AffiliateSensor - Your path to affiliate profits.

AffiliateSensor - Your path to affiliate profits.

These guys are essentially a competitor to Google AdSense but instead of choosing between them you can use AdSense (which seems to be the preferred system) but use AffiliateSensor for when Google AdSense doesn't serve any ads and displays public service ads instead. You can replace those public service ads with ads from another system such as this one if you like. I think it's within the TOS of AdSense as when I read them the main concern was conflicting ads on the one page. If you are only using these guys for when Google Adsense doesn't serve ads it should be ok. But you might want to read the TOS yourself and decide.

One Soldier's Journal

One Soldier's Journal: "It is sad, however, that the insurgents are trying to prevent great prosperity for themselves, their family, and their country. I work in the Division Headquarters for the Corp of Engineers in Iraq. There are nine of us directing all the operations for all the Army Engineers working to build Iraq. My job is much more like being a senior executive of a 20 billion dollar company than a soldier fighting a battle. My weapons include Power-Point and e-mail. I am in charge of the night shift, so for a few hours I am responsible for quite a bit. "

This blog is worth a read, it's a well written and very readable account of Frank Myers experiences rebuilding Iraq. As you can probably tell from the excerpt above, he honestly and earnestly believes the party line about American foreign policy and the 'liberation' of the Iraqi people. Parts of the blog are quite moving, though it's hard for me to get over his naiveté at times.

Blogger Issues

I'm having trouble publishing to Blogger from Firefox (001 java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused)... then out of curiousity I tried from IE and everything went fine and even the articles I had tried to publish through Firefox appeared. So I thought maybe the issue was resolved. But I tried again to publish from Firefox to no avail. Now I am trying this through IE as a test... if you see this, something odd is going on!

UPDATE 15th Sept 04
Just so you do't have to trawl through the comments, here is an update:
Blogger came back to me to say the issue should be resolved, that it was an issue with my host blocking their server requests. And that it occurred due to a change on my hosts side of things. They had no idea why switching browsers sometimes seemed to help.

I am having the same issue with BifSniff now, it's on a different host to this site so it could be the same issue - that a change was made at the hosts end of things. However why does switching browser seem to work for me? It doesn't work for others as you can see if you read all the comments....

I'll post any updates here.

UPDATE 06th Oct 04
Those of you still finding this article through Google, if this describes the problem you are having, contact your host and check if they have made changes that could have blocked Bloggers server requests.

Please postabout your experience with this issue, there is a lot of traffic to this post and I am not sure whether the issue is resolved for visitors who find it or not!

UPDATE 20 Dec 04
Three new comments today on this issue... still no solid resolution forthcoming... haven't had the problem myself in a while but judging from the traffic to this page it's ongoing!

oh... make that FOUR new comments!

Have sent Blogger support a request for help on this issue again, to see what the current thinking is...

UPDATE 28 Dec 04
Well, Blogger have not come back to me on the last mail I sent them on the 20th of December, but it is Christmas, so let's see if anything comes back in the New Year.

In the meantime, try the following, all of which have worked for different people who commented here:

1. Clear your cache, history and cookies and try to publish.


2. Try publishing through a different browser.


3. Read this and this
   


4. Under Blogger -> Settings -> Publishing, change the FTP Server name so it begins with "ftp."


5. Delete your username and password in the publishing settings in Blogger and it will instead prompt you for this information when you publish. Now you enter your username and password every time you publish.

Hope this helps until Blogger come back with definitive answer!

UPDATE 29th Dec 04
Blogger got back to me with the following:

"Try plugging in your FTP server's IP address into your settings. Let me know if this resolves the problem."

Anyone currently having this issue please try this and let us know here if it resolves the issue.

Thanks,
Frank

UPDATE 4th Jan 05

We haven't received many reports of this problem occurring with users
publishing to external servers. If we start seeing more reports we'll
update our known issues page.

