What makes you happy ?

I said there would not be another post and that I would come back and edit the link in – which I did a couple of days after that post. But I’ve had several emails now wondering where I am. Here: 69105.net
(and now there really will be no more)

I rarely check Facebook but now I have a reason. I want to see how many stupid people look at the above and decide to give this guy their money. Someone somewhere will figure this will increase their chances of winning. That same someone somewhere has jutting eyebrows and scabby knuckles. If I thought Facebook would do a damn thing I’d report it as what it is – a scam – but seeing as all the spam I have reported has never been removed I’ll spare myself the typing. The group owner doesn’t even have a full profile.

And if you want to join the “fun”, here’s the link.

I caught Georgina on IM earlier and she’s good. I think she said it was scary at times but she’s okay. I suppose if you are going to be anywhere in Burma right now an Embassy is just about the best place.

Camera is good. Lots of photos today, all crap (clouds / sunsets are so hard to do!) and the images are fine. Don’t have an excuse for a new one.

I have a desire to trawl ebay to find something I don’t yet know I want but I just know will prove indispensible (for at least week anyway).

There was someone who once had a blog and his tagline involved henchmen for himself. Was checking some old links late last night and found the domain has expired and now has the regular ad stuff that squatters use. Which is a shame. It’s all transient …

And J is down right now. Very very down. Badly down. Really not good at all. There’s nothing to say though, nothing to do. Nothing can change what is happening and no amount of talking will make it go away. So there is nothing anyone can do. The Social Worker says see the MS Nurse who says it’s for the SW, The GP and MS Consultant will write letters and say what J needs and yet no-one listens. Silent screaming she called it the other day. So she gets no help, she is deteriorating, she gets stressed because I’m doing everything but she can’t and she sees no light at the end of the tunnel. That last part is very bad.

I’m not the only one.

(from Planet-f1)

I need to work on having something positive to blog about.

Best article yet on the F1 Ferrari allegations. Note that through it McLaren have no other mud thrown at them – but Ferrari and Benetton (both who employed Schumacher) have guilt at their door.

Yesterday at WordCamp Matt Mullenweg asked Matt Cutts about Text Link Ads on blogs. I have Text Link Ads and have done for some time. I never thought that they wanted me to link because my content matched theirs – to think that is stupid. It’s Page Rank all the way and to be honest I didn’t care (still don’t) because they are paying me to occupy that small space. But because these people pay me money and those people have PR in mind Google doesn’t like it. Google’s ball park, Google’s rules and the rules are going to apparently hit sites who have these links.

So Google knock me down to a 6 or a 5. The link buyers don’t want me and go – I lose money. I decide to not renew ads to keep my PR and I lose money. It’s not a huge deal as it was never counted into any budget but I lose either way. Google does not want me to get money to promote something that would not get that exposure without the money being behind it.

So a site that does figure in their results is not allowed to try and get higher by paying a blogger for advertising space. But what about a site that does not figure at all in their results paying someone else to get not just some exposure but the most visible exposure?
Their game, their rules.

Right now it’s really easy to see the TLA but would they know if I slotted them into my blogroll? Yes, of course they would. Google has the technology to come to my site and figure out that my link to Podrunner is a genuine link but the one to some directory is not. It could penalise that directory in some way that allowed the blogger to make cash but which did not harm the PR. It has that power. But it does not want to share that pie. It wants it all and it will take it. Their games, their rules.
It’s telling of course that the very people who work for TLA will not have their sites using their own product but that is not the issue. The issue is that Google are saying that they want the ad cash and bloggers shall not be allowed it.

Do I care about PR? Yes because the cash is nice because I’m a 7. No because when I search for it I have to wade through a heap of junk to find the results I do want. And it’s not sponsored links that are causing the junk (what is does not matter right now) so if sponsored links are not impeding my experience of using Google then why hit me with that stick just because it’s an incredibly easy stick to use? How many bloggers actually use TLA? Is blogging really hurting Google (because by definition PR is Google) to the point that they do this? Is blogging – or rather a few links on well-structured sites – so powerful that Google cannot do anything else? Are they backed into a corner? No – they just cannot be bothered / don’t care / want to be greedy.

Better people than me will have dissected and argued this and this post is not going to change a damn thing but I’ve always hated hypocrisy despite Matt Cutts being a nice guy and a very entertaining speaker what came out of those last few minutes of presentation seems wrong.

(The two ’sponsored links’ above I cannot find in a Google search with 100 results for ‘text link ads’ if I block ads.)

There are a few pics starting at this front view. The parts of my inner upper arm / elbow show what it should calm down to. And as with all photos, it looks a lot better in real life :)

Germany has banned the makers of Tom Cruise’s new movie from filming at military sites in the country because the actor is a Scientologist. BBC

Brilliant! Shame other countries – including the UK – can’t take the same step against the cult.

Big Brother … first impressions.
I would have more first impressions if it wasn’t for the squealing idiots who got in there first.
The producers must have thought they struck gold when they went out to find the stereotypical dumb blondes because these two are .. well…. as dumb as you get it seems. Amanda and Sam just squealed and squealed. William Hill already have them as 20/1 to win and that’s the longest current odds. Airheads? There’s no room for air – it’s full of lead.

Is there a single redeeming feature in these girls?
I think not.
Heaven help the other women.