Jul 14, 2004
Advertising Age
Via Outside The Beltway:
A year ago, blogger Glenn Reynolds joked to the Tribune that he was making “burger-flipping” wages from the trickle of funds readers donated to his popular Web site, Instapundit.com. These days, Reynolds can afford to order steak. Since he began accepting advertisements on his site five months ago, Instapundit.com has been bringing in several thousand dollars a month.
Interesting article in the Chicago Tribune about advertising on blogs, which is at the moment for me of purely theoretical interest. I wouldn’t dream of sullying the crisp aesthetics of this site with ugly, raw capitalism. Also, those ugly, raw capitalists wouldn’t be exactly tripping over themselves to capture my 50 or so readers.
It’s something I’d consider in the future, though. I think it was Matt Welch who wrote that he averages something like 5,000 unique views a week and makes about $900 a year from ads. Not enough to quit your day job for, but it’d nicely cover server, excess bandwidth (Reynolds blows through about 5GB every couple of days, and he doesn’t post a lot of pictures, either) and DSL costs. Who knows, I might even be able to hire someone to professionally design the thing. (The “crisp aesthetics” notwithstanding, it really only looks right with Mozilla/Netscape browsers. IE is mainly OK, but some of the lines don’t match up. I’m afraid to look at it with Opera. And it’s a mess in the Mac Safari browser. [If you’ve got a blog or webpage and you want to see how it looks on various platforms go here or here.].)
In the meantime, if anyone knows of a good online tutorial on CSS and/or HTML, please let me know. This stuff is driving me crazy. Or at least more crazy.
Jul 13, 2004
A worthy cause for sure…
This excellent idea comes via Silent Running.
Within the next 48 hours, Jews and non-Jews worldwide will be sending email messages to the United Nations, the EU Parliament and the EU Court of Justice with the identical message that appears below.
Please take a quick moment to copy the message below and paste it into a new email that should be sent to the email addresses listed below:
ecu@un.org - United Nations
civis@europarl.eu.int - EU Parliament
info@curia.eu.int - EU Court of Justice
Message:
Subject: The building of the Israeli security fence
To Whom It May Concern:
When Israel builds a fence to keep out terrorists, the UN and EU are up in arms because it makes it difficult for terrorists to kill more Jews.
When terrorists shoot (point blank!) an 8-month-pregnant Jewish woman and her 4 little girls, there is absolute silence from your organizations.
The security fence is a temporary and nonviolent way to reduce terrorism. The fence is a proportional response to the ongoing Palestinian Campaign of terror. When the terrorism stops, the fence can be taken down.
The route of the fence was designed to save the lives of innocent people. Israel has the right and the duty to protect its citizens from terrorist attacks.
Since the erection of the security fence there has been a 90% decrease in the number of attacks against Israelis-from an average of 26 attacks per year before the fence to three attacks after the fence was built.
The Israeli Supreme Court has ruled that areas of the fence must be adjusted in order to relieve Palestinian hardship. Unlike any othercountry in the region, Israel has an independent judiciary. Israel, a democracy committed to the rule of law, will comply with the Israeli Supreme Court’s decision.
The security fence is not a wall, as the court states. The majority of the fence is constructed of barb wire-8.5 kilometers of the fence consists of concrete slabs, in order to prevent sniper fire.
There are many disputed security fences around the world-India has constructed a fence in the contested area of Kashmir, and Saudi Arabia has constructed a barrier in an undefined area along the Saudi Arabia-Yemen border-yet only Israel’s security fence has prompted an International Court of Justice ruling. See this website: (www.washingtoninstitute.org/distribution/PCE465.doc)
Israel is willing to make painful sacrifices for peace. Israel has made peace with Jordan and Egypt, and gave up the entire Sinai-land larger than the current state of Israel.
If you think your indifference goes unnoticed, count the number of messages you will receive world-wide in the next 48 to 72 hours on this subject.
Respectfully,
G.o.D. reflects
Of course I would not have been around for Saturday’s fun (and thank god(s) I was) if it hadn’t been for the fact G.o.D. is on a brief break from recording. Well, I say break, but John seems to have used the time without me around to mix our demo at least three more times. He is becoming quite the producer is our John. Anyone who can produce as good stuff as he is in a very small home studio has quite a bit of talent. Of course, as he produces better and better mixes of the music he feels a bit bummed that the record company does not have our “latest". We, the band, are in that awful waiting period to hear what the record company thinks of it all. Of course my week is all out of wack because I am not trotting off to Wimbledon twice a week. Barring calamities, we are set to resume recording tomorrow, hopefully demoing them for the album. Meanwhile, Mike and I are trying to co-ordinate his visiting these shores to lend us his guitar chops. He continually has nice things to say about our music, for which I have to thank him profusely.
