All I can tell you about Lynn is that she has a MyBlogLog community and OS9User is her first two friends. Any further words of enlightenment? I will be happy to pass them on.

OS9User reports on internet security. The breach of davidairey.com gets a lot of attention, but it was not all bad. 50,000 visitors / day was the price to pay for being cracked. Where do I sign?

Christmas is over at the I Eat Snowman Poop house and no one died from over-eating, probably because there was no pie for dessert. Uncle sounds like a total fruit and nut case.

Mike points out that the end of December is odd, as blog holiday traffic drops off. However, it doesn't stop him passing on consistently good tips, this time, making money online in an odd way.

Debbie reveals the dilemma of space-age hydrogen cells powering a UK lighthouse. The hydrogen is clean but comes from fossil fuels, so no environmental advantage there - just a shift around of pollution.

Linda pushed the wrong button & published 1 blog post ahead of time. She recouped well with a full exposé of New Year resolutions, parties, Scotsmen, Steinbeck &.... Read on. It all makes perfect sense.

The Best bits of the Internet is yet another side of Lord Likely's life. Witness a low budget British movie about a garlic-fearing, fish-eating wannabe vegetarian vampire called Daveula. Lock up your bats.


If you want some fun insight into what a few English lads get up to at Christmas, read Dan's account of the M62 photo session and post pic pub trip.


Larry has been to France this year. He lived it up on the Riviera, munching on saffron. Talking of traveling, he has a clever flash cartoon about the perfect traveling couple who help out Santa.

Oh my, it's week 39 of MyBlogLog Sunday, the last of 2007. Here is a little insight into the mind behind this feature.

With it being the 39th week, I was going to make a lame reference to the 39 steps, and then segue seamlessly into MBL Sunday being one of the 12 steps to curing blogaholism... but then I realised that talking about 12 steps doesnt make much sense, because I dont know what the other 11 are, and I only do 10 mini reviews, and then all the steps stuff gets way too obscure, and before you know it, it is like wtf. So I will just shut up.

And that is how it continues behind the scenes for at least another 2 hours when I put the 10 reviews together for this seamless weekly event.

But, despite those mental machinations, every Sunday I really enjoy putting this together. I get to invite myself out to blogs, and take a look at what is going on, and rather than just consume consume consume, I can contribute a comment or two, and read some good articles and then come up with some link-laden remark or other. Neat.

As per the "rules", the 10 bloggers in the screenshot will get a mini review, my finest PR4 backlink, plus a link to your MyBlogLog community...

I think I need shooting about the Stumble deal. I haven't been there for a while now, and judging by the stats, i dont think anyone has stumbled me either, so perhaps it isn't such a hot networking deal any more? Let me know.

MyBlogLog Sunday info links

Be back later.

And this video review from Breaking News will shed some light on what goes on, if you haven't called by before.

Just when you thought it was safe to go out.

Can you think of any captions to suit this Virginia Snow Angel pic?

The first thing that sprang to mind was, "Somewhere for Santa to park his bike." or "Snow angel clearing driveway while whistling Jingle Balls"

I hope you have something funnier!

The caffeine-pumped anchorman for the CNBC financial news channel was interviewing a British fund manager who looked like a retired colonel with a heart rate of 40bpm. He congratulated him on the 42% profit he had made on his emerging market fund and asked the Brit some general stuff, like,

"Can you do it again next year?"

He said he could, but not so spectacularly as before, but he would still kick ass. (My words not his!)

When asked about his tactics, the Brit mentioned that he had a team scouring the world investigating companies. He had interests in India, Russia, Brazil...

Remember yesterday? The world absorbed the news of the death of Bhutto. The anchorman was straight in with his shit- stirring stick.
"In view of the events unfolding in Pakistan over the last 48 hours, is that going to change your strategy for the coming year?"

The Brit looked at him like he had just been asked to stick a red hot poker up his jacksy and sing Rule Britannia.

"I don't think so. For a start I have no investments in Pakistan, and if you check your facts you will see that the Indian stock market just closed at a record high. That tells you what the neighbors think about the troubles in Pakistan."

Slap that idiot down. Sensationalist, uninformed - and that describes one of the better US news stations!

Where's the perspective?

Whatever happened to balanced reporting? There is just so little perspective behind the news here. For instance, following the assassination of Bhutto, her supporters were distraught and angry. I am not saying that there will not be major issues to come, but within minutes the news stations were reporting insurrection - illustrated by something akin to a tire burning outside a hospital. The fire filled the frame.

It reminded me of the shots of the recent White House annexe ablaze. The camera was trained on smoke billowing from an open window. It looked really bad, until the cameraman put some perspective on the whole event. As he panned out, you could see that the conflagration (that the reporter confirmed was not a terrorist attack) was little more than a glorified fire in a wastepaper basket. From potential terror attack to a cigarette in a basket and back to normality again.

Endless destructive cycle

This is a really sick and draining cycle of info overload that is acted out hour after hour, day in day out. And the problem is, it is counter-productive. ie if you are trying to plan for the future you need some sense of stability and order. So why are there so few restrictions on the news people who seem to revel in trying to destabilise the economy, society etc with this incessant over reporting of every day life?