Sincerely, Steve
Blogger Support Team


UPDATE 01 Feb 05
Had this issue AGAIN yesterday. I went to try Steves resolution above but didn't have the IP address... so I contacted my host company and they got it back to me today... but BEFORE I tried it I tried publishing again - and it published fine. So this is some intermittent problem NOT dependant on any of my settings etc... this is a BLOGGER issue...


UPDATE 04 Feb 05
Well, I got back in touch with Steve and he assured me that Blogger engineers were looking into the problem and that they realised now it was an issue at the Blogger end of things. Let's see if they can track it down...

UPDATE03 Nov 05
Had this issue again and had over 300 hits on this page, so I guess a lot of other people had the same problem. None of the 'solutions' compiled here worked for me either. I emailed Blogger again... not going to hold my breath on a meaningful response though seeing as Steve never got back to me since my last update (10 months ago)and a search on Blogger help on this issue turns up nothing.

UPDATE12 Nov 05
Similar problem 3am Irish time: 001 java.net.ConnectException: Connection timed out
Couldn't post to my blogs. Emailed Blogger AGAIN... no answer from the last email.
I sent them the error, the fact I couldn't post to my blogs and neither could others I know of - what happened? Let's see if I get a reply this time.

Company pulls toys depicting 9-11 attack

Picture of toy and related news article

Bizarre news item... bizarre toy.

How to Save the World (again)

THE POST-CONSUMER ECONOMY: A MODEL FOR OUR FUTURE

I know I've already drawn your attention to this site, but as I kept reading I decided to post about it again.
Another great article. Idealistic? Naive? Maybe. But maybe not. I certainly agree that something has got to change. And at least somebodies making suggestions!

The follow up article is also interesting...
NEW COLLABORATIVE ENTERPRISES: LIFE AFTER CAPITALISM

I actually remember reading about a company set up which was in a way similar to that described in the article. The book was 'the Tipping Point', referenced in the article - so maybe that's where the idea came from.
The company was a company called Gore - the company had no titles, it was a 'flat' organisation. Everyone was simply an 'associate'. Once the company reaches 150 employees (or 'members') it seperates into two smaller divisions and continues until one or both reach 150 again. Read the referenced article for more.

How to Save the World

Making Politics Politically Correct

Looks like an interesting blog. Certainly this article about the lack of political debate these days appealed to me.

As a matter of interest, anyone know of any interesting sites relating to Irish politics. I have some (very) limited knowledge of American and global politics but no knowledge whatsoever about local politics in Ireland...

Film Release dates

Irish Film and Television Network

thanks to Michele's blog for pointing me to this handy reference!

BlogRolling, Blogger and archived articles filetype

BlogRolling - The best link manager for your weblog and more!

I added a blogroll to 9mmfilm.com using magpie, as I did previously for BifSniff Cartoons.

However, I was looking at the problem which I previously ran into which was the code breaking on archived articles and rendering php to the page instead of the links.
I got around this on BifSniff using conditional tags, as previously posted. But when I was looking at 9mmfilm.com I thought, 'hang on a sec, all I have to do is go to the settings in Blogger and set the Archive Filename to archive.php instead of archive.html...'

I wondered for while why I hadn't realised this before and had to come to the conclusion that it's because I'm stupid. But then I realised that this solution did not work. Does that make me less or more stupid I pondered as I investigated the problem...

The archive pages (ie clicking on July or June) worked fine but individual articles were still broken. Apparently setting the archive filename to php means that when you publish an article Blogger publishes the archived version as a php file but does not republish all the older individual archive files. Monthly archives are republished but not the individual article pages. Can anyone shed some light as to how one can get Blogger to republish them?

The Motorcycle Diaries

I went to see 'The Motorcycle Diaries' last night. For the last few years I have, for the most part, been avoiding reviews of films as I found that they were ruining my movie-going experiences. As a result I knew very little about the film beforehand. In fact, I hadn't even realised that the true title is 'Diarios de motocicleta' as it is in Spanish with English subtitles. I knew what it was about, but I had thought it was an American English language film. So that's how little I knew about it. And that's the way I like it, as few preconceptions as possible. Expectations have ruined so many films for me... in fact, I think all films should be given crap reviews in order that the viewer can be pleasantly surprised more often. However I'm not going to give this movie a crap review...!

