Thursday, August 31, 2006

Digital Camera Reviews

Digital photography is not just the wave of the future; frankly, it's the wave of the present. You won't make much money selling stuff on eBay without good digital photos. If you're confused about which digital camera is right for you, I recommend a site chock full of digital camera reviews.

Peace,

Tor

Tor has been paid to blog about the above topic via PayPerPost. If you are a blogger who would be interested in being paid to blog, please sign up at PayPerPost and fill in tor at torsrants dot com as your referral.

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Fair Prices for Energy, Pollution and Property Rights

Dan of Migrations is having a discussion at his blog about different ways to deal with pollution problems from energy production. He leans toward carbon taxes. I lean toward market-based solutions that recognize private property rights (one of the areas where I don't fit so neatly into the Left-Libertarian mold). Do go see what it's about. The time for setting down one path or another is soon.

Peace,

Tor

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Save Your Space (Against the Deleting Online Predators Act)

As it's still summer, I'm not surprized that the story of HR5319, the "Deleting Online Predators Act," hasn't caught the notice of many mainstream media types. If you need initial background on it, please read my earlier post.

Thanks to Kate's Ramblings, I'm now aware of some nascent organized resistance to DOPA. Save Your Space aims to get a cool million signatures on a petition decrying this legislation in a month's time. Please educate yourself on this issue and consider signing the petition.

Last month, I thought I was only jokingly pointing out the absurdity of the legislation when I suggested that my blog might fall under its definition. Now it seems I was prophetic.

Peace,

Tor

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Vonage VoIP Forum

There's a new independent Vonage forum and support site that deserves a visit from anyone who is contemplating taking the Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol plunge, or who needs help implementing their new technology.

Forum topics are diverse: how to hard-wire the new system in; telephone number portability; SoftPhone; and even a forum on interfacing with fax machines, TiVo and alarm systems. Lots of helpful posts from people who've been there and done that seem to spring up almost instantly in response to queries.

The site also follows closely all Vonage news, and reviews new Vonage-related products and services. They've also just released a toolbar for Internet Explorer and Firefox that helps Vonage customers manage their accounts.

Peace,

Tor


Tor has been paid to blog about the above topic via PayPerPost. If you are a blogger who would be interested in being paid to blog, please sign up at PayPerPost and fill in tor at torsrants dot com as your referral.

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Fall Web Worms in Maine

I've had the opportunity to drive around the state a bit over the last few weeks, and I have to say that the Bangor Daily News' story on the web worms this year is right on the money. We've got them all around where we live, and the trees along the section of the turnpike between Augusta and Lewiston seem almost to be festooned with some sort of Labor Day decorations.

Peace,

Tor

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Universal Music and Advertising-Supported Music Downloads

Universal Music's agreement with SpiralFrog.com to make its vast music library available for free download in mp3 format is truly a stunning case of "why didn't anyone think of that before?" If you only have to watch a short ad to download a song, and then go back to the website periodically to watch some ads to keep the songs on your computer licensed, it's a no-brainer. I'm sure Napster and iTunes will be pressured to offer something similar, soon after the service opens in December. With low-end mp3 players now cheaply available at places like Wal-Mart and Staples, Universal and SpiralFrog.com are poised to really make a killing. Hope they've got some heavy-duty servers running. I'm sure they'll need them.

The real winners of this model of music distribution could be independent musicians. Sites like epitonic have struggled to give away music tracks for free in the hopes that consumers will be interested in buying more tracks from the same artists. If independent musicians can ride the coattails of Universal's new distribution model (and it's not really all that new, since commercial radio stations make their money from ad revenue), the ability of just about any decent and hard-working musician to derive an income from their work will be greatly enhanced.

Many formerly unknown and unpublished writers now enjoy incomes from ad-supported blogs, and have developed faithful worldwide audiences, though only a handful have been able to make their livings entirely from their writing. I think the musicians' results will be similar.

Peace,

Tor

Car Headlight Cleaning and Restoration



If you're used to driving ancient vehicles like I am, you'll know what I mean when I say that headlight lenses can get quite cloudy and yellowed over time. For the best in headlight cleaning and restoration, use mdwholesale.com's guaranteed and patented New Lite headlight cleaner and restorer. One order gets you enough product to treat four vehicles...you'll get cleaner, oxidation remover and UV protectant in separate tubes, and they'll even send you special hypoallergenic/nitrile gloves!