The whole country is caught up in this surging tide of BS news. It is like a big suction pad, drawing everybody into the melee. It isn't healthy, and is so unnecessary. Can the powers-that-be not instil some standards of decency and accuracy in the media for everybody's good?

Surely it is obvious that something needs to change when a cold Brit who made 42% profit acting cool can so easily show a jacked-up anchorman for the sensationalist idiot that he is, without even trying.

When I was in the construction business, for many contractors, Christmas was a time to relax and put feet up at least a week ahead of the 25th. No one would resurface until the second week of January. Many of those guys were not a pretty sight after 2 weeks of beer, chocolates and turkey.

On the other hand, we were heavily into painting, and December and early January were usually the busiest months of the year for us, go figure. Many a time, we would be asked to start a big job in early December. We'd tell the customer that the job was going to go past Christmas, and they would still give us the go ahead, because they wanted the place to be nice for the relations and friends! OK.

We never worked out the logic of "Nice for Christmas". Often we would be packing our kit away at 5pm on Christmas Eve. The house would be frozen because all the windows were open in a desperate attempt to clear the place of paint fumes; the lady of the house would be hanging the shivering, complaining kids. It was a joy.

And a couple of days after the big fumey festivities were over, we would be back to paint like idiots until an hour before their New Year's party guests arrived.

We didn't care, it was all good fun and we got paid pretty well. And best of all, we would be able to take time off just as everybody else was getting suicidal about being back in the work groove.

I am well out of that scene now, so I don't know what other contractors are up to these days. If they are anything like the guys I knew, they are probably at home right now, wondering where the housing bubble came from. The ones with panic mode etched into their skulls are now slapping on a coat of paint, trying to make their own places look good enough to sell at knock down prices. Welcome to the buy high sell low happy days of 2008 housing hell.

'Tis the season to be jolly - and for watching junk TV. For some reason I woke up to Scrooge playing on the box. I guess i went to sleep with the TV on last night? Anyway, it was the version with Captain Jean Luc Picard from Star Trek as Scrooge. He played the infamous character in a Shakespearean style and for the first time ever, I actually got the story.

Obviously I knew it was a tale about the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, playing on the mind of a miserable miser, but this version actually conveyed the underlying message in an understandable way.

Man has the ability to change his behavior to make the world a better place. Just because you have done wrong thing your whole life, doesn't make it right, and doesn't mean it has to be so forever.

In light of a few recent run-ins with despicable characters, I think this video should be distributed to all businesses world wide, as a reminder that it is not too late to turn the commercial hell enveloping us into a force for good.

Now it is time to go back to pissing in the wind, banging my head against a wall, striving in vain to use satire to shame the world into being more consistent.

Happy holidays to those over sensitive folks offended by the word Christmas.

Deck the cells with boughs of holly. Yahoo conspired with the Chinese government to get a bunch of dissidents arrested.The Yahoos have agreed to pay the dissidents' legal costs. That's nice. A bit like breaking my legs and offering to pay my hospital fees!

Caterpillar were sued for their involvement in the 2005 death of a protester and the destruction of homes on the Gaza strip. I am not sure this is a legitimate case. It was the Israeli army, not the manufacturer, at the wheel. Secondly, even though the instruction manual probably doesn't specify the performance of their machinery in a protest type of scenario, common sense says that if you stand in front of a 10-ton Cat, you will be crushed.

Ever heard of Nichia? I thought not. They make LEDs. They are a nice bunch of people, probably, but if you use their product, it seems that you have to acknowledge their name in your product, else you will be sued. Great customer relations. So, if you see Santa, remind him to check that he is acknowledging the maker of his sleigh lights, else it may be impounded. On second thoughts, an infringement could mean the end of Xmas. You decide.

And before you tuck into your Christmas fare, do the litmus test for lead, another test for e-coli, mmmm, and just in case, run the geiger counter over your buckling dinner table, to check for radiation poisoning.

Relax. If you find anything wrong, before, during or after you have eaten, don't despair, there will be a lawyer prepared to take your case.

Thanks MarketWatch for some of the corporate Christmas bash ideas.

Ever thought of promoting your blog the old-fashioned way? Steve says try this business card service. Sounds convenient and almost free, and cards are useful for teeth picking and rickety table legs.

Video action may soon be rolling again, if the Breaking News team can break away from their snazzy new chat room. Always lots going on there with entertainment, tech and world news.

IESP continues to rock the fun world of home, pregnancy and work. This week she gambled and won $80, had a glucose test and got a Sirius radio. Howard Stern better be on his metal if she phones in.

According to Mike, the 80-20 rule applies to most things in life. eg 80% of your rewards come from 20% of your work. I will therefore assume my point is made & I'll waste no further effort on the rest of this entry.

Having had a recent run-in with a mechanic myself, the mention of $400 to turn off a yellow light in her car caught my eye. My advice. Don't pay & for good measure, poke the courtesy shuttle driver IN the eye.

Remember when Mexicans complained that tortilla prices were through the roof, thanks to ethanol / corn policies? Now the policy is hitting US homes in the ass too. Linda laments rising food prices.

Jon Swift is a huge, I mean, humungous political satire heavyweight. I feel almost worthy to have him here this week, and recommend you head over to get his perspective on the news. He is right!

