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11 July, 2003

Susan Smith Wants Mail

Remember Susan Smith? The South Carolina woman who was convicted of murdering her two children, and sentenced to life in prison.

She's looking for pen pals. You can view her entry at WriteAPrisoner.com. She seems like a nice young lady:

I am looking to meet new people and, hopefully, become friends. During my spare time, I enjoy reading, working puzzles, and writing. I love rainbows, Mickey Mouse, the beach, the mountains, and waterfalls. My favorite color is navy blue and my favorite flower is the daisy. I am a Christian and I enjoy attending church. I consider myself to be sensitive, caring, and kind-hearted.

(via April Winchell)

Posted on 11 July, 2003

Watch For Rubber Ducks

From Yahoo News: Far-Flung Bathtub Toys Due in New England

A floating flock of the bathtub toys -- along with beavers, turtles and frogs -- is believed to be washing ashore somewhere along the New England coast, bleached and battered from a trans-Arctic journey... The toys have been adrift since 29,000 of them fell from a storm-tossed container ship en route from China to Seattle more than 11 years ago.

Posted on 11 July, 2003

Google AdSense Ads

Google's AdSense program...

...is for web publishers who want to make more revenue from advertising on their site while maintaining editorial quality. AdSense delivers text-based Google AdWords ads that are relevant to what your readers see on your pages - and Google pays you. 

William Blaze, at Abstract Dynamics, tells what happened when he started using AdSense ads on his blog. Like anyone would be, he was curious about the ads that showed up on his site. So he checked them out (and that's cheating). Then he got a letter from Google:

"It has come to our attention that fraudulent clicks have been generated on the ads on your site(s). Please understand that we consider deliberate attempts to violate our policies and compromise the integrity of our program a serious matter. Furthermore, your actions have cost Google and our advertisers both time and money. Actions such as this are not tolerated by Google."

I keep scripting turned off, so I've never actually seen an AdSence ad. Curious, I decided to check it out. I went to The Hivelogic Narrative (which uses AdSense) and enabled scripting for that site. Interestingly, this site has implemented an "optional advertising" script: If you don't want to see the text ads, one click will turn them off. The ads aren't too bad, really. But I would never consider putting ads on any of my web sites. There's far too much commercial clutter on the Web, and I don't care to contribute to it.

Ken Shafer created a Google AdSense Sensor. Enter a URL, and see what types of ads Google would serve if you were in the AdSense program. I tried it for this blog, and it came up with four anti-spam ads. I assume that the results will vary as the page content changes.

Posted on 11 July, 2003

Deserted Farms in Iceland

Exquisite black and white photos by Nokkvi Elisson. The subject matter is deserted farms.

Posted on 11 July, 2003

Home Coffee Roasting

If you've ever had the urge to roast coffee at home, this site tells you how to do it.

Most people simply don't know how vibrant truly fresh coffee tastes when compared to the partly-staled version we usually drink. Almost everyone knows how exquisite fresh bread is, or how much better home-popped popcorn is than the chewy, rubbery stuff that comes in bags. But the fragrance of coffee a day out of the roaster is a virtually forgotten pleasure.

Posted on 11 July, 2003

Ferret Gravy

No, not gravy made out of ferrets. Gravy made for ferrets.

Here's a very detailed "photo essay" that describes how to create gravy for ferrets. Most people don't even go through this much effort when they throw a dinner party!

I hope this helps you in your chicken gravy adventures. I don't always make Chicken gravy, sometimes I make beef, turkey, venison, rabbit, fish...whatever meat I can find that is fresh and on sale. I also have a different recipe for lactating jills and young kits, which basically just substitutes the bullion for goats milk or a can of Esbilac Puppy Milk Replacer liquid.

Posted on 11 July, 2003

Create Animated Banners

At Animation Online, you can create a variety of animated banners, buttons, and displays. Like this:

Posted on 11 July, 2003

Google Cache and Copyright

This issue was bound to come up eventually. From CNET: Google cache raises copyright concerns.

Like other online publishers, The New York Times charges readers to access articles on its Web site. But why pay when you can use Google instead?

Through a caching feature on the popular Google search site, people can sometimes call up snapshots of archived stories at NYTimes.com and other registration-only sites. The practice has proved a boon for readers hoping to track down Web pages that are no longer accessible at the original source, for whatever reason. But the feature has recently been putting Google at odds with some unhappy publishers.

Posted on 11 July, 2003

The Pasta Log Project

Stefano, a 22-year old from Rome, keeps a photographic record of the pasta he's eaten.

They are very nice photos, but I've been doing the low-carb thing...

Posted on 11 July, 2003

This Guy Doesn't Like Real Networks

Just about everyone has a copy of the crappy RealOne Player from Real Networks. And I've never heard anybody say a single good thing about it.

Here's a nice summary of why people hate this software. An excerpt:

Once installed, RealOne will begin a series of hostile takeovers where it corrupts and hijacks every possible file extension association, usually by holding key people hostage. Hey, did you like listening to mp3s on WinAmp? Well RealNetworks knows you secretly hate the efficiency and ease-of-use that the last decent release of WinAmp (2.73) had to offer, so please welcome your new mp3 player, a gigantic hunk of blue and white pig vomit that makes up for its lack of useful features by adding in the luxury of needless software bloat!

Posted on 11 July, 2003

Creating False Memories

Here's an interesting article about false memories.

About one-third of the people who were exposed to a fake print advertisement that described a visit to Disneyland and how they met and shook hands with Bugs Bunny later said they remembered or knew the event happened to them.

And it has some implications for advertising in general.

Nostalgic advertising works in a similar manner. Hallmark, McDonald's and Disney have very effective nostalgic advertising that can change people's buying habits. You may not have had a great experience the last time you visited Disneyland or McDonald's, but the ads may be inadvertently creating the impression that they had a wonderful time and leaving viewers with that memory. If ads can get people to believe they had an experience they never had, that is pretty powerful.

Posted on 11 July, 2003

The Disgruntled Ex-Burger King Employee

This site was created by two people, who describe themselves as...

...2 people that worked their butt's off for a long time working toward that unachievable goal of burger nirvana.

They also provide a list of 63 customer rules.

(Sorry, this is another one of those obnoxious Geocities sites)

Posted on 11 July, 2003

The Propaganda Remix Project

Old style propaganda posters, updated for modern times. These were done by Micah Ian Wright.

You can also read a collection of the "hate mail" that this site has generated.

Posted on 11 July, 2003

A Timeline of Fast Food Restaurants

Collected for your convenience, a handy timeline of fast food restaurants. This covers the fast food industry from 1916 through 2003. For example, you'll learn that the first KFC opened two years before the first Burger King (1952 vs. 1954).

Posted on 11 July, 2003