The IMDB plot summary says 'The Motorcycle Diaries is based on the journals of Che Guevara, leader of the Cuban Revolution. In his memoirs, Guevara recounts adventures he, and best friend Alberto Granado, had while crossing South America by motorcycle in the early 1950s.'

It's definitely the best film I have seen in a while. It's not perfect, granted, but it's so much better than so much of the dross that gets made these days. And it's nice to watch a film that actually has some integrity to it - so much of what we watch now simply panders to what the marketing department figures is the lowest common denominator. Motorcycle Diaries tries to present its story simply and efficiently. No tricks, no special effects, no gratuitous sex or violence, no easy cheesy laughs, no spelling it out for you... it's entertaining while also thought provoking without being too preachy or in your face with politics. The film simply documents the trip of the two friends and in doing so gives the viewer an insight into the type of person who becomes a revolutionary leader.

Sometimes it's easy to forget that iconic figures in history were once 23 year olds with normal lives. For me the most important aspect of the film was the realisation, or affirmation, that you don't have to just lie down and accept injustice. Here you have a 23 year old whose adventures across South America helped mould him into someone who would have a profound affect on history. Someone who obviously felt it unacceptable to continue as normal when the world was going to shit. Someone who believed that large scale change was necessary and achievable.

I don't know much about Che Guevara so I'm not talking about his achievements here, I am only observing that he acted on his beliefs and wasn't put off by the scale of the opposition.

Reading over what I have read I realise I should clarify that the film is for the most part a buddy movie. A trip across south America taken by two friends. It is an entertaining and enjoyable film. It is primarily the knowledge of who Che Guevara became that makes the film thought provoking, as there is little or no attempt by the film makers to spell it out for us or to tie the film to the mans later achievements.

however the film has made me want to read more about the man and his achievements. And I intend to look into what books are available on him.

Any suggestions?

LogAnalysis.Org

LogAnalysis.Org

Just got an email from Brendan O'Connell (Bif) who was on Tom's site and followed a link to loganalysis.org.
He mailed me to draw my attention to their logo and ask if that was *really* what they wanted to highlight.

Check it out.

Michael Bublé

Michael Bublé

I was very cynical about this guy... I saw his ad on tv and it seemed ultra tack. Then I heard him singing a Sinatra song on the soundtrack to some movie and I was impressed - in that I thought it was Sinatra at first then realised it wasn't. But I was still cynical about him as I know just thought he was a good impersonator.
But then I listened to the album. And I was genuinely impressed at some of the cover versions... his 'how can you mend a broken heart' in particular. It's a song I love anyway, and his version is great...
Anyway, cut a long story short now I listen to the album all the time and sing along happily as I do with Elvis and Sinatra. So I guess he won me over!

Check out the link above to listen to the album.

Click to buy on Amazon. Michael Bublé's album is available to buy on Amazon. Unfortunately his Spiderman Theme isn't on it but is available separately.

AdSense Google Search: Frank misses the obvious

Contrary to my previous post, there is a simple and obvious facility for providing a link back to your site even if there are no search results... I just somehow managed to completely miss it!


To customize your WebSearch results page:
1. Log in to your account at https://www.google.com/adsense
2. Click the Search Settings tab
3. Click Styles
4. Using the color palette and the page element radio buttons, select a
color for each element of your search results page. The example page will
be updated with your new colors as they are selected.
5. Enter the URL of the logo you'd like to show on this page. If no logo
is selected, a transparent box will be displayed.
6. If you've chosen to display a logo, enter the height and width (maximum
50 pixels) and the target URL of the image
7. Name this custom style palette and click Save. The style palette is now
available for selection from the 'Search Code' page of your account.

Email all your friends from my blog!

Have you been dying to share my blog with your friends?
Have you been searching for a way to send them the text from my blog?
Have you not figured out that you can copy and paste?