It is always a lively time with Lord Likely. When you next see the film, or read the book, Scrooge, remember it is a cheap imitation of the Likely original.


All that comes with that is an insightful blog from a cool Brit. There is some new perspective to GI Joe and cartoons and music and... I enjoyed the read. Bookmark

These guys have an interesting About page. Also, 10e20 is sitting top of my list of 1000+ images, so I guess there were advantages to the name when directories were useful search tools.

MyBlogLog Sunday week 38 comes to you from a gray miserable East coast. A true reflection of Christmas? Maybe not, if you are all prepared, wrapped and ready, and your credit card is still in good shape.

However, according to one report I read, 25% of the country will start their holiday season presents shopping today. That sounds like a recipe for a red hot heated and exciting day for many. Bring it on. (And any nutters out there, do us a favor and leave your weapons at home. Elbows and a dumb stare are usually sufficient to get you to the front of the queue.)

As per the "rules", the 10 bloggers in the screenshot will get a mini review, my finest PR4 backlink, plus a link to your MyBlogLog community... and I have been a negligent stumbler these last couple of weeks so I will try to rectify that and stumble any posts from any bloggers (featured or not) who leave a link to their own favorite post of the week.

MyBlogLog Sunday info links

Be back later.

And this video review from Breaking News will shed some light on what goes on, if you haven't called by before.

I am getting really teed off with the lack of moral fortitude in so many people in business these days. What is so hard about owning up to your mistakes? The worst for not owning up to their mistakes seem to be the "experts", those who think they are above the rest of us and should never be questioned.

A mouse in your yard

We just had our car serviced. This is the second time we have had work done at the same place, and it now turns out to be the second time we have been landed with a bill $200 over what we were expecting to pay. It is also the second time the car hasn't run quite correctly afterwards.

The first time, there was a small issue with the timing, the mechanic rectified it promptly. Fine. The car ran great. We put the extra unexpected $200 down to experience.

Disingenuous genius

On this second occasion, however, the mechanic proved beyond all reasonable doubt that he is a pretty good mechanic and a bare faced pathological liar. Somehow in his world, it is OK to call my wife to say that the car won't be ready on time, to say that he needs to order a part, and - this is the kicker - it is perfectly acceptable business practice to omit the line about "This will add $200 to what I quoted you to complete the work (that I recommended) to solve the oil leak issue (that I pointed out to you). Half truths and nothing but the half-truth, so help my customers.

He pulled the same disingenuous trick with me when I went to pick the car up. He showed me the part that my wife had given him the go ahead to replace, and after swiping my card I see the invoice for the first time. It is $200 above what he quoted. Let the bullshit begin.

Ed's pissed

Suffice to say, I called him on his tactics, and I soon realised I was up against a guy who has perfected the art of half truths.

Here is a tip if you want to run a business like a dick. The strategy is to play dumb when a customer calls you on a misleading quote. If the customer persists, you speak in half truths, and when it starts to get really awkward, you look dumbly at the customer and say you did them a favor by spotting the extra work.

Mechanics hold the key till they get the money, and in our case, in a court of law, we have almost no leg to stand on, because, like idiots we accepted his verbal "gentleman's agreement" and don't make a habit of recording phone conversations. And bottom line, in a world where only money seems to count, $200, who wants the hassle? So he won that round.

It may be a Pyrrhic victory!

The final straw came today. The weather is damp, and the engine is mis-timing. I take it straight to the garage. He points out a damaged ht lead. That's a mouse bite, he says.

I said nothing, I was so taken aback. We have 3 cats that kill anything that moves. There is no wildlife that would dare come within 100 yards of our driveway! I have been driving for 20 years and never had an issue with mice in my hood. I had the car parked up maybe 7 hours before the engine started misfiring. So I just listened to the bullshit. At the end of his excuses spiel, I had had enough. It is Christmas, places are closed. Our lead isn't getting replaced.

Clearly, you cannot discuss anything with pathological liars. Merry Christmas to all ethical upright mechanics, and a warning to a robbing grease monkey who operates just along the road from me. Like all liars, his story isn't quite good enough to outwit an ass-wipe member of the public like me who has a good memory for detail.

The mechanic is having a good Christmas, no doubt smug that he saw me off with his cleverness. On reflection, he should have bitten his tongue before blurting out, mid-BS, and I quote, This place has an issue with mice, and we have problems with cables getting chewed all the time. His ass is the next thing getting chewed, unless of course, his cousin is the editor of the consumer section of the local paper!

So what is it, folks? What is the busiest Christmas shopping day of the year? Here on the 19th of December we still haven't started, so our answer is no day. We are so far behind the curve, it is embarrassing. But I can trace the cause of this surreal scrooge-like behavior back to real world stats.

Therefore, while other blogs now tackle this week's busy shipping times for Fed-Ex and UPS, plus shopping mad Green Monday at eBay and Amazon, I am re-winding. I am blogging about a shopping day in November - with no embarrassment whatsoever.

Brick and mortar mall bull

If you listen to the retailers lurking desperately in malls, Black Friday is the big shopping kahuna.

