29 July 2007
MyBlogLog Sunday 18 coming up
Filed in: Mini reviews
Fancy a mini review as part of MyBlogLog Sunday? The "rules" are simple.
Around 11 am on Sunday I will take a screenshot of the MyBlogLog widget in my sidebar. If you are one of the 10 faces and you have left a comment linking to the best post you wrote last week, I will do a mini review of your site.
Your review stays on the homepage (PR5) all week and stays in the archives forever! It is quite a popular feature and there are some competitive guys out there always itching for a mini review, so don't forget the link!
For the bloggers working out every permutation of What ifs, if you leave a comment but your face gets shunted off the avatar by the time I take a screenshot, you don't get a mini review, but at least you will have publicised your site to the masses who call by during the week for a look.
It is free to become a MyBlogLog member. and you aren't obliged to join The Pisstakers scintillating community if you don't want to. Your loss!
Hope to see you - and please, fill this comments box to bursting with self promotion.
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| "Your name" is a Kiva lender | "Your site's screenshot" SmartLink Widget | Funny HQ humor store |
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. Google PR - no pain no gain
Filed in: Ed's blog spot
Ed the Editor's personal blog corner
The quarterly Google page rank updates are due again soon. Are you holding on to your horses in the anticipation? I know I 'm not - this time round. Last time I was fit to burst when The Pisstakers arrived in the twilight zone of PR5. I still don't know how or why, but I wasn't going to argue. But this latest round will be a non-event for me, because it takes an almighty increase in fortunes to bridge the gap to PR6, and after a series of techie-type setbacks coinciding with the usual summer slowdown, the growth of traffic has been steady but hopefully not meteoric enough to impress Google.
I say, hopefully, for good reason. In my opinion stats, of which Google PR is just one of many, are a lottery with anything from zero to a little meaning. And if they just hand out high PR without making you sweat really hard for them, the ranking would have zero significance in my book.
So, Googloids, appeal to my Capricorn mindset of no pain no gain and make me sweat, baby. Give me another year of plugging away before you catapault me into the upper echelons of PR6, please. And don't shatter my illusions, by dropping me down a PR. That really would have me wondering why I bother appealing to the Google robots with my choices of titles and keywords.
What are your expectations as far as page rank is concerned. Do you even give a rat's ass?
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| "Your name" is a Kiva lender | "Your site's screenshot" SmartLink Widget | Funny HQ humor store |
Work-related injuries
Filed in: Ed's blog spot
Ed the Editor's personal blog corner
Following on from yesterday's delve into exercise and blogging, I was reminded this morning of other health problems that can be attributed to work.
I suffer from a lack of nasal sensory perception (or deformed sense of smell) due to many years of breathing in paint fumes. (Who can I sue, please?) Unless I go up to something and give an almighty sniff, or unless the wind is blowing a gale into my face, most aromas just pass me by. The world of perfume, for instance, is out of my reach - unless I walk up to a woman and sniff her neck or wrists. Not a good idea for the most part.
However, this lack of smell has its advantages. When I was having coffee this morning there was a decomposing mouse on the porch and apparently it was rotting away. I say apparently, because, unlike Mrs Ed, I couldn't smell the stench of decomposing flesh. This oblivion to stinkiness made me number one candidate for corpse disposal duties, and as I had no desire to snort the stench of a maggot-infested vermin, the incident passed by without a hint of an upset stomach. Maybe deformed smell glands is a bonus, and I should thank the paint manufacturers for their Health and Safety oversights in the early days?
Another work-related issue is the creaky left shoulder. This niggle is the result of holding heavy paint cans in my left hand, and texturing, plastering, scraping or painting ceilings with my arms above my head for hours at a time, day after day, year after year.
Before the joint started to wear out a bit, there were a few advantages to this abnormal behavior. Like many painters, I could beat almost anyone at arm wrestling. How funny that a "weedy" Painter could whip a bricklayer, but it was true for the most part. Also, when I went to classes, I could hold my hand up longer than anyone else, so I always got to ask my questions!
I went to a gym once under duress (they are so boring) and the instructor guy had me bench-pressing weights to gauge what I needed to do for repeat exercises (not that I planned on going back.) He kept adding dumbells and I kept lifting them. I wasn't the world's strongest man or anything, but he was surprised at my novice abilities, and practically called me a liar when I insisted I had never trained before. "I'm just a painter."