FEAR NOT! Salvation is here. Now you can email your friends my posts RIGHT FROM THIS BLOG!
That's right, click on the little email icon below a post to email your friends the post!

You will gain popularity instantly as they read my fascinating meanderings on random topics of limited interest!

Google AdSense

I had looked into Google's adsense before as a possible way of earning a few bob from my website, but it was only when I noticed Tom R had added them to his site that I actually got off my ass and implemented it too. I seem to copy a lot of Toms' blog moves these days... moved to Blogger, added the xml link, adding AdSense...!

AdSense means if someone clicks on an add on my site then I make money. Not much I imagine, but money nonetheless. The ads are generated to be relevant to the content of the page they appear on and also based on geographical location of the person browsing the site.

So I now have ads on the news section of the site, their over on the right under the archives section.... so if you see something you're interested in PLEASE CLICK ON IT AND MAKE ME RICH! ;)

Myself and Tom were discussing yesterday how my ads would differ from his as his is a focussed tech blog and mine is a bizarre and varied soup. As a result, I have actually clicked on one or two of the adds myself as they turned out to be interestingly relevant and reasonalbly interesting.

I also implemented the Google search that comes with AdSense - it can also generate revenue if someone clicks on an ad generated based on the results.
There doesn't seem to be any link back to the site if there are no search results though, which is crazy. It would be simple to add a link to the logo... maybe I'll suggest it.


**EDIT**
Well, I did suggest it and Google responded very quickly to my email to politely point out that there is indeed that functionality! No idea how I missed it originally as it is quite obvious. Guess I'm just that stoopid. :)

The Village (MAJOR SPOILERS!!)

WARNING - CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS PLEASE READ ONLY IF YOU'VE SEEN THE FILM!

Went to see M. Night Shyamalan's 'The Village' last night. I knew nothing, or very little about it before going, I had only seen the trailer which was intriguing and I liked his other films. I quickly became convinced that 'The Village' was an allegorical tale about the US and terrorism and security etc. I assumed that the film was examining the reasons behind creating a pervading sense of doom and ruling through fear. So as I watched the film I tried to figure out what the message was exactly.

I was pretty sure I was on to something and that I was close to figuring out the analogy but I couldn't quite get it... I was trying out various theories such as Brody's character being Bin Laden and Phoenix's character the Twin Towers... I can hear you sniggering, stop it.

Ok so that was stretching it a bit and it falls apart, but in general it fits doesn't it?

For the greater good a group of elders create a society and in order to protect from outside 'evil' influences, create a 'bogeyman' which is ever present and if people don't live by the rules the 'bogeyman' is likely to attack.

However the security measures do not protect from more real and often internal dangers... and the approach is misused by some to terrible effect.

On top of that you have the fact that a disaster of large proportions opens the opportunity to carry on with the Bogeyman approach despite there being several clear reasons to consider revising the approach.

So the film could be seen as a considered and level examination of the current situation in the US regarding their approach to governing.

However, maybe this was a clear case of my interpreting to suit my own beliefs!

I did some searching and didn't come up with much on this - Shyamalan said in interview:

A lot of times it will be like the kernel of an idea, like “The Village” was. I had this “King Kong” idea, which was you come across this group of people who are doing their chores and incorporated in their chores are these rituals to keep them safe from creatures. Then they go back to doing their chores and it’s very normal. And it made me very curious about those people. So I had that, and then they offered me “Wuthering Heights” with these two amazing actors to do. Triple-A list actors in both roles. And I read the book again and I was like, “This is the greatest book ever! No to the movie, but I’m going to write my own period piece.” And so in a way, I guess I get inspired by books a lot. You know, like if I read a book I go, “Wow, this is kick-ass.”

So that doesn't really back up my theories too much, but then maybe he didn't want to go into it, which I think is very possible in case it was seen as anti american (which it isn't by any stretch), or maybe it was a subconcious thing!