Peace,

Tor

Tor has been paid to blog about the above topic via PayPerPost. If you are a blogger who would be interested in being paid to blog, please sign up at PayPerPost and fill in tor at torsrants dot com as your referral.

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Wednesday, August 30, 2006

The IRS and Fraudulent Debt Collectors

A new FairTax blogburst posted at Third World County reminded me of an idea that crossed my mind when I read the Washington Post story on the new IRS plan to use third-party debt collectors, and its subsequent warning to taxpayers "not to be duped by scammers posing as private debt collectors the agency has hired to chase unpaid tax debts."

One of the safeguards that the IRS has helpfully implemented is a toll-free number:

The selected taxpayers will get letters from the IRS that will name the company handling their debts. That letter will include information advising taxpayers of their rights.

It will be followed by another letter from the collection agencies telling the taxpayers they will soon be contacted for payment and specifying the amount owed.

The selected taxpayers can then expect a phone call or an additional letter from the collection agency requesting payment. Bennett cautioned that debt repayment is sent to the IRS, not a private company.

Taxpayers uncertain about the process or wanting to verify the letters are legitimate can call the IRS at 800-829-1040.


Here's a good way to put a stop to all of this nonsense at once. If enough of us fraudulently call this number and inquire whether a nonexistent letter were issued by the IRS or one of its contractors, or with painfully obtuse questions about the process, their whole system will fall apart. And it won't cost us a cent. Just a few minutes of our time.

Subversives of the world, here's your new hobby for the next few weeks. Be creative. Be polite. Call the number, and tie up the phone for as long as you can.

Peace,

Tor

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Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Is Hannaford Getting Too Big?

Why do I wonder whether Hannaford is getting too big? Check out this story's account of how one of their long-time employees fleeced them but good!

In late 2000, Greeley created fictitious vendors and authorized payment from Hannaford to the fictitious vendors for services that were never performed. Greeley deposited the checks issued by Hannaford to the fictitious vendors into accounts he had established. Greeley obtained approximately $657,260 during the course of this fraudulent scheme.


If someone's able to steal more than half a million dollars from your corporation before you start to notice, your business might well have grown beyond its ability to be responsibly managed.

Peace,

Tor

Linking to the following blogs with open trackback posts: Diane's Stuff, Rashbre Central

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Dan Rua on PayPerPost and Consumer-Generated Advertising

Dan Rua is a fellow who knows how to make money blogging.

He's the writer of the Florida Venture Blog, and a recent post has gotten a lot of exposure at digg.

He looks back on the past month of PayPerPost's public existence, and notes that many of the concerns of those who were aghast at the idea of PayPerPost have rung hollow:

I've registered for the platform as a blogger and advertiser and adoption is growing fast on both sides of the marketplace. I've also searched for paid posts across the blogosphere and find a more intelligent, mature, open adoption than the soulless-shilling originally feared. In fact, I see quality organic posts growing alongside sponsored posts by PPP adopters.


Well, that only makes sense. If I were to overwhelm this blog with paid posts that weren't interesting, and let original, "organic" content dry up, my readership would go bye-bye, and all my advertisers would eventually go bye-bye as well, PPP included.

I may even sometime soon use PPP myself as an advertiser to help publicize this blog. For folks like me, with small advertising budgets, PPP would be an interesting experiment with a more easily verifiable result than other ad methods.

Peace,

Tor

Tor has been paid to blog about the above topic via PayPerPost. If you are a blogger who would be interested in being paid to blog, please sign up at PayPerPost and fill in tor at torsrants dot com as your referral.

How to Jerry-Rig a Nonfunctional Brake on a Range Rover

I've meant to pass along this bit of info for a few months now, and, since I'm in need of a quick post to throw up for my OTA friends, here goes.

If, for some reason, one of your brakes on your 1987 Range Rover needs to be taken offline (maybe you've got a leak in the brake line going to it, or something unkind is going on with the caliper), there's a simple way to get that done and get yourself home, or at least to a service station without calling for a tow.

Take the appropriate bleed nipple off of the caliper that is to be disengaged. (If you've got a 1987 Range Rover, I'm assuming you've got a full set of tools handy at all times.) Then, disconnect the line from the master brake cylinder that goes to that brake. The nipple will fit into the socket whence came the line.

