendas.  And agendas flew left and right and it would not be unusual to wake up one day and be “hated” by someone who “loved” you the day before, simply because you were friendly with someone who “done them wrong”.

My then friend Lee Hiller, now my wife Lee Hiller-London was quite a bit more savvy, more than slightly ahead of the learning curve than me.  She suggested I change my background which she happened to know how to do. I still have the same one up she installed, a wall of Londons Times Cartoons. She suggested I focus my short bio (Twitter allows about once sentence) and I did.

Click To Enlarge (Please Meet My Dear Wife Lee)

A month or so later three Twitterers opened accounts with my name claiming to be the founder of Londons Times Cartoons. That is my website and has a high visibility on the Internet. It has been Google’s #1 ranked offbeat cartoon since 2005 and MSN #1 since 2008 and remains so on both engines. It has had 7.8+ million visits.  At this time, Twitter was offering nothing aggressive to correct that, but did finally come up with a “verification system” that they provided for (mostly film, tv, and business celebrities) but also those with high-profile websites that could easily being cloned.

I filed my complaint and within three weeks, I woke up with a little blue Twitter verification next to my name.  This did not prevent “the clones”, but it did help my friends and fans to know who “the real me was and is”.

Then Lee, at that time my fiance, was building her own brand and a well-known Twitterer, not verified, used her good name to enable him to use it in his own complicated scheme.

Her brand was then at its very early vulnerable stage; not yet a few months old, but we could not provide the kind of proof (he had deleted it after we wrote him a scathing tweet), so she has continued without verification, but fortunately has such a huge following; nearly 25,000, people know they are really dealing with her, plus, she is a professional nature photographer and shares during her daily hikes the wildlife and flora that she encounters. So now, if someone tried to do a copycat scheme, they would have to re-create links to photos and merchandise she creates at her Lee Hiller Designs Shop that is distinctively part of the Hot Springs National Forest. Unless they live or move here, most would know they were “the wrong Lee Hiller-London”.

Below are some recent photos Lee took while hiking in Hot Springs National Forest for her Hike Our Planet Nature Blog. She is also a very talented gift and clothing/shoe designer where her nature pictures and original graphics appear on countless Lee Hiller Brand Products.

Meantime we Tweet along.  Our agent and syndication Great Southern Writers Syndicate @GSWSyndicate,  tweets famous quotes, and the occasional plug of one of Lee’s or my shops or Lee’s nature blog HikeOurPlanet.com. I have somehow accumulated 12,000+ followers (Lee and I call them my friends because actually they are).

Below are a few Lee Hiller Brand Products which she designed. Please click To Enlarge:

Today we are more focused.  We let our work and our products speak for us for the main part. We do work hard. We don’t just sit and tweet. It is very different than when we started on Twitter. We use a pre-scheduled Twitter client to get out information of our promotions and specific products and shops. It works, and leaves us time to create products and personally tweet with those with whom we prefer.

If someone is inappropriate, creepy, or both, (or shows signs of hate or bigotry),  we simply block them (we usually talk about it first and there has to be a very good reason). We try to give everyone a second and sometimes third chance if they “done wrong”.  Please don’t get me wrong. Most who tweet are normal people trying to get by in life, make a living and/or friends, and make a contribution.

Below are a few of my Londons Times Cartoons. You can see these and about 5000+ other full color cartoon at our main offbeat webcomics site.

Since joining Twitter I have branched out to open various types of online shops. My funny gifts shops also remain Google & MSN’s #1 ranked offbeat cartoon gift shops and have been since 2005.

All in all, Twitter is very fun. But it can be very hard work.  One has to create their own strategy for whatever reason they are there; whether it is to make friends, money, or find spouses.  Actually Lee and I were not there to find spouses. We were both promoting our Internet businesses.  We ended up spouses and glad we did.

We both have strengths where the other has a weakness (and vice versa).  Two heads, truly can work better than one, and get a lot more done, on or off Twitter.