I did find the odd comment here and there which at least showed I wasn't the only one thinking along these lines.

In the wake of September 11th and all the terror alerts amounting to nothing since that sad day, it’s easy to see why Shyamalan had the idea for a film about people living in fear.

Any thoughts? Please comment!

Bush in 30 Seconds

Bush in 30 Seconds

Great site with 150 political ads (30 seconds long) about the Bush Administration... some of them are great... this is my favourite so far

Site also has links to help you create your own ads... tutorials and the like which I must return to and read later...

imagesafari :: WordPress Hacks :: email notification

imagesafari :: WordPress Hacks :: email notification

if I was any good at php I would have a look at this! ;)
mostly posted it here so I remember to come back and look through the code when I have more time on my hands...

Google to fix blog noise problem | The Register

Google to fix blog noise problem | The Register

This was posted 9th May 2003 - so I wonder what the latest views on this article are? Basicly the article is about Google removing Blogs from the main search and giving them a tab of their own. Similar to the search groups tab.

Obviously it didn't happen in a hurry, but do people still think it will happen? I can see the validity of the argument, but on the other hand I have come accross very interesting items in blogs after doing a search... to achieve the same results I would have to do two searches in future... which is fine I suppose but will others do two searches also?

Surely there must be a better solution then simply removing blogs from main searches, I mean they are widely used now as a content management system for small or not-so-small companies... so while a solution as described in this article would reduce noise, wouldn't it also eliminate some valid search returns?

bifsniff cartoons - subscription

bifsniff cartoons

Well, I am having a lot of fun playing with BifSniff cartoons, both in illustrating Brendans' cartoons and in seeing what is possible to achieve on a shoestring.

As I already mentioned we now have a Cafe Press shop and I also implemented the dynamic Links from Brendan's blogroll using Magpie.

My latest experiment is with Bloglet. Bloglet allows people to subscribe to your blog and be notified when it is updated. I have set it up to send the cartoons when they are updated so users get the cartoons direct to their inbox.

It's not a perfect solution, but it's a free one!

There are certain changes I would very much like to see being made to the system including support for Atom.xml, bloggers feed format. It does support rss already. I'd also like to see some verification of the email address being implemented.

However until we have the budget to develop our own solution or until we find another free (or cheap) solution this one will do the job!

cat on car.mpg (video/mpeg Object)

cat on car.mpg (video/mpeg Object)

Wired News: JibJab Asks for Court's Help

Wired News: JibJab Asks for Court's Help

I'm curious to see how this one resolves itself! Not even sure who's right really, except that Guthrie probably wouldn't have minded according to the end of this previous article.

I hate flying

I hate flying. Not that I have any particular fear of flying itself - or at least I didn't. No, it's mainly because of the feeling that I have wandered into a grim futuristic film like 'Brazil' or '1984'.

Being photographed at security checks, watching security guards emptying a woman's handbag and purse much to her embaressment, being herded like cattle etc.

It's a horrible experience. And for what? Do any of the security checks really prevent terrorism? That's what it's all about isn't it?

The more I read the more I believe that really it's only us normal plebs suffer - the terrorists aren't really affected. We give up our rights to privacy and are we really any better off? Certainly the Japanese man who "learned a language lesson" can't have felt too happy.

All the security checks make you feel paranoid about saying the wrong thing. Or writing the wrong thing it would seem.

I must look into what happens to the photographs they take of me at Gatwick airport. Anyone know?
Are they just used internally? How long are they stored for? What are they used for?

I think they are used to check that we are the same people using the same boarding pass further down the production line but I'm not sure.

Plus I now can't help but wonder, even if only fleetingly, if for any reason the plane I'm on could be the target of a terrorist attack.

So traveling, which I used to find glamorous and exciting, now tends to be stressful and upsetting.

Beamish

Beamish

This site is an attempt to shame Beamish & Crawford plc to clean up/restore their head office, parts of which have fallen into disrepair.

I am curious to see what official response Beamish give to this site regarding the reasons for the eyesore they inflict on the city!