Be careful driving the beast. Since one brake is now inoperative (and possibly two, since I think both rear brakes need to be disconnected at the same time), braking will take longer than you're used to, and you might notice some pulling to one side or another.

Then fix things up properly as soon as you are able.

Peace,

Tor

This is this week's post. You may trackback on any subject, provided you link to this post. Click on the chicklet for an FAQ on open trackbacks.

Butch at 123beta trackbacked with Meow Meow. Suzie of Assorted Babble trackbacked with Are Some Desensitized by Iran's Head and War Games?

I'm linking to the following blogs with open trackback posts: Common Folk Using Common Sense, historymike, Planck's Constant, Don Surber, Dumb Ox News, Right Wing Nation

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Monday, August 28, 2006

Roark Sure Gets Around

Some fellow PayPerPost bloggers have seemingly fallen in the irresistable snare of Roark's charm. It all started with Smuggle Me's exposé of PayPerPost as an elaborate scheme by its founder, Ted, to hook up Willie and Colleen. Ted denied it, which led to further investigative work by Willie into Ted's true identity.

The interesting thing is, my correction in the comments aside, everyone is scurrilously repeating the phrase "Tor the blogging cat." Willie seems to have seized upon a picture of Roark as being yours truly.

This is not an Archy and Mehitabel sort of blog, like Ferdinand's. Tor writes it, and features pics of Roark, Oliver and Dylan. More where those came from can be found at his wife Rowan's blog. (Come to think of it, even Rowan has often mistakenly called Tor Roark, and vice versa. If you knew us, you'd know why.)



Peace,

Tor

Tor has not been paid to blog about the above topic via PayPerPost. You couldn't pay him to write a post like this. If you are a blogger who would be interested in being paid to blog, please sign up at PayPerPost and fill in tor at torsrants dot com as your referral.

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Online Shopping and Auction Price Comparison via Pricepirates

Pricepirates is a new software product that acts as a price comparison tool for items listed for auction on up to thirteen worldwide eBay sites with the items up for sale in thousands of online stores. The latter are found via Shopping.com and Amazon.com.

I've taken the program for a test drive, and found that it installs easily and runs smoothly. When installing, you let the software know which eBay sites you want set as your default searches (you can always change them later), and the program does the rest. Just type what you're looking for into the search field, and within seconds (depending on your internet connection, of course), you'll have a plethora of eBay listings in front of you. There's also a tab for eBay store listings.

Well, of course you could do that yourself, at eBay! But now you hit the next tab, "Price Comparison," and hit "search" to see what Pricepirates will find for the same item. (Having to hit "search" independently on each tab is the one minor nit that I'll pick with the program. There might be a way to have "search" universally apply to all tabs, but I haven't found it.) Now you'll know what your highest bid for any item on eBay should be, since you know what you'll be able to get it for on other sites.

There's also an integrated web search tab, so you can find products outside of the channels that the Pricepirates software checks.

Another important thing about the software is that it is freeware, and has no spyware or adware in it.

Here's a list of features that the Pricepirates software provides:

* Auction search in up to 13 eBay countries * Price comparison at thousands of online stores * Ingenious search options * Statistics function for online auctions * Auction watchlist * Smart search option for bargains on eBay * Integrated Web search * Alert function reminds you of auctions ending soon * Free SMS reminders to your mobile * Look at auction gallery pictures straight from the program * Adjustable background search with saved parameters * Automatic program updates * Freeware! No spyware, no ads, no popups! * Free support via Web site and e-mail

Peace,

Tor

Tor has been paid to blog about the above topic via PayPerPost. If you are a blogger who would be interested in being paid to blog, please sign up at PayPerPost and fill in tor at torsrants dot com as your referral.

The Maine State Housing Authority and Health Care

Here's yet another episode in the drama in which government, while insisting its intent is to solve a problem, is creating a much larger one in order to gain more power for itself. The Ellsworth American says it best in these passages from an editorial last week:

The state Housing Authority continues to twist the arms of builders and subcontractors to provide employee health insurance if they hope to land a state contract. As if that isn'’t enough, next on the hit list are building suppliers.

What's next -- the coffee wagon that visits job sites?

If the Housing Authority's charge is "creating decent, safe, affordable housing," it is getting in its own way by driving up contractors' costs of doing business....