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Rick London is an Arkansas-based writer, cartoonist and designer living in the beautiful Ouachita Mountains where he regularly hikes with his wife Lee and is an avid wildlife and nature lover and active in those causes (including environment).  London founded the #1 offbeat cartoon on the Internet in 1997 titled Londons Times Cartoons.  He later founded the world’s only famous love quotes shoes, Shoes That Amuse, featured on APWire and in USA Today.  He has created four funny gift shops featuring his licensed cartoon images on gifts with an inventory of over 1/4 million sold by Google Shopping, Sears Marketplace, Amazon, and many other shopping channels.  London recently founded his own line of Sushi Shoes (ShoeShies.com) and has now expanded to sushi fine art gifts and clothing as well which he calls ABoyNamedSushi.com. To see Rick’s sushi gifts click here.

Of course the first and main reason the gratuitous slap in the face to all the life coaches, social media experts, “wisdom experts” (who either lift quotes and/or articles and take credit) or edit them just enough to insult our intelligence with their name as the credit.  I love such “writers” who do not understand that we’ve been to college, because they certainly haven’t.  Most of those are what are known as “life coaches” who are nothing more than a “gang of literary thieves”.  What they do is often attractively package and sale mundane and sometimes exciting philosophy that we learned in college and is, of course, now free on the web. They charge a fortune for books, tapes and the like, leaving their victims (clients) bleeding in the streets, but with the opportunity to become such a “literary-thief-in-training” as well. So it has a “Donald Trump/Amway MLM feel to it”.

My wife Lee and I decided a long time ago that was not for us. Don’t get us wrong. Nearly every major life coach on and off Twitter has tried to recruit us…let me rephrase that..recruit our wallets, but we decided it might be safer to put what extra we have in savings and invest in our our clean businesses which involve designing and selling gifts and collectibles. Our business is very simple, very clean, and offers products of tangible value, no regurgitated philosophy or wisdom, simply usable and/or collectible gifts, clothes, etc.

Lee is an amazing nature photographer who writes a nature blog, Hike Our Planet, and I’m sometimes told I can turn a phrase and create a cartoon that goes on all our products.  Though we often deal with POD’s (Print On Delivery) manufacturing companies, our main factory for six years now is in Rhode Island and the majority of our products sell at Amazon.  Recently the Sears Marketplace picked up a good many of my cartoon gifts. Lee has taught herself not only photography, but how to take that photography and her own unique graphics and create products such as shoes, tees and gifts at her  Lee Hiller Designs Shop. Her items are also available at associate shops all over Amazon.com. She has no snake oil for sale. It’s the real thing.

Why do I make this “comparison story” between “life coach” and legitimate businessperson?  Early on, especially in social networking, it could have so easily gone the other way. The life coaches are artists. Con artists. They are friendly. They know all the right things to say. They can win one’s hearts and minds the way no politician or army even dreamed of doing.   And they have built in radar that heads straight for the pocketbook.

Life coaches often “build a name for themselves”, then start the process of writing books, making cds and tapes, having seminars, and talking nonsense that sounds somewhat like wise philosophy, and it should, as it is more often than not lifted from major names like Emerson, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and so many others, edited and/or watered down, and their own (the life coach’s name) placed on it. I’ve even seen them lift Biblical quotes, change them a bit, and wala, guess who the new author is?

If you’ve just started Twitter, you probably have many of them on your friends list who are following you. They seem to be predatory (the most) to newcomers who haven’t a clue.  Many of the wiser ones change their moniker to “spiritual coach”, “spiritual advisor” “life author” “coach/author”, and the list goes on and on.  In any case, watch for subtleties; the devil is in the detail and as I mentioned earlier, they are con-artists of the highest degree.

My wife Lee once quoted, “You are your own best life coach”, and she is so right.  The alleged purpose of the life coach of whom you pay thousands of dollars is to motivate.

I prefer the freebie by Walt Whitman who would laugh at any life coach. His great quote is, “To Begin, begin”.   Really, what more does one need to know?

Oh, look in the yellow-pages under “pest control” to rid ones home of rodents. I almost forgot that part of the story; but should note it since rodents and life coaches seem to be in the same category (sorry rodents, I know you’re better than that).

When I read an article, I don’t just want information, I want a remedy. A solution.

The solution is, when you find yourself being called and/or emailed by these “Oh, so nice life coaches”, and you will, cut off all ties.  Yes you will hear cries like a baby. They will “badmouth you” on Twitter, facebook and wherever.  Trust me, in the long-run, these are the types you DO want to bad-mouth you; for persons of goodwill know, that if these crooks think you are “no-good”,  you must be a person of substance.

