What makes you happy ?

Click “Ads by Goooooooogle”

This site is a splog.
It is stealing my content and that of many others.

Response:

Thank you for your note. It is our policy to respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act …..

Like I expected any difference. Looks like I’ll have to fire up a browser (I have K-Meleon just for this) and sit there clicking off those splog ads. How many before they get looked at – not for stealing others content oh no, but taking a dime from the multi-million monolith? 100 clicks? 200? Same IP – clicky clicky. Mouse gestures are such damn useful things. That’ll get you frigging attention won’t it. Click click click. Where are these auto-click scripts I here about? I want one to let loose on splogs and other such garbage. They must exist. I want one. Hell I’ll take more.

Look!

No-one uses Google to look for anything bad. At all. Only nice free things.
It must be Yahoo then :)

I set Thunderbird yesterday to use GMail at the default smtp sender. Since yesterday I have lost email. I’ve sent test mails that haven’t gone through. Sent a couple to the forums list which disappeared until I set this domain as the smtp. I know spam is rocketing right now but I’ve never had GMail eat my mail before. Just me?

Had cause to use GMail for real earlier – you might have seen why had you tried to visit – and while there saw the Google Talk box with the list of contacts. I’d not seen it before and what drew my attention was a name I didn’t recognise. So I clicked to ‘Show All’. I was amazed at all these people who could/would/have popped up when I’m using IM. Being the naive soul I am I had not realised that everyone I communicate with is auto added. I know it doesn’t matter hugely but I really did not know. I don’t like that. So I started to set people to ‘Never’. I thought GMail and it’s ‘cool’ was partly to do with their use of AJAX. Well here’s a thing – scroll down a screen and a bit. Set someone to ‘Never’ and watch the AJAX kick in which send you sailing back to the top of the screen. Clevur. And the checkbox use is not entirely clear either. Lots of ticks later and I have blocked people.
Among those are abuse@ addresses, spammers whose mail got through, people who I once installed WP for and they promised me a book and never delivered, people who I really can’t remember, email addresses for various backups (not that they will start talking – I’m not that daft) and some people who I just really do not want to talk to. I hadn’t realised I’d sent emails to Mr Meyer and Mr Scoble either – so I blocked them. Like they’ll ever want to talk to me eh ? :) (“Yeah, I’m a busy guy, can’t have that Scoble bloke on at me again“). Weird though that they auto add. Just because I email someone doesn’t mean I want to talk to them. IM gets a lot less scary when you block lots of people.

The EFF are saying quite clearly that a feature in Google’s Desktop Search is very bad news indeed. Given what else is happening in the online world with regard to privacy are you really going to be stupid enough to hand over everything to anyone who wants it ? And advertising – it would be like letting a Junk mailer into your home, showing him the contents of your HD and then thanking them as he leaves with a ghosted image. But people will be dense enough to do this … just imagine if someone does this from work. On Windows ? Need a search tool ? Use Agent Ransack
(src: Slashdot)

For a reason I can’t quite put my finger on, I’ve deleted the only cracked code I had on my machine – so I’m clean. No cracked code here. Thing is, I don’t know why exactly. A attack of honesty ? Doubt it. Happy to do to now use two programs where one would have done ? No. Content that if I took my machine to be repaired they’d find nothing dodgy on it ? Nope. Weird. (Though let’s face it – I know just where to look again if I wanted.).

According to The Register and other sources, Google are climbing into bed with Dell. I’ve got a Dell that’s approaching 5 years old and it still works so I’ve no complaints about it (reason I got a Dell ? It wasn’t that vile light grey) but it makes me ponder about new machines. It’s been a while since I did it for someone but when I got asked to setup a new machine the first thing you do is clear all the crap out isn’t it ? All the Norton stuff (post to a cracks newsgroup asking for codes for Norton Internet security .. tut tut. Mind you there was a post close by asking for an Incredimail crack. Very sad indeed.) and any other garbage that MS stuck on the HD (not the OS … let’s not go there :) ) so it makes me wonder what gunk we’ll be seeing along with the Google stuff…..
It’s bound to install all the G code .. maybe it’ll ask for your postcode, load up Google Earth and while new users go “Oooohhh” that postcode will be used to target the newbie user (“Use warez ? We know where you live..”)? www.customizegoogle.com should be the first visit for those setting machines up. A Google Earth link would be gold though wouldn’t it ? Targeted everything … not that they would do any evil. (define “good”).