Besides having the effect of favoring larger firms that might better afford to offer health insurance...


That last clause contains the insight that is lacking in most liberals. Regulations tend to favor big businesses and corporations, and squash the small companies and sole proprietors. Indeed, the larger the government has grown, the stronger large corporations have become. The government doesn't protect the weak so much as it keeps them weak against the folks who pay for it.

The best thing to do for the affordable housing problem in Maine is to abolish the Maine State Housing Authority.

Peace,

Tor

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Bloggers Build Bridges in the Middle East

Blogs can be anonymous springboards for hatred and venom. They can also be sounding boards for cross-cultural exploration.

Today's Washington Post has an interesting article about the proliferation of communication between Israelis and Lebanese via blogging. Lebanese are forbidden by their government from communication with Israelis, but that great sea of anonymity which is the blogosphere has enabled some incredible dialogue to occur:

"You do get extremes of positions on either side, but what has been surprising and recent is the number of Israeli bloggers who are reaching out to the Lebanese blogs and putting comments there," said the Lebanese host of blog-aggregator Open Lebanon, who tracks more than 100 blogs a day in real time. (He asked to remain anonymous, citing conflicts of interest with his public profile at a large global firm.) "The majority of them could be classified as conciliatory. It is obvious Israelis will not favor a Hezbollah win, but would rather see a moderate, modern, democratic, strong type of government in Lebanon, so they gently 'push' the Lebanese bloggers towards these directions."

English is a convenient lingua franca. The Lebanese blogosphere, drawing from a trilingual Arabic-, French- and English-speaking population, is chiefly English. So when the war broke out, many Hebrew-language bloggers switched to English in a deliberate attempt to reach across the border, according to Goldman, who provides a regular roundup of the Israeli blogosphere for global blog aggregator Global Voices Online.

....

Chuman, the Beirut man who fled for Chicago, had sampled the Israeli blogosphere in April and found it a nuanced and informed contrast to what he could glean from traditional news outlets. "The lack of news about Israel -- not an unimportant country in the region -- is astounding," wrote the political consultant, under his then-nom-de-Web, Lebanon Profile. "Not knowing about 'them' is the worst crime we can commit. It invalidates them as humans, as if they don't even matter. They are Stalin's faceless enemy, the rabid dog, the evil blood suckers whom it is righteous to kill. Our papers definitely need to start covering more than major political events in Israel."

Several Israeli bloggers contacted him. "It was around the time of Holocaust Remembrance Day and memorials for soldiers and I was learning a lot. I'd never read that before. A lot of people were touched by what I wrote, and we developed quite a community," he said.


So there you have it. Blogs can destroy, and they can uplift. Just like any other tool at the disposal of humans. I, for one, believe that the forces of good will eventually prevail, so long as the free-wheeling and free-flowing nature of the blogosphere obtains.

Peace,

Tor

Linking to the following blogs with open trackback posts: Bloggin' Outloud, Committees of Correspondence, Pirates! Man Your Women!, Urban Paradise (who's awaiting the wrath of Ernesto!)

School Furniture at BizChair.com

Though children will be returning to school in just a few days here in the U.S., there are doubtless schools that still need to purchase furniture. The quickest and most comprehensive source for School Furniture is BizChair.com.

Not only is the navigation to find what you need effortless and alphabetical, but also the categories seem to include anything an academy would need. From activity tables to science tables, from lecterns and podiums (and I looooove folks who know the difference) to recycling bins, from display cases to bookcases, BizChair.com is the place any academic purchaser must go to for school furniture needs.

Peace,

Tor

Tor has been paid to blog about the above topic via PayPerPost. If you are a blogger who would be interested in being paid to blog, please sign up at PayPerPost and fill in tor at torsrants dot com as your referral.

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Saturday, August 26, 2006

Barbara Merrill's Ethics Violations

Okay, so this information isn't exactly fresh in terms of blogging, but Maine independent gubernatorial candidate Barbara Merrill's fine of ten grand from the Elections Ethics commission has probably dashed her already tiny hopes of connecting with voters this fall.

The original complaint about the violation was filed by John Michael, another independent candidate whose campaign is now toast, since he's decided not to appeal his refusal of public money for the election.