Mike was not the only person with a kind word for me this week. Trollboy had this to say about Andrew Ian Dodge… the mythos author.
In all seriousness… I got alot of compliments re: you at origins!!
Of course he also said he wants another story…
Antipodean antics
As any of you, our loyal readers, will know I am normally loath to write about myself on this blog less it turn into a “journal” blog. I have been writing about my latest project (besides my last novel being published in the autumn) in the form of G.o.D. However, the events of last weekend force me to share with you the sheer idiocy some of the antipodeans who come to London. Below you will find a photo of the bonfire they had roaring away right next to our building.
What amazed me was the sheer lack of common sense shown by these people. As I had a mate over, I did a bit of a rain-dance to put it out. To our amazement (ok, mine, he wasn’t surprised at all) it started belting down right after I finished the dance. To add to the effect, we got some lightning as well. The rain forced them inside, so we were no longer being asphyxiated by the fumes. You would think this would have meant they would have turned their music down…but it didn’t. Partly due to the fire and the noise, we decided to call our local noise/nuisance boys to get them to calm down a bit. Between the call and their arrival Oz & South Africa’s finest had re-lit the damn thing. The noise boys were absolutely shocked to see the back room in my flat glowing from a fire right below it. These two nice blokes did their job and shut the party down.
But a bizarre evening had one more surprise in store for me.
Once the gentlemen had left, I was yelled at by a French man who said: “you are a coward… you had to send two of your agents!” I was unable to hear the rest of his rant as my friend and I were laughing too hard to hear any more. His words were heavily accented, so I did not manage to hear if he called them zionist or not. Besides the idiotic rant, what was most amusing is that this bloke sounded just like John Cleese’s Frenchman in Holy Grail.
For the next few hours until 5am-ish we had to deal with a pissed off South African playing his guitar (badly) loud enough to annoy all his neighbours.
For The Ladies
With all the strife and trouble in the world, it’s no small comfort that we all – men and women; Christian and Muslim; Jew and animist; capitalist and Communist; black and white and brown – that we can all come together and agree:
that this is the butt-ugliest prom dress ever.
Plenty more where that came from.
Show me the money!
Oh Lord, the BBC’s at it again.
Seems some bright spark decided to send out identical CVs to companies, under British and foreign names and, surprise surprise, the foreigners got fewer replies. Jeez, now there’s a surprise.
A lazy White employee can be sacked, a lazy minority employee can sue. In our new Socialist workers paradice the boss can enjoy the unique pleasure of being blackmailed into settling out of court, or face humiliation and poverty in court.
True to form, a procession of Left wing thinkers, academics, writers and ‘race campaigners’ (race baiters?) came on air to demand more legislation, more quotas, more law suits. More more more! Understandably, no red horned businessman sullied good Liberal BBC studios with their filthy capitalist views.
Its not institutional British racism that prevents ethnic people from having their calls returned, just fear, dread and the desire to avoid blackmail.
Under Socialism businessmen are afraid, and for good reason. Perhaps reasonable then, that Briton’s share of European investment has fallen from 25% to 9% in just 7 short years of Labour rule.
Jul 12, 2004
Feelin’ Good!
While holidaying in North England last week, I noticed a Socialist Workers Party leaflet at the local nut-job non-cyber chat room (the health food shop’s notice board). Being up for a laugh, low on cash and date-less, I could not resist the fun.
I’d just finished Francis Wheen’s superb biography of Carl Marx. If you have the slightest interest in world politics, you must buy this book. Far from the great thinker myth, Marx comes across as a thoroughly despicable, bitter, lying, miserable hypocrite and general cad. It’s a great read, buy it.
A more wretched collection of bitter losers it would be hard to unearth. After a 1hr anti-Bush rant from our dear leader, and a few calls from the audience to bring down the Bush/Blair axis, we repaired to the bar.
A woman of uncomfortable appearance (deodorant being bourgeois decadence), assured me that she no longer read the Guardian, “Its gone soft” she assured “we should be closing down schools and hospitals, not participating in the bosses’ government”. Right on sister.
An interesting chap, who can work but chooses to live courtesy of my taxes declared his past elegance to the militant side “I’m not into that stuff no more” he assured “now I’m just into bringing down the government”. I was then asked to hand over a further 50p for beer, which I proceeded to do, under silent protest.
Apparently, Britain is to reach a shinning new dawn as Parliament is dismantled, to be replaced by workers’ comities. Didn’t they try that in Moscow once? Can’t see a Supreme Soviet in No.10 myself.
Here’s the clincher.. While we chatted, Saddam’s court appearance came on the news. Being a baby-eating, fox molesting Tory I exclaimed with delight at the old dictator’s demise, the SWP crowd turned their backs and pretended ignorance. “Isn’t it great!” I declared in sad innocence. “Look they’ve got Saddam in court” I exclaimed with Right wing joy, No one said a word. You could have heard a severed hand drop.