Bandwidth. Videos. A couple of years ago if a site had a video then it got swamped as people crammed into see it. I recall video links as being comparatively rare and of very low quality. But with Google Video, YouTube and others it’s springing up again. In some ways that’s good because otherwise we would not have the goodness of Numa Numa but I’m also coming more links to really nasty stuff. Maybe it’s where I’m looking but there was a link a couple of days ago to a stoning in South Africa I came across, links to animal deaths, links to violent films. I could go on a censorship spin or decry such facilities but there’s no point. It’s just nasty stuff.

Someone moved the images ?

It’s been this way for a while now tonight.

It’s hard work in #wordpress sometimes….. kudos to h0bbel for providing most of the gems here.

Nine Inch Nails Only
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1771912268064146416

Dancer
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-694754540520188231

Little wannabe … kids
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2543729702510824849

Eating a Ramin Noodle Flavor Packet
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=568465681227124453&q=ramin

Same kids, different ‘music’
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4086116680541596513

Mortal Kombat !
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6149754563453670209

Numa Numa
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2153041247958552201&q=numa+numa

Let’s all do the Numa Numa !
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6635369686694175391&q=numa+numa

Strange boy wrestling a stuffed dog …
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4892359928197805795

Rocky Horror
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=355708808082112148

Ages ago I used WorldKit to make a map of where people were using WP both in the UK and over the world. I just put the data into a file when people sent it to me, I went and got data for no-one because I hardly know where people live do I ?

Anyway, that file was sitting there doing nothing, I was playing with Google Earth (still haven’t found a penguin – I’ve even checked zoos!) so I slung them both together.

The file you need is this: WordPress.kmz.
Download and in GE, File > Open > browse to saved file.

If you want to take that file and do other stuff with it, help yourself.
If you want removing, email me.
Need a correction ? Let me know.
If you want to be on it, send me the (WordPress) blog name, blog description and blog address. ALSO send the latitude and longitude of exactly where you are……. to t2 @ tamba2.org.uk. Putting Google Earth as a subject will help the filter.

If you want a reminder about why you need to be exact, in the map I just made someone is blogging from a freeway, someone else appears to live in a national monument and two people are ‘swogging’ – swimming while blogging.

And it’s not serious, it’s not “official” – it is whatever you want it to be. And if being on such a thing means an extra visitor or two, why not ? :)

Update: I don’t ask that you can only read this blog if you use WP do I ? So why keep it WP exclusive ? No reason. After all, if we never looked at blogs other than from the engines we used then we’d not be able to see the other things that can be done with themes and sliding comments! so if you do want adding …. send info :) Or take it and make it more. or something. Or just ignore it.

I always thought that if you looked at the world from a long way away, there would be snow on the top and snow on the bottom. I have no idea where that notion came from – maybe the years of being subjected to the weekly treat of “Look and Learn” as a comic instead of The Beano – but either way there would be lots of snow. There isn’t !
I decided to try and find a penguin using Google Earth. I knew it was a long shot but I figured a black penguin against white snow would be a head start. I even remembered that I should start at the South Pole – mind, I had to find my own way there as Google Earth has no record of the place – but a couple of things surprised me:
- the images are very blurred. Is this to conceal secret installations of military things ? Or is it because the satellite trajectory means that it’s travelling really fast and it cannot focus on white ? (Don’t tell the commies or they’ll be over as sprinting snowmen !)
- There is a lot of the South Pole.
In fact the amount there is is about what I would have guessed. I think if someone had given me a pictures of the globe and asked me to colour in the amount I thought the South Pole would be, I’d have been close.

I’d have been waaaaaay off with the North Pole. It’s tiny. I’ll accept that if you are there that even I as a lover of the cold rather than a sun-worshipper would find it a tad on the chilly and barren side of welcoming, but even so it is so small !

I do believe in Global Warming as a phenomenon and my perception now could easily be “Look ! It’s nearly all gone !” which it may well be, but that’s based on my childhood beliefs but even so, doesn’t it look small ? Isn’t it smaller than you thought it would be ? And isn’t that worrying in some right now abstract way ? I wonder if someone somewhere has done lots of zooming and measuring so that when things are updated they can say “It’s got smaller!” because this GE tool has given us that possibility hasn’t it ? And not just snow but rainforests and rivers and deserts and roads – I hope someone maps roads. Tarmac is evil.

I can’t twist the world to show snow on the top and the bottom at the same time. My childhood vision is gone.

I’ll keep you updated on the penguin search :)