But those days are over and I just nurse the shoulder along now till it warms up. If there is any painting to do at home, it takes a bit longer than it should, and when "the guys" feel the need to prove their physical prowess at arm wrestling, I make sure I don't get too testosterone pumped and I sit it out.
Arm wrestling is actually one of the easiest ways for anyone to wreck an arm, but at least if I did get caught up in that macho crap, I wouldn't be able to smell my opponent's sweaty armpits.
Are you nursing any work-related injuries?
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| "Your name" is a Kiva lender | "Your site's screenshot" SmartLink Widget | Funny HQ humor store |
RSS feeds
Filed in: Ed's blog spot
Just a quickie about feeds.
Rather than go through the bore of typing in my URL to see if anything new is going on, you can click on the flying orange icons in the right side bar and sign up / subscribe to the x-fruits Feed. That way your Feed reader tells you when there is something new posted anywhere on this site. (Bottom line, you won't miss the other fantabadozy, emphasis on the dozy, articles I post everyday in the Tech section and quirky or news pages.)
The Pisstakers is a complex living beast, and if you only go the home page, you may be missing out on some funny stuff being left in the comments all over the site. Therefore, to keep abreast of all comments, why not add this feed to your reader too and laugh at people often a lot funnier than Ed.
One of the smart aspects of using x-fruits rather than Feedburner is the range of options for feeds. This is a link that will put you through to the Bitty Browser which generates an RSS feed viewable on mobile phones.
If this RSS business is doing your head in, check out this RSS made easy video that really does explain it in words of one syllable.
Main RSS feed
Rather than go through the bore of typing in my URL to see if anything new is going on, you can click on the flying orange icons in the right side bar and sign up / subscribe to the x-fruits Feed. That way your Feed reader tells you when there is something new posted anywhere on this site. (Bottom line, you won't miss the other fantabadozy, emphasis on the dozy, articles I post everyday in the Tech section and quirky or news pages.)
Comments feed
The Pisstakers is a complex living beast, and if you only go the home page, you may be missing out on some funny stuff being left in the comments all over the site. Therefore, to keep abreast of all comments, why not add this feed to your reader too and laugh at people often a lot funnier than Ed.
Mobile RSS feed
One of the smart aspects of using x-fruits rather than Feedburner is the range of options for feeds. This is a link that will put you through to the Bitty Browser which generates an RSS feed viewable on mobile phones.
Explanation of RSS feeds
If this RSS business is doing your head in, check out this RSS made easy video that really does explain it in words of one syllable.
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| "Your name" is a Kiva lender | "Your site's screenshot" SmartLink Widget | Funny HQ humor store |
MyBlogLog Sunday 18
Filed in: MBL sunday
If you haven't done so already, you have till about 6pm and then I will get to work.
Just to bring the Tour de France theme of recent weeks to an end, congratulations were in order for Team Discovery Channel. Their Spanish mountain goat, Alberto Contador, or AC to his doctor, won the yellow jersey. Enhorabuena for now. But was Contador drugs free? I don't know, but the MyBlogLog Sunday feature is definitely clean.
Permalink is permanent
All mini reviews from today are instantly added to the archives, so you can get a permanent back link to your mini review when it appears later today.
MyBlogLog Sunday info links
All hot mini reviews on MyBloglog Sunday!
Internet buzz on MyBloglog Sunday!
How to participate in MyBloglog Sunday!
Weekly round-up of MyBloglog Sunday!
Internet buzz on MyBloglog Sunday!
How to participate in MyBloglog Sunday!
Weekly round-up of MyBloglog Sunday!
Be back later.
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| "Your name" is a Kiva lender | "Your site's screenshot" SmartLink Widget | Funny HQ humor store |
Moblogging and exercise
Filed in: Ed's blog spot
Ed the Editor's personal blog corner
I was wondering whether blogging is healthy, both physically and mentally, and realised that it depends how you blog. The state of your health depends on whether you are a static or mobile (moblog) blogger.
The most widespread bloggers are the static group who sit at a desk all day and report, rehash or ridicule news / other blogs as it happens. Come 5pm they stop. They could end up in bad shape if they don't look after themselves. There is also a huge subset of this group, the guys and gals who do a personal blog based on their thought of the day. As they publish in the evening or early morning before heading off to a job, they have few blog injuries to worry about. Their job may be killing them but the blogging, probably not.
