Behind The Curtain

I have not been able to do much posting on any of my blogs as I was side tracked by work (gotta eat), life (gotta love), site design (gotta improve) and cats (gotta get rid of them--just kidding).

This however doesn't mean that I have not been reading any posts lately. Here is what I caught a glimpse of around the web that hopefully will interest you.

Inside Adsense by Google has an interesting post about improve site layout in order to increase revenue. This could come in handy if blogging is something more of a hobby to you. ;)

Wayne Hurlbert over at Blog Business World mentions a free teleseminar, which I registered for and will have to remember to place in my calendar.

Darren over at Problogger.net mentions some much needed items on a sidebar. Recommended.

Duncan on The Blog Herald tells why Captcha is evil (I disagree but understand his viewpoint).

And last but not least Evhead, the founder of Blogger, references an interesting post on his weblog.

Right now, I am heading out to catch the President's State of the Union address. Blogs for Bush is liveblogging it for those without cable access.

Peace!

Where Did He Go?

I normally do not post about a weblog via blog directory (just see the previous post to understand) but it seems that PJ has dropped off of the face of the earth.

Due to some unavoidable technical difficulties [...] being too busy and [...] temporary loss of broadband connection I've been unable to publish very much recently. However, this has now been rectified and I'll be doing some catching up soon.

That was almost 14 days ago. PJ, where are you?

Another Blog Surfing Tool

I've submitted my site to another blog surfing tool called Blog Advance which is similar to Blog Explosion although not as large (at least not yet).

Although I could simply surf a blog directory to discover blogs, or even Blogger, there wouldn't be any surprise to it. Not only that, but running into spammers is not fun (and neither is their content).

This should broaden my "search horizon" and give me more blogs to brag about. Heh.

The Boys In Blue Love Fake People Too

My only advice for anyone driving in Colorado is never drive in the HOV lane, especially with fake passengers:

(From Someguy) Well Greg Pringle (53 years old) was busted yesterday in Westminster, Colorado for illegally driving in the HOV lane with his buddy, the mannequin. [...]

Apparently, the cops that patrol a particular section of HWY 36 near Boulder noticed this car in the HOV with a passenger that "didn't look right."

They saw the car again some days later and noticed that the passenger was just a manequinn (sic) wearing a baseball cap and a grey sweatshirt so they pulled over Pringle, cited him with a $115 ticket, and confiscated his mannequin.

Looks like the police in Colorado just picked up a nifty souvenir. Although I wonder if "the doll" would be an effective deterrent if parked inside a cop car outside of a bank. Hmm...

McDonalds Has A Blog?

(via One By One Media)

I do not know what is more surprising. A corporate blog speaking in semi-corporate talk, or the fact that Burger King has not copied McDonalds in cyber space (as they generally do in reality). Here is a snippet from their weblog:

At McDonald's, we don't grow, raise or produce food, crops or animals. We're simply a food retail company. But we do purchase a lot and so have influence on our suppliers. We try to use this influence responsibly.

In a nutshell, our approach is to work collaboratively with our suppliers so they can meet our expectations and advance our priorities. What's your view of this approach? For example, should we set across-the-board targets and goals for suppliers, rather than work with them to develop individual targets and goals?

I do not remember the last time I ate at McDonalds (as I prefer Subway) but if I were McDonalds I would continue to focus on the individual instead of the overall production as it tends to make you less of a corporate overlord. Wouldn't you agree?

Update: Fixed McDonalds permalink (silly me!).

Does Anybody Need $50?

This might be an excellent way for a blogger to earn some cash on the side besides the general Google Ads. Via One By One Media:

Affiliate programs are hot. People love to earn a little bit of cash from something you like or want to support. [...]

What's the bottom line? You get $50 per conference registrant (not including guests), we'll pay you in November by cheque or it can be applied to the cost of your own cruise!

You do not need to sign up in order to attend, although after reading a bit into the program I might be interested in taking a cruise with fellow bloggers. Although I do not see a price listed anywhere (can someone help me out?) .

I'll post more details if and when I'm approved. Right now, all I have to do is figure out where I am going to put the image link. :)

Note: You must be an active blogger in order to sign up for the affiliate program. So if you blog once a year, I wouldn't recommend signing up for this (via Blogonomics).

John McCain On 24?

Chad Evans hints that John McCain will be on the television series 24 tonight, which is coming on in a few minutes! McCain's appearance on the show however does not impress Chad very much:

McCain will appear in a few seconds of coverage tonight and I do not know what his role will be.

No word on whether he will come out in support of a 'Terrorist Bill of Rights' and push Jack Bauer to the back burner for his tactics to get suspects to confess.

It's quite likely he won't, therefore his appearance on the show will seem to nullify his anti-torture amendment he is so proud of considering torture is used in '24' during times of great need; so too is that the only torture I would condone.

Although Chad doesn't seem to interested in watching the show, I am. Unfortunately both televisions are occupied right now (sigh), so surfing the blogosphere will have to do for tonight.

Come On PETA, It's Just A Fur Scarf

Joanne Leyland, over at The Royalist publishes about PETA's rage over Camilla (Prince Charles wife) rabbit scarf.

...on Monday, when Camilla wore the very same scarf for a much more low-key public appearance, the animal rights group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) publicly condemned the Duchess for "setting a terrible example" by wearing a scarf made of rabbit fur, calling her fashion statement "surprising and shocking".

PETA may be your thing, but since I am a meat lover (chicken, beef and Bambi) you probably know where I stand on the issue.