For what it's worth, the analysts say that if you go shopping at a store on Black Friday, you are 70% likely to return to buy some more products before Xmas. If you stay in bed and sleep through the crass commercialism, you are 40% likely not to shop at all.

The analysts are right. We didn't shop and as you can see, the retailers are suffering nationwide.

Shop and save the CEO.

Do we care that we missed out on Black Friday? If you are a warm human being who wishes a good Christmas to all, even to the sort of people who exploit us all year, I suggest that it does matter!

We did not make the effort to walk through shop doors on Black Friday, and as a result, our favorite people, fat cat CEO's, have since spent the run-up to Christmas staring at spreadsheets in a nervy, prescription drug-induced stupor. We apologise. It is not something we would usually wish on our worse enemy, but oh well!!

Sorry retailers, we didn't get our act together and Black Friday has deteriorated into Black December. So much influence, Staggering.

A better attitude towards Xmas shopping

Yes indeedy, the day after Thanksgiving should have been a good time for us. We could have broken records for overnight queues and extended limitless and pointless goodwill towards fellow freezing human beings - and tripped them up as they headed for the same bargains on our wish list.

Re-thinking Black Friday

Maybe there is time to rectify the shortcomings, and buy some second hand stuff on eBay this Friday, ie on Black Friday 2. Does that count towards the bottom line?

And could we spin Black Friday a different way? It is a healthy day when many people actually run for the first and last time of the year, thundering down aisles, hearts racing, cholesterol evaporating. Post images of Black Friday shopping athletes elbowing competitors, looking for that one bargain basement Wii or mink coat. Bless!

Where are you in the Xmas shopping cycle? Is there hope to get the retailer CEOs off of drugs before year end figures implode? Let us know.

I used to work in construction, and back in the day we had apprentices. (If that term is alien to you, apprentices were the youngsters who bore the brunt of tradesmen's humor, and did all the dirty jobs too. It was a hard life, but it didnt do them any harm, at least no visible harm!)

One Christmas, our boss decided to treat everyone to an all-expenses paid night out at a local bar. The official word was that it was to be a fancy dress do - we were all going to dress up as women. All the tradesmen were talking about borrowing clothes from wives and girlfriends and we were going to have a riot putting on make-up and tottering around in heels, yadda yadda.

Unofficially, we weren't going in fancy dress at all.

We all turned up at the bar early in smart casuals, had a few drinks and waited for the apprentice. Sure enough, he strode into the bar decked out in his mum's dress and bright red lipstick. Needless to say, the whole bar erupted, we died laughing and...

...he was one of the best sports ever and stayed in drag the whole night, the center of attention.

Although he was practically swimming in bacardi and was so physiologically damaged by alcohol that he couldn't remember a thing, he swears to this day that he had the best time. Knowing who and what he grew up into, he probably did have a blast. I just know I would have died in his shoes.

Merry Christmas.

Just so we aren't caught floundering behind the curve in the fast changing world of blogging looks, here is the latest artistic rendition of the logo from Are We there yet?

Having followed the artwork coming from the blog in recent months, I think it is fair to say that the in-house artist, Artmunkey, has a personal and consistent style, which, if she wants to go professional, bodes well for the future. And at the tender age of 15, time is definitely on her side. (Can we buy shares?)

As a fan of Vincent van Gogh, I also feel it is my duty to remind Artmunkey Amanda to keep her ears out of the way of stray knives.

Original, in a production line kind of way

As a former struggling artist, I think developing a distinctive style is the big challenge. Almost anyone can rattle off a one-off piece of inspiration, but if you want to be commercially viable, people like to know what theme or mark they are getting.

That nutter Damien Hirst, the guy who stuck a sheep in formaldehyde and got world-wide acclaim, remember him? Well, he had a distinctive style in painting too. Spots. Sorry to disappoint anyone, but I knew someone who claimed to be one of a team of artists who used to paint his spot paintings for him, before he signed them off as his own! When you hit the big time, I guess you can afford such indulgences.

Steve has steadily built up an impressive directory of software titles at 1 Cool File. Also check out his advice on Alert Pay which has netted him business that PayPal (c,w,sh) ouldn't handle.

Claire finds the funny side in her mother's health scares. I should introduce her to my father, he will be most annoyed to learn of someone with a tongue problem, one of the few he has never endured.

Some of Diane's work looks tasty enough to eat, and when I read that one of her calligraphy books had Japanese Chiyogami on the outside, I thought maybe it was literally coated in sushi. Wrong again.

Debbie reveals the dark side of Macau. A lighthouse is soon to be caught in the shadow of a concrete jungle monstrosity. Who will save the day? Don't count on anyone connected with the UN!

Mike has written hundreds of great posts on making money online. So good that some cad and bounder is copying his work wholesale. My advice? For once in your life, write some crap, man.

Linda is a big hit with the Stumble brigade, clocking over 1000 visits. If Stumbling is better than Digging, then logically, Falling is even better? So, make Linda happy & Wipe Out the Norwich free concert.

Someone is getting broody over at Lucys Dilemma blog!! Sounds like it is time for a barefoot walk in the snow to cool down.


Welcome to America, young Liam Matthew, the new third dolphin in the team. Let's hope the flight from Russia wasn't as nail biting as the flight out, to pick you up.