Healthy Static blogging
I spend a few hours a day huddled over a computer trying to entertain the metaphorical masses, so what toll is that taking on my body? A quick experiment reveals that my lower back is screaming at me to get the hell outside and do some stretching or cycling. Another test tells me I need to get a nice wrist and hand massage from Mrs Ed. MRS ED!!!!
That's better. Suddenly I am up to 100 words a minute, but I am still making 2 miostakjes a second. So blogging has a mental impact on me too. Fatigue is the downside to the stimulation derived from hours of flicking through and distilling piles of information.
So what do you do to keep healthy if you are a static blogger? Simple really. Blog in bursts. (Set your alarm for an hour's time and when it rings, get out for a walk even if you are mid thought. Eventually you get into a routine and write very efficiently.) Exercise in bursts. (Find finger, wrist and neck stretches to do in your chair without getting arrested for obscenity, or try sporty pursuits that compensate for posture problems - swimming or ballet rather than weight-lifting.) Relax in bursts. (I prefer to relax in long stretches, but hey, beggars can't be choosers.) Enjoy.
Moblogging
The second group, which really got me thinking about health and blogging, are Mobloggers. The mobile web log bloggers are opportunists, work agnostic, different. As these mobile bloggers go about their day, camera at the ready, their health issues are not tied to blogging as such, more to the nature of what they do.
Skydiving bloggers, gang bloggers, celeb and party land good time bloggers have more potential pain to deal with than any static blogger, but RSI probably isn't one of the pains. By way of compensation, they have plenty of original material of their own to publish day by day without getting stressed out ploughing through Youtube and co for imagery to complement their posts..
Conconclusion
By adding some moblogging to the mix, you could revamp your blog AND reduce the mental toll of blogging. You don't necessarily have to get into a dangerous or philandering career. As you go about your day, take pictures of funny incidents, weird looking people, noteworthy signs... upload them when you get home and add some text to put the images in context. All original material, almost no interference in your daily routine, a lot of blogging material acquired organically without twisting your spinal column out of shape, trawling for pictures - a hit. At least that is what I am thinking!
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| "Your name" is a Kiva lender | "Your site's screenshot" SmartLink Widget | Funny HQ humor store |
Road accident stories
Filed in: Ed's blog spot
Ed the Editor's personal blog corner
Sometimes it doesn't matter how alert you are, shit happens. Imagine driving down the freeway in your steel truck and the bridge you are driving under collapses on top of your head? It just happened to Robert Sylvester, and luckily, he survived. Another feelgood side to the story is that the collapse of the bridge has coincided with a stall in the collapse of steel and concrete stocks on Wall Street. Schweet!
Death load
A less positive and more gruesome story related to me by a former trucker was the case of the flying rebar. A truck pulling a trailer full of steel reinforced bars ground to a sudden halt in traffic. The wheels of the truck stopped turning, but the steel behind had a life of its own and carried on straight through the back of the cab. The driver had no chance, and by all accounts never felt a thing.
Acid attack
And then there was the rather surprising and gross revelation by Robin McGraw when she revealed that someone threw a container full of acid off a bridge and it smashed through her sister's windshield, leaving her with 70% burns. Isn't it unbelievable how cruel and stupid some people can be? I don't know whether they caught the shitheads who did it, but if they did, they should have applied some random Sheraya Law and lopped a few limbs off - and then prosecuted them as well.
Holy cow
Finally, this will make you laugh. Imagine a guy driving his brand new car on a sunny day, no traffic on the road, not a care in the world, enjoying his new purchase. He slows down to safely negotiate a bend, and the next thing he knows, a cow lands on his hood. It had been grazing on a steep bank above the road, lost its footing and rolled down to the road. As the driver jumped out his car in shock, the cow rubbed it in by rolling onto the road and ambling off without a care in the world. Funny old world!
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| "Your name" is a Kiva lender | "Your site's screenshot" SmartLink Widget | Funny HQ humor store |
Wanna win $400 from Invesp?