Here's my between-the-lines take on the following passage from the Portland Press Herald story:

Michael, who did not attend the commission's meeting, said later the panel should have disqualified Merrill from receiving public financing, an option that the panel rejected after one commissioner described it as "very draconian." Under Wednesday's ruling, Michael said, any publicly funded candidate who is willing to pay a fine can use tax dollars to make illegal retroactive payments to campaign workers.


This is probably the only sensible thing that Michael's said in months. And he somehow managed not to offend any minorities in the process. Will wonders never cease?

When the commissioner described disqualifying Merrill's campaign from public funds as "very draconian," they were really saying, "Well, we know that we need to continuously expand the so-called Clean Elections Fund, and therefore the number of candidates feeding at the trough, so we commissioners can become more important and command larger stipends as stewards of that fund. We can't ignore the enormous multiple counts of obvious fraud from the Michael campaign, but we'll try and keep the Merrill campaign in the money because they only made one technical slip-up."

I wish I could file a complaint with the commission that the very act of taking dollars from taxpayers in order that candidates might wage campaigns that are in conflict with the taxpayers' political philosophies is unethical. Not currently illegal, but definitely unethical.

Peace,

Tor

Linking to the following blogs with open trackback posts: Samantha Burns, Point Five, Seven Deadly Sins, Assorted Babble, Church and State, Blue Star Chronicles, Right Nation, Leaning Straight Up, The Uncooperative Blogger, Stuck on Stupid, 123beta

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Thursday, August 24, 2006

The Foo Logs

Welcome to the Foo Logs, this week's renter via BlogExplosion.

The Foo blogs about a wide assortment of subjects, including culinary subjects, software, sports and movies.

The clincher, as it usually is in my decision to approve a rental bid, was the photo of the Foo's cat, Miles. No doubt a long-lost cousin of our own Dylan (whom you will eventually see atop this page if you keep hitting refresh).

Please visit the Foo via the thumbnail atop the left column if it's still there. If not, please use the link in this post's title.

Peace,

Tor

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Wednesday, August 23, 2006

As Seen On TV

If you've ever had the problem of seeing an ad on TV for something that you might want to buy, but were on the verge of falling asleep, or had some other reason for not writing down the 800 number, here's the site for you: As Seen On TV.

Current offerings include BluBlockers, Faraday Flashlights and all sorts of choppers and dicers.

It's important to note that by buying these products online, you'll get a better price than thru the TV offers, and you'll also get them shipped to you faster.

Peace,

Tor

Tor has been paid to blog about the above topic via PayPerPost. If you are a blogger who would be interested in being paid to blog, please sign up at PayPerPost and fill in tor at torsrants dot com as your referral.
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PayPerPost and Sponsored Posts

Per recommendation from Kn@ppster, I've decided to become part of the PayPerPost blog network. This means I'll be paid by advertisers to write about topics (usually products or services) of their choosing, but the thoughts and words will be my own. Typically, they're looking for a link and some buzz.

I promise I won't hock anything that I wouldn't at least consider buying, and that I'll be careful not to let the sponsored posts overwhelm the posts you're used to reading here.

I'll always identify sponsored posts as such after my signature and categorize them as "payperpost."

If you're a blogger who might be interested in this opportunity, go to PayPerPost and check it out. If you sign up, please be so kind as to put my email address, tor at torsrants dot com, as your referral. (Yes, I'll be getting an incentive for that referral.)

Peace,

Tor

Linking to the following blogs with open trackback posts: Third World County, Diane's Stuff, Stuck on Stupid, Don Surber, Dumb Ox, Right Wing Nation

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Mike Hurley, the Belfast Retail Review Commission, and Economic Planning

In 2001, a referendum on big-box stores in Belfast, Maine led the City Council to enact legislation forbidding the advent of any retail store over the size of 75,000 square feet. This replaced a moratorium on any development over 50,000 square feet that had been hastily enacted after a proposal by Wal-Mart to build a 160,000 square foot "supercenter" on the back forty. Mayor Mike Hurley was central to those results, through an organization called Belfast First.

"It's a vindication of the referendum and moratorium," Mayor Michael Hurley told the Maine Times. The moratorium enabled the community to engage in "an incredibly valuable debate across kitchen tables, in coffee shops, on the street corner, in barbershops, in the co-op. People learned a lot about our economy and about the predatory practices" of big-box retailers like Wal-Mart and Home Depot.