Someone looked at my paper, The Daily Telegraph. Augh, cover blown, I eased out of the pub before being shaken down for more capitalist beer money.
Friends, if your low & insecure, if your car’s on the blink and your waist line grows by the hour. If your ego’s in the gutter and bank account’s in the red. Take yourself down to a SWP meeting and walk out feeling the cleverest, wittiest, most brilliant scholar in town.
I did.
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Red State is a Republican and Republican-voting group blog that looks to cover the lead up to the November election. Pay a visit and sign up to contribute if you wish.
Pagan paranoia
Thanks to idiotic paranoia of pagans those responsible for raping children have not been pursued. This is a disgrace and a travesty.
Pete pissed at Mikey
Radley reports that Pete Townsend is rather miffed at the fat blowhard.
One Thing Leads To Another
and oh, my god, look,
you have just discovered
the way that one thing can lead to another
Ain’t that the truth. For instance, you could go here and milk the cows before they explode.
But that leads to a lot of milk. So you could make some ice cream with it. What flavor, though?
Maybe the Japanese have some ideas. They have some, uh . . . different concepts for ice cream flavors, such as lettuce and potato, red wine, and tulips.
Or this.
Which leads to nausea.
Jul 11, 2004
Kiwi Bob on ICJ
A better piece on the travesty that occured in the Hague cannot be found.
Haughty And The Hottie
Gary Andres in National Review Online notes that John Kerry is not connecting very well with a critical demographic:
Among Democrats, however, not only are the overall affirmative percentages on both questions lower, but some significant sex differences emerge. While 70 percent of Democratic men want their kids to grow up like Kerry, only 46 percent of Democratic women do — a 24 percentage-point difference. And 62 percent of Democratic men want to spend an hour with Kerry, while only 49 percent of that party’s women voters do.
I can’t speak for women, and I’d be voting for Bush anyway, but maybe they’re just a little bit spooked by all the grappling and manhandling between Kerry and his shiny little running mate. When people start putting together video clips like this (warning – music) you might want to reconsider your strategy.
And of course, this is a deliberate strategy – you know these guys are choreographed more than ballet dancers, with focus groups determining everything from their speeches to their shirt-colors, so this phony horseplay was approved from On High, as it were. The problem is that it looks as creepy as Al “Lurch” Gore did in his various incarnations.
Remember your heritage, fellows: White men don’t hug.
Jul 10, 2004
Well Mr Blunkett?
Re: Public, be warned
Date: 10 July 2004
Sir - The Home Secretary’s reminder of dangers posed by far-Right, fundamentalist evangelicals comes not a moment too soon (News, July 8 ). No one is more qualified to disclose details of terrorist activities being waged by this group.
If his warning is correct, the public needs to maintain constant vigilance. But, perhaps he can answer the following concerning this group:
1. Who are its ringleaders?
2. In which of its churches have weapons/explosives been found?
3. Has it ever been engaged in suicide bombings?
4. Has it ever conducted motorcycle pillion killer operations?
5. Has it ever practised hostage-taking and/or beheading?
6. Does it seek to impose an extremist Christian equivalent to sharia law?
7. Has it declared a programme for world domination to be achieved by force?
8. Which of its members has ever approved of such activities?
I await the Home Secretary’s answer with interest.
From:
Ian Turner, Tonyrefail, Rhondda
Update: Jenny McCartney puts the entire row about the liberal and moderate cleric into perspective, as does Will Cummins. While you are there take a gander at the letters page, there are some quite interesting ones about Islam and terrorism. Including a rather interesting (and accurate) one on the real “inventors” of terrorism.
Update II: Even Peter Tachell and his mob have gotten in on the act of protesting this vile cleric.
One more time with feeling…
The BBC’s current bizarre Leftists passivism is neither new nor uncharacteristic. Briton’s near defeat and subsequent US rescue in WW2 was not, as is generally accepted, the result of Nazi cunning or superiority, but British cowardice and ignorance, significantly brought on by 9 years of BBC misinformation.
Both pre-war Prime Ministers Baldwin and Chamberlain, required BBC under-emphasis of the Nazi threat, to the point where Churchill was virtually banned from broadcasting. Again today, Right wing academics, writers and leaders often find their way into BBC studios blocked by a long line of Leftists, Al Quaeda sympathisers and apologists.
In 1930’s America audiences openly debated the coming war on local and national radio, while British audiences were kept firmly in the dark. Similarly, today Talk Radio hosts put the Right’s point of view across America, while the BBC sticks resolutely to anti-Americanism and collaberative prinicples.