Without giving too much away, Chris is a graphic artist in Maui Check him out, and do it quickly - he is probably on his way to a coronary after eating a breakfast like this.

Since Larry's last appearance, Canada has been re-mapped. Calm down, it is nothing to do with the marauding colonists of old, just high cartographic jinks from the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Hmmmm.

Woo hoo. Suffice to say, I am back and I am looking forward to another week of MyBlogLog Sunday and another year of pisstakery.

As per the "rules", the 10 bloggers in the screenshot will get a mini review, my finest PR4 backlink, plus a link to your MyBlogLog community... and to keep the ball rolling, This week I will stumble any posts from any bloggers (featured or not) who leave a link to their own favorite post of the week.

Sob story

For those that are interested, I put up with 2 weeks of mania stemming from internet woes and wireless issues. Even after buying the latest greatest AT&T internet anywhere package, there was still no solution to demented publishing times, and my dedication to blogging was beaten to a pulp by hours and hours of split second timing just to get onto the internet.

Sad to say I discovered the limit to my patience, and as we all know, an unhappy pisstaker is a bad boring pisstaker, so I stepped back into the real world of fresh air and TV to refresh my batteries and await yet another wireless card.

I can now categorically state that Netgear wireless cards work great with Netgear routers, and our 24/7 uninterrupted 11mb/sec Comcast broadband service fluctuates regularly between 1, 5 and 11MB/sec depending on... fill in the gaps because I sure as hell have no idea, and I really dont want to waste one more millisecond of my life dealing with those wankers.

So, big smile, forget the crud weather outside, let the MyBlogLog Sunday week 37 party re-begin.

Comment kings and queens

It is a sad state of affairs when commenters put more effort into a blog than a blogger himself, but thanks to Linda, Debbie, Mike and Lord Likely for their sagacious rapacious audacious words. I will submit you all to the Untwisted Vortex Kings and Queens of Comments feature and see what happens!

MyBlogLog Sunday info links

Be back later.

And this video review from Breaking News will shed some light on what goes on, if you haven't called by before.

IESP is queen of the domestic appliances, and queen of domestic stories from hell. I wouldn't want to stand in her way at Walmart Customer Services unless I was hundreds of bucks out of pocket.

Terms like bionic, one legged and robot-mom aren't normally terms of endearment for a sick mom, but Claire has used them to good effect. If you know any good hospital jokes, let her know. (Boxing joke?)

Elf-like Diane has succumbed to Christmas and gone shopping for cards. Bah humbug. Judging by the weather reports in downtown Dorchester, it sounds like she had better ask Santa for a raft.

The phishers are after Debbie Dolphin, thanks to Google's new fascination with OpenID comments. She and millions of fellow Joans of the Blog feel gutted. Read up on some solutions.

After reading an open letter from a mother to her out of control celeb daughter, I feel so glad not to be a parent. Amy Winehouse, you are an inspiration to all wannabe childless couples.

Apparently, Linda usually gets up after I start blogging on Sundays, so she hasn't made too many appearances at MBL Sunday, of late. Today, however, she beat me too it and got a spot. Merry Xmas.

The breaking news is, OS9user smashed his specs last week and couldn't see an elephant a pixel-length in front of his face. New specs, video finger twitching, he's now ready for lights, camera, action.

Hallelujah, ee-aye-adeyo, or whatever it is you would sing when the messiah returns - Lord Likely has graced us with his enormous presence again. We are not worthy, beat us with your humor stick, LL.

Pisky is inching her way into blogging, getting the hang of Wordpress, penning a few posts about her family life, work, the good old stuff. Wasn't her little mascot boiled in Fatal Attraction?

From Taser humor to all things great in Canada, Past Expiry has a way with cartoons and words that will make you smile for sure. One to bookmark.

Week 36 of MyBlogLog Sunday, coming to you at 12.54 4.56pmET, hopefully better late than never.

In the words of the old 6 Million Dollar Man series, Ed's internet is barely alive but we can rebuild it. I just got that at&t internet connect card that gets you on-line even from the middle of a pond! Credit where credit is due, it is easy to install and so far, it works. $60 amonth, unlimited up and downloads, 400-700kbs, seems pretty coolio. Kudos and KMA comcast.

Later on this evening I hope to publish 10 slow-mo mini reviews packed full of insights that no normal human being could possibly forsee. (I was going to weave in a reference to bionic bloggers, but it didn't work, and the Steve Austin clichés are now over as suddenly as they began.)

As per the "rules", the 10 bloggers in the screenshot will get a mini review, my finest PR4 backlink, plus a link to your MyBlogLog community... and to keep the ball rolling, I will stumble any posts from any bloggers (featured or not) who leave a link to their own favorite post of the week. And there's more!

Blogs on film

The OS9 User video cameras will definitely be rolling through the reviews later on tonight, and any of the 10 blogs that mention MBL Sunday will have a cameraman knocking on their door too. Thanks to Breaking news for this cinematic burst of exposure. Maybe this latest vid will be picked up by the Reuters robots that regularly scan their site looking for new news to report to the world. In other words, international fame may be just a scraper bot away.