In 2004, a referendum initiated by citizen petition passed, establishing a zone for big-box stores up to 200,000 square feet in size on a few parcels on Belfast's east side. This was a vote that was mired in controversy about spot-zoning and conflict of interest. Also, questions about whether zoning could actually be changed thru referendum without going through the normal process of consideration led to litigation (of which Belfast First was a plaintiff), and eventually another referendum in 2005 changed the city charter to forbid zoning changes via referendum.

The one major thing that happened in Belfast between the 2000 and 2004 votes was the closure of Ames Department Store, due to bankruptcy.

Now Mayor Mike Hurley, who was so eager to use the power of government to impose his view of correct shopping practices on the rest of us in 2000 and 2004, seems to have had a change of heart. He is reportedly going to resign from the Belfast Retail Review Commission tonight:

Hurley has accused members of the commission of trying to "run out the clock"” by not reporting back to the city council concerning the issue of retail development in Belfast. In addition, he stated that the commission consists almost entirely now of members who are opposed to large-scale "big box" development.


Well Mike, you appointed them, so you should know.

Regardless of that, as a libertarian who doesn't believe that the size of retail establishments should in any way come under the regulation of government bodies, it's encouraging to see that someone who was once wholly in favor of "economic planning," i.e. keeping certain kinds of economic activity from occurring, is now starting to see that it doesn't work. The lessons learned from authoritarian economic systems around the world, especially those that rose and fell during the twentieth century, are starting to find a wider audience.

I believe that Mike Hurley was sincerely doing what he thought was best in 2000 and 2004, and I believe that he is doing what he thinks is best now. I can't find the quote right now, but I did read a quip reportedly from his mouth in the last few weeks in which he expressed his surprize that retailers hadn't come to Belfast with smaller floor plans in the years since the size cap was enacted.

Mayor Hurley, your next lesson will be about why employers hire fewer people when the minimum wage rises.

Peace,

Tor

This is this week's post. Click on the chicklet for an FAQ on open trackbacks. In a nutshell, you may send a trackback ping on any subject, provided you link to this post.

For my part, I'm sending preemptive pings to: historymike's musings, Common Folk Using Common Sense

Bernie Planck trackbacked with the following posts at Planck's Constant: Israel Won in Lebanon - Iran Lost and Hats Make the Man, the latter being a trifecta swipe at Mel Gibson, O.J. and Reuters.

Mark Sprengel of Mark My Words trackbacked with Prove Your Idiocy in 3 Easy Steps.

Butch Morgan of 123beta trackbacked with The Less Than Credible Mr Kahne.

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Monday, August 14, 2006

Miss Sadie, RIP

Miss Sadie was one of the sweetest dogs I've ever met.

Peace,

Tor

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Sunday, August 13, 2006

Freedom of Religion and Speech in China

I found this report at the Buddhist Channel:

Beijing, China -- Lei Dayong, a lay Buddhist from the Tongzhou district of Beijing, was sentenced in February to four years in prison for printing Buddhist scriptures.

....In a previous instance, a Christian Pastor, Cai Zhuohua, was sentenced to three years for printing unauthorized copies of the Christian Bible.


Both the left and right in America should be chagrined to read this.

The left should be chagrined for openly supporting the expansion of government that will inevitably have enough power to do this, and which inevitably will do this. Every country that has had a powerful government has inevitably trampled its citizens' freedoms.

The right, for insisting that there is an anti-Christian conspiracy in this country's government, despite the fact that they are running the show. And they are increasing the reach of government into the personal lives of Americans to such a degree that non-Christians will eventually feel threatened. And, perhaps, even Christians of the wrong denomination.

Both sides should examine these events in China, and meditate on the inevitability of the use of power in government to oppress. The greater the power, the greater the oppression. Lucky you, if the powerful look and sound like you. Otherwise, hope you like prison food.

Peace,

Tor

Linking to: Samantha Burns, Bullwinkle Blog

Wednesday, August 9, 2006

Google AdWords and Click Fraud

The recent back-and-forth between Google and third-party firms estimating the extent of click-fraud in pay-per-click advertising is very interesting to me. As a blogger whose blog is hosted by blogspot, a Google subsidiary, and who derives income from Google ads on which some of my readers find interesting enough to click once in a while, it is in my interest for advertisers to feel confident that there aren't any shenanigans going on. (I also rotate the Google ads with ads from other sources, some of which are pay-per-click, some of which are pay-per-impression, and others of which are based on flat rates for periods of time.)