Filed in: Ed's blog spot
The RSS contest
There is a secret word in their RSS feed. If you subscribe to the feed, spot the word, AND you are the lucky one chosen from the other few people who will undoubtedly spot it too, you get $300. If you happen to be a MyBlogLog member to boot, you get yourself another $100 for good measure. Not exactly hard is it? Plus you might learn something, as these guys are pretty handy at what they do.
The bonus
It doesn't end there, because these Invesp guys are big thinkers. If they bump their subscriber numbers up past 5000, they will double the prizes. Swoooooon.
You can do a lot with $800. How about a week's supply of Big Macs and fries for an oversize eater? A year's supply of soap for a village of 3000 Frenchmen? Erm, a text link for a week on the Pisstakers' homepage in 2020? You get the idea, this prize is worth winning.
Call to arms
Before you salivate too much and rush off and buy those burgers ahead of time, get on over to the gurus of [industry speak] site design, content, and implementation [/ industry speak] sign up to their RSS feed and get looking for the secret word.
Thanks to Matt for the pointer to a clever contest, and, as a throwaway suggestion before I dive back into my technical duties reformatting a damn Dell laptop - if you feel MyBlogLoggy, why not sign up to Matt's MBL community or mine?
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| "Your name" is a Kiva lender | "Your site's screenshot" SmartLink Widget | Funny HQ humor store |
MyBlogLog Sunday 19. Ready to go?
Filed in: MBL sunday
Fancy a mini review as part of MyBlogLog Sunday? The "rules" are simple.
Around 11 am on Sunday I will take a screenshot of the MyBlogLog widget in my sidebar. If you are one of the 10 faces and you have left a comment linking to the best post you wrote last week, I will do a mini review of your site.
The mini reviews stay on the homepage (PR5) all week and live in the archives forever!
How easy and useful is that?!!! And no strings. It is free to become a MyBlogLog member. and you aren't even obliged to join The Pisstakers scintillating community if you don't want to. Don't forget to call by tomorrow and all you blogmasters looking for a bit of exposure, feel free to leave a comment tomorrow with a link to the best post you wrote this week!
I said no strings attached, but in the spirit of an internet built on links between cool sites, it would be great if you mentioned the Pisstakers somewhere on your blog, in a post or try a widget for your sidebar.
Hope to see you - and please, fill this comments box to bursting with self promotion.
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| "Your name" is a Kiva lender | "Your site's screenshot" SmartLink Widget | Funny HQ humor store |
Eraser and meth.
Filed in: Ed's blog spot
Ed the Editor's personal blog corner
Today I am nervously sat here watching Eraser overwrite the latest faulty hard drive in our stable of 2 laptops. (This time the (dis)honors go to Dell.) I am nervous for two reasons.
Firstly, is this re-formatting freeware really as good as they say it is, or are Dell techs going to have a field day plugging in the faulty HD and viewing all those compromising photos from our wedding night?
The second reason for feeling antsy is the time factor. I started the process at about 6.30 this morning, knowing I have to get to DHL with the old HD before 5pm. If I fail in my mission, Mrs Ed will kill me because Dell will be charging us for not exchanging the broken component within the alloted time allowed.
The clock is ticking. Why can't we suddenly be on Pacific Time? How painstaking is it to see each percentage point appear?! This is like watching grass grow, paint dry, or the Dow Jones rise. All very painful and now I know why they call them Dulls.
Speak of the devil, it looks like it has reformatted all files except Skype info. Peculiar oversight, but oh well, not too bad. Once I have reformatted it again, the disk should be safe enough to return, especially as Dell are to be trusted, right? Or do they have the crims on meth in the "Returned HD department" willing and able to pick through the hard drive to rebuild the personal information, byte by byte till they have a clear picture of the former owner? (If you didn't know, meth heads have been known to piece together shredded documents in an efort to steal an ID)
If I were on meth I would be in a right state, and I imagine my reassembled person would be more akin to Frankenstein, and be in so much debt I wouldn't want their identity. But I don't have time to jest right now. It is stage 2 of replace the hard drive day celebrated regularly by thousands around the world, and all hands are required to remove a single screw and slip one dead bit out and stick a new one in. Wish me luck.
Update: I hate Dell and Windows and anything to do with them. I have no drivers installed yet, and who knows how that is going to change! At least I cannot get a virus - the bastard machine won't connect to the internet. Let's hope Dell customer service are patient and on a roll today.