Comment kings and queens

This week's top commenter and automatic entrant to the Untwisted Vortex Kings and Queens of Comments feature, is Jellyfish with 6 comments.

(I forgive Jellyfish for finding the humor on this site a little bit Monty Pythonesque. I never understood the appeal of nutty 70's humor, and I don't think I could - or would want to - think like the Pythons. Dead parrots and wafer thin mionts do nothing for me, I am afraid!. Or maybe I am in denial and I am subliminally influenced by an old school friend who could recite every single bloody line of that frigging Holy Grail film, with the proper voices, coconut shells and... aaaagh!!!!)

MyBlogLog Sunday info links

Be back later.

And this video review from Breaking News will shed some light on what goes on, if you haven't called by before.

Due to technical internet issues, I have been a bit behind the curve with The Pisstakers. Basically, despite the highest of technology at my disposal, I have been driven apopleptic because I cannot get online properly. However, there may be an end in sight to the shouting, screaming and desire to open windows and throw a computer or two into the trees.

According to a tech friend, a new wireless card should cure a pulsating wireless signal that lets me view pages half a screen at a time, and publish correctly for 17 seconds between fatal signal drops...

A wireless card, huh, easy. There are thousands to choose from, so finding the right one should be like picking fruit off the ground. Not so fast. Who was it said that you can get whatever you want whenever you want in this age where consumer is king? They were talking out their elbow. It has taken 2 trips to Walmart and Best Buy, a customer service episode that doesn't bear repeating, plus a couple of sorties into the world of eBay. (not forgetting an aborted trip to an online Mac store) to eventually find what I am looking for - I think. All being well, Amazon have it under control and I will be back to a reliable blogging service in 2 to 6 business days.

In my cynical state, that probably means two missed deliveries and a trip to the Fed-Ex depot in the pouring rain, in a couple of weeks, but, hey, it's Christmas and I am ready for a surprise or two.

MyBlogLog Sunday, no hassle

There was supposed to be video footage of last week's MBL Sunday, but it will be rolling tomorrow instead. The Breaking News team broke their lenses, and didn't fancy a blind run, but all is well again and filming will resume. As part of the deal, any bloggers who mention MyBlogLog Sunday will get a visit too, so you know what to do if you want to get a glitzy showing on Youtube!

Till tomorrow. And I hope this slips out before the wireless goes fooey again.

Did you see the report about Kiva on TV last night? The Business Nation guys were highlighting the rapid progress that has been made at the Kiva micro-loan website. It gave me confidence that we are on the right track promoting Kiva here, because the report came out very favorably - and let's face it, if anyone is looking for a hole in a "$25 loans can change the world" plan, it is the hard-nosed business people at Business Nation.

Developing fast

In their first year, the Kiva website channeled $1m worth of small loans direct to budding business men and women in Third World countries. This last year, $15m worth of loans have been transacted. Not a bad growth rate. And the cheering aspect is that growing numbers of ordinary people like you, me and Polli are funding the loans, $25 at a time.

Micro business mega returns

We aren't talking about financing Bill Gates' type businesses. Think lower than low tech.

One Kenyan guy was a bicycle taxi, pedaling people around town, around potholes and around piles of garbage for 14 hours a day. With his loan he bought a new bike and set his wife up with a road-side restaurant selling beans and rice. They were doing great and had moved out of their mud hut into a concrete one.

Another recipient of a loan was already in business selling seeds and cereals. Before his loan, his stall must have looked pitiful, because even with his $1000 worth of extra inventory and a corn field, most Westerners would have wept. Not him. Far from it. His 3 kids can go to school now and he has a nice suit for work.

A group of women bought cattle with their $1000, plus a load of beads to make their masai jewelry for tourists. They were the cheeriest and most colorful bunch you could imagine, and like the founder of Kiva said, when you go the site and see the pictures of the people requesting a loan, and you realise that $1000 will make such a huge difference to their lives and prospects, it is an irresistible urge to contribute $25 towards their micro-loan.

Ed's take

I should disclose that I am a Kiva fan. Years ago I co-founded a development program in Africa, and I can assure you that money with strings attached is the primary problem faced by most people trying to get ahead on that amazing continent. Sure, genocide and tribal wars don't help continuity in some countries, but by and large, if you can loan people a few bucks for a chance to fish (and don't interfere), they will teach you a thing or two about fishing.

Kiva kool aid

Kiva is one of the coolest, lowest impact /least interfering ways to enable people in developing nations to develop in a way they feel comfortable with. In the long run, it is a win-win for lenders too, because it doesn't cost you a dime overall. Kiva have such a good relationship with their loan reps in the field, that if you become a lender and contribute the basic $25 to a business(wo)man in the Third World, you have a 0.2% chance of not being repaid! No sub-prime risk there!

Link-a-post is a new feature that promotes bloggers who support micro-loan specialists, Kiva.



Ordinarily the graphic will appear at the end of every post on this site. It links in many different ways: To the Kiva homepage, to your Kiva lender's page; to your blog; to your blog's SmartLink widget, or other feature on your blog...

As long as you are a Kiva lender, we will adapt one of these graphics so that the links go to your Kiva page, blog etc. (Complete this form to get going, or read on and I will explain further what is on offer, and what you need to do to participate.)