Google has come out swinging at its AdWords blog with some specific examples of flaws in the estimate put forward by Outsell that click fraud is approaching fifteen percent:

One clear indication that the consultants' results are flawed: they'’re not even getting the total number of clicks correct. We have seen some instances of reports showing 1.5 times the number of clicks in our logs --– for example, in one case 1,278 clicks were claimed as being "fraudulent" by the consultant while only 850 actually even appeared as clicks in Google's logs.

More evidence of the consultants'’ defective methodology is revealed when looking at conversion rates. We found clicks identified as "fraudulent" in reports often converted at nearly the same rate (and in some cases better) compared to other clicks. In one case, "fraudulent clicks" converted 5.1% of the time -- only a bit less than the advertiser's overall conversion rate of 5.8%.


So Google sez, you're showing us more fraudulent clicks than we can find clicks in this particular account, period. And those "fraudulent" clicks are "converting" (that is, arriving at a predetermined page on the advertiser's website, usually the order form) at very nearly the same rate as "authentic" clicks.

I have dabbled in advertising this blog through AdWords a time or two. A couple of times, I advertised on specific sites whose readers I felt might have an affinity for my rants. Other times, I just bid on key words that people might be searching for, or that might appear on other sites featuring Google ads. In my case, every click was a "conversion," since the point was to get the clicker to check out my blog. In checking out the activity of those who came to my site from clicking on the ads, I found that a good number of them made multiple page views. I have no idea how many of them ever came back, but I have to assume that some of them are now regular readers.

The one thing that I would like to know is, in the case of my ads that appeared on sites not of my choosing, what exactly were the sites? When I've clicked on links from sitemeter that are labeled as having brought visitors to me via Google ads, I've only been able to see a mockup of how the ad appeared, and the adjacent ads. I'm not given the context of the ad, that is, what website it appeared on. As an advertiser, I'd have more faith in the process if I knew where the ads were being published. Advertisers in every other medium know where their ads are appearing: on which radio stations, in which newspapers, or on which TV shows. As an AdWords customer, I usually have no idea.

I would think Google would want to provide this information to me, so I can try and secure advertising spots on sites that give me good traffic. I would do this by bidding a higher amount per click on sites that I find appealing. Google gets more money, the publisher gets more money, and I get more visitors.

Peace,

Tor

Linking to the following blogs with open trackback posts: Third World County, Stop the ACLU, Diane's Stuff, Stuck on Stupid, Cigar Intelligence Agency

Tuesday, August 8, 2006

CoolAdzine for Marketers and and Internet Traffic Ponzi Scheme

Welcome to this week's BlogExplosion tenant, CoolAdzine for Marketers. Check out CyberCelt's musings on the diversity of bloggers.

I also would like to extend an invitation to all my blogging friends to join me in an internet traffic Ponzi scheme. The good news is that, in this case, the only thing you're required to give up is a little bit of time, rather than money. The bad news is, like all Ponzi schemes, eventually you run out of people to join in and someone doesn't get the promised returns. In this case, it's twelve million website hits.

Just head over to my Free Traffic Boost page and follow the instructions. You just need to sign up, visit ten pages, and then promote the link they give you at the end of the process. I actually signed up a couple of months ago to see if I'd get any sudden onslaught of new spam, and it hasn't happened.

Two Warnings: 1) I am a free member of this Ponzi scheme, and I don't encourage anyone to become a paid member. I don't know that these folks are to be trusted with anyone's money, due to the Ponzi scheme thing. 2) Most of the websites you have to view to get your link promote get-rich-quick-without-working schemes. Please don't go through with this process if you think you're at all susceptible to such promotions. I want the readers of Tor's Rants to use their resources wisely. If you've got extra money lying about that you just have to spend, there's a PayPal donation button on this page. Let's all have fun with this, not become victims.

I'm not counting on getting any traffic due to this, and I'm sure you'll be happier too if you enter into it with the same expectation. If you do sign up, let me know and I'll link to your blog in this post, or on another one, if this post falls off the front page. And let me know if this blog is one of the pages you visit on the way to getting your link, like it's supposed to be.

Peace,

Tor

Update: I already know about the typo in the headline to this post. I can't change it now, since I've gone and trackbacked all over the place. Removing that one little "d" will send folks I pinged to a 404 page.