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| "Your name" is a Kiva lender | "Your site's screenshot" SmartLink Widget | Funny HQ humor store |
I believe in David & Goliath not Spiderman
Filed in: Ed's blog spot
Ed the Editor's personal blog corner
According to the BBC, move over Spiderman, 2 feet of shelving at every Walmart store will be dedicated to religious dolls like Goliath, and Daniel, plus lion. This marketing push is all part of an effort by god-fearing entrepreneurs to tap into the growing demand for Christian artefacts started by the earliest followers and perpetuated by Lourdes water suppliers and antique cross vendors.
Meanwhile, Marvel are licking their wounds and stygmata as Spiderman sales look set to fall off the roof with no safety net. One in three Americans made a purchase in a Christian store last year, which is quite a few more than walked into a non-religious store to stock up on Spidey memorabilia.
According to another made-up statistic, many parents are short of ideas on what to buy next for little Johnny and Hyper Suzie, and what better way to fill a void than purchase a plastic doll representing a fictional character from over 2000 years ago.
In an age of anti-Harry Potter, anti-Halloween and anti-fun for anyone, these toys are just another step in the direction that a few religious folks think the whole world should tread fearfully. Judging by the results though, even if Spidey does struggle, the witch and juvenile satanist, Harry, and his band of merry storybook characters are flying higher than ever, with or without broomsticks and morals.
It will be interesting to see just how many inroads these religious dolls make, and if Walmart extend their displays upwards of 2 feet, it could be a signal to sell stocks in the company. Why? Because, if customers for these dolls are true to their beliefs, there should be a huge drop in Sunday shopping to follow.
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| "Your name" is a Kiva lender | "Your site's screenshot" SmartLink Widget | Funny HQ humor store |
Recent posts
Filed in: Recaps
Blogging software shows the simplicity and ease of use of Rapidweaver, the brains behind this blog.
Dour Music Fest. It may be dour by name, but the event in Belgium is far from dour by nature.
Tobacco Tabaco is an international trip around the word.
Icecream wars A sad story of gangsters warring over bizarre businesses such as ice cream vending, hot dog wagons and billboards.
Soccer madness highlights the heavily talented and the overweight in soccer.
Paris finds god and Ed finds lots to satirise.
Gates China cock-up Bill Gates may be the richest guy in the world with global influence, but he sure wasn't tuned into the Chinese market.
Greasy touchscreens Touch screens will be all the rage now the iPhone is out, but greasy fingers may spoil the user experience.
Police concert A tribute to old reggae rockers Sting and company who recently sold out Chicago.
Snort or fart OK OK, it may sound a bit juvenile at first sight but it is a deadly serious question: Would you rather snort marbles from your nose or fart confetti (from an obvious locale)?
Is Stumbleupon cool? Renowned for traffic spikes, Stumble Upon is viewed in a positive light by most, but is it really as useful and constructive as people make out?
Hard drive heaven provides a few useful pointers and tips to deal with a failed hard drive. Rule one, don't panic!
Software naming What's in a name? A lot if the title gives absolutely no clue as to what the software does.
TicTap funny quote Amazon has the database, TicTap tapped into it and a keyword generates relevant books and DVDs.
Help forum bluesProlific forum contributors tend to be authorities in their field. I knew enough to be dangerous and got in trouble.
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| "Your name" is a Kiva lender | "Your site's screenshot" SmartLink Widget | Funny HQ humor store |
MyBlogLog Sunday 17
Filed in: MBL sunday
If you haven't done so already, you have till about 6pm and then I will get to work.
Last week the TDF was heating up in the mountains, now it is congrats to Discovery, but will they win it. Tune in to VS to see the last bit! And no drugs please, to keep your excitement under control.
Permalink is permanent
All mini reviews from today are instantly added to the archives, so you can get a permanent back link to your mini review when it appears later today.
MyBlogLog Sunday info links
All hot mini reviews on MyBloglog Sunday!
Internet buzz on MyBloglog Sunday!
How to participate in MyBloglog Sunday!
Weekly round-up of MyBloglog Sunday!
Internet buzz on MyBloglog Sunday!
How to participate in MyBloglog Sunday!
Weekly round-up of MyBloglog Sunday!
Be back later.
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| "Your name" is a Kiva lender | "Your site's screenshot" SmartLink Widget | Funny HQ humor store |