As long as the animal isn't endangered, you can wear it's coat all over your skin for all I care.

Ancient Radio Drama

I've never heard about this before, but Daniela points us towards an ancient radio drama called The Archers:

...the Archers have been on air for 55 years, therefore to find someone that has followed it since 1951 you are talking of people in their seventies.

For those that are not familiar with it the Archer is a radio soap opera broadcasted on BBC 4 and is sent in the village of Ambridge. I tried to listen to it a few times but as I was brought up in the age of TV, I found it hard to relate to any of the voices, I never know who's who.

Perhaps they will put it on XM Radio. Although I do have a hard time listening to a story, unless it's in music format (reading a book is preferable to me). :)

Good News For Diabetes Patients

A weblog focusing on Diabetes provides some good news for those suffering with the disease. Author Jo has the details:

A new drug which can be inhaled rather than injected has been approved for people with diabetes. Exubera can be used for people with both type one and two diabetes and is designed to offer adults an alternative way of taking their daily injections.

I know many relatives with diabetes, and although I have not asked, some of them probably take injections (or at least should). Breathing it in is a lot easier (and not as messy) as a shot, although I recommend contacting your doctor before quoting my weblog.

A Blogger Testing Out Blog Charm

A Blogspot user is testing out Blog Charm, which is blog publishing by Blog Explosion (a tongue twister, isn't it?).

Here is what Wayne has to say on his new site:

This Blog is a place to learn, to consider what is contributed and interact with each other concerning the understandings and insights God is giving each one for the benefit of us all. It is my hope that it will also serve as a catalyst to those who read it to seek all that God is and has for them.

He only has one post on here, but hopefully he will develop more.

I've considered switching over to Blog Charm (or at least hosting another site there) although they have yet to make the comment section "spam unfriendly" before I'll use it.

Update: It seems they have an anti-spam feature built in already. Silly me.

"White Trash" Blog Novel? Huh?

Update: No, I am not racist, (as I have friends of many colors) but that was the title of Fractual blog's specific post.

I am not sure if this is a blog novel or not but if so, Andrew Beatty writes a fairly interesting story:

The fact that Emma hung around with him and helped him with the work sometimes was another factor. Things with Melissa had been going south recently. He had been coming home later and later, seeing her less and less.

"I think you enjoy it out there," she said to him one night, unable to keep the scorn from her voice. It was past midnight, Chuck had tried to be quiet coming in, but apparently she had been waiting up for him. She was lying in bed, blankets piled high to keep out the chill.

I won't ruin the ending for you, but Andrew reminds me of a blog novel written by Billy Jones. Both of them have the ability to make a characters boring life interesting to the reader without adding unrealistic adventure (at least thus far).

If it turns out to be a novel I'll add it to the sidebar and post a review about it on Saturday. :)

My Random Thoughts...

I've been thinking on how to relaunch Blog Novel Sundays without killing my schedule (as it ironically became full right after I started).

I think I will instead move the novels towards Saturday, which should give me enough time to blog about them.

But what will I do on Sunday? I have a few ideas. ;)

Google To The Left Of Me, Jokers To The Right...

...and here am I stuck in the middle with you?

Google over on their Official Blog Site gave an explanation as why they had to launch a local search engine in China.

(Official Google Blog) Google users in China today struggle with a service that, to be blunt, isn't very good. Google.com appears to be down around 10% of the time. Even when users can reach it, the website is slow, and sometimes produces results that when clicked on, stall out the user's browser. Our Google News service is never available; Google Images is accessible only half the time. At Google we work hard to create a great experience for our users, and the level of service we've been able to provide in China is not something we're proud of.

This problem could only be resolved by creating a local presence, and this week we did so, by launching Google.cn, our website for the People's Republic of China. In order to do so, we have agreed to remove certain sensitive information from our search results. We know that many people are upset about this decision, and frankly, we understand their point of view. This wasn't an easy choice, but in the end, we believe the course of action we've chosen will prove to be the right one.

Although I was not too thrilled about Google's decision to violate their own mission statement "Don't be evil," (something they humbly admit to later on in the article) their explanation as why they allowed their search engine to be filtered does clear up some issues regarding why they choose to play "internet nanny" (at least on a minor scale).

Some well respecting bloggers have decided to remove Google Ad Sense from their sites until they begin to provide "unfiltered searches" towards the Communist regime. Although they are entitled to their opinion, I will not be joining the bandwagon as Google is not as powerful as a government (despite the myths) and Congress is already addressing the issue as I type.

To be fair, Google has put a little disclaimer at the bottom of their Chinese site, explaining that results are filtered, although I think they should place that near the top IN RED to alert their current and future users.

I am glad that they are not placing Blogger, Gmail and (hopefully) even Orkut within the Red Dragon's grasp, as that would make me abandon Google forever.

Only time will tell whether Google searches will be liberated from governmental intrusion (both foreign and domestic). Until then, I hope we all learn from this sad situation and I pray it is a wake up call to Americans that our liberties are privileges indeed, as our brethren around the world can only view life through a filtered lens.

Who Says Men Can't Cook?

And from the looks of this site, it looks like they can make a pretty mean casserole:

I based this recipe off a dish in the Lodge Cast Iron Skillet cookbook. This is another great breakfast casserole you can make when the family is in town for a visit. Just a little bit of Mise in the beginning, and you're off to the races. OK, so there's a lot of chopping to be done, but that's all the prep that's required...

If these guys are that good, I wonder if they can teach me how to make Falafels?

Update: Blogger had a slight "hiccup" and this was posted twice. Removed the extra clone. ;)