new annoying trend with web

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, not much to say. Here's one that I thought deserved a post...
I've noticed this new "trend" on several websites lately. It's yet another devious form of advertising... You go to a website that catches your interest - like this one that caught my eye about the reunion of The Police at this years grammy awards. You start to read and then you see that some of the words are links [with a double underline]. So in the post I was reading, there was a mention of the "red hot chilli peppers" another band that I like. But when I hovered over the link to see where it leads (I hope you all do that), a small pop-up window appears and it's like a microsoft search engine. So, this new trend, is that this devious code picks apparently random words or phrases, puts a link on them, that takes you to an advertisement rather than an actual link. I'm sure this practice will increase, because I bet the majority of people will not realize what's going on - and people will make money because of this. That's why I like google ads so much. They are simple, straight forward, and un-obtrusive. I'm not complaining about ads, I'm complaining about underhanded tricks to promote your product or message.

ok, one more while I'm here. Yesterday was the big launch date of Window's Vista Operating system. I have seen and heard of various interviews with Bill Gates, making the promotional tour. But other than that, I've not heard a peep. Maybe it will take a few days for people to actually get their copies, install them, and then the feedback will start to flow. Anyway, I did catch the interviews with Bill Gates and John Stewart on the Daily Show the other night... I was a bit surprised at John's questions. He seemed to be asking these corny computer questions, and treated the interview very lightly. I wish he actually asked some meaningful questions. I have to admit though, at the end of the interview, the interviewee is supposed to sit there while they lead into a commercial (This happens all the time, when the guest does not do this, and they start to stand, and John has to stop them). Anyway, Bill stands up immediately and starts walking off (I don't think he heard John's attempt to get him to sit). It was kinda funny. Then at the end of last night's show, they did a "spoof" of this and it was even more funny. They put a "stunt double" in and made it like a camera man was following Bill out of the studio. They showed him being rude and nasty to the people he passed in the hallway, things like knocking a stack of papers out of their hands, spilling water on them, etc... I can't do it justice, and I can't find the clip on youtube (yet).
I'll save my thoughts on Vista for another time - other than to say it looks like they really took liberally from Apple's OSX - but that's nothing new.

We're all just consumers

I saw this post originally over on boingboing, but I wasn't going to post this to my blog because I feel like I just re-post a lot of boingboing topics. But then I checked my other favorite website called Consumerist.com and they posted the same article, so now I have to post it :)
It's just an amazing photo. Simple really, but by looking at something we see everyday (or at least once a week when we go grocery shopping) from a different viewpoint it's much more "eye opening". LOOK at all that product that assaults our senses. Here's the link to the consumerist page.

Tech Tags: consumerist consumer product marketing

Peace Hippies

First a disclaimer - I'm an old Hippy. I have long hair (what's left of it anyway), I like peace, I like to think about some metaphysical thoughts, I like nature. I do not wear Tie-dyes. I do not own any hemp products. I do not do drugs (except for occasional alcohol and Aspartame). So I guess part of me fits the hippy stereotype, while part of me does not. Ok, got that out of the way.
Today I turned on C-span, and was surprised to see that there was a war protest going on in DC. Not really surprised that it was on C-span, they've had them on before - but surprised that I did not know about it. So after a few minutes, I saw what the protest was titled... Women Say Pull Out. I'm sure this saying has a double meaning and that it was intentional. I don't understand if this was meant to be funny, shocking, cute, or what but I thought it was in poor taste. Next on TV they had a musical performance of two women singing with another person playing the bongos. It was so cliche. As I was watching, these two large tie-dye flags went walking past in the background... I started to realize this was more of a freakshow than it was a war protest. I'm all for expressing individual "style" but something struck me as being wrong at this protest. IF you want to get a message across to someone, you don't want to dress in silly costumes, make sexual entendres, and generally turn something as serious as a peace protest into a circus act. I wasn't going to blog this topic until just now... I went over and was checking out some photos in my flickr contacts. I saw that one person had posted some anti-war protests from the same event but in San Francisco. Again, there are some people dressed here in "costumes" - so that's what triggered this post.
I hope this makes sense. I'm all for peace. I have a GREAT amount of respect for anyone who feels strong enough in their beliefs to pick up a sign and walk in a march or take part in a demonstration. But someone needs to tell these people that they may be hurting the cause by making light of a situation. Put the costumes away, put the tie-dyes away, think about what message you want to put on a poster, and if you were on the other side of the argument, would YOU take it seriously. Here is an example:
PEACE.
NO WAR.
BUSH LIED.
60,000+ Iraqis have died.
Over 3000 US Soldiers have died.
These messages are sobering. These messages make people stop and think. These messages are hard for people on the other side to disagree with. These messages are hard for the other side to ridicule.
My two cents - take it for what it's worth.
Here is a link to the flickr account where I saw the protest photos. Some of the photos are good, and some of the messages are good. You should check it out.
(and thanks for posting the photos under Creative Commons: Steve Rhodes)
(He has no connection with this blog post, I just happen to have found his photos)