This is a further break down of what you will get if you become involved with Kiva and adopt one of the Link-a-Post graphics.

Make the world a better place one loan at a time

The main point of this Link-a-Post feature is to raise awareness of Kiva. These guys enable everyday folks (and bloggers) like you and me to make a micro-loan (as little as $25) direct to an enterprising everyday person in a developing country. The entrepreneur invests the $25 in their business and they repay you in full a year later. So smart and so fair that Oprah loves Kiva.

The text link below the graphic will go to your Kiva lender's homepage (known as a portfolio,) where readers can see the aims, progress and background of people you are lending to. (Bloggers should realise that you can also link from your Kiva lender page to your own blog.)

Make your blog a better place

This part of the graphic will show a screenshot of your blog with a link back to your homepage. Use your blog to tell your readers what you are doing with Kiva and Link-a-Post, and build up a mini network of great links.

The text below your screenshot will link to a favorite feature on your blog. (I am into SmartLink widgets that display book, video and music store feeds - and so should you!)

Make advert space a better place

One of the bonuses of the Link-a-Post format is that the graphic is placed at the end of a post, so it is prominent but not intrusive. This makes it perfect for advertising without annoying our readers with the usual commercial distractions. Currently this 3rd block features Ed's Funny HQ humor store at Zlio, the theory being, nobody died from a chance to buy a humor book or DVD.

If you want to place your own ad in the third section of your graphic, let's talk money! I will give half the fee to Kiva.

To participate in Link-a-Post

In a nutshell, there will be one "generic" Link-a-Post graphic at the foot of every post on this site. To "adopt" one of these:


The graphic will stay on this site forever as a permanent reminder / show of thanks for participating in Kiva.

Act now!

Contact Ed to book your spot at the end of a post. 1300 spots available, grab a spot!

As the snow falls deep and crisp and even, I am looking at the feed reader and realise that Good King xFruits is slacking and some of the recent posts aren't shining out. Sorry folks, you can't escape that easily.

Ben Stein ripped into Goldman Sachs. I don't think he was quite on the money with his claims. Or, his tilt at GS is BS!

I introduced Link-a-Post yesterday. It is my bid to make a better world for bloggers and entrepreneurs in the Third World, well past Christmas and well into the New year. I hope to hear from you, at least to say whether you think it can work in its current format, or if not, give me some pointers.

SmartLinks say they like what they see and I feel a few SmartLink users calling by to take a look. Don't get caught in the rush!

Beacon Awards. I was one of 5 tiddlers caught in Debbie Dolphin's nets. It also seems as though Reuters are trawling the web for original posts and they found her. Good vibes for the small guys.

And for some reason, MyBlogLog Sunday 35 never appeared in the RSS feeder. I hope it didn't put the Breaking News team off their filming. Lights, cameras, action.

I hope Johnny Ancich doesn't mind this blatant copy of his latest cartoon. I have been subscribing to this contemporary Canadian cartoonist's work for a week or so now and I haven't had a bad one yet. And if you don't get the point of a PastExpiry cartoon straight away, because like me, you aren't up to speed with Canada news, he adds a sharp line or two of explanation.

Check him out. Vote for him. Subscribe. Digg, Stumble, rock 'n roll him.

The wait is over. There is a new look in town, and this a snippet.

Blog design change - the challenge

The challenge has been to beef up this blog with adverts; build a link network with friends of the Pisstakers; introduce 1300 SmartLinks and promote a Good Cause called Kiva - all without cluttering the site and tripping readers up on crap. It could have got ugly, and incredibly time consuming, had I gone the traditional adsense and sidebar route, so I had to think smart!

The theme change is underway! Can you spot another part of the puzzle?









Luckily, good things happen in 3's. This is the third and most important part of the puzzle.

Blog design change - the solution

Stick those 3 graphics together in a lightweight CSS table, load them with links and you get Link-a-Post , a system that exploits the power of 3.

What's to see?

If you look at the bottom of this post, after the comments and bookmarks section, make up your own mind about Link-a-Post. You will see that the 3-part graphic highlights a humanitarian development program called Kiva. It also contains blog links and screenshots of blogs. Not stopping there, it introduces SmartLink Widgets, a simple but powerful way to link to loads of relevant books, DVDs or music available via affiliate programs. There's a humor store tagged on too.

(That was actually 4 positives and the 5th best bit is that Link-a-Post is compact, non-scattered - and it bears repeating - is judiciously placed at the end of a post, visible, but not intrusive when you are reading. 3 cheers.

One down 1299 to go

There will eventually be 1300 "generic" Link-a-Post graphics on this site. Each one will be placed at the end of a post and each one can be easily commandeered by bloggers looking for a wholesome way to expand their link network, readership and bank balance via this PR4 site.

I have customised the Link-a-Post graphic at the bottom of this post to suit Ed's info, and so can you. Come back tomorrow to learn how easy it is to have your own customised graphic at the bottom of your favorite Pisstakers post.