Linking to the following blogs with Open Trackback Posts: historymike, Common Folk Using Common Sense, Rightlinx, Planck's Constant, Don Surber, Right Wing Nation

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Foreign Language and Immersion

I'll gladly stipulate that learning foreign languages is necessary for American youngsters these days. The Washington Post reports on the trend for ever-earlier exposure to foreign languages in the Washington, D.C. area schools. Here are a couple of snips, emphasis added by me:

[K]indergartners at Fairfax County's Graham Road Elementary School, one of seven county elementary schools that reopen early in August, sang an alphabet song, learned how to stand in line -- and started Spanish lessons.

The 30-minute lesson, taught solely in Spanish....

Beginning this school year in the District, Shepherd Elementary School in Northwest Washington is planning to offer a pre-kindergarten French immersion program -- with some lessons in French and others in English -- and Thomson Elementary in Northeast is launching a Mandarin immersion class. Arlington County schools are adding a Spanish pilot program at two elementary schools.


On the one hand, this is wonderful. Anyone who has ever tried to learn a foreign language will tell you that immersion is the way to go. I learned more German in a couple of months in Berlin than I could have learnt from six years of college classes.

On the other hand, we still have a serious problem when it comes to teaching English to children of immigrants to America. Especially for Hispanics, we seem to insist that immersion is not the way to go. Somehow, we think Mexicans are too stupid to handle English immersion programs. And this view is holding many immigrant families back from achieving their potential, and doubtless results in a higher percentage of them becoming reliant on welfare programs.

Waitaminnit, maybe that's the plan. Our nation's bureaucrats need to expand their welfare recipient population, because Americans are less and less willing to do what it takes to get a welfare check. Right.

Peace,

Tor

This is this week's post. Click on the chicklet for an FAQ. In a nutshell, today I'll allow trackbacks to this post on any subject, provided there's a link either to this post or to my front page. I'll put the links up manually later tonight or tomorrow, as I'm able.

Tuesday, August 1, 2006

Border Agents Don't Check IDs

The Government Accounting Office has done another undercover investigation into crossing the border with fake IDs.

The GAO probe follows a similar inquiry in 2003 and 2004 when undercover investigators crossed unhindered into the United States at least 14 times using counterfeit drivers' licenses and, in one case, an expired, altered U.S. diplomatic passport. During that investigation, however, border agents in New York and Florida stopped three undercover officials who were using expired and forged passports, drivers' licenses or birth certificates.

By comparison, between February and June 2006, 18 GAO investigators breezed by border agents at checkpoints in California, Texas, Michigan, Idaho, Washington state, and twice each in Arizona and New York. In two cases - in Arizona and California - border agents did not ask the undercover investigators for any identification.


So we're spending more and more money on Homeland Security, and getting less and less. The longer lines at the borders and at the airports and at the bus stations and at the Superbowl are all for show, folks. They're just slowing you down and looking you over to see what color your skin is, and what your accent sounds like. Even if the deadline for making all people entering the U.S. show passports isn't delayed, they'll still be barely glancing at the documents. My lovely wife and I went to Canada about a year ago, and found that our documents were almost not needed on our few return trips.

About fifteen years ago, I traveled through much of central Europe. Since my ancestors were largely Scandinavian, if I kept my mouth shut, I appeared to fit in. I was actually on a train once that was entering Germany from a non-EU country (I think Switzerland), and border inspectors entered the car. They asked the men sitting near me for their passports, but not me. This is because the men sitting near me were of Algerian ancestry, tho they had been born in Germany, and spoke German as a first language. However, they were still not considered Germans by law.

I, the true foreigner, received scant attention from the border patrol.

Bringing it back to the AP article, I have to wonder what the appearances and accents of the undercover GAO agents were. If a border agent sees a person who is a Caucasian male or female, or even an African-American male or female, and who speaks with an obviously American accent, they surely won't be spending much time trying to find out if that person's documents are forgeries. Even if it's legally prohibited, racial or ethnic profiling still must be a big part of any border agent's decision about whom to scrutinize more closely.

As a libertarian, I've long expressed my opinion in favor of greatly liberalizing the immigration process, and making crossing the border much easier. I had no idea both of these had already been implemented.

Peace,

Tor

Linking to: historymike, Rightlinx, Don Surber, Right Wing Nation

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