The list

I'm so glad I just found this post via Reddit... HERE is the list of (I want to use the word evil, but that's probably too harsh) BAD people who have blocked the Minimum Wage increase from going through... Many Thanks to Political Affairs Magazine for posting this information and doing the leg work. (I tried but met a lot of confusing mumbo jumbo websites). Read the whole article here.
>>>
Lamar Alexander (R-TN) – (202) 224-4944
Wayne Allard (R-CO) – (202) 224-5941
Robert Bennett (R-UT) – (202) 224-5444
Christopher Bond (R-MO) – (202) 224-5721
Sam Brownback (R-KS) – (202) 224-6521
Jim Bunning (R-KY) – (202) 224-4343
Richard Burr (R-NC) – (202) 224-3154
Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) – (202) 224-3521
Tom Coburn (R-OK) – (202) 224-5754
Thad Cochran (R-MS) – (202) 224-5054
John Cornyn (R-TX) – (202) 224-2934
Larry Craig (R-ID) – (202) 224-2752
Mike Crapo (R-ID) – (202) 224-6142
Jim DeMint (R-SC) – (202) 224-6121
John Ensign (R-NV) – (202) 224-6244
Michael Enzi (R-WY) – (202) 224-3424
Lindsey Graham (R-SC) – (202) 224-5972
Judd Gregg (R-NH) – (202) 224-3324
Chuck Hagel (R-NE) – (202) 224-4224
Orrin Hatch (R-UT) – (202) 224-5251
James Inhofe (R-OK) – (202) 224-4721
Johnny Isakson (R-GA) – (202) 224-3643
Jon Kyl (R-AZ) – (202) 224-4521
Trent Lott (R-MS) – (202) 224-6253
John McCain (R-AZ) – (202) 224-2235
Mitch McConnell (R-KY) – (202) 224-2541
John Sununu (R-NH) – (202) 224-2841
Craig Thomas (R-WY) – (202) 224-6441
>>>
oh look... They all have an "R" after their name. I wonder if that's just a coincidence. So much for reaching across the aisle for the good of the American People.

Tech Tags: politics minimum+wage Republicans bad+people

Oscars

I've got a few topics I want to post on but I think I'll break them into separate posts...
Movies!
I used to run a website with movie reviews of me and my friend. It was fun, and I learned a lot on setting up websites. But after a few years, the fun started to fade and it started to feel like work. I stopped enjoying a film for the sake of entertainment because I was always thinking in the back of my mind, what am I going to write about this one. So we both agreed to put the site in limbo.
So In case it wasn't clear, I'm a pretty big movie buff. Between trying to see a movie a week in the theater and my Netflix subscription, I'm never want for looking for a movie to watch. So the other day the Oscar Nominees were announced. I counted up the movie titles and out of 59 films, I've only seen 10 of them. Doesn't sound like that much really does it, but right off the top you could cross about 15-20 of those off the list because NO ONE from the average public has seen some of the nominations for categories like; foreign films, animated shorts, Short films, and Documentary short. Where do these movies get shown even? So, I am usually fairly well versed to make an educated guess as to who might win but this year I am out of the loop. Of the Best Films, I've only seen two of five (I hope to see Babel soon though). So for what it's worth, I hope Little Miss sunshine wins. I loved this movie. BUT I feel bad for anyone who has not seen it as all the talk about the movie, and even the trailers for the dvd release have now given away much of the film and takes away from the surprise - which was KEY for my enjoyment. I knew nothing about the film before seeing it. The only other comment I'll make is that I'm sad that one of my favorite movies of the year was not mentioned... Stranger than fiction with Will Farrell. One other comment... of the hundreds of movies released in 06, I'm a bit surprised by how few movies are nominated. Oh well.

Sorry, one more comment...
Pan's Labyrinth - I just saw that this past weekend. I have mixed feelings on this one. My friend hated it and fell asleep in the theater :) But I was very much taken in by this movie on the visuals alone. I liked the overall storyline, but I will say the movie did really drag at some points. And was so transparent at other times. It was also very violent at times. I HOPE that this movie doesn't end up on a video rental shelf somewhere and some kid picks it up thinking it's a fantasy film and the adult looks at the title and cover and lets them watch it. It is NOT for Kids!

Tech Tags: Oscar Oscars movies films nominees

Minimum wage increase blocked

I just saw this post on digg and thought it was a joke. I thought this bill was pretty much a done deal. Apparently I was wrong. The Republicans have blocked the minimum wage increase by a few votes, because they want tax breaks for the businesses. The article goes on to quote Sen. Ed Kennedy...

"Why can't we do just one thing for minimum wage workers? No strings attached, no giveaways for the powerful?"

Imagine being one of those minimum wage workers, who I'm sure, like me, thought this was a done deal, only now are finding out they may be stuck at $5.15 forever. I tried to find out who the 43 that voted against this were, but I'm not having any luck finding that info. I'll try to search again.

reverse graffitti

I've been into "underground art" lately. I discovered a magazine called Juxtapoz and had no idea this "movement" was so large. One of the aspects of this art is graffitti art. I think I posted here once before, that I'm not so much in favor of defacing someone elses property. But a public piece I think is fair game to make a public statement (such as a bridge, or a highway overpass). So, grafitti tends to buck the system right? Well this post illustrates how you can reverse buck the system and play some good headgames while your at it... these guys are finding the dirtiest walls, tunnels, etc, and basically saying "wash me" on them. Read the full story on this guys blog.
(I'm not sure if the photo credit goes to Moose or Matt).

Tech Tags: art graffiti reverse+graffiti clean