And you really are if you were able to out-maneuver these cyber-whacky sharks by cutting them off and blocking them from your Twitter stream. It is as simple as that.  Oh and screen your calls. You may receive a few curse-word filled calls for your sinful betrayal.  That means “You Done Good”.  Congrats.  Now it’s time to play REAL Twitter. The riff-raff has suddenly disappeared and the drama and chaos has magically dissolved.  Oh, and you still have your money. Now, wasn’t that fun and easy?

On the side of the blog I’ve posted some recent products I’ve made from my various shops (the cartoon store, ShoesThatAmuse, and ABoyNameSushi) shops for your entertainment enjoyment. Oh, and please don’t be shy to purchase. If you don’t, I may have to have a life coach call you for an appointment.

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Rick London is a writer, cartoonist, and designer.  He created Google and MSN’s #1 ranked offbeat cartoons, Londons Times in 1997. Less than a decade later he launched online shops which now feature over a quarter million licensed products which are featured at such shopping channels as Amazon, Sears, Shop.com, Shopping.com and many others.  He also has his own shops such as Rick London Collection where he sells his favorite cartoons on tshirts, mugs, greeting cards and other funny gifts.  London founded the world’s only famous love quote shoes in 2007, ShoesThatAmuse.com which have received the thumbs up from APWire and USA Today.  This year he launched ABoyNamedSushi, a division of his ShoeShies which are sushi artwork shoes and gifts.  London has published over 500 articles and his cartoons have appeared in the Jerusalem Post. His main Londons Times Cartoon site boasts 5000+ color offbeat cartoons which have lured 8.7 million visits.  Several of his originals are a permanent part of the Roy Orbison Collection and Mayo Clinic Medical Library.

Then came college. The importance of specializing became even more important though it was demanded of me to pick a major and minor which I did about ten times at four different colleges. I didn’t finish but I did study hard and a lot of subjects. I was always a hit at cocktail parties because I learned words like “ethnocentric” and “Kierkegaard” and phrases like “To thine own self be true”. I stopped using that Shakespearean gem as it seemed to depress most of my fellow college students (including me) as, which of us was truly being true to ourselves if we were sitting at a desk listening to the most boring professors on the planet? Do as I say, not as….

In my twenties I simply decided to go out and conquer the cold cruel world and almost did so a few times. I worked on a few major projects for others and a few of my own and learned a good deal about how the world works. Of course the more I learned, the more I learned I needed to learn.

The years passed and early important lessons never left. “Learn to do one thing and do it very well”. I learned to do a few dozen things and none of them all that well.

I went back to school in my mid-40s and everything had changed. The new mantra was “Be flexible. Learn to do a lot of things because things are changing so fast you are most likely to be doing something else tomorrow”. In fact none of the nearly 100 hours I had accumulated my first time in college applied (even though I didn’t need to take the classes again as I was tested for life experience and apparently had learned my lessons). But the new pragmatic (right in your face) lessons were harder than anything I could imagine. But some of them manifested and transferred into the workplace.

Do I do any one thing very well? Not really. I co-create Londons Times Cartoons with my very talented team. I founded it in 1997. I founded several funny gift shops which feature my cartoon products with an inventory of over a quarter million of them.

I founded ShoesThatAmuse.com in 2007, the world’s only famous love quote shoes. APWire and USA Today wrote a very nice story about them.

This past month, I launched ABoyNamedSushi.com a division of ShoeShies which are sushi shoes and gifts and I enjoy that very much though sales are far from brisk, but then again inventory is far from full. So I keep plugging away.

Sadly, most of my early professors who (not on purpose) misled me to do one thing and do it well (how in the world could they see how technology would change our lives and future) are now deceased.

My more recent professors and students from Western Governor’s University are now on Twitter and facebook and, like me, are attempting to become more renaissance every day (as am I). We all have so many balls in the air, at times, it looks like an online juggling convention.

My wife Lee started with a simple photography blog HikeOurPlanet.com which has turned into a very popular nature wildlife blog and she makes her own line of gift and home decor products, LeeHillerDesigns.com.