Can you see the new look now? The world is not short of slick graphics, but I think this offers a bit more bang for your buck than most. In principle, Link-a-Post engages the world on a blogger / good feeling / income generating level - and lordy lor', I can leave my sidebar and content free of naff advertising. (And, I just remembered, with the additional SmartLink code now going on in the background, I can add a whole new layer of content to this blog without too much hassle...)

If you can see any holes in the idea, please let Ed have it!

Not that anyone is buying houses these days, but if you were, wouldn't you like to know if the leafy sleepy suburb you have your eye on is as tranquil as it seems on the surface?

Well, before you sign your life away, you can use this site to find out if there are any rotten neighbors, trouble-makers, or noisy bastards on your street.

You just go to the site, enter an address, search the Google map for the house you are interested in, and see if anyone has submitted insider info.

Phew, saved!

These guys have revealed a few choice facts about the loud and loser people on their street. It doesn't do much for the prospects of anyone trying to sell, but potential buyers can't say they haven't been forewarned. Of course, if the newbies are into ghetto parties, maybe it is their perfect neighborhood, otherwise, I suspect they will keep on driving till they find a quieter block.

These people are too into Christmas!

I have heard it all now. Nice folks, but they have so many Xmas lights it is annoying for anyone living nearby. Whatever happened to affirmative action? If illuminations are too invasive, I suggest crawling across the lawn like a commando and cutting the wires.

I suppose in a place where people have time to stare out their windows and get offended by pulsing Father Christmas-i, there is a high chance of being spotted sabotaging the lights, photographed and uploaded to this site before you even get home. Nosy neighbors are as bad as rotten ones.

Snooper, top commenter

With a name like that, Snooper deserves to be top poster on this site. The conversation provides quite an entertaining insight into the small world we live in.

What I really mean is, this site opens a window on the small-minded judgemental intolerant world we live in. Are we supposed to tip-toe around at home and never have bonfires, parties and outdoor hobbies? Life is too short to get hung up on gangs hanging out on your front yard drinking beer and revving their hot-rods.

I may sound judgemental myself, criticising people who don't live and let live, but in my defence, I never get in my neighbors' face. Maybe if the deer, Canada geese and groundhogs start using stereos at midnight , or drive their SUVs across our lawn when we are sipping champagne, there will be trouble, but till then, you won't see me on Rotten Neighbors!

There will soon be another cast member at the I Eat Snowman Poop abode, but the happiness is tainted by swollen ankles, and a brother who melted the waste pipe with burning oil. Domestic bliss!

Blogging is a bliss according to Lena, & according to the cartoon she included, blogging is a matter of life and death too. Dying on-line while blogging seems rather extreme, but if that is bliss, so be it.

Spots, stripes, dots, lines, pots, lots of mugs & books... you name it, Diane's into it. According to Double Inspiration, she's also partial to pop stars, Bond, and (not mentioned in that post,) The Pisstakers.

Bloggers Unite is one of caring counsellor Claire's pet features this month. On the 17th write about an act of kindness, but beware of helping old people - some aren't as helpless as you think

Mike gives a hint at a new world order: China 1, Angola 2, Mexico 3. Relax everyone! It is the results of a Miss World contest for girls with hobbies like brokering world peace, fighting famine & shopping.

Alex is behind SmartLinks but he is not behind the times when it comes to understanding the internet. In his personal blog he broaches the painful issue of the long tail. Well worth a read if you seek dollars.

Il y a actuellement 3 passager(s) clandestin(s) dans le vaisseau subgalactique de Toby Dammit. Yes, I was one of 3 on-line at this French language subgalactic blog with dark overtones.

If you have never doodled, you have never lived, & if you don't go and see what can be doodled on a watch strap, you may never forgive yourself either. Doodled MyBlogLog avatars too. This is great.

If global warming continues, Inland Spain will become a desert & the Costa del Sol will end up under water. The only way out is for Antonio Banderas to do a Zorro & mobilise his people to make changes.

Olga's traveling bra blog is a site dedicated to her bosom pals. She asked for a quirky look at nature and had some photos of rock formations that fall slightly outside her niche topic.

35 weeks later and MyBlogLog Sunday is still here, albeit covered in a layer of picturesque snow that is destined to turn to salty brown slush in a few hours' time. So, come huddle around the firing line of Ed's mini reviews and find out what is going on in the 10 featured blogs this week.

As per the "rules", the 10 bloggers in the screenshot will get a mini review, my finest PR4 backlink, plus a link to your MyBlogLog community... and to keep the ball rolling, I will stumble any posts from any bloggers (featured or not) who leave a link to their own favorite post of the week. And there's more!

Blogs on film

Video cameras will be rolling through the reviews later on tonight, and any of the 10 blogs that mention MBL Sunday will have a lense knocking on their door too. Thanks to Breaking news for this cinematic burst of exposure. Maybe this latest vid will be picked up by the Reuters robots that regularly scan their site looking for new news to report to the world. In other words, international fame may be just a scraper bot away.

Comment queens

This week's top commenters are Debbie Dolphin with 6 comments, closely followed by Linda. Many thanks for the interesting input from Jellyfish as well. This info will be heading to Untwisted Vortex for their Kings and Queens of Comments feature

MyBlogLog Sunday info links

Be back later.

And this video review from Breaking News will shed some light on what goes on, if you haven't called by before.