The ability for the BBC to see cowardice in the face of danger, today, derives from its almost exclusively middle/upper class, Left wing makeup, e.g. BBC vacancies are only advertised in 2 left wing newspapers.
The British public continues to trust the same monopoly broadcaster which almost lead it into the jaws of disarmament and defeat in 1939, leaving those on the Right to rant, rave and swear oaths of bitter recrimination, much as Churchill did for much of the 1930’s.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/005786.php
Conference confirms anti-semitism no problem!
Watching Arab Media Watch
No points for guessing which ‘independent’ news organisation supplied the patron for Arab Media Watch http://www.arabmediawatch.com/, none other than the BBC Middle East Correspondent Tim Llwewlyn.
Arab Media Watch, is a front for anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli, Islamist propaganda, under the guise of ‘Promoting objective coverage of Arab issues’.
A sold out crowd attended the London conference under the banner ‘Is criticizing Israel anti-Semitic’. True to Middle East dictatorial tradition, all panel guests were of one opinion, no dissenting voices graced this event, no surprises there then.
An audience of mostly immigrant Moslems (who love Islam but chose to live in a Christian country), and useful-idiot Lefties piously clutching their Guardian newspapers, meant the chances of a thrilling debate were not encouraging.
Dr Karmi’s call for the academic boycott of Israel struck a chord with the congregation, her dismay at the boycott’s opposition was expressed with exasperation and outrage. Strangling the one area of the Middle East producing more scientific and medical research than the other 98% put together apparently makes sense.
Whether patients should boycott Israeli medicine was not made clear. I suggest hospitals give Cancer sufferers a choice; death or ‘Jewish science’.
Eminent Oxford academic Dr. Brian Klug claiming (with justification reminiscent of certain Nuremberg rallies) no connection between anti-Semitism and the popular Friday evening pastime of chanting ‘Death to Israel, death to the Jews’ was as much as this attendee could take. I exited early, in urgent search of a strong drink.
Rest assured, there is no connection between the desire to destroy Israel and kill Jews, and anti-Semitism.
Clinton’s BBC Interview
Clinton’s interview on the BBC was reverential (did I spell that right) was this a politician caught lying, or a demi-god giving audience. It was hard to tell.
Why do the BBC and other networks keep referring to Iraq as a ‘bloodbath’ didn’t Saddam slaughter his fellow Iraqis by the hundreds of thousands? Perhaps this has been conveniently air-brushed out of history.
The problem arises, I fear, from the BBC’s almost total reliance on White, upper-class, university educated, Liberals on whom to spend its guaranteed annual £3 billion budget.
For the privileged upper classes of Britain, who have attended private schools, eat the best food, live in the safest all-White suburbs and work in an ultra-cloistered environment, it must be hard, damn near impossible to comprehend life outside their Liberal cloister.
Remeber this is an organisation which only hires staff out of one, anti-American Left wing newspaper, the Guardian.
Today’s Radio 4 discussion featured a Arab praising the invasion as ‘The most moral war’ while upper class, White Liberal reporter, Kate Adie attacked it with venom. For the Arab it meant freedom, for Kate, Liberal humiliation and victory to the Left’s mortal and most hated enemy American Republicanism.
The Arab spoke with heartbreaking emotion of the slaughter and misery under Saddam, and an over-stuffed liberal declared it wasn’t worth it.
It could have been a Monty Python sketch. ‘No you silly little Arab’ Kate declared, ‘we chaps can have democracy, but as for you darkies, you’ll just have to wait. Now run allong and no more talk of freedom, you cheeky little imp’.
Idiots for Iraq
Mr Berg‘s been doing the UK rounds, blaming W for his son’s demise.
Berg Sr. was apparently shocked to learn that a Jewish kid might be in danger, wandering around a war zone where Islama-zoids roam the streets on the hunt to bag a Kaffir to mount in the living room. Who knew. Wasn’t mentioned in the travel brochure.
Of course its all ol’ George’s fault. The President should take time off from running the free world to visit E Coast Synagogues warning folk about Iraq, May contain Islamist nuts.
Berg’s even attempting to cash in on the opening of the hairy sleezeball’s new movie. Too bad he wasn’t so pro-active before his son went off on an Iraqi get rich scheme.
I’m trying to imagine the departing conversation. “Hey dad I’m off to get rich in war-torn Iraq". “Good luck son. Don’t worry, if anything happens, I’ll blame the President. Bring me a carpet and some pistachios.”
Berg jr. was looking to profit form war, hardly new. I’d go myself for some quick cash, but then if my head went under the holly jihad chopper, it’d be my damn stupid fault. What would my long suffering father say, I imagine something like ‘The idiot shouldn’t have gone there in the first place!”.
Lack of common sense is obviously a hereditary trait in the Berg family.