On the way to doing what we do now, Lee and I did what we had to do to survive; that is, SEO, article marketing, blogging, promoting on Twitter and other social networks; you name it.

We do all this and still have time for our favorite charities and causes such as wildlife, environment, Japan recovery, domestic animals and much more.

We’ve learned to do a lot, and though we may have received an “F” for that 40 years ago in college, it is what is the norm today.

Times change and so do people. I was thinking recently if Einstein came back and lived in our generation, a 6th grader would have to not only have to teach him how to work a PC, but tell him what it is.
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Rick London is the founder of Google’s #1 ranked offbeat cartoons, Londons Times and its licensed shops such as The Rick London Collection which is currently seeking associates. There is no fee (EVER), our manufacturer Zazzle pays YOU for sales, you never pay us a penny. You visit my Zazzle Shop, sign up for a free shop and affiliate account.  Post items you like from my shop, promote, sell, earn. Just like in the olden days.  To sign up CLICK HERE.
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Woodchuck Physics by Londons Times Cartoon (click to enlarge)

Oddly enough, a friend asked me that question yesterday. At first I thought it was a rhetorical question so I waited for her to talk again, but it was not.  I asked her for more detail regarding her question.  She said, “Well you write, you create, you do this cartooning thing, you spend half your life on Twitter and facebook, and I’m wondering if that is some kind of escape from the real issues of the world.

It was a good question, but not a very thought-out question. I became a home-office worker in 1997. At the time, we represented about 10% of the workforce in the U.S.  Today we are the majority.  That is correct. More people work in their home office than in corporate skyscrapers.  There are still plenty in corporate skyscrapers but they are dwindling rapidly due to the economy. It is more economical for a large corporation to hire an independent contractor from home who is “internet-wired” than provide an office, desk, office supplies, coffee, and an assistant.  I saw that coming long before it came.

My friend then asked, “Doesn’t the work world need you? I mean we are working for peace on earth as much as we are working for money. This question very much confused me.  I do my part with blogging, Twittering, creating cartoons, and much more, many of which I would never be allowed to do in Corporate America. I do them at home. And quite successfully I might add. I have the ear of many major news publications and people who read them, that I would never have in my once plush office in a good downtown neighborhood.

And what about the pay? My pay is much less than it was when I worked at the top of my field in corporate America.  But there is a trade off.  My stress is down to near zero on a daily basis. My living expenses are a mere fraction of what they were living in “the right neighborhoods” of America.  My wife and I live on the ledge of a National Park which we hike all the time.  A trip to the grocery is five minutes or a few dollars gas, and grocery prices are a fraction of what they were in New York or Washington, D.C.  We don’t have to take that many vacations because we live in a place where millions come annually for vacation just for the beauty.  We like to vacation, but often all we have to do is drive a few miles to somewhere we’ve not seen, rent a cabin and throw out a fishing line or write a blog or start on a book and enjoy the quiet beauty around us.  Nature is the most amazing vacation.

Finally, and I get this question all the time, “With all the violence and war in the world, how can you think funny? How can you create cartoons?”  It actually is a good question, especially for those without any sense of humor.  One HAS to have humor to a certain degree to get through this chapter of the world in which we are enduring.  It may seem horrible and much of it is.  But whatever it is, it is something that has been put in front of us from which to learn, and if we don’t, well perhaps we’ll learn how to handle it next time it comes around….let’s hope/pray we’re smart enough this time. Perhaps we can dig through our history lessons, spot something similar, see how it was handled properly, and follow suite.  If not, create one that makes sense.

That does not answer the question of humor and cartoons. They are necessary.  If all we are focused on is blood, guts and war, that is how we are going to think about the world, and that is not ALL of what the world is about.  Some of us, in fact the majority of us, wish it did not exist but it is in our face.  We do what we can to divert it, to forget about it. Musicians play music, dancers dance, writers write, and cartoonists and humorists make us laugh.  What are you doing to make the world a better place, especially during these trying times?

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I am a writer, parody songwriter, cartoonist, and create designer shoes.  I am active in animal and children’s rights, love hiking, nature and the outdoors as well as my wife Lee Hiller-London. Lee is an amazing writer and gift designer.